Ask Lothal Acar Balac

[Kallixus Ranjir]

Location: Loth City, Lothal, Mandalorian Space​

A sleek chromium finished yacht punched down through Lothals atmosphere. Picked out on the vessel's prow, in Echani script was the vessel's name, Junzuz'uex, and the come to Mandalorian Space these days, you certainly had to be. Onboard was one person, a man named Kallixus Ranjir, and he was an arms dealer by trade. Bizarrely, given the nature of his business, the Junzuz'uex was an unarmed vessel, built for speed, style and comfort, rather than offensive capabilities. Yet, as it cut through the air above Loth City, it left quite the impression.

Touching down on landing bay X-55, assisted in its approach by an onboard astromech droid and a pilot droid counterpart, the Junzuz'uex landing ramp opened up. A small spiral staircase dropped from the bottom of the ship, instead of the traditional 'slope' normally seen on arriving ships, and with a walk that oozed sophistication, Kallixus stepped down onto the surface of Lothal. "What a charming planet," he remarked to nobody in particular as he walked across the landing bay and over to his contact "Kallixus, you must be Armorer Veren?" he extended his hand to shake Verens upon the conclusion of his greeting and flashed him a dazzling smile.

@darassum

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Normally Hokaan did business remotely when possible. But when it came to arms trade he needed to inspect the goods in person. Mandalorians knew their weapons and so he expected this Kallixus to have a precedent for this sort of interaction. This was not the slicer's first rodeo.

Lothal had recently been taken by other Mandalorians led by Nox Solus. But Hokaan had not been present when such events had occurred. He hoped the control his people had over the planet lasted. Safe havens were few and far between. Then again, he did not consider any place safe these days, hence the armor.

Hokaan's magthumper was back on his Z-wing for the time being but he still carried his rifle which was slung across his back. On his right hip he had his blaster sidearm holstered. His armor was painted black with markings of orange denoting the flames of the phoenix his clan was known for.

The human male the disembarked from the opulent yacht earned him a raised eyebrow from behind Hokaan's visor. The Mandalorian began to walk towards him, meeting the arms dealer half way and alongside his vessel. If Hokaan had wanted this to be done completely anonymously then he could have but it would have been too many hoops to jump through for little reward. Even a slicer had to come out from behind the keyboard every once in awhile.

The Armorer nodded when Kallixus introduced himself. "Did you have a nice trip?" Hokaan asked as his visor notably swept over the hull of the man's ship. It must have been comfortable in a nice ship like that and he did not see any carbon scoring from a possible battle. Hokaan did not say anything else as a follow up right away. He wanted to get right to business but saying out loud was something he was working on. The Armorer did not like small talk.

@Nor'baal

 

[Kallixus Ranjir]

Kallixus smiled as he was welcomed by the intimidating Mandalorian, swaggering along next to the man as he walked toward the city proper. "I've never been to Lothal, back before your administration it was something of a dull place." the rogue remarked as he gestured to the now bustling city "You've certainly done a lot with the place." he added, sounding somewhat excited to be in Loth City.

Truth-be-told he was delighted that the Mandalorians had taken over this formerly peaceful planet. The Lothalites had a reputation for pacifism, and that was just terrible for business - whereas the Mandalorians had a more practical approach to the Galaxy and its dangers. He was here to make a deal, after all.

"The Mandalorians have enjoyed a range of successes of late, but to keep that forward momentum, you guys are going to need an edge. That's, perhaps, where I can come in, no?" Kallixus began, moving the discussion away from pleasantries, and to business.

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan thought over what he knew about the agricultural world. It sounded much like what Mandalore and Concord Dawn used to be like. Now with time Lothal would see its fair share of wars. Destruction in the modern age and the archaic beliefs that some Mandalorians still held often aligned. The Veren clan Armorer was of a pragmatic mindset. "War has a way of paving the way for new opportunities. I'm sure you can respect that, Captain." His tone did not mean to sound judgemental. In fact it was perhaps why this business interaction would be profitable for the both of them.

The edges of Hokaan's mouth curled into a grin. It was good to hear the reputation of his comrades growing. It made his chest swell with pride. "You got it." Hokaan gave a nod in agreement.

"First, what can you offer in the short term." He needed to know what he could get on short notice and not have to invest too much in. The arms dealer was still an untested associate. What Kallixus was capable of producing up front and without many days or weeks had the Mandalorian's primary curiosity.


@Nor'baal

 

[Kallixus Ranjir]

In the short term? Kallixus had to flash the Mandalorian another debonair smile as he quickly thought up a convincing lie. He had rather been hoping to broker for their products, not sell ones he didn't actually have. "You know, in this game it's all about access." he began, trying to lead the Mandalorian to a conclusion without having to directly state it himself "- because with that you get to see a wider range of arms, which is going to help you stay on top of the competition. That's what I can bring to the table."

He stopped, and turned to face the man "I'd like to start by introducing you to some friends of mine, executives at some of the big arms players and a few founders in the more bespoke outfits. Plus," he leaned in and lowered his tone "- a few of the companies that can help keep this under the radar?"

 

[Hokaan Veren]

Hokaan listened to what Kallixus had to say. The Mandalorian got thee idea he was not the type to carry a dozen blasters in his trunk. Instead it sounded more like wholesale delivery. "Hmm." They murmured in response.

"And what would be the point of that?" He asked directly. The words came out of his mouth and beyond his helmet before he knew it. The idea of sitting in a board room with a bunch of suits and ties was not ideal. "Speak plainly." The arms dealer had probably dealt with different types of clientele and might worry about his own reliability. "What can they offer me that you can't?"

He wanted to know why there were middlemen and why he should not just go to Czerka or Blastech himself. Plenty of this could be accomplished from a chair in a space ship if Hokaan had wanted to. Maybe he had just been looking forward to firing some new ordnance and now the ship captain had not so much as a produced a catalogue.

@Nor'baal

 

[Kallixus Ranjir]

"What would be the point of this?" Kallixus repeated the man's question back to him as if to reassure himself what the Mandalorian had just asked. "Looks -" he took a drag on his stim, mulling over what to say "- you can't keep all your eggs in one basket. You need to ensure you have a diverse and wide-ranging supply line, especially if you plan to..." he paused, hesitant to say what he was about to "- amplify your offensive capabilities."

He moved on to the Mandalorian's final point of concern "And, by channelling this through me the companies have a range of plausible deniability, as do you, should either side do something the other might need to disagree with. Let me put it this way, they would sell to a company I own, and you would buy from a company I own in return - effectively allowing both the suppliers and you, to be at arm's length from one another."