Chapter 10 - Is it a heist, if we bought it?

After clearing out most of the big loot with Dancy, the Slippery Ghest heads out to Iso-1, the 'mobile' secondary headquarters for IsoTech. It's only moments after landing that they are greated by Norta, the Operations Manager here on Iso-1 and probably the real second in command for Reom, the CEO of IsoTech.

"Old friends, how are you? We're so glad you chose to return. What can we do for you and - More to the point, are you busy? We might just need you and your ship, if you're available.

"Ken, you're such a Rodian, every time you moocha moulee-rah, jee-jee moocha moulee-rah. Get your self settled and I'll let Reom know your here, he'll want to see if your interested in our next venture."

Norta moves along but waves a deck hand over to see about unloading anything your looking to sell.

Elsewhere: (down the hallway)

IsoTech is a seemingly legitimate front company used to cover for Reom's black-market tech operations. IsoTech has its main office on the Wheel, with operations on several other worlds and stations of questionable repute. They have secret technical labs, workshops, and even deep space operations. Most locations are quite small; they do have few large-scale facilities. Currently you're on Iso-One, a modified bulk freighter. In addition to several docking bays, part of the crew mess serves as a limited 'Tech Mall' with stalls displaying some of IsoTech's less than legal offerings.

In the primary meeting/board room, Creds Mocredo and Zailor Karn sit at an expensive looking table. Reom, the blue skinned Twi'lek who seems to be in charge is fiddling with his drink as he seems to be waiting to begin talking. After a few tense moments, he stands.

"Creds Mocredo, I think I have a job that's right up your exhaust port. Several months ago, a Separatist ship from the clone wars was discovered crashed. It was on a world just outside of the galactic rim and, by rights, should have been open salvage. However, the Empire, being what it is, claimed the ship and its cargo as their own. Thankfully, the salvage team they sent was about as far from bright as the rim is from the core. The contents have been boxed up and recently landed on Lianna. They are to be sold at auction, in blind lots, in a few days time.

At that moment, the doors to the board room open. A Rodian and a droid walk into the room. Seeing them, Reom visibly perks up and continues speaking. "Oh good; Ken, AD-hoc, so good of you to join us. Norta said you had arrived."

Turning back to Creds and Zailor, "Creds, Ken is one of our premiere operators, he and his companion AD-hoc have a ship and after what I expect to be a hard haggling session, will over charge me to fly you to Lianna. Once there, you'll need to find a way to scan the 'lots' that are for auction and purchase the ones that this scanner, " he slides a handheld scanner across the table to you. " identifies as containing items we are looking to recover." After a brief pause for you to pick up the scanner, he continues, "To answer your obvious question, we had a hand in discovering the separatist ship and didn't bother to report it. The Imperials consider that some sort of crime and IsoTech can't show its face anywhere near the salvage or risk further prosecution. Unfortunately, our prime competitor, the Yi-Yar clan of Rodians will be there trying to grab what they can. Zailor, here, comes well recommended and I've hired him to go along with you, in case the Yi-Yars decide to get violent. Of course, now that Ken's here, I expect the odds of the Yi-Yars getting violent to have increased. Then again, I think the odds of a successful venture have increased as well. Questions?"

"Were it that easy AD-hoc, were it that easy." Reom smiles, he seems relieved you have arrived. "Fortunately, the Imperial techs who crated up the gear had no idea what it was. I'm led to believe that some of the cargo containers are nothing but ancient comms panels mixed with stacks of meal trays. Another, hopefully, contains an extremely sophisticated Cybernetic chip press surrounded by mattresses and cases of travel biscuits. The ignorance of the crews crating up the salvage is what led to the Imperial depot manager throwing up his hands and dumping the whole lot at auction. My hope is you can identify the crates that contain what we're looking for and purchase them without alerting other buyers that they are any more valuable than another crate."

Reom shakes his head at the bravado bouncing around the room. "Creds, I've set you up as the purchasing agent for one of our shell companies, 'Lianna Light Freight and Expediting, Inc.'. Once you get to Lianna, you can swing by the office there and pick up the auction pass and credit voucher. I'd like for this thing to stay off the scopes, but I know the other parties involved. Any relevant questions?"

"You should be looking primarily at the unpaid storage crowd. However, if word's out that these crates are from a long lost Separatist ship discovered outside the known space lanes... Well, it could be a Rancor show."

"Unfortunately, I don't know what they know." Reom continues, "But they're not always as stupid as they seem, someone's bound to guess that this ship salvage is arriving on a timeline that could match up with your run in with them and the Separatist ship on Cholganna. Even if they're not sure, it's worth sending someone to poke around."