A Gift For You

[Alric Kuhn]

Alric sat calmly in the office of his Demonsgate headquarters.

The building, which had once been a Titan Industries MCH had now become the facet of a true stable mining base. It stood at the center of a large plateau. Surrounding it were dozens of different buildings all connected by a series of metal tunnels. Only half a mile to the south of the plateau was Titan Industries main mining concern here on Demonsgate.

What were they mining?

Phrik of course.

Titan Industries had long since had a hand in the use of phrik. Though their original mines had been on Alderaan, the loss of that planet had eventually required them to go seeking another source. With the collapse of the Moross Crusade and the loss of its territory, Demonsgate proved to be an effective solution.

No one held sway over this world, and since its population was non-existent Titan Industries could very well do as it pleased.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Which was of course exactly what it was doing. With its mining base set up and its concerns here quickly growing Titan Industries was harvesting more phrik from Demonsgate than it ever had from Alderaan. This was mostly because circumstances were different. On Alderaan they had to worry about the Vong Formed jungles and territories, here on Demonsgate they encountered no such problems.

The lack of Vongformed threats meant more production, and more production meant that more items of value could be produced by Titan.

Titan only handled Phrik in a handful of projects. Mostly through the creation of Royal Guard Armor and its Power Armored cousin, as well as the Sons of Titans Tomahawks. Other than that, Titan used Phrik Sparingly. Alric was aware of this, because every project that Titan created that utilized phrik had to first be approved by him.

This was because of the metals cost and the difficulty in its creation.

Knowing this however didn't make things any easier when Alric wanted to use the metal for something, especially when it was for something so small. It caused grumblings among some of Titans lesser employees. Though Alric had never cared much for their thoughts.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

It was simple.

This was his company, and he could do with it as he pleased.

That meant that when he wanted some Phrik for his own personal use, all he had to do was acquire it. That was why he was here on demonsgate, why he was here in his mining colony. To get phrik and get it forged in the way that he needed it to be. Of course it also helped that he was here to check on the colonies expansion.

They had done well.

Within only a short few weeks this place had grown from a small mobile mining colony to a massive sprawling city. There were stores, free areas, and even indoor parks. Rather impressive as it was, especially considering only about ten thousand people lived here.

It always surprised him what his employees could do with the resources he gave them.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Slowly he stood from his desk, walking over to one of the massive windows to look out over the surface of Demonsgate. The planet was aptly named, it looked like the home of fiery hellspawn the likes of which the galaxy had never seen. Were it not for the comfort of air scrubbers and other modern technology it would very likely have been an impossibility to work here, much less create a city.

He let out a silent whistle at the thought of ancient miners working on this world.

Briefly Alric wondered if Demonsgate had always been this world. A blaster hell that held no life and only burned. He knew that some planets in the galaxy were similar. Mustafar for instance was much the same. Sarapin, both unique but somewhat different from Demonsgate.

A frown crossed his lips, and a loud buzzer activated on his desk.

Alric stepped over to it, pressing a key that would open the front doors to his office.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“Mr. Kuhn. A pleasure to have you here.”

The man was scruffy looking. His hair was a mess and his face was tinged with black soot that told he had been working outside only recently. His clothes told the same story, but surprisingly his lips held with a firm smile and his eyes lit up. He seemed genuinely happy to have Alric here, or perhaps happy to show off the work he had done here.

“Mr. Keller.” Alric said with a smile. “I hope you don't mind my dropping in unannounced.”

“Not at all Sir. I take pride in what we've done here and I assure you everything is up to standard.”

Again, he seemed genuinely happy. Alric smiled at the man, glad for it. Often when he went on visits like this he was met with anger, sometimes even open hostility. He was the head of Titan, and executives under him often found themselves afraid he would take their power.

Understandable, but annoying.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

lric smiled at the man, then walked over to him and shook his head.

It was a relief not to have to fight for what he wanted, at least this one time. Perhaps Demonsgate had been a good decision, perhaps promoting this man had been an even better one. He seemed genuinely pleased to be working here, and he seemed genuinely pleased to have Alric in his presence.

“I'm afraid that I have come under false pretenses Mr. Keller.” Alric began and the man paled slightly.

“S-sir?”

Ah.

There was the fear, but no anger, only fear. It seemed that the man thought he had not been doing a good enough job. That was silly of course, this seemed to be the most prosperous Titan Industries colony that Alric had ever seen. He shook his head slightly, smiling.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“I've recently gotten engaged you see.” Alric could practically see the relief in the mans face, fear immediately melted out of him and relief spread throughout his body language like a torrential fire. “I'm afraid however I was foolish enough to do it without a ring.”

Of course Silara had been more than happy either way.

He imagined it had been a surprise for her. She had not expected an I love you, she had not expected him to rush across an entire starship to get her, and she had certainly not expected him to ask her to marry him. Yet it had all happened.

For a time it had seemed surreal for him as well, but in the end, he knew he had made the right decision.

Of course, that all circled back to where he was now, here on Demonsgate attempting to steal from his own company so that his future wife could have the ring that she deserved.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

He already had most of what the ring needed.

As always Silara would only get the best. He had purchased one of the largest Corusca gems available on the open market. A thing that had cost him as much as an entire city block on Coruscant itself. To accent that he had purchased two smaller Cerulean Gemstones. Crystals that were worth a fortune on the Black Market.

Then to compliment the phrik metal itself, Alric had seen to it that the purest platinum was made available to him.

Now all he needed was this man to cooperate with him and allow him to use his forges in order to create the new Phrik and Platinum alloy. He hoped that the resulting metal would allow the ring to stay extremely strong while still maintaining the luster of platinum.

“I see sir.”

Said the other man to fill in the silence of Alrics thoughts.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

He shook his head slightly, returning his attention to the other man.

“Yes.” Alric said, then turned away from the other man. “I am a person of lasting expectations you see, and I would like this ring to stay perfect.”

A glance back towards the other man told Alric that he knew exactly where he was going.

“Phrik.”

He smiled at he man, turning back to him. “Precisely. Not just prhik though, it doesn't have that, I’m sorry to say, luster that I want. I was wondering. Is it possible to mix Phrik with say...platinum? Create a new alloy?”

Alric already knew it was, but that didn't mean he couldn't lead the man on.

“Yes Sir, but it will likely lose some of the qualities of both metals. Though it should still maintain properties of both. Like the Strength of the Phrik and the Luster of the Platinum.”

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“I don't need this to survive falling into a sun Mr. Keller.” He couldn't imagine that would ever be necessary. “But my fiance...gets into trouble quite often.”

That was putting it lightly. Silara was a Sith Lord after all. She had a streak that searched for danger more than Alric did, and that was saying something. He wanted the ring to last, he wanted it to look good even after Silara had been through hell and back. It would serve as a reminder to her, a reminder that he would be with her always.

“Scratches, lightsabers, blasters, I want it to remain beautiful even if struck by any of those.” Alric said almost too enthusiastically. Mr. Keller simply nodded in response. Clearly he was a romantic at heart, or clearly he just wanted to please his boss. Either way, the man nodded in agreement, as if an idea was forming in his head.

“It should be possible sir...we can forge the ring here...in fact we'll be the only ones capable, but it will be rather expensive.”

Alric smiled.

That wasn't a problem, it was never a problem. Money to Alric was nothing at this point. He was the CEO of three major galactic corporations, two of which spanned more than half the galaxy. He had more money than most Kings.

“Thank you Mr. Keller. Though there is one other thing...” Alric trailed off as he whispered to the man.