Act 02: What the feth am I reading?

[Captain Larraq]

Mesen'loras Campaign
Act 02: What the feth am I reading?

Rygel Larraq returned to his office on Mandalore for the first time in months. Here and there, secretaries, engineers, lawyers, and interns were startled by his sudden appearance as he made his way through the building, datafiles in hand. Startled cries and whimpering greeted him as soon as he opened his office doors. Talyn had missed him during his absence. Thankfully, his people knew how that their position within this company would be terminated had they failed to take good care of the Vornskr.

Though... They had let him get a little fat.

After the warm greeting from Talyn that could only be sated by an offering of the animal's favorite treat, Larraq finally sat heavily in his chair. It had been a long time. The vacation was nice, but now he had work to do. It just... Felt strange to be back in his office after so long.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Pulling a fine bottle of wine from the lower drawer of his desk, Larraq poured himself a glass and prepared to work. He placed his datapad on the docking port and waited for the files to copy onto his office computer. They would likely get the original copies and all relevant hardware, not to mention whatever lay buried within the next few days. But for now, Larraq had to figure out what exactly he had gotten his hands on.

Larraq sipped at his wine as he waited, Talyn gnawed on a Krayt dragon bone, and the status bar slowly filled as file after file copied over to his computer. Back on Wayland, the files had taken hours to obtain. An entire team of slicers and engineers had been called in to bypass the security features of the archive and gain access to whatever restricted data the old empire had felt warranted burying deep beneath the surface of a planet.

 

[Captain Larraq]

A soft beep and a green bar told Larraq that the files were now on his primary computer. Setting his glass of wine down and greedily rubbing his hands together, Larraq slid closer to the computer and put his fingers to work. It was slow, tedious work. Personnel files, surveillance reports, payrolls, and blackmail danced in front of his eyes. Here and there he found blueprints for outdated technology. Ancient star destroyer designs rife with a thousand different flaws scrolled along his screen. So far... The empire had left Larraq with nothing of value.

Charon.

 

[Captain Larraq]

The file stood out to Larraq for some reason. Though the name did not seem familiar to him, something about the file drew him to it. Clicking on the file revealed page after page of battle reports, expedition reports, and engineering commentary on recovered technology and artifacts. As Larraq skimmed the files, his interest rose. His eyes beheld images of massive ships of impossible design as they swatted at Imperial Star Destroyers and a host of other ships. Strange alien creatures and a thousand other images played before his eyes.

On the whole, the creatures seemed little different from the Yuuzhan Vong to Larraq. The files gave intricate reports of biological weapons and living ships. It was nothing that the galaxy had not seen before. Hazmana, the galaxy was facing it again thanks to the resurgent 'Vong Horde that worked side by side with this resurgent Sith Empire. Larraq was about to abandon hope of finding anything of value. His stylist hovered over the 'exit' button as he prepared to return to browsing files. On a whim, however, he clicked on another file first.

 

[Captain Larraq]

What displayed on his screen was the unmistakable image of a DNA double helix. Except that it was a triple helix... Larraq clicked again and again and more images flashed across his screen. Behind those images, file after file filled a folder. From the gist of what he could see, the Empire had captured a Charon scientists at some point. And... They had forced the creature to teach the imperials how his technology worked. More so, he had been forced to explain how to -make- Charon technology.

Larraq's interest was piqued and he eagerly dove into the files. With an order through the intercom, he wine had been replaced with recaff and he was delving through the files with renewed speed and vigor. Hours passed by as Larraq explored the full extent of what the the Imperials had acquired. His fingers grew sore and his eyelids grew heavy as he pushed himself well into the night to explore every inch this new, untapped resource.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Yet no matter how much he read, he simply couldn't get a strong grasp of it all. Larraq was no biologist. He was a technician, he as an engineer, and he was a businessman. He knew hardware and software, he knew hyperdrives and reactors, he knew thrusters and inertial dampeners, he knew droids and weapons, turbolasers and nuclear warheads. Larraq knew technology. This biology sheb... The only biology he knew was that things die when you shoot them and what takes place between the bed sheets.

Larraq leaned back into his chair, closed his eyes, and sighed deeply. Whatever all this sheb meant, it was completely beyond him. Rubbing his temples, Larraq tried to think of who he could sell the frell to if he couldn't make use of it. There were plenty of cloners out in the galaxy that could probably make use of it. Not to mention the Chiss and Arkanians. The real question is how much someone would pay for it. Centuries old technology was rarely a worthwhile investment.

 

[Captain Larraq]

The thought of worthwhile investments jarred his memory slightly. Larraq leaned forward and tapped on his keypad a few times. He pulled up a list of company assets. Factories, shipyards, ammo depots, research facilities, mining complexes... Fleet composition, logistical trains, ship deployments... Everything that made up Mandal Hypernautics was put at the tip of his fingers. And there it was... An old, under-funded asset on Ord Cestus. Auron Helix.

The research facility had been struggling lately. One failed research project after another had plagued the company. Lately it had been making do with generic research into the local fungi of the planet, hoping to cut in on the market for medical research and new drugs. So far though, it had completely failed to turn anything close to a profit. The option to liquidate the company had come up on several board meetings, but it had always come down to the same decision. It would cost just as much to close facility and liquidate the assets as it would to simply let it keep running. So they let it run.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Larraq took another sip of his coffee as he mulled it over. There were some pretty impressive pictures in those files. Even if the rest of it was gibberish to him, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. The Charon's had living ships. And some pretty impressive ones at that. He had no idea how they were made, what let them run, or how to fuel the frelling things. But he was sure about one thing, neither did MandalMotors or any of his other competitors. If ships could be grown... Without thousands of contractors, engineers, welders, electricians, and other paid workers... without shipping in durasteel plates and computers and all the trillions of other components that went into a starship... If he could simply... -grow them-... He could make a fortune. Not to mention the PR boost and personal satisfaction of one-upping his competition.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Larraq pushed a few buttons and placed a call. A few minutes later, the CEO of Auron Helix was on the other end of a holo-com. “I have an important project for Auron Helix.” Larraq said to the man as soon as he was on the line. “I'll be arriving in twenty-four hours and will be holding briefing. I want you and your top scientists to attend this meeting... Depending on how it goes, the company could be looking at some expansive growth.” Larraq said. The man on the other end of the communicator seemed shocked by both the call and the potential business prospects. A subtle look of impending doom crossed his face before he responded to Larraq. “Absolutely Mr Larraq. We'll be eagerly awaiting your arrival.”

 

[Captain Larraq]

The press of a button ended the call and Larraq leaned back in he chair once more. They might not be up to the task, but they were likely more capable than they realized. They would need funding of course... All projects were front heavy when it came to financial investments. But the potential return on this project was... extensive to say the least.

Larraq stood from his chair, stretching his weary muscles from the several hours he had spent at his desk. A quick scratch behind the ears for Talyn, and then he was gone. Out the door and making his way to his personal Galaar shuttle. He'd likely need a nap and a shower before they arrived, but there was no rush. He had allotted them all 24 hours to prepare for the coming meeting.