[ASK] The Commission

[Nor'baal]

THEME
AND THIS MADE ME LAUGH​

THE COMMISSION ​

A backroom, it always appeared to be the meeting place for any of the Galaxies unsavory types - and this was no different. Outside, two rat-like creatures were fighting, a small ring of street urchins goading them on with sticks, whilst a fluttering Toydarian collected money for bets. Truly, this was Nar Shadaa at its best (or worst depending on your point of view). With the Galaxy once again at War, and the Hutt Cartel leading the charge, it was all to easy to forget its criminal routes, the gears and cogs that kept the war machine moving.

Softly humming, the hover sled carrying the vast figure of Nor'baal Vesajilic Diori, came into view, the street urchins watching their gory sport, scattering at it crushed their combatants beneath its frame. Many had heard of Nor'baal the Hutt, a character in his own right with contacts across the galaxy, and a reputation for cruelty that belied many. But with such a reputation, came a bounty - and one of the onlookers looked to collect. Stepping forwards, a blaster held in a shaking hand, a young Rodian stopped the sled, crying out defiantly ''Nor'baal the Hutt, you Bantha Poodoo!'' in a shrill voice that lacked any form of conviction. ''You got a price on your he...'' it began, before the dull booming laughter of the Hutt cut him off.

''And which Bounty is it? Tatooine Law Enforcment, Zonju? Anaxes? Or that paltry sum from Vica and her friends?'' came the voice, as the Rodian slowly pailed ''Collect if you wish, but you will need to spend your winnings fast!'' cried the Hutt, as the Rodian scampered off in terror, dropping its blaster. Nodding to the man ((@Livgardist)) to his right, who followed the Rodians retreat with urgency, the Hutt made his way inside. Soon, he was in the back room, a few people having already arrived, smoking, some gambling.

Moving the sled closer to the Holo-Table, he activated it, showing a cast 'Cartel Logo' hovering between the assembled enforcers, their guards and criminal associates of 'Prospect' rank, assembled at the surrounding bars and chairs. Clearing his throat, as his Magna Droids took positions around the room, two outside the entrance to keep a look out for unwanted intrusions, the Hutt spoke:

''Sentient beings, my thanks for you coming here today. Together, we make up the muscle, the brains, and the Credits of the Cartel. We are its back bone, and as the weight of the war presses down, we must not break. Today we form a Commission, dedicated to mutual profit and gain, for the glory of Hutta, and all who climb to the top of our Cartel!'' he said with vigor, as he looked at his gathered companions, many of whom he had known, and done business with for years. ''Today, we meet to decide what we can do, together, to spread the influence of the Cartel yet further, to corrupt those who would stand against us, and to stamp out rivalries that only damage us all.''

Outside the venue, the man - Sonny Mills - was returning, a smoking corpse of a Rodian behind him. Others could still be seen arriving, some members of the Cartel, others associates under the protection of those gathered (@Prudence), but all ready to work for Credits, to bring wealth and power to the Cartel.

The Commission had assembled.

@Livgardist @Ecclessey @Naruto667 @Prudence


OOC Note: Please be aware that this is a non-violent thread, no attacks, killing, injuries, captures etc. This thread is open to people who have signed-up to and been accepted in the corresponding OOC thread, or have been personally invited by me via a PM.

 

[Eccles]

The green Gamorrean snorted as he saw Davik draw the winning pazaak card, making his total a beautiful twenty and to the despair of his opponent it was the fourth time in a row. The Gamorrean laughed as he saw the Chiss female take off another piece of clothing, but as she took off her top the green monster got all red in his face and sneezed uncomfortably, which in return amused Davik and his opponent. “Ah so these Gamorrean bodyguards do have a weakness” Davik smiled and waved the brute away before he turned back to his opponent, “you know what this means, right?” his smile developing into an eager grin “one more win and you and I are getting a private suite”. The Chiss sighed, this wasn’t why she had worked so hard to buy her own freedom from that miserly Quarren, but the deal Davik had offered if she’d won had been too tempting to refuse. “The game isn’t over yet” she replied, more to remind herself than her opponent, but Davik didn’t even seem to listen as he shuffled the decks again and prepared for his final win of the evening.

Much to her luck, although she didn’t realize it right away, she was excused from honoring the bet she had made when a large Hutt and his droids entered the secluded room where they’d been gambling in relative privacy. Davik immediately put the cards down and called the Gamorrean back, who still had not fully regained his greenish color, and nodded towards his guest. “Get her to my quarters and tell my slave to prepare dinner for three. I didn’t think I’d make it in time, but meetings with Nor’baal the Hutt never take long.” he told his bodyguard, who grabbed the Chiss roughly by the arm and lifted her from her seat. “Nor’baal one-eye?” she repeated nervously and Davik nodded. They had left the room just before the Hutt began his vigorous speech.

Davik raised his glass of Corellian brandy on the words “mutual profit and gain” and drank greedily. His ears were slightly red and he had gained a pound or two since visiting the Hutt on Hutta, showing how well he had adjusted to his new rank as overseer.

 

[Livgardist]

Sonny watched the Roadian approach the meeting with a raised eyebrow. When Nor'baal's quite terrifying laugh finally broke the last semblances of willpower that had held the rodian together, and the disgusting creature panicked and ran off, even dropping his blaster in the process, Sonny couldn't help but put a hand to his face, close his eyes, shake his head, and sigh. A nod from Nor'baal was returned by a look of scepticism, and then a shrug. Sonny stepped down and walked towards the exit, following the fleeing rodian out into the night.

It wasn't hard to follow the disgusting creature's trail. A few questions to a couple of bystanders told him where the alien had fled; in his hunt for some liquid courage, th rodian had sought shelter at a noodle-and-cantina stand in the form of a cheap street cart run by a human male. He walked up to the cart, where the Rodian sat, drinking some kind of cheap swill with shaking hands. He threw a quick glance Sonny's way, and then realized who it was, and, if indeed it was possible for a Rodian, Sonny swore he could see the creature's green skinned face turn pale.

"Live by the sword, die by the sword, kid." Sonny said.

Before the alien could contemplate the meaning of the words, Sonny's right hand hit him in the kidney, paralyzing him. He then felt his head get smashed into the bar disk, followed by the last sensation he ever felt, the feeling of a bullet ripping through his skull. The gunshot echoed across the streets like thunder, but died as quickly as it had started. Everything happened in less than two seconds, and as Sonny stood up, he left the body where it was, smoke coming out of the creature's skull. He tossed a thousand credit chip on the bar disk, and nodded to the bartender.

"Cartel business."

Before long, he returned to the meeting, calm and composed, as if nothing had happened. He caught Nor'baal's eyes and gave a slight nod, a for-the-record kind of confirmation that there was one less wannabe bounty hunter in the world that would be gunning for the Hutt lord.

 

[Naruto667]

Ah the peace and quiet of space..well it could be worse..being chased by several dozen Starfighters..lasers,flak and all sorts of rubbish flying about all wanting to piece the hull of your own Starfighter and end your life in the old harsh mistress called outer space, but who was he kidding Jaz himself was just..doing...nothing..no kicking the living poodoo out of somebody for some reason or another, no zooming around space in his shiny and deadly starfighter playing games of "Hey I'm a stafighter pilot come fight me!"..rather Jaz had for some time after the complete debacle of his failed attempt at the world of business just secluded himself.

Well...except for the one time infiltrating a communication base on Kessel but apart from that Jaz hadn't been doing much but no matter but apparently something was in the works when word drifted to Jaz to which provoked him into coming out of his seclusion and walk amongst the members of the hutt cartel once more, and so he got himself dressed wearing his all so familiar stormtrooper armour which still had a small hint of pink..indicating the numerous failed attempts to rid of himself of the damned pink armour gossip which started oh so long ago at the klatooine battle but it was so minor that nobody will be able to notice it, once he was all sorted he made his way to where this meeting of minds or whatever was suppose to take place.

"So this is the place"Jaz muttered to nobody in particular noting the two magna guards outside the entrance, and since apparently this was a hutt cartel thing he just walked up to the droids who turned their heads to look at the newcomer raising their weapons incase the person was a unwanted visitor but then went back to their stance once Jaz revealed his face to the droids and then walked in the building putting his helmet back on, while the droids outside notified their boss the Jaz had arrived.

And it seemed he had arrived half way through the speech but it was apparent it was about gain more glory for the cartel,credits influence the usual..although it all of all of the people in the venue he only recognized Davik who apparently had chanced just abit after the events of the kessel infiltration,everybody else he had no idea..even the hutt himself was-oh boy was Jaz in for a surprised when he finally figures out who the hutt was..ah the memories..right?-

 

[Nor'baal]

Slowly the room began to fill, the heady scent of spice, booze and smoke dulling out the somewhat more disturbing scent coming from the smoking Rodian outside, provided by Sonny Mills himself. Seeing the nod his associate gave him, and acknowledging the smell with his keen nose, the Hutt - Nor'baal One Eye - nodded in kind, before casting his gaze around the room, Jaz Corban and Davik Lorso clearly visible around the Holo-Table, with more sure to arrive soon.

For now however, they could begin by addressing the real reason why some of the most wanted, dangerous and cruel people in the Galaxy had been gathered under one roof.

Profit.

Clearing his throat, the Hutt spoke ''Sentient beings, let us begin. We have all come far in this Cartel, yet still we see the Cartel flagging behind, even as we throw ourselves into war. We must not allow ourselves to forget our roots, for it is crime that unites us all.'' he stipulated with intent ''Together we can achieve great things, the Kessel Invasion being one of them more recently. But we must do more, we must dare to go further, take more, consume and steal more.''

Activating the Holo-Map that the table boasted, the Hutt continued ''Bespin, Zygerria, Makeb, Ryloth, Hypori, Mustaphar and Ord Mantell.'' the planets lit up as he spoke ''These are but a few worlds on which we Hutts used to have influence, such influence has waned these past decades.''

The planets he had mentioned came together on the screen, as the Hutt spoke again ''We must spread corruption to these worlds, blackmail, smuggling, spice, bounties, pirates - all this we can do to gain influence on these worlds, without the need for invasion itself. So I ask you friends, what is it we can do to achieve this, what resources, plans, contacts and associates can we put into action.''

He finished, with one final message ''Let this commission serve as a new start, a common ground on which our operations might coordinate, for mutual gain.''


@Livgardist @Prudence

 

[Phoenix]

Tal Veren had to smile to himself as the music from the cantina reached his ears. Just one more hive of – what did they always call it – scum and villainy. That was an apt description of the entirety of Nar Shaddaa in reality, but it paid – both literally and figuratively – to be here working for the criminals at the top of the food chain on their home base.

Hey baby, wanna have some fun? I can show you a good time, a scantily clad woman asked as he walked toward the cantina that would serve as their meeting point.

Oh, I’m sure you could, but I’ve got business to attend to now, maybe later. Really, he knew that was a flat out lie. It wouldn’t happen now or later, as that wasn’t really his thing, but then she didn’t have to know that.

He pushed his way past a pair of bouncers out front and further into the building, making for the back room of the cantina where their seedy meeting would take place. He chuckled quietly to himself. He seemed to be in an abnormally large number of seedy meetings like this lately, even more so than his usual quota. But to say that they had been exceedingly profitable would have been a gross understatement, so here he was at another one.

He entered quietly into the backroom, fashionably late, and took up a place on the outskirts of the room. Being the center of attention wasn’t his thing, regardless of how much experience or what rank he had.

The room had already begun to fill with the other individuals whose activities consisted of questionable legality. Some of those in the room he knew personally and some he didn’t, but in time, he’d likely come to know them all. He recognized Davik, whose recent exploits had earned him a promotion. He gave the other man a subtle and quiet nod of recognition and then turned to listen to Nor’baal.

While he had never met the Hutt personally, he had worked with his son before when he was still fairly new to the Cartel. In more recent history, he had heard the rumors of conflict between the Enforcer and a Cartel Champion. Whatever happened there wasn’t really Tal’s business and he had less than no intention of making it his business. He was smart enough to stay out of affairs like that.

Pulling his helmet off he set it on a nearby table and pulled a cigar from a pouch on his armor. It was a bit unusual for him to remove his helmet in public as he’d learned the hard way once how dangerous that could be, but this was a secure room they were in so, why not? Carpe diem. He raised the cigar to his lips and – in true Mandalorian style –ignited the small lighter function on his gauntlet’s flamethrower, but provided no fuel, and then used the small, lighter-like flame to get the cigar going.

Perfection. The smooth taste of the cigar filled his mouth, perfectly lit, and he blew the smoke out towards the ceiling as he listened to the Hutt continue. It was no great surprise that Tal had personally been to a couple of the planets the Hutt named and he had no qualms taking them back for the Cartel. After all, he had put in a huge amount of work to bring Tatooine back into the fold, what was another planet or two?

 

[Eccles]

Davik noticed Tal Veren enter and lit his cigar after a nod in his direction, or was it even a nod? It was hard to tell when someone dressed up in armor for a simple meeting of minds. All wearing armor outside of combat did was to show everyone that you earn your living with blasters, not schemes and business otherwise associated with enforcers of the cartel. Delegation, Davik learned, was the real key to being important and profit from your membership. Tal Veren had shown not only to be a softy with Vyrim Reytal’s widow, but seemingly failed to understand that as well. What sort of person denies a chance to gamble on a game of Pazaak!? Davik did not return the nod.

Although he didn’t quite like Old One-Eye either after their secret meeting on Hutta, the halfheaded Hutt was making a very good point. He had forsaken his identity as Lester DeWitt in order to avoid the war. He had chosen Nar Shaddaa because credits ruled and not political or religious ideology. Now the Hutt Council had joined a political ideology and for whatever reason, Davik was sure he’d never agree. The urge for survival conflicts strongly with any motive for attacking Imperial worlds and the unbeatable Empire. So far all that was left to do was profit from war-ravaged worlds by flooding it with spice and enslaving the populace, but it was only a matter of time before the Empire Strikes Back and utterly destroys Nar Shaddaa. Davik closed his eyes and imagined the Calrissian Hall burning as red lightsabers and cyborgs laughed triumphant while they drank and sat upon a couch made of corpses, including Daviks.

His heart suddenly racing, he opened his eyes and shushed the daydream with a large sip of Corellian brandy. Nor’baal was now finished with his speech and even though Davik hadn’t heard a word, he could clearly see the worlds on the Holo-map. Ryloth he mused, wasn’t that the planet where this Hutt almost died at the hands of some champio Davik had never heard of or seen?

“The war is leaving many worlds ripe for increasing our spice profits. Traumatized civilians, even warriors, are more eager to escape their sorrows through our offered product than their peaceful counterparts are.” Davik heard himself say to those gathered. “We’ll have to push our slaves in the mines to their very limit, but I think we can manage to supply seven more planets on a more regular basis.” he finished and thus spoke out his support of the Hutts plans. They may not be able to see eye to eye in person, but it was hard to disagree with the slug's talent to make people very rich.

 

[Nor'baal]

Addressing Davik - the overseer of the Kessel spice mining operation the reclamation of which the Hutt had masterminded - first, Nor'baal adopted a ore 'peer-to-peer' tone when he spoke, the usual arrogance present in manner for which a Hutt addressed their business partners, temporarily removed from his voice. Davik was certainly no fool, for war bought with it many opportunities aside from the sale of arms and information to its various participants.

There would always be people in need of release or escape, and a war simply increased that already high number, with Glitterstim acting to succor that yearning in the masses. Nor'baal had the contacts to get the produce onto a greater number of planets, and with the muscle around the table as well as the resources, the plan would be relatively simple.

Of course, all the Commission could benefit, for once Spice corrupted a planet, crime of a different and more diverse breed soon moved in around the wound the addiction caused. <Indeed Mr Lorso, such slaves I am sure can be provided by one or more of our number?> he asked the fellow members of the Commission <As for smuggling, I can assist here, as I hope, can others?>

 

[Livgardist]

Sonny listened to Nor'baal speak, a small smile playing on his lips. It reminded him of the good old days on Zonju V, when both men had been crowned kings. No, gods. The time of Zonju had passed. He had proposed similar plans to the Cartel in later days, offering to spearhead the expansionist operations himself. But the Cartel had grown stale, weak. They were no longer interested in such matters. They had lost their visionary mindset, their business mind. Now, they were just another government - a criminal one, sure, but nonetheless, one aiming at being a major player with the others of the galaxy, the Imperium and the Rebellion.

It was good to see that some people still clinged to their roots - business and profit. He raised his glass of champagne in a silent acknowledging toast to Nor'baal, as if saying, "I've got your back, old friend".

When things had calmed down a little, a few minutes later, Sonny approached his boss and old friend, offering him a glass of champagne to accompany his own. Sipping his drink, he said to the Hutt;

"When you have time, old friend, let's get together and recreate the good old days. Build ourselves a new Zonju V. Let's become the gods again that we once were."