Private An Interesting Encounter

[Ardon]

Ardon nodded gratefully as she said she'd help with the droid. He still had pretty limited skill on that matter so hopefully she'd be a bit better at repairing ionized droids. He smiled somewhat amused at the response to being offered the captains quarters, "You = Only woman here. You = Likely unfamiliar with everyone. You = May feel safer alone." he looked to the other two men and added, "Ardon = Not accusing you. Ardon = Just thinks this makes sense."

He looked back at Mila and shrugged, "Ardon = Has been in crew quarters before. Ardon = Be fine."
He thought it for a moment longer, "If: You = Still do not want. Crew quarters = more than one room. Room = Can be locked. Locks = Not as good as captains."

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

When was an engineer. She’d be of great help fixing the droid. While she’d never worked with the hat specific kind of droid, but she figured it out pretty quick. She rebooted the power cells and got the droid working impressively quickly. Once that was done she would get up off of her knees, which she often sat on when working on low-set circuits and consoles.

Then he explained his reasoning. And she said, “I appreciate your concern. I’ll sleep in the crew’s quarters. I really don’t want to intrude on your room.”

 

[Ardon]

Mila Uhlesifa was rather fast on working. Ardon didn't really have anything to do himself, just admiring the work. Soon the sekret-astromech-droid was up on its six legs looking around and beeping. Ardon smiled at it and patted it on the head, not that it could feel anything, "You = did fine." he told it look over to Mila, "Ardon = Thank you. Ardon = Not great at this."

He smiled as she said it was fine, she could take the crew quarters. He nodded accepting the response before standing up. The Sekret went about it's business, probably going to check the ships systems. It wasn't exactly a normally looking astromech, rather resembling a mechanical scorpion. But it did it's job well. Most of the time anyway.

"Angel = Has food on board. We = Could eat before: sleep." He suggested.

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

“No problem Ardon. I’m happy to help.” She said with a smile, her words still being quiet.

“I’m going to guess that you’re ship is called Angel?” She asked. “Food sounds lovely. I’m afraid I’m no good at cooking, regardless of my attempts to learn I’ve never had much luck. Sorry.”

 

[Ardon]

Even here she wasn't loud. Guess it was just the way she was normally maybe. He nodded as she asked if the ship was named Angel. He realized he might not have actually told them that. Woops.

She agreed to food, but said cooking wasn't her thing he shrugged. "We = will find something. Ardon = Uses Recipe books. Ardon = Knows measurements. Ardon = Does not know free hand."

He'd be ready to go, get some food set up and start working on it with a book very close by to check about every five seconds to make sure he was doing it exactly as it said. If she went with him, he'd try and still talk to her. "Ardon = thinks you = nice. Ardon = Bad at speaking. Ardon = Happy you = patient."

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

"I can help you. I may not be able to cook but I can definitely grab ingredients. It's actually a little silly that I'm no good at cooking but I'm acceptably good at chemistry." She said with a small chuckle.

So she went with him into what was the ship's kitchen. And he said he thought she was nice and that he appreciated her patience. She smiled and said, "thanks. And it's really no problem. Everyone has their quirks, I have mine, so I see no reason to have a problem with yours. But do you mind my asking how you got to talking the way you do? If I'm not asking too much that is."

 

[Ardon]

Ardon smiled again as she said she'd help, even if she didn't know how to do stuff. He shrugged at the chemistry compared to cooking part, "Cooking = Edible chemistry." then grimaced, "Chemistry = Not always tasty. Comparison = Bad."

As they began to work, she did end up asking about the way he talked. He appreciated that she waited till now. Eventually it was bound to happen, it was really only a matter of time. He tapped the side of his head where the synthetic skin covered up a metal plant. "Ardon = Suffered serious injury. Ardon = On ship. Ship = crashed near low technology village. Surgeons = Zero. Cyberneticist = Able to help. Cyberneticist = Only had limited equipment + parts. Cyberneticist = Used inferior droid parts for: outward speaking. Ardon = Afraid to undergo surgery if: Surgery fails. Ardon = Could end up unable to speak at all."

He smiled as he looked at her, "Ardon = has good family. They = help me stay on my feet. Ardon = Sometimes mocked by others. Ardon's family = Kind and accepting. You = Like them. You = Good person. Ardon = Likes you."

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

Him saying that cooking equaled edible chemistry brought a sheepish blush to her face. An did that ‘chemistry wasn’t always tasty’ comment brought a smile to her face. “I suppose so. Still, I aught to learn. It’s not likely for me to live on my own long without that skill. So now is as good a time as any to learn.”

She listened politely to his explanation, and she felt her heart grow heavy with sympathy. When he was done she put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that Ardon. I’m glad that you made it out okay at least. If you ever need to just talk to someone about it. If you need to vent or just let something out, I’d be happy to listen.”

Then he said other people sometimes mocked him, and she sympathetically rubbed his back.

Then he said that she was a good person, and that he liked her. She looked down at the counter and said. “Thanks Ardon. I like you too. I’m sorry that we were trapped here, but I’m glad that I met you.”

She then put her hands together. “Now, what are we cooking? And how can I help?”

 

[Ardon]

Ardon nodded in agreement that it might be best to learn. "Cooking = Good to know." he agreed. He couldn't memorize dishes or such very easily. That just wasn't his thing. But he knew the concepts of cooking fairly well enough to follow directions. He had a cookbook open, flipping on the pages as he checked the ingredients.

He smiled as he heard her response to his story. "Ardon = Appreciative." he said. While his voice had trouble actually putting in the inflections to confirm that. His face very much projected it. He appreciated the sympathy. He got used to mocking yeah, and fortunately, his family wasn't like that. And most of the people he worked with weren't either, though it probably did help that his family ran a company. But sometimes it felt good to have the sympathy.

And he also was happy with what she said after. He had nothing more he could think of saying, just keep smiling. And then she asked what they were cooking and how she could help. He thought for a moment again, pushing through a few pages on the cookbook and pointing, "We = cooking Cushnip and Fral." he said, "We = need this, this, and these." he gestured to the specific ingredients in the list, the temperature to prepare the oven on, and pointed to where some of the dishes were.

This was kind of fun. Normally cooking was just a thing, he didn't dislike it, but it was simply a thing to do. It was way more entertaining when it could be done with someone else. At least that was his opinion.

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

“Indeed it is.” She said in response.

She smiled at him as he voiced his appreciation. She gave his back a couple more Ruben before removing her hand.

“OOoooh, I love that dish.” She said excitedly. He showed her the ingredients, and she quickly began to gather what they needed, ingredients and cutlery alike. She brought the ingredients to him, and she looked over the cookbook for whatever else they needed.

 

[Ardon]

A hand on the back, it could be a great comfort at times. Even sometimes when comfort wasn't needed. And it was another thing that made him happy.

She was quite happy about the dish chosen. Which in turn further increased his joy as they went to work. He started setting up tempuratures so that the oven would be ready once it was time to bake. And set aside the trays where the food could be prepared before it went in. There were four people on board, so it was more food than he was used to cooking. All they had to do was really follow the instructions, there were a few notes he'd put down about what to use or things about his kitchen specifically. But even in his difficulty with talking they were fairly easy to understand.

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

The temp was set and the food was carefully prepared by her and Ardon . She put together the ingredients as directed, and waited for him to tell her when she was supposed to put it in the oven. So when it was time she was careful to put it where it was supposed to be put, and she let it bake for a while. While they were waiting Shem decided to ask him something questions.

“So what’s your life like? What’s your family like? What’s your job?” She asked. “I’m an applied science engineer for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. I work on various things for the CIS navy, mostly defense systems.”

 

[Ardon]

Once they were done he slapped his hands together and set them by his side And then she asked him questions, quite a few questions, as well as gave some information on herself. Talking, just regular talking. This was good.

He smiled as he tried to think of how to formulate a proper response. So she was in the navy, no, working for stuff for the Navy. CIS. They were people that he might run into more often. Made sense that she was applied science given what she'd shown skill at. "Ardon = works for family company. Company = Tillian family enterprises. Tillian family enterprises = Also works with Rimward trade league. Ardon's family = very helpful + mostly pilots and business + help each new family member. Ardon's family = Helped Ardon get + Upgrade: Angel." He leaned against one of the walls breathing in and looking happy and fairly calm, "Ardon = Captain. Ardon = Likes freedom. Ardon = carries cargo. Job = occasionally dangerous."

He nodded his head in the direction of the pirates or invaders. "Danger = usually pirates. Pirates = usually in ships. Angel = not caught or damaged until now. Ardon = brought cargo here. Ardon = Sometimes helps rescue service with family. You = Work for Navy? You = Are in Navy? You = Knew what you were doing."

Ardon was curious just how she fit into the CIS. Was she just going to have to go right back to work the moment they got off the planet. He didn't really want that. He hoped he would get more time with her. Not that he'd drag it out intentionally on this planet. But maybe if she only worked for the Navy or something they'd get to meet more often, spend more time.

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

She listened intently as he explained his job and his family. He explained that he was mostly a cargo transporter. And how his family had helped him in so many ways. She listened to how he enjoyed the freedom of the job An day how it was occasionally dangerous.

He told her that the dangers were usually pirates, understandable, then he said that he had borough cargo here, and she suggested. “Maybe we could get the cargo back for you?”

Oooh, he did rescue services every now and then? “What do you mean by rescue services? Any specific kind? Any typical way that these missions go?”

“It’s more along the lines that I work for the navy, not in it. I’m no soldier as you’ve probably guessed.” She said with a soft giggle. “What I do is I work on projects for the Admiral, Vemric Keldra, these usually involve the development of weapons or other military grade tech that would be used for various things. One of my best schematics was a utilization of old, and I mean old weapons and giving them a modern spin and use. Imagine, a six meter long tungsten rod flying at Mach 20. That would punch through any shields currently used, because the only thing they’re designed for is to deflect meteors that are moving slowly relative to them.”

 

[Ardon]

Ardon smiled as he heard her say maybe they could get the cargo back. "Ardon = Grateful but: attempt = Too risky." he shrugged. It was unfortunate. But there wasn't much he could do about it. "Ardon = May get portion back after: We = Inform nearby authorities."

She asked about the rescue services, and also how they tended to go, he bobbed his head side to side. "Results = Vary. Service = Range of things. Service = Help civilians primarily. Ardon = Usually only aids as escort or with supplies." he personally wasn't clear on how to explain their rescue service. He wasn't officially a part of it, but he helped out where he could. It was just the way he was really.

Ah so she wasn't a part of the navy. He smiled at the giggle. Laughing was one of the things, like inflections, that was very hard for him now. It didn't exactly transfer well. It was nice to hear a giggle. So she was essentially a scientist, researcher or inventor of a sort. He raised an eyebrow as she talked about flinging a 'six eter long tungsten rod at mach 20.' Goodness that was powerful. Sounded like some kind of railgun. "That = Very Impressive. Angel = Shredded if hit." he felt bad for anyone who had that slung at them. You couldn't even respond to weapons that fast, you'd have to evade in advance. Even if you had superhuman speed, once something was off at that speed you might not even notice it on sensors until it hit.

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

"Informing nearby authorities would definitely help. But something's been bothering me. That weapon they fired can't cover the whole planet, it wouldn't even be able to cover a quarter of it, so there has to be more than one if they're willing to be using such an obvious weapon. This will probably need to be a military op, retaking this planet."

"Okay. I was just curious about what you did there. You have an interesting job Ardon, can someone request you personally for deliveries? Do you handle specific kinds of deliveries or is it just equivalent to a mailing service?"

He voiced that he was impressed with her design for the weapon and she beamed, "thanks. It's a combination of two very old ideas. One was a kinetic bombardment system, which is where the tungsten rod comes from. And it's launched in a pre-energy blaster method, an explosive propellant, basically a bomb, in the closed end of a tube, with the projectile just in front of it. Along the barrel are two electromagnets to help it along even faster. It's primarily an anti-cruiser and air to ground bombardment weapon." She said proudly. "It's actually the schematic that got me into engineering to begin with."

 

[Ardon]

He looked at the oven thinking as she mentioned the weapons limitations. And just the extent of how much they must be planning if they're willing to use such a weapon. He grimaced at the thought. "Ardon = Not prepared for war. Ardon = Definitely need to tell someone else." that was way out of his league. Ardon was a captain, not a soldier. And he definitely wasn't an army.

Ardon nodded as she asked about personal deliveries, "Ardon's Angel = Open service. Ardon = Won't work for everyone. Example = Slavers way off limits." he said. Naturally there were others, but even so, the job wasn't entirely legal all the time. Not every government approved. It was why his ship sometimes used a false transponder code. It allowed him to go to places where most couldn't, and his ship did look relatively common so it wasn't too hard to get past with things.

She further explained the weapon she designed, pre-energy blasters. Made sense, something like an absurdly ramped up slughtrower. Ardon didn't ever use them himself, but he supposed this was what would happen when a weapon of the past was adapted to the present. Primarily made to combat larger vessels or ground units it seemed, made sense. Probably took a good bit of work to set up. "Weapon name = What?" he asked, "Weapon = Sounds slightly familiar."

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

“Yeah, I never questioned that.” She said grimly. “You may not be prepared for war. But you definitely see prepared for situations like this.”

The mention of slavers brought some unpleasant memories to her mind Andy she looked down and away to hide her reaction to the word. But it was fleeting and her expression returned to it’s cheerful but nervous face. “That’s good to hear. So you’re basically a mostly-legal smuggler? Sounds interesting.”

“The name of the weapon is Thunderbolt. The orbital kinetic-bombardment system from a long forgotten age was called Project Thunderfall, I thought I’d pay homage to the source by including thunder in the name. The basic idea of Project Thunderfall is that a six meter long Tungsten rod that is point three meters in diameter, is dropped from orbit. It’s acceleration and it’s density make it hit the ground at Mach 10, which would make it essentially a bomb. Hence the name, kinetic bombardment.”

 

[Ardon]

He nodded in thought as she agreed on the matter of warfare. Alright, so they've got a new plan then. They for sure need to take out one gun to escape, but then, they need to inform everyone of the danger of the planet.

Ardon noticed her look down in response to slaves. Lots of people had a fear of slavers, but not everyone had a response to just the word of them. Ardon wasn't great at audio cues, inflections sometimes went way over his head. But he sometimes got the visual ones. And it was more than that, she was a Twi'lek. And slavers had a habit of prioritizing them. He nodded in response to the matter of a mostly legal smuggler, "That = One way to put it." He answered, but he hadn't forgotten.

She talked about 'project Thunderbolt and it's origins of the name and project. 0.3 meters, so almost a foot long. That was pretty large. Would take his entire head off just in terms of space. And it was large enough that, even if it only destroyed what it touched directly could ruin any ship. But at the speeds it was going it, could probably outright detonate it. "That = Terrifying." he admitted.

But then he was reminded of the response she had to her reaction to slaves. His face softened and he looked down wondering if it was ok to even say anything. He made sure nobody was near enough to hear, in case she didn't want them too. He tried his best to quiet his voice, though it was very hard for him to soften the tone. Much of his verbal communicative ability was controlled by the cybernetics and they had limited responses. "You = Once slave?" he asked but immediately almost regretted it, "You = Don't need to: Answer. Ardon = Sorry for: Prying."

Mila Uhlesifa

 

[Mila Uhlesifa]

( not three meters, point three 0.3 XD )

He said that her weapon design was frightening. While that did mean that it worked, she wasn’t sure if she should be happy about it, it was designed to kill things. Yes it was what she did, and she largely focused on defensive tech, but she was not naive enough to think that no one would be hurt. So she didn’t say thank you, instead she said, “I hope you never see it used, I hope I never see it used.”

Then he asked if she was a slave, and she immediately knew that he had seen her reaction. He instantly apologized and said she didn’t need to answer, but he hadn’t shared his sob story, no reason for her to keep hers a secret. So she shook her head, “no, it’s fine. Yes, I was a slave, to a lesser Hutt. As you may know, we twi’lek women tend to be used for more... unsavory forms of slavery. It was by blind luck that I got away. Admiral Vemric picked me up, gave me a place to stay and an education, now I work for him.”