The Business of Moving

[Gray Raxis]

Gray had been getting his foot in the door recently in the business world. He had made a company from scratch and was working on getting it completely off the ground still. He had it a few products that were for sell, and even managed to get a few sales for them. There was still more work that needed to be done with it though if he wanted to get it solidly done. All of that was going on, yet like the genius he was he had decided to bid in an auction for another company. He also had the misfortune of winning that auction, so he was now the proud owner of WESTAR. The problem was that the company was based out of the United Clans territory and with tensions as they were between them and the Mandalorian Empire, Gray felt it would be good to move the company to friendlier space.

So that is what Gray was doing right now. He was on Echol'ya looking to find a place that was just right for the headquarters of his company, and then would need to head over to Bastion to get a facility set up there. That was not a difficult task to do, and this job should be fairly easy and simple. The problem was that he would need to move everything other than the building and most of the production equipment over from the established facilities on Mandalore and Concord Dawn. He couldn't really afford to step into that space right now though or risk starting a conflict. And Isley had been pretty clear about not starting any unneeded trouble with the United Clans. So that left him with the problem of how to move his company over without breaking orders.

Gray had the solution to that problem in the form of his good friend [member="James Justice"] though. He made a contract with James to pick up everything including the workers from the United Clans space and deliver them to the Mandalorian Empire space for him. And while James did that, Gray would procure his facilities on Echol'ya and Bastion. A solid plan for sure, if a tad expensive. But that is what rich wives and multiple forms of income were for. He knew Star wouldn't mind either because he had bought an arms and soon to be armor company, and she liked herself some shiny toys.

 

[James Justice]

James watched as his workers, organic and droids were busy at work in the moonlight. A cigarette burned between his lips as he watched on from his heavy freighter.

Well, it wasn't his exactly. At least, it hadn't been twenty four hours ago. But Gray was clan, he was family in every possible way. The lad had earned his place at the table, more than, with his work in SocMinFed and his endless loyalty. Sure the kid had popped a few stun bolts in his butt, but James respected the man for it. He had kept James from making a few choices that would have been regretted for years. So, he charged the lad for gas money and the labor for his handmen--but that was about it. He had to fed the mouths of his folks.

Why the moonlighting?

Well, James was a professional smuggler-and of course he had a flair for doing the job classily. He didn't know why the UMC were still choosing to be mad at him, life was too short to hold grudges for battles they won and allies they had. It wasn't his business. However, he wasn't taking any chances, so he was doing this by moon light--and in a stolen ship registered to a Billy Goat McFargins. If someone metagamed enough to figure out that he was here, well, by then it would be too late to be a prick and try to stir something up.

"We are ready, boss," one of the smelly foremen said approaching James in the dark, "Factory all cleaned out like you said. Computers, machines, all of it."

"Good, let's roll out," James said, turning on his heel.

A few minutes later the Lame Duck had exited the atmosphere and was preparing for hyperspace launch from the bridge, James set the course. Long. Very indirect, in case someone got any bright ideas. He switched over sending Grey an encoded mesage:

"The duck is in the pond and the fish are in the water. Its time to bring the French Boys to the Ball where they can all shake hands with the president."

What did all that mean? Most of it was gibberish.

[member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray had not found a good place to be the new head quarters on Echol'ya yet. The planet was one big station if you were not on an asteroid, so finding things was difficult. It was a bit of bad news for him right now, because he had gotten the very odd message from James that he figured meant that he had everything loaded already. He needed to try to move faster, and it seems the bad news was coming with a bit of good news. A facility on Bastion that fit his needs perfectly was currently on sale. So Gray loaded up in his ship and went to the other planet as fast as possible,

Gray managed to get there fairly quickly and landed near where the facility was located. He stepped out of his ship and walked to the place. It was much to what he needed from a production and design operations building. It had a large open area for the factory portion, and then a secondary building attached to it to house all of the design work as well as administration. It even had plenty of equipment set up that was relatively new and unused that could be modified to fit his new company's needs. He smiled as he looked at it all. He just needed to place the offer and fill out the paper work.

Gray finished up with just that and began to head to his ship. He was pleased with his buy, and glad he had found at least one of the facilities fairly quickly. Now he just needed to inform [member="James Justice"] of where to stop first. He got onto the com system in his ship and said over it, " Ugly mug, come in ugly mug. The dark blue has found a pond in the desert and things the ugly mug could use a bath." He finished off his message and included with it the coordinates for his facility on Bastion. Now he just needed to move to Echol'ya to figure out how to get his headquarters up and going on a facility there.

 

[James Justice]

James watched as Gray's word scrolled across the datapad and he gave a slight snicker. The fella caught on with the game, and that was good enough for him. He tossed aside the stub of what remained of his cigarette before taking a drink from a cheep bottle of ale. It wasn't the Correllian stuff---not for now.

"We are ready for the launch," the navigator piped up.

"Go for jump," James ordered.

A moment later the stars before him began to streak by like blue, gorgeous lights. He stared, watching for time without end. Fond memories from many years with his father kicked in. The years he used to sit and watch them, resting on his dad's knee. It was under this gorgeous veiwport that he had been taught the parts of each ship's controls. It was under this view that he had for so long wanted to be like his father.

"Sir, we are coming out of hyperspace," one of the officers said at last, breaking James from his reviere.

My how time flies when you are on a role play forum, James thought, it seems so relative. "Bring us up."

Soon after, his ship touched down on the surface of Bastion. The spacer typed out a quick message,

"You should stop talking to yourself, your personal hygiene is your business but I think this pond is too good for you. I will give it a dip for you anyway "

[member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray got [member="James Justice"] message as he arrived on Echol'ya. That meant the clansman was on his way with Gray's stuff and he needed to hurry up with the hunt for a new headquarters. That was still looking to be a daunting task, until the ship touched down on the landing dock of the planet's massive station. As soon as the ship was completely grounded, a new message came in for him. He took a look at it and felt a surge of hope. It seemed real estate agent that was helping Gray look for a facility had found one. There was a completely new one that had been built right next to a new factory, yet neither of them had been used or had anything placed inside of them. The previous owner had left the system due to some kind of trouble with not registering everything to the Mandalorian authorities. Their lose was looking to be Gray's gain.

Gray got a speeder bike and headed straight for the facility location that had been mentioned. On the way he made sure to send a message to James so he would have it upon landing on Bastion. He said in it, " Dark blue thinks ugly mug should stop being so in denial and enjoy the bath. Dark blue also thinks ugly mug should set up the dock so everyone can enjoy a swim." He ended the message there and sent it. He wasn't sure if James would get it at Bastion or not, but whenever he got the message he would know what to do. James was a lot of things, but the man knew how to effectively and quickly organize a bunch of workers to get a job done.

 

[James Justice]

[member="Gray Raxis"]

The spacer over saw his workers doing their part to unload the heavy freighter, directing them accordingly. Of course with years of training in moving things illegally and sometimes legally as fast as possible these guys were no green horns.

Machinery and parts were packed onto land speeders and rushed to their drop off points. The workers at Justice Shipping, of course always go the extra mile. That was what their professionalism had been acclaimed for. So they unloaded the boxes, unpacked the crates, set up the electronics, plugged in the toasters and all the niceities so Gray would feel quite cozy when he made it back.

James even through in a half a dozen anti slicer droids and a vase of Gray's favorite girly flowers. Just cause he's a great crime lord and all.

Satisfied, he and his men loaded back on their stolen transport before the spacer sent his next message,

"Well I dont know who ugly mug is but I prefer showers and just finished taking one. However I'm looking for a set of good bathtowels to replace my ratty ones. You got any ideas where I can buy a quality set?"

 

[Gray Raxis]

The facility on Echol'ya was perfect for everything he needed. The headquarters building was bigger than it needed to be for his current situation, so he could easily expand later without needing to add onto the building right away. There was even an amazing office at the top with a private landing zone and a built in bar. He had no idea who made the place, but it was just what he needed from it for the office. He would need to furnish it himself, but that wouldn't be too difficult at all. He just needed to check the factory next door and see how it was before he signed off on the whole place.

Gray went next door and looked around the factory. It was large and roomy, which was perfect for putting in machinery to produce the weapons. There were a few rooms as well that could be used by the workers to relax, wash up in, and even a few rooms with cots for those who needed to rest. The only thing the factory was lacking in was an infirmary, which Gray could have added onto the place as soon as he had ownership. So everything checked out and fit what he needed for his headquarters. He didn't know who built the places, but it was a major lose for them seeing how well built they were. Oh well, it was WESTAR property now and Gray planned to fill it all up with productive activity.

Gray got on his com system after listening to [member="James Justice"] message on it. He said, " You are ugly mug and I am dark blue. They are perfect descriptions of the two of us, so get use to it ugly mug. If you need new towels you should try out ones on the floating rocks around the big ball of gas. I think ugly mug will enjoy what he finds." Gray sent the message out with the coordinates to the place he was at. Once he finished that up he went about the business of signing all of the paperwork to make things official.

 

[James Justice]

James watched as the skyline of Bastion fell away. The bulk freighter quickly made its exit from the gravity well, and a safe distance from the planet itself. This thing was rather stock, and lacking in most of the fancy gadgets that James loved so much. In fact, it was so sad that the prior crew had only left half a crate of booze on board. It was almost enough to make him cry.

He looked at the new message before typing out a reply, 'You are incredibly delusional. Not only have you assigned us both absurd nicknames you have decided to view your toilet as some sort of cosmic event. However, you have an exceptional taste in bathroom decor, so perhaps these things are related. I will check this out."

He typed in the coordinates for their next jump and in a matter of miliseconds he saw the stars streak by as the hyperdrive whined to life. James took to the half a crate of alcohol. Ah, for sorrows, it was only wine. The cheep, not as alcoholic as he would have liked, wine. It made him want to open a "whine"ary.

After giving the reader sufficient time to recover from the bad pun, the stolen bulk freighter exited hyperspace and began its decent to Ehol'ya.

[member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray had gotten all of the paperwork finished up and the places paid for when he heard the sound of a message pop up on his com. He checked it out and just shook his head. This whole code talk had devolved into petty insults said in good fun, which might as well have been in the company manual as proper conduct for the employees. He went to his speeder and leaned against it. He pulled a holopad out of the storage on it and began to go through catalogues of stuff to put into his office. He needed a good desk and chair for sure, but the issue was what else to put into his office. He was thinking a large couch, a loveseat, and comfy lounge chair surrounding a nice coffee table. That could go well with the liquor bar that was already in the office, and he could stock it with all of his and his wife's favorite drinks. He had a feeling Star was going to be spending a lot of time there enjoying the idea of being the wife of the owner of a weapon company. She certainly loved shiny new toys.

Gray eventually had [member="James Justice"] show up when he got to the location and got off the speeder. He smiled as he walked over the dashing rogue. He said as he held out a hand, " Ugly mug, welcome to the towel store. Care to take a look at the selection?" He smirked to the spacer. He had enjoyed it a little more than he had let on before. It was never boring to mess with James, because he was always sure to mess with him back. The main issue was getting everything set up and then getting business underway as soon as possible. The longer WESTAR went without making new products and offering old ones the worse a state the already down on its luck company would be in.

 

[James Justice]

James felt the bulk freighter land with a low hum. The spacer made his way over towards Gray, meeting him half way as his loaders began to scurry around at work. He gave him a grin. The kid had more than earned his place at James' table, and he wanted him to have all the luck. The spacer had begun to realize lately that his lines between business and family were incredibly blurred. Which, honestly, was something he was ok with. He would use his business to take care of family, and that was all that really mattered to him.

James looked around in mock confusion before jerking his thumb at one of the dock hands, "Sam, he be talkin' to ye."

"Shuddup James," the man grumbled.

James shook Gray's hand, 'Aye, we can later. But for now, I be wanting more than anything a good bottle of booze."

Obligatory bar scene.

Roll Credits.

[member="Gray Raxis"]