Galactic Standard Date 4/11/15—Day 1 of the Beshpin delegation's "vacation." Max and Lisa spent most of the day glued together in the suite.
Lunch was delivered to the room. Until it arrived, Lisa clung to Max like a koala, humming and whining softly the whole time.
In the afternoon, the two of them took a nap—just sleep.1
After all the late-night exhaustion, plus the crying earlier that morning, plus her ingrained nocturnal body clock, Lisa was genuinely wiped out. Max lay down with her, and she wrapped herself around him with arms and legs like a koala hugging a tree. She fell asleep fast.
Max didn't sleep. The Blade Fleet kept running through his mind, and he couldn't get drowsy at all.
The Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser, Advanced Refit, was a major capital ship designed and manufactured by Rendili StarDrive, with a per-ship cost of 10 million Galactic Republic credits. The ship measured 600 meters in length, 116.5 meters abeam, and 129.7 meters top-to-bottom.5
Compared to the standard Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser, this refit upgraded slave rig technology, dramatically boosting automation and cutting the crew complement down to 2,200; it also upgraded to high-output generator banks, improving energy production and distribution.1
Armament included 10 heavy turbolaser cannons—five to port and five to starboard; 20 quad turbolaser cannons—six forward at the bow, seven to port, and seven to starboard; and 10 turbolaser batteries—five rear-facing at the bow section and five aft-facing at the stern.3
Under normal configuration, it could carry two squadrons—24 starfighters total—and it had further refit potential to expand the hangar capacity to as many as four squadrons—48 starfighters total.
Its propulsion suite consisted of six heavy sublight ion engines, a Class 2 hyperdrive, and a Class 8 backup hyperdrive. In-atmosphere top speed was 975 km/h (with particle shields down), and maximum realspace speed was 60 MGLT. Maximum endurance was 1.5 standard years.
And that kind of brutal mainline capital ship—there were 200 of them in the lost Blade Fleet.20
If he could, with the help of the kriffing Force, actually locate the Blade Fleet… then for the Mandalorian armed forces—still using heavily armed Purrgil-class hulls as their "main battleships"—it would be a straight-up, generation-skipping upgrade.
But how, exactly, was he supposed to find them? Max reached for the kyber crystal pendant and kept rubbing it between his fingers. He had no clue.1
...
How should he strike?
Feeorin pirate Nym stroked the controls of the Havoc, unable to decide.1
He was going to hit them. He had to. If he didn't, he couldn't swallow it.
During the Battle of Naboo, Nym—already deeply hostile toward the Trade Federation—piloted his Havoc, a Scurrg H-6 bomber, through near-Naboo space and dealt the blockade fleet a heavy blow.3
After the battle ended, the newly appointed Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine, pardoned all of Nym's past crimes and personally awarded him the title of Republic Hero.
But when the "Republic Hero" returned home, he found that the Trade Federation had already seized his homeworld—Lok (Lok chart coordinates: Q-17)—through legal channels, and along the way had flattened the Lok Revenants' base to the ground.
The Lok Revenants were scattered, and Pirate Captain Nym became a lone man. Even with the Republic Hero title, the Galactic Republic wasn't going to help him rebuild a pirate organization. Nym could only set out on his revenge alone.
So when a mysterious sender offered him a job—hit the Trade Federation's tibanna gas plant on Beshpin, or its transport convoys—Nym accepted without hesitation. A mission that paid and let him get revenge? He couldn't have asked for more.
"Avengers… assemble," Nym growled under his breath. Soon. I'll rebuild the Revenants' base, and I'll shout it out loud again.1
...
"We're not doing this job."
Staring at the blurry images coming back from the scanner, Hondo Ohnaka stroked his chin and made the call on the spot.
"I'm not fighting a pack of Jango Fetts. If someone wants a fight, let the Trade Federation's own fleet do it!"
"Should we refuse them, boss?" one Ohnaka Gang pirate asked.
"Refuse? Why refuse?" The Pirate King shot his underling a sidelong look. "We'll take the contract. We're not going to do the job, but there's no reason not to take it. Send the Acushnet over there—if there's a chance to fish in muddy waters, we'll haul up a few. If there isn't, we fly straight into Cloud City, buy a shipload of liquefied tibanna gas, and resell it."5
"Yes, boss!"
...
"Beshpin system in the Greater Javin sector?" Lom Pyke took a deep drag of refined spice, his eyes rolling back. "Too far. Not worth it. The Pykes aren't interested."
"Should we refuse, chief?" a Pyke Syndicate member asked.
"No. Don't refuse. Accept it." Lom Pyke waved a hand. "The Pykes don't need to make an enemy out of him. Send a few small ships over there—just to show the flag. Go arrange it."
"Yes, chief." The attendant bowed and moved to leave.
"Wait." Lom Pyke stopped him. "Once the flotilla reaches the vicinity of Beshpin, immediately dispatch an envoy to Cloud City—quietly. Tell those Mandos: if Cloud City opens spice trade, the Pyke fleet will only watch. If they don't, the Pyke fleet joins the siege."
"Yes, chief."
...
"Send the fleet over there. Give them a little lesson."
Ziro the Hutt issued the order in a low, heavy voice while stroking the singer's smooth body.
"Yes, Great Ziro." A Black Sun lieutenant accepted the command and left.
"Alright, alright." Pa'lowick singer Sy Snootles soothed him softly. "Darling, don't be mad~"5
"Hmph!" Ziro was clearly still furious. "If we don't teach those Mandos a lesson, they'll never learn their place—how dare they offend the great Ziro the Hutt!"
"Darling, don't waste your temper on those clueless backwater types. Come now—let me sing you a song."
............................
PS: The standard Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser is… kind of terrible.
Under standard operating procedure, its recommended optimal crew is 16,000, and the absolute minimum crew to keep it running is 9,000. The massive crew requirement forces the ship to waste enormous internal volume on life-support and provisions, resulting in abysmal space utilization—despite being a 600-meter capital ship, it can carry only one squadron: 12 starfighters.
Its generator banks suffer performance flaws, with poor energy output and distribution, making it slow (realspace max speed 13 MGLT; hyperdrive effectively equivalent to Class 4), with fragile shields and underwhelming firepower.
PPS: Star Wars wiki pages list stats for the standard Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser, but not for the Blade Fleet's advanced-refit variant. The figures in this chapter are the author's setup, referencing the Vindicator-class heavy cruiser's data.
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