Streets

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px][[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Golden Nautolan Casino[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]][/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.6666666666667px][Nar Shaddaa][/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.6666666666667px][Midnight][/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.6666666666667px][member="Dakita Calfur"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khaleel Malvern had never seen himself as a mover and shaker. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]For him the life of the Underworld was one of struggle, survival and occasional bliss when the situation wished to throw him a metaphorical bone. But that bone was usually far off and far away, things never really turned out exactly how he would like it and that had made him strong to a degree.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Made him realize that he was on his own most of the times.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Currently he was sitting in the office of the Golden Nautolan Casino, Khal still wasn’t all too comfortable with this display of wealth, the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]opulence[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] and [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]grandeur[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px], number one way to paint a target on your back. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But what can a man do?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Chiasa was disappearing more and more often, leaving for long periods of time and leaving him to do all the dirty and less-dirty work. But something felt wrong, not entirely right, might have been the pact they had made and the bond that had formed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Or it was just that gut feeling that every gear grinder develops after a lifetime on the streets.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]She had been gone for a few weeks now, things were starting to become [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]unruly[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]. A crime organization needed its boss to be of any use, a right hand could only do so much before his authority would began to be questioned.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]So Khal tapped a few buttons on the computer, logging into the general mainframe of their entire operations network. It was time to do some research and see what the extent is of the Ravens’ and Exchange’s reach.[/SIZE]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The first important part was to recognize the direct cloud of influence the Ravens could exercise on any given day, most of which came down to the direct territory it had conquered through the various street gang wars and turf expansions during the days of the Netherworld and before.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Antecedant, the crown of the Ravens, and irectly next to it were Enigma Prime and Colluctari Nebula. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]All part of a little corner in the Galaxy, all part of the original Ravens. Their presence would be the strongest here, but there was more to it than that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Via.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The expansion had started there, some would say. Breaking zone towards the rest of the Galaxy, away from the seclusion of the triumvirate worlds and onwards to Hutt Space. It had stopped for a little while with that, the Black Suns had still been somewhat of a power and few if anyone were really willing to make a problem out of that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]At least outside of regular postering.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But that ended with Makeb when the Ravens had gained unlikely allies in the form of- well, that wasn’t exactly an important detail here, now was it? They had made a jump and took Makeb and Barab I in a swift victory that was still being talked about.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]From there Far Pando, Dilbana, Ganath and Nar Shaddaa.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And now we were here.[/SIZE]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]There were more worlds that were under their control though.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Because that was the entire point of being a crime syndicate, it wasn’t about direct control, it wasn’t about owning armies and running fleets. They weren’t a government that needed that sort of access, because that was the thing of a crime syndicate.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It was all about the indirect influence you pressured upon the people.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And that? The Ravens had in spades after all those years of wheeling and dealing, of poking around and cutting corners for the regulars. There were too many worlds to name, Khal’s eyes wandered across lists and numbers, across the operations they were running on the side, officially and ‘not at all’.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But there was a second list, one that didn’t exist anywhere but in his mind.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Exchange[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It had been so much more… simple, an organization of business with the realization that sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. To protect the people they loved, to earn that extra buck of cash, to be someone instead of being grinded into dust.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Nar Shaddaa was where it had all started[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But that ain’t the final by no means.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Coruscant, Halm, Eriadu, Bespin, Karfeddion, Porchello and Nal Hutta.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Those were the leading sectors, the worlds from which all other operations spawned.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But the Exchange was everywhere… you just had to open your eyes to see it.[/SIZE]

 

[Armand Temi]

Dakita Calfur really couldn't care less about expansion for the Ravens. She was just glad that her boss, Khaleel Malvern was so distracted by it that it gave her a chance to do her favorite thing in the galaxy. Slack off.

All day the young zeltron smuggler had done nothing but roam the streets of Nar Shaddaa, playing hologames and shopping for clothes. But she knew when she returned to the Malvern's office she would need to show him she had been doing whatever the kark he had asked her to do again. But after twenty games of Swoop Bike Battle and some glitterstim, she couldn't really remember her instructions.

So Dakita entered his office without knocking, dumped two boxes of Shento cigars on his desk.

"Here you go, boss. While I was out there doing "research" I got you a present."

A large black handbag was slung over her shoulder and her pet ropo, Wilhelm, was peeking out of it, his long pink tongue drooping out of his mouth, getting ropo saliva all over the floor.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Report.” Khal would murmur from behind the screen, only the barest of looks afforded to peek up and see what he was dealing with right now. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Oh right, Calfur.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]For a moment he couldn’t remember what kind of research he had sent her off to do, until the realization settled in that said [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]research[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] had simply been a way to get her out of his way and out of his office for a few moments of peace and quiet. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]There wasn’t anything wrong with Calfur, she was just intelligent enough to realize that her allegiance was best vowed to the Underlord instead of the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Vice President[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px], but that was about where it all ended.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Why Khaleel kept her around? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Probably a mixture of dying sympathy and a backside that wasn’t exactly wrong to look at either.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]While she would probably try to come up with a report on the spot - because he doubted she had actually done anything of use for once - he picked up the cigarettes, took one out for himself and offered another to the girl. [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]She would probably need it for the charade.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Demonsgate was another subject of interest, they mined phrik there. But the time it took to get from there to here was hilariously inefficient, they would probably need some kind of alternative for that. Six months round trip, if lucky. Maybe Gromas, Arkania, Bastion… there were options there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Valhalla if that crisis ever ended with the sanctuary pipeline.[/SIZE]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The operations was literally all around the place though and that made things harder to track down, made things slip through the cracks and so it wasn’t surprising when Khaleel noticed a few discrepancies here and there. Things that wouldn’t have been noticed by Chiasa, because she wasn’t exactly a fan of work like this.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Always had been the different.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Quick to fire up, even quicker to bore versus meticulous and strategic.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Two companies that were under the influence of the Red Ravens, created a long time ago by one peculiar fella down the low, but it had never been brought into the fold. A thing that would have to be changed if they would ask Khaleel.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Commands were sent down the grapevine to make the paperwork in order, to reattach operations and make sure it was all aligned with the interests of Malvern.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Wrestle Mechanics[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] and [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Dragon Droids Pty[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Not exactly the best of names, but a name was name. They could change that later if necessary, but those operations would have to be salvaged.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]With that done, Khal started looking deeper into the collective, tracing back where the money flowed and where it was being cut out from the heart. What the cash cows were of the company, which operations would have to be pushed further and which were served better as a vestige of the past. This ain’t no rocket science, but sometimes… it did feel that way.[/SIZE]

 

[Armand Temi]

Dakita slapped her handbag down on a nearby table, causing a jolt to Wilhelm, and slumped down in the loveseat he had in his office. She lit the cigarra and crossed her fish-net clad legs. This gig with Malvern wasn’t really that bad, but Dakita was still a little sore at the fact that she used to run Club Frenzee on Antecedent and after the nightclub nearly went bankrupt, Malvern installed him here with her to do… whatever it was that she was supposed to do. Honestly though wasn’t a club owner supposed to drink the profits and screw the Twi’lek bouncers? It was literally part of the job description!

But oh feth, he was asking for a report. She had no idea what he was going on about so Dak would just improvise:

“I noticed that the promenade has a new bantha burger joint and someone has graffitied the statue of Karagga the Unyielding again. Oh and the Elroy Gang is selling spice in Lucent Square again. I thought we took them all out, chief,” she said, looking at him quizzically.

On second thought maybe he was asking her for the weather report…

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“You mean the same statue that got stolen a few months back?” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khaleel mentioned over the screen, he was referring to that one time when Alec had decided to anchor it to her ship and literally haul it out of its place. Of course only a few people knew who had done it and Khal wasn’t about to go tell people it had been Rekali.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Gotta keep some kind of measure of safety for your employees.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The mention of the spice trade was annoying, but to be expected. Malvern had been focusing on the business-side of things, the Promenade and what happened there had been firmly the area of Cryax and then Chiasa.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Exchange was located lower than anything else, what happened on the Promenade shouldn’t concern him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But with Chiasa gone… things had to change.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“They will be taken care of.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It wasn’t a surprise that the mega-casinos on Antecedent and Nar Shaddaa were one of the most profitable enterprises that the syndicate was running, but it would have to be changed or at least the business strategy around it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Can’t just place all your money on one duck, can ya?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]They would have to start investing in smaller casinos sprawled around the worlds, because it was a stupid thing to think that people would travel all across the planet for one casino if there was one closer to them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Lost revenue ain’t bueno.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But what else was there? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khaleel started to look into the manufacturing capabilities of the syndicate under his control.[/SIZE]

 

[Armand Temi]

“No like… the other statue of Karagga…” she said, trailing off. Damn, he could tell she was lying. But her employer didn’t seem too concerned. This is why the blonde zeltron liked Malvern. He gave her a long leash to do what she wanted as long as every now and then she would get him stimcaf, give him a shoulder massage and listen to his long rambling stories when he drank too much Corellian whiskey.

She plucked Wilhelm from her bag and set the ropo on her lap. He shook his fluffy head and looked up adoringly at Dakita. The little pet alien made no noise at all, which is why Malvern probably tolerated its presence.

“If Chiasa is gone, don’t we need to kill her or something?” asked Dak, blowing out smoke from the cigarra. She figured the orange tiger-striped Twi’lek probably had too much information about the Ravens to be waltzing around the galaxy… well, alive. She could sell any and all manner of valuable information about the crime syndicate’s operations to infochants and other willing buyers. “Not like I’m volunteering or anything,” she snorted. Because that would require actual work.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

A slow blink followed soon.

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khaleel looked up and studied [member="Dakita Calfur"], such a young face and it was only made more apparent by the words spoken without thought. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Kill the Prez. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It would have solved a lot of issues, but in the end the transition would be bloody- [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]blood, you made a pact, Khal.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] There was that too, yes. In the end ending Chiasa wouldn’t have solved enough issues to make it worth the pain in the back later.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Stick to running errands, little one.” he would finally say with a little shake of the head. “Bringing death on people should never be contemplated as easy as that.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Makeb and Antecedent held the shipyards, they were profitable enough, but there was need for better designs and to make [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]more[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] use of it. But that could be done with enough input and maybe the attraction of some interest here and there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Before his eyes were the lists with all the manufacturing worlds, the starports that held warehouses and the ones that had private docking bays for the organization.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]In the end Khaleel executed a measure.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It wasn’t a half-measure, because the man did not believe in them, but neither was he prepared to sign the death note for the woman he had declared his blood. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Needed more for that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]So in the end, as the days turned into weeks and then months, as the Ravens became more and more disgruntled with the absence of their President and as Khaleel Malvern took more and more control over the operations… the Exchange would slowly fade into them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And at the end of it all Khal would hold the keys to the metaphorical kingdom. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Not because he wanted to, but because there wasn’t any other option free, at least no options that wouldn’t end with bloodshed and civil war.[/SIZE]

 

[Armand Temi]

Dak shrugged and crushed her cigarra out into the already crowded ashtray which sat on a coffee table. She set Wilhelm down on the floor and the little ropo crawled along on stubby legs, and then stopped in the middle of the office and fell asleep. Dammit, don’t forget Wilhelm again, she thought as last time she left the creature in Khaleel’s office and he inadvertently stepped on it, nearly crushing her beloved pet.

But since Khaleel mentioned errands, she wanted to put an immediate stop to that. She was quite ready to be done with anything that sounded remotely like a chore. Checking her chrono, the zeltron could see that she was late for some serious drinking and flirting with the handsome Golden Nautolan bartenders. She came around to the back of her employer and began rubbing his shoulders. While Dak wasn’t phenomenally strong or a masseuse, between her soft hands, stroking his muscular neck and back, and her Zeltron pheromones, she had a knack for making Malvern relax under her touch. Dakita wore a thin, neon green tank top so there was only the barest of fabrics between his shoulder blades and her chest.

“I agree,” she said, leaning in. “How about you and I contemplate some other things?" She ran her pink fingers softly up the back of his neck. Her employer’s reaction was normally a slap on the ass and gruff orders for her to get back out on the casino floor. But one of these days, she would probably get the response that she really wanted.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Dakita Calfur"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“We could.” Khal replied between the puffs of smoke, fingers still deftly moving across the keyboard and executing this business and that. He had stumbled upon something interesting, an [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]operation[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] that Chiasa and the Ravens had been running some time ago that had caused a [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]minor[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] issue of stress for a particular star system in the Galaxy. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]They had made of with a lot of money in that particular operation, money that could be [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]diverted [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]towards more worthwhile things than some kind of stupid flagship that the Ravens didn’t even need. It was the same as that ‘Red Dress’ ship that Stargo had constructed for them all those months ago, when they had first heisted the Viscount he had thought it was to sell it off.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Pawn it somewhere, auction it, do anything with it [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]besides[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] using it for themselves.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Why a Crime Syndicate had need of a 2,400m Destroyer was anyone’s question.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“But that wouldn’t free you from errands, darling.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A smirk would be made apparent.[/SIZE]

 

[Armand Temi]

“Pffftt,” Dak said, blowing her long blonde hair out of her eyes. She stopped the impromptu massage and walked around to one side of Malvern. With her hand, the petite zeltron gently moved a couple of his papers over and sat on the edge of his desk, crossing her long, thin legs which were now about eye level to him. He would be able to see her soft pink skin showing through the fish net stockings and notice that she also appeared to have some kind of mysterious bruises on her thigh. Which shouldn’t surprise him too much given that she liked to spend her free time in the Undercity.

“What kind of errands do you have in mind right now?” she asked, tilting her head towards him, her blonde hair cascading down one side of her shoulders and down to her breast. The zeltron’s eyelids were at half-mast – mostly, because of the glitterstim which was still in her system - but he would still be able to see her reddish brown eyes make eye clearly move down his form to brazenly inspect other areas of his anatomy.

She leaned over him and drew another cigarra out of the box. Lighting it up, she took a long drag and exhaled, the smoke swirling up towards the ceiling. She knew better not to interrupt him when he was focused on business, but that didn’t mean she thought anything was wrong with sitting with her pert back side two inches from his hand.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]