You Ought To Know (Laira)

[Ashin Varanin]

TARIS
ARMATECH HEADQUARTERS

In Naboo culture, as in many bureaucracies, the most productive and detail-oriented meetings often took place at an aide level, rather than between executives. Likewise, aide-to-aide meetings rarely attracted the same level of attention or operated to the same standards of transparency. This particular meeting was billed as a technical consultation on a software matter.

The conference room was a minor one, Shambleau noted, in keeping with the quiet scale of the occasion. Minor or not, though, the upholstery and tabletop were new and unmarred, the refreshment table offered upmarket caf and beignets, and the air quality was superb. As a mollusc impersonating a humanoid, she found the final detail especially appealing.


[member="Laira Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Being a low level associate of her father's company, Laira often received little notice from Marcus Roth's office that she was required for this or for that, normally dealing with business as the intermediary between ArmaTech Industries and Alderaan Engineering considering her respective parents acted as the Founder of both. Sometimes her duties were more mundane, such as 'fetch this' or 'go talk to that small business' when she was told she needed to work. Theo did much of the same from time to time.

Thus she arrived to the Administrative building of the Corporate City after he guest, though admittedly not late for the requested meeting. The princess entered the conference room wearing a black suit and skirt with some of her red hair pulled back into a tail, though her bangs and a few other locks of hair were left free. She smiled at the pale skinned woman as she entered, "Good afternoon, I'm Laira Vereen, Associate Administrative Assistant." She stuck out her hand to the woman, leaving off the rest of her long title that indicated she was the assistant to a secretary to a Vice President of Inter-Corporate Affairs.

"What is it that brings Theed Hangar to ATI today?" Theed Hangar was almost as expansive in their respective industry as ArmaTech was with its, which meant meetings between it weren't exactly uncommon, especially not between low level members of the organization.

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Laira Vereen"]

"Lady Shambleau. I'm an aide to Lady Cardei, who's Director General of Strategic Security Branch." Shambleau shook the offered hand, sensing a tasty pulse, and took a seat.

Precisely, she placed a small powered data storage unit on the table between them. "This is a captured iteration of the self-replicating Syncretic Counterintelligence Neutralization/Erasure Technode. The acronym is SCINET. It's a Galactic Republic program designed to propagate itself, primarily throughout Republic starships. The intent of the program was to offer a layer of dedicated resistance against enemy artificial intelligence." One pale purple finger tapped the datapack. "Effectively, this is a person, one who's deeply loyal to the Republic and its ideals. I'm given to understand that some of your products wind up in perhaps unintended hands. The First Order comes to mind."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira had heard of SCINET before. Rumor was her Father had a single copy on hard storage somewhere, or had had one at one time, but her father would neither confirm or deny even if he was available to do so.

"First Order. My Father, the founder is from Eriadu. His parents and sister were on Eriadu when the First Order attacked it and bombed it to pieces." The young redhead emphasized the word were to call attention to it. Not that Draco's family escaped the carnage, but that they had lived on the planet before the First Order attacked, and then after it attacked they no longer lived. "I can't imagine he authorized such a transfer." She picked up the datapad she had carried in with a smile, prepared to show the woman she was quite wrong in her assessment of ArmaTech's contracts and supply lines.

"This is the Manifest of products, and here is a catalog of every vessel we produce. Most are restricted markets to Mandalore and Alderaan. None of our capital scale war vessels are sold on the open market and all require purchase approval from a director or the board of directors when dealing with ongoing large scale contracts." She scrolled down the list and stopped. Intriguing indeed, for there was at least one mass production model manufactured for the First Order, though they financed it completely, but every single piece was built and assembled by ArmaTech in house. "Huh... I suppose we do supply the First Order." She wondered who had authorized such a thing. She knew her father had a darkened past, but Laira doubted it was that lax. Her father always leaned a bit more to the retribution and wrath than forgiveness, she had expected those tendencies to be exaggerated more than anything else. The redhead made a mental note to inform her father in case he was unaware of the arrangement.

"So, how do these two things go together?"

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Laira Vereen"]

"Consider this, Miss Vereen. Your corporation sends ongoing shipments of complex military materiel to the First Order. Those deliveries, at a guess, include computers, from starship mainframes on down." She gestured at the datapack. "A SCINET iteration can even run on the processor from one of your elite suits of armor. If and when ArmaTech sees fit to reexamine its... accidental... relationship with the First Order, it might behoove you to start that reexamination with a final delivery. Alternatively, including properly briefed SCINET iterations in your next delivery could yield a wealth of useful data. Your thoughts?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"I see no reason to cease deliveries at this time, and that is above my pay-grade as you can imagine." Her Father would likely still have to run things by the Board if he wanted to make such a change. The Board likely didn't mind so long as the checks kept coming and didn't bounce. "But perhaps a software update is in order." That her father could do without having to tell anyone beyond a handful of slicers close to him that dealt with cyber-security for the company. It could be easily kept tight lipped and close to the vest with only a few men and women overseeing the final software downloads before shipping them off. If SCINET was quiet and stayed quiet no one would notice for a while.

Then there was always the possibility of feeding it to other ships in the fleet. "Is there a possibility SCINET could transfer to other vessels quietly? I'm not sure of its exact specifications as I've never sat down with it." Or any other AI for that matter. The young princess wasn't a technological mastermind, or any form of mastermind. She was well educated and well rounded, a Jill of all trades but a master of none if you will. "The vessels ATI produces for the First Order are command and control vessels. Orbital Operations Command, Invasion ships, the like. Not their primary battle ships where the real treasures would be kept." Commanders of the First Order liked to sit on Star Destroyers and Battle Cruisers and what a haul it would be if they could have admiralty access, identification, and command codes at their disposal. Certainly ArmaTech had some form of shipment rights since they maintained a constant stream of fully armed and equipped planetary assault ships heading for First Order space, but that wouldn't be enough in the end game.

Laira had other questions for the woman representing the Naboo Director General. She could understand why, having heralded from Naboo the woman would be in opposition of the First Order, but the biggest question was why now? Perhaps the Galactic Alliance was cultivating new weapons with the Kaeshana having been lost to the First Order's advancement?

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Laira Vereen"]

"A software update makes perfect sense. There are risks, but the process would be straightforward. As for the cross-contamination issue, that's less so. Currently, we believe the First Order's information security regime would be sufficient to the task of containing a SCINET outbreak. However, we believe that compromising the planetary assault ships will be sufficient to make a significant impact. We believe those vessels are high enough priority to carry a complete order of battle. Lists of capital ship names and models - a firm idea of the First Order's naval strength. The order of battle likely wouldn't include details on commanders, codes, or assignments, but whatever we get would be an intelligence coup. Are you with us, Miss Vereen? Or more to the point, do you think your father would be?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"All information is vital until one is in a position to evaluate its significance, and that only comes with hindsight." Something one of her adopted uncles always told her when she was in school. It basically meant every piece of information was important until you can see for certain that it wasn't in the past tense. In this case, the lady was correct in what they could garner from the ships in production would be invaluable, even if it didn't provide the Alliance with a master stroke in the heart of battle.

It was too bad they couldn't infect the fleet, there were oh so many things that could be done to a warship to turn it in to little more than a flying bomb with a bunch of people on board. Under the right circumstances, a single Mandalorian Child could cripple a star destroyer, or so ancient tales told. "With you?" She placed the datapad down on the table.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage Lady Shambleau. I'm not aware of who 'us' is and therefore can't speak for my father. You may know he has retired from the field for a while, and even with his children being grown it takes more than an unknown, undefined, 'us' to rouse him from the Palace." Namely the last times he had entered any form of combat had been to search for his children when they had stepped a little outside their comfort zone or bitten off more than they could chew.

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Laira Vereen"]

"I represent Lady Cardei of Strategic Security Branch. By extension, I'm here to represent those who are interested in slowing the growth of the First Order. The Royal House of Naboo, the Galactic Alliance, and so forth. Any number of people and organizations would benefit from the First Order's discomfiture. I'm speaking in general terms: I don't represent some overarching conspiracy or secret organization. I'm simply here to present you and your father with an appealing option, and all I'm asking is whether you believe he's likely to take that option. If not, keep the SCINET iteration. I have no doubt you'll find a use for it that makes mutual adversaries uncomfortable."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Ah. Then as I said before, my Father was born and raised on Eriadu and his parents were killed by the First Order before I was born. When he was Shukalar of the Mandalorian Clans he attempted to lure the clans to war with the First Order then, and he has assisted the Galactic Alliance since then as well, and I'm sure he will continue to do so. He'll be around for the war." Whether he took an active role or inactive role would have to be seen in the future, when that bridge came to be crossed.

Laira wondered if the woman was with the SIS and only barely associated with Theed Hangar as a cover, using the opportunity to feed an asset into enemy hands quietly and subtly. It was an interesting approach, and not beneath the SIS at all, but seemed a little too coordinated for them. A little too well connected to everything else, as if a lot of pieces had simply fallen together and she was simply taking advantage. Perhaps there was some manipulation at hand behind the scenes. Major Production models and contracts weren't hard to track down, neither were following bread crumbs to lead the two corporations together however. Everything just seemed, odd.

"I can assure you my father is with you. And I for that matter." Laira had fought above Kaeshana after all as Rakehell One in her own ship, but she hadn't been claiming to be Laira Vereen, she had been flying as Laira Darkhold at the time, using her Grandfather's surname for her own. "Allow me to see you out if our business is complete." She extended a dainty hand towards the woman and started to rise from the chair.

[member="Lady Shambleau"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Laira Vereen"]

"It is. Thank you for your business, Miss Vereen." Shambleau rose from the chair, leaving the data core on the table. "I'm glad we could come to this understanding. If there's anything relevant we can do, let us know. For example, we'll happily process any data you retrieve from the First Order by playing with SCINET. Take care, Miss Vereen."

Shambleau nodded, almost a bow, and exited the meeting room. She'd down halfway across the galaxy to strike this bargain and deliver this package; now to fly back. The glamour of intelligence work really hit home on days like this.