Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage

[MetaBettaOmega]

Nevue stepped out of the cargo bay slowly, his hands out and empty as he moved. When he was a few feet ahead of us, he stopped.

"I'm Nevue Loc. I messaged ahead that I was returning?" He called out, his voice echoing throughout the large stone hangar.

After a few seconds, a head popped out around the corner of one of the entrances into the large empty hangar bay. It stuck out just long enough for Nevue to spot it before dipping back around the corner. He smiled and called out.

"Thak Gorn! I saw that, it's good to see you survived!" He called out, turning his head to look back at us. "He was part of the team I ran with."

After about a minute, the Gotal stepped out fully from around the corner, with two more people, a Twi'lek woman, and a Mon Calamari male, following with him. Both of the additional people were wearing a vest uniform that I vaguely recognized as an officer's vest from some of the movies. They slowly made their way into the hangar, stopping about ten feet away from us.

"Nevue, it's good to see you alive," The Gotal, Thak, said when they stopped. "Who are your companions?"

"They are friends. Saved me from slavery," Nevue explained. "Are we the only survivors?"

"No, Salo and Maraliz also made it out," He responded solemnly.

"Only four?" Nevue asked, shaking his head. "Dammit..."

"You said your friends rescued you from slavery?" The Gotal asked. "How did you get wrapped up in that? We have you listed as KIA because you were cut off and wounded last we saw. Your stupid plan to lead them away is the only reason any of us lived, by the way."

"Well... I'm glad something good came from it, at least," He responded ruefully, though a smile quickly returned. "I managed to give the Imps the slip at the last second, but I passed out in my hiding space from blood loss."

He lifted up his shirt to show a gnarly-looking blaster scar that I had no idea he had. It was around the left side of his abdomen and looked like a mix of a crazing bullet wound and a high-temperature burn that had long ago healed up.

"Someone found me, slapped a bacta patch on me, and shipped me off to Nar Shaddaa," He explained, lowering his shirt. "I got tagged after we landed, and I spent the last few months weighing if I should just get it over with by killing the people who bought me. Luckily it didn't come to that."

The group was silent for a moment. The Twi'lek woman shared a look with Mon Calamari before looking at Thack. After a moment, she sighed and looked back at the rest of us.

"Alright, for now, we will give you the benefit of the doubt," The green-skinned Twi'lek said. "I am General Hera Syndulla, temporarily in charge of Thila outpost until the siege of Yavin 4 is over."

Tatnia gave me a slight shove, just enough to force me to step forward. I resisted the urge to curse, instead continuing to step forward as if it had been intentional.

"My name is Deacon Roy. I'm more or less the leader of this group," I said with a small bow. "We appreciate the trust."

"Let's move somewhere more comfortable. I want the full story," The General said. "I'm sorry, but while we are gone we will also be searching your ship."

"Well, it's only been ours for a few days. We had to borrow it for a quick escape," I explained. "But that shouldn't be a problem, as long as you don't mind one of us remaining behind?"

"As long as they don't get in the way."

I nodded and turned to Tatnia, who put her hand on Miru's shoulder and nodded, confirming both of them would be staying back. Miru didn't look happy about it, but I would make it up to her if this didn't go south. I would have preferred to keep us all together, but someone needed to stay behind and watch our money. I might trust some of the rebel leaders, and I might agree with parts of the movement, but I didn't trust some random soldier not to snag a couple of ingots from our pile.

The Mon Calamari stayed behind, directing the troops around as we left the hangar, some of them staying behind while the others jogged away through the two other entrances. A few also jogged to catch up to us, serving as an escort. As we left the hangar behind, I focused on the Twi'lek General. I recognized her name, as well as her face from one of the newer cartoons. It had a reputation for being good, but by the time it gained any momentum, I was already working two jobs and picking up odd jobs on the side. It had been on my list of things to watch, along with several Disney Star Wars stuff, but there was just never enough time.

I quickly ran through what I knew about her from the few clips I caught on youtube. I knew she was a pilot and ran with a crew, including who I think was the show's main character. She had a love interest, or a partner, who I was pretty sure was training the main character to be a Jedi. I looked around to see if anyone else was following behind us. Seeing none, I focused on the soldiers, paying particular attention to their belts to see if they had any lightsaber-esq cylinders clipped there. I racked my brain for anything else, even as we were led to a small lounge-like area. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything else useful beyond a comedy relief astromech.

As I racked my brain, Hera walked in confidently and sat down at the table while two of the guards stood on either side of the doorway. Nal, Nevue, and I followed inside, with Nal and myself sitting across from the General while Navue sat on the perpendicular side.

"So, Lieutenant Loc, why don't you tell us the rest of your story," She asked, leaning forward in interest, her elbows on the table.

Nevue nodded and began explaining what he had been up to since his last mission went bad. Some of this I already knew, as even though he had been relatively quiet about his past, he never missed an opportunity to talk shit about Nar Shaddaa, which often included his previous owners. Eventually, he explained how his last owner shipped him back to the slavers, and he had been scheduled to go through a few days of "education."

"Luckily, before I could get shipped off, these guys bought me," He said, gesturing to Nal and me. "I was not looking forward to being tortured into submission."

"They bought you?" Hera asked, her eyes wide, looking at both of us harshly. "What-"

"That has a context I should explain if that's alright?" I asked, giving a harsh look at Nevue, who was chuckling to himself, his sense of humor returning now that he was among his allies. "We immediately freed him after paying for him, including removing his slave implant. The point wasn't to buy a slave, but get our money into their credit ingot storage."

I started to explain what we had been up to, giving the General the basic outline of what my crew and I had been doing leading up to freeing Nevue. I skipped over my magic, explaining that we had tracking chips cut inside the credit ingots. Nevue had agreed to keep his mouth shut about it as well, as long as we stayed friendly to the Rebel Alliance. He also explained that if someone asked him directly if I had special abilities, he wouldn't lie. He was willing to keep things out of his report, but he was not willing to lie to his friends and superiors.

"They didn't find the trackers?" Hera asked, leaning back in her chair, looking skeptical. "That seems unlikely."

"Well, to be fair, Miru did an outstanding job at hiding the tracker inside the ingots," I assured her. "And if they were smart they wouldn't be slavers."

"I suppose. So what went wrong?" She asked. "You mentioned you stole that B-7 as a quick escape, and you're clearly not still on Nar Shaddaa, stealing from slavers. So why did you need to run?"

"Our plan worked too well," I explained with a shrug. "The market we bought Nevue from looked successful, but it didn't look like they would be a group we would have to worry about. Except the credit transport was carrying sixty thousand credits. I was hoping to get that much eventually, but spread out over a month, maybe two. We weren't prepared for the bounties and the attention from enforcers. Rather than tempt fate, we decided to get while the getting was good."

"Smart, can't imagine the Hutt's liked you stealing from them, though. I would watch out in the future, you'll probably have a price on your head soon, if you don't already."

"We… didn't steal from the Hutts. We intentionally avoided Hutt-owned markets because we didn't want to get them involved," I responded, a sinking feeling starting to form in my stomach.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Deacon, but everything on Nar Shaddaa is run by the Hutts. It's why we don't do much business there," She explained. "There is no way a business shipping that much money around wasn't owned by the Hutt's in some way. It's probably why it was so lightly protected. They assumed no one was... stupid enough to steal from the Hutts."

I stared at her for a long moment before I let out a long sigh, leaning back against the seat. Eventually, I shook myself off and rubbed my face, sitting back up. My mind raced, but I did my best to focus on the Twi'lek in front of me. I idly realized that she was the first person from the stories back home I had met, but I quickly pushed that thought away.

"Alright, thank you for sharing that with us. I guess we will be keeping our eyes open," I said. "And stepping up our timetable."

"What are your plans exactly?" General Syndulla asked.

"We plan on buying a ship, something big enough to run a small mercenary company out of," I responded. "Maybe a few smaller ships as escorts."

"An interesting goal, and by the sounds of it, you have the money to make at least the first part of that plan a reality. In fact…" The rebel leader seemed to think for a long moment before eventually continuing, having seemed to reach an internal conclusion. "We have contacts with a few shipbrokers that are sympathetic to our cause. With the right words, we might be able to help your money go a little further."

"Nova always has some good stuff," Nevue pointed out, looking at his superior. "Plus, I know them pretty well. I can escort them to her repair station."

"Are you sure? I was planning on putting your team back together. You're more than welcome to join them," The rebel leader asked.

"I would like to join my team, but these guys need a ride," Nevue responded, getting a confused look from his superior.

"We were hoping to sell you the B-7 and most of its cargo to you guys at a discount, something around twenty thousand for both," I explained simply. "We would then need a ride to the shipbroker,"

"That… seems like a low price," Hera responded, eyebrow raised. "Assuming the ship doesn't have anything wrong with it."

"It's in pretty good condition," Nevue assured her. "Better than you would expect, honestly, given its previous owner's occupation. And the supplies are useful, a few crates of blasters and ammo, some heavy cannons as well. Twenty thousand is a terrific deal."

"That only proves my point," She pointed out. "Why the low price?"

"We may not be interested in joining, but that doesn't mean we aren't sympathetic to the movement," I explained, Nal nodding in agreement. "In the future, we would be happy to work with you for a discount, maybe even donate our time for a good enough cause. We just need to get our feet under us first. We need a ship, a few more crew members… Probably don't have to explain that sort of stuff to you,"

"No, I know that process very well," She admitted with a smirk. "Alright, give some time for my people to inspect your ship and its cargo. If everything is in order, you've got yourself a deal. Nevue will bring you to Nova, they run a shipyard of sorts around an old repair platform. We buy a lot of ships from them. They always seem to have something worth buying."

"That's very generous of you, General," I responded.

"Please, you're practically giving away that B-7, it's worth at least fifteen thousand credits if it's in as decent quality as Nevue claims," She responded before pausing as if she was considering her next question. "Could I… ask about the young Twi'lek traveling with you?"

"Miru?" I asked, looking confused. "She is our mechanic, extremely talented from what I've seen."

"How old is she exactly?"

"She says she is seventeen," I explained. "I will be very happy when I can leave her on a ship to keep up with maintenance while the rest of us do the fighting. She has seen a lot in her life already, but that's no reason to pile on more."

The green-skinned Twi'lek woman studied me for a moment or three before eventually letting out a sigh.

"I apologize. My race is often mistreated and taken as slaves and… I have a soft spot for children,"

"I do as well, and honestly, she reminds me of one of my younger cousins," I explained, shaking my head. "Anything wanting to hurt her will have to go through the rest of the crew and me to do it, I promise."

"I believe you," She responded, before standing up from her seat. "Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of spare time these days, so I'm going to have to leave you in the capable hands of your new escort."

General Syndulla said, gesturing to the two soldiers standing by the doorway. Both of them stood at attention now that we were looking at them.

"They can show you to some spare quarters," She said with a subtle smile. "I'd ask that you resist the urge to explore. We may be friendly, but I can't have you wandering around in high-security areas."

"Of course, we will probably stick around the ship, rest and leave tomorrow if that works for Nevue," I said, sticking my hand out, the confident Twi'lek general taking my hand and shaking it firmly.

Shortly after that, General Hera Syndulla left us alone with the soldiers, who seemed to stand a bit easier with their superior officer gone. I smiled and gestured to the door.

"We would like to get back to the hangar for now," I explained, the taller soldier nodding in understanding.

The taller soldier led the way back to the hangar, the second soldier following behind us by a few feet, preventing us from making a run for it or sneaking away. It didn't take long for us to reach the mostly empty Hangar bay. The ship was already being emptied, with Tatnia standing near the cargo bay entrance, watching as workers unloaded some of the cargo. She noticed us and nodded in our direction, prompting me to head over and see what I could do to help.

---

So, we have finally met our first cannon character! It's very exciting, even if she won't be joining the crew or anything. With this, I do want to make something very clear. I am trying my best to make sure everything makes sense for timelines and for the stories these characters exist in, but I am not omniscient, and I have not seen/read/played every bit of Star Wars lore. I've absorbed more than Deacon has, but not by miles. I took what looked like a blank space in Hera's timeline and realized she would work really well as the leader of Thila Command. It's possible that I missed something or mixed something up, but at this point, it doesn't matter much. This is a "variant" Star Wars setting, which means that I am trying my best to mix both cannon timelines together, but at some point, I have to stop obsessing over every little bit of lore and make a unilateral choice.

 

[Sylverdyne]

As far as I know, you're clear on what Hera was up to during the battle of Yavin. She is known to be on Yavin IV while Andor and co. are there in Rouge One, but the Ghost and presumably Hera aren't in the relevant parts of Episode IV, so who knows how long the gap there is. (Days or weeks, not months is my guess. Bail had time to get back to Alderaan, at least.) So she was likely sent back to her base to gather up supplies and troops and got stuck when Luke and Han lead Tarkin right to the rebellion. So it fits, but it's kinda snug. Well done.

 

[MetaBettaOmega]

Some big news! I've been working hard over the past few weeks to increase Patreon benefits! They are now:

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This took a couple of weeks and a lot of cutting down time, but I am very happy to offer more to the people who support me. If you are interested in supporting my attempt at being a full-time writer and creating fun stories for everyone to enjoy, stop by my Patreon. If not, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

---

The rebel workers made quick work of clearing out the B-7 cargo bay, emptying it of everything we didn't want in only an hour, which included the time we were off meeting General Syndulla. When workers hauled away the last crate, all that was left was the stuff we had brought from Nar Shaddaa, the MRV, and three crates, we wanted to keep from the ship's original cargo. The stolen cargo we kept was actually a mix of several different containers. A few extra pistols, rifles, and ammo from one crate, a month's worth of food stable food from another, as well as other odds and ends that Tatnia and Nal thought were worth keeping.

While we were getting our stuff settled, transferring what we wanted into different containers, I wondered out loud why the cargo for this ship had been so well stocked with weapons and other useful stuff, and Nal responded while chuckling.

"It's our fault," He explained, leaning back from the crate he had been sorting through. "They wanted to increase security after we stole from them the first time. They were smuggling in new equipment for more guards."

"Huh… lucky us I guess…" I admitted before shaking my head and getting back to work. "I would have rather freed another batch of slaves, though."

Nal nodded, and we finished getting our crates secure, connecting them to the cargo bay floor in their new positions by the back of the bay. By the time we were done, whoever the Rebels had gotten to do an inspection of the ship was also done and confirmed that the ship and cargo were well with twenty thousand credits. Twenty minutes later, we had two new containers of credits in our pile, both filled with credit chips instead of ingots.

"We need to get some sort of account set up at some point," I commented, all four of us sitting in the cargo bay, looking at the stacks of credit boxes. "I can't imagine the shipbroker is going to be excited to deal with all this."

"With their clientele, I'm sure they are used to it," Tatnia respond before looking back out of the cargo bay into the now active hangar. "Which reminds me, you are being really trusting with these people. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Do I trust every member? Not even close," I assured her. "But I trust the General, Nevue, and the general group. But no, I don't trust all of them, so I will be sleeping on board in one of the cots to keep an eye on the credits."

Tatnia nodded in agreement, volunteering to switch off if I wanted to. After we talked for a bit more about posting a watch to keep track of the over one hundred thousand credits we had on board. By that time, it was starting to get late, both for us and the actual planet's timescale, which just happened to have a similar time schedule to what we had become used to on Nar Shadda.

We spent a little while longer chatting, mostly discussing what sort of ship we were looking for, before the group was escorted to some better sleeping quarters while I stayed behind and slept in the cargo bay. When they were gone, I closed the bay doors, sealing them shut before sitting down at the edge of my bed and pulling out my grimoire.

It wasn't the most responsible thing, but I couldn't resist the urge to learn another spell, especially now that I would have time to recover from missing sleep. I also hoped that my natural "talent" with conjuration would keep me from being up too late.

I slowly worked my way through the description of conjure bound armor, carefully paying attention to its limitations. Like all conjured objects, its time limit was connected to how much mana I put into it, and since it was also locked around my body, I would be able to easily feed it more energy. According to the description, I would be able to summon it and keep it summoned indefinitely, as long as I was conscious and didn't run out of magicka to fuel them.

I decided to start by learning the upper torso armor first, since it covered all my vitals. It would also make learning the lower torso version easier, since the first stage matrix was the same for each spell. As usual, it took about thirty minutes for me to get each stage set, forming the two matrices in my hand. When I was sure I had the right shapes, lines, and angles, I started pushing more mana through them, slowly adjusting and shaping each part of the matrices until the magic flowed through easily. It took me about seven hours in total, keeping me up well past when I should have been asleep.

It was well worth it, though, as I stood up from the cot and summoned the bound armor, the magic wrapping around my arm as I cast it. The magic stretched down my arm, over my chest, and down my other arm, forming the armor as it went. It even stretched up to cover my head, though the magic was completely see-through when it finally covered my eyes. I looked down at my hands, which were now covered in the pale purple color of conjured objects. Once again, I was glad that the things I was conjuring weren't based on the daedric equipment from Skyrim, instead finding my hand and arms were wrapped in a semi-translucent set of plate armor, not some fear-inducing fantasy crap.

I moved around slowly, stretching and testing my range of motion while encased in the ethereal armor, finding that not only did it seem to weigh nothing, but it also didn't hamper my dexterity in the slightest. It seemed happy to clip through itself when I wanted to touch my arm, but was extremely solid when I tried to punch myself. I climbed up the ladder to the main deck, stepping into the bathroom so I could look at myself in the small mirror built into the wall. I could see my face through the purple glowing armor, the helmet still not hampering my vision at all. I had hoped that it would obscure my face, but I could hardly complain when everything else worked out so well.

Satisfied with how the top half of my bound armor looked, I quickly went back down into the cargo bay and ran it through even more testing. I shot myself with sparks, frostbite, and flames before slashing at it with a conjured dagger. The armor blocked several seconds of each destructive spell combined, though I could feel that it was extremely damaged at that point, and I needed to re-conjure it to test out the dagger, which did noticeable damage to it but still stopped completely.

I practiced the new conjuring spell for about thirty minutes, making sure I had it down completely before finally heading to bed, excited to learn the lower torso spell as well, when I got the chance. With any luck, I would have the entire trip to wherever this Nova shipbroker was.

With the spell learned and my testing complete, I eagerly climbed into my cot, falling asleep to the low ambient noise of the outside hangar, the natural wind of Thila occasionally rattling things around.

---------------​

I woke up the next morning to the sound of a very active hangar outside the ship. I slowly sat up from my cot, my brain taking a few seconds to catch up. It was clearly much earlier than I had hoped to sleep too, but that's what I got for sleeping somewhere like an active hangar. I stretched and used a quick healing spell to clear up my aches before slowly making my way to one of the side doors of the B-7, tapping the control panel to open the thick, double-sealed door.

I stepped down and out of the small freighter and into the busy hangar bay. What had been an almost entirely empty space just a few hours ago was now abuzz with activity. Six X-Wings had landed at some point in the last few hours and were now in the process of getting looked over by several technicians and pilots.

While meeting Hera had been a bit jarring, her being the first in-universe person I had met so far, seeing an in-the-flesh, honest to god, mother fucking X-Wing, not fifteen feet away, had me looking on in awe, my mind completely blown away. Here was the symbol of the Rebellion, arguably one of the most famous and easily identified science fiction ships ever made, the subject of video games and an entire book series. My brother Brian and I had spent hours playing starfighters, running around our house, holding cheap X-Wing models, and making horrible imitations of their engines and the sound of lasers. This was a dream come to life.

Unbidden, I took a step forward to the closest starfighter, my attention locked onto it as I walked around, taking in every nook and cranny. I could see scoring along one of the S-foils, the sign of a very close call, most likely recent too. I could also see the ship was in pretty good shape despite that, though I lacked the technical knowledge to know exactly how good of condition it was in. What I could tell was that this was anything but a prop. It was clear as you looked at it that every piece had a purpose, that every plate was not just some random do-dad that the people at Lucasfilms stuck on to add some texture. This was starfighter, a weapon of war, and-

"Can I help you?"

I jumped when a voice half shouted out to me, needing the extra volume to cut over the tools and other echoing noises that filled the hangar. I also realized that I had been reaching out to touch the side of the starfighter, a big social faux pas when you didn't own the ship you were touching. I winced and pulled my hand back.

"Sorry, I wasn't really thinking," I explained sheepishly. "I've always loved the X-Wing design, and if I knew anything about flying, I would definitely want one of my own eventually."

As I talked, I looked over the S-foil again before turning to look at whoever had gotten my attention. It was a young man, probably about eight or ten years younger than me, with black hair and thick eyebrows. He was wearing a pilot's suit, but with all of the extra panels, tubes, and the white flak jacket removed, probably to make it easier to move around. He was looking at me with a raised eyebrow, most certainly wondering what the hell I was doing.

"Sorry, name's Deacon, I came in on the B-7 over there," I explained, stepping forward and holding out my hand, which the man shook. "Just dropping off one of your operatives we happened to pick up before moving on."

"Huh. Sounds like there's a story there," The man said with a smile. "I'm Wedge Antilles."

My brain screeched to a halt, studying the man's face. He did look a lot like the actor who played him in the original trilogy, though it was far from an exact match. I finally let go of his hand, coughing awkwardly before returning his smile.

"Maybe, it was certainly an adventure," I admitted with a chuckle, trying to cover up from the panic in my head.

I was talking to my childhood hero, the best pilot in the galaxy, Rogue Leader! Creator of Wraith Squadron and driving force behind the eventual invasion of Coruscant! An honest to god legend, currently in the process of forging that legend.

"My friends and I staged a breakout after we got picked up by slavers and dropped off at Nar Shaddaa," I explained, looking back at his starfighter. "We raided a couple of slaver holdings to make some cash before blasting out in the B-7."

The Rebellion hero scowled a bit when I mentioned slavery, nodding along as I told a highly abbreviated version of our story.

"Well, I'm glad you managed to escape. Slavery is a blight on the galaxy. I can only hope that when we take down the Empire, we can do something about it."

"Let's hope so."

"Are you here to join up?" The legendary pilot asked. "Even if you can't fly, we are always looking for soldiers, engineers, even specialists."

"No, my crew and I have plans to start a mercenary group now that we are off Nar Shaddaa," I explained with a wince. "I've already explained to General Syndulla that we are sympathetic to the cause, enough to work for cheap, and even donate our time if something particularly important comes up. But… I'm not much of a joiner."

"...Well, allies are almost as good as members," He said with a shrug. "It was nice talking to you, Deacon, but I need to finish my inspection before we take off again. We have to get back to Yavin 4 to help break the rest of the Alliance through the blockade."

"Sure, and… May the force be with you," I said, my inner child dancing with glee as Wedge gave me a serious nod, going back to his X-Wing.

I turned and headed back to the B-7, quickly climbing back inside, the double-sealed doors closing behind me. When the door shut all the way, my inner child broke free for a moment, and I danced in place while laughing.

"I shook Wedge Antilles' hand!" I said, laughing to myself. "Brian would be so fucking jealous!"

When I eventually calmed down, I made my way to the main deck of the ship, using the small kitchen system to make a small breakfast before eating it at the nearby table. My thoughts eventually drifted to what was next, what I needed to make happen in order to get my team in a good, solid position. We needed to have the ability to take on jobs and explore without having to look over our shoulders constantly, or at least know that when something bad did come knocking, we could handle it. The first step was a ship, something substantial enough to call a home base. If I wanted to start recruiting people, having a ship to live out of would make convincing people much more straightforward.

After that was securing supplies, which meant making money. I had a few ideas for that angle, some of which were as complicated as "listen to rumors and see if they pan out" to abusing some of my meta-knowledge. I knew a few places where I could make quite a bit of money or at least quite a bit of salvage, but unfortunately, some of those were a bit too advanced for now.

I finished up my meal quickly before heading down to the cargo bay, coming down just in time to see the cargo bay door open to reveal Miru, Nal, Tatnia and Nevue on the other side. There were also two rebel soldiers, who were both armed and carrying packs much more extensive than one would expect for just escorting some people around. One was a human woman, maybe a few years younger than me, while the other was a human man, just around my age.

"Morning guys. How's it going?" I asked, stepping off the ladder and walking to meet them halfway. "Everyone ready to go?"

"We are ready," Nevue said before gesturing to the additional soldiers. "This is Ayme Montera and Lario Vark. They are here as backup, just in case. General Syndulla was hesitant to let a newly purchased ship go with only your word we could have it back."

"Oh… fair enough, I hadn't thought about it like that," I admitted before nodding to both of them. "Welcome aboard. Thanks for joining us."

The two soldiers nodded before Nal reached over and tapped on the control panel for the bay door, the thick armored door slowly closing. The soldier walked further into the bay before dropping their packs while the rest of us made our way up to the bridge on the main deck. It didn't take long for Nevue and Tatnia, who volunteered to be the copilot this time, to get permission from hangar control to leave, the ship lifting off of the ground easily, slowly pulling out of the large hangar bay. After a quick flight up and out of Thila's atmosphere, Nevue plotted a course, and we left the mountainous planet behind.

 

[MetaBettaOmega]

Nevue explained that the trip would take about eighteen hours, as the shipbroker was stationed in a distant corner of the galaxy, along the edge of Wild Space. Their business was located in deep space, on a repair platform that only a few people knew the location of, as most of their business was done by delivery or pick up. I was excited to have such a chunk of time to learn some new magic until I remembered our extra passengers.

The two rebel soldiers, who were essentially acting as bodyguards for Nevue and as extra insurance that the Rebel Alliance would get the ship they had just bought back, had set up some space for themselves in the cargo bay. This was fine for my first task, which was learning the lower torso portion of my bound armor spell, because I could just do that in the lounge area. But I had also been hoping to have Miru help me set up a target of some sort, one that would let me learn the lightning bolt spell, which was definitely not something I could do in the lounge.

Still, I had plenty of other things I could learn, and after a few minutes of consideration ended up picking the second level of the warding spell, steadfast ward. When I set to work, learning the lower torso bound armor spell barely took four hours because of my work on the upper torso bound armor and my "talent" with conjuration.

The steadfast ward took a bit longer, though my apparent talent with restoration kept it from being ridiculous and let me finish it with enough time to get some sleep before we arrived at our destination. Miru, Tatnia, Nevue, the female soldier, and I were all in the cockpit when we dropped from lightspeed. In the distance was a singular dot, a small station far enough away that there were no discernible features besides being vaguely blocky.

As we got closer, more and more details became visible. By the time Nevue used the ship's comms to contact whoever was on the station, we could see that the free-floating structure was simple and utilitarian, with a central, vaguely cuboid central structure and four massive hangar bays connected to that structure. One of the hangars led directly into a ship berth structure clearly meant for larger ships. Currently, the large berth was empty, and as we got closer, we could see that it also seemed to be nonfunctional, as all its guiding lights were off, and there was a lot of plating missing on its branches.

Despite it clearly being nonfunctional, there were a dozen or so ship frames attached to it, all of them clearly missing a lot of their parts. Some were barely even skeletons of ships, stripped down to just a basic framework.

It didn't take long for us to get permission to land in one of the hangars, the smallest one to the left of the large ship berth. As Nevue and Tatnia guided us in, Nevue explained what we were getting ourselves into.

"The station was sold to Nova's family shortly after the Clone Wars. Her family had connections in the Republic that worked just long enough in the early days of the Empire to snag it. It was heavily damaged at the time, but they repaired most of it before mothballing everything they didn't need. Basically, the hangars work, and there's enough functional living space for a few repair teams," He explained, pausing to gently land the ship inside the smallest hangar bay.

The bay had plenty of room for us several times over, even with the other ship, the type of which I didn't recognize, already landed in one corner. When we landed, Nevue flicked off a couple switches, and the ship slowly powered down to a resting state. After a short conversation, Tatnia volunteered to stay behind and watch the ship, as did the male soldier, while the rest of us exited via one of the side doorways in the cargo bay. My boots had hardly even touched the deck when a voice called out.

"Nevue! It's good to see you. It's been what, eight or nine months?" An older woman's voice called out, prompting me to search the hangar for the source. "I thought we talked about you messaging ahead when you come with a delivery?"

Along the far back end of the hangar was the main entrance, and above that was a second-story observation deck. There, leaning on the railing, was a human woman, probably fifteen or twenty years older than me, with brown and gray hair pulled up into a tight bun. Her face was starting to wrinkle, with crow's feet around her eyes and laugh lines in other places. She was dressed in a well-worn and stained pair of coveralls, with a tool-laden belt around her hips.

"Not here with a delivery, Nova, I have some friends here looking to make a purchase," He called out, leading us to stand under the platform. "They are looking for a decent-sized ship, something to run a mercenary group out of."

"Friends? Of yours or your bosses?" She asked, looking down at us with a raised eyebrow.

"Both! I was gone for so long because I managed to end up as a slave on Nar Shaddaa. It's a long story. " He explained, Nova's eyes going wide. "They personally freed me and got me back to my people. And in the process, offered to help the movement when they could, even sold them some goods we managed to obtain along the way for cheap."

"Sithspit, you managed to get yourself in some trouble, huh? Well, not gonna turn away a friend of yours, especially not after pulling your ass out of the fire," She said with a smile. "Come on in. I think we've got some options for what you're looking for."

Nevue once again led the way, this time going through the main entrance, a closed door that opened smoothly as we got closer. We made our way through a long corridor with doors on either side, most of them marked with signs that denoted them not to be opened. At an intersection, Nova joined us, stepping out of a turbolift. She immediately gave Nevue a hug before sharing handshakes all around. I introduced Nal and Miru before introducing myself.

"And I'm Deacon. Leader of sorts of our group. There are only four of us at the moment, but we are hoping to find something to grow into," I explained, the older woman nodding in understanding.

"I have a few things that can fit that bill, depending on just how big you're looking to get," She responded, gesturing with a nod down one of the hallways. "Let's start with hangar bay one. It's our largest bay and where we keep most of the finished ships."

She led us down the corridor and then through another doorway, climbing up a set of stairs before exiting out onto another walkway, this one overlooking a massive hangar that dwarfed the one we had just been in. Inside were dozens of ships, some of which I recognized and many that I did not. There were quite a few ships that looked like they belonged to the YT family, and there was even a LAAT Gunship tucked into a far corner.

Several of the ships had people and droids climbing on them, working diligently to repair obvious damage or replace worn parts. I spotted more than a few of what I was pretty sure were Verpine workers, welding and working on various ships.

"Alright, so how much firepower are you looking for?" She asked, gesturing to the large space. "We have a little bit of everything, from assault boats to craft more focused on transportation and freight. We also have a few ships that look like they are more focused on freight but have been heavily modified."

I stepped over to the railing that ran along the edge of the observation platform, leaning on it as I studied the ships. Some of the ships, mostly the ones I recognized, caught my eye, but if there was one thing I knew about buying something as big and expensive as a ship, it was that you should get a look at as many options as possible before making your choice.

"Firepower is good, but not the primary concern. I'm looking for space for my team to grow, and I want room to modify and add our own additions," I explained. "I plan on spending a solid chunk of change to make this ship a tough nut to crack. Do you have a list of ships and prices, maybe with some specifications?"

"I do," She answered, reaching down into her tool belt to pull out a palm projector pad and passing it to me with a smile. "Tell you what, I'll assign a droid to you, they will be able to show you around. If you're interested in one, just let them know, and they can contact me. Listen to the droid and any workers, and you'll be fine. While you're looking around…"

She turned to Nevua and pointed at him, a hand on her hip.

"You and I are going to go to my office. I want to hear more about what happened to you," She said, shaking her head. "I was worried sick, especially when your friends refused to tell me what happened!"

Despite her apparent annoyance, it was clear that she had actually been genuinely worried about the Zabrak. Nevue seemed to realize this and made no attempts at arguing with her as she led him away. Once they were gone, the door sliding shut after them, the female soldier, Ayme, let out a sigh.

"Guess I'll go back to the ship," She said, shaking her head.

"You sure?" I asked, taking pity on the obviously bored soldier. "I wouldn't mind an extra opinion."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you might see or think of something we missed," I responded with a shrug. "It's better than sitting in the B-7, just staring at the ceiling."

She shrugged, and together the four of us started looking through the options on the projector pad. We ended up sitting on a nearby couch, the pad on a table as we examined each projection. At some point, a heavily cobbled-together protocol droid, a combination of at least four different types, stepped through the doorway and greeted us.

"Hello, my name is B-3A7, but you may call me Beat. I understand you are looking to purchase a ship?" The male sounding droid asked, bowing slightly when we answered yes. "Very good. Have any of the op-op-options stood out to you?"

"Yeah, let's start off with Anvil Carrack." I asked, standing up and grabbing the pad off the table. "That caught our eye."

"Ah yes, the Carrack is a good choice!" The droid with a full body nod. "It is just down there, but I'm sure you are more interested in the interior. I shall lead the way!"

The heavily modified droid led us down to the main floor of the hangar. It then began a short and somewhat overly detailed tour of the ship. Most of the technical babble went over my head, but Miru seemed to be easily keeping up, while Nal seemed to catch most of it. It was Ayme that pointed out why this ship wouldn't work, proving my instincts about inviting her to be correct.

"It's a full package ship," She explained, peeking into a storage compartment. "Keyword being full. It's got everything you need but no room for modification. You'd have to sacrifice the cargo bay or do some pretty intense remodeling."

I looked to Miru, who nodded in agreement after some thought.

"She isn't wrong. It would be a pain to modify. Plus, Anvil Industries has a reputation for higher-end ships, I kind of doubt this is in our price range."

A quick check with Beat confirmed that it was out of our price range, if only barely, prompting us to leave for the next ship we had picked, a Barloz medium freighter. This one was on the other side of the primary hangar and was almost exactly what we were looking for. I had been hoping for a slightly bigger ship, but it was still well within an acceptable range. After a short tour, I was almost certain this was the ship we would be leaving with. Still, I wanted to see all of the options, so we had Beat lead us to the second-largest hangar, where a few more ships were being kept.

"I should warn you," The droid said as we made our way down a corridor. "The secondary hangar contains mostly ships that are under construction. Be vigilant that you do not interrupt the workers or-or-or venture into dangerous areas."

We stepped into the hangar through the central entrance, stepping into a much more active space. A few ships were going through complete overhauls, while a few others were being stripped for parts. As Beat guided us through, I noticed a large ship to one side, with dozens of droids and a few workers crawling all over it. It was long, with a curved, drawn-out face and two stubby wings. It also had five massive engines that I could work out. It was clearly damaged, with laser carbonization and slag marking the side facing us. Its top engine was also completely trashed and was in the process of being disassembled. The ship was big, bigger than anything else they had in the hangar by a not insignificant degree.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at the ship.

"Hmm? Oh-oh-oh, the C-ROC Gozanti-Class Cruiser?" They asked, stopping to face the ship, which easily crested over the smaller ships around it. "It does stand ou-ou-out rather well, doesn't it? It was sold to us by a now-retired supplier on-on-only a few days ago."

"How much?"

"How- It is not currently for sale, it is still heavily damaged. Mistress Nova has not set a price for it."

I looked to Miru, who was squinting at the ship, clearly thinking about it.

"It's a lot of ship boss… but it would have plenty of room. I'm more familiar with the standard Gozanti, but from what I know of this class… it would work. Not gonna be cheap, though."

I looked at Nal, who shrugged in response.

"Ayme, any words of wisdom?" I asked, smiling at the rebel soldier.

"It would be better off in our hands," She said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "But it would probably work pretty well as a mobile base for a mercenary company."

"Umm, excuse me, but the C-ROC Gozanti-Class is not yet for sale," Beat repeated, finally getting a word in. "If you will follow me to-"

"Is there any way we could see inside of the C-ROC?" I asked, cutting the droid off.

"I… I would have to ask Mistress Nova," The droid eventually said. "On-on-one moment."

The droid stepped away, and after a few minutes, Nova and Nevue joined us, the former with a light frown on her face.

"Now, what's this about you wanting to take a look at the C-ROC?" She asked. "That ship won't be for sale for two weeks at least, and from what Nevue was telling me, it will be out of your price range by then."

I gave Nevue a harsh look, not happy that he had revealed what kind of money we had to throw around. He had the good sense to at least act like he was sorry, sheepishly picking at one of his horns.

"I get that it's a bit more than what we described, but I think we both know there's always a way to make a deal work," I vaguely pointed out. "Let us take a look inside, and if it's something we might want, then we can work something out."

Nova studied me for a moment before looking at Nevue. He shrugged in a "what can you do?" way, prompting the older shipbroker to let out a sigh.

"Alright, fine, I need to inspect the repair team's progress anyway," She admitted before stepping away to lead us to the ship.

 

[6f5e4d]

Glad to see some familiar faces, in Wedge Antilles and Hera Syndulla.

 

[Isebas]

"That ship won't be for sale for two weeks at least, and from what Nevue was telling me, it will be out of your price range by then."

Click to shrink...

What the hell Nevue? You trying to screw them over? You never tell a someone you're buying from your highest price at the start unless you're an idiot.

 

[Iridium Flare]

C-ROC Gozanti would be damn fine, has room for 4k tons cargo and easily supports a crew of 12, with space for 20 passengers if need be. Hope you can afford the thing though, they run nearly 200k credits.

 

[xscraid]

I smelled a side quest brewing.

 

[MetaBettaOmega]

Just wanted to explain that the link in the first sentence is a layout I made myself for what the C-ROC interior is like. I just want to be very clear, I did my best, but it is far from perfect. Use it as a general guide rather than a measurement stick, and don't take it as a one-to-one representation. I was working with a limited pallet, so no, for example, the white couch in the lounge doesn't actually look like something they got from Ikea.

---

Nova led us into the ship through the forward entry ramp because the primary cargo elevator was being used to move parts in and out of the large ship. As we climbed up the ramp, we first stepped into a locker room area with sealed doors on both sides.

"This ship was originally a Separatist transport and was only recently recovered from a previously unknown dormant stronghold," Nova explained as she led us through the locker room. "The Separatists were primarily known for their droid army, but almost all ships like these did have an organic crew in control, supported by droids."

As we stepped through the opposite door, we entered into a much larger cargo area, which was mostly empty save three workers and a bunch of tools. They were focused on their task, and only one noticed their boss walking through the ship.

"The C-ROC was an in-house modification to the Gozanti class cruiser, which had been out for several years before the start of the Clone Wars. It was basically an attempt to revitalize the ship by fixing up a few issues, adding the cargo lanes on the wings, and moderately improving the hull composition while adding the sloping, shovel-like nose," The shipbroker stopped in the middle of the large cargo bay. "The Separatists took a portion of them and modified them even further, stripping out a lot of the bottom nose section for even more cargo storage. Between the wings and this bay, you have an incredible amount of storage or room for modifications. Pirates like to take these ships and turn them into overpowered gunboats or mine-layers."

She turned and walked through a large bay door, which was currently knocked off its rail and bent slightly. She waved to a pair of verpine workers, who bobbed their heads a bit in what I think was a greeting. Further in the room, I could see the cargo elevator lifting things up into the cargo bay.

"This area has a small amount of storage space but primarily leads to the outboard cargo lanes. These heavy sealed doors lead to a small maglock cargo space, each about three meters wide. Each row has a mag-field in place past the doors for extra protection, but I wouldn't rely on it. The bay doors are what keeps the space out. These grates…"

Stomped her feet on a grate, which, now that I looked, stood out from the rest of the floor plating. I could see a flushed hinge on one side of each panel.

"This is the access to the repair crawlway for emergency repairs. Much easier to access everything from the outside, but you work with what you can. There's more of them in the forward cargo bay."

We left back the way we came, Nova pointing out the hatches she had just mentioned as we walked around to a set of stairs. We climbed them to the second floor, exiting the stairwell into a long with doors on both sides and at each end.

"This is the floor where the organic crew would spend most of their time," She explained, gesturing down one end, the door marked with noticeable damage. "The ship maintained a small deployment of droids, but the controls and communications equipment went with the room it was stored in down there. We already junked most of it and sealed up the access from the floor below. It will be an empty space when we are done with it. Access to the internals for the smallest ion drive is back there as well. We are thinking about just removing it because it's so undersized it's hardly worth the upkeep."

She then gestured in the other direction before walking down the hall. We passed a repair droid carrying a heavy-looking part while a human worker walked behind it, waving a scanner around.

"When it arrived, the ship was built around a crew of five, with room for five more passengers. We plan on moving things around a bit, with the end result being a max capacity of twelve. The bedrooms will be cramped, but the lounge area more than makes up for it."

We stepped through an automatic door and into said lounge area, which was easily six or seven meters wide and just as long, which on a spaceship was shockingly luxurious. At the moment, the room was mostly empty save a kitchen system, which actually looked like a kitchen, complete with countertop and stools bolted to the floor. There were also two couches tucked in another corner, but both of them were old and could do with replacing.

"Some of the furniture was damaged, but we have replacements already lined up," She explained before we stepped through the final sealed doorway.

A thick security door slid open to reveal the cockpit, which, as far as I could tell, was completely intact. There were five chairs set up, one in the front and four facing along the side of the vaguely triangular room.

"For all their faults, the Separatists knew their way around automating a ship. In a pinch, one person could fly this entire ship, even keep the guns firing. But for better results, you have the copilot, two gunners, and the comms operator, who would double as a sensor specialist. And the pilot, obviously."

Nal stepped past me and sat down in the pilot's chair, closely examining the layout. After a few seconds, he looked back at me.

"I could fly it. Probably. CEC keeps their ships easy to use," He explained, scratching his chin. "Separatists changed very little."

"So you can handle it, but we should look for a full-time pilot?" I asked, Nal responding with a simple nod. "Alright, sounds good."

I turned to Nova, who was giving me an amused look, clearly curious as to where I was getting my confidence.

"How much for it, right now, with no more repairs?"

"As it is? Eighty thousand credits. But I wouldn't take your money, especially 'cause you're a friend of Nevue. This ship isn't safe as she is," She said emphatically, shaking her head. "The first floor doesn't hold pressure, and the back room is more melted slag than ship. Not to mention the top engine is barely worth scrapping. This ship needs thirty thousand credits of repairs before I would even consider letting someone buy it. Another forty thousand on top of that to get it to the kind of quality I built my business on."

"I get that," I said with a nod. "I'll give you eighty thousand credits to buy the ship. You take that money, put it somewhere safe, it's yours. I'll give you another twenty thousand to keep working on the repairs."

"That's not enough. Even with the friend of a friend discount."

"I know, which is why, while you're working on my ship, we go and take care of your job."

"My job?" Nova asks, her eyes narrowing as she looks at me. "What do you mean?"

"C'mon, I know how this works. Someone like you running a business like this? For as long as you have?" I said, gesturing widely. "Maybe there's a rumor you want investigated, or you have a line on some supplies you need. Maybe there is something special someone wants, or a big score tucked away somewhere you can't get to. There is always a job. Usually, more than one."

Nevue, who was standing behind Nova, looked at me with a raised eyebrow, clearly wondering when I had gone insane. I could practically hear Miru rolling her eyes beside me. Nal was the only one nodding in agreement, having spun the pilot's chair around.

"Boss, what are-" Miru started before Nova spoke up.

"Alright. Say I have something in mind. You would need a ship."

"We have one."

"Excuse me?' Nevue said, breaking into the conversation. "Ignoring the mind-boggling fact that Deacon was right about what he just said, you don't have a ship. The Rebellion has a ship that we agreed to use to ferry you here."

"Then we cut the Rebellion in," I said, giving Nova a look. "It's gotta be a big one, right? Something that could stand to make everyone a lot of money or a bunch of supplies? Maybe both?"

For a long moment, Nova was silent before finally letting out a grumble of confirmation.

"Fine, I do have something in mind. It's actually got to do with this ship and why it's so heavily damaged," She admitted. "But we aren't talking about it here. We are already slowing everyone down. Come on, we can talk business in my conference room."

---------------------​

It took us a few minutes to get back to the conference room that Nova had mentioned. It was a decent-sized table in a sealed-off room, with a holoprojector unit built into the table. Nothing special, all function over form. Tatnia and the second soldier, Lario, had joined us as well. The ship was safe here, and the money was already Nova's, assuming I could hammer out this deal.

"I have a few different crews that bring me ships now and again. Some I hire, and some just work on a contract. Carlion was a ship chaser that I had worked with on a few occasions and usually brought good stuff in," The older shipbroker started, leaning back in her chair, which I couldn't help but notice was a fair bit nicer than the ones everyone else was sitting in. "This time, though, I went to him. I've been sitting on a rumor of an old CIS base in the Outer Rim for a few months now. It was just a rumor, one I was pretty sure was a load of crap, but with your friends always needing ships...."

She trailed off, giving Nevue a look before she leaned forward and tapped on a control pad in front of her, the holoprojector lighting up and displaying a slowly rotating planet.

"This is… P-3 something something something. Just call it Stronghold," She said, ignoring that the planet's alphanumeric code appeared with the projection. "Its air is barely breathable, its weather is erratic and dangerous, and its home to, surprise surprise, a relatively large dormant CIS stronghold. Carlion and his crew landed their ship and investigated the base. Of course, since they were looking for ships to sell, that's where they started."

She tapped the control pad, and the projection changed, shifting to footage that appeared to be from the point of view of a landing ship. It showed several fortified structures, including a decent-sized hangar and a row of ships on a large landing pad, the C-ROC being the largest. The view spun as the ship landed, settling down by the C-ROC.

"Stop!" Miru called out, prompting Nova to press the pad to pause the feed before giving the young Twi'lek a look. "Go back like five seconds…aannndddd stop!"

Nova slowly reversed the footage, going until Miru called out again. As the view spun while the ship rotated to land, there was a two-second shot of a massive dish array sitting on top of the largest structure. It was also clearly destroyed, with a large chunk missing from one side and large portions of it blackened, slagged and destroyed.

"Well… That explains why it's still there," I said, leaning forward, "And it makes me feel a bit better about not having any surprise company. Good eyes, Miru."

I said, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder, getting a big smile in return. Nova looked impressed, nodding in agreement.

"Well, that's a bit of good luck. It almost makes up for what happened next," Nova said, leaning back in her comfortable chair again. "They were just starting to explore the second floor of the C-ROC when the stronghold defenses kicked in and started targeting their original ship. Realizing they didn't have much time, Carlion ordered his ship to take off, stranding him and two of his team. They worked for a few hours to get the C-ROC up and running, and when they did, they took off. The defenses took exception to that and tried to blast them out of the air too. They barely managed to limp back here, where Carlion retired on the spot when he saw just how karking wrecked the ship was."

"And you want us to go back there for the smaller ships?" Tatnia asked. "Seems like a big risk for a couple of transports and whatever's in the hangar."

"No, but if it goes well, we will get those, too," Nova answered, shaking her head. "If I had known there was something like this there, I wouldn't have sent Carlion, I would have hired someone with a bit more smarts. A base like this will have a central computer, and the side effect of automating everything is that everything stops when that stops. If you can get one of my slicer droids to the central computer, we could shut down the automated defenses along with everything else. But that's only the beginning. Because if that data core of that central computer is still intact, then there's going to be a lot of information on it. Things like supply depots, trade lanes, troop movements, and even shipyards. Now most of that is going to be long gone. But with a little luck and some smarts…."

"We could get our hands on a whole lot of resources," Nevue finished, leaning forward in his chair. "This… yeah, I'm in. Ayme, Lario?"

"Yeah, count me in," Lario responded eagerly.

"Just let the General know so she doesn't send someone to come looking for us," Ayme added.

"That just leaves one thing…What is everyone's cut?"

"Forty to the Rebellion, forty to Nova, and twenty to us," I suggested. "Not including the remaining repairs and a few extras for the C-ROC. And, I want in on any future finds you get off of the data core, if there are any. You'll need muscle anyway, and by then we will have expanded a bit."

"You realize that there aren't going to be any credits lying around," Nova pointed out. "And I want those ships on the landing pad."

"I know, and I'm alright with that," I agreed with a nod. "You can buy us out of our shares if we don't find anything we want, but I have a feeling we will end up finding some useful stuff."

"If the Rebellion agrees to split your buyout if you need it, then I can agree to that aspect," Nova said before crossing her arms. "But there needs to be a certain level of profit involved to cover all of the repairs, even with your twenty thousand inclusion."

"I'de think the shuttles and the other ships on the pad would cover that at least," I pointed out.

"Not after calculating profits and the cost of repair and updating them."

"Fine. If you fail to double the cost of my repairs, half of the cost will come from our cut," I offered.

"And if the whole thing comes apart?" She asks. "How do you pay for it then?"

"I will join the Rebellion," I said, looking at Nevue. "They can cover the repairs and a decent payout for my team if they don't want to join as well."

"Done!" Nevue said quickly, surprising the two rebel soldiers and Nova with his eagerness.

Nova looked back at me, suddenly analyzing me much closer than before, no doubt wondering why Nevue was so eager to recruit me to the cause. Guess my magic had made more of an impression than he had let on. Then again, I had been banking on that.

"Alright, that sounds like we have an agreement?" I asked, getting nods from everyone. "Good. Let's move onto the planning phase, I want at least a rough outline of what we are doing before committing ourselves."

 

[Tiberius3969]

I'm gonna be kinda disappointed if he ends up joining with the Rebellion, the few OC-SIs I've seen usually end up with the main cast when there is so much you could end up doing it is a WHOLE GALAXY already mapped out from legends and the movies and just regular media and lore

 

[Snazzy Snake]

I'm gonna be kinda disappointed if he ends up joining with the Rebellion, the few OC-SIs I've seen usually end up with the main cast when there is so much you could end up doing it is a WHOLE GALAXY already mapped out from legends and the movies and just regular media and lore

Click to shrink...

I think that is why I prefer the world (not necessarily the movies themselves) of the prequels. Feels like there is more of a galaxy to explore without the empire overshadowing everything and all the good guys being in the rebellion.

 

[Trilobite]

I think that is why I prefer the world (not necessarily the movies themselves) of the prequels. Feels like there is more of a galaxy to explore without the empire overshadowing everything and all the good guys being in the rebellion.

Click to shrink...

I agree with you there. With how wide spread and tyrannical it is any story set in the time period of the empire tends to be dominated to some degree by said empire. It can be fun but it also limits creativity to a degree.

 

[RaptorusMaximus]

Interesting I wonder if the base has any Droids left...if they could recover, reprogram, and maybe upgrade a B2 or three, that'd be a sizable boost to the team's firepower. And if they could get their hands on a BX...wooo boy.

 

[MetaBettaOmega]

Hey guys, just another friendly reminder that I have a Patreon! If you're interested in showing your support and getting access to early chapters and other benefits, stop by and take a look! Otherwise, enjoy the chapter!

---

We spent another hour coming up with the plan, working together to forge something that was serviceable and that we hoped wouldn't immediately fall apart.

The plan was to travel to the planet on the B-7, landing a far distance from the base before hoofing it the rest of the way to avoid setting off any sensors. Meanwhile, Nova would remain in orbit in her own ship, along with a few others. If everything went south, we could bring them in for some air support, which would really just amount to them flying over the base at high speeds, peppering the base, and zipping back out before the turrets could take down their shields. Understandably, Nova didn't want to risk any ships in a slugging match. She was also hoping she could claim the turrets and affix them to her station, bolstering her defenses quite a bit.

Once we got there, we would sneak into the central building if everything went well. We knew that the buildings had power and at least some sensors since it had picked up Carlion's ship, so once we got close, we would probably be on a short timer before interior defenses came up, probably in the form of droids. At some point, it would devolve into a fight, but the hope was to break through deep enough into the building that we would be able to get to the central computer before the total weight of the stronghold dropped on us.

To aid us in getting through security, Nova was lending us two droids, R3-D4, who was green and yellow, and R4-C3, who was red and black, both of which beeped and whistled as they joined us in the smallest hanger, the one the B-7 was in.

"Arthree and Racer both have upgraded slicer protocols installed, as well as extra processing upgrades and infiltration tools," The shipbroker explained. "Either one of them is going to be enough to break through an old CIS terminal, as well as any security doors you run into. Don't let them get destroyed because the only other option you have to stop from being overrun with droids and take down the defenses is to destroy the computer. That would shut down the base, but it would also probably destroy the data core.

"Gotcha. Head on board, you two," I said, the droids beeping, the more angular-headed Racer leading the way. "Everyone all set?"

My team, which consisted of both my core group, Nevue, and the two extra Rebel soldiers, all nodded in confirmation. Miru was the only one who didn't, the pink-skinned girl still pouting by the doorway. I flat-out refused to let her come with us, something she hadn't appreciated. She had tried to convince me that her technical expertise would come in handy on the ground, but with the modified astromechs coming with us, her skills were a lot less critical. Instead, she would be riding with Nova on her ship, waiting in orbit for the okay to land.

I had pulled Nova aside privately when she was offloading the payment for the C-ROC and asked if she could give Miru a job and a place to live if the mission went south. I also wanted her to eventually give her the money for the ship since our deal would be broken, and she would be free to sell the ship to whoever she wanted. She agreed solemnly before slapping me on the shoulder.

"Nevue seems to think you're worth some hefty investment, that tells me you're no pushover. Don't focus on what could happen. You're only making it more likely that it will happen."

"Oh, I know. I'm confident we can make this happen," I said truthfully. "I trust my team, and I know what we are capable of. That doesn't mean I would leave this up to chance."

We finished unloading everything, both to clear things up and because all of our stuff would be going on the C-ROC eventually. When we were done, we floated in a simple cargo loader to haul the astromechs over any treacherous terrain we had to cross once we landed. Not long after that, we were ready to go, and everyone piled into the ship for another long series of hyperspace jumps, this time out of wild space, across half the galaxy to a basically unknown planet in the Outer Rim. We jumped seconds after Nova's ship did but before the other three she was leading could.

We had only been in hyperspace for about twenty minutes when Tatnia found me sitting on the cot in the cargo bay, reading the lightning bolt entry of the grimoire. She sat down next to me and, after a few minutes of silence, finally said something.

"So…did you realize the flaw in your plan yet?" She asked, prompting me to look over at her. "You plan on fighting the droids with us, right?"

"Of course…" I started trailing off for a moment before slapping my forehead. "The soldiers haven't seen me do my thing yet. And if they do, they will probably spill it right back to the rebels."

"Not just that, Boss," She said, pointing at the two astromechs, both of which were plugged into separate charging ports. "Nova's gonna have eyes on you too."

"Fuck… "

"Gonna make it work without doing anything weird?" She asked. "Hypothetically speaking, the droids could suffer an accident after finishing their task...."

"No… no, that's more trouble than it's worth," I said, shaking my head. "We are just going to have to trust our new friends to keep it to themselves. It's not like I wasn't throwing around lighting and stuff on Nar Shaddaa."

"You might not have been spotted."

"Please, on a planet like that? Someone saw me."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means… I don't know what it means, give me a minute to think."

I stood up from the cot and started to walk around the cargo bay, rubbing my face and basically pacing around as I thought to myself. The issue with my powers was that in a galaxy where the Force was a known factor, everyone was going to assume I was using the Force, especially people who were dependent on it. Someone like Palpatine or Yoda would never even consider the existence of some sort of alternative power. Even face to face, when I used magic, and they sensed nothing in the Force, some would assume I was somehow hiding my presence in the Force or something.

All this boiled down to one thing. When old Grandpappy Sheev caught wind that someone was throwing around lightning and summoning stuff from nothing, I was going to be hunted down, just like any Jedi or any other force user trying to stir shit up. I knew about the Inquisitors, Jedi hunters that took down any of them who managed to escape order 66, even though I hadn't seen much of the content they were in. I knew they existed in the Disney canon, but I was murky about their existence when it came to the time period around the original trilogy. They certainly didn't come after Luke during the movies.

Even if the Inquisitors were gone, I would still be hunted. Hell, I was probably already being hunted. There was a chance that what I did on Nar Shaddaa might be brushed off as parlor tricks and aberrant technology, but if I kept it up, even that thin facade would crack, and I would be put on a list and hunted down. We were already, most likely, on some Hutt's shit list, I really didn't want to be on the Emperor's.

"Boss, I think you're thinking about this too hard," Tatnia said, breaking me out of my rapidly spinning spiral. "If you're worried about being put on a wanted list, the Empire taking an interest in you, the galaxy is a huge place. There are plenty of systems that a wanted record from the Empire wouldn't even give people pause, and that doesn't include a large amount that would actually see it as a positive. Hell, if all else fails, we could always turn to the Rebellion. I know you wanted to maintain our independence, but I'm sure we could work something out in exchange for a safety net of resources and a list of planets and stations to take refuge in when shit gets tough."

As she talked, I considered her words, nodding along as she assured me. As she did, I began to realize that she was right. I was thinking in terms of my old life, where options got really slim if the government wanted you. You could slip away if the local police wanted to ask you some questions, but the FBI? Here though, there were entire planets that hated the Empire. Sure, I would have to keep a lookout, but that's what a loyal crew was for.

"Yeah… thanks, Tatnia. I guess I was still thinking about how things were back home," I explained, who nodded in agreement. "Still have to get used to all of this."

"I get it, Boss. Gotta be a big shock to go from one tiny little world to an entire galaxy."

"You have no idea. Alright, could you do me a favor and go get Nevue? Maybe trade places with him so he can keep the soldiers from shooting at me or trying to burn me at the stake or something."

Tatnia gave me a weird look, but I just waved her off, leaning back and sitting on one of the few remaining crates in the cargo bay. It didn't take long for Nevue and his compatriots to climb down the access ladder, the Zabrak, in particular, coming down with a little pep in his step.

"Right. So, I'm sure you're both wondering why Nevue was so eager to agree to the backup deal I made with Nova, despite it costing the Alliance a pretty penny?" I asked, both Lario and Ayme nodding slowly in confirmation. "Well, the deal is that I'm… not exactly normal. Now I want you both to visibly confirm what I am about to say to you. You are not in danger, what I'm about to do is safe, and you don't need to worry. Understand?"

Both of the soldiers looked a bit nervous, but after sharing a glance, they nodded again. I paused for another few seconds before nodding, mostly to myself, before starting to run down through my location-appropriate spells. I started by summoning my bound armor, figuring that starting with something focused on myself would help them get used to it. When I was covered in a glowing protective shell, I summoned a sword and a dagger before dismissing all of it in a shower of magical sparks and translucent smoke. I cast candlelight and summoned my familiar, which was finally too much for Lario, who pulled his blaster out and held it steadily at the large feline.

"What the hell is that!" He shouted, looking at Nevue, who was chuckling to himself, and then Ayme, who had taken a few steps back. "Nevue!"

"Basically?" Nevue asked, breaking through his chuckling. "Space wizard."

"Like a Jedi? Like the kid who blew up the Death Star?" Ayme asked, immediately catching my attention.

"Not according to him. According to Deacon, it's not the Force, but some sort of energy he has inside himself. All I know is that he can throw lightning and ice and fire from the palm of his hand and block blaster bolts with the other."

As he talked, I dismissed my familiar, Lario slowly calmed down after I did. He did look at me like I was a dangerous-looking animal, though, so it was probably safe to say he was still a bit nervous.

"Look, just treat him like a special asset and follow his lead," Nevue explained, patting the older soldier's shoulder. "He's in command for this op, by order of General Syndulla herself."

We spent the next ten minutes talking about my abilities, showing off a few more spells, including clearing up a stiff neck and a troublesome knee thing that Lario had been apparently ignoring for a few weeks. Any complaints he had about me wholly disappeared after that. Nevue also convinced me to let him record me, pointing out that if he was going to explain the situation, he would need proof so they would take him seriously.

Additionally, as I was showing off my flame atronach spell, I realized something I hadn't noticed before. Spells that weren't instant cast, most conjurations spells, or the calming spell, could be held for a long time before I was forced to cast. On top of that, it was easy to cancel them as well, the magic flowing back inside me with barely any loss. All I had to do was tug internally at the base of the first spell matrix, and the spell unraveled, the magic rushing back into my core.

With this new knowledge, I spent the rest of the trip learning two new spells, the first being lightning bolt because I needed a longer-range attack that would hopefully be effective against droids. I spent about seven hours learning the spell before starting to cast it, holding the electric energy in my hand. After a few seconds of holding it, I unraveled the spell, feeling the energy return to my body. It took me a few minutes to cast it again, but I could feel it getting easier every time I cast, held, and then unraveled the spell. It was much slower at working the spell matrix into my aetheric presence, or however the book had described the fact that spells got easier the more times you cast them, but it was working.

After spending an hour practicing the spell, I moved on to the second one, fast healing. I was tempted to learn another destruction spell, or maybe even elemental familiar, but I was already starting to lean heavily into the tank role for the team, so having a quicker heal option was a pretty safe bet. Learning the spell took me another seven hours, including the time to practice it a few dozen times to make sure it stuck. This left me with just enough time for six hours of sleep before we arrived at our destination.

We were all piled into the cockpit as we dropped out of hyperspace, the formation of five ships appearing one after the other, Nova's ship still in the lead, on the opposite side of the planet from the stronghold. As we agreed, we stayed comms silent and immediately started to pull ahead, soon entering the planet's atmosphere. Nova and her four other ships spread out, though the likelihood that they would be detected by a stronghold with such severely disabled sensors was tiny, spreading out made that even less likely.

We slowly made our descent toward the planet's surface, taking it slow to keep from throwing up too much heat as we cut through the planet's atmosphere. Again, most likely an unnecessary precaution, but there was no reason to risk it. Once we were a bit lower, Nevue and Tatnia guided us around the planet, getting closer and closer to our target. Below us was a dry, cracked, and desolate planet with very little in the way of flora or fauna. We did spot a few herds of strange-looking six-legged creatures, each the size of a speeder bike, as well as a few smaller forests growing around pools of greenish water, but beyond that, the planet was dead.

When we did finally land, Nevue powered down the ship to low power and turned his chair to look at me.

"It's probably a four-hour hike to the location from here, but there is very little chance they saw us," He explained. "The mission is yours, Deacon."

"Right. What did the weather scans say while we were coming in?

"There's a big storm on the other side of the continent and a smaller one to the far south, but neither of them was pointed at us," Tatnia answered. "We are good for a while."

"Okay, let's get the astromechs on their cargo loader, have a look around, and head out."

 

[RaptorusMaximus]

And here. We. Go!

 

[MetaBettaOmega]

The sparse, rocky, dry landscape made making our way to the stronghold a simple, if lengthy, process. The droids took turns pulling themselves for the most part, their wheels easily handling the dry, relatively stable ground. We did occasionally have to load them both onto the cargo loader and guide them ourselves, but that only happened a handful of times throughout the whole hike.

Unfortunately, simple does not necessarily mean easy, as when Nova said the atmosphere was barely breathable, she was being generous. The air was so dry that it hurt to breathe once your heart rate picked up and you started to breathe heavier. There was also a prevalent metallic taste in the air, which made me think there was something in it that humans probably shouldn't be breathing. We ended up taking light breathing masks from the ship's survival kit and turning them on their lowest setting, filtering out the more dangerous particulates and gasses while also trapping the moisture from our own breathing, meaning it was a lot more comfortable to do so. The low setting also meant that the breathing masks would last up to fifteen hours instead of eight.

With the major issues solved, the hike just took time, crossing massive plains of stone and gravel. We took several breaks to keep up our energy, during which I spent most of my time berating myself for not learning the respite spell. I was in decent shape, but hiking four hours through a planet-sized rocky desert was pushing me a lot harder than I wanted to admit. I made a note to put effort into building endurance after this was all over. If I was going to be fighting a lot, I needed to be able to keep up.

My only solace was that only the two rebel soldiers seemed to be easily handling the workout, as everyone but them was showing at least signs of fatigue. When we were about thirty minutes out, I called for a final rest, gathering everyone around.

"Alright, from here on out, we need to be careful about making noise. From the footage we have of the stronghold, it seems like approaching from the south is our best bet. West would provide us with better cover, but I'm worried about getting the astromechs through those steep cliffs. Plus, our target building is closer to the south."

As I talked, we all slowly recovered from the last hour-long leg of the hike. I was mostly repeating what we had already gone over during the planning session, but everyone listened closely regardless.

"Arthree and Race, stick with the group until we start taking fire. Hopefully, we will already be in the main building by then, but either way, once bolts start flying, I want you to play it safe. You two are the keys to this operation being more than a one-time find, so I don't want you to get hit by stray fire. Everyone understands the game plan?"
I got a series of nods and a low tone of confirmation from both of the droids, prompting me to nod back.

"Alright. Ten minutes to check your gear and get everything prepared, then we head in. Leave your packs here, Lario is carrying everything we might need in his."

Because we wanted to try and race to the central computer, we wanted to be as quick as possible. Lario was a good head taller than me and built like a brick, so he volunteered to carry the essentials while the rest of us traveled as lightly as possible. He nodded when I mentioned his burden before joining everyone else in checking their gear.

The soldiers had their blaster rifles and a spare pistol on their hips, as well as some basic armor that was definitely just stripped-down stormtrooper armor, painted black and green. Everyone else was using the blaster rifles we had bought on Nar Shaddaa, with Nevue reluctantly leaving the proton rifle behind. I was running light, with my blaster pistol on my hip being my only physical weapon. My magic was going to be my primary weapon for this adventure.

After ten minutes were up, everyone but Lario lined up their packs, and we covered them with a tan camo blanket. Once we were set and everyone double-checked they were ready, we started the last chunk of our hike, making our way to the outskirts, the southern side of the stronghold. With the rising tension and anticipation, this thirty-minute hike seemed to stretch on for a lot longer than anyone appreciated. When we finally arrived on the outskirts, we took cover behind along a slight ridge, Nal scanning the base with our electrobinoculars. After a few minutes, he handed them to me.

"We've got a problem, Boss," He said softly, prompting me to peek over the ridge.

The issue was immediately apparent. What was supposed to be an abandoned base, with the only immediate danger being the auto turret emplacements, was actually fully active. Dozens of battle droids patrolled the landing pad while others stood at sentry points, actively scanning the surroundings. Every doorway had at least two guard droids posted beside it, and there were several droids walking around, carrying things and completing tasks. A few repair droids were even working on one of the transports that Nova claimed.

I bit back a curse and slid back fully into full cover, passing the binoculars to Tatnia, who slid up to look.

"The whole base is active," I whispered, giving Nevue a look as he softly cursed. "The last alert must have brought the base online. There are at least fifty active battle droids, including on guard and sentries."

"Which means whatever is in the hanger might be active as well," Tatnia said, sliding back into cover next to me, handing the binoculars to Nevue. "If they have armor vehicles in there, we are fucked."

"We have two options. We push forward, or we bug out. Chances are the base will go back into shutdown if we give it enough time," I pointed out.

"But we have no idea how long that will take," Ayme pointed out. "If we get inside, any armor they have will be useless, there is no way they will shoot at the building continuing their central computer, not at anything that could put it at risk."

"I say we still push forward, Boss," Tatnia said.

"I agree, I just wanted everyone to understand the options," I explained. "Okay, the plan stays the same, but now instead of trying to beat the alert, the alert is most likely going to happen immediately. I'm going to lead the charge, then slow down and switch to following behind, trying to draw fire. Everyone else's goal is to get into the central building. Arthree, Race, once you have the door open, I need you to get ready to slam it closed again. Once everyone is inside, including me, slam the door shut and scramble it as best you can. Then it's a race to the central computer system."

The droids both bounced a bit, which I took as them understanding what I had just said. I took one long breath before slowly sliding around to the edge of our cover, peaking around to watch the patrols. As they moved, I could see that there were a few small gaps, but nothing that even came close to being big enough for us to slip through. The entrance to the central building was about two hundred meters, and it was doubtful that we would make it even half that distance without getting spotted. As I watched, I cast the upper and lower bound armor on myself, filling them completely to keep them around as long as possible. After a few minutes of watching the droid patrols, I saw an opening and took it.

"Go!" I whispered urgently, stepping out from behind the cover and running.

I could hear the rest of the team following behind me as we crossed the first fifty meters without anyone spotting us. At about the seventy-five-meter mark, I saw a patrol turning towards us, about fifteen battle droids, all armed with blaster rifles. I peeled off a bit and slowed down, watching the rest of the team keep moving past me, making a beeline for the central structure. As they passed, I started walking backward, my eyes on the patrol. All of them suddenly came to attention at once.

"Intruders!" One of the droids shouted, the call echoing across the entire landing structure, all of the robots spinning at once to look in our direction.

"Well… here we go!" I said, before dual casting steadfast ward, holding it out in front of myself.

The first few blaster bolts whizzed by me, not even getting close. Some of them weren't even aimed at me but at the rest of my team. I was about to tell them to get to cover since my distraction wasn't working until the first bolt hit the ward, draining about a tenth of its power and bouncing off. The bolt of red energy harmlessly slammed into the ground about ten meters away
.
"JEDI!"

Another call went out, this one even louder than the first. Suddenly all of the attention was on me, which was exactly what I wanted. As thirty or so droids opened fire on me at once, I was seriously starting to question my previous thought process.

"We are at the door, Boss!" Tatnia said, "Thirty seconds!"

Three more bolts hit my ward, all bouncing off wildly. One even crossed the gap between me and the nearest patrol to slam into one of the droids, drilling through its chest casing. I started moving backward as fast as I could, keeping the ward up and juking back and forth, trying my best to keep moving erratically. A fifth bolt hit the ward, and I could feel it weakening, my mana quickly running out.

I was backpedaling at full tilt now, red bolts slamming into the ground around me, whizzing past and occasionally hitting my ward. I could feel it get closer and closer to failing, my hands going numb from the impacts.

"It's open!" Tatnia called out. "RUN!"

My ward gave out just as she shouted, and I turned to run. I was about fifty meters from the doorway and could see the team taking cover inside, now returning fire, red bolts of lethal energy now whipping by me in both directions. I was moving as erratically as I could, but it was only a matter of time before-

The impact almost spun me around as a blaster bolt slammed into my shoulder. I could feel that my upper bound armor almost immediately gave out under the blast, but by some miracle it held. I fed it as much magic as I could, reinforcing it slightly, but focused on running as fast as I could. Luckily the reinforcement stabilized the armor just enough that when the second bolt hit me, this time in the small of my back, the armor shattered but still stopped any energy from reaching me. Unfortunately, the impact and subsequent shattering armor knocked me off my feet, throwing me to the ground, where I tumbled and rolled…

...Right through the doorway of the central structure.

The doors slammed shut just a few feet behind me, cutting off the exterior light. I quickly stood back up, my hand dipping to my hip to grab my blaster pistol, pulling it out even as I breathed heavily.

The interior of the structure was simple and utilitarian, though there was a lot of dust along the floor. The hallway that I had tumbled into was a three-way intersection, with open halls leading to the left and right but a sealed door towards the center of the building. The door was covered in carbonized blaster marks, but a cursory glance told me it was superficial damage
The hall was clear in both directions, prompting me to stand up straight and lower my pistol to my side. I looked at my team, checking out each of them before pulling off my mask and clipping it onto my hip.

"Anyone hurt?" I asked. "Everyone good?"

"Yeah, Boss, you kept them off us long enough to get the door open and into cover," Tatnia answered. "You okay? You took a few hits.…"

"I think armor held up, and the rest got deflected by the ward," I assured her before turning around. "My back alright?"

"Yeah, you're good," She responded, her hand dusting off my back. "Nothing got through."

"Right, okay, step one was a success then," I said, facing the rest of the team. "Arthree, Race, how goes it?"

Arthree spun around, and Racer pulled away from the door after a few seconds, their scomp link retracting back into their chassis, Racer letting out a long series of bleeps and bloops. I stared at the droid for a long moment before Nal spoke up.

"They scrambled exterior access," He explained. "Will take two hours, or destruction of the door to get in. Internal security is the last threat."

"They get a map in that process?" I asked, Artthree whistling before shifting slightly, his projector lighting up to display a holographic map.

The pale blue, 3D representation of the building spun around slightly and showed a blinking green light several floors down in a central chamber. It marked a route as well.

"Alright, that looks like a good path, lets-"

Before I could finish, the sound of heavy metallic footsteps came from the left hall. With barely a second to think of anything, the large frames of three battle droids came around the corner. Unlike the droids outside, however, these were not B1's. Instead of the tan cannon fooder the Separatists threw at their problems by the thousands, there were three beefed-up B2 Super battle droids.

The second they stepped around the corner, they opened fire, prompting us to do the same. Laser fire stitched down the walls and floor, and I had just enough time to call up another steadfast ward deflecting a handful of blaster bolts.

"Go! Get back to some cover!" I called out, holding the ward out in front of myself before charging my newest destruction spell.

An ark of lightning shot out from my hand, my lightning bolt spell slamming into the lead droid even as we all retreated. The electricity sank into the droid's arm, causing it to spark and swing out, spasming slightly before going limp. As I followed my team back down the hallway, I fired a second time, then a third and fourth, the battle droid finally going down, electricity sparking off its body as it spasmed to the ground.

The two other droids just stepped over their compatriot, their wrist-mounted blasters firing another chain of bolts. Lario and Nal leaned around the corner as I dove around it, laying down and covering the fire. As I dove, I barely managed to avoid a blast of red energy, my ward failing as my Magicka reserve was utterly depleted.

Tatnia quickly joined the other two, firing around the corner and taking down the two super battle droids with multiple volleys of mass fire, several shots finding weak points to drill into the metal of the droid, finally causing enough severe damage to drop them. When the two remaining droids collapsed, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright… let's keep moving," I said. "The sooner we can take down the central computer, the better."

 

[RaptorusMaximus]

This is even more fun than I expected! A whole base of my favorite Bois.

And I love how Deacon pretty much immediately triggered those droid's Jedi PTSD lol.

 

[Gorefink]

like the story Would be awesome if he could reprogram some droids for himself. With a little upgrade and not just using the cheapest parts from the cheapest supplier. Would be good to have extra firepower for sticky situations.

 

[MetaBettaOmega]

Hey guys, just another friendly reminder that I have a Patreon! If you're interested in showing your support for my writing and helping me make this a full-time job, stop by and take a look at the patron benefits! Otherwise, enjoy the chapter!

---

We quickly jogged past the smoking remains of the super battle droids, Lario pumping a few extra shots into each as we did. I didn't blame him in the slightest, they had been significantly more challenging to take down than the normal B1s, which tended to all but fall apart after the first hit or two.

By the time we made it all the way down the hall, I had re-summoned my armor, and my mana had regenerated. I was constantly feeding the armor magic to keep it at its strongest, which meant my magic was regenerating much slower than normal. To compensate, I took out my blaster pistol, sweeping down the next corridor as I stepped around the corner.

"Clear," I said, stepping around and making my way down the long hallway.

I found myself wanting to cast a steadfast ward, but the mana-intensive spell would drain me in a few seconds, with most of my magic already going to my armor. Still, my sword skills called for me to have something in my offhand, making me think that a thick, blaster-proof shield might actually be a decent idea. A scene from one of the early Marvel movies popped into my head, with Captain America kicking down a door with his shield in one hand and his pistol in the other. I had never been a fan of the Captain in comics or the movies, he always came off holier than thou to me, but that scene looked cool, and if I could find a metal resistant enough to blasters fire but light enough to carry around…

I shook my head to clear it of distractions. There would be time for getting creative with my load out when this was done.

I slowed down as we approached another sealed door, going past it and stopping on another side, my team coming in behind me. Racer pulled up next to it without prompting, linking to the doorway and immediately starting to slice into its controls. He gave a series of beeps, and Nal looked at me, holding up two fingers.

"Alright, take cover, guys, we need to hold here for two minutes," I prompted, pointing to the small cover that the sectioned hallway provided, Nevue and Ayme sliding into place. "We-"

The sound of machine parts whirring echoed through the space, cutting me off and prompting everyone to look around wildly. For a long second, we didn't see anything, only for two turrets to drop from the ceiling. They quickly spun around and targeted us in a blur of movement, both units relatively small and clearly designed for internal, anti-personnel purposes. Despite that, they were still obviously dangerous. The first one immediately targeted me, firing off a quick quartet of blasts that hit me square in the chest, slamming me against the door. The first three bolts cracked my bound armor easily before the third slammed into my physical armor.

The other turret swiveled further and aimed at Race, focusing on the slicer droid. Tatnia, who was standing beside the droid, wound up and kicked the smaller robot, the droid getting yanked free from the scomp connector just in time for the second turret to unleash its own quartet of bolts. All four of them slammed into the door control panel, which exploded in a spray of sparks and melted metal.

All of this happened in a split second, which was just enough time for Nal, Ayme, Nevue, and Lario to jerk their weapons up at the descended turrets and open fire, peppering the robotic weapons with a river of red bolts. The turrets exploded in a wave of sparks and slag, one falling out of its housing and smashing to the ground.

"Fuck, that hurts," I said, pulling myself off the door and already casting two fast heals on myself simultaneously.

The double fast heal inundated my body with energy, the golden healing magic sinking into my chest and immediately healing a significant portion of the damage. I immediately repeated the double cast, the pain receding almost completely, though I could still feel pulling when I stretched. Tatnia started to immediately check on me, finding that the armor just under my left pec was cracked, blackened, and basically ruined, but that my skin underneath looked like a three or four-week-old injury.

"I'm alright, Tatnia," I assured her, looking at the rest of the team. "We need to keep moving. Race, I'm assuming this door is a bust?"

The red and black droid let out a long solemn warble that confirmed my suspicions.

"I could…" Lario started, trailing off when I shook my head.

"No, that's our backup option. I don't want to waste it when we can just use the next one down and work from there," I said, already re-casting my bound armor. "Everyone keep your eyes open for more turrets, especially at intersections, doorways, and corners."

Everyone nodded, and again, we were on the move, quickly jogging down hallways. We eventually found the alternative doorway, which Racer cracked easily. Two more turrets dropped down from the ceiling, but this time we were ready and blasted them the second they came down. Once Racer opened the door itself, it immediately revealed six B1s on the other side of the doorway. Thankfully I had seen that coming, so we had all dropped into cover. Considering they were just standing in the middle of the hallway while we were safely protected by the door frame, we made quick work of them.

Slowly but surely, we made it down two more floors like this, blasting the occasional patrol of droids and taking out any turrets that dropped from the ceiling. We even managed to stamp out another trio of super droids, a much less daunting task now that we were prepared for them and weren't stuck in the open like the first time. I simply summoned a flame atronach and ordered it to charge at them. The conjured elemental managed to make it within a few feet of the first one before it was finally taken down. It stumbled and fell to the ground at their feet… only to detonate like a small grenade, staggering two of the more advanced droids and knocking the third on its ass. All of us popped around the corner at the sound of the explosion, having been waiting for it, and immediately opened fire on the now unfocused robots. It took a few seconds of sustained fire, but they went down eventually.

From the third floor down, the defenses became more and more intense. Soon we were facing down dozens of droids at once, both B1s and B2s, all determined to keep us from getting any lower. Luckily, in true CIS fashion, they just continued stacking the numbers, trying to overwhelm us with disposable droids. Not only did it barely slow us down, it actually, occasionally, made things easier for us. The droids would collapse when destroyed, blocking the path and sometimes causing the droids behind them to stumble as they tried to advance toward us. We went through a lot of ammo, but between spamming my flame atronach and the whole crew's firepower, we took down all of the threats in relatively quick succession.

When we finally entered the last floor, and Racer scrambled the security door behind us to give us time to work in peace, we immediately took a minute to take stock of the situation. According to Racer and Arthree, the droid forces had started breaking down doors to follow us, using whatever tools, and even their blasters, to get through. They were currently on the third floor, doing their best to break into the stairwell leading to the fourth. By Arthree's estimation, we had about thirty to forty minutes before they could reach us.

Once we had all gathered our wits, reloaded our weapons, and caught our breath, we started making our way to the center of the sixth floor, which according to Arthree, was where the direct access to the central computer access would be. As we moved deeper, it was clear that this floor was very different from the others in terms of defenses. Where the past few floors had been a near-constant cacophony of droids, blaster fire, and shouting, this floor was nearly silent, a low hum of high-energy conduits and coolant systems the only real noise.

When we finally found the main entrance to the central room, Arthree hooked themselves into the scomp port, slowly unlocking the door while we looked around nervously. We were so close to our goal, and the fact that this floor had, so far, been entirely unprotected left us all feeling on edge.

"Maybe droids aren't allowed down here?" Lario suggested. "Wouldn't want them to have access to their own systems… right?"

Before I could say anything to his guess, Arthree whistled a happy tune, the door opening up with a near-silent whoosh of air, a sign that the pressure had been different inside than out. With a victorious whistle, Arthree rolled around the door frame and into the room, making a beeline for the center.

"No! Wait!" I called out, taking a half step into the room and looking around quickly.

The room was cold, clean, and utilitarian, with a large holoprojector in the center. All around the room were what looked like server banks and computer equipment, each marked with blinking lights. As Arthree headed straight for the center console, his scomp link already extended, I extended my arm to keep Racer from rushing forward. The dome-headed droid managed to reach the center console, only for two hatches to open on opposite sides of the room, revealing just about the last thing I wanted to see.

"Get to cover!" I shouted as two droideka waddled out of their hiding place, their shields already deployed. "Arthree, watch out!"

The astromechs dome spun around and locked onto one of the dangerous battle bots, letting out a screech of terror as it tried to swivel around and run out, only to be blasted into smithereens by the combined effort of both droideka.

"Fuck, get to cover!" I shouted again, sliding against the door frame as the destroyer droids turned around and started walking toward the door, rapidly firing their blasters.

"What do we do?" Tatnia called out, leaning against the other side of the door frame, shouting to be heard over the constant barrage of laser bolts.

"Don't shoot them!' I shouted, seeing Ayme preparing to lean out and shoot back at the robots. "We can't risk a ricochet!"

Ayme cursed and leaned back around to cover, a pair of red energy bolts sparking where she had just been leaning. I peeked around the corner, trusting my armor to hold for at least one shot, desperate to get a look at what the large droids were doing. I pulled my head back immediately, looking up and down the hallway before finally coming up with an idea.

"Pull back!" I shouted, motioning everyone to move back the way we came. "We can't handle that kind of firepower! We need to leave! Pull back!"

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy until I grabbed Lario and spun him around, and started digging through his backpack, pulling out our two backup plans. Tatnia smirked and nodded, turning and walking away.

"You hear him! Retreat!" She shouted, prompting everyone on the left side of the door, the side we had come from, to run down the hallway towards the stairs we had taken down.

After a few seconds, Lario and I followed, with me holding a dual cast ward up to cover us both as we crossed the doorway. We continued to move, the whole team retreating partially up into the stairwell. While they did that, I stopped around the first corner, peeking around it to watch the door. I kept watch for a few seconds, until I finally saw the droideka leave the room, following behind us and making their way into the hallway. I pulled back and leaned against the wall, counting to five, before looking back to Lario, who was waiting for my signal.

"Now!"

The soldier squeezed the detonator he was holding, and the explosive charges that I had dropped on either side of the doorway as we "retreated" both went off simultaneously. The explosion shook the structure around us, scattering chunks of ferrocrete all the way down the hall to bounce around the corner. When the debris finally stopped, I turned to peek around the corner, pumping my fist when I saw that the droideka were both smoking piles of scrap.

I stepped around the corner and jogged back to the door to inspect the damage more closely. I was glad to see that the positioning of the explosives around the corner had directed the explosive force away from the entrance but still had enough power to destroy the destroyer droids.

We rushed back to the serving room, Racer following behind, giving the destroyed remains of his compatriot a wide berth before connecting to the mainframe. The droid whistled a slow tune, and Nal frowned.

"He believes he can crack the system in three to five minutes," The Duros explained.

I nodded and directed everyone to move around the room, to spread out and find a cover around the room, but to stay focused on the doorway. While they were moving into position, I walked to the entrance and stayed there, listening for the sounds of company.

Three and a half nerve-wracking minutes went by before Racer let out a triumphant series of whistles. Immediately the whole room went dark, every light, control pad, and sensor blinker going out before almost immediately coming back a split second later. The room lights clicked on first before the central core slowly came back online. The little astromech continued to beep whistle and warble, his scomp still spinning inside the connector.

"The base is completely locked down," Nal informed us. "All surviving battle droids are returning to their charging stations and storage racks. Even the super battle droids are shutting down. Apparently, they don't need the central computer to function but still follow its commands."

All of us cheered at the news, Tatnia slugging me in the shoulder as we gathered together by the computer's holoprojector.

"Racer, was Miru right that the comms were completely busted?" I asked, getting a warble that I could tell was a confirmation, but I still looked to Nal, who nodded.

"Alright, well, lock everything down. We need to head back up to the surface," I said. "I doubt the comm unit we packed is going to be able to get through all this ferrocrete."

Again the little robot warbled a confirmation and, after a few minutes, pulled away from the access port. Together we slowly made our way back through the building, climbing over the wrecked droids we had taken down along the way. As we got higher, we had to climb through several destroyed security doors, warped and scored with blaster fire and small-scale explosives.

As we stepped out into the harsh, dry exterior, all of us clipped our masks back on. Lario started to unpack his comm equipment with Ayme's help, quickly setting it up on the ground. Once it was done, I called up to Nova on our agreed-upon coms band. A few minutes and a short conversation later, Nova and her team were on the way down.

 

[Kaos Spectre]

Aww man r3 got exploded... Spectre sad now...

 

[inbred martian]

Nice and with all the droids still around who knows maybe our plucky SI can pick up some B2s, a pair of droidrkas or even a squad of Commando droids for his burgeoning merc company.

 

[TheOneYouFeed]

We were just five people out of trillions of souls throughout the known universe.

Click to shrink...

He's actually more right than he knows, cause the Galaxy Far Far Away has quadrillions of beings.

 

[MetaBettaOmega]

Just a quick reminder to check out my Patreon! Help support my writing and get access to up to eight early chapters of Battlemage, as well as more early chapters and other benefits!

---

As we waited for Nova and her other ships to fly down, I couldn't help but feel a little tense. While none of her ships even remotely resembled what you would call a warship, they were all armed. She also had a significant number of workers with her, who were no doubt also armed. We might be good, or at least decent, but between the ships and her superior numbers, we would be at her mercy. If she wanted to betray us and take this whole site for herself, this would be the perfect time to do it.

"When are your people getting here?" I asked Nevue, who seemed to have picked up on my nervousness.

"Within the next five or six hours," He answered before patting my shoulder. "Relax, Nova is a friend. I don't blame you for being nervous, though."

"Yeah, I know. Not exactly the best position to be in."

When the businesswoman finally arrived, she was the first one out of her ship, even as her other ships landed. As her workers followed her out, her other ships lowering their ramps, she looked around before turning back to address her people, giving orders and directing them to several tasks. A significant portion of the group broke off and started to inspect the ships on the landing pad while even more rushed into the buildings, weapons out as they began clearing everything, ensuring everything was safe. Before we could reach the older businesswoman, a pink missile streaked across the gap between us and collided with me.

"I'm alright, Miru, everyone is alright," I assured her, returning the teenage Twi'leks hug. "It was easy, no problems at all."

"I can clearly smell that your armor is burnt," She said, pulling away and inspecting my jacket and the armor beneath.

"Yeah, but you know me, I bounce back from that sort of thing," I said with a smirk, earning a slap to the shoulder before she turned to give a hug to Tatnia. Together, after a few more hugs, we crossed the rest of the distance to Nova.

"Good work, everyone," She said with a smile, stepping out to shake my hand, making me feel silly for my previous nervousness. "How did the mission go?"

"There were some complications at the beginning," I admitted, continuing when she raised her eyebrow. "The base was fully active when we got here. Patrols, lookout stations, the whole nine yards. But we managed to get inside without taking any injuries, and all it did was shrink our timeline a bit."

"Well, good job. The ships seem to be in good condition, despite being exposed for so long, and-"

"Nova!" A voice called urgently from the older woman's comms unit, cutting her off. "Nova, come in!"

"Sorry, hold on a second," She said, unclipping her comm and holding up. "Nova here, say again?"

"You're going to want to come to the hangar bay Ma'am," The voice said. "It's… well, you're going to want to see this."

She glanced at us, and I gestured for her to lead the way, all of us crossing the huge landing pad to the entrance into the hanger. It was larger than it seemed, and as we crossed from the harsh light into the darker, slightly cooler interior, we could finally see what Nova's worker had been talking about.

All three walls of the hanger, which went back surprisingly far into the rocky hill it was carved into, were lined with stuff. The left wall was crammed, floor to ceiling, with cargo crates ranging from smaller standard crates to massive shipping containers. The far back wall was filled with several storage units of droids, most of them B1's, but with several other types as well. Along the right wall were ten starfighters, most of them the robotic variants that I recognized from the movies, but there were also three X-wing look-alikes that I guessed were Z-95 headhunters.

But all of that paled in comparison to the large ship sitting at an angle in the center of the space. It was at least forty meters long, maybe more, and looked sleek and clean. Large windows were arrayed along the side, making me think that this was a pleasure craft rather than a warship. It seemed to be in great shape as well, with its red paint in almost perfect condition.

"Well… that just made this whole thing worth it," Nova said with a smirk, slapping my back. "That's a PLY 3000. It's worth at least a hundred and fifty thousand credits, probably closer to two hundred!"

"What the hell is a Personal Luxury Yacht doing out here in a military base?" Tatnia asked. "And in perfect condition?"

"Stera, Tedo, start going over this ship! I want to know how it looks on the inside!" Nova called out, her worker nodding before turning to other workers and barking orders at them.

"C'mon, let's inspect the rest of these buildings, maybe we might figure out what's going on here," Tatnia suggested, nodding toward the hangar exit. "Who knows, we might spot something useful."

-----------------​

We spent a few hours exploring the structures around the base, with Nevue and the soldiers splitting off to go their own way, leaving us, plus Racer, to start with the upper floors of the main structure, working our way down. The first and second floors were clearly designed as a sort of central command, which made sense considering the massive communication dish on the roof. While all the stations were dark, dozens of display pads were set up by the reinforced structure's long, horizontal windows that overlooked a significant portion of the base.

Underneath the command center floor was a floor of storage, filled with replacement parts, equipment, and tools, as well as other basic supplies. Below that, we found three floors of empty rooms, well furnished but simple, like a very basic apartment complex. I was surprised to find that many living quarters, as this base would have been perfectly functional with a handful of organic supervisors.

As we explored further down into the many rooms we had fought past but hadn't explored, it got more and more confusing. Storage filled with long-term supplies for organics. Room after room filled with clothes, linens, literal tons of food, everything a decent-sized group of people needed to survive for a long time. There was even a commercial-sized kitchen, staffed with robots that were now shut down and tucked into a series of charging bays in the corner.

The second to last floor, the one directly above the central computer, was split into three luxury living spaces. They were big, bigger than any apartment I had ever lived in or even seen, and were filled with high-quality furniture, computers, and all sorts of luxury amenities. As we explored the largest of the three, I directed Race, who had joined us when we split with Nevue, to access the computer terminal behind a large wooden desk. He whistled in confirmation while we looked around.

After about three minutes, he whistled out, and Nal and I headed to the desk, reading the data entry that Racer had pulled up. It described the timeframe in which the facility had been constructed, as well as what its purpose was.

"Son of a bitch, we found someone's hidey hole," I said after reading the document. "Look, right here. 'A bastion of last resort.' and 'holds supplies to last several years, should our investments in the Separatist movement turn sour.' Some CIS dumbass didn't want to face the music if they lost the war, so they built a place to hide if it started going bad. Must have never made it out here…."

"That explains the Yacht," Tatnia said, dropping down onto a couch that probably would have cost me a few months' pay before I died. "What do you think that means for the data core?"

"Could be a separate system, with no contact with the rest of CIS," Nal admitted with a shrug. "Or it could have been a sanctioned project. Might be connected to similar bases."

"Either way, we get what we need at the moment," I said, both of them nodding in agreement. "With any luck, it might lead to more profit later, but for now, it pays for our ship plus some starter funds while we search for more members."

"You said you would be taking most of our cut-in materials," Miru brought up. "Why was that?"

"Because when you're living on your own rules, supplies are worth more than any amount of credits," I explained, Nal nodding in agreement. "Fuel is likely our biggest issue that requires money to solve, everything else we can scavenge, bargain for, or loot from pirates, slavers, and other acceptable targets. Also, more specifically, I was betting that the C-ROC being stationed here would mean it would have supplies to maintain it."

"Oh… could that include some droids?" She asked, looking a bit nervous to be asking for something. "It's just that I've always wanted to tinker with droids, and the B1s would be a great way to start. Plus, I could use some extra hands maintaining a ship as large as the C-ROC…."

"I think we could likely convince them to pay us to haul the B1's away," I said with a chuckle. "They don't exactly have the best reputation. But yes, we can negotiate that, especially since I'm pretty sure some of the stuff you're going to end up making will be useful."

Miru preened at the compliment before Tatnia raised her hand.

"I want this couch," She said, now laying back on it, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the expensive seat.

"Why not the bed?" Nal suggested, the human woman's eyes flying open. "If they paid that much for their couch…."

Tatnia was up and off the couch before Nal could finish, looking around before making a beeline for the bedroom, Miru following close behind, looking around curiously.

We spent the next while unwinding and exploring the stronghold, making a note of anything we saw worth negotiating for. One building off the side of the central, large structure was some sort of garage containing five speeders, which Nal identified as Flitknots. They were unarmed, though, so not likely something I would ask for. Another one of the buildings contained what was clearly an armory, most of which was just blasters of different types and sizes. We already had blasters rifles, spare blasters, and spare blaster pistols, so most of that was useless to us. I did spot a few interesting things, but how much of it we would get would come down to how the negotiations went.

We were talking to Nevue about who was riding one of the unarmed speeders back to the B-7 to pick it up when the Rebel Alliance finally arrived. Three large ships landed on the pad, which was now well and truly full. Nevue and I ran out to greet whoever was in command, which turned out not to be necessary as a soldier met us halfway and handed Nevue a data pad without a word.

"Well… Good news, I'm now in charge of this operation from our side," He said, still reading from the tablet.

"What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that I've been deemed too big of an asset to return to my team. I'm now forming a second team, basically doing the same thing," He said with a frown. "Damn… I was looking forward to seeing them again."

"No good deed goes unpunished," I said with a wince, Nevue letting out a snort of blank amusement. "Shall we go find Nova? Start negotiations?"

"Yeah… let me give my people some orders, and we can go find her."

Fifteen minutes later, the three of us, with my crew, a few rebel soldiers, and a pair of Nova's workers following behind us, began to divide up the loot, starting in the hangar. They both immediately started trying to claim the luxury yacht, as Nova hadn't made any claim to what was inside the hangar while we were originally discussing terms. Instead of joining in, mostly because it was useless to me, I offered to give up any claim to it in return for dibs on three large storage containers worth of parts for the C-ROC sitting in the hangar. They agreed before continuing to negotiate for the PLY.

Eventually, it was decided that Nova would get the Yacht if the Rebellion got the three Headhunters, all equipment set aside to repair them, and thirty thousand credits or something equivalent, which Nova agreed to. I asked for some of the droid starfighters at the request of Miru, and the two agreed as they weren't interested in getting them to work. In the end, I claimed four vulture droids and two tri fighters. Since both of them openly admitted to not wanting them, I managed to convince them to count them as only a thousand credits each, despite them being worth significantly more, even in scrap.

I was also able to convince them to let me take as many B1s as I wanted and to let me have ten super battle droids and two droideka. Nevue asked for the rest and offered to cut the credit IOU for the LPY 3000 in half in return, which Nova readily agreed to. I had to argue much harder to get a small team of labor droids and repair droids, five each, as Nova wanted them badly. I did eventually win, but I had to give up on the unarmed speeder bikes. Miru almost mentioned how I hadn't actually cared about getting them, but Tatnia thankfully got to her first. Nova was still getting thirty-five of each robot type anyway, so she didn't have much to complain about.

The general supplies were also hotly contested, as all three of us had use for them. Eventually, Nova and I agreed that the Rebellion needed them more, and so we settled on each of us getting a few crates of basic necessities and letting Nevue take the rest. Both of us then used that goodwill to claim most of the tools and spare equipment that were secured around the facility. I wanted Miru to have every tool she could possibly need to keep our ship running and do her tinkering. After a bit of negotiating, we settled on basically getting one of everything while Nova and Nevue would split the rest between them, heavily biased toward Nova.

The negotiations continued as we argued over who would get what and if this trade or that trade would stick to the forty-forty-twenty agreement we had all shaken on. In the end, the one item that we argued about the most was the turret emplacements that dotted the stronghold. I wanted one of the more powerful cannons to bump up the punch of the C-ROC, Nevue wanted them to jump-start the defenses of the Alliance's next base, and Nova wanted to build them into her station, which at the moment was only lightly armed.

Eventually, we settled on a compromise. I got one of the larger turrets for the C-ROC, Nevue got a few, and Nova got the vast majority. In exchange, Nova would repair several alliance ships for free and increase the scale of the modifications she would do to the C-ROC on top of its repair.

"Just what exactly are you looking to get done?" She asked when I started angling for more modifications. "There is a limit to what I can do without a working refit station."

"You were already talking about removing that tail thruster?" I asked, smirking when she nodded. "I want to take the heavy turret we just got and attach it there. Should make chasing us a much more daunting task."

"...That's not a bad idea, we could reroute the engine's power to shields, but let it switch to the cannon when you need a bit more firepower." She said, scratching her nose as she thought. "That shouldn't be too difficult either, though you may need a separate station to work that turret, working it into the existing systems wouldn't be worth the effort. What else are you thinking? We could do a few more like that, though you're going to start putting a strain on your ship's power systems if you add any more energy weapons."

"No, no more weapons. I think I only want one more modification, but this one is going to be a bit bigger," I admitted. "You know how the empire likes to use their new style of Gozanti cruisers to carry starfighters into combat? Well, Miru and I had an idea for something functionally similar, executed very differently.…"

Nova narrowed her eyes at me before shaking her head.

"Don't bother describing it to me now, we can sit down and plan it out later. For now, I have to get in contact with some more traders. There's a lot of goods nobody was interested in, and I'm not leaving them behind when there is money to be made."

 

[RaptorusMaximus]

Doridsdroidsdroidsdroidsdroids-

Ahem. Sorry. Got excited there.

Anyways, liked the chapter. Going over the loot was sort of relaxing and I apreciated it. A little sad there weren't any BXs for the main cast to pick up, but boatloads of B1s and a good number of B2s plus the mobile turrets of two Droideka is gonna be a massive boost to the group's firepower to tide them over/supplement any new members they pick up. If they can improve the programing of the B1s they could be genuinely threatening, especially if you can get them LRBs or other support weapons.

Also, Vultures. I love that you have Vultures, they're my 3rd favorite CIS battledroids. I hope they stay alive long enough to learn how to be really scary like the late-clone-wars Veteran Vultures whose techs had learned not to memory wipe.

 

[strictpig]

Also, Vultures. I love that you have Vultures, they're my 3rd favorite CIS battledroids. I hope they stay alive long enough to learn how to be really scary like the late-clone-wars Veteran Vultures whose techs had learned not to memory wipe.

Click to shrink...

Our tech heads could also pull a cylon from Battlestar Galactica and have the droids memories transfer back to the mothership upon death. We just need to keep supplying them with new bodies.

A different idea is that each time the droids dock, they share their memories to increase experience. And if you save their memories, any new droids you get will get a boost too.