Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

(expecting)

Wearing her usual jedi-garb, Kat was taking a quiet stroll through the garden in the early morning hours, hoping to take advantage of the time of day to avoid possible traffic of people coming to take in the sights too. Or make out.

That had been awkward the last time, to stumble across a couple in the midst of it. At least it hadn't been anyone she knew, thankfully.

Instead, she encountered an individual in the midst of... something. There was a cup of kaff next to her on the bench and she was hunched over something, passing a stylus over her datapad with a very intense expression. It cleared away as soon as she looked up, though, blinking as someone arrived. "Oh, good morning!"

It was an unusual sight but hardly the strangest thing one had seen in the galaxy. "Good morning, my lady," the Jedi offered a bow. "I'm Katarzyna Ulgo. I hope I didn't interrupt your morning...?"

"Oh no, 'my lady' is more for my sister," she replied with a chuckle, setting her datapad aside and standing, holding out a hand. "Oh, you didn't at all; it's probably good to be reminded to take a break once in a while. Ashlin Organa. It's nice to meet you."

"Miss Ashlin then," she chuckled, nodded. It was always an interesting dance to navigate all the titles and who preferred to be adressed in certain ways.

"I do believe I have heard your name yesterday. You are working on something to repel Killik attacks, I think?"

"That'll do for now," she nodded. "Oh yeah. That's what I was working on." She held up her datapad. "Subsonic emitter that'll discourage the Killiks from approaching a certain area. Some people were talking about just trying to exterminate them, but that's... a problem for a lot of reasons."

"Extermination hasn't exactly been a working strategy before." Killiks were a danger, but if things could be solved peacefully, that was always preferable.

Kat leaned in closer to take a look at the datapad. She had some understanding of mechanical work herself, a lot of it learned from helping out in various settlements she had visited, so Ashlin's work was a bit over her skill level, but she could understand the gist of it a little.

"This is quite fascinating work. How large an area would this cover? It must be quite a large and prizey creation..."

"Mm... I've seen more pricey. It's not a ship prototype or anything. Initial prototyping and whatnot is gonna be something like 1500, but we've covered like half of it already. It covers a pretty generous distance, but one would probably still need to plant a few to fully deal with the issue. It's meant to be a longer-term solution," she explained.

"If I may, I would like to give a contribution to this. A more long-term solution to the problem of Killiks should be something all the Houses should contribute to." She tilted her head to the side with some thought. "If this prototype proves to work well, I imagine it will set a good precedence for the Houses to all pitch in for a bigger project - and it would be nice to get the ball rolling."


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OOC: Kat would like to donate 450 credits to the project.

"That would be great!" She replied with a bright smile. "I would like it if it set a precedent like that... The Houses could do with a little more working for the common good as a whole, I think. We're just a small part of the planet, after all."

"Yes, I absolutely agree with you," she nodded. "The matter of the Killiks is something I feel concerns all of Alderaan, not just the Houses currently affected. How many Houses are adding to this so far? Would be nice to know who else to get the word out to for the future."

"Ulgo, with your help, Thul, and Organa, at this point," she said, ticking the groups off her fingers. "This is sort of... proof of concept, so if everything works out as intended, I'd like to get the other Houses on board to set up rough perimeters. Give them enough room they won't starve, and we can hopefully avoid too much ecological disruption while protecting our people. That's my hope."

"Quite the varied group so far then." She figured she could poke maybe one of the Rists, and possibly Blais about it. Seemed like something up their alley.

"Some thoughts I have... is it possible that the Killiks would grow resistant to the repellant over time? And would it affect the Joiners the same way as the Killiks themselves?"

"It is possible, but I'm designing an oscillating frequency that should minimize resistance development. As to the Joiners... Hmm... It really depends on how much of the change is physiological, to what degree, and what organs it affects. I'd need more data on them to say. what would be the preferable outcome in your mind?"

"I am uncertain of what exactly happens to the body and mind once it has 'joined', but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the scholars here might hold some answers - I'm at best a dabbler myself. I just know that so far the process has not been one that can be undone with medicine or with the Force."

She mulled it over for a moment. "Preferably it should affect both. Joiners are a part of the hives, and will probably respond to protect the hive. Killiks have shown themselves intelligent, so it might be possibility that they would use Joiners in response to the repeller. Either by trying to destroy it, or by making guerilla attacks on the protected areas."

"Well, it's not like the goal is to drive them from the hive. The ideal would be to keep them contained to the hive and surrounding areas. They might react to them because they're uncomfortable, but any perimeter shouldn't be set up close enough to affect the hive itself," she shrugged.

"I see... but what if they recognize the device for what it is? They will probably try to destroy it." Killiks were rather intelligent and she worried about the backlash they might give.

"Once we know it works, it won't be hard to conceal," she said. "No solution is going to be perfect, but it's better than what we have now."

"It is a start, yes," she nodded, smiling with a gentle approval of the initiative. "I'm confident your work will give the foundation to further protection of Alderaan's people. The hyperdrive certainly wasn't invented in a day, so we'll have to be patient with the results of this project too."

"Hopefully. I hear patience is a virtue," she replied with a small laugh. "I'm working on that one. Sometimes a project is too exciting."