Ask Eriadu Mothraki Family

[Preef Callo]

Mothraki Family

The Mothraki Crime Family is one of the most influential families within the Crymorah Syndicate. Probably only second to the Xaa Hafven. Perhaps its time we re-introduce ourselves to them and buy some of their droid hardware. Be careful, though! The Mothraki boss is a centuries-old human who has become more droid than human.
Participants: @Eccles and @Nightfall​

The Zaa Fenn penthouse on Eriadu was perhaps the cleanest Preef had ever seen it. Some new pieces of art hung from the walls and he may or may not recognize one as previously belonging to a certain Hutt on Nar Shaddaa. The ten scoundrels that worked the penthouse as security were all bathed, shaven and dressed in their finest tunics as if trying to communicate to Preef that he should really do the same. The rodian had bathed and didn't need to shave, but he was wearing the same style of frontier clothing he used to steal from Out Rim family homes. Perhaps it was time he started dressing the part, too.

Not that he had time right now, because he was standing in front of a holo-screen about to brief Marissa on the happenings on and around Eriadu. "Husk did a great job dealing the that enforcer that betrayed the Zaa Fenn," his fisted right hand crossed his throat to indicate the enforcer was dead, "Kel's doing a great job as always." The smuggler had provided the escape vehicle during their daring evidence vault robbery of the Sector Ranger's HQ and had been a dependable partner ever since. Preef was glad he was onboard. The next subject was a bit sensitive for the both of them: Both Marissa and Preef left the Black Sun and Crimson Dawn respectively because of the growing and unexplained Sith presence and control. Eriadu seemed lotta ways out of the Core where the brunt of the fighting was, but once they bought it the Sith Order took over Eriadu's government overnight and left the new Zaa Fenn no choice. To ensure survival, they had to ingratiate themselves with the new Sith overlords and hopefully get some protection deal out of it without having to accept the Sith into their own ranks. "We've eh-" Preef wasn't the best in communicating all the delicacies, but then Marissa was the smart one and she didn't need him to spell it out to her, "-done several jobs to curry favor with the new Eriadu government. It's probably time to approach them with a partnership before they'll start treating us as their personal lackeys."

Suddenly his briefing was interrupted by one of the Zaa Fenn scoundrels approaching Marissa, "Haro Mothraki is here," he hesitated after saying it, glancing for a moment at Preef and his blaster, "He's in the elevator with four battle-droids."

Kriff, he's early.



@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Not that she and Preef were exactly ever the ones to take it easy, but the situation on Eriadu they'd wormed themselves into was hardly one that left them time to sit about. Already the Zaa Fenn were reaching out fingers into every part of the planet, and she'd no doubt their endeavours would succeed. They had to, really, as taking up the role they had there was hardly the chance to slip up, or else they'd find themselves consigned to the void like the family very nearly was, and they'd certainly hadn't parted on exactly friendly terms with everyone in the Black Sun or the Crimson Dawn. No, there would be people who wanted them to fail, but they had no intention of doing so.

Preef had been very good at keeping tabs on all the operations running, the roles their latest had taken up and the dealings they'd made already. So far then, so good, consolidating the excessive loose ends her predecessor had left them. And if they picked them all up, they'd be in quite the position to turn this ship around.

Too bad then that one of those loose ends was running on its own,

"Well, at least they're punctual" she said rolling her eyes and rising from her seat. She took a position next to Preef as she readied for the meeting that was about to go down. Haro had a reputation after all,

"Ready to do business?" she joked dryly to Preef as the elevator dinged and opened.

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

The elevator doors opened and a behemoth of a man stepped out. Well, there wasn't that much of man left in what had become of Haro Mothraki. Flanked by two KX-series Security Droids on either side the Mothraki Crime Family patriarch strode through the first floor of the Zaa Fenn penthouse as if he owned the place. "Shere!?" his amplified mechanic voice blasted through, but no one did reply. As if he'd known the way before he entered the area where Preef and Marissa stood to welcome him.

There was little left of sentient emotion in his face, but Haro did appear to be smiling when he spotted that new boss of the Zaa Fenn he had heard so much about. "Marissa," his security droids stopped abruptly, giving Preef the jitters, knowing that those droids alone could probably wipe out his entire family. A mere look from his towards the present scoundrel at the far end of the room said enough; stay here in case we need you.

Looking at their boss and his bodyguards made clear why the Mothraki Crime Family was one of the most influential families in the Crymorah Syndicate. Perhaps it was merely a lack of ambition that had prevented Haro from usurping the Xaa Hafven. That and their exclusivity. "I thought Gori Xaa Hafven had succeeded in bankrupting the Zaa Fenn," the deep mechanical voice showed none of the no doubt intended mirth, "But all they did was make room for improved parts." Preef realized that that was probably the biggest compliment Haro could give them. The Mothraki patriarch saw them as the improved cybernetic limbs after the Xaa Hafven had cut off the originals.



@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Marissa couldn’t help but stand to attention as Haro entered her office space, and flanked by high quality security druids only added to the rather chilling affect the towering metal man produced. Still, she didn’t dare show it, especially not as he opened with far more courtesy than she had to admit she was expecting,

“You speak too kindly, though I’d hope in the near future you’ll see how right you are with that description” she said with a confident smile as she bowed her head toward the figure, offering her respects to Mothraki patriarch, trying to mirror his unexpected formality,

“You certainly exceed your reputation” she continued as she looked back up at him, her eyes looking over the cybernetic constructs that made up his body, so much of it seemingly bespoke she hardly recognised it. The droids though were more familiar. Not that she had tussled with them before but, just as Preef did, she knew well not to. And, all things going as planned, they certainly weren’t going to today. In fact, they were here to make sure they had access to them themselves,

“Whatever Gori’s failings I want to assure you we do not share them. And with our entrance into the Cynorrah it would be remiss if we weren’t intending to partake in the strength of our new cousins” she finished as she stepped over to inspect the droids that had come. She moved there slowly, but coolly, trying to make sure she wasn’t acting as a threat but an interested buyer. Which they, in fact, were.

Perhaps though ones not as financially stable just yet as Haro might have been looking for. That though, would be where negotiations would begin.

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

A cruel laugh escaped Haro, "Haha! You would succeed where Gori could not?" his gaze shifted to Preef, "I see why you need me." The boss of the Mothraki family wasn't easily fooled and if his droids would be used against other Crymorah families, well that just meant the price would be going up. "Blackwell droids pale in comparison to my Droid Gotra," in huge part because Mothraki droids were mostly free of any restraining bolts and obedience programs. What surprised Preef was that Haro called it his Droid Gotra and that neither of the four security droids accompanying him gave any sign that they might disagree with a statement on ownership.

"How so?" the rodian asked, completely out of turn and the sharp turn of Haro's head towards him killed any attempt for Preef to continue speaking. A mechanic voice escaped Haro's cybernetics without his mouth ever moving: "Preef Callo. Gunslinger. Threat level: High. Intelligence: Low." the android's eyes literally flashed red and then turned towards Marissa, "Marissa Hesse. Crime Boss. Threat level: Medium. Intelligence: High." A small smile appeared on Haro's face as he turned his entire body towards Marissa, "Cousins don't come cheap."



@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Becoming Zaa Fenn was a gamble. They were all still small fries compared to Haro here, even with their otherwise well earned renown. So, Marissa listened to the metal man posture before her and her partner, a situation that she expected would never change, no matter how high the pair might end up climbing in the organisation. And yet the thought that it might certainly played over in her mind, the irony to look back and see that selling the droids now would see him giving away a whole lot more to her later was a realisation she fully intended for Haro to calculate one day in the future.

For now though, she needed him to sell the droids to her in the first place,

“I doubted they would” Marissa replied as she took a step back and wandered behind the desk to her seat. It was the chair where she commanded the family, and while it wasn’t an equal to the Mothraki, it still helped remind anyone of her position,

“Though the Zaa Fenn are of course ready and willing to find a deal that’s beneficial to both parties” she added confidently. What she had to juggle was that, even with the cash she and Preef had brought to the organisation, they still weren’t exactly swimming in credits. So in times like these, money was indeed an object,

“If you’re of course, willing to take such an option” Haros eyes seemed to whir and click as he focused in on her “we do have a particular set of skills”

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

Haro's face made no movement suggestion he was feeling either way, but he didn't miss a single movement by the new Zaa Fenn boss. Preef didn't like that at all and his right hand was inching closer to his blaster. "In other words," the boss of the Mothraki Crime Family said in a disappointing tone of voice, "you're wasting my time." Instantly the droids, as if they were somehow linked directly into Haro's mind, stepped aside to allow him room to turn around and march right back towards the elevators.

"Wait!" again the rodian spoke before his turn and the four security droids snapped towards him as if they were ready to blast him to bits to comply with Haro's mere thought. The tension in the room was palpable, but Preef wasn't someone to just swallow his words and hide in a corner. "Your droids are linked to you?" he asked with his hand still closer to his blaster, "So they're not autonomous." Haro scoffed, "You think you can defeat my enhanced droids just because they call you the best gunslinger in the Outer Rim?"

"Not the droids, perhaps-" with a quick and fluid motion Preef drew his blaster and aimed it straight at Haro's face, but the remarkable thing was that the droids were a full second too late to come into action to aim their blaster rifles at the rodian. "-but enslaved to you they're slow." He started spinning his blaster pistol backwards before returning it to his holster. "Too slow, so sit down and let's discuss terms."

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Haro’s assessment earlier didn’t give Preef enough credit, clearly. Undoubtedly the machinic man was already running a whole new set of variables through his systems and updating his determinations of the two. And even if he wasn’t, it would pay to act as if he was, no one in this room was worth underestimating. And now, they had another opening. For now she would keep the cool exterior, but after the deal was done she’d be sure to remind Preef how much she appreciated that particular skill of his, indeed jumpstarting the family left them precious little time to celebrate like they once did after big scores. Today though would hopefully change that, give them someone else to leave on security of a night, especially now the Boogaloo Club was under their thumb and opened their doors for them at any timd. She gestured to the space in front of her desk, and Haro begrudgingly complied. One could see it in his eyes, Preefs stunt had shocked him, and he was not often one easily rattled,

“It does pay to keep people of quality in ones immediate employ” Marissa added as Haro took a seat, the chair straining at his bulky metal frame “because he truly is the fastest draw I’m yet to meet” she returned a confident smile to the Mothraki boss, whose lower jaw released an exasperated hiss of air before he spoke again,

“Terms. The droids present can be unlinked and are available for purchase” he began directly “operating independently they’re processing speeds increase by 19.7%” Haros eyes fell onto Preef for a moment as he stated the claim, a moment of veiled threat against any more actions of the sort. In lockstep the droids fell into an ease position with their weapons lowered, presumably now detached from Haro’s mind,

“2000 credits per unit” Marissa’s eyes would have widened if she hadn’t prepared herself. But they were for a fact the best on the market, and a contract with Haro would make things easier in the future. Their accounts though, did not permit quite an arrangement,

“Or perhaps, something of equivalent value to you?”

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

It was almost a bit embarrassing that they couldn't muster up a measly 8000 credits. With the Zaa Fenn existing smuggling activities, the Boogaloo Nightclub and plans to takeover the synthetic spice market on the planet you'd think they had some serious credits to roll with. Whatever happened to their buy-in, anyway? Had the Zaa Fenn been that deep in debt? If it was up to Preef he'd just agree to the deal, get on a ship back to Hutt Space and rob Hutt Cartel lieutenants until he had the funds... would only take a couple of weeks, traveling included. But luckily it wasn't up to Preef, because Marissa was always the smart one and if she was pushing for a tit-for-tat kinda deal than she probably had an angle to play.

Haro scoffed, made move to rise from his seat and laugh until he saw Preef's hand going back to his blaster and he settled down. "What could you possibly have that I'd want?" It was a fair question. Preef couldn't quite guess what an android would want that they could offer. Maybe the services of their top smuggler, Kel Dryden? His ship, the Black Swift, was without a doubt one of the fastest ship in the outside the Core Worlds.


@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Marissa couldn't help but feel like, for perhaps the first time since Haro had entered the room, she had the upper hand. It wasn't in terms of credits, processing power, or even firepower (though Preef had clearly demonstrated that he'd give the hulking figure a run for his money if anything came to blows). No, it was because she did indeed have something the Mothraki patriarch might indeed be quite interested in,

"A dataplague" she said coolly to the machinic Mothraki "Czerka engineered, reputed to be quite the dastardly little worm if it ends up in the wrong places"

The plague she referred to was one she and Preef had worked so hard to acquire for Vivienne Donatade back on Corellia, a little operation that had left them quite literally in the drink at its end. But for an outfit that relied on the muscle of the Droid Gotra for most of its messy work, a plague like that could leave the whole family crippled and defenseless. And she was certain Haro knew it.

Now, Preef and her had delivered it to Donatade and the Crimson Dawn as asked. But the shuttle ride back had left an exquisite amount of time for her to take a scan of the thing. She didn't have the digital know-how to create a copy (safely), but she managed to score a readout of the thing, and for someone who did know what they were doing it'd give them the edge to create security against it,

"If the Crimson Dawn decide to take the fight to the Cymorrah families like they did on Kessel, then I'm sure you wouldn't want a vulnerability like that unleashing itself on you"

Preef and hers culpability in both those events was something that might trouble this deal, she had to admit, but Haro would be a fool to refuse as well. She was playing her hand, but she was ready for the cyborg's response. And she presumed Preef was too, just in case.

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

Haro was silent for what seemed almost an eternity, but by the end of it the droids that had accompanied him powered down completely. "I heard about that plague," he said finally in a voice more human than before, or maybe it only seemed that way because Preef was getting used to the way Haro spoke. "heard who took it, too." the patriarch of the Mothraki Crime Family looked at Preef and then back at Marissa, finally seemingly to recognize the pair as two of the best enforcers the Five Syndicates had known in these past few years. The plague itself could link all his droids, even his own cybernetics, to a datapad or computer foreign to the Mothraki sub. It had the potential to annihilate his entire family and all Vivienne Donatade had to do was press a button...

"I'll take that plague," he stated, careful not to place too high a value on it, "plus ten thousand credits, cash." He smiled, or what was supposed to be a smile appeared on his half-mechanical face. To Preef this seemed like a really good deal. Neither he nor Marissa had the skill to actually create the dataplague from the readout, but making clear to Haro that they, too, owned that plague made them a giant threat to his own survival. All they needed, all the Zaa Fenn needed, was one good slicer and the Mothraki Crime Family was belonged to Marissa, too. That was not something Haro was willing to accept.


@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

It had rattled the man and she knew it, as much as he kept up the facade she was certain that a revelation like that would be of no small consequence to someone who computed the world as Haro did. Both of them knew how exactly it could be used, what it even just represented in her hands and not in his own. So his offer, while good, was one she still thought she had some wriggle room with,

"The plague is yours" she pushed the datachip across the table that contained it. It was her bargaining chip, true, but she was in no position to actualise that threat in the immediate future, and the Mothraki could no doubt mobilise between now and then if things got out of hand. No, that part of the deal wouldn't change. But leaving her hand holding the chip she spoke up once more,

"Four thousand credits, one thousand a droid. Your original offer was eight total, don't think I had forgotten" she added. Perhaps the man hoped that in the play of wills she had forgotten, but that wouldn't be the case,

"Four, and the dataplague. And the establishment of cooperation between our families from here out. As much as I want to bargain, I don't want this to be hostile forever. Though I'm sure you can understand why I can't simply let you ask for everything" she was firm, but polite, so she hoped anyhow. It was a business transaction after all, and their proximity to eachother meant that, as the Zaa Fenn expanded, the Mothraki would be either an early obstacle or ally. She took one last glance at Preef before turning back to Haro,

"Do we have a deal?"

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

Haro nodded, "It's a deal" but he hadn't missed Marissa's glance towards Preef. He knew, based on decades at the head of his own family, that these two were aiming to make a quick rise to the top and they wanted to know whether the Mothraki Crime Family would be an ally or if the rodian had to put a bullet in its patriarch. Haro hadn't survived for this long picking fights he couldn't win. "Our families shall both benefit from such cooperation," he smiled faintly, "Boss Hesse," he turned towards Preef, "Mr Callo" and the latter nodded in understanding, moving his hand away from his pistol, "Boss Mothraki." A man like that wanted to enunciate the difference in rank between the notorious gunslinger and himself, not in the least because to take out a boss in the Crymorah Syndicate you needed support of the commission. If the Zaa Fenn wanted to move on the Xaa Hafven they would now have Mothraki support, but Haro was confident that they didn't have support from the Xaa Hafven to move against the Mothraki.

Interesting how the hierarchies worked. Preef understood it vaguely and left Marissa to the thinking, but Haro definitely overestimated the rodian's smarts and thought he'd know Haro to be untouchable. Preef knew nothing of the sort and watched how the cyborg turned around and walked back over towards the elevators. Without the security droids that had accompanied him the first time around. "Escort Boss Mothraki to his ship," Preef told the few Zaa Fenn guards that were within earshot as a gesture to their guests. On Eriadu, the Zaa Fenn guaranteed his safety, after all.


/end thread

@Nightfall