Shady deals

[Sempra the Hutt]

The Cantina was bustling with activity per usual. Its occupants mostly composed by pirates, smugglers and thieves. Sometimes worse.

Sempra the Hutt had arrived. He had been throwing credits around in order to spread the word that he is looking for Associates concerning a bussiness deal. Someone willing to push a load of cargo across the depth of space into the core Worlds. Anyone with his or hers ears to the ground would easily learn about this.

The owner of the cantina, the broken blade, did not recognise the hutt himself but simply assumed that he was something important, he was a hutt after all. The VIP lounge had been set straight to host the hutt and his small entourage of slaves that crept up around him serving and wanting their masters attention.

Sempra watched the cantinas population uncertain wether he would find what he wanted. He puffed his pipe and sighed, he had been forced to spend more credits then he could actually afford. But he needed to come of as more influental and powerful then he really was. He knew what impressed these people and after all, he was a hutt, he deserved the luxuary.

 

[Gorteko Graye]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

Gorteko entered the cantina, obviously drawing attention to himself even though that was not his desire. 'Is this really where Hutts like to do business? No matter, a job's a job.' Gorteko thought as he scanned the room, not looking inconspicuous at all.Though his coat his buttoned all the way up, it was clear to anyone paying attention that he was not unarmed, though if he were to be, it was also clear that he wasn't harmless. After a couple of minutes of planning escapes routes and assessing possible enemies Gorteko approached the VIP section. "Relax, I'm here to discuss business." Gorteko said upon being stopped in a tone that made it clear that he wasn't speaking to the bouncer.

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

The grim Nikto pressing a hand toward [member="Gorteko Graye"] chest removed himself at a low rumble from the Hutt behind him.

The Hutt watched the man thouroughly and nodded. With a twitch of his left hand a chained pale looking man rose from the floor by the Hutts seat.

The Hutt beckoned Graye as he spoke a few words in huttese. The pale looking man bowed at the Hutt and turned toward Gorteko.

The wise and cunning Sempra the Hutt welcomes you in his prescence. He expresses that he did not expect someone of your appearance in this Place but is less concerned about cultural collisions then to learn if you are capable of his task.
" For a moment the mans Eyes seemed to Daze of as he gazed far off toward some imagined horizon. Then the mans chained was janked again and he continued hastily.

"The Wise Sempra wishes for you to present yourself and explain what your hopes and desires from this meeting are."

From that the man sat down by the bulking hutt Sempra whos Eyes were wide open still appraising the man in front of him.

 

[ZERR]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]
[member="Gorteko Graye"]

The cantina was more subdued than most, which suited ZERR just fine.
The ancient war droid had arrived upon picking up a rumor about a job; no difficult feat, as the source of the rumor obviously had wanted it to be heard. It was vaguely amateurish, actually; ZERR had dealt with the authorities enough times to know that it was situations like these which were perfect for slipping in undercover agents, or for rival criminal enterprises to send in saboteurs or other, more direct minions to deal with their competition.
That it was a criminal enterprise itself was fairly obvious; ZERR had learned of it through the channels most closely associated with such things, and besides that, it was a Hutt who had advertised it.
The armored droid drew stares as he clanked across the cantina toward the VIP section, his plain brown cloak doing little to hide his immense bulk; he was nearly three meters tall. Most beings simply moved out of the way as the automaton passed, staring and murmuring behind his back.
Hutts, ZERR mused, had grown to become a disappointing lot. From legendary conquerors to a civilization of mob bosses, they had fallen from blinding heights in the droid's view; he had fought against their legions of slave and mercenary soldiers in the archaic past, and had fought as one of them in later times. He remembered the slug-like aliens at the height of their power, when Varl ruled ten thousand worlds; he had served Kossak!
But that was in the past; the distant past. Today, he was here to talk to a Hutt about moving cargo.
How the mighty had fallen.
ZERR arrived at the doors to the VIP area just behind a humanoid male, who the guards had let through ahead of him. The droid stopped obediently before the doors, glowering down at the Nikto guards as best any mechanical could.
"When your Master has his next audience, I would speak with him." He intoned in an electronic rumble of a voice. Hutt minions, the organic ones at least, tended to be easily intimidated. ZERR was patient, however; he would wait for the Hutt to conclude his business with the organic before offering his own services.
He wondered what sort of reaction he would get if this Hutt knew anything about his kind's history...

 

[Gorteko Graye]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

Gorteko entered the VIP section a prideful stride in the way the many sith would walk, giving a nod to the Nikto Guard as he passed. Listening to the pale slave speak, Gorteko glanced around the room, at the people and things inside, though never quite seeming like his attention wasn't focused on the speaker. After the peculiar pause and once the slave had finished is part Gorteko took to pacing the floor in front of the hutt. Walking back and forth with his hands behind his back as he spoke.

"What do I wish to come of this meeting? Well recently I found myself in need of more than I have, so preferably you give me this job, like how I do, and together we have some nice give and take. As in you give jobs and I take credits. Less enjoyably would be I take this job, finish it, and go on my way and we never see each other again. But really, I'm here to offer you something. More than a just a mercenary, you need a powerful ally, someone you can use when you need less than reputable jobs done. What I'm offering is a partnership, one that I'm sure will look a whole lot nicer after this job is finished. I'm offering my services to you; what I'm offering, is power."

Upon the completion of his speech, Gorteko stood tall and confident in front of the hutt, no longer pacing. He knew that no matter what the parameters of this job were, he'd be able to complete it. The only thing left was to see how Sempra felt about his proposal, and whether or not he had found a new employer.

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra's head turned and followed [member="Gorteko Graye"] as he paced forth and back in the room, only interupting with a few nods and low "hmm-ing" sounds echoing from the depth of the large creature.

Once Gorteko finished, Sempra janked the chain to the pale man, who rose and bowed to Sempra as the Hutt uttered a response.

"The wise Sempra declares that you indeed intrigue him. However, to gain the true trust of a Hutt there is a long road. The generous Sempra gives you two choices, to take the contract of shipping to the location decided upon. You would be payed and are free to return for more." the pale man seemed to focus for a moment Before his empty voice found Words to continue.

"Or if you seek the second choice, the cunning Sempra will spice the mission with something that would turn it into a more dangerous and lethal operation. "

"The first choice will please the Court of Sempra, the second would bring you a standing with us." the pale man then nodded to his Words.

"Both jobs would pay the same, this would be your choice entirely." the pale man remained standing with a look of hopelessness in his Eyes.

 

[Gorteko Graye]

Gorteko listened to what the hutt's mouthpiece was saying, taking in every word. 'This could have gone much worse, now I stand to make a powerful ally of mutual benefits. I just have to choose a mission.' He thought, though he already knew what he was to do. Once the slave finished speaking Gorteko took his turn, "Well of course the second option is what must be taken. I've been aching for a challenge anyways." He spoke looking directly at Sempra. He then awaited instruction so that he could leave and carry out his mission.

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra nodded at the response and rose an arm to scratch his fat chin.

"It is good to hear that you seek challenge." the pale man translated to [member="Gorteko Graye"].

"Know that Sempra in all his wisdom knows that without ambition no creature is more then a worthless Component in these Deep spaces we occupy." the pale man stopped and turned toward Sempra awaiting more to translate.

The Hutt sat quite for a moment as if weighing his thoughts carefully Before deciding.
Then after what must have been the passing of a minute, perhaps two of silence and tension Sempra continued.

"There is danger in chance and when it can be avoided it is wise to do so. Then at times, chances must be taken, because they are the only key to achieve the extraordinary."

"You will be recieving a shipment to your dock once you return there. It will contain two boxes, 100 kilos each. They are to be taken to the the smugglers moon, Nar Shadda. Where a Contact of Sempra will recieve the goods in the docks. He will speak the Word Ascension and you will respond Glorious Jewel."

"Furthermore, the Contact will recomend a bar to you. You should visit it and make sure to pass to the upper floor and the office there. The owner of the bar is a nuissance to the wise Hutt. Someone should make sure the bar owners personal guards, a group of skilled veteran solders no longer are capable of performing their duties .And then inform their employer, the Bar owner, that Sempra the wise will in his generosity send better security to him shortly. Then your job is done."
The hutt grabbed his pipe and puffed a few times.

"You must operate below all radars, including organisations not interested in seeing a shift of markets on Nar Shadda."

"If things proceed according to plan, this will open opportunites for our goods and your effort would grant you recognition by the cunning Sempra."

At the entrance ot he VIP area Sempra noticed a bit of an unease as his Nikto enforcers seemed nervous about something outside. Only seeing an arm and a leg of [member="ZERR"] he could decide it was something large and metalic by the looks of it. However, since the Nikto did not sound any alarm he returned his attention to the man at hand.

"Do we have an understanding? If so, we will expect you to return to us afterwards to discuss what the future holds for such skills."

 

[Gorteko Graye]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]
[member="ZERR"]

Upon hearing his mission and being asked to accept, Gorteko said, "Yes, I believe we do have an understanding. Just have the packages at my ship before I get there." He then turned toward the exit and began to leave, passing an intriguing droid on his way out. Once outside the cantina, Gorteko headed for his ship.

 

[ZERR]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]
[member="Gorteko Graye"]

ZERR watched as he was passed by the humanoid he had seen earlier, his antique lens photoreceptors whirring quietly as they focused briefly on the male. His head-turret rotated slowly to watch the smaller organic leave, swiveling back to the Nikto guard abruptly once he had exited the doors.
The droid experienced what could be roughly translated as amusement at the reaction this brought to the ruddy-skinned warrior.
"I take it your master has finished his audience."
The synthesized rumble was less a question than a statement. The droid stood motionless for several moments waiting for a reply from the guard, and when none came, he simply plodded forward, heavy cloak ruffling, sending the Nikto scrambling out of his way and pushing open the doors to the VIP chamber.
"<Hail, exalted Sempra!>" The droid called, his ancient vocoder producing fluent Huttese. "<Have you the time, I would speak with you, o' vast one, regarding the task you have advertised, assuming it has not already been assigned.>"
Flattery was the best way to a Hutt's vascular organ, ZERR knew, and was especially advisable given that the droid had pushed his way past the crime lord's guard without even a formal invitation. ZERR was not one to stand on ceremony, however, at least not when it came to situations like these.
The droid bowed slightly.
"<If so, I would inquire as to whether the great Sempra, in his boundless wisdom, might have any others he would pay a being such as myself to perform.>"

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra wagged his head forth and back as the short commotion errupted at the doorway. Upon seeing the massive droid entering and noticing his Nikto guards perplexed and nervous behaviour his left chuby arm started to reach for the the blaster hidden next to his seat. But as the droid halted its advance and started to speak Huttese Sempra let that thought go. Instead he turned and listened - openly showing a fascination over the ancient machinery that stood there.

He let the chain to the translating slave relax and the pale man decided to curl up and lay down benath the hutt. He showed a shivering, from cold or fear was impossible to say. Whatever it was Sempra ignored the state of his slave and instead adressed Zerr.

"It pleases me to hear my native tounge droid. It would certainly seem my last purchase... " sempra gazed down uopn the pale man resting on the floor "... was a fine investment but he does not match your level of accuracy, despite some of the Words have not been used in a long time...." sempra mused.

"I am afraid the opportunity of the mission has slipped away." he continued with a saddened face. But his expression soon turned back to a more cunning face.
"But being generous and caring for all who seek me out I have other offers. You especially rouse my curiosity, some day you must tell me your story droid. And how it comes that your hutteese carries the accent of past generations." Sempras eyes narrowed and he leaned back,

"Never the less, let us return to the matter at hand."Sempra ruled and changed his tone to more bombastic. " A droid of your size was not merely built to pilot a ship for sure... " another short chuckle errupted followed by Sempra leaning somewhat forward, eyes narrowed as he seemingly investigated the droids appearance in more detail.

"You appearance ensures me that you are capable of handling a certain amount of threats, but are you also capable of slicing into a main frame of older date?"

[member="ZERR"]

 

[ZERR]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

ZERR straightened up again as the Hutt responded, what little of the ancient droid's casing which could be seen from beneath his cloak gleaming in the light from overhead glowpanels.
"It is a long and sordid tale, mighty Sempra." ZERR responded, his head turret scanning around the room, taking in the slaves which huddled around their obese master, especially the pale translator. He wondered, briefly, what his story was; there were few organics who could translate into spoken Huttese. "Suffice it to say for now that I saw service under your kind long ago, and before that, under an ancient enemy."
For now, ZERR kept the golden death's head which had been Xim the Despot's emblem hidden beneath his cloak. He had no idea if Sempra recognized his make and model, but the symbol of the ancient Tionese conqueror was not something any Hutt could be expected to react well to. At any rate, it was irrelevant to the business at hand, and business was what Hutts cared for most these days.
"Piloting is but one of the skills I have acquired in my long years, your grandness." ZERR continued. "My function and my geis has always been combat, as in your wisdom you have rightly deduced, but I take what work I can to keep my servos in repair. I can indeed slice; my database contains the languages and protocols for any number of computer systems, as I have interfaced with countless examples."
The droid's photoreceptor lenses whirred softly as they refocused.
"Have you information you would have me extract from such a system?"

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]
[member="ZERR"]


He couldn't help but overlook the Hutt. Leaning against a wall, drink in hand and pretending to count some credits. Jardo almost blended in. I mean, ignoring the overdone hair style, he blended well. The Hutts were notorious for handing out well paying jobs, and if Jardo was short of anything it was credits. Jardo knew the risks of working with Hutts though. Vile creatures, only seemed to be in it for themselves.

The only reason he was here anyway is cause he needed to refuel. A long galaxy flight does that to a ship. The only reason he was in the Cantina is because he seemed to find interesting work in them. The only reason he was in VIP is because he may or may not of sweettalked his way in with fake ID. He placed the credits back into the holder on his belt, pretending to eye one of the females who had walked in. In reality all he was doing was listening...

He just hoped the Hutt, or droid, wasn't clever enough to notice him.

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

The Hutt either did not recognise the ancient origins of the droid or pretended that he did not. Either way
Sempra appeared very content with the droids answer and the dark gutural sound from his throat was a sign of content and acceptance.
"The Godsheart must be smiling to my favour." he declared spreading out his arm in a grand gesture.

"Your prescence here does seem to solve two of my problems with one strike." the hutt nodded to his own words as he continued.

"There is indeed certain information I wish to extract. It is in the foul captivity of a Trandoshan pirate crew. They have captured a main frame of Hutt origin that should belong to me. However in their great greed they are not seeing this clearly and thus we must take action."

"We belive that they are trying to sell the data in it piece by piece and has docked the computer in their planetary base on the remote planet of Tatooine." the hutt produced a datapad which a slave carefully forwarded to the droid.

"You are to slice the stolen computer and especially learn the password related to a project named Fort Ardos. Once that is done, destroy the hardware. The pirates are expendable but know that if you entering the base is detected they would signal their ships who most likely would hurry home to protect their theft. Thus you must work with haste."

"In that datapad you will find further information and the exact location of the pirate base."

Sempra would not notice any eavesdropper but his guards would naturally keep anyone trying to get to Close without permission away. The conversation would aslo be held in huttese.

[member="ZERR"]
[member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

After finally realizing nothing good was going to come out of this without a little force, Jardo took it upon himself to walk off. It wasn't worth trying to fight. Instead he walked back out to his ship, stopping on the way to send a message.

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]
[member="ZERR"]

 

[ZERR]

[member="Sempra the Hutt"]

ZERR accepted the datapad carefully, the slender device looking fragile in the droid's enormous manipulators, and briefly examined it. It was funny, he remarked to himself, how such a compact and full-featured device could store so much information; when the war robot had been built, static data was still recorded on micro-aperture punch-cards, or on high-density magnetic drums half the size of an astromech droid.
"I shall carefully examine the information herein, illustrious Sempra." ZERR replied, putting the device away inside his cloak, and fumbling within for something else. "Trandoshans are formidable warriors, but I am confident I can find a way to retrieve the information you seek without calling down their full weight of numbers upon me. Rest assured, I shall reclaim your prize, and deprive these brigands of their ill-gotten spoils."
ZERR was already considering what else might be on an antique Hutt mainframe computer; Sempra had only specified the password be returned to him, but had made no mention of any other information the battle droid might also recover. Perhaps there would be something useful he could keep for himself...
Withdrawing his arm from his cloak, ZERR handed a datacard to the slave who had brought him the pad. Once more, he bowed to the lounging Hutt.
"My rates, your magnificence. I shall hold you in good faith for payment upon my successful completion of the mission you have given me."
There was the possibility that the Hutt would stiff ZERR on the bill for his services; the droid got the impression that the crime boss was not quite so flush with cash as he appeared. Really successful Hutts did not simply rent VIP rooms at cantinas; they generally owned the cantina itself.
But if the Hutt didn't pay him, ZERR could exact the consequences for that. It was something he had come to be very good at.
"I bid you a fine afternoon, great Sempra. May the Godsheart indeed smile upon our venture. You will hear from me upon the completion of my mission."
With that, ZERR turned to leave, clanking past the still bewildered Nikto guard and exiting the cantina.
He now had a task to perform...

 

[Sempra the Hutt]

Sempra watched the war-droid depart. The pieces are coming together he mused. Motioning for the tables in the room his retinue continued their visit in the VIP room a while longer, but the Hutt was starting to make preperations to leave.