Midnight

[Jairus Starvald]

Coruscant General​

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[member="Farah"]​

​

The senate district of Coruscant was unlike the majority of its levels.

It was clean, there was little if any crime with regular police patrols, the people could walk to their homes at night without much fear. Well, for now anyway, little did they know that there was a storm coming for them. All of them. It wasn't his little cult he was building out, but rather the shadow of the Sith Empire. It would come with fire and iron, destroying all in its path to break the Alliance at the height of its supposed power.

Quite an interesting thing to see and Jairus was looking forward to it.

But right now the Sith Lord was waiting patiently in the parking lot of Coruscant General. He needed drugs, lots of them, and one possible supplier was someone with a connection to Kaine Zambrano.

He'd still need to have a direct talk with the Dark Lord of the Sith, but that would come eventually.

Perhaps after his assault on Coruscant.

It felt amusing to him- standing in the shadows, watching as person after person departed the lot. They didn't see him. He didn't want them to. Until only a single speeder remained, presumably owned by this Doctor Farah. The only other remaining vehicle had already drifted up in the air five minutes ago. Large, gargantuan, Samson had recognized him -- mentalism didn't work on an epicanthix, unless you really tried very hard -- but said nothing.

Just that glance of concern for a moment, before the clone took his leave.

There were loyalties that went beyond friendship.

The click of shoes against the concrete drew his attention, the... zeltron (hrm) walking around the corner and towards their meeting place. "Doctor." Jairus would greet, stepping out of the alcove and in sight now. "Quaint place you had us meet."

 

[Farah]

Farah didn’t like having people over.

Not in her apartment, not at Cornerstone’s tiny, unassuming headquarters. Was it paranoia that someone would try to spy on her operations? Or just her nature to be irritated by parts of her life intruding into eachother?

Either way, the Zeltron began to gain some notoriety among the underworld and certain Sith for her production of pharmaceuticals. What started out as a way for her to stretch her curiosity and test her ability lead to an actual business venture. Farah didn’t know much about business, but she knew that crime lords liked having memory-erasing drugs and combat enhancers. Customer’s always right.

People were already leery of her at CoreGen. Was it the cartel boyfriend? Maybe. Farah cared less and less about concealing her identity the weaker the Galactic Alliance became. Soon enough, the Sith would no doubt sweep over the planet in an effort to regain the jewel of the galaxy.

“What did you expect?” The Zeltron exhaled a stream of smoke, head tilted a few degrees away from him before placing the cigarette back between her lips. “Surgery went smoothly else you’d be waiting all night.”

She rolled the cig between her lips for a few moments as she looked him over. Tall, strongly built, older male. She wondered who he worked for. Helix? One of those Hutts? Perhaps he was a low ranking crime lord or something more independent. Farah exhaled sharply again, this time through her nose.

“What can I help you with, Mr. Starvald?”

[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Farah"]

The Sith Lord would have made note of the bad properties of smoking for your lungs, but in truth... he did not much care what the zeltron did with her body.

Similarly had he realized the equations she was making in her head about him?

Might have been peeved.

Instead Jairus was merely amused. "You would be disappointed by my lack of patience, Doctor." The Sith replied calmly as he looked past her. Watching the streets, the parking lot, the entire business while pondering about his purpose here for a moment. Was she truly what he needed? Jairus wasn't sure, but it couldn't hurt to have multiple sources.

Especially competent ones.

Zambrano wouldn't have mentioned this one, if she wasn't good at what she did.

"I am in need of an agent that halts the pain stimuli and induces intense aggression into its takers. For starts anyway, there is much more that I need, but that will do for now."

If that was handled with satisfaction? They'd see.

 

[Farah]

The Zeltron tipped her cigarette downward between her lips while looking faintly amused. “Then you’d be left empty handed.”

He seemed to look through her, eyes drifting along the streets and up to the complex they were standing in the shadows of.

“Pain suppressant and aggression stimulation, huh?” She sounded thoughtful, looked thoughtful, but her eyes never left his form. “I can do that.” Wasn’t something she had tried yet but it wasn’t out of the realm of her capabilities, she supposed. All came down to trial an error, sleepless nights and a lot of stimulants. Drugs, cigarettes, eating an entire sheet cake. Rarely alcohol, though. Occasionally hallucinogens. When you think too hard about something, you only see things a certain way. Directing your mind elsewhere made you see solutions and paths that you hadn’t been able to before.

At least that’s how it worked for Farah.

“Got a time frame for how long you need it to stay active? You want complete pain blockage or just dulling?”

It went without saying that the longer and stronger the effect, the higher the price.

[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Farah"]

"There are multiple avenues to get what I want." Jairus responded with a shrug.

Truth too.

The only reason that Starvald was here was because of the Zambrano vouch. Otherwise? He most likely wouldn't have even heard of Farah and her operations here. Very quiet, very subtle, he was certain that [member="Irajah Ven"] would be much appreciative of her touch. Even Jairus could respect it, but there were other suppliers that could potentially make what he needed.

Cerbera possibly, if she wasn't too busy cooing over the babies.

Surprise surprise the sentient mantis had some sort of fascination. "Complete blockage. To the point where even an arm ripped off won't stop them from trying to come at their targets." Of course, this wouldn't make them invincible or all-powerful. It was about the terror factor and the psychological effect.

"An hour at most, I would be fine with thirty minutes on average." "The price is not a problem, of course."

Almost as if Jairus had read her mind just there.

 

[Farah]

“Hmm,” Farah hummed, fishing a palm sized datapad from her pocket. She brushed a thumb over the button on the side, the device unlocked and her face became partially illuminated from the light of the screen. A few quick notes were made of what Jarius wanted and what reagents she would need to complete the task.

The Zeltron grunted, eyes shifting away from the screen and off towards the darkened lot as they unfocused for a few moments in thought. She would have to screen more trial subjects for this one. Maybe the ones leftover from MEDEA? Amnestics and stimulants tended not to overlap, but she’d like fresher subjects. And with the Sith eyeing Coruscant, it would likely be easier to procure what she needed. Her gaze eventually found Starvald once again and she snorted softly. “And yet here you are.”

Slender pink fingers removed the cigarette from between her lips, one of them giving it a few taps. As traces of ash fell to the ground, she continued.

“That’s a pretty heavy effect for the duration.” More of a comment and less of a concern. The tone of her voice implied that there would be a potential hurdle or two for her to overcome but that she delighted in a challenge. Farah didn’t know what he’d be using this for, but she imagined if there were arms being ripped off…they probably weren’t meant to survive exactly. Neat. If this all went through, maybe she’d follow up at some point and see how well this potential drug worked in the field.

A few more taps and swipes at the datapad to make note of a few more thoughts. Already her mind was cooking up potential combinations but that was only one stage to this.

“Any restrictions? Certain components you don’t want used?”

[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Farah"]

"And yet here I am." Jairus agreed with a soft smile.

There were reasons for that, but they didn't matter and discussing it more was simply a waste of time for the both of them, no? The Sith Lord watched with interest as she worked her magic. The set of the shoulders, the placement of feet, the expression on her face. It was amusing to see the similarities between her and [member="Irajah Ven"] when they were at work.

Equally interesting were the contrasts.

"None whatsoever." He stopped and thought about that for a moment. "Mm. Though, perhaps the sort of compound that does not do too much long-term damage? I'd like the subjects to remain alive and in relative health, if they survive the ordeal."

A shrug.

That would be better.

But it wasn't strictly necessary he supposed. It was always possible to keep the serum for a specific sort of person.

 

[Farah]

“Alive and intact, hm.” Farah wondered aloud while moving some things around on the screen.

To give him what he wanted wouldn’t be too difficult. But Farah had never been the best at…minimizing side effects. Her Force affinity drug? Killed just under half of her subjects. Would have been considered a failure if some people weren’t crazy enough to request it. “I will see what I can do about that.”

“I can’t account for the damage that they’ll sustain in battle.” Of course he knew that, “But as for metabolizing the drug, it’ll depend on how healthy the subject is from the start. Aftercare might be extensive and you will probably need to provide them with maintenance drugs, blood work to monitor them and the like.”

She pause, shifting the cigarette from one side of her mouth to the other in thought. “Given that, it can be done. Do you have a timeframe?”


[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Farah"]

Those last few bits didn't really sound like anything Jairus wanted to be concerned with.

Mentally he made a note that anything that came out of this should strictly be used by two groups: either the ones that were irrelevant and could be replaced rather easily, or the ones valuable enough to be taken care of in such a fashion. It was a shame it couldn't be any other way, but in truth the Sith Lord wasn't really surprised. Chemicals were a complicated affair and the chemistry of a sentient was difficult to tweak.

Without karking them up for the long term anyway.

"I'd like an experimental batch within the next six weeks, a workable solution within eighteen. Is that something you can accomplish?" It might not be, [member="Irajah Ven"] was the scientist of the both of them.

But the sooner the better in his head.

 

[Farah]

“Hm.” Farah rubbed at her chin, an idle motion she’d probably picked up from one of her swarthier mentors. Either way, it was a sign that the gears were turning in her head.

“I’m always adverse to promising time frames.” Shrugging, the Zeltron’s gaze found the datapad once more and she swiped several times at the screen, brows knitting together briefly.

“A soft six to eight weeks, perhaps.” She decided. “I’ll notify you if looks like it’ll take longer.”

From what she gathered, it would take roughly three to four weeks. But where was the good in telling him that? A longer time period gave her wiggle room in case things didn’t go as expected. That it would make her look good if she could get it to him before then.

Maybe it would take the full time. After all, she was a perfectionist.

[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Farah"]

A nod followed immediately after that.

"Acceptable." The timeline had been just to put it on a schedule. If it wasn't possible to manufacture it in that time that was fine. In truth Jairus cared more about it being done in a quality manner than anything else.

"We have an accord then."

That was the extent of his request for now.

If she showed competency, they could probably discuss adding more to her workload, but for now... this would do. "Save travels, Doctor. We will remain in touch through the usual channels." Unless there was more that Farah wanted to say Jairus would depart the scene. Nothing more to discuss, the order set with the potential of more business done in the future.

Perfect.