Star Wars - DRK-1X and its Mistress

[shadowbloodmoon]

[sblock=OOC]You seem to be on the right track with 8900xp for both at the moment. I believe I was referring to the destruction of data on Dantooine and the placement of Dofina in her safehouse when I made that statement. I'll double check and retcon if necessary, but everything seems to be in order. [/sblock]

The rest of the trip to Corellia goes fairly smoothly, with not but a lost freighter appearing near where the trio's ship enters realspace. Communications indicate that Corellia space control has the situation well in hand however. What is more pressing is the operator on the other end wondering the business of an unmarked freighter.

"Unidentified freighter, this is CorSec Spaceflight Control, we're not reading an ID Transponder. What is your cargo and destination?"

 

[Ambrus]

Derek, sitting at the freighter's controls, takes his right hand off of the hyperspace throttle lever and reaches up overhead to click on the vessel's comm system to respond to the disembodied voice. "CorSec Spaceflight Control, this is the Venerable. We are currently without a working ID transponder; we intend to acquire and register one upon landing. We're carrying a load of medical equipment and are hoping to set down on Corellia to retrofit and refuel while conducting trade business over the next week. Please advise Control."

******

Meanwhile DRK-1X, its scomplink probe linking it to the vessel's computer core, monitors the local comlink chatter while accessing the system's holonet newsfeeds; all in an effort to compile pertinent data relating to recent galactic events and local imperial activities.

OOC: I believe DRK-1X, Derek and Dofina have been pretty much out-of-the-loop since leaving the Dantooine system. It's been at least a month since then I believe. Time to play catch up.

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

There is a pause before the telltale low electronic whistle indicating an incoming transmission occurs. "We read you Venerable. Sending coordinates to landing bay 429 in Coronet Center Spaceport. A CorSec representative will meet you there to assist you with your needs. Please stay along your present course. CSC out."

After having been out of contact with most of the galaxy for a time, DRK-1X is nearly overwhelmed with the amount of information suddenly flooding its databanks. It takes nearly the same amount of time to correlate all of it as it does for Derek to land the ship in the docking bay on Corellia.

In general, it appears that the galaxy is slowly returning to normal. Normal under Imperial control that is. Imperial garrisons are being set up on most major worlds and even some of the outer rim worlds are getting a division of troops. There are rumors of Separatist diehards attempting coups all over the place, but these are all quickly being shut down by the might of the Imperial forces. CorSec itself seems to have stayed the same as it always has, trying to keep Imperial influence out of its dealings, but somehow managing to stay within the good graces of the ruling parties. One significant fact is found: X notes it to be that the Empire is attempting to install a governor in each system that 'oversees' all dealings of that world with other worlds and with itself. As far as Corellia and Talus senators are concerned, the Empire can shove it up their exhaust ports, but are willing to come to a diplomatic solution. All in all however, X notes one thing: it appears that in all the reports it is hearing, the Empire seems to be on top of things and have everything well in hand.

A soft bump as the ship's parking struts touch down on Corellian ferracrete indicates the the newly christened Venerable has landed.

 

[Ambrus]

OOC: Okay, here's the current plan. Derek will don his face mask and meet briefly with the CorSec rep to arrange to pay for docking fees and such while making a few inquiries about pertinent trade regulations and available goods and services offered at the spaceport. He'll then return to the vessel interior to remain at Dofina's disposal should she need him. He'll be spending most of his free time gathering information about potential buyers for the bacta and tanks via this system's local com-channels and holonet.

Meanwhile, DRK-1X will be on the move; making its way through the local underworld to research gray and black market opportunities to buy and sell equipment and supplies. The probot will remain stealthy most of the time, using its Knowledge (technology), Knowledge (streetwise) and Illicit Barter ability to identify and pursue promising leads. 1X will also remain in close contact with Derek via encrypted comlink to coordinate their efforts. The pair will even take it a step further; when appropriate 1X will transmit its own sensor feeds directly to Derek and in turn allow the HRD to speak through the probot's vocabulator so that the pair can take further advantage of Derek's superior Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and Knowledge (alien species) skills when 1X is meeting with a contact.

The pair are looking to sell their bacta, tanks and possibly some of the medical droids. While dealing with medical or scientific buyers, if appropriate they'll try to broker deals to trade some of their cargo for the equipment Dofina requested. DRK-1X is also seeking stealth or subterfuge related equipment such as the image disguisers I mentioned earlier. On top of that, the probot is looking to purchase top-of-the-line false identification for Dofina and Derek, a new transponder, weapons and possibly a dedicated repair/astromech droid for the Venerable as well as droid component upgrades for itself and Derek (including better translator matrices). Derek can coordinate the pick-up and delivery/installation of any equipment from his end.

Naturally the pair will be keeping an eye out for any particularly interesting equipment offers, business opportunities and interesting news developments. Feel free to narrate these efforts however you see fit.

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

With the amount of bacta and the tanks that go with them you have on board, you should easily have enough to pay for just about everything on your list.

In order to accomplish such a high volume of sales however, X will have to get a hold of a license for medical equipment, which (rolls dice) is easily done. This ties into the IDs that X was able to procure for both Derek and Dofina. Or Darwin Gareth of Halcyon and Andura Hurn of Nemoidia Prime. The pair are refugees of the war, fleeing with what equipment they could and trying to sell it off to make a living.

Coronet MedCenter is more than happy to purchase the bacta from them at 75 credits a liter. They have more than enough tanks however, but mention that other facilities on the planet may be in need of them.

Querying this source of information, X finds that it could average 80000 credits per tank using the InterGalactic Merchandising Account System (AmaZBay).

In order to get the research and lab equipment Dofina needs, the scientific community will gladly take two of them in trade for it all. X knows that while this isn't the best deal, it is fast and efficient and less likely to draw attention.

The ship transponder is extremely easy to come by once ownership of the ship is proven, and the Venerable is now a fully registered ship, 11000 credits later.

There are plenty of droid manufacturer facilities as well as self-defense weapon yards that are more than willing to sell you what you need, if you give them a list of what you are looking for (What kind of firepower and what specific droid parts.)

The translator unit for Derek, with a DC 5 will cost 1200 credits, since X will be able to install the thing itself. The same for X's version. Both have to be unique to the droids, allowing for both of their rarities. Again, an arrangement that keeps the attention level lowered had to be made.

A fairly reliable R9-D9 AstroMech can be had for 5000 credits, it is well versed in freighter operations and can fly the ship in emergency situations. General Animatronics has a factory here on Corellia and as such, they come wholesale.

As of yet, no other particular news occurs that may affect the trio, as it seems that most of the planet is tied up with the changes being made by the Empire on their system and are concerned with the effects it will have on CorSec policy.

These same effects are being felt in darker circles, as criminals maintain a tighter hold on their assets and are careful in their dealings...

All eyes are in DRK-1X as it hovers into the smoke-filled room. It is as if all the aliens in the galaxy are represented here and even as such, the droid is an outsider. It seems at any time, a blaster could be drawn and a firefight begun. X's sensors can almost quantify the tension, similar to the thickness of the smoke.

Hovering over to a table that harbors a humanoid that X's contact said might have what it is looking for, the droid sees that the man is not alone. he is joined by two larger alien men, obviously hired muscle.

The smaller man speaks. "Don't usually trust a man that talks through machines, but these is special times, yeah?" A disgusting grunt as the man coughs up something and then spits it on the floor. "Harden says you're looking for some high-tech stuff. Mighty pricey these days. He says you got the money though. Hope you didn't knock over anyone I know for it."

 

[Ambrus]

OOC: I just wanted to go over some of the details you listed. Selling the tanks and bacta at the rates you listed sounds fine. But considering that, at those values, we've got over two million credits worth of cargo, I have trouble imagining that we'll only have "enough to pay for just about everything" we wanted. I didn't imagine that any of it was all that expensive to begin with.

How much did the two false identifications and trading license cost and what exactly do they include? Even if they require the work of a dedicated forger I hadn't imagined that they would cost much more than 10,000 to 20,000 credits or thereabouts. BTW, since Derek has never used his own name before there's no reason that he would have to change it to something different. If possible, he'd like his ID to simply reflect his own name.

Dofina mentioned that she'd like to retain at least one or two tanks, but indicated that "a few more" might help speed things up. I have trouble imagining that we'd really need more than one fully functional bacta tank on such a small ship, but 1X will defer to her judgement and retain two of them if she insists. More than that just seems excessive to me.

You mentioned that 1X could trade two tanks for all of the lab equipment Dofina requested. That seems quite excessive considering that I could currently trade them for 160,000 credits otherwise. I had got the impression that Dofina only needed a few pieces of medical equipment to set up a makeshift lab. For that amount I could purchase half a dozen used YT-1300 transports. How much does all this stuff actually cost? As it is, it sounds rather excessive for a small laboratory. You also mentioned that the deal would be fast and draw less attention. Is any of the equipment she requested difficult to purchase or somehow suspicious in nature?

Similarly, 11,000 credits seems pretty steep for a transponder; a piece of equipment not much more complicated that a comlink unit. Even with registration fees I didn't imagine it would cost much more than a few hundred credits to acquire. As is this thing would seem to increase the value of the Venerable by half-again as much.

As for the droid's translator units, 1X would be happy to acquire them at the listed price but, being DC 5 units, they'd normally weigh up to 8 kilograms each. Do Derek and DRK-1X have that much room to spare in their chassis? Aside from those, it'd be nice to acquire a variety of spare parts for the various droids we're traveling with so that we'd have the pieces we need on hand in case any of them get damaged. Also, is there any way we could endeavor to mask Derek's droid nature from scanning technology? Four's nanobots for example seemed capable of fooling medical scanners somehow. Arranging for something similar for the HRD would seem appropriate.

BTW, the R9 series astromech won't actually be produced until after the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. The newest R-series astromech available in this era would be the R4.

And finally, for what purpose exactly is DRK-1X meeting with this particular underworld contact? I'm not certain which "high-tech stuff" he's referring to. Is this meeting about the weapons for the Venerable or the stealth related technology? Are either of those somehow black-market items? As for the ship's weapons, I'll likely need your advice to pick something appropriate since it's unclear in the main book what type and number of weapons one can actually affix to a vessel and how much each would cost. Essentially, with the money they have available, 1X would want something wickedly effective.

Thanks for your efforts with this BTW. I know shopping trips can be rather time consuming to work through.

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Let's see if I can alleviate some of these concerns for you. Can you tell? I lurve shopping

My first statement was an offhand sarcasm, which is admittedly difficult to tell via text....

As far as the names, I completely spaced that Derek had never used his name 'officially' so, he is certainly welcome to use his given name. As far as costs, I ballparked it by skill level of the forger that X found, so 17000 for the both of them.

Two bacta tanks should be more than enough for Dofina, but remember she is used to working in a full lab environment. The deal was actually an overzealous attempt by the people that you were getting the equipment from to get a lot for a little. No one said you had to take the deal... Any other one would go on records and such, but I'm sure that X has ways of countering that.... What Dofina needs actually costs around 20000 if you include the contents of the 'lab room' she intends to have on the ship. That includes not only basic medical stuff, but a medcomputer, diagnostics equipment, all kinds of stuff. She can work without it, but it will take her a bit longer.

As for the transponder, yes, that was a flat out typo. Should only be 1100.

For the translation units, Derek easily has enough room, X does not. However, one of my books mentions resizing equipment for droids in which they quote an outrageous amount for making something 8kg into something less than 1kg. It was on the order of about 50000 credits. I wasn't sure if X was willing to have that paid for just to be able to translate just about every language in the galaxy. So, I added a small percentage to the cost of the normal one, went through Derek's negotiation skills and came up with a price similar to that of the one for Derek. if you'd rather have a cheaper one, that's fine too.

Hiding Derek's physiology from droid scanners will be easy without modifications. He was built to be able to fool them. Basically, the scanner has to roll a Spot of DC30 to figure out that something is not right. Not impossible, but not easy either. You can upgrade that number if you'd like, but that's serious black market stuff.

As for the astromech, notice the manufacturer name. Industrial Automaton makes the R series you are speaking of, in which case, you would be correct. However, this one is made by General Animatronics, a different firm altogether. The legal suit of similarity in registration numbers is caught up in Republic.. I mean Imperial Court.

The contact you are speaking with is for the stealth equipment. Unless you want to attempt putting Turbolasers on the ship, the weapons are not technically illegal to purchase.

As such:

Laser Turret- 500
Twin-Linked Laser Turret- 1200
Quad Laser Turret- 3000

Light Blaster- 600
Twin Light Blaster- 1400
Quad Light Blaster- 4000

The blasters fire faster, but do less damage. The Venerable has room for two turrets and two other hardpoints. If you would like illegal weapons, such as missiles and proton torpedoes, well, that pushes the costs much higher.

I hope that covers everything.. if not let me know and I'll attempt to cover.. I mean clean up any mistakes I've made.

 

[Ambrus]

The black spherical probe droid is difficult to make out in the dim room, the trail of displaced smoke being the best indication of where it entered the chamber. Derek reads the situation remotely through DRK-1X's sensors and answers the short man via the probe droid's vocabulator. "Sorry about not being there myself; seems like a nice place. Don't worry about my money or your friends; I've got it and it ain't theirs... but it could be yours. So what do you have for me?"[sblock=OOC]Okay, I'll try to make this as painless for you as possible.

DRK-1X and Derek will coordinate the purchase, delivery and credit transfer of 18 tanks and 5,400 liters of bacta via the IGMAS for a net profit of 1,845,000 credits. This is the point where Dofina's expertise will come into play. In her opinion what should we actually do with the money? Should it be placed into various hidden credit accounts, transferred onto a series of credit sticks or converted into some form of precious metals and loaded aboard the Venerable?

DRK-1X will accept the two false identities in exchange for the agreed upon sum of 17,000 credits assuming it's satisfied with their quality and apparent veracity. I'm assuming these identities are fully detailed and will hold up to background investigations by having corresponding data files in the appropriate public archives.

I'm still unclear as to the nature of the translation units. Are you saying that you're allowing an 8 kg component to be reduced by 88% for only a 50% increase in cost rather than the suggested 5000% increase? I certainly don't mind the neglible extra cost, I'm just making sure I understand it.

General Animatronics huh? Never heard of them. Considering that they're charging twice the going rate of an Industrial Automaton R4, I think I'd rather not. If at all possible, I'd rather purchase an R4 for the listed 2,500 credits so that I know exactly what I'm getting. They're industry leaders for a reason. Speaking of droids, I think the Venerable may be getting a bit overcrowded. We could easily afford to sell three of the five med-units. The remaining two can be permanently rededicated to Dofina's bio-lab to assist her as necessary. The astromech can likely manage ship maintenance, repair and cleaning by itself. Also, if Dofina does intend to have the droids return to Dantooine, then DRK-1X will suggest to her that they acquire a power droid since the abandoned lab there is currently without a working reactor. Gonk Gonk!

As for the Venerable itself, DRK-1X will purchase two sets of quad laser Turrets for 6,000 credits; if they're good enough for the Millennium Falcon we should be okay. As for missiles and torpedoes, well, how illegal and expensive are they exactly? Is owning them a serious offence in every system or merely a gray area of the law? The falcon has some so Han must have thought he could manage to get by with them aboard without drawing too much attention.

The transponder is fine as is then. Also, to properly outfit Dofina's new laboratory the droids will subdivided one of the two cargo compartments with new bulkhead paneling, storage compartments, work-surfaces, lighting, etc. Along with the lab, the droids intend to create a small separate chamber within the same cargo bay to serve the mechanical needs of the ship's droid pool. It'll need a full set of expert tools (3,000 credits) for crafting replacement components. An assortment of spare parts and components would also be a good idea. In addition to all that DRK-1X will seek to provide for all of Dofina's creature comforts; purchasing for her some new changes of clothes in her size, filling the galley with her favorite foods, the refresher with her preferred toiletries, new bed linens and decorations for her cabin, whatever it is that she prefers to surround herself with.[/sblock]

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

The man chuckles and the room perceivably relaxes, other patrons going back to their drinks and private conversations. "Fair enough. I like you, straight to business, no exhaust. Unlike some of these other fine folks." One of his large hands impacts the gut of one of the men standing near him, who attempts to smile through it. "What I got is something you can't get nowhere else, see? These ain't no cheap knockoffs, mind you, I got the real deal. One hundred percent Republic military grade, Special Operations stuff. Don't ask how I got 'em and I won't tell no one where they went. One hundred thousand for the both of them, all up front."

[sblock=OOC]Money: Dofina thinks that it would be wise to put more credibility into her new identity by placing some of the money into accounts, some through Nemoidia and some through Imperial credits. The rest she will split up among assets. She puts forth the following break down, before any purchases are made:

Personal account: 900000
Imperial Public Account: 445000
Derek Onyx's Personal account: 100000
Derek's Imperial Public Account: 100000
On Hand Credsticks: 100000
Crates of Precious Metals: 200000 (10 tons worth)

The personal accounts can be used on and off the record. Imperial accounts are obviously very full of records.

IDs; A full public record now exists for both Derek Onyx and Andura Hurn, and after X has verified this, the IDs seem to be very reliable as they were accepted by the government when applying for the license to sell the medical equipment.

Translation units: yes, that is exactly it. I'm giving you a break on it.

Droids: Alright, you are now the proud owner of R4-M6, IA Astromech droid, fresh off the line. The medical droids sell for 3000 each. The Gonk Droid or, more precisely, an EG-6 will cost you 6250 factory priced. These transactions net you a gain of 250 credits.

Weapons: The weapons and permits are installed and your transponder is modified to show the weapons as registered. Missiles and Torpedoes are flat out illegal, except on registered military craft. As is half of what Han Solo has on the Falcon. The missiles, the sensor array, one of the computer cores, and so on...

Ship: Redecorating the ship to Dofina's tastes costs about 3000 credits for everything. Her clothes on the other hand... Another 1000 for the extra stuff. The new paneling, lights and such for remodeling costs another 3000. With the cost of the toolkit included, the droid maintenance bay will cost 5000 credits. The additional spare parts for all droids, I ballparked at 10000 credits. That should last you for quite some time.

Lab Equipment: Did you want to just go with the 20000 for her stuff then and put it on her new ID?

That should be everything...
[/sblock]

 

[Ambrus]

The black spherical probe droid continues to hover impassively in the air as it silently activates its holorecorder. "I don't rightfully care where they came from, but if they're military units then their components are traceable. That's more of a liability than it is an asset, both to me and you. You'll likely have trouble finding other buyers for em too, especially since you're asking twice what they're worth. Tell you what, you let my droid examine em and if I'm satisfied I'll split the difference with you. You'll be 75,000 credits richer and you won't have to risk holding em any longer."[sblock=OOC]Yes the droids will go ahead with purchasing the lab equipment at cost rather than that ridiculous trade the suppliers had proposed. The purchase won't be tied to Dofina's new ID. If at all possible Derek and DRK-1X will endeavour to keep all their purchases anonymous; either by using false names if sufficient, computer slicing if feasible, by breaking the purchases down into smaller acquisitions through different suppliers or by providing bribes as appropriate to make the operation run more smoothly. If an ID is absolutely necessary then they'll use Derek's; a nemoidian woman acquiring specialized medical equipment sounds too suspicious. Similarly, the droids will try to obfuscate where exactly the bacta tanks are coming from and where all the new acquisitions are going to if at all possible. Purchases won't be delivered directly to the Venerable's hangar bay, but rather to various anonymously rented drop points where they'll in turn be picked up by another group of hired hands who'll then transport them to the spaceport for loading. The whole operation is about misdirection and anonymity whenever possible. It would likely be confusing for organics to orchestrate, but Derek and 1X can likely pull it off handily.

Here are the figures so far:

Sales
• Bacta & tank sales 1,845,000
• Med droids x3 9,000

Purchases
• False IDs x2 17,000
• EG-6 power droid 6,250
• R4-M6 astromech 2,500
• DC 5 translator units 2,400
• Quad laser turrets x2 6,000
• Transponder 1,100
• Laboratory retrofit 23,000
• Machine shop retrofit 5,000
• Spare droid parts 10,000
• Ship redecoration 3,000
• Dofina's wardrobe 1,000

The only other things I can think of right now are a new credit chip for Dofina, possibly ion and blaster cannons for the remaining hard-spots on the Venerable as well as the docking and refueling fees for the week. Oh, and are grenades or detonators illegal? Ignoring those for the moment, by my count the trio still have managed to accumulate 1,776,750 credits in profit from this venture.[/sblock]