The Foundry; Part 9

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"Nira?" Nel talked into her comm-link, speaking into the small device as she shifted on her heels to stand in a more comfortable position. "Could you please contact one Siobhan Kerrigan? Her company is the next that I must speak to."

She had been making calls, attending meetings, and speaking her mouth off for nearly two weeks now.

The Liran had signed half a dozen major corporations, had brought together charities, construction equipment, and even refineries. Now things were beginning to truly wind up, with everything slowly beginning to assemble to facilitate the actual construction of the Foundry. Certain key assets were missing however, and Nel quickly found herself unable to fill that small void. Of course, having larger connections rather helped with that, and thus this call would be next.

"Yes, Madam Nel."

The new CEO of Vanir Technologies gave a pleasant sigh, sitting down in her plush Bantha leather chair and relaxing for half a moment as Nira began to search through contacts.

Nel wasn't entirely sure what she would do without Nira.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


Beep-beep.


"There you go, my lovely girls." Thousands of light years away from the dramatic events currently taking place in Republic space, Siobhan was...watering orchids on her balcony. Yes, this is not an euphemism for certain non-family-friendly activities, for Siobhan loved orchids.


As such she was occupied and at first ignored the noise coming from her personal comm device that lay somewhere on a table. However, the comm was persistent and showed no sign of shutting off. So after it beeped for the fourth time she finally got a clue and, with a sigh, put the watering can aside.


Siobhan was on light duty after the duel with Shadow, but had ensured that her office line was forwarded to her personal device when it came to major calls. Answering it, she recognised the voice of her PA, Maerys Medea. "Lady Kerrigan, my apologies for bothering you, but there is an important call on hold for you. Their name is Nel, the new CEO of Vanir Technologies," the Eldorai spoke in her usual clipped, prim and proper tone.


Siobhan frowned slightly. She knew well enough that Vanir was a corporate giant, so presumably this call was important, even though it would keep her away from her plants for a bit. "Ok. Thank you for informing me. Please put her through."


"Yes, my Lady. Right away." And so a moment later a holographic embodiment of Firemane's co-owner would appear in front of Nel's screen.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

The call was connected, and Nel managed to sit up straight just in time for it to start.

"Lady Kerrigan." The greeting was filled with warmth and genuine interest. "My name is Madam Nel."

That wasn't a name that was famous throughout the galaxy, in fact it wasn't famous at all. Few people had heard of her, and those that had were mostly clients that she had gathered over the course of the last few weeks. The name of her predecessor was different of course, but Nel couldn't be throwing around Alric Kuhn's name every single time she needed to introduce herself to someone, that simply wouldn't do. So instead she smiled and pressed on, knowing that even without recognition she had managed to get the call connected.

"I recently took the position as Chief Executive Officer of Vanir Technologies, I have a proposition for your company that I believe would greatly expand your business." With the amount of construction droids that Vanir required it was easy enough to assure that much.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


Her balcony was not usually the place Siobhan replied to business calls, but it was certainly picturesque since the fact that her villa was located in the hills gave her a lovely view of New Santaissa. Moreover, winter had passed and spring was blossoming, which made it a lot less cold!


So without further ado she found herself facing a holographic projection of Madam Nel. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Madam Nel. Congratulations on your promotion," Siobhan said politely. The name was an unknown to her, though on the flip side Firemane had not dealt with Vanir Technologies before, but that wasn't really relevant.


"You've got my curiosity. Please elaborate on this proposition."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"Thank you, Lady Kerrigan." The Liran offered the woman a genuine smile shifting her gaze for half a moment before turning back towards the holo-terminal.

"As I'm sure you're aware, there was recently a small ordeal involving the Republic and the seizure of several corporate assets belonging to various corporations within Republic space." That particular move had been something that made Nel question the intelligence of the Republic leadership, though of course as it had been later revealed the whole thing had been far more sinister that it had originally appeared. "Vanir Technologies, as a reaction to this has begun to initiate a new project in the hopes of halting this from occurring again."

That was a bit of an overstatement, but she was making a selling point. "In short, we will be constructing the galaxies largest private shipyards, rivaling the size of Kuat Drive Yards in scale."

She still smiled at those words.

Kuat Drive Yards was easily the largest shipwright in the galaxy, capable of producing entire armadas inside of year.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


Siobhan frowned slightly. "Yes, I heard about that mess. Almost looks like they were eager to shoot themselves in the foot," she commented wryly. Fortunately Firemane had been able to largely stay out of that particular holodrama. Last she had heard, according to rumours clone troopers had been marching on the Jedi Temple.


Or had that already been stopped because in another thread the corporate alliance was trying to 'flip the switch' on them? Timelines are so complicated sometimes! Regardless, she turned her attention to the more interesting venture of making more fake money.


She raised an intrigued eyebrow after Nel outlined her project, and gave the woman a short smile."Well, now you have my attention, Madam Nel. That's a very ambitious project." Understatement. It was no exaggeration to say that the Kuat Drive Yards were fething huge. Creating shipyards that would rival them in scope and output would be a behemoth project, even for a giant like Vanir. Which explained why they were reaching out to Firemane - and presumably many other corporations - to get involved.


"Will they be exclusive to Vanir or accessible for other corporations? And what assistance would you like from Firemane? I recall that thanks to our subsidiary ARGH we have access to specialised construction drones. They're designed to travel in the void and atmosphere to construct shipyards."

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"It is those Construction droids that I am interested in, Lady Kerrigan." Yes, that was what they still needed. Oh she had already purchased some construction droids from other companies, but a project this size took quite a bit of doing, and she'd already bought out more than one company of their entire stock of droids. "As you can imagine, the project is quite immense, and we need all of the help that we can get."

There was quite a bit of money to be made here, for everyone.

"As to your question, no these will not be private Drive Yards. Vanir Technologies seeks to give a small bit of freedom to all corporations. The station will be sectioned, corporations will be able to lease space on the Yards for their own private production of materials and starships. Several large corporations have already agreed to contracts of The Foundry's eventual use." That was what really made her proud. Aurora Industries, GEAR, Hegemonic Automaton and more had already signed up to use the Foundry, and Nel was positive that more would eventually come.

The board of directors was now entirely within her pocket, and Nel had free reign to do as she please.

Things were going well.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Nel"]


Siobhan gave the blue-skinned woman a nod. "Ok, excellent. I'm very confident that we can accommodate your needs. We will have to significantly step up production to get the necessary output, but our factories will be able to deliver the construction drones you desire."


Nameless NPC minions could go over the exact number of drones - and how much they'd cost - off-screen. This would spare both writers from the conundrum of figuring out the numbers. Far as Siobhan was concerned the venture should be very profitable for Firemane. "Where will you be constructing these shipyards?" She presumed somewhere outside of the direct control of the many nations that were trying to claim a piece of the massive cake that was called the Galaxy.

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Nel smiled.

The additional ramp up in construction was important, given the size of the Foundry and exactly what would be going into it's construction. She had already revamped the Seedships into factory vessels to gather and produce raw materials necessary for construction, she had hired mercenaries and outside contractors to secure a safe zone for the Foundry itself and had sent Vanir's corporate fleet in order to occupy the space. Nearly everything was ready now, and with the additional construction drones from Firemane she could begin.

"The Rishi Maze." Nel answered with a smile. "The location is secure, unadorned by most governments, and a mystery to many travelers."

Not to Vanir though.

They had spent the last year and a half charting the perfect place for the Foundry, Rigor and many other drones having been sent again and again until just the right place was found.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Nel"]


The Rishi Maze was not just another remote star system, it was a separate galaxy. Well, a companion galaxy to this one. Charting it must have been a massive effort. If Siobhan had been more of a history buff, she might have been able to make obscure historical references about some guy called Revan and his strange antics.


However, that was not the case. "I see. I think we're in business then, Madam Nel. My office will be in touch with yours to hash out the details." Tedious, complex, boring stuff such as logistics and all that. "But I expect the first shipments of construction drones to arrive soon. I wish you and Vanir good luck with your project. I'll be following it with interest."

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"Thank you, Lady Kerrigan." Nel's tone remained formal, but warm. It was clear that the Liran was very pleased about what had transpired here.

The Foundry was coming along nicely now, and with these construction drones Nel would be able to push the start of building. It would be handled efficiently of course, and she hoped that she would have the beginnings of the Foundry set within three months. The timeframe would have been ludicrous for anyone else, but with all of the resources that Vanir Technologies was now pouring into the project those numbers seemed very real, and very effective.

Though only time would tell.

"I look forward to any future meetings we might have." She said the words with a genuine smile before hanging up the call.