Remember that auction? [Hardcore Station-Edition]

[Arage Bao]

Once again Jared was to meet Ayden Cater, but this time the meeting had another purpose. For one, he was not here to pitch a sale to the man, instead he was here to start talks about the construction of a personalized space station.

After the auction of the Southern System Bazar, Jared had neglected to call in the item, busy being dead and such. But now he was back, alive and kicking, it was good to have friends. And it was even better to be part of a Government that for some reason kept clones of their important officials at hand. No. That was -really- not weird. Well, maybe a bit.

At any rate, Jared stepped into Ayden’s office after being called up. Dressed in his new Kerrigan Coat, before stepping into the building he had shut off the Fear-inducing aspect of the coat. Did not seem much of a good idea, he was not here to intimidate anyone. Besides, Jared doubted it would have had any effect on Cater, just a feeling.

Carefully he sat down in a chair, in front of Cater and offered his hand to shake.

“Lord Protector Cater, thank you for agreeing to meet me this soon.”​

​

​

[member="Ayden Cater"]​

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Ayden sat at his desk, bottle of whiskey already out, and smiled as the High Lord Ovmar walked in. The man was becoming more and more of a common sight on Fondor. It was still something that made a small part of the Corellian paranoid, but that was just a reaction that came with the position. So far, Ovmar had not had a direct part in any Fringe attacks on Protectorate space (that he was aware of), not had he made any overt, or even subtle, aggressive demands of the Protectorate or the Lord Protector himself. So Ayden was inclined to continue hosting the man. If nothing else, it gave him some insight into the Fringe hierarchy and provided a nice change of pace from the prattling politicians and demanding corporate lobbyists.

"High Lord Ovmar. I'm glad to see you walk amongst the living once again." Ayden poured a glass with a knowing grin. "I saw the tournament coverage. Nasty affair." After setting the bottle down, he took his glass and idly swirled it. "So what can I do for you today? Your message mentioned the station line from the South Systems Bazaar auction."

 

[Arage Bao]

Jared could not help, but grimace at the words of the Lord Protector, it had not been a fun experience to get your legs smashed beneath you and then be trapped inside Shorn’s mind for a whole long fething time. Truthfully, Mikhail himself had not been that bad of a sport. For one, he had not tried to exorcise him, though the Gods knew he had threatened to do so many times. But there had been laughs shared, stories sort of told.

All in all… an interesting experience, especially the trip to the Netherworld. Even now his skin crawled at the memories, that was a thing he would rather not experience again, if he could help himself. As he took hold of the extra glass, that Cater had just filled, he smiled ruefully and took a big gulp.

It was necessary.

“Of course, Lord Protector. You did not expect me to stay dead, and let you keep those… 55 million credits it was? without getting what I paid for.”

A small chuckle escaped his mouth, and then took a sip from his drink. Strong stuff. The man knew his drinks, that was for sure.

“Hmm, yes. The Tournament was not really a success, I suppose. Shorn caught me off-guard, and I paid a price for that. At any rate, yes. I wished to discuss the possibility to.. change the Station line into one single station.”

[member="Ayden Cater"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Ayden raised one eyebrow while pulling up the relevant auction and subsequent bids. The initial auction item was a design for an exclusive line of shipyards, development and construction of up to the first twenty stations built, depending on construction costs. And now he was being asked to condense all that into one station. That typically meant a higher cost of production and a lower profit margin. The board of directors would be hesitant about that, as was Ayden. Still, it was a request that intrigued him. "For the sake of discussion, say I do agree to condense all of this into one station. Why change now?"

 

[Arage Bao]

If you told Jared that one station was more expensive than twenty, he would waggle with his eyebrows and continue to drink his wodka while smiling and nodding. Then again, even after all this time Jared still had a lot to learn about such things, honestly how he ran Santhe Corporation… it was anyones guess.

Then again, Santhe was running on a profit ever since he had took the wheel, so he had to be doing -something- right.

Regardless, the question was a good one, and the answer was at least a bit shameful.

“I cheated death once, Cater. I ain’t interested to get a re-run. The Station is intended as my sanctuary, a place where I lay down the burdens and ease down for at least a while.”

Jared took the glass to his lips, and savored the burning sensation of the drink. Excellent drink. But he had already thought that.

“Men like us are not in a position to have a lot of breaks. So we have to take advantages of the spare time we can get.”

Brutal honesty, no games. It was enough to make Jared sigh from relief, being a diplomat was never his favorite passtime.

​

[member="Ayden Cater"]​

 

[Ayden Cater]

He smiled mirthlessly and nodded in agreement. Unlike when Cira was the Lady Protector and he was just an Exarch, Ayden did not have the luxury of being able to take time off from his duties. There was a state that, at its widest, was more than forty thousand light years across. And he had to oversee it. His day was literally planned down to the minute most days. Fortunately the Exarchs and other administrative officials took care of much of the work, but that simply meant that the things that reached his desk were more often than not instances of life and death.

That kind of work was exhausting, but he had to burden it with a smile without faltering. So he perfectly understood the need for a sanctuary. "I can certainly sympathize. If your wish is to condense all this into a single station, that can certainly be arranged." Ayden tapped on the console in his desk and activated a miniature holoprojector in the desk. Displaying were a few basic station shapes to serve as a base for the design. "So what exactly were you thinking of for this station in terms of appearance and armament?"

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

Without missing a beat Jared pulled out a datapad out of his jacket, it was filled to the brim with possible schematics for the Space Station he was hoping to build. Never come unprepared, it even had a couple of concepts for a Station line. There had been a chance Cater would have denied his request, having a back-up plan was always a good thing. For a while he regarded the man in front of him, before handing the pad over. Not sure why, but Jared wished to be honest with him.

Maybe it was because Cater projected an air of authenticity, one of the only people who did not seem to hide themselves. Or maybe Jared was just seeing what he wished to see. As Cater would see the grotesque shape of the Space Station, Jared would smile ruefully.


“A wise man once told me something. Act strong, when you are weak and Weak, when you are strong. It has helped me through rough times. You would not want to believe how many people judge away, and make miscalculations based on what they believe you are worth. When they approach that station... what do you suppose they will think?”

“Oh.. this man must love theatrics. Something like that? Evil Villain in the middle of nowhere? Regardless, they will expect something and when they act upon their expectations, because who would take a man seriously who lives in such a place, they will be in for.. something special.”

Jared took another swig from his drink, and grimaced a little.

"Well... what do you think, Evil Unicorn Lair?"

[member="Ayden Cater"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

Ayden chuckled. In another life-time, he might have been able to call Jared 'friend'. They certainly shared a number of things in common with on another. But that simply wasn't the case. Still, Ayden could allow himself to call the man an associate. He at least understood the burden that weighed upon the Corellian's shoulders hour after hour. He took the other man's data pad and began scouring through it while listening to Ovmar speak.

When he came to the design Jared was speaking of, Ayden nearly choked. Gods, this thing had dozens of spikes. 'Evil' didn't quite do it justice. Still, fifty-five million for a station... Unless he wanted super dense laminanium-beskar hull plating with Corusca gems for buttons and launchers full of orphaned Ewok babies, there was no way to not make a nice profit off this change of plans. So crazy spikes or no, Ayden looked up at Jared and nodded. "I think we can make this work."

 

[Arage Bao]

“Of course it will need a super dense laminanium-beskar hull plating with Corusca gems for buttons and... well I think we can leave out the launchers full of orphaned Ewok babies for this edition. Might be a bit too much.”

Before he took a gulp from his drink, Jared chuckled softly to show he was -just- kidding. How had he known? The Force? Plain luck? Or maybe some filthy meta-nonsense.

“Bigger ain't always better. But I want my money's worth, any suggestions on how to do that?”

[member="Ayden Cater"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

If he was disturbed by the other man's word choice, Ayden gave no indication. Instead he simply nodded and went back to the plans. "Given the remote region you seem to want to put this in, I doubt you'll have very many visitors. You won't need a vast assortment of weapons. A few here and there would suffice, and would carry enough power to dissuade any would-be guests. Mostly I think you'll want to invest in some sensor suites. Top of the line ones. Let you know whenever the hell someone's coming."

He paused and considered the station for a moment before a small grin took him. "You know... If the station is not going to have a lot of weapons... We could put a hyperdrive in it. Give the station some freedom of movement. You could relocate the station at a whim." That would certainly be an edge over most other stations.

 

[Arage Bao]

I sat in the comfortable chair, and enjoyed the taste of strong liquor on my lips. The Lord Protector was pretty busy running through the schematics, and probably trying to come up with ways to cut costs; making a healthy profit out of this business.

Not that I could really mind, a business is a business. Guy’s gotta make money somehow. But then he started talking about Hyperdrives, and that was the moment when Cater caught my attention.

Wasn’t really hard to imagine it, a station that could be anywhere. Tough to find, and easy to relocate whenever it was necessary. Hell, if you play it right, you won’t even need a lot of guns.

Just warp out the moment someone comes knocking, except if they have a gravity well projector. Hmm. Then again, why would someone bring one if they were expecting to assault a stationary… well station.

Things to ponder.

“That.. sounds very interesting. What about Hangar space? I’d want to be able to park at least a few ships to counteract possible incursions. Especially if someone decides to bring along a gravity well projector.”​

[member="Ayden Cater"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

"Oh, it'll have plenty of hanger space. Stations never lack for hanger space, unless you want them to." Ayden continued going over the schematics for the station. The rods would be converted to act as thermal dissipators and lightning rods. He of course didn't know where the station was going to be put, but if he were placing a reclusive station, he'd put it inside of a nebula with electrical activity to mask its presence.

"I'll make sure to include a droid control center. I figure you'll want as few sentient crew as possible, including pilots." Ayden added before taking one last look at the station plans. They looked complete to him. "Anything you can think of? If not, then this will go intro production tomorrow for you."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]