Chp-24: Awakening
There was a soft light that seemed to encompass me. It was…pleasant.
Like falling asleep in the car ride as a child. A sort of peace and security.
But worse. There was a distinct uncomfortable feeling in the back of my mind. But it was spreading. It made it itch under my skin. Then, I couldn't breathe, and I was burning and there was light and sound and-
My eyes snap open, and I immediately start coughing. Something is in my throat and I can't breathe again, but it's different. A muted beeping swam its way through the greenish liquid surrounding me, and it started to drain.
Dropping to the floor of some kind of pod, I rip the tube from inside my mouth. I'm almost nude, only a pair of stark white boxers covering my dignity. As I bring my hand up to the pod window, I notice something. My skin is…warped? As memories flash through my mind, I am reminded of a Vietnam vet who had skin like that. Caught in his own napalm, if I'm correct.
Before I can consider my state of being further, the pod doors slide open. Looking around, I recognize the Tower medbay, its gray walls and rows of beds seeming to stretch into infinity to my blurry eyes.
Another set of beeps, and I recognize the med droid we had installed for the bay. It was a fairly good model, if a few years older than we wanted. All things considered, we probably would've gotten a better one if we just bought it ourselves. Better bacta too.
As I try and get up, the droid grabs me by my arm, stabilizing me.
"Hello sir. It is good to see you awake. Your injuries have been healed in full, but the quality of the bacta available was less than sufficient to fully heal surface injuries. You will need further rest. Please, sit down."
I wanted to argue. I mean, how much paperwork piled up? But, if I knew anything, it's that you don't argue with doctors in times like these.
Sitting down on one of the beds, I seemed to feel a presence of sorts, and just narrowly dodged Mugwuffin pouncing on me from the shadows.
"Woah! What the-Mugwuffin! What did I say about jumping on people?"
Completely ignoring my chastisement, the creature pounced again, succeeding in tackling me into the pillows of the bed. She then proceeded to curl up on my torso, and release some sort of full body purr. Like a massage chair that sits on you. And eats your food.
"Expensive ass cat" I murmur, petting her on the head.
Turning my head, I regard the med droid. "So, doc, what happened?"
"You were admitted two weeks ago with severe burns across your body and multiple broken bones and embedded shrapnel fragments. After the fragments were removed, you were admitted to full body bacta immersion. Unfortunately, due to the subpar quality of the bacta, many scars still remain. Further treatment is medically unnecessary, but bedrest is recommended, as is counseling."
"Huh. Neat. What I meant, was what happened to get me into this state?"
Before the bot could answer, the doors swooshed open. Standing in the doorway was a haggard looking Commander Grant next to a more professional but still tired looking Darna.
"Sir!" exclaimed the Commander, "I'm happy to see you have recovered, but we have a serious problem!"
Before she could continue, I raised my hand, stalling her energetic advance. "Darna" I said, turning to my secretary, "Can you get me-"
A bottle of water was pushed into my hand, and a cup of hot chocolate placed on the bedside table.
"Hydration first, sir." She said with a slight smirk.
Damn. That was fast. Regardless, I shrugged in confirmation and started drinking, gesturing for Grant to continue.
"Of course, sir. You've been out of commission for the past two weeks, and things have gotten worse. The pirate attacks have become more brazen, with larger ships going so far as to hit official mining outposts, and even destroyed a Blastboat station! Our infiltrators have heard that their leaders plan to expand even further across the sector, most likely with reinforcements from the Consortium."
I hummed as I considered that. The Consortium was unlikely to keep up its support, since it was going to fall soon. I had personally never played Empire at War, or its expansions, but I did know that Tyber Zann was kept in a Hutt prison of sorts, and that the DLC took place not long before and immediately after the Battle of Yavin. That meant Zann was either already behind bars, or was going to be soon. Considering that we were still around the 3rd month of 1BBY, I had some time to nip this in the bud. Just have to figure out how to hire a good assassin that won't immediately turn on me.
While my thoughts bounced around, the Commander continued to explain the situation to me.
"The TIE variant designs have been finished, and testing is already underway. It is far more rigorous, and the security measures are far better this time around."
"Did we get the go ahead from Sienar? Last time I had any correspondence, they were clearly fishing for bribes."
"We have yet to gain explicit permission to manufacture TIE-line parts, but the techs hope that the prototypes will be enough to convince them."
I waved my hand dismissively, already against the idea. "Nah, don't bother. Whatever paperpusher is holding us back clearly wants a bribe and knows we're too small a time to go around, so just give it to 'em. Make sure to push the majority of the bribe funds from my personal account. Can't have people think I'm using public money for this."
Grant looked like a fish out of water for a second, mouth open wide long enough that both Mugwuffin and Darna gave out little chuckles. Clearly, she was insulted by the inefficiencies in the Imperial government and nationalized corporations, a very sensible thing to be insulted by.
"Now, do you have videos of these tests? I want to see what the skunkworks came up with."
She shook herself out of it, and Darna handed me a PDA, already open to the relevant files. Thankfully, neither one of them pressed me on what skunkworks was. Cause, outside of explaining skunks, I don't know where the word came from.
The TIE variants, on the other hand, were far more interesting. Just like the last line of TIE variants, they were interesting, but far more refined. Built for specific concepts. The very first wasn't even a new TIE. Instead, it was a TIE retrofit plan that added more bulk on the back of the cockpit and struts that connected it to the s-foils that held a shield and better life support. It still lacked a hyperdrive, but was now a better snub-fighter, as it could take more than one shot to destroy.
The next design was both very out there, and also incredibly useful. See, one of the biggest directives of the Variant project was to include TIE parts as much as possible to increase redundancies and reduce repair and maintenance costs. Somehow, through very creative use of the smaller interior TIE panels and strut pieces, the crackheads in R&D cooked up the
TIE Patroller. They abused the ever living shit out of what little interior pieces are built into the standard TIE line that the interior of this ship, not counting the wiring and tubing, is like 80% standard TIE parts. The s-foils are just chunks of regular TIE s-foils. All in all, the TIE Patroller is made up of a whopping 57% standard TIE parts, with the rest being easy enough to repair or replace with aftermarket parts. It was like a YT series ship fucked a TIE, thats how easy it is to repair, replace, or modify this thing. Ridiculous.
Now, its purpose? It acts as a cheaper replacement for the Blastboat for systems that want a decently armed patrol ship, coming in at about 175,000 credits. Sure the Blastboat is great, but the GAT-12 is old, with few still in production, while the GAT-18 is nice but not cheap, with an oversized and expensive generator that powers the massive light turbolaser it has strapped to its crotch. The Patroller will be able to monitor areas, chase down enemies with good engines and a nice suite of weapons, and, with a set of extendable docking clamps on the bottom it can carry with it two TIE fighters. Sure, it can't land with them on, but neither can a Gozanti, and that thing has shit firepower, relying entirely on its TIEs like a carrier that was dropped on its head as a child and never grew up into a Quasar.
The next variant is the
TIE Striker, built as a longer range variant of the TIE. Boasting stronger shields than the retrofitted standard, along with two extra laser cannons, life support, and a class 1 hyperdrive. Because of redundancies, its cost comes in at about 95,000 credits in total. It's about 5 or so kph slower than a standard TIE, but it's ability to actually patrol a system combined with the standardized parts makes it a godsend. Its standard part rate is lower than the patroller, at about 35% standard TIE parts, but like before, the techies made sure it was moddable as hell. Again, CEC meets TIE line, but in a loving way instead of a hate-fucking kinda way that you'd expect from competitors.
Finally, I approached the last of the variants. It was a beauty, the
TIE Whirlwind, and it was expensive as well. While it did share a solid 24% redundancy rate with the standard line, it made up for that with its custom rotating hardware. This thing wasn't just fast or strong, which it was considering its shields and cannons were a step above even the Strikers, but its ability to basically flip itself made it a powerful creature. Those pilots who had been testing the prototype said that, in the moments where they actually understood the metal beast they were flying, they could perform what were almost full 180 turns, nearly on a dime. They felt like Gods. Of course, the Whirlwind came in at about 380,000 credits and was just barely around the same speed as an Interceptor but at more than twice the cost. An Ace only kind of ship, and not one that would see widespread production. In fact, it was designed almost solely for Accordia's defence force, as we could afford to create a small amount without delegating a substantial amount of factory space for it. Really only the best would be flying these on strike missions, and most would stay planetside to defend the capitol and the rest of Ugea.
The previous TIE variants that had been proposed before the current ones were finalized hadn't been bad, but their issues were prevalent enough. The Demolisher was a great bomber, but wasn't necessary. The Mangler was powerful, but its wings obstructed view and its oversized weapons made it power-hungry and difficult to maintain. The Supremacy was just an old Sith design and got scrapped once people realized that. The Stingray was like the Demolisher, good but not needed, and then Vigilante was cool but had an obstructed view and not enough firing arcs for a gunship.
Turning back to Darna, I finally took a sip of my hot chocolate. Pure ecstasy, I tell you, unfortunately I had work to do.
"These all look good, but make sure extensive testing is done. Don't want half baked products coming out of this whole debacle."
Sounds reasonable, and she nodded in agreement so I must be right. Of course, more testing means more money dumped down the drain which was the whole point of the project.
"Now, before we get back to the whole pirate problem, how did the thing with the power armor go? Also, before I forget again, what happened there?"
The two looked at each other, before Grant turned to me. "Sir, one of the techs was bribed by Edins governor to sabotage the testing of the mobile artillery suit. Its torpedos exploded far too close to you, and while the ferrocrete barrier absorbed most of the blast, you were still caught in it."
"Huh". So that's why light was my last memory. Closest thing to a vacation I've had in a year now, so I'll take it.
"Gotcha. Anyways, how are our infiltrator teams doing?"
The two seem concerned about something I'd said, but their professionalism takes over, and Grant continues the report. "Our infiltrators have successfully implanted themselves as near vital engineers in the enemy's command ship. Not only that, but with our superior technology and knowledge, we have gained the ability to control certain parts of the ship, such as navigation and hyperdrives, along with the sabotage devices ready for activation when needed." As she speaks, I check over the summarized reports and maps.
I considered this. Then, I turned to Grant. "Get in contact with the Commodore. Have her move the flotilla to the Edin-Minda hyperlane."
Before she could respond to that, I turned to Darna. "I need a message sent to the Sector Admiral. Send him the pirates coordinates, and tell him that we interrogated a captain for the info. Lastly, tell him they have plans to leave the Sector soon."
She nodded, PDA already out and typing.
As she does, I take another sip and start pulling on the clothes the med-droid has brought me.
Once I'm dressed, I look towards Grant.
"Commodore"
"Yes, Governor?"
"Contact the infiltrators. They'll need to be ready."
"For what, sir."
A grin spread across my face.
"To succeed."
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Hi there folks! Again, sorry for the longer wait, but this chapter was a doozy. My math teacher for this semester is a self proclaimed luddite and that means I can't write in class while pretending to take notes. It also means I'll prolly get a decent math grade this time around. Sacrifices, I guess.
Also, I intended for there to be a POV for the engineer infiltrator team lead, but I felt that would give away a little too much.
I also figured I'd get the TIE variants out of the way. While, as stated, they are not at full production as the factories are still being built(and hamstrung by the pirates), I wanted to introduce the near final results. The Mindan skunkworks biggest achievements are really high logistical efficiency ratings. Gonna make Thrawn salivate. Anyways, I'm always down for last minute TIE variant suggestions and the like. Always room for improvement, and there is a chance these don't end up as the final variants.
Also, with the whole Kanan being blind thing, don't worry. While I'm no real expert on Rebels, I do know that he was blinded and gained force-sight before he died in 1BBY, and that his son was born the same year, so working off the Galactic Standard Year, and assuming that Twi'leks have the same 9 month pregnancy period as humans, that means that Kanan died in the first quarter of the year. So, around the current time of the fic. Though whether or not he dies is yet to be seen here.
Regardless, feedback and commentary is always appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
-Freefaller
