“What's Mine is Mine.”

By: Anthony Hummerston.

STARRING:

'Mama'
Rojic
Jimmi
Karnov
Niall
Kory
And introducing:
'Joe90' and 'Hen3ry' as the droids.

I’m gonna get you little shippy!

Jimmi is curious “Remind me again exactly what buzz droids can do?”

Rojic tells him. “Oh, you know, they attack the ship from the outside, and breach the hull, rip out the control cables, attack electronic systems, overload motivators, or generally tear the ship apart. They can even drill a hole in your cockpit window.”

“How on Toydaria do you know that?”

“I looked in their operations manual. Most interesting, to say the least...Hmmmm....Yes!”

“Not as interesting as a blooming great hole in the window!”

“Well, if it were a big enough hole, then at least we’d get a clearer view outside, instead of through that pitted, scratched, abused and carbon-scored piece of B-silicate-glass we’re using at the moment.”

“Talking of pitted, scratched, abused and carbon scored, I’m never letting Rojic do the cooking again. That salad he made last night was virtually inedible!”

“It’s not the food that I have a problem with, It’s his table manners that I’m none too keen on. -Spitting on his food, mashing it with his feet, and then slurping it up with a straw....Eew!”

Jimmi steers them back to the subject. “So…What you’re saying is that these buzz droids can intelligently undo anything a Toydarian can do.”

“In a word, yes!”

“I see.” Says Jimmi, not too ironically.

“So what can we do about these buzz droids? – Assuming that we don’t have the luxury of time. – Those interceptors are short range, but it wouldn’t take much to deploy more to shoot us down.”

Rojic starts a list. Apart for all the rambling and reiterating it boils down to this:

“Okay. We have five options. I think. One is ‘run away!’”

Niall agrees. “That’s always been near the top of my list.”

Kory agrees. “I’d go for that. Run now, and fight another day.”

“It’s always a valid option.”

Karnov stops them right there. “We’ve got a job to do. If the Trade Federation get their hands on Bimmisaari, then they’ll try again with more and more important systems. I can’t let that happen. Remember ‘law and order’ and ‘saving the galaxy from itself?’ That’s what the Jedi order is all about.”

“Anyway…” interrupts Rojic, “Number two. We could figure out how to fashion a fast fusion blast bomb.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

Kory isn’t sure. “But a fast fusion bomb. –It’d have to be a smart bomb, or it’ll take us with it.”

Jimmi is dismissive. “Pfft! ‘Smart bomb’ –That’s the stuff of science fiction!”

Niall coughs in a rather pointed way, “Ahem! You’re living on a spaceship!”

“Oh yeah? –Oh! I see your point!”

“I don’t think we have the tools or the talent to build such a device in such short order. Next option?”

Rojic continues. “We could aggregate the power cells on the ship – Putting a megavolt charge through a spark-gap aerial transmitter.

“How does that work?” Asks Jimmi, before gasping and putting fist to mouth, -desperately hoping that Rojic hadn't heard the question.

Before anyone can stop him, Rojic explains. “A simple spark gap consists of two conducting electrodes separated by a gap immersed within a gas typically air, so when a sufficiently high voltage is applied a spark will bridge the gap and ionise the gas and drastically reduce its electrical resistance. An electric current then flows until the path of ionized gas is arrested or the current is reduced below a minimum value we call the ‘holding current’ and this usually occurs when the voltage across the gap drops sufficiently, but the process may also be assisted by cooling the spark channel or by physically separating the electrodes hmm, yes. – Anyway, making the gap larger. This then breaks the conductive filament of ionized gas, allowing the capacitor to recharge, and permitting the recharging and discharging cycle to repeat so the action of ionizing the gas is quite sudden and violent, and it creates a sharp sound -somewhere between a sharp boom for a spark plug, to a loud burst for a wider gap. The spark gap also liberates light and heat.”

Bravely, Niall interrupts, “No return to boom and bust. That’s what we are all going to be promised.”

“No more bull and bear.”

“No more tick and tock. The clock’s running people!”

“So what does this device do?”

“In essence it produces an unsuppressed interference. Like static on the comms. It might disrupt the buzz droid’s systems.”

“Aha! Like that radio station that Rojic likes?”

“That’s Classic Kerrang FM!”

“I hate to point out that we don’t have any radios on board. What you can hear is the unshielded hyper drive coils Doppler-shifting with the idling interlock motors.” ^{[ 10 ]}

Rojic looks disappointed. “Well I think it’s tuneful.”

“You’re too used to listening to the beating of your wings.”

Kory can’t help herself. “Actually there’s a persistent annoying drone throughout the ship. Mostly when Rojic is awake. We must get one of those UV bug zapper devices.”

“Anyway, I calculate that two hundred amps at two megavolts will induce a ten kay-Ohm hangover in our droid friends.”

“That’s a hell of a night out.”

“We’re in space, its always night.”

“Or day.”

“And we all come from different worlds, where the night and day cycles are different.”

“Anyway, how long to rig this thing up?”

“Between ten and twenty hours…..” ^{[ 11 ]}

“We have about ten or twenty minutes, Rojic. It won’t take long for the enemy to figure out where we went, and what our next move is.”

“Or we can jam their frequency.”

“I think that if it were that simple, then everyone would do it. They probably broadcast on a random shifting frequency and amplitude algorithm.”

“Yeah, not easy to crack that one. -Not in real time anyway.”

“Any other options?”

Rojic reels off the last few in a rather brief way.

“Electrify the hull. -Not so effective, coz it’s a ceramic alloy mix.”

They think for a bit.

“How about powering everything down, and gliding in. We could put out some chaff in the form of electronic gizmos and stuff. Then any droids that become attached, we blast them off with blasters.”

“No blasters outside the hull, unless you count the main guns.”

“They’re interlocked to stop yourself firing at your own hull. Sort of health and safety rule I think.”

“In the galaxy that health and safety forgot?”

“I’m not turning that interlock off. Shooting yourself down is tantamount to suicide and a posthumous Darwin award.”

“Who’s this Darwin?”

“I dunno.” Says Rojic. “But when I’ve evolved into a condor, and reach the top of the food tree, I’ll let you know.”

“Besides, if we power down the ship, the guns won’t fire anyway. They rely on power remember?”

“Okay, so space suits at the ready.”

Rojic gleams at them. “I can’t get into a spacesuit. I’m entirely the wrong shape.”

“We could magnetise a giant hamster ball, and you could roll around on the top of the hull.”

“Actually I think Rojic is better utilised on the inside, in case things need patching and fixing in a hurry.”

“Okay. That’s a plan then!”

They stop Hen3ry downloading the network. (He pretended that it was the 'History Channel', they pretended to believe him!) They get him to help calculate a trajectory, and then ready themselves. Jimmi and Kory take the two adjacent hatches and Karnov the third. This way they can cover most of the outside hull of the ship with their blasters. They fill the garbage disposal airlock with anything vaguely electronic, to blast out in front of their chosen route.

“Are we actually launching the Talkie Toaster?”

“He’s going in first!”

“What about having fresh toast in the morning?”

“That’s why he’s going in. –And if I hear that phrase again, you can go in too!”

Jimmi reminds them. “Don’t forget to keep the fridge door shut!”

“No power, remember? So no light in the fridge.”

“Even with no power I bet it’s still on until you open the door.”

“Don’t start getting all Schrödinger over the fridge light now!”

They man the hatches in their p-suits. Then they execute a nifty turn, blast the garbage out, give a squirt of thrust, and then power Storm Cutter down, drifting in front of the chaff. Niall sits in the dark cockpit, and Rojic is scrambling around with a tiny torch, checking things and crossing all his fingers, toes and wings hoping that the engines can warm-start up again.

Sure enough, several buzz droids approach. Several latch on to the chaff, ripping rending, tearing, and destroying. Their electronic comms draw others to the garbage, and within a few seconds, they are swarming over everything. The talkie toaster and the pocket calculators and the drawer full of old mobile comms devices and their chargers don’t stand a chance.

A few droids are attracted to Storm Cutter. They thrust over in their little ball configuration, and then deploy.

At long range, our heroes take pot shots at the buzz droids. No luck, three blaster bolts whiz past their targets.

Jimmi gets one at medium range, it explodes into pieces. Other droids are attracted to the debris. The others scare their targets. As the remaining two approach, they both manage to get hits, and their buzz droids add to the general garbage.

The destruction, the chaff and the ship on silent running keeps many buzz droids from detecting them. They float through the minefield.

Another four droids are alerted to their presence. They scream in, and start to deploy. Three more shots blast them, but one has attached. In an instant, it starts drilling a pilot hole into the hull. By the time our heroes have angled themselves to blast it, it has bored into the hull. Inside, Rojic can hear an awful screeching noise. A pressure gauge starts to fall. Niall watches as the escaping atmosphere starts to push them gently off course, and toward another part of the buzz-droid minefield. Having no more chaff to fire or power to activate the airlocks, he can only hope that the others do their job quickly. The planetoid is also coming up fast, and looming large in the cockpit window. Rojic has located the hole at the top of the cargo bay. He pushes himself up, saving his wings. He floats to the hole as the drill-bit emerges, showering him in shards. Outside, Karnov is at full stretch. He can’t afford to miss.

The droid is changing the drill bit to a boring head, ready to enlarge the hole. Karnov fires, and blasts the little droid. It scatters in bits. Rojic has grabbed a can of hull sealant, and is applying a patch. The ship has drifted into another patch of droids. They blast away, destroying another three. The ship is starting to find the first tendrils of atmosphere. Niall swears under his breath. “Make it quick!” Kory and Karnov blast at the droid between them, shooting off both its wings, it slams into the hull, and bursts into pieces.

Seeing another dozen or so droids in hot pursuit, they duck back into the hatches, and crank them shut. They yell to Rojic to fire up the main power-plant. Rojic tries.

The engines are sluggish to restart. As soon as they have manoeuvring jets, Niall adjusts Storm Cutter’s attitude to come in steeper, hoping that the atmosphere will save them from the following buzz droids. “Okay, cut in the sublight engines!” Niall yells.

Rojic presses the button to restart the engines. They sputter, and behind his head, there is a loud pop as an overload fuse blows. “It’s not my fault!” He yells.

Jimmi is preparing for the worst, all the while running back to the cabin and nailing a mattress to the ceiling. Niall is helpless in the cockpit. He has thrusters only. Everything is powered up, but the engines are not firing, so most of the controls are useless. He closes the garbage bay doors, and angles the ship to give it maximum braking effect. He starts to wonder how big a hole they’ll make when they impact on the surface.

“This planet’ll be getting a new mine if we don’t get those engines fired up!” he yells.

Rojic has pulled off the panel to the circuit fuses. There are an array of fuses, bits of wire, nails and parts of wrenches between the terminals. He pulls the blown fuse from its bracket, and jams in a piece of metal.

13-Amp fuse. (Top)
5-Amp fuse. (Below)

He reaches back to press the starter again. The centre engine coughs and sputters, then roars into life. Niall jumps to the controls to stop their fast descent. Finally he eases back, and the ship stops its terrifying trajectory. The AG cuts in, and then the dampers a few seconds later. The crew are tossed about for a moment, and then they slam to the floor. Jimmi slams onto the mattress in the cabin. A few twists and turns and course corrections, and Niall has scrubbed off speed, though at times, scraping the hull with the tops of the trees is not in the flight training book. They sweep over the mine working facility, and look for a place to set down. The other engines cut in, and Niall banks around looking for a spot. He sees a clearing, and powers down, alighting on the small planetoid with the lightest of touches. The others extricate themselves from the fixtures and fittings, and breathe a sigh of relief.

They’ve put down a couple of kilometres from the mine. They decide to ride rather than walk, and get the speeder out. It’s a bit more battered after their re-entry.

“Are you sure it’s supposed to be horse-shoe shaped?”

“What’s a horse?”

“Dunno. Um….. ‘U’ shaped?”

“What’s a ‘u?’”

“A letter the shape of the speeder.”

“Okay. I get it. Sort of Usk shaped.”

“Yeah. Now remember, in its new configuration, it’ll veer left quite a bit.”

“A bit like Niall’s flying, then.”

“That’s a ‘fade left.’ -All planned and executed.”

“Executed is right!”

Rojic’s cousin’s speeder. -In before and after configuartion.

They mount up. In front of them is a trail through the jungle. The speeder is quite lively, probably resulting in the reduced gravity of the small planetoid. Karnov revs the speeder and shoots off. Jimmi tries to sense the force. There is abundance, but none of it strong.

Karnov is going at full throttle. He sees a creature up ahead. It is a large lizard type, somewhat like a massive Gila monster. Karvov is not stopping. He screams up to the creature, and manages to scare it. The creature takes fright, and starts lumbering at top speed toward a fenced compound in front of them. Karnov tries to pass, and pulls a tight overtaking manoeuvre. The speeder slices past, with inches between the rampaging beast, and the edges of the trees. The creature snaps at the craft, its massive jaws chomping down with only inches to spare. The speeder skims on, the creature is in hot pursuit, and on full rampage now!

Niall can see disaster fast approaching. The creature is but feet from the fence surrounding the compound. If it breaks through, then who knows what destruction and violence might be unleashed? He concentrates on the beast, letting the force flow through him. In his mind he sees the beast lifting up, and turning around. In reality the beast starts to veer right, and along the fence.^{[ 12 ]} Karnov, feeling a little guilty that his driving is the cause of all this, pulls a fast turn, and tries to lead the beast back into the forest. Niall is breathing hard. His brow furrowed. “I couldn’t quite do it. -It’s too big!”

“Size matters not. Only in your mind is it too big.” Karnov looks at the beast, six tons of angry lizard, now rampaging through the forest, bellowing with fury.

“Okay, maybe it was a bit big!”

Karnov: "Funny, it didn't seen so big from a hundred meters away!"
Monster: "Yawn.....Gulp!......Burp!"

“I guess that has ruined any element of surprise.” Jimmi observes dryly.

“What?”

“I said ‘I guess that has ruined any element of surprise’” Jimmi yells back over the creature’s noise. “Actually on second thoughts, maybe not!”

Karnov follows the fence until they come to a place where the sections can be retracted. They pull up and wait for a response. Sure enough, a few figures emerge, and approach. They are three, arranged in height order. The gates swish open.

K-59. The mining moon.

The miners introduce themselves as a man named Zakhan, a Rodian called Diall and a Bimmisaari called Pudha Gui.^{[ 13 ]}

They introduce themselves. “My name’s Karnov I’m here to rescue you!”

“This is some rescue! You came in here, but didn’t you have a plan for getting out?”

The others look at Karnov. “He’s the brains, sweetheart! .... D’oh!”

They try again. “We’ve brought arms and equipment through the blockade. If we help you to escape, then we can make progress in the senate, and get the cordon lifted.”

Gui relaxes somewhat. “We’re miners not fighters, but we’ll see what you have.”

The crew of Storm Cutter have a quick tour, and check defences and consider strategies. They ask a few questions about the metal Sisorium.

“We extract Sisorium from the mountainside, where it is blasted from the rock with mining lasers. Then the rock is broken into chunks about the size of your fist, and then refined. It is pressed into ingots for transportation.”

Karnov is getting nervous. He reckons that the Trade Federation are about to make a move, and he decides to take the speeder back to Storm Cutter, and bring the ship back inside the compound. Once landed he rejoins the others. Jimmi is examining an ingot of Sisorium. There is a small distortion in the force around the ingot. This makes Jimmi feel a little strange. Though it is not a bad feeling. -Almost like an untapped energy. Jimmi hands it back.

They go over numbers of people. There are about a dozen people of various races, and a complement of mining and menial droids.

“What about the flora and fauna?”

“There are the giant lizards, the first miners called them Ghrakhee. They can be tamed and used as beasts of burden. Though we mostly use droids now. There are flying creatures like Mynocks. –Except they eat fruit and leaves. There are plants that are not good to eat, and some that’ll eat you if you aren’t careful. We use scouts to find new metal deposits, and they avoid all the dangerous ones.”

As Gui is speaking, there is an ominous whooshing sound, and a pod is seen dropping from the sky. The Trade Federation have decided to take action!

There is an ominous clicking sound, like the cocking of rifle bolts. However instead of an army fired up ready to shoot, it’s only Rojic’s teeth chattering. Karnov turns to the others. The enemy will be at the gates within minutes.

“Prepare for ground assault! –Ooh! I’ve always wanted to say that!”

NEXT EPISODE: Defending the Indefensible?

TO BE CONTINUED......

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

Footnotes. (Click numbers to return to the story.)

[ 10 ]   Actually the original source of the Lightsabre noises.
[ 11 ]   In the RPG, one can 'take 10' or 'take 20' for extended tasks.
[ 12 ]   Even dumb monsters roll 20s sometimes!
[ 13 ]   Stupid Star Wars name alert!