Old Droid, New Tricks

[Ugoto Chivaro]

ORD CESTUS SYSTEM, ORD CESTUS
CHIKATLIK, CESTUS CYBERNETICS HEADQUARTERS

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Hannibal had dealt with Santhe's CEO before. They were apparently "buddies" or something. That was how the Fondorian had described it, at any rate, after Ovmar had rescued him from that abysmal desert world they found the Xylen deposit on, they had done some partying on Zeltros. Again, that was what Hannibal had told him, and frankly Zothustro didn't trust him very much. Anyone who spent a quarter of their life feigning stupidity wasn't all that much trustworthy in his book. However, Hannibal was boss as majority shareholder for Cestus. Zothustro was but a mere CEO. A moderately wealthy one, too, after the success Cestus' products were seeing on Ord Cestus itself.

That was only small peanuts in the long run. Cestus Cybernetics would enter the bigger game once they made their sales pitch to some planets in Mandalorian space. Then the real money would start flowing in. But before that, Zothustro needed to sign a deal with a shipping magnate. Before that, Zothustro was instructed to strengthen ties to the Santhe Corporation by means of a joint product.

Which brought him to a small little lab within Cestus' headquarters. Zothustro waited patiently for Ovmar to arrive, hunched forward as per usual over his cane. The X'Ting was decked out in Cestian finery, including his favorite cloak. Said cloak looked a little worse for wear, but Zothustro cared little. This was just a business meeting.

 

[Arage Bao]

Jared Ovmar, Lord of the Fringe and a thousand and one other titles, was tired and maybe just a little bit annoyed. There were developments going on and he did not necessary like all of them. So much possibilities... so little time to take advantage of all of it.

At any rate, today a new partnership would be formed or at least it would be reinforced, through a collaboration on a new project. Droids.

And so it was that he visited the Cestus HQ to meet with its CEO. Zothdslflkj whatever his name was.

“Mister Quill? Jared Ovmar, pleased to meet you.”​

​

@[member="Zothustro Quill"]​

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"<< Likewise. >>" Zothustro chittered, the translator that acted as the clasp for his cloak subsequently turning that series of clicks into basic before reciting it in a dreary, artificial monotone.

Zothdslflkj did not speak galactic basic. He had never learned. He found it demeaning. Besides, what with his mandibles, it was much easier to speak X'Ting. Forcing galactic basic past his maw would be a trial he decidedly did not wish to go through. Not even a little. Instead he invested in a custom translation device, always kept close by in the event he encountered someone who was decidedly not X'Ting.

"<< Have you already seen the blueprints of the proposed droid? I have them here if not. >>"

 

[Arage Bao]

They were in luck that Zothustro had had the sense to come prepared, because Jared would not have been able to make anything out from the clicks and chirps from the big insect. For one he considered it above himself to learn such a crude language, furthermore... he did not think his mouth could even make such noises.

At any rate, they were here to discuss business, not linguistics.

“I have not, in fact. Hannibal just told me there was something I -had- to see, he thought I might be interested in funding one of his latests projects. Let us see them then.”​

​

Honestly he was not sure what he was going to see here, Hannibal was the technical mastermind of the two. Jared was more of the business world, so really the blueprints would not tell him a whole lot; he would have to trust Hannibal that he knew what he was doing.

@[member="Zothustro Quill"]

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Zothustro nodded, straddling over to a large, thick table that doubled as a large holoprojector. The X'Ting fiddled with the touch screen on the side, looking for the blueprints. Eventually he found them, and a large, three-dimensional hologram of an imposing looking war droid appeared in the air. It began to rotate, offering a full view of the droid. It suddenly began to pick up speed, spinning faster and faster until it appeared but a blur.

This frustrated Zothustro, enough so that he started clicking and chittering furiously as he mashed the display, attempting to stop this nonsense. Engrossed enough was Zothustro that he did not notice his clasp still attempted to decipher what he was saying. Fortunately, it was not programmed with as extensive a knowledge of X'Ting profanity as Zothustro, who had a great deal of them thrown his way over the course of his life. The device instead repeatedly stated "error, cannot be parsed. Error, cannot be parsed. Error, cannot be parsed."

This continued for a minute or so before the display slowed down suitably and Zothustro stopped his string of profane words.

"<< The overall design of the droid is simple. It is based on one from an antiquated time. The original manufacturer and designer are both defunct, so there will be no patent issues. I have already procured legal rights to this incarnation. >>"

Zothustro explained, pretending what had just happened did not, in fact, happen.

"<< The materials are simple. Reinforced dura-armor for the exterior, covered in a molytex compound for greater resistance to conventional weapons. The skeleton itself would be composed of durasteel. >>"

"<< I would suggest that Santhe handle the manufacturing of the droid itself while Cestus produce the droid brain and programming. This way it can be produced and marketed on a larger scale than Cestus is capable while simultaneously benefiting from our one-of-a-kind droid brains. >>"

 

[Arage Bao]

The way the X'Ting was messing around with the project, while... cursing? Was amusing to say the least, even the translator could not keep up with the fervent stream of clicks and chittering. It was one of these days Jared was sad he had never learned their language, it would have been even more amusing if he had actually known what the insect was raving on about. But before Jared could offer his help, it suddenly stopped.
Seemed as if he had fixed the problem, because the projector was acting normal again and just like that the Xi'Ting went back into professional mode.

“We are not going to discuss what just has happened here? Mkay.”​

​

Naturally he did not voice his thoughts, that would have been severely unprofessional and say one thing about Jared Ovmar, say he is one heck of a professional.

The design of the droid was interesting to say the least, he remembered seeing such a design in the past. Maybe in a book or something, he would have to look that up again.

“Seems reasonable. Profit margins?”​

​

@[member="Zothustro Quill"]​

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"<< Splitting the costs of production between us as is will keep the overall production cost of the droid low for the both of us. Provided we can get the programming done effectively, we will be producing the most advanced battle droid- intelligence wise -on the market for a price similar to Baktoid's B2. >>"

Zothustro would have liked to say that the proposed Santhe-Cestus Battle Droid Mk I (otherwise abbreviated as the SC1) would be the most advanced droid on the market overall. Sure, it would be more intelligent and combat capable than the other droids shelled out by other producers, but it wasn't invincible. It would be somewhat lacking in miscellaneous equipment. If anything, this would be little more than a test run to see how well Cestus could break into the business of battle droids. Not something that could be done on its own, hence the appeal to Santhe for joint production. Cestus breaks into the market, Santhe gets a new product the likes of which are unparalleled.

"<< The programming of the droid will be based on that of the BX Commando droid and the IG-100 MagnaGuard. Ideally, it will be more oriented towards infantry combat than commando operations or electrostaff wielding. These will still serve as reliable bases. >>"

Both of those were Baktoid products, but Baktoid wasn't nearly as protective over their droid brains as Cestus. The droids would be purchased through a front and subsequently dissected to Cestus' whims. The SC1 Droid's programming would be completely different by the time the final variant hit the market. No loose ends left and a lawsuit avoided.

 

[Arage Bao]

Jared listened on to the monotonous translation of the Xi'Ting's clasp device. It was soothing in some way, get him a drink or two and he would fall right in sleep. But that would have been very unprofessional and as said already, Jared was a professional lad. One of his many virtues. When the Xi'Ting was finished talking, the Lord studied the schematics for a few seconds, the silence dragged on and on. Until Jared finally spoke again.

“The BX Commando droid and the IG-100 MagnaGuard are Baktoid productions. Pray tell how we got our hands on that? Baktoid must have changed their policy since last time I checked.”

The Lord of the Fringe was no mind-reader, so certain had to be spelled out for him. He did not mind skirting around the law, but at the very least he wished to know -what- they were doing, before linking his company's name to it.

“Do we have any interested parties already?”

@[member="Zothustro Quill"]

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

There was a glassy look in Ovmar's eyes, but Zothustro had no idea how to read humans and tell what they were thinking. They didn't give off pheromones like X'Ting did, so it was a little difficult. Unless they were yelling or something. Then it got easier. Whatever the case, the man was still paying attention. That meant Zothustro had to be doing something correctly here.

"<< We bought them from a local distributor. It was completely legal. We even used a third party. Do not worry about it. >>" Zothustro said, eager to assure Ovmar that nothing was amiss regarding to the Baktoid productions they intended to crib off. "<< As for interested parties, we at least have some potential buyers lined up on Cestus. Mostly nobles looking for bodyguards, businesses looking for late-night security, or security companies. Outside of here, it is difficult to tell. I trust we will find no shortage of buyers in other markets. >>"

 

[Arage Bao]

It was not so much a glassy look, as one filled with ignorance and maybe a tad of annoyance. Why annoyed you might ask yourself, well.. the answer was very simple and at the same time very complex. It had to do with all kinds of metaphysical equations and fourth wall breaking situations.

Bottom line was that it was not so much Jared Ovmararararar, who was annoyed as much as his writer.

Why? Only the Living Force would know, but some people just were not born to be patient and made things rushy.

At any rate, back to the story at hand.

Jared would have mentioned that if they had been using a third party to buy the things, it could not be -that- legal. Then again, what did he know about the Galactic Law and all that.

He nodded as he listened on, if it were up to him the droids would be seen in every major battlefield in these games of Stars and Wars. But it was still too early to talk about that.


“Right. Armaments then and what about their modularity?”

@[member="Zothustro Quill"]

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"<< No built in armaments. Our chief designer dislikes such things on droids of this size. >>"

Zothustro flashed back to his discussion with Hannibal, wherein the Fondorian insisted that there be no wrist blasters or any kind of built in armaments. Too prone to misfire and a burden on the droid's power supply, he had said. Zothustro had just taken Hannibal's word for it. He was the one with a degree in designing these things, after all. Besides, this way people would buy guns from BlasTech and Santhe. More money and business for their allies could only mean good things, surely.

"<< As for modularity, they can be programmed to utilize all manner of weapons. They will come with programming for BlasTech and Santhe weaponry, but other variants and manufacturers can be done for an additional fee. We also have plans for an optional personal shield generator and a commander module. >>"

There was little room for much else aside from the other devices Hannibal had slapped onto or into the droid. There was elegance in simplicity.