Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 305 (Patreon)

While all of us felt a little light now that Mara had passed our test, we were not about to head directly home. Yes, we were almost certain that Mara was safe and fully disconnected from Palpy. However, we still wanted to delay heading home as long as possible, just in case something came up over a long period of time. So, rather than heading home, I shifted directly to business, heading towards Mon Cal, or rather Dac, to meet with some prospective experts from their many shipyard facilities. Admiral Ackbar's good word had sparked several offers, and now we needed to meet and interview all of them.

Before that, however, we would be meeting up with the 1st Fleet, since Tatnia still insisted I at least travel with them on official business.

Unfortunately, Mara would have to spend all of her time sealed inside our ships, without any view outside, since the whole point of not heading home directly was to give Palpy a chance to mess up if he was still able to access her mind somehow. With that in mind, even if we were almost certain she was safe, it would be rude to let her observe the facilities. Yes, it wasn't likely that she compromised, but if we were pushing for a last test of sorts, then it was only respectful of our allies to hedge our risks with them as well. 

I would have sent her off to wait at the security checkpoint or somewhere in deep space, but the Empire already knew where Dac was, they used to occupy it after all. She just needed to stay inside because even just seeing the facilities from afar could provide information Palpy might not know.

As we traveled, it took two days to arrive at the meet-up point with the fleet, and two more days to make it to Dac. During that time, I continued to work with Mara. She learned her third spell over the two-day trip, just barely getting a grip on Conjure Familiar at the end. The first time she managed to cast the spell, a large, smooth-skinned animal appeared, standing just a bit taller than my tiger. I had no idea what it was, but Mara recognized it in a second, staring at it with wide eyes.

"It's a zalune," she said, walking closer and hesitantly putting her hand on its back. "It's an animal native to a small planet on the Mid Rim. I went there while I was hunting down an officer who had stolen money and run… They were pack hunters, but people were working to domesticate them. I had almost forgotten about them..." 

The translucent, purple animal broke apart into the purple fog of a dropped construct, causing Mara to flinch. She summoned it again several times before we started experimenting with directing it.

"Later, you will learn a way to charge your constructs with extra energy, which will cause them to detonate when you dismiss them, or they are broken," I explained, watching as our conjured animals fought, as we both closely directed their movements. "It's a great way to take down someone with a melee weapon. They attack the incoming target, and if they beat it, it explodes in their face."

I spent a short while teaching her the basics of pincer maneuvers and using her familiar to set flanking maneuvers, but she caught on pretty quickly. She was a smart young woman with solid combat training, so her pre-existing knowledge quickly filled in any gaps.

Not long after she got her spell down, we landed the Star Caller in the massive central hangar of the Hope. After settling in, I gathered my crew together in one of the many lounges.

"Alright everyone, as I mentioned before, Mara is going to be joining us from now on," I explained, gesturing to the redhead. "She has been cleared from her connection to the Emperor, and I've taken her on as my apprentice."

"So you gave her magic?" Tatnia asked, glancing at Mara.

"I did," I confirmed with a nod. "It seemed like the best way to free her from Palpy's grasp. The offer still stands for all of you. You just need to let me know."

I had basically offered my whole team at this point, but ultimately, only Vaz has shown interest, and she was still thinking it over. 

"Basically, she will be learning under me, but that doesn't mean she can't hold her own, especially with conventional combat," I pointed out. "When she graduates, I will likely invite her to join the group officially, both because we will be used to working together at that point, and because we already have the smallest team in the Skyforged. In the meantime…"

I looked to Ahsoka, who nodded and smiled, reaching under a table and pulling out a large handled crate. I took it and passed it to Mara, who looked at it with wide eyes.

"Is this…?" She started to ask, only to trail off as I passed her the polymer crate.

"It's your armor," I said with a nod. "It's already enchanted and ready for use, but I'll need to talk to you about your enchanted accessories, since those aren't standard."

She nodded, though I could tell he was barely taking in the information, and silently cracked the crate open, exposing the armor inside. She pulled out the helmet, turning it over in her hands, her eyes still wide. 

"We will also get you set up with a proper weapon once we get back, or after we know what sort of weapon you will specialize in," I explained. "The Mandalorians working in the armory know how to properly forge a blade. For now, we can work with the training blades, since we have a few on board and more back home."

Mara quickly put on her armor for the first time, getting a feel for what was one of the defining aspects of our group. The undersuit fit her perfectly, as did the armor plates, and when she put on her helmet, the whole system sealed and activated. 

"How does it feel?" Julus asked, sitting nearby beside Tatnia. "It's a rush, right?" 

"It is," she responded, her voice coming from the helmet's speakers. "It's… I'm going to have to get used to it, but I like it."

"I'm glad you said that, because we have two days, and with your armor set and fitting, that means we can start weapons training," I said with a smile. "Keep that on, I'll go get mine, and Ahsoka can lead you to one of the onboard training rooms." 

It took me twenty minutes to get back to my room, armor up, and then catch up with Ahsoka and Mara. When I arrived at the training room, which was basically a large gym with one side cushioned for sparing, Mara was examining the available training weapons. They were mostly swords, but there were also a few staffs, a simulated spear, and a few blunt short swords. We spent ten minutes trying to figure out what felt best for her, but eventually she just picked up a simple sword, just to use as a temporary placeholder.

I could run her through the gamut when we got back home.

As I started running through some of her options, including different sword styles she could use, I eventually mentioned the dagger and sword combo I often used.

"The dagger is a great way block and catch a target off guard, it just takes training to get used to using your non-dominant hand so precisely," I explained, spinning a conjured dagger in my hand. "On top of that, this is a Novice-level spell, meaning you can learn it now, and you'll always have some way to defend against a melee combatant. Plus-"

With a flick of my wrist, I whipped around and hurled the conjured dagger, flinging it at a nearby dummy. The dagger sank into the simulated humanoid before vanishing in a puff of purple cloud as I conjured another one. 

"It means throwing them is a lot less risky, since you can immediately just conjure another one."

Mara frowned for a moment before pointing at the deceptively small slit on the dummy's chest. 

"Could you make it explode?" She asked. "Like you said, I would learn how to do with my familiar spell?" 

I frowned and considered what she said. The Elemental Familiar was a spell that I barely used, but when I did, it was highly effective. It was also one of the first spells I modified, almost without even realizing it, due to my high attunement to Conjuration. The addition that made the familiar explode was easy to cut and slap onto other constructs, and as I mentioned to Mara earlier, I used that to great effect against in close quarters combat. It had never occurred to me to use the same concept on the lower-level Novice spell Conjure Dagger.

For a minute, I was silent as I briefly went over the concept in my head. I then very quickly made my way out of the room to a nearby shooting range, Mara and Ahsoka following behind after sharing a look. I conjured a dagger with the extra elemental explosion matrix tacked on to the end, and hurled it down range. It passed through a paper target and, after impacting the back, it detonated in a fiery explosion, vibrating the deck and searing soot along the reinforced firing lane. It was noticeably less energetic than the explosion of a familiar or larger construct, but it was still sizable. 

"Hot damn!" I cursed excitedly, turning and slapping Mara's shoulder, looking at Ahsoka as I gestured to the redhead with my other hand. "This is why I wanted as many different types of magic users as I could get, not just brutes! So many different ways of looking at things means people are thinking of new ways to apply it!"

"You hadn't done that before?" Mara asked, tilting her head. "Why not?"

"It just didn't occur to me," I explained with a shrug. "Take this to heart, Mara. Just because I have a leg up on you with magic doesn't mean I know everything. Question what I tell you if something doesn't make sense."

She nodded, and we headed back to the sparring room. For the next few hours, I taught Mara some of the movements and forms I wanted her to work on, along with basic footwork. We also went over some of the differences between fighting with a lightsaber and fighting with a sword. Ahsoka helped by acting as the other combatant in my demonstrations, and when we continued the lessons the next day, she helped again. 

When we finally arrived at our destination, we actually dropped out of Hyperspace in the outer reaches of the system. Unsurprisingly, the Mon Calamari shipyards were an incredibly busy place, between the constant construction and the massive defensive fleet. With that many moving pieces, it was no surprise that they wanted us to keep the fleet back. What I was surprised to hear, though, was that this group of potential recruits was coming to us. In total, seven shipyard experts had expressed interest in joining our team, and rather than us going to them to interview and talk, they sent a shuttle to us. 

We greeted the candidates at the hangar bay, the group of Mon Calamari stepping down from the boarding ramp. We shook hands and split up into smaller groups, with Tatnia walking off with a few. At the same time, three of them introduced themselves to Ashoka and I as Nuk Wooddiak, Li Wooddiak, and Sokka Aptos, a male, a female, and another male, respectively. While the latter introduced himself alone, the two former introduced themselves as a team. They were creche mates, brother and sister, and both excelled in different subjects, claiming they worked better together than alone.

Rather than take them all together, I had Ahsoka talk to Sokka, while I brought the Woodiaks to another meeting room. Mara was with me, of course, doing her best to look casual, dressed in her new beskar-woven uniform. Despite her attempt, she was clearly excited to be matching everyone.

"So, as I'm sure you know, we are looking for experts in shipyard design, production, and running," I explained, both of them nodding. "You would be directly involved in every stage, and when it is complete, you would likely be in charge of or sitting high at the top of its leadership."

"We are aware," Nuk said, his whiskers twitching slightly. "It is what called our attention to the offer, in fact."

"New projects like this are hard to come by," Li explained. "And being at the forefront of every step is a new challenge we both look forward to swimming through."

"I'm glad to hear that," I said with a nod. "This is a new challenge for us, as well, but we are looking to sink a considerable amount of credits into this venture. What do you think is the most important aspect of a project like this?" 

"Stability," they both said at the same time, Li continuing while Nuk stayed quiet. "Let Kuat brag about the cutting edge, or CEC about ultimate customizability. What's important is consistently being able to hit the same speed and quality of production. A shipyard's top production speed doesn't matter if reaching it grinds its systems to dust and wears the workers and managers down until they break."

"That's a fair answer," I nodded, looking back between the two. "Now, if you haven't heard already, our shipyard is being placed planetside, sunk into the ground. What are your thoughts on that?"

"There are positives and negatives," Nuk responded. "It's easier for workers to be precise while in an atmosphere, as gravity is a stabilizing point. And setting it in the ground does help mitigate the issue of transporting heavy parts, since cranes have an easier time. However, it does mean we will have to work on a central frame, as we can't work on multiple sections…"

The two siblings continued to talk, switching back and forth as they answered my many questions. When I was satisfied, I asked them both if they would consent to answering questions under the truth spell, to which they both agreed. When I had confirmed that they both were suitable and eager to work with us for quite some time, I ended the interview with a pair of handshakes. I then went to talk to Sokka Aptos, who Ahsoka confirmed seemed knowledgeable and interested. 

When I asked if I could use my magic on him, he agreed, with an underlying hint of disbelief and scepticism. When he was under the spell, I asked him a few questions, and after determining he wasn't a spy, I discovered he hadn't been entirely truthful about his intent to join for quite some time. Instead, he intended to work with us under the pretense of joining, complete the project, and eventually quit and leave when the shipyard was done, using it as an opportunity to expand his resume with a unique project. That alone wasn't an absolute deal breaker, though it did go against what we were looking for. What broke any chance of us bringing him on was that he lied to Ahosoka and me that he intended to join for the long haul.

He was sent back with the shuttle, while I continued on to meet with the individuals whom Tatnia had been interviewing.