Stabbing at Shadows

Admiral Onasi sat up straight in his high backed chair, waiting patiently while the others present at the conference table finished reading the most recent reports. This is not a meeting I've been looking forward to, Carth thought as he looked at the somber expressions on each person at the table. It was a rather closed meeting, consisting only of Akin Risley, head scientist of what was unofficially called the Coruscant Cabal, Chancellor of the Senate Jedrek Baird and a man Carth didn't know who had businessman written all over him.

Carth looked out the window to see Coruscant's sun boiling into horizon while its last rays retreated, bathing the towers of Coruscant in red and orange while turning the atmospheric vessels that raced along Coruscant's skyways into flying embers. When Carth looked back at the conference table the others looked ready to talk. The face of Chancellor Baird was the most grave.

"This is very bad news you've brought us, Admiral Onasi. Now tell me, why couldn't the Navy do its job? It will seem to the people of the Republic that the navy can no more to protect us than it can protect itself."

"It's really simple," Carth said, leaning forward, "as it is, our navy is undermanned and underpowered. Sith battle cruisers are better shielded, better armored, and able to put out as much firepower as three of our cruisers. We have less than thirty capital ships left in the entire navy with which to defend hundreds of worlds. Furthermore, our ships were intended for policing and handling piracy. Necessity alone has turned them into warships."

Carth began to feel like he was rushing his speech too much and took a breath to steady himself, "Most of our ships are running with skeleton crews and many of our commanders are inexperienced." Saying the last part stung the most. Like most of the current commanders, Carth was an admiral by sad necessity. The assassination of Admiral Duman three months ago had been one of the harshest blows to the Navy. Carth continued, "The Navy needs more trained personnel and more ships. Preferably of a new design more suited to combating the Sith battle cruisers. Of course, I understand that the destruction of the Larsfield Ship Yards has made that nearly impossible."

The chancellor nodded and looked at the businessman, "You wanted to make a proposal, Mister Cyrano?"

The man nodded and faced Carth Onasi, "I am a representative from Rothana Heavy Engineering. Engineers from my company are currently working on replacement designs for the ships currently used by the Republic.

"The shipyards are ready. If you accept the contract, we can begin production by next month and have the first squadron of ships ready three months after that. These are the design specifications for the ARC-100 fighter and the Venator Class Destroyer." Cyrano handed Carth a datapad with the plans for the new ships. Carth scrutinized both examples and nodded.

"The Venator looks a lot like the Sith battle cruisers," Carth said, sounding a little unnerved.

"They were partially modeled after them," Cyrano explained, "You said it yourself Admiral, Sith battle cruisers are able to put out more firepower. This is mostly because of the triangular arrangement of their hulls that provides the most guns with the widest range of fire, rather than our cruisers which have the same number of guns as a Sith battle cruiser but fail to achieve as much of an output because of the narrow hull design used. The Venator Destroyer is more tapered than a Sith battle cruiser and will thus have an even better range of fire than the Sith battle cruisers. The Venator will also have better maneuverability and speed."

"You approve of the design, Admiral?" Chancellor Baird asked.

"I do, the Venatur should be able to match the Sith for firepower and the ARC-100 looks better than any fighter the Sith have got," Carth said uneasily, "but I know there's a catch."

Cyrano nodded, "The catch is that each Venator will cost roughly ten billion credits. Each ARC-100 fighter will cost over one hundred million credits."

Carth's mouth dropped open, "What are you trying to pull here? The Republic is nearly bankrupt!"

"He' right," Chancellor Baird said, "there's no way we can raise one hundred twenty billion credits for a squadron of Venators, let alone a fleet of them."

"We are willing to compromise on that issue," Cyrano said, "we understand that the economy is at its lowest ebb and are willing to accept a down payment of only four and a half billion for each ship."

"You'd better find a way to lower that cost," the Chancellor warned, staring coldly at Cyrano, "because I know you want us to have those ships as much as Carth and I want to have those ships."

"Four billion."

"That's still forty-eight billion credits."

"Three billion, I can't go any lower because of production costs."

"You have a deal Mister Cyrano." Cyrano settled back in his chair, looking more than a little displeased. Chancellor Baird turned to the scientist, Akin Risley, "Now, you had something you wanted to say."

"Yes," Akin replied, "my team and I have been working to understand and defeat the ambush techniques used by the Sith. Most of them seem to rely on what we have called interdiction technology. Surviving ships from these encounters are rare so we have little data to draw on. However, we have been able to determine that the Sith are using gravity well generators in order to create null fields in hyperspace, effectively pulling any traveling ships out of hyperspace. We are working on a device that should be able to detect these null fields.

"But we've hit a snag. In order to counteract interdiction technology we need a better understanding and thus require a gravity well generator. But we have been unable to produce one."

"Let me guess," Carth said, "you need us to find a gravity well generator for you."

"Yes admiral, but it will have to be intact. Attempts to extract gravity well generators from the hulks of destroyed Sith Interdictors have proven fruitless."

"Intact? That's not going to be easy. To do that we'd have to board a Sith battle cruiser but before we can even worry about that we need to find out where they are."

"Well," Chancellor Baird said, "It seems we all have a great deal to accomplish. Cyrano, I will address the Senate later this afternoon and will notify you when the proposal is ratified. The credits transaction will take place within the week. Admiral, you will get your ships and I will see to it that more credits are appropriated to the Navy for recruitment and training purposes. Just find a way to protect our systems."

Carth nodded, "Thank you Chancellor." He knew that the chancellor was not acting as much out of concern for the Republic as for his chance of getting reelected.

"Good," the Chancellor said in a tone that clearly declared the end of the conference, as he rose. "Now I have other business to attend to, as I'm sure all of you do."

Chancellor Baird was the first out the door and was immediately flanked by Crimson Guardsmen as he moved down the corridor. Cyrano followed with somewhat less enthusiasm while Akin shuffled his way out.

Carth sighed as he stood and made his way to the door. The halls were empty, as they had been all too often as of late. Carth slowly made his way to the outer ring of the Senatorial Hall, where the shuttle landing pads were.

I still need to figure out how I'm going to protect all of these worlds from an unseen enemy with a skeleton military force. The only way I can have any hope of winning this is to find out where the Sith are coming from.

Carth noticed his reflection in a window he passed and couldn't help but wonder when his hair had begun to gray.