Private Funny meeting in a place like this

[Ragos Terrek]

Now this is a club.

Ragos Terrek thought as he sat in a private booth lined with velvet cushions dyed so dark green that in the dim lighting they could've been black.

Ragos had visited other establishments of this kind on Coruscant, on the surface. They were all too bright, and clean, and safe. Far too sanitized. In other words…inauthentic.

This establishment. His establishment. It was the real fething deal. Far from the lights of the stars in the sky above, this joint was only as clean as it needed to be and not any more. The patrons were just able to see where they walked as dim lighting fought to shine through a haze of spice and smoke, the brightest lights were reserved for the stages and encouraged wary walkers to sit down, take in the show and fething tip.

If you came to one of these joints two-hundred- and- twenty-two levels from the surface and didn't expect to feel a little unsafe, then what was the point?

Ragos leaned back in his booth as he lit a spliff of spice and inhaled deeply, savoring the mind alter effects as he slowly exhaled a large cloud of smoke toward the ceiling.

Smooth rythmic music drifted over the speakers as an announcement came on the PA.

"It's time for the showstopper people!" The DJ said in an affected radio Star voice. "Let's all welcome Za'dri to the main stage!"

A provocatively dressed Czerialan woman sauntered onto the stage to the whoops and cheers from the crowd that gathered around the stage. She began to sway enticingly to the music while credits began to pile up around her.

Ragos personal booth gave him the perfect view of the main stage and the four other smaller platforms used by the other dancing girls. He watched Za'dri as she swung herself seductively around the pole that took up the middle of the main stage. He exhaled another cloud of smoke.

In his early life on Haruun Kal he never would have imagined himself in a place like this, let alone owning a place like this. Growing up on Nar Shaddaa he could've dreamed of visiting a place like this not owning a place like this. When he first got to Coruscant he would've thought about robbing a place like this and now look at him..

Ragos was thrown from his thoughts when a drink was set on the table in front of him with a clink. He looked up to see the fiery gold eyes of the person who actually ran this establishment. Ba'la was Devaronian and stunning.

"I think your meeting is here. Want me to show them over?" She asked

"That's not really your job." Ragos said. "Neither is this." He said, taking a sip of the drink. Mogano. Ba'la was already learning his tastes.

"I like to be helpful." She said.

"You like me grateful." He laughed.

There was a devilish quality(look I'm sorry) to the smile that answer got.

'Well?' She asked with a look. He made a gesture of acquiesce and Ba'la went to the front to collect Yu Karloo and escort them back to Ragos' booth.

There was business to be done.

 

[Yu Karloo]

Yu slipped into the Butterscotch Rancor. She noted an immediate quality about the club, in comparisons to the myriad of others, including the Starlight Lounge. The Rancor had an edge. Not a dive, but not the neat and tidy venues she frequented since her own days on the streets were left behind. She liked the playful name. It was suggestive, like a stripper's name, hinting at the nature of the entertainment you might find within. Yu took in the room, through the faint haze of smoke that gave the air a distinct aroma of tobacco tinged with spice.

Taking a drag from her cigarra, the Nautolan exhaled, adding her own smoke to the atmosphere. An announcement cut through the miasma, and her gaze swung to see the Czerialan woman entering the stage. Yu watched, allowing herself a moment to enjoy the exotic dance she performed, focused around the pole. She must have been a popular dancer, for the stage was immediately lined with patrons tossing their offerings to her as she performed.

It was then that the Devaronian approached. The polite woman guided Yu to what must have been a personal booth. After all, it was his club.

"Mr. Terrek." Yu greeted Ragos. It was more formal than the man or venue probably demanded, but the intent was to establish the meeting as a professional one. "Yu Karloo." She introduced herself, again, probably not necessary since she had already been 'fetched' by Ragos' employee.

Yu didn't wait for an invitation to sit, standing at his personal booth would draw attention, so she slid into the seat across from him. Her gaze drifted for a moment to Za'dri, then back to the handsome gangster. She tugged again on her cigarra, making sure to blow her smoke away from her host. "I would love a drink." She commented, only a slight tilt of her head indicating the all black gaze had fallen to the glass before him.


Ragos Terrek

 

[Ragos Terrek]

“Mr.Terrek,”

For feth sake how did they all know his name?

"Yu Karloo."

The nautolan said introducing herself. He did already know her name so, he guessed turnabout was fair play but he had actually been trying to get a hold of her. This meeting was his idea after all. She slid into the booth and sat across from him. Her gaze turned to Za’dri and Ragos’ did as well. He noticed when Yu had turned her attention toward him but Ragos took a little longer to watch Za’dri as she performed a series of movements along the pole that looked immensely uncomfortable but did the trick to get his blood moving a bit faster.

"I would love a drink." The alien woman said.

“Say less.” Ragos said turning away from the performance. He waved over a Korunai woman. She was older than every other girl in the place but was still a year shy of thirty at least and wore significantly more clothes than all of them, except for the devaronian Ba’la.

“Mogano for Captain Karloo, please. On the house.”

The server went off to go fetch Yu’s drink. Ragos made it a point to not have his booth served by any of the other girls. They liked to flirt(which was their job really) and Ragos knew that sampling your own product was a fast way to the poor house.

“Call me Ghost. I’m glad we got a chance to meet, Captain Karloo.” Ragos said once Yu had her drink. “Can I call you, Yu?” Ragos asked taking a sip from his own glass.

“Sorry, if this isn’t exactly the type of place you’re used to having your business meetings.” Ragos apologized. He was aware his spot was a different type of venue all-together than Starlight or Reveries. He wondered what Marcella would think to see what part of her credits had paid for. “But this is personal business.” He took a drag from his spliff of spice.

“For you it’s business and for me it’s personal, so I figure we do it here and not involve our…friends, ya dig?”

These friends that they shared were a group of people to whom Ragos wished to owe nothing. Not credits–any more credits– and nothing personal.

“These friends of ours, they recommended you highly when I asked around for someone able to do the job that I need doing.”

Smugglers were tricky. Ask any of them and they would tell you that every other smuggler in the galaxy is a liar, a thief, a braggart, and chit at their job but Ragos needed a smuggler. He would’ve loved to ask Joran, the man that practically raised him but Joran was still friends with Ragos’ dad and that was the last person that needed to find out what Rag was getting up to.

“Have you ever been to Haruun Kal?”

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

"Morano? You know how to treat a lady, Ghost." Yu replied coyly, using the moniker he had offered. "Yu is fine, no need for formalities." By the moment, Yu was getting a feel for the gangster, just as she knew Ragos was doing the same. He was no-nonsense, to the point. She could appreciate that. Her demeanor shifted slightly, relaxing more.

"Don't apologize, there is nothing wrong with the Butterscotch Rancor..." Her eyes again slid to the Czerialan dancing provacatively around the burnished pole. She enjoyed the performance for the length of another toke of her cigarra, then her all-black gaze returned to Ragos. "It has character, something a lot of clubs on the upper levels lack. I have conducted business in far less savory places. Because I associate with our mutual 'friends', don't assume I have always conducted business with Daruvvian champagne in glittery venues." Yu clarified for her host. "I am good with us having our own working relationship."

"Haruun Kal? No. Small population, a single metropolitan center, not much lucrative 'trade' there." The Nautolan smuggler boss replied.

Her cigarra had been nearly consumed, and Yu crushed it out in an ashtray on the table. Taking out a cigarra tin and opening it, her emerald-hued finger ran across several variety before she plucked out a Fiori Ebony. The stronger cigarra was lit and embraced between dark jade lips, a deep drag pulled. Smoke with the distinct aroma of Marcan herb was exhaled in a lazy cloud. It seemed they both enjoyed the products of Marcella Fiori's endeavors.

"But I have a feeling I am about to be proven wrong. Tell me, Ghost, what is it you need?" Her accented Basic toned in an easy, feminine lilt.

 

[Ragos Terrek]

"You know how to treat a lady, Ghost." Yu replied coyly.

"My momma will be happy to hear it." Ragos said taking a sip from his glass. Owning a business in which women earned money by dancing in various states of undress, proved beyond a doubt that Ragos had the utmost respect for the ladies, for sure.

There was half a smile on Ragos face when Yu complimented The Rancor. It was only half a smile but it was very charming. Ragos held a certain amount of pride of this place, maybe it had something to do with how many mutual friends owned clubs or maybe it was because he watched his pops run a club on Nar Shaddaa or maybe it was finally having something to show for his work.

"I am good with us having our own working relationship."

"Say less." Ragos lifted his glass and 'toasted' to their partnership. There was no reason to stress the point. All he could do was take the smuggler at their word but Ragos wasn't entirely convinced that the nautolan would keep this meeting or its contents secret if she saw some profit to sharing.
He was sure though that he would rather their mutual friends not know anything about it.

"Haruun Kal? No. Small population, a single metropolitan center, not much lucrative 'trade' there." The smuggler summarized.

"At least you heard of it." Ragos said as Za'dri's performance came to an end. The dj came back over the PA to announce that the main stage wouldn't have another feature performance for another hour and reminded everyone to tip the waitstaff.

"What you probably haven't heard of was the civil war that had been going on for decades." Ragos took another long drag of his spice. "People who look like me and like her," he gestured toward the woman who had brought Yu’s drink. "Dying by the tens of thousands for years and not a word spoken about it in the senate, republic or imperial, no Jedi came to save a soul, like you said only one real spaceport, so leaving wasn't really an option but some families managed it."

He was cautious not to tip off the fact that he had been one of those families.

"One day though, a man shows up, a man who looks like the rest of them, all the power of a Jedi but a willingness to actually do something. Turns out he's a mad man. He ends the war, he tells the locals they answer to him now. Any and all opposition is crushed, now people who look like me and her are oppressed by other people who look like me and her. Rounded up and killed or sent to work in mines to dig for ore until they die."

"It's frakked. More people are trying to escape now that the war has ended than ever but this mad man, this tyrant won't allow such a thing, he doesn't want word of what's going on to get out or whatever so trade is heavily monitored to make sure no refugees leave illegally. Well my I have a contact on the planet that has twenty folks who are paying to leave. I'm asking you if you can collect those people and three unopened crates and bring them all back here to Coruscant?"

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

Yu listened carefully as the man unfolded his story. She was grateful for the back history, curious at first to its relevance to a smuggler, but Ghost tied it up with a neat bow at the end. It was another of an all too common tale, the bringers of peace end up being oppressors. It was this man's home world, and now Yu understood what he meant when he said it was business for her, but personal for him. She took another drag from the black cigarra, holding the smoke to let her lungs fully absorb the herbal chemicals. Then she exhaled.

"Well..." Yu replied with a small smile. "I won't say it isn't doable." She continued. "I don't know the means, methods or competency of the regime in place, That will play into it. And moving cargo under that sort of scrutiny is one thing, moving living beings is another. You have to provide the means for them to continue living, while managing to keep them well hidden." Her tone was one of thinking out loud.

The one boon Yu saw was that, since this was only a planetary authority she would be defying and one that seemed to be tyrannical, she could practice less restraint and justify more extreme measures if things went awry,

"High risk this is, but that is the sort of work I advertise taking, right?" She added, sipping at her bourbon. "I would need a little time to modify a ship for this sort of job." She held his gaze as the wheels behind those large all black eyes spun. Finally she sucked on the cigarra again and replied. "I will accept it tentatively, but I will need to consult my business manager to determine a price, and I'd like to get a little intel on how Harrun Kal is policing trade, to know what I need to counter it." Yu offered, taking up her bourbon glass.

 

[Ragos Terrek]

Ragos waved over the Korunai waitress again, Said something to her in their native Korunal and watched as she ducked behind the bar.

"I don't know chit about whatever on the planet. What I know is most of my crew are either refugees,"

Like me.

He thought but did not say.

"Or their parents were refugees, so it's not impossible to get mutha suckas off Haruun Kal."

Ragos couldn't say for certain if in the years since he had gotten off world in the hold of a former slave ship things had gotten more difficult, he had never actually done anything like this before, he was a dealer, a cook, a corner boy, a fething hit boy, this was boss chit he was playing at now and he was probably out of his league.

"Yu, there isn't time. We are talking about people who are being hunted, on the run from forces that want to see them dead or worse, time is the enemy as much as soldiers in the ground, dig? You ain't gotta do more than get them a ride off world and back here, they are supposed to bring their own food, water, whatever."

By now the waitress had come back. Ragos gave her a nod and she began stacking credits onto the table in front of Yu. Twenty thousand to be exact.

"As far as price goes." Ragos said as the last of the credits were stacked up. "Consider this a down payment. I will get you another fifteen thousand if you pull the job off, but it needs to be soon. Soon."

In three days time Ragos was going to Epica, invited to some shindig or whatever. It was chance to network, to put himself and his product out there, to expand. These people, those crates, chit was vital.

"We got a deal? A full deal, not nothing tentative?"

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

Yu's gentile persona faded each moment that "Ghost" spoke. It was wasted on the gangster. The depth of his personal investment in the venture became more apparent. He wanted those people off-world, and soon and wasn't interested in small talk. Ragos did, however, oversimplified her part in the mission. It wasn't just 'giving them a ride off-world', it was doing it and not getting caught. That was the trick. Her guess would be that an unpleasant fate awaited those refugees if nabbed by the authorities, let alone what they would do to the ship and crew she sent.

Then, the credits began to literally pile up in front of her.

Yu planted her elbows on the table and studied the man for a moment with fathomless all-black orbs. The smuggler tugged on her cigarra, letting the mild intoxicant fill her lungs before exhaling it. She didn't like being rushed, but she understood the urgency. If any team could pull it off, it was hers. Besides, she liked the challenge, and for once, the job was actually for a noble cause.

"Alright. I'll do it." She replied, taking a swig of bourbon. "You will receive a secure transmission code soon, send any and all details through that as soon as possible." The Nautolan added. Yu already had a plan in the works, using a couple ships and some well-timed switches, they could scramble their trail easily enough.

Ragos Terrek

 

[Ragos Terrek]

“Say less.” Ragos told the smuggler. His voice came out a little stiffer than it had at the start of their conversation but within moments he had his winningest smile back on.

Ragos hated sounding desperate, more than he hated being desperate but chit was what it was now. He’d promised Marcella that he could run her undercity operations. That turned out to be a lot of operations. It kept him going from level to level to level, personally dealin’ with chit that he should never be dealin’ with and with his crew split in half and all out war getting closer and closer every day, this chit needed to work.

“Feel free to hang out. While you’re here, everything is on the house, anything you want is yours. Anything.” He told her, his charm turned back up to a thousand.

There was plenty to be had in The Rancor, top shelf drinks, dances, spice of course, and a handful of private rooms for the shy types.

Yu Karloo

 

[Yu Karloo]

"Thank you, Ghost." Yu replied to Ragos' offer.

The deal had been made, now all that remained were the logistics. But Yu didn't rush to leave. Taking advantage of her host's offer, the Nautolan ordered another drink and moved to a closer table where she could watch the current dancer on stage finish her performance. As she enjoyed the lithe, sensual dance, Yu began to mentally set forth plans for the job. Mulling over the captain and crew, ship type and research on the current political and legal situation on Haruun Kal. She would set Isabelle on that task as soon as she returned.

With the last flourish of the performer, the stage lights cut and the house music was brought up again. Yu downed the last swig of her drink, crushed out the butt of her cigarra, and strolled out of the Rancor, giving the Korunai woman a smile and a nod before slipping out into the neon-lit night.

END​

Ragos Terrek