A New Day, A New Beast

[Laira Darkhold]

I wasn’t strong enough. It took a while to come to that sickening realization. I had been overpowered by a Sith that was notably smaller than me. Not only had she hurt me, she had tossed me around. I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t slow by any means, but I never landed a hit on her. Not one when she was dodging. Her being that quick was inhuman, almost superhuman, but I had seen it with my own eyes. It made one thing perfectly clear. I needed an upgrade. Not my armor, my weapons, or my gear. Me. I needed an upgrade. I couldn’t compete with these wizards or these freaky species as it stood and I needed an equalizer. I don’t know where to begin, all I know is that I need one badly, something to help me combat all the Force Sensitives out there. I could go the route of crafting power armor, but they were notoriously slow and weighty, adding to half the problem. I needed something to make me faster. Something to quicken my reflexes. Training would help, but only so much. The crabs that the Sith wore were notably devoid of exploitable weaknesses at the moment, at least to my knowledge and I needed to be able to keep up with them.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I mulled the problem over extensively, keeping it swirling in my brain continuously over the next week. How am I supposed to upgrade myself without killing myself or forcing me to do a training regimen that will cripple me and force me to remain out of all but the most vital combat actions? I needed something to give me that boost in physical ability without having to work an impossible amount of time to maintain. I don’t need the boost in everyday life, just in combat, and even then only sometimes. Most battles I have been in have been from the seat of a tank, and failing that I have ranged weapons that rarely require me to be that quick, that strong, or that agile. I needed temporary boosts of physical abilities and I couldn’t for the life of me think of what would help me do that. I needed help just figuring out the basics, and I needed help actually designing, fabricating, and implementing whatever it was I decided on. Benji would be the best start, though this kind of stuff wasn’t exactly up his alley. We had needed lots of help on that ceramic tile idea, and he seemed to be capable of at least pointing me in the direction of someone who would know what to do, especially in situations like these.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

After a full week of constantly thinking about the issue, most of which I spent recuperating from the beating I had taken, I needed to bring the idea to Benji over dinner. Once we had been served our meal by the servant droid I brought it up to the elderly duros. “Benji do you remember that time I got destroyed by that Sith, or for that matter any of the times I got overpowered and outmaneuvered by creatures or men when I go out on missions.” I asked him point blank.

He laughed a little remembering the time on Felucia with an acklay, or the story I told him about Ossus with the snake. “Yeah I remember you getting laid out a couple of times. Sounds to me like you are now where near as awesome as you thought you were.” He chuckled a little but more, picking up a piece of nerf steak with his fork. “Why do you ask if I remember these fond little moments of you getting humbled?” He said before placing the steak in his mouth. He never missed a chance to put me down, especially when I so often set him up to take shots at me. I didn’t take any of them personally, and they were always meant in good fun.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Kira took her seat and looked at the two of us funny, but for now she held her tongue while we conversed. “Well,” I said, trying to soften any opinions about the subject, “What if I wanted to enhance my physical attributes in combat. You know get that boost of speed or strength that these magic people have over me.” I finished the pitch knowing exactly how Benji would feel about it.

Benji threw his napkin on the table and looked at me closely, trying to judge my state of mind before answering. “You mean enhance as in cybernetics, a complete cybernetic overhaul, or a brand new human replica droid body?” he asked, but before I could answer, “Because two of those are for the mentally insane driven by nothing but personal vendettas and personal quests for power, and the others are for crazy people living in a galaxy filled with force-sensitives looking to level the playing field in a similarly crazy way.” He finished his rant expecting me to let the subject go. Somehow I was still determined and I found an unlikely ally at the table in Kira. She finally spoke up, letting us know her thoughts on the matter at hand.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

She started, abruptly before I could retort to Benji, “Cybernetic enhancement isn’t all that crazy. Lots of the galaxies greatest warriors in history have had some form of cybernetic enhancement. Darth Vader, cheifest among them.” She pointed out. It was a fair point, but not one that would convince Benji to assist in the project.

He turned his head to her, “Oh, I’m sorry how could I forget that a mad man who butchered the Jedi Order and helped send the galaxy spiraling into fifty years of constant warfare and destruction, as well as ushering in the most tyrannical rule the galaxy had ever known into complete, utter, unfettered control of the galaxy for twenty years, had also had cybernetic enhancements and wasn’t already covered in my first response.” He said, very upset about the idea of enhancements. Prosthesis themselves bothered him somewhat, so I had known that enhancement would bother him even more so. “And to add to that, I am not saying Vader wasn’t a good warrior, his accomplishments speak volumes about how good he actually was, I am just saying he was a mad man and butchered his way to the top using his enhancements as what identified him.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

This time Kira turned against me, but I guess she was just being objective, “Its true. Most people don’t have any clue what Vader looked like or what he was like before he got put in his suit. It is possible that the extensive cybernetics helped drive him mad, as extensive cybernetic replacement has been known to cause people to lose their identity and go crazy, like yet another very powerful warrior, General Grievous, who killed dozens of Jedi during the clone wars with a much less subtle cybernetic overhaul.” She completed, so far having only named to beings that had gone on and committed thousands of atrocities, and she was now saying that the cybernetics might have been one of the reasons they did all that.

Benji seemed to relax realizing that Kira, for once, was being objective about the subject rather than stubbornly taking a side and letting us fight about it. With her support of both sides we actually might accomplish something before too long. “Well, since you bring it up, those two specifically had cybernetically replaced much of their bodies. The cyborgs of the Great Galactic War were known to be purpose driven warriors without noticeable mind altering effects from their cybernetics,” he said.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Great they were no discussing the idea together between themselves, leaving me out of it. I guess this might work. Benji might decide on something that was realistic and helpful to my situation. “Yeah but they weren’t known to be forcibly altered like Vader and Grievous. They volunteered and had fewer exposed cybernetics. Perhaps the main cause of mental instability in patients was their willingness to be altered, as those known to alter themselves or be heavily altered by choice aren’t known for being insane. Many are known for being extremely unstable well before they undergo enhancement, but those that were relatively normal beforehand remained normal after the alterations.” She said, trying to conclude her argument.

Benji was moving along with this debate, but he had distaste for cybernetics. He had had poor experiences with them in the past when dealing with Balmorran Arms, especially the droid designers that worked there. Some of them had been completely insane and had created an Assassin droid from a living test subject in an effort to perfect the being. It had traumatized him slightly, and had completely ruined that secton of Balmorran Arms reputation. “I still don’t like the idea of cybernetics being used to enhance yourself Draco. I can’t stop you, nor would I, but it’s a slippery slope and a dangerous road.” He said warning me of the many dangers.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I nodded. I knew what he had seen. He had the unfortunate memory of seeing a man being forced to kill and maim people in tests against his will, a puppet in his own skin. Even more so the man had basically been lobotomized so he was unable to control his eyes, mouth, or movements. He had been literally trapped in his own body, with a droid controlling his brain, forcing him to do things. That poor man, in a moment of lucidity after being effected by an electromagnetic pulse had committed suicide while Benji had tried to help him get medical help and save him. The man had done, seen, and felt so many things he just wanted to stop, and Benji had seen the evil of cybernetics there and had never messed with them since. Even some droids that were too life like spooked him, so I certainly understood his reasoning. “I understand that’s why I want to do the proper amount of research and testing here to get this right.” I answered trying to set him to ease. He could be stubborn, but normally if I was willing to do something his way he would buckle and help me out. I figured this time would be no different.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

He looked down at his plate, inspecting each morsel carefully before responding to me, “Well, I am not an expert in cybernetics, and neither is Kira, at least not really. What you need is an expert, someone leading the field, and someone we can trust to do experiments and surgeries ethically and honestly, and Cyberneticists aren’t numerous in those last too requirements.” He said, knowing full well what untrustworthy cyberneticists were capable of if left unchecked. “I would suggest Dr. Alexa Brand. She’s a medical doctor who specializes in prosthetic replacement cybernetics and she is pretty good at what she does. I wouldn’t however trust her with projects like trying to turn this thing into something you sell to an army. This project is going to result in technology that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. There are plently of cyberneticists out there that would love something like this to tweak and mess with, and eventually to control people with.” He finished, giving me a name, and a very stern warning about others who might use this technology for evil purposes. Even if it was a weapon it could still be used for good, and he was reminding me that the Sith were out there, always looking to enhance their troops for combat in the field.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

With Benji’s warnings and advice on the project I set out to find Doctor Alexa Brand. Benji had recommended her and no doubt she would be able to help with what I was looking for. Benji had let me leave with a final warning, “Doubt tell people you are working on this, it could be dangerous letting too many people know what’s going on out here.” He was right. Jabiim wasn’t protected by anyone and the shop didn’t really have high security. Yet. Kira was working on getting us something to stop raids and such, but Jabiim didn’t really have anything on it. But pertaining to this project, even laid back unorthodox Kira was a little worried and let me know it too, which was weird for her. Normally she tried so hard to hide her feelings. “Listen Draco, I understand that you need an equalizer or an edge on the field, I really get that. This is a dangerous game, especially if it works. Companies like Titan Industries could produce this kind of stuff on a much larger scale than we can, and might actually equip it to whole companies.” Her warning had been less cryptic, more seriously, do this real quiet like and keep it under the radar.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The last anyone had heard of Doctor Brand she was working on Taris as a medical professional working in the lower levels at an emergency center. That would be where I started. I kind of wished Benji had trusted someone who hadn’t tried hard to stay off the radar like Doctor Brand had. The woman must be running from something or someone to drop off the map so many times and then reappear a few years later with nothing in between. It was possible she had been corrupted and only resurfaced when supplies were low on funding her projects, but based on Benji’s assessment of her, and the fact that she didn’t take high paying positions she no doubt could have, she was in trouble and running from whoever was after he. I would know more once I was able to track her down better, but I wasn’t sure about how things were going to work out. Supposedly she vehemently rejected military based jobs, and I wouldn’t be the first person to try and get her to go back that ideal. I figured I would lie to get her to come back to Jabiim with me and then tell her what was going on. She wouldn’t be happy, but maybe she would come around.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Taris was a bustling planet with a very large city, and the lower level didn’t exactly limit the places she might be. Every sector had its own medical facility and even though the lower levels didn’t have good hospitals, it would still be difficult to find someone like her out here on this planet. No wonder she had chosen it to hide on. Even if someone had been able to track her this far she could still go unnoticed for months since she seemed to move from hospital to hospital. My ship dropped out of hyperspace close to the planet as I sat, feet up on the dash board, looking over all the information I had been able to gather about the good doctor. She was reclusive and wily enough to escape real notice despite being one of the leading experts in cybernetics. Sure, with so many ‘experts’ it would have been easier to look up one of the ones that sold their skill, but I tended to listen to Benji more than consider what was easy. I snapped on the comm channel and buzzed the ground control. Mandalorians controlled this planet and it was likely that security would still allow me to the planet. Mainly because there wasn’t anything important on it and I wasn’t really after anything. Nonetheless I didn’t want to overplay my welcome, if I had any, in their space.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I landed on the planet moments later; it was dusty and at the lower level, filled with a dirty fog and smoke. Descending the ramp, I knew the best place to start looking for her was to access the city’s mainframe, but that would be rather difficult on a secure world. It would be easier to access local personnel data through their mainframe, as that would be at least partially public record. Even if she was using an alias I could do back ground checks on them individually, but it would be easier to check people working at the hospital within the last two years. Anything longer than that couldn’t be her since she was known to be elsewhere before that time. Even still it would take a while to track her down, as there were dozens of hospitals she could be located and certainly plenty of names that I would have to check out. I could rule out all non-humans and all males, but I would still have trouble finding the needle in the hay stack, without her realizing someone was looking for her. I decided to have a protocol droid do most of the hard work, shifting all that data would be much easier for a droid, and wouldn’t bore me to tears in the process.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It still took the droid almost two days to search through all the data and all the stipulations on the names to be processed. It ended up leaving me with thirty people to check out. Some of them I could rule out almost immediately for being far too young, but even with those girls cut out from the picture I was left with over twenty five women to research. I began my search with the oldest ones on the list, mainly because I thought they would be the easiest to catch if they tried to run from me, and also because although Doctor Brand was only middle aged I she could have altered her appearance to make herself look older or younger so I didn’t want to rule anyone out based on age, other than the very young early twenties girls just out of their internships. Not only that I would search through each hospital and expand my search radius as I eliminated each hospital. It took the better part of a week to cancel out twenty three women and the remaining two currently worked at the same hospital, one was relatively new and had bounced around Taris quite a bit, the other had been there for almost two years, so I was leaning towards the former.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I arrived at the hospital during its lazy hours, both women were on shift and there weren’t many people waiting to be seen. I slapped on a Sector Ranger’s badge to suggest I was with law enforcement and approached the front desk of the hospital. “Hi there, I need to speak with these women regarding an ongoing investigation. It’s nothing major, just got to cross my t’s and I’s you know.” I said to the woman sitting behind the desk. She looked at me and smiled, clicking through manifests for a moment before paging the women to report to the main office. She then directed me into the office where we could have privacy for a few moments. Minutes later the first woman arrived, young, late twenties by the look of her and blonde hair, probably not who I was looking for. When she noticed the badge she grew a little concerned so I calmed her fairly quickly. “It’s nothing to worry about, just a few questions about a report we received a few months back. I’ll be in and out of here in no time.” She relaxed and we chatted until the next woman arrived at the office. She was most definitely who I was after, mid-forties, and brunette hair pain stakingly dyed to keep its color.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I addressed both women, hoping to garner some reaction from them, “Hello, so I am investigating a missing person’s case regarding a one Alexa Brand,” by the time I finished the name the older woman. “She went missing a few years back and according to our records the two of you may have some information about her whereabouts.” The younger woman seemed to calm down quite a bit, knowing nothing about the situation she understood she was free and clear. The older woman knew she was caught.

The pretty blonde spoke first, “I’m sorry officer, I don’t know an Alexa Brand. I was here going through my internships as far as I know, and I don’t think I left the planet during that time frame. I am sorry I can’t help though,” she said solemnly.

“It’s not a problem, it’s a pretty cold case and our sources were fairly weak anyway. Thank you for your time.” I said to her, opening the door for her to leave and closing it behind her. “And you Doctor Brand?” I said as I turned to the older woman. She glared at me, trying to guess my motives. I figured I shouldn’t leave her guessing. “Well, my associate and I, Benji Idiro were looking to employ you on a project.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Her eyebrows raised, Benji had known her, but it was possible she had no idea who he was. She seemed to be considering making a break for it. Judging by her looks, I would have time to go hit on that blonde doctor before I would have to start chasing after her, and I was between her and the door. “I remember the name Idiro from Project Black Star, but I can’t say I had ever met him,” she answered after a moment of silence.

I didn’t know enough about Benji’s projects from Balmorran Arms to know if Project Black Star was a thing and could have remember details even if he had told me about it. “Alright, well he holds your expertise and integrity in the field of cybernetics in high regard and he asked me to come get you to assist us. I don’t normally ask a bunch of questions, I just do as I am told,” I explained carefully.

She flinched towards the door, “Is he back working with Balmorran Arms?” she asked.

“No, he and I started our own company, ArmaTech. We support the Silver Jedi Order, the Jedi Academy, and the Galactic Republic as it stands currently, and I am actually a member of the Galactic Republic Special Forces.” I told her, maintaining as much honesty as I could.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

She looked me over pretty extensively. Wearing all my armor and decked out like I was with weapons, she was no doubt a little worried about my intentions. “It was very difficult to track you down, and would have been impossible if it weren’t for your obsessive need to help people. However no one else knows you are here, and I will walk away if you refuse. That said, we really need your help.” I spoke calmly and clearly, but I was ready for whatever she was planning, and it looked like she was going to make a run for it.

From the look she made when I said I would walk away, she didn’t buy it, “I am not the best there is in cybernetics. There are so many more qualified than me.” She was trying to convince me to go after someone else, but this had been Benji’s first, and really his only choice.

“I am sorry, but you are the only person Benji will trust when it comes to cybernetics. I don’t know if you know his history with them, but he said only you. No one else.” I told her. I hoped she knew how much trust that meant the old duros had for her, but it was possible that she had no clue what I was talking about.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

She stood in contemplation for a moment then replied, “Really? He will only sign off on this if I help?” Doctor Brand asked quietly. She obviously knew at least some of the history there. I nodded, remaining silent to emphasize the severity of the request. “I guess I can help if he needs it. But only if we don’t dabble in cybernetic re-education.” She said. So she was part of the project that had scarred Benji so badly. Obviously she had been the voice of reason on the project and had been overruled by the mad men involved with it.

“Absolutely. The Cybernetic is intended to be finalized and installed on me, so no argument here.” I responded, chuckling a little bit.

She raised an eyebrow, “You’re serious, aren’t you? All you jarheads are the same.” She said shaking her head. “I need to speak to my boss and we will need a surgeon. Veira that was in here earlier is brilliant and you might consider dragging her along for the installation process. Also I will need some time to get my affairs here in order.” Well she was on board, which was good. She was taking over just like Benji did when he started a project, which was alright I guess.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I agreed to her terms and conditions easily enough. I walked out of the small office with her returning to her work. The blonde, Doctor Brand had identified as Veira, was standing nearby flipping through charts. “Ma’am,” I got her attention as I approached. “I just wanted to let you know everything has been cleared up and you shouldn’t be bothered about this little mix up anymore.” I leaned against the counter.

She played with her hair a little, “Oh it was no bother. Besides it added a bit of excitement into my daily routine.” It didn’t take long to convince her to return to Jabiim. I ended up telling Veira the truth about the situation, after Doctor Brand explained to her that I was on Taris looking for assistance with a top secret project. Veira became very interested in the project and they both took the following month as a sabbatical in order to travel back to Jabiim and work on the cybernetic system we would be designing. Veira, for the short time she would be with us wouldn’t be working very hard on the initial stages, which meant she would be bored around the shop. Hopefully Kira and she would find something to do while the rest of us were hard at work.