Time & Life

[Pavor Clauditis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbqGWTxwZEA

He slowly sat, slumped over at his desk. In between his index and middle finger was a king size, unfiltered ZP cigarette and in his left hand was a warm bottle of whiskey. His business had been failing, people had not been ordering...People were just not smoking his products.

Taking a single puff from the cigarette, he reeled back in his chair, exhaling a billow of smoke as he quickly took a swig from the bottle. "Motherkarker...", He muttered to himself, shaking his head as he examined the multiple stacks of papers placed in front of him on his desk.

He had been losing credits, and he had not been making a damn single credit chip in weeks. Slowly, he rose from his desk and took a final puff from the cigarette before quickly extinguishing it in the ashtray on his desk. Taking a swig from the bottle once again, he grimaced at the burning sensation in his throat as he slowly made his way around his desk, heading over to his office's window.

He slowly glanced out the window, shaking his head in disappointment and sorrow as he studied the bustling city streets. He slowly spun around, releasing an exhausted sigh before quickly shouting in anger, tossing the bottle towards the wall.

The bottle exploded in tiny pieces of glass shards, the glass flying in all directions. "Dammit.", He whispered to himself. He slowly took a step back over to his desk, dropping down in the seat.

He slowly placed his head on the cold, wooden desk, staring at the office door's entrance in the cold, unlit room.

[member="Lucien Cordel"]

[member="Azlyn Ike"]

[member="Ayessa Valen"]

[member="Nefertari Sovint"]

[member="Clone Pilot Oddball"]

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Azlyn kept the cig between her lips while she stood there and the tour guide was talking. She was part of the group coming out here to hear all about the plants and harvesting them, then processing and well she was hoping for free samples as she looked around and brought up the lighter to light up. There was a sharp inhale and smile on her face while she was walking with the others and blew out a line of smoke before she was continuing on and could feel just a little bit the others around her. The fiber cord and saber on her hip while she slid the lighter away into a pocket taking another inhale and holding it. Slowly she pulled her cig from between her lips and opened them just a little blowing out a small ring of smoke, then another getting it just right.

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien was looking at graphs tracking the declining position of ZP Tobacco on the stock market. It was in decline and that made it ripe for takeover, Disgruntled shareholders made for trigger happy shareholders and Lucien was sure that he could convince them to vote [member="Pavor Clauditis"] out. Then he could buy them all out recall the shares and sell the component parts of Zp off for scrap. sell off their distribution centres, factories and farms and make a mint. Everyone would be happy well not Pavor but that wasn't important.

Yes it was settled Lucien would be taking over ZP. He'd earnt a cigar now.

He strolled over to the window lighting up his cigar

"Miss Lox have the associate's watch the stock price of ZP when it falls below 5 credits per share have them inform me"

His order was met by a confused response through the intercom

"ZP is caught in a down slide, sir"

Lucien smiled

"Precisely, all the better for a takeover"

Now all he needed was a nasty event to shake investor confidence.

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

Nefertari was slightly steamed. Recently while in progress of restoring her home village to working order, she'd found something interesting in the ruins of the open-air academy where she'd initially trained in the Jedi arts: a nearly full grown crop of tobacco plants. The fence around them was marked with ZP's logo, and the plants looked remarkably healthy. Nefertari guessed it was because of the strong presence of the force which still surrounded the place.

So here she was, on her way to see the man in charge, with an uprooted plant as proof. Not only did dislike the fact that this was being grown on a historical site, but she rather disliked the use of tobacco. Of course, this could be a bit of an advantage for her as well.

"R3, copy the map of the estate to my imagecaster."

The lady locked her ship down and entered the building, looking for [member="Pavor Clauditis"]

 

[Clone Pilot Oddball]

Oddball sat outside the building, in his thoughts.
"Today is the day!"

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

Nef snuck past the receptionist. Sometimes, it's better to negotiate without a middle man.
If her experience served her well, Nefertari would find [member="Pavor Clauditis"] on the top floor in the swankiest office.

And indeed, one could tell they were getting more and more up the corporate ladder as they moved up in the building.

Yes, it was a long climb. Yes, it was tricky not getting caught. However, the knight eventually made her way to the big cheese's office.

Nefertari knocked on the door and waited for a response.

 

[Pavor Clauditis]

The business owner's gaze slowly drifted over to the door. With a sigh, he slowly rose from his desk, quickly slipping a hand into his rather expensive suit. With a look of annoyance on his face, he slowly produced a pack of ZP Reds, flipping open the top and plucking a cigarette from the pack. Striking a match, he quickly held the flame up to the tip of the cigarette, watching as the tobacco proceeded to ignite.

Taking a single puff from the cigarette, he plucked the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled a thick, grey billow of smoke. He steadily made his way over to the door, clearing his throat as he brought the cigarette back up to his lips.

His hand found the cold, brass handle of the doorknob. Finally, he pulled the door open, taking a step back as he examined [member="Nefertari Sovint"], the cigarette dangling from the distraught business owner's lips.

"Can I help you?"

[member="Nefertari Sovint"]

[member="Clone Pilot Oddball"]

[member="Lucien Cordel"]

[member="Azlyn Ike"]

 

[Azlyn Ike]

[member="Pavor Clauditis"] [member="Nefertari Sovint"] [member="Clone Pilot Oddball"] [member="Lucien Cordel"]

THe tour was continuing and she could sense more things now. her master Crystal had taught her a couple of things... maybe a few but more then that she taught her to never question the gods of irony... or luck cause once you say it is calm and peaceful and everything is going well... they'll make sure you know it isn't really. She was prepared for many things but when the guide came up and spoke to her. "You can't smoke here." She looked at the woman and then around as they on a tour of a tobacco place and there was no smoking?.... She stared at her for a moment and then slid the cig from between her lips tossing it into the crop before she continued to walk.

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

The door opened, and Nefertari was face to face with the boss
"Can I help you?"

The stench of the man's cigarette was quite unpleasant to the lady, yet she tried her best to maintain a kind demeanor.
"Provided you are [member="Pavor Clauditis"], you just might. You see, I was beginning to assess some ruins in my home village on Chandrila. What I found was rather peculiar."

Nef held up the tobacco plant, a bit of dirt fell from the roots and onto the floor as well as the man's shoes.

​"Does this look familiar to you?"

Nef guessed that this was either a prize crop or that this company was growing tobacco in a force dense area as a sort of marketing gimmick. Either way, two things mainly upset her about this: Not only were they trespassing on her estate, but they were desecrating a historical site. Of course, the latter was understandable to some degree as the family estate had been vacant for many years before Nefertari had been freed from her carbonite prison.

[member="Azlyn Ike"], [member="Clone Pilot Oddball"], [member="Lucien Cordel"]​

 

[Pavor Clauditis]

[member="Nefertari Sovint"]

He stared at the woman, sighing loudly. Plucking the cigarette from his mouth, he slowly proceeded to take a step back as he began to mutter under his breath. He then proceeded to extinguish the cigarette before slowly spinning back around. Then abruptly burst into laughter. Slowly, his gaze drifted from the tobacco plant then back to the woman. "Really?", Was all he managed to blurt out.

He slowly approached the woman. shaking his head severe annoyance and irritation on his face. "Well...whaddya want now? Want us to pay a karkin' fine? What the hell are you planning to accomplish? We cant afford a damn thing, so what the kark do you want?", He asked. Despite his calm and neutral expression, you could hear the sorrow and slight fear in the man's voice as his gaze drifted back down to the floor.

[member="Azlyn Ike"]

[member="Clone Pilot Oddball"]

[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

"I can sense your frustration. If you will calm yourself, I think we might be able to reach an agreement."

Nefertari held up an imagecaster, a blue landscape was soon projected before the man
"This is Rosedge; my home village and family estate. Where your plants are currently growing is the ruins of a Jedi academy, which was the next part of the village I was hoping to restore."

The lady gestured to a different point on the hologram
"These plots of land all have ideal growing conditions for most crops. If you agree to rent out one of the fields, I will allow your current crop to grow to harvest where it is. I think you will find the rent fair; 1800 credits per year."

Nef had watched her father haggle before, and was ready to try if need be. She doubted this man would agree to any rent amount given that he said his company couldn't afford anything, but had expected something like this to happen. If she succeeded however, this would be her first real tenant.

[member="Pavor Clauditis"], [member="Azlyn Ike"], [member="Clone Pilot Oddball"], [member="Lucien Cordel"]​

 

[Pavor Clauditis]

[member="Nefertari Sovint"]

"1800 credits!? I can't afford that, man? Have you seen the rate in which we are losing credits?", He asked, slowly stumbling back over to his desk, he fell into his seat, shaking his head in despair. His hand found the handle of one of the many drawer's on his desk, pulling it open and producing yet another bottle of whiskey. Taking a swig from the bottle, he began to ramble. "It was supposed to be so damn simple. 'Hey Pavor, do you have any experience with companies or corporations?' and I said karkin' yes!", He began to burst into laughter as he took another swig from the bottle, grimacing at the burning sensation in his throat.

"We'll make a company focusing on luxury tobacco, she said! Well, we all see how that worked out!", He shouted to himself, turning to face the woman. "How 'bout this, you just karkin' leave and we'll continue to grow our products there? Because frankly, I don't give a damn about your damn family estate or this Jedi Academy. So, would you mind removing yourself from my office?", He asked, shaking his head in anger.

[member="Nefertari Sovint"]

[member="Azlyn Ike"]

[member="Clone Pilot Oddball"]

[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

[member="Pavor Clauditis"] was getting even more angry.
"I must say that is a rather poor choice of words since your company is trespassing on my land. I had hoped we could negotiate and work something out, but that apparently is not to be."

The lady turned to leave

"Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself."

Nefertari turned back and held up her imagecaster again, now hooked to a communicator

"Are you there, threedio?"

A protocol droid appeared on the hologram
"Hath thy negotiations proved successful, m'lady?"

"No, I am afraid it is quite the opposite. This man says he is unable to afford anything. You and R7 have your instructions, authorization code: Vesuvi"

The hologram soon widened to show the crop of tobacco. The protocol droid slipped on oil sprayed by the astromech, which electronically laughed as Nef's robotic butler went sliding out of frame.

"Behold, your decision's consequence, and the power of the force."

Nefertari channeled her energy, and both droids backed from the oil-soaked plants

The big cheese, who was also probably drunk, would likely wonder what this mysterious noblewoman was doing. This question would be answered as the improvised field burst into flames.

"You have forced my hand, sir. This fire is burning at a temperature which will leave virtually nothing behind of your disgusting product."

A doomed luxury crop. An investment lost. A stock price soon to be lowered.
Nefertari turned and began to leave, tucking the communicator and holoprojection unit away.

[member="Azlyn Ike"], [member="Clone Pilot Oddball"], [member="Lucien Cordel"]​