Atlas Hall, Brandenburg, Genon

Corise gazed across his office in the governmental building; one which he rarely occupied. He preferred to spend most of his office time on the Audacieuse, not only because of its security, but also because he could be personally dispatched swiftly to military engagements or other hotspots. But not everything could be handled from the starship. While exceptionally comfortable for Lucerne, civilians felt like fish out of water. And moreover, there was always the problem of getting people there. While the ship did have shuttles, most of them were busy transporting crew to shore leave, bringing them back, or bringing on new supplies. As such, shuttles for personal transportation were always at a minimum. And so, when Atlas Hall was constructed, he had been given an office in order to more effectively deal with the other government branches based in the hall and for easier civilian interactions. I have to admit, the greel wood paneling is a nice touch, as are the House of Lucerne banners. But it’s certainly not home. Home is the Audacieuse; for now.

“Rear-Admiral Lucerne?” said a precisely clipped voice.

Corise looked across to the doorway to the speaker. He was a slim man, wearing a rather dapper suit of traditional black and white. A fashion common within the white collar office buildings within the Confederation, and in other parts of the galaxy as well. He could have passed as a typical office worker, except for his bearing. The younger Lucerne nodded.

“Secretary Robbins, a honor. Do come in,” stated Lucerne, gesturing at one of the hardwood chairs, “take a seat.”

“Thank you,” stated the Confederate Official, gazing across the room, “this must be the first time I have ever been in your office.”

The Rear-Admiral politely smiled. “My duties often place me on my flagship; the nature of a military field commander.”

The man barked a laugh. “No doubt. It certainly must be very exciting and grandiose up there compared to this dreary and stuffy place.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. This really is a nice building.”

Robbins waved away the comment. “We both know that you would prefer to be on your ship. Otherwise, there are certainly times of piece where you could spend a fair amount of time here. Why you prefer it up there, I will not pretend to know. But you didn’t ask me to talk about your office preferences, did you?”

“Very true. I wanted to talk to you about that,” stated the Kashan man, pointing at a hovering image in the far right of the office.

Robbins turned to face the corner. The holoprojector slowly rotated the silver image around horizontally in a circle before flipping it around in a circle which was perpendicular to the ground. It was a lozenge shaped starship roughly whose side profile resembled an ancient whale. Its organic lines and general style placed its soleorigin with the Mon Calamari. But both men in the office knew better. While the base design was indeed Mon Calamari, the ship had been heavily redesigned by a multitude of Confederation engineers with varying degrees and backgrounds. It was the Revanche; the planned Confederate flagship. Robbins nodded.

“The Revanche. What about it?” questioned the man, seemingly turning back to face Lucerne.

“I’ve looked at the documents related to its design. It looks like it will be completed farther ahead than I what I thought would be possible from experience…”

Robbins, the Secretary of Economics, laughed again. “Don’t be too surprised. The Revanche isn’t a KDI product. It’s not nearly as highly advanced, indeed, we’re using some old components, but it’s a solid design. That cuts some time I guess from your experience. But even compared to other battleships that other governments have produced, the build time is still shorter. Do you have any idea why?”

Corise shook his head. Robbins smiled back.

“How do you normally build a battleship?”

The younger Lucerne frowned. “First, the orbital shipyard builds the frame of it, like a wireframe if you will. Then, some of the major propulsion and power systems are installed. Other components are gradually installed, rooms are finished. It takes a bit to do all that. And certainly not within the time frame you’ve given me.”

“Ah,” stated the man, “but we’re not building it like the other factions. No, our industrial engineers got very smart during this project in harness our industrial strength. Did it ever strike you that we have a fair amount of factory worlds? Especially compared to shipyard worlds like Abhean. Look at Uffel, Metalorn, or Ter Abbes. Their surfaces are completely dominated by the industrial landscape. There aren’t nearly as many shipyards as there factories. Even compared to Kuat or Corellia I would wager.

Now, many shipyards produce the components onsite with raw materials. This makes them independent from needing any other facility to help with the construction, but it also makes production slower. Faster yet is to have a factory build as many of the components in advance so that the shipyards don’t have to wait for them or produce as many components on their own. But we’ve gone farther than that.

The frame is still being put together at Abhean. If they built Chu’unthor’s frame, they can build the Revanche’s. It’s a hell of a lot less awkward than that Jedi ship’s shape. We’ve already manufactured the powerplant and the propulsion. Those are still be installed by the shipyards, but everything else is done by the three: Metalorn, Ter Abbes, and Uffel. Everything is going to be pre-fabricated by the factories in large sections; just like how construction droids make buildings these days. The sections will then be lifted up in large sections by tugs and/or cargo ships and then latched/installed onto the frame by the Abhean yards. This method allows us to expend nearly our maximum industrial output on the production allowing us to finish the project in as least amount of time as possible…”

Nebula-class Star Destroyer Athena, Abhean

The white star destroyer slowly maintained its geosynchrous orbit around Abhean. She was the last ship built at the yards before the start of the space-consuming Revanche project. A variety of other Confederation warships, several of them the Athena’s sisterships coalesced around the same point: the Abhean shipyards. The massive, space-going facility had existed for hundreds of years, building a variety of craft for all sorts of people, from corporate entities to the Galactic Empire to the New Republic and less savory elements. Perhaps its most famous product was the Chu’unthor, the massive space-going Jedi academy. At that time, it was one of the few facilities that could build such a large ship. But as time went on, and the Empire rose to powers, other massive shipyards were constructed or expanded. Abhean’s still massive yards were simply modernized. An economical measure, but an effective one in terms of output per cost. The younger Lucerne stared out of the viewport of the star destroyer towards the ancient yards.

“So that’s it,” stated the Rear-Admiral, talking to no-one in particular.

The shape of the Revanche was becoming increasingly apparent by the days. Three weeks ago, the start of the keel had been laid. The well-established builders had then proceeded to continually expand and build it up. Three shifts of various droids and workers relentlessly built the frame up right on schedule. During this time, Styria Galleons, tugs, and other cargo vessels increasingly plied the spaceways to the station. Some carried raw materials, others components, and most uniquely, entire sections of the vessels, pre-fabricated by the factory worlds of Ter Abbes, Metalorn, and Uffel. Corise stared at the large capsule situated in the center of the ship. It was the reactor. Already installed along with the hyperdrive and auxiliary bridge. A common Confederation procedure. If the shipyard fell under attack, the partially finished warship could simply make a jump into hyperspace and to safety. It would be an unlikely event in the Rear-Admiral’s opinion. The strategic defensive web and the Confederation fleet should be enough to deter most assailants. I imagine most opponents won’t want to run a gauntlet of pulse-mass mines and then deal with a fleet and railgun network. Besides that, these yards are shield by a CoMar shield generator of the same model used to defend the Death Star II at Endor. Against a traditional assault, the yards are well-defended. However, that doesn’t mean that they are invulnerable. Though we have kept security tight…

"Rear-Admiral sir?"

Corise turned around to face the officer. "Yes?"

"There's a report from the Department of Economics waiting for you in the captain's quarters."

"Thank you Lieutenant. Could you arrange for it to be transferred to the Java? I will be leaving shortly back to Brandenburg for a conference."

"Of course sir," bowed the officer, "it will be done."

Revanche, Confederation flagship

“Atten-hut!”

Rear-Admiral Corise Lucerne walked through the bridge foyer onto the bridge of the battleship. He had been on the deck several times before during construction, but never with it actually manned. A small contingent of marines stood at attention. The younger Lucerne casually saluted them and continued on the bridge walkway, towards his command chair. He gazed around. This certainly is larger than that of the Audacieuse. Lucerne recognized most of the command crew instantly. They were from the Pegasus and Audacieuse, having transferred over with him. He sat down on the command chair, finding it surprisingly more comfortable than that of the Audacieuse.

“Sir?”

Corise swiveled on his chair to face the voice. “Yes?”

“We have clearance from Abhean traffic control.”

The Kashan man nodded. “Take us away.”

The engines of the warship flared to life, burning a deep blue. The organic vessel slipped out of the many gangways and scaffolding that had been her home so far and into deep space. Corise sighed and tapped a few buttons on his command chair. Several holographs sprang to life, showing the position of the planet and various views of the battleship as seen from the rest of the Confederation Navy stationed around Abhean. He leaned back into his chair. This is going to seem to take forever after being stationed on fast ships like the Audacieuse and Pegasus. But you gain some, you loss some. Several piles of debris came into view, floating in the middle of otherwise dead space. The officer turned to his weapon’s command crew.

“Those would be our weapons testing targets,” pointed out the man, “All weapons are cleared to be fire.”

A variety of weapons flared to life on the warship. For the initial testing, the Revanche had been fitted with all of its designed modules to test compatibility and actual effectiveness. Tachyon beams, slugs, turbolaser bolts, gravitational discharges, ion bolts, various missiles, and even the flechettes fired. Creating a diverse firestorm that decimated the debris; incinerating it to ashes. Corise nodded in satisfaction.

“Sir, our gravity well projectors are pulling something out of hyperspace.”

Corise nodded. “Very good. Status of those tracs?”

“I’m reading a pair of Nebula-class star Destroyers and several Cavaliers. They are within weapon’s range.”

Corise nodded. The defence testing.

“Activate all point-defences, raise shields, and raise the Anti-Concussion field.”

“Aye sir.”

The blue glow from the battleship’s engines stopped as energy was shunted from the engines to power up the anti-concussion generators. On the sensor readouts, umbrella shaped fields jutted out from the Revanche, completely covering the warship from all physical attacks. The other warships opened fire. Energy bolts slammed into the heavy duty shields while the slugs from the Cavaliers slowly nibbled at the Anti-concussion field, then the particle shields. Several missiles emerged from the marauding ships. Corise hit several buttons, brining up a view from one of the gunnery stations onboard his flagship. The bright orange of a starfighter concussion missile appeared in their targeting screens. A volley from the Caltrop Fives sent a ripple of flechettes, which briefly obscured sensors in the area before setting off the warheads in a massive fireball. The marauders stopped firing.

“I think that concludes the testing,” mused the Rear-Admiral, “now the real trials begin.”