Star Wars: New Age

Chapter 14

The Prospectors

The transition back was a violent rush. One moment, Jax was standing in his cramped, stiflingly hot Phoenix apartment, the grim reality of his bank balance a knot of acid in his stomach. The next, his consciousness snapped back into place on the cool, silent bridge of the ancient starship. The shift was so jarring it left him momentarily breathless.

Zana and Kael, who had been deep in a quiet conversation over a schematic Kael had projected, turned as he approached. They immediately noticed the change in him. The weary student from the training sessions was gone. The man who stood before them now had a sharp, nervous energy, his eyes burning with a desperate fire they hadn't seen before.

"We have a problem," Jax said, his voice tight, forgoing any greeting. "A real-world problem."

Kael looked up, confused, but Zana's expression remained neutral, waiting.

"This game… the pods we're in… they aren't free," Jax continued, the words spilling out. "They run on power. They use nutrient packs, hydration, conductive gel. It all costs money. My real-world funds are burning up with every hour we spend in here. I don't have months. I have weeks, at best, before my pod becomes a very expensive coffin."

The reality of his statement settled heavily in the ancient chamber. Kael's fur bristled. "My university stipend covers my pod rental," he stammered, "but… there are overage fees. I hadn't even considered…"

Zana's gaze remained fixed on Jax. She had already considered it. "You have a point," she said, her voice even. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan is to stop just training and surviving," Jax said, a new authority in his voice, born of desperation. He pointed towards the main console, where the Nexus Core pulsed gently. "The plan is to start profiting. We are sitting on the most valuable library in the galaxy. Fifty-thousand-year-old data."

He looked at Kael, his eyes intense. "You said those charts were ancient. An authenticated map to a location from that era… what would that be worth on the Holo-Net Exchange?"

The academic terror on Kael's face was slowly replaced by a dawning, greedy realization. "The value… it would be astronomical. Guilds would kill for that kind of information."

"Exactly," Jax said. He now had their full attention. "We need to dive back into those logs, find one piece of verifiable, valuable data, and sell it. We need a score. Now."

Zana processed this, her strategic mind running through the variables. The risk was immense. Posting anything for sale, even anonymously, would create ripples. But Jax was right. Their long-term survival in this sanctuary meant nothing if their real bodies withered away for lack of funds. It was a calculated risk, and their only move.

She gave a single, decisive nod. "Alright, Jax. You're right. Prospecting it is."

She turned to the others, her voice once again that of a commander assigning a mission. "Kael, get ready to cross-reference anything we find with the modern star charts. Jax… take us back to the map."

A new, focused energy filled the bridge. The abstract goal of escape had been sidelined by the immediate, desperate need to find a payday. They were no longer just survivors; they were prospectors, about to sift through the sands of history for a single, priceless jewel.

The team assembled before the main viewport, which now displayed the breathtaking, three-dimensional star-map from fifty thousand years in the past. Kael, after an intense hour of writing algorithms and cross-referencing cosmic anchor points, had finally managed to overlay it with their modern galactic chart. Red icons denoting ancient sites now hovered over present-day systems.

"The alignment is stable," Kael announced, wiping a sheen of sweat from his brow. "We can officially begin prospecting."

"Good work, Kael," Zana said, stepping forward. Her eyes scanned the map, a predator seeking prey. "Alright, our mission is simple: find a high-value resource deposit. Something a major corporation would pay a fortune for. Rare minerals, unique gases, anything. Let's get to work."

The search began. They filtered the ancient map by resource designations. It was a slow process. Many promising sites were now located in well-documented, populated systems. Others were simply gone, victims of cosmic upheaval. After nearly an hour, Kael let out a whoop of excitement.

"Got one!" he exclaimed. "A remote ice planet, XG-421, in an uncharted nebula. Modern scans list it as a low-value ice-ball because the nebula interferes with sensors. But the ancients cataloged it as a Prime Cryo-Carbide Source!"

Zana's eyebrow shot up. "Cryo-Carbide? For high-end heat sinks? That's… a major find. That could be our payday."

They were about to log the coordinates and call it a day when Jax held up a hand. "Wait," he said, his eyes closed in concentration. He was feeling for another resonance on the map, a faint pull he had noticed earlier but had dismissed. "There's something else. Something… different. Over here."

He pointed to an isolated, forgotten star system at the edge of their map. Reluctantly, Kael navigated to the coordinates. There was a single planet marked with a glyph they didn't recognize. The ancient designation simply read: Prime Aethelian Source.

"Aethelian?" Zana asked. "Never heard of it. Is it valuable?"

Kael scanned his modern databases. "There's no record of any such material. Nothing."

"Maybe the ship's library has something," Jax suggested, looking towards the Nexus Core.

He interfaced with the Core, asking it not for a memory, but for a simple definition of the "Aethelian" glyph. A nearby console flickered to life, displaying a cascade of ancient text and diagrams. Kael quickly began running a translation. As he read, his eyes grew wider and wider.

"Zana… Jax… you need to see this," he whispered. He projected the translated text into the air.

It described a mythical crystal that didn't generate power, but acted as a near-perfect conductor for the Force, allowing a user to interface with and control complex technology with unparalleled finesse and efficiency. It was a material that could revolutionize ship design for any Force-sensitive user.

They stood in stunned silence, the implication of their discovery settling over them. They hadn't just found a valuable mineral deposit. They had found the key to a new age of technology, a secret that guilds and governments would kill for.

It was Zana who broke the silence, her voice a low, intense whisper. "No one can know about this. Not ever." She looked at Kael, then at Jax, her expression deadly serious. "The Cryo-Carbide deposit is our story. That's our payday. That's what we sell. The Aethelian Crystals… that is our future. That is our strategic advantage. That is for us."

She pointed to Kael's console. "Log the coordinates for the Aethelian world, put it in a triple-encrypted file, and bury it deep. Our official search ends with the discovery of the Cryo-Carbide. Understood?"

They both nodded. The weight of their new secret was immense. They had stumbled upon two fortunes, and their survival now depended on their ability to sell one to hide the existence of the other.

The mood on the bridge had transformed. The awe and mystery were still present, but now they were sharpened by a new, thrilling edge of conspiracy. They were no longer just survivors; they were partners in a high-stakes deception, sitting on the biggest secret in the galaxy while preparing to sell their second-best.

Kael, now in his element, became a whirlwind of focused energy at his console. "Okay, okay… the auction can't contain the actual coordinates. That's the prize. The listing needs to be a proof of concept, something to whet the appetite of the big corporations."

He began working, his fingers dancing across the holographic interface. "I'm creating a nested data packet. The outer layer will be the public teaser. I'll include the planet's modern designation, XG-421, and the official survey data that lists it as a worthless ice-ball. Then, I'll layer in a single, authenticated fragment from the Warden's log—just the part that confirms high-purity Cryo-Carbide. The contrast between the old and new data proves it's an overlooked site."

"Good," Zana said, pacing behind him like a panther. "Verifiable, but vague. What about security?"

"The final coordinates will be locked behind three layers of quantum encryption," Kael explained. "Only a transaction key from a completed auction on the Holo-Net Exchange will be able to unlock it. It's secure."

Zana stopped her pacing. "The data is only half of it. The seller is the other half. We can't post this under any of our player IDs. They'll be traced in an hour. We need a ghost. A clean, untraceable seller profile."

Jax, who had been watching them, thought of the ancient, lonely being who had made all this possible. "What about… 'The Warden's Echo'?" he suggested.

Kael and Zana both paused and looked at him. The name was perfect. Mysterious, untraceable, and a quiet tribute to their patron.

"I like it," Zana said with a curt nod. "It works." She turned to Jax, her expression serious. "Kael is making the bullet. You're the one who has to fire it. You'll log out, create that profile, and post the auction. Set a high starting bid—we don't want any low-ballers. And make it a 24-hour auction. We want a fast, aggressive bidding war."

A few minutes later, Kael looked up from his console. "It's done," he said, his voice filled with pride. He made a few final gestures, and a tiny, shimmering data file was transferred to Jax's personal in-game storage. It was an insignificant speck of light that held the key to their real-world survival.

Jax walked to the captain's chair and sat down, the weight of the mission settling upon him. This was different from his last log-out. He wasn't leaving for rest; he was leaving to engage with the real world in a way that would have massive consequences in the game. He looked at Zana and Kael, his co-conspirators. He was putting his trust in them one more time, just as they were putting their financial futures in his hands.

He gave them a single, determined nod. "I'll be back as soon as it's posted."

"We'll be here," Zana said. "Good hunting, Jax."

He initiated the log-out. The magnificent, ancient bridge dissolved around him. The feeling of the Force receded. The silence of the stasis station faded.

He was no longer an explorer or a student. He was a data broker, on his way back to a small, hot apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, about to sell a secret that would shake the galactic economy.