Ask Corellia A New Face in War

[Carrick]

Not many people would expect to find a high ranking official picking his way through the rubble of what had been, until very recently, been a very active war zone but, then, many people would expect a politician to be above it all. Carrick had been a Jedi before he was a politician and he had never shied away from the humanitarian elements of that particular calling, even if he had decided that it wasn't ultimately for him.

Still meant he preferred to walk the devastation every now and then, get a real sense for what they were facing. Running a hand through his hair, he eyed the aide that was nervously standing off to one side.

"Yes?"

Time to get back to it then.

"Sir, Anat Asteria is here to see you."

Yes, back to it.

Nodding to the aide, Carrick stepped away from the rubble that used to be a library. Crossing the street, he entered the partially-bombed out building that had been one of the many ship assembly warehouses that dotted Corellia. Even as he did so, he could see people working. The walls had holes in them and the roof had even more - but people were working. He passed a starfighter being built, seemingly by a single young woman and her astromech assistant, with a fire that was clear to see.

Stepping off the production floor, he stepped into the manager's office he had taken for his own during his tour of the planet. Anat had been led there by his aides so he would get right down to it.

"Miss Asteria." he greeted her with a hand outstretched for her to shake, "I've heard of you and largely good things. Please, take a seat."

He took a seat himself, behind his borrowed desk.

"I'd offer you a caf but all stimulants are currently being saved for the hospitals. We do have water if you would like some, however... I don't believe either of us has the inclination to stray from our work for too long. So. How can the ISC help you?"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Corellia was home, and it pained her to see how much her world had gone through in such a short amount of time. However, what she loved about her homeworld was the people here, and herself included were resilient, strong, mavericks in a way that made either the galaxy nervous or inspired. Her work with the ISC had begun right away, starting first with the hypergate to counter the sith blockade, and now as Asteria Industries settled into their new headquarters, she was on her way to opening more contracts with the ISC to improve their defenses.

She arrived where the Defense Secretary was station, guided by his aides to their meeting room. She had a hard time trying to place a finger on where he heard his name from. Though she had seen him multiple times on the holonet, she had this feeling they have met before. Regardless, she trusted it would come later, when she least expected and it would hit her like a butt of a bantha's head.

When the doors opened, the woman rose from her seat to honor his greeting; she wore black heels, a knee length black skirt, and a black long sleeved blouse, as she went for a mono-chromatic look with a pop of color, as she had added a silk Corellian green scarf, tied around her neck. She took his hand, shaking it, "Thank you for making time, Mr. Secretary." she said, then taking a seat. She set her holopad on the desk in front of them as he continued, jumping straight into the business of their meeting.

"Asteria Industries would like to offer a bid for a contract to assist in supporting your defense fleets." she begun, switching on the holopad and the image and some schematics of ship engine appeared. "We would not need to build additional capital ships, and instead, we are offering to refit them with the Path Engine."

@Nefieslab

 

[Carrick]

Carrick took note of her outfit - it was nice to see that she wasn't going to be one of those eccentrics who liked to dress as if they were heading down to the gym all the time. He was certain that they could do business when he noted that she was dressed like she had walked out of the corporate sector on her way to meet him. That she managed to maintain this image in the war-torn rubble of Corellia was even more impressive and he was glad he had chosen to wear his grey suit rather than any of the military fatigues he had been offered.

"When one of the prodigal daughters of Corellia comes asking for an audience, you listen." he complimented her with a small smile as he poured a glass of water for each other them, "And you waste none of my time, which I appreciate."

Taking a sip of his water, he tried to relax and found it rather hard to do. One of the downsides of opening himself up to the Force while on the planet was that he could feel pain and death all around him. They'd won the battle but whenever he relaxed and let his senses unspool, the victory turned to ash in his mouth.

As she spoke he raised his glass to his lips but he halted the action halfway to his mouth before setting the glass down again as she spoke about the Path Engine. Near as he had ever heard it, the Path Engine had been something of a myth from the days of the Old Republic, before the Empire.

"The Path Engine... if my memory serves, this was seen as a myth for a long time. Some holy grail of hyperspace travel, right?" he eyed her with more attention, more intensity, than he had a moment ago, "I would be very much interested, of course. What practical effects does it have on the hyperdrives?"

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

She had certainly gained his interest now, the revelation not wishing to be missed with a single drink of water. The woman pressed a few keys on the holopad, the holo image of the hexagonal device. "A myth until it was not. It had some attention nearly a century earlier, but nothing more, false hopes, but now it can be a reality." she explained.

"Its added to current hyperspace engines, but instead of using pre-planned routes, it calculates routes in real-time...well, it can measure more accurately the fluctuations of lightspeed travel and the bend of space." she explained, pulling up the data from her research and real-time experiments. "So what does this mean in layman's terms, its faster, more accurate, we're taking more into effect the environment when we jump, cutting the time in half for jumps." the woman further explained and then brought up several space maps of path jumps.

"We don't have to rely on hyperspace routes, but we can still use them if needed, recalculating and jumping between routes if needed. This can get our ships to where we need them faster, bring more aid to worlds in need, or even to our frontline service members. Even in terms of war, these engines allow for ships to jump from within gravity wells once a path clears, giving better outcomes and decreased causalities in terms of withdraw."

The woman paused and took a sip from her water glass, letting Carrick process her work.

@Nefieslab

 

[Carrick]

He finished the motion, taking the drink he had been surprised into delaying as he listened to her explain more about the Path Engine. How it had not already changed the face of warfare was beyond him but he could appreciate that it likely took longer than expected. After all, all the technology in the Galaxy meant nothing unless people began to actually adopt it in their design principles and manufacturing.

Cutting the time in half for hyperspace jumps was a revolution in terms of the practical application of hyperdrives in combat. As things stood, short jumps mid-combat were possible but were largely rendered useless by the sheer amount of time and effort it took for the crews and the ships to actually make the jump.

This could change this.

If it worked in such a way.

"What about micro-jumps?" he pressed her as he set his glass to one side, forgetting about it as he mind ran, "Based on the principles you're outlining, they should be quick enough to be practical mid-combat if away from a gravity well."

He narrowed his eyes and began to pace slightly as he thought through some of her points, eyeing the data that she had available as he did so to check on the numbers.

"Is there a requirement for astromech integration with the engine or can it be manned by organics?"

The ISC had an abundance of droids - far more than they had organics within their military to be fair. If this engine required organic oversight then it might require expanding ship crew numbers but if they could be manned and maintained by droids? Then all the better.

Blackwell would bite his hand off for a large order of dedicated astronavigation droids too.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

"Micro-jumps are possible, set coordinates with a clear path, meaning you jump from a to b, no changes, no obstacles. There are safety features set in place to ensure you don't run through a line or a planet in the process, which would result in bad news for everyone around." she explained and pushed the holo-pad to Carrick so he could look more thoroughly through the unclassified data that had been collected as so far on the engine's performance on a pervious vessel.

She paused for a moment, thinking on the use of astromech droids in general, "I believe it is possible. It should not change current engineering set ups. The path engine is connected to the hyperdrive and sublight engines, and acts like a super brain to the navigational computer. I imagine like most capital ships, both organics and droid operate together to run such vessels, so it should not disrupt current assignments. Perhaps at the most, additional droid assignments would be necessary for their sensors and maintenance." Tia answered, leaning forward to swipe to a diagram of the component and its connection process.

"Right now, due to the sheer size and weight, we can only do large vessels. I hope in the coming years that we are able to find a way to make them more available for personal transport." she added.

"Thoughts so far?" Tia asked.

 

[Carrick]

Well if micro-jumps could become a more manageable thing then he was very interested indeed. If the improvements did nothing else, this would already make the adjustments worth their weight in credits. At the very least he could see himself approving their installation into some, specific, lines of ships.

Learning that it was only something that could be fitted to larger, capital, ships nixed his ideas for a squadron of fast-jumping ambush bombers but only slightly. Corvettes and frigates with heavy anti-ship loadouts should be able to accomplish the same kind of tasks and their armour and shielding should allow them to survive return fire long enough to perform another micro-jump to safety.

Still...

"The size limitation is a concern but not much of one." he admitted, scrolling through the data before looking up at the woman with a small frown, "How is research coming along with miniaturization? The ISC is more than willing to bankroll some efforts to the cause."

Any insight they could learn was fantastic but the worst case scenario, for him, still involve having her become their major supplier. In fact he was already musing on several options.

"I'll not lie; I'm very interested." he admitted point-blank, "And we have several shipyards that can start rolling out the refits. I'd also want your opinion on some of our new ships so we can work in the changes as standard."

He eyed her quietly for a moment.

"What's that going to cost us?"

It was a significant question... not least because he wasn't speaking about money. They could give her credits hand over fist but that wasn't what he was asking because that was a given. What he wanted to know was what she actually wanted out of the deal - aside from the credits.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

For Tiamat, she knew it would not be a problem, the technology she offered was renovating and it was something she knew not he would not pass on for the security of the ISC. "We are years from condensing to smaller craft, the current engine is extremely dense, we run into weight problems. I think the right combination of redesigning small-crew ships and the materials used for the engine will eventually come together, we will just need time." she explained; it had been easier fitting it to a larger ship, it didn't requiring too much re-engineering, but this they would have to craft something entirely anew. It was not impossible, just time-consuming.

She nodded in agreement to observing progress on some of the ships and identify where the refits could begin, however, then came the question she had a feeling he would ask. The woman leaned back in her seat and folded her hands on her lap, giving thought to how she would respond; it was a good question, one that the ISC would decide her value.

"An endorsement." she stated, "When that time comes, I think Corellia needs someone that knows her and her people here."

@Nefieslab

 

[Carrick]

Damn.

It was, apparently, too much to hope that they might only be a short push away from bringing the technology into the smaller craft market. Because it had always been a longshot, he wasn't too upset so instead he merely hummed a little bit and made a mental note to himself. Still, it was a longshot but that didn't mean it wasn't worth taking so he nodded a little bit.

"I'll make sure that there's a budget allocated from the R&D funds to see if there is any chance at improving the design. Even if it only gets smaller by degrees over decades, it's worth the investment."

Though he wasn't hopeful that he would be able to see them in his lifetime, that wasn't the point.

When the reality of her support's cost came, Carrick was both surprised and entirely not at the same time. He was a political creature so hearing that someone was thinking in terms of longer-term politics was absolutely something he could appreciate and understand. Thinking about it, he eyed her up and down once before humming aloud.

"Would this be your first foray into politics Miss Asteria?"

Corellia was a complicated planet to start out on but one that being local to had a very good influence on. They liked a home-town boy or girl around these parts.

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Despite the extended timeline, Carrick seemed to find it acceptable. It was a different expectation than what she was used to under the Sith Order; she was used to deadlines literally meaning a dead line if she couldn't complete a job by the time given to her by those who outranked her. Luckily, she had managed to keep her path engine technology under tight wraps to ensure it wasn't leaked throughout the sith. Mostly her work had been slicing encryption codes, which were absolutely a bore to her by now.

Tia nodded, seeing the potential in reducing the size of the engine, "And I will make sure your investment is worth it." she stated before he continued, considering her price for this transaction. She watched as he eyed her, but it was in a manner of respect, and not in some demeaning way that would have made her uncomfortable. When he spoke, Tia smiled, unable to hide what she hoped would be her foot-in-the-door maneuver to begin a political career.

"I didn't think it would hinder it if I started at this point." she replied and then rose to her feet, "Again, I thank you for your time, I'm certain I will be hearing from your people soon." she said beginning to wrap things up, "Is there anything that I or Asteria Industries can do for you?" she asked.

@Nefieslab

 

[Carrick]

There was something in her expression when he mentioned that he would be willing to fund the research as a longer term product - he supposed there were limits to the patients of academic circles before they changed their minds and pulled funding. Not altogether surprising considering the budget restrictions they likely had. Thankfully, government jobs paid well in their own way even if they weren't as good as some commercial contracts she might have been able to get.

He was certain that the Corellian Engineering Corporation would start pumping out variants of the designs regardless though. If she wanted to make a bit of a splash on the local political scene it was the smart money.

So she was interested in making the leap into the political arena?

Standing as she did so, he smiled a genuine smile and held out a hand for her to shake. Though they would invariably butt heads in the political arena in the future (everyone did sooner rather than later), he held no ill-will toward her at the moment so felt no hesitation in giving her some heartfelt advice.

"Then I wish you luck and a piece of advice from one politician to another; bury all of your past mistakes."

He released her from his handshake and stepped back to his temporary desk.

"And make sure that all of those mistakes are dead first - one way or another - before they start making noises."

@GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Tiamat took his hand to shake, clasping her freehand over to give a warmer squeeze as he offered some free political advice. Her blue eyes studied him closely, surprised, but then not surprised by what he had to say. The woman nodded, agreeing with what he suggested; she had witnessed it through the years as politicians competed, often digging up what they could find to ensure their opponent had no chance in all of hells of winning their elections.

"Thank you, Secretary." she stated.

Though the problem was at times identifying what was a mistake and what was not. Things get overlooked, forgotten, or if one thought it was buried, can often times show up.

Regardless, the advice was sound, and she had more pressing matters to attend to as she begun preparations to aid the ISC in their war efforts.

End Thread

@Nefieslab