Cloak and Dagger

[Klesta]

After learning what she learned about the Sith Order on Yutan, she realized that, without attack craft piloting training, she will never be fully part of the solution she wishes to implement; besides, the Sith seem to place little value in attack craft piloting, so if she becomes even a decent (doesn't have to come nowhere near Rogue Squadron-level) attack craft pilot, she would be able to out-pilot most Sith. Yet, somehow, duty calls and she needs to be mining for stygium crystals once again. After delivering the first batch of stygium crystals to Geonosis, where the modified Maersks are being built for the Rebellion, Yula was doing another mining run for stygium because of a new toy she wishes to use for the Rebellion. With the same beamdrills and other mining equipment as last time, the troops began to fan out and to dig holes elsewhere in the Haunted Straits. Also Yula hoped that, this time around, there would be no bounty hunters out to capture her.

"Why do we have to come back here again?" an AT-ST gunner asked.

"Yeah, general, last time we came here you said that it was about a top-secret project: what is it now?" an AT-AA driver asked.

"As a rebellion we need to be able to perform hit-and-run attacks in space on Imperial Remnant or Sith Order targets: that ought to keep them on edge"

"Oh"

"Commence deployment of the mining equipment!"

[member="Kami Meran"]

 

[Kami Meran]

5 seconds kami timed it in her head.. 1 she darted along the branch of one of the weird huge plants. 2 she leaped unseen pn to the AT-ST's legg.
3 she lept up the leg and climbed the leg to its hip and up to its roof. 4 then she waved threw the view port to the driver.
" You need a better field of view in these things." she giggled.
[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

While she sensed the presence of [member="Kami Meran"] in the Force, near one of the AT-STs, she realized that she could harness her fear - in particular her fear of being found out - into making herself invisible. With that said, she realizes that any use of the Force is going to make her cost some energy, so she keeps up the charade for as long as she can until she reverts close to the AT-ST that Kami climbed while the rest of her men continued with the mining operation they started a few weeks ago. Man she realized it would be difficult to locate each other if there actually was a significant lode of stygium around. But the driver of the AT-ST was more than just a little inconvenienced about Kami being present inside the vehicle; her Force-batteries were running low. She feels a little uneasy but then again, she would expect someone to sneak up an AT-ST in the cover of a lode of stygium around her, rendering the surroundings invisible to the intruder.

"General, we have intercepted an intruder onboard. What should we do with the intruder?"

"Whoever you are, you are right where the stygium is. If the intruder is interested in stygium, have the intruder come down here"

 

[Kami Meran]

Kami expected to be taken in to custody. after all killing a Mandalorian especially one her age would be a pretty big headache.
" You heard the Lady. Take me to your leader. " she giggled holding her arms up.
and entering the camp.
she had a few ideas of things to do here.
the generators were pitiful as was the mining equipment. shesh these guy's would be lucky to get enough for a single vehicle.
" looks like. you are lucky im here. huh?" she calmly chatted with her escort.
[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

"How so? I'm not overly familiar with the mining business but since Genius Cell seems to be willing to send me all over the place for logistical purposes, may as well learn something new about mining equipment" she asked, turning to [member="Kami Meran"].

Beamdrills that can be used by one or two men did not seem to require that much from a generator. The Rebellion did not have much cash for something other than these things; if they could have heavier equipment that could somehow fit onto an AT-ST or an AT-AA even, perhaps the gains in efficiency would be worth the added cost. Then again, Yula knew that they weren't a mining operation and using a mining operation would mean that there could be risks of detection especially if they were mining for restricted materials. Like stygium. Yula probably thought that mining equipment is where they got lucky. She got the feeling that she will get to meet Kami on several more occasions after today. Meanwhile, the stygium crystals needed not be too big knowing that the crystals needed to equip cloaking devices that could fit on attack craft. As luck would have it, she would use telekinesis to show Kami how big the crystal should be, according to what one Jessica told her about it.

 

[Kami Meran]

" first off [member="Yula Knezevic"] .. sigh." kami sighed.
she walked over to the generator. and pulled a few cables. " some idiot reversed the neutrino flow in this power converters. " she sniggered as she repowered rfe generators and the lights repowered far more brighter. " you were runing a drect current whrere a alternating current is far better. you need ventilation too. pluse a few breasings. i'd say ferrosteel. "

 

[Klesta]

"The Sith Order did that, I'm sure of it. I might have stolen Jedi artifacts from the Sith Order on Yutan but I think there is a mole among my men... I betrayed the Sith Order because I'm uncomfortable with the prospect of them causing a trail of blood and destruction across the galaxy. They are idiots, they launched a full-scale assault on a Jedi Temple to burn a tree"

With the help of [member="Kami Meran"], the generator works a lot better now, there is no denying that. Now no one complained about the beamdrills not functioning at peak efficiency. That was weird: why did the Sith Order somehow plant a mole in stormtrooper armor (stormtrooper armor seemed to be a favorite of the dark side mooks)? Yula thought that it was unlikely at best: while the Sith declared people heretics, as a heretic, she was of little concern at this point. What puzzled her to no end was that why they made such a grand show of a heretic of the same kind as her, Darth Maladon, and they let her go practically scot-free for having followed through on Maladon's plan and then saving the Sith from themselves. She will be ready to call the Sith on their double standard while the first round of stygium crystals is being loaded into the ship Yula called a troop transport. A Maersk-class freighter, at Genius Cell's disposal.

 

[Kami Meran]

" I think this was more some one having a little knowledge bit no skill. " Kami admitted. working out afew items they will need laser drills were prettly rubish with crystals.
" look i need a fair bit of this so i'll cut you a deal i'll get you all up and running and i get to keep a fair bit. unless you don't want ,me to sniff out the Mole, it's pretty easy to work that thing out."
[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

"Deal: with the repairs on the generator there is no reason for me not to share the stygium among those who could benefit from the stygium"

Hmmm... beamdrills, rubbish with crystals? I'm not a mining engineer, I'm in no position to know what could be better, but it would certainly be of aid to know what's best for something of that nature, she thought. Clearly Yula still had much to learn about machinery and engineering, unlike that Jessica, who was a fellow rebel, that she knew about. Yet Kami was helpful with the mining equipment; she was grateful for Kami's aid in these circumstances. Oh, of course, Kami set out to discover who exactly was the Sith Order mole. I would probably Force-choke whoever did that, she thought, while using her fear of being found out in this sea of stygium crystals to conduct another round of Force-cloak practice, knowing that it wouldn't last very long. Not at her level of command with the dark side. Yet the presence of stygium would make practice a little easier: she could just feel it, but once the spell runs out...

"If beamdrills were pretty rubbish with crystals, what would do the trick then?" she asked [member="Kami Meran"].

 

[Kami Meran]

she assumed it was a commonly known thing Kami was suprise by the question "Vibro or conventional hand tools. Crystald disprtse heat and tend to... well explode. red hot crystals are not nice things to encounter flying at you in high speed."

 

[Klesta]

"All units, switch to vibrocutters!"

Yula paid the price of her one-dimensionality, and she wasted her troops' time by switching to vibrocutters. She actually learned more about mining right here. Now that was something she could take to the bank. Nevertheless, vibrocutters would be compatible with the generator in use by [member="Kami Meran"] et al; she was able to get a few shipments of crystal inside her troop transport. So they got that part just fine. Some of the smaller chunks of stygium crystals could still be used in a lightsaber, which would fetch a high cost in their own right, but now that they had vibrocutters for mining the crystals Jessica still asked for once again, the cut would be a lot cleaner with the vibrocutters than with the beamdrills they used up to this point. And much more accurate. Because stygium crystals big enough to be in attack craft-caliber cloaking devices are about the size of a thermal detonator - and several of them could be used on cloaking devices that can outfit capital ships.

"There are some smaller pieces of crystal from the chunks taken by beamdrills: collect them so that lightsaber crystals can be sold by the Rebellion"

 

[Kami Meran]

( [member="Yula Knezevic"] i swear i have a great excuse lol. )


" If its Khyber crystals i can set up a semi steady supply of those. i found a cave and ancient Jedi temple. seeing as you guys will be in need ov those what do you say? " she looked to the mine ans miners.
pointing to a thin woman she yelled " you. yes you the one obviosly looking like she is being buisy by walking arround with a broon. brace that celing. ... yes you there are ferrosteel beams over there so get bracing. "
turning back to Yula. she began. " Ok we are in the wrong terrain for this. the crystals need a high ionium soil content thar means deep caves. so i'd say strip mining. "

 

[Klesta]

"These are stygium crystals we are mining here: stygium is usually used in cloaking devices. If my information is correct, stygium crystals, as used in a lightsaber, will give off a pale white-violet blade, and also enhance the stealth abilities of people wielding such lightsabers"

The mining of these stygium crystals was far from over. There is still a lot of crystals not yet mined before they could reach the count, and then they could sift through the crystals mined for those who would be good for lightsaber use vs. those good for attack craft-grade cloaking devices. To Yula it is clear that previously using beamdrills allowed for hundreds of shards capable of being used in a lightsaber at the same time as there were crystals that met the criteria. While her men continued to use vibrocutters to cut the stygium crystals the right size for what they are using them for, [member="Kami Meran"] suggested that they go deeper in the caves. Yet they originally didn't go that deep inside the caves the first time around; hopefully the hopper droids will be able to provide lighting and possible even venting to the miners being dispatched down below. And however, she has to keep in mind what she always heard among the Sith about strip-mining: it is more pollution-prone than other mining methods.

"First Company, go deeper inside the caves"

 

[Kami Meran]

" How the Kark dos A BEAM OF WHITE LIGHT make you sneakier? i get the light bending properties. but the force skev. annoys me. " Kami shrugged.
"Eany way i only need enough for a single vehicle. " Kami shrugged looking bored. " what you need these for anyway. " Kami asked trying not to pry but inocently interested.

 

[Klesta]

"That said, you have to remember that the crystal is at the core of the bond between a lightsaber and its owner, so any special properties of the crystal act even when the lightsaber is deactivated. As to how it makes the wielder of a lightsaber equipped with a stygium crystal sneakier, it reduces the amount of energy spent by the wielder to use Force-cloak"

By now the first company reached deeper inside the cave to mine for the stygium, and the hoppers were ready to cater for any crystals they may be mining in the caves down below, knowing that the air is damper and heavier at greater depths. Judging by the cloaking devices mounted onboard the Volksgrenadier MIRV missiles, themselves the size of attack craft, a thermal detonator-sized crystal was enough for a single stealth fighter. Multiple such crystals are needed to power the stygium cloaking devices mounted onboard capital ships, which were not ready yet either. In fact, the problem may lie elsewhere for those things. Although the cloaking device is already there, and that there are three known instances of live-firing these terrifying missiles, for a total of 7 rounds fired, using it for attack craft poses a somewhat different challenge: whereas in missiles it only needs to be cloaked for a short amount of time, fighters sometimes need extended periods of time under cloak.

"Oh and [member="Kami Meran"], this is about equipping the cloaking devices of a few squadrons of stealth fighters on my end"

 

[Kami Meran]

kami shrugged as a ship broke the atmosphere.
" That'll be my people. a few humans and my droids to hurry to the diggs. " Kami nodded as it was indeed one of her ships and droids.
she cargo bat oppened up and a topless firf exited." Danik get a skeving shirt on."
[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

"First batch of crystals is en route now, general" the captain of the first company told Yula.

"Roger"

The first batch of stygium crystals brought from the deeper parts of the cave still contained dozens of crystals; now these were crystals that were good to use in a cloaking device. These crystals were swiftly loaded in the cargo hold of the troop transport while [member="Kami Meran"] arrived with her ship, filled with mining personnel and droids. Now that's one they could keep; two or three more batches of stygium and we should be good to go; the first fighter should be off the assembly lines in a few weeks or so.

 

[Kami Meran]

" hay [member="Yula Knezevic"] c'mear let me show you a few things i have lined up. it'll be a low production unfortunately." she admitted calling up a hollo image of a small to medium size Fast Attack Vehicle.
" im thinking making it emp hardened and reducing energy consumption.making the weapon a micromissile launcher as opposed to a blaster. "

 

[Klesta]

"Oh. Perhaps Jessica means something to you in the context of vehicle design, or even the design of cloaking devices; if she is who I think she is, you may already have met with her in person somewhere"

Better not tell her too much about Jessica and why she is a Rebel just yet, she thought, even though Yula already told [member="Kami Meran"] why she was a rebel or what she used the stygium for. Did she even know about the Sith Order's practices? They are almost no different from the One Sith: destruction looms everywhere they go. She might see past the dogmatic idea of destroying everything associated to the Jedi, but not having the proper equipment to carry it through will be difficult. Now Yula is using Force-cloak again, using her fear of being detected to slip past Kami and her mining crew, and descend into the cave to see where her men are at. They are still hard at work, using vibrocutters across all areas: the surface deposits as well as the cave deposits. But she couldn't use Force-cloak for more than 30 seconds at a time at this point, and 30 seconds later, she is just about a few meters deep, having to yield for another hopper of freshly-mined stygium crystals.

 

[Kami Meran]

" Jessica? who is Jessica? dont recall any Jessica's. "
Kami asked suprised as she sent the droids to work
alot of them were mindless CB-RA combat drones all linked to a AR-CE head officer who monitored and ordered the drones to work.
"This shouldn't take too long hopefully the drones will worh faster than the living unit... people sorry."

[member="Yula Knezevic"]