Pickaxes in Space (Anija Ordo)

[Arrbi Betna]

@[member="Anija Ordo"]
Aeten II
11:00 hours

Arrbi Betna stood with his boots on bare, dead rock. In one hand he held a pickaxe and in the other a burlap bag. He carefully secured the bag to his belt and hefted the pickaxe over his shoulder as he looked out from his rocky point.

The rock his stood one was a rather large rock. Or, to be precise, a decently sized asteroid. Ahead he could see the dead planet of Aeten II with horrid gashes leading straight to the core. The planet was long dead, destroyed shortly after the battle of Yavin, but even now it was still a great source for Stygium crystals.

The thought of the crystals brought Betna back to the task at hand. He was here to mine stygium crystals from the asteroids in orbit. Being who he was, he'd opted to try the cheap way to obtain them: Hard work and simple tools. For this reason did he carry a bag and a pickax in space and for this reason did he decide to avoid renting or buying droids from Mandal Hypernautics. It wasn't that he was cheap. It was more that hard work made the end result that much more enjoyable. That and despite the broken planet, the view was rather pretty to him from the asteroid belt in orbit.

Thoughts of pretty things tugged his mind to his companion, Anija Ordo. They'd met not long ago and Betna felt they'd hit it off rather nicely. This was yet another date, of sorts, though any picnics would have to wait until later. It was rather hard to share sandwiches and sweet tea in space. He looked over at his - dare he say it? - girlfriend and grinned beneath the helmet. She looked amazing, as always, in her armor out here in the asteroid belt. He let his eye follow her curves a bit, only slightly softened by the armor she wore, and took it all in. Out here, in combat armor, in space, on an asteroid... He enjoyed it all. It kind of felt a bit strange that he enjoyed her armor so much, but what could he say? He was a Mandalorian. It was a Mandalorian thing.

Betna waved at Anija from his spot on the asteroid and pointed down at the chunk of rock, maybe a few hundred meters long and roughly forty meters wide where he stood, though the widest was easily a good hundred meters across.

"Look like a good place to start?" he asked cheerily over their comms.

 

[Anija Betna]

Anija too was mesmerized by the view. She'd never been this...close to such a view before. Only her helmet visor and the pressurized environmental seal separated her from vacuum. It was.... exhilarating.She hefted her own axe and paused to secure her own bag to her belt. When @[member="Arrbi Betna"] had suggested it, she'd thought he was insane. And with archaic tools. But, now that she was here, she couldn't deny the fact that the view was incredible.

She shook her head slightly at the thoughts, and followed his gaze for a moment, just soaking it all in. She still thought he was crazy... but not jare'la. She liked that about him. He was unafraid to take risks, and from what she'd observed, he weighed the outcome carefully before undertaking dangerous things. She looked where he was pointing and grinned. It was as good a place as any to start, She smirked slightly as she caught the direction of his thoughts. There was time for such things later.

"Seems as good a place as any.." she replied over the comm as she moved to join him, her magnetized boots keeping her from floating away in the asteroid's negligible gravity. Hefting her pickaxe, she moved off to his left a few paces and began digging. She'd never used one of the things before, so it took her a few minutes to get used to it and to find a rhythm.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna grinned again under his helmet and stretched for a moment before digging. He did it to keep his back from cramping up as easily and to limber up before swinging the pickax around. That, and it gave him yet another great view of Anija's derrier, not that he'd admit that was the reason for stretching. Mando women were a bit... different from most women in the galaxy. Most women liked being complimented on thier looks and clothes and how sweet they are. Mando women didn't mind being called pretty from time to time, but they'd rather hear compliments on their aim with their blaster or how deftly they can kill a man with a vibroknife or how they just drank the biggest man under the table at the tapcaf the night before. Betna still thought aruetii women were strange, but understood that they thought Mandos were strange, too. It was the way of things.

Focusing on the task at hand, he hefted the pickax and went to work. He kept striking at the rock as bits and chips of asteroid flew off into the void. It was hard work, but solid work and he soon found himself in a rhythm with the pickax. In a few minutes, he had a decent sixed chunk worked out of the rock, though there was still a long way to go. They hadn't even started, really.

Stopping for a moment, Betna had a rather entertaining thought that may or may not get him killed. With a sly grin, he picked up the pickax and reversed it so that he was holding it by the ax portion. He then slowly reached out and poked Anija with the butt of the handle in the side in the hopes of making her jump.

@[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

It did have the intended effect. Anija jumped slightly, her own pickaxe slipping out of her grip. She turned quickly and gripped the handle of his axe with her free hand before carefully pulling him forward until they gently bumped helmets. Her voice was amused over the comm. "Find anything useful, Arr'ika..?" She asked, her grip still holding him close.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Always," he responded with a soft chuckle. He reached out and snagged her pickaxe before it floated too far away and handed it to her while slipping an arm around Anija's waist for an embrace. "Though I think I found something more than useful. Irreplaceable, in fact."

He grinned under his helmet. Suave moves weren't his thing and he was terrible at being the smooth talker with women, but he had his moments on occasion.

@[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

She held her helmet against his for a Moment and grinned as she felt his free hand come to rest on her waist. "Is that so...?" She asked softly, her expression clear in her voice.

The handle of her pickaxe pressed into her fingers, and she gripped it firmly. "Shall we see if your chunk of rock contains any stygium crystal?"

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Indeed it is," Betna said softly in return. At her next comment he grinned and hefted his own pickaxe. "Yes, let's see if the rock does have crystals."

With that, he reluctantly let her go and went back to hacking at the rock. A few minutes rolled past as he worked quickly, only slowed down significantly by stealing looks at Anija's rear end as she worked, and more and more chips and rocks flew and floated off into space. Eventually, he spotted a faint glimmer as a final chunk of rock broke off and flew away.

"Oh, hey!" he said with surprise. "I found something!"

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

She sighed and gripped his arm for a moment, not wanting to let go. She let go then, and moved back over to where she had been digging. It took a few moments for her to find her rhythm, but soon she was working away, stealing glances at Arrbi from the corner of her eye. She chuckled slightly. Still hard to believe they were dating. She'd honestly never considered the possibility of it until he'd mentioned it. And now, here they were. Digging crystal from an asteroid with brute strength. She grinned then, her own pickaxe revealing a glint of crystal as she looked over at his exclamation. "Kandosii..."

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna hacked a little more fervently, though carefully, around the crystal that appeared. After a few moments, it looked like it had come loose. He reached down and grabbed the stygium crystal in his spare hand. It wasn't quite loose, but it felt like one or two good pulls would yank it free... and he was right. A good, solid tug and the crystal came free in his hand.

"Hey! I got one!" he said happily.

Unfortunately, where he'd been digging was a more narrow section of the asteroid and, as many rocks can have, this one had a narrow fault line that he'd just yanked the crystal from. With a solid shudder and a crack felt through his boots, his half of the asteroid broke free and started drifting away.

"Oh, shab," he said with a sigh.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

She'd kept digging as he had, and had uncovered a small chuck of Stygium, about half the size of her fist. Grinning in triumph, she stuffed it into her belt pouch and looked up at his exclamation. And then, she swore. It seemed that his hacking away at the asteroid had aggravated an existing fault in the rock.Quickly, she dug in her belt for a grappling cable, slotting the mechanism into place on her wrist. with a flick of her wrist, she launched the grapple, and watched as the cable wrapped itself around his ankle. Then, she began to reel in the cable, using both her hands and the cable's winding mechanism as she tried to pull him back in. "You alright..?" she asked over the comm, worry clear in her voice.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Yeah, I'm fine," Betna said as he felt Anija's grappling line hook around his ankle. "I'm just trying to see if there's an eas-... ea-...e-AAAAHHHCHOOOO!"

While the armor he wore was sealed to the elements and had it's own internal oxygen supply including a filter, occasionally the odd sneeze did happen. In this case, it happened randomly and explosivly. Betna's body convulsed from the sneeze unexpectedly and the stygium crystal shot out of his hand in the process. In the aftermath, Betna realized two things: He really wanted to wipe his nose and, more importantly, the crystal was spinning away into space.

Without thinking, he immediately triggered his jet pack to go after it.

"I got it!" he called to Anija through the commlink, completely forgetting her grapple line was secured around his ankle.

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

She heard the sneeze, and felt the sudden tug on her grapple line as he convulsed. She couldn't see clearly what had happened, but she felt another tug. "Wait. don't..... " But she was already too late as she felt the force of his jetpack boost dragging her along the surface of the asteroid.


Cursing, she planted her feet and began trying to reel him back in. Brute strength wasn't going to work here. "Ar'ika, stop! You're dragging me with you!" Her voice was mostly calm, be there was a slight edge of panic to it.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"I'm wha- Whooaaaa!"

His question turned into a started shout when the cable yanked taught. It yanked him to a stop and pulled him over and around. Unable to shut the jetpack off from the suddenness of the jolt, it shot him straight back into the asteroid he'd just left, albeit further away from where he'd been and a fair distance away from Anija. Also, he landed face first into the rock.

True to form for no gravity environs, Betna's armored form made a resounding bounce off the asteroid and rebounded him back away once more. He'd still been unable to shut off his jetpack and so he now resembled the Catch of the Day rocketing around on the end of [member="Anija Ordo"]'s grapple line as he bounced off the rock and jerked and twisted around on the line.

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

She swore loudly, not caring what he thought. This was frustrating, and honestly quite a bit scary. She winced as he slammed into to the asteroid and then bounced off again. "Ar'ika, is your buy'ce still sealed? Any cracks in the visor?" She asked after a moment, trying to use the force to slow his momentum.

That worked.... sort of. Slowly, she tried to reel in her grappling cable. But even then, she felt his sheer momentum pulling against her mag locked boots. She groaned, and then had an idea. It was crazy, but just might work.

Taking a deep breath, she released the mag lock on her boots, which sent her drifting upwards slowly. Then, the set her jaw and released her grappling cable. She saw it go slack and float in the low gravity of the asteroid. Then, she activated her own jetpack, intending to rush him. Her aim had to be perfect.

She judged the distance and angled her trajectory just slightly. With one last burst from her own pack, she collided with his chest and wrapped her arms around him firmly. This set her spinning as well. A few short bursts from her jetpack began to finally slow their spin.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH-OOOF!" was the audible cry when [member="Anija Ordo"]'s body collided with Betna's.

As the spinning slowly eased up, Betna was able to get his bearings and finally kill his jetpack. He gave Anija a tight hug and found he still had his pickax in his hand.

"Thanks, An'ika," he said gratefully.

As their flight pattern evened out Betna noticed that the stygium crystal he'd managed to lose was up ahead and directly in their path.

"Oh! An'ika! A bit more to the left!" he exclaimed in excitement, hugging her tight with one arm. "If you can pass close enough, I can reach out and snag it!"

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

Laughing to herself, Anija carefully adjusted their trajectory, aiming towards where he'd indicated. "I still have my stygium." she reminded him softly, her voice sounding more steady than it had a few minutes ago. "Let's snag that crystal of yours and get out of here, lek?" She carefully guided them over to where he'd pointed.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"Works for me!" Betna said as they neared the crystal.

The young Mando stretched out his arms as the gem came close. For a moment, he was afraid he'd miss it as the crystal tumbled and rolled in the zero-g, but thankfully he was able to snag it with his fingers and pull it in to his grasp. Pulling the gem to his chest to keep it safe, he started laughing.

"Alright! I got it!" he shouted, still laughing.
[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

Grinning, she gripped his arm firmly as she tried to keep them from drifting too far apart. After a carefully look around, she turned to face Arrbi carefully. "Do we need anymore of the crystals? I don't really relish the idea of being out here with how easy it is to drift off course.." Checking again to make sure her own crystal was secure, she nodded to herself as she carefully rested his visor against his for a moment as she tried to catch her breath and steady her pulse.

[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"I think we're good for now," he said with a laugh as she rested her helmet on his. "I might come back later on for some more, but this should hold us over."

With that, Betna looked around for the asteroid they originally came from which rested near his old Pathfinder scoutship. The hunk of junk was ancient and old, but it still held together and was still useful for what he needed it for. He'd need to renovate it soon, maybe completely overhaul the ship, but that would come later on. For now, the crystals they had were going to another project for the two of them. His Pathfinder would just have to wait.

That said, where was his Pathfinder...

[member="Anija Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

She nodded, and gripped his arm firmly to keep him from drifting too far away. Her own crystal was securely in a pouch at her belt. She followed his gaze. "Where's you're ship...?" she asked after a few moments, her tone concerned. "Don't you have a remote to call it to you..?" SHe shook her head slightly at him before leaning her helmet against his. "Hopefully we find it soon. We'll run out of air reserves before too long.."
[member="Arrbi Betna"]