บท 76: V.1-C.76│Missions I│

"Having completed the trials, the Council have deemed you fit for the promotion from a Padawan to a Knight. Your Masters have posed the question and your capabilities have answered this for us, thus you are now officially a Jedi Knight." Mace said, directed towards Anakin.

Anakin was officially receiving his new rank of Jedi Knight from the Council.

The people who were present was of course the Grandmaster himself, Yoda and all of the other Council members plus Qui-Gon was allowed to see the process himself.

Nothing else was exchanged from within the room considering this process was only done for Anakin.

Now an official Jedi Knight Anakin has alot more freedoms from what the Jedi usually have but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't still keep a close eye on him. In fact, gaining more freedom may increase their interest in seeing his progress.

"Come with us you will." Yoda says to Anakin before he leaves.

"Is there something you need?" Anakin asks.

"Discuss within the Council conference room we will. Joining us will be Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi." Yoda continued.

Anakin followed after Yoda as the other council members went on their own way and the only ones who were left was Mace and Shaak Ti.

[]

The mission to Zonama Sekot.

A mission that both the original Anakin and Obi-Wan went on together following the trail left behind by another Jedi whom had mysteriously disappeared.

It was currently three years after the event of the invasion and Anakin was currently biologically twelve while physically he looked much older.

Anakin was joined by Obi-Wan on the ship he had acquired from Maul, the Scimitar. Being extremely useful why wouldn't he use this ship but he knew to keep it on the low, at least for now. He has plans on this next mission to use it.

The Scimitar will not be the Scimitar any longer and he plans to create something entirely new out of its bits and pieces, its technology will be used to become incredibly powerful in its new version.

The next mission they were assigned took them to the living planet of Zonama Sekot in an attempt to find a Jedi Knight, Vergere, who had recently vanished during a mission there. Unbeknownst to them, Wilhuff Tarkin and Raith Sienar had followed them to exploit Zonama Sekot's ability to quickly fuse organic and manufactured technology into starfighters.

Well, unbeknownst to Obi-Wan they were after the Zonama Sekot's abilities. Anakin had in fact wanted to exploit the planet as well but not to the extent they had wanted and given Raith even under his orders still went against him mattered.

He would have to punish the man for his transgression.

Raith has probably gone against his wishes because he wanted to rebel against him, he did after all stop him or more specifically Tarkin from getting the Death Star blueprints.

For Anakin's new ship he would need to get seed-partners.

On the planet, the colonists sold 'seed-partners,' which bonded with their hosts and allowed the planet to customize a starship for the individual.

Seed-partners were small thorn-covered organisms that originated within the tampasi, from the tree-like boras, of the living planet Zonama Sekot. As Sekot's self-proclaimed 'children... cells in my body,' the seed-partners would be introduced to a spacer who desired to possess one of Sekot's living ships.

If the seed-partners, according to their own desire, attached themselves to the spacer, a ship would be produced by those partners working with a team of Ferroan designers, Langhesi forgers, and giant-like Jentari shapers.

Seed-partners attached themselves to a spacer using a spike, which produced an uncomfortable adhesion, but no wound. Three seed-partners per spacer was the normal outcome of this election process.

Anakin had a feeling that he would have way more and in fact was guessing he would have more than the original Anakin had. It would be over 15, at least he hoped it would be.

[]

Anakin and Obi-Wan had arrived and Anakin got straight to work in negotiating with the people here. He also had secretly brought along another ship for Obi-Wan to go back on given that he was not needed here anymore.

He got all of the information about what had happened to the Jedi Knight and had left but Anakin stayed so he could create the ship he wanted.

Due to Zonama Sekot's distant location, the only way to reach the planet was by a specially chartered and sanctioned voyage. Upon arrival, the customer, almost always an extremely wealthy individual, was shown to his accommodations.

After paying Sekot's exceptionally high price, sometimes exceeding 4 billion credits, the customer was led to a large chamber. Its walls were covered with little spiked balls, bora seeds, that the Ferroans called seed-partners.

The seed-partners would then choose whether or not to join the customer and become their ship. However, this choosing normally involved every single seed-partner breaking loose from the chamber walls to literally bury the customer in a spectacular cascade.

The people were surprised that Anakin had over twenty of the seed-partners attach themselves on him. He was just happy that he had more, as this would allow him to gain a greater amount more of benefits.

The ship could become so much more with his own ideas and modifications.

Once the dust cleared, the customer would find that a select few seed-partners had chosen them, usually expressed by clinging irremovably to their bodes.

After a day or two, the Ferroans would remove the seed-partners and the customer would be taken before the designer, to visualize the designs for their ship. Another few more days, the customer would be led to a massive ravine filled with 'forging pits' a natural cathedral, kilometers wide, bordered and canopied by colossal boras where the ship would be made.

In this 'factory valley,' Langhesi forgers would use fire and lightning to cook and 'pop' the seeds, forming them next into disk-like shapes.

The seeds, still perfectly well in their new transmutations as 'seed-disks,' were collected and transported via carapods to a shaping warehouse constructed of lamina.

Special translucent fruits containing thick 'sparkling' fluids that is churned by a screw-like organ at the core, would be harvested, their globular substances used to mold the seed-disks into the flesh and structure of the ship by Jentari shapers.

Customers were required to sit within pre-made frames as the Jentari placed into position the seed-disks and pre-manufactured expensive, state-of-the-art engines, molding the ships around them: organoform circuits; engines of Haor Chall design, ideally 'type-seven' engines from its line of Silver-class light starships; and hyperdrive core units were merged with the living ship.

Globs of fruit juice were used as connection fluid to merge the seed-disks which now sprouted 'sinuous, questing pseudopods' and organoform circuitry together. While the Jentari shaped and merged the seed-disks around the customer, the seeds telepathically asked the customer about final design decisions.

The customer, in turn, was required to shape the ship's final design, acquiescing to Sekot's whispered will as well, while directing the seeds' input in these last stages of design and production.

The customer was also asked to stay with the ship for at least a few days after her birth, as she was being fitted and finished with 'non-Sekotan instrumentation' to align her with Republic standards, to comfort her in her early life.

Strange indeed that the ship would be referred to as a 'she' but Anakin wasn't complaining and had in fact liked to imagine it as female rather than a male.

Finished with transponders, communication and control panels, couches and miscellaneous accoutrements, the living ship's interior boasted smooth, iridescent lines of green and blue and red, gleaming like a coat of ruby and emerald mineral enamel, yet not just dead brilliance, but a pulsing quality of light that signified youth and life.

Of course Anakin had made sure to involve the Scimitar in the designing process to give it armaments and the special installed countermeasure that provides it with invisibility. How could he miss up on this chance but most of everything else within the Scimitar was scraped.

Why? Because his brand new ship named Jabitha is just that much better.

Glowing faintly from within, and pools of deep-sea luminosity seemed to come and go under its shiny green skin.

With the sentient ship now ready to fly, however, the pilot or pilots, upon departure, had to swear an oath of utmost secrecy toward Zonama Sekot. If the oath was ever broken, the bond between the owner and ship would break and the ship would quickly die.

Anakin disliked this idea and disliked that his ship could be controlled by another being, even if that being was a planet.

[]

Having procured his own living ship he hastily left the planet knowing full well that everyone who has a ship like him will unfortunately have their ships die. Anakin was able to prevent his own from dying off because of the Force thus making him the only person to ever have one.

After the planet, utilizing its massive hyperdrive engines with 300-kilometer-high field guides, broke from its Gardaji Rift orbit in the galaxy's Tingel Arm just after he had left, all remaining ships off-world perished.

Except for his of course, he had wrestled for complete control and now had his very own upgraded version of the ship. Generally the planet didn't like creating for its customers, ships with firing capacity but because it was Anakin involved he was easily able to implement it whether the planet liked it or not.

'Probably not the best idea to make enemies with an entire planet...' Anakin thought to himself.

It does not matter anyway because Zonama Sekot activated its planetary hyperdrive, vanishing for the unknown regions. Sienar and Tarkin returned to the Republic with nothing in their hands thus making Anakin decide to cut ties with them.

He didn't need them anymore anyway, he had the wealth and everything else needed to continue expanding into the galaxy for his business.

Anakin using Jabitha had arrived back on Tatooine under the cover of night and went down towards a specialized entrance bay going towards the semi-living machine underneath. The matrix Anakin had created would help him further increase and stabilize his control over the ship.

He then went on to upgrade Jabitha even further, with the help of his medical droids and access to those special blue stones that would allow someone to use the Force and the non-organic version of midi-chlorians the ship became so much more.

It became truly living.

Not unlike the Tardis or any other living ship type deal from various sci-fi based franchises. Telepathically connected to him this was Anakin's first chance to experience being connected like this and considering in the future the synths will become like this.

He would experience a change in his connection with them, it would become more natural. At least going off of this experience he would say that this is close to what would happen once the droids got their own forms outside of their machine selves.

'Papa?' A mental thought was transmitted to Anakin as the process of transformation was complete.

'Yes Jabitha?' Anakin answered.

'Am I going to be alright now?' Jabitha questioned through their bond, being connected to each other through more than just the Force because abilities like telepathy isn't just a Force-sensitive thing.

Other species had access to a rather large set of traits that they had evolved with. The Force wasn't the only source of power, but it was definitely the greatest, most wide spread, most influential and prominent among everything.

'Yes.' Anakin said. 'We have to go now, you cant stay here or... In fact you will stay here.' Jabitha had become so much more than what she originally was.

Instead of having the same coloring she had before she had that but her exterior wasn't made of green but was painted a special black metallic coloring. Her shape was still the same given Anakin didn't need or want to change this.

'I dont want to stay here, I want to stay with Papa!' A mental yell was called through their bond in a childish feminine voice.

'I am afraid that would put you at risk, you will need to take some time to adjust to your new life, your new abilities.' Anakin had after all used a similar process to his living droids, the difference here being she was both based on technology and organic materials.

Thus giving her the ability to live for a long time separate from the problem of the droids.

'But I want to be with Papa!' Jabitha replied.

Anakin knew that it would be impossible to do so but then started to think. 'Well... she does have the same capabilities the Scimitar had.'

He was referring to its ability to go invisible meaning that it had something similar to what he has with his Nanosuit. Combine that with the fact it could use Force abilities it shouldn't be any problem for it to come with him.

There was really no problem at more the more he though about it and he would be remiss if he said he also wanted to separate. The connection between the both of them went both ways and he was intensely aware of Jabitha's thoughts and feelings not to unlike his connection to Aayla he had recently discovered.

'Alright... I guess I could take you with me but we will be unable to have much fun considering I will be staying within the Jedi templ-' He is cut off from his reply as Jabitha squealed in joy.

'Thank you Papa!' Jabitha was in an extremely good mood.

Sighing within Anakin thinks to himself. 'Well, no one would be able to recognize this incredibly rare, no unique spaceship anyway but it is better if she is not seen.'