The Thin Durasteel Line

[Caulder Dune]

GEONOSIS

Geonosis was free from the likes of the Selectivists. With the misguided oppressors deposed, Geonosis’ foundries could once again open. The ridiculous mismanagement of the former regime had left the planet an economic ruin. Geonosians starved, forbidden to work, because their factories were owned by royalty. Royalty who were forced into exile to save themselves from massacre at the hands of a crazed mob. That era was over. Now a new era of economic prosperity could be ushered in.

Economic prosperity for those who owned the means of production, that is. Geonosian drones and laborers hardly had need for any luxuries. Luxuries like workman’s comp or vacation time… No, they were simple creatures. They were content to do nothing more than labor. It was part of their biology. In any event, Gerion was not here to admire the Geonosian lower castes and their propensity for mindless, unquestioning, backbreaking labor. He was here because things had gone badly on Rothana.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Any attack by a large amount of Yuuzhan-Vong forces was a disaster. It didn’t matter to him that the attackers had inevitably been routed. It didn’t matter that the previously genocidal First Order had come to defend the planet. Whether or not facility sixty-six had weathered the assault wasn’t the point. The point was that it had been attacked and it had exposed weakness in Hegemonic Automaton’s chain of supply.

Rothana was as fine a manufacturing world as any. That had been the original assessment, before Gerion began to factor in the possibility of a Yuuzhan-Vong attack. Despite Hegemonic Automaton’s main factories for the sector being located there, it was not a high priority for Techno Union defense fleets. This meant it was less defended and that Hegemonic Automaton was more vulnerable. Considering this was where the bulk of the Techno Union’s droid armies were being produced, more attacks were not outside the realm of possibility.

Three things would need to be done.

• One: the production of an additional rank-and-file battle droid for a fire support role.
• Two: an increase to the garrison presence at all Hegemonic Automaton factories.
• Three: the relocation of all Techno Union war droid production to Geonosis.

 

[Caulder Dune]

The data collected after the battle at MC-ROT-066 indicated a need for one thing and one thing only: more firepower. The Yuuzhan-Vong were potentially the most threatening enemy Hegemonic Automaton would face, but that didn’t necessarily mean the facility would have fared any better if they encountered a raiding party from any other entity. The TA1s and TA2s performed as expected. The Herglics were exemplary in regards to how many hostiles they neutralized. That wasn’t the problem

Something, quite simply, was missing from the recipe here. The Hegemonic garrison lacked for mobility. While TA1s were constructed to be agile, their battlefield mobility was only slightly better than that of an organic soldier. TA2s were slow and clumsy, as were the Herglics. Hegemonic Automaton had need for a droid that combined speed and mobility with above average defenses, capable of withstanding a large amount of punishment.

The TA6 would be that droid.

When lives were at stake, Gerion cared little about Chief Engineer Oryen’s vacation or where he was. Results were needed yesterday. Fortunately the Fondorian was already getting tired of the brothel he holed himself up in and was receptive to designing the droid requested. Naturally Hegemonic Automaton wasn’t so ludicrous that it could afford to keep this design to itself. The TA6 would hit the markets just as any other droid in the Talos Series.

 

[Caulder Dune]

It was a tall order to fill, but as usual, Hannibal Oryen came through. Access to ArmaTech Combat System’s catalogue of equipment had made this a much more enjoyable job for the Fondorian. It was truly a testament to his company’s connections to be able to incorporate technology from ArmaTech, Browncoat, and Saiba all in one droid. It made for a better, higher quality product.

Versatility and mobility were the name of the game here. So it made sense to make the weapons modular. The heavy rotary blaster could be replaced with a chaingun chambered for Czerka’s infamous variety of specialized slugs. Truly there could be no greater sight than to witness your enemies destroyed in a hail of explosive gunfire? Then again, Gerion found such displays of violence tasteless. Currently, he was more of the opinion that there was no greater sight than [member="Ivy Lasranae"].

But that didn’t require a development thread, now did it?

The secondary weapons were a pair of grenade launchers. Oryen was a fan of modular grenade launchers, Gerion had noticed. Never did they just launch thermal detonators or something similarly plain. There was always the option to include more specialized grenades. Presumably things like Force Breakers or EMP grenades. Considering Hannibal’s background as a bounty hunter, he likely had a certain desire for his equipment to be able to handle anything that came his way.

There was also the matter of the composite beam. A sustained strike would burn straight through the Vong’s primitive crab armor. If Vong weren’t the target or if something with a little more kick was needed, that composite beam could be switched out for a disruptor. There was nothing quite like the fear of disintegration to scare potential burglars and raiders off of a target.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Increasing the size of the droid garrison was not a decision Gerion made likely. When first deciding to fortify factories, the only potential security risks considered were saboteurs, small strike teams, that sort of thing. The possibility that an army might mobilize to try and sack a measly little corporate manufacturing facility had not been probable. Becoming extensively involved with the Techno Union would inevitably have that result. Despite original goals, circumstances forced the Union into an alliance with the One Sith.

This had effectively politicized the Union. This made Hegemonic Automaton property no longer private and independent. Instead it was an extension of a government- a government many considered the successor to the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which had an abysmal record for conduct in war. It was no longer an entity Hegemonic Automaton could be part of. Steps would be taken to leave it. Still, he doubted everyone would get the message. Departing from the Executive Council didn’t exactly mean Hegemonic Automaton intended to stop doing business.

This part of the Outer Rim was too profitable to turn a blind eye to.

Those many states that occupied vast swaths of the galaxy would hardly understand what neutral business practice entailed. Inevitably one of them was going to come knocking, and Hegemonic Automaton would have to be ready to answer in force. Perhaps it was only delaying the inevitable. If that was the case Gerion wanted to make sure their assailants suffered as many casualties as possible.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Geonosians were historic manufacturers of droids. Their factories weren’t just productive, they were fortified. Even the inept Selectivist menace had realized that much, converting a factory into a fortress. It had done them little good, but that was because when Geonosian ingenuity clashed with Rebel Alliance folly, Rebel Alliance folly inevitably one out. There was just a certain amount of oafishness that no measure of good sense could succeed against. Such was life.

It was why the One Sith continued their rampage through the Republic completely unphased.

Configuring factories here on Geonosis would take months. Configuring the battle droid foundries on Rothana to produce civilian models would take a similar amount of time. Gerion left the number crunching to a different department in Hegemonic Automaton. They would figure out how to best facilitate the transition while minimizing losses. There would, of course, be losses. A change this drastic could not take place otherwise. It would be unrealistic to try and completely avoid damage to his coffers. The name of the game was to simply mitigate it.

Security was important to Gerion, so it was important to Hegemonic Automaton. This move was expensive, but so was repairing the damage of an endless stream of Yuuzhan-Vong skirmishes if it came down to that. And peace of mind? Peace of mind was priceless. They could afford the millions of credits. Success tended to give Gerion a little leeway when it came to these decisions, as well as his other projects under a different name.

 

[Caulder Dune]

A few of the Geonosian elites had practically been waiting for the day Hegemonic Automaton rolled into town. How could they pass up a chance to host the foundries of the very droids that had liberated them? Not to mention the first models of a new line of battle droid would be launching from their own factories. Truly this was an honor only a Geonosian industrialist could appreciate. There were still a few Selectivist holdouts squatting on the planet; hidden cells that had defied the return to the status quo. They were largely led by off-worlders, just as the ousted regime had been.

They would delight in adding these droids to their efforts to hunt them down.

Of course, in turning some of these foundries into Hegemonic Automaton production facilities, standards would have to be followed. The nobility Gerion met with were initially skeptical of what this entailed, but were relieved to find it would only be an increase in fortification. Gerion had no desire to change how the Geonosians manufactured their droids. If it wasn’t broken, don’t fix it. This Umbaran and the company he represented merely wanted to avoid as many scenarios as possible where their facilities come under direct assault. And if those scenarios arise, given the attackers a run for their money.

 

[Caulder Dune]

The schematics were… Ambitious, to say the least. Hegemonic Automaton’s blueprints and schematics were often more closely guarded than the royalty of certain planets. Additional rooms and facilities would have to be installed into the Geonosian foundries to facilitate this, as well as accommodate the increased garrison presence. Naturally, a much larger grid of automated defense turrets would be embedded into the factory- far more than are present in the current factories.

Redundant shields were also a necessity. Redundant and strengthened. There was always the chance of an orbital bombardment if the Techno Union happened to lose spatial superiority over Geonosis. Gerion absolutely refused to grant such an easy victory. At the very least it could delay the destruction of the factory long enough to negotiate with whoever was trying to destroy it. That is, if the attackers weren’t Vong. If that was the case, Gerion didn’t want to negotiate anyway.

Internal defenses were a new must as well. Ray shielded checkpoints, facial scanners, and the works. Auto turrets would be installed in the interior in the event any undesirables managed to creep cast the external defenses. More Darkwater Security personnel would be contracted. What all of this amounted to was a great, unimaginable deal of expenditure. Such were the nature of knee-jerk reactions to Yuuzhan-Vong attacks, it seemed.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Of course, even if it was only to be security that was inspected, there would be some naysayers. Geonosians were prideful enough, or at least their leaders were. Security should be left to the Geonosian hives. Their warriors were, by their own description, among the fiercest in the galaxy. Gerion had no doubt that at least a portion of their warrior caste were competent, if nothing else. Were they a match for a Yuuzhan-Vong with a belt filled with thud-bugs and one of those horrible Amphi-staffs? He doubted it, but he didn’t tell them as much.

A compromise would have to be reached. Why not both? It sounded like increased security for comparatively low cost to Gerion. A cohort of Geonosian warriors and a cadre of elites at every major production plant could only mean his factories would be harder to capture. It was maybe vain to assume his factories were worth capturing. It was more the blueprints he was concerned with protecting. Again, vain of him to assume those were worth stealing as well, but one could never be too sure.

If it was vain to safeguard his assets from corporate saboteurs, then a more fitting alias for Gerion would have been Darth Narcissus. It mattered little. Maybe the reason no one had tried to steal anything from him before was because of his emphasis on security. Maybe it was a combination of both. Whatever the case, at the very least Gerion would have peace of mind. Was that too much to ask for?

 

[Caulder Dune]

Only fifteen of these foundries would be built. Their size and scale would ensure their output rivaled that of all the factories on Ord Cestus combined. These droids would be dedicated to sale to the Techno Union and the various planetary governments it constituted. The Techno Union was a large government and they would need an immeasurable amount of droids to police their worlds and procure new ones. Quality battle droids were hard to come by in this galaxy. They needed Hegemonic Automaton just as much as Hegemonic Automaton needed their continued business.

In the event of the Union’s unlikely collapse, the innumerable successor governments would also need droids. Perhaps the Galactic Alliance could also make use of them if they were inclined to negotiate. Maybe even the Covenant of the… No, no, no. There was no way Gerion could even consider the thought with a straight face. Yes, neutrality would be professed. There was nothing neutral about stupid, however. There were no hardline confirmations, naturally. Rumors and rumors of rumors were enough to go off of regardless. Major trade worlds in the ‘Covenant’s” sphere of influence whispered rumors of genocide up and down trade routes. Genocide involving Sithspawn. Details were scarce, but then again, he didn’t need or want any.

They were truly no different than the One Sith. Minus the… Effectiveness, he supposed. Gerion didn’t do direct business with them either. He didn’t want to. Their credits were good, the stain on his name wasn’t acceptable. Even evil has standards, as the saying went.

 

[Caulder Dune]

By the end of the meeting, all parties had been satisfied. One of Hegemonic Automaton’s departments would work out the finer details. Profits would be projected, schedules put into place. For now the nobility would wind down their current productions and prepare for the “great recalibration” slated for the coming months. Geonosians were an orderly species. Unlike some other projects he had engaged in, he didn’t doubt their deadlines would be met. It truly was the more insectoid species that had the greatest success in terms of droids. X’Ting, Verpine, Geonosians, Colicoids… It was very peculiar. Their minds were more detail oriented.

But Hegemonic Automaton’s head designer was a Fondorian, so perhaps Gerion ought to withhold the praise for the natural skill of insectoid species. Otherwise he might undercut his own profit margins, which wasn’t exactly a wise thing to do when about to shoulder the cost of this colossal move. In the long run, Gerion had reason to suspect Rothana gearing itself entirely towards civilian production would see an increase in profits from that world. Civilian models were more popular on the open market.

It made Gerion consider, momentarily, that perhaps it wouldn’t be outside the realm of reason to make forays into the field of consumer electronics and appliances. Nothing fancy, but since they had achieved relative fame as a droid manufacturer, surely Hegemonic Automaton brand toaster ovens could become similarly successful? They’d run the simulations first before committing to anything.