Burning Daylight

[Azimuth Industries]

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SARAPIN​

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A gaunt being in a dark, professional garb with a neckline that went all the way up sat in front of the desk and waited for the interviewer to arrive. Eyes like twin caverns stared at the desk. Dark wood, with a large grain. Highly polished. Grain size, coloration and density all suggested a high probability of wroshyr lumber. Very expensive.

The Givin, for such he was, sniffed appreciatively.

One could not, after all, deny good taste.

He checked his holocron. Thirty-nine seconds late. Deplorable.

[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Ni'gel"]

It was subtle expansion, acquisition and the expansion of power that had allowed Tai to take control of a large portion of the galaxy's energy market.

Multiple names, holdings and companies buying up stocks in existing interests, the slow build of facilities and cooperation with large corporations to upgrade them. All of this in an attempt to hitch out a large enough stake and then be able to out-compete any possible rivals in the Galaxy.

Already he was supplying energy to most civilized sectors within the Galaxy.

Chief among them the Core Worlds through Sarapin and others.

But it was time to consolidate, time to round off corporate interests into a single entity and streamline the entire procedure. The Helios Energy Corporation would have multiple branches, each one focused on a portion of the galaxy's demand for energy and certain resources.

The Isotope-5 branch would be mostly based off Makeb and Corellia, but HEC was headquartered on Sarapin and so it made sense for them to hold interviews for the Isotope-5 Director here.

A peacock clothed in expensive silk and fabric entered the room and pushed himself off the floor, gracefully landing on the edge of the seat behind the table. From the perched position he had a good view of his current applicant... a Givin, which was absolutely perfect, because his spymaster was one.

Givins were delightful sentients. So orderly and punctual, simply perfect.

"Mister Ni'gel, welcome." the Thirriken greeted with an inclination of the beak as always. "Why would you like to work for Helios?"

Straight to business.

Most Givin did not care for theatrics and diplomacy, they simply wished to get to the meat of things. He hoped that this one was similar in that regard.

 

[Azimuth Industries]

The Givin's permanent grimace became impossibly more so and he fixed the Thirriken with a baleful gaze. His perspective employer wore silk of black, white and a garish, awful red. A truly appalling combination when paired with the avian's natural plumage.

Not even a quadratic equation offered in greeting. Ni'gel - for such was his name - contemplated leaving then and there. The First Order had never treated him this way. Then again, they had stuck him in a mid-tier accounting position with no prospects of advancement. Simply unacceptable.

No, he supposed there was no going back now.

Ni'gel presented a datapad, extending it cautiously toward [member="Tai Fa"], careful lest the feathers touch his fingers.

"Helios Energy Corporation has the best probability of cornering the market on Isotope-5. The datapad contains schematics for a reactor capable of utilizing Isotope-5, which I developed. I have further algorithms."

 

[Jairus Starvald]

@Ni'gel

Tai did not envision it likely they would be able to cut out a monopoly on Isotope-5.

Unless they somehow managed to eject Arceneau Trade and other assorted companies from Makeb and Corellia entirely, but that was not a likelihood that the Thirriken considered feasible. That did not mean they couldn't profit off of it in very substantial terms regardless though and Lord Fa swiped the datapad offered and studied the details inside of it with some scrutiny.

His eyes swiped past the screen and studied the schematics, but eventually he realized it wasn't making much sense to him.

This did not mean it was useless... it probably just meant it was too complicated for him to figure out.

"I am not an engineer, but my head of engineering has shared some of the details of Isotope-5." It was the only reason that the Thirriken saw this wasn't just some baloney.

"This looks quite worthwhile."

His head cocked.

"Why not attempt to start your own company instead though?"

 

[Azimuth Industries]

Ah yes, the glazed eyes, the faux understanding. Ni'gel had seen it all before. Seen it all and, wait what? The Givin recoiled as if Tai Fa had set a live snake down on the table.

"What? I- I- no."

He shook his head slowly from side to side. Him, in charge of a company? Preposterous. He ran the numbers. He formulated the plans. He did not deal with the public. CEOs had to deal with the public. Ni'gel practically shuddered.

"I am a mathematician, not a politician. Besides, this one already exists. Starting a new one would be counter productive."

Also, Ni'gel had heard stories about what happened to the Thirriken's competition. None of them were nice.

[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Ni'gel"]

It was surprising, but perhaps that was the difference between two sorts of people.

Whereas Tai saw opportunity and seized it, this one was more interested in seeing his ideas come to fruition without being in the limelight of things. It went against every single instinct inside his reflexes, but he had learned a long time ago that every sentient was different and that it would make little sense to spread the same kind of expectations across everyone.

If Ni'gel did not wish to bother with the diplomacy, the talking and the organizing, the considerations and the spotlight?

That was quite alright with him.

"Tell me more of your time with Hegemonic Automaton and the Trade Federation." It still annoyed him that HA collapsed and was sold off for scraps years ago, their droids were the only ones worth a dime in this Galaxy.

 

[Azimuth Industries]

"I worked in accounting," Ni'gel said at first, not really planning on discussing the parameters of his employment, up until he saw the look [member="Tai Fa"] shot him.

The Givin became acutely interested in his fingernails. "I also performed some menial surveillance on Zeltron."

Also known as one of the most humiliating experiences of his life. Having to mingle with those lewd temptresses and their eelish ways. Ni'gel heart fluttered in a panic at the mere memory, although that might also have been the effects of the cup of black caf he drank before sitting down.

"Nothing terribly important. I simply sent my reports to the Tion Hegemony's ah, auspicious leaders."

In other words, Ni'gel from Accounting was actually Ni'gel from the Intelligence Bureau. To be entirely honest, he did enjoy that sort of work, so long as it didn't send him to places like Zeltron. Observation was part of the scientific method, after all.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Ni'gel"]

Tai cocked his head at that admission.

The Tion Hegemony had gone silent in recent years, but even as far as the Gordian Reach they had heard of the great Tionese resurgence that had ushered into a decade of unprecedented prosperity for the entire cluster under the supervision of a handful of business sentients. Had this cabal still been active to this day the Thirriken might have even been so inclined to join it himself.

A coalition of like-minded sentients who valued the word of law and worked together to further an agenda of wealth and advancement?

It sounded heavenly.

Though perhaps the xenophobic humanocentric attitude of the Tionese would have made it impossible for him to truly shine there. Not that it really mattered in the largest scheme of things, the cabal was dead and silent and the Tion Cluster was slowly slipping back into irrelevancy under the guiding hand of the Silver Jedi. It was quite a disappointing set of affairs.

"I see. I can understand why you would not put that... in your résumé." An inclination of the beak followed. "Unless you have more to state, I think I have everything I needed, mister Ni'gel."

"We will be in touch."

 

[Azimuth Industries]

Put on his resume that he had secretly served Gerion Ardik aka Darth Janus aka Darth Adekos, Sith Lord and master of mechu-deru? What a ghastly thought. Still, his time in the Tion Hegemony could have been much worse. He might have had to work for that lecherous fellow, what was his name again? Carach. Darth Carach. Ni'gel shuddered at the mere thought. Imagine having to take a discussion of the latest economic trends to the Sith Lord's penthouse only to stumble upon one of his lewd gatherings.

Some said Carach was a sexual predator. Ni'gel believed it. He was human, after all, and their sort tended to act like uncultured neanderthals.

Although, Master Ardik never bedded anyone to Ni'gel's knowledge. Then again, Umbarans.

Mournful gaze fixing on [member="Tai Fa"], Ni'gel shook his head slightly.

"No, that is everything. H equals three plus fourteen times T minus 5 times T to the second," he said by way of parting.

Stood, bowed stiffly, and shuffled out the door.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Ni'gel"]

His head cocked at that strange departure.

But then he recalled that Givin interacted with each other by the way of mathematical equations and the sort. That seemed quite annoying and wholly inconvenient, but at the end of the day Tai enjoyed to speak strictly in Haiku just to get a rise out of sentients - so, really, he had no grounds to start throwing stones. After the Givin left the Thirriken interviewed about half a dozen other applicants.

Most of which were not what he was looking for.

In this job anyway, some of them might receive a missive for a position better suited for them elsewhere, but it was the Givin Ni'gel who would receive the contact he had been interviewing for.

About a week after the interview Ni'gel was contacted and congratulated with his new job with the Helios Energy Corporation.

Its Isotope-5 branch finally had a competent manager.