"A Beautiful Mind"

[Aurelia Sovark]

A BEAUTIFUL MIND​

"Personal log, galactic date... well, whatever. I'm beginning with my new project, codename "Tauri". Conceptually, this has much in common with the more typical blast cannon, but with convergence-themed precision, much like a directed-energy weapon. With luck, preliminary testing will yield positive results. I've decided to start the weapons testing with cryoban tech. It's the least dangerous, but it's also the wildcard of my design. Getting the full perimeters of its energy readings will go a long way in finding an equalized stability between the varying particles and energies. First test will begin momentarily. CBE-1, now commencing."

The Kage woman sighed, placing her middle and forefingers to her forehead. Her thumb rested on her cheek as her eyes closed softly. She was exhausted, in both body and mind. So many plans, so many dangers catching up with her. Restless nights where sleep would never find her. And even when it had, she never found the brief, momentary peace it would usually bring. As she opened her eyes, the glimmering glow of an azure blue shined in her eyes.

A holographic refraction of photonic particles and light waves, bent and skewered into the complexities of the weapon she had designed. Painstaking as it was, she knew this was still only the very preface of the beginning. She had a long way to go. So much more testing to do, more examinations, more energy readings to measure and refine.... and that didn't even factor in the eventual trials to avoid cross-converged power conflagrations, energy cascade failure due to overheating, of a pantheon of other issues she'd eventually have to address.

Walking over to a weapon platform she'd erected, her hands began to adjust a CC-XII rifle she'd fastened into it. It was of the 'Legion' production line; a cryoban projector. It was an older model, but it was still potent enough to achieve the desired result. At the far end of the room, six large sheets of duresteel hung within the bounds of a repulsor field. Each was a different grade, and each was to measure the various effects, their intensities and which substance proved the most effective in resistance. Durasteel grade 9093-T7511 was often used along with construction material for buildings and structures. Grade 9095-T8511 was usually used with the making of personal armors, and grade 9097-T8120 was more frequently used with the manufacturing of military-grade armoring for war machines and starship hulls, along with grade 9099-T6711. Each would yield a different result, and each were necessary.

Placing goggles over her eyes, she placed the weapons at their maximum settings as she remotely programmed seven high-powered bursts. The whirring of the weapon platform came alive as it quickly diverged to the far left of the testing range, blasting a dull gray beam with a blue ionized glow. A moment later, the weapon platform moved its position down to be parallel with the next sheet of durasteel, followed by the cryoban rifle blasting another beam at the next durasteel sheet. The process repeated itself again, and again, and again, and then a further two times, until both the weapon and the platform powered down.

The woman activated the holo-computer within her arm, bringing up the hard-light display as she approached the durasteel sheets. With a sharp snap of her fingers, her HALO chirped and buzzed, quickly approaching her from behind as she issued a set of commands to it. Instantly, HALO began to cast a wide-set beam, scanning each of the durasteel sheets individually as it took in dimension and density readings, examined the structural integrity and resiliency, and recorded the specific effects of the beam upon each durasteel grade. The woman had already made her way back to her main computer, aligning the data coming in to her holo-relay via HALO.

"Okay...," she began, exhaling sharply, "Exterior effects were predictable and satisfactory, so no immediate issues to speak of. The degree of the effects were not as severe as I'd hoped, even at full power, but I suppose that too was expected, having used a much older model than what is commonly available. Durasteel sheets contained largely uniform appearances across grades, according to their relative density. The metal itself shows significant warping and rupturing, with the point of contact with the directed energy shattering the alloy, almost akin to cracking and chipping. Also expectedly, grades 9095-T8511 and 9094-T0133 showed the highest corrosion, while grades 9097-T8120 and 9099-T6711 showed the least, so I'll catalog them for preferred status.

Now comes the boring part, and I'll need to concentrate for that. Computers are a stars-sent, but I prefer doing the calculations myself. So, ending personal log for "Project Tauri". If all goes well and according to my projections, my next entry will cover the second phase, utilizing electromagnetically-ionized plasma. Sovark, signing off."

 

[Aurelia Sovark]

Arccorp's Bar. Not the scummiest lounge one could find in the hidden corners of the Outer Rim regions, but it was far from the best. There were times Aurelia needed a rebreather mask just to pass through the city to get to the cantina. But at the end of the day, it was worth it. She knew the people there, she knew the building, and she knew it was out of the way. And in a way, it was just unique enough to not bore her somewhere else. A blind bartender, a habitual drunk sleeping in the booths toward the back, the lowlife gangsters, smugglers and bounty hunters all paradoxically relaxing as they drowned themselves in ales, beers and liquors of every kind. They weren't exactly her people, but it was never boring there. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it, she always had her personal shield charged, her blaster ready and her escape routes sighted whenever she'd enter. Naturally, she was never the target, but stray blaster bolts had no prejudice.

The smell of stale alcohol teetered in the air as Aurelia entered the bar from the upper lounge, from where the entrance was. She always found it humorously symbolic that the bar was at one of the lowest levels, save the basements.

"Damn time ya got 'ere, girl. Been waitin' for ya. Havin' trouble with that blasted... thing, again."

Jeak, the blind bartender, gestured toward the hydro-dispenser. His 'glasses', prosthetic optical replacements, were a farcry of quality, but he could still see well enough to get from point-a to point-b, and obviously could serve and mix drinks.

"Plumbing, again. Well, that's what I live for, that is," she said, dismissively, scarcely even slowing her pace as she headed toward the back of the bar.

"So Thenn, ya hear about Naboo?", Jaek said, cleaning a glass.

Another man at the bar, chugging a beverage, gasped as he swallowed massive gulps before responding. "Another battle of this damned war.... galaxy won't last another year, I tell ya."

"Don't I know it. Everything went to hell after Coruscant fell. Coruscant... aw stars, that changed everything."

"Damn sithspit... hell, damn Jedi too, and all them Alliance rebels ad Imps. Breaking the galaxy in half like it's all theirs," the man at the bar said, swallowing down his drink again.

"Couldn't give a damn who wins it, t'be honest. I say just get it over with, already. Never know which planet's gonna be next, if something doesn't happen soon enough."

In many ways, passing through Arccorp Bar was a grim reminder to Lia of the happenings around the galaxy. There was an abundance of news, and most of it―if not all―was bad, but when she got engrossed in her own projects, she often lost tract of recent events. She had neither any part nor interest in it, but there was a war going on. And most of the galaxy was burning from it.

Making her way to the tail end of the bar, Lia trekked down a passage of stairs leading down to the basement levels. However, instead of going the entire way, she stopped at a duracrete wall. Accessing her holo-computer in her wrist, Lia emitted a frequency from her holo-comp like a signal, and waited. A few seconds passed as loud gears whirred and creaked, but nothing in her surroundings changed. Once the noises stopped, Lia simply walked forward, straight through the seemingly solid duracrete wall. And on the other side, her hideaway laboratory resided the same as always. High-quality holoprojectors in the four corners of the wall emitted a full-spectrum colored image of the duracrete wall, which activated as the real wall responded to Lia's signaled frequency, slowly sliding open to allow her pass through without ever optically revealing her entrance. It was a favored trick of hers, but it depended on no one taking notice of the devices she'd already set up. And beneath the bar, that chance was almost nil.

"HALO, give me an update."

The small remote droid whirred through the air as it relayed her requested information in binary droidspeak, <<Calculations + measurements + documentations from previous weapon experiment designation CBE-1 = cataloged and classified within "Project Tauri">>

"Excellent," she said, making her way toward her mainframe computer, "And preparations for the IPE-1?"

<<Secondary trial = ready for initiation // plasma weaponry = mounted + charged // durasteel sheets = aligned + suspended // IPE-1 preparations = complete>>

"Very good... very good."

Aurelia grabbed a pair of goggles on her desk as she then initiated the second trial, this time utilizing electromagnetic energies to hyperionize plasma into a sustained burst. In short, the mechanics were similar to a blaster, but she opted to use tibanna gas, rendering the blasts blue, with characteristics similar to the primary weapon types used during the Clone Wars that took place in the galaxy over a thousand years ago. The bright glow of the plasma bursts, luminous from the ionized presence around the blaster bolts. This was probably the most predictable of Lia's tests. It may have been considered somewhat outdated, but everyone knew how hyperionized blasters worked. But what came next... that was where the complexities would set it.

"HALO, access my files and begin my second personal log," she said, taking her goggles off as she accessed her wrist-implanted holo-computer, "I the data recorded already... prepare the trial for phase three. Time for things to start getting interesting."