The Return of the Jedi

* One year later *

- Oh, really? - the old man raised his gray eyebrows.

- I didn't think so," I nodded. Apparently, at least according to my observations, he didn't mind leaving me on Mortis, so that the Architects wouldn't interfere in the fate of the galaxy at all. He hoped that I might be courted by the Daughter, especially since it's very hard for Architects to find a mate in life - it's too rare for Architects to show up. And then there was this - I just ignored the faint hints of attention from the Daughter. Yes, the girl was a miracle nice, but I was pathologically unlucky with women, you could say that fate took revenge on me for everything she gave me. What if I agreed to stay on Mortis and trouble would ensue? No, no, I don't want that for nothing! They have long since outlived their usefulness to humans, and no one is stopping them from hiding their power and going into the galaxy, so to speak, under cover. But then the temptation to use their power would be too great.

For four long years I have been on mortis, in a rather meager Family campaign, but I have not been bored-the long years have flown by like a blink of an eye. It was time to go back to the old man and finish my training. He promised two more years of work. After the training for the abilities of the light side of the force was over, I finally sighed freely - the last and most difficult leap was to come. The old man promised to do the same thing for the remaining two years, plus more subjects from my course left in the secretary droid that had traveled with me in the ill-fated ship. The droid turned out to be a treasure trove of information, and before I left for my son's, I handed it over to the Old Man, at his request. Since the Architects were important figures in the galaxy, the Old Man was interested in how officials were trained in the future. In the years to come, I was to complete my training, learning the academy curriculum, in addition to the standard course in physics, chemistry, and power abilities.

The old man greeted me as if two years hadn't passed since our last class - he greeted me and offered me tea and inquired about his children's studies. He was especially sly about asking me if I had a crush on his little girl. A bloody matchmaker.

Having completed his children's education, there was one last push. Judging by the look of the old man, he himself had only just finished comprehending what was laid down in the droid, and, the day after my arrival called me to the classroom, which he built especially for the lectures. It was easier that way.

Beginning with a brief repetition of the basics, which I learned back at the academy, we, literally in a couple of months have moved on to more advanced subjects, legislation, the basics of the financial system, the taxation system, social policy...

These lectures, due to the fact that they were very different from what the old man had taught the last time, went well - I really enjoyed diversifying my "diet" with knowledge from another field. The Code of Laws of the Republic was in the droid, and with the Old Man's experience we had no problem with the material. He could explain, I would even say very, very well. Any galactic university would have taken such a teacher, but...

Lectures on basic subjects were interspersed with lectures on theoretical basics. Now my knowledge was enough to make a blaster out of, say, improvised materials, based only on my own knowledge, without copying any successful models. The "demob" was getting closer and closer. The old man, too, felt that the end of our passing acquaintance was approaching.

I, week after week and month after month, year after year, felt that it was time to know the honor. Of course, all the knowledge of the Architects was not suddenly available to me, but I didn't want to linger. I already had all the knowledge I needed to create a reverse temporal hyperdrive, and I was more than happy to use it.

Without going into too much detail, it was a hyperdrive with an inherently different circuit that was responsible for the flow of time. Everything in the world is relative, including time. It could be slowed so much that while only a minute would pass inside the ship, centuries and millennia would pass outside it, in hyperspace. To change one of the hyperfield parameters so drastically would change the entire pattern and it would have to be done all over again, but it would be worth it.

I thought more and more about Lex, Toshi, the Order, and how they would receive me. I'd been gone for a while, but I'd been in the middle of nowhere for six years.

Speaking of which. I recently celebrated the nineteenth birthday of my physical body.

Physical, because the Architects were practically immortal - we could change the cell and genetic structure of our bodies so that the cells are not damaged when they are renewed, i.e. there is no aging. That was the secret of longevity. Even the Old Man, by his own admission, looked this way because he was older and wanted to look that way - image. He could have been a younger kid than me, it wasn't hard for him to tweak his physical shell a little...

I tweaked my body, stopping aging, just when I was nineteen years old. Biologically, I was already in my twenties, but I looked more than young. Even the sea was knee-deep now!

My adventures as a teenager were remembered with nostalgia - those had been good times! Tatooine, Valorum, the Alderaan Race, that week in the forests of Mandalore with the local creatures, one of which had nearly killed me.

It was all in the past. Though I didn't feel that I had changed mentally-just a little more paranoid about my own safety and a little less foolish, like the restoration of the Sith cruiser or the flight to Mandalore. If I had known now, I would have classified it as a particularly dangerous mission, because back then the situation was extremely unstable and there was a high risk of an attempt on the Duchess and on me. I was young and stupid, what could I do now?

Somehow, unexpectedly, I noticed that one fine morning the Old Man did not show up at the classroom where classes were being held. Oh, yeah, class was over. Study was over. This study... I knew, subconsciously, that it was the line that separated my youth from adulthood. Despite my status as a Jedi Knight, I still thought of myself as a teenager, or at least a young man, but now, seeing in the mirror as a young man, looking a little over twenty, with a good build, straw-colored hair gathered in a "ponytail" and slightly blue eyes, somehow I could not think so. The face was disfigured by the stamp of intelligence, or even a little aristocratism, as I had always worked on my appearance, as the Old Man had taught me, so as not to repel a potential interlocutor with my appearance. That beautiful time of an almost carefree attitude to life was over-now I would have to play seriously and not sit around on some planet like Alderaan, enjoying the charms of financial prosperity and the company of reckless peers.

Sad but true. I walked out of the auditorium the old man had attached to the house and went looking for him. It was impossible to find the old man in the force unless he wanted to, and he always kept such a disguise that even I, who had easily penetrated Palpatine's defenses, could not sense him. Even if he was standing behind me, using the Force to his advantage.

The old man was a bit of a freak sometimes. It's hard to believe, but sometimes he really did freak out. Now he found himself on the first floor, dabbling in sabakkas with Erdwah.

- Oh, Sila," I exclaimed, "Erdva, you'll be without the last hull panels!

- You're already down," the old man smiled at me, immediately turning to Erdva. - I'm sorry, friend, but I have twenty-three," he laid out the cards in front of the droid, and then Erdva dejectedly lowered the video sensor, and the old man turned to me.

- I take it the training is over? - I asked as I stepped closer.

- You got that right," the old man nodded. - Maybe you could stay a little longer?

- No, I'm sorry," I shook my head, "I've been living on Mortis for six years, and I'm used to this planet. I'm used to it.

- Yeah? Well," he nodded, "then you're one of those who can't stay in one place. Considering the way you came and the way you're going, you must be thinking that you're not a teenager anymore, that it's time to grow up.

- I was," I scratched my earlobe. - I scratched my earlobe. 'Is it that obvious?

- Sure, what did you think? Live with me, and maybe you'll be able to read minds without telepathy. I still remember the first Raktas who started to enslave the galaxy... You have to build an engine to return to your time. You can get to work, I've gathered all the necessary materials outside in front of the house.

- You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble.

- Who said anything about me laboring? Oh, you're still young," grinned the Old Man. - Off you go.

I obeyed him and went into the countryside. In front of the house were indeed stacked ingots of various metals. After checking everything out, I sat down on the porch and started working on the hyperdrive. Or rather, not the engine, but the hyperfield generator, which threw the ship into hyperspace and dragged it along at a certain speed, generating pulses similar to the structure of hyperspace.

Now it was much easier to work than ever before, I was already creating hyperdrives, but as a test task. The old man didn't come out, apparently deciding to play sabakkus with Erdva again. While the hyperdrive was being created, I had time to say goodbye to Mortis and think about plans for my future life. My freedom-loving nature, which tended to travel, did not allow me to sit in one place, even a very warm one.

Hyperdrive with the new field calculations was built in just half an hour. The return flight was on the same boat that I had flown here, so the form factor was the same as the old hyperdrive, but the filling had been substantially upgraded. I wasn't going to leave without saying goodbye to Toshi and Lex, so I left the back-up hyperdrive alone.

One way or another, I would have to leave. I returned to the house to find that the Old Man was no longer alone. The Daughter was with him.

- I didn't notice when you arrived," I raised my eyebrows.

- No wonder," she smiled, "you've been so busy. I wanted to say goodbye to you.

The old man stood on the sidelines.

- I wouldn't have left you without saying goodbye, either. You have taught me much, thank you.

- No need to thank me," she stepped closer, "it was my pleasure to diversify my time with your training. It will be all the more pleasant if you visit us again in our place of solitude," she was a little nervous at first when I first flew in to see her, since she hadn't spoken to anyone outside the family in ages, now, apparently, either.

- I will. I promise I'll be back sooner or later.

The lady turned and smiled at me and left the house.

- Well, this is goodbye," the Old Man nodded in satisfaction, "I thought you were going to be a little nicer to each other...

- Stop joking about it, old man," I pleaded, "she's a thousand times older than me!

- It's no big deal," he brushed me off, "it doesn't matter to the Architect. - He paused on the porch, seeing that I was annoyed by the innuendo, and looked at the boat I'd come in.

- It's time.

We shook hands and I ran off to the ship, almost forgetting Erdwah on the mortis. The droid flew into the cargo hold at the last moment, and we went for takeoff. The ship had been idle for six years and needed minor tweaks, but overall, everything worked fine. The gates of Mortis opened as soon as I entered orbit-a bright spot of hyperspace wormhole appeared near the planet and the ship flew into it, and after a moment of light, I was ejected near the closing monolith.

I was sitting in the copilot's chair with Erdva by my side, everything seemed to be the same. But no.

It was still dangerous to travel the usual routes, so after checking the supplies I had packed for the trip, I activated the hyperdrive and flew toward Coruscant. "Return of the Jedi," no less. It was still a long way to the capital of the galaxy-about two weeks on my class zero-five hyperdrive.

- Erdva, get on the holonet and check out the latest news. What's going on in the world?

- As soon as we get closer to the transponder," the droid replied. - I'm glad to be back in the big world at last.

- So am I. You could say glad," I smiled as I leaned back in my chair and allowed myself to enter a trance-like state, feeling the power at full strength.

The journey here was ordinary, but the journey back... Over the past six years I had managed to get used to large spaces and the ship seemed small, even a "crown" like mine, comfortable. I decided to get rid of this pepelatsa as soon as I returned to my time - too bad memories were connected with it.

The boat had been in hyperspace for a day, but it was enough to reach the edge of space, a planet called Anison. It was small and run-down, but it had a holonet repeater that allowed Erdva to get online and surf the net at breakneck speed, picking out the most interesting news.

- I'm going to bed," I told him, "keep an eye on the ship and send me the most interesting news on the datapad.

- As you wish, Captain! - the droid turned around and connected to the ship.

I had already become accustomed to sleeping on the ship - in cold, lifeless space, outside the space of a planet full of power and without the proximity of anyone from the Family.

Erdva sent me the most interesting things in the form of links to the holonet, as he should have done. There was news of Sith activism in some sectors, three years ago, news of political changes in the Senate, which I was frankly indifferent to. The Smuggler's Bulletin, a site for "free traders," where you could see the secrets of the polychinelle regarding rates, routes, or just smuggler's tales. I sometimes liked to read before going to bed, either a tale or a fable, about how another smuggler managed to crash-land his ship somewhere in an asteroid field, rich in Quadanium. Needless to say, there were no real references, just tales. After turning off the tablet, I went to bed, and in the morning, having had a frankly bad night's sleep, I went to the cockpit. It was time to keep going.

It took me two weeks to get to Coruscant-just how long it would take to get my ship through the Sith-dominated regions, directly to Coruscant. The ship had the Jedi Knight's Identification Code, and the report... but they didn't take so long this time. Erdwah had gone into the cockpit on the occasion of my arrival and was looking out at the scenery himself.

- I wonder if they still remember us.

- Where would they go," I hummed, "we'll remind them. So! - The ship began to descend in the atmosphere of the planet. I handed over the controls to Erdva, who could communicate and control at the same time.

Coruscant was still impressive - one could stare at this galaxy-city landscape endlessly. A small circle appeared below - the Senate building from a height of half a hundred thousand meters. Against the background of the rest of the city, which blended into a single mass, the senate building stood out strongly. Next to it was the temple, only ten kilometers away. Compared to the size of the buildings themselves, it was very close.

I got up, taking my eyes off the scenery, and walked away, saying for Erdwah on the way:

- I'm going to go get cleaned up.

The droid didn't answer. I had to put on my force-synthesized clothes, so to speak, my new sword, and get ready to go out in public. Jedi or no Jedi?

The ship descended toward the temple and changed its flight direction, flying into the hangar, then landing on a vacant lot, which I felt well. It was time to visit Lex. What to tell him? Certainly not about the Architects.

The hangar hadn't changed in centuries, so I didn't see anything new to me - the same droid mechanics, the same Jedi duty officers, the same ships standing in their places by the hundreds. The guards looked at me with interest-perhaps purely in appearance, except for the color of my hair and eyes and facial features, I resembled Qui-Gon. The same hairdo, the same serene look, and the clothes were almost exactly the same. After seeing me and Erdwah off, they went back to their duties, and I went to the Master of the Order without wasting time. The path was familiar from my previous visits - past the offices, the training halls, the corridor between the Junling dormitory and the dining hall, to the elevator that led to the right level. By the way, out of more than a hundred turbolifts, only one led to the right floor-the others didn't stop there. It wasn't exactly convenient, but it was safe in terms of defending the administrative wing from open attack and sabotage.

I immediately found Lex's office in the administration wing, and as I approached the door, I felt his attention. The Master was in a pretty good state of mind, sitting in his office and reading some data. Apparently, he did not notice me, as I hid my power well and generally disguised myself from attempts to detect me. Somehow his level didn't seem unreal to me anymore, but the Master was still a Master.

I knocked on the door. I just knocked, and that's when Lex flinched, looking around the floor forcibly, but not finding the source. With a grin, I repeated the knock, and then the door slid aside.

- Who are you? - Lex had his hand on the hilt of his lightsaber.

- I see you didn't recognize me. No wonder," I sighed. "Anakin Skywalker, Jedi knight.

- Um..." Lex removed his hand from his sword, "Anakin?

- Doesn't he look like one? - I grinned.

- Not really," Lex slumped back in his chair, "I wasn't expecting you back.

- I came back to report back and say goodbye. I found a way to fly back.

Lex wasn't too happy about that:

- Are you sure? You could have stayed...

- No way. And reporting back... that's the hard part. I used the holocron clue to find the house where the Sith used to live. It's haunted by his ghost, or rather a phantom of the Force. He wasn't exactly friendly, but he gave me some information about his research and some coordinates as well.

- What kind of coordinates? - Lex relaxed in his chair.

- I can't tell you. Don't take this the wrong way, but I can't tell you. All I will say is that I learned power forging at a completely different level, continued my training in the other subjects from philosophy to swordsmanship and physics. Now I have completed my training and am ready to fly away.

- Interesting," the Master nodded. - So be it. Let's go," Lex stood up and left the office. I hurried after him, asking questions as he went:

- "Master? Where are we going?

- To the training room. If you've been studying, as you say, I want to test your skills.

We took the elevator down and three minutes later entered the hall. The Yunlings were still training, and when they saw the Master, they greeted him. They didn't pay that much attention to me, though.

Lex took the training sword from the wall, and so did I. I hadn't prepared to fight the Master on the first day, but I turned on the light saber and stood in a stance.

- Attack," the wizard said. I decided not to torment him with my innate superiority, so I rushed at him first, with about the same speed as the last fight we'd had. Lex barely had time to smirk before I was out of sight - I moved, with considerable acceleration, to the side and delivered a stabbing blow to the side, which the wizard blocked, after which I pushed off with one leg, finding myself in the air. Using the gyro effect of the sword arch I turned and struck from above, but that strike was blocked as well. Next was the Master's attack. Compared to Son's attacks, the Master was much slower. I even had time to think about how to beat him. I had to use a trick from Juyo - a rotary movement with the brush and the sword, describing a semicircle from below, raises the Master's sword. Having received the momentum of the reverse movement, the sword with force and tremendous speed describes almost a full circle along with my movement to the side and strikes the top-back. The Master slightly shifted and did not feel the full force of the blow, but I immediately rushed to the other side, rolling over and striking the left side of Lex's sword, pushing it down. This rapid alternation of different vectors caused his hand to almost drop the sword, but he held on. Next was Lex's move - he moved swiftly closer to his target and pierced his chest with his sword. Except, surprise, the moment the sword was about to enter his chest, the "I" fluttered through the air like smoke, and my sword rested on Lex's shoulder. Checkmate.

- What was that? - The magister was dumbfounded," I was...

- An illusion. A mirage, Magister. The image in force, in fact, I'm behind you and avert my eyes from me.

We switched off our swords. Lex shook his mane of hair.

- Yeah, your speed is something else! I didn't even notice you move to my back.

- The others didn't see us fighting at all," I shrugged, "it lasted a little over two seconds.

The Master smirked, nodding.

- Yes, you've learned a lot, Henia.

I shrugged and we left the hall. The Unlings, as soon as we started the fight, went quiet and tried to keep a low profile. As soon as Lex walked into his office, he was immediately staring at a terminal, typing something on it.

- Magister? - I turned his attention to myself.

- Yes, yes, just a second. Okay, first of all, you've been transferred to the Order. Indefinitely.

- Um... Master, what's the point of that? - I asked.

- Don't interrupt. So, you've been transferred to the Order's combat ranks, that's one, indefinitely, that's two. You've been promoted to master status and all the privileges you're entitled to. This will help you make contact with the Order in your own time and also make you more independent of the council. Congratulations.

I nodded my congratulations. That was all fine, of course, but...

- Master. I have come to say goodbye. May I see Toshi?

- About that," Lex said with a frown, "you can't. We need to have a serious talk, Anakin.

- Master? - I stood up, sensing trouble with my heel, since I was very 'lucky' with women. - Where's Master? What's wrong with her?