Public The Umbrella Effect

[Liin Terallo]

The thought of contacting The Lord of Hunger had occurred to me several times. Each time, I dismissed it. It was ridiculous, really. I had been in the same room with him only recently at the auction. I had spoken to him before. He wasn't some distant figure whose identity existed only in corporate reports and rumors. If I wanted answers about N&Z, I could simply ask him.

That alone should have made the decision easier. Instead, the very thought of reaching out to him left me with a sense of unease that I couldn't quite explain. I had no evidence that he intended me harm. He hadn't threatened me persay. He hadn't attempted to take anything from me at the auction. In fact, our interaction there had been remarkably ordinary considering who he was and what I knew about the corporation he controlled.

And yet the idea of opening a private channel to him made something in me recoil. I didn't like that. I trusted evidence and patterns; things that I could observe and test. Fear without a true identifiable cause was much harder to work with.

I set the datapad down and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Perhaps I'm simply being paranoid." That was entirely possible. But it was also possible that paranoia was exactly what one should experience when considering contacting the person at the top of a corporation one suspected of quietly manipulating governments across the Galaxy.

There was another complication. N&Z had wanted me before. Not for my expertise in the ordinary sense, but for the work I had done with synthetic Force sensitivity. I had spent years making certain that research could not become a commodity. I had made promises about it. I had gone to considerable lengths to keep it out of the hands of the very people who might use it without understanding what they were creating. Reaching out to the Lord of Hunger voluntarily would mean placing myself within his reach again.

Perhaps nothing would happen. Perhaps he would simply answer my questions. Perhaps I would discover that I had spent weeks worrying about a conspiracy that existed mostly inside my own head.

But there was another possibility. And that was that I would be giving N&Z exactly what it needed to put it's hands around me again. I wasn't willing to gamble my freedom on satisfying my curiosity.

Tertius C. Nargath was another possibility. He had once been my superior. He had hired me. He knew the corporation from the inside and would almost certainly know more about it's structure than I do now. But Tertius was also too close to the problem. And I had not spoken to him since our last encounter had left me with a particular variety of social embarrassment that I had no desire to repeat. I sighed. "Apparently I have a talent for making simple problems complicated."

There was another that I could contact. Balun Dashiell came to mind first. My former bodyguard and friend had known me well enough to understand when I was frightened even when I hadn't admitted it myself.

And then there was the simplest solution of all; don't start with either of them. Find people who had no reason to protect N&Z. People who could listen to what I had found without immediately accepting my conclusions. People who might have seen pieces of the same pattern from entirely different directions.

I opened a new posting for the holonet and began to write. I wasn't going to call it a conspiracy. Not yet. I would describe what I knew. The subsidiaries. The government contracts. The conflicts in which N&Z seemed to profit regardless of which side prevailed. The uncomfortable frequency with which the corporation appeared wherever influence, reconstruction, or military procurement was involved. Then I would ask the only question I could honestly defend. Was it coincidence? Or was there something underneath it?

My finger hovered over the transmit control. For one brief moment, I thought about opening a private channel to the Lord of Hunger instead. But the feeling of unease returned immediately. So I closed the thought away. "I'll deal with him later."

I then sent the posting. For now, I needed sympathetic ears, and not another cage.

Tags: OPEN

Spoiler

This is in addition to the LFG that I had put up earlier. Anyone tagged in this post are allowed to join in, or anyone else wanting to investigate either Liin's investigation or N&Z itself along side her. Any questions, just send me a message

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

There was little within the corporate sphere to slip under the N&Z's attention. They didn't call themselves the biggest or the most powerful of corporations, others had far more military strength and economic weight, but the N&Z had a reach which was nearly unmatched. Ofcourse such a reach wasn't grown overnight, nor was it by any means achieved in a normal fashion. The name of the game was espionage, media control and ofcourse taking care of loose ends without remorse, without hesitation.

Alas, under Tertius Nargath's tutelage, the corporation might have flourished economically, but the reach of its shadows had diminished, its name no longer commanded fear as much as it used to, but things had changed. The consolidations in the outer rim, the successful push for Mahporeem to grow beyond its own planetary system, the renewed vigor in which warships left its shipyards and the strange hold the company began to acquire within the High Republic through various shell companies and equity firms was a sign that with Tertius out of the picture, the old roots of the corporation had returned, the enigma had strengthened and the secrecy had grown to become intertwined with its daily operations.

At the head of this all, where the Directors; enigmatic figures which seemed to have a dual role, with some being very visible and open, while others maintained a silence, covering themselves in the vast shadow the corporation had created. Her , Karl Von Strauss , Ronhar Tane each a director, each with authority and power akin to a grand moff within the corporation's sphere of influence, each growing not only their own hold over the company, but also the company's own reach. At the top, there was the CEO, Amalia Visconti | Mira Rhory who whilst being the most visible and known face of the corporation, had a past as being one of the handlers of the corporation's secrets, the former assistant to the former chairman, who went missing when he returned to Sith held space and whose disappearance has sparked the distrust the corporation now openly held towards the Sith Empire.

Yet all of those names, all of those faces were nothing, they were but pawns in a game controlled by a single entity; The Lord of Hunger, who upon his return had taken himself a new name going along with his younger face, a name to hide his real ancestry and instead portray himself as the new chairman, appointed by the very same financial group he owned outright and which had taken control over the stakes once held by House Nargath from Eriadu.

AND he knew, he knew as of late, there were forces working against the company, some from within, some from outside, but he didn't mind. Not because the lack of their effort, but because only he knew the very depth of the corporation's secrets, for he had made the corporation rise from the void, he had it grown to the juggernaut it had been prior to the second hyperspace war and he would once again turn it into a company one did not dare to defy...

 

[Liin Terallo]

I closed the posting and sat back for a moment. The responses hadn't given me much that I could actually verify yet. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I hadn't expected strangers on the Holonet to hand me a neatly assembled conspiracy complete with evidence and a convenient explanation. If anything, that would have made me even more suspicious.

So I started looking elsewhere. If N&Z really had the reach that I had suspected, one that has grown considerably since I had left them; then there had to be people who had encountered them without being part of their corporate structure. People who had seen unusual contracts, suspicious shipments, governments suddenly changing direction, or N&Z appearing in places where it had no obvious reason to be. So independent operators seemed like a reasonable place to start. Pirates, smugglers, mercenaries. People who had made their living outside of the systems corporations preferred to control. I wasn't looking for someone who would simply agree with me. I needed someone who might have noticed something from an entirely different direction.

The search turned up a name that made me pause; Jacero Savi. He was a pirate and smuggler. That could be useful. I read through what I could find about him, following references and scattered mentions across the Holonet. There wasn't enough there for me to decide whether I trusted him. But there was enough to make me curious. And curiosity, at least, was something I knew how to work with. I could use someone like him. Not as an accomplice. Not yet. But as another set of eyes.

I opened a private communication channel and considered what to say. There was no reason to put my suspicions into a message that could potentially be intercepted. If I was going to discuss N&Z with him, I'd rather do it where I could see his reaction.

So I kept the invitation deliberately vague:

Jacero Savi,

I'd like to speak with you in person.

I have something I'd like to discuss that I don't think should be discussed over an open channel.

If you're willing, let me know when and where you'd be comfortable meeting.

Liin Terallo

I read it once before sending it. It was vague enough to be intriguing. That was intentional. I sent the message and then put the datapad aside. For all I knew, I'd just invited another complication into my life. Then again, I was beginning to suspect that finding people willing to help me dismantle N&Z was never going to be particularly uncomplicated.

Tags: Jacero Savi The Lord of Hunger

 

[Jacero Savi]

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AUTH//PASS >> J.SAVI // RUN_LOG:0.011-A // ENC:ACTIVE // TRACE:NULL // ROUTE:MOBILE

RUN// ▶ ACTIVE

LOCATION: JACE'S APARTMENT, DENON // OBJECTIVE: MEET THE CONTACT

JACE SAVI

RUNNER // INFILTRATOR

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Jace was halfway through a late meal when the private message came through.

Standing in the narrow kitchen space of his apartment, he rested against the counter. His hair was still damp from the fresher and slicked back, and all he had on was a pair of baggy pants. Relaxation mode. He put the fork into his mouth and held it in place with his teeth as he glanced at the sender before picking up the datapad properly.

Liin Terallo.

He didn't know the name. The message didn't offer much else, either. She wanted to speak in person, didn't want to discuss the reason over an open channel, and had left the time and place up to him. Jace read it again while he finished what he was chewing. People contacted him for plenty of things they preferred not to put in writing. Usually they gave him a little more to work with first.

He pulled the fork from his mouth and set it back in the bowl, then picked up his drink, took a mouthful and considered where to meet.

Denon was easiest. He knew the city well enough that choosing somewhere suitable didn't take long, and there were plenty of places where two people could talk without anybody around them caring. One cantina in the lower city came to mind almost immediately. Busy most nights, decent drinks, and booths far enough from the bar that conversation didn't carry much beyond the table.

Jace set the glass down and opened a reply.

Liin,

Tomorrow, 1900 local. The Lantern, Lower Denon. Ask for the back booth.

Meet me there.

Jace

He gave the message another look, then sent it.

With another mouthful of food, Jace turned and crossed from the kitchen into the small lounge area. He had finished a run earlier that evening and figured he'd earned some rest. Work had been steady enough lately that he didn't need to spend the rest of the night looking for another contract.

Maybe he'd call Rorie for a night out.

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TAG

Liin Terallo • The Lord of Hunger

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RUN_LOG // SYNCED

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[Liin Terallo]

I read the message once. Then again.

Tomorrow. 1900. The Lantern. Lower Denon. Back booth.

It was simple enough, so I sent a brief acknowledgement.

Understood. I'll be there.

Liin.

Then I closed the channel.

Denon wasn't an unreasonable choice. In fact, it was probably a very good one. Which was precisely why I would need to be careful. N&Z had a presence there. I was almost certain of it. Perhaps more than one. I didn't know how deeply their interests extended into the city, and until I did; there was no reason to make myself conspicuous. Most importantly, I wasn't going to walk into a cantina and immediately tell a pirate that I suspected one of the largest corporations in the Galaxy was quietly manipulating governments. Not before I knew whether I could trust him.

The transport was booked under my civilian identity. Nothing about the trip needed to draw attention. No official credentials. No scientific equipment. No indication that I represented anyone or anything other than myself, which was of course; the truth of it all. Lying never came easy for me.

I dressed accordingly for this trip. No politician's attire. No corporate clothing. Not even my labcoat. Nothing that suggested that I was a scientist arriving for business. I was just an ordinary civilian. That was, in some ways, considerably easier.

By the following evening, I was on my way to Denon. I had spent most of the journey thinking about what I would and wouldn't say. I wouldn't mention N&Z. Not yet. I'd talk about unusual corporate activity. About things that I have noticed. About whether he'd encountered companies that seemed to appear everywhere, or contracts that didn't quite make sense. I'd let him tell me what he'd seen before I gave him any reason to shape his answers around my suspicions. If he knew nothing, I would lose very little. But if he knew something; Then I would have another piece of the puzzle.

When I arrived in the lower city, I made my way to The Lantern without lingering. The cantina was much as I'd expected. Busy enough that another face wouldn't attract much attention, but not so crowded that finding a particular person would be difficult. I stepped inside and looked around briefly. Then I approached the bar. "The back booth," I said simply. I gave no explanation, not even my name. I was just another civilian who had been given a place to meet someone. And for once, that was exactly how I wanted to look.

Tag: Jacero Savi