Private Representation

[Martin Draigo]

Tags: Dracken Pryce
Location: GDI Headquarters, Coronet City, Corellia

Today was a special day indeed for the likes of Martin Draigo. After ascending to the role of CEO of GDI, Martin had made it a point to ingratiate himself amongst the rich and powerful in galactic society. Thus far, he had made inroads within Eternal Empire space, even going as far as to assist in their weapons development program in exchange for some of the insights offered by their own science department minds. It had proven to be a worthwhile venture, if for no other reason than the development of GDI's latest technological advances. Then of course there was the manufacturing complex established on Hefi, which had served as a milestone for the corporation's expansion efforts. Yet, in his efforts to expand GDI's influence to the exterior reaches of the galaxy, Martin had neglected the very heart of his corporate empire - The Galactic Alliance. Based on the latest news updates streaming through the holonet, the Chancellor had announced groundbreaking tax incentives for corporations the supplied the Alliance military. Normally, this would be welcome news for a company like GDI, save for the simple caveat precluding the sale of munitions to foreign nations. It made sense to the average person, but for companies like GDI, who did not overly discriminate as to who they sold their products to, it was a bit... troublesome.

Granted, to his knowledge, GDI products were not being purposefully sold to terrorists - for the company went to great pains to vet and perform the necessary background checks for their deadliest of products per GA law - and his dealings with the Enclave may well be forgivable given the allied state of the two nations. But his dealings with the Eternal Empire; that was a more complicated issue. Wiser voices at the time had cautioned him from such a bold expansion strategy. Although peace had prevailed between the two nations, a continuing peace was far from assured given the state of the galaxy today. With the NIO's bastion pact dissolved, and the CIS rumored to be breaking up due to political upheaval and civil war, the galaxy was far from stable. There were times when even he himself wondered for how long he could straddle the line between the powers that be. Today's meeting would hopefully go far to answering that question. Martin had never made the acquaintance of his planetary senator Dracken Pryce, but he was expecting him to arrive any moment now to a lunch meeting within the top level of GDI tower. Martin stood within the loft, looking out the transparisteel glass forming the only wall facing out to the skyline beyond. He knew little of Senator Pryce, outside of the man being of military stock. A part of him wondered if the Senator was a boy scout, or if he could be persuaded to see Martin's side of the issue - and all the donations such a thing would result in.

In short, tax incentives amongst his competitors may be relatively inconsequential in the short term, particularly with the foot holds he had established within the aforementioned nations. But in the long term? It smattered of the beginnings of a government campaign to oust companies who refused to show solidarity. Martin was not the type of man to merely sit there and let something like that happen. He'd use whatever means available to him to effect change in his image, whether that be extorting the Chancellor himself, allying with men like Dracken, or even assassination if it came to that. The Guardian initiative had to thrive, not merely survive...

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of his secretary, who sat at a desk just outside of the main loft near the elevator. "Mr. Draigo, Senator Pryce has arrived and will be up shortly."

"Thank you Diana." Martin pulled at his cigarette for a final time, the smoke streaming from between his lips after a moment's pause as he stamped the butt into an ash tray. A droid set about rushing up with an air purifier, cleansing the air Martin had been smoking in a moment prior while the CEO turned to take his seat at the small table set up for his lunch meeting with the Senator. Ornate place settings had been arranged, with neatly folded napkins and silver-wrought utensils placed on either side. A pair of well adorned waiters stood aside, ready to serve the CEO and his guest once the Senator arrived and took his place. Draigo would wait for his arrival, an easy smile ready to reveal itself once the representative made his way into the loft.

 

[Dracken Pryce]

It had been far too long since he'd been back home on Corellia. It felt like years when really, he knew, it had only been months. The last time he had been on the planet had been when he was made senator of Corellia. He'd barely had time to pack then. The suite he had now made his large general's apartment here seem like the cramped cabin of a patrol cruiser what with the twins running around driving their pet erzu crazy. Even still, he wished he had more time to spend with them. Instead his time had been taken up by meeting after meeting, ceremony after ceremony.

Now, as he walked across the hallway escorted by a droid and a secretary, he wondered if accepting a lunch meeting with a corp was really the best use of his time here. He gazed across the skyline of Coronet and watched the noon-time traffic and thought absently that it was just about the time of year for Velser's Pod to come through. It was also almost Life Day. What was he going to get the twins? What was he going to get Ava Cartwright-Pryce ? His thoughts were interrupted when he realized the droid had stopped walking.

He cleared his throat and fixed the collar of his Corellian Defense Force uniform. The pauldron and gold stripe down its center indicated it was an honorary position but there was nothing honorary about the twin sets of bloodstripes that ran down his pantlegs. He was the real deal.

"Mr. Draigo, thank you for inviting me out here today," What did he know about Guardian Defense Industries? He knew they provided a lot of firearms, mostly in the mid and outer worlds of the Corellian Sector- blasters were still king in the Corellian System itself. He'd heard rumors that their new slugthrowers were being snatched up in places of recent conflict in the Alliance like Botor, Chiss Space, and by smaller systems capitalizing on the Alliance Defence Enhancement act. Pryce hadn't fired a slugthrower in years though, and he didn't know anyone that had either. Except maybe one of the Halcyon. But they used anything and everything.

"It's been a while since I've been back in the system. You got lucky!" He chuckled and reached across the table to shake the man's hand.

 

[Martin Draigo]

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Tags: Dracken Pryce
Location: GDI Headquarters, Coronet City, Corellia

"I'll take what I can get!" Martin's trademark easy smile shone forth with a natural ease, and chuckle on his lips. He rose up from his seat and accepted the Senator's hand, shaking it briskly before letting it go and extending his same hand to the chair opposite him at the table. Once the two men settled in, Martin spoke up again; opting to begin with small talk: "I'm sad to hear you don't get to come home very often, but I suppose it's a good thing you are busy." The pair of waiters began with setting water glasses before them both and pouring a modest amount in each glass. They then proceeded to bring a pair of garden salads plated on crisp-white dishes, and set them gently in front of both men. Before much time passed, Martin spoke up one more:

"Before we get too far into our lunch, I wanted to present to you a gift." He waved over a droid, who strode up and presented the Senator with a box. Upon being opened, an EF-500 pistol lay neatly within, its firing pin removed and set in a small compartment on the roof of the box, and the magazine empty on the side - slugs arrayed in a neat row underneath it.

"Slugthrowers are relatively rare these days, but our company aims to bring them back. I thought you might want to try one out for yourself. I hope I'm not overstepping, of course." Some public servants forewent the acceptance of gifts so as to avoid even the slightest appearance of impropriety. The gift was an innocent enough gesture, and the Senator's response to it would tell Martin much about the best way to proceed from here.

 

[Dracken Pryce]

Oh, this was going to be a long lunch. Salad? First course. He looked out at the city and took a look at the massive chrono near the center of the city and mentally winced. He couldn't complain about the food though. He'd spent so long eating on ships, which despite the food being Admiralty rations, could be a little bland. Like bad food pretending to be high class. So the real food he'd been eating as of late was a relief. The greens were crisp, the onion an appropriate kick, no there wasn't much to complain about.

"I appreciate the gift," he said before he even glanced at the box. His brow rose though when he spied what was inside. It was a very beautiful-looking weapon and he took the box gingerly from the man and set it on the table. Plucking one of the slugs out of the box he examined it closely, tapping the point with the tip of his finger. He'd not seen many slugthrowers this close up. The ones he had, he'd much rather forget.

"I really do," he continued, nodding as Draigo spoke. He replaced the slug and closed the box, setting it aside. "You've got a long uphill battle ahead of you." Pryce said with levity. "I know we use them in the navy, more often than you'd think." Hell, even some of the planet's defenses used massively scaled up slugthrowers, but he couldn't talk about the Emerald Lances so casually, especially with a civilian.

"But the only folk I know to use them in great numbers are pirates and Mandalorians, which at this point is hard to tell the difference." He sighed sadly.

Martin Draigo

 

[Martin Draigo]

​

Tags: Dracken Pryce

'You've got a long uphill battle ahead of you.'

Martin was a bit perplexed by what the Senator meant by that statement. But his meaning was clarified a bit as he mentioned the 'uses' these types of weapons were often associated with. Perhaps he had a suspicion as to the purpose of Martin's invitation here. It was no secret that GDI was among the more 'non-discriminate' companies with respect to whom it made its wares available to. Honestly, judging from the way his company was being perceived, Martin couldn't escape the impression they were the only company to do so. Naturally, that was a very naive conclusion, but that didn't stop the negative perception from developing. That was the job though, wasn't it? To frame negative press positively, and leverage every situation to his company's benefit. "You can't fault someone for appreciating quality, be they criminal or otherwise." Martin began, mirroring the Senator's levity as they finished their salads. As the waiters came to remove their spent dishes, Martin made sure to add: "Of course, I can say without reservation that GDI takes its commitments to abide by federal firearm laws very seriously. We do our best to comply with background check mandates and jurisdictional restrictions. But that doesn't stop those who refuse to obey the law and steal our products, or acquire them under false pretenses."

Martin did his best to frame that last statement as casually as he could, as if it was almost too obvious to state. While he wasn't exactly lying, he knew well that his response wasn't precisely in keeping with the likely intention of the Senator in broaching the subject. Last he heard, the Galactic Alliance had formed a mutual defense agreement with the Mandalorian Enclave - a rising power within the untamed galactic east. Despite this formal alliance, however - there were still many within the Alliance who looked upon the Enclave with a level of suspicion and doubt. While it wasn't said, Martin had a subtle hint that perhaps Dracken was one such person. It didn't help that GDI had in fact established a major industrial complex upon Hefi, which served to boost arms production and raw material refining. It was hard to keep such a development hidden from everyone, including a member of the GA Senate. Honestly, Martin was thankful for the subtle (and likely unintentional) cue into the Senator's psyche, although in truth it was equally likely Martin was looking a bit too deeply into the Senator's meaning. They had only just met, after all. Hardly enough time had elapsed for the CEO to gain the full measure of what this statesman was like, what made him tick, etc. As he thought about the best way to proceed, he took advantage of the momentary pause afforded to him by the waiters coming to take their meal order. While GDI tower was not a 'restaurant', Martin made it a point to keep his building staffed with everything his employees needed to be comfortable during normal working hours, including having a respectable commissary and grill built into the building at regular intervals. Naturally, he retained a personal chef for his own dietary needs, which meant the menu afforded to the Senator was comprised of top notch fair.

"I'll have the braised bantha steak with a side of greens and potato purree'. Thank you Beatrice." Martin handed the menu to the waitress without hardly sparing a look at it, and the waitress directed her attention to the Senator. The menu before the elected official was fairly small by design, to avoid overwhelming guests of the CEO with too many choices, while providing enough options to not feel deprived. The Bantha steak was listed as a signature dish, alongside the steamed Naboo scalefish served upon a tropical medley of fruits and garnish, and a club sandwich with pan-fried potato wedges on the side. After the Senator made his food order, the waitress would smile and glance at both men before returning to fill the order. Martin then cleared his throat and began speaking once again: "Well, Senator, I know you're time is valuable, and I'm not the type of person to waste the time of someone such as yourself - although I certainly am glad you decided to accept us making this meeting into a lunch." Martin gave Senator Pryce a genuine smile before continuing.

"You touched on the reason why I was hoping to meet with you, whether you knew or not. As I'm sure you are aware, GDI is a rising manufacturer and purveyor of all manner of defense technologies and armaments. And as you rightly noted, we are pretty open about our clientele within the limits of the law. We sell openly to the likes of the Mandalorian Enclave, mercenary companies, and individual patrons." Martin intentionally left out the bit about a mutual agreement with the Eternal Empire's research division. Why throw yourself into harms way when thus far, no one was the wiser? He had every confidence in his ability to broach that subject if it was brought up, but he saw no sense in giving away that information for free. Not at this juncture, at least.

"Before this meeting, I read up on you and your years of service in defending Corellia, and to be honest I'm impressed, primarily because I believe that you honestly want to represent all of Corellia fairly. I say that because, even though I'm not a native Corellian - Corellia has been my home for many years. GDI has been on Corellia since it's inception. And Corellia has always been, to my knowledge, a bastion of freedom and capitalism. I'm a capitalist through and through, and I won't discriminate from selling to those who have the money and the right to purchase from my company's catalogue. Yet, when I saw the article from Chancellor Tithe's office granting tax breaks to companies who only sell to GA clientele, well I have to admit - that stinks of closed market sentiment. Even more, I couldn't help but think of it as the first step to more draconian measures on the horizon." Martin paused and took a drink form his water, not only because he was mildly parched, but also because he wanted his words to soak in for effect.

After slaking his thirst, Martin fixed the Senator with a mildly concerned expression, and concluded: "What are your thoughts on that, Senator?"

 

[Dracken Pryce]

"I'll have the blackened kyprin and tubers." He closed the menu tab down and handed it to the waitress. "Oh, and if you wouldn't mind," he added, "If you've got it, I'd like a flameout. If not, just any old whiskey will do. Corellian." He gave the waitress an appreciative nod and then frowned at Draigo's question.

"It was a close vote. If it makes you feel any better I didn't vote for it. But it was near-unanimous. I understand though that weapons and ships are what Corellia does best. Already Centerpoint Yards has seen a number of our usual tenants pull out and take their manufacturing elsewhere. I can assure you that Diktat Yularen Nova and I are working around the clock to figure something out." He shrugged and took a sip of his water.

"But rules are rules. The GA isn't as small as it used to be either. With the Common Soldier Corps laws going into effect here soon, there will be plenty of systems and local PMCs clamoring to get a piece of a quality product."

Martin Draigo

 

[Martin Draigo]

​

Tags: Dracken Pryce

Martin gritted his teeth at the Senator's response to his question. To a man like him, there was always something to be done. There was always someone to bribe, always someone to strongarm, always someone to... disappear. "Thank you for you reassurance Senator." Martin began with a subtle coolness. An impulse within him wanted to reach for a cigarette, but he checked the impulse. It wouldn't do to demonstrate himself as a man governed by habit in front of a government official - one he was hoping to gain some measure of influence with. "It seems you are aware of the ramifications of the situation, but I'm sure you can understand the position I am in. GDI employs millions of people across the galaxy, with a considerable number of them on Corellia."

Martin paused as the waitress came back with their drinks, presenting the Senator with his flameout, and Martin with his usual drink - Corellian Whiskey neat, with a zest and bitters. He nodded at the waitress, picked up his class, and gave the Senator a slight 'cheers' in the air before taking a sip of his drink. He then continued: "I'm glad you and your team are hard at work, but I want you to also know that I stand ready to assist in doing... whatever is needed to effect meaningful change." He kept his meaning intentionally vague, so as to allow himself plausible deniability in the event he was dealing with a true boyscout, or a Senator who knew how things worked in the galaxy.

 

[Dracken Pryce]

The food arrived on steaming plates and the smell of the blackened kyprin made his mouth involuntarily begin to water. Despite the food though, what he was hearing was troubling. Maybe he'd spent too much time listening to navy politics and Sith Lords but that sounded like a threat. He quirked his eyebrow as his plate was set before him.

"I am...aware of your operations on Corellia," he said carefully. "We've had enough of people doing whatever it takes. For too long Corellia has thought of itself as the Core's golden child. We're lucky our own hubris hasn't brought the world crashing down on us." With his fork he sliced open the fish, ignoring the knife, and scooped up some of the purple tubers they had plated with it. Maybe a mixed bite wasn't 'proper etiquette but he wasn't from this life. He sighed a breath of both satisfaction and finality.

"Tell me, do you have any family?"

Martin Draigo

 

[Martin Draigo]

​

Tags: Dracken Pryce

Martin set about eating his greens and puree while the Senator gave his carefully measured response. His intuition gave him the impression that perhaps he had come across as threatening to the Senator, if only by virtue of just how carefully the Senator appeared to choose his words. Yet, perhaps that was simply the byproduct of a man who had spent many years within the Senate. When the Senator asked his question, Martin paused slightly, as if he was also carefully choosing his words. "I can't say I do. Unfortunately, I guess you could say I never found the right woman to make a family with. Doesn't stop me from practicing, naturally." He gave the Senator a coy smile as he bit off a piece of bantha steak from his fork. "Joking aside, I suppose you could say that at this point, my company is my family. It's probably not healthy, but it is what it is." He gave the Senator a slight once over after giving his response. With him being such a public figure, much of the Senator's life was exposed to the general populace, and Martin ensured he was prepared for their meeting.

"You have a family, yes? I know that's what's endeared you to many on Corellia; the fact you're not only a military man, but also one with family values. I hope all is well with them?" It did not escape Martin's notice that the topic had been redirected from the recent actions of the Chancellor. Was Senator Pryce uncomfortable? Perhaps it would be worthwhile to indulge him, if for no other reason than to hopefully regain a measure of his trust during this conversation.