The inside of the parlor itself wasn't too bad looking, if maybe a bit dirty; dim lighting showing off a decently-sized bar, a number of gaming, slot, and other gambling machines, an equal number of hologame tables, and even a large card table in the center of it all.
The place was pretty empty, all things told, with the only two customers present being Cid's two regulars, Bolo and Ketch, who appeared to be arguing over a game of dejarik.
"Quit cheating!" Bolo yelled at his friend through the translation device on his hump.
"Just cause I keep winning, don't mean it's 'cause I'm cheating!" Ketch fired back. "Maybe you just stink at this game!"
"That's it!" the ithorian roared and charged at his weequay friend, the two of them grappling with each other in a way that was only half-serious and implied they were no strangers to roughhousing with each other.
It was honestly kinda comical to watch, but sadly I was here on business.
"Hey! Uh, is Cid here?" I asked the two curiously.
Surprisingly enough, they stopped mid-brawl to look at me before answering as one. "In the back." They then proceeded to return to fighting each other.
"Thanks," I said as I passed by the two and made my way to Cid's office.
I stopped at the closed door and pressed the button on the side, which basically acted as a doorbell and intercom.
"Who and what is it? I'm on break," an annoyed voice answered over the intercom. "If you want a drink so badly, play a game first."
"I might just do that, but I'm actually here for business," I answered back, debating mentally how I wanted to do this before just going for it. "I'm something of an aspiring provider of hard to come by commodities for a select clientele, and I heard that if I wanted to break into the market that you were the one to talk to."
"You heard wrong. Now get lost,"was Cid's quick reply.
Yeah, that was expected, but thankfully I had a few buttons to push in my favor.
"You sure? I heard that you were a very close friend to a certain religious order not too long ago, providing a very important service to them, and I'd very much like to make use of that same expertise so that we might both profit," I spoke quietly into the intercom. "Besides, don't you at least want to see what I have got to offer? That costs you nothing."
There was silence for a few moments before Cid's office door finally opened, startling me a moment before I walked inside.
I turned the corner and walked into Cid's office, making note of the eclectic amount of items inside; such as an old looking axe, a large fur pelt over the main chair, several different types of clone trooper helmets, which Cid must have gotten from her Jedi contacts, and the large horn of some creature on her desk, of which the woman in question was sitting behind with a fork in hand and bowl in front of it.
Huh, looks like I really did interrupt her in the middle of her lunch break.
Ciddarin Scaleback, more commonly known as Cid, was short, squat, scaly, had a flattened face, and in general didn't look like your typical trandoshan, but then again before the Bad Batch show I had never seen a female of the species ever be depicted in media. Maybe they just naturally look like that, or maybe she was a different kind of trandoshan since it's not like that scavenger that stole R2 during the war looked like a typical one either. I was pretty sure she was older by her species' standards too, but even I wasn't dumb enough to say that to her face.
"What, you just gonna stand there all day looking like an idiot, or did you actually have something worth interrupting my meal for?" Cid spoke up in annoyance at my silence. "And lose the helmet, I don't trust people who hide their faces."
"And you trust people who don't?" I asked curiously.
"No," Cid stately simply as she took a bite of whatever it was she was eating. "But it's easier to read people without them."
"Then, with all due respect, I'd like to keep the helmet on."
"Look Buckethead, earning my respect is something that you can only get with money… but fine, no point wasting my time any more than I have to to argue over something stupid," Cid said as she put down her fork, putting one arm on her desk and the other underneath it. "So, what exactly is this 'hard to come by commodity' you've come to sell me on? If it's the head of a gungan, you're the third guy this week."
"That's… disturbing if true," I commented before shaking it off and instead placed my carrying case on Cid's desk. "No, I bring you a sample of something much more useful and something people will most certainly pay for."
I unlatched the case and opened up, revealing a blaster inside.
Cid just raised an eye ridge and looked at me like I was the biggest moron in the galaxy.
"Congrulations, you got your blaster a nice carrying case. I'm sure people must be lining up for 'em."
"Oh yeah, this is a very nice case, thanks for noticing," I said with a hidden smile, leaning into the sarcasm. "But it's what's inside the case that I want to draw your attention to. See anything interesting?"
"Looks like a modified DC-15 carbine, so what?"
"Close, but this is actually a DC-19 stealth carbine," I started to explain as I took the rifle out of its case and showed it off, looking very much like its cousin beyond the altered muzzle, which was larger than typical. "Its a model that was almost exclusively used by the GAR's shadow troopers, who specialised in advanced scouting behind enemy lines, gathering intelligence, special sabotage missions, counter intelligence, combating terrorism, and espionage. As you can imagine, such a force would need to be equipped with weapons that were as invisible and quiet as they were, with this carbine having a suppressor that can render a blaster shot totally silent and even an alternate mode where using a refined mixture of tibanna gas can make their shots totally invisible to the naked eye. As you can imagine, using these aspects together makes it a very good tool to take out your enemies with no one the wiser. And it just so happens I have a contact that wants to unload a dozen more of these things, and the ammo to use them, but no one to sell it to. I've heard that you can help with something like that… in exchange for a good cut?"
Now I had Cid's attention, I could see it in her eyes as I handed her the rifle to look over. Unloaded, of course, for basic safety reasons and just plain good sense.
"And who's your 'guy', exactly? How did he get these?" Cid asked suspiciously as she inspected the weapon.
"He's a very private person and doesn't trust easily. Heck, he doesn't even trust me, but at least he knows me," I gave my preprepared lie. "As for the how, I have no idea, but I've heard the Empire has been downsizing everything clone trooper related, so maybe he just found it after it fell off the back of a freighter."
"You don't say…" Cid said in a tone that easily convened she didn't fully believe me, if at all, but that she also likely didn't care so long as no heat got to her or I wasn't some plant seeking to jam her up, as she put the rifle back in its case. "I will need to test out the merchandise to make sure it does what you say it does… but I can't say I'm not interested. It will take some work to find a buyer, reach out to them, all the nitty gritty details. However, if your 'guy' can really provide what you are talking about, well, I think we might just be able to make a deal, Buckethead."
"Nick, name's Nick," I pointed out. "And I would be very happy to make a deal that we can both profit from."
I really was, since between my new ship and buying the sample rifle I had less than 3k in my account right now.
Which meant I would have to do some of the most intense bargaining of my life I possibly could in the next few minutes with a career criminal.
I could pull that off… right?
I had chosen the stealth carbine as my big ticket item to sell Cid on for multiple reasons; it was believable to get with the Empire downsizing the clone army and their equipment, relatively cheap at only 3.5k per rifle with full ammo each, I could make more with the refined gas mixture costing 1k per canister, and any kind of stealth tech was always in high demand on the black market since said tech usually didn't get sold anywhere except directly to military forces and intelligence agencies.
Was I worried about what kind of groups and people would get their hands on these weapons and what they would use them for? Most certainly, but right now I need the money or else I wouldn't be in a position to help anyone any time soon, especially since my earlier business model wouldn't work nearly as well on a well-populated planet like Ord Mantell. I promised myself I would make it up later by transporting cheap food, medical supplies, and other life-saving essentials to a poor planet later.
Now though, I had to convince Cid to give me a loan so I could even buy the guns. It went without saying that she wasn't happy with my totally reasonable request.
"I ain't a bank, Buckethead! I don't just give away money before I make the sale, let alone before I even see the goods, and especially not for a first timer I don't even know!" Cid growled at me as I tried to get an advance on the guns so I could afford to even get them. "The only way this business works is when both sides show off what they got, and right now, you got squat."
"You saw the rifle, so you know I'm telling the truth," I pointed out.
"I see just one rifle which might be what you say it is, and I still haven't even tested it," she fired back. "For all I know you are trying to pull a fast one on me, and I didn't get to where I am by just trusting people just based on their word."
We have been going at this for a little while now, and it always ends up back at the same place. The simple fact of the matter was, I needed the money to get the guns, but Cid wouldn't give me the money before she got the guns. It was a catch-22 no matter how you looked at it, which wouldn't be solved unless somebody was willing to budge a little, and it most certainly wasn't going to be Cid. That meant I had to provide a 'creative' solution.
"How about I put something down as collateral?" I offered, regaining Cid's interest.
"And what exactly do you have that you are so sure is worth the amount you are asking for? Cause if you had the credits for that, I doubt you would be here arguing with me about this."
I pulled out my newly purchased imagecaster and placed it on her desk. I turned it on and watched as it projected an image of the Sleipnir before her.
"Kazellis-class light freighter, brand new," I told her as she examined the ship. "You can easily turn it over for more than what I got it for at 50k, I'm sure, and it's docked not far away if you want to check it out for yourself. If you are happy with it, you can give me 50k in credits to go grab the guns and extra canisters of the refined gas ammo from my supplier, who will be on the planet within the week. I can pick it up from him, bring it to you to check over, and you can sell it off to whoever you can find willing to pay for it for at least double, if not triple, its base cost. That even gives you extra time to put out feelers for potential buyers and check me out if you want to, to see I'm legit. What do you say?"
That's right, I was pulling a Qui-Gon right now. I didn't want to, but I had prepared for the possibility just in case and I was glad I did. Still, it didn't hurt any less, basically pawning my ship off less than a week after getting it.
Cid rubbed her jaw as she looked the holographic image over, thinking over her options.
I like to think I presented a no lose situation to her, but I couldn't be sure how her mind worked since while Cid was greedy, she was also cautious. You didn't work long in her business without figuring out whether or not something was worth the risk.
Eventually, she spoke up.
"See? Now we are getting somehow," Cid smiled. "I'll head over and have a guy who's opinion I trust look it over to make sure you aren't trying to dump a junker on me. After that? Maybe we'll go through with the deal."
"Sounds good," I said, sighing in relief in my helmet as I deactivated and pocketed the imagecaster. "Heck, I'll even give you a tour."
"Sounds like a lovely time," Cid said sarcastically as she started to dig into her food again. "I'll give my guy a call and we can see about maybe checking it over tomorrow or so. I'm busy today."
"Doing what?" I asked curiously.
"None of ya business, that's what," Cid fired back before waving her hand at me. "Now get out of here and let me finish my food in peace before I change my mind."
Seeing that Cid was finished talking to me, I left her office and headed back into her parlor, noticing that Bolo and Ketch were no longer fighting and were playing a new game of dejarik.
Hmmm, seeing I was still low on cash and didn't have anything better to do for the rest of the day…
"Hey, mind if I have the next game?" I asked curiously as I walked up to the two, causing them to pause their game to look over at me.
"You any good?" Bolo asked curiously.
"Never played, honestly. There is a similar game back on my homeworld, but this would be the first time I actually played this one," I admitted. "Mind showing me the ropes?"
"Why not? Bolo could use an easy win for once," Ketch laughed, earning a growl from Bolo.
"Oh yeah? Well, when he's playing against you I'll be sure to keep an eye on ya to prove that you can only win by cheating!" Bolo fired back.
"So is that a yes?" I asked before they could start another fight with each other.
Thankfully the two of them proved to be surprisingly accommodating to me joining in on their game, and didn't even mind teaching a newbie like me how to play. They did keep trying to convince me to put money on it though, which I had to keep politely turning down.
I was desperate, not stupid.
---
While it was slow going, I never was much good at chess back on Earth either, I did think I was getting the hang of dejarik. I think it helped that rather than viewing it as chess it was more like a weird mix of Yugioh, MtG, and a tactical tabletop game, but with limited monster pieces that each player chose from.
I think my favorite piece so far was, funnily enough, the Mantellian Savrip, a native species of Ord Mantell. This was because it was the monster piece that had the highest HP and ATK stat of all of them, but also had the lowest MOV and RNG stats, making it a mighty glacier gameplay-wise. It also had a nice special ability where it could basically instantly kill anything in range of it, regardless of its health points, if it didn't have high enough movement to avoid it.
Of course, if the piece was anything like the real life being, I very much never wanted to get close to one if I could avoid it.
"Ha! You got him!" Bolo patted me on the back as my savrip ripped apart Ketch's ghhhk, winning the game in my favor. "Pay up!"
"Pfft, beginner's luck," Ketch grumbled as he passed his friend a couple credits.
"To be fair, it took a lot of games to finally beat you," I pointed out, with each of us rotating out to play whoever won over the last hour or so. "And you have been drinking a little."
"I'll have you know I play better when I'm drinking!" Ketch defended himself as he took another sip of whatever it was that was in his cup.
"Keep telling yourself that. My turn," Bolo said as he pushed his friend out of his seat and sat across from me, pushing a button on the table to start a new game.
"Double or nothing that he beats you this time," Ketch offered.
"You're on!"
After playing with them for a while, despite their seemingly caustic relationship, it was clear that Bolo and Ketch were close friends and weren't bad people either. Not sure why they hang out at Cid's, but maybe they just liked hanging out at the place out of tradition at this point or enjoy the relative privacy. Either way, it was nice to spend time with other people after a while of mainly being on my own.
Before we could do the holo coin toss to figure out who would pick their first monster, we heard the door to the parlor slide open and people walk inside. I turned my head over at the sound, and thank goodness I was wearing a helmet or else I might have gaped a bit.
Because standing inside the parlor with an annoyed look on his face was the hard to forget face of Bib Fortuna, the albino twi'lek who was the right hand man of Jabba the Hutt himself, a major crimelord of the Hutt Cartel. Bib was also flaked by two gamorrean bodyguards, the pig-like aliens looking quite tough and ready to rumble if asked of them.
"(Where is Cid?!)" Bib demanded, his words being translated via my PUT and telling me he was speaking Huttese.
"Uh, in the back," I said while pointing to where her office was.
Bib just grunted and moved in that direction alongside his bodyguards, ignoring the three of us entirely.
"Oh boy, think that means we better clear out," Ketch said as he got up from his seat. "Things tend to get a little too dangerous for my liking when Cid has 'guests' around."
"Yeah, we'll come back tomorrow," Bolo said as he also got up to follow his friend. "We'll play again next time, Nick. It's nice having someone else to play against for once."
"But bring some credits next time! Dejarik is more fun when you got money on the line!" The weequay laughed as he and Bolo made for the door, leaving me alone in Cid's parlor with my thoughts.
Said thoughts telling me that, if that was Bib Fortuna, then that most likely that that Bad Batch should already be on planet doing their first ever job for Cid. Said job being the recovery of a captured-
A loud roar from outside interrupted my internal thoughts, making me jump in my seat for a minute, but I soon felt myself grinning like a loon underneath my helmet and rushing for the door quickly to get outside because I was most certainly not gonna miss this unique opportunity.
I quickly made my way up the steps and into the alley outside to witness the amazing sight of four armored clones escorting a young rancordown the alleyway, which was currently being ridden by a little girl with a big smile on her face.
They stopped not far from Cid's entrance, the rancor grunting in what seemed like happiness, as the biggest clone of the bunch patted her on the head with a smile.
"Awww, that's a good rancor," Wrecker, the muscle and demo expert of the team, said with fondness as he held his helmet underneath his other arm.
There was something undeniably adorable watching two very dangerous beings show affection for each other, I noted, and made me very jealous because I wanted to pet a rancor too!
I was pushed to the side by Bib rushing out of the parlor behind me, quickly spotting the rancor with a relieved look on his face.
"(Ah! I'm so glad you are back)," Bib said while rushing forward to hug the young rancor's face, with Muchi even leaning into the touch with what looked like a smile.
Not long after that, Bib's bodyguards came up after him, who were quickly pushed away with a few annoyed oinks by Cid, who took in the situation.
"See, Bib? All is well," she said with a smile to the man as he turned back to her. "Now, about the matter of payment?" She asked while rubbing two of his clawed fingers together.
Bib nodded and snapped his fingers to one of his guards, the gamorrean oinking in affirmative and handing Cid over three metal cases most likely full of credits for the job. She took them with a big smile as Bib turned back to Muchi.
"(Come on now, Muchi. It's time to go home)," he told the rancor with affection as her current rider, Omega, slid off her back and stood by Wrecker's side.
"Bye Muchi," Wrecker said and sadly waved at the Wrecker alongside Omega.
Muchi turned back and roared goodbye to them in turn with what most certainly was a smile before continuing to follow after Bib, with his bodyguards following afterwards.
I was vaguely aware that I was also waving goodbye, holding back the impulse to ask Bib if I could give Muchi a pet myself. She was just so dang cute for a murder machine!
I'm sure I'd get another chance to pet a friendly rancor in the future, right?
"Gotta say, fellas," Cid started, gathering everyone's attention, "I wasn't sure you could pull this job off."
"You could have told us we were going after a rancor," Echo rightly pointed out with an annoyed tone of voice.
"Hmm, must have slipped my mind," Cid said with a shit-eating grin before pointing at Hunter. "You, dark and broody, my office."
Hunter gave her a look, but quickly followed her as she turned around and headed back into her parlor.
That left me with the rest of the group, so I decided to take the chance to introduce myself to them.
"Hi, name's Nick, another one of Cid's hopeful business partners," I greeted the four of them with a wave. "I gotta say, rustling up a rancor sounds like quite an interesting experience."
"'Interesting' is one word to describe the rather complex situation, yes," Tech stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Near complete mess is another," Echo commented.
"Ahhh, it worked out, didn't it?" Wrecker said with a smile. "We took down a bunch of slavers, saved some people, and I got to wrestle a rancor! How does that not sound like a great time?"
"Being caught off guard and captured was most certainly not a 'great' experience," Tech pointed out.
"But I saved you all!" Omega chipped up happily.
"Yes, you did, which we are very grateful for," Echo said. "Still, we need to talk about how to avoid getting caught like you did."
"I think I've shown I'm pretty good at getting out of trouble so far," Omega pointed out with a smile, earning a sigh from Echo.
"Sounds like you all have been through a lot together," I cut in. "I don't suppose you are up for sharing a few stories?"
"Would I?!" Wrecker laughed as he put his big arm around my shoulders and pulled me in tight. "Oh man, the stories I could tell you of all the stuff we blew up!"
"How about we save them for inside–while we wait on Hunter to finish his talk with Cid," Tech offered, a suggestion which no one disagreed with as we headed back inside Cid's.
"So, Nick, you an 'associate' of Cid's?" Echo asked curiously as we walked back inside.
"Trying to be at least, today is our first meeting and getting my foot in the door for potentially our first deal," I explained. "I am what most would call a 'creative distribution specialist.'"
"A smuggler," Tech stated.
"That is one word for it," I admitted. "But with the Empire now in charge, I personally think it's a moral imperative not to pay their taxes in general."
"You got something against the Empire?" Echo asked curiously.
"Dude, you have no idea how much I got against it," I answered honestly. "And for as bad as it's already getting, trust me when I say it's only gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. Which is why I am now selling my services and plan to get much needed supplies to those who are fighting them. Of course, since this galaxy runs on credits, I need to make a bit of money before that can happen… So with that in mind, if you guys ever find yourself short of any gear or need any specialty equipment, I got a guy who can get you nearly anything you can possibly need for the right amount."
Unsubtle, but I baited the hook.
"Can you get us explosives?" Wrecker asked in an excited tone of voice.
"All kinds of them," I told him with a nod.
"I say we take the deal!" Wrecker told his friends. "No one who ever offered me explosives has ever been a bad guy!"
"Is that true?" Omega asked Tech curiously.
"Unfornately, past experience has supports hypothesis," the bespectacled man admitted.
"We'll keep the offer in mind," Echo said in a non-committal tone as Hunter came back into the parlor, credit case in hand. "So, did Cid get the intel on that bounty hunter?"
"She did," Hunter said. "Her name is Fennec Shand, working on direct commission apparently, so we have no idea who hired her."
"There is, however, a very small number of people we can deduce who have the means to do so," Tech pointed out.
"Exactly, and if she is after us we are gonna need contacts we can trust and steady pay to keep one step ahead of her," Hunter added.
"Something we are both in short supply of right now," Echo noted.
"Well, it's a good thing we just made a new friend then!" Wrecker said as he once more put his arm around me and pulled me in tight, reminding me he could causally crush my skull if he wanted to. "This is Nick! He offered to sell us explosives! Can we, Hunter, please?!"
Hunter just looked me over with a piercing stare for a moment, before finally speaking up.
"We'll keep it in mind in case we need your services."
Yes! The fish was nibbling!
---
AN: So yeah, first meeting with Cid and the Bad Batch, and I hope I balanced things out so feels like it mostly makes sense. Cid is pretty desperate for cash since her main income flow with Jedi is gone, so that is why she was pretty fast on hiring on Bad Batch, plus their own clear desperation, and even Nick, even if clearly she is taking steps to protect herself in case he can't deliver.