Misery loves company [dev thread] [ask to join]

[Miss Blonde]

Miss Blonde was back in business today getting more of that wonderful wonderful ore, last week's shipment had been taken care of and now it was time to start the process of getting the phrik needed to move through this mine. After all people needed the stuff and she would supply, so with a cup of coffee in one hand in the other some sort of health bar, the woman had woken up got in a quick workout in the gym, got ready and was now at work for what seemed like the thousandth time.

However today she wasn't going to be talking to her assistant or a droid, well probably still the droid but she was expecting one of her new bloods to come join her. She was new to the syndicate and it seemed they were an idealist. She reminded her of herself in her youth and a lot of women didn't really join the syndicate so she would of course give her a helping hand.

Walking into her office she left the door open, sat down at her desk, then placed her breakfast on the table. Taking a moment she sighed and sipped at her coffee. Lots of cream and sugar, but at least she had the healthy little protein bar so it didn't make her feel too guilty.

"Let's get started." Blonde said as she booted up the holo portion of her table.

[member="Nyx"]

 

[Nyx]

Black Tie, Black Hat. Both black, both articles of clothing. It had seemed fitting enough. The teenager had no need for money, but she always had the philosophy of keeping those who could be an enemy close. Even then, she hadn't expected for the leader of this thing, [member="Miss Blonde"], to want to speak to her personally. What would she say, what would she do?
Nyx wasn't exactly a talking kind of person.

But she went anyway, her hood pulled low over her face, her hand frequently rubbing her collar. The Syndicate had a rep, and Nyx was only hoping this meeting didn't end with a slug in her face and her body being dumped somewhere unseemly.
She arrived at the office, taking a seat.
"So, you're Miss Blonde, eh?"

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Nyx"]

"Do I have red hair?" Miss blonde said as she configured her holo table looking through functions.

"I am Miss Blonde, it's nice to meet you Black Hat, now I only have a few rules when it comes to how I lead." Blonde said before pulling up the droid listing.

Configuring the setting she loaded up the weekly standard movement to the hotbox that wouldn't take too long to get done, that was the joy of having massive mining droids to do the work, you didn't need to use organic crews on a planet that had a surface like hell.

"First. Try to have fun, because if you don't then what's the point?" Blonde said with a chuckle then scrolled through her listings.

"Second. Betray me and you will die, badly.". Blonde didn't like saying it, but it did need to be said.

"Last Is that I take care of my people, so if you ever need anything never feel afraid to ask and there's no such thing as a stupid question. Unless it's stupid." she said as she configured and loaded up her droid listing.

 

[Miss Blonde]

A few icons showed up on her table and Miss Blonde had quickly risen to the task of assigning functions, it seemed that Zeek was still in the repair bay and that didn't surprise her given the amount that he was used to supply phrik to the base. So it was time to activate another of the colossal droids, while she enjoyed using thirty six she would have to live with usuing unit seven.

"Wake up Sleven." Blonde said as she punched the droids icon on her table.

She had been on a spree Nick naming droids and she found it helped pass the time of the complete boredom that was Demonsgate. You could look outside and see hell but that was just sort of boring after a while. Volcanic eruptions and sulfur clouds were only so fun after the hundredth time watching them devour local lava boars.

Outside the droid known as "Sleven" activated and dropped down from its charging port with a small thud.

 

[KeCholo]

Ke'Cholo's heavy-duty boots could probably be heard walking down the hall a kilometer away. However, he wasn't nervous about this sort of thing, done similar jobs almost hundreds of times before. He felt inside his coat making sure he had his DL-44's and looked over his shoulder to see the rifle attached to his back and Qaeth behind him. He walked up to the door of the office, took a deep breath and walked in.

''Hello 'der ladies.'' he would say, tipping his hat towards [member="Miss Blonde"] first and then to [member="Nyx"] .

''Ke'Cholo here, your head of security.'' he would say ''And 'dis is Qaeth, Q for short'' he would motion to the rather tall Mon Calimari whose entire body (except for his head) was covered with a tan cloak.

 

[Nyx]

Ah. So, it was your standard syndicate thing going on. Work with them, you made it rich, betray them, you died. She'd heard it a thousand times by now, from groups she'd taken personal pleasure in destroying from afar. Only time would tell if this one turned out to be any different.
"Yeah, yeah, I get the point."
She had long ago lost the patience to be polite to anyone, even if they were technically above her in the food chain. She examined what [member="Miss Blonde"] was doing, resisting the urge to dive into the files of this whole operation.
"What are you mining, here?"

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="KeCholo"]

"Hello Captain." That was a formality.

He was this cycles head of security, a lot of the times Miss Blonde often hired mercenaries to secure shipments and the facility. She was certain that this man was never a captain of anything but maybe a ship, but it was always nice to show respect to those who put their lives on the line to defend your assets and people.

"Tell me, are we having problems with the local lava boars?" Blonde ignored [member="Nyx"] for a moment then turned her head back to her.

"Well Hat if you must know we are mining phrik here on Demonsgate, and you'd know that if you had bothered doing any research on the planet before coming here." Blonde said with an authoritative tone.

"Maybe we should make you go on a walk without a suit and you'd learn quickly." there was a deadly tone in her words then an awkward pause.

Blonde chuckled afterwards and smiled at the woman, she was of course joking and always wanted to take care of her people.

"So Black Hat tell me what you do in our organization." She of course knew her skills but she wanted the girl to feel more comfortable.

 

[KeCholo]

''Call me Ke'Cholo'' he would respond to the 'captain' remark.

Women. Ke'Cholo literally twiddled his thumbs whilst the two women talked amongst themselves. After a minute or so, he turned around whispered something to Qaeth who excused himself with a nod to the two women who didn't seem to pay him attention. Ke'Cholo kept quiet and observed the two, [member="Miss Blonde"] seemed to be a bit awkward but he couldn't find much out about [member="Nyx"] yet. He lifted his hat and scratched his head, waiting for something to respond to.

 

[Miss Blonde]

Sleven was off and out walking towards the Hot Box, the massive droid let out a mechanical roar and was making it double time to the mountain range where the phrik was gathered. Miss blonde focused on her table for a moment and moved around some icons on her map to get everything going. She programmed the droid to gather this week's shipment from the mountain ranges "sweet spot" where the phrik ore was more pure.

The droid rumbled and shook the earth beneath it with every step. Outside the hellish winds whipped against its side and this was why they had to use droids that size. With Demonsgate being a near endless supply of phrik ore it was one of the most dangerous places to mine ore. It wasn't like it was Alderaan where you could kick back and relax letting a few mining droids hit a vein with a pick axe while birds chirped.

This place was hell on earth and the little birdies here were massive beasts that would eat you for lunch then raid your camp looking for your supplies.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="KeCholo"]

"Whatever you say Mister Ke'Cholo." Blonde said then faced her chair over to him.

"The cycle is coming to an end I am very grateful for your men's work here. So how would you like your payment? We have a hundred thousand credits for the cycle total, we can split that into phrik ore with an employee discount would get you around twenty pounds. Or we can renew your contract for another cycle. But I can understand wanting to go home." Blonde looked back over to the table to check progress.

Sleven had reached the hot box mountains started the dig. Using its large drill it began to hit the mountain hard into its depths where the more pure phrik ore lay. The rock's purple hue shined on the volcanic light and fire showing it was indeed a higher quality than the other parts of the mountain making the refining process a hell of a lot easier.

She pressed a few icons and Sleven kept drilling and knocking phrik down to the collection zone bellow.

 

[KeCholo]

''I want enough phrik to make 5, maybe 10, electro staffs and preferably a contract renewal. My security ain't cheap but it's the best in the outer rim.'' Ke'Cholo slipped his hands in his pockets and retrieved a handful of small rocks each about an inch in diameter. They appeared to be phrik, if they were it was a lower concentration. ''I don't know if these is phrik or not, they looked like 'em.'' Ke'Cholo would lurch forward and place them on his employer's desk. ''My men turned 'em in. Some of the ones that ain't so bright so run it through your test or whatever before you melt it down.''

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="KeCholo"]

Miss Blonde grabbed the rocks casually and lifted them up into the light, it was phrik alright by its purple hue, but they were very small rocks. Whenever the colossal mining droid canna into the loading bay it would dump the phrik onto the floor and often small chips and rocks would fly various places and would be swept up. So people might of just picked them up and turned them over to the head of security.

"It's phrik yes, and its completely worthless." Blonde said as she set the rocks down.

"Smelting them with the incoming shipment might add an ounce or two but there's not a lot else you can do with it. Too small." Blonde said as she pushed them forward.

"There are plenty of small phrik rocks around the facility Ke'Cholo, workers like to pocket them and honestly I don't mind. As long as the main shipment remained untouched you and your men are welcome to pick up any smaller rocks you find around the facility." Blonde paused then turned to her table.

Looking at the dig process she could see Zeek picking up the ore at the base of the mountain where it had fallen. He had fracked it and made sure the loose stone from the mountain had fallen down. The droid began to gather up the hundreds of pounds of phrik and shoveled them into their cargo hold.

Miss blonde pressed a few icons on her table and when the droid was ready and loaded up she had it turn around and trek back to the facility.

"So you want to extend? That's perfectly fine, and I'll be sure to throw in a bonus for the second cycle. Does ten grand sound good?" Blonde said as she continued to press a few buttons and images.

 

[KeCholo]

Ke'Cholo would sweep the rocks into a side pocket of his satchel whilst muttering something like ''One man's trash, another's treasure.'' He listened to [member="Miss Blonde"]'s offer with baited breath. ''Try more like 50 grand, you all make a lot here and I know it. Phrik ain't cheap and neither is my price.'' Ke'Cholo sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk next to [member="Nyx"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="KeCholo"]

"The door is over there." Blonde said as she pressed a few more icons and ran through her shipping images.

"One hundred and ten thousand credits is very generous for a cycle and a ten percent raise as a bonus is perfectly acceptable if not too good. I am a kind woman Ke'Cholo but do not mistake my kindness as a weakness." The woman said in a very serious tone as she watched Sleven coming in from the camera system of the building.

"A fifty percent raise of your original fee is too much and I can always hire Hellhound Strategic to do the work that you do. So it's ten percent or the door." Blonde then pressed her last few icons.

Sleven had marched back the single kilometer and was back at the loading bay for the phrik, the massive droid lowered itself down then spewed forth large amounts of phrik onto the floor where it would be weighed for processing then shipped off to the refinery for purification.

 

[KeCholo]

Ke'Cholo let out a low growl. ''20'' he responded simply. He looked outside to see the horrible working conditions, the work his crew had done had been on-par and deserved a good pay, even more so for working near lava.

Outside, Qaeth rounded up Ke'Cholo's crew and were preparing to head off-world until the next cycle. They would make sure the phrik got melted first and then head off in Ke'Cholo's freighter.

Back inside, Ke'Cholo awaited [member="Miss Blonde"]'s response. He tapped his foot against the floor, the tension was thick and almost breathable.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="KeCholo"]

"Seventeen, and that's only because I like you." Blonde said casually as she flicked off her holo table.

She looked over to the mercenary and had dealt with his type before, hundreds of times even. She could go on for hours about how much she didn't trust them, but the head of security had proven themselves to be rather capable and loyal to the point where he was handing over small pieces of rocks, so he could be at least given a seventeen percent raise.

"Seventeen is more than fair, but tell you what. I'll throw in a phrik blade for you and we can call it a deal?" Blonde extended her hand over the table and with the other reached under her desk to place a sheathed sword on the table.

The short sword sat there and Blonde would hope it would be enough for the mercenary.

 

[KeCholo]

''And I still get the phrik for the electro-staffs?'' Ke'Cholo inquired to [member="Miss Blonde"]. He picked up the blade and examined it. It was a high quality weapon. His mind then wandered to the money. 17 was a very fair figure, should she agree to provide him with the phrik he would agree to the deal. He placed his hand in his satchel moved around the rocks, needing something else to occupy his other hand.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="KeCholo"]

"It would be your payment for this previous cycle, yes." Blonde said as she looked down at a data pad and began to tap a few functions into it.

The ore inside the loading bay was placed on carts and would be shuffled off to the refinery to begin the smelting process. Blonde looked over to the man as she set her datapad down and tapped her fingers on the desk once.

"And of course we can pay again in phrik for the upcoming cycle if that's what you wish." She said with a casual tone.

 

[KeCholo]

''Deal'' he said picking up the blade with one hand and offering the other in a hand shake to seal the deal. Overall, this had been a good contract and was well worth it. Phrik was rare and difficult to mine, receiving it as payment was better than credits in some situations. He slide the blade in it's sheath and attached it to his britches.

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="KeCholo"]

"Deal." Blonde said extending her own hand to quickly but firmly shake then retract away.

"I'll see to it that the phrik is transferred to your ship." Miss Blonde smiled then grabbed her comm link.

"Waldo, love. See to it that twenty pounds of phrik are sent to Ke'Cholo's freighter. And order something nice for dinner tonight, Bantha steaks and..."

Blonde paused and looked over to the guard captain gesturing her hand over to him asking what his men would like for a final meal before the next cycle started. She was a decent boss like that and it was important to take care of the people working for you.