Post by Gigachad on Oct 26, 2021 15:04:43 GMT
Eston Refining LTD-Veronis Cascade:
Mister Eston sat at his desk,sipping from a glass of expensive Proia Liquor,something he had purchased years ago and vowed to open in precarious times. If there was ever an appropriate time to drink it,now was it. He looked out of the false windows of his office,each a holographic screen displaying what the station's visual sensors were seeing. He watched the tantalizing dance of the twin pulsars as their polar jets spewed out matter into the void. He felt his grip tighten around the glass before he threw it in rage,the object smashing into a myriad of shards upon and leaving a stain on the expensive carpets. A portion of a wall promptly retracted to disgorge an automaton that got to work on cleaning up the mess
He damned the Jobedia report,a single piece of paper that was now ruining his business,and subsequently his life. He cursed Natar's central government for allowing such sensitive information to leak out to the masses. He even damned the two dancing Pulsars in his side view. Those cursed objects were both his greatest ally and foe,granting his refinery a capacity for turning raw ancerium to hyperfuel that was simply unparalleled by any other. Indeed,the process was so effective,and perhaps most of all energy cheap,that even with current prices of the stuff being so low,he would've made it. That was of course,until his analysts told him the news. An irregularity in the rhythm of the two corpse stars was going to cause an interdiction storm somewhere around the next week. One of the many storms that isolated his refinery from anything else for months at a time,making deliveries unreliable,starving him of clients and ridding him with countless complaints and outright suing from clients that either received their order far too late,or never at all. He truly hated those celestial bodies,how they had tricked him into establishing this operation in the first place.
Most of all however,he blamed himself and the vast inert,complacent and idiotic masses of the galaxy. The Joebedia report rocked everyone's world,yet it was their fault for being rocked at all in the first place. Eston had done extensive research ever since first reading that piece of information,and the results horrified him. The signs had been there for years,and yet he,much like countless others,either ignored them or never bothered to add them up and reach the same conclusion as the ASN's specialists. All because they didn't want to recognize a change to their status quo,their normality,their comfort zone. The human mind truly was fundamentally broken,much like any product of evolution,simply designed to just barely work and nothing else.
The Joebedia report merely forced the people to finally perceive issues that had festered beyond any ability to reverse them. Preparations and measures that should have started half a decade ago now strained the market in just a week,all at once. The result was predictable. He finally damned the galaxy itself,for seeming so discontempt with just settling down. There was always a problem,there was always a threat,or more regularly several. Always competing interests,always wars and death and famine and……
He stopped that train of thought. Simply coming to the conclusion that the universe was not a nice place,nature hardly encourages pacifism afterall. Either that or if there were higher powers at play,they were no doubt cruel and sadistic ones.
Nevertheless,things weren't quite over for him. He still had one hope,one way out. His business alone could not make it,but by the end of this day it wouldn't exactly be his business anymore. He activated a holo screen atop his desk,checking the message from someone interested in his business,and willing to negotiate a potential deal. That's who he was waiting on even now,watching notifications with gritted teeth and praying that something didn't intervene. He couldn't postpone this any longer,if some conclusion wasn't reached before the interdiction storm then that would be the end of the line for him,period.
A new string of information appeared on the screen. A ship had just arrived in his system,one of biological origin. He was not surprised by this,recognizing the aesthetic and design as belonging to the Lithorian Collective,his supposed benefactors. While working with the austral aliens was an unnerving prospect,he had no other alternatives.
Eston sat anxiously as he watched the vessel dock and doubtlessly disgorged something that would come to meet him. Surely enough,barely a minute passed when the automated doors to his office opened. He was shocked,but he had very much expected that. The creature before him didn't match anything on the net about their race,no doubt a byproduct of their frankly ridiculous biodiversity. The alien was tall,so much so that it had to crouch through the doorway,supporting its horizontal body on three lanky legs at the very back. It's body was covered in grey,almost metallic plating,allowing Eston to see his own reflection in them as well as the various seams separating each plate. It's joints lacked these,instead featuring blackened bundles of what he assumed to be ligaments,though they looked more akin to industrial cables than any muscles he'd ever seen.
It seemed to have three pairs of arms,a primary one anchored to a hump on its back and two smaller and nimbler pairs coming out of its chest. Speaking of the back,Eston was baffled by what seemed to be sharp crystalline spikes jutting out of it,pulsing and glistening with a red glow. It's head had similar formations at the back of it,albeit smaller,yet was otherwise featureless save for two pairs of red eyes and more seams between its plating.
The creature began approaching him,moving the chair aside with one of its more brutish eyes. The entrepreneur understood that,afterall its bodyplan did not bode well for sitting. What did catch him by surprise was the mouthless creature seemingly projecting its voice inside his thoughts,which made him somewhat uncomfortable.
"I am happy you could have me today,Mister Eston" It said,crossing its four delicate arms together
"You said you were interested in my business,let's talk"
"Straight to the point I see,one of the many qualities that brought you to our attention. If I am not mistaken,you are in a rather precarious position because of the crash,no?"
"Practically everyone is,but yes. I'm looking to just ditch this and bail out. So what's it gonna be,you wanna pay me to get this facility?"
"We had something else in mind."
"Pardon?"
"We believe your skills are…..exceptional. Afterall you've ran this facility at a profit despite the,quite literall, cosmic impediments pitted against you. We would like you to continue overseeing this facility,under our juristiction"
"You want me to become a subsidiary? Honestly there's no need,just hand me the money and I'll go. Why should I stay when the market's this fucked?"
"Would a promise of greater wealth suffice?"
"I'm listening,how exactly do you plan to achieve that?"
"We're counting on three factors mister Eston. Firstly,if the current situation continues as it is,the prices for fuel aren't just going to stabilize,they'll rebound entirely the other way. We had started large mining operations just before this crash,thus the effect from it had virtually no effect on that area,and generally hit us far less than many others. We were just plain lucky. Nevertheless,this does mean we are in an excellent position to stock up on ancerium. And stock up we shall,for it may well come to be in very high demand sooner rather than later.
As you know however,raw ancerium is practically useless,that's why we are interested in your facility. We will need to do a lot of refining,and your unique method has the capacity we are looking for. If this scheme works,it will make us,and by extension you,rather rich. Until then however,we will keep you afloat"
"......
So you're practically running a gamble. I'm not exactly swayed to stay on board if that's the case"
"No? Then let me continue.
Secondly,operating under our authority will alleviate you of the current obstacles to making this establishment truly renowned."
"Really now? I've gotta hear this one"
"We have a certain piece of infrastructure,capable of opening quite a large number of wormholes where we desire. We've yet to even reach a quarter of its capacity. Most importantly in this situation however,is the fact that they are fully normalized upon formation"
Eston's eyes widened at the last part,a sense of realization hitting him hard.
"You mean….."
"Indeed,once we link your system to our network,those pesky interdiction storms will be of no consequence. So long as the Aje stands,or we see it fit,this system shall never again be cut off from the rest of the galaxy"
"That's….that's-"
"But I'm not done yet. We happen to co-run a free trade zone relatively close to this system.
To show our willingness to cooperate,we may also set up secondary logistical facilities in its reaches for you,that's bound to help with business. So what do you say Mister Eston,are you in or not?"
"Christ,you had me at the second one. What the hell are you waiting for? Open that baby up and let's get to refining"
"Excellent"
Mister Eston sat at his desk,sipping from a glass of expensive Proia Liquor,something he had purchased years ago and vowed to open in precarious times. If there was ever an appropriate time to drink it,now was it. He looked out of the false windows of his office,each a holographic screen displaying what the station's visual sensors were seeing. He watched the tantalizing dance of the twin pulsars as their polar jets spewed out matter into the void. He felt his grip tighten around the glass before he threw it in rage,the object smashing into a myriad of shards upon and leaving a stain on the expensive carpets. A portion of a wall promptly retracted to disgorge an automaton that got to work on cleaning up the mess
He damned the Jobedia report,a single piece of paper that was now ruining his business,and subsequently his life. He cursed Natar's central government for allowing such sensitive information to leak out to the masses. He even damned the two dancing Pulsars in his side view. Those cursed objects were both his greatest ally and foe,granting his refinery a capacity for turning raw ancerium to hyperfuel that was simply unparalleled by any other. Indeed,the process was so effective,and perhaps most of all energy cheap,that even with current prices of the stuff being so low,he would've made it. That was of course,until his analysts told him the news. An irregularity in the rhythm of the two corpse stars was going to cause an interdiction storm somewhere around the next week. One of the many storms that isolated his refinery from anything else for months at a time,making deliveries unreliable,starving him of clients and ridding him with countless complaints and outright suing from clients that either received their order far too late,or never at all. He truly hated those celestial bodies,how they had tricked him into establishing this operation in the first place.
Most of all however,he blamed himself and the vast inert,complacent and idiotic masses of the galaxy. The Joebedia report rocked everyone's world,yet it was their fault for being rocked at all in the first place. Eston had done extensive research ever since first reading that piece of information,and the results horrified him. The signs had been there for years,and yet he,much like countless others,either ignored them or never bothered to add them up and reach the same conclusion as the ASN's specialists. All because they didn't want to recognize a change to their status quo,their normality,their comfort zone. The human mind truly was fundamentally broken,much like any product of evolution,simply designed to just barely work and nothing else.
The Joebedia report merely forced the people to finally perceive issues that had festered beyond any ability to reverse them. Preparations and measures that should have started half a decade ago now strained the market in just a week,all at once. The result was predictable. He finally damned the galaxy itself,for seeming so discontempt with just settling down. There was always a problem,there was always a threat,or more regularly several. Always competing interests,always wars and death and famine and……
He stopped that train of thought. Simply coming to the conclusion that the universe was not a nice place,nature hardly encourages pacifism afterall. Either that or if there were higher powers at play,they were no doubt cruel and sadistic ones.
Nevertheless,things weren't quite over for him. He still had one hope,one way out. His business alone could not make it,but by the end of this day it wouldn't exactly be his business anymore. He activated a holo screen atop his desk,checking the message from someone interested in his business,and willing to negotiate a potential deal. That's who he was waiting on even now,watching notifications with gritted teeth and praying that something didn't intervene. He couldn't postpone this any longer,if some conclusion wasn't reached before the interdiction storm then that would be the end of the line for him,period.
A new string of information appeared on the screen. A ship had just arrived in his system,one of biological origin. He was not surprised by this,recognizing the aesthetic and design as belonging to the Lithorian Collective,his supposed benefactors. While working with the austral aliens was an unnerving prospect,he had no other alternatives.
Eston sat anxiously as he watched the vessel dock and doubtlessly disgorged something that would come to meet him. Surely enough,barely a minute passed when the automated doors to his office opened. He was shocked,but he had very much expected that. The creature before him didn't match anything on the net about their race,no doubt a byproduct of their frankly ridiculous biodiversity. The alien was tall,so much so that it had to crouch through the doorway,supporting its horizontal body on three lanky legs at the very back. It's body was covered in grey,almost metallic plating,allowing Eston to see his own reflection in them as well as the various seams separating each plate. It's joints lacked these,instead featuring blackened bundles of what he assumed to be ligaments,though they looked more akin to industrial cables than any muscles he'd ever seen.
It seemed to have three pairs of arms,a primary one anchored to a hump on its back and two smaller and nimbler pairs coming out of its chest. Speaking of the back,Eston was baffled by what seemed to be sharp crystalline spikes jutting out of it,pulsing and glistening with a red glow. It's head had similar formations at the back of it,albeit smaller,yet was otherwise featureless save for two pairs of red eyes and more seams between its plating.
The creature began approaching him,moving the chair aside with one of its more brutish eyes. The entrepreneur understood that,afterall its bodyplan did not bode well for sitting. What did catch him by surprise was the mouthless creature seemingly projecting its voice inside his thoughts,which made him somewhat uncomfortable.
"I am happy you could have me today,Mister Eston" It said,crossing its four delicate arms together
"You said you were interested in my business,let's talk"
"Straight to the point I see,one of the many qualities that brought you to our attention. If I am not mistaken,you are in a rather precarious position because of the crash,no?"
"Practically everyone is,but yes. I'm looking to just ditch this and bail out. So what's it gonna be,you wanna pay me to get this facility?"
"We had something else in mind."
"Pardon?"
"We believe your skills are…..exceptional. Afterall you've ran this facility at a profit despite the,quite literall, cosmic impediments pitted against you. We would like you to continue overseeing this facility,under our juristiction"
"You want me to become a subsidiary? Honestly there's no need,just hand me the money and I'll go. Why should I stay when the market's this fucked?"
"Would a promise of greater wealth suffice?"
"I'm listening,how exactly do you plan to achieve that?"
"We're counting on three factors mister Eston. Firstly,if the current situation continues as it is,the prices for fuel aren't just going to stabilize,they'll rebound entirely the other way. We had started large mining operations just before this crash,thus the effect from it had virtually no effect on that area,and generally hit us far less than many others. We were just plain lucky. Nevertheless,this does mean we are in an excellent position to stock up on ancerium. And stock up we shall,for it may well come to be in very high demand sooner rather than later.
As you know however,raw ancerium is practically useless,that's why we are interested in your facility. We will need to do a lot of refining,and your unique method has the capacity we are looking for. If this scheme works,it will make us,and by extension you,rather rich. Until then however,we will keep you afloat"
"......
So you're practically running a gamble. I'm not exactly swayed to stay on board if that's the case"
"No? Then let me continue.
Secondly,operating under our authority will alleviate you of the current obstacles to making this establishment truly renowned."
"Really now? I've gotta hear this one"
"We have a certain piece of infrastructure,capable of opening quite a large number of wormholes where we desire. We've yet to even reach a quarter of its capacity. Most importantly in this situation however,is the fact that they are fully normalized upon formation"
Eston's eyes widened at the last part,a sense of realization hitting him hard.
"You mean….."
"Indeed,once we link your system to our network,those pesky interdiction storms will be of no consequence. So long as the Aje stands,or we see it fit,this system shall never again be cut off from the rest of the galaxy"
"That's….that's-"
"But I'm not done yet. We happen to co-run a free trade zone relatively close to this system.
To show our willingness to cooperate,we may also set up secondary logistical facilities in its reaches for you,that's bound to help with business. So what do you say Mister Eston,are you in or not?"
"Christ,you had me at the second one. What the hell are you waiting for? Open that baby up and let's get to refining"
"Excellent"