Chapter 42
Two heavy blaster bolts, designed for destroying enemy star ships, shoot towards the Krayt dragon. They struck the beast square in the head, exploding bone and chunks of meat in all directions. The beast's corpse swayed before collapsing to the side, collapsing the one remaining wall left in the courtyard under its colossal weight.
"What would you do without me?" Sapphire's voice came over the speedy vagabond's external loudspeakers.
Renn laughed as he looked around him. Gardulla's palace had once been a sprawling expanse of majestically sculpted sandstone but now it was reduced to a smoking hellhole. Destruction was everywhere, the remnants of the fighting littered the corridors and courtyards of the once grand palace.
The rampaging Krayt dragon had also caused quite a bit of structural damage as it had smashed its way through the palace and now whole floors began collapsing in great clouds of dust and debris.
The six exhausted tusken raiders held their weapons above their heads and let out their triumphant war cries and filled with sudden burst of energy rushed to the fallen Krayt dragon and started examining its corpse.
Jango Fett collapsed onto his backside exhausted. He removed his helmet and wiped the sweat of his brow before sitting back and watching the excited sand people clambering over the dead Krayt dragon.
Alpha and the other droids walked slowly over to Renn, watching the hovering corvette spin around while looking for a suitable place to land as they walked.
Renn lay back on the ground and looked up at the sky. Dawn had arrived and Tatooine's twin suns were now bathing the palace in their warm glow, they had been fighting all night and Renn was tired. He knew that there was more stuff to do, starting with figuring out what to do with the slaves still cowering in the pens behind him, but for now he just wanted to lay still for a bit.
-
Renn stood just outside the palace and watched the Speedy Vagabond land on the flat waste ground in front of the palace gates.
Alpha was stood behind him while the other droids were exploring the 'partially' destroyed palace to check to see if there was anything hidden, like valuables, or hidden enemies.
The tusken raiders were still fawning over the dead Krayt dragon excitedly and Renn had decided to just let them be for now. Jango had also stayed in the destroyed courtyard and was currently relaxing on top of a ruined building.
The Speedy Vagabond's boarding ramp hissed open in front of Renn. The steam from its hydraulics had barely dissipated before a green blur impacted into Renn almost knocking him off his feet.
"How are You? Are you hurt? Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Opal asked hurriedly as she began examining Renn to check for any injuries in concern.
Renn wasn't able to respond to her because immediately after a second blur, this one blue, smacked into both of them. Sending all three children into a heap on the floor.
"Sorry. Are you okay? I'm sorry." Seela panicked as tried to untangle herself from the pile and check on Renn at the same time.
"I'm fine don't worry" Renn said Trying to reassure the girls who didn't take his word for it and insisted on checking to make sure for themselves.
"Did you have fun?" Shae asked as she sauntered over. She was trying to act nonchalant, but Renn and the others could tell she had been worried about the boy.
"Yeah, I got to fight a dragon." Renn said with a grin and Shae's expression darkened. She wanted to fight a dragon too.
Renn's grin faltered as he noticed the glare Opal was giving him.
"And since when was fighting a massive deadly lizard part of the plan? I don't remember that bit." Opal said coldly.
"Err, it was improvisational" Renn said after gulping nervously.
Renn looked away from Opal awkwardly as Shae and Seela giggled at them before he held Seela's hand and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Seela, you won't have to ever worry about Gardulla or any of her gang ever again." He said while smiling at the girl.
Seela was quiet for a moment before her she embraced Renn in a tight hug, her eyes briming with tears. "Thank you." She whispered repeatedly in his ear as she hugged him.
Shae and Opal joined the hug soon after and soon all Seela was surrounded on all sides by her friends showing her how much they cared about her while she cried softly.
-
"So, what do we do with all of them?" Opal asked Renn as they looked at all of the slaves assembled in the ruined courtyard.
There were over two hundred of them, far more than their ship could carry, and leaving them behind in the ruined palace would probably be a death sentence, with how unforgiving the desert on Tatooine was.
"I've got an idea. follow me." Renn said and ran back towards his ship with the others following close behind.
A few moments later, Renn, Opal, Shae, Seela, and Alpha were stood in front of the holo-table in their ships conference room and waiting for a long-distance call to connect.
The holo-table sprang to life revealing the projection of Padme sat at her desk in her queen attire.
"Hello, your high----" Renn was cut of when Opal shoved him out of the way.
"PADME!" Opal shouted "I haven't seen you in aaages, how've you been? How's the queening going?" she began excitedly asking her friend.
Opal and Padme had become close during the battle of Naboo, and Opal had missed talking to her friend, so she had forgotten the reason why they called her when she had seen the call connect.
"I'm good Opal. Things are very busy here after the battle, but everything is going well." Padme answered with a smile, "but was there a reason for your call?"
Renn took this moment to insert himself back into the conversation.
"Yeah, I was wondering what Naboo's policy on immigration was." Renn asked her, causing Padme to give him a weird look.
"You called me while I'm in the middle of work to ask me about politics?" She asked.
"Yeah, well. We have sort of ended up in a bit of a …" Renn struggled to think of a word that would appeal to the pacifist queen.
"Gang war" Shae helpfully spoke up and pretended not to notice Renn's glare.
"Right, we have ended up in a gang war and we have ended up liberating a load of slaves from this criminal gang after we---"
"Murderised" Opal cut in and Renn started to think they were doing this on purpose.
"--- the whole gang and we were hoping you would let the slaves take refuge on Naboo. I'm sure they would help you in rebuilding the planet after the battle if you offered them jobs and a new life." Renn finished and waited for Padme's response.
"….. What?" Padme just stared at them in shock.
-
Padme had agreed to resettle the slaves on Naboo and give them new lives much to Renn's relief, but what was the point with being friends with a head of state if you couldn't use them when you needed a favour.
The ships from Naboo would take a couple of days to arrive however so they would all stay at Gardulla's palace while they waited.
Yaddle had started making things easier for the now freed slaves. She was moving throw the freed slaves and offering food, water, and healing anyone who was injured. Renn and the others had been helping her when they hadn't been busy doing other things, but Yaddle had also forced Earl and Scythe to be her personal assistants/baggage handlers.
The six tusken raiders had started butchering the dead Krayt dragon and Yaddle had used some of its harvested meat to start making a large stew in the centre of the courtyard to feed all the slaves. An excited shout came from the tusken raiders as one of them found a large pearl inside the dead Krayt dragon's stomach.
The pearl was a deep blue with wispy white lines that ran through it like whirlpools. The tusken raider who found it held it aloft and roared before running over to Renn excitedly the pearl clutched in front of him.
"He says it's a gift for you because you have shown great bravery in fighting with the sand people" Alpha translated the tusken raiders excited words for Renn.
Renn accepted the pearl from the tusken raider who seemed happy about the gift being accepted before running back over to the other sand people to resume cutting up the Krayt dragon's monstrous corpse.