Salvaging a Wreck: Denon

[John Ash]

The planet Denon was once under the control of the Republic before it fell apart following the war with the Mandalorian clans. It did not see any fighting during the war, but afterwards was another issue. When the Exiled Republic, a splinter group of the old Galactic Republic, evacuated the planet following Suravi's offenses at Atrisa and Naboo there was some major conflict that arose. Some group calling themselves the loyalists had taken control of the planet for a time before turning on themselves. The planet was still in terrible shape as chaotic elements still raged, but there was opportunity in such places for John.

This time around for John, the chaos was not bringing in work for him as a mercenary. This time it was his newly founded company, Ashhearth Industries, that would be benefiting. Large numbers of ships ranging from fighters to bombers to cargo ships had gotten caught up in the fighting and the wreckage of them was laying around for the taking. He could salvage plenty of parts from them to transport back to his salvage yards or sell outright back to the Denon companies. It was a situation ripe for the taking, but also came with some risks. There was so much damage that had happened to the city that the fighting mostly took place at that there was no emergency institutions working properly. No police, no firefighters, no ambulances. His workers were on their own to deal with any situation that arose.

John knew he could handle the security and firefighting needs on his own, as he was a merc by trade and his employees dealt with fires often enough, but the medical would be an issue. So to make up for it, he had invited along [member="Rashae"] and her new company GenTech to aid them in their operations. He had a stake in the company after all, so it was only natural they would work together. So he had flown in with his salvage ships with the mostly jawa and a few human and dressellian workers. They landed around the first salvage spot they could find. A spot where ten x-wing fighters and two y-wing bombers had crashed after being shot down. He directed his workers to move into their positions, mostly just set up four of the humans on guard duty with each watching a different direction.

John turned to Rashae after that and said, " So Denon. Know a lot about what happened here?"

 

[Rashae]

Denon. What a sour taste this system leaves in the mouth. John needed her to cover medical for a rather large salvage expedition. So, she went to Denon. The Doctor was perhaps a bit more easily irritated during the trip there. Memories flooding of the situation that left her on Denon. Corporate had dumped her there. The memories was fuzzy and a bit scattered. How she got off of Denon during its issues to end up on Nar Shaddaa was unclear. The Doctor has trouble recalling all the details.

Denon was chaos incarnate at that time. Once she had her portable medical unit set up, she came to stand near John as her arms crossed her body defensively. The graveyard of fighters and bombers gave her the chills. She could hear the laser shots and bombs going off even as John has asked about if she knew.

“I was dumped here by Galactic Corporate before things got crazy. Things were already tense before this became a five ring circus. I am not even sure who was who. The Republic made sure I got on a transport out but somehow I ended up on working for a smuggler named Logen and on Nar Shadda where I met you. “ She turned her head to give him a direct look emphasizing 'you'. There was a saddened smile as her experience on Denon was not pleasant. “A lot of things were blurry, very disjointed. “ She admitted quietly. A year of electric shock and mind probes had rendered her less than capable of being on her own much less able to handle stress at all. John had gotten a bit of a taste of that when he met her.


The teams got busy evaluating the crashed ships. The strange jabbering of the jawas were making short work of the wreckage as they quickly ascertained what was of value and what was scrap. “Make sure they are not lifting too much. where is that crane?” The Doctor asked crisply. She reverted back to her icy bossy way so she can get a grip a bit.


[member="John Ash"]

 

[John Ash]

Denon had some bad memories for [member="Rashae"] that John wasn't aware of. He frowned as he listened to her speak about it. If he had known then he never would have asked her to join in on the operation. He couldn't stand Naboo or Coruscant for much the same reasons as what had happened here on Denon for her, so he could sympathize with her fairly well. He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently while she was lost in thought. He just wanted her to know she wasn't alone here this time around like she was before. No one deserved to go through something like this alone.

A dressellian replied back when the young doctor began to ask about the crane. They didn't have one as it turned out, but they also didn't need one. They had some repulsar lifts they could use and their carts for salvageable parts and their cart for scrap metal. The jawas continued to separate the hulls of the ships with their plasma torches while the human and dressellian workers did the heavier lifting in teams. It was not the most mechanical way of going about it, but it was working out fairly well. They all wore their leather gloves for protection and their leather salvage suits. They had decent protection from the sharp edges, but as it turned out it was not perfect.

As one of the humans cut their hand on a particularly edgy piece of scrap metal, John sighed. He said, " Get that wound seen to now. Everyone else watch what you are handling. I don't want anyone to bleed out or get electrocuted to death on this job!"

John turned to Rashae and said, " I am sorry to hear about what happened. I guess I owe you a nice dinner once we are done here to make up for it."

 

[Rashae]

John's hand gently squeezing her shoulder was a little surprising. The doctor wasn't expecting it. Her head turned towards him as she caught the expression in his eyes. Maybe he did understand. That in itself was something priceless. Then the accident happened. She cringed a little as the worker got cut. Then her eyes brightened at both the prospect of a nice dinner and the cut.

“Might owe me a spa day too. “ She said in a quiet voice before raising it. “Keep his hand up, bring him over here. “ two of her products have come out of testing and she had it to do a field run. “I hoped I could try this out. “ Her head turned to John. “you are going to want to see this. “

The man came to the doctor mumbling something manly like 'I'm fine just need a bacta patch, Its just a scratch, etc. ' The man was concerned about not being able to work with a cut hand. This could cost him days of credits. She guided him over to the makeshift area she had created to oversee care. The direct no nonsense approach she had may not have good bedside manner, but it was efficient. Opening a box there was a number of interesting things in there. Some was standard medical supply. Some had the GenTech mark on it. The medical scanner was coursed over it to make sure nothing foreign as in the cut. She also made sure no parasites or invasive organisms was there. Only thing was a lot of bacteria on the cut. That was going to be taken care of shortly.

She put the hand out in front of her as she took a spray container and slowly went from wrist and down the length of the hand. It was antiseptic, analgesic and it was strangely viscous egg white type consistency on the hand. She watched the substance seep into the cut as the fringes of the cut got nice and pinky. That was what she wanted. Pinky tissue was good tissue.

“Don't touch it. “ she ordered as the man was about to put a finger on it. She took out a patch made from the hand that was also a little different than the standard bacta patch. She carefully applied this onto the hand and cut smoothing it out. She watched the edges of the patch carefully as she turned the hand this way and that. The poor man had no idea what the Doc was doing but it didn't hurt anymore.

“Good. Put a good heavy glove on. Come back to me in two hours. You should be able to work but don't push it. “ She ordered the man. He thought he would be out of work for sure but his face lit up when he heard that.

“Yes ma'am.” She nodded to the foreman who went to find him a new glove for that hand.

“That should keep the cut protected and healing like a second skin. That cut should be fully closed in a day or two. “ She turned to John in a most serious expression.

 

[John Ash]

A spa day and a meal. That was going to be expensive, especially with how refined of a taste [member="Rashae"] had in such things. John would have regretted even offering if he hadn't already expected as much before even saying anything. It was one of the first things he had learned about this woman. She liked to be pampered like an Alderaan princess. But with that thought out of his mind, he just watched her get right into business. The woman was efficient if nothing else in how she went about things. The moment the cut happened, she had the injured man moving towards where he needed to go to be treated. That was good. He would hate to lose a worker so soon into the operation.

John watched as the salvaging crew adjusted to the lose of one of their heavy lifters. They were going to need to reduce the size of the scrap they cut out of the hulls and the jawas were already on it. They were making quick enough work of getting the hulls of the wrecked fighters removed so they could get their hands on the still salvageable parts inside. They had already gotten their first cart of scrap metal filled up, but instead of replacing it they had started to just pile up the scrap next to it on the ground. He frowned as he watched that. This was not going to be one of those shotty jobs that most salvagers did with wreckage.

" Someone switch out that scrap cart for an empty one right now! I do not want to see this happen again or there will be a pay reduction for everyone!" John yelled out to them.

As John turned around to go rejoin the doctor and the injured worker, the members of the crew had a quick, heated debate over who would do the switching. They sorted it out on their own and soon enough a dressellian was pushing the cart back to their ships as fast as he could. He came up into the makeshift medical area as Rashae applied the spray to the man's hand. This was meet by a curious stare from John as he just watched the woman go about her work. A spray followed by a patch then instructions to show back up two hours later yet not denying him any further time to work. That certainly caught John's interest as the worker thanked the doctor, called her beautiful, and then took off to find a new set of gloves.

After the young doctor finished speaking to John with a serious expression on her face, he said as he looked into her icy blues, " Impressive stuff. Wish I had that more than a few times on jobs."

John turned his attention to the operation. The new cart for scrap was out there and already being filled up from the pile. Good. He said as he continued to watch, " Looks and smarts. Isn't that illegal doctor?"

 

[Rashae]

The doctor found herself chuckling a little while trying to maintain her cool composure. “The two are not mutually exclusive, John.” She said back. His rough way of things was an overlay of something else she couldn't put her finger on it. All Rashae knew was that it drew her in more often than not.

“Here, let me show you. Claude is going to love this. “ Claude was her marketing and advertising guru she found. He was flamboyant and as colorful as a peacock. He could sell ice on Hoth.

She pulled out the spray and a small patch. “There is this plant that grows big enough and produces a natural mucilage, the gooey stuff. “ those icy blues looked right at john as she got serious. “what I was thinking is that antisepsis spray is in general a good product but it is problematic as the wound needs to be cleaned before hand and a lot of preparation. Then the bacta patch gets added but the patient is usually out for a couple of days at least. “

She held up a finger as she took up the spray bottle. She sprayed it on a board. “improve the antiseptic and analgesic, added in a secondary antiseptic which works with the first one. But that's not the cool part. The cool part is the mucilage. The proteins that I designed work with conveying bacta directly into the wound. “ She picked up the bacta patch. This patch doesnt look like what comes in most med kits.

“The bacta is a standard medical grade bacta. Nothing special there. What is special is the pack itself.” Her finger flipped it over. “It was an accident at first when I was working with a special synth skin. Instead of it doing what I thought it should do. It ended up being too soft. Its more semi permeable than regular skin by 40%. It allows more moisture through it. We found that it slowly releases the bacta, like a time release dose. See. It releases product, the other product conveys it and the rest of it gets the wound ready to receive the treatment. “

She flipped it over as the other side was more firm. “this side is a polymer derivative that is friendly with organics. When you put it over the wound it creates a seal like a second skin. “ She put the patch on the board as the outer seal grabbed the sides and drew in. “the latest testing trials were very promising. They can be sold separately but work best together. “ She didn't tired of seeing the seal happen.

“Bacta use is efficient, with the wound sealed and protected, the person can continue being active. A direct blow though will ruin it. Collateral projectiles affect it like well open skin. “ She shrugged. “What do you think?”

She asked that rather timidly as she wasn't a sales person. She wasn't sure she was a business woman, but get her in a lab and the woman was brilliant. “I have a lot more ideas too. “ John was her investor so she felt it was in her best interest to show what was being developed.


[member="John Ash"]

 

[John Ash]

" In my experience they tend to be Rashae." John said to her response. He was entirely serious right now as he went on, " Most beautiful women are not that smart. Manipulative, but not smart. Most smart women are attractive enough but not nearly as much as you are. You being both so smart and so beautiful is just not fair to the other women. They just couldn't hope to compete."

John just stood there and listened to [member="Rashae"] as she described how her product worked in great detail. He understood part of it but there were other parts he didn't. He got how the bacta stuff worked and how the patch operated. The concept of a time release was nothing new to him. There were plenty of items that used the idea when it came to explosives. All of that made sense to him, but the part about the plant and how it helped with the spray was a little fussy for him. He was use to working on equipment and had built his own armor and guns, but this was a foreign idea to him. The closest he could get was that it worked like an adhesive of some kind to make the patch stick to the skin better. He wasn't going to tell her all of this, but it was all he could think of as she went on.

After the young doctor had finished speaking, John just reached up and rubbed his head. He said to her, " It sounds like one karking well thought out product. People will be stupid to ignore it, especially military and merc types. And then you say you have more ideas. I clearly made a great investment when I helped you get your company started. It is going places for sure."

The sound of some yelling began within seconds of John finishing speaking. He turned his attention to the direction it had come from. The jawas were all standing a short distance from what appeared to be y-wings with their hulls stripped off as a pair of humans and some dressellians huddled together next to them. They seemed to be in a heated discussion that was going no where and so someone had tried to get their boss. He frowned a bit as he saw that and said, " Excuse me Rashae. I need to look into this." He then began to head towards the group.

As John came close to the huddled group, he saw what the problem was. Intact proton bombs. He had to stop as he saw them and think. Those explosives could be worth a pretty chip if sold to the right buyers, but they were dangerous to handle under normal conditions. This was not a normal condition for them. There was no guarantee that they might not go off on them if they picked them up. He just sighed as he began moving towards the source of their current problem. He yelled, " Clear the area! We are under explosion protocol now!"

After John finished speaking, he went to the proton bombs as all the workers began to scramble to fulfill explosion protocol. He bent down and began to inspect the casings of the heavy explosives. He wasn't sure how they had survived the crash or why they weren't used during the conflict, but they could potentially be a windfall for this operation. He just needed to make sure that the casings didn't have any external damage that might cause them to go off.

 

[Rashae]

She couldn't help but chuckle with his estimations of beauty vs intellect. “Interesting. I wouldn't know. There are those where I grew up that would disagree. A few still would be greatly offended. “ To that she giggled a little. It would be very entertaining to see their reaction to that.

She blushed a little. She tried using as regular terms as she could in explaining it. Rashae guessed she would leave that to claude. To hear that he at least appreciated the idea and saw where it had merit meant a lot to her. “Claude thinks that these two products in a wound kit will fly out the factory. “

Something called John away. Some dispute. She went to make sure she had clean space in case something occurred like another cut. Which seemed likely. Then John yelled something about an Explosion Protocol. What the hell was that? Everyone moved away from where john was at. One of the foremen headed closer to her direction. Rashae motioned for him to come closer to her to ask a question. “Hey, What is an explosion protocol?”

The man drew nearer and explained. “Well ma'am, its when all personnel gets out from away of an explosive so the explosive team can deal with it. Its a safety precaution. “ He pointed at John. “Boss man there is the Explosive expert. “ He shrugged. “Now he either trips it or he neutralizes it.”

Rashae gasped with a sharp intake of breath. She screamed out “John!!” then grabbed a com as she fumbled with it before she got the right channel. Then screamed into the com. “John!! you get out of there.. now!!” she had both hands on the com. Those icy blues stared at the Com as if willing John to teleport right through it to right here. “John!!!”


[member="John Ash"]

 

[John Ash]

Everyone scattered and took cover as far away as they could. It was how Explosive Protocol worked for Ashhearth Industries. They rarely could hope to contain the explosives on site so instead they just minimized the risk of damage to be caused to the personnel. John was the only expert on explosives he had for this operation, and one of the handful he had in his entire company. That meant it was his responsibility to see to it that no one got harmed by the explosives. If that meant making sure the danger was set off or deactivated then that was what he would do. So he made sure to do his job here as the explosive expert and the boss.

John was on the ground checking out the casings of the proton bombs when he heard [member="Rashae"] saying something. He couldn't exactly make out what it was, but he knew she was screaming something. If his head wasn't inside of what use to be a Y-wing then he might have been able to make her out. But he couldn't and he needed to focus here so he just ignored her. That plan didn't go well for long though as screaming erupted from his com system. The sudden sound of the doctor screaming at him caused him to jump. His head hit the casing of the proton bomb he was inspecting as he flinched. He put a hand up to the spot he hit before cursing. He was lucky he didn't hit the bomb's trigger when that all happened. What was her problem? He pulled himself out from the Y-wing and then gave the all clear signal.

After John got back up to his feet and dusted off, he looked for Rashae. Once he saw where she was at, he made a march straight to her with a frown on his face. He wasn't happy right now, and it didn't help he had a bruise forming on the spot he hit his head on. As he got close to her, he said, " Why the kark did you scream over the com system while I was inspecting the proton bomb?! You made me hit my head and we are lucky that I didn't hit the trigger! Don't do that ever again!"

John had to close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose after he finished going off on Rashae. He was flustered still but knew it wasn't her fault. She didn't know his company's protocols and so didn't know to maintain com silence while he worked. He let out a slow sigh before he said, " I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault but please don't scream over the coms next time." He looked her in the eyes after he finished speaking. He wasn't sure what he was going to see or what she was going to say to him. He just stood there and let her respond until she was completely satisfied. Once she was done, he said, " It's time to end this operation. My ship is full and they have the proton bombs secured on board. Which ship do you want me to take doctor?"

 

[Rashae]

As he yelled at her, her expression turned pained and icy at the same time. Rashae said not a word as she meandered back to her little temporary medical tent. She started packing things up while they prepared whatever to be loaded. It stung, it hurt that he didn't appreciate it, didn't see how important he became. Yes, important. That was what she called it.

Even when he came to apologize there was a stiffness to her. “I see.” No she didn't know the protocols for explosives. Hell, she didn't even know what a proton bomb was. Him throwing her concern for him back into her face was hurting more than he knew, more than she was going to tell him.

“Where ever you want. “ She said to the question of his ship or hers in a deceptively mild way. His was full of crew and stuff. Hers was just her and medical stuff that didn't take up that much room. As she packed in secured metal crates, the crew broke the camp down to load where they needed to go. Rashae went on board her ship to nurse her feelings and try to get a grip on those. He might as well went ahead and slapped her.


[member="John Ash"]