Taeli Raaf
Bookworm
With her little chat concluded with Lina, she could once again turn her full attention to the matter at hand... how to remedy the issues with the Empire's economy. Empyrean had created this iteration of the Sith-Imperial Banking Clan to try to seize firmer control of the economy, and essentially indenture each world within the Sith Empire through debt and selective economic maneuverings. For a time, the system had worked as intended, and those on the Supreme Economic Council and within the SIBC grew rich and controlled the functions of the Empire through monetary policy until Elane of Kuat had risen to the position of High Treasurer. She had turned the SIBC into her own personal fiefdom, emulating the Sith Lords and Ladies and their individual power bases, and had allowed a far more prevalent corruption to seep into the Empire's economy. Greed and moral decadence were not necessarily evils within an Empire controlled by Sith, but there needed to be some level of pragmatism to keep it in check enough that the state could function.
Clearly that had not been the case.
When Strosius killed Elane, it quickly became apparent just how integral she had made herself in the Empire's economy. Her death had triggered catastrophic ripple effects, the least of which was the entire system freezing. It had also become apparent just how much Elane had made off with of the Empire's assets when significant reserves, strategic industries, and resources were found to be lost, and then reclaimed by this Lord Quern. Taeli had acted swiftly to get at least some partial pieces moving, and the invasion by the Imperials into the Holy Worlds again had distracted the populace enough to grant some breathing space to fix the whole system. It was the situation with Tithe all over again when he made off with tens of billions of credits when he defected during the last Empire, and she wasn't going to stand for it this time.
Multiple members of the SIBC board and the Supreme Economic Council had unfortunately been on Brosi when the attack from the Imperials came, perishing in the fighting and leaving their positions open to be erased. It was a first salvo from the Dark Councilor that seemed interested in handling domestic affairs, and she wasn't done by a long shot. The whole system of the Empire's entire economy was going to be redone, and that meant calling in the big guns.
She had granted special dispensation and a wayfinder for the Trade Queen herself to pass through the Blackwall and to meet her on Jutrand, and her aides were already preparing the sitting area with her favorite refreshments, along with a new plate of her own baked goods, for the meeting to come. It also reminded her that more than one Blackgate would be necessary for what she had planned, but that was something else that could be discussed.