Rick stared in wonder as Thwei casually carried a four hundred pound black bear with very little effort. He was still gaping as he followed her into her ship, where she went straight to one somewhat small room. There, she positioned the carcass so that she could work on it. In less than three minutes, she had that thing completely skinned. Rick watched in amazement as she simply rolled up the skin and placed it on a nearby shelf. Gutting the corpse of the large beast was also taken care of quickly. Rick was sure that a human hunter would have needed several times the mere minutes that Thwei had used.

Thwei picked up the extractor and used it to remove the claws of the bear. Then she removed the head and set that aside for a while. She retrieved a few storage containers from beneath one of the shelves, and began to cut the meat from the carcass. There was quite a bit of it, and she filled no less than four containers with choice cuts of fresh meat. Another four containers were filled with cuts of meat that wouldn't be as preferred, but they were still fresh meat instead of dried. That would make a large difference in the price that could be asked.

Thwei turned her attention to the skin of the creature. Unrolling it and laying it out flat, only took a few of the ooman seconds. Treating the skin so that it became leather took much longer, but in the end… she had a thick luxurious fur that she was delighted with. She balled it up and put it in the sterilizer to remove any parasites and bacteria which might infest it.

While the fur was being sanitized, Thwei turned her attention to the containers of meat. She picked them up and took them to one of the storage units. There were several of them on board, and each would store the meat in a cryonic stasis that would keep it fresh for hundreds of Yautja lifetimes, so it would certainly keep the meat fresh until she returned to Yaut.

Thwei once again passed her ooman friend who was gaping at her in amazed admiration. The stupefied nature in which he followed her, showed that he was very impressed with her skills. She picked up the bear's head and began the process of removing the flesh so that it would be nice and clean when placed on her wall. This took her quite a while, and she noted that Rick watched in total silence.

The ooman followed her into the main room where she placed the now cleaned skull on her wall. When Rick nodded in what just had to be approval, Thwei almost started purring.

BREAK

Rick shook his head in amazement at just how strong this metal was. At a deep cherry red, it was still completely unworkable. He knew from both history and personal experience that a deep cherry red was what the Japanese sword smiths had used to make the vaunted Katana. They had found that it was the coldest temperature at which a quality steel could be worked, and that low temperature forging actually made the steel stronger than it would be if forged at higher temperatures.

That wasn't possible with the strange metal that Thwei had given him though. Heated to a bright yellow orange, it was far hotter than he preferred… but this was the coolest temperature at which it could be worked even though he employed hydraulic tools as often as he could. He'd used a hydraulic press to fold the metal over twelve times. It meant that he was now working with two-thousand and forty-eight layers of this strange metal.

Three more times. He'd need to repeat this effort three more times to make sure that he fully understood how to work this strange metal. That wasn't something he considered to be a problem since Thwei-guan had presented him with two pair of what she considered long swords. He planned on making all four of the swords match in appearance so that they could be paired up during use as well. It was while working on the first of the long swords that he realized there was no need for the unusual width of the blade. By slimming it down some, he would then have enough of the alien metal to create six long swords with blades that matched perfectly.

Rick stopped and took a break to have a cup of coffee. Now that he knew what it took to actually work the alien metal, he could relax a bit and let his hydraulic tools do most of the work. He wasn't happy about being forced to do it that way, but given that the stuff was still stronger than cold iron, he really had no choice.

Rick snapped his head around suddenly as his eyes narrowed on one of the numerous drawers of his workshop. Putting his coffee cup in his left hand, he pulled the drawer open with his right. There in front of him were six matching over sized hilts that could be used. He'd made them to be mounted on a set of truly huge blades that were supposed to have been used by Saron's general in the Lord of the Rings movies. It had been decided to go with a giant mace instead, so the hilts had never been used. Now at least, they would be. Rick grinned as he looked at the sword hilts. He was sure that Thwei-guan would like the results. He finished his coffee and got back to work.

BREAK

Thwei-guan flexed her mandibles in a smile as she spread the large fur covered hide out on her bed. It was only a single fur, but she was sure that it was merely going to be the first of many. She couldn't help the soft but powerful purr that emerged from her throat as she took the nearly hairless hides to the incinerator to dispose of them. She decided that she could sleep with out being covered for a while. She would certainly gain plenty of more furs to add to her bedding. Returning to her bed room, Thwei-guan increased the strength of her purr as she looked at the now inviting bed. The mere thought of sleeping on a fur that actually had fur on it was irresistible. She just had to try it out!

Thwei-guan stripped off her weapons and armor placing them neatly in the spots on her bed room wall that had been made for them. She stripped off her clothing and placed it to be cleaned while she took a nice long and hot shower. When she got out of the shower and dried off, Than-guan went and laid on her bed. She didn't even try to resist the loud purr that rumbled forth as she luxuriated in the feeling of a thick fur beneath her.

Than-guan lay on her bed for quite some time before she finally fell asleep. The truly novel sensation of actual fur beneath her was something she hadn't really experienced before. This fur was the result of something she had killed herself, and she knew that not only was she the first one to sleep on it, but she also intended to be the only one to sleep on it.

When she woke up, Than-guan stretched in contentment. She'd slept wonderfully, because she knew that her life was finally starting to come together! She had a ship, a few sets of actual hunting armor, a few sets of training armor, good weapons, and now she was even getting new furs for her bed along with new trophies for her wall.

Than-guan didn't really want to leave the comfort of her bed. She knew it was only the new fur that made it feel so soft, but that made little difference to the way it felt. She got dressed, donned her armor, and gathered her weapons before she headed to the main hall.

Sitting down in one of the few chairs that were there, Thwei-guan began to hone and maintain her weapons. She made certain to sharpen every blade to a razor's edge. Then she started to polish her armor. She worked on it for quite some time as she made sure to remove every scratch that she could find. She was careful not to remove the damage her original armor had received during her Chiva, but otherwise she was very meticulous about cleaning and polishing it.

Upon completing the maintenance of her gear, Thwei-guan left her vessel and made her way through the various mounds and piles of junk. She found the exit to 'the junk zone' as Rick called it, and noticed that the door to his workshop was open. Going inside, she found that Rick was sitting in a chair drinking some of that coffee beverage he seemed to enjoy so much.

"Hey Thwei. Want some coffee?" Rick asked jovially.

She could see that the ooman was very pleased about something, but she had no idea what the cause might be. Thwei-guan nodded her head and sat in the chair that Rick gestured to.

"Have a seat." Rick suggested jovially as he got up to pour the alien a cup of coffee.

Thwei-guan sat down and Rick handed her the coffee before resuming his seat. She could see the smile on his face, and knew the ooman was very happy about something. She turned the small handle of the cup away from her and took a small sip of the steaming beverage.

After a moment of silence spent savoring the drink, Thwei-guan looked over at the ooman.

"What are you so pleased about?" She asked curiously.

"Well… you know those blades you gave me to work on?" Rick began excitedly.

When Thwei-guan nodded her head, he continued.

"Well, I was able to make a total of six blades out of them. Four long swords, and two short swords which are basically knives, but they all match in appearance. The swords are finished, so all that's left is the scabbards." Rick said with a smile.

Thwei gaped at the smug looking ooman. She had only given him four long swords that were made for training, but somehow… his incredible skill at making weapons had enabled the ooman to make six blades from them! He'd told her that they all matched and usually, a blade was a blade with only the hilt being slightly different. However, she knew that Rick made blades that were as unique as the individual who would own them. She glanced up at the walls that were filled with weapons and armor that this ooman intended to sell.

Rick watched as what he was sure was a surprised look cross Thwei's face. He couldn't really tell because of just how different that face was. When the alien looked at the walls of his workshop with the same expression, he couldn't help the sense of pride at everything he'd made.

When she looked back at the ooman, Thwei saw that he was holding a slightly curved sword in his hands.

"Well, take a look and tell me what you think." Rick said bluntly. "I made it like a Dai Katana, which is a long Japanese samurai sword. I made two of these, and I also made the katana and wakizashi to go with them, so there are two complete daisho."

"What is a die-show?" Thwei asked being unfamiliar with the word.

"A Daisho is a set of the blades. The Dai katana, katana, and the wakizashi. All three must match in order for them to be a Daisho. If they don't match, then they are simply three blades." Rick explained easily as he offered the weapon for her to examine.

Thwei-guan placed her mask on her head before she examined the hilt in the same spectrum that oomans used so that she could see what detail Rick had placed into it. The main body of the hilt was a color that she associated with extreme cold, but was made of a comfortable and absorbent leather. There was a twisted wire that spiraled around the hilt that went from the strange cross guard to the pommel. The wire had a color that indicated a very low heat, while the pommel and cross guard seemed to have a fairly high heat. It was strange because the actual level of heat was uniform throughout the hilt.

Rick watched Thwei examine the black hilt with red wire wrapping and gold tsuba (Japanese cross guard) and pommel. The slow movements and open mouth showed an obvious appreciation with the work he'd put into it. He'd been pondering what kind of scabbard to place the blade in and had just decided to go with a gold dragon on a plain black that had a very high gloss to it.

The blade wasn't serrated although he'd still managed to duplicate the 'flying cloud' design along the edge. The tsuba was formed of a pair of dragons with their tails intertwined at the bottom and the heads forming the top of the tsuba. Ornate, yet simple, Rick knew the sword was fully functional. He'd meant for the sword to function properly, because he'd seen how Thwei-guan had killed a bear by going toe to toe with it.

Rick knew that Thwei-guan was an alien version of a wet-work specialist. He'd seen a lot of different melee weapons on display in her ship, but only a few of what he suspected were ranged weapons. It showed that Thwei preferred to get up close and personal when she had the chance.

"The hard part was making the blades for those swords. Now that I got that done, I can make the scabbards tomorrow." Rick told her happily.

"This is finished then?" Thwei asked as she glanced at the ooman.

"Pretty much." Rick answered. "Once the scabbards are done, that's it." He added confidently.

Thwei Guan flexed her mandibles in a very pleased smile. What had been a group of blades that could only be used for practice and training, were now beautiful weapons that could actually be used in combat. The possibility of having several weapons that were truly beautiful was something that had never occurred to her, but that is exactly what her ooman friend was doing for her.