Chapter 40

--- 174 BBY ---

Inside the Phantom, a meeting was being held for all the higher-ups of Yautja as well as the Mandalorians. The 13 figures sitting around the table were each the most elite of the elite who had proven themselves constantly. 

For the past 5 years, Wyne had completely changed from when Jial had first arrived on the planet. The small town that used to take up only a few hundred meters had grown into a massive city that spanned nearly 6,000 meters. There were dozens of skyscrapers around the city with a large population of individuals from all walks of life. Species from all over the Galaxy traveled to Lok to settle down on a planet that none of them would have dared to even visit 10 years prior. 

It was during this time that Yautja had also gone through major changes. They were the ruling power of Wyne and Lok itself. Jial had created a special district for them, basing it in the original town but expanding it to take over even more space. The droid factories were also included in this area as well as most other military institutions. The number of men under Jial's command had grown substantially. 

The group had grown so large that they were able to create their own defense fleet which consisted of 50 corvettes and 13 frigates. They also had nearly 170 fighters under them that were used for anti-fighter combat and to hunt down any pirates that had gotten too arrogant. 

And these were just the open force that Jial had gathered. Orbiting Lok's moon of Khons was Jial's fleet composed of several Yautja Motherships, each holding 6 scoutships aboard and about 200 Bad Bloods per Mothership. This fleet was known only to Jial's companions, his two disciples, and the three original members of Clan Spar.

Yes, the original members. It was not just the Yautja who had grown significantly. Mandalorians from all over as well as orphans that the group had found had all joined Clan Spar, making their numbers soar from the initial 3 to 23 capable of fighting and 6 children being raised in the ways of the Mandalorian. 

One of those 23 members was Nott whose name was changed to Mira Spar, taking up the Clan Spar's surname while also changing her name to that of a famous Mandalorian woman. Mira was considered the best fighter amongst the Mandalorians, even when not using the Force to support her. 

On the other hand, Hash also changed her name when her sister joined the Mandalorians. She took her sister's old name as her own while making Hash her surname as a way to honor the version of the sister that she grew up with. Nott's skill in the Force had grown tremendously, almost having stolen the Great Holocron and Telos Holocron several times when she would study with them and forget to return them back to Jial. 

Nott took on the role of leading the Force-sensitive that had joined the Yautja. Although she was younger than most of them, her mastery of the Force and skill with her lightsaber earned her the respect of all those who had joined the group.

Jial smiled when he saw his two students sitting before him. Both had grown from teenage girls into young women. Their looks had matured while their eyes showed confidence in their place at the table, far different from when the group was still small and they were unsure of sitting at the table.

'These brats have grown up so much,' Jial couldn't help but feel happy. The two were basically his daughters so he enjoyed seeing how much they had matured. 

"You gonna keep doing the 'dad eyes' or we gonna get this meeting started?" Mira teased, trying to hide the embarrassment in her voice. She hurried to put her helmet on so the others couldn't see her blushing. 

"You used to be so cute," Jial told her before addressing the others in the room. "But she's right. Let's get to talking. Sektor."

The cyborg stood up from his seat and gave a slight bow. 

"Greetings. We have a few important matters to discuss. 

The first is the Black Sun Syndicate. Their attacks and assassination attempts have increased, even targeting Master now. It shouldn't be long before they launch a true attack using an army instead of a small group. We should prepare for that."

"Are we planning on making any moves ourselves?" Nott asked, ready to have her forces move out and launch an attack

"Of course," Jial told her. "The question is who to send and where?"

"We have found the locations of several major stations of theirs as well as the location where 3 of their Vigos are located. Two are in the Outer Rim on Fest and Tatooine while one of them is located in the Core world of Balosar," a holographic image of the galaxy appeared above the table with planets that housed the vigos highlighted in red while all of the locations of the storehouses were highlighted in green. 

"We can handle Fest," Mira volunteered. "Just give us the Storm Troopers and that Vigos is dead." Fest was cold and had several mountains that were difficult for most to traverse. But for a group of Mandalorians and the Storm Troopers that were made to fight on difficult terrain, they would have no problems there. 

"My Acolytes can handle Tatooine, Master," Nott volunteered her forces. Tatooine's desert made it difficult for droids to be deployed there. It would be best if her group handled it. 

"Then I'll leave Balosar to Sektor and HK-47. That toxic environment shouldn't be an issue for you guys," Jial handed over the last planet to them 

"What about the other storage facilities?" Caina, one of Nott's Acolytes and her second in command asked. 

"No need to worry about those. We will be dispatching a separate force composed of pirates and mercenaries to handle them," Jial lied, not willing to spill the information about the hidden fleet. 

"Understood, Sir," Caina backed down once this information was confirmed. She feared that if they just struck out at the Vigos, it would only make the Black Sun Syndicate angry. They needed to also strike their pockets in order to force them to hold themselves back. 

"What was the other thing that we needed to talk about?" Nott asked, remembering that there was another matter to deal with. 

"Yautja Droid Development has been invited to the Techno Union," Jial told them, shocking everyone

The Techno Union was similar to the Trade Federation but was composed of the best developers in the Galaxy. They were known for producing starships or other vehicles but a droid development group had never been invited to join. 

Yautja's Droid Development has become greater over the past few years as well. Although they did not release the Bad Bloods line of droids to the public, they did create two other droids known as the Kampfer and Gouf, each one proving even more effective than the initial Zaku II, though far more expensive. 

Joining the Techno Union came with a large number of benefits. They would provide materials at a much cheaper cost and set up a large number of orders for Yautja as well. The group also offered extra security to its members to ensure that they were not taken over or destroyed by other forces. 

"What's it gonna cost?" Suxon asked the important question

"They want 20,000 Zaku II, 6,000 Kampfer, and 6,000 Gouf," Sektor told them, causing everyone to suck in some air. The total cost of all those units was nearly a billion credits. 

"I say we accept them," Nott was the first to share her opinion. "If we accept the membership, we will be able to make up that money in less than 3 years. But more importantly, we have a reliable partnership with an outside force. We have been going at it for too long on our own. If we wish to expand, we need to get their help."

The others agreed with her sentiment. Although they had grown Wyne large enough, they still were not powerful enough to take on the Black Sun Syndicate directly. If they wanted to do that, they needed to get the money to do so. 

"Fine. I'll let them know that we accept and start having the factories prepare the droids," Jil agreed with her but he didn't want to make the decision alone. He had created positions for them for a reason. 

"You guys will move out in 3 days to attack the Black Sun locations. Make sure you're prepared."