Quiet Contemplation

[James Knight]

Upon his return to the shanty that he called home, Veritas knew that he had a lot to think about. For starters he had been bamboozled into signing documents which essentially sold his freedom away for nothing more than a cybernetic arm that he had not wished to have on his body. The arrogance of Doctor Kratz was beginning to become intolerable. Also, how much force did it take to make sure the doctor stayed down? Was he going to have to break his word to Doctor Johnson and actually do something about that not so good doctor after all? Well, he'd wait. If the Doctor took him in for another unwanted series of experiments, perhaps he would do something about it. Scowling as he looked at the drab, light gray walls of the apartment on Tier Four that he had taken over, which had been uninhabited, and had a roach problem, he laid down on the lumpy bed, and tried to get some sleep. With the springs of the bed pressing into his back, however sleep was rendered harder than it should be. Of course this was not the only reason that sleep eluded him. One of the reasons was the creaking of the floor boards of the apartment every time the roaches made their way across the floor. 

In addition to the bed he was sleeping in, or rather, trying to sleep in, the place had an infestation. Much like his annoyance with Doctor Kratz, his annoyance at his living conditions was something that he knew he was going to have to resolve, one way or another. Yet another situation came to mind when the sound of fireworks bomb-blasted his ear drums and he looked out the window. Great, those idiots were still at it, launching the fireworks that they had, and driving him one step closer to shishkabobing them with the Dark Saber Replica if they kept it up.  The noise was annoying, and in combination with his other problems was adding more stress than he knew he could handle. Forcing himself to take a deep breath, Veritas considered his options. 

The first thing on his list should be taken care of first. Unfortunately he was not good at the law/legal matters and so he was going to need to find someone who was, who could help him with his problems. In short, what he needed right now more than anything else was a lawyer of sorts who could wade through the sea of legalese on the documents, which he had downloaded to his Mobile Dataverse Device, so he could figure a way out of the problems that he currently had. Finding a lawyer was going to have to wait however, for he was about to have guests. After hearing persistent and loud knocking on the door,  Veritas went down to check out what the source of the racket was, as he had been trying and miserably failing to get any sort of suitable rest. If it was a salesman, Veritas was not going to be so nice to them. They were going to learn the error of their ways, via having the Dark Saber inserted into them very rapidly, and have several new breathing holes. 

Yeesh, he did need to calm down before he murdered someone. Of course with the past few days he had, it was no surprise he was in the mother of all foul moods right now. As the rapping which was beginning to grate on the last infinitesimally small pieces of nerves that he had left for the next month, he decided he was definitely going to go down and answer it. For the sakes of the individuals down there, Veritas hoped it was not a door to door salesman, but he couldn't be sure. If it was Doctor Kratz? People were going to definitely be screaming by the time he finished with the good doctor, as the absolute last thing he needed right now was a visit from that doctor. 

No one was going to be cutting into him again, he could tell anyone who tried that much. They'd learn just how unpleasant he could be if they tried such. After all he didn't have to be nicey-nice anymore with the not so good doctor. He was here, at his 'home' he was squatting in. Eventually he was going to need a new place to call home. A good home, a two story one would be one that would fit his desires and tastes more than the one he had now. At least, it would be better than the one that he had at present. However, he couldn't focus on his desires right now. There was only one thing he was going to focus on, and that was attempting to knock out that racket that was coming from downstairs. Doubling his pace downstairs, he'd go to check out what it was.

[James Knight]

"Sir," said one of the white clad representatives of the Empire when Veritas had made his way down to the entrance where he opened it. "We have been assigned as your personal squad." said the Storm Trooper. Beside her was Mia, who had also been recruited to the Empire by some of the Storm Troopers. Due to this, Mia was clad in the white armor that was normally associated with the Galactic Empire. Mia looked at him. "So we meet again? Have you given my words some thought, Veritas? Are you going to turn your life around?" Like before about her words, Veritas was unsure on how he was going to reply. Where he had been from, he had a series of unfortunate events befall him, which had classified him as a villain. Truthfully he was not sure if he wished to continue as a bad guy or a good guy honestly. On the one hand, based solely off of the way that Doctor Kratz had treated him part of him was sold on the idea of becoming a villain, a villain that would be feared by anyone, even the Empire. Yet as a result of the Empire he would have minions of his own, if he played by their rules. Honestly playing by the rules of the Empire did appeal to him, at least partially. If he played by the rules, he could have a head-quarters of his own. Such a thought was very appealing. Sure a squad of Storm Troopers, judging from what they looked like, they were rookies. It meant that they wouldn't be of much use to him unfortunately. Mia was someone he was familiar with, and knew what she was capable of. As a result of this, he knew she could be more useful to him. 

"So I get a squad of my own now? What brings you to me?" asked Veritas to the Storm Troopers.  "Well..." said one of them, that had black trim on the armor that he was wearing. "My name is Jae, I was a discipline issue. So I've been booted from the main stream Storm Troopers. Doctor Johnson thought someone like me might make a good worker for you, and a way to keep you from killing any but Kratz. Mia was assigned due to her familiarity with you, and the other four were assigned to give you people you are familiar with." Another of them who had red trim on his armor said. "My name is Connor and I am an explosives expert. I will be working with you, and your team. Mia has been assigned as the team medical professional." 

When the noise of another fire-cracker went off he thought about the first assignment that he was going to give the Storm Troopers and Mia. They were going to be sent to deal with the situation.  "I'm William, I'm the team's melee expert..." said one of the Storm Troopers who had green trim on his armor. As opposed to the blasters wielded by the Storm Troopers usually he had a sword strapped to his back, a buster sword. To be exact, it was a Zweihander. The sword was supplemented by a blaster pistol set that he had at his waist. 

"You're about to get your first assignment," stated Veritas. "There's someone lighting fireworks, and I was trying to sleep..." admitted Veritas.  "You're going to have to deal with the mess, because I don't wish to. Well, except for Mia. She's staying here, so we can reminisce." 

"But wouldn't it look better if you came with us, boss?" asked Jae. "After all, you are our C.O. until further notice, so you coming with us would add legitimacy and legality to what we are doing,"  added Jae.

[James Knight]

Was Jae right? Was coming with them the only way for them to legitimize taking those fireworks that were being launched outside, much to his annoyance and either dousing them, or destroying them, or simply getting the people to stop launching them in the dead of night? It was two in the morning, and they should not or at least not by his standard anyway be launching those at two in the morning. If he had his way on the matter, he'd do something about it that was probably on the less than legal scale, thought the sleep deprived, exhausted, and in pain individual who had been surgically made into a cyborg against his will, when his right arm had been removed from his body. Oh, that was right. He still needed to do something about that doctor, at some, point in the future. Granted, nothing he considered was good enough, actually. Dropping Doctor Kratz into a volcano while a satisfying mental image was nowhere near the level of suffering that he had personally experienced at the hand of the not so good doctor. On top of that, the doctor probably had other victims, others who had been treated to similar experiences, and thus hated him nearly as much as Veritas did. Using old medical tools on him was an idea, but no. Veritas was not going to stoop to the level of the doctor. A loud explosion rocked him out of his thoughts,  as one of the punks next door had lit yet another fire work. 

Frustrated because of his lack of sleep, his indecisiveness and the general headache he had, atop the pain from his arm which was one level below knocking him unconscious, Veritas decided it was time to deal with one of his problems. "Stay here."  He ordered the Storm Troopers in a commanding voice, before he walked out of the place that he called home. By the time he finished, at least one of his problems was going to be resolved. While he couldn't do anything about the "Good" Doctor Kratz, he could do something about the idiots who were lighting fireworks in the dead of night. That was a problem that he could resolve, an issue of his that could be solved by him personally. Granted, he'd have to figure out how to solve it without hurting them too badly. 

As he really didn't want to end up back at that facility, doing anything to attract further Imperial attention to himself was not a good idea. 

"But why?" asked Mia.  "What are you going to do that you don't want us around for?" 

"Deal with a problem that has cropped up nearby, that has been bothering me for several nights, before my 'visit' to the Doctor." 

"What problem might that be?" asked the rest of his squad. 

"You hear the fireworks outside?" 

They paused a moment. Even Mia was annoyed by the individuals who were launching them in the dead of night. Didn't they have any respect for people who were attempting to sleep? Apparently not if that was the way they were treating people. Of course this was one of the lower tiers, and the Imperial presence was lesser than what it would be. The quality of life on the Tier was low, so Mia assumed they had to keep up their own morale somehow. Still, it was something she didn't approve of, especially when it rank the risk of driving a guy she was trying to redeem back to criminal activity. 

"Yes. We hear them." 

"They've been doing it for six nights before I was taken to the doctor." 

Oh, they definitely needed to have their fireworks taken away, Jae thought. If they were annoying his CO that bad, they definitely needed something done about them, because of how annoying that it was being to him.

[James Knight]

If Jae was to be believed, he was going to have to involve himself in a situation that he didn't want to. Given his annoyance levels at the denial of his ability to sleep over the past few days, it was no surprise how frustrated and irritated the individual was. Veritas honestly had considered numerous options, such as cutting off the robotic arm and having someone in the Omniverse attempt to regenerate his arm, so that it was the one he had in the past. Of course, for numerous reasons such would be impossible unfortunately. One of those reasons was that the remains of the arm had been put into a furnace. He had been...fortunate they had not decided to remove an eye, or something of that nature on him. It was something that gave him a bit of relief, that he didn't have to worry about something like that. If Doctor Johnson was to be believed, Doctor Kratz would soon be losing his job. And more than that, Veritas mused if he found himself strapped down in such a facility again, against his will.

[James Knight]

Sighing about the unfairness of the situation, and how young people should not be allowed to play with fireworks in the middle of the night near the homes of people who were trying to sleep off a migraine,  he went to his wardrobe. Stripping down to his underwear which he quickly changed,  Veritas had changed his ensemble. Gone was the blue jacket that had been badly damaged when his arm had been removed. In fact, the entire blue outfit that he had been wearing in the past had been removed by him, and replaced. Black jeans that were made out of leather were worn by him, having replaced the blue pants. Boots had replaced the shoes he had worn before, ones that were steel toed. Should it come down to his kidnapping again, he would be able to kick his opponents in the shin and possibly break some bones if they didn't take the hint. The next item of clothing to go was the blue shirt and jacket he had been particularly fond of. 

Given the jacket had definitely seen better days, and was ripped in many places, it needed replaced. Of course it also had one of the arms cut off, as Doctor Kratz hadn't even bothered to let him change clothes during the surgery, but had decided to ruin the one outfit that he actually liked. Yet another reason for him to complain about the not so good doctor, mused Veritas. Of course he couldn't let himself dwell on that problem, not when there was a situation outside that needed his personal attention. The shirt like the jacket had suffered a brutal amount of damage. Since he couldn't sew new clothes, he pulled out a white long sleeve shirt that someone had left behind. Going to the washing machine, he cleaned the shirt thoroughly as he didn't want the germs of anyone else. 

Once he was sure the shirt was clean, and he had dried it, he put it on his chest. The feeling of cotton against him helped to ease his worries, knowing that the shirt was of a good make was no substitute. It was the shirt of someone else. When the time came, he was going to get himself a new shirt, one that was not this one because he didn't like wearing the things of other people. It was why he hated the surgery that had been done by the doctor. The arm was not his own creation and thus he'd have to fix it up, so that he could actually make use of it. 

His socks that had also been subjected to the "Inquisition" of the not so good doctor, were torn as well. He had replaced that pair when he had been changing his shoes to the boots that he had found. Dressed properly now, except for a couple of pieces he looked himself in the mirror. 

There was something missing. But what?

[James Knight]

After resolving the issue of the loud noise that had been coming from next door without so much as throwing a punch, because the presence of the Storm Troopers had broken any amount of courage the idiots had, Veritas was now in his bed sleeping for what was the most peaceful rest he had gotten in days. He'd given the troopers instructions. If anyone came through the door and it was anything less than a life threatening crisis, they were to blast them. If anyone came in an attempt to abduct him? They were to most definitely blast them, because he needed his beauty rest. Well, he needed his rest anyway because he had to sleep some time if he was to recover from the past few days. Adjusting to the new arm was going to be difficult enough, even with proper rest. 

When he woke up in the morning, he smiled. Today felt like it was going to be a good day. Dressing himself in the outfit he had worn the night before, Veritas made his way out of the place in order to get himself started on his plans of action. There was a lot to be done, and he had a lot of work to do in order to get all of it done. Once he had breakfast, he made his way out of his temporary home so that he could begin his true plans for the Omniverse. Sure he may be stuck here against his will, but that didn't mean that he couldn't make the best of it. Adaptation was something that anyone could do, actually.

[James Knight]

"Stay here,"  said Veritas to the ones who had been assigned to work for him. The last thing he needed was them mucking up his long term plans by flashing the white armor that they wore as Storm Troopers. Where he was going, the armor was only going to be a liability at best. There was no sense in scaring away the individuals he was going to be looking for, in order to help him mold these young Storm Troopers into a proper unit that could hold their own. What he needed was a kind of individual who he wouldn't find in the proper Tiers, of Tier One, and Tier Two. In other words he needed someone who had more talents in survival than what most of the people on these floors had. Sure they had some skill, but they were overly reliant on the Empire. In order to make the squad he had been given truly useful he was going to need to shatter that reliance, which meant he was going to need some help. Unfortunately he had no idea how he was going to go about breaking them of that reliance, which is why he was going to look for some people to help him with doing so. It did seem like a worthwhile endeavor and if they did become more loyal to him, it was worth it all the more. Plus it had an added benefit of avoiding them being sent to their deaths, should they still be under-equipped and lack the talent to improvise like they presently did. It was that thought in mind that made Veritas make his way to the elevators. There was something to be said about someone who would risk his life to help his subordinates.