Silk Road [Selka Ventus]

[Aran Finn]

Invictus Aeronautics, Ascension HQ​

​

Invictus Aeronautics HQ was small but tasteful, resting on a cliff that overlooked a hundred metre drop into the icy ocean below. It was summer in the southern hemisphere at the moment, but Alen could still see his breath when outdoors during the early morning, and ice chunks still rocked in the ocean on the horizon. Yes, Ascension was a very, very cold place. Na'Varro had taken advantage of the killer view by making the entire back wall of his office a massive transparisteel sheet, opening up a massive view of Ascension's most beautiful fjord (at least, in Alen's opinion). There was no balcony, because few off-world visitors would brave the cold. This was home, it was beautiful, and Na'Varro enjoyed showing it off.

Today he would be meeting @[member="Selka Ventus"], a representative of Reardon Metalworks. Reardon was a new company, affiliated with the massive galactic conglomerate Silk Holdings. Alen wasn't sure exactly why Ventus was meeting with him, but he was sure it was something to do with mining. Even an idiot could figure that out.

Sitting easily in his desk chair, Na'Varro waited for Ventus' arrival. He'd instructed his assistant to send her straight up ... Na'Varro was not the kind of man who used time as a bartering tool.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]

Selka Ventus was, as it happened, a bit more than a Reardon exec. Reardon was a subsidiary of Silk Holdings, arguably the most omnipresent company in the galaxy. Gas stations on hyperlanes, starbases, space trains, skyhooks, freighters, speeders, bacta, kolto...

Silk did many, many things. And Selka Ventus was the recently named co-CEO and owner of 47.5% of Silk. The mousy woman in the middle-management skirt suit could buy Ascension from her pocket change.

"Beautiful view," she said as she entered, extending her hand for a shake. "Mr. Na'Varro, thank you for meeting with me. I'm told Invictus has what I need."

A small holoprojector brought up two vessels -- one a Silk-made Jo'henry, the other an Invictus mining ship. Both carved into asteroids with abandon, using huge plasma-jet drills and smaller cutting torches.

"It seems you've made a ship exactly like ours in function. Almost as good, and significantly cheaper. I'm looking to outfit Reardon with your mining vessels and ore carriers, rather than lock up the Jo'henrys we would rather use elsewhere."

 

[Aran Finn]

@[member="Selka Ventus"]

Na'Varro rose as Ventus entered, smiling as he shook her hand. His smile remained as she noted the view, then got straight down to business. That was the way he liked to do things, too. He knew who Selka Ventus was, but he could guess that she could buy his home planet easily enough ... if it was up for sale, that was.

"I hope so, Ms. Ventus. Tea?" Alen had just been brewing a pot. Sometimes he enjoyed the aroma and taste of an Alban Black more than the rest of life put together. If you could give Alen Na'Varro five or six other peaceful pursuits he enjoyed as much as Alban Black tea, he could end up going to the Light Side completely and without too much grumbling.

"It seems you've made a ship exactly like ours in function. Almost as good, and significantly cheaper. I'm looking to outfit Reardon with your mining vessels and ore carriers, rather than lock up the Jo'henrys we would rather use elsewhere."

Na'Varro smiled. That was a fair assessment. If you wanted mineral ore mined in an impressive manner, you went with a Jo'henry. If you wanted to mine a more dangerous asteroid field on a mass scale and you didn't mind losing a few vessels due to asteroid damage, you went with the Akuze. Akuze's were cheaper, that was their appeal. And while Invictus Aeronautics stayed a smaller astronautics company on the galactic market, making cheaper vessels remained their "in."

"Sounds like I don't have to sell you on anything, then." Alen brought up his own holoprojector, showing the Shen-Ru Ore Freighter and its newly-developed cargo hold. "You might be interested in our latest update on the Shen-Ru. Still needs approval for wide-spread usage, but I have every confidence that we'll get it. Should sweeten the deal somewhat."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]

"Thank you, no," she said. "Tea makes me jittery, I'm not sure why."

It was, of course, because 'she' was former Grandmaster Je'gan Olra'en, several inches taller than Selka's illusory form, and much as he could make just about everything work in terms of height, eating and drinking in front of a Force master weren't advisable. White Current and photokinetic manipulation could only do so much, when one's attention was split.

She examined the Shen-Ru cargo hold schematics, then nodded. "Ingenious. We'll take it."

 

[Aran Finn]

Na'Varro had no idea that Selka Ventus was in fact Je'gan Olra'en. He'd heard the name before but had never come across the legendary former Grandmaster ... coupled with his confidence in his power and his lack thereof of a paranoid nature, he was none the wiser. Sure, if Ventus had drank the tea something might have clicked, but she hadn't, and for all he knew he was speaking to a young co-CEO of a major galactic entity. This was the first meeting between two powerful Masters, but one of them was completely oblivious to that fact. It would be an interesting situation for an observer.

"Excellent." The controlling interest behind Invictus sat back in his seat. "We should be able to keep up with demand, no matter how many units you want. How many units do you want in your first order and where would you like them delivered to? Once we sort that out we can sign a contract and begin business."

The bearded man smiled.

"It's a big deal, doing a deal with Silk. Even with a subsidiary of Silk ... I'd like to thank you for the opportunity."

@[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]

"For the first phase of the order, we'd need ten Akuzes and twenty-three Shen-Rus. Delivered to Mon Calamari space, please."

The rest of the discussion went smoothly enough, and there were standard contracts for such things. This one laid out a reasonable rate and retainer fee for ongoing service and future ship purchases. The end result was, as far as such things ever were, advantageous to both parties.

After further deliberation, Selka signed and passed Alen the datapad.