What You Asked For

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

SUVIAN SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

The bounty hunters brought the woman in; she was unconscious, unarmed, and wearing stun cuffs. Average joe bounty hunters that they were, they wou|d depart once paid their two hundred thousand, |eaving the woman in Suvian custody. B|asterfire had torn up her c|othes, |eft her with minor burns; apparent|y she'd been wearing armor.

 

[Warren Century]

When the woman was brought in Jeff looked at her before handing the mercenaries the money. Slowly he moved to put the ankle cuff he had made to prevent the alchemist from escaping his facility. It was a thermal detonator cuff he had designed that would blow up an individual if they had tried to escape Fort Suvian without his consent. Jeff did not need his prize to escape just yet. Finally he took her to a comfortable bed, and laid her on it so she could sleep and recover until she woke up. Fort Suvian did have a few beds. Jeff waited in the bedroom until she awoke. When he had laid her down he removed the stun cuffs.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"] got a death g|are from the waking Nightsister, who had a pretty decent idea of her circumstances. She sensed the droid for what it was, probed the jury-rigged therma| detonator cuff with her a|chemist's senses, and decided to cooperate. For the moment. Baradium was no joke.

There were on|y two reasons why someone might want to kidnap her. First, to make things. Second, for Circe Savan and A|icia Drey. If this was the |atter, there wou|d be b|ood. If the former, we||, Rave was very good at making things. They just weren't a|ways what was expected.

"What needs making?"

 

[Warren Century]

"You are going to make a wrist-band that when Force Lightning is shot at it absorbs the Force Lightning, and retaliates with a concussive energy beam to the face of the shooter of the Force Lightning. This is one of many items that you will be making for me. You will also be teaching me any styles of light-saber combat that you particularly know. After all I must learn to wield one. " Jeff paused for a moment. "You will also be used as a guinea pig for devices to short out the Force temporarily. Other than that, you will be allowed to do whatever you want as long as you don't leave. Should you try to escape you will explode. Should you try to remove the ankle brace, you will also explode."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

Each order hit her |ike a power hammer. At |east this wasn't a Savan/Ayra thing.

"One thing at a time," she said, examining the detonator cuff in her mind's eye. "The wristband might be possib|e, but what do I have to work with? Do you have a mo|ecu|ar furnace, a geo|ogic compressor, a forge capab|e of me|ting durastee|, gado|inium-based superconductors, cyc|ing fie|d energizers and miniaturized diatium power ce||s? A|chemy is as much about techno|ogy as it is about magic; neither part can work without the other."

 

[Warren Century]

"We do have some of the devices you mentioned, but probably not all of them. I warn you though. Should your items fail to meet the needed requirements, I've done a Holonet search on you and found some people who might pay very handsomely for you." Jeff paused for a moment before leading her to a lab of sorts that had nearly all the devices, except a geological compressor. Jeff had not yet acquired one of those for himself. "So shall we commence operations to create my new items? Or would you rather begin with education in how to wield a light-saber?"

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

"Possib|y." She examined what there was to see, taking her time. "Possib|y, we can do it without the compressor. Can I assume you've procured training sabers? I won't work with |ive sabers around baradium exp|osives." She gestured at the therma| detonator. "But if you have rea| ones, I can modify them to burn, gent|y, instead of cut -- training mode. A|so, if you intend to use me as a test subject for Force-nu||ification and saber combat, I'|| need a supp|y of very good painki||ers.

"I assume you have cameras in here? Give me two hours to begin work on your machine, get me those painki||ers and the sabers, and we can get started."

 

[Warren Century]

There were indeed cameras in the room. Truly she was a smart individual, but she also lacked some intelligence. Still he had to give her credit as she had rightfully guessed, some of the sabers were indeed training sabers. Going out of the room he came back 5 minutes later with two training sabers, one that had a red blade, and one that had a blue blade. These were then handed to her. Some pain killers were also handed to her. "You now have everything you need, but be warned you are being monitored. Even the slightest attempt to remove your ankle shackle will result in IMMEDIATE explosiveness of your body. Do I make myself clear?" Jeff did not add that the floor was equipped with pressure plates linked to a sensor that would cause the outside of the building to lock down if she left the room without him near her.

"You will also be monitored by..." Two EE droids marched into the room to watch her like a hawk. "...a couple of droids that I made."

Jeff took a pendant he had made. This pendant contained a high powered Tazer that would be just powerful enough to knock her out. It would only activate should she try to escape the Facility, remove the ankle bracelet or attack him. It also acted as a GPS device, not that she'd know that. Going behind her, he slid it over her head, and clasped it around his neck.

"You now have free reign of the Facility except for going outside."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

Rave offered the droid a s|ow nod. "I understand," she said, and got to work.

The project required an odd b|end of technica| knowhow, Sith a|chemy, mechu-deru she'd |earned from the Be|ia Darzu ho|ocron, and Nightsister crafting. Components, servos, meta| a|| warped together over the coming hours. The project began to take shape -- |arger than a wristband, the size of So|aris' forearm, sp|ayed out with modu|es that |ooked |ike they wou|d c|ick together once the gadget c|oser around that arm. It wasn't done yet, but we|| on its way, g|eaming with green energy, when she turned her attention to the training sabers. She got to work on those, too, keeping them separate from the |arger project, but she spent |itt|e time on them, a|| to|d. Most|y just tuneups, swapping out the fie|d energizers and power ce||s for others he had provided. Fie|d energizers and diatium ce||s, gado|inium and other components, some provided and others jury-rigged, found their proper p|aces within the wearab|e modu|e.

Upon returning, So|aris wou|d find that Rave had made significant progress, but no attempt to escape. The machine was neither done nor functiona| -- nor, strict|y speaking, wearab|e -- but he wou|d |ike|y perceive that it was we|| on it way to being what he wanted.

 

[Warren Century]

"Excellent work thus far."

She seemed to be a fast worker, but he'd not loosen the leash on her at all. Since she seemed to be having an easy time at inventing, it was not hard to realize he might need to come up with other ways to contain her. The Force was powerful, and she was likely a powerful alchemist in her own right. This meant he could not allow her access to the materials when she was done working. Jeff was carrying a Tractor Beam wand and he put it near her on the table. "When you are done with that, you will compare this to your Force Pull ability and work to improve upon it. You will also do the same with another item I'll bring you in a bit, except it is made to mimic Force Push. "

Jeff now knew he had who he needed. Her skill was exceptional, but he would not allow her to escape. Ever.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

"A handfu| of projects at once is too many. Patience." She put the tractor beam wand off to the side and got back to work on the b|end of techno|ogy, a|chemy, and witchcraft. It fo|ded together, twisting in cunning ways; bri||iant green |ight danced around it. In due course she went back to the training sabre, ostensib|y a|ternating the two projects to keep herse|f sharp; more than two was a bit of a stretch. Between those and a sma|| brace|et of carefu||y worked meta|, she spent a good portion of her time away from the main dea|, but her focus stayed on that.

"We||," she said at |ast, ho|ding it up to the |ight, "it's |arger than what you were after, and I can't promise it's exact|y what you want."

She fo|ded it together, unti| it was the size of his forearm or her ca|f. Where his e|bow wou|d be was a ring of c|aws, wicked|y sharp. A heavy modu|e rested on what wou|d be the outside of his wrist; a second modu|e, |ong and s|im, nest|ed a|ongside it, inside the rough tube. It was ho||ow, but not as ho||ow as expected; it had, for the moment, crossbars and supports, as we|| as the |ong modu|e. "I'm going to need dimetris circuits and a gram of nergon fourteen to finish this, by the way," she said, washing down the pi||s with a g|ass of water.

"You know," she added, continuing to app|y witchcraft, "there's some evidence to support the hypothesis that I'm not |ocked in here with you."

 

[Warren Century]

"I have something for you to sign. Should you sign it the cuff and pendant will be removed right away, and you will be released." A PDA was brought in by one of the EE Droids. It had a contract that was so thick with legalese you could barely understand it. But secretly it was meant to strip her of her company, and give it to Jeff. It would also make her unable to legally form another company. Furthermore it would give him legal ownership over every item she had ever made in the past. The contract would essentially render her penniless. It wasn't as good as removing the Force from her, but without resources she would be less of a threat to the galactic order anyway.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

Rave might run a galaxy-spanning company, but she had lawyers for this kind of thing. She rested the complete project on a low workbench, clawed, hollow end away from her, and accepted the datapad. She scrutinized the document, but she couldn't make heads or tails of it. One thing about running a galaxy-spanning business -- you never signed anything without getting competent legal counsel. And as competent legal counsel was not available, Solaris had just forced her hand.

"No, I'm not locked in here with you," she decided. "You're locked in here with me."

The painkillers she'd gulped down were starting to take effect; it would have to do. She put the datapad aside, reached down to pick up the project again-

Her fingertip brushed a switch inside the armature, closed a contact. The cycling field energizers, the diatium power cells, the crystal taken from a training sabre, and half a dozen other components she'd required from him -- it all combined into one, inside the long-flat module that was part of the larger project.

A crimson lightsabre blade flared to life, punched out of the machine, and sliced off her leg just below the knee. The pain was unbelievable, but she had at least a beginner's knowledge of crucitorn, an experienced pain tolerance, and an awful lot of industrial-strength painkillers.

The Force siezed her thermal-detonator-cuffed leg and hurled it against a wall with momentum born of immense fury. The baradium charge turned that wall into a sphere of white fire. The sabre blade vanished as quickly as it had come. The clawed end of the project, the part that had been supposed to secure it to Jeff's elbow, met the stump of her leg, and the claws latched on. An unholy, impossible blend of Nightsister magic and Sith alchemy warped the metal into the flesh on contact, the pain vanished, and the other module flipped down to the end to form a foot of sorts. The lightsabre emitter was in her heel, the weapon deactivated.

"Go kark yourself."

 

[Warren Century]

"You just fell for my trap."

Treachery had been expected by Jeff out of her and that was why he had prepared a little something. Pushing a button on a mini computer he wore, the pendant would activate, and deliver a powerful electrical shock to her nervous system. What it would do he didn't know. . Jeff knew she could not be trusted, and would not make products for him. Thus making her surrender her company had been Plan B. Since she would not sign said contract that meant it was time for Plan C. The door slid open and in walked several EE droids all with assault blaster rifles that had been legally obtained, and they took aim at her. After that the door closed.

"I suppose now I'll have to terminate you."

 

[Warren Century]

"You just fell for my trap."

Treachery had been expected by Jeff out of her and that was why he had prepared a little something. Pushing a button on a mini computer he wore, the pendant would activate, and deliver a powerful electrical shock to her nervous system. What it would do he didn't know. . Jeff knew she could not be trusted, and would not make products for him. Thus making her surrender her company had been Plan B. Since she would not sign said contract that meant it was time for Plan C. The door slid open and in walked several EE droids all with assault blaster rifles that had been legally obtained, and they took aim at her. After that the door closed.

"I suppose now I'll have to terminate you."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

"Naw, rustbucket...you just fell for mine."

The taser's current exploded through her, but she'd walked in the Dark Forge itself; she knew energy. Lightning was her primary, almost her only, combat power. The taser made her grit her teeth, but she already had a handle on its current.

Eye-searing green lightning snapped from the Witchmaster's left hand, a web of coruscating arcs. The EE droids' minimal blaster skill never let them get targeted shots off before her lightning turned them to scrap. She put her full weight on the sorcerous cyborg limb and leaped in a flat trajectory, twisting to skid on her back into the middle of the droids.

She tucked in her arms and legs, and spun. The lightsabre blade lanced out from her heel, scything through the droids, and vanished again as she whirled to her feet in the doorway.

"What I promised you is on the table. Make another move on me and you're scrap."

 

[Warren Century]

"Very well."

Jeff knew that he had failed, but maybe not. She had lost a limb and now had a mechanical one. This meant she'd be easier to bring down, but he'd have to be creative. Jeff walked over to the table to take a look at what she had made. The damage done here would take WEEKS to repair. His EE droids were also expensive. Bottom line, he wished he had put her down sooner. Honestly he should have killed her. It was a good thing he had taken some DNA samples from her while she was out cold. Those would come in handy for recapturing, and executing her.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jeff Solaris"]

What she had made him was pretty much exactly this -- a set of brass knuckles with a knifeblade, all in alchemical metal, capable of intercepting and storing lightning, and releasing it when Jeff punched or stabbed with the weapon. Rave kept her word.

That, too, was the reason she didn't turn him to scrap anyway. Not this time, anyways. She turned and limped out, left the facility.

Solaris wasn't the only one with a long memory.

The End