Auction Mining Rights to Katarr

[Matsu Ike]

Nej Tane

The escalation of credits and items was intense.. it went higher and higher and higher... faster then she had thought it would. The head of Sasori looked at it and watched as Katarr was an important place even with the miraluka dead. THey worked with the Jadeite and the jedi themselves.. could provide much and she had done some rebuilding there. "Hmmm I think only one of them showed proof of funding for this. Sasori though would ask what you want for the rights? Credits are easy, we have reverse engineered some fo the most exotic technologies in the galaxy and beyond."

 

[Sera Mina]

"Bacta-Works is spread throughout the core worlds and is rapidly expanding into the rest of Alliance space..." Sera said passionately in response.

"We seek to create the largest humanitarian relief network in the entirety of the GA, and have fashioned mighty vessels and sell our products on eaay to understand, tried and true systems. We'll even expand into the boardgame and video game market. I ain't talking the types of boardgames with fake money either, I mean the expensive stuff with the figurines that have to be painted, the complex lore, and the rule book..." she said to Nej Tane calmly

 

[Onrai]

Onrai pursed her fingers as she slowly, purposefully walked over towards Sera. She stood directly across from the woman, very clearly tightly wound and ready to do something drastic at a moment's notice. "Ten billion, and in addition to everything I've already offered, a half dozen Tryton-class cargo haulers. Enough for you to run a shipping business as passive income for the rest of your life." She looked at Sera and, with whatever level of cordiality she could muster towards the false human, smiled before mouthing a single word her programming would easily allow her to understand.

Don't.

Sera Mina Nej Tane

 

[Sera Mina]

Sera maintained her composure as Onrai walked across from her. She did not react to the mouthed word.

Sera's gaze was steel as she held the stare of an obviously dangerous organic.

"Eleven Billion..." Sera said, as a laser dot appeared from thin air on Onrai's chest.

"Including everything I offered previously, plus a dozen Corporate Heavy Cruisers..."

The laser dot slowly moved up Onrai's chest, stopping just at the bottom of Onrai's neck...and was joined by a second red dot that appeared from nowhere on the side of Onrai's temple.

Sera gave no silent, mouthed one word response. Sera simply, daintily, took a seat in front of Onrai and stared right at Nej Tane like she already owned Katarr.

 

[Onrai]

"Cute." Onrai said, hand in her robes as she sought to grasp something within them that would lead to a resolution. "Fifteen billion - and on top of everything I've offered you, everything she's offered as well." She felt around as her words came out slowly, precisely. No, that won't work. No, too messy. No, that could kill everyone, including the auctioneer. A moment of finessing soon brought her to the item she was looking for as she finished speaking. Let me try this first. The false human had taken a seat directly in front of the aberrant entity, her attention visibly focused elsewhere.

A hand within the robes grasped and initialized an exceptionally powerful electromagnet mere seconds after the last word had left her lips - presumably enough for Sera to get a laugh in. Onrai recalled that magnets on occasion could destabilize the chips in a mechanical device. Before acting so hasty, seeing if it was possible to scramble the droid's circuitry with a passive action rather than bringing forward brute force was a viable option. It was seated, its attention was elsewhere, and aside from Onrai's hands being within her robes, there was no visible sign of the electromagnet, active or otherwise.

Playing nice was over, even as she was prepared to receive blaster fire courtesy of whatever droids or snipers the construct had managed to sneak in.

Nej Tane Sera Mina

 

[Nej Tane]

Nej almost fell over in his chair. He had no idea what was real, what was up, what was down, what was sideways.

He did however almost throw the gavel at Matsu Ike . But he did slam it a lot.

"I WANT MONEY AND STUFF THAT'S WHY I'M SELLING THE BASTARD!"

He shook his head, trying to compose himself.

He couldn't.

Nej Tane.

Nej friggin' Tane.

Was about to be-

A billionaire.

"Okay soooooooooooooooo..... Bacta works.... kinda has it in the running." He put up his hands, looking down at Onrai (not knowing that they were moments away from killing each other).

"Look, I just wanted to recoup my loss from accidentall- I mean, uh. Ahem. Anyways. So. I know who Bactaworks, but uh..." He squinted at Onrai . "Who you be?" Nej saw the growing tension finally, and saw the other woman reach into her robe and fiddle with something.

He calmly laid an Enforcer pistol on the auction table, overlooking the room. It was one of the few things that gave away Nej's true identity, some part of him that wasn't a facade, a lie.

"Play nice."

Nej Tane was known for a lot of things. He was an idiot. He was a savant in some things, too. He was also, one of the fastest guns and draws in the galaxy presently. There was simply not a lot that could equal him when it came to shooting that gun.

And, being that it could blow a hole in a moving speeder, and they were all in a small room, well.

No need to do that, right?

 

[Hakon Fett]

Stuffing popcorn at his visor, Hakon Fett wondered if any of the bidders had the UCs ready.

 

[Sera Mina]

Sera twitched as the Electromagnetic system went active and it felt like up was down and black was white. She felt stupid suddenly, her databases shutting on and off randomly. She gripped her seat slightly, to suppress the muscle twitches.

"Tw-twen-twen-ty...f-f-five billion..." Sera stammered trying to pass it off like the price was getting too rich for her blood, though it was her logic processes barely remaining coherent. She went deaf and blind in one ear but didn't show it.

"Three heavy c-cargo haulers..." Sera stammered out, her logic centers just applying brute force now.

"All my underworld credits....and eight perrrr-cent control of one of my subsidiaries. And a...a...

Her logic database failed her for a few seconds.

"A ... partridge...in...a...pear tree..." she coughed out to Nej Tane , not giving the signal to fire yet, her team scrambling to try and block the electromagnetic signal from Onrai

 

[Nej Tane]

"Alright, alright alright. So, we're gonna cap it at 25 billion plus all the stuff, and uh..." He tapped his chin.

"And how many UCs we talking here? Daddy likes to blow money on bad stuff."

And there was the scary Mandalorian... eating popcorn through a helmet.

That sick son of a queen.

 

[Onrai]

Nej Tane Sera Mina

"Vanessa Vantai, the governor of Ord Mantell." She said, smiling at Nej, before looking over at the stuttering Sera. "Ah, exactly as I thought. A human replica droid. Are you one of Moira and Enyo's wayward creations? That would explain the failures." She stepped closer, within breathing room of the machine, bringing the electromagnet substantially closer to the droid's cranial unit, seeking to further intensify the effect of the device on the droid.

"No, I don't think twenty-five billion is an appropriate cap. Fifty billion, plus all I've offered. And if underworld credits are really that important to you, my dear Nej, I'll give you double what she's offering." She smiled - the smile of something meant to be unknown, satisfied.

"Or perhaps my dear mechanical friend here would perhaps be interested in making a deal?"

 

[Nej Tane]

"But she hasn't even said what she's offering.."

 

[Sera Mina]

"T-T-Thirty-O-One---" Sera struggled, maintaining her composure.

"--thousand, four hundred and twenty three UC..." She answered, just as her team finally isolated the signal and rigged up one of their own sensors to partly disrupt the electromagnetic frequency, but not entirely.

"HRD...?" Sera said, mildly perspiring, face twitching.

"I do believe you've been watching too much sci-fi..." Sera said, no longer stammering, but logic systems barely holding.

"Seventy-Five Billion..." she added defiantly in a quiet voice to Nej Tane

 

[Onrai]

Onrai smiled. "Sixty-two thousand, eight hundred and forty-six underworld credits - along with a hundred billion regular credits, plus whatever else I've offered you." If the number Sera had given was all she possessed, then this was an unrefusable offer. She smiled, continuing to eye the droid. "Yes, an HRD, though Moira and Enyo's work was more perfectionist. I know you're not the human you physically appear to be, Sera. Whether you were always a machine and your adopted mother knew, or whether a real, fleshy Sera was replaced with you at one point is ultimately irrelevant. You can try to fling mockery all you like - I did make my own at one time. Perhaps I could offer you a number of upgrades, were you to desist with whatever mission your aged, strained processors have been given."

She looked over at Nej. "Yes, I'm willing to go even higher. For what you're offering, we've barely scratched the surface."

Sera Mina Nej Tane

 

[Nej Tane]

Ord Mantell.

Ord Mantell was on the fringes of the Expansion Region, outside of the Core, but not quite in the unknown regions. But he knew for a fact, that it was in Dark Empire space. It was slightly off a hyperlane, and that-

Well.

The Dark Empire and the Neo Crusaders weren't exactly friends. And Hakon Fett was menacingly not even eating the popcorn. Just mimicking the action. Flexing that he could, but he chose not to. The fact wasn't lost on Nej.

"So.... you're with the Dark Empire, huh? Must be... pretty.. um.. you know. Risky to take on a contract in Neo Crusader space..." He started to sweat, looking over at Hakon, who just so happened to be the leader of a violent group of bloodthirsty crusaders who hated people like Nej.

Sort of.

 

[Sera Mina]

"My pockets, are...deep...too..." Sera replied. "Three. Hundred. Billion."

The one saving grace is that Onrai , despite having deduced her artificial nature, didn't seem to know what kind exactly, that Sera was. Her reference to aged, strained processors told Sera that Onrai neither knew she was a full bio-droid, nor that she was one of the latest in her line, and just happened to have a weakness to Magnetics.

But Droids, her particular model, anyway, were feared throughout the underworld whenever they were encountered, because most times they acted completely human until the heat of the moment..

"And half controlling stake in two of my subsidiaries..." she added to Nej Tane

"Plus double on every item mentioned from previous versions of my offer."

 

[Onrai]

Nej Tane Sera Mina

"I've been in many places with many people over time." She said, smiling at him. "And the Neo Crusaders don't bother me, just as the Protectors didn't bother me, or the old Mandalorian Empire didn't bother me. Business is business, and Katarr is an opportunity to be exploited." She listened to Sera's comments, smiling in turn.

"Twice the freighters, a stake in Ord Mantell's manufacturing, a high-interest account at the Ord Mantell bank, everything I've already offered, and let's get into the serious money here." She said, leaning forward over Sera's shoulder, almost pressing the concealed electromagnet against the droid's head.

"One trillion credits."

 

[Nej Tane]

"Alright, alright, alright. Everyone. I'm gonna go for a pee break. NOBODY BID, NOBODY FIGHT-" He stood up, taking the pistol with him.

"AND NOBODY CONSPIRE WHILE I'M GONE!"

Nej took his leave, off to handle the pee break, have a mental breakdown, celebrate, call his mom, and constantly check his shoulder in the urinal for a T-shaped visage of doom.

Meanwhile, they were obviously free to conspire, because Nej wasn't in charge of them.

 

[Sera Mina]

Sera gritted her teeth, forcing her eyes not to roll in her head as she perspired from the strain to her systems, her team working over time to counteract the signal.

"One point five trillion..." Sera breathed out in defiance upon the return of Nej Tane , forcing herself to resist the chaos the magnet inflicted.

"And quadruple the number of ships in my previous offer, choice properties owned by my company on all worlds we do business. Plus hidden accounts and safe houses in our possession..."

The team began to counteract the signal more. In her ear, she got a request to take the shot. She discretely signalled no. She fired the first shot no one would ever trust her at an auction again.

"I'm the least likely of anyone here to try and stab you in the back to get what they want, Nej. In addition to my one point five trillion, I offer and additional trillion."

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

"Hidden accounts and safehouses? That doesn't sound like the sort of thing that's above the level for the Galactic Alliance." She said, a hand changing the frequency of the electromagnet to something different, whenever Nej finally came back. "Quadruple the freighters, everything I've offered, five trillion credits, a suit of complete beskar Mandalorian armor, and protection from any itinerant Mandalorians who might decide to try to seize your perfectly legally provided offer." She smiled.

"I don't think these red dots pointed at me suggest Sera is willing to negotiate in good faith." She said, her free hand motioning to them. "Also, for what it's worth, I've been honest in dealing for the last seventy years. No reason to stop now." She said.

Nej Tane Sera Mina

 

[Sera Mina]

"Six point five trillion. Quintuple all my interdictor ships in my offer, two suits of Ancient Gravity Manipulating Armor plus half controlling stake in three of my subsidiaries. And when anyone walks up to me, they should be prepared to reckon when they got a death glare like yours." Sera said, bitterly fighting the magnet's effects and doing her best to hide it.

"If you think someone as rich as I am in the alliance would not have a safehouse...you really think The Alliance survives threats like the Dark Empire by showing every card?"

Nej Tane

Onrai