Robert Meta
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Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 174
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 16:07:40 +0000 UTCWith the suitable materials found, harvested, refined, and charged, and with a product worth working on, I was finally ready to push our combat personnel to the next level. There were two groups I needed to work on in general: the Navy and the Army, though the Skyforged differentiated that into crewmen and ground Teams. All combat active crewmen, namely pilots and gunners, would need a set of enchanted uniforms. The uniform consisted of reinforced combat boots, beskar woven pants, and beskar woven shirts in the same design as before, including our symbol on each shoulder.
The uniforms for the Crewman would be enchanted with two dexterity bonuses and a single stamina buff. While wearing their uniforms, our crewmen were faster and had better reflexes than any other biological being in the entire galaxy. It was almost to the point that they could be the precognition of a Jedi through pure speed. It was honestly impressive to see them running around the hallways of their ships, testing out their enhancements. It also made their flying and accuracy shockingly better, as was the entire point of the process. Even our new pilots were absolutely devastating the Rebel groups we managed to trick into training with us. Slowly but surely, our crewmen developed a reputation similar to that of our ground teams.
While the active combat crewman got the best of the best, I handed out some of the lesser enchanted items I had made to the rest of the crew. These were hand-me-downs and experiments from the last few months of enchanting and replacing older stuff with newer equipment. It was a bit more random and noticeably less significant, but there wasn't a single baseline person in all of my crewmen.
The process of enhancement was following behind the process of replacing old gear with new, since the Armorer's advice had reduced the amount of beskar needed to make a uniform even more, all without reducing their effectiveness. We could collect three old uniform sets and use the melted down and refined beskar from them to make five, some of which I would enchant.
As for the armor, a similar process was going on as our old equipment was being collected, the plating stripped off, melted down and purified. The resulting beskar was re-alloyed into a slightly lighter, more efficient mixture shared by the Armorer. It was still pretty beskar intensive, but for every four suits of armor we converted, we could make another new one from scratch.
This process, plus the process of refitting our new members, was scheduled to take place over a week and a half, thanks to the Armorer's help, as well as his own workers joining the armor team. This, of course, dwarfed my ability to enchant things to a hilarious degree. Still, I was determined to get everyone outfitted properly so that, going forward, any time we added new ships or groups to our team, I would only need to worry about upgrading their equipment rather than slowly upgrading everything together.
While I was dedicated to my new, massive, daunting, mind-melting project, the Skyforged Vanguard did not lie dormant. Our secondary team went out on another pirate mission, departing not long after I left for my material-gathering mission. They returned within a week, having successfully completed a bounty and managing to retrieve some basic supplies. They were not able to force a surrender, so the paycheck was not massive, but they definitely covered expenses and made a good chunk off of selling some of the supplies.
It was around the time they came back that we had another meeting to discuss the fate of our currently empty ships, namely the Arquiten, the gunship from the secondary team's last job, and the IPV. The frigate from their previous job had already been integrated into our supply chain, and the starfighters were already sold to the Rebellion.
"If we are trying to form coherent groups, like having the Whale Shark, Nautilus, and Intervention on the second group, and the Arquiten and whatever escorts we decide on being the third, then we obviously need the first group," Captain Irsee pointed out. "If that group already consists of the Loyal Hound and the Talos Chariot, then we should assign the gunship to it as well."
The gunship was a Vanguard-Class heavy attack ship, a U-shaped vessel that packed a big punch for its size. The pirates had treated it surprisingly well, but Miru had looked it over and done some research. It was a ship built and armored for war, and better yet, it was a CEC design, meaning with fifty thousand credits, we could buff the energy output quite a bit, increasing shield density and acceleration noticeably. It would need some repairs, but that would amount to fifteen thousand credits, a drop in the comparable bucket.
"It would make a great addition to the insertion heavy, quick delivery strategy we usually end up using the Chariot for," Miru pointed out. "It won't be able to carry its own ground team, but it's fast, punchy and tough. Not much else you could ask for, Boss."
"Okay… having a bit more firepower as part of our insertion group is not a bad thing," I admitted. "As long as it can keep up with us."
"Oh, it can. The Vanguard… they are pretty potent. I had to look them up because they are on the rare side, but these guys were built to fight, and they aren't cheap because they are well made," Miru assured me. "I'm glad you guys got me on it before you sold it. It's a good find. Kind of shocking that some random pirate group had it."
"Okay, so our first group now consists of the Loyal Hound, the Talos Chariot, and the… Forward Charge…?"
I trailed off after giving the ship a tentative name, looking around at everyone for approval. When everyone had either shrugged or nodded, I continued.
"... Our second group consists of the Whale Shark and its starfighters, the Nautilus and the Intervention," I finished. "With the Mandalorian group stationed on the Loyal Hound, the first group has two ground teams, and the second group only has one. I'm thinking that the third group, whatever form that takes, stays as primarily a naval force, so when our new beskar droid group is finished with their upgrades, they should station on the Nautilus to even out the ground teams."
"So all that's left is to finish the third group," Tatnia finished for me. "A wholly naval-focused group."
"The idea of using C-Rocs as support for the larger Arquiten is a solid idea, especially since they can provide a screen of starfighters as well," Captain Irsee admitted. "I just worry about the cost."
"Why are they costing us anything?" Lieutenant Rider asked with a slightly confused look. "At this point, I assumed ship seizure before purchase was Skyforged standard procedure."
"Well, I didn't know how long that would take, and who knows what sort of condition they would be in," I pointed out. "We would have to locate one, plan out a method of capturing it without damaging it, then repair whatever wear and tear it accrued before we can start the upgrade and modification process."
"Boss… I think you might be underestimating how popular C-Rocs are," Miru said with a frown. "They are pretty common with all sorts of groups, including pirates and smugglers. I'm honestly surprised we never stumbled into one on Nar Shaddaa or any of the pirates we've fought."
"They are the perfect ships for smuggling, and they are easy to modify," Tatnia explained. "It's why you aren't going to get one in good repair for much less than two hundred thousand credits."
"Okay, fine," I agreed with a nod. "If we can find some to take from slavers, Hutt's, or pirates, that's great. But I would like to get to work on the modifications as soon as possible. Having the third group up and running will push the Skyforged into a new power level. We can start taking on bigger jobs, which in turn will mean bigger profits, and we can start hitting Imperial targets."
"We've hit Imperial targets before," Miru pointed out with a frown.
"But never in an open, head-to-head fight," I explained. "On all of our previous Imperial-focused missions, we relied on tricks, cheating, finding gaps in security, or playing certain stuff to our advantage. With an Arquiten and the rest of the fleet, we could slam through the defenses of quite a few of the lesser protected worlds around the galaxy, take what we want, and leave. No special conditions, no tricks, no unexpected, out-of-the-box plan."
Most of the people in the meeting seemed to understand what I was getting at, but I continued just to hammer what I meant home.
"Imagine the supply line raids. Previously, we would have to rely on a greedy Imperial shrinking patrol size or a lucky break revealing a tight window of opportunity. This kind of stuff is rare and eventually could be used to stage an ambush," I explained. "But with a much more powerful fleet, we could just drop out of hyperspace, blow up the escorts, and demand the cargo ships come with us or be destroyed. Simple, easy, no luck or loophole required."
The group murmured and nodded at the idea of being able to overwhelm our targets rather than trick them through elaborate plans. After a minute of everyone talking, I spoke up again. "We can give our research people a week or so to come up with some appropriate targets. Meanwhile, I want Quartermaster Finder to locate ships that are being sold for reasonable prices. If we don't have three targets by the end of two weeks, we can buy the rest."
"And the IPV?"
"Sell it to the Rebellion. This is already going to be another big jump in growth, and we will need the money. Three million five hundred thousand should be a good price for our friends, correct?" I asked, looking around and nodding. "Good. Now, we are obviously going to have to do some recruiting over the next few weeks. I need a captain for the Arquiten, but I also want there to be a lead C-Roc with a captain on board as well. Their job would be more about monitoring and strategizing all three starships working together than directing the ship he was on."
"Twelve crew for all three C-Rocs, twice that of naval droids," Captain Irsee continued. "Plus twelve pilots. The Arquiten needs twenty for for a proper rotation, and that's with droid assistance."
"The Charging Forward will need six," Miru pointed out. "Which brings up the point of naming the Arquitens."
"The Anvil," Corvack stated clearly. "Surely the Skyforged needs an Anvil."
"Not bad," I said with a smile. "It also makes naming the three escorts pretty easy as well. The Hammer as the lead, then the Punch and the Chisel."
"Sure, whatever," Tatnia said, rolling her eyes. "Can we please get back to the hiring part?"
"Right, yeah. For the crew, it sounds like we need fifty in total," I said, doing some quick mental math. "How much are we going to need to increase support staff?"
"We need at least fifteen more maintenance and engineering, especially if we are going to be modifying the C-Rocs ourselves," Miru explained. "Plus, maybe thirty maintenance droids."
"We will need more people and at least one other freighter for our supply lines," Quartermaster Finder added.
"Right, well then, thank God we started building homes on Nirn. The station would already be full, and then some," I said, rubbing my face and shaking my head. "This is the last time we are adding ships to our fleet for a while. For a good chunk of time, everything we find gets sold. We need to settle into this new size and build a buffer before we stretch ourselves too thin and unravel."
"Pretty sure that was already the plan," Tatnia pointed out.
"Yeah, but the Arquiten was too good of a find to hold off on," I responded, giving my second-in-command a look. "From now on, though, if we find something particularly special or expensive, we will mothball it. Maybe park it on Nirn's moon to keep it in a vacuum and free of pests."
The meeting continued until we discussed everything on our list of topics, after which the meeting broke down, and we all went about our business. I, of course, got back to work, enchanting, enchanting, and more enchanting.
While I toiled away, my workshop temporarily transferred to Omega Station so that I wouldn't interrupt the Skyforged business. As I continued to work, both the first and second groups went on another pair of missions. The first group, with Tatnia leading in my absence, was targeting a large group of pirates harassing a mining outpost and city based in the Outer Rim. They were using Clone Wars-era ground weapons, both CIS and Republic, to basically hold the entire outpost hostage. My guess was that someone from the city had found an old Clone Wars battleground and spent some time repairing all the leftover gear.
While the outpost barely offered enough credits to get our attention, the real reason for taking the job was the heavy ordnance that they described in the brief. With any luck, we could fill a rather large gap in our repertoire with the aforementioned heavy ordinance, after which we could sell the rest to the Rebellion. Hell, depending on what sort of resources our bounty had found, we might even be able to sell them the location of the battle itself.
The second group left two days after the first. One of their research teams had found a pirate group that was known to have a pair of C-Rocs, and since we were in the market, they would make a great target.
Unfortunately, the second group didn't really didn't have much of a strategy for getting the ships undamaged, so they would have to attack them directly and whittle their forces down until they surrendered. If they refused, then they would attempt to lightly disable them, but that was such a hit-or-miss concept that they were more likely to damage the two ships beyond being worth our time.
Even if they did damage both of the ships past the point of being worth fixing up, they would still bring them both back. I would have the repair crews tear the wrecks down for parts and store them somewhere safe for later use. We would eventually have four of them in our fleet, after all.
Another week passed with me doing nothing but enchanting armor and uniforms. The station was pretty empty with both groups out on missions, and I was starting to go a little stir-crazy. Then, on a seemingly random afternoon, Miru stopped by, leading a surprising guest. Luke Skywalker walked into my temporary enchanting lab, looking around and staring at the piles of armor and uniforms, as well as the enchanting table. They must have been waiting for me to be free, because they came in just as I was finishing a pair of boots.
"Luke! Good to see you!" I said, reaching out to shake his hand. "How's it going, what can I do for you?"
"It's good to see you too," he said, taking my hand but pulling me into a hug. "I came to see you and Ahsoka, actually. I have some Jedi-related questions."
"Well, Ahsoka is away on a mission with the rest of the team, but I'm sure Miru already explained the. The only reason I'm here is because I need to keep working on all this," I said, gesturing around me.
"Yeah, fair..."
"What's up?" I asked, guiding him and Miru to a small table along the side of the room and sitting down with them."
"Well… I've been having visions," He explained, wincing when I looked up at him with wide eyes. "Obiwan has been reaching out to me about a place called Dagphba. I'm pretty sure it's actually him, but I know you warned me that the Sith are really good at mental manipulation..."
"A vision, huh?" What are they telling you to do?" I asked, doing my best to keep calm. This was a lot earlier than I had expected, and I had no idea why that had happened.
"They want me to find it and go to it," Luke explained. "But I was hoping to have Ahsoka with me when I went."
"Theres a chance she won't be back for several days," I responded with a wince. "But...how about I go with you?"
Comments
Elaine
good chappie
Fortunis
Oh this is gonna be fucking epic.
SwiftFate
Oh man, Yoda is about to get a tongue lashing by Deacon. None of that Jedi bullshit propaganda or hidden meanings for Luke thankyou very much. I really hope we get to see Deacons progress as an individual fighter again soon. After seeing him destroy that Inquisitor a while back, I'm hoping his swordsmanship has improved even more with Ahsoka's help. Would love to see him face off against more force users down the line and really get old Palpy and Vader questioning who the fuck he is hahahaha
Coldfire142
oh damn i just remembered the Lost katana fleet. it was not discovered By Thrawn until 9ABY. Basically after the battle of endor. So if the Mc remembers he could totally find it easy. The only issue i could see is moving the ships.
Alex I
I want to see Yoda react to the MCs magic.
Duke of Coffee
Oh boy meeting the Grandmaster Yoda....
andrew rousseau
Kinda prefer shaak be alive, better to help train luke and other new jedi while not being a fanatic
Cmols897
Shaak Ti fully depends on if author has Starkiller be canon. If he is canon then she dead, if he's not she could potentially be alive
Cmols897
I would say that he should bring Yoda to Nirn but he chose Dagohba specifically for its dark side nexus to mask his light force presence
andrew rousseau
Kek, Clone wars ground weapons huh, sounds like CIS AAT tanks, maybe some Republic AT-TE or sabre tanks, ngl this story is probs my favorite among star wars fics simply becuase it has the crew salvaging all this old clone wars gear, plus with the battledroids from the munificent thier gunna have plenty of crew for the ground vehicles they capture/salvage hopefully they can dig the old base or battlefield that the ground vehicles/gear was taken from out of the pirates for some extra easy salvage for the vanguard, still wanna have the crew get a lead on a derelicht recusant, munificent or providence (my personal favorite cis ship) for their combat fleet, actually on that thought were the droid armies at felucia ever dismantled/removed? And would shaak ti and maris still be on felucia?
Urbane_Bomber
Great chapter. Now I just want to see the scene of Yoda seeing so many Jedi still alive.
