Our Domain

"Never mind that I have plenty of guns while you only have a few knives. Even if you really kill me, are you never planning to buy guns again? Come on, I'm a businessman. Trade is what matters most. What you want to do with my guns is none of my business. We simply take what we each need," Yuri said with a smile.

"Interesting." Scar casually tossed Vitaly aside. "Bring out your guns and let me see them!"

Feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted, Vitaly hurriedly scrambled behind Yuri, gasping for breath.

Yuri patted him on the shoulder, signaling that everything was under control. Then he took out a Type 21 assault rifle without a magazine and tossed it to Scar. In a practiced tone, he said, "Gentlemen, allow me to solemnly introduce—the Type 21 assault rifle! This weapon uses a lightweight plastic construction. It is waterproof and dustproof, weighs only 1.7 kilograms, and uses 5.56-millimeter rounds with a standard thirty-round magazine. If you're willing to pay extra, I can also provide extended fifty-round magazines..."

Scar picked up the assault rifle and sneered. "This is a live-fire weapon? Kid, did you come from several thousand years ago?"

"Oh, a live-fire weapon." Yuri made a face mimicking Scar's expression, then picked up another Type 21 assault rifle and pulled back the bolt with a click. His expression turned cold. "Do you believe I can use this live-fire weapon to kill all of you within two seconds?"

The Bosa immediately became wary, and two of them even drew their blaster pistols.

Yuri looked at the guns in their hands and laughed speechlessly. "Heh heh, DL-18. What an 'excellent' blaster pistol. A rate of fire of fifty rounds per minute, a maximum range of one hundred and twenty meters. If your finger gets tired, maybe you can only pull the trigger twenty times in a minute. Hahaha..."

As he spoke, he suddenly spun around and pulled the trigger at the rock behind him!

Rat-tat-tat-tat!! A barrage of bullets erupted in an instant, all striking the rock within seconds and kicking up a cloud of dust. Yuri got more excited the longer he fired, laughing wildly as he shouted, "Hahahahaha!! A rate of fire of one thousand rounds per minute, an effective range of five hundred and fifty meters, with adjustable semi-automatic and automatic modes! Hahahaha!"

The gunfire ceased. The rock was riddled with holes, and then, with a crash, a layer of its surface collapsed.

"Whew~~~ So, between an advanced blaster pistol and an outdated live-fire weapon, I choose..." Yuri pulled out another magazine and inserted it into the gun, then pulled the bolt with a click. "The Type 21 assault rifle!"

With that, he directly tossed the gun with its magazine to Scar. "Four hundred Republic credits per gun, one hundred credits per crate of ammunition. If you buy ten guns at once, I'll throw in a crate of ammunition for free. Oh, and I only accept Republic credits, not Upiupi coin."

Scar caught the gun, his expression turning cold as he immediately raised it and aimed it at Yuri Orlov.

Yuri smiled faintly, lit himself a cigarette, and said calmly, "You know, brother, there are twenty sniper rifles aimed at your head right now. If you want to kill me, no problem. But your head... bang!"

He made an exploding gesture.

"You know, I'm an ordinary businessman. We each take what we need, and I'm in this for the long haul. Let's discuss the price," Yuri added.

"I want ten guns and twenty crates of ammunition!" Scar said.

"Then that will be 5,900 credits, thank you for your patronage{Note 1}. As agreed, I'm only charging you for nineteen crates of ammunition," Yuri immediately quoted the price.

"I don't have that much money!" Scar's face twisted viciously.

"Then there's nothing I can do. Small business, no credit. If you don't have enough money, buy less. You should know that a single DL-18 blaster pistol costs five hundred credits!" Yuri replied coldly. "And let me put it plainly: in terms of firepower and lethality, the DL-18 isn't even worth mentioning. Do you think the few of you can afford automatic blaster rifles? Give me a break."

Scar badly wanted to fly into a rage. The gun in his hand rose a little higher, but Yuri made a gesture. A gunshot rang out, and a deep bullet hole suddenly appeared in a nearby rock.

Scar swallowed his frustration and anger, gritting his teeth as he said, "Tomorrow, we're going to rob a spaceport! Once we pull it off, I'll give you seven thousand credits!"

"What you do is none of my business, but one thing is certain: you can't guarantee you'll come back alive. If that happens, who am I supposed to collect my losses from?" Yuri said dismissively.

"Then what exactly do you want?"

"Ha!" Yuri laughed and pulled out a box from beneath him. Opening it, he revealed five grenades nestled among shock-absorbing plastic air cushions!

"M-28 grenades! An eight-meter lethal radius from direct damage! A theoretical maximum shrapnel kill radius of forty-two meters! These are excellent tools for home defense, travel, murder, and robbery! Fifty credits each! I can give you two extra crates, but I'll charge interest. If you come back alive, I want eight thousand credits."

"Deal!" Scar grinned viciously and agreed at once. He took out a bag of credit ingots and tossed it to Yuri, then jerked his chin at the people behind him. "Go! Move the goods!"

After the Bosa gang had left, Yuri Orlov finally collapsed to the ground as if all his strength had drained away. Vitaly hurried over and helped him up.

"This reminds me of when we were just starting out, Vitaly, my dear brother. Hahahaha..." Though his head was covered in cold sweat, Yuri still laughed with boundless excitement.

Vitaly sat beside Yuri, lit a cigarette in his own mouth, then placed it in Yuri's mouth before lighting one for himself. He exhaled a plume of smoke toward the sky and said softly, "Yeah. After such a long hibernation, I've forgotten many things from before, yet they still left a deep impression. I just feel... well, hehe..."

He seemed to want to say something, but held back.

"Don't worry. Sooner or later, this Milky Way Galaxy will be our domain." Yuri patted his brother on the shoulder, then exhaled a plume of smoke toward the sky in the same manner and smiled.

{Note 1}: Don't apply Earth's economic concepts to the Star Wars universe. An Imperial-class Star Destroyer more than two thousand meters long only costs 150 million credits to build, while a decent spaceship costs only tens of thousands of credits.

Compare that with the cost of an aircraft carrier in the United States. A Ford-class carrier costs over ten billion dollars.

So the purchasing power of Galactic credits is roughly fifty to one thousand times that of U.S. dollars on Earth, and sometimes it can be even more outrageous.

But that cannot be generalized, because in Star Wars, due to uneven technological development, agricultural products are far more expensive than industrial products. Generally speaking, light industrial goods are the cheapest, heavy industrial goods come next, and agricultural products offer the worst value for money.

So don't be surprised if you later see people in Star Wars fighting to the death over a few hundred credits. Those few hundred credits really can buy a great many things.