Beskad is not enough

[Zef Halo]

Gheleon stood infront of the power hammer like an animal that had just seen something new and had to inspect it. Beside him Aunt Verd was explaining to him the basics of how to use it and what beskarsmithing was. He was truly magnitized to this whole profession. Unlike his siblings - Skorri and Alar, he was a complete technophile despite beig isolated from contemporary technology. Gheleon was very practical and always salvaged various parts on Dxun to create ready products.

Even his durasteel Mandalorian armor that he wore was made of salvaged durasteel.

"Well then, Ghel'ika. Get on it." Aunt Verd commanded in Mando'a behind him and slapped him on the back of his head.

"Alright, alright, ba'vodu." He replied as he sat down on the chair and took the beskar metal from the forge onto the 'anvil' of the powerhammer. It was time to make this versatile weapon.

The Bo-Rifle.

 

[Zef Halo]

"Ba'vodu. How do I slow this thing down? It's going to fast." Gheleon asked complaining at the quick hits the power hammer was currently making. He had no idea how to lower the frequency of hits which was needed for him to work more precisely on creating the 'skeletal' structure of his bo-rifle. It would also need a mechanism to retract and collapse. The Mandalorian really needed the help of Aunt Verd right now. He wished he could make this on his own, despite the Aunt telling him he won't be able to make this on his own.

Ghel'ika was damn stubborn.

"Didn't I tell you, Ghel'ika? I did tell you. You can't do this on your own." Aunt Verd came out of nowhere and approached Gheleon's power hammer. "I kept saying you can't do this yet. You can't even work with a power hammer."

The Mandalorian simply shrugged. She was right but he did not want to admit it outright.

"Give me this, kid. I will do it for you." Aunt Verd metaphorically kicked him out of his place to do his job. Seeing the blueprints he had designed by himself, she ony needed one look at them to know what she was doing.

Gheleon stood there watching with interest.

 

[Zef Halo]

The Mandalorian watched the master beskarsmith of House Verd do her craft and even enjoyed doing her errands. She was guiding him with one hand for what he was supposed to do and worked with the other. One would immediately know that she has done this hundreds of time. The Brokarra was surprised at how she had needed only one look of what he wanted which was a rare weapon - a bo rifle - for her to do her job. And by wha he was seeing, she was doing it with no flaws.

"How old are you, ba'vodu?" Gheleon asked curiously, while she proceeded with her work.

"Haven't you been taught that you don't ask a lady for her age." Aunt Verd replied and then continued before he could reply. "Oh, right. You were from the Dxun trion."

"Skorri was here earlier wasn't she ?"

"Yep, why ?"

"Just asking." Gheleon said honestly and continued his observation of Aunt Verd's skills in beskarsmithing.

 

[Zef Halo]

Aunt Verd relentless continued her work on the bo-rifle, Gheleon wondered if she always put so much effort in what she did or was it her worry that he really needed something good to protect him in this wide, wide galaxy. The Mandalorian had gotten used to the fact that he and his two siblings were quite behind on contemporary technology and were seen as primitives which was true. It didn't help as well when Skorri destroyed every droid in her range while Alar could outcurse a sailor. It certainly did not.

The master beskarsmith moved her from position on the power hammer to the manual usage of a beskar hammer, apparently she needed even more precision. It was not surprising as it was quite different than what usually beskar was being made - armor and beskad. The latter a sword made out of beskar was much easier to make than a rifle that was a hammer at the same time.

Gheleon went around the forge to look for different hammers that she had instructed him to get as she did not have them currently on her worktable and could not proceed without them. The Mandalorian also brought a bucket of cold water as the previous one had become already hot. As a student, he knew this was how thing were at the beginning - watch, learn and errands.

 

[Zef Halo]

Gheleon was finally free of errands for a longer than usual time and enjoyed his time watching Aunt Verd do her job of making his bo-rifle. It was an interesting profession, the Mandalorian of Dxun was a practical man who liked things that were done by the hands. Beskarsmithing was one of those things. He wished he had been able to learn this art since he was a child and be able to do this rifle by himself but the Mandalorian knew that sometimes one needs the shoulder of another.

"How long have you been doing this if I may ask ?" Gheleon spoke in the only language he knew - his native Mando'a.

"Since I was eight years old, kid. And believe me, that was a long time from now."

"I believe you." Gheleon chuckled but was reprimanded by a stern look from Aunt Verd. "Jokes."

"Mirsheb." Aunt Verd muttered as she proceeded with shaping the hammer. It was obvious that one started with the rectracted completely part before venturing towards the compact part. This rifle was indeed a complicated piece of work. Gheleon was glad he was not as stubborn as Alar was.

 

[Zef Halo]

"Find Ioq Verd. He owns a tapcaf down the road from here and tell him I need his verpine rifle. It's been a while since I've last worked with verpine rifles." Aunt Verd ordered to him as she put some of the metal back into the forge to heat. "Also get me something to eat. No bantha meat. I hate its smell."

Gheleon nodded, lofting an eyebrow at her last statement. If she had only known the thing the Brokarra ate back on Dxun, Aunt Verd would probably faint. One does everything to survive. Especially praying to every omnipotent power when you end up tasting a poisonous flora or fauna. The nights you would almost sweat to death, while Alar would curse at how stupid you are and try and save your arse from dying. Skorri would simply look guilty as usually she was the one delivering the killing shots or picking the preys when hunting, along with looking for possible vegetation that was edible.

Ghel'ika was the lab rat.

Leaving Aunt Verd's workshop while she continued her process of making his bo-rifle, it did not take the Mandalorian long to find Ioq Verd's tapcaf as it was written on top of it 'Ioq's Caf'. Music was quite loud for a tapcaf during mid-noon but it did not bother Gheleon who simply went it to get the verpine rifle and a sandwich. Ioq knew that since it was for Aunt Verd - no bantha.

The Mandalorian returned from the errand to find that the head of the electrohammer was done, Aunt Verd had gone to make sure there was enough space for the hammer to retract into a shoulder placement for the shatter rifle form.

 

[Zef Halo]

As the final product was soon to be made by Aunt Verd, the errands were becoming quite often as she requested of him different gadgets and mechanism so it could turn into a bo-rifle. She had told him that she had done a bo-rifle before, three times to be precise, and it was truly a complicated weapon to make. Aunt Verd was taught by a Mandalorian Lasat who could not fight properly without his bo-rifle which he had been stolen from him. A very dodgy story but Aunt Verd knew what she was doing.

"You think this weapon will be good enough, ba'vodu?" Gheleon asked the hard working master beskarsmith across of him.

"I am making it to be perfect not good enough, Ghel'ika." Aunt Verd smiled softly, a very rare occurance to such a grumpy and cloudy person such as her. Perhaps she'd grown fond of the Dxun trio as well. Why ? Gheleon did not know but it was glad to have people that cared for you. "Now go get me a straight peen hammer. It is one thing making normal rifles out of normal components, a whole different story a rifle made from beskar."

"I assumed so."

"Also, get me the polarizing field insulation cause we are almost done."

 

[Zef Halo]

Aunt Verd was at the final stage of giving the shape to the hammer while inserting the different needed mechanics for the weapon to turn into a bo-rifle. She had halted his errands and seemed extremely focused at what she was doing so Gheleon did not dare to ask her anything or speak with her. He simply retained his position of watching what she was doing and trying to learn more. The young Mandalorian did like beskarsmithing but the specifics of rifle making was what truly fascinated him. The precision and the mechanics of rifles were immensely interesting to him. Mechanics were generally very interesting to him.

"You are already a good mechanic, Ghel'ika. I've never seen someone so good at such things when he has been stuck on a backwater moon with no access to basic needs such as electricity. You're a talent boy."

"W-what? How?!" Gheleon was definitely startled from her intrusion in his mind.

The Force..

"The Force." She confirmed his thoughts at the same time. "Enough complients for you, kid. Get me a bunch of pellets and slugs so I could check this multicaliber magazine. Ask one of the apprentices, they are taught to know where everything was at any time."

The young Mandalorian thought of speaking but closed his mouth and decided against it. He simply nodded to her errand request and made his way towards the nearest apprentice to ask for direction on where the pellets and slugs were located.

 

[Zef Halo]

"Come here and watch this closely, Ghel'ika. You need to learn how the shatter rifle works so you could best use it." Aunt Verd called him over and Gheleon gladly came. He had been keeping his distance trying not to intrude on her although he was unbelievably eager to get closer and see more of what she was doing. "You see this?"

"Yep, what is it?"

"A magnetic accelerator. It is how this weapon fires its projectiles. Near silent, unbelievable damage, excellent range and accuracy. Even a baby could wield this and hit a headshot from 50 meters. The Verpine have outdone themselves to incorporate this technology in weaponry." Aunt Verd explained with an inspired tone. Apparently, the Verpine for her were a role model to follow. She then held a magazine infront of him. "Do you know what is this ?"

"A magazine." Gheleon smiled.

"Not exactly. It is a multicaliber magazine. Very expensive but you might as well load rocks into it and it will fire them with deadly power. This is a trump card. Every next thing you fire could be a surprise for your enemy and you would never worry about ammo. As I said, put some pebbles in and it will fire them."

"I need to go to these Verpine, ba'vodu." Gheleon chuckled but he truly meant it.

"Roche.The Roche asteroid field is from where they hail. Visit them, certainly do. You will find them all similiar to you. Obsessed with crafty and practical things." Aunt Verd nodded in all seriousness. "Do go and you will definitely be grateful. Now let's focus at the job at hand."

 

[Zef Halo]

"Good job, Ghel'ika." Aunt Verd nodded at his assembling of the rifle and tweaking some of the gadgets that would retract and collapse the weapon into the different forms. The button for that function seemed working well, some glitches with the spring system had been reworked again by Aunt Verd. Other than that even Gheleon was happy with the little he had done. Touching the item itself clearly was a whole different thing than simply watching Aunt Verd do her work.

"I curse my fate of being stuck all my life up till now on Dxun. So much catching up to do..."

"You will do fine, you're a natural. Just go to Roche someday."

Gheleon nodded as he screwed in a part that was not screwed tight as it should be. Looking over it, he realized the weapon was done. The insulation had been inserted, the electricity generator had been already put so long ago. One thing left to do - test it.

"Ask one of the apprentices to give you a helmet so we could test the rifle's connection with the targeting system." Aunt Verd ordered and Gheleon immediately went to do so.

Returning back with a helmet on his head, he took the rifle and activated it. Synchronizing both with the helmet's targeting system, all worked brilliantly. Clicking the button to turn the rifle into the electrohammer, it collapsed succesfully. With another button he activated its electricity and the purple charge created itself around the beskar hammer head, chaotically dancing on its surface.

"Perfect."

 

[Zef Halo]

"Well then, let's test it. Here." Aunt Verd told him as she gave him the bo-rifle in his hands and went towards the exit of her large beskarsmithing workshop. Gheleon happily followed with the newly made weapon in his hands. It was quite a light weapon due to his Dathomir Magick enhacement, not that it would usually be very heavy but for a weapon and an average person it certainly would've been a bit off the chart. To him it was absolutely great.

Instead of the front door, both left at the back door which revealed a practice range to where the Mandalorian apparently had to test his new weapon. A few other Mandalorians were testing other weapons or simply havng friendly competitions between themselves. It was popualr between Mandalorians to compete with each other to prove he is better. All in a friendly and brotherly manner. Aunt Verd smacked the back of his head as Gheleon seemed lost with watching the different vode practising or having fun between each other.

"Come on, let's go. We haven't got all day, Ghel'ika." The master beskarsmith ordered to him and Gheleon took aim with a smile on his face.

 

[Zef Halo]

Gheleon proceeded with firing the rifle form of his bo-rifle with surprising precision. It was really true that verpine rifles boasted amazing accuracy, possibly due to the lack of recoil he seemed to have. Or maybe it was due to his Dathomiri Magick enhancement. Whatever it was, the bo-rifle seemed perfect for his hands. Especially with its versatility of turning into a dangerous melee weapon. It was certainly what he needed in this wide and quite advanced technologically galaxy. Aunt Verd had done an amazing job.

"You've got quite the aim, Ghel'ika." Aunt Verd commented as she watched the shatter rifle do its work properly. She also seemed to focus on his weapon, apparently analysing if there were any flaws to be fixed. "Keep going."

The Mandalorian kept on shooting his rifle at the targets, the damage obvious even to those that were quite further away. With near silence, this weapon was doing tremendous damage to the targets. The Verpine were certainly a race Gheleon would love to apprentice under. He would learn so much from them, things that Alar would probably call heretic or Skorri would smash.

 

[Zef Halo]

"Alright, enough. Let's try the hammer instead. Come with me." Aunt Verd stated and took Gheleon on a path away from the practice range and towards the backs of other buildings in the city. The Mandalorian wondered where he was taking him until she busted through a back door of a different building to reveal a Mandalorian who almost jumped out of his seat and spilling is caf. Around him numerous droids stood deactivated, possibly awaiting repairs from the lazy looking man.

"poodoo! Damn it, Verd. You all have no manners at all. What if I was sleeping?" The man pointed at the vacant bed at the other end of his workshop and Gheleon thought that the man was so lazy he lived where he worked. Or he was simply very dedicated to his job.

"I need him to test this bo-rifle on some of your battle droids."

"Well you could've been more pol-"

"Now."

"Fine, fine. Damn it." The man gave up and went to activate a few large and dangerous looking droids. "They should do fine."

Aunt Verd led Gheleon and the droids so the young Mandalorian could try and test the damage of his electrohammer form of his bo-rifle. Tapping a button, the rifle collapsed into a hammer. With another tap of a button purple lightning began chaotically dancing on the surface of the hammer. It was high time to try this setting of his bo-rifle.

 

[Zef Halo]

The Mandalorian practiced with the half a dozen droids who seemed very well programmed and adept to melee fighting. Their skills with the beskad were quite good, some Mandos were never able to attain such skills in a whole lifetime. They had been ordered to be only on the defensive without attacking Gheleon as with a dozen droids around, he did not stand a chance. Especially with the droids' skills in wielding beskar.

Finally, after a few minutes of slashed and parries, Gheleon found an opening and struck the hammer at the side of a droid. The power behind it pushed the droid's metal within while the 11,000 voltage fried its software totally disabling it. The damage that the hammer could do was quite satisfying. With one strong hit he had been able to literally smash the armor of the droid inside. The beskar of the hammer did not even have a scratch.

"Quite good, quite good." Aunt Verd commented behind him. "Continue."

And so he did.

 

[Zef Halo]

"The weapon's missing an important asset, Ghel'ika." Aunt Verd said as she watched the weapon spread on the worktable that she had earlier worked on. Gheleon was confused as he did not see where the flaw of the weapon was. Earlier he had demonstrated its destructive power and its convenience. It was certainly the perfect weapon for him, yet if Aunt Verd said there was something. Then there was certainly something missing. It goes without saying that he asked her.

"Stronger material like beskar, sure they would also feel the intensity of the shatter gun due to its ridicolous kinetic damage. The hammer's kinetic power would also cause trouble to any sort of resistant material but there is one problem." Aunt Verd commented as she took an underbarrel attachemet from a cupboard next to the worktable. "This. An under-barrel attachement is what totally complete this weapon, Ghel'ika. You're good to go with it."

She began attaching it to the weapon with a smile on her face. Gheleon was also satisfied at the results and at the additional trick up his sleeve that would come with the addition of the under-barrel attachement. He would soon be on par with the rest of the galaxy.