Tying Knots

[Arken Lussk]

Tying Knots​

The Royal Palace, Commenor​

[member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Darben Skirae"]​

​

"Does my tie look okay?"

"Recommendation: Shall I fix it, master?"

The young man nodded, watching as the hulking droid stooped to deftly neaten his teal tie, snugly fitted into a windsor knot. As Victor corrected his half-hearted attempt to look fairly professional and neat, Arken heaved a sigh. Most of these meetings he'd been attending had been business casual: simple tan trousers, tucked in shirts, and a light atmosphere. However, their current circumstances far exceeded that of a simple meeting.

The Queen of the Commenor Systems Alliance was far more reputable and keen to respect than a merchant on Bastion or Shushugaunt. Trading naughty jokes about the market, gawping at price gouges, and devilishly rubbing hands together weren't to be the staple behavior either. Arken doubted anyone could've prepared him for this life, even father had neglected to teach him all the customs and courtesies that came with being a noble.

"Conclusion: You look fine, master." Victor dryly reported. "Fine indeed."

The man grinned, "You bet your sheb I do."

Their little star yacht had landed a short distance away from the palace itself. The Royal Guard had inspected it very thoroughly and had produced a great bill of health. No hidden compartments, no weapons, nothing out of the ordinary. Save for the lightsaber tucked away in Victor's chassis and the small computer he carried under his arm, they'd came with minimal supplies and extravagant expectations.

The duo strode through the main passageway towards the great doors of the palace. Quite promptly, they were picked up by a few royal guardsmen and summarily brought inside.

He doubted he came prepared for all of the pleasantries. Here's hoping the Force was with him today.

 

[Kay-Larr]

As usual, Kay was in her office. Her pregnancy was easily noticable by now, given that she was about a month from the due date. Plus she was carrying twins, so that didn't exactly help by the way of hiding things. So more or less she'd been from travelling if at all possible. Yet she still wanted to work, still wanted to handle things before she had to stop completely.

Her attire consisted mostly of fancy fabrics draped around her, everything to keep her comfortable. And the only jewelry that she wore were just we wedding rings. Kay wasn't the type to flaunt her position by way of deceration. Certain events called for it, surely, but this wasn't one of them. Precaution did however cause her to have her Force Signature shrunk down to that if a small tree nut.

By the time that [member="Arken Lussk"] and his assistant were escorted in, she was preparing herself some tea. Sapir tea was an addiction of hers that was far more stable than some of the other things that people were addicted to these days. It gave her comfort, as though she was getting a hug. Plus it kept her warm. She had already sent for [member="Darben Skirae"] to come to this little business meeting as well. He'd make it in due time. She knew that.

Kay turned to face her guests as her guards brought them in. She put on a smile and made a few steps towards them, stopping so that they could approach the rest of the way. "Welcome to Commenor. I hope that your travel here was pleasant."

 

[Arken Lussk]

Addiction was something that he'd grown long accustomed to. Nearly all of them weren't material in nature, though. The heart-soaring feeling of success, the joy of victory, and the knowledge that he'd done something big. Emotions and feelings were his addiction; each and every day was just another chance to sail even higher and ascend to the precipice of his desires. Capital and assets were fine and dandy, but they didn't help him sleep any better at night.

Winning did.

Arken and Victor soon found themselves within the palace. Luxurious marble columns, fine art and livery decorated the walls while tapestries hung even higher. Regal, royal, and utterly deserving for a High Queen. A bit too much for his own tastes but he doubted the palace's inhabitants cared for his opinion on their residence.

Their escorts led them higher and higher until they reached the queen's office. Stowing away the dreaded feeling of failure, Arken strode in as the double doors opened. Greeted with a warm smile and the aroma of freshly brewed tea, all of his fears washed away in that instant. A broad grin lightened his features as his eyes locked with the High Queen's. The CEO bowed deeply, his mechanical companion echoing his movements a fraction of a second slower.

After a moment, they rose. "Quite pleasant, your people have made my brief stay even better than I imagined. Thank you for your hospitality."

He deftly closed the distance, confidence returning, to extend his hand. "Arken, Arken Lussk. It's a pleasure to meet you, my queen."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Darben Skirae]

(double posted)

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben Skirae and Mute arrived to the Royal Palace. Mute's throat was sore sometimes from the operation she had, and no words had been spoken yet. Darben was beginning to wonder if it had actually worked. But for now, he had other things to worry about. Such as this upcoming meeting. He arrived into the meeting room just in time to hear [member="Lady Kay"]'s greeting to [member="Arken Lussk"]. He had not spoken with Kay for some time, and had been meaning to ask how she had been doing, since everything that had been happening.

"Kay! It's been some time." His arm was still bandaged, it was getting better after he had been taken by that pilot. Mute held a datapad that she set down onto the table as she sat down. Then she rubbed her sore throat. "And you must be Arken, I presume? I am Darben Skirae, Kay's trade minister." He picked up the datapad Mute had brought, ready to note down anything of importance during the meeting. As he always did, to refer over once the meeting was done with. "So, what is it you make, Arken? What is it you specialize in?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay offered a warm smile in return, taking the man's hand and giving it a firm, yet soft shake. She raised a brow ever so slightly as [member="Arken Lussk"] referred to her as his queen. That was silly of course. As far as she knew, the man wasn't a citizen of any of the worlds in her territory. But then again she could be wrong. "Lovely to meet you, Arken. Would you care for some tea?" She gestured to the side table where the tea set rested. Her attention was drawn to his droid companion. She bowed her head to him as well. There were a few droids that she was well acquainted with, one being a dear friend of hers. "And what's your name?" The droid looked more like a bodyguard than anything, yet she wasn't going to just flat out ignore him. That just wasn't her way.

[member="Darben Skirae"] popped in then, with Mute ever present by his side. She gave them both a smile. "Afternoon." The universal sign for a sore throat was noted. Kay had yet to learn of the surgery, instead guessing that Mute was a little under the weather. "You should have some tea. It's rather soothing for throats."

She then took a seat on one of her comfy chairs, cradling her tea in her lap. Arken had the floor now. Kay watched him intently. No doubt he had a pitch already memorized.

 

[Arken Lussk]

He was no citizen, yet he'd traveled through the area enough to pay due respects to the queen properly. Operations and expectations had skyrocketed ever since their latest inventions had hit the market, so meetings and other affairs took him across the galaxy more often than he liked. It left him with little time to tend to personal matters; such as playing hologames, vegging out, and otherwise being the innate, lazy twenty-year old that he was.

"Of course, I'd love some," Arken happily accepted her offer, shifting to take a seat across from her. Victor's voice resounded synthetically as he shifted to stand behind his master.

"Introduction: Primary designation V1CT0R, otherwise known as Victor. I ensure his livelihood to the best of my ability."

Arken chuckled, "Among other things. He was a gift from my father when I was very young since he didn't trust me not to get into trouble."

At the behest of the newly arrived Minister of Trade, accompanied by a seemingly shy woman, Arken cleared his throat and took the floor immediately. Deft fingers slid his portable computer out from underneath his arm, handing it backwards to his mechanical sidekick.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," he started, "I am Arken Lussk, founder and CEO of Aegis Systems. We specialize in the engineering and implementation of security solutions and infrastructure support."

Victor had been typing furiously behind him, accessing Aegis Systems premium holopage. He raised a hand, opened up his universal data socket, and linked it to the computer. Within moments, a high-resolution hologram of the company logo and motto manifested behind the young CEO, being projected outwards by Victor's photoreceptor.

"Multi-functional waystations, police droids, supercomputers, slicer droids, network security devices." Arken smiled as the images behind him shifted to display the respective products. "We've also a more militant catalog, if you're interested at all."

[member="Lady Kay"], [member="Darben Skirae"]

 

[Darben Skirae]

Mute smiled to [member="Lady Kay"], then went off quickly after leaving the datapad to get some tea. She rather like Kay's tea, more so than Darben himself. While she was gone, Darben got down to business. "So, security and such? Could be of some use for us, we have had need for more security." He looked to Kay, surely she knew what he meant. Many things had happened recently that required more security. Of course, more security would unsettle people, and that he did not think about. When it came to business, he thought of business alone. Prices, economy, but he most of the time neglected to think of the people themselves, and how they would be affected. For that, he normally looked to Kay for advice on what would benefit the people of the CSA.

"You wouldn't happen to have a smaller copy of this catalog, would you?" Darben asked [member="Arken Lussk"], hoping to get a look over it. Look over prices and such things like that. "Kay, what do you think so far?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay walked over to the side table and joined Mute in preparing a cup of teafor her guest. Such a task wasn't beneath her at all. She smiled to Mute, seeing that she has opened up to her all the more, not quite the super shy young lady that she was before. Mute had gained some confidence and that was a good thing.

She picked up the cup and walked over to [member="Arken Lussk"] , handing him his without the misshap of mistaking it for her own. That'd be embarrassing for sure. Kay then sat down in one of her comfy chairs, not as easily as most and then turned her attention to Arken's pitch. It was basic, the type that draws one in to ask for more details. The pride that the man held for his products spoke volumes about their quality.

[member="Darben Skirae"] mentioned the lack of security. It was true, in some respects their security was lacking, but in one aspect of it, that was already changing. Still Aegis Systems could fill in some of those gaps that were needing to be closed."Waystations? Slicer droids? Do they also help to stop other slicers from trying to break into our systems? More so than a network security device would, I mean." Kay tried to keep the more sensitive information on paper, instead of electronically recorded. There were reasons that she had no journal or normal schedule. But those methods weren't exactly fool proof.

 

[Arken Lussk]

Arken beamed, sitting a little straighter than before. He was a serpent, poised and ready to strike the second they latched onto his words. Everyone needed security and infrastructure, such things were often the mainstay of galactic governments. Without either, that led to a very unhappy populace and even greater problems arising in the future. As such, Aegis Systems was lovingly created to fill that market niche with the best products they could possibly imagine.

"Of course!" The CEO chortled, reaching into his coat pocket to produce a small datapad. He flicked it online and passed it over to [member="Darben Skirae"]. Within it was the master catalog of Aegis Systems. It seemed the Commenor Systems Alliance had a great need for protection and security, something that Arken could wholeheartedly get behind. Bulk purchase discounts, contracted maintenance for these systems, the whole nine yards. Large orders were their specialty.

The queen spoke up, questioning Aegis' capabilities in cyberspace. "Not particularly, those models of droid are meant for penetration testing or offensive cyber operations. However, we've recently brought a new network security droid onto the market that has been heralded as one of the best in the galaxy." The image behind him shifted to display the droid he was referring to.

"If slicers are your main threat, you'll find no other company that can do what we do. We operate several network operations and security centers on Serenno, backed by some of the galaxy's largest datacenters and supercomputers. Aegis Systems monitors contracted networks for a nominal fee as well as free, cloud-based anti-malware and virtual private network solutions."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben Skirae took the small datapad and went right to looking it over. At that moment, Mute returned to her seat, sipping tea casually. Darben was seeing a lot on this catalog, but some he would need to go over with something in security, since some of the stuff he couldn't make sense of. Prices and such, that was easy enough. Other things with the items, such as what they are made of and other classification information were not so easy to understand.

"It looks decent enough to me" he said to [member="Lady Kay"]. He was indeed feeling that this deal would be a thing, and went to hand the catalog back. he hadn't listened much to the conversation about networks, however, only hearing bits here and there about that part of the conversation. "So we've discussed what you can give us. So, what can we give you? Besides buying your merchandise, that is."

[member="Arken Lussk"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded as [member="Arken Lussk"] answered her questions pertaining to network security and slicer droids. The best in the business is what she wanted. For a while she had [member="Ultimatum"] doing such tasks for her, but the droid had gone off exploring in the Unknown Regions, or perhaps even further. So she was left with what could be seen as software that was out of date. Her government was isolated in some ways, so it had it's drawbacks. But at least she looked into advancement when and where she could. "I think that we could use those network security droid and malware services."

[member="Darben Skirae"] seemed pretty pleased with what he was looking at in the catalogue. The question that he had posed was an interesting one. Afterall, not all business was conducted through credits. Some wanted favours, some wanted trade contracts, some wanted access to CSA's shipping lanes. Either way, it was good to know just what Arken and his company had in mind.

 

[Arken Lussk]

"I am very, very glad to hear that. Warfare in changing in different ways. Slicers and malicious logic can absolutely cripple an entire galactic power if they manage to infiltrate and damage critical infrastructure." Arken waved his arms out, gesturing towards the holographic images floating behind him. "Aegis Systems has exactly what you need to counter these advancing issues in security. All of our anti-malware software is free of charge, and it always will be as a testament to our devotion to the cause of a free and unfiltered HoloNet.

"Our Virtual Private Network solutions come in subscriptions per device or system, and orders of Network Security droids can be drawn up very easily."

He smiled. They seemed interested enough, even if they happened to underplay their issues revolving around cybersecurity. Green eyes glistened with mirth as [member="Darben Skirae"] uttered those golden words; ones that he'd been longing to hear all day.

"What I want is support. Investment, financial ties, however you want to phrase it. Aegis Systems is partnering with Jaeger Solutions, a known weapons manufacturer and shipwright, to develop exponential manufacturing capabilities. We need funding, a fair sum of it upfront. What I can assure the Commenor Systems Alliance is a steady return. Aegis Systems can repay the CSA in whichever method you're wanting be it through low interest, steady payments, discounts on future products, or exclusive purchasing rights to more advanced products."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Darben Skirae]

Investment and funding. Darben reached a hand to his beard, rubbing a hand over it thoughtfully. He looked over to [member="Lady Kay"], wondering what her take on this would be. "How much would the minimum of funding be? By estimate" he asked to [member="Arken Lussk"]. He knew that Commenor had a great economy. But was it worth it, giving large funds? Yes, they could certainly invest in security, but Darben was thinking about the cost. Discounts sounded like a nice addition to the offer, a way to sweeten the deal. Darben had to commend him for that. He even smiled lightly at that. All in all, it seemed promising to say the least.

"It sounds promising. I haven't heard of this 'Jaeger Solutions', but I can do some research." He was going to anyway, on both Jaeger and Aegis. It was in his job description, after all to look for information on such trade deals. In fact, that was what he did when he took out a datapad, looking for whatever information he could find.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded, once again liking what she was hearing in regards to network security. But it was hard to know who to trust sometimes. Maybe she'd ask around and see what kind of reputation that [member="Arken Lussk"] and Aegis Systems had. It wasn't as though she didn't have a lot of contacts throughout the Galaxy. Perhaps she could put them through a trial basis, not letting them have access to any sensitive information. One or two departments would be good. Afterall there were many Embassies in Chasin City. She wouldn't want them to be compromised at all.

[member="Darben Skirae"] asked more good questions. He seemed to be coming into his own now, having more confidence in his role as her Minister of Finance and Trade than he had before. Kay liked that. It won't be long before she'd have to try to step away and let others run things for a while. So it was good to know that there were some good people in her government to take the reigns.

She sipped her tea. Had she heard of Jaeger Solutions? It was possible. There were so many companies out there.

Darben was good to ask about how much the investment would be. Afterall, if theor portion was to be rather large, then they should have some say as to what is put on the market. "First right of refusal is always nice for a start..." Just a start though, especially if he's asking for a large sum of credits.

 

[Arken Lussk]

"I'll make it easier for the Systems Alliance: you name the price." He nodded towards the minister of trade, "Tell me how much you're willing to offer. This is a massive project and I would rather not scare you away with numbers. Any funding I can possibly receive will work in both of our favors. As the cost of production decrease, the cost of the products sent your way also decreases. It allows us to both benefit, but I want you to lay down the law for me to follow."

Arken grinned. "I, and Aegis Systems, wants to work with you. Sure, our goal may be making a profit but isn't your goal just as similar? Happiness? Security? Morale? Let's carve our names in the galaxy in durasteel through whatever means we can."

With that, Victor quickly dematerialized the rest of the holograms until they simply displayed the logo of Aegis Systems.

"Let's make progress and peace synonymous with our names."

[member="Lady Kay"] [member="Darben Skirae"]

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben Skirae was becoming more and more intrigued as [member="Arken Lussk"]. Soon, he came to a decision. "How does...one million credits sound as first investment? Should be enough to get something started on your project, and if progression goes well, we could perhaps add another million. Sound agreeable, Kay?" he said, looking to [member="Lady Kay"] for confirmation. "And after your first line is completed, could you come by and give a test of the products? I would very much like to see these in action. See how they work." He was sure that others would to, like the Head Of Security.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay found it to be quite cunning that [member="Arken Lussk"] wanted her government to name their price. That and it was a good business strategy. It gave the man some wiggle room. He threw in some good tag lines, however she knew that her people were already considered peaceful. For the most part, anyways.

Her attention turned to [member="Darben Skirae"] and his offer. It was a good one. But depending on Arken's need for funding, it might not be enough for a starter. Or it could be the right amount required. Right now she didn't know the man or his company well enough to know for sure. Time will tell with that. "Sounds fair, Darben. I'm sure that there would be more meetings in the future to study our investment and see if it has the right potential for us to help even further with it's growth."

Now it was Arken's turn to make the decision. Would he accept or not? That was the question of the day.

 

[Arken Lussk]

His smile broadened, proudly presenting his pearly white teeth. "Of course, that's the perfect amount of zeroes for the time being. A smart decision, there's no point in dropping much more money than planned on a developing company. Your contribution is most appreciated and will be put to exceptional use, believe me."

The man gingerly took another sip of his still-cooling tea.

"Aegis Systems would be more than happy to demonstrate our capabilities. Which products or services are you wanting to see in action first? Our law enforcement section? Cyber defense?" He cleared his throat, sending a look to Victor. "Or our more militant products?"

[member="Lady Kay"], [member="Darben Skirae"]

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben scratched at his beard thoughtfully. Which did they want to see first? Military products, or security products? "Law enforcement" he answered to [member="Arken Lussk"]. "What about you, Kay? Anything you think should be demonstrated?" he asked to [member="Lady Kay"]. Perhaps she would want a specific thing demonstrated. "And do you think we should bring our Head Of Security along with us? It might help to have their opinion in the matter, to oversee these products."