Ask Doshing Out

[Demetrius Parada]

Already, this trip was looking like it would set him back hundreds of credits. Dee had charted a ship from Canto Bight halfway across the galaxy (or, at least, that was what it felt like). Sandwiched between a Utapaun family to his right and a giant Wookiee 'repatriation legal representative', he felt like he had drawn the short straw. For the entire voyage, the being had regaled him as to the assorted legal overtures Kashyyyk intended to make, in its myriad forms, to the Trandoshan population over slavery.

Dee didn't care.

However, the Wookiee was enormous, and he was so tiny, so he nodded, made affirming sounds and even, at one point, pretended to take notes. Dee intended to leave the vessel with as many limbs as he had boarded. He could have jumped for joy when the ship finally reached its destination, and he could collect his bag and headed for the speeder he had hired for a visit.

It was an expensive vehicle, complete with a pilot droid, which added a touch of class that Dee felt added to the image of a successful and trustworthy businessman he was trying to portray. Safely secure in the back of the speeder, he quickly adjusted his clothes - exotic-looking blue robes over a tunic of light green - and combed his hair back. It was essential to look the part, after all.

Dee checked the holoprojector, in his case, worked, ran through some notes he had made for the meeting, and quickly refreshed himself on the publically available bio of the person he was soon to meet.

Finally, the speeder pulled up outside a large building, which reared up into the air - an architectural statement of the might of the planetary Government and its occupants. The door of his speeder slid open automatically, and Dee disembarked, soon to be escorted through security and up to the twelfth floor of the vast building, where his contact was due to meet him.

Clocking the man as he came into sight, Dee walked toward him confidently and extended his right hand, his left holding his briefcase, with a smile "A pleasure to finally meet you in person Sir."

 

[Rrodossk]

Along the route Dee took, Trandoshan guards stood sentinel. They were fully armored and armed as if they were ready for war; they were armed eith heavy suits of armor, heavy blaster rifles, heavy repeating blasters, and massive melee weapons. The guards who watched Dee exit his vehicle crossed their spears infront of the door to the large building before a call from on high had them stand down and let him in. Throughout the building, more guards formed on the human. At first there were only the two guards with spears, then more came along. Scatterblasters, vibroswords, heavy blaster pistols, massive slugthrowers, and even some light repeaters joined the group. But as they climbed the turbolift, several got off at different levels. By the time they reached the top only six remained. None of which seemed to even notice the visitor, yet still moved in a protective formation. They stopped ahead of two large doors, massive marble slabs standing nearly standing eight feet tall and etched with ancient battles and Trandoshan heros.

The doors slowly slid apart as the sensors saw motion ahead, their movement nearly inaudible beyond a soft wirring of machinery. Inside was a large conference room colored with grays, deep reds, and browns. There was rather large wooden slab table sitting in the middle of the whole room with chairs of stone with soft fabric pads resting around the perimeter. At the farthest head of the table sat a much larger and more elaborate chair, almost a throne. Around the walls were tapestries, sculptires, and paintings from all across the galaxy. It was a beautiful showcase of art, yet it seemed to not be the focus of what the buisnessman came for.

"Ssso, you actually arrived." The hulking figure softly spoke in the throne-like chair. He effortlessly slid the chair back and began to stand, his powerful muscles visibly moving under his scaled flesh. To his right, was a much younger and thinner Trandoshan already standing and staring at the newcomer. "I am Rrodossssssk, Sssenator of Trandosha. Thisss here isss my sssson, Warmasssster Yossssssssk." The larger Trandoshan's voice slightly echoed off the walls as he spoke, the sandpaper like voice emanating both power and intelligence. He paused for a moment to let the other being collect himself before he spoke again.

"You have come here with a proposssition. We shall await your gift before we continue any further, asss isss tradition." Rrodossk slowly sat down, his eyes unblinking as he stared down at the smaller man. If there was no gift, this would mean that he would disrespect Rrodossk, and as he was the clan elder his entire clan. Which would certainly be death. Not a clean one, like a lightsaber or a blaster. Being stripped apart by fangs and claws. But if he brought one, then buisness could continue. After all, he was the one to call this together. If he would put the funds to make the gift a reality then it would show the Dosh that he was willing to come through with his end of the deal.

@Nor'baal

 

[Demetrius Parada]

From where he was standing, Dee was pretty sure the Trandoshan population was somewhat obsessed with weapons and warfare. Yet, for a people so enamoured with conflict, they seemed pretty bad at seeing it through - hence why the 'Trandoshan Empire' made no appearances in the history books.

He nodded at Rrodossk, the Senator for Trandosha, and his son. Gently, he presented a small data chit to a waiting attendant, "Senator, you honour us with your invitation to your glorious world. By way of thanks, we offer a transcript of an ancient hunting song of the Trandoshan people, telling the tales of the Hunts on Kashyyyk in ages past." he said with a degree of flair that surprised even him.

"If the gift pleases you, I hope to discuss business. Specifically relating to a contract between the Czerka Corporation and my business, to the enrichment of all."

 

[Rrodossk]

The large clawed finger of Rrodossk gingerly tapped the data chit as he slowly slid it over to himself, before sliding it into the chit port of a near by terminal. His son was already mouthing the lyrics as he had already heard this one a thousand times, many Trandoshans of the clan had. Rrodossk scrolled through the lyrics, slowly nodding before turning the terminal off and turning back to the other being.

"We asss a people have had a history of warfare that ssspansss back before many of the younger ssspeciesss crawled out from their primordial oozesss," it seemed that the old lizard wished to tell a story today, as his rough voice began to trail on. "Othersss ssseek to rule, to expand an empire acrossssss the ssstarsss. Yet the Dosh care not for the amount of planetsss we control, for in those daysss we were out for blood and violence. To bessst great foesss and sssell thossse who sssurvived off to the highessst bidder. That is how we met with Czerka, asss they were one of our biggessst.... buyers of our merchandissse if you will. Our hissstory isss long and clossse, and up until recently we ssstill were ssselling them ssslavesss we captured. After that law banning ssslavery wasss passssssed we transssitioned over to ssselling them private sssecurity.

"What we shall do isss help you more than vouging for you for a sssmall contract. We shall purchassse the weaponry for you. Thisss isss becaussse we are a priority cussstomer, due to our long hissstory, which meansss we get our shipmentsss before many othersss. You shall recieve thessse shipmentsss far before most vendors of your sssize and ssstature unlessssss you feel thisss isss unfair termsss. If ssso then we can... negotiate." When the final word was spoken, the young Trandoshan glared at the arms dealer. His eyes... those eyes... on the surface they looked exactly like the others'. But the stare was full of power and rage, one where he would like nothing more than to break the other being in half. If his father said so.

It was clear the offer to negotiate was not on the table. It was accept, turning away, or not leave here. That last option would not just be a simple throat slit or a blaster to the chest, oh no it would hurt. Slow, steady, excruciating, and then he would be turned into a trophy to show the next guy they were not as big of a man as they thought they were. They entered the halls of the greatest hunters in the galaxy, and they would be made a show of.

 

[Demetrius Parada]

He was finding it quite hard to understand what the Trandoshan was saying. Yet, Dee smiled along as the creature listed his business demands. It was not uncommon in his line of work to encounter such brutal people, and Dee was quite at ease with it.

The Senator was proposing that his Government purchase the weapons and sell them to him - instead of him buying them directly from Czerka. It was an odd proposition but one Dee was sure he could work with. "Certainly," he began to form his reply, aware that the room for negotiation was, in fact, non-existent "- a very fair deal. If we start with a sizable purchase, to make it worth all our while, say one-million credits in total?" he stated flatly, confidence clear in his tone.

"Naturally, I would need a few days to get the shipping in line for such a large purchase, but if you agree on principle, we can get the ball rolling - yes?"

 

[Rrodossk]

The larger Trandoshan leaned back in his seat and softly clacked his claws together, steepling his hands and putting the highest claws to his chin in thought. It was a bit of a low ball, but this guy was just starting to get into the big leagues. Rrodossk wished he was able to toss him a bone here, the man did have the gumption he enjoyed in people, but with how the Trandoshan economy was his planet needed every credit he could get.

"One point five million," Rrodossk began, his claws slowly Rotating down to point to the other being as he leaned forward again, "or you can get the one million out of our surplus. We constantly rotate in and out the latest firearms, so we can ensure those would be in perfect working order. I can also offer you not just arms and ammunition, but also ordinance and body armor. Grenades, mines, and even some thermal detonators if your interested." His claws then separated and returned back to facing flat on the arms of his chair, as he once again leaned back towards the chair. He atleast gave the other being two options. Surplus would be rather good for Rrodossk, as they had much more as and armor than they had soldiers. Unknown to the other being, they would be from Trandosha's piracy and from wars of old, stolen from bodies and cleaned up for an occasion like this.

"Either way, we need 25% up front and the rest will be payed on delivery. Naturally, we shall allow you time to get your shipping in order. Three days seems perfectly reasonable, no?"

 

[Demetrius Parada]

He looked dumfounded at the Trandoshan politician. In response to being told that the arms dealer was looking to make a purchase, from Czerka, of around one million credits, which he would take a commission payment on, the lizard had demanded a larger number be paid directly to him?

"Let me get this straight." he began, working the creature's outlandish demands out loud "You want me to pay you three hundred and seventy-five thousand credits, which I do not have, to be able to purchase weapons from the Czerka Corporation, at the same price as I could get them from the open market?" he shook his head.

"No deal." he replied flatly.

It was quite obvious to him that this was some sort of shake-down, except they'd picked a target that didn't have the sort of cash they were looking for.

 

[Rrodossk]

Rrodossk would have snapped this young beings neck if he was a lesser Trandoshan who did not have control over his emotions.

"If you do not have the credits for it, then it seems I will extend you a professional courtesy," Ramage began, slowly standing up and stepping towards the would-be arms dealer, "as you are certainly much newer than I expected to the buisness. I will reduce the cut we take, just to squeeze in a few more goodies for you. Then we shall take payment in full at the end, just this once. If we have future deals we expect front payment for a percentage. Do not forget you cannot get your arms in the time we will be delivering them from the open market. Sometimes the price isn't everything. Sometimes the faster delivery time will make a customer forget their higher price." His voice was low and serious as he spoke, his much larger frame towering over the sitting humanoid. He glared down at him with those soulful eyes, in which it was clear he was suppressing the Trandoshan urge to kill, and he leaned against the table to speak with this would-be dealer again.

"That is my final offer. I would reccomend you take it, no one else will give you a good deal with your lack of reputation or name. But I am willing to take the risk on you, you have potential." His voice softly grumbled in the humanoid's ear, slowly shifting from the traditional Trandoshan rage and hunger for blood to a more... kind(?) voice. He tried to soften his voice, to make himself less threatening, but obviously he was a hulking Trandoshan so it didn't really work well.

 

[Demetrius Parada]

Despite the Senator's offer, Dem was convinced he could not meet the man's considerably commanding expectations of doing business. However, he had heard of another dealer who could do so. Well, he had heard rumours of another man, the 'Iron Kowak' (@Eccles), who was something of a more significant player in the arms trade than he. Keen to conclude the sour-tasting arrangement on a high, he replied "Look. It's clear that you've got a different approach here, and I am not sold on the idea that buying through you is any use - Czerka would need to develop new products every other week to make this profitable. However, with the volume of product, you can get your hands on, I think there is a way we can both walk away happy."

"There's another dealer I've heard tell of in the Space Lanes, the 'Iron Kowak'. He can shift the volumes you're looking at dealing with. What say I hook you up with him?" he asked, hoping the Senator would agree.