A heart-to-heart

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MandalMotors greeted me with anticipation and joy. It had been several months of work to get the prototype up to scratch - I had to consult with the engineers many times about additional equipment, of which there was a great deal in the fighter, from a scanner to the installation of two seismic mines that could seriously damage even a cruiser.

The fighter itself was not at all what it would have looked like on the model - in the folded position the wings stretched back twenty metres, making it as long as a small yacht, and in the unfolded position the fighter was as tall as a four-storey house. It was a record holder among fighters and one of the largest heavy fighters in the galaxy. The movements of the wings were controlled by a special computer linked to the navigation and propulsion computer, as well as the gunnery computer. In combat, this monster could take down a Gozanti corvette, and in terms of speed, due to the powerful Quandex engines modified specifically for it, it could match the speed of the fastest interceptors. Its high speed was combined with the highest, no, even phenomenal manoeuvrability. Due to the movement of the wings, the fighter could literally somersault on the spot at high speed, and its turning radius at cruising speed was barely more than the wingspan. Its maximum speed was one hundred and ten. By comparison, the most common "dagger" had only seventy units of speed, and the Z95, which in appearance and layout was the older brother of the cross-wing, had eighty-five units of speed. Only the Interceptors, fast but unarmoured and lightly armed machines designed to intercept fleeing enemies and not suitable for combat, had speeds greater than one hundred units.

The Mandalorians were proud of the ship, and I was even prouder - the speed of the order was astounding. And though the ship, judging by its many defects, was subject to detailed disassembly and modification, it was already assembled the way I wanted it.

- And here we have twin twelfth-class laser cannons.

- Cool," I nodded, "four twelfth-class guns is good. And the missiles?

- Here, - the scaffolding engineer went up to the fighter and showed me a block on the side of the hull, located under the wings, - here are installed rocket launchers. Five missiles in each. But that's not enough - the rocket launchers can turn backwards and fire at the pursuer. If that's even necessary - at this speed, not every interceptor will catch up with this fighter.

- You can never have too much security," I warned him, "so don't worry, you're not going to do too much. What about the guidance system?

- Oh, they've developed a programme and a computer to control the firing. The firing is controlled by a droid brain that can hold up to thirty targets at a time, no matter how they manoeuvre.

- In that case, I want to fly the prototype for a while," I smiled, "refuel the reactor.

- Refuelled," the engineer agreed, "but I must warn you that the prototype is not yet ready for full-scale testing, so it could be dangerous.

- Nonsense," I dismissed it, "if there's any real danger, I'll feel it. Besides, you can't see the flaws anywhere as well as you can when you're flying.

The calculation for using such fighters was simple. Modern tactics involve the use of both fighters and large ships, I only expanded the fighter's field of action. Twelfth-class cannons are a big deal. They won't take the armour of a cruiser, but a corvette or light cruiser, or any other lightly armoured ship like a Marauder, will be slaughtered.

The fighter from a means of gaining dominance in the air and mass raids on small enemy ships turns into a serious player, which can cause significant damage to even heavy ships with its volleys of missiles.

The test drive of the prototype was more interesting than a simple flight on a production machine - I had to monitor the whole fighter and keep an eye on its performance at the same time. I climbed into the cockpit and switched on the power, after which the cockpit closed and the wings came into motion - they unfolded and the machine itself rose into the air. The wingspan was such that sitting in the cockpit of the standing fighter I looked up at the people down there. Shin and the engineers quickly left the hangar and its flaps, on the ceiling, opened. It was time to fly. Erdwa climbed into the inner dock and we took off.

The takeoff showed very sharp control - the machine spun easily in any direction from the slightest deflection of the control stick. Having soared above the hangar, the machine easily reached a height of a thousand metres and there I checked the control for strength - the sonic speed gained quickly, just as quickly the machine braked with all eight manoeuvring engines. I was satisfied with it - with such manoeuvrability I could destroy any enemy fighters and easily dodge fire.

- Erdva, switch on the bioform scanner, data to my monitor.

- Yes, - answered the droid and before my nose, information about the detected living organisms appeared. About a hundred were scattered below, around the hangar of the MandalMotors range, a bunch more small ones were in the forest, which was located near the range and a few were flying in the air, but significantly lower.

- Erdva, shall we hunt game? - I asked, activating the laser cannons. The cannon status window quickly disappeared and pushing the control stick in, I steered the machine towards the nearest bird. The guidance system locked onto the target and I swooped down on the poor bird from above. Bad luck for the bird, but I didn't feel sorry for the bird - unlike its fellow birds, it was killed by a heavy laser cannon designed to penetrate armour and destroy ground targets.

- Erdva, put all birds within a three-kilometre radius on the targeting system.

- Aye!" the droid obeyed, and the screen in front of me bloomed with target markings.

The fighter, the size of a house, easily caught up with the targets and destroyed even such small targets. I was shooting sparrows for a long time - probably about an hour, while doing such pirouettes that the design of another fighter would have come apart at the seams from the overloads - they reached eighty g, when turning sharply at near-sonic speed. The engines performed quite well, but towards the end of the start of overheating of the power lines laid in the wings. To be precise, the power cables of the engines were overheating - they could not cope with such a sharp and heavy load. A few more constraints in movements were revealed thanks to destructive overloads. However, the design as a whole withstood - the attachment units and wing movement mechanisms overheated, a crack appeared in one of the mechanisms. But this was only after an hour's torture with overloads. Deciding to call it a day, I steered the fighter into the hangar. I hadn't experienced anything like this since the last Rebellion Eve Classic race on Tatooine. The speed is good, the acceleration is brisk, and the weapon can deflect and engage targets without the pilot's input, which means it can take down small targets just like that. Satisfied with the flight, I descended into the hangar. Since the cockpit was located in the front part of the fuselage and was a transparent capsule, not an aeroplane seat, the visibility was perfect - I could see everything in front of me, under my feet, above my head and so on. Such visibility was essential for a super manoeuvrable fighter.

Having landed the car and pressed the button for folding the wings, I climbed out of the fighter. The wings folded in the landing position so that the cockpit was literally one metre off the floor. As soon as I landed, the engineers entered the hangar, chatting and looking at me icily.

- How do you like the machine? - The most senior of them asked.

- Not bad. It's closer to what I wanted. A little more work and it will be great, - I nodded and began to list: - The cables powering the shunting engines are getting warm. They can be made of superconducting metal. The wing movement mechanism is damaged at high overloads, up to eighty units, we'll have to strengthen it a bit by adding freak or quadanium to the alloy. The guidance system loses the target on the tail during sharp manoeuvres - engine emissions blind the sensors and the target merges with them, we will have to place additional sensors for tracking the rear hemisphere, away from the engines, for example, on the wing tips.

The engineer listened to my remarks without enthusiasm, but kept silent.

- Next," I continued, "the armour and armament are clearly inadequate. The twelfth class cannon is certainly powerful, but the heavy armour will withstand much more than the fighters' shots, so you can change a dozen missiles for two big and powerful ones, powerful enough to destroy the cruiser with both missiles. These cannons will suffice for firing on light targets," I finished.

- All right, we'll redesign it," the engineer nodded.

- There's not much to redesign. By the way, you don't have to install the hull armour - I'll make what you need from my materials later.

- And maybe we'll make it after all? - asked the engineer, - you can send your materials, it will be easier for us to manufacture them until the final stage.

- We can do that," I agreed, "in that case, I'll send you the metal for armouring. Well, - I looked around, - I have no significant remarks on the construction, everything works perfectly. However, I still have the impression that I could have squeezed more out of it, but the component base doesn't allow it....

- What can you do, - shrugged the chief designer of my fighter, - modern construction of ships is more of an arrangement of already standard elements. They vary, of course, but still, the main thing in development is design, layout and form factor. And you provided all of that, we just had to tweak it a little bit to get it ready. If you want an even more powerful fighter, you will have to order components specifically for it. That would take at least a year to develop.

- Yes, I think so," I nodded, "start thinking about the second generation of these fighters, with unique components. I don't think it will take more than a week to complete such refinements - almost everything turned out great. And I will not set you a rigid deadline for the second generation, order the design of the most complex and perfect components.

- We'll do it," the engineer nodded, "by the way, the price will go up, and this is already the most expensive fighter in history. The cost of one copy is one and a half million credits.

- Wait a second," I got on the datapad and did the math. One aircraft carrier would cost a hundred and fifty million credits per wing, and that's assuming that only a third of it would be occupied by these fighters. Inexperienced pilots won't be able to cope with such a thing, and not everyone prefers swiftness in battle, so there's no sense to load the whole wing with such machines only - we need small machines, as well as fighter droids. But I wasn't going to design them as much as I was going to design these machines, because their place on the battlefield isn't that important. This fighter is the main, so to speak, symbol and the most perfect, so it will decide the outcome of many battles and its concept of small but armoured and dangerous should be fundamental. Interceptor functions, i.e. the basis of security in peacetime, will also have to take on him.

- All right, we can afford it. The main thing is that the fighter must be perfect.

I said goodbye to the engineers and left the hangar with Sin. In front of it, on the airfield, stood the corvette we came in on.

- Where to now? - Syn asked.

- Now to see the rest of our orders. The second most important is a heavy cruiser and an aircraft carrier. They're unified, and the KMK is working on them. Fly to KMK and Kuat for now, see how things are going. Zzerka is also worth a look, but it's better to deal with them later, when they have something to show.

- Yes," Shin said, and headed for the ramp.

The prototype was waiting for me in the hangar. When I got back, I approached the chief engineer. Apparently, he was a little offended by the list of improvements I'd presented, so I decided to cheer him up a little.

- Can I talk to you? - I distracted him from talking to his subordinates. The engineer immediately turned round and with a nod to his juniors came over to me.

- I wanted to say," I moved a little away from the ears and the engineer realised what I meant and followed me, "I wanted to say that you have designed a wonderful fighter. The best in the galaxy. And my complaints... don't blame me, I'm a Jedi with abilities in engineering, so I can feel all the flaws. In such a short time you have created a wonderful machine.

- Don't worry about it," the engineer said, "we'll refine it to a finished state.

- Yes, but this is only the first generation. It's based on existing components, which, as you rightly pointed out, are assembled all over the galaxy. A fighter like this will require specialised engines, computers, systems, hyperdrives, deflectors and so on. I will not be stingy on this matter, so you can ignore the financial side of things. My Minister of Finance will provide any amount required, provided it is for the good of the project.

- I assure you, we'll try to keep the cost down," the engineer nodded, "as it goes into mass production, the price will surely come down.

- That's not the point," I dismissed the money talk, "it's the machine itself. It is cramped in such systems, everything literally demands to give it a powerful computer, new deflectors, new shielding systems, more powerful engines... - I kept silent about the fact that I was going to create a stealth system for these fighters in the next few years, which would turn them from just a formidable enemy into a superweapon that would strike fear with its sudden appearance, - do you understand? I realise the price of the final design may be exorbitant, but I can handle any complexity. For the second-generation fighter, you can take this into account, I'm speaking as an official, there are two technical tasks - a light version, and a special one for the Guard. And if the light version has some limitations related to the pilot - it is designed to work from aircraft carriers, i.e. hyperdrive is not necessary, it may have a less powerful engine and manoeuvrability, because using a fighter that is too fast requires a lot of experience, then the Guard's machine must be as perfect as possible. And its price is up to a billion credits.

- But that's impossible! - The engineer almost stumbled at the same place, - such expensive fighters do not exist in nature! Even a cruiser is twenty times cheaper.

- I agree," I nodded, "this is a monetary framework for you, so that you don't feel constrained. Development from scratch of new laser guns, special power, new torpedoes, also especially powerful, new deflectors, computers, guidance systems, life support systems... and preferably duplicate all vital systems. That's in addition to the armour. Besides, the designs developed for the fighter can be used in other projects. For example, cannons will look good as additional guns on a frigate, or civilian transports in general, for self-defence. But no universal guns, we can't sit in two chairs...

- In that case it's... it's wonderful, - the engineer smiled a wide childish smile, - we'll place the necessary orders now.

- Exactly, - I nodded, - by the way, I'll take the prototype from you, I'll do its modifications personally.

I said goodbye to the inspired engineer and climbed back into the fighter. By the way, we still haven't thought of a name for it... What should we call the fighter or the whole series? I don't remember the original name, so I was thinking of a name for the fighter while I was taking off. I'll save that for later.

As soon as I reached an altitude of a couple of dozen kilometres, Erdva said:

- Anakin, Satine Kriz is contacting us.

- Make the connection," I nodded and stopped the car. Satine's voice came through:

- Anakin?

- On the line. Good afternoon, Satine.

- Oh, you too," the Duchess said sarcastically, "how come you didn't even drop in on your old friend for tea? You're on Mandalore, aren't you?

- Yes, of course. I can drop in on you, just in time to show you my new toy.

- Oh, I'll be waiting," the Duchess purred and switched off. Waiting is waiting," I turned to Erdva:

- Take the controls, my iron friend. We're going to Keldabe, to the Duchess.

- Aye!" the droid replied cheerfully, and we took off in the direction of the capital, folding our wings and going supersonic. As we approached the capital we had to slow down and report to the air defence, or we might be shot down - the ship was military and armed to the teeth. Keldabe, as before, was a jumble of buildings, but it was certainly a large and well-developed city. I flew over it at an altitude of five kilometres, and descended only over the Duchess's palace, landing in one of the speeder car parks. It's a good thing it fit. Erdva eased out of his slot with a click and climbed out through the belly of the fighter, gliding down to the ground on his repulsors. I, on the other hand, had to wait for the fighter to fold its wings so I could get out. Finally, it happened.

- Well, Erdva," I sighed, "let's go.

- Let's go," the droid burst forward, walking in front of me in the direction of the palace. A moment later I was met by guards and escorted to the Duchess's chambers.

As always, I walked past the guards and into the familiar living room and sat on the couch, waiting for her highness. Erdwah was brightening my boredom by flying around the drawing room and looking at the interior, while I was just meditating.

The Duchess entered at a brisk pace, through the main door, and when she saw me, she softened:

- This is the second time you've been to Mandalore and I don't even know it," she accused me bluntly, "What do you mean?

- I was just flying in on business. And, yes, I'm sorry, Satine.

- Okay," Crease sighed, "business, I understand....

She came into the room and sat opposite me in the chair, crossing her legs so that from the slit of her long skirt a slender leg was showing off. She's checking me out, judging by her emotions.

- How are you doing? - she asked, looking closely at my face.

- The same, - I sighed and relaxed in the chair, began to tell, - the army is slowly building. It's building fast, but it should be faster. Shin, by the way, is doing a great job with the fleet building...

- I see," Satine nodded and adjusted her skirt, "how is Shiai doing?

- He's doing fine," I nodded, "I've been spending more time with him than the fleet lately, so he's quite happy with his life. Cassados is giving him a lot of training, too.

Satine was silent for a few seconds before she asked a question:

- You look a little sad. What happened?

- Yes, trifles, - I brushed it off, - it's just that a friend of mine decided to get married... And she didn't invite you?

- And she didn't invite you? Or you... - Satine twitched her shoulder indefinitely.

- No, it's not that. It's even good.

- But you're still sad," Satine sighed, "who is your friend?

- Padme. Padme Amidala.

- Oh," the duchess was visibly surprised, "the queen of Naboo? But yes, she's grown a lot lately... it's time to look for a husband. Didn't you ask her to marry you?

- No, no," I smiled, "why would I do that? Well, we just know each other a little.

- I know your "a little acquaintance", - Satine sarcastically sniggered, - you men are all possessive, you have nothing yet, and you are already jealous....

- Come on, - I took offence, - you've already written me down as Padme's admirer.

- Well, why don't you like her? - Satine raised an eyebrow, - young, beautiful, even very beautiful Nabuan. She's in her prime.

- Political views," I nodded, continuing in the same tone, "look at who I am and who she is? Indecisive politicians who think the galaxy is as peaceful as their home planet have already plunged the Republic into crisis. Slave traders, smugglers, pirates, crooks of all stripes, and the livestock are doing just fine in the galaxy. Well, okay, smugglers do no harm to anyone but the economy, but the rest of them - it's a fairy tale. You have to know how to talk to them," I chuckled, "the first instrument of my policy is in your car park. One-on-one could take down an entire cruiser.....

- Oh, I've seen it," the Duchess nodded. By the way, now that we're talking about it, it's quite normal in our circle. They tried to marry me off when I was fifteen. If I hadn't fought back, I'd be leading Mandalore right now.

- Of course," I nodded, "you did the right thing, by the way.

- Thank you," Satine stretched out in a deep armchair, "have you found a bride yet? - she asked with a sly expression on her face. Judging by her emotions, she decided to work as a matchmaker or just for the sake of interest.

- No," I shrugged, "I haven't even thought about it yet.

- You're lying," she smiled, "I can see it in your eyes.

- All right, I'm lying," I agreed, "I haven't looked, I've been thinking. And I haven't thought of anything. If for purely political reasons, I would send matchmakers to you, - I smiled, seeing how embarrassed Satine averted her eyes, - but I don't care about political motives. My power is based on economy, not on aristocracy. Accordingly, I do not need a political marriage, not a political....

- I see, - agreed the Duchess, - I'm sorry for bringing up the subject....

- It's all right," I shrugged, "why not talk? Besides, I'm not a boy anymore. My first love was killed here, above the palace, I broke up with Shiai's mother and we never lived together. I tried to settle down, but it didn't work. So now I don't know what to do... By the way, who do you have? - I raised an eyebrow, pulling Satine to frankness, - because, you know, in case I decide to match you, and you're a busy girl ...

- No," the Duchess replied, too playfully.

- Satine, Jedi can sense lies... - I squinted and the Duchess, looking at me unhappily, cracked up:

- 'Suppose there is one person... a Jedi...'

- Oh," I raised one eyebrow interestedly, "interesting melodrama here. Who is he?

- Obi-Wan, I don't think you know him..." the Duchess waved him away.

- Ben Kenobi? - I grinned, "Why, we know each other. He's a good guy, but he's a little twisted on the code and rules of the Jedi Order....

- Oh," Satine sighed, "I'm sorry, that hardly concerns you..." guilt slipped into her emotions. What was that about? Judging by the fact that it intensified when she looked at me, it could be interpreted as if I was jealous.

- Don't feel bad," I grinned, "I understand and I didn't mean it. Although, for the record, just because he's a Jedi doesn't mean he's a hostage of the Order. Any Jedi can leave the Order at will. True, the Order will still keep an eye on him, but it's imperative that he not make an enemy....

Satine's emotions slipped hope, but quickly faded, then she looked at me and said:

- Okay, it's my personal problems, I'll manage somehow.

- Yeah, I hope so," I nodded, "There are two problems left. The first is how to get Ben and Satine together, and the second is how not to get my brains kicked by the Order... I can work with Swaha purely out of curiosity.

- By the way, how's the city building going?

- Cinnagar? - I didn't realise at first because of the sudden change of subject, - wonderful. The outlying districts have been completed, and the droids have begun construction of the central sector. It's mostly high-rise buildings.

- I wonder, will you invite me to visit? - smiled the duchess.

- By all means, lady," I bowed jokingly, "I'd be glad if you'd visit Koros. The planet, except for the main city, is wild. I invite you to visit Biss...

- Biss? - Satine didn't understand.

- It's the most beautiful planet I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot... during the daytime it's still nice, but at night the planet transforms. There are no aggressive predators, only herbivores, no intelligent life and no cataclysms - a safer and quieter place in the galaxy.

- It sounds like a date," Satine didn't understand my motives.

- Maybe. But this isn't it. I want to build a residence on Biss for my meditation retreat, my own personal planet. There are no deposits on it anyway, even by the standards of the other planets in the galaxy, Biss has virtually no resources. The planet has nothing useful, except fairy-tale beauty.....

- That's a lot, too," Satine disagreed, "I thought you'd gone completely stale.

- No, I'm a romantic," I grinned, "I'm just busy and loaded with tedious work, and so ...

- You don't look it," the duchess inclined her head slightly to my shoulder, "by the way, I've been meaning to ask you why you're doing all this trouble with the Nucleus.

- I don't know," I shrugged my shoulders, thinking a little, "you know, people are different. There are those who are happy when they buy a farm, get married, have kids, and then there are people like me. I'm drawn to do something big, meaningful," I nodded to my thoughts, "without such work, life seems boring, and you seem to yourself a small insect or a rat, whose whole purpose is to be born, get drunk, give birth to other rats and die of old age in warmth and comfort... Such things, meaningful, it's like a drug from which you can't get off - responsibility... it scares some people, but for me, on the contrary, it makes me happy.

- I see, - the Duchess nodded to me, - well... we've talked about personal life, now we can rest, - the Duchess got up and went out, and in a couple of minutes we were brought hot herbal tea with sweets. Satine swooped down on them under my surprised gaze.

- What are you looking at? - I've been up and about since morning, I don't have time for lunch. And it's already evening time...

- Yes," I smiled, "you should have my Erdv or his like... if it were not for him, I would have starved to death long ago...

- Why so? - Satine asked, "Does he cook for you?

- No, it's just that sometimes I forget to eat. And I remember not often...

- I see," said Satine with a satisfied smile. I waited for her to finish and returned to the topic of her pain.

- By the way, I have a great specialist... if you want, I'll organise a meeting with Ben for you.

- Thank you, of course," Satine said, but I didn't let her finish:

- 'And don't tell me it's none of my business. Or do you think I don't care at all about your problems? Besides, as long as they give it to you, you should take it. If my access codes to the Jedi Temple haven't been cancelled yet, I might be able to arrange a mission for Kenobi. I can't personally assign him, but it wouldn't be too tedious to cause a stir and ask the council to send Ben through the Chancellor. And here... and here it's up to you. At the very least, I'll step in to give him an educational talk.

- I don't understand, - Satine still accepted my intervention, - why would you do that? You're just setting yourself up.

- I don't think so," I disagreed, "I'm not afraid of the Jedi, especially since I'm one myself. I just want to help my two friends, nothing more. As for the Jedi... I don't care. Honestly. I already have more political and economic clout than they do. Valorum will probably stay out of it, or side with me if things escalate.

- Suit yourself," Satine sighed, "Suit yourself....

- I'll try to do it, but I don't promise I'll succeed. And you should turn on your femininity three hundred per cent. If it works out, this will be your last chance.

Satine's up:

- Anakin, thank you so much.

- You're welcome, I haven't done anything yet.

- In that case, good night. We'll talk in the morning-" Satine smiled at me and walked out.

- Good night," I wished her good night.

Well, it's a dilemma. Satine loves Kenobi. How small this galaxy is!

It's not so unrealistic to arrange a meeting between them - we take some excuse, like a rumour that there are Sith or Dark Jedi on the Death Watch, we take a Force-sensor with a red sword in Mandalorian blind armour who's supposedly been spotted near the Watch leaders, and that's it, the Jedi can't help but send someone to check the rumours. Valorum intervenes and asks for someone to be sent, a rumour is spread that a Sith wants to kill Satine for the Death Watch and asks for a Jedi bodyguard to be assigned to her from her acquaintances, and the trick Palpatine pulled with Anakin and Padme in the film works a hundred percent. Ben and Satine side by side, lovey-dovey, then leaving the Order with a slammed door and voila... Yeah, I'm starting to resemble Palpatine more and more. Only unlike him, I do it for the people closest to me, not myself....