The Clones have bought 30 W1A wormdrives from the Dinos for 10 billion zarks, the deal being finalised today on Dino-Land. As part of the deal the Dinos will help with the worm telemetry for the Soulaki battlecruiser and the worm drives will form the part of (what is now) a 15 billion zark and unification of the Soulaki SL, SLB and SLBK into the new Soulaki SLM standard.
The upgrade will also see a full refurbishment and zero-houring of the hull as well as weapon and sensor upgrades. The 30 strong Soulaki SLM will form the core of the Clone fleet from 2120 until the 2140s.
The upgrade programme will begin in 2117 a Clone source said, next year an engineering training worm drive test bed will be delivered by the Dinos who will also help with training and integration.
The upgrade programme is one of the most expensive in the history of the Clone armed forces and has forced delays, cut backs and cancellations on at least a dozen other weapon programmes.
