Oseon - Vinda Corp Hegemony





Oman glanced at his rather expensive shoes as his feet practically slid across the Vinda Corp seal screened into the expensive tile.

He had never really expected to ever wear clothes of this finely made material, but if there was one thing about his luck, when it came, it came betowing everything life could offer.

That was his life in a nutshell.


Two opposite poles at war with each other.


The good times were great and the bad times were worse.


But what was today? A great time or would it be his worst?


He shrugged.


After facing down the Sith Darth Talus aboard his own ship, and living to tell about it.., he'd taken the galaxy by storm.

Becoming far more agressive in his quest to conquer life.


"Of course, if this is not conquering, I don't know what is?" he murmured to himself. His business suite, the appearance his benefactors insisted he'd comply regarding, was something he didn't quite feel comfortable in, but what the hell.

He was a... well.. we was what he was.. and, more importantly, he was being paid quite a bit of money.

Well, from himself.

Being the owner of a company did lend itself a few perks. I wonder what salary Mr. Vinda gives himself?


He walked down the steps and into a grand lounge where beings of all types met and, in some cases, ate.

"Ms. Francis?" he asked, knowing full well who the woman was. Still, his position as company owner compelled him to .. politeness. "Your reputation in corporate aquisitions preceeds you."


The scoundrel part of him sized her up and down in a few seconds flat. Nice ass...lean, nice tan, green eyes, mouth on straight and slightly shorter than he.


He held up a hand to shake hers, taking care that the handshake he'd give would be firm but not too firm.

Let the woman make of it what she will, but he would be damned if he'd give any hint as to his character from a simple handshake.

His eyes flickered over to a waiter. "Alderran 7324" he said.

"Good year, sir." the waiter dutifully acknowledged and left to carry out his charge.


"If you would come this way, I am sure you will be very interested to know just why my company decided to outsource for subcontractors on certain projects, what it has to do with you, and why we are spending money like water to secure your ...talents."


His eyes glanced quickly scanned the room out of habit, taking everything in, a sharp contrast to the way he was dressed. His appearance suggested a life of ease while his eyes betrayed the suggestion with a claim to have seen many an adventure.


Hopefully Kullum came through..

The morning had drawn on much too long for Monica's liking. Already, she had been standing here waiting for Oman for half an hour and still he hadn't shown up.

He's got another five minutes before I close this deal and walk out. I've got enough on my agenda today.

Moni straightend up the three peice suit she wore, grabbed the mirror from her purse and checked to see if her makeup was still in-tack. So far, so good.

" Ms. Francis..." said a voice behind her.

Monica couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. Well...at least he's cute, and by the looks of him I'd say he's rich too.

Slowly she followed him, listening to him ramble on about her being interested in his proposition, nothing she hadn't heard before in her time.

And what a back story it is...

" Well...go on, you have my attention. What is it you wish me to do?"

Oseon - 6845*Downport Docks - Landing bay 136



"...What the frell!?...this is a joke right?..."

Kullum raised his hands, and rolled his eyes in disbelief, as a SoroSuub 12-4C-41 Traffic Controller droid handed him a flimsiplast parking ticket for The Cutlass , Kullum's own personal YT-2400 Freighter.
The pinickity droid rasped back its response...

"...Jokes are not part of my mainframe programming, you have parked aproximately 3 inches over the clearly marked designated parking area, a direct violation of The Oseon Civilian Space-port Traffic bill 12, under sub-section 1863-12/02 ..."

The droid's monotonal voice was eventually interrupted in an angry outburst from kullum...

"...oh C'mon!?... 3 inches!?...3 FRELLIN INCHES!?... you damned droids are beyond belief!..."

The droid seemed to ignore the remark and instead turned back to face the frieghter, and moved closer to inspect the registration plate bolted onto the side of the hull...

"...this plate does not seem to fit with Oseoni standard legal protocol, could you please show me your licence and registration..."

Kullum , fell silent, and pursed his lips slightly, before glancing left and right over his shoulder...

"...yeah, ok, I'll show you my licence and registration..."

With one quick deft movement, Kullum reached for his blaster and with one shot blasted the droids head completely off from its shoulders. The torso of the droid seemed to stagger forward a bit before falling stiffly to the ground.

...droids!..

Quickly, kullum gathered the parts up and lobbed them into the freighter's open hatch and activated its closing mechanism. As the door and landing gantry slowly closed, he checked over his shoulder once more to see if he'd been seen, then straightened his ill-fitting , and somewhat creased looking suit.

"...why do I have to wear this bloody thing anyways?.."

Kullum grumbled to himself as he exited the landing bay, he was not used to wearing a suit, but had managed to 'aquire' one nonetheless...
Actually it wasn't only thing he'd aquired, he'd arranged the hire of three Transports as asked for by Oman...

He hoped all this effort was going to be worth his while, Oman had indeed promised him so...

After a few minutes he found himself outside the building he was after, it was a tall dark monolithic like structure, bearing the seal of Vinda-Corp. Although owned by Vinda-Corp, it was a general office centre, renting out offices to a variety of local, and intergalactic businesses...and quite an upmarket office centre, by the look of it...

As he walked through into the lobby, Kullum's attention was drawn to the huge "V" signifiying Vinda, emblazoned onto the pristine floor...and a sudden thought of jealous resentment flashed his head, as he took a random guess at how much money someone like Vinda must make...

...ponce...

His thoughts were interrupted by the annoying tone of a secretarial droid...

"....can I help you sir?..."

"..yeah, StarQuest's office please?..."

"...third on your left, straight down the hall, office 21a...have a nice day..."

Without any further word Kullum, turned on his heel and followed the droid's directions, and within a few moments , found himself outside the office, he cursed under his breath as he checked his chrono. He was late, again.

...what is all this StarQuest krif all about anyways?...

He activated the door's alert, and as it silently sid aside, he walked in...

The couple crossed the lobby of the large, yet dark, structure sporting Mr. "V"'s sig everywhere. He ignored the display and moved directly to the spartan offices held by StarQuest Inc.

A secretary droid looked up as they walked into a corridor and stopped at office 21a. The inner sanctum of StarQuest. Once inside Oman directed Ms. Francis into a seat of posh leather.



"What is it you wish me to do?"


Oman glanced at the woman out of the corner of his eye as he rounded another similiar chair and sat down.


Have you scantily clad whilst feeding me joba grapes making sweet sweet love in the twightlight of the twin suns of Kyber...


Oman's thoughts snapped to the question at hand.

"StarQuest has been gathering equipment and building enough capital to fund an expedition to a little out of the way planet I visited some time back.

The potential is to make a lot of money in as little time, taking very good care not to .."

He ticked each one off a finger as he recited..

"A. get hampered by any legal maneuverings. B. get hampered by any illegal maneuverings and C. get generally hampered.


But to come straight to the point, StarQuest Inc. has been collecting communications equipment and storing them here at Oseon for quite a while. An associate of mine has procured the necessary transports to move this equipment to a planet that is ....somewhat lacking.. and bring them up into the technological age.

When we arrive on planet, we subcontract workers to install the equipment and then subcontract a group of individuals to service said equipment.

We own the equipment, so once a network (holonet or otherwise) gets set up, we begin charging for ... "

He grinned.

"..the service."

"What you will be doing is making sure that we meet all legal requirements for transporting general goods onto this world. If any outsider corporation begins to weasel their way onto our operation, you pounce... we pounce.

Once the operation is up and running, we offer the same services providing a healthy competition to any already established businesses.


However, there may be some underworld developments that I cannot forsee, people trying to muscle in on honest business people such as ourselves."


The door slid open and Oman turned to see Kullum walk in, wearing his usual grimace.

He hates suits worse than I do..

"Ms. Francis. This is .. Kullum.... " Oman grinned. "Kullum Belafonte, partner in StarQuest Inc. Kullum, Ms. Monica Francis, newly appointed Aquisitions Director of StarQuest."

His grin got wider, "If things go sour, Ms. Francis, we also need to have a quick means of cutting our losses and running. Therefore, per your specifications, you will be pleased to know that we have finished construction on a craft I think you will enjoy.

I would like a rundown again on your specifications to make sure we incorporated them all, however."

He turned to the other man, "How are we on the transports?"

Oman , was already in full swing by the time Kullum entered, talking to a very attractive , but very business-like young woman. Kullum raised an eyebrow slightly as he was introduced...

"Ms. Francis. This is .. Kullum.... " Oman grinned. "Kullum Belafonte..."

...Belafonte?.... damn I like that better than my own name!

"...partner in StarQuest Inc. Kullum..."

...news to me...but I can dig it...

"...Ms. Monica Francis, newly appointed Aquisitions Director of StarQuest."

Kullum's eyes sized the woman up in front of him, and he smiled disarmingly as he stepped forward to shake her hand...

...she looks good in that suit...

Oman's voice pierced his thoughts....

"How are we on the transports?"

Turning slightly to face his partner, Kullum smiled again...

"...all sorted, holding up in dry-dock in orbit, ready to go...

The growing expression of curiousity upon Kullum's face was quick but subtle...

"..which reminds me... where is it exactly we are going?..."

Monica looked to the two men before her, a slight smile gracing her lips.

Hmm...two strikingly handsome men, can a girl get any more lucky? she thought, taking Kullum's hand in her's and shaking it twice before drawing it back.

As she heard her title resound through the air of the office, she felt a certian sensation of pride inside. Though true, she had kinda stumbled upon this job and it had been a few years since she last held any high ranking in anything, but hey, it felt good.(Not to mention what it did to her ego)

She turned to Oman and tilted her head to the side, deciding to act dumb even though she had a hunch as to where it was they were heading," Seems Kullum read my thoughts. Just where exactly are we going?"

I coulda been a circus trainer..

"Tatooine, people, Tatooine. The last free bastion of villiany and scum in the universe."

Holding up a datacard, he frowned. "Well, not so free as before but free enough."

"It seems though that there is a real need for communications equipment on the planet, most of the comms being controlled by the government that crowded in there.

This is a singular opportunity to make a lot of mad cash legally. We've already got our bonafides," Oman held up his identity card showing his home planet as Cyax.

A brief thought on the late great Lena Kee entered his mind before dismissing it as old history.

He pulled out a scanner and aimed it at Monica. "If you did all the precautionary things you were asked to do then...

ahh.."

DNA surface scan came back as: Monica Francis.

"Excellent. Now your fingers and eye.."


Retina scan: Monica Francis
Fingerprint: Monica Francis

"So, you are who you say you are. Most encouraging wouldn't you say?"


Turning to Kullum, Oman grinned. "We'll need our wits about us because the foreign power controlling Tatooine is only vaguely known.

We go in, set up a communications franchise, make a killing on those who desire more... discretion with their communicational needs without the eye of the government looking over them.

But here is where the plan get's funky.."

He grinned,

"If we make a killing on Tatooine, who's to say we won't make a killing on other worlds in this government's sphere of influence?

We'll make so much money we won't know what to do with it."


And when a bored look came over Kullum's eyes Oman grinned. For what was money but a means to an end.
What he was after was the thrill.


"It's us against a faction, Kullum, their hidden secrets the prize. We can be as "legal" as we want, but you know military types don't give up secrets easily. We will be flying by the seat of our pants so any little useful tools, even those that can avoid strip searches, you have will probably be required. Even that little tool you seldom use called a brain."

Yes, Oman was feeling comfortable now as he talked about things in his element. This business facade annoyed him quickly though he did see the importance of it at least at first.

He turned and eyed Monica admiringly. "Perhaps we might need to practice such searches to see if those tools can realy be hidden.." he murmured but then waved off the suggestion.

Focus... Focus.. Oman, my boy.

"Did you bring a change of clothes?" he asked Monica. "We will be leaving shortly, the transports docked and loaded with communications equipment."

Heh, already they begin to underestimate me. Surely I would have thought that Oman knew better.

Monica smiled and stood," My dear Oman, two things you must learn about me is that A) I've never been known to not hold up my end of any deal and B) I never come to anything unprepared. My bags are already packed and have been waiting down in the lobby since I arrived. Now, if there is nothing further to discuss, may I suggest that we get the ball rolling? The sooner I can get this done, the sooner I will be freed for other 'affairs'."

"It's us against a faction, Kullum, their hidden secrets the prize. We can be as "legal" as we want, but you know military types don't give up secrets easily. "

As the shrewd spacer turned his attention to the rogue opposite to him, Kullum's somewhat glazed expression began to melt away...

"We will be flying by the seat of our pants...."


A sly smile started to form across his lips as he listened...

...the only way I travel...

Kullum's grin soured a little however, as Oman's following words sunk in...

"...Even that little tool you seldom use called a brain."

"..hey wait a minu!..."

Kullum's objection was quickly interrupted as Monica interjected, and after deciding he couldn't be bothered, he opted to mutter his indignations quietly underneath his breath instead...

"...The sooner I can get this done, the sooner I will be freed for other 'affairs'."...

Tugging on his shirt collar slightly , Kullum shifted uncomfortably , not really listening...until Monica's words sparked a sudden curiousity in him ,he raised an eyebrow as her words registered in his mind. She seemed a busy woman....

...'other affairs?'...

(he was intrigued)...

Cocking his head to one side, Kullum looked her over once again as if noticing something he'd missed before....

"...well , Monica, here, (he thumbed in her general direction), seems to have the right idea...so when do we leave?..."

He looked up to Oman expectantly, with an almost feral-like grin, he didn't care much for specifics, that was Oman's job, he was just along for the ride....



...and the money, (of course).