10 Chapter

"You want me to do what!?" Tal`di Var, the twi'lek in charge of the refit of 'MY' new ship asked while staring up at me.

I nodded, "I want you to install two turbolaser turrets, one dorsal and one ventral, of the same model as on the CR70. Can it be done?"

He sighed, "Well..." and bit his lower lip, "Maybe. The smugglers did install a stronger power core so it should be able to take the drain. It will require cutting into the superstructure but we already need to pull out almost the entire interior to get the cells removed and the other changes you requested so... Yes, I think we can."

I trilled happily at that. "Oh, and I want them retractable into the hull so they are not visible from the outside."

He just stared at me. "Can't be done. They're too big."

I give him a look. "Can't be done, or too big of a job?"

He shook his head. "Can't be done. Not if you want to keep ANY cargo space left. We are already cutting your passenger-carrying capacity in half with widening corridors and raising the ceiling to a the level you want as well as installing the larger Captain's quarters."

I gave him an unhappy look as he played with his PADD before continuing, "How about this instead? Instead of the large turbolasers like on the CR-70, we install smaller quad-lasers like on the YT-1300? Those are small enough that we can squeeze in the ability to retract them and close gun-ports without compromising the rest of the design to much."

I checked the specifications for those on my own PADD as he sent over the info and I slowly nod. "Acceptable... but I want five of them. Two dorsal, two ventral, and one aft to cover the blind-spot created by the engine nacelles."

Sighing, Var glanced up at me again. "Retractable?"

I nodded, making him suck air in through his sharpened teeth. "It... it might be doable? I can't make any promises about it. I'll need to go through the design again. Get back to you in a couple of days about it?"

Tilting my head, I looked at him for a few seconds before nodding. "Acceptable."

He nodded before making a note and continuing, "Now, about these compartments around the outer rim of the vessel... What are those for? If you skipped those, we could bring the passenger compliment up another fifty or so," as he pointed them out on the design.

Along each side of the vessel shown, there were compartments like large airlocks hidden behind camouflaged exterior panels around the hull. There were twenty of them, each one having just over five cubic meters of space in them along with a power coupling.

I shook my head at him. "Special equipment. Actually, the special equipment isn't built yet and won't be for some time, but I want the ship ready for when they arrive."

Var just shrugged. "You're the customer. You decide how you want your ship, I just try to make it happen."

Snorting, I shook my head. "You know who's bankrolling this. They are likely to get me and my ship in enough trouble that I'm going to need everything I can possibly get as an edge."

He chuckled. "Right, you are about that, Boss, right you are... Well, I think that's all for now. Contact me if you think of any other changes, OK?"

I nodded before turning to leave the rather cramped office. "Indeed, I will."

As I exited, he called out for me, "Hey, I almost forgot. What colors do you want her in? Can't keep her red. It's limited to diplomatic transports and Republic ships."

I took a moment to think before nodding, "Keep the pattern but make her purple and blue, my colors. Purple replacing the red."

He snorted softly and nodded. "Purple and blue... Got it. Have a safe flight."

I headed off for the shuttle.

Time to get surface side again... I have some Want ads to post. I needed a crew... Eight of them. Four are needed for each shift so technically, I could get away with less... but I wanted the ability to run them around the clock in 10-hour shifts if absolutely necessary.

I frowned slightly as I headed up to the terminal for the shuttle to take me down. I might need a couple more actually if I am to take passengers.

Droids could work but sapiens do like 'real' staff. Combined with slightly larger, more luxurious cabins, it could attract higher paying customers to make up for the loss of passenger space.

Slowly, I stopped making my way towards the shuttle to loop around back towards the shipwright's office.

Somehow, I get the feeling that he is going to hate me by the time the ship is finished...