The Dereggers gave up their trash planet, a toxic hell-hole that would've cost them a fortune to clean up. They signed an iron-clad contract that had every single i dotted and t crossed. Not so much as a gnat-sized loophole anywhere. And it was signed by their leaders and several leaders from the Galactic Alliance as witnesses, and him, of course.
He took all that was there and made enough time to make himself an insanely wealthy man. Wealth he then turned around and invested, instead of hoarding it, using it to terraform a toxic dump into a paradise. The poisons removed, the debris, gone, the air and water as pure as if the planet was newly discovered. The planet had been turned into a world even the weakest havenworlders would find beautiful and humans would think was nearly heaven.
However, now the De-Regger leadership was pissed. They demanded a change in the deal, but it was too late. But as he decided to give these angry men an object lesson, could they learn, or would they continue to scream foul? Still..... it did feel good to see the looks on their faces when they landed on the paradise that was their former trash planet, confronted with the fact they didn't own it anymore.
A sequel to this gem:
@internutter/challenge-02883-g326-learn-something-guys -- DaniAndShali
Some phrases have a special magic. Ask, "What's the worst that can happen?" merely invites a better demonstration of the worst that could possibly happen. So does, "It can't get any worse," because of course it can. "That was mine," is one guaranteed to stiffen the spine of any given Deregger CEO or Executive Administrator to draw breath. So, too, is, "It's making a profit now."
Dereggers have very rigid standards. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, work harder, appear strong, appear virtuous, and never take a loss. So long as the money floweth towards a CEO, then they are doing the will of their deity. No matter what the unread texts might have to say about it[1]. The mere concept of rubbish being turned into profit flies in the face of everything they believe in[2].
So, when a known refuse world and money sink was given in lieu of payment to a Galactic, the CEO's of Greater Deregulation Lower North congratulated themselves on their own wit and trade genius. They were less happy when they learned that the Galactic in question was making a profit they had missed out on. That, in their mind, was a heinous insult. So they did what any Deregger would do. They tried to sue.
That planetary system was theirs by right of heritage. They had owned and used it for centuries. It was their sovereign territory. How dare this foreign Galactic make a profit out of it that they couldn't see because they had -basically- used the world and its solar system as a dumping ground. It didn't matter to them that they used it as trade. Someone else was making money out of it ant they were at least going to get a share. Though they'd never utter the word 'share'. They're allergic to it.
So it came to court. The assembled lawyers of The Greater Globocorp Inc versus Rejuvinator Tarsin Blesson. The Deregger lawyers attempted to take the trial into a Deregger court, but since the disputed system was now part of Alliance space, they had to argue it away from an Alliance court. Playing by Alliance rules.
They hate that.
Judge Merryn had to remind the Greater Globocorp lawyers that their legal process was not the Galactic Alliance's legal process. Owing to the time taken to remind the Globocorp lawyers, reminders were now popping up in large print and the Globocorp dream team had to read them out loud or be found in contempt. Again.
"I have read the contract your client signed in co-operation with Mx Blesson," said the judge. "I can remind you of salient points of the text that your legal team may have temporarily forgotten. As an officer of the court," the reminder screen's pop-up message said, Tell the absolute un-distorted truth or end up in detention again, "what, if anything, leads you to believe that Mx Blesson is in violation of the contract?"
Ultra Legal, a wholly owned subsidiary of Greater Globocorp Inc, had written the contract themselves. Or some team of pedantic legal authors had put it together. The could not, therefore, argue that they had no knowledge of the content of the contract. Not as officers of the court. They had penned the agreement with a mind to repelling future complaints regarding their own estimated value of the system and the money they expected Mx Blesson to make out of it. There was a lot of convoluted text detailing exactly the ways in which Mx Blesson was not allowed to complain.
There was not a word - and they knew this - about him getting more profit out of the system than they had expected.
Nevertheless, the lawyers tried their best. "We are claiming that Mx Blessom knowingly utilized the contested system for profit in excess of the initial estimation. We are therefore entitled to a portion of the profits as a direct result of our cultivation of the system as it was our sovereign territory."
"That is not any part of the contract as it was signed," said Judge Merryn. "If it is not a part of the contract, Mx Blesson is not obligated to uphold the rule as you imagine it."
"Your honour, Globocorp Corporate Law--"
The court filled with noise enough to drown them out as the reminder screen read, CORPORATE LAW DOES NOT HOLD IN GALACTIC ALLIANCE SPACE. A blinking cursor and the Judge's own actions added, you numpties. It was quickly deleted as the Judge decided against her strained nerves to remain professional.
The sound in the courtroom returned to normal as the lawyers decided to shut up.
"Much though I love a mashup of the collected works of John Phillip Sousa," said the Judge, "you will refrain from quoting corporate law in an Alliance court or spend another month re-learning the finer points of how this is meant to work."
Inside her head, Judge Merryn was secretly hoping she could find them in contempt again. She would need a month off at least after this was done.
[1] Prosperity Doctrine, for example, flies directly into the face of "better for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven". Sometimes the idea of a deity's given graces looks better than the actual word they're meant to follow.
[2] It all boils down to, "More money for me, and less for you. Huzzah!"
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / pix2go]
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