“ I’ll do what I can, but it’ll be a while. Lot of other ships need work. I wouldn’t expect it to be back in top shape any time soon, ” Vaerk grunted out as he led them back through the junkyard.

“ As for your project, don’t know much. The lead on the ship work can tell you more once we’re there. ”

Kebiin shrugged, Lead the way, ner vod.

It wasn't too long of a walk before they began to near the base of the Wayfarer. From the approach it was clear that there was some work that had been done on the ship, with a plethora of workers bustling around the ship. Several were taking down scaffolding, while a few others were standing around the cargo ramp while loaders finished up the last few crates needed to fill up the cargo hold.

One of the Mandalorians approached the group of them, clad in powertech style beskar'gam, appearing to have recently been completely painted in gold, a pair of jjai'galaar'la sur'haii'se adorned on the helmet. Most striking was the prosthetic on her left arm appeared to be made almost entirely out of beskar. She gave them a nod as they approached her, and Vaerk spoke up to introduce her.

" This is the Goran, Maysh'la Shryke. She can tell you everything you need to know. "

Arde began to speak up impatiently, but Maya cut him off as she raised the Beskar arm with a small shake of her head. " Save your questions until after. Thank you Vaerk. " The older mechanic gave her a nod and left the four of them with her, heading over to finish overseeing the rest of the checks on the Wayfarer before it took flight. To their side, a group of cargo speeders glided past, loaded down with all of the possessions that had been on the Kom'rk.

" First things first. As I'm sure you've been told by now, your goal is remake the Basilisk War Droids. Not an easy undertaking by any means. It's important you keep your mouths shut about this. Need to know basis only. Empire get's word that we're developing tech to fight them, who knows what they'll do. They've already outlawed most of the MandalMotors models. "

" A few things to keep in mind. First, you're going to need supplies. Weapon parts, metal, energy. You need to understand you're on your own. With the resistance ongoing, the Mand'alor doesn't have anything she can spare. Getting that many credits is going to be hard. You're better off looking for abandoned mining facilities, or finding a way to take from one of the ship graveyards, like Bracca. "

" Second, you're going to need a production facility. I have no doubt you could make some yourself, but one or two isn't going to cut it. If you can secure a production facility, and get a proof of prototype, we can get more people involved. Personally, I'd recommend finding one of the decommissioned droid production facilities used in the Clone Wars. Empire can't have them all locked down. "

" Third. Plans. I don't doubt your abilities, but don't get too creative. According to history, Mandalorian Basilisks were nearly enough to crush the Jedi - And about that. Don't believe the Empire's propaganda. They're real. They have magic. An evil one tried to control Mandalore from the shadows during the Clone Wars. You may or may not run into some in your search.- " Maya pulled a Datapad out and offered it to Kebiin. "C ontained in this datapad is most of the information you'll need. List of museums, collections, and rumored sites that might contain information on the Basilisk War Droids. Empire's been cracking down on anything historic. Even more important is one part of a four part sequence. Supposedly, there's an ancient vault on an ice planet. It contains weapons, beskar, ships, and most importantly Basilisks. "

" That sequence, 621, is said to be the latitude of a grid square. The four pieces - Latitude, Longitude, Column, and Row should lead you to where the planet is located. The owner of that fragment claims that another fragment was sold on the black market. I don't have more details then that, but odds are if you can track down another fragment, you might get a clue to the others. I'd recommend Ord Mantell, Nal Hutta, Saleucami. Well known criminal worlds. "

" Lastly, your new ship. No name yet. We've outfitted it with slightly stronger armor then a standard Wayfarer, and mounted a new quad-laser cannon. It's the most we can get away with without breaking Empire regulations. You won't show up as wanted on any scans, so keep your heads down. Currently, it's registered with the Empire as a freelance transport freighter. Those crates being loaded are nerf meat, due for delivery on Taris. Info is in the datapad. It's not only a cover though. Credits need to come back to Vorpa'ya. The account info is on the datapad as well. The farmers here need those credits, Empire is giving them enough trouble already. "

" On board, you'll find your own dedicated workshops for whatever your needs except. . . " She eyed Arde for a moment with a sigh. " I was told there were only three of you. I'm not familiar with. . ? "

" Arde. I'm just muscle. "

" Very well then. Once the final checks are done, you'll be all set to leave. Your gear should already be getting loaded on. And again, I cannot stress this enough. The Mand'alor can't spare anything to help you on this. Until you have something tangible, you're on your own. So. Any questions? "

Kebiin accepts the datapad and begins to page through the information, Tam peaking over her shoulder, her eyes were wide with anticipation with a small smile, slowly growing as she watched the data stream.

Kebiin glanced at Tam, Looks like we'll be building most of this together vod'ika..

Wayii, haa'taylir sha pehea mesh'la bal jari'eyc val cuyir. vi Kelir gotal'ur Mhor ori'mesh'la Tam said in awe.. She started typing on her datapad, making new notes on her Basilisk plans and a recall code on her gauntlet controls, summoning her droids to her.

As the briefing ends, Kebiin exchange glances with Tam, Sounds like a plan, Kebiin tells Maya, How do we report in, and to who?

Maya shakes her head. " When I said you were on your own, I meant that to the fullest extent of the word. You don't report in. Communications can be intercepted, hacked, taken over. You're better off not even speaking about it beyond face to face. Keep your systems on a closed loop. You want to access the holonet, do it on an isolated terminal. No connection to any files you might have. I cannot stress enough that if the Empire gets word of this, they will send all manner of death your way. Until you've done the job, keep your distance. When it's done, then you come find the resistance. But not before, the risk is too great. Understood? "

Kebiin nodded solemnly, Understood. she looked at Tam, Time to bring the kids back Tam, time to leave.

Tam tapped a button on her gauntlet. Done. Let's get started.

" Jate'kara, " Maya said simple, giving her chest a pound with the beskar arm before leaving them with a nod.

Naz shuffled impatiently as he waited, glancing towards the ramp up to the Wayfarer. " We should really go make sure they aren't breaking any of our tools, " he said nervously, registering a grunt from Arde. The larger Mandalorian didn't waste any further time and started walking towards the Wayfarer, Naz quickly falling into step behind him.

Kebiin and Tam follow Naz and Arde up the ramp into the large cargo container, Tam lets out a low whistle at the size of it as she motions for VT-1 to join her. Ad'ika, take your vode and go over everything, ok? Check over the work bay, and then look over the ship systems with Ba'vodu Keb'ika.

The little droid saluted, Yes buir!

I'll be there in a few Vee! Kebiin called after the droid as the pack shot off in multiple directions, cheering to themselves. Kebiin did a slow circle in the cavernous cargo area Well, It certainly looks big enough to get a fighter made and haul some freight.

Tam headed towards the back of the container, Looks like there's plenty of storage back here, so we could store the components until we're ready to assemble it... She looked up, indicating the ceiling, Maybe even get storage up in the rafters...

Kebiin began making notes in her datapad, and walked over to Naz. How's it look? she asked.

“ Pretty good. Not going to be great in a fight, but we can work on that. I don’t see much anywhere to hide our illegal tech. ”

Arde walked past them, slapping a hand on the metal. “ Find a seat! I’m taking us out. No sense in wasting time, ” Arde ordered as he headed past, prompting Naz to shake his head.

“ We definitely have the space to work on the ship. At least, once we unload all this, ” Naz continued, motioning towards the cargo. “ Think we can actually manage it?”

I wouldn't worry too much about hiding places.. Kebiin assured him, Tam is pretty good at making hidden compartments, just give her the specs of what you want to hide..

as Arde made his way to the bridge Kebiin called out to him, I'll have the Astrogation calculation by the time you reach the jump point.

Kebiin turned back to Naz, The bay certainly looks large enough, Tam and I have always wanted to tackle a project like this.. We've usually just reconditioned older ships and a couple of modifications.

They leave Vorpa’ya and jump to hyperspace on course for Taris. Since Arde piloted, the others were free to familiarize themselves with their new workspaces and get their equipment settled to their preferences. Or, in Naz’s case, start pouring over all the scant material he could find on starship and droid fighter weaponry.

After about three hours, they are violently pulled out of hyperspace by an Imperial interdictor on the edge of the Mandalore sector. The Imps gave them a bit of a scare as they took an unusual amount of time scanning and questioning them, but their credentials and transponder code checked out and the Imperials allowed them to go their way.

The rest of the trip to Taris proceeded without incident, and they made it through customs easily enough. The buyer, a middle-aged Human, was waiting for them when they arrived. He paid the customs fees and his droids began off-load the ship's cargo. After a couple more hours, the process had been completed and they were free to get on with the real mission.

Kebiin and Tam run several searches through historical databases, collecting reports of minor battles from the last galactic war, several reports looked promising.

Kebiin keyed the intercom. Vode, meet us in the conference room, I think we found some promising places to start our project.

While Arde was there within a few seconds, it took Naz a few minutes to arrive to the rest of them waiting. " Sorry, I was looking. . . at . . . " he trailed off as he looked at them, seeming to still be a bit lost in thought. " Right. Sorry. What did you find? "

Kebiin held up a datapad, Locations of battlegrounds during the last war.. Hopefully most of the debris haven't been cleaned up, most of these were off the beaten track.

Tam tilted her head, Did you find something Naz?

" Nothing worthwhile, not yet, " he replied. " Just looking at weaponry options. . . So. Where are we headed then? "

Agamar. Kebiin says, There was a couple skirmishes there, and it's mostly out of the way.. s hopefully we'll find the supplies we'll need. I put the coordinates into the nav-computer, so we're ready to go if we are done here.

Tam held up a small datapad, Credits are transferred back to Maysh'la's people, so we're finished here..

_____________________________________

Agamar, a barren world that would be insignificant, but for its strategic location at the intersection of the the Braxant Run and the Celanon Spur. The world had been the site of a minor space battle late in the Clone Wars, when a small Separatist force was ambushed by a Republic fleet. Most of the Separatist forces jumped out, but a couple of their ships were not so lucky and crashed on the surface.

Upon clearing Taris, Kebiin pulls back the lever, and the stars streak and vanish as the ship enters hyperspace. Nearly a full day later, the ship finally drops out of hyperspace over the chalky-white sphere that is Agamar. As the Wayfarer approaches the surface, the scanners pick up two crash sites of Separatist ships, not much more than 40 klicks apart. They approach the first, a Separatist Supply Ship, crumpled against the landscape near a sheer cliff and see the husk of a downed Imperial AT-AT walker, collapsed on its side with a crashed Sheathipede-class shuttle behind it, lying in the rut its crash gouged. As Kebiin brings the ship down, Char rushes to the external hatch and growls softly, anxious to get outside.

Tam squishes her face against the veiwscreen as the pass over the AT-AT OOOh... Imperial walker! Wonder what that was doing here?

Kebiin pointed towards the entrance to the supply ship, There looks like a lot of damage down there.. There might be droids still active down there..

Tam's eyes widened in anticipation, and let out a sequel of delight.

Once they landed the team split up to see what the could salvage from the area.....

Tam was followed by her droids, as she almost skipped along, checking out the scattered B1's. within a half hour, she managed to get enough parts and mostly complete B1's piled in front of the cargo door of the Wayfarer that she estimated she could get two whole B1's put together, with enough to assemble a scale prototype. Alright ad'ika, get all of this into the workshop. She addressed her droids, VT-1, once everything is stowed, take this pile and start fabrication prep for file Beast trial one.

VT-1 saluted with a manipulator arm. Understood buir!

Tam headed over to the AT-AT wreck where Kebiin and Naz were looking it over Hey vod'ika, did you check that Sheathipede?

Kebiin shook her head sadly, A lmost a total loss, only good for parts for hull and plating. she indicated the wreck in front of her, This is looking more promising.

Tam pointed over her shoulder, I think I saw a couple cranes in the hanger when I was gathering parts, they might be able to be salvaged...

Kebiin perked up, I'll have to check it out after I'm finished here. We could always use a crane on salvage runs.

"If we have some kind of Repulsor lift, we'd be able to load in one of the cranes pretty easily," Naz chimed in from where he was working on the guns of the AT-AT. "Not sure if these will work for our needs, but the guns are in good enough shape to bring back. At the very least, they'll provide a good amount of blaster scrap. Found a few blaster's lying around as well. It's a shame we don't have the tools to properly salvage all this."

---------------------

While the mechanics fawned over the wreckage, Arde had a more particular goal in mind as he climbed through the wreckage of the crashed ship, squeezing through the bent metal and climbing up ruined walls as he made his way for the bridge. In hindsight it might have been easier to go through a window closer to the front of the ship, but there was no telling if it was going to be buried under the ground or not. He didn't doubt the salvage was important, but they needed a more solid lead if they were going to find a place to actually put whatever the eggheads came up with into production. A CIS Black Box might have the coordinates for droid factories on it. Or at least a flight path they could use for a better guess. The Empire had been pretty thorough in scrubbing any public records of the war since they outlawed battle droid technology.

Eventually, he found the bridge, and after digging around a bit, he managed to locate it, and smiled to himself as he brushed some of the dust off the black box. He could only hope it'd have the information they needed.

VT-1 comes speeding out of the ship and lets out a startled beep. He speeds over to Tam, where he tugs on a fold of her bodysuit with a mechanical limb to get her attention, "Buir! Buir! Buruk olaror! " the little droid frantically gestures with one of its manipulators towards the horizon where an Imperial gunship is quickly approaching. It drops towards the ground a couple dozen yards out and a squad of Imperial Army troopers disembarks, carrying their blaster carbines across their chest in a relaxed manner as the gunship takes off again, hovering overhead.

Naz cursed under his breath, watching the Imperial Gunship before opening his implanted comluink to communicate with Arde. "Vod, the Empire is here. Might be trouble."

-----------

As Arde heard Naz's warning over the comlink, he quickly pulled the black box out from the bridge and began working his way back towards where he'd entered. They were woefully unprepared for a fight with the Empire. There must've been a scout or sensor in the area that had seen them land. Hopefully he could get to the others before a fight broke out.

Kebiin's head rose out of the section of hull she was working on, grease and grime smeared across her face as she had been absently wiping her face. Are you kriffing with me right now?! She yelled to the sky. Go bother someone else di'kutla aruetii!

Tam was typing on the controls on her gauntlet, Ad'ika, everyone back to the ship. She called over the link, Did the B1's make it in storage?

Kebiin glared at Tam Really? she asked irritated, the B1's? As the other droids responded that they did get everything stored.

Tam sighed in exasperation, They're people too Kebiin!

VT-1 beeped affirmatively and then raced back to the ship as the Imperials hopped off the gunship. One of them pointed the droid out, and the officer nodded. They walked towards the AT-AT and the greasy Mandalorians. The officer addressed Tam, since she was the most visible, a level of disgust and annoyance evident in his tone. "This is a restricted area, off limits to civilian personnel. What are you doing here?"