Jedi Strike Back

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***

Star.

There was unobtrusive music playing in the bar, a young man strumming a string in the corner. Or not a man, who could tell? At the table sat a young man, blond, hypnotising a shot glass with his gaze. Five minutes later, his mate sat down beside him. Nerd.

- How's it going?

- All right.

- I heard you staged a monarchist coup...

- No, it just kind of came out of nowhere. Theoretically, I'm in favour.

- But as far as I'm concerned, we're going to have a lot of trouble. Such commitments should only be made if you think about the situation very carefully. It's bad, really bad.

- It was necessary. The Hutt sector. We don't need the Nabuan Empire itself. Well, it's a small subsidised region - the subsidies are well worth it to have population support and military bases there. No system would let us rent bases, but--

- And with the queen for that? - Cinna wondered.

- No, with the queen somehow it came out on its own. If it works out, it works out, if it doesn't, I won't worry about it.

Cinna shook his head. The music in the bar changed and the musicians left the stage. After a moment of thought, Cinna asked:

- Why are you here then?

- To back me up. We've invested a lot of money in this project, we can't let anything go wrong.

- My men are quite competent. True, we had to find teenagers, give them a full training course to destabilise the situation... but I don't doubt the success of the project.

- You shouldn't. Things can go wrong, life is like that.

- Life is like that, but we've got it all accounted for, no black spots, no accidents. When do we start the process?

- Immediately, - the man grinned, looking at the new musicians with grey-blue eyes, - immediately.

Cinna, nodding, sent a code signal over the comlink.

- That's it.

- Come on," Anakin stood up, "let's go for a walk around the city before it's too late...

He and Cinna walked through the streets of Aldera at a strolling pace. The streets brought back memories, both happy and sad. Erdva rode behind them, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Cinna, on the other hand, simply watched his chief, noting the changing emotions on his face. Anakin sighed:

- When and how will the project begin?

- It will begin as planned, with the assassination attempt on Organa. And then, according to the scenario we've already agreed upon, the retaliation against Antilles, the terrorist attack, the media frenzy, the public outcry... it's going to be very noisy for the next fortnight.

- Two weeks?

- One week is allotted for the operation, another week for backup time.

Anakin nodded:

- Let's go. I made myself a new boat, will you appreciate it?

- Knowing your talents, it would be my pleasure, your majesty.

Anakin stopped and five minutes later the speeder-taxi ordered through Erdva whisked them away from the spaceport.

* * *

Anakin Skywalker.

* * *

My training was interrupted by Erdva.

- A call from Shi'ai.

- Connect," I switched off my sword. It was more comfortable to train on the new boat than on the previous one - there wasn't as much space, but it was cosier and quieter. A hologram of Shia appeared above my iron friend.

- Dad?

- Yes, my boy, how's it going? Where are you?

- We're on Naboo with Grandma. Dad, we're in trouble.

- Wait, who's "we"?

- Me and Ahsoka," Shiai's face took on a scowl, "and you too, if that's what you mean. Ben and Ahsoka are being recalled to the Order. Seems like there's going to be a big fuss.

Shit," I started walking in circles around Erdwas. The training room was small, so I couldn't walk around much. But it was cosy, with wood-panelled walls, a floor that bounced slightly under my feet, and lighting that mimicked the natural light of the sun at sunset. It's beautiful, in a word.

- Is Ahsoka with you?

- Yeah, of course. We're getting ready. Looks like Ahsoka's gonna have to show up at the Order, I'm not leaving her. Who knows how they'll react.

- I'm in. Fly to our flat on Coruscant and wait for me. Or no, I'll be there in six hours, I'd rather meet you somewhere neutral.

- Alderaan?

- No," I hummed, "Alderaan will be a coup for the next six months. Korulag is better, it's not far and our routes intersect there. See you later.

The hologram over Erdva disappeared. There was silence. I looked out the porthole at the endless black space. It was time to meet Yoda. And the Jedi council. Except we have different goals. Then I'd better start by convening the brotherhood of the ring.

- Erdva, get Faye on the line.

After arriving on Mortis, young Faye stayed with her daughter to study. Her phenomenon was never solved - the old man could tell what kind of power Faye had, but couldn't say he'd encountered anything like it before. Phenomenon. The power can do phenomenal things and phenomenal intelligent people. I had developed a rather... strange relationship with the girl. I can say unequivocally that Faye is close to me, but... it's not all that fast, I'm no longer a teenager to get along with people so easily. So our relationship with her gradually improved and became more and more intimate. If there are no excesses, in a year or two we can get married. Especially since she's one of the immortals. I remember how time changed Tosi - from a young girl, embarrassed, impulsive and insistent to a fully grown woman, with small wrinkles near her eyes and a sexy figure, sensual and serious.

I was distracted from the obsession by a hologram of Faye.

- And why do I get the feeling it wasn't me you were remembering? - The pointy-eared beauty frowned.

- I'm sorry. It's just the way life is, we remember the long-dead past," I bowed my head. I wasn't in the mood for weirdness and fun, but rather a quiet state of nostalgia and realism.

Faye thought for a moment, her eyes closed:

- Did you remember Her?

- Yes. It's a good thing you're immortal like me. Seeing your loved one grow old before your eyes is not easy. It reminds us that next to mortals, we are superfluous. Ahsoka and Ben Kenobi have been summoned to the order.

- И?

- I told you how it worked out. Ahsoka married Shiai, and Ben stayed with Satine.

- That doesn't sound right. Surely he got to Satine Kreese by accident?

- Nothing in the galaxy is random, Faye. Sometimes it's the will of the force, sometimes it's lesser persons. I helped them, a little. But now Ahsoka and Ben must return to the temple, to the jedi council.

- What's the problem?

- Faye. This is my family, Son, Sister, their own business. Who knows what Yoda will put in his green head? I'm going with them.

- I see," the hologram of a girl nodded, "do you want me around?

- Not necessarily. I'll inform you. We will meet on the planet Korulag, in Kuramel. If you want, you can be with us.

- It sounds hurtful, Anakin," Faye snorted, "but there may not be a better way to connect with your family, right?

- Right.

- Then wait for me. I'll be there in no time.

The hologram disappeared.

I gave Faye my previous yacht, and I built the Rebel on Mortis, a speedboat, small, with a crew of three - Pilot, Navigator, Flight Engineer. There were also a couple of guards, just in case. After looking at the training room, I headed for the deckhouse. It's a short trip.

- Changing course, boys. Korulag, the city of Kuramel. We leave immediately, land at one of the city's spaceports and await the arrival of the other ships.

- Which ones, Your Majesty?

- They will request the location of our ship when they arrive. Let's go.

- Bingo!

This planet's a hell of a hole. It looks very civilised and tidy, but the power of the Republic bureaucrats is maximal.

I went out to the hangar of the yacht and after waiting for the landing, I got off. The flight engineer and Erdva came out after me.

- Erdva, did anybody come in? - I looked round the spaceport. Blue sky, a big, gigantic site - kilometres of concrete field, mostly lined with ugly, rough freighters and container ships. In the distance you could see the buildings of the spaceport and the city - similar to Coruscant, only the population here was normal, not inflated. There was enough space even for such cosmodromes....

In the distance, between the forest of spires of skyscrapers flew thousands of speeders - like ants, which walk on their beaten paths. The flight mechanic followed my gaze.

- No, no one had arrived yet. Shiai will arrive in about two days, Faye in four days, when the others will arrive I don't know. I don't have accurate information on the hyperdrive class of Ben Kenobi's ship.

I paced back and forth unhappily. Compared to the neighbouring transports, the yacht looked rather dapper-a small ship, with a predatory silhouette and small wings to facilitate manoeuvres in the atmosphere. The Rebel was bright red in colour, with armaments far beyond standard civilian armaments - it was a member of the Guard, so there was no violation. Three powerful turbolaser cannons and eighteen missiles with thermonuclear warheads. They didn't work against durasteel and duracrete, but in space combat they could sag the shields of even a battleship, and they were relatively compact.

I admired my yacht and sighed sadly. Four days of hard waiting.

- Erdwa, inform the crew of the three days on the planet. Faye will be the last to arrive.

- Sending out messages.

- Shall we go for a drink? - I chuckled.

- You gave up drinking after that binge with Alessia.

- I did, didn't I?

- Not enough for you? Get busy, Emperor, and time will fly by in no time.

* * * *

Erdv's advice was smart. I returned to the yacht, locked myself in my quarters and asked to be connected to Sin. The commander's hologram appeared almost instantly.

- Your Majesty?

- Sha, Shin, let's not get political. What's happening in the Nabuan Empire?

- Everything as planned, Your Majesty, given the scale of our forces, minor rough spots can be overlooked. The base on the Trielus road will be ready in three months, while construction equipment is being brought in and deployed. Determine the composition of the armed forces.

- A squadron. As I said, I can only add that the squadron must cut off illegal traffic through the Trielus. Shut it down hard. Determine the composition of the squadron yourself, locally. I'm not a naval commander or a Justiciar, I don't know the details of military tactics and strategy.

- Got it. Determined. Any other questions, Your Majesty?

- How are things on Naboo? With the queen?

- The Empress, you mean? The girl has been working hard for the last week. Yesterday, all the reforms were completed and the empire was officially established. She flew with your son to Coruscant.

- What?" I wondered, "why?

- To see the chancellor. She's changing her representative in the Senate, and on some political business. I'm sorry, I don't know what that is.

- I see. That's good," I nodded, "I wouldn't mind meeting her. Well, Shin, I'll leave you to your work.

The commander saluted and the hologram disappeared. Things were getting interesting. The whole family will have to meet, I believe Satine will not abandon Ben, which means the entire Skywalker-Creese clan will be at the meeting.

The Empire's business, you might say, has been booming. I've just recently conducted a new delivery session. The beauty of colonisation was that there was no need to establish a stable connection, temporary supplies were sufficient, and the very nature of the isolated planet allowed us to live and develop successfully using only local resources. There were planets with minerals in the Koros system, food was grown on the planets, livestock was raised, the inhabitants were fully supplied with food and equipment. The volume of one transport was roughly equal to the consumption of Cinnagarians in a year - although the goods were different, the shops had everything and the inhabitants had money, the planet was already quite civilised. There was even a holonet connection, but we had to move on. I could make a permanent route to Koros - I just had to work a little harder, use my forsuser talents. It might not be as good as the trunk routes, but it could last for a few millennia. There were already temporary routes in operation inside, which I had also set up. It was on Koros business that I concentrated for the next three days. Production was down - to keep prices down, but the return on what had already been mined and extracted was up. Financiers bought shares of necessary companies, first of all - shares of big media. There appeared an opportunity to influence galactic opinion, though a modest opportunity. And, of course, a change in leadership. I watched through the holonet sites as the drama unfolded. So far it has been mass demonstrations on Alderaan - two days ago there was the first terrorist attack, today there was an attempt to discredit the ruling house, a very successful attempt. In two days the heat will be on... it's been discussed so many times that I just watched my project without interfering.

- Erdva, get Admiral Vansen on the line.

- Connecting," the droid beeped. I stretched out on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

- Your Majesty?

- Hello, Llod. How's it going in there?

- Without incident, Your Majesty!

- The ship? How's our flagship?

- No complaints, sir!

- Halt, what do you mean, no faults? A fool like this, there's bound to be design flaws, construction flaws. Explore further. Llod, we're Mandalorians, not senate guards, I need a serious warship, and every new ship has a ton of flaws. The one you're flying is a prototype, it's designed to gather real world experience, identify any flaws and build a second series perfect enough for a major war.

- I understand, sir, but so far no major flaws have been discovered. But the crew's just getting used to it. You'd get the kind of results you'd get if we'd had a chance to fight.

- I understand, Lloyd. By the way, I'm having a little family picnic soon, I'd like to take a look at the ship and show my son. Can you make it to the Korulag sector? Where are you now?

- We're near Corellia, KMC engineers have been working on the ship's lavatory system.

- Have they completed the work?

- Affirmative.

- At ease, Admiral Vansen. I'm waiting for you near Korulag. I estimate your flight time to be about eight hours.

The Admiral saluted and his hologram disappeared.

Eight hours. Just enough sleep.

* * * *

Air Defence Centre. Corulag.

* * * *

Lieutenant Perkins sat in his chair and looked at the hologram of the planet and sector in front of him. Requests to land or take off were coming in constantly. It was only his third time on duty, so he wasn't used to the job yet. Senior Lieutenant Gus was lying on a sofa near the wall, snoozing. Gus was not young - he had already passed fifty. He'd been demoted, but he hadn't given up his military career.

Perkins hypnotised the hologram with his gaze - he was afraid of falling into disfavour with Gus - the old officer was always looking out for discipline and order, but he didn't like duties, didn't like anything at all, except his pay and leave. But he liked to strictly ask everyone for misdeeds and terrorised the whole air defence centre. Gus was not liked - a typical self-promoting boss.

Perkins saw a dozen new dots coloured red on the hologram. Military who'd flown into a model and peaceful sector for the hell of it.

- CSO, what military?

- Republic ID," the droid intelligence of the Alert System Centre replied.

- Clearly not Huttian. Determine the route and the degree of danger. If it's below average, don't display-" Perkins yawned widely. He looked at the hologram and furtively glanced at the sleeping commander. A second passed, no data appeared, and Perkins switched to voice communication with the other ships.

- Freighter nine-niner-niner-zero-Open, stay out of the queue. Last warning.

The freighter didn't respond, and Perkins watched as the tenacious dot stopped her attempts to cut in without queuing.

- Analysis complete," the CSO replied, suddenly, unexpectedly to the lieutenant, displaying the data on the hologram.

The junior lieutenant thought he had a bad eye. He called out to the commander:

- Mr Goose, we have a problem. Mr Goose!

- А? Cho? - the commander looked around the control room, - Perkins, motherfucker over my knee, what's wrong?

- Unknown ships, sir.

- Yeah? Fuck them, just do what you're supposed to do," Gus rolled over onto his other side. Thinking it was a gift from heaven, Perkins hit the alarm button. There was a howl, and Goose jumped up like a scalded man.

- Perkins!

- As you should be, sir.

Gus ran up to the hologram, hastily adjusting his uniform:

- What have we got?

- One medium, eleven high, one unanalysable.

Gus looked at the hologram. The red inscription "Danger: High" was blinking alarmingly. That meant the ship was more powerful than the dreadnought. This was the first time Gus had ever seen it.

- And this one, which is undefined? CSO, put the unidentified ship's data on the holomonitors. And get me a video signal.

- Yes, sir.