Procurement: A three-part Star Wars fanfic.
Posted: 2007-12-28 07:58pm
This story, Procurement is all about the Rebel Alliance's supply train. It will be presented in three short parts, each illustrating a source of supplies or money for the Rebel cause. Part one is entitled Manufacture, Part two is entitled Transport and part three is as of yet untitled.
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MANUFACTURE:
Part 1 of 3.
There wasn’t much to do in the shop. 14 year old Eran Velka was painfully aware of this. Oh there was so little one could do in his father’s shop. Inventory was smart enough to keep itself most of the time. The only thing you had to watch out for was the occasional shoplifter who would try and make off with some of the various bits and pieces that made up the front quarter of the store. Lubricants, fuel cells, some tools for those who preferred to work with their own hands, a droid of two for those who didn’t. These were the kind of things his father kept up front in the store. And the droids were watching just as much if not more than he was. Spare Repulsor cores, guidance package diagnostic kits, power supplies and other key part or specialized things were kept in the back. In the ancient tradition, one had to request such items, rather than browse the shelves for them. So this was the primary purpose of Eran, serve as gatekeeper for the mysteries of the back room. Like most teenaged boys, his personal purpose was to look at young members of the opposite sex, which he was accomplishing by patching into the external security cameras to watch passerby in the shopping district.
Looking up as the door slid open, he waved a half hearted greeting to !Xing. The Verpine was one of his father’s better customers but was all business and sometimes had issues with the ‘All prices Final’ policy of the store. Today, the big insectoid stalked up to the counter and tapped his claws on the counter. “I would converse with your father.” That look said that there wasn’t going to be much arguing about this point. Of course, it was the same look that a Verpine gave you when he was about to kill you or when he was telling you you had a drinking problem. Compound eyes and mandibles limited !Xing to ‘serious’ and ‘joking’ in terms of actual expressions that could reliably be read. More than once, Eran had wondered just what the various angles at which those antennae where held could mean. Not that it made much difference. !Xing had the personality of a stone.
Eran didn’t even have to get up to call his father down, just press the recessed switch to call him from the back rooms where the better parts and a few critical machines were kept. It took less than a minute for the elder Velka to appear, pulling off his heavy gloves that could probably block a blaster bolt. “Well, !Xing its been a couple of weeks. Been tinkering with anything productive lately?”
“Save it for someone who has time for idleness. I require some custom work done, unless you have acess to a supply of six thousand year old Duros Spatial Habitation components.” The Verpine dipped a hand into one of his vest pockets (there had to be at least twenty three of them) and produced a data slate with what Eran would guess would be the specifications for how the lost technology had been designed and mounted. Professional restoration work was what consumed most of !Xing’s time, working on contract making the old like new again. Dasc Velka looked at the information that was in his hand and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think I can scratch something up. Be nice to do some design work again. Drop by tomorrow morning, and I’ll show you some ideas and you’ll have your parts before sundown.”
!Xing nodded once. “This is acceptable. I anticipate that your new equipment should help immensely. A military grade Assembler should make it quick work.”
Eran thought his father might turn into dust at those words for a moment but was suprized at how quickly his old man recovered. “Aha, that’s supposed to be a secret still !Xing. Who told you about that?” Eran turned his head away to hide his own guilty expression, and stared at the data-feed.
Xing crossed his arms and tapped the finger-claws against carapace. “Noone told me. It was plainly obvious by the noise from your new assembler. A model I am even familiar with, the Kuat MAS-069. Standard on Venator class Star Destroyers and readily available as surplus, Yes?”
“Oh, you can hear that? I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about sound proofing the room since it is rated at forty kilohertz.” Eran heard his father chuckle and relaxed a little bit. “It’s not loud, is it?”
“Somewhat, but not excessively so. You have it properly installed at least. I have seen such assemblers installed the wrong way and shake a building apart while they ran.” The Verpine clicked his mandibles together. “Very high quality craftsmanship that machine produces. When it works right. I hope you are prepared to find out why the Imperials let it go so quickly.” Without further words, the insectoid turned to leave and walked out the door.
Eran looked back at his father and sucked in a deep breath. “So does that mean we are gonna fix it so he can‘t hear it?"
“Yeah, our client won’t be happy if word gets out.” Dasc sighed and waved a hand, calling over a droid to replace his son at the counter. “I’m gonna need you to watch this one while I draw up the kind of soundproofing we’ll need. Sith, we don’t need any trouble.” Both father and son walked back to the machine room where a six meter long box shared space with half a dozen other machine tools and a pair of half assembled wedges. Eran sat down in front of the control niche, and looked it over before checking the data pad that was taped to the side of the machine. Molecule by molecule, a J-77 Event Horizon engine came together according to the detailed plans. One of four that would be needed to complete the A-wings that would in a week be loaded onto a cargo container before changing hands six times. In two weeks, these fighters would be in the hands of a combat unit. But right now, there were some very tempermental engines to build.
…Not that it was very interesting for Eran.
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MANUFACTURE:
Part 1 of 3.
There wasn’t much to do in the shop. 14 year old Eran Velka was painfully aware of this. Oh there was so little one could do in his father’s shop. Inventory was smart enough to keep itself most of the time. The only thing you had to watch out for was the occasional shoplifter who would try and make off with some of the various bits and pieces that made up the front quarter of the store. Lubricants, fuel cells, some tools for those who preferred to work with their own hands, a droid of two for those who didn’t. These were the kind of things his father kept up front in the store. And the droids were watching just as much if not more than he was. Spare Repulsor cores, guidance package diagnostic kits, power supplies and other key part or specialized things were kept in the back. In the ancient tradition, one had to request such items, rather than browse the shelves for them. So this was the primary purpose of Eran, serve as gatekeeper for the mysteries of the back room. Like most teenaged boys, his personal purpose was to look at young members of the opposite sex, which he was accomplishing by patching into the external security cameras to watch passerby in the shopping district.
Looking up as the door slid open, he waved a half hearted greeting to !Xing. The Verpine was one of his father’s better customers but was all business and sometimes had issues with the ‘All prices Final’ policy of the store. Today, the big insectoid stalked up to the counter and tapped his claws on the counter. “I would converse with your father.” That look said that there wasn’t going to be much arguing about this point. Of course, it was the same look that a Verpine gave you when he was about to kill you or when he was telling you you had a drinking problem. Compound eyes and mandibles limited !Xing to ‘serious’ and ‘joking’ in terms of actual expressions that could reliably be read. More than once, Eran had wondered just what the various angles at which those antennae where held could mean. Not that it made much difference. !Xing had the personality of a stone.
Eran didn’t even have to get up to call his father down, just press the recessed switch to call him from the back rooms where the better parts and a few critical machines were kept. It took less than a minute for the elder Velka to appear, pulling off his heavy gloves that could probably block a blaster bolt. “Well, !Xing its been a couple of weeks. Been tinkering with anything productive lately?”
“Save it for someone who has time for idleness. I require some custom work done, unless you have acess to a supply of six thousand year old Duros Spatial Habitation components.” The Verpine dipped a hand into one of his vest pockets (there had to be at least twenty three of them) and produced a data slate with what Eran would guess would be the specifications for how the lost technology had been designed and mounted. Professional restoration work was what consumed most of !Xing’s time, working on contract making the old like new again. Dasc Velka looked at the information that was in his hand and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think I can scratch something up. Be nice to do some design work again. Drop by tomorrow morning, and I’ll show you some ideas and you’ll have your parts before sundown.”
!Xing nodded once. “This is acceptable. I anticipate that your new equipment should help immensely. A military grade Assembler should make it quick work.”
Eran thought his father might turn into dust at those words for a moment but was suprized at how quickly his old man recovered. “Aha, that’s supposed to be a secret still !Xing. Who told you about that?” Eran turned his head away to hide his own guilty expression, and stared at the data-feed.
Xing crossed his arms and tapped the finger-claws against carapace. “Noone told me. It was plainly obvious by the noise from your new assembler. A model I am even familiar with, the Kuat MAS-069. Standard on Venator class Star Destroyers and readily available as surplus, Yes?”
“Oh, you can hear that? I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about sound proofing the room since it is rated at forty kilohertz.” Eran heard his father chuckle and relaxed a little bit. “It’s not loud, is it?”
“Somewhat, but not excessively so. You have it properly installed at least. I have seen such assemblers installed the wrong way and shake a building apart while they ran.” The Verpine clicked his mandibles together. “Very high quality craftsmanship that machine produces. When it works right. I hope you are prepared to find out why the Imperials let it go so quickly.” Without further words, the insectoid turned to leave and walked out the door.
Eran looked back at his father and sucked in a deep breath. “So does that mean we are gonna fix it so he can‘t hear it?"
“Yeah, our client won’t be happy if word gets out.” Dasc sighed and waved a hand, calling over a droid to replace his son at the counter. “I’m gonna need you to watch this one while I draw up the kind of soundproofing we’ll need. Sith, we don’t need any trouble.” Both father and son walked back to the machine room where a six meter long box shared space with half a dozen other machine tools and a pair of half assembled wedges. Eran sat down in front of the control niche, and looked it over before checking the data pad that was taped to the side of the machine. Molecule by molecule, a J-77 Event Horizon engine came together according to the detailed plans. One of four that would be needed to complete the A-wings that would in a week be loaded onto a cargo container before changing hands six times. In two weeks, these fighters would be in the hands of a combat unit. But right now, there were some very tempermental engines to build.
…Not that it was very interesting for Eran.