Location: Tendrando Arms Secret Base below the surface of the planet Socorro
Lando Calrissian stood on a catwalk, overlooking a sea of cylinders; hundreds even thousands. The Lando of 6 months ago would have been horrified by the sight, calling it a perversion; an abomination.
That Lando, was conceited, and ignorant of true loss and pain. That Lando, could leave the office and pick up his perfect little boy and throw him up in the air, to the youngster's squealing delight. That Lando could grab his vibrant voracious wife and kill an afternoon under shimersilk sheets. That Lando be damned.
"Beautiful! Absolutely Beautiful." said the shadow beside him. Part force power, part machine, Darth Malgus (known to Lando as Veradun) epitomized abomination. It wasn't the real Malgus, of course. That one had lived, fought and, presumably, died over 3 millennia ago. The "Thing" standing beside him, was the ultimate result of Darth Mekhis's ancient experiments. The Enhanced Malgus Holocron, spent the first 20 years of it's existence, teaching the warrior trade to acolytes and apprentices on Korriban. With the decline of the Sith Empire seemingly eminent, someone had installed the Holocron aboard, what turned out to be, the last generation of Sith Meditation Spheres. There had, originally, been 24 of these advanced holocrons. Of those 24, only 5 (besides Malgus's) had survived the eons.
It took many smooth words and schemes within schemes to convince Lando to hunt down those five, but he did. He needed to. It was all part of the plan...
For the first time in his existence "Malgus" was free! Via Lando, he had the resources of a small star system at his disposal. He was also free of "Ship". While living as a vessel had it's advantages, it also had it's difficulties. Since the day he was created on that Sun Razor so long ago, he had never experienced existence as a humanoid. But Fate had united him with the one man in the universe that could change that.
Tendrando arms was on the cutting edge of robotics, AI, and unconventional weapons systems. Creating a mechanical body worthy of housing the cloned consciousness of an ancient Dark Lord, was not that tall an order for Lando's people. Roughly based on the YVH Design, it conjured up images of a walking corpse. An elaborate interface wasn't necessary, Mekhis's design had all contingencies covered. A fitted triangular cavity received the holocron, and allowed Malgus to, in effect, posses it.
Instead of the usual armaments (blaster, Missiles, slug throwers), however, the droid chassis was only armed with the unnatural strength inherent to mechanical limbs. Malgus had no use for such crude weapons; all he needed was a lightsaber and the force.
The lightsaber, was easy to acquire. With the resurgence of the Sith, came clashes with the Jedi. On planet's throughout the Galaxy, Jedi and Sith lay slain, their bodies pillaged for anything valuable. Lightsabers had began to pop up on the black market, and with Lando's resources, it was ease itself to procure.
Now the force... That would be prove to be a bit more difficult. The nature of the enhanced holocron meant that he would be powered by the force. He could use it to contact others telepathically, and he depended on it to warn him of danger, and for quick battle reflexes. But he lacked telekinesis, and all but the weakest form of force lightning. But he had a plan for that too. He had a plan for everything!
A major part of his plans included those cylinders lined up before them. Lando had been of great use to Malgus. But it had taken all kinds of verbal acrobatics to manipulate someone like Lando to this point. Actually manipulating Lando was impossible. Not only was he extremely intelligent, but the man had a force-like ability to read people.
But Malgus had an uncanny gift of his own: He could sniff out feelings of betrayal in another and knit together sentences full of just the right words to give the disenfranchised soul a feeling of being understood. They knew, that he knew, that they knew, kinda thing. And just the same, they would fall victim to his subtle pokings and proddings.
Just as Lando had.
"Those damn Columi opened this can worms!"
Lando said in response to Malgus's remark. "All of this!" He nearly yelled while gesturing at the cylinder shaped pods down below.
"Good" Malgus thought. Anger was his specialty.
He was just one manipulative act away from initiating his campaign against Luke Skywalker; his one true enemy. With Luke out of the way, the Jedi would fall, the Alliance would fall... and he would rise. He would free Kesh. He would invite the One Sith on Korriban to join him, and annihilate them if they refused. He would save the galaxy from peace.
Peace, after all, was the swamp where civilizations rotted away. Conflict, on the other hand, was a raging waterfall that kept it's habitat oxygenated and vibrant. Conflict brought out the creativity of creatures; it brought out their pride.
The trick was, convincing Lando that killing one of his best friends was a good Idea. Eventually, he wouldn't need Lando. He would soon shed the indignity of having to pretend they were equals, and crush that tiny bug. But not yet. One more step to go...
Little did Mulgas know but the answer to his problems was, even now, in orbit above Socorro...
Socorro was not a place that welcomed strangers. It devoured them. This was a planet that didn't have any legitimate form of government, rather, it was a matter of who possessed the bigger stick; who's gang could provide back up the quickest. There were of course exceptions to the rules. That's what Slave 1 was: An exception to the rules. Boba thought it a shame, that nobody even attempted some light harassment of the poor "lost and scared"
little Firespray. "Sometimes, having a reputation, just sucks the fun out life." He thought to himself.
That didn't stop him from trying to scrounge up a little fun anyways. Although Lando's base was underground, the surface was host to watchtowers, turbo laser, and droid sentinels that gave Boba little concern. During their last encounter, Lando was bold, and all about presentation.
He could put on a show of his own.
The FireSpray came hurtling in, like an asteroid headed dirt side, when her pilot activated the rotational thrusters, and turned the engine's jet nozzles to the surface, sending the eruption of engine efflux emissions, right into the landing pad.
2 minutes later, Slave 1 had landed with the boarding ramp extended.
Deep underground, Tendrando Arms security personnel watched as a figure in green Mandalorian armour, stepped down the ramp, and walked right up to the discreetly placed Holocam. The figure strode right up to the cam and raised his blaster. The feed died.
80 seconds after that, a bunker style hatch opened in the ground to produce a large platform lift. Standing aboard was 6 YVH Droids. They were poised for action, but they hadn't trained any weapons on him. Behind his trusted helmet, Boba released a chuckle. "So... Lando does have a sense of humour... Shame."
And 5 minutes after that he was in the belly of the beast... again...
"At least this time, the beast had 4 walls made of plastoid instead of spiky flesh, oozing digestive acids." He thought in silence, recalling an ancient encounter he had with a sarlacc pit.
He came out on top in that deal, and he was determined to the same here.
The doors slide open, and in strolled Lando and some kind of hooded creation. It was obviously a bodyguard, but what was it's nature? Droid? Cyborg? A creature with multiple prosthetics?
Fett gave a nod to Lando and greeted him:
"If I didn't know better, I would say you're getting paranoid Calrissian."
"Hello to you too Fett... So what brings you to the armpit of the galaxy?"
Boba's response was succinct and unapologetic: "Luke Skywalker has to be neutralized!" The echo of those words seemed to bounce around his helmet for a couple heartbeats. He could scarcely believe he had said them. But he did. He needed to. His people needed him to. Just business.
Inside the head of Lando Calrissian, the same words ricocheted between feelings of betrayal, and guilt. Some nights, Lando was plagued by those haunting images of Luke being impaled by HIS missile. It was almost enough to remind him that, his attempts to handle things on his own were sure to backfire in horrendous ways. Almost Enough!
Is was the other dreams that nursed his anger and frustration into something almost tangible. The reoccurring dream of his wife being strangled by smoking tentacles made up of wires and cables. The dream of his son being pulled from the wrecked shuttle only to dissolve into sand on the floor. He would wake up feeling the sting of the loss, which would, naturally, morph into the sting of betrayal.
Ben! Ben had saved that murderess and whisked her off somewhere.
There was no doubt in his mind that Luke knew where she was... The Jedi Knew Where She Was!
These would, normally, be just passing bouts of paranoia, that would yield to reality within a few hours.
However, being in the proximity of an ancient Sith artifact such as a holocron, for a prolonged period of time, could have a noticeable effect on an individual. Even a non-force sensitive would begin to display traits of the dark-side: Jealousy, paranoia, hatred and fear.
And Lando was no exception. But could he truly cross the line?
Not sure what to make of the silence, Fett asked:
"Where did you think this was leading Calrissian?
You think you stand a chance in Hell against the GA? Skywalker is their Kriffing "Idiot's Array".
I... Represent... a group of like minded individuals, who are not comfortable with house's odd's... So... Were gonna take away their little trump card.
Skywalker must be neutralized !"
Malgus had been standing silently beside Lando, as if he was statue. But hearing Boba's word made his vision turn red with pure Sith rage. He had been grooming Lando, stringing him along, for the past six months. His goal and Fett's was obviously the same. But he knew if he pushed Lando too hard he would shut down. More accurately, he would wake up and realize just how far down the Rankor's road he had travelled. He had to think fast. Lando was about to send the Mando packing, and that would mean a death sentence for him. He was not prepared to loose him yet. His mechanical hand gripped the hilt of his lightsaber underneath his cloak. Then inspiration struck.
"Not in a million..." Lando'a rejection was cut off by the Droid grabbing his shoulder and then whispering in his ear. Boba Fett had no problem hearing the conversation through amplification package built into his helmet.
"Being neutralized doesn't have to mean dead, Master Calrissian."
"Really Veradun? Where I come from that's exactly what it means."
Malgus responded by puting his hand in Lando's shirt pocket and pulling out the thin disk like object that had resided there for the past 60 years. It was his "Lucky" portable stasis generator for playing Sabaac.
Professional Sabaac tables, in professional Sabaac establishments, had these generators built in. Any serious player, however, kept a small portable generator in his pocket, so he could turn any surface in a Sabaac table, should the need arise.
Lando just stood there staring at the thing. It was a message, obviously. But what did a stasis field have to do with... "Seriously?" Lando barked in a "deja-vu" induced disbelief. "It didn't work 40 years ago? What makes you think it will work now?"
Before Malgus could reply, Fett Chimed in, betraying that fact that his was shamelessly eavesdropping. "Well, you've known him for 40 years. You know what buttons to push. You have your own little empire with warehouses full of all kinds of toys gadgets.And...you have me and my... associates, we can keep the GA and Jedi... preoccupied."
Lando showed a smile that lacked any mirth. "I'm surprised you and your... "associates" would settle for Luke being frozen in carbonite. Unless y'all want a piece priceless wall art."
"Calrissian!" Boba sighed his name in exasperation
"You want the GA to respect your freedom! Right? The GA and Jedi won't come to the bargaining table as long as they have nothing to loose. They have no reason to respect you and your company. You take Luke out of the picture, and suddenly we all have some leverage."
The room stood silent while Lando tried to work through the logic.
"He's considering it, He's actually considering it."
Malgus thought to himself in disbelief.
"For How long?"
"How long what?"
"How long do we keep him in carbonite?"
Boba considered the question for a moment, and then replied: "Just long enough for things to get back to normal."
Both Fett and Malgus knew that he was just blowing smoke. Once Luke was in carbonite, he would never be thawed. But Lando had already been living on a steady diet of denial and self deception for so long. He would choose to believe those words and use then to drown out the little voice deep inside crying: "No! Stop!"
"Fine" Lando said. He pointed a finger at Fett. "You give the Jedi and GA hell and I'll deal with Luke!"
10 minutes later Slave 1 was prepped for it's jump to hyperspace, headed back to civilization; back to gangsters, spice lords, and mercenaries. Another deal closed. Another piece of his soul sacrificed on the alter of professionalism.
As the stars stretched to lines he muttered to himself: "One of these days Boba... One of these days..."
Malgus could scarcely believe his good fortune. Fett had dropped out of the sky, at just the right time.
Only Fett would travel light years to put on a little dew back strutting show, and then turn around and blast off.
He would normally be suspicious of the timing, but…
It was the force. The force, was was behind him, and he knew at that moment: It was impossible for him to fail. after the unexpected yet welcomed visitor left. He returned back to that high catwalk, and gave those cylinders one last look. "Soon… Very soon…"