The Dark Academy on Korriban

Swallowing his latest culinary conquest, Zeno looks to Shaisa. "I know I intend to take a few trips out there. See what dangers and remnants of the past I can put myself to the test with. The real treasure to be found out there is the challenge and the opportunity to gain power through adversity."

"Do you have previous experience with exploring forgotten tombs of ancient sith lords?" she asked with a coy smile.

"None. But one does not grow by shying from the things they've never done. Perhaps I'll be killed, perhaps I'll find an ancient artifact, or if I'm really unlucky I'll find nothing and come back having wasted time. I won't know by sitting in my dorm room and staring at my navel though. That is not an option." He continues putting his fork and knife to work, slowly pulling his meal apart bite by bite.

Shaisha laughed softly, her smile resembling that of a predator, as was common with those of pure bloodlines. "If you're really unlucky, turning up empty-handed isn't really it. Dead Sith Lords rarely tend to lie quietly in the after-life... and many have taken precautions against possible tomb raiders. Returning empty-handed is often considered a better option."

He looks up from his plate to meet her eyes, an intensity and sense of excitement present in his. "Finding the spirit of a long dead Sith Lord and being struck down by it... I would consider that preferable to a boring afternoon in a wasteland. At least I'd have some excitement and feel my passion for battle rise before dying. I'd prefer to not die in such a situation, but boredom and stagnation are worse than death." There is no smile there, but he does give off a clear sense that the thought of such violence, even if it were his end, seems very enticing to him. And then it slowly fades as he looks to his food again, continuing the busy and slow-paced work of making it disappear.

Baesal nods and finishes a bite before talking.

''That's one way of seeing things. Maybe it's my love of deflagration talkin' but if a dead sith lord wakes to kill me I'd be sure to have explosives planted everywhere I can: if the bastard manages to off me then his legacy and haunting ground will be turned into a pile of rubble.''

With that she finishes that particular dumpling

Zeno's reply was the kind of foolish bravado she was used to hearing. The Togruta on the other hand had to top that by bringing up desecration and destruction of the Sith's historical sites and heritage.

"I admire your sentiment, Deathwright," she nodded to the man. "Sadly, I can't say the same for someone who wishes to destroy the Sith's place of history to cover up her own shortcomings. I was willing to entertain the notion that you could be a worthwhile servant of the Empire, but that does not seem to be the case."

"I would agree that destroying a tomb of a Sith Lord is inappropriate. That is our heritage. Those are powerful beings that each had a hand in paving the road for the empire to become as great as it is today. To challenge them in an attempt to gain power or plunder their tombs in order to put their knowledge and tools to use in service of the empire is a lofty and worthy goal if you can pull it off. To destroy such things because you do not have the power to take it for yourself? That is wasteful and disrespectful of their nature and accomplishments. Death is preferable to a true sith over such ruin."

She gave a shrug

''Heh, if you say so.'' she replied with a sharp toothed grin, hiding the dismissive nature of it.

Religious non-sense...and I am not about to tell them how I'd really use the bombs either

There were some aliens that were just more tolerable than others. That handsome Chiss that frequented the Nexu Room Cantina for instance was very tolerable.

This one just served as a sour reminder that some species were simply just inferior.

"Word of advice, acolytes have been cut down for less by the overseers on Korriban. You'd be wise to show respect to the betters that are giving you a chance at becoming something greater than you are now."

But you are not one of them, sweet cheeks.

Baesal gave a simple nod and returned to her meal. After all, she got what she wanted...

The togruta refocused her datapad and resumed her work

The silence would be awkward for Zeno if he wasn't enjoying his breakfast.

Shaisha considered the alien's silence a sign that she had, for the moment at least, been put in her place. Those who forgot their place didn't last long on Korriban anyway.

She finished the last of her meal, washing it down with a mouthful of water.

"I will see both of you again planetside."

Looking to Shaisa, the sith-blood nods. "Indeed. I will look forward to it."

Baesal looked up from her pad and gave the sith a nice smile

"That'll be lovely dear, see you soon!"

"Have you done much work on the Mark Vs?" Zeno asks, gently stabbing a bit of food before bringing it to his mouth.

At least that guy is interesting

"Yes I did. The carrier I was on had a fleet of them so I spent some time doing repairs and and keeping them squeaky clean"

Chomp

"Did you ever pilot one?"

"Yes. The Deathwright generally have the latest model starfighters available for training. When we are assigned to units in the Imperial Navy we are generally put in the most capable and well outfitted squadrons. We also train on older models as well as some Republic craft so that we know how to use them in case of crash landings planetside on Republic worlds as well as to allow us to understand their capabilities first hand. I've logged over five thousand hours flight time split between atmospheric and space using over two dozen different models since my training began four years ago. I spent the majority of my time in the Mark IV but I've got plenty of time in the newer model."

Baesal listens carefully, visibly intereted.

"That's some sweet experience. How did you find the republic's vessels? From what I have seen they tend to be more versatile with their own hyperdrives and torpedoes."

"We had limited access to torpedo ammunition so they were re-outfitted with launchers from old Mark IIIs and IVs. The hyperdrives tended to be wildly variable from model to model though. Some with better power consumption and efficiency at the expense of accuracy, likely expected to piggyback off of the arrogation capabilities of larger ships. Others were more accurate but tended to draw a great deal of power from other systems in the seconds before the jump. One of their newer models sacrificed both accuracy and drew power from subsystems except for shields so that it could power up extremely quickly allowing for hasty retreats. They're definitely not as standardized as the ones used in the empire. I imagine that makes it a headache for less experienced or knowledgable mechanics. I could tell that if I had to perform maintenance in an emergency I'd be hard pressed to figure most out unless I had spent significant time familiarizing myself beforehand. But someone like yourself that is likely trained in principles rather than specifics would likely be fine."

Zeno continues his food as he describes his experiences in flight training.

"True...but well trained pilots with astromechs can do quite a lot. Is this diversity not also a boon for them? Since not all the pilots in the Empire are elites like your house and yourself, they might have a hard time adpating if they face different squadrons often."

She chewed further on her stuff

"It provides certain advantages, of course. If it did not then they wouldn't be as powerful a foe as they are. But nearly every advantage has a trade off. For them that diversity means they need to diversify training and thus it takes more time for their pilots to master whatever ship they pilot. They also have compatibility issues when cannibalizing vessels for repairs. One doesn't necessarily know what to expect but sometimes what they get is an inferior configuration if the parts available are from incompatible starships requiring jury rigging. The empire can throw any pilot in any ship of same class and know that they are proficient. That is why we can bring more force to bear with shorter periods of time between battles and we will know that the performance of our units will not degrade except for loss of numbers. It makes the empire more efficient and capable of withstanding attrition better with less training, allowing us to field more pilots in the machines they were trained for."

"Are the republic's ships really that haphazadly designed? I know that variations exists depending on systems independant defense forces and manufacturers but I doubt that the republic's fleet is absutely random."

Munch-munch

"But attrition comes into play only if they play that game, no?

"How long has this war lasted? They're playing that game," Zen says with a shrug.

"Imperial ships are designed and manufactured under the guidance of officials whose purpose it is to make sure that things remain standardized. Republic 'ideals' of freedom as they claim in mean that any company is allowed to design their starships in whatever manner they wish. When I saw the Deathwright hangar that had Republic ships for training I couldn't believe how completely unlike each was from the others. Certainly the basic engineering principles behind subsystems are similar, but chassis are unrecognizable to each other between manufacturers and many parts seemed to be specific to the chassis. Terribly inefficient from a logistical standpoint even if individual ships themselves had more or less capabilities comparatively."

She cocked her head and looked at Zeno in a strange manner. Then it hits her: he does not know what he is talking about...that's not experience talking but propaganda.

Poor guy

''Well, the Mark VI will be coming soon''