Chapter 14
Materials
Nat fidgeted in the copilot's seat. "How come you don't have a lightsaber? Didn't you used to have two of them?"
Ahsoka banked the ship once she was out of the flight pattern around Sandrale City. Once she was clear of the air traffic, she set the autopilot and turned the chair around. It was much too large for her, with shoulder padding at her head level, and a back so broad that she was completely hidden from behind. "I had two of them. I turned them in when I left the Jedi Order."
"Why did you leave the Jedi? You were apprenticed to the most powerful Jedi Knight in the entire Order!"
"It's a long story, Padawan." She looked down at her belt where she had once kept her lightsaber. In its place hung the Inquisitor's stun stick. "Now I guess I've got a stun stick instead of a lightsaber. Not quite a fair trade. I've never seen a stun stick that could block a lightsaber, though."
Xho chittered from the cockpit doorway, "There are several rare materials that can block a lightsaber. May I see it?"
Ahsoka unhooked the stun stick from her belt and handed it over to Xho. He held it close to his insectoid eyes and said, "Looks to be a phrik alloy. Not as sturdy as Mandalorian iron, but effective. And far easier to obtain."
"You can tell that much from just a look?"
"I can see the crystalline structure of the metallic compounds. While I cannot do a spectral analysis by eye, I am familiar with many metallic compounds. I have not seen a phrik compound this sturdy since I had a chance to look at a MagnaGuard's electrostaff. This may have been made by the same manufacturer." Xho rolled the stun stick over, and started unscrewing the grip. "Double diatium power cell. Quite powerful. Removable shock strips. Easy to replace when they become damaged. The endcap is made of a cheaper material, as is the cap on the tip."
Ahsoka looked at the stun stick. "Maybe it's a better trade than I thought." She turned to Xho and asked, "What would it take to replicate the shape of the shock strips and make duplicates made of some kind of rubber grip material?"
"With the tools available on this ship? Simple. In the engine room Koros kept a full workbench with all manner of useful tools and equipment. A simple mold could be made to extrude shock strips from grip quality rubber. But, as I'm sure you know, rubber is non-conductive and this would defeat the purpose of the shock strips."
"Oh, I plan on making some other modifications to this thing," Ahsoka said as she reached into her belt pouch and pulled out two of the crystals she had found in the cave. "Can you see what effects these crystalline structures would have?"
Xho held the lavender colored crystal up close to his compound eyes. He chittered excitedly, "I have read of the properties of this crystal. I believe they are called bondar crystals. When plasma is conducted through them, it creates an ionic flow of electricity. This means that beam of plasma that is focused through a bondar crystal will have a strong electric charge."
"An electric lightsaber? That's a new one by me."
The Verpine handed the crystal back to Ahsoka and inspected the orange crystal. "This... where did you find this?"
"In a cave, near the ancient Jedi enclave here on Dantooine."
Xho looked at Ahsoka and clacked his mandibles together, "I have only seen pictures of this structure. This is incredibly rare. They have been found in only two places... Sacorria, in the Corellian sector... and the frozen caves of Rhen Var in the Tion cluster."
Ahsoka's eyes went wide, "Rhen Var? I was just there recently. There was a battle there, and after the battle we found an injured Clone Trooper who had survived. He's recuperating on our ship, back at the Jedi Enclave. What does the crystal do?"
"I am unsure of its effect. Zete, do you know?"
"The Solari crystal was well documented in ancient Jedi lore. Since the Jedi Archives were closed to all non-Jedi, I am unable to ascertain its exact effect. But it was rumored to be capable of making a very powerful lightsaber, but one that could only be wielded by a Jedi, and not a Sith. I assume, of course, that you intend to use it as a lightsaber crystal."
"Yes. I intend to rebuild my lightsabers. And I think I finally have all the parts to do it. I got crystals to make two blades. A phrik shell, easily disguised as a stun stick. One shorter than the other, that's the style I trained with. I never studied saber staff style, but I'm a fast learner. Two diatium power cells, one for each saber. All I need is a pair of negative resonance rings and some basic parts that I'm willing to bet are here on the ship."
Xho clicked, "If you have any need of assistance with mechanical matters, Zete and I are both experts on the subject."
"I may take you up on that," she said, as the navigation console started beeping. She turned the pilot's seat back around and took the controls. "That's the autopilot, we're at the dig site. I've got to set us down."
The ship had one of the smoothest, most responsive yokes she'd ever used. And she was used to flying top of the line military craft. The Inquisitor had apparently spared no expense.
Ahsoka locked down the console and turned off the engines. She turned the chair around again and said, "All right. Last stop on the Inquisitor Express. Nat, Xho, I'm sure the Captain will offer both of you a bunk on the Red Drexl. Zete, I'm sure you can at least get a comfortable recharge socket somewhere. As for what we're going to do with this ship... well, it's way to valuable to give up. And way too traceable to leave here. We'll have to figure something out."
As Ahsoka led them out of the ship, she heard Zete's voice from behind her, "Were you serious about the recharge socket? I have been running on reserve power for several days now."
As soon as Ahsoka stepped out into the sunlight, the ramp on the Red Drexl lowered, and Arc and Jyssa stepped out. "You okay, kid?" asked Jyssa.
"Never better. The galaxy is one Inquisitor short. Captain Motla, Arc, meet Nat Tina and Xho Fik'ta." She glanced back and added, "Oh, and ZT-47."
"Hello," said the tablet in Xho's hand.
Jyssa blinked and turned to Arc. "Did that computer just say hello?"