Underground Arms Dealing

[Macharius Solaire]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

It was time to get back to business. Politics both at home and with The Republic had taken up too much of his time. Neglecting the companies growth and profits. Today a meeting had been set up with a certain group another bunch didn't like all to much. Who liked who didn't matter though. Macharius had made the decision in the wake of the Red Dawn Affair he'd move to a totally neutral position. Anyone who could afford it would have their weapons. Republicans, Sith, rebels, terrorists or other neutral parties. Capitalism in its purest form. It had been shown it was possible. All because the massive galactic corporations were willing to defend themselves with force. Mach would just position the company with them and they would defend him if need be.

"Miss Bellom please send in my two o'clock". His office was a mess. Papers and datapads piled up high on his desk. It may not give off the best impression, but it would show he was busy. Something good to show for an up and coming company.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Macharius Solaire"]

The door opened, revealing a middle-aged spacer in battered clothes, a faded Corellian Bloodstripe running down the side of his trousers. He wasn't armed, apart from a pistol strapped to his thigh. "Last time I was on Denon," he said, apropos of nothing, "my kid was a toddler, the place was overrun with zombies, I was a guinea pig for an experimental cure, and I got thrown down an elevator shaft with an elevator coming down on top of me. Now my kid's a Master and this place smells clean, so I'm betting it's been a while." The spacer coming through the door stuck out his hand. "Jorus Merrill. Nice to meet ya, Mr. Solaire."

Coming on a little stronger than he usually did, but Solaire was an unknown and Jorus felt like throwing him a bit of a curveball, just to see the cut of his jib. Not to mix metaphors or anything. Generally, when he met people, they saw the career insurgent or the longtime (now-retired) Master of First Knowledge or the naval officer or the explorer. People tended to have preconceptions of him, and Solaire's response might give him some idea of what those preconceptions might entail.

 

[Macharius Solaire]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Macharius looked over the spacer. He wasn't anything most would pick out of a crowd. Shaggy, almost unkempt. Hero's usually didn't come in shining armor though. "The feeling is mutual Mr. Merrill. Denon herself has come a long way since those days. And myself. From an Omegan officer to a Republic Senator. Now I'm an arms dealer. Defender, peace maker, merchant of menace. We've both had storied careers. Neither of us are finished though. So what brings you to Denon Stahl Arms, despite the obvious". You only came to an arms company for one thing. And that wasn't pleasant conversation. Whatever Jorus put down on the table. So long as he had the credits. It could likely be done. It was just that what though.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Macharius Solaire"]

Jorus took a seat and eyed Solaire, elbows resting on his knees. "Down to brass tacks? All right. Your background with the Protectorate and the Republic leads me to believe you'd be amenable to supplying the resistance. I've spent the better part of a decade running guns to worlds that the One Sith had overrun or were going to. Now, I've got agreements with different arms manufacturers to get their back catalogs cheap and arm Underground fighters all over the 'verse. There's not a lot of profit in it, though we can pay in cash or services." Baobab Astrography did well enough, and a bunch of other income streams, heists included. The Underground wasn't hurting for operational capital. Even so..."

He shrugged. "All depends what you're willing to let fall off the back of a truck."

 

[Macharius Solaire]

He wanted things to subtlety appear. A good idea, it protects arms shipments and the supplier from any real responsibility of galactic governments who may not approve. After all, stolen weapons happen. Perhaps he didn't know Solaire though. He didn't care what others thought of him. That didn't save him from repercussions at this time though; not until all the right chess pieces were in place. "My position is this. So long as you have the credits to pay, you have a weapons supplier. That is true for everyone though. Even those you may not like Mr. Merrill. Understand that I am a capitalist first, even with a sword to my throat or a million behind me to uphold that. If you're fine with it, I think we're in agreeance that we may work together. And I'll sell you anything in our current catalog at a half rate". A very fair deal just so long as his pride could be checked. It was in the rebels hands to decide if he'd take the deal. But that wasn't all Macharius wanted to offer. One thing DSA had already was a research and development division. They developed new weapons and armors, and already some interesting things had been worked on. If Jorus wanted state of the art weaponry it would be possible.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Macharius Solaire"]

"I won't be offended if our enemies are using the same guns, friend. We're used to that. A while back I used to have an old family connection to BlasTech - long story. Bottom line, I know what business you're in and my expectations are what I'd call realistic. Apart from the rate, which I'll confess is a surprise. Half off is uncommon generous, and I appreciate your support. I don't travel with money as a rule, but we can nail down the specifics and make the transfer later. In the meantime..." Jorus chewed on a thought for a while, a bit of unfinished old business. " What's your opinion on shotguns? And specialty ammunition? I'm taking strange stuff, situation alteration charges. Ever look into that kind of work? "

 

[Macharius Solaire]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"The discount is, and I'm sure you'll put the items to good use. Now of course I don't expect us to officiate anything here, your people can contact my people. We'll let the administrative personnel fit the numbers and sign checks". Jorus paused for a bit. Clearly thinking on something but what he didn't know. Macharius was willing to wait though. There wasn't much to do after this meeting anyways then pass some information to his subordinates. When he brought up the notion of a shotgun, Mach couldn't hold back a smile. "Well as it happens. I might have something to show you that we're in the middle of development on. Follow me and we'll head to the shop".

Macharius dragged Merrill through the building to the back. Here was the research and development division of DSA. "Some months ago we started cooking up new lines of weaponry. Blasters, anti aircraft weapons emplacements. Though they're out at our field shop. A bit to big to be done in here". Mach pushed open the door to the machine shop. "And a combat shotgun was another one of my gunsmiths was working on. Great thing about slugthrowers is you don't need to know complicated electronic designs or how to convert gas to plasma and all that. Just an explosion in a tube and a few other simple mechanics". They were about to get into a technical conversation that Mach could run on for hours about, but luckily they found the guns designer and put that threat to rest. "Frank".

"Yes sir". Frank the gunsmith pipped up from looking over a milling machine. He took about a minute to actually turn around and make way to talk to his boss and stranger. Of course whatever he was working on was more important than the short delay.

"Frank. This is Mr. Merrill. We were discussing some sales when he brought up the topic of shotguns. And I immediately thought of yours and brought him back to see it. You wouldn't mind"?

"Sure, no problem". Frank walked over to a caged gun cabinet. After a few fumbles with a big ring of keys he had it opened and pulled out the weapons. "This Mr. Merrill is my recent work. Drum fed, semi-automatic. Will drop most anything in 20 meters". The gunsmith held out the shotgun for Jorus' inspection.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Macharius Solaire"]

For a good many years, the bulk of his adult life, Jorus' primary weapon had been a monstrous break-action Mandalorian Shell Gun. He accepted the shotgun with pleasure. "This is, what, a twenty-round drum? Twenty-four? Pump action, minimal jams. Muzzle's a little longer than I like, but should take a saw easy enough. Stock like an E-11, that'll help. I could see shipping these to the Coruscant Underground, who generally need to keep their head down." He eyed the muzzle. "Twelve gauge. Ideal. We've got an assortment of nonlethal ammunition, some in twelve, some in ten that we're porting to twelve. This is the kind of dedicated platform we need. We've got a break-action three-barrel ten-gauge, a real range queen if it's loaded with buckshot, but pretty good for slinging low-velocity oversize specialized rounds. Something like this ought to cut down on injuries from Underground troops who try to use the other gun for standard shotgun roles.

"Yeah, Solaire, this is absolutely ideal."

 

[Macharius Solaire]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"Twenty four rounds actually". Frank butted in to correct.

"Yes, high capacity for its type. Could be more but then the drum is just getting oversized and carrying extras makes it a hassle. And that will be all Frank. I'll make sure its put back after". That sent the gunsmith back to work and for the two to get back to business. Jorus ran on about what they'd been using for the role in their fights. "Break action? Well this is semi-automatic. You'll find it far superior to that weapon. And I'm glad you like it". This deal was in the bag. Macharius wanted to fist pump but that would be unprofessional. No he had to keep up his appearance as the gentlemanly arms dealer. "We were also thinking of specialty ammunition's now that you mention it. Magnesium incendiary shells, depleted barradium slug shells would also be quite doable. Cortosis was the last, but whether slug or buck we couldn't decide what would be better unless we were shooting it at a lightsaber. There is also the cost point. The material itself is very expensive and hard to obtain. Hell on barrels too I hear. If you'd want to discuss us making that we'd need help getting it first so we can test it. All up to you of course at this time, in the future we may just do it ourselves or with a contract from someone else".

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Macharius Solaire"]

"My people actually have some cortosis ammunition that ought to work fairly well with this, but we don't have much of it. Not a lot I can do at our end, sorry. If you do manage to get a source for cortosis, though, I'd be interested in that. It's expensive as feth, but I've had a good bit of enjoyment blowing holes in your average Sith's lightsabre defense posture. I've even heard of people making larger area-of-effect weapons, cortosis dust bombs and the like, but at that point you're better off buying a private moon and retiring. It'd make about the same dent on your bank account.

"But as for the other specialty ammunition, that all sounds plausible, and I'd love to see it in action when you get it done. The gun...yeah, this'll serve our purposes for sure. We can always use more good weapons at decent prices, Mister Solaire. The UNderground isn't exactly affluent, so sometimes we like to spend high on a relative handful of very solid guns. We're hoping yours is one of them." Jorus shrugged. "Who knows. Pretty soon we ought to be putting holes in Sith, not just their defensive postures, yeah? Nothing like a shotgun for taking their kind down a notch or two. Heck, I once saw a guy take out a Dark Master with just a pump-action shotgun, an E-11, and a couple basic frag grenades."

 

[Macharius Solaire]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"It's the weapon along with the one behind it that makes the difference Mr. Merrill." Macharius gave a chuckle to that. Reminded him of his old fighting days. "Now we'll see what we'll do for more interesting ammunition in time. For Cortosis I don't know anyone personally in mining it, but maybe Mandel or ATC are involved in an operation for it somewhere. Duro is also just up and around the hyperlanes with a supply if you want to go after it yourself."

"And I'll make sure your weapon is made to the best levels possible while keeping costs as low as possible. They're a lot cheaper than blasters and far more robust. I think it will serve your purposes well. So do we have a deal Mr. Merrill?" Solaire reached out with his right hand looking for the return of an agreement.