Mid 962 ARR (38 BBY)
"I'm afraid it just isn't that simple, John."
Brihlalon Tuls had been amused but gracious when I had first met with him a few months earlier. After all, how many people my age start a company and then approach one of the premier law firms on Naboo, Tuls & Duss, to represent them? The fact that I even had the credits to bring them on board made it all the stranger.
Now, he must be wondering what he had gotten himself in for. In no time at all, Theed Tech was one of his biggest clients. Only the plasma industry and some of the wine growing aristocrats had more money to throw at corporate law services. Neither of those really required that much work, they were never doing anything new.
Theed Tech was a whole other animal. In just three months there had been patents, secrecy agreements and a government defence contract. This just isn't how people typically do business on Naboo.
The current meeting, between Tuls's team and Theed Tech's senior leadership, was about a serious problem that had arisen from our SecuriPAD contract. How to get the parts for 15,000 devices, when these included not just cheap readily available commercial components, but moderately sophisticated kit. The most difficult of these were surveillance grade sensors and droid-brains from Arakyd Industries. Arakyd were based on Vulpter, an industrial planet located in the galaxy's Deep Core.
We had been given four million credits upfront, with the rest being paid in instalments as we delivered the pads. In theory, we had the money to easily buy everything we needed, but getting it to Naboo, a mid-rim world not known for tech was a real headache.
I had asked rather naively, why we couldn't just buy a ship, fly to Vulpter, get what we need and fly back. After two and half years on Naboo, aside from atypical fashion choices (dressing like a Corellian in my practical trousers), I had really started to fit in. I rarely made obvious missteps regarding etiquette, using services or daily life in general. Theed was my home now and I was a proud Naboo citizen.
When it came to matters beyond our little utopia on Naboo, I was back to being a confused duckling, with little of the knowledge that most people took for granted. To me, I knew I had the money to buy a ship. I knew I had the money to hire a pilot. I knew where the things I needed were in the galaxy. It should be that simple.
I had not accounted for Republic bureaucracy and corruption. Yes, I could buy a ship, but to use it for commercial purposes required licenses which would take months to acquire. Then there were the import/export licenses for droid parts, which were complicated as they counted as high value commodities. If I had wanted to import food or blankets it would be a lot easier.
Then there were tariffs on moving goods between Republic sectors, which were really designed to protect the Trade Federation's shipping monopolies. All of this assumed that Arakyd would even sell to us the quantity we were asking for. We were a new tech firm not signed up to the Techno Union, so they might not consider us worth their time.
"It doesn't resolve our immediate problem, but it is worth seriously considering in the long run." Ona said, which earned her some surprised looks. "Our supply problems aren't going to go away, it is not just the SecuriPADs, if we want every adult on Naboo to have a SuperPAD, then we'll need to import vast quantities of components that our local wholesalers cannot possibly supply. Having our own shipping arm would give us a lot more control over the supply situation and set us up for exporting off-world in the long run."
She was completely right, though I couldn't help but smirk at how my grandiose ambitions were rubbing off on my older and supposedly more mature colleagues. "and" she continued "...I'm kinda curious what John could do if he started playing around with starships."
Brihlalon Tuls felt an overwhelming sense of awe and dread at that thought.
---
It was a warm spring day. Hold on, does Theed even have seasons? Anyway, it was a warm day with Kyla, Asherré and I sat out on my balcony, enjoying the breathtaking view that reminded me just how far I must be from North London.
Gavin and I had drifted apart. It was only the fact we lived together that had kept us close before. He was a good guy, he was easy to talk to, but he was just as easy to not talk to. So, we had hardly spoken in months, and only really when Kyla was with us.
"You want us to come with you?" Asherré asked slowly, as if to be sure of what I was asking. Asherré and I didn't have much in common, but she was just nice to be around. More importantly, she was now almost inseparable from Kyla, who has been my closest friend since I had first learned to speak Basic. I was convinced they must now be dating, but they had yet to admit it.
It had been decided that we would need to charter a ship and travel to Vulpter to negotiate with Arakyd Industries directly. Ona would be coming with me, alongside Brihlalon who, after some hesitation, had agreed to travel with us and to make sure we didn't break any laws or start a trade war.
Given that we would have to pass by Corellia on the way, visiting Rana seemed a perfectly reasonable thing to do. I had sent a holo-message on ahead to let her know we would be coming and planned to spend a few days there on our journey back from Vulpter.
Since I was making a bit of a holiday of the journey, and I'd not taken a trip literally anywhere since arriving in Theed, I wanted to bring my friends along. You only go to space for the first time once so might as well make the most of it.
I nodded to Asherré, "I mean you don't have to come, I just thought you might like a trip across the galaxy. Corellia has some huge shipyard cities, imagine the architecture." I was laying it on a bit thick, both Kyla and Asherré had long dreamed of traveling off world. The opportunity to come along on a journey, to two core worlds no less, was something they could never afford to miss.
Asherré wrapped me in a massive hug, thanking me over and over, before turning to her not-girlfriend Kyla and began making rapid conversation about planning and what to pack, that I was apparently unneeded for. I turned back to the view with a contented smile.