Harry Potter and the Damaged Battlecruiser

[Cathul Thuku]

Lujo. After a battle against the Dominion, who used a terrifying new weapon, against which another equally terrifying weapon was used, the Volksgrenadier MIRV missile, some repairs had to be effected on the ANS Excubitor, especially to the bow. To her, ships must outclass the enemies 1-on-1, and she seems fond of the sort of things the Galactic Alliance of 240 ABY favored, and in particular the infamous "Eight-Eight Fleet", that is, a fleet built around eight battlecruisers and eight supercarriers. She would think that her vision of naval doctrine would mean Therapy Command would mostly act as a "fleet-in-being", that is, its mere presence would make enemies hesitant to press the attack, especially with its two heavy units. Now, with [member="Siriwook"] being interested in being Cathul's apprentice, this marked a turn for the better for training padawans; whereas in Mando-land, she found it very, very difficult to get Padawans, even on Azure, in Alliance-land, while so many still wanted to be lightsaber-heavy, at least they would be able to acknowledge that there has to be someone with the brains, and it seemed.

"Why did you have the shuttle send for this Wookiee?" the chief medical officer asked. dubious of why.

"Who is she anyway?" the chief engineer asked.

"I'll never understand Jedi: the admiral used to be a healer" the first officer of the Excubitor was suspecting.

"Admiral, your apprentice has arrived" the communications officer announced.

"Good, I'll train her in a few more spells"

 

[Siriwook]

[member="Cathul Thuku"] is waiting for her. Siriwook knows this. But... how will they communicate? Siriwook tries just greeting her... mistress?

"Wyaaaaaa~ [Hello?]"

Seeing the Twi'lek, Siriwook bends at the knee. She has seen young Trandoshan hunters do this sometimes to their elders when they didn't know she was watching. It is a sign of respect, she thinks.

"Augh. Aruuuuu Awaugh. [What do you need me to do?]" Even as she speaks the words, the voice of hope within tells her to look up, not at the floor. Schematics. Ship damage reports.

"Ruaghhhhh. Wyarghruuaghhh. Wyaaruu. Hruuu? Yarooough? Ruuuuuuu. Ruru. [The front skin. The... hull? On the... bow? Feels... broken.]"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

The only time where Therapy Command actually acted as a fleet-in-being, was over Inysh during the Atrisia Campaign. Even though the main component that made Therapy Command an effective fleet-in-being, the battlecruiser, was taken out of action for further refits, a 2000m carrier with 10 squadrons and the ability to engage virtually any ship its size without having to rely on its attack craft was just a terrifying sight to behold to anything the Dominion could have thrown at Therapy Command. But the battlecruiser was an object of a running gag among the Alliance Navy, where they will always be question as to whether it can actually counter the Darr Itah as intended for an attack on the First Order. With that being said, she brought her apprentice to a damaged section of the bow with the shields being up in orbit to prevent air from venting outside until the damage control can be effected.

"Today you will learn three spells. See this rivet? Try to put the rivet into the hole without touching it"

[member="Siriwook"]

 

[Siriwook]

"Today you will learn three spells. See this rivet? Try to put the rivet into the hole without touching it"

Siriwook looked at the rivet. She looked at the Twi'lek. Then the hole. First she tried blowing on the rivet, but she was out of breath before long. Then she looked around for some tools.

"Wooooaruuuuu? [Using magnets?]" something in the Twi'lek's instructions made her second guess this. "Rurururu [Uhh... just kidding]"

The voice-of-hope, that inner guide that sometimes spoke to her, made a suggestion.

"[Use the Force!]"

Siriwook jumped. The inner voice had never yelled at her before. But she didn't know what it meant.
First, she tried imagining how the rivet was feeling and asked it in her mind if it was lonely and wanted to go into the hole. As she did, she noticed two things. First, the rivet didn't have feelings. Second, there were little wisps of something around the rivet and the hole. They felt like lines... or waves... almost like Siriwook felt when she swam. She could always tell when something was in the water near her, even in the dark. It was like when she was being chased through the jungle and she chose to move one way instead of another because it just felt like the right way.

But these were all about moving herself and things moving toward her. Could she really cause something else to move? She felt curious. She decided to go with this feeling of being in a liquid. If she couldn't touch the rivet, could she touch that fluid to push it?

Apparently impatient, the voice-of-hope-within did something it never had before. It... did something. She wanted it to move the rivet and it moved the rivet. It wiggled. As it did, Siriwook felt like she'd touched it. It felt like cheating. As if she was bigger than herself and just touched it with an invisible hand. With this hand, she scooped it up. This had never happened before, and she let out a gleeful wookiee chortle. The metal seemed unmoored from gravity. She felt it bob and weave its way around the room. Forgetting all about the bolthole for a moment, she reveled in girlish delight. The voice-of-hope-within spoke to her again.

"[Into the rivet-hole! You're here to help, not play!]"

Startled, she dropped the rivet onto her own head.

"Ruuuuuuuuruuuuu. Aughruuuu. Ruuuargh. [No! I touched it! I failed....]"

Siriwook began to cry. "Arughh! Arughhhargh. [Please, Mistress--let me try again!]"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Yes, do try again. You must fully concentrate in what you want to use the Force for, when you use it"

While she saw the Wookiee lose focus in putting the rivet inside the hole, and crying as a result, elsewhere on the ship, there were additional turrets being brought online. Two more heavy turrets comprising 6 tubes of heavy turbolasers, while three more turrets containing triple rapid-fire turbolasers were being installed as well. At this point it was all about the weapons. Cathul wanted to use the Procurator-X counter the Darr Itah, she needed heavy, very heavy firepower to do so. At least 2500 turbolaser equivalents were required in non-missile weaponry. The crews of Therapy Command were a little unhappy about its commanding officer having to train two Force-sensitives at once, and none of these had no desire to assume much in terms of naval responsibilities. At this point, one of the engineers relayed to Cathul the status of the newly-installed hardpoints as she watched the Wookiee try again to place the rivet inside the hole.

"Admiral, there seems to be a defective turret, aft turret #8"

"Anything wrong about the turret?"

"Two tubes seem to be defective"

"Roger"

[member="Siriwook"]

 

[Siriwook]

Siriwook stopped crying. She understood. This was life-or-death.

"Wyaruagh.Ruagh.Wyaaaaa. [So I will act and preserve life.]"

Siriwook lifted the rivet, concentrating on keeping its movements straight. Though there was very little wobble, she knew that any deviation from the direction of the rivet from the opening of the rivet hole would cause it to bounce away. This reminded her of her bowcaster rifle, the time she'd tried to use it to shoot the stem of a fruit and hit the fruit instead, ruining it.

Oddly, she found that, once she'd changed directions toward the rivet hole, moving the rivet faster resulted in less wobble. Almost as if the Force knew what she was trying to do. But, of course it knew.

"[Because the Force is part of you]" said the voice-of-hope-within. This time, Siriwook was not startled by the voice. It sounded as it always had--encouraging, helping, guiding. She pushed the rivet straight at the hole, perhaps a little too roughly, as it let out a loud,

"PING!"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Much better. Here, attach the second rivet into the second hole, and then we can move on to the next spell"

Holding durasteel beams together was something that required two rivets, not just one. Welding said rivets would be for the next spell: pyrokinesis. While adding additional hardpoints, tractor beam or heavy ion cannon, on the broadside is hard work, fixing fautly turrets was just as hard, and best left to other staff. They had a cache of components in the main hangar knowing that it wasn't time for expanding the hangar of the ship. The first rivet might have been a little rough but she knew better than to expect the first rivet to be fitted in without it being too rough. A normal damage control technician, droid or organic, would probably use a hydrospanner rather than the Force to achieve said result; here Cathul preferred to use it as an opportunity to train her apprentice in the Force. Because she knew that, for whatever reason, Geloyra was still on Inysh, Cathul concentrated in training the Wookiee. She knew what to expect from apprentices in their early stages of witchcraft training.

[member="Siriwook"]

 

[Siriwook]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

"Aruagh raaaghaa ruwaaa arugh... ruuuu [Maybe I should just float a spanner up this time... kidding]"

A spanner, at least, was something familiar to her. Wookiee parents gave their children safe versions of tools to play with from a young age, then another set made for children's hands after that. If she'd stayed on Kashyk another year, she'd have graduated to adult-sized tools. There was a reason Wookiees lead the galaxy in engineering, and it wasn't genetics. Maintaining the platforms and walkways in the Wroshyr trees was the responsibility of every Wookiee in the village. Their lives depended on it. Depend on it.... Kashyk is still there.

Siriwook thinks, briefly, about returning to Kashyk. But how can she? She has no doubt that her family will be there to accept her, but will she ever be one of them again? Besides being gone for most of her life, she was also attuned to the Force. She'd be alone, and way behind in engineering compared to her peers.... Siriwook shakes off the reverie. This is not the time.

Siriwook lifts the second rivet and moves it forward much more gently. Too gently. She laughs as the rivet slides all around the hole before finally finding its way in. However, though it is in, it is not fully inserted. Siriwook stares at the rivet, trying to squeeze it in. The harder she pushes, the more the rivet vibrates. After a while, the furious vibration gains in speed. The sound is terrible. Ultimately, it vibrates itself out of the hole. Siriwook catches it again, but doesn't immediately try putting the rivet in again. Instead, she thinks about the hole.

"Ruaghru arugh wyaaaru? [What is stopping the rivet?]" Siriwook pictures the inside of the hole. She sees in her mind the outline of something in the hole. She pulls on it. Somehow, a loose screw has fallen into the hole. She tries to hold the rivet steady as she pulls out the screw. The screw, predictably, flies toward her head. She stops it before it can hit her, however, and drops it to the floor. The rivet, she pushes in, harder than she'd first intended.

The PING is not quite as loud as the previous one had been. Siriwook seems pleased with herself.

"Ruaaaggh wyaaaaaraaa raaraawaagh rawoo? [Is it time to weld the rivets?]"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"That's what the second spell is for: welding. With pyrokinesis, you can use fire to do a lot of different things: at your level, it is best used for cooking or welding"

Cathul found it deeply hilarious that it took so many tries to get each rivet inside the hole, but then again the Wookiee was a beginner as a Force-user. While the subject of the repairs of the Excubitor was heavy on her mind, she realized that it might be dangerous to let a beginner use pyrokinesis for damage control. But better train the witch in casting a spell while doing actual stuff she would be using the spell for, she thought. Amused by the show of hilarity that ensues from the attempt at putting both rivets inside the intended holes with the Force, she braces herself for more hilarity. This time around, more damage control technicians are watching as they edge closer to the witch duet. Cathul was embarrassed, and she hoped that Siriwook would succeed despite so many among the damage control crews hoping that she would fail. Hopefulyl the Wookiee's attempt at using pyrokinesis would not be on the next episode of Hilarious Accidents.

"Now, use the Force and visualize the flame around one of the rivets you just inserted"

[member="Siriwook"]

 

[Siriwook]

Siriwook stares at the rivets. The task reminds her of starting a fire on Wasskah. She would normally use fuel, air, and heat generated by friction to start fires. But, now, she is to use the Force. She is reminded how, just a moment ago, she had vibrated the rivet. Siriwook is aware, by looking closely at the rivets with the force, that they are made of many tiny things, bouncing off one another. And, in things that were hotter, there is more bouncing--more vibrating. The obvious thing to do seems to make the rivets vibrate. But not as a unit, causing them to pop out, but as these tiny things--bouncing together.

Siriwook concentrates on getting the tiny things--"[atoms]", the voice-of-hope-within supplied--to vibrate and bounce against one another.

She starts with one of the rivets, but then thinks, if she is just vibrating these... atoms..., why not vibrate both sets at the same time?

This takes much more concentration than her previous task. Siriwook can tell this will take a lot out of her. Perhaps it is for the best she vibrates both sets at once, because she'll probably expend a lot of energy getting these rivets hot enough to weld in.

Siriwook excites the atoms. At first, she imagines she struggles with getting them to move in different directions so they don't cause the rivets to fall out. After a while, however, she realizes that getting them to move in unregulated directions is actually easier than getting them all to move in the same direction. The atoms want to be excited and bounce around, she thinks. As they become excited, the metal in both begin to glow. It begins in the infrared spectrum and gets more and more energetic. Siriwook is not going to play with fire, however, by letting them get hot enough to melt out of the holes. So, when they are malleable enough, she stops vibrating them and uses the force to smoosh the heads of the rivets.

It isn't until this is done that she realizes she's been sweating rivets. Siriwook lets out a held breath.

"Woorgh [Done]"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"You're drained after using pyrokinesis. Tomorrow you will learn the third and final spell in the agenda"

While the repairs on the new hardpoints are being made, the exhausted Wookiee witch is escorted back to her quarters so that she would be rested for tomorrow's final lesson in witchcraft. Better have a rested witch so that she is actually able to use the spell I want her to learn; plus, as with Force-healing, it's easier to keep the limitations in mind if you learn the spell early, she thought. At least she was lucky not to be laughed at for attemtping to weld the with the Force. Oh, sure, the witch initiate has almost no knowledge of engineering, and Cathul only had a knowledge of engineering as it pertains to the functionality of ships. No, she couldn't design ship components the way Jessica could, but that's fine to her: there will always be other people to design ship components. While her patients, back in the day, readily talked about how the equipment contributed to either their successes or their failures, they seldom talked about equipment defects beyond their tactical implications.

"Or perhaps you would like to continue the work around here but using tools rather than the Force?"

[member="Siriwook"]

 

[Siriwook]

Siriwook lets out what she hopes is not a disrespectful sigh of relief. Between playing with the rivets and melting them with the force, Siriwook is definitely exhausted. Also, she is thinking of the cache of fruits she stole--or, rather, the bait she took--from the last band of Trandoshan hunter-slavers from whom she'd escaped with the help of that nice Mandalorian lady and her fairy companion. She'd hidden them carefully on her Y2K freighter.

While it might not be very wookieelike to turn down a chance to use tools, Siriwook can't stop thinking about the fruits. She knows they'll keep, but, docked to an unknown vessel, who knows what might happen to them? She looks around the quarters for places someone might have hidden food.

"Wraaahrrryr-ru ra, rura. Au ra, Woowoora? [There are no trees here. How does anyone eat, Mistress?]"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"I understand Wasskah or Kashyyyk are forest worlds, and that, as a Wookiee, you expect food to come from trees. But many species grow food on other planets, like Chandrila or Dulvoyinn, and have entire fields devoted to either growing plants, like cereal, vegetables, fungi, fruits and nuts, or breeding livestock. Onboard ships, food is stored in kitchens, and is loaded into the kitchens when the ship is resupplying"

With nearby Dulvoyinn now producing Pizza Hutt products, the GA Navy had supplies of Pizza Hutt food to last through a few months in space. Yes, her apprentice was hungry, yes, she wanted to eat. And, of course, the refitting work continued onboard while the agenda was for the battlecruiser to be fitted with many squadrons, hardpoints, missile launchers and whatnot. It was going to be a massive ship, to be deployed as a deterrent, a fleet-in-being even, more so than a ship that will see actual warfare. Cathul knew that Mateuses and other ships in that size category, will see more action than battlecruisers would, despite being 2/3 the size of the Excubitor: Hakassi and Inysh were the sorties of the ANS Hero of Coruscant, which was suspected, especially in SJ-land, to actually be the very ship the Butcher of Korriban used for a flagship on Korriban, just refitted with more weapons.

"Ships resupply when they run low on fuel or food, and they drop out of hyperspace to be resupplied on station. You want to go to the kitchen to eat?"

[member="Siriwook"]

 

[Siriwook]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

Siriwook looks embarrassed. She is ignorant of so many things. At times, it feels like she knows nothing. She wonders what her mistress thinks of her.

But, she imagines, this is what the space people must feel when they are stranded in a jungle. She smiles at her mistress. Her mistress knows where they hide the food they take from the plant-planets and is offering to share her stash. Not just her stash--but the stash of everyone on board. Siriwook tries to imagine everyone eating from the same food stash. Sharing, she thinks it's called. Sharing feels good. Siriwook has never felt this feeling before. Or, if she has, it has been a long time, from before she became a captive.

Suddenly, she remembers her mistress has better things to do than babysit a teenaged wookiee. Guilt crosses her brow. Siriwook should find the stash on her own. And, in fact, she thinks she can smell the way.

"Augggh waa hraayyy. Hrraaaagh hghrooo, Woowooraaaa. [I'll find it. Thank you, Mistress.]"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"That's all right, everyone goes through those phases where they know nothing"

"Admiral, the newest heavy ion cannon turrets, tractor beams, and the aft turbolasers are fully operational, installing the next batch of superstructure turrets and of tractor beams"

"Good"

And likewise, while she knew Wookiees were living in forest worlds such as Kashyyyk and Wasskah, she never had a chance to see a Wookiee's smelling out its way to the galleys, which technically referred to not only the kitchen but also the dining rooms. And, to serve a crew numbering in the tens of thousands, there needed to be cooks around the clock, and people mustn't come to the galleys all at once. It might be unpleasant to run such a ship, but the necessities of running a ship with such a large crew and limited space made it such that this flying city is required not to have everyone eat at the same time, and not just because of the necessity of having multiple shifts onboard, or even the kitchen crew requiring to eat, too. But she was correct, too, in saying that Force-using admirals of any grade had better things to do than look after teenaged apprentices onboard their flagships.

[member="Siriwook"]

 

[Siriwook]

Taking care to bring a sack with her, Siriwook carefully smells out the way to the food. This is more complicated than it sounds, as there are filtration and recycling systems for the air. Instead, she smells for the sweat, dander, scales, skin dust, breath exhalations, and other trace indicators of people who were hungry and determined. These lead to other trails, which lead still to others. Before long, she finds her way to a place of eating and gathering. Siriwook can't decide whether to start eating now or to hide as much food as she can in case the ship decides to change its mind about sharing. Ultimately, however, she decides to trust what she heard... hoping her trust is not misplaced. Walking to the place the food seems distributed expectantly, Siriwook feels her heart leap with anticipation. She could not remember the last time someone had cooked for her.

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Cathul knew that her apprentice would be coming for the galleys. While the third and final spell in the agenda had something to do with the kitchens, the Wookiee was hungry, and, as she has witnessed on Inysh, a hungry Wookiee is a grumpy Wookiee. Plus she was definitely exhausted and she wanted to eat before going to bed. The white Twi'lek could feel that her apprentice knew what atoms were, and how does that fit into pyro/cryokinesis. Sure she wouldn't explicitlyknow about root-mean-square speeds (rotational or translational), or vibrational frequencies, and these quantities' relationships to temperature, but at least she has an idea of what pyro/cryokinesis does to the target. Once you're fully rested, Wookiee apprentice, you should go back to the inside of the kitchen: the last spell for this training sequence is best trained in the kitchen, she thought, hoping that [member="Siriwook"] will get the message in the Force. That being said, Cathul goes to the galley herself, spotting her apprentice in it, as she was about to place her order.

"Admiral, you have come to eat? Plus, who is this furball?"

"Yes, a set of six Gardulla breadsticks please. As for the being you call a furball, she's my padawan: my other padawan is stationed on Inysh"

 

[Siriwook]

Siriwook, still oblivious to the connotations of furball, beams at the endearing nickname.

"Wyaaaaaaaaaaaara~ [Pleased to make your acquaintance]" Siriwook is unsure how these creatures greeted one another, but she has seen a few humans touch their hands to their heads with a raised, bent elbow, their palms parallel to the floor, as if shading their eyes from the sun. She repeats this gesture, hoping she is doing it correctly.

"Hruuugh rrrriiiiigh awa ghuagh. Agh-uh. [Fruit, please, and nuts, thank you]" she asks, guiltily.

Siriwook can hear something buzzing in her mind, like the voice of hope within, but, being unused to such contact, she doesn't quite know what it is saying.

As Siriwook is watched, closely, she chooses not to horde the food, but it is definitely on her mind. Rationally, she knows they probably won't run out soon, but she is more than her rational mind. Her years of living hand-to-mouth on jungle fare, many times going without food for days, still haunts her. Perhaps one handful of nuts, in case she needs the energy later....

Siriwook resists the urge to begin eating as soon as she receives her food. She can sense she is being examined closely, by many in the room. However, having no table manners, the meal is over quickly. She manages not to waste any food, so there aren't crumbs, but she hardly takes her time. Embarrassed by her own lack of restraint, and energized by the meal, she considers staying up to get in one last lesson before bed.

Yes.... Now that she's fed, she thinks she can understand what the buzzing voice was saying. She should... go to the... kitchen?

Siriwook carefully cleans up her camp--seat--as she has practiced every day for almost twelve years to leave no trace for hunters and walks back to the kitchen. On her way back, she notices a large pile of food scraps was abandoned behind a chute--obviously a trap, so she won't investigate directly, but she listens carefully beside the chute. Sure enough, she thinks she can hear a dianoga below. Siriwook hopes it is well-fed.

It's a short walk from the dining room to the kitchens. Siriwook is overwhelmed by the smells around her and briefly reconsiders her intention not to horde food. "[Resist]" says the voice-of-hope-within. Siriwook obeys.

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

While [member="Siriwook"] got some fruit and nuts, and ate them much faster than Cathul would ever had the chance to eat her six breadsticks, she could forgive her apprentice for eating so quickly. Sure, proper respect for etiquette and protocol may be important if she was called upon for high-level diplomatic talks, but Cathul mostly saw a witch doctor in her apprentice. Ambassador and Diplomat specializations were for people who didn't have much of a command of the Force, or of a lightsaber, but nevertheless had great people skills and some brains. Force-scholars were often Force-users that had brains but limited command of the Force and whose people skills may be limited. Brutes, Snipers are often more for people who had little going for them intellectually and with the Force but had some combat skills on the ground, and it would seem that nearly every Mando Jedi were Brutes or Snipers. Once Cathul finished her meal, with the other occupants of the dining room not realizing that their commander was eating at the same time as they were, she was going to the kitchen, where her apprentice waited. She summoned a bowl of powder which would become ice cream once cryokinesis was applied on it.

"The third spell for today is cryokinesis. After you have learned what cryokinesis is, you can go to sleep"

Meanwhile, the crewmen assigned to the installation of these heavy ion cannon turrets were also coming to the dining room. Probably decided to have it forward-mounted by some external source, she thought, while pondering why exactly these weapons are forward-mounted.

 

[Siriwook]

Siriwook looks suspiciously at the bucket of slime. She can smell that it has probably come from the mother of some creature, wondering why it must be frozen. Perhaps the space people need to save some for winter. Why? Is the mother sick? It smelled sweet. Could the creature be a diabetic? Will the poor babies be unable to eat while they are too young to be weaned? Siriwook decides this is too sad to allow. She remembers how her mother used to keep her warm in the winter. But she mustn't get distracted.

She begins by doing the same thing she did with the rivets, but in reverse. She will need to slow the atoms down. But how?

Last time, she was trying to get the atoms to bounce more together, to excite them. This time, they need more space--less bouncing. She'll give them some room. But how can she do that without blowing up the bucket, and possibly the room?

Siriwook thinks back to the dining room. Some of the food was way too hot to eat. People were blowing on their food. But Siriwook is warmer than the slime already. She thinks some more and decides she can pull the heat away by pulling away the air. But air is much faster than even the atoms in the slime. And if she pulls out some, more will just go where it was. If only there were a box that would pump out the air--that would be perfect. Things inside would become colder--maybe even ice. But constructing an ice box is not the lesson.

Finally, she has an idea. She doesn't have to stop all of the atoms of the slime from moving. Just little bunches of them. Like ice. She remembers ice. Ice is cold. It makes other things cold. Siriwook concentrated on stopping little sections at a time from moving. The smaller the section, the easier this is. Something peculiar happens as she does this. The energy of the atoms transfers to the surrounding atoms. This will not do.

But, in noticing this, Siriwook wonders about this energy. Could she direct where it goes? And, if so, why can't she just move the energy of the slime out? The air around Siriwook's hands and the slime glows faintly as the energy of the slime, and the container that holds the slime, and the air above it, moves out and becomes light. As she does this, she moves the newly-frozen parts of the slime down, allowing the warmer slime to come up (and Siriwook to repeat the process).

"Ayyyywm, woowoo [Bye, energy!]" Siriwook wonders if the energy is going back to the Force.