.
Underworld Lower City
Pit
Elevator to The Maze
.
naruto watched as his team-mates tried to understand what had been described to them
a city in woods they could understand, but how they disposed of paperwork
shorted their brains out long enough for the vator to reach Pitstop
.
what marks do you want as your claim,
each checks with the local authority linked to the Pit-boss, to see if their claim mark is still theirs
naruto uses the spiral leaf after he finds the spiral is in use by someone else
.
Mack takes the group to a supply area in the maze, part of their first minor claim
opening up the chained and locked area
revealing shelves filled with old used equipment and gear
most salvaged and repaired to still be useable
.
Mack describes the tricks of deep crust mining as he grabs a pack and puts in pressure containers of varied sizes into it
"the types down here are rylith, pontite, and saber crystals"
"rylith for guns, kunda for medical and communications, byrothsis for cameras and droids we can hope for"
"those are steady sellers, but rule of thumb is pick up anything crystal and pack it"
"here is a can of spray seal, create a mark the size of your head as part of the claim"
"saber crystals are only bought if someone from the jedi or other religions want them"
"they tend to sell slow, but even shards can be synthisized into whole crystals"
.
Bo swaps out with Mack after he gets his gear set up
when Naruto grabs 12 empty packs
"You won't be able to carry that much"
oddly when Naruto comes back from the shelves
ten of the packs are gone
Bo just shakes his head assuming Naruto put them back on the shelves
.
using a waterglass against the wall Bo shows some tricks for mining
"one of the simple ways to mine is if the crystal is loose then just layer the air field over the base of the crystal"
"running the net handle on the space between the glass and wall", naruto is surprised when the glass pops away from the wall
Bo spins the net 180 to catch the glass in the net, reminding naruto of the goldfish netting challenge at carnivals
"the internal pressure exposed to our lighter pressure will snap off the crystal better than any hammer"
.
"many first time fools just grab the crystal and pull to have the crystal go to shards in their hands"
"as the crystal falls use a scoop-net to catch and put in a shielded pressurized container"
"the best are kept pressurized and used for blaster or cannon booster crystals"
.
.
Underworld Lower City
Maze of the Pit
Allied Team Claim
.
cycling through a pressure airlock to reach the newer tunnel
Mack and Bo guide the trio past the collapsed tunnel that buried the attacking corp droids
catching naruto attention, Leeds waves him over, "If you see a droid alert any of us"
"the only droids that these two have are rebuilt defence droids and they look like junk metal"
"the four of us are packing restraining bolt pistols, and if we get a good hit the droid will be ours as salvage"
"once we reprogram it anyway"
.
the team of five walk down a long tunnel that narrows to single person width more than once
several times their sensors go off, causing a search of the section
.
one reading caused Bo to curse like a long hauler
pulling a red can of paint and painting long red bars on one side of the mine tunnel
"Oh those sod faced idiots, they were mining next to a lava chamber."
"If they had breached the chamber without a magma-lock they could have taken out the entire pit."
the two elders pull red cans out and go back about several hundred feet and paint floors and walls
Bo advises naruto while waiting "They are marking an area for a magma-lock, looks like we will need more than one"
after passing from the pocket area another magma-lock area is painted "to keep the magma contained if it breaches"
"else we would lose most of the mine"
.
"So kid what other places are on your world"
"Uum hold on a minute." naruto starts humming a song chanting
.
"The earth moves as a landslide."
"The water washes over."
"The fire carries through the air."
"Wind flows over."
"Lighting the sudden light."
.
"we have five major nations called earth, water, fire, wind, and lightning"
"each is home to one of the major ninja villages"
.
"what was the song you sang?", leeds asks
"Old man hokage taught me the countries and other villages by using kids songs,"
"the major nations, major villages, and minor villages are the only ones I remember at the moment."
.
miles pass, in a cave pocket that went up into darkness and down past their meager lights
crystals could be seen in the walls far out of reach of the shaft ledge
they're shocked when Naruto walks past them walking on the wall
.
shaking his head Bo whispers "ever seen anything like it?"
"nope, not even jedi or sith have ever walked walls" Leeds replies
"he says he does water also" Nameless remarks
"what is he a saint?" Mack snarks
.
harvesting the crystals and netting them as taught
he shifts them to the pressure canisters, sliding them into the pack
he brings back half a pack from the lit area
worn and huffing drops to the floor, looks at his wide eyed party
.
.
further back at the old claim
laughing forms run and tumble to the old claim door
painting the walls in tribal forms from ancient cards
one form slides to the door, pulling tools out trying for general access
"Ace, this is a Dc-90 lock its so old it can't be sliced"
burning a hole and inserting a spy
"Blitz," cursing "this pockers rigged"
"can't see whats rigged but its manual"
"Blitz, sensor just went off, I jammed it to outside"
"if their deep in the mine the scan alert won't read, maybe"
Ace signals him away from the door waving up another
"duce it" pointing to the door
.
.
Mack stops suddenly, calling out "we've got trouble"
checking his datapad "someone's forcing the door at the claim"
"Get this they screwed up so bad it put that old door into lockdown mode and they had to blow it open."
"Scanners show 11 intruders, no droids, moving out of the bunker into the new mine."
"Eight miles we've come almost four miles down."
"We have to intercept them before the lava chamber,"
"even if we beat them they could be dumb enough to blow it out of spite."
.
.
echoes from elsewhere
.
"Our friend had several trackers on him, the strongest ones were in his battery packs for his lightsaber"
"best guess is they track all lightsabers, since when would a jedi be without his lightsaber?"
.
"Captain, I noticed we have several new guards"
"Yes mum, with the loss of our guards in escaping the blockade"
"I contacted and hired several new members for the guard detail"
"I hope they can take orders better than our allies did"
"your men, your responsibility,"
"one does look old and the other small though"
"Don't worry I have shown them the 12 inch nails"
"Nails?"
"yes the ones that will be hammered through their feet if they disobey"
"they got my point quickly"
.
"Mam, when we leave for naboo they and a few others being hired will assist against the blockade"
"How will we be paying for this?"
"A few wagers made with remaining money on tatooine"
"Apparently the hutts have very high odds on our failure"
"And the others hired"
"well.."
"the old man had contacts that owed favors"
"He could not use them before as his prior employers would consider them ..."
"Beneath them"
"So he dusted off his com book..."
"Made a few com calls... "
.
.
omake
.
lost my eyebrows to a taijitsu using ninja from Konoha
he was experimenting with a old Martial Arts form: Manyu Hiken-cho from the Manyu Clan
the form allows the women to steal from others to enhance their own physical form
for women it enhances their breast size
for men the physical body and facial hair
but since many oriental types have no beard hair, it enhanced his eyebrows
you too may lose your eyebrows to Maito Gai
.