Slip

[Jairus Starvald]

Ringneldia II
The Centrality

The factories of the main industrial world of the Centrality churned day and night.

There was no end to the smoke and ash rising up and falling down. Lord Fa hated every single moment being here, but sometimes business and pleasure did not collide with each other. He preferred the fresh air, to see the sun and feel it caress his feathers.

It was why he was investing so much of his capital into ecological-friendly technology and infrastructure.

This would hardly be a possibility for Ringneldia, of course. So many corporations had their home here that it would be political suicide to even try and attempt such a feat. Lord Fa knew when he could push his contacts and when it was better to move with the flow.

This was one of the latter parts.

They had recently bought a controlling share in a local defense manufacturer. Arms, armortech, droids and the sort. It was running at a loss for now, but Fa could practically smell the opportunity. Or he would if all the ash wasn't covering the surface of the world.

A meeting had been set with the CEO of a fairly large concern.

Jedi. This would have to be done carefully, considering his own private status as a Sith. But Lord Fa was confident he could reasonably pull it off.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

Ringneldia II, one of the few worlds in the Centrality that Aurora Industries didn't have a presence on. Well major worlds anyways, no one really bothered with much in this region of space. Which is why it was perfect for developing technology in a secluded area... and not having to worry about certain restrictions. But that wasn't important, no. Today she was meeting with an unknown factor known as Tai Fa, someone she hadn't heard much of yet.

She had become interested in further upgrading Aurora Industries own security forces, beyond what tech they borrowed from the Directorate. There was only so much one could make do with old tech before they decided the time was ripe for new. She could develop everything else, but she hadn't moved Aurora into the field of armor making. It might have been a profitable endeavor, true, but she had decided to devote more attention to cybernetics and bioengineering over armor or vehicles as new fields. So she had offered out a contract and Fa had bitten, and his interests for the proposition were right in the Centrality so it was just a quick hyperspace jump and the smoggy and smoky world appeared in front of her.

She would come in to land at the coordinates for the meeting, a failing armortech developer that was likely about to be consumed. Descending to the platform itself, she would be using a minor application of the Force to keep the smoke, soot, and smog away from her. It was a new dress after all, and she certainly didn't want it ruined.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Only a bear walked out of the building.

It was, once again, Vnut of Garnib. He briefly studied the horizon, the ash and the smoke and the dirt.

It wasn't a pleasant view by any sense of the word, but the factories were top-notch and quality. That was all that really mattered in the long run, especially for their personal purposes. Then he walked over to the waiting female humanoid - some would probably call her beautiful, personally he already found her quite silly for wearing a dress to a world like this one.

But that was not his business.

"Miss. Raaf." He greeted neutrally, before inclining his head. "Lord Fa is expecting you, would you please follow?"

Then the Balinaka turned around and walked right back towards the building.

It was expected for Raaf to follow, of course.

Another note that might be good to know about Vnut: he was really big. That would probably be something Raaf had noticed immediately. Large stature, but also paws that could probably crush a man's skull without much difficulty. The perfect bodyguard turned Chief of Security.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

Well... that was one way to make an impression, she thought. Giant bear men definitely gave the sense of power, and likely made for great security. Still, as she followed the bear man inside without saying a word to him, she did note the use of the title Lord Fa. Unless he was nobility... well she would reserve judgment. The facility was clean at least, and the planet did have a reputation for producing quality goods for the corporations that owned them. Maybe after this business she would need to muscle her way in some way. Food for thought.

Maybe, she thought as they proceeded to the meeting room, she should think about getting a few bear men herself... purely for security reasons, and not to pursue... academic research on them. Oh no, that just wouldn't be proper. She would make a note to ask this Lord Fa where he acquired such a specimen for his security force.

Or two. Or three. But that was getting sidetracked from the main purpose of this meeting.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

He was also force sensitive and did not bother to hide it.

An old oak, that was how he felt. Stern, strong and unyielding, there was little that would make him bend or break. Only the strongest of hurricanes and yet here he was serving Lord Fa, who would not seem all that impressing by the looks of it.

Luckily the landing pads Raaf landed at was around the administrative side of the facility. They would not have to go through the factory itself to get to Fa's office.

It was, indeed, neat and clean here. Just as the Thirriken liked it, who was a firm believer of appearances. It was why, even though he was a Sith in private, publicly he had a sterling reputation. A humanitarian, philanthropist, giving away almost as much money as he earned.

It was for this reason why few people declined to work with him.

An elevator trip later and they had arrived on the right floor. Not the top floor as might be expected, but just one of the middle ones. Lord Fa was quite paranoid and cautious, preferring not to make himself a target by using the most obvious location as his work place.

Hallway followed by an unassuming door.

"Here we are." Vnut finally broke his silence, before gesturing towards the door.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

She could appreciate the cautiousness and paranoia that came from placing your office at the middle of the building. While her office on Erilnar might be at the top of the headquarter building for Aurora, she had her own security measures to keep herself safe... and her hidden facilities where she liked to work from. But one couldn't talk about those and expect them to remain secret. Taking heed of the bear man, she would open the door to greet her host.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, um Lord Fa, I think your man outside called you," she said, taking in how the office was decorated and the avian figure she had just spoken to. "Taeli Raaf, Jedi Master and CEO of Aurora Industries."

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Lord Fa studied Raaf intently for a brief moment.

What kind of Jedi went into the corporate world and build a industrial powerhouse? Did that not go against every single structure they had in place? Things like attachment and the like. But at the end of the day Tai did not need to understand her, to take her money in exchange for services rendered. If he had been aware of Raaf's real identity, he might have had some measure of respect for her.

At least in the sense of recognition of a fellow patient and cautious soul, who had no issue playing a role for the good of the longer game.

But sadly Lord Fa did not know. Instead he simply inclined his head in respect and then then gestured with his wing for the Jedi to take a seat.

"One day you may tell.
How you entered corporate.
Jedi succesful.

Welcome, dear miss Raaf.
So happy you could make it.
Would you like a drink?"​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

"One day perhaps, although it really isn't too interesting a tale," she said, smiling as she took the offered seat. He had an interesting way of speaking, a strange pattern to it. She didn't know much about his race or the avian himself, but she had to guess he appreciated some of the finer things if he spoke in such prose. There was something needling her in the back of her mind about the situation, that there was something about her host that she should be sensing. She would think of it later, she was sure.

"No, but thank you for the offer," she said, politely declining the drink. "I mean no personal offense here, but until we have dealt with each other more, I'll probably pass on refreshments. You don't get to my position, as it were, without being cautious meeting new people."

That, and as a Sith, she was constantly on guard against poisoning or drugging attempts, even if someone had no reason to do so.

"So shall we get to business?" she asked.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Interesting.

Her paranoia reminded him of himself, but definitely not of a Jedi. How curious. At some point he'd have to get [member="Maleagant"] to look into this person, as far as he knew she wasn't active within the Pentastar Alignment, but perhaps he could find out something more about this strange Jedi. The basics he already knew; sister to Corvus Raaf, the former Grandmaster of the Jedi Order and prior to that she had been a Sith.

Quite a fast recovery from her Darkside corruption, if the rumors were true.

"No offence taken.​

I can understand caution.​

Yes, to business then."​

​

"Desire is noted.​

Splendid armor for your troops.​

Supply or designs?"​

​

"Which do you prefer."​

​

It would be quite easy to design armor that suited her purposes, but at that junction there was always that question. Did Aurora Industries want to produce the armor themselves or outsource that as well to them?

The latter would be more expensive, of course, because production costs were a thing and Lord Fa wasn't in this business to take losses for other companies.

Designs would be cheaper, but then Aurora would have to carry the production burden.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

"I had some mock designs created for what we are looking for, we just don't have the production facilities to make it ourselves," Taeli said, digging into a pocket and retrieving a holoprojector. "It's nothing too special, and we're not expecting too many alterations, but this is the basic design we want you to produce."

She would flick the holoprojector on as she set it on the desk, revealing the designs.

​

"Is this doable?" she asked.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Lord Fa studied the hologram intently.

Every once in a while his wing made a small gesture to adjust the view of the projector. It was zoomed in on a few details here and there, before finally the Thirriken was satisfied with his scrutiny. It was doable, the design was basic and the mock-up fairly professional without too many impossibilities.

Of course, some things would have to change, but that wasn't a large issue.

Rash would have to look at it in better details. The Echani engineer was slowly making a name for himself throughout the corridors of Fa Holdings. A man who got things done and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, probably because of the aftermath of the Mechis III situation.

Men liked to gossip.

"The design is fine.​

We can make it functional.​

No special requests?"​

​

The numbers specified made it impossible to use any really valuable material like Phrik, Beskar or anything similar, but that wasn't strictly necessary with the quality she wished. Raaf wasn't looking for the next incarnation of the super soldier project, she just wanted to keep her men safe.

That was admirable.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

"No special requests, this is just for our standard security forces," she said. She didn't see the need to really kit out their armor, not for this time anyways. In the future, quite possibly there would be a need for something more advanced. But that was for Project TITAN, and she wasn't about to share any details about that with the Thirriken. There was still something needling her about him. She was going to have to do some background research on him, perhaps employing Eldaah to do so.

"So, to produce these designs, what are you proposing for costs?" she asked. She was prepared to pay the needed price, but that didn't mean there wasn't going to be some negotiations and haggling if she thought it was too much.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

No words followed as Lord Fa contemplated her question.

Haggling was an art at the end of the day, but one that was quite easily misjudged or ruined depending on the inclination and experience of its wielder. Ask too much and you will ensure that your customers will find somewhere else to shop, ask too few and they will lose any and all respect for you.

Ask just enough and they will become suspicious for your motives.

But find that little sweet spot in between enough and too much, there you will find respect, acknowledgement and even a higher mark-up price.

An art. One which Lord Fa was quite the expert at as a Thirriken.

Finally then, he manipulated his datapad with his wing and then pushed it over to the other side. If Raaf knew what she was doing, she would soon see that Fa's price was higher by thirty percent than truly necessary to operate at a profit. Just enough to open the bargaining, but not enough to infuriate anyone.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

There was a smile on her face as she looked over the numbers on the datapad, pleasant to look at in all appearances, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. If she was doing the math right, for proposed materials, labor costs, testing and fabrication, and so on, this was roughly thirty percent above what was needed for him to make a profit from this deal. A bold opening move, she could respect that. The number would have to come down of course, but she could respect their silent back and forth.

She wasn't against him making some additional profit at her expense, but definitely not thirty. Not for standard armor. With that still pleasant smile, she would slide the datapad back to him with an amended number for him to counter. Seven percent above seemed fair as a first counter, while they made their way closer to an actual number.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

The Thirriken looked on as Raaf made the modifications that suited her.

Once the datapad was on his side of the desk, he looked at it briefly, before suppressed a desire to smirk. Seven percent was a funny counter to his raise and told him a lot about the person behind the other side of the desk. A sense of proportion and no petty feelings holding her back from doing pragmatic business dealings.

A petty person would have tried to skimp him on the profits, utilizing their company's greater standing and position to simply hammer the 'little' guy down into bits.

Then there was his move.

Weakness would have dictated to simply move much closer towards her position. Pride would have dictated towards just putting it down by a few digits.

A measured response would be something like the following.

Once again he started to patiently change around the numbers, before sliding the datapad over to the other side. There was no talking involved in this process and that was for good reason. Anything they did could be a tell. Something that tipped the other side off on some inherent dis or advantage.

Silence was the only way to be completely certain that the other side had as little information as possible.

23%. Exactly the amount she raised, he cut down as a second suggestion.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

They were playing quite the interesting game as he slid the datapad back with his amended numbers. Whoever spoke first would be at a slight disadvantage in these negotiations, whoever broke from their placid facade first would have a disadvantage in the game. If she had known she was dealing with another Sith, she might have enjoyed it more. As it was, she was still enjoying herself. Keeping the same smile as before in place, she briefly looked over his amended numbers.

Twenty-three was still a might too high for her liking, but she did note that he had matched her counter by dropping the same amount. No pride there, that was good. Dealing with prideful people was always an... irritant to her. And the avian in front of her was smart too, if the measured response was in any indication. Now, she had to wonder if he would do the same again as she passed her revised number back to him. Twelve percent seemed a fair number. He got his profits there, after all.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

She was not a Jedi.

A Jedi could not have played this game as well as this one did. No, a Jedi would not have been capable of it, that much was for certain if you asked Lord Fa. This did not automatically mean that she was a Sith, of course. Perhaps she had simply retained much of her mannerisms and reflexes from that time, maybe she was even desperately trying to blunt and otherwise ignore the killer edge within her grasp.

It was impossible to know for certain.

Neither was Tai comfortable enough to pry further just now, not with his own little private life on the edge of the game. If she was a Jedi then Lord Fa would be in some measure of trouble, if they started looking into each other. Little head cocked as he noticed the bump in the percentage. Once again caution was necessary.

Take off too much at once and you would be seen as easily satisfied, not enough and you would be seen as greedy.

Once again the datapad was pushed back.

15%.

This was more reasonable, but it also let Raaf know what she was dealing with. A businessbird who was willing to give a little, but who would always look out for his own business interests first. This was a necessity when doing business. Because how could you trust the other side when it did not trust itself?

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

She didn't know what was going through his mind, of course, but as she picked up the datapad again, she did get some insight into his character. He was a bird of some principles, as evidenced by everything she had seen so far. His latest proposal was fair, would allow him a profit, and showed he was still putting his interests first as any good businessbeing did. She didn't seen any reason not to accept the fifteen percent number... so she would place her thumbprint on the scanner for the datapad, approving the contract. There was no point in continuing the silent haggle at this point, if she did, it would just start to seem petty.

Plus... that needling decided it wanted her attention now. As she handed the datapad back to him, she started to note certain... tells one might say. First was he styled himself as Lord Fa, but that could easily be explained away as a title from nobility from his people. She didn't know enough about his race and culture to know for sure, but it was something. Second was the bear man and the... how should she put it... emphasis on projecting power. There were other reasons for such of course, making an impression to a larger company for instance, but it was another thing. Third was just how good he was at the game of silence. It took... some extra skill to play it as well as he did, some extra... caution. Any Sith knew survival depended on being able to play this game, to keep their thoughts and plans hidden behind a pleasant facade... unless your last name was Zambrano. Then you could hide your thoughts and plans behind the screams.

As an alchemist and sorceress, there was the distinct impression of something altered here. She couldn't see what it was, it could even be a nick knack offered as a gift or payment, but she had altered enough things and done enough spells to know something was off.

All in all... she was even more inclined to work with the peacock than before, whether her suspicions were true or not.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Satisfaction and just a little bit of curiosity.

Those were the feelings once she pressed her thumb against the datapad and sealed the deal. Enjoyment as well, it was always fun to go up against a worthy adversary, even if it was in a simple office and the only stake was one or two percent less profit. Those were usually the more interesting times, if he was being honest.

Life and death stakes were usually far too physical to truly be of any intellectual level.

"We have an accord.​

This is quite excellent news.​

We will speak again."​

​

"Unless you have something else?"​

​

He didn't expect her to.

But it was the polite thing to do at the end of the day. Especially considering he would want her business in the future, there was boldness and there was simple rudeness.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Tai Fa"]

Odd, she thought, as he spoke. His first part had the required seventeen syllables for his chosen speaking pattern, but his asking if there was anything else made her curious if the syllabic way of speaking was part of an act. She shrugged internally at it, if it was it was, if not... then she was overanalyzing possibly. Anyways, she would smile and rise from her seat.

"Not today, but I suspect we will be doing more business together before long," she responded. "I thank you, Lord Fa, and look forward to a fruitful relationship moving forward."

She was going to do some background research on the Thirriken, but another matter had just come to her attention that she needed to address personally. She always hated going to Tatooine, but a personal matter needed to be investigated. She would take her leave of the Thirriken, being escorted back to her ship, her mind far away.