Chapter 51

They stayed exploring the system and the Sith fleet for several days and found quite a range of interesting items.

Most of what they found had been damaged by the E.M.P. but there were still quite a few artifacts that they could keep or sell to collectors interested in the time of the old republic.

Sapphire had been splitting her attention between creating the new A.I. and starting the process of establishing a shipyard in the system.

She was already controlling the battle droids to transfer anything valuable from the ships in the Sith fleet to the lucrehulk before she started ripping them apart. And she had also, on Renn's insistence, sent some of the droids to take care of the fallen crew members of the ships and give them a proper resting place on the moon bellow.

After viewing Darth Kress's memories Renn felt like the Crew's of the old ships had been through enough horrors during their final moments and deserved a prober burial.

Sapphire had spent most of her time working on creating the new A.I. and now after several days of working she had finally succeeded, and the two A.I.s were currently projecting their avatars over the Speedy vagabonds holo-table with the rest of the crew watching them with interest.

"So, your still using Darth Kress's image as your avatar. Are you going to name yourself after her as well?" Renn asked the new A.I. who was still assuming the form of a nautolan woman projected in red light.

"No, I'm my own person now. I just got used to this form so I cant really be bothered changing it." The A.I. said happily.

"Sapphire showed me the historical records on Darth Kress, and I heard about her from how you described the memory the holocron showed you and she sounded cool." The A.I. who was built around Darth Kress's consciousness said modestly.

"Buuut, like I said I'm different know so I've chosen a new name, since all of you seem to think names are sooo important," She grumbled the last part under her breath and sapphire shot her a glare, "So, from now on my name is Neo."

-

They left Neo on the lucrehulk with Sapphire's fragment to oversee the construction of the new ships for now as the lucrehulk's computer systems had much more space for the two A.I.s.

They might move her to the asteroid base later but for now she was alright were she was. She had a instinctive grasp on her new abilities but would need time to figure them out properly and Sapphire's fragment could teach her while she organised the construction project.

Renn and the others however were on board the Speedy Vagabond and journeying back to Sullust to purchase some freighters, some construction droids, and some parts for building the shipyard and ships.

The journey to Sullust was uneventful and soon they were back in the underground city of Byllurun and purchasing the supplies they needed.

They were able to find a second hand star ship dealership selling a number of Barloz-class medium freighters and so bought five of the ships to ferry supplies back and forth between Sullust and the uninhabited system the fleet was located in.

Renn also decided to purchase a small dock area and the warehouses next to it, both for storing the goods he was going to buy on Sullust in until they could be sent to the uninhabited system and for exporting some of the goods his new businesses on Naboo were going to produce once they got established. Sullust was a trade hub so he figured he could get a bit of profit by selling goods here.

They had brought a few battle droids with them from the lucrehulk and some would act as pilots for the freighters and the others would stay behind and act as security for the dock and warehouses.

Renn bought a variety of cheap construction-oriented droids without worrying about what condition they were in as once they reached the lucrehulk Sapphire and Neo would be upgrading them anyway, so it didn't really matter.

He also bought a lot of raw materials and electronic components and soon the freighters and his new warehouses were full of stock and the droid pilots were heading off with their new ships to begin ferrying off the supplies.

Renn felt that he should probably hire someone to manage the docks on Sullust. That person could organise the supplies and arrange for the buying of new items and the selling of other stuff. He decided it would probably be a good idea to ask on of the ex-slaves on Naboo if they were interested as they had a sense of loyalty towards him and he didn't want someone untrustworthy doing the job.

After a brief conversation over the long-range comms with the community leaders of the ex-slaves were Renn gave an outline of the job offer and them promising to look into if anyone was interested, Renn took a break and spent some time relaxing with Opal, Seela, and Shae.

-

Renn was currently walking back towards the docks with Shae, Yaddle, and Alpha.

Yaddle had wanted to look around the markets in Byllurun to try and buy some more of a sweet fruit that she had discovered on their last visit and was now happily munching on one while Renn and Alpha carried bags filled with more of the fruits.

It was originally just going to be Yaddle, Renn and Alpha going as it was only supposed to be a short visit to the market before they left the planet. But Shae had asked to come along in the small hope that there would be somewhere in the market that sold beskar, so that she could use it to repair her armour.

Beskar was usually only found on Mandalore and its moon Concordia but it was known to end up in the hands of black-market dealers occasionally, and with the New Mandalorians preaching peace and outlawing the old warrior ways and Pre Vizsla placing a price on her head she couldn't really go to the sources to get the rare metal and instead just had to pray she would find some elsewhere.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to find a black-market dealer selling the metal and Renn had been spending the whole walk back to the docks trying to cheer Shae up.

"Don't worry about it we'll find some eventually." He said to and just got a weak smile in return from the disappointed girl.

"I'm serious, we will get you some. Even if we have to go to Concordia and nick it from death watch" That got more of a smile from the girl as she imagined stealing the metal from her enemies.

"You'll probably need to get stronger to do that. Mandalorians aren't push overs like those gangsters you fought on Tatooine." Shae said grinning at Renn.

"Oh, your lack of faith in my abilities wounds me." Renn said dramatically and Shae laughed.

Renn smiled, happy that Shae wasn't sulking anymore before his smile cramped slightly when Yaddle cut into the conversation, still chewing on the sweet fruit.

"She's 'munch' right you 'chew' know. Mandalorians are 'munch' dangerous 'chew' opponents." Yaddle said not caring that Renn was being sarcastic about fighting hordes of well-trained Mandalorian warriors while he was only eight years old.

"Could you eat your food and then talk instead of trying both at the same time?" Renn asked the small green woman.

"No 'chew' can do. 'munch' too tasty." Yaddle said back juice from the fruit dripping down her chin.

Renn just sighed and continued walking as Shae kept laughing at the interactions between Renn and the former jedi high council member.

They were nearly at the docks when Renn felt something was wrong. He had been trying to be more aware of his surroundings since the problems they had encountered on Coruscant and Tatooine and now he noticed something was wrong.

He saw a glint from a rooftop overlooking the empty street they were walking down and he focused on it in concern. Alpha also stopped to look at the rooftop and then they both moved at the same moment.

Danger filled Renn's senses, the force was warning him about something, and he reacted instantly.

The danger wasn't for him it was for the girl next to him and although Shae, like both Opal and Seela, was force sensitive she couldn't sense it the same way Renn could and wasn't prepared for what was about to happen.

Renn tackled Shae to the ground almost in the same moment that Alpha tried to stand between the kids and the rooftop overlooking the street. A split second later a fist sized section of the street exploded as a high powered blaster bolt slammed into it.

The shot had missed the spot Shae's head had occupied only moments before by centimetres and Renn and Shae watched its trajectory in a mix of surprise and horror from the floor, Renn still trying to use his own body to cover the stunned girl.

Alpha responded by unleashing a hail of blaster bolts at the rooftop in the hopes of hitting the shooter.

The whooshing sound of two jetpacks igniting could be heard over the firing and two armoured figures sored into the air to try and fire on Renn and the others from above.

They didn't think that threw well enough though because as soon as they were out of cover and in Alpha's line of sight he sent well aimed blaster bolts straight into the two figures.

One was struck in their jetpack which fizzled out of power and sent its user screaming towards the ground. Luckily, or unluckily depending on your perspective, the figure was plucked from the sky by a strong force pull from Yaddle to come hurtling towards the jedi's feet.

The other took several hits to the helmet and visor and though his armour saved him from being killed by the head shots it didn't save him from physics. The figure had been travelling at high speeds and after the blaster bolts had struck his helmet his vision was blocked and he had lost control and slammed head first into a building, shattering every bone in his body and turning into an armoured lump of jelly.

The now sole living attacker looked up groggily to see the green tip of a lightsabre held centimetres in front of their visor.