Play Testers Wanted Pt. 10

"What the holy hell Whisper?!" I gasped in surprise.

"Tada!" She said with a dramatic gesture at the eight-foot-tall tree that was ensconced about midship in a bed of dark earth taken from depths of the enclave's tunnels. "It grows fast."

"I can see that." I remarked at the tree. "Why is it here?"

"To preserve my knowledge." The Tree indicated. "I have had a vision. This world is doomed, and I took action to save what I could."

"What about the Miralukans?" I asked and I felt the tree chuckle.

"When the time comes you will make that decision." It replied coolly. As a living holocron it was a servant of the living Force. Life and death were natural occurrences and so were no true concern. However, the knowledge it carried of the Force was priceless. I didn't have to agree but I understood. I'd do what I could to help them before we left. I walked by the tree and felt upset that it hadn't asked permission. It just assumed I'd agree. I pushed out my bruised ego. The tree had been planted here thousands of years ago by living embodiments of the Force. I now had a sapling on my ship. I should be thrilled.

I reached the workstation and plugged in the schematics. I opened the file and found that not only could I not make it I wasn't even close to fashioning one. I just wasn't skilled enough to fashion a dark star alloy shield. I did the only thing I could think of, I went through my stores and built the best one I could. In my case it was a Vibranium shield powered by a red Kaiburr crystal. I had plenty of those.

"Sweet!" I said as I activated the shield and it appeared on my right wrist. The air in front of it shimmered in a pale crimson concave disk.

I returned to my training area and attacked the next regiment using three Marksman-H remotes to bolster my training. They were the same grey spheres Luke Skywalker had used aboard the Millennium Falcon way back when. I was rough on them but not half as harsh as Kyanna. She destroyed all three of the ones I activated in less than an hour. After she reflected a stun bolt back and shattered the first remote, I watched her technique closer. Her form was perfection and when one of the drones fired a bolt at her she angled her lightsaber blade and I spied a sudden flash when bolt and blade connected. The returning energy had changed color. The remote was destroyed and she smiled when its parts fluttered to the ground.

"Surfer replay that last movement sequence. Slow it down and focus on the contact point with her blade." I ordered.

"Yes boss," Surfer replied.

"I wasn't mistaken," I said, and Surfer just hummed to herself. "She's developing her own advanced technique. Clever." I called out to Kyanna. "I'll be in the ship if anyone needs me."

"Why?" Kyanna asked as she deactivated her weapon to focus on Aoki's training.

"To build a better training remote." I said and she laughed.

I stood before the forge and pulled up the schematics of the Marksman-H Remote. With a touch the hologram exploded revealing all its component parts. I dropped the necessary credits to be able to improve the patented device. I began with just the exterior. All we needed was something that could take a solid blaster shot or two. With a little tweaking I was able to increase the size of the drone's power plant and add a small shield generator. That ought to do it. I fashioned three of them and saved my progress and renamed the new droid the M1 series.

They lasted a week before she was knocking them out of the air. Kyanna saw it as a challenge. I accepted. I attacked the armor, weapons, and shields of the remote. The M2 series was born. The sphere was twenty percent larger, so it became a bigger target. The shielding was stronger as was the exterior, but I knew better than to think they'd withstand her attention for long. While she beat and battered them, I meditated on their ultimate form. I threw out everything but the basic concept of a sphere-shaped droid. They would no longer be simple dumb remotes they would be true droids with their own personalities. They would have specialized functions and the M3 series was born. They were more expensive to craft but in the end, they would be devastating and be far more than simple floating targets.

I trained during the day and meditated for a week solid building and rebuilding the droid in my mind. In the end I had something I would use daily. I revealed them in the middle of our third week of training. I spent eight straight gaming hours fashioning the guts and shells. It took another two assembling them. I sacrificed three red Kaiburr crystals to power them. It was a seriously drastic design and I patented the schematics for all three droid designs. The M3 Mark One had the most sophisticated sensor array and was designed for tracking. The M3 Mark Two was meant for slicing security systems and hacking data cores. Lastly was the M3 Mark Three model and the sniper droid that could hit a target from a great distance with ease. Last was the Mark Four, the tank. It had the best armor, an autocannon feature, and the coolest paint scheme. They all had shields, improved propulsion and combat programming, and lastly, they were silent and possessed stealth fields to cloak them.

"Who is ready for a duel?" I said challenging both Aoki and Kyanna.

"He's up to something, I can sense it." Aoki laughed.

"I know he is," Kyanna smiled. "Both of us against you?"

"Sort of," I said as I strapped on my holster. I tapped into the droids and had video and audio feed from them fed to my mask. It restricted my lower field of vision, but I'd risk it. "What do you say?"

"Let's do it!" Kyanna grinned as she picked up her weapon and ignited it. We formed a triangle and faced each other. "Something is wrong." She whispered to herself. "I sense something..."

"At the count of three," I said watching the Mirialan tense and the Twi'lek's hands drift to her own blasters. "Three... two... one... get 'em!" I said and the droids peeled off and took up targeting solutions on the pair.

Kyanna raced towards me and then at the last second her intuition warned her, and she partially dodged the stun bolt from one of the invisible droids. She cursed and reached out to try and sense the location of her unseen foes. Her blade came up and deflected the next stun bolt that sped towards her. Aoki was a whirling blue she-devil. Bolts of energy sped at her but failed to reach her. She drew her guns and fired at the droids and me. I dodged her blaster fire and returned fire. The predawn atmosphere lit up with streaks of energy speeding at their targets. Kyanna managed to strike one of the droids with her blade and immobilize it per its programming. It loudly powered down and she focused on the remaining two.

"We need to talk after this," Kyanna giggled as a stun bolt struck her left breast and she hollered. She tried to use Tutaminis to fight off the effects of the bolt but was only partially successful. Aoki saw the source of the bolt and fired but the droid had already moved to a new location.

"Need to focus," Aoki growled as she closed her eyes and used her newly acquired skill Force sight and reached out. The Force showed the hidden droids and with an amazing gymnastic vault and midair spin she fired both weapons and knocked out her targets. My stun bolt caught her before she hit the ground and she tumbled harshly to the hard earth. "Fuck!" She cursed as her left shoulder was dislocated. I rushed over and healed her.

"My bad," I said, and she shook her head.

"No, but I got three of them," she gasped as I reset her arm and sent soothing healing energy into her and then Kyanna. "So, that is what you've been working on."

"If those were firing lethal energy we'd have been in a real bad situation." Kyanna gasped. "Glad they are on our side."

"Twi'lek, approach me." The tree called out to her. "You have learned not to trust your eyes. Well done." It rewarded her with advanced Force sight for her hard work.

I reactivated the droids and put them on patrol mode while we ate breakfast and meditated. The M3's pushed us even harder and I heard few words of complaint. The days slid into weeks and so on until six months passed. I had finished my combat training and I turned my attention to Aoki and Kyanna. Aoki was a quick learner. Her natural agility shone during our sparring sessions. Kyanna was on another level entirely. She possessed a natural gift for sword play and learned and mastered the last two forms in the time it took me one. Granted the Svartalfar was, in my humble opinion, the most difficult and physically demanding of any form I had learned so far.

"Are you going to teach me?" Kyanna asked one night as we soaked in the pool.

"What... form eight?" I replied and her eyes narrowed.

"Yes, form eight... Master Katria." She laughed.

"If I do, you'll only be the third that I know of who knows it." I said. "You are shooting for the title of Battle Master, aren't you?"

"Damn straight! There is a war coming and you know it." She said staying in character.

"War?" Aoki asked as she stripped and slid into the water. "I heard rumors, but the Jedi Council hasn't said anything."

"They are staying out of it. They don't want us to fight or take sides." Kyanna growled. "I've had a vision that the Mandalorians are going to attack the Republic."

"I will meditate on this." I said. "After I finish soaking."

After our meal they slept, and I prowled the area exploring as I had before on those rare nights, I had the energy or time to do so. While at first glance the surrounding area seemed somewhat bleak with marginal plant or animal life, I had grown to love its simple beauty. I closed my eyes and tapped into Force sight and viewed it as the Miralukans did. It was only then that I noticed the girl hiding in a niche of rock above me. The twenty-foot distance was no challenge to me, but I didn't want to frighten her.

"May we speak?" I called out as I looked directly at her.

"Yes." She replied. I leapt up, caught hold of the rocky ledge with fingers and claws, and somersaulted forward to land on my feet behind her. "What are you and why are you naked?"

"My species is known as the Cathar, we are a feline species." I explained as she cocked her head and watch my tail swish through the air.

"Your aura is strange," she said. "How do you do that?"

"Balance," I explained as she walked up and stroked my ears gently. I purred as I had long ago discovered, my ears were about as sensitive as my nipples.

"You are easily aroused," she giggled.

"Katria, my name is Katria." I introduced myself and she hesitated.

"Bisieth," she said almost reluctantly. Her hand left my ears and casually stroked my ass and tail.

"Um, we don't know each other well enough for that." I moaned. She let go and I let out a frustrated groan. "Do you want to meet the others?" I asked.

"Nope, I've met Twi'lek and Mirialans before. I was just curious about you." Bisieth declared and appeared to be ready to depart.

"Why does no one train here any longer?" I asked and she stopped cold in her tracks.

"Train. We have no need of this place," she lied, and it was obvious.

"But the tree," I said, and her head came up and her posture shifted.

"The tree. You speak with the tree?" Bisieth asked in as much awe as fear.

"It greeted us all those months ago when we first arrived." I shared and she buried her face in her hands. "I sense a sad story coming on."

"We angered the tree centuries ago, by galactic standards. A select few of us act as caretakers for the facility but no one touches the tree. No one speaks with it. Its wisdom is lost to us." She said and left it brief but sad.

"Have you tried?" I asked and she shook with fear. "Easy. I won't force you to do anything that you don't want to. Can I speak on your behalf?"

"You would do that?" Bisieth asked.

"I don't see the harm. Worst case it says no." I replied. "Come back in a few days and I'll have an answer for you."

Bisieth hugged me and then raced off back to her community. I returned to the compound. There was tension in the air and the tree was the source. What the hell had the Miralukans done to get this kind of reaction?

"No." The tree said and that was that. No explanation. No story. Just no.

"I tried." I said aloud for my own benefit.

I soaked in the hot spring for a bit and then meditated until dawn. I woke Kyanna and informed her that I was feeling generous and began teaching her the eighth form of lightsaber combat. She deserved it after all her hard work. A few days in while Kyanna worked on the first few sequences I pulled down my HUD to see what quests I had pending, unfinished, or available. One was highlighted in red. My eyes snapped open and I fought down the rage and failed.

"That bitch!" I roared as I lashed out with Force burst. I charged it until the air between my hands turned dark. I launched the attack at a solid wall of stone. A huge portion of the side of the cliff collapsed. It didn't do any harm, but it got the Tree's attention.

"Calm yourself," it soothed. "She is only following her nature."

"You are right of course," I said as Kyanna and Aoki raced out to see what had happened. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Holy shit Master, did... did you do that?" Aoki said her hand shaking as she pointed to the rubble and fading cloud of rock dust.

"Yeah." I said and Kyanna made a face. "What?"

"Remind me not to piss you off," She chuckled. "What are you doing Aoki?" She asked as the Twi'lek began searching the rubble.

"Vorpalite!" She giggled as she sorted out the honey colored crystals from the others. "Don't you remember master's story about her time on Tython? The Grandmaster collected Vorpalite to use in his lightsaber. Ooh... red... blue... green... violet! I found a chunk of violet!"

"Aoki... you are a genius!" I exclaimed as an idea hit me. "You are ranked Master with pistols, right?"

"Well duh... I mean yes Master. Sorry." She blushed furiously. "What are you thinking?"

"Let me help you, Kyanna want to help us sort through this and I'll share my idea."

We spent two hours collecting the various shades of Vorpalite. It became clear the closer to the heart of the blast the darker the color of the crystal produced. It also created less of those darker colors. Out of the entire event only three pieces were true violet were recovered. Kyanna asked if they could be used in a lightsaber.

"They need to be processed to make sure they aren't cracked and so produce a clean blade." I explained and she nodded. "I am going to process the whole lot of them and try and see if I can use them as a focusing lens in a blaster."

"Wicked!" Aoki exclaimed.

"It is just a theory right now. It might not even change anything." I stated and with their help carried the crystals to the workstation and sorted them by color, quality, and value. The violet Vorpalite went for ten thousand credits per carat. Once they were processed, we had nearly a hundred grand in just blue and violet gems. I gave the nicest of the violet crystals to Kyanna for her weapon. She meditated with it and attuned it. She replaced her blue crystal with the violet one. The color was unique and was so dark it was marked down as indigo. She rushed out and performed all eight lightsaber forms with her new weapon.

"I've never seen her that happy." Aoki whispered.

"Let's see if my theory is right." I said as I cut and polished two blue crystals for focusing gems. They were inserted into two plain blasters and I took one out and test fired it. "Here goes nothing." I said as I squeezed my eyes almost closed and pulled the trigger. A sapphire bolt shot off and struck a pile of stones. "YES!" I roared and returned to the ship. I checked the specs of the pistol and it dealt out half again normal damage. "Now, let's tweak things and see if I can improve upon that." Aoki stood by my side the entire time as I disassembled the blasters and rebuilt every part and custom constructed a pair of pistols for her. In the end she had blasters that would do double damage at close range and still had enough kick at extreme range for a fifty percent bonus. The more subtle bonus quickly became evident to her.

"I can 'feel' them just like my lightsaber." Aoki whispered. "That is what you were going for wasn't it?"

"Yep."

'You need to design a logo.' An administrator informed me via private message. 'Your droids and other products need to be established as yours.'

"I need a logo." I said to get Aoki's or Whisper's input. We threw out ideas until I decided on two dark elven runes facing each other with a smoking hammer between them.

'Logo accepted and registered. Congratulations!'

"I love your logo!" Aoki declared. "I am so proud to be the first to carry Vorpalite Blasters," Aoki said in awe as she placed them in her inventory. "I have the first pair of Vorpalite Blasters!" She hugged and kissed me. "What are you going to make for yourself?"

"I don't really need anything." I said. "I tailored my equipment just a little while ago. I guess I could convert my blasters over. Once that is done, I have a bitch to put to heel." I snarled.

"About that," Aoki pried. "I've never seen you that pissed off."

"It happens to us all," I said. "I need to find her and put her down after I meditate so that balance is maintained."

"Doot dee breep beep!" M3S4 announced as she hovered close.

"I understood that!" I giggled. "I can understand droids now! How cool is that?!"

"You said you had an idea," Aoki purred. "It wasn't just the blaster upgrade was it?"

"No, but I don't know if you are up for another week or so of training." I hinted at more.

"I think I know you well enough to endure it." Aoki chuckled.

"It goes something like this. I want to disprove Obi Wan about the randomness of a blaster." I said and she grinned.

It was heresy given form. A Force sensitive gunslinger pushed to her limits. The Vorpalite pistols allowing her to channel the Force through them instead of a lightsaber. To finish her training, I had to fashion two more M3 droids. I chose the Mark Fours for their sheer firepower. Once Aoki was done, I'd give her and Kyanna one as a bodyguard.

Kyanna's training was grueling and I spent the evenings looking over the footage the M3's had of Aoki's marksmanship montage. She was eager to push her skills to the next level. I had six M3 units as targets for her weapons. We began slowly but her Master rank in firearms allowed her to accelerate quickly from one drone to three in just the first day. By the second day she was practicing with all six. On day four the drones were using their stealth fields and chasing her in and around the enclave. Even as Aoki mastered her blasters Kyanna took on form eight in short order just as I had. While she went through her sequences, I practiced her advanced reflection technique on the side. Who knew, it might come in handy someday. Three weeks, it took Kyanna just three weeks to master form eight. Aoki had turned off the safety protocols on the M3's and on the last day she flawlessly endured all six drones using lethal level of blaster fire.

"It was wise of Kyanna to teach Aoki Tutaminis," I mused as Kyanna proudly watched Aoki dance, dodge, and defeat her targets. Tutaminis was the ability for a Force user to absorb and even redirect energy up to and including the blade of a lightsaber.

"The tree hinted it might prove useful." Kyanna whispered. "She is going to wreck her enemies with great glee now."

"It is as it should be, between the two of you, you'll make a formidable team." I said. "You don't have to..."

"Oh no!" Kyanna snapped. "You are stuck with us. Besides I've never seen you in a real fight yet."

"Rest!" I hollered and the drones stopped attacking and returned to the ship. "Let's eat, soak, and celebrate. Tomorrow we leave for Malastare."