Episode 3: The Once And Future Con

[Sjet]

Some Time Later...

For an Imperial prototype war ship, it had a very impressive drinks selection. Corellian whisky, a few bottles of Mon Cal spirits and a hip flask that had some sort of home brew that was best described as ‘potent’, were scattered over the conference room table. The holo projector on top of the table had just stopped humming,the flickering blue glow of the image it had projected vanishing from the air.

The others were all gathered around the table, all apart from the Professor who had stayed in the engine room to keep the ship from hurtling into a star or some such. Boomer and the Cyborg, the two Twi’Leks and the force user Dexon had come to think of as a Grey Jedi, were here for one very important reason: to watch Dexon make them rich.

And he had done just that.

For the last hour he had convinced, contrived, concluded and bemused the being he had been using the holo projector to talk to. As sentients went the Rodian Haljo had been on the low end of the scum bag scale, even going so far as to be dressed in a business suit whose style appeared to be comically flamboyant. But he had spoken the language of credits, lots and lots of credits, and thus had spoken many fine words. Dexon had talked him up from his offering price, and then he had retreated back from the horrendously optimistic price for the Imperial interdictor cruiser. Yes it was a unique piece of pristine high technology, but it was also slightly damaged from its escape, probably tagged and tracked in some manner. Dexon had even been able to talk the Rodian arms dealer into a added bonus for all the dead Imperial’s they’d tossed over the side in accordance with Azaria’s plans to fake their destruction.

The final figure that Haljo had settled one had been very, very fair…for the gross national product of a fairly well of star system. The beings around the table were not only rich, they were stupidly rich.

Now all Dexon had to do was keep them from killing each other to collect a more sizeable slice of the pie: and thus the booze had been sourced form every nook and cranny of the ship. Needa had even helped, and for his trouble had been thrown into an escape pod and shot towards some icy moon form which rescue might be found. They were thugs and thieves, but they didn’t kill people.

Well apart from the fleshy asteroid field they had left in the last star system they had flown through, but really that was more house cleaning than anything else.

“In an hour we will be arriving at Starforge Station, where we will be exchanging this ship for the mountain of credits the Rodian in the pin stripes promised us.” Dexon said with pride in his voice, selecting for himself a fine bottle of brandy that bore the wax seal of a very fine Coruscanti hotel chain. He raised the bottle up “It robbing the powers of the Empire, and outwitting their Rebel foes!”

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Caleb Dexon

[Amanda Rose]

Tavlia could not believe it. She was going to have more money than she ever possibly dreamed of. She still cared for Boodra and still wanted to turn the Grey Jedi in for a sizeable reward but now...now, once they all collected, she could purchase her freedom and start a family and become lazy and fat like a rich Twi'lek should. She beamed over at Dexon and told him, "I have to admit that I never thought that you could pull any of that off, Dexon. I just hope that we can collect. I have retirement plans."

tag - Dexon/all

[KendleRJ]

Boomer eyed the liquor and raised a glass. It seemed a bit premature celebrating while they still had the ship and no credits, but they had managed to live, so that was something. "Here's to promises fulfilled," she said, still acutely aware of every little thing that could go wrong. Explosives and some unaccounted for charges notwithstanding. "Now, if I can find that timing module for our cybernetic friend, we'll be golden."

And an hour was still quite a long time to wait.

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[T-Prime]

Jarion sat with his feet up on the table, an untouched glass of Corellian Whiskey in his hand.

"Don't worry about it." he told Boomer, his voice smooth and unbroken with its signature metallic undertone, "Found a whole crate of them in a storage room a few decks down."

He removed his feet from the table, leaned in and set his drink down on the table.

"I think we can all agree that that is an impressively large sum of cash, assuming this deal doesn't go south on us, but I think someone here needs to play Angel's Advocate. And I'm just as surprised as you are that it's going to be me."

He paused for effect.

"Now, this rebellion has no hooks in me now that I'm out of that cell, and those creds can buy a lot of freedom for the rest of you, but our job was to blow this ship to hell. We don't do that, and our Bothan friend may take exception to it. Furthermore, do we want a ship like this out in general circulation. I doubt it'll take long for any of us to piss of whoever we sell this to and find ourselves on the wrong side of those guns."

[Melissa Richards]

Stalker listened to Dexon's promises and simply nodded her approval. Words were one thing, substance was another. She would wait to see if he was going to indeed pay off. And if he did, well then she'd collect her share, part company, and disappear for awhile. The former Jedi-padawan turned mercenary saw no profit in remaining with this group unless the man in charge wanted to keep her talents. At that time, a sizable re-negotiation of a contract would be required, with dire consequences for him, or anyone else that would seek to deny Sayana her just worth.

tags

[Azaria]

[lucasausems]

Luke sipped his Correlian whiskey. The whiskey reminded him of home and better times. As soon as the ship was safe into hyperspace he'd taken off the Imperial uniform. He had briefly considered burning it, but didn't want to be responsible for accidentally burning the ship after all the trouble they went through stealing it.
The promise of becoming insanely rich didn't do much to Luke's sentiments. He had been insanely rich before and was actually enjoying the life of a poor outlaw roaming the Universe. It made him aware of things in life that were truly important and essential and it had opened his eyes and made him realise what life was like for the other 99 per cent he was sharing the universe with.

He'd probably stash his credits somewhere, a deposit at some bank on some remote outer world, and continue to live his life with few means and fewer wants. One upside to having a load of cash lying around somewhere, it would help him in his search for his father, now that was a cause he to which his money could be put to good use.

He still couldn't believe his luck of running into someone who actually knew of him. With the size of the universe those odds were practically nill, yet it had happened. Now he needed to locate this woman...

Though for now he could only wait for the ship to arrive at its destination, and in the mean time make merry with his new found friends. Well, friends? He'd be lucky if no one would stab him in the back while he wasn't looking. He'd sleep with one eye open around this bunch. Though, it might be worth sticking around. Pay was good, or at least, it promised to be, he'd know in an hour. It kept him busy, harrassing the Empire here and there. That was good.

He sighed, laughed along when someone made a joke and took another sip of his drink.

tag

[Amanda Rose]

[T-Prime]

Jarion tapped his fingers against his glass.

"You realize," he began, "there is the option of keeping the ship for ourselves."

Plans and schemes danced through Jarion's enhanced brain at blinding speed.

"Sure, it's no stupidly large pile of credits, but you all must see the inherent value in calling one of the most advanced starships in the galaxy your base of operations. Makes a tidy little bolt hole should any of our 'entrepreneurial' endeavors go awry. There's also the extra resources at our disposal. Now, I'm not saying we all hold hands and sing songs, but I sure wouldn't mind having an explosives expert or a friendly lightsaber handy the next time I cam across a door that couldn't be opened with stealth and cunning. And before we all start pounding our chests and declaring how much we don't need anyone's help, let me remind you; WE. JUST. STOLE. A STARDESTROYER! I hold no illusions about what my chances would have been had I went on this fool's errand alone. Steal the plans, sure, but the whole ship?"

Jarion shook his head.

"How many Moffs did we make look stupid today? And Needa doesn't count; I'm pretty sure he looked stupid before we got there. What's stopping us from going on. Think of the cons, heists, and straight up shady deals we could run with impunity."

Jarion leaned back in his chair and finally indulged in the premium liquor. Damn that was good."

[lucasausems]