Private A Quirky Encounter

[Sula Skirata]

The home and workshop was one misplaced foot away from a death trap. Half finished projects littered the surfaces and floor space, weapons that had been cracked open and pulled apart, chunks of unidentifiable ship machinery. Test tubes with questionable liquids in them, sample jars with preserved specimens sat between tools up on shelves. There was a cot in the corner, though judging by the debris piled around it, it didn't see much use.

In the middle of it all, her bes'uliik sat and groaned at her. Panels popped open for repairs but Sula had gotten distracted again. She was turning the undead mole over in its jar, while the computer was running DNA analysis.

“Hmm?” She looked up at the droid that groaned and beeped at her again. “Oh, sorry Akaan.” She set the jar down squeezing it between a tower of data slates and the centrifuge that was humming away. Her eyes found the computer screen and she paused. Akaan gave a loud mechanical shout.

Sula jumped, looking for the wrench she'd set down and moved back to him. It was a simple recalibration, and should have taken five mins, but she was unfocused today. She'd been unfocused since Yavin, trying to wrap her head around the problem of how to fix a whole ecosystem.

“Air dispersal would work, maybe. If we could convert a cure into an airborne virus? Because that's all it is right, another virus. And then there's finding the optimal dispersal point, how do we make sure that the air currents take it to the right places and it doesn't get lost in the sea…”

She focused on the repair. Slamming the panel shut. “Ok, try now.” The droid adjusted, bringing its guns to bear.

“WAIT, NOT IN-”

Too late, the barrel exploded, sending heated metal shrapnel in all directions. Several sample jars exploded and Sula was thrown back into the depths of the workshop.

Outside, no one even flinched. The outskirts of Keldabe city had long become accustomed to the mishaps and explosions from Sula Skirata's home.

Rhenzo Altza-Rekali

 

[Rhenzo Altza-Rekali]

After the visit to the Rekali worldcraft his parents insisted he reconnected more with his Mando'ade heritage. He didn't know why that was necessary. He wore the armor, he could speak the language and in a fight he wouldn't embarrass himself. Sure, he'd get his teeth kicked in, but he wouldn't be embarrassed by it.

That's as good as it got as far as Rhenzo was concerned.

Nobody flinched except for Rhenzo when an explosion ripped through the area he passed by however. He leaped in the air and his eyes were wide, head darting around to find the danger.

Several Mandalorians seemed amused by his reaction as they circled around him without skipping a beat.

"That's just Skirata, boy, nothing to worry about."
"Idiot girl is gonna get herself blown to pieces one of these days."
"At least she is trying to do something new."

They passed him by, which was just fine to Rhenzo, because his heart was still going a thousand lightyears a minute in his chest. He went to the door anyway and knocked politely at the workshop.

"Hello? Everything okay in there? Are you... alive?" That is what a responsible member of society was supposed to do, yes? Ask to see how people were doing. It didn't come naturally to Rhenzo, but his parents had taught him this lesson and frankly drilled it in his head. He'd much rather just pass on by and ignore it.

That came much more natural to him.

Sula Skirata

 

[Sula Skirata]

Sula groaned, unpicking herself from the floor of the workshop, Akaan was issuing a string of groans and beeps. An apology and a complaint of malfunctioning equipment. "Stupid fething droid." she complained point at the open side of the workshop that faced into the wastes "There's a big fething door right there, all you had to do was walk out of it."

She picked up something that looked remotely lie a half built cloaking device and made to launch it at the droid, as someone knocked.

She froze. No one ever knocked. They just walked in. And what was stranger is they were aksing if she was okay. She blinked, the smell of acrid smoke reaching her nose.

A fire had started near the centrifuge.

"Kark!" She dropped the clocking device. "Its open!" She hollered over her shoulder as she tried to find the fire extinguisher.

"Fethchitfethchitfethchit."

Rhenzo Altza-Rekali

 

[Rhenzo Altza-Rekali]

Sula Skirata

The stream of swears following the 'its open' was not exactly enticing for Rhenzo, but in for a penny in for a pound, right? Sure, he had confirmed that she was alive, but it sounded like she was in some kind of trouble. He pushed the door open and was immediately hit with the whalm of acrid and smoke that was presumably a residue from the explosion.

Sula was running around like an Apokka without a head.

"Uh..." His eyes were drawn to the small fire beginning to burn around the centrifuge. "That-"

His eyes were drawn to the red capsule near the entrance he had just come from. The telltale mark of what Sula was looking for. He picked it up and promptly went to the fire, dozing it with the foam.

It took a bit of time.

"Is... that all the fires?"

One look at her chaotic workshop made him concerned about it.

 

[Sula Skirata]

Sula stood very still staring at the mountain of foam that was now her lab table. A slow blink and she looked at the rescuer(?). "Um..." she looked around the workshop. "Yes. Thank you?"

It was a question, because she wasn't sure if that was the right response. Yes the fire had been put out. But now she had to get through the foam to find out how compromised everything underneath was.

She sighed and rubbed her grubby face. It was fine, it wouldn't be too hard to set up again. Akaan was whining about the barrel that had now split open like a banana peel.

"Yes, Akaan, I will fix it. Just shut up for five minutes and let me think."

She began to work her way around the workshop, collecting part and tools and dumping them by the droid. Her guest completely forgotten until she turned back to the lab table to see him still standing there.

"Oh...right... did you... want something?"

Rhenzo Altza-Rekali