Got a minute?

[Jorus Merrill]

HEKLER'KOK DEFENSE INDUSTRIES HEADQUARTERS​

FENESSA​

He'd called ahead; HDI had accommodated. Though his personal fortunes had changed before he could purchase thirty-three percent of Corek's company, and though Jorus was no longer part of Silk, the old contracts between HDI and Silk still held true, and one or two people remembered him. The word had gone up the food chain: Jorus Merrill wasn't dead, and wanted to have a word with Noah Corek at his earliest convenience.

The Gypsymoth's battered spaceframe shivered as it touched down outside HDI HQ. A revolver on each hip, Jorus went out to see what he could see.

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]
Noah stood on the landing pad of the HDI facility, dressed in his Omega Pyre fatigues, his Colonel rank displayed on the small velcro patch on his chest. Popping the joints in his neck, Noah looked down and made sure his P-2 was secured in its holster before looking back up the the Gypsymoth as it landed. Noah always wondered about the name of Jorus' ship, though he had never asked, he had always figured that that was its name before Jorus bought it and just decided to keep the name because he either liked it or just didn't care, though he found the second to be unlikely because just how much care Jorus had put into the ship. Sighing, Noah looked up as he heard the ramp of the freighter begin to lower.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Noah Corek"] got a nod as Jorus came down the ramp. "Colonel." Straightforward acknowledgement, as between equals; Colonel balanced naval Captain. "I've got a problem and an opportunity, and they're pretty much the same thing. And you've got a problem and an opportunity, if you see it the right way. My opportunity is this. I can run an awful lot of guns in this ship, and others I've got on hand, with good crews. I've got the means to get anything anywhere for the resistance, behind Sith and ACA lines. My problem is that I don't have guns to run. Now you, your problem is that gun sales are down, for slugthrowers especially. Your opportunity is this shot, right here, to be the man that armed the resistance.

"I want to empty your warehouses of backlog, every product line that underperformed, everything that costs more to store than it's worth. I want to put your guns in the hands of every rebel in the Deep Core underground."

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]
Noah raised a eyebrow when Jorus came down the ramp and told him everything before Noah even had a chance to respond. "First, what happened to 'Noah'? I thought we were friends Jorus and second, we shouldn't be talking about this in such a open place. Knowing the Feds and the Sith they have ears everywhere and I'd rather not them find out about our little arrangement. Follow me." Noah motioned Jorus to follow as he led him into a elevator and pushed a button to take them to the top floor, a floor labeled, secure.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Noah Corek"]

Jorus forced himself to relax. Once they were inside-

"Sorry, Noah. Just came from the siege of Odik. I'm still more than a little on edge." He took a seat, staring at nothing. "The Sith...it's like dealing with the Bando Gora in the old days, except these ones call themselves civilized, and their atrocities are more deliberate than random. I feel...pressure."

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]
Noah shook his head when Jorus mentioned the Sith. "Jorus, you're talking to a man who's family has fought the Sith since before the Great Hyperspace Wars. I know what they do and how they do it and eventually they'll keep going on this path. Just last week, Darth Junra killed the Dark Lord. So trust me, their days are numbered." Noah informed him as they walked out of the elevator as it reached the top floor. "So, what was this about loading weapons into the Gypsymoth?"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Noah Corek"]

"Fair enough. I'd forgotten that about your family. Mine doesn't really go back that far, so far as I know, so I don't tend to think in terms of dynasties and legacies. As for the weapons..."

He followed Corek into the top floor, tossing a nod to the occasional familiar face from business days or Omega warzones. Not eactly covert, but at some point you had to trust someone.

"...the Gypsymoth and other ships I have access to, my ships and my friends' ships, mostly nondescript. If you still have that old Hammerhead I rebuilt for you, that's the sort of thing this situation could use. I've got ambitions to run supplies to resistance units set up on Odik, Eclipse, even Byss -- and that's just the Core. I'm even trying to set up resistance on Sharb, one of the Chiss worlds and a potential Sith target. Sharb's where I'm bound after this. It's a pretty key link between the Path of the Houses, which is the main Chiss hyperlane, and potential routes to Republic and even Mando space. Securing Sharb, in case the Republic fails, is one of a hundred priorities we're all trying to juggle.

"I won't lie, you delivering guns to a Republic world like Sharb would be useful, if you have the guns to spare. I can do the hazardous runs myself."

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Noah rubbed the stubble on his chin as he thought of what Jorus had said. "Weapons huh? Well you've come to the right place Jorus, I've got enough weapons, armor and vehicles to supply dozens of militia groups, which I've already started doing." Noah informed Jorus with a smile. "The Galactic Liberation Collective, the Rebel Alliance, the Freedom Fighters of Aldeeraan and multiple different groups on planets like Coruscant, Empress Teta and Csilla. Trust me Jorus, I've been donating arms and armor to the good fight for months now, even before the One Sith came into the picture. Though even if you do get these arms to the groups your still gonna need soldiers to train on how to use them. Of course that's where I also come in. On the side, I also run another PMC called Ravenwood Industries. I could send them in as advisors to train the resistance groups on how to use the weapons. But that can be hashed out later. For now we need to discuss what we need in terms of weapons. Of course any weapons really are up for grabs but take a look at my manifest and decide for yourself."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Noah Corek"]

A slow grin blossomed.

"This is how the first Rebel Alliance started, you know. People with the same interests, the same ideals, running into each other and finding they can help each other. Me, I've spent the past while building Jedi safehouses on...a lot of worlds, all in the Rim."

He paused, pondering.

"I know your manifest well enough, I just don't want to overlap. Tell me -- have you supplied anything on Sharb yet? End of that Chiss hyperlane, straight line from Csilla?"

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]
Noah chuckled when Jorus mentioned that this was how the first Rebel Alliance started. "Jorus, that's how every orginization starts, the Protectorate, the Sanctum, the Republic, hell even the Feds and Sith, but it depends on what the people do that determines what their effect is." Noah informed him.

When Jorus asked about the resistances he had helped on Csilla and if he had expanded them. "Really I've only focused on supplying resistances on Sith and Fed occupied worlds. The Republic should be responsible for arming its own planets and planets near the Sith. You know I've actually been tweaking and refining some slugthrower ideas that are tailored to resistance groups."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Noah Corek"]

"You'd make entire product lines to donate? That's...well, it may be bad business, but it's early-Incom levels of commitment."

Jorus' face sobered.

"The Republic should be responsible for a lot of things, in a few ways. Alderaan. Teta. Manaan. Contruum. Peripheral worlds don't get help, even when they're inevitable targets -- that's why they brought me onboard to reform Jedi security. Ossus got hit, a holocron got taken, people died, and the Republic was nowhere. I could give half a dozen other examples. The Republic doesn't have the institutional will or the interest or the manpower to take care of anyone farther out than the Colonies. Mid Rim, Outer Rim -- even if you're in the Republic, you're on your own."

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]
"I look at it like this Jorus, if the Sith wins, I wouldn't have to worry about business anymore because they'd either take over my business or they'd just take all my factories and destroy them. That and my family has been fighting them for millennium, so its kinda of my duty to kill as many of them as possible, whether that be on the battlefield or by supplying arms and creating proxy wars." Noah informed him and then pulled out a datapad and a small holographic projector. "Alright lets get to the actual reason you've come here, weapons. Alright, so the first thing I've been developing has been a assault, it based off of the AR-35 modified with a folding stock and a threaded barrel for compensators, muzzle brakes and the like. I've also been working on two SMG's they're basically the same, they're both made out of stamped parts and are extremely sturdy. The only difference is that one loads normally and one loads from the side."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Noah Corek"]

"Side load submachineguns. Good for tunnel war, access shafts. Solid." He scrutinized the holoprojectors. "And the '35 is about as good as it gets for what I'm after. I literally want my friends to be able to bury their guns, leave'em for a year, dig'em up and fire.

"Refresh my memory -- you have anything in sonics? Them and shotguns -- best way to take down a Sith Lord, far as I'm concerned."

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]
Noah scratched his chin when Jorus asked if he had any shotguns or sonic weapons. "I've got one shotgun that might be useful." Noah told him as he walked over to a nearby locker and pulled out the shotgun in question. "Break-action, double barreled and magazine fed. Fourteen shots in each magazine that comes out to seven per barrel. You can fire each seperately or at the same time. Sonics is what I'm lacking in, I do have flashbangs but I could easily whip up some sonic rifles and pistols and grenades too if needed."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Noah Corek"]

"It's tough to get good sonics -- nobody, and I mean nobody, mass-produces them. Whatever you can get your hands on or come up with will be great, though I'll have to make another contact for the short term. But that's all I do these days -- make contacts. Heck, every exploration jaunt I go on, I'm sizing up my crew and passengers, figuring out who I trust for these things. Made some friends in the process, too." He scratched his chin absently. "I like your plans. If I can leave here with a load of shotguns, SMGs, and whatever you've got on hand -- anything backlog, anything would do -- that'd go a long way towards what I'm aiming to do and the timeframe I'm aiming to do it in. I'm due on Ebaq Nine, then Aargau, then Schesa -- feth, i shouldn't even be saying that much, I'm too fething rusty at keeping my mouth shut. Too long since I've had that as my first instinct, and I need to get that back."