An Exposition of Secrets

[Ereza]

BYBLOS
Annual Trade and Tech Expo


While not nearly as well marketed or funded as the Bazaar of ATC, the Annual Trade & Tech Expo on Byblos was no less than a hive market of new galactic technologies from major corporations spanning across the stars. It was not something Amore would normally find herself attending but a conversation with VANIR CEO [member="Alric Kuhn"] had given her reason to do so. She was here today to explore the marketed facade of Vanir, meet some of the people behind the scenes, and see just what the company had to offer to the citizens at large. As well, it was important to see what Vanir's competition brought to the economical table.

Knowing the spread of companies was paramount to knowing whether or not she was the right fit for the job at Vanir.

Not to mention she expected to run into the President of CETO, a man she'd not seen in several years but was aware of his quiet success so far out in wild space. Dressed smartly in a fitted suit with her hair pulled from her face in a bun, Amore had already had to excuse herself from several instances of mistaken identity for her own mother: Lorelei Darke. Not that KDY had a table here - Byblos was too far removed from the sphere of the One Sith. No matter, she wasn't here for Kuat or for the KDY and that in and of itself was a great weight off her shoulders.

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] |

A transmission was sent from the Duro system. The message contained was coded for Vitor Imperieuse.

//To Vitor Imperieuse.

Tell me what is happening on Byblos.

Savan's Prodigy.\\

Marking the transmission with 'Savan's Prodigy' would indicate who it was that had communicated with him. Whether or not Imperieuse played ball was another matter, but Ayra was sure that he would. After all, she had joint stake in Emeritus Industries and it would be rude to ignore a woman that held joint ownership over Imperiuse's corporation.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Byblos was an interesting planet, at least for some.

The world was filled from top to bottom with corporations, businesses, restaurants, high class apartments, and half a dozen other things that one could really only experience if they were rich. It was the exact opposite of the life that Rose had been living for the past year, and exactly the life she had been living for the twenty years before that. It was an odd contrast, one that she hardly ever cared to explain to the people she met. When most asked Rose where she had been over the last year she simply said on a trip, most smiled and left it at that, which for her was just fine.

It was difficult to explain to most wealthy folk that she had been exploring the outer rim and expansion regions, more difficult to explain why she had done it.

Saying she had been on vacation was far more simple.

Of course, Rose expected some to ask more questions regardless of what she told them, but she was well prepared to deal with that as well. She had practiced saying certain things to please the infinitely wealthy on her way to Byblos, specifically because she knew the type of crowd that tended to join these types of things. Her father had said it was important to come though, stating that the expo was a way for her to familiarize herself with all the equipment that Vanir Technologies had to offer, equipment that she would undoubtedly be using in her new position as a scout.

So she had come to the expo, dressed in half formal wear with her hair tied into a thin ponytail.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Amorella Mae"] [member="Darth Ayra"]

Vitor himself was attending the technological expo on on Byblos to showcase some of Emeritus Industries' long-time useful technology. A demonstration of the Coryphin bomber was about to start - as Vitor stood in front of a crowd of interested individuals. "Alright... For years now, the Coryphin-class Super-Heavy Bomber has been a mainstay in the field of bombers. We at Emeritus are proud to, once again, reaffirm the Coryphin's designation as the heaviest bomber in use anywhere in the galaxy." He turned towards a scene that had been setup.

A gutted CR90 corvette was sitting on the floor of a large basin, with several fighter carcasses, mostly of old TIE and Y-Wing vintage, scattered across the landscape near it, to symbolize a pirate base. Soon the roar of a large spacecraft would be heard as the Coryphin demonstrator, fully loaded with proton bombs, prepared for a run on the mockup facility. Soon the ordnance dropped, crafting a large array of craters across the landscape and tearing both the fighters and corvette into twisted scraps of rended metal.

"This is what our tech is capable of - a reason to work with us."

After Vitor stepped off the stage to heavy applause, he eyed the message on his datapad.

Not exactly much else. Just gave the demo.

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] |

//To Vitor Imperieuse.

I am on my way.

From Savan's Prodigy.\\

Priming the engines of the Initium, Darth Ayra slipped into hyperspace, course set for the Byblos system. Whilst in hyperspace, the Sith Lord changed herself, as she prepared to enter the expo.

 

[Ereza]

The Expo was enormous in scale.

Three whole high-rise skyscrapers had been devoted to the event alone along with staging grounds for the larger corporations, like Emeritus Industries, to give demos of their products. Amore stood in the foyer of the main hall looking over a holo-mapping of the Expo layout. VANIR was in this building on the first floor, no surprise there given the money backing that company and its wide-spread clientele base. CETO was in Building 2 and, Amore checked the time, would likely be a good place to head for lunchtime with Mr. Sixsmith if she could manage to get ahold of him.

"Darke? The Lorelei Darke?" an aqualish approached from her left, voice bubbling with shock, "What are you doing here? I didn't think KDY had space at the Expo?"

"It doesn't," Amore smiled thinly, "and I'm afraid I'm not...her."

"Really? The resemblance is uncanny. But I don't suppose you are," said the aqualish, "that woman never smiles. Sorry to bother you."

"I get that a lot," her smile broadened as she watched him walk away, disappearing almost immediately as she lost sight of him in the crowd. Clearly she was going to have to dye her hair...or something. Amore turned with mild exasperation and began heading off to the Vanir stage, pausing as she stepped by a large holoscreen that had pulled a fair amount of attention from passerby.

Trumpeting music sounded from the speakers as the screen zoomed in on the face of Emeritus Industries, [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] standing before a gathering at one of the demo grounds.

"For years now, the Coryphin-class Super-Heavy Bomber has been a mainstay in the field of bombers. We at Emeritus are proud to, once again, reaffirm the Coryphin's designation as the heaviest bomber in use anywhere in the galaxy."

Blue eyes narrowed as she watched the recorded footage of the bomber making a pass in a brilliant display of effective destruction. It brought images to her mind of the razing of Yuuzhan'tar and the unrelenting war against the Horde all those years ago. Those bombers might've been useful back then but as she recalled Emeritus hadn't even been a ponderance at that point. Brow furrowing momentarily she wondered if [member="Ayden Cater"] might have a stage here for CEC. She'd not seen the man in some time - their last chat during one of his visits to her mother on Kuat over dinner. Amore liked the man and was grateful for something that could make her mother happy that didn't involve politics or death. Too bad about the whole Corellian debacle.

She turned and made to head off only to bump into none other than [member="Rose Kuhn"], another red-headed starlette of the galaxy.

"Oh! Forgive me, I wasn't paying attention."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Amorella Mae"]

Rose went barreling into the woman, nearly knocking her over as she grabbed on to her for support. She shifted slightly, bouncing on her feet and trying to keep herself from falling flat on her face. Eventually she managed to steady herself, letting out a small sigh of relief as the woman apologized for running into her.

"Oh." Rose said. "That's alright."

She took a step back from the woman, trying to steady herself on her feet while finding out who exactly she had knocked over onto the ground. Rose had always been told by her father that she should know anyone and everyone that was involved in the world of business affairs, especially when those affairs could concern you in the future. It was a way of having a leg up on the galaxy, a way to put oneself ahead of the curb. She had tried to keep those words to heart, especially now that she had lost the use of the force.

The scout looked at Amorella, studying her face before a realization struck her. The woman's features were familiar enough, and Rose recognized fellow Royalty easily enough when she ran into them. There was a certain posture, a way that one carried themselves when they were dubbed noble, and this woman most definitely held that posture. Rose snapped her fingers, smiling at the woman. "You're Amorella Mae."

There was a wide grin on her face, as if she were proud of remembering a tiny detail she had once heard.

Of course, unbeknownst to Amorella Rose only knew her name because of both of their greater involvement in Vanir Technologies. Amorella had recently been offered by her father a job at running the Eve Foundation, while Rose herself had been familiarizing herself with her fathers company in order to make an eventual choice. Everything else was just coincidence.

 

[Ereza]

What she was expecting to hear and what she heard came as a slight surprise. Finally, someone recognizes me.

"Yes," she said with a sharp exhale as she smoothed her suit and brushed hair from her face, "I am. And you're Rose Kuhn," a smile, then, and Amore extended her hand in greeting, "I saw your picture on your father's desk in a meeting last week after his wedding. He remarked that I reminded him of you," blue eyes flicked upwards to the flame-red hair, a wayward grin showing.

"You know, all us redheads look alike. It's a blessing you didn't call me by my mother's name."

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Amorella Mae"]

"Well, It probably helps that I don't know it." She offered the woman a rather cheeky grin.

Despite her fathers insistence Rose had never particularly cared to actually study people within the galaxy. She knew Amorella because of her dealings with Vanir, not because of her stature or place in the high society of the galaxy. If it had been Lily she likely would have recognized the woman, her mother, her two first cousins and everyone else in between. Sadly, Lily was not here, and thus Miss Mae would have to make due with the less politically knowledgeable younger twin.

Amorella's comment about redheads made her smirk though. "When i was younger my sister and I used to switch places."

That had confused both of their parents.

"Only worked when we wore sunglasses though." Lily and Rose were technically fraternal twins, they just happened to look very much alike. Everything save for their eye color was nearly identical, sometimes genetics was odd that way. "Maybe we should try that if we're ever around my father together."

She offered the woman a wide smirk.

 

[Ereza]

Amore chuckled but decided against any comment on the very obvious height difference between them, "You'll need some heels for that I think," she smirked, giving the younger woman a quick look over. Was it simply peculiar circumstance or irony that the daughters of Kuhn who were not Danger's also had the woman's main piece of identity. The hair, obviously, not ... the other things.

"Your father's a very gracious man. He recently offered me a job working with him on a new Foundation he's forming. I was just on my way to the Vanir hall to talk to some of the people. Are you heading there too or just sight-seeing?"

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Amorella Mae"]

"I know." Rose said with a smile. "It's actually how I knew your name."

She scratched the back of her head with a silly smile. Perhaps she could have kept that bit of information to herself, she didn't want to insult Amorella after all, but Rose just wasn't quite as tactful as her father or sister. She had spent the last year of her life exploring the outer rim, and most of her teachings in etiquette had rather slipped away during that time. It wasn't a bad thing, it gave her a certain...charm that most rather enjoyed about her, or at least that's what Lily had said.

"I was heading there, I have a decision to make whether or not I wish to join his company or not." She had a lot of options in front of her, lots of things she could do. Lily had always been the more corporate of the two twins, she liked dealing with people and the accomplishments she received from that, but it had never been for Rose.

Now her father had offered her a place in Vanir as a location scout for Construction projects and Miss Arceneau, her new step-mother, had offered her a position as a cartographer. Both options seemed great, but neither were exactly what she was looking for.

 

[Ereza]

"May I join you?"

Years ago the prospect of walking these crowded halls alone might've been a bit overwhelming. But once you reach the apex of False-Godhood and lead the masses of zealots into war and celebration, this had become something of a stroll in the park. Didn't stop Amore from feeling a little unsure of things, mostly due in part to being unsure of her own personal place in the galaxy at present.

Everything had been decided for her before now, and only within the last year was she beginning to branch out and make her life her own. Having some company along for part of the journey might be nice. She smiled amiably, completely undeterred by the fact that Rose only knew her name for the telling and not for recognition. Honestly it was a relief.

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Amorella Mae"]

"Of course!" Rose said with perhaps a bit too much excitement. "I'm sure we'll see all the most interesting faces."

Vanir Technologies was a big company, one of the biggest in the galaxy.

Her father had previously been the CEO of Titan Industries, an even larger company that had now been split apart and broken into a hundred different pieces. Vanir Technologies was getting close to that size, but it didn't yet have the galactic reach that Titan had, of course Titan also had the support of one of the greatest galactic powers that had been seen in the past four decades, but...well not everything was built over night as they say.

"How are you enjoying Byblos?" She knew that the planet wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but Rose rather liked it.

To her Byblos was like a nicer, cleaner version of Coruscant. It had more greens, more beauty, and a more calm and serene air. She quite enjoyed that.