Bonadan

The room was very well conditioned given the fact that neither of its two occupants were currently employed by anyone other than themselves. There was a desk on the far side of the room that sat unoccupied at the moment, the rooms occupants preferring the plush couches on the opposite side of the room. Needless to say, the couched were definately not cheap. But then neither was Killian.

He was quite young, only 24 to be exact. Still, he was rich beyond anything that he could ever want. His father had been a wealthy businessman when he was alive. Unfortunately one of his clients had just a bit more power than him and wouldn't you know it, Something had to go wrong. The client in question killed Killian's father and most of the people that worked for him. Bon voyage, father.

The old coot had been nothing but horrendous to his son while he was alive. Treating him like dirt and never giving him the chance he deserved in life, the man that Killian had called father deserved to die. But still, Killian had had the client killed through other means. It was necessary justice as Killian put it and his mind never lingered on it. There were bigger and better things out there.

So Killian had ended up in the Corporate Sector working for Vinda Corporation as some low level designer. Truth be told he had loved his job one hundred percent, but he'd quit when the opportunity had arisen to do more. He and a friend, the one he was currently sitting with, had come up with something new. A fresh idea you might say. In the long run they would still be working for the Commonwealth, but they would be working for themselves as well.

"If we want to do this then I think we need to pick a base of operations for the first branch of our new business. I'm not worried about funding it, I'm more worried about establishing it."

He and his friend would most likely end up working off of Bonadan in a smaller office while the major branches of the corporation were located on other planets in and around the corporate sector. It allowed them to be away from work, but still be able to work. Of course they first had to figure out where they were going to start their first branch. The offices of the two owners, himself and his friend, would be located in the very building in which they sat.

"Do realize that the Commonwealth will want a large share of our profits since we will be their subsidiary. We're already in agreement that the largest portion of our technological designs and our manufacturing will go to them. It is only fair to our government that we keep it that way."

Killian steepled his fingers against his chin and looked towards the window for a moment before turning back.

"So we need our first location for a complex. Preferrably another planet. Headquarters will be in this building, but the rest should be offworld. That way if anything ever happens they won't get all of us. We also need a name, when it comes down to it. A planet and a name. Ideas?"

Sol sat quietly as Killian began to speak. The two men were best friends, but their backgrounds could be considered polar opposites. Sol's mother had been the Holmes family cook. The two boys had spent countless hours during their childhood putting together scale models of great ships of the galaxy.

"Ideas?"

Sol pulled his notes from the bantha leather briefcase he never left home without.

"Actually Killian, I've been doing a bit of reconnaissance myself, and I have found a planet in Dostra System of the Thandon Cluster that should suit our needs."

Killian looked intrigued and beckoned for Sol to continue.

"The planet is covered by some spectacular forests inhabited by some very friendly near humans. The climate is humid and hot, staying this way all year long, planet wide. This due to the planet's unique axis.

The capital is a medium sized spaceport know as... Mandor... that's it. Heh, I can't read handwriting sometimes."

Killian chuckled.

"Mandor is not much to look at, but once we throw in some Commonwealth ingenuity the city will become quite the boom town.

Sol pulled another set of notes from his briefcase.

"I've been working on the name too. Does Commonwealth Industries and Technologies have a nice ring?"

OOC: Blast it all. Someone please delete this.

"Commonwealth Technologies and Industries sounds better I think... then we can go by CTI. Sounds like a good enough name for our new business I think."

Nodding his head slightly, he reached for a glass of lomin-ale and lifted it to his lips. His mouth was starting to get dry and they had only been talking for a very short time. He couldn't have that, not at all. Not with the amount of planning and all of the talking he was going to have to do. This was going to be harder than convincing his mom that his father was a real jerk.

"Brosi... can't say that I've ever heard of it, but we'll put it on the map when we put in the first CTI complex. This capital... Mandor was it?... will need some work done to get it up to par for our facilities. Money isn't a problem, of course, but the natives will want to have a say in things."

He shrugged slightly.

"I'm not worried, though. We can deal with the natives when it comes to that. Brosi will work perfectly for us."

Lifting his glass in the air, he offered Sol a warm smile.

"A toast. To our friendship and to our new company. May both last forever."

Brosi

The companies first Yacht, the Galant Wind, flew above the city of Mandor for only a few moments before settling down slowly onto the planets surface. The spaceport was exactly as big as Sol had described it and it wasn't nearly big enough. That could, of course, be fixed provided that the native populace didn't mind the increased traffic.

"This place is as little as you described it, Sol. We're definately going to have to do some work on it while we're putting in our buildings. I'd say the actual spaceport needs to be doubled in size at least."

Killian walked down the Yacht's ramp and set foot onto the ground. Brosi felt like most other planets he had been to of its type. Hot, humid, and lots of trees. Trees were alright, he supposed. They more or less needed some fields to go along with, though. Otherwise they were going to have to clear some of the forest. He adjusted his suit before turning to Sol.

"So, what's your first thoughts?"

"So, what's your first thoughts?"

Sol almost immediately start to sweat as he stepped off of the Galant Wind. He would remember to wear a linen suit next time he visited Brosi.

"Breath in that air, Killian. You know what grows best in a climate such as this?"

"Drugs?" asked Sol's aid, Tinsan.

"No you prick, Xoorzi fungus. It's one of the main components of bacta. Let's try to be a little more professional Tinsan.

The aid nodded.

"Think about it Killian. The Commonwealth spends billions every year on importing bacta from those bloodsuckers on Thyferra. It is a huge strain on our economy. In a couple of years we could have a full operation up and running. We could sell the bacta for a small fraction of what the Thyferrans charge and still make millions!

Though, we would need more than just a Xoorzi fungus. We'd need a plant to refine the Kavam. And... we would have to hire some Vratix.

I think this place is perfect Killian. Did you see that asteroid belt just before we entered the atmosphere?"

Killian nodded.

"I realize that it is small, but you know that it's got all the raw materials that we will require..."

Sol looked towards the up and coming metropolis of Mandor. A group of men and women were approaching.

"I believe the President is approaching Killian. Maybe he has things to discuss?"

OOC: Dang it. It did it again.

Raising an eyebrow at this Tinsan fellow with his comments about drugs, he shook his head. CTI was going to be a legitimate business selling legitimate items. Contraband was out of the question. Bacta, however, was an ingenious idea. Sol had come up with a good one when it came to that suggestion. It opened up a whole world of possibilities.

"We can afford to open those plants, to hire some vratix, and to begin experimentation on making bacta even better. I would definately say that bacta production could be a huge part of our business on a world like this."

Unbuttoning his suit slightly, he relished in the dampness of the air. That dampness represented money and anything that represented money deserved to be relished. Sol mentioned the asteroid belt and he nodded his head.

"Any asteroid belt is bound to be rich in minerals. I suspect a small mining station could be put in on one of the larger rocks. This planet is perfect, Sol. You picked a good one."

He offered his friend a smile before turning towards the approaching welcoming committee, which surprisingly did include the President of the entire planet. Killian hadn't expected anyone to know they were coming so he hadn't expected to be greeted by the President himself. As the humanoid being strode up to him, Killian put a smile on his face and bowed to the man.

"Greetings, Mr. President. My name is Killian Holmes. This is my friend Sol Nyhammer," he said indicating his friend. "We're here representing the new corporation CTI. If we could, Mr. President, we would like to speak with you in private about a proposal we have."

"That can be arranged, gentlemen. First I'd like to say welcome to our planet. Not many corporations would consider our humble planet for anything. Your presence is most welcome, however. Please, walk with me."

As the President turned and started to walk off, Killian turned to Sol and gave him a thumbs up before motioning him forward. Now came the difficult part of starting a business on a new planet. The negotiating would begin soon. The negotiating for land, for money, all of it. Now it was time for him to get down to work.

They followed the President to an eloquent building with large tresses, and beautifully designed pillars. Killian stopped for a moment to admire the architecture of the building. There was an extremely broad smile on his face as he stared up at it. The President noticed that he had stopped and turned back to look at him.

“Magnificent isn’t it?”

“It’s the most beautiful building I have ever seen. Everywhere else you go all the buildings are so plain and boring. This one though... wow. I have never seen anything like it.”

The president turned away from Killian to look at the building as well before he spoke again.

“It is thousands of years old. Built back in the ages before the Clone Wars, it is the only building in this city from that time period which hasn’t been torn down and rebuilt. The people pretty much demanded that we leave this one standing as a historical monument. It was a pretty unanimous decision. Shall we continue?”

The President motioned towards the door to the building with his hand and Killian nodded politely for the man to continue. They stepped into the building and his eyes immediately wandered to the multitude of artworks that adorned the halls and the walls. It was quite stunning on the outside, but on the inside it reminded him more of a museum than a functional capitol building.

The room that they walked into reminded him of his office back on Bonadan. It was large, but everything was well spaced to make it seem smaller than it actually was. There were quite a few pieces of artwork adorning the room as well. It was the perfect place for a President to work, but it was also a perfect place for them to talk.

“Please, take a seat gentlemen.”

Killian sat down on an elegantly designed couch and politely declined the drink that an assistant offered to him. This room just had that funny feeling that made you feel as if you belonged there.

“Now, gentlemen. I open the floor to you for your proposal.”

Looking away from one of the pieces of artwork, he let his eyes settle on the president once more.

“Ahh right, the proposal. As I mentioned to you before, my friend Sol and I are the Co-CEO’s for a new corporation that goes by CTI. For clarification, CTI stands for Commonwealth Technologies and Industries. Essentially, we are a new corporation which designs ships and other technologies, we will control some mining and some production of bacta.

“In order for us to do that, we need a location which fits the ideals we have for the first location of one of our plants. We chose Brosi because of the location in relativity to our government, and because of the natural resources abundant. Your asteroid belt could be mined for raw materials which could be used for manufacturing or for sale. This planet has the perfect environment for making Bacta. Essentially this planet is perfect.”

The President nodded slowly.

“So that’s what you want to do. Your suggestions about the use of our natural resources won’t be allowed unless you can provide us some reason to allow you to do so. Natural resources are a huge part of the planets economy.”

“Of course. CTI will be a huge corporation that will bring in the money with ease. Part of the money made will go to our government and our parent corporation. Another large chunk of the profits brought in, say 30 %, will be pored right back into your economy by us. The remaining profits will be used by our organization to fund our work as well as pay our employees.”

“Thirty percent of the profits seems like an acceptable number. Your corporation will be afford the necessary equipment to better harvest the resources which means a larger profit margin than what we currently get. But what about land?”

Smiling, Killian took the topographic map that Sol had been carrying with him. Laying it on the table, he quickly scanned for the plot of land that they wanted to use. Upon finding it, he pointed it out to the president.

“If this plot of land isn’t currently being used for anything of great importance we would like to purchase it. It is large enough to serve our purposes as it encompasses a land mass about six times the size of this city. We can build our facilities as well as still have land for farming and other industries. It lies in reasonably close proximity to this city as well.”

“I believe we can come to terms on a sum of money acceptable. How does 100 million credits sound to you?”

“That sounds perfect, Mr. President. I will have the money into your account as soon as we get done here.”

The President raised a curious eyebrow at him before speaking.

“You aren’t done?”

“No, sir. In order to accommodate our business we need a bigger star port than the one that you currently have in this city. We’ll take it upon ourselves to pay for the expansion of the facilities as well as to build all of the necessary housing in and around the city for our employees. The only potential problem is that we will have to clear a small portion of the forest around the city.”

“I don’t know how happy the people will be about that, but as long as it isn’t a huge portion of the forest then I can’t see as to why anyone would object to that.”

“Excellent. As soon as we leave I will get in touch with the bank and have the funds transferred to Brosi’s account. You guys do have an account for the planets treasury right?”

The President nodded in response and stood. Killian and Sol followed suit and shook the mans hand. After saying a few parting words, the two friends departed from the room and headed back out of the building. As soon as he got the money transferred they would go out and see their new land.

“Well, that went well.”

Three Weeks Later

Sol Nyhammer stood on a landing pad in the Mandor's newly expanded spaceport. The pad was crude, built from a hardwood engineers had discovered in an adjacent forest. The wooden planks had been covered with a thin layer of duracrete, all that could be spared due to the massive amount of construction going on in Brosi space. Fortunately this pad would only be temporary until a proper duracrete and plasteel landing bay could be constructed.

A curious ship was making its approach. The fuselage appeared to be cabin and cockpit of a Lamba Class Shuttle. Though, the wings appeared to be those off a TIE class vessel.

How is that thing going to land?

The craft moved closer and closer to the pad. The protest of its repulsorlifts seemed to increase as the ship descended.

That thing is going to crash...

Sol sprinted for the staircase. Halfway down the flight, he jumped over the railing, rolling into the mud. His new linen summer suit was ruined. The whine of the ship's engines grew louder; Sol covered his head with his hands.

Then... Sol heard the sound of engines powering down. He made his way back up the stairs. The ship had landed... safely.

How embarrassing...

Then, a solution.

"Deck officer, keep these people busy. I will return."

Lucky for Sol, his apartment was extremely close to the new spaceport. The CEO quickly change suits and returned to the landing pad. When he arrived, the ship was already being unloaded. The unloading was being supervised by a Vratix. His insectiod appendages directed the men.

"Greetings Verachen Viekoth."

The bacta brewer looked up from is work. Looking into his eyes, Sol saw his reflection many times over. The alien did a half bow.

"Careful with those crates you fool! They contain the Xoorzi fungus! Any disturbance and they will wither and become worthless!"

The Vratix was an exile from his entire race. He was considered too human, too independent and was blocked out from the Vratix collective mind. He had agreed to help carve out a new bacta industry, and share the coveted bacta recipe with CTI. The price had been enormous, but the benefits would be countless.



"How quickly can you have the bacta industry up and running Verachen Viekoth?"

"The speed in which you built the refineries has greatly expedited the process, but taking time to train Brosi natives in Bacta Fermentation techniques will take time. It is not an easy trade to learn. Also, the accumulation of enough alazhi bacteria for the first batch is always slow. Once enough of the bacteria spawns, the replication speed will increase dramatically, but for a while it will be slow."

"What kind of time table are we looking at Verachen?"

"The first batch of 1,000,000 liters of bacta will be ready in four months."

Sol tried to calculate the market value of that amount of the healing serum. He lost track of all the zeros.

"Thank you Verachen Viekoth for all you help."

The work was going along smoothly on the new facility and Killian had to be thoroughly pleased with the situation. In fact, he was so pleased that he was sitting in the lounge of one of the new buildings smoking a cigar and watching the work outside through the glass wall. So much construction and all of it was being done on his dime. Blast it all if he wasn’t near broke because he was financing all of this.

“Sir, would you like something to drink?”

A female secretary had approached him from her position at the counter and was looking at him with a pleasant smile on her face. It was exactly what they should be doing seeing as they were going to be the first people anyone saw when they walked into this building.

“I’ll take a lomin-ale if you can get one.”

“I can do that. I’ll be right back.”

As the secretary left, he sat back in his seat once more, watching the construction outside. In a few minutes he was supposed to go out and walk around the lot. He had to make sure that the construction was going as smoothly as it was supposed to be going. There couldn’t be any kinks in the system so to speak. Everything had to go smoothly because there wasn’t any room for error.

Not more than five minutes later the secretary returned and handed him the glass of Lomin-ale. He smiled at her and said thanks before she returned to her desk. Pulling the cigar out of his mouth, he took a sip of the drink before standing and walking towards the front doors of the buildings. A landspeeder pulled up to the front of the building as he walked out the door. One of his assistant, the mans name was Franz if he remembered, was waiting for him to get in.

Climbing into the landspeeder, he held onto his drink firmly and put the cigar back into his mouth before they took off. The first place they went was where one of the new bacta facilities was having some decorative work being done on it. The building was coming along smoothly just as the others had. It would only be another day before this facility was done considering the amount of people working on it.

They drove off again, out through one of the many fields that CTI now owned. There was a lot of stuff going on just about everywhere on their property. A construction and ship-building facility was being put in off to his left while to his right they were putting in some farm land to grow all sorts of crops. Up in space they had started construction of a space-station to control the mining of the asteroid belt.

Killian took a sip of his drink as they moved along, watching everything that was going on. Sol was supposed to be off helping out with their new Vratix friend that would be controlling the bacta production. They would put him in charge of the entire bacta facility and his only superiors would be Sol and himself. Pulling out his comlink, he called Sol.

“Sol, has our Vratix friend arrived? Tell him the lasta bacta facility is just about completed as far as decorativeness on the outside tomorrow. They should be done with it tomorrow and he can go about his work."