Forging new everythings.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei Wu Wei looked over the schematic one more time. He had put it together himself. Getting the holorecorder for the project had been hard enough, but getting scans of all the pieces and putting them together in a sequence that was simple to understand had been even harder.

"I think this should be a big help to future generations of Jedi."

The holoprojector displayed a diagram of a lightsaber and all its parts.

The Force Cripple snapped the focusing lens into place on his lightsaber, then double-checked it against his new schematic. He pressed the button on the side of the hilt. The sea-green blade sprang to life much as it always had. He grabbed a tool and made an adjustment on the emitter. To most people, it would have seemed like Wei hadn't actually adjusted anything. But after spending so much time around lightsabers he must have managed to "catch" the ability to discern the stability of his saber's electromagnetic field that gave the cutting laser its shape and length.

Satisfied his lightsaber was still in good condition, Wei sheathed the blade and returned the saber hilt to the clip on his belt. Now he only needed materials for making lightsabers and a place to do the work.

"Oh! Crystals! Going to need those too!"

Wei switched off the projector and put it in its carrying case. He put the strap over his shoulder and across his chest, then set out to look for the last Jedi he heard of that managed to get lightsaber crystals: Halajiin Rabeak.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Even in the helter-skelter, shantytown layout of the new base of operations for the Jedi on Ossus, huddled around the base of the landed Whaladon, Halajiin Rabeak was not hard to find. Based on his very different, yellow-furred appearance, one could imagine it was because of his looks, but that was not the reason he stood out from his fellow Jedi and Alliance counterparts.

Quite frankly, nobody wanted his help with much of anything, so he was often found alone, and very bored.

Such was the case that afternoon, as Hal sat on a makeshift bench in the shade of the Whaladon idly scrolling through information he'd transcribed from memory from the old Jedi archives. Spelling error here, missing comma there, he corrected his typing, but more than anything, he was just killing time. All the boredom he'd suffered from months on end in the brig only felt more compounded when he'd been released, but still had nothing to do.

He'd tried to help with construction, but was kicked out when a roof collapsed. Efforts to gather fruit from the surrounding jungle went badly when he forgot that Nehantites could digest mildly poisonous fruits and berries that humans had violently poor reactions to. He wasn't allowed anywhere near any of the young Jedi in training, unsupervised, lest he corrupt one of them with his rash thoughts on action, and he had no money to spend at the simple bar that had been set up.

And so he sat, tail flicking idly as he found himself an outcast among the only people he could really call family, anymore. The lightsaber tucked into the leather sleeve running along the back of his belt was the only thing about his attire which marked him as a Jedi, and for the first time in months, it actually worked.

Fat lot of good that was doing him when he wasn't allowed to go on any missions at the moment.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Hi!" Wei greeted the solitary Nehanite with a smile. He had heard from Loki and some others about Hal's mission to Ilum a short while back. Unfortunately, the Council put him in the brig before Wei ever got a chance to meet the man.

Not many of his fellows liked Hal. He heard all the words Jedi tried to avoid: brash, impatient. Things like that. When asked what he thought of the Nehanite, Wei shrugged.

"Mind if I join you?"

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Hal glanced up from his datapad, but he wasn't sure what to make of the man standing before him. He'd never actually met Wei, or even heard his name, so the mongoose didn't know him from Adam. Coincidentally, Hal also didn't know an Adam.

You know an Adama. His higher functions kicked in.

No, we know of an Adama. He's from holovision. His more base natures fired back.

Ohhh, that's right. Well, in that case, who's Adam?

Nobody. It's just a literary expression.

Since when do you know about literary expressions?

Hey! There's more to Playfur than just the pictures! There's good articles, too.

Suuuuuure.

And there's good pictures.

He's still waiting for an answer, you know.

Oh, crap.

Hal's internal exchange had been nearly instantaneous, but his reaction to the greeting was anything but. Stumbling for the right word, his mouth finally came up with, "Uh, sure."

True eloquence, there.

Hey, I'm not the one who catches literary expressions!

Scooting over on the bench, Hal made room for his new acquaintance, unsure of what he was after. "You part of the build crew?" he then asked, though Wei didn't exactly strike him as a builder.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Thanks. I'm Wei. And you're Halajiin Rabeak, right? I'd like to talk to you about something I'm working on, if you have time."

The Force Cripple removed the bag from his shoulder and sat next to the Nehanite. He offered his hand to shake. "Good to meet you."

[Halajiin Rabeak]

If you have time.

Bwa ha ha! HA HA HA! What else do we have but time?

Uh, well, we might have fleas, actually. I've been pretty itchy.

I really hope not. And don't tell anyone, even if you do.

Bypassing the conversation in his head, Hal extended his furry paw to take Wei's hand, giving it a firm, but not crushing shake. "Good to meet you, too," he replied. "And, it's just Hal."

Releasing Wei's hand, Hal sat up a bit straighter, looking the newcomer over once more. The name didn't ring any bells, thanks to his months of isolation, but something about him seemed... familiar.

"And, yeah, I've got time. What is it you're working on that needs my help? I'm not exactly a real 'go-to' guy, around here."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei waved his hand dismissively. "That's ok. I'm not either. Truth is, I don't know of anyone in the Jedi Order that has the knowledge I need. All I'm looking for is someone with enthusiasm for the project, and I think you fit that description."

He turned on the holoprojector. "So I took apart my lightsaber for some basic maintenance, right? Then it occurred to me that not many people around here know much about how lightsabers work. I wouldn't even expect the Council to know anything more about lightsabers than their constituent parts. So I put together this schematic to help people learn to construct lightsabers."

Wei turned towards Hal to look at him a little better. "But then again, this schematic won't help us at all if we can't get the materials to build lightsabers. I heard about your trip to Ilum to bring back lightsaber crystals. I figured if you were willing to go to such great lengths to arm the new Order, you might be interested in helping me with this project. We can't get more crystals, but I've heard they can be synthesized in a furnace. The first Jedi Order also had a lightsaber forge, or so the legends say."

Wei took a deep breath. "That's going to be our project: build a forge that can synthesize crystals for the lightsabers we need, along with the hilts, lenses, emitters, and all the other things we need to arm the Jedi Order. What do you think?"