The first stage

[Quintus Varro]

Reading over his notes for a fifth time the Firrerreo's golden skin was lighter in tone then normal, a side effect of what was a rather nervous moment. The work on the hyperspace lane technology was moving along at a good pace, but now they were getting past the initial design phase and they needed a model to test it on. The Fringe was the only working major power of it's size lacking a major hyperspace lane that moved through their territory. While the Sanctuary Pipeline moved traffic in and out of Fringe space via Annaj, once you passed that first line it was an open road.


On the interior though there was no set path for hyperspace travel, no dedicated safe lanes merchants could use to move their goods with security. It was true the wild Fringe of the galaxy was no longer what it once was, but there was still plenty of space for pirates, and slavers and some habits died hard, more so given some of the natives of Fringe space. So his proposal was simple, use the length of the Fringe as the test ground for the hyperspace lane, and cut them the first contract at discount. Of course, that was the proposal, why the engineering department had been saddled with this was beyond him.

So with a couple dozen holoemitters including some of the solid-state emitters he waited in nervous patience, a slight warmth building up under the dark suit. He didn't particularly enjoy wearing this type of clothing, nor had he known what to ask for, or he would have gotten something much cooler, but it was how the game was played.

 

[Lucianus Adair]

Being a councilor provided him with work in which there was little in the way of using a blade, little spilling of blood, little... pleasure. But it was a necessity, the work he did for the sake of the Fringe, for 'his' people. He was no longer filled with the feeling that he was an outsider, that these people were only allies to a limited purpose - no, they were his, this territory was his and that put him in an entirely different position. All for the good, the protection, the prosperity of the Fringe Confederacy.

It was this kind of man that entered the room, for this meeting. Councilor Adair came around, and offered [member="Eamon Tragon"] his hand.

"Mister Tragon," he said deeply, "I hope I have not kept you waiting too long."

 

[Quintus Varro]

Nervous would not began to describe his state of being before [member="Lucianus Adair"] had walked through the door, and as it shut so to did he shut it out from his mind. Taking the hand offered his own golden hued skin warmed as his anxiousness disappeared. "Greetings, Councilor Adair, the wait was negligible, in fact it gave me a moment to prepare my holo displays for you. I imagine you are a busy man so I'll get right to the point. The Fringe Confederacy has been a growing power now for quite some time, and while you've over come a number of obstacles to get to this point, as a nation you've always challenges others haven't. The foremost being that as settlers of the Fringe you've turned a once chaotic cultures of incredible differences and turned them into a united nation for the first time, and made them the a center of growth and culture. The problem is you have not inherited particular things a long civilized area of space would have, and one in particular I'd like to help you with."

Hitting a button on his commlink a half a dozen holodisplays created a full full model of the galaxy that light up systems in colors showing their allegiance to varying governments. Inside of this display snaked a long red lines radiating through the core and even towards the former Hutt Empire pieces of space. The Fringe however was completely absent of all but a single line of connection. "Trade is the life blood of any nation, Councillor, and I'm sure you understand what every one of these lines are. You know without them trade would falter, merchant ships would be unprotected against pirates and simple criminals. The entire galaxy's system of trade runs around these hyperspace lanes and yet your nation lacks even a single internal lane for merchants to know they can safety pass along. Whats more you're single line of access to the entire galaxies trade is literally the only thing connecting your merchants to the galaxy. Your merchants have done well for themselves, but what I'd like to offer is a chance to have a secure interior hyperspace lane, one vital line through just your territory to start with and we at RI will build it and maintain the infrastructure needed for such a thing."

Hitting a second button the display changed to just the Fringe showing a single red line moving through the heart of their territory to met up with the Sanctuary pipeline. "I don't speak of the antiquated simple services of building the basic infrastructure of the hyperspace lanes of yesterday. I'm talking about a new generation of hyperspace lanes, the most secure and safe hyperspace lanes that have ever existed. Patrolled by our own fighter droids, stations built into a secure encrypted holonet network which only your government can access. Communication beacons which can sense when a ships been taken off course or stopped, and one of our wings will immediately be sent out to inspect for piracy or simply damages to the ship. Each beacon will also operate as a hyperspace warning beacon giving your government instant knowledge of any force moving against you from any angle via our system. I'm not asking you to let us build you a lane into open space, not yet at least. What I'm asking for is to give us the chance to aid in the financial security of Fringe space."