My new speeder was finished. I poured all my passion for working with machines into it. Every trick and bypass I knew to eek just that much more out of the parts was used.

  The frame was solid Durasteel and the shell had recently been smoothed into a single solid piece of Bronzium. Repair Machine considered welds to be damage that needed to be fixed. I painted it a taupe, to blend in better with the desert. The only vanity I allowed myself was to sign the bottom right by one of the repulsor units.

  Since the two engines I'd utilized were mismatched, I had to go with a creative use of limiters and coding to even out their thrust perimeters. I only lost 10% output. A minor miracle for that kind of hack job. I'd used a couple of extra repulsor units so that my makeshift creation would ride high. About 2.5 meters high over most types of terrain. It made for a sliding feel to the controls, and was a pain to stop quickly, but kept the ride comfortable.

  I found some excellent ground sensors from a junked prospector crawler, it would be far easily to find useful things under the sand or rock. A few good targeting sensors, a biosensor, went into my speeder amongst others. Little should be able to sneak up on me.

  The primary power core was for a much bigger vehicle, maybe a troop transport, but the heavy needs of the shield module and weapons banced it out. There remained an infinitesimally small chance that the speeders circuits would explode under normal use. The feedback would detonate the core. Not that I would have time to feel it, because with this design, I was going to be sitting just over the core. Boom. Hehe. No more Liam.

  Speaking of the big explosions, the MS-4 twin bster cannons went under the nose of the speeder and two heavy auto turrets fnked the cockpit. For a small speeder this was an insane level of weaponry. But it was a dangerous world out there and I wanted to be as safe as possible. If I let some sleemo beast eat me, just because I skimped on firepower, I'd be very put out.

  My cart also got an overhaul into a work trailer. After taking off the wheels, I spped a power core in it, along with the third speeder engine and a ton of repulsor units. A simple towing coupling added, and bmo, I had a pce to sleep and work on scrap while I searched out lost treasures. Even with things like a small smelter and workbench there was plenty of storage space. Testing had shown that pulling it allow would hardly slow me down. The drawback was that the already tricky stops, became just a little more difficult.

  My personal gear had been updated as well. A fibermesh undersuit with thermal regution. A heavy leather vest with bondite ptes sewn in. A new hat and visor. The visor had all kinds of functions built, in like range finding and thermal overys for my sight. I'd found two separate vambraces with all kinds of tools and Repaired them to new. The left was for things like slicing, with tons of different connectors. The other was probably off of a former Bounty Hunter and a short range sonic pulse weapon, and a small taser needle setup. I'd found some upgrades for my EE-3 as well. A new optic for long ranged shooting, and a better capacitor for more rapid firing rate if needed.

  I id in a couple of weeks of rations and water in my former cart. Sadly, I never did find a small moisture vaporator unit, so I'd have to find something out there, or return in two weeks for more water. With this, everything was as ready as it could get.

  I left the Rekarsh area and headed north, the direction the records of abandoned farming complexes had come from. I hadn't felt the need to say farewell to anyone. I doubt any of them would care much if I was lost to the sands. Maybe Keelie's mom, but we weren't that close, she was just a nice person.

  The desert during the day was deceptively still. The was the interpy of life and death going on just beneath the sands, or amongst the stones. Thankfully, I had my sensors and managed to avoid several rge lifesigns hidden from sight. Young Krayts waiting for their next meal, or perhaps one of the dozens of species of giant burrowing worms that inhabit this pnet. Better to avoid them, and let it remain a mystery.

  My first night out in the desert was a tense one. Many aggressive beasts came out to py, and my auto turrets got a through shakedown. The angry red bster fire cut through the dark and let me catch brief glimpses of the horrors out there. I stayed in the speeder all night, even after enough beasts had died to warn the rest off. I admit I was terrified. I'd the very health desire to not be eaten.

  In the morning, once I could see, I ate a ration bar, hydrated and dealt with the necessities of living. Then I was back on the move. I didn't want to stare at the still smoking bodies of the creatures my turrets had handled st night. It seems I'm not cut out for violence. No bounty hunting life for me. I'll try to get over it.

  Maybe, I could find a combat droid, hopefully soon.

  Around noon, with both suns high in the sky, the sensors caught wind of something. It wasn't living so I went to investigate. Good thing I did, it was an abandon homestead. The outbuildings covered over by sand, but the sunken courtyard was only half buried. A few hours with a digging tool allowed me access to all the rooms. These people had left in a hurry and useful things were left behind.

  For example, in the center of the courtyard was a communication tower. Lots of useful parts there. However, I thought to fix it up. While I had no one to call myself, I could use it to passively listen for anyone in the area. A little warning could go a long way in saving my hide.

  I cleared each room, and other then a couple of desert mynocks and a womp rat nest, found no threats. A quick deployment of my portable turret and a few bsts from my carbine and the pce was mine. For as long as I could hold it. I knew there were bandits out here, and Tuskens, not to mention all of the wildlife. But I liked my odds.

  Especially when I found the repair and maintenance bay of the homestead. A red pre colpse R2 model astromech droid, a LZ-43 post colpse power hauler, and best of all a heavily armored humanoid droid of a model I didn't recognize. I always enjoy working on new models, I tended to learn so much from them.

  The astromech droid was half disassembled but all of its parts were still in the room. That would be an easy fix. The power hauler was missing a power core and I didn't see a spare in the part bins. Maybe I could hunt one up in the outbuildings, but it wasn't likely. The unknown droid was missing a ton of parts but still had it's power core. A very odd power core for a droid. It might actually be capable of more output than the one in my speeder.

  I sure hoped its memory banks were intact, because I'd love to learn how an obvious wardroid model ended up in the middle of nowhere. The obvious solution here was to use the power hauler's parts to save the wardroid. I'd feel horrible for doing it, but it was the best solution. Maybe the power hauler would be honored to know its parts lived on in a combat droid.

  Or I could use my Technomancy to conjure a power core, and the rest of the needed parts, duh. I needed all the help I could get, so it would be before to take the time to whip up all the parts than use one droid to save a another.

  However, before I lost myself in the fun. I had to get set up.

  I found and cleared the ramp into the courtyard and very carefully backed my trailer down in the courtyard. I managed to get my trailer in beside the Comms tower without any trouble. I left my speeder aimed at the top of the ramp so its turrets could prevent intrusion from there. Then I took some parts from my trailer and assembled a couple more fixed position turrets to cover the other side of the courtyard.

  I nodded to myself, breathing a sigh of relief. That should be enough for now. I returned to the repair bay and setup my portable turret between where I'd be working and the door.

  Maybe I was being paranoid, but I wanted to be able to work in peace.

  Now I had some droid to restore.