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Ghalt,
Benedict here. I just heard talk that you're thinking of bringing on that Roa, Pendles. Ain't going to question your judgement or nothing, but there's something I think you should know about him.
About 15 years ago, I was still hot on the beak about what happened on Menneck-B, so I did what I always do and found somewhere dark that served Old Corusca nectar by the tureen. No idea how long I was there, but I'm sure the establishment in question wasn't too far from charging me rent.
You know me, I talk. I talk when I'm glad and boy, do I talk when I'm mad. Everyone in the joint was getting an earful about how much I hated my old MSBC commander, this old Kormiri son-of-a-hen, and nodding politely, because that's what you do when a nectar'd up Buteonen with a rocket launcher tells you a story. The only who I could tell was actually listening was this kid.
He didn't look like he does now, still had bothe eyes and tentacles for both arms. Wasn't all dressed up the way he does now. He was real quiet, just taking everything in around him. He looked like it was his first time out of the pond, and it turned out it was. I was spewing all sorts of stuff, real dumb talk, the kind you only get from an Aviant who thinks he'll never fly again. What I might have said - what I hope I didn't say, because then what happened next wouldn't be my fault - was something like, "I wish that tenderbeak bastard was dead. Really! And I'd buy a round for whoever got him, too."
Well, anyone normal who hears that laughs it off, knows it's all bluster. But this must have been his first time out in the wild, you know? It's like that Magnus who they told to make paperclips at maximum efficiency. Chewed up an entire star system and its population before they could shut him down. Someone just wanted cheaper office supplies and ended up killing four billion people.
That Kormiri bastard must have put up a hell of a fight. He was a thirty year veteran of the MSBC, and Scales there took him down - unarmed. Thought he was fulfilling a contract. Obviously, I freaked out. I told him to get out of the system before the Peacekeepers started looking for him, or worse, connected me to him. He tried to give me the old Pel's head and I told him to take it with him. He thought I was saying it was a trophy.
Few years later, I start seeing these ads. He'd gone pro. Made a business for himself. "Executive Executions," he'd called it. Now I ain't one to judge the love of killing, Ghalt, but you just watch yourself around him. And don't ever, EVER ask him for a paperclip.
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