Darker Dealings (RMIA contract with Darth Mara)

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal's black and red armor glistened in the florescent lighting of his office as he pulled the paper cup of caf to his lips. The fresh, hot liquid went down his throat with a wonderfully bitter finish. Outside, Pzob's main star was just beginning to show itself on the horizon. Ardgal lowered the polarizing tint on his window and looked outside, savoring the view for a moment.

Under the dawn, his troops and civilian laborers were already hard at work. A military installation like this was not held up without a great deal of spit shine and elbow grease. Besides this Pzob was still, as some would say, between managers. Ardgal turned back to the datapad in his other hand, setting the paper cup of caf down. To get this planet where he wanted, Ardgal still had to work and employ his troops to work. And to do that, he needed money. That's what today was about. Earning money.

The comm on his desk buzzed, making the small paper cup shake slightly. His desk was simple, a basic mammoth wooden desk that was constantly kept in immaculate order. Not a single paperclip was out of place on top of its wooden top.

He thumbed the answer button, "Yes?"

"Your first client is here," Virgil said in a cold, emotionless tone, "She said her name was [member="Darth Mara"]."

"Send them in."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"You can go on through" she was told, and so she did. Her heels clicked as she approached the door before finally entering and giving [member="Ardgal Raxis"] a warm smile and offering a handshake and waiting to be told to sit.

"I see your uh... receptionist called me Darth Mara, I think that feels a bit aggressive. Just call me Natalie LaForte, CEO of the Intergalactic Monetary fund, I believe that we are here to discuss a potential partnership? I understand that RMIA deals in a number of things... yes" pausing and looking down to a sheet of paper that she had printed out with some basic information on the company "Mercenaries, weapons, armour and... privateering?" What a novel idea; and not something that she had heard of in a while.

"In which case, I'll introduce myself from an alternative prospective. I currently run the Trade Federation, which has fallen from its former glory. While we are not looking to hire a private protection fleet, we do occasionally have some loans that need following up on with... force. I'm sure you understand what I mean. In exchange, we could perhaps commission a private ship for your company's use or even use a large sum or credits in monthly increments."

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

"Ah, my apolgies, Miss LeFortan," Argal said with a polite smile. The general set his datapad down on the desk and motioned to one of the two leather chairs on her side of his desk, "Please, make yourself comfortable. My cousin Virgil is filling in for receptionist, I am afraid she is away on some family matters this week. Virgil can be somewhat," Ardgal chuckled, "Rough even my Mandalorian standards. I don't suppose you have any relation to the Fortans from the First Order?"

"In which case, I'll introduce myself from an alternative prospective. I currently run the Trade Federation, which has fallen from its former glory. While we are not looking to hire a private protection fleet, we do occasionally have some loans that need following up on with... force. I'm sure you understand what I mean. In exchange, we could perhaps commission a private ship for your company's use or even use a large sum or credits in monthly increments."

Ardgal tapped the information on his datapad as she mentioned it, nodding periodically, "I undesrtand, Ma'am, debt collection was one of our first starts, and is a time honored tradition," he wasn't bellow such work, money was money, and RMIA had their own needs and debts to fulfill on the day to day. "I will admit that we are looking at RMIA to expand our fleet at this point. Do you mind showing me some of your prior work before I decide on credits or ships?"

[member="Natalie LaForte"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"The Fortans? Oh goodness no. I don't like to associate myself with the First Order or anyone on that side of the spectrum. I do represent Cato Neimodia in the Commenori Senate."

Natalie placed her hands folded on the table after thinking for a second. "Well, perhaps I should make my intention more clear - Currently, The Trade Federation does not have any products on-sale at the moment, however we can see about producing one specifically for your company at either a reduced price or completely free of charge in exchange for your services. Currently, we have an exuberant amount of wealth however we are looking to protect our corporate interests in less-civilized parts of the galaxy."

"The schematics of said ship would be completely up to you, anything is within the realm of possibility with our production facilities. Perhaps we could go about designing it now, and I'll have a field prototype ready within a month or-so."

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

"Ah the CSA? And the Trade Federation? And Intergalactic Monetary Fund? You seem to wear quite a few Hats," Ardgal said with a wry smile. "I have a hard enough time just juggling my own business with my patriotic duty to my vode in the Mando'ade. You must be very prestigious. I am involved in the CSA myself, they are some of my most loyal buyers."

Ardgal had been supplying the CSA with arms, not since the beginning but since the early inception since the Commenor people began to spread their influence to other worlds within the sector. It had been quite a thrilling ride. Their purchase of his weapons and arms had been rather lucrative for his business--the weapons he had sold for them and the soldiers he had helped train for their defense had kept quite a few of his own from going hungry on darker days.

Well, perhaps I should make my intention more clear - Currently, The Trade Federation does not have any products on-sale at the moment, however we can see about producing one specifically for your company at either a reduced price or completely free of charge in exchange for your services. Currently, we have an exuberant amount of wealth however we are looking to protect our corporate interests in less-civilized parts of the galaxy. The schematics of said ship would be completely up to you, anything is within the realm of possibility with our production facilities. Perhaps we could go about designing it now, and I'll have a field prototype ready within a month or-so."

"Well, I'd like to make an arrangement regarding the payment of such a vessel before we discuss the vessel itself, if you don't mind," Ardgal leaned forward slightly, waving his hand across the surface of his desk, "I'd like to consider a trade off. RMIA will work for free with whatever you need until our services are equal to the cost of the materials for whatever ship we have in mind. Then, when that amount is fulfilled, we will continue to do any work that you need, but at a 15% discount, our standard rate for all long-term contracted work."

[member="Natalie LaForte"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"A lot of hats indeed, if personal assistants weren't a thing I probably wouldn't be able to manage it all. Then again, my work in the CSA has just begun, I'm probably not even feeling the burden of the workload that I'm about to receive. Also, are you a Mandalorian? I've never met one before."

Natalie was... wary of Mandalorians. The only experience she had with them was being hunted on the battlefields of Bastion by some Mandalorians/Force hunters, along with a lot of bugs in a former jedi temple which were planted by accident. Natalie doesn't have prejudice, she just likes to know if her partners would be unnecessarily hostile towards her, and if so how she can get compensated for that.

"Regarding the ship, that sounds fine. So long as your services are up to par, then I'd be happy agreeing to that. Just out of interest, do you have a dedicated trade fleet already, and how much would your services cost on an annual basis? Most of the ships we are looking to produce will be cheap, in comparison to our competitors. Oh and one last question, are you expecting a ship or multiple ships. The way your numerating them sounds like you mean one ship, which seems rather odd to me."

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal spread his hands out in a feined gesture of surrender, "Guilty as charged. But, in my defense, I'm what you could call a progressive Mando. I believe in higher education, hold a master's degree, am romantically involved with an arutesii woman, and believe in the highest form of professionalism." he smiled, "We aren't all bad."

She asked about his rates and Ardgal opened a drawer under his desk, pulling a booklet of stapled papers out. "Well, that depends on what is required. Our standard rate for your average foot soldier is 20 credits per hour. For specially trained soldiers we will have to charge more, of course since it is specially service. Our most expensive, are the godkillers, we do charge 1,000 an hour for their services for understandable reasons, I'm sure.

"Now, " he said offering her the bundle of paper, "For live fire situations, we do tack on an additional 50% to cover for medical expenses, damages, and post mortem expenses incurred."

He handed her the exensive booklet about the various costs that RMIA charges with their services. It was exhaustive to say the least.

"I have in mind a single ship, apologies for any missunderstandings," he said at her question. "Something large, a single carrier at 1,000 meters able to move anything that RMIA needs; air support interceptors, drop ships, tanks--anything at all--safely between systems because what RMIA has at this point is," Ardgal chuckled, "Antiquated. To say the least. Do you believe the Trade Federation can undergo such a project?"

[member="Natalie LaForte"]

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"The Trade Federation would not be able to produce a ship of that size, although I would be able to contract to IMF, my other company, to produce said carrier, so in the end, yes. It will be doable. As to how that affects the total costing, I am unaware at this present moment in time. For what you have suggested, a general use carrier, it would be within the region of... around 20 million credits. Now I will personally deduct 2 million from that cost, bringing it down to 18 million because I am feeling generous and have had a recent boost to our credential funds."

Natalie looked down and moved her nails against eachother before continuing. "These are estimates after all, and I am not the best with mathematics. Given most ships of the similar size cost in and around 25,000,000 credits, I don't believe this is a unreasonable guestimate, but the exact details will be financed by my staff at a later date."

"Now, you mentioned carrying equipment? Do you need any of the things you have listed? While we're discussing this, I figure we could see about creating some more exclusive products for your company, or at least temporarily exclusive." And after, would begin to make some notes on her datapad, listing down the specifications he had requested

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

The general listened as she mentioned the cost and the possible methods and so on. Ardgal grabbed the paper cup in his hands and took a sip, mulling the dark, bitter liquid in his mouth over at the same time as he thought about those numbers. They were high, but as he always said this customers You cannot skimp on materials if you want the best. He knew it as well as anyone else. He wasn't about to hastle her over prices and pennies. He knew how much that sucked to deal with scrooge customers.

He swallowed the mouthful and set his cup down, "Sounds fair to me, ma'am." He leaned forward, "As far as equiptment goes, its going to be most of what you read in that packet, ma'am. Tanks, walkers, battlements, droids, explosives and the like. All the lovely things that are go into going boom. I am also designing a dropship, which," Ardgal held out his hands, "If your company would like to help produce, then you are more than welcome to share the licensing in. Some of my R and D department are also working on an interceptor that should be one of the fastest and most effective built, now if you would like to go in on this as well and assist in the design and the production we can go and split it all half and half, if you would like. As it stands, RMIA's biggest deficit is in the space department. It's rather lacking at this point."

[member="Natalie LaForte"]