Droidic Serenity

[Klesta]

After successfully buying Gribeauval and Associates away from Tarhassan and onto Ziost, the Stygian Caldera now had access to ergonomic assessments. That, even though Yula was no longer at its helm, the Jawa knew that the company still had the most influence in the Caldera compared to other regions. And Klesta knew that the project of widening was going to be lengthy, especially with Ziost being home to domestic troubles. With the money rolling in from the sale of ergonomic assessments in the Caldera, the Sith Inquisitor could fund the starting of new titles. Certainly the venerable Popular Automaton was one rival title, but even they can't do everything in issues. Maybe stagger the titles' release dates with their rivals, and differentiate the content and the target audiences would already be a good start to get the ideas started. But that might be sensitive topics when investors are concerned. Some of them might want to invest with a clear plan in mind, while others just want to get the perks of the venture without delving too deep into its inner workings. So Klesta wrote a message on his datapad:

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ATTN: [member="Darth Mara"]

The Sith Inquisitor group is currently looking for investors for its new venture, a droid-themed magazine. Any investors will have discounts to advertising space inside the resulting magazine, as well as a share of the profits, commensurate to the level of investment. We would like to discuss the agreement further. Please let me know what works for you.

Klesta
Executive VP, Sith Inquisitor

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[Natalie LaForte]

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Sender: Melody@imf.net
Receiver: [member="Klesta"]

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for the notice. We are very excited in investing in such projects. Please respond with the attached location and our representatives will be there shortly.

Melody,
The best bot
---------------------

That wasn't actually Natalie, it was her spam robot who responded to everything and flagged the most important stuff for manual review, and this appeared to be one of them. A magazine was not something she had thought of expanding into, and it certainly was the next step to ensuring galactic corpor-... Economic prosperity for everyone in the galaxy! Now the real question was... what outfit to wear? Something modern, chic, or would she just go all out and become a droid for the upcoming meetings. So many choices and such little time.

In the end, she decided that cybernetic implants were not the best and went for a business suit. A woman of power need not look like she is trying to impress the male -- or female -- gaze of her companionship. This was a business meeting after all. Now all she did was wait for the location and she would be sped off momentarily.

 

[Klesta]

The question being: which office would host the IMF's representative(s), Cyrillia, Tarhassan or Ziost? Probably Tarhassan or Cyrillia since Ziost was not as safe as it used to be, even though ergonomic assessments were not a big security deal for the Sith that appear poised to wage war in the Caldera. And from the looks of it, the Sith Inquisitor was one of the big elephants in the RE's room. Even then Klesta preferred not to have the stuff hosted on Ziost. Plus he knew that Jawas must not attempt to scream Utinni, nor to use his pheromones in an attempt to charm the representatives or to otherwise make the reps scream Utinni either. But Melody, the bot, or possibly secretary, used by [member="Darth Mara"], asked just that from Klesta, and then he would focus on the topic of investment and perhaps allow for the sale of what he called... ergonomic assessments for the IMF if so they wanted. Oh yes, even though we have a virtual monopoly on ergonomic assessments in the Caldera, we're still far from achieving any fame in the world of ergonomic assessments. Perhaps I could also approach the topic of ergonomic assessments with their reps! he thought, while also more trying to take advantage of the meeting to offer more than one service, more than just securing an investor for the droid magazine. He had to make a decision before replying, and he chose Tarhassan because he would also be able to tend to the Interstellar Getaway stuff for a few more days before the new management of the title comes in:

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Dear Melody,

In two business days, we shall meet on Tarhassan, inside the office of the Interstellar Getaway, given that I'm the interim manager of that magazine, operated by the Sith Inquisitor, until a permanent manager can be found. The process should be finalized tomorrow.

P.S.: We shall also discuss the provision of ergonomic assessments, circumstances permitting.

Klesta
Executive VP, Sith Inquisitor

--------------------------------------

 

[Natalie LaForte]

---------------------
Sender: Melody@imf.net
Receiver: [member="Klesta"]

To whom it may concern,

Riveting topics, I am told. Myself and Executive Natalie will be there on time, as always. A pleasure speaking to you.

Melody,
The best bot
---------------------

When the AI had told Natalie about these... ergonomic assessments her head was a little turned with boredom, she didn't even know what they were until a quick holonet search cleared her mind. Something something worker safety something something cost effective. Which is why the e-mail didn't get thrown into the trash and placed on the blacklist permanently. Ensuring maximum profitability was her very job description, and if the "Executive Vice-President" Klest could ensure that, then she was more than willing to throw some money at him for long term economic assurance.

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Two days later

After finishing an exquisite dance class, bathing and finally slipping into something more appropriate, Natalie was ready. Now all she had to do was climb aboard some sort of vessel and land on Tarhassan, the only person who would accompany her was her sister.

"Never heard of this place before."

"You haven't heard of a lot of places it seems." Carina smiled, going into the atmosphere.

 

[Klesta]

The thing with ergonomic assessments was that periodic assessments were required, regardless of turnover. He might not have been in the business of ergonomic assessments for that long, but he knew that nearly every contract for ergonomic assessments required a set periodicity, otherwise they were buying ad hoc services, which were usually much less troublesome to buy and manage, in terms of paperwork. Those who bought ad hoc services usually did so either because they were court-ordered to do so, have a handful of employees whose productivity declines sharply, called sick often, or after a string of work accidents. By now there were three ergonomic assessment companies left in the Harron sector, and [member="Natalie LaForte"] was set to arrive at the Interstellar Getaway office, where Klesta would, as usual, be dressed and close deals with the IMF regarding investment in the new droid magazine, the Today's Servomotor, and clearly the deal will be twofold.

"Klesta, a visitor has arrived: Natalie LaForte" Tiffany told her from the reception desk.

"Oh, the IMF representatives have arrived, right on time. Send her in" Klesta responded.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie entered the room -- with her sister, who would not be talking -- and was prepared to meet whomever had sent the e-mails. Not that she is a racist, but needless to say she was a bit surprised and her eyes visibly opened just a tad more than normal when she saw the jawa sitting down. "You must be uh... Mr/Mrs Klesta, I presume." choking a little on her words. "I am Natalie LaForte, Chief Executice of IMF and this is my sister, Carina LaForte, whom is on our director's board." walking forward and offering a handshake to the person.

"I believe you had a business proposition for us? Something to do with a droid magazine and... ergonomic assessments? Usually I wouldn't partake in the latter however now that the company has enforced a 25% mandatory organic working force in our administrative zone, I have no real choice in the matter" laughing after this statement.

"I don't really have much business in the publishing market, so if you could inform me approximately how much it will cost and the advantages to our company, that would be great."

[member="Klesta"]

 

[Klesta]

"First things first. You may refer to me as Mr. Klesta from this point onward, and we'll get the investment part of the new venture done first"

The LaFortes, especially [member="Natalie LaForte"], seemed to be almost as gorgeous as the one he only knew as Jessica; last he heard about Jessica, she is the commanding officer of one of the Silver Jedi's major commands, NWCOM (Northwest Command), while possessing vastly different body frames. Then again, he didn't seem to have a clear set of beauty standards when it came to humans or Near-Humans, if only because he had to look up to most of those regardless of how tall they are. The diminutive Jawa gave a handshake to the two, Natalie first and Carina afterward. With most of the money being borne out of the ergonomic assessment cashflow, that is, about 2 million, which is as much as Ziost deems safe to allocate to Today's Servomotor. He knew that he'd rather not cover the same stuff (except for major releases of droid models) as existing magazines. Perhaps a different mixture of industrial droids vs. consumer-market ones would be a factor to consider, just that content will prove determinant for the success or failure of the magazine.

"You see, there is still 1 million in seed money to be raised; if you decide to invest the full 1 million, the IMF will get approximately 35% stake in Today's Servomotor, as well as two full-page ads at 35% off for the first 26 issues. If publishing frequency is important to you, that's once every two standard weeks"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie coughed and turned to her sister. "Well, Mr. Klesta, that seems a bit low on our behalf. One million credits for a 35% stake and 35% off two full page ads? For a limited amount of time? What would it take to make that permanent?" Turning back to him. "I'm making an investment and placing my faith in you that I won't need to call a mercenary contracter to.. retrieve my funds, should this project not hit the mark you are looking for."

"I feel like you're cutting me a bad deal, and if there's one thing I dislike, it's bad deals. Regardless, have you got a rough estimate for the projections of profit I will be receiving for this endeavor? I'm all for charitable dealings, but magazines are charity."

Natalie never knew that Jawas dealt such hard bargains. She knew their entire culture was built around trading, but this was a bit extreme. 35% For one million credits? By any stretch of the imagination, that seemed a little bit unfair.

Carina then spoke. "I didn't know you took an economics class, sis." and Natalie playfully hitting her on the leg under the table.

[member="Klesta"]

 

[Klesta]

"Utinni! I didn't even begin to talk about the pre-orders we already have, but we already have thousands of subscriptions on pre-orders across several sectors. That said, the current amount of pre-orders cannot excuse a deal in its current state, so I have to make another offer, which I think will be better than the last one"

Until now, [member="Natalie LaForte"] did not know about how the Sith Inquisitor already ran pre-orders for subscriptions of Today's Servomotor. Most pre-orders came from the Ombakond sector (that is, around Yutan) and, of course, the Stygian Caldera, with another pocket of pre-ordered subscriptions from the other sectors in which the Commenor Systems Alliance operated. And yet, mid-five-figure was a drop in the galactic bucket, achieved about a month before the first issue comes live. Klesta had to make good, honor those preorders and go through with the release: he knew what happened when people expected somebody to do something but failed to do so back in his Senate days. Especially high-profile failures to fulfill promises. These could durably hurt a politician's career and it led several Senators to be driven out of politics altogether, or also to drive some businesses out off business. He thought long and hard of another offer that would make the IMF get more for its money.

"Maybe a 49% stake and a permanent 49% discount on two guaranteed full-page ads for the same price; even then you have to realize that the magazine will be released across multiple sectors at once, which requires a sizeable circulation for that to work. Plus since we already have ca. 60,000 subscriptions on pre-order, the profits will start rolling in within two months"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie placed her hands under her chin, stroking it in a classic evilish manner. "49% You say? That's fantastic, Mr Klesta. I suppose you don't want anything else in exchange... given the sound of your voice. If that's all, and you aren't looking for a date from my sister, I suppose you have some sort of contractual agreement we should sign? I'll contact my finances manager to have it transfered through to, sorry I didn't quite get the registered name of your company."

"Also, would there be room to share printed copies so we could distribute it ourselves as apart of some sort of offer? Or could we perhaps work some dealings in the future, say purchasing a copy of the magazine then getting a droid free, something along those lines."

[member="Klesta"]

 

[Klesta]

"So as part of a launch offer for Today's Servomotor we can always draw free IMF droids among the customers that buy copies. So please, tell me more about what's appropriate to draw among the pool of subscribers or otherwise among the pool of copies in circulation, considering that the general public will likely be buying subscriptions or copies"

Now that [member="Natalie LaForte"] understands where the remainder of the seed money comes from, Klesta had the legal department draft the memorandum of understanding, with the bi-weekly payments for the 51% of the two full-page advertisement prices included among the clauses; one thing, however, that the IMF will realize, should the magazine take off as intended, is that the price of that 51% may be subject to change without notice and, along with that 51% for the IMF's two full-pages, the price of all the advertising space. Hopefully with the circulation increasing, the IMF will get its money's worth. But dating human ladies would be a risky proposition for Jawas, especially because Natalie alluded to the possibility of Klesta even asking Carina out. Which made the Jawa a little uncomfortable because he knew that his own pheromones would have limited effects on non-Jawas at best. Plus he had to take the time to collect himself after he heard Natalie suggest that he was after a date with Carina.

"The memorandum of understanding will arrive soon. However, the ergonomic assessment part is going to require a separate deal"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Actually.. general public? Probably none of our current models would be suitable for that, however I would be more than willing to offer some small blasters for however many subscribers you said you currently have registered.. thousands? That should be fine. These things are so cheap to make that it wouldn't put a dent in any company's profit, and will most likely drive subscribers. People love free stuff, after all."

Not that Carina was interested, she liked her men tall, or at least at an average height, and didn't like making out with Jawas... or anything to do with Jawas in general, especially considering she couldn't tell if they were handsome or not. Regardless, she still playfully teased him with some looks and running her hands through her blonde hair.

"Carina, stop being an idiot. Anyway, onto these ergonomic assessments, could you tell me the estimated cost of a work force of say... 500... and 2, forgot to include myself and Carina. I understand they maximize workplace efficiency and reduce unnecesary time off due to work place injuries and the like. In saying that, I don't want to be spending a fortune on this, people are replaceable after all, just like droids."

[member="Klesta"]

 

[Klesta]

"Holdout blasters"

[member="Natalie LaForte"] just answered one of the questions Klesta was about to ask her: how many workstations there was going to be ergonomic assessments to be done on, which also determined what level of volume discount the IMF was going to be on. Given that the standard in the industry is that group discounts are to be applied when a client asks for 10-100 workstations to be assessed, and that bulk discounts are for 100+ workstations, the IMF will have a bulk discount applied to all 502 work stations being assessed. The thing with ergonomic assessments is that the people or droids doing those would need to get onsite. And also to ask whether it's a one-time thing or a periodical thing, but one question at a time is best in making business deals. Now that he could put a quote on the prices (which are far more competitive than the prices charged in the Caldera) of the ergonomic assessments the IMF will get, after bulk discounts have been applied...

"These will run about 50 credits for each employee covered by the ergonomic assessment plan, given the bulk discount being applied. Now I have another question relative to the ergonomic assessment: where are the workplaces to be assessed under the plan? I mean, it's about dispatching the people doing the ergonomic assessments to the workplaces"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Mygeeto, that's where all of our organic staff are located. We have several offices located there, and our HQ is devoid of anything that requires such a service. Also if my calculations are correct that would be... 25100 Galactic Credits, not a bad price for a long term investment. Now if that's all we're here to discuss, I'll have the sum transferred to your relative business account, along with Carin-.. I'll stop." turning to her sister and giggling.

Well, not a bad day of bargaining, and potentially a new husband for her sister.

"It would be a pleasure doing business with you again in the future, Mr Klesta. In more than one way."

[member="Klesta"]

 

[Klesta]

"There is one more thing that needs to be discussed: do you want the ergonomic assessments to be a one-time deal, to be done yearly or to be done once every two years?"

[member="Natalie LaForte"] did not realize that, while the ergonomic assessments had to be conducted on Mygeeto, he could always outsource supplemental work if the work volume is not sufficient to do with the in-house resources. Want it or not, doing ergonomic assessments to off-world locations requires one to incur the cost of transportation for the staff involved. As anyone knew in that business, it can be a significant cause of overhead and make the assessment pretty expensive to get. The Tarhassan office served clients mostly in the Harron and Ombakond sectors, so any ergonomic assessment on Mygeeto would have to come from the Ziost office. But agreeing to ergonomic assessments worth 25k after the bulk discount has been accounted for, was incomplete: would they need to perform that service just once or would they need to do so multiple times? That was the remaining point of contention to finalize the ergonomic assessment part of the deal.

"Oh and if work accidents happen, or other circumstances force you to get ergonomic assessments made, such as court orders, of course, additional assessments can be made on an ad-hoc basis at that price"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Would it be possible for a one time agreement, and if all goes well we continue this to be a regular thing? I want to see the long lasting impact of this one time purchase and see if it is worth renewing."

Regardless of how effective they actually were, Natalie would probably go for a renewal plan at the end of the day just to make her staff feel cared for. Grumpy staff members aren't productive staff members, and unproductive people don't belong in a work place environment. So rather than remove them and possibly get a fine for long-term illnesses caused by poor working conditions, these would serve her just right.

Not that Natalie imagined any accidents happening, I mean, they're doing admin work all day. The worst that could happen is a few papercuts and possibly a splinter from some loose flooring, anything beyond that shouldn't be the fault of a corporate entity but the sheer stupidity of sentience.

[member="Klesta"]

 

[Klesta]

"I guess the option for renewal can be included as a clause. Also, how effective ergonomic assessments are depends on the willingness and ability to implement the recommendations that come out of those"

Once the paperwork is dealt with, then Today's Servomotor will actually have the seed money required to begin the final stages of the preparations towards getting the first issue out as per the terms of the memorandum. On the other hand, Klesta readily understood if [member="Natalie LaForte"] didn't quite want to commit too much too quickly. Also, the legal department just got the contract finished for Natalie to sign; they made it rather compact with carbon copies so that there would be one copy for the legal department, one copy for the IMF. Maybe Carina has come to realize that the effectiveness of an ergonomic assessment depends on the willingness to implement their recommendations made once the assessment ends. While, of course, the clients in the Caldera, for whom those things were pretty novel to most, willingly implemented the resulting recommendations to the best of their ability, the same could not be said of everyone else, especially not when one is court-ordered to have one, or were unable to implement them (unfortunately, it does happen from time to time).

"The paperwork has arrived: go over the documents and, if they are satisfactory to you, you may put your signature at the appropriate locations"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Well I can assure you my sister will be implementing all of your lengthy recommendations as required." Smiling to her sister as she stuck her tongue out back". "And you can read over these doccuments, I was never good at reading these long strings of texts anyway."

Carina sighed and took the pages and began reading through them, tracing every line for a detail that wasn't satisfactory, to either IMF, or her. In her head, she honestly believed the Jawa took the offer of a date seriously and wanted to make it legally binding and put it in writing. Wouldn't be the weirdest thing that she had experienced in the recent months. All in all, she was more serious than her sister, and took this proposition a lot more seriously than she did. Although not being a trained lawyer, she had read enough of these types of things to know what to spot for in a bad deal, and everything seemed in order to her.

"Seems good to me, and no mentions of formal date. Sign it." Natalie lifted a pen and signed in the appropriate places, before handing it back to [member="Klesta"]

 

[Klesta]

"Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

Klesta being satisfied with the terms being hashed out, and these terms being to the IMF's, [member="Natalie LaForte"] could now consider the job accomplished, while the Jawa placed his signature next to Natalie's in the appropriate locations. Sure, the IMF got 49% discounts on the first two full-page ads in Today's Servomotor, and Klesta had no business dictating the content of anybody's ads, and the Harron and Ombakond sectors were usually lenient in terms of what can be put on advertisements. Just that he could always have Cyrillia be home to the Today's Servomotor, and Tarhassan be the home of the Interstellar Getaway. Ziost was for handling the ergonomic assessments business for the northeast, much as on Mygeeto for this project. So he shook hands with both LaFortes, storing away his copy of the contract afterward. Now there will be a Today's Servomotor, he thought, while checking against the seed money already collected from pre-orders.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"I believe that's all, unless Carina has something to say." Winking at her. "A pleasure working with you, Mr Klesta, and I do hope that our corporations can take part in future endeavors such as these in the future." Offering him a handshake, with her sister not bothering to stay and make small talk.

Leaning in to whisper to him, "Sorry about my sister she's really r-.."

"HOT. I know I am, Nat. Now let's go, stop trying to set me up on a date." Walking out of the room and then leaving the premises altogether.

[member="Klesta"]