Spinning Blades of Death

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli smiled as she leafed through various designs for lightsabers that had existed through the ages on her data terminal. Some of these designs were very interesting, curved handles, lightwhips, and so on, but she still hadn't found one that was truly calling to her. Flipping to a new image, her smiled widened.

'Now that is an interesting design,' she thought. It was a double-bladed lightsaber, but one that was the most unique weapon she had ever seen. The Pau'un wielding it, an Inquisitor for the old Galactic Empire judging by the insignia on his armor, was holding it out in front of him and the blades were starting to spin along a ring that surrounded the hilt. Pulling up a new tab, she searched for other images or holos of this particular Imperial and found one where he was wielding the blade like a rapier and in the normal double blade fashion.

"No schematics," she muttered, observing the Pau'un fighting some Jedi while she looked for any schematics about the blade. "Guess I'll just have to recreate it myself then." This would be an ambitious saber project, but would be definitely worth it to see the look on her master and fellow apprentices' faces.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Sitting at her private work bench, Taeli had made it clear that she didn't want any sort of disturbance while she worked on her new lightsaber, she had even deactivated her comlink that connected to Darth Praelior so she could have complete silence. Picking up the metal cylinder that would be the hilt of her lightsaber, she hefted the weight and found it to her liking. Scattered around the workbench were two half circles of metal, one slightly larger than the other to allow the smaller section to retract into the larger if needed, two sets of focusing lens in case she messed up, parts to a gyroscope, the emitter matrix, two blade emitters, and other miscellaneous parts.

"Well best get to work,: she mumbled to herself, taking inventory to make sure she had all the pieces she needed and finding she did.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli began assembling the internal mechanisms of her new lightsaber, placing the red crystal within the emitter matrix by delicately using a pair of tweezers. She knew the calibrations had to be just right or else the whole thing would blow up in her hand the first time she activated the blade. Using the Force, she activated her datapad and pulled up the files she had on the Pau'an's lightsaber.

"Need to make it double-bladed first," she muttered. Carefully placing the emitter matrix into the hilt, using tweezers and the Force, she followed up by placing the Diatium power cell with the hilt. Setting the hilt down, she moved one of the blade emitters over to her with the Force, placing it gently on the workbench in front of her and pulling a focusing lens out very slowly.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Setting the focusing lens into place, Taeli repeated the process with the other blade emitter. Moving on to the next step, she examined the gyroscope and the two pieces of curved metal that would form the ring that the hilt would sit in and allow the blade emitters to spin around it. She very carefully began hollowing the larger piece to the ring out, using a cutting laser and controlling the motion of her hand with the Force to avoid any human error that shaky hand might cause. Turning the laser cutter off, she used the Force to align the two pieces of metal and the smaller piece slid in neatly.

Smiling, Taeli started assembling the small system of parts that would allow the ring to extend and retract the smaller piece by the simple push of a button on the hilt and the nanosecond signal transmitter that would recognize the command. She knew it could possibly be a weakness if the mechanism failed, but it would only stop the spinning and could easily be fixed out of combat. Pulling out the laser cutter again, she switched the mode to a welding torch and attached the large section of the ring to the half-finished hilt.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

'Now, time for the really tricky part, but that is absolutely essential,' she thought, looking over the gyroscope again. She had special requested it from the manufacturer to be able to withstand the temperature and energy that the emitter matrix would pass through it as the blade emitters spun around the ring since that was the only way she could think the blades would stay stable as they spun around. The ring itself had to be an extension of the emitter matrix from the hilt. She had been assured they could survive with minimal wear, only needing replacing after several years of use.

Pushing the button to extend the second half of the ring, she smiled as it smoothly shot out and into place, connecting into a perfect ring. Activating her laser cutter again, she used the same technique from before to carve the groove where the gyroscope's track would be. The blades could only spin when the ring was complete, but that was okay with her. Using the Force, she connected the gyroscope track to the ring, cutting it at just right points so that the ring could still retract. When the rings would connect, the track would be complete except for the tiniest of cuts that she had calculated would be well within acceptable parameters of failure.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

As she made sure the gyroscope was completely attached, Taeli summoned the safety valves as she called them that would allow the ring to not be an active part of the emitter matrix unless the ring was complete. Installing them delicately so they connected to the main lightsaber mechanisms and would still connect with the ring, she set the hilt down and pulled both blade emitters to her.

A small incision would need to be made along the bottom edge to allow the emitters to slide along the ring, another risky part of the process. Looking at the calculations she had made, she once again activated the laser cutter and made the incisions along the edge of the emitters themselves. Hoping they were right, she placed one blade emitter onto the ring to test the sliding capabilities. Holding it with her thumb and index finger, she grinned as this one at least went smoothly along the track. Taking it off, she tested the other and she definitely appreciated the precision the Force and a laser cutter could achieve in harmony.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Happy that everything was coming along, she decided to take a small break to observe the blade in action. Watching the Inquisitor fight different Jedi, she noticed his fighting style was very Makashi in technique. His preferred method of attack seemed to be what she was intending, using the blade as a sort of lightrapier, but he would just as easily switch to the double-bladed mode to make quick work of those not expecting it. He only used the spinning mode when absolutely necessary, and she had a theory as to why. While the mode would be devastating in combat, both in a physical and psychological sense, it required, she theorized at least, drawing more power from the blade's energy cell to enable the gyroscope to work at full efficiency.

'Best to use the mode sparingly, and make sure if I do, my opponent doesn't survive to tell others about that fact,' she thought. 'Always like an edge.'

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Getting back to work, Taeli attached two sets of locks onto the blade emitters. They were designed to allow the blade emitters to stay attached to the gyroscope through the same method as mag tram, but they could also be locked in place on the hilt to allow standard use of her lightsaber. Attaching the emitters to the hilt carefully so that the emitters lined up with the hilt ends, she let out a small breathe of relief as they slid neatly into place before she engaged the locks.

She placed the two activation plates into place on the hilt, each one connected to a different blade emitter, then placed a pressure switch within each plate that when twisted would engage the ring mechanism and unlock the emitters to spin along the track.

Knowing the next step determined if she had a workable weapon or not, she pressed the first activation plate. Nothing happened for a second; a heart-pounding second that made her think her hand was about to be blown to bits. That fear passed as a crimson blade of energy ignited from the top blade emitter.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli got up from her workbench, doing several practice swings of the saber do get a feel for her new weapon. The half-ring worked fine as a hand guard, even if it wasn't made from any lightsaber resistant material, it also didn't add as much weight as she thought it would. It looked every bit like what the Inquisitor had wielded, and as she made the practice sweeps, the blade emitters stayed where they were supposed to, the mag locks working just fine.

'Time to test phase two,' Taeli thought, pressing the second activation plate and hearing the hum of the second blade igniting. She knew this had the same weakness as any other double-bladed lightsaber, the blades being across from each other, but it worked all the same. Spinning the blade in her hand, using the half-circle to keep the spin of her hands in a perfect circle, she smiled as the crimson glow illuminated the room with a slowly revolving circle of energy.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Final test," she muttered, twisting the hilt in a way that would trigger both pressure activators. The ring slid out easily, completing the hand guard and the mag locks disengaged. Time seemed to slow as she watched the blade emitters start to travel along the track. She was praying to the Force that the energy stream would flow along the track and keep the blades stable as they spun.

A whirring hum filled the air as the blades spun around the ring at a quick speed, and she started to laugh with an almost maniacal edge as she watched her completed weapon work just how she wanted. Twisting the blade again, the emitters stopped back at the hilt and locked into place the ring retracting with shink sound, a normal double-bladed lightsaber once again hummed in her hands. She had done it, leaving the only things left to do was decorating and making the blade presentable.