[ASK] the next step up

[Naruto667]

Several days after the Klatooine battle which ended in the cartel's victory in the distance a transport landed at the starport on the planet Nal Hutta which then opened it's landing ramp and out came it's passengers full of civilians and intermixed amongst the masses were members of the cartel, one of who was wearing his usual kit bandages wrapped around the man's torso and left leg evidence that this man had been some rough times.

Only a few people would remember the man from the battle, anybody else were either dead or had gone to a different planet away from him, but the goal of the man in question was a important one..he was going to attempt to find somebody to help his rise into the rank of the cartel..and he had a idea who this man could ask

"Where is Elohime....I have something important to ask him.."the man muttered darkly his eyes that once were full of life were now dead..cold to the rest of the galaxy due to the sights and sounds from the battle in klatooine..he hadn't been able to sleep well since the battle had ended and he was evacuated to a medical center for his serious wounds

 

[Insoulent]

It had been a few days since the Battle of Klatooine ended. The Cartel had managed to hold off the advanced of the infamous 501st Legion, saving not only Klatooine, but the rest of the Cartel from a possible war. War was generally good for business, whenever it wasn't the Cartel being shot at, but this only prompted the Grand Council of Hutts to push at the progression of [aeon]CORP. out of fear that the Empire would attack again.

He had to report back to Nal Hutta to report his ideas for progressing and expanding the companies under his command, and luckily for him they were excited for it. While the Cartel as an entity would focus on keeping the Sith happy, Elohim and his company would focus on bringing the Cartel more funds. Investments were needed, alliances even. The Cartel's goal would be expansion, business first, influence later. They would begin to dominate near-by sectors and expand. And these companies would be the first step.

He only had a few more hours of stay on Nal Hutta before he left, and spent most of his time in one of the Cartel's private hangars. "Sir, there's a man here looking to see you." the voice echoed inside the hangar. A few small astromech droids rolled around his ship doing some routine repairs while the man himself was crossed-legged and sitting down. He had tried meditating for some time, trying to reestablish a connection with the Force as of late, it had come in handy during the Battle of Klatooine, but he could tell his juices were a bit stale when it came to the Force.

He sighed, opening his eyes and walking over to the intercom on the side of the hangar wall. "Who is it...?" he asked half-annoyed, considering the woman didn't even give a name. A few awkward silence moments followed before the response, "A Mr. Jaz Corban, sir." as the man smirked. It seemed Jaz had survived, and was glad to hear it. "Ah, of course, let him in right away."

 

[Naruto667]

"He'll see you now" the woman said once she had returned to tell Jaz what Elohime's answer for..of course he had help the man out on a bounty and fought with him at the battle of Klatooine so he would have been disappointed had Elohime forgot about Jaz..hel who could forget the pink armoured man fighting the imperium stormtroopers, walking past the woman, she shivered at the coldness of his eyes that had been glaring at her, before walking back to her duties in the hanger

"..." walking through the passageway that led to the hanger proper the man would see Jaz walking with a slight limp with his left leg, bandages wrapped around his torso, but apart from that nothing else...except for the cold dead eyes that would be looking at the bounty hunter.

As Jaz walked he said nothing until he was closer to the man not even paying attention to the starfighters that were here..which was quite unlike the man Elohime would remember the battle had affected the red hair badly it wouldn't be wise to ask him to go into another major battle any time soon and once he was closer, Jaz checked for a place to sit before sitting down on a crate, his eyes looking at the floor just infront of the man before eventually he looked up at Elohime

"...Hey..."

 

[Insoulent]

As Jaz entered the room, Elohim couldn't help but realize just how different Jaz looked. He had remembered Jaz saying he was once an Alliance Pilot, but he never really asked if he had actually been in a battle. The signs didn't look good. Being part of a culture that reveled in War, deaths and remorse were struck out at a young age, so battle wasn't as tough, but he could tell Jaz was hurting. And it wasn't just the bandages, either. His eyes were even different, the shape of his eyes. He could tell fatigue when he saw it.

"Hey Jaz. I'm glad to see you're alright." he said, pausing a bit. "Hold on." he said, rushing from his spot and into his freighter. After a few moments, and the sounds of distant rattling inside the ship, he returned with a few things: most notably a bottle of brown liquor, and a glass already filled to the half. "Here, it won't help much, but it'll loosen you up." he said, placing the glass and bottle next to the injured pilot. Whether or not he drank it didn't matter much to Elohim at this point, but it was the only thing he could think of to alleviate him. Unfortunately for Jaz, Elohim didn't know Force Heal.

"Now, what do I owe this pleasure to?" he asked, hoping Jaz wasn't coming bearing even more bad news.

 

[Naruto667]

Watching as Elohime rushed onto his freighter to get something the man could hear rattling from within the ship Jaz could only wonder what he was doing but he was just too tired to even ask so he just quietly waited for the man to reappear from the freighter which he did holding onto a glass that was half full full of some brown liquid and a bottle to go with it..so he had gone to help Jaz drown his sorrow

"Thanks..."Jaz spoke feebly as he took a drink from the glass savouring each drop closing his eyes for a few moments until he heard Elohime ask what do I owe this pleasure to taking one last drink he placed the glass back beside him before looking at the man

"I want to rise up the ranks of the cartel..I've had enough of being at the bottom of the dogpile, I want to be one of those on the top or at least higher than I am just now"Jaz said smirking a slightly glimmer of life returning to his eyes before it faded just as quickly as it arrived as Jaz took another drink from the glass waiting for Elohime's answer..which reminded him of something he had heard while he was recovering

"And if the gossip is true...apparently there was a jedi in the battle"was it wise to talk about the battle..probably not, not so soon after coming out alive from the battle alive but he had to check as during the time where such things were being mentioned his helmet was at the time laying on the ground while Jaz fought with a imperium solider in hand to hand before he was surrounded by the remainder of the enemy's squad

 

[Insoulent]

He didn't wait long until Jaz came to the point of why he arrived. The ambition of his eyes drowned out the sorrow for a moment, a relieving thing for the man, who simply nodded and smiled as he explained himself. "Oh, that's simple enough Jaz. You've helped out the Cartel for a while, you deserve your just dues. If you need a voucher, you have mine." he said with a grin, looking at his drink.

"Jedi? I don't know about all that..." he said scoffing a bit. "I might of pulled a Lightsaber out, but damn those stories are so exaggerated. I barely even swung it. Used it to intimidate the Imperials." he explained, lying of course.

"Speaking of which, I'm guessing you had a harder time than I did, eh? How'd you make it out of there, exactly? I'm glad you made it though. There's a good hospital here, they have Bacta there, Cartel members only. I suggest you go, considering I'm going to need you to do something for me..." a grin showing up on his face. Maybe not the best thing to ask for of a recently-returned soldier, but considering he was so ready to move up in rank, Elohim was surely in his right to ask for a favor for giving his voucher. At least in a Hutt's mind.

 

[Naruto667]

Looking at Elohime as he tried to give a reason for all the gossip he had heard however he was nearby when one of the walkers that was retreating backwards from the cartel lines was damaged or even destroyed by somebody and lightsabers were known to cut through almost everything and that fact there was the gossip about a jedi, looking at the bounty hunter infront of him his cold eyes were piercing into the man trying to discern if he was telling the truth or not, only snapping out of it when he was asked how he made it out of there

"Well to skip the boring stuff I was going to surrender to the soliders who had surrounded me as I was on my own and the tank wouldn't have made it back to my position in time to help..not that it could do that, however when one of the walkers exploded nearby distracting them I took my chance and broke out ducking my head as I ran.."Jaz said pausing looking around slightly before picking up the glass and finishing what was left placing it back down, and felt his hands were still shaking, days after the battle..and his hands were still shaking it wasn't a good thing

"Suffice to say I got badly wounded at my torso and left leg, and I had to crawl...slowly" Jaz said pausing closing his eyes once before before opening them again "...Back to the palace luckly enough a cartel patrol found me and brought me back for medical care" and with that said the man leaned back and tilted his head back

"I would say out of the people who I lead....barely any might be alive now"it was clear that Jaz wasn't prepared to lead soliders into combat however somebody there had told him to lead a group of people..it was a surprise that there were still people from Jaz's group still alive.

"There's a good hospital here, they have Bacta there, Cartel members only. I suggest you go, considering I'm going to need you to do something for me" looking straight at Elohime he grinned slightly

"Oh? And what is this something you want me to do?"

 

[Insoulent]

He listened on as the pilot went on about his story after the Battle, surprised he went through so much. Elohim himself had to leave the Palace early to secure and store the captures. "Not many survived. Considering we were fighting the Empire's best men, don't think too much about it. We did good, trust me." he said with a bit of a smile. It was true though, considering they were nothing more than a bunch of criminals and other mercenaries, they did pretty well against the Empire.

He wasn't surprised however that Jaz had more questions regarding the job. It was smart to ask questions, of course. "Attahox. It produces phosovane salts, pretty basic drug component for pain killers. My company owns a drug company, research -- that sort of stuff. Anyway, there's a crime syndicate that owns most of the mines there, and I need someone to establish relations with the syndicate. I just need you to establish a bit of an alliance with 'em. Set up a deal with them, that sort of thing. You won't go alone either. I'll probably send another prospect with you, and a small team of Natori as security. I'll also provide the credits and such, but I can't do it directly, considering I got an image to uphold and all that. Anyway, I just need you to see if you can buy into their market. Easy enough, right?" he said, and truthfully it was. He didn't have much experience with the syndicate himself, but they were planet locals and relatively small compared to the Cartel, so more than likely they'd just bend over and agree, considering that if they rejected the Cartel could just steamroll them. In truth, it was a good offer, the Cartel could -- at any time -- just take over.

"So, what'ya say? Sound good?" hoping the pilot would agree to it.

 

[Naruto667]

"I...see...."Jaz simply said so not many people survived well that was to be expected..even if it killed Jaz inside giving him more evidence of his incompetence with leadership but as Elohime said he shouldn't think too much about it and focus on the now

"True.."Jaz said as it seemed as though life was returning to him very slowly the most he talked but it wasn't there yet, once the man infront of Jaz started to talk about the task the red head had to do in return for the vouch, and in truth it seemed easy but then again even easy tasks had a tendency to become much harder as time went on.

"You do know I'm not a good negotiator right?...and if they decline and decide to start shooting?"truthfully this was a what if question he wasn't expecting a firefight..at least so soon after his return he needed time to find himself once more and getting into more firefights would only make the situation worse for Jaz

"But yeah it sounds good and easy enough...sure I''ll do it especially if it helps me move higher in the ranks"the red head said smirking

 

[Insoulent]

"That's why I'm sending someone else too, just incase you can't do it alone. But, at the end of the day, we're criminals and sometimes things get violent when they're not supposed to. That's what the Natori will be for. I don't expect you to take them down, but it'll be enough to survive and get off the world if talks go sour. Either way, Attahox is close proximity to Cartel space, it won't take much for us to invade after if they refuse, just don't say that outloud around them - they might try and double cross us at some point." he explained.

"Knowledge is power." he said with a bit of a smile. "But, that's why I need you in top form, incase you need to run and gun." he explained. "I'll send you the details later, once I get everything finalized, but you should be good to go. Your treatments will be on me, just feel better, alright?" he said, looking over to his ship.

"Now, I got a meeting with some greedy Hutt Lords. I'll talk to you later, get my contact information from the lady at the front, give me a call once you're better and I'll set you up with everything else." he said as he pulled his hand out to shake the man's free hand, and helping him up to his feet. He then jumped on his ship, for he had to return to the DSC Deadalus to hear some more complaints and request from the rather lazy Hutt Lords that he had to work with.