Armor and Sword

[Darth Osano]

FORT AURBIS
DANTOOINE

As far as anyone knew, Fort Aurbis was the headquarters of the Helix Syndicate.

It was undoubtedly the most fortified complex that they publicly maintained, possibly the largest as well. Who would waste so many defenses on a facility of this size if it were not meant to be their primary seat of operations? Not to mention the tremendous amount of security personnel present. This was, after all, where many Enforcers and Specialists were trained. The Helix Syndicate had lofty corporate aspirations, and all lofty corporate aspirations consisted of two things: a private army, a private fleet. The Enforcers and Specialists were armed to the nines with CZ-line weaponry from Browncoat Arms. What they lacked was reliable, standard-issue armor.

The red and black uniforms of the Enforcers and the light, sleek armor of the Specialists could only get them so far. A standard issue, military-grade uniform would be needed. Nothing overly fancy, but sturdy enough to get the job done and provide his soldiers with the intelligence and protection they would need. Large scale military engagements were inevitable as far as Maleagant could be concerned. He wanted to be prepared once they finally came- not scramble around in the dark for the necessary materials while his enemies swarmed and multiplied around him.

Feelers had been sent out around the galaxy searching for an armor-smith of reasonable quality. Corondex Arms, headed by [member="Vitor Avendahl"], was the ultimate decision. Corondex Arms had a good, albeit small, reputation within the Corporate Sector. That was one reason. The other might have had something to do with the fact that both Maleagant and Avendahl had the same ties to a certain Order of ill-repute. At any rate, the Syndicate contracted Corondex Arms for the design to the armor. The schematics they delivered proved satisfactory, and so Avendahl was invited Fort Aurbis to discuss the terms of his contract.

Once his shuttle registered on Fort Aurbis' sensors, Maleagant arrived dutifully at the landing pad with a small escort to greet Vitor personally.

 

[Zef Halo]

Vitor trusted his aide June with just about anything work concerned, although she'd always complained he maintained an enigmatic aura. This time the banker could not do so. He slightly felt bad about it but this was beyond any small dealings with pesky illegal elements from the underground. It was a bigger illegal venture for Corondex Arms and that was still not the reason why a droid piloted the shuttle.

The reason was the connection the grey-skinned man and Vitor had. Their ties to the Sith Order.

With the galactic-wide shunning of Sith, no one could be trusted. Else, Vitor would most likely find his head leave his shoulders.

A prolonged hiss marked the lowering of the ramp and calmly the young man walked down towards where [member="Maleagant"] and his escort stood awaiting. The fresh air of Dantooine was a great replacement for the filthy and polluted smog of Etti IV. He was also glad there was no rain to ruin their meeting.

"Vitor. Vitor Avendahl." He locked his eyes with the man's and offered a handshake. Vitor could also not help but scan the large complex that filled the horizon ahead of him.

The numbers of armor Maleagant desired should've made him aware of that.

This was no small venture.

 

[Darth Osano]

Maleagant removed a hand from behind his back in order to meet Vitor's gesture. Red-ringed eyes locked with the man's. "Maleagant." He said, simply, either because he did not have a last name or he did not think it important enough to share. Once he retracted his cold, clammy hand, the Acolyte indicated the area behind him with a nod of his head. "There is much to discuss. Walk with me."

He turned from [member="Vitor Avendahl"], walking purposefully deeper into the fort. As always, Fort Aurbis was a hive of activities. Another shuttle was nearby, unloading large crates. Mostly rations, power cells, and other miscellaneous equipment needed for day to day operations. Maleagant appeared to be leading the group towards the designated command structure. It was a large, ominous spire that featured several satellite dishes jutting from the top. Architectural fashion had clearly not been a primary concern while this Fort was being built. Just utilitarianism and sturdiness.

"The armor you have developed more than suits our purposes." Maleagant explained. "Your facilities are robust enough to handle mass production?"

 

[Zef Halo]

Vitor scanned the fort that the two and the escort were heading to. Everything suggested what operations it was preparing within. Battle. Even to one ignorant of war such as Vitor, he could figure out what this large structure was being utilized for.

War Pigs.

That was what Maleagant was breeding here. Now it was time for phase two for the man - nail them with steel. And Vitor had the right steel for the job.

"Robust enough." Vitor replied neutrally, he did not want to sound like an overconfident brat. That was bad for business, it showed weakness and made the other party of the dialogue grow suspicious. Corondex Arms had slowly been growing but was on right track and growth projections were being exceeded. Extending their line of products required a large investment to their manufacturing plant. Maleagant's purchase order had resulted in a large loan to further increase the capacity of the plant so the quota was met. It was a gamble, indeed, as there was still the official striking of the deal to happen.

That is why Vitor was here. He had to seal the deal.

"I am pleased the armor suits your needs." The former miner picked up the conversation and continued. "It seems the quota you had specified was not an exaggeration." Vitor gestured at the large fort they were heading to and stated. "We might find more channels of cooperation than purchase orders, [member="Maleagant"]."

 

[Darth Osano]

Cooperation among the Sith was often rarer than it should be. How else were they to get anywhere in their struggle against the Jedi if mutually beneficial arrangements were not made? Maleagant had heard of the many meetings of the Sith Order. None had erupted into violence, but the tension was palpable. It was as if they didn't realize that neglecting to murder one another on sight wasn't the same thing as collaboration. That perhaps their goals should have been loftier and more profitable than the occasional, spasmodic raid on a remote Jedi Temple nobody particularly cared about. Maleagant was aware of these shortcomings, but would not share them.

It was not his job to advise others. It was not his place either, nor was it in his best interests. Despite being a mere novice of the Force, Maleagant was already well on his way to amassing more economic and political clout than most of those current "masters" combined. Hopefully. Provided no one stabbed him in the neck before he got there, anyway. "The growing interests of the Helix Syndicate require greater power projection." Maleagant explained, continuing his walk. "This is only one of the first steps."

Of all Sith, Maleagant suspected [member="Vitor Avendahl"] to have a similar appreciation for the power and profitability of both corporate-criminal enterprises. Tai Fa did as well, but aside from the three of them, they were mostly alone. More for them and them alone. Maleagant had taken care to endear himself to Fa, as keeping the aristocrat as an ally would hopefully avoid future conflict between both growing companies. Maleagant would see himself allied with Avendahl as well... If only to stymie any desire the arms dealer would have to supplant him in the future.

"Yes." Maleagant answered flatly. "Corondex Arms must have many... Rivals in the Corporate Sector."

He cast a sidelong glance at Vitor.

"The Helix Syndicate can put an end to those rivalries - permanently - at your discretion."

 

[Zef Halo]

Their continued walk down towards the fort with the escorts shadowing them gave more opportunity of Vitor to inspect the fort and the closer they got the more details were revealed. He wondered how did Maleagant reach his position. Or was he simply a harbinger, a voice. Potentially, but the way he moved himself about and acted seemed to decrease the chance of that being the truth. Most likely it was Maleagant who led this venture, Vitor concluded but not entirely rejecting the idea that he might not be the one pulling the strings.

Nonetheless, that barely mattered now as Vitor listened to his business partner sharing his great ambitions. Having this as only the beginning would hint of a greater plan and goal behind the scenes. This could become something more than a syndicate running the underworld in a couple of star systems. He suspected that Maleagant had already figured that out. It made Vitor smile mentally with satisfaction. For now, both Maleagant and Vitor's ambitions matched. More or less, in terms of scale, at least.

"Certainly. We'd love to see some of our competitors be converted into our assets. The Helix Syndicate does seem to have the capability to do so. Speaking of rivalries..." He let the sentence fade before continuing with glancing back at [member="Maleagant"]. "There are competitors that both you and I share." Vitor shot a glance at the escorts behind them, he was not sure of their complete discretion but perhaps his new business partner would get his meaning. "Competitors that we share thanks to our mutual relationship before this meeting." He very well meant the enemies of the Sith. Vitor perfectly knew where he was going with this conversation, it was more or less the lessons he had learned from his master - Velok. Or more like his frustration with the lack of unity among the Sith and his anger at the constant bickering and self-devouring rivalries that the Sith ended up creating only to be result in their own self-destruction.

"Perhaps what we seal today is, as you said, the first steps of something bigger."

"Something galactic-wide."

 

[Darth Osano]

Maleagant paused in front of the doors to the building he had been walking to. He understood what [member="Vitor Avendahl"] meant perfectly well, but he found that yammering on in circles while only vaguely alluding to what brought them together to be tiresome. Maleagant looked past Vitor and to his guards. "Leave us." He said, and the Specialists immediately turned on their heels and went to fulfill other duties. The door, meanwhile, had finished its security scan of Maleagant and recognized him. The doors slid open and the two men entered, closing quietly behind them.

The first floor appeared to be little more than... A lobby. This was the Fort's communications tower. Since most of the equipment was more useful higher up, the first floor more closely resembled the waiting area of any old office building on Coruscant. The key difference being that there was no reception desk and there were a pair of autoturrets hanging out of the ceiling, ready to blast intruders to bits if they managed to get past the doors. If that wasn't enough, the elevator was designed air-tight and would vent its oxygen in the event of unauthorized use.

It's the little things.

"We can speak plainly now." Maleagant said, politely including himself even though Vitor was the only party guilty of crypticisms. The Acolyte wasted little time in seating himself on a nearby couch. There was one adjacent to him as well, a small coffee table fixed between them. No one could accuse the Syndicate of lacking feng shui in its interior designs. It was one of those traits acquired from prolonged exposure to [member="Tai Fa"].

"I cannot commit forces to fighting the Jedi. Yet." He explained. "I am prepared to use my resources to hurt them in other ways."

Silver Jedi? New Jedi Order? Random Jedi? It didn't matter. All Jedi were ultimately a threat to the Sith and any galactic ambitions they could have. The fact of the matter was that both the Silver Jedi and the New Order Jedi had the backing of major governments. The Sith did not. Maleagant's Enforcers were far better than the average criminal miscreant, perhaps even on par with most law enforcement personnel, but they would not be much of a match for the trained military personnel fielded by the Silver Jedi and the Galactic Alliance. His Specialists could, but they were few in number. Neither were suited to the large-scale engagements necessary to inflict any kind of lasting damage against those two powers.

"​Neither of my current acquaintances have any interest in fighting the Jedi directly at this stage. Our focus is on marshaling strength."

 

[Zef Halo]

Vitor was glad to see that their shadows were dismissed by Maleagant as he dropped down on one of the couches adjacent to the other. Around him, he could scan a few auto-turrets. The man was certainly not playing around when designing this fort. It would be unfortunate if someone was to attempt to infiltrate. Good. A man with contingencies spoke of capability and lack of excessive risk. All good things for business.

"Absolutely understandable." He nodded as the Sith opposing him explained the situation to him. "That is not what I suggest, as well. Everything has its time." Vitor paused thinking over his next wording while taking out a datapad from the inside pocket of his coat. "Direct confrontation at this moment, in my opinion, is disastrous. No. Yet, this does not mean that we cannot strike them from the shadows. Like a phantom."

He put the datapad on the small coffee table and passed it to Maleagant. Within that datapad, he would find the purchase order and every detail about the armor produced for his men.

"While we wait to commit, our enemies grow stronger. The recent failures of the Silvers in the Stygian Caldera may have worked in our favor but there is the New Jedi Order that grows stronger everyday. " Vitor grimaced. "Our only opportunity, at this moment, is to stay in the shadows."

"Not idly, though. We must use these layers of deception" The former miner gestured around at the fort obviously implying both Vitor and Maleagant's enterprises. "To strike and to sew discord within their ranks."

[member="Maleagant"]​

 

[Darth Osano]

Nipping at the heels of the Jedi from the shadows had a certain... Indignity to it. Then again, Maleagant had never put much weight into such things. He was a Crime Lord, after all. Most of his money was made by purchasing debts, sending the disparate to slave away in mines. Not to mention the gambling, the identity theft, the blackmail, the spying, the sabotage. It was too long of a list to recite without droning on and on. Traditional concepts of "dignity" were now beneath him. Maleagant was not afraid to scrape every last credit from every last despicable enterprise he could think of. He was in it to win, not to worry about fickle things like honor. That sort of bailiwick was for Jedi.

Maleagant listened carefully, raising an eyebrow to [member="Vitor Avendahl"]. "And what would you have us do?"

In reality, Maleagant could command Fa and Ri'Shajirr no more than he could command the whole of the Galactic Alliance. They were independent players on the galactic stage, same as Maleagant, but all three were allies. He could suggest a course of action to them. If Tai found it profitable and Thengil smelled an opportunity for glory (or whatever it was that blasted feline wanted), then they would be pleased to go along with it. It was all about appealing to their present desires. As it happened, Maleagant's happened to line up with the Bird Sith.

"My associates may require more incentive to attack the Jedi than longstanding vendettas."

 

[Zef Halo]

Vitor raised a curious eyebrow that lasted a moment at the mention of associated. Not that he was surprised of that, clearly not, but more out of curiosity of who they might be. Of course, if he had learned anything from illegal arms dealing it was to never ask useless questions. This would've been one so he kept it to himself and focusing on the actual parts of the conversation that mattered.

"Vendettas are not the incentive I seek to promote. Nor the goal that I actually seek, for that matter." Vitor clarified as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully before proceeding. "The goal I seek is by far more long term and one that my short term goals do to further." He paused and then closed this specific topic with a simple statement that Maleagant would surely understand. "The Sith must rule."

"Yet, it was not my primary objective to visit you to tell you that. I want us to collaborate more." Vitor said reminding himself of the history lessons Velok had given him about division and fall. "More specifically, I seem to need information. The Vorzyd system. I require to know the identities of those with combat background. Former military, former policemen, outlaws of any kind. One thing to bind them though - desperation. I've only known that such could be found on the slums of Vorzyd V. Also, sections of the planet that contains those that are in greatest despair and need."

From personal experience, he knew that people in such situations were ready to do anything to better their life.

Even turn to the extreme.

[member="Maleagant"]​

 

[Darth Osano]

It was the Sith vendetta against the Jedi he had referred to, not inter-Sith conflict, but he supposed it mattered little. Maleagant agreed that the Sith would have to rule... Some Sith would need to be displaced rather forcibly due to some personal grievances Maleagant had. But that was neither here nor there. [member="Vitor Avendahl"] needed allies, Maleagant needed allies. He would not protest helping the man because he would need the man's help later. "I understand."

For now, it seemed that Avendahl was building up some personal forces of his own.

Desperate ex-military personnel? In this galaxy? They were never hard to find. Maleagant often found them in-between jobs for shady mercenary, pirate, or criminal outfits. He usually weeded out the ones with psychopathic or sadistic tendencies out of a sheer sense of self-preservation. Mixing business with pleasure was a fatal mistake. Maleagant did not innately enjoy the day to day activities of running this Syndicate. It was tiresome, tedious. Stressful. But it was a necessity. He would be lying if he said there was no satisfaction in watching it all come together. Yet if he trusted someone else enough to pawn his duties off on them while still keeping all the money and resources, he would have.

"My men will need time to set up surveillance and informants in those areas," he explained, "But it can be done."

Easily, but expensively. Fortunately Maleagant did not mention any price concerns. What was a few hundred thousand credits between... Friends?

"Do you need a specific number of them?"

 

[Zef Halo]

They were on the same page. More or less.

That was a good start.

Vitor was glad of the progress the two were making in forging a network or some sort of affiliation. It was a step forward considering the fragmented elements that the Sith currently were, as far as the young man knew from his master. The former miner was never much of a social person or very trustworthy having spent a good portion of his life stuck in child labor and studying. Becoming part of Corondex Arms' executive branch had changed his viewpoint on many things. Especially the benefits of strategic partnership. He wondered what was in store for him in the future.

"I am not a man with a military background or any warfare experience." Vitor confessed. His only participation in some form of warfare was the raid on the Jedi Temple of Yutan. "Your men certainly would know better than me but for the sake of being less vague - a good number of men capable of training people in the art of war. Nothing too much or grand that would attract risky attention, of course."

He noted the lack of price tag or any mention of cost in Maleagant's statement and added a question.

"What can I do for you?"

[member="Maleagant"]​

 

[Darth Osano]

"Neither was I." Maleagant said, apparently by way of assurance. Not that his tone ever indicated much. "You will learn from experience."

There were few things a shadow, corporate war between the Helix Syndicate and a powerful trifecta of powerful companies could not have taught Maleagant. That and the Helix Syndicate's initial skirmishes with the ever-hostile Waylon Syndicate. Maleagant and his men had overcome both enemies after a fashion. The rewards in terms of resources and experience had been bountiful, to put it lightly. As long as [member="Vitor Avendahl"] remained on a similar path, Maleagant had little doubt he would learn just as much... If not more. A valuable enough ally, indeed.

Maleagant had initially thought Avendahl meant to recruit these contacts directly into his army, not utilize them as the training force. That would be considerably cheaper. He continued, "I'll see what I can find."

The circle of PMCs operating in the Corporate Sector was ever shifting, ever adapting. It was an amorphous and violent industry. There would be no shortage of wrongfully discharged officers or officers angry that they were being underpaid for their services. Once Maleagant had the right informants in the right places, Corondex Arms would enjoy having those men and women funneled directly to him. And a few to the Pentastar Alignment where they were needed, of course. This wasn't a completely charitable service.

When Vitor asked what he could do in return, the Shi'ido merely shook his head.

"The armor will be enough for now."

 

[Zef Halo]

Satisfied with the productive results the meeting of both men had produced, Vitor stood from his seat. He could not hide the cunning smirk of success on his face. There was nothing better than the moments where things were done smoothly. Vitor had found a strong ally in the face of [member="Maleagant"] and his Helix Syndicate. He had wished they could've went further in detail regarding the agenda of the Sith but if he had learned anything as an investment banker intern - it was not too push buttons too much.

The former miner had come for what he needed and that was enough.

The future was wide open for both of them.

"A pleasure." Vitor extended his hand for a handshake.

Today was a good day.

 

[Darth Osano]

It looked like they were done here. A short meeting, but a productive one. Who you knew was ultimately just as important as what you knew. Both in the criminal underworld and the small sphere of Sith that existed. Maleagant had his own, personal goals deep in the heart of Sith space. Goals that were independent of what he was doing here in Alignment Space. This, like so many other things, was a stepping stone. A particularly useful and productive stepping stone, but a stepping stone nonetheless. In addition to substantial revenue, it gave him the power base he needed to brush shoulders and make contacts among like-minded individuals, such as Vitor Avendahl.

"Likewise." Maleagant said, shaking the man's hand.

With their business thoroughly concluded, Maleagant and Vitor would promptly exit the building. From there, they would be escorted back to Vitor's waiting shuttle by Maleagant and his men. Since this meeting's purpose had been entirely fulfilled, it was unlikely the two exchanged any more than idle small-talk from then on out. Mundane musings clearly unworthy of further documentation, as was the rest of what went on in Maleagant's day following Avendahl's departure.