Corporate Takeover

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[member="Bartic Myth'rand"] had been one of Mephirium's chosen men. The former leader of the Dominion had done well to impart the nature of Bartic's role onto his son, and Cedric had been wise enough to give Bartic the influence he had earned.

As the head of DSB, Bartic was the source of almost all the intelligence gathered for the Dominion's operations. His loyalty was absolute; so long as he received the proper praise and the promise of position, Cedric doubted the older man would ever be swayed from his current allegiance. Besides, it seemed that Bartic was host to a certain patriotism that was only natural of the Dominion's founders. He'd put in too much work, and taken too much pride in that work to step back now that they were on a galactic stage.

And so it was that DSB had begun the subtle takeover of numerous mega corporations throughout the galaxy. The purpose was two-fold: to deny the enemy industry, and to expand that influence of the Dominion's own.

Mon Cala had already been bought out by the Dominion's agents. Now CEC was on the verge of being stolen from right under the Galactic Alliance's nose.

Cedric invited the conductor of this massive show to his private office atop the capital building of Ession. There he waited, seated behind his desk, a glass of Balmoraan Bluesky hanging from his fingers as he watched the planet turn outside the massive glass window pane at his back. Night had just fallen, and so Bartic would be the first appointment for the day.

Depending on how things went, he might also be the last.

 

[Bartic Myth'rand]

Bartic had been called by [member="Cedric Grayson"] to a meeting, Bartic had used dominion assets for personal gain, although it was a gain for the Dominion the corporation was now in his name. Cedric's father, the man whom Bartic had originally sworn too would have understood of course that was back when the Dominion was still just a collection of enterprising men and women whom were looking to make a brighter future for the galaxy, but now the Dominion was a proper government and this was the kind of thing that would put a man in prison for a long time. In the case of that happening Bartic had set for his assets to be held in trust by his sister, whom he had only recently found out was alive but had not had time actually contact.

He entered the room where the Archlord was waiting for him and spoke up, "Archlord Grayson, you wanted to see me?"

 

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"That I did. Feel free to call me Cedric when it's just the two of us. Titles between friends are a hierarchy that I am not fond of," the youth waved a hand around. "We are friends, yes? I assumed I inherited the kinship you shared with my father while he still ruled."

The Archlord offered Bartic a smile, but it was not the sneer of a politician. No, Cedric's seemed sincere, which might have proven to be all the more disconcerting for the Director. He appreciated talent, especially the cutthroat ambition that came along with it.

The two together were a rarity, making Bartic a commodity.

"I understand you've come to acquire CEC," he stated, cutting right to the chase. "First and foremost: good job. You've weakened the alliance's financial structure significantly, and helped to build up our own. For that, I would reward you, though owning CEC is a reward all in its own."

He paused, brow lofted. "I believe you are still loyal to this lumbering giant of a government we've created. Fond of it even, despite your personal successes. Am I correct?"

[member="Bartic Myth'rand"]

 

[Bartic Myth'rand]

"Fond of it would be an understatement, I'm over twice your age Cedric and if every thing goes well I'm half way through my life and this, my work for the Dominion, is my only step towards doing any sort of good in this galaxy. I don't know if your father ever told you who I was before all this. I was a pirate, the only thing that stood out about me was that I knew how to stab someone in the back and get away with it, I came to your father in a stolen ship thinking that I could go legitimate under his banner. He made me into something beyond that, he figured out where I could put my skills to use for good, he brought something outlet in me that I hadn't felt since I was a kid. He inspired me in the same way kids look up to their heros, because of that I will always continue to fight for his vision of peace and security in this galaxy, even if the Dominion were to fall I would be there with it to the bitter end." Bartic stopped for a moment, "But you don't need to listen to an old man ramble."

Bartic thought back to his pirate days, many whom he knew then would call him weak, working underneath others, but they would have been wrong. Now that he had a cause it had given him focus, the direction granted to him pushed him far further that being on his own ever would.

Bartic got back to the topic at hand. "The gaining of the CEC is a major boon, as much as I would like to I can't just cut off ties with current customers, but that doesn't mean those ties can't be used to the Dominion's advantage. Every credit they spend is one that I can use to build up the Dominion. The only problem is that the out of the four major CEC facilities only one is nearby, but with senatorial approval that can be easily fixed."

 

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An easy smile found its way onto Cedric's visage.

"I never knew. My father didn't share much with me. I was a boy the last time I saw him," Cedric admitted as he sipped at his glass. A second was produced by one of the serving droids, this one carrying a particularly weak alcohol that was offered to Bartic.

"No such thing as rambling. It is the fool that ignores the experiences of others, friends and enemies both. The desires and successes of those that came before us define the society we live in. It's good that you take pride in that, Bartic. It teaches the younger generation to do so," Cedric continued, a certain wisdom to his words that belied his years. That was all he seemed to be as of late - artificial wisdom crammed inside the head of a youth.

Some would have said the processes that forged him were immoral. The Archlord would not disagree with them.

"I'm sure we can get you senate approval easily Bartic, though we'll need to do it discreetly." He grinned, "We don't want to alert our friends in the south as to what we're doing now, do we?"

[member="Bartic Myth'rand"]

 

[Nicademus Blith]

Nicademus had a very important document in hand, this document could completly change warfare, it was of the utmost importance that it be delivered and presented immediately . Blith-Tech had worked hard for months to develop the neccessary technologies to make this system work, but Nicademus trusted that the Arch Lord would be as impressed as he was when he first saw the system in action. He had gotten the greenlight from DAPA to develop this technology for the Dominion, but they needed to present it to the Arch-Lord himself, if he didnt give the greenlight to finish development and put it into production, then this work would be for naught. He had already called ahead and gotten a sort of blank check for showing up, and he knew that this contract could open a whole lot of doors for Blith-Tech, with one contract, more usually follow. Months and Years of hard work had gone into it, the sweat and ideas of hundreds of researchers had gone into this project, now contained in this bomb proof, bullet proof, steel briefcase, locked with a bio metric seal.

This document was highly classified, and the Red Cloaks had escorted Nicademus through the Capital Building, both for the protection of the Arch-Lord and the protection of the document. They rode the elevator up to the top of the rather tall building, all the way to the Arch-Lord's office. Once at the top, the doors binged and opened up, and at the end of a short hallway, the office resided. Nicademus moved down the hallway and opened the door at the end. He saw the arch lord in there and another man, Nicademus guessed that the Arch-Lord was busy in the middle of a meeting.

"Sorry to intrude Arch-Lord Grayson, but this document needed to get delivered as quickly as possible, DAPA did not want it in the open for too long. Im Nicademus Blith from Blith-Tech, ive been developing a rather major project for DAPA, and we need the greenlight from you to put it into production" He said placing the breifcase on the table.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]
[member="Bartic Myth'rand"]

 

[Bartic Myth'rand]

Bartic knew Cedric war far more mature than his years, but it always seemed to catch him off gaurd, his circumstances did force him to grow up quickly, it was something Bartic watched almost the whole way, It wouldn't have surprised Bartic if Cyril had spent more time with him than Cedric.

"One can never truly be subtle with something as big as this, in my professional opinion it would be for the best if this went through all the normal channels. However, it should easy to be misleading, in times of war production lines producing civilian ships can easily be turned to produce military vessels. Once the lines are tooled to produce military vessels it's only a 'cost saving measure' to keep them that way afterwards and with the information coming from our northern frontier some degree of war seems inevitable."

It was then that another man entered the room, Bartic recognized him as [member="Nicademus Blith"], the man was practically born on a pile of credits according to the extensive file the DSB held on him, his company was funded off of his inheritance and through that fortune he had been able to give himself quite a head start. When he said he needed approval to move forward on a major project Bartic had no doubts that this was the same software program that was, according to intelligence, make a battlefield look like a video game.

Bartic, not liking being ignored spoke up, "Good evening Mr. Blith, I'm Director Myth'rand, if you have what I think you have in that case this conversation is about to get very interesting."

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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"No, but we can twist it for the sake of positive PR." Cedric fired back, an amused little grin plastered upon his noble visage. He decided he liked Bartic. For all the man's seriousness, there was a certain patriotism and a promised loyalty that Cedric found to be a rarity among much of the ruling elite. Bartic was, for all intents and purposes, a unique specimen: a resource that could provide far more for the Dominion than any army ever could. This was a man that could win over a world from behind a desk.

A valuable man indeed.

"Just tell me what I need to do, and we'll get it done. I'll work with you on this however I can," Cedric offered, his smile never fading. It was only when another man came barging into the room that it wavered. A brow was lofted at the newcomer, though the annoyance in his features faded as Mister Blith explained his purpose.

"Is this the network your people were trying to sell us?" Cedric tilted his head to the right, then looked to Bartic for his opinion. "So long as the Director does not mind an interruption, we may move ahead with whatever it is Blith Tech deems so important."

[member="Bartic Myth'rand"], [member="Nicademus Blith"]

 

[Nicademus Blith]

Nicademus did not respond at first, pressing his finger to the bio reader on the breifcase. It did nothing for a moment, but then opened with a satisfying click. The breifcase popped open to reveal a thick stack of papers, stapled together. The papers simply said on the front: Project: Clearview, with a big "CLASSIFIED" stamp over it. Nicademus took out the document and handed it to the archlord.

"Why yes it is, we have been working on it for quite awhile, and we are under the belief that this could change the game for the Dominion."

The document contained hundreds of pages on the intricate inner workings of the system, every detail was etched out in this highly classified document. This technical documentation spared no detail, weakness, or strength unlisted, it was a comprehensive document on every feature, it was extremely dangerous for the entire thing to be kept in one place, if somone were to somehow steal the document, it would be disastrous to the program.

"I want to begin full scale implementation as soon as possible if i get the go ahead"

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

[member="Bartic Myth'rand"]

 

[Bartic Myth'rand]

Bartic focused and used his Dovin-Et to send the technical document sliding across the table and in front of him and begin to flip through it, to anyone who didn't know about the symbiotic it looked like a casual use of the force. Although Bartic wasn't an engineer he did consider himself an intelligent man the skimming he gave it only presented one major issue. Bartic used the Dovin-Et to slide the paper over to Cedric.

"I only have one problem, the system seems to be extremely vulnerable to internal sabotage, what kind of precautions does your company recommended in order to prevent this."

Bartic mulled over what he had just read, he would definitely be putting his techs on this to make sure that there were no surprises.

[member="Nicademus Blith"] [member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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Contracts had been made to assure such issues at the Dominion's lack of a battlenet would be rectified. As such, Nicademus' interruption was one that Cedric tolerated, though he regarded the man with a lofted brow. A hand had been extended to take the paper, but Bartic beat him to it.

That lofted brow turned from the intruder to the older man.

"I'm curious as to the solution as well," Cedric murmured as he took the papers from Bartic. With narrowed eyes, he scanned the contents of the work. Things seemed to be well in order, though the problem Bartic brought up was one he wished to see solved.

"Loyalty is something we value greatly, but it can never be fully assured," the papers were set down on the desk with a definitive thud. "What's your workaround here?"

[member="Bartic Myth'rand"], [member="Nicademus Blith"]

 

[Nicademus Blith]

"The Workaround is quite simple, just because somebody owns the ship the system is installed on does not mean that they need full systems access, you can go over their head in certain cases. The DSB and Archlord are also capable of hiding information if need be, so if anyone feels that there is a mole, then you can easily hide critical information, and insert fake information for them to feast on." he said, trying to explain the problem. "You should be able to talk to my engineers if you want more detailed information on the function of that system. It flies over my head for the most part."

Nicademus leaned up against a wall their concerns were well thought out, but many of the problems had already been solved beforehand, Nicademus' engineers were some of the best there were, it was not a problem for them to find these problems and solve them.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]
[member="Bartic Myth'rand"]

 

[Bartic Myth'rand]

"My main concern Mr. Blith is less a hijack of the system I am more interested in the more subtle methods of using access to the system. Little things like missplacing objective markers on trooper and pilot HUDs, or just simply telling the enemy what kind of intelligence we have on them."

It was putting too many eggs on one basket for Bartic's taste, but he could look past that if the system proved to be a larger boon than a liability, fortunately he had an idea.

He turned to [member="Cedric Grayson"], "How would you feel about running some war games to test the system? Insert a traitor with different objectives in a few of them and see how the system and the men react to the to problems that come up."

[member="Nicademus Blith"]