A Little Slush Fund Speculation

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Popo"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

And it came to pass, in the fulness of time, that along came Aliit'buir Alec Rekali to Nar Shaddaa. She hadn't been here in a while, not since -- as a much younger woman -- she'd liquefied a certain golden Hutt statue and waltzed off with it. But flying a Hutt caravel opened a lot of doors, as did ownership of one of the galaxy's most powerful corporations. When you could buy a kajidic or two from your slush fund, most Hutts suddenly found you downright charming.

The Garden of Unending Delights also came with an escort comprised of an Immortal-class battlecruiser and a Skira-class battleship, along with various support ships. So that helped a bit also.

The caravel signalled various associates, elsewhere and in-system, then began descending toward a major currency exchange. The Garden was far too big to land, but it was more than capable of hovering alongside the building's landing pads and docking struts. Entering the building would be relatively simple.

 

[Popo]

Sure, he could do it electronically. Sure, he could have sent someone else to do the task at hand. Sure, he probably could have at least brought someone else to carry the bag. For Popo, though, sometimes standing in line with a sack the size of a grown man filled with high denomination credit chips was worth it all. That is, it was worth it when your number wasn't abnormally high for the queue to the counter.

"NOW SERVING NUMBER 117."

The automated announcement calmly and politely resonated from the speakers set at strategic points in the walls around. Popo took one hand off his sack to look at the ticket he'd pulled from the dispenser earlier. Hope quickly turned to crushing sadness as he saw his own service number. The number they wanted was 117, but his was 640. For all intents and purposes, it seemed that this particular wait was going to be a long one. He hefted the sack in both hands and glanced down at the burlap material before sighing.

"My sack is heavy," he muttered to no one in particular. Nearby, a family of Rodians shot a few dirty looks that went unnoticed by the massive Hutt before moving a few seats further down and away.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco arrived with a bit less of an escort, taking only a Kandosii-type Dreadnought that he traveled in when there was need for security measures. Coupled with a single Warden-class Sentinel Frigate, and meeting with friendly associates, it was probably overkill. Likely meant that Alec was up to something... hilarious. The fact she had sent him word of it was also, well very odd. He'd liked Ember, but the two had only had a few dealings with each other and he'd yet to have any real dealings with Alec since she took over for her grandfather.

He planned on sending her something nice, like a harpoon gun, or a knife made from one of Ember's last kills, but as of yet he'd not gotten around to it. He would eventually.

Once the ships were in orbit and aligned with the Clan Rekali vessels, Draco took a Shaadlar-type corvette to the major currency exchange where Alec had called him to meet. The corvette was a little large, though not unaccomodateable, Draco elected to have the captain keep it hovering while he and a small security detail made the transfers.

Would be nice to go ahead and set up a couple trust funds for his twins, and perhaps buy Faith something nice. She had her eye on a Rainbow Gem in one Holo-auction but missed it. Maybe the wedding ring he made for her would have a few small ones just for her if all went well.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Popo"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The escort fleet, the half-dozen ori'ramikade witches, the beskar briefcase cuffed to Alec's wrist, the top-of-the-line personal shield she wore -- all for the sake of one little credit stick. This particular kind of stick could hold any amount of digital currency, any amount at all.

Without incident, she and her witch supercommando guards crossed a long landing pad from the caravel to the building. She felt some degree of tension fade from her shoulders as the bulkhead closed behind her.

For the occasion, she'd worn that gold suit that Vereen had traded her. It looked pretty fething good, she had to admit. Not very Mando, but it got a whole other level of attention, and that had strategic utility. Everything in this Huttese currency exchange was about conspicuous consumption in one way or another. All eyes were on her and the rune-armored guards that flanked her. She and that beskar briefcase made their way through the building on a raised glasteel gantry. Down below, she spied innumerable lumpenproles waiting in line. One was a Shell Hutt with a sack.

Past the walkway, a series of security doors opened, revealing the exchange's best meeting room, three Hutts, and chairs for herself and Draco Vereen. All she'd really told him was to bring a metric fethton of money, specifically in galactic standard credits.

[member="Popo"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Popo]

"NOW SERVING NUMBER 204."

The queue of numbers was growing shorter by the minute, if not by much. So far, the line had advanced a fair bit, but it was a still a long ways before Popo's number was called. He hefted his sack and thought for a moment. He owned one of the largest companies of its size in the galaxy, if not the largest company of its size in the galaxy. He produced weapons and armor and machines for large swathes of the galaxy and was a well known, well respected Hutt of a high caliber. He'd lead the Republic and the Cartel and kept a tight hold of Tenloss the entire time. All in all, he was a successful business-Hutt with a solid claim to fame inside both legal and less legal areas of influence. And yet, here he was waiting in line all by himself holding his sack.

"I probably should have brought someone to hold my sack for me," he muttered to himself. The Rodian family shot daggers at his massive, armored back before moving further down the line of chairs.

Thinking a moment, he pondered a bit. If the exchange rate was for peggats to credits and he had a sack full of credits, then how was he supposed to swindle the banking swindlers? The realization hit him like a truck.

"I grabbed the wrong sack!" he exclaimed. The family of Rodians finally gave up and moved to the other side of the room entirely. If looks could kill, the mother of the group would have struck Popo dead on the spot. The massive Shell Hutt grabbed his commlink and quickly dialed the number for the local Tenloss office on Nar Shadaa. As the call rang through, he kept an eye on the numbers.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco and his security detail entered the building, seeing the hustle and bustle of the pits below as Hutt Slaves, or guards, or slave guards, ushered him upstairs and across a glasteel balcony. It was little wonder that so many people used this place, as Nar Shaddaa, the Smuggler's moon likely only dealt in Huttese currency, and the smugglers, bounty hunters, gangs, even businesses would have to get at least some of their payments traded out for the appropriate currency for their next stop.

All he knew so far was to bring specifically galactic standard credits, something he had a fethton of. Had he been given more notice he could have changed some aurodium ingots out, since he always kept some of those lying around in his house, space station, and ship in case his assets were discovered, sliced, and stolen. It wasn't as though he had a massive amount of liquid assets, as most of his money came in the form of dividends, however, every stock owner and employee had one quarter in which they bathed in money. The Mandalorian was a good boss, and in that quarter when the Republic paid ArmaTech some stupid number of bankrupting credits, he had made sure to take care of the little people, with about five percent. They were happy, he made a fethload of money.

After a while, he was ushered to a meeting room, with space for his four black armored guards to stand, Keldabe Cannons at low ready behind the comfortable chairs for he and Alec. She was protected by a much more ornate guard, rune covered supercommandos. Draco had Draz, his Force Sensitive Barabel master tracker and three supercommandos. That was it. He wore his beskar'kandar and had a digital credit chit in his belt with a vast amount of credits. Ten Aurodium ingots worth, which was more than he had wanted to liquidate, but Alec's message assured him of the profit margin for an easy gig.

"Good afternoon." And Alec shone with the light of the sun in a golden suit, one he had made. His lenses had to polarize from the glare, but damn did she look good in it. One ten out of ten plated in gold.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Popo"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Popo"]

"Good is an understatement, Mister Vereen."

Pleasantries aside, here came the fun part.

Sitting at the table, Alec input the combinations and security keys that opened the beskar briefcase. It remained strapped to her wrist, but the lid popped open. She removed its only contents, a single credit stick, and a well-dressed Neimoidian majordomo touched a certified verification device to the stick. "It iss confirmwed," the Neimoidian said with an obsequious bow -- the only kind of bow a Neimoidian could offer his Huttese employer, or really anyone for that matter. The Hutts leaned forward, peering down from their long curved desk, and ranks upon ranks of zeroes danced in their eyes like the gold glint from Alec's suit.

The Neimoidian accepted the credit stick and plugged it into an ornate, high-security Huttese banking computer.

"Now," said Alec, "I believe we discussed a transaction fee of four percent?"

A Hutt coughed. "Seven."

"My mistake. Seven sounds appropriate. And at today's exchange rate of point-six-two-five-" She gestured to the Neimoidian. "I hereby approve it."

"Approved," croaked the Hutts in unison. The machine spat out a small flimsiplast slip. It read Fifty-eight million, one hundred twenty-five thousand peggats.

 

[Popo]

"I grabbed the wrong sack!" Popo was a little concerned of the situation and apparently the Rodians, unknown to him, could still hear him as the angry looks continued. "I meant to grab the ones with the peggats in it, but I picked up the credits instead."

"NOW SERVING NUMBER 334."

He listened for a moment to the other end of the line before nodding once or twice. It seemed that they didn't have the amount of peggats he needed. The nearest location that did was the Wheel itself, where he'd been earlier that day, but that was too far for the time frame he had.

"No, that won't do," Popo muttered into the commlink. "I have to do the peggats for credits here, and then swap the credits for peggats there or else it won't work."

The only response from the commlink was silence. It was the silence reserved for someone who knew the proper procedure but was waiting for the other person to come to the same conclusion on their own. It was the silence of judging expectancy.

"What?" was Popo's only response.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco sat and waited for Alec to be done with her transactions, the Hutts greediness slipping out into the Force as only they could manage. Three full grown hutts were practically slobbering over her and her single credit chip. He could almost smell the drool through his helmet.

Unfortunately when it came time for his turn, the Neimoidian insisted he remove his helmet for Identification purposes as he handed over the credit stick. He sighed a little, waiting for the device to confirm the amount the stick was worth, and waiting for the hutts to pull their eyes off the first transaction slip enough to read his own.

"It iss confirmwed." The being said in its odd little accent. "Thwee billion credits."

The Hutts turned around, his was just a little more than Alec's. Not by a high percentage in the long run. "Alright, I suppose seven percent is fair. I'm not in a haggling mood." Draco said, knowing that the Hutts hands were rather tied, they couldn't bid for lower, and higher would likely cost them their transactions. There were other exchanges on the planet, this one was just the best stocked for their purposes.

"Agreed." The Hutts spat out in their language.

"I confirm the transaction." Drac stated, letting the optic scanner confirm his identity along with the appropriate routing numbers. A moment later the slip of flimsi ejected from the computer reading sixty-nine million, seven hundred fifty thousand Peggats. And the Hutts bowed, what little bow they could given their bulk to the two Mandalorians.

"Alright, Miss Rekali, shall we make our way to the bean counters? After you." Draco smiled, waving his hand in front of him for her to take the lead, knowing both their guard details would follow and lead closely around them while inside the exchange. Outside, Draco could see a Shell Hutt on the exchange room floor carrying a burlap sack. He would have laughed if he wasn't still focused on how they were supposed to make money since they had just lost seven percent.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Popo"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Popo"]

"OK," she said to Draco after they'd left the room, "so you've gathered how it works, but let me lay it all out and make sure we're on the same page here. In Hutt space, one wupiupi is point-six-two-five galactic standard credits. But on Muunilinst, the Banking Clan is trading one wupiupi for two credits."

She kept talking as they walked toward the dispensing desk. "So here, we pay just over half a credit and buy one gold coin, then we go to Muunilinst and exchange it for two credits. Now, part of the differential is the distance between here and Muunilinst. Part of it's that the kajidics don't especially care what the Banking Clan rates Huttese money at. And part of it has to do with relative currency strengths, Huttese agendas, tacit approval, teaching the Banking Clan a lesson, and adjusting the relative positioning of Huttese imports and exports as the exchange rates move towards parity. I don't fully understand all the implications, but I understand enough to know that market and regulatory forces are going to change things quickly after we do this, so we have to do it now."

She handed the slip of paper to the Rodian at the desk. He gronked agreeably and input several security keys. Gold fountained into the Garden of Unending Delights through the dorsal hatch.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Ah, fair enough." Draco muttered, handing the Rodian his slip. He wasn't all that aware of the galactic economy. He had been rich long enough that he had a guy for that, and ArmaTech was off on its own enough that it didn't much matter to them which currency was on the rise and which was on the fall. So long as overall profits were up, he wasn't notified of many changes anymore.

But, she made enough since to him for the Mandalorian to get the gist of the venture they were going for. Make a crapload of money just by transporting it. Fairly simple work for the two of them, but this amount would probably be out of bounds for anyone else.

The rodian skronked and crates of gold coins were began being brought aboard the Shaadlar-type Corvette he had arrived on. They were scanned and weighed as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. At this point in time, the only thing the pair of Mandalorians had to worry about were pirates, gangs, thieves, faulty hyperdrives, and any other number of phenomena. That said, this was not the first time he had transported a lot of money. He did used to run shipments for the Hutt Cartel in his younger years, he was aware of the situation. Those three hutts upstairs would guard their ships and this property with brute force. And probably have contacted pirates to attack the pair once outside their normal operating area already.

It was the way of hutts. That said, an Immortal, Skira, Kandosii, and Warden all together. Most pirates. No... all pirates wouldn't take that job. "Its gonna take a moment. Do you mind if my ship slaves to your navicomputers on the way out? Your people are better navigators than mine. You would arrive days before me no doubt."

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Popo"]

 

[Popo]

"What?" Popo repeated, his tone now confused.

"NOW SERVING NUMBER 469."

The silence on the commlink grew and, for a moment, Popo thought that the call had disconnected. He shifted the sack of money from one hand to the other when it dawned on him.

He'd grabbed the right sack from the outset. He traded the credits here for peggats then reversed it there. He'd gotten it switched around somehow.

"Nevermind, I figured it out. I blame my heavy sack distracting me."

"Very good, sir," was the only response from the other side of the commlink before the connection was broken. He put the commlink away and hefted the sack with both hands. At this point, he noticed the family of Rodians angrily glaring at him from across the room and scratched at his massive head for a moment.

"I get that people don't like Hutts, but what's got them all upset," he muttered quietly to himself.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Popo"]

"Fine by me, completely fine by me. Keep in mind, too, we don't have to go all the way to Muunilinst. See, Muunilinst is in Mandalorian Empire territory, and I don't see any reason to risk screwing around just now. But the IGBC offers the same rates at all its branches. So we're not going to Muunilinst: we're going to Taris, right around the corner from home. Clan Rekali has an account with the IGBC, so at that point, all I have to do is deposit X billion wupiupi and get it changed into two-X credits, minus a processing fee. And just like that, investment tripled. Two point five billion, the price of ten good Star Destroyers, becomes seven point five billion, the price of a serious fleet." Alec grinned broadly. "And the extra few hundred million that got lost along the way in transaction fees? Pocket change. Now, in the long run, Clan Rekali may have to look into banking services, because a hundred million here or there is nothing to sniff at. But for right now, for exploiting this temporary imbalance, we work with what we have."

Her earbud comm beeped with a notification.

"Transfer's complete," she said. "I'm lifting off as soon as possible. My astrogators will send you the codes so you can tag along for a quick ride to Taris."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco nodded, all she was saying made sense. And Taris was good. "I have my headquarters on Taris. We can have some of my boys go and carry it out in micro-transactions if you want. I have a city sized plant there, and... I may or may not print my own money there." Draco smiled widely, grinning ear to ear as Aled spoke about math. They were both very wealthy, but one didn't get wealthy by passing up opportunities like this. This was important, and he had enough people he could trust on Taris, though not completely, but enough that he could exchange out a few billion credits at the IGBC fairly quickly if they absolutely needed to.

She bid her goodbyes and made her way to head off planet. Smart, and Draco knew he wouldn't be far behind her, behind. "Alright, thanks. I'll be up shortly and following. Taris is pretty secure with some of my corporate assets there so, I will let them know you are coming and to be treated with the utmost hospitality." She left in a bustle and it wasn't long before Draco could see the freighter making its way through the atmosphere pressing for the protection of its very large escort fleet.

A moment later, Draco's comlink buzzed with notice that everything checked out, all peggats accounted for, and as far as good scanners could tell, they were all legitimate, but he expected as much. The Hutts would play fair and nice for such a transaction in hopes of attracting return customers. They had just made a whole fethload of money, solely for having the peggats to transfer. They wouldn't be looking to cheat those customers and risk retribution, or worse by Hutt standards, no further business with the two mega-corporations.

Once Draco hit the hangar deck of the Shaadlar-type, noting the nine crates sitting secured in an integrity field, maglocked down. "Alright, we should be expecting a message from the astrogators with trip coordinates once we get back aboard the Kandosii." After he got aboard he would have the message sent to Taris to prepare to accommodate them.

[member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Popo"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

The rest of the trip was as simple as returning home, in the end. Head back to Mando space, drop by Taris where Vereen had his headquarters. Visit the local Muun bankers. Make a high-profile but very private transaction at IGBC standard rates. Just like that, two point five billion credits became seven point four four.

Alec strongly considered investing it with the IGBC. They gave an excellent return rate on Clan Rekali's existing account, after all. On the other hand, though, there were some fairly persistent rumors about currency imbalances elsewhere in the galaxy. Nova crystals, for example: in some places you could buy a whole starfighter with fifty or a hundred of them, in others they were considered priceless, and in still others you could snag them for fifteen, twenty credits a pop. Transportation costs and transaction fees nibbled away at the profit margins, of course, but did it really count as a margin if it was that fething huge?

 

[Laira Darkhold]

After the transactions were quietly handled, three billion credits had quickly become eight billion, nine hundred twenty eight million credits. Such a massive gain was foolish. He could keep dumping credits through this amount. He had ten percent of the Republic gouging, of which he had spent quite a bit. Eighty billion on stock of Titan Industries, a few hundred million on ships here and there and re-establishing Gotal'veman. He spent a good bit on the Sovereign project.

After all was said and done, he was probably sitting at about half his personal earning of four hundred billion without having to pull from the corporate assets. More than enough to settle the Utegetu nebula, and with the three billion he had taken going back into the vaults, he had a happy five point nine billion to play with. Now that is a dangerous fleet.

"Yes. I want that one. The gem I'm staring at. I know its super expensive. I still want it. And the high-quality aurodium yes. I know its a big ask, but I want it. And I want it delivered to me asap." The other line cut off after acknowledging him. Once that was delivered he could actually sit down and start working on that particular ring. Still left him with quite a bit of spending money. Even dumping a billion for each twin into a trust fund for them, he still had more than most men ever saw in their life times.

What to do with the rest? Shopping spree.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Now, arbitrage on this scale had effects, and frankly Alec didn't have a prayer of tracking them. In basic terms, though, she knew cargo, and she could think of her actions like that. She'd offloaded a ton of credits on the Huttese markets and removed a ton of wupiupi; she'd dumped a literal boatload of Huttese currency on the Muun markets and removed plenty of credits. Draco had done the same at a higher amount; she found that kind of flattering, plus it more than doubled the impact. The Muuns, and the galactic markets, didn't care about an extra seventeen billion credits; that was nothing. Dumping wupiupi on the Muuns might increase their desire to do business in Huttese directions, likely at the closest and safest markets, which meant [member="Popo"]'s Wheel. Their wupiupi surplus would likely reduce the price of wupiupi somewhat. And eventually, the Muuns and the Hutts would reach equilibrium in wupiupi-versus-credit exchange rates. There would be other effects, too, in terms of relative competitiveness of Huttese imports and exports. Alec remembered that much from Interstellar Econ at the Levantine Astronautical Academy, a course which she'd passed solely by memorizing every diagram in the manual. Vague memories of that course informed her general ideas of what would happen to the Huttese and Muun markets. In the end, though, she knew she didn't have a prayer of modelling it accurately -- and that few would. All she knew or cared about was that she'd turned two point five billion into seven point four, in a day. And nobody was coming after her for it.