88 Chapter 78
"I'm so glad you had time to visit me in my humble workshop. I've got some amazing devices to show you!" Zix said practically glowing with excitement.
"It's no trouble Zix," Renn said chuckling, "I wanted to come ask for your input in creating some weapons anyway."
"Ooooh, yes!! That sounds like a great idea, let's do that first," Zix said clapping his hands in glee. The Verpine found nothing more exciting than crafting things and was thrilled whenever anyone would ask him for help with a project.
Renn had gone to ask Zix for help in creating his personal weapons, as well as implementing some ideas for future weapons that Renn and his followers could use.
He had also been honest in being interested in finding out about whatever it was Zix wanted to show him. The Verpine's creations had always been impressive in the past and he didn't see why it would be different this time.
The first thing they did was build Renn's primary weapon and Renn already knew what he wanted it to be.
He really liked using the outland cycler rifle during his journey, and this made him want his main weapon to be a slugthrower.
Renn liked the added power a slugthrower provided him with, as well as the fact it fired slugs instead of brightly coloured bolts of energy. Which was a big benefit when you wanted to be stealthy.
He also had some ideas to make his slugthrower more powerful, which is why he has asked for Zix's help.
Verpines had continued to develop slugthrower technology, and the verpine shatter gun developed by the insectoid race was one of the most powerful slugthrowers on the galactic market.
The shatter gun used magnetic fields to launch small projectiles at insanely high speeds towards its target, and Renn wanted to use a similar principal foe his own weapon.
Renn and Zix spent some time crafting a masterpiece of a slugthrower. They obsessed over every detail and created a deadly weapon for Renn.
The weapon was a savage looking pistol, as Renn preferred the increased mobility that would give him, and fired large heavy calibre ionised slugs at incredibly high speeds thanks to magnetic coils built into the barrel.
Renn's slugthrower used a combination of gas propellant and the magnetic accelerators to launch its slugs, and the standard ammunition it used were high density ionised slugs, that could punch through virtually all known forms of armour and had a small emp affect thanks to its ionisation, but it could also fire different types of slugs, such as explosive or incendiary slugs.
His slugthrower drew its ammunition from a high-capacity magazine that was loaded from the base of its grip, but it could also be connected via a flexible ammo feeder to a large drum magazine, that held a near inexhaustible number of slugs but due to is size had to be clipped onto the back of Renn's armour.
Renn's slugthrower could be fired in both automatic and simi-automatic mode, but Renn preferred semi-automatic as it gave him greater stability while aiming.
His pistol was also linked to his armour allowing for his HUD to display its ammo levels as well as to give him an easier time aiming it, and to display tactical information relating to it.
After completing the slugthrower Renn and Zix began working on some other weapons for Renn. He couldn't always relay on a pistol and so wanted to create a rifle for more long-range engagements.
They created a blaster rifle that looked similar in appearance to the E-1 blaster rifle from the time of the old republic, because Renn liked the design, except they had moved the charge pack from the side of the rifle to the rifle's underside, just in front of the trigger guard.
The rifle was more powerful than most in the galaxy and Renn could change the intensity of the blaster bolts it fired, from low powered bolts that did less damage but used less power to a devastatingly high-powered blast that cost nearly all the power in a charge pack.
They had also installed a grenade launcher under the rifle's barrel, allowing for a bit of added destruction if Renn should find it necessary.
After the rifle was finished, they also began modifying a blastech heavy blaster pistol to serve as a backup weapon as well as a more low-profile weapon should Renn be anywhere without his armour.
Both the rifle, which Renn had named the D-1 blaster rifle, and his modified blaster pistol also had the ability to link to his helmets HUD to improve his aim.
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"So, what was it you wanted to show me?" Renn asked Zix after they had finished making the weapons.
"Oh, yes!" Zix said and happily scuttled of towards a crate in the corner of his lab.
Zix opened the crate to reveal a row of differently shaped and coloured cylinders. They were arranged in rows of threes and were clearly separated by type.
Renn could six different types of the cylinders and he gave Zix a curious look.
"Behold my new invention… Grenades!" Zix said raising one of the cylinders with a green band running along its exterior and displaying it proudly to Renn.
Renn gave Zix a blank look and raised an eyebrow before speaking, "I'm pretty sure grenades have already been invented mate."
"Ahh, but not like these ones." Zix said raising a conspiratorial finger to Renn before leading him to a part of his workshop that contained a firing range with numerous holographic targets scattered around it.
The holographic targets could simulate both armoured and unarmoured targets and register any damage they received and display it on data terminal nearby.
"Observe," Zix said and tossed the grenade with the green stripe into the range, a shield popping up as soon as he did to stop any of the blast entering the workshop.
Seconds later a huge blast filled the test range, followed less than a second later by a second blast even larger than the first.
Renn realised that the second blast was actually made up of hundreds of smaller explosions happening all at the same time.
He watched the holoscreen that displayed the damage the holographic targets received and gazed in amazement as it showed the complete annihilation of all the targets.
The unarmoured holograms had been shredded completely, as had the lightly armoured ones, and the targets wearing heavy armour had also sustained critical damage.
The holoscreen showed that the grenade had carved great gouges in the gapes between the targets armour plates, and had they been a biologic target it would have caused them to bleed out.
"The initial blast propels as mix of durasteel balls and micro-explosives in all directions, the secondary explosives then detonate sending fragments of metal shooting out in all directions.
It will create a maelstrom of death that is sure to kill anything unfortunate enough to have one thrown at it… probably… I call it the devastator grenade, devo for short." Zix said proudly as he watched Renn grinning at the destruction the grenade had caused.
"Amazing," Renn said impressed, "what about the others?" He asked gesturing to the other five grenades.
"They're not as flashy… well one is, but in a different way… this one is a smoke grenade, like it sounds it'll fill a room with smoke in no time," Zix said holding up a grenade with a white stripe on it.
"This one creates a powerful electro magnetic pulse, it should fry any electronics that aren't hardened to resist E.M.Ps," Zix held up a grenade with a blue stripe.
Zix then showed Renn a grenade with a red stripe and told him that it was a powerful incendiary grenade. He threw the grenade into the test range and soon it was consumed in flames.
Zix then demonstrated his next grenade, one with a pale grey stripe that he called an extinguisher, and it detonated in a cloud of greyish white foam. The foam covered every surface on the range and the raging inferno that had been present moments before was suddenly extinguished.
The final grenade was a flash bang and had a yellow stripe across it. Zix informed Renn that the grenade would stun most humanoids when it detonated in a blinding flash along with its deafening noise but had also warned that the damage may be permanent for some galactic species with either especially sensitive eyes or ears.
"These are all amazing Zix, I think I'll find a use for all of them." Renn said clapping the insect man on the back.
"Oh, I'm so glad to hear that," Zix said practically glowing with happiness over his inventions being praised.
"Yeah, we'll have to see about making more of them. I could definitely use them myself, but I'd also like for them to become standard armaments for people under my command.
I know that's just Gex for now, but I'm hoping that that number is going to increase in the future." Renn mumbled, almost thinking aloud.
Renn and Zix then began discussing the logistics of manufacturing the grenades, but that didn't prove to be very difficult.
Neo had automated most of the manufacturing process on the star base and so all they needed to do was upload the schematics to her and she would take care of the rest.
They were just finishing discussing the how many of each grenade they should built to start off with when the door to the workshop slid open and a large figure loomed into the room.
"Zix I've brought you your lunch, I know you have been in here all day so you knowing you, you probably haven't eaten yet." A soft feminine voice filled the room and Renn and Zix turned to see a tall Kaminoan woman enter the room carrying a tray of food.
The kaminoan's blue eyes widened in shock upon seeing Renn stood next to Zix, and she soon began to panic.
"L-lord Renn, I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't know you were here. If I did, I would have brought some food for you as well. Would you like me to make you something? I can go get it right away?" The kaminoan began stuttering with a flustered expression on her face.
She then began backing out of the room, intent on finding some refreshments for Renn.
"Hey, what about my lunch," Zix cried in distress as he watched the tray of food moving back towards the door, as the kaminoan looked intent to take it with her on her quest to retrieve more food.
"Hush you," the kaminoan snapped at Zix, who looked slightly crestfallen.
"Look at this place," she gestured round the workshop, "Lord Dredd is visiting, and it looks a complete mess. And you haven't even offered him anything to drink," she said scornfully, still backing towards the door.
"It's okay Teah, relax everything is fine" Renn said trying to calm the panicking Kaminoan, "and how many times to I have to ask you to call me Renn and not 'Lord Dredd.'"
"But that wouldn't be proper my lord, you are the lord of the clan that I owe my and my family's safety too. So, it is only right that I act respectful too you," The kaminoan, Teah Kinu, demanded as she bowed reverentially before Renn, and somehow avoided spilling the contents of the tray of food still clutched in front of her.
Renn sighed in defeat before smiling as Teah began scolding Zix over not showing the proper courtesy as a host.
Teah was Zix's assistant and had been living on the space station with her infant daughter after Renn had helped them escape from Kamino a year earlier.
Teah had been a droid maintenance mechanic quite low down in Kaminoan society but had been branded a criminal for refusing to allow her newborn daughter to be executed for one simple reason.
Her daughter had green eyes.
