There are debts, And then there are Debts

[Arage Bao]

The aggregation of monetary wealth will eventually lead to a descending spiral for the common folk’s quality of life.

This was an universal truth of life, a truth that defined the new generations of the Galaxy and forced them into poverty because in the grand scheme of things… there just wasn’t enough for everyone. Wasn’t enough credits, wasn’t enough materials, wasn’t enough of anything.

I had experienced this fundamental truth when I was just a wee little boy scampering through the trash of the Underworld, trying to scavenge some food or parts to sell on the local market - there wasn’t enough for everyone and in the end people had to cheat to find their way. Steal people’s gathered stuff, force ‘em to work for you or worse, it isn’t any different in other parts of the cesspit we call home.

This fundamental truth was found to be lacking when I was around my twentieth birthday though, I figured out a subcomponent to that truth, an addition that managed to be slipped between the lines and which managed to evade most of the notice. The sub truth sounded something like this: ‘When you are rich, powerful or both… there’s no limit.’

And so it was now that I am at the bed of my thirty-second birthday, that I realize how true these words ring and permeate through our daily lives. Around me the familiar buzz of the mining site was sounding, the men were happy, content in their trust that heading home today would mean a steady paycheck and food for their families.

I turned around and re-entered my temporary office. There were still papers to sign, promises to exchange… such was the way of the Rich and Powerful, nothing came for free, even for them. But sometimes it was good to be both, to have friends in all corners of the Galaxy who could help you out when necessary.

Planet we were on was Aeten II and I was waiting on [member="Mia Monroe"], I wasn’t sure if I could really call her my friend- she had too much hate in her, too much passion that would soon burn her out if she wasn’t careful; not really people I liked to have around me. It was intoxicating and I had enough trouble with keeping my own passions contained without being swept away in the tide of fury that flowed through her naturally.

But I had helped her out in the past, details put aside she ‘owed’ me one and I was here to ‘collect’. Putting that between brackets because you don’t demand anything from the likes of Monroe, but you could put in a request and maybe… just maybe she would think about it in a positive light.

So I sat down behind my desk and started signing papers, if this ended as I hoped it would… my company would have a little foothold on Aeten, with the rights to prospect and mine on the planet. Much more interesting than to simply waltz around and try to steal your resources. No, nothing of that foolishness - if this ended well an important location would be added to the corporate fold.

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia was not accustomed to being in anyone's debt, save that of her brothers. Debts with them were exchanged on a daily basis, in every battle, but they did not hover over ones head in the fashion this one did. Her mind was elsewhere as the transport descended onto Aeten II, she recalled a fond memory in the asteroids. Close quarters with the Bard of the Hyperlanes, the first time he had kissed her.

She smiled to herself, the jolt of the ship landing bringing her back to the present. To the devil she had to deal with. Perhaps that was a little harsh. Ovmar wasn't all bad, but he wore a mask, concealing his true colours beneath false pretenses. It wasn't so much that she disliked him, he had a charm about him that made him hard to dislike. But she did not trust him. So he'd kept his word, he'd put a roof over her head, given her supplies so she could get back on her feet and she was, after all walking round in a clone body that essentially, belonged to him.

She had every reason to trust him. But she didn't. Call it a gut feeling, call it paranoia. The fact of the matter was simple, [member="Jared Ovmar"] had a long way to go to fully earning Mia's trust. She nodded to a few of the miners as she passed through, grasping one of two hands and pausing to chat. The Field Marshall had a history with the miners and she knew supplies were running thin.

Rapping lightly on the cabin door serving as his temporary office, she didn't wait for him to respond, simply pushing the door open. "Testing your luck a little, aren't we Ovmar?" she offered in greeting, closing the door behind her.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

It was a testament to my own self-control that I kept my eyes firmly on hers once I looked up. She wasn’t an especial good-looker, the clones weren’t picked for that, yet her air was all different. It was an aura of fierceness and passion that made me appreciate her all the more, courtesy of being a mentalist who was very much in tune with his surroundings and people inhabiting said surroundings.

I gave her one of my grins, the special one, the one I reserved to those I loved, respected or wanted to charm- which of the three was at play this time would have to be left to the imagination. It was a lazy grin which showed a certain level of self-deprecation that assumed that I did not in fact take myself all that serious.

‘Anything that’s worth living for takes a certain risk, miss Monroe. I hope you find yourself in good health?’

Awaiting her answer my eyes trailed from her shape back to the papers sprawled around the table, it was a bit concerning what it all suggested… but nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia smiled at that grin and shook her head. There was that charm. "Exceptional health, actually." she replied crossing the room and sinking into the chair opposite him. "Death has a certain way of giving you a new perspective on things. Does wonders for stress levels." She rested her forearms on the desk, grey eyes boring into the top of his head as he poured over papers.

"What are you after?"

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

‘I know how you feel.’ and my words didn’t even sound sarcastic. I didn’t add how I spent a week just lying in the sun on a resort world, celebrating the fact that Shorn hadn’t offed me permanently. Feel of the sun on your skin was exhilarating after spending time in Chaos.

Finally I found the paper I needed, signed it and put it aside. Pencil laid down and I looked back up, studying those grey eyes. Such a testy person.

‘Profit.’ I answered her simply and honestly, there was no reason to lie or try to hide my true intentions here. She wouldn’t expect anything else from me anyway, so why try? ‘I see waste here, Monroe and if I had a heart it would probably be broken twice over at the sight of it.’

‘The Mandalorians own several profitable worlds, filled to the brink with rare resources. Look at Aeten II, the world is ruined, some say stripped clean of stygium. Did the Mandos see more than a sliver out of that? Every day smugglers, raiders and pirates try to infiltrate this planet, try to steal the valuable mineral.’

‘Enterprising individuals set-up mining excavations, cut corners wherever possible and reap most of the benefits. I want to change up the game, shake this foundation up. Give me rights to prospect and mine the remaining deepworks of Aeten II. I will hire on locals, make sure money flows back into Mando Space.’

‘We can take this as an experiment. If this works out we can slowly expand to the rest of the Mando Space and finally turn away those vultures.’

 

[Arage Bao]

Roche Asteroids​

Nickel One​

In the meantime a representative of Neuro-Saav Corporation arrived at the somewhat spaceport of Roche Asteroids, to be more specific the capital of Verpine Species; Nickel One. Peculiar name if anything, but the Count could accept the need for a certain eccentric desire when it came to names and the sort.

The Count’s ship docked without any major or minor issues and the man himself stepped out of the vehicle to be greeted by a small delegation of Verpine. This wasn’t as normal as you would expect it to be, most of the species were reclusive, they weren’t big fans of the other aliens that made up the better part of the Galaxy and preferred to stay at home doing their own thing.

But when your retainer was the Ovmar? Things, opportunities even opened up to you. It hadn’t taken the Count of Serenno more than a few messages before certain higher-ups in the Verpine hierarchy had decided to grant him an audience, money greased the cogs and power made ‘em turn in it seemed.

One of the Verpine stepped up, pushed even by the remainder part of the group, and began to speak- to his surprise the Count had to note it was fluent Basic and not that chit-chat-click rubbish he had heard so much about.

[ Greetings, Prince of Serenno. Accommodations have been readied and your meeting with the Consort will commence in thirty galactic standard minutes. ]

The Count blinked and then replied, giving the delegation a small bow. “A Prince I am not, but the courtesy is appreciated and noted. Our Mutual Friend will be pleased with this arrangement, rest assured.”

It seemed those words brought a wave of relief, as the crowd chittered amongst themselves- the translation device integrated in the Count’s aural faculties went nuts trying to translate it all, but the general meaning was pretty clear.

Eventually they calmed down and beckoned the Count to follow, which he did with furious rolling out skills.

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia gave a derisive snort. "Believe me when I say mandalorians need no help from enterprising individuals, to deplete our own resources. We saw a great deal from these mines. As for smugglers and raiders," she shrugged. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't seen her fair share of them. "What makes you think you can defend against them any better than we can?"

She wasn't against his idea, not in the slightest. But she needed a better pitch than that. To get anything of worth from these mines meant better scanning equipment. A new source had to be found, and when it was, Mia would bet her life it was deep below the surface. It would need a long term drilling project, and the profit would be high and it would come fast. But the resource would be depleted just as rapidly.

To say he'd see the money back into the community was nothing. It did nothing to support these people when the mines were depleted. It was all a flash in the pan, no matter how you looked at it. So how could she and her people benefit more from this?

"You're going to have to do better than that."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

Yes… yes you did see a lot of these mines and where did it get you? A broken and twisted world, ravaged by earthquakes, nature going rampant and an impossibility to properly live here. Workers becoming unemployed with no guarantee for any other sort of job in the future, or benefits.

I ain’t a Saint, I am a Sith Lord- but that didn’t mean I didn’t see the benefits of taking care of my workers, making sure that they are well-treated and paid. When they were happy of their own accord they worked harder, and that meant more efficiency.

Didn’t have to be a goody Jedi to see the benefits of treating your people well.

So I nodded and continued.

‘Portion of the profits from this venture and possible future ventures will be put aside in a fund which will be used to support the unemployed due to the depletion of resources.’

I rubbed my chin for a second, considering the following statement carefully before I decided to put it in place.

‘After their limited contracts end Neuro-Saav Corporation will find these men a more permanent position in the company, according to expertise and interest.’

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia nodded slowly. "Better. Who will control the fund? And you still haven't answered my first question. What makes you think Neuro-Saav can do a better job of protecting these mines than we can do ourselves?"

It wasn't that Mia was against any of this, but she liked details, she liked to see the clean cut edges of things. Blurred lines were no an option.

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

Ovmar snorted.

‘The Tion Hegemony stands behind this operation and with them a limitless supply of credits, soldiers and influence. We don’t let kids feck with our business. Ask Baktoid.’

The first question was interesting though… very interesting and so the Sith Lord, not Sith Lord shrugged and replied.

‘Both of us. You don’t trust me to do good by your people, which is fair enough. I will make sure things stay efficient, you will make sure your people are well-treated.’

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia nodded. "I have research facilities in the Tion Trade Nexus. I wasn't aware you were part of the Hegemony, but then I've been out of the loop on a number of things for a while." So focused she'd been on the sith, that she'd lost her footing. So focused, she was blind to all else. It was time to take a step back, time to change the game to suit her better. This would be a slow battle, but it would be one she would win.

"Alright, so the people are taken care of. There's a future for them, regardless of the mines running dry or not and you're content to let me watch over that." she smiled slightly.

"Now, what do I get out of it?"

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

‘Few do, Monroe, few.. do.’ the Sith Lord liked to keep both his associates and business private, it was the only way he knew how to operate. The only way he felt in his element, the shadow in the corner, not the shining armor dashing into the war. Not a rock tumbling down a hill.

The fact that he had just given away his connection with ‘em to her, it spoke volumes. It was an olive branch of sorts, they still didn’t trust each other, men and women of their caliber never did so easily. But it was a beginning, it was a start of something that could be.

...and so the Elder shrugged.

‘I have been using the ‘we’ quite often throughout this conversation, Monroe.’

‘That wasn’t a slip of the tongue by any means, you will get a fair share of the credits and if it’s your desire the resources too.’

Then he waited.

 

[Lina Djo]

"I'm sure it wasn't, but I like to clarify these things. Figured you would've worked that out by now." She sat forward again, fingers drumming lightly on the desk between them.

"Alright, we'll do a test run. We can talk numbers when we have a better idea of what numbers we're actually looking at." She got to her feet "Lets take a walk."

Once they were outside, Mia led them towards the mines. "The planet itself is more or less a shell, not much left here if I'm honest, and what there is, has already been labelled for Hypernautics or Motors. We're a greedy bunch. Su'cuy," she said to a passing miner who gave half a salute, while eyeing Jared suspiciously. "You want a long profit, we're looking at the nebula primarily. We've developed new scanning techniques, but there's always room for improvement. You want stygium? You want a mining station up there. I can get you the papers and sweet talk the officials."

She stopped walking to look at him. "There are rules, Ovmar. You will be an auretii, an outsider, till these people respect you. Earn their respect, you might be welcomed. I'll help you where I can, but my power is not what it used to be."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

‘Life ain’t ever easy, Monroe. I have lived it enough to know this for truth, yet I also know that nothing worthwhile will come to you easily. Fate turns, as fate wills it, no?’ he replied simply, while pondering the question of a mining station.

It could be done.

With the recent acquisition of Baktoid into the firm embrace of Neuro-Saav? Everything could be done, already plans were forming in his mind, materials, costs, designs… ah how he loved this.

‘sides, we might just do something against your recent downturn in Mando politics while we are at it.’

With a shrug he added. ‘If you wish, of course.’

 

[Lina Djo]

Mia gave a derisive snort. "There's no such thing as Mandolorian politics. We fight for the right to rule, strength symbolizes power. S'far as they can see, I'm not much in the way of power, and they're not to keen on the whole...reborn thing either. Don't get me wrong, when I speak, they listen. But that doesn't mean shid, if they're not gonna listen, if you follow me."

She gave a shrug, eyes watching the miners as they worked. "Doesn't bother me, I'm content to sit on the sidelines. Got my own things to be doing. Let them go chasing vengeance across the galaxy, I don't want anything to do with it." For now. Mia had plans, but she needed to lay foundations, she needed to build quiet alliances and ensure she had funding before she took the plunge completely. The hegemony was powerful, quietly so. If she could get their support, she could rebuild everything.

Gotta start somewhere, right?

"So," she said after a moments quiet thought "About this space station?"

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

No such thing as mando politics… who was really kidding herself here? There were always politics, always schemes within schemes and people trying to get above others. It was the way of humans and life in general to strive for betterment of their own positions- through others if necessary.

But he didn’t answer the derisive snort with his own, better leave her with her illusions and dreams, why needlessly break ‘em apart?

After a while she spoke again, ‘bout the station.

Ovmar had a few of his own plans for it, thinks that would make it gooood.

‘Got any suggestions already?’

 

[Lina Djo]

"Plenty, but I think we should take a ride and see where you want it first before we talk schematics."

She led him away form the mines towards a landing pad. They were greeted by a sullustan. "Feild Marshall, what can I do for you?" he ask in mando'a. She simply nodded towards one of the mining transports, his eyes flicked towards Ovmar and he shifted uncomfortably. "I--"

"For your own sake, don't finish that sentence. We'll be an hour, tops. Any problems that come from this land on my head, not yours." she clapped him on the shoulder and moved past him into the tra'galaar transport. Once Ovmar was on board she guided the ship off planet and into the nebula. For a moment she simply let the ship drift, a fond smile coming over her face.

"You know, the last time there was a station above this planet, it was under Imperial rule."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

Mandalorian War Stories aside Ovmar had always been interested in the more ‘close-in’ stories of war, the struggles, fights, blood and real cruelty of humankind when they were pitched against one another. It was a psychological thing that a human can sympathize with anything, call a spoon Bob and then break it- a part of you dies with it.

Yet they had little issue with destroying each other when territory, assets, resources, money or simple pride was at bay. Peculiar, if you asked the Sith Lord.

Some would claim Honor, Ovmar knew better than that.

‘Oh?’ he murmled quietly, inviting her to speak, while staring out of the viewport and out into space.

His mind worked though, the first thing they could apply was a molecular furnace- Ovmar hadn’t been able to take on the one in the auction, but with the recent acquisitions of Baktoid… things can be constructed at their own leisures.

 

[Lina Djo]

"It was infiltrated and overrun by the Republic..." She was talking for the sake of talking, her mind wasn't really on the topic at hand as she guided the ship through the nebula. "A lot of war over this resource." she muttered.

There was always a lot of war, not that Mia minded, war kept them in business. While there was a war, she was a gun to hire...or at least she was, before this got personal. Then of course the whole death thing made her take a step back. She blew a sigh out of her nose and refocused her wandering mind on the task at hand, a blink and whatever nostalgia was on her face was gone, back was the soldier come business woman.

"Alright, location." hands danced across the console and she set the sensors to work. "The deeper into the nebula we go, the better cover we have. We might need a new mining ship too, something with top of the range sensors."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Mia Monroe"]

Ovmar had been listening, almost unconsciously, filing away information for later usage. In the grand scheme of things he had come into this game fairly late, much he had missed while trying to simply survive on Coruscant, before Jacobs had decided to take pity on a half-witted idiot and took ‘im in.

He had been able to get bits and pieces here about the exploits of the various more… famous inhabitants of the Galaxy, but first account stories were rare in itself. Yet she was done speaking quicker than he had expected, something of regret flashed over the Sith Lord’s expression as he realized he wouldn’t get to hear far more at the moment.

Knowledge was a burden sometimes.

Ovmar shrugged eventually. ‘I can get us the ships, make ‘em ourselves if necessary, perhaps buy ‘em? You know if there is anything suitable made by the Mandalorians? Might be an extra contract in there, should make ‘em slightly happy, I’d wager.’