Teta: Cracking the Vault

[Azel Moran]

Teta, the great city Cinnagar, and this whole patch of space had changed hands any number of times. For thirty thousand years (give or take a few bad centuries) Teta had been a focus of trade, a repository of wealth and luxury. One tiny fraction of one percent of that legacy resided in a Mandalorian iron vault under tons of rebuilding and rubble and general filth.

Moran tilted his alchemical compass, eyed the way the needles tried to point straight down, and pocketed it with a grunt. The Dark Side filled him. He looked around the nightscape of the Cinnagar street, threw a crooked grin at an old bum, and started digging.

Through permacrete. With a very large, suspiciously glossy pickaxe.

Spoiler

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Tai looked on curiously as the human tracked the treasure.

This made him feel young again.

It felt only like yesterday that he had been a young lordling exploring the Galaxy. Those had been simpler times. Easier, in a lot of ways. No entire Empire on his shoulders. Just the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of power, and the acquisition of wealth.

Ah, to be young again.

"I knew an alchemist once..." Tai spoke out as Azel started digging. Landing nearby, approaching calmly and studying the big shiny pickaxe. This better not awaken something in me. So shiny. He coughed and refocused himself. His wings extending, the Force channeled and he cut away a piece of protruding rock. Slapping it away. "...she was a handful." It wasn't quite clear, if the Thirriken had actually liked her or not.

Swish.

Another piece of permacrete was cut away.

[member="Azel Moran"]

 

[Azel Moran]

[member="Darth Saarai"]

To Moran's way of thinking, you never turned down competent help unless it would get in the way. Work was hard, that was the point of work, and it would take a stupid kind of vanity to turn down help for no reason. Besides, the Thirriken's excavation technique was a lot more effective than it looked. Moran grunted his thanks and kept swinging. The pick bit deep below the permacrete sidewalk and tore up...older permacrete. An ancient, buried street started to crumble one impact at a time.

He grunted. "The compass wasn't one of hers, if that's what you're thinking. Same concept, though. One of the few times I settled for being a knockoff."

An inexorable Force grip levered a swath of sidewalk into the road. Local traffic, both foot and motorized, thought it best to keep moving. This was a bad part of town, after all, and midnight was dwindling in the rearview.

"Says it's about ten meters down. I'm expecting a handspan of beskar plating, Nadd's tomb style. Right era, right sensitivity."

Chunk, chunk, chunk. Moran slugged back some water.

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

It started with a nose.

Just a nose, small and pink and quivering over the edge of Tai Fa's pocket.

Then, a pair of ears.

Until finally, a whole (very small) head popped out, peering down curiously as the work continued.

"All of the alchemists we know are handfuls, Tai Fa," the small voice pipped up.

Tabigarashu Madara, known to their friends as Hirou, was very pleased to be there with this particular friend. Hirou had known Tai Fa for most of their life now, and had grown into the Nezumi they were side by side with the leader of the Sith Empire's Saaraishash. It was not too much of a thing to say that Hirou wouldn't be the mouse they were today without this friendship.

With an oopmh and a scrabble, Hirou scampered out of Tai Fa's pocket and up onto his shoulder. It was a bit more effort than they would have liked. Hirou was going on eight years old now. Past middle aged for most Nezumi. Their limbs were getting a bit stiffer, things were a bit harder. It was easier and easier these days to focus on the efforts in their office. To sit and rest and read. But sometimes? Sometimes Tai Fa was doing something they simply couldn't pass up.

Another scamper and a small leap found Hirou on the sidewalk beside Azel. The Nezumi wasn't sure what to make of the human just yet, but if Tai Fa liked him then that was enough for them.

Peering over the edge of the hole, dark shiny eyes glittered as their head went all the way in.

"Oh dear that's quite a drop," the little voice echoed.

[member="Azel Moran"] [member="Darth Saarai"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"] | [member="Azel Moran"]

"It does seem a prerequisite of the job," Tai agreed with the mouse as Hirou scampered out of the pocket. Which made him take another look at Azel. Keen eyes studying the human. For the average human Azel seemed alright. Didn't brag much. Calm and steady. Tai hadn't noticed any overt xenophobia yet either. "Knock-off? If something works, it works," The comment came a moment later as he stepped next to Hirou and peered over the edge himself.

The difference in depth perception was apparent.

"Too many attempt originality, but only accomplish staleness and the banal. There is something to be said about recognizing functionality and utilizing it."

Then back to the matter at hand- "If you soften up the integrity of the metal, I can break through it." Pure beskar was not something you just shattered like that. An alchemist working in tandem with a strength-enhancement expert? A different story altogether.

"The breach will be small, but that is where Hirou comes in."

His wing softly brushing them.

It was clear the Thirriken cared much for the mouse.

 

[Azel Moran]

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"] [member="Darth Saarai"]

"Break through, eh? I'd like to see that. And yeah. Yeah, I can soften it up."

Between their work and the Force, the hole looked reasonable. Moran dropped in. His boots slammed against absolutely unyielding beskar, and his knees creaked under his weight. He leaned against the wall of ancient rubble, layers upon layers, cities upon cities, to catch his breath.

"Hirou, is it?" he said, looking up at the tiny sapient. "I'm Azel Moran. Blacksmith." He dropped to one knee and put a big hand flat against the Mandalorian iron.

A large part of smithy-work involved identifying and fixing flaws deep within metal, one hammerstrike at a time. After a few thousand blades, he'd picked up a knack for isolating those flaws. After a few thousand more, he'd found he could control them, to one end or another. There were certain kinds of blade, like a glass shikkar, that needed to break off to do the job. And, of course, those skills translated well to destruction.

The metal began to shiver with a sound like cracking glass.

"Gimme about five minutes and it'll be ready for you to do what you do."

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

Bumping their head against Tai Fa's wing, Hirou followed Azel with their eyes only at first. Not that they expected the way to be unstable- it was beskar for goodness sakes. But if there was no problem with Azel going down, then certainly the tiny Nezumi would not cause any trouble yes?

"A pleasure to meet you, Azel Moran!" Hirou pipped cheerfully, then with a flick of their tail, made a small leap into the hole. They didn't land on the beskar- no if the two force users were going to be doing things with it, Hirou knew well enough to stay out of harms way. "Tabigarashu Mardara, but I am pleased to have you call me Hirou." A glance up at Tai Fa. "I am many things, or so I am told, but mostly I am just an observer these days," fur rippling with amusement.

The sound of the metal beneath Azel's ministrations made Hirou's whiskers quiver at the same frequency, and their tail curl tightly around their (slightly thickening with age) middle. Their ears pressed back against their head, the sound particularly painful to sensitive ears, but they were used to that.

An observer they had called themselves, and it was with great curiosity that they watched. This seemed like a particular application of Shatterpoint, if the Nezumi didn't miss their guess, but one that looked different from the way they were used to seeing. A different path in the learning?

"I wish I had my notebook," the Nezumi muttered, mostly to themselves. They'd left it on the ship, so they wouldn't need to worry about losing it.

[member="Azel Moran"] [member="Darth Saarai"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"] | [member="Azel Moran"]

A notebook plopped down next to Hirou.

Pen followed suit.

It was not surprising to anyone who knew Tai Fa. There had been moments, in the full swing of battle, that the lyric Thirriken would suddenly stop. Take a step back. Then suddenly begin scribbling something feverishly. Sometimes the worst simply came. "Write well, Hirou, any word of yours is worth committing to flimsiplast." It seemed as if Tai was about to say more. Then- he glanced over his shoulder and disappeared out of the view.

Not immediately clear what the issue was, until a second voice peeped up.

"Sir, SIR, this is a public street, what do you think you are doing here with- THAT HOLE.... shouldn't be there at all!"

Fluttering of wings and robe. One could almost picture the Thirriken rising himself up to full height. Gathering that rich textile around him with pomp. "I will have you know, officer, that this is not a hole as such. It is an excavation site."

"An.... excavation.... site." Very skeptical, before that last word brightened. The same brightness any officer of the law received when they found something to hitch their post to. Any bureaucrat worth their salt would wince at this. Tai was prepared, of course. "Ah, but then you must have a permit, do you not?!" The officer exclaimed with triumph. Since the last government had fallen and now the Imperials were in power... well... who could actually have done the paperwork in that short of period? Hell, even his department was still waiting on the requisition order for new boot straps. This was the moment where he had this alien dead to righ-

"Of course, of course." Tai's voice calm and pleased. There was the ruffling of flimsiplast and more robe. Followed by a general sound of disbelief.

"....this is dated a week in advance, the same day the Imperials came to power!" The protest came after more stuttering and huffing puffing. "Indeed, but it is stamped, is it not?"

That was the end of it really. Oh, the officer tried to bargain his way out of it, but faced with the bureaucratic might of Tai?

Well. Some men could destroy the integrity of metal with enough time. Tai Fa could subvert an empire with enough paperwork on his side. It didn't take long, before there was human stomping of boots away from their position. Followed by the bird himself gracefully landing near the blacksmith. "I believe the required five minutes have passed now." Commenting without drawing attention to the events of a handful minutes ago.

"Some room will be required for me."

Polite request.

 

[Azel Moran]

[member="Darth Saarai"] [member="Tabigarashu Madara"]

Moran didn't catch the details of the mouse's mumble, but the notebook gave it some context; clearly enough Hirou wasn't griping under his breath. In fact he seemed a pleasant sort, not exactly innocent but not...angry.

At Saarai's request, Moran slouched against the side of the pit. His heart had calmed down since the dig, but it still pounded dully, a leftover reverberation that sounded like eat a salad, eat a salad, eat a salad. He gestured at the dirty, cracked expanse of beskar, the floor of the pit.

"All yours. Feel free to do what you do."

Whatever that was, it promised to fall somewhere between interesting and spectacular. Even compromised beskar was tough stuff.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"] | [member="Azel Moran"]

Strength came in many shapes and forms.

Tai's answer came in the form of focused speed. He started to move. Slowly first. Wings and talons and claws swiping and scratching against the metal. Form simple at first, but as the Thirriken picked up speed so did the complexity of the posture. It was not just movement for the sake of it. Internally the mass of energy moved alongside it. The momentum increasing, the dam slowly pressured as more weight was pushed against it.

They could feel it through the Force.

It was like a gyroscope rotating around its own axis, until something shifted within that presence. His wing coming down flat against the weakened surface. The thundering snap cracking in the air in response. Silence in its wake. Then the rumble of the metal until it gave away.

Shattering in microscopic pieces.

Tai looked triumphantly.

Until something dawned to him. He had misjudged just how much the structure had been affected by Azel's alchemy. Instead of a smaller enclave? The metal under his own talons gave away too. This is why from one moment to the next- Tai was there and then he suddenly disappeared into the darkness. Only the indignant ca-caaaaaaaaaaaw echoing in their presence. A single red-white feather drifting lazily in the air in its wake.

Well, that didn't go exactly as expected.

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

Hirou beamed up at Tai Fa as he offered their notebook. Tai Fa's pockets were multitudinous, and able to carry much more than Hirou's could. They hadn't wanted to ask their friend to carry it for them- how rude, in truth, to look for the larger creature's in one's life to be pack animals?- but they were visibly pleased nonetheless.

"Thank you!"

The Nezumi started scratching away quickly. Tiny paw writing starting to fill the page. The Nezumi didn't have a written language of their own, but Hirou had learned aurebesh upon going out into the galaxy. A very handy skill. They didn't pay much attention to the interaction happening, trying to get their thoughts down on the flimplast as quickly as possible.

Besides, Tai Fa having the upper hand, bureaucratically, was fairly par for the course.

Tucking the notebook under their arm for a moment, they hoped up and trotted over to where Azel was. Out of the way and safe. Perfectly content to not end up tumbling down a hole that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as they were prone to doing. A small tug on the hem of his pant leg to get his attention.

"Would you mind if I sat on your shoulder?" Hirou asked politely. The grunt in return was positive, at least, Hirou thought so. So setting the notebook and pen between their teeth, they scampered up to his shoulder, before settling down with a plop and opening the notebook again.

The combination of powers by two separate masters in this instance is far more than the sum of its parts, the little creature scribbled, nose going up and down between the words being written and the actions now of Tai Fa.

By combining the unorthodox version of what I believe to be Shatterpoint with the -

But Hirou didn't finish the sentence. Instead they looked up right as the floor gave out beneath their friend.

"Tai Fa!" Hirou cried out in dismay. The scamper back down the height of the man left the little Nezumi winded, and they wondered absently if they should start exercising. The notebook momentarily forgotten (indeed dropped as soon as they realized what was happening and begun their scamper), Hirou peered over the edge.

"That is not how it was supposed to go," the little mouse squeaked.

[member="Azel Moran"] [member="Darth Saarai"]

 

[Azel Moran]

[member="Darth Saarai"] [member="Tabigarashu Madara"]

One big hand gripped permacrete layers. The other snagged the red feather out of the air. Moran eyed it, grunted again, and stepped over Hirou to drop down into the vault. He relied on instinct to avoid landing on, say, a Dark Lord's wing - less because of empathy, and more because it would be an objectively stupid thing to do. His knees groaned and crackled as his feet hit the vault floor, within wing's reach of Tai Fa. The Sith scholar seemed just fine, surprised tumble or no surprised tumble. Good. Moran wasn't in the mood to get dragged into empathy and other people's problems and so forth.

"Nice work," he said to the fallen peacock - honestly but without caring much - and lit up his saber for light. The burnt-orange blade cast wobbly shadows around the vault. Beskar walls bounced the light around into a warm glow.

Pedestals and chests held objects that he couldn't identify and a few that he could. Krath emblems and weapons, mainly. Maybe books, maybe more.

"You folks know the Krath?" he said, taking a slim dark blade off its mount. Five millennia old and it could have been forged yesterday for a masked Death Witch. And there was the monochrome mask that went with it. He flicked it with a big finger. Thunk. It spun off its mount and across the floor.

"Hirou. Found you a bathtub."

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"] | [member="Azel Moran"]

"As was yours," Tai commented lightly as he cleaned out his ruffled feathers from the fall. It had been an indignity, one he hadn't suffered for quite some time, which made him think. How deeply had he been sheltered through his role as the Lord Inquisitor of the Sith Empire? If even a small fall could surprise him so? It was a disturbing thought Tai didn't know what to do with. Not now, anyway. He packed it in, pushing it away for now, to be inspected at a later junction.

Preferably when not in an isolated Krath vault.

That was no place for introspection. "Pompous bored noble children tinkering with powers beyond their understanding." Tai said ironically, since that was exactly who he had been in his youth. Pushed by his father - yes - but once certain measures had been met? The Thirriken had been happy to indulge in the pursuit.

"I heard they tried to make a return here on Teta a few years back. Failed, of course, they never truly had the focus for anything long-term worthwhile." He glanced at the dagger, then at the 'bathtube' with quite some amusement. "Except for making alchemical trinkets, I suppose." Since they were really well-made. He peered up, trying to pierce the darkness, until Tai noticed the movement that was the Nezumi. His friend... always worried and concerned.

Wing extended to arrest his drop if necessary.

"Kind of you to join us, Hirou." No, don't mention the drop, not now, not ever. Thanks.

Tai moved deeper into the vault then. Studying the walls lined with- oh, hello. It was shiny. Very. Made of transparent crystal that shimmered whenever the lightsaber's light hit it. The Lord Inquisitor leaned in closer, peering at it. His proximity coaxed out a mist from inside.

One that materialized into an image.

Robots. Big ones. Being demolished one by one, while a horde of little people sobbed at their feet.

Huh.

 

[Tabigarashu Madara]

Peering over the edge, Hirou ducked back a bit out of instinct at Azel stepped over and dropped down, ears laying back flat on their head. Nose twitched and their eyes opened again, whiskers poking back over the edge again.

"I have read of them," Hirou answered for themselves. It hadn't been a topic of close study, however, and the Nezumi listened to the other two with some interest.

"That looks like it has holes in it," the Nezumi responded seriously.

Carefully the little creature scampered along the rough edge of the break. Finding a seam, they followed it along and over the edge. Gripping there for a moment, trying to decide the best course of action to continue their way down. While their help in breaching the vault had turned out to be unnecessary, they were still eager to see just what was down there. When Tai Fa extended his wing, Hirou didn't even hesitate, trusting implicitly. With a leap, they landed on their friend's wing, scampering up and over to the other side of his shoulder.

A nudge with their head against his beak, and then down the front of their robe and to the floor. Scampering over to the mask that Azel had drawn attention to. Pushing up on their back legs and inspecting it curiously.

Not REALLY holes then. It would be a very strange bathtub. Hirou didn't really think it would be appropriate for that but maybe-

Tail hooked around their waist instinctively at the faint sound of sobbing, ears swiveling with something that even a non-Nezumi could tell was alarm.

"What is THAT?"

[member="Azel Moran"] [member="Darth Saarai"]

 

[Azel Moran]

[member="Tabigarashu Madara"] [member="Darth Saarai"]

"Some kind of spectral display, maybe oracular, probably just an alchemical version of a crude holo. Mist as a medium for light projection -- that's pre-hyperdrive tech. Or some lordling's retro toy." Moran crouched near the base of the wall and ran a Krath knifepoint down the crystal to see if it etched. It did. He swatted at the nearest tendrils of the mist that contained the image. "Oh, you mean the content."

Massive droids being disassembled, mourners all around. He ran a hand across his mouth and scratched his chin.

"Think I read once that the Krath massacred a metric fethton of Jedi using a droid army. Or maybe that was Freedon Nadd's people - I can't keep them straight. Maybe this-" He waved at the misty motion picture. "-is what happened to the droids when the Krath finally lost."

He slid the black knife into his belt and stuffed the mask in beside it, then hefted another artifact: a heavy cutter. Dramatic blade geometry, lurking evil inside, potentially useful.

"Guessing all this belonged to one of the Krath Death Witches that escaped the Jedi. Faded glory would be a solid fit for this place. You know, thematically."