Orbit of Nar'Shadaa
As Jacoibas ship arrived at the destination set out for her meeting (orbit of nar'shaddaa) she could see the heavy cruiser in the distance, This syndicate under boss she was meeting with she was hoping would give her some extra information about the auction she was hoping to attend, and possibly the holocron she was after.
"Open a comm link and request to board, I will be taking Eltarr, Rikai, Admin and Yeonara. Fahl and Helana will handle things here"
The Response from the cruiser was prompt, they were cleared to land in the primary hanger bay where they would be met by one of Sekar Pyke's aides who would then lead them to Sekar himself.
The shuttle landed in the hanger shortly afterward, Jacoiba and her entourage were greeted by the aides. "We appreciate the hospitality, if you could take us to your commander please"
Jacoiba took in her surroundings and the people who were showing her to the under boss She took only a small few with her as she did want to look threatening, but still be somewhat protected.
It was not just an aide of course that was waiting when the group emerged from the shuttle, but a full security team of eight, Sekar Pyke was evidently not one to take chances. Still they make no threatening actions beyond their presence and seemed to be there as much as for show as for purpose.
The aide that looked to have some seniority, owing to the gold ornamentation he wore, stepped forward and made a slight bow.
"My Employer is curious about you Lady, it is not everyday one of the Sith come out of hiding and request an audience, does he bounty now worry you or do you think what you wish to discuss with my employer holds more value than your hide is worth?" the aide said in the calm and almost drugged was his species had of talking.
Jacoiba smiled "I believe your employer and I can come to an.. agreement of sorts.. I see no sense in hiding what I am, if he wished to claim the bounty on my head he could have trapped me as I exited my ship, and so therefore, I believe he may think what I have to offer may be worth it"
Meanwhile Admin was keeping a close eye on everyone around them, he had been instructed by his mistress to pick up on any information he could gather while there, but to keep it subtle.
"We shall see what Sekar has to say about your offer, as I said, he is curious." The aide said before turning around and leading the way out of the hanger, four of the security formed up behind him while the other four waited for Jacoiba's group to follow and then fell in behind them. They were lead through the ship to a rather ostentatious throne room of sorts with a number of young pykes both male and female were relaxing with various substances and pleasure slaves of a dozen different species. at the far end of the room on a raised dais covered in push cushions lay Sekar Pyke himself, on a step below him where Sekar could pet her like a favoured animal lay a particularly attractive young twi-lek woman who left very little to the imagination. Evidently Sekar was one to indulge in his pleasures even when business was at hand.
Jacoiba and her entourage made a slight bow toward the under boss as they entered his throne room. Jacoiba motioned toward the Twi-lek woman and smiled "You have good taste I see, she's a beautiful specimen"
Jacoiba took a seat on some cushions a suitable distance from the under boss "I am Darth Jacoiba" She motions to her companions "We have Darth Yeonara, Darth Eltarr, My most trusted lieutenant Rikai and Admin"
Admin greeted the under boss but otherwise remained silent, carefully keeping watch around them, Eltarr Yeonara and Rikai all bowed and took a seat by their mistress.
"Three million walking credits." Sekar mused in a voice load enough to reach everyone in the room while he absently stroked the lekku of the twi'lek before him. "When you first requested an audience of course I was not aware of that. Imagine my surprise when I learned of what you are." He continues with a sly smile. Several of the others in the room laughed softly at that. "Tell me then were you counting on my information not being accurate or do you have something to offer worth more than the bounties I could get on the three of you.?"
Jacoiba smirked. "Sekar Pyke, not an overly influential member of the pyke syndicate, but you do own a strong slaving business, pleasure slaves clearly. You have relations among the higher end of the syndicate which assists you in your wealth. And clearly.. you have expensive taste in your slaves" Jacoiba said in a tone which meant to disrespect to the under boss, she clearly wished to make it known that she too had her ways of gathering information. and wished to gauge the reaction.
Sekar laughed at that, clearly this Sith woman was not afraid of him. "It is true I do not stand as high as I would like among my peers." He replied. "Obviously you did some homework before this meeting. However you have still not told me why you are here or why I should allow you to leave afterwards."
"I am after some information, there are some things my people cannot tell me, I have received word of an particular.. auction of sorts.. it holds an item I am very interested in, and I believe you may know of its whereabouts and how I may be able to attend such an auction. As for allowing me and my companions to leave.. unharmed.. It is also in my interest to have an.. acquaintance of sorts among the syndicate.. I may be able to help you rise among the ranks of your peers, I have certain troops who can assist you in your.. advances.. if it pleases you to do so"
“I believe I know of the auction you speak. I am something of a collector myself and was planning to attend. It is a highly secretive affair and many of the item on offer are extremely rare or illegal in the republic." Sekar said as he reclined a little further and reached for a pipe on a low table behind him. "As for your offer, It always pleases one in my position to rise higher, how can I be sure you could deliver however. You have no ties to the Pyke Syndicate or the larger Galactic Syndicate either."
Jacoiba nodded her head. "This is true, I do however have other means of getting the things I want. Admin?"
The droid looked over to his mistress and nodded his head, turning toward Sekar he began to tell him of what he had observed in the short time they had been there.
"A. the walls are blue. they're probably a particularly rare pigmentation of blue that is quite difficult to obtain.
B. there is an abundance of wealth on display in ornamentation, illicit substances and slaves.
C. the drapes do not match the carpets
D. one of the pyke females relaxing in the left corner is being blackmailed by another under boss of the pyke syndicate to feed them information on Sekars operations.
E. the security systems in the room are of a recently updated design which has several exploitable flaws the company does not wish to tell its buyers about.
F. the cushions Sekar is laying on are made from wookiee pelts.
Is this sufficient mistress?"
Jacoiba simply smiled at the droid and nodded her head.
"Alot of useless information there that anyone with eyes could see." Sekar said before he took a puff of his pipe. "Interesting information about the security system however, the company that produces it is quite respected, what makes you think they have released a flawed product?"
Admin took the initiative and replied directly to Sekar. "Cross referencing recent claims against the company that were settled out of court with the update schedules of the company and labour disputes on the planet that manufactures the systems and consequent outsourcing to sub-par facilities. Each individual occurrence could be taken as a coincidence but viewed together the results are undeniable. " The droid stated.
"Impressive..." Sekar said to Jacoiba a few moments later. Do you always take an espionage droid with you to meetings?"
Jacoiba laughed. "Espionage? no, hes an in-tell droid. I see no reason to fool you. He is very good at what he does, and if I were to ask him to look out for possible.. exploits within the ranks of the syndicate.. he could do that too. I do however, have one more thing that could possibly help you raise status within the syndicate. A special troop that is my own, none but the closest to me know of them, a good lot of my own people do not even know of their existence"
Jacoiba relaxed and sat back on her cushions. "Is a refreshment available?"
Sekar snapped his fingers twice and a couple of slaves entered from a side door, one baring a tray of drinks and the other a tray of 'finger food' snacks. "Perhaps you can be of some use to my ambition. you wish a certain item at the auction then, tell me, what is it." he then replied
Jacoiba picked at the food before answering. "I am after a particular jedi holocron, for reasons that are my own"
"A holocron you say, I can see how that may hold value to your kind." Sekar said languidly. "Perhaps I can find a use for you. other than the bounty. Of course that takes care of why I let you walk out of here, now we can discuss how much the details of this auction is worth to you."
Jacoiba nodded "Indeed, I believe we can take this further than the auction however, as I mentioned earlier it would be helpful to me to have an acquaintance of sorts among the syndicate"
"If you can truly help me as you claim then that will come in time, the Auction however is near and if you wish to attend you will need the details, without a proven demonstration of your help' I'm afraid you will need more... 'liquid assets' to convince me to part with the auction information." Sekar replied as he popped one of the snacks into his mouth.
Jacoiba nodded her head, she expected as much. "and in regards to 'liquid assets', what is it you would be interested in?"
Sekar smiled lazily, "Credits, precious stones, hardware I can find a use for." He replied before popping another snack into his mouth. "The usual quickly movable and valuable assets." he added without fully finishing his mouthful.
"Credits I can do, how much am I looking at?" Jacoiba took a piece of food off the plate in front of her and sat back on her cushions.
Sekar seemed to think it over for a little while before he replied. "I could tell you the location and passkey to get inside for oh, 130,000 credits." He then leaned forward and lowered his voice a little and added with a grin, "Of course there is more to the auction than just getting there."
"There always is more, and I’m assuming you know what that 'more' is" Jacoiba was expecting it too be more pricey, but there was always a catch.
"Why don't you make me an offer to entice me little sith, if I like your figure I may tell you more." Sekar said with a smirk
Jacoiba smiled. "Well, you want a demonstration of the help you can receive from me? what about a loan of one of my infiltrators? you can do with them what you will, other than kill them of course.. they are very good at what they do. And I can throw in an extra 200,000 credits"
'An extra 200,000 hmm," Sekar replied, "This holocron must mean alot to you." He snapped his fingers and another young Pyke came forward with a dataslate. [/b]"I assume your droid is capable of transferring the funds, as I assume you'd rather not wait for the information."[/b] He passed the dataslate forward to Jacoiba and smiled. " This is the account details where you can deposit the 330,000 credits."
Jacoiba passed the dataslate to admin. "I shall leave this in your capable hands Admin"
As the droid made the transfer jacoiba smiled at Sekar as she took a bite out of the food in front of her. "You assume correctly"
Sekar glanced over his shoulder until the young pyke that had brought the slate nodded to him. “Very well, this auction is being held on the planet Gromas in a rather exclusive location, the password they will require to let you in is 'Deadliest Sin'.” He said simply before grinning again. “Now of course this auction is a place of business, the overseers will be checking for and confiscating weapons, their scanners however have difficulty with smaller types, knives and holdout blasters and the like, I do not know if those laser swords you kind use would register of course.”
Jacoiba nodded "I don't think I’d much like the risk a room full of.. business men such as yourself discovering a small fortune in bounty just walked into their auction.. but it is good to know that some weapons may pass through"
"Oh if the reputation of the sith is anything close to reality I imagine you will have little issue without weapons." Sekar said with a soft laugh. "Now, this 'Infiltrator' You will send them over before you depart, beyond that I believe our business is concluded for now. Unless there is something more you want from me?" He then asked, though his tone was more of a dismissal.
"not at this stage, I do hope to hear from you again once you see the value of my infiltrator. I thank you for your hospitality" Jacoiba and her entourage gave a short bow before making their way back toward the hanger, escorted once again by Sekars troops.
As Jacoiba arrived at the hanger her infiltrator was being escorted out of her shuttle and delivered to Sekar. He had strict orders to report anything Sekar had him do to her first, along with anything he learnt. He was after-all, her troop.
Jacoibas Quarters shortly afterwards
Jacoiba had received word that Andrea wished to contact her shortly after arriving back aboard Tempest, She made herself comfortable and ordered for the call to be made.
Andrea was pacing back and forth and snarled at the engineers, [b]"Had I given permission to take apart the transmitter at this time?"
"N-n-no mistress, but the maintenance was required and-"
"Oh just shut up and fix it already." She snarled, looking at her crimson hands, she still needed to get used to her new appearance, she wondered how Jacoiba would react... assuming the engineers got a move on to fixing her means of contacting her! Finally after an hour they were ready and she send forth a call on a coded frequency she used before to contact Jacoiba and waited patiently, tracing over some of the jewellery she had taken on to accent her new facial features.
Jacoiba giggled as Andreas image appeared before her, least she had something to laugh at after being made to wait for her to make this call. "My, look at you, ever the old hag you always were my dear"
She blinked and then snorts, "Glad to see my new appearance doesn't phase you, as you can see I have changed somewhat. I have become a sith pure-blood, reviving the sith race... but that is not the sole reason I called, Korriban has under attack. By another sith, who Azazel has a feud with as it happens. We drove them off, naturally... still... my precious sith tombworld might have its location compromised."
"Your appearance is of no concern of mine Andrea, revive all you like, you still look like a hag to me" She blew a kiss to her at the end of that sentence, her informant among Andreas men had already told her of the pure blood transformation that Andrea had made. But this news of korriban.. this was new. "Well, this could propose a problem then.. what have the others to say about this?"
She rolled her eyes, despite their partnership they still bickered like this. "Well you are still a harpy Jacoiba. Azazel wants to cut out the heart of the sith lord responsible. Gra'tua and Lena are on their way to Korriban as well, the first rushing to his precious wife, partner, whatever Mandalorians call it." She couldn't help but make a gagging noise, thinking of Gra'tua in that regard. "Lena... is Lena. Can't get a read of her, we were planning a talk about it all and see what can be done, it is short notice to call you back but I wanted you to be included, so perhaps you can attend as a hologram and still have a voice in the matter."
Jacoiba nodded her head. "Yes that would be appropriate, It is too short notice for me to make a physical appearance, as I have my own matters to attend too, but send me word of when the meeting is and I shall make myself available from here"
"Good, it will be done then." She paused for a moment and then continued, "I think Azazel has it handled, but I now have a personal grudge against this sith who tried to take my crown jewel away from me. If we require assistance, can we, I, call on you?"
"You may call upon me Andrea" Jacoiba made a point of the word you, her side alliance with Andrea meant little, but enough, the lapdog and his.. whatever she is.. were really no concern of hers.
She nodded, "I know our kind are not saying this often to each other. But, you have my thanks Jacoiba. We shall talk again soon. May fortune smile upon you." She smirked, "And give you a jedi to hunt and kill."
Jacoiba grinned "There is always a jedi for me to hunt and kill" unfortunately Cyphor still had not been located since their... run in on The Wheel. "Be well Andrea" Jacoiba cut the line with those words.
Jacoiba relaxed in her seat, it had been a productive day, not only had she the information she needed, she had also received word a new asset had successfully integrated themselves. With a smirk Jacoiba ordered for a few of her Zeltron to join her, and settled back as she began her journey to the auction.