Husking corn

[Ugohr Poof]

Ugohr had a look about the latest client requesting assistance to help them find a property. He reviewed the request carefully: the client requested to help them buy arable land on Tieos. Presumably enough land to build a farming complex and a landing pad along with it. Of course, because the Rings of the Lord were busy clearing the Financial District minefield, laid by the One Sith in preparation for the Galactic Alliance attack, with a portion left in its wake, he had to remain in the Coruscant office until that part of the mission was over. Broken windows and transparisteel shards were everywhere around him, in the makeshift office of IGR on Coruscant, whose employees were once afraid to deal with big business properties. All that IGR's Coruscant office did was to make small-time real estate deals for the more mundane clients. The temporary receptionist, a battle-weary Gran, told Ugohr on the comm:

"General, Valashu Elahad from Merr-Sonn Agricultural has arrived to discuss the purchase of farmland"

"Hesa may enter mesa office"

Hmmm... one million credits, either farmland or a "distribution port", the latter being some sort of rudimentary spaceport according to the request placed by Merr-Sonn Agricultural. Did Merr-Sonn Agricultural deal with corn? Did they use corn for ethanol additives to be put into hypermatter? Most properties for sale in that price range on that planet that Ugohr could readily find on the GMLS were corn cultivations: other cultivations were either used for intensive farming (fruit, vegetables, livestock) and hence have a smaller area or were larger since they were used for other extensive farming crops.

[member="Valashu Elahad"]

 

[Matreya]

Valashu arrived clad in a silk business suit that could bankrupt some smaller cities, fixing his cuff links as he approached the office doors. A signal from his mind threw both doors open, just as he reached them. Nodding his head toward the Gungan behind the desk, Valashu began, "Sorry I am late, pressing matters of late. My own companies have been heavily damaged repeatedly with this One Sith ordeal, i am sure you understand."

Taking a seat opposite the other, he continued, "I am to understand you made some form of business arrangement with the previous owners of my company, and I do try to honor agreements if I am in the position to do so - with circumstantially understandable position of course." Valashu said, meaning he would help to appease the other so long as it was mutually beneficial, "So how may i help you?"

[member="Ugohr Poof"]

 

[Ugohr Poof]

"Da last owners of Merr-Sonn Agricultural only began da early stages of buyen arable land on Tieos before Darth Ayra died. Now if wesa could get that unfinished business done... For 1 million credits, yousa get 12,000 acres of cornfields on Tieos. Yousa can still build a distribution port afterward"

IGR failed to land the Mandalorian contract for turkey ranching on Dantooine, but that didn't make Ugohr that perplex. He sensed the dirty hand of RBF Realty, the major rival of IGR in that segment of the galaxy, in this, but little did they know was that IGR would soon overtake tier-3 RBF. The galactic market of real estate brokers is highly fragmented, and few did inter-faction business. Whereas several weapons manufacturers sprung up every day, real estate brokerage companies were mostly tier-1 or tier-2 and at most restricted to a single cluster. But Ugohr had a vision for IGR to become the largest real estate brokerage company in the galaxy. Would Merr-Sonn Agricultural buy 12,000 acres of cornfields? Do they have conditions? Realty was one of the less glamorous jobs in these war-torn times: one would imagine Jedi Ambassadors or other Consulars to do that dirty job, if they were Jedi, or Sith Inquisitors if they were dark-sided. But there were very. very few Force-sensitives in the profession and they were often those who couldn't be trained as Jedi or Sith. Ugohr was there for those VIP clients, those who called themselves player-characters­.

[member="Valashu Elahad"]

 

[Matreya]

Valashu sighed, reclining in his seat, propping a leg onto the other knee, "A million for twelve thousand?" He asked, it was a tempting offer. But, as it stood, corn was not a major commodity required for most planets. Hell, he had only eaten corn a few times, and he was well over two dozen years. It was one of those things that some heard of, but not everyone ate it.

"I can see the purchasing of the farmland, but not for the use of corn. I could pay a million, maybe more, for the land with some building properties. I have some... predators that need housing."

[member="Ugohr Poof"]

 

[Ugohr Poof]

"IGR no assumen responsibility for what yousa do with da 12,000 acres of farmland. Yousa can use it to breed predators, usen any animal feed yoursa predators as theysa see fit. Just reap da current corn crop and then yousa can breed predators on it: yousa can still ship da corn to [member="Ra Vizsla"] on Dantooine. Nevertheless, yousa just sign on da contract here"

And Tieos was one of the main planets in the galaxy that produced corn, if not the main one, but as Ugohr said, IGR assumes no responsibility after the sale is concluded. Plus Tieos was mainly a cereal-crop agriworld. He might not know much about the nature of the predators being bred on that particular land so he couldn't help himself but slip that comment about the diet of the predators.

"By now yousa know dat breedin predators not da same as breedin turkeys. Da last Mandalorian comin here inquiring about a ranch on Dantooine for turkeys"

Surely he can't be referring to [member="Ra Vizsla"]! Then again, Mandalorians, even if they did help in the reconstruction of Coruscant, did not know much about real estate, and would trust any two-bit person calling himself a realtor. He blew his one chance to make a major faction (other than the Alliance) use his services. And for companies that did not deal in the manufacturing of implements of destruction, it was difficult to get a major faction to listen to them.

[member="Valashu Elahad"]

 

[Ugohr Poof]

And Ugohr returned back to his meditation. He was beginning to see what the future would hold for his corporation in the Force. He began to see visions of Mandalorians coming to buy his corporation, but that said Mandos were more like him than they were like typical Mandos. That is, people who would under normal circumstances rather unwilling to fight but when they do fight, they can be fierce combatants. But for most routine business he could let the realtor mooks, Jedi or not, He was to be called in only for major clients, the VIPs. As a Jedi Knight, he was back from M'haeli, he recruited a bunch of Jedi among the unemployed crowd and even bought a failing realty office there. But that wasn't because of his failings as a realtor because other clients were rather satisfied with his role in the business, despite the fact that he once had to deal with a crazy, bald Zeltron (with a more bluish tint than on normal Zeltrons) that wanted to eat Gungan meat that nevertheless acknowledged that Ugohr was still a good, honest realtor.

"What will mesa do dat will lead to IGR not being under mesa control anymore? Surely mesa not fallen to da dark side!"

"I don't know, boss, probably some bungled Jedi mission or something"

"Probably some mission dat mesa have no training or experience for"

 

[Ugohr Poof]

"Do yousa honestly think mesa bad realtor?"

"No? If that prophecy came true, I believe it will have absolutely nothing to do with IGR as a business"

"Good. Mesa not want to give Jedi a bad name in business"

The Gungan Jedi was right. Then again, so many in Alliance land thought Jedi could not run business, let alone financial businesses - he had to prove different. The only things they knew Jedi would be able to do business-wise would be to run charities or some other forms of nonprofits. But for-profit corporations were often perceived by Jedi to be under the purview of dark-siders. Ugohr was perhaps one of the best examples of what he could do with a financial corporation as a Jedi - officially real estate was classified as a financial sector by both NJO and Alliance authorities - while Ugohr had no idea about was just how he could feth up in the field, no more than he could possibly know about what missions he could possibly take on. He returned to Coruscant to get the business finished that Darth Ayra couldn't get done in the weeks after Coruscant happened and that its IGR office was failing.

 

[Ugohr Poof]

"Since hesa mention predators, mesa must assume a carnivorous diet, especially if theysa ask for a distribution port"

"If I had some advice to give Merr-Sonn Agricultural, that would be to separate the 12,000 acres in three segments: one for the corn, another one for the predator's feed and the final one for the predators"

"Da question of da distribution port remains whole"

Darth Ayra mentioned a distribution port in the request, capable of accommodating one 500m x 500m landing pad (like Maersks). But the other realtor is correct in that it is best to have all three relevant levels of the food chain within the 12,000 acres, although it won't be 4,000 acres for each. Just that, as Ugohr said earlier, he needed not worry about the layout of the land, so long as the paperwork is in order. Speaking of which the contract provided for the paperwork to be taken care of by IGR's staff. The other realtor got to work - because, for some reason, not only Ugohr had the more important clients, he had minimal paperwork-related duties. For the time being, more important than his realty role was the role he held as a Jedi Knight and, ex officio, as a general. Ugohr had no idea how Valashu would build the compound once it officialy becomes Merr-Sonn Agricultural property, even though the paperwork contains the surveyor report.

 

[Ugohr Poof]

"Darth Ayra... did she plan for the distribution port to be an entry point for the predators' feed or for something else entirelly?"

"Mesa not knowen anything about agriculture as issa pertain to da breedin of predators"

On that point Ugohr was right. He could talk all you could possibly want about aquaharvesting or fisheries, and so would most Gungans that can actually fish. But breeding land-based predators just wasn't up his alley. What he would not doubt, though, is that Ugohr would be utterly unable to do things like these. He would be entrusted with such high-pressure roles as a Jedi in addition to these realty roles. That's going to break him one day and then the dark side. FUs are strange beasts: coming to the dark often involves failed missions or unhappy professional lives. To live a carefree life was often next to impossible for a Jedi, and neither it is for Sith Lords. Some Force-cults could afford to do so because they seem to have so little traction they can fall off the radar and live a life with much less responsibility, and sometimes next to nothing. But that was not a luxury Ugohr could afford.

 

[Ugohr Poof]

"Beep"

"General Poof, there is another mission for you"

"What issa dat mission about?"

"A hijacked ship is on Chandrila

"Duty calls"

In true Jedi fashion, he hurriedly packs up and leaves. As he prepares to leave for Chandrila for his next mission where he will make his junction with the Army of Malastare, prepared to leave behind his realty business on Coruscant, he still comes out of the planet with a heavy heart. Yes, on the one hand, he has sold the land to Merr-Sonn Agricultural, but he wonders whether he should have blocked the sale. Probably not.