I then paid the pad attendant and continued into Cloud City.
It was quite a place.
The pad attendant was able to give me a brief tour of the city. Showing me where the hotels and casinos were, as well as the location designated for the tournament. At one of the hotels, I signed in for a room. I then went to inspect the casinos, but I decided not play. I wanted to save the money I had for the tournament.
Chapter 24: What to Do Until the Tournament
With that I returned to Gaea. B0B had come up with a list of repairs, replacements and modifications that should be considered. As a result of my combat at Earth with the ISD, my hull had some battle scars. Not real damage, mind you, just patches of black where the heat of weapons blasts had singed things a little. B0B also made the astute deduction that, since we are at Cloud City, it would increase the performance of our weapons if we purged our system of our current tibanna gas supply and replaced it with the Cloud City gas. He then listed a number of parts that showed some wear that might be worth looking at. At the bottom of his list, he had listed a number of modifications that would enhance the performance of the ship. He gave me 2 copies of the list. One in English, since I was slow to adapt to reading Aurebesh, and one in Aurebesh for the repair team.
I looked over the list as I walked out of the ship. I was more than willing to admit to myself that I had no idea what the vast majority of this equipment did. I hoped I wouldn’t get taken. I found the pad attendant and showed him the list. He put in a call for a repair team.
In a couple hours, a repair team arrived. During my wait, I made sure to secure anything that might be worth stealing (weapons, laptop, Dragon Pearls), and I had B0B walk me through the list of repairs again, so I could see what needed work and understand why it may be necessary to fix. He also gave me a general idea of what the modifications would allow the ship to do. I wanted to walk the repair team through the list myself, rather than look stupid as my droid did the talking.
An hour later or so, I had finished showing the 4-man repair team around. It appeared that my fears about being taken were unjustified. As I went through the list, different members of the repair team stated that this part or that part was not worth replacing at that time. I disregarded the hull. I decided that, instead, I would see if there were any kind of ship cleaning and painting services on Cloud City. Rather than clean it and leave the hull its off-white color, I wanted to give it a black hull, which would let it blend with space.
Then, I got to the modifications section of the list. When I started talking about modifications, the team became anxious and edgy, as if they didn’t want to hear about it. When I finished, one of them pulled me aside and said, “This is your first visit to Cloud City, isn’t it. You see, we are not supposed to make the kinds of changed you’re asking about. I can, however, give you the pad number of a non-Cloud City repair shop that may be able to help you. But it will cost you.”
“How much?” I asked.
“1000 credits.” He replied.
I was able to talk him down to 850 credits. I got the number, and then told B0B so he could store it in his memory.
By this time, each member of the repair team was busy. Two were already busy working on the ship. Another was contacting a superior about having parts sent down. While they worked, I went back to the pad attendant and asked him about the ship cleaning/painting services and to confirm the pad number I had been given by the repair team member. It was, indeed, an independent repair shop. I decided I would stop by there once the other repairs were complete.
All the work together cost me about 5000 credits, before the discount I had from the landing permit, and was finished by the next morning. The only reason it took that long was there was some trouble getting a couple of the parts. I left B0B to oversee the repairs and I left to go to my hotel room and get some sleep. In the morning, I returned to the ship, checked with B0B to make sure everything went smoothly, checked my stuff and paid for the repair. I then spoke with the pad attendant again, to let him know I was going to the ship cleaning shop, and that I would return soon.
As I flew around the city, I couldn’t sense any change in the ship’s performance. B0B could. He said that before the repair, his gyros could sense a slight wobble as the ship accelerated. I took his word for it, and continued.
I eventually found the cleaners. It cost only a handful of credits to get the ship cleaned, inside and out. It looked really good.
I headed off to the paint shop. Upon arriving, I was told that I was expected. The pad attendant had called ahead. I told them I wanted a clean black finish that would blend in better with space. I was then told it would take at least a day to re-clean (to make sure the paint held), paint and dry. It would cost about 200 credits.
After I made sure the ship was safe, B0B and I left. I planned on finding the repair shop I had been told about from the inside. I could then speak with the owner and get an idea of whether they could do what I wanted and how much it would cost.
It took about an hour to find the shop. We were greeted by the stereotypic repair shop worker, wearing overalls and covered in grease. I wasn’t sure, but I think his name patch said “Ray”. I introduced myself, gave the guy the name of the repair team member that had told me about the place, and told him about my ship. I then had B0B to give him specifics about the parts on the ship.
“What exactly did you want done?” I was asked.
“Well, generally speaking, I would like the ship’s systems improved where possible.” I began. “Shield efficiency or strength raised, hyperspace and sublight speed increase, weapons enhanced for greater range, more power or both. If possible, I would also be interested in any kind of anti-scanning equipment, anything that could hide the ship completely. At the least, a pirated IFF transponder to make it appear on sensors to be another ship, preferably one that I could switch on and off, so I could be scanned normally. Any chance I could get a very rough estimate on the cost based on what I’ve told you?”
He replied, “Without seeing what we have in stock and what you have on your ship, I can’t even offer an estimate.”
I then asked, “Well, if you make the assumption that you have the parts you need, could you then give me an estimate? At the least, could you estimate the IFF transponder? That is my number one priority at this time.”
”Fake transponders are not terribly reliable. Real transponders are hard to come by, since they need to be taken from a ship. Those facts will make it the most expensive item on your list. However, we may have one around somewhere.”
“Fine.” I said. “My ship is currently getting a new paintjob. I was told it might take at least a day. Will you be able to start work on the ship tomorrow sometime?”
”That shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t know how long the work will take though.” He replied.
With that, B0B and I left. We headed back to the ship painters, to check on the progress. Cleaning was done and the painting had started. If I had to guess, I’d say they were about 1/3 of the way done with the first coat of paint.
We started exploring the city. It was a lot like visiting a big city like New York on Earth. In some areas, there were small shops, specializing in handmade or niche good. Other places, usually closer to the hotels and casinos, we found much larger stores. Restaurants were numerous, both large and small.
Now, I've got about 8 days to fill between where I've stopped and before the tournament starts. I'm k