Why Do They Get All The Toys?

[Alric Kuhn]

Alric stood in a small laboratory in one of the many production facilities owned and operated by Blas-Tech Industries. His eyes had a very glazed over look to him, and his face looked all together bored. The scientist standing ahead of him, though he would be better classified as a researcher, was explaining something about blaster production and the things that innately went into that. It was boring, but it all mattered in the end since it pertained to how the company was run.

So while Alric may have looked bored, he was in fact listening.

“...and of course, there are our tinkerings with the Jedi's lightsabers.”

Suddenly Alric looked very interest. His back straightened, his eyes shot out from the rim of his glasses, and his face brightened. Lightsabers? That was something that every child was obsessed with, every child who knew about them anyway. There were tales of Jedi and their laser swords, running around and cutting through anything.

“Lightsabers?” Alric intoned, his voice clearly interested in what was about to be said. He had not been aware of any projects that pertained to lightsabers or anything of the sort, for all he knew Jedi and Sith were the only ones capable of manufacturing the unique blades.

He never would have expected Blas-Tech to have a hand in it.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“Yes sir.”

The answer came almost immediately, and a pleased look was placed onto the researchers face. He had apparently noted Alric's lack of interest, and clearly he was looking to secure more funding for this particular project of his. Lightsabers were interesting, very interesting. The business man looked towards where the researcher was standing, finding out that there were no lightsabers.

He frowned, then looked to the researchers.

“First. Take me to your area of study.” It was likely in another lab, this was a heavy weapons facility where repeaters and assault blasters were tested, he doubted a weapon of finesse was born here. “Second. Tell me more.”

Two easy commands, and by the pleased look on the researchers face he was more than happy to comply. Quickly the man motioned for Alric to follow, beginning to move towards the lab next door. There was an eagerness to his step, and he moved quickly, opening several vacuum sealed door to enter a plain white lab with dozens of disassembled lightsabers and a few items that looked to be the beginnings of blasters.

Alric became eager.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Alric looked about, eying the disassembled lightsabers, the components, and the oddly heavy looking blasters. His glasses found their way off of his face, folded and placed into his breast pocket. He began to quickly inspect everything and anything, looking and trying to check on what everything was at one time.

He like much of the galaxy had never seen the inside of a lightsaber.

Some of the components were actually familiar to him. The Diatium Cell, the focusing crystals and even the lens were something he had seen before, some other components were completely foreign to him and how they all fit together was a bit of a mystery. Some of the parts didn't seem to form together at all, and indeed it seemed rather...fuzzled. He gave the researcher and odd look before reaching out and plucking one of the Diatium cells from its place on a small podium.

Diatium Power Cells were incredibly powerful sources of energy.

Diatium was not a rare mineral, not anymore, but the cells themselves were still quite expensive to manufacture. As far as he knew Lightsabers never ran out of power, so he assumed that the Diatium cell recycled its own charge through some method in the lightsaber itself. He paused for a moment, then looked to the researcher. “Have you been able to replicate the technology?”

 

[Alric Kuhn]

The researcher slowly shook his head.

“No Mr. Kuhn, I'm afraid not. We've disassembled hundreds of the weapons and have tried to make our own. At times they function for minutes, even hours at a time, but they seem to fail in some catastrophic way no matter what.”

Alric gave him a look of skepticism.

“We seem to be missing some component, or perhaps we are assembling them incorrectly. We are not sure what.”

Alric knew very little of the Force, or of the Jedi and the Sith. He knew that they were somehow able to manipulate objects, events, and even people, but he didn't know how. His guess was that somehow it was they that made lightsabers work properly, and it was likely that only they held the secrets to creating a proper lightsaber.

“How did you find so many?” Alric asked as he looked at one of the already assembled models. This one looked like a Jedi's weapon, it was elegant, long handled and seemed to be very well put together. It had no insignias so Alric was only guessing, but to him it appeared a Jedi's weapon.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“The war between the One Sith and the Republic has proven to be an effective means of gathering lightsabers. Smugglers, scavengers, and even soldiers from both sides deliver the weapons to us for a healthy sum of money. Both Jedi and Sith have fallen in drove Mr. Kuhn, their compatriots are far more concerned with them, than their lightsabers.”

Alric gave him a nod.

It wasn't exactly the nicest means of gathering technology, but it was one of the only ways to do it. Lightsabers were a well kept secret, and he supposed he knew why. One of these weapons could hurt a lot of people, and even though reverse engineering had apparently proven to be impossible, it was likely that eventually they could be reproduced.

Slowly the Tetan reached up and touched the activation switch on the lightsaber.

It was held in place in a grav field, floating on its side with no one ahead of it. The blade activated with a brilliant blue light, emitting a heavy thrumming noise and a great deal of heat from the blade. Alric looked directly into it through his glasses, inspecting and observing with careful eyes. “Plasma?”

It was a rhetorical question.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

The researcher picked up on the nature of Alrics words and decided to remain silent. Simply observing as his boss went through the works.

Of course Alric was no scientists. He wasn't a genius or a man that could take something apart and put it back together. That wasn't how he operated. Alric was sure that Cade Lee had been, that the man had been awfully smart and had known the ins and outs of every blaster designed, but that was not who he was. He would leave such things to the engineers, the researchers, the men he payed to do such jobs.

That didn't mean however that Alric had no ideas.

With another quick reach Alric flipped the switch on the blade, turning off the brilliant blue and letting it fall into the handle once more. The Tetan watched the handle for a few moments, unsure whether or not it would explode into a million tiny pieces, then turned to the researcher, who by now had a very interested look on his face.

“Tell me about these.” Alric said as he motioned towards the half constructed blasters that lay on the opposite side of the work bench.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Alric could see the mans eyes light up. This was what he had been waiting for, what he had wanted Alric to ask him about. The weapons were half constructed, somewhere between the size of a heavy blaster pistol and a small sub assault blaster. Big, but not too big to be used by one hand. One of them was bisected, as if lined up for a presentation.

That was the one Alric placed himself next to.

“These are my own design.”

The researcher stammered.

“Done on my own time, Sir.”

Alric gave him a look that told him he didn't really care. As long as the work he wanted done got done, his researchers and engineers could work on whatever they wanted to. Especially when it was down here in research and development where the new ideas were born.

“It is a blaster that uses the same design principals as the lightsaber. It is powered by a Diatium Power Cell utilizes a focusing crystal as well as a magnetic field generator. It contains the plasma from the Diatium Power Cell and fires it, much like a regular blaster.”

Alric's eyebrows raised.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“Unfortunately, the cell does not recharge. So the blaster only has a sustained fire capability of about fifty rounds....”

He trailed off for a moment as Alric looked at him exactingly.

“...but the damage potential is far beyond a heavy blaster of similar size. The plasma ejected will eat through a blast door in a matter of minutes, taking only a few shots.”

That was impressive to be sure. Companies like Blas-Tech were constantly competing with other corporation to see who could pack the biggest punch in the smallest package. He supposed eating through a blast door was quite an achievement, especially given that they were designed specifically to...well not get eaten through. Alric looked a the weapon, walking over towards one of the more completed ones.

“The Cells use after it is expended?” Alric asked quietly as he picked up another one of the loose Diatium Power Cells, inspecting it.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“I have a recycle rate of eighty seven percent.”

The man looked very proud of that figure. If Alric understood him correctly, he could fire fifty shots with this weapon, apparently capable of eating through a blast door, and then when the Power Cell was Empty he could take it and at an eighty seven percent success chance recharge and then reuse it. That had a great deal of potential, not only was a potential buyer stuck with using their ammo, but in order to properly recharge it they had to come back.

It created a loop, much like Cade Lee had produced with his own ammo, the Plug'n Fire.

That had been an ingenious move, one that Alric envied greatly. He knew that this Diatium Power Cell wouldn't actually be able to copy that. The Power Cells were far too expensive to produce for that to actually be feasible. However, this weapon had some interesting implications, not the least of which was giving some of the utility of a lightsaber to the average man.

His lips pursed for a moment.

“Mr. Berinthall.” That was the researchers name. “What is the cost of production?”

 

[Alric Kuhn]

“Sir...As it stands the weapon must be created out of Dallorian alloy as well as plasteel. The Diatium power cells are expensive, though easy enough to produce. The prototypes in all cost thirty seven thousand due to experimentation and use of different alloys in its creation. I believe...if put into production the cost of each weapon can be lowered to eight thousand credits.”

Alric whistled.

For one weapon, that was quite a bit of money.

Many products on the line of Blas-Tech Industries did not even breach three hundred credits in production. Eight Thousand was quite a bit, especially considering that he could produce nearly a hundred of some other weapons that Blas-Tech fielded. For a moment Alric thought. This would be one of the first weapons put into production under his banner.

One of the first of the New Blas-Tech.

He thought about it for a moment more, then began to smile. The power of this weapon, the damage it could inflict? That was worth the money. As long as he made one credit off of each unit sold, he would be more than pleased. This was about more than profit, it was a statement.

Blas-Tech was back, and it was coming back strong.

“Place these into production. I want tests, further prototypes, and the first line ready to go in a month.” The researcher nearly feinted.