Ask Tatooine Headaches

[Julia Hipori]

Whoever had the smart idea that they had to meet on Tatooine of all places, Julia simply did not know. She had, however, decided that when she found them, they'd be getting a piece of her mind. She didn't like sand, it was coarse, irritating, and it got everywhere. Regardless, here she was surrounded by the stuff, in some squat looking tower in the heart of Mos Eisley, which apparently served as one of the regional offices of the Blackwell Corporation in the Outer Rim. Julia ran her finger across the glass surface of the board table and sighed - of course there was sand here as well.

She shook her head and rubbed her temples.

The last few days had been horrendously busy. These sanctions the the Galactic Senate had passed where a logistical headache, and had given her a very real one to boot. As Chief Product Officer, it was now her problem to deal with it, and for once she coudn't just delegate it out. She'd had reports coming in from logistical droids all morning, and to add to her woes, the recent comments from Senator Kang, had sent shareholders into a spin.

"I hate Senators." she remarked to herself, as she stood, looking out of the window to the dustbowl of a city below. "And I hate Tatooine." Julia added, running through her mind exactly how she was going to explain this to the rest of the board. Some of them wouldn't care that much, others - one specific Presidential personage sprang to mind - might be less impressed. But hey, he'd voted for the sanctions in the first place.

Yeah - as if you're going to blame ib]him[/b].

She dismissed the idea, and took a deep breath. Smoothing her skirt down, a tell-tale sign she was stressed, Julia collected her thoughts, and waited for the others to arrive.

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc knew he would catch flak for his support of the sanctions vote, but with time they’d understand that it was in their best interest for the President to not appear as if he were in the MegaCorporation's pocket. Other than that, he knew sanctions were quite easy to bypass. From what he understood, Blackwell didn’t do large scale shipments to Sith either way. Nevertheless, the stock price took a hit from Kang’s searing commentary and that was what frustrated the half Sephi the most, along with suggested reports of shipments being stalled. However, the massive hits the Core was taking brought him satisfaction he would keep to himself.

He made his way over to the director's meeting, dressed in a suit as usual. A modest chrono glinted on his wrist. It was a particularly hot day on Tatooine and he made a point to largely stay indoors to avoid sweating through his clothing. While Tatooine wasn't his destination of choice for this, it was where Blackwell had quite a large presence within ISC.

The half Sephi could sense Hipori was tense, but she would note his posture was largely calm and detached as always. He was the first to arrive, and he took a seat at the table. Others began to file in, all of them exchanging greetings with him and Julia before taking a seat. Though he had many questions, he remained silent for now, letting Julia kick off the meeting on the current status.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

She paid little attention as people trooped into the room, the various corporate power players of Blackwell regarding her, as they always did, with the same gaze as vultures before a feast. The CEO was the worst of them all, a well-built man whose paycheque went as much on expensive suits as it did on genetic surgery. She briefly locked eyes with the man, before turning away and offering Emryc, one of her allies on the board a slight nod.

Here we go.

She faced the room and opened here datapad.

"Members of the Board, both here in person and holo'ed in. As you will all be aware by now, the Galactic Senate has passed a resolution which imposes sanctions on the Sith Empire. In short this makes is illegal for Blackwell to sell any of the products listed in your notes to the Sith or their affiliates. The punishment for breaking the sanctions range from fines to siezure of the produce, and more importantly in my view, should they be broken the impact on our image will be disasterous."

"I have asked the relevant teams within my department to confirm any existing contracts that could be linked to the Sith Empire."

"So far the findings have been limited, however I am forewarning you that, with a corporation of our size, there will almost certainly be a paper trail linking some sales back to us. Past sales are not the issue however -" she could almost feel the relief wash over the room "Future ones are. We need to tighten our auditing of clients and, to be blunt, take the financial hit - the alternative is much worse."

"However, in the immediate term we have a problem."

She put an image up behind her of a severe looking group of Senators.

"The comments by these few, Senator Kang, Starros and even the Chancellor of late, have unsettled the shareholders. We are down five points this morning, and that looks set to continue. We cannot allow continued attacks on the companies brand in this way."

"So we need to balance it out with a new product launch or-" she looked over to the man representing the legal department, who had a hatchet like face and looked like he'd sued his own breakfast this morning "We sue the bastards." she stopped, and let the board think about her proposals.

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc was silent as Hipori spoke. He caught a few glances his way as she mentioned the Galactic Senate passing the sanctions, but he largely ignored them. He didn’t need to be popular with them right now - they’d come around when they realized that the optics worked out much better in the long run if Blackwell didn't have the dark stain of bias on them. Silence hung in the room for a few seconds after she finished, but he began speaking then.

“The vast majority of our business is with the Core and it’s ramping up within ISC space,” Emryc explained, “To be quite blunt, the Sith will never be overt in their purchasing so our existing validation efforts will satisfy the sanctions. Our focus needs to be on the bulk orders with stricter business justifications”

The half Sephi looked over at Julia, thinking back to the comments about the Senators, “I have no recollection of the Sith ever using mass produced droid armies,” Emryc stated flatly. This was an entirely factual statement, even from his time as a Sith Lord and being there since Sullust was taken, “Kang more or less pulled that out of thin air. However, let’s do our due diligence and track back to where that statement is coming from. In the absence of evidence, at minimum we can destroy her for slander. But we won’t do this until we do our homework. Put someone in touch with Kang’s office to supply the evidence both she and Starros suggested exists because this whole thing is news to me.”

Emryc glanced back at Julia, “We do both,” He stated flatly, “The New Republic and Free Worlds will likely head towards official war declarations after these sanctions. We will want to ramp up on tech to bolster their military defenses. Are we financially postured to do any quick acquisitions of specialized and domain leading companies? That’ll regain the faith of the shareholders and push us back up. I recommend we look all across the galaxy to bring those companies to the forefront."

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

If you hadn't voted for these sanctions, we wouldn't be in this position, she thought to herself as the President laid out a proposal to bump their stock price and ensure their shareholders regained confidence. "Our Core world connections are not the only reason for concern, it is also where the majority of our shareholders are, and, they're getting flighty."

"I agree with the President Thorne on this front, we do need to hammer Kang and Starros for their evidence to back their claims up, something legal can see to I am sure." he remaked, as the CEO sat their looking remarkably bored with the entire discussion. He clearly had some rivals to go and crush later and his mind was elsewhere.

"I'll arrange for someone to reach out to Kang then," she remarked, taking the opportuity to do it herself given that the CEO wasn't taking the chance himself for this victory. "On the other issue, I agree - we buy out smaller companies in the arms space, and look at some of our suppliers as well. We grow in the wake of this negative press, we push forward - we take what we want, and ensure Blackwell can meet the incoming demand of this war."

 

[Emryc Thorne]

“Mr. President,” One of the other directors finally spoke, “I have to ask… why did you vote for the sanctions?"

Emryc knew the question was coming. He answered several times over, but he knew he would keep being asked, “As a Senator there is little justification on voting against an objectively malicious organization. Today it was the Sith, tomorrow it could be the Syndicates. Sanctions will always be a very real possibility megacorporations face. Our biggest blows did not come from the sanctions, but from the comments made by Kang. Logistically, we have the infrastructure in place to validate where our shipments go already. And for future shipments? We can work with third party companies to ensure the supply chain ends with us on paper,” The half Sephi looked at them all, making it clear he knew how to switch from a diplomat to a shrewd businessman, “Sanctions will come and go and the Senate will vote to serve their own interests. Companies like Blackwell have been agile in order to adapt to the whims of politicians for centuries now, and it will do so again.”

He looked over at Julia then, “Then obviously we need to expand our scope out from the Core. We’ve begun that with my efforts in ISC worlds, and I suggest our acquisitions are focused there. Companies will be eager for acquisitions as we take care of the logistics in dealing with the sanctions, they worry about producing. As a result, we can probably make a lower offer look appealing when compared with the logistical nightmare they may be faced with if they had to suddenly start setting up new auditing workflows and resources that didn't exist before. It’s a big opportunity for Blackwell that simply didn’t exist prior to these sanctions, and I suggest we capitalize on it”

Emryc flashed Julia a grin, knowing she was moody with him, “There is a method to my madness, I assure you. I wouldn't have voted yes if I didn't hear Starros explicitly lay out a plan we can easily skirt past and ultimately benefit from.”

Not only would Blackwell see a spike in stock and an expanded product portfolio, but now they were bulletproof in their optics on adhering to anti- Sith protocol.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Emryc had always beena shrewd operator, and, like many around this table, he had his fingers in many many pies. She listened to his explanation regading the his vote in the Senate, and was not overly impressed. However, the ISC Governors had towed the line, and that was something to be thankful for. Julia made a mental note to either buy some new Senators, or crush some of the existing ones.

She could always had Starros taken out if he continued to be a problem.

Julia reprimanded herself. As tempting as it was to have the Lothalite Senator removed, that was an issue for another day.

"There are a range of companies open to our aquisition, I woulld recommend going for those in the supply chain of the major manufacturers. Kuat Drive Yards is one of the larger competitors of ours, and is dependant on large scale imports of durasteel for example. A move into that space would give us a leg up on our competition."

"We must be sure not to over extend ourselves however. Furthermore, widening our dependancy on planets outside of the ISC would be a wise move." she paused ever so briefly, aware that the President of that Government was sat in the room. Julia considered rewording her statement, but chose not to - Blackwell would outlast each and every person around this table.

The Corporation must come first.

"The ISC is a valued partner, but we must expand to others. This war presents an opportunity to expand the nourishment we provide to the Corporate Mother." a few of the longer serving board members echoed the last three words back at her, decades of indoctrination ringing true as she continued "We stand to profit, immensely, from the coming war."

 

[Emryc Thorne]

“Not for acquisitions,” Emryc shook his head, “Buying companies that don’t have to follow the sanctions on independent worlds right now would then be subjected to them. Acquisitions are better within the boundaries of the galactic senate for the discounted buy up opportunities that will pay off in the long term.”

“Agreed on general expansion beyond ISC or any governing body, really,” Emryc stated flatly, “Planets like Bespin will see an uptick in profit from buyers that won’t wish to deal with companies within sanctioned worlds for Tibanna and the subsequent weapons dealers present there,” He had already begun investing in a lot of those companies actually while he was still sitting in the senate chambers, “I suggest we set up a proxy distributor firm that works with multiple resellers. We will hold contract vehicles to set up blanket purchase agreements that work directly with vendors…..like Blackwell… and other arms dealers while selling to any buyer. The distributor will then package bundled products from multiple vendors at a collective ‘discount’ with a mark up margin. Distributor will then draw a profit margin and put its stamp on the purchase order fulfillments, releasing it from sanctions. We gain the sales from the product and the extra margin to give us a surplus of profit.”

He looked over at Julia again, “If I invest in the creation of this distributor, will you perhaps lighten up?” Emryc flashed her a grin. Every other board member suddenly turned their heads to look at her.

"What do we know about Fondor's Senator? The fact that he voted yes is far more alarming and I'm wondering what plans he has."

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

She had to admit to being as confused as the rest of them regarding the decision of the Senator for Fondor voting to sanction one of the largest, if not the largest contributors to his planets GDP. Julia had briefly assumed that someone was paying him off - but she had dismissed the idea after she had walked hersef through how much that bribe would need to be to counterbalance the offers that would have come in from the Fondor shipyards and their allies to go the other way.

"Fine." she smarted slightly at the Presidents remarks. Emryc always had the debonair about him, and it astounded her that he managed to keep it up whilst juggling his various responsibilties at once. Maybe he was just very good at delegating? She didn't dwell on it.

"The distributor can be set up without much hassle, I am sure we have some dormant firms on the books we can kick up." she remarked, her mind already racing with the various opportunities that lay behind that specific door. "As for your investment, I would suggest that any venture backed by some of the talent here -" Julia was obviously referring to herself "- would be a wise one." she added, with the tiniest hint of humour.

She like most around this table, had many things going on outside this board room. Indeed, so far was she from her humble beginnings on Corellias slums that she had long since forgotten the last time she had actually checked what was in her bank account, well - in one of them. 'A lot' was what she had assumed, and judging by the wasteline of her accountant, she was not far wrong.

Like many here, she had already secured herself positions and stakes (small but profitable) in companies that stood to gain from the war. Large enough to cement her powerbase in the Corporate world, small enough to pass without press attention - just how she liked it.

"As for Fondor, I would suggest the CI lot get onto him -" she referred to 'Corporate Intelligence', the infamous wing of Blackwell that people knew existed, but never spoke of openly outside this room. She had worked for them before, indeed, it was how she had met her first husband, ironically, it was also where she had dispatched him.

When the choice is between the Corporation paying your kidnapped husbands ransom, or your promotion...well, you can always remarry.

"I can speak to him personally as well." she added. Truth be told, she was unsure what the Fondor Senators motives where, but, she was sure she could find out - the easy way, or the hard way.