Another side of the coin

[Asher Malvern]

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Location: Scariff {KO Base} | Wearing: This | Tags: [member="Alwine Lechner"]​

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If there was one thing that Asher could appreciate about Scariff, it was the waters that flowed around the many islands that covered the world. They were as pure and blue as his own crystal orb, yet they were without the heavy grief that filled his own. Once he had two pure blue crystal to peer at the world with, now it was just one. Still, with that one eye he felt he could see more than most men saw with two.

"Sir. We finished the survey of the land. We can manage a standard defense package but I really don't think we can do much more than that." The voice that spoke out to Asher was practically metallic in it's nature. When he turned to meet the star-like eyes of his Rodian assistant he couldn't help but exhale at the woman. She really was an impeccible engineer but she lacked some of the creativity that Asher prided himself on. "Well, we can't very well make a miracle with rock and sand." He had been sitting on the edge of the beach, staring out into the waters while he waited to hear about the lay of the land. "What about those?" He aimed his fingers to the three islands that surrounded the one they stood on. "Those look sturdy." He muttered, before turning back to the woman with an expectant arch of the brow. The woman glanced up at the other islands and her mouth came open with an uneasy gaze. "You...want to put the weapons emplacements to those islands?! They're miles away!" Asher chuckled, patting the woman on the shoulder as he strode past her. "Of course not."

"I want the weapons emplacement to extend to those islands." For a moment his words must have fell on deaf ears because the woman seemed lost as she recited his words silently to herself. After a moment she realized his meeting and rushed behind him. "But sir! We'd blow our budget five times over." She shifted through the datapad in her hands, before looking back up to the man with an almost lost expression. "How could we justify that?!"

"Simple. We tell them it will keep them safe. Now call the contract specialists and get something drawn up before the end of the week. I'll reach out to the Ministry of Science and see if we can't get another grant." He promised. The two made their way to a nearby bunker, which led into the depths of the island and the majority of the Knight's Obsidian Fortress. Asher had not designed this particular base, and as such his single eye danced from one end of the hall to another, searching for things in desperate need of upgrade or replacement. When they ended up at a fork in the hall, the young Rodian rushed ahead, taking the path to the left while Asher continued to the right. He reached up, rubbing the back of his neck loosely before humming softly.

"You know, you really do cause Anoa a bit of grief." The robotic voice that called out was soft and even, practically a whisper in the long pristine hall.

"I'll make it up to her, Delta. Besides, it's her job to make my ideas a reality, isn't it?"

The elder Malvern wore a small obsidian ring on his right hand. The clear crystal upon the ring began to illuminate as an azure figure danced over his shoulder. The A.I. Delta, was an exceptional creation who had the ability to produce holographic images of himself. His shimmering body sat itself upon Asher's shoulder, placing a hand on his chin while he looked over to the man. "You're still mean." He muttered, before Asher swatted at him, causing the holographic form to disappear from his shoulder.

"See? Are you going back to the ship?"

"No, I heard this base has a workshop so I thought I'd head down there for a bit."

"Even when you're working....you're working....That can't be good for you." The AI's voice continued to call out, before finally the crystal's illumination darkened and he went back into standby mode. Asher glanced down at the ring, but said nothing in response to the A.I.

 

[Alwine Daye]

Wearing: Obsidian type Strike Armor | "Executor" Boots Exclusive
Wielding: Obsidian Knight Sword | WindWhisper
Tags: [member="Asher Malvern"]

Scarif.

It was Alwine's first time on the planet. In her attempts to expand her education, now that her reading and writing had been fully mastered after a year of hard work and constant practice, she knew she needed to take more things on. Piloting, geography, history… It seemed the list on and on. Yet after her little adventure with her brother on M'haeli, where the two had been dispatched prior to the rest of the Confederacy, Alwine had realized how much her on-the-field knowledge was lacking as well.

And for some reason, she had decided that she needed to learn more about chemistry. Or more specifically – explosives. She had sat for hours at the terminals in the Citadel, trying to learn how to construct one, before realizing that just putting a kit together didn't advance her anywhere. Her next stop had been to gather all the theoretical information she could get her hands on and learn what the different parts were, and how they sat together.

Then came the endless and agonizing process of learning what different substances could be used. At one point, the Lupine was surprised to learn that she could construct little bombs with things she could find in almost any kitchen. That alone made her feel regret for the years she'd been forced to cook and scrub, thinking how wonderful it could have been if she'd blown up portions of the Lords of Stewjon's residences.

It was in that time too, that she had learned that the Knights Obsidian had a series of HQ's set up around Confederate space, all ready to serve the various aspects of the groups found within. Alwine had cursed herself for not knowing that, believing that she had either simply not read the brochures with enough attention to see the information about it, or perhaps she had not known the right people, for whatever information she could uncover had made it very clear that all these headquarters were open to the Knights Obsidian, and for the rest of the Confederacy as well, though for the latter it would be as visitors.

Wanting to see the Executor HQ on Scarif, she'd packed her bags the next day, and had set up in one of the temporary residences there, believing she would be spending a week or two there. She'd found the laboratories quickly, and had set herself ready for that day to begin working.

Small vials were in front of her, all without a name, but with bar codes at their bottom.

Alwine opened the first one and sniffed.

"Thermal paint," she said with confidence, and her terminal beeped, giving a green light. She'd been correct. She smelled another vial.

"Sulfur," she smiled. That one was easy.

But then came the third. Alwine blinked, sniffing it several times. She was certain she'd never smelled it before. But what was it?

 

[Asher Malvern]

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[member="Alwine Lechner"]​

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The hall came to an end and Asher found himself gazing up at the door to the work shop. For a military base it was rather small, but not so small he could not put it to use. When he stepped into the doorway his eye twitched when he saw a woman already inside. Of course it wouldn't be empty, that was just too much to ask for. He began to turn away but in the next minute he listened to her call out a word. He paused, glancing back into the workshop and watching her with some interest. She brought another compound to her nose and immediately identified it as Sulfur. Asher's brow quirked with interest. Even some seasoned scientists could not identify sulfur by smell. Essentially it has no true scent of it's own, merely the scents it picks up from other compounds that are around it. Asher narrowed his eye for a moment before stepping into the workshop. Now, it seemed the woman was stumped. The chemical before her had an orange tint to it and seemed to be more like a gel than a true liquid. Asher cleared his throat as he approached, jerking his chin towards the vial once he gained her attention. "Isotope 5." He said, his voice was low and gruff but his eyes did not quite hold the chill that most people associated with him.

"The vial there, it's Isotope-5." he repeated, this time pointing out to it. He walked over to the desk where the woman stood. He held his hand out for the vial while his eyes remained fastened on the chemicals she had assorted before her. "May I?" He asked, taking the vial from her hands and gazing at it with his good eye. "A mixture for a particuarly explosive reaction. You see, the trick with Isotope-5 is that you don't want to create a chemical imbalance that results in immediate explosion. Too much Isotope-5 with the wrong chemical and you'll say goodbye to your arm...and your leg....and your other arm." He smirked, a tight lipped smile before taking hold of another vial.

There was a metallic dropper which he took a Milliliter of the substance with. He would drop the substance into the new vial and then, seal the first vial with a capper. "Do you know what the key compound to Isotope-5 is? illerium. Illerium is what gives it it's boom, but only when it is given a catalyst. One of it's main catalysts is oxygen." He said, shaking the vial in his hands as an example of why he had sealed it off. "Don't worry. Small amounts like this won't usually explode....just best to be safe."

"You have sulfur too don't you?" He asked, setting the small vial of isotope-5 in front of the woman. "I want you to weigh out a milligram of sulfur at a time and add it to the Isotope-5 in this vial. Stir after every addition and stop once it turns a cloudy shade of grey." He instructed her as if he had been hired to teach. It was not that Alwine was doing bad or even that the man merely loved to instruct others in the ways of science. It was simple, if there was a need for his mind then he would use it. A dull knife did no one any good.

 

[Alwine Daye]

Wearing: Obsidian type Strike Armor | "Executor" Boots Exclusive
Wielding: Obsidian Knight Sword | WindWhisper
Tags: [member="Asher Malvern"]

Alwine's head snapped at the sound of a stranger. She had been so focused on trying to guess what the chemical was that she had not known a stranger was coming in; not through the Force and not by the scent of the Lupine. And there – as soon as he said it, Isotope-5, the light turned green. The petite blonde blinked, realizing she had not yet come across the name at all. All things considered, it was not truly a surprise. But Alwine was disappointed in herself nonetheless.

With a nod, she handed the vial over. There were more of it, anyway. Or at least, there were supposed to be. The man explained about the dangers of it, and all she could do was nod. "I am not yet at the stage in which I mix compounds together," she admitted, "I am still learning what the different options are, and what each of them does Isotope-5 is a new one for me; I have not come across its name yet."

Neither had she known about Illerium. As the man continued to speak, Alwine produced her datapad, and scribbled both names on it, making sure she would not forget to look them up later.

And yes, she definitely had sulfur too. A few punches on the terminal, and a small scale was offered from the workbench. Taking a syringe, Alwine carefully measured out exactly one millimeter, praying that her hands would not start shaking. In less than a handful of words, this stranger had now become her mentor – someone willing to offer the gift of knowledge to her. She was not about to let this go to waste. Especially not when almost every single time something like this happened, it turned into something good that gave Alwine a teacher-student relationship that came with mutual respect on both sites.

Carefully, she emptied the syringe into the Isotope-5 vial, and gently stirred, as though she was afraid of breaking the vial if she went too hard on it. One by one, she repeated the motions, occasionally glimpsing at the man for a hint of approval or warning.

After five times, she had it – the substance inside the vial was now a cloudy shade of grey.

"What is it called, when these two are combined?" she asked, "and what have I just made?"

 

[Asher Malvern]

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[member="Alwine Lechner"]​

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Asher listened to the woman speak and he nodded his head at her words. "Isotope-5 is a tricky compound. When it's refined it can be a nice form of fuel. Unrefined it is perfect for an explosive compound because even when it's unrefined it is still more stable than Illerium. That stuff can get you killed if you're not careful." He said, glancing down to the woman as she worked. She had steady enough hands and her focus was on her work. Which was good because if the woman added too much sulfur, she could easily set off a nice explosion that would likely kill them both. But she did not, she heeded his instruction to the letter and the moment the concotion was finished, Asher placed a capper on the vial. He took it from where it sat and eyed it closely. A brief smirk came to his face before he set it back on the table in front of him.

"Well....Technically you could call this Isotope-6. As it now has a sixth chemical in the compound. You see, this is not just a mixture of two. There were five elements to make up Isotope-5, now you have added a sixth element." He said, continuing to gaze at it for a moment before clearing his throat. "Anyway it's an Isotope-5 variation that's used a lot in thermal land mines and charges. A bit more of a bang than your average detonator. Thing is, just the right amount of sulfur stabilizes the concotion for an indefinite amount of time. all you need is an electric charge to apply heat to the chemical and boom. Just about any thermal detonator you find can do that." He explained before casually tossing the vial back onto the workbench under them.

"Good job, kid." Asher offered the woman a wink before making his way around the work bench and finding one next to it. Once he made his way to the bench then he began to search the cabinet for any tools he could find. They had the basics, but not quite what he was used to. "Delta." He called out, beginning to unbutton his blazer as his ring began to shine once again. This time Delta appeared on the work bench in front of Asher. The small AI seemed to be doing something rather peculiar. His holographic form was playing with a ball that he had conjured in a simulation to keep him occupied.

"What now, Asher? I'm exercising." Asher pulled his blazer off, shaking his head at the AI before muttering. "You're made of code, Delta, you don't have muscles to exercise."

"And yet, I am in better shape than you." The man tossed his blazer to the side before beginning to roll his sleeves up. "Shut up." He muttered, before releasing the top button on his shirt. "Bring up the last project I was working on." Delta caught the ball in his hand, glancing up at Asher before nodding at the larger man. He exploded into a mist of code before the ring brought up a type of holoscreen. Before Asher was a list of chemicals going through a number of sequences, attempting to stabilize some compound that was composed of almost ten elements. "Where are we at with the compound?"

"We're actually doing good. I've ended 3,765 simulations in failure." Delta called out, in a chipper tone that was not reflected on Asher's face. "How the hell is that good?"

"Seventeen thousand simulations left to go." Delta replied, causing Asher to rub his temple with an audible groan. "Damn pest..." He muttered under his breath.

 

[Alwine Daye]

Wearing: Obsidian type Strike Armor | "Executor" Boots Exclusive
Wielding: Obsidian Knight Sword | WindWhisper
Tags: [member="Asher Malvern"]

Alwine listened quietly as the man proceeded to explain the matter of Isotope-5 and 6. Momentarily, she felt confused. Not, because she did not know what he was speaking of. When she repeated the words in her head, they made perfect sense. Yet to let those words go through her ears and process them, that was still not an automatic thing for her. To be spoken to like that, outside of a training room, it… She liked it.

Right up until he called her a kid. Alwine frowned to that and stood to her full five feet of height, ensuring her back remained straight so that she would not lose a fraction of an inch. It was hard, being a short woman in a galaxy full of towering tall men. Is wink was almost entirely lost on her.

Quietly, using natural stealth her movements usually held that were further honed by her work with the Knights Obsidian, Alwine followed the larger man to his desk, brown eyes curiously eying the AI on his desk and listening to their banter, her body entirely still. While she wasn't exactly hiding, she was not drawing attention to herself either.

The code made her brain spin, but she took a few more steps to be closer to it anyway, standing now next to the man who had not yet given her his name, now trying to understand what it was she was seeing.

"What are you attempting to do?" she asked at last, calling the attention to her, "why does the AI need to calculate… 20,756 times?"

 

[Asher Malvern]

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[member="Alwine Lechner"]​

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The grizzled man paid delta's trials little attention. He reached out to the hologram, his fingers pressing into the screen and causing it to illuminate with an azure hue. He moved the screen over his shoulder, and out of the way while an entirely new display produced itself before him. "How long until the simulations are complete?" Asher seemed to be doing nothing more than surfing over the holonet as Delta's metallic voice called out from the ring he wore. "About four hours. Chances of success are 0.001 percent." Asher glanced down at the ring, cursing softly to himself before returning to the holonet image before him. "Delta, pull up a video of the latest and greatest." With that command the holonet went through a series of links, leading to a recording of a space battle. It was, quite literally, a video of an orbital bombardment being done to some manner of military outpost."

"Freeze it." Asher demanded. The image froze to show the base in mid-destruction. A orbital round had slammed into the center of the base and was in the middle of tearing the structure to pieces. "There." He said, gesturing to the edge of the base's outermost wall. "The blast exceeded its radius by almost three feet." He muttered, before grabbing the datapad he had laid onto the table's surface. He made a quick note of the find just as Alwine approached him. The man had knowledge of the living Force and was keen to her approach. He himself, had shrouded his presence in the Force so he seemed to be no more than the average man.

"I'm creating a new compound. Essentially I'm weaponizing carbon freezing. The Confederacy often has to pacify large areas that contain a mixture of combatants and noncombatants. With my new weapon I will be able to orbitally freeze a predetermined area, making that process easier." And hopefully saving more lives than it will cost. He glanced over to the screen Alwine was looking at. A number of the chemicals continued to circulate and their amounts also shifted from time to time. After each shuffle a red X came across the screen to signify that the compound had failed in it's virtual testings. "With Delta's virtual trial program, I can run simulations on certain compounds and he can make minor changes to the data to reflect a new outcome. This particular makeup has over twenty thousand possible variables that can be changed for a different outcome. Not just the quantity of the elements used, but the nature in how they are infused, the rate of infusion, and even the temperature during the experiment. When it's all said and done there are about twenty thousand things that can be changed."

 

[Alwine Daye]

Wearing: Obsidian type Strike Armor | "Executor" Boots Exclusive
Wielding: Obsidian Knight Sword | WindWhisper
Tags: [member="Asher Malvern"]

"You intend on freezing areas with population in them?" Alwine asked, her eyes growing slightly wider.

Perhaps, in other parts of the galaxy, such things were common. After all, if one could orbitally bombard a city and come out scotch free, why not freeze or burn or drown as well? But Alwine came from a backwater planet where such things were generally not done, mostly due to the lack of technology. She had not even thought to think about such possibilities before. But what else could they do, if that was possible?

Oh, she was aware that people could be frozen and then defrosted later with minimal damage pending on time. That was more or less mainstream knowledge at that point, and she had spent more than a single night staying up late just to read about such wonders. But to do so not to a person, but to an area…

"But if the area includes both combatants and noncombatants, would you not essentially be freezing the combatants as well?" came the next question as she beheld the holoimages. "And what do you do if the simulator is wrong, and results on the field end up being drastically different?"

Realizing her line of questioning, Alwine halted herself and looked down. "I apologize," she quickly said, "This sort of doing is new to me, but I do not mean to overstep."

 

[Asher Malvern]

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[member="Alwine Lechner"]​

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Asher glanced over to the woman, offering a brief chuckle at her words before returning his eyes to the screen that Delta had produced for him. He held up a hand, telling her to wait until he was done. After a few seconds he lowered his hand and moved the holoscreen to the side. He cleared his throat before looking to the woman with a curious expression. "Inquisitive. A good trait to have." He assured her, before gesturing to the screen.

"To answer your first question, yes. You're familiar with carbon freezing right? Well the trick with carbon freezing is while it's not particularly damaging to most beings in the galaxy, it has proven deadly to lifeforms with less hardy organic systems. Plus, it has some side effects which research shows, can become permanent if not handled properly." He explained.

"Here's the idea. You're a soldier, right? Have you ever seen an area....let's say a city, that has a heavy mixture of combatants and non-combatants? Well you can't just orbitally bomb the city can you? No, you'd cost more innocent lives than enemies and that tends to be frowned upon. So what's the next answer? Send in the infantry. Well, War Studies show that this can not only be bad for your soldiers, because they'll have to operate in crowded territory without knowing who is trying to kill them or not. It means that clearing a city of enemy combatants can take days and cause you more casualties than you'd think."

"So the next best thing is to freeze the whole city. A freezing component which will render anyone in the area effectively frozen for at least seventy-two hours. Of course we can use our machines to defrost them, but in that seventy-two hours you can at the very least insert your troops in a more advantageous manner. If you're lucky then you could destroy or capture the enemy before they have a chance to start harming your soldiers."

"Now the next question. Dynetech industries does not do mass field testing. First we utilize virtual simulations, then controlled tests, then uncontrolled tests on a minor scale, then it is subject for a field testing. After every stage it is reviewed before it can proceed to the next phase. So, the chances of that happening are slim to none."

When the woman turned to look down at the ground, Asher tsked at her in disappointment. "Enough of that. Never hang your head for asking the right questions. Hang your head for never asking any questions at all." He offered, before smiling back at the young woman.

"Anyway, Delta has to run a number of tests before we even attempt to fabricate our first prototype. Usually in the first controlled testing phase we use the substance on a biological dummy. It's basically a big piece of metal with hundreds of sensor nodes on it. Those nodes are meant to represent different biological conditions. Things like heart rate, blood-alcohol level, and about a hundred other things. This tells us what kind of response we can end up with on an actual living target."

 

[Alwine Daye]

Wearing: Obsidian type Strike Armor | "Executor" Boots Exclusive
Wielding: Obsidian Knight Sword | WindWhisper
Tags: [member="Asher Malvern"]

He had not given her a chance to answer his carbon freezing question. The answer was that yes, Alwine knew about it, but that was more or less all she knew. The mere thought of having it done to her against her will was terrifying to the young wolf, especially after she had heard the accounts of those who had undergone it only to not even know any sort of time had passed at all. It was… Monstrous.

To his question about her being a soldier, she nodded. At least, that was what she was for now. It had been long since Alwine realized that in a galaxy that held more options for women than warrior or servant, perhaps being the warrior was not what she truly coveted after all. But those were words she had not once voiced thus, not even to her brothers. She had no intention of starting right there and then.

The thought he presented to her about freezing an entire city though… Alwine did not move from her place, but her insides shuffled somewhat uncomfortably at that. She wished she had the knowledge to either soothe her own worries about the potential mess that such a thing would cost, or know enough to tell him why it would not work. But she had the education for neither, and knew better than to speak against something when she was the inferior in knowledge.

But, the man then explained about how the testing would go. Alwine nodded in comprehension. That, was enough to settle her worries aside, so long as he did not prove his words to be untrue. Somehow though, she had a feeling that he had spoken truthfully.

"It sounds terrifying," she admitted at last after a short silence. "When I am in the field, when I am required to take the Confederate's enemies down, I do so in person. I have looked at every person that I have killed, and if their eyes were covered be a visor or helmet, then at least I saw the body before it died."

Alwine took a breath. That was how the Warriors on Stewjon had operated. That was how she had been taught to do ever since she had entered the Knights Obsidian.

"But the things you speak of…" she continued, "this is potentially much more brutal than orbital bombardment. You speak of the potential to undo entire populations without ever as much as glancing at those you kill."

The Confederacy… It was not full of good people. It was full of efficient people, who knew how to do their job, and did so very well. Yet many of them were Sith, Darksiders, smugglers, or other sorts who put themselves above others first. Who had no decency for sentient life and were kept in check by the Confederate's rules only because they liked it there and did not particularly want to be removed from it.

"How do you sleep at night, knowing you have god-like abilities as such within your grasp?" she asked, her gaze shifting from Delta to the man, "Do you even know how many have died because of science you have researched and developed?"

Again she looked to Delta.

"Perhaps a future in a laboratory is not in store for me," Alwine smiled.