Lay Your Weary Head to Rest [Closed]

[Hannibal Oryen]

CESTUS SYSTEM, ORD CESTUS
CESTUS CYBERNETICS HEADQUARTERS

With a near-silent hiss, the doors to Zothustro Quill’s posh office slid open. Hannibal had noted that each time he came in for one of their meetings, the office seemed a little more well-decorated. Funny how a little thing like disposable income made itself evident even in a miser like Zothustro’s life.

“You rang, pal?” Hannibal sauntered in, seemingly oblivious to the other humanoid standing in the room.

Zothustro tapped a stack of flimsiplast on his desk. “<< Yes. Someone delivered these to us. >>”

“What is it?”

“<< Blueprints. For a very large war droid. >>”

Hannibal raised an eyebrow. If there was one way to get his attention it was to say that the stack of flimsiplast on the desk was going to build him a shiny new war droid. One could almost hear the cha-ching as his eyes turned into comically large dollar bills.

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

Hannibal thumbed through the blueprints. What the hell was this thing? The design reminded him of something colicoid, but he couldn’t say it was for certain. It was a scary thing to behold, but otherwise it seemed to be lacking. It needed more firepower. Maybe a shield generator. Some means of combatting airborne targets, which this thing would be a field day for.

But Hannibal very much wanted to build one.

“Who the hell dropped this off?”

“<< An anonymous benefactor. >>”

“That’s weird as hell, but alright. I’ll take it.”

Just before flicking to the next page, Hannibal looked up. He was no expert on getting a read on what X’Ting were thinking. In general, the emotive expressions of insectoids was hard to read, but he could tell that Zothustro was agitated about something. Or not agitated, but… Bothered. Uncomfortable.

“Hey, you alright?”

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

He couldn’t believe he was going through with this. There was no way this would work, despite what that human had said and promised. Nevertheless, Zothustro felt compelled to try. For the good of the company and to make sure it didn’t get run into the ground.

“<< I believe you should sell me your shares. >>” Zothustro said bluntly. "<< And give me full control of the company. >>"

Hannibal’s expression immediately hardened, as if he were about to yell at or chastise the X’Ting. Zothustro had been expecting this kind of reaction. Before Hannibal could start his yelling, however, he seemed to suddenly lighten up. Instead, the Fondorian reclined back in his chair, sliding the blueprints back onto the desk.

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

“Why’s that, exactly?” Hannibal inquired, finding himself less infuriated at the suggest than he thought.

“<< It will be easier for this company to operate. You don’t seem to care for the business sphere of things. >>”

That much was true, Hannibal found. He hardly had any time to devote to the full operation of running this company. Zothustro trying to consult him on courses of action typically led nowhere. All Hannibal was really interested in was designing his droids and seeing them sold to the galaxy at large. Not the actual process of… Well, anything else.

“<< Why not instead… Work as the head designer? I can pay you still for your work, as well as commission for everything you design. You would have more time to pursue your bounty hunting habits as well. >>”

Now there was a thought. The only thing Hannibal liked as much as droid engineering was the sense of satisfaction that came from tracking down crooks. And then hogtying those crooks and dropping them off someplace for money. That was a whole mess of fun, and something he hadn’t had the time to indulge in since he got involved in this company ownership business.

Hannibal sighed. He probably should have just run it this way from the start.

“Yeah… Yeah, I should probably just do that instead.”

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

They discussed things for a little while after that, mostly on the construction of the war droid. Regardless of which way the conversation went, Zothustro had been assured he would be in full possession of Cestus Cybernetics. He couldn’t believe it. There was no way Hannibal was going to go through with it. Then again, he had been pretty sure he wouldn’t acquiesce to it in the first place. Zothustro would have to pinch himself, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

When Hannibal finally left, taking the blueprints with him, it left Zothustro alone in his office. Alone save for the Umbaran standing a little ways off that Hannibal had completely failed to notice.

 

[Caulder Dune]

“Well, that went well.” Tyrin commented, peeling himself from the wall of the office he had been leaning against.

The X’Ting had been pretty doubtful, but that was because he had little to no experience with the power of the Force. Even the wisest of men, or the most intelligent of Fondorians, could be tricked if they weren't wary of being tricked. Otherwise Tyrin would have just persuaded this Hannibal fellow himself, as opposed to letting Zothustro do all the talking while he subtlely manipulated the engineer in the little-mentioned background.

“Never doubt the power of the Force, my fine friend.”

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

Zothustro had initially been weary of dealing with a Force sensitive, even more so considering it was one of the more malevolent kinds. Sith, he thought they were called. The guys who were running roughshod over Coruscant and other former parts of the Republic right now. Scary, scary people.

But this one seemed reasonable, and he had made Zothustro a deal he sorely wanted. He really wanted Hannibal out of the picture. It was outrageous he had to report to a man so blatantly disinterested in running a company as anything other than a vanity project. Thankfully things could really take off, all because of this Janus fellow.

“<< I apologize for my doubts. >>” Zothustro said. “<< I shall send you your share, as promised. Twenty-five percent holdings of Cestus Cybernetics. >>”

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

“Actually,” Tyrin corrected the X’Ting, giving a small but distracting gesture of his hand. “It was the inverse we agreed upon. Seventy-five to me, twenty-five to you.”

Zothustro gave pause to that thought. Though the X’Ting was far from stupid, he was also getting on in years. How silly of him to forget the exact terms of their deal and mix it up like that. Just another casualty of his age, he supposed. He apologized to the Umbaran, and wrote it down so that he wouldn’t forget again.

Despite their actual splitting of the shares, it would all be held under Zothustro’s family name. It simply wouldn’t do to attract any attention to Janus like that, especially with how helpful he had been. Zothustro would be able to run the company as he saw fit regardless. For the most part. Janus might ask him to do something, but generally as a colleague rather than a superior. He had promised as much.

“Now that we’ve got that settled, I believe we should talk about some details concerning this machine.”

“<< Oh? >>”

 

[Caulder Dune]

“I do not want this to be available for public sale. These will be built to-order, and not a single one more.”

That was understandable. It might attract too much attention from the Mandalorian powers-that-be if Cestus were to just start handing these things out like candy and publicly selling them to whomever asked. As long as they weren't sold to the Mandalorians’ direct enemies, like the Republic, they could probably get by without too much fuss.

“<< What shall we do with our first one, then? I assume you would like at least one built to test production. >>”

“It will be auctioned off anonymously. Do not concern yourself too much with the details.”

Zothustro chittered nervously. “<< Are you sure that would work? >>”

“Oh, please.” Tyrin sniggered. “If I weren't sure, I wouldn't have suggested it.”

 

[Caulder Dune]

With everything resolved, Tyrin was prepared to leave. However, something important came to mind. He turned around just before he got to the door, prompting Zothustro to look up from his desk expectantly.

“There was one more thing I meant to talk to you about.” Tyrin said, meandering back over. “Particularly regarding the name of this company.”

Zothustro blinked. What was wrong with Cestus Cybernetics? The were a company headquartered on Cestus, and they dealt in… Okay, not Cybernetics per-say, but cybernetics as in the blanket term. Cybernetics as it applied to mechanical parts with AI. Even though that wasn’t the layman’s term for things like droids.

Alright, perhaps there was some merit to it, but Zothustro didn’t see any reason.

“<< Name changes are, >>” Zothustro made a strange clicking noise. X’Ting equivalent of “um.”

“<< Expensive. Why would we do that? >>”

“It’s all about image, my friend. Cestus sounds… Too small. Very limited.”

Tyrin willingly neglected to state that Cestus sounded a lot like Cesspit. Not an image he wanted associated with any company he had the majority stake in.

 

[Caulder Dune]

“I would instead like to suggest,” Tyrin continued, “Hegemonic Automaton.”

As far as Tyrin was concerned, that was a name that stuck. It sounded powerful. Important. Hegemonic- defined as superiority in a given context. Automaton made them sound big, like Industrial Automaton. It also made much more sense than just Cybernetics. Automatons and droids superior to everything else.

What wasn't to like?

“<< I am unsure. I- >>”

Tyrin gave a small gesture.

“<< I like it. >>”

“Excellent. I’ll handle the paperwork for it. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your day. We will meet again to discuss the Protodeka again later.”

With an affirmative nod, Tyrin exited the office.

 

[Caulder Dune]

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SOON™​