Hive Procurement: MandalMotors

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

The rendezvous point was Onderon, a world with plenty of Mando history but zero Mando sovereignty. The Wretched Hive touched down on a landing field in the walled city of Iziz. As a MandalMotors transport descended nearby, Jorus and his chief engineer headed down the ramp. Dingo Darr, a scarred old Krevaaki, drained a can of lum and sheared it in half with a pincer.

"You figure they'll have guns for sale, boss?" said Darr, deadpan. Jorus snorted.

 

[Orn'om]

Zeke stepped out of the shuttle wearing a black suit, beskar plates underneath. The Wretched Hive. A very popular workshop his side of the Mara. He had no doubt that if the men and women behind it worked for it they could dominate the starship business. Luckily he felt as though they were content with modding starships, which meant more of the market share for MandalMotors.

"Jorus Merrill I'm guessing?" The sound of his shuttle's repulsors blew away most of his voice. He looked over his shoulder annoyed as the repulsors died down.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"Sure am," said the old Krevaaki.

Jorus grinned. "Yup, and this is my chief engineer, Dingo Darr."

Black beskar under a suit - the ultimate in formal Mandowear. What did black mean again?

"Your sales rep said MandalMotors had some good ship components to unload. I've seen a couple of solid ones from you, but I'm not familiar with the whole product line. What you bring to the table?"

 

[Orn'om]

He nodded.

"Lots of things are being moved around these days, new projects, new ownership and all that comes with it. Mandalorian Steel, T-X7s, even a few 500 Series Hyperdrives." He shifted in his suit.

"A couple of old Crickets I'm sure your team could use as well. We'll be scrapping most of our old Resol'nares and Neta'noracs too." That last one was always a mouthful. "We'd love your help refitting our Ash'amur line as well if that's on the table."
[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"What you think, Darr?"

The Krevaaki eyed Farthen. "We've both worked with the 500-series. Fantastic engine. The TX-7 might be the best repulsorlift ever made."

Jorus nodded. "Daw Motors always did know their stuff. I flew an AUS ute speeder for years."

"Me too. As for the Mando ships, not too familiar with them, apart from some hulls I took apart on Ord Mantell once. Definitely room to play with those. They're a few generations old, but they put in some good service. First stealth ships ever built after the Dark Age, the way I hear it."

"Pretty much lines up with my thinking." Jorus refocused on Farthen. "What's Mandalorian Steel?"

 

[Orn'om]

A glint in his eye.

"Mandalorian Steel," a Mandalorian rolled in as if they had been waiting for that question. A repulsorlift cart filled with medium and large sized sheets of what appeared to be simple durasteel. He grunted as he pulled out a sheet of the metal. Despite it wabbling as he pulled it out, the sheet seemed quite heavy.

"Also known as Euk'gar, is a Mandalorian specialty. This sheet? As durable as a Turadium door, its a little more expensive than durasteel but we make it en masse on Mandalore and it provides much better protection on starships and armor." He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding as he dropped the sheet between them. "Heavy though when you get it that thin. Almost all of our starships and buildings use it now, makes us mostly independent of off-planet metal refineries, but like I said we've got more than we know what to do with right now, even with the rebuilding efforts. Ijaat Mereel, one of the crazy bastards that helped Mia Monroe blow up Mandalore was the Smith that made it first."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

Darr knelt beside the sheet and began prodding it with various instruments from his tool belt.

"I knew Ijaat a little, and Mia and I went back a couple decades. Can't believe where they wound up. But, feth, they knew their stuff. Ijaat had a real reputation, and yeah, I've heard of euk'gar by that name. Happy to try working with it for sure. What you think, Darr?"

"I think I could make music outta this stuff, boss."

"Works for me. Now back to those repulsors for a sec. You got anything else from Daw floating around? We do some custom speeder jobs."

 

[Orn'om]

"From Daw Motors...Well all of their speeders are in production, the only things we really have lying around are the Prime and the Speedster. They only ever sold one Speedster and the Prime...well, not much of a market on Mandalore anymore for super high end sport speeders, but like I said all of the models are in stock, a lot of used models from back when Daw himself was still running things."

He shrugged, visibly disappointed in the tinkerers' taste in products. With a company mandate as strong and binding as a will left behind by Daw none of Daw Motors' tech could be used in MandalMotors war machines which meant to Zeke that they were merely a drain on the company. He was happy to give away their stock as often as he could, especially if it meant the company could nab a good relationship with the Wretched Hive.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"Well, we're happy to take any old Daw stock and parts off your hands - used, new, anything. Custom speeders are a big sideline for us. There's some folks that love nothing better than a shiny classic speeder with some secret tricks."

Darr stood from the euk'gar, rubbing his knees. "How about those Crickets? Those things sell like flapjacks in the Kathol, and we can always use a few ourselves. How many you got in stock?"

 

[Orn'om]

He nodded.

"Close to say...one hundred units? They aren't much use on the ground which is where we really need construction droids.As for the Daw Motors Stock I'll send you a manifest with the paperwork. Unfortunately I'm told I can only spare one of the Speedsters. Honestly its somehow one of the most expensive things MandalMotors and Daw Motors sells. Only a few made, some collector's item or something." He shrugged, handing the Krevaaki the Daw Motors manifest labeled 'Junked'.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"Not a problem." Darr's crustacean eyes flicked over the manifest. He burbled approval. "Uniquess means value. For things like Daw's finest, limited stock is a feature, not a bug."

"This is fantastic," said Jorus, reading over Darr's shoulder. "And a hundred Crickets? We can definitely put those to work. What's got me curious, though, is what you've got upcoming. Whole brands getting shelved - what're you making room for? More the military angle, sell some to the Mando Empire and the Core states before they implode?"

 

[Orn'om]

He shrugged.

"The new Mand'alor's been riding us hard about producing more fighters and capital ships now that ArmaTech has all but stopped selling to the new Mandalorian Empire. The CEO and board don't want anything to do with Gil's previous work now that he's dead. Can't imagine why. He was a rough guy around the edges but he wasn't that bad of a CEO." He shook his head and scratched under his neck before sighing. This was the first trip in a long while he hadn't had some Shriek-Hawk merc or Empire soldier watching over his back. It was nice to let a load off.

"I just want to get MandalMotors' name out there. No better way to do it than have a massive sale and replace it with new tech right? And hey, war's just business for me, Force knows Manda'yaim could use the credits."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Zeke Farthen"]

"Thanks for the big picture. Makes a lot of sense." He grimaced. "I hadn't heard Gil Skirata was dead, not from any reputable source anyway. My sister used to have a thing for him, eh? Built your people all kinds of trinkets on his account.

"Hadn't heard ArmaTech stopped selling to the Mando Empire either. That because they're aligned with the Free Worlds Coalition? Didn't realize they and Ra didn't get along. Feth, the things I miss living on the Outer Rim."

 

[Orn'om]

Another apathetic shrug.

"Let his soul rest in the Manda." He paused and put his fist over his heart in a short prayer. "Aye. Its what happens when you declare Force Sensitivity a disease and make it mandatory for Mandos to be cured and one of your biggest manufactures' CEO is Force Sensetive. Basically ostracized that whole family. No skin off his back though, he married into royalty or something didn't he? Anyways, I should probably stop spreading negatives. At least the Civil War's over and we're rebuilding again." He swiped up on his datapad, sending the final bits of paperwork over their way wirelessly.

"Aaaaand that should be it. You're free to bring whatever you need to pick up the rest of the things that aren't here as you need them. Just...make sure you actually pick it all up, we're gonna need the space."
[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

Far, far away in a remote prison on Mykyr Gilamar Skirata sneezed mid swirly, snorting an awful amount of toilet water.

Unpleasant just got worse.