Private Meeting of the Minds

[Jacob Calhan]

"Note to self..." Jacob thought as he put the cup down on the table "next time you choose a location for a secret meeting with an unscrupulous individual, make sure they have good coffee." He stared at the disappointing black liquid and sighed. He was taking an awful risk here. Well, actually it was a pretty small risk in the grand scheme of things, but he was investing an awful lot of time and effort into something that might not pan out. Several standard days away from his work, setting up a meeting in a cafe on some backwater planet with just enough human presence that two men talking would raise no suspicion, scouting the area for spies and signs of betrayal, setting up security, not to mention the hassle with convincing the higher ups to surrender his little peace offering.

Jacob resisted the urge to feel his pocket again. He knew it was there. The only thing checking would accomplish would be putting up a big sign for anyone watching that said "hey! I have something valuable here!" How embarrassing would it be to have his prospective partner show up only to tell him that some one had picked the kyber crystal from his pocket?

It would all be worth it though. If even half of the rumors about this Walker's research were true, he would be able to set Jacob's own research forward by years! That was assuming, of course, that he actually showed up and agreed to cooperate. Jacob was confident that he would be able to convince him of their mutual use to each other, but he could hardly deny to himself that he was a tad nervous.

With a sigh, Jacob took another sip of the... of what passed for coffee on this planet. All he could do for now was wait.

 

[Walker]

Research, there was always research to be done. One creation after another, from one to the next. Always more were necessary, never perfection. Yet it didn't need to be. He didn't need to make the perfect creature, he'd tried that and realized the errors in how it would function in the current galaxy. A powerful beast, yet out of place. Not able to take full advantage of its abilities. And his most recent creation, forced to be more cunning rather than being given it inherently. Forced to prove itself. He would see how it would grow. He would watch them as they spread.

But there was always more to be done. He had gotten contacted, It wasn't the first time, but it was extremely rare that it was from someone he hadn't met before. Walker was not necessarily secretive, but lacking the solid foundation that most scientists of his caliber had, he was not as well known as most of them. So it was still somewhat of a surprise. The Servants of Persistence remained on the ship. Aside from Sacraya, who would keep to herself but not out of reach if someone started shouting or Walker set an alert off from his comms.

The Alchemist made his way with a smile into the building. His appearance was remarkably average, otherwise simply very physically fit, and had a casual presence to him. Still, he was armed with a sword on his back, a BAW-57-heavy-blaster-pistol, and a JN3 Auger Personal Shield. But he didn't bother touching any of them when he moved, searching everyone in the room in more ways than one, he gave a nod as he saw Jacob Calhan , walking over and simply sitting himself down immediately, adjusting the sword so that it wouldn't get shoved around when he did so. He leaned forward with his elbows on the table, "Well, this is a rarity, So, what's up mate?" he prompted as if he'd known the man for awhile. He was hardly nervous, curious, interested, but not nervous. It was rare that he was. Sometimes to his detriment. Course this time his ship was very close, so he was less concerned about getting poisoned as opposed to the last time he sat down with someone in a pre-arranged meeting.

Jacob Calhan

 

[Jacob Calhan]

"Hey, buddy! So good to see you! Want some coffee?" Jacob said, going along with the other man's old friends act. "The answer is no, trust me, I've tried it." He finished, looking at his half empty cup and wrinkling his nose. "Does help pass the time though. Anyway I am honestly glad to meet you, especially with all the effort I've put into it." Jacob lowered his voice as he moved onto more serious matters.

"You are a hard man to find. Which is especially impressive with how many different trails you manage to leave behind. And yet none of them seem to actually lead back to you. I am sincerely impressed, and I don't say that often.

"But I'm sure you're busy so I'll get down to business. The uuuh, jewelry, is just to say hello. That and prove I can put my money where my mouth is. What I actually want is some... collaboration." Jacob leaned forward and put his hands together. He spoke just loud enough for the other man to hear him. "You see I am involved with some pretty unorthodox research myself, largely involving midi-chlorians, their influence on biological life and vice-versa and I believe that your research would be invaluable to my efforts. And I suspect that my research could contribute to yours. The long and short of it is; I want the two of us to collaborate our efforts. So, what do you say?"
Walker

 

[Walker]

Walker almost appreciated the level of casualness Jacob joined in with. So often people were just so formal. And that was fine under the right circumstances, but right now he just did not care for wasting time on formalities and standing straight or any of that nonsense. He waved a hand to the side as Jacob mentioned the distaste for the coffee, "I'll trust your judgement on that one." he said with a shrug.

It was not hard for Vash to have an ego, he was already prone to it before he started having success, and it also was not hard to make him happy by complimenting him on such matters as a result. He nodded about getting down to business, and naturally the resource potential from this was quite useful. Walker was always on the lookout for things of value. especially listening with interest especially the moment he started talking about his own research and its midichlorian involvement, forming a silent "Ohhh" as he leaned closer.

It didn't take much more than that. Even if Vash wasn't flippant by nature, Jacob had essentially pressed almost every possible right button short of outright saying he didn't care about most laws. Resources, casualness, compliments of Vash's work, and personal interest and potential progress in the same subjects as Vash was at. He held his arms out to the side, "Well how could I say no? Well, I could of course if things don't look promising but right now? Looking pretty good so far. I don't know many interested in these subjects, let alone has anyone contacted me directly about them, that ones a first."

Without even waiting for anything further he kept talking, "You are right about midichlorians being important to my work, their presence in species is vital in one way or another and I see a need for them to be involved. There's a history to that you know, unfortunately, much of it seems missing. But my creations lie in the same vein. But more information and resources on these matters? Valuable immensely, the progress of the galaxy itself rests in the hands of those with the knowledge, the intellect, and the drive to make it happen. Every species and creation needs to be understood. I most definitely have parts of these, but there is always knowledge and resources that are out of reach, if you are willing to share in that, then so am I."

Jacob Calhan

 

[Jacob Calhan]

Jacob blinked when Walker mentioned a history. Was he talking about evolutionary history? Had he discovered somehow that midi-chlorians were directly responsible for the beginning of life? Already Jacob was getting valuable new information, a thread of inquiry that had until this moment, completely escaped his attention.

"Fantastic!" Jacob said with a grin. "Of course, there are SOME ground rules that need to be laid out in our arrangement. You must understand that my funding and resources comes entirely from the Imperial government, which means I have to play their games to win their prizes. What that means for you is that in order to actually get ahold of the resources we need I will have to keep reporting that we are getting useful results, without breaking any imperial laws. Of course..." Jacob leaned in and lowered his voice a bit. "Nobody is going to be looking over my shoulder to make sure I actually report every detail of what goes on." He gave his soon to be partner a wink and leaned back. "And I have the distinct advantage of reporting directly to someone who is very much like us, very powerful, and very interested in our work.

"That said there are some things that I will personally not tolerate." Jacob paused for a moment and suddenly dropped the casual friendly demeanor. He wanted to make absolutely certain that Walker knew he was serious about this. "The long and short of it is that we will not be doing anything to harm or endanger innocent people. Emphasis on innocent." And with that the smile returns. "Which brings me to my first and likely biggest offer. I have access to plenty of..." Jacob caught himself. He had forgotten that they were still in a public venue, and nearly let some classified information slip out. Sloppy, he chided himself.

"Ah, heh, never mind. Not very good table conversation there. Let's just say... I have ways of making my rules pretty easy to follow. The bottom line is this. We may have to deal with some... inconveniences so that I can get you what you want, but I am confident that I can get almost anything you need."

 

[Walker]

Jacob certainly seemed just as on board as he was. Though, it did appear there would be potential legal issues. Unfortunate, but it wasn't the first time that was a problem. However, Jacob seemed to suggest that there wouldn't be too much of that going on. Still, it seemed he had personal morality that, in Walkers opinion, was in the way. Yet he wouldn't let that slip, simply giving another smile and a nod as he heard him explain. Jacob made a point about emphasizing only innocents need not be endangered. An irritation, however, since Jacob appeared to have access to alternatives, a minor one. For now.

Walker leaned back shrugging at the lack of 'table conversation' and him returning to subtleties. "Excellent, excellent, yes we should be able to work on these terms. Important questions first then." He stretched his neck a little in thought, "On first, do you have a set lab? I do the majority of my work on the Persistence. Mobile and much harder to be bothered, but certainly less ideal for long term studies when done in larger quantities. I'm sure it also makes it easier for you to manage resources to get to and from. I will most likely need to bring some of my equipment with me, but that's manageable. Second, while temporary, things like this are actually very helpful methods for testing and experimenting on force sensitivity." He nodded to the crystal, "They aren't replacements mind you...at least for the moment. But the effects they tend to have on force users from what I know is very useful for experimental purposes. So how open are you to using things like this, or force altered matter, for testing and research?"

His voice grew quieter as he continued, "Third, less a question as a warning If we are going to go in depth, I hope you aren't scared of blood. To fully understand these things one has to understand the biology of a species, I'm still studying naturally. I'd not need anyone else if I wasn't. But species don't all interact with the force in exactly the same way every time. Especially comparing sentients to non sentients."

Jacob Calhan

 

[Jacob Calhan]

Jacob felt a twinge of suspicion when Walker mentioned the effects of the force on different species. The way he said it made Jacob wondered just how much pain and suffering Walker's research had caused, and to how many different forms of life. Jacob was hardly above experimenting on non-sentients. No disease had ever been cured without killing a few rats with it. There were those however, who saw sentients in the same light, and would even dissect a person alive to further their goals, and not care one bit about whether the person deserved such a fate. There was a certain casualness about Walker that made Jacob suspect... well, he had known that was a risk from the beginning. If it was the case it could be dealt with later. Preferably after Jacob had gotten as much out of the other scientist as he could.

"I have a place on Abridon that I think will be perfect. Isolated enough that we won't have any lost tourists running around, but not so isolated that we can't get our own supplies. It's also built like a farm with laboratories set up around it, so we'll have everything we need for ... a variety of livestock." Jacob chose his words carefully. It was highly unlikely that anyone in this little coffee shop cared one bit about anything being said at the table, but careless men could be killed by the highly unlikely.

"The only issue with such materials is how much we can acquire. I can get a lot, but of course we will have to justify the expense, sometimes to people who care more about money than science. If we can't do that, we will just have to find other sources." Jacob said with a shrug. "As far as blood goes... I've had it on my hands before. I am, again, somewhat selective about who's blood I get on my hands, but you will find that I'm far from squeamish."

Walker

 

[Walker]

Walker nodded as he explained his location, Jacob certainly used semi-discreet wording. Though, they were in public so perhaps that was fine. Keeping conversation just barely below the suspicion of others was generally good enough. There came however the matter of justifying their work for Jacobs superiors, and Walker leaned back in thought running his hand over his chin. Though, there was the possibility of finding other resources, Walker doubted that Jacob would approve of where he got the vast majority of his. Though...there might be other ways. He remembered one ship captains method that lured him in. Admittedly they both came to an arrangement, but that was only after he'd threatened to blow them all up if something fair hadn't been met. Still, he'd keep it as a last resort.

He nodded again as Jacob Calhan said he wouldn't be squeamish about things, as long as it was with the right people. As long as he provided them it didn't bother walker, though, he'd hope he had both sane and insane. Walker himself was in the latter category, but for experimental purposes of the force, the sane were far easier to work with. With some exceptions. "I could provide some knowledge outside of the research that has to do with digestion and reproduction rates. I've made a non sentient race that...well they're mostly a failure. Will eat just about anything, and anything poisonous usually ends up being spit back up or used on their claws, reproduce dangerously quickly, but they are full of disease, short lived, and very unintelligent. Not good for just letting loose on a planet but the knowledge gained from them may satiate your superiors until we get further along. Naturally, as we go, additional information learned could be released to them."