Ask Nar Shaddaa District Dialogue

[Zentripoli]

Inconceivable…

Zentripoli could not believe the amount of time that passed in order to receive the parts necessary to complete hisprototype combat platform, but sure enough, the parts were delayed. As such, the Columi made a calculated risk to venture out in Nar Shaddaa without a modicum of protection. In fact, he was without his trusted human bodyguard as well, so the risk for catastrophe went up exponentially in the Columi’s mind. Alas, the Columi criminal never let opportunity pass, so he ventured out. His labor droid, Stevo, carried him in his small chair down the bridges that connected the spanning skyscrapers among the Corellian District. Over the right shoulder of Stevo was Beeswax, the salvage droid that helped out in transporting and protecting the Columi. While Stevo did the “heavy lifting”, Beeswax did everything else. Zentripoli’s sources told him that just on the other side of the bridge was an establishment that was owned and operated by a member of Crimson Dawn—more importantly, a member of the Five Syndicates.

To the little genius, this just meant that he needed to see her establishment and accurately gauge her to see if they could come to an understanding. In such close proximity on Smuggler’s Moon, it was advantageous to get to know your neighbors. It was a pleasant enough business model—a place of socialization combined with a place of technology repair. Consume her spirits while you wait on your repairs. The longer it takes, the more you drink—genius!

Zentripoli did a quick cost analysis and SWOT analysis on her business seeing that with the right “persuasion”, it could be quite possible. But for the moment? It could not be turning the kind of profit that would be satisfactory—this is where Zentripoli came in. With a glance, he could look at financials and make a plan to address any shortcomings in the business plan. Such was the life of being a super-genius…

Carried by “Stevo”, Zentripoli entered the large room at the front of Nightfall. The Columi’s sharp eyes scanned the area and quickly began to piece together the flow of the business: those seeking sensual companionship went to the rear of the room, those seeking beverage were on the left and the right side houses the computer repair. Quickly, the Columi got a lay of the land and assessed the risk to his physical form. The risk was low enough that he felt he could remain with minimal risk. A server girl came and asked what he would like, quietly regarding Zentripoli with curiosity. Obviously this twi’lek was “into him”—but Zentripoli decided he did not want to break the poor twi’lek’s heart, so he just carried on to the point, “Indeed--your assistance is timely, my lovely Rylothian native. Unfortunately, I do not have the bandwidth or margin to share my holonet codes to you for your pleasurable contact with me—I do apologize for the impromptu heartbreak I have enacted on you this very moment. Another time perhaps...I would like for you would afford me a kindness and tell the proprietor, Alais, that she has a guest that would love to commence dialogue on business matters..."

Sitting in the chair, held by the labor droid, it was a very interesting sight to behold, but the Columi simply saw it as business as usual…this was how life was for the Columi.,,

@Dread

 

[Jaçelle Noradne]

While it had been nearly a decade since Jacelle had lived on Coruscant, she made it a point to return every once in a while to spend time with her family and present them with credits. Her flight had been canceled for an unstated reason, so she had gotten Columi's coordinates and went to join him in his endeavors. Jacelle didn't remember the exact reason he had gone to Nightfall, but it wasn't her job to ask questions. Her job was to make sure he was protected.

The giant of a woman ducked as she entered the building, and she immediately looked around for the defenseless alien. She found him quickly, surrounded by his droids, and made her way over. She greeted him with a quick hello, and "my flight was canceled." Jacelle chose not to sit down and instead just stood.

 

[Lilith Vye]

A longer, form fitting dress clung to Alais' small figure. It was black this time, kissed by a soft pink along some edges. Some nights she wore casual and couldn't care less, but not tonight. First of all, she'd felt like dressing up. Second of all, when everyone, including herself, tried to look decent it sometimes helped bring in crowds.

She was behind her desk when one of her serving girls mentioned that a possibly intoxicated alien had asked for her. This made the young slicer rise an eyebrow. Whoever it was wanted her to go to him, so it was probably someone a little more important then the regular rough around this area. With a slight nod Alias followed the woman to the location of this guest.

Now, at first she didn't see anyone but after a few blinks her eyes finally found the alien. Without being able to control it, she brought a hand up to her face to stifle a laugh; the thing... the alien was adorable but probably just as evil as the rest of them. After composing herself she walked up to the man and bowed her head slightly in respect, knowing better than to bluntly disrespect a stranger. "I hear you're looking for me. How may I help?"

 

[Zentripoli]

A broad smile appeared across the small Columi’s face as Jacelle Noradyne came to his side. She could the nervousness dissipate from Zentripoli as she came next to him. He responded to her explanation of her presence, “Indeed, my most skilled companion. Fortuitous for me."

The labor droid held the Columi’s chair in two hands as Zentripoli sat in it with his fingers steepled. Columi were rarely encountered off of their home planet of Columus. As a species, they had evolved to a point where they were born with their limbs atrophied and they were unable to stand. While they could move their limbs to a degree, they could only support their own weight. In fact, Zentripoli had never been able to stand on his own. Thus, the reason the droid held him now. Droids had aided and protected him his entire life…

A broad smile crossed Zentripoli’s face, “Anticipated reaction to a first encounter to my species. Alas, such is the evolution of our kind. Physical activity has been lost to us for millennia…”

The Columi switched topics, believing the explanation was adequate, “Your appearance is more pleasing than anticipated--a credit to your species, to be sure. I am confident this aspect serves you well in an establishment of this nature. Thank you for taking the time to have a conversation with me. I am Zentripoli. This is my companion, Jacelle.”

Looking back at her, Zentripoli continued, “Coincidence and fate, at large, has thrust us along a similar path. I own a droid repair and modification establishment across the bridge from you in Unit 6745 of Building 3454. My understanding is that you have affiliation among the ‘five’…as do I. Business affairs in this district can be aligned for great profit. Do you have an area within this establishment where we may speak in private?”

@Jaçelle Noradne @Alais

 

[Lilith Vye]

"Very well," Alais eye'd up the little man, giving him a short answer at first. Usually she'd be a little more careful about her name but the man seemed to know what he was talking about. Plus, she'd heard about his place and needed connections to start to grow a network. Taking a bit of a risk, she lead him behind the desk in the computer repair shop.

Carefully she typed in the code of the day and let the panel scan her left hand. The door beeped and she walked into the hallway. As ahe did, the datapad in her pocket shook. The datapad shook twice more when both her guests entered the hallway too. She lead them through her room with thousands of computer parts, spikes, and everything related to consoles.

Parts hung off the ceiling and wall. Parts hung off parts hung off parts. There was not an inch of the floor to see through all the parts, though there was order to the chaos. Anything that could be stepped on couldn't be easily broken. It'd take a lot of weight and a lot of repetitive smashing to destroy them. The delicate items were off the ground, though she imagined very little people could see the whole picture none of this bothered her.

Without any trouble she made it through the room to her office, where she sat down and pointed to the chairs in front of it. She wasn't sure if either of her guests could make use of the chairs due to their sizes, but it wasn't like there were other options. "As you can imagine, I'm a fan of profit. What's your proposal?"

 

[Zentripoli]

Zentripoli’s diminutive fingers began to tap together as they were steepled. He seemed to be taking in the work area with a discerning eye. Looking over to Alais, he replied, “The foundation of any joint endeavor starts with clear goals and benchmarks for progress. The truly experienced partners also have a solid exit strategy in the event of the need for an amiable split. Perhaps these two items should make up the bulk of our discussion…”

The small alien looked at her. The Porter droid turned slightly to face her better. Zentripoli continued, “As you may or may not be aware, the Crymorah Syndicate has the majority of their holdings on Coruscant. However, I see opportunity here on Nar Shaddaa. Tenuously, I seek to consolidate control of the droid repair, manufacturing, and modification markets on the Smuggler’s Moon. Since you are a ‘fan of profit’ as it were, perhaps your most direct route is to hold a monopoly on technology personal devices, along with slicing services here on Nar Shaddaa. Indeed, such ambitions are lofty, so having the support of another kindred spirit in this ‘rise to obscene profitability’, can ease this ascension by supporting one another’s endeavors and in the midrange of this climb, joining forces as one entity until we outgrow one another. At that point, due to our distinct avenues for wealth, a split should be fairly simplistic. If property is involved, I will leave the structure to you and I will simply the share that I put forward for the structure. What are your thoughts on this proposal?”

@Alais @Jaçelle Noradne

 

[Lilith Vye]

Alais listened quietly to Zentripoli's proposal. To his credit, having an 'out' was a perfect way to start a deal. On Nar Shaddaa, trust was a rare and fragile thing. Though you wouldn't get anywhere without risk, and making any business deal was a risk. Although it was better to make one with another Five than with a random criminal. Not too much better, but better.

"It's a decent proposal, Zentripoli. My ambitions are a bit higher than a monopoly but I believe they can be achieved through one. With this exit deal of yours, I want whatever company name we have whenever we split. With your intellect I'm certain you can come up with another name and advertise it accordingly, but I get attached to things when I invest time into them." To her a name was important, to her it was a signature. Perhaps she had more than one signature, but that didn't cheapen any of them.

She turned and dug out some documents from her also chaotically ordered desk. Pulling them out, she placed them on the table to give the Columi a basic understanding of her businesses profit. Of course, if he was truly as smart as he presented himself, he'd understand her slicing profits weren't in there, and that they quadrupled if not more what her legitimate business did.

"My other stipulation is we begin to build right away. I want a name, another building and more workers. I've already started on more workers.... but the kind that have lots of muscle and are loyal to the biggest bad in their group, which is me." Alais was a small size, but she'd grown up on the streets of Nar Shaddaa and already experienced the biggest betrayal in her life. She knew how to handle and defend herself—it always felt like something was guiding her when she did. Like something drew her towards the correct action. Just like when she sliced.

@Mithias @lizziie

 

[Zentripoli]

Zentripoli listened. His black eyes regarded the human in front of him with piqued interest. She began to explain her ambitions, which the small alien nodded to as she expressed more than the first phase of Zentripoli’s initial moves. As she laid out the documents in front of the Columi, the huge labor droid walked over to the desk so the small alien could see them better. There was no verbalization—the droid just seemed to react to the Columi’s needs.

Looking up, he stated, “Good. It is pleasing to me that you understand that a market monopoly is simply the means to an end. But it is a rapid means for our ends, which we will take full advantage of.”

Waving off the next words, he said, “You are welcome to keep the structure we use and the name. This facet of the arrangement I find acceptable, as long as the name benefits my interests while my efforts exist under this roof. It will be yours when the time comes for a split, should that be in our long range plans. At the time we split, you will simply reimburse me an amount of credits that equate to half the market value of the establishment. I will waive other fees that are typically attached to such a transaction. As for my recovery? It will take little time for my marketing blitzes to gain recognition of a new ‘household name’. for my purposes”

Pause.

“Interesting accounting you have to cover your ‘other’ activities. I will send you a list of recommendations to make this a bit more ‘believable’ in the face of curious, discerning eyes. Free of charge in recognition of this partnership agreement we are embarking on.”

Continuing to tap his small fingers, the Columi continues, “An aggressive buildout schedule should be acceptable. The downtime will coincide with our efforts to eliminate or absorb our local competition. This should be approached with a combination of my research and your slicing—shifting around some licenses and deeds would be a good start for the ‘unrefined’ competitors. We will take on more of a direct route for those rooted here. Garnering loyal soldiers will be essential in dealing with any blowback that could result from these concentrating efforts…”

Finishing that thought, the Columi states, “Anticipating we may come to an accord this eve, I have already taken the liberty of sending some legal documents concerning this endeavor as a courtesy. Not that such items are binding to entrepreneurs such as the two of us, but more as a clearly defined outline of structure, processes, and other intricacies. I am confident you will find the tenets of this agreement to your satisfaction…”

@Alais @Jaçelle Noradne

 

[Lilith Vye]

She appreciated his offer to send suggestions, although she always took care of her own funds. "Very well, send me your suggestions or simply do what you please with the records," she answered in a way that one might think flippant. But they were to merge under one cooperation, so even if their shops bared different names it was in both their interests to have the records in order.

His other suggestion on how to expand made sense. Slicing and shifting some things around could be very risky depending on a lot of factors, even if these businesses were 'unrefined' but it was worth it. Better than only gang violence. She preferred a mix of both, honestly. "Alright you do your research, I'll get us those licenses."

Alais took the contract in her hand, of course turning to her console to connect the two. Before she signed anything, she ran the document through several of her own hand-made programs. They swept for key words, lines of codes, certain programs and more. Their prerogative was to find anything that might be worded in a way to screw over Alais. Still, Alais took her time to read everything and found nothing that would screw her over later, nor did any of her programs.

With a thumb print and a signature, she signed the document and handed it back. "Now, how does Nightfall Technologies sound to you?"

@Mithias

 

[Zentripoli]

With a thumb print and a signature, she signed the document and handed it back. "Now, how does Nightfall Technologies sound to you?"

Still holding the chair in one hand, the ZDT-510 “Porter” Droid reached out and took the datapad gently from Alais and cradled it in its left hand. The motion was fairly smooth and atypical for a labor droid built for power. The small Columi smiled softly and concluded, “Nightfall Technologies seems very much in line with your current theme and it will indeed be a place of recognition and wealth in due time. It sounds like ‘success’ to me, dear Alais.”

With that, Zentripoli concluded, “Excellent. This cooperative will be a welcome, favorable shift in the dynamics of this locale. I will begin my inquiries and I will allow you time to work technology angle. My contact information has already been sent over to you. It will be a pleasure doing business with you, Lady Alais…”

A curt nod was given from the small alien and the droid smoothly turned, led by Jacelle and headed out of the office.

/END THREAD

@Alais