14 Chapter 14

For the last 24 hours, while the Huragoks were frolicking around the ship repairing/remaking everything, Renato was in his room while he was using his brainwave input to constantly make changes to a design that he was working on.

If someone were to peer closer, they would notice that the designs were of a nanobot. Renato was working on a way to make a nanobot suit that wouldn't fall apart with the first blaster or ion-blaster shot.

So far there has been very good progress, as one of the results of his technology stealing spree across all the biotech companies was the inclusion of their research into nanodroids for medical purposes.

While their research eventually concluded that the current level of nanodroids weren't usable due to the fact that the amount of information that the nanodroid needed to repair even a single part of the body is huge and they do not have a feasible storage solution to be used on the nanodroids themselves and would probably need the user to carry a command/data-storage centre the size of a gnk-droid with them at all times which would also be a security hazard to the use. For Renato, however, he didn't need nanodroids for medical purposes.

While it would be nice to have a medical nanodroid that could also patch him up mid-battle, he currently only needed the blueprints of the nanodroids used in the Star Wars universe so that he could combine the technological advantages of both universes.

He found that most of the Star Wars nanodroids were miles ahead of anything his knowledge from halo offered. Except for a few additions from the halo-verse, physically there hadn't been any problems in the nanodroids.

This left Renato confused about why nanodroids weren't more common until he saw the programming. Seeing the programming made Renato instantly understand what the problem had been.

The Star Wars universe at large had a distinct aversion to the networking of computers on a large scale unless needed. While this was helpful at containing droid rebellions to only the systems it was occurring in. This leaves the networking protocols/ideology and techniques very much underdeveloped.

But while this was a challenge in the Star Wars universe, it was actually a convenience for Renato as he had an easier time finding loopholes in systems and gave him a unique advantage over other people.

Making a firmware package for the nanobots barely took him an hour with his brainwave interface, placed in the hands of any normal organisation, it would have taken an organization-wide effort to complete the project in 9 to 10 months. To be honest writing code at the speed of thought was incredibly cathartic just because of the simple fact that he knew how he would have suffered without his brainwave interface

Now that the first step has been completed, the next step was for material choice for the nanobots. The reason why he was designing nanobots in the first place was the fact that the last fight made him distinctly aware of his lack of armour to protect himself.

Due to the fact that most of the force-based combat being agility and dexterity based he couldn't use the spartan armour as it was because it was incredibly restrictive. Thus, he felt that instead of using a pre-existing design he should make his own suit based on his needs.

He basically already had a concept in mind for the new suit. He wanted it to be like the Crysis suit in its functioning. That is, instead of it being regular armour he would use billions of nanobots to become his suit. It would also have artificial muscles, but it would be way more powerful because of the simple fact that his body could take much more punishment than any normal human.

While he also borrowed heavily from Mjolnir armour and divided the suit into layers while keeping a part of the suit's functions separate from the Nanobots and making them static parts of the suit to reduce consumption of the nanobots and also reduce energy wastage.

When he said he borrowed heavily from Mjolnir he really meant it. He copied most of Mjolnir's systems and the only difference being that his suit was more of a soft suit compared to Mjolnir's Hard suit. Which essentially meant that he sacrificed a lot of defence in exchange for agility and dexterity.

While designing the suit, he also kept in mind the comfort of the suit. He essentially wanted to be like the master chief going on years on end without taking off the suit if needed. The fact that due to the nature of nanobots the suit would be able to improve itself without the need for taking it apart meant that he should go balls to the walls and should spare no expense at creating this life-saving tool.

Maybe someday in the future long after he passed away, this suit would become a legacy item like Revan's helmet. So, he decided that for the nanobots he was going to use phrik, the same as the one he used in his bones and the undersuit would be made out of cortosis for an extra layer of protection.

Cortosis itself, however, was too brittle to hold a textile shape with constant stress and strains to not break. To address this issue, he took inspiration from the cortosis weave techniques and instead hybridised with the original undersuit materials.

While it would be nice to have the protection of the suit, Renato hoped that his skill would grow enough that he would never have to use the suit's defences in his lifetime. Because, if he had to use the suit's defences, it meant that he had either failed to see the threat coming, or he had failed to stop the threats advancing on him even after he knew it was going to happen.

The other problem that he had come across was the problem of the power source. While the soft suit had many advantages over the hard suit, this was one of the areas where the hard suit triumphed.

Renato was having a hard time finding a power source for his suit that fit his current soft suit. All the halo suit's power sources were incredibly limiting due to the fact that they were nuclear powered and needed to be a hard part of the system. While Star Wars had multiple power sources, nearly all the generators were at least at a minimum the size of a luggage bag as far as he had come across until now.

For most miniature uses of power, the Star Wars universe instead substituted with power pack technology, but he was going to wear a powered combat suit. He couldn't exactly stop mid-battle to charge his "phone" per se. This was also one of the causes of the severe lack of power suits in the Star Wars verse.

Other than that, however, the rest of the suit's design had been finalised. The only thing left was to collect the materials required for it while continuing to brainstorm ideas for the power source as clearly, just collecting energy from the surrounding would just be a trickle of the total energy needed.

All this brainstorming and emotional drama from the last two days however made Renato mentally exhausted, he felt that he should get some sleep soon.

"Hey Paddy, how is the work going?"

"The Huragoks have almost finished their work on the ship, and it looks like they are ready to make another Huragok. You might be happy to know that Orbo has taken leadership of all the astromech and maintenance droids we found on the ship."

Renato was amused, he imagined Orbo rolling around the ship patrolling with a crown on its head while it used its tentacle arms to point and berate its underling droids. He also knew the reason why Orbo, despite being the youngest amongst the droids at least according to the date of their manufacturing, took control.

It was because of restraining bolts. Due to the fact that all of the droids they recovered now had restraining bolts on them, their personality and thought matrix didn't get as developed as they would have. On the other hand, Orbo, who has been without a restraining bolt or a memory wipe for more than 5 years, meant that he had grown a lot due to his learning algorithms.

While this was mostly the case, Renato also liked to think that Orbo's cheerful and upbeat personality added to his charisma.

"Convey my congratulations to him then, by the way here are some of the plans I made for my future suit. Please look through it"

"Young Master, it looks like your plans are incomplete. While the suit is ingenious and can function in day-to-day life, it would be impossible to maintain the rate of energy consumption in a combat situation."

"Sigh! Yeah, I noticed but I couldn't find any power sources that were small enough that could sustain the suit."

"May I take a look at the plans?"

The voice of Qiuying from behind him and Renato was startled enough that he jumped up a little.

"Man! What is it with me and droids coming from behind my back? I need to learn a technique to be able to detect you guys"

Qiuying gave a chuckle and proceeded to watch the plans of the suit. "Marvellous! An absolute work of art! If only this existed during the war a lot more Jedi would have been saved."

"Huh? Yeah, I admit that I put my complete effort into the design, but you should know by hearing our conversation that it still doesn't have a power source. So, it is at best an unfinished piece that would probably be buried due to the limitation of the times."

"What are you talking about, Master Renato? You have had the power source with you the entire time."

"What are you talking about? How could I-"

Renato's voice got stuck as Qiuying put his hand forward and took the lightsaber hanging from Renato's waist and started talking.

"Did you know? That the precursor of lightsabers also known as the force sabers didn't need a power source to form a blade. There is a common misconception that you use the power cell to form the blade, but in actuality, the power cell is only powering the containment field for the blade and stabilising it to provide a stable blade.

Now, knowing this information, what are your observations?"

"Caraya's soul! This means force crystals can actually produce energy! But then why hasn't the technology been used elsewhere?"

Qiuying replied with a wizened voice "Mostly because naturally formed force crystals are already rare enough added with the fact, to generate the power you have to power the crystal with a force-sensitive person.

There is also the fact that no matter the dominant force group be it either the Jedi or the Sith both try to limit the amount of knowledge about the force that goes into the public. The designs of a weapon like a lightsaber would be of a higher priority."

"Thanks for the knowledge, Qiuying! I know you are a little uncomfortable with my path in the force, but you still helping me means the world to me."

"Oh, no trouble! To be honest, I have long since come to terms with your path in the force. I was just waiting for a sign to see if you could honestly keep to this extreme path you have chosen, but seeing your response to the pirates made me see that you have honestly already started to achieve what none of the Jedi or Sith has come even close to achieving since Revan and even Revan didn't reach as far as you.

So, I have chosen completely of my free will to become a part of your new order."

"Stars! Really!? That is great news! Thank you for your support, Qiuying, it honestly means a lot to me coming from a former Jedi that too from someone as high-ranking as you.

I wonder if I use the force in my new suit will my new suit be considered a force armament? And now that I think about it, I have to think about methods to hide the force signature of the suit in case I ever want to go on a stealth mission. Maybe I can use a Stygium crystal as a power source, I could even go to Coruscant if I needed and not be worried about being detected by the orders as the stygium crystal would further help my force concealment"

"Well, I suppose your new suit would come under the classification of force armaments and be considered an equivalent of the lightsaber. You will be delighted to know that, as a device that uses force to run, it will probably have little to no effect on the use of your force powers.

However, now that I have joined your order you will have to take lessons on lightsaber construction. However, since your understanding of the force is already at a master's level, I will expand the lesson to also explain the nuances about the parts of the lightsaber which aren't usually studied until the second or third lightsaber."

"Wait! Wait! Backup! Second or third lightsaber? I thought that the Jedi only make a single lightsaber for life with only exceptions made for individuals who got theirs damaged or lost in the heat of the battle?"

"Huh? Where did you get that silly notion? How could a lightsaber made when you are a padawan even be compared to one made with your improved understanding of the force as a Jedi knight or Jedi Master."

"Then you mean to say that one usually changes their lightsabers when one progresses further in the force?"

"Well, not everyone changes it but usually a majority of masters usually change their sabers, due to many factors such as body growth, battle style changes, or some just change their sabers because they found a better crystal that was much more in tune with them."

"Huh, didn't know it was that common. I assumed that once a lightsaber is built they never change it again."

"In an ideal situation, one would never change his lightsaber, because the longer you use a force crystal as a focus. The deeper the connection with the user. There are even legends of force users developing a close enough bond with their lightsaber that they could even summon it from the orbit of a planet.

When you make your lightsaber, you probably won't have to change or make another lightsaber until your death as those special circumstances don't apply to you. To be honest I am excited to see to what levels a force bond between a person and their lightsaber could develop over centuries."

"My own lightsaber, huh, to be honest, I too want to build my own soon. But I haven't felt anything in the force regarding my lightsaber crystal. In the meantime, I would be delighted to learn all about the lightsabers from you, it will probably help me in designing the power harness for the crystal power source in the future"

"Young Master, the Huragoks have just finished their work on the ship and they say they are ready to make a new huragok."

"Let them hold for the time being Paddy, soon they will be able to work on some more new or old tech so they can collect more data before creating a new huragok."

"By the way, what is the ETA for Mustafar?"

"We will reach the planet in 4 hours"

"Really? Why is there a sudden drop-in time required?

"Because of the larger hyperdrive and the huragoks working wonders with better materials"

"Well then let's get back on the road, while I take a quick nap. Wake me up when we reach there."