To meet Metal Lords

[RC 212]

Approaching Denon

[member="HK-36"]

She was running. First she had been exposed to destruction on many scales. she had fallen somewhat short of her own Jedi morals. She needed a break. After a Sith attack on the CSA, after her run in with Kyrel Ren, after her long stint fighting Warbands with the Jedi Order.

She felt herself free falling. A part of her was recognizing she was beyond the ordinary. She was not meant to be a simple protector and that terrified her. Her entire life had been built around being a stalwart Jedi Sentinel. The other half rejoiced at this new found change. A savage part was being let loose. She'd learned to shoot, and pledged her loyalty to the Rebellion to fly a fellow comrades wing.

She was curious now more than ever how she could protect herself and others better. In this new frontier of the Jedi/Soldier Karren she knew she needed one thing.

Armor.

And perhaps weapons.

So she had turned to those who were the most famed smiths in the galaxy. Those whom made the most cherished tech but were also the most seclusive. A band of droids and organics called the Metal Lords. HK had been contacted weeks ago, and now she was due.

"We've just been cleared. We are fast approaching Ma'am."

"Thank you, and please just call me Karren. I'm no officer, nor hero."

"We heard about what you did on that Starliner that was attacked by the First Order. We consider you a hero in our hearts. We will call you Ma'am. Karren."

She smirked and then took a seat as they landed, settling herself into a rhythmic breathing exercise, trying to calm her flayed nerves.

Things were dark yes, but hopefully this would be a welcome vacation from the norm.

I wonder if all Jedi feel this type of strain, She wondered.

"Docking beginning, stand bye."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],

Arriving in the Denon system, Karren was directed to dock with one of the larger stations surrounding the planet. If she was ever before on the city-planet, she would be able to tell that one definitely new element with Denon was a large ring of large ships and space stations surrounding the planet. Although at first slightly unnerving, reminiscent of great siege lines of warships about to ravage a planet, upon closer examinations Karren would probably be able to tell that most if not all ships and stations in the orbit were civilian and industrial in nature. The great installations being put together in Denon's orbit were not for purpose of destruction but creation and development, it was the sight of new orbital shipyard and spaceport system being put together in Denon's skies.

Coming closer towards the station designated for her docking, Karren would be able to have a better look at the particular Metal Lord space-architecture. The station coming closer into her view seemed to have been fashioned out of various parts of re-purposed and recycled parts of salvage, some parts of the construction were discolored, clearly newer patches of metal placed over old damage to reshape the wreckage into something usable. One part of the station was slightly triangular in design, clearly the tip of a Star Destroyer jotting from its side, blending seamlessly into the main portion, which further devolved into a rounded smooth hull of a Munificent frigate on the other side. A mix of different ideas and constructs blended together perfectly to create something new, such was the way of Metal Lords.


Once the docking procedure was through and Karren made her way off of her ship, she would come to face a welcoming party from the droids aboard the station. HK himself was there, present, flanked by a couple more guard drones who seemed to resemble armored skeletons fashioned out of durasteel or duranium, holding what looked to be electrostaves.

"Welcome young Jedi to Denon and the territory of Metal Lords."

HK greeted her,

"I am the Iron Lord Protector Above Denon, I have heard you wished to speak with me and with my kind. How can we help you?"

 

[RC 212]

[member="HK-36"]

The city was vast. The air was cool and comforting. the metal behemoth that stood before her did not intimidate her, but rather the ingenuity of these folks emboldened the young Jedi Rebel. If only others could dream so large, and seek to be so bold. She was wary of droids, and understood the motives of the Metal Lords. Especially with the outbreak of the Contingency in the galaxy now she was even more wary.

But none of this showed.

Instead she smiled and bowed.

"I am Karren Trask, the Rebel Jedi, And yes I do ask your audience."

She paused, readjusting her robe.

"In seek knowledge Iron Lord Protector. The knowledge of Iron and how it might be used to defeat my enemies. Those that practice the Dark Side. Imperials who enslave others. Tyrants."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],

"I hope you are not here to rebel against me."

HK quipped before hearing the woman out, nodding to her at her request,

"If you wish to learn how to craft armors and work iron there are books and videos to study from. However, I doubt you would come all this way and stand before my court to simply learn how to craft it. I calculate you are here to master the art as my kind did, but understand that may never be truly possible, we are born to the world of fire and steel, our very nature revolves around it, we understand machines innately as our kin."

The droid would motion for Karren to follow him as the automatic door behind him opened,

"Come, I will show you the forges on this station. First step is to know metals and which materials are better suited depending on the task. Do you know different types of materials and metals used in crafting of armors and weapons?"

 

[RC 212]

[member="HK-36"]

Karren shot HK a smirk and gave him a shallow bow. She folded her arms into her sleeves as she spoke, keeping a wary eye open for his compliment of escorts. Despite the fact she came in peace, she had to be careful not to antagonize him. She'd read a great deal about this particular droid. He had a history of violence.

"Aye you would be correct M'lord."

She fell into step as he moved through the doors, into the area beyond. She was to the left, matching the droids stride foot for foot, head and shoulders angled towards HK to listen intently on what he had to offer. It was rare she bet, that they would teach outsiders. The only other Force user to have such a grasp of machines had been perhaps Belia Darzu, whom had used the knowledge for great evil.

"I am somewhat acquainted with the materials, though more on a Jal'Shey crafting level. Force Imbuement and other things of that nature. Though I am not well acquainted with the forging process of each of these metals and components. I am aware of Phrik, Durasteel, Cortosis and of course the elusive Beskar."

She kept walking, breathing in a ryhtym through her nose and out her mouth. The force opened up more fully to her, reinforcing her calm and collected demeanour. Her jaw was loose and eyes locked towards the droid Lord.

"Would you teach me these techniques? Though I be an outsider?"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],

"Very good, Karren Trask, the Rebel Jedi."

HK nodded as she listed various metals, including Durasteel, Phrik, and Beskar,

"And yes, I see no issue with teaching you. Like I said, you may never truly understand how to forge or craft intricate machines like a droid does, so you would never really be more of an competition to us than organic companies are already. The only reason why we do not teach that many organics is,"

The droid shrugged,

"Well not a lot of them ask us for it, people tend to stay away from independent droids. Understandable after the Clockwork Rebellion and many various violent droid revolutions before, but the Metal Lords do things differently, we are more patient, and rather than living in a world free from organics, we would rather just live in peace, conduct to our own business unmolested, but at the same time equal. Most organics just see us as assassin or war droids, but they do not realize that we are capable of much more than just pulling a trigger, or slowly crushing a Sith's throat in my hands until his bones snap like twigs and he chokes himself on his own blood."

That got probably a bit too specific, either way HK glanced at Karren,

"But yes, your Force Imbuement will give you more of an edge than a normal smith, although droids try to much such techniques with intricate works to reinforce their metals and include the latest of technology to fight the Force. First I would master the techniques and learn how to craft normal armor and weapon before involving imbuement into it."

The droid advised, still walking through the station. Karren could probably tell they were heading deeper and deeper into the station, although the two guards who accompanied HK at her hangar did not come to follow them, one or two drone sentries like them could be seen stationed throughout the hallway from time to time, usually allowing the two of them to pass by without saying a word or moving an inch.

"The metals are in a way like lightsaber combat forms or the relationship between Light and Dark in the Force. It is all about balance, and the reason why so many of them are used is because each metal has an advantage, and disadvantage. Most Metal Lords use Phrik for their armors, it is light, more durable than standard metals, but not as durable as Beskar. However, Beskar is much heavier, it takes much more energy to move in than Phrik, or requires additional mechanical muscles to support its weight. On the other hand, armorweave or synthweave, cloth spun from various metals, much more lighter than even Phrik and sometimes even capable of blocking lightsaber strikes, but deals poorly against blunt damage and physical attacks."

HK explained as he lifted his hands, wobbling them up and down as if he was weighting two objects,

"Balance between weight and durability and balance between physical and energy protection. Cortosis absorbs energy so well it can deactivate lightsabers, but it is extremely brittle and even simple punches can break through it. Duranium is more durable than durasteel but also heavier, durasteel on the other hand is middle of the road and easy to produce in high quantities rather cheaply, which is why it is so popular."

He would stop then and look to Karren,

"So which one do you value more? Speed and agility or durability and brute force?"

 

[RC 212]

[member="HK-36"]

It was many specifics to take in at once. She kept her head down and hands clasped behind her back as they moved through the facility, listening with great focus. The part about crushing a Sith Lords neck imparted a sinister smirk to Karrens lips and she shot a glance back at the droid, chuckling.

​

Beskar, Phrik, Cortosis, Armorweave, Durasteel. It is all so much... ​

"I must confess I was not aware of these conflicting properties in great depth. I am however aware of a phenomenon in the Outer Systems and even some of the larger military's known as power armor."

She paused glancing over the pumpin machinery and whining valves of the city. It all moved in a majestic synchronization, giving her a sense of awe. Everything mechanical, precise and times down to the last tick of the clock.

"As for your reference to the Clockwork Rebellion that was far before my time M'lord. I am from a Sentinel background. I assume you have met enough of us to know we prefer a balance of both protection and offence. I'd like to defend myself against the major weapons of the galaxy as well as other Force users. Though I do prefer mobility."

An idea struck her. And then another.

"Could it be that a multi layered weave can be developed? Different components layered upon one another in separate order, connected to a power armor frame?"

Then she paused and spoke again.

"Could defense and attack drones be also rigged to this frame, or to operate near it? I read about a certain Galactic Alliance Jedi that uses them. Deadly efficient in my eyes. What do you recommend?"

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],

HK nodded as Karren mentioned powered armor,

"Yes, I am aware of such designs, they have been around for a while, most recently the Omega Protectorate invested in this technology, large portion of my troops still use their models although I was planning on updating them with Metal Lord technology. I believe Dominion invested in utilizing power armor suits as well."

The droid kept on nodding as Karren spoke and explained what she would want to do in the end before replying with,

"I would recommend you start simple and forge your first suit of armor out of Phrik. It will stop most weapons out there from damaging you and it is light enough to still provide mobility. While you create that suit and learn more about forging you can meditate upon a more complex design, its flaws and strengths. Power armor would provide you with increased speed and strength, perhaps even beyond that of a Force user, but it will be reliant on its own power source, servos, and joints, should those be damaged the weight could be too much for you to handle, it would potentially become your prison, if not crush you to death."

HK explained,

"You could possibly make it out of armor, that way the vital components would be well protected, but making that would take some time and plenty of resources. As to the drones and layered components, yes that is all very much possible, in fact I use such methods often."

The droid agreed,

"You see standard infantry drone body and standard suit of Metal Lord armor is a layer of metal, usually durasteel or duranium, with a layer of rubber isolation beneath. That way ionic and electrical attacks which strike the armor plates are restricted just to that armor plates and cannot jump through to vital components, protecting the machines beneath. In the past we also used designs of droid bodies forged out of two layers of durasteel with a layer of purified cortosis between them and another layer of rubber beneath them, however bodies like that would quickly become too heavy so instead we switched to the simpler rubber-Phrik combination."


Finally the two of them would come upon the door they were heading towards all along through the winding corridors and somewhat claustrophobic and bleak architecture of the droid station's bowels. The door before them was thick and charred, forged out of durable duranium, with a foreboding orange glow emanating from behind it and the sound of metals clashing. HK motioned to the door and the metal layer would raise up to immediately greet Karren with a wave of hot air washing over her and the clear sound of multiple hammers and other machines striking upon metal.

The room within was surrounded by glowing furnaces, each with powerful wild flames rising within their bowels, along with various anvils, presses, fabricators, and other machines before them. Most of the stations were manned by slender and tall droids, HK models suggested by their appearance, however unlike HK-36, they had multiple tendrils and limbs protruding from their backs, each ending with a pincer or some sort of specialized tool like fusion cutter, a heavy hammer, or a hydrospanner.

"These are my personal forgeworks aboard this station, and these are the HK-36-5-84-733 brothers 1 through 6, some call them Singed Fingers. If you have any questions about forging just ask one of them. And this will be-"

The droid would move aside towards one of the unoccupied stations, motioning to it,

"-your station. First lesson of the way Metal Lords forge is that all materials and components can still serve a purpose. We recycle and repurpose quite heavily."

At one side of the station there was a metal basin filled with various weapons and armor pieces sitting in a contained pile beneath a large chute with a series of buttons next to it,

"So your task for the day is to take this loot we gathered from Sith, Imperials, various other jackasses we fought and deemed their gear to be beneath our standard, break it down and separate durasteel components, then smelt them down in your forge. If you manage to do it quickly enough you will also be expected to make yourself a durasteel chestplate, it will be your first personal armor piece."

HK would turn to look at Karren then,

"Any questions?"

 

[RC 212]

[member="HK-36"]

Karren nodded. For some reason as she removed her cloak and belt she felt a familiar tingle travel up her spine. she glanced into the flames, lost in their beauty. Flickering and dancing, blazing hotter than the steel could ever withstand. As HK left to attend to other duties she bowed her head, breathing deep from the air, tasting the soot and the other more metallic dust.

This was familiar. This felt like......Home.

Her arm shot out and she snatched a piece of armor, a helmet, tossing it in. Soon after it glowed red hot and she grinned in delight. The destruction of the items felt good to her. she liked watching them melt and drip. Next came a sword, then some blasters and finally a dagger. It seemed as if it had been chipped. She examined it wondering who the hell brought a dagger to use against droids.

Then tossed it in.

Sweat furrowed on the young Jedi's brow and soot blackened her face. Soon the items were nothing but red hot, molten liquid. she donned her gloves and lifted the pot, pouring it into a nearby cast she had selected. As it poured she glanced to either side, noting two of HK's brothers watching her. Her scowl deepened, brows furrowing as she went back to her task.

The cask was closed, and then ran through a air blaster. As it came out the other side she cracked it with a bit of force, and breathed deep again, levitating the piece, now roughly a square sheet of steel back into the flames. The forge billowed even brighter, flames fed by her temperament and precise droid mixes.

"Now what?" She asked, braid whipping as she turned her head.

HK-1 nodded.

"Now Organic, you must beat the heated metal to your shape. I can help measure it if you so desire."

"Can you correct any flaws after?"

"Indeed this Forge Master certainly can. Down to a millionth of a degree difference cannot be tolerated."

She nodded. A few months ago she had visited Kiriko, inquiring about force imbuement. She remembered his conversation with her. That the state of the crafter played a pivotal role in anything imbued, and that it's imbuement must be woven in slowly.

Face highlighted in the garish glow of the flames she set the steel to the anvil and raised the hammer high. Her breath came in precise rhythm and her eyes closed. She was using only the force now to direct her hand, and to view the material at a molecular level.

SLAM!​

The hammer crushed down, changing the structure in her minds eye. She pulled with the force, packing the molecules even denser.

No Emotion
No Death
Just the Force

SLAM!​

Another layer of force energy surged between her and the steel at the strike. Her essence leached from her very bones with the current of a raging river, tiring her considerably. Her breath became heavier now.

No Emotion
No Death
Just the Force

​

SLAM!​

Another shower of sparks rose and more energy surged through the smallest nooks and crannies of the object at a sub molecular level, condensing, wrapping, enchanting.

One vision in her mind remained the same.

​

A Lightsaber bouncing off.​

​

Force Light blasting from all directions off the chest piece.​

She continued on. Long into the darkness of the night.....

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],


Once night fell over Danon, although it was hard to distinguish it from day high above in the planet's orbit where it was pretty much always dark but the forges within were always washed over with the orange light of their fires, HK would return to check on Karren. The door would open and the tall droid would walk in, looking about before finding Karren and moving over closer to her and looking over the chestplate she made,

"Good first project. Well shaped and measured, too well in fact, you had the Forge Master do it for you did you not?"

The droid asked and looked at Karren,

"That is alright, they had to show you how to do it anyway. There are flaws in the metal however, it is not a perfect alloy."

HK commented as he scanned over the armor,

"Be more careful when melting down the loot, make sure you strip it from any blasteel, duraplast, and syntheweave components, keep everything isolated and sorted, and watch the metals closely next time. You will see discolorations from it, different alloys separating from each other, you will learn how to keep them apart to avoid future flaws. Get some rest and something to eat,"

The droid motioned with his head to the ext,

"We have merchants stopping here from time to time so we have actual food aboard for organics, there is a station cantina on the upper promenade levels, near the observation deck. Afterwards find the nearest drone guard, state your name, and ask him to show you to your quarters."

HK would hand the chest plate back to Karren,

"Tomorrow you will melt more metals down and make another chestplate, this time you will shape it by yourself. If you will fail or make mistakes that is alright, as long as you will learn from them. Then the next day you will repeat this, and the next, until you will make an armor piece without any flaws, on your own, shaped perfectly. Then the backplate, the pauldrons, gauntlets, and boots. Once your first suit is completed we can talk about where to take your training next."

 

[RC 212]

[member="HK-36"]

The Next day

She was back at her station, this time much more focused. As the day before, she picked up each item, inspecting it's qualities, and breaking it down with the force in her minds eye. The pure plates were separated into a secondary pile and she threw the slag in first. As she worked she meditated, again drawing from the force.

But it had strange energy in this place. She found as she stared deeper into the flames she felt farther from her Jedi self. She was less of a pious cleric now and more of an angry crafter. Crafting an armor that's single purpose was to be her shield against the darkness, so she could be a sword against the very same.

Again the flames bellowed, and lava red metal boiled and bubbled. She skimmed out the black parts, the impurities and the other unmelted debris. At last both sets of metal were ready. Clsoing her eyes again she lifted them with her mind and gentle palm swipe, pouring the molten streams into the cask.


This time she blasted it faster than before, leaving it still hot and glowing as it fell upon the anvil with a crashing sound. She lifted the hammer high, sweat dropping into the metallic plate before her. This time the force came much faster, but much darker as well. An element of rage mixed with her recitation of the Jedi Code. She added another element which was not there the day before.

​

SLAM!​

No Emotion
No Death
Just the Force.
Crush the Darkness.

The hammer came down with a mighty swing as he eyes narrowed to squints. Sparks flew in every direction and she roared, letting go of all her bottled up emotions as Yumi had shown her many months before. She knew if Kiriko was here right now, the little Beorni would shake his head in disappointment.

SLAM!​

No Emotion
No Death
Just the Force.
Crush the Darkness.

Glad that he was not she gritted her teeth again. Roaring again and slammed the Hammer down, with all her might and determination. The force shaped the metal, compressing it into a tighter formation of molecules than was physically possible by normal forging methods alone.

Karren felt her hair stand on end, felt the heat of the flames roar, rising up to meet her ire with every strike in small dancing flickers. Dark and light swirled within the conflicted woman, surging into the molecules of her breastplate with every strike.

It went on long into the night once more, this time her bones and mind straining against the chaos within. She was tiring, much more quickly, but the enchantment on her piece became much stronger.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],

It was the next day, or perhaps the day after that, or even later still, time in the forge seemed to fly and warp into one hot messy lump, that HK came to visit her once more, motioning for her to stop working as the automatic door opened up and his tall slender figure moved inside.

"Good."

HK would commend her efforts so far,

"Better,"

He sounded out as he looked over the armor plates, scanning them meticulously, looking for any, even slightest mistakes,

"Much better."

The droid would added, offering Karren the armor plate he was inspecting before falling silent for a longer while, his head turning to look at the Forge Masters, the Singed Fingers were looking right back at them the whole time. This silence would last for a while longer as the droid just kind of stared each other down meanwhile until finally one of the Forged Masters nodded, with others following suit one by one, nodding as well. Finally HK nodded back in response before looking at Karren once more, she could probably determine pretty easily that the machines were talking to each other through other means than actual sound, they were probably all sitting in the same HoloDiscord channel just messaging each other with gifs and what not.

"Your shaping still needs some work but the materials you forged this time are pure and strong, that is what matters the most. Strong foundation, strong heart, the rest is just aesthetic. These are the basics, with these principles you will be able to make armor plates and weapons worthy of legends. But it is not all there is to learn from us."

HK motioned to the door,

"If you believe what we have taught you so far is enough, you are free to leave, at this point you are still our honored guest, but if you still thirst for more on how to make more advanced designs and adapt these teachings into complex works and combat, we offer you to come work on one of our Forge Ships where you will learn with more Forge Masters in larger complexes."

The droid offered,

"You will be part of its crew, but it is a non-combat vessel. While your lessons would be conducted you would be expected to give it all your focus and attention as if you were one of the forge-droids, or one of the Metal Lords, in between however you would be free to leave the ship and do as you please."

 

[RC 212]

[member="HK-36"]

Karren nodded, straightening her smock, and setting down her hammer. As she thought over the proposal she went from bench to bench, running her hands over each item of armor. Feeling the currents of the force and how well they'd been woven into her pieces. Two were dud's, but they would make fine ornaments or even battle armor.

The last one though, a white breastplate with multiple sockets for a later date. That was the one. As she placed her palm upon the white painted metal she felt the thrum of the force glow hot in her palm, rippling like a current from it. Now it just needed some touching up. Then she cast about looking at her other pieces.

Helmet, Leggings, Boots. These were all also well forged.

At last she wiped a grease stain from her face with a rag and nodded again.

"I accept this. Let's do weapons next."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],

The droid would nod to Karren,

"Very well, we can start with melee weapons, we have many designs for you to replicate."

Reaching into one of his belts he would take out a holorecording disk before handing it over to Karren,

"These are schematics on how to properly wire and install a vibro and electroshocking system onto a sword blade. Study them well and practice your smithing. The forge-ship where you will continue your education will arrive in three Denon solar cycles. In the mean time I would suggest you also request to be given one of our Magnetic Revolver models from the Quartermaster and take it apart, majority of the technological advancements Metal Lords made were in field of electromagnetics, especially implemented within firearms. You will learn how to wire and construct a basic shattergun similar to our designs after your first sword."

HK informed Karren,

"Otherwise the remaining free time you have around here is for you to do as you please, use it wisely."

And with that the droid would nod to Karren in a soft bow,

"May the Force be with you."


This would not have been a final goodbye, as the droid just had to go do other things somewhere else on the station, and throughout the next few days Karren would have probably been able to find HK easily should she need to, but otherwise the next time she would see the droid would have been when he came to get her and prepare her for the transition into learning and working aboard one of the Forge Ships.

 

[RC 212]

[member="HK-36"]

1 Week Later- Forge Ship

She was again in the forge, though this time disassembling a mag revolver. HK and the Omega Pyre had been the progenitors of the MK I Bolter, and everyone thereafter. she liked the premise, and wondered how she could make that premise easier. Better.

More magnets?

She'd tried that, but the power draw had been too great. Now she was peering down the barrel of a long .44 looking at the rifling she'd just milled into it. Pieces of wire and metal were strewn on every surface. She'd been at this for a while, trying to perfect the 1/7th of an inch right hand twist.

But this one was flawed. She could sense it.

"Feth."

She tossed it in the reject pile, grabbed another and began to settle back into her rhythmic breathing exercise, opening up to the force once more, breathing deep.

Then she went to work....

 

[HK-36]

[member="Karren Trask"],


"That is the problem with shatterguns is it not?"

Karren would hear a voice behind her after tossing the spare parts aside, it was HK, checking up on her. Since her assignment to the Forge ship she would not see him as often, the vessel lingered near Denon or within Droid Space only briefly, usually slugging along through the galaxy on various salvage missions or just simply moving for the sake of making itself a harder target to track down. There would be times however when HK managed to find time and means to come and see Karren's progress, this would be one of them.

"When I came to the Pyre the first model of Bolt Guns was already produced and a standard weapon for their soldiers. When I told the Firemane that I could improve it with addition of magnets they were dubious about whether the weapon could cause more damage or be practical, within a week they had portable mass drivers who used the same bolter ammunition but could punch clean through tank."

HK reminiscent as he stepped closer to watch what Karren was working on,

"Their weakness however was low rate of fire, indeed it is weakness of all shatterguns. They make useful sniper rifles or anti-armor weapons, but it was deemed impossible to make a fully automatic weapon out of one. Until I made the first shattergun rotary cannon that is, it was devastating, it allowed speederbike-sized spider droids to tear starfighters and tanks apart, but it was heavy and required more energy than standard power packs could supply. Since then I tried to minimize it and make it more manageable."

The droid motioned to the revolver Karren was trying to deconstruct and rebuild,

"This is the best we got so far for the public. It can fire off bursts of hypervelocity pellets but it fires them too quick for the drum to keep up for more than one burst, it needs to be reworked along with the power issue before we can make a machine pistol. Or had to be, as such weapons do exist within the Metal Lord vaults, waiting to be put on the market."

HK explained before turning around,

"You are doing well Karren, but do not kill yourself, if you fail learn from it and push forward, but do not stop and obsess too much, it will cause you to stagnate and sink. Try using magnetic coil barrel models, the increased surface area makes them more efficient than straight rails, you will need shorter barrel to fire at the same exit speed. It will decrease power needed as well."

And with that HK would disappear again.



Karren's stay on the Forge Ship would have been, well very sweaty, although she spend most of the time in the forge sections of Metal Lord stations above Denon, even that would seem like a luxury when compared to the Forge Ship. It was as if the entire vessel was an engineering deck, just a huge mess of pipes and exhausts throughout various labirynth-like corridors, filled with numerous engineering droids and few organics, although from time to time Karren would come upon stout brash beings with thick long beards. They seemed to have a bit of a vile temper, especially towards droids, which would have been rather strange considering their chosen location. Should Karren ask any droids about them, all they would say was that the beings were known as Khazund, and they used to make Forge Ships long ago.

She would have her own cabin, just because of how little organics there were on the ship and few droids had use for quarters, and there would be a mess hall aboard, although it was humid, hot, and a bit rusted like the rest of the ship. Main dish were bricks of MRE nutrient rich protein bricks, tasteless but filling concoctions that could be stored in bulk for rather long periods of times. The alternatives would be the Khazund cuisine, which seemed to mostly consist of heavily fried meats, mushrooms, molds, and sometimes grubs.

But that was pretty much the day-to-day life aboard the Forge Ship