Chiss Like a Wookiee

[Laira Darkhold]

In all of my years flying around the galaxy there was one place I had never been. Chiss Space. For years before the Netherworld Crisis it had been under the rule of the Sith and had supported them faithfully. It was believed that at least for a short period of time it had harbored them and kept them secret from the galaxy. At least that was believed by someone. Personally, I had never had any interaction with the chiss, or any Chiss for that matter. The former Acsendancy kept to itself and didn’t purchase weapons not produced within their space for the most part. They had been technologically advanced even for back in the days of the Galactic Empire and the Galactic Alliance. They had built star destroyers and created an Empire without being noticed by the galaxy at large, but all of those reasons to seek them out weren’t why I had sought them now. They had an interesting personal weapon, one that was a blaster known for causing kinetic damaging, making it more difficult for lightsabers to block. Kind of. In reality they were potent weapons and would be perfect for the weapon ArmaTech was designing for Special Forces use.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I arrived on Csillia quietly, without my large warship, just a small corvette was often more than enough to get around in, and was inconspicuous enough for me to be able to fall into the rank and file easily enough. I wasn’t here for anything mischevious or evil. I was here only to purchase several of the more power Charrics, the Chiss version of a blaster. It was unique in that it delivered kinetic energy in addition to being a blaster weapon. The kinetic energy was dependent on the size of the weapon and the power used in each bolt, but the blaster function of it was the same as relative power as a blaster weapon. I landed easily enough, the ship wasn’t exactly well known and wasn’t registered to me. The planet was covered in ice, and was arguably as cold as Hoth. How such a species was able to evolve on this hellscape was beyond me, and I wouldn’t be here any longer than I had to be. In order to blend in better I was wearing a much lighter version of Mandalorian armor, almost like the iconic Boba Fett’s armor, which coincidently wasn’t as well insulated from the elements as my normal set.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It didn’t take long to find where I was looking for. It was a relatively small shop that sold weapons and ammunition to the Chiss people for personal protection and the like. It was known to sell military grade hardware all the time, and so this was the place to find the powerful Charrics I was looking for. I needed one with the same power output as the classic T-21 Light Repeating Blaster of the Galactic Empire. Those had been the most powerful standard issue weapon of the time and had wreaked havoc on enemy troops where ever it had been deployed. It had serious draw backs that needed to be addressed but those draw backs were hardly worth writing home about.

I entered the small building and walked through it while the owner dealt with a customer. I perused the stores other wares. He had the occasional Tensor rifle lying inside cases, but I hadn’t grown interested in those weapons just yet. I was focused on the Charric, which would be plenty exotic enough for me and mine at ArmaTech. He finished with his customer and waited until the chiss left, locking the door behind him.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The chiss owner walked over to me, “How are you mister Vereen?” he asked, recognizing me from our conversations earlier in the week before I had deemed to come this far out for no other reason than to purchase the charric rifles he had in stock, that he had specifically acquired for me.

I removed my helmet and addressed him “I’m fine, but pleasantries are a waste of time. I would rather this just be an exchange of rifles and credits.” I told him point blank. I wasn’t here to make a friend or create a business partner. I was here to buy his merchandise and take it with me to have it reverse engineered by the ArmaTech Research and Development division, which would then be used as part of a new Special Forces weapon system. If I had to be mean to him to get that point across I would. He owned a very small black market arms dealership. I supplied to almost a fourth of the galaxy. We were on different levels.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

He nodded, probably believing that I wanted to leave quickly and not be seen associating with him and his illegal enterprise. Really that didn’t bother me. But nonetheless, let him believe what he wants so long as it doesn’t cost me. “I have your crate in the back, hidden away. Follow me.” He said, leading me into the back room and crouching to the floor. He lifted a tile and revealed a gun safe hidden from sight with a sensor dampening effect built into the case, just in case someone glanced around looking for something like that. He opened the case revealing ten large Charrics, pulling one from the safe and handing it to me, he began to speak, “There you are, light repeating charrics, just like you asked for.” He said to me obviously proud of himself.

I looked it over and began shouldering it and going through its parts, without taking it apart though. I held out my hand, gesturing for a power cell, to which he reluctantly complied. “This room is sound proof, right?” I asked, and he nodded, putting his fingers in his years. I pulled the trigger and consulted a scanner comparing the weapon to the T-21 and ACS-202 Vanquisher I had in stock.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

They were very close, if anything the charric had a higher output and was more efficient in consumption of energy than the T-21’s of old. That was good. These were going to be very expensive, very profitable weapons I was having built. “These will do. Seal them in a case and I’ll take them with me. Here are your credits.” I said producing fifty thousand unmarked, nonsequential credits from a pouch and handing them over to him. These would certainly work fine for my purposes. They were exactly what I was looking for.

He packaged them up and I carried the heavy case back with me to the ship, sealing them in a locker and leaving the frozen planet far behind. Good. One thing down, one more to go. I set the course for Jabiim, where the Research and Development division would pour over these weapons, learning how to replicate them and how to modify them to my design. It was a simple request really. Make the dang guns how I tell you. How hard was that for these guys, really.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It only took a few days to get back to Jabiim and start working on the guns. They were well designed and the Engineers were smart people, working hard on tearing them apart and learning how they functioned so they could be rebuilt and reproduced in larger quantities along with the other weapon system that would be included in the weapon they were intended for. “Alright, what progress have you made?” I asked addressing the room full of engineers and physicists that I paid handsomely to keep happy and productive. They had pieces of each weapon lying around the room and had even more pieces of scrap in boxes. I had left them with the weapons three days ago and had not been given a status update as of yet. That irked me. Normally they filed daily reports on projects like this one, and the fact that they hadn’t made me believe they had made very little if any. That was poor form. I wanted to bring in Zreame on this project, but she was busy with her own project, and I had allotted her the time to do so prior to this project beginning and didn’t feel comfortable telling her she had time off and then rescinding that decision because these men couldn’t do their jobs.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The lead designer for this project stepped up and picked up a full sized weapon from a work table. “We were able to recreate the actuating chamber and the kinetic charger ourselves. This model was made with parts produced in house. We are having some trouble adjusting it though to fit your request, which gives us pause of course.” He stopped talking. Failures were rarely met with firings, but they were aware they had upset me. “But we should be able to fabricate it in the design you asked for without too much issues if we were able to begin production on the charric itself. Then we could work on modifying them for the specific use you requested.” He finished making his request and fell back in line with the rest of the designers and engineers. Man how I wish Benji hadn’t retired from this line of work.

I nodded, “Alright. I’ll have a limited section of the facility produce you a set of the charrics in house, but I need to see a prototype on my desk the following day. Do you understand me?” I asked carefully, making sure not to sound too threatening, but still stern with them. They did good work. One snag wasn’t going to land them in the unemployment line.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I left the workshop after hearing them nod or agree in approval, offering them some measure of reassurance that this project was important to me, but wasn’t one of those pass fail tests they had grown accustomed to in school. The weapon that was being designed would allow Special Forces soldiers to engage a large number of enemies and would allow them to operate with fewer weapons, which was equally important in the long run.

The next day one hundred charrics were rolled off an assembly line, providing the engineers with plenty of functioning toys to play with and adjust to my specifications. I really just wanted a charric version of a T-21, and I didn’t think that was too much to ask for. Furthermore I wanted that charric to include a Beowulf slugthrower rifle. I had played with the idea of making a it a Mandalorian Ripper instead, but decided I best leave something lying around just for me. Maybe I would have them make that version special and phrik cased later on for me.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It had been two days since the deadline I had assigned the team of engineers and they had finally set an appointment for me to view over their work. They were a day late, but I wasn’t worried so long as I got what I wanted out of them. With the Olympian and the Immortal getting ready to fulfill our flagship product roles it became important to offer a heavier, more appropriate weapon for those soldiers and buyers that preferred versatility and quality over whatever it was our competition built.

I strode into the room and lo and behold they had place a weapon on the table. It was short and built in a bullpup design, allowing the weight to be absorbed by the shoulder and making it easier to wield. A spring and proprietary gas powered firing piston made the recoil of the weapon easy to handle, as most of it was absorbed my those systems, and only a very small portion affected the user. The Charric was capable, but wasn’t any different in terms of power compared to a T-21, whereas the slugthrower portion of the weapon was a powerful 12.7mm Beowulf round, known for slashing armor and denting tanks when used properly. It was known to be able to shoot through the engine blocks of light vehicles and make people think twice about hiding behind them in combat. When combined with the Arbiter Helmet’s x-ray and infrared sensors, it could be used to fire through certain walls, taking opponents without having to face them.

Overall I was pleased, and I told the engineers as much, but they had been late. That meant no bonus this project.