Got a Dream, Boy? Got a Song? (Mining the Roche Asteroids)

[Grimm]

He didn't expect nothing from them, they wanted to hear his proposal. So this meant they wouldn't shoot just yet, walking along with them.

"Now, let's have a nice chat. It would seem that you have vessels trying to come in to take your mining products. Pirates if may interject."

The two looked at each other nodding slowly, before they reached the main office of the platform operations. It left him time to think as they brought Grimm to the mining leader in that section.

"What do you want wanderer?" Spoke a fairly large fellow, his species was similar to a wookie large appearance.

"I want to sell you arms that can protect you from pirate attacks on the surface operations and your air space."

"What's in it for you?"

"I want a good amount of Phrik"

The big creature smashed his fist on his table, but it didn't scare me one bit.



[member="Micah Talith"] [member="Zathra Fett"] [member="Muad Dib"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

[member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Muad Dib"]

Betna ignored the slight pause in Muad's statement. The man was a loose cannon, but had shown great restraint so far. Sure, he was dangerous, but for the moment he wasn't dangerous to any Mandos. Besides, he figured the former Sith could use some fresh air, so to speak.

"We wear the sealed suits in case we need to step out in zero atmosphere," Betna explained calmly as the tractor beams pulled them into the station's hangar. "With a space station, it's a possibility that the hangar has no atmosphere and is left open to space. Not ideal, but cheaper to maintain. Either way, in the event of an emergency, we have our own sealed suits and can react immediately without having to dig up their suits to stay alive."

As he spoke, the Pathfinder settled on the hangar deck and maglock clamps pinned it to the floor. As soon as the shifting stopped, Betna stood and gestured at the panel.

"What does it say, Mir'ika?" he asked his daughter. "Is the hangar pressurized?"

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Zathra Fett"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Muad Dib"]

Mirshko looked sideways at Muad for a moment. It sounded like he'd almost said something he wasn't supposed to. She shrugged at him, and gave him another look - that is until Da started explaining things. And this was where she needed to actually pay attention. "That's smart, I guess. And saves them time and money. As long as they don't skimp where it really matters.." she muttered, yanking her thoughts back to the present when Arrbi asked about the sensors. "Pressure at 95%. By the time we get to the airlock it should be fully pressurized."

 

[Muad Dib]

He nodded at Betna and headed to the back to pull on an environment suit. Made sense even if he hated wearing the suit. With it on he leaned against the wall as he listened to the two speak. Familiarity and a sense of love and belonging echoed from both. Family. A twisted grin crossed his face as he thought of that word: family. It meant little to him anymore. All he had once called family and friend had stabbed him in the back, left him, or literally stabbed him in the back.

He sighed as he watched them settle down. These people, the mandalorians, called all vode meaning sister and brother. He was technically a vod of the people, and yet he was an outsider. Partially by choice and partially by his presence. Many looked at him as a rabid dog like Mantis did, while others saw a weapon to be used but one to be wary of knowing how a two edged sword acted. But despite who and what Muad was, he had a kind of honor and he kept his word. And he had given it to fight for the people of Manda'yaim ... even if they didn't trust him, nor he them.

[member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Zathra Fett"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Muad Dib"] [member="Grimm"] [member="Micah Talith"] [member="Evard L'Rik"]

When Mirshko hear Muad's slightly muffled footsteps returning, she nodded at Arrbi, and pushed to her feet. She gave the sensor panel one last once over. "Atmospheric pressure is at 100%. We should be clear to exit the ship to the hangar itself..." she told them, turning so Muad would hear as well. As she was turning towards the corridor, she heard a ping from the comm console. An incoming message. She frowend for a moment as she tried to remember.

Da had shown her how to access the messages, and how to check them again a list of known identification codes. The computer held a list of several of Mom and Da's associates, and the identification codes they commonly used. This particular one belonged to one Siobhan Kerrigan. Mirshko had never met the woman personally, but mom had always spoken highly of her. Frowning slightly, she tugged on the sleeve of Arrbi's flight suit. "That message is from... Siobhan Kerrigan. She'll be coming into the hangar beside ours." She looked between Arrbi and Muad. "I... kinda get the feeling she wanted to meet up. Why, I couldn't say."

A glance went to Muad. Admittedly, there was something about the other man that made Mirshko nervous. But not so much that she would shy away from him. She was curious. And while Da might frown on her asking too many questions, it was clear her parents considered this man to be one of the vode. So, she would do what she could to make him feel welcome. A deep breath, and a third check of her armor seals for good measure before she moved towards the corridor, and Muad. As she passed him, she tugged slightly on the sleeve of his environment suit. "Is there anything you need before we go, Ori'vod?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Mirshko Betna"], [member="Arrbi Betna"], [member="Muad Dib"]


"These suits annoy me," Siobhan grumbled to herself while she pulled on an environmental suit. The small Firemane ship had by now likewise settled on the hangar dock and maglocks were pinning it to the floor. She understood the logic of wearing the suit, but it still annoyed her for some reason.


"Why? You love strutting around in beskar'gam," Mei-Ling snarked because that was part of her job description.


Siobhan shrugged in response. As much as you could when wearing the heavy suit. "That's different," she insisted, for some reason. Potential of zero atmosphere, the cold vacuum of space, if there was an emergency. Brought back the day she had been spaced. Well, actually that had happened twice.


"Didn't stop you from spacewalking in Gehenna orbit and slinging rocks around," Mei-Ling threw in. "I'm sure if you insist on it, Firemane designers can make suits that are more aesthetically pleasing." Clearly Sio's fashionista obsessions were becoming a running gag.


For her part Siobhan finished putting on her suit and headed out. Presumably she would end up encountering Betna and his daughter outside, along with Muad, though she was not familiar with him. She was not personally acquainted with any of the three before, but she liked and respected Anija. Besides, Siobhan was very fond of children ever since adopting Galina had given her something of a mother complex. Who knew, maybe she could show Mirshko fun stuff.

 

[Muad Dib]

Glancing down at his sleeve as it was pulled he assumed it was an accident. But when Mirshko began to speak to him he realized it was purposeful. An eye brow raise at Arrbi wondering how he would respond with his daughter talking to him, then Muad shrugged. It wasn't like he was going to gut her then skin her before butchering her up for a nice steak. It was just a kid ... a little person ... who spoke .... and didn't leave him to his solitude ... Again he raised a brow as he looked at the youth.

"I'm fine .... kid. You need anything?"

Muad grimaced inside. Why did he feel compelled to ask her that. Either one, she wouldn't but might keep talking or two, she would, and he would again feel compelled to have more interaction. He glanced once more at Arrbi with a combination of, 'help, I don't do the kid thing' and 'I'm a monster! Keep your kid safe you dolt!"

But as he walked down the ramp he felt the force presence of another. Automatically stepping past Mirshko, in an act of protectiveness (which Muad would review later and chalk up to it only being a desire to fight ... nothing else ... of course), Muad's hand went to the curved skinning knife on his belt while his lips peeled back in a snarl. He didn't know who it was only that the force user was strong. He drew the force to himself feeling the rage and anger build while asking a question behind him.

"This Siobhan ... she a force user?"

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Micah Talith]

Walking further into the market would finally bring fruit. There, up ahead, was an old Verpine vendor. He had a medley of speeders and used starfighters along the wide warehouse area he oversaw. It was as much of a salvage yard as chop shop, but beggers couldn't be choosers. He had come here with the full intention of finding a fast Hyperdrive for Kai's latest creation and he would do it.

Even if it came with a few scuffs and well worn parts.

Micah trotted over, heading towards the shopkeeper. His antenna would flick and swish over his head, those big bug eyes curiously watching him. Verpine could be said to look fairly funky, but they skill they had as mechanics and techs was bar none.

A series of chirps and clicks would ask the Talith what he could help him with.

"You got any starfighter hyperdrives for sale?" he asked, scrunching his face as he prepared himself for a major haggling session if he found what he was looking for.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna nodded at his daughter and brought up the rear of the group as they stepped out of the ship. He'd sealed his helmet and the suit had pressurized quickly enough. People always associated beskar'gam with Mandalorian warriors and with fighting, but the truth was that while the armor was indeed for war, it also served a utilitarian purpose far more than a military one. The armored plates, tough undersuit, and environmental protection along with the internal oxygen supply meant that they were often used far more for the mundane things in Mando life. In fact, whenever Betna worked on his ships or equipment, he often wore his armor to help prevent injury. He knew Anija wore hers when working on anything that required her expertise at engineering or her help in a project and he knew the clan's smith back at the homestead wore his when forging more often than not. It was one of those strange quirks about Mandos that many didn't quite notice or understand.

As they stepped out, he couldn't help but chuckle at bit at Muad. Sure, he was extremely violent. Sure, the man was volatile and dangerous, but what he'd just done showed that Betna could at least trust the man. He figured Muad would deny it, but Betna saw the protective intentions behind the man's actions even if Muad didn't or wouldn't. He stepped up beside Muad Dib and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, vod," Betna said with a chuckle. "She's a Force user and she's good people. She's no threat to us, though if a Sith star destroyer shows up, I wouldn't want to be inside of it. She'll crush it like those canned beer the aruetiise drink."

With that taken care of, Betna gestured to the doors nearby both ships before waving at Siobhan.

"We need to head over there to take care of the paperwork for the ore load first. Should only take a short bit."

[member="Muad Dib"] [member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Muad Dib]

As Arrbi came up alongside of Muad and placed his hand on his shoulder he turned his head in his direction while still scanning with his eyes. Nodding lightly in understanding that the threat he sensed was not a threat to them he slid the blade the inch back into it's sheath. Walking the rest of the way down the ramp he kept near Mirshko automatically. Again not in a protective way, not admitting any emotional attachment, but out of habit to stand as guard for a weaker member of the team. That was what he told himself at least.

"Understand ner vod. Come on kid, let's stay close."

The last bit was toward the youth with a slight bob of his head. Across the floor they entered the doors and moved toward a small booth where a bored looking twi'lek was watching a holovid on his datapad. Small sounds of groans and moans came from the speakers of the datapad as they stopped at the booth where the twi'lek sat in a relaxed posture but with a fast respiration. It was Betna's cargo and for him to work out the transaction but Muad growled low in his throat while an evil sneer that made the twi'lek jerk in his seat and turn off the holovid quickly. Muad smiled with teeth gleaming, almost as frightening as the growl. The video was inappropriate for a worker to be playing at his station let aloe where kids could hear or see anything. Again his reaction came from one that resented lack of professionalism, not for the youth .... truly.

[member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Mirshko Betna"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Muad Dib"] [member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Mirshko smiled slightly at Muad's question and shook her head slightly. She checked her gear one last time and then followed Arrbi down the ramp. Maud was close behind her. As they stepped into the hangar proper, her hand dropped to her blaster on reflex. She felt it too. But, she wasn't that worried about it. If it was someone mom knew, the person couldn't be that bad...could they? The thought caused her to frown slightly.

She was still getting used to the weight of her own armor. It was lighter than Da's being durasteel, but it still felt odd at times. And, hers wasn't as... fancy as Mom's. Anija had shown her some of the tools in her custom armor, and tried to explain how they worked. To her ten-year old mind, it was.... astounding. And that computer-thing mom talked to sometimes? It weirded Mirshko out slightly, though she'd never admit it.

She'd felt the presence same as Muad... and her eyes widened as she saw him step slightly in front of her and partially draw a knife from a sheath on his belt. Given what little she could sense from him, such an action surprised her. And she got the feeling he did it kind of on reflex... like she had loosened her own blaster in it's holster. Not out of distrust on Sio's part, but more because she wasn't sure what else might be lurking in the shadows.

Her gaze followed where Arrbi had pointed, and she frowned slightly. She could see a woman coming across the decking to meet them from the direction of the adjacent hangar space. Shyly, she matched Arrbi's action and waved towards the figure. At Muad's words, she took a step closer to him, and kept a hand on her blaster, as she tried to get a sense of the area with the Force. It wasn't a skill she was particularly adept at...yet.

She couldn't quite see what was going on, but the guard's attention was on something in front of him. She got a sense of his emotions in the Force, and it caused her to frown and step closer to Muad and Da. She'd felt similar things from Mom and Da on occasion... but this.... It was... raw.. and it made her skin crawl. "Can we get the cargo sorted...?" she asked quietly, but firmly as she avoided looking at the Twi'lek.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Mirshko Betna"], [member="Arrbi Betna"], [member="Muad Dib"]


As she stepped out of the ship into the hangar, with her suit fully pressured, Siobhan had the moderately absurd thought if they somehow lost gravity and started floating around she would no longer need the cane! Holding a cane while floating around in a zero-g environment would probably look rather silly, when she thought about it.


Anyhow, nothing of that sort hoped and, walking with a bit of a limp, she approached the Betna family and their companion. Beneath her helmet, her features tightened slightly when she looked upon the last of the pair, Muad, though she obviously did not know his name. She felt strong rage and violence emanate from him before he seemed to calm down, though she had not been close enough to hear the brief dialogue between him and Betna.


To her he seemed like a barely tamed predator or a wild fire that could easily spread out of control, but she did not malevolence and the Betnas seemed to trust him, given how he was accompanying their kid, so that was fine by her. Besides, the 'barely tamed predator' label could be applied to her as well. As for herself, she carried no weapon except a bolt pistol holstered on her thigh and her lighsabre on her belt, but then that weapon was more ceremonial than practical anyway for her. Still, she kept up her guard. After all, old habits died hard.


In any case, she crossed the distance separating her from the Mandalorians, addressing Betna first, while Muad was intimidating the Twi'lek who had been watching non-PG-13 things at the workplace. Truly inappropriate. So Siobhan shot the cowering manling an icy glare. Verily, he was deserving of punishment. She was not being hypocritical at all. "I see that one's very motivated. Hey, Betna, nice meeting you," she said in a friendly tone, before her eyes fell upon Mirshko, who seemed understandably unconfomfortable. "You're Mirshko, right, sweetie? I'm a friend of your mother's."

 

[Micah Talith]

The shop keeper had what Micah was looking for. However, he wasn't quick to let the Talith take it out of his hands. The haggling would definitely go underway, but it would end in a manner he didn't expect.

He would not only have to pay out of pocket but with his body too. Not in THAT kind of sense, you perverted kathhounds; but in exchange for working a day's worth to replace the shopkeepers regular miner of a small operation he had. He would be able to not only get the hyperdrive he wanted, but even some phrik as well.

A deal was made and hands shook on it -- err hand and claw?

One hour later would see the young teenager at the mines, stepping out of the speeder with a slight frown to his face. This was going to hurt, he'd muse, already well aware that his body was not going to be happy about the heavy labor. However, he had been well used to training with his uncle and father.

Might as well get some endurance and stamina training while he was at it. With that thought, he made his way into the mines, meeting up with the foreman that would tell him where exactly he was needed.

 

[Micah Talith]

Okay, it was one thing to train -- quite another to mine. There were muscles that he didn't even know he had that were protesting at the backbreaking job. He wondered then if he was the one getting the worse end of the deal. No wonder that shopkeeper easily countered with an suggestion at doing physical labor in exchange for a discount for the hyperdrive.

Four hours in, and he was already soaking in his own sweat. Dust, dirt, and sweat would intermingle, smeared across his now grubby cheeks and over the damp forelocks of his brow. His nose would twitch, and he would adjust the breathing mask given to him over his mouth and nose again.

In the back of his mind, he knew this was a good opportunity to get more knowledge on how mining worked and how he could use that for any future projects. Which he very well did. What he would learn here about the mining process would indeed help him out in another future mining expedition to Demonsgate. Every day was a learning opportunity.

This was today's.

 

[Micah Talith]

Most folk didn't realize that Phrik didn't come out of the ground as phrik. Phrik itself was a compound, made of phrikite. And phrikite... well was a gorram son of a sith to work with!

He now understood why most didn't enjoy having to deal with the ore; but the benefits and the boon one would get with the end product was well worth the effort. As one of the very few lightsaber resistant substances known in the galaxy, it was high in demand. Unfortunately, the ore was not so easily found. Roche Asteroids was one of less than a dozen worlds where it could be found. Extremely light and durable, the compound was fantastic when used in armor and melee weapons.

He had already used Phrik before for the forging and creation of his gauntlets. Maybe he would be able to use what bit he got today on another project? His mind would wander on the possibilities.

I could make a sword, he mused. Or maybe a helm...

 

[Micah Talith]

The rest of the day would pass relatively quicker. Maybe it was the hard labor, just makes the hours pass by like a whiz. By the end of it, he was tired, sweating and stinking to high heaven, but he was one hyperdrive and a respectable amount of phrik richer. With the deal set in place and paid in full, Micah was happy with the end results.

Not only did he have what he came for, but he also now had an idea for his next project. The sword could be made of songsteel; instead he would be using this phrik to craft a new helm. He was sure that Kai and his father would be able to help him, utilizing both their skills in tech and in electronic manipulation.

He fully wanted to utilize the Force imbuing techniques he was practicing as well as give it specific benefits. But that was all for another day. For now, he would have to take his loot and go back to the ship.

 

[Micah Talith]

A few days later would see the completion of his original idea.

His father and sister did help him in designing and crafting the final product. The helm would feature the relatively standard gadgets an fru fru, along with some advanced systems. The real work was in the forging, imbuing and the crafting of the phrik itself, in which Micah would utilize not only the benefits of imbuement, but of the use of two different types of crystals.

The first was in the utilization of Kasha crystal slivers embedded along the phrik itself. The Kasha crystal slivers were used throughout the forging process and embedded into the phrik to clear the mind of distractions in order to create a perfect meditation environment, helping to clear Micah's mind of distractions, even during tense combat.

On top of that, Micah used a coating of coating of Photosensitive microscopic crystals, which were small crystals that reflected the ambient colors of anything around it. This coating gave the suit camouflage properties and was extremely difficult to see. This coating, when applied to armor, could be turned on and off using electrical pulses, and much like his gauntlets, only Micah was able to do the same through the Force after attuning it to himself with a drop of his blood. Much like his shock gauntlets, there was also a layer of insulation to protect against electromagnetic pulses.

Imbuing the helm took him over a twenty-four hour period, and much like the Warden Cloak's he'd done to it before, he did the same here, imbuing the helm to mimic the Force ability known as Force Scattering. The helm has been permanently imbued by the Force using Jal Shey techniques to protect the wearer from being discerned through the Force. It does this by imprint his presence in the Force across a specific area, making it very difficult for another Force user to discern the wearer’s exact location by imprinting the wearer’s presence across a specific area.

Ultimately, this helm is an amalgam of what Force Imbuement and tech savvy can do when meshed together.

Yup, he'd muse to himself, definitely worth it.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Nice to meet you as well, Sio," Betna said with a tilt of his head towards the woman. He'd heard many things about Siobhan Kerrigan and, from the sounds of it, most of them were true. "Don't mind Muad too much. He's just a little... Protective, is all."

He, too, glanced at who could only be the quartermaster of the base here and cocked his head. He didn't really care what others did in their spare time and, to be fair, the Twi'lek had no idea children would even be nearby. However, Betna did believe that work was for work and so enjoying risque holos was off the table at a workplace. Beneath the helmet, Betna raised one eyebrow as he sized up the quatermaster.

"We're here for the Phrik order," he said bluntly. "Last name Betna. I was told it would be ready today."

The quartermaster scurried about checking datapads and computers to find the correct entry and the needed codes to finalize the sale.

"Uh, Betna... Right.... Um, one second, it's here somewhere..."

[member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Muad Dib"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Mirshko Betna]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Micah Talith"] [member="Muad Dib"]

Thankfully, Mirshko was distracted from the... inappropriate activities by the arrival of Siobhan. She sighed and then turned to smile up at the woman, though she was still slightly nervous, given the situation. She could sense faint ripples of irritation from Da. Nervously, she ground the toe of her boot into the decking and gave Sio a nod - she would have smiled but it's kinda hard to see a smile from under a visor, y'know? She smiled anyways. She always enjoyed meeting Mom's friends. They were all so ...interesting.

"Yeah, I'm MIrshko!" she said cheerfully, trying to distract herself from the happenings over at the desk by talking to t his new person. Way more interesting, anyways! She stepped towards Sio and reahed up to grip the woman's arm as Da had shown her how to do. She frowned slightly at the cane, but paid it no mind. Some injury, more than likely. She could hear Da talking to the man behind the counter, but otherwise ignored the guy. He shouldn't have been watching that stuff anyways. "Mom says you're a good friend of hers..." she said, before looking over at Da for a moment and then Muad. "Do you think.... maybe you could teach me some stuff?" She included Muad in this question mainly because she was curious what both could possibly teach her.

She knew the question was bold - and some might think her rude, but she didn't care. Sure, Mom was teaching her a lot of stuff. Da was too. But she was pretty sure the other two adults could teach her other things as well.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Mirshko Betna"], [member="Arrbi Betna"], [member="Muad Dib"]


Maybe the Twi'lek fellow had been treated a tad unfairly. In any case, the quartermaster hurried to do all the necessary work to get their phrik released. In the light of the fact that this thread has become quite long for a simple mining thread one assumed there'd be a lot of it!


Phrik was nice. Anyhow, while the quartermaster comprehended his place in things and did as he was told, Siobhan turned her attention to the adorable Mirshko, who would be a pirate princess soon and learn fun stuff such as mind control under the tutelage of a manipulative pirate lord. For her part, Siobhan liked kids. This had been a recent development but adopting Galina had given her a mum complex. She had even stopped smoking all the time!


"Of course I can, sweetie," she said brightly, flashing the little Betna a smile. She did not consider the question rude. "If your parents don't mind." Always good to remember them. Siobhan was trying to be a bit more tactful these days. "You've got the Force, haven't you, like your mother? How far have you progressed with it now?" she asked, not in a patronising manner, simply needing information. "I'm very good at telekinesis, defensive techniques, and guns obviously." No false modesty there. Well, by her standards she was being modest.