Earning Trust.

[Erdric Carrudo]

The Vexillion, a Fine Dining Restaurant Located on one of Coruscant's Mega-Buildings.

It was a pleasant day on Coruscant. Well, as pleasant as a polluted cess pit of a planet can get. Light rays from the setting sun penetrated the Vexillion's huge windows, illuminating its occupants and tableware alike in a warm glow. The huge windows could accommodate at least five tables for two and in the middle window, in the middle table, a man dressed in a pinstripe suit sat on a fancy wooden chair. He smoked a fat cigar, displeasing the surrounding patrons and the manager of the establishment.

The man was Erdric Carrudo and quite frankly, he didn't give a fat f*ck if the people around him were choking to death on the noxious fumes of his cigar. The owner of this place owed him some serious money and that meant that Erdric could do whatever the hell he so desired. The occupants should be happy he wasn't snorting spice and yelling something about his little friend...

Anyways, Erdric rested one hand on the table in front of him and tapped his index finger idly. He was waiting for a black man who was a lawman of sorts. A lawman of sorts who wanted to buy illegal stuff. Erdric just had to make sure this lovely black man was cool.

 

[John Tango]

"Eyyyyy'" John had appeared out of the blue, coming through the opposition entrance of the Vexillion "Fancy choice y'got here, I only eat here when I don't want any luck in getting lucky." He paused for a moment basking in the warm light, John was truly impressed by Erdric for most criminals he had associated with would be in the nearest Cantina snorting spice of the rear end of a Twi'Lek.

John pulled out his seat and cruised into it, letting out a groan of content as he came to a comfortable position. "Beautiful seat here pal, y'know it's just me right? I got no lady friends coming." John grinned in content. He wouldn't care if no-one was around, he'd still say the jokes out loud to please himself, thinking himself the funniest Republic Agent on Coruscant.

"Drinks?"

 

[Erdric Carrudo]

The outgoing nature of the Obama look-a-like struck Erdric by surprise. Usually his meetings were dreary and depressing. Stale and boring. This was mainly because the people Erdric were meeting with were scared to death of, well, death. This guy was different and it brought a pleasant half-smile to Erdric's face. He took one more puff out of his cigar before gesturing slowly to the drinks menu that was laid on the table, all the while staring into John's eyes.

A moment later and he raised his left hand in the air, glancing over to a waitress that was ordered to serve only Erdric's table. She had been standing there for half an hour and looked ready to pass out. An audible sigh of relief escaped her lips as she hurried over, datapad in hand.

The first words Erdric said in John's company were, "Corellian Whiskey." and that was that. The waitress took down the order and looked shyly at John, grinding the ball of her foot into the floor in manner that expressed nervousness.

 

[John Tango]

"Why so nervous honey?" John knew very well why the girl was nervous, he felt a slight sorrow for her but quickly dismissed it. He'd learnt from his line of work that you can sympathize with civilians, the crims pick up on it quick "You don't need to say it, I love you too! Dinner here, this chair at 8?" He broke out into his trade-mark grin as he expressed earlier but this time with a slight hint of a smirk.

"I'll have some Hutt Mud and that's all, darling." John winked at the waitress as she hurried off to the bar, taking almost complete priority over it as everyone else put aside their tasks for the order. He knew then that Erdric wasn't the usual criminals he associated with, this one actually had some pull out of the slums. John pulled himself around to face Erdric again after he had finished watching his new love, though every semi-attractive woman quickly became his new love so it wasn't much of an honor. He looked at the fat cigar in Erdric's hand spewing fumes like a smoke stack with a slight shrug, he was slightly discontented with the toxins but it didn't bother him enough to bring it up with a man like Erdric. "I tell you what, the taxi service in this district... Kapuch! they ripped me off and took their sweet time. Ohhh the whims of a humble man, a man like you though! I'd imagine having no problems."

 

[Erdric Carrudo]

"You had to take a taxi? I thought classy lawmen like yourself had equally classy speeders, no?" Erdric said, expressing slight concern through the tone of his voice. His accent was odd to strangers, a sort of husky drawl that somehow had so much expression packed inside. Anyway, a sly smirk appeared on his face as Erdric reached out across the table and pulled a crystal ashtray towards him. Moments later and his cigar was extinguished, laying in a crumpled heap within the ashtray.

Then the waitress reappeared, holding a glossy black tray with two glasses ontop. She smiled at John, paying Erdric little to no attention as she laid the drinks down. The waitress lingered a moment before nodding once and returning to the bar.

A quiet grunt of disapproval sounded out as Erdric reached out to collect his whiskey. He took a slow sip whilst gazing out of the window, eyeing Coruscant's city scape.

 

[John Tango]

"Sheesh, how much do you think we get paid? Even if I caught bloody Vader himself they'd give me a pat on the back and some mess vouchers like I'm a school boy." John looked up to the waiter as she arrived, he noticed the smile on her face second and her breasts first. He winked at her while she lingered and jerked his head in the direction of the bar signalling her off. "Usually I find it easy to talk respectably about a lady, but damn look at her! I guess that's a yes to the date"
John took his glass to his mouth with a quick motion, eager to get a drink in before the talking started. "It's a beautiful town isn't it Mister...?" his ecstatic attitude halted for a moment as he realised he hadn't even introduced himself, nervously he spattered out some words to try make amends for his dis-respect "heh... Sorry, I'm John Tango but most people just refer to me as errr... Tango" he sipped from his glass as he awaited Carrudo's response.

 

[Erdric Carrudo]

It seemed like an eternity before Erdric finally looked away from the window and at John. He sucked his teeth, blinked, then opened his mouth. "I know who you are, Tango. I arranged this shin-dig. As for myself, I'm Erdric Carrudo... I thought my people would at least tell you my name." He mumbled something about firing people, shook his head once and then continued. "I hear you are looking for blasters. I supply them. Of course, I gotta make sure you're up to standards, y'dig?"

He took another slow sip of whiskey and sighed quietly. "And yeah, baby doll is pretty tight. I think the broad's got the hots for you, though."

 

[John Tango]

"Up'ta standards?" He shrugged and looked out the window, tapping his foot on the ground. "And uhh, how do you suppose we go about this inspection? Would you like my regulation Illegal Weapons Purchasing license?" John hastily finished off his drink before trying Carrudo's previous finger snap to gain the attention of the waitress. She hurried over to the table looking towards John, he simply pointed to the empty glass and ignored her.

 

[Erdric Carrudo]

"It's simple. If you're cool, you get the goods..."

Erdric stopped talking whilst the waitress did her thing. She seemed genuinely disappointed that John hadn't said anything and pouted as she went to get another drink for him.

"... And if you're not cool, it's goodnight sweet prince... I might be crazy for meeting with you, a lawman, like this, but I know some of you guys like playing on either side of the blue line and frankly, I need the business. So first thing's first, why do you want blasters?"

The waitress returned with another glass of John's favoured drink. She placed it down and left quickly as Erdric sipped once more from the whiskey.

 

[John Tango]

John sipped his fresh drink and looked out over Coruscant, he gazed for a while before starting to speak.

"My line of work, in case you don't know already is to usually bust classy gentlemen like yourself, Carrudo. I can stand the crime, I get it y'know, hard times. People gotta make a living somehow and we don't all agree with the law, but after I bust the same f*kn' guy 3 times in a row selling spice to some kids or even worse... selling the kids, it gets on your nerves. Now I can't take them out of commision with a Republic issued blaster, they'll know it was me in a instant."
John looked back towards Carrudo, he took another sip from his glass before gesturing with his hand. "I'm sure you can figure out the rest, 'ey?"

 

[Erdric Carrudo]

Erdric narrowed his eyes and finished his whiskey with one swig. "I get it... Seems reasonable." He set the empty glass down, rolled his shoulders and cocked his head to the side, cracking his neck. "Alright champ. Let's talk business. You're looking for one blaster, right? Well that's hardly worth my sweet time, you can get any ol' blaster off the lower levels for cheap... However, since you're here and we've got this going already, I'll give you this one on me. In return, I want to stay in touch. You republic types can be valuable contacts."

Relaxing into the chair, clasped his hands together and rested them on the table.

"That goes both ways, too. You need dirt on some underworld types here on Coruscant, I can help out... We gotta deal?"

 

[John Tango]

John's eyes widened then narrowed in suspicion as Erdric offered his proposal, this wasn't the kind of offer you accepted to get a few extra credits for your hobby. He leaned back in his chair releasing a sharp whistle.

"Mr. Carrudo, information can't simply be my only incentive after all that is my job. Will I be getting a slice of the cake?" Quite frankly though, John didn't give a damn about the business he was getting into as long as it followed loose ethical standards and he made money.

 

[Erdric Carrudo]

"Sure. Not a big slice. But a slice."

The fact of the matter was this; Erdric was just starting out, just getting set up. He didn't have much in the way of credits to throw around just yet and although John was a good investment, Erdric wasn't prepared to pump thousands and thousands into the guy only to have his back stabbed.

"You can start helping out by sending some confiscated goods my way. Y'know, an investment. Give me a week or two and I'll turn it into good creds."

 

[John Tango]

"Got yourself a partner then, Mr. Carrudo"

John eyed the waitress who was standing at the bar tentatively watching the table, he retained his earlier grin now that business was finished. John placed down a contact card on the table before extending his hand in proposition of a handshake, he was present at the table but his mind was already set on the waitress.

"We'll see what I can get you, and that card has an address your guys can take the blaster to. Nice doing Business."

 

[Erdric Carrudo]

Erdric nodded slowly, standing and shaking John's hand firmly. "Keep in touch." After that, he sat back down and pulled a small tin case from his jacket pocket. Flicking it open, he pulled out a cigar and a lighter. Lighting the fat cigar, he brought it to his mouth and puffed quite happily. If only business went that smoothly all the time, he thought.

He peered over the card and sucked his teeth. He had a feeling that this partnership would go places.