Oh, What a Wonderful World... of Capitalism

[Nikolas Faselli]

Druckenwell,
Il Avali

What was Maria doing on the planet recently invaded by the Omega Protectorate? The reason was simple - she was interested in some business. Of course a Jedi shouldn't do that, but... if she no longer had any land to govern or, well, rule, she had to choose a different way to do something. Something which wasn't all training and meditating. The capitalistic galaxy was truly a great thing and who wouldn't want to not own a successful company? Of course a Jedi like her wouldn't want to do anything bad, so that's exactly why she was so interested in deeply researching different existing companies.

Druckenwell was the best planet for that. She knew there was something in the capital city which would give her much information about whatever currently existed. But at first, she would have had to meet somebody who knew a lot about business. [member="Cade Lee "]was the man's name. Only a few minutes before the time they were supposed to meet, she was still wandering around the capital city, not knowing how to reach the Blas-Tech Industries. It had to be a grand building, or that's what Natalja thought. Of course she had no idea of how the building would look like, so she was aimlessly walking around the city.

"Hi, could you help me a bit?" was a question she often asked when locals or not so locals walked past her. But nobody had time or willingness to answer. She was truly a bit stressed out because of the meeting, but she had to keep a conscious mind. Having a perfect reason to be late, she shouldn't have worried too much. but she still did.

She was indeed a neurotic person.

Finally a person walked to her and asked, "What troubles you, young lady?" It was a man of an older age, a one with a balding hair and a lot of whitish gray beard. It looked really soft, even though she doubt it was actually soft. The man may have been a local homeless, only his clothing didn't speak of not having money. He may have chosen to look like he lacked hygiene, Maria thought. The place was full of strange people so why not somebody like this?

"Thank Force you came! Would you help me at finding the headquarter of Blas-Tech Industries?" she asked, obviously feeling relief. The answer she got was only a simple nod, and together they started walking towards the building. Sadly, as Maria looked to see what time it is, she noticed she was already a quarter of an hour late.

A good way to start business indeed... She thought that with a sarcastic tone.

 

[Lex-El]

Druckenwell
Construction Site for Blas-Tech's new headquarters.

"Yes, you will pay for that or I will personally jam my fi-" he started before one of his aides waved him down. The frantic look in his eyes hinting that maybe the CEO needed to cool his jets a little before revealing his temper to an Insurance agent. Without his full array of senses, thanks to the ring he wore, he had to be more mindful of his actions. Terror dotted the eyes of the insurance agent, and Cade could tell the man was shaking slightly. It was at that point he let his shoulders relax, and both of his hands came down peacefully to their sides. Cool it, no one needs to see who you really are. There was a time and a place for such things, when he could really let his true side show. On a world owned by the Omega Protectorate where he was trying to fix one of his headquarters wasn't the best place for that.

A quick release of air escaped his nose as he just allowed himself to relax.

"Fine, I'll get the CIS and the Omega Protectorate to help offset some of these costs. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting in a little bit with someone." Who, he didn't know. Why his secretary had scheduled him for such a meeting when Druckenwell was being rebuilt was of little mind to him. All he knew was that he had to follow the woman waving towards him because he was already running late for the meeting. "Sir, we must hurry. We have built a temporary office over here for us to conduct some business while the building is rebuilt and our factories continue to churn out weapons. You are already late," the last part was said with a pleading tone so he let it go.

"Fine, take me there."

[member="Maria Natalja"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Along with the bearded man, Maria walked towards the Blas-Tech's headquarters. Or whatever there were at the moment. The woman hadn't heard before how bad the destruction and everything had been, but during walking, the man had told her about how bad the invasion had been. It was sad to know that warring seemd to be the only way to do anything in this galaxy. Of course she knew sometimes only a war could do good for the galaxy, but... really, was it so necessary to always war? Why wouldn't the factions just peacefully exist? The man, however, had spoken of the beauty of battles and wars, and Maria hadn't understood him at all. How could somebody love war? However, at that moment, Maria and the other one were already talking about something different.

"So you too have owned a company before?" Maria asked. It was a follow-up for a discussion they had about the man's past. With a simple nod, just like the man most of the times seemed to do, he answered to her question.

"It was a wonderful one. One which brought work to lands, one which made people's lives better. Yet it... never got really famous. I lost my grip over it and it so suddenly... went banktrup. There was nothing which could ever bring it back. It was soon forgotten completely," this mysterious helper of Maria's spoke. His voice was thoughtful, and a bit regretting. Making a seriously bad choice could have explained that. He walked on, his head leaning down a bit, and his eyes being half-closed. After releasing a deep sigh, he stopped and noted, "If you continue walking on that road, you'll get to the... place soon."

Then he start leaving slowly, and Maria, after the man was nearly out of her sight, shouted to him, "Thank you!"

Now she had to go to the meeting really fast. She was so late already.

[member="Cade Lee "].

 

[Lex-El]

[member="Maria Natalja"]

"Sir, your guest will be here soon. She's been rather precocious and persistent, but I feel you will like her." Cade was barely listening as he went through his notes on the Guardian project, and the beams in question. "No, no no, that math isn't right." His words were a low whisper as he bit a stylus pen that he was using on his touch screen display to draw notes and fix the equations. "Sir, did you hear what I said?" Cade looked up at her through his glasses while keeping his head exactly where it was. "What do you think?" His words were dead serious, but a bit of humor was in there. "This is why I keep you around, so that I can zone out and work on big nasty weapons projects and not lose my mind trying to keep up with everything." The smile that formed on his face was genuine, "I appreciate everything you do Janice. You know that." His secretary smiled at him, and she excused herself to go find the woman who was running quite late.

"Well, that was exhausting."

Cade went back to work on the project, everything had been designed and was ready for production. The math on the composite beams still needed to be adjusted, and that was even after he had hired a consultant. Some help she was, he thought to himself. Opening up a file that was finger print locked, he put a note to butcher Circe when he got the next chance. The list above was rather long, and filled with the names of Jedi, but that was for another time.

Instead, he busied himself with equations as his guest took their sweet time. Thank goodness he wasn't a super important man who everyone wanted to talk to.

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Now feeling quite thoughtful herself, Maria continued walking down the road towards the not so permanent headquarters of Blas-Tech. Looked like the war had really damaged this place's economy. By destroying such a building. She was thinking how much all the war damages may have cost. Not only at this particular invasion, though. Her mind was full with all different battles she knew. When put together, they must have cost really much. And then she wondered how much money the always warring factions may have in their hands. There was no doubt the Republic could manage, but... the smaller ones? To be honest, she only knew a few of the powerful factions.

On her fingers, she started counting, "There's the Confederacy, so that's one faction... the Republic - two. Hmm... the Omega Protectorate was its name? That's the third one..." Three of her fingers were being used by then and that's when Maria had to really start thinking. "What was the faction Kaine belonged into? Fringe Confederacy? That's four, then. And... New Order, five. How could I have forgot the One Sith? Goodness, that's six factions!" That was all Maria knew about major powers. Not too much, considering how many of them were there actually.

But it didn't matter too much.

The... building Maria had just reached seemed to be the Blas-Tech... thing, the one she had been looking for. After taking a brief look at her watch, she noticed she had been really late. To be honest, it was already an hour past the time she and Mr. [member="Cade Lee "]were supposed to meet. She really hoped he would understand her. She knew nothing of the planet, especially after such a battle.

She knocked on the door, because she had no idea what else she could do.

 

[Lex-El]

[member="Maria Natalja"]

"So if I carry this, and double that...it should equal out." Deep in his thoughts, he continued the calculations for the composite beams. The range was what he was worried about, the charge time he didn't so much care for. With the solar generators doing the majority of the power storage for the beams, there would be a lag in-between shots when the generator was drained. After inputting a few more variables, he ran a few simulations to see just how powerful the blasts would be. Running it on a standard city, he used a few blocks of Coruscant as reference, he watched as they were repeated vaporized and burned to a ruin. It was quite devastating, and after running it a few more times, he decided on one thing.

Only a few of these would be permitted on a world at one time, and they would have to only be allowed to be fired by the ruler of the world.

Moving fast, he placed an order for the best biometric software he could find. Then he placed more orders for the advanced surveillance systems the satellites would require. His work done for the most part, he looked at his chrono-meter on his wrist. "Wow, I'm running late for my own prototype, test fire." Just as he was about to get up and leave, a knock could finally be heard at the door. A sigh escaped his lips as he closed the datapad and put it in his durasteel briefcase.

"Come in."

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

"Come in."

Maria took the courage to open the door and step into the room. There was indeed a man, probably the Mr. [member="Cade Lee "]she hoped to meet. The troubling face Maria had would have probably made the man understand what had happened. Well, not precisely, but still, if the man was wise enough, he'd understand Maria had had troubles at showing up at the right time. "Forgive me for being so late!" she said, her voice apologetic and quite, though still quite hearable.

Standing still and looking at the man, her body moved along with her heavy breathing. Every time she exhaled, air came out of her nostrils as a shiver, not as a constant breeze, an obvious sign of nervousness. She was about to learn something about business from a real master or somebody like that. Or the other possible outcome would have been the man not wanting to teach her anymore. Because of her being late for the meeting.

She was wearing a simple black dress and boots of the same colour. Her hair had been set into a bun. She was also bringing with her a blue handbag which wasn't capable fof holding too much in it. Still, it matched the clothing, so thats what she had brought it with her.

 

[Lex-El]

[member="Maria Natalja"] looked rushed and rather out of breath, every bit of her body language indicated she was rather rushed and in a hurry. Behind his glasses, his keen blue eyes studied every bit of her. The analyitical part of his mind was taking notes as they both looked at each other. Finally breaking his silence, he stood up, his shoulders slouching. "Good to meet you Ms..?" The question hung in the air as he adjusted his gray suit, before coming a little closer to finally shake her hand.

Introductions were always so awkward, especially when Janice, his secretary wasn't around.

"My name is Cade Lee, CEO of Blas-Tech Industries. What can I help you with?"

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Cade Lee "].

Calm down now, Maria!

Maria tried to force a small onto her face and it actually looked relatively realistic. It could have been better indeed, but it could have been considered quite OK, too. "Natalja," she said as an answer and ending to the man's question. It was the name she had started using as here last name, even though it was her middle one. And her actual last name was a lot more infamous.

She lend her hand into the man's to have a handshake. "Nice to meet you too, mister Lee! I have come in hope to find some help at business. I have been told you are one of the most powerful businessmen, at least in this area of the galaxy.."

The balding man she had spoken to before coming to meet the CEO of Blas-Tech had also spoken of the wonders of the man.

 

[Lex-El]

[member="Maria Natalja"]

"A true pleasure to meet you Natalja, glad to see you arrived." Cade said his words in jest, as he was quite adept at faking emotions. It was his only means of truly blending in with others when he had to do his day job. He held the handshake for a moment before releasing his grip and sitting down at one of the chairs at the conference table while motioning for his guest to sit down. Adjusting his blazer jacket he placed a hand on the table while turning to give his guest his full attention.

"That's partially true, I now sell weapons to the entire known galaxy and I just took down my chief competitor. So what do you need?"

He hadn't become who he was by by beating around the bush, he was as direct as they come.

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Cade Lee "].

"I am a bit surprised you haven't been told. Nonetheless, I came here to learn from you some business. I am not at all asking for your secret recipes or anything, but I would like to learn some general information, answers to some questions, and that from a real businessman, not from a random university professor," she spoke while sitting down. The seat was quite comfortable.

She put her bag on her seat's armrests. Then she smiled. And hoped the man is not a really aggressive one. Greetings and introductions would never show too much about a person, but a request like this would have done that.

But she was a bit surprised. Maybe the man hadn't been told why she had exactly come? Either way, it was not too much of a problem. Well, hopefully. So there was no need to focus on that question now.

 

[Lex-El]

"I am a bit surprised you haven't been told. Nonetheless, I came here to learn from you some business. I am not at all asking for your secret recipes or anything, but I would like to learn some general information, answers to some questions, and that from a real businessman, not from a random university professor,"


His attention suitably caught, his ears perked up. She wasn't looking for any deep dark secrets from him, merely just general information. Well, that's good. I'd hate to have to tell this woman about how I killed the old board after buying all the stock in the company. Or how this identity is really just some poor technicians that I found out in Fringe space before I murdered him. Such dark secrets, all that had been paid for in blood in money. If he couldn't buy them off, he had gotten rid of them, or buried them through sheer business acumen. He couldn't say that much to someone he had just met, so he kept it simple and played a different tune for her. One she might actually be able to relate to, because he did mix good business with shady dealings.

The key was to just never get caught.

"You want some business pointers? I can do that." He adjusted himself in his seat while turning to fully face Natalja. "It's simple, know your markets and produce quality products. Too many companies these days have lost sight of who they are selling to and why, thinking that quantity of products will up their numbers. I took to a different approach and made a finite line of weapons of the highest quality while making them affordable. It's what has stuck with me because I spoke with all my buyers and found out what Blas-Tech could improve on."


He took a sip from the glass of water on the table before continuing. "So what business are you going into? I can better help if I know."

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Cade Lee "].

"I am not honestly sure about what kind of company I actually want, I only know that I would like one which does good for the galaxy, one which works to not only improve economy, but which also makes society better," Maria answered. "And that is exactly what would be my first question. I am not sure what I should start doing or how would I start a company, or if needed, get control over one currently existing business."

She released a sigh. She had to admit, most companies didn't go far enough, they didn't manage to do much, not even talking about becoming popular and doing something to the whole galaxy.

 

[Lex-El]

[member="Maria Natalja"]

"Well, then you need to ask yourself this question." Cade leaned forward a little before continuing on, an excited glimmer in his eyes. "Do you have the capital to invest and grow a company from the ground up, or do you even have willing investors? That right there is the difference between having a good idea and actually executing a new idea and making money while helping others." Mr. Lee took a sip of his water before pressing onward, this next part would be getting a little too close to the truth. So, he had to watch his wording perfectly or he'd end up revealing a little bit too much.

"With a company that you want to takeover, you have to identify a reason for you to takeover in the first place. You have to see someone squandering a chance to really change things, and then you have to earn their trust. It's what I did when I took Blas-Tech over, I had been with the company for years and the board finally grew to trust me. So you need to ask yourself these questions, and if you are seeking to help people why not find a company that supplies something vital to sustaining life?"

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Cade Lee "].

While listening to the man's talk, Maria looked behind the man, actually not concentrating on anything she saw. She was looking at nothing, and that was because she was thinking. Even though she had a lot of money, she probably didn't have investors. Getting them would have been rather difficult. But that's actually why Maria had come here. She realised that too late, though. So she was more thinking about getting a hold over a currently existing company, but she knew she would have to be quite smart to do that. And be quite good at business, at least good enough to know when's the right time to do something.

"That is a fine idea, I must say. Maybe even better one than I thought about," Maria said after turning her eyes to the man again. What would be vital to people? Water? Oxygen? Water, actually. More needed as not all species needed oxygen, but definitely if not all species, then nearly all of them needed water to exist. "May I ask, do you happen to know of companies which supply... water?"

 

[Lex-El]

[member="Maria Natalja"]

"You know, I honestly don't know that." Caught at a loss for a moment, he quickly pulled up the holonet to begin a search. His keys worked frantically as he keyed in commands to change the screen view. Weapons blueprints flashed before them for a while before finally just the base page for the holonet could be seen. Keying in the search for water companies, he let the database get to work for him while he turned to look at her.

"What has you wanting to own a water company?"

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

[member="Cade Lee "].

Hmm... That was unfortunate. But she could maybe search for one on her own. Probably she could find one some day. But just like the man had asked, why a water company. Would she really want to have something like that under her control? Would she want to guide it on its way, producing nothing, maybe not even working out at all? These were the real questions Maria had to face. And answer, probably.

"I thought it's the most vital thing for, well, basically all sentient life forms," she spoke. "And that is why I thought of that."

Only then she understood the man had started searching for some water supplying companies from the holonet. Well, that was good. Meanwhile, she thought a bit of the questions she had asked herself.