Glitters and the Blues

[Elix Lorso]

Elix had been trying to sell the schematics for the Czerka-exlusive Dart Pistol for merely a fortnight when a credible buyer contacted his Black Market username and told him to get his ass over to Manaan. Honestly, it was a quite bossy demand, especially since Elix had already taken up most of his vacation days to get to Nar Shaddaa and spice binge on the credit of this sale. But when you're so royally bantha'd as a Lorso who is in debt to spice-dealers and Cathar-peddlers, then you really got no choice but to jump whenever a bossy person says you jump.

Thus Elix jumped, on a starliner, to Manaan.

Now, he'll gladly tell you how kriffing difficult it is to find a good spice den on Manaan when Selkath laws are so stingent and the fear of everlasting trials and subsequent drowning (during your third escape attempt) is very likely, Elix was simply too nervous for all of it this morning. He had made himself out to be Weequay bounty hunter who mercilessly killed a guy for these schematics, just to scare away the riff-raff who'd think they could pull one over on him, but now that he was here on Manaan waiting for the mysterious buyer with nothing but his datapad and that little hold-out blaster in his boot... well, suffice to say Elix had needed a hit of Glitterryll to keep the nervous breakdown away.

Ofcourse, now he was too relaxed.

They had agreed to meet up in the bar opposite to some offices that privately tried to exploit the Kolto this planet was rich and there Elix lounged on chair and held a watered down Bantha-milk (don't ask, he wanted it that way) that he occasionally took a sip off while he waited.

@Sreeya

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

While Tasha normally preferred to just be herself, she knew this was a situation that required a bit more discretion. She wore armor and had a helmet on, having to really contain her fiery red hair. She wanted to get a read on the guy before she decided she could trust him. Someone that managed to get their hands on schematics like that had qualities she would find useful. If he played his cards right, this could be a job interview in addition to him making a lot of money.

She didn’t look too out of place as she entered the bar. The planet had a lot of foreign visitors now that there was no Imperial influence anywhere close. The assassination of Vrael had dealt a devastating blow, and entire swaths of territory were lost from the empire. Andraste’s efforts were crumbling horribly, and it bothered Tasha to a degree. However, she had chosen this new life, and so far it had given her more than her devotion to the Sith had.

Tasha spotted a man that matched the description, and she walked over to him. She sat down across him, eyeing him curiously beneath the helmet, “Show me,” Tasha said quietly, “So I know it’s the real deal.”

She believed in cutting to the chase instead of wasting time on pleasantries.

@Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

The thick grey facepaint was beginning to melt by the time the blue woman walked into Elix' blurred vision. He had figured, in his spiced-up state, that it would be necessary to be disguised as a weequay to make sure no one could lead it back to him. Honestly? It was a horrific job and he was lucky that weequays were horrifically ugly... although he had wondered what a female weequay would taste like. He grinned lazily, a daydream just getting hold of him when the blue woman began to speak to him.

Quickly snapping out of it, Elix shot upright and looked at her baffled by fit -but armored- body. "Eh-" he had completely misunderstood her intention, "-so I can't really-" his head turned to the other patrons in the bar, "-you know-" his grin changed into a nervous smile, "-with people watching."

Then again, the spice had really been doing a number on his brain and before he realized it he was beginning to warm up to the idea. "How much?" he asked, his cheeks growing a bit red, not grasping the fact that an armored individual isn't typically looking for a quick hook-up inside a cantina.

He wasn't sure if they'd be done in time before the buyer showed, though, but with the amount of credits he was promised he was sure he could pay this woman to remove every single part of her armor.

@Sreeya

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha simply paused and stared at him. Perhaps she had misjudged his potential, because he clearly saw her as some small time hooker. She inhaled and then slowly exhaled her breath. If she didn’t have a helmet, she would be rubbing her temples by now, “I’m the buyer,” She mumbled quietly. How the hell did she run into this even with armor on?! She could practically smell the spice on him now that they were closer.

“I don’t need my time wasted,” She said flatly. Tasha began to get up, “If you don’t have what I’m looking for, we’re done here,” It had sounded too good to be true anyway. Czerka was known for jealously guarding their products and prototypes, especially because of corporations like Tasha’s that were quickly rising up as rivals.

She paused for a moment, “And if you’re looking for something else, you’re better off coasting along the street corners a block down.”

@Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

Elix blinked several times, and fiercely so, for his blurred vision to regain somewhat clarity. Had the hooker just said what he thought she had said? "w-wait-" he stammered, beckoning the armored woman to sit back down. The helmet had prevented Elix from identifying the Cathar buyer, or was it Zeltron... what had that Twi'lek girl said was the species again? Damnit, he couldn't remember on account of the mountain of Glitterryll he had consumed like a typical spicehead. He needed his mind to get clear of the spice, he needed...

"Coffee!"

Immediately the lazy droid behind the bar began roasting beautiful Alderaan beans, but while they turned into coffee Elix still had to bridge the gap between spice-drunk and business-kriffing-clarity. He shrugged apologetically, "Can never be too sure." He rather hoped that explained his horrible first expression under the guise of operational security. If this Tasha was a Czerka plant to identify stealing employees she'd more then likely not have stuck around for as long as she did... would she? It would be a terribly good excuse for his behavior if he had thought of all of this beforehand.

Just before the droid showed with the coffee, Elix produced a datapad which he gave to Tasha to look over. "There's a file on the desktop-" he paused, waiting for her to open it, "-it shows schematics of the finished product, complete with the Czerka certificate proving it's the real deal."

<<Here's your Alderaniaan Coffee-" the droid fell silent, its head cocked in a funny angle while it looked at Elix. "<<Malfunction: Unable to read species profile of customer.>>" Kriff, the melting thick facepaint on Elix' face was beginning to look even less like a weequay than it had before. "I'm a Kriff-Karked ugly weequay, now go back to your bar you piece of junk." He had said it in the typical vein of an arrogant Core-worlder, leaving little doubt for Tasha that he most likely was a Czerka employee.

Finally turned back to the buyer, Elix seemed to relax again and take the first sip of his coffee. "The schematics for the entire thing are on a datacard, which you'll get-" he smiled, remembering their initial conversation as he looked at her breastplate, "-after payment."

@Sreeya

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha took the datapad, looking through the contents as he spoke. She paid little heed to the belligerent man and his little spat with the droid. Her focus was instead on the schematics, and the fact that it actually looked authentic. Her eyebrows rose, and he had her attention at this point. Her yellow eyes met his gaze, and she thought for a few moments. Nabbing something like this was quite a task, and as she watched the paint begin to peel off, this caricature of a man seemed very unlikely to have pulled it off.

“Did you work alone? Who else knows about this?” She asked suspiciously. Tasha wondered if he were simply an errand boy, and he would only get a cut of the money. She wanted to track down the mastermind behind the operation and hire them into her company. As he spoke, she caught his line of sight and rolled her eyes. No, there was no way he pulled the job off himself.

“You will get your money,” She said quietly, pulling up her own datapad to begin wiring it to the account he had provided, “But I want to speak with whoever was the brains behind this operation,” Tasha said casually, having no regard for the fact that she indirectly insulted him.

@Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

Elix's gaze was more or less blank there for a second until he took a sip of his coffee, which was much needed, and then stared into his cup for a few seconds more until it finally kicked in. "I'm afraid she will only deny it-" he smiled as Tasha, amused by his own denial of responsibility. Elix Lorso had nothing to do with this theft, after all. "There was a recent Czerka inspection at a factory on Balmorra and the inspecting officer concluded they had been using a sweatshop to boost their numbers." His report, filled with imaginary hints of production being funneled to an offsite facility had made it possible to keep Elix away from any suspicion or blowback once the dart pistol would come on the market again. "The chief, Cara Hisjok, or something like that, quit Czerka and disappeared. Let's just say she's actively pursued." his smile turned to a grin. His plan had worked better than he'd expected and even the buyer couldn't believe his genius.

Unfortunately he wasn't about to reveal himself that easily. Not after having gone through all this trouble to hide his theft. No, there was more Czerka stuff to steal before Elix would even consider that. Nevertheless he took the datacard from his pocket and put it on the table before sliding it over to the armored woman. "There's more where this came from-" he said as he took another sip of coffee. "-much more." and that while Cara Hijsok was clearly out of the picture at Czerka for everyone but its hit squads.

Then again, Elix wondered if it was a smart move to already set up a safety net in case Czerka did manage to connect him to the theft. "But-" he began, the wheels in his head turning rapidly now that the coffee had finally activated them, "-for the sake of argument let's say that a certain inspector steals more technology for-" he paused, trying to remember the company this armored woman supposedly belonged to, "-Blackwell, but is eventually close to getting caught."

@Sreeya

 

[Tasha Blackwell]

Tasha eyed him for a long moment, “Almost caught but have an escape route,” She finished for him, “That would depend on the quality of said...borrowed technology,” Tasha crossed her arms over her chest, “One may be willing to entertain this as long as one can have deniability.”

She had her doubts, but she wouldn’t have any accountability if he got himself caught. Even with the stolen goods, Tasha planned to rebrand it enough without making it too obvious. The thought of having an inside man in Czerka was more than lucrative, but it did involve funneling credits to him. Tasha knew she would have to ensure any credits he received was hard cash to limit traceability.

Tasha paused for a moment before she drew out a business card. It was her own, but he didn’t need to know he was dealing with the CEO directly. She slid it over to him, “Why don’t you come pay a visit the next time you bring us another….business deal,” She grinned, putting the datacard away.

@Ecclessey

 

[Elix Lorso]

Elix smiled as he was impressed by the armored lady's answer. She was good, he mused. He would make sure that whatever he stole from Czerka wasn't going to get back to him, some coincidences in his travel itinerary aside, because that wasn't something he could control. Or could he? Elix' eyes narrowed during Tasha's pause as he wondered if he could hack into and manipulate his travel itinerary to make it look like he was never there. Could he deny having done an inspection? Could he claim the factory in question made the entire inspection up? Was that too much of a stretch?

Snapping out of his unrealistic thought by the presentation of the business card, Elix greedily took it and examined the letters. Black Independent Technologies, huh? Made sense for a competitor to buy Czerka technology to make it their own, he guessed, but they were new to the scene and perhaps too ambitious. Time would tell.

There was, however, something missing. "That leaves us with the most important part of this exchange-" he was still smiling, despite being suddenly conscious that his hand was close enough to his hold-out blaster for a quick-draw. It'd be a shame if he got into a rip-deal in his first misstep. "-which is my payment."

He hadn't said it or his own datapad bleeped to confirm the agreed-upon sum was successfully transferred into his account. His hand immediately returned to his cup as he nodded in approval, "To a long and prosperous relationship."

@Sreeya

/ end thread