Of Debts and Dunaan

[Mars Tonith]

The planet of Tiss’sharl was an ecumenopolis, not unlike the legendary Coruscant and Empress Teta, or Corellia of time past. Unlike that trio of worlds however Tiss’sharl still had patches here and there of jungle. It also had a non-human majority, with most of the population being the reptilian Tiss’Shar species. So was to was the secretary that sat at the desk in front of [member="Seydon"], clicking and clacking away at her terminal with claws that could probably be used in profession. The dunaan would hear a slight ding at the prompt of the secretary’s holomail, prompting her to march on over.

“Our commercial department will see you now Mr. Seydon. If you’ll just follow me.” The Tiss’shar said, before escorting the Dunaan towards an office. Inside was another Tiss’shar, not too dissimilar visually from the secretary who’d escorted him. The main difference would be red markings along his face, resembling a mask.

“Mr. Gunn, please have a seat.” The reptile motioned with it’s claws. “I hope you’ve not been waiting too long. I’m told you wish to take out a loan to start a business? Could you go into detail on what your business is, and where the funds will be going?”

 

[Seydon of Arda]

“Certainly,” Seydon said, shaking the Tiss’sharl’s proffered claws and accepting a low, plush seat settled before a raised desk of polished yarnwood and stainless durasteel. Terminal banks mounted either side of a central console washed the Tiss’sharl’s scale hide blue and violet.

The Dunaan wore his best tunic, woollen undershirt, slacks, boots, and his polished silver wedding band. Looked uncomfortable for it, relieved of his everyday armament and work-kit, the harnessing and scabbards, satchels, rucksack, and whichever killing implement chosen for the day’s slaying. Seydon, pale and cat-eyed, tried settling into the chair, focusing on the branch associate waiting on him.

“My work is a kind of pest control. Sir,” He added. The Tonith-Damask brand logo was etched in a platinum plaque just over the edge of the long desk. It caught his attention, reminded him of the immense commercial and monetary weight staring in through the Tiss’sharl’s slit eyes. Don’t let this be a mistake, he thought. “I look after monsters and monstrous problems. That entails alchemical creations and other byproducts that have spewed out of various war machines in the past twenty years. This includes phantoms, ghosts, creatures, and other phenomena you’d would just call ‘fanciful’ or ‘mad.’

“My business is either killing them, constraining them and loosing them away from population centres as it depends, exorcisms, banishment’s, cleansings, and other archaic tasks. I am a Dunaan. A witcher. All that and more is our guild mission. ...But I’ve family now,” Seydon paused. “So I’d like contractual work to come to me now. I need coin and a line of credit to establish a shop to house my business. Alongside advertisements, all the infrastructure necessary for connectivity.”

He didn’t mention his apprehension contacting TDI for the possible loan. His general distrust and immense distaste for most intergalactic financial institutions, the Aurum-Saccs Combine, IGBM, the First Bank of Tion, or ATC’s dominating shadow chasing the heels of every finance transaction. TDI, while ancient and monied between it’s paired families, seemed halfway independent. And willing to harrow the market with competitive service. Seydon exercised breathing controls and waited on the Tiss’sharl.

[member="Mars Tonith"]

 

[Mars Tonith]

The Tiss’shar kept his eyes at the Dunaan, while clacking his claws against the terminal keypad, making notes as to what the man said. When he was done, and the reptile gave him another moment to be sure, he stopped typing and spoke.

“Well Mr. Gunn, I want you to know we are not here to criticize your choice of business. We do not take your word lightly, and if you believe their a market for something we will not be so keen to dismiss it if sounds ‘a bit fanciful’.” The raptor didn’t move, instead looking into the man’s cat-eyes with the utmost seriousness. He wasn’t allowed to have an opinion on the matter, only numbers and calculations. But even if he did, he wouldn’t deny it. Perhaps ten years ago, but since the Second Akala Crisis? There were few limits to what he’d believe.

“As for your needs, we have more than capable of servicing them. A commercial property loan can cover your workshop with very competitive interest rates. An unsecured line of credit, like a business credit chit, will have higher interest rates, but nothing overpowering. We’ll one of two things in order to conduct the paperwork however, due to the larger nature of the purchases required for commercial loans. We’ll either need you to leverage some assets, or we’ll need to see some examples of past earnings you’ve acquired, so we can estimate your potential profits and what you can handle as far as loan size and payment plans.” The raptor took a deep breath.

“Now, when you came in here and even now you have a small demeanor I’ve seen many times across the years. You’re a bit uncomfortable. I understand. The process of getting a loan is intimidating. The thought of owning your own business is intimidating. The building is intimidating. Being a squishy mammal in a planet of reptiles is intimidating. But when you started speaking about your business plan your demeanor changed. I think you’ve done enough work to show you can provide a service based-business, and I think it’ll work out fine. But the more data you can give me on your work history and the longer that history is the more I can chop your interest for that loan and that line of credit.”

[member="Seydon"]

 

[Seydon of Arda]

Seydon wrested a thin dataslate out of his tunic sleeve and passed it across the long durasteel counter. Onboard rested a complete dossier compiled of dated receipts, organized variously in year, contract names, the offices and powers involved submitting said contracts and the Tiss’sharl quirked his snout at a few prestigious names, and the bounty amounts taken at completion.

The listing spanned a quarter of a century. Beginning just at the tail end of the old Republic wars battling the first Sith Empire to rise out of the Gulag squalor, a long mention of various mercenary tasks that included some probationary forays into animal hunting. Mentioned locales gradually loped east, toward the Tingel Arm, and settled there for a time. He seemed to establish a kind of loose protectorate surrounding a little known ball of water called Arda, with other like-minded explorers, rangers, trade interests, and wartime objectors walking away from the Core. ‘L.S.’ What was ‘L.S.’?

Etti IV. Iferetes. Lorrd. Bosph. Tabaqui. Tash-Taral, somewhere on the very verge of known space. Arkas and Tygara. Slowly, work pooled down the Mara Corridor, with forays into Wild Space and the Outer Rim. Scant details were provided for a ‘Zonju V’ contract and subsequent outings that followed through standard solar year, culminating with a suppression campaign across Contruum of a mercenary force terrorizing local populaces. Soon, Seydon appeared virtually everywhere, chasing down furtive creature bounties listed at the end of the Galaxy. Of especial note was ‘Hythe Park’, a repeating hub tied to Dromund Kaas in the eras succeeding the Mandalorian-Sith Pacifications.

From there, the effort bolstered, intensifying through the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions toward the Colonial belt. Here, work on Cerea ridding a property of a rogue giant. There, the Kathol Outback, a prolonged journey to Demonsgate chasing after some nightmare. Deneba, something demonic terrorizing a low-income family. Delta IV, Thyferra, Pelagon, Chandrilla. Finally book-ending on a mention of ‘Rancor resettlement’ on Teth.

“Was never home much,” Seydon spoke up in the quiet.

[member="Mars Tonith"]

 

[Mars Tonith]

The Tiss’sharl took a look at the datapad presented, making notes of different jobs and logging them as they appeared. To the Tiss’sharl’s surprise the data wasn’t a job every two or three months over the last couple years, as many bounty hunters had applied with, but a wide range of jobs of varying difficulties over the course of decades. As he typed in data a program in the background, verifying as much of the statements as could be done with holonet access. As data was entered news clippings linked themselves to the files, showing instances of disruptions across the galaxy, each ending a few weeks later. The Tiss’sharl continued clacking away, until finally everything was entered in.

The Hunter, for the Tiss’sharl knew little else that could describe him now, sat quietly, chirping that he was never home much. The Tiss’sharl nodded as he double checked many of the links and data that appeared to verify each job. Not all of them had comprehensive coverage, some of them didn’t have any. Few mentioned Mr. Gunn, he wasn’t sure any mentioned his name. But there were descriptions, patterns, and enough data that the Tiss’sharl was confident the Hunter wasn’t exaggerating.

“Mr. Gunn, I’ll be frank. With your work history, and our software verifying as much of it as we are able, I’d be comfortable giving you credit enough to buy a frigate. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend taking more than you need, but taking care of your workspace and opening up a line of credit will be no problem. I am going to go ahead and finalize some documents, verifying that you are approved for the purchase of some commercial real estate up to-“ The Tiss’sharl paused and looked at the terminal. “Four-Hundred Thousand credits. That doesn’t mean you need to spend it all, but you can also roll over some of that into rehab costs if you find a place that needs a little touching up.” The Tiss’sharl said, before clicking through some more documents.

“As for your line of credit, I just need to know how much you want to be able to draw.”

[member="Seydon"]

 

[Seydon of Arda]

“Five thousand,” Seydon said. Nerves, greed, and soulful worry hacked at his conscience. He knew he stank with a bit of damp under his tunic, and if it was rife enough to scent so obviously to him, the Tiss’sharl undoubtedly was allowing him face by reneging on comment. Banking affairs, past depositing occasionally into his trim account, were above and beyond his scope of practice. Five thousand credit, to start with. If it needed extending, Seydon assumed he could negotiate through a TDI branch. Visions of the Workshop coalesced behind his mind’s eye.

“And four hundred thousand is more than rich enough for my blood,” The Dunaan managed a laugh, sitting up. Now... Now the fortunes of Jagdhund & Jaeger, and his family by extension, depended on his revenue take. Rosa’s connections through the Boolon Foundation might afford him contacts with advertising agencies and a route to spreading word of mouth. What was unclear was whether or not the acreages surrounding the Foundation’s headquarters, the Tethian Silent Temple, were drawn and sold, or standing as unclaimed earth. He fought to keep his attentions to the now; far as he knew, the Tiss’sharl wasn’t done with him yet. “...So where do I sign?”

[member="Mars Tonith"]

 

[Mars Tonith]

The Tiss'sharl entered "5000" into the credit line, not bothering to comment on the low amount. Far be it from him to tell the Dunaan how to run his business. He continued clacking along as the hunter mentioned the four hundred thousand credits.

"You needn't feel pressured to spend it all Mr. Gunn, that is just an indicator of how much we trust you." The Tiss'shar replied. It almost seemed as if the hunter didn't have trust in himself. Perhaps it was the numbers, the finances of it. He'd wager the man had confidence in the face of a wolf. Odd that it wouldn't be scarier than a banker, but some folk were that way.

"If you can give me an autoprint here." He motioned to a datapad. "For the commercial housing and here." He motioned to another datapad." For the line of credit. Feel free to take all the time you need."

[member="Seydon"]

 

[Seydon of Arda]

He took an electro-stylus from its desk recharge-well and hovered over each datapad in turn. There were plethora of financial terminology, every second paragraph it’s own glossary, and Seydon again paused. With the Path, the nature of his work and cause, a steady credit flow wasn’t a given guarantee. In spite of the Tiss’sharl’s assurances, he understood the wrath and reach or bounty-hungry creditor agents that would descend on him for whatever coin he owed if Jagdhund & Jaeger failed. Granted, TDI would simply seize his property, he’d lose whatever assets linked to the Shop, and they may mercifully call it even at that. There’s something appropriate, he thought, dealing with credit sums with a being that’s inherently, biologically speaking, cold-blooded.

...But he swiftly jotted in his signature: thick, blunt lettering. When Jagdhund & Jaeger found its sure footing, he’d square away any lingering debts with Tonith-Damask. Perhaps enter into a partnership, if he gathered the clout and resources to establish the Dunaan practice into a power in its own right. If [member="Jorus Merrill"] could build fortunes around his love of ship salvage and parts excavation and refurbishing, just maybe there was a secret market waiting for someone with steel, silver, and mettle enough to wade through the horror of monstrous blood and the gore of the hunt. Seydon passed the datapads back across the desk-console.

“There,” He said. “Trust that’s everything in order now.”

[member="Mars Tonith"]