“The duke recognizes that we are not well known by anybody with ties to the Guristas. Therefore, if we are to move to Venal, we will need to get the support of some Guristas leadership. I suggested that he try bribing the Guristas leadership, but bribery, deceit, and trickery is something that he hates. I guess it’s a result of his history with Ariend Arms and all the corruption he saw in the company.
Instead, he ordered me to supply Guristas outposts that I find in Domain with small arms and ammo. He would find the locations through a number of different methods. Once he finds an outpost, he orders me, or one of my officers, to take a shipment of arms to the location and deliver it to the Guristas. We hope that this will increase the Duke’s reputation among the Guristas rank-and-file.”
-Praetor Najir Darim
05 January YC 123
Deadspace Guristas outpost, Sharlehund
“This is Kennin Industries Transport Five Two Seven Alpha Three Two Zero, requesting docking permission,” Najir said, opening a broadcast channel to the traffic control for the outpost.
“Who the ■■■■ are you? Get out of here before I pod you!” the reply came.
“I’m a guy who’s got merch that you want,” Najir replied calmly. “Good, military-quality merch. If you tell your friends to shoot me, your bosses won’t be happy.”
“Yeah? What you got to offer?” the traffic controller replied.
“Bolt pistols and rifles, and military-grade ammunition,” Najir replied, smiling to himself. “Can I dock?”
“Yes, yes. Er … Shipyard Two is free right now. You can dock there,” the controller said.
Clank! Najir scanned his displays one last time before shutting down his systems and exiting the Badger-class industrial. He spotted a tall, thin Caldari man flanked by two armed guards standing outside the cargo hatch.
“Hello, I’m Herain Dawain, the commander of this base,” the man said, reaching to shake Najir’s hand. “I hear that you have some weapons to sell?”
“Yes, and ammo, too! My name’s Najir Darim,” Najir said. “Hey, Kyle, bring out the merch!” He shouted into the industrial before turning back to Herain.
“I’ve got about 5 crates of bolt rifles and 12 crates of bolt pistols available. I’ve also got two crates each of SMGs and laser pistols,” he said, as his men began carrying crates of weapons out of the industrial and stacking them next to the hatch… “And I’ve got 30 crates each of pistol and rifle ammo. The SMGS can use the pistol ammo. All of it is military-grade. Each crate is 10 weapons, and each crate of ammo holds 30,000 rounds.”
“How much do you want for this?” Herain asked. “Actually? I’ll take it for free.” He said as his guards drew their weapons and leveled them at Najir.
“Hey, hey! Man, there’s no need for this!” Najir said, raising his hands. “I was gonna give them to you for free anyhow!”
“Really?” Herain asked skeptically.
“Yes! My lord, Duke Shasta of the noble House Ardeind, highly respects what you guys do and wants to help you out in anyway possible,” Najir explained as Herain’s guards holstered their pistols. “And I can supply you with more, although you will have to pay for those.”
“Oh, okay. What else do you have in stock?”
“These arms are produced by Kennin Industries using Ariend Arms blueprints. We’ve got blueprints for SMGs, bolt rifles, bolt pistols, and laser pistols, but we haven’t established the supply lines to begin mass manufacturing them. Now, if you’re asking about our current stocks, well, see for yourself,” Najir said, handing over a datapad. “This is our current stockpile in the Amarr system. Click this to see our blueprint library showing all the blueprints we have and all the weapons we CAN manufacture. We’ve got some Amarrian Navy issued laser pistols in stock in addition to the stuff we build. Got about 500 crates of everything, and I’ve got an extra 61 crates of bolt rifles, 32 crates of bolt pistols, and 351 crates each of pistol and rifle ammo sitting in one of my transports, waiting for a customer.”
“Like, ready to transport?”
“Yeah. Last customer canceled on us two days before we were to deliver. The original leader of the outfit died or something, and his successor doesn’t trust us. Anyways, each crate of rifles is 15,000 in Amarr script, each crate of SMGs is 10,000, and each crate of bolt pistols is 7,500. Pistol ammo is 2500 a crate, and rifle ammo is 5,000 per crate. Crates of Kennin Industries laser pistols, that is, laser pistols that WE produce, are 8,000 apiece, while one crate of Imperial Navy issue laser pistols will set you back 9,500 to 10,000 script, depending on the age, quality and manufacturer. The price of those crates are marked on the crate itself,” Najir explained. “The rifles and SMGs both have magazines that can hold 30 rounds, while the pistols have 15-round mags. All guns are fully loaded, with a round in chamber. Rifles come with 8 extra mags, while SMGs and pistols both come with two extras. Each crate of pistol ammo comes with 1,000 pistol mags and 500 SMG magazines. Each crate of rifle ammo has 1,000 rifle mags. Any questions?”
“No, not at all! Thank you. I can put this stuff to good use,” Herain said, gesturing for his guards to start moving the ammo.
“Good. Happy to help!” Najir said. “Oh, a word in private?”
“Of course!” Herain said, walking to the side. Najir followed.
“You need to have better security on this base and your communications and troop and supply movements,” Najir said. “Oh, and you might have to relocate.”
“What? Why?” Herain asked.
“The Imperial Navy knows about this base. They know that you have a transport carrying militants heading to this outpost,” Najir said. “They asked my capsuleer boss, Duke Shasta, to eliminate your defenses and apprehend the militants. He refused, because he has a respect for you guys, as I said before, but the Navy will probably offer the mission to some other capsuleer who won’t have such qualms. And even if they can’t get another capsuleer to do the job, they can still do it themselves.”
“Oh, well, okay. Thanks for the heads up,” Herain said.
“No problem. Just be more careful next time,” Najir said. “I think your men are done moving the arms shipment, so I’ll take my leave now. Here, have this,” Najir said, handing Herain a datacard. “It has info on how to contact me. It’s through a third party, a garments company owned by one of the duke’s supporters, and everything’s encrypted. You say you want to buy clothing, that means you want a shipment. Pants are rifles, T-shirts are pistols. Jackets are SMGs, and hats are Kennin laser pistols. You want Navy issue pistols, you say you want socks. Women’s underwear is pistol ammo, and men’s underwear is rifle ammo. One order is one crate. If you forget, instructions are also in the card. The next shipper might not be me, but if it isn’t me, I’ll have whoever it is also give you a message that I recorded explaining who the shipper is. It’ll most likely be one of my officers. Great doing business with you.”
Najir walked briskly back to the industrial and quickly boarded. He watched as the crew readied the ship for undock and smiled. Another satisfied customer. Another step closer to achieving the duke’s dream.