Forging a New Blade (open)

[Asori Terrek]

It was the day after her return from the planet Ambria. With her Laxum crystal in her hand, Asori couldn’t wait any longer. She needed a new lightsaber desperately. It was pre-dawn and the most of the hallways were still dark and full of shadows before the the start of a new day. They were also empty, which held no concern for the Sith Warrior, she just swept through like a ghost, until she reached the forge on the lower levels.

Perfect, she was the only one there, for now. Asori had been reading as much as she could about lightsaber constructions, everything from the materials used, to the lenses and even the styles of hilts. Finally she found a hilt one that seemed to work to her strengths. It was a long, slender model with three spikes coming out the end of the saber. Asori had also found the materials she wanted to use, a dark metallic casing with silver outlining.

Setting her yellow Laxum crystal down on the workbench, Asori moved to collect the materials. Half an hour later she had everything she needed to make a lightsaber hilt, now all she needed was to put it all together. Once more, Asori wished she payed more attention to her father’s line of work. Thankfully she knew enough on how to read blueprints to give her a start. Settling down Asori began to work.

[Asori Terrek]

Day 2

It was close to midday when Asori returned to the forge. She was still a little depressed over the lack of progress her first day. She had thought she could build a complete hilt in one day and was startled to find the day already over once she finished cutting and shaping the metal that would be used for the outer hilt. With a sigh, Asori pulled out her work in progress at a free workbench to being the second phase of her construction.

To the Sith Warrior, she felt that most of the hard work must already be done by now, but as Asori continued on with her work, sizing the lenses, and fitting the wiring in, it proved to be just as difficult as day one had been.

She never considered herself a builder of any kind, what was the point when you could purchase it already completed? But as she laboured away, there was a sense of pride growing inside of her chest with each little connection she made. There was joy, excitement, pain when she zapped herself instead of the wiring, and frustrations when something didn’t fit the way it was supposed to.

There were a few times during the day when Asori literally threw something with the Force against the wall, so fed up and frustrated that the thing wouldn’t fit correctly. By the third time, she knew she had to get some fresh air.

Leaning back, she looked at the mess before her. The outer hilt was in two sections and sliced open as she built the innards. Wires were coming out of it, the focusing lenses were at least in their proper place, just not connected to anything yet. The power cell which was located at the base of the hilt was also in place.

But it was still a far cry from a finished, and working lightsaber. With a sigh, Asori packed up and left the forge.

[Asori Terrek]

Day 3

“Oh... this looks worse in daylight.” Asori sighed when she brought out her lightsaber for another day of building. She remembered it was a mess before she left, but looking at it again, her heart sunk at how much more she had to do. Wishfully she looked to the door, wondering if maybe she should skip a day and go off into the forest.

“No.. I need a reliable lightsaber before I do that.” The Sith Warrior said with a shack of her head. “I have to get back to work.” Rolling up her sleeves, Asori got back down to it. First was to finish the focusing lenses. Asori had to round off the edges, to make it fit in her hilt, while keeping the integrity of the lens the same.

Next came the stabilizing loop, the blade emitter shroud, power adjustment and blade adjustment knobs, not to mention the on and off switch. It was a wonder how they managed to fit everything required into one of these hilts. But by the blueprints, it can be done and Asori was going to do it.

It was another long day, full of mistakes and backwards moving, but at least by the end of it all, Asori’s hilt looked better than it did the day before. Maybe... in on more day she’d have something worthy to show Lykeria.

[Lykeira]

Knowing that her student had been busy in the workshop with her new creation, Lykeira had to find out how the girl was doing. Moving from the dining hall, the Knight coursed through the busy hallways, most younger Sith doing chores or studying for the following day's meeting with their master. She had been through all that and seemed to have found a lull in the activity of working for someone else and now was the guide. Having little else to do that afternoon, the cinnamon toned witch walked into the lab, it's tables cluttered with a variety of tools and machines used for a host of projects. Seeing Asori at the far bench, boots beat a little harder as hazel-green eyes noticed a familiar look on the girl's face.

She was close, but not close enough, apparently.

"How's it coming," she queried, grin on her full lips. Rounding the long table's edge, she continued on to Asori's side, eyeing the nearly completed hilt.

[Asori Terrek]

“Oi! I don’t know!” Asori said as Lykeira walked up to her bench. “I think i’ve got it almost completed. I mean, all the parts required are in, just not all hooked up yet.” The brunette let out a yawn. She was actually almost ready to head out, but she couldn’t just ignore her Master, who knows, maybe she’d help her out.

“If it works, that’s another question.” Asori said spreading herself out along the bench. “What do you think? Am I in good shape?” She asked, a worried look on her face.

[Lykeira]

Lykeira grinned as she studied the hilt's layout, all the parts in place and ready to be connected and then finished. Hazel green eyes turned to Asori, "Not going to know that until you finish it and turn it on," she stated. "Hard to know anything if you never finish it." Not intentionally condescending, the witch was starting to notice how much like her mother she was starting to sound.

Leaning on the counter, the Knight faced her student, left hand atop the smooth surface. "What makes you think that it's not done?"

[Asori Terrek]

“I haven’t placed the crystal in it’s holder yet, and I’ve got to clip the cover casing together.... then I read somewhere that the lightsaber battery will have to be charged as well. Could take up to a day.” Asori answered.

In essence she was complete, but the Warrior was nervous, nervous she had made some mistake in a measurement, or that she forgot to connect one of the wires to the battery, or just something was going to go wrong. Her previous ligthsaber wasn’t that reliable, busted and beaten, she should have scrounged around the Dojo for a newer one, but had someone came to appreciate the old one.

“Huh.. I’m more finished than I thought... still... I wanted to take another look at everything before I close it all up. I don’t know... maybe it’s paranoia.”

[Lykeira]

"Starting to sound like a Jedi," she bit, shaking her head. "Fear only helps you to a point, then it's a hindrance. Thought you knew that by now," brow perked and personified her skepticism. Motioning to the hilt with an upraised chin, "Put it together, hook everything up and then you'll know. Get this thing done as far as you can while the battery's charging. I actually did that part the first day so it was done when everything else was complete."

[Asori Terrek]

“No i’m not!” Asori said suddenly, her checks flushing a bright red when Lykeira commented how much of a Jedi she sounded. She was only be careful, maybe a bit tedious. So she didn’t want her blade to explode when she first turned it one, was that too Jedi of her?

Lykeira’s suggestion of charging the battery first while finishing everything else was a good idea, real good. “Never thought of that.” She mused and pulled out the batter to charge it as she hooked up everything else.

[Lykeira]

Chuckling at Asori's defensiveness, she knew that everyone thought that was the worst insult to give a Sith, and it worked. Goading people seemed to be Lykeira's m.o. and she enjoyed it, having grown up that way herself. Hazel green eyes then followed her student as she then plugged in the battery to the hilt and then started putting it together finally. "Certain things take longer and don't need you to tend to them, I'd get those out of the way first and then work on everything else," she explained, though some things had seemed common sense, not everyone thought of them. "Got into that habit from my mom, when she was teaching me chemistry, making potions and stuff."

[Asori Terrek]

“She sounds like a very intelligent woman.” Asori said as she worked. It made her think of her own mother, killed when she was only a young girl. How many life lessons had she missed? She glanced up to Lykeira once before returning to work.

“Thanks for the advice.” She added after a moment’s pause. She’d take the information and apply it in the future. She still felt a little irritated, annoyed even that such a obvious method had bypassed her mind. Asori was set in building a lightsaber, following the steps she found that she didn’t think about changing stuff around, charging the battery first, sort of thing. It only proved to the young Warrior that she had open her mind up to think differently at problems she faced in the future.

[Lykeira]

"She was a pain, but made me learn things to the point where I didn't have to ask her anything the second time. Some of us take more to teach than others," hazel green eyes drifted to the project as she thought about the affection that was rarely, if ever shown by her mother. Though some complained that their upbringing put them in the dark times that they experienced, Lykeira knew that the life of a witch in the Pachmari was never meant to be easy.

She planned on being there until the saber was done and working, so took a seat and watched.

[Asori Terrek]

It looked like Lykeira was there to stay until the end. There were no more breaks, no more half attempts for Asori. It was all or nothing. An all nighter, well almost. She kept working, constantly aware that she was being watched, which only added to some of her nervousness, but she pushed through it. An hour later, everything was hooked up. She moved to the battery pack and placed it inside the hilt.

Finally there was her crystal. Pulling the yellow lightsaber crystal from her pocket, Asori inserted it into it’s slot. She knew the batter wasn’t fully charged, but that wasn’t the point now. The point now was to see if anything would happen, or if she had made a mistake along the way and her new lightsaber was going to burst in her hand.

Not guts, no glory. Asori thought to herself as she gave Lykeira a firm nod of her head, moving to a clear pocket of the room to test the blade out. She took a breath, and thumbed the one switch. There was a crackle, a hissed and a pop, but the dark yellow blade glowed to life.

A wild sense of joy went through Asori’s body. She actually did it, she actually made a lightsaber from scratch. Her father would have been so proud. The joy faltered, her father would never see this accomplishment. He was dead. Instead a dark revenge feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. This blade was so much more than just a weapon. It was going to cut through all of her obstacles, her enemies, it was going to finish her revenge. It was now a part of her.