Cole walks back to his N-1 Starfighter and gets in. He has more or less dealt with the Mandalorian Civil War in the span of a few hours. Whether or not Jaster can now handle the rest of the Death Watch, or if he gets to remain Mand'alor for longer with the different factions on Mandalore, is the question. Cole taught him well, but he only taught him how to fight and kill. He doesn't care about politics, and that's what Jaster will need when he returns to Mandalore.
*Beep beep*
Cole answers the holoprojector.
"Yes?"
[Finally, I have been calling you for hours now. Where have you been?] Aiva asks him.
"I was busy and didn't take your calls, why?" Cole asks.
[What were you so busy with? As far as I know, you were on personal business and not on a job.]
"Concord Dawn. The Death Watch were causing problems, so we took care of it," Cole says.
[Who's we? And why do you care about Mandalorian business? You don't want to get dragged into that, Cole.]
"The True Mandalorians. What I do and don't want to get dragged into is my concern. Now, get to the point, what did you call me for?" Cole asks, getting impatient.
[Very well. I was approached with a job and thought about you, since you haven't been doing anything that actually earns money in months now.]
"What job?"
[Assassination. It seems there's a courier walking around with sensitive information that someone high up doesn't want to have leaked.]
"Who's the client?" Cole asks.
[Come now, Cole. We have a deal, in fact, it was you who set up this rule. I never sell any information about you or reveal anything that concerns you, and in turn, I get to call you when I have difficult tasks. I have kept my end of the bargain, and now it is time for you to uphold yours.]
"I remember this 'deal' going a bit differently. Alright, who is the target then?"
[He goes by the name of Sam Romdo. I'll send you all I have on him. The client wants him found and killed as soon as possible. If you get him alive, you will be paid double.]
"Double? How much are we talking about?"
[73'000 credits dead.]
"And double if he's alive? A courier, you say. Very well, send me the information and I'll see what I can do. I have another appointment later on."
[Another appointment? You're not taking jobs from someone else, are you?]
"Send me the intel," Cole says and turns off the holoprojector.
Aiva was always intensely interested, eager to gather information on everything and everyone. Cole knew this and attributed it to her nature as an information broker and spy. But there was more to it, and it was getting on his nerves. He met Aiva when she had given intel on him to a few bounty hunters who then went after him. They are dead now, of course, after telling him where they got their information from. When he met Aiva, he was about to kill her, but thought better of it, as she was useful. She was a very intelligent woman and knew how to use her words to get what she wanted, but she was also potentially dangerous. Cole warned her that if she ever reveals information about him again or gathers information on him, he will kill her.
Cole fires up the N-1 Starfighter and gets going. He has another stop to make before finding the courier. He is interested in who this man could be and who the client is. 73'000 credits is a lot of money for a dead man. That means that whatever he is carrying is valuable.
.
Planet Bal'demnic.
Situated in the Bak'rofsen system within the Outer Rim Territories' Auril sector, Bal'demnic is regarded as a planet of stark yet rugged beauty. Mostly enveloped by the ocean, the world is pockmarked with small tropical beach islands, a modest primary continent, and a northern polar ice cap. To an unwitting observer, the planet may seem like an aesthetic paradise. Vast azure oceans shimmer in the sun, crashing white on the shorelines of landmasses, both tiny and large. High cliffs and narrow rock formations rise through the white mists of the turbulent seas. Pristine beaches of both white and black sands lie at the base of gargantuan canyons.
The planet's scorching climate deters any would-be holidaymaker. Bal'demnic possesses a noxious atmosphere, and seismic events frequently shake the planet and alter the landscape. Hawk-bats take refuge in crystalline caves often located just beneath the coastal rocky surface. Bloodthirsty insects swarm along the dry, treeless terrain. Great winds whistle through the cliffs, and heavy rains pour in the wet seasons of the planet's long year.
The native species Kon'me have stripped much of the planet's forests for building materials and firewood, leaving only inaccessible vegetation on steep gorge walls. The planet's primary city hosts Kon'meas Spaceport, perched atop high cliffs that overlook the ocean. Shorelines are dotted with beachside dwellings, with the upper class residing in glistening bubble-like structures embedded within the high cliffs. The lower class constructs simple thatched huts along the beaches.
So what is Cole doing here?
One word: cortosis
Cortosis ore is a very rare, brittle, fibrous material whose conductive properties cause lightsabers to turn off upon contact temporarily. This effect renders cortosis valuable for anti-lightsaber melee weapons; however, with repeated strikes, a lightsaber can still cut through it. Additionally, cortosis is resistant to blaster fire due to its energy-resistant properties.
Cortosis is expensive to mine because it is so rare, and it has to be absolutely refined. Pure, unrefined cortosis ore is, for unexplained reasons, energised, killing anyone who touches it with their bare skin, even Hutts, who have energy-resistant enzymes in their sweat. Miners must have filtering equipment, or else the cortosis particles would accumulate in their systems, causing hair loss, illness, and eventually death. The substance is energy-resistant, meaning energy tools, such as plasma torches, are virtually useless. Additionally, pockets of highly combustible ethane gas often formed near cortosis deposits. The most valuable type of cortosis is the purified variation. It is effective, even having more durability than Beskar.
Naturally, Cole wants to add cortosis to his armour. He has a lot of plans, and sadly, to handle the threats which are certainly coming in the future, he needs to be even more prepared than he already is. And it's just fun to do for him at this point. He likes to improve his armoury and create new and strange things that no one has ever heard of or seen in this universe.
However, Cole is not the first one to come to Bal'demnic to mine cortosis, though.
Cole lands on the N-1 on the ground.
"Scan the ground for me, RAD. Let's see if we have anything," Cole says to his R3 astromech.
In 62 BBY, the R3-series astromech droid was developed, and Cole got one for himself. Because he thought about getting himself a partner of some sort, and since he was going to be active for a long time, he knew an astromech would be the best choice for what he had planned. Cole named his droid RAD, which stands for R-series absolute dudester. He was still working on the name, and the droid didn't seem to enjoy it that much either. Cole wasn't going to wipe RAD's memory to have him develop a personality. One that would fit Cole's partner. And Cole was going to 'enhance' RAD, and oh boy... it will be wild.
*DOODIIOO DEEE*
"Then try the other frequency I told you about. The special wavelength should work if you smash it through the delta setting and add the-"
*BREEE DOOOO*
"Sheesh, you beep your mother with that processor?"
*BEEEEERR*
"At least you'll fit into our scurvy crew."
*DUUIII DADOOO*
"Well, we're two, are we not? That makes a crew in my book."
*BEEPEEPEEE*
"Just find the ore. We can start your 'enhancements' after we find them. Can you imagine you rolling along the street, meeting the other normal R and P-series and laughing as you pass them by, because you are just that much better than all of them. Quite a thought, huh?"
*UUUEEEOOOO DOOODOO*
"Eh, it'll be fine. It's about the inner values. Quite literally in your case. So, how is it? Find anything yet?" Cole asks.
*BUUEEP DEEDOOO UIIIP*
"Alright, then let's have a look," Cole says, and they make their way forward.
Cole and RAD arrive at a crystalline cave, and as they do, they see numerous smaller stones and what appears to be a crater of some kind.
"Probably a pocket of lethane gas exploded here. That would mean we're close. Well done, RAD," Cole praises his astromech and walks forward.
*DEEEPPP*
"Hm? Wait, let me check it out."
RAD told Cole that he had picked up another energy signature. A small one, but it was there. So Cole gets to work and starts to lift a few of the larger boulders as far as he can, and after doing that for a while, he finds what RAD was talking about. On the ground lies a corpse. A male Bith lies on the ground, with a twisted neck. And a short distance away from him, beneath another stone, lies...
"A lightsaber," Cole says and picks it up.
*DOOOEEOO DEEP EEP*
"No, RAD. Not a Jedi," Cole says and ignites the lightsaber, revealing a dark red blade. "A Sith. This is Rugess Nome, AKA Darth Tenebrous, former Dark Lord of the Sith. What a find this is."
Indeed, Cole is not the first person to come to Bal'demnic for cortosis.
In 67 BBY, Subtext Mining provided Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Tenebrous with secret intelligence revealing large deposits of cortosis ore within Bal'demnic's crust. Tenebrous acted on the new information personally, travelling here with his then Muun apprentice, Darth Plagueis. Tenebrous ascribed special significance to the mission, believing that two Sith Lords mining cortosis at the apex of the Rule of Two era amounted to the "closing of a circle," a circle that had begun with Darth Bane, starting on the path toward darkness in the Apatros cortosis mines a millennium earlier.
In a crystalline cave, which must be the very one Cole and RAD are in right now, Tenebrous commanded Subtext's M-2 mining probe droid to verify the secret mining survey team's claims. During the process, the M-2 unit ceased taking orders from the Sith Lord and proceeded to drill in the direction of a highly combustible pocket of lethane gas. Tenebrous sensed great danger and fled the cave with his apprentice. Before they could reach the surface, the Sith Lords were overcome by the enormous explosion caused by the M-2 unit's breach of the lethane pocket. The surrounding cavern ceiling collapsed, and both Master and Apprentice used the Force to prevent large slabs of rock from falling on them and their ship.
In the process, Tenebrous was severely weakened, and Plagueis had the opportunity to end his Master's life and take over the role of Sith Master. He betrayed his master by using the Force to hurl falling debris on top of Tenebrous; then, attempting to deceive him into believing it looked as if it were a natural event, he rushed to his Master's side. Plagueis, in that moment, couldn't resist revealing to Tenebrous what his true plans were and what they meant for the future of the Sith. The Muun told his Bith Master that he would put an end to the old order of the Rule of Two before breaking Tenebrous' neck.
Cole places the lightsaber into his inventory for later use and then continues with his initial objective, to acquire the smallest amount of purified cortosis. So he and RAD get to work.
.
After they work for hours, Cole and RAD are finally finished and have managed to purify a very small portion of cortosis. Cole had all the tools they needed ready, of course. And now that he had what he needed, he placed it into his inventory and multiplied it ad infinitum.
Without thinking about it, Cole starts adding cortosis to his armour and his Deathstroke sword. It is useful to have such protection, and since the inventory has limitless ways to combine things together, he can choose the most effective approach. But that's not his main objective today. Cole looks at his new R3-series astromech droid, the one who will become and has already started to be his partner. And as his partner, Cole naturally wants to have RAD be able to do... anything. Like the droid version of Cole, in a way.
"Well, buddy, are you ready?" Cole asks.
*DOOOOO*
"When we're done, BT-1 will look like a filthy casual next to you."