The Underworld | The Coratanni Cartel exploitation of Nar Kreeta

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]


He watched her, his eyes half lidded as her thumb traced over his lips. For a moment he simply considered, then he answered her. “He’ll die quick.”

That was a guarantee.

Slevin had no fondness for Hutts, no fondness for anyone really, save for of course her. There were matters to be considered though. He knew that Kobba would have plenty of mercenaries at his beck and call, likely a small army. They would have to be worked around. It was best not to kill them, they were only mercenaries after all and had their uses.

“Perhaps an assassination.” It would be the easiest route.

If Kobba died, then there was no one left to pay the mercenaries. No doubt another Hutt would try to swoop into his empire, but Slevin and Natalia would already have full control by then.

Yes, killing the just The Hutt would do.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

Leaning in close, Natalia gave Slevin's lower lip a light bite. Approval.

"We could set the blame on the Bargoa the Hutt." Baroga oversaw the Nar Shaddaa adrenal trade. Arceneau Trade had a hold on a portion of it, but Baroga was the one who slipped into the Black Trade with illegal adrenals and stims. A direct competitor of Jaarl as well.

"Use it as a bridge to take on his little adrenal kingdom." she suggested, her hands wandering over her beloved, slipping down the lapels of his coat.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

"No." He said plainly. There would be no blaming anyone else. The Hutt's didn't respect other life forms, at least not really. Even the most powerful Emperor's could stand in front of the Hutt Council and still be considered trash for simply...not being Hutt.

That was how the slugs worked.

They would not give respect to someone that was not of their own species. Slevin knew that, Natalia knew it, hell even the biggest simpleton in the galaxy knew it. That alone was enough for most people to try and never deal with Hutt's, but he and Natalia would be dealing with them, and there was only one way to keep them in line if that were the case. There would be no blame. They would show the Hutt's what fear was, and that it was they who held the cards.

"We show them that they can die." He made his will clear. "That we will kill them."

Creatures with Egos were almost always cowards, The Hutt's were no exception. "When they lay dead we deliver their corpses to the other Hutt's and make it clear that they can either fall in line, or they can join their cousins."

Two Hutts would make the message plain.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

Natalia gave a chuckle than the acknowledgment.

"Do as you will," she replied, that wicked smirk ever lingering. Pulling from his embrace, the woman went towards a small boudoir. There, she went leaning forward, observing her reflection in the mirror. The ritual of applying her make-up was precise. Exact.

The glow of rogue, the bright crimson stain on her lips. Down to the dark line of kohl that decorated the top of her lids, giving her an exotic look.

"Then their heads on a platter shall be the message, my love." she would speak to him while observing his dark reflection.

A small knock came, and Natalia's green eyes shot to the reflective surface of the mirror. It was Naia.

"Come in." the brunette would have information the needed on Jaarl. The petite woman came in, head ducked low. She was such a perky thing, a lovely obedient woman. Loyal to the core.

"Jaarl has agreed to meet with you this afternoon." Naia replied.

"Well... so begins our work."

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

He would always do as he pleased, they both would. It was a part of their new creed, a part of what they had earned once they’d left that facility.

The first part of their lives had been all about control. Experiments, half a dozen different tests that he had memorized by the time he’d been five. When they’d left, when the blood had spilled and flooded those white halls, that was when they had earned their freedom.

There were no more questions. No more orders.

Just choice.

It was a liberating, being able to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. For Slevin that generally tended to be...violent approaches, for Natalia it was more manipulations. Everything was the way that they wanted it to be, and that was what made everything so much sweeter then it could have been otherwise.

“Be careful my love.” Slevin said with a smile. “Hutt’s tend to keep someone smart around.”

There was always at least one more observant attendant, the Hutt’s primary servant.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

"Then I guess I'll simply have to kill them." Natalia managed to coo out with a wolfish grin. Makeup completed, she began to equipt her weapons and arms. A few flat throwing knifes. A small hand blaster. The twin hairsticks that would inject a deadly poison when used. Natalia was a woman of hidden means. She used guile and poison for her trade. Most she had procured herself, although a few she bought from PharmaTech.

"We'll meet in the evening. I'm sure you will have plenty to tell me about the." the flash of crimson from her SIN pumps brought her over towards her beloved.

"One more kiss for the road?" she managed to say with a winning smile.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

Slevin leaned up and pressed his lips against her cheek, letting them linger there for a moment before breathing a few words. “You’ll get more when you get back.”

There was still much to do.

Time was of the essence here. The Hutt’s, both of their targets here would be scrambling right now. With the dissolution of the Hutt Cartel there would be a power struggle. Everyone and everything would be vying to fill the gaps left by others. He had no doubt in his mind that their two new friends would be among those competing.

This was about catching them off guard.

Slitting their throats when no one expected them to be slit.

It would be tricky of course, and would require impeccable timing, but he had no doubt in his mind that his beloved would move in tandem with him, even if they didn’t communicate. That was how they worked.

How they were designed to work.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

With Slevin's promise still lingering like a sting on her lips, Natalia left along with Naia. They would take a small shuttle over to Jaarl's palace. Marik and Var would join her, two Runners who would provide protection in mass if required. Natalia didn't expect Jaarl to be anything but pleased to see her, but one couldn't be careful.

With the dissolution of the Hutt Cartel, the members of the Hutt Council were all attempting to latch and secure a measure of power for themselves. Aware that the slimy worm would want a gift, Talia had brought with her the small collection of rare eels - A Hutt delicacy.

Disgusting.

They arrived with little issue. The shuttle extended it's landing struts and set down on the open landing pad. Billows of sand and grit rose, while Nar Kreeta wasn't a backwater planet per se, the weather was still rather irritating.

"Time to lasso a slug." Talia would murmur under her breath, eyes narrowing off into the distance of Jaarl's palace as her long legs took her down the ramp.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

Sevin didn't move yet, not from his perch or his ship. There wasn't need to rush his part of the plan, not really anyway. He would go forth with brutality. He would show no subtlety and he would most certainly show no soft hand, and that meant he had to wait. If news of his slaughter spread too quickly then it would reach Nar Kreeta before Natalia had a chance to actually make any sort of deal, and that would be disastrous for their overall plan.

While the idea of chaos appealed to him, it would only be a disservice to his beloved in the moment.

So instead Slevin stayed upon his ship.

He sat. He waited.

It was something that he was surprisingly good at, patience. Most would not have guessed that it was so. He was a violent and brutal man, but it never came from a place of rushed anger or hatred. He felt a cold rage, and his outbursts of violence were more...calculated. There was thought to where one stabbed the blade, sliced the knife. It was important to consider consequence of ones actions, and although Slevin sometimes lost himself in the moment, he always had a plan.

That was how he had broken them free of the facility, how they had escaped that day. He had plotted and planned, waited patiently until the moment had been just right. Had he struck sooner things would have failed, had he moved later...the same. He always had to wait until just the right moment. The right moment to speak, the right moment to act, the right moment to kill.

 

[Noire]

"Ms. Thawne." Deepo, a Neimodian attendant for Jaarl, was there to greet her.

"As always, a pleasure to see you." he would say in his nasal voice, the flat expanse where a nose would be simply poofing out a bit before that seemingly lipless mouth curved into a version of a smile.

"Deepo." Natalia began to reply, arching a dark brow as she came to cross the landing area to greet him.

"Still alive, I see." she managed to quip in short order. The Neimoidian was tied to her purse strings and was one of her many informants. He knew what was good for him when he had been caught working the books for Jaarl. Natalia managed to save his little green neck, and in turn, Deepo now knew he owed the very air he breathed into Talia.

"Jaarl has been most considerate," he managed to quietly murmur out, gesturing for Natalia to join him.

"I take it everything has been arranged as planned?" Talia asked, sliding her green eyes over to the Neimodian's bald mottled head.

"Yes, yes of course." he assured her, nervousness making his gestures a bit flighty.

"The eels are in the cargo hold." Talia said in a bored voice.

"I shall personally see to their proper care and delivery."

"See that you do."


[member="Slevin Thawne"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

The patient man always won in the end. That was a time proven truth that Slevin had come to accept into his heart. There was no doubt in his mind that it was the truth, he’d experienced it’s results after all.

The laboratory was the best example really.

He and Natalia had been trapped there for...he actually had no idea how long. He’d never really thought about the length of time spent there, though he knew it was significant. Eventually however he’d grown tired of the tests, weary of the scientists, and fed up with questions. Eventually a plan had begun to form in his mind, a plan that hinged on timing. He’d waited and waited.

Then he’d struck.

It had been a moment of pure glory when they had escaped, when he’d cut the good doctors throat and left her bleeding upon the floor. There had been a succinctness to the way she died, an anticlimactic end that was somehow satisfying in its own way. Slevin still remembered it quite well, the power he’d felt in the moment.

He missed that feeling.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

The walk to the palace was a rather lengthy one. There were Gamorrean and Houk guards everywhere. The Hutt worms always felt as if they had to go into overdrive to give themselves a sense of security. The fools that they were. No amount of guards would save the dregs that made up the Hutt Council.

Each and every one would submit or face the edge of the knife that would end their miserable lives.

As Deepo and Natalia made their way into the Palace, the woman took care to use her ocular implant to record and take note of as much information as she could. Knowledge was power and Talia had a knack for exploiting it for her and her beloved's advantage.

The first thing that came to her was that the number of security had dwindled. Could it be because of the Hutts warring with each other? Or had some deserted to serve the competition?

All were matters that Natalia would need to look into.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

His ship crawled it's way towards the other end of Hutt Space.

There was no rush.

Slevin knew that Natalia was likely just now making her way through the Hutt's Palace, and soon things would escalate there. He knew that she would do as she had said, and he knew that he would do his part. The Hutts weren't even players in this little game, they were pieces. They had no control of the outcome of this situation, what they did didn't matter, and what they said mattered even less. There was no doubt in his mind that things would work out the way they wanted.

"Prepare them." He motioned towards the man standing in the corner. "Ensure they know what will be required."

Everyone needed soldiers, even Slevin.

Yet there was a difference between the men that worked for him and the ones that worked for the Hutts. The Soldiers that he controlled were loyal. Not out of choice of course, but mere habit. Spice and other drugs were a fantastic things for control. Of course that sometimes made the men unreliable, but these were issues that one had to deal with. "We'll be there soon."

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

"Natalia Thawne! Hahaha, haku cuova woy Jee wamma tah?" «Natalia Thawne! Hahaha, what pleasure do I owe this?» the loud, booming voice of Jaarl the Hutt's greeting went echoing within the vast chamber. His tiny little arms went spreading from his chest, that wide slimy grin spliting his triangular head in two.

"Bu cuova doth tytung bidwata, honorable Jaarl bu Yih" «The pleasure is all mine, honorable Jaarl the Hutt» Natalia said with a honeyed voice, the click of her high red soled heels bringing the full figured woman over towards the Hutt. He had two Lethan Twi'leks sitting by his side and another Rutian gently massaging his tail.

"Jee gee nan koose samou" «I have come bringing tribute» a gesture was made to bring forth the eel delicacy that Jaarl so coveted. As soon as he saw them his eyes grew as wide as saucers and he smacked his lips, that thick slimy tongue slipping out to lick his chops.

"Uba doth kiuke bom bom dan." «You are much too kind. » the tiny fingers beckoned for one of his assistants to bring over the eels for him to eat. He knew well what this was, all but a bribe but he didn't mind. The woman was good to look at and she had brought over his favorite eels.

"Kava koee Jee wamma mee hee danag?" «How may I repay such kindness?»

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

He’d never really liked blasters. They got the job done just fine, and most wouldn’t argue that there was a better weapon, save for perhaps sonics, but...well they just felt so impersonal. Killing someone with a blaster was quick, easy, clean….but just so...ugh. He frowned slightly as he looked down towards the weapons, lips turned into half a scowl as he forced himself to holster the weapon on his side.

“You.” He waved to one of the men.

They were getting geared up, unlike the common thugs that most of the Underworld employed Slevin did not just hire common criminals. Ex-military was where the Coratanni Cartel got their men, and Slevin damn well made sure that each and every one of them could fight. Oh there were the occasional screw-ups, but most of those were rooted out as recruits.

“You’re my second on this.” He didn’t promote arbitrarily, though it may have seemed that way. Instead this was a test, seeing if the man was worthy of a more...defined role in things later on. “Head to the southern entrance, take half the men. Kill everything that moves.”

They didn’t need any...remnants weeding around.

Not on this.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

Switching to basic, the redhead began setting the trap for what Slevin would be working his way towards.

"I hear that there has been trouble with the spice trade," Natalia began with her coy voice. "That Kobaa the Hutt has been expanding into the stim trade on Quesh..." she let that linger, watching the Hutt's eyes widen in realization.

"Kobaa gee doth wa pesty pii da katka yoieu chacasa. Goo doth dopo bai pauapka kanwuee an wahkala heee du Quesh." «Kobaa has been a pesty gnat that must get squashed. He is trying to gather influence and strength there in Quesh. » one could see how even speaking about Kobaa had irked the Hutt.

"While I am no one to presume, Honorable Jaarl," a rhyme to the reason, even if Natalia despised having to play the part. Oh she could already imagine sticking her shiv into that Hutt's throat. Slicing him from one side of his slimy face to the next. Or even better, watching her beloved do so without holding back. "But perhaps the Coratanni would be able to handle Kobaa for you?"

The Hutt gave a slight jiggle of interest.

"Bolla dah" «Go on»

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

Hutt's were central to crime in the galaxy.

It had been that way as long as anyone could remember. Sure there were other organizations, The Shadow Syndicate, the Black Sun, but The Hutt Cartel had made a name for itself eons ago and had somehow managed to stick around in one form or another. Even during the glory days of The Old Republic the Hutt's had made their presence known. They were powerful, so powerful at one point that they had built their own Empire.

Slevin had never understood why.

Oh he knew that they had wealth, he knew that they had armies, but he never really knew why.

They were slugs. Pure and simple. Sure they were large, and some were even quite strong, but they were slow. A blaster bolt killed them as readily as it killed any other creature, a blade pierced their skin just as easily, so why did these fat, useless creatures become the unquestionable Lords of Crime? How had it happened? He was intensely curious about the process, if only because he would want to replicate it. If the Hutt's could do it then it must have been the easiest trick in the world.

That was what he suspected anyway.

He frowned slightly as he felt a lurch in this stomach, the ship shifting slightly as it fell through the atmosphere. "Kobaa will not be expecting us. I don't want anyone to find out that Coratanni's hand was dealt in this until we're ready to reveal it. Jaarl will question it otherwise."

Everyone would have to die.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

"My proposal is this," Natalia began to lay out the footwork. It was a matter of keeping Jaarl interested and feel as if he had everything under control.

"Let the Coratanni Cartel take care of Kobaa." that brought a spark of interest in the vertical irises of the Hutt. He was well used to others doing his dirty work. What he wasn't aware of is that Slevin and Natalia will use this as their way of setting themselves up for making the Hutt grovel at their feet.

"In exchange, we would like to oversee the stim facilities in Quesh." the spice mines would come in time, along with the rest of what the Hutt owned. It was just a matter of time.

"You provide an interesting proposal, Natalia," the Hutt would blab out, spittle lining the wide crease that was his mouth.

"I already have others working towards taking care of Jaarl." He added, gesturing towards the far side where a few of his hired bounty hunters stood.

Natalia's smile turned into a wolfish grin.

"But do they guarentee results?"

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Natalia Thawne"]

There was no question that they would win, he could see it now.

The Palace that Kobaa had built for himself was an odd thing, straight lines, jagged edges, and broken pillars that resembled spears that had been shattered in half. There was a stark difference between this manor and those others he had seen constructed by The Hutt’s. Most of the time they tended towards rounded walls, great domes, but this...this was different.

Aside from the odd architecture, Slevin could also see that the palace’s Guards either didn’t care to do their jobs properly, or didn’t know how.

Half of them were scattered on the balconies, the other towards the doors, and none of them even bothered to patrol. It was an odd sight, but not unexpected. It seemed that most of them just stuck to themselves, hanging around and holding conversation. Ruefully he shook his head, glad of his decision to kill them all.

“Bring us down on the far platform. They won’t notice.” Not all of them anyway and that was what mattered.

There were three guards on the far platform, Weequays from the looks of them. None of them seemed particularly interested in Slevin’s shuttle, not until it touched down anyway. He watched them for a moment as they finally moved away from their posts at the door and lazily headed towards him.

 

[Noire]

[member="Slevin Thawne"]

"You know how I deal, Jaarl." Natalia cooed taking slow measured steps closer to the Hutt. Intrigue glimmered in his eyes.

"And when you need something done right," one black stiletto with a blood red sole took the first step up towards Jaarl's lofty seat.

"One should do it themselves." pearly white teeth shone against that blood red wolfish grin. If there was anything that Slevin and Natalia's reputation in the criminal underworld held true, is that the pair delivered. They were brutal, but effective.

"Give us free reign, and I'll have Kobaa's head on a silver platter within a day's time."

"A rather bold statement, Natalia Thawne."

The brunette's eyes glimmered, and she held her gaze.

"The truth." she countered. Her boldness and her manner are what drew the interest of the Hutt. Kobaa was a thorn on his side. If Natalia could deliver...

"Then let's see what you can do in one day, Natalia Thawne."

"Plenty."