Suck it!

[Shia Kryze]

Shia stared at the blueprint with... a lot less blank incomprehension than she had once had - her head was spinning with numbers, physics and the logistics of running what was rapidly becoming more than a medium sized company.

What had Aunt Vivi said?

'When you reach a wall, get an expert. If the house reaches a wall, make deals with experts.'

Right. MandalMotors and... what were that other company, that vod Yasha had introduced her to did work for a couple of them.

"Zanya?" Her... well, personal assistant was not a bad term, adjutant might be a good one. Leaders needed good people to keep them in order. Just ignore the fact this is Mandalore, so the two were sat outside what amounted to a tent surrounded by portable communication and electronics gear, with an immense owl the size of a bus flying slow loops around them as it expressed it's boredom with this uniquely human activity.

"Yes?"

"Call... Teagan. Teagan Stoirm. Tell him I'd like to discuss a technical matter with him, whatever his usual rates are - with the long term goal of using him as a go between between us and RID."

[member="Teagan Stoirm"]

 

[Teagan Stoirm]

Well to say Teagan was busy was an understatement at the moment. He was the only engineer on duty at the moment working on maintaining the Raxis ships. Their alor had called them to help with some projects with his company. Teagan had wanted to go along on that as he knew exactly which projects they were, but it was his turn being on duty and so he missed out on it. That wouldn't be so bad though and his time on duty would have been rather lax if not for the fact Joel had been the last one on duty. The ships were in sorry shape because he was preoccupied with flirting with some women he met at the local bar. Joel's joy was not Teagan's sorrow because of it.

It was during Teagan's flurry of repairs that the officer on duty came to him with a message. Seemed he had a job offer from someone. Was it one of those captains wanting him to play extra guard while actually providing on duty repairs again? He wanted to decline but the officer insisted. They even were making Joel come back on duty to finish up from the bar right away. That was odd. Teagan walked in and listened to the message for him. It seemed that [member="Shia Kryze"] needed his help with something and that explained the officer's reaction. He got on the com system and sent a message back before finding a clansman who would take him to the job site.

<Teagan Stoirm here. I got your message and I will be there right away! I'm not entirely sure what my usual rate is though. I just work and take whatever people pay me. Not the best idea business wise.... Anyways! I will be there as soon as I can. Thanks for the job offer!>

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia looked confused at the message.

All this was cleared up when Teagan walked into her 'office'. Oh dear Manda. At least he had the air of a brilliant engineer.

"Su cuy'gar Teagan Storim. We were... introduced at the party, I think? Sit, sit." She passed over holopad containing the high-level schematics for the K'atini stations. "One of my wonderkids had an idea - they're calling them the K'atini - it functions as a wild scale atmospheric scrubber and lightweight terraformer. The only problem is we're having trouble making it marketable beyond Mandalore, and... they're not going to be cheap. So... I know through the grapevine RID is working with conventional terraformers, and your name came up as someone who might both be able to solve our problem, and maybe help us come to some mutual understanding? The goal here is our home, not profit, after all."

She smiles.

"The long term profit of say, selling these to the Alliance to rebuild all those worlds the Sith burn - or political capital from _giving_ them is an extra."

[member="Teagan Stoirm"]

 

[Teagan Stoirm]

As soon as the holopad was in his hands, Teagan was completely focused on it. For all the attention he was giving her right now, [member="Shia Kryze"] could easily think he was ignoring her. His eyes scanned over everything and his seemed to be randomly just clicking around. For those who hadn't met him before or seen him work it might even appear he was not taking it seriously. But it was the opposite. Every scrap of information in front of his eyes and spoken to him was being taken in. After a minute he said, " The concept seems similar to what they are working on at RID. This one is for long term terraforming right and not just short term?"

Teagan looked up to Shia from the holopad with a twinkle in his eyes. A friendly smile was plastered across his face. He was clearly having fun right now. This was clearly a big space nerd in front of her. " RID is working on two terraformers and they are anything but conventional. Those focus on doing all the work on their own and tend to forget about the aquatic aspect of making a planet more habitable. They are making one focused on the air and land while the other is purely for aquatic use. That in and of itself is already unique but they also have developed them to work together. They will form a network and adjust themselves as data comes in across both the local and global situation. This allows the most effective and responsive terraforming possible. It also is built around the long term rather than the short."

Holding the holopad up so she could see the screen, Teagan tapped it gently. " Your ship is focused on the atmosphere alone it seems. That is good for planets with less atmosphere or no atmosphere, but for a planet with an atmosphere that is already established and fine, relatively speaking, it can't help as much on the wider scale." A thought seemed to come to his mind as he spoke. He went back to looking over the holopad again. A hand went up to his chin and he rubbed it idly. " Could that work? Maybe. If this was moved to there and that moved here...." He was speaking out loud and clearly lost in his thoughts.

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia leant over, she wasn't an engineer, but she'd learnt such an insane amount of late.

"So, we're going to need to coordinate the efforts. What about if we put a wide-area comms hub in the stations and a smaller one in the ships - to oversee and to scout, respectively. Then... well you've moved all that around which gives us a lot of free space. We could install a suit of droids with that mass, which would give us some low-level terraforming across a wide area. These things are not supposed to shape a whole new planet - but to fix broken ones. What range do the ones you're working on at RID have? As you can see, these are - relatively - small units, due to resource constraints. But that might be an advantage if we can network everything - we can use the ships and the stations to break ground, then install RID terraformers in their wake. Still doesn't help you on a planet without an atmosphere, unless... your atmosphere ones can make atmosphere, right?"

She taps the drawing.

"This can hold in air at one standard pressure against a hurricane, it can easily trap its operating area against a vacum. So if you can produce it, we can hold it. Which might open up some genuine expansion chances."

When she grew up, all she'd wanted to be is a warrior, maybe a hunter, a game guide or something. Life was very funny sometimes. She still didn't know the business end of a diode, however.

[member="Teagan Stoirm"]

 

[Teagan Stoirm]

As she spoke, Teagan was taking in everything she had to say. It seemed that a joint project was beginning to formed and it excited him. That meant more work and more interesting work too than he had of late. He was getting tired of maintaining ships and vehicles or the odd job for transport ships as an extra hired gun slash in flight mechanic. That work was great for steady pay but it got boring fast. This though was the most interesting thing he had the chance to help work on since the current RID projects. It was probably good he was the one requested since he had the experience and knowledge to make the joint project happen.

Once [member="Shia Kryze"] had finished speaking, Teagan said, " Starting from the beginning, I think that could work. Both of the systems have a specific network that works even in harsh conditions, so we would just need to hand over the information for that and you can easily add it to both ships. As far as the terraformers themselves go RID is developing, they are being designed to work on more than just Mandalore. They will be powerful and could eventually make any planet habitable if given regular attention and proper time. Very much long term solutions to terraforming. They will range in size from 2 meters to 2 kilometers in length, so their actual effective range varies. But if you put enough of the max sized ones out strategically you can terraform the entire planet at one time. They will share data and adjust in real time after all. I mentioned that earlier though didn't I?" He had to stop talking. Part of why was to catch his breath but part was because his mind was still racing through some ideas and options. So many possibilities with this kind of project.

Teagan looked at Shia from the holopad and said, " The land and air one can create atmosphere if you put the right materials in it for that job. Creating atmosphere and strengthening require some different things. Still very similar but also different. But you can switch out the materials easily since it was designed to need regular checking and replacements of materials. It couldn't be as powerful as it is and low maintenance at the same time after all. Sorry, getting really chatty. I think that it would be a great strategy though that you proposed. The terraformers that RID is making could use the help with atmospheric scrubbing in speeding up the process. The extra computing and storage would also be helpful, especially if you have people working on the station that can maintain the RID units on the planet. Yeah. This could really do a lot to help fix Mandalore in a more timely manner if these products could work together smoothly." He gave her an excited smile as he added, " Want me to sent a proposal to my clan alor? He can sign off on it as the owner and then I can get you the data your employees would need for your end."

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia was perhaps not so excited by the technical details of the project, although what constituted as detail was arguable, because she listened attentively to the expert she'd 'hired'.

"Everything you've said makes perfect sense, I was not aware Clan Raxis were... assisting in this fashion." And dear Manda, I hope Vilaz never figures it out. I wonder if Clan Raxis has any single daughters? Concentrate, Shia! "But their help is most certainly welcome, please feel free to communicate what we've discussed with your alor, in fact..."

She taps out a command on her portable terminal, which ejected a small chip.

"... those are the most up to date schematics. I'd be very greatful if they don't get lost. But they should, I imagine, let you get a head start on the proposal."

[member="Teagan Stoirm"]

 

[Teagan Stoirm]

Teagan took the chip from [member="Shia Kryze"] with a big smile. This was what he lived for. " Alor Gray ordered that they begin development on the terraformers and biodome shield generator a few months back when he returned. Seemed something really bad happened to him. We lost all contact and couldn't find him for months. He won't tell anyone about it so no one knows why. No one seems to want to ask either.... But that isn't relevant to the joint project, sorry. I will get to work on this proposal right away!" He went off to the ship he had arrived in. There was everything he needed there to get the proposal ready and sent it securely to his alor. He got working on it as soon as he was inside as he had promised.

After an hour or two, Teagan came back from the ship. He went straight to Shia and held out a holopad for her to take. With that big, friendly smile he said, " Here. That has the proposal on it. Please take a look over it and tell me if there is anything you want change." It was clear he was having too much fun with all of this. After a bit he seemed to remember something and added, " Oh I almost forgot but I included a contract in there for the use of silicar. It is a very useful material RID makes. I have never seen anything else like it. But yeah I can't really work out the exact payment or anything as that is for the accountants. I could make a case as to why you should be allowed to use it though. Other than that the rest is all everything we talked about in full detail." And with that he was done. All he could do now was see if she wanted any changes made or not before sending it out.

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia looks over the details for a few minutes.

"I'll be honest, I'll need a geninue engineer to go over the details, but the deal seems like a solid offer so I'll initial it now."

She smiles.

"Tell your Alor that I'd be happy to meet with him, now that he's... returned to the Empire, if needs to discuss the fine details. But I'll have people sort out the details and pass them to your office, then put you in touch with my designers. Tell me, have you met Amanda yet? I think you'd like her and she could do with a little experience outside of Kryze."

[member="Teagan Stoirm"]

 

[Teagan Stoirm]

Teagan gave [member="Shia Kryze"] a nod. It was good that the proposal was approved as it was. He quickly made a copy of it and held it out for her. " Here is a copy for your engineers to tinker with. I will send this to my alor right away and let you know what he says. I will let him know that you are interested in speaking with him as well. I'm surprised though that he has been so active, but glad to see it. He was hold up since he came back to us in a hut. This is good and it should be good for Mandalore. Did you know he threw himself into helping my homeworld of Doldur rebel against a tyrant? Now image what he would do for Mandalore. But I'm talking to much. Sorry just excited about all of this. I'm going to take care of all of this right now!" He gave a quick smile then jogged off back to his clan ship to do what had been asked of him.

After a couple hours, Teagan came to Shia. He had jogged over like he had left, but had a little bit of oil and lubricant on his gloves. With a smile on his face he said, " Okay Alor Gray has given permission to do the joint project. He also okayed you using silicar for your projects. He said something about it being to help Mandalore or the likes. Also he agreed to meet up with you sometime and wanted me to give you his private com channel. Use audio if you use it though. He can't see holopad messages even using the force. Not entirely sure why that is, but I'm not going to dig into too much. The force is just really weird. Anyways! Did you need anything else from me? I can take a look at your ships or your com systems or whatever and make sure they are working properly."

A beep came from Teagan's com system. He listened to it for a moment with a slight frown. " Sorry but seems they need me to get back as soon as possible. Joel broke something while repairing some ships and is now out cold. They need me to get back to fix it while they put out some fires. Here is everything that you need and are suppose to get. My alor's private com channel, the RID com channel, your approved contract, and the permission to use silicar. Good luck!" With that he took off back to the clan ship to get on top of the emergency.

OOC: My other character owns RID and silicar. Shia's company now has permission to use it for subs.