Demoralizing the Flesh of Your Bones

[Gilbert Skolnick]

Gilbert Skolnick, sole employee and owner of Junk and Disorderly was listening to a holocall, his face scrunched with concern behind his glasses. He ran a hand through his unruly hair as he listened, before bringing a hand to his face to bite his thumb, a nervous habit he indulged in without realizing.

"You want me to build what?"

He interrupted finally.

"I mean.. Are you sure you don't want another first aid droid? Or a clever little surveillance one? Or I could build some more cyborg bodies, or AI ones? You sure you don't want any of that? Have I told you about the Beverage Buddy? It's already in production and on shelves, but there are still some kinks in Version One, and I'm sure with your backing and some tweaks I could fix them."

He offered desperately. It wasn't as if he didn't know who's money he was living off of, or what they did for a living, but he hadn't made anything quite so.. Well.. Terrible before, and wasn't sure if he was entirely comfortable with it.

Not that he really had much choice. He was utterly terrified of the Twi'lek. Too scared to even think about how pretty she was, which was saying rather a lot, since she was just about the only attractive female to come near or converse with him on a regular basis. This was probably why people didn't work with criminal syndicates, but oh the money had been good!

And all right, maybe he'd had a few wilds thoughts of himself as an outlaw and how good that would sound when a certain kind of woman asked him what he did for a living in bars. Not that he went to bars. Or that any kind of women spoke to him, but if he had and they did, it would have been pretty impressive.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

“I’m quite sure.”

Came the half-snapped reply from a certain tiger-striped Twi’lek. Had he even been listening? Here she’d been laying out requirements, ideas, specifications and materials and he wanted to talk to her about his ridiculous little caf-maker that couldn’t even be counted upon to do that.

“And I heard about your Beverage Buddies. Apparently they’re good for parties, a whole new game has sprung up, like a kind of ridiculous, masochistic Russian-roulette via sub-par refreshments.”

She still wasn’t sure how they’d made it to her Demonsgate mining facility, she certainly hadn’t requisitioned them, but they were there apparently. The employees there looked on them with both love and hate. Love because at least it broke up the tedium, and hate because no one liked to be surprised with what tasted a lot like rancor urine when all they wanted was a cup of tea.

“I fight. I need battle droids.”

She stressed this. It all seemed exceedingly straight-forward to her, and quite frankly she was annoyed that he was turning it into some sort of thing.

“Are you capable or not?”

 

[Gilbert Skolnick]

“What? No, I’m capable, of course I’m capable, I’m more than capable!”

There was absolutely no way that he wanted this woman to think he wasn’t capable, that he was no longer of use to her. He’d seen the holos, he’d be sleeping with the fishes by week’s end. All right, so there weren’t really any bodies of water on Syvris, but Chiasa Kritivaas, President of the Red Ravens seemed liked the kind of woman who would make a lake and import fish just to dump his body in there. No thanks, would prefer to skip that if it’s all the same to you. I have a note from my Doctor that says I can’t. Sorry.

“I can make you a battle droid, I can do that no problem. I can design you new armour systems, a new gun. Two new gun! Four new guns, we can give them four arms, a new kind of gun for each!”

He continued, throwing out options.

“What about a flying battle droid? Or a stealth one? Oo, aquatic, there’s definitely a niche for that! Tell me where you’re fighting, I’ll make you the perfect droid for it!”

Any of those kinds of droids could be challenging and fun, and he could look at them as a purely mental pursuit, seeing if he could, rather than as something for murdering people. After all, they’d likely have non-combat uses that could be exploited as well. He could pretend they were going to be used for keeping the peace or something.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"I do not know where I am going to be fighting next, it could be anywhere, and while you might be very smart Mr Skolnick, I do not think you understand war."

She very nearly purred her response. It was from this one could deduce that she was really starting to get annoyed.

"I do not want another droid with a gun. I have droids with guns. My enemy has droids with guns. There are likely more droids with guns than sentients with guns at this point. Droids with guns do not stop wars, they just let you wage it. I want a droid that will stop wars. That will make my enemies so dread their appearance and abilities that they will not fight me. That is what I want and that is what you will make. Is that clear?"

She paused more for effect than because she was expecting a reply. She was fairly certain he thought she'd kill him if he didn't comply, which of course meant that he would. She didn't know if he was a coward, but he certainly wasn't brave. That was fine, she didn't need him to be brave. She needed him to be smart and compliant. As for whether or not she would actually kill him? Well, even she wasn't entirely certain about that.

"I want this droid to be made to fight organics, not other droids, though some consideration will have to be taken on that front. I want those it runs into to die in such terrible ways that everyone who sees it happen or hears about it does not want to stand before them. I want to take peoples fears and bring them to life. That is what I want."

 

[Gilbert Skolnick]

"I.. Right. Psychological warfare. Okay. I- I guess.. I guess if we look at it like that it's almost humanitarian in that it prevents additional wars and deaths. I- I mean sure some people will die in horrendous ways to make it happen but if you looked at the bigger picture, the numbers.."

He stuttered. He was trying to justify something terrible and he know it. Soon it was going to be mad cackling and creating monsters out of bits of dead people. This was a slippery slope, but what choice did he have?

"This is going to take me some time. To work out the, the weapons that people fear most and then the design to fit it. I can't do this job in a week. I can do it, and I will, but I need time."

His business relationship with the Ravens was extremely lucrative, but also very stressful. It was absolutely common place for him to be given a week at most or at times only days to construct something that ought to take a month. So far he'd been able to deliver. Of course normally she came to him with a design in hand. Often a rough one that required a nearly total overall to turn it into something that actually worked. Still, something to work off of.

This time she came and told him to build a nightmare, and left it at that. Wonderful. So when he was written up in the history books as a war criminal and a mad scientist they'd be able to say the entire thing had been created from his own sick mind. Well that was a comforting thought..

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"Bullets and blaster bolts are easy Mr Skolnick. You either die or you are hurt. If you are hurt there is an entire range of products, medicines, treatments, prosthetics that can fix you up as good as new. It is painful, and unpleasant and in the moment that it happens it is scary, but it no longer occupies a space in our collective psyche that scares us. It is old hat."

Who thought of a blaster and cowered? Did she want to be shot, of course not, but was it something she would have nightmares about? Never. Still, the Twi'lek spent a lot of time managing people, manipulating people, figuring out what made them tick. Though she'd had no idea how to weaponize it, she had a good idea of the basics of what scared people.

"You want to scare people? Take away their control. Take away their dignity. Be unstoppable. Make them suffer or end them in a heartbeat, but take away their control. That is what scares people."

Certainly it was what scared her, and at the end of the day though it might be to a greater or lesser extent it was what scared everyone else too. Even those who thought they had no control at all were surprisingly miserly of what little control they did have. Over their own bodies, or their thoughts. And there was a thought.

"Make their bodies betray them. That which they are most comfortable in, that which they are used to and has served them loyally. Turn it against them."

Perhaps a few, the handicapped for one might not share this fear, but for those who habitually found themselves on the battleground? Those who kept themselves in peak physical shape? They would be afraid to lose that.

"You will have your time. But do not make me wait too long Mr Skolnick.."

With a last warning she hung up the call.

 

[Gilbert Skolnick]

"Okay.. Well that was a vague unspecified somewhat threatening statement.."

He muttered. Maybe it was better when she set unreasonable deadlines. At least then he knew what she was expecting. Now he had to come up with a design on his own and had no idea when she was going to turn up expecting a finished product.

"Right. Focus. It has to be a nightmare, it has to make people afraid to fight it, guns and blasters aren't scary, make people lose control, lose dignity and turn their bodies against them. And kind of be able to deal with other droids. Sure, no problem.

He paced across his workspace and sunk into a chair. Absent mindedly spinning back and forth on it. At least she'd given him some answers, even if she likely didn't know it. Turn their bodies against them and make them lose control. Well that was a poison of come kind. He didn't know which. He wasn't an assassin. The problem with poisons though, was that they didn't work on everyone. There was always going to be some subsection, probably a fairly large one if you looked at all the sentients in the galaxy, that were immune or at the very least resistant.

Still, it was exactly what she was asking for so.. Maybe that as a primary weapon and then a back-up as well? What else was scary.. Fire. Fire and explosions were pretty scary. Maybe a flamethrower of some kind? What else was scary?

They might have been even more done and primitive than blasters, but to someone who lived in a place riddled with gangs and crime like Gilbert did, knives and other blades were pretty scary. He was starting to see what she meant. If someone shot you that was it. Bang and you were shot. A knife though, a knife they could cut you slowly, and you'd feel it. You'd feel every bit of it and be able to see it coming. He wasn't sure if that would scare her though, so that could be a back-up of the back-up.

And then of course he'd need to work on the form, but that could wait until he got the weapons down. After all, it was easier to build the droids chassis around the system and weapons than the system and weapons around the chassis.

 

[Zaahir Asad]

Zaahir listened with amusement to the little man before him, nodding at the correct moments. He'd told the mark before him that he was a world-renowned smuggler with connections to every major supplier and crime ring in the Galaxy. The inability to speak the truth had if anything upped his quality of life and skyrocketed him through the underbelly of whatever planet he found himself on, even if it tended to be places like Syvris.

"Keeping in mind I am just the.. procurement expert friend, allow me to summarize the first part of what it is you wish."

He interrupted finally, tired of listening to the man's woes and his scientific babble.

"You wish to find a poison, airborne, yes?"

The man, Skolnick, nodded once and opened his mouth to speak again, Zaahir raised a hand stopping him before another flood poured forth.

"Good, you will transfer me the credits, I will fetch your poison on my ship, bring it to you, done, easy my friend."

Or more likely he'd just take the credits and run, but it would be a valuable life lesson for the little man. It could have been much worse, many others would kill the man first after all.

 

[Gilbert Skolnick]

"Oh um, I think I would be more comfortable paying half now and half on delivery. That way if you need to pay upfront from your supplier you can."

This Siddiq character seemed to be on the level. All right, so he couldn't find any information on him, but as Siddiq had pointed out, he did make his living being unnoticed and going under the radar, if there was information on him easily found that would mean he wasn't very good at doing his job. He was well-spoken and polite though, a definite bonus in a world of thugs that was largely alien to the Inventor.

"But yes, that sounds about right. I know you'd sent me your account details. I can forward you half the agreed upon amount as soon as I'm back in my shop and then the rest as soon as the shipment arrives. Airborne is important though, it has to be able to be administered in aerosol form."

If Siddiq could bring him the neuro-toxin that would be a lot of his work done. He could start thinking about the back-ups and the actual frame of the droid. He'd need to work on the deployment mechanism to make sure the toxin was safe of course, up until it was used. That left fire and dealing with droids. Ion blaster? Though most droids had at least some insulation, ion blaster likely wouldn't accomplish much.. Hmm...

 

[Zaahir Asad]

"If you like, if you like. So little trust these days, but I understand my friend."

The Zeltron sighed as though hurt, though in fact it was to be expected, for all that Skolnick was an easy mark there was easy and then there was simple. before waving his hands as the little pale creature gulped and started to answer.

"No, no, it is fine. I do not hold it against you, such is the way we have been force to do business by dishonest men. We live in trying times my friend."

He rose from his seat in the cafe they'd been speaking in. A cafe! Everyone knew business like this was done in cantinas, but there you were. That was this Skolnick in a nutshell. Wanted to commit warcrimes and tried to do it over some sort of herbal tea and a biscuit.

"I go, I come back, you see to it I have the credits to do your business and I will see to it that it is done properly."

He bowed at the waist before turning to leave. He was going to have to figure out how he was going to do this. He didn't actually have a ship or very many contacts after all, so he was limited to what he could find on Syvris. And the cheaper the better of course, more profit for him..

 

[Zaahir Asad]

Perhaps inspiration would strike in the Pinkport. It often did. And if it didn't well, at least the time would not be wasted. He stopped at a public terminal to key in his account, checking to make sure Skolnick had transferred him the first half of the payment. He seemed like the prompt type. A smile split his face, teeth white and shining, ah yes, there they were. Credits. By themselves not particularly important, but oh the things you could do with them.

A few were used to buy transportation from the Shadowport to the Pinkport. He idly watched the barren surface of Syvris flash past as the transport made it's way between craters. Syvris was a good place for a man like him, though he likely wouldn't stay long. The population was for the most part transient, even if you got on someones bad side likely they'd be gone before they got to do anything about it. A good place for a man who lied and conned, who would rather people did not know him. Though, and this had a smile flickering across his face, many women would never forget him.

This thought fresh in his mind, his head was high and his back straight as he strutted off the transport, every move calculated, lithe, graceful, a calculated seduction even before he had anyone to seduce. The only question now was whether he found himself a working girl or a customer. Between his looks and his pheromones, he could have either. It was unlikely he would be expected to pay, and one way he might even get paid for taking his pleasure. It was good to have options.

Green eyes scanned the street. Whenever they lit upon a woman or girl, and particularly when paired with a roguish smile, blushes were brought to cheeks, and womens hands rose to their mouths to hide their schoolgirl giggles.

In places like this the Liar was King.

 

[Zaahir Asad]

Eventually he settled on an Ocsininian girl, a working girl, since he'd no intention of paying for somewhere for them to dally. She'd obviously not been in the business long, she was still shy and easily wooed with no more than words and physical gestures. Between that and enough pheromones to affect a roomful of people, and some passerby's were already looking a little more amorous, it was easy to get her to invite him back to the room that was hers for the day. Why ask for something when it was so easy to see that it was offered unto you and claim it then?

Several hours later as they lay naked on her bed, her head resting on his chest, he ran his fingers through her long hair, enjoying the juxtaposition of her nigh translucent white skin on his red, and her slender frame against his comparatively muscled if still lithe for most humanoids.

"Do you really think they might write a part in for me?"

"I cannot promise my darling, though I wish I could, but I shall certainly suggest it. Your presence would captivate viewers. Of course,"

Here he sighed.

"the show might not last much longer. The new writer they've brought on.. 'You son is dying, poisoned' they tell me, and they cannot even come up with a good reason for how this is so. How am I to properly convey the anguish of losing a beloved, treasured one when it is not known how? There are no poisonous creatures on the planet they've placed the show upon. Fans care about this sort of detail."

Women liked actors. As if any holo actor had ever been as good at selling a story or a character as he!

 

[Zaahir Asad]

"What if..."

The girl bit her lip, thinking, already lost in daydreams of being a famous actress at the side of the handsome actor.

"What if he got poisoned by pesticides?"

"I hardly play a farmer my love, I am not sure even I could sell that. These hands were made for more delicate work."

He ran one of the hands in question down her cheek, barely making contact, finger brushing against her lower lip before removing it. The shiver that ran through her body was gratifying.

"No but, the, the last place they had me work, one of the girls got sick after they sprayed for.. Well, I didn't ask, I didn't want to know, I just didn't want to be in that building. But it was supposed to be safe, they came in, fumigated and left, and then it made her sick."

"Hmm, perhaps I let a patient stay in my home, and being from some poor planet they bring something.. unsavoury with them, prompting me to call in an exterminator after I've saved their lives and sent them on their way. The arc looks wrapped up, the viewer begins to forget it, and then my son falls ills. There could be several episodes of trying desperately to find what it affecting him, what introduced the poison to his small frame and why it cannot be removed, only to eventually learn, perhaps too late?, that the poison is in our own home."

"Oh not too late! That would be so sad! Your character already lost his wife! You can't lose your son too!"

The silly girl was already invested in a show that did not exist. He'd told her it only ran on a few inner worlds, she'd sworn she'd find a way to get hold of it anyway. Cute this one. She would likely get clingy and tiresome eventually however, they all did.

Still, she'd given him something to think on...