The Dark Side of the Moon

[Jairus Starvald]

This was where the law of diminishing returns came into play.

Lord Fa could sense Maleagant’s caution and understood it completely. If they put in too many workers and other personnel on the worldcraft, they would get distracted by idle hands and more… interesting things to do. He fully trusted his staff to be professional and only occupied by their work - but sometimes you simply needed to accept sentient nature to prefer play over work. It was a sad thing, but could not truly be helped.

Besides exchanging them for droids, of course.

Which was what the Thirriken did for most of his projects. They were quite excellent at most types of work, but sadly could not replace the subtle mind of a true sentient in more nuanced fields. That’s where you needed sentients or perhaps expansive artificial intelligence to work.

“That sounds perfect.” For a moment there was silence as both of them were considering their own roles in this plan and what they would have to do next.

But the Thirriken broke the silence rather quickly once his mind was sorted.

“Is there anything else? Otherwise I will take my leave and start coordinating with my staff.”

 

[Darth Osano]

“No, that will be all.” Maleagant respectfully rose to see Lord Fa out.

It was good that these initial meetings could be kept relatively brief. There would be longer ones that stretch for hours down the line. Follow up meetings with more of their staff assembled, meetings with contractors and heads of divisions. Bi-weekly meetings to assess construction progress. Meetings, meetings, meetings. But they were just long, boring, and concerning mostly logistics. Certainly not worth making the focal point of a thread. This is what having a lucrative day job looks like. It was not nearly as glamorous as people seemed to think it was.

The processes that guided these projects were rarely glamorous. But the results would be. Maleagant had lofty dreams of fleets and dedicated security forces under the banner of the Helix Syndicate. And the profits derived from Thengil’s very own safari world would help pave the way to make these dreams a reality. It was a slow process, but once it gathered speed…

Well. Who knew what would happen?

 

[Blackthorne]

Onderon
Halcyon Citadel
Blackthorne Beastiary HQ
[member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"]

The Beastiary’s HQ sat within the Inner Sanctum of Halcyon Citadel, one of the very few large settlements beyond the walls of Iziz that could not be counted among the tribal towns. A city in its own right, Thengil would have passed through the Market District to reach the forefront of the sanctum and the main receiving area for Beastiary clientele. It didn’t take long to have Thengil cleared for his meeting and sent on his way down a long hall to a chamber at the end. This was not one’s typical meeting room, but a large open conference hall that overlooked a broad spanning valley below.

Thengil was met by a young woman - the very same he’d made the acquaintance of on Yalara, though a handful of years had passed since then. She wore leather trappings and light armor adorned by bone and masterwork metals. Her face was paler than before on that planet of ice and cold. A rolled sten set between her lips, she eyed the lionoid as he strode in.

“I remember you,” said Blackthorne over a puff of purple smoke, drawing the sten from her mouth, “from Yalara. You found my mother’s journal. Feth, how the hell did you get caught up with Stripes?”

This was hardly the point. She shook her head and waved a hand dismissively at whatever response he might’ve conjured up, “Nevermind, I don’t actually care. What do you need?”

 

[TB-705]

Stripes? Ah, Maleagant. The feline tucked the nickname away for future use.

Strange, the female looked paler than she had in the cold, with dark circles under her eyes. Wisps of purple smoke leaked from her lips. Thengil sniffed the air.

A downer, slightly hallucinogenic, but not any sort Thengil knew. Root-based? Intriguing. Thengil could not claim to know the ins and outs of the many variants of herbal ‘remedies’ as well as some of those who oversaw Zareca operations, but he’d a keen nose. A female of many tastes, it seemed.

“Beasts,” Thengil rumbled. “I am building a reserve for hunting dangerous game. The Rattataki says you have the best supply.”

[member="Blackthorne"]

 

[Blackthorne]

Blackthorne lofted a brow. Rattataki? No, no, he was a strange looking Rakatan. A faint smirk grew on the woman’s face, eyes growing foggy and distant.

“Beasts we have aplenty,” said another voice. A man of tall stature dressed in the robes of the Pillar of Knowledge entered the chamber in a flurry of movement, “I apologize for my tardiness. Our latest hatching of skreevs came ahead of schedule.” He came to a stand between the lion and the woman, cold gaze of molten gold peering at his liege briefly before rounding on Thengil, “I am Lord Volden. C.O. of the Beastiary. If you will,” Volden motioned towards a nearby conference table and moved to take point at the control panel. Engaging the central holographic projector, he began cycling through the Beastiary ordering module, “our local game is of top quality and health. We can provide large numbers of those on this list. If you have a mind for exotic fair we are more than capable of providing it, it will simply take longer to acquire. Miss Blackthorne -” he projected loudly, drawing the woman out of her daze, “can give you a tour of the local fauna if you like.”

 

[TB-705]

Predator’s eyes swiveled to cooly regard the robed man. The Cathar’s ears flicked. He remained silent for a moment, though a leonine rumble filled his chest when the projector passed over the Drexl. He shook his head, causing the braids of his mane to sway.

“I need the strongest of your stock. Untamed. Untrained. The beasts of Dxun will do well to start, but the thrill of the hunt cannot grow stale. I will require new beasts that you do not currently possess. Ghests from Rodia. Nightspiders from Naboo. Acklay from Felucia. Krayt dragons, Rancors, Icetrompers, Tchuukthai and many other species.”

Thengil said nothing of his designs for what else might be hunted on the reserve. Not in the presence of this Lord Volden. The male seemed to think little of Blackthorne’s habits. Ri’Shajirr did not trust him, then again, he trusted no one.

“In return, there is money to be made, along with other rewards.” The Cathar reached into his tunic and extracted a small bag full of a yellow-orange powder. Giggledust, grown on plantations hidden deep in the jungles of Rishi. He tossed it to Blackthorne.

[member="Blackthorne"]

 

[Blackthorne]

“All well within the scope of orders-”

“I have a reliable source for a live Arkanian dragon,” Blackthorne added, a wistfully wry expression melting onto her face.

“-that,” Volden cut her off with a glance, “is beyond the scope, I’m afraid.”

Blackthorne gave a lopsided grin in return, fangs peeking out, green eyes following the motion of the Cathar’s hand as he procured from his figure a small bag and tossed it to her. She caught it with some effort to save the last of her sten, pressing it between her lips before snatching the bag from the air. A curious look given, Dahl sniffed at it.

Spice. Both eyebrows shot upwards and disappeared into her hairline. Caught off guard, he might as well have tossed her a grenade without indicating whether or not it was live and ready to blow. If nothing else she was now completely engaged with the current conversation.

Volden eyed the bag, “We will be happy to work on a made-to-order plan. The specifics can be decided upon after your first order is placed.”
“Let’s take that tour then, shall we?” Blackthorne blinked brightly.

 

[TB-705]

Thengil bared fangs in what passed as a smile for the feline warrior.

“I’ll have someone come to arrange the details with you, Lord Volden,” he said as he followed Blackthorne out of the room.

***
The “someone” turned out to be a four-eyed Aqualish in an orange blast vest and black combat boots. He wandered into the conference room to meet Lord Volden. Oh, and he happened to have a scantily clad woman of questionable repute under each arm. One a twi’lek and the other a lusty gamorrean lass, because he liked variety.

“Da chooda! Gooddé da lodia,” grunted the Aqualish in a stream of guttural Huttese as soon as he spotted the austere humanoid. “I Narbo.” He held out a furry-fingered hand. “Let’s do some yanee, some business, yes? Saw your azalus beasties at a circus once. Those Maalraas, inkabunga, no?” He shook his head in wonderment.

The girls giggled, or in the Gamorrean’s case, snorted. Their eyes looked slightly unfocused. Hopped up on some sort of drug, no doubt. Also they looked… how to describe it? Glittery.

***
Meanwhile, Thengil strolled alongside Blackthorne. “Have you had the flower dust before? They say it’s euphoric. Nothing like it. But I wonder if it can compare to the thrill of a good kill.”

[member="Blackthorne"]

 

[Blackthorne]

“Inka-bunga indeed…” Volden returned with a thin gaze at the man and his … accoutrement. “I am Lord Volden, I will be Mr. Ri’Shajirr’s Account Manager at the Beastiary. After speaking with him I have put together a list of recommendations to start off his new commercial endeavor. I’ve based it on a similar business model created by a one Lord Arumi Zy many years back. If you’ll take a look,” the man once more motioned to the order module, this time with a buyer-specified listing, “feel free to make any necessary adjustments.”

Maalraas, Terentatek, skreev, drexl, zakkegs, and many more creatures both native to Onderon and not filled a list of at least two dozen variety. It was a solid starter package and offered a broad variety of hunt types as well as levels of difficulty and danger.

~~~~

“I have no idea what you’re on about mate,” Blackthorne replied, having pocketed the small bag only moments after taking her leave of the conference hall, “but if a hunt is what you want, let’s take ...the special tour.” A smirk met the Cathar’s gaze, acidic eyes flickering with a hint of casual mischief.

“Dxun is ripe this time of year.”

 

[TB-705]

A lazy grin came across the Cathar’s leonine features. “Then let us see what fruits it shall bear.”

***

While Ri’Shajirr and Blackthorne hunted, the cartel busied itself trying to implement Ri’Shajirr’s vision into a reality.

Luchy LeFrange, murderous Devaronian and smooth drawler extraordinaire, oversaw the operations. In no time he had a concept drawn up and ready to lay out for the Helix Syndicate engineers. The worldsphere would have five zones: Winter, Forest, Jungle, Savanna, and Marsh, with a sixth ‘hidden’ zone beneath the surface for only the most experienced hunters. This last zone would be an underground cavern system with many tunnels that contained those most dangerous beasts, such as the Terentatek. LeFrange, from what he had read about the beasts, did not really enjoy the thought of hunting a beast that could kill Jedi.

The first shipment of animals arrived safely - discounting the few Rodians who got eaten and the Ubese missing an arm-, but the Zareca Cartel had another problem, how would he keep up the stock of beasts with hunters roaming around slaughtering them all? Breeding programs took too long. But clones? Clones could be grown to adult size in a matter of months. Clones could also be modified if the guest hunters wanted more… exotic game. So, Luchy arranged for a contract with Arctis Genetics - the same corporation who supplied the Blackscale clan with coma gas - to specially manufacture a series of cloning pods large enough to grow the beasts. Arctis Genetics would also be sending a scientist to oversee and consult on any genetic modifications to whip up something “extra.” His name was Akron, or something like that, Luchy couldn’t really remember.

LeFrange’s task didn’t end there, oh no, he had to go off and find this “Tunroth” by the name of Running Boar. Some sort of hunting savant in the big game market.

Well, he found him alright, found him in the jungles of Felucia hunting Acklay. Nearly got stabbed to death too. Narbo gave him a sweet bonus and the rest of the week to go chill out at King’s Pride, so he supposed it wasn’t all bad.

Now they just had to make sure that the animals didn’t break free and kill everyone. Because the possibility of that was low, right? Right.

 

[Blackthorne]

Hunting on Dxun was not a quick adventure. It would be several days that the pair of unlikely predator companions were gone. Caught in a most voracious of storms, the hunters tracked a group of red-pelted maalraas before taking down a massive prime male through gales of rain and winds so strong even Thengil himself had trouble standing upright. When the storm passed they made camp, skinned the beast, roasted the flesh and cleaned the bones.

“They’re lightsaber resistant,” Dahl told the leonine while he ate, “fetches a good price on the market, though that red pelt is rare.” She told him the story of Tavenok, the giant red maalraas spirit that roams the mountains of Onderon and of the great annual migration of flying beasts from the demon moon to the planet. When the fire died the rain returned and so Blackthorne found them refuge within the cradle of branches of a massive, gnarled tree. He spoke of his adventures across the stars, explaining briefly how he’d come to work alongside Maleagant.

They arrived back on Onderon the eve of the following day, Thengil carrying the rolled red pelt as was gifted to him and Blackthorne admiring the blade of a sc’rath gifted to her to commemorate their success. Riding high from the hunt and likely from a hit of spice, Dahl made mention of her desire to see Zeltros, since she’d never been, and so that is precisely where they went.

Something something...what happens on Zeltros, stays on Zeltros.