Raising the Stakes

(Happy Thanksgiving. Before you read this, go find your parent, sibling, cousin, whoever the fuck you have, and give them a hug. Tell them you are thankful for them. Enjoy your meal!)

*YAAAAWWWNNNN*

After releasing that beast, I glanced around the room and noticed several people glaring at me. Honestly, I couldn't care less what they thought of me right now. Well, maybe a couple of opinions mattered. Particularly those of Supreme Chancellor Berooken, Admiral Greik, and, my favorite, General Kroos.

General Kroos looked as if he wanted to rip his hair out in frustration. "So, this intel… am I getting this right?"

I sighed and gestured towards my datapad. "I would hope so. Operation Recursion appears to be a large-scale covert op by the Empire to launch devastating assaults from dozens of bases across the entire front."

Admiral Greik placed his datapad down on the table. He was a very plain looking human being. He had brown hair, brown eyes, a clean shaven face, and an average face. The only notable characteristic was his sharp jawline. "Well, we have actionable intel now. Every single base they have prepared is now known to us. Is there anything else?"

I patted the empty holster on my belt and sighed. "Yes, there actually is. Before passing out, I was in possession of a WESTAR-35 Blaster Pistol. That pistol is standard issue for Mandalorians and is one of the best pistols in the galaxy."

"After getting his hands on it, Cytharat said something about how ironic it was that I had that pistol and how it would be used to kill many Jedi. I believe that this may point to the Mandalorians entering the war."

Chancellor Berooken cleared his throat. "Well, that is most concerning. General Garza, please have the RIC look into that."

(Republic Intelligence Corps, idk I made it up.)

General Garza, the waning crescent she was, nodded. "I'll get it done, Chancellor."

Berooken looked at me and smiled. "Well, Master Jedi, this has been most illuminating. On behalf of the Republic, I thank you for your service. I hear that you are taking a short leave of absence. I wish you well and look forward to seeing your future accomplishments. Farewell now."

I nodded while standing up, appreciating how politely he kicked me out. "Thank you, Chancellor Berooken. I assure you, I'll be back on the front lines before you know it."

-GE-

Darkness and light. Two sides of the same coin, so close yet so far from each other. I admired the contrast between these two states as I looked down on Coruscant from the bridge of an off-the-shelf cruiser we purchased from KDY.

"Sir, everything is ready."

I nodded, turning around to see Violet standing behind me with a datapad in her right hand. She was holding it out towards me. "Thank you, Vi."

She nodded, a soft smile on her face. "We can depart anytime on your orders."

I waved my right hand as I grabbed the datapad with my left. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!"

Violet's face turned serious as she turned around towards the dozens of operating staff throughout the bridge. "YOU HEARD THE MAN!"

With the novelty having worn off, I didn't even bother turning around to look outside as the hyperdrive kicked in. I merely drowned myself in the datapad with very important information. In the grand scheme of things, the information wasn't all that important but it was important to me.

The first order of business, which I was most excited about, was to review the plans for the capital ships that would serve as command vessels in our guild's navy. We essentially stole the design for the Harrowers that the Sith Empire uses and blended it with the Venator that the Republic would use during the Clone Wars. I set some base requirements of having a low, armored bridge and a large main hangar door that slides apart.

I took some notes on the design they presented and handed them to Violet as we walked. There were some protrusions on the sides that I didn't like. I wanted the edges to be more straight rather than jagged. I then also requested for hangar access to be run through the hull and extended to both sides of the cruiser.

Fortunately, I wouldn't have to do this a second time for other starship classes as they would just take the designs and scale them down with necessary adjustments. They were professionals so I would let them do their jobs from here on out.

Next on the agenda was to take a look at the proposals and bids for the guild HQ. We wanted it to be a money making machine so it had to be perfect.

Satine, our Asset Management Director, invited two firms to bid on this project that would cost tens of millions of dollars. She then expanded that to five upon the insistence of those other three firms. I quickly looked through the prospectus that each architectural firm had prepared and immediately eliminated two.

While in college, I learned that when multiple bids are in play for major projects, the highest and lowest bids were usually eliminated off the bat. I decided to follow that pattern since it logically made sense.

I was then left with three. After another few minutes of deliberation, I eliminated another which, while appearing to be well thought out, hadn't met the full potential of the space. The remaining two made much better use of it all.

As I looked more closely at the last two, I found something about one of the designs that separated it from the other. This design had three separate hangars rather than just the one large hangar in the middle. One smaller hangar spanning one floor would be a dozen floors below the lobby and reception floor. It could be split up and used to receive short term visitors as well as maintenance purposes.

The main hangar would be about a hundred floors up from there and would be accessible to all guests with two of the six floors being reserved for guild members. The third hangar would be a dozen floors down from the roof and all three floors would be reserved for event attendees, VIPs, and guild executives.

The extensive remodeling of the hangars resulted in this design having an estimated cost that was significantly higher than the other, but it seemed extremely pragmatic. For this reason alone, since there wasn't much else setting the two proposals apart, I chose this one.

Of course, this was just a vote and would be counted like the rest of the executive board members. However, I would be very surprised if the others didn't notice this.

Regardless, I could easily convince Galen to override this one with me based on the hangars alone. It was written in our guild laws that the majority of shareholders must be in favor for an owner's override to act in contrast to a decision by the board. Since Galen and I owned half of the shares each, we both had to agree for this to take effect.

I handed the one I liked to Violet. "This one. Has the vote been counted yet?"

She chuckled. "You were the last vote actually. It wouldn't have mattered anyways since this one was the clear winner with all but one vote."

I glanced towards her. "Who?"

She sighed. "Satine. She said something about not wanting to be biased since she has worked with one of the firms before so she abstained."

I shrugged. "How very noble of her. Oh, who's in this meeting?"

Violet shook her head and grumbled. "Everyone."

I sighed, stopping before the double sliding doors in front of me. "Why are you saying it like that?"

She walked to the side and pressed the button to open the doors. "You'll see."

*Shweep*

With just a quick glance, I now knew what she meant. "Well, shit."

A sharp and powerful feminine voice called out from across the room. "Oh! If it isn't my dear nephew. How nice of you to show up!"