69. Santa Claus
"If it's weapon smuggling, in what little memory I have left, I used to do that quite often. But breaking the balance? How do you plan to do that?" Vunt frowned.
Yuri casually crushed his cigarette butt and said, "I told the Administrator about our last weapon sale. He asked for some details and then said one thing to me—this is Hutts fighting Hutts."
"Hutts fighting Hutts?"
"Exactly. The Administrator said that only a Hutt would have the audacity to pull off such a massive operation on Tatooine within Hutt space. Therefore, this is a war between the two largest gang powers on Tatooine—Jabba the Hutt and Gaduula the Hutt. And that group of Bossans who bought my weapons? They are the assassins sent by Gaduula's side to stir up trouble."
"So, your 'accidental' weapon sale actually ended up in the hands of the Hutts?"
"Rather than accidental, it's more that ninety percent of armed conflicts on Tatooine are related to the Hutts behind them. The Administrator said that if it weren't for the batch of weapons I sold to the Bossans, those Bossans wouldn't have been able to get any firepower at all, and thus wouldn't have been able to make any waves on Tatooine."
"So, your arms shipment actually enabled those Bossans to succeed? And you even managed to grab two proton torpedoes as payment along the way?"
Yuri smiled. "Yes. Although I don't quite understand why the Administrator used the word 'originally.' But in this matter, I can only admire his wisdom. With just a few words, he deduced the entire underlying situation. After that, I knew exactly what to do."
"What are you going to do?"
"Haha! Show him, Vitaly!" Yuri turned back and shouted toward the cargo hold.
Vitaly Olov walked out with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "No problem, just watch."
*Swish!!* He threw open the canvas curtain, and inside the vast cargo hold of the Oro-class freighter, there was an incredible pile of all kinds of weapons!
Even Vunt was dumbfounded. "Heavy machine guns, light machine guns, rocket launchers, assault rifles, pistols, grenades... wait, are those mortars?! Did you empty out the mothership's entire armory?!"
"The Administrator said these things will soon be obsolete, so I need to sell them wide open until they're all gone," Yuri said proudly.
"Are you planning to sell weapons to Gaduula's people and use them to deal with Jabba?" Vunt gasped. "I remember the Administrator saying that Jabba is the true master of Tatooine!"
"True, but he also told me there's no profit in selling things to Jabba."
"Did he really say that?"
"Hahahaha! Don't worry about that, the Administrator knows what he's doing. Anyway, just be a good driver. You owe me this! If it weren't for you last time, how else would I have ended up inside that fucking space octopus's mouth?"
"What does that have to do with me!" Vunt said, looking depressed.
"Nonsense. If you hadn't gone off to chase women on a Hammerhead-class cruiser, would I have ended up not even knowing how to fly a ship and jumping straight into a hyperspace rift? Hurry up! Fly the ship into that desert over there. I'll send you the coordinates."
"Land directly in the desert? You've got to be joking!"
Meanwhile, Yuri had already started making a phone call. "Yo! Scar! How's it going? Haha, I'm back. Did you miss me? I'm your Santa Claus!...What's a Santa Claus? Hehe, it's someone who drops from the sky to bring you Christmas presents."
"Dammit!" Vunt cursed under his breath and steered the ship toward the coordinates.
On Tatooine, over 90% of the surface is desert, and 99.9% of that desert is uninhabited wasteland.
The ship descended slowly onto a relatively flat area of the desert, but it did not touch the ground. This was because the soft sand could not support the ship's weight, which would cause it to capsize. Only with Vunt's superb piloting skills could the ship hover accurately less than two meters above the ground.
On the ground, two Bansa-II type skiffs were already parked, with over twenty fierce-looking men standing beneath them. Most were Bossans, but there were also a few Gamorreans and Nikto. Interestingly, most of these men were carrying large machetes and axes; only a few held the Type 21 assault rifles Yuri had previously sold them.
Magtan "Scar" stood at the front of the group, but he was positioned slightly behind a more massive Bossan. The Bossan's pectoral muscles were so bulging they seemed to strain against his clothes, and both of his arms from the shoulder down had been replaced by large mechanical limbs.
"Business is business, business is business..." Yuri Olov encouraged himself, straightened his tie, and jumped down with Vitaly, followed by two T-850s.
Seeing that the opposition was clearly not to be trifled with and possessed superior numbers, Yuri's knees trembled slightly, but he steeled himself and walked forward, spreading his arms in a mock gesture of joy. "Yo~~ Scar! Long time no see!"
Scar nodded with a sinister grin and pointed to the muscular man with mechanical arms. "This is my boss, Broderick Rock."
Broderick Rock sized Yuri up and asked, "Are those big guns the ones you sold?"
"Haha, that's right. If you think they're good, I brought even more this time!" Yuri replied with a smile.
"No one dares to sell weapons to us. Why do you dare?"
"Well, how should I put it? I'm your Santa Claus. I heard your voices, so I came, bringing Christmas presents. Merchants meet each other's needs, don't they?"
"We are raiding Jabba's assets..." Rock was interrupted before he could finish.
Yuri waved his hands dismissively. "No, no, no, no. I didn't hear anything. I don't know anything. I'm just Santa Claus, you know?"
A cruel smile appeared on Broderick Rock's face. "Very well, I like that. So, how many big guns do you have?"
"More than you could ever use, my friend. But the question is, do you have the money?"
"I don't have money," Rock said, shaking his head.
"That's a problem, friend. Look, I'm a businessman, right?" Yuri spread his hands, preparing to let the T-850 pull him back onto the ship.
However, Broderick Rock added, "But whatever you want, I can go and take it! Tell me, what do you want? As long as it's on Jabba's territory, I can seize it." As he spoke, a ferocious, bloodthirsty smile surfaced on his face.
Yuri stopped in his tracks. He let go of the T-850's hand and jumped back down, looking at Rock, Scar, and the men behind them with great interest.
Every one of these men was exceptionally fierce, clearly hardened veterans who lived by the blade. It was no wonder they dared to provoke Jabba, the local tyrant of Tatooine.
Even with the secret backing of another Hutt, Gaduula, it was because of their own strength and brutality.
A triumphant smile appeared at the corner of Yuri's mouth. "In that case, I think we can sit down and have a chat."
[Easter Egg Image: Bansa-II type skiff.]
(End of Chapter)