Vance Taesch was in the last days of his vacation on Abridon spending time with his wife, Cylla and his three children; Michael, Alek and Emilia when he got the call from Morgan. Marin's visit to Rendili had gone well, Marin had completed what he had sought out to do, and now it was time for Vance to step in. They had timed Vance's arrival so that he would arrive shortly after Marin Faulker's departure.
Aboard a Nondescript Shuttle Outside Rendili
Vance had forgone the use of his personal transport, the
Illustrious Dream in favor of something a bit more inconspicuous. Mostly as a precaution, but this would ensure that his visit would go unnoticed.
"Mr. Taesch, we'll be docking in 25 minutes." The voice of the pilot came through the comlink system.
Vance stared out the viewport of the small shuttle high above the planet Rendili. From this vantage he could clearly see the oceans mixed with the landmasses that extended from one pole to the other. It seemed like an odd sight from space, like a chaotic mixture incomplete. It were as though the landmasses had never been given the chance to develop into the large continents they wanted to become. Always fighting in some un-winnable battle against the relentless seas, which would cause them to forever continue in a state of flux.
In many ways, Rendili from this view reminded Vance Taesch of the Galaxy itself. For so long the Republic had prospered, sure there were wars and setbacks, life itself is a trial wrought with perils. Yet, the Galaxy always had a way of working things out. All in all, the Republic was solid;
stable. Which is ironic considering the propaganda generated by the newest incarnation of evil in the Galaxy, the so-called New Order. The New Order might have the Galaxy believe that they were the foundation of stability in this Galaxy.
Yet, it was the Republic that stood for millenia after millenia. This New Order, is just that;
new. Having already been overthrown once in the course of its less-than-century-long existence, it was the Empire that was providing a breeding ground for instability. Vance caught himself as he almost let his thoughts wander too far off the beaten path. As he glanced out the viewport again he recognized that they were just moments from docking on Rendili.
"Mr. Taesch, we're docking now. Your escorts will be waiting for you as soon as you step off the shuttle." The pilot said through the comlink.
As Vance stepped off the shuttle, the breeze of fresh air hit him as he made his way down the ramp.
"Vance Taesch, I presume." The greeting came from a silver-colored protocol droid.
Vance nodded in agreement. The droid was followed by a trio of the facility's own security forces which would provide protection however unnecessary for their guest; Vance Taesch.
Vance and his newly-acquired security detail followed the protocol droid through a long hallway which ended in a turbo lift which they took down several floors in a ride that seemed like it might not ever end.
The turbo lift stopped at a floor with restricted access, the droid placed his hand on the console which beeped a few times as some transmitter within the droid's metallic casing caused the doors to open with an audible
woosh.
The protocol droid ushered them down a somewhat dimly lit hall which was smaller than its counterpart several dozen floors above. The footsteps echoed throughout the barren halls as the boots of Vance's security detail clicked against the porcelain tile surface.
The droid escorted them to a small waiting room, where Vance's security detail waited patiently. The droid then pointed Vance in the direction of a door which lead to a small conference room. The protocol droid entered a six-digit code which flashed green, as the doors slid open revealing a conference room which sat nearly two dozen at a large rectangular table. As Vance entered the room, the doors shut behind him. All the seats at the table were occupied, save one. As Vance scanned the room, there was a variety of middle-aged (and older) men, and a few women as well.
"Mr. Taesch." The man at the head of the table said, as he removed the cigar from his mouth. The assembly of men and women was a seemingly casual one, as the smoke-filled room and abundance of alcoholic beverages indicated. "How goes the business of saving the Galaxy?" The white-haired man said with a smile.
"Well, Marty.. apparently it doesn't pay as well as your job. So, are you guys hiring or what?" Vance said returning the smile, as the assembly began to laugh.
The group of men and women were in fact, members of the Rendili Parliament. They together, represented the ruling party of Rendili. They controlled the majority vote in the small Parliamentary Government, and they held sway over Rendili StarDrive. Many of them had served several consecutive 5-year terms, and they had all been re-elected in the past months which would ensure they would continue to serve for another 5 years, but in reality they knew they would serve as long as they chose.
The complement of men and women rose to shake hands with Vance as he made his way around the room.
"Please, have a seat." Martin Schottenfleur the Prime Minster of Rendili said, holding his cigar at his side as the smoke streamed towards the ceiling.
"Of course, thank you." Vance said as he made his way to the seat opposite Marty Schottenfleur. "Where are your manners, Marty? What does a guy have to do to get a drink around here?" Vance joked.
A service droid walked over with what had apparently been pre-assigned as Vance's drink of choice. As the droid set the wide-bottomed snifter in front of Vance, he quickly rose the drink above his head, which the members of parliament met in kind before taking a sip of the Luranian Brandy.
"So, back to business Mr. Taesch." Marty said at the opposite end of the table.
"Marty, please. Call me Vance."
"Of course." Marty replied with a nod.
"Well, as you know we need your help. And I believe our partnership will be a mutually beneficial one. I mean, you guys hate the Empire as much as I do. Unless of course, the
Reign-class is a new design of yours." Vance said, referencing the Star Destroyer present at Rendili.
"Ha!" Marty guffawed.
"We have a defense fleet that could wipe that destroyer out in the blink of an eye!" A thin, dark-haired man interjected.
"It's insulting that they come knocking on our door as though we owe them some type of penance!" A pale-skinned female with shoulder-length blonde hair offered.
"Listen, I hate the Empire as much as anyone here. That's not the issue. They show up, we allow them their wide berth and in return we go about our business." Marty interrupted.
"Of course, Marty. And I'm not advocating that you openly protest the Empire. On the contrary." Vance said.
"Well then what exactly are you advocating, Vance? You know that we'd like to support you, but doing so openly would at minimal draw extra attention from the Empire. That's not the kind of attention we want. Worst case scenario we'd be thrown into a state of war, we've got the ships for it and the defense stations, so no doubt we'd be hard to take down. But if the Empire had their sights fixed on us, we wouldn't be able to hold them off indefinitely." Marty clarified.
"I understand that, and I'm not asking you to put yourselves in harm's way unnecessarily. As of now, the Empire visits what? Once in a blue moon?" Vance asked, before continuing but he was interrupted.
"What if we offered them an increased sum of credits, maybe that would get them off our backs for good allowing us to operate with full autonomy?" A blonde-haired man sitting caddy-corner from Vance asked.
"No, that's unnecessary. That would just draw more attention. Instead, what I'm suggesting is, as far as the Empire is concerned you don't change a thing. In all honesty this is just a precaution, we shouldn't even be worried about this in the first place. The Imperial representative may come, he may not. If he does, then all I'm saying is to do what you've always done. Play their game." Vance said, smiling.
"And behind the scenes?" Marty Schottenfleur the Prime Minister asked.
"Behind the scenes, is another matter entirely. We've setup a front corporation, Ramatech based on Ord Radama. Sullivan Freeman has already setup an account with Ramatech to deliver Towing Frigates. Based on that relationship, and similar relationships we create in the future, you can funnel resources and even ships into the Alliance." Vancenti Taesch said.
"Interesting, it seems as though you've thought this out, Mr. Taesch." A black-haired man with a round face and glasses observed.
"From as many angles as possible. You could help bolster the Alliance fleet, greatly. In turn, once the Alliance has achieved enough of a foundation, which by our calculations will be soon, we can make our arrangement public and insure that Rendili will receive no further interference from the Empire. You've already got your own defense fleet, your own defense platforms, and you'll also have our support should any power choose to interfere with you." Taesch concluded.
Marty Schottenfleur pursed his lip as he considered Vance's proposal. He wanted to help the Alliance in any way he could, but he wanted to ensure his people's safety and protection.
"Of course there are thousands, likely millions here on Rendili who would gladly have us join the Alliance, but the fact remains that this relationship must remain a secret. How can we possibly do that?" Marty questioned.
"Actually, sir. If I may?" One of the men asked, he had an athletic build with short brown hair and blue eyes.
"Of course, Mr. Scott." Marty replied.
"We already have clients who wish to operate with a certain amount of... discretion, shall we say. So often times our engineers are only given the most basic of information about the clients they're designing vessels for. This situation could fall into that category, the engineers don't need to know who they're designing the ships for. And as for the actual construction of the ships, that will be nothing new. We build war fleets here, it's what we do, so that would draw no extra attention." The brown-haired man known as Scott said, as he was quite proud of himself.
Marty nodded, as he considered the possibilities to himiself silently.
"If I might also add." Another man said, without pausing to wait for permission. "Tomlinson and I are members of the Corporate Oversight Committee, we could easily arrange for orders to be assigned to different corporations after the orders have already been sent out, making them impossible to trace." One of the younger delegates added.
"Yes, Jenkins; but what if the orders are checked in retrospect? Surely any changes made would be noticed, and seem peculiar." Marty questioned.
"That's the beauty of being a part of the Oversight Committee, sir. Jenkins and I
are the oversight. Besides, once the records have been changed the change is permanent and erases any previous entry, so it would be impossible to see if they were changed. As long as the buyer was legitimate and the ships seemed appropriate they would not be questioned." Tomlinson pointed out.
"Right, if we changed the orders to reflect say... several
Republic-class Star Destroyers being sent to some mining colony in the Outer Rim, then it might look suspicious. But as long as the orders make sense, there would be no reason to doubt them." Jenkins added.
"Hmmm..." Martin Schottenfleur, the Prime Minister of Rendili said as he sat there contemplating the arrangement.
"Well, Vance..." Marty began, "It looks like you've got yourself a partner. Or,
partners I should say." The Prime Minster corrected as he looked around the room at the other Parliament members who would be helping Rendili StarDrive funnel resources to the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Vance let out a deep sigh at the most excellent news.
"Thank you, Marty." Vance started, "You won't regret it." Vance said, wearing the largest of smiles as he made his way around the room shaking hands with the various Parliament members. As the hours went on they would discuss several ways in which the Alliance could help Rendili and its holdings, and how Rendili could help the Alliance. It would be a beautiful friendship.
So it was unofficially official, Rendili and all its holdings would be at the full disposal of the Alliance. Though outside a smoky room in the lower levels of the Rendili StarDrive corporation, none would be the wiser.
