I, Wanna Roch(e) and Roll all Night [Republic]

[Laira Darkhold]

Returning to Roche was an easy trip. Especially aboard the Indominus, the newest acquisition ArmaTech Combat Systems had made. The elderly MC-140 Scythe-class Battlecruiser had been modified and brought up to standard in terms of internal systems, computers, and software, while its impressive armament had been left untouched and unblemished. Really the only significant change was the inclusion of the Admiralty Suite near the heavily armored underbelly of the beast. Often I kept my personal vessel mag-locked and clamped to an escape hatch near it, and then that ship carried the Razor’s Edge, my personal interceptor. Being back here at Roche in such a vessel had caused a significant stir among the Verpine. They had hailed us as soon as their sensors realized what it was that had appeared in their system. They were worried about the implications of me adding a modular garrison and eight hundred security personnel, a wing of attack craft, and now a battlecruiser. “If you could simply explain why such precautions are necessary the Hive would be accepting give your long history of assistance and aid of our people,” the representative spoke through the Holo-Comm, as though he as in charge and I was being interrogated.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I thought for a short moment before responding to him. Making him sit in silence caused him to get nervous, which would assist me greatly in the upcoming negotiation. “It is my personal craft. ArmaTech has grown larger that when we last spoke, and led us to believe that my personal security needed to be greatly increased. Hence the formation of ArmaTech Security and the purchase of these ships. There is nothing to worry about on your end, as I have no intention of setting foot on Nickel One and increasing any risk to your people.” I said calmly and bluntly. It was true, except the part about my personal security. It was more for the fear and respect that travelling in such a vessel brought with it. I was fast approaching becoming one of the more important people in the Republic and felt it necessary I show that.

The Verpine twitched his antenna a few times, communicating with its brethren before responding, “The Hive understands, and enjoys that ArmaTech has grown so rapidly. In the future if your personnel could simply warn us the Indominus Rex is in route we could avoid any further interrogations like this one.” He said after some reflection.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It was best I remind them where they stood on the food chain, yet be sure to phrase it as a joke so it wouldn’t come off as a threat. “No by all means, I’m the one sitting on a warship looking down at you. If this were the standard for interrogations there would be no reason to fear the Inquisition.” I said, laughing as I completed my little joke. It was funny enough to be taken as one and meant as one, and enough warning to remind them that they didn’t own me, nor control me. “I will be here overseeing a mining operation for a few days, you can contact me on my asteroid while the Indominus is here. When it leaves, I leave.” I told them, clicking off the holocomm. Interesting they didn’t seem bothered by my warning. Oh well, they were obviously pleased with ArmaTech’s significant progress and they probably saw no reason to poke an angry bear with big guns looking down at them. Verpine were known to be intelligent after all. “Pull us about and take us to the base. I want to see how they are doing with my rock.” I called to the helmsman. I leaned back in the comfortable captain’s chair looking through the viewport, taking stock of everything around the asteroids.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I knew there were at least a few other mining operations out there among the asteroids, but ArmaTech had laid claim to a dozen Phrik enriched rocks in an area of the system, and though we currently only mined one, it became necessary to park some defensive craft, as well as leave some security here, but at the moment I lacked any real form. There were some repurposed Republic Marines stomping around, but they were barely ArmaTech Soldiers or guards. They held loyalty to me because I signed their paychecks. If I stopped they would go back to the republic without a second thought. The Indominus pulled alongside the asteroid holding the garrison that doubled as a living and processing place for the miners and the mineral they pulled from the ground. Phrik was a very valuable resource and I had mined it here before. “Have we arrived at the mooring tower?” I asked the helmsman, standing from my seat. He turned and snapped a salute. “Yes sir, we have.” He said, I nodded and made my way down towards the mooring tower which would transport me to the factory floor of this facility. Full armor was comfortable for me, and so I wore it as often as I could.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

My armor being crafted from Phrik, made it feel as though I was invincible. Granted this had been proven false several times, but none the less, I felt like a tank as I waded through my enemies in battle. It was a feeling I wanted to give to others. That was why I was here, because I wanted soldiers to be able to survive as well as I did, I wanted casualty rates in battles against the forces of the One Sith to drastically reduce, and I wanted to make a lot of money in the process. The turbolift stopped and the door slid open, revealing the refining plant that had replaced a great deal of the munitions space. Ten AT-MP’s were used on the rock, mining it of its resources as well as a full complement of the Harvester-class mobile mining facility. “Contact [member="Lady Kay"] and see if she wishes to review our numbers and our process. I would like for here to be familiar with our primary mining operation if she is going to help run the company.” I ordered to the foreman who had attached himself to my side when I arrived. “Yes sir, right away.” He responded pulling a comm link and whispering instructions to an operator on the base.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I wanted her here and nearby for the time being. For some reason I trusted her more than I trusted most people. She had rubbed me the right way, like Gir Quee, the Republic’s Grand Admiral, or Captain Larraq, a Mandalorian businessman whom I had worked with several times and sponsored me joining the Mandalorian Protectors. He had allowed me to become a member of the culture, and I had helped him build tanks. It was a good trade, and I hadn’t yet discovered how I intended to pay off my debt to the man. I had sold him the rights to several of my vehicle systems and assisted directly in mining the Beskar he placed in the vehicles. That was neither here, nor there at the moment. [member="Lady Kay"] had proven to be very useful to my operation. Already she was reaching out and testing the waters of her new found influence. Should she keep this up, I may be able to retire before too long I thought to myself. I paced the factory floor, taking stock of the Phrik stores that were here and comparing them to the estimates the Taanab factory had told me they would need to throw the armor into production. It was not enough. Perhaps they were in need of my Harvester and seismic mines to break up some of the other asteroids.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I turned back to the foreman walking with me, “How are the men? Are they being well taken care of and rotated out properly?” I asked him, checking on my workers welfare. If anything could be said of me it was that I genuinely cared about those that served me loyally and faithfully. That was why the Paragon and Icon-class Personal Energy Shields had been created in the first place. To protect the soldiers of the Republic as best as they possibly could, and provide them with the means to achieve victory. That was the same reason I had returned to Roche, to mine Phrik in mass quantities to supply to an elite fighting force. That force may become a nail in the One Sith’s coffin, and if I have anything to do about it, that would be the final nail in that coffin. The foreman thumbed through a datapad for a second. “The men are fine and being cycled out every twelve days, four off, twelve more, then back to Taanab for a month.” He answered, reading it from a datapad. “Good, keep up the good work, unfortunately we must step up production.” I told him glancing through the hold where the ore was being kept before transport.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

He looked at me crossly, knowing full well that everything was well within the norms for efficiency and productivity. There wasn’t many ways someone could increase productivity without increasing man power significantly. Luckily droids existed and they could be easily bought and thrown to work without any problems or issues. “Order a second complement of droids brought in, and a demolitions crew armed with seismic charges. Have a mining vessel come out and provide some support for them, picking up the pieces and doing preliminary processing.” I said to the man, thinking about the yield of some of those seismic charges. I was looking for small controlled blasts to break apart some of the smaller rocks I had rights to in this system, allowing the mining ship to simply collect the mineral from the debris and run it through a sensor system, bringing the rocks laden with ore back to the processing plant to be broken down and melted into ingots for transport. The foreman nodded, “Right away. We haven’t heard from [member="Lady Kay"] yet. Would you like us to keep trying?” He asked quietly. I thought for a moment. I wasn’t upset that she couldn’t be reached. It was entirely possible that she was asleep or working on something, and her presence wasn’t required.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“No, she is probably busy with other projects. Leave a message and let me know when she responds and that will be fine.” I said to the foreman. I had no concerns about the woman. She was intelligent and shrewd and would do fine in whatever capacity she chose. This mining operation didn’t require her to be here and managing it. I just wanted her to see what ArmaTech was capable of as it stood and how much we were willing to do to get what we needed or wanted for a project. Especially ones that would save the lives that mattered most to me. Other people may believe that civilians are the most precious commodity, but I knew better. Warriors were the most precious, willing to sacrifice themselves to save and protect people they didn’t know.

“Once they arrive, put them to work. I want this finished as quickly as possible. I will retire to the executive office for now. Let me know if anything changes or anyone needs something.” I ordered the foreman turning and walking towards the turbolift. The foreman nodded, “Will do sir,” muttered in response and returned to work. Relieved to have the boss stop looking over his shoulder I’m sure.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The door slid open and I walked into the comfortable office. Outside I could hear sirens sounding the end of a shift, and the beginning of the next one. Thousands of workers were cycled in eight galactic standard hour shifts, spending six hours out on the rock in the vacuum of space removing phrik as the droids pulled it from the earth and using the mining walkers to collect huge amounts of space rock for processing and refinement. This phrik would be made into a series matrices with neutronium, granting the near indestructible metal the energy diffusing properties of neutronium for use in personal armor that would be issued to the special forces troops that ArmaTech would soon begin fielding. They needed this gear, among other projects that we were working on in order to serve their purpose of sticking it to the Sith and their allies as much as possible. That reminded me, I need to train these warriors as well. I needed to look into it but that was a task for another day. I glanced at a viewscreen, looking at walkers going out for more ore as they stomped across the asteroid’s surface. I remembered back when I first bought this asteroid I had to mine with just me and another mandalorian with an E-Web… My how things had changed.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It took a little why but the demolition crew and the few thousand droids I had requested arrived in system shortly after I sent the call out for them. I needed this work done. Already the Olympian was ready for mass production. Soon the Immortal would be coming hot off the press, issued to special forces and officers of the Republic, the Silver Jedi Order, and maybe even the Mandalorians. I of course had plans for how and what to supply to the Red Ravens. I had promised Chiasa full access to my manifest, but these would be going to that manifest. I’d still make sure she received some of them, with bodies already inside, but I didn’t intend to sell this to her in the same way. I watched as the demolition ship released its highly skilled workers who set about affixing seismic mines to a small rock, roughly sixty meters in diameter. The very small yield explosive would shatter the rock, which would be trapped in a tractor beam, keeping it from exploding in every direction and scattering the precious ore across all of space. It was quick, efficient, and cost effective.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Seconds ticked by after the demolition crew returned to their ship, waiting for the timed explosion to go off. It may take close to an hour to set everything up for this rapid mining process, but it was roughly twice as fast as normal mining unless you attempted anything bigger than a few dozen meters wide. Once it passed a certain point you were just blowing up rocks, not really mining. The first explosive detonated in a brilliant fire and bright flash. The tractor beam wavered but held tight, keeping the now much more manageable chunks of rock and ore in one place, making sure that the valuable mineral wasn’t lost or wasted. That was key, keep from losing ore and keep pulling it out of the rock at a steady pace. If you could manage all that you could keep a steady supply of one of the rarest minerals in the galaxy in your stores. Mandalhypernautics figure that out and mined Beskar to the point that he build full scale vehicles out of it, but even I wasn’t that ambitious just yet. I just needed to keep my troopers alive longer and give them away to hurt their opposition like no other.

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

The melodious singing heralded her arrival long before she was at the door to the executive office. "I want to choke him, want to maltreat him, I want to squeeze him and break his neck, neck, neck. I said huhuo I got nothing but a heartache - and I just wanna let you know that I'm about to go insane - you know that I will soon take my gun. My gun to shoot him down~♪" She sang in a cheerful tone as she opened the door and waved to [member="Draco Vereen"] with a big smile on her face and a honey flavored, and smelling, cigarillo in the left corner of her mouth which left a faint and silvery smoke trail after her, a nervous looking assistant running after her as if he was trying to stop her from wondering the facility as she did. "I thought I heard you had arrived. I must say this place is amazing but I have to ask what are you going to use all this phrik for, exactly? cause this seems like quite the awful lot of ore you're stockpiling here." She said with her cheerful smirk as she moved to stand next to him and look out the same window as he was. Looking out just as the mining ship was hauling some of the floating rocks into it's hold for transport into the facility. "Oh before I forget I wanted to look over the Olympian armor that I've heard so much about, maybe I can bring a suggestion if you want?" She said almost like an after thought as she admired what the man had built and the work that most certainly must have went into it.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

When the Cerun, [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] entered the office I turned and returned her cheerful smile, “It’s good to see you out here, I wasn’t aware you had decided to pay Roche a visit.” I said to her as she walked over to look out the window with me. She was certainly an interesting character and good to have around. Being and engineer she brought a level of expertise to the operation that I sorely lacked. It was one of the reasons that I hired her and paid her as much as I did. “Absolutely, just a second and I will hand you the current schematics.” I walked around behind the large desk in the office. I shuffled through a few hologram projectors before finding the right one. “Here it is. Have yourself a look and I will gladly take any suggestions you may have.” I told her handing the small projector.

Spoiler

ACS-001 Olympian Battle Armor
Image Source: Here
Intent: Provide the Galaxy with the very best of Personal Armor
Development Thread: http://starwarsrp.net/topic/58853-droids-drinks-and-acquisitions-sort-of/
Manufacturer: ArmaTech Combat Systems
Model: Mk2
Affiliation: Open Market
Modularity: Yes (Weapon systems can be added to forearm slots, jetpacks, shields, and generators replaced, and aesthetic changes)
Production: Mass
Material: Duranium-Neutronium Alloy Plates, Duranium Fiber Armorweave, Thermal Gel, etc.
Classification: Multipurpose
Weight: 16 Kilograms
Quality: 8
Special Features:

• Excellent Slugthrower and Blaster Protection
• Minor Lightsaber Resistance: You gotta put Umph! into it, no lazy sweeps or glancing strikes

Support Systems

• Arbiter Combat Helmet
• Sky-Strike Miniature Jump Pack
• Icon-class Personal Energy Shield
• Power Armor-Liner
• Temperature Regulator
• Internal Air Supply (60 Minutes)
• Hermetically Sealed
• Self Resealing Foam
• IFF Circuitry
• Digital Life Support System Readout
• Electromagnetic Sole-Plates
• Combat De-Ionizer
• Hyperion Combat Power Pack
• Weapon Slots (2 on each arm [Wrist Rocket System=2; Dart Launcher=.5] that can be taken from cannon or sub separately)

Description:
The Olympian is the pinnacle of personal armor for troops on the ground, combining rugged and light weight duranium plates, molytex and duranium weave armor glove, and the Icon-class personal energy shield, as well as providing the latest in battlefield mobility with the Sky-Strike Miniature Jump Pack, allowing troops to move around the battlefield with ease. Combining it with the Hyperion Combat Power Pack allows the suits systems to recharge fairly quickly and maintain passive power for great lengths of time.

A myriad of support systems are combining in this armor, allowing it to be used in any combat environment. Being Hermetically sealed allows it to survive decompression, and featuring a temperature regulator it can be used to compete in almost any climate. It features a thin layer of thermal gel mixed with foam sealant, providing additional protection from blaster and slugthrower weapons and allowing holes torn in the suit to automatically reseal, assuming they aren't overly large. This isn't as effective as a sealant patch but it is better than nothing, and is automatic. A power armor-liner provides increased resistance to kinetic and energy weapons, reducing the chance of knock down and providing resistance to heat, fire, cold, corrosives, and poisons. Electromagnetic soles allow soldiers to maneuver more effectively in zero or light gravity. It features a digital life support system readout allowing medics to quickly assess an injured individual. Finally it features a combat de-ionizer as standard.

The light weight plates provide the utmost of blaster and slugthrower protection, consisting of a segmented, scalloped cuirass, pauldrons, vambraces, gauntlets, greaves, sabatons, and a cod piece allowing for mobility and protection where it is needed most. The vambraces feature a pair of weapon hard points allowing for small weapon systems like the ZX miniature flame projector or DUR-24 Wrist Laser to be used in combination with what weapons the soldier is issued.

Turning back to the window I could see the mining vessel moving the ore and rock back to the processing plant while tiny dots appeared on another rock to begin setting up the seismic explosives on it as well. On the primary asteroid even more droids and mining walkers were being deployed to hasten their progress.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I began speaking without necessarily looking at the young woman, or what I assumed was young for a cerun. “This is going to be going into a limited production variant of the Olympian Armor for our Special Forces security and other high paying buyers. It will offer the galaxy some of the best physical protection in the galaxy, and be equipped with our advanced model shield, the Paragon-class. If you have anything to add to the Olympian it will most likely be transferred to the Immortal, which is what this model will be known as.” I said to her, turning, “This is what we do best. ArmaTech has mined in every hostile environment without fail, and we have yet to be stopped. The thing that sets us apart from others is quite simply our will to succeed. At least that’s what I’d like to believe.” Finishing my speech, I turned away from the window and went to sit behind the desk, gesturing to two other chairs in the room, “Please make yourself comfortable,” I told her kicking my feet up on the desk. The mining ship finally arrived with its first bounty of rock and immediately turned to go and begin retrieving more.

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

Zreame received the projector and opened it to look it over as she stood there were he had handed it to her, while the assistant sneaked away so he wouldn't disturb them. "I assume that mobility is key in both the Olympians and Immortals design? Because I'd suggest developing the Hyperion power pack into a smaller variant, granted with half it's power output, and place it between these two thrusters here since there is room for it and with a system as complex as this, running out of power would be highly disastrous. Granted it might at a little to the weight of the armor and seeing that it's 16 kg and if the development of the smaller pack would pay of it might only increase the weight around 2 kg. Adding hydraulics to the joint's might also allow it to not only move faster but perhaps even allow the soldiers to move a heavy object to create a better cover when under fire thought that could ad another 1 kg to do so. For the Immortal thought I'd suggest to ad phrik threads into the weave around the softest parts of the armor besides the hard points of course." She then began to say as she moved to sit down on one of the chairs offered to her. She had to admit there was little she could suggest towards the design as it held up quite well on it's own but she thought that it would also be a great starting point to start from to build a heavier armor that might make for great "juggernaut troops" in the field. "I am only suggesting this but given that you probably have a lot more experience in war than me but might it be plausible to make a heavier variant of the Olympian armor to make a sort of juggernaut armor that would be a little slower but could soak up a lot more damage and would have a larger power supply to power it's shields?" Her feet moved to rest on the table as she took a drag of her Cigarillo and then placed the projector on the table as well. She had to admit that [member="Draco Vereen"] had the right idea about his Immortal upgrade to the Olympian since it seemed to be the most logical step forward for the design.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I listened to her carefully as she spoke, taking in all the engineer had to say. I had found it was best to listen to the advice of those that selected a craft as their field of expertise. And [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] was certainly an expert engineer. What she didn’t know was that a team of twenty engineers poured their hopes and dreams into this design, and within minutes of looking it over she had already discovered one way to make it better. “Those a fair suggestions Miss Zeibitha. Ones that will be looked into by smarter men than I, I assure you. In regards to variants of the armor, in fact there are three planned variants to this set. The Immortal, which will feature the Phrik we are mining today as a special operations and senior officer model; the Titan, which will be a heavily armored set featuring a generator and variable output blaster cannon and a ripper pistol; and the Vanguard, a lighter armored scout version with a double power cell, double fuel tank version of the miniature Sky-Strike, along with sensor negators. Those sets however will not be produced in mass. First however we must begin production on the original set and the Immortal, arguably the most expensive variant.” I told her, outlining the product lines goals to the engineer.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I smiled, she was good. I sincerely hoped that she would continue to bring such ideas into the fold. We needed critical thinkers and hard workers at ArmaTech. [member="Lady Kay"] could perform miracles in the diplomatic field by comparison to me, and I had strong ties with the Republic and Mandalorians, two groups almost always embroiled in war against something or sometimes one another. My minor affiliation with the Red Ravens would also lead to profits, but Kay would most likely open up avenues I didn’t know existed.

The mining operation was picking up, moving steadily at a significantly quicker pace than when I had arrived, offering up a higher degree of efficiency, despite having already been doing very well when I had arrived. It was no doubt due to the addition of myself and [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"] on the asteroid. Workers always put forth their best when the boss was lingering. Three thousand workers, twice as many droids, close to forty All Terrain Mining Pods as well as a mining corvette and demolition crew could move quite a bit of rock. With the Indominus, lingering over the mining facility it was well protected, which was coincidently the point in riding it out this far. Three eight hour shifts of miners, twenty four hour shifts for droids and vehicles, there would be issues, but none of great worth. Maintenance would have to take place and no doubt that would slow production, but only to a very small degree.

 

[Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha]

She Listened to him and nodded as she was told of the planned variants. "Mhm If you would permit me, could I perhaps be allowed to use but a fraction to develop an armor from this phrik? I have some ideas about the sky-striker jump pack as well as some jedi and sith armor designs that I've seen have opened my eyes a bit more to the versatility of the alloy not to mention if I could reforge my swords with a little phrik there wouldn't be that much of a problem when faced with a lightsaber..." she said though she then went silent for a little bit. "How about adding a phrik alloy vibro knife to a shoulder sheath on the Immortal design? or perhaps just a phrik alloy knife that is sharpend down so well that the louder vibro-knife would be unnecessary? This should allow senior officers though mostly the special operations units a little more versatility when it came to dealing with a lightaber wielding force user as well as make less noise when stealth would be ideal." She couldn't lie that she was really enjoying her new position especially in regards to having someone to bounce the ideas she was getting off of, however she had heard that [member="Lady Kay"] had been requested to arrive at the station and was wondering what would require a Diplomat's hand. [member="Draco Vereen"] seemed to have the locals in hand but of course a softer hand at diplomacy could always be more beneficial.

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Zreame Ithrac Zeibitha"]

Kay was running behind, as was to be expected. Having gotten a couple of messages requesting her presence, she had sent off her own reply, letting them know that she was on her way. Instead of going shopping herself, she had sent others to do it for her as she had a mountain of information, contracts, schedules and accounts to go through to familiarise herself with. In a sense she had a tonne of homework to do.

Her assistant soon arrived with a floor length dress that was simple yet suitable, elegant yet functional, all befitting of a Lady, yet not restricting her from being able to protect herself from an attack. Kay soon changed into the outfit, leaving her merchant clothing behind. She didn't need it at the moment. However, she did keep her satchel with her. It might seem a bit out of place, but it had everything that she needed; her tea essentials, food and water rations, her lightsaber and a small blaster.

By the time Kay finally arrived to Draco's suite she was an hour late. She bowed her head to the both of them, not wanting to interrupt their conversation, but she had to apologise regardless "Sorry that I'm late. I am normally on time, but I had lots to go through."