Titans Automatons

[Alric Kuhn]

Alric stood within a massive conference room that sat within the central tower of Vilium.

The conference room itself was rather ordinary. It had a large wooden table, several comfortable looking chairs, glass walls, and a massive window pane that faced the outward ocean cliffs on which Vilium sat. Beyond that there was nothing special about the room, safe for the fact that it was sound proof and swept daily for listening devices and the like.

One could never be too careful.

With today’s matter that rang doubly true, because it was close to Titan Industries new push forward, close to the new move which this corporation would make.

With Corellia secured, Vilium constructed, and the Sons of Titan now standing at fifteen hundred men strong it was time for the next step. The next step of course, was building an army. To most something of that sort would have seemed silly, unnecessary. After all, Titan had the backing of the One Sith. Those people did not have Alrics vision however, and unlike their narrow minded thoughts, he did not intend at stopping at the doors of the Sith.

No.

Ambition drove him forward and would see him progress.

Silently Alric turned away from the wooden table, shifting to gaze out the window. There he could see part of the R&D Department as well as a good deal of the Residential area. He smiled slightly, knowing that things were moving forward.

 

[Caulder Dune]

If there was one thing Gerion enjoyed doing, it was building armies. There was a sort of instant gratification about constructing a droid army, watching the individual units roll off the fully automated assembly line, manufactured piece by piece. There was no training, no waivers and releases for them to sign, no complaints about the quality of their lodgings, food, and sleep... Just durasteel and circuits, grafted together in whatever form the designer originally willed. Programmed for absolute loyalty and combat efficiency. It was somewhat ironic that Gerion and Hegemonic Automaton hadn't constructed their own droid army quite yet, but that was by and large because it was the end point of a multi-faceted, constantly changing plan.

Or maybe he was just lazy.

Whatever the case, Gerion was more than happy to render his services to Titan Industries and build them a droid army instead. The hirsute Umbaran, after passing the scrutiny of the receptionist and leaving his personal TA4 Bodyguards at the door, arrived at the conference room. He entered, the door sliding open at his approach, and found Titan's CEO staring out the window with a light smile. Gerion immediately recognized that he had interrupted a session of personal reflection. Oh, well. Alric could resume his ruminations when Gerion's business here was done.

"Mr. Kuhn." Gerion greeted, tight-lipped and serious as he usually was when conducting business with strangers.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Alric smiled slightly as he saw the man in the reflection of the window, turning to face him with no elaborate measure about his movements.

“Mr. Ardik.” Alric greeted the man, walking over to him and offering a handshake. The Umbaran was a few years older than Alric, his long flowing white hair and the lines of his face denoted as such. Yet he carried himself with the same esteem and same high regard that Alric himself did. That would lead the CEO of Titan to guess that Ardik came from a noble background, or was as such at one time.

That hardly mattered of course, in this game everyone was an equal.

As the two men clasped palms, Alric simply smiled. The purpose of this meeting was simple of course, to pay Mr. Ardik and absurd amount of money for the creation of a specialized Droid Army for Titan Industries.

One that Titan would use with great effect.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

They shook hands, as was customary for people in their positions to do when meeting in person for the first time, and then it was on to business. Small talk was for friends and, although Kuhn's impending purchase was large enough that Gerion would only sing praises if asked about the man by anyone else, his goals were ultimately unknowable to the Umbaran. Maybe in time when the One Sith grew to a size so as to no longer be considered a rogue nation further collaboration between them would be possibly. Until then, the origins of this army would probably be on a need-to-no basis. Hegemonic Automaton wouldn't be releasing any bragging press releases this time.

"You'll be pleased to know the designs for your droids have been completed." The Umbaran retrieved a datacard from his breast pocket and presented it to Alric. "Production is slated to begin in the following months, once our factories have been configured."

Configured. Right. What Gerion actually meant was for when Ord Cestus finally stabilized and the planet ceased being perpetually on fire and replacement workers were hired... Or the factories automated in full, as would be the case in some locations.

"There is, of course, the matter of how many of these droids you'll be ordering and whether you'd like to pursue a replenishment contract."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Alric enjoyed the straightforward talk from the man.

Talk was cheap.

“Enough for an army.” Alric said quite simply. “I don't intend to use these droids as a personal guard or a monument for my ego Mr. Ardik. I intend them to put them to good use for Titan Industries and its efforts in the galaxy.”

He remained vague on what those efforts actually were, but he supposed the Gerion Ardik would be able to guess at some of them at the very least. Of course the man would be given exact figures, but the numbers involved were so ludicrously large that saying them out loud seemed rather silly. Instead Alric pulled a small datapad from his coat pocket.

Pressing a few keys, the Titan of Industry handed over the small tablet device.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"There are varying sizes of- Oh."

Gerion stopped mid-sentence, accepting the datapad as given to him. His eyes scanned the contents until he found the figure in question.

Somewhere in the galaxy, a young girl squealed in abject delight.

This was an approximation of the internal emotion Gerion Ardik experienced at that precise moment.

"Oh."

Carefully restrained, as usual.

It seemed Larraq and his Mandalorian ilk would be jostled from their position as Hegemonic Automaton's number one customer. A welcome change, Alric as a whole seemed a lot less inclined towards Mandalorian savagery. Hopefully. But even if he wasn't his credits were still good. Frankly, he didn't even care if this wasn't a monument to his ego. Alric could melt down all the droids and cast them into a phallic statue the size of a super star destroyer for all the Umbaran cared.

"Yes, well, as you can imagine this order will take some time to fulfill depending on the factories we can afford to re-configure. What timeframe are you expecting completion?"

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“As fast as you can.” Alric said almost nonchalantly.

He had no illusions about how long a project like this would take. No illusions about the man hours, materials, and cost. Of course, to have at least part of his delivery by next quarter would be the most beneficial, that would be when Titan Industries was making its next big push into more dangerous sectors.

Alric told this to Mr. Ardik.

“It's soon, but the core of the army is already in place. At least the elite forces.” He was speaking of the Sons of Titan of course, but there was no need to go into detail. “The rest is needed for more mundane...security tasks.”

Again he was vague, but he doubted that Mr. Ardik was stupid enough to believe he was using this army for any 'legitimate' purpose.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Security tasks. Of course. Like pillaging competitors or forcibly seizing property and resources every time the One Sith secured domination over any given planet. Gerion was not blind to the sort of corporate bullying he was potentially enabling. Moreso, unless his own assets were threatened, he delighted in it. In terms of aggressive action, nothing performed more efficiently than an automated military funded by a private corporation. Especially when it was his products being used to make that happen.

"I'll see about delivering it in installments." Gerion said, "Though, I must warn you, these are rather dangerous times we live in. The cost of maintaining so many droids, and replacing those that are destroyed, can be quite exorbitant. You may wish to engage in one of the droid insurance programs Hegemonic Automaton is preparing to launch."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“Salesman and a business man.” Alric mused “I suppose the two fit rather well together.”

Of course Titan Industries accountants would really work all of that out. In the end the drain of a droid army would be noticeable, but not in any form that would actually hurt Titan. The profits that the army would reap were far greater than any cost they would accrue. Still, it didn't hurt to pay less at times, especially given that the man was right in saying losses would be high.

“Consider Titan interested.” He decided.

Insurance on a droid army was an amusing thought. He would be interested in seeing just how fast Hegemonic Automaton could produce his army.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Yes, well, I peddle my wares where I can."

Maybe it was a little uncouth that he had offered such a deal in that direct manner. Maybe that uncouthness was amplified by the fact that was the second time he mentioned it. It hardly mattered in the end, so long as agreements were signed and money summarily funneled. Technically speaking, the program hadn't launched yet, but launching the program and already being able to say that one of the galaxy's largest corporate juggernauts was doing it was bound to bring some business. If it was good enough for Titan, who wouldn't it be likewise good for?

"It is a simple affair. Assuming you'd like one of the better packages, Hegemonic Automaton will both provide regular, intensive maintenance on your security force and replace those units destroyed on a monthly basis. All this for a proportional monthly fee."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

He considered for a moment more. “Consider it sold Mr. Ardik.”

Alric Kuhn was a reasonable man, he knew when something was a good deal. Sure insurance was likely costly, but with the plan that Alric was intending on rolling out, with the way Titan Industries would be conducting its business, Alric knew that such a thing would be useful, if not necessary in the long run.

With that, negotiations should have been done.

Yet something stopped him from simply dismissing the man.

“There is one other thing Mr. Ardik.” Alric said giving the man an odd look. “Titan Industries is designing a new vessel. A new generation of warship. We intend to cut down crew size by nearly forty percent. Automating much of the ships functions.”

The Maladi it would be called, a new generation of Strike Frigate. “We could design the functions ourselves, but while I have you here I thought it prudent to ask if Hegemonic Automaton had the technology already in place.”

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Forty percent? That was sixty percent less than Hegemonic Automaton was planning on doing with their own ships, but that was somewhere else down the pipe. Contributing some sort of automation system to this vessel would offer an exciting opportunity to test the technology and get paid for it. It only had to work marginally well, forty percent wasn't that big an ambition as far as Gerion could be concerned. Not only that, but Kuhn was also actually interested in insuring his droid army. Today was a fabulous day for milking the unfathomably large cash cow that was Titan Industries. Who even needed those Mandalorian scumbags, anyway?

"I'll have the relevant paperwork sent to you. As for automating ships, you'll be pleased to know Hegemonic Automaton is presently testing such a system. We're in the early stages, but given a short amount of time we can produce a special variant specifically for such a vessel."

Special here meaning forty percent automation as opposed to one-hundred. This was good, because frankly the current prototype probably couldn't handle much more.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Hearing that pleased Alric a great deal.

The Maladi class the ship would be called. It was ambitious in its own right. Not one hundred percent automated, but armed to the teeth and coming equipped with enough firepower to take on a Star Destroyer. The ship would be strong enough to take on a vessel twice its size and production would be relatively simple.

“Good.” Alric said with a smile. “Basic functions need only be automated. Does this system also lend itself to Slave rigging? It will be an important facet of this ship.”

Alric stated the obvious.

“The hope is for Titan Industries to continue on a path of miniaturization. Saving space and allowing our vessels to have that extra...bite.” The Maladi would have plenty of bite.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Slave Rigging may, perhaps, undersell what Hegemonic Automaton is attempting to do here." Gerion explained, sucking in a bit of extra air so he could toot his own horn with greater force. "Our system utilizes droid brains coordinated from a specialized supercomputer. This allows multiple advanced commands to be issued and executed simultaneously. Not something typical slave circuits are capable of producing."

With a sufficiently advanced Artificial Intelligence and a large enough system, organics on ships wouldn't even be necessary. Space otherwise used for crew, recreation, food, life support, and other useless things would be unnecessary. That meant more space for useful things, like ridiculously large shield generators. Oh, the great powers of robotics. Where did they even end?

"This sounds like quite the vessel. I look forward to seeing it enter production."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

“I see.” Alric said simply in answer.

The mans explanation was good enough, and would be good enough for the Maladi. The ship would be produced in a massive quantity and Alric intended to have it fielded by not just the faction Titan owed allegiance to, but my corporate elements such as ATC and Titan itself.

He would ensure that everyone who played well with him would have this frigate.

It was more than just a ship, in the end it was also a bargaining tool. A way to add space superiority to whomever aligned themselves with Titan Industries. A powerful promise, and one that Alric intended on keeping.

“It will be.” Alric said calmly. “I'm sure our corporations will work closely enough that you'll be one of the first to witness it.”

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

This was an important step for Hegemonic Automaton. The performance of the prototype system on the Maladi would pave the way for something greater. It would allow for further refinement before production. There was no better way to test a product for errors than large scale field testing. Hopefully there wouldn't be any fatal errors, but Hegemonic Automaton wasn't exactly known for causing that type of thing, nor would they allow Titan Industries to use a half-completed, ill-functioning product. That would reflect poorly on the reputations of both corporations. If there was one thing Gerion endeavored for in life, it was to keep his company's reputation from devolving to the point that Subach's had.

What fate could be crueler than being blacklisted by every significant government and forced to cater exclusively to a myriad of half-baked, imbecilic warlords with larger egos than intellects? Churning out legions upon legions of sub-par products with no end in sight nor the slightest effort placed into their development, then being sued for an asinine amount of credits for having the utter gall to violate patents from a corporation like Santhe. A successful corporation.

It haunted his dreams, but as long as his customers included men like Alric, it was a far-fetched outcome at best.

"If you'd like, I can lend a few of my corporation's engineers to oversee the installation of the system personally." Gerion added, probably to chew up thread post and general post length.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Alric pondered for a moment.

The Maladi was a secret project by all regards. He had fought hard to keep it away from Republic Spies, Pirate Raiders, and other corporate competitors. That being said, Hegemonic Automaton now had a vested interest in seeing the project succeed. If their automation system worked on this ship it was a proof of concept, one that would very likely be met with favorable outcome.

“That would be acceptable.” Alric said with a firm nod.

To speed that process along Alric walked over to the end of the conference table, keying in a command on one of the built in datapads. The Maladi was set to be built in two primary locations. Here within the Corellian System and on the new Citadel Station above Telos.

The separation of location was important as the production of each facility would be used to meet different customers. The Telos facility would provide for the rest of the galaxy, and the Corellian Shipyards would produce for the One Sith.

Corellia was better suited to the creation of smaller ships, a trend that had begun with CEC. “Are you familiar with Titan Industries Wyyrlok Class Star Destroyers?”

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Of course." Gerion replied, leaving out the fact that he had actually commanded a small fleet of them under the alias of Darth Adekos. "One of the better vessels I've seen fielded by the One Sith, both in terms of aesthetics and armaments."

It was better to keep business and pleasure distinctly separate things. Albeit in this case Gerion was keeping business and "loyal service to the Sith and the Dark Side" separate, rather than pleasure. Then again, it could probably be considered a pleasure, but only if Gerion came to terms with the fact he was little more than a high-functioning sociopath with magic powers; only a slight peg above the typical Sith stereotype. After all, If Gerion didn't enjoy- on some level -waging conquest for the One Sith, he would not have led the subjugations of Anaxes, Neimoidia, and Balmorra. And he certainly wouldn't have aided them elsewhere.

Then again, maybe he would have led subjugations of just about anywhere for anyone if offered even temporary command over a fleet of Wyyrloks. Beautiful, beautiful vessels that they were.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Alric nodded. The Wyyrloks were beautiful ships, almost alive in their beauty, looking like some sort of aquatic creature. They were an oddity really, vastly different in design than anything else Titan Industries had produced. Perhaps that was because of the Killik influence, or just because Darth Mierin, the initiator of the project had wanted something different.

He didn't really know, but he knew the worth of the ship.

Just as he was about a speak a secretary walked into the room. She held a small holo-projector. Alric motioned to her, and the secretary moved over and palced the device in the center of the table. She switched it on, and from the small device popped the image of a small ship similar in design to, but smaller than the Wyyrlok Class Star Destroyer.

“It is called the Maladi.” Alric explained. “A Strike Frigate designed to pacify fleets and worlds. A single one of these will be able to match a ship three times it size blow for blow, and it will do it at a fourth of the cost and manpower.”

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

It looked like a younger cousin Wyrrlok. Sleek, stylish, and sophisticated. It was also bristling with guns, which was a more than welcome development. The thought of the One Sith armada being stocked full of these and the Wyyrloks made Gerion a happy camper. Once their enemies caught sight of the raw amounts of swagger contained within these vessels, they would either flee or capitulate. Nothing could stop the Sith or their cool rides now. And, what's better, Gerion was helping to build them. Perhaps there would be some minor backlash if it was revealed Hegemonic Automaton was partnering with a corporation closely associated with the One Sith. But as long as he didn't document it for the Ord Cestian authorities (who were already in his pocket), there would be no way for the Mandalorians to find out.

"I must say, I'm impressed with the design." Gerion commented. "Will it be capable of entering atmospheres?"

Gerion liked ships that could enter atmospheres. Nothing pacified dissidents like the sight of a Star Destroyer hanging over a city.