Imperial Suite Auction

[Varindar Asyt]

After the events of Chalacta, where the Ta'jar Blood Gang suffered yet another blow thanks to a gambit that was played out in an insect-infested spaceport. where the slavers were caught in a fumigation-induced sleep, the time has come for her to declare complete the construction of the Crown Nebula Hotel's third floor. As she understood it, the Imperial Suite would be the flagship room of the hotel. It turned out that, in fact, the original contractor that built the Crown Nebula Hotel belonged to another participant in that 1600m medley race she won on Ceraluen. Also, she got the permit process started for the third floor at the same time as she had the terracing of the restaurant, because she realized the hotel would be unable to keep up with the demand and that hiking prices won't be a viable tactic for the long run. Just that she had to be mindful of the lead time in preparing the suite's equipment for hosting its first guest, whose designation is to be made by means of auctioning off the first night.

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ATTN: [member="Darth Tacitus"]

In preparation for the launch of the Crown Nebula Hotel's new Imperial Suite and, with it, the entire third floor of the property, we are preparing to auction off the first night of the Crown Nebula Hotel's Imperial Suite, with the proceeds going to the orphans of the different wars that recently took place. The starting price for this suite capable of housing eight guests in the lap of luxury in a king bed and three queen beds, with a kitchen and a formal reception room included, will be 2500 credits for the first night, that is, the going rate, with the winner having the option to book the room for additional, consecutive nights at the going rate.

Varindar Asyt
General Manager, Crown Nebula Hotel

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[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Varindar Asyt"]​

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• SRN Invictus
  Invictus-class Battlecruiser, Deep Space

Carrying out his plans required a great deal of discretion and resources. So, of course Tacitus was interested in acquiring yet another safehouse for his various operations across the galaxy. When the message reached him aboard his great flagship, the massive battlecruiser Invictus, he did not wait long to send a reply.

Reading through the attatched non-disclosure agreement one last time, the Overlord drummed his clawed fingers upon the flat surface of his solid hardwood desk. He was still getting used to the changes he had to endure as a consequence of the ritual that brought him back from the dead, some of which brought constant pain and a feeling of cold, as well as a primordial urge to kill others. Such was the price that had to be paid, for he could not yet afford the luxury of eternal rest. He still had work to do.

The most striking and noticeable changes, where his slitted, cat-like eyes that glowed in the dark with a red-gold color that signaled his alignment with the Darkside of the Force, as well as the taloned fingers on his hands. Hands. Where he once had a cybernetic prosthesis, there was now a new arm. Yet, while some of his physical scars healed, other did not, such as the jagged cut on his face. He did not know why that was so, neither did he dwell too much on it.

His skin had also lost some of its color and his hair was now a silver-white color with an unnatural, metallic sheen to it. All of these things served to remind him of the fact that he was no longer entirely human. He had become something else, more animal-like, akin to a predator.

Banishing these thoughts with a sigh, the Overlord pressed a button on his datapad and sent the message he had been writing, to the owner of this hotel.

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[td]

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Official Missive Authentication Stamp STRATCOM-YX84N-SR

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From: Office of the Overlord | To: Varindar Asyt, General Manager​

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[CLASSIFIED: TOP SECRET]​

WARNING: Unauthorized disclosure or possession of this document and its contents, constitutes a capital offense as specified within the Code of Laws of the Shrouded Republic, articles 58, 71 and 113 regarding the usage and distribution of classified government information. Offenders shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.​

Greetings, miss Asyt. I have received your message and find myself interested in your offer. Should you agree to several terms that are listed here, I am willing to offer you and your hotel a considerable sum of money. Furthermore, I would be willing to finance the further expansion of your business, provided that my conditions are met.

First and foremost, the contents of this message, as well as my identity, shall remain anonymous. My name may not be registered within the ledger or disclosed to anyone without my prior consent. The Shrouded Republic may not be mentioned in any capacity, at any time whatsoever. Secondly, I will reserve the right to book the Imperial Suite at my discretion, whenever I choose to, for any length of time I require. The duration of my stay, as well as my dealings here, shall remain confidential. Additionally, the owner and upper management of the hotel, shall be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), in accordance with government regulations as outlined by the sections concerning state secrets, within the Code of Laws of the Shrouded Republic. Be informed that any unauthorized disclosure of this information, constitutes a very serious crime.

Should you agree to these terms, I am willing to wire a downpayment of two million credits into the accounts of your hotel, through an anonymous bank account, with further investments to be discussed in person. I am looking forward to a profitable partnership.

Signed,​

Darth Tacitus​

Overlord of the Shrouded Republic​

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OOC Note: Sorry about the late reply, I'm dealing with IRL work issues​

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Two million credits? That was far too big a security deposit for a simple non-disclosure agreement. But holding this much in escrow would almost sound as if he was using the Crown Nebula for laundering money - she had to tread lightly. Yes, that sum entitled him to virtually unlimited meals at Bumba's Eatery for months, or from room service thereof, as well as any extras. Plus the... Shrouded Republic? In her mind the main reason why he may have been here would have been to negotiate the terms of surrender of that faction, officially an Ancient Eye affiliate, to the Silvers, much like the Ancient Eye was, in fact, defeated. Something wasn't right: it seemed to be a state visit disguised to do something else, but she couldn't do anything without actually knowing what was going on, even less prove that moneylaundering was, in fact, the motive for the size of this security deposit. True, she wouldn't be disclosing names of guests, at least so long as they didn't commit crimes, or weren't victims of crimes committed at the hotel. She reluctantly sends a reply back to this... [member="Darth Tacitus"], for which she'd have to prepare the Imperial Suite for his arrival.

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To whom it may concern,

There is only one additional proviso attached to the 2-million security deposit that you should be made aware of prior to the hotel's ownership and upper management signature of the non-disclosure agreement. While, of course, any expenses made during your stay pertaining to the hotel and its services will be charged against it, including but not limited to room charges, restaurant bills and room service, tips excluded, any unused portion of the security deposit will be returned to you at checkout.

Varindar

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[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Varindar Asyt"]​

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• Crown Nebula Hotel
  Trandosha, Silver Jedi Space

The manager's reluctance was understandable, if annoying. Then again, everything seemed to annoy the Overlord these days, a fact which he was well aware of and only served to annoy him even further. He decided that rather than sending another message, he would clear things up in person.

Therefore, he had booked a shuttle in secret, insuring that he was the only occupant, then made his way to Trandosha to discuss things with this manager, directly. No doubt, she thought he intended to use her hotel as a base of operations for some sort of criminal activity, which suited him just fine, as long as she didn't suspect his real motives.

If she would agree to a partnership, Tacitus intended to use the hotel as a front for his intelligence-gathering operations. Being the only luxury hotel on Trandosha, meant that it was bound to be visited by high-ranking officials touring the planet. And Tacitus would have his operatives all over the place, discretely gathering information and recruiting members into his secret society, the Wardens of the Shroud.

His end goal required ships and soldiers, far more than any single nation could provide. Thus, it was imperative that the Wardens infiltrate as many nations as possible and recruit people for his cause. There was no shortage of individuals who saw the Force as something to be feared and despised, individuals which made for ideal candidates for recruitment. The Silver Jedi thought that the Shrouded Republic had been beaten and broken, when in fact, it achieved all of its objectives so far. Its abandonment of the Nibelungen system was simply part of the plan.

Tacitus' shuttle landed on a private landing pad, somewhere as close to the hotel as possible and the Overlord took a speeder ride to his destination.

The man who emerged from the speeder to greet the manager of the hotel, was a frightening individual. With his slitted, cat-like eyes and taloned hands, the Sith Lord seemed more animal than man, a vicious predator ready to pounce upon his prey at any time. His long, silver hair contrasted with the dark, fur-lined cloak which he wore draped over his shoulders, a cloak which seemed to dance to an unseen wind, likely some application of the Force. The heat did not seem to bother him at all. From his belt, hung four lightsabers as well as a vicious-looking longsword that emanated a powerful, suffocating aura of fear and horror, a weapon of the Darkside of the Force.

Yet, despite his feral appearance, the Sith Lord's manners were polite and gallant, as always. There was no need for violence, here and he despised pointless violence just as much as he despised the Jedi order itself. "Greetings," he spoke to the young woman in a gravelly voice, something between that of a normal human and the growling of a wolf. "I am Darth Tacitus. I have come to discuss my business proposal with you."

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Lord Tacitus, nice to meet you. I believe the sensitive nature of the business would require us to discuss it away from the front desk"

While, outwardly, she was looking just fine, she would feel a little uncomfortable inside, especially with the sheer size of the security deposit. And also because she never had a guest this deep into the dark side. And, while she knew hotels could sometimes set up corporate or government accounts for people affiliated with it, regardless of whether or not they were operated by crime rings, never the Ta'jars, or even her as a more honest GM, set up one such thing at the Crown Nebula. Now, she greeted one of the most suspicious guests she had in her career as a hotelier and took her into her personal office. Sometimes crime rings can use hotel corporate accounts, where they can set up a corporate through a shell company for their members to stay in, while cancelling the account shortly thereafter, and then the money in escrow is returned to them, minus any cancellation charges. Yet this had nothing to do with aquatics and hence it did not make it in the book, she thought, while [member="Darth Tacitus"] was led to her personal office. Corporate accounts usually set up a certain sum in escrow for one standard year, for their members to bill any stay and its hotel-related expenses thereof against it, and then either return the remaining sum in escrow at the end of the company's fiscal year or carry it over for the next one. Yes, several Silvers stayed there but they had a separate procedure for billing.

"This is new for me, but I'm sure there is a way to work out the setup of a government account against which you and your workers would be billed for any stay at the hotel and any hotel-related expenses, beyond a NDA"

 

[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Varindar Asyt"]​

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• Crown Nebula Hotel
  Trandosha, Silver Jedi Space

The Sith Lord followed the hotelier into her office, promptly sitting down in a chair, almost as if he owned the place. He exuded a casual air of authority that seemed natural, almost subconscious, as if he was a born leader. His unnatural eyes seemed to scan the surroundings for a few moments before speaking out.

"You misunderstood me, miss Asyt. The money represent a permanent investment, not a security deposit. They are not returnable," he explained. "The government of the Shrouded Republic is interested in expanding its financial operations in order to diversify sources of income for the purpose of increasing state revenue. I assure you, no illegal activity will be taking place here, we simply intend to use this venue as a location for our representatives to meet with various state and local corporate officials, for the purpose of signing trade deals," the Overlord said.

"We are talking about patented technologies, research grants and large-scale shipping contracts. I'm sure you can understand why we would wish for such high secrecy, as we want to keep our business interests away from the prying eyes of competitors, pirates and opportunistic patent thieves. Our government invests a significant amount of resources into developing new technologies and we do not want foreign entities to unlawfully profit from our hard work," he said.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"The 2-million credit allowance would allow the government you represent to book any rooms as necessary, including but not limited to, the Imperial Suite, with all the associated hospitality expenses charged against it, and any additional investment may be made once the allowance is running low, in which case you will receive a warning to this effect with the balance remaining. Then and only then will we accept additional investments"

Or rather, any illegal activity would require a lot of legwork to detect, and that's on the parties, she thought, while realizing that she can't simply make capital expenditures based on unearned money, nor can she let the cash held in escrow sleep. It was a more typical government account than she first thought it would be. True, she could read [member="Darth Tacitus"]' annoyance at calling the 2-million allowance a security deposit; she was too used to people trying to bribe her, but instead had to return security deposits, against which the expenses incurred by the people doing that were made if she actually took it. And yet, she was reminded of the loan balance: sure, she could pay off the loan right after the NDA is signed, but before taking out another loan for more capital expenditures, she had to know what she would be spending the money for. A casino must be in a separate wing, if not building. Another restaurant maybe, with the rest of the floor being more rooms. But the hotel would be getting crowded, with 24 available bays and the romance/signature rooms taking up one, the executive suite taking up two and a second Imperial Suite taking up four, with a restaurant making things worse for the elevators.

 

[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Varindar Asyt"]​

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• Crown Nebula Hotel
  Trandosha, Silver Jedi Space

"We have an agreement, then?" the beastlike Sith asked, a clawed hand absently tapping a pattern onto the armrest of the chair he sat in, a reminder that the being with whom the woman conversed, was no longer entirely human. Removing a datapad from the folds of his cloak, which he had casually draped over the back of his chair, he slid it forward across the desk, to her.

Displayed on the screen, was the non-disclosure agreement, which once more contained references to classified information and pointing to severe consequences, if the agreement was breached in any way. Several articles from the Shrouded Republic's penal code were outlined and they all dealt with things related to classified material and state secrets. In a fashion typical of the enigmatic hermit nation's harsh legal system, the document warned that breaking the laws outlined within, could potentially carry with them a punishment ranging from lifetime imprisonment in a maximum security facility, to the death penalty, although how the Shrouded Republic would enforce these laws on foreign soil, against a foreign citizen, was unclear. What was clear, however, was that this was a very serious matter and breaking the agreement should not be considered lightly.

It all seemed like a bit more than just protecting trade secrets, perhaps hinting at more serious activities such as espionage, although given what was known about the severity of the Shrouded Republic's legal system, who could really tell.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"There is one thing I would like to make clear here: there has to be a clear mechanism for the account to be terminated if a party finds the execution unsatisfactory in the absence of a breach of the NDA, with the understanding that such a breach would be grounds for termination. However, the mechanism should require written notice, and also if the account is terminated, so that there would not be any surprises or ill will, the remaining balance shall be returned free of charge"

While, of course, I shall do my best to honor the deal, and to ensure the satisfaction of the SR, as well as whatever guests I can bring in tow, there is one question left to resolve. The question being: how much would that 2-million allowance last them? There is very limited extra capacity, and the hotel is very often sold out. I know a few unscrupulous hoteliers, such as the one running the closest 3-star hotel, that would publicly bad-mouth unsatisfied guests, she thought, while outlining procedures for drafting future corporate/government accounts, as well as its terms and conditions associated with it. It was perhaps too easy to be true, but now is the time to get the money to get the fourth floor built, with a more bar-oriented kind of restaurant on the fourth floor - she did manage to pay off the loan for the third floor with a portion of the 2-million investment. But she had to go over the NDA's terms as shown by [member="Darth Tacitus"] on screen. Yes, it was true that today's SR was a non-factor on the galactic stage, and yet she feels she had to tread lightly.

 

[Kainan Wolfe]

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Attn: [member="Varindar Asyt"]​

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• Crown Nebula Hotel
  Trandosha, Silver Jedi Space

The Overlord nodded. "I find those terms agreeable and sensible," he said, eager to have the contracts and NDA signed, so that he could begin his operations. He had already picked agents for this particular assignment, a group of promising Wardens of the Shroud who were adept at persuading people.

The nature of the situation was a bit risky, the Sith Lord knew. If anyone happened to slip any information, it could bring the entire Silver Jedi Order down on his operation and he had no doubt that the suite would be bugged with a hundred different listening devices and other monitoring equipment, but his people were prepared to deal with that. Regular sweeps would get rid of any bugs that might be planted and a room would be chosen for the really sensitive discussions to take place. Within that room, a small, portable jammer would be active whenever such a discussion occurred.

That still did not eliminate the possibility of spies trying to attract the attention of his agents, attempting to pose as potential recruits, but he had a system in mind for screening them. Any infiltrators would be quietly disposed of before they learned anything useful.

Additionally, if the woman sitting across from him talked to anyone about his operation here, he had a strong cover as a legitimate business venture, with paperwork already set up by his government for that purpose. And if she talked, he would use this cover to sue her to the Netherworld and back.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Now that the terms are satisfactory to me, Lord Tacitus, I'll sign here"

Realizing that the NDA tied her hands somewhat, she nevertheless signed the deal, with a heavy heart to be sure, but perhaps the SR would have that equipment removed from the Imperial Suite, or any other room rented out under the terms of the contract being signed here, really, prior to their checkout. And she also handed [member="Darth Tacitus"] the keys to the Imperial Suite on the third floor. If housekeeping finds suspicious equipment on a regular basis, I could always terminate the deal without breaching the NDA and return any unused amounts in the account, minus the disposal fees of that suspicious equipment, which would be charged to any guest under the same circumstances, she thought, while being ready to guide him and any possible attendants to the guest to the Imperial Suite. Hopefully there is contact information on the contract confirming the opening of the government account at the hotel to contact them should any isues arise from their ability to honor the deal or any other items deemed unsatisfactory by property management, especially those unsatisfactory enough to cause the account to be closed while remaining mindful of not breaching the NDA.

"Here are the keys to the Imperial Suite: do you want me to guide you to that room?"