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After a weekend spent in near-perfect conditions, it was time to return to the sinful Alderaanian land of the dorm and the droid. Ali, now much more... brave, or relaxed, for short, fluttered off to her room and left me alone. Alone with my forgotten and neglected iron friend.
It took me almost another day of painstaking work to complete all the work and reprogram the droid. Ali had gone off to study, having only glanced in my room, but I didn't hurry to the academy - I was programming. The drivers for the devices were included in the kit, but there were a couple of devices that I created personally, and here I had to sweat. But I coped with the work at a relatively high pace and, having finished the droid completely, switched it on. By then it was already the middle of the day, and we were back early in the morning.
The droid switched on and puffed for a few seconds, examining its carcass, and then finally spoke with its newfangled vocabulator:
- What have you done to me? - It took me an hour, if not more, to find a voice for Erdv. In the end, I settled on a masculine, youthful voice, with a slightly comical sound due to the distortion. So the droid's voice became like a man who'd inhaled helium and was a little electronic at the same time.
- You have no idea what that is, my friend, no idea," I smiled, making the droid think. Or do a self-diagnosis.
And then my iron friend started checking the tool. Instead of welding, he found a blaster, which he almost shot into the wall with, then pulled out his own lightsaber.
- What's that for?
- How? It cuts, welds, heats, you can solder with it if you need to," I shrugged, "look further.
Then the droid twirled his new manipulators and tested the projector. I didn't put a force field on it - it was easier to armour it with metals from hyperdrives, which were still dusting in the cargo hold of the G9, and it was dusting in the car park.
Erdva was an exceptionally interesting droid, and even after modification into a prototype it could become fantastically functional. Such a global modification could be mass-produced, but before that we would have to test it in the field, i.e. in real conditions of ship repair and maintenance. The only problem was that I had no problems with technical inspection - I corrected all defects myself. Well, as corrected - for me to fix some incorrectly working part was like picking up a screwdriver that fell on the floor. Just as naturally, so I didn't notice how on the fly I used to repair the ship. So there was no practice for Erdv - I had to make it up as I went along - forcefully dismantle a few of his old parts, or rather welding and part of the reactor, and send a droid to fix it. I also chose breakages very similar to the real ones, so I didn't doubt the purity of the experiment.
The droid, not yet accustomed to its new limbs, worked as hard as it could, but it didn't work. Then I, watching him, advised:
- Load the drawings into the RAM and connect the computing module to simulate the future process.
- Will that help? - Erdva said in a sad voice.
- It should help.
The droid did so, and before it got to work, it huffed and puffed for maybe five seconds, which is a lot of time for its processing power. But it was getting better - at least his cutting and arc-light welding was much better than his first attempt, and his electronics performance was outstanding.
- Now stand back as far as you can and try to extend the arms to their full length," I asked, and Erdva complied. The length of the arms was exactly the same as his own, i.e. a metre without a cap.
After puffing, the droid coped with it, and I continued to torture him in test mode - forcefully levitated the object of repair - welding machine to the other end of the room, with the words:
- Now pull it to you and repair it.
Erdva fulfilled this request as well - the machine flew across the room and into the droid's tenacious manipulators. Instead of the standard two, there were now three - just like on the droids I'd seen. It's not surprising - two are needed directly in the process of work, and the third can be auxiliary and universal... universal... something clicked in my head and I, having commanded "follow me" immediately rushed in the direction of the local radio market. At the same time I made a vow to attach a socket to the speeder, like on fighter planes - that way it would be possible to dock with the astrodroid system, i.e. to increase its usefulness during normal travelling.
But for now, he had to operate it himself, manually. Braking again at the very wall, I came up for air and ducked into the local analogue of the "hunchback". The salesmen who were steaming me merchandise, I remembered and immediately walked past. The one who sold me the parts for Erdva was not suitable, as I had a rather crazy idea and needed a workshop, it was impossible to realise it in a room. I ran to the third floor, to the one I bought the ship from. An unfriendly but rather professional salesman. His shop was open and I rushed in, startling the salesman.
- Ah, it's you," he said immediately, "welcome, or something....
- Don't try to be friendly, it doesn't suit you," I returned the favour, causing the salesman to smile. - I urgently need a workshop and some parts.
- Wait, wait, what workshop? - He was surprised. Erdwa flew in behind me and landed on the floor.
- To repair the droids. I'll pay for it, of course," I said the obvious thing, "or are you saying that these droids, you made on your knees? - I nodded towards the R2s standing off to the side.
- One of the workshops did it," the salesman shrugged. - But I'm not connected with them.
- What do you mean? - I was surprised, looking into the eyes of the seller.
- It's like this. You're not Alderaanian, are you?
- Suppose I am," I said cautiously.
- If you were Alderaanian, you'd know that a lot of people here are into art.
- I know that," I walked around the display case of ship models and stood in front of the salesman.
- And this equipment is not a mere commodity," he circled his shop, "it's a work of art. Of course, very specific works of art, but still.
- И?.. - I asked a question, demanding a continuation. I don't understand.
- There are several workshops in Aldera that do not just repair, but deal with such specific technical art," he continued, "they treat their creations with great care. You know, they're very particular about their subject matter. I buy from them what they put up for sale and sell it here. Usually there's always a buyer.
- So you're not connected to the workshop? - I was sad. The seller turned out to be a reseller.
- They're pretty closed campaigns, and each workshop has its own problems," the salesman's face was thoughtful. - But you can still go to someone. I can give you the address, and there as you can agree.
- Okay," I agreed silently. - Erdva! Write it down.
The droid came out from behind me and said in human language:
- Give me the address of those vivisectors, boy.
The salesman was a bit surprised - putting a vocabulator in the R2 series is quite difficult, not considering the other modifications. It's hard to screw something not designed for it, and mine only had a fire extinguisher from the stock modifications, the rest was made from spare parts for more powerful droids or from stationary systems, for example, a projector and a computing module.
The salesman dictated an address to the droid, and the droid unfolded a two-metre high, coloured, flat projection of Aldera above him, putting the salesman in a strange state I couldn't quite qualify.
- 'This is here,' the droid highlighted a section on the outskirts of the city, shading the rest of the projection.
- 'Then let's fly. Thank you," I thanked the salesman and immediately set off in the direction of the exit. But I was called out by the salesman:
- "Hey, kid!
- Yes? - I stopped.
- If you have anything, you bring it to me, I'll give you a good price.
- Done, - I smiled and went to the address of the workshop.
The local navigator led me to an analogue of an industrial zone or rather a garage co-operative. It was a small private spaceport - four well pads with ships and a few ground hangars, the whole area was fenced off and there was a secretary droid at the entrance, an analogue of a checkpoint. I had to speak to him:
- Excuse me, are these the workshops? - I asked politely. - I was advised to come here.
- You were not deceived. What is the matter, or who are you here to see? - he asked in a clearly programmed phrase.
- I urgently needed a workshop to modify my droid, so I came to you.
- We don't deal with droid modification orders," the secretary replied.
- I don't need your engineers. I'll modify it myself, but I need a workshop.
- Just a second, I'll check with the management... - the droid fell out of reality for a few seconds, and then still let me inside. Inside, as I said, there was a small area of one hundred by one hundred metres, on which four hangar-wells and three buildings of obviously purely technical purpose were located. I went straight to the main building - they were signed and above the gate were the numbers one, two and three. I reasoned that the administration was most likely located in the first building. But they were not going to carelessly send a stranger to walk on their territory, and halfway there I was intercepted by a man, an Alderaanian in his late teens.
- How do you do? I am Maximilian Bindo, owner of the workshop," he bowed, and I followed suit:
- Anakin Skywalker, student at the Alderaanian Academy.
- It's nice to see that the younger generation is not satisfied with the creations of factories and is interested in technical art," he said politely, looking at Erdv. Bindo wasn't supposed to be in any mood for me and wanted to escort me out, but he was courteous.
- I had modified my Erdv as best I could at home, but now I needed a workshop to continue the work. I would like to ask your permission to do the work," I bowed once more. This time there was interest in the old man's emotions.
- Permission to see what you've been able to do?
- Of course. Erdva, show Maximilian what you've got.
- Aye, Captain! - replied the droid, and under the growing interest Erdva "threw ponts" - demonstrated all his modifications - starting from repulsors and ending with a light arc. It was on the last one that Bindo couldn't stand it:
- What in God's name is that? - he pointed at the blue beam that emerged from the droid's manipulator with a characteristic sound.
- It's an analogue of the lightsaber the Jedi use. It cuts, welds, heats, solders. You can change the width, length, and power of the arc.
- But how? - the old man wondered. - A lightsaber cannot be created by non-Jedi. A subordinate of mine tried something like this fifty years ago, but concluded that it was technically impossible to realise. And as the size decreases, the complexity increases many times over!
- That's true. I'm not a Jedi, but I know some of their tricks," I shrugged. - What do you think of the idea of turning a sword into a universal tool?
- Genius! - The man's emotions were dominated by excitement and contentment. I understand him - sometimes life seems so grey that you want something radically new, in thoughts, emotions, actions ...
- That's not all. Inside you'll find a thirty-two petaflops computational module.
- How much? - judging by my emotions, I had the man in my pocket.
- Thirty-two petaflops. That's from a large G5-series droid, twenty-six petaflops, plus overclocked thanks to the cryonics system to thirty-two.
- And the reactor? Is it powerful enough for such a monster? And there aren't any sockets in the R2 series for such monsters," he hesitated. I commanded the droid:
- Erdva, open the hull, - the droid obediently opened and right on the concrete platform of the spaceport I demonstrated the results of work - cryonics, computing module and reactor for one megawatt. So there is enough power for future modifications.
A standard small flat, like my room, with all the appliances, consumed ten times less power. I really overestimated the droid's reactor power. The standard R2 consumed about five kilowatts of power for its operation - a lot of it was consumed by the electronics, which, as you realise, are much more complex than what we have on earth and consume their power accordingly. Thirty petaflops is normal power for an Earth supercomputer that takes up several rooms and eats power on an industrial scale. Miniaturisation does not mean that the number of processes and therefore the power consumption is reduced, and the cooling system consumes so much that it is frightening. The computational module and its cooling account for ninety-seven per cent of the power consumption, but there was plenty of free power to spare. So I filled Erdva with the softest and lightest fuel that would give maximum life to the reactor and power systems. Three litres of fuel would be enough for twenty years of continuous operation, or fifty years of operation in minimum mode, or five years of operation with frequent use of VMs. That's the arithmetic.
At first glance, it may seem that the reactor is weak - the speederbike has a similar reactor in size, but it produces much more power, but here is the specificity of the technology - for the operation of repulsors requires more power, and not for ordinary, but for high-speed flight. Here everything is tied to gravitational fields - technologies oriented on the use of fields, gravitational, magnetic, force fields, consume a colossal amount of energy. Hyperdrives, repulsors, deflectors, for example, are among those technologies. In this case, the residual principle works here - the main energy is not used to perform the target action, force or electromagnetic disturbances are used, arising during the passage of current through certain metals in a certain sequence. That is, the efficiency of a repulsor or hyperdrive is always at the level of one or two per cent, and the main energy is spent on overcoming the resistance of conductors - in the described cases, these are the circuits and the main block of the hyperdrive, the windings and projectors of repulsors, or the emitters of deflector shields.
I realised this back when I was flying with Julian and researching hyperdrive. The reactors of bikes and speeders constantly needed refuelling and were not designed for constant, non-stop operation, they had a much shorter service life... in short, for the sake of power the designers sacrificed a lot of parameters, which the droids' reactors had at their best.
Closing the droid, I remained silent as Bindo pondered. But later still came away from what he had seen:
- But how can you change the circuitry at home? There are several hundred new elements in there, not counting the socket for the VM.
- I did my best. Besides, I told you I'm not a Jedi, but I can do some tricks.
Bindo was satisfied with the answer, and the workshop doors opened wide for me. The droid workshop was located in the second hangar and was, in my opinion, beautiful. I could see expensive tools, a couple of droid technicians fiddling with their brethren, and a guy in his twenties, maybe a little more, who was looking at me with interest as I came in with Bindo. The old man spoke:
- Lin, there's a newcomer here to sit with you, okay?
- What, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, chief, come here," the named one looked at me. - Come on, don't be shy, mate.
Lin had some kind of device on his head, a visor, apparently.
The chief left, and I went into the workshop. It smelled of spilled reactor fuel, oil and burnt iron, and there were parts and tools everywhere I looked. Lin slid his visor to the back of his head and, after wiping his hands with a rag, extended his hand to me. A handshake is customary on Alderaan, but not as an element of protocol - too informal.
- I'm Lin Riekan, local technician. You come in, what's your name? What's this, R2? - Lin said in a raspy voice. I even thought for a second that he was on some amphetamines, but I noticed a cup of coffee in the corner of his desk. Yes, it wasn't the same coffee that grew on Earth, but caffeine as a biochemical element was present in other, very similar in taste and colour plants on some worlds in the galaxy, so I named fifty different drinks similar to Earth's with that word.
- Anakin Skywalker. Nice to meet you," I said, shaking his firm hand. So, it was very conventional, but we were related - my mother's husband, my stepfather, a bastard of the Riekan family.
- Come on, make yourself comfortable, there aren't many people here, I'm usually the only one who hangs out.
- While I was looking around the workshop, he was giving me a tour of his fiefdom. At the end of the tour, I found what I needed - test chambers for repulsors and a universal reactor. I also needed some lab instruments that were here. Everything was perfect!
Lin, having finally spoken, sipped some more of the elixir of vigour from his mug and began to ask me about life.
- Are you one of our people? You know, Alderaanian?
- No, I'm not. I'm just a student here at the academy. I passed my second year exam, so I'm relatively free," I smiled. - You know, I have a yacht and it needs droids, so I'm making a prototype of a future droid. From my R2. Erdva's a very iron friend of mine. His personality is kind of unusual. I built my first droid five years ago, C3PO, to help my mum.
- Cool! - Lin smiled surprisingly sincerely. - That's something to remember. I built my first one when I was fourteen. I tried before that, but it was rubbish.
- It happens," I shrugged and asked myself:
- Are you related to the noble house of Riekan?
- Well, sort of. My grandfather doesn't like me. And I don't like intrigues, scandals and politics in general. This is my home," he circled his arm, showing the first-class workshop around him.
- So technology is closer? - I smirked.
- Exactly. I even ran away from home at fifteen when they tried to marry me off for political reasons. All right, boy, I won't burden you with my problems.
- Why not? It's very interesting, but I think we'll talk about it some other time.
- Yeah, yeah, right, I've got work to do," he returned to the dismantled droid and continued his business. So much for talking.
Was our meeting a coincidence? I'm not sure, but it's the will of the force. Deciding not to be surprised by the coincidence, I left with Erdva to the stands and workbenches.
My idea was as simple as chintz pants and yet as complex as the invention of the hyperdrive.
Erdva, when repairing, was guided by plans and diagrams of parts, as well as information from video sensors. In the dormitory, I suggested that he should not do the work as it was designed, but first use his gigantic computational capabilities to model the process of tool action on the part, and work out the most rational way of action, i.e. repair, based on the modelling. That is, to simulate the process of different types of impact and choose the most rational one, to conduct a virtual experiment together with predictions of the results of these or those actions. The result of my reflections - the case can be taken to a completely different level! Completely different, if Erdva can not only read blueprints and do everything according to the instructions, but also virtually simulate the situation himself and see what exactly and how it will be as a result of his work. For example, when repairing an interrupted electrical circuit, a normal droid will strictly follow the instructions - it will solder the place of breakage and insulate the bare section of wire. This is, say, an ordinary reactor-transformer-switch-consumer electrical circuit. If Erdva is able to carry out modelling, i.e. calculate the circuit, current, resistance of conductors, action of various circuit elements in his electronic brain, then he, the droid, will be able to understand on his own, without any hints, drawings and software instructions, using logic, how the circuit should work, how it works, and what exactly needs to be changed.
Now there is no such thing - the droid is loaded with information on breakdowns, and they repair, drawing detailed instructions on the use of their tools from special databases. They, these databases, contain all the information on nodes and units of ships and they are constantly updated in connection with updating the model range.
This discovery made a revolution in the creation of electronic engineer, because he became his own engineer, repairer, and could make decisions on the basis of computer modelling, about these or those actions. From the outside it may look like he is making decisions himself - from the inside it should look like scanning a node, determining current processes, modelling normal operation and comparing it to what he sees with scanners. In this way, the droid can be taught to independently detect a defect in a part it may have never seen before, and has no information about it in databases. It can independently choose a repair method, and optimise all stages of the process on its own - simply based on the results of modelling rather than database access. The process of repairing units and assemblies is prescribed accurately enough only for the most common parts and their breakdowns - any complex defect or rare damage can drive the droid into a stupor, as it will not be able to determine on its own what exactly needs to be changed to make it work. In the best case - it will turn to databases for more general instructions or will take up repairing parts, the order of importance of which is the highest.
But to realise my idea, I will need all the art of metal management that I am capable of and I am not sure that I can make the scanner correctly.
The essence of the idea is this: a scanner based on multiple fields that interact with each other and with matter, pass through matter and send a response to the receiver. This effect has been known since the first hyperdrives - the disturbances they create are much larger than their ship and the fields generated by the hyperdrive give a response to some sensors. But first, I would need to do a lot of experiments to create the fields and record the responses to them.
I decided to start with theoretical calculations and having opened the CAD at Erdv's, I immediately caught Lin's attention:
- A new projector?
- Yep. Two metre image.
- Holy shit. Where'd you get it?
- Local market. You know, the one north of town.
- Do they have projectors for R2?
- They only have stock ones. This one's from a communications droid. But it works great.
That was the end of the conversation, and I started calculating the field emitter coefficients. Judging by even rough calculations, I needed a projector like a torch that would create fields around itself. A cylindrical shape was chosen for this purpose. The intensity of the field depended on the amount of winding. The winding metal had to include more than just the standard set of hyperdrive metals. During my work as a flight mechanic, I had a good practical knowledge of metals and the fields they create, so I simply made up a set that created a field of a certain energy that travelled well through most construction materials. Neuranium was the only one it couldn't handle. Outside the workshop gates, evening came and then night fell, but I didn't stop, sitting in front of Erdva and adding more and more elements to the designed structure. It was intuition that was most valuable in designing - some seemingly correct solutions made my intuition howl and were postponed. Others conversely, something told me it was a good decision. Lin finished his work for the day and turned to me:
- Are you going to stay here? It's midnight already.
- How much? - I was surprised.
- Midnight, I tell you. Don't stay out too late.
- Yes, yes, I'll come back tomorrow and continue my work," I said, and immediately, wrapping up the results of my work, I left the workshop. Lin and I left on our speeders in different directions. I - to the dormitory.
I started to work directly on the wunderwaffle-scanner in the middle of the next day.
Intuition and my ability to forge metal as I wanted, allowed me to do in a day what others would have taken weeks of work - just to create the right wire or plate, with the right metal structure, usually have to resort to factory work, melting, forging, and other delights of life. And what's in it for me - pop, pop, there's a part ready.
I brought the G9 transport all of it, because it contained about ten tonnes of various valuable metals, and I had nothing else to transport them on. Bindo looked through his fingers at the new ship next to the hangar and didn't pay much attention to it when he greeted me.
After telekinesis transferring the metals to the workshop, I sat down in the corner and, with Erdva's assistance, began to smelt the parts I needed. Erdva showed me the blueprints of the parts, and I immediately produced them - for example, about three hundred metres of wire, about one hundred micrometres thick, the thickness of a human hair. Also about twenty layers of foil made of an alloy of ultrachromium and carbonite. Topping off the construction were two layers of insulation - a wire of neuranium, wound on a foil of ultrachrome, also with flecks of neuranium. This insulation will allow to reflect the radiation and direct it not in all directions from the emitter, but in a narrow stream towards the scanned object. I had an idea to make a movable part of the screens so that the droid could change the thickness of the scanning field, but in order to save time and effort I decided not to hurry and make a permanent scanner with rigidly set field parameters.
After six hours of work, the scanner was ready. It looked like... well, like a steel dildo. Don't laugh, it did look like a sex shop product, but it had a different purpose.
After screwing the scanner wires to the scanner I finally got to the main part of the piece, the receiver. The receiver, in fact, was similar to a digital matrix from a video sensor, only instead of photocells, it had to have elements that change their parameters based on the reflection of the force field radiation hitting them. Such metal was very fragile, but nevertheless used in alloys, carvanium. Usually in its pure form it was considered absolutely useless and was used only as a sensor of force fields, as it resonated with some of them. The parameters of the emitter created by me correspond most precisely to the parameters for resonance with carvanium matrix. One difference - photocells created electrons by themselves when light hit them, and here it was necessary to bring contact to each element, but in the end it turned out the same as in the reaction of the photocell.
You can't break it, you can't build it. That was my reasoning and I dismantled the video sensor of an old droid I'd found in a junkyard workshop. The video sensor was a rather old model, but its resolution was more than enough for my purposes.
It took me another hour to replace all the photocells on the sensor with microscopic plates. Carvanium, when exposed to a force field of a certain frequency, changes its resistance parameters. In this case the scheme of the video sensor suited me better than anything else - on one side we supply each microplate with a certain, very small, but constant electric current, and at the same time on the other side there is a second contact from the plate, the output contact. The field is reflected from any element, on which it falls, depending on its intensity, can overcome both the top layer and thick overlaps and cases of separate assemblies. And then, the reflected signal, like light. It falls, but not on the lens of the video sensor, but on the focusing rings. Yes, exactly the rings, which emit under voltage the simplest electromagnetic field and other fields, after passing through the focusing rings, change the scale of the picture, but do not change in their structure. The system from a conventional video sensor, after modification, fitted perfectly.
The sensor was created and shielded from radiation from the wrong side, and then inserted into the space provided.
Finishing touches like installing and testing the electronic parts took another couple of hours. In the end I just connected the instrument to one of the terminals via the universal interface and, running a program analogue to the webcam software, took some test shots. The pictures turned out to be... let's say, rather skewed, but I could see through them. You could see!
The joy when something you designed and built yourself works is probably the only thing that keeps a designer alive - it's a really great feeling. Of course, I had to fix the defect in the focusers once again, but still, I ended up with a technique scanner that can give an image with an accuracy of one micrometre and can be used to analyse any technique. The first test subject was a droid I found that wasn't working. Layer by layer the scanner took an image of it, then combined the resulting slices into a single image. The result was a first-class three-dimensional schematic of the droid - down to the smallest details. There were smaller ones, but they weren't repairable by the astrodroids.
It was time to give this wunderwaffle to my iron friend. Plugging the scanner into a free tool slot, I fired up the droid. There's still a lot of work to be done before he can really learn to analyse the tech. Not for me, for him.
Erdva, having received a new toy in his manipulators, immediately went to use it. I only directed his activity in the right direction:
- Erdva, first of all, scan something with the new scanner and create a drawing-projection.
- Why?
- I want to see what happens.
- Okay. What are we scanning?
I've directed him to the repulsor scanner. Erdva drove up to it and started running the scanner along the parts. After a few minutes he finished and a projection of the machine appeared above his dome - quite accurate.
- Now switch off the link to the repair databases and start analysing.
- What kind of analysis? - The droid asked.
- What kind of analysis? Analysing the design you scanned. Download programmes from the net, maybe even paid ones. Take money from this card..." I handed the droid my credit card. Erdva was silent, but like a small ATM, accepted the credit card into the appropriate slot. Five minutes later the credit card was returned to me and the droid reported:
- I've downloaded a program to simulate physical processes and five more programs for different types of analysis of the system's operation.
- Here, start working. You'll be able to determine where what elements are by downloading schematics of the machine from the net, so just make a virtual schematic.
- Will do, Captain! - bravely answered the droid and hummed the VM cooling system.
The work was finished and I left my contact information to Lin and left the workshop back to the dorm. And there my studies were waiting for me. The third-year curriculum was already in the droid, and I decided not to put things off and while Erdva was learning to analyse schematics, I went to study. Not right away, though, so I stopped by Ali's place once more to start. But without intimacy - at our age the need for it is not so high. A little later the most "heat" will begin, but by that time I will not have any problems.
Talking to Ali, I was convinced once again that my girlfriend is a miracle, because it would be almost impossible to find such a naturally kind and not naive girl among people. And Miralukes manage to combine these two qualities without any problems for themselves.
A new period of hyperlearning began, during which I just fell out of life and did not notice how the days, weeks, months flew by....
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***
The new round started right after exams. The time before it I can describe in one word - things to do. Studying dragged me with a new force - so much so that I didn't even notice how spring came. Snow never fell on Alderaan, and the winter was quite warm. Spring is great for two things - the mating season, which was reflected in the spontaneous increase in my fellow students' sexual preoccupations, and of course, the start of exams. Although it was already summer. I was studying the third year programme and was ready to take exams - if everything went well, the number of problems with my studies would decrease dramatically. Teachers couldn't be happy about such a student as me, though the others shunned me. Relatively shunned - I stopped all business with my fellow students, only with Ali sometimes spent time, no more than that.
The year had lasted ten months. The third was coming to an end now, so exams were just around the corner.
As I studied, I sometimes found time to go to Lin's workshop - the hyperactive and active guy never missed an opportunity to brag about his achievements or ask about mine. The invention of the scanner put him in a stupor for a long time. And he looked for a long time for a trick in my invention, but when he gave up, he offered to patent the idea. I did not refuse, but hired a lawyer for this case, as I had no time to deal with inventions. There was another insurmountable difficulty - I could not describe technically the scanner I had created. I understood how it worked, saw it, felt it, but I could not describe my feelings. No way - even the drawing was difficult to make - it looked like it was just a bunch of twisted wires of different metals, with a sensor inside the coil. It's-it's unreal. When I tried to explain the invention to Lin, he told me it couldn't be, and cited several physical laws that my scanner violated. True, I was granted a patent based on the idea and a working sample, but how it worked, or rather why it could work at all... Lin Riekan, who by that time had already become quite good friends with me, couldn't explain. I needed an expert on force fields, but I delayed - I had no plans to develop this topic. It was impossible to create such a scanner in an industrial version - you need to be an archivist with power. And according to my information, a Jedi assembles his sword within two days at most. Needless to say, I can do the same thing, given the parts, in about twenty seconds? That Jedi understand the structure of hyperdrives and fields, that they can configure their own devices on similar principles - I haven't heard, I haven't seen, and there was no confirmation in the films!
To put it simply, here was something that I simply put down to my "special", unique capabilities and preferred not to waste my time. To make a fortune and fame by producing scanners... nonsense. I had created such a tool for Erdv, but only as a friend, but the issue of replication remained open until I decided to wrap up the topic completely. There was another problem - I couldn't create such scanners for all droids in the galaxy, and if, say, a team of droids with scanners repaired a starship, it would change a lot of things in it, because in the process of modelling it would create other schemes, already optimised. They will be different from the blueprint in normal droids, meaning the ship will become unrepairable. A normal droid will freeze when it sees that one drawing comes from the database, but in reality it sees something completely different. In short, this invention was way ahead of its time. But it's nice to see that the galaxy's resources are not exhausted and the peak of evolution has not passed. I once thought that the galaxy had really overcome the technical period when it could still develop and fell into the swamp of stagnation, but I was wrong. I guess the ancient pre-Republican races thought so too, but if you look at it from the other side - half of the galaxy hasn't been explored yet, no ships have been sent to other galaxies, so we're in the same period as the Earth before the discovery of America - we haven't explored our own home yet... and the "Age of Discovery" is still waiting to happen somewhere out there in the future....
The scanner was still Erdv's unique gadget. And it also came with software limitations, which I set - optimisation is allowed only by replacing old parts with new ones or by optimising the repair process itself, but not by reshaping ship units at the droid's will.
The end of my studies was marked by exams. Exams in the galaxy are surprisingly similar to their Earth counterparts - we enter the auditorium in several batches, then the droid's artificial intelligence gives us tickets based on some random number algorithm of its own and gives us half an hour to prepare. I was taking the exams for my third year, while everyone else was taking the exams for their second year. Since the auditorium was far away from the one where my classmates were taking the exams, I couldn't see Ali, but I could feel her excitement in her strength. It was a strange sensation on the edge of my consciousness.
When it was my turn, I walked proudly into the auditorium and, taking my ticket, sat down to prepare. Sitting at the desk, I fell into a light trance and quickly threw the answers to all the questions - in this way the maximum results were achieved, because the memory in such a state is sharpened to the point of impossibility and it becomes quite easy to remember anything.
Having passed the test and having answered a few questions to the teacher, I got my highest score and was sent away. I wasn't too happy about it - I had no doubts about meditation, but I was worried about Ali's results. I knew how dangerous it was for students to go on benders, periods of fun, sex, serenity and all the rest. That was exactly what I was trying to avoid.
As I approached the auditorium, I didn't see my sweetheart in attendance.
- Have you seen Alessia? - I asked through muffled whispers.
- Over there," someone nodded at the door, and everyone started whispering again.
I didn't have to wait long - Alessia came out five minutes later. Her emotions were either negative or positive.
- Seven," she said sadly, and when she noticed me, she immediately moved away from the group of students, closer to me. Some of them grinned understandingly, and some of them didn't notice and morally prepared themselves for the execution.
- Well, Ali, shall we go? - I nodded and we went together to the dormitory. On the way my friend seemed to get away from the worries and revived, and by the time we flew into the territory of the dormitory, and was quite a lively and cheerful girl. The exam was the last one, so we were both happy about the upcoming summer. I finally paid attention to my finances. Ali kissed me as soon as she got out of the turbolift and ran off to her room, while I went home and unfolded my financials. All the deductions to the Mandalorians for land, Tyber, car parking, paying repair bills and such.
Just the other day I'd received a report from the Corellians about the cruiser, which was now a yacht-the repairs had cost me a hundred million, and the balance for the nine months of production was two hundred and twenty million, not including what they'd taken for repairs. Including that, the balance was one hundred and five million.
When you think about it, the most expensive thing about maintaining a cruiser is the crew. Size and cost aside, the average stipend is one thousand two hundred credits a month. That's not a bad salary by space standards - in ten years of honest work you can save up for your own cargo ship. And if you take into account the seniority bonus, then for five years, because the more you work, the more you get paid. Corellians said that the crew will not exceed one thousand people, so a month's salary to the crew will cost me a million two hundred, and if you take into account the price of minor repairs, droids, fuel and other things, then about a million and a half a month.
I was getting twenty-five million a month from Mandalore - fifty tonnes of beskar were worth that much, according to our contract. So far, the payments had never been delayed, and the transaction list showed twenty-five million every thirtieth day.
Having finished with the accounts and transferred half a million credits to Tyber, due to the discovery of his wife's pregnancy, I closed all the banking programmes. A generous gift is supposed to create some kind of attachment - it shows that I care about his problems and joys, and this in turn will ensure my loyalty. That's what the powerful do when they want loyal subjects.
The Corellians promised to finish the modernisation of the yacht by the end of the summer - I had already approved several design options, which in turn raised the cost of the work considerably. Now the decorating was underway.
When all the work was finally finished, the call came... from Satine.
I'd forgotten all about it, but she must have remembered I was a student and found out when my exams were.
- Erdva, put her through.
This time Satine's figure appeared next to Erdva, full-length, extremely clear, like a ghost... only in colour.
- Yes, Satine, what can I do for you? - I began, when the Duchess's gaze fell on me. Erdva pulled out the sensors so that they coincided with the eyes of the Duchess's projection, thus eliminating the "Skype effect" when you look at the person you're talking to and they're looking in the other direction, i.e. at the screen.
- Hey, Anakin. How'd the exams go?
- 'Not bad thank you,' I replied dryly, 'was there something you wanted?
- You think I can't just get in touch to see how your exams went?
- I didn't think you'd waste your time on such trivialities, Satine. You've got a whole planet under your command, a very turbulent one, mind you, so yeah, I don't believe you're going to get in touch to ask about exams, health or to wish me a good holiday," I tried to keep my tone cold but not dry.
- You're right," she covered her eyes for a second, "you're right, let's leave it aside. I need your help.
- I wondered," I moved forward, closer to the image, "what could you possibly need from me?
- It's very simple. Three days ago, one of the old clans that joined the protests last year was defeated. They've been pushing for the removal of beskar from the planet, although after the restriction we agreed to, the public seemed to calm down....
- What's this got to do with me? - I interrupted her.
- It's just that in this case I need to support the party's policy and conclude an agreement that will be mutually beneficial to us. Just for the sake of appearances, even if the sum won't be that great.
- Do you want to signify an alliance? - I smiled with the corners of my lips. - Yes, I can do you such a small favour. By the way, the KMC is almost finished with the cruiser, ugh, yacht, so we need about a thousand crew members. Can you help?
- No problem," the Duchess nodded.
- What about the KMC? Have you agreed with them too? After all, they are the ones who mine and are always visible, I'm just a landowner, nothing more, - I thought about the KMC officials, who are supposed to deal with it.
- Yes, I contacted the KMC first and they agreed to make a couple of contracts with MandalMotors and the government to order armour for their ships.
- That's good. I guess we can find out the rest when we meet. When's the meeting, by the way?
- The treaty will be in a week, the KMC officials have already left Corellia.
- That's good," I nodded, "in that case, I won't sit still.
The Duchess switched off.
Something like this I assumed - she needs to maintain her credibility and make not only unsubstantiated announcements, but concrete evidence of our arrangements. It's a perfect opportunity for me to get something else of sufficient value out of the Duchess, or just to get a couple of contracts with MandalMotors to arm my "yacht".
The first thing I did after finishing the negotiations was to go to Ali's room. The girl's room wasn't too far away, so I knocked and entered.
From the looks of it, she was in a tizzy - hair messy, things scattered and all.
- Ali, what's going on? - I walked round the sofa and came closer.
- А? Yeah, I'm going to. There's nothing to do in the dorms in the summer, you know.
- I know, I know. This time it will be more difficult to get over the separation for the summer.
- Don't remind me, - the girl turned slightly pink and pouted.
- I've just spoken to Satine. I have to go to Mandalore. I'll make a couple of contracts, purely to portray alliance and goodwill....
- That's how... - Ali seemed upset. But there was also the odd prick of jealousy, for some reason. It was strange. Very strange.
- Yes, exactly. And then taking the yacht from the Corellians, and many other things....
- "I'll go with you," Ali told me, "don't even try to talk me out of it.
- But they're waiting for you at home," I tried to prevent the inevitable.
- They'll wait, - the girl cut me off and, throwing some clothes into the common pile, came closer, - when are we leaving?
- Now," I had to give in, "right now.
The flight to Mandalore really wasn't that urgent, so Ali had time to pack and it wasn't until the next morning that we left.
Ali wasn't aboard the Crown yet, so I left her to explore the delights of the VIP yacht while I jumped into the pilot's seat and started the reactor.
The droid-secretary stayed with Ali, and Erdva was in the cockpit with me, supervising the preparation process.
We pulled away from the surface of the spaceport and crawled upwards into orbit. While I, relaxed in the pilot's seat, watched the instrument readings, Erdva supervised the entire preparation process. Theoretically, on a normal flight, I could have left everything to Erdva, but it would take almost four days to get to Mandalore, and about two days by detour through the wilderness. So, to save two days, I had to pilot myself. Both of these things were practically equivalent, but after flying the cruiser, I had a speed complex, and I didn't want to sit in hyperspace too long.
But this time my journey was brightened up by Alessia - the girl, who was interested in climbing all over the yacht and found a lot of interesting things for herself, such as a gym, immediately came to my cabin and lying on the sofa, read Alderaanian fiction.
After climbing into orbit, Erdva switched on the sublight engines. I reported out of planet space and, having moved a safe distance from orbit, switched on the hyperdrive. We did without navigational calculations - from the first second I took over the controls and, falling into a trance, steered the ship in the direction of Mandalore.
I came out of the trance when I was tired to the point where my eyes fell asleep and my hands let go of the wheel.
The ship dropped out of hyperspace as I hard-circuited the power to the hyperdrive. There were stars all around, and absolute emptiness - no planets or star systems or anything around.
I turned to Erdv:
- Keep an eye on the parameters for now. I'm going to sleep.
- Aye, Captain! - He replied. - I'll be waiting!
- And good..." I glanced at my watch. I'd spent more than ten hours in hyperspace.
Then I had enough strength only to get to the cabin and not paying attention to Ali, who was disturbed by my dead look, to collapse on the bed.
The morning was not much nicer than the evening - I woke up to Ali, who, as I realised, was sleeping on my shoulder. She'd tweaked my arm again, but that was nothing.
- Morning," she stretched and yawned widely, "how did you sleep?
- Fine," I opened my eyes and looked at the girl's back. It turned out that I had been undressed and even tucked in while I was out. I'm not used to such care.
- If you're so tired, why do you torture yourself so much? And why are we in normal space? - Ali glanced at the large porthole, or rather a whole window halfway down the wall, next to our bed.
- We're in wild space. And it takes almost twice as long to fly the route, so I'm leading the ship through wild space.
- Wow..." the girl marvelled, and finally stood up. She was wearing nothing but a very pretty lace panties, and I, while she was walking around the room looking for clothes, started to get turned on. A little more and...
As I expected, I came up behind her and pulled her back to bed, but for something more useful than sleep.
I didn't return to piloting until two hours later. Ali stayed in the cabin, lying down and resting, and I, having been energised and having had a snack of the local equivalent of hamburgers and coffee, returned to the first pilot's chair.
- How was your night, Captain? - Erdva turned the video sensor to me.
- I had a good night's sleep. And the morning is even better," I smiled.
- I switched off the video recorder when you woke up.
- Erdva, you have a lot of tact," I found myself at once.
- I try, Captain. Shall we go back to hyperspace?
- Yeah, go ahead and warm up the reactors. Get the systems ready.
- I did it while you were making breakfast," Erdva said. I opened the hyperdrive parameters in the holographic interface. Indeed, the numbers above the console lit up, indicating that the ship was ready to jump now.
- Thank you, Erdva. Let's go! - I pressed the appropriate lever and the ship jumped into hyperspace. And yesterday's torture of constant Force Navigation continued. Perhaps nothing less spectacular - just sitting and steering the helm, occasionally slowing down due to the difficulty of getting through, even with the Force, in some places.
Arriving at Mandalore it wasn't long before I was finally tired. As my eyes began to slip, the ship approached the Mandalore sector and I leaned back in my chair, cutting off the power at the last moment. The ship dropped off right in the Mandalore system - not far from the planet. We reached Mandalore in two minutes on sublight engines and entered orbit of the planet. As we were supposed to do, we were contacted by the air defence, clarifying our destination and giving us directions to the Duchess's palace in Keldab.
Ali, noticing that the ship had entered the planet's atmosphere, came out to me and sat in the co-pilot's chair.
- Have we arrived?
- Yes, Ali, this is Mandalore," I turned to her. - How are you?
- Better than I've ever been," she smiled. - How long will you be here?
- I don't think so long. There's not much to do.
- Whatever you say.
- We're going to Keldabe, to the Duchess's palace, so get ready to meet her.
- And you didn't tell me? - Ali was surprised and immediately jumped up from her seat. - I have to get dressed properly... and I've taken almost nothing....
- It's not bad," I smiled, nodding at the very frivolous outfit, the translucent nightie she'd spent most of the time on the ship in.
- Fool," the girl didn't take offence, but went off to her cabin. To get dressed.
It was unlikely the Mandalorians would appreciate the outfits and such, but it was problematic to explain it to the girl.
The ship was descending over Keldabe and I went to get ready too - after two hard flights I looked... bad. After a shower, which was supposed to cheer me up, I wanted to sleep even more. We'd probably arrived before the KMC Directorate, so there was time to get some sleep. The ship came down and landed at the Duchess's spaceport, right in the palace, in a separate hangar for ships.
Ali had put on her usual clothes, and on top of them a purple-coloured hooded robe, so it was hard to recognise her as Miraluka and not a human.
As the ramp opened, we saw Satine, who came out to greet us in person.
- Mr Skywalker, you're quicker than I expected, as usual," she chastised me. - Are you sure it's you?
- Don't doubt it, Duchess," I indicated my bow. Satine was accompanied by a guard-two armoured Mandalorians with blasters in their hands. They didn't seem to move at all.
- But as I recall, it's a long way from Alderaan.
- My ship is fast enough that we don't have to wait," I countered, "Let's get to the palace.
Satine smiled politely and we went to the palace. There, upon reaching the residential wing, the duchess dismissed the guards and led me and Ali behind her into the apartments.
- Anakin, would you introduce me to your companion? - The Duchess shot a glance in Ali's direction.
- Alessia, my girlfriend. Ali," I turned to her, "this is Satine Kriz, Duchess and local superior.
Satine smiled at my interpretation of her position, but Ali was perplexed.
- Well, we have met, - Satine nodded courteously to Ali and she also bowed.
- So, Satine, let's do without politeness, as it is difficult to tell in words how much I want to sleep, - I cut off officialism at the root.
- Yes, I'll have your rooms assigned to you at once," the duchess perked up.
- First, tell me when the KMC will arrive. And who's coming?
- They promised to send one of the board of directors," the Duchess shrugged, "so Semetrius, one of the biggest owners, will probably be there.
- Maybe, maybe..." I frowned, "why would he arrive, given the scale of the deal?
- I don't know. Probably also to negotiate with MandalMotors. And because of Galapolitics," the Duchess shrugged her thin shoulders again.
Alessia was silent, apparently unsure of what to say.
- In that case, I'll take advantage of your hospitality and get some sleep before the important business," I said confidently.
Satine contacted someone on the comlink and after a couple of minutes, which we spent exchanging unimportant details, a servant arrived.
Servants, as Mandalorians were supposed to do, wore armour, but in this case it was cloth armour, not much different from ordinary thick clothing. Except for the high-strength ballistic fabric and a layer that protected them from blaster fire, but tradition was tradition.
- Give Lord Skywalker and his companion rooms in the guest quarters," the Duchess said haughtily. The servant bowed slightly. But then Ali spoke up:
- 'One bedroom is enough for us.
The Duchess looked at me in surprise, though her emotions were dominated by playfulness. But Ali, a little jealous of me to the duchess, celebrated the victory.
I, on the other hand, with a look of complete equanimity, agreed, accepting Ali's game.
- Only I would sleep soundly.
A servant immediately escorted us to the spacious rooms, where I, barely undressed, fell on the bed and, after a few seconds of dozing, did not notice Ali lying next to me. She has a habit of sleeping on my shoulder, from which it is always laid back in the morning.
I was dreaming... something disturbing. Something I didn't like at all, but I remembered absolutely nothing. In the morning, when I saw Ali's hair in my face, I calmed down and slipped out of the blanket first. While the girl was peacefully dozing, I did a warm-up, took a bath, drank a cup of coffee, and even waved my lightsaber in the centre of the living room. It should be noted that bringing weapons into the palace is strictly forbidden without permission - only for the duchess, guards, or Jedi. But the latter, due to their moral principles, were not restricted, and the Senate gave them special permission to carry the lightsaber with them at all times. As I was finishing my warm-up with my sword, the same quartermaster who had put us up here yesterday came into the room, attracted by the sounds. He stared in surprise at the sword, which I immediately switched off and turned to him and asked:
- Yes?
- Her Highness invites you and your companion to breakfast.
- When?
- In thirty minutes in the small dining hall," he said.
- In that case, we'll be there.
- I am to escort you," the servant insisted.
- Don't bother, we'll find our way," I was getting annoyed. I knew that Ali was almost naked at home, so I didn't want that prick to stare at my girlfriend. Yes, I'm possessive, but only out of love!
The servant understood my movements with his hand, in which was a lightsaber, correctly and proudly left. I went back to the bedroom without trying my luck. It was soundproofed, so Ali could hardly hear anything.
She was - she was sprawled out on the bed, her blanket in the corner, and she was drifting off to sleep. I had to shake her awake.
- А? Ani?
- Morning, sunshine. Come on, get ready, we've got breakfast with the Duchess in half an hour.
- Could she have said anything later? - The girl was indignant and immediately jumped up on the bed and went to get dressed. It didn't take long to find clothes - when we were getting ready, I preferred to hurry her up - buying clothes was half an hour, but getting her clothes would have taken two hours. And it was simply unprofitable to waste energy - on the last night in the dormitory we preferred to sleep well.
Ten minutes later, the girl, already in full parade, came out of the room and said:
- I'm ready! Lead the way.
And off we went. Navigating in an unfamiliar place is the same as navigating in hyperspace - just trust your intuition and correctly formulate what you want, and it seemed as if my feet were carrying me in the right direction. It was as if I had lived my whole life in this palace and knew it well.
We reached the small hall after ten minutes of walking and just in time - on the other side of the hall through the door entered the Duchess.
- Ani! You're right on time," Satine smiled. Power can do that too, so I just smiled back and changed the subject:
- 'So Satine, when are our Corellian friends arriving?
- At noon they promised," she walked over to the already set table and continued. - Come in, sit down, how is the night? - Satine asked not hiding playfulness looking at Ali.
- Terrible, - I answered, - something bad dreamed.
This changed the mood of the Duchess, but she outwardly remained the same cheerful.
Next, we proceeded to breakfast. For breakfast, the rugged Mandalorians served steak, a side dish of local vegetables, desserts, sweet and savoury and, of course, drinks. The Mandalorian tea was quite unusual in flavour, but I liked it. Ali, on the other hand, apparently did not. She set the cup aside and took another. When everything had been eaten, Satine suddenly started talking to Ali:
- We are supposed to contract with the KMC to retrofit some of their ships with armour and weapons, in return for help with hyperdrives for patrol ships. Along the way, we'll place an order for several hundred light transports to trade with our main customers.
- Is signing a contract so important? - I hinted at the situation.
- It's all about the clans," Satine nodded, "the people need confirmation that my policies are working. Right now we've resolved the beskar issue without a shot being fired and in our favour. If it wasn't for you...
- Let's forget this issue, - I immediately interrupted Satine. - Let's talk about the treaty. The Corellians said that my yacht needs a thousand men.
- It is possible, - nodded the duchess.
- Salaries, ammunition, armouring, supply, that's on me, - I said at once.
- In that case, I'll give you specialists from the army. We have an army of five million men, and I think I can give you a thousand of those who are not yet assigned to their ships.
- As an ally, then," I concluded.
- If you want, they'll swear an oath to you, as they should. Mandalore doesn't betray alliances, much less military ones.
- That depends on how you look at it. I'm not sure I'll be using the yacht for military purposes, but an oath wouldn't hurt," I knew from my academy training that Mandalorian warriors took their Mandalorian code of honour seriously.
Breakfast was over, and the Duchess briefly told me the details of the future treaty before leaving with her guards. The time before noon was free and I took her, in Ali's company, to the garden I had noticed during my last visit to the palace.
The garden was quickly found - it was internal and quite varied. Some of the plants I recognised, as I had seen them when I lived in the woods looking for beskar. Ali was interested too and she was examining the plants, flowers, and even some of the insects flying around the flowers and pollinating them. There were local counterparts of butterflies, though with a different pattern of brightly coloured wings. Ali liked them the most.
Noon came unnoticeably - no sooner we were walking together than it was time to go and meet the guests. One of the largest co-owners of the KMC had promised to fly in, as I understood that the disputes between Mandalore and Corellia were on a political level as well.
The way to the hangars I travelled quickly - thanks to Power Navigation I managed to intuitively find the shortest route.
The hangars were quite modest, similar to the ones the Nabuans had, but only open areas, with large metal hangars. At the appointed time, I saw the Satin delegation, accompanied by counsellors and guards, approaching from the other side. My procession - me and Ali, no more.
A small dot appeared in the sky and rapidly grew larger. After another minute Ali and I approached the duchess. It was indecent to stare at the sky, as we were seen by the ship's video sensors.
But Ali and I were being looked at by the Duchess's counsellors and guards.
The ship descended and landed - remarkably, it was the same modified "crown" as mine. The Duchess cast a brief glance at me and straightened her dress, preparing herself for the meeting. The meeting took place... routinely. There was no press, so no politeness.
A heavyset man, quite fat, with a bald spot, stepped out of the ship. He stood on the ramp, looked round and descended, and then there was a typical meeting of two politicians - nothing of significance. The man was enough for about thirty seconds, after which he met me and introduced himself as Semetrius, a member of the KMC Board of Directors. He treated me as a small but still important partner of KMC, as I was the only supplier of beskar.
The Duchess and Semetrius debated for half an hour, haggling while Ali and I listened without really listening. After a brief final debate, and apparently several rounds had already been completed earlier, they moved on to signing the treaty. Here the signing of the strategic alliance between the KMC and the Mandalore government was already a public procedure, and we made our way to the public. A press conference was scheduled with the signing of the treaty. Contrary to my expectations, we did not go to the conference hall, but signed the treaty in the open air - there were several hundred guests and journalists who were waiting for us in one of the gardens of the palace. This garden, or rather courtyard, was apparently used for public events when everyone could not fit indoors.
The Duchess took the podium and made a speech, which was broadcast on the local television, and then Semetrius repeated it, about peace, friendship, gum. I didn't have to say anything of the sort, I was simply introduced to the public as the owner of the land, but I also signed a document stating that KMK would not produce more than fifty tonnes a month. Semetrius didn't seem upset, but that was enough for the corporation, and smelting beskar was a complicated process.
Ali sat in the front row.
Everything changed in an instant-I sensed danger and immediately made my way to the Duchess's guard.
- I sense danger," I said to the guard who turned his attention to me.
- Excuse me, sir? - He didn't understand. I had to say it like it was so he would understand:
- I am a Jedi. We sense danger beforehand," I explained, "I sense something is about to happen. Take the duchess and the guest away immediately.
The guard believed me, and communicated via comlink to the head of security. The audience barely noticed my movement.
And ten seconds later, while my sense of unease was building, the alert was sounded. Apparently, the head of security knew who the Jedi were.
A group of power armour-clad soldiers approached the Duchess and took her in a "box" and led her away from the press conference. The guards immediately picked up all the guests and led them in small groups into the building. I, sensing that danger was approaching, grabbed Alessia and said:
- Something is happening. Danger is close," I'd been in deadly situations before, but now, that forgotten sense of adrenaline was coming back to me.
- What is it? - The girl was confused.
- Let's run to the hangar, - I immediately decided, feeling that the movement of guests did not affect the danger.
And we ran. Ali ran after me, and after five minutes of running we reached the hangar where our ship stood. I took out my comlink and shouted to the droid:
- Erdva, bring the ship out!
- Aye," the droid replied through the comlink, and five seconds later the ship crashed into the hangar gate. The gate was made of thin metal, and the ship crushed it, flying out onto the platform. Immediately the ramp opened and Ali and I ran inside. The girl was confused and I asked her:
- Ali, stay in the cabin," I checked my weapons and sat down in the pilot's chair. The droid was already ready to work and the ship took off upwards.
I felt the danger - after a couple of seconds I noticed the sensors picking up a ship approaching, a small interceptor that was coming towards us at a great speed. I moved the hyperdrive voltage lever - jumping from the planet's surface can only be done once, but it destroyed the hyperdrive. In the next moment, two events occurred that affected my life more than anything else.
A turbolaser charge hit the ship just as I moved the jump lever and the hyperdrive field began to unfold to pull the ship into hyperspace.
The ship shook violently after the hit, but something happened... something I was really, really not going to like. Red symbols lit up on the console after a second, the whole cockpit lit up with alarming messages. Erdwa said:
- Depressurisation. Severe damage to the hyperdrive. One engine torn off...
Without listening to his monotonous voice, I unbuckled and sprinted back towards the cabins, and running with all the speed I could muster towards the main compartment, I came across a sealed door that wouldn't open.
- Erdva, what's going on?! Open the door now! - I knew Erdva could hear me. Ali stayed exactly in the main cabin, so I began to go crazy with a premonition that something terrible had happened. Erdwa informed me of the verdict over the speakerphone:
- The compartment is locked down due to depressurisation.
- What??? What did you say? Open the door immediately! No, get some air into the compartment now!
- Aye," the droid replied. I reached out forcefully and sealed the compartment, plugging the horrible hole in the plating.
- Open the door!
- I can't, the system has locked the compartment," I heard the droid's monotone voice over the speakerphone. I drew my sword and repeated Qui-Gon's trick, cutting through the door and forcefully pulling out a piece of metal. I ran inside. No, I didn't see Alessia's corpse, but the things scattered all over the cabin made my legs feel woozy.
I listened to myself-the connection to Alessia that had appeared after the night at the hotel was unresponsive. She wasn't there at all! I searched frantically for Ali, thinking she might be under the overturned couch, but to my dismay I found... clothes.
A purple hoodie, a blindfold, underwear inside, shoes... empty. I switched off the sword I'd chopped up the couch with and dropped to my knees, picking up Ali's blindfold that she'd never taken off.
- What happened here? - I shouted, knowing Erdwa could hear me.
- She disappeared," the droid said.
- What the hell do you mean disappeared?
- After the depressurisation, Alessia disappeared. I don't know how. It's like she went into hyperspace.
- That can't be...' I said, and repeated it a few more times. It can't be. Ben Kenobi disappeared in the film. Why? Because that's how Forcers died.
My mind was completely jumbled. All I could think about was going back and slicing and dicing everyone involved! Who did this?
I didn't notice how I cried, and a force that I couldn't contain with my consciousness rushed in all directions - a small storm of power rose up in the cabin, and running lightning through me, knocked out the electricity, hitting the hull.
- Erdva...," I asked, "why? How?
- I... I don't know," Captain, the droid said in a sad voice.
I stood up, as the lust to kill everyone involved in Alessia's death was empowering. Though I couldn't believe that Ali was gone. I didn't notice as I jogged into the control room and asked Erdv in a gruff voice:
- Where are we? Coming out of hyperspace!
- Aye, - The ship has dropped into normal space.
- Let's go back immediately," I demanded.
- I can't, - Erdva answered, - the hyperdrive is almost destroyed by the launch from the planet and a direct hit in the circuit.
- On the backup, damn you!
- No beacon signal," the droid replied.
- How? - I asked in reply. The hyperspace beacon signal was also well received in wild space, away from hyperspace routes.
I hadn't noticed, but I still had Alessia's blindfold in my hands, which I didn't let go.
- Where are we? - I asked the droid.
- I don't know. No navigational signals.
The emotion finally let go of me, and I closed my eyes as I looked at the blindfold in my hands, completely confused. Yes, I was a thirteen year old boy, so I couldn't do anything but cry as much as I could, as I still wasn't used to such displays of emotion... Lost to the unknown and alone again....
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