It's Just Good Business

[Zofia Marek]

She was used to the rough and tumble life on the black, starry sea. She was familiar with the rattle and din of ship to ship combat in the depths of space or the cacophonous melee of boarding actions. She could cross blades with the fiercest pirates, out fight the most stalwart fleet admirals, and take the lit end off a cigarra at a hundred paces with a pistol. She had earned the respect and loyalty of her crew time and time again, leading them into the jaws of death only to emerge victorious each time. With her ship, her crew, and a sword she felt as if she could conquer the galaxy.

Unfortunately, she didn't have her crew with her, the Hellion stood in dock above the planet, and she was only allowed her sword for the occasion only because she'd convinced the guards that it was a part of her uniform. She paced quietly and slowly around the waiting room, occasionally stopping and studying one of the many tapestries or paintings on the wall, something that was fairly rare to see elsewhere in the galaxy where technology was far more prevalent and advanced. The room itself was rather ornate, but not overly so. Furnished with finery, it was only marginally overbearing in its lavishness. It was, after all, a waiting room and not meant for visitors to become comfortable for long.

Overall, this particular visit to Ganath had been profitable. She'd been here before, years ago, as a ship's officer for fuel and supplies. The planet had seemed quaint, almost simple, and charmingly so to her. She often took the time to pull in to port here, but the opportunity seldom presented itself on a regular or even semi-regular basis. Today, however, would probably change things massively.

They had offloaded a great deal of goods into the local economy, namely in the form of manufactured goods and a bit of advanced technology. It had earned the ship a substantial amount of profit and, with her crew paid and the ship's overhead solidly covered, it was time to start something she had kept under wraps for some time.

With that thought, she slowly took in yet another painting in the small room. The small leather case in her hand the only item she carried aside from her Adumari blastsword on her hip. With a little luck and some hope, things would go swimmingly.

 

[Zofia Marek]

A short time later she heard the door open quietly, the pneumatic hiss only slightly heard even in the silence of the room. Marek turned from the tapestry she was attempting to occupy her time feigning interest in and saw that the newcomer was a rather well dressed Ganathan. He smiled slightly at the Cathar and gestured to the door he'd just emerged from.

"Ms. Marek?" the Ganathan asked to which the Cathar only nodded politely. "A representative of the crown will see you now."

"Thank you," she replied as she stepped past the official and into the next room.

The next room was a quiet conference room dominated by a large, solid wood table. There were no paintings or tapestries to distract or capture attention and while the room was plush and lavish, it was somewhat restrained. It was designed for business, but also to show the wealth of whoever owned it. In this case, it was owned by the throne of Ganath, which meant she had a single shot with her pitch.

Seated at the table were a trio of Ganathans in suits, each a slight shade different from the other. She took a seat opposite what were obviously the representatives and carefully placed the leather case on the tabletop beside her.

"Ms... Marek, I beleive?" asked the representative to her right. When she nodded, he continued on, only pausing momentarily to double check something on the datapad set before him on the table. "We've read over the summary you provided us and did a fairly healthy amount of research of our own. Before we get into that, however, I believe we would all like to hear what, precisely, it is you're seeking from the crown for this... business venture."

"Oh, it's quite simple, good sirs," Zofia said with a polite grin. They'd opted to cut straight to the point and bypass nearly every pleasantry in the book. She figured it was potentially a ploy to put prospective entrepreneurs on the back foot, maybe even entirely unsettle them. She'd done similar things with negotiations on occasion, usually as an attempt to both see where the boundaries were and to feel out the temperament and willpower of the person she spoke to. In this case, they'd done away with the sections she thought as difficult and cut straight to the meat of the matter. Now it was a matter of whoever could play the game better. "I'm here for a single reason: trade."

The grin widened.

 

[Zofia Marek]

"Yes, well, if you weren't aware, most people who come through those doors are usually interested in trade," the representative responded, his tone clearly unimpressed. "And most of those same people walk back through those doors disappointed because they thought that just coming in here with a portfolio of spreadsheets and bank accounts was enough to garner a trade contract or agreement."

Zofia nodded in agreement and politely crossed one leg over the other before folding her hands demurely in her lap. The body language was clear to anyone paying attention. It was the stance of someone who felt at the disadvantage, someone already on the back foot which was obviously what they wanted. Someone unable to hold out against the bluntness and near-rudeness of an interview was obviously not suited to do business, much less trade, in their eyes.

"So, unless you have something that is just..." the Ganathan waved a hand vaguely in the air a moment as he searched for the right word. "Simply astounding, you may as well pack up your things and stick to small scale trading. Pick up cargo here, drop it off there, and the like."

"If you gentlemen would note, I do possess my own ship," Marek stated, her tone neutral. She was determined to play the part they desired her to play. It meant that the opportunity to strike would be far more pronounced when the time came. "In that regard, I believe I have a leg up on the competition you're normally used to."

As she spoke, she slid a small folder from the leather case and set it on the table for the representatives to glance over. True, it was a warship, it couldn't carry all that much cargo, but that wasn't the point. It was a ship, and one less to buy, though it remained to be seen if they realized the points she was slowly meandering towards.

 

[Zofia Marek]

"The fact that you have a ship, however nice of a ship it may be, does not exactly warrant much," the second representative stated after a glance over the folder's contents. "While it does give you a mild advantage over the usual... masses of individuals clamoring for attention, it doesn't exactly put you at the top of the heap. Besides, you own what appears to be a combat vessel? A line frigate, to be exact?"

Zofia nodded and answered in the affirmative. The Ganathan gestured at the folder before closing it and sliding it a little back towards the Cathar.

"While you might not have anything to fear from piracy for the most part, combat ships generally lack the cargo space to make trade truly profitable. If you do happen to have enough cargo space to make any trade venture profitable, I'd be concerned you would be unable to defend yourself against any attacker which, again, brings about more problems. If you're able to defend against attack, you probably lack cargo space. If you have cargo space, you lack security to move said cargo. Either you're not transporting enough cargo to make the trip worthwhile or you're commanding a ship that makes the venture far too risky as that ship and cargo could be seized by any pirate brave enough, or dumb enough, to attack what looks like a warship, but lacks the weapons to defend itself."

"Yes, you speak the truth," the Cathar stated as the representative finished his spiel. Things were going well indeed so far. She figured it was time to nudge in the right direction. "The Hellion is fully armed and, in fact, I plan to increase the armor, weaponry, and improve the engines and reactor which would potentially reduce the amount of cargo the ship can carry."

"Which means we would either supply the cargo vessel from our fleet for you to escort or invest in a cargo vessel that would be built for your company that you would escort. In either case, it would be more profitable or, at least, make more sense to simply hire your vessel to escort a Ganathan ship," the first Ganathan stated, entering the conversation once more. He tapped a finger on the tabletop to make his point. "And if that were the case, we'd simply assign one of the Ganathan Navy's ships to escort the vessel. It would be far more economical."

"This is also true," Zofia stated, uncrossing and crossing her legs as she kept up appearances. "Supplying the ship or investing in a ship would be more expensive than hiring me to escort that same ship and, yes, it would make more sense to simply use Navy ships to escort Ganathan trade ships in almost every case as it would, as you stated, be more economical."

"There, then," the second Ganathan stated before gathering up his paperwork. The other two began to do the same. "As you've said, it would be far more beneficial to simply hire your ship for such things. Unless you have any more input, the Crown thank you for coming. If you're interested in odd jobs within Ganathan space, you're more than welcome to schedule an appointment with the Admiralty to see if they have any work for you."

 

[Zofia Marek]

"I don't have any input just this moment, no," Zofia stated, the grin returning to her face as the Ganathans gathered their things. "I do have a question, however."

"Yes?" asked the first representative, pausing only to see what question the Cathar could possibly have. "Though if its an inquiry into what jobs the Admiralty may have, I'm afraid I don't know."

"No, I have no questions about the Admiralty, sir," she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, placing and folding her hands on the tabletop. "I would like to know, however, if any of you gentlemen read past page seven in my proposal summary."

"Of course we read your report," the second Ganathan piped up, a confused frown on his face. The other two had a similar expression and it took Zofia an act of sheer willpower not to laugh as the cleft lip typical of their race and their frowning faces reminded her of a funny image from the holonet she'd seen earlier that week.

"Then you'd note that, per my finances and financial plans laid out in the summary, I'll be purchasing or providing the cargo vessels myself rather than rely on any investors, namely the Crown, to purchase or provide," Zofia gestured at the paperwork they held and at the folder set on the table. "I've taken the time and effort to plan out the next few years and have even included projected costs, profits, and upkeep using the going prices of high market trade items, standard prices on fuel and foodstuffs, and the usual sorts of items. I've even projected costs of adding another escort ship as a future investment."

"Yes, well-" started the first Ganathan as he showed the starting symptoms of the initial fluster. Clearly he had not read the summary and, from the mild surprise on the other two Ganathans, neither had they.

"You'd also note that in the following pages I've detailed what products are the goal for any and all trade missions for the first few months, prioritizing high value items and attempting to minimize stops, delays, and credit loss along the routes detailed."

 

[Zofia Marek]

There was silence in the conference room for a moment or two, the Ganathan representatives clearly not quite sure how to respond to their Cathar guest. After about a minute of silence, the second Ganathan spoke up, his tone clearly indicating that they were, for once, on the back foot.

"You've planned out..." the man's voice was incredulous for a moment before he caught on and took control of himself. "It's impossible to plan out more than maybe a year in advance with any degree of accuracy. That would make the calculations you've made a rough estimate at best."

"Aren't most predictions and calculations estimates at the end of the day?" Marek said with a polite smile. "We're not Jedi, we don't deal in prophecies of the future. Nor are we Sith, merchants almost never deal in absolutes. We're... opportunists. Entrepreneurs. We follow the money and work hard to make it grow. Yes, those calculations are truly solid estimates and rough predictions at the end of the day, but if the Neimodians and the like can make predictions over years and crunch numbers until they see numerical equations in alphabet soup, then so can anyone else."

She opened the leather case once more and removed a sheaf of papers. Separating the sheaf carefully into three packets, she slid one each across the table towards each of the representatives. As if the paperwork was a silent command, the three Ganathans sat back in their seats and began flipping through the sheets of flimsi.

"Ganath has been, and still is in some regards, a bit below the Galactic Standard of technology," she began, gesturing to the packets they held. "Those are the planned shipments, trade focuses, and planned routes to get Ganath back on the map. The first step is to get Ganath connected with the proper trade lines and turn them from a dripping faucet to a proper pipeline."

"And how are you goi-" was all the first representative managed to get out before Zofia ran the question over preemptively.

"A good question," the Cathar flipped her own equivalent packet over to a page further in. "Trade missions to Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta. We'll purchase high technology in bulk and ship it back here. In a short time, I'm sure we can get a proper supply line here or, even better, found the proper manufacturing capability on Ganath itself."

"And how are you going to purchase those goods?" the second man asked, rapping the table twice with his knuckles to make a point. "Ganathan credits? That's hardly an efficient long term plan. What happens when the credits run out? Without a-"

"Without a consistent revenue source, the treasury will run dry and the system will fall into poverty with or without that technology," she finished for the Ganathan before smiling once more at the man. A few pages further into the packet revealed the galactic map. One long, gloved finger tapped on one of the highlighted areas. "I've taken that into consideration. We'll need an expedition... here."

 

[Zofia Marek]

"Ziogan?" asked the first man. "Ziogan? There's nothing there. We need something we can trade. There's nothing worth buying on that planet."

"Nothing worth buying, no," agreed the privateer, though now she figured she might need to add the title of 'merchant' to her list of professions. "There's nothing worth purchasing on that planet."

"Then why go there?"

"Because we don't need to purchase anything," the Cathar said with a grin. She pointed at the paperwork again and continued on. "I've been there once, maybe twice in my time aboard ship. There's people there, descendants of slaves or some such. Low tech, with some scraps of higher technology. Most people pull in to replenish supplies and sometimes water or oxygen, but generally that's about it. What the planet has that we would want, however, is the planet's natural resources. Hence why I want an expedition to go there, not a trade mission."

"You want to set up shop on a backwater planet?" asked the first man, his tone clear that he thought the entire concept ridiculous.

"Yes, actually. I do. No one owns the planet, that means no one to purchase the land from. No taxes to pay to a landlord, no fees to accrue... Outside of the basic upkeep and overhead, there's nothing to pay anyone outside of the initial investment."

"And who will work the mines or lumber yards and the like? You want to hire Ganathans to go off world and work? That will get expensive, quick."

"We will need to hire a small number of skilled laborers or, perhaps, specialists and they will be adequately compensated. Possibly even competitively so," Zofia stated with a polite nod. "However, there's little need to import labor when there's already a large amount of unskilled labor already on the planet."

"You want to hire the natives?"

"Of course. They'll cost less than importing your own people, the only investment needed for the planet is the initial one outside of general upkeep, and I'm sure the locals would leap for joy at a chance to land a paying job that puts a solid roof over their heads, healthy food on the table, and a few credits in their pocket."

"What do you mean, a roof over their head?" asked the second representative. "You're saying we should house these people, too? That could potentially cut into costs and reduce profits while raising the overhead."

"I am, yes. Give them an average home that anyone in the galaxy might have, though perhaps 'give' is the wrong term. Build neighborhoods, towns, that sort of thing. Get a small town set up, hire on the locals and let them live in those towns. Have them rent homes placed there by the corporation, shop at stores and markets financed by the company. Just deduct a modest amount of credits from their salary for the usual rent and the like, the rest is theirs to do with as they see fit."

 

[Zofia Marek]

"Clever," stated the third Ganathan, the first word he'd spoken the entire meeting. "They work for the company, are paid by the company, have a modest rent deducted from their salary for the company housing they're using, and then the rest is theirs to shop with or spend... on company backed shops, markets, and entertainment. It's borderline corporate slavery, but pay enough and it isn't. If they save up enough they can potentially buy their way elsewhere, but why would they when all they need is right there?"

Zofia caught the slight twitch in the eyes of the other two men at the table and figured that the third man, in the darkest suit, was most likely their supervisor of sorts. He was letting his underlings run the show while he kept an eye on their performance. She could relate to such a tactic. It was something she occasionally used on board ship with aspiring officers.

"Precisely," the Cathar agreed. The third man was a bit more astute than the other two, reinforcing her belief that he was the leader. "Pay well enough to keep them loyal and give them enough options to prevent dissent and unrest, but still keep company costs low. They work the mines, lumber yards, and the like to gather the raw materials. We take the raw materials and load them on board our trade ships, send them to Nar Shaddaa or Nal Hutta where the manufacturing plants are-"

"And sell or trade the materials to the factories to get the technology we want, ship it home, and sell it to the population while passing that discount along," finished the first representative.

"Exactly," Marek stated with a wide smile, though she refrained from showing teeth. Most creatures in the galaxy were omnivores or herbivores, which meant that she'd learned to keep her teeth concealed to prevent any subconscious discomfort in those she spoke with. "But, we don't need to stop there. If we're offering the lowest possible price compared to competitors in our own market, what's to stop us from selling to other markets?"

At this point the third Ganathan nodded and leaned to one side, propping himself up on one elbow within the chair he sat in. It seemed a bit informal to Zofia, but then again, this man could literally be second only to the Ganathan King on economic matters. He could very well be able to do things as he wished, which meant she didn't focus on the minor display.

"Sell the surplus to other markets at cheap prices all while keeping low operating costs and low overhead to maximize profit. Makes sense and it's a sound business plan. Problem is, if competition catches on, what's to stop them from doing the same and competing with us that way?"

"Oh, you have no idea how glad I am that you asked that question," Marek was, in fact, very happy at the question. It saved her meandering around various points and concepts until one of the other two sparked two neurons together to figure out the question later on. "We keep overhead and upkeep lower than what our competition can do."

"And how do we do that?" asked the first man, reentering the conversation once more.

"We raise import tariffs to Ganath, preventing competition from pocketing much, if any, real profit."

"The problem with that is this company would pay the same amount. If anything, it would narrow the profit window and increase all costs," stated the second Ganathan, his expression annoyed once more.

"Yes," agreed Marek before smiling once more. "Unless you exempt the company from any and all taxes, tariffs, and fees."

 

[Zofia Marek]

"Exempt... from..." the first Ganathan's face quickly reddened, his voice failing him entirely. His compatriot quickly stepped up to cover the gap, though his face was far from calm.

"What my fellow representative means to say is that how can we profit from trade and commerce if we're not to tax it?" he asked, his tone razor sharp in its inflection. "Without that revenue we as a planetary nation cannot function in the long term. With this company free from all taxes and tariffs with all the trade its doing within our borders and future, proposed territories... it would drive out all business and Ganath would suffer when tax paying merchants go elsewhere to profit."

"You are forgetting the entire reason I am here, sir," Marek stated politely, a gloved hand gesturing vaguely to refer to the room as a whole and, by extension, the structure they were within. "With the Crown of Ganath backing this trading venture, the Crown would profit as this venture profits. If this company were to be taxed, you would only harm your own income. In short, rather than letting the company grow by leaps and bounds, you'd be taxing yourselves by extension to make a fraction more money in the short term than the potential profits in the long term."

"Essentially, by exempting this company from taxes would allow the company to grow damn near unhindered and in record time. This year, a small resource investment and minor trade pipeline, next year a series of trade networks connecting us with our neighbors and beyond," the third Ganathan spoke up and Marek watched the other two swallow their responses. She was beginning to suspect that her guess was right; that this man probably answered directly to the King when it came to financial matters.

"Correct, sir," Marek stated. She was about to continue when the same man interrupted her.

"I'm sure the detailed nuances of this type of company and its practices are something that can be explained in depth later," he stated before gesturing at her directly with his off hand, the one he wasn't leaning on. "My concern is how are we to trust that you won't, for example, take the invested money and head for the Unknown Regions? Or, in the event the company does poorly and fails, who is to answer for it? What I'm getting at is what happens in a worst case scenario? Also, who makes the decisions? Are you the final word? Are the investors? The Crown? Who is going to protect the company's interests? The Ganathan military isn't that large, though our Navy is respectable in size for what we are. That said, I can't have every ship running amok watching over trade convoys and merchant ships all over the place. For one, the Admiralty would get their feathers in a ruffle and for another I'm sure at some point we'd be sending official naval warships into someone else's borders and there are definitely some galactic nations out there that are a bit touchy on foreign warships in domestic star systems."

"The Silver Sanc... Wait, no, they're the Silver... Jedi, now?" stated the first representative. The second man nodded to confirm. "Right, the Silver Jedi Order, I think. They get a little annoyed when official navies show up except for diplomacy, usually."

"The Mandalorians don't get upset, they get angry," said the second Ganathan. "They really don't like someone else with guns showing up in their space. Much less over Mandalore and with the Republic and the One Sith gone... they're probably bored. Making them un-bored may be a bad idea."

The third man said nothing, but jabbed a thumb at the other two as they chatted to themselves and eachother. The facial expression he gave was one that spoke volumes, but admitted they had points.

"Let me try and go down the list of questions and see if I can't answer them all, one by one," she stated and waited for the third representative's nod to continue. "First, I have no interest in going to the Unknown Regions for any length of time unless hired to do so. I've been there before, it's not that bad, but it's called the Unknown Regions for a reason and I like a little bit of familiarity with most things. The company would answer primarily to the investors if it fails or dissolves which would include the Crown, as the Crown would be a primary and initial or original investor. As for who precisely, it would be a board of directors with a chairman, which would be myself. The directors would be hired based on their merit for the position and could be hired or fired as needed. Should the company suffer problems or cause problems, the Board would answer directly to the investors."

"This Board would make the decisions for the company, but make them in the best interest of the investors. Namely: to increase the profit of the company so that the investors also profit. The investors will be able to vote on major decisions such as, to use a hypothetical example, a potential hyperlane running through new territory. Something that would be a massive investment of funds, time, and resources such as that. As for defending its interests... That will be covered entirely by the company: a corporate army and a corporate navy will be founded to defend the company's interests."

"If the Crown will permit the recruitment of those within its borders to fill the ranks of the company's private military, then the company itself can protect the interests of the investors without issue. If legalities are an issue, then the simplest, easiest, and most legal way to prevent problems is to issue a Letter of Marque to each ship within the company's navy and a broad spectrum Letter that allows the company's ground forces to operate similarly when necessary. Any ship attacking a corporate body within anyone's borders is, arguably and most likely, a Pirate as a company cannot legally have war declared on it in most areas of civilized space. A Letter of Marque allows the vessel that bears it to destroy, burn, or take a pirate vessel as a prize and avoid legal problems in most cases. It also prevents international issues between Ganath and her neighbors as well as prevents the Ganathan navy from being overtaxed protecting what will be able to protect itself."

 

[Zofia Marek]

The third representative was quiet a moment and the two other representatives sat mutely, their eyes flicking back and forth between the Cathar and Ganathan. After a few more seconds of mulling over the details, he leaned forward, and propped his elbows up on the table.

"What I want you to do is prepare a formal proposal detailing everything we've discussed and I want it handed to Representative Greger by tomorrow afternoon at the close of the usual business day," the man stated, jabbing a thumb at the first Representative. "From there he'll review it and make sure everything we've discussed today is clearly listed and detailed. He'll then corroborate with Representative Acke to ensure that the legalities are in line with our own system and the more common legal systems found in the galaxy."

He then jabbed a thumb at the second Ganathan who remained silent and slowly gathered up the papers on the tabletop.

"You'll need to also furnish Representative Acke with a copy of his own before the end of day tomorrow as well. They will make sure everything matches up in all areas, contact you if there's any issues, and send a final copy to you for a final review. If there's any problems, you'll want to contact both Representatives Acke and Greger to hash those out. Once that's signed off by you, they'll send the final copy off to be signed. You'll be notified when that happens. It will take a week or two, tops, to get things in motion. By the end of the month I want this company to have their administrative headquarters set up and established. You'll also need to have some warehouses and landing pad set up for received goods. By the end of next month I expect facilities established or on the way to being established on Ziugan and some headway made in organizing shipments into Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta. You'll want to negotiate somewhere to set up shop there, too, though I think you've already included that in your plans. I expect the first shipments on Ganath by the end of the quarter and until the company is operating in the black with its accounts, I want a weekly report from all ends."

The Ganathan looked at Marek and waited until she looked him in the eye to show he had her full attention instead of scribbling down notes into her datapad.

"What's this company called, anyways?" he asked bluntly.

"I had simply planed to call it the Ganathan Trade Company, to be honest," the Cathar stated plainly. "Nothing fancy, no catchy meanings or flashy headlines."

"I like it. Short, simple, and to the point. Sounds official, too. Just one thing needs to be changed," he pointed to the Royal symbol on the wall at the head of the table where, normally, the King would be seated during larger discussions. "You're backed by the Crown now. It can't just be any trade company. The name of the organization will be known as the Royal Ganathan Trade Company. The Crown is your primary and chief investor, you'll carry the honorific as well. A reminder, if you will, to those you do business with and to yourself."

At that, the man stood up and stretched briefly, the other two Ganathans gathering their things. Without waiting for the other two, he started heading for the doors.

"Representatives Acke and Greger will answer any other questions you have."

"Thank you, sir. I'm glad the Ganathan Crown has seen fit to fully support this venture," she stated as she gathered up her own things.

"You only have my money, Captain Marek," the man called back as he stepped through the doors and left the room. "The rest you'll need to earn."

She felt her eyes widen involuntarily at the man's words. Her head snapped around and looked at the other two Ganathans. The first man, Greger shrugged as he picked up his things to leave.

"That was Karl, son of Isak... King of Ganath," the man tiredly intoned.