Just another day's work. (Character Introduction Story)

Alden Dicosta

Character
Rank
Processing

OOC
Santoro
Joined
Aug 29, 2022
Messages
4
Reaction score
1
With a sigh, Alden DiCosta stepped into the brisk winter night. Taking the few stone steps down to the street, he grabbed the lapels on his overcoat and gave them a firm tug, adjusting it to better insulate him from the cold. Looking left and right he saw mostly empty streets, which was no particular surprise - the center of the financial district on this part of Thyferra was mostly dead after work hours were through. Still, the emptiness was surprising - he had only dismissed the board less than thirty minutes ago. Usually a few of them hung around for some idle chatter, but not today - they must have something to do.

"Probably to go and complain about the merger terms." the man thought, shaking his head as his speeder turned the corner and pulled forward, the long, luxurious model sliding to a stop directly in front of him. Stepping forward, the rear door of this limousine opened smoothly with a soft hydraulic hiss, and the man settled in to his seat, taking one last look at the building from which he emerged mere seconds ago. DiCosta Enterprises. He smiled with a sense of pride at seeing his name written in such big letters in the sky, dozens of floors up to shine bright along the skyline. The door swung down and latched shut, and the speeder slipped away, the advanced inertial compensators making the shift almost imperceptible. He sat back to relax on the brief trip to his in-city penthouse, a comfortable and lavish home-away-from-home. Maybe he'd give Iranda a call. Maybe Malata. Or, maybe he'd spend the night alone to unwind. The oh-so-serious decision was rudely interrupted by a beeping from his breast pocket.

Standing in the low ceiling rear cab, Alden DiCosta slid his overcoat off of his shoulders and reached in to withdraw his daily datapad, tossing the long coat on one of the empty bench seats. He took a moment to focus on the screen and saw a very familiar name come up: Aayn'aren, his personal assistant and likely his closest, if only, true friend. He sat back down and let loose one of his rare true smiles before tapping "Accept". A holographic projection of her from the waist up snapped to life in 1:2 scale, the full-color projector placing her level with his eyes.
"Aayna - so nice to hear from you, but I have to say I'm surprised." He looked at his wrist chronometer and then back up. "It's almost 20:00, isn't Chaina just about to get out of Crashball practice?" His voice was low and his accent occasionally intimidating, but the soft spot he had for this woman would shine through. Besides, she seemed to like his voice - she would hang on every word he said.
"Well... Yes sir, she is. Impeccable memory as always." The cerulean-skinned Twi'lek smiled broadly, a tint of purple indicating a blush on her face.
She seemed to always be blushing around him lately, and Arden took a split second to admire Aayna's features. Aside from her intellect, she was truly a dazzlingly beautiful woman. Sadly, her husband passed away just over a year and a half ago. He had liked Doctal quite a bit and done everything he could to help her husband get through, but eventually the disease won out. Cooly he continued, not even the slightest pause in their conversation as his mind went on a tangent.

"Of course I would remember! I'm looking forward to her game this Saturday, if she still wants me to come."

"Absolutely sir - she loves when you make time to cheer her on."

"And I love to do it. Tell her I said hello."

"I will, sir."

"Oh, and about that - we're off the clock, Aayna. You know that you can just call me Alden, we've been over this before."

"I'll do my best." She gave another one of her smiles and he returned it. Oh, how beautiful she was, and how she always managed to captivate with a single expression.

"Now, I know it must have been something rather important for you to take time to reach out - is something the matter?" he asked, delivering the exact amount of concern that he should inflect in his voice.

"Nothing the matter, sir... Alden. At least, not with the family. I, ah... I received a call from Mr. Javal shortly after your meeting with him tonight."

His smile dissipated, and his voice flattened. "I see. And what did Tannor Javal have to say?" In truth, Alden knew what Javal would complain about. It's what they always complained about at these things - concern for their jobs, their companies, one thing, the other, and it never ended. Javal was a special case, though.

From the moment DiCosta Enterprises announced its intent to acquire Javal's family business, Umbral Arms, that little swamp rat had caused headache after headache, fighting against the inevitable force driven by Alden's endless money and a free market. Javal had even tried to pay off some of the DiCosta lawyers to have them write a flaw in the contract, buying him more time for a permanent solution. What that idiot never seemed to understand is that no amount of bribery could turn his lawyers - not only can he pay much better, but he knew he could trust them... Or, at least he knew that they were too terrified of his wrath to dare turn on him. His thought was broken when Aayna responded.

"He's backing out of the deal. As you know, the preliminary vote was 7-6 in favor of merging, but he's trying to get Timi to switch her vote at the stakeholder meeting tomorrow, and I think he may succeed. She's been with us for a long time, but she's a bit hard to read."

Hard to read - what an understatement. The woman from Mon Cala was always the wildcard in these scenarios, but she's never toyed with a plan this critical before. She was too easy to manipulate, and he would have to deal with that later.

"I see." A flat voice slipped through Alden's lips, and like any good assistant, Aayna knew this was the time to give her boss a moment to think. It only took a minute or so.

With a great sigh, he nodded, his demeanor coming back to his friendly persona. "Well, since it's supposed to go public tomorrow, I guess I'll need to talk to him tonight. We need this vote to go our way. It's critical to meet our financial goals." Another momentary pause. "If you could, please arrange a meeting in an hour so we can hash this out. You know the place - our regular negotiation spot."

Aayna nodded. "Of course - I'll send a driver right away. Expect him to be there in approximately 45 minutes."

"Thank you, Aayna. I'll see you tomorrow morning if I don't talk to you before then."

"Yes sir." she replied, giving him a wry smile and a wink as she cut the comms, leaving only empty space where her image once stood. That wink could start wars. Arden sat for a moment, remnants of a smile on his lips as his mind shifted from Aayna to the business of hard numbers, boardroom tactics, and a life of hard decisions.

Giving himself a moment to re-center, he pressed a button to toggle the driver.

"Yes, Mr. DiCosta?" said the driver's voice through the small speaker in Alden's center console.

"A change of plans, Paeta. Please head to waypoint 27 on the east of town. It should already be stored on the speeder's nav system." It had only taken him a minute to remember the daily cipher to determine the waypoint location - after all, his memory was one of the things that had kept him alive all these years.

"Of course, sir. Our estimated arrival is a little over an hour." After a brief 'thank you', Alden pressed a button on the same console to cut the transmission, then flipping a switch nearby. A panel next to his seat slid smoothly out, little more than a whisper. In a silver indent on a polished tray sat a chilled bottle of Thyferran brandy, and as he pulled the bottle out he smiled.

Cabrot Distillery - a brand he remembers strongly from his childhood and beyond. It was from the same distillery that he stole his first bottle of alcohol... Of which was promptly taken away by the local law enforcement. He could hardly be bitter that those officers were doing their job, and their dedication to enforcing the law was admirable and likely saved his life. Back in those days, he was too poor to even afford an empty bottle of this brand, and now here he was, a major stakeholder. A limitless supply of his own special mix, tailored to his genetics to tickle the senses... Even better, his own barrel of whiskey would be delivered in the next week or so. Oh, how much he yearned for that whiskey, but brandy would do for now. He removed the stopper, took a glass from the tray, and poured himself a heavy drink. He looked at it, considering for a moment, before pouring just a bit more. After all, he had an hour to kill and paperwork could always wait until morning. He put his feet up on the bench seat across from him, leaning back and closing his eyes, calming his nerves before what was to be some hard negotiating.

The ride was smooth, and left the city limits within the first ten minutes. After another thirty, the suburbs had given over to rural land. At fifty five minutes into the trip, his speeder pulled up to the rendezvous location - they had made good time. His commlink beeped again on the seat next to him, and so he lifted it to view the message.

Gwyn Sionne: Mr. Javal is ready for you - he has been prepped for your meeting.
Alden DiCosta: The the comm scrambler? Audio dampener?
Gwyn Sionne: Set up before we arrived, optimal performance.
Alden DiCosta: Thermal net?
Gwyn Sionne: You insult me.

Alden nodded to himself as he closed the message and sat a moment, drinking the last bit of brandy. He cleared his throat and stood as the rear door opened onto one of DiCosta's favorite spots - the absolute middle of nowhere.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the scene, blurred and washed out before it came into focus. In front of him, Tannor Javal was on his knees, a shallow grave dug into the brown desert sand behind him. Gwyn Sionne, DiCosta's Chief of Security, stood beside him with a pistol to Javal's head. Alden stepped forward with purpose, walking to just outside the cone of illumination from Sionne's speeder headlights. With the sun setting far behind him in the mountains, he was a creature of shadow and nightmares, and exactly the last person who Javal wanted to see.
"Tannor! I'm glad you were able to make it. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me."

A muffled noise came from the bound and gagged man, loaded with anger and fear. Alden nodded like he had heard the man's words and offered a response.

"I know, it IS very late, which is one of the reasons I sent my driver for you. It's very important we talk tonight, and I wouldn't want you to get lost."
Muffled, incomprehensible noises from the man on his knees. Alden ignored him.

"It's about the deal. You see, we're moving forward with the merger. Tomorrow at the stakeholder meeting we'll announce it. We don't actually need your signature - that was just something we said to give you a chance at dignity."

Tannor Javal shook his head in a frenzy, more anger this time. It only took a sharp rap on the skull from Sionne's pistol to have the man settle back down.

"I've got to say, Tannor, it's a bit annoying how difficult you're being about this whole thing. If you would have just let this happen, both you and I would be rich men by tomorrow at noon... But that would have been too easy, right? Not enough noise for you. You just had to go sneaking around my operation, paying judges, working over board members, and being a general pain in my ass. We started this merger two months ago, and you have been dragging your feet every step of the way. It's been irritating, and honestly, this chapter just needs to close. You should have never gone to Timi, Tannor. You should have never pushed that button."

The prisoner started to say something else, but Alden cut him off with a powerfully firm and strong voice.
"NO. You LISTEN when I speak to you." The man fell still and silent as a stone. After a beat, Alden continued.
"The merger IS going to happen, regardless of what you or your lawyers want. All you're doing is pissing me off the night before what could have been the best day of your life, and that right there is what we're here for. You're ungrateful, you're insufferable, and above all else you pose a threat to my business. My bottom line. You pose a threat to my empire."

Another long pause broken only by soft, muffled sobs.

Alden took a step forward, bringing half of his face into the harsh light against the desert as the last light of the sunset dipped beneath the horizon. With a smooth motion, Alden drew a high-end but ultimately disposable blaster pistol from beneath his left suit jacket, aiming it at Javal's heart. The metal glinted in the light, and at that moment Javal lost control of his faculties, wetness soaking his dirt covered dress pants. Alden took a few seconds, frozen in place, glaring down at Tannor.

"I know at moments like these I'm supposed to say something like "it's nothing personal"... But this time, it is."

The single blaster shot rang out across the desert. The next day, stakeholders cheered as the merger with Umbral Arms went through, and DiCosta Enterprises added a new team of 150 employees to their payroll.

zNxvk21.jpg
 
Top