Chapter 79: Chapter 69
"Soo, do you like… live here now?" Renn asked the spectral figure of his grandmother, while gesturing around the dense jungle surrounding them.
Renn and his grandmother had been catching up for the past few hours and now Renn was trying to find the answer to a question that had been nagging at him for a while. Why was his grandmother on this planet?
"Of course not," Lilk said dryly, "that would be ridiculous."
"I'm here because the force told me you'd be here," she said before pausing and looking sceptical. "Or you're here because the force told you I'd be here?"
"Semantics. Anyway, we are 'both' here because you're starting your journey," Renn's grandmother said grandly before squealing in excitement and pinching his cheeks, "Aww, I'm so proud of you."
Renn couldn't help smiling from the affection his grandmother was showing him as she continued her explanation.
"As this is the start of your journey, I'm here to give you some encouragement, as well a warning." Lilk said and Renn smiled happily at her.
"The warning first though." She said and looked sombre for a moment.
"I believe that someone is… or at least was… hunting members of house Dredd." She said and Renn locked shocked.
"It took me too long to notice the signs, and by the time I did it was too late. The clan had been wiped out.
When your parents…" She trailed off before resuming, "When your parents died. The hunt seemed to end.
I killed the one responsible for your parents' death, but I don't think it was the mastermind behind everything. It was more of a beast, a psychotic Gen'Dai barely capable of speaking.
I don't know if the true mastermind thought our clan had been destroyed that day, if they thought we were just no longer a threat, or if they just decided to give up once their minion died.
Whatever the reason, I'm worried that as you become more powerful and well known whoever orchestrated the slaughter of our clan may try the same with you." She finished gravely and Renn looked thoughtful.
"Buuut on a happier note, you've started your journey!! Yaaay!" Lilk said cheering happily.
"You're going to do amazing, I just know it.
Now go forth and conquer. Make your mark. Forge yourself and so learn how to forge your armour." Lilk Dredd gave her grandson a proud smile then added, "Become a warrior of house Dredd."
Renn smiled back at his grandmother, before a look of worry appeared on his face.
"Will…. Will I see you again?" Renn asked softly, slightly uncertain.
Lilk looked sorrowful for a moment before looking away and began speaking in a shaky voice.
"Ohh little Renny…." She said wiping a non-existent tear from her technically non-existent eye.
"Of COURSE, we'll see each other again!" Renn's grandmother yelled.
"You think just because I'm dead I'm going to miss the great moments in my grandson's life? Think again.
I'll be there for all the good bits, like when you get married… or when you get around to giving me a great-grandchild…. Or when I'm bored and want to chat… or maybe when I want to mess with Yaddle.
We'll see, point is I'm going to be around. Now, go on. Continue your journey."
-
Renn sat in the cargo hold of his B-7 light freighter in a semi-meditative state, while maintaining his equipment.
He was skilled enough with equipment maintenance that he could maintain his blaster and other weapons with his eyes closed, which he was currently doing.
After an emotional farewell with his grandmother Renn had left the jungle planet to continue his journey, and now he was passing the time while he was in transit.
He didn't know what his destination would be once the freighter exited lightspeed, as he was using the force to navigate. Guiding him on his journey.
Renn wasn't used to travelling alone and he was starting to miss his family. He realised this had been the longest he had spent without Sapphire or Alpha being nearby, not to mention Opal, Shae, and Seela.
Thinking about the girls caused his face to flush as he remembered what his grandmother had spoken to him about.
She had been very insistent on learning all about the three girls, and had enjoyed teasing Renn by 'not so subtly' hinting about them becoming her granddaughters-in-law.
Polygamy wasn't exactly uncommon in the galaxy. Many cultures, including house Dredd, accepted the practice as part of their societies.
Renn wasn't an idiot. He knew that Opal, Shae, and Seela had feelings for him, and he also knew that he had feelings for the three of them as well.
He hadn't said anything to them about this yet though. Even though he was almost certain how they felt about him he was still nervous about talking it through with them, in case he was wrong.
But after the conversation with his grandmother he figured, he would have to talk to them about it soon. And he decided he would talk to them when he returned from his journey.
Renn finished the maintenance on his equipment then stood and stretched. Before leaving the cargo hold and heading to the small freighters bridge.
On the way out of the hold he passed a small bundle of hides and stopped to glance at them for a moment.
The hides were from the Raptor like creatures that had attacked him on the jungle planet before he had met his grandmother.
Renn had harvested the hides from the corpses along with whatever else might have been valuable but wasn't sure what to use them for.
He didn't think they would be much use for adding to his armour and so he was torn about whether to sell them or turn them into some sort of decoration.
He couldn't make up his mind and so decided he would just wait and ask the girls what they thought when he got back from his journey.
After all he was expecting to end up returning with a variety of different pelts, materials, and weird things that he had found on his journey across the galaxy.
-
Renn was sat in the pilot's seat of his ship when it exited hyperspace.
He watched as the solid lines of distant stars compressed and returned to pin pricks of light as he re-entered normal space before staring at the planet that now dominated the view-screen in front of him.
The planet was fairly small in size, and the majority of its surface seemed to be frozen solid.
Massive snowstorms moved across its surface, obscuring the jagged icy cliffs and frozen caves that made up the planet's fridged surface.
Renn checked the ships navigational systems and frowned in confusion as he read the information displaying his current location.
Ilum.
The home of vicious predators, freezing temperatures, and vast, hard to navigate, cave systems.
As well as being the site of a jedi temple and used by the jedi as the location of the gathering. A rite of passage that sore jedi younglings receive the crystals used to power their lightsabres.
Renn couldn't figure out why the force had guided him to a location that held such a deep significance for the Jedi.
"Well…. Might as well see what's down there." Renn muttered quietly as he stared at the ice planet.
He then began plotting a course to take his ship in for a landing, close to where he was feeling a pull from the force urging him to investigate.
His freighter touched down on top of a snowy plateau overlooking a canyon made of thick sheets of ice.
Renn took a moment to admire the scenery as he descended his freighters boarding ramp. He could make out numerous caves cut into the icy canyon walls and the whole landscape seemed to glitter in the sunlight.
After a moment Renn reached the base of the boarding ramp and tried to resist the urge to shiver from the cold. Even with the heavily insulated coat he was wearing over his equipment the fridged atmosphere was chilling him to the bone.
He started walking in the direction his instincts were guiding him, and after a short hike he found himself moving across what seemed to be an ancient glacier.
Renn moved gingerly across the ice, worried about it collapsing under his weight but his instincts still lead him forwards.
He had made it halfway across the great sheet of ice when he stopped after he sensed danger approaching him.
Renn drew his blaster and moments later heard a series of predatory snarls.
He turned just as several large shapes began to rise from a nearby snowy berm and begin lumbering towards him.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone