Pausing for a moment, thinking about it. "An old story about some monster made in a lab, if I remember correctly. That origination was a loooooong time ago. Yes, I believe I have. Sorta gross if you think about it. Of course that's me merely being a wimp. What of it?"
He wasn't making sense. Not that she expected him to right away. same-old, same-old.
"Yes, a masterpiece of the classic literature of old Earth. Wouldn't expect the primitive humans to write such strong stuff, and yet they did..."
Reaching forward and picking up his glass before reclining again, he continued,
"You see, the Frankenstein's monster wasn't an actual monster. As a matter of fact, it wasn't a monster at all. It was humanity in its true form, and the very definition of human nature; Which is why it frightened everyone, as they all had spent their whole lives lying to themselves about what they truly were, and now there it was - Visible, touchable, undeniable, and standing before them... But anyways, that's besides the point..."
aerelm was never the "straight to the point" type unless he was in a hurry, but based on the woman's facial expression, he could clearly see that he was starting to tiptoe around the point a bit too much this time,
"What matters, is that the monster was made from bits and pieces. Of course, the result was hideous and a general eye-soar because it was aimed to be a human, and was result of the efforts of a single man, so... you could clearly see why the plan was flawed. Now, for the sake of argument, imagine the same scenario applied to a ship instead... You'd see where I'm going with this."
Jessica remains still for a few moments, thinking over what he just said. Realization upon what his intent was, a grin stretches from one side of her face to the other. Leaning forward a little closer to the man. "Ooohh? You'd like to merge bits of technology around Sirius to create something completely new. You know, there is a saying out there. Don't re-invent the wheel. But hey. It's sure fun as hell to do it anyways."
Sitting back again, crossing her right leg over the left thinking about it. "I assume it's not just going to be me? I may know my way around ship parts, however I'm not a miracle worker. I can't do everything myself. I'm working up to that point, but even being self-praising, I can't go that far yet."
Crossing her arms, thinking about it for a moment. "I could see a few possible combinations that could work. Frankenstein was a monster. However he as I recall.. He was alive. All it was, was a bunch of compatible parts. It's the same with ships. Building is a pain in the rear though.."
Jessica smirks slightly, leaning forward once more. "So what do I get out of this, hm?"
"Now now Snow, have you ever seen me pull anythin' off half-arsedly? Of course you'll have a team. A team, a facility, and needless to say, a seemingly endless flow of funds and resources. You'll be on Valetta, leading the same team that - as I'm told - worked on the new Outcast line, and anything you'd need, you'd just have to ask."
aerelm said while carefully studying the woman's facial expression. Then reclining and lighting another cigarette, he continued,
"As for what you get out of this... Isn't that something we usually discuss a few months after things are concluded?"
Her head swaying back and forth twice, she finally nods as if deciding something internally in her mind.
"Well, I'm intrigued. The conditions you set out are an engineers dream. Someone would be insane to turn down a source of excitement like what you're presenting right now. Merely tell me when you want me down at Valetta, and i'll gladly take part in whatever shenanigans you have planed out for the future with this shiny new vessel."
Tapping the table twice, feeling that she was missing something. Noting his rebuttal to her question about what she'll gain from this, grinning slightly.
"Worth a shot. Of course, it seems subliminal teasing isn't something that works too well on you. Sorta boring, hm?"
Remembering what she's forgetting. "So who's running the show? Anyone smart enough to take the reigns that you've contacted yet?"
aerelm said with a smirk, then continued after a short pause,
"Someone was supposed to be 'overseeing' the whole thing but he dropped out, so now you're up. You'll be leading the team and keeping me updated on the progress. I've already arranged some stuff with a couple of other, uh... 'interested parties', so to say, but one can't dock on Valetta and the other would just be there due to his past experience with this sort of stuff, so it'd mainly be your show. Happy with that?"
Clapping her hands together lightly, unable to wipe a smile from her face.
"Oh I am liking this more, and more. I'll see about completing this project of yours. The others which you have been preparing intrigue me, perhaps i'll find some other interesting brains to pick at along the way. Oh I haven't had this amount of potential fun in a year or so. Happy, quite happy indeed."
"Well, you've sold me over. All I need is two days to wrap things back up in Liberty, and i'll make my way back to this corner of space."
The smirk fading from aerelm's face as he put out his cigarette, he continued in a more serious tone,
"This whole thing is not strictly speaking a secret, as a few Cast higher-ups have already cleared it which means we won't have any trouble in that area, but the average Cast are overly paranoid after their civil war... So we'll have to keep things as quiet as possible to avoid attracting any unwanted attention which would do nothing but causing an unnecessary amount of pointless headache."
Then throwing a brief glance over his shoulder at a table behind them, he added,
"Speaking of which... the guy two tables behind us is paying a bit too much attention to this conversation, so if you're good we better get out of here."
