In the grim darkness...

[Rena Kryze]

In the grim darkness of the current present, there is only technological development.

No, really, that's what this is. Welcome to Taris, headquarters of the beloved corporation MandalTech, in which Rena Kryze developed all of her mad tools and decorations for a wide variety of people. In this case she had been asked by another acquaintance. [member="Catherine Romanov"], to create not one but two separate items: one starship and one medical item designed for assisting the sick and wounded and to make being a battlefield medic a little easier. In fact, she came prepared with ideas for both.

The ship was easy enough: she needed something that could be used to assault enemy positions, whether they be starships, enemy attack groups of fighters, or even ground surface targets. That could be managed. An assault corvette was perfect for such a role and Rena had a perfect idea in mind, given the disposition of the Mandalorian people.

The medical item, however, was a little more out there. Most medical corporations had pretty well devised everything and bacta was basically the perfect healing substance - but it took time. Catherine had asked in her text request to MandalTech headquarters for something a little more useful for a field medic. After consultation with some experts on medical technology, she realised something that could be done and a way to do it: an advanced version of memory-plastic, in foam form. This would be quicker, dissolve faster - but for a field medic and for the wounded would buy valuable time. It was a great idea, in theory.

Now all that was needed was for Catherine to show up in the tech lab below her offices on Taris, in the MandalTech headquarters building in the Upper City, and they could get right on the business of being awesome.

 

[Catherine Romanov]

Somewhere in the universe

Two items. Catherine had two things in mind she was looking to acquire. The first was an equipment, an invention to aid in the treating of fellow Mandalorians out in the field easier. Being a combat medic was just one of the many skills Catherine was planning to add to her repertoire. During the treatment of wounded out in the field, it would be of vital importance that the equipment is effective and reliable. Time will also be of the essence.

The second item was of a much larger nature. A spaceship. And not just any ship. Apart from being reliable, she also needed it to provide combat excellence, be it in space or in the atmosphere. Another requirement was to include anything one could require/want for interplanetary travel. Rena had suggested an Attack Corvette. Depressed at the thought of remaining in a fighter for the rest of her life, she was more than willing to hear about anything.

Through her list of contacts, she managed to wrangle out a potential associate. The contact went by the name of [member="Rena Kryze"]. Rena was one of the brilliant minds working in MandalTech, and had been involved in many interesting and innovating products and inventions. For starters, Cathy had to meet Rena in Taris, where the MandalTech Corporation was headquartered. Rena had put forth a rather interesting suggestion for the combat medical tool that she was requesting for, and Catherine was more than eager to hear more about it.


Upper City, Taris

Casually hopping onto her Jairviin speeder, Catherine keyed in the ignition, waking the engines as she proceeded to key in the location coordinates onto her holographic map. With the map all set-up and the engines warmed, she then followed the holo-arrows making her way towards the corporation headquarters. As Cathy approached the MandalTech building, she continued towards the reception area, where the receptionist politely requested for her to fill in the visitor's datapad. She would then lead Catherine towards the tech lab, where she would be meeting Rena. Once there, she would wait patiently for Rena.

 

[Rena Kryze]

When Catherine got there, she would be greeted by Rena's assistant, a redhead crazy Dathomiri tribal woman named Elys Farlander. However, she didn't come across as crazy here; she had red facial tattoos, certainly, a wild mane of red hair and a datapad in her hands. She was a good secretary. Terrible at design, however, but she wasn't paid to do that. She managed Rena's schedule and that was the way the Mandalorian engineer liked it.

"Come in, please," said Elys, opening the door for Catherine.

Inside, Rena was hard at work, hand on the chin of her helmet that she never took off, standing in front of a big holographc display. Banks of monitors in the dimly-lit room showed readouts, plans, ideas; holograms of concepts lay littered around the room on small projectors. Flimsi notes of almost everything - a thousand mad scribbles - littered the floor. There was a cot set up in the corner, and a few leftover packets of food, empty from her last meal. Obviously, Rena had worked day and night on these. An M1 astromech droid buzzed around the room, moving tools and cleaning up everything but Rena's mess.

The quartermaster didn't even notice the arrival of her client until Elys coughed loudly. "Boss lady, your friend is here."

Rena's head snapped up and she looked around. "Oh. Hi," she said distractedly. "Come on in. Let's talk shop a sec. How are you, Catherine?"

[member="Catherine Romanov"]

 

[Catherine Romanov]

"I'm fine, just good, how about yourself? How's life?" Catherine gave Rena a bright smile. Smiling to a helmet was not something she had gotten used to yet, but from what she heard, Rena had never once removed off her helmet. She wondered if she depended on the helmet for life support or the like. Shaking the thought from her mind, she took a cursory glance round the room. Apart from the usual monitors and hologram projectors, Catherine noticed several boxes of food stacked haphazardly on top on one another. "Your busy I take it? Shall we get to business then?"

[member="Rena Kryze"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

"Life is as busy as expected, inventing all these things at Ordo's request," Rena said, not missing a beat. Her fingers still flew with all the speed of a nexu hunting its dinner, hitting holographic buttons while calculations ran madly to attempt to coalesce the properties of her projects. Soon enough she'd have a working model, then a working prototype shortly after. "You presented me an interesting challenge, that I'll give you."

With no expertise in the medical field, Rena had been forced to innovate. If it wasn't for the fact MandalTech had made dedicated medical platforms before, she would've been totally out of luck. However, Cestus' medical droids had come through. This breakthrough, while not directly a healing item, was going to bring a lot of hope to a lot of injured people, if it worked right.

"So let's talk shop. I've got here your ship, but that's just a neat assault ship. I'm more interested in this other thing I've made for you. What do you know about memory-plastic?" Rena asked. Did she look away from her monitors? Nope. Moments from yet another breakthrough, she couldn't stop now.

[member="Catherine Romanov"]

 

[Catherine Romanov]

"Why, of course! You're one of MandalTech's best, that's the reason I selected you anyhow. Anyway I heard you relished challenges."

Clearing some space on the nearby chair, Catherine casually took a seat. She wasn't so much worried over the ship, than the mysterious medical invention. MandalTech had more than enough experiences in creating masterfully created ships capable of achieving marvelous feats. There were also of course, more run-of-the-mill ships for simpler tasks, but that was not what they were here today for. She trusted Rena's acute judgement in selecting and making a good call when constructing her ship.

Today, Cathy's main aim was to hear Rena's proposal on what medical invention she could come up with this time. From what she've heard, this Rena was more than capable of thinking up innovative and especially interesting products. So far, she had mentioned this 'memory plastic' a couple of times.

"I can't say that I'm very familiar with it. I've heard about it of course, but never actually seen it in action with my own eyes. Care to share more about what you know?"

[member="Rena Kryze"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

"Well, that's awfully lovely of you," Rena said, smiling under her helmet - you could hear the slight warm fuzzies in the tone of her voice.

"A'right. So, memory-plastic is a hardening agent. Moulds around a wound, sutures it, lasts about a week before it breaks down. Problem is, it's a pain to work with and it's not entirely... easy to get on to a surface. Applying it is the hard bit. If we could apply it quickly and reliably, we could stop someone bleeding out, maybe even patch together say a fracture or something. Either it'll get them back on their feet, or keep someone alive long enough to get to actual surgery because everyone knows you don't have time for that on a battlefield."

She finally stopped typing for once, hitting a button - cue a new display. A spray canister device, then the canister - and the picture of what looked like a liquid. Leaning back, Rena gestured to the holographic display broadly.

"Meet bio-foam. It's essentially a mix of memory plastic with a foaming aerosol agent, and a small strain of bacta derived from the same stuff that synthflesh comes from. Same principle - spray it on your injury or wound, solidify the mass, then get them patched up back at surgery or back on their feet. It's easier to apply and works quicker. However, there's two major downsides - memory foam lasts a week and this only last three hours due to the aerosol agent breaking down faster. And, when you apply it, it hurts like a karking sword through the face."

She swivelled to face [member="Catherine Romanov"]. "But it'll get the job done. It'll numb the pain after the initial burn so someone can get back on their feet and fight, depending on the severity of the injury. Your target will stop bleeding out. Minor injuries will heal over time thanks to the bacta strain. Bacta takes too long to heal for first aid, anyway - and you can't just slap a bacta patch on someone mid-fight and pray it works. This'll stop bigger injuries from bleeding out, or even get someone back up for a short while before they need real surgery."

 

[Catherine Romanov]

"Interesting, interesting." Catherine pondered on the points Rena had just presented. It was a great elaborate proposal. Cathy liked it, but she had just one query, or suggestion. "Are there any ways to reduce or nullify the pain on application? The fact that it will hurt like a karking sword through the face is not very appealing. I don't fancy getting an accidental blaster bolt to the face by a delirious soldier."

Placing her hands on her chin, eyes focused, she suggested "Are there any possibilities of incorporating say, Nullicaine, Vincha or Phosovane Salts? Maybe even numb-spray?"

[member="Rena Kryze"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

"Not without compromising the application of the foam," Rena said, almost resigned. "Add anything else and one of two things happens; the foam lasts even less time, or the bacta doesn't work. Either one is an unacceptable parameter."

It was a sad truth; chemistry essentially forbade a perfect item. Unfortunately, that was that, really - she couldn't do much about the necessity of science and Rena wasn't about to re-invent things just to make one temporary set of pain go away. Sometimes technological progress just wasn't good enough, or science itself got in the way. These things happened; it wouldn't be the first time.

"You should be okay. The pain should only last a couple seconds, then be gone. It's just extreme in that first few moments while the foam hardens."

Rena took a moment. "But enough about that! Let's talk about your ship. How do you feel about an assault corvette with slightly reduced passenger capacity?"

[member="Catherine Romanov"]

 

[Catherine Romanov]

I guess you're right. That will just have to do then.

Catherine let out a sigh before continuing "Ship? No, it doesn't necessarily need to be a corvette.A gunship will do as well. What I am looking for is actually a ship that excels at combat, both in space and in the sky. Being able to form and function as a support ship will be great too. Carrying passengers is not a priority, and therefore could be allowed to be compromised if it affected the ship's offensive and defensive capabilities. The ship should carry an assortment of offensive weapons and defensive equipment and countermeasures, with a decent armour protection rating.

Cathy's eyes narrowed in thought as she said "There's really no need for a large ship with a huge crew for now, as I am mostly alone. What probably I have in mind, would be something like a gunship that also functions well when fighting air targets." The bare minimum would see her being able to carry at least 5-6 people, while not compromising on the ship's combat abilities.

With a casual flick of her hair, she continued on, "In other words, three main points that I really care about. It's primary focus should be combating ground and air targets, and if the circumstances allow, facilities and abilities to function as a support ship."

[member="Rena Kryze"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

An interesting point, one she hadn't quite considered; she was used to most ship designs coming with the requisite crew because most aliit could handle stocking up their vessels. This was different. Catherine had crew considerations to handle. That said, her design itself was spot-on; there wasn't much to actually change if she wanted the big ship.

"I've got a corvette concept ready to go - chances are I can scale that back down to a gunship no problem," Rena said. "Ideally it'd be a bigger ship with twin mass driver cannons, extra shielding and generally able to punch through a planetary blockade by virtue of ridiculous armour. I don't think a gunship would quite encapsulate that, but it's your call. I can downsize no sweat."

The options were there - it was all up to Catherine at this point. Did she want bigger, heavbier, meaner, at the cost of speed and more crew? Or did she prefer smaller solo craft, something that wouldn't take anywhere near as much fire but could boast the speed to back it up?

Decisions, decisions. Work would need to be done, at any rate. Rena relished the challenge.

[member="Catherine Romanov"]

 

[Catherine Romanov]

Pondering over what Rena had said, Catherine raised a finger.

"What I am looking for is actually something more in between. Neither a large ship, nor a solo craft. I didn't want to be confined to a solo fighter craft any longer, and neither do I need a huge ship with a ton of crew. How about a medium-sized ship with a crew of 4-5/5-6? Like I mentioned earlier, something more along the lines of a gunship, but with space for a few more people in the crew."

Turning around, eyes filled with amusement, Cathy remarked "It might sound a tad difficult, but I have faith in you and know that you will relish the challenge."

[member="Rena Kryze"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

A small gunship, huh. Something light, fast, smaller - but with enough firepower to do the work. It wouldn't carry even anywhere near as much as originally intended, but that was okay; Rena could handle that idea. Fingers danced over keys, computations and projected specifications already flowing through her mind. What work that she couldn't do instantly, the droid brain in her system could handle for her.

Holograms changed. This time, there was no picture - but right now it didn't need one.

"Smaller. Crew of three - an assault ship. Consider the Cabur-class patrol ship that we already sell and upscale it slightly..." Rena said, practicually mumbling to herself as she worked.

Four days straight in this room making Cathy's technology, speaking only to four other human beings in that time, had driven her a little batty.

"I think this should work. It's a Cabur, upscaled and upsized. You should be able to use this, I think."

[member="Catherine Romanov"]

 

[Catherine Romanov]

Catherine was back at the lab again, this time to review the plans for the gunship. Rena had came with a rather interesting design. It was certainly similar to what she had in mind. Looking over the new specifications that Rena had presented, she was pleased with it. Rena had mentioned that it was based on an upgraded version of the Cabur-class gunship.

More heavily armed than its predecessor and better equipped, it was a ship built for one main purpose in mind. Keeping fire support on the ground for frontline troops, as well as some air support for fighters and the like. Despite it's lack of carrying capacity, it can provide seats for transportation and evacuation of ten Mandalorians and their gear. With a snap of her fingers, she declared,

"I like it, it's more or less what I had in mind."

[member="Rena Kryze"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

"Excellent. This is going to have to do for now," Rena said, and then shut off the projector.

For one quiet moment, there was silence in the room. The fans of the banks of computers almost seemed to stop their incessant whirring, the salient glow of bright lights in a dark room gone, the buzzing of active screens no longer generating their static background noise. At the end of the day, it was over - for now.

All that remained was to take these designs from her little R&D pit in the Taris tower and then have them develop their biofoam and the shipyards churn out the gunship that had been designed. It wasn't much, but for the reality of the situation, Rena couldn't exactly ask for much more beyond that.

"Was there anything else you wanted me to work on while you're here?" she asked, leaning back in her seat. For a moment, you would've believed there was a little defeat in her tired voice.

[member="Catherine Romanov"]

 

[Catherine Romanov]

And with that, they were completed with the design stage of the gunship. A brief silence followed and Catherine could see a sign of relief in Rena's face, and she smiled back appreciatively. "Thank you for all your hard work in this. What about the status of the medical tool/invention? How goes the progress for that, is that finalised as well?" This was one of the two items that she had came here for, to develop together with Rena and her expertise.

Getting up from the seat, to give her body a little stretch, she wandered around the room while she waited for Rena's answer. This was the last item on the list, for now, and with this done, she would leave happy.

She had to leave soon, for she was starting to get a little loony, and she wouldn't recommend anyone talking to a helmet for long periods of time. And it also brought her back to the first day she was here, thinking about the helmet that never came off.

[member="Rena Kryze"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

"At this point, the production on biofoam's started. I've bought a supply of bacta and now I'm going to produce it - we'll provide a sprayer and capsules for it, similar to the Multi-Launcher capsules. Once they're done, I'll send you a shipment. Maybe I'll leave it as a gift in the quarters on your ship," Rena said, wryly smiling under her helmet. "Once they're done, I'll let you know and we'll have them delivered for your convenience to wherever it is you need."

It was one last favour and the least that could be done. However, Rena wasn't too terribly fussed about how long it'd take for a ship to be built. Time would need to pass, even if MandalTech's shipyards were terribly efficient at building what was needed.

Soon. Soon enough.

[member="Catherine Romanov"]