My Masterpiece...

[RC 212]

Location: Beyond the Dune sea.

It was an older desing but truly a modular one. Jack was elbows deep in the engine compartment of his newly bought AT-360 Freighter. He had one thing on his mind. Creating a vessel that would be legend. Faster than even the Legendary Millenium Falcon. It was going to take some work though. But he was accustomed to work, working long hours too.

"Alright Dak, I'm clear fire her up!"

He was just crawling clear of the engine room, pulling his body up the ladder and through the deck when his first mate opened up the engines, firing full burst. Jack had to grab a railing as they rocketed across the Dune Sea, low and fast, stirring a veritable sand storm in their wake.

"Whoa kid, hold on!"

He could barely keep straight over the G forces as they roared forwards, propelled by powerful ion streams. And as Suddenly as it began the engine sputtered once and then twice. Acrid smoke filled the cabin and stung his eyes.

"Shut her down Dak! Now!"

Alarms blared as the young Co-Pilot hit the kill switch. The Vessel Careened into a Dune, sliding across the silky smooth sand and coming to a halt. Jack peered in the engine compartment, and coughed.

"Needs more work. Alright bring the tools down. This time all of em!"

 

[RC 212]

The Engine room was filled with smoke. Not good.

Jack slipped on a pair of goggles and jumped down in, moving along the narrow space to the source of the disruption. Engine parts and supplies were scattered around the main hold. All stuff he'd bought, just in case. And it looked like it was gonna come in handy. Plugging a small computer into the main port revealed the problem. After a quick diagnostic his skilled hands reached down into an alcove and felt around.

"Just like I thought, coolant line blew."

Dak handed him the toolbox, sticking his head in.

"That's what it looked like on the dash. Ship said it was running hot."

"That's because we blew the lines kid. so go fetch me some more!"

There was only one solution to that, which was pulling them all out. Luckily there was only two and Jack was able to rip them out with ease. As Dak ahnded down the new set he needed he inserted them and then reached a hand up through the deck.

"Arc Welder kid."

Dak placed it into his palm and few second later Jack was hard at work, flash welding each line into place. It would take a little bit more time to weld the lines solid. So he sat there, humming an old smugglers hymn from Nar Shaada while he melted metal upon metal....

 

[RC 212]

"There that should do it. Go fill up the coolant kid. Make sure she's topped off."

Jack pulled his greasy body up through the deck and his tools with him. It was his turn to fly and as Dak finished filling up the coolant he called back to him from the back.

"Alright, good to go!"

"Here goes nothing."

Slamming the lever Jack fired her up. The engines turned over once, twice and a third time. A dull droning began to grow into earth shattering roars and he felt the pulses rattling his teeth out. This had to be far from normal but it was a start. Turning up the governor tended to make systems finicky. Jak had removed it entirely and expanded the fuel lines, making the engines rich with fuel and negating all fail-safes.

Dangerous.

"Here we goooooooo!!"

The words were slammed back in his mouth as the AT-360 lifted off and gave a full burn. Jack even with the aid of seasoned eys couldn't comprehend the speed. It was record shattering. The landscape blurred by so quickly he had to keep track of leagues on the computer. They were burning faster than anything he'd ever flown. Racing.

"Hold up Skip, we got-"

BOOM! WHOOSH!

And they were bleeding speed now, engines sputtering once more as the fuel lines came loose under the pressure, cracking along their seams and splashing liquid spun tibbana everywhere.

Jack was quick to slam the kill switch again, and bring the throttle down to zero. A few more taps engaged the fuel lock and they glided into the sand, once more sinking into another dune. In complete silence and with the adrenaline of his newly found speed flushing through him Jack simply stood at the helm. He was high, high from endorphins slamming his brain.

That's when Dak burst in, covered in fuel and reeking like a bantha....

 

[RC 212]

"The hell happened to you kid?"

"Fuel lines, both of em cracked."

"Kark."

Again he picked up the tool box and headed back towards the engine room. Again climbed down and slid in between the main block and the tight walls and took a hardy look...

And there it was, both split right down the seam, as he had hoped would not happen. So again he poked his head up through the deck to Dak and gave the kid a wry smile.

"You smell like crap kid. Go ahead and bring me two lines, and then some reinforced casing. I think if we double down on the insulators it'll keep her right."

Whilst Dak was fetching the accoutrements Jack was hard at work again, using a buzz saw to cut the lines free and toss the severed sections up into the main hold. To which Dak tossed down the extra lines. The torch heated up again, burning the loose fuel as well as melting the metal compounds down into place. It took another hour to complete the task, and another hour after that to give it a reinforced coating.

Now they should be solid.

"Alright Kid."

He crawled back up and gave a two finger salute towards the cockpit.

"Send her!"

Dak disengaged the fuel lock as Jack listened with a watchful ear. He heard the pneumatics hiss and flush the liquid gas into the chamber. She grumbled and roared and turned over. Wiser now he grabbed the rail and hung on for dear life as they rocketed up from the dune, spraying sand all in a veritable brown out....

 

[RC 212]

There was no doubt about it this time, they were flying, straight up and across the waves of sand below. A few Tusken Raiders tried a few potshots from the gorge ahead but they were woefully slow for him and Dak. The vessel was blasting with blinding speed and Jack managed to make his way up to the cockpit.

"How's she handle?"

"Like Crap, I can barely keep her in line."

The gorge was coming up quick and solutions raced through Jacks mind. They were using a small amount of power for the pumps but the power reactor was generally untaxed. This ship came outfitted with correction thrusters near the wingtips. And then it hit him.

"Powering down shields and redirecting juice to the retro thrusters."

And he was doing as he spoke, flipping switches and buttons at an advanced rate. He had become familiar with his new craft rather fast. He just knew instinctively what to hit and when. The retrothrusters fired hard and Jack felt them careen towards a canyon wall. He roared above the din of the engines straight into Daks ears.

"Turn her on her side cowboy! You're gonna kill us!"

Dak wrenched the yoke and hit the manuever thrusters, working the pedals on the floors. They fired bu just barely and much to slow. A wing clipped the canyon wall as they jackknifed, standing straight on their side at max speed.

"Slow down!"

"Stop shouting in my ears!"

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jack"] Raxis

And they cleared the canyon, albeit with some scratching on the wings. Luckily enough Jack had rerouted the power and they were far enough away not rip it completely off. Dak turned the Freighter back onto its belly and they continued hurtling, moving at an advanced rate. Finally the engine problem was solved, but manoeuvrability was not. Extra power taking from the shields gave them a disadvantage and Jack was none too fond of that.

So they'd have to do a test run naturally.

"Give those Tusken camps another pass, slow down when I say."

"They were trying to hit us?"

"I know that’s why we are going back. Test the shields."

Dak turned her around and this time they skipped the gorge all together flying high in the sky above th rocky valleys. When they were close enough Jack could feel the Tuskens rallying for another bout at the AT-360 and he gave Dak a firm clap on the shoulder.

"Now kid, cut her down to fifty percent burn, let em hit us!"

Rapid shots from their long rifles began to pepper the vessel and Jack grinned, feeling the gambles stakes energize him. The shields arced bright blue, flashing with electricity as the bolts struck. Two or three deflected, bouncing back but one fell straight across their bow. It was samll arms which normally was no problem, except blaster cannons and turbolasers were a bit heavier.

"That's crap, alright full burn and pull up."

They pulled up and away, Dak expertly flipping the vessel in a full roll and ripping off back towards the gorge. Meanwhile Jack was fiddling with the shields and the power schematics. By right's they should have had full power on everything, but the manuever thrusters were burning too much juice to work effectively.

"I think we are gonna need a dedicated Reactor to run both Shields and thrusters. We're drawing too much juice. Could spare the weapons and go back for a second pass. Figure it out."

"I got nothin' better to do." Dak replied.

"That's my boy, alright take her back around kiddo."

And he did.....

 

[RC 212]

This time around they were flying lower, attempting to get a scant lock on the camp with what few weapons they had. which was a set of Laser cannons. Dak's skilled hand dropped them low, kicking up dust across the landscape. Jack was busy rebalancing the power, allowing the shields to power down to ten percent and powering the weapons with the other ninety percent of power from the auxiliary systems.

Which meant they were tapped out considerably, and with no manuever power for the thrusters. Luckily it was a straight shot over the camp and Jack flipped the switches to arm both cannons. Behind the second yoke he assumed the gunners controls, turning them over to his station with a few more flicks and knocking the safety overrides off.

Hopefully nobody saw this. Blasting Sand people was one thing, but so near the Hutt's vaunted palaces was another. They didn't like fly bys so close.

"Target in range, burn down to fifty six percent kid."

"Got it Skip."

Dak pulled the throttle lever down, discharging some of the burn and Jack lined up the shot on the targeting computer. As soon as they spotted the first riders on the sand he fired, depressing both thumbs and attempting to stitch them up with green lances of death.

But it was low powered, even with the rerouted power the cannons stuttered and came short. Not ideal at all.

"Bring her back around. Dud shots."

Dak swung the Freighter as Jack redirected power to the Manuever Thrusters and then drained it again, leaving shields and thrusters at zero and powering the weapons full scale.

This time they disgorged with full fury, glassing sand and Tusken alike as they ripped through the camp. Puff of exploding dust lit up in straight lines and Jack roared with glee. He hated Tuskens.... all of them.

"Serves em right!"

"Nice shots!"

"Thank's kid, al-right switching full power to thrusters. Get us out of here and back to port. Got a few adjustments to make."

"No problem."

 

[RC 212]

Mos Eisley was rather empty this time of year. Most Smuggling had gone down to the farther away ports. Shadow ports they called them. Places between places and away from prying eyes. Jack wasn't interested much in a job at this point though. He had a real good chunk of change from his Naval Reservist paycheck, courtesy of the Mandalorian Navy.

On top of contracting out Smuggling jobs to his buddies and taking ten percent off the top. No things were looking up and he decided it was time to scrap some systems or get a stronger generator. He had a few haunts he could get one too. A couple of other armaments might be good too. Like Buzz Droid missiles.

Dak set her down and powered her down and Jack was elbows deep in the engine room again. There was only so much the reactor could handle, and likely they'd have to get rid of the old systems all together as well.

Then he emerged, after making the final tweaks and wiped his hands with an oily rag. Dak was already cleaning up the cabin.

"C'mon kid, we can clean up later, we got places to go."

Dak nodded, dropping the pieces where they were and following Jack. The Ramp hissed shut and they were off, gallivanting through the streets.

 

[RC 212]

Once they had arrived at the nearby Cantina Jack took a seat and ordered Dak quite the assortment of drinks. Between him and the kid they were slamming them and Jack was starting to get sloppy. He was scribbling away calculations on his datapad, trying desperately to remember the percentages of power output.

So far he had this.

<<Captains Log:

The At-360 is experiencing problems and i'm just about out of options. I can get a secondary generator or simply scrap energy weapons. I'm trying to scribble down ratios before I get too drunk so bear with me buddy. You'll get it when you go back and read this thing sober like.

Ok here goes.

If your running engines hot that drains power nominally. That leaves you with just Auxiliary. Of course putting full power into thrusters leaves you with about twenty five percent, which is garbage.

100% Aux

-75% Full thrusters

25% Leftover.

Of course taking the thrusters down considerably allows you to use shields or Weapons. Still garbage. I'm curious to see what would happen if we added another set of after-market thrusters on top of the first and used all the Aux for powering those.

Total Reactor output, Main power and Aux

100%

Engines without fail-safes -50%

Total thrusters -50%

Leftover- 0%

Probably want shields. Gonna scrap conventional blaster cannons. Never liked them any-ways.

*Note: Open a Line of Credit to Zorlac, and run him for the money.* >>

<<End>>

Jack closed the log and kicked back. Later that night he stumbled drunkenly to his Ship and passed out.

 

[RC 212]

Drunk and sullen he awoke to the alarm going off. Rubbing his head he stumbled from his bed and pulled on his dirty jacket and trousers. The DL-44 went back in his waistband and after a quick trip to the main lobby he was slamming on Daks door with a heavy fist. As soon as the kid opened the door he stepped in and tossed him a piece of Muj Bread. Your typical crappy outer rim bread. To the spacer it was like gold.

"Eat up, dress up, meet me in the Cantina."

"Sure."

Jack left Dak to rub his eyes and made his way next door to the Cantina. Taking a seat he reviewed last nights sloppy notes and an idea hit him. He was going to need a small amount of money and he was just about tapped on credits for the moment. Time to call in two loans. Zorlac and maybe [member="James Justice"].

He scribbled a quick message and sent it far and wide over the Holonet.

<<Start>>

<<Working on prototype vessel, slated to be the fastest ship in the 'Verse. Need a loan to finish. Half a mil if you can swing it. In return free schematics so you can produce a custom one for yourself, with half the trouble. Please reply.>>

Seconds later the pad pinged with Zorlas response.

<<Heres your credits boy. You ever miss another Shipment or lose my goods, or don’t deliver these plans. Well I will put a bounty on your head so large you'll never be able to go near another Civilized system. >>

"Typical."

Jak opened the encrypted routing number and wired the credits over to his account. One half million in the bank. Now he just needed James for the other half.

 

[James Justice]

He was dug in deep. They were in front of him. To the right. To the Left. Behind him. They had him surrounded. They thought they could take him, but oh no, they had no idea who it was they were dealing with. Oh they would never take him alive, not in a million years. If they thought that, they had no clue who they were dealing with.

Who was this nemesis? Pirates? Oh no, not pirates, far worse. Assassins? No, even more dastardly. Man-eating Hutts? No, no, if only it were that easy. Paperwork.

Mounds and mounds of it surrounded the spacer and CEO. It was his worst foe, the worst of them all; slip forms, orders, release forms, contracts, job requests, parts requests, expenses, taxes, and yes--even a few mail-in order brides tried to get in on this action.

The spacer groaned in dispair, he was dying, dying under all of this, it was too much to bear, could he not just procrastinate even more? Surely there was a way--

His comm link buzzed, James looked at it, welcome for the distraction. He recognized the name instantly, the spacer had been a good man for James and he had a good history. James trusted him, that was for sure and if he didn't make good on his loan--well the spacer honestly wouldn't even miss double that amount. There were rumors that he had been even caught by the Paparazzi diving into a pool full of 100-denomination credit chips. Of course, his press release denied it vehemently but James never did. Besides, they were 500's not 100's.

The spacer gave a few motions of his fingers, moving some money around before tapping out a reply,

<<Start:

I have two conditions: 1) Drinks afterwards, my club, my treat and you got a deal. 2) Make it blue for my paint Job, custom red pleather seats, a wet bar two wet bars, and you got three quarters of a mil. Keep me posted when ye get done, fly causual. -Cap Justice. End>>

Then the spacer rose to his feet and quickly pulled his leather Jacket on, "Secretary, cancel all me calls and process all me relevant paperwork, urgent business has come up."

The woman wilted, "Yes, sir." For some reason, the spacer could never seem to keep one around too long.

What was the urgent business? Why, he had to have a drinking contest with Stardust. He would beat her this time........

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="James Justice"]

<<To James>>

<<Done deal, see you in a month. Thank you, Raxis out.>>

Jack transferred those credits as well, just as Dak was entering the cantina. He waved him over with a simple motion and a grin split his face.

"What's up Skip?"

"Got enough here for two L-HARC Generators and then some. We're going on a trip."

"Where?"

"Gonna test my theory. Roche...."