Chapter Eight

It took Simba three hours to conclude his affairs at the human consulate; they were shocked, to say the least; as Tyber had said, they knew of his prior clashes with Jeff, but they had no idea just how bad it had gotten, let alone that he was the culprit behind Tyber's family's murders. With Simba and Kion's testimony to what they saw in Tyber's memory and Simba sending over the lab and medical reports from Tyber's injuries, excluding the information on the nanites in Tyber's blood, plus what the human investigators found at the scene of the crime, they felt they had more than enough evidence, and promised to deploy the Marshals, the FBI, and anyone else they could muster to track down and arrest Jeff. Simba left it in their hands, dealt with a few other matters, and then made the trip to return to Pride Rock. The others had pursued their typical activities, but it almost seemed as though Tyber had vanished. Simba approached Vitani, who was reading a book with an odd symbol that Simba hadn't seen before.

"Did Tyber want to be alone?" he asked her.

Vitani looked up from her book. "Not really, but there wasn't much I could do to help him in there – see for yourself," she said, hitching a thumb over her shoulder to indicate an unused room next to her Domicile. Simba frowned. What could he be doing in there? There wasn't supposed to be anything in there; Simba had planned to use it for storage, but Nala felt they had no need of such. Simba approached the room, and heard metallic clicking and clacking in the room, and when he went inside, he was immediately greeted by the sight of racks of weapons, many of which he had never seen before. "What's all this?" he asked.

"A collection," Tyber respond. "Every weapon I had ever created with my mind, from pistols to assault rifles and everything else in between." Simba took stock of what he saw – and Tyber had quite the collection. Many of these weapons were clearly energy weapons, or had such a weapon integrated into a weapon's frame.

"This is quite a collection," Simba remarked. He looked to Tyber. "What did you need all these weapons for? Were you preparing for war?"

"In a sense," Tyber said. "But these weapons here..." he indicated his collection. "... they're not just for me. They're for you, as well. You and your family. I lost my family once... it shall not happen twice."

"Speaking of," Simba said matter-of-factly, "The humans have promised to deploy everyone they can muster to track down and arrest your ex-stepfather." He paused to shake his head. "A sick and cruel thing for him to do, putting you through that. But one thing still gets me; you said that no one believed you when you first told them – that the authorities refused to act when it could have made a difference. I would have figured that it would have been the same after you left. How did Jeff think you a threat like that? The last thing he would want is the authorities snooping around in his affairs, and if anything, I thought he'd have figured the dangers on the streets would kill you for him. There was no real reason for him to kill you."

Tyber shrugged. "I wish I knew," he said. He placed the weapon he was holding on a rack. "The night before the explosion, however... there was a surge in the Dark Side, which resulted in a dark shift in the Force. That's why I was so weary in that memory of mine you saw."

Simba had a thought, though it scared him to think of it. "Could... could a Sith be involved in this?" he asked. Again, Tyber shrugged.

"If there is, I can't imagine who it could be – I never had any enemies among the Sith. I had thought I was the first of my world to ever develop a connection to the Force," he stated. "... unless the Sith came from here, in which case, I still can't imagine who it could be. Not a lot of people here really know me, and none as far as I know have reason to want me dead, and as far as I can sense, there haven't yet been any force-sensitives here, so I can't imagine who could have become a Sith here."

"Hnh... so we'll have to play it by ear from here," Simba surmised. He looked about the collection of weapons in the room. "You're sure you don't mind?"

"Again, I lost my family once; it shall not happen twice," Tyber said. "If it means you'll be protected or prepared when disaster comes screaming in... I would let you use anything I had created with my mind."

Simba put hands on Tyber's shoulders. "I appreciate this, Tyber. Let's just hope we never have to use them."

"You know my mantra - it's better to have something and not need it..." Tyber started.

"... than to need it and not have it," Simba finished with a smile. He chuckled. "Seems were picking a few things up from you."

"Better be careful, then," Tyber jested. "I have a few bad habits." Simba laughed.

"You aren't the only one," he told him. He slapped his arm lightly. "Come on – it's lunchtime."

"Yes, and your wife said she was gonna cook a stew or something," Tyber said. "I can smell it from here."

"Yeah, she's fond of them," Simba said. The two of them walked out of what would now be considered the armory, and into the foyer.

"Did you show him Charric?" Vitani asked Tyber. Tyber paused, then sighed.

"I forgot about that," he said.

"What's a Charric?" Simba asked.

"Very powerful disruptor rifle," Tyber responded.

"Like the disruptor in your AR197? The one you nearly disintegrated your face with on day one here?" Simba jested.

"Even deadlier than that; my version uses Kapoleron Maser pulses that rip through energy shields like paper and can pierce even the strongest armor," Tyber explained. "I only had bits and pieces of information on it, but what little I had indicates it originates from the Unknown Regions. It..." Tyber caught himself. "... It's a long story."

"And you were going to give me one?" Simba surmised.

"It was a toss-up between that and a Mandalorian Assault Rifle," Tyber said with a shrug as he sat down next to Vitani.

"Well, we've got at least another half-hour before this is done, so humor us," Nala requested.

"Oh, no, no-no – I get started on the history of the weapons in my collection, I'll be jaw-jacking till the end of the day," Tyber responded. "Suffice to say, they all have various origins and histories, some more extensive than others."

"I don't know – Charric sounds more impressive than the Mandalorian Assault Rifle," Simba said.

"Yet the Mandalorian Assault Rifle has a reputation for being overpowered for it's size – something Republic troops found out the hard way during—Dammit, stop that!" Tyber exclaimed with a laugh that Simba wasn't expecting. He still laughed along with him as Vitani did.

"Simba, please don't push – it's a more pleasant topic than his past, but if he doesn't want to talk about it, don't push," Vitani requested.

"Okay," Simba responded, still chuckling. Then, he had another thought. "While I have you here, Tyber... do you think that, perhaps... the Pridelands Defense Forces could use the weapons you develop?" Given the reaction Tyber gave, Simba guessed the thought had not occurred to him. He curled his lips and his face scrunched slightly in thought. He moved his head from one side to the next, thinking it over. The Pridelands would be better defended with the weapons Tyber developed, and it was possible that Tyber could develop other technologies for them, as well.

"It certainly is possible," he finally said. "Is there some threat we're on the lookout for?"

"None on the radar at present, but as you are so fond of saying, it's better to have something and not need it..." Simba began.

"... Than to need it and not have it. Very well," Tyber said. "I can get together some weapons – I certainly have no shortage of them. Where should I put or send them?"

"We'll work that out later," Simba answered. "What kinds of weapons can you spare?"

Tyber hitched a thumb over his shoulder to point at the armory. "You saw my collection – I can create weapons that don't normally exist, and they will remain on this plane indefinitely. The only question you face is, what kinds of weapons do you want for your military?"

Simba sat back, crossed his arms, and stroked his chin as though he had a beard there. Tyber raised an interesting question – one that required some thought. He clicked his tongue and finally said, "I'll have to think on that one. Never really had a supplier of equipment that had access to tech like what you have."

"Take your time, Simba. Think carefully," Tyber said. "As handy as my tech is, it often proves equally dangerous."

"Like your transporter technology?" Nala asked.

"That's more general tech than military; universal, even – it can teleport weapons, armor, ammo, equipment, foodstuffs, water, personnel – you name it," Tyber said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I hadn't originally intended it as a military technology."

"What did you originally intend it for, if you don't mind my asking?" Nala inquired.

"As part of a project I had intended to kick off when I found a suitable place to do so, and one that would take months, or even years, to build; I call it the Iron Dragon," Tyber replied.

Simba inclined his head, voicing his suspicions: "We're obviously not talking about some home in the middle of nowhere – you intend to build something you didn't want found or interfered with."

"It started off as a contingency plan in case my world ended in what I thought was going to be a fiery cataclysm," Tyber explained. "It was going to be my way off-world, escape the ashes of the apocalypse, if you will. But the date of the supposed cataclysm came and went, and nothing ever happened, and I found the reason for the Iron Dragon was no longer valid."

"A ship," Simba deduced. "You were gonna build a ship. So... what happened?"

"Did you scrap the project?" Nala asked. "If the reason for building your ship was no longer valid, what point was there in keeping the project?"

"I didn't scrap the project. Not entirely. I just... filed it away, until the day it would be needed came around," Tyber sighed. "If not as an escape from fire and death, then other purposes, military or otherwise."

"And you said the transporter technology was part of this project – what were other parts of the project?" Simba asked.

"Another time, Simba," Nala said. "Lunch is ready."

"I will tell you this much, Simba... the crew that would operate my ship could easily support and reinforce your forces," Tyber stated. "As they would, in fact, be holograms. Mobile, sentient holograms."

Simba's mouth hung open in astonishment. "Ingenious!" He complimented. "A hologram military force would be an incredible asset to our forces, and one that did not need rest or training or any other logistical needs outside of weapons and ammo!"

"It'd take months to build, Simba, perhaps years – there are a lot of other details that would also be seen to, and I'd feel a lot safer pulling it off after Jeff is dealt with," Tyber said.

Simba nodded in agreement as they went to get their respective bowls of stew. "Indeed. If he comes after you here, I wouldn't want him sabotaging the project."

"Save the discussion for later – it's lunchtime," Nala scolded, albeit amusedly. Simba and Tyber both sat down to eat, both with new thoughts in mind. Tyber could potentially revolutionize the Pridelands' military forces, Simba thought, augmenting them with whatever Tyber could think of with his clearly vast imagination. Tyber, however... he was surprised his militant projects found such open support from the Pridelands' king. He certainly did not expect him to support the idea of his ship, though he didn't think Simba yet realized his ship was, in fact, a starship. Regardless, he was sure to believe Tyber could pull it off, after seeing that he was gifted with the Force and could create weapons and technologies that did not yet exist. Just a little time, Tyber thought. Just a little time...