New Shoes

[Miss Blonde]

Without the mask on the crime lord known as Miss Blonde was just simply Patricia, and she preferred to be called that rather then the persona she dawned every time she put the mask on. So after picking up her best friend [member="Keira Ticon"] on Echo'lya and spending a good long road trip with her the two of them arrived on a small island on Relovian, a beautiful little tropic paradise on the world that was out of the way of everything.

Most would think that someone like Miss Blonde would choose a more extravagant place to call home. Coruscant, Zeltros, even Antecedent. But no, the little planet on the edge of wild space was what she preferred. A place where no one had even heard of much less would begin to look for her.

So with the ship touched down the woman let the landing ramp descend slowly to the sight of a few dozen helper droids gathered around the landing pad.

"Wait for the ramp, Keira. They love the slow ramp, really gets their dicks hard." Blonde said with a chuckle afterwards.

When the ramp finally touched down the helper droids rejoiced and formed a line for the two of them to walk forward into the workshop.

When the path was clear the woman lifted up a middle finger to her droids to which the TV screens that were their faces smiled over.

"You gotta flip them off, Keira. I programmed them to think that it means hello and good fortune. How hilarious is that?" Patricia lifted both middle fingers in the air as she walked down the loading ramp and headed towards the workshop with another of her little assistant droids carrying the Beskar ore behind her.

 

[Keira Priest]

It had been a long while since Keira had spent time with [member="Miss Blonde"] as she was without the mask. For the majority of the time in the past few years she had known the other as the faceless crime lord facade she was almost always putting on, and to see her as Patricia rather than Blonde was a refreshing change. It brought back memories to when things had been simpler, turning back the clock even as far as when the Red Ravens had still been standing, when the two had first crossed paths. Looking at them now, it was hard to believe they had ever been such simplistic criminals, but those were days she remembered as being some of the best. Now, well, things had changed, that much was certain.

Her younger self would have pushed through the ramp regardless of how slow it was moving, but she had learned some kind of patience through the years, and so waited at Patricia's side. When the woman explained just what meaning the crude gesture held to the droids she only flashed a smile and laughed, shaking her head. "You know, I would say I expected something different from you, but after how long we've known each other that would be a lie." To say they shared a history would be an understatement, as Patricia had been the one to give her a second chance at life, and then a third when that one didn't pan out quite the way it had been intended to. This was something in between, or perhaps something new entirely.

"It's been a helluva twelve years, you know." The two had first met when she was nineteen, and after large gaps spent separate and unknowing of the other's fate, they were reunited, and hopefully for good this time. She wasn't the sort to have many friends in the galaxy, but she considered Patricia to be one of the closest. "Sometimes I can't tell if I've fallen farther or risen up from where we both came from. All I know is that I'm glad I've gotten this far."

 

[Miss Blonde]

Miss Blonde honestly didn't like thinking about the past, simply because of one important reason. It didn't matter anymore, it was fun to reflect every now and then but with the past like the ones Blonde and Keira shared it was just something that was best not reflected on for long. They were old ladies in a world dominated in a profession where young people stay young. A lot of people they knew died so they could get to where they are now, and they did their best to make sure they lived mildly humble lives.

While Blonde got out of wars and made sure she stayed off the battlefield she couldn't say the same for Keira, and while Blonde loved making new stuff for Keira she wished that she would retire from war like she had.

"Never backwards, Keira. Always forward." Blonde said as she lifted up both her middle fingers whilst they walked down the aisle and into the workshop.

Once inside the woman turned around to see the helper droids file through the doors and start the process of preparing the forge. Ovens were primed, fires were light, and pipes were assembled. It was going to be the first step to a pretty long but worthwhile process.

"Keira, be a doll and put the Beskar ore into the furnaces. I don't trust the droids to do it anymore." A few droids then wheeled a crate of Beskar over to the furnace and opened up the deposit drawer for Keira to levitate around fifty or sixty KG of the raw and unrefined ore into.

"Also don't ask how we got the ore, it's not exactly you know, legal." Blonde said with a chuckle.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

There would be no response granted to that first statement, simply because Keira didn't want to begin a discussion that she knew would just take them around in circles. It was difficult for someone like her to move forward when her future had a tendency to strongly resemble her past, though perhaps with more impulse control and less of a chip on her shoulder. If there was one constant it was the war, and that was something she never wanted to change while at the same willing it away. An arrangement had been made, both with herself and her family, and so she had entered a state of semi-retirement. Even with that things had reached a crescendo of late, all of the battlefields once more converging into one as she experienced a numerous amount nearly consecutively.

"There's a reason a lot of people don't use droids for this sort of thing. Or they do some of the heavy lifting themselves. I could teach you telekinesis. It's not like it's difficult." This of course coming from the same woman who had pulled a gunship out of the sky and threw speeders with relative ease. But details were just that. Her attention shifted to the beskar ore, her hand raising more as a subconscious reaction than out of necessity, the metal following suit. Without issue or any kind of real strain she set it down inside the furnaces, right hand falling to her side once the short process was complete. "As useful as imbuing is, I think someone like you would benefit from telekinetics."

Her concern didn't lie entirely with how the ore was obtained, even though she knew the only planets where it could be acquired were within Mandalorian space, and that the only way for her to obtain it was via theft, given the declaration Mand'alor had made. Everything about that offhanded comment should have concerned her more than it did, but instead she only shrugged a shoulder, indifferent. "Neither is a lot of the other things we've done over the years, but that hasn't stopped us so far." She didn't see the big deal.

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Keira Ticon"]

Blonde chuckled at her friend's words as she walked over to the furnace controls. Taking a look she snapped her fingers over towards one of the helper droids who lined up the filtration pipes at the end of them onto a conveyor belt. After that was done she then instructed a droid to grab the Tungsten Carbide armor moldings from the printer and bring it over to the conveyor.

"I'm just saying you know the drill, dear. Loose lips sink ships." Blonde said as she started cranking up the heat on the furnaces.

The area near Keira would start to become unbearably hot, so warm that it started to heat up the entire facility with the raw heat of he furnaces. It took a lot to melt Beskar ore and luckily her furnaces were top of the line and could melt the raw ore in a few seconds.

"Also I don't need to learn TK, I have a basic understanding of it but I'll leave "Keira Smash" stuff up to you." Patricia said as she walked over towards the filtration pipes.

"Do me a favor, again. Over in the supply closet you're going to find boxes filled with armor accessors. Targeting systems, security blades, harnesses, grab those and wheel them out towards those mannequins over yonder." Patricia said as she pointed over towards the life sized dolls by the forge section.

"Besides, if I learned TK you wouldn't want me showing you up at your own game." she said with a chuckle.

 

[Keira Priest]

"Showing me up at my own game, huh?" Her tone made it clear she didn't buy that for a second, and Keira shook her head with a quiet laugh. "I'll believe that when I see it. You have your talents, I have mine." A beat passed, and she cocked her head slightly to one side, an amused smile playing across her lips. "And, you know, it takes more finesse than you think." She turned and crossed the room to the supply closet, opening the door with a twitch of her fingers and looking over all that was stored within for a brief moment. Casting a glance over to the mannequins she stepped to the side of the door, the boxes slowly shifting and levitating from where they had been stacked atop the other haphazardly.

With seemingly nothing more than a simple look she moved the supplies to where she had been directed, releasing a quiet exhale once they were set down, as if releasing the conscious hold on her power. "I find it funny how you're the one helping forge my beskar'gam. It's been four years since I first started calling myself Mandalorian." Not to mention that in the beginning she had helped prevent war on multiple occasions, speaking for both the vode and their adversary in order to prevent conflict. "Where is it you learned how to forge beskar? It's not exactly an art any outsiders are privy to, and forgive me for calling your bluff on being one of the people." She flashed a smile as she looked to Blonde.

"And, you know, it's been awhile since we actually talked. A proper conversation would be nice."

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

Secrets. That's what Patricia kept more than anything. More than her vast fortune, more than her prowess with the force, and more friends than she had. Cash stashes, buried bodies, cops, miners, port and dock workers all on payroll. She was a woman who held so many that at times it was honestly infuriating to make sure they all stayed in line, because the best way to lie was to make sure it ran parallel with the truth. But Keira was a trusted friend and she could afford to know some of the secrets stashed away in the vault.

"Ever since you've started calling yourself Mandalorian I've had to constantly upgrade your gear so you wouldn't die. Not for a lack of trying of course." She said as she continued the process.

With the Beskar ore melting she pressed a few buttons on the control panel and let the melted and unrefined ore pass through the filtration pipes to strip away all the impurities until it landed itself in the first piece of armor mold. This process of pouring ore into the molds would continue until two sets of the armor were filled with liquid Beskar.

So as those were conveyed over to the forging station where a few droids were standing, Patricia looked over to a forging rack and grabbed her special goggles and motion capture tools. Stepping back over to the area where cameras would catch her every movement she locked her position and strapped the goggles on.

"Oh Keira, you wound me. I'm totally a Mandalorian citizen. Oya Verd Beskar Goten Mando'a protein shake thing..." Patricia chuckled and made sure to turn everything online and got a direct feed to both sets of armor.

"A jaded former Mandalorian woman taught me. She saved her entire squad from a burning transport and everyone got medals but her, so she left. Ain't that a queen." Patricia said as the first piece of armor came up to the smithing sections.

Here's what I need you to do, I need you to take the remaining Beskar in the furnace and drain it into a large flat catch pan. Grab the tungesten carbide ones over there by the three D printer and place it under the filtration pipe. Once that's done you're gonna look up and see a big hose over the pipe where the filtration pipe empties the ore into the pan. You're going to turn the hose on over the heated Beskar and the hose will rapidly cool the Beskar with extreme cold. There's a jacket by the rack if you're a queen about it. Once the Beskar is cool take it over to the mesh machine and wait for further instructions." Blonde have a thumbs up over to Keira and hoped she could handle the simple task. Well simple for a blacksmith at least.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

The only immediate response Keira afforded her was a quiet laugh and a crooked smile. "I'm not even actively trying to get myself in trouble anymore. And besides, I'm a lot better than I used to be. At this point all you're really doing is enabling me, and we both know it." The last thing someone like her needed help with was becoming more of a deadly adversary, but it was just that Blonde seemed hellbent on dedicating her time to. It wasn't as if she would necessarily complain - after all, she appreciated new kit just as much as any other soldier - but it was amusing to her, in a way, to see just how far the other woman would go when it came to her little projects, hobbies and experiments.

At the other's botched attempt at Mando'a she only raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. "Di'kutla aruetiise." The insult was muttered under her breath as she moved about, focusing on her work for a moment. The two of them rarely got the chance to be around each other in such a carefree manner anymore, and it was something she enjoyed. "I wouldn't recommend making it a priority to sell to the vode, then. It's best you stick to all the customers they don't like. You know, the dishonorable criminals." There was a sarcastic edge to her tone, it evident that she didn't care for that particular policy that Mand'alor had instated, though it wasn't like she did the greatest of jobs at implementing it anyhow.

"You know, you're not the greatest at this conversation thing." She pulled down the hose, cooling the molten metal, finishing the process before she continued. "What is it you've been up to lately, anyway? The Black Ties have gone just as silent as the Crusaders recently. Somehow I find it hard to believe that you've run out of things to steal already. We've got the entire galaxy now that the Republic and Sith have fallen, and there's plenty of pieces to choose from." It had been awhile since she'd helped on one of their heists, and she would be lying if she said she didn't miss that line of work. There was just something about it that couldn't be found anywhere else.

Finally she finished, placing the now cooled beskar where it was needed. "What now?"

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

"Well my mind is telling me no. But science is saying yes, and as a mad scientist you gotta follow your calling." Patricia chuckled slightly only half joking before continuing her work and conversation.

Patricia then continued her work as she let Keira say her little spiel about whatever crap she was saying. While Blonde was mostly listening she was pretty focused on the more critical part of forging this armor, which was the actual forging and shaping of the armor. Smithing was something that took a lot of focus and she had to get the first layer just right or else the entire process would be botched. Beskar was an interesting metal and its strength came from constant folding so it could have a layered defense that spread kinetic energy through its layers rather than a single chunk that would bend and pierce.

"Uh huh that's great, Keira. You are right and whatever they are talking about is wrong." Patricia said only feeding into Keira's correct assumption of her being bad at this whole conversation thing while working.

The woman would then take her motion capturing tools and start to hammer in the pieces of the chest plate. Her droids would mimic her movements as she started to cool the Beskar molds and slam them into shape with cybernetic muscles and strength of her motion capturing droids.

"Keira! I need you to take that sheet of Beskar, place it into the sheeter, and then feed it into the machine. Once it's loaded I need you to look at the control screen! When the icon flashes green and gives a little thumbs up I need you to press set the system to one of the four pre programmed settings!" Blonde hammered again on the chest and back plates folding over a new layer.

"It's gonna say Beskar! Phrik! Durasteel! Ultrachrome! You're gonna pick Beskar! Once you select it you're going to pick the sub section Armor Mesh! Enter Six by Six sheet in the dimensions! And then press start!" Giving Keira another very specific set of instructions she gave the woman a thumbs up and returned to her work. She'd answer the questions she had once this chest piece was crafted.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

"Uh-huh. Absolutely thrilling, Patricia." Keira rolled her eyes at the other woman's generic response to conversation, though she was relatively unsurprised as to the reaction she received. For as long as she had known her the tiny blonde had always been like that, spitfire and retaining a dry sense of humor that was particular to her attitude. It made their interactions interesting, as she herself tended to maintain the same brand of amusement, though admittedly this caused the two to butt heads more often than not. It just wouldn't be them if that wasn't the case.

Without bothering to attempt to hold further discussion she brought the beskar over to the sheeter, feeding it through and watching Patricia at work while the machine rumbled. For such a small woman she certainly had quite a bit of strength behind her. It was hard to believe she was the reason Keira had survived this long. A flash of green drew her attention back to the machinery before her, and she selected the requirements in quick succession, once again putting the sheeter to work.

If Patricia's progress was any indication the chest and back plates were already coming along, though she knew full well she didn't know overmuch about the forging process in the least. All she was really aware of was that this was yet more kit that the other woman was handing to her, and she had learned long ago not to say no to anything the blonde offered in the way of gear.

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Keira Ticon"]

With her mind focused on her work the little blonde woman was in full swing of everything. She was living in the zone and the quality reflected that. Working the plates the woman started to add a bit of carbon to the plates to lighten them up a little. While it would take a bit of the protective quality away the woman knew Keira liked to be light on her feet. After all while Keira was still physically fit her main bulk of muscle lay in the ethereal side of things. So lugging around inside a set of heavy ass armor wasn't good for keeping her alive.

So as Keira watched the woman at work surrounded by various holograms and motion capture tech she could look over to see the droids she controlled hammer away at the armor, and she really had to appreciate Blonde's skill in this. She wasn't working on one set of armor, she had two sets being crafted at once and watched over both addressing smithing errors and issues as they arose in tangent with the other.

But as for Keira Blonde failed to warn her about what was going to happen next. With the metal loaded up and settings configured the warrior got an ear full of grinding, screeching, and all kinds of deafening noises. It was all just second nature to the mechanic and she'd completely forgotten about it, she was mostly just annoyed that she had to replace the teeth on the mesh machine, Beskar always did a number on it.

Thankfully it was a quick three to five minute process and Keira would be able to look over and see a droid scoop up the Beskar mesh blanket, run it over to Keira and then deposit it in her arms.

"@&$# You." The droid said with a smile on its TV screen of a face, and Keira could probably guess Patricia programmed that as hello or thank you.

"IS THAT MY MESH!?" Patricia yelled back at Keira.

"YEAH JUST TAKE THAT OVER TO THE CRAFTING TABLES!! AFTER THAT IM GONNA NEED YOU TO GET MY HOLOCOMP AND BOOT IT UP!! IM ABOUT DONE WITH THE CHEST AND BACK PIECE! IMMA START THE HELMET THEN LEAVE THE DROIDS TO HANDLE THE PADDING!!" Patricia shouted across the workshop towards Keira.

"ALSO GOOD JOB SO FAR!! DON'T MESS UP! AND DO ME A FAVOR!! IF YOU SEE A FILE ON MY DESKTOP LABLED MUSIC!! DONT OPEN IT, ITS NOT MUSIC!!" It really really really wasn't music.

 

[Keira Priest]

When one spent the majority of their life on the battlefield, there was a lot that was adjusted to. One of those things just so happened to be excessive, overbearing and deafening noise. Any kind of war was far from silent, least of all those on the scale that Keira oftentimes participated in. There were years where she hadn't had the privilege of wearing armor with sound-dampening technology, and so had to find a way to otherwise block out the noise or simply live with it. At this point it was easy to push things to the side, the screeching of metal nothing next to rampant gunfire, constant artillery fire and the sounds of men on both sides dying around her. Perhaps a bit of a morbid picture to paint, but she was used to it.

It was difficult to suppress a laugh when the droid cheerfully spouted its insult, and she only looked to Patricia with a shake of her head. The mesh deposited was just about as heavy as she anticipated, but she managed to bring it over to the crafting tables without incident, rolling her right shoulder in order to pop it after the strain put on the limb from handling one of the heaviest metals in the galaxy. All she could manage was a sigh at the warning given by the significantly smaller woman, and for once she held her tongue, instead moving over to where the holocomputer sat, leaning against the table as she pressed the button to wake up the device.

A long time ago she had learned to leave well enough alone, and so decidedly ignored the aforementioned file, her imagination having filled in the gaps for her. The last thing she wanted to know was what the blonde was up to in her free time. After being certain everything was in working order she crossed the room to stand next to the shorter woman, returning to observing as she finished her work. The two certainly made an odd pair, but none could deny that they worked quite efficiently together.

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Keira Ticon"]

Keira would start to the foundations of the armor come together. The critical pieces that made Mandalorian Armor so special and unique to any other brand out there in the Galaxy, and for someone who was a far away from Mandalorian as Mandalorian could get, Patricia made a pretty damn good set. With the chest and back plates finished the woman had the droids set the strike plates to the side and pick up the helmet mold which had some time to cool.

Reaching down to grab it, the droids started shaping the helmet pounding and letting sparks fly with each stroke of a hammer. As for Keira she'd be off to the side and be able to rest for the next hour. Crafting a helmet was a bit more complicated than the rest of the armor, dimensions had to be right, everything had to be smooth, and the ballistic visor had to be perfect. So as Keira waited the woman finished up the outer shell of the helmet and then set the droids to auto pilot to finish up the remaining plates of the armor. Forearms, boots, thighs, pelvis, basic stuff like that which didn't need Patricia's guiding hand.

So when that was wrapped up with the woman picked up the two identical Mandalorian helmets and carried them over to Keira where she'd been waiting at the crafting table.

"Normally I'd be making a separate set for myself to sell on the open market. But because this means a lot to you, and I know how you fight. I've taken the liberty to draw up two separate suits, completely identical in every way design wise. But I know you're in a leadership position so one will be for the battlefield and the other for whatever gay little ceremonies and diplomatic missions they send you on." Setting the helmets down on the table the woman looked over to Keira and smiled.

"So what colors are we doing?" She asked as she reached under the crafting tables to pull out an array of little gizmos and gadgets.

Setting out her various tools the woman was going to start the process of carving out the mesh suit of each piece of armor along with wiring the helmet. There were so many stupid amounts of gadgets the suit was going to come with that she honestly had to keep a list of everything going on the armor.

"Cause if you don't pick I'm going with Hot Pink with a decal that says Princess across the forehead." Patricia said with a chuckle.

 

[Keira Priest]

"You know damn well I'd kick your ass if you even tried." The retort was fired back just as quickly as the initial comment, and Keira looked to her old friend with a crooked smile before seeming the contemplate the helmet closest to her. Wordlessly she picked it up and turned it over in her hands, finally returning it to its resting place. "Gold, black and red. There's meaning behind them, but I don't suppose you'd be overly interested in that, seeing as how you just like making pretty things for me to kill people with." She raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk at that, knowing full well the other woman couldn't deny it in good conscience. There was no point in trying to cover it up when the both of them knew it was completely and entirely true.

"Reminds me, I need a new back plate for kit you already gave me. Had a bit of a nasty run-in with Connor. Rest assured I came out on top, but he still managed to get a hit or two in. Long story short, it turns out the tomahawk Isley made does a bit of a better job than your armor, because it had no problem cracking through the phrik. I figured you had a spare set lying around, since I'm not exactly in the habit of being gentle with whatever you give me." At this point news like this should have been old hat for Patricia, but she was still expecting some kind of comment about how Keira never truly appreciated the art that went into business like this, and on and on.

"And for the record, he instigated. I just followed up and finished things."

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

"Well if that were true and Isley's tomahawk was indeed better than my armor. We wouldn't be having this conversation now would we?" Patricia was always proud of her work and Keira knew that, and to say that something was better while she drew breath still was pretty funny.

"And I'll have you know that if you tried to kick my ass you wouldn't have anyone to make you all this stuff to help you kill people. I mean lets be honest without me you'd still be wearing fishnets in battle." Patricia then grabbed the helmet and would begin the process of wiring it.

grabbing her handy dandy set of tools and materials the woman started to lay down an Agrinium mesh against the bare metal layer of the helmet. Afterwards she took some rubber insulation and pressed it against the Agrinium to seal it from ion weaponry.

"Watch and you might learn something." She said in a cocky tone.

From there she would start wiring in different components that all synced into a CPU and internal Holonet broadband antenna. Everything from range fingers, target acquisitioner, and multi spectral visors, pretty much everything Keira would need but more than likely would never use in a battle. And once it was wired in and set the woman sealed it with another layer of rubber and then padding for the helmet.

"And I'll have you know if we are indeed putting things on the record, I never expected any less from you. Also I couldn't give a damn what those colors mean, all that matters to me is that they are important to you." Patricia smiled over to her friend then moved over to the computer.

Syncing up with the broadband antenna the woman accessed the CPU inside. Giving a quick copy and paste of your basic HUD the woman established it then installed basic cyber security on the HUD. Nothing that Thalia couldn't upgrade later.

"Alright. So here's what I need you to do. I need you to go grab my mesh shears across the warehouse. After that I need you to take them, grab Reginald." She pointed over to one of the droids.

"Use the shears to rip open his chest! Pull out his beating heart! And eat it!" Patricia then gave her a serious look pausing for a moment then laughing.

"I kid I kid. Have him mark the armor mesh and just cut it into the shape of a body glove." Fun times.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

A crooked smile turned up one corner of her mouth, and Keira laughed, "I'll have you know that worked pretty damn well, until people kept getting more lucky shots in. Besides, your armor didn't save my arm or leg. Maybe my life, but even then..." She reached up to tap the side of her head, the look in her dark eyes unmistakably maverick. "And we both know I don't need help killing people. You just happen to be good-natured enough to give me new toys that expedite the process." She raised an eyebrow with a smirk, standing aside and letting Patricia do her job regardless of her commentary. As much as the two bickered back and forth, there was a deep-seated respect between them that allowed for it in the first place.

That respect was demonstrated in the next words the blonde spoke, and her next smile was far more genuine than any she had worn in the past hour or so the two had spent together. "Y'know, you should really tone it down with the sentimentality. I might get used to it, and then what are you going to do?" She raised an eyebrow, glancing sideways to the other woman, "But really, I do appreciate it, Patricia. After the chit you've had to say about me joining the vode, it's nice to know that deep down inside you do have a heart somewhere." All in truly good fun, of course, as they were the only two that could get away with this when it came to the other.

When the instructions were given she followed the droid across the warehouse, taking up the shears as she had been instructed, unable to recognize how truly mundane a thing they were in comparison to the vast amount of weaponry she had personally utilized through the years. This had to be the most routine activity she had participated in within the past few months, if not years, of her life. Just as she had done with Patricia she stood back as the droid went about its work, stepping forward when everything was finalized and cutting the mesh into the designated shape. "Got it done, Patricia!"

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

Unlike forging beskar plates, Patricia could actually hold a conversation while wiring a helmet. The process was a pretty simple one, Agrinium faraday cage to disperse EMP and Ion energy, various doodads and gizmos for help, three hundred and sixty degree vision camera, and of course padding and oxygen that would all be programmed into the HUD that fed into the CPU. Horribly complicated for some, but simple for her.

"Well since you've seen my softer side and revealed that I do indeed have a semblance of a heart, I'll have to take legal action. Prepare to hear from my lawyers." there was a slight pause before Patricia laughed.

Lawyers? Honestly, besides Patricia was the type of person to handle problems with violence rather than throw suits and ties at it. People seemed to be a lot more cooperative if you kidnapped their family in the middle of the night. But Patricia would never do that to Keira whether she became an enemy or not, she respected her too much to resort to tactics such as those. Between friends turned enemies those types of moves were off the table. But before Patricia's train of thought on the kill Keira contingency plan proceeded forward, she had to do something she dearly regretted.

"Yeah bring those over here will you?" Patricia said with her normal voice only a bit more hoarse.

With the two Beskar mesh suits done, the droids brought them over to her to which she directed them over towards the energy fiber installer. What the droid's would do was put the mesh suits into the machine and let them energize the fibers in the mesh suit. It was essentially how crush gaunts worked. Energized bio fibers laced into the Beskar that caused enhanced strength and power. She was essentially doing the same thing but on a body wide basis.

But there were things Patricia had to tell Keira, and that was of course the failsafe. Patricia remembered when they secured the Mand'alor the Ultimate's armor, and how Keira seemed like she had no problem picking the clans over her, and that was a scary thought. So if Keira ever came under mind control, emotionally compromised, really anything that would put Patricia or Keira in danger, all she'd have to do is force Thalia to constrict the fibers and trap her. Would it hold a TK master very long? Probably not. But it'd be long enough for Blonde to try and sedate her or reason with the woman.

"Listen, Keira. You know I'm me, and I always have a plan. For anything. So I'm putting a failsafe in your armor, in case you've ever become compromised by anything whether it be a Sith Lord, or mind control, whatever. All you need to do is speak your password and Thalia will lock your armor. Now I know what you're gonna say, can I use this against you? And yes I can. But you're my friend and I don't like lying to you. But this isn't for me to use against you, it's for emergency situations where if you've been mentally or emotionally compromised and need to be restrained." Patricia spoke her peace and then would continue her work.

The plates of armor were just about done, the droids forging them were wrapping up and Patricia just needed to assemble it now.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

There was a long period of silence in which Keira simply stood there, considering her words, fingertips brushing across the mesh of the armor, the texture slightly rough to the touch. Of course she knew what this was about. Her mind traveled back in time to when they had been stealing Mand'alor's armor, and the conflict that had sparked between herself and the whole of the Black Ties. Patricia had only just managed to talk her down out of doing something they would both regret, and things had continued on normally afterwards, as if nothing had really happened. It was an event she had nearly forgotten, truth be told, though she knew the other woman hadn't left it quite so far in the past. And this was just more proof of that.

"I know you're not doing this because you don't trust me." Her voice was low, brow knotted slightly as she didn't raise her eyes from the workbench. "You're doing it because you trust me enough to know better." She looked up to Patricia, something about her gaze decidedly off. "I'm just not sure if I trust myself. Things have been getting difficult again lately." Her fingertips ran across the mesh one last time before her hand fell to her side. "I think this is a...good choice. It helps to know that someone else is looking out for me, because sometimes I don't look out for myself near as much as I should." One only had to glance across her myriad of scars to understand that, and that was before they got to her idea of self-care.

A genuine smile crossed her face, small but present nonetheless. "Thank you, Patricia."

[member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

Patricia nodded to Keira when she thanked her. They both knew each other well enough to know that this was a necessity, and even though Patricia wasn't quite done, they'd get to that in a few minutes. In her silence she directed her droids to grab the energized mesh fibers and pointed them over towards the displays. They gathered plates, gadgets, all different manner of equipment that was going to be needed for the armor. But Patricia had something needed to grab before the droids started assembling.

Walking over to the the armor plates and grabbed a pair of forearm guards and set them on her work bench. Patricia would then look over to the droids and speak.

"Start assembling the armor. The Agrinium mesh, the gear, the body gloves, all of it." she said to her droids in a very calm manner.

As for her she started to wire a few things into the forearm plates. A few wires were laid down along with some small pump and mini needles. Patricia would then look to Keira and speak.

"This is the second failsafe. In this needle there's a strong sedative, it should put you on your ass for about a few hours. But that's not what I want to show you." She would then sigh and show Keira a secondary needle on each plate.

It was of course empty and Patricia had no intention on filling it with anything. That was Keira's choice and she made sure it was only accessible to her.

"This second needle is for you. You can fill it with bacta, or you can put the obvious thing in there. I made sure that this is encoded for you only, so if things are ever too bad, just do what you need to do." Patricia would then hand the two armor plates over to a droid.

The droid would then take the plates over towards the displays and place the armor on it. But when the droids were finished assembling everything, Keira would be able to see her finished armor. It was mandalorian, it was simple, and it was beautiful. It was what the bastards at the clans has blocked her from having for so long.

[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Keira Priest]

The muscles of her jaw worked slowly as she considered that second needle and the chamber it was connected to. This here represented a choice, one she felt like she hadn't had since the beginning. It was life and death wrapped up in one, the only border between them a simple phrase that had the capacity to end it all. Most people would have held some sort of fear in the hearts for such a thing, but for her there was only a strange peace at the existence of this final failsafe. It meant she would always have a way out now, the security that if everything got to be too much she could be certain that it would be nothing for eternity in seconds. This said more about her than anything else ever would, that she found peace in her own end.

When the armor was assembled she moved towards it with a quiet reverence, fingertips tracing across the beskar plating, a certain respect for the beautiful creation before her. Her gaze remained level with the T-visor for a long few moments, and within it she saw her past, present and future wrapped up in one, the moment she had accepted Isley's offer all culminating to this moment. This was all her brother had meant with his invitation to join his House, this unity and beauty and death all wrapped up in one piece of armor. Beskar'gam was more than just any other kit. It was her people, her culture, and finally, it was her home.

A crooked smile cut across her face, and she looked to Patricia, "It'll take some getting used to, but I can see myself adjusting to this. When is it we test it out?"

[member="Miss Blonde"]