For the first time in his life, the shoddy repairs Jarvis was helping with were due in no part to monetary constraints. It was purely a problem of time; they didn't have any. "There," He said, tightening one last connection and looking over to Ferril. "We good to go?"

"She'll get us there without blowing up, if that's what you mean," Ferril replied, grabbing up a few tools and throwing them in a bag.

Jarvis reached up, patting the Blastboat's hull. "That's all I needed to hear." He replaced the small panel he had removed to do his repairs, then grabbed his own tools and threw them into Ferril's bag. "Let's get out of here." The two Ryn stepped aboard to find Zal sitting in his chair, ready to take off.

"What took you guys so long?"

"Just get us off the ground; we have a meeting to get to, business to deal with."

"Right, Boss," Zal responded, nodding, then turned back to his controls and began the liftoff. The battered Blastboat ascended slowly, gliding gently into the starscape, then vanishing in a flash, streaking toward its newest destination.

* * *

The meeting was in a junkyard, and the business was a decrepit Rendili StarDrive Light Corvette, its hull pockmarked with holes and rust covering almost half its surface.

"Two days late! They're two days late!" The junkyard's owner, a fat little human, was running around, flailing his arms and complaining about a group of overdo Squibs who were supposed to take the derelict off-world.

"They aren't coming," Jarvis said calmly, careful to stay away from the flailing arms.

"What?" The man gasped, wringing his hands as his face contorted into a hideous, ridiculous form.

"I told them not to."

"No! No!"

"I paid them for their inconvenience. Besides, I have a much more. . . lucrative proposal to make to you."

"You don't understand! This pile of filth is sitting in my front yard! My front yard! I've been waking up every day for the past twenty years to look at that filthy, useless piece of. . . of. . . of. . . trash!"

Jarvis looked around quickly; for the ship to be his front yard, he'd have to be living in the center of the junkyard, making this man's yard. . . one big pile of other people's useless crap. Returning to the relevant situation, Jarvis reached into his pocket, jingling several credit chips. "I'd be willing to pay you for the ship, and rent the ground it's sitting on until we get it out of here."

"What? You think throwing a few decicreds—" the man stopped as Jarvis withdrew his hand, holding the credits; the man saw the numbers engraved on the credits, and changed his tone immediately: "Ooh, that's a lot of money."

"Then it's settled. So tell me, does the ship fly?"

The fat man began laughing uncontrollably, falling to the ground and shaking his head as he gasped for breath. "You've. . . ha ha . . . got to be kih, hi . hi . . hi . . ." the man's voice faded into a wheeze, "kidding me!"

What an idiot. Jarvis reached up and activated his commlink. "Zal, bring the ship over; we've got a lot of work to do."

A few minutes later, after the old man had finally gone away, The Wandering One set down nearby, and Zal and Ferril got out, looking a little confused. "Well, what do you think?" Jarvis asked, gesturing broadly to the corvette. Ferril froze in his place, mouth agape, staring at the wreck of a ship that was before him; he was literally speechless.

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!" Zal yelled after several seconds, finally overcoming the shock that still held sway over Ferril.

"Every family needs a home?" Jarvis responded, though his tone suggested he was no longer sure if that's what he had been thinking or not. "C'mon," He said excitedly, waving at Zal to calm down, "this'll be fun."

"I was just hoping to be able to fix Stupid," Ferril said, finally returning to the land of the living. Stupid was Allara's R2 droid; it had been given to her while they worked for Kerlin the Hutt, just after she had had a astromech socket installed in her Preybird. The droid suffered from serious problems due to an unknown number of modifications to its programming, and after the dealings with Kerlin's protocol droid, Ferril was hoping to learn a little about droid programming, and possibly repair the R2 in the process.

"Look," Jarvis said, pointing to the war-scarred Blastboat. "That's what happens when you make enemies. We almost died, more than one time. I just want somewhere I can feel safe; somewhere that no one else can find us; somewhere that can protect us when we're vulnerable, and maintain us when we're stretched to our limits. I don't want anything fancy—just look at the thing!—I just want a home."

"What about the Blastboat?" Zal asked, almost looking scared. "I thought that was our home."

"The Blastboat has been a lifeboat to us since the day we got it; you don't live in lifeboats. Now don't get me wrong: we're keeping the Blastboat. We'll fix it up better than it ever was, and we'll fly in it more often than not, but it's not a home, and it's definitely not safe." Jarvis reached into another pocket, pulling out a datapad and handing it to Ferril.

"This is a rough idea of what I want to do. I'm no ship designer, but I've checked and all of the modifications are doable. The five of us can sit down and hammer out some more concrete plans later, after the other two have had a little more time to recover, but what do you guys say?" Ferril looked over the schematics carefully, making funny faces and turning his head to see from different angles. He held the pad between himself and Zal, letting the Twi'lek look them over, too.

"You're an idiot," Ferril said finally, tossing the datapad back, "and that just makes agreeing with you all the worse." He stopped, taking a long breath and exhaling slowly. "Well, I guess I should get onboard and see what I can find out. 180 meters of scrap metal, an you want to turn it into a home. Wonderful."

Zal looked around nervously, looking unsure of himself. "You're not going to let me say no, are you?"

"Not a chance," Jarvis replied, flashing a toothy grin and then following Ferril toward the ruined ship.

There are basically two advantages to buying the remains of a once-decent ship from off of some old man's front lawn:

1.) You don't have to worry about gutting all of the systems, because someone else already did it for you.

2.)You don't have to start from the ground up, but there are already so many holes in the thing, it's pretty much fully customizable.


Of course, there are many more disadvantages, such as:

All of the systems are missing, so there's no way to get the thing off the ground. Half of the ship's rusted, so you still have to rebuild half of it. There are funny little creatures living in it, so you have to gas the thing. Something smells funny, but you don't know what, until you find the little critter that's apparently immune to the gas. The old man outside won't leave you alone, no matter how much you pay him. And the most important one: you only have a crew of five, moron.


Allara was morally opposed to the idea at first, though Gren didn't seem to mind, as long as "it has big guns" by the time it was finished. Ferril and Zal were coming around okay, and Allara finally consented, though she was still a little mad that Jarvis hadn't bothered to replace her lost fighter yet. The five of them were sitting around a small, round table in what used to be the corvette's mess hall, working out a thorough plan and awaiting the first shipment of supplies. The primary goal at this point was sealing the breaches in the hull and getting the repulsors to work. After that, they would get life support and partial sublight power, and finally, they would get the hyperdrive up and running. The plan was to get the ship into a nice, quiet corner of some deserted system to do most of the work, calling in trustworthy help as needed.

But first, they had to get the thing off the ground. The ship was leaning slightly, which wasn't that big of a deal, but after a few days of wandering around, spraying for bugs and scrubbing rust and chipped paint, they were ready to get some real work done. And soon, they would be able to.

"Ferril, what's the diagnosis on the sublight drives?"

"I'm hoping we can get the central sublight engine online without having to replace it. If we can get it into space, we'll be able to do a full drive replacement after we jump out of the system." He paused for a moment, then decided to continue with the list. "The hyperdrive's been removed, so we'll have to find a temporary replacement, and the few repulsor pads that are still attached are in terrible shape, so we'll have to rig something up for them. Life support is all but gone, but we can rig up something small and use it for a little while. We've patched all of the small breaches, and once our help arrives, we can get to work on the larger ones."

"What about the main computer?"

"It's all messed up. Several large sections of data have been deleted, other sections have fallen prey to data corruption, and there's even some evidence of ionic damage. It's not looking good."

Jarvis let out a big sigh, lowering his head and rubbing his eyes.

"And you said this was going to be fun," Zal remarked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "You should have listened to me."

"Just wait until the first shipment gets here, then we'll see how it goes."

crap; sorry, wrong profile.

(sorry about that)

The shipment was just what they needed: tools, a few vital components, and—most importantly—droids. There were nearly one hundred droids, ranging from several simple labor droids to a few slicer droids, though most of them were technician droids, designed to operate and maintain a ship's systems. Zal and Gren worked with the labor and mechanic droids to seal the hull breaches; Ferril spent most of his time on the sublight engine, the most difficult job; Allara got to work on a temporary life support system; and Jarvis led several droids in placing and attaching a makeshift repulsorlift cradle.

Work progressed at a decent pace, and by the end of the day, the ship was self-pressurized, the underpowered life support barely recycling the air used by the ship's five inhabitants. Ferril was still working on the sublight drive, and Jarvis jumped at the chance to help, while the others set to work at other things, like removing nonessential ship components that would be replaced eventually anyway.

Once the sublight engine was repaired, Ferril moved to the ship's computer, a near-hopeless cause that he enlisted Allara's help for. Jarvis joined Gren and Zal, and the three continued to clear out areas they knew they would be changing, and cleaning areas they thought they probably wouldn't.

After just over a week of work, they were ready to lift off. Zal and Gren flew the Blastboat with the R5, while the other three and the droid crew worked to get the corvette off of the ground. The large ship rose slowly, barely capable of overcoming the planet's gravity. As they reached the altitude at which they needed to switch to the sublight engine, Ferril had to be careful not to tax the ship's reactor, which was operating far below standard levels. But soon they were in stable orbit, ready to equip the new hyperdrive and leave the planet behind.

As Ferril, Jarvis, and Zal worked on the nav computer and hyperdrive, Allara made an interesting discovery. "Good news and bad news: this ship isn't a real Rendili StarDrive Light Corvette. It was built in a shadowport. That's good, because it means the ship doesn't officially exist, but it's bad, because it means the ship was almost certainly built from sub-standard material. I've checked into it a little, and most of the ship's framework looks to be okay, though there are a few areas that will probably need to be replaced."

Jarvis stopped what he was doing, looking up from his work. "For now, let's just get this thing away from civilized space, then we'll all sit down and work this stuff out."

A few hours later, Jarvis and his crew stood on the partly-functional bridge of the corvette, staring out at the vast starscape of open space. "Ferril, what's the holdup?"

"Sorry, brother; the ship's computer's still giving me some trouble. I can't get the nav computer to plot the course."

Jarvis looked down at his Blastboat, docked with the corvette's port mandible. "Link up to The Wandering One's nav computer and use it to plot the course."

Ferril set to work, quickly accessing the Blastboat's nav computer and linking it to the corvette's hyperdrive. "Hope this works," He said, activating the hyperdrive. The vessel surged forward, jumping to hyperspace and emerging only a few minutes later.

"Now we can get some real work done," Jarvis said, turning to his crew and grinning in excitement. They were alone in the useless system, their only company being the dim star at the system's center, and a single thin band of asteroids. He grabbed a bag from off the floor, pulling out several datapads and passing one to each of his crew. "The corvette is only part—albeit the larger part—of my plans for us in the future. As you can see, I've planned out rather roughly what will be going on over the next couple months, but all of this is subject to change, and with any luck, we'll be getting done faster than I've predicted."

To his surprise, it was Allara who spoke up first. "You're splitting us up?" She seemed genuinely shocked, disappointed, and maybe even a little sad, but Jarvis knew what he was doing.

"We all come from different places, know different things, and have different skills; that's why we work. We can't live our lives in that Blastboat and hope to survive, no matter how much I wish we could. Just look over your datapads; we'll be starting tomorrow."

Zal stood in the center of a huge room, staring at the largest puzzle he had ever seen. The dismantled YT-1300 freighter sat in pieces on the shadowport's deck, Ferril carefully inspecting each section of the ship. CEC's YT freighters were manufactured in large sections, then the pieces could be assembled in a variety of configurations, allowing for a wide variety of layouts for a single ship model.

But to fit their needs, they required a greater level of customization. Zal's comlink beeped several times, and he turned around just in time to see the inner airlock doors open, revealing a large, rectangular cargo pod.

"Hey, we ready now?" Zal asked, turning back toward Ferril.

"Yea," Ferril mumbled absently, dismissing Zal's question with a wave as he checked something on his datapad.

"Okay." Zal walked over to the wall, opening a small panel and pressing a button inside. Several sections of the deck and ceiling sunk slightly, sliding back to reveal large machinery, which ascended or descended slowly and unfolded; simultaneously, wall panels slid away, and an army of construction droids flooded the area. The shadowport's hidden light starship factory had been rented by Zal and Ferril for the next month, so they had that much time to do their business.

Zal waved at the droids, and a large group of them broke away, following him toward the Blastboat. They set to work immediately, pulling off damaged hull plating, removing the half-melted turbolaser, and tearing out the damaged shield generator. R5 stood beside the Blastboat, beeping and tweeting orders to the swarm of droid workers. Zal stood beside the R5, giving him orders here and there, watching in awe as the droids stripped the ship of every damaged system and component, reducing it to a half-empty skeleton.

Another group of droids moved toward the newly arrived cargo pod, moving large sections of the dismantled YT-1930 freighter into range of the overhead tractor beams, which quickly grabbed the sections and laid them out on the deck. As soon as the cargo pod was empty, the inner airlocks sealed, and though he could no longer see it, Zal knew the pod would soon be gone, ejected into space.

A slicer droid stood by one wall, one of its several interfaces attached to a receptacle on the wall; from here, the slicer controlled the tractor beams and other construction equipment of the small, secret factory. An identical slicer stood near Ferril, taking orders from him and relaying them to the worker droids and its twin.

As the droids finished stripping the Blastboat and Ferril finished is inspection, the two sat down to figure out what exactly Zal's new ship would look like. They compiled a list of every ship component they would need to repair and upgrade the Blastboat, and create Zal's perfect ship. After hours of constructing and deconstructing variations of Zal's potential vessel with holographic models, the final decisions were made, and Ferril walked over to the wall comm to place a new order.


* * *


After weeks of work, and several minor alterations to the design, the heavily modified Corellian freighter that closest resembled a YT-1930 light freighter was complete. The Blastboat, newly refitted, sat nearby, also complete.

The Blastboat received two main modifications. The first was a new power distribution system, requiring a near-total rewiring of the vessel. In the end, it allowed the available energy to be distributed and redistributed more quickly and more efficiently, allowing the vessel to adapt it's output levels to the situation at hand. The second was a set of three specially designed high-powered turbolaser tubes, arrayed around the newly replaced bow turbolaser cannon. The tube was designed by Jarvis, Ferril, and Allara after the battle above Toydaria. Ship's power could be directed to a single tube, building up a massive charge in the turbolaser's capacitor, and releasing it in a single blast. Because of the tube's design, the blast would burn out a single component of the tube, preserving the other elements of the turbolaser. After a battle, when the ship had a chance to land, the spent turbolaser component could be replaced, restoring the specialized tube to working order.

The freighter, on the other hand, was the culmination of two generations of starship modification, with a modern twist. The spliced YT-1300/YT1930 had had whole systems rewired to ensure proper functionality with minimal upkeep. The cargo hold was a rather unique design; using the aft holds of the 1930, a specialized external cargo pod was integrated into the ship's structure, producing a two-level cargo area. The escape pods were removed, replaced with dual ion cannon turrets. Two quad laser cannons—a common modification for YT-1300's—were located on the top and bottom of the ship, in the center of the main disc. The cockpit was located between the forward mandibles, similar to the 1930, and while it maintained the layout of the 1930, its dimensions and external appearance were similar to that of the 1300.

The mandibles underwent significant modification, in which they were moved farther away from one another, lengthened, and the port mandible was equipped with a docking ring on its interior side. As intended, the mandibles were just far enough apart, and just long enough, for the Blastboat to fit between them, it's main hatch lining up perfectly with the freighter's docking ring. A missile/torpedo launcher was located on the outer surface of each mandible, and two were located on the ship's aft, port and starboard of the engines.

The standard engines were replaced with more powerful sublights, which were mounted farther back, freeing up room for a larger reactor. The hidden compartments were done away with, instead filled with vital components of various ship's systems. With a maximum crew capacity of seven, the ship could still be flown easily with two, and even with a full crew, the ship easily had room for five passengers, thanks to an expanded living area in the starboard mandible.

Zal and Ferril looked from one ship to another, obviously impressed with their work. The construction equipment was once again concealed, the worker droids gone, and the slicers were onboard the freighter. Ferril nodded approvingly, continuing to look back and forth at the two ships. "I think Jarvis will be impressed," Ferril said, looking over to Zal. "What do you think?" Zal just stared at his new ship, drawn in by its shining hull.

This ship was more heavily armed than the legendary Millennium Falcon, and it was his! Sure, it didn't have the cool secret compartments, and it wasn't as fast, but it wasn't going to require him to take a hammer to its controls every time he wanted to lift off, either. It was a beautifully integrated craft, built with factory precision, and outlaw innovation.

"Wow," Zal finally managed.

Ferril couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay, friend," He said, patting the Twi'lek on the shoulder, "let's get back and check up on Jarvis; there's no telling what he and Gren have gotten themselves into."

Allara walked down the narrow streets of the cramped town, trying to remember exactly which door she was looking for. Finally remembering, she took a quick turn down an alley, cutting across a few streets and bursting boldly into the building. "Where is your father," She asked the Rodian child in Huttese. The child ran into a back room, a Rodian male emerging a moment later, blaster in hand.

"It would seem that Fortune has Frowned upon you, old man."

"Tholin?" The Rodian asked, looking a little confused.

"No, I'm. . ." She paused, "his son," she finally said, deciding it best to keep up the illusion.

"Oh! How wonderful. Tholin told me he had a son."

Really?

"I don't believe he ever told me your name, though."

She paused for a moment, considering how to answer. "Just. . . call me Jim."

The Rodian took a step back, his body language showing his disapproval. "That's such a. . . human name."

"It suits my needs." Allara looked around for a moment, taking note of his living conditions. "This is about. . . business. Can you help me?"

The Rodian looked away nervously, fumbling with his blaster. "I have a family to worry about; no, I don't think I can."

Allara pulled out a stack of credit chips, holding them out. "All I need is a little information. Where can I find a K-wing starfighter that no longer exists, if you know what I mean."

The Rodian was shocked, first by the amount of money she was offering, and secondly by the simplicity of the question. But he ended up shaking his head. "I don't know, but I know someone that might. He's a human that lives on the other side of the planet. Do you have a datapad, I'll give you the directions; they're fairly complicated."

"Just tell me," She said, lying the credits on a nearby table. The Rodian spout out a long list of instructions, then Allara nodded, said her thanks, and left.


* * *


It was a cantina, until you knocked out the guard at the back door and made your way into the basement. Then it was Hell. She pushed her way through the throngs of worthless scum, coming to the door she had been told about and stepping in, not even bothering to look and see who she was talking to. "I'm looking for a K-wing that no longer exists. Can I find one here, or do I need to take these with me when I leave," She said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out another stack of credits.

A rather intoxicated human stumbled forward, reaching for the credits but missing, too disoriented to judge the three feet distance between himself and Allara's outstretched arm. He finally gave up, looking in her general direction and managing a coherent sentence. "I know where you can get a K-wing; nice, purty K-wing."

Allara stepped forward, pushing the man into a nearby seat. "Where?"

"Zolan, Bubula's Refit Shop. Tell him Barnaby sent you, and be ready to pay him my debt, tee hee hee hee ." Allara dropped the credits into his lap, turning around and leaving without another glance.

"Thanks, man!"


* * *


"Barnaby sent me, and I'll pay his debt, but only if you have a K-wing that isn't supposed to exist to sell me."

The little worm-like creature writhed around a little bit before finally wheezing out in barely discernable Basic, "What makes you think you can pay his debts, Human?"

Human? What kind of a stupid. . . it doesn't matter. She slammed her hand on the table, flipping it over to reveal a rather large credit chip. "I asked around; I know how much he owes you. This should cover it, and the fighter. Now where is it?"

"Careful, Human," The worm-thing said, squirming out from behind the desk and wiggling in a way that might have been it motioning to Allara. "You don't want to anger me."

She followed the creature back behind the building, then into a run-down shack, then down a hidden passageway, and finally into a large, underground hangar, filled with everything from pre-Clone Wars fighters to the newest in starfighters and light starships. "There," It said, motioning with its. . .head?. . . to a corner of the room.

Allara walked over to the vessel, circling it quickly and checking for any obvious problems. "And no one knows it exists?"

"When a galactic government explodes, how many people do you think set out to map where every single starfighter it ever possessed ended up?"

Allara nodded at the worm. "How do I get it out of here?"

"Tell me where you want it, and I'll have it delivered."

"No. I'm taking it out of here."

"That's not possible. I can't have ships that aren't supposed to exist flying out of my back yard: govenment-types don't like that. We'll box it up and ship it off-world, claiming it's some piece of refurbished equipment. When it gets to where you want it, you can do what you want with it."


* * *


She shipped it to some backwater world, hired a transport to take the hyperdrive-less craft to the planet she wanted it at, then contacted a friend of her father, who helped her sneak it into his shop. The Bith ran a maintenance shop by day, which transformed into one of the most proficient, most secretive small starship modifiers by night, specializing in illegal dealings.

She handed him a datapad containing a list of modifications she required. The Bith scratched his large head, staring at the list for several seconds. "I don't know if we can do all of this, and even if we can, it will cost you a significant sum."

"What you mean is, I'm going to have to give you a ridiculous amount of money for you to do this. It is possible; I know it is. I worked out the configuration myself."

The Bith stared at her for a moment, not sure what to do. Then he glanced back down at the datapad, "Okay, we'll get started right away."

Right away, indeed. They set upon it like flies to a carcass, swarming over the craft, pulling out parts, breaking off useless pieces, crawling under, in, and on the craft as they worked tirelessly to prepare the ship. They changed shifts, moved it to hide it from "honest" customers, and even stuffed it inside the gutted shell of a freighter, but they never stopped working.

The only holdup was getting the specific parts she required, but most of the waiting time was spent manufacturing custom components. After less than two weeks, the refit was done, and Allara was ready for a final inspection. The fighter now possessed a completely redesigned command module, which included an off-center astromech socket, and the engine assembly included a class 1 hyperdrive. The armaments had been completely reworked, giving the ship 2 light turbolasers, 2 ion cannons, 1 dual laser/single ion turret, 2 forward missile/torpedo launchers, one aft launcher, 10 standard hardpoints, 4 specialized hardpoints, and 2 specialized dispenser systems that launched canisters of anti-starfighter mines. The dispensers were located to the port and starboard of the engines, and held two canisters each. Once a canister was launched, a programmable timer counted down, detonating when it reached zero, unleashing its arsenal of small mines.

The new command module was completely redesigned. Instead of having two separate cockpits, it had a single, larger one; however, it was not designed for two people. By removing the turbolaser turret and adding an astromech droid, the vessel no longer required a two-man crew. The larger cockpit was designed for comfort during longer journeys, allowing the pilot to sleep comfortably, and have room for a few personal effects. The droid's off-center positioning kept it out of the way of the overhead turret. Like the standard command module, this one could detach serving as a life pod if needed. In addition, the linkage with the fighter remained unaltered, which would allow a standard command module to replace the customized one, if the need ever arose.

The final addition was a modification to the fighter's ventral surface. The bottom of the craft was equipped with four specialized hardpoints, which were designed to work in conjunction with the nearest two standard hardpoints to permit a small bomb bay to be attached when needed.

The shields, engines, and booster engine were barely touched, and the vessel remained wrapped in thick armor. A slightly larger power source provided power to what was essentially the one extra energy weapon, as well as the hyperdrive.

Allara took a slow stroll around the vessel, inspecting it carefully; she was genuinely impressed. "Of course, none of this ever happened?"

"Of course," The Bith said, handing Allara the datapad they had used as schematics.

"Is this the only copy?"

"Besides the one in my head."

"You will never reproduce or distribute those plans?"

"That's half of what you pay me for."

"Good," She said, handing him a bag of credits. "Am I to assume that our business is done?"

The Bith nodded, handing her another datapad. "This contains the information on how we manufactured the custom components. That, too, is yours, never to be spoken of again."

She took the pad graciously, saying her farewell, climbing into her fighter, and setting off for open space. She had to get back, and see how much trouble Jarvis and Gren had gotten themselves into.

Jarvis and Gren had been dropped off by the others on a little, dirty world on the other side of the galaxy. The Corvette was alone, except for its crew of droids, but Jarvis wasn't too worried. The system was useless; it wasn't even near any hyperlanes. Besides, they had a lot of work to do, and the sooner they started, the sooner they would finish.

The two walked into the small establishment, Jarvis heading for the front desk while Gren stayed close to the door, always expecting trouble. "I want to rent your Cargo Empress Super Freighter," He said casually, pulling out a datapad that he had uplinked to one of his smaller bank accounts.

The aging Toydarian stared at Jarvis for a moment, sizing him up and stealing glances at the datapad. "For sale only; no rentals," He responded sternly.

"Tell you what," Jarvis said, making a few entries into the datapad and holding it up for the owner to see, "I'll buy the ship from you, and then pay you to take it back when we're done."

"Hah! Are you kidding me?"

"No. I really don't want that ship, thought I can understand why you want to get rid of it so badly." Jarvis withdrew the datapad slightly, holding his finger over the confirmation button. "What do you say?"

"Fine, fine," The Toydarian said reluctantly, nodding quickly as he flew over to a nearby cabinet, withdrawing the freighter's legal documents. Jarvis signed at a few places, thumbprinted a designated box, and allowed the Toydarian to take a retinal scan; this guy was thorough, if nothing else. "There you go," he said, handing Jarvis the official records. "And don't hurry back, eh?"

Jarvis and Gren boarded the freighter immediately, using two droids they had brought with them to help run the ship. They lifted off as soon as the ship was read, heading for Imperial space. The plan was to pick up all of the legal materials they needed while in TNO's relatively safe protectorates, and then travel in their unarmed vessel to several unaffiliated worlds in the Outer Rim, acquiring the more military-grade components from less reputable sources.

They spent several weeks picking up materials, making stops at dozens of planets, careful not to draw attention to themselves. They avoided unsafe areas at all costs, sometimes taking long detours that would be entirely unacceptable if they had been hauling cargo for an employer.

As they left TNO space and entered the less-secure hyperlanes of independent space, they found large convoys with freelance escorts, following them to worlds near their destinations. While not nearly as secure as actually being inside the formation, it was much safer than a lone, unarmed freighter wandering about the galaxy. If nothing went wrong, the convoy would never know they were even there, and if something did go wrong, they would be so busy with their attackers, that Jarvis would hopefully be able to turn around, and run away.

The process took much longer, but it maintained their low profile, and—though they weren't really concerned about it—it kept them from having to pay for protection. Their most important form of protection, however, was the ship itself; no one wanted to waste the time to stop and board a single, run-down Cargo Empress-class Super Freighter.

Jarvis and Gren returned to the corvette as soon as possible, setting the droids to work immediately. Allara arrived only a day or two after them, surprised at how little work had been accomplished; then she remembered it had taken her far less time than intended to get her fighter. They continued working for the next week or so, until Zal and Ferril arrived, eager to help. While the rest of them continued working, Zal and Gren took the new freighter and left, picking up some of the most important and expensive components for the corvette.

In the end, the Rendili StarDrive Light Corvette was like no other ship of its class in the galaxy. The ship's forward mandibles were modified to dock perfectly with Zal's freighter, and each mandible had docking rings on its outside surface, allowing for other craft to dock, if needed. Three docking umbilicals hung from the ventral surface of the corvette's main body, allowing up to three starfighters to dock with it. The sublight drives were replaced with larger, more efficient engines, and the hyperdrive was upgraded to a class 1. The raised bridge was removed, moving the vital command center just in front of the engineering section. Though most of the storage room—along with a good deal of the crew quarters—had been removed to make room for extra components, the remaining cargo room was located at the base of the mandibles, allowing future cargo from the freighter to be loaded directly into the corvette's cargo area.

But the most extensive modifications were by far the weapons systems. The craft was now equipped with 6 dual turbolaser turrets, 6 ion cannon turrets, 12 missile/torpedo launch tubes, 16 point-defense laser turrets, and two heavily modified high-powered turbolaser cannons. To accommodate the new weapons, most of the freed interior space had been filled with small, dedicated reactors.

The two main turbolaser cannons, found in the forward sections of the corvette's mandibles, were basically a scaled-up version of the Blastboat's specialized turbolaser weapons. While a full-powered blast from the weapons could cut straight through the shields of a comparably-sized vessel, a full-powered blast would drain significant energy from the corvette's own shields and require the shutdown of most of the ship's weapons for several seconds, while the turbolasers' massive capacitors built up the required charge. A full-powered blast would put the weapons on the verge of meltdown, requiring the weapons to cool down for several minutes after firing.

With all of the ships finally finished, there remained one thing left to do: name them. The five beings put on environmental suits, and set to work painting the new names across their vessels. As the five approached the completion of the first side of the corvette, the name Wanderer's Home could be discerned, painted in solid black against the ship's metalic-silver hull. Zal chose to name his freighter New Beginnings, while the Blastboat retained its name—The Wandering One—and Allara named her fighter after her destroyed Preybird—Fortune's Frown.

As the work was completed and the five friend reentered their new home, the droid crew prepared the corvette for hyperspace, Allara's fighter attached to the central umbilical, and Zal's freighter docked between the corvette's two mandibles, the Blastboat docked between the freighter's two mandibles. The vessels existed in a state of symbiosis, docking rings, power leads, and fuel hoses connecting them into a single, gleaming mass of potential destruction.

"Next order of business. . ." Jarvis said suddenly, motioning for them to sit.

"I think we all realize that there is no way for us to run all of our ships effectively, not if the only help we have is droids." Jarvis was sitting at the table, fumbling with his hands, obviously uncomfortable with what he was saying.

Zal started to protest, but Allara shut him up with a wave of her hand. "What are you sugesting?"

"We put together a small group of trustworthy people, and get out there; do something."

"Do what, exactly?"

Jarvis paused for a moment. "Pretty much whatever we want to, as long as it doesn't leave us so morally bankrupt that we can't live with ourselves."

"I think I could round up a few people," Ferril said excitedly, "as long as you guys don't mind a few more Ryn running around here."

"Wait a minute; wait a minute!" Zal yelled, unable to stay quiet anymore. "Are you guys actually considering this?"

Gren looked over to Zal. "Who's going to man you ship's guns? Who's going to co-pilot? Who's going to run around, fixing problems in the heat of battle?"

"I think you all knew this was coming," Jarvis said calmly, looking around the table. "You can pretend that you didn't or you can accept that we need help. It's not a reflection of any of you, or your abilities, or the bond that we all have forged; we just need help."

"I know a few places to look for reliable people," Allara said, obviously having no problem with Jarvis' plan.

"I might know a few people," Gren offered, "but they aren't exactly. . . friendly."

"Zal, are you okay with this?" Jarvis looked at his friend, genuinely concerned about proceeding without everyone's acceptance.

"Eh, you're the boss, boss." Jarvis knew that was the closest thing to a concession he was going to get out of Zal, so he accepted it, and moved on.

"Okay, then. We'll put together a plan, and head out tomorrow."


* * *


They took the freighter, leaving the corvette abandoned once again, and set out to get a new crew. During full deployment, Ferril would command the Corvette, Allara would lead a flight of three starfighters, Zal would pilot his own freighter, Gren would man the tactical station of the Blastboat, and Jarvis would command everything from the Blastboat's captain's chair, making the smaller craft the unofficial flagship of the group. It was a strange setup, but no one had any objections. All of the other holes had to be filled with other crew members, either droids or people.

They traveled together, stopping at over a dozen locations, holding small interviews and discussing each potential crewman in private, accepting only those everyone agreed upon.

As soon as the last crewman was accepted, they left, the small freighter packed with 21 more souls. The most important of their new crew members was Harry, the Shistavanen pilot who had been flying against them not so long ago, and had been dedicated to their deaths. Now, with his former employers scared to venture an inappropriate glance at Jarvis or his people, Harry actually left his former employer, seeking out Jarvis and requesting a job.

Since the 21 crewmen couldn't man all of the stations, droids were employed to man some of the stations on the Corvette, while a few were sent to help Zal in his freighter. Additionally, two new starfighters, an XM-1 Nova Wing starfighter and a Manta-class assault starfighter were purchased, each undergoing minor modifications. The Nova Wing's cockpit was expanded slightly, making room for a fully enclosed astromech compartment just behind the pilot. The Manta starfighter's cockpit was reworked, reducing it to a one-man craft with an enclosed astromech, and two mini proton torpedo launchers were installed on the ship's ventral side, which would be used as anti-starfighter weapons.

While others worked to acquire and modify the two new starfighters, Ferril started work on Allara's astromech, Stupid, removing defective programming and carefully reorganizing his data files, eventually repairing most of the droid's faulty programming. It was still a jerk, but that just gave it a better chance of getting along with Allara. Ferril was so impressed with himself, he tried renaming the droid "Genius," and Allara seemed to like it, so—out of courtesy to the droid—its name was changed.

Jarvis was surprised at how well everything was going. The five of them were actually getting along better now, no longer being forced to put up with each other every moment of every day, but still remembering and holding tightly to the bond they shared with each other. They had picked a good crew, and the personalities of the different ship captains showed in their choice of crewmembers.

Ferril's Corvette crew consisted of a Duros, a Bith, three Squibs, and a few others, in contrast to Zal's crew of a Wookiee, another Twi'lek, a Gand, an Aqualish, and a rather tough-looking Human. The Human and Shistavanen that flew as Allara's wingmen worked well with her, the Shistavanen quietly executing orders, and the human so impressed with Allara's flying that he soon learned to simply do what he was told, and not ask questions. Jarvis' Blastboat was a mixture of the crews; the ship was run by a Bith, a Klatooinian, and a no-nonsense Human.

Allara was the only female in the group, and Jarvis and the others decided immediately that it would be best to keep up the illusion of "Jim," even among the crew. No one but her four closest friends knew who she really was, and the five of them intended to keep it that way.

With their ships and crews finally ready; their droids reprogrammed for their specific, individual tasks; and their cargo bays empty, The Wandering Ones were finally ready to run kicking and screaming into the Galaxy at large, intent on making a name for themselves that would endure the test of time. A new dawn awaited them, filled with New Beginnings, new challenges, new friends, and new foes.

And whatever happened, there were five souls who would stand by each other through the most trying of times, the darkest of nights, the most hopeless of causes. "Ferril, set course. Destination: civilization." The Wanderer's Home leapt into hyperspace, ferrying its children—both organic and machine—into the raging torrent of a galaxy in chaos.