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The lap pool was usually a place for exercise of the mind and body. A quiet place to work cardio without the strain of gravity while enjoying the soothing touch of cool water.
Today, it had been commandeered and transformed into…a boat racing track. Rope had been run to create “lanes” in the lap pool, with some cute hommeade decorations in the form of Voidbreaker-colored little flags along the perimitter.
The vice-Captain, who had set this all into motion, was readying her own boat. She had worked meticulously on it. But she stepped away from it, leaving it docked, to survey the rest of the deck and it’s makeshift banners.
“You sure you don’t mind being the officiant, Cappy?” Zig called out to Mune Cinteroph.
Across the way, Proconsul Alex Draconis went about doing whatever it was a Proconsul did, while Steven, his KX-series droid, prepared the small pop-up bar with drinks and food choices from the grill.
Zig had sent the invitiations. Now she just needed folks to meander in, and those that registered for the race to show up.
Revs was laying in his bed half asleep when his comlink went off. He qued up the audio message and listened to Zigs invite. “Hell yea!” He all but jumped out of bed.
A short while later he walked into the lap pool are holding a small toy boat, it’s paint was faded, with chips in the plastic and what looked like little cannon ports roughly drawn on with markers.
Noticing the odd looks he was getting from the others gathered around and sensing their confusion Revs tucked the toy boat under his arm. “Don’t judge me.”
“I would never,” Zig professed. Though her Tinkerers Eye narrowed slightly at the boat.
She knew he didn’t make it. But the rules hand not said you needed to. A boat was a boat and was fair game.
Ele walked into the pool area, enjoying the smell of the water. He’d been quite excited for the games that had been set up. The first match had been decided on, a toy boat race. Ele decided to build his own, and he was proud of his creation.
Approaching the others, he presented his boat to Zig. A flat looking raft, which had clearly been haphazardly cut, and an interestingly cut sail that clearly wasn’t catching the wind(ī Regardless of how ugly the boat was, Ele was proud of his creation.
“One boat, ready to go!”“
Xee’s “boat” looked like a child’s toy that had survived a swoop crash, a junkyard heist, and a rainbow unity parade. Half-welded swoop-bike scraps and festival float glitter jutted out from neon-painted hull plating. Bright streamers trailed from the stern, tangling around a tiny battered droid dome figurehead on the prow that looked ready to pop off and sink the whole thing. But underneath all the neon and glitter was a hidden floaty base, a chunky slab of scrap foam bolted on to keep it afloat.
Somewhere inside its itty-bitty chassis, a tiny motor…or reactor, maybe…fueled the effects with a scary hum that did not inspire safety confidence. The non-motorized propeller looked suspiciously like it had been stolen directly from a desk fan (toootally not Zig’s o.o).
It was heavy, but it floated, so technically it could race, right? Besides, putting it together was way more fun than winning.
“Rainbow Rebel is ready, Captains!”
She casually up and abandoned it to see if Nicfer or anyone else needed assistance.
<@163419371568365568>
Zig studied the Zeltron’s design, thoughtful. She noted the choice of parts and aprecaited the flare in the color palette. Very unconventional and avant guard. The propeller looked…very, very familiar, and yet…
SUCH ELEGANCE!
“Excellent job, Xee. Stand by.”
“This is stupid.”
“…I’m not a child. Who does this?”
“If you show up, you are going to be the only one there.”
“….plus it will make you look lame…”
These are the thoughts that went through Nicfers mind and she walked to where the lap pool was on the Voidbreaker. In her hands, a boat that looked sound. Nothing fancy, nothing elegant. Just a basic shape and a spild drive system put together from parts she had spare on her ship. The only marks of flare where the ship was the same blue as her hair, and one of her piercings in her ear was removed to serve as a bit of flash. A good luck charm. If Zig ever found out she spent more than five minutes on this dumb boat she’d never hear the end of it.
Entering, the sense of relief that she was not thr only one washed over her. Spotting Xee and Zig, she b lined for them. Nodding to them both as she approached. The Nicfer equivalent of jumping up and down and waving hello.
“Hey. I make a ship. As ordered.”
She wasn’t ordered. She knew she wasn’t ordered. She still said it anyway.
She glanced at Xee’s ship and felt like maybe she shouldn’t have come. Nicfer knew that boat could out pace what she made and had more “style”.
“Nice ship. Did you decorate a rocket and make it float?”
That actually would’ve been a really good idea…
Zig hopped up and down with excitement, and gave Nicfer a quick hug, ignoring all sense of protocol or formality.
Nicfer let the exchange buffer as she stood there. Maybe if she just stayed still it would pass.
“What a lovely ship! Good work. I believe we have just one more ship and we can commence the Games™!”
Nicfer stood there and tried to hang on to her ship as Zig hugged her. She didn’t hug back, but she did lean into it. Either to counterbalance Zig slamming into her or because actually liked the hug but felt like she couldn’t show it, who’s to say.
Glancing back over at Xee’s ship and seeing what the other people who have arrived brought was making it clear she was out classed.
“Sure, lovely. I just hope it floats.”
She had already checked to make sure it floated. Twice.
[Crafting, Jury Rig II, 14]
Mex was always making new nick-knacks and building tools or droid modifications on their spare time, so having an objective to meet just focused them. The night before they took a busted-up mouse droid shell from a previous mission and flipped it upside down. It had a matte black paint scheme with a welded over bottom. The mechanics of the boat were simple but elegant, with a small rotor salvaged from a terminal’s ventilation fans. A power supply that was taken from a flashlight and carefully assembled into the boat by way of a removable top for easy maintenance. The wiring was impeccable and colour-coded in case there were issues and the container gave it a water tight seal to ensure it was safe.
… With all that said it really just looked like a black upside-down trapezoid when fully assembled.
Having watched from the maintenance access hatch by the elevators they had a good look at the doorway into the gym, they mulled over whether or not they should participate. They had work to do, and always found ways to make it awkward - they could always spend time with their droids… But they yearned to connect with the others. The best way to do so was to stop slinking in the vents, shafts and engines. Coming out of the access hatch they dusted their self off and headed to the gym with their creation leading the way in their hands.
They made sure to look at all of the other boats in play. Drawn on cannons, banners, a sailboat, rainbo(w)at, and a ship-ship. Seeing everyone’s ingenuity in action was inspiring. Meandering over to the pool, they set their boat into the water gently and then furtively made their way over to the muster point for the start of the event.
Zig grinned as she saw Mex approach all on their own. There was imense pride in her eyes as she studied her apprentice, and when she saw his creation, she barely was able to contain her excitement. Mex knew from that look that Zig wanted to, very badly, take the boat they had made and study it, fawn over it, and show it off to everyone.
“Hi Mex,” she said, restraining herself instead. “You’re just in time. Set your boat into the free lane and we’ll get this competition started!”
Everyone moved into place, and set their boats down. The race would begin once the Captain waved the Voidbreaker flag.
Mune waited for dramatic affect before waving the flag back and forth. The race began.
Zig’s ship shot out quickly, causing her to jab her fist in a fist pump. “Aw yeah let’s gooo!” she hooted.
Revs toy boat light bobbed in the water. “Move!” He huffed as he started blowing air at it as if trying to blow out a candle.
“Oi! It has to go on its own,” Zig air-swatted at the Miraluka.
“stop hitting me , Revs swatted back at Zig’s hands.
Revs paused the slap fight with zig. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon ”
When Mex’s boat failed to start, the verpine looked curiously at their remote starter. Pushing the button a few more times they stared blankly across the pool.
“Don’t say that…” she said, trying to sound encouraging …just as her own boat seemed to slow down.
“Karkingschuttaballs, ugh” she swore.
Ele just sits, not really knowing what his “boat” is doing. The ripples in the water however cause it to move forward, advancing down the pool a bit.
“I know everyone’s boats are gonna do so great! Good luck everyone! You’re all amazing!”
Xee leaned so far forward cheering her rainbow raft on that she practically climbed over the edge of the pool. She whooped at Zig pulling ahead, bouncing on her toes like a tooka about to pounce.
Then her raft hit a rift, the fireworks flickered, and so did she.
“Nonononono-!”
One foot slipped on the wet edge. The Zeltron’s arms pinwheeled wildly, paint-chipped fingers grabbing for air that wasn’t there.
She was halfway to a spectacular face-first splash when the world stopped. A soft invisible shove caught her mid-flop, hovering her just above the water’s surface like a doll stuck in stasis.
Xee froze, limbs dangling, nose inches from the pool. Slowly, her wide eyes flicked sideways to find Mune, calm and grinning, one hand raised in the air like they were plucking her out of her own disaster.
She grinned upside down, hair gently dipping into the water.
“…Thanks, Cap'n! I meant to test the water temperature. All good!”
<@114916641581563913>
A casual stride carried Alex out of the locker room, a royal blue Hapan cotton towel wrapped around his waist and a slight sheen to his form making it obvious he had been spending a bit of time in the sauna. Seeing the most recent commotion, he stepped to the side of the pool and extended his arm out toward Xee, offering to help pull her back to her feet from the somewhat awkward hovering-just-above-the-water position the telekinetic grab had left her in.
“A level of exuberance for the race is all well and good, young lady,” a twinkling grin split his features as he spoke, “but I am afraid that at just the moment the pool is reserved for boats. Let us leave them to it, shall we?”
Xee planted back onto the deck and was already bouncing on her toes, saluting the Proconsul. “Yes Sir, Pecan Sir!”
At least the boat was kind of moving now…
Nicfer stood there as her boat failed to perform and not advance at all. She shouldn’t have come down here. She’s a pilot. If this was a boat race, she was sure she could perform. But building anything, good luck.
“Just do something…”
It took all her effort to not just accelerate the boat with her own power. A bit of willpower and a subtle flick of the wrist, and it would be moving full steam. No issues. None becides everyone jumping all over her. She didn’t know what would be worse, getting lectured, or coming in dead last with a failure to launch.
“Go! Go! Go!” Revs screamed as he boat started to drift forward
Continuing to sit still and “look” over the pool Eleceos began to hum a tube from home. He heard the cheers and frustrations from his friends and clan mates around him. He hoped the best for all is the competitors.
Ele never felt thought his “boat” would match the others. He was just badly to be here and participate. At the end of the day he just wanted to have fun with his shipmates.
“Everyone is doing so good! I just know you’re all going to beat me! Let’s do it!”
And then his little… “boat”… to the lead, just moving forward on a hope and a dream.
“Womp womp,” Xee said as her boat capsized. She stuck her tongue out and raspberried it before skipping over to Nicfer. “Hey! You’re doing a little better than mine. I think I added too much flair. It kinda went dead bug in the water.”
Then she noticed the Verpine’s was barely moving too. “No offense, Mex!”
<@163419371568365568> <@248898381739589632>
While she had started strong, her boat’s design had perhaps gone a bit overboard. She had challenged herself to only use recycled parts, nothing new, only salvaged. It was only fair to the others, after all.
So when her boat sputtered out, she knew immediately what went wrong. It was a curse, really. And there was nothing she could do about it. So.
“WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?” she yelled at the boat. She got down onto her stomach, hands splayed to either side of her, as her head hovered over the entrance to her lane in the lap pool. “COMEON BOAT-BOAT, DONT GIVE UP YOU LITTLE GOBLIN.”
The Vice-captain slowly pushed herself back up to a squatting position, and pouted.
Incessantly clicking the power button on their remote, Mex’s antennae twitched at the utterance of their name which also ceased their button pushing. Cocking their head to Xee, Mex could visibly be seen processing a response. After a short delay they replied.
“Hi… I am not dead.” They stated matter-of-factly as if it was in doubt before resuming fiddling with their controller - now shaking it, a small rattle could be heard.
Xi’ana watched the V-Cap sprawled out, lovingly yelling at her boat like a feral coach. Her eyes lit up.
“Ohh… Zig’s been doing great! Maybe we should do that too.”
She turned toward Nicfer’s steady little blue boat, cupped her hands around her mouth, and bellowed with full dramatic flair:
“HEY! ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR THE FINISH LINE? GET IN THERE, YOU PERFECT LITTLE PLANK!”
Then she straightened, beaming at Niccy like she’d just performed a sacred rite.
“See? Gentle encouragement. Mex you should try too!”
Gentle encouragement made no sense. The boat wasn’t sentient, it had no concept of morale. Still, everyone was doing it and they wanted to be part of the group.
“Hi! Boat! I am Mex! Operate… ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ”
The boat did not operate as politely ordered.
“It doesn’t need encouragement, it needs to not stall every few seconds.”
Nicfer muttered as her skin darkened from embarrassment. If she couldn’t make it go, she was going to settle for detonating it in the pool and dealing with the fallout later.
“I also don’t do encouragement, I do threats of violence.”
She got her hopes up for half a second as the engine went a little bit longer, but still stalled.
“Either start going or Im going use you for target practice.”
While it sounded like it was a joke, Nicfer rested her hand on her blaster she undid the buckle strapping it in.
“Your choice boat…”
Xee gasped like she’d just witnessed a marriage proposal.
“THREATS OF VIOLENCE?!” she shouted, throwing her hands in the air.
“FINALLY, SOMEONE SPEAKS MY LOVE LANGUAGE!”
She pointed wildly at the stalling boat like it had betrayed them all.
“THAT’S RIGHT, NICCY! YOU SHOW THAT FLOATING FAILURE WHO’S BOSS. BLOW IT UP! NAME IT AFTER AN EX! MAKE IT FEEL SHAME!”
She paused, then leaned over to whisper. “I do have grenades you can totally use too. Teehee.”
“THERE WILL BE NO BLASTERS OR DEMOLITIONS.” Zig shouted, now back on her feet.
Yet
“Yea!!! Kill that’s boat!” Revs cheered
Finally realizing their mistake, Mex opened the back of the remote and realized the batteries weren’t secured. They slotted them into the receptacles and pushed the power button, causing their boat to sail forward.
“Yes, V-cap'n!”
Xee whispered to Nicfer again and snapped her fingers, a flame igniting at the tip of one. “Mwaha. She didn’t say no fire…”
“And no fire,” Zig called out.
Xee pouted. “But I’m a hybrid support-class Emitter with fire-based flair!” she whined, gesturing to herself. “That’s literally my signature!”
Then she noticed both her and Nicfer’s boats actually moved and completely forgot about what she just said. “Niccy we did it!!!”
Zig narrowed her eyes and grumbled. Just as she did, her boat decided to, in fact, rejoin the race, and started to tread forward.
She folded her arms stoically, but internally she hooted in hopeful excitement.
Revs started cheering as his boat started to pull ahead
Revs jaw dropped as. He watched his boat start to float backwards
Zig felt her adrenaline pump. As other boats seemed to slow or stall, hers continued to…trudge forward.
Yes, yes, gooooood.
Ele remained cheering for everyone, not knowing his own “boat” came so close to winning but stalled out.
Xee threw up her hands as the boat went back and forth four different times. “What are you even doing! Stop teasing!!!”
Zig’s eyes shifted to follow the other boats status. He chewed on her fingernail without realizing it. She couldn’t interfere. It was up to the fates.
With threats of violence working, or seeming like it was working. Nicfer kept pushing.
“You call that moving? I seen gonk droids move faster. Put on the steam or I am gonna melt you down into heat shielding! Keep going or I am going to let Xee turn you into something explosive!”
With that last line, the boat spluttered. So maybe she took it too far.
“I think you finally broke its spirit.” Revs said dumbfounded, staring at the boats
Revs watched in pure bewilderment as his boat picked up speed in the wrong direction. It collided with the side of the pool so hard he thought it would flip out. After hitting the wall it ricocheted back in the direction it was supposed to go.
“Wait.. waitwaitwait…” Xee crossed her arms. “Is that even legal!”
“it’s a grey area.”
“Everything is a gray area for me!” Ele laughed
It came down to the final stretch. And while the sea-hardened vessels three members of Voidbreaker’s Engineering team were finally given the opportunity to overcome these obstacles and scrutiny.
Zig’s boat started to pick up momentum, just as Mex’s was about to pass it. Victory was in sight for the Zygerrian’s ship, and she almost hooted prematurely in victory. Out of the corner of her eye, her keen tinkers eye knew, however, that the dark horse ship was going to pull through.
At the last moment, Xee’s boat surged forward, crossing the finish line first, followed closely by Zig’s and then Mex’s right on its tail.
The two Miraluka cheered for their boats efforts. The Zeltron actually drew her blaster and waved it menacingly at her boat. Vioelnce, it seemed, only carried you so far.
“And the winner is: Xee!” Captain Mune announced, waveing the flag they had been given by Zig.
Zig puffed out he cheeks, then popped them with a delfating noise. She turned to face Mex and Xee. “Good game,” she offered humbly with, extending a hand shake to both.
“Everyone did amazing! You should all be proud of your efforts!”
Ele smiled enthusiastically, hoping to cheer up Zig after what was surely a painful loss of a toy boat race.
Revs fished his toy boat out of the water. “Oh well back in the shelf with you.”
“I’m sure we can all be great sportspeople.”
Ele said in a supportive but also unquestionable tone. He could clearly see Zig’s fuming aura and as the vessel’s Couselor, he only wanted to keep everything calm.
“I’m sure that my boat did the worst! And you all thrashed me greatly! Im very proud of the crew!”
Zig exhaled through her nose. “Yeah, yeah, fair point, doc.” She narrowed her eyes at Revs. “Shelf? Did you really just buy a boat last minute and drop it in?”
“No!” Revs tucked the boat back under his arm. “I’ve had this since I was a kid.”
Zig folded her arms across her chest and just stared flatly at Revs. He couldn’t see her expression, but through his unique Force vision, he could draw the picture
“Weren’t we…supposed to build our boats? I worked really hard on mine.”
As Ele spoke, his little boat finally lost its integrity and began to sink like the famous ship from that one holovid.
“I didn’t read that part.”
“Heyyy!” Revs pulled his arms out wide. “You all beat it anyway. Proof that true craftsmanship beats mass produced kids toys anyway am I right?”
Zig nodded, and her apraisers eye could see that Revs had indeed kept the boat for a long time. The details were there. “Fair, and good job mate.”
She then shifted her focus to Nicfer, curious to see how she would be taking this. <@163419371568365568>
The competition was a close one, just as their boat began to pick up the pace the match was already over. It was okay though, the mistakes would be learned from: Check your batteries and ensure they are secured before operation. Mex accepted Zig’s handshake before scooping up their boat as everyone congratulated one another. Since the competitors were aware of their performance Mex did not add to the cacophony of praise.
Seeing one of the boats sink, Mex put down their own boat and dove into the water unprompted in a big splash, collecting the remnants and placing them on the side of the pool.
Clambering back out of the pool sopping wet, they wrung out their antennae. “Hi… Debris… Violates… Pool safety…”
“Whaaa? I.. but.. how…?” Xi’ana blinked as Rainbow Rebel cleared the finish line. “It capsized and everything!”
She turned to shake Zig’s hand and praise everyone for their hard work and of course the FUN!
“I don’t get physics anymore,” she murmured. <@189568236201705472>
“Yeah, me either,” Zig grumbled out of the corner of her mouth. She forced a smile, and waved at everyone. She padded over to Mune and took the datapad she had left with the Shistavanen captain. She whispered a few things, gestured at the pad, and nodded.
“Alright crew, it’s time for the next game: Strength! As most of you know, I take leg day very seriously, but understand that some people,” she looked around the room at what was the core of the remaining crew-two lanky Miraluka, a Verpine, and…Xee. Without Sully, Druzk, and Doon, she realized that she was now the resident gym-goer.
Still, she had learned that her ego needed to be kept in check, as even her genius of engineering had failed to win the boat race.
“If you follow me, we’ll head over to the gym. The task is fairly simple. We’ll all take turns seeing how many plates we can do on the leg press. You need to be able to do one rep at each tier. Whoever can do the most weight…wins.”
And with that, Zig tied her still-short-cut hair into a top knot and lead the way towards the gym equipment.
Zig went first on the weights, exhaling as she pushed the weight up, inhaling as her legs bent down into her abdomen.
“Hah, no sweat.”
She turned to the two Miriluka. “Ok blind-boys, you’re up.”
Ele approached the leg press and felt it for a moment. He smiled before situating himself and then pressing weights. He may not look it, but his tensile muscle strength had actually improved quite a bit after years of ruthless training from Satsi. He let the weight push his legs down to his abdomen before pushing out and fully extending his legs.
“Not too bad!”
Revs hopped on to the leg press. “This is going to be easy, light weight….hmmmm.” he strained against the plates and barley got it to budge as he strained to move it. He stopped. “That was just to get the feel for it. Alright light weight …hmmmm mph.” the plates didn’t move.
“That’s what you get for skipping leg day, bruh,” Zig tutted. But when he got up from the ‘press, she had a cold beer waiting for him.
“You did great Revs! You did your best, and that is all we can ask!”
Revs grabs the beer and takes long drag. “Ahh….yea but I’m still faster than you.” He tipped the glass to Zig.
“Thanks Ele. I might need to join y'all in the gym more.”
Although Mex was built like a string-bean their body acted like a spring, pushing out before scrunching back up slowly as the weights tucked back in.
When the additional weight was added, that spring force wasn’t enough. Mex impotently sat in the leg press machine unmoving as they hid a great effort.
Zig winced, but then quickly smiled and gave the Verpine a supportive pat on their back chitin. “Hi Mex, that was super impressive. I know we talked about less vent crawling, but it definitely paid off. Proud of you bud.”
Ele was surprised that he outlasted so many of the others, but he could feel the burn in his leg muscles. He knew that Satsi would be having workds with him later. As he stepped up to test his strength again, he knew that it would fail him, but he still tried. And try as i might, the weight was to much. With a smile he looked to Zig.
“Looks like you win! You did great!.”
Xee puffed her cheeks out and pushed with all her non Force assisted might.. which was really really hard not to do. She pouted and whined. “I skipped leg dayyyy…”
She hopped off the machine and cheered everyone on, including Zig.
“Impressive thighs,” she grinned. “Wanna leap off buildings later?”
“Let’s…not try that,” Zig said with a sigh. She wiped a sheen of sweat from her brow and grinned at Ele. “I swear if you let me win, you’ll be doing laps around the Citadel until I decide to grant you mercy, Ele’.”
She grabbed a gym towel and tossed it around her neck, then blotted her face.
“Right then, to the WARRIORS OF THE MIND challenge,” Zig cackled as she padded off, expecting the others to just follow her regardless.
Mune had a datapad set up over by the chairs next to the hot tub and leisure pool.
“There will be a few rounds of trivia, you answer by raising your hand, and I will call on you-”
The Captain watched as Xee almost raised her hand, but then seemed to think better of it, remembering the rules at the last second.
“Alright then, first question…”
“Who is the recurring character with red hair that shows up frequently on the 10 BBY holonet drama "This Corellian Life” as the main characters on-and-off love interest…really Carr?“
Zig went to raise her hand, but hesitated for a moment. This was a trick question…did they mean Mar-
Her attention was distracted as the elevator lift opened and a Mirilan wearing her hoodie and baggy pants.
Revs hand shot in the air. “Revs!” Mune called.
“That would be Maria Mentos….I know that because Zig insisted that I watch the show with her one night. Then she remembered I’m blind and described everything to me…..”
Said Mirialan staggered out of the ship, bleary-eyed. “Ziggy, where’s the caf? Wait, what’s this about Maria Mentos?”
Vez seemed then to take note of the very large assembly of crew, or at least Zig’s staggering embarassment, and said “Nevermind,” before shuffling back into the lift.
Xee scratched her neon red head in confusion. “I have no idea.”
Ele just looked around, unblinking and unseeing.
“There’s a red head in the show? ”
Mune Cinteroph grinned. Zig face palmed.
“Alright, next question: How much cargo can a Minstrel-class Space Yacht hold, and how many turbolaser-”
“-90 metric tons and 6 turbolaser turrents,” Zig blurted out as her hand shot up automatically. “
Mex looked like they were about to answer, but just blinked instead and lowered their long arm slowly.
Xee raised her hand to ask a question but forgot that was for answering them. “Is that how many minstrels it can fit?”
“Yes,” Mune said automatically, the dryness of their response clear that they had anticipated it. “Point Zig,” the Captain added.
“Next question: Dajorra, our sun, is made up of what percentage of atmosphere?”
Eleceos sat back and wondered aloud…“Was any of this in the required reading? I mean…I didn’t read it…. but still!”
“It’s all available in audio-format, Doc,” Zig murmred.
…“Was that in the required reading?
“there’s required reading?”
“Oh no… I didn’t study!!!”
Zig’s palm fully covered her face and slowly dragged downwards.
“A cythraul ate my homework.”
“it wasn’t provided in brail” Revs added in to further the frustration
Mex raised their hand eagerly. “Hi, the answer to the query of the composition of Dajorra is: 70% hydrogen and 28% helium. The remaining 2% contains elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. There is significant variance on the composition of that 2% throughout the existence of the star, thus an accurate measurement is unlikely and subject to change as time goes on.”
Zig was distracted by something on her datapad. Her cheeks flushed as she quickly dismissed the notification and then tried to focus. But Mex was patient and ready for this question.
“Point Mex,” Mune grinned. Looks like we need to keep it going. This next one is avoid explosives! Oh my…“
Mune tapped a claw to their chin as they read. ” This explosive device is made up of a conductive shell, that when twisted would activate the explosive, illuminating a red ring to indicate that it is live…“
Xee practically vibrated in her seat.
She knew the answer. Only one word was out and she knew it already. Her whole face turned from Zeltron pink to red from the strain of not shouting in the middle of Mune speaking. One hand shot into the air like a missile, then started flailing. Little flames started spewing out from her fingertips as they waved frantically.
“Pick me-pick me-pick me-”
She couldn’t take it anymore.
“It'sthepressurechamber-if the mix isn’t balanced just right it’ll destabilize and the imploder folds in on itself instead of projecting the sound shockAND THAT’S WHY YOU DON’T USE SALVAGED GRAVPLATES IN URBAN SETTINGS UNLESS YOU WANT TO FLATTEN A PLAZA!!”
Xi'ana looked away, looked back, then looked away again.
"Not that I um, have experience in flattening.. a plaza…”
Mune blinked. “The answer was Sonic Imploder, but honeslty close enough,” the Captain checked the notes. “You are technically correct, which Zig tells me is the best kind of correct.”
Zig gritted her teeth but nodded.
“Alight, next question: what modular weapon was famously used by the Rebel Cassian Andor?”
The pink Zeltron appeared to go into a sudden trance and replied in a low monotone voice without raising a hand.
“ The modular weapon famously used by the Rebel Cassian Andor was a BlasTech A280-CFE convertible heavy blaster pistol.”
She blinked and looked around quizzically.
Zig blinked. Mune blinked. Zig looked at Mune as if to ask: *is…that right?“
"That is correct,” Steven the KX-series droid answered matter-of-factly off to the side.
“Alright…looks like Xee wins the trivia portion. Onto the last game…”
Alex’s head poked up above the bar where he was currently digging around in the back, trying to find one of the good bottles of Abrax. “Steven, how in the hell would you kn- …no, it is probably better if I do not ask questions I do not really want the answers to.”
–
The next and last game, or so it was assumed, was the shooting gallery. Zig had designed it herself, taking over a large section of the training dojo. There was a line drawn in spray paint in the form of a box where each member would have to stand.
Then, across the way by the matt, were a bunch of floating targets. Cartoon-like targets at a theme park, red and white in concentric circles. They floated on little micro drones and would buzz about in a pattern, making them a “living” shooting gallery.
Revs was up first.
“I got this! Hold my beer!” Revs handed his beer to Xee. He stepped up into the boxes off area and pick a set of throwing knives. In quick secession he hummed the knives down the range at the targets then turned around with his arms high. “That’s how ya do it!” He hadn’t even payed attention to the fact that half of the knives had found their marks and the other half were sticking out of the wall. “Where’s my beer!”
Zig slow-clapped. “Not bad blind-boy.”
“Hold ma beer!” Xee handed Revs his beer back although it was much much lighter. She picked up the rest of the knives and, with the tip of her tongue sticking out between her lips, launched the pile.
That.. was not great.
“Ye-yeah!” She cheered, though not many had stuck. She was cheering that they had at least hit something without any aid of the Force.
With the last one in hand, she willed the knife to spontaneously combust (because that’s totally how it works), and chucked it at a target, striking it true. The target started to smoke.
“Where’s ma beer!” She repeated, grinning at Revs.
“Here ya go!"Revs handed her back a now empty glass before darting off to get another one.
Zig ran a hand over her face and sighed quietly.
The targets reset each time. Mune made a note of the scores and nodded. Zig was up next.
“Alright kids, watch how it’s done,” Zig grinned.
She lifted her modified vambrace up, which she had adjusted to be able to auto-track moving targets better. She was never a good shot, but mechanics and crafting were her speciality, and it definitely helped.
Her wrist moved, and she focused, really focused, on the moving targets. Little red lances of light shot out, pin pointing each of the targets with passing fair accuracy. She hit most of them, but missed a few.
She made a little gesture as if blowing on the smoking barel of a slugthrower.
“Nailed it,” she grinned.
That just left Mex.
While folks were present at the designated shooting position, Mex was absent. Instead, they were sitting down operating their datapad on one of the bleachers…
As the other contestants threw knives and shot their shots, a B1 Battle Droid entered the gym, under remote operation by Mex. It marched up to the line, aimed its blaster rifle and fired at the targets. Although it hit most, a target or two were missed by the piloted droid.
Shutting down the remote operation caused the droid to momentarily power down before returning to autonomous control. Mex meandered over and gave the droid a high five. “Hi Tan, thank you for participating in the competition.”
“Roger roger”, the droid replied before walking away out of the gym and back to Mex’s room.
Ele listened to the actions around him. His vision in yhe Force gave him the outlines he needed as the multi hued auras of his competitors gave way of their positions and feats.
Taking his turn at the shooting range, the Miraluka took hold of his bows riser. As he pulled back on the finger tab, the green energy of his bow activating, building up his bolt. Unfortunately the shaking in his overused leg muscles from pushing himself too far resulting in a less than stellar first shot. He followed up with two great shots, but he knew it wasn’t enough.
The ships counselor smiled widely at his shipmates, congratulating them on their successes in these “games”. He failed to win or stand out in any of them, but he refused to let them see his weakness. It was his job, his responsibility to keep their spirits up and their mental health secure.
For his clan, his friends, his family, Ele would sacrifice his singular desires to succeed and be noticed for his talents and strengths. He would stay in the background, lifting them all up and giving them their best platforms and shots at success.
He was happy to be their support. And he’d never let them see anything different.
Mune calculated the total scores. They tapped their claw to their muzzle in introspection. “Hm…well, it seems that we have a tie! Xee and Zig…we’ll need a way to break it. How about…”
“We could do an explosive detonation challenge?” Zig asked, looking at Xee. The other woman seemed to get excited just by the mention of the word ‘explosion’.
“Okay, so, how would that work?” Mune asked.
“We both create an explosive trap and see who can keep it the smallest. Don’t worry…we can use the center of the dojo and you can use your space-power to bend it or something if it gets too big…”
Mune blinked. “That’s…a risk.”
Eveyone turned their heads to the Proconsul neardby.
Alex felt eyes upon him and looked up from the holonovella he was watching, a tall glass of something alcoholic enough it was giving off visible fumes held in his other hand.
“I do not know why you are all looking at me as if I am going to stop you from doing irresponsible things. I wrestled the terentatek…”
Ele spoke to to the rest.
“I would say that an explosion…on a ship…contained or not may not be the best decision. But I also dont want to limit your guys good time.”
Revs picked up his beer and walked behind the bar. “I'ma just….just take cover back here.”
The turbolift opened and a man in a white suit, with a tie that had a “B” stitched into it, slicked back white hair, and a pair of translucent colored sunglasses stepped off.
The Blindman stepped in and took in the set up. When he seemed to realize that people were looking at him strangely, he blinked and then had a moment of realization.
“Oh, right,” Wyndell Tyris said as he snapped his fingers, and his appearance morphed back into his usual visage. Black hair, green eyes, black jacket and slacks over a green shirt. He slipped his hands into his pockets.
“What’s this I hear about an explosion? Sounds interesting,” the Quaestor spoke, eyeing his Proconsul and idly wondering which episode of the holonovella he was watching was on.
“A controlled experiment. The idea is to make a small detonation,” Zig explained. “anyone can throw a grenade but knowing how to manage the output…”
“What do you say Xee?”
The tiny audience of two, Socorra and son Turhaya, had quietly watched the games from a short distance, clapping and cheering for the contestants. Turi especially cheered for the shooting gallery and the boat race, jumping up in excitement and shouting along with everyone else.
“That was really fun!” he said, squirming and unable to sit still on the floor any longer. It was a miracle had he lasted that long at all.
Socorra nodded, then indicated one of the two Miraluka. “Yes, it was. And look at Elecoes- show very good sportmanship. He no mind someone else win, he happy for t’em.”
“I like his… his…” Turi mimed holding Ele’s weapon.
“His bow? Well, I bet he show you if you ask nice.”
The little black haired and dark skinned boy seemed to shrink a little, suddenly clinging to mom.
“Is okay. I work with him long, long time now. Ele is very nice. All of t’em are.”
She pointed to the nearby human. “T’at is Alex, Proconsul of Arcona. He help lead the clan. Rev help dad run t’e house we live in. Mune lead t’is big ship we in, and Zig help Mune. And t’at is Xee. She… umm… well, she is usually invisible. But she, like Nicfer, Mex, and mom, we all do t’ings to help out.”
“Xee inwisble?”
“Yes. It mean cannot see wit’ eye. She is shy, like you sometime. Must have found a little courage to be here and talk to everyone.”
“Ohh…” He pointed to his chest. “Me?”
“Mhm. Your heart has lot of courage.” He brightened. “Alex there, he has lot courage too. He is Mando like mom, wear big heavy armor. We did mission together and he was shot at whole lot so momma could get through (mostly) safe.”
“Armor wike Unca Jax?”
“Mhm.”
“He Unca Awex?”
“Oh, umm… no, not quite. Different Mando clan. He is fun though, like an uncle.”
Zig started talking about explosions and Socorra thought perhaps it was time to leave, or at least get Turi far enough from it.
The strange white-haired man entered from the lift and Turi’s brows furrowed, his bright turquoise eyes confusing his Force sense. “Daddy look weird.”
Socorra put a finger to her lips. “Shh… Is disguise. He pretending. Use the Force to do that. See? He change already. Still him.”
“Ohh.”
“Sound like t’ey want to do somet’ing dangerous to break tie. May be time to go.”
“Noo! I wanna see!” he shouted. “I wanna see es-esposin!”
Turi’s little voice carried across the room, earning a few curious glances. Socorra exhaled through her nose, amused despite herself. “Of course you do,” said quietly, shaking her head. “But we have to be safe, and sometimes t’at mean not getting to see fun t’ings.”
Her pale eye drifted toward Xee just in time to hear Wyn ask her about the tie-breaker.
Xee froze mid-bounce when Wyn’s attention landed squarely on her. The big Boss-man. It made her straighten her back like she’d just been caught sneaking food from the galley, full-on guilty expression and everything. She suddenly wanted to be very invisible.
Then his words actually registered.
Her eyes went wide. “Wait… you mean… I get to-” She clasped her hands together under her chin, almost trembling. “-actually explode something?”
Any hint of nerves evaporated. The Zeltron practically skipped forward, grinning ear to ear and saluting. “Sir, yes sir! I’m a hybrid support-class Emitter with fire-based flair, Captain Quaestor Sir. This is literally my signature!”
Her squeal quite possibly indicated she was not fully grasping the controlled part of the tie-breaker. She never even replied to his question.
From the sidelines, Turi’s little hands flew up in pure glee. “Yeah, Xee! ’Spode it!” he shouted, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Xi’ana turned her head just long enough to flash him a conspiratorial grin. “Don’t worry, kid- I’ll make it awesome.”
Wyn saw Turi, grinned, and flashed him a singular finger gun. He nodded once to Socorra in a wordless It will be fine.
He then gestured towards the dojo training mat. “Alright, I will contain the explosion, Xee, Zig, do your worst- I mean best.”
–
Zig went right to work, grabbing a few tools and taking a part a cryoban grenade. With the right engineering, she could alter the chemical reaction to not freeze anything, but still have the output of air and compression. This would allow her to get the affect of the detonation, without any damage or harm. She just had to make a few tweaks…
Her tongue stuck out to the side as she focused intently with her hydrospanner and other tools.
“Kay…” Socorra replied, the slightest hint of reluctance at the edge. She bit her lip as if to say, you know I can see the future, right? And I can calculate the probability…
The mentalist didn’t have to read his mind to hear the drawled never tell me the odds.
It was just expected. She sighed and started working on a contingency plan.
Xi'ana was already elbow-deep in parts, yanking open her satchel and dumping a ridiculous spread of bits and bobs across the floor - scrap wiring, glitter-bomb cartridges, a half-charged plasma cell, and something that suspiciously looked like the core from a festival pyrotechnics drone. Plus one extra piece ripped out from the hidden center of her boat (it had been for flair, not propulsion!). She hummed off-key while wiring them together, occasionally giggling like she was telling the parts a secret.
A final flourish: a bright rainbow streamer ribbon tied around the ignition switch. She held it up proudly for all to see. “Gentlebeings, I give you… the Boom Blossom!”
She armed the device with a flourish, pink paint-chipped thumb hovering over the trigger. “Alright, Mr. Blindman… contain this.”
The click was followed by an immediate pop of harmless pink smoke.
Then a shower of glitter.
Then a loud HONK like a podracer horn.
Then an entire string of mini firecrackers going off in sequence like a chaotic drumroll.
It wasn’t big at all, it was boring and fit the assignment and, spying on Zig’s device it looked nothing like hers but it would be small enough to be a close call.
“It worked perfec–” she started to cheer, just before the last, unassuming little component she’d slapped on for “extra sparkle” went off like a ship’s emergency thruster.
“Uh oh.” Her eyes went wide.
The world erupted in blinding light. Firework shapes in every color cascaded across the room. For a split second it was pure spectacle- before the blast swelled, rattling the room like it was trying to escape its invisible cage.
Socorra ripped off her jacket and threw it around Turi, her free hand flaring with invisible heat as she summoned the Force. The familiar shimmer of fire armor coiled around them both, a thin, unseen barrier that could drink in flame and turn it aside. It wouldn’t stop a shockwave or shrapnel, but no spark would touch him.
For all her clairvoyance, nothing prepared her for it to be that karkin’ big and still growing.
And Xee…was just stood still, completely mesmerized by her life’s greatest creation.
Wyndell’s usually laid back expression went sober and serious as he extended his hands and created a barrier around not just himself, but the entire group. the translucent corona forming a shield wall.
The explosion passed harmlessly. “Nice work, Xee,” he complimented. “That just leaves you, Miss Kaliska,” the Quaestor nodded.
Zig was not nervous, or at least it didn’t show on her face. She placed her creation down and trusted in her calculations. She moved to stand back with the others. She nodded to Wyn and thumbed the activation switch in her hand.
Wyndell once again constructed the massive barrier around them all. Zig pressed the button.
The exothermic reaction from the modified cryoban grenade was not how it was supposed to work. There was no cloud of quickly-cooled air and freezing sensation. It was like a pinata opening up but no candy coming out of it.
But, there was no kickback or excess. The detonation was aural, and a faint ripple of it rattled the water in the nearby pool and other loose items, but splashed harmlessly against Wyn’s barrier, the concussive output just where the challenge had needed it.
“Whoop whoop!” Zig hooted, doing a little victorious dance.
Mune Cinteroph nodded, and addressed the gathered crew.
“Thank you, Voidbreakers. That concludes the first Voidbreaker Games. Congratulations to your Vice Captain…for winning.”
Mune mumbled under their breath.
-# “The game she invented…”