The Transitive Property [Aretine]

[Araceli Loxley]

"I'm so pleased you could come," Loxley said to some financier or another, turning her face to receive a kiss on one cheek, then the other. They were in the large great hall of her penthouse, at a cocktail reception celebrating her ascension to Incom's CEO. There were drinks and food and the net worth of roughly half the galaxy's GDP. It was glorious and Loxley was feeling high. "You simply must come and see me at the office sometime. Yes, it's much bigger than my last one." She gave an indulgent chuckle and pressed his hand. "I'll have my man call you. Ciao, darling."

She moved away from the group and snatched a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and spotted an important guest across the room. @[member="Count Aretine"] was an old school friend, but what was more, he was a potential business associate. The Free Houses of Serenno were under threat from the Mandalorians, a group that the Confederacy was also having problems with. She smelled a sale, and a boost in her popularity in the Viceroyalty. It was a win-win-win.

She dodged an incoming admirer, giving her the universal hand gesture for 'one moment!' and caught Aretine's eye, then directed his gaze to one of the hallways leading off the hall. She waited for him to acknowledge the signal, then headed that way. Down the hall was her study, which would give them some privacy to talk things through.

 

[Darth Immortus]

The Count would have liked to say he was here on pleasure, but recent events had forbade him from getting barely a moment's rest. Still, Aretine had done his best to concoct an immaculate appearance for this party, his black Serennoan robes and cape well-pressed and his face free from any blemishes, as it always was. The corruption of the Dark Side was well-hidden in him.

There were many in attendance whom he did not know or recognize, and that was fine. Aretine was here to see only one person; the woman of the hour. When he'd heard that his old schoolmate Araceli Loxley had taken control of Incom Corporation, Aretine had made a point to visit her. As fortune would have it, he had been invited to the party anyway. The Count took one final sip from his wine glass, set it down on a passing tray, and smiled to himself. The Mandalorians might have the armies and the fleets, but the Count was the Count. He had connections.

It seemed that Loxley, for her part, had gotten the message as well, and Aretine caught her subtle suggestion. He followed her into the unoccupied hallway until it was just the two of them; but not before grabbing another glass of unknown liquid off a waiter's tray. The Count descended upon her, looking down upon the woman as he took a sip.

"Araceli Loxley," His deep, quiet voice whisked through the hallway. "Are you going to show me that intimate rendezvous you promised me back in our University days? Hardly the time or place I would have imagined, but as they say... a girl needs to have fun, or something like that, yes?"

@[member="Araceli Loxley"]

 

[Araceli Loxley]

"Don't be ridiculous, Aretine," said Loxley with a chuckle as she led him towards her office. She placed her hand on the scanner near the door and after a moment, the lock clicked. She opened the door and waved him in. "I never promised you any kind of rendezvous, intimate or otherwise. I'm going to be a Countess in my own right someday, so I wouldn't slum it with you. Even at school." She said all this with a twinkle and smile; Aretine was an old friend, and they hadn't a romantic past. "Sit down. Whyren's Reserve, wasn't it?"

Pouring a pair of drinks, Loxley went to the armchair next to Aretine's rather than sitting behind her desk. "I'm glad you could make it. Troubling news out of Serenno. What can you tell me about the situation?" She lifted her glass to her lips and took a sip, then set it down on the table between them.

 

[Darth Immortus]

If the Count weren't friends with Ms. Loxley, he might have been offended. The Counts of Serenno considered themselves beneath no one - even other Counts. But Aretine would only smile and take another sip from his glass; he could deal with Loxley's humor. "Very funny," was his only reply, before the conversation turned dark.

Aretine leaned forward and set his glass down. "The Mandalorians have declared war on Serenno and have subjugated the planet. Their barbaric hordes descended upon our serene homeworld and made demands as if they owned it themselves," Aretine's expression had visibly soured. "As Serenno has no standing army after the fall of the Sith Empire, we were forced to submit. Disgusting filth, all of them. And now Serenno faces a choice. We must fight, or we shall die. There is little else to say of the situation but that."

@[member="Araceli Loxley"]

 

[Araceli Loxley]

Loxley pursed her lips. "Troubling indeed," she replied. "The Mandalorians are no great friends of the Confederacy either," she said thoughtfully and reached over to pat Aretine's hand. "But I don't think that that's all there is to say on the situation. Even if you weren't my old chum from school, I would still be having this conversation with you, because I feel that you are in a unique position to set those filth back on their heels, something that isn't done as often as it should be, or they wouldn't have made a strike against Serenno in the first place.

She paused. "I have a suggestion regarding war materiel, but what are you going to do about soldiers and pilots?" she asked after a moment. "I would be willing to sell the Free Houses military equipment at cost in order to aid your fight against the Mandalorians, but it would be useless without the talent to put inside the fighters, bombers, gunships, and tanks. Thoughts?"

@[member="Count Aretine"]

 

[Darth Immortus]

"All great warriors will one day meet their match. The Mandalorians are used to weak people kowtowing to their demands. They have grown fat on the seductive wine of confidence indeed," The Count said. He only pursed his lips when Araceli reached out and touched his hand. He thanked her for her compassion, but Aretine wasn't here for sympathy. He loathed that. He was here for war.

"I will not lie, it is going to be a difficult battle," The Count continued. "We will have mercenaries and droids, sure, but the people of Serenno will be the heart of our soldiery. And the people of Serenno are not accustomed to the rigors of warfare. But they can be made to be."

Aretine stood up and walked around Loxley's desk. He kept his back to her, preferring to face the window as he spoke, with an amused smile on his face.

"Do you remember the history holos? How a group of savage Ewoks once turned the weapons of the Empire? Ancient history now, but events like these have a way of lingering. Not one of the Empire's finest moments." He chuckled to himself. "I think the Mandalorians will soon find that guerrilla warfare can prove quite an effective tool, even in the hands of untrained men. All one needs is passion. And that's where I come in."

@[member="Araceli Loxley"]

 

[Araceli Loxley]

Loxley suppressed an eyeroll. It surprised her not at all that Aretine had not lost his flair for the dramatic since their days at university. "You always did love a soliloquy," Loxley said dryly, clapping her left index and middle finger against her bare wrist in polite applause. "And the Galaxy Award for best actor in a drama goes to..." She trailed off and stood, draining her glass and moving to stand behind her desk. The CEO flipped through a few pages of flimsiplast on the desk and then shook her head.

"You didn't say anything about my offer," said Loxley after a moment. "I can't sell you blasters, but I can sell you tanks and speeders and mobile artillery, to say nothing of fighters, bombers, and dropships." She lofted an eyebrow at her old college chum and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm willing to negotiate with my fellow members of the Techno Union as well, if you think it would help. What are your thoughts?"

@[member="Count Aretine"]

 

[Darth Immortus]

"Negotiate with any and all that you can," Aretine turned around to face her then. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

He crossed the room and sat on the edge of her desk, lofting one leg over the other as he folded his hands on his lap.

"Of course I'm interested in your materiel. What, did you think I came here just for the drinks? Not that they aren't top-notch," He smiled at her, while simultaneously taking his glass again from her desk and sipping from it. The mention of the drink had reminded him that he was thirsty again. "So let's get down to business then. Exactly how much would said equipment set me back? If we're looking at enough equipment to mobilize effective armored divisions on par with going head-to-head with the Mandalorians... which would be about one million men."

@[member="Araceli Loxley"]

 

[Araceli Loxley]

"I'd be willing to sell it to you at cost," Loxley said quietly. "The Board won't like it, but we'll more than make up for it in good will and good press, so they'll settle for it." She tapped her fingernails against the polished surface of her desk, then sat down and pulled out her datapad and stylus. "I'd need specific figures, but we'd be talking about a few thousand tanks, a few hundred mobile artillery, a few hundred starfighters, a like number of bombers, a few dozen dropships?"

As she spoke, she tapped figures into her datapad. "These are all averages, of course, and it will fluctuate depending on the specific order." She finished tapping in figures, then held the datapad out to Aretine, showing a figure in the triple-digits of millions. "Not a bad price for a planetary army, but it is quite a lot."