Stormy Expansion

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli sighed as she looked down on the stormy and muddy world of Jabiim. She and her company, Krayt Industries, had decided to blitz a large development zone in this region, with Saleucami and Sleheyron on the list after. The plan was to establish a strong presence on this side of the Rim, with establishing a secondary HQ somewhere in the region as well.

First things first though, Jabiim would be the site of mining facilities and a new droid facility. Taeli shuffled her feet a bit, waiting for permission from the Jabiim council to come down and finalize the agreement she had briefly negotiated with their Minister of Economic Development. She knew the world had seen a resurgence in minerals from several new technologies being able to tap into deeper veins of resources, but the world did have a problem with electricity and electrical storms messing with repulsor lifts.

"Remember, no repulsor tech, it's going to have to be the old fashioned way with moving stuff," she said to Jaxson, her right hand man.

"I remember, my Lady," he chuckled.

"We've been working together for so long Jaxson, I think you've earned the right to call me Taeli," she said, smiling a little.

"As you wish, Taeli," Jaxson chuckled. "Shall we begin building while you finish the negotiations?"

"Indeed, that starting process has been cleared with the Minister, I'm merely negotiating a lasting relationship beyond what we have."

"Very well, I'll get the workers ready," he replied. "Maybe even hire some new people from the populous."

"Good idea," she said, nodding as she moved off to her personal ship and headed for the capital city and her meeting.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Arriving in Choal, the capital of Jabiim, she could literally feel the suspicion and distrust rolling off the Jabiimi workers as she descended from her ship and they began refueling it. Sighing, she had a feeling this would be the general attitude, but then she wasn't here to win the people over. Not today anyways, but she had hopes that this region would be open to supporting Krayt Industries . . . or whatever she decided to rename the company.

"Ah, Lady Arcanix, welcome to Choal and Jabiim," a corpulent man said, wearing dignitary robes. Taeli sniffed a bit as he addressed her, and she could smell cologne on him that was extremely cloying. Oh joy, a corrupt bureaucrat, no wonder the workers didn't like people that were supposed to represent government.

"Thank you for having me," she said, bowing slightly at the waist. "I take it the Council is ready to receive me?"

"Oh yes," the man chortled, she didn't even bother learning his name. He was unimportant in the long run and she really didn't like corruption in this form at all. "If you'll follow me, and I must say, I suspect this will be very lucrative for our . . . world."

'Your pocket, you mean,' Taeli thought to herself as she followed the portly man.

Elsewhere, Krayt workers were landing in a prime location to begin building the mining and droid facility. Jaxson nodded as the ships landed, although he was a bit miffed that they couldn't use repulsors for the heavy lifting, but that would be life on Jabiim. Still, he had ordered that two hiring stations be set up in the nearby communities to hire workers for both the mines and droid facility.

The building materials and equipment for building in the muddy plains of the world began to be offloaded, with some workers from the new hiring centers already trickling in. They had the expertise to build on this ground and they would be valued workers he felt, especially since this was a Krayt operation, not a Sith one.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli looked out the window of the land crawler that was moving her and the dignitary she still didn't bother learning his name to the council chambers, and she could appreciate the lightning storm that appeared to be brewing. An idea was knocking at her mind, and she wondered if establishing the budding weapon division here as well might not be a bad idea.

Picking up her datapad, she sent the idea to Jaxson and a request to her engineers to begin moving equipment necessary for that project to Jabiim immediately.

"Something bothering you, Lady Arcanix?" the dignitary asked.

"No, nothing, admiring the view and jotting down some ideas," she replied casually. She prayed to the Force this trip wouldn't take much longer. His stench was overpowering and she could feel his little mind trying to figure out how best to leech some credits or favors out of this deal.

At the construction zone, Jaxson received the message and promptly ordered more engineers and workers to the site to fulfill Taeli's idea of establishing their first weapon site here. Interesting choice, but he could see merit here, especially in developing arc casters and stun weapons. The new Jabiimi workers were being assigned roles for the project, already moving about to start shoring up and hardening the mud so a solid foundation could be built for the droid facility. The mines would have to be handled differently, using shielding technology to stop the rain from turning the ground muddy.

A shield generator was being installed now by Krayt engineers and local workers, and drilling and digging equipment was being driven out of loading bays to begin the mine while workers with jacks and pickaxes milled about, being assigned their mining teams and overseers.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

It had been an annoying ride to the Jabiim Council, as the dignitary she still didn't care to ask for his name kept bothering her with questions about how much wealth he thought would be acceptable to skim off the top. If she still wanted to act like a Sith, she would have choked him into submission, but she didn't want to operate that way.

"Follow me, if you will Lady Arcanix," the portly bureaucrat chuckled, wobbling on his feet a bit as he descended from the land crawler and led her into the building.

Looking down at her datapad, and relying on her senses in the Force to keep her on track, she kept up with the development of the facilities and smiled at the message stating that a weapon facility would be added to the list and was already being fast-tracked in construction. Glancing up, she noticed the opulence of the interior and almost had to stop herself from groaning. Corruption, it was always corruption that brought people to dislike governments. No wonder Jabiimi hated government, their own was highly corrupt. She pondered if maybe those in power now had risen up to their positions because of the Nether event and taking advantage of those looking for family and those that vanished and never returned. Something to investigate in the future.

At the work sites, the mines were being dug rapidly, the main tunnels forming as quickly as the digging equipment could go while the new miners began the descent. They were carrying heavy equipment while more miners were laying track down for old-style mine carts to be sent along with the mined metals. The shield certainly was helping keeping the site dry and Jaxson had ordered a second shield established, just in case.

The droid facility was already starting to go up, walls being put in place at the direction of several Jabiimi engineers who had shown the Krayt workers how to work with the mud. Production lines would be installed once the building was at a halfway point, and they would be up and running within a few weeks hopefully. The weapon facility that would develop things based around the lightning of the world was also starting to be built, engineers and technicians observing that and the weather to see the inspiration.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Lady Arcanix, welcome to the Council of Jabiim," an equally portly council member boomed as she entered the room. "We eagerly look forward to approving your presence here on the planet and the wealth you shall bring u . . . I mean the planet. We heard word that your construction goes well already."

"Indeed, Councilor," she said, bowing her head ever so politely. Every person here was portly or reeking of corruption in some way . . . except one man. The man to her left was lean and looked like he had been working for most of his life before joining the Council. A compromise to the population that one of their own got a voice on the council? Quite possibly.

"So what is your proposal to make the planet of Jabiim rich?" a woman with several gold rings on her stubby fingers asked. A pink bow of shimmersilk sat in her mousy hair.

"I would like to clarify one thing first," Taeli said, her eyes looking directly at the one councilor who had her respect, and he hadn't even spoken yet. "My company's expansion here is not to enlarge the coffers of the government one bit. In fact, it's to help the people of your world more than you. Since I first arrived here, it became clear that the previous government was . . . rendered indisposed because of the Akala incident and you people have risen to take their place. You have revolution bubbling within the entire populous, but do you care? No. You simply want to make your pocketbooks larger and larger and that I can't abide by."

Stunned silence filled the room, but she sensed interest from the councilor she was directing her attention at.

"My company will be making a deal with the people and their representative, not with you who reek of corruption and greed," she concluded, before turning her full attention to the people's representative. "Krayt Industries will be employing the local populous and designing droids and mining minerals, all income tax exempt."

"You can't do that!" the portly woman shouted.

"Really?" Taeli said, looking at the woman. "As I understood Jabiimi law, an extra-solar company that does not have their headquarters here is exempt from having their profits taxed. A holdover from olden days, but a law you all never thought to check or rectify."

"We won't allow you to establish yourself further here," another councilor yelled. "WE will . . ."

"What? Deny your people jobs and income?" Taeli asked, looking at the man with a small smile.

"Yes, if we must to make us rich!" another councilor yelled. "Profit is all that matters and this wouldn't be profitable for us."

"Maybe you shouldn't have said that so loud," Taeli sighed, pulling a small comlink from her pocket. "I think people on the other side of the planet heard you."

"What are you talking about?" the female councilor scoffed.

"Jabiimi have a strange habit of being anti-government if it's not one they help create from what I gathered about the world's history," she explained. "I merely placed my comlink on a hailing frequency that transmitted ti every person on the planet. So . . . basically . . . you were all just rendered ineffective and your government discarded."

"Nonsense! We control . . ." the councilor was cut off as yelling and shouting filled the air of the city.

"Normally, I'm not for this sort of thing, as a Sith I usually take a more direct path with dealing with annoyances," she said, shrugging. "But I thought how about trying a new approach, one where justice is served and a true government is able to overthrow your little coup."

All the while, work was finishing up on the droid facility as a massive amount of people, hearing her berate the council, had arrived and started building it faster. The mines had also swelled with people, work advancing rapidly.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

It all happened so fast, the people breaking into the government building, the security forces not even trying to halt them, the councilors being overwhelmed by the people and taken to prison by a mob. Taeli watched it all, and waited to see how the chips would fall.

"I must say, your technique leaves much to be desired, but it certainly fits a more Jedi-like mentality," the councilor that had been the people's representative said. "Justice will be served and those . . . people will be tried and placed in prison indefinitely."

"How did they come to power?" she asked, looking out the window of the council chamber to see the people tearing down a statue of gold.

"They promised to bring economic reform and stability to the world following the Netherworld event taking half of the people here," he explained. "People were terrified and they offered something to bring them out of the darkness. Much as you have. Plan on taking advantage of the situation?"

"No, I'm fine just running my company and employing the people with work," she laughed. "About the deal. . ."

"The people have accepted it I think," the man chuckled. "I'll make sure the others formally agree to it, but you should have no problems with your operations."

"Thank you, oh and if I might suggest a suitable punishment for those usurpers?" she asked, smiling.

"Nothing too tortuous I hope," the man said, eyeing her suspiciously.

"No, place them in a position where they have to remake all the moeny they stole, force them to pay their current wealth to the people and the planet, then set them to manual labor. If they do so well, they have the chance for a promotion and so on."

"We will consider it," the councilor said, shaking her hand. "A pleasure doing business with you, Lady Arcanix."

"Please, none of that, just Taeli is fine," she said, smiling brightly.

The facility was done, production would begin shortly and the mines would be providing a great amount of resources to the projects there.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"So final report?" she asked Jaxson as she arrived back at the site.

"We had a massive influx of workers, something about the government was deposed and a new one built by the people is rising," he chuckled, looking at his boss. "They completed the facility and mines, and we're going to have production up much sooner than anticipated. Anything to do with that? Hmm?"

"I may have given the council a taste of what corruption brings," Taeli replied sheepishly.

"We didn't come here to spark a revolution," Jaxson said, pretending to scold his employer. "Did you at least secure a good deal for us?"

"Oh yes, no meddling from the government and the people are able to keep everything they get paid by us," Taeli said, smiling. "It pays to be aware of old laws that never were fazed out."

"Well regardless, I think it's time to head to Saleucami then," Jaxson said, checking his datapad. "I recruited a native Jabiimi to oversee the facilites, apparently he was an overseer at a factory here that produced droids before the Nether event shut the place down. So much competent help that wasn't being used, I bet that has happened across most worlds."

"In this sector? Yes, it's been by itself for some time now," she nodded, looking over at the facilities that would be churning out new droids and researching new tech for Krayt droids. "Time to kick start this old foundry of industry."