In retrospect, earning 125 credits for just a day's work of picking up scrape honestly wasn't the worst pay in the world, especially in a setting where at least here on Dantooine the basic needs didn't cost very much. Also, especially judging by how Carste and the other salvagers acted when they turned in their own junk, while not great it was still better than nothing and most certainly better than farming, which was the only real other job most people did around here. Not to say there was anything wrong with farming, it was a vital service after all, it just didn't tend to pay well if you weren't the land owner.
Anyway, it certainly wasn't the amount of money I was hoping to make, at least a few hundred credits, if not a little more, cause at this rate I would have to work at least the same amount for months before I earned enough to buy even the cheapest light freighter available on SFO that I can find so far. I could potentially make more money faster by expanding operations more, but that would cost money to do and likely attract attention I didn't want from spawning a small army's worth of worker droids to do all the heavy lifting. Thus, the most reasonable thing to do would be to work and build up slowly.
I could do it, I technically wasn't in a rush, but I much rather be exploring the galaxy and doing much more productive things I know where happening out there rather than sitting out here on space Kansas digging up wrecks!
"Damn Palpy and his Empire's fucked up economy," I muttered quietly to myself as I ate a nerfburger inside the inn I was staying at's conjoined catina. It was pretty good, if slightly off, compared to burgers back home.
I remember watching a YouTube video before I got here that talked about how due to the Sith's manipulations during the Clone Wars, in order to stretch it out and keep make it as bad as possible, that the Republic and CIS both did some very stupid things economically, like taking out huge loans from the IGBC, who also stupidly gave them to both sides of conflict. Now that war was over, Palpy and his cronies were scrambling to stabilize things so the galaxy doesn't fall into a super recession, like nationalizing various companies, taking over the Banking Clan, setting up future military-industrial complex to give people jobs, massively expanding military recruitment, etc. in order to stall the fall for at least another two decades until he gets his death laser, then he doesn't have to care about that stuff anymore. After all, he can just blow up planets who turn against him due to their money becoming worthless.
For a guy who finally fulfilled the thousands of year old dream of the Sith destroying the Jedi Order and Republic, Palpy was remarkably short-sighted after the fact, focusing only on gaining and maintaining his total dominance over the galaxy and eventually becoming immortal to rule it forever. He was like a toddler who never wanted play time with his toys to end, albeit one that could shoot lightning from his hands.
Anyway, while I had no proof that the current salvage rate was due to all that, I was pretty sure and was gonna go with it. After all, given all the evil stuff I knew the man did, why not add another?
"I hope it's to your liking," the male duros bartender said to me as he gave me a refill of blue milk. "Local ranchers pride themselves on their nerfs after all."
"It's good, never had nerf before," I admitted with a smile as I finished off my burger.
"Never? Well, you certainly were missing good food then," the man laughed. "I don't know any place in the galaxy that doesn't serve nerf."
"Yeah, well, where I'm from makes Dantooine look like the peak of galactic society," I said back, which was completely honest given the tech levels involved. "Sadly, the pay is the same for the same crap jobs."
"Yeah, salvaging pays better than most work on the planet, but not by much," the bartender admitted as he took my plate to clean. "Better off going off-world someplace a bit more populated if you want something with a higher paycheck."
"That's the plan, but I need to earn the money to do that first," I sighed as I fiddled with my brand new comlink, a brand new MultiNode communications link for 75 credits.
I had bought it in order to stay in contact with Sir Gonkington as he 'guarded' the speeder, pits, and other stuff where it was parked outside. The innkeeper had told me they had a strict 'no droids' policy and assured me that thefts were rare, but out of paranoia I told Sir Gonkington to call me with his newly installed comm unit if anyone attempted to steal anything while he stayed online to charge everything overnight.
Funny how the commlink was technically more advanced than my phone, but didn't have the features a smartphone back home would have. The SWverse always did have weirdly inconsistent tech levels.
"I know that feeling, I had to work a great deal of jobs all over the galaxy, spend most of what I made doing those jobs just to move around and find more work, until I eventually got a enough to buy this bar," the duros explained. "This one time I worked as a bouncer for another bar off-world and let me tell you, you meet a lot of colorful beings and end up having to throw most of them out on more populated worlds in that business. Why, in one case I had to drag out this drunk herglic, and let me tell you, that was a pretty incredible feat in of itself given how big they tend to get…"
It was not the first time the bartender had gone off one of his stories since I came into the bar… three hours ago? Jeez, forget FTL travel, this man alone can make time go by slow and fast at the same time. He was really living up the cultural stereotype of his species. I think me being a polite newcomer pegged me as an easy target to talk about his many 'adventures' too, with the smarter locals staying away from the bar itself and seemed to be giggling at my situation.
Anyway, I did the polite and smart thing, nodding my head along as he spoke and giving the occasional impressed-sounding comment at what sounded like particularly 'exciting' parts as my mind thought up future plans. It was the least I could do for the good service, after all.
But yeah, this salvaging idea was, while good on paper, wasn't gonna cut it for me, especially if I wanted to leave the planet on my own ship in a reasonable timeframe to get involved in some events I knew would happen and make good contacts in the process. I wasn't gonna get anything meaningful done in this galaxy unless I got to know the right people, after all. I needed a different angle to make money at a much more reasonable ra-
"Blast it! Stupid machine!" I was broken from my thoughts by the rather irate yells of my server as he stopped his story-telling, something I thought would never happen, and banged on the side of what I was told was a food synthesizer as it sputtered out a nasty looking grey sludge.
"Everything okay there, chef?" I asked with a little concern as the duros grunted in anger as the machine finally stopped spewing whatever it was it was spewing.
"It's fine, more annoying than anything else," he said as he punched the machine again, earning something that sounded like a mix between a spark and a gurgle. "The blasted thing is older than this whole building and keeps breaking down on me. It's getting to where it breaks down more often than it works, no matter how many times I pay to get it fixed. Sure, we can cook normally if needed, but kinda need it during rushes or serving something that we don't know or have the ingredients to make ourselves to certain customers. I don't want to, but it feels like I just need to swallow the blaster bolt and make an order for a new one. Gonna set me back a bit though…"
"I'm guessing it's hard to get good new equipment here, huh?" I asked curiously.
"No kidding, but I don't really have a choice," he sighed, causing a lightbulb to go off in my head.
"How much do you suppose it will cost you to get a new synthesizer?"
"At least a little over a thousand for a decent one this size, and it will likely be at least a week if not more for it to actually show up, depending on the trader," he grumbled.
"What if it didn't have to?" I offered. "More specifically, what if I could promise you I could get a brand new unit to you by tomorrow morning and it would only cost you 700 credits?"
"Really? How?" he asked me with a raised brow.
"I know a guy," I simply said. "All totally legit too, if that's what you are worried about. Nothing stolen or anything like that."
"Hmmm…" he mused to himself as he looked over his current machine again, which as if to get the point across spewed out a little more grey goo. "I would need to see it first…"
"Tell you what, given your excellent service and stories, along with being a potential first time customer, I promise to bring you the new synthesizer first, have you check it over and even test it, and you don't have to pay me unless you are 100% happy with it," I offered with my hand out. "Sounds fair?"
"Well, when you put it like that… doesn't sound like I've got much to lose," the duros smiled as he took my hand.
"I assure you, once you see your new device you won't have lost anything," I said with a smile.
After that I assured Lul, which I finally learned was his name, that I would see him a little before opening in the morning with his potential purchase and headed back to my room.
I would have to wake up early, swing by the local spaceport to make it feel believable, and then purchase the machine with SFO away from any watching eyes, but something told me this was the beginning of a much more efficient system than what I was doing before.
---
As promised, I returned to Lul's cantina a little bit before opening with him waiting outside the front door. He watched me speed up with his brand new food synth still in the box on my trailer and watched as my pits helped carry it in, unbox it, and set it up to his satisfaction.
It was a newer model than the ancient one he had, but there are barely any differences technologically, with even the user's manual being pretty basic. So basic, in fact, Lul didn't even need to read it over as he checked it out, loaded it up with some containers of basic raw materials, pushed a few buttons, and watched as it basically printed out what looked like a purple steak with a side of veggies.
I was silent as he took out the freshly built and steaming meat, took a fork to it, and started eating. I stayed that way as he slowly chewed and eventually swallowed before focusing back on me.
"Well I'll be spaced, this actually tastes good," Lul finally said.
"Was there any doubt?" I asked curiously.
"A little, usually when someone is trying to pass on a food synth as 'new' they don't clean them out all the way, so you get a bit of an aftertaste whenever you print something. It's usually very hard to totally clean them out too, I would know. But this, it tastes like it's never been used before! So either it really is new, or just never been used, which is basically the same thing."
"Does that mean you want to buy it?" I asked hopefully.
"You bet I do! I'm liable to get more business now too once word passes around!" Lul smiled at me and patted me on the back. "Everyone wants their mother's cooking, and with this thing I can likely give them a good fake of it!"
"Great to hear! So… about my payment," I offered politely.
"Hehehe, of course. Let me just get it out from the back," he said as he walked off into the back of the bar, coming back a few minutes later with several ingots in hand. "I had to get this out of the safe since part of me didn't actually think you'd pull through. No offense."
"None taken," I said as he handed me the ingots, allowing me to count it out and eventually find out it added up to 750 credits. "I think you overpaid me here."
"Ha! I was wondering if you were honest enough to point it out," Lul laughed. "Consider it a tip for speedy and good service, kid. You earned it. Besides, I figure your 'guy' will want their cut as well."
"Hehe, of course," I smiled at the inside joke, only I knew the answer too.
After all, my 'guy' was the SFO, and since the synthesizer only costs 400 over it, that means I just made a profit that was over twice what I made spending a whole day collecting scrap in less than an hour. Proving my earlier belief right, physical labor sucked and wasn't for me, especially since there were easier ways to make money.
"You know… does your 'guy' provide more than just synthesizers?" Lul asked curiously.
I raised a curious brow at the question. "Depends on what is being asked for, since he can provide a lot of things in general if the price is right. Why do you ask?"
"Got a few buddies who work in the local stores who have been complaining to me about how expensive new imports of products their customers need have been lately, and how even with the war over supply lines not likely to stabilize for a good while," Lul explained. "Nothing out there, mainly parts, equipment, droids, all kinds of things most locals need to run their farms and such. Nothing crazy, but pays decently well."
"I think he might be interested… and I'm guessing you'd be charging your friends a commission for connecting them to a cheaper supplier?"
"Hey, I got to make money too in order to improve the bar and make it so everyone has a nice place to eat and drink at the end of a long day," Lul said with a smile. "Besides, this sounds like it has the potential to be a nice story to tell people later."
"Hehehe, well in that case, I think we can draw up a nice little contract to make it work," I replied.
Yeah, screw breaking my back digging holes, this was where the real money was!
---
AN: Nick's first local contact! Let's see how well this business arrangement goes on for.