You Lost?

[Onley Xiangu]

THE SLUMS - MINING SECTOR​

The warehouse was, for the most part, largely nondescript. It was just as dirty and covered in ash as everything around it, built from same broken bricks as everything else. There was nothing to suggest anything anymore illicit was going on within its facade than any other building. But Onley Xiangu stood inside, feet planted and arms crossed as he considered the two crates that had been carefully packed and placed there.

He didn’t often come to the Slums, preferring to spend his time in the towering behemoth that was the New City.
But it was best to stay close to the source where Obsidian Nova Crystals were involved.

That particular warehouse was one Onley used whenever he came out here. He knew its entrances and exits, could control the environment as much as anyone in his line of work could. The large room they were in was stacked high with crates filled with less volatile materials, a winding and cavernous place. A couple of his men sat nonchalantly on some wooden boxes - mercenary types, armed to the gills, fighting the urge for a cigarette.

A Raykkan hung near the crates. He’d recently joined forces with Onley one a few more ambitious ventures. He stood looking boring, though his eyes flashed to the crates repeatedly.

“Mee wabdah hoohah magoosa,” Onley said quietly, urging the alien to calm down as he had checked the crate’s heating system and light-tight seals himself.

“Mee eniki…” the thing insisted, moving away from the crates slowly on his strange, built arms. His withered legs dangled back and forth beneath.

Fine, indeed.

______​

The kid outside had been paid significant credits to keep an eye out for anyone moving towards the warehouse. It was out of the way, and no one really paid attention to anyone else out here in the Slums. They were too busy trying to survive.

When he saw a group moving more purposefully than the rest, he left the game of half-deflated soccer he’d been playing with some other kids to intercept them. He’d worked for Onley before - the pay was so good he nearly fell over himself to please.

“You lost?” he asked, the code agreed upon in encrypted transmission sent between both parties.

As long as the masked thing and his crew answered correctly, he’d get the men inside to let the group in to the warehouse.

[member="Tyrian"]​

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

Tyrian shifted slightly as he looked down at the boy, his lips thin.

The Soldier never really quite understood why Criminals felt it was necessary to play little games like this. He supposed it was because of secrecy, they were running from some sort of authority that wanted them gone but...well it just got annoying for him. Within the Armies of the Sith they often used codes as well, but more often than not it was for pure survival rather than bandying back and forth. For a moment the masked man glanced back at his companions, Allaria standing behind him with an almost smug expression on her face.

She knew how much he hated this sort of thing. Tyrian was a soldier, not a politician and certainly not a diplomat who went around convincing people to work with him. As of late however he'd been doing more and more of just that, something that irked him to absolutely no end. In truth he should have just sent Allaria on her own, but that didn't look good, not now. "No."

Stupid codes.

"I'm right where I'm supposed to be." The answer was one that had been predetermined and it would mark Tyrian as the right person for this little meeting. Next time he would arrange something a little less...silly. A small giggle, if Yuuzhan Vong could do such things, erupted behind him. The expression on his face soured, and Tyrian took a step forward.

"Just get out of my way." The soldier gestured. "Or I feed you to whatever rats are crawling over this place."

 

[Onley Xiangu]

The kid was used to some cranky types. No one out in the Slums was particularly friendly. His expression stayed neutral as he heard the words he needed, waving the man and his companions forward. He knocked as he knew he needed to, gaining them entry and leading them down a sparse hallway towards one of several storage chambers.

“I know a guy that sells pretty decent upper’s for cheap down the street you know. They might help. You know, with your rudeness and all that,” he said, grinning slyly as he ran off before he could get cuffed around the head.

That left the ‘guests’ in full view of the product they’d come for.

Onley turned to greet them, nodding slightly and holding his hand out to indicate the tightly sealed crates. He wasn’t one for bandying about, preferring to cut right to the chase past opening lines.

“As requested, two tons,” he said by way of greeting. He’d been told, in general, who to expect. The amount they’d discussed was massive. Onley couldn’t imagine the sort of destruction it would do if all set off at once. For that reason he’d brought the Raykkan, something of an expert on unrefined Nova Crystals. Should the deal go through, he would be able to relay the exact handling specifications to whomever needed them.

“I took the liberty of filling one crate with smaller pieces in case you need handheld weapons or smaller detonators. And in the crate on the right is a single 1-ton piece of crystal. That will bring down just about anything you could think of.” In truth, any of it could probably be resold for huge sums elsewhere on the other side of the galaxy where it was astronomically hard to come by. But whatever its intended purpose didn’t matter all that much. Only moving it.

“You can take it sight unseen for the price we discussed, but this room is equipped to view them as long as you’re fine with total darkness,” he finished, eyeing the Vong woman behind the man who’d come. Interesting. He’d never seen one in person.

[member="Tyrian"]​

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

Briefly Tyrian considered the validity of shooting the kid in the back of the head. He guessed that Violence wasn't exactly uncommon around here, but he doubted his newfound partner would appreciate him throwing around blaster bolts near explosives.

"We'll require a viewing."

Allaria spoke up before Tyrian ever could. The woman was the more clever of the two of them, at least on a smaller scale. It was she that first had an interest in the Crystals in the first place, not Tyrian. She had investigated them and eventually given him the rundown. Of course Tyrian wasn't an arms dealer or anything as silly as that, rather he saw the potential of this substance as something entirely more...creative. A small smile perked at his lips, future plans enticing him to move forward.

"Yes." Allaria was right. The Vong woman had the means to verify the substance, and when dealing with criminals it was best to check, and recheck everything. They had learned that lesson early on in their new quest. "Verification if you will."

Trust was thin in the underworld.

Allaria smiled at their host, then slowly stepped in front of Tyrian. A gentle gesture pulled the Soldier forward, following after the Yuuzhan Vong to head further towards their host. Tyrian had no idea what the man needed to do to properly secure the room, but he didn't particularly care. As long as the product did what it was supposed to he would come out more than even at the end.

Of course, lives would be lost, but he needed to grab the attention of his newly found Sith overlords.

 

[Onley Xiangu]

Onley simply nodded, watching as the Vong woman glided forward.

The Raykkan of course, was incapable of providing their two ‘guests’ with the required night-vision glasses due to the fact that his arms had become his legs - a nasty and unfortunate wasting element to his species that had been worked around by generations of telepathic development. So it was with a gentle mental suggestion that he persuaded one of the mercenaries working for Onley to bring the potential buyers the delicate contraptions they would need. Or might need. No doubt that the male of the pair might have the ability to switch to nightvision through the gear he wore, and perhaps the Vong had similar capabilities. Either way, he proffered the equipment before the warehouse room went completely dark.

Once it was determined that the room was as dark as possible, Onley stepped forward and carefully opened the physical and mechanical locks holding the crates full of crystals closed.

As soon as the lids hissed open a wave of dry, intense heat wafted from the boxes. Without complete darkness and heat the unrefined form of the crystal was unfailingly volatile, but provided those two conditions were in place it was...mostly...stable. While this made for difficulty in transport and placement, it made them an exceptional weapon. For those with the capability to place the crystals in the right housing made to reveal the obsidian to light or cold at the time of their choosing, there was no better destructive guarantee.

“They’re mostly safe to pick up as long as you handle them carefully and your hands aren’t too cold,” he said, though he refrained from handling one himself.

The black crystals glittered in his greenish night-vision. They’d been packed carefully, each of the individual pieces nestled in soft cradles to prevent them from being jostled during transport - a third safeguard against premature detonation. The crate to the right however held one massive crystal, the sides of its crate lined in the same soft, fireproof meshing.

“If this looks good to you, my associate Battar can leave detailed instructions as to their transport and care until you...put them to good use.” Granted, Onley was curious. This was a very large amount of Obsidian nova crystals to be looking at. The pair could simply be representatives of some faction looking to make some weaponry for an upper-hand on the battlefield. But Onley always liked to imagine something more clandestine.

Either way, it didn’t really matter. The pair wouldn’t ask him what he was going to do with the credits he made from their purchase, and he wouldn’t ask what they planned to do with the crystals.

[member="Tyrian"]​

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

Tyrian didn't move from his place, but Allaria stepped forward and slowly leaned down.

The Yuuzhan Vong woman was in a way The Legion's chief scientist. Most of her knowledge of course lay in the fields of organic technology and creations of the vong, but she knew enough about this to make a correct judgement. Oddly enough Tyrian trusted her, far more than he trusted most of the others. Every single person within the Legion was a criminal of some sort, including Allaria herself, but the woman didn't care for murder or robbery or anything of the sort.

She just wanted to perfect her art.

It was something Tyrian could respect, more than that however it was something that he could use. Scientists rarely ever wished to work for someone like him, at least willingly, and Allaria's curiosity made her almost invaluable. He would have killed a hundred of his associates to have another one like her. Of course he'd never told her this, mostly because it would drive her already soaring ego through the roof. She'd become insufferable.

"These will do."

She purred finally, inspecting the crystal for a moment with her biot eye.

"Good." Tyrian said with a small smile plucking at his lips. Time was beginning to run short, his plans needed to be accelerated as of late and this would help jumpstart that. He frowned for a few seconds, glancing up through the darkness before finally he regarded Onley. "Price is as we discussed?"

If there was a change now it would likely lead to some...unpleasantness, the man had already confirmed once, but Tyrian wanted to confirm.

 

[Onley Xiangu]

Onley nodded once though it was doubtful that the buyer was looking at him and not the strangely-glowing crystals.

“Same price,” he confirmed quietly, waiting until the Vong was done with her inspection to move forward and gently close and relock the crates. He did not take offense to her neutral approval - it was only good sense not to show total satisfaction if it existed in business deals like this. Onley, despite what one might assume of his kind, was not quick to anger. That was a quality that had served him well in his line of business. He would have done the same in her shoes.

The lights came back up, Battar reaching for the night-vision lenses from those who’d needed them to see. The few mercenaries that had been sitting on crates were still in their place, waiting for the order to help move the cargo to the ship should they be required. Some buyers were not as suspicious as others and did not mind a little help moving product. However, these two seemed more...entrenched than most, and perhaps would prefer making their way off Maena without accompaniment to their ship.

Onley was nothing if not accommodating once significant credits had entered the equation.

Battar, on muscular arms compensating for spindly legs that wove grotesquely underneath him, bravely flirted with the Vong woman as he moved over to her. The sleds the two crates were on lurched to quiet life as he stopped near her, the soft hiss of their small repulsors making them float off the ground despite their burden. He only spoke Huttese, which he hoped the Vong woman understood as well. “The hovercarts come...included, you see. Will you need any assistance with transport or loading? Any questions?” He was eager both to catch her eye, and talk to at length about his precious crystals. He was nothing if not obliviously confident.

Onley, for his part, turned his attention to the male of the pair. “I don’t know what you’re doing with these - and I don’t have to know. But if they end up doing you good I’d like to hear about it.” The crystals had been a boon, an incredible find despite the difficulty of mining and transporting them. He was, in a way, just as affectionate of them as Battar.

[member="Tyrian"]​

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

The crystals were of course headed for the exact same cause as everything else that Tyrian had been working towards.

The plan was simple, straightforward as could be really. The Sith Empire was a newly minted government, an authorative body that had yet to find its true legs. Already it had conquered numerous worlds, it had finished off the Dominion and was no encroaching upon the Silver Jedi, but its hold over everything was tentative at best. Planetary Governments still maintained quite a bit of power, trade routes were unsecure, and everything else was forming slowly.

Tyrian intended to disrupt it all.

A few pirate raids here, some rebel groups there, and a terrorist cell or two mixed in for good measure. Everything would happen at once, chaos would reign, and then he would come along. The Legion would silence things quickly, efficiently, and without a dime spent by the Imperial government.

The plan was very simple, but then again so were most Sith. Tyrian was confident it would work, but only because it had already started to. He and the Legion had received praise from the Imperial government for their work. Tyrian personally had even received a commendation. It had been difficult to keep a straight face during that particular meeting, though the Icarii had managed to do so with at least a little bit of practice. He smiled at the memory for a moment and then regarded Only. "I assure you."

Amusement filled his tone.

"If you want to hear about it just turn on the news." Tyrian glanced down at the crates. "You won't miss it."

The explosions would be fantastic if Allaria and this man's details of the crystals were correct. Tyrian didn't plan to use all of it in one place, but enough to make a splash.