Chapter 17

"HHRHRRNNNN." Voshtudrrl asked with his eyes shining in curiosity.

"Yes, I have been to Kashyyyk before." Fay answered patiently.

"HRRRRGGHNNN." Hearing her positive reply, he inquired further.

"Of course, I have seen the forests of your planet, they are indeed beautiful. And you said that you were a hunter? It must have been a very fulfilling work to contribute to your community." She replied.

"HRRRGNNNNGGNRRRRNN." Vosh gestured enthusiastically with his hairy arms.

"Yes, I can understand that. It was good decision to grab the chance at seeing more than just your home world." Fay responded as she ducked under one of his unintentional swings at her head.

Valin took his attention back from their conversation with a smile as he thought about their journey so far. He was happy, that Voshtudrrl and Fay got along so well. Actually, both got along well with everyone on the ship. One because his rather simple but kind nature, at least as long as there was no fight or danger nearby and the other because of experience and a similar kind but less naive nature.

They took it slow as they were in no hurry, leaving time for other things Valin wanted to do. One of them was to at least eat together since most of them still didn't know each other for very long. Aside from teambuilding it had the benefit to relax your mind and avoid yourself overworking yourself. Something that has become arguably difficult for him with the changes in his body, but it was always better to prevent negative long-term effects early on instead of only combating the aftermath.

The other project Valin concentrated on was the creation of the Zero Point Modules to fuel all his tech even in phases that demanded constant use and therefore strained the power systems a lot more than usual. With them, his ship could withstand bombardment of other warships for days on end or supply enough energy for thousands of years of having all the basic systems running.

In Star Gate Atlantis, three of them were enough to supply a shield that was holding several hundred meters of ocean for 10.000 years. Not even mentioning that it was unclear if they were even fully charged at that point.

Furthermore, it would finally allow him to power some of the more intricate tech with full efficiency.

He already had everything prepared with the help of Corvus and would start with the production after Fay went along on her own again. He wanted to have a few spare ones as well to be prepared for any eventuality and wanted them done before the start of the war.

It was a golden opportunity to make himself known and avenge his father at the same time. Jula Beruss was self-evidently not a good person himself, but he made all this possible in the first place and even though Valin didn't have many feelings for him, the one responsible for his death was someone that the Galaxy was better off without anyways.

His own training became a bit less frequent due to his other project, but overall, it was far more efficient. They would swap frequently and integrated different styles, something that was possible now since Vosh and Fay were participating as well. Sometimes they were against one of the most experienced Jedi and sometimes they fought side by side. Bringing their teamwork to a new level.

He made sure to record all their training as well for his combat droids to analyse and integrate into their style was well.

Aside from direct combat, they exchanged their thoughts on tactics and strategies as much as Valin and her exchanged ideas and ideals in general and more often than not they shared their ideals, even if their approach differed greatly at times. Fay, while not shying away from violence, would usually try the peaceful approach between opposing factions at first while Valin thought it was only an unnecessary risk to your own people and you should respond with force at any sign of aggression. Especially in a world like theirs, with weapons that could easily raze down a continent or even planet, even a few short moments could change to whole outcome. As long as you had the means to resist that is.

In the end however both would like to prevent conflict when possible. Sadly, he knew, that it was inevitable for next decades and he would make appearances here and there to change things for a better future. While a fallen and weakened Trade Federation was a boon in his books, so was the prevention of the empire that was built in the shadows as of now with the biggest target obviously the scheming Senator.

The goal was to have them whittle down each other while weakening key points of the enemy, strengthening what could be called future allies and at the same time trying to live a decent life in this new reality.

Furthermore, his goal was to ascend and maybe even offer the same to his crew, depending on their wishes. That was something he set as a prerequisite to possibly meet or confront some of the strongest beings in this Galaxy depending on how things played out.

He didn't really want to rack his brain, since they were too far above him for them moment. But it wouldn't mean that he isn't intrigued.

The Force planet, the home world to the midi-chlorians for example.

The Force priestesses that had their headquarters on said planet.

Or Abeloth, the Bringer of Chaos, the Beloved Queen of the Stars, a very powerful being proficient in both the light and dark side of the Force and a part of the Ones.

Even the night sisters were a group to be wary of, despite his intentions to visit Dathomir. He might have to talk with Fay about it. Seeing how open minded she was so far, he came to trust her judgement quite a bit. As long as she could reasonably argue why it was a bad idea to visit the home planet of the witches and not just rant against dark force powers of the witches, he might actually postpone his visit there.

But to make it short, for now he was preparing both for Palpatine and possible threats that might come later down the line. One he would be able to combat with wits and technology if he did things right. Against the others he much rather needed personal power to oppose if it came down to it, something that seemed to slowly become a reality the way things were going.

"The planet is in sight, captain!" One of his newer crewmates informed him and brought his attention to Mandalore that appeared in their vision.

At first glance the planet looked dead, for the lack of a better word. There were the tell-tale signs of glazing a planet and very few inhabited areas were visible. Most of their goods had to be imported from elsewhere as a result and they kept it as their home world only because of their history and pride of it.

"Prepare yourselves. Brachium and Thwak will leave to do their own things as agreed and drop off Dunn to meet his friend. We will meet here again in three days at its latest." Valin said with a slight grin, causing Dunn to roll his eyes. Valin was looking forward if he manages to snatch away his special person.

"Aside from that I want most of you to stay on the ship, Freia will take me to meet your friend, our potential medic meanwhile. What about you Fay?" He ordered the rest while asking his guest.

"I'd like to accompany you and Freia if that is alright." Fay suggested.

"That is fine with me, what do you say Freia?" Valin asked his other crew mate, she knew their potential doctor the best after all. And if she had a big problem with Jedi, then he'd rather not bring one on their first meeting.

"That's fine, she might even like Jedi more than Mandalorians at that point." Freia commented easily but didn't elaborate.

Now that made him curious, but he could always ask the person itself when he met her.

"Then it's settled, we will take the freighter and you can take the other ship." Valin told the brothers and Dunn who nodded and together they made their way towards the hangar and down to the planet.

Fortunately, they didn't have to bother with the authorities due to their cloaking technology

They flew for nearly an hour until they reached what looked like a small clinic, a few kilometres from the next city. It was neither big nor small, just enough for one person to live comfortably and care for a small number of patients.

The first thing that Valin was surprised about when they entered was the cleanliness inside compared to the dusty and dirty environment outside. That fact alone spoke for the professionalism of the person working inside. Even more important than advanced techniques when working on patients was a clean environment after all.

There were a few people lying on beds or waiting as a woman in her early thirties was going around to hear them out and help to the best of her abilities and the limited equipment that she had. Aside from her good looks and red hair, the most prominent feature was the robotic arm on the right side of her body.

Whatever caused her injury, seemed to have made her arm unusable from the shoulder down. Contrary to his expectations however she was able to use it efficiently when dealing with patients, not unlike a real arm, even if he had to hold back a groan at the bad craftmanship and old technology used in it.

On one had it was a sad sight you could find anywhere in the Galaxy, but on the other hand it would have been a miracle in his old world, where people could only get comparably basic prosthetics when they lost a limb and were a lot more handicapped than the woman in front of them.

It didn't take long for her to notice them, as she furrowed her brows at his obviously healthy state and a Jedi, she obviously had no business with until her eyes landed on Freia and widened slightly.

She quickly excused herself from the last patient she spoke to and made her way over.

"It's good to see you again Freia, but what are you and you friends doing here?" She asked as she gave a hug towards to crew's redhead.

"It's a long story, but can we talk in private, Hitia?" Freia asked as she returned the hug and gestured towards the other two.

"Those two are Valin, my captain and Fay a wandering Jedi that is accompanying us for a bit." Freia introduced them, causing Hitia to raise an eyebrow in question. She clearly didn't expect this if her reaction was anything to go by.

"It's nice to meet you." Valin greeted her while Fay dipped her head slightly.

"Likewise. And yes, we can Freia, just let me get the last of my patients situated for today and I will close the clinic." Hitia responded as she made her way back, clearly lost in her thoughts.

Valin on his part had positive first impression of her, she seemed to be a reasonable and caring person from what he could observe so far, even if it was only small interactions at this point. Now they only needed to see if she had any interest in joining them. Different from the rest of his crew, she had a home and place she seemed to care about after all.

But more importantly, he now had a new potential project. To make the most badass prothesis he could think of that contained a variety of useful tools for a doctor and at the same time would make any Mandalorian proud.