Chapter 11

"So that is why you are training so hard." Opal said as she and Renn walked into the lounge.

After Renn's training had finished, she had started asking him lots of questions about it so he had given her a short history on both him and house Dredd so that she would understand why he was training.

"Yeah, once I have completed my training, I will be able to forge my own armour and become a warrior of house Dredd just like my grandmother was." Renn said, his voice going slightly quiet when he mentioned his grandmother.

Opal saw the far away look in his eye after the mention of his grandmother and recognised it from when she thought of her parents and decided not to ask anything else about the topic.

The two children sat in the lounge in silence for a while, Renn reading a book on applications of the force by a scholar of house Dredd that Sapphire had asked him to read and Opal absentmindedly watching a holo-show.

A nagging thought had been weighing on Opal for a while and she finally turned to Renn and asked, "do you think that Sapphire and the others can help me train too?"

Renn looked up from his book as Opal quickly stammered trying to explain her sudden outburst, "I-I mean I want to be helpful and pull my own weight and you guys saved me and I want to be able to help protect you guys if you were ever in trouble too."

Renn still looked at her as she seemed to grow embarrassed after her outburst.

"Okay, I will ask for you" Renn smiled at her as Opal's nervous face turned into a big smile.

"I would be willing to help you and I believe Alpha would be as well. You have potential and are most likely force sensitive" Sapphire said as her avatar appeared beside them.

Opal's smile got brighter but then she looked at Sapphire with a bit of confusion. "Thank you so much. Wait what do you mean I don't think I'm able to use the force."

"I have been thinking about what Renn said about him being able to sense you on that pirate ship. The most likely explanation I can think of is you either have a strong connection to the force or were unconsciously using the force to ask for help." Sapphire's explanation filled Opal with excitement, growing up she had heard stories about the Jedi, the famous force wielders who fought for peace. Opal's excitement grew as she imagined herself able to use the mysterious arts of the force and a big grin broke out on her face.

-

Several days past, and Opal had joined Renn in some of his training. She was being taught how to control her newfound force powers, as well as learning self defence from Alpha and other skills from Sapphire. While she was learning a lot, she realised she was only doing a fraction of the training Renn was putting himself through in his effort to become a warrior of house Dredd.

Opal's Respect for Renn as she saw how committed he was to his goal. She would sometimes watch his training sessions and witnessed that even if he was knocked down or failed at something he would still get back up and try again. Seeing him putting in so much effort inspired Opal to try harder herself and Alpha and Sapphire were quickly impressed by the progress she was making.

-

The Speedy Vagabond was in orbit above the planet Tatooine. Renn and Opal sat on the flight deck watching as they descended towards the planet, Renn was excited as this would be the first time, he visited anywhere other than the asteroid base.

Renn watched as the planet got larger through the view screen and imagined what it was going to be like when they finally reached the surface. The planet's features came into view, vast deserts, barren canyons and rocky mountains. From high up it looked like a hot and depressing place to live but Renn thought it was amazing.

The ship was flying towards Mos Espa, the largest city on the planet, so that they could buy some supplies and also sell off some of the cargo they 'liberated' from the pirate crew they had encountered.

By the time the ship and docked in a landing bay in the city Renn was practical bouncing with excitement as he waited by the ships ramp to leave. Opal waited with him finding his excitement quite amusing and soon they were joined by a disguised Alpha.

Because Hk-51 droids were extremely rare Alpha's presence would draw a lot of attention, so he had decided to disguise himself to try and be more inconspicuous. He was now wearing a large hooded robe and had covered his arms, legs and head with thick bandages.

With his new disguise Alpha could pass for a regular organic humanoid, all be it a very strange one. Renn and Opal also pretended not to notice Alpha ignoring a chorus of mechanical laughter coming from the rest of the droids further down the corridor Alpha just came from.

Now that they were all present the boy, the girl and the strange looking figure that definitely wasn't an assassin droid left the ship and began heading into the bustling port city.