A collective consilium

[Natalie LaForte]

IMF Headquarters.​

​

Natalie patiently waited behind the receptionist's desk at IMF's headquarters waiting for her fellow business negotiator, [member="Janeth Farr"], to appear. Anxiously unbuttoning and re-buttoning her dress that she was wearing, although not fully, just playfully removing it and placing it back into the appropriate section. It was always nerve racking waiting for someone to appear, wondering if you were going to be stood up.

Not to mention, this morning the person she left in charge of this little arrangement decided to call in sick, and she couldn't stand the thought of having such an important person being greeted by a droid so she took the responsibility personally upon herself to greet the woman and handle the company's operations herself. Really, everyone she hired was useless, and if it wasn't for quotas she would have absolutely nobody involved in this financial endeavor apart from herself and a couple thousand droids.

She didn't really like people working for her. They were too susceptible to bribes. Droids on the other hand had to follow a set number of protocols and could not stray from those.

But, to be honest, they don't make great companions for conversation.

 

[Janeth Farr]

Business was hardly Janeth's forte.

Though she knew enough to play the part, after careful deliberation she chose to come less Mandalorian and more civilian. The woman was never one to dress heavily anyway, she wore a black synthcloth shirt with a white jacket, and black plants. Her utilitarian boots were actually the same she wore with her armour. Manufactured from a sturdy thermoweave composite. She was unarmed of course, though she questioned the decision before he made it.

Her right hand was missing two fingers furthest from the thumb, so she wore a red glove with two synthetic fingers controlled by her nerve impulses.

She walked through the doors like any other woman on any other day. A slight smile appeared on her face when she approached the reception desk, seeing Natalie and assuming her to be the receptionist.

"Hello, I'm here to see Natalie..."

Am I supposed to say more? She wondered, but left it at that.

[member="Natalie LaForte"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie looked up from the datapad to see [member="Janeth Farr"] standing before her.

"Oh a common mistake really. People always say I could've been a good receptionist, I've got the boring, plain and unintuative look for it."

Damn, not really selling yourself here Nat.

"Sorry excuse me for my rambling. I'm Natalie LaForte, IMF's Chief Executive Officer and basically the person who makes sure this entire building doesn't burn to the ground every day, on a financial and physical level. I'm assuming you're..." looking down to the datapad and swiping through something. "'Janeth Farr'? You're the only person we have booked in for a meeting with Na-.. myself for this time slot."

Natalie herself was wearing a pretty plain looking dress, black and half way down her thighs, along with black heels which made her appear slightly taller than she actually was. The only reason she questioned Janeth was because, to blunty put it, she didn't look professional, at least in Natalie's idea of what a business woman would look like. Although, times were changing. But what was the deal with that glove? It stood out like a sore thumb.

 

[Janeth Farr]

She nodded. "That's right." She took another step forward, extending her ungloved hand.

"And don't worry about it, I'm not much more formalities. I'd prefer to bump out whatever details we need to get a deal done and let that be that." Janeth smiled awkwardly. Her apparent casualness didn't just extend to how she dressed, but also how she talked and acted. If Natalie had known the truth about Janeth, she probably wouldn't have met with her in the first place. Or at least that's the way Janeth saw it.

Her background was in smuggling and shockboxing, she was raised as a Mandalorian but never fought as one; though her clan did have high expectations for her. Finally when she landed in the Collective she became their perfect pawn. She was smart, but not too prudent. Tact but hardly wise. Willful but not particularly ambitious. Now here she was in another pair of shoes, performing another role for the Collective that wasn't exactly hers to begin with. All she had to do was a 'good enough' job and report back.

Easy enough.

[member="Natalie LaForte"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Oh if you don't want the extended tour then that's fine. Basically we just need you to sign a few forms; those being that you agree to pay a flat amount every month for your organisation's exclusive access to our stalk, and any members of your organisation get up to 50% discount if they wish to purchase items from our marketplace. On top of this, we offer an exclusive model commission service where you/your organisation can create a model of a starship, droid or really anything that our company can produce and have it exclusively sold to you."

Natalie was used to dealing with professionals, but it was clear Janeth was not used to this sort of interaction in the sense of fierce negotiations, but if she was really so willing to just let Natalie have what she wanted, that being support from yet another galactic power at a sort-of-reasonable deal, then she was more than happy to end it right here in the elevator.

[member="Janeth Farr"]

 

[Janeth Farr]

"Tour?" Janeth was genuinely curious.

Part of her now begged at delaying the inevitable to see what she could get out of it. "Well... That sounds fine and all, but anyone can say nice things can't they?" Janeth looked around the lobby with feigned speculation. The kind of searching eyes that seemed to be trying to pry loose some charade that wasn't there.

Then they landed back on Natalie. "Before I make any promises, I'll need to know who we'll be working with first." She pulled the red glove further up her wrist to realign the artificial digits.

"I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem, right?" The woman smiled delightfully.

Not walking away with nothing...

[member="Natalie LaForte"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"The tour isn't as fun as it sounds because most of the stuff inside this facility can't be shown to anyone currently not contracted to work for us; but if you like reading about stock market changes then it's for you. I usually omit that because I'm bored half to death with it and I don't understand why anybody would want to read it. Also, you'll be working mainly with me. Most of the Executives don't like to interact with the customers so they leave the menial task to the company's owner."

Natalie flipped her hair back smiling once again to [member="Janeth Farr"]

"There's nothing more to explain really. I graduated from a small high school on Alderaan, was close to getting a degree in fashion and design but my mother and father cut my supplies short, joined a group of Sith but I'm now converted and I made my own start-up on Mygeeto which has turned out to be rather successful."

 

[Janeth Farr]

"Huh."

That's all she had to say to that.

"So..." Janeth looked around the area again, as if not seeing Natalie somehow bought her more time to think in a 'not awkward' pause. When they finally returned, she still didn't have the right words right away. "I guess that means I can get to the final point I'm supposed to make."

"Our organization does not often introduce itself to corporations, because of the sensitive nature of our mission. Naturally many would assume that presents our interests as suspicious." They wouldn't be wrong, but the public facade of a shadow organization was never going to be one which truly represented them. Still--the Collective remained fresh enough to get away with it. Their actions thus far have not been painted in a horrific light of any kind.

Janeth planted her arms onto the reception, leaning into it. "So it is important that our arrangement with your corporation remains anonymous. If that's possible, then we have a done deal." She explained.

[member="Natalie LaForte"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Absolutely, we value our partnering organisation's privacy above all else and we can have you listed as an anonymous organisation in our books if you're concerned with you being made aware to the public view. Even still, the only "people" who have access to those records are droids, and unlike humans they're a lot easier to control and won't have personal gain or reason to actually give out information."

Natalie was curious as to why [member="Janeth Farr"] wanted to keep her organisation such a secret, but to be honest didn't have the time or motivation to actually make any sort of meaningful attempt at using the force to probe her mind. Natalie was even unsure if it would work, the woman hadn't displayed any sort activity that would indicate her being force sensitive, and even NFU could tell when they were being 'invaded' by someone else.

"If that's all, then your secret is safe with me." Winking to Janeth.