Post by Storyteller on Nov 8, 2017 13:41:23 GMT
[9:19:46]Harla Dane:
The one she'd captured had been very informative, enough that she had a clear understanding of what concerned the Hutt Cartel of late. In short, it was the very real possibility of their destruction.
On the one hand, a human named Karrde had apparently taken over much of Jabba's staff in the fields of information brokering and smuggling. Yet another human, one Zann was muscling in on the rest of the Hutt's turf. The former had stolen away a valuable bit of income from the Cartel, the second was a true existential threat. And through it all, the many kajidics or crime families were too busy at each other's throats to put up an effective resistance against the invaders and the up-starts.
In an amusing way, it reminded Harla of the former Galactic Empire. Perhaps she should seek out a way to replicate the same methodology there, once this was done.[+]
[9:19:49]Harla Dane: Whatever the case, that gave her two directions to work with. She had one of her people start putting in some appropriately subtle searches for the information broker, while she herself got to the task of trying to locate one of the Zann Consortium's safehouses. It would take time, but once she had both... yes, she had the means to fulfill her half of the agreement. As expected, she would need resources.
Thus she settled into the comfortable apartment, triggering the holonet connection built into the monitor in the living room. She stood in the center of the room, waiting for the connection to worm its way through the galaxy and to Dirano…
[9:27:50]Anzek Dirano: *A snap back to reality. He had a message coming in. He made one last look as his lost beloved then answered the comlink to bring up an image of Harla* Hey you. * He says only to rub his face before looking over at is droid* Whiskey and make it neat” * He said that meaning he wanted it without ice of any kind* I take everything is in place and ready? * He sat up straight and looked down at his data pad. He had a ship ready and fully outfitted with special modifications. Everything has been stripped down and refitted. The ship was all hull, shields and loaded with explosives and the rhakoul virus. The time had come* Are we ready to continue? * The ship left dock from the Jubilee station and have traveled towards the Hutt home world. Anzek sipped his drink before looking once more to the holo image of Harla* I’m ready…
[9:34:45]Harla Dane: "There's a solution, yes." The holodisplay showed only her - presumably she was at the center of the room, with no other object or individual close enough to be captured by the sensor on her side. She looked no different in hologram form - every bit as still, quiet and distant as always. There was little nuance to lose.
She left a lot out of the subsequent explanation. The wise learn to make themselves indispensable, and divulging too much information is a quick way to be come redundant. "I will need credits. A few thousand," - with which to buy access to secure Hutt commlinks, from Karrde. "And a unit of disposable muscle. It is best if they are skilled at infiltration, but you should not expect them to come back alive," - with which to secure a meaningful victory against the Zann Consortium.
Create a false transmission from one Hutt to the others, calling a union of the kajidics to divulge the means to defeat their most dangerous rival, and with convincing proof that this new methodology works, and one could trust the majority of them would come.
[9:44:25]Anzek Dirano: One moment… * The ship is loaded with an experiment bio-weapon, a classified one along with enough explosives to possibly end a planet. He listened to the feed back from Harla while looking at a holo image of Sileen his lost love* I’m sorry my darling. I know this is not what you would have wished of me but you’re dead. You don’t get to decide anything anymore. * He looked her over once more then closed the holo image. He picked up his data pad and made the credits transfer Harla asked for. He also punched in a few commands to send some of his best men to their deaths to do Harl’s will. No doubt he would be dammed for all eternity for what he is about to do but what does he care? He is damned anyways* Done and done. Let us just do this and be done with it. Everything is in order. * He says to Harla before looking down at his data pad one more moment* We’re all good on my end. * He says solemnly as the specially prepared ship of his makes orbit around the Hutt home world*
[9:52:06]Harla Dane: The transfer arrived before long - soon after she had confirmation that one of Karrde's people had taken up the order for information, the codename was for a slicer Harla knew was capable, despite obviously having never met the man. The transmission was made, and before long Karrde's people came through with the comm line she would need. That was held back for now.
She had some time to check and double-check her findings as to the safehouse, but she had good confidence in the information she had found even before the strike team had come from hyperspace. That Zann had some of his people holing up on Nar Shaddaa spoke volumes of the position the Hutts were in. She gave what support she could to the strike team, holding back but staying involved throughout. The outcome was much as she expected - a near total loss for both sides, but she had what she needed. A cleared-out Zann safehouse, Defiler armors with which to prove the deed was done and that the target had indeed been the Zann Consortium[+]
[9:57:24]Harla Dane: Having cleaned up the last loose ends involved in that job - she couldn't very well let anyone get away from it except for herself, on either side - Harla got back to the apartment she'd taken days before. Prepared message dispatched, evidence along with it. In moments all the kajidics would hear of how some lesser crime boss had managed to root out and then defeat a Zann safehouse, supposedly some new strategy to deal with the upstart. More information was not to be sent over the holonet, of course, so a meeting in person was necessary. The closest thing to neutral ground for all of them was Nal Hutta.
It was a false message, of course, sounds cobbled together, the image grainy enough to hide it's synthetic nature. The hutt whose line had been subverted would likely be unaware of what was happening, but his own access to Hutt comm lines was blocked for the time being. Harla imagined that over the following hours, a fair few agents of the various families in the Cartel would snoop at the site of the earlier gunfight, and several would look at the attached information on defiler armor to make doubly sure the information was legitimate. Those parts were, of course.
Harla could be confident enough Hutts would answer the call to satisfy the agreement. Job done, she made her way through the smuggler's moon and back to her ship. It was best to be in space for what was to come…
[10:08:29]Anzek Dirano: *Everything was in order and the Hutts were gathered right where Anzek needed them. Some of his best men had died for this mission but it didn’t matter for he could replace them. The ship he had orbiting the Hutt home world was ping by the local defense force” Unidentified ship. State your clearance code, name and cargo” The ship continued to move though. Anzek sat behind his desk watching the holo feed from the ship and from somewhere through the force he heard the long dead voice of Sileen “ Anzek no! You’re a good man. Come back to the light. Come back to me” Anzek opened his eyes and sighed.* You’re dead. You don’t get to decide anything anymore. * He cleared his throat and watched as the special made ship moved past the patrol ships who open fire on it but to no effect. The ship is all hull armor, shields and payload. He watches from the ships holo image* “ Do this and you lose me forever” The voice of Sileen and Anzek replies* So be it… * The ship breaks through the orbit of the planet and hits like a meteorite. The feed closes on his end only for him to turn and watch as the holonet goes crazy. “Reports coming in from an attack on Nal Hutta” * The blast wipes out all but one of the crime families of the Hutt syndicate and a plague spreads like wild fire… Anzek finish off his drink*
[10:11:42]Anzek Dirano: * He hits data pad and orders his men to seize all Hutt controlled facilities on Nar Shadda and as the Hut hoke world burns he takes a deep breath and sends a message to Harla * " Well played" * He sits back then and while credits of the sum of 1,000,000 credits hit one of her accounts Anzek watches the holo news coverage and thinks of Sileen only to close his eyes* " At one point you where a hero of great importance love and now you fell." Anzek opens his eyes and smiles* And in so falling I have become a villain of even greater consequence.... Good bye, my love.
[10:23:53] Harla Dane had no special love for credits. Multiple times she'd walked away from sums that could be termed a small fortune, simply because she had greater interests to serve, or little use for the credits at the time. Certainly, she understood the usefulness of credits, and knew how others craved it, and how that craving could be put to use. It was such a boring tool to employ however - it left a sour taste in her mouth.
The mammoth credit transfer to her was only the smaller reward, however. From orbit, with her ship's souped-up sensors trained on the surface, she watched events unfold. Nal Hutta was a mix of cities and bogs, kept that way by the ruling hutts who thrived on those environments. With the heads of the greatest families killed, the response to the crisis was beyond incompetent. Gangs and paramilitary bands acted in isolation, trying to contain a spreading foe they had no understanding of, and no tools to properly dispose of. It wasn't long before starships by the thousands started to stream up from the world to try and flee the devastation, but someone had the presence of mind to prevent that: the orbital defense stations began to shoot down the fleeing ships. Where possible or necessary they used ion cannons to stop the escape without killing the occupants, but that wasn't often the case. With the situation this chaotic, however, the possibility always existed for some to get away.
She looked towards the comm panel to Dirano. There was no hologram in her cockpit, so all she had was a flat image, "it worked, yes." There was no exultation in her voice, but he probably didn't expect any. She turned back to watching the chaos. Pondering, planning.