Mine Your Own Business

[Lilith (8th TL)]

Finally, the mine was hers. All of it. Unfortunately, that meant she needed to make sure no employees would try to back stab her or get revenge for what she did to the owners. This meant talking to the head employees—the enforcers—to get to know them. If anything suspicious came up, she'd have them fired or killed. It was dirty work, but it had to be done in order to secure her new mine.

Luckily, one of her mercs decided to accompany her into the mine. This would help people think twice about straight up jumping her. He was obviously here to get his paycheck, but she'd give him a bonus if he stuck around to help her.

It wasn't hard to find the office, or notice some confused and dirty looks she got. Cait swiped the keycard, prompting the door to beep and click as it rushed open. She moved into the office, which was scarcely decorated. It made sense seeing as it wouldn't need to be used around the clock, unlike Cait's office back at the Lusty Lekku.

Cait made herself comfortable in the chair and looked back up at the merc. "I'll transfer your pay now, and a nice fat bonus if you stick around to help me clear out any sketchy employees," she said, smiling at him before pressing a button that activated the intercom.

"Workers, my name is Cait Aislinn and I have purchased ownership of this mine. All enforcer report to my office now," her voice rang throughout the intercom with a tininess. She'd have them line up outside her office to speak to them one on one, but expected that not all of them would rush to her office right away anyway. Plus, some might be deeper in the mine.

It didn't take long till one of them came into the office, and surprisingly it was a human. At least, she thought it was a human. The man was basically the size of a wookiee and scarred from head to toe. His face seemed like it had a frown permanently chiseled into his jaw and he didn't say anything right away. He just stood there staring daggers at Cait.

Cait raised a fiery red eyebrow at him, signaling to the seat in front of the desk. Though she honestly didn't know if he could fit in it. The man moved over to the chair but didn't sit down. Cait cleared her throat and started to speak again, "I'm checking in with each enforcer to make sure everything is in running order."

The man grunted, staring her in the eyes now, "How did you convince Vance Ruary to sell you his part of the mine?"

As the words fell from his lips, Cait knew this man probably needed to go. She went to answer but he cut her off, "I spoke to the man not 20 minutes ago. I swear if..."

Cait flashed a look at her merc, a "this ones not going to work out" look, hoping he understood it and knew what to do next.

@Raydo

 

[Gillian Rel]

He followed Cait inside the mine. He didn't expect to much trouble from these workers. What did they care about who owned the mine, they would still get paid if they did their work. Everyone would win, well except for guy outside.

He followed her into the office, scanning the room for anything interesting. His attention turned back to Cait as she sat down and mentioned his credits. He nodded. He was growing used to his home on Nar Shaddaa but maybe this wouldn't be so bad. He would make some connections, and make some credits. "Since you asked so nicely...." he said smiling getting the notification his credits had been transferred to his account.

As they waited "You know...if you brought some of your girls out here, it may be a decent boost to morale, plus make some money off of the miners...Just a thought." he said shrugging as the door opened. It was a somewhat selfish gesture. If he was going to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere, he might as well try for some entertainment.

The man entered the room, clearly hostile towards Cait. Gil stood off to the side of the room as the two had their brief conversation. When she gave him the look, he sighed somewhat before pulling his blaster out and shooting the large man dead with one bolt to the side of the head. "Good help is so hard to find these days..." he said, nudging the corpse with his foot.

 

[Lilith (8th TL)]

Cait watched the man get shot without batting an eyelash. She was certainly getting colder, at least towards those who were against her. Looking down she started to type on the console, answering something Gillian had mentioned earlier, "You know, that's not a half-bad idea. Actually, maybe I could recruit some girls here and open up a bar somewhere nearby."

It was an interesting thought, and she did need to start expanding again now that she had secured the mine. But the thought passed because it didn't take long before the rest came in; all their eyes went down to the dead man on the floor and a couple humans lost color in their faces. "Welcome new boss!" one man said, another following with, "Uh... ye--yea welcome boss lady!" coughing nervously.

She smiled back at them, answering again with, "I'm just checking to make sure everything is in working order."

The men nodded back at her, "Yes ma'am, no troubles here. We've got people begging for jobs so we aren't short of hand neither."

That was a relief to hear; she wouldn't have to look hard to replace the one that just got shot and the others looked too scared to do anything even if they were thinking about it. "Very well, you can go back to work."

They all nodded again and started to go out, but she added, "Oh, but if you hear anyone saying troublesome things take care of them for me, will you?" It was vague, but she knew that they'd know what it meant. "Of course ma'am," one answered, the others echoing the same before departing.

"Well that was easy," she said, looking over to Gillian. "I've sent you your original pay and bonus and I have all the records I need. I'm going to do a more thorough walk through now. Join me?" She didn't expect him to stick around for too much longer, but again, if anyone tried to jump her in the lower levels it wouldn't hurt to have a merc around.

Cait stood up from her chair and walked to Gillian, finding herself smiling softly while she did, she added, "Thanks for the good help, by the way." Without thinking she put a hand on his cheek lightly and tipped her head slightly, looking at him quietly for a brief moment before letting it slip away as she walked out of the office. "So have you been doing this long, or have you recently taken up the trade?" she asked, scanning the mine and the grubby men trying to avoid making eye contact with her.

@Raydo

 

[Gillian Rel]

"Creating jobs already...you'll be a hit around here." he said with a chuckle. A strip club here would rake in money.

Soon others came, examining the corpse before quickly falling in line. Gil had learned that it was often much less painful to make an example of someone up front, show people you mean business. It would be some time before these people thought twice about crossing their new employer.

"People around here understand tough. I am sure you won't have any more issues." he said as his chrono vibrated. He looked down to see the notification of the credit deposit. The money he was promised was there, and then some. He thought he might like working for Cait!

She moved towards him, looking up and sliding a cold hand across his cheek. The gesture sent chills running down her spine. He grinned slightly "You keep paying this well and you'll spoil me!" he teased. She moved towards the door and Gil slipped his helmet back on and picked up his rifle.

He followed along as Cait moved through the mine. Gil scanned the crowd, looking for anyone who might cause trouble. For now, everyone was keeping their heads low. Good.

"I've done a little bit of this...a little bit of that." he said in response. "But this.." he said hefting the rifle up slightly, "fairly new but I think you find I'm quite motivated." This was a new opportunity all together though, with a bit of money he could rise above the ranks of a petty drug dealer and actually make something of himself.

 

[Lilith (8th TL)]

Cait smiled when he teased her, replying with a firm, "Good. I want to pay my help well. I spoil my girls, I'll spoil my help." It was true, while it might be unnecessary, she took care of the people who took care of her; as if they were family. She didn't have blood related family—they were all she had.

Walking at a steady speed she looked around as she went. Nothing seemed out of place so far. The walk might end up being a simple one. She glanced back at him and continued to speak, "If you stick around, I'll make sure you continue to be motivated." Cait's hand waved in the air towards everything around her. "This mine is only one step. I have big plans."

When they got to one of the elevators she stepped on, turning around to wait till he got on. "The Exchange—the name of my upcoming 'network'. I've already started laying foundations for it—smuggling routes, contacts, fronts to sell valuable goods such as my spice and information at high prices."

Her eyes turned back to him and her head tipped a bit as she spoke, "And with good men like you at my side, I'll have it break into other business avenues once it's established." She wondered if he would actually stick around that long. Those who started with her would probably end up on the top with her, since they could both earn one anothers trust along the way.

@Raydo

 

[Gillian Rel]

He listened as she spoke. He had a good feeling about this woman, maybe this was his shot to become something more than the common thug he had on the road to becoming.

She seemed to have a plan, of course, everyone did but something was different about her. Maybe he was just getting suckered, there was no doubt he found her attractive, and it would not have been the first time he had fallen prey to a pretty face. He decided it wasn't that as he stepped onto the elevator and doors closed

"That's quite ambitious of you.." he said. Everyone had to chose to take risks on people to get anywhere. Gil decided he would roll the dice with this Cait Aislinn. He had seen her fight above, witnessed her powers, it was enough to convince him. "...I like ambitious." he finally added, smile apparent in his tone.

"Whats the next step?" he asked as the doors opened up. Gil stepped out and scanned the faces there before moving further. Word had obviously spread here as well.

 

[Lilith (8th TL)]

Her smile didn't fade when he answered; she felt lucky for having what she had and for finding someone who might stick around for future endeavors. Of course she wasn't naive enough to 100% believe that he would, but she did allow herself to hope. Men like him were important to her plans.

Walking out of the elevator, she replied, "The next step is making more friends in high places." Cait's eyes managed to lock with one of the workers—likely by mistake on his part—who promptly looked away. Before he did she caught fear in his eyes, which was enough for her to leave him be. She wanted to care for every person under her but that wouldn't be able to happen here. They needed to fear her in order to stay in line.

After a moment she continued, "And a spice research center." Her pace was steady, but quick enough that they were almost at another elevator already. She'd take it up instead of down, since it seemed like it'd be a waste of time to check every floor with how things were going. "I can't put all my ducks into one basket, afterall." Of course she meant she couldn't only have one source of spice.

As they reached the next elevator, Cait went in and waited for Gil to join. When he did, she'd go back up. There wasn't much left for her to do here. Gil on the other hand could do some deeper digging and stick around for a few days to see if anything cropped up. Cait would return to the LL and start working towards getting a meeting with the Sith Emperor; there was no higher place than the Sith throne, after all. The one that wasn't blow to bits, at least.

/end thread