Topic: The Shield of Aegis

Karadesh Sovanii

Date: 2011-10-01 12:39 EST
The Batten Industries' main office is a five-story building that has the unusual characteristic (for sao large a building) of being made entirely out of some red-brown wood, with a tower on top that extends at least a further two floor's lengths above the roof. A granite sign proclaims the building as being B.I.'s industrial complex and corproate offices, and beyond that there is a short, stone walkway that leads to a pair of automatic sliding glass doors, into the lobby of the building. The interior is grand elegance without being intimidation - wood-paneled walls, granite flooring and a large, smicircular desk dominate the lobby along with a fountain which adds its soft music to an otherwise silent space. Twin curving staircases sweep up behind the desk to the floors beyond, and behind the desk sits a slim and lovely platinum blonde girl, busily working at a computer console.

Karadesh is still using a walking staff because of the occasional dizzy spells. Technically the docs had given him a clean bill of health, but the concussion had thrown off his balance, and he had brief moments of vertigo. He is doing well as he walks into the office foyer, smiling to the blond woman behind the desk, "Hi there. I have an appointment to see Mister Batten. Could you tell him Karadesh Sovanii is here?"

The pretty blonde looks up with a dazzlingly white smile, nodding to him before her fingers move across the screen of the computer console as she looks the name up with swift efficiency. "Sovanii...ah, yes, here you are. I believe you are expected, sir. All the way up the stairs to the fifth floor, and down the hall to the end you'll find the elevator. If you press the button marked 'MO,' it'll take you to Mr. Batten's office."

Karadesh returns the woman's smile with one of his own, moving carefully through the halls, following the directions he's been given. The stairs prove a slight challenge, as he ends up almost loosing his balance about halfway up, but recovers without incident. Finding the elevator, he presses the indicate button, wondering why there wasn't a stop on the ground floor.

The halls - in sharp contrast to the lobby - are almost utilitarian in their appearance: taupe and grey, with simple, brushed-steel doors, and next to each a recessed panel of some crystal-clear material that glows faintly with cyan-toned light. The elevator is more of the same, and upon the button being pressed it rises through two stories very quickly, opening on a short hallway. The walls of this one are oak-paneled, the floors tiled marble, leading to a pair of dark wooden double doors. the nameplate is gold, engraved with one simple word in block letters: 'BATTEN.'

Kradesh steps out of the lift with a chuckle, "Well, at least he knows how to impress." His tail grabs up the walking staff so that he can push the doors open and step inside.

The inside of the office is...cavernous. the ceilings stretch to almost fifteen feet overhead in cathedral style. One whole side of the office is dominated by a floor-to-ceiling window, which overlooks the bay and river, and the city beyond to the south, with a breathtaking, sweeping view. Behind a desk that appears to be made of some crystalline material sits the man himself, who looks up at Kar's appearance with a grin as he speaks in a thick Cajun accent that is cultured nonetheless. "Y'all must be Karadesh." He pushes himself up from his chair and comes around the desk, holding a hand out to him. "Ah'm Ed."

The view was impressive, to be sure, however it wasn't what the blue-furred Khyrolii was most interested in here. No, that was the man behind that expensive desk. "Yes, Karadesh Sovanii." His grip is firm and businesslike. "Thank you for agreeing to see me."

Ed's grip is a strong one, hard and callussed - not the hand of a man that sits behind a desk all day. He gestures to a seat across the desk from his own before he resumes his seat. "So...Ah understand ya were in de fracas a few nights ago in de marketplace?"

Karadesh releases the man's hand and settles into the offered seat, tucking his tail along his legs and leaning slightly to the side to keep from sitting on the base of the appendage. He finally nods slowly, "Yes, I was there. That is part of why I've come today."

There's a nod from the Playboy as he leans back in his seat, interlacing his fingers and placing them behind his head as he looks Karadesh over with his sapphire-blue eyes. "All right, go 'head...Ah'm listenin'."

He nods in return, leaning forwards slightly. "That fight taught me that I need some kind of protection, more than just my telekinesis. I would like to commission you to construct some kind of powered armour for me, in case there is another fight like that, so I won't be so easily taken down. I would also like to commission the construction of basic powered or non-powered armour for the Sisters."

Ed's face reveals little, if anything at all, as he looks over his desk at Karadesh, his hands moving from behind his head to steeple in front of him. After a long moment of thoughtful silence he speaks, a slight grin tugging at his lips. "While Ah do man'facture some basic, lightweight armor...what makes ya t'ink dat Ah'd be up to de makin' of a powered battle suit' If Ah have what yer sayin' right, dat is."

Karadesh sighs slightly as a momentary wash of vertigo overcomes him. The man was hiding something, but to find out what, Kar would have to press into the man's mind, an effort which would prove far too taxing just now. Instead, Karadesh looked the man in the face, "I saw you activate your armour that night Mister Batten. It was perhaps the most extreme example of nanotech armour I'd ever seen. You're no simple businessman, that much is certain. If you can create something like that, then more simple suits are well within your abilities."

He manages to suppress a grimace at that, though the smile does widen a touch as he makes a mental note to put the cloaking system on in the future - in the excitement of testing the new system out for the first time he'd forgotten. He gives Karadesh a slow nod, finally, as he chuckles. "All right, ya got me dere. An' Ah'll tell ya honestly, yes, it is somet'in' well wit'in my capabil'ties. However, Ah'm not sure dat de Sisters would want somet'in' 'long de lines of powered armor...but somet'in more basic ain't out of de question dere. Seein's we all have a common adversary, Ah c'n even do dat fer free...for yer own powered armor, t'ough, Ah might have t'charge ya. Dat stuff ain't cheap to make."

"I am more than willing to pay for my armour Mister Batten, though I wouldn't mind something of a discount for providing you with technical data." The blue-furred Khyrolii grins slightly.

That gets his attention, naturally - he's always interested in technical data and designs. Knowledge, in many cases, often proves to be more valuable than simple coin. "Ah'm sure somet'in' can be arranged along dose lines. What kinda technical data we talkin' bout?"

Bingo. Even without reading his mind, Karadesh manages to find the right buttons to push Edward. "Before I got the hell out of the war, I managed to grab an archive of my colony's technical databases, including the military database. Materials science, energy production, weapons technology. I'm sure there's something you'd be interested in."

He chuckles and nods at that. "And Ah'm sure dat ya wouldn' mind havin' some o'dat tech included in yer own armor."

"That's generally the idea, yes. I'm sure you'd rather keep your own tech to yourself, wouldn't you?" The Khyrolii's grin is conspiratorial. "Mostly what I need from you is your facilities and infrastructure."

HE nods, looking thoughtful now as he leans forward a little bit, tapping slightly at his desk. The crystalline material lights up with a cerulean glow and a user interface populates the surface of the desk. As he manipulates the data feeds, pushing them aside and pulling up a new screen, he starts typing instructions into on a vritual keyboard, speaking without looking up. "Did ya want dis t'be a private endeavor, or is dat not an issue?"

"I would like these designs, both the powered and unpowered armour, to be made available to the Scathachians, but otherwise I'd prefer these not be distributed."

He shakes his head, pausing as he looks up. "Ah figgered dat...what Ah meant was did ya want yer pers'nal armor made in my on-site facilities here, or somewhere off-site."

The blue-furred male rolls his eyes and nods, "My apologies. I think building everything using your facilities would be best."

There's another nod from Ed as he looks back down and inputs a final string of commands before he speaks again. "Di, add Karadesh Sovanii to de approved access list fer de production facil'ties, as well as de Performance an' Testin' labs, expiration unknown." There's a bell-like tone from hidden speakers that comes from the desk before a cool, almost sultry female voice speaks. "Karadesh Sovanii, added. Access expiration to be determined." There's another nod as the Playboy sits back and looks to Karadesh again. "Anyt'in' else Ah c'n do for ya?"

Kar shakes his head, again slower than if he hadn't been injured. "No, I think that should cover things Mister Batten. So, should I just leave my database with your dataform when I'm done?"

He nods with a smile. "If'n ya don' mind. An' if ya need any help wit' any'ting, Diana has a wealt' of knowledge, includin' m'own designs an' work. She's a ver' useful assistant."

Karadesh stands and again offers his hand, "It's a pleasure doing business with you Mister Batten."

There's a grin as he stands, reaching out and shaking Kar's hand again. "O'course. An' if ya don' mind...de armored suit t'ing o'mine" Let's try t'keep dat 'tween us, if ya don' mind."

The blue-furred one nods once, "I don't think you'll be able to keep it secret for long. Other's likely saw you use that armour. Still, I won't be telling anyone myself." Karadesh turns and heads out.

((Special thanks to Ed-mun for RPing this out via IM.))

Karadesh Sovanii

Date: 2011-10-01 13:13 EST
Karadesh wanted to get to work as soon as possible, so right after his meeting with Batten, he asked the dataform Diana for directions to the labs he'd been given access to. He needed to familiarize himself with the technology Batten had, and see where it might be compatible with his own purloined database.

When he arrived at the lab, he immediately went to the nearest chair and sat down. Pulling his dataslate out of his vest, he set this on the nearby table and used it to remotely access the database stored in his mainframe at home. "Diana. I've opened the remote access protocols on my slate and accessed the technology database. Go ahead and download the whole thing, but segregate it into my project files until we're done."

Karadesh waited until Diana signaled she was done, then he got to work. He began by pulling up holographic depictions of some of TRIAD Enterprises military powersuits. Karadesh didn't need an assault model, but perhaps one of the lighter scout armours. "Diana, let's start with the undersuit. I'm not sure how Mister Batten's suits are designed, so I need to know if the systems are going to be compatible, especially the materials. I'm worried about the nano-myomers interfacing properly with Batten's technology."

Karadesh continued working. The myomer fibers were grouped into muscular bundles, just like natural muscles, only a hundred times more responsive and powerful. Not only would the myomer system enhance strength and speed, but they were designed to buffer the stresses placed on the pilot of the armour. Throughout this undersuit were placed computing nodes made from molecular nanotech processors, which served to regulate the systems of both the undersuit and the armor over it. The armour itself was composed mainly of ceramal, a ceramic substrate into which was alloyed titanium, tungsten and cobalt particles, giving the one millimeter of ceramal whole a strength equal to a fifty millimeters of rolled titanium. The joints were sealed with a plasticine substance that rivaled chrome steel in penetration resistance. Sensors were handled by strategically placed nano-scale mechanisms, so there was no central sensor system to prove vulnerable to attack. Power came from superconducting storage loops in the back, a nano-fusion system, and nano-scale flywheels and energy capture systems throughout the armour and undersuit.

When Karadesh was finished putting together the schematics as best he could, with assistance from Diana of course, the Khyrolii leaned back and sighed. "Alright Diana. That's about all I have on my end. I don't plan on arming this thing extensively. This intended to be a defensive suit to keep me from getting caught by surprise again. I need to know if any of Batten's quick-deploy nanotech is compatible with this design. If so, can you make the changes and give me an estimate on fabrication?"

Edward Batten

Date: 2011-10-01 14:15 EST
The AI was silent for a long moment as the data was processed, the technology analyzed and the designs compared to Batten's own technology. In a corner of the dataslate Karadesh had enabled for a remote datalink a number of portable mediums flashed by, one after another, as the AI first compared them to Karadesh's armor design, then discarded the possibility.

Once she was finished, the cool feminine voice spoke. "The armor you have designed is only compatible with Mr. Batten's rapid-deployment systems if the design were to be extensively modified. However, the modifications would compromise the structural design you have created in such a way that it would be severely weakened."

There was another pause as the AI considered the other options, then continued. "Adapting Mr. Batten's technology to compensate for this weakening is, regrettably, not possible due to your armor's power system."

Karadesh Sovanii

Date: 2011-10-01 14:27 EST
Karadesh sighed as he leaned back in the chair. "I was afraid of that. I had a feeling Batten's systems used some kind of exotic materials to cut down the weight. Must've been the power systems. Alright then Diana, open project file 'Flatspace'."

Karadesh waited as Diana opened the files and absorbed the information within. Flatspace was a technology developed in his home universe by TRIAD Enterprises, and normally was a carefully guarded secret. The war back home had allowed Karadesh to get away with even that technology in his stolen database.

In essence, Flatspace was dimensional compression. Suspending a three dimensional volume within a two dimensional space. It allowed flat 'doors' that opened into entire warehouses, sword scabbards that fit into a wristband, even nanotech assembly devices in a small pack.

When Batten's dataform was done going over the technical data, Karadesh spoke again, "Diana. Will Batten's nano-assembly system be compatible with a flatspace generator?"

Karadesh Sovanii

Date: 2011-10-04 11:47 EST
There's another, longer pause as the AI processes the data in the Flatspace file, then runs a comparative analysis on the data from the design and possibilities for adjusting it to fit this new parameter. Finally, the AI comes back with an answer. "It would appear this technology would be compatible with Mr. Batten's rapid-deployment armor systems without extensively modifying the design shown here."

Karadesh sighed and nodded in relief, "Good. How long will the current design take to fabricate?"

The cool feminine voice comes back much faster this time - that's an easy calculation for the AI. "With reconfiguration of the assembly line and production time, the armor will take approximately four hours to complete. A flatspace generator will take more time to complete and be ready - approximately thirty-six hours, as a new design and assembly system must first be fabricated."

He nodded again, "I understand. While we're fabricating new technology, we might as well get the most for the effort. Open the database files on gravitic technology." Within the file were technical schematics and data on how to manipulate gravity. Cancelling the effects of gravity on an object, projecting artificial gravity fields, even using gravity in coherent beam form.

There's another long pause as the AI processes the data from the gravitic technology, processing it and collating the files to her own database, before she manages a response. "This is fascinating technology. Unfortunately, at this time there is no technology available of Mr. Batten's to manufacture some of the required materials to fabricate any of these designs."

"I expected that. The gravity lenses in particular were constructed out of some kind of exotic matter. I don't know what kind or what properties it had. It should be available in the data. I do know that most of the common materials and components can be fabricated ahead of time, so once we obtain the necessary materials for the lenses, they can be installed later." Karadesh picked up the cup of coffee he'd asked for while working on the earlier designs. Then he leaned forwards and started making adjustments to the armour schematics, adding modular components to the suit so that the gravity lenses could be installed more easily. "There, that should allow us to integrate the gravitics at a later time. Will this affect fabrication time?"

Another brief analysis is done before the AI answers. "The impact on the time of fabrication is negligible if these components are included in the design."

"Good. Begin fabrication and notify Mister Batten." He finished his coffee. "It's been a pleasure working with you Diana."

"Quite, sir. The line is being configured now and I have informed Mr. Batten. Will there be anything else?"

Karadesh shook his head slowly. "No Diana, thank you." The blue-furred Khyrolii stood from his chair, taking one last look at the hologram of the new armour design. At least now Felix wouldn't have to worry about a stray piece of debris putting him into a coma again. It would take a concerted and deliberate attack to breach the defenses on this suit. Nodding to himself, Karadesh shut down the hologram projector, put away his dataslate, and left the room to return home. He'd be back in a few days to check on the suit's progress, but for now there was a lovely woman waiting at home for him...