Senators!

[Captain Untouchable]

I would like to borrow a few Senators / Representatives / political type people, if that's at all possible!

Ambassador Wrath of the Hutt Cartel would like to meet with some people from the Alliance. He has recently acquired Rothana Heavy Engineering (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rothana_Heavy_Engineering), and would like to see if the Alliance military would be interested in buying any of it's products from him; or anything else from his portfolio (http://theholo.net/wiki/index.php/Ouishii_Kajidic).

In exchange, he would like to negotiate some sort of deal that lets him bring his products into Alliance space at certain specific locations (Jovan Station being one, maybe?), and also a deal that allows him to fly through Q16 on the map (http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd259/o6untouchable/Fans/Galaxy%20Map/Preview6_zps207dd359.jpg~original) (under military escort, if necessary) so that he can move products and resources to and from his holdings in Imperial space.

The Senators for Naboo and Sullust would be awesome, as well as the Quarren and one (or both?) of the Cizerack, as well as anyone else who feels their character might fit: military commanders, Senators/Representatives whose worlds might be close to those trade routes, people involved with Jovan Station, or... (insert other reasons I haven't thought of). :)


Participants thus far -


Torrsk Oruo'rel, Minister of Defense (also, Senator for Bothawui, a possible trade destination)
Leeadra Longstar, Minister of Security (also, Senator for the Gordian Reach)
Niev Minetti, Minister of Industry (also, Senator for Sullust and CEO of SoroSuub)
Tukphen, Minister of Supply (also, Senator for Dac and Mon Calamari Shipyards)
Ulys Caed, Minister of Justice (also, Senator for Naboo)
Thada Adel, Senator for Dac (also, Hoersch-Kessel Drive)
Tell Cho, Senator for Ossus (also, former Corporate Sector bigwig)
Sekaj L'vehl, Senator for Sluis Van (also, Sluis Van Shipyards)
Vansen Tyree, Alliance 4th Fleet (Admiral for the region where Q16 is)

Ambassador Wrath (patriarch of the Ouishii Kajidic, owner of many things)
Victor Montegue (CEO of Czerka Arms, a current Alliance contractor)
Zelenka Lassiter (Wrath's aide/consultant, formerly of Alliance Intelligence)

[Thada Adel]

You rang, dear? I will of course accompany my other half. We cannot let the Mon Calamari hoard all the nice things, now can we? It can lead to all kinds of... Dissent. I am sure Senator Tukphen and I will have many things to discuss.

[Sekaj L'vehl]

If I had eyebrows, I would loft one. I shall attend.

[Tukphen]

You rang, dear? I will of course accompany my other half. We cannot let the Mon Calamari hoard all the nice things, now can we? It can lead to all kinds of... Dissent. I am sure Senator Tukphen and I will have many things to discuss.

Your company will be a pleasure as always, Senator.

Perhaps together, we can school these mammals and reptiles in how politics is done correctly, eh? :mischief

[Leeadra Longstar]

Obviously I will be more than happy to attend. :colbert

[Captain Untouchable]

Okay, I think we've got enough people to get the ball rolling and such!

Since this meeting is a fairly Big Deal (TM) odds are that the Senators have been given a fair bit of information by Alliance Intelligence to prepare them for this; so while I work on getting a first post up, I thought I'd give you a bit of a quick primer on who and what we're dealing with!

*

The Problem

When we were the Alliance to Restore the Republic, we obtained what we needed - ships, supplies, weapons, etc - by stealing it, or sourcing it illegally through the black market. Now that we are the Alliance of Free Planets, we have to start getting things the "proper" way: producing it ourselves, or buying it legitimately.

That isn't as easy as it sounds, because many of the galaxy's manufacturers are located in Imperial space, and the Empire isn't going to let that happen: not without making it prohibitively expensive with taxes and customs charges, at least. This includes Industrial Automaton (who make astromech droids), which is a big problem for our Starfighter Corps; but it also rules out legal access to Kuat Drive Yards, the Corellian Engineering Corporation, BlasTech Industries, Yutrane-Trackata, and a whole bunch of companies that we are "used to" obtaining our military hardware from.

Between the Mon Calamari Shipyards, Hoersch-Kessel Drive, SoroSuub, Slayn & Korpil, and Incom-Koensayr-Meorrrei, or space forces are relatively okay; but our ground forces are in need of more guns, more droids, and more tanks. In addition to that, our military hardware is relatively advanced and expensive (fighters with shields and hyperdrives, etc), and so individual planets are in need of cheap equipment to defend and police their local space.

The Solution?

Rath Ouishii Dae (aka. Ambassador Wrath) heads the Ouishii Kajidic, and owns a whole bunch of corporations: some in Imperial Space, some in the Outer Rim. He owns Czerka Arms and a selection of other small arms manufacturers; some of his guns (for example (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Adjudicator_%28slugthrower%29)) are quite popular with our Special Forces, and his grenades and ship weapons would be useful too. He also owns Ubrikkian Industries, which produces a whole heap of droids, ships, and vehicles aimed mostly at civilian markets, though this astromech (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/S19_astromech_droid) and some of the TransGalMeg (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/TransGalMeg) ships might be useful, particularly for planetary militias.

Most important though is Rothana Heavy Engineering, the company that made all (well, most of) the tanks and speeders for the Grand Army of the Republic. The company used to belong to Kuat Drive Yards, and while KDY still owns the rights to all of their new stuff (AT-ATs, AT-STs, etc), Rothana has the rights to legally make all that old Republic gear, and they are willing to make that for us.

The Complications

First and foremost, Ambassador Wrath is a Hutt; and not exactly the nicest Hutt in the galaxy, either. He used to be part of the Zann Consortium (in fact, he "won" control in the post-Endor power struggle), and while he seems to and claims to have gone straight and legitimate, he's a Hutt, and thus inherently untrustworthy. Also, because he has companies in Imperial Space, he does deal with the Empire as well (though not nearly as much), and it's a safe assumption that he is trying to play both sides here.

What Wrath will want in return is an issue worth considering as well. Presently, he has no companies or holdings inside what is now Alliance Space, so he will be wanting permission to import his products into our territory. This is good in terms of providing variety for Alliance customers, but bad for the likes of SoroSuub, the Cizerack, and any other companies that he would be in competition with. He will also want permission to move goods through our territory as well: as mentioned earlier, he's eyeballing Grid Q16, the narrowest part of the Alliance (just three sectors wide), but also a politically precarious one (the Lambda Sector, coloured yellow, is full of species like the Aqualish and the Harch who aren't particularly fond of the Alliance or the Empire.

There are all kinds of options, such as: letting Wrath fly convoys from Christophsis to Algara (ie. Q16) under heavy escort; letting him fly a longer route through a less essential/risky area, such as from Ubrikkia (Q10) to Zeltros (O10); allowing him to import into and out of particular ports, but making him rely on Alliance ships/freighters/etc to carry his goods around inside our territory; or even letting him move freely in our space, because we're really friggin' determined to get our hands on his tanks.

The Participants

In addition to Ambassador Wrath himself, there will be a few people in his entourage. Victor Montegue (uncle of Vittore Montegue, if anyone is keeping track) is the CEO of Czerka Arms: so one of Wrath's more trusted corporate lieutenants. Because dealing with a Hutt on a regular basis isn't particularly pleasant for anyone (and Wrath knows this), he has appointed Victor to supervise Rothana Heavy Engineering as well, so that the Alliance will have to deal with Robert Downey Jr instead of a giant slug. He will also have Zelenka Lassiter with him, a Zeltron who used to work for Alliance Intelligence, but was left to languish in an Imperial prison for years, until Wrath arranged a jail break and offered her a job. She will be there partly to provide intel on Alliance politics, and partly as a shame tactic to push the Senators onto the defensive somewhat.

From the Senate, we have the Minister of Defense (Torrsk Oruo'rel) and Minister of Supply (Tukphen), who definitely want those guns and tanks. We have the Minister of Security (Leeadra Longstar) who is going to be urging caution about letting a shady Hutt fly his ships in our space; and we have the Minister of Industry (Niev Minettii) and the Sluissi (Sekaj L'vehl), Quarren (Thada Adel), and Keppa Brens (Taataani Meorrrei) Senators, who between them represent most of the Alliance industry that would "lose out" on their market share if Wrath is allowed to bring his products into our space (and who might also want the Alliance to emphasise the use of their products instead). We have Tell Cho, who aside from representing Ossus used to be pretty high status in the Corporate Sector Authority, and is thus far more qualified at business negotiations than most of us; and we have the Minister of Justice (Ulys Caed) there to make sure that everything we decide upon is completely above-board and legal. Last, and by no means least, we have two Admirals: Vansen Tyree of the 4th Fleet who is getting (frustratingly) used to dealing with all of this politics bollocks lately, and Crotalus Viridis of the 5th Fleet, who will be playing host to our little gathering.

Our meeting will take place aboard the Reliance, which is one of those big round Trade Federation ships; but the Senators will have arrived from Bothawui aboard the Defiance, which is one of the Alliances newest, biggest, Mon Calamari cruisers, and is the flagship of the Supply Fleet. I'll be kicking us off as we travel from Defiance to Reliance... which should happen some time later today.

[Captain Untouchable]

Thread is started here (http://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?55710-A-Slimy-Businessman)!

Just to recap / clarify, one of these (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lady_Luck) was the private jet that flew you from the surface Bothawui up to the Defiance (which is one of these (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/MC90_Star_Cruiser)); and then flew you from the Defiance to the Reliance (which is one of these (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucrehulk-class_battleship)). Sadly none of this was in the name of science, but it is all in the name of the Alliance so I guess we're still kind of in keeping with the theme.

We are currently at coordinates in the middle of nowhere, ever so slightly across the border into neutral space in the vague vicinity of Christophsis. We're there just in case this is all a ploy to lure a bunch of Senators out in the open to blow you all up at once, or something pleasant and optimistic like that: it's easier to run away from the middle of nowhere, because there are no gravity wells to worry about. :ohno

[Charley]

Taataani Meorrrei, Ulys Caed, and Niev Minetii reporting for duty.

Looking forward to wheeling and dealing!

[Torrsk Oruo'rel]

Two steps out of the door and we're already in a full blown argument?

Yay politics. :love

[Emelie Shadowstar]

So given that everything with me is insane to put it nicely lately, I'm thinking (hopefully no one has made mention she's there...?) that I will have to forgo being involved so as not to hold up the thread or make it seem like a Corellian is actually being silent for a change. :uhoh I'm sure something came up at the last minute that prevented Senator Longstar from attending... Or... Something.

[Captain Untouchable]

Probably makes more sense to just wing it and play it by ear, rather than decide anyone is explicitly not here.

Just because you didn't / don't post at the very beginning doesn't mean you can't have been there the whole time... just means the camera wasn't aimed at you. Anyone is welcome to join in at any point. :)

[Captain Untouchable]

Is everyone satisfied with the level of petty squabbling that has ensued thus far, or does anyone want to sneak in a rebuttal to Senator Fishface? Dee, did you want to sneak in an establishing post for Sekaj before we move on? Did Senator Hesith want to add himself in before we leave the shuttle bay?

If we're all good, I'll advance us to the next scene. :)

[Vince]

Sounds good to me.