Backroom Business

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"We need to be able to coordinate our production in a more efficient manner!"

The Twi'lek huffed, glaring at the apparently offending datapads.

"Ma'am?"

"I have planetary shipyards. I have two mega casinos. I have a droid company and a munitions company. I even have a news company."

"Got most of your bases covered then."

"Yes! But all running individually removed from each other with their own business licences and their own supply chains and their own management and trying to coordinate between them and keep everything running smoothly is eating up time that could be better spent elsewhere!"

"Well.. You have a lot of contractors? I suppose you could just sell them off or close them down and liquidate if you don't wan't a competitor moving in on your territory Ma'am."

"They're useful, I just need them to be easier to manage. Hmm."

The Twi'lek looked away, drumming her fingers on her desktop.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"You could.. hire managers and then hire someone for them to report to? Then you only need to deal with that one person."

"Still too many damned managers, and it doesn't fix most of the other problems, though I might hear about them less. So it's a possibility if I cannot come up with anything else I suppose."

“Techno Union is getting into high gear by the way Ma’am. Security update and all.”

Declan was always very meticulous about doing his job, even when the Twi’lek had other things to do. It was likely for the best. Without his loyalty and dedication to his job she’d probably have been dead by now. Good staff, very important.

“The who?”

“Techno Union. CIS got rebranded. You fought against them with the Rebels that time?”

This was said rather disapprovingly. Declan largely felt his job would be much easier if his boss did not insist upon hurling herself into dangerous situations all the time.

“Ah, right.”

“Whatever happened to the Rebels?”

The Twi’lek shrugged once expressively.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

“Last I heard Patricia ran there after her little episode but before Isley gave her a spanking for overstepping herself. I haven’t heard from Armand any time recently and no one’s placed any orders.”

“Are we still allies then? And more importantly are we still enemies with this Techno Union?”

“Eh. We are allies in that I will sell them things. I want no part in fighting a losing war, they’re terribly unprofitable. As for the Techno Union, I assume so. We did try to kill them and sold rather a lot of gear that caused them a lot of bother. Plus, very many Sith. You know how I feel about Sith.”

“Yes. I have a table you placed in storage indefinitely over it.”

“It’s not about the table. The table is a symbol. It’s about autonomy and freedom. What’s the point of being a criminal way out here on the edge of nowhere if you’re going to cringe about for scraps. Begging at Masters feet, hoping he doesn't decide to raise his hand against you. Shall we sit up and beg for a pat? No! The Ravens are not dogs. We are and will remain free and independent and no power in the Galaxy is going to change that as long as I hold sway here!”

“Can’t argue with that I suppose.”

Declan replied, largely resigned to the fact that she was going to make his life as head of security difficult. Not that he could fault her. Even if he was on the level himself, there was still pride that could be taken in being a Raven. In bowing to no one.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

“Though...”

The Twi’lek looked thoughtful.

“Yes?”

The heavy-browsed humanoid prompted.

“Techno Union.. Hmm.. Might be an answer to the previous quandary.”

“I don’t think I'm following Ma’am. We’re going to hire them? I thought we were enemies? Or we’re unionising?”

“What? No of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.”

The Twi’leks yellow eyes went from sharply focused on Declan as she initially responded to looking at a spot to the left of his ear , apparently deep in thought. The man resolved himself to waiting. She would tell him or she would not. It was hard to tell. His boss was a fickle creature.

“We might be able to conglomerate though.”

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

“With the Techno Union?”

“No! Like the Techno Union does. Kind of. Presumably does. I don’t know it’s not like they sent me an informational pamphlet. I didn't even know they’d changed their name until you told me. With our own businesses. Come together as one whole entity while still maintaining separate identities.”

Her face became more animated the more she considered this.

“Would that make a difference?”

“It would for a lot of the paperwork and fees. It would be a lot easier to do internal work between the lot without having to draw up contracts to account for seeming unprofitability in one and profitability in another.”

Declan gave her a very pained expression.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

“Look. Let’s say I’ve bought a bunch of ore using money from my casinos for my droid company who then processes it but then wind up giving it to my shipyards who make a bunch of ships and sell them for a profit, right?”

“Right.”

He allowed reluctantly, fairly certain it was about to get complicated.

“This means I’m losing money from my Casino with no gain, monetary or otherwise. I’m also losing in my droid company, because they’ve spent the time to process the ore and if we take it a step further given up space to house it that could have been used for a profitable material. My shipyards on the other hand are now showing an unrealistic profit because they neither had to buy the material nor process it.”

“Okay..”

“So on paper, I have two companies making an unexplainable loss and looking unprofitable, and one company looking hyper-profitable but in a way it’s not going to be able to sustain.”

“But.. it all balances out actually doesn’t it? If you use common sense?”

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

“Accounting and common sense have very little in common I’m afraid. This way I can have overall budgets and overall inventories. So even without common sense on paper it will all work out the way it ought to when you look at the bottom line.”

“Well. I guess that sounds like a good idea then Ma’am. Clears up most of your problems.”

“It does. It might even open some new avenues for us..”

She lapsed into silence as she thought about this.

“Did you need me for anything else Ma’am? That was about it for the security update, beyond the fact that you still have that damned bounty and half the galaxy is trying to kill you personally.”

This was said rather admonishingly.

“Old news. I have far more interesting things to think about. Yes, that was it, thank you Declan.”

Came the dismissive reply with the almost signature flick of her fingers, throwing away an idea she did not care for or about.

“Of course Ma’am.”

With a half bow he left the office.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

The idea was left to stew for a few days to ensure that it was a solid one. After all, it was easy enough to come up with something on the spot and think that it was brilliant, but did it hold up to several days of testing and trying to find problems? The answer in this case was yes.

So she got on a call with her lawyers. She’s hired teams on each inhabited world the Ravens claimed as their own. This way any legal issues could be resolved immediately, speedily and she didn’t need to learn the subtle nuances in law of each planet. You wouldn’t think a criminal would have to concern herself so much with legalities, but such was the way of it when you reached a certain size.

Besides, she’d found legitimate business were the best fronts and money launderers. It was a tried, tested and true method. She just happened to think a little larger than a Laundromat or speeder repair shop.

“We’re on two planets already, I intend to be on more, so I need policies and guidelines that are not world specific, but aren’t going to clash with most major cultures. You know the drill. I’m giving this to you as a team because you’re all the senior lawyers of your firms, and each firm sits on a different world with different laws and regulations. If you can find something that all of you find suitable, chances are it will be applicable almost everywhere and we won’t have to tweak it. That’s the goal in any case. I want this to be a priority.”

There was a chorus of agreements and Yes Lady President etc. She cringed internally every time she heard it. The novelty had worn off, and now it just seemed awkward for a criminal organization. Still, she was pleased enough with their responses, and left the call, leaving them to get to it.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Which left her to do what while she waited? Well, it was still firmly in her mind, so she might as well get to the important part and name it. This amused her. She normally didn’t bother with this sort of thing. Her shuttle was registered as Ship, her RICO units were One and Two, naming things was just.. Not a priority for the Twi’lek.

She considered but immediately rejected calling it anything to do with Ravens. No Red Raven, or Ravens of any colour in the name. No Unkindness. No Corvus or Corvids, nothing of the sort. Why? Well because the Red Ravens were a known criminal organization. They’d done such things as stealing literally an entire physical planetary reserve in the past. She was proud of them and proud of herself, but it was a good idea to let business partners at least pretend that you were legitimate.

She supposed she could favour one of the existing establishments over the other. Dragon Palace or Golden Nautolan being the top contenders. But those really only covered the flashy Casino side. They didn’t hint at all the rest. The ships, the droids, the guns. Besides, Dragon Palace had been Lysle’s. Golden Nautolan was the latecomer to the party. Neither was quite right. Nor would she name it after herself in anyway. After all, this was for the Ravens and would be even after she was gone.

It needed something new. Something that sounded legitimate, but hinted at what it truly was. Something unaffiliated with anything else currently around.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Several days after this, a message with several attachments came through from the lawyers. Within it, guidelines, standards, regulations. Suggested restructuring. New protocols. It would take some time and work to enact it all but as she skimmed it with a grin the Twi’lek knew it would be done. It would take her several hours to read it all in detail of course, as was required when looking at contracts of this ilk, particularly ones so tied to the future of the Ravens, but for this she would make time.

Her fingers hovered over the keys for a moment, before with a satisfied and focused expression she keyed in the following;

Salvatrucha Economic Development Corporation​

It was a new era, and the Ravens were going to make sure it was a profitable one.