Size D

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

The discussions regarding the K-wing were reasonably fruitful and the ATC rep promised a proposal that would keep the GADF and the bean counters happy. They didn't get around to discussing the maintenance contract, but that was to be discussed over dinner. It was only then that the Commodore recalled she had childcare responsibilities that evening.

Asmus was reminded what he could, and could not discuss. He was also reminded that after an abduction attempt by a group believed to be connected to an underground Sith remnant that officers were no longer permitted to go to civilian restaurants in full uniform. Asmus excused himself and headed to a nearby shop.



He stood perfectly still in the quiet shop as a human tailor took his measurements.

"And how many suits is it you need?"

"Just the one for now," Asmus replied quickly.

"Occasion?"

"Just a dinner out, over at Lecrue's."

"Oh I know the style you probably want for there."

"Excellent!"

"And when was it required?"

"Erm. Now?"

"Oh. I'll see what we have in then. Fortunately you're a fairly standard measurement." The man seemed a little put out at such a request, but Asmus was certain he'd find a way to oblige.



The squadron leader arrived at dinner just an hour later. At least he was on time. Apparently the restaurant wasn't exactly a full dinner suit level of sophistication - fortunately, Asmus would have never felt comfortable - but it did require a Lounge Suit.

"Good evening sir."

"Good evening, is there a table for ATC?" Asmus asked. The interior was crisp and clean. Stark white decorations and wide, circular tables. Immaculately dressed staff. There was a mez floor that seemed to have small tables in booths, with intimate two person tables along the railings overlooking the ground floor. Asmus couldn't spot their host, he would need to make apologies for the Commodore.

"Yes sir, up on the first floor, please follow me."

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"] wasn't the only one to freshen up into something more comfortable. In this case, Aeri went with a white wrap around that framed that black lace that had played peek-a-boo earlier. They were situated on the second story, the click of glasses and upbeat music playing up a proper ambiance of the restaurant.

Piqued interest shimmered across Aeri's lavender gaze as the officer turned smartly dressed lounge patron made a show.

"Your table sir." the host gestured towards the circular booth. It was intimate but still allowed a measure of social lounging. Enough to warrant the use of that cocktail dress.

"Well, good to see that the Alliance is paying better wages this time around." Aery's husky voice would tease, tossing her head back with noted amusement as the man sat himself down.

"Or does the suit also get annotated down in your report?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

A mischievous grin found his face as he sat down. "Our pay grades are all clearly advertised on the GADF holonet pages," he chuckled. Probably more than could be said for the ATC sales reps' packages. Probably some good coon going around when billions were being floated.

"But that does remind me!" He pulled out a form from his jacket pocket and made a show of setting it down.

"Water, believe to be of the non sparkling variety. Bread, looks to be salted butter." The declaration forms were a joke. Only there so if someone did get influences belt undisclosed gifts they could be strung up.

"Have you been with ATC long?" Show over. Time for some small talk before business.

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

With a melodic, knowing chuckle, the vixen took the fluke of sparkling wine she'd ordered earlier. With a slight arch of her head Aeri brought the glass to her lips. A smirk went dancing over them as she added, "Well if you are going to be annotating it down, you might as well get it correct."

"Water, from the ice peaks of an Aldaraanian Mountain Spring. " a slender coral finger would point to his glass. "Freshly baked bread from the rare Ousie wheat variety off of Ukio. Sweet butter, churned from the milk of organic and grass fed Nubian Banthas." the devilry only grew within those lavender orbs as she finally took a sip of her drink.

"We haven't even ordered appetizers yet." a wag of her brows followed her light chuckle. It was hard to discern if the Zeltron was being serious or not. Yet her rich accent and throaty voice did wonders for instilling a sense of provocative laissez–faire. Was it her presence or something more to it? Being a Zeltron made one wonder if she was deliberately manipulating emotions or simply one reacting to her tableside manner and conversation.

At his question the corner of her mouth gave a subtle twitch. He amused her. Another sly rub of her legs and a easy rock.

"Hmm... I would say..." came her coy start, followed by a wide grin. "Longer than you might imagine." her nose crinkled in a casual flirt

"Longer than your entire career for sure." she added, leaning forward into her seat. "How long have you've been working for the Alliance?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

"Grass... Fed... Banthas..." He said seriously as he pretended to scrawl on his form. As a waiter passed he placed his hand over the GADF logo. He would add as many line items as possible just so the jobs worth in accounting had to type it all up.

He looked up at the trade rep, glad that the Commodore had been unable to join them. A bit of light-hearted conversation and innocuous flirting would be a welcome change from flight manual and test flights.

He'd been trying out the D-Wing recently. Getting a feel for its controls. It was way back in the prototype stage. Engines stolen from a B-Wing and a flight control system that wasn't yet up to the asymmetrical design.

"Really? Though I've only been here a few years," he admitted. "A bit too young to be in the position and rank I occupy I suppose. Grinds a few gears around me. But then, if you don't mind me saying, I had expected someone older to represent ATC at this level.

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Now that made the Zeltron shine the most dazzling of smiles to the Alliance officer.

"Keep saying such things Squadron Leader Janes, and I just might be so inclined to give a bit of extra in the terms." she teased, giving him an knowing grin. It appeared she'd taken his compliment and was starting to get a better picture of the man himself.

"Experience can mean a variety of things." she added, lightly rotating her wrist so that her sparkling wine gave a little flirty twirl and her head gave a tilt to the side.

"Do you doubt my level of experience?" game on, to see how he got himself out of that one. Humor lit her gaze and she was interested to see how he would react. Another sip of her wine and she continued. As it was depending on what they required for maintenance she could provide a number of options.

Business was business, but a little fun never harmed.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

Gosh she could smile, Asmus thought as he was momentarily thrown from his trail of thought. Boot was on the other foot, usually he was the one to use a disarming smile. That could be fun too.

"I wouldn't dare!" Asmus pronounced brazenly. "You wouldn't look at me and think: 'clearly he's been promoted above his station.' I'd like to hope you'd think it was because of hard work, a keen mind and being a brilliant pilot."

A casual flick of the eyes showed he was checking the waiter's station to see if they would come and offer wine. He had slowly absorbed some wine knowledge through Osmosis from Kairon. At least enough to not embarassed himself.

"Of course if I then turned out to be rubbish I'd expect you to wonder what I did for the Wing Commander to get this post." Actually his Wing Commander was quite handsome, but that was beside the point.

"To what would you attribute reaching your station?"he asked in genuine interest as he reached for the wine list.

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

It was as if the woman couldn't help herself.

"Experience." she repeated, but this time painting it with heavy innuendo. "My hands on approach." Another thought came to mind.

"My oratory talents." was she doing this on purpose? Oh most definitely. Leaning closer she said rather coyly. "I just meet all of the needs and expectations of Arceneau's customers." did her eyes glitter with salacious delight? You bet.

"I'm a social creature who understands the underlying needs of the individual.. and the corporate." The woman leaned back in her chair and her grin widened even further.

"Some of which they are aware of... while others simply need to be explored and discovered."

Just then a waiter came round.

[ Good evening.] the Bith began with a nasal voice, amusing really. He went on to state the wine selections of the night and if Aeri was interested in refiling her glass.

"Hmm.. I don't know." a light rap of her fingers went over the table. Mischief rose as she added, "What would you suggest Mistah Janes?" she dropped the rank at least, but the way her lips moved to roll out the 'mistah' was quite mesmerizing indeed.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

The waiter was a timely intervention. The bith prevented Asmus from escalating the words games. A light flutter ran from the base of his chest to the back of his throat.

As he ran his eyes over the wine menu to reaffirm what , the eriaduan decided it was probably a good thing. This wasn't a social event, it was business. Business with a bit of social thrown in. His eyes flicked up to her empty flute then back to menu.

"I think I'll join you with a glass of the Altrina. Would you like the same?" It was a region of Alderaan well known for its dry, sparkling wine. Classic choice for an apparatif. Maybe liking wine came with age or something. He'd always thought Kairon odd for having such an obsession with the stuff. Which smugglers built a wine cabinet into their rooms?

What was he here to discuss again? Oh right maintenance and D wings. No, not the D Wing. Well, maybe a little. She'd probably like to know that he was the first person to put one through trials before they'd got the computer assistance nailed down.

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

A nod of approval was sent Janes way then, but there was no hiding the devilry glittering in her slanted eyes. With a rise of her brows and a comfortable lounge of her body against her seat, the Zeltron continued.

"So you wanted to discuss maintenance options?" Poor soul seemed a bit overwhelmed. A bit of pity was thrown to him then in the form of business discussion. It wouldn't do to tell him that she'd been working for ATC well over four decades. He might choke in his water in shock.

"The options I can provide would depend on what exactly your needs are." The Bith left with a murmur to collect their drink. Food would be ordered shortly and Aeri already knew what she wanted.

"So what are your needs MisterJanes?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

"I'm reasonably flexible about what we do actually," Asmus replied. Despite the deliberate wording there was no hint of double entendre. "We're going to out the numbers together, our best estimate, low end and top end. We can pay for bodies in our own facilities..."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't ask. Government funding is apparently a complex beast and sometimes ministers will fund facilities and then fail to approve budgets to expand the GADF naval engineering corps. Anyway... we're also open to paying per job on a secure site. We've got some requirements written down down 'secure' and we'd want you to out forward best value proposal. Some stress testing to show how you could cope with surges in demand. Being flexible[/]."

The devilry matched her own. Just the slightest spark in those bright eyes, a dip of the chin with a lopsided smile.

"But if you want to see something interesting..." He passed over his small datapad. There was a short video of a D-Wing lifting off a test platform, rotating to open her s-foil and setting back down. "We need some better engines."

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Aeri could provide options with all of the above. Be it a per contract, per facility, per head, and through surge recruitment. They could quote terms where they could provide instructors for the GADF or even utilize droid help. It was just a matter of how budget conscious and and how much security they wanted to maintain. Ease of flexibility was one product that Arceneau Trade and her subsidiaries were known for.

However, a notable gleam of piqued interest came to the Zeltron at the hologram of the D-Wing. It wasn't quite like the Aerofortress. Was this the hidden gem that Janes had not been allowed to disclose yet?

Oh you naughty boy.

A grin broke over those crimson lips. "What sort of engines?" she inquired, her sultry voice drifting over towards the officer.

"Depends on just what is the need? Are you looking for high-power, stealth capabilities, or anything in particular?"

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

The pilot considered this for a few seconds. Tried to take his mind away from the ATC rep and back to the project. He really did love his ships, but it still wasn't easy.

"A smooth output," he said. "Computer needs precise control. They need high thrust and emission as low as can be. These can't be crude power houses. Right now the ship is nearly impossible to fly. It requires finesse, dexterity," he said with a quick drum of his fingers across the table. "Only myself and a couple of others have given her a work out yet."

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

An arch of her brow and Aeri gave a nod. It was easy to see that the Squadron Leader had a thing for his ships. Enough to be distracted from her own little play on words and go back to describing exactly what it was that the new prototype required. There was pleasure and amusement flickering in her eyes at that. She could respect that. That he was able to maintain a level of balance - as precarious as it may be - and discuss business.

Granted, she could still pick up his interest from twelve parsecs away.

"Then you would require a low emission fuel for starters." she suggested. Oh so convenient that Mara Tibx was the largest provider of Tibanna, Spun Tibanna, and TibX.

"Has your research and development considered any of the derivatives of Tibanna?"

Just then the Bith returned to their table with their sparkling apparatif. He made a great show of showing off the label. When Asmus gave a nod of approval, the waiter poured them fresh glasses for them both.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

Asmus took a sip from the flute, lighting catching the b
effervescent wine. "You know..." He said, eyes staying on the glass, "...they might have been considering that. They might have been reluctant to go through laborious commercial processes at the moment to get a feel for what might work..."

Asmus wasn't always considered that bright by his peers. It was his attitude. Sailing through life and only applying true determination on rare occasions. But the cogs turned fast within Janes' mind and sometimes there was a great deal of logic behind his decisions.

He looked up from behind his flute, the light catching the gold in his eyes as well. "Thank you," he said with a cant of his head.

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Aeri gave a lift of her flute in a toast. "Cheers,then." She added, her red lips twisting in knowing. So at the very least she could slip in her proposal options for fueling and engine efficiency. If the presentation reflected a need that could work for both models,all the better. Especially since multiple contracts meant a larger discount in bulk.

"Seems like research and development has been a busy bee-- Along with her highly skilled pilots." A nod towards Janes was given in accommodation.

"Expanding in size right?" From her research there were several different squadrons now. A few more decorated.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

"Yes," Asmus admitted, nodding. His expression was entirely serious now. "We kind of started as just a rag tag. I flew for the Alliance once in a spare Y-Wing before I'd even been to the academy. They were hiring smugglers and merchant pilots just to fill all the ships they had from the crumbling Republic."

He shrugged, suddenly looking quite introspective. "Rag tag heroes against the best of the One Sith. Now I mostly seem to escort First Order scout ships back to their space. And after what they did to Eriadu...

"Anyway yes. After several core worlds have joined our budgets have grown and our requirement for defence. Bit things need to be streamlined, we have to change and grow together."

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

"Makes sense." She told him, the Zeltron taking another drink. "Arceneau Trade has been there since the beginning." she added, recalling that the Queen of Trade herself had been part of the opening Gala that had been used to raise funds for the foundling group. After that she'd been instrumental in using her network to promote other companies joining and aiding the alliance with products and offers. The Trade stations and biodomes utilized across Alliance space, the materials used to build GADF Sullust Base and even the Jedi Temple there; all had been promoted by ATC one way or another.

"Growing together is what we do well." she offered up a smile.

"As such I can see what I can do to add in more benefits and perks. Multiple contracts can offer a higher discount. Since Ayy-Tee-Cee and it's subsidiaries are situated within Alliance space, this will save freighter and transport costs as well."

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

Asmus smiled. In truth he'd done as much as he could now. Under the Commodore's nose as well. She was procurement and they ran under strict rules to ensure they were using public money well.

Asmus was under the front line military. They knew what they wanted and right now they wanted ATC at the front of the queue to ensure they got their bid in early.

"Well then, I think I've given you enough information for now." Code for: you know I've said too much but that's enough that you'll be able to blow the competition away when we go public on this.

"I suppose we I can just enjoy the meal and company now," he added with a grin.

 

[Aeri Vyn]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Aeri could toast to that. With a small chuckle the Zeltron brought her glass forward to give Asmus' own a distinct clink. "I suppose you are right."a pause and a wider grin. "Just have to make sure you annotate everything down on your report." She added with a wink.

The following week the Galactic Alliance Research and development team would receive a bid from Mara Tibx and Fuels along with ATC. An option to utilize Aurum Saacs bank for all the details would be provided. Items listing a maintenance contract for various options would allow for fulfilling the military's needs and those of the bean counters as well. All in all, a rather mutually benefiting relationship.

Teams were accepted and that was that.

Well, save for a bit more flirting interactions between the Squadron Leader and the Zeltron ATC representative.