Projecting Power

[Errreembuhr]

"We're nearly there, sir," TS-3938 said. "Less than five minutes until we reach our destination."

Errreembuhr nodded silently, watching the lights of hyperspace streak across the bridge. The ship he had was one that he could put to use, but it wouldn't do as a flagship for EODD. Especially not when it could barely protect itself, let alone his company's interests.

What he had in mind was something a bit bigger. Something EODD couldn't yet produce on its own.

He made his way now to the Kiribi system, the home of a company he'd heard produced certain systems that caught his attention. Word had been sent ahead to schedule a meeting between himself and the one who called himself John Locke.

Before long the old Mandalorian ship he'd been using for himself dropped out of hyperspace, the view of Kiribi below appearing to the bridge in a flash. Errreembuhr reached for his chest rig, projecting the hologram of the ship design he'd planned to propose that he and this company make together.

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

Paperwork, it was the bane of John's existence, the never-ending supply of fuel that seemed to be the main driving force of his business. Not great ideas, not cool inventions, paperwork. The Engineer narrowed his eyes and wheeled around, pointing an accusing finger at EX as the droid sat smugly by the corner of his desk, another stack of datapads already in his hands for John to work though.

"You know, I distinctly remember creating you so I wouldn't have to do any paperwork."

"If this is the end result of that then I really fear for whoever buys one of your weapons sir. They might be trying to shoot someone and all they get is a bunch of confetti or a flag that says bang."

"I'd never need to produce novelty weapons EX, I'd just dress you up as a clown and let everyone else die of laughter."

"Utterly hilarious I'm sure sir."

His daily dose of sarcastic droid achieved John turned back to his desk, poking at the holocube sitting on the surface, "tell me about the meeting."

"A smaller company, they've seen a few of our systems and would like to include them in a company flagship as well a borrow use of our yards out in Commenor. He's supposed to be here shortly."

His paperwork forgotten John span his chair around slowly to stare out of the window behind him, dark eyes tracking up towards the sky, the emptiness of space hidden behind the blue of the atmosphere. "Well, this should be interesting then."

[member="Errreembuhr"]

 

[Errreembuhr]

Once landed, Errreembuhr made his way to the cargo hold, eager to check the gift he had prepared. After all, this John Locke dealt in electronics, perhaps he would see some interest in what EODD produced.

"Just over here, sir," the droid said as it led Errreembuhr into the hold. "Everything is secure and ready for delivery."

With a nod, Errreembuhr replied, "Excellent, this will do fine Agil."

"I've told you sir I prefer to be called by my identification number. I am Tach-Series 3938."

"I know your number, Agil." The wookiee engaged the repulsorlift on the cargo crate, pushing it along to the exit ramp. "I know the numbers of every droid on my ships. And you're one of the few who hasn't yet taken a name for yourself."

"We are droids, sir."

"And the Metal Lords strove to secure a droid's right to be recognized as an individual rather than just a pile of durasteel and circuits. You're not simply a number, Agil."

"Hm. Curious."

He left the droid to ponder whether to accept the name or not. Errreembuhr instead looked down into the crate to inspect its contents. Neatly tucked into cushioning sat four EB-S droid brains. With their complex programming and design, they weren't something that most in the galaxy who valued technology would pass up. At least he hoped. The two of them exited the ship, prepared for the meeting, and the profits that it could bring to all involved.

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

A simple flashing light on one corner of the large glass desk was all the warning John had that his visitor had arrived, a light tap on the light pulling up a holographic screen showing the Wookie and his droid stepping out of their ship, The executive stared at the picture for a moment before nodding and pushing his chair back, reaching for the jacket hanging off the back of his seat.

"Well EX, time to go and meet our guests."
________________________________________________________________________

The landing pad on the Locke and Key Mechanic's building was suited more than halfway up the skyscraper, useful for ships coming in from orbit, although it suffered from the strong winds that came with the height. [member="Errreembuhr"] and Agil found themselves greeted by a young woman dressed in a suit, one hair holding down her long red hair while the other held a clipboard. "Mr Errreembuhr? I'm Katie, one of the marketing team here, I was the one you first started talking too. If you don't mind stepping this way." The young woman had to should to be heard above the wind as she gestured back towards the door to the building following after the Wookie and his droid inside the building, patting down her hair as she gave her charge a wry smile. "I'm half sure that I got asked to meet you just because Mr Locke knew it would mess with my hair," she allowed conspiratorially. "the conference room is just this way, if you'll just follow me, Mr Locke should be waiting for us." If he wasn't, boss or not, he'd be getting a tongue lashing.

Lucking for John he had made it just a few moments before the rest of the party, grinning at Katie and Errreembuhr as they walked in, gesturing them to the table. "Thanks for coming down, sorry I couldn't head out to see you, I was finalising the designs for one of our ships we're hoping to put into production...and I know how much Katie loves getting her hair all messed up." he allowed as the young woman made an exasperated noise and stalked over to her seat. "Besides, EX," he gestured to the droid standing by the table, "would kill me if I missed a chance to have a dramatic entrance. Can I get you anything to eat or drink?"

 

[Errreembuhr]

He found it amusing how the wind mussed up Katie's hair, wondering if indeed her boss had sent her for that reason. "I recognize your voice from the messages, yes," he said, adjusting a dial on his chest rig to clear up the voice as he and Agil followed, pushing along the crate. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person."

After idle conversation on the way to the meeting room, Errreembuhr finally met with the man he'd come to see. He seemed small for a human, but it may simply have been the wookiee's added height that made it so. Despite the man's lack of a formal introduction, Errreembuhr bowed. "A dramatic entrance is always a welcome one, Mister Locke. I find them welcome and charming."

He looks over to the droid, taking a closer step to it and examining it. "Water will be fine, thank you. Your droid, EX, I'm familiar with the model. You use Gabonna memory crystals for its storage and processing power, correct?"

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

For a moment a surprised look danced across John's face before he managed to school his features into a semblance of control nodding at [member='Errreembuhr']. "You're right, I wanted to maximise the processing power of the droids, if you're familiar with them you know they serve a dual purpose as a personal assistant and a communications droid. They needed to be able to handle the communications tasks wile still being able to pour drinks or prepare reports or well in EX here's case poke holes in my ego." John turned to look at his droid with a fond smile on his face, "EX here is the prototype of the line, and I built him with my own hand as I tried to figure it out, I might have ended up with a rather more personality in droid than I'd have otherwise thought of, but I honestly can't imagine life without him. The Gabonna crystals are the best product I could get my hands on for the purpose." The dark haired man span around in his chair, exchanging a look with Katie seated at the table, "Something tells me that you have another option though."

 

[Errreembuhr]

"Perhaps not better," Errreembuhr replies as he turns back to [member="John Locke"] from the droid. "But a bit more refined. The crystals themselves are quite useful, however most droid brains are limited in programming to only a single type. I encountered a similar need for dual service when I was developing my Wyyyschokk-series droids. I wanted a battle droid that could run complex mathematics and probabilities and directly interpret and employ them on the battlefield without needing to go through intermediaries. Which is why I figured a sort of advanced brain would be necessary."

He looked to Agil, who removed the lid from the crate, revealing the contents. A furry hand reaches in, taking out one of the droid brains and setting it on the table for John to examine for himself after removing front armor plate. "I can't claim to have invented the droid brain that allows for two programming classes to exist at once in a single droid, but I do have my own and the means to produce them."

 

[John Locke]

John took a step forward, one hand reaching out for one of the droid brains before he managed to catch himself, turning the motion into a stroking of his chin. "Well, I am a big fan of refining things," he allowed with a laugh, settling himself back in his chair as he arched a curious eyebrow at the wookie, "how did you manage to refine the processor's to handle two separate droid brains without needing to build up the brain to be twice the size of a normal droid brain?"

It was moments like this that the mask of the executive just fell away revealing the John who loved to tinker with technology, who had spent nights and days developing his own droids and fixing those of his friends and neighbours. "It's not the most common technology out there, for all people might have done that before. But doing it well, doing it so that you can mass produce it," a grin touched his face, "That's something else entirely."

[member="Errreembuhr"]

 

[Errreembuhr]

"Well, I must keep some secrets for myself," he replied in a tone that's more serious than he intends, though through the translation software it wouldn't have held the coy tone he intended. "But they are certainly something I am proud of. I bring this to you not simply to indulge a curiosity and interest in technology."

Errreembuhr backed away, reaching for the glass that had been brought out and taking a sip of the water within. It was a risk bringing these to anybody outside of his company, especially another corporate man. One who had the capacity to share it with others. But it was a risk the Wookiee was willing to take to satisfy his own interests.

"I have a proposition for you, if you'd be interested."

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

"A proposition?" The word held such weight of meaning, such potential that for a moment John forgot about the intriguing brain on display as he swivelled in his chair to face the Wookie towering over the other inhabitants of the room.

"A proposition well that's normally done in a different way but I guess if you like the wind ruffled look then Katie here," the sound of flesh hitting metal could be heard as the red-haired woman glared at EX before bowing her head at @Errreembuhr. "Please, go on. Ignore EX here, he just wants to be the centre of attention." "Well, I never...although you know you might be onto something but really what fleshy exterior can hope to match this wonderful frame of mine." The executive shook his head as Katie and EX fell into good-natured bickering as he waved a hand at Errreembhur, "go on, I have to admit you've caught my attention and I'm curious to see what you've come up with."

 

[Errreembuhr]

While he found the droid's antics amusing, Errreembuhr decided that a professional approach would be more prudent. "I need a ship. Something that people will know is mine when they see it. As a representative of the Coalition, and as the de-facto leader of my company's forces, I require something... large. Unfortunately the design I had in mind is beyond my company's production capabilities."

The Wookie's furry hand moves to the rig on his chest, activating the holoprojector to display a ship over the table. "Which is why I would like to contract your company to build this. With payment from my end, of course. And, as a bit of incentive for you specifically, I would like to include these droid brains in our deal. Manufacturing rights would remain solely with me and my company, but I will supply them to you as requested pending the specifics of our contract."

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

John fell silent for a moment as he considered the wookie standing across from him, dark eyes flat for a moment before he nodded his head. "And our Commenor yard has the capacity you need for your ship," he allowed, "And it's close enough to your base of operations that you could visit regularly to keep in touch on the day to day building of your ship." The man's eyes flicked back and forth between the wookie and the droids on the table before he nodded, "I don't see why not, it seems like it would be a beneficial deal for the both of us. I need to spin up the shipyards, and this seems like an interesting challenge. It's not like I want access to those droid brains." The dark-haired man nodded as a smile tugged at his lips, gesturing with one hand to Katie and EX.

"While Katie and EX work on the contracts would you like to come up to my office? We can call up a few engineers and go through the plans for the ship that you envisage, see if we can offer any advice, or if we have any other technologies available that you could use for it."

[member="Errreembuhr"]

 

[Errreembuhr]

"Of course," he replied, pleased that John could see fit to assisting him. As he followed along, he asked, "What did you have in mind? I've taken a look at some of your products, and there are some I believe may do well. As for your shipyards, Commenor is indeed very close, and that is agreeable to me in terms of location."

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

A smile tugged at the man's lips as the elevator climber up the building, opening up into the large office near the top of the tower as he gestured at the in front of him. Immediately a holographic panel appeared in front of him, expanding as he gestured with his fingers, growing to the size of the one of the floor to ceiling windows that ran along the wall. Although mainly used aboard space stations and

"Well at the least you're going to need to talk to people as you go, manage the fleet from your flagship. It wouldn't do for your company's flagship to have comms that are easily hacked, and I have just the thing that can let you manage multiple systems. Meet the Freyja, probably the best communications system in the galaxy, if I say so myself." A smile pulled at John's face as he flicked his other hand, a new screen opening and expanding followed by a third and a fourth as the schematics for the Freyja appeared on the first screen.

"Then you're going to want some defence, we can offer a shield designed to allow you to shunt around your power to reinforce shields quickly, useful when you're in the middle of combat but it drains power from one side to the other so you need to be careful about using it when you're surrounded. Blocking attacks is only part of the story, of course, sometimes it's better to not get hit so the Loki EWAR system might be up your street too." As he spoke the specs for the named systems appeared on the second and third screens. "And of course this, our holographic control to add versatility to your ship's controls." The final system appeared on the last of the screens as John turned to nod at @Errreembuhr.

 

[Errreembuhr]

Errreembuhr studied the designs as John showed them, taking particular notice of the E-War system. The capacity to defend from and subject enemies to jamming and electronic disruption was certainly a necessity in modern space warfare, and the communication system seemed perfect as well, especially as a member of the Coalition. After all, he would need to be sure that highly sensitive information wasn't being stolen or overheard by those who might want to turn it against them.

"Interesting. Tell me more about your E-War system. The Freyja is certainly a unit that I want in this design, but with the anti-ship missile launchers I intend to have installed I'll need insurance to get the payload to their target. Can it jam anti-missile systems? Or possibly mask their electronic or chemical signature on sensors to ensure delivery?"

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

John twisted to glance at [member="Errreembuhr"] before shaking his head slightly, "The Loki is a pretty capable system, you can reduce your sensor signature, or even disguise it if you're far enough away. Up close I don't know many things apart from a cloaking device that are going to be able to disguise a ship at close range." John smiled and padded across to the bar in the corner, pouring himself a drink before raising the bottle towards the wookie as he arched an eyebrow curiously offering his new...buisess cohort a drink. "At range, It's more than a match for any other system out there, and it's ability to crack the encryption and break through enemy jamming is a little better than most." John settled himself into a chair, staring up at the ECM system glowing from its screen. "Honestly, my military capital ship production program is a little lacking right now." The man slipped down in his chair, rubbing his hands over his eyes, "We're still setting up designs now so it hasn't really had a chance to see much use out in the galaxy, just a couple of ships now but we're working on it, so you'll be using a proven but not widely accepted technology." The dark-haired man scrubbed a hand through his hair, sitting up and grinning at the Wookie, "the perfect mix right?"

Looking pensive for a moment John waved a hand through the air, gesturing at the empty screen as a missile appeared there. "If you're worried about getting your missiles through to their target than I'd suggest our Dancer Missile. We replaced the warhead of a missile with a potent ECM suit designed to degrade enemy defences as your missile attack comes into attack range. It'll get your missiles where they need to go without any issues at all."

 

[Errreembuhr]

Errreembuhr accepted the drink, though he knew it would have little effect on him, as most non-native Kashyyyk drinks were far too below his tolerance level as a Wookiee. "This Dancer missile seems... interesting. But I would very much like to include this Loki system of yours. Electronic warfare is always a necessity, especially the ability to jam and counter-jam. I wouldn't mind being sort of a test for the system on a larger ship in active use. After all, without testing, progress is never truly made."

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

"I think we can rustle up a unit for you," John allowed with a smile, settling himself back in his seat, "and I'd hope that you'd let me know any issues or improvements you might come across with the Loki, or with any of our products really. If we're not moving forward then we're moving backwards and I'd hate to be a stick in the mud. It would be helpful to get an outsider's look at the products, at any problems they might have in production and any possible solutions." A small grin touched the man's face, "And you get a powerful system to play around with too."

[member="Errreembuhr"]

 

[Errreembuhr]

"I certainly will," he replied, nodding his head. "Not that I expect there to be any problems with the product. It will certainly be interesting to test and apply to real-world situations. I can think of a few times that such a product would have been very useful to me in the past."

[member="John Locke"]

 

[John Locke]

"Well, you never know, but I'm pretty sure it will work," John smirked at the wookie, "failing when you need it would be a bad way to generate a reputation for my product...and you know probably not all that conducive to your survival too. I'm sure you'll be able to sneak some tricks out of it."

[member="Errreembuhr"]