Jaina Solo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-06-19 03:45 am
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-06-19 03:45 am
Entry tags:
Memory 67
Memory: Field trip to Gem Diver Station!
Received: Day 258, late evening
Form: Small, capped horns of mead, only two mouthfuls. Two uses.
Summary: Young Solo twins and their wookie pal get to go to Lando Calrissian's latest money-making scheme and play with the equipment. Naturally, this is highly exciting for them and extremely nerve-racking for Lando.
--
Young Jaina and Lowbacca are in Jaina's room at the Jedi Academy, pleased with a holographic map of the Yavin system they've just finished setting up on a holographic projector Jaina built. The two boast to each other about it, teenie translator droid Em Teedee translating for the wookie. They review the layout of the local area of space: gas giant Yavin has more than a dozen moons, and not all of the moons are complete in the projection, but Jaina wanted to take a look at the trajectory from their moon -- the fourth -- to Lando's gem mining station in the gas giant's atmosphere. Jaina acknowledges that it's a bit dangerous to go into a gas giant's atmosphere, but it's a small risk and Lando's being a Cool Uncle and letting them actually go play with some of the equipment, a rare opportunity.
Lowie quickly and easily adds the station to the map. Jaina laughs and agrees that from now on, she'll build, he'll program. Lowie preens, and that's when Jacen bursts in to let them know Lando's ship is landing. The twins and Lowie rush to the landing area, and get there in time to see Lando coming down out of his ship, the Lady Luck.
Lando gives Jaina a kiss on the hand, bows to Jacen and Lowie, and a friendly shoulder-clap to Luke. Luke tells him to take care of the kids, and make no unnecessary risks. Lando answers he wouldn't let the kids do anything he didn't think was a safe bet -- and that's what Luke's afraid of. The kids pile into Lando's ship, and Jaina makes him show her all about the fancy ship's engines.
Lando's going on about how it's good for them to get out of the jungle and do something other than lift rocks with their minds; learning commerce will give them useful knowledge for when their lightsabers fail. Jaina mopes at the lightsabers comment, and Lando notes that Luke is being practical in his caution. They land on Gemdiver Station, and the kids follow Lando to a window to watch the orange clouds of the gas giant. Jaina's studying the weather patterns "analytically." The kids are impressed; the station has an ovoid orbit, dipping into the atmosphere periodically for windows of time to mine in then get everything fixed back up. Lando explains how the pressure crushes elements together to create rare crystals, Corusca gems. Jacen asks to see them, so Lando takes them to an armored, high-security room where droids load automated cargo pods. The gems being handled are only large as a thumbnail. Lando plucks one out of the process, and the nearest droid flails and starts comically objecting until he lets the droid know that he's its boss.
The gems are unique to Yavin. Lando explains they're the hardest substance he knows of, able to "slice through transparisteel like a laser goes through Sullustan jam." The droid finally gets the gem back and finishes packing the pod. They have to clear the bay for launch; they go to another window to watch. Now the twins want to try mining, too! Lando's reluctant because risk but Jaina points out that learning is worth a bit of risk, and training to be a Jedi Knight has its risks too. Lowie growls and Em Teedee objects to Lowie's apparent willingness to take on a risk as well.
Lando caves, but the twins can sense that he'd been planning it all along. The narrative has forgotten that Jaina already said Lando had offered to let them play with the equipment. They go to a hangar, where Jaina checks out a mining ship -- it's a large diving bell, thickly armored with something that reflects lights oddly. Lando says it's the Fast Hand, designed for diving into the gas giant; it's been down to the center of the planet, and the deeper they go the larger the gems they find. It's covered in a rare and expensive quantum armor. The ship is lowered by an energy tether; the winds will jostle them, but it should be just fine. The seats are padded, you know.
They pile in and go through a launch procedure. The twins discover they can sense the energy tether in the Force. Things are stable, so they get out of their seats and look out a window to watch a small fleet of ships skimming the upper clouds with energy webs trailing behind. Lando explains they're picking up the tiniest stones and dust at that level. While they decend, Jacen tries telling a joke.
Jacen: Hey Lando, I heard two droids talking the other day. The first one said, "Well, did you beat the Wookie at sabacc?' and the second one said --
Lando: Yes, but it cost me an arm and a leg. That's an old joke, kid.
Jacen: Maybe that's why Tenel Ka didn't laugh at it.
Jaina: I don't think that's the reason she didn't laugh.
As they get deeper, they start encountering storms. There's lighting, with blue electricity skittering over the outer hull. Lowie asks a question, and Lando says even if the energy tether gets severed, they've got the supplies to sit in the ship for a long time until a rescue mission can be sent from the station. The storm jostles them, and it seems like the ship has lost its connection for a moment, but the tether catches again. Lando says it's fiiiiine.
The kids each get a turn at the controls, trying to catch a gem. Jaina asks to start the gem catching. Lando reminds them the gems are rare, so don't be disappointed if they don't find anything. Jacen asks if they find a gem, if they get to keep it; Lando agrees, not really expecting the kids to come up with anything. They activate the equipment, deploying electromagnetic "ropes" that catch the gems in the storms.
Lowie goes first, and the other kids watch the whips of energy through a window. Eventually he gives up, and Jaina takes her turn.
Jacen knows that Jaina was drawing on the Force to seek out the gems, and decides to try the same thing. He extends his senses, uncertain what the gem would feel like, and feels the whirling clouds -- gases and crushed debris. Then he feels a little "glint" and snags it -- he got a gem. They draw it in and bring it through a small access port. The gem is bigger than the one Lando showed off; the gambler guesses it's enough to buy half a city block on Coruscant. Now Jacen's worried about losing it.
Jaina tells him to put it in his boot. He never loses things there. He agrees! Maybe he'll give the gem to their mom for her next birthday. Lando's amused -- Jacen's outdoing his dad for pretty and valuable gifts to Leia. There's a loud impact, and Jaina checks on the ship hull; there's a small dent despite the armor. Lando's befuddled on account of these things are supposed to be rare dammit how are they running into a second already. Time to head up; they've pushed their luck far enough. When they land, Lando's relieved; he's had enough adventure for today. This is often how adults feel after babysitting the young Solo twins.
So of course that's when the station's alarms start going off.
Received: Day 258, late evening
Form: Small, capped horns of mead, only two mouthfuls. Two uses.
Summary: Young Solo twins and their wookie pal get to go to Lando Calrissian's latest money-making scheme and play with the equipment. Naturally, this is highly exciting for them and extremely nerve-racking for Lando.
--
Young Jaina and Lowbacca are in Jaina's room at the Jedi Academy, pleased with a holographic map of the Yavin system they've just finished setting up on a holographic projector Jaina built. The two boast to each other about it, teenie translator droid Em Teedee translating for the wookie. They review the layout of the local area of space: gas giant Yavin has more than a dozen moons, and not all of the moons are complete in the projection, but Jaina wanted to take a look at the trajectory from their moon -- the fourth -- to Lando's gem mining station in the gas giant's atmosphere. Jaina acknowledges that it's a bit dangerous to go into a gas giant's atmosphere, but it's a small risk and Lando's being a Cool Uncle and letting them actually go play with some of the equipment, a rare opportunity.
Lowie quickly and easily adds the station to the map. Jaina laughs and agrees that from now on, she'll build, he'll program. Lowie preens, and that's when Jacen bursts in to let them know Lando's ship is landing. The twins and Lowie rush to the landing area, and get there in time to see Lando coming down out of his ship, the Lady Luck.
Lando gives Jaina a kiss on the hand, bows to Jacen and Lowie, and a friendly shoulder-clap to Luke. Luke tells him to take care of the kids, and make no unnecessary risks. Lando answers he wouldn't let the kids do anything he didn't think was a safe bet -- and that's what Luke's afraid of. The kids pile into Lando's ship, and Jaina makes him show her all about the fancy ship's engines.
As the Lady Luck approached the giant planet, the orbiting industrial station came into view. Lando's Corusca-mining facility, GemDiver Station, was a symphony of running lights and transmitting grids surrounded by dozens of automated defensive satellites. The security satellites homed in on the Lady Luck, powering up weapons as the ship approached. But when Lando keyed in an access authorization code, the satellites acknowledged his signal, then turned back to their robotic perimeter search for intruders and pirates.
Lando's going on about how it's good for them to get out of the jungle and do something other than lift rocks with their minds; learning commerce will give them useful knowledge for when their lightsabers fail. Jaina mopes at the lightsabers comment, and Lando notes that Luke is being practical in his caution. They land on Gemdiver Station, and the kids follow Lando to a window to watch the orange clouds of the gas giant. Jaina's studying the weather patterns "analytically." The kids are impressed; the station has an ovoid orbit, dipping into the atmosphere periodically for windows of time to mine in then get everything fixed back up. Lando explains how the pressure crushes elements together to create rare crystals, Corusca gems. Jacen asks to see them, so Lando takes them to an armored, high-security room where droids load automated cargo pods. The gems being handled are only large as a thumbnail. Lando plucks one out of the process, and the nearest droid flails and starts comically objecting until he lets the droid know that he's its boss.
He held the Corusca gem between thumb and forefinger; it glinted like liquid fire in his grasp. It did more than just reflect light from the glowpanels on the ceiling-the Corusca gem seemed to contain its own miniature furnace, its trapped light bouncing around inside the crystalline facets for ages until by sheer probability some of the photons found their way out.
The gems are unique to Yavin. Lando explains they're the hardest substance he knows of, able to "slice through transparisteel like a laser goes through Sullustan jam." The droid finally gets the gem back and finishes packing the pod. They have to clear the bay for launch; they go to another window to watch. Now the twins want to try mining, too! Lando's reluctant because risk but Jaina points out that learning is worth a bit of risk, and training to be a Jedi Knight has its risks too. Lowie growls and Em Teedee objects to Lowie's apparent willingness to take on a risk as well.
Lando caves, but the twins can sense that he'd been planning it all along. The narrative has forgotten that Jaina already said Lando had offered to let them play with the equipment. They go to a hangar, where Jaina checks out a mining ship -- it's a large diving bell, thickly armored with something that reflects lights oddly. Lando says it's the Fast Hand, designed for diving into the gas giant; it's been down to the center of the planet, and the deeper they go the larger the gems they find. It's covered in a rare and expensive quantum armor. The ship is lowered by an energy tether; the winds will jostle them, but it should be just fine. The seats are padded, you know.
They pile in and go through a launch procedure. The twins discover they can sense the energy tether in the Force. Things are stable, so they get out of their seats and look out a window to watch a small fleet of ships skimming the upper clouds with energy webs trailing behind. Lando explains they're picking up the tiniest stones and dust at that level. While they decend, Jacen tries telling a joke.
Jacen: Hey Lando, I heard two droids talking the other day. The first one said, "Well, did you beat the Wookie at sabacc?' and the second one said --
Lando: Yes, but it cost me an arm and a leg. That's an old joke, kid.
Jacen: Maybe that's why Tenel Ka didn't laugh at it.
Jaina: I don't think that's the reason she didn't laugh.
As they get deeper, they start encountering storms. There's lighting, with blue electricity skittering over the outer hull. Lowie asks a question, and Lando says even if the energy tether gets severed, they've got the supplies to sit in the ship for a long time until a rescue mission can be sent from the station. The storm jostles them, and it seems like the ship has lost its connection for a moment, but the tether catches again. Lando says it's fiiiiine.
The kids each get a turn at the controls, trying to catch a gem. Jaina asks to start the gem catching. Lando reminds them the gems are rare, so don't be disappointed if they don't find anything. Jacen asks if they find a gem, if they get to keep it; Lando agrees, not really expecting the kids to come up with anything. They activate the equipment, deploying electromagnetic "ropes" that catch the gems in the storms.
Lowie goes first, and the other kids watch the whips of energy through a window. Eventually he gives up, and Jaina takes her turn.
Lowie relinquished the controls to Jaina, who sat down with focused concentration, the tip of her tongue wedged between her lips at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes, golden-brown pools that stared into nothingness, fell half-closed as she worked the controls. Jacen watched the energy lines writhe below, sifting through the clouds, searching.
"Now, don't get disappointed," Lando said. "I told you it's still hard work to find even one gem. They're quite rare. If they weren't, they wouldn't be so valuable."
Jaina continued to search for a few minutes longer, then gave up. Jacen climbed to his feet and came forward, struggling to keep his balance in the gale-force winds. He caught the arm of the chair and pulled himself into it, letting his hands wrap around the controls.
Jacen knows that Jaina was drawing on the Force to seek out the gems, and decides to try the same thing. He extends his senses, uncertain what the gem would feel like, and feels the whirling clouds -- gases and crushed debris. Then he feels a little "glint" and snags it -- he got a gem. They draw it in and bring it through a small access port. The gem is bigger than the one Lando showed off; the gambler guesses it's enough to buy half a city block on Coruscant. Now Jacen's worried about losing it.
Jaina tells him to put it in his boot. He never loses things there. He agrees! Maybe he'll give the gem to their mom for her next birthday. Lando's amused -- Jacen's outdoing his dad for pretty and valuable gifts to Leia. There's a loud impact, and Jaina checks on the ship hull; there's a small dent despite the armor. Lando's befuddled on account of these things are supposed to be rare dammit how are they running into a second already. Time to head up; they've pushed their luck far enough. When they land, Lando's relieved; he's had enough adventure for today. This is often how adults feel after babysitting the young Solo twins.
So of course that's when the station's alarms start going off.