The Brain Trust

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha bit her lip and sat down in the warehouse. It was a strange sort of place outside of her normal work space in Santhe Towers. But then again not all research could be conducted at the corporate headquarters or her Mansion. There was some things that needed more secrecy than even the secure floors, and some things that required cooperation in order to make work. Sure she could have done it all herself, but the point of the tion collective was to work together for greater profits.

More profits was good. Currently she had called together several of her friends from the corporate alliance that made up the Hegemony. There was [member="Gerion Ardik"], [member="Marek Starchaser"], and [member="Jared Ovmar"] who has all been invited to this little development meeting. Food was set out and available to the various VIPs as the lab rats went about with their work. Sasha would have liked mindless puppets that she controlled via mechu-deru to be doing the labor but appearances needed to be maintained.. She was honestly not sure about inviting Marek to the negotiations. His company didn’t do this sort of military development but then again he still had need to defend his assets. She eagerly awaited their presence at the facility.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Sasha Santhe"] | [member="Jared Ovmar"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"]

Lacking both the pomp and circumstance of other members of the Hegemony, Gerion Ardik arrived. He was garbed in his usually finery and accompanied by a TA4 Droid that was programmed for assistant duties in addition to his usual combat programming. Despite that particular TA4's uniqueness, Gerion did not give it a name. It was, after all, just a droid. Naming droids was a lot like naming appliances. No one named their toasters or garbage disposals, so why would he name a droid? Sheer stupidity.

It seemed he was the first to arrive, so he meandered over to where Santhe was waiting. The whole warehouse was a buzz of activity, lab rats darting about and so forth. What was being worked on wasn't in the memo, but it usually never was. Memos tended to be intercepted, so it was often best to leave the more finicky details to the in-person meetings.

"Fancied a change from your usual workplace, I see." He commented.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

[member="Gerion Ardik"] was as pleasant as he always was. Despite any friction they may have had in the past the two always had a good working relationship. "Yes well, you can't always conduct business in a swanky suit above a club, or a well furnished office, or," her eyebrow quirked a little and she smiled, "the ruins of an old temple." She reminded him of the time they had tracked down the NOVA project together. "Stil it is good to see you my old friend." Were they friends? Tyrin was probably as close as Sasha got to one. Together they had fought at Roche. Well maybe not together but they were both there. Well maybe Sasha was only there testing weapons and hardly did any real fighting besides shooting at some fighters that aproached too closely to her ship. Either way the pair worked well enough together. "I think you'll enjoy what I have cooked up." A smile apeared on her face. "I've invited [member="Jared Ovmar"], and [member="Marek Starchaser"] here as well. When they both arrive I'll fill you in."

 

[Corey's OOC]

Right, work. He had to go to work. Again. Probably smart, because if Marek kept going to his job, he'd end up with some liver damage, or something. Maybe he should learn to detoxify poisons in his body using the Force, just to fight against the amount of drinking he does to make his casino social. He was called by none other than [member="Sasha Santhe"] to some warehouse. Which meant he was driving and sober. It was a nice feeling. He did not have a problem.

Did not.

He just enjoyed a good time more often than not. And with Marek having sold Haor Chall back into the Santhe Collective of companies, he felt a bit odd being invited, but he never did mind being there to see what he could do to assist the Hegemony.

Walking in and heading straight for the snacks, he gave a nod to [member="Gerion Ardik"] and of course, Sasha managed a smile out of him. Dumbass.

“So, what's the deal here?”

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha diverted her attention from [member="Gerion Ardik"] to [member="Marek Starchaser"]. "Marek," she said with a nod and a sweet little smile. She was ready to begin this little meeting. If [member="Darth Carach"] wanted to play forgetful, or else be fashionable late that was his prerogative. "I've called you here today because we have work to do. Munitions, defense, security, and profit. All of these things are to be discussed. As you’re well aware Santhe has a major interest in the defense industry and there is a number of new systems out there. We need to be prepared if we’re to protect our assets from the various parties of the galaxy. To that end I’ve assembled the brain trust here. Now I understand that not all of you are tech specialists.” She glared at Tyrin. He knew Mechu-deru but he was a novice compared to her, his dabbling not amounting to much. “But we’ve all had experience in development. I’d like for us to develop a plan of action, spitball ideas and set development teams to work. Safety, prosperity, and the Tion credit chit. Those are the bywords of this meeting gentleman.”

 

[Corey's OOC]

Munitions, defense and profits. The last one Marek understood. Sure, he had the smaller engineering firm that got folded into [member="Sasha Santhe"]'s corporation, but it never meant he understood it. He had defaulted to the Xi Char for nearly everything. The main reason he was here because, well, Sasha was hot, and profits. Clearly the others in this brain trust knew more than he did, but it didn't quite set Marek off.

And the bywords. Especially credits. And Tion.

Heil.

“So, what have you got in mind? Whats on the backburner then?”

Sure, he'd ask.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Gerion Ardik"] | [member="Sasha Santhe"]

It was a bygone shout-out to the days of yore, really it was one of the few things that Irani had going for him and when that was the case you had to commit yourself fully to the experience. Santhe should understand that, perhaps somewhere deep inside that hell-infested mockery that she called a soul she did understand it, but simply didn’t want to acknowledge it for the usual posterial reasons.

Anyway, Irani leaned against the wall of the room - just recently entered, but he didn’t find it necessary to say anything just yet. Instead he simply listened to what Santhe had to say and what the others would say in kind, the project seemed interesting enough and would probably have his support at the end of this.

But it was always helpful to first have all the chips at hand, before making a bet.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Sasha Santhe"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Darell Irani"]

Gerion's jaw tightened when she pointedly mentioned he was not a tech specialist. Damnable little trollop. He was learning, but he was making progress. And one of these days he'd show her who the Mechu Deru Technomaster was. Well, it would probably still be her, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he had been called here to discuss business and defense, not be chided for his choice of skillset to pursue. So he bit back a retort in order to keep the peace and calmly clasped his hands behind his back.

"Hegemonic Automaton's factories are already well-secured, as are our distribution centers and headquarters." Gerion replied, not too enthusiastically. "Though, of course, I can provide you all with the droid garrisons necessary to keep your own facilities secure. At reduced prices, even."

 

[Sasha Santhe]

A darkness seemingly covered Sasha’s face. “Those aren’t the types of defenses I’m talking about.” [member="Gerion Ardik"], [member="Marek Starchaser"], and [member="Darell Irani"] were all present now. “I’m not talking about the threat to our facilities, but to the very cluster. To our way of life. The Jedi, the One Sith, and the galaxy at large are all developing new systems. Stealth, detection, and weapons. We cannot afford to lag behind.” Sasha looked down at a small collection of data pads. “I have several concepts in mind, concepts which we can all work on here.”

Sasha passed out the datapads. Aerosol counter measure systems, droid controlled smart missiles, stealth technologies, detection technologies, a plethora of wunderwaffe. “Tion and can’t afford to lose it’s edge. That is why we are here now. I leave it up to you, what do you want to tackle first, and do you have any idea’s in mind?”

 

[Corey's OOC]

Yeah, Marek wasn't really interested in whatever kind of complex past the people before him had. Really, they were all in his personal inner circle, y'know, the whole live for Tion type group, and well, people he knew he could trust to help take out the garbage. Or pull weeds. Whichever.

Mostly pulling weeds.

And as he noticed [member="Darell Irani"], Marek nodded, grabbing a second drink for his Broheim (honorary title, obviously) and made his way over to the door. Offering the drink. Seemed that while [member="Sasha Santhe"] and [member="Gerion Ardik"] were having their little measuring contest, the others were content to watch. “So, do you find it impossibly hard to listen to her talk when shes like physically here?” Marek nodded in Sasha's general direction.

Especially when she smiled at him.

At least there was catering.

And right, security. Marek knew he preferred having the units from Hegemonic Automaton guarding his assets when Deepwater wasn't around. Having a two ton man-shark was a pretty solid security plan. Now he was understanding what Sasha was at. Marek wasn't so much a part of the religious fanatic groups, aside from dealing with his SpyNet and Obsidian peers. They were pretty awesome though. He figured for a second he'd listen.

“She goes get spirited.” He muttered over at Irani.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Sasha Santhe"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Darell Irani"]

While Marek and Darell prattled on in the corner about all the boarding ramps they had charged up (probably), Gerion would actually engage in work. He took the datapad in hand, skimming through its contents. Hegemonic Automaton could hardly contribute very much in most forms of stealth and detection technologies, but there was certainly something they could do for it. More particularly, Gerion was interested in those so-called droid controlled missiles.

"Droid missiles?" He echoed. "As in controlled from a droid control computer or with an individual droid brain planted within each missile?"

Doubtless the control computer would be cheaper, but he had no idea what Sasha was thinking. If she wanted individual droid brains in each missile, it would cost more money, but that was more money in his pocket. Gerion hardly lost any sleep over the massacring of Kaleesh that took place under his reign as Emperor. He wasn't above taking undue money from friends.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

“There is an ever increasing amount of electronic warfare happening in space.” Sasha explained. “There are several ways to overcome this. One way is simple wire guided missiles. I envision a simple missile system controlled from a droid brain inside its chosen vessel. This missile system would be able to ignore jamming and accept guidance from both a droid or a human pilot. Limited range and maneuverability would be a problem here.” Sasha looked over the various schematics she had drawn up. “An easy solution for that would be to place relatively simple and compact droid brains into the missiles themselves. In addition to standard guidance systems the missile would also use visual cues to seek and destroy vessels. Any stealth vessel falling short of cloak would be still be picked up visually by the visual scanner giving the droid brain something to target.” Looking up from the plans to [member="Gerion Ardik"] she asked, “Can you whip up a suitable brain in time?”

[member="Gerion Ardik"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Darell Irani"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Marek Starchaser"] [member="Sasha Santhe"] [member="Gerion Ardik"]

‘Very much so.’ Irani shared with his friend, it was not a secret that Santhe was an attractive woman and neither was it a secret that there was a betting pool going on. Ardik would never admit it, but even he had signed up on it, he seemed to think that his platinum hair gave him a fair shot at the entire deal.

Looking over to the hair Irani had to admit it was pretty shiny, perhaps Gerion would be the one to finally win the golden pool and leave all of them in the dust.

He was only half listening to the discussion at this point, really this wasn’t his jam, at least not right this moment when he was distracted by other things. So instead he simply took a sip from the glass Starchaser gave him and followed his friend into the obscure realm of simply being here for moral support.

If they decided they needed him for something they would probably shout his name.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Was there a lag in his speech? Nah, he didn't think so. Still, Marek grinned when [member="Darell Irani"] spoke. That [member="Sasha Santhe"] was something else. He was hoping that he'd win the pool, but the more he thought about it, the more his mind wandered in the same direction as his business-bro. He was pretty sure Sasha had him here as eye candy, but then... what else was [member="Gerion Ardik"] doing?

Look at dat mane, mayng.

That was some nice hair. Maybe Marek should grow his out.... Nah....

Maybe?

…

But then again, he had Haor Chall under his beck and call, so droid fighters.

If Hegemonic Automaton made him a brain...

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Sasha Santhe"] | [member="Marek Starchaser"] | [member="Darell Irani"]

Gerion nodded, blissfully unaware of Starchaser and Ovmar's ludicrous thoughts. "Most likely. I'll need to send schematics to the engineers beforehand alongside a prototype. Optimization tends to work better when given enough time and materials to run tests. It can be done in a week, or several if you'd like it to be perfect."

Hegemonic Automaton was not in the business of selling garbage. That was a role reserved solely for the enterprises of Circe Savan. But if Sasha wanted a subpar product in the interest of saving time... Well, it's her money, and who was he to refuse her?

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha thought about everything for a moment. “[member="Darell Irani"], your company can create a simple missile housing unit. I have the specs which will work in all of the Santhe designed craft. Get your company to produce a few prototypes. I have the explosive components ready to go. I have warheads and explosives on hand.” Sasha turned and winked at [member="Marek Starchaser"]. “I have a fighter design, get Hoar Chall production team on it. I’m all tied up with the Hypori redevelopment project, so I leave this to you. This thing is designed for deploying missiles enmasse.”

Taking a deep breath she turned her attention again, “[member="Gerion Ardik"]… two weeks. That should be all you need. You are the best droid company around aren’t you?” She sent out the datapads distributing them where needed. “This project is classified, compartmentalized. Along with anything else this group may make. Technology gentleman, it wins more than wars…”

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

"I make no claim to it. Other people do that for me." Gerion remarked. "Two weeks it is."

No one had to tell Gerion that it was technology that won more than wars. Technology, droid technology, had won him substantial profits, for instance. Provided he dispatched his orders by the end of the day, Hegemonic Automaton would have exactly what Sasha requested and then some. Hopefully Darell could keep up. He was a notoriously lazy man. Though since a young woman was involved in some cosmic way, Darell could probably find the time and energy to do so.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Marek looked over at [member="Sasha Santhe"]. Right, he helped his father pull the Xi Char out of a hard spot, and was there during that communist raid on the droid factory. And he was making sure they specialized, droid starfighters for everyone. Even if he was focused more on Bright Star as of late. “You… me? Yeah, sure. One droid missile boat coming up.” Shouldn’t be so hard. Missiles were useful for nearly every team in the galaxy, defenders, offenders, capitalists… Maybe the commies in the Rebel Alliance would order a crate of missiles and disassemble them to distribute it amongst their whole nation.

Probably.