There's money and then there's Money (Kryptus)

[Ashin Varanin]

iBorg just plain didn't do custom orders. That was one lesson she'd taken to heart from her time as interim CEO of Akure: custom orders could make your name and stretch your capabilities, but it wasn't the artsy unique products that brought in the dough. That said, the request had caught her attention, and one of the founders' apprentices was currently working on combining a Nyax arm prosthesis with another arm of unknown make. A cortosis-plated, combat-ready, high-capacity arm from a very enigmatic and particular source. That was why she was overlooking the lab from the observation deck, and why one of the senior partners would be checking over the work in a bit.

Tangentially, it was also why she'd chosen to meet with [member="Jacen Cavill"] here, looking down on the cybernetics lab. In the world of prosthetics, there wasn't a lot more impressive than a rotary ion disruptor concealed inside a cortosis-plated arm.

 

[Jacen Cavill]

He wasn't really familiar with [member="Selka Ventus"], but the name was one he had heard of. Names had a way of moving from mouth to mouth in the circles he traveled in. Why all she had dome had been a real mystery. Background checks could only do so much, and money could only tell so many tales. What she had owned, her corporate history was what be had cared for, and her newest venture had lead him to where he currently was.

Leaning against the window, watching the apprentice work on what had been requested.

"Your reputation proceeds yourself Ms. Ventus," he said as he turned to regard her. Clad in simple black robes, he admired her simple necklace for a moment. "Your name holds great meaning for those I associate myself with, I can't thank you enough for this. My hand will greatly benefit from the upgrades." A cursory glance fell over the man getting the other implants put into him as he sat there missing his arm.

"So what's the cost?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

"There isn't one. I'm of the Tionese Inner Circle, like you. This is a favor, no obligations attached. And if, as a favor, no obligations attached, you happened to be on friendly terms with a reputable investment bank..."

She turned away from the operating theater. Blood didn't sit well with her, as a rule. She shrugged and met the big man's eyes. "I've cut enough personal checks to iBorg that it's in a position to pay back my investment sooner rather than later. I'm confident enough in that potential to start looking elsewhere for capital."

Selka turned back to the window and forced herself to scrutinize the operation.

 

[Jacen Cavill]

"Apologies, I'm still not fully in the loop. I had no idea you were with our group as well, it seems I'm operating on old information." It was the truth, the Sith had no reason to lie. Here he was, standing proudly as the man he was. Some semblance of his former nobility visible in moments like these. He wasn't playing the part of a politician or a businessman with very little in the form of a spine. Nor was he being the brutal monster that his allies and enemies knew him to be. No, there was no evidence of Kryptus or Mr. Lee.

He was just Jacen Cavill.

His eyes fell back on the operation theatre, and he coldly examine what was happening as she inquired about his new venture. Blood was being cleaned as they removed the prosthetic and began work on merging the two bits of technology. How they would even recoat the new arm with the cortosis weave material and link it was beyond him. Give him some guns, and he could talk shop. This wasn't his arena, and he knew that much. It was why he was here observing, not making.

"I'll send the funds once the bank has opened. You shall be a preferred member, so in return you will get a 1.5% interest rate." That was incredibly low given he hadn't even looked at Iborg's books. A question dawned on him. "I know of a Sith Lord who was mainly metal and he had developed a means of protecting himself from electric attacks. I'll need that for my assassin, as well as a way to protect him from other attacks from the Force on his system. I need him to be a hammer for any situation."


[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

She nodded, accepting the apology, then again when he mentioned the interest rate. As for the technical challenges...

"Not simple, but doable. Alchemical metal draws and traps lightning; I'll take a stab at alchemizing some of the arm in the right places. If we're talking about suppressing direct Force influence on his mechanical parts, there are options. The best may just be to wait: in time, the arm will be so much a part of him that it'll benefit from the same aural protection as his lightsabre or his organs. For an added layer of protection, we could build in a taozin nodule socket to scramble Force senses and keep them from getting a complete picture. That would probably make the former process slower, though."

 

[Jacen Cavill]

[member="Selka Ventus"]

"Good, I'd like the arm to be able to take a beating. Where I will be sending him won't be safe, and he will be acting alone." The arm had been removed, and the internal attachment sites were now visible. Sparks flew off the arm as the cortosis weave was being taken off of the arm that Blas-Tech had made for Death's Hand. The implant he had requested was being installed by a droid. "I heard you have an implant that can actually allow someone to walk through shields is that true?" He prayed it was, he'd like to add that while here.

Well, if Sasha was being honest.

"Let's just put the amulet in there, and I'll make sure he keeps the arm covered with his duster I bought him from AEL for a time." Leaning against the rail, he gave a casual glance before letting loose a secret. "I was just made a Senator in the Galactic Republic for the planet Bal'demnic. Any requests?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

"Bal'demnic's a cortosis producer," she said instantly. Say one thing for Selka Ventus; say she knows how to roll with a punch. Quick on her feet. "I wouldn't mind being able to market cortosis-plated shins, if you can see your way clear to making me a contact in that direction. As for the shield walking...well, come with me. Your friend will be taken care of."

Down the hall, though not far, was a demonstration room lined with various bits of technology. She'd commed ahead. A Selkath with a Clarity neural implant opened the door to let them in.

"Mr. Cavill, this is my aide, Dificul. He's been with me a long time. Dificul, would you be willing to demonstrate the Gatebreaker?"

The Selkath bowed. One gray-blue finger opened a locked cabinet on the wall. Inside, racks of production and prototype Aurek and Zerek nodes gleamed in the artificial light. Dificul selected one and slotted it into his implant, then activated one of the room's many machines. A force field flared up, cutting the room in two, with Dificul on one side and Selka and Cavill on the other.

"This is a high-grade energy-particle deflector shield," Selka explained. "Deadly on contact. Note how a slight haze has appeared around Dificul; he's activated the Gatebreaker node. It's an Aurek node; that means it fits the Aurek slot on some of our implants."

The Selkath walked through the energy shield in a shower of sparks, without flinching. He popped the Gatebreaker out of his skull and handed it to Cavill -- still cool to the touch.

 

[Jacen Cavill]

[member="Selka Ventus"]

"I can easily manage that for you, Ms. Ventus. Just make sure to keep myself and my interests in mind in future endeavors." They were both playing a game within the conversation, and the brute picked up on it. Some would call him a monster, he preferred to be called a narcissistic sadist. To each their own, he mused as he took one last look at the operation and followed his host out and down the hall.

A short stroll later and he as being introduced to a Selkath he would never care to remember. A curt nod and a handshake were all he allowed, his keen mind simply focused on the demonstration. A shimmering field of energy appeared, and an implant was locked into the assistants socket. Very practical, he noted. His fingers tapped his palm impatiently as he waited for the moment of truth. Hours had flown by since he had been at the facility, and patience wasn't one of his virtues.

Then the Selkath walked through in a shower of sparks and handed him the implant.

"Impressive, most impressive," he muttered to himself f as he felt how cool the implant was. "I'll take one of these for sure if you don't mind." Reaching to give the implant back to the Selkath he turned and smiled to the woman with him. "Send me your new products, and I'll make sure to bring you up in the Senate. Make me few custom things for my assassin, and I'll get the military to use your wares and let you borrow Death's Hand." His hand extended.

"Do we have a deal?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

Dificul slotted the Gatebreaker back into its display stand and locked the opaque case behind Selka. "I have some friends in the Senate -- I was even nominated to be Chief of Senate once, by Persephone Callas." She smiled thinly. "I abstained and backed Genevieve Lasedri."

She shook the offered hand, keenly aware that he could crush it. And for a moment, just a moment, she remembered being taller and stronger, looking down at herself and all the little humans. She remembered taking Jacen Cavill and some other young Sith to the top of a statue in the Valley of the Dark Lords. She remembered throwing them off and telling them to fly.

The smile grew, but didn't reach her eyes. "You have a deal, Senator Cavill."

 

[Jacen Cavill]

[member="Selka Ventus"]

"Senator Lee, but thank you." He shook her hand and bowed slightly. The conversation had ended, and so had their business. "I wish you well, keep in touch. Your enemies are mine, and Heil Tion." He whispered the last two words before leaving the room, his boots echoing in the metal enclosure, his reflection following him against the window. Thoughts of the future consumed him as he retraced his path back to the surgical theatre.

True to her word, there was a bag with the various implants he had ordered on a table. Picking up in stride he took the stairs down into the operating room to see his hand staring blankly at him

"Let's go, there is work to do."

Fin ​