The Galactic Carrion

[Léon]

Sullust​

With its immense magma pits and rocky deserts, Sullust was unlike any planet Léon had seen. Then again, he had visited so few planets in his lifetime. He was not as well traveled as many interlopers of the galaxy. He had traveled to the floating metropolis of Cloud City on Bespin, the foggy Annaj, and the mining moon of Concordia. None of them were like anything of Kesh, a world of lush forests and ancient tradition.

The swordsman turned on his heel to face Arlan. The Galactic Alliance had showed an interest in employing the Carrion Company for purposes of obtaining neutral planets into their sphere of influence, the defense of their territories in events of invasion, and lesser forms of annoyance, piracy, smuggling and so forth. He would accompany Arlan on this mission, perhaps as a sign of the diversity among the Carrion.

The Keshiri was garbed in knee-length riding boots, tight dark green trousers and bright red tunic, with a leather jerkin and black swordsman gloves. He was every part the hedge knight, with his own swords to boot. He carried a blaster on him, but it was more for show than practical use, he could barely shoot a target with the firearm, but he knew how to use a sword. A skill he was raised on.

His fiery gaze studied Arlan for a moment, the translator burped as the purple skinned Keshiri spoke, "If we gain the interest of these people, our coffers will be plentiful with gold, and the Carrion may broaden their horizons, stretch our operations, no?" It was only half-statement, half-question, and he spoke in a way that proved the Keshiri was quite not used to the idea of credits, especially the virtual kind.

| [member="Arlan Zy'rosh"] | [member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] |

 

[Arlan Zy'rosh]

For years Arlan had watched as the major players in the galaxy waged war and crept closer and closer to his doorstep with each passing day. Now two threats lingered just over the horizon ready to swallow up Rutan and deem it's people their citizens by force. So one could imagine Arlan's surprise when the leaders of one of those threats contacted him in hoped of arranging mutually beneficial contract between them. To many of the company's members, this meant they were finally being recognized for all their efforts and were about to receive their just rewards. For Arlan however; this was a chance to secure his home's safety for the foreseeable future and cut any chance of it being subjugated in half at the very least. On the trip to Sullust there was a bit of apprehension in Arlan, not from fear or any sort of inhibition one may feel, but from the knowing he was going into these negotiations with a bad hand to play. Yes The Carrion Company was one of the fastest growing and most qualified groups in the Outer Rim, and yes they were more than capable of getting most contracts done with little to no incident, but the Alliance had the options and credits to look elsewhere. The company needed the funds the Galactic Alliance could provide, but the Alliance didn't need to Carrion.

"If we can gain the trust of these people much will change for all of us." Arlan replied to Leon as he walked. "Not just wealth, but power, provision, allies for future battles. Things everyone needs in the galaxy but few have." Turning to face the Keshiri he went on. "It's not a big stretch to say that signing this contract will change the company as we know it. There's a lot of hope in that, but a bit of fear as well." Shaking his head Arlan turned and looked towards the building at the end of the docking ramp they both stood on. "They fight war on a different scale than we do. Thousands upon thousands of men, more ships than one can count, more credits spent than we've earned our entire career." Arlan shook his head. "We have to make sure The Carrion Company doesn't lose itself in big government." With that said Arlan began to walk towards the meeting spot, hoping his doubts were wrongly placed.

[member="Léon"] | [member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Arlan Zy'rosh"] [member="Léon"]

Commander Oshe Tan was a Sullustan member of the GADF. He had a small delegation with him at the Sullustan base. Several junior members of staff were present as much to take notes and observe as actually take part in the discussions. A one pip officer fresh from the academy had a rotation within Oshe's arm of the GADF to see how they handled the various service contractors they brought on board, from paramilitary, to security, to freight. Among the delegation was on Marshal Voidstalker, a Jedi Oshe hadn't met personally before, but had spend a while talking with this morning. Turned out the man had been armoured infantry for over a decade. New his soldiering and had an interest in how the New Jedi Order worked with the military arms of the Alliance.

The group waited near the docking bay. The visitors would be given badges once their credentials had been checked and escorted to meet them in a lobby by an unarmed soldier. Everything was relatively relaxed, and they had a full conference suite with coffee, cakes and lunch booked. All very civilised in this end of the GADF's military.

 

[Léon]

Léon bobbed his head along as Arlan spoke. Many of the things his contractor discussed were beyond his own understanding, he grappled with such concepts. Though the thousands of soldiers came easy to him, Kesh was unlike many other planets. While it was not technologically advanced, their wars were battled with hundreds of thousands. The Keshiri were numberless in the sense that their own language had no number large enough to count them. But so few were ever seen off-world. So very few.

The purple-skinned humanoid marched beside his boss. He was physically imposing, his entire body was rippled with defined muscles. The natural physique of the Keshiri. It allowed him to swing a sword with the ease of the near-weightless lightsabers. While he may look like he could crack a log over his knee, he was shorter than Arlan, and much shorter than the man they were to meet.

They left the docking bay and proceeded along the path until they encountered the entourage set by Jacen. Two of the guards stepped forward, moving to place a badge on each of their chests. Confused at first, Léon allowed them to proceed with an affirmative nod. The soldier motioned them towards a corridor leading into a lobby, then onto the conference room where treats and drinks awaited. Léon was not shy in tasting each of every variety of desert. He had never experienced such flavor back home.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] - [member="Arlan Zy'rosh"]

 

[Arlan Zy'rosh]

Arlan sat deep within his chair as he and Leon waited upon their host in the meeting room, his eyes watching his companion taste the food set out for them while they did so. Arlan refrained from eating, partially due to his nerves being a bit out of whack at the moment, and sat in silence for the time being. It wasn't unlike him to be in situations like this one, yet for some odd reason he was on edge. It didn't help matters that he and Leon were only at the moment, waiting in a government facility for someone they'd never met to greet them. Not that Arlan was expecting anything to go awry, just that being so beholden to another at this point in his life did something to his self-esteem. It was refreshing to have Leon here though, his demeanor showing Arlan that there was little to fear and less to care about at the moment. Sure when the diplomat walked into the room there would be a big show and lots of negotiations, but for now everything was at ease.

"Leon. Things have certainly moved fast since you joined the company haven't they?" Arlan broke the silence and spoke to his compatriot. "If things go well here the company may change even more than it has already, something to look forward to I guess. Though I have to know what you think about all this." Arlan looked at him in puzzlement. "All this must be strange for you, yet you do not seem near as bothered by it all as me. Why is that?"

[member="Léon"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Léon]

"Bothered?" he said, his hand placed a torn muffin in his mouth, he spoke as he chewed, "Why should I be bothered?" He brushed his hands together and joined Arlan and sat beside him. He chewed for a few more seconds until he was done before speaking again, his eyes searching the room as he tried to conceive an answer for his boss, "Life is quick and short, speed is nothing to be fearful of, but it's halt - that is what should bother us." Perhaps he didn't quite understand the question, the translation from Basic to Keshiri was eschew, especially as the Keshiri had very few words comparative to Basic.

"All this is new and strange, but very exciting," he paused for a contemplative moment, "Perhaps, Arlan, it is that all things in this galaxy is strange to me, so I cannot be afraid, I must be brave, but you grew up in this galaxy, very few things are new to you, so perhaps, you're not yet used to confronting change as I? Is that what you ask?" He shrugged, the translator was itching his neck, and his fiery eyes fell upon Arlan.

[member="Arlan Zy'rosh"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Commander Tan and his delegation filed into the meeting room. The group made their pleasantries before finding their seats. A silver protocol droid had snuck into the room behind them.

Whilst Oshe could understand basic and give general military orders in the language he still couldn't really conduct a full conversation in the language.

"[So, I'd like to get to know a little bit about your organisation. I don't suppose you understand Sullustan?]" he asked in his native tongue. The message was promptly repeated by the protocol droid.

[member="Léon"] [member="Arlan Zy'rosh"]

 

[Arlan Zy'rosh]

Arlan nodded to Leon as he spoke, trying to wrap his head around just how the Keshiri felt about being thrust into an unfamiliar Galaxy. For a minute Arlan felt like all of his inhibitions were so petty, but he realized that too was part of Leon's meaning. Leon was so used to things changing on a day to day basis that if he hadn't learned to cope with rapid change he wouldn't be able to function even on the most basic of levels. Arlan nodding towards the Keshiri as he spoke running his fingers through his hair and sighing. He knew he couldn't combat the reasoning Leon had so soundly delivered so instead Arlan simply agreed with little hesitation. Besides, Arlan himself had more or less been convinced his worries were pointless at this juncture. They were here, the meeting was about to take place, and siding with the Alliance could only help the Carrions if things went smoothy.

"I suppose it is Leon, thanks for that." Just then the door opened and a contingent of men entered the room headed by a Sullustan whom sat opposite of Arlan and Leon. "Looks like our host has arrived."

The man spoke briefly, a protocol droid to his side translating every word with the utmost proficiency. A good thing to because Arlan didn't speak a lick of the language their counterpart in this meeting was speaking. It wasn't very hard to get used to the voice of the droid overlaying everything said by the man, taking into account Arlan listened to Leon's translator do the same nearly every day it was no large stretch to get comfortable with things as they are now. It was when their host asked about The Carrion Company that Arlan perked up and, though a bit cautious, began to speak himself.

"No, sorry I don't." Arlan said plainly as he leaned forward and locked his eyes upon the man. "Now, about the company, there's not much I can't tell you. We are a small group, but growing every day. We handle contracts for military support, protection, escort, that sort of thing for various client both large and small time." Arlan went on. "We don't do assassinations, piracy, smuggling, anything like that. So far we haven't had a contract that ended with an unhappy employer. Now that all that is out of the way, what specifics do you wish to hear?"

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Léon"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Arlan Zy'rosh"]

"From me," the protocol droid interpreted, "I'd like to know more about your previous work - where details can be given - what your TaskOrg looks like and what capabilities you can provide. For example do you deploy any close air, artillery, what kind of armoured platforms. Finally which galactic war treaties do you adhere to?"

"And I'd like to know what experience you have of working with or against Force Users," Jacen added.

 

[Arlan Zy'rosh]

Arlan listened, nodding as the droid relayed the man's words. Nothing out of the ordinary was requested, in fact it was almost mandatory that such things be asked if one was to truly access the company's worth. So, in that regard, Arlan leaned back for a moment and began to think back on each contract he had approved since the formation of The Carrion Company. While it was hard to recount everything that had been gone through over the past few years, it was fairly easy to form a general consensus of what the company had tackled in terms of operations. Arlan looked across the table, nodding towards the droid once it finished speaking, and then turned his attention to his host.

"It's no big secret that most of what we have done is small scale. Escort and securing materials mostly, that sort of thing." Arlan went on. "We're in the process of building up our fleet, and though it's meager we have some good pilots. Artillery is mostly done via ground based personnel, hand held launchers mainly with minor air support. No armored division is under our command and that's mainly because we haven't had a reason to justify the cost of maintaining one." Arlan stopped, looked at Leon and shook his head before continuing. "As for the treaties, we mostly play it by ear depending on what territory we are operating in. We always adhere by the fair treatment of prisoners standard though. With the Force Users, I have some experience myself but as a unit we've never tackled anything like that."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Léon"]