Chapter 45

Naboo was different from the last time Renn had visited.

The Invasion had taken its toll on the planet and although they had been victorious against the trade federation the planet wasn't in a good place.

The occupying forces of the trade federation hadn't kept order by being nice and friendly. They had ruled with an iron fist. And the swift, and often brutal, retaliation by their battle droids to any perceived act of aggression.

Buildings had been destroyed and Naboo citizens had been killed. Both in the battle for control of the planet and in the trade federations occupation. And now the people of Naboo were forced to try and rebuild their home.

There was lots of work to be done and it had been made harder by the blockade that the trade federation had imposed on the planet before the invasion damaging trade with other planets, which had in turn damaged Naboo's economy.

The republic had given the planet some aid to help them, but the main problems had been left for the planet, and its young queen, to organise themselves.

The majority of the Naboo's population had banded together to help rebuild their planet but some of its citizens had chosen the easier option and left the planet to live somewhere that hadn't recently been a warzone.

These reasons had helped Padme to support the slaves Renn had liberated from Gardulla's palace as despite the logistical nightmare of organising jobs and housing for them, on top of the logistical nightmare of organising rebuilding a partially destroyed planet, she wasn't really in the position to be turning away people willing to work for her.

After landing on Naboo Renn and the others had first, on Opal's insistence, paid a visit to the palace to visit Padme. They had been forced to wait for a while before Padme could see them as she was busy with running the planet.

Padme had seemed exhausted by the time she came to meet with them but looked happy to see Opal. The two had become good friends during their time together and Opal soon began introducing Padme to Shae and Seela and catching her up on what they had been doing since they last saw each other.

Opal then recognising Padme's tiredness and stress had begun organised a girls get together between her, Padme, Shae, and Seela and quickly convinced/forced the others to go along with it.

Renn now left alone with Alpha decided to visit Shmi Skywalker to see how his friends mum was doing after moving to Naboo.

-

"It's kind of you to visit me Renn." Shmi said as she sipped at the cup of tea in her hand.

"It's no problem. Anakin's my friend and I know he's stuck at the jedi temple now so I thought I would check on you for him." Renn said and took a drink from his own cup of tea.

They were sat around the dining table in Shmi's new house that Padme had given the women as thanks for Anakin's help in saving Naboo. She had also helped Shmi get a job as a maid in the Theed royal palace, so although she wasn't living a life of total luxury, compared to her life on Tatooine Shmi was very happy with her new life.

Her only problem was that she hadn't seen her son since he left Tatooine, and probably wouldn't see him for a long time.

"Have you heard form Anakin?" Renn asked wondering how his friend was doing.

"He sent me a message to say that he had been accepted as a jedi Padawan but after that nothing. The jedi don't want him talking with people from back home, something about leaving emotional connections behind." Shmi said while looking sadly at the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Renn said feeling bad for the woman and not knowing quite what to say to her.

"It's not your fault. He has left to do what he has always wanted, I'm happy for him. But I also can't stop worrying about him." Shmi told Renn.

"I'm sure the jedi order will look after him." Renn said, not entirely convinced of that fact but wanting to reassure the woman. "And that Jedi, Obi-Wan, seemed like a good person. He'll look after him."

"You're right." Shmi said with a small smile.

They continued talking for a little bit and Shmi insisted that Renn stay and have lunch with her. Which Renn readily agreed to as he wasn't one to turn down a free meal.

After having lunch with the woman Renn then left to visit the slaves that he had helped free from Gardulla and see how they were adjusting to life on Naboo.

The ex-slaves were overjoyed to see him and immediately began thanking him once again for freeing them from the torment they had suffered under Gardulla.

They had been given housing in Theed's outskirts but were still in the process of getting jobs in the city, but Padme had told them that she would sort that out soon. They had formed a sort of community through the bonds they forged through their imprisonment and Renn was now chatting with some of the leaders of that community when a thought struck him.

The invasion had destroyed quite a few businesses on Naboo. Both through actual destruction and when their owners had fled the planet for somewhere safer so real estate values and the costs for starting a business were actually quite low at the moment and Renn was currently in the possession of quite a bit of wealth.

He began talking through his idea with the community leaders sat around him. Many ex-slaves were skilled in different trades, and all were willing to work, now they had the incentive of being paid for it rather than being forced to do it. So Renn would purchase property around Theed and give them to the ex-slaves to start businesses in. The businesses would be linked into a central organisation and managed by a fragment of Sapphire.

The ex-slaves were excited by the idea as not only would they be able to work with their liberator they would also get the opportunity to start creating their own futures and fortunes. The jobs that the Naboo government would have given them would probably have been menial and low paid, and while that was a lot better than slavery Renn's offer sounded a lot better to them.

Renn would also benefit from the arrangement as he would get a share of the profits from the businesses and might even be able to use them to start his own trade guild which would provide him with a much better financial base to start rebuilding his clan that just getting money from raiding pirates and gangsters.

Renn and the community leaders of the ex-slaves soon had the basic idea for what businesses they wanted to start, based of what skills the ex-slaves had as well as what Naboo was currently in need of.

And though they didn't now it at the time had begun the first steps in creating what would go on to be one of the most well know trade guilds in the galaxy, Dredd industries.

-

"Ahh, its nice going shopping without idiots taking pot shots at you." Opal said happily as she skipped through Theed's market, Padme, Shae, and Seela following behind her.

Padme had ditched her queen outfit and was currently disguised as a regular handmaiden but several of her actual handmaidens and a couple of her security personnel were following close behind them to keep the queen safe.

"That's oddly specific." Padme said giving her friend a weird look.

"Yeah, it seems to happen a weirdly regularly for us." Opal said unconcerned by Padme's shock.

"Sorry." Seela said meekly, remembering the cause of the shoot out in the market on Coruscant.

"Nah, its not your fault." Opal quickly said to Seela before continuing, "If anything it only seems to happen when Renn is around.

I think he does it on purpose because he finds shopping boring, for some weird reason." Opal said laughing, unaware that Shae who also found shopping boring was now making a silent plot to include Renn in all future shopping trips in the hopes of them turning into gunfights.

Padme as a pacifist was horrified by the casual disregard her friend was showing for being exposed to violent situations but chose to ignore it and move on. She had learnt early on that Opal was a bit odd but that was one of the reasons it had been so easy for them to become friends.

Most people she knew treated her a certain way when they found out she was the queen of Naboo, but Opal didn't seem to care and just treated Padme as Padme, which she found refreshing.

The two new girls were similar in that regard except one, Seela, seemed exceptionally shy, and the other, Shae, was quite anti-social so it was harder to get them to open up. Yet some how Opal had managed and judging by their interactions with him, so had Renn.

The girls continued hanging out for most of the day and, after promising Shae that next time they would do something other than shopping, agreed to meet up again while they were still on Naboo.