Private The Stardust

[Val Drutin]

“Well, that’s all well and good,” Val began, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and craning his neck to watch the Verpine’s descent. He noticed the wobbling scaffolding, but since Chkhoz seemed to be managing in spite of it, he didn’t pay it much mind. “But what I wanted to know was, are you aware of your own power? Or have you just been told by others that you have it? Have you ever been able to—”

The scaffolding pitched dangerously forward, leaning too far on the side that was missing a leg. Val cut off as he realized the danger and leaped out of the way. The protocol droid, tottering on stiff legs, wasn't quite fast enough.

Chkhoz Pikeyy

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

The large set of scaffolding creaked over, scraping the unlucky droid, and sending him back a meter or so. the edge of the broken structure had trapped a portion of the droid's body. It wasn't enough force to severely damage him, but he was stunned for the time being, if not a little dinged up. Chkhoz was surprised it came down like it did, but not shocked enough to not take some immediate action.

"...That doesn't usually happen... maybe we should try and fix him."

"Try fix to?... Small hurt."

He knelt over and began to take it out from underneath the scaffold. These droids were almost always heavy, but he managed to get it out without causing anymore unnecessary damage. Upon closer inspection, the insectoid discovered that his verdict was mostly correct, and began to play around with the droids plating to try and find a way to fix the internals. It was probably just some connection that had been severed, most droids were capable of operating their pieces independently from each other, yet, something must have really gotten knocked out of place to garner a reaction like this one displayed. Droids weren't his favorite at the moment, but he had a lot of fun designing them in his free time. He would likely take what he found inside the droid this time around into consideration the next time he needed to work on, or create, droids in the future.

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Kai and Gerda]

I knew I was gonna wind up posting with the wrong character some day, I wish they let us delete our posts

 

[Val Drutin]

Val winced as the droid was pinned underneath the scaffold. He had borrowed (without asking) the droid from the theater where he occasionally worked; it was designed for greeting alien audience members. A flash of panic blazed through him as he envisioned himself getting in trouble for stealing and blamed for the damage. He could lose his job—he could get banned from the theater altogether—!

While Val had a miniature panic attack, Chkhoz Pikeyy pulled the malfunctioning droid from under the debris and began fiddling with the damaged parts. Without the aid of a translator, the bug was forced to go back to making mangled attempts at Basic. His meaning was clear enough, though Val was certain the droid was more than “small hurt”, judging by the flickering lights and weird noises it was making.

“Uh…” he began, not sure what to do. The language barrier had gone up again, making accurate communication impossible. Chkhoz seemed to be handling the situation, though he sensed the bug didn’t know as much about droids as he did about ships. Still, he knew more about it than Val did. Val didn’t even know which way to hold a hydrospanner...

Feeling more useless than ever, he walked dismally past the bug and started to take apart the toppled scaffolding. One piece refused to be dismantled, the leg having been wedged in too tightly, and Val quickly grew frustrated with it. He focused on the joint with the Force and violently jerked it out, cracking the durasteel panel in the process.

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

(OOC: Crossover? )

In a few moments, Chkhoz was able to dismantle a majority of the droid's outer plating, and set them aside neatly. It seemed like the worst of the damage occurred to a line of wires that had taken the brunt of the scaffolding's weight, and had smashed into, and over, each other. What Chkhoz would recognize as battery fluid had begun to adorn the inner workings of the affected area, causing a thin veil of smoke to evaporate off the inner workings of the droid that usually ran hot. He knew these weren't good to keep on bare flesh, so he often wiped some onto his chest piece as he performed the droid's operation. Some passerby's glanced at the commotion, but ultimately weren't interested in what was going on in the rented space, and continued on their way.

The wounded wires ran from the droid's torso into his right leg. In a short amount of time, the insectoid had little issue in performing general repairs on the wires, but he would need to borrow some materials from the Stardust's well of scrap before eventually finishing the repairs on the droid. It took him a few tries to find the appropriate replacements, but the plasma cutter made quick work of the problem once he did.

The droid seemed operational once more, and even thanked the Verpine for his help. Aside from the the scratches on the front of the droid, he was just like the way he was before. The quality of the foreign wires wasn't as great as the ones that were destroyed in the crash, and would most definitely wear out before the native ones did. For now, the droid would be fine performance-wise.

"Welcome back, and uh, sorry about that. I will pay more mind to those around the work-environment. May you continue translating for us, friend?"

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

Stewing in a catastrophic funk, Val only glanced up as he heard the droid thank the Verpine for fixing it. He'd been vaguely aware of Chkhoz Pikeyy entering the Stardust and returning with scrap from Val's collection, but he didn't bother trying to stop the bug. He was too upset.

But the droid being repaired instantly cleared away the cloud of frustration and fear he would be blamed for the droid's damage. He scampered over to the droid and Verpine, kneeling on the ground as it propped itself up into a sitting position.

"Oh, thank goodness!" He raised a hand as if to touch the droid, but let it hover dramatically, afraid he was hallucinating. When he finally did press his hand to cool metal, the rush of relief and gratitude he felt overturned his theatrical inclinations. He turned to Chkhoz.

"You've saved my career!" he cried, sweeping the bug into a fond embrace. His arm soon became smeared with a dark liquid that had coated the Verpine's chest, however, and he released the bug, staring at the fluid in disgust and puzzlement. "What the...?" It had soaked through his sleeve, and was starting to burn a little bit...

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

"Careful, that is a little acidic. I would get those clothes washed soon. Where did this droid come from anyway?"

The battery fluid wasn't the most dangerous in the galaxy, but it could leave a scarring discoloration on certain specie's skins if left unwashed for a long period of time. Chkhoz stepped away from the man, turned, and took note of the cleared scaffolding.

"Oh, thank you. Those can be a pain to set up and take down. I think I should get back to work on the ship; I do not want to make the Wookies wait much longer."

He looked around the ship once more, while he waited for a response. He located another spot that might be easy to get to without using all the scaffolding available. Peeking over the top of the ship, just barely in view, Chkhoz saw the makings of what would be the last set of panel that he opted to look into. That would be a struggle to get to.

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

"Ugh!" Val immediately tore off the top layer of his costume, though there was still a second one underneath that had also been soaked with the fluid. The knowledge that the fluid wasn't terribly dangerous did little to comfort him. He wasn't worried about the damage that might be done to his clothes so much as the possibility of pain. He did not like pain...

He'd heard Chkhoz Pikeyy 's question and noticed the bug waiting for his permission to continue working. "I stole it from my job. Well, not my piloting gig—my other job at the theater. I dance with the seasons," he said in a perfectly frank and matter-of-fact tone, waving his arm dismissively as he headed up the ramp. "Go ahead and finish up. I've got to change. I'll be out in a minute..."

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

In Val's absence, the Chkhoz continued his work on the Stardust.

The second panel proved to need a lot of work, and there was no question that it was here where the Mynoks initially entered the hull. It would seem that they did a number on the starship by simply eating a majority of the soft components inside the trashed paneling. The insectoid first made fresh cuts on the damaged parts and tossed out the chewed out wires and cables, conductors, etc. From there, he was able to replace the parts but some of the damage done here could not be undone with what materials were present. Chkhoz's Verpine customization intuition sprung up here, as he noticed an area that needed so many new connections, like this one, were great for installing weapons or other useful amenities. Sadly, he didn't think he had the time or resources to create something worth the effort for Val, but he would mention it to him later.

Chkhoz set up all the available scaffolding without too much issue, except this time, he opted to lean the broken leg against the ship to reduce the risk of toppling this time.

Atop the ship, there wasn't too much to work on. Only a singular conduit replacement and the appropriate hull repairs were necessary. The ship was nowhere near its prime, but it would be able to contend with any other wayfaring class cruiser for the next decade or so, or until it was directly damaged again. He dusted his hands together and clambered down, the cursed scaffolding shuddering only after he stepped off, but not falling as it had before. He stepped towards the ships entrance to meet with Val, share with him the details, and discuss appropriate payment.

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

Once he was in the privacy of his quarters—a bedroom and adjoining refresher that were startlingly clean and tidy in comparison to the rest of the ship—Val peeled off his stained clothes, tossing them into the wash chute. Still feeling a slight sting on the skin of his arm, he went into the ‘fresher and scrubbed the surface area vigorously.

In the background, he could faintly hear Chkhoz hard at work on the upper exterior of the ship. The bug was rattling around, burning away wires and circuitry. For the first time since they'd met, Val tuned into the bug's emotions, sensing his focus as well as his more creative instincts, and tinges of frustration and disappointment that he had so little to work with. If Val had been more knowledgeable about ships and mechanics, he'd have offered to let Chkhoz work extensively on the ship. But as it stood, he had little interest in fiddling with it too much. He just wanted to get the thing working again so he could move on.

Satisfied that he had completely removed all trace of the battery fluid, Val dressed in clean clothes—a costume that was brightly colored rather than his previous mourning black—and came down the ramp only to find Chkhoz Pikeyy standing at the bottom, waiting for him.

“Hey, done already?” Val remarked, though by his reckoning it had been nearly three hours since the bug started working.

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

"Yes. Your ship should hold together without much issue for a handful of years, maybe a dozen if you are really lucky. Also, the panel on the other side is eligible for some custom work, if you ever wanted to make this ship a little more formidable, but that will cost you the price of materials, and right now, I should be heading back soon."

The insectoid glanced up at the patched up ship. It wasn't beautiful, but it was leagues more handsome than any Correllian freighter or cruiser...maybe. This job wasn't the hardest the Verpine ever attended to, but one of the longer ones by far. It was a piece of work, but he was satisfied with his performance.

Now was the fun part; his reward.

"Alright friend, I would like to talk payment now, I will not charge you anything to bold..."

Chkhoz hadn't necessarily thought up exactly what he'd charge the man for his repair service, but in this moment, he thought of the concepts of what he needed, what Val had to give, and how much the operation would have cost with, with a friendly discount of course.

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

Val followed the Verpine’s gesture, looking up at the panel. It took him a moment to put two and two together, envisioning a gun turret or turbolaser embedded in the panel. As fun as the idea sounded, he didn’t have the credits to pay for a project that ambitious, so he didn't indicate any further interest.

The ship overall definitely looked better, and on his way back out he hadn’t noticed the usual funny noises coming from the engine. He wasn’t sure what the bug had done to it exactly, but so far he was happy with the results.

“Nothing too bold. That’s good…” Val rubbed the back of his neck, his brow furrowing. He had, in total, about ten thousand credits to his name, most of which he’d inherited from his master along with the Stardust. “Uh, how much do you want?”

| Chkhoz Pikeyy |​

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

Chkhoz crossed his arms, but in short, gave way to tapping his labrum-like mouthpart as he looked up at the ship again. It was a pretty nice piece of work... but the thing wasn't entirely out of commission before he started working on it. He thought of two prices that he liked, and decided he would make a compromise in-between somewhere, and that notion would act as his discount. The Verpine loved this feeling of power he held in this moment of exchange. It was the thrill of making an offer, perhaps, he very much enjoyed it.

"1000 seems reasonable, cut off 200 as your discount and that is 800. And, remember when I said I would appreciate something of a bag or container? Let me keep some of these tools, or give me something useful, maybe some more valuable components of your leftover scrap, and I will drop 50 credits each!"

He was having a lot of fun auctioning off all that he could think of. It was almost like he was letting off a radiant gleeful aura as he spoke, his tone growing ever-so-slightly more excited with each new possibility new things could bring him.

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

"Of course! Let me get those for you—" Eager to please, Val scurried back into the ship and began rifling through the mess. He found three bags of varying size and materials, then moved to where the bug had left the toolbox. He remembered Chkhoz's pleasure when using the fusioncutter; he grabbed the tool, then decided to throw the rest of the toolbox in with it. Whether he might need these tools later didn't concern him. In the moment, all he cared about was making the bug happy.

As for scrap parts and components, he had no clue which ones the Verpine would deem "useful", and he didn't know the value of anything he collected. After spinning around to look at everything, growing increasingly uncertain, he rushed to the top of the loading ramp and called down to the bug. "I don't know which ones you might like," he said, in the tone of someone trying to coax a friend into choosing their own gift without directly asking what they wanted. "How about you come in here and take a look? As long as it isn't something I want to keep, you can have whatever strikes your fancy."

| Chkhoz Pikeyy |​

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

The Verpine obliged and quickly clambered up the loading ramp in an insect-like fashion. This payment could finally be his big break; he could try and construct something without being set back! All sorts of opportunities were in store for the eccentric alien. He stepped inside to take a peek at what the dude had in store for him.

He first saw the practical multi-tool that he had first used, but felt bad for Val and decided to just take a few of its modular parts that he could use on his own tool.

"...Excellent, 50 for these is fine--oh that is nice too... that, I had forgotten about that..."

He referred to the prized fusioncutter that the insectoid figured came from the ship. He picked it up, and began to observe it further. In a few moments he was able to dismantle it and check its power cell. It was one he had never seen before, perhaps employed by the makers of Val's ship, or it was an commercial model made only for a cooperation between companies. It soon dawned on him that it was likely an afterthought made to make selling fancy ships like the Stardust a bit easier. Sleazy salesmen would sweeten the deal with a little ship-repair starter kit, and would market it all, gouged, and as a bundle.

He put it fusioncutter back together, and let it burn its beautiful hue once more. Sadly, its power had already begun to die down, and if the Verpine remembered correctly, he hadn't even used it, prolonged. for too long of a time; definitely not as long as the standard set by most fusioncutters. It was a burner, not super practical, but it did work when it needed to; which in turn, did make it perfect for civilian grade-ships when he thought about it. If anyone were to view the tool with as much scrutiny as Chkhoz did, they would quickly realize it looked a lot nicer, and a lot more expensive, than it actually was.

"This is not a bad cutter by any means, but I do not find it is very reliable, once you take it apart and see what is in there. Still, it is worth well over 50 credits, I will cut out 150 for you for it...50 off for the toolbox. This bag looks nice, so that is another 50 off there... now let me see what you have here..."

He searched through the assorted junk, examining pieces of metal with his powerful eyes and placing the most versatile ones in the bag he liked. He didn't see anything too special, and decided to opt for fitting the most of the more common metals, components, and materials into the bag until it was nearly full.

"I believe that's the best of it. I can play around a lot with this stuff. For these, I think...85 off is reasonable..."

He placed all that he wanted together, and began counting up his subtotal for his would-be client. He counted up with each object and subtracted that from his original 800 credit fee.

"That should all be...415 credits. 1,000...with 585 off. I hope you find the price satisfactory."

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

Val watched in strained fascination as the bug dismantled the parts, remarking on their quality and usefulness, then skittered around the ship. Though the bag was nearly full, it hardly made a dent in the mess, and nothing of what he took made any difference to Val... except one piece. Without saying anything to Chkhoz about it, he waited until the bug's back was turned before deftly reaching in and slipping the small, shiny part into his hand. He held it clasped behind his back - somewhat conspicuous, but then his costume had no pockets.

"That sounds like a steal," he replied, smiling brightly. "Let me get the money for you..."

He walked backwards into his quarters, taking the opportunity to hide the part in a drawer - why he was being so obviously secretive about it was anyone's guess - then opened a drawer filled, quite literally, with credits. He counted out the money piece by piece, fumbled around until he found a small black bag, then swept the credits into it, making quite a lot of noise as the pieces jangled together. He reemerged from his room and held the bag out to Chkhoz. But for Val's genuine innocence, it would have looked more like a drug-dealer or smuggler's transaction.

"Here you go. I already counted it, so you don't have to." Trying to be helpful, as always.

| Chkhoz Pikeyy |​

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

Chkhoz didn't notice Val's deft repossessing of the exceptional piece, and quickly gathered all that he was owed accordingly. It was a nice payout. While he could have gotten much more, the bug just wanted to get it over with so he could go play with his new toys.

"It is all in order then, thank you friend, these will allow me to do a great many things. The next time I am visiting Coruscant, I will try check up on you and the Stardust, but for now, I will be leaving."

He soundly stepped towards the exit; his haul shifting to and fro subtly.

"Thanks again for all this, and that little talk we had about the force... I think I will look into that soon enough."

He was ready to go, but he remained a for a few moments in case Val wanted to say some final words before he was released, and promptly departed.

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

Standing at the top of the ramp, Val stooped slightly to glimpse the Verpine on his way out. “See ya later bug man.” He paused thoughtfully. “I never did catch your name...”

| Chkhoz Pikeyy |​

 

[Chkhoz Pikeyy]

The Verpine turned around at the end of the ramp and waved to his friend.

"It's Chkhoz! Pikeyy! Maybe one day you will see that name under 'members of the grand Techno-Union' , and you would have been one of the few helped me get there! So, who were you again?"

Making friends wasn't his favorite, but he had his moments. Whatever the case, and at any pace, the young bug was looking up, and was itching to try his hand in the world of fabrication.

With that, he was ready to leave the hanger with more than he had entered with, which was his ultimate goal in this interaction. The Wooks would be interested in what new things he would bring with him, that, and what he could do for their ships. They wanted one last upgrade before he prepared to fly the coop for good, and in all intents and purposes, the insectoid had no problem with that.

| Val Drutin |​

 

[Val Drutin]

Val blinked, his face coloring a little from embarrassment. Neither of them had ever really introduced themselves, had they?

He smiled shyly. “Valerian Drutin. But everyone calls me Val.” He had only a vague idea of what the Techno-Union even was, but it sounded cool. “I’m glad to have helped you. You helped me. We helped each other.”

There wasn’t much else he could say. Shuffling his feet, he mumbled, “Uh, goodbye then. Take care of yourself...” and disappeared inside of the ship.

| Chkhoz Pikeyy |​