In Plain Sight

[Audren Sykes]

Camouflage. A basic concept, but one that some do better than others. Camouflage netting in particular had become less prominent with the re-emergence of stygium and other cloaking methods, but it was still around. The idea was ancient but many implementations were simplistic, even perhaps bordering on primitive. Dyed fabric attached to netting. But it could be so much more. Some enterprising individuals had created netting that could literally take a picture of the ground beneath it and replicate that. A long time since though, that had faded from memory.

There had been a couple instances where Audren could have used a camouflage net. He also had a feeling that the folks comprising the Free Colonies - especially the smugglers - could use such an item. However, sometimes just replicating the ground wasn't enough. A different pattern might be necessary, or more than visual sensors might need to be fooled. Fortunately, Audren knew of a product that did some of what he was looking for.

 

[Audren Sykes]

One of the Sanctum's available armors was the QQ-15L-3 ExCon suit. The ExCon part of the name stood for Extreme Conditions; it was a well-chosen name, as it had indeed helped the Sephi survive on incredibly hostile planets. One of the features of the armor though, was to change color and camouflage pattern at will. Oh, there were downsides of course, such as only being able to change five times before the battery ran out and select few color and pattern combinations to use. It also had upsides, such as the adaptive camouflage not fading away because the suit itself lost power. That was a feature that he strongly desired.

Fortunately, there was a tailor in Voss'ka that Audren had worked with before. This particular tailor had collaborated with a blacksmith to make the Jedi's relatively unique robes, and had done an excellent job with them. Perhaps this was something he could do. The Knight was able to snag a relatively-intact piece of an ExCon suit being decommissioned for damage and headed for the tailor's shop.

It took some time - and some persuading - but the tailor was able to determine that the piece was made mostly of synthmesh. It was the material that provided most of the strength of the armor. There was also some agrinium present. The tailor speculated that it was to add some strength as well, but Audren - given his history with the suit - was fully aware that it was what shielded the suit's electronics. The key material, the one that the Sephi was looking for, turned out to be photoreactive fiber. It was inactive at the moment, and given the thinness of the layer merely obscured the synthmesh slightly, like cloudy glass.

Armed with the knowledge of one of the materials he needed, and now with fewer credits in his account, the Sephi left the tailor's shop. Knowledge for credits was a fair trade, but the expenses were just starting.

 

[Audren Sykes]

What Audren needed now was a source of the photoreactive fiber. He didn't need much at first, just enough to make a working prototype or two, but once he got it up and running he would need a steady enough supply to fulfill any orders. Thus when he arrived back at his quarters, he began researching dealers, both local supply stores and bulk or contract deals.

As it turned out, there were a few stores that sold it in Voss'ka. Not many, and it didn't look like they kept much on hand, but he didn't need much for the initial creation. Just a square meter would do. The full-sized prototype...well, he'd need at least a thirty-one meter length for that. If he had a smaller ship he wouldn't need as much, but he didn't and had no desire to borrow anyone else's. Theoretically he could create a prototype for a speeder of some sort, that would show proof of concept as well as anything else. He would again be purchasing or borrowing however, since he didn't want to check a speeder or ship out of the Sanctum's motor pool for his personal company.

In the end, the Sephi headed to the local fabric store with the least expensive prices and purchased the square meter. The sales clerk - just trying to be helpful - brought up the point of how Audren was planning on controlling the color changes. He said that some people applied a chemical that allowed color changes based on mood, others used computer circuitry to have pre-selected colors or patterns rotate through it. Something else to think about, considering Audren had little computer knowledge to begin with.

 

[Audren Sykes]

From his own experiences with the ExCon suit, Audren was fully aware that there was a small computer used to control how the camouflage worked. Theoretically, he could dig into that computer, find the coding used, and copy that over to his own computer. There were a few problems with that scenario however. First was the logical: he was adding functionality - added patterns and the ability to change colors - to the existing set of instructions, and the new patterns needed to be scalable from personal up to freighter-sized. He also had the sneaking suspicion, more than just a suspicion actually, that using such code would be infringement of some sort and open his company up to lawsuits.

Instead, the Sephi approached a company that worked with code exclusively. That company farmed out the jobs piecemeal to their various contractors. Most would be creating procedurally-generated patterns that would output in a specific manner at nearly any size. Field, mountainous terrain, urban...all were farmed out separately. One programmer was set to take the generated output as input and change the colors - which would be given as inputs - to realistic options on the pattern. Yet another was to make a program that would disperse the pattern along circuitry in a manner that would be believable at most scales. Something the size of a person wouldn't try to compress the details of a freighter-sized piece into that personal size, nor would a freighter-sized piece be expanded up to freighter size. A last programmer would take input from visual sensors and identify terrain and colors, sending that information as output.

Even with his extremely limited computer skills, Audren knew how to compile a program when all the pieces were present. This he did, and he then placed the resulting program - one he, or Ceredir Industries rather, owned entirely - on a locked-down datapad. The program was the only thing that could be run on the datapad. When connected with a holoprojector, the program appeared to run flawlessly, generating up to world-sized patterns and colors. Whether or not that would work with the final product was another issue though.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Though Audren wasn't involved in most of the creation of the program, he wasn't idle during that time period. Much of it was spent with the raw fiber, combining it with circuitry and forming it into a net-style weave. He experimented with different voltages on a small piece during the build process as well, seeing how the different levels altered color. In the end he ended up wrapping the fibers around a single wire and making larger fibers that were insulated from other circuits, then using the result as the netting's weave.

In all honesty, the project was turning out to be more work than the Sephi had anticipated. He'd already made much of the initial investment though, so he persisted. A multi-discipline engineer was contracted to create a system that took a pattern or set of colors and converted it to precise voltages in order to alter the colors in the netting, while conversations - consultations, really, since he was being paid for the time - with an electrical specialist to figure out how to send instructions through the fibers to allow branches further along to both change their color and allow instructions. Complicated far beyond the Knight's skills, but with the right help a method was found and the relevant information passed along to the engineer.

Once the engineer got his part completed, Audren incorporated that into the design. Now came the critical portion of the phase: testing. The pieces were laid out, program booted up, and pattern and color scheme selected. When he touched the 'implement' button however, color began seeping through the fabric. Slower than he'd expected, but given the power came just from the datapad connection it was acceptable. The pattern was at the right scale, it hadn't stopped at the branchings, and most importantly the coloration was accurate. The first step had been completed.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Audren took a deep breath and let it loose slowly, then simply sat for a moment. He hadn't quite realized how tense he'd been until he wasn't, and the difference made him just want to relax for a moment. Then the moment was done however, and it was back to work. Proof of concept worked, but he wanted to see it work quickly. For that, he needed to hook up an external power supply. The converter cable was standardized however, and all he had to do was plug it into the wall. This time he selected and implemented a simple gray urban pattern, and watched it coalesce into being across the netting. It was much quicker with the power than without. Satisfied, he purged the settings and went back to the default translucent of the fabric, then disconnected the command cable. He could move on now.

 

[Audren Sykes]

The next step, assuming there was a way he could eliminate the electrical splash issue, was determining exactly how to mitigate the damage thermal imaging could cause. To start, he read up on the various methods available to defeat heat-based cameras. Most of these involved using some sort of insulation to prevent the heat from leaking out, which turned his research in that specific direction.

To say that there were quite a few types of insulators in the galaxy would be the understatement of the year. There were natural elements: biological ones such as certain hairs or skins, or minerals that could be mined. Then there were the artificial products. Much of what he found among the artificial products could likely do what he was looking for, but they also had problems associated with them. Profits, copyrights, derivatives...heck, it was likely that even putting together a contract with one of them would bankrupt Ceredir, not that he had a whole lot of money anyways.

He decided to go with the simple side of things. Well, simple-ish. Synthcloth was one of the most common fabrics in the galaxy, both cheap and easily customized. Insulation was almost nil however, which meant other factors were needed. In the end, he decided to go with a layer of the same thermal insulation found in the DuraShelter, which was thin but effective.

 

[Audren Sykes]

It didn't take long to find a provider for the transparent synthweave. It was a bit more difficult - but not considerably so - to determine what kind of insulation the DuraShelter used and find a provider for it. Using a couple of the connections through the Sanctum that he hadn't wanted to use, Audren managed to track down the creator of the thermal insulation - not the resellers or 'clever' entrepreneurs who bought a Shelter, stripped the insulation, and sold the parts separately - and strike a deal with them. It was less of a bargain than he would have liked, and assuming it worked how he envisioned it the first several orders would be what allowed him to purchase more of the product, but it was still a discounted price from other sellers.

 

[Audren Sykes]

The concept of thermal insulation was simple, the practice and history well-documented. Being the person he was though, Audren needed to test the insulation to verify that it worked. After all, he - or Ceredir Industries, legally - was going to be providing the product to the customers. So he borrowed a device that got hot with constant use and allowed it to warm up enough to be seen with the GE-AVM's thermal vision mode and then threw the piece of test insulation over it. Almost immediately, the piece of equipment seemed to vanish. It wasn't perfect, there were bits and piece of heat leaking from beneath the insulation, but it was good enough.

With a nod, he turned back to his computer and finalized the details. Four layers: insulation, synthcloth, photoreactive fibers, and another of synthcloth. Mitigate issues from direct contact with the fiber layer as well as insulation contact with the fiber layer. He could save money by eliminating the synthcloth, but at expanded risk to the visual camouflage layer. Simple enough calculations. But the room was getting hot...he'd left the machine running on accident. When he turned back to it, he could see the insulation layer on thermal imaging. It wasn't as noticeable as the machine itself had been, but there was no doubt that the insulation itself was slowly warming up and becoming visible.

 

[Audren Sykes]

One of the benefits - and one of the drawbacks - of being the sole person in the company was using yourself or friends for guinea pigs. On one hand, if it worked there was a new toy. If it didn't though, and the test was being performed in unfriendly environs, suddenly the tester has just been put into danger.

He was tempted to have the first test be for his own ship, the Rekali-class fighter on relatively permanent loan from the Coalition. Far more expensive than the meter square he'd used during development stages, it would also provide a far better picture of the real-world applications of the product. However, a personal-sized netting and another person testing it in the forests of Voss would be more practical cost-wise and yet give the same sort of test results. Technically, he didn't even need another person, just a way to record the situations. It would end up all coming out of his pocket anyways.

A prototype was created, a standard field generator borrowed, and a datapad was rigged to record what showed up on the AVM. Around late afternoon one day, the Sephi headed out to an isolated area of the forest, one that happened to have a field and ruins of a house nearby. The first test was purely visual, propping the AVM up and setting the vision parameters to normal vision, then hooking up the datapad. The control computer crunched available images and spat out a corresponding color scheme, which was implemented along with the forest pattern. He then situated himself underneath the netting like it was a blanket, held for a minute, then moved on. Tests were done up close and further away, in the cleared field, and against the rubble of the house.

At the distance of a few meters, the netting itself - if properly situated - blended well. A meter out it tended to become more visible as netting, and he assumed that the larger the hidden object, theoretically the further out the netting could be identified. From further out it was almost impossible to tell unless one knew exactly what they were looking for. The replicated image worked just as well. By that time darkness was falling, so he conducted the thermal tests. As expected, the visual camouflage worked better at night, and the thermal insulation worked as well so long as the netting was set up right. He did look for, and note the occurrence of, the warming of the insulation as time went on. A notable weakness, but outside of building a powered regulator into the system not one that could be easily mitigated.

The product was ready to hit the market.