I wanted to say I passed out the second I got to my ship… but sadly there was something important I had to do before I could do that. So with a brief hello to my crew, letting them know I had succeeded and the ship's boot would get removed, I made for the medical bay.
Once there I sat down on the bed inside, quickly deposited my credits into my SFO, happily watched the account amount rise, and then went out to make a purchase that I likely really needed right now.
More specifically, a 2-1B medical droid for 4.3k credits, a drop in the bucket compared to my current funds, which appeared before me in a flash of light like all my purchases alongside a box full of various hand attachments. I quickly turned it on, and watched as it came to life to address me.
"Greetings, Sir, I would introduce myself, but my inbuilt medical scanner is currently detecting that you are suffering from a number of injuries that have only been minimally treated," the medical droid pointed out in a dry and fittingly clinical sounding voice as it scanned me. "As it is not a medical emergency, however, I must ask if I have permission to treat you at this time."
"Yes, please, that would be very nice," I nodded as I took off my helmet and started to do the same with my clothes, albeit more slowly due to the pain of movement, revealing the various bacta patches all over my body. "Got into a bit of trouble today."
"I can deduce that, yes. Please lay down on the bed after you have disrobed and get as comfortable as possible," it said as it idly moved towards the medical supply closet and started taking out various items. "Can you please inform me as to what was the cause of your injuries so that I might create a more accurate treatment plan?"
"Where to start?" I groaned as I laid down on the bed. "I got blasted a bunch, but the armorweave took most of it, people kept trying to bash me with various instruments, blunt and otherwise, I might have whiplash from some very crazy speeder stunts, got thrown into the air by a savrip, and in general got pretty beat up."
"I see, that would align with the large number of bruises, hairline fractures, and other violent injuries," the droid said as he walked over to me with a hypospray in claw. "For the most effective treatment, I will sedate you for a limited time. I assure you, by the time you awake, you will be 100% functional once more."
"Thanks, I was looking forward to the nap," I said as the droid injected me in the arm with the device, barely even feeling anything unlike if there was a need involved. "And don't be afraid to give me a general check-up while you are at it…"
I had to say, SW drugs worked really well, since barely a few seconds after I received it consciousness soon left me.
---
I slowly woke up within the medical bay to my newest crew member standing nearby and monitoring my vitals with the surrounding equipment, quickly making note of my waking form.
"Good morning, Sir, I hope you had a restful sleep and are not feeling any lingering pains or aches," the droid addressed me as it walked to my side to check on me while I slowly sat up. "According to my scans, all your injuries have been successfully treated and should be suffering no lingering effects, but please inform me of any abnormal feelings you may be experiencing at this time."
"No, no, I… I actually feel pretty good," I informed him as I stretched my arms before standing up to do the same with the rest of my body. "I certainly feel way better than I did before."
"That is good to hear, Sir."
"How long was I out for?" I asked curiously as I grabbed my shirt and started putting it back on.
"You have been resting for approximately 12 hours, Sir," the droid explained. "A fraction of that time was spent actually treating your various injuries, while most of the rest was you needing to treat your exhaustion. During this period of time I did a generalised health review, as you requested, and concerningly found you were dangerously behind on your various vaccinations. I took the liberty to administer them to you while you slept due to the risk of being infected was high enough to constitute a medical emergency. Given your age, is it a statistical improbability that you have survived for so long without them."
"Yeah… well… my homeworld is pretty… cut off from the rest of the galaxy as a whole, so I guess it never came up," I shrugged at the technically true explanation. "I've only been off-world relatively recently, all things considered, like barely over a month."
"That is still a concerningly long period of time spent without a proper medical review and update," the droid pointed out. "I have even made note of several unrecognized microorganisms discovered within your person during your review, but they are all thankfully benign in nature and should pose no threat to yourself or others."
Whoa, dodged a bullet there. I know that with SW medical tech there was little reason to think I could pass over anything truly dangerous that they couldn't handle, but I'd still be pretty bummed out if I accidentally brought over COVID or something. Same thing in reverse too, since I did know there were some nasty SW diseases out there I really didn't want to be exposed to, and that wasn't even counting the countless bioweapons made throughout the setting's history, a great deal made by literal evil space wizards in the form of the Sith.
"Well, glad to hear I'm good now then, thanks Doc… speaking of which, would you mind that being your name?" I asked curiously. "Not the most creative name, I know, but easier to think of you as that than a number designation or anything."
"It is an acceptable and fitting designation for me," Doc said simply. "And now that you are recovered and healthy, I can now say I hope to be of service to you for as long as you have need of me."
"Welcome to the crew, Doc!" I smiled at the droid. "Oh, and you don't need to call me Sir, Captain, or anything like that. Nick will do well enough."
"I will keep that in mind, Sir," Doc stated, completely ignoring my words. "I will remain here in the medical bay for the time being, so please inform me whenever my services are required. Do not take this the wrong way, but I hope to see you here with me as little as possible."
"A totally fair request, but I hope you forgive me if I just come by to say hi and chat once in a while."
"If you truly have nothing better to do than to talk 'chat' with a medical droid, Sir, might I suggest purchasing a therapy droid? They are specifically designed for long conversations with lonely sentients."
"I… I honestly can't tell if that was a sick burn or not," I said in shock.
"Does this 'sick burn' require treatment?"
"Yes, but sadly my ego can only recover on its own," I admitted with a chuckle before I picked up my discarded coat and helmet as I made my way out of the medical bay. "See ya, Doc."
"I will be here, Sir," Doc said before he started organizing the medical bay to his liking.
Walking into the cargo hold, I noticed without my speeder around that it looked pretty empty, and that was saying something since besides said speeder there had been nothing else inside. So now it truly was totally empty.
As I pulled up SFO and looked at my now very healthy looking account, I decided to change that. Nothing super crazy at first, I wanted to have a decent base amount in account to always work with, but I could certainly add and upgrade things a little. And first things first, I needed a replacement speeder for the one I traded over to Tik.
It made me wonder what the crazy speed obsessed jawa was doing with my former ride now… maybe tricking it out with an oversized engine like his old bike?
Anyway, since I still needed a means to get around quickly on the ground when needed, I quickly pulled up and purchased a model I originally wanted to get but held back due to price.
Namely, I bought a Undicur-class jumpspeeder.
It appeared before me in its folded up form, being no bigger than a medium sized box, but quickly unfolded and activated when I pressed a button on its side. As its front section unfolded and its handles popped out, it was hard not to like the utilitarian speeder that outperformed most other models.
It was easy to store, not too large when unfolded, fast for its size, reliable, and had a high flight ceiling for a speeder. The only complaints I had about it was its 3k price tag, but that was mostly because I was a credit pincher by necessity now, and the fact it didn't have a comfortable back rest like the FC had. Oh well, sacrifices had to be made somewhere, I supposed.
Either way, it would be my new ride for now, tucked into the corner of the cargo bay whenever I wasn't using it.
"Hmm, now that I think about it, it might be worth buying an landspeeder at some point… assuming I can find one small enough to fit on the cargo elevator," I muttered to myself, since while looking at it now I doubt it was more than 15ft wide and most landspeeders were more than that. "Damn, almost makes me wish I got a bigger ship. Almost."
I had only had the Sleipnir for a short while, but she would always be the best ship in the galaxy to me, no matter what.
"Promise to get you some upgrades some time soon too, now that I'm bringing in actual money," I patted the bulkhead as I went in to check on the rest of the crew and get an update on things while I had been asleep.
Launchpad reported that, true to her word, Dam had come by a few hours ago to detach and reclaim his magnetic clamp from the ship. Just came, took it off, and left without saying a word. The only reason why LP was even aware of it was due to the external ship cameras telling him so.
Anyway, that was one problem solved… but I decided just to be a little bit paranoid, just in case.
I ordered the triplets to go over the ship, top to bottom, inside and out, for any homing beacons, tracking devices, and what have you that Cid might have decided to stick on the ship for one reason or another. I doubted she would put in the extra effort, but as I promised to myself before I was not gonna trust that lizard to ever have my best interest in mind and take the appropriate steps to protect myself. Honestly, given my current lifestyle and actions I planned to take in general, sweeping the ship for bugs should just be a thing that is always done on a regular basis.
You never know who might be interested in tracking you down afterall…
Oh, and Sir Gonkington was keeping everything charged up and ready to go as always.
Now that I knew the ship was squared away, it was time to focus on myself. More specifically, what I could buy to make myself better in general.
Well for one thing, I needed a new coat since my current one was quite literally blasted to hell. And hey, with the amount of credits I had now I could actually spring for a full outfit of high quality armorweave!
I did just that, getting a new coat, pants, boots, gloves, the whole package! Though my helmet was still good, if a little scratched and scorched up. Nothing a little elbow grease can't fix while still retaining the character it had earned.
Also, I decided to add more weapons to my arsenal.
First, I got a replacement for the stun stick Carste and his friends stole from me on Dantooine, just cause it could be a decent melee weapon while being more versatile than your typical vibroblade. And second, for as well as my pistol has served me well, it only made sense to at least have an actual blaster rifle on hand when I needed more stopping power, which is why I bought its bigger cousin in the form of a DC-17m for 4.5k, the standard issue weapon for the Clone Commandos themselves.
It wasn't the biggest or the badass blaster in the galaxy, but it arguably had the most versatility to allow it to be used in countless situations. Especially when you bought all the attachments… which I most certainly did!
There was the standard blaster that was an assault rifle that could fire semi, in bursts, or full auto, the sniper configuration that gave you the ability to pick off targets from very far away, an anti-armor grenade launcher when you just really want to blow things up, and even a few more I didn't recognize like the PEP which was a strong 'less than lethal' option, a micro-rocket launcher that could use a variety of ammo types, a breaching grenade mainly made for breaking through thick and secure doors, an attachment to turn the thing into scatterblaster, and an actual slugthrower attachment for some reason.
I got it anyway, but still!
Anyway, while all of that cost a bit, the base gun was still the most expensive thing overall and thus I thought of it as a good investment. After all, why buy more than one gun when you can get one that can do nearly anything you wanted?
Of course, I was gonna store it in the armory for now because one, I didn't want the Bad Batch seeing me carrying the thing around given it was made for commandos like them and we weren't so tight I think they would be okay with that. And two, I wanted to actually train how to use it right before I actually took it for a spin out in the field.
It went without saying my aim was pretty shit unless it was at close range, so in an effort to fix that I needed training aids. Which is why I ended up buying over half a dozen training remotes, 350 credits each, to help learn how to aim and hit things properly in a firefight.
Obviously I wouldn't go looking for firefights, I'd rather avoid them outright or strike without anyone noticing if I really had to, but considering I would have been a savrip's meal if it wasn't for Bossk, I thought I should at least try to be a decent shot. And who knows, maybe I'll actually get good at it with enough practice.
I bought several since, as I hopefully improved, I wanted to be able to learn how to deal with multiple attackers in case the situation ever came up. That and I was convinced that, if coordinated right, the things would make for great, cheap security drones for the ship in case anyone I didn't want around tried to board it. It's not like the blasters on them couldn't be turned up stun or even lethal if they had to be, Bao-Dur's remote certainly showed how strong one could be in a fight.
All and all, I thought I had made a bunch of good purchases so far, and my account was still looking quite healthy!
Still, there was more I could do to improve and better myself, so I would have to think more about what I could use… maybe some actual armor? Some kind of utility tool or system? There was a great deal to look and think about, there was such a thing as too many options after all, but that could be for another day as I did more research and figured out what were good investments in keeping myself and others alive.
Goodness knows that with the money I had now, I had plenty of them. But I also had to keep my account floor in mind and what I would need to buy in order to sell off for more credits later too, which will have to take a lot of thinking considering the numbers now involved and what I was willing to actually sell.
"Oh boy, looks I have no choice but to do…," I muttered darkly to myself, "Math."
Truly, the road to progress was paved in suffering.
---
In order to spare myself for a short while, I decided to head over to Cid's to check and see if the Bad Batch had returned from their own mission yet and if they were more successful in it than canon thanks to my subtle influence. That and see about getting some 'proper ID' in general.
I knew that Tech could make some forged chain codes… but I may have to pay Cid to help me with other stuff, which I was not looking forward to even after nearly a whole day of not seeing her. I suspected the feeling would be mutual.
Still, as I walked into Cid's, I was glad to see that my hutch was right and that Bad Batch were back!
Tech was playing a game against Bolo and Ketch while Hunter and Echo were chatting at the bar, but Wrecker and Omega were nowhere in sight… maybe they were going for their after-mission Mantell Mix? Was that tradition for them already?
No matter, I could always catch up with them later. For now, I had to see how well my equipment had done for the team and how I could milk that into turning into their regular supplier.
"Hunter! Echo! Tech! Glad to see you're back! Did the mission go well?" I waved at the three as I walked into the parlor and made a show of looking around. "Wrecker and Omega out doing errands or something?"
"Something like that," Hunter said before turning to face me. "Hey there Nick, the mission was successful. Cid's got the old CIS tactical droid head in her office right now and is currently letting the buyer know it's ready for pick up."
"Hope she paid you guys well for your hard work," I commented as I sat beside them.
"Paid, yes," Echo said. "As for 'well', that's debatable."
"Yes, but it's still good, and it's not like we have a lot of options at the moment," Hunter commented.
"I feel that," I grumbled angrily. "My own delivery for Cid was a bit crazier than it should have been, so me and her renegotiated the cut afterwards to something a bit more fair. We also reached a mutual understanding, as it were. Still though, I've barely known the woman for a week and I already know you can't trust her to really care about your well-being."
"Really now?" Echo asked sarcastically. "You thought you could trust a known criminal to care more about something than credits?"
"You got me there," I shrugged at the point made. "I guess I just had this different image in mind, that she was pragmatic as well as greedy. It's in her best interest to make sure the people working with her do well since that means she does well, am I right? But so far she seems to have a nasty habit about either missing important information, or outright keeping it to herself. That's extra shady if you ask me."
"No argument there, but despite everything Cid's still followed through for us so far…" Hunter noted. "Considering where we were beforehand, doing missions for her for 30% of the reward has kept us afloat."
"30%?! That's what she is paying you?!" I asked in true outrage, despite already knowing that. "I had to fight her just to get 75%! Granted, your team and I do different kinds of business, but still!"
"75%?" Echo asked in shock before turning to Hunter. "Maybe we should get into smuggling."
"No," Hunter shook his head. "Cid still has way more connections than us, and without her finding actual work we can do would be difficult and leave us too open to discovery. So for now, we stay the course… but I'll try to increase our cut on future missions since we proved ourselves on this last one."
"Be careful you guys," I whispered to them. "I'm pretty sure Cid is using the fact you are wanted by the Empire as a means to take advantage of you and hire you out for cheaper than you are worth. If you ever get too uppity in her eyes, she might just turn you in for whatever reward might be on your heads. I'd have contingency plans in place, just in case. Goodness knows I've been working on them since yesterday."
There, the idea is planted in their minds, judging by how Hunter and Echo silently looked at each other. Now it was up to them to act on it or not.
"You aren't saying anything we haven't already discussed before, but we'll keep that in mind… by the way, I wanted to say thank you for those EMP grenades you gave us," Hunter changed the subject. "They came in real handy on the way out."
"Oh? So was I right? Did the battle droids all turn on and force you to fight through a small army?" I asked curiously.
"Technically speaking the battle droids were reactivated, but it was on our terms," Tech spoke up from the nearby dejarik table while making the winning move, causing Ketch to groan at the loss and hand a handful of credits to a chuckling Bolo.
"It turned out the decommissioning facility was guarded by a small army of police droids," Echo explained. "After running into some… 'complications', the alarm was tripped and we were nearly overwhelmed. Never thought I would be so glad to see Clankers up and running again."
"Oh! I wasn't expecting that," I totally lied, internally quite glad that apparently the EMP grenades gave the Bad Batch the edge they needed to successfully escape with the tactical droid head. Still, it made me curious about how their encounter with the Martez sisterswent. "What were these complications, if you don't mind me asking?"
Hunter looked towards Cid's office before leaning closer to me and whispering. "Don't tell Cid, but there was another party also there for the tactical droid head. We fought at first, but then had to work together to escape. Afterwards, we parted ways on decent terms and gave them a copy of the tactical droid data since they said they were getting it for a client that is fighting the Empire. I don't think she would like knowing that there is more than one copy of the data out there that might make what she has now less valuable."
Thank goodness that worked out about the same.
"Don't tell Cid what?" I asked with a light tone and a tilted head, which Hunter returned with a smirk. "But yeah, glad my goods helped you out, and just know that so long as you ask I can most likely get you boys whatever gear you want. I might not be the GAR, but I like to think I can keep you well-stocked on whatever you could need. Of course, I will need to be paid from now on."
"Of course, and come our next mission, we will let you know if we need anything," Hunter smiled.
Yes! I now had an in with the Bad Batch! Now it was just a matter of cultivating it as much as possible and befriending them.
I figured I had pretty good odds of doing so considering the lengths they ended up going for Cid of all people before she betrayed them.
"We're baaaaaaack!" Wrecker loudly called out as he and Omega walked into the parlor, the latter licking off the remains of whatever she was previously eating from her fingers as she did so. "Oh! Grenade guy! Good to see ya! We used up all the ones you gave us. You got any more?"
"We were just talking about that, Wrecker," Echo rolled his eyes with a smile.
"Oh… is that a yes?" Wrecker asked curiously, eliciting much eye rolling from his teammates.
"Heya Omega, I heard you guys had an exciting mission," I told the young clone.
"It was! We blasted a lot of droids and even made some new friends!" Omega explained before looking quite proud of herself. "And I've got quite good at shooting."
"That's amazing! But I guess that means you won't want my present then…" I smirked underneath my helmet and turned away as Omega's head perked up. "Shame, it was a good one too."
"Present?! What kind of present?!" Omega asked excitedly.
"Yeah, what kind?!" Wrecker butted in. "I already called dips for anything explosive!"
"Well… if you really want it still…" I teased Omega, earning a pout from the girl.
"Yes! What is it?!"
I just smiled to myself, pulled off my backpack, opened it up, and pulled out one of the training remotes I bought. I tossed it into the air and everyone watched as it floated around and made little beeping noises.
"Its a training remote," I explained. "I'd figured it would help with your training more than a single stationary target, and it's pretty neat in general too."
"Wooooow," Omega said, then laughed as the remote started to orbit around her. "I love it!"
"Heh, I remember blasting those back when I was a cadet," Echo commented as Tech walked over and looked the remote over, most likely thinking about ways to potentially improve upon it.
"I thought you were charging us from now on," Hunter pointed out with a smirk.
"This is a gift to a business associate, totally different!" I defended myself. "And if you don't want strangers giving out toys to your daughter, get them for her yourself."
"She isn't-" Hunter tried to say, before Wrecker loudly interrupted.
"Come on, Omega! Let me show you how to blast this thing right out of the air!"
I just laughed as I watched Wrecker try to teach Omega how to aim and hit a much harder to pin down target in the remote compared to her earlier one, much to her growing frustration, but I also saw she was enjoying herself as she worked hard to improve herself so she could become an equal member of her team. Her odd little family.
It was that moment that hardened my resolve not only to improve and better myself just like she did to better protect her family, but to make sure nothing happened to ruin that happiness to the best of my ability.
I came into this universe naïve and stupid, but I'd be damned if I stayed that way forever.
One credit at a time, I would aim to change this galaxy for the better.
---
AN: Okay, now this is officially the end of the 'Ord Mantell Startup' arc, and so gonna have a couple days of break before I start posting next one. Didn't want to turn this update into just Nick buying things, so here is a taste (A little less than 20k overall) and he will buy more over the course of the short timeskip coming up.