Chapter 44: Chapter 43
Jango Fett watched what was happening in the ruined courtyard from the one of the palace's tall towers, while he thought about what to do next.
He had to admit he liked the kid, Renn. He was brave and had the makings of a strong warrior. He also showed himself to be honourable with how he was helping that little green jedi take care of the now freed slaves.
Jango wasn't sure how to feel about that little green jedi. The jedi were responsible for the deaths of his friends back during the Mandalorian civil war but this one seemed different and Renn seemed to trust her, so Jango just stayed away from her.
The main focus of Jango's attention however was on the young girl stood near Renn. She seemed to be about ten years old and had long red hair framing her face. She reminded Jango of someone, but he couldn't quite remember who.
Then the girl rolled her eyes and grinned after listening to a comment that Renn made and suddenly a face from Jango's memories overlapped with the girl's. Jango remembered. He remembered when his old friend would act like that during the civil war.
Jango remembered his friend telling him about having a daughter and though Jango had never met her he knew this girl was his friend's daughter, Shae Vizsla.
His old friend had talked about his daughter a lot during the times they spent together between battles. His friend had joined the true Mandalorians to oppose death watch even though he had been the son of death watches leader Tor Vizsla. His relationship with Tor vizsla had caused some initial hostilities with the true Mandalorians but he had eventually found a place amongst them after proving to be committed to their cause.
Then the battle of Galidraan had happened. Death watch had set a trap and used a jedi task force to slaughter the True Mandalorians, and Jango had been the sole survivor. He remembered the girl's father's final moments; he had pushed another of their comrades out of the way of a jedis lightsabre but was ultimately struck by it himself.
Jango remembered his blood scattered across the white Galidraan snow, along with the blood of the rest of his friends and shut his eyes trying to block out the memories.
He didn't know what had caused the girl to end up travelling with the boy, Renn, but he hoped she was happy for his old friend's sake. He considered giving them his personal comm frequency in case they wanted to contact him in the future and decided that it couldn't hurt.
He also thought about talking to the girl about her father, but he couldn't. He wasn't the most emotionally open person at the best of times, and didn't know what he would say in this situation. He would say something if the girl brought it up herself but otherwise he would just hope she was doing okay, and seeing her with Renn made him pretty sure she would be safe going forward.
Thinking of the future Jango's thoughts went to that job offer on Kamino. The Kaminoans had asked him to help them create a clone army and were willing to give him a clone that grew at the same speed as a normal human that he could raise as a son in exchange.
Jango's memories were making him nostalgic. His friends and family were dead, and so having a family again sounded nice. He should probably travel to Kamino soon to sort things out, but he would stay on Tatooine for now to keep watch over Renn and the others.
-
Seela watched Renn and Yaddle handing out water to the slaves and thought of where she would be without him and the others.
She was the pale terrified faces of the rescued slaves and imagined her life if she hadn't been able to escape from the gangsters after her parents had left her with them in a back ally in Mos Espa. She would probably be just like them, scared, hungry, tortured every day by a sadistic slug woman, or dead.
Seela knew what the Hutt had planned for her if she had been captured and couldn't help hut shudder as she saw the massive corpse of the Krayt dragon and the scattered bodies of the other deadly beasts.
She had heard about the slaves Gardulla had fed to the beasts and the thought that that would be her final moments terrified her. But Renn had stopped that. He and the others had stuck there necks out for her, risked their lives to protect her from Gardulla. She felt warm inside and felt that this must be what its like to have people who cared about you.
Seela made a silent promise to herself to get stronger so she could protect the people who were important to her. So that next time she wouldn't have to hide away while her friends fought and instead stand by their side.
She had been told by Renn and Sapphire that she was force sensitive and decided that she would train those abilities to help herself get stronger. She was going to ask Renn later if she could train with him and Opal, she knew Shae already had asked and had also been trained by her family in the ways of a Mandalorian.
"How's it going?" Renn asked Seela causing her to jump, she hadn't noticed him walk up to her as she had been lost in thought.
"Good. How are you?" She asked him with a smile.
"I'm fine. I've got something for you." Renn said and held out the Krayt Dragon pearl for her to take.
Seela gaped in shock at him. She knew how rare and valuable those pearls were so she couldn't believe he was offering it to her.
"What are you doing? Shouldn't you keep that?" She said slightly panicked by being offered something so valuable.
"Nah, don't need it." Renn said carelessly. "When I complete my training, I'll have to journey to find the parts for my weapons and armour on my own, so it isn't really that important to me.
But it is to you. I know you want to start learning to fight and Krayt dragon pearls can be used to form powerful lightsabres. Plus, it could be meaningful for you to use something that once belong to Gardulla to form your future weapon." Renn smiled at her.
"Thank you so much." Seela hugged Renn tightly and accepted the gift gratefully.
-
Nothing much happened during the wait for the Naboo ships to arrive. The six tusken raiders had taken some of the spoils from the krayt dragon and left to re-join their tribe. Before they left, they had repeated their warlords offer for Renn to celebrate the victory with the sand people and Renn had promised to meet them after he had delt with the slaves.
Alpha and the other droids had searched the palace and apart from a Nexu hiding in a bathroom waiting to try and ambush some unlucky person they hadn't found any threats. They had found a sizable collection of valuables that Gardulla had horded, and the droids had filled the Speedy Vagabonds cargo bay with a variety of treasures.
They had also left a bit behind for the former slaves to use to help them set up their new lives on Naboo. The freed slaves were improving every day and after getting over their initial fears hadn't stopped thanking Renn and the others for helping them.
They were now lined up and ready to board the series of transport ships that had come from Naboo to take them off world.
The freed slaves advanced up into the ships, helped along by members of the Naboo security forces and medical teams.
Padme hadn't been able to come personally but had sent one of her handmaidens in her place who had thanked Renn for his help before going off to organise the relocation of the freed slaves.
The slaves kept thanking Renn as they entered the ships and waved goodbye and soon were off to start their new lives on Naboo.
Renn and the others prepared to leave soon after and soon said their goodbyes to Jango who offered to keep in touch with them before he left on his own. They left the empty palace ruins behind, its collapsed rooms and corridors serving as the final resting place of Gardulla and her entire organisation.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone