Prologue…… taken from Portents of Coming Darkness: Imperial Resurgence..
"What happens to all displaced people Ciscero? They go home. This planet was overrun by The New Alliance and the former caretakers, having their science kept from them what else could they do? Barter for protection against the stronger? What do all weak fools do?"
Kaine sighed. "I didn't know the details of their operation here, but the captured records tell no lies here. The Alliance figured out what the very designers had forgotten and politics being what it was.. the Alliance bartered their knowledge for land."
"Ahh," Cicsero said. "The military bases being set up here and there, some only half finished in construction. It's like something happened.. something major.. I wonder why they were all abandoned so rapidly."
"Diplomats and fools, Ciscero. Something big did happen to them. Something they never thought possible. The fall of the New Alliance was long in the making. With higher level jobs being taken over by their fanatical use of droids in everyday life, the unrest of the common people was becoming evident. How can normal people compare to the efficiency of droids? Tell me Ciscero, what happens when Joe Somebody tries to get a job but finds he's placed under the watchful eye of a supervisor droid. By what standard would the droid measure their workers? It's a very complex psychology that drives us against the tyranny of aliens. People will endure great lengths under the tyrannical rule of their own kind, Ciscero, but put an alien..an android, in charge... and everything begins to fall apart."
"In a mechanized society, unemployment soars, crime climbs even despite the best attempts at quelling it...and what did the Alliance do? They put robots in charge of their policy enforcement organizations. Now their citizens were forced under the watchful eye of bloodless, emotionless machines."
Ciscero cringed at the thought. "They slit their own throats. If not for their dissolution, Revolution would have come."
"Without backing from the military coffers and with expenses of military expeditions growing, the dissolution of the New Alliance High Command left many without access to the public funds."
Ciscero finished the sentence, "..and without money, people leave."
"No more support ships, no resupply convoys, no funding for continued research and developement, what happens?"
"Presence fades."
"And so it has…..”
…"When the pawns are put out, without powerful foundation pieces protecting them, of what use are the stretches of space they aquire?"
Kaine's eyes grinned. "And here, a foundation is laid. This is just the beginning."
…taken from Portents of Coming Darkness: Smoke, Mirrors, Truth and Lies…
….Foundation Laying 101 - Build your base from the failures of others and turn their energy to your advantage.
"I am just a citizen, Senator. But I am one with influence."
"Since our last meeting there have been fifty new oversight committees formed in various departments of the Planetary Civil Government. Committees designed to keep tight control over our already waining resources. It is no secret that Coruscant consumes more than it can bring in economically.
You scored a very big victory for Coruscant when those committees were formed."
The Senator grunted. "I was dubious about the list of names you provided for committee membership but they have all proven extremely capable. But, Sir, so what? So Coruscant can control what comes in and what goes out of it's planetary borders? So we can regulate taxation, export and import fees better and shave off excess waste in energy, money and our dwindling resources? Our resources are STILL small, what little we have saved or improved upon is quickly comsumed. What good are regulation committees if, in a year there is nothing left to regulate?
No new businesses are coming in because Coruscant smells of decay. Our civil engineers are underpaid, overworked and leave the system for higher paying jobs on Asthentia. Older businesses are leaving the system because it's too cost prohibitive for them to resource levels needed to maintain buildings in the private sector or pay out of the way shipping costs to move products into the Republic worlds.
Without the seat of government here, there is no need for private organizations to maintain a presence and so they move to Corelia where their lobbying and money can do the most good.
And the city cannot afford to maintain it's expansive landscape..
Already, some lower levels are being closed off but, soon, our entire world will grow dark."
The figure smiled.
"The Committees Senator were the beginning. Why should prosperity be visited upon Coruscant if there is no existing framework to use it to it's fullest potential? YOU have created that framework, Senator. Now allow me to bring the prosperity.
There is a conglomerate business organization that is interested in relocating to Coruscant. Their revenue alone will not turn Coruscant's slide into a reversal overnight but they will be merely the beginning."
The Senator seated himself, leaning closer, clearly interested.
"While you were working on the reshaping of our civil government, I was working on the business end of it. I would like you to meet a woman named Jenice Arliss, of Arliss Industries.
This sets the groundwork for the bigger fish."
"Who are?" the Senator asked, clearly hooked.
"Cryonics Industries to name just one."
"Cryonics? THE Cryonics Industries?"
"Perhaps a meeting with Tenloss himself, Senator." the figure smiled.
Suddenly a light sparked in the Senator's eyes. A spark that made his hope all the more transparent.
"But what of the New Republic?"
"Sir, with those Committees in place, Coruscant controls everything that goes in and that goes out of it. When prosperity comes, those committees will also keep the decay and anarchy of the New Republic out. With Coruscant prosperous, you had better believe that Corelia will take action. It would be in Corelia's best interests to keep Coruscant hungry.
However with Prosperity will come... "
"Strength.." the Senator concluded.
"With strength comes security. With strength comes power of influence. And so by default, order will rise from the anarchy. In time, the Republic will find that if they wish to prosper, they must ..they must follow Coruscant.”
Now…
Korriban… Office of Offworld and Public Affairs, Cryonics Industries..
“What do you mean he isn’t here!!” Shouted the blonde woman, indignation dripping with scorn as she faced the minor CI employee behind the desk.
“I set this meeting up three weeks ago! Three week!!”
The employee had the sense to look slightly embarrassed as he quickly glanced into the massive lobby area to make sure the emotional woman was not drawing too much undo attention to him.
“Mr. Tenloss is a very busy man, Ms..”
“Arliss. Jenice Arliss..” the woman’s eyes narrowed even more.
“Ms. Arliss. Perhaps if you rescheduled..”
“Young man. Let me inform you of something that you may not know from reading your little weekly corporate newsletters.
Mr. Tenloss has invested interest in the projects that my company is carrying out on Coruscant. Already, three factories are nearing completion and six more are in half done. Cryonics has spent the on the whole enough to equal the gross national product values of small factions.
He needs to see these reports NOW. If I don’t see him.. If cannot see him, his factories may not meet his standards.
They must meet his standards.
Now, how can you help me please Mr. Tenloss?”
The blue in Jenice’s eyes grew hard as she leveled her gaze at the little man who thought himself king and dictator over the “lobby” level.
My father would laugh in my face at the things I am putting up with. she thought sardonically. My father would probably have pulled out a blaster and shot him… and Mr. Conrad would have billed the man’s family for the energy expenditure used to do so.
Still, Cryonics Industries held enough attraction that any move they made would surely be copied by other companies.
For no company held dominion over markets and endeavors found to be lucrative.
As she waited for the Lobby Employee to find Mr. Tenloss or at least someone capable of decision making processes, she went over in her mind her meeting with Senator Balledan, Coruscant’s premier ambassador to the New Republic Senate.
In order for the New Republic to remain strong, Coruscant would need to prosper and being relegated to second class citizenship as Corelia (the formal capital of the current New Republic) had tried to do did not help.
An old, almost traditional rivalry existed between the two planets but it seemed (at least to Corelia) that Coruscant’s time in the limelight was past.
Well let’s see if we can change that…
She noted with surprise the number of charity operations Cryonics Industries had funded and set up for Coruscant, much to the delight of all those representing the planet.
Tenloss must have lost a fortune. Then again… she remembered Mr. Adalric Cronus smile cryptically as the company offered some sort of gems to be used to purchase needed services for the underprivileged (which surprisingly enough did not just extend to those living on the lower levels.
As she noticed the Lobby Employee still working on her request, she sighed and walked over to a waiting area. Upon straightening her business suit she sat down and turned her attention to the holonet news feed on Galactic Affairs.
It was going to be a long morning.
