New chapter 2.
Luke was sitting at the table Han sat at all those years ago. Karrde had commed him to let him know he was on planet. Luke told him to meet him at Chalmum's. Luke did not tell him what he looked like at the moment. Luke wanted to see if his friend could spot him.
Luke had been there for only a little bit when he spotted Karrde walk in. Karrde walked to the bar and cassualy looked around. Luke could tell he did not notice him so Luke got up and headed to his friend.
"Karrde, how's it going?" greeted Luke.
Karrde turned and saw a Luke but not the Luke he had known. "Going for a new look or just trying not to be noticed."
"Trying not to be reconized."
"It works, I didn't see you anywhere. I probable wouldn't reconize you if I didn't know your voice."
Luke took the spot at the bar next to Karrde and ordered a drink. "How have things been going?" asked Luke.
"About the normal. Could use a little less hassle from a certain Bothan."
"We all could. I pretty sure he is behind a lot of the issue I am facing at the moment. That and a sister who thinks she knows what's best for me."
"Speaking of your sister, I have not been contacted yet but Mara said she was. Leia commed her to find out if she knew where you were hiding." Karrde told Luke this while watching his reaction. As usual the Jedi Master did not give much away.
Luke was suprised at this. "Why contact Mara? Leia is poking the kyayt dragon. Even if I told Mara, she wouldn't say anything if she knew, especialy if Mara knew I wanted my privatecy."
"Well your sister commed her. Mara didn't tell me much. Just asked if I had heard from you. I told her we haven't talked in a couple months."
"Thats true. Becarefull, Mara will know if you are hidding anything from her. She will come at you about it when you least expect it."
Karrde and Luke a laugh at that. "I know. If she ask again, what can I tell her. She is already asking me about this little job I am doing for you."
Luke leaned on the bar. "I don't want you to have to lie for me. If she ask, just let her know I asked you for help in getting a new ship. If you can avoid telling her where you delivered it, that would be nice. I never realy cared for Tatooine when I was younger, but I like I can come and go here without any issues. The less people that know I come here the better."
"I can do that. I got all the items you asked for. I landed over at docking bay 53 if you want to head over so we can talk more."
"Yea, I got to pick up R2, then I will be ready."
They both finished thier drinks and headed out. Luke got R2 and the three headed to docking bay 53.
L/M
Mara was in Karrde's office on the wild Karrde going over all the information she needed. She also did a quick look to see what he was doing and couldn't see any records. She could ask Aves but he wouldn't say if he knew. She didn't know why she was so curious but she was.
The door chime sounded and she called out to ever was at the door to enter. Aves walked in and sat down in front of the desk.
"So you getting comfortable in the bosses chair."
Mara just glared at the man. "No just going over the information before the meeting with the Wookiee ambassador tomorrow. Then I need to get the next supply run set up for Yavin."
"You going to make the run yourself?" asked a smug Aves.
"Why would I do that. I got other things to do at the moment. Which I would like to get finished so I can get back to my normal routine."
"I don't know. A certain Jedi Master. When's the last time you and Skywalker seen each other."
Mara didn't like how this conversation was going but she knew if she just said she had no desire to see Skywalker he would just push more.
"Skywalker is not even on Yavin at the moment. He has suppoedly gone off some where and didn't tell anyone where. Unless you know something I don't."
Aves didn't know for sure but he suspected that Skywalker was the client Karrde was meeting with. It was two months ago that Karrde spoke with Skywalker then started making a bunch of comm calls to differant places that had old clone war era ships. Karrde also contacted a ship builder on Corellia. That's also where they just dropped him off.
"All I know is that Karrde was working on a private job that he started two months ago. Just after he talked with Skywalker. Don't know anything for sure but it might have to do with ships."
"Ships?"
"Yea, that's all I really know. I was in here talking with the boss when he got a call a month ago. It was about some ships but I don't know what kind."
"Why would Skywalker talk with Karrde about ships, plus how would he buy them?" asked a confussed Mara.
"Don't know. Could be he didn't want certain people in the New Repubic goverment knowing what he was doing. From what I have heard there has been a few senators that what more control over the Jedi and a certain Jedi Master."
Mara snorted at that. She knew Luke well enough to know he would not be tied down so easy. "Well what ever he is doing right now has got his sister hunting him. Now do you acualy need anything?"
Aves went over a few things concerning the organisation. The two didn't talk long before Aves left. Leaving Mara to wonder what a certain Farmboy was upto.
L/M
Luke walked in the docking bay looking at the ship parked there. He could see some of the changes he ask to be made to the VCX-350 frieghter. Namely the two quad laser cannons on the port and starboard side of the ship. He also saw a smaller laser cannon on the underside.
Karrde seeing where Luke was looking spoke. "I had that put in also. It can't be manned and is not as powerfull as the quad laser cannons but it still can do some damage. It will also help cover your blind spots underneath and behind you."
"So controlled from the cockpit?"
"Yea, when you sent me the specs on what you needed I figured I would see if there was anyway to add more armament to the ship. Everything else is as you asked. Lets head aboard and see how things look."
They went up the front ramp. When they cargo area Luke notice the other item he asked for. A Delta-7B aethersprite-class light interceptor.
"I had to make a lot of calls to find this ship. The Empire got rid of them right after the Old Republic fell. I had this one modified just like you wanted. It has it's own hyperdrive now.
I was only able to get 1 modified. The place I got this one from has a lot more. Most are in bad shape but if you could get them refurbished and modified by the right people. It would give the Jedi more fighters without going threw the New Republic."
Luke looked up from his inspection of the fighter. "How many could you get?"
"I was told the had about a 100 old fighters but only about a quarter of them were in good enough shape to fix."
"Go ahead, If I could get a couple squadrons worth it would be nice. I like the X-Wing but to get them, I would have to go threw the Senate. They would want to know why we need so many fighters."
"True, lets head upstairs."
They headed threw the door that lead to where the stairs were located. Karrde went to the far side and pointed out the infirmary. He informed Luke it had the newest medical equipment and the newest FX-series medic. He told Luke it also had a Bacca tank.
When they got upstairs they went in the cockpit. Luke saw the R2 droid that he asked for that would stay with the ship While R2-D2 would most likely be with him, Luke needed a droid that knew the ship. So he had Karrde pick one up.
"This is R2-K4. He can run any part of the ship that you need him to."
"Hello K4, This is R2-D2. Why don't you two go get to know each other and no bickering R2."
Both droids left the cockpit. Both seem to get along as they left and Luke hoped it lasted since they would be spending a lot of time together.
"As you can see it is not the standard cockpit for this ship. It's bigger and has more stations in it.
You got the pilot and co-pilot stations, then on my left is communications and navigations. On the right is weapons and shields. Both the two rear stations have a droid data port so your droids can help run these stations. A droid could also fly the ship if needed from the navigation station.
Say you got in a bind and needed to fly out in the D7, one droid could plug into the navigation station and fly the ship while the other could control all the guns.
While 3 of the guns can be manned the one underneth can only be controled from here."
Karrde then went over all the stations and their functions. When he was done Luke called R2 back and had him plug into the Nav/Comm station and upload all the communication information and encryption the ship would need.
While R2 was doing that, Luke and Karrde went to the area where the crew quarters would normaly be at.
Karrde showed him the one refresher was now a weapons locker. The crew quarter that was next to the weapons locker was now a data storage bay. Karrde explained there was a data port on the underside of the ship so the data could be transfer via hard line on or off the ship.
The data could also be access from the office that Luke had put in where the other crew quarters use to be. The refresher by it had stayed a refresher.
They then went in the main living area on the ship. Karrde said all the bed rooms had stayed as was. The galley had a droid cook that could handle any of the needs Luke or anyone else needed.
They sat down at the dinning table and Karrde handed Luke a data pad with all the information on the ship. It was everything Luke asked for.
It had a .5 hyperdrive with a class 10 backup. The computer and electronics were top of the line. It had a military-grade hyperdrive motivator, a KDY military-grade shield generator.
The sensor systems had a advance sensor suite with port and starboard visual scanners. As for the countermeasure systems it had sensor jammers, false ID transponders and sensor decoys.
It also had 2 retractable blaster cannon to cover the boarding ramp. The ship also 2 Dymek HM-8 concussion missle launchers with a standard load of 8 missils.
After Luke looked over everything in the ship and outside with Karrde they headed back to the cockpit so they could take off. Luke also paid Karrde the rest plus a small bonus for getting it done fast.
L/M
After a couple of days they reached Coruscant. Karrde had one of his docking bays set aside for them. Luke had to suspress his force signature so that Leia or Mara didn't know he was on planet.
He didn't want to have to deal with his sister and her wanting him to stay on Coruscant and advice the Senate and the ruling council. Or worse try to set him up with one of her high society friends that only saw the Jedi Master not Luke.
Luke also did not want to have to deal with Mara and her relationship with Lando. He didn't understand it. All he could figure was people change.
When the came to a landing in the bays Luke could see Aves waiting for Karrde and Han next to him. Luke had contacted his brother-in-law and closes friend to meet him here.
L/M
Han watched the ship land and let out a whistle. "It sure has been modified. A lot more guns then what comes with the ship out of the factory."
Aves was looking over the ship himself as the boarding ramp came down. "No kidding, wonder why Luke had it armed so heavy?"
"Guess we will find out here in a second. They are coming out now."
The two walked towards the ship when they saw Luke and Karrde come out.
L/M
Luke let out a small chuckle has he saw Han's expression. "Like my new ship Han?"
"Yea kid, a little bigger then you usually fly."
Luke gave Han a hug then greeted Aves. "How are you doing Aves."
"Not bad Luke. Nice ship. I see you had it modified pretty heavily."
"I plan on doing a lot of traveling around the galaxy. I am planning on visiting a lot of the planets that the Jedi of old were located on or had close ties with.
I will also be traveling alone and you never know when a search will take you in a direction you never expected. While a large part of the galaxy is safe to travel threw a good part still has problems."
"With your luck Luke you will find trouble." Han stated.
Luke just shrugged his shoulders. Karrde spoke up and asked Aves if everything was going good. Aves said Mara was finishing up the meeting with the Wookiee ambassador and should be back in about a hour.
Luke decided he needed to be gone by then so he turned to Han. "Han if you have a few minutes I need to talk with you."
"Sure Luke, you got anything to drink on this ship."
"No, not yet but will make sure I do before I see you the next time."
"Come on then kid lets head down to one of the cantinas in the lower levels. Nobody should find us there."
"Let me tell R2 and have him keep the ship locked down."
Luke headed back on the ship and told the two droids to keep the ship locked up and he would contact them when he got back.
OK, so more changes like a different ship this time and Luke is buying fighter. If you're wondering why not X-Wings. If a company sells military hardware, it is usually to a government. There would be laws that keep a ship like a X-Wing from being sold to a private person without government approval. Said government would want to know why. Luke is not ready to let that cat out of the bag yet. So, he is finding old fighters in ship junkyards.