Grandiose Wheelings and Dealings

[Laira Darkhold]

Jabiim was covered with storm clouds, lightning strikes across the skies, outlining the only building on the Razor Coast for kilometers. A short building, only about three stories with a landing pad and vehicle garage attached to it, it sat being pelted by the rain. The constant rain made the area around muddy and small creeks formed around the building. Within four living beings made their home, and their headquarters. This was the ArmaTech R&D Department Headquarters. Draco stood just inside the building waiting for his important arrivals with Kira Rauter, a young woman, reportedly a genius when it came to programming droids. Her feminine touch had greatly increased the aesthetics of the reception room, now clean, with soft comfortable couches to either side of the door and a small desk for a secretary who was not present.

A firing range had been set up in the warehouse, prepared to show off some of the latest wares ArmaTech had designed. Benji Idiro was there, preparing the area for their guests. With any luck they would land a healthy contract with the Republic and could begin reaping the benefits.

"So who is this guy coming again, Draco?" Kira asked, uncomfortable because she had been forced to wear business attire for this occasion.

"Newly appointed Grand Admiral Gir Quee. He's a good man and we've worked together in the past." I answered quietly, "Now be on your best behavior while he is here and maybe we can get funding for your little side projects." I told her sternly. She, much like myself wasn't known for being civil or polite most of the time so I felt it necessary to remind her.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

LLS-5 Concorde Shuttle Remember Hast, Jabiim

The shuttle swooped down through the stormy atmosphere of Jabiim. Raindrops pelted its hull and obscured the transparent canopy. He eyed one of the miniscule drops closely. When was the last time I felt rain? A minute later, and he still couldn't remember. His career kept him mostly in artificial environments on starships and space stations, neither of which generally put "rain" as a setting in their environmental controls. Yet he knew the natural occurence was something expected on most worlds, on some more than others. Perhaps a minute passed before he neared the ArmaTech facility. He lowered the ship's landing gear and brought the Remember Hast to touch down gently on the world's surface.

"Are we there sir?"

Gir turned to face the bodyguard droid. He couldn't go anywhere without some sort of armed security because of his new rank. He figured that the droid was less obtrusive than any organic could be. After all, he could always turn off the droid when he wasn't needed. You couldn't do that with an organic.

The grand admiral turned to the droid, "We are. Let's see what they have prepared for us."

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The Grand Admiral arrived promptly, escorted by a bodyguard Droid and in his own shuttle. I thought that said a lot about the man that he still flew his own shuttle and that he continued to fly himself around despite his rank. Kira leaned over to me as the Admiral approached, "I could design a better Droid than that." She said under her breath. I am sure she could given the resources.

"Good evening Admiral. I hope you're flight wasn't to rough coming in. This is Kira Rauter, our lead specialist on droids. Mr. Idiro is setting up this way if you wouldn't mind following me." I thought it best to ignore her comment from earlier.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir gave a stiff nod to the room's one female and continued to walk towards [member="Draco Vereen"]. He remembered from his briefing that the man in front of him was also a soldier of the Republic. Though they walked different paths in terms of martial skills, he knew that they would share a certain kinship from the start. He glanced around the office, noting the various couches and its orderly appearance.

"Good evening to you all as well," said Gir, before following in the other man's footsteps, "If you don't mind me asking, where are we going?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Kira may have upset the Admiral, but it was of little concern. When addressed I replied, "We have turned our garage into a testing area for this demonstration." It was a simple renovation, just clearing out the merchandise and setting up a firing range. Pieces of tested ceramic were evident throughout the large room. I turned to address the Admiral, "Today we are showing the capabilities of the ACS-202 Vanquisher light repeating blaster. We have designed the weapon for use by special forces or as a squad assault weapon. It provides unrivaled firepower in regards to all single soldier weapon systems." I explained to the man as we entered the test room.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir nodded in understanding as [member="Draco Vereen"] talked. While he had only seen ground combat once, during the Mandalorian invasion of Toprawa, he could appreciate a good blaster. The blaster rifle he had used that day had probably saved his life, or at least ruined those of several men who would have killed him if given the chance. The man from Hast glanced around the bay, noting the ceramic shards on the floor. Well, at least they've shot it before, so that they know it works, and I know that it shouldn't blow up in hand the first time I pull the trigger...He listened intently to the other soldier ended his comments on the weapon. It brought a question to the forefront of his mind.

"What exactly makes the Vanquisher different than its competitors?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It was a fair question, most people wouldn't know by looking at it that it was as powerful as it was. "The Vanquisher boasts the same fire power as a T-21 Light Repeating blaster, with only slightly reduced range. It is shorter than a T-21 making it more maneuverable than other weapons of the like, it holds more ammunition using an extended, easy to replace detachable box powercell, and is more ergonomic that its competitors." I said, waiting for Benji to come in with specifics.

The elderly duros approached and bowed a greeting, "Good to see you again Grand Admiral. The Vanquisher breaks through personal shields, and is a potent weapon against all forms of personal armor. Its also fitted with rails, unlike its predecessor, allowing for secondary auxiliary weapons. For now Viper-2 Miniature Grenade Launchers, however ArmaTech is working on our own, along with a pump-action disruptor, and flamethrower attachments in the near future." He finished speaking, with the weapon sitting on a table.

"Would you care to fire it?" I said motioning to the weapon on a bench facing down range.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir nodded as [member="Draco Vereen"] and Benji further explained the weapon to him. Some might have disparaged the reduced range, but Gir could almost immediately see why a certain Mastery Gunnery Sergeant was pressing for the Vanquisher to be introduced as part of the fleet armories. It'd be a pretty potent close-quarters combat weapon, good for boarding enemy ships or defending our own. And some of the kit junkies are going to love adding things on to it...but then again, all of the attachments they've mentioned so far would be pretty handy to have in a fight. The grand admiral eyed over the weapon carefully, getting a rough idea on the weapon's finish.

There was a saying that one could tell a lot about a soldier just by looking at his gun. If the gun was spotless, it either was very new and hadn't really been used, or its user really babied the weapon. The latter could be good or bad depending on the circumstance. Scratches and knicks on any of the weapon's finish could suggest how often it had been used, and even how it had been used. Gir had seen more than one blaster rifle with scratches all along its underside showing that it had often been used in a prone position. If the weapon had been subjected to an outside environment, that too would inevitably show up with dust and dirt peeking out from deep crevices and markings in the weapon, or various corrosion patterns from long outside use.

But Gir saw few of these tell-tale signs in the demonstration weapon. He guessed that it was still fairly new, or at least babied by its users. All of which were possible given the location and setting in which he was in. He turned his sapphire blue eyes to gaze upon [member="Draco Vereen"].

"Why don't you familiarize me with the controls. I'm afraid I don't shoot blasters too often these days, aside from target pistol and the annual carbine qualification. I think the last time I fired a beast like this was probably at the academy some years ago."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Alright, getting somewhere. I hefted the weapon up with my offhand gripping the rails closer to the muzzle instead of the forward grip. "Alright sir, this button is for powercell release," motioning to a button just above the power cell in the middle of the weapon. I clicked it popped out the cell and replaced it in front of him. "This switch is the fire-selector, safe, semi-automatic, and automatic. She's got iron sights in addition the HUD linked targeting sensor, so for today we'll just be starting at twenty-five meters and emptying the cell." I swapped it over to full-auto pointed the weapon down range and pulled the trigger, sending forty-five bolts down range in forty-five seconds.

I demonstrated how quickly the power cell could be exchanged due to its exterior position after swapping it back to safety. "Any higher rate of fire and the bolts will melt the barrel, but she is pin-point accurate and a beast from the other end. Recoil isn't bad, but there is some." I placed the weapon on the bench for the Grand Admiral to inspect and fire at his leisure.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir watched the other soldier demonstrated the blaster and fire it. The one nice thing that people often forgot about firing blasters was that one didn't need hearing protection when being around them. The blonde man watched the dart-like blaster bolts fly down the range and hit their marks. Even as they did so, he mentally reviewed the controls of the weapon as [member="Draco Vereen"] finished up his shots.

With that man finished firing, Gir walked over to blaster and briefly inspected. He didn't see any wear and tear on that he hadn't seen before, and the barrel seemed to have properly cooled down. Just to be on the safe side, he gingerly placed his hand just over the rail system, expecting to feel a lot of heat coming off it if there were any cooling problems. But there did not appear to be so.

He checked the weapon's safety once more, brought up to his shoulder, and flicked the selector switch to semi-auto. Since he wasn't wearing any body armor, he lined up the iron sights of the weapon on a target, and gently squeezed the trigger. A single blaster bolt sprang out of the barrel and found its mark on one of the more distant targets. Satisfied with that basic test of accuracy, Gir flipped the switch to a rapid-fire mode, and pulled the trigger. Sprays of blaster bolts emanated from the weapon's tip to lash out at the distant target. He flicked the switch back to the "safe" setting and set it down.

"It looks like a solid piece of kit," said the man, "I know more than several soldiers who would like to get their hands on this. But I suppose I'm going to have to sign some paper work before they get their hands on one of these, right?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Well, in fact that was exactly what was going to have to happen. "I'm afraid bureaucracy has its place in business, so yes. The question is, since this model is in minor production whether you want as many as we can pump out or if you want a set order number, boss. We are comfortable with either. In addition to these I would like to offer the 001 Arbiter and Arbiter advanced helmet to Republic Special Forces, assuming they don't have better." I spoke with the Grand Admiral while Benji prepared paperwork and set a small contract on the bench in front of us.

"I hope everything looks agreeable to you, and hopefully we can have more business down the line, Grand Admiral [member="Gir Quee"] and I look forward to serving under you." I said in conclusion.

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir nodded as he picked up a datapad stylus from a nearby desk.

"We'll be ordering 75% of your output of Vanquishers a month to be delivered to the Republic fleet as dictated by our logistics corp," announced Gir, "since the tests seem to confirm a certain NCO's observations, we'll primarily be keeping them for use in close-quarters combat on starships and urban areas. If you able to increase production later on, we will likely renegotiate this contract."

He briefly pondered the man's offer about the Arbiter tech. But he was no expert in body armor, nor was he typically its end user. But still, the Republic was always on the look-out for new gear that might give its troops an advantage on the battlefield. Quee turned his blue-eyed gaze on the other soldier.

"Tell you what," said the grand admiral, signing the datapad for the Vanquisher order, "I don't have the authorization to order things for Special Forces, but I can give you the contact information for a quartermaster to send evaluation units of the Arbiter and Arbiter helmet too. She can start the process to get that put into a contract if they feel that they need the gear. does that sound agreeable?

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Absolutely, anything I can do for the Republic you can count on." I said, liking the idea of having a steady income for the work done on Taanab. "I'll get in touch with her when I can, and I will work on upping production on these guns as well, but no promises. A lot of big projects are coming up and we will be swamped in the R and D department for a few weeks. Rumor is we are assisting you guys in building something big and special too." I said, having heard through the grapevine about the Republic kick starting some kind of production campaign.

I extended my hand to the Admiral, and smiled, "Good doing business with you, certainly not the last time."

[member="Gir Quee"]