Chapter 22: Archaeology 2
I did not immediately understand everything that was happening, because the ship pulled out occupied almost all my thoughts and I had frankly forgotten that a man was still sent to Naboo. To tell you the truth, I expected him to throw a report into the droid's memory that all was well on Naboo, that everyone was alive and well, and that was it. In fact, that's all I needed, just to make sure everything was all right. You could leave it to chance, of course, but just thinking about it reminds me of the movie where one stupid Skywalker already left it to chance. Trust but verify - I certainly don't think anything terrible could happen under Padme's wing, but I should have checked to reassure myself. The suspense... it gets on my nerves.
Since Erdva was unwilling on principle to leave the new-old ship, I was on G9 alone? and had to get on the voice mail manually.
- Hello?
- Mr. Customer? - the voice on the comlink asked me. - It's me.
- Yes, yes, I did," I replied, to dispel any doubts about the mistake. - How was your mission? What did you find out?
- What exactly do you want to know, besides the report I'll send you?
- The current state. What, how, where...
- Good," the voice muttered through the interference of the subhyperspace connection and continued in a different tone: "The target, a maid in the queen's retinue, Shmi Skywalker, thirty years old, arrived on Naboo just over a year ago, during her service performed minor duties of escort and service to the queen. Has a warmer relationship with the queen than her colleagues. Recently took maternity leave...
- What-what, I'm sorry..." I asked again. Interference.
- She recently went on maternity leave. It lasts from the moment the pregnancy was discovered and three months after the birth..." said the spy.
- Well..." I almost cursed with the last words. I had to sit in the navigator's chair to get ready for the rest of the news.
- In a week there will be a wedding with one Edward Riekan, an employee of the local shipbuilding corps.
- More details about this..." - I hesitated, I was about to say, "goat". Of course, it's so easy to fool my mother!
- Edward Riekan, a bastard of the noble Alderaan house, who's been given a warm job since graduating from the university on Coruscant. Well versed in shipbuilding. According to witnesses, a month after the target arrived on Naboo, made an acquaintance with her, after some time began a more intimate relationship. They have been living together for six months now. Two weeks ago he proposed to the target, after which the pregnancy of the target was discovered. The wedding will take place in five days, at the royal palace.
- That's enough," I pursed my lips. Of course, my mother is still a pretty young woman, so it would be strange for me to have anything against it. Especially since they've been dating for a year. He hasn't seduced her in passing... and he has some sort of connection to the Noble Houses of Alderaan- Riekan is one of those Houses, as is Organa.
What an irony of fate - my daughter, Leia Organa, is now the stepfather of a Riekan family... it feels like the "canon" is coming true, but with amendments, or rather like this is being replaced by like that. I know Organa is not the nicest family. Let's hope the Riekans are better...
- I've been invited to the wedding.
- What?" I couldn't believe my ears. - Are they out of their minds? Have they lost their fear?
- I know," said the bounty hunter with a grin, "but they seem to have a careless attitude to security. Besides, I've made the acquaintance of a lady of the palace, and I've used my legend.
- Acquainted? - I smiled. Yes, Padme's maids are beautiful. And the rest of the Naboans are quite... attractive. The good ecology and healthy lifestyle make it impossible to meet fat and unattractive Naboans.
- Yes..." the mercenary's voice changed for a second, "she's quite... pretty. I think I'll stay on Naboo for a while. After the mission, of course.
Well, well, well... the hired man is having an affair. I hired a young guy in his twenties, though, so I'm not surprised.
- What's the story? - I asked.
- We met at the palace. Through her I found out who I could talk to about the target. She asked me as payment to take her to the wedding. It coincided with my plans, and besides...
- You don't have to go on," I stopped him and began what I do best-improvising. - Don't you want to stay there? I need occasional information about the target, to keep abreast of life on Naboo in general and the target's, and now her family's, in particular. How do you feel about the prospect of becoming a permanent observer?
- You mean an agent?
- You could say that. I'll give you money to settle down on Naboo, in Thida, and money to open your own store. If you can get Edward to trust you, that would be wonderful.
- And Inga... You mean the maid? - he asked.
- The one you met? - I hesitated, but after five seconds I came up with an idea. - Whatever you want. Though I would advise you to marry her quickly. That way, you'll be legending yourself to Naboo. If you don't like it, you can divorce in a week, it doesn't matter anymore, as long as you settle down on the planet because of her.
- Oh," the mercenary chuckled. - She's probably trying to seduce me for the same reason.
And we laughed, each to his side. I laughed first, and then I answered:
- Well, don't be so gloomy. Maybe you would offer me not only for the mission? - I asked. - Why, they have beautiful girls, they will not take anyone to the palace as a servant, so also ...
- That's enough. I've been tempted by her for an hour, I guess, and you here ... - the mercenary was offended.
- All right, all right, I'm sorry. Of course, the work on Naboo is a pleasure - the climate is beautiful, the ecology, the peaceful planet...
- You can't take that away from me..." He scratched his head and thought, judging by his tone. - And how much will you pay?
- At the beginning of the card you have, I'll transfer fifty thousand. That's enough to rent a house. After a couple of months, I'll give you a business allowance and a salary. Ten thousand a month.
The hired man just whistled, but then stopped talking.
- Any other questions?
- No, not at all! - he answered. - May I do it?
- Yes, sir. Now I will transfer you a hundred thousand, give it to the target as a wedding gift. No comments, if he asks, don't tell him from whom.
- 'All right...' thought the hunter, 'but won't that undermine my legend?
- You're right ..." I said, "then leave an anonymous gift. So no one will know anything.
- That's fine," said the comlink, "Any other instructions?
- Nothing special. Just keep abreast of Nabuan rumors, the ones that don't make the news, and be ready to take a call, give a report. 24/7. Better yet, get yourself a communications droid, ostensibly for holonet work, promoting your business. If you manage to become a supplier of some small goods to the royal court, that would be fine. Well, I guess we'd better discuss the rest when things are back to normal..." I said, panting. The mercenary agreed, and I disconnected the comlink.
Well... ironically, the hunter who had been sent to Naboo was now a permanent agent. I was as much at my behest as he was at mine, seducing the boy... It was my own fault, I shouldn't have sent a young lad.
I gave up thinking about the hunter and went back to thinking about the situation... not Shmi Lars, but Shmi Riekan. You can't escape fate. But what a woman! - I admired her: before I could look away, she had already found a husband and a warm job, and had already begun to start a family. It seems that my mother is not a person like in the movie, not a statistician, not sitting quietly like a mouse under a broom, but actively arranging her life. I am, in fact, neither, so you could say it's hereditary. And what could be better for her than to have a family and a decent life on the peaceful planet of Naboo?
It looks like I'll get to meet a brother or sister on my upcoming visit, too. And how will the "canon" react to the appearance of another relative of the great and terrible me? And will he or she have a connection to the force?
Time will tell.
To distract myself from my thoughts, I went back to the ship, and through no fault of my own. It was night. Though the work inside the ship was not so difficult, but tedious, and there was a lot of it. A lot of it.
The first task I set after my examination was to find and activate all the droids that were here. I had to take my bike, and drive - the walk to the lower deck from the upper deck was huge, and the elevators didn't work. The lower part of the cruiser's claw was living quarters, and the upper was technical, with large hangars in which astrodroids were lying around. It took about five minutes to get the ironclad up and running - mostly to refuel the reactor and activate it. The astrodroids didn't have any friend-or-foe identification, so it was enough for them that I called myself the ship's captain and told them that they'd been here for several thousand years and that the old captain was long dead. It worked-the cylindrical, Erdva-like but rougher astrodroids came to life, one by one, and set to work. Erdva, who had visited me, took the new subordinates under his control and, like a mother duck, led them in columns to important areas of work.
For me, the job was easier than I originally thought - I didn't have to actually walk up to the site of the breakdown, I could repair the damage from about a hundred meters away. The result of this discovery was that I did not have to run around the decks - the force dipstick pierced the entire ship from top to bottom through and, sitting in the center of the ship, in the hangar where the two claws close together, I could calmly go over the sublight engines or part of the hangar. The actual damage was many times more extensive than the documented damage-the force scanner revealed a dozen more hull breaches and repaired them. However, all I needed was for the wounded ship to be able to crawl back to the KMK shipyard. It wasn't necessary to use all systems other than the ship's motion, but I still fixed the worst of the damage. The main ones were damage to the wiring - fuel lines, electrical cables, and other things. Such primitive work I did not just quickly, but instantly.
The ship was... complex. How do you describe a system whose complexity is many times greater than anything I've ever seen? Billions, trillions of assemblies, units, and all of them must act as a single mechanism. Only the fact that I was more or less familiar with the structure of this monster allowed me to hope for a favorable outcome of the repair.
The armada of iron "bees", moved through the ship and fixed everything under the manipulators. I decided to call it a day. The remainder of the fuel in the fuel tanks might be enough to power the repulsors, but not hyperdrive, so the primary task for tomorrow I put - to ignite the cruiser reactor, at least reserve, and turn on lighting, and self-diagnostic system. After its launch, the recovery will go much faster - the ship itself will be able to inform me and the droids about all the malfunctions. The number of "sleeping" droids on the corresponding deck was still high - about a thousand, and at night the number of toilers at the facility reached five hundred repairmen - things went faster after I guessed to let the avalanche - to make a droid refuel and restart his neighbor and give him the same instruction.
And there's a lot to do, and everything needs to be grabbed and fixed... but first, I thought, first start the reactors and self-diagnostics.
The operation was scheduled for four in the morning, as soon as the first sun of Tatooine appeared in the sky.
For this I had to get up and fill my throat with energy and warm up. Fortunately, my ship was standing right on the hull of the cruiser, which was the size of three soccer fields. Of course, in fact it was bigger, but it was impossible to stand further - the curvature of the hull did not allow it.
After a long warm-up with my training sword, I went to the ship. Overnight, Erdva and his iron-built crew had awakened all the other droids-they had literally enough thirty grams of fuel each to wake up, and perform their duties until we were out to civilization. During the night a thousand and a half droids dispersed throughout the ship, and the silence of the dead ship was replaced by the constant noise of work - droids drove all over the ship, in pitch darkness. I went straight to the reactor control room, which was near the power conduits. Erdva was there, too, working on the control panel.
- What is it? - I asked when I entered the cramped quarters. The air blowing in the ventilation system was relatively fresh-the intakes had been running during the night, so I didn't notice the relative freshness of the air.
- It will work," the droid replied, "but I can't guarantee it.
- The main thing is to try and run it. Fuel?
- Just enough left over to make it to the spaceport to refuel. And enough to power the systems.
- In that case, I'll get to work," I notified the droid and reached for the reactor. One of the reactors - warships often have more than three, not counting the backup.
The reactor had not been damaged by the shelling, though the processes inside had long since stopped. I reached out forcefully and repaired the walls from the corrosion from the time inside the inactive fuel, then pulled up and telekinesis and inserted the fuel cells into the core. A jolt was needed to start the reaction, and I commanded:
- Launch.
After my command, Erdva applied an electrical discharge to start the reaction with the fuel. The current flowed into the core, and after a second the corresponding elements of the power grid were energized. A second more, and the process spread to all the elements, and here we go!
The reactor kicked in. The red light in the corner of the control center lit up, the instruments on the dashboard came to life. The process began.
- Erdva, check the circuit. Power should be going to the central system.
- It's gone, captain! - The droid beeped. - It's working!
- That's wonderful. Is the area de-energized? - I asked.
Erdva seemed to act offended:
- All the wiring was restored during the night. There are no de-energized areas. Voltage on the repulsor platform is forty kilowatts. It's still rising. Lights are coming back on. Life support systems are normal. Less than one percent remaining fuel. Self-diagnostic system... operational. Sixty-one irregularities detected. Core temperature and pressure are within normal limits.
- Great," I said calmly, "give me a list of everything the SDS is fighting about, and I'll go fix it. Tomorrow's the flight.
- I'll go with you," the droid said, and together we went to fix the defects. The first ten were broken pipes, then dried out and lost oil moving parts, and finally something original-the gate of the interceptor hangar wouldn't close because of mechanical damage. I didn't even notice the interceptors - just a bunch of archaic ships standing in the corner... But now I looked closer-it was the Sith Empire's interceptors. They were strange, with their outstretched wings, their fuselage shrunk down to the size of the cockpit, and their engines in the back. They looked like insects of some kind.
While I fixed the hangar gate, I examined the interceptors as well.
The lights came on. As soon as I entered the hangar, whose open gate offered a gorgeous view of the desert and the two giant claws above and below, the ship was illuminated by lamps mounted under the ceiling and on the walls. The light also made the time-beaten walls and floor of the hangar more visible.
- Erdva, how's the gravity generator?
- It's working.
- In that case, fly to our ship and bring it to the hangar," I looked around. The hangar was quite impressive, at least two hundred meters long and ten meters high. I could play soccer, since it was about the same size as a soccer field.
Erdva, not dignifying me with a response, soared into the air and left the hangar through the gate while I climbed forcefully through the more or less intact interceptor. The G9, after folding the pylon sticking out under the cockpit, fit easily into the hangar. It could rather even be called compact. When my ship landed, I decided to prepare to depart with the spoils toward Corellia. As soon as Erdwah showed himself, I informed him:
- Come to the bridge, Erdva.
And off we went. This time the elevators were working, so we only had to walk a couple of hundred meters and make our way to the pilots' superstructure. There the picture changed drastically. All the terminals were on, the holograms were glowing on the console, and the navigation computer was humming in the corner. An ancient model.
I made my way to the first pilot's console and sat down in the chair. All the controls of the ship were at my fingertips and I, with fear in my subconscious, moved the repulsor power lever. The ship wobbled, the lights flashed for a split second, but in a second it was over - there was a strong but seemingly distant hum. It came from under the belly of the ship and, from a height of several hundred meters, you could see the barchans crumbling from it, the hum, under the action of the sound waves. The hum increased, became thinner, and the barchans that the ship had left underneath smoothed out as if they had been ironed over - there must have been more than a hundred decibels, and sand is very receptive to sound.
The altitude gauge flickering in front of me showed that we were fifteen meters above the surface, though I couldn't see it. I increased the power of the repulsors even more and changed their thrust vector. The ship at forty meters above the sand sailed toward Mos Espa.
The arrival of the cruiser at the spaceport was the number one event for the locals. For starters, an approaching dot appeared on the horizon, but they paid no attention to it. The dot grew larger and larger by the minute. The ship was not so big in full view, but in profile a giant. The dot kept growing until the local regulars and merchants began to look at it more and more. Ten minutes later it was obvious it was a ship, and when the giant thing whizzed past the spaceport, drowning out the sun and creating a quick sandstorm in the streets, people piled into the buildings. The reason for that, though, was that if it crashed, it would wipe the entire spaceport off the face of the earth. Or rather, Tatooine.
The giant ship made its way to a relatively free parking lot and surprisingly deftly landed on it, taking up almost the entire area.
Arriving in Mos Espa, I immediately rushed to the bike and, after pumping fuel into it, flew it out to the merchants. Refueling a ship like the forbidding one isn't cheap, and I still have to maintain my spy on Naboo...
I was already on the verge of bankruptcy - I was woefully short of money, so I had to hope that the Mandalore ores would bring in enough to cover at least my immediate expenses.
I flew quickly to the hangars on the upgraded bike, and, after flying into the free one, got off the bike, which was already surrounded by technicians.
- Who's in charge of the fuel trade here?
- So, the chief of the fuel warehouse," one of the technicians answered me, and couldn't help asking: - And what kind of ship is that? - he nodded in the direction of the abandoned "forbidding".
- A cruiser. Thanks for the information," I nodded.
I remembered him from when I was a Tatooine slave, because I'd seen his office once. So now I went to see him without delay.
The old Twi'lek, very... extravagant-looking, in the classic suit of his race, was sitting in his office. There was nothing to worry about today, but here I was!
- Hello!" I walked into the office. It was chilly inside. - I need fuel. It's urgent.
- Yes, yes..." he nodded. - How much? - and went to his datapad.
- Thirty tons," I answered, smiling.
Twilek almost dropped the datapad from his hands.
- How much, how much?
- Ten tons," I repeated.
- What do you need so much for? - He did not understand.
Instead of the answer I pointed to the window. He went to the window and whistled - a huge cruiser was rising above the Mos-Espa. Apparently, he had overslept my arrival.
- Here's for my boat," I smiled, "will you pour me some fresh fuel?
- I guess..." he hesitated, "yes. It will cost..." he looked at the datapad, "if it's simple, half a hundred thousand.
Not a bad price, for not much expensive fuel. My G9 ship ate forty kilos of fuel from Corellia to Tatooine. If you don't turn on any extra lights on this and power the hyperdrive from the backup reactor, my calculations of ninth-class hyperdrive power suggest that the cruiser would eat about a centner for such a jump. But so far the price per kilogram of fuel, inexpensive but decent, was in the region of five credits per kilogram, which means that the cruiser's journey from Tatooine to Corellia would cost five hundred credits. That's... fantastically cheap. The rest of the fuel is just to have a reserve - the ship's systems also gobble up a lot of electricity.
I took a credit card with the necessary amount from my pocket and handed it to Twilek:
- Here's the right amount. I'm aware of the prices. Fuel needs to be filled today. Can you handle it?
- I think... yes, we can manage," he answered and began to look through the credit card for money.
- In that case, I won't bother you anymore," I wrapped up the conversation.
The refueling truck with the necessary fuel arrived quickly, after a couple of hours, during which probably the whole spaceport came to see the cruiser. Some wanted to come closer, but they had to be kept at a distance. Two hours later, a cargo platform of a fuel tanker came up. The platform wasn't designed for such large ships, and it took some fiddling with the fuel pumps and hoses, me and the droids, but after half an hour of work, the fuel went into the tanks, and after a few more minutes the strong pumps sucked up the rest of the fuel. Such a small bite of a treat the monster ship swallowed in one sitting and now, after all that had been done, it was time to take off. The hum of the repulsors seemed to destroy the whole spaceport, but the buildings held - after refueling the fuel was at three percent, which was already enough for a long time of work. If we did not turn on the weapons and defense systems.
The ship rose above the sands of Tatooine and flew upward. The grav generators kicked in. It took about an hour to go into orbit - the cruiser was rather fast in the atmosphere, but I wasn't bored, the ship was not designed for one pilot, so I had to do a good run to start the systems. And it's a good thing I could reach the button by force, because I had to run like a sprinter all over the bridge. Erdva was there, commanding the droids that replaced the most necessary members of the crew. It didn't require a large crew to simply move the ship.
After we reached a stationary orbit, preparations for hyperjump began. Such a trip on a backup hyperdrive would take at least a month. I only tiredly and humbly accepted the fact that I would be late for the start of class- leaving the ship to the droids alone was not an option. Fortunately, during the trip I had studied with the secretary droid and was ready to get to work. It was two weeks to the start of the school year, that is, ten days.
Before I made the jump, I transferred the money to the mercenary's credit card and inspected the hyperdrive control panel. The ship gave out jump-ready certificates one at a time, and when the last sensor signaled readiness, I pulled the switch that energized the hyperdrive. The stars in front of the cockpit blurred into lines, and we entered hyperspace.
I was facing a month on the ship. The food and water supplies on my transporter would suffice for that time, so I wasn't worried, and after Erdva reported that the flight was going smoothly, I went to explore the ship more closely.
* Naboo, Edward and Shmi's Wedding, Tyber
The lucky girl sat a little closer than etiquette allowed, but no one cared-I'd already told Edward that I was coming with my sweetheart. How fortunate it was that the money would go away, and the job would last... I wouldn't have to kill anyone at the risk of my life. There were some inconveniences about trying to marry me, though. This turn of events was very, very cool - it seemed that only yesterday I came to the planet to collect information, and today everything is already planned for years to come - just follow the plan. One part resisted, while the other part said that this is how I could live happily, prosperously, and most importantly, for a long time. As soon as the meal was over, the banquet turned into a buffet - a large crowd of invitees broke up into small groups. The happy newlyweds - a bride, a young woman in a white dress, and an unhappy man, ringed somewhere in the corner away from public eyes, were kissing in full force. I had to watch them half-eyed, but only until Inga took me with her. There were no cameras here, so I didn't have to worry about being seen. It was a small room, apparently for technical purposes. I followed, and was about to ask her why she had brought me here, and to move to a place where it was easier to observe the target, but the girl turned and kissed me on the lips. Aggressively, I didn't even expect it. In a minute she was helping me pull her clothes off. Whatever, I'll have time to watch the target at another time...
The back room, there was no other way to put it, and in a few minutes it was filled with the sounds of slightly hoarse breathing, moaning, and sex...
* * *
Hyperspace, Anakin Skywalker. A week later.
* * *
The ship was... colossal. It looked gigantic on the outside, but it was actually the size of a small city!
Inside was everything - thousands of cabins left by the crew, kitchens, toilets, even an incinerator! In all this labyrinth of corridors and nooks, large halls and cramped rooms, it was possible to get lost. I used all my strength to explore the ship, but I couldn't do it all in a week. Looking around the ship became a habit, since there was nothing else to do in the morning except study with the droid and take walks. It was like walking in a giant park.
I strongly suspected that I could never get around the whole cruiser. If it's a cruiser, then what's a Star Destroyer? It must be such a gigantic structure that it takes your breath away.
So far, my main dwelling place was the captain's quarters, located near the bridge. Not far below was the infirmary.
Even lower down, in the lower claw, I found a legion of Sith battle droids, but I was wary of turning them on - what if that nasty thing attacked? So not only did I not turn them on, but I isolated the room tightly and gave them to the Corellians so that they could go through the firmware of these archaic monsters.
Between the two claws was the hangar. It was there that I spent more time than in the other parts-not only were all the comforts of my ship, since the systems of it didn't work, but the interceptors, too! Twelve machines, of varying degrees of batteredness, were piled in a corner. After collecting them by force, I watched for hours to see what such an interceptor was all about. It turned out to be a small, light, weak ship. It was inferior even to the daggers of our time, and the dagger was the cheapest thing ever made. I made a vow to revise my armament fleet, so I removed all the fuel from the fighters' reactors, dumped it into my ship, and dismantled it for parts. The most valuable items from them were lasers, engines, reactors, and repulsors. Not knowing where to put all this stuff, I took the bike out of my ship and attached the reactor from the Interceptor to it. It was... a monster. After two hours of work, my bike had kinetic shields, a reactor five times more powerful than his own, even after upgrading, and one turbolaser that could shoot straight ahead. The sight, windshield, control handles, and other parts of the cockpit also made the bike look much more formidable. But that's all pampering. Even my G9 had shields and weapons superior to these interceptors. Finished pampering, I turned again to the problem of upgrading the cruiser. I was able to crawl through hyperspace with one reactor, but I don't take part in such flights anymore. I flew from Corellia to Tatooine for a week, and back for five weeks. It's unfathomable, unacceptable.
Unlike the first flight, though, the second wasn't as boring. In the course of the examination I even repaired some things, but more out of habit.
In one of the cabins I found a lightsaber. An old one.
I took it apart and, inserting a new power unit, turned it on. The sword grew, a bright red blade. A reminder of an enemy long gone. Just in case, I kept the saber and continued to study the ship.
I made a little more progress on the academy curriculum than I expected, too - the droid and I studied the core subjects in theory.
I missed Alessia terribly.
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