Private One Man's Trash

[Varin Mortifer]

Haro Aven

The streets of Vardin were exceptionally busy on this day. Perhaps it was just the students enjoying a weekend off from their studies. The walkways filled with conversation and spoken promises of plans. Varin could hear some of them as he passed by, whispers of a ship that had crash landed a couple miles out from the walls of the academy. His ship, that had crash landed into the planet. There were still some things he needed from it. Perhaps he could even get it to fly again, perhaps he could get all of the essential systems running again instead of most of them. The ship was an older model, a hybrid class built for combat and cargo hauling. Its hull was thick with plating to make up for its lack of maneuverability.

At any time Varin could have gone by to investigate it and grab some things, but the truth of the matter was he was too afraid. Too afraid of the memories that haunt its walls. The voices and screams that echoed in its halls. He would never admit it to anyone about this fear.

Earlier in his time in the academy he ran into a young man by the name of Haro Aven, a gifted engineer and pilot. He seemed very fitting to help him with this task and perhaps get it to fly again. He was told he worked in the shipyard, Varin didn’t question it, it was just fitting that was where he would be. Perhaps he would even gain a new ally? Or at least someone to talk to. He was still a stranger in a strange land, and his social skills were not great to begin with. So it was no surprise that Varin would just walk up to the shipyard ignoring any AUTHORIZED WORKERS ONLY signs or marked off zones with other engineers using machinery to efficiently do their jobs, some even tried to get his attention but he would shrug them off, until he saw Haro.

Slowly walking up to him he awkwardly held up his hand in a wave from a short distance away and spoke quietly as a couple of worker droids were hauling heavier loads by them.

“Uh…hi..”

Wasn’t his best start to conversation but it was definitely a start.

He let out a shaky long winded breath.

“I wanted to ask for your assistance in something. Do you have time?”

 

[Haro Aven]

Haro Aven was already deep into his work by the time Horuset crept past the ragged peaks above the city of Vardin, casting long, copper-colored beams into the shipyard carved into the sandstone spires. The cavernous bays hummed with the low, steady thrum of fusion welders and the hiss of pressurized coolant lines.

Crouched beside the flank of an academy shuttle, the young mechanic and his little droid, Bodie, worked to coax a stubborn panel back into alignment and weld it shut. Instead of listening to one of his playlists, today Haro opted to listen to the familiar music of hammers, plasma cutters, and low voices echoing beneath vaulted hangars. This place felt closer to home than the Academy's cold lecture halls ever could. The smell of scorched wiring and lubricants carried a strange comfort, reminding him of long shifts spent elbow-deep in engines back in the Undercity of Coruscant—back when life was simpler. The work suited him. It was honest, even if everything else about his life here wasn't.

A moment's pause let him roll the stiffness from his shoulders, and his gaze drifted past the row of docked speeders toward the hangar's wide entrance where he caught sight of a familiar face approaching. He stood up, powering down his welding gun and tucking it away into his utility belt as he grinned at Varin Mortifer —a fellow student, or at least that was what he claimed to be. Varin was decidedly odd, even by Korriban standards—a pale-faced boy who had seemingly appeared from nowhere, claiming to have crash-landed on the planet and taken in by none other than Revna Marr , as her new apprentice. He'd had first met Varin alongside his usual companions, Naamino Zuukamano and Leshanna Dromar , and he'd been quietly curious ever since.

"Uh… hi," Varin ventured, his voice soft against the low clang of tools around them. "I wanted to ask for your assistance in something. Do you have time?"

Haro lifted his dark welding glasses to rest atop his unruly mop of coal-grey hair and pulled the rag off his shoulder to wipe clean his hands, curiosity already sparking behind his bright green gemstone eyes as he stepped up closer to Varin. It was sometimes hard to get a read on the other boy's calculating and decidedly haunted demeanor, but Haro treated him with the same enthusiastic and friendly greeting he always did with people he was familiar with.

"Hey, man. Yeah, I'm just finishing up this shuttle." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "What's up?"​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

Haro Aven

Varin looked over Haro’s shoulder to peek at the shuttle behind him. Then his eyes fell on the little droid that was by him.

“Oh my…”

He crouched to get a better peek, keeping his hands to himself. Ships may not be his forte but he was a big fan of droids in general.

“Who is this little guy??? He’s so…….small for a labor droid. But I guess that makes it easier for him to fit in tight spots?”

Before he knew it he was spewing questions about the little guy.

"What's his lifting capacity? Any special plated alloys on his outer shell? What kind of power source does he run on?"

He admired the little droid for just a moment longer before he shook his head and stood back up.

“Apologies, I used to work with my droid a lot before I came here. They always fascinated me, but I have to admit, I have never seen a droid design quite like this.”

He cleared his throat as he remembered why he originally came to find his engineer companion.

“My ship is still out in the desert, and I wanted to try to salvage what I could from it. Would you be interested in helping? I’m sure you’ll find something of interest in it, it's an older model. Somewhere in the triple digits of age, I think.”

Every now and then he would find himself unable to control his eyes from just peeking at the little droid. He would probably never say it out loud but he found the little guy quite adorable. Nothing like the droids he had worked with, mainly used for mines and combat.

“There's a few things I need to keep an eye out for, but if anything catches your attention just let me know. That's about all I would really have for any type of payment.”

Varin instinctually found himself to be running his thumb over the white crystal on his neck once again, as a small sign to control his mind during social interactions. One of these days he will get a handle on it, hopefully soon.

 

[Haro Aven]

Varin Mortifer ​

​

Upon being noticed, Bodie perked up from where he clung to the side of the shuttle and took to the air, buzzing over to greet the newcomer as well.

"Oh! This is Bodie! Can't believe I haven't introduced you yet. And yeah, that's exactly right! S'why I built him so small." Haro answered proudly, holding his open palm out for Bodie to land on.

Varin proceeded to fire off a few more questions about Bodie's specifications but, before Haro could respond, he shook his head and apologized, explaining his past experience and fascination with droids. The acolyte then launched into what appeared to be the reason behind why he'd come to find Haro today.

"Well, first of all, I didn't know you were into droids! That's totally astral! I'd be happy to go over Bodie's specs with you sometime and I definitely wanna know all about this droid of yours. The droid I built for Lesh recently is pretty cool too, I'll totally ask her to show it to you next time we're all hanging out." As he spoke he placed his free hand over Bodie's beetle-like back and the little droid folded all it's little legs in on itself and tucked into it's most compact form before Haro tucked him away into a pocket.

"And yeah, I'll help you with your ship. Salvaging stuff sounds great, but why not try to get it operational first? What kind of damage are we talkin here?"​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

Haro Aven

Varin blinked a few times as he wrapped his head around the fact that someone so young was able to successfully make another droid, let alone multiple. It was just simply fascinating to him.

“I would absolutely love to hear more about both of these droids. As for CC, He was, to simply put it, one of the very few friends I had. I haven’t seen him in a while unfortunately. Not since I got here.”

The young apprentice smirked as Haro accepted to help Varin with this small project. Though the damage was extensive to the ship, if anyone could possibly get it running again, it would certainly be Haro.

“The damage is…..well lets just say I’m lucky i made it out alive. Both thrusters are blown out, the shields are dead since I had to move them to the bottom of the hull to try and soften the impact, the landing gear is practically non-existent now, and the main body is barely holding on by nuts and bolts. Though I’m sure you could give it a good look over and diagnose it better than me.”

He pulled out his datapad and started searching for the tracker on his ship in hopes to get its coordinates. It had been a while since he visited the site, close to a few months, who knows what has nested in it or even picked it clean.

“We may need a vehicle of some sort. It is a good way out in the desert, looking at a couple hours of travel likely.”

After fiddling around with his datapad for a bit he eventually sent the coordinates to Haro.

“If you don’t mind, I also have a secondary project I wouldn't mind helping me with, depending on if I find what I need on the ship.”

He paused for a moment to see if his partner showed any interest, waiting for an answer before continuing.

“My planet had a traditional way of fighting. Call it a sword and board. I have the sword, all I’m missing is my shield. But it can’t be just any shield.”

His voice grew hushed as he looked around the shop, he wouldn’t want anyone to eavesdrop on the conversation and possibly take his idea.

“A shield powered by a kyber crystal. The hardest part of this is that I need an extra crystal.”

He paused for a moment letting his words hang for a moment.

"But one project at a time I suppose. I'll have you pick out how we will get to the ship."

 

[Haro Aven]

Varin Mortifer ​

Haro's eyebrows steadily lifted as Varin proceeded to paint the picture of the damage that had been done to his ship from his crash landing.

"Wow... well, yeah, that does sound pretty bad, but we'll give it a look. Won't know until we try," he said with a shrug, slinging the greasy towel over his shoulder.

"Sounds like we gotta find it first. We can take my speeder," he offered, a proud grin pulling at the edges of his mouth. "Just finished the new paint job the other day so she's lookin' good and ready to ride."

His eyes flashed with curiosity at the mention of a shield powered by kyber. He'd only ever heard of things like that in stories. "Interesting..." he muttered, his distractible mind trying to take that new bit of information and run with it, but he reeled in his focus, running his fingers through his hair and mussing it up a bit.

"Let's definitely chat more about that later," he said, motioning for Varin to walk with him toward the yard manager's offices.

"Let's focus on getting to your ship first. I'm gonna need as much information about it as possible so I know what tools to bring. Does it have a remote homing beacon we could activate so we can plot a course?" He would continue to pick Varin's brain for details as they prepared for their journey into the desert.

With surprising ease, Haro was able to persuade one of the other mechanics to cover his workload for the rest of the day. It was clear from the few interactions Varin witnessed that the half-Kage boy was well-respected and well-liked around the shipyard, despite his young age. The manager event lent them a few tools, including a portable full-spectrum sensor suite to help locate the missing ship, and kept a tow ship on standby in case they needed to call it in.​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

Varin tried his best to describe the intricacies of his ship to the best of his abilities. Some answer he unfortunately didn’t have, but it seemed the talented half kage mechanic was able to easily piece together what was needed.

Seeing the sense of camaraderie between Haro and his mechanic crew was quite surprising. One would almost assume this young mechanic was their top mechanic. Just simply fascinating, even more fascinating that Varin couldn’t feel any bit of significant force signature from Haro. He was relying on everything within him, and that earned a significant amount of respect for Varin. Almost reminded him of….

Varin snapped out of his thoughts when he was shown the speeder. The paintjob certainly made it stick out like a sore thumb, but it certainly was not sloppy. Painted with care, the care of someone who lives and breathes working with machines. Almost like how a smith admires their craft when finishing a project.

With little time to spare they made their way out into the desert, the speeder ran smoothly and quickly as they traveled. Not long after leaving did they reach their destination and Varin could see the scorched remains of his crashed ship. What was left of his home.

“There she is. I’m surprised she hasn’t been fully picked clean yet by avengers yet, but best we stay on our guard. The ship did have valuable ancient tech in it. It was basically a museum piece in my father’s hangar. Said to have belonged to a famous sith turned smuggler. I can’t remember their name though. I think her name was Asaj.”

As the speeder slowed to a stop Varin scanned the horizon and sent out his feelers through the force for any immediate threats nearby. He almost looked like he was in a meditative state, but his body had briefly enhanced itself to amplify his senses. His smell, hearing, feel and sight heightened to a degree of a near predatory sense. After a few moments he felt nothing. All he heard was the haunting howls of the wind cascading and echoing off the nearby ravines walls, singing their haunted lullabies.

Slowly he walked up to the jammed door that he struggled to pry open at the time. He continued walking past the doors and around to the ships front where he had to crush the glass to escape the burning metal coffin he was trapped in.

“There was a fire inside as well. But I don’t know what the damage looks like inside. I had to shatter the front glass in order to escape with my life.”

He looked over the front of his ship taking all the memories in as he ran his hand gently up its hull as he climbed back up towards the window.

“Feel free to inspect whatever you wish. If you find anything interesting, feel free to take it, study it if you want. There's a lot of history here and supposedly, hidden compartments from the smuggling operations, and who knows what could be in there.”

He glanced at Haro with a slight smirk as he took a deep breath.

“Being this close to something from my home, it…”

He sighed softly.

“Its good to feel it again. Like for a moment I’m whole.”

As he climbed into the window his feet planted onto the deck of the ship where he scanned around one final time for any possible threats, until he saw a specific dark mark on the floor that caused him to freeze. The last place he saw…..her.

The moment of your rebirth.....I remember like it was yesterday.

Varin frowned as he absentmindedly spoke aloud to Ignati.

"I'm sure you do."

Haro Aven​

 

[Haro Aven]

Varin Mortifer ​

​

Between the sensors and Varin's recollection of the crash site, the two were able to pinpoint the location of the ship with relative ease. They took Haro's speeder to get there, making good time as the raced through the Valley of Golg given the fortune of good weather. As they crested the final dune and the ship came into sight, Haro slowed their pace so he could better hear Varin speak. He perked up at the mention of "ancient valuable tech" but was soon distracted by the name drop.

"Asaj—wait, you mean Asajj Ventress? Like, the Asajj Ventress?!" Haro knew of the famous Sith from what he'd read about the Clone Wars as he'd taken an interest in her story, specifically the more dramatized holo-comic adaptations.

They dismounted the speeder and, while Varin did his strange Force meditation thing, Haro began assessing the damage from the exterior. It was certainly as bad, if not worse, than Varin had described. Despite the cushion of the deflector shields, the impact of the crash clearly took a heavy toll on the integrity of the hull but not nearly as much as the gaping hole that had clearly been made prior to the crash. Beyond that, plasma scarring and sections of melted durasteel from turbolaser impacts decorated ship with a violent story, and one of the thrusters was missing completely.

"We're uh... definitely gonna need that tow ship," he suggested as he pulled out his datapad out and started taking notes. He also pinged the shipyard to send backup to their location at their convenience.

Haro followed Varin around to the front of the ship where he had apparently shattered the thick transparisteel in order to escape. To shatter a starship's viewport was no small feat, even with powerful weaponry, and Haro silently marveled at the strength the Force granted its wielders, especially those who used the dark side. He eyed Varin with cautious curiosity, watching the boy take a wistful moment with his ship, suddenly very aware that the two of them were pretty far out in the desert, alone, and Haro still knew very little about this guy or what he was capable of. Varin hadn't given him any particular reason to be worried... yet, but he was still Sith. Even so, Haro climbed up after him, slipping through the busted viewport and into the cockpit. He glanced around, taking it all in as Varin essentially gave him free rein of the place, his curiosity piqued at the possibility of hidden treasures.

"Smuggling operations?" he wondered aloud, cocking a wry eyebrow before he began moving over toward the mainframe terminal. He brought Bodie out of his pocket and the little droid took to the air to hover nearby, prepared to be helpful. He ventured to place a reassuring hand on Varin's shoulder briefly as he passed him on the way to the terminal, a kind smile on his face.

"Glad to hear it," he offered warmly in response to Varin's admission that it felt good to be close to something from home.

"We'll make your ship whole again too, I promise." He pulled his datapad out again and plugged into the mainframe before he continued optimistically. "She's clearly in pretty rough shape, but we'll get her back up and running."
​

"I'm sure you do."​

"Huh?" Haro asked over his shoulder, confused by the strange response, even as he sifted through the information flooding into his datapad. Fortunately, the mainframe appeared to be mostly intact and was prioritizing notifications regarding critical system failures. He closed out the notifications and began downloading the diagnostics in the background so he could continue searching through the system. He hovered over the <<Recordings>> file before he opened it and began scrolling back through the footage from before the crash. He paused when he noticed someone new, someone other than Varin, in the recording and played back the scene.

For the next couple minutes, Haro's eyes were glued to the recording that played out before him. It showed a desperate Varin and a gravely injured young woman with him. Nier, he called her. Haro suddenly felt like he was witnessing something he wasn't supposed to, a private memory, but his curiosity won out and he let it play out until Nier passed away and the scene took a violent turn. He paused the recording and stood in stunned silence for a moment before he finally turned toward Varin again. There was some caution behind his gemstone eyes as he wasn't sure how reliving such a tragic memory would effect the other boy, but mostly he looked solemn and sympathetic.

"I'm... I'm sorry that happened to you, Varin," Haro consoled, his tone genuine. He let a moment of silence pass before he asked his next question.

"What exactly happened to your home?"​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

Varin watched Haro’s reaction when he brought up Asaj. It pulled a small smirk over his face.

“Allegedly.”

As Haro inspected the ship he suggested they would certainly need the tow ship, to which Varin grunted in agreement. As Haro made his way inside behind Varin, he could tell the mechanic was excited about possibly finding some tech. He watched him after he felt his hand on his shoulder. His reassurance did bring some hope to Varin. But deep down he knew that the ship would never be the same. Perhaps it was for the best though, his mother always told him that some things have to die to birth new life. He supposed the same could be said about a ship.

Varin’s head shook after he spoke aloud to Ignati, noticing it caught Haro’s attention. Gently he placed his hand over his head slightly shaking his head from discomfort.

“Sorry, it's nothing.”

His hand glided over parts of the ship as memories flashed back into his mind. The heat, the pain. That’s when he heard her voice. He froze like stone instantly as he remembered what happened to her.

“Nier…I’m…I’m so sorry.”

He spoke softly as he heard the recording, his hand dropping to his side as a tear ran down his cheek.

"I'm... I'm sorry that happened to you, Varin,"

Varin’s eyes flicked over towards Haro. He was quiet for a moment.

"What exactly happened to your home?"

Varin looked at the charred floor of the ship. He remembered his home. The wind, the scent of the oceans…the garden.

“Carcosa…”

He spoke softly as he slowly sat on the floor, his back resting towards the console of the ship.

“I come from a planet called Carcosa. My father, Lord Virelius Mortifer ruled over it. But our people loved him as a ruler. He held an iron grip over our people and their safety. We prospered. My mother, Lady Ravnika Mortifer, taught them how to grow crops, and how to do alchemy. Citizens all learned how to do alchemy.”

His voice ran quiet as his breath choked for a moment.

“Then there was….”

He took a deep shaking breath.

“There was my younger sister. Nier’Atta Mortifer.”

He looked over to Haro.

“You remind me of her, if I can be honest with you. Force dead, but she did not make that a weakness. In fact she was a genius when it came to Sith Spawn and alchemy.”

He laughed slightly as he began to reminisce.

“She and I were inseparable, just like you and Naamino. We did almost everything together. She would even help me train. Passing me weapons to clean and repair, helping me in my armor.”

He chuckled.

“She even gave me mystery brews to test out her concoctions.”

His body shifted slightly so he could get a clearer view of Haro.

“She turned me invisible once. The first hour was absolutely fun, but then after that it just….people tended to walk right by you like a ghost…”

His eyes stared off beyond Haro and the ship.

“My father had me do a month of fasting to prepare for some harsh training. Fast, meditate, pray and sleep. But I would always lose focus by day five. He would reset the clock. Two months of this training prep went by. I had almost completed my prep. I just needed two more days.”

His jaw trembled slightly before he locked it in place.

“Nier came bursting into the room excitedly. She had accomplished something near impossible.”

“Varin, come here! Come quick, I finally did it!”

He slightly imitated her voice, his voice cracking. He took a deep breath as he pushed forward to tell his story.

“Not now Nier. I’m trying to do something really important. Is what I told her, but she wouldn’t take that as an answer. She practically begged me to witness this great marvel, not letting up, I tried to decline, and said I would look after my training is done. She then pulled my arm, breaking my concentration.”

He looked at the ceiling as tears welled in his eyes, slowly dropping down his cheek.

"I snapped at her. The frustration was too much. I couldn't fail again. Get away from me! I yelled at her. She flinched and recoiled back, she was terrified of me, Haro. Why? Why should she be terrified of me?"

He sighed softly remembering to breathe.

“I looked at her in her eyes and said training would be so much easier….if you weren’t around…”

His fist clenched tightly.

“Her achievement was that she made a one to one recreation of a long extinct creature that was deeply important to our culture. A Lava Wyrm. Children of The Eater of Suns.”

He was quiet for a long moment.

“I didn’t think that, within the next week, she would be bleeding out in my arms. A jedi brought a rogue military during a celebration of my father granting me the title of squire, apprentice in your terms. It was a surprise attack. This Jedi, I will never forget that white blade he wielded, the venom that spewed from his lips as he chased children through our halls, slaughtering servants and my parents. Our beautiful mass garden was set ablaze. Carcosa had fallen. I brought Nier with me on the ship and during our escape we were hit. A piece of shrapnel had dug into her ribs and straight to her heart. I couldn’t even protect my sister. The first order I was given. And I failed my blood line.”

Varin’s voice broke. Silence fell upon him, the only evidence he had, to know, that he was still here was his harsh breathing.

“Keep the ones you love close, Haro. Protect them with everything you have.”

Haro Aven​

 

[Haro Aven]

The footage and Haro's sympathetic curiosity seemed to crack something open in Varin Mortifer and the story of his home, his family, and what had happened to them spilled from him. A hint of a sad smile flickered across Haro's face when Varin equated him to his sister. The smile turned more contemplative at mention of Naamino Zuukamano . He hadn't really thought of them as "inseparable," but he had to admit it did ring true upon reflection. Varin hadn't been around for their contentious beginnings, but Haro and Naami had definitely become far closer since then.

Haro grew solemn as Varin explained the last interaction he'd had with this sister before she was killed, but he had to school his reaction at mention of a rogue Jedi being the villain of the story. He was immediately reminded of Naami's story of losing his home and his parents to the Jedi and Galactic Alliance. His gaze fell away for a moment as he tried to shove down the complicated emotions that brought up, but it rose again to meet Varin's when heard the immense pain and regret in the admission of failure.

“Keep the ones you love close, Haro. Protect them with everything you have.”

The words carried with them a weight someone so young shouldn't have to bear, and they were followed by a pregnant pause as Haro considered how to respond. Everything that came to mind just didn't feel like it measured up to the gravity of what had been shared. What would Niynx Ioune say, Haro silently wondered, studying Varin's eyes as if seeing him in a new light. He took a deep breath.

"I... can't imagine... how hard that must've been," he began, "to lose everything, and everyone, all at once like that."

He paused, that rueful smile briefly returning. "I guess I've just... never really had that much to lose." It was an offering of an honest admission, rather than anything intended to evoke sympathy.

"It sounds like you really loved her. Your sister. And that you did your best to protect her. I bet she felt that. Even if you had a fight before... before everything changed." He sounded as if he believed every word. Then he leaned back against the wall of the ship and shook his head as if ruminating.

"It's kinda messed up how our brains do that, huh? Try to torment us with regret after someone's gone. I remember after I lost my mom, I couldn't stop replaying all the moments I regretted for months, maybe even years. All the stupid little fits I threw or the times I made her life harder for no better reason than that I was upset or wanted something I couldn't have." His gaze found Varin's again, hoping his attempt to relate landed well, feeling inspired to share his own experience with grief in hopes that it might help.

"Eventually, I decided I didn't want that to be how I remember our time together. I didn't want it to overshadow all the good times." Recalling those memories he shared with his mother brought a warm smile to his face.

"What's your favorite memory of Nier?"​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

Varin remained silent as Haro’s words fell upon him. The attempt at relating to Varin that Haro drew to him about his mother caused Varin’s head to shift slightly. Loss is loss, no matter who it was in relation to you. Haro losing his mother was not something to compare, but to relate. His gaze shifted to the floor as Haro followed up with his question.

His favorite memory of Nier? It’s not something he had ever thought about. Perhaps it was something he heavily took for granted. He thought for a good long moment. A breeze rolled into the ship that stirred up a scent. The kind that you can never figure out where it comes from or how, but all the same, a scent that makes you remember. Remember the best of times, the happiest.

He remembered the garden.

“Nier and I were in the garden. Doing our daily chores, some weeding and watering. Of course I was trying to just get the chores done to get away from the mundane.”

He chuckled slightly to himself.

“I felt a thick cold wet slap of mud on the back of my head. Of course there she is giggling and laughing. We were much younger back then. Of course I had to retaliate, so I pushed her into a nearby puddle. But somehow I ended up missing her and I fell instead.”

He gently ran his thumb over the white crystal in his palm.

“Instead I tried my luck at throwing some mud back at her. Long story short, that was how she lost her first tooth.”

He paused for a moment, thinking on the moment.

“She didn’t even cry. Just kept laughing. Eventually we were chasing each other and got lost in the hedge maze. I had to ruin the maze to get out with her, carrying her on my shoulders.”

He smiled for a moment before it faded.

“Father of course was not happy about the maze, but I took the blame for it.”

He looked up at Haro. Almost as if he was about to say something before a slight beeping caught his ear. His gaze tore towards the sound as he slowly got up.

“That sound. I know it.”

He Listened for a moment longer before his eyes slowly widened.

“That’s CC’s SOS beacon!”

Haro Aven​