Faction Well Whaddya Know! [OPA and Open to OPA Allies]

[Eldin Daine]

Subterrel – The deep south

​

Prospecting, not one of Eldin’s usual past times but it was beneficial to the pocketbook and after sinking a large part of his Talons into Whistler’s Hole, he had to find a new way, a quick way to get some coin. Whistler’s would take some time before the books would read in the black.

Subterrel was the most likely place for gaining a quick buck, although it would be hard work.

The Rusty Bucket sat on the surface of the planet ready for the pay load. Beneath the surface, deep in the caves Eldin started the set up for prospecting. The atmosphere on the surface required a breathing mask, and protective suits again the acid fog that clung to everything. He even had his ship prepped for the place, the last thing he wanted was for the Rusty Bucket to .. rust. Or erode.

In the mining cave however, one could walk around freely without all the trappings. He had set up an environmental tent to help add to the depleted air and help those not physiologically suited to the terrain. He was one of them after all and needed to protect his lungs.

Eldin lit up a thin cigar. The swirling smoke escaping the corner of his lips and got trapped in the peak of the environment tent. He peeled off his jacket throwing it away to the equipment crates and rolled up his sleeves.

It was time to get to work and prospect for Tydirium.

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Subterrel.

Not exactly her favorite world. For that matter, it didn’t even make the list of worlds she looked forward to visiting. There was money to be made there, however. Lots of it, if one didn’t mind risking atmospheric poisoning, getting stabbed by a rival prospector, or being crushed by a rockslide.

One of the OPA Judges had come cover to start prospecting and Aeshi had bought some stakes in the endeavor, mostly with equipment and technology. She strode down the ramp as the loading droids moved crates and boxes out of the cargo hold to be moved down into the cave network.

Aeshi strode down the tunnels towards the prospecting site. The environment and atmosphere were better down here, but she could feel the weight of rock and earth pressing down to crush her.

She couldn’t wait to get back into space, where she could see and know what was coming? Go anywhere, and move as she wished, unhindered by the rock and soil.

 

[Eldin Daine]

He rolled up his sleeves, and pulled on a pair of thick leather gloves as he watched the young girl who seemed a little uneasy down here. Truth of it was, Eldin didn't like being underground much either, but this is where the load was and it ain't gonna jump out of the ground by itself. The mining droid followed her and soon would be set about the business of extraction. Eldin had a couple of them himself, older models but they would do he trick. The ore sensors were scanning the area and feedback started to stroll down the screen of the computer. He watched with great interest, nothing as yet.

His gloved hand reached for the bottle of beer sitting patiently on the crate, the cold liquid cool down his throat, and hit the spot. Already the temperature was greater then he had expected and beads of sweat gathered on his brow. The screen started to flicker, the blue data randomly flashing green whenever the senor hit Tydirium but it was not enough of a core to begin digging. This shaft might have already been extracted and only small pockets remained, maybe the guy he brought this prospect off had conned him after all.

Eldin perched on a crate, pulled a leg up and rested his beer on his knee. This might take a while before they would hit anything substantial.


Aeshi Tillian

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Eldin Daine

That was the other thing she disliked about being on a planet's surface. Standing still. Waiting. So much waiting. Especially with something like this. She unloaded the crates of supplies into the prospecting site, organized them, and paced back and forth in the tunnel. Her boots echoed softly on the stone and she clasped her hands behind her back, chewing her lip.

"Can't believe people actually like doing this," Aeshi grumbled. "Or think the credit payoff could possibly be high enough to be worth the sitting around." She turned and stared at the machines, willing them to move faster. Maybe the Force could help speed up the process. Point them to a vein worth mining. If there was, she didn't know it. Then again, the skills and training of the Wardens of the Sky wasn't the most intense or broad.

If anything, it was practical and focused on what they expected to use. Martial arts and space-based, usually. Some healing. Some use of the Force to influence and affect technology. Not much beyond that. Aeshi had picked up training elsewhere, but nothing that would help in this context.

"Any unexplored tunnels long abandoned or lava veins around here?" Aeshi asked at last, not entirely sure who she was asking. Maybe the Judge. Maybe the droids. Maybe the Force. Fate, perhaps. "Might as well do some charting and make readings on the atmosphere and rock composition."

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaia Starchaser was supposed to be out here helping along the Rim, but working with her father and the Order of the Silver Jedi, and the twins had kind of taken over, a little. Jared was the one better with the babies, but she was still there to help her father or Celeste Rigel . Still, she was keeping an eye on the company, and that meant coming out and seeking for materials to mine. Hearing from the GUIDE that there was a mining operation on Subterrel. It was a planetary mining operation, but she figured she had the SERGIO units for a reason.

Tydirium was a good ore to harvest, and when she found her way down to the planet in her own YT-2400, she was hoping to find the Judge in charge of this operation, from there, she could direct her heavy equipment. Until she made her way down the path that had been indicated. She heard the voice of one she hadn’t heard in a while, Captain Ash Tillian, speaking to Eldin Daine. Daine was good people, and so was Tillian, obviously.

As she approached, she looked around. “When you said mining… I was hoping for a bigger option. Is there a location to land heavy equipment?” She looked around. “Or a need?”

Eldin Daine Aeshi Tillian

 

[Eldin Daine]

Well it seemed the young girl was impatient, he couldn’t blame her, after all this job is tedious and filthy and when the location of the vein is found, hard work. Even though the droids would do most of it, Eldin was not one to sit around and do nothing. He is many things, lazy if not one of them.

Another young girl turned up; the day was shaping up nicely, at least he had good company to look at. “I suppose we could go take a look ourselves”, he slides off his crate and placed the empty beer bottle on the growing pile.

He turned to the new girl, “If I told ya this was prospectin’, would ya come?”. His killer smile flashed at her. “Oh, there’s a need, any equipment ta help speed the operation along would be just dandy”.

He grabbed a geological map he had pilfered from the local repository and laid it out on the crate, used two beer bottles to keep from rolling up again. “Right here’s this tunnel”, he pointed their location on the map, “Runs for about 1.3 kms down. There’s some structure left, headframe, and a hoist and we might fine some old equipment left behind further in”.

He tapped the map on the tunnel to the right of their location, “This one is abandoned”, he hesitated as if trying to find the right words, “for the moment”. Truth is that the operators of that particular tunnel had closed down operations due to lack of funds but had every intention to re-open later.

“I was thinkin’ ta take a look over there, ya know. Keep an eye on it for ‘em”, a smirk as he looked at both his new partners. “After all, what a neighbours for?”. Whether it was gut, nous or the force, something was telling Eldin to take a good long look.

“Eldin Daine by the way”, he gave them both a nod to introduce himself. “And who might ya be?”.


Kaia Starchaser | Aeshi Tillian