“I once ran a small gang associated with the Angel Cartel. I pretty much grew up in the slums, and I was raised in a life of crime. By the time I was thirteen, I had been inducted into the Slum Kings gang. By eighteen, I had become the leader of the gang after the former leader was arrested for drug possession. I met a guy named Kyle, who was selling some premium product. I made a deal with him. He would provide me with some product at low, well, lower, prices, and the gang would then sell the product at higher prices to our clients to make a profit. But the raid last night changed this. Kyle had been the Cartel’s dealer on the ground. After he learned about the DED raid, he went underground. With him went our deal.”
-Kira Predi
16 December YC 122
Abandoned apartment building in the slums of the city Amarrinn on the planet Mekhios
“How bad is the damage?” Kira asked her financial manager. She was meeting with the leadership of the Slum Queens gang in the gang’s headquarters, a small, abandoned apartment building in the Amarrinn city slums.
“If that guy Kyle doesn’t come back, well, the product he supplies amounts to 40% of our sales. To make matters worse, the stuff he provides is 100% pure! It’s the stuff the clients want. We can’t make our product pure. We cut corners. If we only use product that we cook, well, we’ll probably lose about 35% to 47% of our clientele!” Kira’s financial manager, Kevin, remarked.
“That bad?” Kira asked, surprised. She received a nod in response. “Damn it! What about the gang as a whole? Are we compromised in any way, Ty?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve got my best people looking into it,” Ty West said. He was Kira’s internal security officer and intelligence officer. He was responsible for keeping the police away from the gang. “Normally, I would say that since Kyle was part of the Cartel, and the Cartel was exposed, we would also be exposed. HOWEVER, as we all know, Kyle used middlemen in his transactions with us. The only time he actually worked with us was the first few times after you met him, Kira. And after he gained our trust, he began delegating the distribution to middlemen that we both trusted. And if those middlemen haven’t been compromised, neither are we.”
“Ok. Just make sure that we know if we need to move. I don’t want the police coming down on us, not now, not ever!” Kira said. She began spreading out the folders and papers lying on the table before us. “How is the war going?”
“Not as good as it could, ma’am. We’ve only gained control over another two blocks, here, and here. And the Sarum Lords are growing in influence along this half block.” a large, hulking Brutor man said, pointing to a large map of the slums.
“What about equipment? Stores? Do we have enough to keep on going, Hyrennik?” Kira said, looking at the map pinned on the table.
“We’ve got enough arms and ammo to last us another week or two,” the Brutor said. “We’ve only got one problem. It seems that the Lords are in talks with the leadership of the 14th Street Bad Boys to form an alliance.”
“And? I don’t think I’ve heard of this gang before,” Kira said.
“They’re an up-and-coming gang from the western slums. They have control over only these three blocks, but I’ve heard that they’ve got some powerful armament,” Ty said. “Like illegally upgraded Ariend Arms weaponry. Bolt rifles, bolt pistols, SMGs, grenades, the whole catalog! If the Lords and the Bad Boys ally together, forget about the cops! We’ll be steamrolled by the two gangs already!”
“Damn, that’s bad as hell. Suggestions?” Kira said, studying the documents laid out before her.
“We could send half of all our muscle from our “outposts” to here, here, and here,” Hyrennik said, pointing towards the map. “They could work on holding the Kings off and severing any logistics chains connecting the Kings and the Bad Boys.”
“I could see if I can covertly disrupt the negotiations between the Bad Boys and the Lords,” Ty suggested.
“And I’ll do my best to get us new drug suppliers. I’ll also do my best to increase production,” Kevin remarked, making a note on his datapad.
“Excellent. Let’s protect our territory, ‘cause we are NOT getting evicted. Ty, I want you to also keep an eye out for cops. The moment law enforcement begins to sniff around and get close to us, I want to know,” Kira said, standing. “If there’s nothing else, this meeting is adjourned. We will meet here again tomorrow. Dismissed.”