The lights were somewhat dim in this lower part of the Citadel. It was nothing that could be fixed, simply a part of how the station was designed. But it worked well enough for most of those who chose to inhabit it. They were of the less reputable varieties of galactic life. But they were also the most refined in their respective varieties. This was where the crime-lords did their business, those who kept a somewhat respectable front for everyone else. Here was close enough to the top to help them maintain their facade, but not too far away from the bottom that their tactics drug them towards.
The atmosphere suited Indra Don well. He was one of the more successful crime-lords, or "Entrepreneurs of Alternative Businesses," as he liked to call himself and his cohorts. Though they weren't always his cohorts. Oftentimes the others would try to muscle in on him, thinking that since he was a volus it didn't matter. He had always educated them on the errors of their ways. Indra Don always wanted people to be well-informed on things related to the criminal underbelly of the galaxy, especially if they dealt regularly with it.
One of the things that he felt that people ought to be informed above all else was the taboo against cutting and running. When one entered into an agreement with another person, one always stuck around and let the partner have their share. This was proper business etiquette. When one decided to leave the partner without their share, then etiquette had been breached. In Indra Don's world, the next logical thing to be breached was most often the guilty party's skull.
But, one could not always educate on one's own. After all, while Indra Don was quite powerful, he was not omnipotent. Sometimes those who had done him wrong were able to run and keep out of his grip. Therefore, he often required the services of others to bring him those who had transgressed against him so that he might educate them. Bounty hunters were very useful in that regard. Indra Don often utilized their services.
This is why he was here at this time, relaxing in the back of this club. There was someone that he wished brought to him, so that he might educate them. However, this individual had managed to elude him for quite a while. He had become somewhat incensed by this. He wished to remove them and the thorn in his side that they represented. Their very refusal to simply go away had served to anger him even more. So the volus was here to enlist the services of a bounty hunter, a particularly skilled one.
A couple of krogan body guards sat at Indra Don's left and right, like a pair of lions at the feet of a great king. They were there to discourage any witless worms who might think that the crime-lord was vulnerable. Their presence was quite effective in this regard.
A thinning of the crowd in the club told Indra Don that someone was drawing near to his table. He put a hand on the table, a signal to his body guards to wait until he gave the signal before deterring whoever it might be. They did not have to speak for him to know that they would comply with what he wished. He paid them well enough.
A quarian emerged from the tangle of bodies and the loud music and approached the table. Indra Don looked her over carefully. There was something about her that seemed to indicate there was more to her than met the eye. Perhaps it was the fact that her environment suit seemed somewhat more refined and advanced than the average quarians. Perhaps it was in the way that she did not walk in the demure way that her race normally did, but rather stalked across the floor. Or perhaps it was neither of these things, and she simply exuded a presence of both professionalism and ruthlessness by the very act of her existence. The volus did not know, and this pleased him. For he knew what it meant for his enemy that eluded him.
The quarian stopped and stood at the table across from Indra Don. The volus cleared his throat. "Do you come as a hunter?" he asked the quarian. It was a simple question at first glance, but there was more to it than there appeared to be. Only one affiliated with the Bounty Hunter's Guild would know the correct response to it.
"I come as tracker, as captor, as killer, as victor."
The volus nodded. "Satisfactory. Please, have a seat."
The quarian sat down, her head looking back and forth between the two krogan as she did so. She did not keep watch on them out of worry though. Her head moved far too slowly for that. No, she was keeping watch at them out of a simple desire for appraisal, visually looking them over for any sign of weakness that she might exploit. It was somewhat odd, and unnerving, to see a quarian look over a krogan like that. Usually it was the other way around.
"You are the one I sent for," Indra Don said. He did not ask this, but merely stated it.
"I am," the quarian replied.
The volus nodded. He took out a datapad from a pouch that hung from his belt and slid it across the table to the quarian. She picked it up and began to look it over.
"Seems to be easy enough," she remarked after a moment or two. "I will look into this for you."
The volus nodded. "It is good that you do this for me. This one, he is most troublesome. You noted the high reward if you can bring him back undamaged?"
The quarian nodded. "I did notice that."
"Good, very good. I do have information that suggests that he may be docking here at the Citadel a week from now. If you can manage to, oh, acquire him while he is here then, you will receive an added bonus."
"I will certainly do my best to get ahold of him, then," the quarian said.
The volus nodded. "You may go now. Everything else that you need to know, you will find on the datapad."
The quarian nodded. She rose and walked back into the crowd, leaving Indra Don with his two bodyguards. The volus sat back and tapped his fingertips on the table. A great relief had been taken off of his mind now. Affairs were going to be taken care of, and one who had displeased him would be apprehended and brought in to face his punishment. This had been a fruitful evening.
*Looks at how long it has been since the Zero Fleet update* Wow, that was a long time. I want to apologize to everyone for that. I was dealing with a bit of personal business that frankly went on for far too long, as well as some college papers I was writing. But now both of those things have been hammered out and I'm ready to get right back in the swing of things.
Today we start a new story arc! Yay! And already, mobsters and bounty hunters abound. This will be a bit more of a focused arc than the other one. I let that stupid Lorik subplot with Colleen get entangled in everything, and it weighed it all down. I'll play through with it for now, see what happens. But I'm kind of face-palming that I put it in in the first place.
However, I shall try to make amends for such things by giving you new and shady characters! Who is this mysterious quarian bounty hunter? What does she have to do with the crew of the Astral Hind? Why is a volus part of the space mafia? All good questions, with answers that shall come in time.