[right][h3]Jast[/h3][/right][hr]

“Thanks Zura, we’ll hold,” Jaren said to the Falleen majordomo. He muted the [i]Raven[/i]’s end of the transmission and leaning back in the chair. He looked over to Telsa. She sat upright at attention in her pilot’s seat, making meaningless microadjustments to the [i]Raven[/i]’s course. “Let’s hope he’s hungry.”

“He shouldn’t need much convincing,” Telsa reassured him. Jaren arched his back, stretching a bit, just a bit anxious.

“We’ll see. Not sure it’s his market,” Jast responded. Khulbe was an archetypal kajidic kingpin, a fat and powerful crime lord with a slimy hand in nearly every sort of illegal activity imaginable. Recreational drugs, of course, fell well within his purview, but in Jast’s experience, Khulbe was primarily connected to the industry through the spice trade. Jast had never heard of the Hutt dealing in synthetics. 

The captain of the [i]Raven Trespass[/i] figured now was as good as ever a time to give the old Hutt the opportunity to get involved.

The [i]Raven[/i]’s cargo was loaded up with four large tankers, filled with some seventeen thousand liters of pseudotethyline, a key chemical compound used in the production of tethylenedioxytethylaphene, more commonly called OxyTeth by law enforcement officers, and known as Pixie, Stardust, TDT, or Kyber by its users. It was a psychoactive drug that altered physical sensations and caused a heightened sense of energy, empathy, and pleasure. Relatively safe and very enjoyable, it was the kind of thing respectable, professional couples took when they wanted to cross having-sex-while-high off the bucket list. 

It also made for a very profitable business venture.

Securing and transporting the precursor compounds was a lucrative business so long as you had a buyer. Unfortunately, Jast and the crew’s buyer on Ord Mantell vanished into the black, leaving them with seventeen metric tons of TDT precursor in their hold and no one to sell it to. So, they made way to Nar Shaddaa, hoping to hand off their highly illicit cargo before running into any curious customs officials. Until it was off the ship, their ability to travel the galaxy freely was severely diminished. 

“You ever think about how we fought a war to save the Republic, and then we became drug dealers?” Telsa asked. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Telsa on board with transporting the pseudoteth; she was a good sport about it, but had taken to throwing verbal jabs once the deal fell through. Jast figured he deserved it. He chuckled.

“Beats working Veteran’s Affairs, though, right?” he asked, receiving a laugh in return. 

“Jast, how good to see you! I hope you're coming to visit,” Khulbe the Hutt greeted them through the transmission, the twin voices of the Hutt himself and his translator droid filling the cockpit on the Raven. Jast sat forward and unmuted the feed.

“Khulbe! Of course we are. My crew and I are stopping by Nar Shadda for a few days, and I figured I’d give you a call,” Jast began, and then he slid into the pitch. “As it happens, I happen to be conducting some business in the system that you might be interested in, my friend. I have a transaction in mind with some very high profit margins attached, and I know how you love those. I know you’re quite busy, but how would you feel about setting up an appointment while my crew and I are planetside?”