Private Mandalorian Mechanical Mistresses Mingle

[Alora Vizsla]

Robotics Bay / Cybernetics Lab, Gambit
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A black ship just over two hundred feet long sat on a landing pad with a few crates scattered about the walkway. It was an unassuming vessel when viewed from above, and easily overlooked unless you looked out a window because of its sensor-masking frame; which was why there was a beaconing unit set up nearby telling people not to try landing on what might seem like a vacant platform. Some people tried bypassing ground control. Alora didn't like unexpected visits, and those pilots hated when she started shooting their ship to warn them off.

Especially when Alora had taken to stringing up a hammock for a little relaxation on a day with a light breeze and just the right amount of warmth. The young Mandalorian woman stretched out on the suspended perch strung up over the ramp leading into her ship, helmet nestled in the crook of her arm. Sometimes it really was worth taking a little time to do nothing at all.

Time passed and then there was a soft clearing of a throat nearby. Alora's dark eyes slid open and her colorfully maned head turned so she could see who was there. Looked like a big guy in polished armor carrying a case. Oh, sparkles! The hammock rolled as its occupant slipped free with her feet hitting the ground first. A practiced swing of the arm left her helmet behind for her to retrieve in a few moments. No need to conceal her identity here, after all.

Soon her eyes scanned over the chips contained within the case popped open for her review. A smile spread over her brightly colored lips. The latest Ziffenfwalen C9s. They'd go great on a number of cyberware devices or gizmos Alora had in mind to build in her free time.

Her left hand idly swung upward with a remote in hand to deactivate the portable turret that'd been tending a few nearby crates. Meanwhile she shut the lid with her right hand and swept the case from atop a large box. "Everything's in order, so here's the merchandise you ordered in exchange. All in top condition, of course." After all, no one saw her ship leave the scene of the crime as it were. Everything arrived intact when you weren't swatted about the cosmos by much larger vessels and their mega-beams.

Alora waved at the man and his droid that carted the crates off on a loading palette. Another successful transaction. Who needed credits when you had top-end chips like these in hand? The entire exchange should have been considered a crime just how well she'd made off! Not that a lot of other Mandalorians would understand. Not until they needed some high-end replacements parts because they ran off to tackle some thirty-foot tall hairy monstrosity. Lost an arm, you don't say? Why hadn't Alora ever taken to such an exciting and perilous lifestyle?

Maybe now was a good time to get back to 'work.' Alora turned halfway around to eye the hammock.

Tag: Mia Mereel​

 

[Mia Mereel]

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Planet: Tor Valum, The Last Mandalorian City | Kestri
Place: Robotics Bay / Cybernetics Lab, Gambit
Equipment: From CS
Tag: [ Zlova Rue ]

Rumor and reputation led Mia to the landing field, and the slip of a truly exquisite VT-88 Stealth Light Corvette. Such grace! Such speed! And so bloody well designed it needed a beacon to keep other ships from squashing it by landing atop it. The the sensors alone were phenomenal, and Mia spent a bit of time trying to get the scanners in her Cybernetic eye believe either they, or the ship was there. Despite the temptation of the blatant challenge, she did not initiate a friendly cyberwar to see if she could hack it. Still, her smile flared, as she walked around the 200 ft long craft. So sleek, utterly streamlined. A lot of craft - like the Echoyl’a Sun - could function in atmosphere, but at a cost of either raw power or maneuverability. But every upgrade possible seemed to have been added to make the exquisite craft as deadly in atmosphere as out. A classical Hypermater Annihilation Reactor was beautifully maintained. Mia longed to take a longer, deeper look at it, but people tended to get tetchy if you crawled all over their ship the first time you met.

Next time, she promised herself.

A guardian turret, powered down, stood guard over the ship and a swinging hammock draped across the ramp to the ship. Mia’s dimples flared. A lovely hair that started a vibrant, downy white at the crown and ended in deep violet tips at the jawline framed a face that just couldn’t be that much older than Mia.

Even if she was several inches taller.

Mia’s gaze danced over the sleek, custom armor the lady wore, and a soft whistle escaped. “Gorgeous armor! And is that Phrik?”

Her own armor was anything but standard Mandalorian, despite the Iron Heart nestled on her chest, the Mythosaur skull on her shoulder, and the Clan Fett earrings. A kimono-style tunic made of Fleuéline Weave embroidered in elegant microcircuitry was over a worn over a custom woven-Nanosilk flight-suit. The silk-and-leather garment flared around her ankles, clearly moving to forces other than the soft breeze. Gloves concealed her hands and arms, and high boots clicked delightfully, rather than with the menace of proper combat boots.

A tracery of well healed scars lightly shaped her face, evidence of extensive cyberware and surgical repairs. Elaborate make-up hid from casual view that her eyes was cybernetic - but an expert would likely recognize the too-symmetrical appearance.

“Ah! Sorry! I’m Mia Mereel; delighted to meet you!”

 

[Alora Vizsla]

Alora blinked and swung her head around to look at Mia as though the other woman suddenly appeared. Her left arm rose as her honeyed eyes bounced off of it and back up to the sudden guest with a sharp eye. "It is," she replied in good cheer. A smile graced her lightly colored lips.

Mia was certainly an eyeful too. Starting with the obvious -- practically all any would comment on -- the woman's outfit. Looked like it was made out of an armor weave of some kind, but it was shaped in a curious way. Not a shirt or a jacket. More like a robe. There weren't many species walking around dressed in robes, but Alora knew of a few. Strange to find someone like that here in Beskar 'R' Us.

And that was the end of the 'obvious.' Now for the exciting stuff. Embedded circuitry, concealed cyber-organic joints, and radiant energy casting a glow about a woman invested in her own art. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Alora thought she'd fallen in love.

Case still in her right hand, the metal-adorned Alora Vizsla suddenly began dancing on the balls of her feet straight toward Mia. Not a feat just anyone in a full suit of metal armor could pull off. Full plate was suppose to be restrictive, cumbersome, and certainly not worn when skipping toward someone like a child set free in a candy store. "Ooh, manda. I'm Alora Vizsla, operator of the Gambit, proprietor of Wanderlust Wares, and someone that is so excited to meet a fellow cyberneticist." Alora's eyes were off center as they shifted from right to left to inspect Mia's face as the distance between them shrank. Likewise, being in such close proximity, Mia might find something peculiar about her excited companion; though it wasn't the same as Mia herself. There wasn't an unnatural symmetry or indications of 'joint' lines.

Soon as the intro was covered, however, her eyes fixed on those of Mia. The eyes! Oh not entirely organic either. Yes, yes, Alora was so happy. "How did you find me? I mean, I'm glad you did. And today of all days." Alora's right hand lifted to indicate the case she held. "Just procured some new top of the line chips. Low end stuff is great for prototyping, but I don't believe in cutting corners." Could Mia have known about the exchange and come here to steal them? Maybe. Could Mia have known and come here hoping to get one? Maybe. Could Mia just be there because the flow of the galaxy put her there? Maybe. And none of it mattered. Alora was happy to meet people, and if Mia was half as interested in cyberware as Alora believed, this was going to be a great conversation.

Tag: Mia Mereel​

 

[Mia Mereel]

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LOCATION: Tor Valum, The Last Mandalorian City | Kestri
Objective: Robotics Bay / Cybernetics Lab, Gambit
Equipment: From CS
Tag: [ Alora Vizsla ]

“Ooh, you have such lovely eyes!” Mia’s nose crinkled in delight as Alora Vizsla danced over to her in that marvelous armor. So smoothly, so flawlessly. Mia laughed, dancing back wards, beckoning Alora after her just just to watch Alora move; leaping over crates, leading a dizzying romp around the area. Her Cybersuite let her move backwards, so she could watch her new friend the whole time. Consumed by curiosity, she soon enough stepped close so she could really, truly see her. “That armor should not move that way; how did you make those joints? And it’s so quiet! Bodyglove or body enchantments?” Dimples flared at Alora’s pure, exquisite delight in meeting her; something bruised lifted in Mia’s spirits. There was nothing, nothing at all, as good as feeling like you were both seen and adored.

“Me too! Thrilled to meet a fellow cyberneticist, I mean! I’m mostly self taught, or picked things up here and there. I studied computers, hard to learn cybernetics from remote learning. How about you?” There was nothing at all visible; no joint line, no scarring, no subtle noise. Yet … yet, Alora moved so flawlessly; idealized grace given form. More than human, one way or another.

“I found you through Wanderlust Wares! You are on all the shadow sites; every one I spoke with directed me to you. I had this bad day with some droids, a passel of Nexu and a few Bryn’adul.” Another bright laugh escaped, as the two spoke around and over each other, but it didn’t matter because cybernetics sorted it and stored it, the heuristic programing feeding it back to her as needed. “Why today —- oh! New chips? What came in?” Eyes gleamed with delight, and she locked her hands together to keep from peeking in the box. Surely passive sensors were fine. What about active? Would that be rude on a first meeting? “We don’t see much new Te-… Well, didn’t I guess! Between you and Mr. Armor. But really, we didn’t see much new tech until all of this,” Her hand gestured to indicate the Enclave.

“Have you been here long?”

 

[Alora Vizsla]

Alora followed Mia as the woman stepped back to draw her further along. A trap? That's what ears and eyes and a fully functional brain were for! You saw a trap spring and then you evaded it. Because when there wasn't a trap there was human interaction, and that was worth the risk. Usually. Except with Hutts or Bryn.

A giggle followed the first round of questions. "Definitely a bodyglove. Thermal regulation and anti-chaffing are a must in every armor. I also have some exceptionally fine machinery on-board. Usually for building cyberware, but for the small stuff to be useful you need to construct frameworks and housings. Though when I want to show off with an ancient forge and hammer I have to visit one of my friends off world." Like, using an actual forge, anvil, and hammer was totally flexing on people. Use a machine to make the same or better quality? Why do that when you can spend ten times longer sweating off eight pounds of water beating metal into shape? Though it was pretty cool to watch masters in that art work. Lots of skill, patience, and discipline involved.

"Like, if you want I got some nano-gel that might help with any armor you have," Alora offered with a smile. Mia had armor, right? Other than the robe? Right?

Back on topic! Cybernetics. There was something Alora could go on for days. "Self-taught?" Her voice rose in pitch and volume at the news. "That's impressive. So many different fields come together to make it all possible and it's so unforgiving." Really was an accomplishment that Mia managed such a feat. Like, the other woman must have been exceptionally gifted. "I, uh, was an apprentice in a remote lab. Old Caretaker made some wares without anyone knowing where it all came from. When I found them we kind of fell in together, and they started teaching me all about it."

Honeyed brown eyes blinked at the news. "Really? I hadn't realized I had such a following," Alora gushed. "I should throw another corporate bash. You know -- music, dance, free liquor, swag." It was always nice to hear people had good things to say. Of course, they'd better. Wanderlust didn't put out mass-produced junkware. The prices reflected it, of course, but when Alora gave a guarantee on a product she meant it. Also meant she was careful what guarantees she gave, but there wasn't fine print legalese nonsense involved.

But the chips! "Just got some Ziffenfwalen C9s. They're new to market, but I knew a guy that knew a gal... You know how that goes." Alora stepped over to a nearby rail where she could pop the case open and show Mia the merchandise.

What Mia said draw Alora's attention from the chips. They didn't see much tech until the Enclave? Was Mia a native? "Not really. Just got here myself not too long ago. Was wandering the Core until I heard about Mandalorians gathering together. While I was making plenty of credits, I thought it'd be nice to be among the Clans again. Haven't made a lot of friends yet. They just need time to realize the use of a good scout and cyberneticist." Another giggle followed the declaration.

"How about you, Mia? Did you really learn about cybernetics recently or is it just new tech that's, well, new around here?" Because where she grew up was interesting, but if the woman was self-taught in only like a year or something that'd be mind-blowing.

Tag: Mia Mereel

 

[Mia Mereel]

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LOCATION: Tor Valum, The Last Mandalorian City | Kestri
Objective: Robotics Bay / Cybernetics Lab, Gambit
Equipment: From CS
Tag: [ Alora Vizsla ]

Alora had a sense of fun and zest that was rare amongst Mandalorians. How had this amazing woman come to be here? How had the Vizsla outlaw tech made such amazing armor? Mia was dying to know. And thankfully for Mia’s life-expectancy, Alora answered questions readily. Even so, the mention of a body glove made Mia’s nose wrinkle, though the subsequent banter about hammer-and-forge brought forth a gurgle of laughter. “Chaffing, agh. I hate armor; so heavy and awkward. That’s brilliant, that you use Cyberware jointing in your suit!” and bloody expensive. But then, everyone said Wanderlust Wares was the best. “They’ve a huge forge here, but they do control access.” Angling her head to the side, Mia tried to visualize Alora swinging a hammer.

Nano gel! Mia folded her arms across her chest and said firmly, “Haar’chak! This is armor. It just isn’t blasted Beskar’gam. Watch!” Breath huffed out, and she spread her arms …. And the odd robe wrapped around her, Flexicris Mask and Rebreather revealed to have been hidden in the long fold of cloth so elegant draped along her shoulders. A moment later, and it all swirled around her in elegant folds once more. “I mean, my Aunt has this great big ugly armor assigned to me.” An oddly delicate shudder passed through Mia. “but I’d rather not, really.” It made her aunt crazy, too.

“Mostly self-taught.” Gentle brown eyes twinkled at Alora’s exuberance. “Very unorthodox training! Crisis to crisis, mostly. But I have been fascinated since I was a little girl and needed so much work done,” the twinkle fell away into a rueful smile. It hadn’t been the best work, but the experience had driven her to perfect her own art. “Cybernetics is a cross-disciplinary field with a slew of specialities. I mostly know what I’ve run across. I’m a computer genius, so my Aunt enrolled me in any class that took my fancy. Between that and the general hazards of our life, I got plenty of chances to practice.” Fingers ran lightly over her robe, brown eyes serious. The Confession, as she thought of it, was always an awkward moment, made more so because of that telling hesitation when Alora spoke of the ‘lab’ she was an Apprentice in. There were a lot of very un-nice ways to learn their craft. “We were mostly on the Outer Rim or in Wild Space. Sometimes there was just no one else to do it, and nothing else that would do. I couldn’t let that stand, now could I?” A flicker of unease was swiftly shoved away. It was a very, very unforgiving art; she had enough blood on her hands to last a lifetime. A brisk shake of the head banished such thoughts.

“A party sounds like a great idea! I’m sick of mourning and battle.”

When Alora showed her the cutting edge chips, Mia’s eyes gleamed. “I got caught in an orbital bombardment as a kid. It was an ugly situation. My whole first suite of Cyberware was scavenged parts.” The grisly announcement didn’t seem to phase Mia in the slightest. A good person would have wanted their gear to save a child, and Mia didn’t give a rat’s shebs what bad people thought. “Most of what you see on the edge of nowhere is either scavenged or one off. I should show you our Mechanics Bay sometime, you’d love it. Though it’s nowhere near cutting edge.” Leaning a bit closer just to look at the bleeding edge tech, she was silent for a moment before leaning back again and grinning unabashedly.

“We are going to be excellent together. They are going to love you. Good scout and great Cyberneticist. A party thrower, and fashionista.” Mia was pretty sure the average Mando had no idea what to make of Alora.

But she did!

 

[Alora Vizsla]

They had a Forge here? Right! Well, probably for all the beskar. Like that was the only metal in the entire galaxy worth anything. Like, Alora had seen the value in other metals long before she found herself adrift by herself in the galaxy. Sure, beskar was great and all, but its importance was really cemented out of religious fervor. It was like thinking a vibroblade that was folded one hundred times was magically stronger than one that was 'merely' hammered into shape. Like, the reason that sword had been folded was because the source metal had too many impurities! So, yeah, they were strengthening it so the thing didn't snap the second it hit something.

Speaking of beskar, Mia claimed she was wearing armor and wanted to show it off. Which was cool. Really, Alora had been a little worried the other woman was just wearing a robe.

Light laughter followed the reveal. "Right? They mean well, but maybe Mandalorians cling a little too much to tradition." Was that sacrilegious to say? Meh. It was true. A lot of time went into Alora improving her armor with her own two hands -- that seemed pretty inline with the Way. So what if it didn't look like every other suit of armor other Mandos wore?

It was a bit upsetting to hear Mia's self-taught knowledge of cybernetics came mostly from necessity though. "Heh, yeah," Alora reached up to rub the back of her head a bit. "General hazards." The kind that a young Mandalorian hadn't been as eager to face like everyone else, then everything fell apart. With no where to go or anyone to turn to... Hazards. Yeah.

After the chips were popped, Mia explained how an orbital bombardment... set her back. About what Alora expected, really when Mia said hazards.

"Right?" Cheer returned in force as Alora gave Mia a big grin. "I hung out in the Core doing all kinds of odd jobs. I never forgot what I came from, but there wasn't the luxury of hunting wild animals to prove my worth as a warrior. No point joining an army thinking anyone would care. I was never really into the biggest gun or the sharpest blade either. I enjoy going where I'm not supposed to and getting out before they ever knew I was there. It's fun. Not to mention the looks on their faces."

"I'd love to see that Mechanics Bay though; and I'd be happy to show your my cybernetics lab. And," Alora paused for a second to regard Mia with a smile, "if you ever need anything, just ask. I come across all kinds of things. I'm staying in touch with my Core supply lines so even out here in the middle of no where I'll be able to provide some top-end components or gear." Maybe she'd even throw in a healthy discount. If the two of them really hit it off, Alora might toss in a few for free -- a combo package that looked like a single change out so there'd be no complaints. Even though Alora bet Mia's current setup wasn't as bad as her first suite had been.

Tag: Mia Mereel