The shuttles descent was reather rough from the beginning. Everything and everyone on board the small craft shook with it as turbulance hit it from the outside. It was moved through the planet's dark ash clouds and hit one hot air pocket after another. They were like holes in the atmosphere and caused the shuttled to drop many feet before the denser air could get hold of its wings and lift it once more.

The suited man sitting inside had his eyes tightly closed as the ship dropped through the dark, dust and ash covered air. From outside it looked as is the whole section of the planet was covered with dark clouds and let very little light through. It was this hot and thick cloud that the shuttle descended through. As the pilots glided the ship through this dark atmosphere the shields contantly were a hue of light blue as the dust and ash of these clouds hit them. This was only one hint that these clouds were not the normal water condensation kind.

This fact became even more apperent as soon as the shuttle fell out of the clouds and into the redish glowing air below. The planet below was dotted with huge volcanos and instead of rivers and seas of water, it had rivers and seas of magma. It was these volcanos that had recently errupted and sent countless tons of ash and dirt into Mustafar's atmosphere. This was true of all planet beginnings, but this one was special. This planet was still in its early development stages and already it had sentine life that inhabited it.

These primative beings had worked the planet centuries ago and perhaps soon they would work it from Stellar Enterprises for a lot more than they have been getting all these years. If all went well this planet might join the Enterprises and provide it with many resources. The company would always get a work force that was more than willing to do what they have been doing for years, that being mining their molten rivers for resources.

As the small ship flew deeper into the planet's thick atmosphere a large facility became visible to the right. It sat on a tall island like piece of rocky land that was situated in the middle of a massive lava river and flowed from hundreds of kilometers away. It was a large complex compared with the others on the planets and had been around since before the Rebellion all those years ago. The fact that it was still standing and operational was a marval.

Getting closer to the facility one could see how run down it really was. Large cracks were visible from far away and stretched across almost all the allow that made up the complex. It was dark and looked to be full covered in ash and debris from so many volcanic erruptions. A small sections of the factory had even collapsed and half melted away as it stretched out towards the river of molten rock.

From this river shimmers could be seen moving through it and then turning towards the factory. They quickly moved above the lava flow and entered the facility through a large side opening before coming out again to do another round. These were the workers that gathered up the magma and brought it in for processing.

As the man seated in the passager compartment finally looked out the window and watched these workers move through the river, he knew that Stellar Enterprises could help these beings in many ways. He had read up on the Mustafarians and was amazed at how they lived their lives. THey were a simple people that were just happy to be working on their planet and surviving the ravages that the massive erruptions caused.

The train of thought was quickly derailed when the shuttle shuddered and a thick column of smoke and ash rose past it. Shields flared, but held as rocks and other debris assaulted the shuttle. It had flown right under one of the volcanos and it had chosen that moment to bellow out an indication of an upcoming erruption. The craft flew past quickly and banked slowly towards the Mustafarian facility. The pilots used a less direct route this time and tired to avoid all volcanos underneath their shuttle craft.

It look only moment to close the rest of the distance between the shuttle and the factory. As the greyish shuttle descended onto the heat warped landing pad, the man inside straighten his suit and felt the shuttle touch down. He could see the delegation that was going to meet him move out of an enclosed shelter and move towards them slowly.

Abram Holf decended the ramp slowly with his two guards front of him. He could see ash falling all around him and looked down towards his arm. Some had already gathered on it and he had just stepped onto the landing platform. Abram wiped the ash away and slowly raised his head again towards the delegation that stood to meet him.

With a warm smile Abram approached the four membered group and watched as his guards moved out of the way before he could reach out towards the head Mustafarian. He took the beings large three fingered hand and shook it down once. As he did Abram bowed and came within centimeters of touching the others hand. He bent back upright and looked up at the large beings head, letting go of the Mustafarian's hand before addressing the male.

"Governer Ull'mar'nan, I am Abram Holf. I am here to represent Stellar Enterprises."

The tall, but thin, Mustafarian craned his neck a little in a slight bow. He looked down at the man before him and just wanted to get this meeting over with. The Mustafarian, like all others, didn't care an aweful lot about politics or other matters of the galaxy. He only cared about his people and mining the resources disolved inside the lava.

"Mr.Holf, it iz a plezure to recieve you on Muztafar." The being said with a heavy Basic accent. He male turned towards the facility enterance and the others of the group moved aside. Mar'nan motioned with his long hand towards the doorway and held an expressionless face.

"Pleze come thiz way. We have preparad a room for thiz meeting of ourz."

Abram smiled and stepped towards the landing platforms exit. As he did the Mustafarian governer moved to his side slowly as did the other members of the group. Slowly they walked across the platform and into the old facility. All around them steam from the magma flow rose up and into the sky. Abram could feel the sweat running down over your forhead and back slowly, making him feel really uncomforable. He liked warm climate as much as the next person, but this was just too much for him.

The facility was as degraded inside as out. Running overhead were decade old pipes with corrosion all over them. Some were patched up and others were broken and had been sealed off. The narrow corridor was barely wide enough to fit both the Governer and himself, but still somehow they managed to not bump into each other. While looking around Abram noticed that these Mustafarians were really hard to read.

Their faces were bare and emotionless, while their walk was fluid and slow. The towering being almost glided through the hallway with a slow long walk. His arms moved quickly from front to back, swaying along with the fluid walk as if the Mustafarian wasn't in control of them. As the Governer walked he didn't seem to look anywhere, but ahead of them, staring towards the end of the hallway.

After a few different turns they finally arrived at the small office in which they would meet. They Mustafarians had no need for offices, they were an invention of outsiders and had no perpose in Mustafarian society. However, being that they did business with the rest of the galaxy it was decided that an office would be useful. It seemed to make delegates from other planets more at home and more comfortable than talking outside.

As it was, the office was plainly furnished and was just as old as the rest of the facility. Abram guessed it had been used by the owner of this complex and was now being used by the Mustafarians. After the Governer moved into the room, he motioned Abram to sit in one of the old chairs.

"Pleze, sit." Mar'nan said as he moved around the small desk and sat down in another old chair that was build for a species much smaller then himself.

The chair groaned and creeked as the Mustafarian sat into it slowly. Abram was afraid the chair would break under the strain, but to his luck it did not. After the male was seated Abram took a seat as well and looked at the being in front of him. Before they could start a door at the side of the room opened slowly and a short Mustafarian stepped into the room. She was one of the other sentine Mustafarian species on the planet.

In her hands was an old slightly warped metallic tray. Upon this tray was a small pitcher and two glasses. All contained a clear liquid that slowly moved as the tray was carried towards the table. The liquid was something rare on this volcano planet they were now on. It was water and was had in limited amounts on this planet.

The female Mustafarian set the tray down and gently bowed towards him and the Governer before leaving the room. When she did, Ull'mar'nan turned to Abram and took one of the glasses in his large hand.

"A drink to our negotiationz?" He said slowly.

Representative Holf smiled slowly and looked towards the Mustafarian sitting across from him. Abram sat up straight and reached over towards the tray. After wraping his fingers around the smooth water glass, he pulled it slowly towards himself. Abram knew better than to drink first and waited for the Governer to go first.

He was glad to have waited because the Mustafarian had a toast planed. The Stellar Enterprises representative lifted the glass up gently and nodded at the head male's comment. With a smile he brought the glass to his lips and tasted the cool water in it. The feeling was a nice contrast to the heat all around him.

"To our negatiations and to the prosperity of Mustafar." Abram stated and drank again slowly.

He set the glass down on the table and adjusted his suit while watching the Mustafarian. Inside he was very anxitious to get this mission over with. There were other planets on his list and he wanted to make his employer proud. After Ull'mar'nan had finished drinking and set the glass down as well, he looked up towards the human sitting on the other side of the table.

"Governer, I can see you run a great mining operation on this planet. Your workers are most proficiant at their jobs." Abram began. "However, we both know that your facilities are somewhat... outdated if I might say. Your equipment could also use some updating so that you might bring out a greater profit for each man hour you invest. Stellar Enterprises could do that for you and much more."

The Mustafarian watched him as he talked and slowly closed his long arms across his thin chest. "What would you require from uz, Mr. Holf? What elz could your company offer uz?"

Abram smiled a little and undid one of the suit buttons, sitting back into the seat. "Require, sir? We wouldn't require anything other than your people doing what they have been for years. You will mine the magma flows like you have, but Stellar Enterprises will handle the marketing and shipping of it to the rest of the galaxy."

He paused and monitored the Mustafarian's reactions with his eyes. "Your government will of course receive a nice percentage of the profits to do with as you please. Stellar Enterprises is also willing to provide Mustafar with any supplies that you might need, as well as the modernization of all your facilities and equipment."

Abram took a slow breath and leaned towards the Governer a little. "We are also requesting permission to build our own factories and plants on Mustafar, but that would be if you agree of course."

Governer Ull'mar'nan nodded and leaned back in his seat. "I would like to take your offer, but I have to speak to the tribez and see if they agree. Will you pleaze wait in your zhip while I do?"

Representative Holf smiled and stood up slowly. "Of course, I will wait in my ship and if there is anything you need, please don't hassitate to ask."

It had been almost two days since Abram's meeting with the Mustafar governer and still no word had gotten to him on what their decission would be. As he wondered around the reather close quarters of the shuttle that had brought him to this planet, he couldn't help but think that such a long decission time wasn't a good sign. In his mind the first meeting seemed to have gone well. Abram hopped to have established some trust between them that could be expanded later on if this deal progressed further.

Upon returning to the shuttle, Abram had sent a progress report to Stellar Enterprises and was told to carry on with the mission. He was also informed that should the Mustafarians agree to the Stellar Enterprises deal, ships were already standing by to deliver personel and repair parts for the Mustafarian facilities. There were also cargos of foods and medical supplies being loaded and would be availible should they be requested. The corporation had a great interest in this planet and many resources would be devoted to building up its capabilies to flurish as a mining planet.

Until they could be summened a deal would have to be reached between the two parts and so here Abram was, waiting and trying to keep from staying bored. He was not a man who liked to wait and bored fairly quickly. Abram was a man of action and negotiations. His life was all about traveling from place to place and helping to establish large contracts and deals for his employer. Years ago, before Stellar Enterprises, he had been fresh out of diplomatic school and working as an assistant for Ambassador Omulania. He could still remember that day when the ambassador came down with a sickness the day before a big trade agreement was supposed to be signed. With no one else availible all the work went to Abram. He was so many different feelings that day, but once he entered that large office and the trade talks began, Abram knew this was what he was ment to do. As if he was naturally born for this line of work, Abram quickly secured the trust of the other deligation and got them to come together and realize the trade agreement was good for all the parties involved.

After a few years of government work, Abram desided to go into the private sector since his planet's goverment still refused to grant him premission to take on tougher assignment. Their lack of faith in this relativally young diplomate led to his being hired by Stellar Enterprises in their search for people capable of securing deals among tough compatition. From the day he was hired, Abram had never looked back. It was the best decission he had made and now here he was, visiting countless planets in the hope of procuring agreements with them.

The representative smiled to himself as he sat in one of the chairs while the memories of past moved through his mind. His eyes moved over the news articles that had been downloaded onto his personal datapad from the holonet. He always liked to be informed about the happenings around the galaxy and so he read the news daily. Leaning over Abram lifted up the cup of warm caf sitting on a nearby table and took a sip while reading. There was really nothing of too much interest going on in the news today, however. Just more of the same reports of planets getting treatened or attacked. The only interesting piece was the report of a possible famine on a planet called Rutan. Perhaps Stellar Enterprises could help them out if it proved to be true.

Before he could think about the matter further, one of the bodyguards stood up and looked out the side viewport. The man turned towards Abram and buttoned up his suit slowly.

"Seems the delegation had returned sir. They request your presence."

Abram took a deep breath and stood up. He hoped they had good news for him since he was not in the mood to blow this large agreement. Stellar Enterprises had already organized a fleet of vessels and placed them on stand by and Abram didn't want those credits to have been spent for nothing. The man reach over and pulled his suit coat from around the back of the seat and quickly put it on. After doing up the buttons Abram moved into the fresher to check his appearance. Once satisfied that he looked presentable, Abram smiled and walked towards the ramp of the shuttle.

Outside the ship he was surprised to see not only Governer Ull'mar'nan, but also three other Mustafarian males. Each one wore long robes and almost touched the metallic floor of the landing pad. The three new males all had robes of different colors and different crests stitched to each ones right chest. Abram's eyes slowly glanced over them all and he made an assumption that these were the elders and tribe leaders the Governer had told him about.

Abram Holf quickly stepped in front of the group and cordually bowed towards them. His assumption was quickly proven correct, though, when the Governer and the others bowed back in return and the Governer introduced each of the males to Abram.

"We have dezcussed the deal prezented for Mustafar. The elderz believe that truzt zhould be firzt eztablized between uz before the deal could be finalized. They remeber how otherz have tricked them in the pazt and wiz for thiz to never happen again." The Governer explained.

As these words reached Abram's ears he knew that the deal was not getting turned down, but it might still not happen. He was starting to give up some hope when the Mustafarian continued.

"However, Mustafar iz in need of zupplies and our factoriez are becoming unuzable. Becauze of thiz fact, the elderz have agreed to grant Ztellar Enterprizez a limited deal for the time being. They had zaid that after zome time of working together they will review thiz deal and dezide if they wiz to join your Enterprizes or not. Iz thiz an aczeptable propozal to you?" Ull'mar'nan stated and turned towards Abram as the others waited and said nothing.

With a smile and a light nod Abram replied, "Yes, of course. A partial agreement is indeed acceptable Governer. Stellar Enterprises wants nothing more than to become a valuable friend and partner to Mustafar. As a sign of good will between us and in light of this agreement to show Stellar Enterprises commitment, I have been instructed to inform you that repair operations can commance immediatly. There are ships awaiting with engineers and repair suppies as well as medical and food assistance. All I would require from you is the clearance for them to arrive and land on Mustafar as well to proceed with the pairs."

The Governer turned towards the elders and Abram saw them bow in acknowledgment towards Ull'mar'nan. Once this exchange between the Mustafarians was completed, Governer Ull'mar'nan looked back towards Holf's and bowed a little.

"The Elderz have agreed to thiz. You may call in your zhipz. I will let the peoplez and workz know of their arrival."

With permission recieved to have Stellar Enterprises ships and personnel land on Mustafar, a relationship began with the two parties involved. It was hoped and sometime soon this relationship would blossom into a full partnership between the people of Mustafar and Stellar Enterprises. To start off the newly put together deal right, Abram went into the shuttle to contact his superiors the moment the meeting with the Elders ended.

As promised before, the freighters loaded with supplies set off towards Mustafar at once and arrived only a day after Abram had informed headquarters of the deal that had been reached. What Abram wasn't told before was that this small convoy had been waiting at a point in space not far from Mustafar on the chance that this deal would go through. While it wasn't a full partnership yet, the deal reached was better than nothing.

The four freighters came out of hyperspace in formation just before reaching the gravity well of the two gas gaints which surrounded Mustafar. On either side of their line formation emerged two small barely visible ships. With their dark grey hull color these ships could only be visible from close range. This stealthy feature did not mean these ships could not handle themselves, however, far from it.

These two Steadfast Class Gunships were bristling with weapons and while small in size would take on ships larger than themselves. They were some of the first of their class and it was the gunships first mission after going through training and evaluations. As they glided beside the convoy and sheppard it towards the small planet of Mustafar, the ships looked more like birds of prey than vessels for space travel. Their curved downward facing wings extended out from midship towards aft and down below the ships main center hull. These wings weren't for looks either, they were filled with weapons systems to allow the ships to deliver a massive foward bombardment of enemy ships.

Besides having a good deal of weapons, the Steadfast Gunships also carried a mixed of twenty four spacecraft, fighters as well bombers. These ships could greatly increase their chances for survival in a hostile environment such as space combat. They fighters can shield against other fighters or bombers, while the bomber space craft are capable of carrying heavy payloads that have the ability to damage even the largest naval vessals. All these aspects make these gunships capable of performing a multitude of mission that can range from escort duty and base defense to patrol missions and recon.

The lower cost per large amount of capablities made these gunships ideal for a corporation like Stellar Enterprises to build. It also made them highly popular with planetary defense fleets and these ships became immediate highs with high demend. Stellar Enterprises shipyards were booked four months in advance already with orders for these ships. Along with other defensive ships designed by Stellar Enterprises they were creating a large profit for the company. A profit that could then be transfered and invested into other business interests such as this operation at Mustafar.

Every metric ton of cargo carried by the freighters had been built or payed for by Stellar Enterprises in the hopes that it would pay off in a big way later on. These small initial investment could translate into huge profits with the sale of the metals mined on Mustafar. Now the cargo was moving slowly towards the planet, slipping through the gravity fields that constantly existed between the two masses of the gas giants. It were these fields that prevented Mustafar from developing into a triving planet and instead making it into the volcano errupting hell-like planet it was today.

When the convoy finally closed on the planet, one of the smaller freighters sped up and moved away from the formation. As planed it slowly decended through the thick atmosphere and readjusted itself before finally setting down adjacent to the diplomatic shuttle used by Abram Holf. Once on the landing pad the shuttle's hatch opened and a team of professionals ran out with equipment in hand.

They had been instructed on what to do earlier and quickly advanced into the mining facility. Inside they were shown the former control center by a Mustafarian guide. This old, barely operational command center would now be refit and upgraded in order to help the operations on the planet to proceed smoothly. Right now, however, it would be used to guide in the rest of the freighters and provide them with suitible landing sights.

While these men and women started to set up, outside on the landing pad loader droids were emerging from the freighter's cargo bay and assembling on the edge of the landing pad. The droids would stand by until the other freighters came down in order to help quickly unload them.

During all this commosion the Mustafarian workers didn't even blink or react. They all just kept doing their work as if nothing was going on. Every minute they were bring in more and more raw ore to be processed inside the facility. Soon the newly arriving equipment was going to be installed into the processing plant and for each of those loads more processed ore would be able to be extracted than ever before. The new equipment would make it possible for Mustafar to make a larger profit for the same amount of work. Hopefully soon this would all turn into a great and fruitful friendship.

Melnarno Olerna walked along the durasteel landing platform and slowly looked around, watching the activity all around him. It seemed to never end, every hour another frieghter would land and the whole process of unloaded would begin again. The freighter's cargo hatch would open and the instant it came to rest against the metallic surface of the landing pad, droids would move aboard and start off loading the cargo. Once a freighter was unloaded of all cargo it would either be loaded with refined metal ore from the refinery or just take off in order to allow another to land.

During the past two and a half weeks this whole procedure had been mostly perfected. Thanks to the effort and organization that had been put forth by Melnarno cargo was being unloaded or loaded in record time. Each freighters landing was scheduled so that groups of droids would always be standing by and awaiting their arrival. Special storage areas had been designated before hand so that cargo could be quickly taken off the freighters and set aside to be processed before finalling being taken to the necessary locations.

He was watching the movement of these droids as they carried crates of cargo from a light freighter into a staging area for the meantime. This area was divided in two with half getting stacked as the other side was being emptied by other droids or live personel. After cargo got unloaded and placed into the first sections of the staging area, it was scanned by a Stellar Enterprises employ that worked under him. That data was matched to the cargo manifest and once it was confirmed moved into the second part of the area. From this area it was then taken to wherever the cargo was bound for.

Over this past few weeks activity around the planet had never ceased. As promised personel arrived daily and parts for the multitude of outdated facilities came in hourly. Thousands of tons of cargo had already arrived and been distributed around the planet. It was instantly being put to good use by technicians and engineers, which got to work right away in updating the refining and processing facilities around Mustafar.

The facility in which the first exchange had taken place between Mustafar and Stellar Enterprises was now crawling with workers and droids. Its refinery had been one of the first sections to have been upgraded with new hardware. This facility could now extract almost twice as much material from the magma harvest as it had in the past. The whole process had also been speed up with the use of new droid units for the intermediate steps. Of course droids could have been used for the whole process, but that would have taken the Mustafarians out of the loop and that was unacceptable for the planetary inhabitants.

As hoped, the Mustafarians were quite surprised at the effort put forth by Stellar Enterprises to help out their society. They were greatful for all the new equipment which made their work easier, but most of all safer to conduct. It also impressed them how a few upgrades could increase their gains. The facility was far from becoming all up to date, but it was slowly getting there. Much of the inside would have to be replace and fully repainted, as will the outside. The whole collapsed section would have to be rebuilt from scratch as well. There was much work to be done after the many years of neglect.

The Stellar Enterprises operation on the planet was not just about the facilities either. Helping out the populous of Mustafar was another priority. Melnarno had been ordered to provide the Mustafarians with any assistance they required when he was appointed the leader of the corporate effort on Mustadar.

With the company's blessing he had sent people out to the many different tribes around the planet. There his people interviewed the inhabitants and inquired about supplies they might need. To spread good will and help out the people these requests were then forwarded to Melnarno. Most of the requests were for medication or food and water and were quickly fullfilled if the supplies were avaliable. If they were not, the supplies would be requested from Headquarters and sent down with the next shippment.

The man stood still for a moment and glanced down at the chrono on his wrist. One of his teams was actually do back any moment now. They were delivering supplies to an isolated pocket of Mustafarians only two kilometers away. Melnarno looked out to the west in the directions where his people were supposed to be. At that moment a huge pillar of grey matter shot up into the sky, billowing out of the volcano. Erruptions were not uncommon on this planet, but that one seemed to be near the place his team had went to.

From the corner of his eye he could see a group of Mustafarians running towards each other and congrigating at the edge of the landing pad. Melnarno turn and jogged towards them just as his comm beeped. He quickly pulled it out and was rewarded with the bad news that the team he had sent out was underneath that volcano. They had reported that the ground was now unstable and many families needed to be evacuated, too many for their small speeder.

Upon his order, a medic rushed from the facility behind him, flanked by two pilots. "Take this freighter and go get those people out on the double!"

The two men and one woman didn't even stop as they shouted, "Yes sir!" and quickly boarded the freighter sitting on the landing pad. It had been readied for liftoff, but that would now have to wait.

As the freighter lifted off and quickly turned towards the volcano Melnarno reached the group of Mustafarians. These were now looking into the distance, knowing they could do nothing to help their fellow Mustafarians. Melnarno reached them and looked into everyones face to reasure them all.

"Don't worry, we'll get them all out, I promise."

"Where will you bring them?" Responded one of the males finally, still looking into the distance.

"Here would be best. We have the medical facilities all up and running now, it would be the safest place for them."

The male nodded and bowed gently before turning and running away from the landing pad towards the tribe habitate near the facility. Melnarno didn't know why the Mustafarian had run away like that, but he didn't have time to think about it. He was more concerned with the safety of his people and with getting everyone out of the village out of harms way.

Looking back at the volcano he could already see the lava flowing down over the sides and through cracks that seemed to have appeared out of no where. It looked as if the mountain was being split in half slowly. The smoke was abscuring most of the view now, but the bright orange magma could still be readily seen through it, flowing down like river of death and destruction.

Standing there at the edge of the platform, Melnarno ran his hand through his hair and hoped that everything was alright. It was at that very moment the whole volcano shook and exploded out. What had once been a massive natural structure was now pieces of rock and superheated lava blasting into all directions. Ash and smoke filled the sky and moved out from the epicenter of the explosion.

Nothing could be seen through this cloud of debris and Melnarno's heart completely sank as he watched the destruction before him. He started to fear the worse when all of the sudden a small object flew through the cloud and raced towards them. As the craft got closer it could be seen that it was the very same freighter that had been sent out. It was all blacked now and trailing a plume of smoke, but seemed to be intant all in all. Melnarno sighed in relief and pulled out his comm link to order personel to stand by for casualities.

As the freighter settled in for a landing medical droids were already waiting and a team was awaiting to rush inside and carry the injured into the medical facility. These people moved into the ship as soon as the ramp came down and in moments were pulling hover stretchers out of the cargo hold. Melnarno couldn't see what was happening, but there seemed to be at least five stretchers that got pulled out. These were immediatly surrounded with the medical droids which checked for vital signs and tried to assign the patients by severity of injuries.

After the injured were carried away the other Mustafarians started to emerge from the hold and gather outside the freighter. Some rushed off after the stretchers and were admitted into the medical facility so that they could be near their family. Along with the natives came out the medic that had been sent on the mission. On his arms was a member of Stellar Enterprises, limping out with the help of the medic.

"How is everything?" Melnarno asked as he ran towards the medic to help out. Moving his arm under the armpit of the man from the other side.

"Jake here got hit with some debris and fell. He broke his leg, but nothing to serious. Some of the natives have burns rangeing from first to third degree. Other have cuts and smoke inhilation, but should be fine. It's a good thing we got there when we did." Replied the medic.

Melnarno nodded and looked around. "Holzman, why don't you get those prefab shelters up and put them into the bulk freighter's cargo bay. Set up a little place for this people to live until we can relocate them. Get them some food and water as well as clothes. I want them taken care of."

He said this to one of the man on the landing pad and watched the person run off to carry out the orders. Looking at the man hanging onto him, he smiled. "Lets get you into medical and get that leg set. I need you out there delivering those supplies." He laughed a little along with both the medic and pilot on his arm before turning towards the platform exit.

As ordered the outside crews went to work immediately. While some distributed food and water to the shaken Mustafarians, others coordinated the removal of cargo from a freighters cargo hold. Droids went into the storage room inside the large facility complex and retrieved enough shelters to house all the families involved in the disaster.

These prefabricated shelter units were quickly assembled inside the large cargo hold. They were complete with beds and sitting areas. It was made sure that every Mustafarian would have their own sleeping unit and every family could have their own shelter.

Inside the medical facility every injured being was quickly taken care of. Healer solution was used to promote and stimulate rapid cell regrowth in order to repair damaged tissue within the body of each individual. In the most sever cases of burns and cellular damage, whole persons were placed into a tank filled with healer solution. Like bacta this solution helped to repair and heal burned areas quickly and withour scarring.

Some of the Mustafarians brought in for treatment had extensive damage to their lung tissue from the inhilation of smoke. These few were on the verge of death at the time of their submergence into the healer tank. Within an hour of exposure to the solution, however, their lung damage had begun to fade and new cells started to replace dead ones quickly. The broken or damaged cells were quickly repaired with the nanobots floated inside the solution. When these few would emerge from the tanks, they would be healthier than they ever have in their lives.

Watching them float in the tank, Melnarno stood outside the room and looked through the glass that seperated the waiting room from the tank room. Beside him towered the parents of the children inside those solution containers. Melnarno turned towards the parents and looked up at their worried faces.

"Your children will be fine, I promise. They should be out within the hour and will be perfectly healthy once again."

The Mustafarians looked down and nodded slowly as they held hands with their loved ones. They were still too worried to reply or think and looked back towards their children. As they did Melnarno turned away and smiled a little, walking back out towards the landing pad. He passed by the room were one of this personel was getting their leg set and inquired about his condition. The medical droid set the healer cast and replied that the man would be able to walk and work again with the next two days.

Pleased that everything was going well, the operation commander exited the facility. He could see the Mustafarians moving into the shelters within the freighter's cargo bay, but before he could get to them, he was stopped by a group of elders. Among them was Governer Ull'mar'nan, who informed Melnarno that they had just arrived to check on the condition of the evacuees.

"Mr. Olerno, we are hear to thank you for your help. The elderz az do I, believe that if it were not for your effort, many of thoze ztanding hear would have been lozt in the great erruption. The elderz have also talked with those you have zaved and it haz been reached that Ztellar Enterprizez, your company, can be truzted to care for our people and not just yourzelvez." He paused and let the elders slowly bow in a thank you.

"For your help, we will agree to zign a union with your organization. Az long az your company konzultz with the Muztafarian peoples on all new actionz, it, az of now, can do what it wizhez on this planet. The Elderz has agreed to allow you company the rightz to zell all produzed materialz mined on thiz planet. We alzo appreziate all your effortz in the upgrading of our fazilitiez."

Melnarno smiled and bowed back towards the governer and elders. "There is no need to thank me. We care about all life and it was my pleasure to be able to assist your people. I thank you for your decission and I shall inform my superiors of this at once. We have much work still to complete."

Sitting on the small bridge of the Steadfast class Gunship, the Captain looked around at the display screen that almost completely surrounded it. Each screen was now displaying images from holocams situated on the outside of the ship's hull. Every activity within the gunship's vicinity could be seen on the displays and monitored. Its extensive sensor arrays scanned as far as they could away from the ship.

This ship had been one of the two gunships that had entered the system some months ago on a convoy escort mission. From that time it had been permanently stationed within the system to enhance the security of the whole region. To properly utilize its sensors the gunship had moved away from the two big gas giants that held Mustafar between them.

Now that activity within the systems had increased many fold, security was more necessary than every before. Freighter convoys were now moving to and from Mustafar on an hourly basis and still increasing. The planet's industrial output was now many times what it had been before with all the new and upgraded manufacturing plants. Stellar Enterprises has helped the planet emerge as a major producer of metals for the company. Along with these industrial metals, Stellar Enterprises has brought Mustafar into the business of precious metal exporting. Many such rare metal kinds were found inside the rivers of magma and were providing extra income for the company.

The growth of Mustafar was not limited to the planet's surface, however. In space a massive new shipyard was being constructed so that Stellar Enterprises could better meet the demands of its costumers. The proximity of this yard to a large source of ore also cut down production costs and increased profits. Already the build sections of the shipyard has produced frigate sized ships which were quickly sold on the open market. Many more ships would soon start production and as of this moment one such large framework was already being produced. The frame being that for a Stellar Class Star Cruiser.

With all this money spent to industrialize the planet and the space around it, it was no wonder that many defensive measures had been taken as well. Many automated defense platforms floated around the shipyards and a massive Gladiator class Defense Station was in the process of getting fully completed. A small defense fleet of ships also existed in system to offer protection and a large number of fighters constantly patrolled all hyperspace entrance points into the system.

It was near one of such fighter patrols that a large ellipsoid ship exited hyperspace and powered up its drives to slowly move towards the planet. Almost instantly the fighters veered away from the ship and quickly took up positions along its rear and flanks. While being droid fighters, the group as a whole was under the control two pilots who were safely inside the Steadfast gunship. That ship too immediately registered the vessel and checked its computers for possible scheduled appearances of ships with that transponder and description. In a quick reply the computer indicated that indeed a single ship has been scheduled for arrival and was to receive priority.

"Smarts this is the Steadfast Gunship Diligent. For security reasons please state why you are here."

Once stated the computers compared Smarts voice patterns that to recorded from his call to Stellar Enterprises. Upon a match the ship was permitted to close on Mustafar and was guided by the gunship and fighters to that it wouldn't get too close to the gas giants. As the ship closed on the shipyard, other vessels took over the guide duty and let the Diligent go back out on patrols. Heavy tractor beams reached out and gently took hold of the Smarts to softly move him into one of the large dry docks that had been cleared for his arrival.

"Smarts, this is chief mechanic Pelsok, please state what repairs you would like completed. We have been told to accommodate you completely. There are also some men here from Stellar Enterprises Intelligence that would like to ask you about the encounter you had. They would like to come on board and speak with you."

The three men stood uncomfortably in the middle of what had once been the bridge of a Trade Federation Lukrehulk-class Core Ship. They looked around a little, trying to find something within the empty space to hold their attention. Three battle droids, their weapons missing, walked in, pushing three repulsorchairs of a rather old model in with them. "Please, have a seat," Smarts said as softly as he could manage, while the droids turned and left the bridge.

The men continued to look around, now trying to find the source of the voice. "Thank you," One of them spoke into the empty room, "but we'd prefer to stand." Still, the three men looked a little more comfortable, knowing Smarts had been thoughtful enough to consider their needs. We'd like to get right down to business, if that's okay."

Another unarmed droid stepped into the room, carrying a small, old datapad. "That contains all of the relevant material," Smarts said, "but if you would like to ask me any questions, I would answer them to the best of my abilities."

One of the Stellar Enterprises Intelligence men—the one that had spoken before—took the datapad, and scanned over it briefly. "I don't intend to accuse you of anything, Smarts, but if you wouldn't mind, could you tell us why you didn't attempt to destroy the interdictor field generators yourself?"

"Certainly," Smarts responded. The man's request sounded rather offensive, but all of the repairs that Stellar Enterprises were providing assured Smarts that there wasn't any blame trying to be placed on him. "Four vessels comprising the attack force of the pirate group were blocking me from the Interdictor. If I had attempted an attack on the Interdictor, I would have been destroyed before reaching it. A single vessel destroyed most of my fighters in a few seconds. All four of them would have done much the same to me, at such short ranges."

The man nodded in understanding to no one in particular, then one of the others asked, "Then how was the Profiteer able to destroy the interdictor field?"

"The Profiteer was apparently seen as only a minor threat, which was my assessment as well, at the time. In addition, the enemy ships had widened the distance between themselves and their Interdictor, trying to insure that I did not attack it. But the Profiteer activated a targeting jammer, and accelerated rather rapidly toward the Interdictor. My attack on one of their gunships divided their attention, and just before the Profiteer[I/] reached the Interdictor, it revealed a hidden mine dispenser, which proved to be very effective against the old Interdictor's shields. It then destroyed the field generators with two missiles. I had no warheads powerful enough to deal the concentrated damage that the [I]Profiteer's mines or missiles were able to, and even if I had, they would have been destroyed before reaching the Interdictor.

The three men seemed satisfied with his answers. The first man continued reading through the datapad, scrolling through and looking in various files. "Now, what can you tell us about the planet?"

"I was unable to get a reading of its surface. The intense ionic storms prevented my sensors from penetrating the cloud layer. However, the upper atmosphere suggested a possible nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere on the surface, which means, if they survived the impact of the crash—which I believe is at least possible—they could survive, even with a breached hull."

"How likely do you think it is that they survived?" The man with the datapad asked.

"I cannot answer that question. Without knowing the composition of the planet's surface, or even the altitude of the ionized clouds from the surface, I am incapable of calculating such odds. However, the Profiteer's repulsorlifts were not damaged in the space battle, and the captain appeared very competent. I also do not know if the Profiteer's inertial dampeners or repulsorlifts were modified in any way, so I really can't say."

The man stood silently for a moment, thinking things out. "But what do you think," He said suddenly, his eyes widening as if in surprise. Smarts knew exactly what he was thinking: Can it even think?

Of course I can. "He's alive. And if I have to take my shiny, newly repaired self back there alone to get him, I'll find a way."

The man smiled, nodded his acceptance, and said, "Thank you Smarts, and please don't go do anything like that, at least not now." The man signaled his companions, then turned to leave.

"There is one question I'd like to ask you," Smarts said before the trio could leave, "if you don't mind."

The man stopped and turned around. "Of course."

"The captain of the Profiteer; what's his name?'

The man laughed slightly to himself. "He's a Duro named Ranssar Gellak. It was thoughtful of you to ask."

"I wanted to know the name of the man who saved my life," Smarts said, and the man with the datapad nodded once more and left.

"We'll be in touch," He called back through the doorway.

With the men on their way to their shuttle, which was attached to a nearby airlock, Smarts turned his attention to the repairs. The Stellar Enterprises' repair crews were rather efficient, especially for organics, and repairs were already well underway. The areas of his damaged outer hull were being repaired and rearmored, his sublight drives—which had taken severe damage—were being replaced with slightly better drives, his shields were being restored to full power for the first time since his creation, and he was being refueled.

Smarts wished he could be of some further help, and was a little uncomfortable with others making repairs to him, but he was grateful for Stellar Enterprises' generosity, and finally resolved himself to do what he always did when he had nothing to do: he observed. Soon, someone would contact him; until them, he would occupy himself with charts of freighter vectors, recording starship construction rates, cross-referencing various repair crews' relative efficiencies, and running simulations of more vessels he might one day be able to construct.

The Chief was an older gray haired man that supervised all construction and repair projects that went on at the Mustafar shipyards. He was an experienced man that for the past forty years has done nothing, but work at shipyards and repair facilities to build a very impressive resume. However, it was not only this resume that got him this job with Stellar Enterprises it was the skill he showed at doing his work and also leading and instructing the men around it. Anyone could pick up tools and go to work, but only a few could instruct and properly teach others to do the same. Coordination of teams of men was very important on construction sites and usually meant the difference between finishing a project on time and in high quality condition.

The Chief was now charged with overseeing the repairs on Smarts and watched his teams do their job while standing on the small bridge of his personal shuttle. This shuttle floated at the edge of each construction or repair job to observe and instruct the teams that worked on the docked ships. With it, the Chief could also get close to the work and monitor the progress much better than from some office far away. He also loved being among the action and this gave him that chance.

As he stood there looking out the viewport at one of the teams repairing the Core Ship's engine block, he was amazed that something like this still existed. This was the first time in all his years on the job that he had seen a ship such as this one. It presented him and his group of people with a challenge and they welcomed it with open arms and heavy tool belts. With no real repair manuals in existence for ship designs this old, everything had to be done by ear. This was mostly the reason why the repairs were going a little slow. He wanted everything done right the first time and told his teams to take their time. It would not be good to have this ship break down some days from now and be stuck floating in space because one of this men or women forgot something.

His old, but well trained eyes, noticed some movement along the ellipsoid hull and his head turned to see what it was. The movement had actually come from a small group of repair droids which floated towards one of the scarred and punctured sections of the outer hull. Behind them, in tow, floated an automated cargo hauler that contained numerous sections of armor plating in many different sizes. As the droids approached a section that needed repairs, they scanned it thoroughly and measured it for proper fitment. With some of the many arms they would pick out plates that closely matched what was needed and proceeded to customize them with plasma cutters before binding them to the hull.

For the binding, the droids used molecular bonders, making the armor plates molecularly bond with the still existing armor around them. This made these sections even stronger and also make them look identical to the older plates. Problems were found on some of the older adjacent armor plates. Microfractures had been identified in some of the armor, probably from the force of turbolaser impacts against nearby hull sections. These fractures meant that the armor had a much higher chance of breaking during combat or ever just the stress of space travel and so for safety concerns these old sections of hull were replaced as well.

Once the engine replacing was complete, Smarts was asked to fire up these new thrusters and evaluate their performance. Small adjustments had to be made and Smarts detected that one of the engines was receiving only 80% of its required fuel injection. The error was noted by the repair team as well and valves were quickly adjusted to increase the flow. Finally the engines seemed in working order and the means could move on to other jobs.

The repairs were not the only activities happening in the vicinity that Smarts could monitor. Along with the movement of freighters to and from the planet, a large Mon Calamari Star Cruiser slowly move into area near the shipyard and floated there as fighters moved around it. Behind it two squadrons of never before seen fighter closed with the MC-80b cruiser and slowly started to move into its large hangers. These fighters were large and seemed to have a hammerhead styled nose. Two Steadfast class gunships and 2 Hellfire Frigates joined these ships within some minutes as well to create a small task force of ships.

"Smarts, this is Agent Hersh, we spoke earlier. I would like to inform you that all repairs are almost complete and you should be ready to go on your way within the hour. Also Stellar Enterprises would like you to know that four point 5 million credits have been transfered into an account for you services. The account number and code is being transmitted with this message. You may use this account at anytime. If have any problems or requests do not hesitate to contact us. Again we thank you for your prompt information." Came a message from the agent that had spoken with Smarts some time before.