Open Terrain

*Little wisps of smoke blew from the Intendant's nostrils, partially obscuring his features as the grey tendrils drifted towards the ceiling. His senses were a blur as the alcohol sought to make him drowsy and the Sekot green he was smoking heightened his awareness. The glowing mqaaq'it that served as his eyes continued to shift in colour in response to the potent mix of drugs now flowing through his system.*

"I like it!" *He exclaimed, turning his attention on Cedrick.* "It has got...oh, what do you infidels call it? Pizazz. Yeah, that's it."

*Eralam nodded in agreement, but not before taking a moment to admire the drunken color swirls of the Vong's implants.*

"We can just call it the Fringe LaB for short. Is everyone in agreement?"

*Nods.* "Aye."

*One vote.*

*Ponders for a moment.*Very nice, very nice indeed.
*Two votes.*

*Jud nodded his head in agreement*. "Yes, that's fine by me..."

*Luxum, after a few moments of furious typing on his datapad, proudly announced:*

"So it has been settled. We are the Fringe Associates: Lunatics and Businessmen. Fringe LaB in impatient company. You'll find your copies of the contract have been updated to reflect this."

*Now that they had the trickiest part of of the way, Eralam figured it'd be a good idea to open to floor up to questions and ideas.*

"As you've undoubtedly read in my action description, it is now time to open the floor up to questions and ideas. Anyone else have something for the good of the group?"

I do actually, just a bit on communications, as we are all fairly well spread across the galaxy. Might a central relay, or some such, be put in place so that when one of us does have to call for help we can send one message, to one location, instead of three messages to three locations? From there it could be sent directly to each of us personally, so that it will be hard for any one tracing the signal to pinpoint our exact location at any given time, at least for those of us who do a lot of traveling.

*Having put forth his idea, Cedrick picked up his mug and realized that it was still empty. He frowned and got up and walked over to the side of the room, where he refilled the mug, though he watered the ale down to keep himself from getting to drunk before the business at hand was finished, and then returned to his seat. Cedrick held his alcohol exceptionally well, so it wouldn't show that he'd been drinking for another mug or two yet.*

*Nem had his own thoughts towards some of the additional details to be worked out, but for the moment he was content to remain silent, listening as Cedrick addressed the issue of how they would communicate with one another. He took a drag from his pipe and leaned back, carefully considering the plan proposed.*

*Without direct knowledge of their business ventures or exploits, it would be difficult for the collective to remain fully aware of where each member was at all times. Furthermore, there were plenty of reasons why members might not want their whereabouts known or what sort of business they were dealing in. A central receptacle that they could all access would be the most efficient method for alerting the group during times of distress.*

"Aye, that would be practical. A holonet inbox with an alert feature might suffice, like the voice-mail of a comlink, only accessible to all of us." *His brow furrowed.* "Of course you would need holonet access for it to work. However, that could be a problem. I've noticed communications jamming is a common tactic used by the militants of this galaxy. If any of us were caught unprepared we might not be able to get a message out before they cut us off."

*He reached into the folds of his robe and revealed his hand a moment later, clutching a distended bag of flesh with a hanging gut sack in the palm of his hand. Momentarily putting down his pipe, the Intendant used his other hand to stroke the communications biot, which inverted into the shape of a Yuuzhan Vong face.*

"As some of you may be aware, my people use a different method of communication than yours do, a method that cannot be intercepted or jammed. Now you wouldn't be able to make use of this technology yourselves, but if you would allow me to plant one of my agents near you, they would be in a position to deliver your message unhindered. Consider it a backup plan in case any of us are caught off guard." *He shrugged.* "Do not feel compelled to accept if that makes you uncomfortable. I offer only as a gesture of good will."

*The two Shard chuckled darkly.*

"Nem," *Eralam said,* "I appreciate the offer, I really do. Unfortunately, not all of your kind are as tolerant of technology as you are. Any agent you place with us is likely to bite his own face off inside of a week."

*Both Eralam and Luxum remembered the YV war, and neither of them remembered it fondly. Their brothers and sisters had been particularly hated, being both Jedi and mechanical. Neither of them harbored any ill will towards reformed Vong like Nem Yin, but in their long experience, even the most heretical of Vong were at least mildly uncomfortable around them.*

"That being said, we can still work in the idea of a holonet drop box. One thing the jokers on this site-I mean, in this universe don't realize is that jamming can be beaten. The most commonly used method is known as frequency hop. Long story short, our comms will be set to bounce around different frequencies, never staying in one spot long enough to be intercepted or jammed."

*For the next few minutes, Eralam explained the concept and how it worked. Long story short, there is no such thing as "full spectrum jamming",
as that implies that one jams the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Realistically, the noise is piped over a band most frequently associated with military traffic. By hopping they dodge the jamming, prevent the enemy from intercepting communications, and prevent the enemy from fine-tuning the interference.*

"If each of us have a commlink synchronized with the main hub, we'll be able to call for help at pretty much any given time."

*I listen to the conversation as Nem raises a valid point about jamming, which Eralam counters with a mini-lecture on an anti-jamming technique called frequency hopping. The thought of having a Yuzzhan Vong planted in RSD, or even on Rendili itself would not be a wise idea due to Rendili being a very high tech world with very little undeveloped surface area and the shipyard being entirely mechanical in structure. I take another swig from my mug, before voicing my agreement with Eralam.*

I too, appreciate the offer Nem, though I doubt any of your kind would enjoy being deployed on an industrial world or in a mechanical shipyard. And if avoiding jamming is as easy as having a modified comm unit, then I can't justify asking one of your men to live in an in-organic world, just in case tech failed. If nothing else, slipping a small fighter outside of a jamming field, long enough for the pilot to transmit a small message will, in most cases, be a relatively easy task.*Taking another sip from my mug, I run through everything again in my head, before nodding and voicing my satisfaction.*That answers my question sufficiently, and I have no further propositions to make at present.

*Given that the Yuuzhan Vong had placed infiltrators among the general galactic population back during the war, the Intendant was doubtful of the reasoning offered for their exclusion. More likely his new allies didn't care for the notion of having spies monitoring their personal and professional business, which was perfectly understandable. If the roles were reversed and one of his associates offered to place an operative among his holdings, he would have shot the suggestion down immediately. The Intendant caste were distrustful by nature, Nem being no exception to the rule.*

"No worries." *He said casually.* "We'll use this frequency hop doohickey or whatchamacallit."

*Truth be told he didn't quite understand how it worked. He was partially familiar with inorganic tech out of necessity, but he was by no means an expert on the subject. Once the meeting was concluded he would have some of his people figure out the logistics behind the technique using Eralam's notes as a guideline.*

"I can't think of any further concerns at this point in time. The idea behind the coalition seems sound. In the event that one of us comes under attack, we all move to that members defense. It seems rather straight forwards. Although, coming directly to their defense might not always be possible. For example, if any of you hold political ties to a particular world and expect us to defend it if it comes under attack, that might not always be possible. The four of us with all our resources pooled still wouldn't be able to overcome a much larger force, of which there are many to be found. I think we should keep this as simple as possible. We will do everything in our power to defend, rescue, aid, whatever...the member first and foremost. Their assets come second, if at all."

Agreed, even together we cannot face the hordes now being formed. Assets can be re-acquired or re-built so I will focus primarily on the individual, when called to assist any one here.*sipping from my mug, I glance at Judayus, he had grown quiet of late.*

*Eralam nods in agreement. He's about to conclude the meeting when his commlink gives a buzz.*

"Gents, I've just received an interesting proposition. There's some talk about getting together sort of a mega group like ours."

*The Shard transmits the data in text form to the datapads.*

"Long story short, there are a lot of groups like ours out there. Since the Jedi and Sith are tooling up for war, it's only a matter of time before they try to snap us up. The other groups are interested in forming something like we've got, only much looser. Basically, it's business as usual until one of the Big Two attacks anyone in the treaty. Then we all roll in for a world class beatdown. You guys interested?"

*My, my...the shard is well informed.* *Nem made a mental note to remain in Eralam's good graces.* *He was continually proving himself to be a valuable ally. With the galaxy in such a state of disarray, it never hurt to have too many of those.*

"Hmmm." *He hummed gently before responding.* "That sounds profitable."

*As always the promise of wealth, be it material or manifested in the form of friendships and favours owed, was the driving force of his decision making process. Forget risk, the revulsion he felt towards his own pitiful existence was enough to leave him untroubled in that regard. But profit, yes, that was always a worthy goal.*

"You have stoked my interest."

I am indeed quite interested, otherwise I would not have come.*I chuckle and am relieved to know that there are more than four of us, pulling together.*At the very least, the extra cannon fodder will be appreciated.*I lean forward in my chair, prop my elbows on the table, fold my hands together and rest my chin on my folded hands as I consider all that has transpired since my arrival. I went from being just another CEO of a shipyard, to being a loose ally of a sith, a Yuuzhan Vong, and a shard. My but a little time and a lot of alcohol certainly get things moving nicely.*

*Eralam nodded.*

"Alright then, we'll be attending via holonet. My proxy on Dressel is arranging a physical meeting for those that can make it, but I'd rather not have anyone navigating hyperspace while drunk."

*On cue, two service droids brought in a very expensive, very high quality holoprojector. The unit was probably about as impressive as one could get with credits, not that Eralam minded. He liked to have as much resolution as possible to facilitate in reading facial expressions.*