Chance encounters of the third kind (LE, D4)

[Jo'ren Rath]

He was looking for Nuju. Apparently she was a dependable vendor of good quality starship components. So Gorby said, and he trusted her about as much as any Sith could trust anyone. Of course Shadow Town was huge and after his crazy busy day Jo'ren was fairly content to just wander and see if the force led him to anything interesting.

Every so often he would stop at a stall and look to see if they had anything he might be able to use. Saber components, armour modifications, that sort of thing. He wasn't entirely focused on the stalls though, there was still the matter of that Nikto assassin, and who knew where he would turn up again.

[Javagus Khan]

Javagus, for his part, was just finishing up a meeting with a client. "Should take care of 'em right fine," he told the Rodian as she looked over the small canister. "Just make sure to get you and yours out of the building first, 'less you're not to fond of 'em. Stuff works fine on Niartarlin roaches, but that doesn't mean that it won't give you a bad time either."

The woman murmured an understanding and slunk off, no doubt to use the pesticide in a decidedly unauthorized manner. In any case, it wasn't any of his business. He secured the credit stick among his things and turned around to see... a Sith warrior straight out of Vera Hawke: Jedi Knight, complete with the intimidating cloak and all.

Curiosity raised and business senses tingling, Javagus started following the man in a somewhat obvious manner, making sure to keep a good distance between them. "Lookin' for somethin' in particular?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

Jo'ren looked around, spotting the human trader. He set down the thing he'd been looking at and gave the man a curious glance.

"Honestly, I'm looking for someone who can sell me a new hyperdrive. This is just keeping me entertained for a while. One of those days, you know?"

He shrugged his big shoulders.

"What about you? Looking, or selling?"

[Javagus Khan]

"Sellin', though I couldn't tell you the difference between a hyperdrive and a Twi'lek even with two tries."

He steps closer and offers his hand. "Javagus Khan. I'm with Yamasaki Chemicals."

[Jo'ren Rath]

The big Sith looked at him a moment then took the offered hand. "Jo'ren Rath, Sith Empire. Tell me about your business then. Maybe it's of interest."

He grinned. "S'okay, I've got twileks and ship parts covered."

[Javagus Khan]

Javagus returned the grin. "Lucky you, eh?"

"Long and short of it, my business produces a variety of chemicals for a variety of purposes. One of those purposes happens to be of the weaponized variety." He folds his hands into his sleeves. "Whether personal, military, or global, we are committed to exceptional results at affordable prices. More importantly in this 'ere day and age, we also offer our customers full confidentiality."

[Jo'ren Rath]

Jo'ren pondered that for a few moments. "Huh. Fun business you're in."

He tapped his chin and gave a questioning look. "What about combat stims, that sort of thing? Boosting a soldier's abilities in combat and so on?"

Chemical weapons seemed messy after what happened to Taris, but boosting abilities. That could be a useful edge if needed.

[Javagus Khan]

"We've got a few different product lines, all of them carefully measured out by race to give you the most performance with the least amount of side effects. Can be a bit addictin', it's true, but it's hard not to get addicted to victory, isn't it?"

He looks Jo'ren up and down. "Not sure if we have anythin' calibrated towards Sith, but if you're interested, I can send a message back to the boys in the lab. Or are you thinkin' 'bout someone else?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

Images of Massassi warriors hopped up on combat stims had been playing through his mind. The man's question brought him back to reality.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, hard to find a bigger high than victory."

He gave Javagus a careful look. "Tell 'em Sith and more. I've got a few friends in mind and they're running a stronger, faster metabolism even than mine. Don't get out much though. Yet anyways."

[Javagus Khan]

"Could be a bit tough to dial that in without more specifics. That means stronger chems, and those can get dangerous without knowin' the exact race." He shrugs. "Still, no harm in sendin' a message back. Anywhere in particular I can reach you with an update?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

"Sure, here's my comm link." He swapped numbers with the human and replaced his communicator in his belt. "Yeah I realise that's not much to go on, but my friends don't get out much, yet. Soon enough though."

He set that thought aside for the moment. "So what brings you to Nar Shaddaa? Live here, or brought by the talks?"

[Javagus Khan]

"Brought by the talks. Figured it might be a good place to meet with potential new customers, expand my customer base a little bit. Home's on Allyuen, much as anywhere else." He looks around the poverty-stricken slum. "Nice planet, though. Really emphasizes the whole income disparity thing, doesn't it?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

"Allyuen? Where's that?" He looked around at the high-rises and squalor. "Give me a jungle any day of the week. This place is a hole, but I guess that serves the Cartel's purposes."

The big Sith cracked his neck. "Man, what a day. Tell me Javagus, do you do much trade with the Republic? I'm just wondering if they're as squeaky clean as they pretend to be."

[Javagus Khan]

"Eastern Rim. It's nothin' worth learnin' more about, really. Nice enough place, not very excitin'."

Javagus motioned down the road and started walking at a casual pace, intending to turn their conversation into a stroll. "Like I said, business is confidential. Born and raised in the Republic, though, so I've seen enough of it. Nobody's squeaky clean, and the ones who tell you otherwise are the ones you've gotta watch out for, in my opinion, but there are some good people in there, tryin' to make the galaxy a better place. Wish they were a bit better about xeno rights, truth be told."

[Jo'ren Rath]

He marched the human's pace as they strolled around the neighborhood. "Eastern rim, yeah, never been."

He seemed very interested in the insights into the Republic, nodding along. "Xeno rights? Same in the Empire. If you're Sith like me, or Sith... That confuses everyone... then you're fine. Pretty much everyone else is treated like a second class citizen. Darth Hoshi is starting to turn that around though." He seemed pleased by that.

"My people can never forgive the Jedi for trying to exterminate us. In the end we were exiled, but it's not something we take lightly. So these peace talks are going to need to pull out a miracle to be successful."

[Javagus Khan]

"Good on 'im. Her? Not really dialed in to the Empire news." He makes a vague sort of gesture to the city around them. "I grew up on Coruscant, pretty much the definition of civilization in the Republic. Still saw a whole bunch of inequality out there, Bothans and Kitonaks getting passed over for jobs, Twi'leks pressed into what was basically sex slavery, Arcona tossed into prison 'cause the security forces didn't have any other leads..."

Javagus shakes his head. "Sort of disappointin' to hear that it isn't much better on the other side."

[Jo'ren Rath]

Jo'ren found he couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Her, and yeah, it's disappointment all around. That's why you've got to carve out your own place in the Galaxy. Turn it to your will. Being Sith is about the freedom to do what you want, to make your own rules, to take no shit from anyone. Unfortunately that attracts plenty of idiots and murderers who don't understand what true power is."

[Javagus Khan]

"Way of the world, it seems." He glances over at Jo'ren. "You mentioned a difference 'tween Sith and Sith. Was my understandin' that Sith was just a race, but seems it's more like a poorly named social position and a race?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

He laughed at the human's comment. "Pretty much both things yes. I'm True Sith, a pureblood in fact: that's the species. Whereas the Sith are also the name for the followers of a force philosophy that has existed for millennia. So you can be a Sith Sith and a non-Sith Sith. It's all confusing to begin with."

[Javagus Khan]

"Does sound like a bit of a mess." He shakes his head and grins. "You get that Vera Hawke show out in the Empire?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

"Boob Knight?" He chuckled. "Yeah. You can get most things in the Empire if you're Sith. Pretty unrealistic but it's amusing at least."

[Javagus Khan]

"Yeah, that's the one." He starts gesturing with his hands as he speaks. "Now, how realistic is the Empire in that show? I know that it's probably not all sith lords buildin' laser moons and threatenin' to blow up planets if the boob knight doesn't reveal her sex tape on the holonet, but is any of the other stuff accurate?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

"Like what, give me an example? I mean sure, there are some whack job Sith lords who steeple their fingers and come up with dumb plans for domination that get foiled. Mostly it's other Sith doing the foiling though." He smirked at that.

[Javagus Khan]

"Well, let's see..." He rubs his chin as he thinks. "There was this one where Vera got captured by the Sith - she gets captured a lot, mind you - and the Sith swapped her brain with that of a dog. So you had the dog runnin' around with a lightsaber, while she was crawling around on all fours and linkin' peoples' faces."

Javagus grins. "So... you folks do a lot of brain swappin', I guess?"

[Jo'ren Rath]

Jo'ren rolled his eyes. "Man, now some stupid Sith Lord is gonna try that out. No, it's not a thing.". He rubbed his chin spikes.

"You're right about Vera getting captured all the time though. I'm starting to think she just likes getting tied up."