Visiting a notorious old man

[inactivechar01]

"You've got the money?" The droid asked with its robotic voice sounding a bit stern.

Augustus' response was the dropping of a cluttering leather bag that spilled open a pile of credits. All the money that the engineer asked for.

"You wanna ask how I got 'em, droid ?"

"Negative." The droid poured the content of the bag in a machine and then confirmed. "You can enter his chamber."

The heir of the Fel dynasty made his way towards the door in the shadows. His boots clattered on the steel ground, the echo was combined with the drops of water that fell on the ground. It had been a rainy night outside.

With a swoosh the door opened to reveal a well lit workshop. At the far end a cloaked figure was standing over a worktable.

"Proceed, Rolling Stone." The man's deep voice could be heard addressing Augustus by one of his most popular nicknames in the underworld.

August stepped forward looking over different schematics on various datapads. The closer he got, the datapads seemed to be showing the same thing.

A shatter beam arm mount.

"All that money for an ancient tech?" Augustus raised an eyebrow.

 

[Zef Halo]

Had it been ten years?

Certainly, Rohlan could not have spent the last ten years of his life working as an arms and technology specialist for the underworld. The calendar on his datapad said otherwise. The Mandalorian had spent the last ten years of his life working for all sorts of criminals, accumulating wealth for the future Mandalorian efforts. More specifically, the efforts and advancement of House Verd.

Today, he was designing a weapon for a young but notorious boy from the underworld. August. Or what he was mostly known as - The Rolling Stone.

"As they say, son, old is gold." Rohlan smirked as he examined the parts before him. It had been easy thinking of the idea of porting the shatter beam technology - an arm mounted weapon on droids - to a pistol for human use. The theory was easy. The practice was a whole different animal. And it even required Rohlan to bring his client here so he might explain to him what the weapon was and what it wasn't.

"Look at this." Rohlan raised a odd looking plasma cartridge. "Do you know what this is?"

 

[inactivechar01]

Augustus chuckled at the comment by the engineer about old being gold. A common phrase said by most old crooks. This one right here was not a crook by all means. The outlaw knew that, he could even smell it. The scientist might have been working for the underworld but he certainly did not posess the aura that criminals usually had.

The oddest thing was that Augustus could not feel him in the Force. He chose to ignore that as he looked at the weird shaped piece shown to him by the armored man.

"Obviously. It's a plasma cartridge."

"Correct." The robotic voice of the cloaked man replied. Even through the artificial voice, one could hear the composure that this man posessed.

"So that's why I am paying a whole bank for this ?"

"Not exactly. You see, the shatter beam uses power from the droid. It is a weapon made for droids or cyborgs. Powered by the machine's own battery. You don't have that. Can you guess the material the pistol is made of within ?"

"Looks like Dallorian alloy." Augustus grimaced. It was a material often used by the Fel Empire for numerous weaponry and general technology against overheating.

"Correct. The power of this beam. Well, it is quite a lot on a simple pistol. The Dallorian alloy is there to prevent it from melting in your hand."

"So, that's it ? A laser beam that doesn't melt my gun ?" Augustus asked slightly annoyed.

 

[Zef Halo]

The boy was impatient. Most outlaws were. Always rushing for a heist, always dashing towards where the credits were. Alas, Rohlan had to introduce to the younger fellow the weapon he had created for him. It was one of those items where one certainly had to read the manual to usee it right. Otherwise, especially in August's case, it might turn out fatal.

He couldn't let that taint his long built reputation due to a boy's impatience.

"The Dallorian Alloy is what I have used to make the most inner part of the pistol. Thus, allowing you to shoot the beam for a much longer time than usual."

"Meaning more destruction." The outlaw nodded, a smile grew on his face.

"Exactly." Rohlan nodded back with satisfaction. "Now, this isn't your conventional weapon which has its certain amount of shots. It does signal you when there are ten seconds left of use in the cartridge but nothing more."

"So how long could I keep on firing it until the mag is gone ?"

"50 seconds. That's what all ten of my tests showed."

"Sounds good enough for me." The outlaw shrugged happily.

"Good. There is yet more for you to learn about it if you plan on staying alive with it."

 

[inactivechar01]

August respected the man, although he had never seem him, he knew about his work and the success it brought to many gangs. Now, he was starting to like him. There was an oddly soothing feeling to his voice, reminding him of a long lost childood on Bastion. So long ago.

"Yeah, I'd much prefer staying alive." The outlaw smirked and let the man continue.

"Good decision." The engineer chuckled. " The maximum range this beam has before turning into molecules where it just feels warmer is 125m but 75m is the optimum range. Beyond the optimum only nom-armored individuals can be affected and that still to a much lesser degree."

"Eh, doesn't sound that bad. I am not really often in long-rage headlocks. So it shouldn't bother me much."

" Right. Still, it is important that you know of its range before using it." The man said as he began putting various
blaster components together.

"There's something more important." The armored man stated and August became serious.

Habitually, he peaked to see what was under the closk when he was greeted by a Mandalorian T-Visor.

So, a Mando.

"Go on." The outlaw urged him to continue.

 

[Zef Halo]

Rohlan saw the man approach him closer, aiming to get a look of his face. Only to be met by the cold stare of the Mandalorian T-Visor. The Mandalorian had not taken this helmet off when he expected visitors. He did not want people to know his face and the criminals were quite angry about that. His excellent work had made them get over it. August was a bit different, Rohlan judged, he did not seem to care that the criminal engineer was actually a Mandalorian. Some people still despised Mandalorians. Most were afraid. This boy just seemed neutral.

"As the law of physics states: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction-"

"Recoil ?" The young criminal cut him off. "A lot ?"

"Well, the longer you keep it firing the more it's gonna push itself back. I've actually made it usable by micronizing a certain technology." Rohlan explained. He had been working long on a project to negate recoil but it seemed possible only within a stock. He had managed to a slight degree to insert it within this project - the shatter beam pistol.

"Inertia dampener? " August asked.

"Indeed."

"That's why the bag of money ? "

"Correct."

"Well, it's starting to make sense now why I had to rob a whole damn bank for ya."

 

[inactivechar01]

So, a Mandalorian. And a genius at that. Well, it was expected that Mandalorians understood technology for war better than most in the galaxy. If not the best. Yet, there was a strange aura that the man emitted that was in complete contrast to how he knew Mandalorians. He had a much gentle aura, more like a Jedi than a Mandalorian in any case. The weird part was - the engineer did not exist in the Force. It felt as if he was dead which made a shiver run down Augustus' spine.

The criminal composed himself, he did not want to seem to obvious lest the Mandalorian finds out he was a Force user. Certainly, Augustus did not want that to happen. It was a knowledge that only the dead had a privilege of knowing. It was also a great help for wielding this future weapon of his considering the recoil it seemed it would have. The criminal was glad that the Mandalorian had put an extra effort to lower the recoil of this weapon as much as he could.

"What else do I need to know ?"

"Despite that I have reduced the recoil drastically, it still has it, as I said, the longer you shoot the more it's gonna kick." The Mandalorian explained then continued. "Yet, the longer you keep the beam on a target the more damage it is going to procure."

"Sounds nasty. I like it."

"Now to what it can actually do. You know light sabers, right ?" Augustus' heart skipped a beat thinking he was exposed.

"Uh, yeah. The damn thing the Jedi have, right ?" The criminal asked trying to compose himself.

"Correct. Well, the light saber will not deflect the beam but only absorb it."

"So how is that good ?"

"It is a 'small' good but believe me it is worth it. Some Jedi specialize in deflection to kill." The Mandalorian said with what seemed a lot of knowledge behind his sentence. "The 'bigger' good is - the kinetic energy behind this beam is extreme. That is what makes this weapon strong. A Jedi would think twice to attempt to absorb the beam when the energy behind it can knock of durasteel doors out of their frames."

"What ?! Durasteel doors out of their frames ?"

"Exactly."

Augustus was starting to love this Mandalorian's brains. Where the hell did this technology disappear to ?

 

[Zef Halo]

Rohlan caught the man's moment long change of attitude. He wondered what the reason was but could not find an answer. Whatever it was, it was possibly something personal to the young outlaw. As the conversation proceeded forward, the Mandalorian was glad that the blonde man was beginning to like the sound of the pistol he was paying truly a great amount of credit chips.

"I am glad you like it." Rohlan said with a smile, his friendly tone was obvious even after being filtered from his helmet.

"Anything else ?"

"You gotta know that this weapon although is quite a battering ram against energy shields, its damage against armors above the medium spectre is not quite great. But this is not how it damages armored targets. It is, as earlier, the kinetic energy behind it. You can be donned in a damn heavy armor, physics does not forgive." The Mandalorian explained to August.

"So internal wounds and hemorrhages ?"

"Exactly. Don't forget, it is also a strong weapon against energy shields. The continuous damage upon the shield can easily overload them."

"This turns out to be quite the multipurpose weapon, I am starting to love it."

"That's the purpose of it. It will do you fine. Now, let's test it." Rohlan said as he switched on a button to activate lights that revealed a target range at the far end of the room.

 

[inactivechar01]

The sudden flash of light revealed that the chamber was by far much bigger than it looked. It showed a lot of working materials and items around that were previously in the shadows. It was highly organized speaking of a pragmagic man, whether the droid did it or the Mandalorian, Augustus did not know.

"Take it." The Mandalorian handed him the well looking pistol.

Augustus took it and twirled it in his hands, getting the feel of it. Brilliant balance of weight, the Mandalorian truly knew how to make weapons. No wonder he charged a fortune.

Aiming at one of the targets, he pulled the trigger and the beam shot out with exceptional speed tearing apart the target. The criminal moved his finger from the trigger observing with satisfaction the result.

"That was durasteel. Thin though. Try the thick one."

 

[Zef Halo]

The elder Verd observed the damage that the shatter beam pistol was capable of. Truly, a weapon he was proud of creating. Well, porting for sentient use. In the future, who knows, mass produced? A good weapon fitting the Mandalorians.

"The pistol's great." The young man said as he fired again this time at the other target. A thick durasteel target that took of flying like a sack of potatoes. The criminal reacted with a cry of awe.

"The last target is beskar made with an energy shield, it's grounded on the floor much better than durasteel door frames."

The blonde nodded and fired the pistol at the beskar target, it immediately began being pushed back, the kinetic energy being substantial. The criminal kept it on the target and soon the energy shield gave in. The beam began making work of the beskar but the indestructible metal was too much so its energy could not pierce it. Alas, the kinetic energy behind was too strong if a being wore it.

It took almost all of the magazine before the armor was thrown away being ungrounded from the floor. The beskar might not have given in to piercing damage but the kinetic force was strong enough to eventually take the armor off the ground after being held much better than durasteel doors.

Still, it was an unrealistic situation, no one would remain in one place being fired at with that weapon unless it was a corpse.


"Perfect." The criminals voice was heard as he reloaded the pistol.