Taanab Tells Tall Tales

[Laira Darkhold]

Benji and I had been talking about expanding and buying a production facility on Taanab for a while now and I figured it was best to start looking now that the Republic had signed a contract with us. They demanded a lot more equipment than we could provide with our current facilities and we needed that extra income. We were scoping out a factory on Tanaab that could handle the Republic’s demands, but unfortunately we also had to hire staff and purchase equipment for the facility he like the best.

The plan was for him to remain on Jabiim as the headquarters and Research and Development division with Kira, while a new manager was brought in to run the complex on Taanab. It was unfortunate that neither of us could agree on a manager to hire. Even when we did find someone we were having trouble rounding up the equipment the facility would need.

“Why don’t we just hire that nice girl from Antar?” Benji asked as we walked through the street.

“Because she was all candy and had no idea how to manage a business.” I replied casually. I knew he was just tired of looking and ready to move on with his affairs.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

We kept walking until we reached the hotel we have been staying at while here on Taanab. “We have an appointment with one more person, and then we have to go looking for people to run the dump we don’t even own yet, so unless this Max Terrib is completely incompetent, we are hiring him. Got it?” I said sternly ready to get this part of the business over with.

“Sure, by all means, he’s practically hired already,” Benji said sarcastically, as if trying to start and argument with me right here in the lobby. I shook my head and gave him a look that said I was serious and took a seat in the lobby, waiting for Max to arrive.

He didn’t make us wait long, and he was easily fifteen minutes early for his appointment when he did arrive at the hotel. “Hello Mr. Vereen, Mr. Idiro. I am Maxwell Terrib and its good to meet the both of you,” he said all smiles.

Benji didn’t waste any time trying to pick the man apart, “Enough with the pleasantries, let’s take a look at your résumé and get cracking.” He said holding out his hand. I shot him a sideways glance, not that it would do any good.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

After skimming the sheet of flimsi he handed it to me, trying his best to look unimpressed with it. I could tell from years of working with him, he had seen something on that sheet that caught his eye. I looked over the sheet myself, trying to look closely at it. He had worked with BlasTech and Merr-Sonn in the past and he had experience as a Plant Manager, so that was good. Why he was looking for a job confused me, but I would ask him about that in a moment. I didn’t really see what had caught Benji’s eye. Maybe it was because I didn’t understand the business like he did. “Well can you tell me why you left BlasTech?” I asked trying to solve the mystery before it festered.

“It was sold to Titan Industries, the war-machine of the One Sith. While working for most other factions wouldn’t have bothered me, I had family and friends on Coruscant when they took it, so I couldn’t stand to work for them anymore. Since then I have been bouncing around trying to lock down good work.” He said honestly. At least honesty I could work with. Benji seemed to glance around, as if wondering if it was his turn to speak.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I gestured for him to speak if he had anything to say. “You claim you worked on the Dark Sword Project with Balmorran Arms. Who was the lead for that Project?” He asked, inquisitively.

Max arched his eyebrows and thought for a second. “That information was classified, and I’m not sure I have permission to tell you the lead, but the Project Manager was Vern Rauter.” He said calmly. Benji seemed pleased with himself.

“I was the Project Administrator, Vern was my second. If my memory serves you would have been a low level engineer at the time and only assisted in any real contributions, not making any real headway yourself.” Benji continued, “But then again that was the way with any low level engineer.” He turned to me and nodded in Max’s direction. “Well is he hired or not?”

I looked back over the sheet of flimsi. Well at least now I know why Benji was intrigued. They had worked together years ago, and seeing it on paper must have sparked his memory and convinced him of the man’s authenticity. I wasn’t certain, but I normally liked to go with Benji in these circumstances, and I had just said we would hire him so long as he wasn’t incompetent.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“Yeah, sounds good to me. Welcome aboard. We are working on locking down a location and purchasing equipment for it, but as for staff, we will leave that detail to you. Does that sound good to you?” I asked, hoping for the best.

“I get a nice new job and get to pick my own staff. Not a bad deal, sucks I have to sit through interviews, but at least I do get to pick my own staff and floor managers. Deal” he said sticking out his hand to me to shake and then to Benji. He stood up and we walked him out of the hotel, Benji and him swapping a story about working with Vern. When he walked away, started wondering about how we would negotiate with the current owners of the facility we wanted. It was empty, but had a good location just outside of the city and close enough to be an attractive job for workers.

“What do you think a good starting offer would be for that place outside of town you liked?” I asked Benji, looking to him for even more business advice.

“I do everything around here, don’t I?” he muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. “I think two million is more than enough, and we have that currently in cash. It’ll just about break us, but it’s a fair price and no reason to undercut him if we don’t need to.” Benji said thoughtfully.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“I believe it was me that signed the Republic to our deal, but other than that and dangerous missions, yeah you do everything. Including gripe, now back to work,” I said jokingly, knowing he would take it well. “Why don’t we pop in on them then?” I said leading him down the street to the office building that the current owners of the complex we wanted. They normally rented it out, and had lost their last tenant, so it was empty as a tomb and they were losing money keeping it presentable to possible clients. The only problem was that they didn’t really want to sell it, but we certainly weren’t going to rent or lease an area that big.

Popping in on someone was the business equivalent to an ambush, and I knew it. I am sure that the current owner knew it too, because they didn’t seem too pleased to see Benji and me walk in to the building. “Well gentlemen, is there any way I can help you?” They knew we were interested from a few messages we had left them, but nothing had been hammered out yet. “I wasn’t expecting your visit, but I am sure I can accommodate you.” He finished looking to both Benji and myself.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I decided to let Benji take lead on this deal, as he was the one with experience and could talk to this man politely and kindly, where as I was already bored of this business stuff and wanted to get back to fighting with my brothers in arms. “Yeah, we came because we took a look at that old facility you own out on the edge of town, and we are very interested in purchasing it from you if at all possible.” The old duros answered, with enough respect and kindness in his posture and voice that he might be able to lull this man into selling, much less negotiate.

The man looked down and thought about it for a moment, no doubt trying to think of a price he would be willing to sell the property at. Being empty it was hemorrhaging money from his estate, and a sale would generate revenue and alleviate his current expenditures. “Well,” he said pausing deliberately, “I don’t think I could part with it for less than two million credits.” Good, his starting price was our maximum price, and that was a satisfying piece of information. I tried to hide my excitement as best as I could, allowing Benji to negotiate as much as he wanted to.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Benji didn’t stop to ponder anything, he just answered pretty quickly, and not in the way I was expecting. “Listen, I’ll be honest with you. We have three point one million credits in the bank, so we could pay your asking price of two million. However I still need to buy equipment, make modifications to the facility, pay employees, and kickstart operations here. That all costs money, and I have accepted the fact that opening a plant here on Taanab is going to send ArmaTech into the red, however I am not willing to sink that far into the red.” The elderly duros took a moment to let all the information sink into the man we were speaking too. After a moment he continued speaking directly. “My costs getting into the facility are going to be between one point five million and one point seventy five million. Add in the cost of the building and there you have it. I owe people money and have to wait to start getting paid.” He finished his speech, allowing the man to reply this time.

“I see,” the man started. “I appreciate you honesty, but you are correct. You are going to go into debt. I cannot reduce my price to one point six or lower to help keep you out of the red.” He stopped for a moment to think.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Before he could continue Benji spoke up again, countering “I am not asking you to come down that low. I am just asking to help me out some. Every month that building is empty, it costs you money, so it needs to get sold sooner, rather than later. As is, I would purchase it for one point eight five. Still enough to make a good profit for you, and only puts me under five hundred thousand credits, which we can make up in the first quarter without having interests pile up on us.” Benji was smart, mentioning the need to sell the facility and only coming down a reasonable amount in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of a counter offer.

And his gamble paid off pretty well. “Tell you what. I will sell it to the both of you for one point eight five. It seems like a fair enough price and you are decent fellows. I’ll agree to these terms.” He said reluctantly.

“Alright well let’s get over to a notary and sign up these things,” Benji said pulling a contract and bill of sale from his briefcase. “Only some minor adjustments need to be made to the contracts and we will be good to go.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Knowing we had contracts with us to sign, kind of bummed the man out, but he didn’t go back on his deal and signed the rights to the property over to ArmaTech Combat Systems. Within a few days we were in debt, but not too far down, and had all the equipment we needed to begin work at the facility. Max had already started interviews with his would be floor managers and shift managers, but for now he was plugging away, certainly worth the money we were paying him.

Max had ordered quite a few droids and had crews install automated assembly lines in each work bay, allowing for minimal staff, but there would always be the need for human oversight. The work bays were set up to allow a product to be fabricated from start to finish without need to move to other bays. The management could overlook the factory floor, looking down into a pit which acted as a final stage building area and a warehouse of sizeable proportions. The rear doors opened up onto a landing dock for heavy landers to pick up merchandise to take away. Finally there was an office for Benji should he ever decide to visit the plant and keep up with how things were going here. It all looked good enough to start filling the Republic’s sizeable orders.