Chapter 25: Like a Fruit Rollup
"Greetings Viceroy," Riané stated as she was standing in the focus of the message, her Master meditating right beside her on the ground. "Enjoying the fireworks?"
The Viceroy who's shaking knees were hidden beneath his lavish robes, held his head high, trying to hide the trembling of his lower lips. "Are you acting on the behalf of the Naboo?" He'd inquire, wondering if he had upset someone who was much more powerful than themselves.
Offending someone capable of taking over a ship a few kilometers in diameter was no small feat. Especially if it was just one or two people pulling off the job. On top of that, they had taken control of the ships systems before each even reaching the bridge.
"Behalf of the Naboo?" Riané shook her head as she was receiving telepathic messages from her master seated beside her. It was apparent Valad didn't want to be recognized for personal reasons.
The Viceroy squinted, "Are you of the Jedi?" He'd watch as her head slowly shook, the mandalorian helmet giving him an emotionless response. "Then one whose behalf?"
"Our own." Riané responded with a cold tone, crossing her arms over her armor chassis. If she wasn't wearing the helmet, she was clearly smiling with a glint in her eye. She was having too much fun with this. Even after killing the Aliens, she didn't seem to feel any regret, at least not right away as she was quite focused on the moment.
"..." The Viceroy was once again with a lack of words. They seemed to have either offended someone, or fallen into the trap of another person. "Why have you attacked us?"
Riané stood there for a few moments before sneering beneath the helmet. "My Master doubts you would have handed over the Vuutun Palaa willingly." She peered to the side as if casually looking away from him to check out her nails. "Plus, that was just a warning shot."
The Viceroy felt his heart ache as the loss of several million credits was the result of a warning shot. They really knew how to make a dent in his wallet. "And... Our blockade?"
"You may proceed as planned. If you don't follow your original plan, we will be back." Riané warned, her tone growing incredibly dark as if they could turn their entire fleet against them. In a sense, her Master probably could given enough preparation. For now, they were using fear tactics. Otherwise, negotiations wouldn't work. "To unravel your plans like a fruit rollup."
"Be back...? You're leaving?" The Viceroy fixed his jaw after shifting it slightly in thought. "Be gone with you," he waved his hand in dismissal, only for his ship to shake lightly as a Vulture Droid smashed against the shielding of the Saak'ak. He almost stumbled over and fell to the ground, being caught by his Comms officer.
There was no damage to report.
Riané giggled lightly following this as the Vuutun Palaa broke formation, restoring communication to the blockade as she ended the transmission.
"What is a Fruit Rollup?" The Viceroy asked as he glanced towards the Comms Officer.
...
"Well done," Valad opened his eyes and slowly stood up reached out and grasped the sides of her helmet. "Things should go as before... Unless Plagueis forces a change in plans. It's likely they'll leave more than one control ship to maintain order in the system." Shaking his head lightly, he would remove her helmet.
"So why was I wearing this in the first place?" Riané pursed her lips as she fixed her helmet hair and repositioning her braid.
"To hide your face. Neither of our faces will be known for now except for the Dark Lord Plagueis who knows my face." Valad explained with a light chuckle, though hearing that there was a Dark Lord, Riané made a face of contempt.
Riané opened her mouth with an inquiry,"We're going against Sith?" This wasn't something she was expecting. She was under the impression they were going against some Dark Jedi in Maul's case.
However, it seemed she was completely wrong in her assumptions. She was going against a Dark Lord of the Sith with her Master taking the lead. She personally didn't want to die, but she couldn't just leave Valad.
"Why are we messing with a Dark Lord's plans?" Riané asked with a brow raised as she undid her chassis and dropped it to the ground with a heavy thud.
Valad shrugged, "For fun? Keep him on his toes? Scratch his back a bit? Let him know who he should avoid?" He said, each line sounding more like a question that an actual answer which didn't make Riané feel any better about this.
Riané just stared at him for a few moments before letting herself collect her own throughts. Her eyes stared out into space. This was actually the first time she had seen space, the very pretty stars set before her.
Seeing this expression, he could only smile a bit. "So this is your first time?" Riané nodded to Valad without turning her head to face him. She walked up to the viewport window and placed her hand against it. It was cold, welcoming.
"My parents put me up for adoption the moment I was born on Naboo and left soon after." Valad knew that the planet of Hapans was a Queendom. Females controlled the world, and he could only imagine if a pirate or mercenary band had a female child. It'd create a power struggle as she got older, which only made Valad slowly shake his head.
"I'm sure they had their reasons," Valad felt as if this conversation was going to become cliche.
The sense of abandonment wasn't as strong with Riané, considering she never met her parents. Though she always thought she would have faired better with them. She had been reduced for overwhelming beauty as a young age. She saw herself as a victim of foreseen coincidence as she found herself in the service of a man who trained her in her latent talents through the force.
Without a hinderance the Droid Control Ship jumped into hyperspace. The first matter that had to solve was their little structural flaw problem. This ship wasn't suited for battle, the reactors were wide open to attack on the interior of the hangar. On top of that, they needed new serial codes and a paint job.
He could use the shop do take care of that. He also wanted to change the name of the vessel. There was quite a few things he could use this shop for. Borvo the Hutt supplied him with millions post-mortem.
Opening the shop, he began going through the ship customization options which were available. Of course as soon as he entered this part of the shop, he check marked automatic ship sense, which allowed the shop to sync with the ship class he was on.
Lucrehulk Customization Recommendations:
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[ Pronged Spearhead Outer Ring ] The System changes the very shape of the Lucrehulk's outer ring hull into that of an Imperial Star Destroyer design with a divided hull, giving the aesthetic of a prong ended spearhead. The Core Ship remains attached between the two arms.
500,000 GSC
[ Gold Wreathed Imperial Emblem - Black Ring ] Two large Imperial-themed emblems on either side of the outer ring are decorated with a Golden Wreath surrounding a the Galactic Empire's Symbol. A black ring decorates the outer hull, connecting the two emblems together.
250,000 GSC
[ Advanced EW Array ] The droid control ship is converted into an advanced electronic warfare array, granting the user a Mechu-Deru/Electronic Manipulation suite in order to directly influence other ships and electronic systems. Without this conversion, the Droid Control ship has limited EW capabilities against other ships.
250,000
[ Droid Factory Assembler ] A built in Droid Factory which can construct Droidekas and B2 Battle Droids from raw materials, or purchased through the Shop. This assembler can be upgraded to learn new droid schematics by purchasing vouchers. [ Vouchers Used: R9, 3PX-series and Human Replica. ]
250,000 GSC
[ Star Fighter Factory Assembly ] A built in Star Fighter Factory Assembly which can construct Vulture Droids, Advanced droid bomber, N1 Naboo Star Fighters/Bombers and the various TIE fighter/bomber series from raw materials, or purchased through the Shop. This assembler can be upgraded to learn new schematics by purchasing vouchers. [ Vouchers Used: Scimitar Replica. ]
250,000 GSC
[ Diplomatic Interior Decor ] Reorganizes the interior of the ship with white walls and reflective black floors. The interior would look similar to that of the CEC's CR90 corvette.
100,000 GSC
[ Imperial Interior Decor ] Reorganize the interior of the ship with the architecture of the Galaxy's most notorious Battle Station, the Death Star and likeness to Star Destroyer interiors.
100,000 GSC
[ Ship Rename Token ] Rename the ship and reset Friend or Foe Transponder to user faction.
1,000 GSC
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The first one was tempting, in addition to that the only person who would see it was his apprentice. His eyes looked over at her as she was staring out the viewpoint windows. He couldn't do that with her watching. Let alone, she would question it if she were to look outside at one point and see a vast change.
He'd have to find another time to do the first option. However the few others he could do rather immediately. Valad went onto order the Imperial Emblem, Advanced EW Array, Droid Factory Assembly, Star Fighter Assembly, Imperial Interior Decor and Ship Rename Token.
[ Order will be completed in 12 hours. ]
Glancing over at their ETA for their destination, it seemed that they would be taking at least that long to reach the headquarters of the Karazak Slavers Cooperative. It was further south on the edge of the Outer Rim near Wild Space.
Riané stared out the windows as she thought about where they were going. Well, she didn't know where they were going. She looked towards Valad once again, was he just making things up as he went along?
"Where are we going?" Riané asked as she undid the utility belt and tossed it aside.
"Karazak System... There's a slavery ring there. It's a perfect place to find some volunteers. All we have to do is locate their slave processing facility." Valad informed her with a monotoned voice as he was looking out towards hyperspace, the blue subspace tunnel surrounding them.
Riané blinked a few times when she heard him talk of slaves as if they'd be volunteers. 'What is he planning in that head of his?' She wandered as she stripped from her pants and boots, then began walking around in her leotard.
Just as she thought she'd have a look around the interior of the ship, she noticed that the blast doors were closed. "Oh?" Her eyes moved towards her Master. Had he vented the entire ship to make sure there were no organics hiding around? That was rather cruel.
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