Chapter 30: First Steps of a Plan

Summary: The team splits up for a bit, to take care of getting various plans into motion...

Warning Chapters 29-32 were all published back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss one.

Chapter 30: First Steps of a Plan

New Cov was, perhaps, the single most fascinating world Izuku had yet to set foot on. Of course, to a human that had never thought to leave Earth, let alone casually travel the stars, every planet was interesting. He was sure that would wear off eventually, but doubted it would be anytime soon. Still, for all that the other worlds he'd landed on were each interesting to him in their own ways, New Cov was by far the most…unique. Some might have thought that Nar Shaddaa easily took that claim. But, to Izuku, that wasn't right. Nar Shaddaa was simply a sort of dystopian megacity writ large. Something he could have seen Tokyo becoming, in 10,000 years and after an environmental collapse or two. A difference of scale and relative crime rates, rather than being anything truly out there.

New Cov was out there. Located in the Mid-Rim, at the junction of the Corellian Run and the Duros Space Run, it only had a population of 90 million despite its lucrative spot on the trade lanes. For, as it happened, very good reason. The entire planet was covered in vast jungles whose wildlife was so treacherous that the population of the world was forced to live in domed cities. Seriously, both the fauna and flora of the planet was so extraordinarily lethal, that all the population centers were within heavily armed and armored domes. Ships entered the cities through massive vents at the top of said domes and followed curved pipes down into a landing area. Since the domes were transparisteel, the whole thing made for a spectacular, if a bit bizarre, show.

As for why anyone bothered staying on a planet like this? The answer to that had everything to do with what they were here for. That incredible flora and fauna contained a lucrative harvest for the locals. The plants here created a type of biomolecule that, properly extracted, had galaxy-wide applications in medicine, industry, and the military industrial complex. And that biomolecule had never yet been successfully synthesized.

Combined with its position on the junction of two hyperspace trade lanes, New Cov was a remarkably wealthy world for the Mid-Rim. One which just so happened to be an entirely logical place to set up a Transport Company. Indeed, there were dozens of such companies that had offices here, though only a few with local headquarters. There was, after all, a constant need for ships moving product out…and a pretty serious need for material coming in, too. The domed cities couldn't spare a lot of space for heavy industry, after all. And they needed a lot of products from said industry just to keep the planet itself from overrunning them. Let alone to actually harvest and process the hostile plants.

The fact that it wasn't that far from Hutt Space might, possibly, have also been a consideration when they picked it. But if it was? That was no one's business but their own. It wasn't like it was close enough to be endangered by the Hutts, after all. Even better, Tholme had known someone specific here to contact, from some mission a decade past. It would have been better if he were here, particularly as it would have meant that Aayla was also here. But Izuku could deal with the aching emptiness her absence left. He could still feel her through their bond, even speak to her if he made a serious effort at the whole meditation thing. The Force didn't care so much about distance, when it came to bonds. It was the sheer density of other things in the Force between them that forced a need for serious concentration to filter it all out and be heard. Someday, maybe, they could do it in an instant. For now, they both had to be in deep meditation to cross that gap.

Which wasn't relevant to why they were there and why Aayla wasn't, even if his mind tended to wander to her a bit too often. She and Tholme had needed to return to Coruscant to let the Jedi Order see Aayla was in good mental and physical health. As well as to formalize Tholme taking her on as a Padawan to finish her training. Given she was, for lack of a better term, his grand-padawan, it was unlikely to be protested. Particularly as Tholme himself was held in fairly high regard. They would return as soon as they could...and there was work to be done in the meantime.

Which is why he and Celeste Morne were on New Cov.

They reached their meeting point, an upscale tapcaf called Mishra, attached to a decently impressive theatre. He politely opened the door for Morne, both an act that came natural to him and one that fit with his current appearance of a well-heeled businessman. A quick glance around showed the Mishra was tasteful and well-appointed. A nice enough place to have live music at all times, with a three-piece band in one corner playing something Izuku likened to a type of low-fi Jazz. There were alien notes to the instruments, but the overall sound was almost eerily similar to the background music a similar café on Earth might have played. Music intended to relax and soothe was, he supposed, somewhat universal. At least within a given range of species.

It didn't take more than that initial visual sweep of the café to find their contact. Mostly because she was the only Drall present in the tapcaf. Not that the species was rare, at least on the Corellian run, given that the were one of the three species who were more-or-less native to that oddest of star systems. It was simple luck that there was only the one present here at the moment, and her 1.4-meter height marked her as almost certainly female. The combination meant this was most likely their contact. Celeste apparently agreed, as she swept toward the Drall with a grace that was all ballroom, rather than her usual feel of carefully restrained danger-in-motion. The subtle change another reminder that she was a fully trained infiltrator, not just a plasma-sword wielding combatant. Izuku followed easily behind her, though he knew he likely didn't cut quite so impressive a figure as Morne did in her sharp-but-clinging suit.

"Greddi of clan Nothi, I presume?"

The Drall, occupying a raised seat that Izuku desperately tried not to think of as a child's booster seat, perked up and nodded. Quickly answering Celeste's question.

"That is I. Would I then be correct in assuming you are Ms. Morne and Mr. Midoriya?"

She waved them into the more normal seats across from her, even as she got her answer from Celeste.

"You would, indeed. Thank you for meeting us. I know you must be quite busy, being a member of the Biomolecule Research Council."

The Drall smiled, something with a bit more teeth than a human, given her small muzzle. But…well...her size made it more adorable than menacing. Though Izuku would never be so rude as to say that aloud.

"Never too busy to repay an old debt! Indeed, I had despaired of ever getting a chance to. Those like our mutual acquaintance so rarely need favors from simple businesswomen and researchers! Indeed, I was surprised he was getting involved in helping set up a business, of all things? Not that there's anything wrong with it, of course…"

They'd been warned by Tholme about this. Drall had, almost without exception, a love of gossip. A cultural thing, apparently. Thankfully, that meant they had come prepared. Izuku easily fielded the Drall's half-subtle fishing for information with a bit of truth.

"Ah. That would be because of the intended thrust of our business. Midnight Express Limited, the Transport Company we are seeking to set up, is something of an experiment. One of our primary goals is sufficiently philanthropic to attract interest from such…individuals."

Greddi leaned forward eagerly, clearly invested now. Which was good. So long as she thought she knew the whole reason a Jedi had a limited interest in helping them get started, she was unlikely to probe farther. Celeste leveled a charming smile at the Drall and followed up on Izuku's opening statement.

"Quite. While Midnight Express might be intended as a For Profit enterprise, it is also intended to give those who have suffered sentient trafficking a new lease on life. Such unfortunate souls, even once rightfully freed from their ordeal, often find they have lost everything. Aid organizations exist to help them, of course. But there comes a point where aid ends and the need to move on begins."

Greddi was blinking in clear surprise, mouth formed into an oblong 'O' of dawning realization.

"Ah! You intend to offer training and positions to such people! Giving them a chance to get back to regular, profitable lives! Hmmm, that does explain why you're setting up in the Mid-Rim, as well. But in a relatively safe sector of it. Closer to the places that such victims tend to find themselves, while far enough from the raiders and slaver groups that might put them right back into their previous situation! Clever. Very clever. And likely to lead to very loyal employees, even if it will inevitably cost you more to train them on the front end."

Izuku smiled at having some of his own points repeated back to him. Mind you, they weren't really the points he most cared about. He wanted to help people. The fact that he could leverage that helping to help still more people in the future was merely good sense, given the sheer scale of the Galactic Republic. He could personally smash a thousand slaver dens and never make an impact, if he didn't try to make each action create its own ripple effect. All Might would never have become the Symbol of Peace, if he hadn't pushed so hard to craft an image that inspired others to act. It was a lesson he'd learned in the chaos after the man's death, when he'd been forced to look more closely at how he'd so affected an entire nation. An entire world, in some ways.

"The up-front investment doesn't bother us. While it will mean less profit margin for the company in some ways, we want our company to help as much as make money. Foolishly idealistic, perhaps. But, then, that idealism is how we got recommended to you. So perhaps it's not so foolish?"

The Drall chuckled appreciatively at the observation.

"Indeed! And I can see now why he would encourage you! Well, far be it from me not to both repay a favor, and help do a good deed to the galaxy at the same time! Now, I've already done a bit of footwork for you. Not to mention set up a recommendation that, once you're up and running properly, will get you preferred contracts from the Biomolecule industry. There are still some matters to attend to, however. In particular, your need for a hangar and an initial staff. Such is, given the nature of New Cov, not an inconsiderable expense…"

Izuku and Celeste both girded their patience as best they could, as the Drall dove into the myriad needs of a new company. Both of them were extremely glad that Tholme had been able to recommend someone to help them through this process. It wasn't exactly a field of interest either of them had ever considered. Nor would they have now, save for the prodding of the Force firmly telling them they were on the right track with trying to expand their influence…

... ...

Izuku had to admit that the trip into the bowls of Nar Shaddaa was easier with Celeste than it had been with Aayla. Not that it had been beyond the two of them, obviously. And Aayla and he had somewhat better coordination than he and Celeste did. But…well…it quickly became obvious to Izuku as they descended that Celeste was very much on another level, combat wise. Intellectually, he'd known that, of course. Aside form eking out a few bare wins in unarmed combat, the Jedi Master had handed him his ass in every other spar they'd ever had. Even those where he was allowed to fully play to his strengths and bring both his telekinesis and telepathy to bare.

As a Jedi Shadow, who dealt with nasty artifacts that often included mental domination aspects, Celeste had an unsurprisingly powerful mental defense which rendered telepathic attack a pipe dream against her. Even Murr had only succeeded, partially at that, by use of an extremely powerful enhancer in the shape of his artifact. And Morne had then proceeded to hold him at bay for four thousand years while they were both in stasis. One of the nastier parts of the oubliette she'd been trapped in having been that she was at least somewhat aware the entire time. The thing had been created by another Sith as a way to torture his rivals for all time, after all. The fact Celeste Morne was still sane, let alone functional, said everything you needed to know about her mental fortitude.

Meanwhile, telekinesis was the bread and butter of Jedi just as much as it was his own. Morne was better at using it to enhance her movements than he was, and almost equally skilled in using it for combat. The only thing that kept him from being depressed by that fact was that the Jedi Master was both significantly older than him and had been trained practically from birth with an intensity that even other modern Jedi weren't. Shadows were not lightly chosen, and that went triply for the era in which Morne had been born.

Knowing all of that intellectually proved to be very different from witnessing it in person.

Where Izuku and Aayla had occasionally struggled with larger swarms of some of the beasts down here, pulling through by good tactics and teamwork, Morne simply…waltzed through the worst Nar Shaddaa could throw at her. She wasn't contemptuous of the threat. She was just that good. Superior precognition meant she was reacting to ambushes before they even happened. And the difference between a gifted padawan and a battle-hardened Jedi Master was shown as she simultaneously diced her way through a half dozen creatures while holding the same number in the air with telekinesis for Izuku to pick off.

Honestly, he felt sort of surplus to needs here.

Well, at least he would be useful in actually getting the two Infinite Engine Seeds back to the surface. That part wasn't going to be any easier with Celeste than it had been with Aayla. Particularly as they needed to move two of them this time, and to do so to entirely different landing pads. One to the Wandering Fate and the other to Celeste's Shades of the Past. For now, he resigned himself to taking the easy shots Celeste kept setting up for him to eliminate some of the monsters down here…

... ...

"Here we are! The perfect place to set up the last IES-baby!"

Izuku had to admit that Mei was right, even if what he was seeing was more than a little horrifying. The place they had left the second Infinite Engine Seed had been an eye-opener, but not really all that appalling. The Ship Graveyard was nothing more than a giant empty space near the edge of the known galaxy. At some point in the history of the universe, someone had pointed to an empty bit of space as a pseudo-official dumping spot for old ships. No one knew who had started it or when, but by the modern era enough ships had been dumped in the otherwise mostly-empty system, that they had slowly formed into a sort of hollow artificial planetoid. Tens of thousands of old ships from every era, in various states of destruction, all piled into the same bit of space.

They hadn't actually put the IES in that system, of course. Scavengers and junkers regularly visited the Ship Graveyard, and having them stumble upon the IES would be a disaster. Instead, they'd put the now-designated IES-Beta in a solar system two uncharted jumps away, that was utterly uninteresting. It didn't even have a name, let alone a habitable world or other resources of interest. And Morne's expertise in mapping hyperspace routes had been required to even connect the systems. It would be immensely difficult to follow any ships they assigned to the now mapped route, even if you caught onto their habit of jumping in a specific direction in the first place. Not an easy feat, since the first jump was in the same general direction as a known exit from the region, just a few degrees off the proper heading.

For the time being, that particular IES had been fed a few large ship chunks and told to make a small defense force of Mei's Liberator II fighters for itself, as well as a handful of copies of Celeste's HWK-290. Then it was to go dormant. In truth, the HWK-290 was too new and too small to vanish into the background noise of other scavengers. So they would have to wait to either acquire a different ship to copy, or else have Mei update an old design from the Infinite Engine's library. Once they'd done one or the other, entirely droid-based operations could begin to quietly salvage the Ship Graveyard for materials to create a shipyard in their unnamed system. Assuming, that was, that Tholme's contacts could produce designs for a shipyard in the first place.

It had been Mei herself who had pointed out that there was no need to have the Infinite Engine Seeds themselves produce ships. So long as an IES could spend some of it's energy expanding itself, and the rest producing the rare materials needed for modern ships that didn't get brought in via salvage, than it could act as the core of a droid-worked shipyard complex. With droids, as well as more traditional robotic assembly that seemed oddly lacking in most parts of this universe, they could eventually mass produce larger ships. All without ever having to let more than a handful of people know where their production was taking place.

That, however, was a longer-term plan.

Right now, they were standing on the 'surface' of the planet Zoh, with Celeste and Izuku looking properly horrified. It was trash. Literally, the entire surface of the planet was just…trash. Mountains of scrap metal, swamps of toxic goop, and every sort of refuse in between. Even from the air, they hadn't been able to see any sign of the surface of the planet. Nor, it had to be said, any sign of inhabitants. Perhaps even more horrifying than what they were seeing was the fact that they'd had planets to choose from. From Raxus Prime and Lotho Minor, to Korad, Bracca and Trionak. Planets like Zoh were, apparently, simply a thing that existed. Sometimes, they'd started out as useless worlds and the horror was a little less. Other times, planets that had once been vibrant and full of life had been rendered this way by greed and neglect.

It was horrifying that they'd have plenty of options and had only chosen Zoh because it had qualifications. They'd literally been able to pick from different options, to find the Junk Planet that most suited their needs. Zoh, as it happened, was relatively near their intended area of initial operations. Better yet, it sported no population of natives. Which, horrifyingly enough, wasn't always the case with such planets. Despite the fact that it suited their needs flawlessly, the mere fact that it existed was both mind boggling and disturbing. After a few minutes of contemplating all of that, Izuku finally pushed past his disquiet enough to answer Mei.

"Yes, Mei. I suppose it is perfect for our needs. You're sure this area is…stable?"

That was a legitimate question, he thought. A lot of these trash mountains looked like a stiff breeze might cause an avalanche.

"Yep! That's why I wanted both ships here! The sweeps I had both running the last few days gave us a good map of what's on the surface layers, at least. This part is pretty stable, and the nearby trash mountains have a lot of the materials needed to make our selected trade goods! We'll make a mint once we get this up and running!"

Celeste shook her head, obviously ill at ease here. Izuku didn't blame her. The Force didn't feel wrong here, so much as it did…mournful? As if it was lamenting a loss of potential. Izuku didn't know if Zoh had once been one of those vibrant worlds destroyed by megacorp dumping, and he was quite sure he didn't want to know. He supposed, in some ways, they would be cleaning up the world. Though he doubted they'd make much of a dent. Frowning, he did make a mental note that they should probably have someone Force Sensitive check this particular seed regularly. The last thing they needed was for the mournful feel of this place to influence it to the Dark Side. For now, however…

"Well, let's get the labor droids running to clear a space. Then get the Engine out here. Unlike the Graveyard, we need to establish an actual base and sizable landing zone here, since we'll be sending ships to pick up cargo. You've got the plans to disguise the operations?"

Mei snorted.

"Of course! From the outside, it'll look like a legitimate salvage yard and factory. Even if the insides won't have all the bits. So long as no one actually gets inside, it'll just look like we've set up a manufacturing plant here and are shipping in whatever we can't salvage. We won't be able to send the same ship too often, or they'll wonder about its output levels and why they're never tasked with deliveries. But it'll do to conceal a lot of output, so long as we rotate both the ships and what it's making. For a while, at least."

Izuku nodded. That was all they really needed for now. Zoh would provide trade goods on one end of their delivery run, while New Cov would provide its own native goods on the other. With a handful of stops mapped out for efficiency between the two. They could easily run maybe a dozen ships, extremely profitably, doing laps of the route they'd mapped out. Eventually, of course, they would need to expand beyond that and would need better ways to hide far higher output. But that was months or years down the line. For now, this was enough concealment…

Now, if only they weren't stuck here for the next month, making sure that this facility got up and running. Ugh.

... ... ... ...

A/N: Yes! New Cov actually is a world that exists in Star Wars Legends. As is that tapcaf! It's actually featured in Timothy Zahn's Dark Force Rising, if only briefly. It happened to be located in the vague area I want them operating in as well, so I decided to use it.

As for Zoh...it technically also exists. But no location was given for it. This is, in fact, why I used it. The various Junk Worlds that we DO know the existence of were all too far away from the region I intend most of their operations to happen in. So I took advantage of Zoh not having a known location to put it in that region. The same is also true of the Ship Graveyard. It IS present in the Legends lore, but only in a single story, and its location is only given as 'the edge of the galaxy.' I built on that a little, in a way I think is fairly logical, and put it at the edge of the same region.