Ask Zaa Fenn Help

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Name: Zaa Fenn Members (NPC) [Repeatable]
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Bounty: 25,000 to 100,000 Credits based on rank
Contractor: Various

• Targets considered dangerous
• Targets most likely dispersed around the galaxy

Name: Kara Lok (PC)
Wanted: Alive
Bounty: 100,000 credits
Contractor: Various
Wanted for: Being the last remaining Ringleader of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family

• Target is a ringleader in the Zaa Fenn Crime Family
• Target disappeared after the events of Where Your Allegiance Lies

____________________________

Zaa Fenn Help
Theme

<Logging into KnowOnes subnet: Success: Welcome LEO404>

It had been ages since Kara had logged into the subnet and immediately she was flooded with outdated messages. HoloNet-clippings of the attack on her old Corvus mansion. Raids on Zaa Fenn hideouts on Coruscant, Eriadu, Corellia and Nar Shaddaa. The eradication of the Zaa Fenn Crime Family was still going steady, but it was also going slow. Thankfully, Marissa had made sure that their infrastructure had been intricate and their network of contacts vast and mostly inconspicious. No giant neon-signs of an obvious corporate shell, at least, which made hiding just a little bit easier. Kara noticed a recent message; someone had send her a HoloNet-tabloid that the legendary gunslinger Preef Callo had been spotted working as a bodyguard to Nor'baal the Hutt. Bollocks. Preef Callo was dead. If he wasn't, then why didn't he stop his little shaddaa pets from killing off his family?

Three years since Gareth Gin's arrest had forced her to run from the Quick-draw Cantina and two since the Crymorah assassins had found her on Corvus. Scrolling the Zaa Fenn databanks as she did now still felt like it was all as fresh as the day before, or rather hadn't happened yet. The list of family members that were still alive had diminished, though not as much as their known associates; cannon fodder like local gangs and scoundrels. Once you were a member of a Crymorah family you had a certain status only few ever reached, something Kara had never managed before the downfall. Even as a ringleader with millions of credits in wealth and over a dozen scoundrels and enforcers working for her.. she still hadn't earned the right to use the Zaa Fenn name.

Heh. Kriff them. She'd find her own way. She had her slicer's gear, the Zaa Fenn's precious databanks of corrupt politicians, synthetic spice recipes and dataplagues and then some names to burn to the public if she really had to. She mused her options and ended up in the list of corrupt politicians. Preef -although barely being able to read- had managed to corrupt and keep several politicians on the take. Most were gone by now, but not her. Kara remembered the corpo. She'd been loyal to the Zaa Fenn even after the rodian's death and was open to work together if their interests aligned in the future. It was worth a shot. Kara pulled the details of the encrypted line from the databank and hooked it up with her slicer's gear.

<Dialing Corpo 12-dash-Quesh: Success: Line Encrypted>

If anyone would try to trace the call it would find it being rerouted through a droid infected with Instance XII and end up in a remote back-up server on the lower levels of Coruscant. To Julia Hipori, the caller ID would simply read 'Rache Robotics'.

<"This is Rache Robotics, I'm looking for information for believed-extinct Preefling parts to formerly well-oiled machine. Can pay.">

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

She was having dinner.

Sat alone, as she often was these days, in her estate on Etti IV, Julia Hipori was having dinner. She had not expected her dinner to be interrupted by that comlink going off. Since being handed it all those years ago, it had never left her side - that had been part of the deal with her former 'family'.

Julia paled as the device rang.

Gently, she activated it and smiled sweetly.

"Good Afternoon. Thank you for your call, Rache. Please hold" she began, muting the call for a few seconds, signalling to the caller that the room she was in was clear, and they could speak openly "How can we be of service?"

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

To be honest, Kara was surprised that the corpo took the call. If there was any writing on the wall, there'd be more sense for her to cozy up to the new leader of the Crymorah. Their headquarters was in the corporate sector, after all. Then again, when did loyalty ever make sense? It was purely an emotional construct.

"We're interested in information," the Zaa Fenn ringleader began hesitantly, "specifically status and whereabouts of Shere Zaa Fenn, Gareth Zaa Fenn and Marissa Zaa Fenn-" she caught herself in time. There was this one particular rumor that she had disregarded as just a copycat, a random rodian with a blaster, for the former boss was dead. Still, if she's going to pay for information, might as well get the whole truth. "-and Preef Zaa Fenn."

There was also another thing, but Kara wanted to wait and hear the executives' reaction to the first request. By reaching out to the Corporate Sector, Kara realized she was taking a big risk. Perhaps it was prudent not to beat around the bush? Julia Hipori was a member of the board of probably the most powerful intergalactic megacorporation. If anyone would know what the new Crymorah boss -the traitors- were doing in the Corporate Sector. She'd be the one. First things first, though. Reuniting a family.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

"I've no idea who those people are, bar Gareth and Preef - both of whom are dead, no?" Julia replied, genuinely not sure if she was right or not. She had managed to go for years without members of the criminal class contacting her, yet in the past few weeks she had the Cymorrah asking for her help, and now her.

"You'd be better off asking the Hutts, their new leader -" Nor'baal was anything but new, but in Hutt terms he probably was considered as such "- Nor'baal might be the one you need to speak to. If anyone knows, he does." she added, trying to move the discussion away from criminals, as fast as she could manage.

"Some of your lot are trying to become legitimate these days anyway - you're still with the Cym -" she stopped herself, trying to remember which family she was part of, Zaa Fenn was part of Cymorrah - no? "Cymorrah?"

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

This was disappointing. The corpo wasn't as well-informed as Kara had hoped, but she did give two interesting leads.

First, she mentioned that Nor'baal was the new leader of the Hutts. She remembered him, she read about him in the Zaa Fenn databank. He once owned a penthouse on Coruscant and worked for and with the Crymorah Syndicate back then. If he was the leader of the Hutt Clans now, their Supreme Mogul, then there was no one more knowledgeable of the galactic underworld than him. Getting an audience with him, though, was impossible for a mere ringleader on the run like Kara Lok. "You have a way to contact Nor'baal?" Kara asked.

Secondly, some of Kara's lot was trying to become legitimate? The corpo mentioned Crymorah, not Zaa Fenn, so whoever was making a legitimacy play wasn't family of hers. Still, members of the other Crymorah families could share valuable insight. Marissa had spend years in the council of Crymorah crimelords. Surely her old friends and business partners could give Kara a general direction on how to find her? "The Zaa Fenn will always be Crymorah," she stated it in such a way that it surprised even herself. No matter how scattered or powerless they were again, their family name would always mean royalty within the Crymorah. Once you're born or adopted into the Zaa Fenn, you can never leave it, so you will always be Crymorah. "Tell me who and how to contact them."

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Julia was not entirely sure that she could contact Nor'baal. Sure she had a method, but she had not spoken with the Hutt since he had been in the ISC. She didn't like the slug, and he knew it. Still, there was no harm in her sharing the contact she had - a Majordomo at one of his palaces, with Kara.

"Teerek." she sent through the information "Toydarian Majordomo to the Hutt, based on Tatooine. I used to go through him back when Nor'baal worked for the Consortium." she added, by way of explanation.

"As for Cymorrah, you need to go through the boss - Covax." she said, a stern tone coming into her voice. Surely Kara knew she had to speak to the one in charge, Covax? He'd made it very clear to Julia that he ran the Cymorrah now, and thus, was Karas boss? She shared the details she had for him with her, including Tenloss Intersellers HQ in Corporate Space, where Covax had told her he was based.

"He's Tenloss now, some Private Military Firm - I understand criminality is behind him these days, maybe you should follow suit?" Julia encouraged, oblivious to how wrong she was.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

The appreciation the Zaa Fenn ringleader felt over the contact information for Nor'baal's majordomo quickly evaporated and was replaced by utter disgust upon hearing another name. "Covax?" she repeated incredulously. So it was all true, then. The nobody was taking what wasn't his and is turning it away from its purpose. "Let me give you some free information, Julia-" Kara's anger was noticeable in her tone of voice, "Covax was a mere merc who got his orders from me after he had proven he didn't have the mettle to become one of Preef's Legends." It was, by all accounts, the truth. Shane Covax had been part of the scoundrels and enforcers the legendary gunslinger had selected to take out Durr the Hutt, but where Gareth, Aska and Ines got out.. Shane had found himself stunned by a mere perimeter guard. That he survived and escape Nal Hutta at all was probably his most impressive feat.

"You're looking to hire someone that can handle a blaster? Skip Tenloss, you have my number." Kara Lok was the Fixer who orchestrated the Byblos Prison Break. She didn't work with former military types, but with folks like Preef Callo. Those who had grown up in the cesspits of the galaxy. The ones that had to fight for every second of their miserable life until they were embraced by the Fixer and the Zaa Fenn Crime Family. "Retire from crime?" she scoffed, "It'd rather go out in a Blaze of Glory."

To put actions behind her words, she transferred fund for the Majordomo's information and that little tidbit about Covax and his private military firm; one-hundred thousand credits. No one ever said the Zaa Fenn skimmed on their payments they promised.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Well that went down well.

Julia was beginning to realise that all was not as it seemed in the Cymorrah. Disputes between criminal families did not interest her; often, they aired themselves in the form of considerable violence. Such an approach to business was unpalatable to her, so she was desperate to avoid getting dragged into it. "He's well connected. He said he wanted to 'liquidate' assets once owned by the late Preef Callo - and then mentioned he had a meeting with Blackwell," presumably that was the 'mutual friend' Covax had mentioned - the CEO maybe?

Covax may not have been a power player when Kara was around before, but he evidently had deep pockets - either his own, or someone else's - these days. "What ever is going to go down between the two of you, keep me out of it. I only get involved with his legal business, as far as I am concerned, that's all he is. A businessman. Whatever gripe you have with him is none of my business."

She thanked Kara for the credits, her mind racing as she tried to work out how best to play this.

On one hand, Covax had credits but seemed to have been denounced by the same people he claimed to have gotten them from. On the other, Kara claimed Covax was illegitimate and was deeply dangerous when she got riled. Julia was unsure as to how to proceed, so she took her credits, and waited to see what happened next.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Perhaps Kara had gone too far. Outsiders never truly understood how the Crymorah Families operated and despite having been on the take for many years, Julia was still an outsider. "Forgive me, Julia-" she began in a much nicer tone of voice, although the anger clearly hadn't completely resided either. "Assets that once belonged to Preef Callo are either in my possession," she meant the databanks with the intel and slew of contacts, both political as in the underworld, "or reclaimed by the Hutt Cartel." Nar Shaddaa and all its worth. Truly, there wasn't much one could 'liquidate' when it came to the criminal underworld. Not unless Covax was selling off Crymorah interests to the other syndicates and smaller gangs, though Kara doubted whether the other families would agree to such an outlandish move.

Wait, MorataCorp? Preef had made that corporation sell Crymorah spice from under the table of their dispensaries for years. The amount of blackmail the Crymorah had on the corporation that made the AMS vaccine was enough to kill it. Had Covax somehow found out and was blackmailing them? But that wasn't something someone like Covax would've been privy to. Not even Kara had been until she ran with the databanks in her possession. Who had been at that meeting anyway? Preef, ofcourse, and.. Shere Zaa Fenn!

"But do understand," Kara's brain was racing circles around her own anger, "It is all just business." Yet for Kara and her kind, the stakes were bigger and for a much lower payout than Julia was used to. Murder? Business. Bombing a penthouse on Etti IV? Also business. "Putting the Gammorean in a suit," an obvious reference to Shane Covax, "doesn't suddenly not make him a Gammorean."

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

"I get it Kara." she replied curtly. It was clear that Cymorrah had a complex situation they needed to deal with, but what she said about asset distribution was interesting. If she was correct, and Julia had no reason to believe she was not - it meant that Covax had gotten his credits from another source. She would not respond to Kara about Covax' financial concern; that was a bit of information she wold mull over for a while.

If he did not control the assets of the late Preef Callo, how on earth was he supposed to pay her?

"I cannot comment further on my business with Covax, as what I am conducting with him is very different to what he did in the past." she stated, clearly suggesting that the business she did with Covax was above board, the business Kara did, was not. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

It seemed obvious that Julia Hipori no longer had an interest that aligned with the Zaa Fenn Crime Family. All relationships do come to an end eventually, it seemed. "Actually, there is-" this call wasn't just meant to see if the Blackwell executive had information on the status and whereabouts of former prominent members of the Zaa Fenn, after all. "-if you hear anything that you think could be useful to me. Leave a message behind with 'Rache Robotics' on Coruscant. Anything Zaa Fenn related. I'll pay."

She knew that Julia could just as well throw away the commline and never dial it again, so there had to be something that might align their interests just a little bit. "I'll give you a heads up on this line if our worlds do align." Meaning, Julia will be given time to distance herself from Tenloss if the Zaa Fenn do go after Covax in the foreseeable future, but then she couldn't cut them off.

@Nor'baal

 

[Julia Hipori]

Seemed like a win-win to Julia. If she heard anything, then she could tell Kara and get paid. Easy.

"Very well, if anything comes up - I'll be in touch." she replied, before mulling over just what the woman had meant with her last statement. Julia decided she would keep an eye on Tenloss, just in case Kara acted on her thinly veiled promise.

If Zaa Fenn went on the offensive, Julia was confident she could keep herself safe - after all, she had not taken action against them and had no intention to do so. She ended the call and went to dispose of the comlink, hesitating at the last moment as she stashed it back in its usual hiding place.

Just in case.

/exithread