Shadows of Bankor

When she'd left home, Kisse'lara'nuruodo had assumed making her way in the galaxy would be easy. After all, she knew everything she needed to know from the holonet. Besides, she'd been near the top of her class, so surely everyone should recognize her natural superiority!

Things were, of course, more complicated than that. No one seemed to know, or care, about her people or culture here outside the reach of the Ascendency. And the order she'd been used to was so complex and different in form here, with this new Imperial government meeting a lot of resistance. She needed to learn more about what she was getting herself into. Better that than go back home in disgrace.



So it was she made her way to the city's public library, a clean enough but sparse building of computer terminals and databases. The terminals themselves looked private enough, but there were areas for reading the stacks of bulky datapads lined up on the shelves.

Looking down the shelves, Ela decided to try where to start.

In the stacks, a Mandalorian stood. They were looking through a datapad in the section on local history. They looked up and nodded briefly to the newcomer.

There were many things Ela didn't know about the people of the wider universe... but she knew about the Mandalorians. Some sort of warrior people with quite the reputation and a distinctive appearance. Well... the second was certainly true, if nothing else. What would a warrior be doing... in the very section she'd been looking for.

Ela gave a small nod as well as she walked up, the blue girl dressed in a comfortable looking bodysuit and jacket combo. "Good after noons. You seek to study as well then, yes?"

"Yes... There's always more to learn," they nodded in agreement with the statement.

She nodded her head to the datastacks, "About Bankor, that is. I moved here recently... I figured it was a good time to start learning more about the planet I might call home. You... are visiting, perhaps?"

Ela looked over the spines of the cartridges as she casually chatted.

"I am. This planet was once held by my people." They stepped to the side, gesturing at the stacks in front of them, indicating the history titles. "That was a few thousand years ago, though."

"Still, I did not even know that much."

She kept browsing, "...most of this is much more recent than that, to be certain. Looks like a decent amount is checked out too."

Or "missing", considering...

"My name is Elanaru, by the way. Trying to start up a starship repair business here. Don't suppose you know anyone who needs a tuneup?"

Not to interrupt the warrior's reading. A little self promotion never hurt though, especially with people who might have military grade ships~

The Mandalorian returned their eyes to the datapad. "Elanaru. Pleased to meet you." They shook their head. "I don't know anyone here yet... I'd be tuning anything of my own. If I hear of anyone, I'll give them your name, though."

"...I suppose if you always had to rely on your gear, it would pay to learn how to tune it yourself. Much is the worse for common sense to me."

Finding something interesting, she took it off the shelf; "Settlements and Cities of the Western Coasts: From Founding Until Today". She wasn't sure if it was too specialized or how recent "today" was, but hopefully it was a start.

"It does. Most people can rely on others without too much problem, though."

They turned their gaze back to the datapad in their hands, rapidly scrolling through as they searched it.

Ela noticed the rapid scrolling before she even opened her own case up, "Is there... something you are looking for? Two sets of eyes are better than one. they say."

They nodded. "Battlefield locations, mostly. Crashed ships. That sort of thing."

Ela's ears perked up at the words 'crashed ships'. She slowly set the holotablet back on the shelf, "Crashed ships? Do... you have some sort of lead on something that happened? I would be most interested in studying such things, and either helping salvage them or get them back in working order."

"There are a few potentials. There's the graveyard, and I was planning on talking to someone I know tomorrow about possible water landings. Those wouldn't have been picked over as much," they replied, looking toward Elaranu. Or at least their helmet turned toward her. "I was looking for other leads."

"I just met some people thinking about checking out the graveyard, though it has a reputation for danger... I'd not heard anything else. Then again, I can understand why they wouldn't make it a point to tell people where wrecks are regularly. If you're looking in archives though... thinking you might find an old wreck from a few thousand years ago perhaps?"

Ela knew nothing about Mandalorian ships, but the thought of an old ship really piqued her interest.

They nodded. "That's my hope. You sound interested. Interested in older ships?"

"I am a ship designer by degree, and a scholar by background; Antique ships scratches multiple itches, I think the saying says to us, yes. Each ship tells a tale too, of the people that built it and what happened to it."

"That makes sense to me. Important to keep that information alive," they noted with a nod.

"So... what do you have so far? Or is it not much yet? I mean, I spent a lot of time at academy, so I'm pretty good at speed reading and studying if you want and assistant. You certainly won't find better than me on a planet like this."

She certainly ~sounded~ pretty confident of that.

"Not much yet... Two heads are always better than one in situations like these." They said. "My occupation also makes me something of a scholar in part."

"Oh? May I ask what that occupation is? With all that armor and such, even in a place like this, I kind of figured..."

She didn't finish the sentence, though she made a vague motion to their helmet.

"I make armor." They replied. "A great deal of learning comes with being allowed to."

Her eyebrows went up a little, "Did you make... that then?"

She once again motioned to the helmet and the rest of the armor on her talking companion.

They nodded. "There's a lot of history behind it. So the makers have to study."

Ela nodded slowly, "I've fixed a lot of things in my time as a mechanic; The things with a history are the hardest for me, since I hold myself to higher standards thanks to the legacy of the items."

She leaned with her shoulder against the tablet shelf they'd been looking over, crossing her arms, "So an armor crafter looking for one or more old wrecked ships. Well, I will not bug you too much more."

The blue skinned girl reached into one of her many pockets and pulled out a business card, "Here is my communicator id. If you want to take me up on that assistance, I would certainly do it for free. Just shoot me a message when you decide, all right."