I Think I'd Like to Call You Mom

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | [member="Valiens Nantaris"]

CESTUS SYSTEM, ORD CESTUS
HEGEMONIC AUTOMATON HEADQUARTERS

The process of moving headquarters from Ord Cestus to Lianna was proving to be an arduous one. Arduous and time consuming, and that wasn't counting the expenses of it either. Zothustro had little to no idea where Janus was getting all this money from to do all this nonsense, but he wasn't complaining. For the time being, Hegemonic Automaton's headquarters remained on Cestus. So this would be where Zothustro Quill would be contacting the CEO of Firemane Industries from. Countess Tegaea Alcori. Very rarely did Zothustro hear of nobility conducting actual corporate business. He mostly imagined them lounging around chateaus and speaking to their stock brokers with their eyes closed.

Probably a mammal thing.

At the appointed time indicated by their prior communication, Zothustro thumbed the communicator. Now, holographic signals would travel across the immeasurably vast void of space and somehow offer them both instantaneous communication despite being a galaxy apart. Science. Also a mammal thing. Zothustro waited patiently for the Countess or her secretary to answer the phone.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Zothustro Quill"]
Wisely, Tegaea had offered an appointment time during the daytime on Kaeshana so there would be no repeat of the many nocturnal calls she seemed to get.

However, the business proposal was most interesting and so when the call came through Tegaea herself was there to answer it. She was new to nobility, so whilst there was some lounging in villas, there was also work and business.

Wearing a business suit, she stood in the holocam's circle, and as her insectoid client appeared she offered a small bow.
"Mr Quill, thank you for your interest in our company. How may Firemane help you?" she asked politely.
One assumes a translator was available if either side needed it.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

The translation device that had served as the clasp on Zothustro's cloak had since been tossed out for a new one. Frankly, he hadn't seen anything wrong with it, but the actual owner of Hegemonic Automaton had insisted the X'Ting upgrade the device to something smoother. Now the clasp of his cloak was much sleeker (and entirely out of place in comparison to the old cloth), as was the software that ran it. The artificial voice serving in lieu of Zothustro's usual clicks and chitters was less harsh than the last one, and sounded much more organic. Zothustro himself couldn't tell the difference- as he could never actually hear the thing while he was talking.

"Thank you for agreeing to speak with me." Zothustro said. "Hegemonic Automaton would like your assistance in helping to secure some of our larger facilities, particularly with defensive emplacements you offer. This, however, would be an expensive process as it stands, and so we would seek to see it done at a reduced price. Certainly not out of the kindness of your heart, but because it's within my company's power to secure you an even larger contract with the planetary government of Ord Cestus."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Zothustro Quill"]
Tegaea considered matters briefly. Though the promise of a larger contract to come was enticing, that deal wasn't in the bag yet. Thus, it was wise to offer her own enticement.
"I am very interested in your proposal. However, you must understand that offering discounts for what might happen in the future without having that contract would be rash. However, I will offer you a 10% discount on this sale, and a 25% discount on future sales of these items. I take care of my repeat customers, but I need to make sure they will be repeat first...."
Tegaea would also perform a thorough background check to ensure there were no known Sith or Imperial affiliations. That was a total deal breaker.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

Upon closer inspection, it would be revealed that Zothustro Quill had very close ties to a nation of genocidal, warmongering maniacs. A nation of ruthless imperialists who brutalized and destroyed any system or person that had the gall and poor judgement to stand up to them. A amalgamation of bloodthirsty warriors so cruel and inhumane it would give even the most ruthless of Sith pause. Their depravity knew no mortal bounds.

You know, Mandalorians.

Public records would be hard to find online for a backwater system like Ord Cestus. All that could really be found on the holonet was his date of birth, followed by mostly-passing references to him on economist and droid enthusiast blogs. Suffice to say, nothing would seem to indicate Zothustro was in league with Sith. Everything seemed to indicate he was a law-abiding and utterly mundane individual. Zothustro, on the other hand, performed no background checks, because that wasn't what he was here to do. Besides, he'd already done that before he got here.

"I'd like to start off with only a few of the facilities, then. We can move on to the rest once I've fulfilled my part of the bargain. Is this amenable?"

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Zothustro Quill"]
Tegaea nodded. “That is acceptable. What would you like to order? As you’re aware, we have three types of defence turrets, one to deal with personnel and Starfighters, one to deal with heavier armour and one to deal with orbiting capital ships.”

“With this 10% discount, the first two types are 900,000 credits each, whilst the last type is 4.5 million credits. They are well worth it though, and we can even provide experts to help site and assemble them if you wish, or you can do it yourself. The choice is yours.”

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

"Then let's start with nine of the anti-personnel and anti-starfighter turrets and three of the anti-armor turrets."

Zothustro glanced off-screen for a moment, looking at the Z1 Assistant Droid hanging out near the corner of the room. It was holding up a datapad indicating the total cost of the transaction. Ten million, eight-hundred thousand credits. This was going to be immensely expensive, even with all the business being generated by their new customers in Omegan space. But this was what the Umbaran wanted, and the Umbaran clearly knew what was best. Besides, peace of mind and quality security is priceless.

"We'll handle assembly ourselves." Zothustro continued. "I'll be transmitting the coordinates for the factories shortly, as well as the first payment."

The turrets would be split up as the Umbaran had previously dictated. Three of the anti-personnel turrets and one of the anti-armor turrets per manufacturing facility. Included for the first wave of upgrades was MC-CES-001, MC-CES-002, and MC-CES-003. The first three factories established by Cestus Cybernetics, as well as the largest currently in operation. 001 and 002 were currently configured for manufacturing Zenithar series droids, their most popular models, while 003 was churning out the new Talos series.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Zothustro Quill"]
Tegaea nodded. This was all going very smoothly.
“As your company and people have a reliable reputation, we will ask for a 25% deposit to cover vital manufacturing costs, with the rest payable once delivery is completed.”
She made note of the coordinates.
“Production and delivery will take one standard week. If these terms are acceptable I will make the order.”

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

"Perfectly acceptable. I believe we have ourselves a deal."

That last sentence felt awkward coming out of the translator. That was probably because it was a mammal phrase, or as close to one as he could remember. Apparently they appreciated it when doing business. Probably not, but the Umbaran had recommended it, so clearly it must have been a good idea. That Janus fellow certainly had a lot of them.

"I shall have the first payment wired to you shortly."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Zothustro Quill"]

Tegaea smiled. “As soon as that payment comes in I will order manufacturing and shipping to begin. Please do contact us if you wish to place further orders. Also, we’ve just released a new item, the Keraunos Missile Turret for providing support from fast moving aerial targets. It’s got exceptional range and hitting power.”

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

Great, they're trying to bankrupt us.

"I'll run it past my advisers and see what they think. I'll let you know of any amendments they wish to make to the deal."

It was already a little risky making these kinds of expensive bulk purchases. Zothustro doubted the Umbaran would want to tack on a recently released missile launcher, as nice as that would have been. In Zothustro's opinion, it would be better to wait until later to add the missile turret to the defensive fortifications of their factories. Yes, much later, when they recovered from the beating this had just given their coffers. But again, peace of mind and whatnot.

"Thank you for your time." Zothustro nodded in his vaguely sage-esque elderly manner before the holotransmission ceased.