[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Fr4DdnO.jpg[/img]
[b]"Welcome to White Security Services! My name is A.D.A. from White Corps. How can I help you?"[/b]
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White Corps' AI guide and hostess greeted General Lith Diae of the Ashtar forces on Anuria with her default message. A.D.A. (Automated Database Assistant) appeared as a lifelike 3D hologram and had a surprising level of sentience. She accepted commands, written input, speech and any other forms of communication and known to execute them without any bugs. There was an option to also alter her appearance for the customer's comfort, albeit the algorithm which set her basic looks had already accounted for the preferences of different races and cultures. Of course her main purpose was to guide the customer and search for services which fit his/her/its demands. In particular this particular case it involved White Security Services, the private military branch of White Corps.

Lith peered at the hologram suspiciously, and adjusted it to appear more overtly holographic. The Ashtar tended to be a little uncomfortable around information systems that too closely mimicked the living mind. Even though the transmission was being routed through multiple encryption layers and only being accessed from network isolated systems at Point Jakurna, he was still feeling paranoid. Irrational, he knew; infecting their clients' networks with spyware was hardly a good way for White Corps to gain repeat customers. [color=0076a3][b]"Yes, program."[/b][/color] he said with a slight grimace, [color=0076a3][b]"We wish to bolster our forces with additional armor support. Significant armor support. However, we need the personnel to be..."[/b][/color] Lith trailed off, casting Hierarch Arctes a skeptical glance.

[color=00aeef][b]"Heroes. Light blessed, salt of the earth, lead by example type people."[/b][/color] Arctes finished. [color=00aeef][b]"We are having a somewhat unusual morale problem. Understand that battlefield psychiatrists or speech makers will be useless; we require honest, simple men who believe in the strength of their own convictions. Can you provide such materiel and personnel?"[/b]
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[b]"Ever since the Fires of Anuria conflict the term 'hero' became a vessel of plenty controversies. One nation's hero could be the opposition's heinous war criminal. Starting from Stardate 2604 White Corps replaced the name of 'hero' with the expression 'model employee' within WSS. We strive to have model employees and most of our sub-contractors have a spotless record with selection of only the best. Our technical preparedness and equipment is renown galaxy-wide and WSS can field diverse types of weapons, armor and air support anytime and anyplace. Our branch White Security Starforce can give similar degree of freedom to deal with space-borne issues. How can we help you?"[/b]

A.D.A gave them a sales pitch mixed clarification while trailing the talks back into business Asking whether they can offer assistance is not a matter of 'ifs' or rather 'For how much?'. There could be extreme situations when most WSS personnel are occupied (this is a booming and busy kind of business nowadays) but for standard missions they always have people at their disposal. Following this A.D.A gave them a rolldown list of potential WSS units to hire while still offering her guidance to choose. White Corps had up to date information on the rough situation on Anuria thus A.D.A knew what she's doing. She was the modern equivalent of the door-to-door agent, saving the enterprise at least 10 million people's worth of salary. A.D.A was to comfort the customers, accurately identify their needs and meet them while making the most profit. It was a difficult job where both sides of the meeting would end the talks with the most satisfaction. In case of WSS it even meant she's potentially saving lives by not letting the mercenaries to risk missions with too limited forces.


[hr]...

With A.D.A's assistance, the General and the Hierarch assembled an ever growing 'wishlist' of WSS forces. Power armored soldiers, Mercutio main battle tanks, air support, infiltrator units, C&C integration staff, on it went. When they'd assembled something like a small army, A.D.A gave them the bill. The two Ashtar didn't bother to haggle --it was a skillset they entirely lacked-- and agreed to the requested amount of exotic minerals and materials. Being outside the galaxy-wide economy Ashtar currency had little worth. In turn even with nano-formers and matter synthesizers common one can see the worth in rare materials with highly sought-after properties. That was their deal with White Corps, a rather hefty sum. Yet Arctes judged the transaction well worth it.

It was a reoccurring issue Arctes had seen over and over again on countless fronts across a thousand worlds. The Ashtar require allies to fight with in order to properly function. Without... context? Perspective... the functionally immortal Ashtar had little if any motivation. They didn't require training or rousing speeches, they were good soldiers and knew of their right cause. What they needed is ironically to have someone who could die at any time, fighting their fears of death and struggling for survival. The rest is handled by the psionics, channeling these feelings of hope, fear and regrets to catalyze the rest of the Ashtar force. The presence of the so-called 'mortals' reminded the Ashtar of the value of live and thus they'd fight harder than ever before.
Such simple thing yet oh so increasingly difficult to pull. Arctes knew that hence he requested aid straight from White Security Services. Given the size of the purchase the full mercenary force will arrive only by tomorrow evening.