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« on: January 24, 2025, 06:01:11 PM »
Temurqaddangan Doji did not like what he was seeing.
"Ko Combine R450. You want me to finance the production of a series of cheap HK units to erstwhile explorers who can get their hulls melted by pirates and their cargos confiscated by Pathers, far from the core."
Genej laughed, knocking back a hideously-colored orange drink. "No sir, I wouldn't do that to you. I want you to finance something that will serve as the backbone for the first true fleet design for the Independents for system patrols local-hyper salvage."
"It's... a Shepherd, Genej. What am I missing here?"
"What you're missing, Ser Doji, is that the Independents need vehicles they can truly call their own, and which serve their own purposes, as well as being able to provide rudimentary defenses."
Temurqaddangan frowned. "I don't see how adding yet another HK mod into the list of crowded HK mods is going to help you here."
"Look, Ser Doji," Genej implored. "You trawl bars looking for hopefuls you can dole out venture capital to, because if you land the right person, you're in the money. I wouldn't waste your time with a dust venture. This has backing."
"Sure," Temurqaddangan mused. "But it has no market. HK's are everywhere. Even the Pathers can make these."
She shook her head. "Not these, Ser. Check the spec sheet."
He took a quick glance. "The weapons are gone. The maneuvering jets are gone. This is to be part of systems-defense patrols and sold to independent contractors...with no weapons? A brace of borer pods isn't going to cut it, Genej."
Genej's started to smile, and for the first time, Temurqaddangan noticed that the smile was predatory, almost feral. I need to watch this one more carefully, he thought.
"I've missed something." He frowned. "Okay, tell me what I've missed."
"The Shepherd," Genej said, falling easily into Lecture Mode, "is one of Ko Combine's most successful designs. Agreus does big business with the Hegemony performing various salvage and breaker functions with it. It's the absolute complete package for the explorer clan which wants to mine, salvage, and survey. But in a pirate scrap, three Shepherds really isn't all that much better than one Shepherd. This design solves that, while adding significantly to operator profitability."
"Okay," Temurqaddangan allowed, sipping his own drink... water, as musual. "How does it do that?"
"Losing the useless turrets and the maneuvering jets allows for a doubled combat persistence time. If projections hold, it'll have persistence that will rival or possibly even outclass a Venture, at two hull sizes lower. This means less down time, less dwell time, less refurbishment time, lower maintenance across the board. On the other hand, losing the maneuvering jets means fewer fuel lines as well. Look here and here," Genej said, pointing to an R450 image. "See all of this infrastructure to support the maneuvering jets? That's a fundamental part of the HK variant that's so popular. We pull all that out, especially the portions along the main fueling column here on the right, and substitute this."
He frowned. "You added an extra shuttle deck?" No, it wasn't a shuttle deck. Something was off here.
Genej grinned again, and this time it almost looked scary. "That's the main flight deck, Ser Doji. Compare it to the HK."
"I see," he mused. "Ko's ability to squeeze a flight deck onto a frigate-sized hull is more impressive than I thought. But then, this and this...?"
"Are," Genej beamed, "also borer-only flight decks. This variant will be an absolute workhorse for mining and salvage work, and of course, the same hazardous-environment work borer drones already do. The reliability that boosts performance time is actually for economic purposes. It should be as effective with the additional drones as a destroyer-sized salvage rig. No better at surveying than the original R450, sadly. BUT," she continued, realizing that all the economic talk was starting to bore her prospect, "what it REALLY turns this into is a small scale economic powerhouse which can double as a defense carrier. A half-dozen borers is enough to keep some rockets off your tail. But a dozen and a half borers...."
He nodded. "That many drones outnumbers a typical fighter wing dramatically and probably allows the Shepherd to go toe-to-toe with most of the low-end trash that a raider fleet cobbles together."
Genej nodded with him. "Exactly. While also being of extremely limited interest to them. Who in their right mind would run a fleet of ships which literally has no guns? Offensively, this machine is pointless. But for defensive purposes, we're confident that this vehicle can punch far above its weight class and become the gold standard for independent operators. At," she smiled, "a significant upcharge compared to what a typical HK variant sells for."
Temurqaddangan thought quietly. "How much upcharge are we talking about here?"
"Enough to cover the dock chop-work and the additional parts." Genej opened up a knock-off Tri-pad that looked like she'd done half the wiring herself," showing him a spreadsheet with some numbers. "Not enough to put it in Tarsus territory, though the first design, stealing a B-deck mod from a damaged Gemini got that high. We're looking at equivalent cost somewhere between a Dram and a Vigilance, with significantly greater economic value. For the cost and crew compliment of a single near-indefensible Tarsus, you should be able to operate two of these."
He finished his water. "The credits are yours. I'll need to make a quick call and then I'll run you up a terms sheet," he said, shaking her hand.
Temurqaddangan paused. "This is impressive work. If you can continue to produce work at this level, the Corporation is likely to make more financing available your way."
Genej gave him that feral grin again. "I have a running plan for Mules you might enjoy. But honestly, if you really want to see something creative, once this is done, I'll show you what my team and I have done for HGA-220m2 raider."
"The mudskipper? Really?" he said, letting down his performative game-face. He could relax here, this woman was worth cultivating a business relationship with.
"Same hull, but very different design," she replied. "We call it The Scythian."