A Company Man

[Sanis Prent]

"You figure she got scared straight about the big marks?"

I half-shrugged, turning my fork over in the risotto listlessly. The conversation was more appealing than the food at the moment.

"Maybe. She sure came at us pretty hard for that shipment we fronted as a honeypot, though. If one of the errand girls from the Kajidics hadn't caused trouble, she would've been an easy bag."

Something to file away later, no doubt. I wasn't in the people hunting business anymore. I contracted that out now.

"So, you been reading the Holos much?"

On to other topics, I queued up a news feed on the datapad. Finding the correct article, he slid it across to the Vigo.

[Kal Olorin]

I skimmed the headline, and nodded. "Can't go two feet in a spaceport without this being slapped in your face." I swallowed, hard, and winced a little as the too-big-bite slowly slid down my throat. I sipped my water. "My next stop, actually. The Eldest Brother is on the other side of the planet from Coronet, but they had some seismic activity that broke windows and shut down the adventure park, and I have reports that the foundation is cracked, and another one that says everything is fine. So, tomorrow I head out there. The only good thing is that it cut my Nar Shaddaa trip short." I ran my hand through my hair, and leaned back in my seat.

Was that a whiff of rancid seaweed? Stop being paranoid, Olorin. Blaze would have told me, and in fact she'd told me several times that I smelled just fine now would I let her get back to her paperwork? "I would keep your ears open for any similar activity here, though. Terrorism breeds terrorism, and if Corellia goes other formerly independent planets will follow suit. The former former former Baron Administrator had quite strong ties to the Rebellion after all."

[Sanis Prent]

I gave the barest of nods, finally turning to my risotto for a disinterested bite. Swallowing, I gestured a bit with my fork.

"There's probably some good money to be had in all the confusion over there. I mean, I'm the last guy to play politics, but if there's a bunch of extremists running amok, we probably can find a few needs to meet on the side. War's good money, right? I mean as long as it's not our war."

[Kal Olorin]

"It's not something for the dining room, but yeah, we're adequately positioned in the area." I raised an eyebrow, and scooped the innards of the baked tubers onto my fork. "Won't exactly help the tourist industry of course."

[Sanis Prent]

My response was a flippant shrug as I took another bite.

"They dropped a star destroyer over Coronet. Even if we don't lift a finger, I'm pretty sure nobody on Corellia is gonna be in the theme park sort of mood for a while."

Still, he was right. Best not to get too sanguine while out on the town.

"I get the gist though, don't worry. Here are the keys, here's how you steer her, don't crash her into anything, and put a full tank in when you bring her back. Relax Kal, I'll take good care of your baby. Just trying to see how the road looks up ahead is all."

[Kal Olorin]

He had a bit too much on his plate to already be looking ahead to see where he could go next. I chomped on the steak in my mouth, wondering if I had ever been that ambitious.

Nah.

It wasn't like promotions had just fallen from the sky onto my lap; I worked hard and did what was asked of me. Sasseeri had rewarded that with more and more responsibilities. Sanis had come in as bottom feeder scum and fallen backwards onto his ass into a prime location in the organization. Was I bitter? Maybe. I finished off my drink and wiped my mouth clean, dropping the napkin on my plate. "Ready for the walk through? Just go about your business, I'm not here to interfere."

[Sanis Prent]

I'd dutifully worked through the artfully-plated scallops and risotto as if it were a holo dinner. The Capirinha was just liquid dessert, a prelude to getting on with things.

"Sure thing. Let's take a walk."

Not having to settle a bill at the end of the meal made dining out easy. Company men just dropped a name, ordered, ate, and moved on. It was operational expense, the price of doing business. Kal and I pushed on from the restaurant, headed back to the Casino floor. Everything was well-oiled. I flagged down the pit boss, got the skinny on any high rollers in the establishment. It wasn't ever about being in the black or not. No casino stayed open by losing money. The game was all in the percentages. Tonight's take was eighteen percent at last count. Twenty was a better night. The margin easily fell within fickle luck.

It was an odd thing, being on this side of the house divide. I'd spent my entire life trying to game the system. Cheat it. Make an easy cred. Now, I was the guy who came down on poor schmucks who were in my old line of work. Still, living the other life gave you a hint of what to look for. The glance over a shoulder. Someone's posture stiffening a bit. There was an Ugnaut at the chance cube table ahead who was less interested in the game than having a look around. He was playing a different game, and it was one that myself and Kal were also playing.

I gave the newly-minted Vigo a tap on the arm.

"Kissic."

Taul Kissic was the Tibanna Local 315 boss. We had an...understanding.

[Kal Olorin]

"Interesting," I said, and I meant it. Taul Kissic was an old timer at the Tibanna mines (please don't ask me how one mines gas from clouds, I'm pretty sure they're more properly called extractors or something like that) and if Sanis had managed to finally get him to come around it either meant he was better than I thought he was, or Taul was more desperate.

Actually, yeah, with the Empire around, the Ugnaughts were probably getting buried with more work than they could handle, what with the increased demand. "What's the current situation there?"

[Sanis Prent]

"The Empire wants Tibanna." I stated as a matter of fact. "And they're openly appealing for roughnecks outside of the union."

Signing bonuses, perks, the like. The Empire was more careful about this game than they were seven years ago. No more direct nationalization, no more overt domination. They didn't want a riot in port down and parts below to shake their hold again. Instead, they gave the union space and recognized their charter. That didn't mean they had to like it, and now they wanted to shrink the union's pie and bring in freelancers to increase production.

Kissic saw us, and recognized us both. The diminutive alien waddled up with a gruff squeal.

"We need to talk."

Which we were already doing, but we all knew the sort of talking implied was for a back room.

[Kal Olorin]

I let Sanis take point to the back room. It was his joint now, not mine, and he picked a different room than I would have, but I didn't let it bother me. Much.

"What's going on Kissic?" I asked, once we were all behind a closed door. He was a standard sized Ugnaught, if a little thicker around the center than usual, but he still seemed to have all the right handsome Ugnaught features that drove the Ugnaught females wild. At least, I assume so, I really don't know how they procreate, nor do I ever wish to find out.

[Sanis Prent]

Kissic's irritation was fully unveiled now that we were out of the public eye. He produced a flimsi, which was pressed into Kal's hand.

"They're screwing us! The Empire's pushing for a fifty percent production increase, and they're running roughshod over the union to get it. They're moving in with scabs from a half dozen backwaters and they don't give a damn about the conditions or the safety or the quality, so long as they get their cubic meters!"

That wasn't great news. We had a nice cozy thing with the union. We wet our beak in their dues coffers, and in exchange we helped to strongly suggest that any work that happened in the miners districts happened through the union. Intimidation, a few beatings when that didn't work. In the end, anyone muscling the union either kowtowed and paid their dues for their ident cards or they left Bespin. Either option was good.

"So how does this change the calculus?"

I crossed my arms, already figuring out that it was a scale issue. A fifty percent increase was huge. Even with unaffiliated wildcat gas miners working the fringes, it would be ambitious. Kissic grunted and squealed in frustration.

"My crews are already running ragged. I can't keep them going at this rate by themselves because they'll push me out of the union chair if they don't get a kickback."

"All this means is that we have more offworld rubes to lean on until they get in line. Increase your member dues, fill the ranks. Meet the Empire's orders."

"Even if we get one out of every two, there's no way we meet this quota. The Empire's gotta come to grips with reality."

I'd become a complicit cog in the Empire's machinery. I cheated and conned wherever I could. Glancing over to Kal, I shrugged.

"The Moff put in a new production czar a month ago. I haven't gotten a feel for him yet, but we might be able to persuade him."

It was a dangerous game trying to exert influence upstairs. The Empire could always move to nationalize production outright like they had years ago when Darth Vader had taken control. That experiment ultimately failed for the Empire and they took a more progressive bent to things, but there was no telling when they might reneg on the whole deal with the workers. Milking union dues wasn't a massive revenue stream, but it was generally a reliable one, so it was worth protecting. The question was how much neck we wanted to stick out on account of it.

[Kal Olorin]

"Probably should feel lucky the Empire isn't bringing in slaves to do the work," I say. "Why not encourage the new workers, these 'scabs' to join the union and pay dues?"