Star Forge - Chapter 9

A cluster of space stations circled the planet of Alderaan. There was at least a dozen. Each one was its own little hive of activity. We didn't know which one to aim for, so we slowed our speed and opened a communication channel to the nearest one.

"Unidentified vessel," the voice of a droid came through speaker in the cockpit. "State your purpose and identification number or cease your approach."

"YT-1930, designation Zepplin," I replied. "Offering services as requested regarding Hyperspace Distress signal."

"Thank you, Zepplin," the droid said. "Please allow the tractor beam to guide you to your docking spot."

I motioned Adyan who did as suggested. She flipped a couple of switches and leaned back in her chair as the tractor beam took hold.

"Are you sure you have to do this?" Anakin asked.

"They need help," I replied with a nod, then smiled. "And they're paying."

Anakin stuck his tongue out at me. I had kept my helmet off since our 'sparring' to make it easier for us to communicate. There was an amazing amount of subtle ways something as simple as looking into someone's eyes could convey. The long stretch in Hyperspace and sub-light travel helped the crew adjust to each other. It felt more natural to relax around Shmi, Mette, and Adyan now simply by spending time around each other.

Mette had started listening in when I taught Anakin about Mandalorian culture. Shmi joined us once it was clear that he wanted to learn more, but the Asari hadn't worked up the courage to approach yet. Adyan was perfectly happy doing her own thing. She had a little rivalry going with a couple of droids that swapped out piloting duties. Shmi made sure it stayed friendly.

"I will try to make contact once a day. If I'm not able, then be patient," I explained yet again. "I can't stop in the middle of a fight to tell you about my day. You have your studies."

Anakin grumbled. I gave him my best parent look. It wasn't as effective as Shmi, but it made him laugh.

"If you want to earn your armor then learning the history of Mandalorians, as well as the Creed, is important," I said with some firmness in my voice. "Expanding your catalogue of languages and cultures is also important. If nothing else, learn to understand a few more languages. You would be amazed at the things people will say if they think you don't know what they are saying."

Anakin still pouted.

"Bounty hunting and mercenary work are two of the main peace-time careers," I continued. "You need to know what your potential employers want. More importantly, if they're to be trusted." I stole a quick look at Shmi. "Even supporters need to know what's going on. Medics, mechanics, merchants, and a dozen other essential positions require a strong base of knowledge."

That seemed to mollify her a little. Anakin, thankfully, was thinking it over. He nodded after a moment.

"How long will you be gone?" Anakin asked.

"No clue," I shrugged.

He kicked me in the shin and instantly regretted it.

"It depends," I chuckled. "Thirty days at most, barring unforeseen issues." I motioned to the various space stations around the planet. "This isn't a small operation."

"Fine," Anakin huffed.

"We're about to land," Adyan said.

I knelt down to get on Anakin's eye level.

"Listen to your mother," I said softly. "No more than four hours a day on your lessons. At least one hour on your exercises and meditation. Work on your control with the Force. Peal the Jogan fruit like I showed you. If you can get that down, then move on to removing the seeds and slicing it into portions."

I put on my helmet and made my way over to the airlock. Shmi walked with me. Anakin recognized when the adults needed to have a private conversation.

"Thirty days," I repeated. "Get a status report if I don't contact you. This ship is yours if I'm dead."

Shmi nodded but didn't speak. I stepped into the airlock then she sealed it behind me. The silence while I waited for the landing process pressed in on me. Leaving them was a lot harder than I had expected. It would have been easy to ignore the distress call and find somewhere not in crisis for a vacation. Like I had told Anakin, they needed help. It didn't feel right to ignore them. Bail Organa was a good man, from what I knew from the movies and shows.

I activated my Forge as I waited. Staying alive was more important than saving points. I wasn't going to ignore the Forge if there was a possibility that even one of the options could keep me alive.

• [Balance: 1300 Forge Points]

• ROLL.

• [COST: 200 CP]
  [ITEM: Medal]
  [You will gain a customized medal for every heroic action you take and operation you succeed in allowing anyone who you let look at them relive the memories of those events as though they were there.]

DISMISS. ROLL.

• [COST: 100]
  [TRANSPORT: M12 Warthog]
  [There are some things that are just so reliable that any upgrades you make are just variants of the basic vehicle in question. Reliability is needed in a war of survival. That reliability comes in the form of this four-wheeled ground vehicle that boasts impressive speed, traction, and torque at both the high end and low end. Using hydrogen-injected ICE I/C plant and a Graf/Hauptman Solar/Saline Actuator, this thing can go for four hundred and ninety miles before needing a refill and could use twelve liters from any fresh, brackish, or salt water to turn into more hydrogen on the fly. While the default variant comes with a light machine gun turret that can be wielded by a third person, you may take the machine gun out for four extra seats for troop transport instead.]

A ground vehicle sounded like a good choice. I admit there was also a small fanboy voice telling me to get it. Who didn't wanted to drive a Warthog for real?

PURCHASE. ROLL.

• [COST: 300]
  [ITEM: Basilisk War Droid Schematics]
  [Originally made by the Basiliskan Race from the planet Basilisk, these semi sentient War droids are possibly the greatest in the Galaxy. These droids are operated with a single rider from their backs and can even allow their rider to survive atmospheric reentry and operate as star fighters both in an atmosphere and in a Vacuum. With this purchase you gain a both the schematics, and a single War Droid.]

PURCHASE.

"Begin research," I said in hopes that the Droid Factory would respond.

• [Research – Third Generation Droids – Time Remaining – 9 Days]
  [Cancel Research?]
  [Add Research Slot – 500 Forge Points]

I really wanted a Basilisk War Droid, but I wasn't going to spend five hundred points just to start the research. Especially since I didn't know how long it would take. I would have to get the process going once I had enough points, or once there was a research slot open. As it stood, I needed the points for something more.

DISMISS. ROLL.

• [COST: 100 CP]
  [Technique: Force Barrier]
  [The Force barrier is a simple, but incredibly useful power. This ability allows the user to generate a shield of pure Force energy around their bodies. This shield is capable of protecting you from various amounts of damage based on the strength of the user. For example, a youngling could probably block one blaster bolt, but Yoda could block a blast from the main gun of a heavy tank.]

That sounded useful.

PURCHASE.

I felt new knowledge in the Force unlocked in my mind. There weren't any hot needles in my brain, which was nice.

ROLL.

• [COST: 15000 CP]
  [ITEM: Backup Alderaan]
  [Your warehouse gains a pocket dimension that can once per planet copy any physically destroyed planet and its population, from a moment before its destruction. Any damage done to the planet during its destruction and if whatever caused the destruction was a part of the planet they will be removed from the copy. By default, this is occupied by a copy of Alderaan and its people. You may keep the stored planet or use it to replace the destroyed one either in its original location or another viable one. When a planet you know about is destroyed you will gain a prompt option to copy it to your pocket dimension. If a different planet is already store you will be required to eject it first; if you do so, it will be released to a nearby safe location. When removing your planet from storage you may choose for the copied populace to be a true resurrection, possibly pulling them out of the afterlife.]

That was either a subtle jibe of how the audience expected this to go, a bad omen, or just strange luck. Regardless, I didn't have fifteen thousand points to spend and didn't want to bookmark it.

DISMISS.

Saving my points didn't sound like a good idea considering what waited on Alderaan. I had plenty still to spend.

ROLL.

• [COST: 50 CP]
  [ITEM: Black Body Suit]
  [More of an underlayer than anything, it could be useful if you want to ensure comfort and additional protection in a last-ditch effort. Used by the UNSC in operations regarding vacuum environments, it is a form-fitting suit of polymer body armor that can deflect small-caliber rounds and comes with both heating and cooling units to mask the temperature of the user for stealth purposes. While it could be uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time, the fact that it’s sealed up would be beneficial if you’re suddenly spaced.]

PURCHASE.

I felt my undersuit shift and adjust to the new version. The Bio-Foam Injectors smoothly shifted into place. It felt much better now that I noticed it. The skin-tight suit reduced most of the bulk that came from wearing what was basically coveralls under my armor.

• [Balance: 350 Forge Points]

ROLL.

• [COST: 300 FP]
  [VEHICLE: Jawa Crawler]
  [Big box like and stuffed to the brim with Jawa's stolen ship parts and stolen droids for you to sell hard to stop its movement and it crosses sand as easily as solid ground]

Interesting, but not helpful right now.

DISMISS.

ROLL.

• [COST: 100 FP]
  [WEAPON: DL-44]
  [This heavy blaster pistol offers above-average firepower without compromising accuracy and is easily modifiable.]

The broomhandle blaster that Han used? Of course I was going to get it. That, and I wasn't going to turn down another weapon now.

PURCHASE.

It would cost another one hundred points to roll again, and I only had fifty to spend. This was all I could afford for now. Hopefully, these new additions would keep me alive for the next thirty days, or however long it was needed.

The airlock opened to reveal a trio of humans. Two flanked behind the last who had the classic admin worker cloud of exhaustion. They flinched when they saw my armor. All three wore respirators. It was good to see they were taking the pheromone issue seriously. From what I could remember Joiners, those unfortunate enough to fall to it, were little more than drones after long.

"A Mandalorian," the clerk said as though it was some big reveal.

"Yes," I nodded.

"Just you?" He asked hopefully.

I nodded. The clerk and his two guards deflated a bit.

"Well," the clerk put forced cheer in his voice. "Please register your name and any previous connections to Alderaan."

"Why?" I interrupted his speech.

"In case you have a preferred location to work, or avoid," the clerk replied.

"This is my first time visiting," I replied.

"That makes things easier," the clerk nodded. "Follow me, please."

The two that I thought were guards split off once the clerk turned around. I had no idea what they were doing, but paperwork was never one of my strong suits. My eyes go distant, and my thoughts turn to static if I have to get clerical.

I was led through a couple of standard halls until we reached one of the hangars. There was a crowd of various mercenaries assembled. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be any other Mandalorians. I tried not to be too disappointed. This wasn't going to be the time to gather other stray Mandalorians, as much as I'd love to make connections. If nothing else, it was something I could use as proof to convince others to follow me and I wasn't just some guy playing dress-up.

Most of the crowd had already split into groups of random sizes. Those usually had matching armor, or at least some sort of identifying sigil. The only group that stood out for me were a cluster of Quarians. They lived their lives in sealed suits so dealing with some pheromones didn't slow them down in the least. I was a little disappointed that there weren't any Krogan or Turians present. Though relying on Krogans to fight space-bugs would just be tempting fate for another war.

"Oya, Mando!" A loud voice called.

It struck me that my mind recognized the words being spoken as Mando'a. I turned toward the voice. A human woman with a scrappy build and dressed in black combat armor strode toward me. Another human, this one a man, walked beside her. Their respirators covered the lower half of their faces allowing their eyes and top of their head visible.

"Didn't think you bastards existed anymore," the woman chuckled.

"Pacifists," the guy spat.

"Dar'manda," I had to force my voice to remain even. "They're just as bad as Death Watch."

They both laughed.

"Jaid," he thumped himself on the chest before offering his hand to shake.

"Kiskin," I replied, clamping on his forearm rather than his hand.

"Rain," the woman offered her.

I shook it in turn and repeated my name.

"I don't recognize the sigil," I motioned to the red and white stack crowns on their shoulder.

"Queens Guard," Jaid replied. "Red for assault, white for support."

They both had red crowns in the top slot.

"What about you?" Rain motioned to the Mythosaur on my shoulder. "I've seen that one around."

"I'd hope," I let out a dry chuckle. "The Mythosaur represents Mandalorians. I'm the last of my clan, but it doesn't matter until we are restored."

The two shared a look.

"Are all of you so dramatic?" Rain snorted.

"That wasn't dramatic," I replied shaking my head. "I didn't have my music queued up, proper lighting, or a wind machine to make my cape flow just right."

"You don't have a cape," Jaid said.

"Damn," I muttered. "I knew I forgot something."

The two looked at him before breaking into laughter.

"A Mando with a sense of humor?" Jaid shook his head.

"It's a gift," I shrugged.

"Come on," Rain waved me along. "I'll introduce you to the crew."

The duo led me over to a group of similarly armored mercenaries. There was some small variation in their gear to denote their roles.

"This is Queen," Rain motioned to a human woman with a scar on her right brow. "She's squad leader."

The woman nodded in greeting, and I returned with one of my own.

"This is One," Rain said shifting to a tall human with dark skin.

Another nod, another return. They both had red on top of white, assault rather than support. Next in line was a shorter human man. His armor was lighter than the first two, and his gear had a couple of tools that I recognized from working on the droids.

"Kaplan," Rain said almost dismissively.

The man didn't look up from whatever he was doing.

"Medic," Rain motioned to the last among the crew.

Medic was a woman with a case of resting bitch face. Her eyes were sharp. She studied me for a quick moment before returning to her study of a data-pad.

"Medic?" I asked. "Is that a family name?"

"No clue," Rain shrugged.

"She never said otherwise," Jaid added.

"Kiskin," I introduced myself once to the others.

"What's your loadout?" One asked, his voice was deep and rich.

"Whatever needs to be done," I replied. "I've been working solo."

"This is a big job," One said. "It's best to work with a crew."

"Want to join up for a stretch?" Rain asked.

"I'm game," I said. "Have you had experience with Kilik before?"

"No," Queen spoke up. "They vanished a few hundred years ago."

"A tectonic shift revealed a previously blocked underground network," Kaplan said finally looking up from his gear. "Scans show that the tunnels stretch across the planet. They thin out under large bodies of water and mountains." He paused. "Who's the Mando?"

"Everyone!" The clerk from before called. "The shuttle is approaching. Make ready to load up."

Conversation stopped as the group of mercenaries queued to board the shuttle. The squad packed up the gear they had. I hadn't brought anything extra with me. Maul had chopped my rifle into pieces which meant I was carrying three blaster pistols. Extra gear seemed like it would slow me down. Though I realized now that I lacked the basics, which wasn't a good start to the job. I had planned on picking up supply's planet-side. Short of that, I'd slip into my Warehouse to figure something out. I made it to the front of the line just behind the group of Quarian. They had their gear packed and ready to go in the time it took me to cross the hangar.

It was time to take another step in my plan. Grow my reputation and gather competent people. That way I had clout when I made my move to restore the Mandalorians. I couldn't stop the oncoming Clone Wars. Instead, I was going to create my own faction.

The shuttle was packed once everyone was inside. They had stripped everything extraneous from the ship and welded in a few rows of 'economy' seating. This group of mercenaries were either human, or near human, meaning the size variance wasn't too drastic.

A hologram of Alderaan flickered to life at the front of the shuttle and elevated for everyone to see.

"The main focus is to secure the evacuation of the people of Alderaan," a mechanical voice started. "The Killik scavenge technology instead of create their own. They are currently attempting to leave the planet via our emergency evacuation network. Most of you will be tasked with protecting the launch sites and escorting civilians to available shuttles. It is imperative that the ships are not compromised."

Blue dots appeared, listed as launch sites. Red dots connected by thin lines denoted the Killik network. Quite a few of the launch sites had been crossed-out and marked as lost.

"Scans have identified an upper layer of Killik tunnels, but we are unable to get a reliable readout of the lower levels," the voice continued. "Our information has shown that we are dealing with multiple colonies that were previously hostile to each other. There have been small skirmishes between drones of different loyalties. These hostilities are now secondary to a focused push to claim the planet surface and acquire space capable transport."

The hologram of Alderaan was replaced by a trio of insectoid creatures. They looked like anthropomorphized ants. Their bodies were covered in an exoskeleton and had distinct sections- head, thorax, and abdomen. The one pictured held a scavenged blaster.

"These are the common Killik drones," the voice continued. "Worker, soldier, and overseer."

The other two types disappeared as the hologram focused on the Worker drone, splitting into variations that were created for specific kinds of work.

"The Worker class drones are numerous but are only hostile if attacked. They are quite capable in combat when pushed."

The selection of Workers was replaced with a single Soldier Killik. It was about six feet tall, had wings, and each appendage ended in a dexterous claws.

"The Soldier drones are capable of using weapons, basic strategy, and can continue fighting as long as their head is intact," the voice said. "Destroying the antenna causes them to go into a berserker state."

The hologram was replaced with a scene of a Soldier drone in combat. It was blasted into pieces. The limbs stopped moving once separated from the main body, and the drone slowed. It continued to fight even though it was a nothing more than a torse and head by crawling to a guard and biting their leg off. The drone finally stopped moving once a blaster bolt punched through its skull. Its death didn't effect the other soldiers around it.

"The most dangerous of the group is the Overseer," the image swapped to another drone.

This one was tall, thin, and almost looked like a hybrid with another species. Something like the bastard child of an ant and a praying mantis.

"The Overseer are fewer in number," the voice continued. "These are the ones that control the other drones. We have been unable to disrupt their communications as of yet. They are able to share information to their drones almost instantly. Drones will bring technology to the Overseer, who then examines and learns the tech before sending the new instructions back for the others to use. Their learning process is dependent on the complexity of the technology and the number of Overseers. As of yet, we have been able to keep them away from ships."

The hologram swapped back to the planet.

"Any questions?" The voice asked.

"What about the nests?" A merc asked.

"The nests will be handled once the planet has reached an acceptable evacuation percentage," the voice replied. "Killik holes are to be tagged and collapsed if possible. You will be paid per kill as well as per completed assignment. Each of you will be given a device to track your kills. These can be coded to an individual or a squad for bounties."

"You're sure these are creatures and not people?" Another merc asked.

"The Killik are trying to take over the planet," the voice replied. "Our attempts to contact the leader of a nest for peaceful negotiations have been met with hostilities. Their goal is to spread across the planet killing those that resist and converting others. The 'Joiners' as they have been labelled are used for infiltration and sabotage. Those that fail their tasks, or face complications in the Joiner process, are used as sustenance." The voice paused. "Any further questions?"

The hologram disappeared when no one spoke up.

"Kill me if I get captured," Rain said without an ounce of humor in her voice. "I don't want my grave to be a pile of bug shit."

Jaid beside her let out a bark of laughter.

"What do you say, Mando?" Queen asked. "Work with our squad?"

"Sure," I replied. "Someone has to keep Rain out of bug shit."

NOTE:
I think I got the math right on the points. It costs 100 points per Roll, then whatever the cost of the item if purchased.
Staring Balance: 1300
- 100 Roll & Dismiss
- 200 Roll & Purchase
- 400 Roll & Purchase
- 200 Roll & Purchase
- 150 Roll & Purchase
- 200 Roll & Purchase
Final Balance = 50