From Mandalore... (Sempra the Hutt and Cartel only)

[Arrbi Betna]

It wasn't every day one could walk through the front doors of the Cartel, much less with news that he bore. Sure, his title carried rank among his people, but outside of Mandalorian territory he was more or less just another chieftan on another planet. Just another low level dignitary or warlord out and about in the galaxy. Today was different, however. Much different.

Flanked by Cartel guards and wearing the armor of his people, Arrbi Betna walked briskly and purposefully onwards. Normally, am audience with the Hutts took time to organize, but this was a rare case that required a more immediate touch.

It wasn't every day that someone walked in with solid intelligence on a future attack.

Especially when the person with the information was the one planning it.

The sounds of boots on flooring ceased as they stopped at a large set of doors. With luck, the Cartel boss would call them in shortly.

This was going to get... good.

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra glared at the groveling slave delivering his simple yet to a degree terrifying message.

He had dealt with Mandalorians before. He even had a few on his pay roll. But they were independant. Outcasts or otherwise neutral in their alliegence.
But this was a mandalorian warlord from the clan territories. These were a people who had combined their strength to mold a nation with one purpose, to breed the perfect warriors.
This in itself was perhaps not a problem but the fact that the cartels closest allies, the religious sect known as the primevil and the mandalorian tribes were bitter enemies.

Was he hear to attemp remove the primevils ally?

"Show him inside. But heads will roll if he even manages to pull one of his weapons against me!"

The throne room opened up for [member="Arrbi Betna"]
Surrounded by guns he was shown before the hutts slightly paranoid presence.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

The doors opened, allowing Betna and his armed Cartel entourage to move inside. He could feel the guns trained on him, not quite pointing at him, but not quite pointing away. Dozens of eyes, scores of weapons, the prickling feeling on the back of the neck as you knew without a doubt that you were being watched no matter where you went. For many, it was unsettling. For Betna, it meant he was doing his job correctly.

"Lord Sempra," he stated as he moved towards the Hutt crime lord dominating the room. Betna held his hands out from his sides with the palms up, showing he was unarmed. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't kneel, my back was a little sore when I woke up this morning."

Betna still wore his helmet, the T-shaped visor setting him apart from the Cartel thugs within arm's reach, ready to grab him should he so much as shout harsh language at the Hutt before him. It was fairly amusing to the Mandalorian in a twisted sort of way. He was used to the adrenaline rush of danger, but from afar usually. This was a bit more... close to home for him. In the belly of the beast - or Hutt, as it were.

"I've come to deliver a message," he said after a moment, coming to stop before Sempra's seat. "Or, a warning, truth be told."

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

The tension was there and many of the less combat oriented slaves scattered about tried to find a good position to avoid fire should it come to that. It was not common, but it did happen that someone was shot before the throne. Sometimes out of mistake, but more commonly because Sempra felt himself threatened. And the hutt had several reasons to feel threatened at this time.

He narrowed his eyes and watched [member="Arrbi Betna"] - measuring what he was about.

"A warning you say? What could possibly be bad news from a mandalorian warrior in my court?" he tried acting as if he had no reason to suspect enmity from the man before him.

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna grinned under his helmet. It wasn't every day you could bring bad news to a Hutt Lord and walk off in one piece. Most found their fate at the end of a blaster or inside a deep pit with hungry predators. He let a bit of cockiness enter his voice and played up his adopted persona for this particular charade.

"Brahka," he stated simply. "I have good, solid proof that the Cartel shipyards at Brahka will be the victim of an attack. The attack will start in two day's time at approximately 04:00 Coruscant Standard."

He let his arms cross and shifted his weight to one side, grinning behind his visor the entire time. So far, so good.

"Also, the attack will be a small team of four Mandalorian warriors."

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Brahka?
It was a dead rock with little to no value, except for perhaps sentimental cause.
But yes, there was a shipyard there. He recalled it.

Why were the mandalorians interested in it? There was some sort of ploy at work here.

"If this is true, why have you come to tell me?"

Was there a clan war going on and [member="Arrbi Betna"] sought new allies? Sempra could not decide but the thought was inspiring.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

He began pacing slowly and carefully at Sempra's question, deciding to play up the act a little more.

“Because we desire a… Challenge,” Betna said calmly, arms still crossed. “Because shooting a sleeping predator only proves your accuracy, not your ability.”

He turned to face the Hutt lord once more, a gauntleted hand gesturing at the alien before him.

“When you punish one of your own for failure, do you not make it public to keep the others in line? When you succeed, do you not ensure that it is known so as to spread your renown and power? This is the same situation, though perhaps slightly different. We wish to prove we can do this even if you are prepared for us. We wish to prove our skill, and so I am here to tell you what is to come.”

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

The hutts eyes went wide open at the odd confession taking place.

Only Mandalorians could think of something like this.

"Buta hoka! How dare you come here and tell me that you will rob me out of some mandalorian tradition. Thieves are not welcome here!"
The words sounded strange even to Sempra himself and it caused him to settle his rouse somewhat.
With his tail still whipping he smirked and leaned forward to tower over [member="Arrbi Betna"]

"What you propose will not only earn you a chance to show off, it will earn you an enemy. Are you certain that is how your clans wish their relation with the hutts to unfold? hum..?"

The mandalorians were some of the best warriors in the galaxy, but they also governed a nation, something that held restraints on ones action. Or so Sempra hoped.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

“Hardly a tradition,” he remarked, amused by the Hutt’s choice of words. “More of an… opportunity that we plan on exploiting.”

Grinning, Betna simply looked upwards at the Hutt lord. The size game was all well and good, but here it was futile. Mandalorians didn't care about how big or small you were, only if you could fight and survive, both of which Betna figured were a little hard for the Hutt to do without external assistance. There was a reason the Mandalorian language used ‘Hutt’ as the root for the Mando'a word for ‘coward’.

“Enemy, perhaps. Maybe. That all depends. As for the rest of the clans…” he shrugged nonchalantly at the Hutt’s implied threat. “The Mand'alor leads and the clans back him, but what a clan does on its own is on that clan. If you really want to hunt down individual mandalorian clans, you're in for a rude awakening. If you think they'll stop me or attempt to punish me, you're badly mistaken. If anything, some of them may buy a round at the tavern just to hear the story of this attack's success. We may stand behind a single banner, lord Sempra, but the clans rule the clans. It's a nice little bit of… freedom, in a lot of ways.”

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra rattled his tail and displayed his frustration through most horrid facial expressions as he realized there was no way he could bully or threaten [member="Arrbi Betna"] away from this plan.

The costs... dont thry bother about such things either?

"What if I buy you off then. Why go waste credits on ammunition and fuel when I could simply pay you a nice compensatory sum instead. Surely that sounds logical, yes?"

Sempra twiddled his fat fingers and cast a naive, yet still hopeful eye toward the mandalorian.

 

[Project Uriel]

Uriel, otherwise known as a little walking dreadnaught, was often powered down somewhere around Sempra, armored up to the neck, shield redundancy backups, and a non too unimpressive display of weaponry dotted about her person. It left little to the imagination of what Archangel or the Hutts used her for.

Today maybe it did, because every single facet of the conversation was being recorded and stored for later, every movement, gesture, and technique displayed by the other, body language thoroughly analysed like an Echani would have been proud of to better determine old wounds, or a more efficient extermination of her target.

It seemed logical that the Mandolorians would want to test their power against the hutts, her analysis of sentient lifeforms was, that the more similar an organisation in structure but the more different in ideology, often the more it feuded with a neighbor. The independent gangs or clans, large amount of non force users made for similar structure. She of course had no concept of what the distinction of honor meant, or much distinction between the different trading practices or goods both shipped, they were just goods to her. Ideological leanings and ways of fighting, that was what she could record and document.

Given that she had little in the way of tactical information on large Mandolorian actions, her program could use more input. The drone unit took a step forward, uncoupling from its charging station fully, as if to volunteer, either to kill him right now, or when he came later, it was all down to a wave of the hutt's hand.

[member="Arrbi Betna"] | [member="Sempra the Hutt"]​

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. He'd expected the offer of bribery at some point, no Hutt was above such a thing beyond a certain point, just not so soon.

"No, Lord Sempra," he said mildly, his tone amused even through the external comms of his helmet. "Bribing us won't work. This raid isn't about profit. It isn't about costs and financial overhead. It's to prove a point. To show we can do something. To show we can't be stopped. That far surpasses any desire for credits. This raid will occur, bribery or no bribery."

As the individual near the Hutt Lord shifted and moved forward, Betna assessed the situation. Armored, heavily armed, and moving away from what was either a stasis pad or a power station. That meant a form of droid and since a human face sat atop the armored torso, that meant one thing: HRD. An HRD used to enforce, slaughter, or generally cause mayhem in some way, shape, or form.

"Also, I'd suggest making your pet guard dog sit and stay," he stated simply, a small gesture dismissing the HRD and the threat it posed despite the chime in his helmet warning him of a potentially lethal combatant. He was risking a lot, but such was the nature of the act. He walked into the palace knowing full well the risks... and rewards. "Killing or capturing me would hurt you more than this raid ever could. If I don't check in within a certain time frame, everything changes from what I've told you and those changes will hurt you far more than the possible damage suffered on Brahka."

[member="Sempra the Hutt"] [member="Project Uriel"]

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra listened with displeased throaty sounds escaping his maw now and then. He was not one yo question the mandalorians. In fact despite that Hutts normally refrained from physical activity, such as combat, there had more often then not been agreement with these warriors.

"While I see your point warrior, I do not think that you have picked the right target. If you want to show yourself unstopable, why are you not wrestling with the sith, they rule the bulk of the galaxy and have proven the most dangerous force of our time over and over again. Some shipyards guards will hardly prove an honorable feat to wrest? hum?"" he spoke not paying any attention to his request to have [member="Project Uriel"] back down. She was free to move as she saw fit and most likely had some sort of programming instructing her present movement.

Sempra had no hope of buying the man off any longer but perhaps there was a way to plant doubt about their intended target in the mandalorians mind.


[member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Project Uriel"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Oh, no, we've picked the correct target," he said nonchalantly. "We've taken plenty of time to select the proper targets and equipment. As for the Sith, who says we aren't?"

Betna made a small show of scanning the room and shrugged after a moment. The message was delivered, the job was done, and it was time to leave.

"Pleasantries aside, it seems my task is complete. There is much to prepare and a great deal to get ready. I would suggest you and your people do the same, Lord Sempra," he said with another chuckle before jabbing a thumb at the door he entered through. "I'll leave you to it and let myself out."

[member="Sempra the Hutt"] [member="Project Uriel"]

 

[Project Uriel]

Attempts at mimicking a smile came across as barely worth mentioning, awkward would be an improvement.

“Query Great Sempra,” Uriel had learned a pleasantry it seemed, done for effect so to less unsettle those around, when she addressed her current objective and function, in this case the hutts defense and preservation in her testing phase.

“If the clans allow him to fight his own battles, why would they mind him fighting them now?” The drone logically queried, it seemed vastly more efficient to exterminate the threat here, than wait for it to come back with more sentients, and a higher threat level. Especially when she calculated so many guns could just turn and shoot, the probability at escaping on his own unscathed was statistically favorable to the cartel.

Her head jerked to one side, the back to the other, “are Mandalorian drones unable to fight without preparation.” Had the drone finally found a taunting insult, possibly, only sadly it might come off as robotic as she had no expression to go with it, just a vacant mechanical look. It was just as much a child-like question as an amateurish attempt at goading him to make an error in function.

Still she stood there unmoving awaiting any command, efficiency was important but not vital compared to her primary objectives and mission programming.

[member="Arrbi Betna"] | [member="Sempra the Hutt"]​

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra shook and coughed his curses as the mandalorian warrior left. This was not logical to a hutt. To be robbed, not for wealth but a show of power.

"Ororooo, it does not matter [member="Project Uriel"] - gather a team and head for Bhrakna!"

the hutt bellowed with frustration.

[member="Project Uriel"][member="Arrbi Betna"]