Hyperspace? Why not.

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren Starchaser was shopping. It was odd, but he was still perusing the HoloNet and Silk Holding became where he was looking. The former fighter pilot turned Dark Jedi turned Wing Commander turned cryo-frozen Force dumb was trying to learn his way back into the galaxy. This included more than just building up his Force knowledge-base and skill set. It meant finding himself in a galaxy that had changed from when he could remember. Or sort of remember. There were logs of his past deeds and that was helping to spark memories, but it wasn’t spot on. Still… viewing the Silk Holding site, there was the option of careers.

Just for S&G, Coren clicked. He heard of the one known as Jorus Merrill, someone who he felt… drawn to? Was that the word? Perhaps. Still, Merrill worked for Silk, and if it was good enough for that man, who helped find a space corridor, it was good for Coren. Scanning the list of jobs, he saw the call for hyperlane exploration. Clicking, he further went down the list.

Sure, he was waiting for a reply from the help-desk if the Silkworm would work on a YT-2000 without completely draining his power sources, but why not, right? Composing a quick message to the hiring team. It was simple. Discussing his plans and purpose of working through the Unknown Regions, to provide a route through the region that would be safe for travel, cargo and civilian transports. He knew he was going to attempt it anyway, but a sponsorship? Why not take it, right?

Of course.

[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

Mr. Starchaser,

Your proposal is of interest to me. It fits, very closely, an AEI project that has been in the works for some time. We are actively recruiting pilots with your profile for these opportunities. The name 'Starchaser' is also of interest to me. Are you, by chance, related to Marek Starchaser?

If you are on Esfandia within the next three days, contact my office and use the word 'enigma' to set up an appointment.

Selka Ventus
Member, Silk Board of Directors
Interim CEO, Akure Executive Interstellar
AEI - A Member of the Silk Family of Companies
Office 600, Level 51B, Tion Trade Nexus

 

[Coren Starchaser]

There we go. That was what Coren needed, a bit of word coming in from AEI. He wasn’t expecting someone from the Board however. That seemed a bit beyond the paygrade of what he was looking for, but he knew never to look a gift horse in the mouth. He looked the correspondence over again before composing his own return mail.

“Miss Ventus.

A pleasure to hear from you. I’ll swing by the office on Esfandia and set up our meeting. Marek Starchaser is… a distant related. Second cousin. But not much interaction. Hope he isn’t sullying the name.

Captain Coren Starchaser
174th Space Wing (Retired)”

Of course it wasn’t the Sith Empire, nor the Fel Empire. But he wanted to prove he had ranking, any back search of the 174th Wing on channels that were not Republic would show a strike wing that had shown history in a variety of Imperial groups relating to Csillia and the house phalanx of the Chiss. Recently they appeared in service of the Fringe Federation.

With the message sent, Coren proceeded down to the hangar of the Dawn Treader where he was based. The Tachyon Rising was being modified as he made this trip, getting prepared for his mission. So, instead, he took one of the smaller craft, TIE Exalt that was based as a trainer. His own TIE fighter was locked away in the storage hangar, ready to be repaired in case of Cylons, or something. Still, this would get him there and back.

When he made his way to Esfandia, he found the offices of AEI and mentioned the word ‘engima’ in casual conversation with the desk jockey, poor woman, at least she had her looks going for her. He was waiting for a meeting, going over the maps he had recently received.

[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

Chiss connections meant good things for this particular route. Very good things. The Starchaser connection hadn't proven to mean an awful lot, but it wasn't negligible. Especially since that was what had gotten him the interview with AEI's interim chief exec.

"You can go in now," the receptionist said, and Coren was directed to Selka's office. It was small and trim, clean and hard-lined, not unlike Selka herself. A variety of potted plants included a black-petaled orchid and a Dromund Kaas dart flower, both semi-sentient. Selka, too, had been going through maps, primarily the space between the Chiss heartland and Esfandia. This place was a major comms node leading into the Unknown Regions, and a significant link in the partially-completed Blood Trail.

"Mr. Starchaser?" She didn't rise. "I'm Selka Ventus. Welcome to Esfandia."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren spent too much of his time, historically speaking, not that he remembered it all, but his droid and datacron did, in the Unknown Regions, and in and around Chiss space. He was that kind of Imperial. He wasn’t sure what pulled the strings to get him noticed with AEI, but if it was the Starchaser bit, he’d have to mail a letter of thanks to Marek, hell, maybe even reconnect with that wayward boy.

Yeah, boy. Marek was younger, even if he was all sorts of CEO, he wasn’t a military man. Different life, same skill set.

When he was given permission to enter, he nodded and got to his feet. He wasn’t really dressed for too fancy of an occasion. Corellian blood stripes and the standard ‘holo image’ of a Corellian. Noticing the plants and not recognizing them, save for the bit of Force aura they had, he turned his view on the much more attractive [member="Selka Ventus"]. Okay, so maybe Starchasers had similar tastes.

“Been a while since I’ve been here. Thank you for the meeting, Miss Ventus. So, the path, through the Unknown Regions, got many pilots running that?”

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

"Some, yes. My predecessor generally used disposable ships and pilots. Decommissioned Subach-Innes starfighters and semi-sentient Lugubraa, mainly. Some cybernetics links, but nothing that approached a good, cost-effective cyber pilot system -- a need we're still trying to fill. May have to look elsewhere for that, but I digress. The first portions of this lane were carved out by brute force, with very high attrition rates. I tend to appreciate a more professional approach, if you'll forgive the understatement. During my term as interim CEO, AEI has hired over a dozen contractors with profiles similar to yours. The primary import here is the Solovarna-Nemexia-Serpena-Dasid Anya link. Solovarna to Esfandia and thence to Muunilinst is well established; so is Dasid Anya to Annaj and the Sanctuary Pipeline. If we connect the Blood Trail to Dasid Anya, we'll have successfully linked former Fringe routes with the Braxant Run. This is a critical time."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Marek nodded as [member="Selka Ventus"] spoke. Using old ships seemed to make sense, but that meant they were disposable, and, in his opinion, probably not the best caliber. He’d be using his own ship until the AEI money accrued enough for him to buy something a bit larger. Silk had several vessels he had his eyes on. The talk of Subach ships and then the semi-sentient ships made him go from looking tired to exicted with the latter.
“Well, I’ll be bringing my own vessel onboard for now, until I can lease or purchase one of the more advanced pathfinding vessels from Silk. Moving from Annaj out to Muun… that bit of territory is something I’m familiar with. For a few years my unit used to work for the Ascendancy in the Unknown Regions. Its just a matter of connecting dots and linking the trails, as you’ve said. We’ve got the bookends of it. I can get to work connecting the far flung worlds.” Simple enough.

Sort of.

“Whats AEI able to provide for assistance in the endeavor?”

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

"Yes, your Chiss background. The Blood Trail will connect to the Path of the Houses near Sharb; that's been plotted and safes, but local connections are still tenuous. For your assistance in Chiss territory - securing resupply licenses and contracts, greasing the wheels with the Houses - we'd be prepared to pay you triple the going rate for spacers of your experience. Contingent upon success, of course - standard rate until then, with retroactive compensation if you succeed. Youll also have free access to our own facilities along the Blood Trail. Is that acceptable?"

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if there was an implant that allowed him to directly interface with his ship's computer. That should be a thing. Coren was good at remembering landmarks and the path, he had his datapad out and was jotting down some notes as to where the work was done already and where it needed to go. And working with the Chiss, that was something he'd not done in a while, but something he knew he could do.

Nodding to [member="Selka Ventus"], he considered it. Standard rate going out, retroactive coming back. "Perfectly reasonable to me. Am i focusing on representing Akure, or will there be other partners to open trade for through the Houses?" And access to AEI facilities, that would help them when they were in a pinch, fuel and the like.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

"Akure owns the majority of the waypoint facilities along the Blood Trail, but we're actively recruiting corporate partners and encouraging other corporations to use the route in whatever capacity they prefer, within reason. There are shipping, shipbuilding, supply and even cybernetics companies looking to work closely with the explorers we hire, though some of them are better than others. You're free to work with other corporations so long as it doesn't interfere with our primary business -- improving the route. What that means for the Chiss is...they'd better be prepared for an influx, a serious influx, of corporations looking to trade with them. If you can, favour the Tionese corporations, like Santhe/Sienar, Hegemonic Automaton, its yard-care subsidiary Hedgemonic Automaton, and whatever Ty'rel/Eridium/Neuro-Saav is calling itself this week. And," she said after a moment, "if you happen to come across any interesting cybernetic technology, I'd personally offer a premium on that. Laying the foundations for a new project."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren nodded to [member="Selka Ventus"] as she went over the issues, and locations. At least he had a safety net when he was out there. Probably will have to lose anyone chasing him before docking. And he was making note of the expansive companies coming out. Tionese, huh?

Weren't they that cultish saurian illuminati group? Was he working for them now? He was nodding to the company list, of course he knew Santhe, kept TIEs in the sky, and their majority shareholder was some kind of hot. So was the woman in front of him, if you liked being terrified. Sometimes he did. The one that confused him was Hedgemonic Automaton. Was Selka joking? He wasn't going to ask, and let it go. And Ty'rel, they were buying the galaxy, weren't they?

"We'll get the Chiss to play.And i'll keep my eyes open. Some of the worlds have some interesting tech." And Coren had a knack for finding things. Hufflepuff

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

"Please do. Anything from the Abominor, the Children of Darzu, the Gank or Yaka, the Sekotan seed-partner ships...anything along those lines. That's a side project for me personally, you understand. And yes." She smiled faintly. "I'm registered as a corporate partner to AEI. No serious conflicts of interest here."

She stood now, and extended her hand to shake. "Thank you for your time, Captain Starchaser, and I'm glad to have you aboard. I'm afraid I have a meeting now with some disgruntled alchemists who've been forced to work with Circe Savan for too long. I should get to that."