Hunter of Men (Beskar Forging on Concordia)

[Laira Darkhold]

Concordia, the moon of Mandalore, nestled deep within Mandalorian Space. The moon is small and out of the way, really only known for its Beskar, the near mythical Mandalorian Iron. The substance that fuels the planet’s warrior race to conquer across whole sectors of space, spreading their influence to any and all who they come across. In ancient times the Mandalorians had used the mineral to conquer almost half the galaxy, then used it to revitalize themselves following the Yuuzhan Vong War, and most recently had laid claim to the mid rim for a long time, and a long time to come. But that was all just history, this was about here and know. I was here to mine and forge the mineral into a monstrous metal beast for my own use. For too long I had been caught alone on missions, or not had what I needed in a small skirmish. That was going to change. With the designs for the droid ready and able, the mining facility already in place, all that was left to do was pull the substance out of the ground, hammer it out, and built the droid out of it.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

My ship landed on the small landing pad for personal use near the mining installation and I approached the foreman who was busy working on removing the substance from the ground. Or he was about to be doing just that. For now he was basically twiddling his thumbs. “Oi, get to work. I need three tons of ore pulled out of the mine and the forge fired up. I have a guest coming soon and I want everything ready when he arrives.” I called to the man who sat at his desk inside the small office space overlooking the mine. He came running out quickly, shouting to the workers to double time it into the mine and for them to get to work, but that a little late if he was planning on leaving me impressed. I just rolled my eyes and found my way to his desk, kicking up my feet for a moment while he ran around trying to make up for being lazy. After a few minutes I got bored and descended into the mine myself, picking up one of the power hammers and going at it myself. Things worked better when you worked for them yourself in my opinion. It shouldn’t be long before my guest arrived.

[member="Shepard"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The miners worked hard, and down here with them I could sympathize with them, the work wasn’t incredibly difficult because droids and walkers handled the most of it, but it was still prevalent and still manual labor so they were being worked. I hammered away tirelessly for several hours until the beskar ore was hauled from the depths of the mine. It was work, even with a power hammer the work took its toll on the body, wearing you down, making your bones and muscles ache, at least those of us without ridiculously enhanced muscles. The droids doing most of the work kept on silently drilling and excavating the ore from the rock and dirt from the veins of beskar ore from the moon’s crust and taking up to be smelted in the large furnace. Once the required amount of ore was taken from the rock, the mining stopped, or at least slowed to a crawl. The boss was happy and ready to play with his toys and the workers were ready to be done for the day. I guess that is how it always goes with your average laborer and worker. They were loyal to the paycheck, not the man that wrote it.

[member="Shepard"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Finally then a lone man arrived onto the scene, he was all leather duster, gruff and scruff. Long hair pulled back together in a warrior’s band and a general thread in his stride that suggested that Shepard wasn’t exactly a man who cared about a whole lotta thing in life. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]He had come to the Mando'ade a broken man, pulled into the culture of warriors by Mandalore the Liberator, and most of the times this would be the time to say that his time here had mended the old wounds.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Vereen, seen him, vod?” question would be raised, and Hoath would wait for anyone here giving him some kind of answer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Apparently they needed to make something.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

One of the workers came running up to me, jabbering about some guy in a leather duster. “There is someone here looking for you sir,” he said and then went on to describe the man as “that guy in a leather duster”. Brilliant. “Alright, I will go talk to him. He is probably the beskarsmith I asked to meet me out here.” I said to the worker, letting him lead me back to where [member="Shepard"] was waiting for me.

I walked up to the scruffy man, extending a hand as a greeting, “Oi welcome to Concordia vod. I’m Draco Vereen.” I said to him, taking his arm by the forearm and shaking it in a proper man’s gesture of greeting. “I guess you are the Beskarsmith, [member="Shepard"] right?” I said more than asked. “If so, then do I have a project for you. Thanks for coming out this far by the way.” I told the man, referencing the smithing of the beskar plates and frame that would make up Ne’trabes’ulik, my droid companion I was having built, using a number of different things.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I decided to show him the plans for the droid, let him look over the vast number of intricate pieces that would consist of the droid, how many dozens of beskar spikes and blades that would be included, the numerous weapons and integrated systems. The beast had far fewer weapons than a standard basilisk, well far fewer ranged weapons, exchanging several of its shockwave generators for maser and ion weaponry, its pulsewave generators and laser cannons for solar ionization cannons, and its shatter missiles for general purpose warhead launchers to provide it with some versatility.

Its close combat weapons and protocols however were advanced beyond what someone would consider normal. It had dozens of retractable spikes on its tail, back, and shoulders, for defense one might guess. Its claws were powerful beskar vibro-blades, complete with a shockwave generator for that extra umph into its prey. Its mouth was fitting with a row of beskar teeth, electrified just like any electrostaff would be. Its tail was long and prehensile, allowing it to be used in many ways, and ended in a pair of retractable beskar vibro-blades to be used as terrifying weapons in combat.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Ain’t that a thing of beauty.” Hoath would reply, while looking over the plans and pondering in his mind how much work it would be to pull it off. Not all that much work from his side, of course, seeing as he only needed to work the beskar into the shape that the man needed. Plating and the things like that, but that wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Leaning against the table he took another look at the schematics, recognizing the additional parts that made up the beast. Most of the time the Mandos were pretty straight-forward with their designs, slap a few rockets onto it, maybe a laser and some repulsor lifts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]This was a new level.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Shepard looked up and gave Draco a nod, respect perhaps for the work done and the ingenuity in the design.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“I can work with this.”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Good, he could work with this and was willing to work on it with me. Excellent. All good things come to those who wait, I thought. So far things had been working out very well for me the past few days. First Makeb, then Nar Shaddaa, now Concordia. A string of victories were often followed by a crippling defeat. That thought crept into my mind as well, but I was too busy to pay them any credence right now. I had work to do. The droid had to be built from the ground up, its weapons situated and its programming finalized in addition to building it in the first place.

“Alright, well if you are ready, so am I. We have the ore out of the ground and ready for you to begin working with whenever you are ready. I would like to help, as these droids are for me, and I have found than when you work for something yourself, it makes it more, personal.” I said, finding what I felt were the right words to describe it. When you made it yourself, you left a piece of yourself in it, and that was kind of what I was after.

[member="Shepard"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Draco Vereen"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Shepard simply nodded and let the man guide him towards the proper location.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]What Draco was saying made sense, you can’t compare a weapon crafted by someone else to something that was forged by your own hands, it had something… [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]magical.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] You could only understand it if you had felt it yourself though and most people didn’t have that luck, but Vereen seemed to be an alright fella for the most part. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]So it would be that they went into the room with the Forge and started to hammer out Draco’s newest pet creation. It would take many hours before it was done, at the end of it they would be deadly tired and with muscles aching.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But it was worth it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Because working with beskar and created something [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]new?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] That was an experience that few people could truly appreciate these days.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Follow my lead, Vereen.” the Smith would say, before commencing the operation. “Then all will go just swell.”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I followed the man’s lead, providing much of the manual labor aspect of the forging process. It was hard work, and long hours. Over a full day to make the large pair of droid components, armor, and blades. It was hard work in that it required constant attention. I didn’t have time to think about her, or what we would do next with ourselves, only this. This was all I could think about given the amount of attention it required. It was the first time since Makeb she hadn’t been on my mind. When this was done, I would regret that, but throughout the forging itself I was focused on the task at hand.

Armor plates were molded and hammered out, tempered and heat treated. Claws, spikes, blades, and studs were crafted and quenched in oil. Everything was coming together. Well kind of. The pile of beskar armor and weapons were coming together nicely. The frame was ready, the long lash like tail in its pieces, the armor being painted and smoothed out. The mass of spikes ready to be nestled into their places where they could retract as needed, and the exposed barrels of the weapons were forged from the might mineral. So much beskar into such a beast would seem a waste to some, but to those that saw it in use, they would be swayed.

The predatory droid was coming together nicely. Its armor and frame ready for construction. All that was left was the saying of thanks and going our separate ways. The engineers at ArmaTech would be able to build the rest of the droid around the frame and within the armor that Shepard had wrought for us. It was meant to be a companion, or an attack dog if necessary. How better to gain a companion than to make one. And how better to make one than with your own hands.