Chapter 24

The journey to Coruscant was uneventful. During the trip Renn and Opal had got to know Seela better. They had learnt that Seela was quite quiet and shy, so it took a while for her to warm up to them, but she was she was now more comfortable around them and wasn't as scared.

Shae still hadn't woken up and Seela was quite worried about her and spent most of her time in the med-bay sitting by her bedside. Sapphire had told her it was nothing to worry about and she would wake up eventually, but she was still a bit worried about her friend.

Sapphire had told them that Shae had suffered serious injuries in the fight and had several broken ribs and had received a nasty head injury from when her head had hit the wall. She was also severely malnourished and seemed to have had a broken arm in the past that never healed properly.

Underneath the cloak Shae had been wearing she had had a badly damaged set of armour, that according to Sapphire had saved her life when she was hit by the axe. The armour was now damaged nearly beyond use but seemed to be made of beskar so Renn was curious about her origins and wanted her to wake up so he could find out more about her.

Coruscant was chaotic. The whole planet was one big city and the skies where always full of speeders and ships moving from place to place. The hyperspace lanes were also packed with a steady stream of star ships travelling to and from the planet.

A group of republic frigates were patrolling the system due to it being the republics capital. The frigates were mainly just there for show as they wouldn't be able to do much beyond scaring off pirates. But the republic senate was fine with this, after all they were in a time of peace, and no-one would dare attack the republic.

The Speedy Vagabond descended through Coruscant's atmosphere and set down on a landing pad that was flying on its own above the city streets. The ships landing ramp slid down to meet the landing pad and Renn, Opal and Alpha walked down it with Seela following nervously behind them.

Renn was walking ahead of the others, he was wearing a long cloak over his armour, minus the helmet, with two vibro-knives hidden on his person. He hadn't been wearing any armour when on Tatooine or any of the planets he had been to before because he had wanted to try and be as inconspicuous as possible, heavily armed and armoured eight-year-olds tended to raise a few eyebrows.

Alpha had decided they wouldn't be taking any chances anymore so he wanted Renn to be ready for a fight at all times so he wouldn't be caught unprepared again. He still had him wearing a cloak over his armour so he could remain as inconspicuous as possible.

Alpha himself was wearing a set of hooded robes and had a mask covering his robotic face. He had made his disguise slightly nicer as they were now on the republic's capital planet and not some desert back water.

Three members of the Naboo security forces stood waiting for them on the platform with Padme standing in front of them. A speeder big enough to accommodate the whole group was parked behind them.

"Hello again, the queen has heard about you helping with our attempts to fix our ship on Tatooine. She regrets that you didn't get to meet her on Tatooine and extends you an invitation to join us in the Naboo embassy." Padme said officially with a small bow.

"Uhh, okay?" Renn said slightly confused by the official tone she was using.

"Hi Padme" Opal waved with Seela hiding behind her.

"Greetings" Alpha said emotionlessly.

Padme tried hard to keep her face neutral after the trio's responses to her invite. She had been trying to act professional now that she was on Coruscant. She would have to address the republic senate as the queen later on, so she was trying to prepare for it by being professional at all times.

"Follow us please" she said after sighing. Her professional persona soon crumbling when Opal skipped over to her, excited to see her friend again, and began bombarding her with all sorts of questions. The two were soon sat near the front of the speeder and having their own conversation.

Renn followed behind them with Seela transferring her hiding place from behind Opal to behind him. They sat across from Opal and Padme in the speeder and Renn talked to Seela quietly to make sure she was okay.

Two of the Naboo security officers took their places in the front of the speeder, one in the driver's seat and the other sat next to him. The final officer was then forced to sit uncomfortably in the back with a very silent, disguised assassin droid.

Once everyone was in the speeder, they set of towards the Naboo embassy.

-

After arriving at the embassy Renn and the others were led into a nicely furnished lounge. They waited in the room with Padme for a while before the queen and her entourage entered. The queen thanked Renn and Opal for their help on Tatooine before leaving to attend to other matters leaving them with Padme.

They stayed talking to Padme for a while, and she told them about the problems the naboo had been facing in convincing the government to help. Renn wasn't that surprised the republic was having trouble accomplishing things. He had been told by Sapphire how corrupt and ineffective the senate was so them ignoring Naboo's pleas for assistance didn't surprise him at all.

The door opened and Anakin, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan walked into the room. Anakin ran over and began telling them about his visit to the jedi council and that Qui-Gon had agreed to take him on as an apprentice. Renn felt there was more too it judging by Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's expressions but decided not to ask.

"The Jedi council have requested a meeting with you." Qui-Gon said looking at Renn causing everyone to go silent and look at them.

"Why?" Renn asked simply.

"…. They didn't tell me. All I know is it is a request from the high council, and they want to meet you as soon as possible." Qui-Gon told him after thinking for a moment.

Renn looked over at Alpha, who merely shrugged to let Renn know that it was his decision to make. Renn thought about why the jedi council would want to meet him. He weighed up the pros and cons before his curiosity got the better of him and he agreed.

"Okay, I'll meet with them."