Ask Know the Omega

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

THEME​

Kara felt the synthetic spice kick in right as the music dropped. She stood among the crowd, dancing on the rhythm together with a few dozen other folks that visited the Afterlife Club tonight. They were looking to have fun, get drunk and make memories in their hotel rooms at the Omega Station. Everyone was, except-

"Kara, get your head back in the game." Scratch didn't seem to happy over their comline and Kara knew she had every right to be. It was just.. this was the first time she was able to enjoy life again. She had felt more free as a paranoid ganger on the run from assassins than she had working under the close supervision of Preef Zaa Fenn. The old rodian was a ruthless educator. Besides, she knew they knew that she was there. Kara Lok was wanted by various underworld bounty boards for her membership in the Zaa Fenn Crime Family. That she had only come here as a liaison and not on an assignment from an opposing criminal syndicate was probably the only reason she wasn't dead yet.

"Scramble coms, get ready-" Kara killed the line and stopped dancing to look at the person coming her way. See, just like she had went she held office in the Quick-draw Cantina, whoever lorded over the Crimson Dawn on Omega Station would've spotted her on the camera's ages ago. It just took them this long to send someone to come get her.



@Phoenix

 

[Terra Lanris]

Although she'd been lying low while Terra had been making her climb in Crimson Dawn, Terra still recognized Kara Lok as no small player in the underworld scene. Many people came through Omega Station, but coming specifically to Afterlife. Terra had to assume that wasn't an accident.

She had watched the cameras for several minutes as the woman danced and had a "great" time before finally deciding that perhaps it was time to extend an invitation. One of the bouncers - a Blood Pack "mercenary" - made his way through the crowded dance floor and up to Kara.

Administrator Lanris would lock to offer you a drink in her office, the man said before turning and heading in the direction of said office.

Terra was sitting at her desk, the office had a one-way window that overlooked the club's dance floor and all the people below, a perfect place to watch without being interrupted. Since her recent "legitimate" job as Governor of Kessel, though, her security had had to be increased. Not in the conventional sense, but in the sense of Terra setting up another room to securely deal with the more... questionable sides of her business.

As Kara entered, Terra's eyebrows rose and she stood.

Come in, have a seat, she said, motioning to the chair across the desk.

She turned to a rather attactive male waiter who stood at one end of the room and spoke. I'll have the usual, she said. The Tiefling Trashcan was specifically designed for people with two livers and had an exorbitant amount of hard liquor mixed with a Red Rancor energy drink.

Would you like something? she asked Kara before taking a seat. The waiter would leave and the door would close a moment later, leaving the two women alone.

So what brings Kara Lok to my station? she asked with a small smile. The woman's reputation proceeded her, and Terra had yet to decide if that was a good or bad omen.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

So far, so good. As expected.

Kara nodded to the bouncer and followed him to the office, where Kara made sure to straighten her clothes a bit before she went in. Administrator Lanris was an important player in both the Crimson Dawn and the general spice trade. She was the formal Governor of Kessel, after all. That chatter about her rise had only surfaced after the raid on the Zaa Fenn's Coruscant Headquarters was the only reason the two women had never met before to do business.

That changed today, hopefully.

"Eh, Rodian Brandy-" she smiled to the attractive waiter as the he walked towards the door and closed it behind him. She thought it sounded more sophisticated than sewer-riped moonshine or the usual variations of Corellian whiskey and she was here to impress.

Taking the seat opposite the administrator and returned her smile. "Liaison duties," Kara explained as she held up her hand for a second and took an encrypted datacard from her pockets to slide it across the desk, "A slicer's collective that used to be based on Coruscant," and had strong affiliation with the Zaa Fenn Crime Family until that merc Covax tried to go scorched earth on them.

The encrypted datacard would offer guest access to the KnowOnes subnet. Slicers were notoriously shy and usually unwilling to meet in person. Not that that needed to be explained to a crimelord of the Crimson Dawn, who were known to employ just that type of criminal operator. If Kara hadn't set her mind on a different career path she'd be here offering her services as a slicer herself.

"They asked me to give your that datacard personally," she explained, "and answer any questions you might have."

@Phoenix

 

[Terra Lanris]

Mmm, brandy, she said with a smirk. Truth was, Terra was an enjoyer of virtually any kind of alcohol, but her recent successes had managed to open up new horizons for her.

As the man left, they got down to business, which suited Terra just fine. Admittedly, she was a bit surprised by what she was handed, and took it. For a moment, she looked at it before booting up her data terminal. Crimson Dawn had learned a long time ago that working with slicers one could never be too careful, and plugging an unknown data chit into your system wasn't wise.

Instead, she slid it into an alternate port, isolated away from the rest of the system that had been set up for situations just like this, starting to scroll through the data before quirking an eyebrow.

A liaison, you say? she said, continuing to scroll through the information. Political dirt, bank account numbers, sliced open chain codes and ship IDs, and more. The possibilities were diverse.

To what do I owe this... gift? she asked. "Gift." It wasn't a gift, and they both knew it. Nothing was free in this business, and it was always just a matter of price and whether that price would ultimately be too much.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Kara seemed to shrug for a moment, "Old connections," she explained. She wouldn't have to insult Terra's intelligence by going into further detail. Covax had gone scorched earth on both the Zaa Fenn Crime Family and their Coruscant gang affiliates like the Lower Level Bouncers (LLB) and the KnowOnes. Not many of them survived and those that did had been forced into hiding, unsure if their old haunts on Coruscant were still save enough for them to revisit.

"They want to set up shop here on your station," and enjoy the protection of the Crimson Dawn, to be sure. It was Administrator Lanris that had to decide whether offering protection to a small slicer's collective could justify to potentially grief the new leader of the Crymorah Syndicate. That's what the datacard had been for. An enticer to give her a better estimate of their worth.

They chose Kara as liaison for another reason, though. "I can vouch for their skill. Without them I wouldn't have been able to escape the Quick-draw Cantina in time." she said, in reference to that fateful night where Covax and Aska Ryun had moved in to take out Gareth and Marissa Zaa Fenn and ended up blowing up the crime family's headquarters on Coruscant. The KnowOnes had also helped her scam ten million credits from the Sith Empire and arrange several clandestine meetings with politicians and other underworld kingpins at the time.

@Phoenix

 

[Terra Lanris]

Terra continued to scroll through the data for a few more moments before pulling the chit out and setting it back on the table. The waiter arrived with their drinks and Terra took it, giving a nod and a smile in his direction and waiting until he was gone before speaking again.

Omega is home to a lot of different people with a lot of different businesses, she said. As Kara would certainly know, Omega was run by corporations, and those groups - which ultimately paid up to Dawn - weren't particularly prying so long as you paid your dues.

People who enjoy discretion are welcome so long as they... pay forward to their community, she said. It was all double talk, of course, but she knew perfectly well that Kara would know what she meant. Terra did have a legitimate side of her business to protect as well.

I'm sure you know what I'm going to ask about next, she said, giving full credit to the smart woman. It was the bantha in the room that needed to be addressed before potential offers were made or deals discussed.

This station and its companies prefer not to run afoul of groups like Crymorah, she said. Terra knew Covax personally and they had an amiable enough relationship, but she wasn't interested in testing just how far the limits of their acquaintanceship went.

As you can see, I'm not looking to cash in on bounties myself, but I can't say the same for the inhabitants walking around here, she said. Crimson Dawn controlled the station and the bulk of the serious muscle, but there were so many bounty hunters, smugglers, spacers, and upstarts passing through that it was simply unfeasible to assume the loyalty of every single person.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

"Unless you tell them," Kara smiled before take a sip of the brandy that was just brought in, "whose to know former affiliations?" If the decade that the NetDespot45 had been on the Bounty Boards proved anything it was that slicers were perhaps the most difficult kind of criminals to pursue. All Covax could have on them were their pseudonyms, heck, Kara was a member and even she only knew pseudonyms. Terra would know this perfectly well, but it seemed like she wanted to make a point regarding Kara's affiliations.

In a galactic underworld where the loyalty of scoundrels quickly shifted between gangs or syndicates, everyone still knew that those who carried the Zaa Fenn name would be members of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family until their death. Sure, Kara had lead her own gang as a ringleader under the Zaa Fenn crimelord, but she was never adopted. Neither had Crix Dolan been, a current enforcer of Terra's who had done some work for Gareth Zaa Fenn in the past. "Covax missed me on Coruscant the same way he missed the bolts coming at him on Nal Hutta," it was a petty barb, but the new leader of the Crymorah was known to pretend he was one of Preef's Legends, despite never having been announced to the galaxy as such. In reality, Shane Covax ate several bolts before his unconscious body had been left in AMS infected territory prior to a major palace-shattering explosion. In others words; don't worry about Shane Covax.

"Pseudonyms can change. Group names altered. It's their skill you'd benefit from, not whoever they were affiliated with in the past" Heck, even the current Supreme Mogul of the Hutt Cartel worked for the Zaa Fenn Crime Family in his younger years. Did Terra expect Covax would be gunning for Nor'baal Desilijic, too? "I've made my choice," she continued, realizing that she couldn't be here merely as a liaison anymore, "I am Zaa Fenn. Preef himself-" rumors of his return had already spread, but were to be confirmed by the capture of the First Blade of the Empire soon, "-will adopt me."

Kara was beginning to doubt whether the Crimson Dawn crimelord was interested in hosting a couple of slicers and offer them the protection they asked in return for their services. They wouldn't like it, but if the Administrator refused them on her station, perhaps Kara could convince them to join the Hutt Cartel instead?

Still, the KnowOnes had a preference to stay among civilized people and Kara had to respect that. She hadn't lost her composure, but she did realize that making a petty barb at the new Crymorah leader and mentioning Preef's name out in the open had been in bad taste. She took another sip of her drink, "They're just good slicers that want your protection, Administrator Lanris-" she hoped that by returning to address Terra more respectfully according to her title there'd be something to save from the meeting, "-they always used droids for physical meets. Wiped their memories after. They could operate a datapad store here on the station, see thousands of sentient customers affiliated with hundred gangs and all five syndicates and not even I would recognize them." In fact, they could 'forego' their slicing careers and become HoloNet engineers at a corporation, never to step foot in the underworld again, but that would mean 'selling out' and the KnowOnes did once start out as a group of idealists trying to stick it to the corporations and their politician lackeys.

@Phoenix

 

[Terra Lanris]

Terra listened and considered. Yes, there was certainly a point to them remaining discreet, and if their discretion truly was everything that Kara was selling it to be, then there wasn't likely to be any issues. After all, contractors bounced around often in this line of work.

The comments about Preef, though, managed to catch Terra's attention, an eyebrow rising slightly. Now that rumor being confirmed. That was interesting. Very interesting.

Then news of his death was greatly exaggerated? she said, more a statement than a question truly. A confirmation of a rumor that Terra had had trouble believing. But an old gunslinger like Preef? Well, they weren't so easy to take out.

Terra's tail slid along the floor under her desk for a moment as she thought, reaching out to take a long drink of her beverage that had been brought for her.

If they really are as discreet - and always have been as discreet - as you claim, then I'm certain room could be made for them, she said. There's a mounting need for technical specialists, and the war has created even more opportunity than ever before, she said. ISC would pay top crown for cracks into Imperial systems and communications, and that meant more opportunity for Crimson Dawn to make money off its services.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

The war, Kara heard Administrator Lanris say it with such normalcy in her tone of voice. She remembered the last war she'd been somewhat involved in. The Independent Systems Consortium had declared war on all Five Syndicates in order to invade planets in Hutt Space. Crymorah shouldn't have been a target and it wasn't really, not until Gareth decided to speak for all syndicates and take a stand by committing acts of terror and claiming them in name of the Crymorah Syndicate and the Zaa Fenn Crime Family. Things had moved quickly then, with former associates being lured in with the promise of credits to betray the Zaa Fenn.

Once the planets the ISC had been after were in their control they declared the war to be over, but crime nevertheless flourished and the current rise of the Hutt Cartel was all but proving that it had all been a sham. Syndicates were mere playthings of the intergalactic nations and Kara -unlike Terra- didn't want anything to do with their wars.

"Not all opportunities are worth it," she merely stated and emptied her glass of Rodian Brandy. "The old rodian is a cautionary tale," Kara smiled sadly, "Dance for them once and they'll expect you to dance for them forever." Kara knew that Preef regretted staying on Eriadu when the Sith took control. He regretted helping them defend Sullust and accepting their help in defending Kessel from the Jedi. Had they rebuild the Zaa Fenn on a neutral planet, would the galactic powers have kept pulling at the old rodian to expand his power to their benefit? Kara doubted it. The trick -as always- was a well known proverb: The best trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist.

"You'll find a way to contact them on that datacard," the ringleader said as she rose to her feet and extended her hand towards the administrator, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Administrator Lanris. The KnowOnes will know how to contact me if you ever want to do business."

@Phoenix

 

[Terra Lanris]

Terra smiled slightly at the warning, not because it was wrong per se, but because there was partial truth in it. But just like the risks inherent to it, there were ways to plan for such things.

Yeah, but as you pointed out: it can be very difficult to track down slicers and those who don't make themselves immediately known, she said. Anonymity could be a very powerful tool, and it was one of the benefits of Crimson Dawn. Back in their day during the Galactic Empire, it was easy to know Crimson Dawn had been everywhere but impossible to know who they actually were. Terra aspired to reach that again someday.

Terra took the datacard and slipped it into her desk before standing.

A pleasure, she said, taking the offered hand in her own. To the credits flowing and the blasters staying holstered, she said, a common saying on Omega wishing good fortune because it really could go either way.

@Eccles