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Lady of Pain
Written by Sailor Dathomir
His eyes opened, everything blurry for a moment then sharp. Other than the woman he'd seen last night, nothing was familiar - not even the circumstances. Usually the women were on the floor, not in a chair reading a thick, scientifically named pulp-made book. Central Dogma - Xenobiology and Deoxyribonucleic Acids - just the title sounded terrifying.
Woodrow F. Call, drug addict and killer, wanted to know just how this woman had gotten in, who she was and just what the hell was deoxyribonucleic acid anyway? Was it injectable or snorted? What did it do for you? Colours in the air? Temporary telekinesis? Why couldn't he move? That was a sixty billion credit question there.
His struggles must have caught her eye, for she laid the book down and gave him her undivided and frankly, disturbing as frak attention. She was a small woman, not even a metre and a half tall, with long dark hair and pale eyes that were making him very nervous.
"I wouldn't suggest struggling. There's still a full hour and a half before the chemicals will have been cleansed from your bloodstream. Ren may think she knows about biochemistry, but what she doesn't know about illict drugs and their different reactions could fill a TwoOneBee droid." The woman gave a derisive snort. "You are Woodrow F. Call - by the way, did you know that none of the records or their keepers know what the 'F' is for? - and a mechanical killer who has an unfortunate - or is it fortunate? - addiction to sweetblossom among other less interesting substances. You hate women and the sight of blood, but you like killing."
She pursed her lips. "I believe you will do the job quite adequately. I am Carnelian Sing, called Lian, age sixteen. I am Dathomir, and will be made Senator Superious in precisely seven days. I hate humans, Hapans and fools, not in that order. A well ordered mind, however, is a well ordered life." Lian picked up the battered book. "I will let you think on this for one half hour, then there will be a fifty minute discussion on your new life, the description thereof and at the end, when you are capable of movement, I will leave, you will dress and then destroy this building."
She returned to her book. A few minutes later, she looked at him again over the top of her book. "Make sure the Hapan Consulate can be blamed for the matter."
Exactly fifty minutes later, (he wondered how she knew the time when she didn't wear a chrono) Woodrow blinked at the paperwork the woman - Lian - held in front of his face. "I assumed your debts, and that makes you mine to deal with, according to the laws of this planet. You are not a slave, however. You are gainfully employed by one Carnelian Sing of the Dathomir Hegemony."
Dathomir Hege - oh frak, thought Woodrow. Dathomir was a dangerous place, where women contracted themselves out as hired killers and bodyguards. They were frightening, all of them. And now he was practically owned by the woman who would, for all practical purposes, be Dathomir? Frak didn't cover the trouble he was in.
Lian when on, ignoring the look of panic in his eyes. "Your job is very simple. You will be the boogyman. Do you know what that is?" She paused, as though waiting upon an answer. "A boogyman, on Dathomir, is someone, man or woman, who does the dirty work for one who cannot afford to be seen or connected to anything dirty. Someone who does the killings, threatenings and abductions for another while not getting seen or caught."
The conversation continued in the same manner - pay (living expenses - frugal ones, plus a decent amount for job expenses), location (Coruscant), transportation (public, of course) and exactly who he answered to.
"You will answer to me, is that understood? You are not answerable to Alexandren Sing or anyone else. If Ren or anyone who does not have my authorization makes command upon you, you are to clear it with me."
She picked up her book - he still didn't know what deoxyribonucleic acid was, but he somehow didn't think he'd have the opportunity to find out, either - and nodded sharply as she left. Before the door slid shut, Lian turned to look at him. "I expect you to do your job. Any less and I will be forced to terminate your employment."
Woodrow was afraid that meant his life as well.