Quite a bit of tech-stuff coming up. I made most of it up, so please have mercy
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- 30 BBY -
- Lotho Minor -
Maul travels back to his large freighter, which he has found out is a derelict Class VI Bulk Freighter. This is a type of cargo hauler and is already considered antiquated.
[Picture]
Originally, this bulk freighter could travel at a maximum atmospheric speed of 650 kph and had a Class 3.0 hyperdrive rating. Now, it was useless and wouldn't budge an inch anytime soon. It measures about 180 meters, but several parts are broken, and trash from the outside has spilt in, sealing those parts off. In a way, this is perfect for Maul. The minimum crew to operate the C-VI Bulk Freighter was a pilot and a navigator. He may be alone for now, but who says that will stay that way? Maul isn't certain what he will do precisely or when he will leave Lotho Minor, but if everything turns out the same way, he will leave here in 20 BBY at the latest. That would give him 10 years to prepare, if necessary.
Maul walks through the freighter with his lightsaber ignited to give him the necessary light. He makes his way to the engine room to take a look around. Nothing is ever as bad as it seemed, and with this marvellous gift he has received in both his Essence and the lightsaber, he has many options. Maul uses his lightsaber to cut through the debris blocking the access point, which leads him to the engine room. Things have become easier, which is good in a certain way. For now, it is convenient if anything. He pushes the debris away using the Force, freeing a small path forward. He descends through he broken cargo elevator and, after clearing out more junk, he arrives at the engine room.
He walks into the main engine room and looks around. The auxiliary battery is as dead as they get; that's no surprise. Maul moves on to the primary sublight engines and checks for damage. They are rusted and not usable at this point in time, but other than that, it is surprising how well they are maintained. It seems like the Junkers, the main species of Lotho Minor, aren't interested in engine rooms. Although that's good, it would only matter in the far future, when Maul chooses to finally leave the planet. Having finished with the energy room, Maul moves on to the more pressing matter at hand: power and electricity.
Sadly, the sight that awaits the Dathomirian is a sad one. Maul will have to take everything out and rebuild it from scratch. However, this may also be an opportunity to improve things in the future. Potential is the most valuable asset as long as one knows how to utilise it. So he begins with the most critical and also the most dangerous task, the revival of the freighter's fusion reactor core. For decades, it has lain here unused and deprived of pure oxygen.
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An idea is born, and Maul sets out to work towards it. The first thing, ironically, is that he needs power. Thankfully, he has that covered now. Since he has found and reconnected to his new kyber crystal, he is set for power. He makes his way through the freighter again and uses the Force to transport all the tools and materials from the forward cargo hold to the fusion reactor. He takes the little energy he has from the GNK-series power droid, also called 'Gonk droids' and fires up the plasma torch.
He starts to cut the various materials he has gathered, such as durasteel and duralumin, and cuts them into the proper sizes and forms for use. Starship hulls and walker wrecks are a good source for these two. After he has finished cutting the pieces apart, he has the size and the form of a housing, a small containment vessel. He has found some glass and reinforced it with the durasteel and duralumin plates to finish. He uses the Force to hold each piece in the air and start the internal magnetic field matrix, which he ripped from the countless amounts of droid wreckage. It is only a temporary solution, but it is needed to jump-start the entire fusion process.
He uses the welding tool and pushes the pieces together, applying force to create the fusion chamber. Now, it resembles a small bacta tank in a way.
Maul moves on to the next part of the process and lifts the high-conductivity power lines, which he salvaged from one of the forward engineering decks. He has to prioritise. And since he won't be flying any time soon, this is no problem at all. Maul fuses the power lines with conduit rails and thermal couplers to stabilise the voltage and make sure the variable power outputs are accounted for. He connects the pipes to the circuitry beneath the containment chamber and welds them together.
*ZZZzzzz---*
"Shit."
The power goes out, and Maul is left without a spare energy core to use for his tools. So, plan B has to be done. He gets to work on the side and grabs all of his tools, using the Force to hold all of their lines in the air and connect them to a straightforward multipurpose tool. Finally, he creates a chamber that looks like a slightly larger one that he has inside his lightsaber.
[Picture]
He lifts his lightsaber and takes it apart, taking the crystal out and then placing the empty lightsaber at his hips again. The orange kyber crystal pulsates with power. Maul places the crystal inside the compartment and then seals it off, powering up his multipurpose tool with basically limitless power.
Maul moves on to the next step, the reactor assembly. He uses repurposed fuel pipes and old ion shunt valves from a ruined Venerator-class reactor cage to start reconstructing the housing, which will hold the fuel rods. After a few hours, he has completed this part and places them inside the containment chamber he created earlier. The second-to-last step has arrived, and this one needs Maul's top precision.
He uses the Force to guide him and carefully places the fuel rods in their designated sockets. He flushes the Force into the entire core and finally seals it off inside the chamber. To finalise the deal, he releases all the atmospheric pressure he doesn't need to get it perfectly ready and cooled for the final stage.
[Picture]
Finally, the process is nearing completion. After hours of work, Maul has arrived at the critical moment. He takes out his kyber crystal from the multipurpose tool and connects it to the circuit he prepared. He sits down in a meditative position and channels the Force into the apparatus.
*..bbrbrboooOOOOOMMMM*
A burst of energy flows through the kyber crystal and into the fusion reactor core, triggering the fusion cycle. There is a delay... The power fluctuates... but then the reactor stabilises, humming to life for the first time in decades and starts to flood the large freighter with power. The light goes on in the fusion room, only for the bulbs to explode and the light to die out again.
"Huh... more work."
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The first step to having a functioning massive workstation has been completed. Maul walks through the halls of the freighter and looks at the debris and the walls. He clears out the junk inside the halls he currently uses and checks for structural damage. There is a lot of it, and whenever he finds something, he uses the Force to reassemble things telekinetically. If the damage is too extensive, he removes pieces and replaces them, then reassembles them using his kyber crystal-powered tools. He reinforces compromised areas with salvaged durasteel, as that is strong and he has a lot of it.
He also checks all the lighting and makes any necessary repairs. Now, he has a reliable energy source with lighting, and after he fixes all the wiring, he will be able to advance his plans.
The Circuitry Bay, situated deep between the deflector shield emitter systems and the main power conduits, becomes Maul's next stop. Originally, the central nervous system, which controls the ship's diagnostics, life support, and deflector shield systems, now lies cracked open—wires exposed like veins, panels warped, and fusion burns mar the floor. He takes a look around, checks for salvageable material, and makes a mental note of what he will need. Living on Lotho Minor might actually have its appeal once he's done with the basics, such as living on a planet-sized junkyard. Secret goodies are hidden underneath mountains of trash, which Maul is transforming into his own treasure.
Maul uses the newly restored fusion power and his multipurpose tool to check the systems and look for fried circuitry in the mainframe of the computer he is examining. He checks the conductivity and places everything neatly together, using the Force to get it perfect. He starts to reboot the circuitry arrays, tracing lines of old conduits and singles out the nodes which no longer carry viable current. The most important part of this is the life support system of the freighter. However, simply firing everything back up will result in backfiring and most likely frying the old systems. He can't afford that.
Maul reroutes the damaged atmospheric processor units through functional power relays, which he stripped from a deactivated med droid. To have breathable air, rather than the burning sulfur and acidic type, will be a good start. He starts to repair the filtration system, replaces what is broken, and tries to either repair what is possible or create new parts instead. He will never be short on materials, that's certain, and now, he will also never have a problem with power.
...
Time passes this way, and Maul needs to take a break to consume the last portion of the Anacondan he killed yesterday. It is hard to believe that he has been on Lotho Minor for two years, but has made more progress in the past day than he would have in over 12 years in canon. In canon, Maul's mother, Mother Talzin, sends Savage Opress to find him in 20 BBY. That's two years into the Clone Wars and still a long time from now. After eating the disgusting meat of the Anacondan and drinking the toxic sludge, and then purifying himself using the Force, Maul gets back to work. This reminds him to go on to the next part of the life support.
Maul carefully extracts filter material from the wrecked med-bay ventilators and deploys reclaimed oxygen seals from shuttle cockpits to complete them. He works tirelessly to complete the life support of the selected rooms in the large freighter, not the entire thing. He has to be smart about this and not overextend on the old piece of technology. The next part of this current quest is fresh water. Maul has no more interest in drinking the disgusting waste that exists on Lotho Minor.
He takes the remnants of the waste management system and the leftover parts of the bacta tank to begin constructing a water purification station. He prefers to keep his mind open to further upgrades and improvements here, but for now, he does what he can. The entire system is encased in a sealed processing drum, originally a cargo decontamination vat, now rewired to separate and purify Lotho Minor's acidic runoff into drinkable water.
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With the life support mostly done for now, Maul starts to work on selecting the different rooms and parts of the Class VI Bulk Freighter he will stay in. The rooms he chooses are the fusion reactor core room, the engine room, the forward cargo hold, the crew cabin and finally the circuitry bay. Before Maul powers the life support on, he has something to do, and that's to seal off the rooms he just mentioned and have the fusion power core send power only to those rooms. To do that, he uses the ship's own blast doors, most of which have been locked open or fused shut for decades now.
He uses his plasma cutter and lays the interior cables and technology free of the door. He carves the jammed tracks open and rewires their control panels, making sure to link them up with the circuitry bay, where he will construct his main control area. Special ventilation shafts have to be created for everything to work properly, and this takes a lot of time. Maul scavages old, but somewhat usable, insulation foam, rubber seals from starboard cockpit hatches, and uses them to seal the vents.
He does this for every single blast door that connects the rooms he chose, until he can seal everything off from the outside while he is in here.
*beep boop bee*
A few buttons later, the power runs through the cables, lighting up everything in his area and closing the blast doors shut. Now, every room connected to his 'home area' is sealed and receives purer air, temperature regulation and some minor pressure control. With a contented nod, Maul makes his way to the Galley, the place where the few people present on board would spend their time.
Once a place for a time out, rations and heated meals, the Galley is now a rust-stained, unused room with hanging storage nets and old small storage units. But there is some potential. Thinking about it, Maul decides that it will become his plantation chamber, eventually developing into a small hydroponic nursery. He would need crops for that, but maybe he'll get lucky and find something. There are living beings on this planet, and every once in a while, some people arrive here who don't want to be here. So there is a chance of finding crops. Later on, he will perform gene editing to improve their taste.
He sets everything up first and will go and look for crops later on.
First up: lighting. Maul scavenges some light bulbs from another crashed ship that was used to transport goods. He wires them to the freighter's new fusion power core using flexible cabling through the ceiling, stabilised by metal clamps that he cuts to size.
Next step: humidity control. A salvaged refrigeration unit is reverse-engineered to function as a humidity condenser, which will allow him to maintain a stable level of air moisture when he gets the plants in here. Maul realises the poor quality of the refrigerator and makes another mental note to improve it later, when his basic needs are taken care of.
Third step: planter beds. Using his plasma cutter, Maul cuts the metal pieces to size and creates crates. Then he goes outside and gathers enough dirt, if it can truly be called that on Lotho Minor, carrying it back to the crate using the Force and filling it. Before he plants anything, he will have to purify the dirt as well, because nothing will survive the acidic earth.
Lastly, the water line. Maul runs a small water line directly from the purification drum into the Galley, using flexible hose piping insulated and ready to water the plants as soon as they arrive.
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Maul finally takes a break after working for two days straight. He takes a meditative position and uses the Force to try to recuperate somewhat and rest his mind. As he did before, he guides the energy of the Cosmic Force through his body and removes the accumulated stress. But not only that, he sends his Living Force through the ground where he is sitting and connects to the area he created. All the pipes, the electrical components, the fusion reactor and all other rather crude technology are felt by Maul.
He tries to push further, to expand on this, as he is familiar with a particular Force ability called Mechu-deru.
Mechu-deru is considered a Dark Side Force power that grants its wielder an instinctive and profound understanding of mechanical systems, allowing them to manipulate technology as easily as a Jedi might sense emotion. Invented by the Sith, this esoteric technique enables its practitioners to exert control over inanimate constructs—machines, circuitry, and droids; binding them to their will and imbuing them with the dark power of the Force. More than mere manipulation, mechu-deru allows technology to be altered far beyond its original design, converting devices into extensions of the user's intent, sometimes even enabling them to detect Force-sensitive beings.
Through this power, users can overwhelm internal circuitry, possess droid bodies, and radically transform cybernetic implants. When applied to cyborgs or augmented beings, mechu-deru can twist and enlarge their mechanical parts into grotesque tendrils, reshaping them into monstrous forms. However, such domination is not without risk. The corrupted machines or cybernetics can turn on their wannabe master if the user's control fails.
The power's most terrifying application lies in its ability to fuse the mechanical with the organic, creating horrific hybrids known as technobeasts - Dark Side Sithspawn bound in body and soul to their creator. These part-machine, part-living abominations are forged through mechu-deru and can be imbued with the Dark Side itself. During the New Sith Wars, the Dark Lord Belia Darzu refined this art into a variant called mechu-deru vitae, using a nanogene virus to raise legions of technobeasts. Centuries later, the secrets of Darzu were rediscovered by Cronal, a servant of the Galactic Empire, who practised mechu-deru on both machines and himself, reshaping his body into a fusion of man and machine.
Though the technique holds great power, its Sith origins led most Jedi to avoid it, with only a few tech-savvy members of the Order daring to study its principles. Even among the Sith, it remains rare and enigmatic. Feared, misunderstood, and coveted for the terrible control it offers over the line between life and machine.
Maul goes over all the information he has about the Force technique and allows himself to be guided. His limitless potential to learn and invent new things, and his intuitive ability to break down and understand complicated subjects, principles and objects through observation, grant him a great advantage and even an aptitude for the Force technique. But as he realises, and as is mostly the case, the method is not necessarily a Dark Side ability. Your intent is what matters, and Maul, who was gifted with the Essence of the Spark, has limitless uses for this Force technique.
Oh yes, the future is no longer certain. The question is, is there currently a more terrifying existence than Maul with the ability he holds and in the process of not only unlocking but deeply understanding Mechu-deru... on Lotho Minor?
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I believe there is no better Force ability for the MC at the moment. Time skip coming up.