The Alcibiades Strategem

[Gir Quee]

LL-1300 Shuttle Squallrider, nearing Gessbrilbak, Hast System

"What do you think that is?" asked Azira, pointing at a cylindrical looking vessel that eclipsed the Hast system's sun.

Gir briefly leaned over the cockpit's flight console to get a better look before reclining back into the pilot's chair.

"Looks like a tanker of some sort. Judging by its build and plating, I'd probably say it's something relatively common like fuel or water."

"Water to Gessbrilbak?" asked the bothan incredulously, "might have a better chance of exporting sand to Tatooine, even in these times."

Gir shrugged, "Depends on the salesman."

Azira contemplated that thought as their ship continued to drift over the ocean moon, "Governor Koorht has been a pretty good salesman. He got you here, after all."

The blonde man glanced at his wrist chrono. Not only did he get me here, but he's kept me waiting a half hour for clearance to land. I wonder if it has anything to do that with that ship that flew past us. It almost looked uncontrolled...He glanced at the co-pilot station that Azira sat at. But there did not appear to be any unusual communication's activity appearing on her scanners. He blinked. They must have resolved that situation pretty quickly...or they don't need to communicate to anyone over range about it. He contemplated propping up his feet on the ship's dashboard and turning on a holo-flick.

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir had narrowed down his options down a documentary of sea life on Dac and a bootleg drama smuggled off of Commenor when the ship's subspace radio began to hum. A soft, almost languid female voice began to pour out of the ship's overhead speakers.

"Squallrider, this is Gessbrilbak Control...you are cleared to land at the Governor's House on Pad Five. We are transmitting a flight path to you now. An honorguard of escort craft will meet with you soon. Welcome to Gessbrilbak. I hope you enjoy your stay with us."

Gir fidgeted with his headset as he brought its mike down to his mouth, "Thank you Control, Squallrider acknowledges and will comply."

The blonde man gentrly tilted the shuttle's yoke forward, letting the moon's gravity pull his craft into the designated flight path. The ship's canopy quickly changed from the star-studded blackness of space to seas of gray-white clouds. He grumbled internally as he began to flip through the ship's settings. I'll have to fly by instruments alone given this visibility... When glancing at his FST screen, he noticed a group of six dots surging towards the Squallrider on an intercept course. He spared a glance at the bothan as she fiddled with the sensor controls.

"What are we looking at?"

"Pretty small signatures," muttered Azira, "at least for starships. In fact, I think we're looking at cloud cars based on that and their movement patterns."

Cloud cars. The very name conjured up the twin-pod models made by Bespin Motors, though he knew that there were countless variations that he would most likely never see. In this day and age many planetary defense forces had switched almost exclusively to flying starfighters to defend their worlds' skies, though a handful of governments continued to use cloud cars simply because of environmental concerns or the higher costs of snubfighters. The Squallrider pierced through the lowest level of clouds, revealing a tempestuous sea and a half-dozen Tinok-F cloud cars painted in dark blue with with golden horizontal stripes. Gir noted their high polish and gloss as the craft swooped in to smartly array themselves around his vessel.

 

[Gir Quee]

His spared his eyes from the ship's HUD overlay to eye one of the cloud cars, noting an golden trident insignia painted just underneath its cockpit. Its style seemed oddly familiar to his eyes, yet he quickly turned his attention back to their flight path as the craft raced over the moon's churning waters. Gir's body briefly jumped up as they hit a brief bit of turbulence. Azira quietly swore.

"It wasn't that bad of a bump."

"It's not the bump," said the bothan, looking up from her datapad, "everything on the local news net has been silent."

"About that previous ship?"

"About everything. The Gessbrilbak Daily updates every hour, typically with at least a weather forecast or their Alcibeiades column. But there's been nothing new on there for the last hour and a half. I just get an out of service message."

Gir shrugged, "But couldn't that be something pretty noninteresting? Like a power outage or software error?"

Her fur rippled, "Possible. But I'm intrinsically skeptical about those things occurring at a time like this. I think it's censorship in some form, but I would wager they'd use those excuses to cover it up."

"We'll be there soon," said the blonde man, glancing at their ETA, "we'll get a better picture of what's going on there soon."

"Perhaps," said the bothan, closing her datapad.

 

[Gir Quee]

Only a few minutes passed before a jagged obsidian point rose up from the horizon. As they neared it, Gir could see dark dots and specks rise up to descend and ascend from the dormant volcano. More ships and airspeeders...He glanced at his sensor readout. But it's curious to see that none of the other vessels are flying so low to the waters as we are. I wonder why that is...The island grew in their viewport, turning into towering mountain riddled with tunnels and cave dwellings. A storm-wracked rainforest encircled the mountain's lower reaches, but in turn was encircled with black-sand beaches. Easy to see why they used to advertise the Delian islands as a tropical paradise...Yet looking down on the beaches, he could see that they were almost empty, with only a handful of peoples either swimming or reclining under the drizzling rain. He cranked down the ship's acceleration as they neared a landing pad secreted halfway up the mountain. As he deployed the Squallrider's landing gear, the half-dozen cloud cars dispersed on either side of his ship, leaving them alone to land on the duracrete pad. As much as he tried to set down the craft gently, a noticeable tremor reverberated throughout the craft as the pads made contact with the ground. Gir turned to Azira, who promptly slapped a button to lower the ship's boarding ramp. They both rose up from their seats and began to smooth out their clothing. Gir promptly grabbed the gray dress jacket hanging up behind his seat and slipped it on.

"Looking dapper," observed Azira, grabbing a last few items out of the ship's dashboard to slip into her purse.

"Never hurts to impress."

She barred a carniverous grin, "I wouldn't be sold on appearances alone. And I think the governor is much the same. I would take care not to underestimate him, considering how he's managed to keep a hold on a place like this."

Gir nodded as he slipped a hold-out blaster into one of the jacket's pockets, "I'll be relying on you to keep me straight."

She made a sound that almost came across as a purr to him, "We are in trouble then. Should have brought Salmakk instead of me. I imagine that there's enough intrigue here to make me think that I'm on Bothawui. But you're goal-oriented...between your motivation and my savviness, we should be safe...maybe even profitable if we're lucky enough."

"Maybe profitable?" said Gir, leaving the cockpit.

"Maybe," affirmed the bothan, "one doesn't simply dangle a choice piece of bait in front of you without thinking that something else is not up, especially given their situation."

"Well, it should be a relatively straight forward negotiation."

"I doubt that we are the only party here that he's dangling this in front of."

"Wonderful."

 

[Gir Quee]

The pair were met at the ramp's end by a blue-plated 3D-4 administrative droid and a surprisingly thin herglic, who offered them a wan smile. Judging by the herglic's attire and demeantor, Gir guessed that he was some sort of valet or personal servant. Gir stepped off the ramp and offered a brief bow.

"Gir Quee, president of Lucerne Labs," said the blonde man, before sweeping a hand to the bothan, "and this is Miss Azira...a member of the company's board."

The droid offered a curt bow of its own, "You may call me Ackbar, and this here is Munkoh. We have been assigned by Governor Koorht to take care any of your needs while you are here."

Azira slinked over to stand by Gir, "What do you gentlebeings do, exactly?"

The droid's blue photoreceptors stared at the bothan for a brief second, "Munkoh here will be your valet. I should mention that he is mute due to an unfortunate accident...but he can understand you both well, and we have devised a type of communication between ourselves through eyeball blinking that's derivative of Mon Calamari Blink Code. If you ever feel the need for him to express his thoughts, you may simply ask me."

Gir blinked as his eyes moved from the herglic to the droid, "Eyeball blinking? I take it that you have both worked together a lot then to develop that?"

The droid began to lead them away from their ship.

"The governor's chief of staff likes to keep staff members together to develop a certain cohesion. Besides, I think that there is a certain natural affinity to our relationship."

"I see."

Azira seemed undaunted by the droid's diversion, "So Munkoh is our valet, and I'd guess that you are our liaison to the governor?"

"Well yes, among other things. I can handle other bureaucratic paperwork and research as you like, if you ever feel the need to export or import anything, or wish to know about any of our regulations."

"Have the other guests made use of your skills frequently?"

 

[Gir Quee]

"They do as they see fit," replied Ackbar, "our last guest had me inquire about exporting a live krakana from this world, but he found that the regulations too tiresome to actually act on that."

"Krakana...isn't that a apex predator of sorts?" said Gir, "I think I remember hearing about them on Dac."

"Indeed it is," said the droid, "it looks something like a sleek whale with a quartet of stinging tentacles. Rather a ferocious beast, and utterly untameable."

"Out of curiosity, who wanted that?" asked Azira.

"I'm afraid that I cannot reveal that," said the droid, "we do take care to act as confidential staff members for our guests here. Rest assured that just like the last guest, we will not provide information to any others that may harm you."

"Even Governor Koohrt?" asked the bothan.

"Even the governor," said the droid, "my programming forbids it, and Munkoh here would give you his word here. But he's not particularly prone to casual chit-chatting...for obvious reasons."

Gir casually nodded in acknowledgement as they walked through the halls of the Governor's House. He drunk in the details, admiring the polished volcanic rock floors and the governor's displayed art collection. He couldn't help but stop for a second to admire an old painting of the Battle of Foerost, noting the vibrant splashes of color between the Supremacy-class Attack Ships and the planetary cannons. It seemed to Gir that whoever had made it had take some liberties with the technical details, but he couldn't help but admire the staging and layout. Ackbar noted Gir's interest in the painting.

"That is the Battle of Foerost," said the protocol droid.

"Who painted it?"

"Governor Koorht did," revealed the droid.

 

[Gir Quee]

A hearty laugh boomed out from several meters down the hallway. A clean-shaven man wearing a freshly pressed set of ceremonial white robes took long strides toward them, leaving a small retinue of servants and silver-plated droids scrambling to keep up with him in his wake. Gir's eyes fell upon a jeweled aurodium and sapphire signet ring which bore the same insignia as the cloud cars that they had encountered earlier. Gir's gaze worked up to the man's face, noting the man's bright green eyes and the slightest trace of a scar that worked up from his chest to the side of his left neck. The man stretched out a hand to Gir.

"I'm afraid you must have seen better artwork than mine own," said Governor Koorht, taking Gir's hand, "I'm afraid I'm merely a dilettante when it comes to both art and history. But I can't help but take a certain interest in such things from time to time."

Gir promptly shook the governor's hand, before that man turned his attention to Azira.

"And who might you be, misses?"

"This is Miss Azira," stated Ackar, "a board member of Lucerne Labs."

A certain warmth came over Koorht's face as he smiled more broadly to extend a hand to the bothan, "And here I thought Mister Quee here ran everything himself."

Azira accepted the man's handshake and let a toothy smile cross her triangular face, "You may not be too far off from the truth, from a certain point of view."

Koorht gently released his grip from the bothan's hand and wanly smiled, "Well, that's the trick of it all, isn't it? Knowing and understanding those viewpoints. I must be frank with you both. Another ship arrived just before the two of you, and they are here for the same thing. I did not anticipate their presence...but I am afraid that we both must contend with their presence. Permit me to tell you both a little bit about them as we go to meet them."

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir briefly froze before nodding in acknowledgement. The ship we saw earlier, I'd bet. Perhaps Azira is right...and that's what the cause of the local news net blackout. Someone sensitive then, I take it. Koorht stared at him intently, giving Gir the idea that the other man was trying to size up his reaction to the revelation. Azira seemed to sense that as well as she seemlessly moved in between the two men.

"The ship we saw earlier...a SoroSuub yacht...was that them?"

The governor blinked and nodded, "I am afraid so. Members of the Zayaku Corporation."

"I've heard that name before."

"They used to run the yards over Hast, before Aurora Industries revealed their duplicity to the galaxy at large."

"A shadowy group then."

"Yes," acknowledged the governor, casting his eyes downwards for a second, "unfortunately. They seem to grow tendrils everywhere. I'm not sure how they discovered this offer of mine, but they are known for having contacts everywhere. It seems that they intend to bid against you."

They neared a set of wooden double doors, which Ackbar and Munkoz moved ahead the group to open. Gir's mind spun. And he intends to let them bid against us...but why? There must be a set of consequences that come into play if he does not let them in on this...but if that is the case, is there really a chance that we can win this now? His reverie came to an end as the doors swung open.

 

[Gir Quee]

The room appeared to be a natural cavern that had only its rougher edges resculpted by civilization. Gir could see that large holo-projectors ringed most of the irregularly shaped room. Most of them appeared to display idyllic scenes of life on Gessbrilbak; the type of scenes that used in holo-advertisements or found in the portfolios of professional photographers. Putting the best face forward. His blue eyes quickly moved to the an expansive oval-shaped table that occupied most of the room. Doubtlessly it had been made out of some local hardwood, but otherwise its overall aesthetics didn't interest Gir as much as the half-dozen people seated around it. Four of them wore traditionally cut business suits along with pin lapels that depicted the world's trident logo. Quee guessed that they were government officials of some sort from their demeanor and clothing, but it was clear that the other two occupants were not from the world's government. A neimoidian dressed in traditional robes and a doughy-looking human male wearing a green suit gave each other a brief glance at the newcomer's arrival. The neimoidan seemed nonplussed by the appearance of the governor and the Lucerne Labs delegation, but the same could not be said of the human. Gir caught a brief glare from the man before the Zayaku corporate officer turned his attention to a datapad in front of him.

"Gentlebeings and members of my cabinet," started Governor Koorht, "may I present to you President Gir Quee and Miss Azira of Lucerne Labs..."

The governor began to introduce the other conference members as Ackbar and Munkoz ushered them to their seats. Gir made eye contact with each of the officials as they were introduced as a token of acknowledgement, but when he attempted to do so with the Zayaku representatives, they ignored him. The neimoidan cleared his raspy throat as the governor concluded his opening remarks.

"Shall we get down to business? I can offer you two million credits for the ship as is."

"This is not the sort of trade I envisioned," said the governor, leaning back into his chair, "money is a thing, which while it can be worthwhile, is not something that I see as appropriate for so rare an artifact. One must travel across the galaxy to get even close to seeing another ship like this, and even then, it is...shall we say...rather difficult to obtain from its originators, unless one is a rather exceptional individual."

Governor Koorht turned his bright green eyes to Gir, "I am told that your company is looking to expand its operations. Have you considered Gessbrilbak as an option? We are not too far away from Hast..."

 

[Gir Quee]

Close? Gessbrilbak and Hast are in the same system...What more can Gessbrilbak offer me then? I mean, it's true that we're looking for another place to expand to...but it's primarily a different galactic location....not an industrial facility concern...The Lab's facilities on Hast were perfectly adequate for what they needed. Some of the older mon calamari technology originally found on the ground yards was being replaced with more modern galactic equipment, which would allow Lucerne Labs to build other starships there besides Delphin-class frigates and Circinius-class bulk corvettes. When those upgrades were complete, he would be utterly satisfied with their operations there. Gir leaned forward.

"You are suggesting a trade of the ship for Lucerne Labs investing in a facility here," said the blonde man, "but our search is for more than just land and place to build."

"Understandable," said the governor, "but with what we have to offer you, doubtlessly you will be using that technology to make new products. And new products like that mean either new facilities or revamping new facilities. This technology is doubtlessly complex enough that it will be difficult to retrofit older existing facilities to."

Gir began to consider that thought.

As he did so, the Zayaku human representative leaned forward, "If you are looking for infrastructure investment, we would be willing to offer to buy out the government operated resorts on Raxi and Glass Islands. I'm not talking about commercial redevelopment or closure, but letting people keep their jobs just as they did before. I know the government is barely making a profit on them these days."

"In addition to the credit offer? Or as a replacement for your first offer?"

"In addition," said the man, leaning back, "think of what that sort of credit infusion could do for your world's finances. You could even use that money to create other investment opportunities. Be the masters of your own fate."

"I'm not certain there is such a thing in an interconnected economy as our own," said Governor Koorht, "if there was such a thing...well...I'm not so sure that we would be having this discussion."

"When do you need an answer by?" asked Gir, "or should I say, when do you intend to conclude negotiations?"

"I would like to see the basic idea hammered out within the week," said Koohrt, "though I will understand if more time will be needed to tweak out specific technicalities after that."

"You have a fine point," said Gir, "about the need for new facilities, but it is something that I will need to consult other members of the board before I can formally offer it to your world."

"I understand."

 

[Gir Quee]

"We only have several days here," said the Sayaku man, "if it no deal can be reached by then...well...you may understand what will happen after we leave."

Koorht briefly hesitated, "I see. Well...let us adjourn negotiations for the meantime. It is getting into late evening here by local time. I trust we will all be better off for talks tomorrow morning. After breakfast, we will meet on my yacht and go for cruise to...further discuss some of the issues that have come up tonight."

Gir turned his eyes to the governor's cabinet members, several of whom seemed to be grim. The youngest one plastered a thin smile across his face as he rose up from his seat. He hardly looks reassured. Does the Zayaku Corporation really have so much to hold over them? What do they have? And perhaps just as importantly, if they have something, why not immediately use it right away to acquire the ship? Azira rose from her seat, and Gir promptly followed suit. Yet Governor Koorht did not rise from his chair, nor did the members of the Zayaku Corporation. Gir narrowed his eyes. Some informal after-talks, I take it...He felt a cold hand clasp onto his shoulders.

"Mister Quee," said Ackbar, "please allow me to escort you and Miss Azira to your quarters."

"Yes...thank you, Ackbar."

The quartet exited the conference room, with Ackbar leading the way, the two Labs executives i n the middle, and Munkoz trailing in their wake. Gir's eyes glanced at the various pieces of art on the wall. As interesting as some of them were, he found that he had trouble enjoying or analyzing the pieces. Azira cleared her throat, as if to draw his attention.

"You packed rain gear?"

He blinked, "I brought a wet weather cloak, but that's back on the Squallrider..."

"Munkoz can fetch that for you, if you'd like," offered Ackbar, "Miss Azira is quite right that you may need it tomorrow. It's not uncommon for sudden storms to creep up on outings around the Delian Islands."

But Gir's mind was not on tomorrow's weather.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Certainly."

"What do you know about the Sayaku Corporation? And I mean stuff that you wouldn't find on the local newsnet..."

 

[Gir Quee]

The droid considered his request as they neared their guest quarters. Gir noticed out of the corner of his eye that Munkoz was eying him intently. Perhaps just as importantly, Gir noted that Ackbar appeared to be taking more time than normal to process that request. That's almost oddly human...or should I say organic? The droid's head rotated to face him as they continued forward.

"I might honor your request momentarily," stated the droid quietly.

After turning down an offshooting branch of the main corridor, they rounded a corner to into a pair of frosted Plexisteel doors emblazoned with the moon's trident logo. A S-EP1 Security droid stood on either side of the door, giving Gir the distinct impression that the area was offlimits to them, but Ackbar tapped a button on his external cylindrical comlink which promptly caused the doors to slide open. The group passed through a foyer and into a luxuriously appointed suite that could probably pass as the Chancellor's suite on several hundred mid rim worlds. As soon as the doors closed behind them, Ackbar began to spoke.

"The Sayaku Corporation has a somewhat shady reputation of being associated with some criminal elements. While it does not appear to be a front operation, there seems like there is some financial...intermixing with those groups."

Azira's fur rippled, "Much of that is almost open. When Miss Raaf took over the Hast Shipyards, she had some investigation done into how the corporation was running the yards. I would use the words shoddy and corrupt to describe their business practice, but they would probably use terms like creative accounting and innovative problem-shooters. There's little that they won't do to turn a good profit...and that sort of philosophy seems to be prevalent in all their rank and file."

"How do you know that?" asked Gir.

"I have my sources."

"And so do they," said the droid, "I must caution you both to keep such discussions about them strictly to the inside of your quarters. Elsewhere in the Governor's House is not private enough. I would wager that there is probably one or two their informants on the governor's staff."

 

[Gir Quee]

"...Munkoz and I will be in the adjoining servant suite if you have need of us for any reason," stated Ackbar plainly, "I would tell you to enjoy your night, but I believe that either Governor Koorht or one of his other people will want to have some more private discussions with you before tomorrow morning's meet."

Gir nodded in acknowledgement while Azira sprawled herself across one of the room's sofas. She whipped out a datapad as Gir meandered around the rooms, getting a feel for the general layout and the suite's amenities. His wrist comlink vibrated, causing Gir to roll up his sleeve and tap the accept call button. But instead of a live audio or video call, he found himself reading a wall of text in secure instant messaging chat used by the Lab's inner circle. He quickly skimmed through Azira's report to the other members of the inner circle as he wandered back into the suite's main room. He immediately noticed low-pitched instrumental music softly flowing out of the room's surround sound. The bothan looked up at him.

"I just did a sweep of the room," said the bothan, "didn't find any bugs, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have some background noise...just in case."

Gir nodded as he came close to her, "What would you say the chances are of us building a facility here are?"

Her fur rippled, "The governor's suggestion may or may not be worth it. I think we need to do more research before we make an offer, but that suggestion sounded planned to me."

"Meaning?"

"He knows that we probably didn't intend on building here," said the bothan, "and that we don't have time to do proper research based on his own time constraints. That's something that he can probably control, which suggests to me that he is going to present and steer us towards an offer that he's already drafted."

"Or the Zayaku Corporation's sudden involvement in this forced his hand to act quicker than he wanted."

She sagely nodded, "That is also a possibility. I inquired from a friend of a friend with a query for the best local information broker about the Corporation and their history here. Hopefully we'll get a response sometime tomorrow."

"I take it you already done some research on the Governor?"

Her eyes shimmered, "We would be rather incompetent if I hadn't..."

 

[Gir Quee]

A crescendoing chime emanated out of the room's sound speakers followed by a brief beep of the intercomm. Gir promptly turned to the door as Azira shut down her datapad. The monotone voice of one of their mechanical sentries flowed out of the building's intercom.

"Governor Koorht is here to see you, sir," said the droid, "may I permit him to enter your quarters?"

Gir nodded out of habit, "Yes, please let him in."

The doors slid open to reveal the man. Koorht, now wearing loose-fitting casual clothes, sauntered into the room. Well, this looks unusual...The governor took a seat on chair next to an expansive window which overlooked the churning seas. Azira quickly joined him on a chair next to him while Gir moved a chair from the suite's dining area to join them.

"Ackbar said you might join us later on," started Gir.

The governor briefly paused and looked up at Gir as the Directorate officer settled into his chair.

"Yes...Ackbar is perhaps one of the best servants I have," said the other man, "he's been with me long enough to know my...habits."

"What did you want to discuss?" asked the bothan, "since you're here, I imagine that it isn't something that could be talked about in front of the Sayaku Corporation..."

"No small talk," said Koorht with a wan smile, "but that may be for the best. I would like to accelerate our negotiations for the betterment of my people, my nation."

 

[Gir Quee]

That sounds a little too grand. The blonde man leaned back into the headrest of his chair. Doubtlessly, an investment of a business could improve their citizen's economical class...and improve his chances of re-election...but that's if the venture is successful. Gir eyed a distant, watching it begin to swell to a foamy crest as it surged towards the island.

"If the technology on the ship is still preserved," said Gir, "I can tentatively say that we could build a facility here to manufacture them, with the right conditions."

"Your willingness to consider is all that I can ask for at the moment," said Koorht, rubbing his chin, "but we will make it worth the effort. You see, some of my private researchers have been working on reverse-engineering the ship's technology. Our version of the organoform circuitry is nearly complete, though it is somewhat less elegant the original Zonoma Sekot tech."

Azira's fur rippled, "If you have the means of reproducing the technology, why involve an outside interest like Lucerne Labs?"

"I have my reasons," said the Governor, leaning back, "which I may reveal to you after this upcoming...crisis is over."

"What crisis?"

"Sayaku Corporation has discovered my research into this vessel, as much as I thought I had it covered under wraps. They are threatening to have some of their goons...and less than legal friends create trouble on the islands if I do not hand the ship and the research over."

"Define trouble."

"Looting, riots, piracy, racketeering," said Koorht, "it's hard to say what method they'll chose to try and apply pressure to me. Our security forces are well-trained, but they lack the manpower and latest equipment to fend them off. I would almost consider giving into their offer, but that's like accepting a cancer to grow inside your nation. If they take over the resorts, the resorts will just be another thing they'll try and use to control us."

Azira's fur rippled, "So you're looking for us to provide protection then?"

"To assist in it," clarified the governor, "do we have a deal?"

"Let's consider this," said Gir, "for the ship, I can bring in our corporate security forces to provide extra security for a week. For anything longer than that, and possible investment into Gessbrilbak, we want access to all of your research into the ship so far."

"The ship for two weeks," said the Governor, "I do think that you will want the second half. We already have a facility set up that your company can purchase, complete with culturing of some spliced organisms, to produce versions of the technology that we have developed."

"Deal."

 

[Gir Quee]

The next day...

Jal-paara G-62 Repulsorsail Yacht Plataeu Falls, sailing among the Delian Islands, Gessbrilbak

Gir took a gulp of his drink as he leaned up against the yacht's railing. Azira slinked to stand besides him before she began to sip on fizzy pink drink. The breezed rolled off the waves to whip around his body, tugging at his loosely fitted shirt. It's almost like being back home at Hast. Except that I'm about a dozen meters away from someone who will probably want to kill me if he knows what I've done...if...I suppose it's more of a question of when. Gir was wearing his rarely seen Paragon personal shield generator, but that wouldn't necessarily protect him from all the threats they could potentially throw his way, despite being screened by the governor's men. Gir admired a school of brightly colored fish that swam up to their pontoon.

"Yellow-bellied chums," said Koorht, tossing a piece of bait into the water, "pretty looking enough, but not a sporting fish, nor are they very flavorful."

"I take it that you do some fishing?" said Gir, turning around on the railing, "I imagine the Delian Islands get a lot of fishermen to them."

"Used to," said the green-eyed man, "and we still do from time to time with the tournaments...but Hast has started to draw in the lower-class market for that."

The neimodian and his partner, along with a pair of people who Gir guessed were their assigned servants, walked out of the cabin's doors to join them in the stern of the vessel. Gir looked upwards towards the tips of the repulsorsails, though his eyes were looking for something else. Never can be soon enough, can it? The neimoidian thrust a datapad towards the governor.

"This concludes our offer," said the alien, "I think that you will find it reasonable. Mister Quee, you seem to be enjoying yourself. Do you like it here on Bessbrilbak?"

"It is a pleasant enough moon."

"Yes...very peaceful," said the alien, "let us hope it stays that way."

Koorht looked upwards to the sky, briefly squinting, before looking back down at the datapad. Azira mumbled a few words of apology before circling around the group towards the cabin. But she abruptly halted to quietly stand behind the two Sayaku executives. Gir looked upward as he heard the distinct whine of repulsorlifts. A flight of Typhoon starfighters and a pair of Devastator-class gunships in the Lab's gray base paint and with its fiery star logo descended down towards the yacht before rocketing away towards the main island. The neimoidian eyed one of the gunship's before turning his attention to Gir even as Governor Koorht handed the datapad back to the Sayaku Corporation officer.

 

[Gir Quee]

The neimoidian shifted his eyes back and forth between Governor Koorht and Gir.

"Your ships...Mister Quee...You have already decided on a deal...the both of you...have you not then?"

Gir silently nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yes," said Koorht, crossing his arms, "I expect that after this cruise, I will not being seeing either of you for a while."

The doughy-looking man cocked his head to the side as he watched the ships disappear behind a peak, "That looks like a planned display of intimidation."

"Let's call it an unveiling," countered the governor, "of a new defense partnership between Lucerne Labs and my constituents."

"Hard to believe that you gain much out of this, Mister Quee," said the neimoidian, clasping his spindly fingers, "how did he sweeten this deal for you?"

"I have my reasons."

The neimoidian lifted his right hand to point at Koorht, "One of his favorite phrases. You two must be rubbing off on each other."

"Mister Quee," said the Sayaku man, "you may regret tying your company's fate, all of its valuable resources, into this world...all for the sake of an ancient ship."

"It's admittedly something of a gamble," said Gir, "but so is shipping deathsticks and other drugs to landing pad D4."

The man frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"One of your...associates...has been sold out," said the governor, "and has just been arrested on smuggling charges. The Lucerne Labs ships you just saw were used to help interdict his vessel. I wonder how much he'll talk in exchange for his release."

The Sayaku man frowned, "Such an action goes beyond mere posturing..."

"Consider it an act of war then," said Koorht, "neither you nor your company...your people...are welcome on this world anymore."

 

[Gir Quee]

"This can escalate very quickly into something that is unproductive to all of us," warned Gir, "by...say we say applying pressure Gessbrilbak, Sayaku Corporation will pull in not only the Labs into fighting it, but also the Directorate. We have a lot of connections throughout the galaxy from our line of work...This will be costly at best to your corporation and time-consuming for us. I think that it's in the best interest for everyone to deescalate this situation."

"You wish for peace after such aggressive posturing..."

"You seemed to have little worries about using deterrence as a valid strategy yesterday," said Koorht quickly, "is it really hypocritical to think that we should not play that game as well?"

The neimoidian frowned, but Gir's eyes were more drawn to the shifting feet of the doughly-looking man. Is he about to make a move? The man's face scrunched up assymetrically. Perhaps he's not sure what to do...

"I have a proposition," said Gir, "Governor Koorht, would you be willing to release the men and their seized ship in exchange for an understanding that they should avoid Gessbrilbak in the future? Gentlemen, we could potentially arrange this to make your people feel like they are in your debt. In your business, I imagine that it never hurts to have people who owe you debts, especially from jail time, am I right?"

The neimoidian considered the question for a few moments, "We would be open to this with the understanding that any seized cargos and materials will be returned with them."

Gir turned his eyes to the governor. Not exactly how we planned it...but that might work. The cargo alone on a bulk freighter that size, even if the death sticks and spice are only a fraction of volume, must be close to several million credits. And it's worthless to us...but useful to them. He curled his upper lip inward. We may even be able to advantage of that...if we play our cards right. Koorht briefly met Gir's gaze before turning to the Sayaku Corporation executives.

"I can arrange that," said the governor, "though it might take a bit of time to get the cargo loaded back on from the impound yard."

"Then we have an agreement."

 

[Gir Quee]

Later that afternoon...

Koorht's Subterranean Laboratory, Delian Islands, Gessbrilbak

Deep under the Governor's House, Gir and Koohrt walked around the man's prize, a Sekotan Personal Starship that predated the Gulag plague. It's once lively green hull had faded to blanched whites and grays. It was clearly a dead vessel. Yet Gir could still easily imagined how the ship must have looked hundreds of years ago, back when the organoform circuits had still pulsated with light to make the ship glow. His eyes walked down from the upper wing struts and to the rounded engine pods. Marvelous even now...As fascinated as Gir was with the ship, the governor's mind remained on other things.

"My people managed to get a dozen tracking devices placed in their cargo containers," said the governor, "hopefully, we'll be able to understand a little bit more about their logistical network with that and the spyware your people uploaded into the ship's computers. Just in case they...change their minds."

"Hopefully not," said Gir, moving his eyes to the cockpit windows, "but we will be ready for them if they come. How did you acquire this ship?"

"A long time ago, perhaps even before the Clone Wars, this ship died. A collector bought it and kept it in a stasis field to preserve it. It's changed hands many times over the years now before I managed to acquire it. I've had people looking at parts of it for a while, but the science behind it is complex, to say the least. Some of the systems...err...organisms are long gone, though we have bits and pieces of their remains. I bought one of those Lurian protocol droids, which has helped a bit...but I imagine that your people will be able to get farther than us in deconstructing the ship."

 

[Gir Quee]

"Do you have a working model of the circuitry?"

The other man slowly nodded before leading him past the Sekotan ship to a large workbench surrounded by a variety of tools. Gir recognized some of them quite easily: fusion cutters, power calibrators, and welding equipment. All of those were quite common in starship garages across the galaxy. But there were other tools and instruments that GIr had not seen before. Many of them seemed so delicate and precisely built that Gir guessed that they would be more at home in a research institute or scientist's personal laboratory. Koorht moved to the end of the table to sweep a hand across a straight, almost translucent gray tube. Parts of the outer coating seemed thin in places, an Gir could spot traces of Corellian epoxy in areas where holes had been drilled at times. It looks rough and experimental...but if it works...

"Do you have a datapad or some other electronical device?"

Gir pulled out his portable computer and offered it to Koorht. The man inspected it briefly, looking at its ports, before setting it on the table. He pulled out a cable and connected the computer to the weird-looking tube. The governor pulled out a miniature memory core from a shelf underneath the workbench and set in the table. He adeptly connected it to the rudimentary organoform circuit before turning his eyes back to Gir.

"Go ahead and give it a try."

Gir stepped over to power on his device. It immediately prompted him with a login requesting his user name and password, which he promptly supplied. Once he was in the actual operating system, he found the newly connected device and began to explore the connected memory core. He scrolled down through the list of documents and photographs, quickly realizing that the memory core contained working logs of the governor's research. The man from Hast turned his eyes to look at the tube, noting occasionally pulsing light at thinner sections of the tube.

"Not quite as beautiful as the holos you see of the originals," apologized Koorht, "but as you can see, especially at this little viewport right here, it's quite functional..."