Chapter 10

After showing Opal around round the ship Renn left her in a spare room, that she could use from now on, to get cleaned up and get changed into a clean set of clothing. Before going back to his room to get changed out of his armour.

Now wearing some casual clothes Renn was waiting in the ships lounge for Opal to finish getting ready. He didn't have to wait long before Opal came bouncing into the room grinning broadly.

"I feel like I haven't been clean in ages. Thank you sooo much!" She said smiling before sitting down on a sofa next to Renn.

"No problem, I'm glad you are feeling good" Renn said returning her smile with one of his own.

"Come with me there is something you might want to see." Renn told her as he started to lead her to the ships flight deck.

Once they were inside the corvettes flight Renn directed Opal to look outside the view screen where they could see the pirate ship in the distance. Opal gave Renn a curious look before he explained.

"Alpha and the others finished transferring anything that might be valuable to us over to our ship. Once they were on board, I asked Sapphire to take us a safe distance away so you could see what came next." Renn told her.

Opal looked back at the pirate ship wondering just what would happen.

The Corona class armed frigate 'The Vermin' hung in space like a malevolent frisbee. Untold numbers of people had suffered because of it and its crew. Its crew now lay dead inside it, their broken bodies lying scattered throughout its corridors, after meeting a foe who were very proficient at dealing out violence unlike the unarmed civilians the pirates usually preyed upon.

From the outside though apart from the damaged drive section and some scorch marks on the hull the ship seemed normal. Until a large explosion tore through the ship throwing pieces of its hull in all directions. The ships internal atmosphere burned in a spectacular fireball for a second before it was consumed by the void of space. The only evidence of the pirate ship being there were fragments of scrap metal floating about aimlessly.

Opal watched as the ship that had caused her so much pain erupted. A small smile spread across her face. The pirate ships destruction didn't fix the pain it had caused but it definitely felt good watching it blow up.

Opal felt happy. Ever since that horrible day when the pirates had kidnapped her, she had been scared and alone. But now standing with Renn and watching the monstrous pirates ship's destruction she felt safe and as she almost unconsciously reached out to hold Renns hand she also felt happy.

"Thank you" Opal's whisper was barely audible as she just looked out of the viewscreen.

Renn didn't say anything, he just stood there holding her hand and when after a while she fell asleep, he carried her back to her room and gently placed her in her bed before quietly leaving.

-

The next day Opal felt better than she had in a long time. After waking up and getting ready for her day she left her room and started searching for Renn.

She couldn't find him in the lounge so then went to the dining room. She couldn't find Renn there either but after hearing some noise from the kitchen she went to see if he was in there.

Instead of Renn she found one of the HK-50 assassin droids that Renn had introduced to her as Scythe stood wearing an apron and cooking breakfast.

Opal stared in surprise while Scythe waved at her before turning around and moments later turned back to face her now holding a plate filled with food. He then ushered her to a seat in the dining room next door and stood attentively waiting for her to eat.

To Opals continued surprise the food in front of her was delicious, maybe the best food she had ever tasted, and after telling Scythe that she found it hard to turn down the seeming endless supply of food the quiet droid kept happily making for her.

After eating what seemed enough to feed a small army Opal decided to return to her search for Renn before feeling a bit foolish when she remembered the A.I. that new the location of everything onboard the ship.

"Uh, Sapphire?" She called out unsurely while looking at the ceiling.

"Yes? What can I help you with Opal?" Sapphire's avatar materialised next to Opal and Opal felt proud of herself that she avoided jumping this time.

"Do you Know where Renn is?" She asked Sapphire.

"Of course. Renn is in the cargo hold with Alpha, currently doing his morning training."

"Thanks" Opal said before skipping off to see if she could watch, while wondering what kind of training Renn was doing.

-

The doors to the cargo bay slid open and Opal looked around in shock.

In the centre of the cavernous bay a ring had been made from crates and Alpha was now stood on one of those crates yelling instructions to whoever was inside. Moving closer Opal could then see what was inside the ring.

A blindfolded Renn moved about the ring with his guard up, he was currently engaged in hand to hand combat with two training droids without the benefit of his sight.

Hopping up onto the crate next to Alpha Opal sat down and watched in amazement as Renn dodged and weaved before unleashing vicious punches and kicks against the training droids. Opal watched fascinated, Renn had taken his shirt off so she could see that despite him only been seven, like her, his body was covered in muscle.

The fight ended with Renn victorious, and she watched as he removed his blindfold his eyes moving to look at her as he smiled before turning to look at Alpha who gave him pointers on how he could improve.

Opal noticed that neither Renn nor Alpha had shown any surprise at her presence, and she idly wondered if they had sensed her approaching as soon as she entered the cargo bay.

Either way she decided that she would sit and watch quietly as Renn trained for now.