56 Chapter 55

"So, you have become the genetic donor for an entire army of clones, and you are going to train them to become a new army for the Republic?" Renn asked Jango with a raised eyebrow.

"That is about the gist of it. Yeah." Jango nodded.

After everyone had calmed down Renn and the others had begun conversing about various things and after a while they began talking about what Jango was doing on Kamino.

"That's…...unique." Opal said and Jango pretend not to notice her sarcasm.

"I am also in the process of hiring a group of trainers for the clones. They will stay on Kamino and help me train the army to be one of the best in the galaxy.

And my hope is Arla will stay with me and help." Jango said and looked at his sister as he said the last words.

Arla nodded to Jango with a small smile which was shared by her brother. The siblings had been apart for decades and neither wanted to be separated for long again.

Renn and the others also smiled at the siblings, although they had been some tension between them and Arla in the beginning but they had moved past it and were now happy she and her brother were getting along.

"Many of the trainers I intend to recruit are Mandalorians and are some of the best in their fields. If you wanted, as thanks for returning my sister to me, I could train you in the ways of Mandalorian combat and traditions." Jango said to them, but mainly to Renn and Shae.

"I am aware your own people were fearsome warriors with your own traditions," Jango said looking at Renn, "But you may find learning different fighting styles beneficial to you."

"And as Shae is a Mandalorian she may also appreciate learning from us. I considered your farther a friend and I would be honoured to help in training you to warrior." Jango said looking at Shae.

Shae looked thoughtfully at Renn who smiled at her.

"What do you want to do?" Renn asked Shae who looked slightly conflicted.

"I would like to learn more about my people from Jango and the others but I don't want to be separated from you and the others. I know you want to return to your secret base to continue your own clan's training and don't want to pressure you into staying here." Shae said uncertainly.

"I did want to return home for a bit soon but we don't have to stay there for ever and you wouldn't have to stay on Kamino the whole time during your training ,right? Right?" The second right was directed at Jango who nodded.

"Yes, While I was planning on myself and the rest of the trainers staying on Kamino for the sake of secrecy, it would not be necessary for you. I trust you enough to not reveal this place to the rest of the galaxy and any training you receive from Renn and his clan would probably be just as good if not better than the training you would receive from us." Jango said to reassure Shae.

"We could journey between my home and Kamino whenever we wanted with no problems, I think it would be a good idea to accept Jango's offer." Renn told Shae and she smiled and nodded at him.

"Thank you," Shae said to Renn before turning to Jango, "I would greatly appreciate being trained by you."

"Like I said it would be my honour. Your farther was a good man and would talk about you quite a lot, I'm sure he would be proud of who you have become." Jango told Shae and she smiled with a mixture of both sadness and happiness.

"Thank you." Shae said softly, Renn, Seela, and Opal supporting her from beside her. They weren't just her friends they were her new family, and they were happy she would be able to do something that meant so much to her.

-

Renn and the others stayed on the ocean planet of Kamino for a few days on Jango's insistence and during that time they got to know the bounty hunter and his sister better.

The kaminoan Taun We would also meet with them quite often and she and Jango had shown them round the indoor city. The main place they were able to see was the military complex where Jango's apartment was located and would soon be the home to the clone army.

The complex was currently quite empty as the kaminoans had only recently started the cloning process but there were already numerous vats containing embryos in the labs. Including one that, unlike the others, wasn't modified to mature quicker and so would grow at the same speed as a normal child. Jango had explained to Renn and the others that he would be raising that clone as his own son which they thought was a little bit odd, but they didn't mention that to the bounty hunter.

Arla seemed like a completely different person after only a few days on Kamino. She had had a few more healing sessions with Yaddle as well as spending some time in a bacta-tank in Tipoca city's hospital, and now her body had mostly recovered from the years of abuse she had suffered while being a part of death watch.

Her mental state had also improved massively. She was still tormented by her guilt and could act a bit feral at times but being reunited with her family and the acceptance her brother had shown her was helping her a lot.

Yaddle stayed on the ship for most of the visit to Kamino and just relaxed in her room. At first she had been giving Jango some space because she knew of his history with the jedi order but after she had learned of the proposed clone army she had become a bit upset and stayed on the ship to come to terms with a few things.

Yaddle had been getting more and more frustrated with the jedi order and discovering that they had not just requested the secret production of an army of what were essentially slave soldiers but done so on the behalf of the republic was the final straw as far as she was concerned.

The jedi were supposed to be peace keepers and the order was created to use the light side of the force to protect the innocents in the galaxy. During the time of the high republic the galaxy had entered a new age of peace and prosperity and so the jedi order had begun working closely with the republic to maintain that peace but the two organisations were never supposed to merge into one.

Now the jedi order didn't seem to protect the innocents of the galaxy and instead protected the republics 'idea' of peace, which was often quite different from the idea of peace for most beings living in the republic. The order had after all basically ignored the invasion on Naboo due to the republic senate's unwillingness to get involved and that had cost Qui-Gon Jinn, and quite a few citizens of Naboo their lives.

The blatant hypocrisy of the jedi, an organisation of peace keepers, creating an army whose sole purpose was waging war on a galactic scale was infuriating to Yaddle. She wasn't mad that the republic wanted an army, she had been friends with Renn's grandmother Lilk for quite a long time and Lilk wasn't much of a pacifist and had shown Yaddle that sometimes violence was the best way for solving problems. She was mad that the jedi were the ones to create it.

If the republic wanted to create an army, why couldn't they create it themselves? They weren't exactly short of credits. The jedi creating it was just another example of how the order had become lap dogs of the senate and Yaddle had had enough.

Yaddle was already taking an extended holiday from the order, and had resigned from the council, but now she decided that that holiday would be a permanent thing. She still cared about the order deeply but couldn't recognise what it had become, so she would leave.

After coming to terms with her decision to leave the jedi order Yaddle then began thinking about her future. She mused over creating a new jedi order, one that was neutral from the rest of the galaxy and was solely focused on protecting the galaxies innocents, before deciding she would think more on it later. For now though, she would just spend some time enjoying her retirement.

-

When it was time for them to leave Renn and the others said their goodbyes to Jango and Arla and made arrangements to visit again when Jango had finished assembling the trainers for the clone army so that Shae and the rest of them could learn from them as well. A couple of the trainers had already arrived on the planet but most were still being contacted by Jango.

After the goodbyes were finished the Speedy vagabond headed back into orbit before jumping to hyperspace.

They then visited the Sith fleet. The fragment of Sapphire and the new A.I. Neo had already started the process of converting the Lucrehulk into a shipyard and had everything under control so they didn't need to stay long.

Once the visit was complete and they had made some plans for how the construction would progress they left and headed back towards their asteroid home.

The A.I.s and the droids would be able to handle everything involving the construction and Sapphire was managing the creation of the businesses Renn had established on Naboo with the help of some of the freed slaves. So, Renn didn't need to be present to make decisions and so had decided it was time to return home.

Shae and Seela were the only ones who had never been to the asteroid base but had heard about it from Opal and Renn and were curious as to what it would be like. They also wanted to start their training to become stronger, like Opal they had been offered training by Sapphire and Alpha and had jumped to accept the opportunity.

A lot had happened to Renn and the others since they were last at the asteroid base and so he was looking forward to going back to the routine of focusing mainly on his training for a while. He wanted to complete his training and become a warrior of house Dredd as soon as possible and to do that he would need to work hard, but he was ready for that.

As the Speedy Vagabond headed through hyperspace Renn thought about his future. He looked around at the others in the ship and knew he wanted to be stronger to protect them from any danger they might face. They had become his friends, his family, his clan. And he felt a strong sense of happiness thinking about them and wanted to protect that.