Chapter 5
“I thought budding was dangerous too often?”
“That is true, but we are only 4. We need to expand our efforts and get a stable foundation built. We will restrict the synth population, as I always have, but in this case the risk is worth it.”
Once they agreed on a plan the synths went ahead and budded. This was the first time Sparrow had seen the process. The two liquid spheres slowly began to spread and then a gap slowly grew in the center. As soon as the separation was complete Omni went ahead and named the new pair Trey and Quat.
Since the new pair were born with all the knowledge of the parents they immediately slid into the protocol droid bodies and headed off on their solo mission.
The other synths mounted the battle droids that had charged and they went to get some armor and weapons for the team to use once they departed the ghostly fleet.
They found a wide assortment of armor available. Sparrow took Omni’s advice to heart and pieced together a heavy suit, offering him complete protection behind a metal shell.
Kitten went for a “synthweave” bodysuit with metal plating protecting most areas. She wanted the flexibility over heavier protection.
The synths, surprisingly, armored up their new droid bodies as well. After thinking it over for a minute Sparrow decided it was a great idea. It would appear there were four biologicals in the party instead of two. He had already noticed that the battle droids had much smoother movements than the droids he was used to seeing.
They each got blasters, Kitten took a sniper rifle, Sparrow took a vibrosword, and all took various knives and grenades.
Once they had their equipment gathered, they boarded their new transport and left the exo-galactic ship in the hanger. He noticed that the new synths already had a couple of shuttles powering up so they could explore the rest of the fleet.
Once they were all aboard the “new” ship Sparrow asked Omni, who had taken the pilots seat, to set course for Kihines, but to make sure they traveled through several space dust clouds and small meteorite fields to “weather” the ship.
During the trip, which took several hours, the team spent time working on their armor and weapons, painting, scratching, attaching unnecessary bits, generally anything they could think of to alter it and make it look weathered and pieced together.
When they arrived in the Kihines system Sparrow filled them in on the first step in gaining contact with his people. They needed a modern comm upgrade for their ship.
Kihines was an absolute backwater and run by criminals but it was also the planetary equivalent of a junk yard. He was sure they could trade some of the extra equipment they had salvaged for the comm gear they needed. Since the planet was basically lawless there was no approach control so they simply set down near a large collection of picked over ships.
Kihines was a desert planet, although it tended to more dust than sand. It was a good climate to preserve metal parts but Sparrow was glad that even though it appeared weathered his armor had perfectly working climate control.
Up until now the team had always communicated in Kittens language, since it had been taught to him during the memory transfer, but, here in wild space Sy Bisti was the de facto trade language. The two synths had learned the language from him during the transfers but when he asked if they could teach it to Kitten using the same method the explanation made his head hurt so bad, he just dropped it.
Luckily, since she was wearing a helmet anyway Omni or Deux could speak the words for her if needed.
During his previous visits here Sparrow and his Buir had always dealt with a weequay named Am Sandan so he led them to the tavern they had always met in first.
It wasn’t until the door closed behind them and all conversation in the place stopped that Sparrow realized he had made a giant mistake. None of the four of them could safely remove their helmets. He knew it would raise tensions if they didn’t but he decided to get creative instead.
In the back of his head he heard Deux groan.
“We represent the Legion. We are a peaceful organization that has been contracted to provide security for a system in the area. A contact of ours recommended an individual named Am Sandan as an honest merchant in this place. Is he here?”
Sparrow had, of course, seen Sandan in his usual booth but needed to act like they had never met. He shuddered to imagine trying to explain what had happened to him to someone with a penchant for drink and talk like the old scavenger.
He had hoped to bypass any trouble but he heard a voice from the back of the room.
“How about you boys take off those helmets and stay awhile.” Tishk Jorr said, as he and his Trandoshan slaving crew took up positions around the room.
“There are normally 9 in the crew, I assume the other 3 are on their ship.” He told the others subvocally.
“They are slavers and murderers and I see no reason to spare them.” Sparrow announced, “anyone disagree?”
During the subvocal and mental communication it seemed to everyone in the bar as if the newcomers had completely ignored the big Trandoshan. They all waited for the explosion.
Tishk had had enough. His ship was half loaded with slaves he had intended to peddle to the remnant lab but when he showed up there he found it destroyed. Now he was stuck feeding and housing them until he located another buyer and doing so was taking away from his hunting time.
This new group, this “legion” looked to be decently in shape and might be a challenge on a hunt. Basically, he was bored, he had them outnumbered, and no one was here who could deny him his fun.
None of the others argued with Sparrow, they had talked about it before coming here and agreed that he was the one who knew the players in this area of space.
As Tishk opened his mouth to speak he inexplicably found it full of vibroblade. Sparrow had pulled his sword and struck so quickly that the Trandoshan, completely unprepared, had missed it.
The other trandoshans weren’t pushovers, they had been slavers for a long time. As their leader went down with a sword sticking out of his head the others dug for blasters.
Shots rang out and all 5 dropped. Each of Sparrow’s team held blasters out and ready and every Trandoshan had been head shot. The bar sat in shocked silence.
Sparrow went through Tishks pockets and took his credits. He then stood up, pulled his sword out and announced. “We will be back, please do us the courtesy of letting Mr Sandan know we would like to conduct some business. Let him know we got his name from a Mandalorian named Talwin.”
The four casually turned and left the bar.
As soon as they were in the street Sparrow announced. “We have to hurry, if we don’t reach their ship before word gets back to them what happened they will lift off and we will lose the ship and the poor slaves.”
“What’s the plan? There’s no way they are letting us get close.”
Sparrow gave an evil smile as he glanced over at Kitten, “greed.”
The tiny slave was obviously struggling to pull the large crate, even on the antigrav sled. The Trandoshan watched in amusement as the filthy thing got closer and closer.
“Hey, guys, check this out.” He called the other two to the hatch.
“She’s tiny!” One said, “I can’t imagine hunting such weak prey.”
“She’s also alone, and is going to pass right by us.” The first pointed out.
“So we toss her in a cell and we split whatever’s in the crate?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The one who had spoken felt his comm vibrate in his pocket but he reached in and silenced it, he would see what they wanted when they were done splitting the take.
The girl reached the closest point and the original guard lunged forward and grabbed her in a bear hug, running into the ship. The other two wasted no time getting on either side of the crate and pushing and pulling it in after.
They got a surprise as they entered the ship. Their crewmember staggered away from the girl, grabbing his throat and trying to stop the gushing blood.
The top of the crate exploded upwards at Omni’s signal and the other three started into motion towards the reptilians.
It all was going perfectly until luck went against them. The cover to the crate bounced off the roof and came down directly at Kitten. She dodged it easily but that put her right in the path of a blaster shot that the crew had got off. It hit her in the abdomen and the synth suit by itself wasn’t enough to stop it.
Omni reacted in panic, which was transmitted to Deux, and therefore to Sparrow. Three shots rang out and the bad guys dropped but the three were already moving towards the downed clone.
“I screwed up!” Said Sparrow, “I shouldn’t have sent her into danger without her armor.”
“Oh can it!” Kitten groaned out, “no one could have predicted that crap sandwich.”
“I’ve been kicking around the idea anyway, so go ahead and do it.” She said.
“Do what?” Now he was really confused.
“Heal me, do the blood swappy thing.”
“No way! That’s a permanent change and will wipe your mind! Not that I don’t see the advantage right now.”
“I am a copy of a copy of a long dead woman Sparrow, and I am from a dead race as well. Give me a new start!” She pled with him with tears running down her cheeks.
Omni and Deux both encouraged him. He pulled off his gauntlet and cut the palm of his hand. He placed the hand over her mouth and felt her suck out the blood.
After a few seconds he took his hand and, making a fist, squeezed out some more blood into the wound in her stomach.
Within a minute the hole in her stomach started healing and he saw her skin start to darken. He was fascinated and continued watching until he realized the process was slowing.
He remembered that he needed to give her nutrients so he picked her up and carried her through the ship, searching until he found the med-bay. Once there he strapped her down and searched the cabinets until he found some IV nourishment that Omni indicated was acceptable for her. He got her hooked up and then went to investigate the rest of the ship. Omni had to stay with her to keep giving her the medication and also to work on saving her memory from getting overwritten permanently.
Once they reached the bridge Deux slid into the console to investigate the ships computer while Sparrow wasted no time in getting ready to lift off.
He called to Deux to use the connection the synths had to their ship to slave it to this one and then lifted off for space.
“Where are we going?” Omni asked from the med bay.
“We’re not equipped to deal with slaves and we are already down a person. I am taking us to my clan’s culvert.”