Weird Sith and the new Erdwah costume.

How do you describe space flight?

Once upon a time, long ago, on a distant planet called Earth, astronauts were considered something out of the ordinary... and understandably so, considering that except for rocket technology, which eats up a lot of fuel, there was no technology to put ships into orbit, and these ships were... just small things.

But flying like this was boring and unremarkable. You just sit there, piloting, maneuvering between tangible and perceptible threats, and regularly going out to sleep and eat, like a cat. Living like a vegetable, no different. Even meditation classes did not relieve the boredom; off-planet, in an artificial environment, and without a teacher by my side, it was no longer the same.

So I gave up on meditation, concentrating my energies on my journey and my sword. If I didn't want to be mistaken for a Sith and killed by my own kind, I wouldn't want that surprise.

Long or short, it was time to leave the hyperjump to the final destination of the journey, the planet Bimmel.

The system was a typical backwater-no holonet repeaters, no beacons nearby, just a small, fat asteroid field. Among the asteroids, bioform scanners detected local parasites, which sometimes attach to ships. After flying around the cluster of these creatures, I was finally able to look around properly. There were only two planets in the system - one was not far from a star, and the other was a gas giant with dense rings.

As I maneuvered the thrusters between the huge asteroids, I flew closer and closer to the planet. Some of the asteroids were over a hundred kilometers in size and could be a place for the local cosmofauna to live.

- Erdva, take the controls," I released the levers and turned to my droid. - Can you find the right asteroid?

- Yes, sir. I'm scanning..." The restless droid inserted a shunt into the ship's net and went silent. After a few seconds the ship abruptly changed direction. The droid explained it this way: "Asteroid eight-eleven detected. Are we landing?

- Sure," I shrugged, "we weren't looking for this guy for nothing.

- Estimated time of arrival is nine minutes...

- Then I'm off," I got up from the comfortable pilot's chair and went to get ready, throwing the droid over my shoulder that he wouldn't slow down. Erdva didn't answer.

I had to make a quick run to the armory to get my blaster and a decent Jedi sword. No sooner had I cleaned myself up than I felt the slight gravitational anomalies that come with landing on a small object, like an asteroid. Time, then.

The exploration was interesting. The ship appeared to be carefully landed on a special platform.

- Put your helmet on," came Erdv's voice from the speakers, "the asteroid has no atmosphere.

I had to put on the required - a set of spacesuits and a helmet. Only after I put on a fairly light suit set did the droid open the apron.

The suit was uncomfortable, despite its low weight - it was designed for technical work in open space, so adapted for technicians - on the belt was a weighty compartment-case for tools, behind the back in addition to the micromotors, a small droid reactor. The suit had a weighty tool-case on the belt, and a small droid reactor in addition to the micro-motors on the back. But the micropropulsors were a nice addition - when I turned them on, I hovered above the ground. A second more and I moved with decent speed towards the visible near a small rock house in the Nabuan style. It was nice to fly on my own-not like power-jumping, when you have to constantly think about your trajectory.

- The scanner didn't detect any bioforms inside," the droid told me over the comms. - Slow down, or you won't have time to slow down.

I took the astrodroid's advice-he knew more about flying than I did.

The closer I got, the more clearly I could see the building. A Nabuan two-story mansion, with the obligatory basement for storing provisions and a small decorative dome. Stopping to zero in, I slumped down just outside the door.

- Erdva, is there a recording going on?

- 'That's right,' the droid replied. - Maybe I should have gone with you.

- No, I'm sure that's unnecessary," I answered, turning on the flashlight built into my spacesuit.

The visor of the helmet displayed data on the environment's parameters - temperature below zero, gravity half the standard and no atmosphere.

The curious structure was only a house in appearance - the windows looked more like portholes, there was no light in them, of course, they were mirrored, reflecting the dangerous ultraviolet light of the local star. For the same reason, it was impossible to tell if the lights were working or not. There were... emanations of the dark side in the force, but they were not the same as what I felt from the Sith-the classic, if I might say so of the sixth sense, "taste" of Sith power-rottenness, decay, stench. Their power is both aggressive and unpleasant, unnatural, which is reflected in their ugly appearance. Here it felt different-the power was dark, but not as aggressively unpleasant, though it wasn't the least bit better. Just a slightly different coloring.

I slowed down when the door was only a couple of steps away. There was no way to get in. Scanning the house with force yielded no results-I sensed no one inside, and the metal, though sensed, was not going to do anything with it. "If the door is closed, we should knock," I thought, looking for any way to open it. One was quickly discovered - there was a rudimentary electronic device in the jamb that unlocked the entrance.

No matter how many years the house had stood abandoned, the reactors had long since died out and it was now not so easy to get inside. I had to unbolt the door by force and seal it behind my back.

Inside, the house looked more than desolate - there were no belongings to be seen, no atmosphere, and no acceptable temperature either. A look around revealed several rooms, bedrooms, a study, and a basement...

There was a surprise waiting for me in the basement - a large metal door that led to a cavity inside the asteroid, a Secret Passage? Maybe. I didn't bother with the door, either, and melted my way through.

Behind the door was a cave. As soon as I entered, I felt a sharply negative background of the dark side. This time it was the usual dark side of power-with a hint of rot and fear. The cave was enormous in size, if my scanners didn't lie. And they didn't lie. I didn't have to walk very far; in a few seconds a ghost like the one I'd seen before the holocron appeared in front of me. I wasn't frightened, though I wondered about that.

- What are you doing here? - the ghost asked in a tone that expressed the rudiments of curiosity.

- I heard there was a Sith who lived here, and he was researching something..." I frowned, checking my swords for strength.

The ghost was silent for a few seconds. It looked almost human, except that it glowed a slightly bluish light and was transparent. In power it felt like a cluster of dark side power, pulling dark energy from the cave itself through tentacles of power. His face was concealed by the hood of his cloak.

- You seek his knowledge? - The ghost asked with obvious curiosity. From what I could see the cave was a sort of holocron of natural origin, providing not only preservation but also nourishment for the spirit.

- You could say so," I answered.

- In that case, let's go inside," the ghost smiled. Only my lips and part of my nose were visible from under the hood, but I could definitely read emotion.

A strange ghost, that's something I really didn't think I'd encounter on an old asteroid.

The ghost floated over the floor toward the door of the house, and I followed it. The light from the suit lights made him almost invisible, but still well discernible. We made our way into the house I had just passed. The ghost sailed into the main hall.

- As you understand, you're looking for dangerous knowledge," he said in a hushed voice. Apparently, I managed to interest him," Whether or not you get out of here alive depends on what you're looking for.

Despite the threat, I tried to keep my composure and answer:

- "The great holocrone at the Jedi temple told me that the master of this house was dealing with the question of time travel by hyperjump.

- Yes?" the ghost asked in surprise. - I was, but why are you interested in that? - He stared right at me.

- Because I'm not from this time. My ship got hit by a gunshot during the jump, and I was thrown a couple of millennia back in time.

- Okay, stop," he stopped me. - So you're saying that you... jumped back in time?

- That's right," I nodded, standing in front of the spirit, "I'm looking for a way to get back to my time. To the future.

The ghost thought for a few seconds, but then answered:

- I don't have what you're looking for. I have actually researched the effect of hyperjump on the flow of time. Actually, time can flow faster or slower, depending on the voltage of the field that stabilizes the internal flow of time. But that doesn't mean that you can just jump into another time. There are thousands of factors influencing the parameters of the jump. You cannot speed up or slow down the jump speed in real time, but you can change the subjective time inside the ship while in hyperspace.

- So I can jump, the ship will fly in hyperspace for thousands of years, but less time will pass inside," I nodded.

- Yes, but the hyperdrive technology is too complicated. I've done experiments, but they've all failed," the interlocutor shook his ghostly head. - Even if you adjust the field in this way one field, it would lead to a change in the parameters of the entire system, so that to do this, it is essentially necessary to re-engineer the hyperdrive...

- And of all the variety of physical laws by which the hyperdrive functions," I sorrowfully said, "no more than thirty percent have been discovered. And the main ones are unknown to us.

- Scientists have been struggling with the problem of recreating hyperdrive for thousands of years, but in vain. So far, at least," the ghost corrected. - They simply copy someone else's technology and make changes that simply repeat what was there before, with minor adjustments in technology and materials used. Half a percent iridium in the winding may speed up hyperspace travel, but...

- The efficiency decreases many times over," I finished after the ghost. - So I flew all the way here for nothing?

- It turns out it was a waste. I was beginning to think you might need my knowledge.

- Would you like an apprentice? - I grinned. - Isn't it a little late for that?

The ghost smiled even wider:

- "It's never too late, take my word for it. Though I have something that might give you some answers. Or get you killed, that depends," he grinned. - During my research, I examined the Mau cluster, where hyperspace wriggled like it was crumpled endlessly. It's quite a dangerous place, by the way. After a short experiment, I managed to find traces of the influence of the "balancer" station. A mysterious and gigantic structure. At the station, in one of the vaults, I found many coordinates, or rather some kind of list. Some of the coordinates led to planets known to me - Vultar, Kron, as well as a whole set of coordinates leading to the wild space. I gathered all my strength and flew to the first coordinates, but found something incomprehensible. A giant octahedron, with an edge of at least five kilometers. I never understood what kind of structure it was, but the hyperspace around it was anomalous - the hyperdrive was malfunctioning and it was unreal to find it without coordinates - the hyperdrive with a small deviation could take the ship anywhere and anytime.

I spent almost a month researching it, but could not make any significant progress. The material of which it is made is unknown, the nature unknown, the age unknown, the purpose all the more obscure. But that this thing is somehow related to hyperjump distortions is a fact.

- I see," I nodded, not understanding, "so are you suggesting that I go there?

- If I can't do it, why don't you try? Besides, it makes no difference to me anymore. Maybe if you die, I'll see you on the other side," the Sith shrugged. - I'll have someone to ask what that thing is.

He was still a Sith, but he didn't care about me, he was driven, even in death, by his own curiosity.

- In that case, give me the coordinates.

- Look on my computer. If it still works.

The terminal, oddly enough, worked the first time. The Sith told me where to find the coordinates. I've set up a link to the ship:

- Erdva, can you see the coordinates?

- I see them, captain. - the droid was pleased. - Can you download them?

- Can you do it?

- Easy," the droid replied, "I've already hacked the network screen.

The droid, after installing the computing module, significantly expanded its capabilities as a hacker.

After getting the coordinates, I decided that there was no point in examining the building anymore - even if there was something useful here, I had no need for it. The landlord, or rather his ghost, watched my negotiations with the droid in silence, and then simply melted into thin air.

There were no other clues, though trusting a Sith, and a lunatic like that? But I had no alternative. Judging by his speech and my guess, no one could help me with the hyperdrive. I had no choice but to fly to the designated place and see if I could use my powers to do something about the unknown thing. And there was no confirmation that it was still there-the drift in space in recent times could have shifted the unknown thing far away from the point the coordinates indicated.

- Erdva, what are your thoughts on this? - I asked, already flying out the door toward the ship.

- It's worth flying over and taking a look. If anything, surely we can get away.

- Assuming there's an aggressor?

- I don't exclude the possibility that the creature tricked us. The probability is not zero.

The galaxy was of course very, very big, but the speed of the hyperdrive did its job - a week of travel and I'm already ready to leave at the right point.

By the way, it is difficult to travel alone. Otherwise, as an absolute necessity, you can not travel alone - it negatively affects the psyche. I have to compensate by meditating, but I am not all-powerful - communication with Erdva is what brightens up my gray traveler's daily routine. In all this time, Erdva had almost developed into a full-fledged personality - he had a sense of humor, his own desires, a passion for technology, and a certain reckless adventurousness that was created by the scanner I created (which turned out to be an ill-timed invention). Tony Stark of a galaxy far, far away, that's who he is.

One day I went to the bilge and got Erdw to make him a new hull. A completely new hull, with the same coloring, but not durastal like this one, but a different alloy.

It didn't take long to come up with a name for the metal - VBRS-1, Tungsten, Beskar, Ruthenium, Silver, Number One.

Yes, my experiments went beyond manipulating the shape of metal - the further I went into metalworking, the more I realized that I needed metals with clearly defined properties. For strength, resistance of one type or another, stiffness, reaction with other metals... There are two highly refractory metals in this alloy - Tungsten and Beskar - if you alloy, that is, distribute the tungsten molecules evenly in the Beskar, the refractoriness of the metal will be much higher, and therefore the hull will be impossible to burn through a blaster shot, whose main striking factor is the instant temperature recoil after the charge destabilizes, that is, after it hits a hard surface. It is much more difficult to burn through VBRS-1 than it is to burn through durastal. Resistance to the light saber, as I found out, can come from two sources - the first is that the metal is inert to the effects of photons, which in super-concentrated form make up the light arc of the sword. Exposure of such metal to the light ball will cause the photons to bounce off the surface, the arc to open, and the cycle to either break if the sword is designed to be powered solely by recuperation, the reuse of energy expended. Such a sword spends the battery charge only to create new photons and to overcome the electrical resistance of the conductors, that is, the battery to it is small and energy is spent slowly at a standstill not working and quickly when fighting, because each strike spends some of the photons from the arc and they are recovered from the battery charge without returning to the cycle. The higher the battery capacity, the longer the sword can last in combat without recharging, but a compact battery cannot create an arch for more than a minute without recuperation, i.e. reuse of energy.

If a lightsaber designed for recuperation collides with inert armor, the photons will be reflected, the arc will open and the sword will shut down, even a small spike in energy consumption will suck half the charge out of the sword.

Another thing is swords with a strong battery - I saw such in the temple - the sword will not go out after collision with the armor and the arc will be restored again as soon as the sword is taken away from the armor. In combat, this is the most rational solution.

There are super-fusible metals - the essence of their resistance is that the sword burns through the metal slowly - the metal resists burning through, but does not reflect photons. In that case, you just have to hold the sword in one place, or increase the intensity of the arc, or hit it several times in one spot. The sword will also discharge quickly, but not as quickly as in the first case. Such armor saves from blaster and any thermal weapon designed to burn through armor, so it's most valuable. Photon-resistant metals, on the other hand, are generally useless as a military resource, since it's enough to take a blaster and shoot whoever you want. Alloys and alloying don't help - the metal loses its properties. Thus, it's possible to say that it's impossible to make solid and expensive lightsaber armor that will be easily penetrated by any other weapon, it's possible to make heavy Beskar armor, but it will be very stiff, it's possible to make light Beskar armor, but there's no guarantee that it will withstand one hit or shot from something more serious than a gun. That's despite the fact that it will still hinder movement.

The logical solution is to abandon the armor altogether, relying on skills and senses - that way the effect will be much greater. You can, of course, be encased in freak armor that reflects the fireball, but then you'd be easily shot with a gun, even the Jedi carry blasters, all of them without exception. The only exception to the rule is if the enemy is known to have only light stunners, then you can try using sword-resistant metal. But this is foolish; every Jedi or Sith in the galaxy has at least a pistol, and stiffness of movement with competent shooting will prevent a gore-warrior from reflecting a shot.

As expected, there are no miracle solutions on how to keep yourself safe at once. However, there are fewer than one in a billion of sentient beings in the galaxy, so I shouldn't focus too much on forcers; it's much more likely that they'll just want to shoot me with a blaster.

That's exactly what I was counting on when I created the VBRS-1.

Judging by the complexity of the molecular structure of the metal, it is almost unrealistic to create this alloy without directly manipulating the metals with the help of Force Forging. This gave... tremendous room for imagination, because I could bind metals at the molecular level using force in almost any sequence and create metals with any qualities. But that would require a good knowledge of metallurgy theory, and my knowledge was limited to the holonet, where I could still find descriptions of alloys and promising ideas. For example, this is where I got the idea of heavy armor. For a human it was useless, since the weight of the armor itself came out to about a hundred kilograms, and even with a power suit the game was not worth the effort. A droid, on the other hand, could compensate for the weight by operating the repulsors, thus remaining just as light in its working state. The inertia was compensated by the engines, so the droid could put on such an armored body without any serious complications at all.

The result was five centimeters of armor that did not lose strength even when heavily heated, and radiators for cooling after a hit, and thermal accumulators.

Speaking of thermal accumulators. My invention. There are metals with different thermal conductivity, so I implemented another layer inside the armor, which by billions of strands of strands enters the main armor and draws heat from it, and after the individual elements get hot, that is, draw all the heat from the molecular radiator, they get shot off. The elements, the size and shape of a pencil, I also built into the Erdva case. True, they heat up fast and hard, so I had to shield them and add a pistol-like firing mechanism. The thermal accumulators used extremely expensive metal, which was mined on only a few planets from an entire galaxy.

As a result of the work, the Erdva was restarted.

- Do you feel anything?

- No," the droid replied. - Only that I have become much heavier.

- That's no problem, my friend, all you have to do is compensate a little by running the repulsors at a couple of percent power.

- Done," commented the droid, "I don't feel any changes anymore.

- All right, close all the compartments, we're going to test you now.

I took my Vestar blaster out of the arsenal and fired it at the droid. The place where the shot from the blaster hit got red hot, but only for a fraction of a second, after which the droid commented:

- Should I respond to the attack, or not?

- No, I'm only testing the armor for now," I said, aiming my rifle already. This time a segment of armor the size of my fist flushed for a full second, but immediately went out, and a white-hot cylinder flew out of the side of the droid with a snap. The floors in the hold were made of heat-resistant material, so at most it would leave a slightly uneven, melted mark. It'll take a long time to cool down.

- According to my data, this metal cools several thousand times faster than it should. Highly refractory materials tend to give off heat slowly.

- Right, so I built a system into the armor that draws out the heat and fires off thermal accumulators as needed.

- You invented a new armor? - the droid asked in astonishment.

- You could say that. Especially for you, my friend. Now you can't take any shots or flamethrowers.

The droid, judging by the fact that he turned around his axis, was glad of this news. I put the rifle away and left the hold with Erdva, remembering to put the red-hot battery on a small ceramic pad, just to put it in the mug with the rest of the tea. The tea immediately puffed up in a cloud of steam, and a crack appeared in the battery's structure due to uneven cooling.

The ship came out of hyperspace where there were no beacons, no repeaters, nothing. Wild space.