Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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The Working Group - Second Session

Jorga the Hutt

When life gives you Mandos, make Mando'ade
[member="Calina Djo"] [member="Daro Tarsi"] [member="Triam Akovin"] [member="Dash Kessler"] [member="Darth Metus"]

NEW HABAT UNIVERSITY
VARUNDA IX

The lab was cleaner and shinier than some of the researchers might like. The last working group had taken place in a converted restaurant on Taris, very low-profile. This time around, Connory had managed to secure some research funding and lab space behind the most ironclad nondisclosure agreements he'd ever seen. The last group's limited but real success had been enough to push the nameless donors over the top.

Whether the new group used these nice facilities was entirely up to them. Working remotely could be a real boon, and personal privacy was always in vogue. For his part, Connory tended to work alone, apart from inputting his research into the robust information-sharing system that kept the group members connected.

Once each member began contributing in a serious way, that member would receive the previous group's research findings. Connory had no patience for freeloaders. More importantly, coming at the problem fresh and without preconception could bring all kinds of benefits.

OOC/ Success at our ysalamiri-countering venture means finding firm, exploitable, obscure canon - or getting something stamped by Factory or Codex.
 
Suffice to say, Triam had been tapped for a rather peculiar research project, a task she did not often collaborate with others on.

Nonetheless, her expertise was requested, and she was willing to provide it to some degree. Neutralizing the bizarre "Ysalamiri" or eliminating the advantages of a Mandalorian Empire were not on her checklist in the slightest, but if her contribution to research did that and contributed to a counter of all force effects, well then it would be a win for everyone.

As Triam had heard that these immobile lizard-creatures relied on the force itself, to produce their unique effect of... well, suppressing the force, Triam decided to put her research into specifically designed prison mechanisms utilized to deal with the force attuned. Additionally, she looked over various research fields of electro-magnetism in relation to biology. Unique effects or not, these creatures were biological in nature, and if disabled, their usefulness would be moot. That seemed to be the simplest solution to her, although despite this, Triam had found an overlap between her chosen research directions:

Universal Energy Cages were a peculiar device she did not inherently understand, but she could well enough build. Or rather, she understood it, but did not understand why it worked. These cages were essentially giant superconductors (something she was very familiar with, given her choice of armor) that looped energy into a feedback system. Apparently, they were known to not only contain force abilities of all kinds, but reflect them back twice as strong.

This was rather a unique scenario she hadn't heard of before, in that the force could be so easily counteracted with a simple superconductor system and a positive feedback loop. How this "Energy Cage" was able to reflect even the energies inherent with the force, was a mystery to her, though she had remembered that the force was once described to her as an "energy field generator by all livings things". Though she wasn't familiar with them, she wondered briefly then if Yuzhaan Vong were considered to be "alive", or if they were merely some kind of advanced virus, which skirted the line between alive and inanimate. Not to say the aliens were not conscious, but that their complicated status may be too complicated to comprehend when in reference to anything that was supposedly as "universally binding" as the force.

Diverting back into her research on this unique prison set up, she began to wonder how a Ysalamiri inside one of these types of superconducted energy feedback loops would react. If the prison was fashioned for their size, so that the ordinary range of their nullifying influence would extend beyond their prison. In such a set up, she hypothesized that due to the nature of their ability being derived of the force, the cage would reflect their passive ability back in on itself, doubly strong. Therefore, a passing force user who's abilities would normally be suppressed within such a close distance of the creature, would find their abilities unaffected by the caged creature.

Though she would never test it herself, she would send this transmission on her thoughts on the nature of the Ysalamiri and Universal Energy Cages:

To whom it may concern,

Based upon information that I have received, I am led to believe that the unique effect of these reptilian creatures is based upon the force itself. Whether this ability is active or passive is no material to me, but on my own research I may have found a lead into the practical deflection of not only the "Ysalamiri effect", but upon all force abilities of any nature... or at least the ones which cause an effect on the outside world in a manner described as "powers" or abilities, practitioners of the force are known to use.

Though I am unlikely to conduct the experiment myself, I would suggest conducting an experiment utilizing a superconductive wall with an energy feedback system, such as the ones used to construct Universal Energy cages. If my hypothesis is correct and the Universal Energy Cages are as effective as I am lead to believe, the effect of the Ysalamiri "Bubble" should reflect off the wall twice as strong, and have no influence beyond it.

An adept force sensitive on the other side of this wall should be able to verify whether the Ysalamiri influence effects them beyond this superconductive energy feedback barrier.

Though not useful in the practical sense of combat, it could lead to further developments based upon the results of this research...

Signed,
Triam Akovin

[member="Connory"]
 
[SIZE=9pt]LOCATION: S.S. Gossamer on route to the Firefist Galaxy.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]OBJECTIVE:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Ysalamiri Countermeasure[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]PERSONAL LOG:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] 251.572A - The ABCs of Fear.

Someone’s looking to hobble some Ysalamir, huh? No idea who this [member="Connory"] guy is, but I can’t say I’m too surprised that people are looking into this market. For a lizard from the veritable sticks of the galaxy, and I’m talking like, backwater, bes’bev playing, brother marrying Mando sticks here, they’re surprisingly prevalent out in wider galaxy. [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]I guess that goes to show how much people value messing with their local chapters of the Lightstick brigade, huh? If it wasn’t for the potential credits on the line, I’d almost say that alone would’ve been enough to earn them a pass. But again, credits have a way of making a man reconsider such things. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]That said, I honestly can’t say I know a lot about the fethers first hand. Closest I came to one was a stuffed one a loanshark on Terminus used as a desk ornament. Had this whacked out notion that the thing would somehow still work just as well as a taxidermy nightmare as it had in life. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Anyway, I’ve had some time on my hands to do some further research on them while the Goss is quiet at the moment. Enough for me to brush up on the old Holopedia and Encyclopaedia Coruscantia, even dig through the archives of our fair and wonderful science and medical team. Gotta admit, I was expecting a little more. I mean, you’d think for a species this problematic would have more information around it, but I guess we have the mandos to thank for that. Not exactly ones for broadening the horizons of the scientific community. Not unless you count inventing new and interesting ways to mount beskar on their codpieces as science.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]I’ve put in a request for more data the next time Goss nears a comm relay with some actual signal strength to handle a sizeable packet stream. Hopefully that’ll give me more to go on. In the meantime, the broad strokes of what I have been able to piece together is that this little creature emits a kind of anti-force bubble as a direct response to detecting what they perceive to be a predator. On planet muckitymuck, that’s predator is a vornskr. A nasty overgrown canine that apparently enjoys long moonlight walks int the forest, soft rodian jizz and munching down on some tasty, home grown, force sensitive prey.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The two key words there being force sensitive, you feel me?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]That’s right. From what I can understand, it turns out this the little cheeky fether is actually force sensitive. It uses the force to cancel out the force. How karking awesome is that? What’s more, they seem to be able to sync up with their fellow ysalamiri and expand the anti-force bubble they generate over a wider area, somehow managing not to negate each other in the processMan, the more I found out about this creature, the more I love it, I’m telling you. That is some respectable, Corellian style natural evolution right there. And one that also provides me with an interesting idea.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]I mean, the way I see it, if these creatures can sync with each other, I think it stands to reason that you should be able to do the opposite. Screw with them enough that they become unsynced, begin to cancel each other out. But the real question is, how? Best guess, without one to play with hands on, I'm gonna go with straight up fear. If you've ever felt it, truly felt it, you'd know thre ain't nothing like ever loving fear to throw a wrench in the works. Mentally, biologically or spiritually.

And if it's fear we're talking about, my gut instinct tells me I should fall back on the basics and take a leaf out of Terminus' finest boys in blue's play book. I'm taking the deployment of a device that centres around the wide spectrum ABCs of sensory disorientation. Namely, Aural, biological and chemical. With that sorta trifecta in play, I’m hoping that we can use these to ramp that fear response up even further, maybe trigger some sort of panic attack that’ll desynchronise the harmony they got going on. Maybe even scare a few of them to death if we’re lucky. Definitely seems to be how it plays out back home.
[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]With that in mind, my current working proposal is as follows:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]AURAL: This one was a no brainer for me. I’ve been working on a ultrasonic disruptor design for Tricks of the Trade in my spare time, so I'm hoping with a few alterations I might be able to apply it here. It’s a little rough around the edges, and perhaps a little too broad to just target ysalamiri specifically at the moment, but I’m hoping with the information I’ve requested I should be able to narrow it down for the start of a prototype. I'll have to contact [member="Daro Tarsi"] back home in order to test and fine tune it. I hate owing him a favor, but he does solid work for a hack.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]BIOLOGICAL: Uh, honestly, this one I’m drawing a blank with at the moment. I don’t know enough about their physiology to that’ll really irritate the crap out of a Ysalamir on a biological level. I’ll read up on the information I’ve requested and see if I can work something out from there. Maybe consult some of the docs onboard the Goss to see if they can come up with something. Biology was never my forte. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]CHEMICAL:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Now this one, on the other hand, this one I have a few ideas about. Well, idea, singular, but it should be fairly effective. I mean, if we’re gonna go for a chemically induced fear response, I think it’s fairly obvious that we start with the canine that triggers it in the first place. Way I see it, flooding the area with an [/SIZE]intense[SIZE=9pt], concentrated dose of synthetic vorknskr scent should do wonders for those panic levels.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Failing that, probably a decent niche in the Mandalorian cologne market. They obviously need all the hope they can get if they’re to widen that gene pool any time soon.

I'll see if I can get some scans put in with that datapacket.
[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Obviously, I’m gonna wait for the information to rework this accordingly, but in the mean time I’ll start working on that disruptor prototype.

I’ll update this log as and when I have more.
[/SIZE]

Excepts drawn from the log of Dashiel Kessler,
Engineer onboard the S.S. Gossamer.
 
Click click clack
Click click clack


A lone figure made it's way to the facility, it's cane marking a quiet staccato alongside it's shoes. It wore a black cloak and hat over dark clothing. Gloves covered it's hands and a beaked mask the color of sun-bleached bone hid it's face while the mirrored lenses gave the creature the appearance of a carrion-bird.

It came before the door to the lab and paused a moment, waiting for a response from the commlink mounted to the door. It had heard the call, quiet as it had been, and was intrigued by the prospects. Normally, it wouldn't have bothered with such a venture, his own research being directed towards more... Unorthodox studies if the required aid's reverse, but it never hurt to branch out from time to time. After all, at the very least, it helped to know what the Joneses were up to on the rare occasion.

After a moment, a voice came over the intercom requesting identification. The carrion creature paused a moment, hands folded politely upon the cane in its grip.

"... Doctor Etorre Agnusdei."

[member="Connory"]
 

Jorga the Hutt

When life gives you Mandos, make Mando'ade
Connory took a break from his own projects to review the research that the working group's newest members had come up with.

[member="Triam Akovin"] had a unique and fascinating hypothesis, and a very easy one to test. An Umak Leth Universal Energy Cage was rare and expensive, but not as much so as it had once been. He put in a procurement order through the working group's funding coordinator. Ideally, they'd get a few cages and plop a few ysalamiri inside and see what happened. A ysalamiri's null field was, after all, a Force effect, a creature exerting its will on and through the Force: they'd established that much conclusively. Off the top of his head, Connory couldn't see any reason why a UEC shouldn't work just fine. Connory released the previous working group's data to Triam -- all of it.

[member="Dash Kessler"] had sent remote data from the Gossamer expedition. As Connory sat on the board of the Foundation Trust, and the Trust had funded the expedition, a bio was easy enough to obtain. Kessler had a reputation as an outlaw tech who knew his bantha fodder forwards and backwards. His approach to the ysalamiri issue -- the 'Y-Problem,' the working group's core goal -- looked systematic, scientific, and sensible. Connory released the previous working group's data to Kessler via an encrypted link that bounced the package all the way to Firefist.

The lab space had an airlock because of reasons, and a small admin desk lay just outside. Connory glanced at the exterior camera feed, set aside his terminal, put on his helmet, went through the airlock and the admin/waiting room, and answered the door.

"Doctor Agnusdei, I'm Doctor Connory. What can I help you with?"
 

Jorga the Hutt

When life gives you Mandos, make Mando'ade
In the main lab area, Connory had covered a small whiteboard with scribbles:

Goal iterations by feasibility
  • Let FS sentients use F externally in Ybub - unlikely - grail
  • Let FS sentients use F internally in Ybub - possible
  • Let FS sentients get F clairvoy/sense in Ybub - possible
  • Let FS non-sent use/feel F as above in Ybub - possible
  • Allow oper of F-type object e.g. wpn in Ybub - possible (bluestone angle?)
  • Disrupt Ybub stacking in open air - probable (flashbang/sonic angle?) but low-hanging fruit (nobody carries Y in open air anymore)
  • Disrupt Ybub stacking if Y in sealed/protect container - possible
  • Incapacitate Y in container - possible (Cov did it - see YND tech)
  • Barrier to Ybub - achieved (bunker w/ VS) - Akovin UEC approach - more options?
 
Saga liked problems and puzzles. Or, more specifically, she liked proving she was smarter than whoever had come up with them. So when the mysterious Connory contacted her about a think tank of diverse specialists working to combat the effects of Ysalamiri, she was in fact interested. Even if an offer of credits hadn't come attached. To her mind, the implication was that if she could solve the problem, this proved she was smarter than everyone else involved, and if she was one of the people selected, then he was obviously picking the best of the best. As such, even though it was outside of her usual scope of practice she agreed.

She knew very little about Ysalamir, and there wasn't a lot of information available, which was vexing to say the least. The main pertinent piece of information seemed to be that the beasts were in fact using the force themselves to neutralize the force. But if that was the pertinent piece of information, then it would be what everyone else was working off of as well. One other fact stood out to the Anefilt.

It was very difficult to remove a ysalamir from its tree without killing it.

Honestly if plucking the stupid lizards out of their trees killed the majority of them, they were clearly not a particularly hardy race. And she was quite certain being dead would stop them from mucking about with the force. So the question became how did one kill Ysalamir? The usual ways that killed most things would work, but she doubted anyone would be overly impressed if she came back with 'bomb them', and it was admittedly a bit of a crass solution.

Better to find something Ysalamir specific. Assume that you wanted to target only the Ysalamir on a civilian or friendly occupied area. Her initial instinct was to make a droid to specifically target and assassinate them. In a combat setting though, a droid would be quite obvious and relatively easy to take down, particularly if built in such a way that is could be quickly mass produced. So accept that droids were not the answer, at least to this part of the question.

She glared as she thought about this, mildly outraged that such a stupid lizard could prove so bothersome. What else killed lizards? A quirk of her lips upwards, perhaps in her derision she might have found enlightenment.

Ysalamiri. Scourge of force users. Unique in all the galaxy. But barely understood. A mystery. But also just a lizard. So what killed lizards? Fingers flew as she researched, lizards were definitely not her area of expertise, but they were prevalent on hundreds of worlds and there was mountains of research on them, all readily available.

Apparently Herpes was an issue for many reptiles but it was rarely deadly and was in any case in poor taste. How did you win that war, oh we gave all our enemies herpes. Yech. Poxes were fairly common but mostly just caused skin lesions and were again, not particularly deadly. Possibility after possibility was ruled out before she settled on Adenoviruses and in particular Agamid AdV1. Adenoviruses had quite a high mortality rate, with almost all animals who came down with them dying of either liver or intestinal lesions or neurological diseases. Which was a bonus, as even should an animal survive or take its time in dying, neurological damage could well interfere with its ability to utilize the force. And the Agamid AdV1 virus in particular was exceptionally transmissible and hardy even when outside a host.

This was, she felt, a good enough start to share some of her work, even if there was a bit of temptation to keep it all to herself until she had a complete and developed answer.

Rather than focus on negating the ability, why not just destroy the source? Kill off the Ysalamiri. Consider a targeted virus. The adenovirus in particular in lizards tends to be deadly, exceptionally contagious and has no known cure. Agamid AdV1 would be my suggestion for a starting point. Would need to be bio-engineered to increase the speed at which it works and possibly targeted more securely at Ysalamir. As stands, local reptiles and reptilian sentients might be at risk. Aside from this, very low risk of civilian casualties. Will consider best way to spread. Most settled planets have weather controls, could propagate the virus once designed via rain. Relatively long life on the ground even outside of a host.
-Saga
@Connory
 
Munching happily on a roast nuna sandwich, Triam noticed she began to see data flood her ships local network, a stream of interesting data of varying usefulness from the previous working group. The data ranged from interesting (a Neti Jedi Master confirming her intelligence that the "Y-effect" was entirely force based, and additionally hypothesizing some kind of mental link between nearby Ysalamiri), to less interesting but potently amusing in the 112 test results of "Flashbang v. Ysalamiri" (They really exhausted all possible manners in which to flashbang a lizard? These people are hilarious psychopaths!). It was even funnier when she found the "Part 2" series among those files.

At that point it was clear to her, they just wanted to watch the things squirm for amusement purposes.

It seemed to her the groups have all preferred the biological approach to the problem, from flashbangs, "stoning" them with ixetal cilona, analyzing their neurological activity for patterns, to throwing the "ABC's" at them with an Audio-Biological-Chemical Scrambler in the hopes of distressing them enough to either kill through fear or having the fear in some way effect their ability. Triam thought this approach was rather too direct and impracticable, and probably solved more easily with a railgun.

Sure, you could "fight the source" of the issue all day long with physical threats, but that wasn't actually the issue intended to be solved. From what Triam understood, utilizing these creatures effectively meant armor, particularly if the target is Mandalorian, that becomes a problem very quickly in a combat situation. You can't kill "the source" without first being able to kill the individual... which would then make the issue of the Ysalamiri moot to begin with.

Now, [member="Saga Runfridh"] was on to something with not just eliminating a source of Ysalamiri influence, but THE source of all Ysalamiri influence. Destroy the supply, and eventually the issue of how to beat a Ysalamiri null field goes away. No Ysalamiri, no force nullification fields to contend with. Of course, it was a brutal and all too very simple solution, and Triam hated it. Not only was it stupidly straight forward, it was technical genocide, and she wouldn't abide by it. Sure, the Ysalamiri might only be a dumb animal which had useful properties, and wasn't sentient by a long shot, but she didn't see it as justification for the eradication of the species.

Too many species found their end by prejudiced eradication, she wasn't about to facilitate that on any level. Which meant she had a more solid investment into the project to find a better solution, before some half-witted harebrained virologist decided the only way to solve a problem was to bomb it with viral agents.

Triam got to work constructing her Superconductive Energy Feedback Barrier Prototype, and would soon send the schematics to the Work Group. If they already had one on hand they could test it sooner, but she was interested in the barrier type regardless for her own purposes. At the same time, she also began to study that possible neural link the Ysalamiri appeared to have according to the Neti Jedi, who explained the idea reasonably. There were at least a few interesting technologies that scrambled neurological processes at range, from droid neural pacifiers to neural scramblers it was patently possible to interfere with mental processes at a distance, which could range from stunning an individual to causing them a loss of consciousness.

If one could pinpoint the exactly neurological pattern associated with the Ysalamiri's merging null fields and sensing the presence of force adept individuals, hypothetically one could fashion a neural interference device that could remotely disrupt a Ysalamiri's ability to merge with other Ysalamiri, or even more impressively, cause their innate ability to fail to notice an individual entering its field of influence. It was a stretch and required further research, but it would in essence grant an individual the ability to not only influence the minds of Ysalamiri remotely, but the minds of any biological creature with enough study.

Triam was getting another step closer to perfectly replicating and competing against the abilities of the Jedi and Sith through the use of technology. She had already all but perfectly mastered the art of telekinetic use and combat through technology (albeit at the expense of massive energy consumption), and now she was for the first time venturing into the unknown territory of mental attack.

Utilizing the Neti's notes, Traim began to form yet another hypotheses which could lead to further research.

To [member="Connory"],

Thank you for the information, it was enlightening in at least one significant manner, particularly the notes made by [member="Orn Pharr"].

Though before I continue revealing my hypotheses in this regard, I should have it known that I am personally appalled by the thoughtless suggestion of committing to the genocidal extinction of a species which poses no danger other than that their uniqueness is exploited by conquerors. Such suggestions should not be at the forefront of the mind when there are far more intelligent, and creative measures to go about it. Bombing a helpless ecosystem with a viral disease transmissible to so many other species is to be considered a ludicrous potential war crime, I will not allow it to occur.

With that digression out of the way, in regards to [member="Saga Runfridh"] sordid suggestion, I will move on with my research.

It is my belief the Jedi Master may be on to something with this whole "mental connection" with other Ysalamiri, though I disagree on the importance surrounding semantics of how this might be achieved by them. All that is important, is that according to your own research there is a definitive neurological response from the Ysalamiri whenever a being enters their field of influence, as well as a response from the being entering.

This means that while the ability of the Ysalamiri may be an involuntary one, it is not one with which they cannot sense the presence of other beings (particularly force sensitive ones), this should inform us that despite their force nullification field they at least are capable of receiving remote sensory input (likely through the force) despite their own negation field. Perhaps the negation field itself is purely a mental one? Neurologically removing the communication link between the user and the force? That would likely be a stretch, as users utilizing their abilities outside of the bubble can still conjure their powers towards the bubble, but stops short universally. It is less likely to be a purely mental connection, but as discussed, the neurological activity is an indicator that perhaps a Ysalamiri's involuntary abilities can be fooled.

Say we utilize a Neurological Pacifier or Scrambler, but modify them to target, suppress, or overwhelm the Ysalamiri's response to the presence of beings inside of their field of influence? I cannot say nor predict the effects this may have, but such devices, if fine-tuned correctly could possibly simulate such force abilities that relate to mentalism, without the need of the force. With a species-specific neural scrambler, one could directly target the brain of a creature and cause any number of effects.

One could even possibly fashion a device that could directly render the mind of a Ysalamiri (or indeed, any living thing with a complex brain) totally inert - brain dead.

Such a device would be deadly, and likely illegal by all accounts, but exceptional effective on an individual level. Armor may be a factor against this method of attack, however. Whether being brain dead has the same effect as actually being dead as far as the effects of the Ysalamiri is concerned, is unclear at this time, but I suspect a comatose lizard is one with which it will be unable to enact its involuntary force ability. Though, I could be wrong in this assumption, further testing is required.

It will take time, but if given research on the neurological map of a Ysalamiri and perhaps a data-splint with knowledge on Neural Scrambler construction (I am a compatible cyborg), I could potentially fashion a prototype, of which I could send schematics for, once finished. Let me know how you wish to proceed.

P.S. Oh, and I'm working on a prototype of the previously discussed barrier, though it isn't finished, here is the schematic I am building.

Signed,
Triam Akovin
 
War crime? That was a bit dramatic. She hadn't even really been considering genocide. She'd been thinking of using the virus on planets where the Ysalamiri were in use, not their own home biome. Though it would be highly effective. Still with the way they'd been used in recent years, one had to assume they were being mass cloned or otherwise artificially grown. Even if you entirely wiped them out on their home world there was likely enough genetic material to keep the annoying little beasts around and see them making a comeback. If you knew a major clash with their primary users and abusers was coming up though, it could quite effectively briefly cripple their use.. Besides, the idea that this [member="Triam Akovin"] , whoever that was, was not going to allow her to pursue her own ideas was quite frankly insulting. Not to mention those digs about intelligence and creativity. Particularly given that one of the woman's ideas was to create a weapon to render the little beasts brain dead. As if that was better than being properly dead.

In any case, being told that she could not follow this particular avenue to its end absolutely guaranteed that that was precisely what Saga was going to do. With a sniff she glared down her nose at the comm-unit before turning back to her research.

"Ecological or Bio-terrorism at worst. War Crime. Pft."

What would be helpful was a sample of Agamid AdV1 and Ysalamir DNA. Then it would be a simple matter of tinkering with the Agamids proteins until they more specifically matched the proteins of the Ysalamiri. It wasn't as if she was intentionally going to release something that might, for example, also kill all Trandoshans present, although would it really be such a great loss? Really? I mean particularly if the alternative was Mandalorians and Sith rampaging everywhere? Who liked Trandoshans anyway?

This was going to take some serious study time. She understood the basics of genetics, she wasn't an idiot. Anyone with a decent education knew that viruses were altered via reverse genetics. They allowed a de novo synthesis of viruses from DNA sequences without bothering to modify the viral DNA/RNA, but having a basic conceptual understanding was different from being able to do it herself. Which was fine, since by the time she was prepared to start physically tinkering with the virus she'd have obtained the needed samples.

Did she want to go into Mandalorian territory? She didn't have a problem with them precisely. She thought they tended to be rather barbaric, but most folks were. Still, should they realize why she was in their territory they might take offense. Nar Shaddaa it was then. The Hutts and other crime lords there would certainly have Ysalamir to protect them from force users, and there were exotic beast traffickers galore. Finding a sick lizard shouldn't be a problem. Finding a healthy one might have been harder really.

Within short order the Pactolus was changing course and then jumping to hyperspace, using its not inconsiderable speed. Saga, for her part, once more immersed herself in DNA and viral manipulation.
 
LOCATION: S.S. Gossamer on route to Firefist
OBJECTIVE: Crack the Y-Effect


Dash hmm'd softly as he skimmed the proposals put forward by the rest of the team so far. Of those put forward thus far, [member="Triam Akovin"] seemed to be on to something with his outline and was likely to be the one to watch at the moment. The pitch that [member="Saga Runfridh"] suggested was definitely a solution, but there was no real profit in wiping out the Ysalamiri when you could make a bank selling the countermeasure instead. Oh, and all that mass extinction stuff was bad, too, he supposed.

Speaking of solutions, the outlaw tech brought up the recent schematic that had pinged its way through to his device a few days ago. Seemed some eager gearhead back home was bucking for a raise. If they continued to produce tech like this, the Corellian had half a mind to give it to them. He forwarded it on to his employer.


[member="Connory"],

Still working on the prototype for the ABC based countermeasure. Expect something within the next few days. In the meantime, I forwarded the research towards my workshop and one of my techs took interest in the theories of [member="Orn Pharr"]. Enclosed schematics for a device that they put together and we're currently moving towards market. Love to take full credit, but this is their baby. Seems they've already put it through the basic hoops and tests and found it somewhat useful. Tricks is moving ahead with production as we speak, so let me know if you have any orders. Might be worth sharing with Akovin, but only if he promises me a closer look his own designs in return. Definitely sounds interesting.

- D.K.

After a moment or two, Dash tapped out a second message.

Runfridh,

I'll skip the part where I wag my finger or whatever. Honestly don't see much use in killing the golden shoal darter, but maybe you might be able to stumble upon something a little less permanent going down this route. Personally, I'd avoid the blunt hammer approach, and would recommend looking into recent advancements with nanogene tech. If you can isolate the genes responsible for the Y-effect, you might be able to render them inert and avoid the whole war crime trials. Failing that, might be worth looking into that cure the Mandos tried shoving down everyone's throat a few years back. Seems to work wonders for shutting down their force users.

Feel free to cut me in if it proves useful.

- D.K.
 

Jorga the Hutt

When life gives you Mandos, make Mando'ade
[member="Dash Kessler"]

D.K.-

The vehicle-mounted neural projector is pure gold. Give your associates my congratulations. I've already ordered one. Looking forward to exploring derivatives. I have a Bith on staff who's talking my ear off about the possibilities.

Also, fair warning, [member="Triam Akovin"] is a woman.

Good luck out there. Firefist is difficult terrain.

Connory
 

Jorga the Hutt

When life gives you Mandos, make Mando'ade
TO: Working Group active members [ [member="Triam Akovin"] [member="Dash Kessler"] [member="Saga Runfridh"] ]
RE: Review of new Y-effect countermeasures

  • Thanks to DK, we've been able to analyze the new neural distortion beam from a great little workshop on Terminus. The beam is a vehicle-mounted nonlethal EM projector, very good at warding off and confusing small animals. When affected by the beam projector, ysalamiri lose the ability to 'stack.' This is a very promising precedent and is probably scalable, both up and down. Imagine this as an under-barrel attachment for a rifle.
  • The Outer Rim Coalition has developed a hormonal compound called ygmicite. It is lethal to ysalamiri and will reliably knock out other species for a couple of hours. Overdose is possible, and ygmicite won't work against enclosed capsules. The Coalition's also started deploying ygmicite in EMP mortar rounds, schematics attached. While I'm dubious about anything that can be stopped by a gust of wind, there's no doubt the Coalition has found an effective angle.
 
TO: Working Group active members [ [member="Connory"] [member="Dash Kessler"] [member="Saga Runfridh"] ]
RE: RE: Review of new Y-effect countermeasures

  • You wanted an under-barrel attachment for the distortion beam, Connory? Well, I've drafted up some schematics for something pretty close to that here. Don't worry Dash, I forgive you, and promise I won't use my new toy on you as vengeance ;)
  • (Can't promise anything for you, though, Saga.)

Triam laughed to herself briefly before she continued to work on her rather ambitious projects, testing her barrier's resilience, and fine tuning the programming for her Neural Shuffler and testing it on some live Nuna she purchased.

What a strange feat that would be, coming into battle with mind controlled Nuna running a muck? Not very useful no, but they made excellent simple test subjects... although their lack of ability to communicate limited her test parameters of what her device could actually accomplish.

There would always be room for battlefield tests later on.
 
RECIPIENTS: Y Working Group Contact List [ [member="Connory"], [member="Saga Runfridh"], [member="Triam Akovin"], [member="Doctor Agnusdei"] ]
SUBJECT: RE: RE: Review of the new Y-effect Countermeasures


Can I claim I was blinded to gender by the shear beauty of your mind? No?

I like the idea of a portable, underslung version of the device. Definitely has some future marketability potential if you can work out the kinks.

Speaking of kinks, my initial design didn't turn out exactly as planned. The good news is that it is effective against Ysalamiri, the bad news, it also tends to work on... most things within hearing range, too. Turns out that narrowing down the species specific frequency was a lot more difficult than originally thought, but I'll use this as proof of concept and continue to tinker with it.

The lack of Ysalamiri test subjects out in Firefist is proving to be a little difficult on that front. Might also be pushing my luck with further testing on my fellow crew members. Welp.

I'll keep you updated.


- DK
 
To: [member="Connory"]
Subject: UEC Barrier Results

Connory,

Much to my chagrin it would seem that accounts of the Universal Energy Cages were a bit... exaggerated. Most likely a smidgen of imperial propaganda of the era, either that or hubris. Still effective and capable, don't misunderstand, but they will not reflect anything at higher intensities, only proportional energy discharges have been observed. So, I doubt your experiments will find conclusive results of the force "doubling back" on their user. It should still serve as an effective barrier, I believe, the engineer's principle appears sound enough to at least block the Ysalamiri influence from progressing beyond it (as with any other influence of the force), like any other energy field. Additionally, while it is not necessarily required, I think you will find a barrier of this type utilizing Ultrachrome is far more effective than most other superconductors due to its inherent reflective properties, and natural lightsaber resistance, but should still be possible with less robust superconductors.

It would take some measure of engineering to create a vehicle using armor of this type, but you will find no less than the most effective armor from anything short of a turbolaser barrage, or its energy equivalent continuously over a massive amount of time. Fashioning it into armor though, would be... impressive, but logistically very difficult to accomplish, maybe even improbable. The energy demands are proportionally massive, but with a stable compact power source...

... Well the individual would be virtually unassailable against anything short of a star destroyer, and I'm only slightly exaggerating.

​Do what you will with my complete schematics, I'm sure we will both finds competent uses for it.

Signed,
Triam Akovin

To: [member="Dash Kessler"]
Re: Re: Review of new Y-effect Countermeasures

Don't worry about it Dash, you aren't the first to be blinded by it, you'll find facing me in person to be quite illuminating, actually. Shame you've fallen off the edge of the galaxy. We could certainly trade a few ideas whenever it is you manage to get back to "civilization", eh?

Signed,
Triam Akovin

Triam finished her messages on the holonet, when her son, Cassus, appeared to be peering over her desk.

"Are you flirting on the 'net again, mom?" Triam smiled at her boy with a little chuckle.

"I am not. I'm doing business." Cassus stood up a little higher on his toes, peeking curiously at her screen. Triam closed it to keep her little snooper's eyes off her stuff.

"Isn't that how you met my father?"

"Uhh, yes, but lets get you ready for bed, yeah?" Triam evaded the question, not wishing to regale the tale of his parents meeting again.

"Mom, I'm too old for that. I'm almost nine." Cassus whined a bit, trying very hard to be very serious.

"You're six, son..." Triam sighed, picking up her child much to his chagrin to take him off to bed.
 

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