Private Cheap Beer and Power Tools

[Coren Starchaser]

It was good to start getting the old gang back together. Sure, the gathered were not ones who were going to be shaping galactic change, but they could begin laying the groundwork for the ones who would be taking the stage. The next generation of their families were already out there doing their thing, and perhaps they’d even be ready to drop everything in their hands.

Aside from a few special projects.

“Jorus, white boards are always so lucky with you around!” Coren laughed as he looked up to the others. “Ignore the cans.” He added,for Chloe, and his own amusement. Sasori was better than making things out of recycled cans. And he’d not take that away from them.

“I have been meaning to make an ExGal trip like that, but a few too many things have always come up.” Jedi needing rescue and the like. “I figure once Jorus can build us a path engine we can link to our networks its a matter of the who.” He nodded.

“Either a meditation chamber or a blend of a chamber and a series of navigation buoys to help those start mapping their way. The buoys could give one set of paths and the meditation give us a better picture, faster paths.”

Jorus Q. Merrill
Chloe Blake

 

[Jorus Q. Merrill]

"No, the cans aren't components, uh, this time. Though...but no. No."

He took a minute to gather up all the cans and dispose of them properly. You had to respect the host, even if he recycled.

"Anyways - yes. Not a chamber - well, maybe a chamber - look, the idea is a, a floating deep space buoy, not big enough to be a platform. Pull up, link up, maybe you get out, maybe you go aboard into a chamber, or maybe you, you sit in your cockpit for the meditation. Either way you go to this buoy for meditation and even if you're not much of an astrogator, you can think your way through the routes and the paths between all the worlds around you, out for parsecs, maybe a whole sector. Helps if you already know the area, but either way, by the end of it, heh, you know the area. Then you doing that updates the database for the area and the Paths you've found help the next person who comes there to meditate, so it's not ex nihilo every time, not reinventing the wheel - heh, ex Nihil."

Coren Starchaser Chloe Blake

 

[Chloe Blake]

"Are you looking also to include the Jedi Houses?" It had been a while, but there had been scattered Jedi Houses from the Jedi Academy. The reason she brought it up was due to the similar concept of sharing information Jorus had created with the Jedi Library card: "Any idea what is going on with them?"

"Or are you concerned it may get flagged by the Alliance if the Jedi Order has access to it as well?" she inquired, moving over to the muse regarding the buoy for meditation and charting paths that way for distributions to the rest.

"I like that idea of the paths not having to be reinvented every time. " There was a pause, and then she turned to them, "What are some protective measures if, say a buoy is taken or commandeered by an aggressor? The Empire of the Lost is a way, but might not be too far off to consider just how much they may want to stretch out their reach."

Coren Starchaser Jorus Q. Merrill

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Would be interesting though, making a Path Engine out of recycled goods. He knew that the native Kattadans would appreciate that. He really was going to need to check back in there soon. Hopefully keep the Core World folk away from the world a bit longer. Maybe setting up a Path from Laekia right in towards Kattada was a smart move.

Move folk from the Core and out to Wild Space.

“A buoy you could tether up to may be the easiest. Most of the folks I have in mind are the ones with their own ships. I know I’m more comfortable aboard the Chaser or the Rising and would do better aboard either than some extra unfamiliar space.” He took a sip of the Whyren’s and offered a shrug.

Letting Jorus finish, he looked to Chloe, he’d have a few things to add to both. “I wouldnt mind using it to move Jedi, but I know I’m probably one of the more vocal Wayseekers out there.” No Order, just vibes.”I am more concerned with moving the Force sensitives and Jedi hopefuls who don’t want to be messed up in the Order out. If the Alliance took hold of the engine and network?”

It’d spell trouble.

“And building the path off of a recent path makes it almost too easy for it to be intercepted.”

Jorus Q. Merrill Chloe Blake

 

[Jorus Q. Merrill]

"I mean, about half what I brought is pre-owned, no big deal, all reliable parts."

Jorus was tinkering in earnest now. Building custom hyperdrives had always been the part of his many jobs where he'd found the most joy. The drive started coming together: redundant dropout safeties, teniline circuits, a seventeen-pin navicomputer port instead of the usual fourteen or twelve. He began using Chloe's whiteboard to loosely diagram the parts as he added them.

"Being aware of who gets access and turning off the buoys in real time sounds as simple as a remote camera but also kind of a pain. Maybe if it's a chamber it needs a special key to get in?"

Chloe Blake Coren Starchaser

 

[Chloe Blake]

A special key. She frowned. She was pondering, thinking. After a second, she pulled out a Corellian Jedi Credit. It had notches on it, which made her think of those unique keys used in old tombs to open an entrance.

"Like a Corellian Jedi Credit or a Rebel Corusca Ring type of token key, or does it have to be something that would be recognized as a physical key or an electronic key?" she mused. If anything, if they wanted to make sure that it required a specific type of key, perhaps using something no descript, like a white lotus chip or the Selab Tree icon for those who were of the Order of Selab, would allow the buoy to be recognized who is authorized.

"That way, if needed, specific keys can be crafted for specific individuals who are looking to transfer force sensitive outside of the Jedi Order's preview."

Jorus Q. Merrill Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The technical aspect of the hyperdrive was definitely in the Jorus wheelhouse. Coren was the one who would network it to people, and put it in the right hands. The Wayseeker was one who modified ships with existing parts and could network a software and hardware system. But part of the software was the people involved.

Looking at Jorus’s schematic, the one for the physical engine, Coren nodded and took another sip from his drink. The man had a skill.

“Taking a key and using that is probably the best way. I’d be tempted to make a Force motion for it. Something we can teach and only a certain way for it be opened even if the key was to be stolen, or lost.

“I’d rather not be forcing people to take the jobs they dont want. So if we make it a few levels… trusted Jedi, trusted Selab, other travelers and Forcers… We can almost open specific paths to certain places. Wouldn’t want someone who has it in bad for the Jedi to be making a path to Ahch-To.” But his idea also made it a few different layers of security.

Jorus Q. Merrill Chloe Blake

 

[Jorus Q. Merrill]

Coren Starchaser Chloe Blake

Well sloshed and elbows-deep in a half-assembled hyperdrive, Jorus nodded along. "So from all that from both ofya, maybe we're talkin a keyring. Some places need different keys. Someone's gotta trust you with a key to a spot - like whatever place handles Paths near Ahch-To, yeah, exactly."

He cracked a navicomputer interface module, voiding the warranty, and pried out the relay safeties. Half a circuit board from the blaster at Jorus' belt filled the gap just right.

"Or chunks of old Levantine space with them off-road worlds that've fallen off the main maps. Out here on the edge, routes need re-inscribing erry few years. Not as bad as the Unknowns o'course. That's all to the good and keeps places safe. Lock a chunk away behind a key. Keyring."

 

[Chloe Blake]

Chloe chuckled, grabbing herself a glass of whiskey before leaning against the table and watching Jorus work. "Key ring works. " she set a fresh Lum beside Jorus - seeing as he worked his best inebriated. Can't stop him now. Another whiteboard, a few more repurposed equipment, and he was bound to build the working prototype within the next hour. Half hour if he really gets into it.

"Keyring works." Chloe gave a nod, taking a deep sip from her drink. She sauntered over to the whiteboard, grabbing a marker. "Based on these level here you talking about, some folks may very well need more than one key depending on the type of jobs needed."

"Will there be specific people who will have these keyrings or will they need to be fetched first?"

 

[Coren Starchaser]

This was what the group Coren was always a part of was good at. Drinking, talking shop, working on random ideas with lofty goals. Looking to Jorus, he nodded, as the man was working. He and Chloe had the idea of a key ring. “I like that. Give a key to wherever, but you use your key ring to show the ones that you are cleared for. Not gonna give someone with a more dark leaning, towards Ahch-To or Tython…” They’d find their way there eventually.

But it wasn’t them to give it.

Working with this kind of group, even if Coren was holding the Jedi flag here, made sense. A checks and balance. He wasn’t going to be given the key to somewhere like Korriban, if they made one for that. Another sip, because now Jorus was in the thick of it, tearing apart a side arm.

“I figure we have a list, Selab first, Sanctum captains second… Wardens third? I know many Wardens want to find their own way around anyway. Show the galaxy to Selab, or some of the old network, give them say a Key or two… Sanctum can get most of their worlds…”

They had their ideas cleared he thought.

Jorus Q. Merrill Chloe Blake

 

[Jorus Q. Merrill]

"Thinking about making keys, here's was a time..." Jorus burped gently and eyed Chloe's marker askance, feeling somewhat possessive of the whiteboards. "There's was a time Mara made a thing. Vergence Lensforge, she called it. Whassit does is you take it to a vergence annit takes what's unique about that place and shoves it in a thing, crystal, whatever. Never did getta lotta use. But I..."

He sucked his teeth and clicked the navicomputer interface port back together.

"Nah, dead end. Keys don't need to be that special. Key's a key. But hey, we ever want to do this a whole other way, we could skip all the beacons and meditation stuff and make it just a torch, right, torch to light your way, thing you carry and the Paths for an area just open up to you as you go, if you're an astrogator. But I think thassa whole other project, more complicated probably, because how..."

And just like that there were no more components on the workbench. They'd all been agglomerated into a junk heap: a fully functional Path Engine.

"Ho ho ho," he said, an ancient Huttese phrase. "Happy Life Day."

Coren Starchaser Chloe Blake