(L,F&E 25) Bigger guns

[kalenath]

<The Stormhawk>

 

The lab was ready, the tech sergeant was ready, and everything was ready, now all they needed as the lead designer. Who was late. The being wearing tech sergeant’s stripes shook his head.

 

“Where the farkle is she?” Technical sergeant first class Jikirt asked for the fourth time. No one answered of course. No one else was there, except a couple of cleaning droids. This lab had been set up from a repair bay, and it was of good size. There had been a great deal of competition of course for the position of lab assistant to the new designer. It had all evaporated as soon as the sergeant had put his application in. He shook his head. It wasn’t as if he was mean or foul tempered. He just swore a lot, whenever he wasn’t head down in something; every sentence it seemed had some kind of profanity and in many, many languages. That had earned him the nickname of Bun for some odd reason. He really didn’t understand human humor, despite having been exposed to it for more than ten years. He had been part of the crew at Coruscant, a yard worker who had been aboard when the ship had left. He had been up to his ears trying to keep the ship running to have noticed. When he heard what had happened, his reply had been a snarl:

 

“You bothered me for that kark?”

 

He didn’t really care as long as he had the equipment he was responsible for purring like kits. He was really only interested in machines, things that went, and things that went boom. He had been somewhat surprised when he got the appointment to be the new head designer’s assistant. He had heard about her, who hadn’t? It wasn’t every day that such momentous events happened in the hangar bay. He rather liked Will, the man was just as coarse and abrasive as Jikirt was. And knew how to take an insult and send them right back. Many sentients didn’t know how to respond when their ancestry was questioned. And Nia… That girl had guts. He had been part of the crew for a long time. He had seen beings of all kinds come and go, but that girl.... Something about her calmed him down. He had shocked the entire crew when, on meeting her for the first time, he had put three sentences together without ANY profanity. And then SHE had responded with insults that had sent ripples of pleasure right through him. He had been one of the first visitors she had been allowed after her…incident. And she had recognized him almost immediately. He had rejoiced when the second word out of her mouth after she had seen him had been a profanity. She would be all right, he knew it. But that left him here and now. A new assistant to a designer who was almost an hour late to her first day.

 

This lab was a marvel, he had to admit. It was fully automated, with brand new displays, top of the line tools, lots and lots of things to work on. The Stormhawk was a marvel of technology, but as with all technology, pieces of it broke. And usually at the absolute worst possible time. He bent over an emitter for one of the turbo lasers and started realigning it. Then his sensitive ears heard voices. One he didn’t recognize and one he did. He stiffened as the hatch slid aside and Boss entered the room followed by a human woman with brown hair.

 

“Thanks for catching that Val. That would have been…unpleasant.” Boss saw Jikirt standing and waved to him. “Sorry we are late; Val found a problem and fixed it.” Jikirt stared at one of the few humans he actually respected and snarled, but didn’t curse at Boss, even he had limits. The woman seemed taken aback.

 

“What? You never seen a flarging Kushiban before?” he asked sarcastically. His fur, as almost always was half black, half white showing that he was half mad, half happy. As always.

 

((http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kushiban ))

[kalenath]

Val stared at the small furry being, transfixed but the sight. Boss chortled at her expression then nodded to her and crooked a finger to the tech sergeant. The Kushiban arched his tail and followed, muttering under his breath. Val watched him go, dumbstruck, and then turned her gaze to the equipment in front of her. She stared at the equipment, and then focused on one piece, an injector assembly for a small ship’s engine if she wasn’t mistaken. In seconds she had it in pieces.

 

Jikirt followed Boss into the lab’s office and waited. When Boss spoke, it was quiet and Jikirt tensed.

 

“Cut her some slack, Sarge, will you? She’s good.” The Kushiban snorted. “You will see. She had the whole secondary torpedo loading system apart when I found her. It works now.”

 

“Yeah, right that borking piece of garbage has never worked.” Boss laughed and Jikirt froze. “You’re brixing kidding, right? She flarging fixed it?” He stared at Boss’ eyeslit, then out the door at the woman who was blissfully involved in.. He goggled at her. “You are frelling kidding me…” His words broke off as he saw her up to her neck in the innards of a starfighter engine. She had been at it less than a minute and she already had it in sections and as he watched she carefully removed the injector that he knew was the problem. He turned his astonished gaze back to Boss who he was sure was smirking under the helmet.

 

“She’s good, very, very good, but… young…” The Kusihiban stared at the armored with something equivalent to horror on his furry face.

 

“No… No… No! You kung! You do not put another munking kid in my care, you do not!” Jikirt froze as Boss stiffened. Then the Kushiban trailed off.

 

Aw hell… When Boss spoke it was quiet.

 

“Do I need to make it an order Sergeant?” Jikirt snarled at him. Then the Kushiban shook is head again. His weary voice held fear and resignation in equal measure.

 

“Boss… Osik, Boss… I…” The Kushiban wilted under the human’s gaze, and then slumped. “Fine… I don’t know anything about frelling humans… Give me an mirking engine or a gun… I…” he growled, a sound more appropriate to a Wookiee than a Kushiban. “Yes, sir. Will there be anything else Sir?” The ‘Sir’s came out stilted and formal, and Boss froze. When Jikirt started ‘Sir’ing'… Boss sighed.

 

“Give her a chance, that’s all I ask short stuff.” Jikirt looked at him then walked out of the office, muttering. Boss left the lab shaking his head and hoping.

 

“Short stuff huh? Creep. Lousy stupid dikut…” He walked to where he could see what Val was working on and was amazed to see her closing up the engine. A quick glance at the diagnostic panel showed she had installed the new injector properly. He waited until she was down with that, and then cleared his throat.

 

“I am your assistant Ma’am. What can I assist with?” Any of the crew who heard him would have been shocked speechless. Two entire sentences without an expletive, and… his tone was… for once, actually respectful.

Edited June 18, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

Val turned from the engine and looked at the sentient as he spoke. She was wary, she could tell he wasn't exactly happy. She didn't want to step on anyone's toes, she was still new here after all. Being only twenty two didn't really give her much in terms of experience or at least not in most people's eyes. The combination made her come across as timid despite her trying to sound confident.

 

"For right now I have a heavy laser turret which was malfunctioning on one of the fighters apparently it just completely stopped working probably a power distribution error or a short somewhere and another engine with an igniter problem that needs to be fixed before it can be used in atmospheric flight again. And to answer your prior question, no I haven't seen a Kushiban before. I didn't really ever get out much."

 

Her voice trailed off a moment and her eyes stared off blankly into space before she looked back at him and smiled. "Feel free to jump in wherever you want."

 

She had primarily worked with droids when it came to actually dismantling and repairing things, this was going to be different. Yes she did have coworkers but they were mainly a 'think tank' of sorts people for her to bounce ideas off of. Right now she didn't have any ideas to bounce around, just things to repair and parts to adjust.

 

The woman moved over towards the engine and began pulling it apart. She was nervous, when she was nervous she wanted to work on something. Hm... simple enough just needed to take out the igniter and replace it, oh the fuel lines could be rerouted around here to make if more efficient and with the igniter altered it could give a better reaction time... she might as well fix that too.

 

 

((Posted by NitWhit))

[kalenath]

Jikirt nodded to her and his expression, if she could have deciphered it, was grudging acknowledgment. She DID know what she was doing. He hit his remote and his personal droid appeared. The TX model battle droid was a dumb as a post, and had been revamped as a mobile toolbox and a heavy lifter. Kushibans, while very dexterous, didn't have the strength to move heavy objects. So he compensated. He opened up his kit and started disassembling the heavy laser turret, but while part of his mind was on the task, part of it was on his new boss. He quickly found the problem, but... His voice was quiet in deference to his colleague.

 

"Kriffing piece of bantha dung..." The entire circuit run was fried. "How in the hell did they do this?" He looked at the turret ID code and winced. "I should have known... They shouldn't let that head case fly." Will's fighter, not the Dragon, although he had done a bit of work on that as well, but Will's personal fighter. It was an old Aurek Mark II, commonly called a Talon by everyone these days. He looked closely at the part and then swore quietly again. Wookiee fur caught in the interface port.

 

When I get my paws on that stupid Wookiee... Of all the stupid... I have told him and told him not to do that, but he just has to tinker, doesn't he...?

 

He ran a new control circuit, testing each connection. Each came up green. Finally he closed up the turret control port and smiled as the internal diagnostic showed operational. He turned back to his boss, she was on something else... He looked at it and froze.

 

"Ma'am, that's a plasma capacitor you are connecting to that run... it won't take the load..." He winced, expecting either an explosion or more likely, a horrifically burned boss. He moved to knock her clear if it did fry.

[kalenath]

Val paused a minute listening to the Kushiban's voice. Hm... she ran the calculations quickly through her head again. Her brow furrowed and a hand moved to her chin... no everything was in order, it would hold.

 

Her expression reverted to a rather relaxed and humored one as she connected the capacitor to the run. It took the load and she turned around smiling. She had been right. Finishing up she stretched a moment and ran diagnostics on the equipment, everything was working perfectly. It was good as new, erh well probably better than new.

 

Looking back towards her assistant she let out a small smile. "Don't worry I always run the calculations and theories twice to make sure. If I'm about to possibly fry my brains out I'll make sure to warn you in advance and probably get a droid to do it instead."

 

She just stopped for a moment looking back over the slowly decreasing pile of basic maintenance work. More capacitors to be replace, fuel lines that were cracking, circuits that were fried, slight adjustments in lenses and nozzles... she sighed. As much as she liked being able to quickly fix piles of machinery she wanted something a little more challenging to satisfy her before going back to quick work.

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

[kalenath]

"How in the name of the Chancellor's toes did that... Farkling thing not fry you?" Jikirt stared at her. Then he looked at the diagnostic. "Heh, you connected that through a phase amplifier? Hmmm..." She really did know here stuff. He wouldn't have figured that out as fast as she had and he had been part of the construction crew. He looked at it and his tail thrashed. The he looked at her.

 

"Well, we have a problem. When the ship was designed she was built to carry a battery of four brixingly heavy concussion charge guns forward. They were never mounted. My esteemed predecessor..." The word esteemed was bitten out as if Jikirt was in physical pain. "...Decided that bigger was better so the Mir'sheb mounted one very heavy gun in the mounts." He walked to a monitor and keyed it on. "Unfortunately the di'kut didn't tell anyone what he was mounting. He pointed at the screen. "This stang thing is a plasma projector. Wonderful weapon, more powerful than anything in Sith or Republic arsenals at the moment. Problem is that every time we power it up, it fries half of the slatting power runs. That is what happened to my predecessor and half of his crew. They were in a power control room working on it when the ship tried the weapon for the first time. Bunch of morons..." He stopped, realizing he had been speaking as he usually did. He waited for her response.

[kalenath]

"Why would they mount something like that there?" She sighed, that was a problem, a very large problem but it was just what she wanted right now. Her demeanor perked up, plasma projector... this was going to be fun.

 

"That is a problem. I take it your predecessor was not too bright." She smiled a moment before her expression went blank again, she was thinking. "Let's go take a look at it then and make sure that it's completely powered down and remains completely powered down while we're anywhere near it."

 

A weapon which was still in development on both sides fully assembled and mounted on the Stormhawk, it was enough to make her drool but she refrained. She had to go see it though, at least tinker with it a bit. A power problem was never an easy fix, but who knew? She might be able to come up with a workaround. Hm... possibly a problem with cooling as well. She got up and moved towards the door taking a bag of diagnostic tools with her.

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

Edited June 18, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Sure thing." He almost called her Ma'am again, but... she knew her stuff. Maybe she wasn't a total loss. Jikirt grabbed his gear and followed her, his bot hovering after him. He led her through the maze of corridors then stopped at a door marked 'Danger'.

 

"Okay, this if kriffing important. I know you know what you are doing, or I wouldn't dream of letting you in here. You hear a frelling siren or see a karking red light flash, you get out the door, clear? They don't... They don't always let us have warning before they power these munking runs..." His last words were almost sad. He keyed his comlink.

 

"Entering Main battery control room five at 1340." A muffled acknowledgment came through and he snarled at it. "Just open the kriffing door, will ya? And this time, warn us!" The hatch opened and he walked in eyes on the pulsating power cores, and glancing at the emergency warning systems, but their status lights all showed green. He walked to the control panel and nodded to Val.

 

"Welcome to the innards of the biggest fripping gun in the galaxy. And for frak's sake be careful where you put your hands."

[kalenath]

"If you hear a siren run for the door and don't touch anything that might snap back, got it." Viala nodded before looking around in awe.

 

That power conduit fed to that, the wiring could be better, it seems a little rushed rerouting a few things could do wonders but rewiring all of that would take ages. Touching her hand to a metal panel she left her fingers there for a moment. It was slightly warm to the touch, that wasn't right heat dispersal was definately an issue, she was going to have to look at the cooling units and perhaps some surge protection or power wells while she was at it.

 

Her eyes still wandering around taking it all in she started talking out loud as her fingers traced various wires and parts along the walls. "And this goes to the power cores... hm... and the conduit connects to the breaker.... that could be redone..."

 

Snapping out of it a moment she turned her attention back to the Kushiban and the control panel. She moved a hand to her head and smiled a moment. "Sorry I tend to loose perspective sometimes and I need to stop that before I give myself a headache." She blinked a few times and lowered her hand resuming a more focused demeanor as the awe faded away slightly. "So can I have a brief overview of how this thing works exactly? Most of my work prior to this tended to be with lasers and not plasma based weaponry so I might be a little fuzzy on the exact details."

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

Edited June 18, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

Jikirt fell easily into lecture mode. His tone became slightly respectful, with less profanity.

 

"Plasma weapons operate by using energy to turn matter -usually a carbon material of some kind- into plasma, the resulting materiel is then, supposedly, shot towards an enemy encased in a magnetic field that disintegrates on impact. Any solid objects that the plasma comes into contact with are splashed in superhot material. Shields are essentially irrelevant. Ray shields do not stop physical objects and particle shields are overwhelmed by the sheer heat. Armor becomes superheated gas and the resulting mixture adds to the inferno." The Kushiban sighed.

 

"Note I said supposedly... We have never brixing had a successful test of this weapon. The first time we powered the karking thing up, the fripping backlash of energy killed half the tech crew, including the osik for brains who installed it. The last time we powered it up, it melted half of the flarging weapon control runs, if we had been in an actual fight we would be dead." Now he looked contemplative, or as contemplative a small furry rodent could be.

 

" The problem is simple. It needs a lot of juice to power the shot. the problem is that if the power system as it is can't handle that kind of load. So how do we fix it without a full overhaul and upgrade? not to mention the minor problem of finding a spacedock that wouldn't arrest us. I have some ideas of how to make it work, but I have never had time. Boss would love to get this thing working. So would I." He looked at her. "Well?"

[kalenath]

Without a full overhaul and upgrade... those words echoed in her head for a moment. She scanned around once again her mind running faster than she typically cared to let it go. Power problems, distribution issues, cooling systems, surge protectors, no breakers perhaps... no no, simple, quick fixes... but how to fix this kind of a problem quickly. Maybe there was just a faulty wiring somewhere.

 

Her hands traced parts along the walls from a distance making sure not to touch anything as her dark brown eyes darted around the various assortment of light from the devices blinking around her made them seem as dark as the space beyond the ship.

 

What was it? Something had to be malfunctioning, people just don't build guns like this and them not work... unless...

 

She stopped a moment at the cores staring at the wiring behind them. "This breaker needs to be removed, it's pointless to have it here since you require a large influx of power and it doesn't have the capacity to properly distribute. Hm..." She walked along the wall again one hand on her chin, her eyes moving deliberate as if following some imaginary line. Stopping she touched a panel, it was slightly warm just as the other had been. "Wiring is over concentrated here and there." She went back to her bag and grabbed some tools and pulled the panel back.

 

"No wait, you have to have a large influx of power, but it fries the system... the circuitry is only built to handle so much flow at once. So what if a slight delay was added to the cores. Upon activation a pulse would flow through the circuits just enough for them to manage, then another quick pulse, then another until it received the power required. We could possibly install an energy well here to catch any excess if the system becomes overloaded... or..."

 

She paused a moment at another panel and smiled. Flipping it open as well she stared at the mess underneath. "Who put a second breaker here? And this capacitor? This whole section is just wrong. You don't put a capacitor in a circuit where you need power of this degree, not here." She sighed and began dismantling the circuitry underneath making sure to keep the live wires properly fastened and secure. The last thing she wanted was a jolt large enough to send her back to the dark ages. After removing the capacitor and throwing the piece of equipment behind her where it landed with a clunk, she closed the panel and began working on the others one by one.

 

After several minutes she sighed wiping some sweat from her brow and turned back to Jikirt smiling. "Ok I think it might work now. This model of super capacitor is meant to store and release electricity however in a case like this they were not built with the capacity to handle the current flowing through the power grid and were not set up to properly discharge. The heat from the energy in the wiring has caused them to melt so power has just been building up in them causing more heat as the molecules vibrate due to the transfer of electrons and the circuitry around it to fry leading to the weapon failure. They were unnecessary to begin with. If needed, the next time we land I can find some more suitable energy wells to allow for better safety without having to deal with them melting together. The newest model should handle the heat nicely."

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

[kalenath]

Jikirt was sure his jaw made a loud noise when it hit the floor. He looked at the gun's inner workings, then at her. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He shook his head in disbelief. Then his comlink chirped. He looked at it, then yelled as he ran for the door.

 

"OUT! NOW!"

 

He moved to the hatch and hit the open switch, when it did, he waited for her. Red lights started flashing and a loud siren started.

[kalenath]

Val's eyes widened as she heard those words. Why were they testing it now? Didn't they know people were down here? It didn't really matter right now, all that mattered was that she needed to move and move fast.

 

Grabbing the bag of tools laying behind her she bolted towards the entrance. She really really didn't want to die. Then again if she was going to go, death by what was likely to be the galaxy's biggest gun wouldn't be a bad way to go in her book, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

 

She reached the hatch. She was breathing rapidly, a mix of fear, anger, and physical activity. It had been a little while since she was required to move like that and needless to say the woman wasn't used to it nor was she used to the anger coursing through her veins right now.

 

How could they?! They knew that people were down there! It was quickly settled whomever was up there pulling the switches was going to get an earful on safety protocols which had to be taken into account with a weapon of this magnitude.

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

[kalenath]

"GO! GO! They..." Jikirt's voice broke off in a howl of pain as the room filled with energy. He came hurtling out the door cursing a blue streak.

 

"Stupid fargling droids! This time I will deactivate their lousy metal tusses. Ouch! Frelling imbeciles!" He swore again as he contacted the deck, never pausing his profanity. Finally after about two minutes of nonstop swearing he managed to put a coherent sentence together.

 

"You ok? Stupid droids... We don't have enough fargling warm bodies to run all departments, so we have shebs for brains droids in nonessential roles. And they run brixing periodic checkups and tests on all fraking systems. Normally that's a good thing, but..." He winced as he straightened up. "This time I swear I am going to decommission their choobies!" He pulled a very large vibroblade out of his toolkit, it went Ka-click as it opened. "I will. Karking watch me." He finished sourly.

[kalenath]

Val shook her head a moment and paused still a little taken aback by the whole thing. "Droids? Droids shouldn't be allowed to go anywhere near the controls of a piece of machinery like this. Running maintenance sure but just the basics nothing that would run the risk of potentially killing people in the process."

 

She shook her head again and sighed allowing her frustration to begin to slowly evaporate. Droids and her often times didn't mix well to begin with, not after what had happened prior, not when she discovered that they could be programmed to lie and kidnap. "Don't destroy them though, I don't want to have to add them to the pile of work back in the lab as well. We just need to have a talk with whomever assigned them to check that system, a polite talk." She felt that last bit was definately needed in this case.

 

The thought of Jikirt dismantling droids with a vibroblade was amusing but it was best not to let that come into fruition, they both just needed to regain their composure a moment before they or well he rather did anything they would regret.

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

Edited June 18, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"At least they warned us this kraking time." Jikirt relaxed a bit. his tail smoothed back to normal size and his ears relaxed back to their normal posture. "We just don't have enough borking people. And most of the time, we cover what we frakking can, and try and fix what we can as we fargling can." He folded his vibroblade and stowed it. "Maybe with your assistance..." he broke off as another voice came.

 

"Statement: Do you require assistance?" They both spun to see an astromech droid, but it spoke basic. "Explanation: Sensors logged lifeforms in the danger area, do you require assistance?" The droid repeated. Jikirts fur changed color, from white to red to pure black. When he spoke, his voice was tautly controlled. The droid backed off a bit at his tone. Anything sane might have. Too late...

 

"Do we need assistance?" he reached into his toolkit and pulled out a wrench. The wrench was a meter long, twice his length. He hefted it like a two handed sword. "DO WE NEED FRELLING ASSISTANCE?" He charged the droid and swung his weapon.

 

"WE. NEED . STUPID. OSIK. FOR. BRAIN. DROIDS. TO. DO. THEIR. JOBS." With each scream he hit the droid again. Loud clangs echoed down the corridor as he pummeled the hapless droid. Finally after a massive overhand swing the droid collapsed in a shower of sparks. The berserk Kushiban hit the droid several more times before finally lowering the wrench and turning away. The droid tried to move away, trailing parts, but another blow threw it back to the deck. Jikirt turned back to Val. When he spoke again, it was in a calm voice and his fur shifted colors again, staying in red.

 

"We don't do droid repair." Without turning he hit it again.

[kalenath]

"Good that's a relief. I guess you can keep bashing away then." Val was finding the whole sight rather hilarious but of course she wasn't going to let Jikirt know that. She would keep it suppressed within her hiding it behind the shock of seeing him bash the astromech to death with a wrench. Right now she was just relieved that he put the vibroblade away.

 

Moving her free hand to the back of her head as the other still clutched the bag of equipment she had grabbed on her way out she looked down at him waiting for him to finished pommeling the useless bucket of bolts. Then the inevitable question would follow.

 

"So... um... should we test it and then perhaps inform Boss?" She was hoping the question would divert his attention away from the heavily damaged droid. He was kinda scaring her although she knew he wouldn't do anything like that to a sentient unless they really deserved it... or at least she hoped that was the case.

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

[kalenath]

Seeing Val flinch, Jikirt slumped, then he walked back to his floating toolbox and stowed his wrench. When he spoke it was quiet and wonder of wonders, free of profanity.

 

"My team was working on the starboard main battery during a battle. It was just me and a green kid. He didn't know what he was doing, but he was eager... Man, he was eager... The droids running the power allocation section powered the guns up before we had closed the breakers all the way. Next thing I know, I woke up in sickbay and the doc told me it had been three days. I... I was the lucky one. He had lasted eighteen hours. They said he shielded me somehow..." He looked her in the eye and shook his head. "To the droids, we were nothing more than numbers. The guns were needed to win the battle, so they powered them up. And removed a number." The Kushiban's eyes were glistening, but his voice remained steady. "But he had a name, it was Starwing, Mik Starwing. I hope you can help us. I really do..." A loud voice interrupted.

 

"What is going on here?" Jikirt spun to see a man in maintenance coveralls coming towards them. He saw the broken, no smashed, droid and then saw Jikirt and flinched. Jikirt's voice was almost friendly, but...

 

"Hiya Jaken. Your flarging droids nearly fried me again."

 

"What did you do to my droid, you stupid..." Jaken broke off as Jikirt grinned, evilly. A brown stain appeared on the front of the tech's pants.

 

"I'm stupid? I'm not the one ignoring the borking readings in the weapon power room. I'm not the osik for brains who would have had to explain to Boss why he fried our new weapon designer. And I am not the one who is getting out of the flarging way, right now." As he led Val away from the terrified tech, he smirked. Two corridors away, he spoke for Val's ears alone.

 

"I only hit borking machines that don't do as they are supposed to. But he doesn't fraking know that. So please don't brixing tell him."

Edited June 18, 2012 by kalenath

[kalenath]

"Oh don't worry I wont."

 

She gave him a friendly grin in return and laughed a bit internally. She understood, he had a reputation to uphold and she wasn't about to ruin it. Having someone who was happy speaking up and doing it enough for the both of them was an asset in her eyes. She wasn't about to invoke his wrath upon herself either... well at least not by choice.

[kalenath]

Jikrit led Val to another section of the ship.

 

"We have to clear all weapons tests with the bridge. The osik for brains power allocation droids are supposed to clear all borking power ups like the one that nearly caught us with the bridge. My best bet is that flarging idiot Jaken didn't bother. After all, why should he care?" The question was obviously rhetorical, but Jikirt looked closely at Val. His eyes narrowed.

 

"When did you eat last? I'm not the best judge of human skin color but you look paler." He nodded to her. "Lets get you fed. Don't want you to fall on your shebs now do we?" Without another word, he changed direction and led her to a mess hall. It was partly filled, and several beings of various species called greetings to Jikirt, most of them profane. He got a tray of food, watched as she got one for herself and then eld her to a table near a large porthole.

 

"I hope you don't mind a frelling space scape. Oh and..." He grinned and waved her attention outside. A pair of Aureks skimmed by close, in tight formation and obviously practicing some kind of maneuvers. Jikirt looked at the fighters and grinned.

 

"Di'kut pilots... gotta love em..."

[kalenath]

Poking at the food in front of her she slowly began eating. It was clear that Val was distracted, very distracted. Her dark brown eyes remained transfixed on the starfighters zipping past, the longing look in her gaze wasn't hard to miss. Every now and then she turn back to her food and take a bite of something before peeling her eyes back on the fighters.

 

Food, food was just sustenance, sure it could taste good at times but sometimes it just seemed like a pain and a bother despite its necessity. Right now food was taking a backseat to her fascination with flight. Simulation after simulation after simulation and yet she'd never actually flown... no one ever let her fly. They always gave her excuses at Yinran and with the Sith, well she dare not even bother asking them.

 

She was slowly accepting that it wasn't meant to be... she was a lab rat thus too valuable to stick in a ship. She would just have to settle with fixing and designing them and just keep wondering what it was actually like to be dependent on the systems she tinkered with. In the meantime though, it didn't hurt to watch.

[kalenath]

Jikirt looked at Val and smiled inwardly. He understood completely. He had wanted to be a pilot, but until someone made controls for them Kushiban size, he was stuck working on them. He smiled as a large form appeared in the door to the mess hall.

 

"I wondered how long it would take for him to show up... Hey Olana over here you furry excuse for poodoo. " Everyone in the mess hall froze for a second, but then saw the grin on Olana's face. And relaxed, a bit. "You munking tinkered again, you silly fur ball. Don't brixing do that. Leave it to the smart people."

 

Olana walked over to their table and grinned at the Kushiban.

 

<Keep insulting me, rat, and see what happens.> Jikirt just smiled wider.

 

"Rat? Is that the best you can do, peedunky?" Olana laughed, then looked at Val. His gaze swept her up and down, taking in her longing look that was drawn out the window as ships passed by close.

 

<Can you translate for me?> Jikirt blinked, then nodded. <Val, Will told me you wanted to fly. Is that still true?> Jikirt relayed the information to Val with an inward smirk.

 

She doesn't want to, she YEARNS to, and I know the feeling

[kalenath]

She turned from the window and smiled at Olana. Listening to what Jikirt relayed back to her intently, her smile widened even more and her brown eyes lit up.

 

"Yes, it is still true. I know all the Yinran and Sith training sims backwards and forwards and..." Realizing that she had just spoken about her previous 'employer' if you could classify it as that out loud in front of a cafeteria full of people who despised the Sith and in a rather excited tone, her feeling of elation disappeared. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable and awkward. If a person by will power alone could vanish she would have at that moment.

 

Realizing that Jikirt probably wasn't informed about it either just made her feel even worse. She looked at him and sighed. "I'm sorry I don't know what Boss has and hasn't told you about me."

 

She paused for a moment biting her lip in hesitation. She lowered her voice this time as she continued. "I had the horrible misfortune of being forced to work for the Sith. It wasn't pleasant in the least to practically be sold from the private corporation you've been loyal to for a couple of years to a military organization you've made a point to avoid which treats those who serve it like animals in return."

 

She held up her wrist and pulled back her sleeve to reveal the ring of discolored scarred flesh around her wrist where the dark band once resided before quickly pulling it back towards her. "The training sims just helped make it a little more bearable. They were my escape." She looked down at the Kushiban hoping he would understand, hoping he wouldn't be mad at her. She wasn't really sure how he would take it.

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))

[kalenath]

Jikirt looked at her, and Olana sat down beside her. both looked sympathetic.

 

"I understand, Val." Jikirt's quiet words, for once, held no sarcasm, or profanity. "I understand completely about escape from intolerable situations. When I lived on Kushiba, I wanted to leave more than anything else. I stowed away on a smuggler ship. When they caught me, they sold me, as a pet! After some craziness, and less than noble situations, I wound up on Coruscant, clawed my way out of the mess. I got an education and made a life for myself. Just in time for the Sith to come. I always dreamed of flying though. But I can't. Best I can do is ride." Olana reached a paw across the table and Jikirt hit it lightly with his. Olana spoke and Jikirt translated, then smiled.

 

<Anytime you want.> Jikirt nodded then looked at him.

 

"What brought you here, furr face?" Olana smiled, then grinned again.

 

<Nine wants to meet the woman who worked on her fighter.> Jikirt smiled widely.

 

"Oh, that miking crazy pilot... You will like her." He grinned at Val's expression. Then Olana stood up and beckoned. Jikirt jumped from the seat to follow Olana.

 

Olana led them aft, way aft. He stopped in front of a door marked 'Locker Room' and waved them in. Inside a group of pilots were standing around talking. All talk ceased as Jikirt and Val entered the room. They looked...respectful.

 

"Where's Nine?" Jikirt asked insolently and a laugh came from behind a wall of lockers. The Cathar called Stormhawk Nine walked around the corner, clad only in a long towel. She had obviously just finished showering.

 

"You are one crazy bunny, Bun. Did you have to kill that poor droid?" Jikirt smiled at her, and she smiled back, but then her expression changed as she saw Val. She came forward and extended her hands.

 

"Viala Sunrunner, I presume? Thank you. I just got back from testing my ship, and it purrs now. It's never been that smooth. Anything I can do for you, ask."

[kalenath]

Val was rather stunned. Pilots, she was actually talking to starfighter pilots... well a pilot, and getting complimented for her work by one. Was this real? She wanted to pinch herself to be sure but that would be rather embarrassing. The wideness of her eyes were enough to clearly express the state of awe she was in.

 

As she spoke her words were a little shaky. "Yes... I, I'm Viala Sunrunner... and you're, you're very very welcome."

 

Hearing the pilot ask if there was anything she would do for her. Val froze. There was one thing she wanted more than anything in the galaxy right now... she couldn't help but ask. "Is... is there anyway I could ride with you in your starfighter?" Now that she asked, she felt rather silly and childish but it didn't matter. She had asked that's all that counted and she had to ask, she had to.

 

((Posted by Nitwhit))