Chp-61: A Mountain of Flimsi
Freefaller
Know what you're doing yet?
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Chp-61: A Mountain of Flimsi
Trade. Deals. Politics.
The kind of stuff that was actually decently interesting, the kind of stuff I liked to mess around with in 4x games. Not that I was very good at them. My Endless Space 2 save files can attest to that.
Hell, if my reincarnation/isekai adventure had turned out a little different, I could be heading a company right now! It sounds fun, all things considered.
But no. I have to sit at this desk, reviewing report after report about the Guild, about the Hand, about Edin, and about all the corpos and political slimeballs that want a piece of the pie. Partially because of the shipyards, and partially because of the Moffs investment and interest in the project.
Honestly, I can't really blame them. If I was them, I'd be doing the same goddamn thing.
Of course, I'm not them, so I'll despise them to my heart's content.
At that moment, I was at my desk. Like I was most of the time. Honestly, I spent more time behind this desk than I did sleeping, eating, or generally enjoying life.
Real Japanese salaryman type shit.
I was responding to various Governors across the sector in regards to Guild membership. There was an alliance of three systems that had started their own trade deals who joined as essentially one group, while half a dozen other systems had expressed interest.
In total, 9 new star systems joined the Guild, totaling 11. There could've been more, make no mistake. With Minda's prosperity, and the upcoming shipyards, many governors were scrambling to secure a spot.
The problem? Most didn't really qualify for Guild Membership. Their worlds either relied on slave labor, had local laws that caused conflict with the Guild, and more.
The world of Otho-3, for example, of the Otho system. 3 planets, 4 moons between them, a decent asteroid belt, and nothing else. Otho-3 was primarily an agricultural society that relied heavily on the enslaved native population, which had been enslaved for decades now. Apparently they had been classified as "non-sapient" under the Republic, likely due to some bribes, and no-one ever looked close enough to ask questions. Outer-rim, after all.
Now, to all those who were incompatible with the Guild system, I sent them messages detailing why they wouldn't work.
Exclusivity contracts with large companies for large portions of the local market meant the Guild couldn't do its thing.
Slave labor meant local workers and businesses would suffer, which meant the Guild couldn't do its thing.
Excessively high taxes ruined small shops which meant the Guild couldn't do its thing.
Each message was essentially some or all of these things, worded more professionally. Like;
"I am very thankful for your application to the Imperial Guild, however your current labor force is incompatible with the Guild's bylaws, as they remove jobs and opportunities from the market that the Guild is built to encourage."
I've written no less than a dozen variations of that statement alone. It appears that slavery is far more common across the Empire than I thought. I suppose that so long as the Core thinks everything is fine and dandy, then little else matters. After all, the Core holds such a ridiculous portion of the population and even more of the power.
Coruscant alone has at least a trillion people, if not more.
Still, those that joined held promise. The three that joined together had promise, and well established trade routes between themselves. There was still some negotiation underway, but Oioro was taking care of that. She was essentially the primary negotiator for many things nowadays.
And of course she is. She's very scary in a professional way. Veers will turn you to dust from orbit, and Grant will rip your head off, but Oioro will somehow make you thank her for bankrupting you.
Makes me appreciate Gary all the more. Not his real name, it's Garpastealap Hath, but I call him Gary in my head.
Gary had found employment here on Minda as a secretary after leaving Muunilist itself. The planet was a metropolis, and one of the most populated in the Outer Rim.
Muun culture heavily pushed for economic pursuits, which was exemplified in the Banking Clans. Gary, however, was less than thrilled about the expectations placed upon him.
He didn't mind running numbers or doing business, but he hated the constant political games that just about every member of Muun society played throughout their lives. He wanted away with it, to find a place where he could more easily express himself.
That place was Minda. He was originally hired as part of the propaganda department, and was actually behind the design of my winter overcoat/cape. My snazziest outfit, if I do say so myself.
He even made the designs for Darna's outfit, which features some softer flowing silks that resemble more classical Twi'lek outfits. They look good too. Adds an almost divine air to her when she arrives.
When I walk into a room, people shut up cause I'm the Governor. When Darna walks into a room, people shut up cause she looks like she stepped out of Heaven.
Weirdest part? It's not even about her beauty either, at least not solely. It's a combination of her looks, demeanor, the way she carries herself, and the outfit.
Really impressive shit. Glad I made her Vice-Governor.
And Guild Director.
And she just started a company. Which I invested in, actually. Not with my money, of course, but with Imperial funds, making it an Imperial company. More trade, controlled in some part by Minda, with more money flowing in. A good deal, expands things, makes things flow smoother.
Makes it more likely the shipyards work well. The shipyards that act as my blessing and curse, for they invite protection from above, yet scrutiny from below.
Regardless, while Darna is a founder, and not CEO of the company, she has been taking on a great deal of work, an unhealthy amount some might say, and I can't have one of my most competent subordinates die of stress.
I made a note to call her about which position she would rather stay in, and who she recommends as a replacement for the other. Both seats are very, very important, but I already have enough problems managing Minda, much less the Guild as well.
Maybe I should get her to take a holiday?
Regardless, I make a note to do something later, and get back to my work.
Soon, the new Stormtrooper Battalion would be landing here, alongside ISB Agent Thorne. Now, the fact that it was an ISB agent wasn't just scary, it was odd. Hiral? Sending an Agent from an organization that he has no power over?
The ISB operates independently from the rest of the Empire, answering only to the Emperor himself.
There must be a ploy. Maybe he wants to hide behind the ISB? Have records stating that he called them, got the proper authorities? And if things go wrong, it's the ISB's fault, not his.
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Hiral wants this done quickly, by people who, on some level at least, know what they're doing. The ISB may be a political shitshow, but at least they kinda know what they're doing.
What really worries me is the fucking Stormtroopers. A battalion has at least 800 or so troops! I'm gonna need to feed them, house them, etc… Even if they come in their own ship with their own supplies, that will need to be supplied as well.
Now, all of this is, despite my panic, a good thing. I can site a lot of these things, along with increased security measures, as reasonable slowdowns of the shipyards. After all, things need to be double checked, security measures doubled, etc…
All of this? A means to stall for time. Time to get Minda working properly. Once all 20 shipyards are at full blast, Minda and Edin will struggle to keep up with demand, if the list of pre-orders the Moff handed me is anything to go by.
The slimy bastard secured over 30 deals with Moffs and Governors alike for a bevy of ships, meaning before we ever get to selling them off the rack, we gotta get through something like nearly 300 ships. Sure, it's all corvettes and frigates, but some of the ships on this list are larger. Much farther down the list, of course, but from what I gather, Hiral expects production to be higher by the time we get to that point.
Which is bad. Cause frigates? Corvettes? Doable. The RnD team has been hard at work taking examples apart to figure out how to cut costs without cutting quality.
But a cruiser!? Those things could be up to 1km!
Problem is, these were requested by Moffs! So it's not like I can say no, cause if I say no, the Moff Hiral gets shit on, and takes it out on me!
Which, again, is why I'm trying to slow things down. RnD is currently all in on trying to optimize the current line of frigates and corvettes, which is 3 at the moment. That number will grow, as other frigate types have been requested. Currently, the plan is to finish the current projects, and then go all in on one type of cruiser. They're getting quite close to finishing the current base optimizations, which will cut our costs by around 2% and operating costs by about 5%. The kind of numbers that stack with time and scale.
It's far more reasonable(to a Moff) to say 'Sorry, but we are building so much that we can only build one type of cruiser right now. In 6 months we might be able to add another to the roster rather than tell them to their face that their request is unreasonable.
I'd left it up to both Veers and the RnD team to decide which cruiser would best fit this position, since it needs to be effective enough that people don't complain, but also something that can be built, after optimization.
It was as I was contemplating all of this that Myr'thos walked in.
It was around the time that they finished their daily spars with the Commander, but I noticed something as they removed their helmet.
A small red mark on their cheek. A hit.
I smirked.
"Grant got you this time, ey?"
They snorted in disdain, already firing up their console.
"The Commander is a diligent and focused opponent. I was merely testing her. She is still far beneath me."
"Of that I'm sure. Still, she's impressive. How about the Stormtroopers? I know they've undergone more extensive training under her."
Another snort of disdain.
"They are barely adequate. Passable for Imperial Soldiers I suppose."
Myr'thos's 'barely adequate' meant that they were actually pretty good. Which was nice, as I doubted the new incoming stormtroopers were as well trained.
Not to mention the troopers Shal brought with her. Thankfully, they lived full time on the Heavy Judgement, so I didn't need to worry about housing or nothing.
As Myr'thos started yelling slurs in a dead language that the censors didn't pick up on, I returned to work.
Elections were underway to replace the reps that died, plans to expand the Militia Academy were underway to account for the influx of recruits, and a large batch of immigrants was incoming, one of the few that were still allowed in to keep things growing, all set to settle in a set of growing cities that surrounded Rolling Greens. Lots of farms planned for that area to keep food production up. The hope was to eventually start exporting larger and larger amounts of food.
There were many other things. Reports on new roads, rail-lines, Darna's people(I have no idea where she gets them but they're super effective) catching corrupt officials, energy infrastructure, the Mindan Collegial Program making new campuses, and more.
So much more.
It never seemed to end. My inbox was filled to the brim. I would have a hundred emails, read through forty, refresh the page, and have a hundred and ten.
As Mugwuffin purred in her newest napping spot around my legs under my desk, I took a quick shot of hot cocoa, and locked the fuck in.
I was going to bureaucrat the shit out of this.
Then? Retire rich as fuck.
Let's get this bread.
-
Hi there folks! Wanted to do a more Las-centric chapter, since I jump around a lot. I know it can be kinda odd to go a chapter or two without seeing the MC, but the perspective changes are how I show other sides of the story.
Las is mostly in his office, doing Governor things, and that isn't always super interesting. Are there other interesting things he could be doing? Maybe, maybe…But right now he's stuck in his office because of the Hands attack. And, I can't really think of anything else right now, so I instead jump between characters. Allows me to explore them a bit more as well, which I enjoy, even if it does feel like I end up neglecting some characters for a little too long.
Also! Ship time! I have found some cool fanart for cruiser concepts that the shipyards will struggle to build in the future. The thing is, I don't want to always use fanart all the time, cause as much as it is cool, it can be a little much at times. So, I would prefer to use an existing Imperial Cruiser. A real one.
By the definition of the Anaxes War College, a cruiser is between 400-1000 meters, so not those little Arquitens which are technically frigates. Can't really find anything, since the Empire seems to be top heavy at the best of times. Any help with this is greatly appreciated.
As always, feedback and commentary are appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
-Freefaller
Trade. Deals. Politics.
The kind of stuff that was actually decently interesting, the kind of stuff I liked to mess around with in 4x games. Not that I was very good at them. My Endless Space 2 save files can attest to that.
Hell, if my reincarnation/isekai adventure had turned out a little different, I could be heading a company right now! It sounds fun, all things considered.
But no. I have to sit at this desk, reviewing report after report about the Guild, about the Hand, about Edin, and about all the corpos and political slimeballs that want a piece of the pie. Partially because of the shipyards, and partially because of the Moffs investment and interest in the project.
Honestly, I can't really blame them. If I was them, I'd be doing the same goddamn thing.
Of course, I'm not them, so I'll despise them to my heart's content.
At that moment, I was at my desk. Like I was most of the time. Honestly, I spent more time behind this desk than I did sleeping, eating, or generally enjoying life.
Real Japanese salaryman type shit.
I was responding to various Governors across the sector in regards to Guild membership. There was an alliance of three systems that had started their own trade deals who joined as essentially one group, while half a dozen other systems had expressed interest.
In total, 9 new star systems joined the Guild, totaling 11. There could've been more, make no mistake. With Minda's prosperity, and the upcoming shipyards, many governors were scrambling to secure a spot.
The problem? Most didn't really qualify for Guild Membership. Their worlds either relied on slave labor, had local laws that caused conflict with the Guild, and more.
The world of Otho-3, for example, of the Otho system. 3 planets, 4 moons between them, a decent asteroid belt, and nothing else. Otho-3 was primarily an agricultural society that relied heavily on the enslaved native population, which had been enslaved for decades now. Apparently they had been classified as "non-sapient" under the Republic, likely due to some bribes, and no-one ever looked close enough to ask questions. Outer-rim, after all.
Now, to all those who were incompatible with the Guild system, I sent them messages detailing why they wouldn't work.
Exclusivity contracts with large companies for large portions of the local market meant the Guild couldn't do its thing.
Slave labor meant local workers and businesses would suffer, which meant the Guild couldn't do its thing.
Excessively high taxes ruined small shops which meant the Guild couldn't do its thing.
Each message was essentially some or all of these things, worded more professionally. Like;
"I am very thankful for your application to the Imperial Guild, however your current labor force is incompatible with the Guild's bylaws, as they remove jobs and opportunities from the market that the Guild is built to encourage."
I've written no less than a dozen variations of that statement alone. It appears that slavery is far more common across the Empire than I thought. I suppose that so long as the Core thinks everything is fine and dandy, then little else matters. After all, the Core holds such a ridiculous portion of the population and even more of the power.
Coruscant alone has at least a trillion people, if not more.
Still, those that joined held promise. The three that joined together had promise, and well established trade routes between themselves. There was still some negotiation underway, but Oioro was taking care of that. She was essentially the primary negotiator for many things nowadays.
And of course she is. She's very scary in a professional way. Veers will turn you to dust from orbit, and Grant will rip your head off, but Oioro will somehow make you thank her for bankrupting you.
Makes me appreciate Gary all the more. Not his real name, it's Garpastealap Hath, but I call him Gary in my head.
Gary had found employment here on Minda as a secretary after leaving Muunilist itself. The planet was a metropolis, and one of the most populated in the Outer Rim.
Muun culture heavily pushed for economic pursuits, which was exemplified in the Banking Clans. Gary, however, was less than thrilled about the expectations placed upon him.
He didn't mind running numbers or doing business, but he hated the constant political games that just about every member of Muun society played throughout their lives. He wanted away with it, to find a place where he could more easily express himself.
That place was Minda. He was originally hired as part of the propaganda department, and was actually behind the design of my winter overcoat/cape. My snazziest outfit, if I do say so myself.
He even made the designs for Darna's outfit, which features some softer flowing silks that resemble more classical Twi'lek outfits. They look good too. Adds an almost divine air to her when she arrives.
When I walk into a room, people shut up cause I'm the Governor. When Darna walks into a room, people shut up cause she looks like she stepped out of Heaven.
Weirdest part? It's not even about her beauty either, at least not solely. It's a combination of her looks, demeanor, the way she carries herself, and the outfit.
Really impressive shit. Glad I made her Vice-Governor.
And Guild Director.
And she just started a company. Which I invested in, actually. Not with my money, of course, but with Imperial funds, making it an Imperial company. More trade, controlled in some part by Minda, with more money flowing in. A good deal, expands things, makes things flow smoother.
Makes it more likely the shipyards work well. The shipyards that act as my blessing and curse, for they invite protection from above, yet scrutiny from below.
Regardless, while Darna is a founder, and not CEO of the company, she has been taking on a great deal of work, an unhealthy amount some might say, and I can't have one of my most competent subordinates die of stress.
I made a note to call her about which position she would rather stay in, and who she recommends as a replacement for the other. Both seats are very, very important, but I already have enough problems managing Minda, much less the Guild as well.
Maybe I should get her to take a holiday?
Regardless, I make a note to do something later, and get back to my work.
Soon, the new Stormtrooper Battalion would be landing here, alongside ISB Agent Thorne. Now, the fact that it was an ISB agent wasn't just scary, it was odd. Hiral? Sending an Agent from an organization that he has no power over?
The ISB operates independently from the rest of the Empire, answering only to the Emperor himself.
There must be a ploy. Maybe he wants to hide behind the ISB? Have records stating that he called them, got the proper authorities? And if things go wrong, it's the ISB's fault, not his.
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Hiral wants this done quickly, by people who, on some level at least, know what they're doing. The ISB may be a political shitshow, but at least they kinda know what they're doing.
What really worries me is the fucking Stormtroopers. A battalion has at least 800 or so troops! I'm gonna need to feed them, house them, etc… Even if they come in their own ship with their own supplies, that will need to be supplied as well.
Now, all of this is, despite my panic, a good thing. I can site a lot of these things, along with increased security measures, as reasonable slowdowns of the shipyards. After all, things need to be double checked, security measures doubled, etc…
All of this? A means to stall for time. Time to get Minda working properly. Once all 20 shipyards are at full blast, Minda and Edin will struggle to keep up with demand, if the list of pre-orders the Moff handed me is anything to go by.
The slimy bastard secured over 30 deals with Moffs and Governors alike for a bevy of ships, meaning before we ever get to selling them off the rack, we gotta get through something like nearly 300 ships. Sure, it's all corvettes and frigates, but some of the ships on this list are larger. Much farther down the list, of course, but from what I gather, Hiral expects production to be higher by the time we get to that point.
Which is bad. Cause frigates? Corvettes? Doable. The RnD team has been hard at work taking examples apart to figure out how to cut costs without cutting quality.
But a cruiser!? Those things could be up to 1km!
Problem is, these were requested by Moffs! So it's not like I can say no, cause if I say no, the Moff Hiral gets shit on, and takes it out on me!
Which, again, is why I'm trying to slow things down. RnD is currently all in on trying to optimize the current line of frigates and corvettes, which is 3 at the moment. That number will grow, as other frigate types have been requested. Currently, the plan is to finish the current projects, and then go all in on one type of cruiser. They're getting quite close to finishing the current base optimizations, which will cut our costs by around 2% and operating costs by about 5%. The kind of numbers that stack with time and scale.
It's far more reasonable(to a Moff) to say 'Sorry, but we are building so much that we can only build one type of cruiser right now. In 6 months we might be able to add another to the roster rather than tell them to their face that their request is unreasonable.
I'd left it up to both Veers and the RnD team to decide which cruiser would best fit this position, since it needs to be effective enough that people don't complain, but also something that can be built, after optimization.
It was as I was contemplating all of this that Myr'thos walked in.
It was around the time that they finished their daily spars with the Commander, but I noticed something as they removed their helmet.
A small red mark on their cheek. A hit.
I smirked.
"Grant got you this time, ey?"
They snorted in disdain, already firing up their console.
"The Commander is a diligent and focused opponent. I was merely testing her. She is still far beneath me."
"Of that I'm sure. Still, she's impressive. How about the Stormtroopers? I know they've undergone more extensive training under her."
Another snort of disdain.
"They are barely adequate. Passable for Imperial Soldiers I suppose."
Myr'thos's 'barely adequate' meant that they were actually pretty good. Which was nice, as I doubted the new incoming stormtroopers were as well trained.
Not to mention the troopers Shal brought with her. Thankfully, they lived full time on the Heavy Judgement, so I didn't need to worry about housing or nothing.
As Myr'thos started yelling slurs in a dead language that the censors didn't pick up on, I returned to work.
Elections were underway to replace the reps that died, plans to expand the Militia Academy were underway to account for the influx of recruits, and a large batch of immigrants was incoming, one of the few that were still allowed in to keep things growing, all set to settle in a set of growing cities that surrounded Rolling Greens. Lots of farms planned for that area to keep food production up. The hope was to eventually start exporting larger and larger amounts of food.
There were many other things. Reports on new roads, rail-lines, Darna's people(I have no idea where she gets them but they're super effective) catching corrupt officials, energy infrastructure, the Mindan Collegial Program making new campuses, and more.
So much more.
It never seemed to end. My inbox was filled to the brim. I would have a hundred emails, read through forty, refresh the page, and have a hundred and ten.
As Mugwuffin purred in her newest napping spot around my legs under my desk, I took a quick shot of hot cocoa, and locked the fuck in.
I was going to bureaucrat the shit out of this.
Then? Retire rich as fuck.
Let's get this bread.
-
Hi there folks! Wanted to do a more Las-centric chapter, since I jump around a lot. I know it can be kinda odd to go a chapter or two without seeing the MC, but the perspective changes are how I show other sides of the story.
Las is mostly in his office, doing Governor things, and that isn't always super interesting. Are there other interesting things he could be doing? Maybe, maybe…But right now he's stuck in his office because of the Hands attack. And, I can't really think of anything else right now, so I instead jump between characters. Allows me to explore them a bit more as well, which I enjoy, even if it does feel like I end up neglecting some characters for a little too long.
Also! Ship time! I have found some cool fanart for cruiser concepts that the shipyards will struggle to build in the future. The thing is, I don't want to always use fanart all the time, cause as much as it is cool, it can be a little much at times. So, I would prefer to use an existing Imperial Cruiser. A real one.
By the definition of the Anaxes War College, a cruiser is between 400-1000 meters, so not those little Arquitens which are technically frigates. Can't really find anything, since the Empire seems to be top heavy at the best of times. Any help with this is greatly appreciated.
As always, feedback and commentary are appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
-Freefaller