Keith Remadra, former chief advisor to the UNP Security Council on Clone affairs Forget the story about the Clones trying to buy Dino worm drives, the Dinos won't sell them and the Clones know it (but of course there is no harm in asking). The Clones are desperate for ships with improved performance though and my sources are telling me that the Clones could well buy traditional Dino propulsion systems.
Though not quite as good as the DDS Dino hyperspace drives and engines have taken ships up to near 900c. This is much faster than what the HCS currently possess in their fleet (their fastest ship is the Soulaki SLBK which is alleged to be able to reach 730c - it struggles to best 680c in reality) and while worm drive is the dream having ships that can reach 900c would be a great strategic boost to the empire.
The Clones have enquired about both the Ultraburst and Pulseburst engine series which power the Dinomark RS and PT respectively and my sources tell me that a sale of around 20 Pulseburst engines could be on.
But these engines would likely need to be put in a new class of ship. The Clones do not have a ship of the right size and stressed strongly enough to allow these engines to push a ship to 900c. They could modify the Shark perhaps but it will be easier to build something new around these engines (2 would be used per ship i think, like on the PT).
The HCS have already begun design studies for a new class of light cruiser that can reach 900c. These ships would come between the Molentic Tuul and Shark in size, be well armed and well equipped with communications and reconnaissance equipment. The HCS want around 8 or 9 of these ships which fits well if the Clones buy 20 Pulseburst, they will need a couple for training and engineering purposes. It will all depend on the Clones being able to buy the engines, its quite likely that after tomorrow's funeral on Austini 55 Oojok and El Diablo will be discussing this deal.
