The Departmental Review

[Valik]

Warren Valik, while not officially a scientist in the employ of the Fringe was an extremely valued consultant, and as such was allowed access to most intel as well as allowed periodic reviews of the Fringe's defenses and military. When he had such an inclination he'd head over, review an area and look for weakness or things that could be improved and then usually recommended some tech developments in direction X, or even creating a new piece of technology for their use, as he did with the Bobison Class World Defender. Today happened to be a day he had such an inclination, requesting a visit with an organization that the Fringe had absorbed a while back but Valik had never taken the time to personally examine. The Inquisition of the old Galactic Empire.

His meeting would be with a woman named "[member="Ahani Najwa"]". Reports seemed to render her a capable woman, but also noted she was highly . . . irregular in her methodology. Valik doubted it would be a large issue, but it was definitely worth noting. Arriving outside the Inquisitor premise Valik informed the guardsmen he'd be going in to see Ms. Najwa. Professional to a fault, the guardsmen merely nodded and began escorting Valik . . . somewhere while another man went to inform the Inquisitor that he'd arrived. It was finally time to see what he could do for this organization, and possibly, what this organization could do for him.

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

There had been an office waiting for Ahani when she arrived - or more like was wrangled into the nondescript building and down several secret passages until with a woosh of a door the office revealed itself. Two chairs, a desk unit built into one wall with a holoprojector. The Echani thought best of situational paperwork and began to disarm herself, putting a thick handled lightsaber down, her Sith Alchemical sword Anandi, a blaster, a length of wire wrapped around a metal spoke, a telescoping Echani Handmaiden staff and other curios she had about her person. [member="Valik"] had been vetted and brought to her attentions - some mean scientist with talents that defied the better instincts of encourage able good men.

Just the kind of man she'd be interested in meeting. Ahani kept the door open for Valik to come walking in. Her mind swam, floating around the possibilities he represented. Shadows and urns. That's what it smelled like. The shadows long lingering and the urns long past. "Here we go round... round and round till . . . no that's a horrid nursery rhyme. Eh! My kids are grown." Ahani balanced a knife on the pad of her index finger. Concentrating on the knife, she began to make it spin in place, watching the edge for any knicks on the blade.

 

[Valik]

Valik was escorted by one of the inquisition men to the office of one [member="Ahani Najwa"]. The hallways were bland, and the pathways Valik traveled inefficient, winding. Almost as if to get him lost, or to keep him away from more sensitive areas of the base. It was to be expected, this was once quite the spy network of course, but it did annoy Valik a little bit. He'd have to come by later and see if he could obtain the information himself. He did notice a few men here or there, conversing about this or that, but the moment Valik was in their sight their mouths closed, and their eyes remained away from Valik, yet turned just so they could observe him in their peripherals. They didn't trust him, perhaps because of his connection to the Force, perhaps because he was a scientist, perhaps because he wasn't one of them, but the feeling was obvious. The men were smart, and intelligence Valik could respect.

Eventually he arrived at the open office of his desired target. She was spinning a knife upon her finger, carefully watching the edge. notably it was the only weapon he saw on her immediate person, though he could sense another around nearby. Valik wasn't a sensor extraordinaire, and could not inactively identify weaker force sensitives, become a compass for Force Nexuses, or instantly determine how powerful someone was, but with his knowledge and experience of alchemy his senses had evolved to detect the unnatural. There was something here crafted by Alchemy, though he knew not what it was.

"Ms. Najwa I presume?" He began, getting her attention as he walked in carefully examining the environment of her office as he entered.

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"It's a fine presumption to make" Ahani said glumly, her eyes on the knife. Silver irises to match silver hair done in a tidy and close-knit braid at the base of her neck adorned the plain dressed woman who to anyone but a fellow Sith or dastardly 'other' would consider having been pretty once but now descended toward the middling aged plainness of a woman whose children had grown and gone off. If only they knew, but through the Force was another path.

Many who called to the midichlorians in their blood worked to dim or cloak their presence in the Force as some great secret. Ahani Najwa had no notions of dimming the cacophony of consistent and fervent passageways of passion and power which coursed through her veins and coloured her force signature in swathes. Eyes snapping up, Ahani's hand closed over the blade of the knife and launched out of her chair with a slice of the air at her wake. "And you're Vaik.. Warren Valik, the Scientist. The dark dealer whose vibrant at the edges with a delightful sniff of . . . cleverness." The fingers of her hand opened and behold, not a scratch. The knife floated away to the desk table, where a sword and sheath laid upon the white composite desktop. The office was otherwise barren and isolated. It looked to be completely empty but for them and the weapons, nothing beside remained.

"Shall we buffet each other with our chess games, or shall we have a bit of fun on those pulling strings and be frank? Either's fine with me, I've longed for chess. . . do people still play chess now [member="Valik"]?"

 

[Valik]

Valik's lips curled slightly at the woman's response. "Tis not as popular as say, Dejarik, but Chess is still played yes." He acknowledged as he spotted the sword and it's sheath, likely the source of the alchemical work he'd detected earlier. Above it was the woman's knife, perhaps edgeless, floated above it, held in place by the inquisitor's telekinesis. "I suppose it's been a long time since I've played some games." And with good reason. Fr all their fun the types of games Valik played were often dangerous, especially with one he'd never met before. Still, there was something about the woman what made him wish to play. Perhaps it was her wit, or dagger-filled display, or the glint in her eye, but whatever it was it was enough.

"That trick of yours, could I see it again?" He asked curiously, as he combined Art of the Small and Sith Alchemy to sharpen the edge of the blade, enough to cut through durasteel at least.

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Dejarik. I do not know this game. I would like to know it in the future." The easiest way to figure a culture was to watch its artistic endeavours and play its games. What better education could be found than thus, for a time-displaced and growing influence on the new galaxy she found herself in? Ahani lifted the knife again, holding out her finger and letting it prick precariously on- there was blood. Ahani held the knife in place with her mind, bringing her index finger closer to her eyes for inspection. "Games are essential dangers, like dancing or a fight. How else do folk know to whom they speak?"

A single dot of blood grew on the surface of her skin and spilled down the ridges and furls of her fingerprint and down the back of her hand. She turned it over, chased the liquid with her eyes until it dropped down underneath the collar of her sleeve and blotted the white fabric with its rosy hue. Taking the handle in one hand, she ran her thumbnail over the edge, and it sliced cleaner than she'd expected could be done. "Wh-what have you done?" Her shoulders raised as she let out a giggle, throwing the knife into the material of the desk. It sunk in to the hilt, the desk's solid material parting like water. Ahani snorted and laughed. She glanced back at @Velik with an astonished awe. Yes, she could get to know this man better. Much better indeed.

"Doth mine senses deceive me? I'm in the presence of an Alchemist. You must work wonders at dinner parties."

 

[Valik]

A smile formed as the woman pricked her finger, drawing blood from it. They were playing a game alright, and Ms. Najwa had walked right into his little trap. Not the sort of trap he was used to springing, but a trap nonetheless. Her startled expression was almost empowering as she attempted to discern what had happened, before she threw the knife into her desk. Or through her desk rather, as it sank in like a stick into water. It was admittedly a bit surprising but Valik had learned how to slow his reactions when they weren't needed. Flinching was a sign of weakness, one he'd not show if he could help it. As the woman put two and two together and reasoned he was an Alchemist Valiked ended up laughing slightly at the woman's last comment. "You must not have been at Rakata Beta to say that." He said, recalling the night he filled a wedding cake with a happy-go-lucky truth serum. "But yes, you are in the presence of the Alchemist." He continued, no small amount of hubris leaking into his speech.

"Though not the first you've met it seems." Referencing the sword and sheath that lied on the woman's desk. "I must admit I am curious, did you commission a sword from Rave? Perhaps Kaine? Or do you perhaps delve into the art yourself?"

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Rakata Beta, no. I was suspended in a crystalline matrix keeping my ex-husband and son in stasis when that debacle happened. Heard about it though. Someone got poisoned, or a picture got ruined or the soup wasn't tasting satisfactory or what not. Folk said things. I take it I am in the presence of the mischief mastermind?" There was an unsettling nature to the woman's eyes, a flicker or absence of stillness, as if the irises themselves would revolt a quiet rest and rocked back and forth in lunar waves. She was a raucous sea and no pretender to anything but sanity. Her lips moved without sound as she reached for the knife, pulling it out and back into her hand.

"Am I going to need a special sheath for this, lest it cut all bonds? Phrik, perhaps? Some imaginary metal The Alchemist conjures from the dreams of young ladies once entertained? I hear hopes dashed are fuel all the sweeter. Mmmh. Sweet like an Irli. Are you fond of Irli? Thyrsian fruit, and all." She hadn't the foggiest clue none on this plane or the next hadn't heard from Thyrsus or even could locate the once-Echani home world for hundreds of years. Another in the long list of Gulag widows, the Galaxy had lost it to the gravel pit of time. She pushed a hand into her pocket, pulled out a deathstick and bit on the end. Her eyes dimmed, and for a moment the woman felt lucid once more. Lucid in mass hallucination, she offered [member="Valik"] one of the sticks.

"Oh, I'm no Alchemist, unless you call the act of tactical arrangement of a battlefield a spark of magic." The sword in its scabbard lifted into the air, drifting toward Valik. The sword itself sung with Sith Alchemy and power, the scabbard a 'cheap' leather and wrought steel affair meant as nothing but a safe-keep for such a magnificent weapon. "Anandi's an Isley Verd original. A dear one he made, and he spent time on it, thrilled enough by the project that he overlooked a Mandalorian playing nice with an Echani. What is your Alchemistic interpretation of my cleaver, eh? Never had no stock in learning alchemy myself. Spent more time as the experiment than the expert, truth be and that's no secret."

Seven years under Kashyyk, and the Force Mute became the Forcible. More than mean alchemy had created the unsettled Echani creature before the Scientist of the Fringe.

 

[Valik]

Valik would say that a smart wouldn't take a death stick from a known spy and Forcer, but the average smart man didn't have the ability of Psychometry. Valik did, on account of his Kiffar heritage, so and thus took the death stick without so much of a complaint. As the woman used her telekinesis to bring the blade to his attention he used his talent to examine the history of the death stick, making sure it was poisoned or otherwise altered before use.

"I could just reinforce some durasteel to serve as an adequate sheath." He said, before addressing the sword itself, touching the flat of the blade on both sides with his finger and thumb. In his mind he could see the blade's creation, as well as conversation between Ms. Najwa and this 'Isley Verd', or Darth Metus as Valik once knew him as.

"Ixeltal Cilona Stained edge, sufficiently sharp, immunity to energy based damage, mild Force Empowerment. Excellent work, especially considering the source." Valik mused, indirectly elevating his own work. "The Ixeltal Cilona in particular is a nice touch. weakening an opponent's connection to the Force with every slice is quite the advantage." He finished before releasing contact with the blade. It was only then that he realized the weight of the woman's last sentence.

Spent more time as the experiment than the expert, truth be and that's no secret

Was she one of Valik's test subjects of time past? Valik was sure he had called this meeting himself, but could the inquisitor have arranged for her to be the most appealing subject to him? Was this an elaborate scheme to get back at him? Examining her face a little more closely he couldn't remember it. Perhaps it was not his experiment . . . but he couldn't risk that chance.

"Exactly what sort of experiments did you undertake?" He asked, diplomatic in his response, yet still alert and with his guard up. Even if he could take this woman down himself he was still in a whole facility of well trained soldiers without knowing the proper layout. More than likely he would simply need to run, hoping his PDA could stifle any incoming blasterfire. These were dangerous waters, but better to confront a problem then let it grow.

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"The Ixetol Cilona was my idea. Nothing evens the ground quite like mutual hallucinogenics, or in these parts - dimming the power of a person until it's them and nothing else. A deeper battle is that in which no power but the body and the spirit are involved. Strip away the bits, the flash, the telekinesis and what are we? Echani know what we are, we live with our hearts and our throats and our bits exposed. Bitterly exposed to be vindicated, protected, valued or lobbed off. Cut down. We live with all of us, but we live without these clumsy words. Do you like words, Valik?"

The Kiffar species had vast advantages in knowledge when with a single touch they could divine the history of an object down to the moments it had witnessed since, for a very well trained Kiffar, its' creative parts. As a species, they were fascinating and quite useful in subterfuge and information gathering. The Echani had another sort of knowledge. Their degrees were not in Psychometry but in the Corpumetric. Excellent readers of people, of kinemetry and bodies, the Echani divined the will, persona and soul of a person by the way they drew breath, crossed a room or in this case: Touched a sword.

"None of which I agreed to, I assure you." The Echani weapon master stalked her prey, the furrowed edges of her essence in the Force smacking out in tasting leaps at the man known to her only as The Alchemist @Valik. She didn't know why but the man was uncomfortable of a sort in which raises the hackles of a beast. Ahani's cheek descended toward her shoulder. "They cut us, took out some bits, put in others. Some of us had perfectly good limbs sawn off for weapons to be placed within the folds of skin and chips of bone. I was lucky. My lot was to feel and understand. The alchemist who underwent them was clumsy and pained. He lashed and lashed at us until there was nothing but our barren selves. I don't know all of what he did beyond the fact that it was torture unending. When I was a girl, I had no abilities nor fathom of the Force. Now, I am rife with it. Bathed in it. Battled within it. Perhaps the likes of you would best know what stole the channels of my brain."

She twisted and bent away in a lithe ballet of motion, calling her newly sharpened knife to hand. "Durasteel, eh? Reinforced how, that intrigues me. Anything to give another edge in combat. What do you think is best, Valik?" The Bishop had, in its way, circumvented the board and eyed the enemy king.

 

[Valik]

Valik did enjoy words. They were ways to find information, give it, hide it, dance around it even. A way to make someone care for you, or fear you, to obey or to disrupt. Truly the tongue was a powerful weapon. But even stonger weapons were perceptions, observations, and most importantly information, a commodity that Ms. Najwa had over Valik in spades. As she continued on about her experiments Valik was cross-referencing his own memories, trying to recall if he could have perpetrated her experiments. The descriptions were painfully general, living dissections were not uncommon for the Alchemist in his experiment, nor were mixing and matching different parts of sentients. Only once he heard the word clumsy did he begin to feel relief. If he were experimenting on a mass of people he'd do his best to make sure they had no communication with one another. Allows you to better break the subject, mold them into your own without unknown variables. Instill hopelessness as they realized they were 'alone'. Later as she began to mention that she had no connection to the Force he realized he hadn't delved into that sort of experiment. Giving someone Force Sensitivity, well, he hadn't attempted anything like that. Fear was replaced with curiosity as she changed subjects, asking about the process of reinforcing the sheath. Far less concerned about his personal health than he was a moment ago he took out a lightsaber, and then flipped it downwards.

"I assume from your throw that you have no emotional attachment to this desk." He said as he ignited the downward facing saber and cut around the knife, before pulling out the dagger and it's new 'sheath'. He took the sheath in his hand, closed his eyes and focused for a moment, reinforcing the strength of the metal that was once cut so easily, as well as rounding it a bit for ease in carrying.

"That is how you'd reinforce it." He said, before handing the now-sheathed dagger to it's owner. If Valik were a more a patient man, or perhaps a wiser one he'd have phrased his next words more carefully, but his curiosity was insatiable.

"Would you like me too . . . discover how exactly they did that?"

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"None whatsoever. I hate this room, it would do me well to melt it to slag by the time we leave just to tick off the next people coming in. I hear the Janitor transferred from Lipsec. Real disaster, that gas. Maybe we can make him think he's hallucinating."

"Would you like me to ... discover your innards with my now unreasonably sharp blade?" Ahani sat on the desk, careful of avoiding the wreckage and held the scabbard in her hand, tossing it over and over in a loop. The loop of consistent motion calmed her, she continued with it until the thoughts compounded enough in her mind that she glanced up at him and really looked. "You get to tinker inside my innards and outwards, The Alchemist, what do I get in return for being interesting? The ability for a clumsy oaf of a confused Sith-turned-torturer-and-sadist-alchemical scientist to create force sensitivity in a person must irk a man who shifted molecules in the amount of time it takes me to end five miserable sodding lives. So, Warren [member="Valik"], what am I, an eight hundred and fifty year old Echani Master and curio worth to you? Preferably alive. I'm alive and I like that bit."

She started unsheathing and sheathing the knife, watching the man who held her sword or was it his lightsaber now? A glazed film spread over her eyes. The colour of the room ought to be green or red. No, blue. Not red. Never red. "Well?"

 

[Valik]

Valik shrugged as he deactivated his lightsaber and put it back at his belt.

"I'll be completely honest with you. If you weren't working here you wouldn't be." He said plainly. A more charismatic individual might have lied, tried to play to one angle or another, but Valik wasn't often one of those men. He thought and spoke in logic and efficiency, a fact most picked up rather quickly. Therefore in Valik's the best way to stop riling the woman wasn't to convince her that Valik had some sort of moral obligation to keep her safe, but rather doing so was in his best interests.

"I have little respect for the safety of any aside from myself. There a couple notable exceptions, but those are contacts who've aided me more than once over a long period of time. You are not one of those people. You are however a member of the Fringe, and I made a promise to one of those exceptions that I wouldn't cause any trouble here or hurt any of their people. I am still curious, and thus I ask for your permission to run some tests. Were you not in the Fringe I'd leave, spend a few weeks learning the building patterns and identifying a suitable way to capture you later, but you are in the Fringe, so I give you a choice. If you choose to decline that is your prerogative, and I will not press the matter. If you agree I'll inform you of what and how I test you before each study and I'll compensate you for your time, whether in credits or by creating an item for you, and you can leave before or after any testing at your leisure." He said, factual in all of his statements. Many Sith spoke in lies, twisted words, but Valik in the Fringe? Honesty was his best play, especially considering the Sith Lord he followed here now considered herself a Jedi Master.

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Thank you for your honesty. I despise apathy, but I lost my ego when I married Keth." No self respecting Echani went into a new business venture without at least one serious bruise given or gotten by either party. And then she backfisted him hard in the jaw. The strike was hard enough to send a six foot bruiser into the railing of a nearby starship, deceptively deft for a woman of her muscular size. As she reeled around for another strike, her sword and knife veered to her belt and looped themselves on.

"Found it! When do we start?" Ahani offered [member="Valik"] her hand. "A Sith who won't pussy foot around... They're all so nice now. Or, the ones that aren't are absolute twits and I'd rather not do anything more than wet my blade on them and their kitten-tailed kind. I'll make you a deal. You run your tests, give me some shiny and useful tools and things for it, and I might even crave adventure enough - or be plain bored - enough to help you out on adventurous materials gathering from time to time. 'Course I could kill you, but I like the way you use your words so it would be a waste and I'd be sad and probably chew on more of those deathsticks which as my Jedi Master son Manu continuously tells me, are perilous to my continued health. So are you. Still! It's something to do and I'm all for boredom being abolished, aren't you, Master 'I won't 'cause they told me not to'?"

 

[Valik]

Valik, simply put, was not a 6 foot bruiser. He was skinny little scientist, and fell to the ground faster than a bullet shot downwards. There was a loud and audible bump as he hit the ground, but Valik happened to have been just quick enough to slow his fall enough to stop himself from losing consciousness. That sure would have been embarrassing.

As he raised himself however he found the Echani offering him a hand . . . or two rather. Focusing on the Force rather than his sight he managed to pick the right hand, using her as a counterweight to pull himself up. He listened as she spoke, hearing words like "wet", "kitten", "shiny", "adventure", "bored", "kill" and "Jedi Master." Valik didn't often get to say this, but was in honesty quite confused. He assumed from the woman's tone and her helping up however that she'd agreed to his terms. If he was more lucid he'd have replaced 'because they told me' with 'because they'd kill me if I don't', but he wasn't, so instead he smiled, nodded, then clenched his fist and ran it into [member="Ahani Najwa"]'s jaw, mimicking her strange tradition. Or perhaps he hit the other Ahani Najwa's jaw. He wasn't quite sure.

"I'm going to send you the schematics of a medical implant I'd like to put in before we conduct testing." He said, referring to the IME. "Just something to monitor your health without us having to hook you up to a machine everyday. With or without the implant I'll be back in . . . four days and we'll get started there." He stated a bit dazily. "Sound good?"

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

The punch had come in with the clumsy fervour of a flustered child, and for a split second Ahani nearly reminded [member="Valik"] to get his thumb out of his fist. But Valik was no four year old toddling about learning how to strike with the top knuckles, his punch descended upon her off-target and off-kilter. The knuckles grazed her cheek and the Echani woman snorted aloud.

"Issat th'best you can do!?" Ahani rubbed her scathed cheek and clucked her tongue. "Sorry, mate but that's pathetic."

The Najwa Matron was attempting in her way to arrest the bursts of laughter she felt brought on by 'Wet Noodle Warren'. She bit her lip, stubbed her toe intentionally, anything to avoid the effortless giggles that threatened her near composure. "Tell you what, we put that implant in me if I get to teach you how to pull a proper punch. . . are you quite well? Ye got a glazed look about you. . . like a Ropo in a ribbon trap." Her lips dug into her teeth. She took Valik by the elbow and wrist, sat him down in a chair and peered at his face. "How many fingers?" There were four, "Well I'm not taking you to a village party. Catch your death by the time the guests've said hello. Four days works for me."

 

[Valik]

"It's a deal then." Valik said, not quite knowing exactly what he was agreeing to, but knew that it resulted in him learning something and getting to implant his IME into the girl. Sounded like a win-win to the scientist, though he didn't know he was signing up for physical exertion. Even though Valik had made a deal however, it seemed their business was not over, as he felt his wrist and elbow grabbed before he was thrown into the woman's chair, before staring into his face with that crazed look the woman always seemed to carry.

What did he just agreed to? What did this woman want to 'teach' him? Did him punching her back as an Echani mean more than he had intended? Wild thoughts ran through his head on what exactly the Echani was going to do to him before she asked him a sentence he understood fully.

"How many fingers?" She asked, and Valik saw . . . eight. Mathematically he knew that was impossible, and that chances were there were only four, but he couldn't know for certain with his visual impairment.

"Enough." He stated before rising and heading out the door, albeit clumsily so, but still maintaining his balance. "I'll meet you in four days then."

[member="Ahani Najwa"]