A Board of Dragons

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli sighed as she got off the lift at Krayt Industries. With half her work force gone, but slowly being augmented by new hires that she every intention of keeping employed, even if everyone else returned, she needed to forge a new direction for the company through this crisis.

So to that regard, she had called a meeting of all her chief engineers and technicians that hadn't disappeared as they didn't have board members, since she and Alex owned the company outright. She normally didn't do this, but she felt it necessary now to figure out a new course for Krayt Industries and bring everyone up to speed on projects.

"Thank you all for coming," she said, walkign around the conference table and settling herself at the head of the table. "I understand we are all extremely busy right now and over-worked, and I shall not hold you longer than needed, but since we don't have board members to determine the direction the company will go, I feel it only appropriate to ask the opinions of you all and to inform you of upcoming and current projects. Let's get started."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"First and foremost, of course, is the lack of workers this crisis has created for us," one of the technicians said. "I know we have begun hiring more people to replace those we lost, but we need more if we want to keep levels of production at what they were before the crisis."

"We could very well increase our hiring drive," Taeli said, nodding. "I understand our yards at Sev Tok were hit especially hard for workers?"

"Yes, my Lady," the engineer in charge of overseeing the Sev Tok yards said. "I lost three quarters of my work force, and the natives of the planet are not skilled enough to help fill the void of my skilled workers that vanished. I would need some hired help diverted there."

"You shall have it," Taeli said, tapping a note on her datapad. "I'm authorizing an increase of 30% of current hiring with 5% of all hired being sent to supplement the Sev Tok yards."

"Much appreciated, my Lady," the engineer said, smiling gratefully.

"Next order of business, what are the state of our anti-matter personnel and facilities?" she asked.

"We were lucky enough that not many disappeared so the sites are still running at roughly 87% efficiency," Jaxson replied. "I would rather they are still limited and no new hired help go to them for fear of saboteurs and the unstable nature of anti-matter."

"Very well, but I'm glad to hear we are still running near where we were," Taeli said, tapping another not into her datapad.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"We should address the current expansion next, my Lady," Jaxson said, looking up from his datapad.

"In one moment," Taeli said, typing out a message to a certain someone.

"Thought you would like to know a certain Zabrak you know has become an associate of mine," she typed, sending the message to [member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]. Her reaction would probably be interesting.

"Now, we have several opportunities open to us for aggressive expansion of our operations," she said, pulling up a map of the galaxy on the table's projector. "The Valc VII yards are complete, giving us a foothold in the northern section of the galaxy to produce ships and expand operations there. Plans for that region include shipyard expansion at Bastion, once a formal deal with the Primeval is created, and possibly to Yaga Minor if the Mandalorians can't retake that world. Droid facilities I want established in that region would center around Dubrillion and Dreighton for the ready access to minerals and materials."

Switching to the main part of the galaxy, here Taeli smiled.

"We have ships currently working in the Corellia system to establish shipyards there, and we have plans to expand shipyards into the Widek, Rendili, and Galantos systems. Balmorra is in our sights to establish droid facilities there as Balmorran expertise would be invaluable to us. We are also standing on the precipice of expanding operations into Red Raven territory from a deal we struck just before the crisis erupted."

"What about expanding the armor division as we discussed before?" her chief armor designer asked.

"Rendili will be the site of a new armor division facility as we would have readily available phrik to work with," she stated.

"This is very ambitious considering how many people we've lost," another engineer said gruffly.

"That s why new workers are required, I will not sit idly by and allow the chance to grow this company pass us by," she stated. "As Sith forces expand elsewhere, new opportunities will present themselves I feel."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"New opportunities, my Lady?" one of her engineers asked.

"For expansion of current and future operations," she replied with a smile. "I feel now would be a good time to announce a new subsidiary for Krayt Industries, Krayt Agri & Cultivation. This new subsidiary is designed to provide food and water to citizens that need it, especially those that are refugees or are trapped in situations such as living in the Undercity. Right now, operations are going to be small, focusing on keeping Coruscant's water supply working and providing nutrient and ration bars to the people who desperately need them."

"Is that wise, my Lady?" one technician asked. "Would it not be better to use such funds to increase the size of our current holdings?"

"Normally I would agree, but this plays into a longer term game of trying to win hearts and minds of those that fall under Sith rule and protection," she replied with the same smile. "Krayt Agri & Cultivation will be secondary to our primary expansion missions though, and it will be used to keep the people of Coruscant happier than they normally would be in such a crisis."

"Now, moving onto what I think we all were waiting for, the list of current and upcoming projects that you all will be handling in the coming months," she continued, smiling wider and she could tell all of them were growing more excited.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"We will soon be starting Project Pride, and in that vain we have reached out to a few companies for assistance in that endeavor until we are back to full working capacity," she said, bringing up a checklist for the projects. "Next, we have placed Project Dark Walker on hold until the phrik mines on Rendili are back and operational, considering the loss of Alderaan to the Republic."

"Was the mine we began there taken care of?" one technician asked.

"We had yet to actually reach any meaningful progress in that endeavor, so the Republic won't have much to go on there," another technicians said, eliciting chuckles around the table. "I for one am glad we have relocated to Rendili for gathering that mineral for Dark Walker, much more secure than Alderaan and no Vong this time."

"Yes, the Vong were not the greatest neighbors for that work," Taeli said with a small amused smile. "Regardless, we are also going to be developing two more droids before Project Dark Walker is ready to begin. On that note, once Project Pride is done, we have two more ships to finish in the Sin series and then we will begin the Madness series of ships."

"What about system projects?" Jaxson's assistant asked.

"We will be developing brand new reactors and weapon systems soon, along with some more refinement to our anti-matter technology. No specific ideas as of yet, but if you have any, feel free to propose them as they come to you to me or Jaxson here."

She didn't mention her secret project, as only Jaxson and a select team of engineers knew about the Sicarius-class as she didn't want those ships being known about unless absolutely necessary.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Is there any other order of business that should be addressed currently?" she asked, looking around the table.

"My Lady, there is one thing that comes to mind," Jaxson replied. "We have been neglecting certain business relations that were established before the Nether crisis broke out. Perhaps we should remind those people of our renewed commitment and show them Krayt is surging ahead while others are . . . floundering in the dark."

"You raise a valid point, Arys," Taeli said, smiling. "The joint operations with ATC will resume immediately, and we will begin pursuing other joint projects with others, as they come up. I want Jen'asha Station to be retrofitted for anti-matter development and research, so I want work to begin again on the Otherspace drive project. I know it lapsed while we were busy doing other things, but now we have to move along."

"We will handle it, my Lady," another engineer said. "The notes are still in the lab, even if the techs working on that project vanished into the Nether."

"Excellent," she said, nodding. "Anything else?"

No one spoke and Taeli called for the meeting to adjourn. The engineers began moving away, talking excited about how the company would be moving and the projects they would be working on. Taeli was glad that her people enjoyed working for her.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"They're excited for everything you offered," Jaxson said, sitting on the table as everyone else move out of the meeting room and the door closed. "The company was somewhat stagnant when Banshee founded us, but you've been devoting a lot of time and energy to make sure that isn't the case anymore. We never would have had such enthusiasm after a board meeting then."

"One must be passionate about what they have," Taeli said, shrugging a little. "If what I plan is congruent with what is best for the company, I would hope I get support."

"It's more than that, Lady Arcanix," Jaxson said, chuckling. "You basically just told them, yes I'm planning to accelerate projects and double the size of the business, even if half the population of the galaxy disappeared. You're not stopping this mag-train for anything, are you, Lady Arcanix?"

"I suppose not," she laughed. "If an opportunity presents itself, why should we not take advantage? If anything, I didn't outlay everything that could potentially happen. There are always hidden opportunities, new project ideas, that will always spark off in my head or interest."

"And that is why the board of engineers follows you with such gusto," Jaxson replied. "Because you're a kindred spirit when it comes to such things. Now, I have work to do myself."

"Enjoy your day, Ary," she said, nodding her head as Jaxson bowed and left the office.

Taeli turned and almost immediately, another idea struck her as she looked out over the Coruscant cityscape.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Going over to her terminal, she quickly brought up live news feeds from across the galaxy, watching the unrest of multiple worlds spilling over into open riots and such. Chaos was a merchant's delight, even more so than war, and Taeli had ever intention to climb that ladder. She would not allow her company to fall into the pit that had seen so many other things destroyed.

Tapping out a message to Jaxson and her engineer board, she wanted their opinions on an idea for a change to the Invidia-class ship for when production of that began. A normal cruiser was one thing . . . but seeing the chaos unfold in front of her on live Holonet feeds, seeing how hard it would be to crack planetary defenses if they were taken over by rioters or rebels, she knew what she wanted instead.

The Invidia would become a cannon cruiser, something outfitted with long-range bombardment capabilities to deal with such threats and slow moving capital ships. Sending the memo out, and so soon after the meeting, would probably get some chuckles, but it proved Jaxson right in a way. Her brain wouldn't stop thinking of new things, and she could already say her expansion plans might have changed. A region of space was very volatile right now, many people out of work.

Yes, she would need to keep an eye on ACA space now. Helping them to stabilize was good, and she would gladly help with that, but she knew it would be a perfect region for Krayt to begin moving into. Yes, she would wait and see as responses arrived from her people, supporting the change to the Invidia. Leaning back in her chair, she smiled and allowed her brain to roam to another idea, then another. Krayt was going to prosper, no matter what.