“So with that in mind, let's get started,” he slapped his thighs, a little harder then he intended, unable to repress a wince. “Knight Admiral Bhool, could you fill me in on the standard battleship design?” Trent pointed to the image of the cuboid starship floating before them. Lady Bhool's expression turned to stone, her professional demeanor returning in an instant.
“Of course, Sir Trent. The NHA Battleship Class starship is designed for close range support of NHA Capital and Super-Capital Class starships in a standard NHA battle group formation. Its hull stands 1 kilometer long by 350 meters wide and high. It has 35 decks, a 15 meter thick tilitium hull, with a two hull reserve of liquid tilitium, and a full coverage, Class V2 Energy Shield System, or V2 ESS. She has a Battleship Class Neutron Star Drive, or B-NSD, an SJS V3 sensor suite with full ripple space, active, and passive sensor arrays, a V12 Electronic Warfare, or EW suite with full offensive and defensive capabilities, 2 hanger bays with 4 Emperor Class shuttles and 16 King Class assault shuttles, a standard fleet command deck, a 10 officer bridge, and a 7 officer Combat Systems Station, or CSS, with a general crew compliment of 500. The weapon systems include a standard Class A Plasma Beam Cannon on the nose, 8 Class B7 large Laser Particle Arrays, or B7 large LPAs, 50 Class C1 medium LPAs, and 150 Class D1 small LPAs.” The knight admiral paused for a moment, then nodded to Trent, having finished her brief. Most of the information she provided he already knew, having studied as much data as he could about the NHA over the past few weeks of being bedridden. But books and reports could only tell you so much and having someone with experience explain it, who knew what was actually important, was usually much more informative.
“Thank you, Knight Admiral Bhool. I am curious about the food and air systems, you didn't mention them?” His question seemed to take her by surprise, then she appeared to recall who she was talking to. A negative thought appeared in his mind; is my ignorance that obvious? But he quickly shook it away.
“My apologies, Sir Trent. Primary atmosphere generators are located throughout the starship with smaller backup generators in every compartment. Food production is handled externally on standard battle group supply ships,” she explained. Trent let his eyes fall closed as he leaned back in the couch, having missed the information about supply ships, and realizing their requirement could possibly wreak havoc with his plans.
“Thank you, Knight Admiral Bhool. This is going to be tougher then I thought,” he leaned forward, studying the projection, then the line of small control icons running at its base. Quickly, he located the one he needed, “reset”, and selected it. The projected starship vanished, a list of standard starship components taking its place. He scrolled through the floating list, finding the Battleship Class NSD core and placing the 250 meter tall behemoth at the rear of his nonexistent starship. Next, he selected the hull icon, scrolling through the list of materials available, frowning when he couldn't locate an option for gorian alloy. He looked up at the faces of the two officers sitting across from him.
“Are you really designing the starship from the ground up, Sir Trent?” Knight Admiral Bhool asked with surprise when he caught her eye. She must have assumed he was only planning on modifying the existing design.
“Yes, I figured that I may be able to find something the designers missed,” A laugh of genuine good humor escaped the knight admiral’s lips, the wide smile that accompanied it making her appear much younger. “Nobles are going to love you, Sir Trent. Even if most were provided the opportunity to fully redesign their own starship, the vast majority would never think of altering the basic design, just the interior.” Her explanation seemed odd at first, but then he quickly remembered the majority of nobles he'd met. He shivered.
The Eye of the Emperor, the chocker he adorned about his neck, provided him the ability to, in its most basic form, break people into two groups; those who meant him harm and those who did not, through the use of sealed technology. The majority of the nobles he'd met so far had fallen into the latter category.
“Thank you,” he paused, tapping a finger on his knee. “I do have a question though. Why is there no gorian alloy listed under the available materials for the hull?” Knight Admiral Bhool coughed in surprise
“That is due to its rarity, Sir Trent,” Sir Seb’Losh answered first, sounding slightly amused. “The cost of just a kilogram could pay for an entire battleship,” Trent's eyes went wide with wonder. He quickly accessed the local BAP, sending a message to Vin the Program, asking if it was possible for it to join them. As soon as he released his BC node a fluidic, bronze Program sphere appeared adjacent the starship design projection.
“Vin, didn’t you tell me to use gorian alloy for the starship’s hull? I can't find it listed under the available materials,” Vin's sphere rippled, the projected list of materials shimmering as it updated, the rare alloy now listed at its peak. Sir Seb'Losh froze as if he'd seen a ghost, while Knight Admiral Bhool momentarily lost her composure, looking from the sphere to the material list, then back to the sphere.
“From what Sasha has told me, the Alutia Duchy is located on the largest gorian deposit ever discovered in the known universe. Apparently, she's required to pay a certain amount in tax to the emperor and king...but the emperor said to use his initial allocation for my starship. I didn't think it was that big of a deal,” he explained honestly, but after taking in his guests reactions, he knew he was wrong. Deciding it was best to continue, he selected gorian alloy as the material for the hull, then the drawing tool.
The directions for the ship design system were quite simple. First, you outlined the starships hull with your fingers and the interior framing would be constructed automatically. Then, when adding the internal compartments, the design system would automatically alter their shapes to fit within the outer hull's design.
He drew a scaled, kilometer long cylinder of the reddish-purple alloy, then rounded the sides and ends to provide it more of an ellipsoid shape. Next, he selected the Battleship Class plasma cannon and placed it on the nose, studying it for a second after it integrated. He felt something was missing. The cone protrusion, surrounded by 12 arrow-like spikes, which made up the plasma cannon, was fixed to the hull, only able to fire in the direction the starship was facing.
An idea came to him. He quickly scrolled through the component list and found what he hoped would work; the pivot platform used by the LPA's to allow them to fire on a 180 degree, double-plane arc. He increased the size of the platform and placed it on nose of the starship, under the plasma cannon. He then selected the icon that would activate the design system's simulation program, allowing it to estimate the current attached weapons firing arc. The space in front of the starship highlighted purple, 180 degrees on each plane from the usually stationary weapon. Trent smiled.
“I'll be,” Knight Admiral Bhool whispered, watching with obvious fascination, then suddenly tensed. “This could be a fatal flaw,” she told, leaning forward, “gorian alloy is nearly indestructible, but with this design, if a shot penetrates the ESS and strikes the nose they could easily destroy the starship through the plasma cannon feeders that attach to the NSD core,” she paused. “May I?” then asked politely
“By all means,” Trent raised his palms towards the projection. Knight Admiral Bhool slid closer, reaching in to increase the width of the hull around the newly added pivot platform, then proceeded to expand the hull into a cone shape over the plasma cannon itself. She leaned back and crossed her arms, studying the image with a satisfied grin. Trent looked on in confusion. How can it fire through the hull? He wondered. But when she activated the firing arc simulation, the same 180 degree, double-plane in front of the starship highlighted purple as the cone retracted.
“This will provide protection when the plasma cannon is not in use,” she explained with a nod, before leaning back in her seat.
“Thank you, I didn't even know it could do that,” he stated with honest amazement, then went back to work.
The next task was the tough
part; the LPAs. Fundamentally, their design was flawed, he'd come to realize. LPA’s were immobile; meaning the only way to bring to bear their entire firepower was to have the starships nose aiming directly at its target. Otherwise, some of the LPAs would be unable to target the enemy starship, being on the wrong side. Though he had already thought of a way around this issue, which is where his ellipsoid shaped hull came into play.
His idea involved creating pathways, a type of rail system, around the entire starship’s hull and place the LPA’s within these tracks, making them mobile. But this, he realized, would require him to place flaws into the now completely solid gorian hull.
“Could I place a second hull?” he whispered to himself.
“I do not understand why you'd want to, but I think it may be possible,” Knight Admiral Bhool responded. Trent nodded absently, selecting the hull icon again and drawing a raised hull out of standard tilitium, about five meters above the gorian hull. Then, he quickly located the mobile track system in the list of available starship components, having to search under the civilian design components since it was only used on NHA bulk and standard freighters. He then began crisscrossing the tracks across the outer hull, before selecting a large LPA and pivot platform and placing them on the track. Crossing his fingers, he began the simulation to estimate the firing arc of the placed LPA. “Yes,” he almost shouted, clenching his fist in triumph as the entire space around the starship highlighted purple...it worked!
“That is a cleaver idea, Sir Trent, but what about the weapon's crew? How will they have access if they are stuck inside the inner hull while the LPAs are on the outer?” The question Knight Admiral Bhool raised confused him at first, but he believed he already had the answer. He zoomed into the inner gorian hull and drew an outline for access doors upon eight locations, four on the upper hull and four on the lower, then zoomed inside the starship to place eight LPA weapon maintenance, storage, and control bays.
“Internal storage? What about deployment time,” Knight Admiral Bhool trailed off, talking to herself. “I think it might work, we will have to test the concept thoroughly, but it may just be possible and solve one of my principal concerns with our starship designs,” her mind was clearly working as she spoke.
Trent gazed at her, unable to hide his curiosity. “If you don't mind me asking...what is the concern?”
She glanced at him, seeming surprised by his question. “The loss of LPAs in combat, of course. They extend beyond the ESS, so have little protection and are destroyed rather easily. If you store them internally, you could have spares on hand that immediately deploy when one is destroyed.”
Trent nodded. “Why not retract them slightly as they charge, so they would only be...” he started thinking out loud, but Knight Admiral Bhool was already way ahead of him. She accessed the schematic for a deployment mechanism used by the NHA Bulk Freighter Class and added the feature to the LPA platform. After a few moments, the new ability was integrated, along with the rest of the LPAs and additional external systems that needed to extend beyond the hull, including the EW spikes, ESS projectors, and Sensor and Communication arrays.
Satisfied, they turned to the interior, adding a bridge, overshadowed by an oversized, custom fleet command deck with two command stations, one for him and the other for Sasha, flanked by eight seats for noncombatants. In the center of the deck they placed a Capital Class Combat Information Display, or CID, surrounded by 12 fleet command staff stations, with additional standard PDU stations lining the curving walls. They then turned to the noble apartments, designating 20 of the 35 decks, extending 600 meters from behind the bridge to the rear engineering department, for their use, against Knight Admiral Bhool's strong recommendation. The apartment area was then split further into multiple smaller apartments, the biggest for Trent and Sasha, with a slightly smaller one for Sasha's ladies-in-waiting. Two additional, fully equipped, but modestly sized apartments were also added, situated nearby for noble guests.
Additional features they included were a guard barracks for up to a 100 Alutia Guards, a reception hall, a banquet hall, a dining hall, a large and small conference room, servant and kitchen compartments, and all the minor features required of any noble residence. The general crewmen were cut back to 300, again, with Knight Admiral Bhool strongly objecting. But Vin had been able to assuage her, if only slightly, by informing them that a Program would be provided to integrate into the starship to oversee the nonessential systems, allowing the crew to shrink even further if required.
Beyond the two standard, full-sized hanger bays, a third personal hanger bay was added that had two elevators running directly to the noble apartments, one to the reception area outside the guard barracks and a second, hidden one, which connected directly to his and Sasha’s inner apartments. The personal hanger would include a custom, Emperor Class shuttle, which Trent planned to armor in gorian alloy as well, four ferry shuttles, and an open docking bay, for special guests who may arrive on their own shuttle. It was a tight fit, and they were still missing the most important component, or so Trent thought; a food production facility.
To support the 500 or so crew, guards, servants, and nobles that would be onboard the starship at any one time required a 250 by 100 by 10 meter food production facility, and currently, they were out of space.
“I think you should reconsider, Sir Trent, and see about constructing a smaller, rapid resupply ship to always accompany you, such as is standard with NHA battle groups,” Knight Admiral Bhool suggested as she studied the sleek, slightly elongated, ellipsoid shaped starship that looked eerily like a tailless whale with an arrow-like snout . They had already added another 100 meters to the nose because they found it would allow them an even greater firing arc for the plasma cannon. And also found a way to sink the maneuvering thrusters into the gorian hull, providing greater maneuverability then the standard starship design and none of the worry that they would be destroyed if the ESS failed
“I really don't want to have to rely on another starship in case we get ambushed and are stranded. There must be a way....” he trailed off, staring intently at his design as Sir Seb'Losh, without a word, reached into the projection and extended a 200 meter strip of the top and bottom of the hull out 50 meters, providing a look of two long humps running across the ellipsoid hull. He then zoomed inside, selected the food production faculty, manipulated it slightly, and placed it along the top of the noble apartments. The design system integrated the new component, altering the internal design of the sections that were not locked, such as the crew quarters and storage bays, and then blinked green.
They were done.
Trent smiled his thanks to Sir Seb'Losh as he zoomed the projection out, performing a few minor adjustments to the outer hull for aesthetic and weapon movement improvements, as well as adding red and black shading to the outer tilitium hull while placing the Alutia Crest on each side. He then moved on to the final step, and he couldn't keep a wide grin from appearing on his lips.
“She may get mad at you for this, Sir Trent,” Sir Seb'Losh must have read his mind. But he didn't care, or respond, just keying in the title, ABF Sasha Alutia, of the Sasha Class. He not only named the starship after her, but also the design. So if any future versions of this starship were built, which he knew was highly unlikely, they would all include his love’s name.
His breath froze as a ghostly visage of Sasha appeared before him, fear and worry in her eyes. It took only a moment for him to realize what was happening. The bracelet Sasha adorned, known as the Arm of the Emperor, provided her the ability to locate friends no matter where they were in the universe through the use of sealed technology. But from the way she appeared before him, something was definitely amiss. He stormed to his feet, rushing into their bedchamber, Sir Seb'Losh and Knight Admiral Bhool on his heels as they must have caught his sudden concern.
Sitting up in their bed, covering her modesty with a thin sheet, was Sasha, staring at him with eyes of relief. Trent hurried to her side, ignoring
his crying limbs, climbing across the bed and looking her up and down.
“What’s wrong? Are you alright?” he asked, his breath having left him.
“Where were you, Trent? I woke and you were gone without a word. You know you are never to leave my side without permission!” Sasha shouted angrily, he having broken his promise to her. But he didn't care, being more relieved by the fact that she was alright. He tried to hug her, but she held him at distance. Confused at first, but quickly recalling his plight, he glanced over his shoulder, hoping to use Sir Seb'Losh and Knight Admiral Bhool to help him explain the situation, but finding they had already fled, leaving him to face Sasha’s wrath alone. He clenched his teeth, accepting what was to come.
“You know this well, Trent, that you are not allowed to leave my side without informing me. What if something happened? You promised me, Trent... so why, why, Trent? Why did you leave without waking me?” Her voice seethed with anger; anger born of her concern for him, of the knowledge of the fragility of his psyche, and the danger of him falling back into despair when he was alone, as had happened when he talked with Tiana earlier. But he knew when he made the decision to meet with Knight Admiral Bhool without Sasha's knowledge, that she would react this way, and he was fully prepared for any punishment she deemed appropriate; the chance to surprise her with this gift worth her anger.
“I'm sorry, Sasha...my love...I was just...just meeting with Knight Admiral Bhool in our sitting room. I know I should have woke you...I'm sorry,” he apologized honestly. “If you can forgive me, could you get dressed? I want to show you something.” Sasha glared at him, her anger wanting to hold on, but as she ran a finger down his cheek, it began to wane, but refused to completely vanish. Reluctantly, she slipped into a wispy red dress of a design she preferred to wear during casual occasions, forcing a frown whenever her glance fell upon him. When she finished, he grabbed her hand, escorting her into the sitting room.
The Noble Petty, Complete Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 2) Page 6