Collab between Sep and Forsythe
Pre-launch meet and greet between then Captain Catherine Back and Doctor Phil Lawson
The door of the elevator opened, and before him stood the captain. Dressed in the typical garbs of a fleet officer. The Catherine Langford's insignia still on her breast. He laughed slightly at the thought, she still had no real idea what this shipyard was churning out but he had no doubt she’d bite as soon as she knew what they were building here. While he had no control over the Captain of the vessel, with so few experienced captains and many of them holding of them holding important stations he had no doubt one of them would be replaced.
He had his bets on Catherine Black. Experienced, dedicated and when in control of the Catherine Langford the IOA had little control over their own ship so that was always a card in their favour. He walked forward, the excitement in him waking him up. Though he doubt he looked fresh, he had spent days awake working on some of the latest adjustments….
However with renewed vigor he walked up his former CO and offered his hand. “Captain, it’s so good to see you again, and thanks for taking some of your time to come take a peek at our little pet project.”
The scene reminded her of the game Portal. She was in front of a little tool shed in the middle of nowhere and little else. Of course, she knew the shed was a hidden elevator, but since there was nothing around here, she wondered…
Catherine’s train of thought was interrupted as the door opened, and a familiar face welcomed her. Smiling, she shook the offered hand: “It’s been too long Dr. Lawson. I am glad for the distraction actually. Earth has me sitting behind the desk while the Langford is in drydock. I’ll take every opportunity to get out.”
She wondered what it was she was here to see though, and inquired as much of the doctor. She did send in new specs for the recon plane, perhaps that was it? It would be wonderful if she got to fly a new machine.
“Sadly, the 547 isn’t fully operational. A fine craft don’t get me wrong, but there are still the occasional kinks which is why the non-cloak version is standard. We’re currently trying to get our computers to be small enough yet be able to keep up with the calculations, which are actually more complicated than plotting a hyperspace jump. Odd I know, but-” He shrugged. “-Maths a bitch. Anyway, while you were waiting for more updates on that front, you no doubt know about the new ships being thrown into service.”
He started walking towards a slightly bigger blast door down the hall. “The 305 is currently in service out in Pegasus for the Indians and the 306 is getting ready for its shakedown cruise later this month. I’m here to show you something else.”
He swiped his ID card through the card reader beside the door, which after beeping in confirmation slowly began to rise up. Revealing the X-307, in some places her hull was still being patched on and there was obviously both man and machine crawling over the ship in order to put it together. “Today I’m going to introduce you to my personal favourite, the 307.”
Kat was getting a bit edgy with all the waiting. Not the recon plane? Then what? She’s seen the two new ships already - they let her do as much as visit the Earth’s shipyard. As far as she knew, the offworld one was assembling more 304s.
Then the blast door lifted and revealed a small platform overlooking a very much different ship. It was still being built, but she could get a good impression of it’s final shape already. A small gasp escaped her mouth before she went to lean over the guardrail to see as much as she could.
“This is…” she fought to find the correct words, “...well, sexy really!” she grinned, before looking at the craft with a more watchful eye, scratching her chin. “Larger than a 304, yet not armed so much. Armor looks on par. Unless we're in the business of making our battlecruisers easier targets... I give up, what’s it for?”
“I knew you’d appreciate a fine woman when you saw her.” He gave a smirk and let the comment rest, he didn’t bother to chase it up she knew well what he was getting at. He moved over and leaned on the barrier looking at the ship. “From rules and what not the hanger placement and missile silos are set. In terms of the actual gun batteries I was feeling that would be something you could help me on. I’d rather not just put guns on every surface like the 304.”
He turned to face her slightly on the whole battlecruiser statement, offering a grin. “You’re right, she’s not a battlecruiser. The 307 is a long term reconnaissance, research, recon vessel. She’s as fast as a 304, with the shield power. Has better sensors and comm systems, and is designed for long term mission viability with as small as crew as possible. Thoughts?”
“Other than ‘I want it!’ you mean?” the Captain smiled, looking over the glistering hull.
Lawson smirked. “Did I mention she has a cloak?”
“You are a god damn tease, doc.” Kat said, shooting him a half amused and half deadly glare. “It sounds great. Finally some finesse rather than brute force. I always prefered stealth approach and pouncing from the shadows. Was any thought put to using the superior maneuverability the new classes have?” she thought out loud, judging the hull to get an idea about the weapons placement.
He signalled for them to head down the walkway, which would eventually lead to the bridge that she’d one day be commanding from. If everything went well. “She won’t have the speed in Hyperspace to that of a 306 though that stands to reason the 306 has the biggest engines we’ve ever built, but she’ll definitely be maneuverable. Think of the new 303 “Tempest” Line and the new age of support frigates. Roll, dodge and turn. She’ll be able to do them all, with the help from the asgard core.”
He turned them down a different walkway heading into the ship itself. “Though that being said we’re trying to incorporate a host of new designs, including fusion, to test on her. She’s got the lab space and a lot of her actual parts are in “modules” that can be switched out. It’s all to do with the fact that she really is a prototype ship.” He stopped them for a second and pointed at a turret just visible along the spine.
“That itself is one of our first attempts at a plasma based weapon. By first attempts I mean it’s not just something the Asgard slapped onto one of our ships for us to replicate we made it ourselves. Even it can be replaced with a standard sized railgun. I mean, before everything had to be designed and planned and if it didn’t work. Well, battles like with the Ori at the Supergate or the Hammond at Icarus happen. The point is that this ship will be fully functional while also able to test out new technologies for later models. Hell, she’ll be one of a kind.”
“Next you tell me this beauty can track and fight other ships into and inside hyperspace and I will refuse to leave.” the captain said, thinking she was probably hoping for too much. She has been told ‘no’ before, when they didn’t let her fly helicopters after her accident. Whenever she inquired Homeworld Command about when the Langford will be ready to go out of the drydock again, she was getting similar answers as back then. Couple that with the IOA hating her guts, and her worries about that desk job were legitimate.
“Fusion makes sense. Less power but Hydrogen is the most easily found element in the universe and it can be scooped up easily. If it is supposed to go on her own, it cuts down on the logistical issues nicely.” Catherine nodded with approval.
They eventually came into a room that she could recognize was the command and control. She chuckled. Her private victory of getting this aspect of the Langford changed apparently stuck. “What weapons are being considered? With the same resupply issue in mind, I can’t say the railguns and missiles sound appealing.”
“We have swarm missiles, similar to the Horizon but on an anti-fighter scale in planning. A large spinal gun similar to that on destiny. Missiles, railguns, plasma. While the railguns will take initial priority there is a manufacturing area on the ship, that given the materials if the time is taken we can upgrade most of the turrets if need be. Though these designs need to be actually tested first.” As they entered the CiC he smiled slightly.
It was a good design, keeping the heart of the ship secure. Though there were several alterations, there was a slight rise in the middle of the room with two podiums with about waist height for the captain to stand in. As well as a couple of stations set in a circle around where the captain would be. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll do the demonstration.”
He stepped into the centre of the room, and ran pressed three buttons on the left hand podium. As he did so two holographic screens appeared rising out of each. Displaying both holographic buttons for input and displays with information running all over them. Flicking through several buttons, obviously knowing what he was doing. Consoles throughout the CIC came to life. “This is your CiC. I can’t show of all its functions yet obviously as not all of them are operational but it operates much the same as your own with a couple of exceptions. If an officer has to leave you can take their post without leaving. You don’t need a chair-”
That in itself was a hint that he was vying for Catherine to get the ship, and that she was even being considered by the fact that this was her preference “-and once we’ve got all the sensors online we’ll be able to holographically show the theatre of combat.” He shrugged. “Hell, want to take the helm? Just don’t try to activate the engines. You’ll get me in trouble.”
He stepped down from the centre.
All her thoughts about the issues came to a crashing halt. Verdammt! “I… I beg your pardon?” she asked for clarification, too stunned by the implication to do much else. “Do you know something I don’t?”
He just chuckled. “If you can invent a cloaking device for a spaceship, then no I guess I don’t. If you can’t, then yes I do. Also all I know is we need a captain, you’re a captain. Yes you have the Langford but c’mon. How long do you think the IOA will like having minimal control of their own ship?” He shrugged.
The look on Cap’s face had to be priceless. The best she would later describe it would be like a girl who asked her dad what present she was getting for Christmas and he refused to tell. Still… “Well, whenever I inquired of Command when we’ll be leaving again, I’ve got dodgy answers. O’Neill would have had to authorize me seeing this. I wonder if that’s on purpose, he tends to work this way the cheeky bastard. Tell you what. I’ll call him and tell him I want the ship. We’ll see what happens.” Kat grinned, running her hand across the surface of the dormant controls, not wanting to wake the infant ship up before it was ready.
“If you’re looking at me for the weapon placement, I’d emphasize the need to be able to shoot at the widest angles. That way you can have less turrets for the same concentration of firepower. Best to be able to fire each and every gun forwards along with the spinal guns, and 50% or more into every other direction would be nice. And put enough protection around the engines. You know we had limited maneuverability at Langara and that crazy bitch was warping pyramids right in front of us.” she shared her thoughts, shuddering at the memory.
“It’s not overly noticeable now however there is a slight hull overlap over the engines so even if shields go down as long as she’s in the right position her engines will be fine. They don’t stick out of her arse like a 304. In terms of how General O’Neill works-” He just shrugged. “-I can’t speak for that. I was originally moved here to oversee 303 and 304 production while working on the 547 and now I’m designing this beaut so that man does work in strange ways. I heard that when the Ori were a threat Landry requested Carter be sent to the SGC. When O’Neill refused Landry called him and was arguing with him on how she was needed, as she turned up at the door. Though if you’ve ever spoken to Walter he does say some pretty crazy stories.”
His watch beeped, and he checked it. “I have cloaking simulations to run in about half an hour, however before then. Could I interest you in a stroll to the observation deck? From there you should be able to see where most the current weapon emplacements are going to be. If you go back and check your emails to you I’ve actually been really sneaky in getting a lot of answers I need.” He stopped to turn back to the Captain.
“You know, I should have been a spy.” He just laughed as he opened the bulkhead that would take them further into the ship.
Simply nodding, Kat followed. “Oh, whoa...” she breathed out as she got a look from the observation deck. “I have to give it to you, she is beautiful. I never understood that ‘roof’ thing on the 304. This shape looks so much better.” she smiled.
After a few minutes she suggested moving some of the weapons more spaced along the length of the ship into clusters around the best positions. she understood more of them could be taken out easily that way, but their defensive weaponry had high rate of fire already. When in clusters of four, very little stood a chance of actually getting through, and this way the overall defense would be stronger and save up two gun positions entirely.
“What about the birds? I didn’t notice any hangar on the outside?”
“Oh, thought I mentioned that.” He shrugged, the observation deck was all the way at the tail looking down onto the main body of the ship. Her nose off near the end of the hangar. He pointed towards the nose. “In the nose there’s room for ten 302s, two 547s and one of the new dropship prototypes being designed by Area 51. Who don’t want to be felt outdone by the 307 so somehow wrangled that contract. Anyway, it’s big. Has a catapult if you really want to use it, and has advanced sensors if you need to pick someone up. It’s a smaller target and harder to it, can launch Horizon Platforms and has two hangar doors and a shield in the unlikely event that it is hit.”
He moved over to a console, and began pressing buttons. Accessing the cameras in the hangar and then bringing up a holographic image on the window on front of them of the front of the ship. “Don’t always expect a real time feed to the outside of the ship, but while we’re still earth side-” he offered her the console. “-we’ve got cameras all around the ship if you want to take a closer look.”
“Magnificent. Not as many as a 304, but hey, it’s smaller.” she said, taking the cue and getting a good look with the cameras from below. This day was fantastic. “Just one more thing. What do you call her?”
“Well, we take a lot of cues from mythology. She’s a fine lady.”
“I’m thinking Nyx.”
