Legend of the Harp Episode I: Birth of a Jedi

Legend of the Harp By Hemaccabe Episode I: Birth of a Jedi Chapter 5: Revenge

Legend of the Harp

By Hemaccabe

Episode I: Birth of a Jedi

Chapter 5: Revenge

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

***Jedi Knight Furin Kazan, Corellia Space***

Tranquility was coming back to life. We had gone and looked at three really nice ships. Captain Mel and some of his crew toured each ship, given them a very fair consideration and turned them down. So, work commenced. We didn't have the results yet from the survey, so we didn't use any exotic parts, just top of the line Corellian. Considering the poor state of Ceti shipwrights, at least in this ship, I expected a substantial improvement.

We couldn't order the same sort of parts as we did for Bearer because Tranquility was about half the size of Bearer. We did go to Corbeen's favorite suppliers. We just ordered from different lists. The lists appropriate for smaller ships. Everything we ordered, even if Tranquility only needed less, she got top of the line. For example, she could have gone with a class three ship's brain, but we got the best that would fit, which was a seven. She did get three new engines, which would more than double output from stock. I had known it would be a tough sell to replace, rather than rebuild the engines. I had built in the ship viewings as a sort of negotiation ploy. Being the basically decent, fair minded people they were, having been unreasonable about taking a new ship, I knew they would be more reasonable about new engines, which they needed. We replaced a lot of gravitic plate and did our best to add more. I was worried that with all this new power there might be trouble with Tranquility's frame. We replaced all the bad frame with top of the line Corellian framing and added about 20% more, dramatically improving strength and rigidity, but she was still not up to Corellian civilian standards.

She got two twin 30mm cannons, one on top of her head and one below her tail. She also got a single shield generator. I also got a four-pack rack of torpedoes for her. Tranquility had a hump on her back and we mounted the torpedo rack there.

Tranquility was almost ready when they popped out of school. They all had passed except the Security Guy who flunked out. However, I was aware that he had spent quite a bit of time since at the Gunsmith's hogan's alley. We had to send them all, except Security Guy, on some freighter runs to complete certification. When they came back, we had a little ceremony at the school and they all got their certificates. Afterward, to celebrate, I took them out for a nice dinner at the Tipsy Squire.

I hadn't been starving them with the Credits. I'd been putting cash on their chips each week, but they wouldn't have been eating in really nice places like this either. I was wearing my formal outfit and I saw they were making an effort too. The Engineer was wearing a nice frilly gown. The First Officer was wearing a basic black sheath, which was probably the nicest thing she owned. The Pilot, Brook, was wearing the heck out of a little black dress and she looked quite nice. Their Security Guy was wearing a tuxedo badly. The Doctor made that more obvious by wearing a high-quality, well-tailored tux really well. The Captain looked like he was wearing what was left of his dress uniform, but he was young and fit so he still looked good.

The Maître D took us to a nice table, resplendent in a white tablecloth and fine flatware. I had them bring a bottle of their best fizzy wine and I toasted, "To new beginnings!"

They responded, and we drank.

"Please everyone, order whatever you like." I said as we reviewed the menus.

They all ordered well. I sided with the male crew members as we teased the female members when they ordered more daintily. I ordered a bunch of appetizers. As the appetizers came and the wine flowed, the Doctor took the Engineer to the dance floor and they had a really nice waltz.