A swirling mist of smoke rose from the burning end of a Shento Cigar, its red hot tip offering a small portion of the dim light blanketed across the meeting room. The sole occupant sat quietly in one of many leather chairs circled around a long, glossy black table. Taking another long puff of his cigar, the grey haired man in the chair began to deal two hands of Pazaak cards, one for him and another for his invisible opponent. After both hands were dealt the man flipped both hands over on the table, his emerald eyes shinning with the life of a younger man as he studied the cards. Taking the cigar from his mouth, he drew a single card from the community deck and placed it in front of his hand of cards, it was a 6. Zev nodded, taking a 10 from his own hand and placing it gently next to the 6. Continuing, Zev dealt the next community card onto the table and placed it in front of the second hand of cards.
The single player game of Pazaak continued, Zev taking his time with each hand as if he were facing an actual opponent whilst he smoked his luxury cigar. Just as he was about to play the winning card, the door into the conference room clicked and slid slowly open with a long swoosh of air. Zev didn’t bother with turning around; he just finished his current game of cards and then began to collect them up into neat stacks.
“He’s here.” A deep voice notified from beyond the darkness of the doorway.
“Good, send him in.” Zev said. He spoke with a calm wave of words, but the calm was an eerie one, as if it were the gentleness before a storm that would never come. The guard, who was much accustomed to his employers tone, nodded and closed the door as he departed to fetch the visitor.
Zev continued to organize his card, making sure that the stacks they were in were perfectly straight and no card was out of place. The man kept his cards in a ravishingly good state of quality, laminating each with a soft, firm plastic that kept them from bending. He kept everything he owned is such a state. The suit he had on, for example, was a deep black and every crease was seamless in its preparation, it was obviously pressed on a regular basis. No fiber was out of place, even on his grey, collard undershirt that hung open casually at his neck. Zev finished his cigar before his visitor arrived, so, he put the spent stick of flavored Tabac in an ash tray built into his chair and the stuck a wrinkled hand into his jacket to retrieve another. Grabbing another cigar from a small gold plated box in his inner pocket, he glanced out the window of the conference room. The day had gone by on this side of Coruscant and left the streets cloaked in a thick darkness that was illuminated brightly by the holographic advertisements and the many lights that heavily saturated every inch of the planet. Even with the brightly colored streets, the room still needed its own artificial light from an elongated and narrow lamp that sat, lonely, in the far right corner. Its entire body gave off a light blue glow, much more soothing than the harsh white lights that were built into the ceiling. Zev hated using lights with such harshness, he much rather preferred the darkness or a dim off colored lamp when necessary.
He continued to scan the buildings outside, taking a long look at the building directly across from the “safe house” he now occupied. The building was not a safe house in the usual sense; rather it was a hotel that Zev owned under another alias that was in no way connected with his Stargo identity. It worked well enough to keep over zealous Republic detectives from tracking him, back in the old days he would never have risked it but times had changed. He lit his second cigar and blew yet another sweet scented cloud of smoke into the air. He had made a bad habit of smoking the things ever since he had gained the wealth to buy the good ones, but he figured if he limited himself to two in the morning, one if the afternoon and two at night, that he might live long enough to regret it.
As Zev sat smoking, the door once again swished open, this time Zev glanced over. In the doorway was a massive armored creature with thousands of years worth of various armors were strapped to it, more as trophies than actual means of protection. The ancient mandolorian mask that this set of armor usually adorned was in the creature’s hand, leaving its ugly, fanged face exposed to Zev’s sight. “Ah, Durok, I’ve been expecting you.” Zev stated, the same eerie calmness flowing from his mouth. The Gen’Dai simply snorted, his dripping fangs leaving spots of saliva on the floor as he marched towards a seat.
“You seem displeased.” Zev said, speaking in his ever present calmness
The Gen’Dai growled “You bet I am! You drag me all the way out here to Coruscant and then have the nerve to have my weapons taken from me! If I did not need you I would have marched in here and snapped your neck!” An empty threat, one that Zev had grown to expect from his Southern Triad contact.
“At least you are clear on who needs who.” Zev replied smoothly. The comment angered the Gen’Dai who hissed, but it did nothing but bring a short lived grin of amusement to Zev that was gone almost as soon as it started. Taking another drag of his cigar, and then bringing it down with his hand on the armrest, the billionaire began “Let’s talk about my position in your…” Zev pauses to let the smoke flow from his nostrils “organization.”
Durok looked at the older man with a dissatisfaction “Your position?! This is not what I was told this meeting was about!” he roared. Honestly, this beast acted more like a mercenary than a mobster, how he was keeping the South Systems Syndicate running was a miracle.
Zev just stared unflinchingly at the viscous creature, his expression not changing drastically at all ever since before the meeting began “I know, I told you otherwise to get you to come. If I would have spoken to you about my true intentions prior to our meeting, I might as well have never bothered.”
Durok lifted his army high into the air, bringing it down into a hammer motion on the black table and smashing a huge portion of it so that it was cracked and shattered “How dare you lie to me!”
Zev pointed his cigar at the beast “Don’t you forget that I am the one who introduced to most of your drug contacts! And don’t you forget that I am the one who got your sad excuse for a gang into what it is today!” Zev’s tone had only slightly changed from his usual expression, it was raised and instead of calm waves, it was dry sandpaper “Now, understandably, I am coming to you to claim more of the Southern Triad which, is more mine than yours in the first place.”
Durok hissed “What do you want then!” the Gen’Dai growled
Taking another puff before answering, Zev had gone back to his usual tone “Sixty percent of your personal income.”
“Never! Why do you expect me to give you so much!?” Durok yelled
“Because your position is a gift.” Zev answered coldly, his emerald eyes piercing through the black pits that Durok called eyes. Zev blew four perfect smoke rings at Durok “a gift that I can reposes.”
“I am above you now mortal.” Durok spat “I am a god now, and you are nothing more than a weak old man who should learn his place.” This lunatic actually believed he was immortal…didn’t he? “I will give you no more than ten, and that is a generous offer from the mouth of a god.”
Zev sighed, standing from his seat slowly and trotting over to the window he had peered out of earlier. He stood, cigar in hand, and studied the lights of the city and watched as speeders zipped by like lightning “you are forgetting yourself Durok.” Zev replied calmly, taking yet another puff of his cigar “I already own most of the trafficking operations and drug operations that you run, and have yet to ask for much payment. I could relinquish you anytime I choose and not suffer a loss, but I do not because it has yet to become a pressing necessity. However, your increasing lack of cooperation is quickly changing my mind on the matter.”
“You are nothing. I will never let such a puny mortal take what is rightfully mine.” Durok hissed
Zev closed his eyes and nodded his head, tipping his cigar rather profoundly as he let the smoke in his mouth flow into the air “I’m sorry we cannot come to a reasonable agreement Durok.” Zev said calmly as he turned to his left and stepped forward in a spinning motion so he could see the Gen’Dai. As soon as his movement finished, the sound of shattering glass sliced the air as a plasma bolt punched through the window where Zev was just standing. The white hot beam hit Durok square in the forehead, the powerful mass of energy hitting him like a speeder and bursting his head into confetti of burning embers. A small fire erupted as the energy dispersed and disintegrated the entirety of the upper half of the aliens head.
Zev didn’t flinch a centimeter the entire time, his burning green eyes studying the death of the Gen’Dai like a book. The Gen’Dai was strong, but like the rest of his species, the brain was not subject to repair and the blast from the high powered rifle had made sure he was never coming back. The guards outside entered the room without any rush, for they had known this would happen as soon as Durok began screaming. Zev studied the body and took another puff, as some of his men immediately began to clean up the mess from the impact while others began the pain stacking task of moving the heavy body. “Fron” Zev called to a Twi’Lek guard who was overseeing the cleansing of the scene
“Yes sir?”
“Tell my pilot to prepare the shuttle for Tatooine.” Zev then let the smoke loft from his mouth as a cynical grin came across his face “We have much to do.”
The single player game of Pazaak continued, Zev taking his time with each hand as if he were facing an actual opponent whilst he smoked his luxury cigar. Just as he was about to play the winning card, the door into the conference room clicked and slid slowly open with a long swoosh of air. Zev didn’t bother with turning around; he just finished his current game of cards and then began to collect them up into neat stacks.
“He’s here.” A deep voice notified from beyond the darkness of the doorway.
“Good, send him in.” Zev said. He spoke with a calm wave of words, but the calm was an eerie one, as if it were the gentleness before a storm that would never come. The guard, who was much accustomed to his employers tone, nodded and closed the door as he departed to fetch the visitor.
Zev continued to organize his card, making sure that the stacks they were in were perfectly straight and no card was out of place. The man kept his cards in a ravishingly good state of quality, laminating each with a soft, firm plastic that kept them from bending. He kept everything he owned is such a state. The suit he had on, for example, was a deep black and every crease was seamless in its preparation, it was obviously pressed on a regular basis. No fiber was out of place, even on his grey, collard undershirt that hung open casually at his neck. Zev finished his cigar before his visitor arrived, so, he put the spent stick of flavored Tabac in an ash tray built into his chair and the stuck a wrinkled hand into his jacket to retrieve another. Grabbing another cigar from a small gold plated box in his inner pocket, he glanced out the window of the conference room. The day had gone by on this side of Coruscant and left the streets cloaked in a thick darkness that was illuminated brightly by the holographic advertisements and the many lights that heavily saturated every inch of the planet. Even with the brightly colored streets, the room still needed its own artificial light from an elongated and narrow lamp that sat, lonely, in the far right corner. Its entire body gave off a light blue glow, much more soothing than the harsh white lights that were built into the ceiling. Zev hated using lights with such harshness, he much rather preferred the darkness or a dim off colored lamp when necessary.
He continued to scan the buildings outside, taking a long look at the building directly across from the “safe house” he now occupied. The building was not a safe house in the usual sense; rather it was a hotel that Zev owned under another alias that was in no way connected with his Stargo identity. It worked well enough to keep over zealous Republic detectives from tracking him, back in the old days he would never have risked it but times had changed. He lit his second cigar and blew yet another sweet scented cloud of smoke into the air. He had made a bad habit of smoking the things ever since he had gained the wealth to buy the good ones, but he figured if he limited himself to two in the morning, one if the afternoon and two at night, that he might live long enough to regret it.
As Zev sat smoking, the door once again swished open, this time Zev glanced over. In the doorway was a massive armored creature with thousands of years worth of various armors were strapped to it, more as trophies than actual means of protection. The ancient mandolorian mask that this set of armor usually adorned was in the creature’s hand, leaving its ugly, fanged face exposed to Zev’s sight. “Ah, Durok, I’ve been expecting you.” Zev stated, the same eerie calmness flowing from his mouth. The Gen’Dai simply snorted, his dripping fangs leaving spots of saliva on the floor as he marched towards a seat.
“You seem displeased.” Zev said, speaking in his ever present calmness
The Gen’Dai growled “You bet I am! You drag me all the way out here to Coruscant and then have the nerve to have my weapons taken from me! If I did not need you I would have marched in here and snapped your neck!” An empty threat, one that Zev had grown to expect from his Southern Triad contact.
“At least you are clear on who needs who.” Zev replied smoothly. The comment angered the Gen’Dai who hissed, but it did nothing but bring a short lived grin of amusement to Zev that was gone almost as soon as it started. Taking another drag of his cigar, and then bringing it down with his hand on the armrest, the billionaire began “Let’s talk about my position in your…” Zev pauses to let the smoke flow from his nostrils “organization.”
Durok looked at the older man with a dissatisfaction “Your position?! This is not what I was told this meeting was about!” he roared. Honestly, this beast acted more like a mercenary than a mobster, how he was keeping the South Systems Syndicate running was a miracle.
Zev just stared unflinchingly at the viscous creature, his expression not changing drastically at all ever since before the meeting began “I know, I told you otherwise to get you to come. If I would have spoken to you about my true intentions prior to our meeting, I might as well have never bothered.”
Durok lifted his army high into the air, bringing it down into a hammer motion on the black table and smashing a huge portion of it so that it was cracked and shattered “How dare you lie to me!”
Zev pointed his cigar at the beast “Don’t you forget that I am the one who introduced to most of your drug contacts! And don’t you forget that I am the one who got your sad excuse for a gang into what it is today!” Zev’s tone had only slightly changed from his usual expression, it was raised and instead of calm waves, it was dry sandpaper “Now, understandably, I am coming to you to claim more of the Southern Triad which, is more mine than yours in the first place.”
Durok hissed “What do you want then!” the Gen’Dai growled
Taking another puff before answering, Zev had gone back to his usual tone “Sixty percent of your personal income.”
“Never! Why do you expect me to give you so much!?” Durok yelled
“Because your position is a gift.” Zev answered coldly, his emerald eyes piercing through the black pits that Durok called eyes. Zev blew four perfect smoke rings at Durok “a gift that I can reposes.”
“I am above you now mortal.” Durok spat “I am a god now, and you are nothing more than a weak old man who should learn his place.” This lunatic actually believed he was immortal…didn’t he? “I will give you no more than ten, and that is a generous offer from the mouth of a god.”
Zev sighed, standing from his seat slowly and trotting over to the window he had peered out of earlier. He stood, cigar in hand, and studied the lights of the city and watched as speeders zipped by like lightning “you are forgetting yourself Durok.” Zev replied calmly, taking yet another puff of his cigar “I already own most of the trafficking operations and drug operations that you run, and have yet to ask for much payment. I could relinquish you anytime I choose and not suffer a loss, but I do not because it has yet to become a pressing necessity. However, your increasing lack of cooperation is quickly changing my mind on the matter.”
“You are nothing. I will never let such a puny mortal take what is rightfully mine.” Durok hissed
Zev closed his eyes and nodded his head, tipping his cigar rather profoundly as he let the smoke in his mouth flow into the air “I’m sorry we cannot come to a reasonable agreement Durok.” Zev said calmly as he turned to his left and stepped forward in a spinning motion so he could see the Gen’Dai. As soon as his movement finished, the sound of shattering glass sliced the air as a plasma bolt punched through the window where Zev was just standing. The white hot beam hit Durok square in the forehead, the powerful mass of energy hitting him like a speeder and bursting his head into confetti of burning embers. A small fire erupted as the energy dispersed and disintegrated the entirety of the upper half of the aliens head.
Zev didn’t flinch a centimeter the entire time, his burning green eyes studying the death of the Gen’Dai like a book. The Gen’Dai was strong, but like the rest of his species, the brain was not subject to repair and the blast from the high powered rifle had made sure he was never coming back. The guards outside entered the room without any rush, for they had known this would happen as soon as Durok began screaming. Zev studied the body and took another puff, as some of his men immediately began to clean up the mess from the impact while others began the pain stacking task of moving the heavy body. “Fron” Zev called to a Twi’Lek guard who was overseeing the cleansing of the scene
“Yes sir?”
“Tell my pilot to prepare the shuttle for Tatooine.” Zev then let the smoke loft from his mouth as a cynical grin came across his face “We have much to do.”