The tech team had done their job well. The data cores had been reinstalled and the systems upgraded and restored. Well, along with some upgrades and enhancements.

Etchik was way off the beaten path, but anyone in this sector had known that Imperial Center had covered local space with orbiting satellites and defenses for years while building up the manufacturing base for the company.

When the Vast Empire decamped for a hundred different locales, the gig was up for the company too. Most of the mills and assembly lines were packed up in a hurry and went deep into the Thilidian Sector or even deeper with the docks and shipyards at the galaxy's edge.

What was left were a fair amount of automated defenses and a nasty amount of battle and assassin droids and a lot of solar rechargers. It wasn't that the satellites weren't attacked and plundered; it was that the body count for whoever did it was really, really impractical.

The cleaning droids had assembled the hundreds of carcasses and they had been shoved into Etchik's gravity well and incinerated on the way down. Repair droids has spooled miles upon miles of fresh cabling, conduit, deck plates, and vents. Electrical and sanitation teams had made sure life support came back online. The remaining defense turrets were repaired and their lost brethren replaced.

Fury had known they would try to come back, so manufacturing the required gear had been a priority when they scooted on out of here, but the work still needed done.

Kuin paused and took a sip of his caf. He'd been one of the few Imperial Center employees to venture pass the Besdoaari asteroid belt after The Fall, as most called it. He'd seen the galaxy fracture after repeated hits. Endor. Jakku. The breakup of the Empire. The inability of the New Republic to do more than keep a few trade lanes open and the more important planets fed. The splintered Empire holding what it could despite the rise of disorder. Pirates. Hutts. Criminals and slavers of all stripes. Plagues. Hunger. Death in a thousand forms.

Damn mess. Not a lot of it he could solve, but providing food and shelter to those who needed it was. Getting facilities to make those items, ship those items was his job. Arming those who would protect the average citizen was his job.

Beyond that, he was a rogue with a job. Which was a damn sight better than most these days.

Etchik would be back in shape in a few days. No enemy fleet seemed to be looming. Defenses would be up to par to take on anything but a sector fleet soon. The lights were on, the oxygen levels didn't drop out of any pinhole leaks anymore. Time for the next gig. Let the office staff have an adventure.

He keyed his comlink. "Jinx, fire up the ship and load on a squad of troops. I think the factories can start up again. Time to go see if we have any stores and warehouses left in this part of space to send stuff to."

OOC:

Part of the big story is that when the Vast Empire fell apart, we left a lot of folks behind on a lot of worlds. Time to check in on them. Time to see if they are pissed, happy to see us, or even dead. Any Oskers or freelancers want to tag along, I can set up a story idea or three to get you started. There is plenty of ground to cover and it will give you something to do while the next Chapter spins up.