Projects

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[SIZE=12pt]“Really?” Asmus asked incredulously. He paced in a circled around the cargo, hands on his hips. “I mean, well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume this thing doesn't fly right now?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Well, not yet…” Kairon replied, looking slightly crestfallen. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“C’mon, you got conned by Jared again didn't you? I mean you could have got a nice reliable Headhunter for this,” Asmus added. He ducked under the fuselage and popped his head into one of the open compartments. “Hell Kairon, you're going to have to completely rewire this thing.”[/SIZE]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[SIZE=12pt]“Rewire all the subsystems; install a new weapons system; re-flash the computers; replace the nozzles; strip and reconfigure the cockpit to ensure its vacuum tight.” Kairon replied without hint of expression on his face.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Asmus’ meanwhile drooped. “Seriously, could have bought her a solid Headhunter for her birthday,” he reiterated. To him this was all starting to look like lots of hard work.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“And if it all goes well Jared has its sister put aside for me in case we want to buy it,” Kairon added.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Really, this is going to take a huge amount of effort. How are we possibly going to get it done it time?” Asmus carried on ranting, his voice coming to Kairon with a metallic echo from inside the guts of the ship.[/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“Because you and I are going to work really, really, hard.” Kairon’s arms were crossed over his chest, as they often were, and he watched his nephew curiously. In some ways it had turned out the boy was really quite bright. He’d aced every exam the Sullust academy had put in front of him without even applying himself. At the same time he was remarkably slow to take a hint sometimes. Sometimes Kairon liked to sit with Jarrick at a bar and commentate on the lad’s attempts to introduce himself to a stranger. His persistence was not matched by his powers of observation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Oh no, this is your present for Mal, you can work on it on your own,” Asmus replied, coming back out of the fighter’s innards. [/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“You’ll notice the two pilot design,” Kairon added, dropping more hints. “It was a prototype, but they were planning on reusing them for training once the model went into production. Thought perhaps if we got on well with this one I could work on the second.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Asmus looked at his uncle curiously. Clearly the lad understood Kairon was trying to lead him somewhere. Kairon simply waited for the penny to drop. Realisation dawned on his face. “Wait…you mean…are you saying that I might get trained in this…heap of crap?” Asmus asked.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“If you help me and if Mal can tolerate being in such an enclosed space with you,” Kairon retorted, holding up two fingers to accentuate the point.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“But look at it…”[/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“Yes, look at it. It’s an Incom prototype designed to supplant the X-Wing. But they worked it up during the darker times. Not enough free trade and people stuck to the ships they knew they could maintain. Now can you tell me what the main difference is between this and an X-wing.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Asmus pursed his lips and looked at the ship, he started to walk around it again. “Two pilots…”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Not that.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Asmus paused by the nacelles. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Now we’re getting warmer,” Kairon rumbled. He watched as Asmus looked back and forth from the main fuselage to the engines. He took a few steps backwards to take it all in.[/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“On an X-Wing the weapons systems are at the end of the S-foils. The engines are near the body,” Asmus reasoned.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Which means?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“The centre of mass is spread out, and the engines can’t provide the maximum torque. This has the engines at the ends of the wings and the weapons system in the nose. Not only that…these nacelles are bi-directional?” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Bingo!” Kairon replied with a broad grin. “She’ll turn on a sixpence once she’s space worth. “Jared showed me the stats. They needed to uprate the inertial dampeners after the maiden flight because a test pilots – yes a seasoned test pilot – knocked himself out with a brutal turn.” He could see the change in his nephew now. Interest piqued, he was just working out how to phrase his response.[/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“And I’ll get to fly her…”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“If you can convince Mal to stay in a small space with her for more than ten minutes. If I were her I’d spend the whole time trying not to press the co-pilot eject button.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“And I might get my own?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Maybe, if Mal thinks you’re safe and for your twenty first. Maybe.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Despite repeating himself, the boy had already scarpered to the far side of the Quintessence’s cargo hold and was sorting through the tools. [/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]Kairon had the mask pulled down firmly over his face as he slowly ran the arc-welder down the seam of the hull. This was tricky business. As part of the prototype build Incom had been demonstrating a new armour system. The vessel had an exceptionally durable frame to take the intense torques applied by the engines, but at the same time two thin layers of armour to keep weight down. It was what was between them that was interesting. A honeycomb of cells ran between the two layers. Within each cell was a rare material known as laminanium. Should a cell be pierced, generally in the instance of the vessel receiving a glancing blow from a laser cannon, the metal inside would be melted. The inner hull was thermally conductive and as the laminanium bled out it was rapidly cooled and would seal minor breaches. [/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“Kairon!” Asmus called to get his attention. Flicking off the arc-welder, Kairon lifted his mask and looked up to the lad. He was nestled in the cockpit, with a diagnostic screen full of code before him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Whassup?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“So, the Alliance have us this generic flash they gave us and I’m working through the training module…”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“I thought you were working on the navcom?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“I got distracted!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“By the thought of being taught to fly her?”[/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“Yeah, yeah,” Asmus replied with a wave of his hand. “Listen to how clever I am alright? I hooked in the training program to the control feedback API for the ship that I pulled out of the middleware modules. Then I re-coded the program so that you can run the ship in a full training mode. Weapons are fully simulated and the main pilot feels feedback from how the co-pilot flies and they can cut them off on the flick of a switch. Look!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Asmus pressed a few buttons and pulled the canopy down. The words “TRAINING MODE” appeared in reverse to Kairon, projected onto the viewscreen which featured an augmented reality HUD. Asmus pulled down on the trigger and a bright streak appeared on the canopy. Kairon assumed it meant the thing was projecting a virtual laser streak. [/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]There was a hiss as the newly refurbished canopy was opened. “Neat, huh?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“That’s actually fairly impressive,” Kairon replied. Once again amazed at what Asmus could actually achieve when he put his mind to something. “However I said maybe she’d show you how to fly it. Maybe. Now get back on with ensuring the first hyperspace jump doesn’t pancake the whole ship yeah?”[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]“What she needs,” Asmus loudly announced, “is a new coat of paint.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Kairon looked at him incredulously. “I literally just painted her.”[/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“No you anodised her in a metallic grey coating for protection. That’s not the same as a lick of paint. What about black with a red stripe?” Asmus asked with a wry smile. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“No.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“White with electric blue.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Also no. Now stop trying to wind me up.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“You’re worrying she won’t like it,” Asmus stated. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Kairon let out a slow breath and turned towards his nephew with a withering stare. The little bugger sometimes had a burst of insight that broke up his typical state of entirely oblivious to the thoughts and feelings of those around him. [/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“Little bit yeah,” he admitted. The boy had come through for him this time. In all honesty there was no way he would have got this thing space worthy without him. Whilst he had a good knowledge of how to keep a freighter in the sky, he didn’t know much on the why. This was simply a result of having experienced no formal schooling beyond a very young age when he was taken in by a pirate crew. The boy on the other hand had some of the best private schooling a wealthy merchant family could buy. Even if he’d taken leave of it at seventeen to go flying with his Uncle, he’d recently started carrying on his coursework from the comfort of his room. Mal had helped him there in some regards. She’d been a positive influence on the boy ever since the Quin had been totalled in a Merchant Fleet operation. They were in no way his parents, but it was useful to have someone who’d been through a naval academy to talk to about his future. If he kept churning through his exams at his current rate, he could possibly drop straight into an officer’s academy in a year or two. [/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]It was sometimes hard for Kairon to admit how much he owed Asmus. When he’d stolen the Harlequin his full intention had been to sell her off for something armed, or tool her up and start flying a pirate outfit. It had been his life for so many years and for that reason his memories were plagued by the dreadful things he had done. Yet it was familiar and he’d nearly fallen back into it. That innocent boy, desperate to see the adventures of a pirate looking at him with wide eyes…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Asmus had never been ready to see the realities of that. For all his attempts to act the scoundrel – usually to try and lure something naïve back to his cabin – he was a soft and well-mannered young man. A pirate’s life would have broken him. And Kairon would always be thankful for that. Smuggling wasn’t exactly an honest job, but it wasn’t beating people to death with his bare hands for their cargo. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“She’ll like it,” Asmus said, with all the certainty that came of youth. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Yeah, but she has the Gracie, that’s what she loves to fly.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Trust me, you were right about the stats. This is a very, very different beast,” Asmus said with a wistful expression. Kairon could see he was imagining flying one himself, or the sister ship if they ever got to work on her. Insightful, but perhaps as selfish as ever, Kairon decided. [/SIZE]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[SIZE=12pt]“So, I know it’s not your birthday until next week…” Kairon said, trying to pretend he wasn’t nervous as hell that she’d have no interest in the gift. “…but we can’t exactly hide this from you all that time.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Kairon yanked back the doorway to the cargo bay, revealing the small ship in the centre. Asmus was bouncing on the balls of his feet. He’d followed them like a lost puppy all the way down. He’d earned seeing this anyway, as much as Kairon wanted to have this moment alone with Mal. Which was why he’d thought he’d caught Mal alone, but the boy had incredibly sensitive, if selective, hearing it seemed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Fully space worthy, but apparently pretty hard to get behind the stick of,” Kairon said.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“And it’s got a co-pilot chair so you can show me how!” Asmus added excitedly. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“The boy is getting confused again,” Kairon added quickly. “We agreed that if he helped and he asked really, really nicely that you might agree take him out in it. But he did help a lot,” he admitted.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt][member="Malia Afredane"][/SIZE]

 

[Malia Afredane]

Mal was a little apprehensive, considering Kairon and Asmus had commandeered one of the smaller bays on the Warden for what they called a restoration project. When he mentioned her birthday and then threw the door open, Mal's jaw hung open as she looked at the small fighter.

"Kairon!" She shouted and then realized she was shouting.

It was sleek and mean and beautiful. Obviously made for quick jaunts and small loads, it still looked as though it had a greater purpose meant at zipping around battlefields and out foxing the flyboys of the Sith.

She turned around, pulling her eyes off the present to look at the nervousness in Kairon's eyes and the absolute jubilation in Asmus'.

"I love it, but how? I don't even know how you got it all in here and I never knew what you were doing! You told me it was a speeder you were helping him fix!"

The white lies he told to cover this little surprise were nothing less than astounding.

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

This was around the point where he really wished the boy hadn't tagged along. Though to be fair, he had earned being a part of this. It was purely a selfish wish on his part to enjoy her reaction alone.

"I'm a smuggler remember. Get things places they're not supposed to go without anyone noticing," Kairon said, attempting to be charming. "Also...you took the Gracie 'cross a border and we snuck off with your ship to get parts."

He reached out to take her hand in his. "It's an old Incom prototype that got lost for a while. Asmus said he looked it up on the net, if he's got the maths right there's about two or three known ships out there can handle like it."

 

[Malia Afredane]

"You took the Warden without my knowledge?"

There was a mock look of disdain in her face as she screwed up her lips in her best impression of angry. Of course she wasn't going to be too bent out of shape about it. They hadn't harmed the Warden or gotten themselves into too much trouble. And she really was a beauty.

She couldn't maintain the play guilt and her lips parted in a grin as she headed over to it and started to inspect it from stem to stern, her eyes looking over the plating, the work done, the engines. She opened it up and climbed into the cockpit. It was close and tight, the control easily found for all the important systems. She just fit into the seat of the cockpit.

She whistled as she flipped the switches on to boot up the onboard systems.

"Hells, Asmus, I'm gonna have to learn to fly her before I can teach you. This is no freighter, that's for sure."

[member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Malia Afredane"]

There was a fleeting look of concern on his face, but it didn't last. She'd hadn't couched teaching him in terms of 'maybes' of 'ifs' like Kairon had. She'd simply said she needed to learn it first. And Asmus typically looked on life with am optimistic attitude. Kairon had his arms over his chest and what was - in Asmus view - that stupid, vacant grin he put on whenever he thought he'd done well. Compared to his nephew, he was a man of few words. Asmus was amazed he could converse with anyone for more than a few minutes, let alone find himself a Mal.

Well, that was perhaps unfair. He knew them both well enough by now to know how similar they were of temperament in some ways. Ways which ended up with him getting an ear bashing from both at times.

Whilst his uncle stood still, Asmus scrambled up the side of the ship and went down on his haunches besides the cockpit. He had a new goal. Get Mal flying and she'd get him flying. Beneath th exterior that many perceived as relatively shallow and self centred, burned a fierce intelligence. When Asmus got it into his head that he wanted something, he could really apply himself.

"So, the software wouldn't talk to any of the new subsystems, it was too old. I took a vanilla build from the Alliance and tweaked it for the ship and wrote new extensions to integrate it with the APIs of the extant components. The plus side is she has a fully working training mode. Things to note: red thumb trigger on the stick. No matter what you're doing, thumb that and she'll arrest any angular momentum. This thing can turn so fast it's necessary to have the computer bring spin to halt in an instant. Next if you fly by feel more than readouts the inertial dampeners auto adjust. The speed this thing can swing about necessitates it, otherwise you'd knock yourself out."

Asmus reached in and flicked a switch. He moved backwards as the canopy came down and sealed with a hiss. The HUD came to life, projected onto every viewscreen, going into a training mode with brought up additional readings and highlighted what the main controls were.

"Cool huh?" he shouted loud enough for her to hear. One thing he hadn't realised about himself was that in the last six months he'd started seeking her approval even more than Kairon's.

 

[Malia Afredane]

Mal looked up at the surround in awe but quickly reached down switched off the training mode. She wasn't ready to sit through that just yet, shock was still too overwhelming for her to focus on any one thing at a time.

The surround would take some getting used to, that was for sure.

The canopy popped open and she pulled herself out it slowly, amazed that they would do something like this for her. She climbed down from the bird carefully but on the deck, she swept Asmus up in a hug, squeezing him tightly before she let go and moved to wrap her arms around Kairon as well.

"Thank you, both. This is incredible and I still can't believe you guys did this."

[member="Asmus Janes"] [member="Kairon Rees"]