My Father Never Gave Me a Small Loan of a Million Credits

[Judas Wayne]

Corellia Digital Building | Denon​

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Judas Wayne stood at the edge of a building overlooking the sprawling metropolis of Denon below. The city-planet was strategically situated at the crossroads of the Hydian Way and the Corellian Run space routes. It was a prime location for all sorts of companies to sell their goods, and that's what Judas intended to do very soon himself. Wayne Technologies was planning to open its main distribution branch in the planet's prime business sector, but first they had to raise the funds to do so. Judas was nearing the bitter end of his inheritance money, as most of it had been spent on the research outpost located on Roon. That, in fact, is what brought him here today.​

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He awaited a meeting with the President of the Corellia Digitial Corporation, [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]. He was hoping to procure a loan big enough to kick-start his company's official distribution point, as well as do a little business on the side. Corellia Digital was a sizable corporation, and doing business with them would help get his company on the galactic stage.​

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Until he was ready to be received, Judas would look out into the city below and ponder the future of his company.​

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

It was getting to be a Sith-Imperial galaxy out there.

In many respects, that was nothing new. Before the First Order and the Galactic Alliance had torn apart entire planets in their war of attrition against one another, it had been the One Sith and the Galactic Republic.

When Corellia Digital had been re-founded by [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] during the One Sith's control of what remained of Corellia in the aftermath of the Netherworld crisis, no one had thought about the optics of having a company president with such open Jedi Family Values and a history that connected him to the Order of the Silver Jedi, the Galactic Republic, and the Outer Rim Coalition. But that had been in 844 ABY, when the company was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Fast forward to today. The First Order dominated the landscape to the west, the Sith Empire dominated the landscape to the east. The two political powerhouses had even signed a treaty dividing the galaxy up between them, while sacking Coruscant, burning Frisal, and blockading the worlds of the Coalition.

In that geo-political environment, having a Jedi -- current or former -- as a Chief Executive was not going to bode well for an interstellar corporation that would need to make itself appealing to the Sith and Imperialists if it was going to continue to be financially profitable in markets that were increasingly turning to the Dark Side.

Even Voss, the oldest bastion of the company outside of the Corellian System, now operated under the economy of the Sith Empire.

So the board had voted, and opted to eject Sor-Jan in favor of the former Levantine ExplorCorps captain who had served in his stead during the Omega War crisis.

As such, it was an older Corellian woman who finally met [member="Judas Wayne"] in the lobby outside the financial offices. "Mister Wayne? My name is Marc," the woman noted, extending a hand out toward the gentleman. "I understand that you have a business proposition," the woman went on to add, even as she motioned for him to follow back to the private office in the rear.

 

[Judas Wayne]

Judas turned around to shake the hand of the woman who had just greeted him. He hid his surprise; this is not who he had been expecting. However, the strange woman still proceeded to beckon him towards the executive office. It looked like there was a new CEO in town.​

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"I apologize ma'am, my information seems to be embarrassingly outdated. I was expecting someone much... smaller than yourself. I'm sorry if I addressed you incorrectly in any of our previous correspondences, I'll be sure to give my assistant a sharp smack upside the head for you."​

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Judas followed Marc into her office. In a less formal setting he might have let off an impressed whistle. It was a nicely decorated and spacious room, much contrasting to his his modest workspace back on Roon. He hoped his company would grow to this size some day, with buildings like this stretching high and far across the Galaxy.​

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For now, he would settle for his office in the research facility.​

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He waited for Marc to take her seat at the desk before sitting down himself. "Indeed, I did bring with me a business proposition. I am in need of funding for a new Wayne Technologies building here on Denon. I understand your organization offers loans, which is why I came here today. However, I would like to offer a bit of an alternative that I believe would be mutually beneficial. I assume that you hire out lots of security to protect your company's assets. In today's Galaxy, Jedi and Sith alike tear through planets and take what they desire. Let me ask you, if a group of Sith Lords broke into one of your facilities, would you be able to protect your assets? Wayne Technologies, above all else, is a defense company that produces products meant to defeat Force-users and those with a general advantage over most of us. Are you interested?"​

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[member="Aisha Marc"]​

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

"Hardly outdated, Mister Wayne. A few days earlier, and you'd have been meeting with General Xantha."

Escorting the man into the office, the woman motioned him toward a chair as she made her way around to the other side of the desk. Smoothing out the front of her blouse, the Corellian took a seat as she explained, "Given our long-standing relationship with the Coalition and the Silver Jedi, the goal of the company was to be as quiet as possible about his departure." The ouster of the company's founder on the eve of the Sith-Imperial Treaty was a rather bold, if not desperate, move by the board. Whether she agreed with it or not, Aisha imagined that board was concerned about the possibility of the Coalition collapsing.

The company was getting primed to reach out to the Sith and the First Order for their business. Something it couldn't do with a Silver Jedi and Galactic Republic Jedi Master at the helm.

Which had nothing to do with right or wrong, it was just business. And Sor-Jan's morals and values were only too clear on the matter, and had poised the company in opposition to the First Order.

And the board had not objected then, as those conflicts brought in customers from the Alliance, the Coalition, and the Silver Jedi.

But then the Silver Jedi had left the Tingel Arm, placing all of their resources in that part of space vulnerable. And, ultimately, under the control of the Sith. The Alliance had collapsed and the First Order was blockading the Coalition. With those events, the future was clear. And it wasn't peddling to Jedi religious hang-ups about making trade deals with the Dark Side.

Which made the man's offer only that much more intriguing.

If she was going to be negotiating between the Devil and the Dark, defenses against their Force voodoo would certainly be something that the company was interested in. "We're always interested in diversifying our investment portfolio, Mister Wayne," the woman answered, intentionally non-committal in reply. "We've worked with Justice Shipping in the past for a similar arrangement. I suppose it depend on what kinds of terms or guarantees you're prepared to offer."

[member="Judas Wayne"]​

 

[Judas Wayne]

Judas nodded. He had hoped she would bite on the deal at least a little, giving him an opportunity to show off some of his newest products. If he could turn this meeting around from a loan to a mutual business agreement he would consider this a successful venture indeed. The Wayne Tech CEO didn't want to be indebted if he could help it. From his experience, debt often caused much more trouble than it was worth.​

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He opened up his briefcase, pulling out a small holoprojector with pre-loaded footage of the products he wanted to advertise. A few of the Wayne Tech PR folks had shot the video just days before, editing it over to put on a hopefully impressive display. It hadn't been launched on the company's official site yet; Judas wanted to make sure Marc was the first outsider to see it.​

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The device turned on, projecting a large hologram across the desk. The video began to play. First was the Variable Combat Armor. It showed a trooper wearing the armor in the abyss of space doing repairs on damaged spacecraft. Next, a trooper using it in the depths of the ocean welding an underwater power line. In the next scene, the same armor had a jetpack and jump jets equipped as a soldier jumped out of an aircraft at several thousand feet. The next scene was cut in directly for Corellia Digital's benefit. It showed a heavy variant standing guard outside of a bank, complete with an advanced scanner array and a wrist-mounted chaingun.​

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The footage flowed to the next bit of tech, the ion beamer. The device was soundly attached to the underbarrel of a stock assault rifle, its titanium shell glistening in the artificial light of the studio. It was then on the field of battle, facing off against a fully-fledged Sith Lord. A beam was shot from the device directly at the Sith. He raised his saber to deflect the shot as any saber-jockey would, but instead of repelling the beam it seemed to wrap around the weapon and continued to hit the Sith right in the chest. He fell right onto the ground, obviously stunned out of his mind when a second shot knocked him out cold. The next scene was similar, though instead of a Sith the opponent was a Mandalorian warrior. Same deal, a shot was fired at the man wearing a full Beskar'gam. While one would expect the armor to defend against such a shot, it instead went right through and toppled him over. Again, a second shot was fired that dropped him like a rock.​

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Last but not least was the Taozin bullets. Still in pre-release testing, this design was one of the company's most ambitious yet. Bullets undetectable by the force, deadly to lightsabers. The next video clip featured a disclaimer that only training rounds were used in the footage. It showed a Miraluka Jedi in protective padding facing down an assault rifle with a Taozin clip. The tester began firing, and it soon became apparent that the Miraluka could not detect the shots at all. Virtually every round found its mark. The one stray bullet that hid the ignited lightsaber exploded in a flash of light and a loud bang! that would have both blinded and deafened anyone in close proximation.​

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The video shut off, and Wayne handed the executive a consumer portfolio with specifications on each of the products. "Are you interested in any of these, Miss Marc? Feel free to ask me any questions you want; I designed most of these."​

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[member="Aisha Marc"]​

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

She definitely saw potential here.

The Mandalorians and the Bounty Hunter's Guild would eat this stuff up. Back when the Levantine Sanctum had been active in the Tingel Arm Region, they might have as well. They'd used paddle beam derived technology in the stock sidearm issued to the FrontierCorps. Hell, the Coalition could probably use some of this in their struggle against the First Order.

But, that kind of thinking went against the idea that Corellia Digital was going to have to move forward by doing business with them.

Still, tempting none the less.

"I could probably help connect you with some buyers," the woman noted simply, at last looking up from the holoprojector and turning her attention back to the salesman. "As for the loan you're requesting. How would feel about a few demos of your products, along with a ten percent stake in Wayne Technologies?"

He wanted a million credits. To be honest, she could easily write that off. She wasn't interest in the debt, and didn't need the income from the interest on the loan.

Investment income and a diversified market portfolio, with a company that had a lot of potential to break into a cross-strata of galactic markets? Now that was interesting to her.

[member="Judas Wayne"]​

 

[Judas Wayne]

Judas was a bit disappointed that she didn't have as much a need for his product as he had hoped, though he had sort of seen it coming. This was a banking corporation after all, not a private military contractor. Still, he would now have to find an alternative that would suit them both.​

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"Forgive me if I come off as a little overconfident here, but I very much believe that my company has the potential to make quite an impact in the near future. I think you believe this too, or else you wouldn't consider investing in us at all. I currently own all shares of my company, and in a few years I believe that a 10% stake will be worth far more than one million credits. Forgive me if I would rather wait until then to start selling my shares. As a fellow businesswoman I'm sure you understand my financial logic."​

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Judas, being the man he was, didn't go into the meeting with only one deal in mind. He realized his product would have differing appeals to different groups of people. Corellia Digital didn't need what he was selling, but like Ms. Marc said, there were others that did.​

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"Here's my revised offer, Miss Marc. You write me a check here and now for a small sum of one million credits. Then, as you said, you link me to some potential business partners of yours. For the next two years, any contract we make through your acquaintance will grant you a 25% royalty payment until you make back your initial investment of one million credits. Then, until the two year mark is up, you will receive a 7% royalty payment to increase your profit. Like I said before, we will also throw in a few of our previously advertised products as well for use at your discretion. Does this sound like a fair deal?"​

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[member="Aisha Marc"]​

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Shrewd.

She couldn't remember the last time she dealt with a business man who handled his confidence so well. Never quite tipping the scale to arrogance, but certain he was the one in the position to negotiation... even while asking for a loan. "You're asking me to accept an awful lot of risk," the woman finally remarked flatly.

She didn't mind gambling, but she wasn't about to take a bet with the odds so random. "I can point potential customers in your direction, but I have no control over whether they'll buy into what you're selling or not. So while the royalty sounds generous, it places my reimbursement entirely on a set of circumstances neither of us control."

He'd made an offer. She'd countered. Then he'd countered in return. Now, where did that leave them? She'd proposed shares, he'd rejected that notion. He proposed a commission, but there were no guarantees that any of Corellia Digital's customers were going to bite.

"An alternative," the woman noted at last. "We've been debating phasing out our Aurora Industries model security droids for something developed in-house." Debating was almost a tongue-in-cheek joke. The idea had been in development hell since the Omega Crisis. They'd never been able to bring it to fruition, because the armor and equipment were all aspects of the project that exceeded Corellia Digital's organic manufacturing capabilities.

"Your armor and tech, our droid parts. Would that kind of collaboration interest you?"

[member="Judas Wayne"]​

 

[Judas Wayne]

Fair enough.​

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Looking at it from her perspective, there was indeed no guarantee that none of Corellia Digital's allies would purchase from him in an amount that would make up for the initial investment of one million credits. He was asking her to roll the dice, and it was understandable why she was hesitant. Maybe if he were representing Iron Crown Industries or something similar then she would be more keen to gamble on him. However, Wayne Tech didn't carry much buzz as of yet and betting on them would be a bit of a shot in the dark.​

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However, her new proposition interested him greatly. Defense products were his company's specialty, after all. Equipping a major corporation's security droids was as good a contract as he could possibly ask for.​

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"Indeed, that would interest me considerably. What would you need from me, Miss Marc? Like you said, armor and weaponry would be paramount. Would our current model of armor suit your needs or would you prefer we develop something a little more custom? And would you want the provided rifles to come with our previously adverstised Ion Beamer Attachment or no?"​

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Judas unscrewed the lid to his bottle of water to take a sip of the cool liquid. The air seemed a bit dry today, leaving his throat more than a bit scratchy. Maybe his company should start developing a humidifier or something.​

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"Also, one more key question: How many droids would I be supplying? Are we talking in the hundreds or the thousands?"​

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[member="Aisha Marc"]​

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

It seemed that they had, at last, reached an accord.

Now to just hammer out the finer details. "Excellent," the woman noted, casually reaching inside of her blazer as she leaned forward. Pulling out a slender datapad, the Corellian executive used her finger to tap out an electronic check in the amount of a million credits. Passing it over to him to fill out the account and routing information, she added, "We can call the million a down payment of sorts for our contract then."

"It will be in the thousands, Mister Wayne, but it need not be done overnight," Aisha continued. "Our security droids are present on all of our shipping platforms, to include our fleet of non-traditional freight haulers." That was about the most oblique way of touching on the fact that the telecommunications company had its own arsenal of Mon Calamari and Firemane military grade combat vessels.

"We can work out the specifics of the equipment involved as the project moves out of the research phase and into design," Aisha went on to comment.

"Do we have a deal?"

[member="Judas Wayne"]​

 

[Judas Wayne]

It seemed that they had come to an accord. Judas would take the datapad, giving the form a quick look over before filling out the final bits of relevant information on the screen.​

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He smirked at her not-so-discreet mention of combat ships. She needn't worry, the vast majority of his customers were those in the business of war. After all, what business would a defense corporation have the modern Galaxy if it didn't cater to such customers. His problem lied with those who slaughtered innocents across planets and warmongered because they could.​

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"Indeed, Miss Marc, I believe we have an agreement. Official documentation and the like can be mailed to my office for a final signing of the contract."​

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He took a brief moment to pack his things back into the briefcase before pulling out a business card and sliding it across the desk to her. It would include his business address, as well as both office and personal comm numbers in case she needed to speak with him directly.​

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"Now, I do believe that concludes our meeting today ma'am. Unless, of course, you have any further questions for me? I would be happy to remedy any final concerns you might have."​

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[member="Aisha Marc"]​