[b]Mandalore System,
Darths Gra'tua and Lena.[/b]

Gra'tua gritted his teeth and ignored the groan that was about to escape his lips, he was finally released from the medical bay just as they reached the Mandalore system, he turned to his guest, Darth Lena. "So what we have discusses these past few days... with you taking advantage of my mental state because I was on sedatives, we are still going ahead with that?"

Lena nodded slowly, "I am still interested in it, assuming you are." She grinned, "Now that your head is clear from sedatives and painkillers."

He let out a snort and winced, glad for his mask hiding his facial features. "I just don't see what you get out of it, you tell me you wish to provide financial support for the acquisition of one, possibly 2 shipyards... and in return you only wish to have one or both of them be available to modify your vessels from time to time?"

She nodded again, slowly this time. "Indeed, that is all I ask, what use is a partnership or alliance if we don't help each other out? I know my strengths and weaknesses Gra'tua, I prefer to be in the shadows, you however, the way you are headed you will get into spotlights sooner or later, so by all means, let it be your name on the deeds of ownership, but help a trusted friend out once in a while, that is all I wish of you."

"Hmm, we have a deal, Kashiir, bring us into the Mandalore system... find out the current owners of any large shipyards in the system and forward the information to myself and Lena."

The Chiss commander nodded, "By your command, my lord."

After a while their options were presented to them and the both of them went over the list, MandalMotors, Mandal Hypernautics and Ani Aranov Construction. After a while Gra'tua gestured to one name, "Let's try our hand MandalMotors, I have trusted my life with their creations and designs for years and I trust their shipyards the most." Lena merely nodded and he turned to Kashiir, "See if we can contact a representative of theirs and ask for a appointment to see us."

A few minutes pass while one of the communications crewmen contacts MandalMotors Tower with the request, a little back and forth and some inspiring drum based hold music later the image of a secretary appears on the holoviewer before Gra'tua.

"Olarom, alor Gra'tua. MandalMotors is always pleased to see a return customer, I understand you wish to make a somewhat less usual purchase at this time?" The secretary said.

He bowed his head, "Olarom." He reached for Revan's mask and removed it, placing to the side so he could speak with his face and head bare. "Indeed I do, I intend to continue purchasing and using MandalMotors services, but for the future safeguards for my clan I wish to expand my already existing holdings of some small shipyards by adding one, possibly two large shipyards." He grinned, "No offense to your fine company but sometimes when my ship gets blown up somewhat in battle it might be best to have a shipyard of my own to immediately start repairs, since with this war I can imagine the orders for new ships you need to service are quite a lot."

"Understandable," The secretary replied. "Hold please." they then said as the holoimage changed to a rotating image of the MandalMotors logo while the secretary contacted their superior. After a few minutes the image of the secretary returned. "Thank you for waiting, I can schedule you an appointment to meet with one of the senior executives tomorrow morning around 10:00 Keldabe time."

Lena raised a brow, say what you want about Mandalorians, at least they did not tarry setting up meetings. She nodded slowly towards Gra'tua.

He smiled and bowed, "That would be most welcome, would it be fine if I bring along a associate of mine who is like a silent partner?"

"I believe that would be Acceptable." The secretary replied with a smile.

"My thanks for your assistance, ret'urcye mhi." Gra'tua said.

"Ret'urcye mhi, alor Gra'tua" The secretary said before the communication ceased.

Gra'tua turned to Lena and then with a groan stood up, "Well that's settled, we have a meeting tomorrow to go to, so before that, I will rest, Kashiir, make sure I will be awake if I am not able so by myself so we can make the appointment at 10:00 Keldabe time." He asked and then went to make his way to his quarters.

She chuckled, "Still recovering I see." She nodded to Kashiir, "I shall make my way back to my ship, but I will be back tomorrow in time for the appointment, would you be so kind to tell me what timezone we are in right now so I can return here before 10 o'clock Keldabe time?" She grinned.

Kashiir rose his eyebrows, "It will be done."

************************
[b]The following day...[/b]

The time of the appointment grew near and Gra'tua and Lena made their way to the Capital aboard one of Gra'tua's Kom'rk Transports. They were cleared to land at the MandalMotors private landingstrip and once they emerged from the craft the same secretary they had spoken to previously was there to meet them and escort them to the executive who was presently overseeing design work in the research wing. After going through a brief security check at the entrance, mostly just looking for recording or hacking devices as weapons were ignored for the most part. Most of the viewing windows into the labs were darkened so as not to reveal their interiors but a few showed their contents, one with a stripped down Aka'jor shuttle being worked on by several engineers, another had a fighter that looked much like the M3-A Scyk being worked on. Eventually the were lead into an office overlooking a large hanger with a transport of some kind in it. the Executive stood at the far window watching the engineers below work on the transport.

Smiling he nodded his thanks to the secretary and then turned to the executive, his helmet with mask in the crook of his arm. "Olarom." He simply said in greeting.

Lena followed, looking around, it was fascinating to see how the Mandalorians operated on something like ship construction and maintenance. When the arrived at the office and Gra'tua said his greeting she tried her best to mimic the speech and say the same. "Olarom."

The Executive raised an eyebrow at Lena's clumsy attempt to mimic Gra'tua but said nothing about it. "Olarom, Gra'tua. I am Evast Silas, I understand you met with my clans alor recently."

Gra'tua blinked, "So I have, I am currently host even to Goran Silas, a fine marksman who is helping me become a better warrior. I thank you for meeting me and my silent partner." He glanced at Lena and then turned back to Evast Silas.

Lena bowed, "My apologies if I said that wrong I merely wished to extend my greetings."

"Not especially silent for a silent partner is she." Evast remarked with a smile.

She smiled, "I know where my weaknesses lie, for the most part of this discussion I will defer to alor Gra'tua here, I merely am here to help him and assist him financially."

He grinned, "Not that I am poor, but it is nice to have someone to split the costs with. I assume you have been made aware why we are here?"

"You wish to purchase some of our capital class drydocks, I was made aware." Evast replied as he gestured to a couple of seats across the desk from himself before sitting down as well. "those drydocks are of course highly valuable assets of MandalMotors, they would not come cheap."

Gra'tua took a seat with Lena taking the one next to him and he nodded slowly, "Indeed, I, we, are aware they would not come cheap." He grinned, "And for the record I was not made aware I would be meeting a representative of clan Silas, so I do not ask nor expect any friendly, or animosity in regards of this potential acquisition. But from the sound of it you have at least not send us away already because you are not interested in selling any of the drydocks."

"I was not aware of your dealings with my clan until after the meeting was arranged either." Evast replied. "But you are right, we may have a few drydocks that are slow on turnover at this time. the question becomes what are they worth to you?"

He grinned and rose his eyebrows, "Now that would depend on the value and current state of the drydocks, would it not? I am willing to pay a fair price for them, it will not be said of me that I pay someone for services or in this case drydocks less than they are worth."

"A couple of our facilities are running dated support systems and frankly this slows down their production, recently they were relegated to maintenance duties where their full systems are not critical." Evast said as he flicked a holoprojector on his desk to active and shifted through a few displays until an image one of the drydocks appeared. "Now we could spend a few million credits upgrading them to bring them up to speed, but we presently don't have the contracts to justify the expenditure."

He studied the image and nodded slowly, "Well then, how much would you be asking for those drydocks? If you do have a interest in selling them, I would also pay for the upgrades to be installed to bring them up to speed to current standards and regulations."

"If you were to purchase any what you did with them afterward would be of little concern." Evast aside as he waved away the holoimage. "Of course the war is intensifying from all reports, its possible the company will have more contracts to fill in the near future and upgrading an older dock is cheaper than building a new one." Evast said with a shrug. "Its a 'immediate profit' vs 'potential future gains' sort of situation."

He turned to Lena and briefly conferred with her before turning back to Evast Silad, "Assuming these drydocks have no extra facilities, we are willing to pay a minimum of 12 million credits, hoping that any upgrades needed are included in that price, otherwise we would be willing to pay extra for your company to upgrade the drydocks, naturally."

Evast thought about it for a few moments before he responded. "Would you care to see the facilities themselves?" He asked.

"We would be honoured to." Gra'tua said after receiving a slight nod from Lena.

Evast stood and lead the two over to a small side door that leads down a flight of stairs to the hanger the office overlooked. "This is a new line of transport we've been working on, nothing overly impressive about it, though it was designed by the same team the put the Aka'jor shuttle together, as such the design shares several characteristics such as easy mod-ability." He said as they approached the transport. "Still has a few kinks to work out but this prototype has passed all flight safety checks." he added as he nodded to the head technician and made a few quick hand gestures reminiscent of military code.

Gra'tua spoke for both of them, "I think we are most safe in your hands and whatever craft you have designed." Not as if he would fly into a vessel that was likely to blow up with himself in it after all.

"You give me too much credit, I had no hand in the design of this craft short of giving the approval to build the prototype. I have however come to like the design and its possibilities." Evast replied as he lead them up the wide boarding ramp in the side of the craft that could be equally useful for cargo or troop deployment. The interior was rather spartan but there were rows of back to back seating along the main holds centreline equipped with combat restraints and the cockpit had space for 4, pilot, co-pilot and two generic consoles that could be adapted to many uses. Evast took the pilots seat and fired up the engines as he prepped the ship for orbital decent.

Evast spoke about a few of the development points of the transport as they made the journey into orbit but eventually they cam in sight of the two drydock facilities Evast had mentioned. In the latice framework of one sat a Venator class Star Destroyer undergoing repairs while the second sat empty, it was the second one that Evast set their course for intending to give Gra'tua a close visual inspection of the docks exterior.

"They look well enough, what would it cost to upgrade them to current day standards?"

"Most of the work would be based in the facilities command centres and material storage bays. the computer systems in particular need an overhaul and some of the bays could do with extensive redesign to better make us of the space in them and their access points." Evast said as a maintenance tug drifted past them at a slow speed. "Estimated costs are around 420,000 credits."

Lena was observing quietly and spoke up now, "And how much for the drydocks themselves?"

"I would need to check with our accounts division for the final number but i believe we could part with them for as little as seven million credits." Evast replied confidently.

She blinked. "For both of them? Or 7 million each?"

"Each of course."

She nodded, "Merely making sure, forgive me if I what I say next is a insult but haggling has always been the cornerstone of good business where I am from." She smiled, "Seeing as they need upgrades, perhaps we could convince you to lower the price for your drydocks to 6.2 million credits each, with the 420 thousand credits on top for a total sum of 12.82 million credits?"

"There are processing fees involved with the sale of such assets as I'm sure you're aware, approvals required, taxes to be paid and a number of other small miscellaneous costs that have a tendency to add up fast, I may be able to come down to a total of thirteen million credits." Evast replied

Lena nodded slowly, "Well we would, if possible, while the legal documents are signed and transferred in the name of alor Gra'tua here, also have our ships be serviced and repaired for battle damages we have sustained while were travelling together, which would add another millions, so I, we are prepared, as I said, if that arrangement is possible, to offer 13.4 million credits."

"I'm afraid your repair costs will need to be factored through the regular channels." Evast said, "Including them as part of the sale of company assets would obviously cause no end of accountancy headaches you understand."

"Fourteen million credits it is." Gra'tua said slowly after hearing Lena and Evast talk back and forth. "Shall we return to set up the documents and sign?"

"Very well," Evast said as he set the transports course back to Mandalore, "Once we land I can contact our accountants and have them draw up the necessary paperwork to be signed." he added.

The return journey was uneventful and several hours later both sith had walked out of the corporate headquarters of Mandalmoters, the papers had been signed and the two drydocks now belonged to clan Gra'tua. As they boarded his craft and both sat down in their seats he finally spoke up, "Are you certain you want me to own both large shipyards?"

Lena shrugged and nodded, "It works better this way for me, trust me." She smiled, "So what is next?"

He frowned, "My ship will be stuck here for repairs but Azazel needs me, last she reported she went to Korriban, to Andrea apparently there was some threat. Something about a invasion of Korriban."

She rose up her eyebrows in surprise. "A invasion? Well that does sound serious. I assume you were thinking of taking one of your other ships, I do not know about their speed but my ship only requires repairs I can do myself at some point, if you need a ride then my Shadow's Regret can take us to Korriban whenever you are ready."

"Hmm, that might be better actually, your ship has hypercomm abilities to stay in touch with my people back here... and with Azazel and Andrea." He nodded, "Very well I accept your offer, let me get some of my inner circle and we'll leave for Korriban together."