Private For A Blade

[Arcturus Dinn]

The Royal Academy of Korriban​

4 Years Ago...​

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Ever since his return to the Galaxy, Thesh had been missing something... Important. Not necessarily of sentimental value to the boy himself, oh no he much preferred the blade he carried at his side, but something which was more or less expected in their line of work. Was it work? Studies..? Whatever.​

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A lightsaber.​

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He'd lost his some time ago, and if he was to ever pick up his training he knew he'd have to take steps toward amending such. He had a crystal, taken from the facility on Iego, the synthetic kind no less. While he'd taken the time to study the equipment in hopes of replicating the process, for now a premade variant would have to do. At least until he could switch it out for something comprised by his own hands.​

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But the rest of it? The casing, and the emitter, and the switches, and--- Yeah. No. Thesh lacked all of the above, and that needed to be remedied.​

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Fortunately for him, word around the Academy had spread that one among their ranks could provide him with just that. So it was that he made his way through the structure in search of one Val Drutin...​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani Sibwarra, newly arrived at the Royal Academy, was probably off somewhere getting bullied by her peers. The name Arcturus Thesh was unknown to her; the boy who possessed it was only a vague figure in the periphery of her daily life. Just another acolyte attending classes, studying, and struggling to make it…

Val Drutin, on the other hand, was about to make the acquaintance of “Thesh”. At the current moment, he was standing over a corpse.

He had encountered the woman as he entered the hangar which housed his starship, the Stardust. She had been hiding herself aboard his ship, having snuck aboard. Given the expensive lightsaber parts he’d found on her person, it looked like she had been trying to steal from him. He’d chased her out and ran her through.

“Ugh, what a mess,” he complained, deactivating his violet lightsaber. The stench of burnt flesh lingered in the air. Pinching his nose, he looked around for something he could hide the body in…

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Thesh approached the man and the body at an admittedly leisurely pace.​

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One slender brow was raised in curiosity, and he arched himself to a slightly higher state in order to get a good look at her over Val's shoulder. "Huh," he remarked, not entirely sure what to make of the whole thing. Deaths in the Academy weren't unheard of, weren't even unexpected, but all the same it was an interesting development to be sure.​

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"She'd make a good thrall" he mused aloud, with a slight shrug of his shoulders, before he settled back onto his feet from his tiptoes. "You in the market for one?"​

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One hand reached out, after that strange introduction to one another's presence was made. "Thesh" he said, and since at present it was the only name he held there was no accompanying surname. Or forename. Or whatever. "I hear you're the man to look to for lightsaber parts..?"​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Val turned around suddenly, as if Thesh’s arrival had startled him. Dark eyes blinked in puzzlement, then his expression grew annoyed. “What is this? Do you people think my hangar is Grand Central Station? You can’t just waltz in here unannounced!”

Once Thesh had a chance to introduce himself, Val crossed his arms over his chest, still frowning petulantly. As was his custom, he was clad in a theatrical dancer’s costume, though thankfully it wasn’t one of his weirder ones. Just the Albrecht getup from Giselle.

“She was planning on stealing lightsaber parts from me,” Val said, pointing to the dead woman. “If you plan on doing the same, you’ll meet the same grisly end.” He turned his nose up in the air. “It’s fifty UCks each per part, maybe more if it’s a rare item. Can you dig it?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Thesh stared at him somewhat pointedly, then shook his head. "Didn't know private hangars were a thing for Acolytes" he mused dryly, before shaking his head. "How's someone supposed to call ahead if they don't have you com details?"​

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Eyes fell back to the woman on the ground. She really would have made a good thrall, alas it seemed as though Val wasn't looking for such a thing and Thesh certainly didn't need any more attention drawn his way. What a waste... Oh well.​

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"I'm not here to steal from you" he assured him, "I have the UCk's if you have the goods." He tilted his head to one side. "Rare items..?" Hey, he was always looking for more interesting items...​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Once the matter of money was made clear, Val relaxed considerably. “I am the galaxy’s foremost collector of lightsabers and lightsaber parts,” he said, laying a hand over his chest proudly. “There is nothing I do not have in my collection. Observe.”

Leaving the corpse behind, Val led the way aboard the Stardust. With a flourish, he presented Thesh with his hoard. At the time, it truly was a dragon’s hoard—he had quite a bit more compared to four years in the future, when he would assist Padawan Eliphas Dune in crafting his lightsaber.

“Antiques, uniques, artifacts, scraps,” Val swept a hand over the pile. “Phrik, beskar, songsteel, starsteel, Silvian iron, aurodium, electrum-plated, durasteel, orichalc, doonium, dolovite, duranium…” He yawned. “I could go on, and that’s just the hilt casing. How about emitters? Or sleeves?...”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He followed the man aboard his ship, and soon enough was mesmerized by all that lay before him. Okay, so he wasn't lying was he? He really was a purveyor of lightsaber parts...​

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Thesh whistled under his breath, focused for now on the hilts themselves. He brushed over the majority, and seemed only interested in those of the curved variety. Among them one stood out beyond the rest though, in fact through the Force that strange song which had often goaded him on was beginning to pick up once more.​

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He reached for the part, eyes lifting just enough to watch in case Val tried to stop him from touching his wares - something he'd obviously respect if so - but provided he wasn't stopped he'd lift a songsteel hilt from the pile. It was... beautiful. Bright and silver, it almost seemed to glow with its own radiance.​

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There were countless other parts to choose from, of course, but he hadn't done a tonne of research. "What parts would you recommend?" he inquired. "I have a crystal already..."​

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As for the rest? Well, it only made sense for him to trust Val's judgement.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"That would depend on how you use it," Val replied. "But I suppose there are some options that are just plain cool to have." He plucked up a dual-phase emitter. "This will allow you to adjust the length of your blade as needed."

He dug around in the pile of scrap, eventually producing a bifurcating cyclical-ignition pulse. "And this will allow your lightsaber to function underwater. Lovely, isn't it?"

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Dueling" he shrugged, somewhat loosely, as Val spoke to how it would vary depending on usage. "I'm a Makashi practitioner, anything that would help that?"​

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The options he did present were both very interesting, though he looked at the second of them a bit more dubiously than the first. Thesh couldn't swim, after all, so why would he need such a thing? It might be nice to have later down the road, but then couldn't he find one and add it then?​

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Did he really need all the bells and whistles right now?​

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"I like this one," he said, of the dual-phase emitter, nodding his head appreciatively. "With everything that's an absolute necessity to get this thing to work, and with the hilt I chose in mind... How much are we looking at?" Money really wasn't that much of an issue, but still - the boy was curious.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Well, there's also a fencing emitter, but it severely impacts one's ability to block blaster bolts.

"Songsteel is very rare, so that'll jack up the price." Val picked at his nails absentmindedly. "Hum, let's go with... ten thousand? Then the emitter can be fifty, I've got plenty of them."

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Okay, the question was which emitter did he go with?​

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Did he put all of his monkeys in one basket, or did he go for the more adaptive dual-phaser?​

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Glancing over the options, Thesh scratched his head in consideration. "Feth it" he murmured, more to himself than to Val, "Sure, we'll use the fencing emitter. Why not." It wasn't as though he didn't have other weapons, or other options afforded to him. Building the lightsaber was more for tradition's sake than anything else.​

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He nodded at the price. Slightly steep, but he could foot the bill.​

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"Alright, that's agreeable."​

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Worth it for the songsteel, no?​

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The Force certainly seemed to think so.​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

While waiting for Thesh to make a decision on the emitter, a bored and fidgeting Val had begun to do a handstand. He was perfectly poised on one hand when Thesh announced he would take the fencing emitter.

"Anything else you need?"

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Doesn't seem like it" he stated, turning and watching the man as he did his acrobatics or whatever. Frankly it was pretty fascinating, he had better control of his body than most if Thesh was to hazard a guess. "Seems like everything's here, no?"​

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Well he was mostly trusting Val's judgement of course. "How'd you want the creds?" he inquired, as he gathered up the multitude of random bits and pieces which would make up his new blade. He'd have to find somewhere quiet to put it together, the Force would be his ally in such of course but still... It felt like a more private affair.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Just transmit it to my account," Val replied. As he rattled off his account number, he lowered himself to the ground and promptly did the splits.

Once the transfer of funds was complete, he smiled and nodded. "Thank you, kind sir." His smile dropped and he waved his hand as though disgusted by Thesh's presence. "Go away now."

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Well, Val didn't have to tell him twice.​

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Thesh left with the goods in hand and made his way from the hangar bay and back into the Academy proper. There were a few different places he might have wandered to in search of someplace quiet, but there was only one which really came to mind in the end. A simple little courtyard in the still-ruined side of the Academy which had not yet received any TLC.​

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He'd found it shortly after finding Maliphant here on Korriban, and well... Why not make use of it? Nobody would disturb him there, after all.​

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So he came upon it, and in the center of the courtyard he sat with all the parts around him. His eyes closed, one hand raised, and the various pieces rose and converged at the center before his face. It wasn't an inherently fast process, but it allowed him to infuse the Force into the entire process and strengthen his bond with it. The crystal especially.​

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After some time he opened his eyes and bore witness to his new blade in its completed state. Reaching out he took it from where it hovered, rose up from the ground, and carefully ignited it for the first time. He messed with the dials, adjusted the settings, and then beamed a broad smile though none could see it.​

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He marveled a moment longer, then disignited it and returned it to his belt.​

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Chaos knew when he'd actually put it to good use, but hey at least he had it now.​