Chapter 64: Engineering

Summary: Checking in on Mei and exploring a new ship...

Warning! Chapters 63-65 were all released back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!

Lemon Warning! This chapter contains a lemon between Mei and Izuku. As always, it is clearly labeled with -Lemon Starts Here- and -Lemon Ends Here- for those that aren't interested and want to skip the zesty bits.

Chapter 64: Engineering

Izuku hadn't rushed to check into Shil Tervo's complaints about Mei for a good reason. Specifically, because he'd long since assigned Nikkila the job of managing Mei's chaos. The Mikkian was enough of an engineering nut herself that it wasn't foolproof. But she could generally be counted on to make sure that Mei didn't fall into her old habits of not taking care of herself. Particularly after he'd had a few quiet words with the pink woman about making sure Mei maintained the self-management methods he'd helped her develop. Add in the fact that he and Aayla had actively tried to spend a fair amount of time with Mei since she'd joined their relationship, either separately or together, and Izuku hadn't been overly worried that Mei was spiraling. It also hadn't been that long since they'd spent time together, Izuku and Aayla both having made sure to do so before the chaos of the invasion into Hutt Space began.

A quick check of her project progress had said the same thing, after Tervo had left. There were some very odd fluctuations in her projects. It looked like she was spawning far more of them than usual in some sort of creative frenzy. But, if anything, she was actually getting more sleep than she usually did, if her schedule wasn't lying. That was an admittedly really weird dichotomy he'd never seen before, but it indicated that even if Nikkila had gotten sucked into Mei's pace, it wasn't producing results dangerous to Mei's health. To other people's sanity? Very possibly. Particularly considering the names and descriptions of a few of aforementioned projects were off the wall even for Mei. But Mei wasn't in any danger of tearing herself apart, as far as Izuku had been able to tell.

So, Izuku had let that situation cook in the background a little bit longer while he took care of politics. Now, however, it was time to face the music and figure out just what was behind Mei's current case of Invention Zoomies. Which is why he'd taken the Wandering Fate, their much-beloved personal ship that he didn't see nearly enough of these days, and headed over to Mei's private space station.

Yes, she had a private space station. Yes, it was entirely sane and logical for Mei to have a private space station. Not only did it provide incredible security for the stupidly huge number of projects Mei worked on, but it had also been specifically built to contain explosions. Including exotic effects like a Null Torpedo going off unexpectedly. Mei might be ridiculously good at not blowing herself up. But she remained an occasional menace to everything and everyone around her. Honestly, part of the reason Nikkila was such a valuable addition was that she was also really good at avoiding getting accidentally exploded by Mei. She'd even brought the frequency of such explosions down by thirty seven percent by double checking some of Mei's haphazardly applied safety precautions!

Given the automated security check and the tiny number of people authorized to visit Mei's private domain, by the time Izuku shut down the ship and exited, he was unsurprised that Mei had made an appearance. Throwing herself into a flying tackle-hug that would have knocked him over if he hadn't used the Force to help both catch her and brace himself. The enthusiastic glomp-greeting wasn't unusual, particularly since she'd gotten involved with him and Aayla.

-Lemon Starts Here-

What was unusual was what she was wearing. It took him long seconds to fully process it, as Mei snuggled into him, the angle and the distraction of her boobs firmly squished against him not helping. When he did process it, he also recognized her outfit…mostly. Specifically, he recognized a version of a certain kinky costume that he'd most recently seen on his personal assistant. The reverse bunnygirl affair that she'd ambushed him with as a way to show off Mei's holosuit disguise device. There were differences, of course, though with Mei practically glued to him it was hard to sort them all out.

The biggest and easiest one of note was the fact that it wasn't a holosuit. The limitations of that technology meant that the disguise wasn't physical. Not with the current generation of the technology, at least. Which meant that he would have been feeling the skintight bodystocking of the gear, not the latex-and-flesh that was currently pressed against him. There was certainly no mistaking the 'vast tracts of land' that were Mei's bountiful boobies pressed against his body, with only small pasties covering her nipples. At least as far as he could tell through the relatively thin shirt he was wearing. Nor was there any way to mistake the equally nice double handful of her mostly exposed rear that that he was getting by holding her up, legs wrapped around his waist in a full body hug.

The mostly, regarding her rear-facing exposure, was the other big thing. Well, the other big thing besides the missing ears, since those weren't being shoved in his face like they would have been had she been wearing them. The mostly of her exposed rear was rather telling, particularly in combination with what he was feeling pressed against his groin. Specifically, the not-entirely-comfortable press of hard metal. Brain clicking over and slotting a few pieces of information into a new puzzle that almost made sense, Izuku gently pushed Mei away, ignoring her whine and attempts to cling. When he got her sufficiently free of his body to take a proper look, he confirmed his suspicion.

Instead of a C-String covering her pussy, Mei had on a chastity belt.

Okay. So that might actually explain her newly erratic pattern of Invention Zoomies. Maybe. Possibly? Honestly, Izuku wasn't sure. He was fairly sure he was going to find out, but wasn't entirely certain where on the triangle chart of 'amused-impressed-headache' the resulting explanation was going to be. Actually, given his dick was twitching as he put bits and pieces of the situation together, he might have to rechart his usual scale into a diamond and add 'horny' to the mix. Finally getting Mei to stand on her own by pressing her ab-covered core away gently until she'd released him with another whine, he reached down to tap on the cover of the chastity belt and cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Decided to experiment while your lovers were away, did you? You know Aayla and I would have been happy to play with you if you'd asked?"

Mei, utterly and completely unembarrassed or ashamed by her attire or his amused tone, actually pranced back a step and posed. Uh-oh. That was Inventor's Pose #14 which meant that it wasn't just a chastity belt. Mei had done something she was super proud of…but which might not have entirely worked out the way she'd intended. Such was the subtle language of interpreting Mei Hatsume for regular people. Or not so regular people. Izuku wasn't delusional enough to consider himself normal at this point.

"One of my best inventions ever! The highly effective, highly advanced, Quantum Sex Belt! To eliminate distracting temptations, reward successes, and provide long-term benefits for traveling sexual partners!"

Izuku clapped mildly, knowing from long experience that playing along was by far the fastest way to get proper explanations out of Mei.

"And does this Quantum Sex Belt have anything to do with the wild stream of erratic inventions that have been coming out of your workshop half completed?"

Mei looked proud, taking Stance #12, hands on hips and chest thrust out. Which, given her boobs were currently only covered with pasties, had a somewhat more impressively distracting effect than usual as they jiggled with the movement.

"It does! I have gotten a great many things done! My productivity has increased by 173.543%!"

Annnndddd there was the collapse from Stance #12 to Stance #7. Sheepish but non-explosive unintended consequences incoming! Sure enough, his thoughts were confirmed as Mei spoke in a still shamelessly proud but slightly more subdued tone.

"It may still have a few bugs! Resulting in that productivity being a little too scattered! But such is the nature of prototypes! Once I build a MK II, I'm sure the situation will improve! Though I might need a bit of help for that, as I'm currently stuck!"

Izuku tried to give her a deadpan stare. He really did. But the shamelessly proud look she was still somehow maintaining through that admittance was causing his lips to twitch more toward an amused smile than was entirely appropriate. Giving it up as a bad job, he did at least manage to put a little exasperation in his voice as he asked for more information.

"Stuck how, exactly. Why do you need my help? And what exactly does the belt do and the help entail?"

Mei shifted pose again, this time to Saleswoman Pose #23. One meant for internal investors when she was explaining minor flaws that could totally be ironed out with a little more work.

"I'm glad you asked! I'm stuck because the Quantum Sex Belt was designed to only open to your or Aayla's biometric signature! This was an intended feature, of course! Otherwise, how would it keep me from distracting temptations?"

Yep. Should have seen that one coming, Izuku realized. Particularly given how Mei had seen him and Aayla use similar chastity belts as a type of control play. Either on a timer or biometric lock. She'd even expressed interest in the idea but hadn't ever followed up on it until now. Likely, he realized, having already had whatever idea for this belt was whirling away in the back of her mind.

"As for what the Quantum Sex Belt does?! In addition to rewarding successes and keeping distractions at bay, it's an advanced long-distance aid for you and your partners! By rendering your genitals detachable, it allows you to send them off with a significant other, so that they can play with them at their leisure! Not to mention the built-in cleaning functions save time, and the built in reward functions can ensure greater productivity by granting relief only when you reach suitable milestones!"

Mei looked extremely pleased with herself, but Izuku was struggling to parse all of that. Rendering genitals detachable? Wait. Mei had been studying Kwa technology. Specifically, she'd been working with the data from the Infinity Gates and studying the Quantum connections between them. Connecting more dots, Izuku was definitely spiking wildly between alarmed, aroused, and amazed at this point. He really was going to have to add 'horny' to his 'effectives of Mei's Meiness' calculations.

"Mei-Mei…did you make a portal that disconnects your pussy and puts it elsewhere?"

Mei beamed at him as he apparently got it. Darting back to where she'd dropped a…case…when she'd tackled him, she quickly returned with it and handed it to him. It was fairly slim and small, all things considered, only about 10cm wide and long, and perhaps 8cm thick. It was also, unquestionably given the amount of experience Izuku had with the material, made of phrik. As was, he strongly suspected, the belt itself. Though the belt had been powder coated in black to match the black-and-pink reverse bunnygirl suit Mei was wearing. The only outwardly obvious feature of the clamshell container he held was a sophisticated looking biometric scanner panel and a lock.

"Go ahead and open your present! I haven't had a chance to check on my pussy since you left for the Fleet! Though the auto-cleaning and reward features have been working nicely!"

Bemused, Izuku didn't do that immediately, despite Mei's obvious enthusiasm for the idea. Instead, her tossed the box into the air and caught it with the Force, then stepped forward to scoop Mei up in a bridal carry. She squeaked in surprise, but didn't protest as he about faced and took her back up the ramp into the Wandering Fate, heading for the Master Bedroom with Mei's pussy-in-a-box trailing behind them.

"I think, dear Mei-Mei, that opening such a gift is better done in a private setting, no?"

Instead of answering, Mei just snuggled into him with a sigh. He chuckled, recognizing his best friend and lover's tendency toward touch starvation when she'd been distracted sufficiently for a while. Usually, it didn't set in this fast, but given he suspected she'd spent the time since he'd left for the final Fleet preparations near-constantly horny, he could understand how it might have set in faster this time. Making it into their shared cabin, one that had been expanded a bit once Mei had moved in with him and Aayla whenever they were all aboard, he tossed his lover down on the bed. She didn't protest, instead bouncing up to her knees with a grin and waving at the phrik container she'd given him.

Tempted to tease her for just a moment, he eventually decided against it and followed the prompts on the bioscanner. It wasn't as simple as a thumbprint. Instead, it wanted a retinal scan. Which he supposed made sense, given what it apparently contained. Fingerprint scanners were far too easily spoofed, after all. Once his retinal scan had been confirmed, the sealed container released with a hiss and Izuku pried back the lid. There was a squelching noise that surprised him as he did, but he quickly spotted the cause of the noise as he caught sight of a short-but-thick dildo being pulled out of…Mei's pussy. Which was, itself, resting within a glowing ring that Izuku assumed was some sort of portal linked to her belt. The sight was surreal, causing Izuku to stare at the familiar bit of anatomy, before shaking himself lightly and examining the collective device more carefully.

In addition to the dildo that had just withdrawn, Izuku quickly identified several other features. One was a pair of rabbit ears that had pulled up and away from the trapped pussy along with the dildo. Made of soft silicone, he suspected that when the box was closed the two prongs likely pressed to either side of Mei's clit. Likely part of the 'reward' system she'd mentioned, along with the dildo. Less expected, but logical enough, was a catheter still inserted in Mei's urethra. She's still needed to pee, after all, and he suspected there was either another portal involved or a hidden port that would allow her to empty such from the box.

"The prototype doesn't have an anal option yet! But I'm working on more miniaturization to allow that! As well as boobie equivalents! The full range of temptation limitation and companion options is important, after all!"

Snapped out of his amazed and bemused staring, Izuku smirked at Mei's peppy attitude. Her pussy, here in his hand, was positively drooling, which explained the breathless quality to her speech at the moment. Unable and unwilling to resist the temptation, Izuku shifted to hold the box in one hand, using the other to reach a single finger to tickle Mei's magic button. She squeaked and lurched on the bed a bit at his feather light caress. Not giving her any more contact than that, he kept up the light caresses as he questioned her.

"Is this thing safe? And what was the reward system you mentioned?"

Mei took a few seconds to focus, since he wasn't letting up with the feather light touches. But, eventually, her pride as an inventor gave her enough oomph to answer despite the distraction.

"It's completely safe! I tested the portals to destruction on other things! Even if the portal breaks, the bits on the other side snap back to the side with greater mass. So, if something managed to destroy the box, it would just return my bits back to me unharmed! There's also a recall function, in case it gets lost or stolen, though that feature has to be triggered by one of the box's registered owners."

Izuku nodded, appreciating that she'd at least taken sensible precautions with this new and crazy thing. He rewarded her for that by shifting his finger from teasing her clit to plunging into her pussy, adding a second a moment later and beginning a slow but steady thrust. Then he repeated his question about the 'reward' system, suspecting it to be the culprit of her erratic behavior. This time, it took Mei longer to focus, and her voice wasn't entirely steady as she answered.

"A-ahh…um…that's the part meant to ImProVe productivity! Oo-ohh. Um. For, for every m-milestone I make onnnnn a project, the sy-sTEM turnnns on the v-vibrators! Just a few s-seconds for…for a minor milestone, but ennnnooouughhh to c-cum wwwith a maJOr onne…"

Mei was squirming now, eyes unfocused, as she tried to answer coherently. He'd managed to get the gist, at least, as the last bits of the greater puzzle about her Invention Zoomies clicked into place. Mei had ended up super horny with the belt on, unable to use any of her normal relief methods, and getting occasional jolts of pleasure as she finished bits and piece of projects. But she hadn't thought that all the way through. The closer to completion a project was, the longer it took to hit 'major' milestones. So, focusing on one project, she'd end up getting teased and edged but not actually able to cum properly. So she'd worked around that limitation by jumping wildly from project to project, following the inspiration to make the biggest early milestones that were in easy reach for each project.

So, tons of projects…but all half or less than half complete, then forwarded somewhere else for other people to worry about. Other people like poor Shil Tervo and his design teams. Who were likely getting inundated with the brilliant and odd half-ideas of Mei's fertile imagination, but getting them in half-finished states with barebones documentation, and getting buried under the avalanche as they tried to keep up.

Satisfied he'd mostly figured out what was going on, Izuku grinned and focused on the detached pussy in his hand. Bringing it up to his face with one hand, he listened in delight to Mei's squeal as he latched onto her clit and began lashing it with his tongue. Even as she fell back on the bed, her hands practically ripping her pasties off so she could tug at her nipples, Izuku's other hand went south to work on the zipper of his pants.

This was a fascinating invention. Once he was certain it was fully safe, he was sure he and Aayla were going o have a lot of fun with it. Particularly since he thought a good lesson for Mei in thinking more thoroughly ahead would be leaving her stuck in the MK I for a bit longer. Say, a couple of months. With all its flaws and advantages alike. After, of course, making some adjustments so it wasn't quite so easy to make herself cum by spamming projects. Altering the programming to make it so those rewards came only when she finished a project would keep her focused better, with her 'punishment' being the repeated edging she got otherwise. He and Aayla could and would work out other things Mei could do to earn a reward, of course. Assuming this thing had the same unlimited range the QECs did. Which, given what she seemed to have intended it for, he suspected was the case.

Making sure she had an out via her lovers, which she'd clearly intended from the start, would make sure it remained only a fun lesson in self-control rather than an actual punishment. Meanwhile, it should neatly slow the crazed inventing spree Tervo had begged him to put a stop to. Though he'd might also need to check in with Nikkila and figure out why she hadn't forwarded something about the issue to him.

Still, that was for later. Much later.

For now, as he pulled his aching cock free from its confinement, he had some additional testing to do regarding Mei's latest invention…

-Lemon Ends Here-

... ...

If Izuku hadn't been called back to Tythe for other reasons, he wouldn't have made time for this particular side trip. As it was, he was glad he'd done so, and not just because a ship just like the one he and Mei were currently touring was going to be his new flagship. Not this one. Izuku was sending the Paladin, first ship of the new Paladin-class, to Admiral Lin. Not only was the name a little bit too heavy-handed if he'd chosen to ride command of it himself, but Admiral Lin was still by far their most experienced fleet commander. Giving her the Paladin as a way to help keep their initial momentum going was far better than using it himself, given that he was going to be spending just as much time on politics or ground engagements as he was commanding fleets.

No, he could wait for one of the three additional ships of the new class already near completion to finish. He'd get one of that trio, the first set that weren't prototypes, when it was ready in a few months. The Paladin herself was already almost finished, undergoing just a few final modifications and fixes after a surprisingly unproblematic shakedown run. Right now, he was touring the vessel while those final adjustments were underway, with an eager and bouncy Mei along to chatter about everything ship and engineering related. The contentment and joy he could feel radiating from her as she did so was part of the reason he was glad to have made time for this, as Mei's Meiness made this just about the closest thing to a proper date that could be arranged with her.

No, the mind-blowing sex didn't count. Even if it had been fantastic. There were a marvelous number of interesting things one could do with Mei's current situation. And despite spending most of the previous day in bed, he was certain he'd barely scratched the surface of them.

The tour was much closer to a date, as it allowed them to simply spend time together, in a way that their otherwise busy schedules often made hard. Aayla, being so deeply involved in the running of everything, was more frequently able to spend that time with him. Mei was more often flitting hither and yon all over Tythe and beyond, working on one project or another that had grabbed her attention. So the rarer and harder to arrange one-on-one time was something to cherish. Particularly as she was honestly pretty adorable when she squealed and darted towards one design or engineering feature or another to gush over it. She might have had a hand in the design of a few of this ship's nasty surprises, but she'd been uninvolved enough to be eager to examine every nut and bolt. Thankfully, mostly with approval so far.

"Izuku! Look, look! They managed to tie the power plant for the Particle Beam into the main network after all! I thought that the risk of brown out from the drain of it firing was going to be waaaay too high. But they built in these niffy super capacitors that I've never seen before! Too bulky for most ships, but perfect here. Hmmmm, I bet they could do something better with a pure crystalline matrix, though. This looks like they used a metal crystallization alignment method. If we used the IES to do the same sort of alignment with actual crystal though, I bet we could get a better result. Smaller. Maybe even enough so to use in power armor? I'll have to look into it for upgrades!"

Like that. Izuku shook his head, letting the idea wash over him. He did understand what she was talking about in loose terms. But, despite having used his abilities to absorb a lot of engineering and physics knowledge over the years, he didn't have Mei's ability to make intuitive leaps of logic to link those bits together in new ways. He certainly respected the hell out of the results, though, and happily swept her into a hug as she zoned out thinking of the possibilities. He knew it would take her a few minutes to come back down from her latest zone-out, so he took the time to go over the ship's details as she did.

The Paladin-class was their first true Battleship design. The Volition-class was honestly riding the line between Heavy Cruiser and Battlecruiser. The galaxy had a very confused definition of the various ship classes, so what it would be considered by each naval war college out there was a bit muddled. In-house, within the League Fleet, they'd officially started referring to the Volitions as Battlecruisers after their performance in engagements so far. But Izuku knew some of the major war colleges would likely label it as a Heavy Cruiser instead. Those systems focused more on tonnage than firepower, which Izuku didn't agree with. Which is why they'd internally changed the referenced of the Volition to that of a Battlecruiser, the Siege-class to a light cruiser and the Munifex II a Frigate. Those classes being reflective more of their estimated total combat power than their tonnages, now that they had proper combat data for all of them.

The Paladin was less ambiguous. Sort of. Even with larger ships, different groups might call them Dreadnaughts, Star Dreadnaughts, or just Battleships. Some even called everything over a certain size Heavy Cruisers, despite that meaning half of all warships in existence probably qualified! For their own sanity, the League's own war college system had hashed out a system which broke down ships into a more logical order. Corvettes were the smallest ship to be considered a Capital Ship, and only just barely. Frigates were the next size up, followed by Cruisers, be they heavy or light. Battlecruisers were the next step up, then Battleships, and finally Star Dreadnaughts of which they currently didn't have even the start of a design. By their own internal reckoning, the Paladin-class was unquestionably their first entry into the Battleship space.

She was 2,400 meters long, just for starters, and like with the Volition-class, that already impressive number didn't quite do her full justice. As she was, again like the Volition, much broader of beam as a whole, leaving her actual tonnage higher than her length would indicate for most traditional ships. She, for example, easily matched the mass of the Trade Federation's infamous Lucrehulks. A ship that, properly armed, would unquestionably be a battleship by tonnage as well.

As for armament, that was where the Paladin-class got truly scary, as she was the first ship they'd made that could support the Particle Beam emitter and power supply that Mei had designed for the Ultra-class Orbital Defense stations. Most of which, of course, were here in the Tythe system. Though there were now a handful of those defense stations being installed over Nal Hutta and other critical systems they'd captured, their design having been modified to be assembled out of modular chunks. The frankly rather horrifying beam weapon that was their main armament had previously only been viable as a relatively stationary installation. Mostly as their power requirements meant that attaching an actual drive to a vessel with one had demanded a much larger ship than anything they'd had.

Until now, of course.

With one of those god-awful Particle Beams as their main armament, the Paladin-class was a capital ship killer, plain and simple. She had a solid array of secondary guns, incredibly good point defense, and room for a full 12 fighter squadrons. But there was no pretending the Paladin was anything other than what her name implied. A heavily armed, heavily armored, heavily shielded front-line ship of war intended to reduce other capital ships to glowing debris with brutal efficiency. Using her against anything smaller than a cruiser would be akin to swatting flies with a sledgehammer. Sure, you could, but it wasn't exactly an efficient use of your time and energy.

"Oooohhh, hey, Izu! Look at that! I knew convincing them to turn some of the ship's water storage into a swimming pool would be awesome! And they even took the idea of making the decks out of transparasteel! Impractical in battle, of course. But that's what the blast shields that can lower from the upper deck are for, and people need fun in their time off!"

Izuku blinked, not having even registered properly that Mei had stopped zoning out and pulled him deeper into the ship. Apparently, into the section of it that was intended for off-duty crew recreation. A necessity on a ship this big, even if it was a warship. He gaped as he realized they really had built a swimming pool into the ship, three decks deep and with transparent sides for onlookers to watch from a spacious bar/lounge area.

"Oh, hey! We should check if my Quantum Belt is waterproof enough for swimming!"

Before Izuku could even process what Mei had said, she'd zoomed off, already stripping off her top as she headed for the entrance to the pool area. Deciding, as her boobs popped into view, that he wasn't at all against this, he quickly abused his authority to lock this section of the ship down. Barely a skeleton crew was aboard as they did final refits anyway, so he was sure it wouldn't bother anyone. And he did want to make sure Mei got all the attention she deserved while he was with her…

... ...

As much as Izuku had wanted to spend as much time as possible with Mei, and had managed to spend an entire day and a half with her while he'd had the chance, there was another engineering-adjacent project he'd needed to check on without her. Well, strictly speaking, it hadn't been that he needed to do it without her, so much that Mei now had a double dozen projects from her Invention Zoomies spree that needed handling in Tythe. And this particular project wasn't in said system.

So he'd said goodbye to Mei and scheduled another long half-day meeting with Padmé and her handmaidens. This time bringing Esa Rotsino and a few of her assistants to properly brief their new 'Ambassador' on what the League's policies and stances on various things actually were. Then, once he was sure any immediate political crises were handled, he'd left Tythe. Not for Hutt Space, as his official itinerary would declare, but for the secure system where their IES-Beta shipyard had been set up.

Beta was their newer Infinite Engine shipyard, still considerably smaller than the original IES-Zeta yard that was now producing the biggest single chunk of their Capital Ships. Unlike Zeta, however, the Beta yard had also been properly outfitted as a secure R & D hub and fleet anchorage. Only their most carefully vetted people were ever allowed anywhere near Koobi, a star system near Tythe that they'd set up in. There were sentient locals, tribal level primitives for the most part. But those locals were limited to a single planet in the system and actually quite pleased with their visitors. Mostly, it had to be said, because the locals had some Force-using shamans. Shamans that had apparently seen almost simultaneous visions on their arrival of the League's presence staving off some evil that would have plunged the world into an 'Age of Ice where the Great Mother Wept for her People.'

With the locals entirely happy about their presence, and quite a lot of mineral wealth available from the other planets and moons in the system, Koobi was perfect for their IES-Beta shipyard. Close enough to Tythe that trusted individuals could make the trip regularly. But utterly unknown enough to the rest of the galaxy that literally no one was going to stumble upon the hidden operations here on accident. They were even making sure the locals didn't get screwed, by providing a slow but steady uplift and marking Nelvaan itself as completely off limits for any sort of exploitation.

It was here that the Interdictor project was being worked on, among other things. But, as important and interesting as that was, it wasn't actually the reason Izuku had made the short side trip. Instead, that honor belonged to a project seeking to improve on the Toru-class scout ship. While the original designer of the Toru-class's cloaking was Mei, she had hit a limit where the class currently stood. Undoubtedly, she could have found additional solutions, but Mei was only a single person and couldn't solve every problem. The Toru-class had therefore been handed off to another team, who until recently had only managed marginal improvements.

The break through that had drawn him here had come from an unexpected source. Specifically, from the Iron Knights. Perhaps it wasn't too surprising that some of their order had proven to be deft hands at R & D. Shards, the species that made up the Iron Knights, were a silicon-based species that needed to use droid bodies in order to deal with the fact that they were, at base, a form of inorganic crystalline life. Long-lived but naturally immobile, Shards used droids as mobile assistance devices, and the Force-Sensitive subset of Shards had become the Iron Knights under exiled Jedi Master Aqinos. Given their species' close ties to and need for technology, added to their long lives and natural patience, it was perhaps unsurprising that quite a few of them preferred a lab over a lightsaber.

It was also, perhaps, even more unsurprising that they were really good at manipulating various forms of crystal. After all, for them it was the equivalent of biology. Most sane species put quite a lot of effort into understanding themselves for obvious reasons.

One upon a time, cloaking devices hadn't actually been all that rare. Stygium crystals from Aeten II had been used to make an effective device…right up until the crystal mines of that world had largely become played out and another source never found. Dwindling access to the crystals had killed off the most common form of the technology, something that remained true today. Generally, only old Stygium crystals, salvaged or acquired at great cost from collectors, would allow someone to produce a genuine cloaking device that was fully effective. Doing so pushed the price of a small scout ship up to the price of a frigate, at minimum, and thus wasn't exactly a practically viable option for mass deployment.

One of the Iron Knights had taken one look at the problem and realized that Adegan crystals could be used instead. Two forms of Adegan crystals, mephite and pontite, were somewhat commonly used in lightsabers. Both were somewhat rare, and trying to acquire large amounts of them would have both been just as expensive as Stygium and attracted the attention of the Jedi Order. Funnily enough, however, the very potency of those two subtypes of Adegan crystal actually made them poor choices for the purposes of stealth. Which is what Izuku was busy learning from Luxum, the Iron Knight who had realized the potential of the idea.

"It was only a matter of minimal testing to determine my thoughts were accurate. Kathracite is, for all intents and purposes, perfect for the stealth systems I had in mind. Unlike mephite and pontite, it has a tendency to diffuse the energy it collects, making it useless for anything but training blades. But that very diffusion is exactly what we want in a stealth field. Tune it right and…"

Luxum, one of the few Iron Knights who identified strongly enough as female to have had her new droid body built with actual curves, flicked a switch. Izuku watched critically as the test ship in the hanger they were overlooking flickered and vanished. Of course, his eyes quickly shifted from the visual display to the readouts of a dozen sensor systems pointed at that hangar. Making a ship physically invisible wasn't that hard. The results he was seeing on the sensors, on the other hand, were much harder to achieve. For all intents and purposes the hangar was now reading as a blank space with barely higher than background energy radiation. Easily within the limits of what any sensor system would consider natural variance. Nodding, a pleased smile formed on his face as he observed that bit verbally.

"The diffusion is set to make it look like that patch of space is just naturally slightly higher in certain energies, right?"

Luxum nodded.

"Exactly! We've managed several live tests of the system so far, and it has passed with flying colors. Though it's a bit too finicky still to call the design more than a prototype. If an extremely promising one."

Izuku nodded, humming thoughtfully. A true stealth vessel would be a major advantage. Even the limited stealth that the current Toru-class was capable of providing was proving critical to getting clean fleet victories. Sooner or later, the Hutts were going to realize how the League's fleets always had painfully accurate information on deployments in a system, though. With them actively looking for the scout ships, the current Toru-class would be found more often than not.

"Will there be any issue sourcing the crystals? I know there would be with mephite or pontite. Is Kathracite not regulated alongside them?"

Luxum's head shook, her voice pleased as she vocalized the answer.

"No. It's actually outright considered a waste product of mining the other two types. Aside from a very small amount purchased by the Jedi for training sabers, it's either dumped outright or turned into shiny baubles for tourists. We can get pretty much as much of it as we want, without raising any questions. At least at first. Someone might wonder eventually what we want it for, given how comparatively small mining operations for any sort of Adegan crystals are. Most Jedi get their first crystal…elsewhere. Adegan crystals are mostly made available for those who lose their original sabers, or who decide to dual wield or create backups."

Nodding firmly, pleased with the answer, Izuku gave Luxum his decision.

"Do it. Acquire as much as you can without tipping anyone off. I'll authorize the ships and manpower you need. As well as forward a dozen Toru-class ships for you to start refitting once you have the kinks ironed out of the design. They might not be critically needed now. But this is a capability I'd badly like to have in reserve before we do end up needing it. Good work, Lux, this could make a big difference!"

Izuku was only slightly weirded out that he was pretty sure Luxum blushed at the praise. Mei had given him a very high tolerance for the weird, after all…

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: Finally, a lemon for Mei! A uniquely Mei-flavored lemon in which she finds a way to take a kinky thing she's seen Aayla and Izuku do and boost it to a level of insanity that perfectly suits her ;-)!

A/N 2: The Paladin class, like the Interdictor design they are working on and the new stealth designs as well, aren't CURRENT options they have. I'm showing their R here. The League is WELL aware that they have an uphill battle in front of them. Of the 700 or so words in Hutt Space, they've only captured maybe two dozen by the end of this chapter set. They are working on the assumption that their current edges are going to wear off and need replacing with new tricks and bigger guns. Something they are entirely correct about.

A/N 3: For clarity here, Adegan crystals are not Ilum cave crystals. They are found elsewhere, on multiple worlds, most notable in the Adegan system itself. The bit about the different types is at least Legends canon. As is the Sith, at one point in a previous war, planning to make a Stealth Fleet using them. Luxum simply hit on the same idea and is running with it.