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>>2219932
As you tighten your grip around the hilt of an all-too-familiar vibrosword, you think back to your time at the Sith academy on Korriban. In the six months since you left it behind, you have grown more than in the previous three years. The students you had faced in duels, like Loman, would be overwhelmed by the man you've become - but Loman is dead, and all you have left is the practice droid standing before you in your Master's courtyard. The copper-plated robot bobs up and down on its thin legs, blade ready, waiting for you to make the first move. It's far from a worthy opponent, but you don't want your skills to degenerate further than they already have.

The first few months in Lord Veredious' service had been terrific. You had jetted all over Hutt space, posing as diplomatic functionaries and chasing down leads on valuable artifacts, Sith and otherwise. Gradually, though, your Master's interests seemed to shift - away from his work, and away from you. He now spends more time on the Sith capital of Dromund Kaas playing politics than he does actually doing his job. For that, he has you to depend on.

"Are you ready?" the droid asks, its robotic voice ever cheery. Far above you, a flock of Oranta bellow out a deep cry that carries into every corner of the courtyard. The manta ray-like creatures would look more at home in water than in the sky, but you have become inured to the sight of such strange creatures. That was the second thing to shock you when you first left Korriban - the sheer variety of living things in the galaxy, sentient or otherwise. Your limited holonet access had somewhat prepared you for that, but seeing it was another thing entirely. Each new world you visited brought new plants, animals, and ways of life.

The *first* thing to shock you was not the variety of life to be found in the galaxy, but the sheer amount of it. Korriban has two permanents settlements - the Sith academy, and a glorified trading post called 'Dreshdae'. Everything else is tombs and barren rock, stalked by a few species of vicious creatures like the Tuk'ata, who seem more like harbingers of death than examples of life.

Voss, on the other hand, is overrun with life. The color is not that different from Korriban - a vivid orange instead of a rusty red - but the orange comes from the grass and trees that wreathe the planet in eternal autumn. There are always birds in the sky, small rodents in the trees, and sinewy predators stalking through the grass. You like the planet, but you can hardly call it 'home'. Most of these last six months has been spent aboard your Master's ship, jetting between Imperial and Hutt space on mission after mission.

>>2219935
That hadn't been bad, either. What you didn't like was what came after that - when he took his ship to Dromund Kaas, and continued to give you off-world tasks while insisting you jet along with whatever Imperial diplomatic mission happened to be able to pick you up. It's always cramped, the people are always boring, and they never arrive where they're going on time. It's an untenable situation, and you need to solve it.

"Are you ready?" the droid asks again.

Your blade has dipped towards the ground while you were in thought, and your stance went soft. You re-assert both, assuming a ready position in front of the droid - but it still awaits your verbal cue. The soft *clink* of your blade against the droid's reminds you of your other niggling problem.

Your lightsaber. The one you *don't* have. For months you have been hounding your Master, pressing him for the time and materials to construct a lightsaber of your own. It would not be unusual for an Apprentice to do so immediately upon being taken by a Master, but Veredious has delayed and delayed. 'It's not a question of materials', he insists.

Constructing a lightsaber requires a lightsaber *crystal*, which are produces from common minerals using a Geomorphic Compressor. It's an expensive machine, but your Master is wealthy and resourceful enough to acquire the use of one, if he truly wanted to. You have invested your time and energy into him and his teachings - he should likewise invest in you.

"Are you read--"

Before the droid can finish, you draw your blade back and swing at it, striking the droid's sword and sending it staggering off to the side before it manages to right itself. It makes no other move, though - you still didn't answer it. You just really wanted to hit something that couldn't hit back.

You wouldn't mind activating this droid's dueling protocols and showing yourself you've still got it.

>>2219942
It's time to d-d-d-d-d-duel
I wouldn't mind getting a nice utility droid companion too if possible

Do sith ever find their own natural crystals? I know they're usually synthetic.

>>2219942
Let's fight. Better to channel our frustration with Juyo than to let it simmer pointlessly.

Twitter kinda sucks but it is useful to let your players know when you're running a new thread. If you post your account in /qtg/ it'll get added to a list of QMs which might even get you more players

>>2219942
"Ready," you say to the droid. At your command it pushes forward, waiting until it feels true resistance from your blade before it tries to sweep away your guard. You slide your blade forward to regain the balance of power in the tangle of steel, then press continue the sweep and turn it into a flourish which forces the droid to withdraw before you manage to disarm it.

The practice droid is strong and unflappable, but it is also incredibly predictable - not a desireable trait in an opponent when you seek to improve your own skills and not simply chalk up an empty win.

If you're going to win this without embarassment, you should feel out those patterns some. Roll me a 1d6.

>>2220058
Thanks, I'll do that soon.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>2220138

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2220138

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>2220138
As predictable as the droid is, you aren't much better. Juyo has been your form of choice since the academy, and you open up with a series of wide swings that would immediately give your strategy away to an observant opponent. Here, though, you only face a droid. A droid which blocks and parries your arcing cuts, each one showing you a small gap in your opponent's pre-programmed defenses.

You aren't moving as fast as you could be or striking as hard as possible, but that's not your intention. You want to see how the droid fights, just as you would carefully consider any opponent before going for the killing blow. The droid takes your casual strikes as a sign of opportunity, and goes in for a tight swing carefully placed between your heavy steps and broad blows.

>>2220155
You easily block the strike, catching your opponent's blade with the edge of your own just above the hilt. Juyo isn't as well-suited for defense as it is for attack, but you have learned to adapt and fill in the gaps inherent in the aggressive and Force-fueled form. The droid recognizes none of that, though, and simply withdraws into its earlier ready stance and prepares the exact same defense as before.

You're already getting tired of this fight, though not in the physical sense. Improvement is all about putting yourself up against challenges that force you to adapt. Better yet, challenges which themselves adapt and force you to outpace them. This droid, with its eyeless copper head and repetitive blows, can do none of that.

You've improved yourself much in the last six months. Some under your Master, but some under your own direction. Did you focus on improving your Combat skills, your aptitude for the Force, your overall Knowledge, your Technical skills, or your Social acumen? You only had time to seriously devote to one.

It's time to probe the droid's defenses for a real opening, now that you know its patterns. Roll me 1d6.

>>2220178

Due to the Zeltron species' natural empathy, you already have enhanced social skills. Your time with Lord Veredious increased your knowledge. Either can be chosen again, though, to further increase the odds of success in tasks related to those areas.

>>2220178
Lacking a lightsaber, and having the advantags here >>2220190, I'd say a focus on Force Powers might be handy.

I'd say Combat a close second.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>2220178
Can't go wrong with more Force.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2220178

>>2220178
>>2220190
Force powers

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2220178
Force powers as the other anon said, we lack a light sabre. Vibrosword is fine and all but it isn't the real thing

>>2219932
I am at thread #1 right now but I got to say I am a fan of SW and like your writing already!

Would be nice to have your twitter eventually for future updates, QM.

>>2220178
>Social acumen
Diplo monster coming right in

>>2220190
>force powers

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2220178
force powers are pretty good to have

>>2220178
You drive forward at the droid, which seems almost surprised at your speed and ferocity. Now that you know its strengths, its weaknesses, and its habits, forcing it to open itself up to a 'lethal' strike is a simple matter of exploiting those patterns.

You may have spent more time learning how to manipulate the Force than practicing with a blade, but you are still able to adeptly read a simple machine like this. You bring your blade down on its head, forcing the droid to block. It then shoves your weapon back towards you, seeking to open *you* to attack - but you are already circling around to strike at its midsection, in a sideways chop that will cleave it in two if it doesn't stop you.

The automaton manages to block just in time, though it has sacrificed any sort of reasonable stance and grip to do so. It staggers awkwardly to the side, hilt grasped by its shoulder and bladed pointed downward to catch yours.

You've opened it up to a real strike. The attack patterns you've gleaned will give you an advantage for the remainder of the fight - and even beyond that. But the opening you've created will only last a few precious seconds.

Roll me 2d6. The first for your strike, the second to possibly explain a vague feeling growing in the back of your mind the longer you fight.

Rolled 3, 2 = 5 (2d6)

>>2220620

Rolled 5, 3 = 8 (2d6)

>>2220620

Rolled 5, 1 = 6 (2d6)

>>2220620

Rolled 3, 4 = 7 (2d6)

>>2220620

>>2220620
This was never going to be a difficult fight, but all you can feel is disappointment as you bring your vibrosword slicing up through the droid's midsection. Disappointment that your opponent isn't worth its value in scrap, and disappointment that this is the most worthy opponent you've faced in a month. Hell, it's the *only* true opponent you've faced in a month.

The droid crumples to the ground, top half sliding off the other as it lets out a slow, electronic whine. Repairing it will be difficult - your Master's Weequay mechanic is nearly impossible to force any sort of difficult task upon, threats or no. Buying another such droid is even harder. The Voss species that give your home planet its name have little in the way of a dueling tradition, and don't produce droids like these. One will have to be imported from Hutt or Imperial space, which will take time and credits.

Perhaps the spiritually-minded Voss with their colorful robes and more colorful skin have rubbed off on you. You have neglected your combat skills in favor of delving into the mysteries of the Force, a pursuit aided here and there by the bits of knowledge you manage to glean from the artifacts recovered by you and your Master. Nearly all of them end up in the vault of the Imperial Reclamation Service's headquarters on Dromund Kaas, but Lord Veredious always makes sure to get what information he can from them before he hands them over. Some of that, he shares with you - though he is always careful not to reveal too much too quickly.

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>>2220641
You take his protectiveness as a compliment, an implicit statement that he considers you dangerous enough to hide such knowledge from. Sith apprenticeships end when the Apprentice feels he has learned all he can from his Master. His graduation ceremony is to strike down his Master, and assume all his responsibilities and wealth. Such a day is likely far off for you, but you always keep it in mind. Lord Veredious is a better swordsmen than you, better connected, and more knowledgeable. He keeps his skill with the Force a secret, and you're not sure what sort of indication to take that as. Sith hide their weaknesses, but they often hide their greatest strengths as well.

A slow clap echoes through the white-walled courtyard, and you turn to see Lord Veredious standing in the exterior hallway circling the space. He picks up a small wooden box from a bench beside him and strides towards you, black & purple robe lightly dusting the stone as he walks. You don't know how long he's been standing there, but you suspect that niggling sensation in the back of your mind was awareness of another's presence - which means he was there for the entire duel. You had been too distracted and worked up to take serious notice of it. Detecting Force-sensitives is near-instinctual for you now, but detecting those who *try* to hide their presence is a more difficult task, a test of who possesses a more focused control of their powers. Today, that was your Master.

"I've never been one for punching down." With his hands occupied by the wooden box in his hands, Veredious nods at the eviscerated droid behind you. "Did you run out of willing opponents in Voss-Ka?"

You want to demand a lightsaber.

>>2220643
Kneel to your master and say we need to bind our time on the other hand we are a Zeltron and be guided by emotions is our business. So at least show some respect for someone more powerfull then us...for now.

Yes the

>>2220643
Use respectful language because he IS our master but yes, demand a lightsabre

>>2220643
You kneel down, pressing your sword flat to the ground and bowing your head.

"Welcome back, Master."

He says nothing, and you stand back up. Even from your first meeting, it was clear that Veredious values tradition and protocol - but not in a mindless sense. Little formalities like kneeling and making a show of obeisance make it clear that you understand who is Master and who is Apprentice - and what those words mean. Once that is established you can then speak more openly than apprentices would normally dare to, with less fear of reprisal.

With your sword held loosely at your side, you swipe it up and down, idly striking at the stone by your feet.

"It is difficult to find dueling opponents, Master. Normal swordsmen are little match for me, and those who wield lightsabers will not duel an Apprentice with no lightsaber." You twist around, reaching back to grasp the fallen droid with the Force and bring it hovering alongside you. "This is the best opponent I've had in weeks. I *cannot* improve like this." You let your sneering anger seep into your words as you crush the droid's plated chest, then drop it to the ground.

Veredious' lip twitches in amusement, and he uses the Force to snatch the vibrosword from your hand and fling it across the courtyard with a simple flick of the wrist. You nearly rise to further anger, but then you see him holding out the wooden box in his hands. It's flat but broad, and he can't manage to hold it while undoing the latch on the front.

"Help me here, will you?" he says, nodding at the box.

Tentatively, you unhook the age-worn metal latch and lift open the lid. Nestled in the folds of red velvet within are three lightsaber hilts.

>>2220669
"Your long wait is over, Apprentice."

Eyes transfixed on the gleaming tubes of silvery metal, you run your fingers over each. The first is roughly the same length and circumference as any standard blade hilt, lightsaber or conventional - no special characteristics, but perfectly capable of being used in a wide range of styles and purposes. The second is longer and heavier-looking, designed to comfortably accommodate two hands. It would be right at home in yours as you rain down meteoric blows.

The third hilt is only slightly longer than the first, but curved at the end - designed to be gripped in a way that allows strikes from odd angles. Whereas the second blade would allow you to overwhelm from sheer strength of blows, this one would give you an edge of unpredictability. Your aggressive, never-ending strikes would seem to come from impossible directions, baffling those who rigidly adhere to the traditional dueling forms drilled into them at both the Sith and Jedi academies.

Which hilt do you choose?

>>2220671
The second one

>>2220671
i say the curved hilt

>>2220671
Even with the oblivious weakness, the second one fits us best

test

>>2220671
curved
lightsaber

>>2220671
>Open up saber number three
We precise now.

>>2220671
The last one

>>2220671
Saber 3.

>>2220671
3. Brute strength is much less useful when it's predictable.

>>2220756
We almost broke through defenses of our dueling partners when on equal footing.
Two hand saber would give us enough edge to just smash through and it adds power to all of our attacks, so we are not tied to one style.

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>>2220671
Your wandering hand stops on the last hilt - the curved one. Gripping it firmly, you lift it from the box and examine it while Veredious closes the container. The uniqueness of the hilt is not only in the obvious difference in shape, but in the weight of it as well. The area running along the length of the concave portion is weighted, allowing you to easily find the proper way grip for it by feel alone.

Holding it feels awkward at first, but a few quick swings of an imaginary blade in front of you has you quickly seeing the advantages of such a weapon. In time, any lingering awkwardness will pass, while the advantages remain.

"Satisfied?" Veredious says, lowering the box.

You spin the hilt in your palm and slide it into a loop in your belt, where your extendable vibrosword once sat. With no physical blade, the lightsaber hilt carries a far less noticeable weight.

"Very," you say with a gratified bow of the head.

"There's no crystal in it, of course." Veredious turns to walk inside and you follow, moving from the courtyard into the manor's interior. The home once belonged to a wealthy Voss, but the Empire acquired it - through very legitimate means - in order to serve as a home for one of the many Imperial diplomats who serve on the neutral planet. Whichever functionary once lived here decided that the suburban manor was too far from the political center of Voss' capital, Voss-ka, so the home was handed over to Lord Veredious.

Your Master's cover is that of a diplomat seeking to bring Voss into the Empire's fold, but neither he nor you do any real diplomatic work on Voss. It merely provides a convenient cover to travel to nearby areas of neutral space, places which would be otherwise hostile to two Sith digging around for valuable artifacts and lost treasures.

"You've acquired a Geomorphic Compressor?" you ask him. The two of you enter one of the building's countless common areas, a room of gentle white stucco walls and wood panelling, decorated in traditionally colorful Voss fashion. Rugs of blue and orange cover the tiled floors, and tapestries featuring complex geometric designs hang from the walls. You have yet to see any Voss art depicting a living being - not even a tree. Some cultural sensibility that you can't quite understand.

"I've acquired the *use* of one," he replies as he sets the wooden box down on a table at the center of the room. "The Military Spheres are loathe to just... hand one over. Not with things heating up the way they are."

"What about the crystal materials?" you say. "Will those be provided for me?"

He gives you a mischievous smile. "Come, now. Do you expect *everything* to be handed to you?" He nods at the saber hilt hung at your side.

"It's *dirt*," you shoot back, before adding a hasty "...Master."

>>2220792
"I suppose 'dirt' is appropriate enough... but only the right concentration of raw minerals will produce a viable Lightsaber crystal when fed into the compressor. Otherwise, you'll end up with nothing but a very expensive lump of coal."

"Where can I find the proper minerals?"

He smiles again, and you can tell that you've walked into another carefully-crafted remark. "As you said, it's only dirt."

You frown, and he finally relents. "Fret not - I will provide the necessary information for you to do this properly."

Satisfied, you ease back and relax your taut shoulders. "Is this why you've spent so much time on Dromund Kaas? Petitioning one of the Military Spheres for use of a compressor?"

He glances off to the side, curling his lips into an odd frown as he rubs his chin.

"No, my business on Dromund Kaas is... political." The strange expression softens, and he looks back to you as he lays a hand on your shoulder. "The IRS *found* this compressor, on Nez Peron. Can you believe it?"

You really can't. Nez Peron lies in the Seat of the Empire, near Dromund Kaas and Korriban, but it's an agricultural world with only one major city - not the sort of place one uncovers anything except abandoned farm implements.

"What was it doing there?" you wonder.

"Emperor only knows. Could have been set up to fuel lightsaber construction during the first Hyperspace War. Then, they were pushed back and forced to abandon the thing." He shakes his head and throws up his hands. "At any rate, the important thing is that it will remain there for two weeks before it's hauled to Dromund Kaas and the likes of Darth Arkous get their hands on it. After that, only warriors will be able to use it."

You frown at the slight, though you know it was unintentional - or at least you think it is. Many Sith go off into military service - the postings range from horrendous to career-makers, and largely depend on which Lord acquire you as an apprentice. You were quite happy to be accepted as Lord Veredious' apprentice, but you can't help but chafe under the feeling that you're more of a negotiator and archaeologist than a true Sith.

Not that you're weak - you are stronger now than you were six months ago, and could destroy any of your former classmates in battle. Unfortunately, your peers are no longer mere students - they are full-fledged Sith, like you.

>>2220793
"Two weeks?" you ask him.

"You're used to working under deadlines, yes?"

You nod. "And a natural lightsaber crystal is out of the question?"

He leans back and lets out a raucous laugh, but steadies himself as he sees how serious you are.

"How many Sith do you know of who use natural Lightsaber crystals?" he asks.

You think for a moment, running through all of those in your order you've encountered over your lifetime. Some during your time at the academy, such as the instructors and visiting Masters, but even more during your visits to Dromund Kaas and other Imperial worlds.

"Lord Jutai," you answer excitedly. "His yellow crystal came from a natural cave formation. I've heard as much."

Veredious jerks his head back in a silent chuckle, but keeps his eyes on you.

"That Miraluka is a defector from the Jedi Order, who have a near-monopoly on natural crystals. Jutai's was acquired long before he became Sith."

You nod in understanding. "There are no sources within Sith space?"

"You give this too much thought," Veredious says, his normally fast manner of speech turning slow and measured. It's a shift that never fails to grab your attention and hold onto it. "Even if we had access to natural crystals, we would not use them. Do you know why?"

You know Veredious well enough to understand that he's not looking for a simple answer of synthetic crystals being technically superior in certain aspects. He is testing your understanding of both Sith philosophy and history.

>>2220794
Our philosophy is to change the world to increase our own power rather than just happening to find a crystal. Our control over it's formation makes us an active creator of the crystal rather than the passive way that Jedi simply happen to find a crystal.

>>2220805
It's kind of an example of how sith want to create their own destiny and the Jedi want to just passively follow the will of the force

>>2220794
It's mostly a question of logistics. The Jedi and Sith both used natural crystals, like Kyber, but the Jedi managed to gain a stranglehold on their supply. As such the Sith turned to sunth crystals, showing their dominance over nature by making their own. Some natural crystals are resistant to dark side power, true, but a powerful enough user can dominate them just the same as a person.

>>2220805
This, sith create their destiny

>>2220794
"Because we don't passively follow fate," you say to Veredious. "We forge our own crystals - and our own destiny."

"Yes!" Veredious hisses excitedly. "The Jedi scrounge in the dirt in the hopes that they will find something of value." Your Master clenches his fist tight as he leans in even closer to you. "We take the dirt, and we *make* it into something valuable."

He gives you a good-natured jostle of the shoulder, then steps back and draws a datapad from one of the many folds of his robe and hands it to you.

"What's this?" You switch the hand-held computer on, and find a number-filled readout describing mineral content and optimal geological conditions.

"Everything you will need to hunt down a suitable location to harvest from." Veredious taps the side of his head. "Well, that and your wits."

You give a tight-lipped nod and hook the datapad onto one of your belt's small loops. It's a challenge, but it is one you're more than capable of - and you have waited long enough to acquire a lightsaber.

"Can I assume you don't expect me to limit my search to Voss?"

Veredious scoffs. "Hardly. I can't imagine this planet has the proper conditions anywhere." He gestures at a far-away window that looks out on neighborhood outside, bronze-capped cylinders of white-walled homes surrounded by autumn-colored trees. "It's all gentle hills and grass fields here."

"You said yourself that I'm working with a tight time limit, Master." You swallow as you prepare to broach another problem you've been wanting to solve for quite a long time. "I can't be expected to hitch rides on diplomatic flights in my search."

"No, I suppose not." He lets out an exaggerated sigh, but you can tell by the calculating look in his eyes that he has already considered this, and come to a conclusion. This is just his way of making you feel as if you've extracted a favor from him.

"You will have the use of the Fury," he says. You know the ship well - it's been more of a home to you than the manor you stand in now. The Empire originally designed the ship as a heavy interceptor for use in large-scale combat, but found it too unwieldy. The entire line was put out of service, but the spacious ships found a new use among wealthy and connected Sith Lords. The ships were stripped of their heavy equipment and much of their weaponry, and refitted as passenger vessels. Luxurious and spacious, but still fast and maneuverable enough to escape high-stakes situations.

>>2220879
"Thank you, Master." You bow again. When you look back up, you see him eyeing you thoughtfully as he rubs his chin. This time, he seems to be entertaining an actual fresh thought.

"You should have use of one of the servants as well, I suppose."

Veredious certainly has no shortage of them. The man is a xenophile, a trait that is tolerated more in the academic IRS than it would be elsewhere. He spends an inordinate amount of time and energy acquiring servants and slaves in his travels - normally, whichever one happened to strike his fancy for whatever strange reason. You suspect his xenophilia encompasses its most literal definitions, but you've never actually *seen* the man using his menagerie of servants for carnal purposes - a vile image you're quick to put out of mind.

"Any of them, Master?" you ask him.

His eyes go slightly wider and he waves a hand dismissively. "No. Not the essential ones."

You nearly laugh. He *has* no essential servants - in fact, he has so many that you often feel as if you're living in a halfway house for Outer Rim refugees. Veredious is far from a *kind* man, but he is so busy in his work that many of his servants simply hang around while serving no real function. They are still slaves and indentured servants, yes, but they are so ill-managed that you can't even begin to feel sorry for them. Even so, Veredious is loathe to part with any of them - such is the mind of a collector.

"Which did you have in mind?" you ask him.

His lips purse and his eyes dart around. You can practically see his frugal mind at work, deciding which of his collection would pain him the least to part with.

"Let's say... Qorro, Hacna, Marama, and Olub'cree."

Each name that passes his lips has your heart sinking a little further. Your first thought is mild amazement that he actually remembers his servants' names. Then, you realize that he likely had this list prepared for quite some time. All he needed was an opportunity to pawn one of them off on you.

"Just one, Master?" You're not sure why you even bother to ask, but you can't think of anything else to say.

"I hardly think you need a full entourage of servants following you around. Such a thing would be more of a hindrance than a help."

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>>2220880
You're inclined to agree - especially with the ones he offered you. The first two he mentioned are Weequay, humanoids with braided hair and leathery brown skin. Many find service as pirates or enforcers, and you suspect the first one mentioned - Qorro - had similar origins. He is stupid and violent, though he never fails to follow your orders on the few occasions you've had reason to give them. Hacna, the other Weequay, is a bit more talented - though far less agreeable. She doesn't speak a word of Basic, and conveniently loses whatever translator droids are provided to her. She's a talented mechanic, but drags her feet even on the tasks Veredious himself gives her.

The second two names you recognize as those of the recently-acquired Twi'lek pair. Veredious bought both from the same estate sale on Nal Hutta, but the pair's similarities end there. Marama was a slave to the Hutt who owned her, almost certainly originally acquired for use as a sex slave - until she received a horrendous facial scar that puts your own Tuk'ata claw marks to shame. You don't know how she got it, and you never asked.

The other Twi'lek, Olub'cree, was also a slave - though of a far more prestigious variety. The old man served as majordomo for the Hutt who owned him, a privileged position that put him in direct contact with anyone the Hutt did business with. All sorts of people, from all walks of life - from Aqualish bounty hunters to the most upstanding of Mid Rim shipping merchants. You're sure it was an interesting life, but you're even more positive that it was a very long one. The Twi'lek's faded purple skin is mottled with sores and bruises, and his shuffling walk is one that nearly rivals Lord Hostay's for lack of speed.

Do you want to take Lord Veredious up on his offer of a servant? You can always kick them out of your service later. Each one may come in handy in different ways, both because of what they can do and who they are.

Post in order of preference, or just your first choice. Or 'None'. It's up to you.

>>2220884
1. Scarred sex alien
2. big dumb bruiser
3. lazy alien
4. old sex alien

>>2220884
Hacna seems difficult to work with but at least useful maybe she will remember her place after being reminded of it violently.

>>2220884
Hacna

>>2220884
We should take Olub'cree for sure. I want all 4 of them though. Actually the Twi'lek sex slave doesn't really serve a purpose so skip her

>>2220884
Hacna
Qorro
Marama
Olub'cree

>>2220884
Hacna

Seems no one wants Olub'cree so I'll make a case for him. It was said he has dealt with all the people who came into contact with his Hutt master. This mean he probably knows a lot of useful people. The dude has contacts and information. Sounds like something that could end up being useful

>>2220884
I doubt any if them well help much in this mission, maybe the mechanic if she weren't so useless. So may add well take the old guy and try to get some useful info out of him for reasons.
>Olub'cree

>>2220926
I wouldn't say he has contacts I would agree he may have information but how useful it is to us is up in the air. His only real use is as a diplomat which we already to ourselves.

>>2220884
I'd imagine that we end up in some storm planet in search of right type of dirt...mechanic in ship could save our lives, or atleast keep us inside the deadline.
But...
An old man who knows a lot of people can help more than one lazy tech.

>Olub'cree

Ideally we could use our pheromone/telepathy to motivate the lazy mechanic

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My argument for scarred sex alien is that she's the only one who wasn't listed with a major flaw or without an immediate upside.

She's essentially mystery box choice.

>>2220884
"Hacna could prove useful," you reason. "I'm not much of a technician... or a pilot."

"If that's your choice," Veredious says. His voice carries a disappointed tinge that tells you it was a good decision - shiftless layabout or not, Hacna is one of the few skilled technicians at the manor. The next time the estate's electric perimeter breaks down and a pack of Mawvorrs stalk the grounds, Veredious will have to call someone in from nearby Voss-Ka.

But even as you settle on the Weequay mechanic, your mind turns to the aged Twi'lek and his knowledge-filled mind. Someone to smooth over mechanical troubles has obvious value on a journey through space, but there are more subtle dangers to keep in mind. Depending on where you end up, having a silver-tongued companion with extensive knowledge of alien cultures and protocol could mean entering where would otherwise be forbidden, and making friends of those who would otherwise be hostile to a wandering Sith.

As you mull over the possible scenarios that could arise in your journey, your thoughts dart to related possibilities - namely, the fact that there is no reason you have to travel under your usual cover of a Sith diplomat's aide.

"Think it over!" Veredious says, clapping his hands and then spreading them outward. "You don't have to decide immediately."

You frown. "I would like to leave as soon as possible."

"And you *can*," he stresses. "But the Fury won't be repaired and fueled for another twelve hours."

"Repaired?" you exclaim, eyes going wide. "What happened?"

>>2220993
But do you really trust her? At least Olob'cree is too old for his sex alien-ness to come into play. Can't trust those sex aliens man.

>>2221001
He shakes his head and waves a hand dismissively. "Minor repairs. Nothing serious." Sidestepping the question entirely, he takes the box of lightsaber hilts and goes to leave the room.

Your eyes remain fixed on the dark wood container, but your mind isn't stuck on your choice of hilt - you are confident in your choice. You can't stop thinking about the crystal that will soon go inside of it.

"Master," you call after him, the word leaving your mouth before you even realize. He turns to face you, and you swallow. "Finding a natural crystal is anathema to the Sith philosophy."

It's not a question, but Veredious can see you have something more to say, and he nods.

"But if I *took* such a crystal from another... would I not be claiming it with my own power."

He narrows his eyes thoughtfully before cracking a smile. "Are you going to kill a Jedi for one?"

You start to speak, then stop. Maybe that is what you had in mind - but you weren't seriously considering it as an option. You're not sure why you asked.

"In good time, Apprentice!" He once again turns to leave, giving a short wave with his free hand as he goes.

The Fury's repairs at Voss-Ka's starport leave you with some time to settle between Hacna and Olub'cree. The matter of the lightsaber crystal continues to weigh on your mind, but there aren't any alternatives to seriously consider. The creation of a synthetic crystal has been prepared for you - all that's left to do is find the materials and carry it out. Even if you desired a natural crystal, you wouldn't know where to begin looking for one.

>>2221004
Traveling through space without a skilled pilot and mechanic is really dumb. My vote still goes to Hacna

>>2221004
Still voting Hacna we are a good enough diplomat ourselves.

>>2221010
Same here

>>2221004
Hacna

>>2221004
Alright if we only get one choice then Hanca it is

Olub'cree could link us up to repair services and has generally surprising many uses..Hacna only comes up when something goes wrong.

>>2221028
My thoughts are old men are either incredibly useless for having stayed safe so long or incredibly useful for having survived so long. It's hard to tell which until you see them actually doing shit.

>>2221004
After directing one of the servants to pack enough belongings for an extended trip, you get to work finding a suitable planet on which to begin your search. Two weeks is enough to visit several planets, but your time is far from unlimited - and you do not want to miss your window with the Geomorphic Compressor. Your starting point lies in the manor's databanks, which are contained within a windowless room in a corner of the complex.

Holonet access on Voss is intermittent at best, and Lord Veredious hates nothing more than being cut off from the outside world - or at least, its knowledge. As a brilliantly simple stopgap solution, he simply loaded a good chunk of the Reclamation Service's data archives onto storage devices and shipped them from Dromund Kaas to Voss. Such an act is undoubtedly a breach of several security protocols, but its too mundane and bureaucratic a violation for anyone to give him any trouble over.

You sit down at one of the computer terminals linked to the four walls of blinking servers, and plug in the datapad Veredious gave you. The terminal flashes to life, and you bring up the report detailing optimal mineral content before launching into the poorly-organized hierarchy of folders and files containing information on countless thousands of worlds. You begin with the assumption that your task will be easy - if time-consuming. But the more you look, the more you realize that the IRS' planetary reports simply don't have what you're looking for. They're concerned with history and ancient populations, not the sort of hard data that would include detailed geological reports.

This is a challenging task which will put your knowledge to the test. You could attempt to complete it now, but doing so would more likely than not result in failure - and you would not be able to try again until you found substantial new information to aid you.

You tell yourself to *think*. There must be some way of at least narrowing down the worlds that could possibly play host to the right minerals for Kyber crystal formation. You have the servers' knowledge of galactic history at your fingertips, as well as your own deductive reasoning.

>>2221072

Let's go meet Hacna and get to know it. We can interract with the slaves and get some opinions. I think a mechanic is still a better option to but if we really wabt a natural crystal Olub would be a wiser choise.

Also start looking at the datapad our master gave us let's see were we can find something usefull and then once we know were to go we make our minion choise.

>>2221072
Sort the planets by where the most force-related (if not just sith) artifacts were found in the past within an acceptable distance to travel to keep our timeframe

>>2221091
That's a clever one

>They're concerned with history and ancient populations

Let's try to narrow down places with history of populations encountry or dealling with Sith or Jedi. Most likely it will have a reference about a sith or dark jedi looking for some crystals

>>2221101
Good idea

>>2221072
Lets focus on searching on the planets with low population and mining indrustry first.
Other than that, we could look through the servants for anyone that has travelled a lot or has some background with geological studies

I know next to nothing about the dirt we are looking, but my quess is that the planet needs to be "violent" one, and that leads to low or non population at planet

Don't we need a high enough concentration of carbon too? I actually don't know anything about synthetic crystal formation.

>>2221087
The slaves wouldn't know anything about this sort of thing.

>>2221107
>my quess is that the planet needs to be "violent" one, and that leads to low or non population at planet

that's very shaky logic. If there were never many people there, there could also have never been a great deal of conflict.

>>2221072
Look for planets with mining industries, both current and historic. The sith collect tax, right?

>>2221072
You check the datapad just to make sure, but there's nothing of note on there besides the single file your Master showed you. Continuing your search in the only way you know how, you focus on those planets on which the artifacts of Force-sensitive Orders have been found. Unfortunately, that is most of the planets contained within the IRS files, being that the recovery of those artifacts is their primary mandate. You make a note to focus on those planets within a reasonable distance, but that narrowing down will have to come later.

Pausing for a moment, you consider where you *know* Kyber crystals have formed - the grassy agricultural planet of Dantooine. It lies firmly within Republic space, and is famous solely for the fact that natural crystals are sometimes found there. It's not the Jedi Order's main source of crystals, though. *That* place is a closely-guarded secret, one which the entire Empire would love to learn. It's possible that Dantooine still hosts the type of mineral deposits that result in crystal formation, but the point is moot - you would never be able to reach it in time, even if you *could* pass safely into Republic space.

And what if those conditions are no longer there? You consider how crystals are formed - not just Kyber crystals, but all types. They form under extreme heat and pressure, on ill-populated planets that are anathema to sentient life. If that is the type of place you need to go, it's unlikely information on such a planet will be in the IRS' databanks. They deal with those planets that have a living past, not the ones with a dead present.

>>2221157
Returning to your earlier consideration of which nearby planets have had the greatest concentration of Force-sensitive artifacts, your mind falls on a very obvious candidate - Voss. The planet you are now in is a rigid, caste-based society, ruled by infallible priests who claim to be able to use the Force to see into the future. The idea seems absurd, but both the Republic and Empire have established diplomatic missions on the planet to try to bring them into the fold. There is also the undeniable fact that the Voss people have a startlingly high rate of Force-sensitivity among them. It is often weak, but it is more common than in most species.

The problem with Voss as a possibility is that you have never heard or seen anything that would hint at the presence of Kyber crystals. It's possible the raw materials are present for such a thing, but that's just as likely as any other planet. Still, you're already here - and the Imperial diplomatic mission is near the starport. Heading over there and seeing if there's someone who could help you is a possibility. You don't particularly like the idea of walking around the forests of Voss to take soil samples. There will be officials there who can give you more information than the kind you have - possibly people with access to records on Imperial mining operations.

Which reminds you - you need to find a way to take soil samples.

If anyone in this place has a device for testing mineral content lying around, it will be Hacna. You consider asking her thoughts on the matter, but there's a chance she will have 'lost' whichever translator droid was last forced upon her.

>>2221159
Well, may as well try her. Pretty much the only lead at this point. If she's unhelpful, we can start training her to be more respectful of a slave.

Checking for specific mining industries (I.E. a planet noted for mining gold for example) that coincide with similar mineral elements would probably be the most solid way to go. There should be some more scarce minerals that are similar to more common types, or occur in similar conditions to another exploitable mineral that a normal mining industry would pursue.

We don't necessarily need to find the exact mineral composition we are looking for on a planet so much as we need to find something similar enough to suggest what we need. Like sifting for gold in a river would tell you there is or at least was a gold deposit of some size upstream.

>>2221159
Let's go try find Hacna first then.
Also to be clear I wanted to see which planets had the most artifacts as a starting point instead of just any planet where any number of artifacts were found.

>>2221159
Well seeing Hacna first won't cost us anything.

After that we should go hunting people that have experience with mining operations..as we can find the needed decides there and most likely get some information too.

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>>2221159
You leave the databank room and begin looking for Hacna. It's a short search - you find the Weequay outside the manor, in an open-air building once used as Uxibeast stables. Now, it holds mounts of a different kind - several land cruisers, one of which Hacna is busy working on. The fact that she's working at *all* leaves you loathe to disturb her, but you approach and knock on the cruiser's hull. She closes the component panel she was working inside of, and turns to face you.

Her wrinkled brown face is half-hidden under a pair of bulky goggles, and you tap your face in silent indication that she should remove them. Her bone spike-lined jaw twitches, and she reluctantly pushes the goggles up her forehead. Her light-blue flight suit is covered in greasy smears, as are her work gloves. She glares at you, stripping the gloves from her hands before tossing them to the ground.

"What?" she snaps. "What? What?" Her voice is a harsh croak, giving the impression of an old woman with a cold. But judging from the few times you've heard Qorro speak, that's simply how Weequay sound. Hacna's age is a mystery to you.

You're glad to see that Hacna *can* speak a word of Basic, but you're not too happy about the tone. You came here to obtain her help, but putting her in her place has been a long time coming.

>>2221184
Force slap a ho.

>>2221184
tone smone.

Present the command. We need a sampler device for dirt.

If she doesn't snap to, then escalate.

>>2221184
Ask for sampler device, if the tone continues we can put her in her place

...although not angering the person who takes care of our ship during the next two weeks sounds good also

>>2221184
There's no translator droid here right?

>>2221192
We have to travel alone with her, I don't think that's the best way to start things off
>>2221193
>>2221200
I'm pretty sure she won't understand what we're asking. We need a translator.

>>2221184
Use Zeltron emotion Pheremones to make her less of a bitch

>>2221247
Hey, my first instinct was to choke the fuck out of her, so I think it's a better start than you think. Of course I might just really not like her attitude. "Say 'what' again motherfucker"

>>2221252
I don't really know the true extent of our abilities but could we sort of communicate with her that way? It's a good idea for sure though. She's probably not trained in detecting that sort of influence.

>>2221184
"Droid!" You shout at her, clenching your fist and raising it beside your head. "U4!"

She pulls back defensively at the expectation you're about to punch her, but relaxes when she realizes your fist is meant to mimic the line of spherical interpreter droids she goes through like candy.

"Well?" you say. Hacna shrugs.

You lower your arm and look around the room, searching for the wayward droid. Asking her anything of substance without it is downright impossible. The makeshift garage is littered with tools and electronics of all kinds - it's possible she simply gutted the thing and stuck the parts in a cruiser. Then, your eyes return to Hacna, and the ball-shaped lump she is tapping at in a pocket of her jumpsuit. You walk towards her, backing her into a tool table while she shouts all sorts of protests.

"Suhhea!" she shouts, gripping the table behind her to steady the rattling frame. "E'Zahay! Fa'Wua!"

You ignore the alien's incomprehensible croaks and jam a hand into her flight suit pocket, then pull out a round white droid a bit bigger than your fist.

"Oh," Hacna mutters.

"Yeah.. 'Oh'." You step away from her and drop the droid into her hands. "Switch it on."

She huffs an annoyed sigh but obeys, pressing a series of buttons on the droid that has it beeping to life and assuming a position in the air beside her head.

"Is it working?" you say. As you speak, the droid whispers softly in her ear with its directional speakers, translating your words into that of the guttural Weequay language.

Hacna spits out another few words you can't quite understand, and the droid fixes you with a robotic, but firm 'Yes.'

"I need a soil sampler. Something to determine mineral content."

She lets out another huff to let you know how badly she's taking this intrusion on her time, then shakes her head and heads to the far end of the workshop.

"You should have just said so," she mutters just loud enough to hear. With her back turned to you, you slowly level your outstretched hand at the woman and feel the crackle of electric current as it jumps from finger to finger. She stops at one of the work tables and picks up something, then walks back to you while you reluctantly lower your arm. In her hands is what looks almost like a medical diagnostic device, with a scanner and computer screen mounted to a blaster handle.

>>2221259
"Homemade," she says, fixing you with a stern glare and an accusing finger. "Be careful! Be gentle!"

You return her glare with a furious one of your own and snatch the device from her.

"Does it work?"

She laughs. "He asks if it works!"

You frown at what you can only assume is the Weequay's way of responding with an unequivocal 'yes'. Even interpreter droids have trouble with racial idioms.

"Be ready to leave in an hour," you say to her.

"Leave?" she gasps. "Why? For doing what?"

You're still not sure if you want to take her with you, but there's no harm in making her prepare ahead of time. If you decide to take Olub'cree instead, the only time you've wasted is that of Hacna. It's a win-win for you.

"Just get ready!" you shout back at her as you leave. She chases after, stopping at the threshold of the garage bay.

"Oh, I will be ready!" she spits back. The interpret droid puts a threatening tone over the words, one you're sure the Weequay's original voice carried. Still, you're not quite sure what she means.

"And don't lose that goddamn droid!" you call out, rounding a corner of the main building and falling out of sight of the garage. Hacna shouts something else at you, but the interpreter droid's directional speakers can no longer reach you. Once you're alone, you stoop down to the ground and dig up a clump of grass, exposing Voss' rich brown soil. You point the device Hacna gave you at the dirt and pull the trigger, making a thin white light run up and down as a series of evenly-timed beeps comes from the device.

The light disappears, and the viewscreen on top lights up. Displayed on it is a basic readup on the soil's composition - water content, nitrogen, oxygen, and 'other minerals' - nowhere near detailed enough for your needs. The screen flickers, and you tap it. When the display rights itself, you find that you've just tapped a touchscreen. 'Other minerals' has expanded into a length, scrollable listing of all sorts of rock deposits and iron oxide variants. You stand up and pull your datapad from your belt, then compare the mineral specifications Veredious gave you to that of the Voss soil. It's nowhere near appropriate for your needs, but you've confirmed that Hacna's scanner will suit your needs. You just need to know where to search.

Is it time to visit the Imperial diplomatic mission in the capital city of Voss-Ka? Or do you want to speak to Olub'cree first? In the interest of time efficiency, it would be best to leave for Voss-Ka when you're prepared to board the Fury and depart. Or maybe there's something more you want to check in the IRS' artifact databases. You'll have public holonet access on your journey, but no access to the private information of the service you work for.

>>2221264
Can we see which planets has had the most ancient lightsabers recovered on it?

>>2221264
Wait, how about the planets which are visited by sith apprentices the most often?

>>2221276
Or at least sith apprentices who eventually became historically relevant.

>>2221264
Returning to the databank room and the computer terminal within, you sit down for a bit more searching. You've had time for some more ideas to take solid shape, and you begin putting them to use.

First is to check for planets where ancient lightsabers were recovered - not just Force cult artifacts, but specifically weapons believed to contain actual Kyber crystals. If a pre-hyperspace civilization had been building weapons that used such crystals, they would like have done so with materials from their own planet, or perhaps nearby celestial fields.

There's some little piece of historical knowledge related to this topic you can't quite bring to mind - it should be easy to get unstuck. Roll me 1d6.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2221303

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>2221303
Fucking words.

>>2221305
...fuck.
I'm starting to think this is too hard.

>>2221264
I'd speak with Olub'cree before departing, we are not likely to come back anytime soon.
Lets ask if he knows where we can find imperial mining experts or planetary researches.
They would be best information about planets, that might have right type of soil.

Of the artifact database, we can look for places where geomorphic compressors and lightsabers have been found...I'd think an compressors would be placed on a planet with the right type of soil for effience saber building.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2221303
Give me 6!

>>2221309
probably easier to kill a jedi

>>2221318
Dude. Think about it. The first one is obvious and with the second one I was hoping we could see where other sith apprentices went to find their own materials to make a crystal.

>>2221303
>>2221312
The Tion Cluster - the thought comes to your mind with powerful finality, but you can't immediately understand why. The Great Jedi Library on Ossus was a center of Jedi learning, lying between Voss and Imperial Space - until it was ravaged by war between the Jedi Order and Exar Kun's so-called 'Sith Brotherhood'. The planet was ruined by the war, but is still an archaeological treasure trove - except no Kyber crystals have ever been found there. Nor do you know anything about the soil being suitable for synthetic creation of them.

Except Ossus isn't the only planet in the Tion cluster. Leaning back over the keyboard, you quickly navigate to the files on nearby planets, and Tion itself. That planet was originally settled by refugees from Coruscant over 20,000 years ago, and was cut off from the galaxy for thousands of years until they re-invented the hyperdrive engine. They were a primitive people, and they were war-like. What was strange about those wars was the fact that they were waged with *blaster* weapons, despite how primitive the rest of their technology was. Only bits and pieces of such devices have been discovered, nowhere near enough to figure out how they actually functioned. What is known of those early wars comes from Tion's own written records, which are also sparse.

It's strange, but it isn't the only occasion when pre-hyperspace civilizations discovered advanced weaponry. In fact, the Jedi themselves did - with the lightsaber. Could Tion's blasters have been powered by Kyber crystals? Such a thing was more than possible, assuming you have a reliable and portable power source to affix to the crystal. The only reason it wasn't done more often was because of how expensive the production of Kyber crystals still is. Traditional blasters are nearly as effective, and far cheaper to mass-produce. But if that was the only means of producing advanced weaponry available to the Tionese, maybe they had done it anyway, cost be damned.

>>2221312
>>2221400
It's a thought, anyway. There is one issue to verifying your theory before actually *going* there - the planet was ravaged by a supernova millennia ago, the same one that scorched the entire cluster. The planet is still intact, but that's all that can be said for it. There are no mining ventures, no settlements, and no archaeological digs - just a dead rock with enough gravitational pull remaining to barely hold an atmosphere.

Sitting back in your chair with a sigh, you tilt your head up to the ceiling. What you need to find is somewhere with an ancient Geomorphic Compressor, such as the one your Master just located on the farm world of Nez Peron near Dromund Kaas. Such elaborate and bulky devices would presumably be set up in locations that also provided the materials to feed them.

You feel as if the answer is staring you right in the face, but you can't quite grasp it. Tion is a possibility you are seriously considering, but it is close enough to Voss for you to make it one of your secondary places of search. You'd rather avoid visiting such a dangerous planet.

>>2221405
Maybe we could track down meteors from Tion on surrounding planets that may have been dislodged and propelled in a certain direction by the supernova

>>2221405
Ok so we should obviously check the planet of Nez Peron considering the answer is staring us in the face


>What you need to find is somewhere with an ancient Geomorphic Compressor, such as the one your Master just located on the farm world of Nez Peron near Dromund Kaas. Such elaborate and bulky devices would presumably be set up in locations that also provided the materials to feed them.

>>2221437
We are going there anyway, so it's not important, although some planets near Nez Peron could be possible places too.

Running out of ideas and need to get some sleep, good luck.

I'm liking how we actually have to think hard about this but I feel like I'm not quite knowledgeable enough about the star wars universe for it

>>2221405
You let out a long groan and lurch forward, your head almost hitting the computer screen.

Nez Peron. It's so obvious. Even modern Geomorphic Compressors are the size of land cruisers - ancient ones likely had *buildings* constructed to house them. If an ancient incarnation of the Sith Empire had constructed such a device in the heat of war, it would have been somewhere where logistics and supply lines weren't an issue. Somewhere where the raw materials for Kyber crystal synthesis were lying all around them.

Tion remains in the back of your mind as another option to consider, but Nez Peron fits far too neatly. No doubt the simplicity of the solution was meant to teach you a lesson, though the meaning of it still eludes you.

You still have quite some time before the Fury will be prepared for launch, so you decide to track down Olub'cree and probe his thoughts on the matter. It's doubtful the old Twi'lek has any special insights to offer, but another point of view never hurts. You find him within the building's kitchen, seated in a corner of the room while a human and Twi'lek woman dart about preparing food - for their recently-returned owner, you assume.

"My Lord," he rasps out, spotting you the moment you pass through the doorway across from him. If there's one thing that can be said for him - and not about Hacna - it is that he is eminently respectful. A Twi'lek does not survive decades of service to a Hutt by being disrespectful.

Your first instinct is to simply explain your task and ask for insight, but you're not sure what consequence it could have with your Master. Would he look poorly upon you lowering yourself to asking a slave for aid, even if it's only a few words of advice? Olub'cree would have no reason not to reveal the fact to Veredious - the Twi'lek is, after all, first and foremost your Master's servant. Not yours - at least, not yet.

>>2221538
I don't really have any questions for this guy personally.

Do the qualities of synthetic crystals change much based on the qualities of the material used to form them? It might be worth getting a couple different samples if so.

>>2221561
>Do the qualities of synthetic crystals change much based on the qualities of the material used to form them?

The materials are standardized, and usually provided directly to apprentices by their Master - this is why you found it so strange to be told to find the materials on your own. There will be opportunity to bend the crystal to a color and type of your choosing, but that will come during the process of forming it.

>>2221538
Yeah, I really don't have much for him either.

>>2221574
So I like the idea of getting it from a dangerous dead planet with kyber crystal-related history. Seems at least somewhat dark side-y. But if there's no benefit that we know of then I guess we should just do the easy and safe option.

>>2221538
You rethink the idea of revealing your task to Olub'cree, and stand before him silently for a few moments. The soft *hiss* of air comes from a respirator attached to the Twi'lek's back, and he uses the breathing mask in his hand to take in a long gulp of air before lowering it back down.

"Was there something you required of me, my Lord?"

You purse your lips and shake your head. "No."

With that you turn to leave, but a halting gasp from behind you stops your short. You turn to see Olub'cree trying to speak, but the sudden exclamation gave him a coughing fit. It is only with great difficult and a steadying hand held to his chest that he manages to once again speak.

"There is an art to receiving answers without asking questions."

You re-approach him, watching the hunched Twi'lek uneasily as he looks up at you with two sunken eyes.

"Is that so?"

He nods. "In fact, it is the best way to conduct one's investigations, if possible."

You consider his words. He's still waiting for a question, but maybe he is hinting that you can ask him a less... sensitive one than you originally had in mind. One that does not reveal the task your Master gave you.

"Alright." You lean your weight on one foot and fold your arms. "And if you're forced to ask questions? Who would you ask?"

"Someone with experience," Olub'cree replies smoothly. "As in all things, the ones who have been somewhere know the way best."

At first, all you can think of is your Master - and he made clear that he wasn't going to reveal where to get the proper materials. But your Master can't be the only one to know where they are gathered - as far as you know, such a topic isn't even a closely-guarded bit of knowledge, just a very esoteric one. You could ask any lightsaber-owning Sith and obliquely inquire as to the means of their crystal's construction.

Despite how vague and directionless your question was, Olub'cree's answer was remarkably on-point. You idly wonder at the idea that he has planted a listening device on you or Veredious, but quickly discard that notion in favor of the one that he is simply that sharp - an even more shocking thought.

You're fed up with academic investigation - you want a lightsaber crystal. You have two possible planets in mind. Would you like to visit Tion first, or Nez Peron? If Tion fails to provide you with a crystal, you will have time to visit two additional planets between there and your final visit to Nez Peron. Visiting Nez Peron and then *revisiting* Nez Peron to forge the crystal would be more time-consuming. In that scenario, you would have time to visit one additional planet after Nez Peron and Tion.

You should also have had time to feel out Olub'cree and Hacna. Does either seem like a useful traveling companion?

>>2221633
I'd say we should at least check out Tion to see if it seems viable. I'm still on board with Hacna.

>>2221633
Tion first

Hacna still more useful

>>2221633
>Nez Peron

>Bring Hacna

>>2221633
tion first

Hacna still for the THIRD fucking time.

>>2221633
Your short discussion with Olub'cree was interesting, but he is far too old and infirm to take to a planet like Tion, your first port of call. You settle on Hacna, rationalizing that her technical prowess is far more likely to come in handy. Tion is a dead planet, and Nez Peron is an Imperial world - Olub'cree would not be able to help you on the first, and he will not need to on the second.

The servants have finished packing up your belongings, and loaded them up into a covered land cruiser outside the manor. Hacna is nowhere to be seen, and you direct the servants to go find her. It takes a good ten minutes, but they eventually produce the Weequay. Another ten minutes are spent having those same servants go to Hacna's quarters and pack her belongings - the belongings you had told her to pack an hour ago. When they finally arrive at the speeder with her bag, Hacna rummages through it and declares through her interpreter droid that they did not include the necessary electronics toolkit from her workshop. By the end of it all, you're ready to snap her in two.

Letting out a groan of mixed frustration and disgust, you walk away from the speeder as Hacna rushes back to her workshop. The sight of the forested suburbs around the manor calms you somewhat, the cool breeze rustling every leaf in a quiet chorus. On a path below you, orange-robed Voss march in a slow line, heads bowed and hands folded as they make their way from one holy site to another. There are countless such locations around the capital of Voss-Ka - a five minute speeder ride outside the city could have you flying right into a 'holy grove' or 'blessed pond'. You would not be shocked to one day awake to find that a cadre of priests have declared your bedroom sacred ground.

>>2221888
Their peculiar brand of Force-based religion amuses you, mostly because of how opaque it is to you, as an outsider. The Sith way of life is hardly a 'religion' - to even call it a philosophy is to put it on too unreachable a pedestal. The power of the Sith code - and everything that flows from the code - is in its applicability. Every day of your life has demonstrated its truth to you. Even in those dark times where it seems to have momentarily failed to mesh with reality, you later realize that it is *you* who failed *it*.

But the Voss... They worship their elders because they have always done so. They follow the elders' 'visions' because they have always done so. The Jedi in all their folly at least *claim* to follow a code that leads to fulfillment. The Voss have nothing but mindless duty and tradition.

"Well?" comes a robotic woman's voice from behind you. You turn to see Hacna tossing a second bag into the back seat of the cruiser, presumably whatever tools she just grabbed from her workshop.

"You say we are leaving!" she shouts as she slides into the car, snatching the U4 droid from the air as she does so. "Then why we not leave?"

Righteous anger washes over you, and you finger the slave collar in your tunic pocket. This is as good a time as any.

Do you demand Hacna wear the slave collar you've acquired? It is synced to your wrist-bound computer and will give you the ability to shock her at will. It will also prevent her from venturing too far from you - a distance you can specify - without enduring endless shocks that eventually result in death. You don't trust Hacna as far as you can throw her, and you certainly don't want her without a leash when you're venturing through space.

>>2221891
Yep. If anybody needs it it's her. It'd be good to try to influence her with our racial control over emotions too though so maybe one day she won't need it.

>>2221891
Could't we just influence her with our natural abilities? If those aren't reliable just get the collar.

>>2221891
>Yes

Put a leash on that B.

>>2221891
Yes, Why even ask she is a slave and must be collared.

>>2221903
The collar would force her to stay close to us and so exposing her for a longer time with our ability

Actualy why are we doing that? We could just force choke or force shock her ass. No need for a collar

>>2221938
This keeps her from ditching us on an uninhabitable planet. She's the pilot here.

>>2221903
Because collars are her fetish and she wants MC to bend her over her work table and shove his power emitter into her energy coupling. Duh.

>>2221948
Couldn't we just keep a watch on her? I know we would need to sleep but not like we can do anything if we ever went to sleep she could slit our throat.

>>2221891
You pull the slave collar from your pocket as you walk towards the cruiser.

"Get out," you say to Hacna. She reluctantly slides out of the cruiser, and you back her up against it before she can get away from you.

"Don't move." With the unlatched collar gripped in your hands, you lift it towards her neck. Hacna's frown deepens to a scowl and she raises her hand as if to slap the thing away, but you return her glare with a very deadly one of her own. "This happens now, or *after* I shock you myself."

The moment the interpreter droid finishes translating for her, Hacna puts her arm back by her side, allowing you to slap the collar on. You check your wrist to make sure that the thing is locked and active, then wave Hacna into the cruiser. One of the other female human servants takes the driver's seat, and a minute later the three of you are off the manor grounds and navigating the narrow streets of Voss-Ka's wealthy outskirts. Though it's the planet's capital, it isn't a large city. The buildings become bigger and more tightly-packed, domed mansions of bronzed roofing and beige walls giving way to the durasteel and permacrete megaliths of the government district.

A war is waged here every day, between Empire and Republic - a war of words. Each seeks to bring the Voss over to their side, but the colorfully-skinned people are in no hurry to act. One might think that they're cunningly playing both sides for a better deal, but you have dealt with enough Voss to recognize that this is simply how they come to decisions - very, very slowly. When you reach the city's starport, your servant grabs a hoversled and begins loading your bags onto it as you and Hacna make your way to the Fury's docking bay. The advantage of hired help - willing or no - is that all of the little things happen in the background. Securing customs papers, paying the docking fee, making sure the ship's cargo stock is replenished - you don't have to give a thought to any of that.

Well, until something goes wrong. And then you can simply punish the offender, and it's less likely to happen again.

>>2221988
I just think if she wants to escape her slavery being out in space with an apprentice and nobody else would be her best opportunity

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>>2222026
Voss-Ka may only have a single starport, but it was split into two sections shortly after being built. Imperial and Republic troops got into fights constantly, and their superiors were more than happy to agree to the change. Your ship is in one of the Imperial bays, and you quickly find it with help from one of the Empire's uniformed Attendants.

"Repairs and fueling are complete, my Lord." He bows and points a hand at the docking bay door, which opens before the three of you. 'My Lord,' he says. One of the perks of being a full-fledged Sith, if only a cosmetic one. You aren't truly a Lord yet, not until your apprenticeship is complete - but non-Sith make a habit of using the most respectful form of address possible, even with an apprentice. They fear you, they respect you, and most of all, they envy you.

The Fury is waiting for you, a mean-looking ship of black and gray that looks ill at home in the gentle brown walls of Voss' starport.

"Get on board," you tell Hacna. She obeys without protest, seeming to recognize the reality of her situation. Either that, or you're getting the silent treatment - something you're perfectly capable of living with.

Your other servant arrives with your bags and digital customs papers, which she transfers over to your wrist computer with her datapad. With that finalized, there's nothing left to do but board your ship and get it into orbit. Your belongings are stored in the ship, and you go to search out wherever Hacna has put herself. The ship is roomy, but it's only an interceptor. The reason it takes you so long to find her is that she's in the very last room you thought to check - the ship's single bedroom.

One of her bags lies open on the floor near the bed, and Hacna herself faces one of the walls with her hands raised. At first you have no idea what she could possibly be doing. Then, you see the soldering irons and wrenches swinging back and forth on the wire rack she is attempting to affix to the bedroom wall.

You want to shock her, and then tell her to get you into orbit.

>>2222034
>Don't shock her just tell her you want to go to orbit she already got it her situation with the collor just use it when she messes up. Makes the punishment hurt more when she's not expecting to be.

>>2222034
>Ask her what she is doing and if she plans on sleeping with us in the room.

>>2222034
What can we actually do with our Zeltron powers? If at all possible I'd like to rely on those for situations like these and save the shocks for more extreme situations.

>>2222034
Also if there's a more appropriate room for a workshop onboard then send her there.

>>2222054
>What can we actually do with our Zeltron powers?

An ability to sense someone's general emotional state. Deeper than body language, but not true mind-reading.

You're also more persuasive when within close physical proximity to someone, which on a dice roll level means easier attempts to produce a desired reaction in someone (make them fear you, make them like you, make them want to help you).

I should probably write this up in the google docs character sheet

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You manage to summon the patience to stay your hand and calmly ask Hacna what exactly she plans on turning your bedroom into.

"What are you doing?" you say.

She turns to you with the rack of tools in her hands and holds it up, as if that explains her actions.

"You're *not* sleeping here," you say firmly. She glances over at the whispering droid beside her head, then frowns.

"So, what? No bed for Hacna?"

You let out a laugh. "You think I'm going to sleep in the engine room and you're going to take this ship's only bedroom?"

All she does is give you a blank stare that says that was *exactly* what she thought. You use the Force to pull the rack of tools from her hands, then drop it into the hallway. Next is her bag, which you slide out of the room as she chases after it. As she rushes past you, you grab her by the arm and bring her face to yours.

"I've inspected the ship, and I found a room much better than this one. It's very spacious, and just like your workshop." You speak slowly, feeling the surge of emotions within her that respond to your unwanted touch. You press down on those emotions, seeking to calm her enough that she will accept your suggestion.

Which room do you stick her in? Roll me a 1d6 to see if your Zeltronian persuasion succeeds.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>2222118
For power!!

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2222118
Kek, our bedroom or cargo.

>>2222128
Oh yeah don't we have a room bear the engines or something? Put a bumker there or something

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2222118
>It's very spacious, and just like your workshop.

So, sounds like the confrence room or cargo hold?

Kinda hard to read the schematic.

>>2222128
Unlimited PHEROMONES!

Oh yeah, I forgot this was TOR and we were a neon faggot.

Not totally writing it off though.

>>2222300
Never trust a sex alien.

We just missed checking out Voss more throughfully, the holy sites could have been possible places to find something, or just asking from local geologist about the Voss.
Neither did we really didin't listen to the Olub'crees advice of finding people who have more experience than us.

Now we have just a holonet and random people that we can resort on.

>>2222575
and a mechanic to bully

>>2222575
>hey apprentice, here's the keys to the ship. go have fun.
>no master, I will stay here on this same planet I've been on and I will have no adventures or fun.

>>2222601
>hey apprentice why didin't you use 10 minutes to check the planet you already were, instead of running to the other side of galaxy in wild goose-chase, with no goals in mind

>>2222612
That is some pretty absurd exaggeration friendo

>>2222614
Not really. And being passive aggressive makes your opinion worthless.

We have two medicore candidate planets for checking out, instead of full four.
What are we going to do if both turn out to be waste of time, come back here? Not with that deadline breathing on our neck.
Yes, we ran out of ideas with database, but we better have some form of backup plan or we are no better than Jedi

>>2222654
>>2222666

We followed the plot hooks given to us. The words "obvious" were used. It was pointed out that they only make these machines where the shit they require for light sabers can be found. Seems pretty clear that we've gone to the right place...

>>2222666
>two medicore candidate planets

One is were the cruise sized machine is and another were used to be a high activity of force users. If you think cleary Tiron new conditiin would allow gor renewed deposits of crystals. Since the civilization that lived there was to primitive to have blasters but still managed to use produce then.

Shut up satan unless you have a better idea were we can find the crystals.

>>2222300
>Oh yeah, I forgot this was TOR and we were a neon faggot.

t. Mouse shill

>>2222118
"A better room?" Hacna says doubtfully. The frustration and anger boiling within her lower to a mere simmer, and you point across the ship to the hallway on the other side of the command center.

"Yes, the cargo bay. It looked just like your workshop." There, hopefully, she can get lost among the ration crates and backup ship parts. Not *too* lost, though - you still want her to pilot the ship when you're not simply journeying through hyperspace. Part of the advantage of bringing Hacna along is that she's perfectly capable of flying the Fury. The other three servants, not so much. Sitting Qorro at the controls would likely end up with the dumb brute jumping you straight into another planet's mass shadow.

You ease your grip on Hacna's arm, and she casts a weary eye your way before hauling her belongings off to the room you directed her to. With that dealt with, you make sure your other servant has stored everything else away properly before finding Hacna in the cargo bay and ordering her to the cockpit. There, you seat her down in the pilot's chair and have her bring you into orbit. The bay doors above you open, letting in Voss' gentle sunlight as you rise up and out of the starport. A minute later you're rocketing into orbit, soaring into an orange-tinted sky that gradually gives way to the glittering blackness of space.

"Chart a course for Tion," you tell her, watching as the Weequay punches in the system on the navigational computer. You stay long enough to make sure she does this right - the last thing you want is to waste a few days making a series of jumps to 'Deeon' because Hacna thought it'd be a good way to rebel against your heavy-handed rule. Once the Fury slips into hyperspace and the ship is overtaken by a comforting low roar, you return to your bedroom and begin sorting through your bags.

Your retractable vibrosword is there, as are a few shorter blades. No blasters, though. There's a few locked up tight in the ship's armory, but you're loathe to give Hacna the use of one. She shouldn't need it, anyway - nor should you need to make use of your blades. The sorts of dangers you'll face on Tion are environmental, not the sort that can be solved with violence. It's not a comforting thought, though - you've become quite adept at violence.

Is there anything you want to talk to Hacna about on the way there? Three days on a small craft is a long time, but you can always pass it in meditation and training while keeping a watchful eye on the Weequay.

>>2222769
Meditate and train, no interest in talking to that slave

>>2222770
Ask her about her capabilities in greater detail as well as where she learned them.

Hey OP when do we get to learn how to survive the vacuum of space and fly around like the great Jedi master princess Leia?

>>2222770
Just meditate maybe we can atune more with the force and keep our force powers in check.

>>2222770
>Meditate and train

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>>2222770
You pass the trip to Tion through meditation and channeling of your emotions, happy to keep Hacna out of sight and out of mind whenever possible. You briefly consider using her presence to inflame your anger so that you can practice controlling it, but decide you are not up to such a task. Hacna stays in the cargo bay you put her up in, and each time you enter the room you find that more of her tools and belongings have found their way out of her bags and onto workbenches and wall-mounted racks. It's a little unnerving to see the hold slowly become a replica of her workshop on Voss', but at least her chaos is contained.

Two and a half days after your departure from Voss, you reach the Tion system. A cracked planet of brown rock floats silently in space, growing ever nearer as Hacna pilots you two into its orbit. Directly behind it, the system's star lashes out across space, casting the planet in a corona of yellow.

Hundreds of years ago, back when the Jedi were fighting the result of yet another schism in their fragile Order, the nearby star of Cron had gone supernova, ravaging many nearby star clusters. There was no solid reason to think that the war and supernova were *related*, but their were always rumors - and still are. Where powerful Force users collide, catastrophe often follows.

Tion was far enough to escape total destruction, but the planet was left nearly uninhabitable. Rather than try to repair their broken world, the Tionese had simply left. The Tion Hegemony lives on in dozens of nearby systems between Hutt and Imperial space, but their namesake homeworld still lies empty.

"Where are we landing?" Hacna asks, pointing to the computer console to show that you're now in stable orbit of the planet. Ideally, you would like to conduct a thorough scan of the planet to try and track down an ideal site to test mineral deposits, but that would require some awfully specialized equipment - expensive, and time-consuming to acquire. You'll just have to pick a location the same way you settled on Tion itself - through educated guesswork.

"Show me a landscape," you say.

Hacna brings up a holographic map of the planet, one assembled back when the world was still habitable. Cities and starports are marked on various continents. You can spot the remains on the actual planet, blotches of gray barely visible against the brown rock beneath. They'll be little more than fields of twisted metal, though - and likely more treacherous than any natural area you could land in.

Which do you want to try first? A barren plateau or valley somewhere? Or one of the major cities? You want to test soil, so somewhere natural seems like the obvious choice. Cities tend to be built on the stuff, though.

>>2223215
Try one of the cities first

>>2223215
Let's try out a mountainous region first.

Wasn't this a largely aquatic planet at one point? Maybe a dried ocean floor would have what we need too.

>>2223223
That kinda seems needlessly dangerous to me. Why do you wanna try out a city first? I was thinking that mountains and seafloors would have the most varied sediment so our chances would be better but I'm just guessing here. I'm no geologist.

>>2223215
Another idea would be to find an area containing an old battlefield from the Jedi war

>>2223215
A location of what used to be 'under' the ocean.

I really hope we can find a viable sample here. The symbolism of a Jedi planet being completely and permanently wiped out by an insurmountable force sounds like something I'd like as the essence of a sith lightsaber.

On second thought the ocean floor might be too salty. Or maybe it all changed due to the supernova. Only one way to find out I guess.

>>2223215
Can we use the force to attempt to get an idea of where best to search? Or would that be a bit too Jedi?

>>2223215
You direct Hacna to take you to a large, bowl-shaped expanse just on the edge of your view of the planet, a dry stretch of blasted land that used to hold part of Tion planet-spanning oceans. It's only dust now, but dust is just what you need. The closer you draw to the planet's cracked surface, the better its past comes into view - and not just because you can see the evidence of the supernova that ravaged it.

The deaths that happened here so many centuries ago scream at you from deep in the past, demanding to be heard by the first person to visit them in Emperor only knows how long. You think back to your training, and how the Sith instructors told you to channel your negative emotions into something useful - but there is nothing to channel. Just a cold, cloying emptiness that seeks to draw you down with it. You'd be best not to let it get its claws into you.

"Set us down anywhere," you say to Hacna as you near the ground. You're glad to see that there's no storms standing in your way - just a light breeze swirling dust across the stretch of land below you. She sets the ship down, and you use the console to bring up a readout of the planet's atmospherics. The oxygen levels are fine and the temperature is perfectly tolerable, but there's no telling what sort of heavy metal particulate might have worked its way into the wind. There's also a worryingly high level of background radiation - not enough to pose a serious threat with mere external skin contact, but you don't want to be breathing in irradiated dirt.

You grab your bag of gear, then take Hacna with you to the ship's exit and hand her a breathing mask. She's none too happy about being forced to step outside with you, but a wandering finger raised to your wrist has her remembering the shock collar you put on her some days ago. Next, you lower the exit ramp, and the two of you step out onto Tion's surface.

A breath of fresh air should be nice after three days aboard the Fury, but there's none to be had here. The wind seems to stop the moment your feet touch solid ground, crunching the fine silt that lies all around you. You walk out a few more feet before stopping, though there's really no point - it's all the same. Putting your gear on the ground, you take out Hacna's soil sampler and run a test on the dirt while comparing it to the specifications on your datapad. For a brief moment, you're thrilled - all the necessary minerals and organic elements are there, and well within the acceptable ranges for Kyber crystal synthesis.

Except the isotope numbers are all wrong - and then it hits you. Tion suffered a *supernova* - entire cities were welded together into bizarre sculptures of twisted metal. A good chunk of the atmosphere was burnt off. That background radiation you detected was a reminder of that disaster, one which had bathed the entire planet in enough radiation to melt durasteel.

>>2223363
And it's not like anywhere else on the planet would have fared better. You landed on the side that had been facing *away* from the Cron cluster when the star there went nova. The other half of Tion got it even worse.

Frustrated and feeling like you've hit a dead end, you order Hacna back on the ship and back into the cockpit. There, you think - but you have precious few ideas to go off of. Even so, you don't want to leave before at least trying out another location. You order Hacna back into orbit, and direct her to land you on what was once a vast tract of protected forest between two of Tion's smaller cities. The trees are still there, something you struggle to comprehend as Hacna sets you down in a small clearing amidst them.

At first you're sure they're some strange outgrowth of rock produced by the nova, but after you step outside to get a good look at the towering, gnarled trees of off-white, you see them for what they are. You give one a knock, and find that it's as hard as permacrete - probably some reaction to the blast that twisted everything else on the planet so terribly.

Turning your attention away from that, you go through the task of scanning another soil sample. Seconds after it comes up with the same results, you throw Hacna's tool to the ground in frustration and march about in a fuming huff while Hacna races to recover the device.

Taking a moment to gather your senses, you reach out with the Force and feel for anything on this dead rock that could give you a clue as to your direction. The only answer you receive is the ghostly echo that called to you the moment you reached orbit. You pull away, letting that deathly call recede into the back of your mind where it can't bother you.

You're stumped. Maybe it's time to branch out and take a look at the urban areas - it won't take much time. Hacna is with you, and you've managed to keep it largely civil with her so far - maybe she has an idea.

>>2223369
>fly to urban area and bombard an small area with ships weapons to dig up fresh soil from under the buildings and test that

If this fails, the last bet is to find cave or an mine..but those are next to suicide to venture into at place like this.

>>2223369
Yeah let's go check the cities I guess. Damn. No cancer lightsaber for us I suppose. Let's see what Hacna has to say. I figure a mechanic in the star wars universe would be familiar with radiation.

>>2223420
Yeah she might know if there is even a change that some of soil survived without getting burned by radiation

Since isotopes don't really change how an element will react chemically, why can't we use this soil? It's been a while since I had a chemistry class.

>>2223591
Probably because of Force fuckery. Saber crystals are in some way receptive to the Force. The naturally occurring ones especially, but I can't recall offhandedly if the manufactured ones are as well.

>>2223369
As you stare up at the dust-strewn sky, a thought comes to you.

"Hacna," you say. Her U4 droid lets out a short buzz as it turns to face you. "Would the isotopic makeup of a crystal affect its properties?"

The Weequay lets out a short exclamation of surprise, then mumbles to herself for a few moments. You've undoubtedly caught her by surprise with this question. You never *did* tell her why you two are digging around in the dirt on an irradiated world.

"Eh..." she murmurs, an uneasy waver the droid beside her echoes. "Some effect. New thermal properties. Light scattering different. Hard to say."

You shake your head in disappointment. 'Hard to say' won't cut it, nor will 'close enough'. Lightsabers are notoriously unstable weapons. Even perfect materials can result in an imperfect crystal, one which can't handle the strain put on it by the weapon's internal power matrix. Making a crystal with the dirt at your feet is a good way to lose a hand.

It's too bad, too. Lord Veredious' words echo within you as you look around at the gnarled, rock-like trees. To take something dead and useless, and make it vibrant and useful. There would be a certain dark poetry to forging your weapon from such material. But Tion wasn't just murdered - it was warped beyond recognition in the process.

"I need dirt like this." You turn to Hacna and point at the ground. "The same mineral and organic composition, but normal isotopic values. Where would I get it?"

Hacna must recognize how on edge you are. Her usual surliness is gone, replaced with a mind and tongue that are fast to respond to your orders.

"Needs to be shielded," she says. "Protected from radiation. Then, the dirt is ok."

You bite your lip in thought. That won't work either. Are you supposed to hunt around ruined city after ruined city in the hopes you find a lead-lined box of centuries-old soil samples? That would be a tall order even *if* the buildings weren't melted wrecks.

Unless you have any other brilliant ideas, it's probably time to take a look at an urban area. Might as well, anyway. The time spent there is trivial compared to that spent in hyperspace jumping to another planet.

>>2223644
I'm sure that the under city of the cities would've been protecting the soil more then enough.

Then again, i kinda wanna risk the fucking dirt here and see what crystal comes out.

>>2223644
Does the radiation affected the soil from the surface to the core? You did say it was melted but how much over the crust of the planet are we talking? Could our character know about it? Also maybe a cave covered something maybe the urban area shielded the ground from the radiation!! Time to go tot he urban area. Maybe we find a minning faciluty or something

Lets look at the biggest urban areas that we can find, and see if anything catches the eye.
Maybe something under the bigger buildings survived?

>>2223652
Me too...although it's more likely to go *"boom" goodbye hilt* than any otherway

>>2223652
I would live to go science!! But for all we know the unstable crystal could explode once it starts being synthesized by the compressor.

>>2223669
More likely '*boom* goodbye crystal compressor'

>>2223644
Yeah let's check around urban areas. Preferably somewhere that was very important. Like a government area in the capitol. Could we find any sort of record for that on the star wars equivalent to the internet on our ship?

Also if there's any record of someone being on planet while the supernova happened and still surviving, that'd be the place to check. Seems like a tall order though.

>>2223759
Anon it says in the post that the people that leaved here abandoned the planet. So if there is anyone still here it won't be on records.

>>2223700
>Could we find any sort of record for that on the star wars equivalent to the internet on our ship?

Read here:
>Hacna brings up a holographic map of the planet, one assembled back when the world was still habitable.

We have a holografic map of how the planet used to be before we can easily find what used to be as you said important areas.

>>2223792
I meant to say we should check for any records of someone leaving the planet right after the supernova, which would imply that they had a safe place to survive the initial blast and then left immediately.

>>2223835
Well we would need to check the urban area then. And hope that the supernova hasn't melted anything usefull. Hopefully Hacna can fix it if you find any records like that.

>>2223644
"Come." You wave for Hacna to grab your gear, and then you both head back up the ship.

"We are done?" her interpreter droid asks, its voice strangely upbeat. You're close enough to Hacna to tell that her question carried far more impatience than was conveyed.

"No, we're not done." You go to the ship's cockpit, and direct Hacna to bring your ship into the air. Your next target is close, and you don't have to enter orbit like you did the previous jump. A few minutes of sub-orbital flight have you flying past crumbling mesas and carved badlands, all of which look positively beautiful compared to what lies up ahead. Tion's largest city, Tion - the former capital of the Tionese hegemony, polity of the Tionese people. You want to shake your head at the baffling conflation of names, but you're reminded too much of your own confusing lineage. You're a Sith - you think of yourself as one, as does everyone else - but you have not a drop of Sith blood within you. In the distant past, that would have been an unthinkable state of affairs for the Sith order. But now - at least outside of the Dark Council itself - the Sith Empire's rulership was nearly as multicultural as the Republic.

"Ugly city," Hacna spits. For once, you and the Weequay are of similar minds. The mass of twisted gray & brown up ahead is barely recognizable as the remains of a city. Only the shine of its metal curves gives it away as man-made. As you fly close enough to get a good look at the cityscape outside the side cockpit windows, you see more and more details that tell you this was once a place where people lived. The straight pathways of what were once roads are still visible between the buildings, and there are even a few walkways between buildings in the distance. The deeper you go, the more recognizable your surroundings become. It's still post-apocalyptic, but there are at least intact skyscrapers.

>>2223940
Now, you just need a place to land. Unfortunately the city isn't giving you any options. The streets are too narrow for the wide-winged Fury, and the fractured ground has you worried about a cave-in. A city like this one undoubtedly has sub-levels for utilities and other such necessities, spaces that you could fall right into if you set down in the wrong spot. As your eyes wander across the lines of teetering buildings flying by, your eyes fall on one in particular. It's a huge cylinder dozens of stories high, with round docking pads attached to the exterior. It looks safe enough to land on, but that isn't what caught your attention. There's *green* inside the building, visible through the holes in the exterior that once held glass windows.

"There!" you shout to Hacna, making her wobble the control stick uneasily. She grumbles in annoyance and rights the ship, trying to search out what you're pointing at.

But then something else grabs the attention of both of you. A beam of blue light, shooting up from the ground and flying right past your ship. Hacna shouts in panic and nearly sends you careening into a skyscraper, but regains controls and keeps you alive long enough for the next attack to come. This one you don't see, but you feel it well enough. The ship shakes as something hits the left wing, and a flurry of beeps and warning signals blares throughout the ship's cockpit. Someone, or *something* is determined to put your ship on the ground. You need to either land, or get the hell out of here - and you're not sure Hacna is up to the task. She's weaving in and out between buildings, swearing and jerking in her chair as she tries to avoid the anti-air fire. Another blast hits your right wing, and you can feel the thermal plating beginning to shear off.

Hacna's a better pilot than you, but not when she's having a panic attack. You should sit in the co-pilot's chair and override her controls. But to go where? The docking pads you spotted are well-built, and your ship would be protected from ground fire if you reached it safely.

>>2223952
Can we calm her with our zeltron powers? Let's go for the docking pads

>>2223952
Well guess there is still some people here then. Most likely trying to find a way out. Also if we can get a glance of were the shot cane from would be great to.

>Go to the docking pads

>>2223952
Supporting this for how we habdle Hacna:>>2223981

>>2223981
Support for this.

Most likely some lowlifes hunting artifacts, lets show them what happens when you mess with Sith...oh yeah I hope we get that ships armory open or it's Sneaky Electric Boogaloo 2, ruined city episode

>>2224019
I don't think anyone would consider scavenging this place, it's more likely somebody's doing some sketchy shit here that they don't want anyone to know about.

>>2223981
It seems kinda risky to rely on our not always reliable zeltron powers rather than just piloting it ourselves. There's not much benefit to calming her down except for maybe building more rapport with her

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2224036
big money no whammies

>>2223952
Hacna's panic is clearly affecting her piloting skills, but there's a better option available to you than taking over for her. You lay your hand on the back of her chair, then snake your fingers down until the tips are just touching the shoulder of her flight suit. She doesn't notice - she's too busy grimacing from the last round of laser fire shooting out from the ground.

There are at least three beams now, coming from all different directions. The Fury is fast and maneuverable, but there's not much room to maneuver in these tight confines. Nor do you want to tell Hacna to bring you straight up into the air - that would put you clear in line for a shot right to your rear engines.

"Take us back to those docking pads I pointed out."

Hacna whirls back in her seat to look at you, but quickly returns to her view to the front window. "What? Why?"

"Because you can get us there safely," you soothe her. "I'm sure of it."

Roll me 1d6. The use of your Zeltronian empathy won't be quite as easy as the last time you did it - back then, she had been mildly annoyed, not scared beyond belief.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2224043
Calm down, god damn.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>2224043

>>2224047
whew
hope that's good enough

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2224043
rolling in case the other roll doesn't count

>>2224057
why

>>2224060
Why to roll or why wouldn't count?

First one becaus ei thought i could do better. Second because some QM's do that when they screw up.

>>2224043
"I cannot land!" Hacna screeches. "I cannot even see!" You can barely hear the interpreter droid's translation over the Weequay’s voice.

Panic surges within her, and you draw your hand away before it can infect you. Blue lasers continue to surge all around you, inflicting worse and worse damage to your ship - sooner or later, they'll hit something critical.

"Just get us *down*!" you boom, taking a seat in the co-pilot's chair and buckling yourself in. Regardless of how this landing is happening, you want to be strapped in tight for it. The cockpit alarms have become deafening, and you switch them off in the hope that it will ease some of the pressure Hacna is crumbling under.

The ship lurches under a horizontal skyway stretched between two buildings, and you glance over to see Hacna sweating bullets as she pushes down on the control stick.

"I am landing us!" The surface street below you grows closer at a frightening speed. Apparently a certain death on the ground is preferable to a possible death in the air.

"Pull *up*!" you shout at her, before hitting the control override and pulling up on the stick in front of you. Just in time, too - the nose of your ship tips upward, and you're thrown all around in your eat as your ship races across the junk-strewn roadway. Hacna screams the whole way, but you manage to keep your worry contained to clenched teeth and tightly-wound muscles.

You engage the front-facing thrusters, careful not to fire them too hard too quickly. Gradually you slow down, and the ship rocks awkwardly on its base before coming to a full stop. You want to breathe a sigh of relief, but you're not out of danger yet. Whoever attacked you is still out there.

Uttering a silent prayer to the Emperor that the Fury is functional enough to get back in the air, you engage the bottom thrusters and lift up into the air. Then, something smashes into the top of your ship, and you find that you can no longer get sufficient lift to take off. You manage to engage the landing gears just before crashing back down to the roadway.

Hacna screeches again, and you nearly Force choke her into silence before shooting up from your seat and racing to the lowering exit ramp. Something fell on top of your ship, and you need to move the obstruction if you're too have any hope of leaving.

"Blaster!" Hacna shouts as she races after you. "Give me a blaster!"

Do you give her the key to the ship's armory before exiting the ship? If you get left behind or die here, so does she. You made sure she understands that.

>>2224090
Yeah, it's worth it

>>2224090
Give her a fucking blaster

>>2224090
Hey everyone deserves a chance to fight. Besides if we get shot from behind it just means we weren't strong enough. So yes we give her the armory keys.

Can we add a comment that if she had told us she could use one we would have given one to her?

>>2224107
There was never any reason to consider giving her a blaster yet. This is supposed to be a dead and abandoned planet

>>2224113
I true. I was just trying to do a cheeky remark.

File: Tion.png (734 KB, 853x350)

734 KB PNG

>>2224090
You turn around, pull the code cylinder for the armory's lockers from your tunic pocket, then toss it to her. Hacna races down the ship's hallway, while you pull the vibrosword hilt from your belt loop and jog down the ramp of your ship. The city street before you is littered with the remnants of wrecked cruisers and falling debris, and there's a cloud of swirling dust in the air that nearly puts you in a coughing fit. You get a bit more distance from the Fury to see what the problem is, which becomes clear the moment you turn around.

A latticed girder from the building beside you has fallen out of the crumbling concrete wall you slashed a hole in with your ship's wing, pinning it to the street. You stow your extended vibrosword, then reach out with both hands and try to use the Force to tip the steel beam back into place. You manage to lift it just enough to ease some of the weight on the ship's landing struts, but you can't move it any further. Easing the girder back down, you're about to start looking for a better solution when a bellowing roar echoes across the cityscape.

Something *big* is moving towards you from a few hundred feet away, a shifting mass of metal and flesh that smashes aside anything in its way. Then, a second - and a third. There are 2 or 3 people atop each of the beasts, wearing masks of gray metal and ratty blue robes. They shout a wordless warcry at you, pumping their spears in the air as they charge.

"What is this?" Hacna shouts, racing down the ramp with blaster in hand. You wave her into cover behind a wrecked land cruiser, then peak out to see that the large creatures have stopped and their robed riders are dismounting. They group is close enough now that you can make out cattle-like horned heads beneath the metal armor the mounts wear. They look almost like the Uxibeasts that graze around Voss' grassy fields.

"Wait for my cue," you say to her. Your attackers - whoever they are - don't seem to have actually spotted *you*, though they certainly see the starship standing a hundred feet in front of them. They spread out across the street, slowly moving closer to your position. Each of them takes the spear in their hand and twists the shaft, making a bright white light flare to life on the end. Plasma torches - primitive weapons, but deadly enough should they get close to you.

"Come out, sky man!" the one in the middle calls out. He wears beaded necklaces that jingle as he walks, and you can tell by the way his head swivels from side to side that he hasn't actually spotted you. Soon, though, they will. You should make the first move.

Hacna is no warrior, but she'll follow your lead. There are 8 attackers spread evenly across the road, weaving their way between debris as they search for you. Sneaking up on one is night impossible in this terrain. You have your vibrosword and Force powers, as well as the crumbling buildings towering on either side of the road.

>>2224204
Use the force to toss as many into the air as possible. Hopefully we can break some bones and disorient them. After we've done this, have Hacna fire on those who remain and see what opportunities to strike with the vibrosword are available

>>2224204
Can we use Unlimited power(Force Lightning)?

>>2224204
Locate a structurally weak building and use the force to collapse it on as many of them as possible. Have Hacna take shots at those who are distracted by attempting to escape the rubble.

Apparently a few people survived the supernova and now they've reverted to a weird tribal culture. Interesting.

thiss quest is way too good

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>2224211
>>2224215
>>2224216

Let's roll for it

>>2224204
>well as the crumbling buildings towering on either side of the road.

can we spot a weak point so we cancause the building to fall on then or block their way theb using the confusion and dust from the sudden slide go out using the dust as cover and connection to the force to cut some fuckers.

>>2224222
Damn, that was a short voting period

>>2224204
"Hacna."

The panting Weequay turns to you, ever-weary about the intruders closing in on you two. You grab the droid hovering beside her to make sure it's well out of view, then look back to her.

"In a few seconds, all of these men are going to be on the ground. When that happens, you point your blaster at them. If you see one of them stand back up, you fire until he's back on the ground. Got it?"

She swallows and nods, croaking out a mumbled acceptance too quiet for the droid to pick up on.

"And *don't* shoot me," you add quickly.

Standing up from your cover, you draw your clenched fists to your chest and tilt your head up to the sky. A shout comes from one of your attackers, and you hear the clank of scrap-metal armor and the hiss of plasma torches as they rush towards you. Before they can move more than a few paces, you throw your hands outward, releasing a wave of energy that ripples outward across the street, pushing aside chunks of fallen debris and clearing the air of accumulated dust.

Roll me 1d6. It's a good thing you've taken the time to train your practical application of the Force - flattening 8 opponents at once is a challenging feat.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>2224236

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2224236

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>2224236
give 6

>>2224236
The concussive blast nearly pops your own eardrums - you can only imagine what it's doing to the skulls of your attackers. Each one of them is thrown flat to the ground, and even the hulking beasts of burden they left behind are staggered by the fury you unleashed. Hacna shouts excitedly and pops up from cover just far enough to level her blaster at the group.

Now to make your next move. Each of the 8 are lying prone, and they're all roughly equidistant to you. You should have time to reach any one of them and strike before they manage to stand. Or perhaps it's better to keep at a distance from those plasma spears.

>>2224248
coup de grace

>>2224248
CUT THEN. leave one to be our relunctant guide.

>>2224248
How far away are they now? We could probably take them all out with a collapsed upper portion of a building falling on them. Take out one of the supports on a damaged mid to upper level on a building next to them.

>>2224248
Drawing your sword mid-run, you hop over debris as you cut a path straight towards the nearest attacker. He's groaning in pain and in the process of rolling onto his back when you bring your blade straight through his ribcage. You only stop when the concrete below him forces you to.

A flurry of blaster fire comes from behind you, and you glance left to see that the 3 attackers on that side have been pinned down by Hacna's scream-accompanied shots - though none have landed yet. Pulling your sword from your fallen foe and and turning right, you see that the remaining 4 are in varying stages of recovery. They're lined up for you now, in a neat little row.

Do you work your way through the 4 to your right? They're close enough and you're fast enough for you to hopefully face a single opponent at a time. Once they're standing those plasma torches are back in their hands, this becomes more difficult. What you don't want to happen is to be surrounded by them. Or, some debris could be pulled down from above them. But the more of them you try to take out in such a manner, the more likely you are to harm yourself in the process.

>>2224288
Finish the first with the vibroblade and then immediately hit the other two with a large blast of force lightning and then finish them off with the vibroblade while they're stunned.

>>2224294
Meant to say hit the other 3 with lightning, not just 2

>>2224288
>They're lined up for you now, in a neat little row.


neat use the force to manipulate the plasma torch of the one we killed then, push it toward then in the hopes to pierce throught the entire line. pierce then with their on weapons

>>2224288
>>2224294
this sounds good

>>2224288
Before the masked man directly to your right can stand, you storm towards him and deliver an upward slash across his chest, cutting right through the inactive spear he's attempting to get working again. The next three rise to their feet and back into a tight cluster, spears lit and pointed at you - they would be better off spread out. Thrusting your left hand towards them, you send a bolt of blue current arcing off of your fingertips towards the trio.

Roll me 1d6. They've made this easy for you.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2224332
taste my lightning, fuckkkkers!

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>2224332
Hiyaaaa!

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>2224332

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>2224332
All three crumple before your lightning, falling to the ground in a spasm of limbs and a clatter of fried weaponry. With your right flank secure, you look to your left to see that the furthest most pair is slowly advancing on Hacna. The nearest is charging straight at you, Plasma spear drawn back and ready to strike.

>>2224360
Force push charging dude, direct him into the pair

>>2224360
Block and strike down the one charging us.
After that force push from the behind at the two remaining ones...we need information and need atleast one alive.

>>2224360
Uh... Are we supposed to vote?

>>2224360
You deftly sidestep the man's bellowing charge, delivering a vicious slash to his exposed back that cuts straight through his spine. That is one thing you will miss about wielding a vibrosword - the visceral feel of cleaving through flesh with a heavy blade.

The remaining two attackers seem to take notice of how many of their comrades have fallen so quickly. One of them drops his lit plasma spear and tries to flee into a side-street away from you and Hacna, but the second attacker delivers a thrust to his fleeing ally's side that sends him spinning into the dirt. For the first time in this fight, you have been genuinely taken by surprise. The man is standing fully upright now, exposing his top half to Hacna. She fires off another shot, and there is a brilliant flash of light as it strikes the man's helmeted head.

But as the white glow fades from your vision, you see his plasma spear held upright, the fiery white blade held between him and Hacna. He had blocked the blaster shot. But that was impossible - plasma torches couldn't deflect blaster fire.

Unless it *isn't* a plasma torch.

With his free hand, your remaining opponent strips off his filtration mask and throws it to the ground. The sides of his head are shaved, and the top is tied back into a single, long braid. His face is painted with blue tribal markings, geometric lines that trace jagged paths all over his skin. And his eyes - even from twenty feet away you can see the fury in them.

"You will *die*, Jedi."

So he speaks Basic. But the accent is strange, and provincial - like nothing you've ever heard.

You want to know how these men constructed such a weapon - and what's powering it. You also don't want him ramming it straight into your gut.

>>2224423
Boss fight!
I'm from Tion and I say kill 'em all!
Well, we can leave a mook alive for questioning but I don't want to risk avoiding killing blows against this guy.

>>2224423
I am the greatest enemy of the Jedi. I am sith. If you hadn't attacked my ship first then none if this would have happened. I am here in order to make a tool to help me kill Jedi across the Galaxy.

>>2224423
First of all make him know we are no stinking jedi. Then proceed to disarm him by destroying his weapon.

>>2224443
>Well, we can leave a mook alive for questioning but I don't want to risk avoiding killing blows against this guy.

You can't say for certain, but the blast you delivered to the other three likely killed them on the spot. They're not moving, but you can't afford to pay them more attention than that quite yet.

>>2224443
We should convince him not to fight us. I'm just guessing here but it seems like these people are survivors who blame the Jedi war for the destruction of their planet. And they have an interesting form of the lightsaber that we could learn from.

>>2224446
>>2224443
I say we defeat the guy in combat and put Hacna shock collar on him. Yay new companion!

>>2224457
Since he killed the guy running away i say he's one of those Honourabu figtha! So inly if we defeat him he will stop attacking us

>>2224483
I'd say the risk of fighting a dude with a lightsaber-esque weapon in melee combat is a risky choice when we only have a vibroblade. We should at least try to defuse the situation since its really just a misunderstanding

I guess we could at least kill this guy and recover the dropped lightsaber spear for Hacna to dismantle and study but I'd rather make peace and learn more about this bizarre society for even more knowledge about how they make lightsabers with this guy as our guide. Our diplomacy skill is pretty good, we should use it.

>>2224491
>>2224521
If it's a pseudo lightsaber it's like that because he's using a lightsaber crystal We just got super lucky.

>>2224423
"I'm no Jedi!" you shout to him over the soft howl of wind and the groan of the buildings around you. "I am their greatest enemy!"

He gives you a knowing sneer. "Jedi is Jedi's greatest enemy. I know this."

Hacna has stopped firing, probably out of shock from what happened to her last bolt. That, and uncertainty as to why you aren't engaging the only remaining attacker. You're not entirely sure either. Perhaps you’re just curious. There shouldn’t be *anyone* left on Tion. Jedi-hating survivors is too bizarre a find to pass over without question.

"Do I look like a Jedi?" you ask him, taking a ready stance with your sword while standing your ground. He already looks to have tired of the conversation, and you want to be ready for him.

"Look like Jedi?" he spits on the ground, casting a cautious eye to Hacna in the process. "You do this!" He thrusts his hand towards you, mimicking the blast of force you flattened him and his companions with. "Jedi!"

His shouts turn nearly incoherent, and he levels the plasma spear at you. Sensing that negotiations have broken down, you reach out with the Force and try to snatch the weapon from his hand.

Roll me 1d6. He looks strong.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>2224531

File: 1514869465265.jpg (168 KB, 623x414)

168 KB JPG

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>2224531
Cut this fucker and get our crystal from his dead corpse.

>>2224535
UNLIMITED POWAAAAAHHHH

Although... if he's really good, and we survive, having a warrior like him who hates the Jedi would be good.

Guys we still need a roll it's best of three

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>2224531

>>2224563
Thank you

>>2224531
The spear flies from his hand lit-end first, and you twirl it about in the air before snatching it with your free hand. The man shouts in surprise and fury - probably more at himself than you. He's angry, but it's a purposeless and ill-controlled anger that makes him more bark than bite. He lets out an animalistic war cry as he bears down on you, trying to wrap his arms around your waist to tackle you to the ground.

It's a move you saw coming the moment he lost control of his emotions. You could drive your sword straight through exposed clavicle, but you don't want him dead just yet. You'd rather he have an opportunity to answer a few more questions - but for that, you need him subdued.

You swing the torch in your left hand downward, swiping it across his right shoulder. The weapon is too heavy to use well one-handed, especially in your left - but you hit him well enough to send him crashing to the ground in front of you amidst howls of pain. The three armored beasts in the distance echo his sounds, sending up a raucous chorus of wounded cries.

"Where did you get this?" you shout, thrusting his stolen weapon at him. "Did you make it?"

Hacna rushes over to you, and points her shaking blaster at the man lying on his back. Smoke trails off of his burnt shoulder, and you're glad that the filtration mask you wear also works to keep out the smell of burnt flesh.

"I tell you nothing, Jedi." He tilts his head back to look up at you, a defiant expression on his face. "You die, I die. No talk."

He's wounded, but not mortally. There might be some way of getting him to talk, such as Force Persuasion - your usual Zeltronian method is a bit too light-handed for this task. Maybe there's something on your ship to convince him you're not a Jedi? You could show him holovids of the Sith invasion of the Republic that took place ten years ago, but he might consider that more 'Jedi fighting Jedi'. That's what he seems to consider the ancient Jedi schism that accompanied his world's death.

>>2224591
Do whatever we can to prove that we're sith and not Jedi and show him the difference between the two. We need a friendly guide to get anywhere on this planet.

>>2224591
Try to explain to him the idea of Sith, and what we're all about. Maybe lie a bit more.

>>2224591
Hey man, I know I just killed all your frends and just beat the shit out you with your own weapon, but lt's ahev a deep and introspective discussion on the subtle and more broad differences between Jedi and Sith philsophy. In the beginning, there was the force and the force is this weird binding energy...

>>2224591
This:>>2224603

>>2224591
I say we shock the shit out of him. Then examine his weapon more closely. Then of course go check out his beasts and the direction they came from.

We don't need to know if he made the shitty light-spear we just need to know where he came from to have the necessary materials for it.

>>2224591
I mean... we're Sith, lets just torture him until he tells us what we want to know