Acquisitions & Reviews

[Jairus Starvald]

His presence was still in the room.

But now this was her office, apparently. Apparently because it still made little sense to Sarova. Vitor and her hadn’t ever been close in the few months they had worked together on a few little projects. She had negotiated and negotiated well for her employment in his company - the acquiring of corporate assets no longer in use, good salary and benefits - but this, this went beyond anything she had ever dreamed of.

Emeritus Industries… or Ri'ess-Emeritus Industries, Inc, was a moderately successful company in the Galaxy.

The name change still confused her a touch.

Apparently Vitor had owned a majority stock in Ri'ess Regal Drive and pursued a merger in the last few months. A messy merger, friendly but chaotic, with most of the corporate assets still in common flux.

The repeat of that same word ‘apparently’ wasn’t lost to her. It would be awhile until Ceri completely accepted this new situation.
But now was not the time to ponder and wonder about the curveball thrown at her by the Force. Now it was time to become analytical and figure out exactly what she had been given by Vitor.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

A few names came up over and over again in the papers.

Ri'ess Regal Drive, Emeritus Industries, iBorg, Circe Savan. Circe. That name came up more than once in the papers and that bothered her. Even when she tried to stay away and stay away far from that particular legacy… it continued to haunt her, no matter what.

Ceri wasn’t prone to emotional reactions though. If she had been, she might have burned down the entire corporation the moment she realized the significance of that name being tied to this.

Subach.

Most people thought it had disappeared, broken down and destroyed under the pressure of hostile competition from corporate giants no longer willing to cope with Savan’s consistent interference.

But apparently - again that word - Subach had survived.

Ayden Cater’s name was brought up more than once as well. Oh, how Savan had loved keeping very persistent records of most of her dealings, perhaps she thought it would make for good blackmail material in the future. All that being said Cater’s role in creation of Emeritus was vague, but clear at the same time.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

The creation of Emeritus saw a move of wealth from undisclosed accounts towards the acquisition of corporate assets in Omega Protectorate space. Permits had been fast-tracked through the vast bureaucracy, tax breaks acquired with doubtful origins, discounted land pricing to build the facilities… all of it pointed towards a benefactor within the Protectorate.

That, plus the fact that fifty percent of the stock had been owned by a different party than Savan sold the deal for her. Circe hadn’t been writing complete garbage to just discredit one of her enemies.

But why had Ayden agreed to help? What was in it for him?

She leaned into the chair, her feet resting lazily on the counter while the sun was setting behind the transparisteel window. Some people might have thought this was boring for one reason or the other, but it fascinated Cerita. Every single record told a little story to her and the more records she read, the bigger and more comprehensive the greater narrative became.

It would still be a few more hours before Scarra and Dergl would come back from their task.

They were interviewing some of the more senior employees and pursuing records to figure out exactly what she owned now.

The more time passed the harder it was becoming to keep track of it all.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

"We have completed the interviews, haum. We also looked through most of the records, and think we got a comprehensive listing of most corporate assets Vitor owned under the umbrella of Ri'ess-Emeritus and… interestingly enough a company called iBorg.”

That made Cerita look up.

“iBorg?”
“Haum. Vitor bought it in a corporate auction half a year ago.”

As far as Sarova had known iBorg was operating by… Ventus, if she recalled correctly. The iBorg line of cybernetics had taken the market by storm in the absence of Neuro-Saav and the other usual manufacturers. But she hadn’t realized that it had been put on sale and was operating under a different owner now.

“Anything done with it?”
“No.”
“Care to elaborate on that?”
“No.”

Sarova frowned.

“Scarra.”
“Fine. iBorg was taken roughly six months ago. They continue to produce on demand. No new developments. No forays into new markets. Most of the staff have been retained.”

That was a bit disappointing, but what can you do?

“If I may, haum?”
“Yes, Dergl?”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

The Herglic struck a corporate image in his neat suit and groomed appearance.

First she had thought it a bit strange: a giant whale as an accountant? But after a few months she had come to rely on him more and more. He loved every part of his job, the numbers and letters were his passions, and nothing seemed to bore him.

“With the merger of Ri'ess and Emeritus we also acquired a little cybernetics division from the former. Mirage Cybernetics. It would be prudent to consolidate assets and have them bridge their expertise together. More efficient that way, haum.”

“Agreed. I want you to look into the options, explore which locations are the most profitable ones and why, how much Mirage is actually worth - because I don’t recall it being on the same galactic terms as iBorg, for one.”

“Haum.” Dergl nodded and exited the room.

Scarra pushed over the specific papers requested and then assumed his usual position in the corner of the room.

Always on vigil over his… ward.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Before the merger it seemed that Emeritus had about four locations spread out through - now former - Protectorate space. These being Abregado-Rae, Malastare, Dentaal, Thyferra and was headquartered on Sluis Van, which makes up five distinct locations in one region of the Galaxy.

Abregado-Rae sits on the beginning of the Rimma Trade Route which means that all the trade from Kal'Shebbol to Yag’Dhul fuel through Rae, unless the Corellian Trade Spine is taking near Yag’Dhul. This essentially means that together with Yag’Dhul and to a lesser extent Sullust, Rae has an important position within the Galactic economy.

The trade must flow and by popular estimation almost half of it flows through Rae.

Its position is only supported by its focus on major manufacturing. Few regulations hold the corporations back and it’s a very tasty ground for those that want to produce and profit without a lot of oversight.

Emeritus has a presence in the Abregado-Rae Spaceport in the form of numerous warehouses, two private bays and a minor landing pad that enables its ships to unload and load up its wares with a greater frequency than those companies that frequent the public landing pads.

Outside the Spaceport of Rae Emeritus owned a few large factories nearby the capital for easy access and transport convenience.

This about sums up the interests of Emeritus in Abregado-Rae, though with the acquisition of Ri’ess and its expertise in corporate mining, there are some plans to expand the mining operations on the planet to extract the valuable resource of electrum.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

My sources tell me that Malastere is being coveted by the Alliance.

This could be a complication, but the Galactic Alliance has always been fairly amicable when it comes to the protection of corporate rights - as long as they aren’t completely aligned with the Sith, of course. For now there is no reason to panic, but a wary eye must be held on the Alliance for changes in their modus operandi.

Much of Malastere has regressed in the past few years or so.

The Akala Crisis didn’t do it any favors and most, if not all order on the planet has disappeared with bands of raiders taking over the hierarchy. As such operations on the planet are strictly confined to scattered enclaves of fuel refineries - Malastarian grade - with each refinery being constructed with landing pads and warehouses.

This to offset the loss of Port Pixelito when the capital city fell into chaos.

One good thing coming from Alliance control would be reestablishing a measure of order on the world, it could open up the possibility of rebuilding a major starport that could increase the export of the fuel for one.

The plans for more production facilities have been put on hold, until we can assess the exact threat level of the raider groups.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Dentaal.

This one concerns me for a number of reasons.

Pre-Gulag records tell us that the population of this planet was wiped out by a plague. Let me repeat that again: the entire population of the planet - at its height ten billion people - were wiped out by a plague. Nobody has resettled the planet since then, not pre nor post-Gulag and I don’t blame them. But the fact that Emeritus has production facilities here?

Very concerning.

With the history of Savan and Vitor’s dabbling, I wouldn’t be surprised if production meant something more than what it says. I have sent Scarra with an Emeritus transport and a few senior scientists to the specific coordinates we found in the records. From there they can expand the search.

It might be nothing, but if Emeritus has some unsavory dealings here I need to know.

The Candorian Plague was not a joke. I read up on it a bit, and apparently it depopulated the Rimward colonies of the Slice and the Bandorian Colonies.

Some might be surprised about my concern, but they confuse my professional and scientific interest with actual intent of usage. And if there is one thing I don’t trust, it would be the people Savan assigned to these hypothetical testing grounds.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

I have been looking into Thyferra.

We know that it’s the sole world producing bacta for the Galaxy at this point in time. The old bacta syndicates have been grounded into dust by the passage of time and for years the monopoly on bacta has been in the possession of OmegaPyre - one of the inheritances of the mercenary company being the foundation of the Omega Protectorate, no doubt.

Thyferra together with a few other worlds form a form of Corporatocracy within the framework of the Alliance.

As of yet I have been unable to determine how pleased the Vratix are about this arrangement, but as long as they don’t rise up in mass revolt it doesn’t concern me all that much either.

The rule of Omega Pyre ensures that most other - smaller - corporations’ interests are somewhat protected. This means that the few production facilities around Xucphra City are not under any immediate danger. As with other worlds that have starports Emeritus owns a few private bays, storage houses and landing pads to accommodate quick transportation.

I have ordered some of production capacity to be diverted towards local need as well. This mostly revolves around minor contracts for sub-capital repairs, maintenance of their starport and orders like that.

This might not seem cost-efficient, but it adds up. Plus the amount of goodwill it generates is astounding.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Eriadu.

This is the world we are on right now and what a world it is.

One of the Outer Rim’s most active trading centers, for one. Right on the intersection between the Rimma Trade Route, the Hydian Way, the Lipsec Run and the Yankirk Route. It is a waste in terms of nature, of course - seeing as the planet’s government has always been more interested in trying to match Coruscant’s city-sprawl than anything else, but that’s politicians for you.

Most of the continents are populated by heavy industry, citiscape and the sort, the oceans being badly populated and the air as well.

The elite have invested in high-orbit cities like Muunilinst so they wouldn’t have to wear filter masks everywhere they went.

That’s where Emeritus’ main headquarters is located too. Main building in the administrative zone with the banker district only a short jaunt away, and the merchants next door.

As always we have invested in our own landing pad here and on the swaths of land we are leasing from the government on the surface-side. That’s where most of our factories and refineries are located, then.

We have shipyard contracts with the government as well. We lease them at very affordable rates and in return a percentage of our output goes directly to us at discounted prices.

Very quid pro quo.

That’s all I have for now when it comes to the direct assets of the Emeritus Industries.

An interesting corporation to inherit, for sure. I will know more about the remaining assets tomorrow when Dregl comes in again.