Kerane In the Sky With Platinum

[Caulder Dune]

HOTH SYSTEM
ASTEROID FIELD

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

There were rumors circulating about the Hoth System, one of which was older than many of the factions presently struggling to survive. The rumor in question was one of a particular asteroid. Dubbed Kerane's Folly, word on the street was that it was made entirely out of platinum. Kerane's Folly had danced in the backs of many an enterprising prospector's mind for centuries. Aside from a few half-attempts to locate it by various independent prospectors, no real concentrated efforts had been made. It was all just rumor and conjecture, after all, not worthy the time to actually investigate.

The poor fools.

As of now, funds were needed to construct a central base of operations for the Tionese Whiteguard. Or, rather, renovate an existing structure and expand it to suit the needs of the Whiteguard. Rather than expend the money himself or derive it from the tax revenue of the Tion Cluster, it would be infinitely easier to simply grab it out of space. An asteroid made entirely out of platinum would more than cover the bill on staffing, stocking, constructing, renovating, and maintaining the future Fort Xim for the immediate future.

With this in mind, the gargantuan Lucrehulk-Class Battleship dubbed Machinator lurched out of hyperspace, just at the edge of the Hoth system's asteroid field. On the bridge stood Gerion Ardik, the man behind Hegemonic Automaton and the acting Viceroy of Hypori. With him was Danger Arceneau, who ran one of the largest and most influential corporations in the galaxy. She was here simply because scouring this asteroid field would take the better part of several weeks and Gerion could do with some womanly company. Or, much more than that, many of these asteroids were rich in other useful minerals that Arceneau's own miners would like to come and claim later.

"Launch the probe droids."
"Probe droids launching."

Hundreds upon hundreds of probe droids, cheap expendable things, spat out of the Machinator's dual hangars. Most probably wouldn't make it back. The asteroid field was a chaotic place, after all. But they'd be enough to find Kerane's Folly eventually. If not, there were always more held in reserve.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

HOTH SYSTEM
ASTEROID FIELD
[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Along with the Tion Fleet Arceneau Trade would bring with it the surveyors from Mara TibX and Fuels as well as Browncoat Industrial mining resources.

One Connestoga-class Heavy Freighter, four Concordance-class Asteroid Mining Barges, and ten Jo'henry-class Rare Materials Mining Vessels along with their escort would come into realspace. They would have to slowly make their way through the asteroid field, but this was nothing new to Arceneau workers.

Within their vast cargo holds were a plethora of mining droids and Multi-Environment Command Centers used to build a temporary base of operations. A more permanent mining facility would be built once the surveys came back; however Arceneau came prepared with the materials needed to commence construction immediately.

Standing beside [member="Gerion Ardik"], Danger would review the holographic representation of the asteroid belt. Somewhere out there was Kerane's Folly, and they were here to stake claim on it.

Bright green eyes would rise up to rest upon Gerion. A subtle curve of her mouth would display mild amusement. She could never quite peg Gerion, but there was this starwalt lawfulness about him that could be endearing.

He had a sound mind for business and for profit. Being more pragmatic much like her. Why destroy and wreck a world when one can make use of its vast resources?

Doing the former was just idiotic nonsense.

"A platinum peggat for your thoughts, Mistah Ardik." her voice would pour over in a soft but inquisitive murmur, slow and sweet like honey.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Nine times out of ten, Gerion was wary of the Arceneau woman. For that singular other time, his thoughts tended to be rather unbecoming of a man of his stature and thus were not worthy of recording here. His usual wariness was more out of pragmatism than a general fear. There was no reasonable doubt in his mind that this was the most powerful woman in the galaxy, at least as far as corporate matters were concerned. She could dig in her operations just about anywhere at the expense of anyone and there would be precious little to do about it. And why would anyone want to do anything about it? Where Arceneau caravans tread, economic prosperity tended to follow.

That's what he'd been told, at any point. Gerion had never bothered to read the statistics himself.

He couldn't be far off, considering she had just brought an entire mining fleet into the Hoth system with the clear intent of setting up shop. And here he had been expecting this to be a quiet little affair. Whatever long-winded story of asteroid mining operations invariably unfolded, there was no use just sitting in silence. Small talk would be more than suitable to pass the time.

"I'm afraid you may be overpaying." He rubbed his chin, watching the goings on via the large holoscreen. "Though it apparently doesn't matter. I suspect you'll be walking away from here substantially wealthier regardless of whether the Kerane's Folly is located."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

While her gaze did not lift to meet his, the throaty chuckle that would follow would relay a mild mannered bit of amusement.

"Do not undervalue your worth Mistah Ardik," she'd say, her fingers rising to capture a specific location upon the holo-array. The image would zoom in, and the small red dots that would represent the released drones would slowly blink into existence.

"Were it not for you and your ability to find such profitable ventures," a faint smile would curve over her lips in genuine praise, "We wouldn't be here at all would we?"

Another series of dots would appear upon the holographic map. This time those were mining surveyors belonging to Browncoat Arms and & Industrial.

The corner of her mouth would perk higher, "So what do you do for entertainment, Mistah Ardik?"

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Cafarels, for the most part, but this was polite conversation and so Gerion willed himself to not give that reflexive, bitter answer. He certainly didn't want this to become a twenty-questions seminar, but Gerion had precious else to offer aside from an answer and a follow-up question.

"Entertainment?" He echoed, as if the word was foreign to his usual vocabulary or he just hadn't considered it in years. "I am not beyond the odd trip to the theater, opera house, or art gallery."

"Oh, but it's been ages since I attended anything. And now that half the galaxy has gone missing, artists and actors among them, it seems it'll be much longer still. I'll have to get by with hunting for platinum asteroids instead."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

"Mmm, is that so?" her attention would draw back up to Gerion. The corner of her mouth would draw a bit higher.

"I'm sure somewhere in the 'verse there is a play or two in the works. Out of thousands of planets, there has to be one that would perk your interest." Ardik had a distinct manner about him that she couldn't help but want to tease him. Not malevolently, but more in the attempt to have him slip out of his comfort zone and relax a bit more.

"I can have Saffron look into it, she does enjoy the opera." she spoke of the young blonde with an uncanny resemblance to the Queen of Eshan. The Songbird certainly also enjoyed singing, but that was neither here nor there.

The holographic map would reveal updated data. So far, nothing beyond the typical asteroid debris of ice, gold, cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum, tungsten, nickel, osmium, and palladium.

While gold would certainly be interesting for profit, she was more interested on whatever else trace minerals came up.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"I wish I shared your optimism. Societal collapse, either near or total, seems to be endemic on nearly every planet I've received intelligence on." Gerion sniffed, almost disappointed.

He glanced at the view-screen to monitor the progress of his probe droids. Nothing of interest so far, but they did have quite a bit of ground to cover. Other minerals were abundant and he couldn't help regret never founding a mining arm of Hegemonic Automaton. Perhaps if he had the distinct misfortune of being a gauche individual, he would have charged Danger a finder's fee. Especially if this hunt for a platinum floating space rock proved to be a fool's venture.

"Saffron? I believe that was the woman who delivered the blueprints to those strident Subach products you won in auction quite some time ago. Quite pleasant."

Aside from the Mirari, nothing granted to the Umbaran had seen any use. Largely because his intended purpose in purchasing them was to remove them from the market entirely. Being that they were largely garbage they hadn't been much competition to Hegemonic models in the first place, but the less garbage that had to be shifted through, the more likely people were to purchase Hegemonic products.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

“That she is.” Danger would tell him, that brief wash of amusement still lingering upon her face.

“Quite talented,” she’d tell him, but as to where her talent lay, that was really up to personal opinion. Her adopted daughter held skills in many areas, cartomancy being one of them. Beyond that, she had her template’s intellect as well as a tendency towards some of that odd hoodoo -- but she wouldn’t hold it against her.

Saffron had a heart of gold after all.

“What are your plans for Hegemonic Automaton in the wake of the Nine hells opening up and swallowing worlds whole?” she would ask, going through more of the list of incoming data from the survey.

They were about twenty percent done. More trace minerals would come back, some potential asteroids that could very well have cores made of diamonds.

Interesting.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Gerion couldn't help but chortle at her description of events, morbid though it was. It wasn't as if there was a better way to describe it, albeit he would have added in his profit margins in addition to those lost worlds.

"Tend more of my facilities for total automation. Droids tend not to vanish, it seems." He explained, dull affair though it was. "There are plans for some supercomputers, devices that can coordinate mass amounts of Hegemonic droids and perhaps even automate systems on entire capital ships. It should all come to fruition sooner or later, barring a second apocalypse."

Usually there was at least some way to squeeze a few credits out of catastrophes, but when his entire workforce vanished it became an impossible goal to just break even. Certainly it would be harder to bounce back if he hadn't focused his manufacturing centers on Ord Cestus, so at least Hegemonic Automaton had that going for it. And since the iron fist of Zambrano had made it all but impossible for his citizens to even conceive of disorderly conduct, those factories in the Panatha System were also safe.

"And how has Arceneau Trade been fairing in the wake of the disaster?"

It was quite distressing that so little was known about what had happened that they had to refer to it in the vague terms of "the catastrophe," "the disaster," "the apocalypse," and so forth.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]


Danger drew in a deep breath. How has Arceneau Trade been faring? Well, being Galactic wide had its perks. But also its flaws.

"The breaking of Corellia has seen a loss of the bulk of my facilities there. The majority of focus has turned towards humanitarian aid efforts." if anything, chaos and war had a way of ensuring a measure of profit. But that didn't mean she came out unscath. The disappearance of workers along with the need of increased security to fight riots was a battle she had to focus on now.

"I don't know what is going happen with some of the government contracts with territories that were affected the most. While I have contracts that deal specifically with the planets in it of itself, the chaos that ensued has seen a rise in riots and desperate people wanting to get goods just to survive."

An honest expression of gratitude came next from the woman to [member="Gerion Ardik"]. "The droids I had bought in bulk from you the past two Expos are honestly what managed to keep the bare bones of my operation going Mistah Ardik. That is another reason why I am glad we are working jointly here." might as well be a good enough time to say it.

"My original contract with Cetsus, before it turned into Hegemonic Automaton included the Mandalorian territories, Black Sun, and Abrion Systems.

I want to spread it beyond that. I have stations, warehouses, production facilities beyond those initial three. I know right know you are hurting with your production facilities, but I wouldn't be averse to having Hegemonic Automaton use the Hana Station for the automated production of droids in the meantime.

As well as be keen on asking for a bulk order of droids of various labor categories to spread across every single Arceneau Trade Station, warehouse, and facility.."

An eyebrow would quirk.

"And what is this I hear about an insurance policy?"

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Gerion snorted at the mention of the fast-decaying Syndicate. "Black Sun? I don't deal with petty criminals. Openly, anyway. I believe you meant the Protectorate territories."

To date, the only distribution centers had been opened on Kamino, Denon, and Celanon. Each distributed throughout the Abrion, Protectorate, and Mandalorian territories respectively. But with the collapse of most interstellar governments, a new system would have to be adopted. One that dealt with the galaxy through self-charted sectors independent of any major faction borders. Costly, to be sure, but effective. And Ord Cestus would remain the centerpiece of it all, a shining, dusty gem. Probably Opal. It wasn't that nice.

"Despite everything, it's always been policy to keep Hegemonic Automaton's manufacturing arm centralized on Ord Cestus. Spreading out factories, and thus places where blueprints are stored, tends to increase security risks. Cestus is a big enough planet to suite Hegemonic Automaton's needs, despite shipping costs. Rest assured, we'll be happy to fill out any orders once things make a return to... Normalcy."

It had to speak volumes of Gerion's paranoia that he was willing to spend absurd amounts of credits on shipping and handling rather than just open up local factories. Paranoid but prudent, as he liked to put it. No cost was too exorbitant in the unholy mission of keeping his precious, precious blueprints safe from corporate saboteurs.

"The insurance program? I see Mr. Kuhn doesn't keep much to himself." Gerion shook his head, perhaps a little disappointed in Alric's loose lips. He'd remember that. "I can send you the relevant paperwork if you'd like. The program hasn't initiated yet, though I've distributed one document to one individual thus far."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

There was a flash of amusement that would fade after a second. Danger gave a slow nod and a half smile. Well, if she wanted to be honest, Alric Kuhn really didn't keep much from her at all. Their three year friendship allowed a notable amount of intimacy to develop. Granted...

A thought came to her then. Of the last time she spoke to Alric. Of what he said. Her smile caught. She recovered quickly enough, more so due to the sudden bright green flashing indicator upon the holo-array.

Perfect timing.

"That would be wonderful, Mistah Ardik." she would coo out, but her attention was now drawn to the where the signal was coming from. One of the drones had picked up a trace amount of platinum.

"Well... how about we take a closer look here, no?" Danger would muse aloud with a perk of her brows. Her fingers would lift, drifting across the holoscreen to redirect Arceneau scouts to where the drone location had picked up the trace.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Gerion snorted in a bemused manner when sensors starting ringing off the hook. Platinum? Already?

"So soon? We've hardly been here for an hour." He said. "That couldn't possibly be the asteroid we're looking for. People have died trying to find this thing."

As soon as he said that, Gerion immediately remembered all the opportunities and riches he had missed out on because he let both his pessimism and his cynical nature get the better of him. A frown tugged at the corner of his mouth, only to be dispatched by a steely resolve. Kerane's Folly or not, he was investigating whatever that source of platinum happened to be. Utilizing the holoscreen's touch-interface, Gerion directed several more probe droids over to the area. The more confirmations, the better.

"...Well, it couldn't hurt to make sure."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

It also couldn't hurt to give a slight chuckle at Gerion's antics. He amused her as much as intrigued her. There were manierisms about him that would make one wonder if there was more than met the eye. Certainly the man was brilliant with his business acumen and his innovative technology in the droid sector, but one would wonder what made the man?

For Danger, being in her line of business, it was a top priority. However, to get more out of Gerion Ardik took a level of skill that she even began to wonder if even had.

".. It certainly couldn't." she'd agree, the amusement dancing in her eyes momentarily as she would study the movement of the new wave of probes searching the designated area.

"I wouldn't be surprise if it was just mere trace minerals. We wouldn't be that lucky." an arch of a brow, "Do you believe in luck, Mistah Ardik? Fate? Or just simply leave it to calculated probability?"

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"So-called fate is nothing more than the weight of circumstances." Gerion replied, putting a particular distasteful emphasis on the word. "Any outcome can be predicted if enough variables are analyzed correctly."

If there were a group of people he had less patience for that Mandalorians and Yuuzhan-Vong, it would have been those who blabbered on about predestination. Perhaps they were content to imagine their lives as being puppets dancing to the whims of any given cosmic entity, but Gerion and a great deal of others had pushed past such quaint notions. Then there were those Jedi who thought the Force was some guiding, omnipresent entity. The Force was a thing, to be sure, and a mysterious one at that. It definitely wasn't sapient. Jedi liked to drone on and on about the will of the Force and how it guided them, but that was just their own moronic illusions. Their way of justifying their weaknesses and inability to grasp the Dark Side.

The Force is a tool. Nothing more. There were people willing to utilize it to its full extent, and then there were Jedi, groveling in the dirt.

He didn't go into that whole spiel vocally with Danger because she was known to have a distaste for the politics of Force Users. He could hardly blame her for it, as the whole debate was much more long winded and substantially more tiring than he had been able to scrape the surface of in that brief internal monologue. They were here to chart the murky depths of the Hoth system's asteroid belt, not have him pontificate until one or both of them were dead from oxygen deprivation. Eventually one of the vessels got within range of the detected asteroid and a visual feed popped up. It wasn't entirely platinum, but it did have a bright platinum streak snaking half way around the rock. More platinum than could usually be found, so perhaps the rumors had some merit.

"You're asking quite a lot of questions. What opinion do you hold, Ms. Arceneau?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

“I am a woman who makes her own means, Mistah Ardik,” there was no denying she was fully confident in that regard.

“Fate has nothing to do with it.” there was a gleam in her green eyes that spoke of her determination in that. “Hard work and elbow grease is what got me thus far, not some predetermination.” she was proud of that too. She had no handouts, worked from the bottom as a smuggler Captain in her father’s company, moving on up until she held the reins in her hand. A sway of hips would bring her to circle the holoarray, moving closer to observe the preliminary results.

A small vein of Platinum, certainly not a moon, but it was a start. Her fingers would fly over the holographic datapad, sliding in and across to redirect her scouts and drones in a grid pattern with this find as the origin. Meanwhile, Mohc Extractives and Browncoat Industrial teams would move towards the area to begin securing the small vein, Hegemonic drones working alongside them.

“Most believe that the Force is what will send them to their own little bit of heaven in the end,” an eyebrow would arch over his way, as if saying she clearly was not one of those sapients.

“However, even fools require a measure of a higher power to cling to in their time of need.” she gave a slow shrug, then flashed a pert grin.

“Mine just happens to be the steady incoming flux of profit.” Microtransactions; it was what made the ‘verse go round.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Gerion, arms folded as he watched the operations unfold, nodded in agreement. "It is really no wonder we found our way into the same hegemony. It certainly didn't happen by the will of the Force."

He was not really familiar with the processes of asteroid mining. In all likelihood, he never would be. It was not usually his business. Perhaps Gerion would remember the general process of things here a few months later, but ultimately he had little need for the information. It would be cycled out, so to speak, replaced with the plots and schemes of the hour soon enough. He really did need to keep better track of his ploys. Otherwise he would end up forgetting about them entirely or they wouldn't see completion for some asinine amount of time.

There were more interesting things that could be talked about, though. Like philosophy.

"Are you familiar with the philosophy of determinism?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

"Hmm," came her tonal agreement of amusement. A few more taps of her fingers would direct a wider radius of the search. Minerals and ores would continue to stream across the screen from ongoing sample analysis. Slowly but surely, they were making progress. At the subsequent question, however, her eyebrow would arch. Curious, her attention would draw from the array over towards Gerion.

"Determinism." well there was an inkling towards where he was going at with it, but it was often best to let a man elaborate. Much like the Companions, Danger enjoyed keeping herself educated and would take some time to read periodicals in a range of topics. She was, however, not all knowing. Philosophy was an interesting topic, but she did not have an in depth knowledge of every doctrine.

"I have a general familiarity to it," she would admit, "But, please, do elaborate." she would ask, curious to see more of what interested Gerion.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He must have said something terribly interesting without knowing it if she was looking away from potential profits to look at him. Gerion probably shouldn't have been so surprised; such negative thinking was unbecoming of a man of his stature. Philosophy was hardly his area of expertise either, but when he retired for that brief period of time on Umbara, he did a lot of thinking. He did a lot of thinking and a lot of reading, and it got pretty old faster than he thought it would. Hence why he was here now. But among those many written works he perused, there were plenty of philosophy texts.

"Put simply, there is nothing anyone in the galaxy has done according to their own free will, such as it is."

Gerion could attempt to explain it, sure, but since he wasn't a doctor of philosophy and it had been five years since he read it last, he would probably get some things wrong.

"All actions are the direct result of a preceding, external action. A long chain of events stretching back to the formation of the galaxy and so on. Determinists would say you were predisposed to join me in this asteroid field chasing a legend. You didn't come here because you objectively chose to. The way every sequence in your life played out, you are ultimately influenced by external forces in such a way that it was inevitable that you would wind up here, standing on this bridge, next to me, looking for abnormally large deposits of platinum."

There came a beep from the display. Another large deposit, but not the asteroid they were looking for. "Like that one."

The Umbaran directed probe droids to confirm the discovery before continuing.

"We're all products of our environments. Nothing more. Since we cannot control the environments in which we are raised, we cannot control who we are, what we become, or ultimately what we do."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

A series of more confirmed deposits would follow suit. Danger's lips would curve into a wider smile. "There just might be some truth to your words, Mistah Ardik." Danger would reply, her attention back on the holodisplay. This had more to do with internal musing than it did with the success of the discovery of the small deposits. "But then where do all the honky religions come to play with that?"

"If we are all products of our environments, does that mean there was never any other path or choice at all?"

That was something to mull.

No, it had to do with her past. Specifically, that all of her actions were the direct result of preceding, external action. In hindsight, that made sense.

Every sequence of events in her life had been influenced by external forces; Nox's betrayal had spurned on her streak of vengeance, resulting in her completely taking over Arceneau Trade and using her contacts in order to ruin the man and buy out his business under him.
That corporate scheme resulted in the expansion of the trading company; more ships, more employees, the ability to work more routes and discover new ones. Each point in time, thereafter, was a direct result of her environment. Of influences much like Narevni -- where his choices led to Danger completely focusing more on further expansion beyond the Mara and into Mandalorian territory.

Even Alric.

It was something to consider. To percolate on.

A few more beeps would flare upon the holoarray, this time with a greater quantity. Could they be close?

"One wonders where the discovery of Kerane would result for us both, no?" came her quip, reasoning that perhaps the gross amount of value in a moon make of platinum would result in an inevitable influence into another point in time.