Eventually, after nearly a whole day of working, we finally collected enough assorted salvage to basically fill the trailer and reach its near limit weight wise. It was boring, tiring, and tedious work, and that was coming from a guy who spent most of it directing a bunch of droids in doing most of the physical labor. It made me really question the sanity of people who enjoyed doing this kinda thing, cause goodness knows the second I could afford it I would not be doing any more of it.
Still, as I looked over my full trailer as my droids climbed aboard, it was kinda cool digging up the wreckage of the past.
As expected, most of what we found were various broken and messed up pieces of B2 battle droids, but after that there were pieces of B1s, some rarer pieces of what I was reasonably sure were dwarf spider droids, and even the odd piece of scrap that I was near certain came from AAT or two. All of it was so damaged it likely wasn't worth much past its weight in scrape, but I suppose that was the point of it, wasn't it? Granted, I'm sure a veteran scrapper could find bits of gold among the garbage, but I certainly wasn't one.
Besides, if all worked out well I could just buy any one of these things in the future if I wanted to. After all, who wouldn't want to motor around in a floating tank while waving a laser sword around?
My totally reasonable dreams aside, the sun was starting to set and I would honestly prefer to get all this stuff back to the Reclamation Center sooner rather than later or else I would have to sit on it until morning. I was already kinda worried about where to safely store my current stuff as is without worrying about guarding little garbage. So yeah, Reclamation Center it was.
Besides, while most of what I recovered was old CIS stuff, I had recovered more than that as well.
After over three years, along with the initial damage that got them buried in the first place, there wasn't much left of any clone troopers that fought here. I did find broken and scattered pieces of Phase 1 trooper armor among the droid parts, along with wrecked weapons of the DC-15_family with them, but nature and time had pretty much decomposed most anything organic left before some scattered bone fragments I reburied as respectfully as I could. I did find a few of what might have been Identifying code chips, being rather small and durable, which along with anything identifiable on the recovered armor pieces might at least help their clone brothers properly put them to rest as best they could.
Sure, it took up some space on the trailer that I could have used to hold more droid parts to turn in for a profit, but after everything the clones sacrifice and would continue to suffer through, along with my earlier promise to Digit, it only seemed fair to do may part to help keep some of their memory alive as the rest of the galaxy did what it could to forget them. It was stuff like this that for all that the Clone Wars was a war using mass produced soldiers on both sides of the conflict, it was extremely disturbing how willing the Republic was to throw what were basically child soldiers into a grinder just so its own people wouldn't have to fight themselves.
And given how I knew the Empire would train and treat its own troopers? Well, let's just say it wouldn't get any better for a while yet.
"But maybe I can help be a part of the solution, if nothing else," I muttered to myself as I climbed onto my speeder after making sure everything was secure and made my way back to town.
After all, what was the point of making money if you didn't put it towards making a better tomorrow however you could?
---
The sun was well into setting by the time I returned to Garang and then the Reclamation Center, specifically its drop off area at the side of the building where a few clones stood guard alongside some other ones wearing what looked like engineering outfits or something, likely serving as logistics specialists or something along those lines. Or, in this case, likely being in charge of unloading, sorting, weighing, and moving the collected salvage.
I wasn't the only salvager here either.
There were several groups in a line in front of me, likely dropping off their haul for the day and collecting their payment for it just like me. I noticed that I appeared to be the only one man operation among those present, with the rest being in groups of at least three or five at the minimum, using proper landspeeder trucks to transport their goods, having bigger scrap piles to turn in, and in general looked a little… rough around the edges; being a bit dirty looking, having a mix of working clothes and basic armor, each carrying a pistol on their sides, etc. Most were humans, or near-humans, but I did see a few aliens among them as well, and I also noticed them noticing me.
Being the new guy in this business, I likely stuck out like a sore thumb compared to usual salvagers working this planet, and I gotta say, I wasn't a fan of the attention. I just turned my head and hummed to myself while trying to ignore the eyes boring into me and hoping the line would move on quickly.
Sadly, my attempt at being ignored failed.
"First day?" an older human man with tanned skin asked me, being the only one of his group in front of me in line that deigned to speak with me after staring for a bit.
"Uhhh, yeah? 'That obvious?" I asked curiously, trying to remain polite while inside I was nervous about having a casual conversation with someone for the first time since coming to this universe. It was much easier just talking business or getting info.
"Yeah, you're too clean for one," the man chuckled at his own joke. "Don't get many new off-worlders these days, especially not working alone. In the beginning there were lots of randoms here hoping for a quick payday, but most stopped coming once the easy salvage dried up and they realized the pay wasn't worth the effort most of the time."
"Well, this was the quickest means I had to make some money since I got here, and I got some help," I said, gesturing to my droids in the trailer.
"Oh? Yeah, droids certainly cut down on the effort, some of the other salvaging groups got a few, but most aren't worth the expense or just plain don't like them," the man shrugged. "Name's Carste, and I've been working on this claim with my team since the day after the battle."
"Nick, and I've been doing it since today, as you figured out," I said as I extended my hand, which he took and gave your typical working man handshake. As in, a handshake that was rough, strong, and hurt a little as he squeezed a bit and made me have to keep a wince off my face. "I promise I won't be stepping on anyone's toes while I'm working. I just need to earn enough to eventually get off-world."
"Oh, got places to go?" Carste asked curiously.
"You could say that. There are better business opportunities out there in the galaxy than here, unless you want to be a farmer or keep salvaging like you guys, no offense," I quickly added.
"None taken, and you aren't wrong there. It's just a question of finding decent work that is the problem," Carste pointed out. "Came here from Corellia, and while the work is about the same and the pay is just as bad, at least the air is fresher. Right now most work in the galaxy is like this, cleaning up and rebuilding stuff from the war. It's simple, if nothing else."
"I'm actually hoping to become a trader some time soon, give me a good excuse to see more of the galaxy," I told him.
"Heh, every spacer's dream," the man laughed a bit. "Hope it works out for you, though breaking into the game is gonna be harder than you think, even with the big shipping companies like the Trade Federation being taken over. Being an independent is hard, potentially dangerous, and not very rewarding work from what some old buddies tell me."
"Well, let's just say I plan to have an edge in that department in the future," I vaguely said. "Trade secret."
"Heh, I'm sure it is," Carste said, clearly not believing me and just seeing me as a wide-eyed dreamer at best. "But for now, you are a metal farmer like the rest of us. At least with those droids of yours you don't have to break your back as much as the rest of us."
"That was the idea when I bought them, yeah," I said before a potentially very profitable idea struck me. "You mentioned before that the reason most salvager groups buy droids to deal with labor is due to cost, right? How much would it take to get a pit droid or something for you guys to use?"
"On a backwater like Dantooine? One thousand credits at least, maybe a little less if used," he said, making my ears perk up. "Can get them cheaper on more built up worlds, likely gonna be six hundred or more credits to buy 'em. I heard it can be cheaper on bigger worlds, but no one is gonna go all the way there to buy droids just to have them work here, especially given the costs of visiting a Core world in general."
As Carste continued to grumble about 'expensive Core bullshit', my mind realized something very important. Namely, what SFO showed me price wise for products was not something shared universally across the galaxy, with prices varying due to all manner of factors and that meant the final retail price of something could be much lower or greater depending on supply and demand in a given location. It was basic economics, but something that hadn't crossed my mind until just now.
Meaning, I could potentially make a great deal by buying stuff on SFO for its base price, and then reselling it for much more depending on what people were willing to pay for it without worrying about other costs like transport, taxes, and other things that other traders dealt with. I just needed the initial cash to make it appear whenever I wanted it too.
Of course, ideas were all well and good, but I first needed to test it out.
"What if I could tell you I can get you some pit droids or some other models for relatively cheap?" I asked curiously, earning a raised eyebrow in response.
"How cheap are we talking?"
"How about… 550 credits?" I offered.
"I'd ask if they were even functional firstly, and then secondly where you stole them from."
"Not stolen, and brand new," I countered. "I know a guy."
"A 'guy' huh?"
"A good budding businessman needs to have good supply contacts," I pointed out.
"Hmmm, I don't know… I'd need to swing it past the rest of my group," Carste pointed out. "They might think it's too fishy sounding."
"I totally understand, it's just a suggestion after all," I assured him. "I should be working here for a little while, so if you change your mind just let me know. Okay?"
"Will do, kid," Carste said before noticing the line was moving up. "We'll maybe talk later."
With that, I watched as Carste walked back over to his group as we all moved up in line, chatting with them in a slightly hushed tone as I noticed a few of me look back at me with skeptical looks on their faces.
Oh well, I tried at least. It makes sense that they wouldn't be interested in a random person's offer for seemingly cheap and in good condition items. I'd just have to try elsewhere and work up trust with potential customers.
For now though, I had my current job to focus on.
---
Eventually, after the sun had finally set, the line moved up until it was my turn to turn in my salvage.
"License please," a worker clone that must have been the one in charge said as he held up a datapad.
"Right here," I said as I handed it over, which the clone scanned with his pad. It beeped green and he nodded as he handed it back to me.
"Alright, bring your trailer over there and we'll start unloading. If you wanna help, go ahead. It'll help speed things along."
"Will do! Alright team, up and at 'em!" I said as I activated my pits and ordered them to do just that before turning back to the clone. "Hey, I promised Digit by the front desk earlier that'd also turn in any clone trooper stuff I found too. Should that go in the same pile or…?"
"Really?" the clone worker asked before checking his datapad. "Huh, you're right. He did send out a message about that. And you're saying you found some things?"
"Not a lot, but I did find pieces of armor, weapons, and even a few identifying code chips," I shrugged.
"That's… that's great, thank you," he said before he waved over a few of his worker brothers. "Hand anything that belonged to our fellow clones over to these two, and we'll take it from there."
"Will do, thanks," I nodded.
"No, thank you," the clone said. "It's rare when a salvager actually turns in something that they won't get paid for so… thanks for returning our brothers to us, no matter how small."
"It seemed only right all things considered," I waved off the thanks. "Just pay me for my work and I'll call it even."
"Right, I best get on that then," he smirked as he worked on his pad before turning back to me. "And the name's Thick, just so you know."
"Thick?" I couldn't help but question with a raised brow.
"It's because I always got told I needed things beaten into me until I really got them," Thick smirked. "I took it as a compliment."
"Fair enough," I nodded as I got to work.
While my droids and a few of the clone workers dealt with the CIS salvage, I handed over the Republic stuff to the two clones that Thick sent my way. Unlike the former, the latter was treated carefully and with as much respect as possible, even the stuff most would consider trash. I even saw them use a datapad to scan the identifying code chips I recovered, most likely registering the clone it once belonged to and marking it down.
All told, the mundane and yet somber task took less than an hour to totally complete, and most of that time was spent sorting through the CIS salvage as Thick organized, listed, and weighed each piece until eventually everything was finished and he turned back to me.
"Not a bad haul for a first timer," Thick commented as he worked his pad. "At about 372 pounds of total collected salvage, your pay rounded down comes out to about 125 credits."
…
I had to process that for a moment.
"How much?"
"125 credits," Thick replied with a straight face.
…
I really wanted to smash my head into the nearest metal object at that very moment.
---
AN: Technically not the worst pay, but considering how SI's power functions it might as well be next to nothing. So yeah, learning that legit work doesn't pay great.