Ask Blue Peggats

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

War. Both dominions of the Empire were under attack by the cartel that ruled much of the Outer Rim. The Grand Marshal resigned his commission and retreated back to the now neutral world that he once conquered for the Sith Order and the Director and Grand Moff were at odds on how to deal with these problems most effectively. A council of Moffs was declared the defacto ruling body of the Emperor while the Imperial Security Bureau did what it had always done: It did whatever the kriff it damn well pleased to do.

Peggats were surprisingly easy to come by when you knew the right people. Members of the Blackout Fleet generally knew these people very well. In fact, most were on the Imperial payroll just like Dismas Zaa Fenn was.

The bureau was hoping to add another to that payroll today.

On an unimportant spacestation in neutral space, somewhere along the intersection of Outer and Mid Rim, Dismas was waiting near the designated boarding dock. This station was rather old relatively small and didn't feature indoor hangars with blast doors. Instead a ship was supposed to park alongside of it and simply join airlocks. An old and tested method, albeit a bit uncomfortable to sit on a metal bench near the stationside door with a modest crate of 10 kilograms in Blue-painted Peggats.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

War.

It was damn good for business. Since the Imperials and the Hutts had started taking swipes at each other, the security across some of the space lanes had dropped to nothingness, and business had been good indeed. As such, when he'd received word that someone from within the camp of his masters enemy wished to speak to him, and was willing to back his word with cash, Gentis simply could not resist.

Moguls Fortune thrummed out of hyperspace over the nameless space station, as Gentis read through their comms once again. He'd done business with this lot before, faking a pirate raid in return for some credits.

And they'd been true to their word. Payment on time, and payment as agreed.

Gentis would have been a fool to say no to them meeting now.

"Bring us in." he commanded, as the Moguls Fortune connected up to the airlocks.

As soon as the doors opened, Gentis Freem stepped out, his arms thrown wide as he moved forward, sweeping Dismas up into an embrace and booming "COMMANDER KARN IT IS GOOD TO SE -" he froze.

Releasing Dismas from his embrace he took a step back.

He looked the man up and down.

"Well. Who the %&£$ are you?"

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

The file on the 'Mogul's Fortune' was remarkably short. It established the captain, Gentis Freem, as an informant for the Tarisian bureau. For more detail one could contact the head of the Taris Peacekeeper Corps; Commander Levik Karn. The late citizen Karn, for internally he had been vilified and postumously demoted back to third class imperial citizen. Apparently his parents had even been kicked out their apartments back on Eriadu. Empire LLC apparently still owned their residential building.

Levik Karn had been rumored to be deep in cahoots with Taris criminals like the Exchange broker Eccle'baal and a Klatoonian gang called.. the Freem Gotra. No wonder the file was so short. Levik Karn hired Gentis Freem to cover his own ass by giving the gangster-turned-pirate a 'get out of jail'-card.

All Blackout Fleet read was "turns coat for credits" and really that was all they cared about in wartime.

When the large Klatoonian came through the airlock blastdoors, Dismas had already been standing (the heavy crate was still on the bench) and ready to shake a hand. The introduction, however, didn't quite go as he had thought it would..

"Ehh," he hesitated, the official broadcast said that Commander Levik Karn tragically died in an attack by the Sith Order. No mentions of his myriad of criminal ties or actions had ever been mentioned outside of a small inner circle of ISB operatives. "I'm afraid Commander Karn is deceased, Captain Freem. Sith did him in. Terrorist attack on Raxus Secundus."

He finally extended a hand, "My name is Dismas." he wasn't wearing a uniform and didn't say his last name. Could only confuse things, anyway. The Zaa Fenn Crime Family was part of the cartel, so when someone with their last name hires you.. do you fight for the cartel or the Empire? "I'll be your go-to for credits from now on," he grinned, for they both knew there was a bond to be forged in making easy credits.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

"Truly, terrible." Gentis pretended not to care about the loss as he shook the mans hand before gesturing for the Imperial to follow him. Life came at you fast, and with one source of credits gone, it was good to see a new faucet of fortune present itself in such a timely manner. "Come, don't just stand out on the docks like a loner, people will start asking questins." he walked back on board the ship.

Once inside again, he quickly fell back into his normal jaunty swagger as he made his way back to the bridge "There are some crates outside yes? Go get them." the Captain ordered to a handful of his men, who where hard at work standing around doing nothing.

He'd liked Levik. The two of them had come up together, Leviks contacts and cunning had complemented his own, and whilst they had gone their own ways, they had done well together as a result. His death would be something Gentis would drink to later, alone in his cabin. Perhaps one day he would find the men behind it.

"So then." he sat down in the command chair in the center of the bridge "What do you want?" he asked flatly, lighting a stim, before offering one to the Imperial, as he waited for the ask to be made.

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

For some reason Gentis was exactly how Dismas had imagined he'd be. Dismas had grown up around pirates and was even one himself for a few years on the Kowakian. It was a life and they were a kind of people that always just seem to vibe with him. As more Klatoonians appeared at the airlock, Dismas felt comfortable leaving the small crate on the bench as he followed Captain Freem inside.

Yes, Dismas observed the return of the Klatoonian's swagger and let the scents of a booze-filled cumulus class hit him where he needed it. Kriff. Only now did he realize he really missed this. The nomadic spacer-thing. Living an almost Ossein-like existence as you travel the hyperlanes and explore the Outer Rim by outdated starmaps filled with inaccuracies.

The bridge looked a lot like that of the 'Kowakian' as it was the same class that Dismas had been the navigator on. Tall Tulo liked to adorn his chair with memento's and deck it out with furs and it was a weird moment where Dismas realized that he had expected the scent of wet bantha and the screams of an actual Kowakian Monkey Lizard as the door to the bridge opened. "Honestly, I want to have a look at your maps," Dismas grinned and pointed at the pilot/navigator console just a few meters away from the Klatoonian captain.

"But the payment is for something more straightforward;" the ISB lieutenant accepted the stim from the pirate captain and lit it with nondescript lighter. He paused here to take a moment to take the stim in and slowly exhale the smoke completely before continuing. "We need you to frustrate the spice shipments coming out of hutt space," he explained with a glance towards the small heavy crate that one of Gentis' goons was now carrying onto the bridge. "Scare smugglers away, take their shipments if you want it. Point is that if the cartel can't deliver to their clients, the credflow stops. Even better if another syndicate is able to step in, if you catch my dirft" and the cartel will lose more and more influence and power outside of their beloved 'hutt space'. If Gentis decides to rob the smugglers and sell the shipments to another syndicate, or even directly to the prospective buyers, then that's just good business. The Empire wouldn't care either way.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

The maps?!

Those maps where so out of date it was embarrasing. Gentis had resorted to drawing updates on the maps with a stylus when he was drunk, only for his long-suffering navigator to remind him you couldn't draw on a holomap. The audacity! Just because something was impossible didn't mean he couldn't do it.

Did it?

He was snapped out of his deep thinking by the whelp of his Monkey Lizard, Breezo (OOC: @Breeso please come back).

"Sure. GALAR!" he screamed and clapped his hands as the stunted navigator waddled on over. "The maps!" he shooed the man away.

Next, he turned his attention to the important matter of money.

His favourite topic on any day of the week.

Frustrating spice shipments was one of the things he really enjoyed. Sure, he was not meant to do it. Sure, it was 'wrong' to attack the Hutts especially when you worked for them.

But these where minor things.

Ethical fiobles.

Quibbles.

Things he would brush aside.

"Easy!" he agreed, a grin spreading across his scar pocked face "If you want me to rob someone, I can do it. And if you want to pay me to do it, even better." he agreed.

He could just sell the spice to!

Easy peasy.

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

That was.. way too easy. Dismas calculated the risk for the Moguls Fortune and had a tough time convincing himself they would agree just like that. The ship was named after their benefactor, for kriff's sake. Was there really no loyalty among thieves?

He could slap himself right now. You're thinking as an Imperial. The only reason the Zaa Fenn had something that seemed like loyalty to the cartel was grounded in self-perservation. For many pirates hutt space was a pirate haven. The safe patch of space from where you sold your spoils, made repairs to the ship and visited a cantina or brothel or two. If Gentis had a designated safe haven outside of Hutt space then this deal Dismas had offered was a no brainer.

It was just.. where was this safe haven? It was extremely rare for a pirate crew to be able to subdue an Outer Rim planet for more than a few months and Dismas wasn't aware of any pirate coves outside of hutt space at the moment. Kriff.. could it be Zhar IV? No the fuel costs to get there would cut into your profits way too much.

Eager to find out what was behind the Klatoonian's reasoning, Dismas' heart started going faster the second one of his men returned with their starmap and inserted it into the console for the proper holo- no, the tech was outdated, Dismas was forced to look at a 2D-screen filled with barely wiped off stylus marks. He immediately realized the eagerness of Captain Gentis wasn't because he was some brilliant pirate who had an independent safe haven, but incompetence. "This map is from 120 ABY," the astronavigator in Dismas died a little as he sighed and turned to the Klatoonian captain. Without looking he placed a finger on the screen, "there's a debris field around here that's migrating towards the Core," leftovers from when the cartel had blown up an entire Sith Empire fleet as retaliation for a botched assassination attempt on the Supreme Mogul. "It forces transporters to take a different hyperspace point, roughly around here-" he placed his finger another spot, rougly 100 parsecs away from the 'normal jumpspot', "which means no valuable cargo will be on this part of the hyperlane," he traced the alternative route with his finger and then gestured towards large swatch of space that was, until a few years ago, a popular spot for pirates to sit and wait for their prey.

He couldn't in good conscious spend so many credits on a pirate crew and not also help them complete the job he paid them for, right? The astro-navigator in Dismas was willing to take the peggats back and leave the ship immediately, but if his mother had taught him anything it was that connections were more valuable than any amount of scoundrels. "Get me some Chandrilum rum, if you have it. I'll update these starmaps-" he paused, his eyes glancing momentarily towards the crate of peggats, "-but I want twenty peggat for my time."

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Drink was bought out quickly, for the Captain often began to develop a PERISHING THIRST when he sat in the command chair. The Imperials offer was one that enticed him, and would do likewise for the crew.

Gentis was taking a shine to this Dismas. He seemed to know a thing or two about the hyperlanes, something that could be very useful indeed. The thought of kidnapping the man flashed across his mind - an imperial with knowledge of hyperlane shipment movements would be worth the risk, no?

But if they did swipe him, the deal would vanish.

He remembered the boss saying something about a 'long game' - and decided against kidnapping their client, for now.

"A litte out of date then?" Gentis asked, with an expression of sarcasm across his face. The debris field heading toward the core was useful to know about, it made most of that area useless to pirates - but useful if they needed somewhere to hide out maybe?

He poured him a Chandrilian Rum, and slid the peggats across to him. Worth it is his mind. "You know, you're wasted in the Empire. You could make a fortune." he left the latter part unspoken. Maybe Dimas could come with them? Spend a bit of time at their current 'hideout' - a planet near one of the major space lanes, Clak'dor VII.

"M-18, Clak'dor VII - just of the Rimma Trade Route. Maybe you come with us for a few days, see what you make of this life?" he asked.

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

Would he have noticed if he hadn't been Zaa Fenn? Dismas pondered it for a second, but couldn't resist to take the bait. "The Rimma Trade Route?" if that was Gentis' haven then it was way off track to harass Hutt space. He was also quick to give it up, which intrigued Dismas even more... why did he do that? "Do any work at the intersection between Rimma and Hydian?" the question was loaded far beyond what Gentis could guess based on their short introductions, but for Dismas this could make or break everything.

You see, the intersection of the Rimma Trade Route and the Hydian Super Trade Route was at the planet Eriadu. Historically the turf of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family and one which Dismas' mother, the current boss, just recently moved back to. Having pirates operate in Zaa Fenn turf would be tricky, especially while they could fall under the terms of the deal Dismas was making with Gentis. A Crymorah flag currently hangs below the Desilijic banner, but Dismas didn't want to pay Gentis to rob his own family.

Either way, Dismas made a mental note to check ISB files on the Bith and the state and allegiances of their planet.

While they talked, he had slung back the glass of rum and started his work on the starmaps with his own datapad. The console's firmware was also outdated, but it seemed still capable of running the new programs that listed coordinates alongside objects like wrecks, planets, debris fields, asteroids etcetera etcetera.


@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Gentis wasn't about to give away trade secrets, that was for sure. Did they have business on the interesection? Not recently - but he had planned to before this deal came up. Not much point now, with this new deal coming onto the books. "No - not thanks to your kind offer." he chuckled. Gentis was confused as to why the Imperial was so interested, maybe there was some other operation he was involved in down that way?

He pushed it from his mind.

When this new 'gig' got underway, Gentis and the crew would need to find some other hapless minro planet to terrorise for a bit. He had a reasonably good approach to getting the crew on the move, arrive at a planet, and just refuse to leave until the cargo hold of the Moguls Fortune was full to bursting as a result of their adventures in the planets nearby space.

"Do you reckon the Empire is going to come out on top in this war?" he asked, changing the topic. He'd watched the war, shot down some cargo ships for the boss, but otherwise - until now - was staying out of it. A lot of his fellow pirates where keeping their hands clean until a winner became more obvious.

"The Hutts seem to be throwing mercs your lot anyway, I've not heard anything more about the main Hutt war machine moving. Seems to me like the Hutts are holding back?" he asked.

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

A feeling of relief untied the early knot in his stomach as the pirate more or less said he'd move his operation over to hutt space. Whoever he'd rob or kill, Dismas was confident it wouldn't be Zaa Fenn. A second later he pressed a button on his datapad and the upload began. Four hours from now and the Mogul's Fortune would have fully updated starmaps, courtesy of the Imperial Security Bureau.

The question that followed from the Klatoonian as Dismas moved to refill his glass didn't surprise him as much as he thought. It was a question everyone was asking themselves, surely, though within the Empire most didn't dare do so out loud. The young astro-navigator simply refilled his glass and then shrugged, "The Empire isn't the same as you've known it," Dismas began, "It's strength isn't in open displays of military might and blanket destruction. That was the Sith way," and in some ways that carried over because Altair Din became the Grand Marshal. But he is retired now, opening the door to a completely different kind of galactic play. "It is run like a megacorporation with an industry that can scale up or down to meet galactic developments." something that wasn't contingient on whether or not the Emperor was a scary Sith that put everyone in line over fear. "These surprise mercenary attacks will do the most damage. After that the industrial war machine is running and the only thing stopping the Empire from utterly annihilating the Hutt species is senate diplomacy."

Dismas put the glass to his lips and let the rum glide into his mouth slowly to give Gentis a moment to take it all in. The cartel was trying to play small bet pazaak not knowing that the Empire was already 500 peggats up in their game of Sabacc. Unknown to Dismas the Empire already had Cipher agents undercover in the Hutt Cartel. Agents that upon receiving word could strike at the very heart of the Desilijic Clan.

"Don't let our lack of public military conquest fool you," he put the empty glass on the console and checked to see if the upload had started and was progressing, which it was. "The only shot the Hutt had was send all they had in a sucker punch the second Emperor Emer-Drast was confirmed dead," which they notably hadn't, "but if I were in your shoes," which he thankfully wasn't, although he did like the rum and the peggats, "I would join our side before the Moffs choose a new Emperor."


@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

The Empire certainly had changed in recent years - there was no denying that. It had been through hell and back, leaders came and went and casualties mounted, but still the Empire powered on. From Gentis' perspective the Empire was a force you avoided - their space was theres alone, it simply wasn't worth the hassle and the risk of attempting to work there.

What the war was good for however, was potentially weakening the border, allowing for the possibility of future raids. As well as this, it meant supplies routes would change, moving existing merchant trade through new routes so they could avoid warzones.

New routes, that might not be as well policed.

Gentis would need to revisit those areas later.

"Let's not get to hasty about joining sides eh?" he laughed. The Moffs be damned, he was a pirate! Gentis wasn't about to pledge himself long term to anyone.

Just ask his ex-wife.

"Keep the credits coming and we keep business going. But this ain't a full-time gig you get me?" he remarked, before steering the discussion back to more comfortable ground. "Although, maybe the Empire has underestimated the Clan? Lot's of people have, normally to their undoing - I've never known a Hutt to make a play without making sure they have the upper hand."

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

Dismas joined in the Klatoonian's laughter, "Imperial doctrine," he said as way of excuse as to why he just tried to enlist the pirate into the Blackout Fleet. The Imperial academies had a real big hardon for punching imperial doctrine into their recruits. The Imperial Security Bureau monitored their every social interaction, too, and when they found out you didn't proclaim your loyalty to the Empire at every possibility that presented itself then..

Oh, who was he kidding. Dismas never went to an Imperial academy. He had to learn to drop the act when he was around his own kind. His formative years were spend doing odd jobs for Preef Callo and Tallo Tulo Turner. One a former crimelord and the other a pirate captain not unlike Gentis Freem.

"Tell that to Preef Callo," was the only retort that Dismas seems capable of. Sure, many people underestimated the cartel. Preef Callo hadn't, though, and he had managed a near complete genocide on the Hutt species. Legalizing hutticide within hutt space!? "He was killing Hutt Diamyo's left and right until, oh yeah-" a sly grin appeared on the lieutenant's face, "-the Empire did him in." Ofcourse he took a run with the truth there. Preef did murder a lot of powerful Hutts, paving the way to the top for Nor'baal even, but it was a Sith Lord that betrayed the rodian. He had been betrayed by the Sith and without him opportunists saw fit to betray his family as well. Dismas, as a Zaa Fenn, knew all the details.

"But let's not compare myths and treasure hoards just yet," a surprising saying for an Imperial, yet not so much for a cartel-affiliated pirate. More and more his Imperial facade was slipping, but was it his inexperience as an undercover agent or simply an unconscious desire to return to his pirating roots? "I got twenty peggats I'm willing to put up for a game of Sabacc against you and your crew."

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Imperials just loved their doctrines. Gentis had never got their obsession with rules, in his world it was a code they 'stuck to' (and even then that was more like a guideline anyway).

Callo - that was a name he had not heard in a while. As far as he knew the man had vanished, or popped up again on Tatooine? He had forgotten which bit of gossip was up to date.

Sabacc however, that was something he had heard about. It was something he greatly enjoyed. Waving over three of his crew, he ordered a table brough up (it was an overturned box) and a pack of cards.

"They teach you how to play this in the Academy? I'm impressed." he slapped 20 peggats of his own down, and started to deal out the cards...

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

To Dismas' joy a makeshift table was erected right there on the bridge. He would've preferred them going to the ship's crew area and play there in the comforts of a good chair and plenty of food and drink, but hey, too much of a good thing might become a bad thing, right? If Gentis was anything like Tulo then he'd probably try to cheat and Dismas couldn't allow himself to fall for any cheap tricks.

"Stiffer than a Gamorrean's biceps, those Imperials back at the academy-" Dismas guessed for truly he didn't know. He did know Captain Solari fit that description quite nicely and he went to the academy, so it was probably true. "-my first game of Sabacc was with my dad, Crix, and Pr-" shit, think of something "-icia. This old rodian we knew." Kriff, why did he make Preef out to be an old woman with a hooker's name?

Dismas smiled as he picked up his cards, then widened his cards as he looked at them. "Both tried to cheat me," a warning, perhaps, that he wasn't new to the game or the tricks involved. The only thing remained was putting his twenty peggats on the table. Earned because of the starmap upload that was still running. Losing them would sting, but winning some extra would make this trip worth it.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Ah yes, Pricia - a beautiful human name.

Gentis had known a lady called Pricia back on Canto Bight. Cheapest night he'd ever had, damn expensive medical bill afterwards though.

"I lost my grandmother to Sabaac." he looked mornful. "Need to win her back someday." he burst out laughing, and snapped his fingers to call for more booze .

"You simply must tell me - what was it like at the academy anyway?" he began to deal the first hand, waiting to look at his own cards until the time was right to do so.

He'd always assumed the Imperial Academy was a graduating schools for the sons of posh men, but was happy to stand corrected. "Cant just have been parades and fire practice?"

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

The laughter over the captain's joke hid Dismas' disappointment. He had a terrible hand, but was unfortunate to have the big blind this turn. "Imagine a place where you have no free will," the answer was completely made up, ofcourse, Dismas had no idea. "where you all wear and look the same. They tell you how to walk, what to do, when to piss, when to sleep and who to fuck." That is what Dismas envision the academy to be, anyway.

Reality was very different, but in Dismas' mind an Imperial Academy was about ten times stricter than the Navigation School he went to on Eriadu and back then -when you're used to rules being more like guidelines- it was a stifling and horrible experience. The only thing that really saved it all, and Dismas' sanity, was the fact that they gave great classes on astronavigation.

Once the first round of betting was over, Dismas simply folded. There was no use trying to bluff in the first round of Sabacc. "You sure you shuffled the cards before you started dealing, Gentis?"

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

Goddamnit!

He had forgotten to shuffle the cards.

Gentis had to style this one out. He smiled, he folded.

He died a bit inside.

"Bad luck mate." Gentis gathered the cards, and shuffled them judicuously.

Dealing them back out again, as if nothing had happened he replied to Dismas "It sounds horrible. Here in my crew we have true freedom, to do what we please and go where we wish - surely that must have some appeal for a man of your talents?"

 

[Dismas Zaa Fenn]

After the first hand Gentis Freem seem to change from having the typical appearnce of a gang boss to that of a presumptive pirate king. it was something Dismas would have to be careful in, because such change could be symptomatic of being a bad loser. The last thing he wanted was to be get pushed through an airlock in deep space because he had the audacity to win an extra few peggats.

"The pay is good, steady-" Dismas began as a way to balance the pretend horror of the academy. "-so once you land a commission you're set for life. My share is set and constant. Cargo hold empty after a month on the hyperlanes? No matter," Dismas took his cards and lifted them up to see if this time they'd be worth anything, "I get housed, fed and paid."

Why did he tell them this, well that was simple; "I tried my hands at transporting, smuggling and piracy-" it was after all part of his job description with the Blackout Fleet, "-and went to my cot every night hungry and destitute."

His new hand was much better, so he put down the small blind and immediately raised the stakes, "I raise with one peggat."

@Nor'baal

 

[Gentis Freem]

He had a good hand - for once.

Clearly his shuffling had paid off, and the cruel mistress of fate was smiling on him. He took the raise, with an unnerving sense of triumph as the hand ended.

Victory! He swiped his winnings from his annoyed crew mates, and his hopefully less annoyed guest.

”You'd get housed, fed and paid here!” he retorted. Those soft imperials with their need for ‘a steady job's - madness!

Perhaps the Blackout Fleet just wasn't very good at piracy.

His crew had never gone hungry, except for the numerous times in which they had.

Plus, Dismas had actual skills he could market. Skills that would put him on a good share in any motley crew.

Dealing the next hand he added ”But you're a navigator, no? A crew like mine could pay a double share for someone with your skills.”