Incognito from Cinnagar

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***

I was walking across the snow-covered steppes of a distant planet. Sparse stalks of desert plants poked through the snow, exuding the scent of dried hay. It was day or evening, I couldn't tell, though it was more like night - three moons shone from the sky, but there was no sun in sight. The stalks of the plants crunched under my feet, and the thin, freshly fallen snow crunched. In my hands I held a black box with a symbol I had never seen before - a rectangle with transverse lines. The symbol glowed faintly. I walked from my ship towards the forest. The snow-covered forest was sparse, but it was large - it stretched from horizon to horizon. Suddenly a figure in black blocked my path. His cloak was fluttering in the wind, his figure was slouched, and from beneath his hood protruded either a respirator or a visor. It was definitely a Sith. He blocked my path, and fixed the gaze of his visor on me.

- What's in the box? - He asked in a husky voice.

- You don't need it," I waved my hand, using my mind's deception.

- Wrong..." The Sith pulled out a blaster and a purple discharge flew at me, which I fended off with a green lightsaber. The Sith threw back the blaster and drew his sword, bending into a pompous pose. The Sith's blade activated and I saw--I wanted to keep from laughing, but I couldn't--a sword, with two small blades near the hilt. As an experienced swordsman, I suppose it's an ingeniously stupid solution - the garda serves as a defence for sliding blows - light blades don't slide on each other... that's first of all, and secondly, they have no sidewall and no blade - they are cylindrical. Which means that if you don't have an awkward grip, or are fending off an oblique strike, the blade will just hit past the guard - after all, a sword has no sides, no matter how you twist it... however, the Sith chuckled nastily. Contrary to my expectations, I pulled out my goggles, a laser soldering iron and... began to solder my sword. The Sith looked at the wristwatch, which was on his wrist when I finished soldering. The sword didn't switch on the first time. The second time I pressed the button, green sparks erupted. Then I... hit the sword from the back side and the naughty light blade came out. There was now a garda in the manner of a Japanese sai - curved light arcs in the shape of a trident. The Sith responded by pressing some button, and then his "garda" joined the end of the sword, forming a large "blade". I kept up - I pressed a button and from the sword grew... a light axe, like in computer games. The Sith responded - his sword turned into a light hook, and then I activated the sword again. Small sprouts ran along the blade, turning the sword into a light chainsaw. Sith's sword split into five pieces, after that I responded - I pressed the button once more. My sword split into a dozen arcs of light, all the colours of the rainbow. The disgruntled Sith held out his sword and pressed the button. The most ordinary red lightsaber appeared. The Sith, looking at my wretchedness, began to chuckle nastily:

- Old Skool decides! Ha ha ha ha!

He burst into a malicious laughter, so enthralled that a... jawa ran up to him. A small man in a crude robe. Jawa pulled out a blaster and pointed it at the Sith. I wanted to warn Sith, but he was laughing so heartily....

The Sith noticed Jawa himself, but it was too late - the runt fired and the Sith flew off screaming "oh shit" into the bushes. Jawa ran up and picked up the sword and switched it on, with the words:

- Old Skool. Like a darthwielder...

Shorty switched off the sword and stared at me: - Hey, what's in the box?

I did the mind trick again:

- You don't need it.

Jawa hesitated, looking at me with his glass-eyes, then teased, waving his hand in the manner of a Jedi:

- "Nanny-me-me-me-me," he spat and walked away, humming the Imperial March.

* Anakin Skywalker, yacht *

Oh, I'm gonna dream about this! - I jumped out of bed. I slept longer than usual today. The crew had returned aboard. I got my thoughts together and went into the study. I should have checked the news first. Since the ship was coming out of hyper while I slept, there had to be news.

Erdva was always in my office.

- Anything? - I asked the droid.

- The comms have been contacted... Sin Konoth, Cinna Isaurik, Julian.

- Patch Sin through.

I'm in the chair. A minute later, a hologram of the fleet commander appeared above the droid.

- Hello, Cyn.

- Your Majesty," he nodded, "what can I do for you?

- Okay, you and I have a special conversation. You ready?

- Wait a second," he disappeared for a few seconds and returned to the camera, "what's wrong?

- Nothing," I sighed, "what about our sheep?

- Who?

- Naboo.

- Still the same," Syn nodded, "Enark did a battle reconnaissance. Our intelligence reports twenty-three dead Nabuans. The exact number is being verified.

- All right, then I want a full accounting of what forces we have under our command and what we have at our disposal.

- All right, then. There's also unconfirmed information that Enark is about to join forces with Farstin. It's a human-populated planet on the Trielusian trade route....

- I've heard of it," I nodded, "I've been there. It's a backwater, but as a supply base for illegal weapons through the Hutt sector..." I thought, "it could cause problems. Farstin goes under the Hutts.

- It's an independent system," Shin shook his head, looking sideways.

- Shin, in the galaxy, there's only so much independence you can protect. Farstin has long been used as a base for smuggling contraband and slaves from the Hutt sector to the Trielusian Way. The government there means no more than a dancer in some Hutt's courtyard - they're completely dependent and completely gutless people.

- Then it could cause problems.

- If the Hutts and slave traders get involved, a minor skirmish between the two systems could turn into major trouble. And looters and slave traders will be there, I have no doubt. Even if they don't declare their alliance, vultures will be circling the battlefield....

- As is usually the case," Shin shrugged, "what are we going to do?

- First, I'd like to study the composition of the fleet. The one we've already assembled and can field. That's one. Secondly, I'm assigning this task to you, so that it will be your first real operation as an admiral of the Empire.

- Yes, sir," Shin stretched out into a straight line.

- At ease, Admiral. Now, thirdly, you'll be commanding a limited contingent of troops. We'll have to take the planetary shields we've purchased for seven planets and install them on Naboo and the surrounding planets.

- There's only one Chommel," Shin agreed.

I contemplated the further operation. Shin didn't interrupt me. The case of an innocent little localised war was threatening to escalate into a major scuffle, involving the Hutts. Given my dislike of those parasitic slugs, I could have sent the entire fleet, but there was no fleet. I had to do it another way, another way, without getting caught.

- And most importantly. It has to look like we're not the ones defending the planet.

- How's that? - Shin was surprised.

- It's like this. The Nabuans have to handle this thing themselves. They don't know much more about warfare than the Alderaans, so you'll have to go in quietly. The troop contingent is very limited indeed - we should not so much work for the Naboo as help them from the shadows. That's the way it has to be," I pressed my voice.

- Understandable. But... I don't understand anything.

- And you shouldn't. I'll explain. The Nabuans need to be supplied with weapons and money for military needs. Select a hundred or two professionals from various fields as military specialists. They will have to train Nabuan soldiers. The part of the government order that goes to our needs can be re-bought by Naboo, hint at that too. Crusaders and cruisers, landing craft and aircraft carriers, all this can be sold to them on credit, at zero per cent interest. Next, the only forces I'm authorising are small and discreet groups of professionals. I have a couple of dozen Guard fighters on my yacht - find the best pilots who feel at home in space. The most active who can handle a very complex and manoeuvrable machine. It's designed to fight medium-sized ships and large groups of small ships, and the enemy fleet... - I thought, recalling.

- "It's mostly Gozanti corvettes, there are a few patrol corvettes, marauders, two cruisers, about seven hundred fighters of various brands, and a large supply fleet of large heavy carriers and small freighters.

- In that case, the Guard fighters will come in handy. Twenty-five of them, Cyn. For the rest, rely on the men your "instructors" can train and the ships you buy back and their crews.

- Problematic," Konoth thought, "you see, our cruisers were built without regard to cost. They cost about a hundred and twenty million each. Their price is constantly changing in the process of operation, modernisation, series increase and so on... however...

- I hear you. I'll give you plenty of money - interest-free loan to Naboo. You can count on... roughly a budget of two hundred billion. Is that enough for the cost of training and weaponry?

- It should," Konoth nodded confidently, "there are still some questions. How do I interact with the queen?

- Well..." I thought for a moment, "for starters, I just need the safety of the planet and a guarantee of security for its inhabitants. Sacrifice among the Naboans is unacceptable. I want it to be presented as a programme to help her secure Naboo from invasion. No commitment from her, just keep her out of your way.

- And if she doesn't agree?

- She's a smart girl, she'll do it. Especially since the real big forces will be concentrated later - for now you can just fly to Naboo, with a couple or three ships and offer to help them on behalf of the Koros Empire. Free of charge, for the pretty eyes. And further... further, when she thinks she's made a small alliance, you can start a full-scale war preparation programme - you can buy military goods on behalf of our fleet - uniforms, armour, weapons, provisions, ships and fighters, training materials, and so on and so forth.

- And when she turns her back, we'll make massive preparations for war behind her back, bring in the fleet....

- Try to make do with whatever ships you can find on the open market. I wouldn't want to show our capabilities to the galaxy. Place an order with the CMC for armed CR corvettes, the Marauders. How are our fighters coming along?

- Crusaders are doing well. Sorosub's already in production, the first models are in the field. The Guards, we need to come up with a name for them, while we still have a couple of the ones you left behind. We're getting the hang of it.

- Pick your own fighters, whatever you like, you can even try out the Crosswings. As for the basic little things that make up an army... I can't advise you on that.

- What kind of scale do you need to be on?

- The scale that will ensure an unequivocal victory. Not excessive, however. As for the Trielusian Way... cut it off. If necessary, mine, stop and search every ship you find there. There's no manpower limit on this part, you can bring a whole squadron. If the stopped ships resist, shoot them, if they're carrying contraband or slaves, then free the slaves, destroy the contraband, shoot the slave traders without trial.

- Aren't you afraid of their customers?

- You mean the Mafia? It would be interesting to test our fleet and ground forces on the destruction of Mafia clans. At the very least, you have a squadron, keep it on alert, no surprises. If they attack... well, they won't be able to gather enough forces to destroy a squadron of heavy cruisers - the Chancellor's trying to squeeze the bureaucrats who are selling warships in a roundabout way.

Shin bowed and the image faded. He was on Coruscant, as far as I know. Our ship was already halfway to Coruscant - we'd have to escort Syn through the barrier and back with part of the fleet.

Again, my thoughts on the matter were in need of considerable revision - the situation was not as innocent as I would have liked it to be. The ship jumped again - this time the journey to Coruscant would take very little, only four or five hours, which I had to spend planning the military operation. At least getting the task of the military right is no small thing. So, what I want. I want Amidala to profit from this war, that is, our participation should not be too overwhelming, for that we need to recruit the local population. The empire's stab fund had several trillion, so three hundred billion I could spare.

One ordinary infantryman costs about fifty thousand a year - that's the cost of training, about ten thousand, weapons - five to ten thousand, uniforms - ten to twenty grand, food and wages, medical services, transport. It turns out that an army of half a million will cost us twenty-five billion. That's a relatively manageable force for Naboo, but it's a steep blow to the budget of an under-industrialised planet. A fleet, including ships, repair facilities, crew and the like, would cost three times as much, a third of that, a hundred billion we've already budgeted.

Now for the droids. "Droidekka" costs us forty - fifty pieces, the devastator - thirty pieces, they are enough for fifty thousand. Similar and infantry figures - one hundred thousand personnel, the rest - pilots. We'll have to take a minimum of a few dozen or hundreds to support the landing troops, which should consist of the Nabuans themselves.

We will have to stir up this sleepy kingdom, but to fight instead of the Nabuans themselves for their interests... please, if a sick person does not want to live, then medicine is powerless. I only had time to finish the list of military equipment and personnel that will be needed for the operation.

After transferring to the shuttle, I headed to my headquarters on Republic Street....

* Headquarters *

Shin was sitting over maps, talking to someone. I walked into his quarters, waving hello to Lin. He'd changed a little lately, matured a little. He must have had a good thing going with that girl.

- Your Majesty," Shin stretched out.

- At ease, this is not a parade. So, what's the situation at the moment?

- There have been no significant developments.

- I see. All right, let's go through it in order," I pulled out a clipboard and slid it over to Shin, "here's a rough outline of the army to be created. A preliminary design.

Shin read the provided document, immediately commenting on it:

- Are you envisioning amphibious operations?

- That's correct. Nabuan forces, with our support and supervision. So, let me make it clear... - I leaned over the clipboard as well, - We are coming to Naboo as soon as we can. The main forces that will come in the first wave are instructors, logistics, organisers. Your number one task is to get the government to build a military base. The military base itself can be deployed on acclamator ships. Your primary task is to recruit people on Naboo, about 500,000. One hundred thousand of them for the landing corps, two hundred thousand for the fleet, and two hundred for other services and needs. We must act quickly, every day counts. The defence of the planet itself is priority number one. For this purpose we will have to use all forces as fighter-interceptors, long-range detection, put planetary shields.

- And the landing force? - Shin sat down in his chair, -Where are we going to get landing craft?

- The Acclamators will suffice, they'll do just fine. Armoured vehicles and assault droids aren't the last thing we need either. We'll have to fill the manpower shortage with devastator droids. The main tasks are the fleet and the landing corps.

- Wait," he held up his hands, "but there's not even enough for one Acclamator. You know, five hundred walkers, a hundred tanks, and so on....

- One Acclamator will be enough for you, - I shrugged my shoulders, - before its landing, fighters and attack aircraft will clear the area from everything that shoots. Even if it's not completely full of soldiers and equipment, the better - in addition to them, you'll throw in maintenance equipment and provisions, medics... in short, it will be necessary to use them as a springboard for the offensive. There's nothing more important than a staging point in enemy territory. You don't have to worry about the possibility of encirclement. Actually, Hortad should be in charge of this, so he can be given the task. But you're the commander in chief, so you'll have to get involved.

Shin nodded, and after a few seconds of thinking about the map and the list, I continued:

- As for the composition of the landing party... I've indicated what we can take from our warehouses. If necessary, within the allotted money, you can take as much as you need.

- Restrictions?

- Preferably, no unnecessary displays of Empire equipment. That is, the ones that only we have - the same pedometers, devastators, you can take as much as you want. But with Nabuan pilots and mech-drivers. Now let's move on... - I turned the page, - armour and weapons. For armour, it's Mandalore. No galactic bushcraft, just Mandalorian armour. Place an order with mandalmotors for all the beskar light armour you need. If Joy has already fulfilled my order, we own Biotech, which means medical supplies won't be a problem. Weapons... I can't advise you on that, I don't know anything about guns.

- We'll take ours," Shin shrugged, "there are plenty of them in the Empire's warehouses. Mostly, of course, A280 and DH-X blaster carbines. There are also DC-15s.

- I see. One last thing. A militia training programme needs to be rolled out on Naboo. At the very least, hand out weapons and give people the minimum skills to use them. It's more of a psychological measure to avoid panic among the civilians.

Shin was thinking, thinking hard. I didn't interrupt him.

- Okay, we can do it, - he finally came out of his thoughts, - we have the money, we have the weapons, we will order the fleet, but we have the starting positions... we will pull this operation off.

- In that case, I won't get in your way. Talk to Hortad, give him the situation, and then place the necessary orders at the factories. Have them bring everything to the transfer station, I'll make a run for it, get the supplies, men, and so on, and then we'll get started. We'll have no supply from the Empire, it's all through galactic industry.

The routine job is to fly to the station, with Erdva, to ferry cargo through the barrier. There were as many as five transporters waiting to be sent to the Empire - each... well, their size didn't change much, they were gigantic. After ferrying them to Koros and the colonies, I picked up similar transports from there and worked only as a ferryman for the next two days. Ferrying cargo back and forth. The operation had already begun - some of the acclamators were packed to the brim with military cargo. I ferried the squadron on the last trip. In the follow mode they followed me. In general, you could not admire the new squadron - the Venators were miraculously good. By local standards they were twice the size of a dreadnought and much more powerful, they would have been right to classify them as ZRs, but... I wasn't in a hurry, their place in the fleet is as cruisers, and ZRs are the core of the squadron. The aircraft carriers carried dozens of corvettes and about two hundred cross-wing fighters, along with their pilots and crews. We'd have to rob them later for instructors to train the local natives.

The tranche for five lorries full of metal was two trillion. Taking into account the costs of the empire itself, it would be necessary not to splurge unnecessarily - construction consumes money in such a way that just putting it together it seems to be a lot of money - a billion there, a million there, build infrastructure here, and already the giant tranche was a mere horns and legs. Out of two trillion and a half I gave to Joey, to buy companies and allocate it to all other ministries, and I'm left with five hundred billion. Not enough.

Hortad Bralor met me at the station-he was on one of the ships I'd brought there, a squadron.

- 'Your majesty,' I shook his hand, 'how are you doing?

- 'Slowly, Hortad. Did Syn tell you everything?

- That's right. I've brought a few things with me, so don't worry, everything will be fine.

- I don't doubt you," I chuckled. "Did Shin give you command of the ground forces?

- All of them. I take it we don't need to emphasise that we're from the Empire?

- We don't. Besides, who's gonna be interested?

- The locals for sure.

We were on our way from the transport ship to the shuttle we were supposed to take to Coruscant.

- A soldier has to be busy from morning till night, so that he doesn't have time to think, - I shrugged, - you'll have to load the local population a lot. Has Cyn told you about the money?

- I have," Hortad paused, "but what I don't understand is, why arm the local population? I mean the militia.

- Psychology. Weapons are soothing. And in case the defence line is breached by small enemy groups, urban combat, it can come in handy. Consider it a gift to the locals from the warlike empire.

- I see," Hortad went on, climbing into the shuttle.

* Naboo *

Clouds were gathering over Tidus. There was growing unease among the people - the most frequently asked question was whether there would be a war. The Queen hadn't made a public appearance in days. It was not hard to guess what people thought and what they felt - the expectation of war hovered over Tidus like a smog. The planet had begun to arm itself long ago, but the situation had been different then - a trade federation. It had no right to invade, unlike the neighbouring sector, which, by all appearances, wanted to take a bite out of a well-fed and contented planet. Tid could also choose not to go to war, but then they would have to find a way out of the conflict, and everyone realised that this would require concessions from Naboo. And no one wanted to lose their usual happy and quiet life. The weapons factories of the Tidus were working at full capacity, as were the machine-building corps, but manual assembly of fighters was a losing proposition.

The palace was particularly gloomy - the people in it frowned, even the guards. This was the picture Shin Konoth had caught when he landed his shuttle in the government sector. The fact that he was allowed in without question was already strange. However, Shin quickly remembered that his ship was registered as a diplomatic vessel. Konoth had only taken five guards with him, just in case. Clad in beskar armour and armed to the teeth, the guards silently followed the Admiral. Konoth went through the first post in the palace - both he and the guards had to surrender all their weapons - and the Nabuan guards escorted them out. Perhaps they thought they were escorting their companions to the Queen, but knowing the skills of his guards, Shin was sure they were escorting them politely - there was no danger to the locals.

Shin checked in as a visitor and stated the purpose of his visit. To his surprise, he was quickly escorted to the queen.

* Naboo, Anakin Skywalker.

- What is it? - I turned to see a hologram of Syn appear above Erdv's head.

- Your Majesty," he bowed briefly, "I have some questions of a diplomatic nature.

- Yes?

I was in a military corvette, the Marauder, in the Naboo sector. Not far from the planet. So far I haven't been attacked - the corvette had diplomatic registration, which is a green light everywhere - no customs, no inspections, no enquiries when visiting planets... a smuggler's dream.

- What I'm wondering is... how do I get the Queen to accept my help?

- Very simple. Cyn, don't think I'm that stupid. Sometimes I can be, but not to this degree.

- I'm sorry," the admiral feigned guilt, "I didn't mean to say...

- Spit. Okay, Amidala is now, very bluntly put, in a position of power. Her diplomatic methods aren't working at all - Enark simply won't accept envoys. After the Nabuan crisis, with the intervention of the Trade Federation, Naboo has risen strongly in the galactic market. Its prestige also went up, but there was no military force capable of defending the planet. The Republic authorities have dealt with the TF. And Amidala has two choices - either to ask the Republic for protection, while seriously surrendering her position, completely losing the trust of citizens and authority in the political arena, or war. She won't agree to the first, and she's afraid of the second. Everyone's afraid the first time," I grinned. So is Shin.

- So the timing is precise?

- Exactly. Otherwise I wouldn't be in such a hurry, she's locked herself away in her palace and hasn't appeared in public for days. If she shows up, she'll say she's either preparing for war or she's giving up her position.

- Which one, by the way? - Shin asked.

- For example, the neighbouring territory between Naboo and Enark territories, and it may be required to impose duties on plasma exports, disband the army, and increase import duties on certain goods. I'm pretty sure the Hutts will want to take a bite out of it and demand a place to house them and remove controls on entry and exit from the system. Which means that a quiet and peaceful planet will become a gathering place for smugglers, slave traders and drug dealers. From there, it's not far from a Hutt occupation of the planet.

- I see," Shin sighed heavily, "I'll give it a try. Where will you be?

- Eh, Shin," I smiled, "I'll change my name, get a haircut, and go as a private pilot on a Guard fighter. I've just about got one of my personal modifications.

- You're crazy!

- No," I smiled, "you don't have to worry about me, it's not that easy to kill me. But you have to take part in killing Enark.

- As you know, I'm not your commander... - Shin hung his shoulders.

- Okay. I'll enlist myself in the Guard and fly with you to Naboo. One more thing... I strictly forbid you to contact me or do anything that will declassify me. You are in command of this operation, from start to finish.

Shin nodded and disconnected.

I'm honestly sick of sitting around the empire, much less just wasting time on tedious chores. It's time for me to be a soldier for a while, it's better, I'll stretch my legs, get myself in shape....

The Guard fighter, mine personally, was special. It was the one I modified during Chronos, that is, I spent five years constantly tweaking it in small details. There was almost no steel or titanium in it - they were replaced by freak and singed steel. Armour plates were made of freak, and could interlock, forming a single cocoon, protecting the pilot and the machine in close explosions. The shape of the petals had to be significantly changed for this purpose. And the plates themselves could withstand serious fire from various weapons - from heavy blasters to ion guns. In the right hands, i.e. a Jedi ace, this machine became even more dangerous. Two large missiles I also finalised - instead of detonite I put baradium inside. And a couple more seismic mines, which could seriously damage the pursuing enemy or be very dangerous, being thrown on the path of a large ship.

I cut my hair, shaved, and looked like a different man.

There is no danger of being identified as Anakin Skywalker locally. First of all, there are plenty of Anakin Skywalkers in the galaxy, and secondly, there was no trace of the round-faced boy with blond hair - I had a regular Jedi figure, a little wiry, a face with a touch of aristocracy, which I had corrected myself, my hair was platinum, and my eyes were grey-blue. In general, even my mother wouldn't recognise me as her son, let alone possible other people. There are about two hundred Anakin Skywalkers of my birth year in the galaxy, and about thirty of them are orphans or loners who live on different planets or in space... The galaxy is big.

I changed into the everyday uniform of a lieutenant of the Imperial Air Force - boots, grey-white clothes made of universal protective fabric, half-gloves made of soft, milky-white leather, a wrist communicator-computer, a belt with a pistol and a small field kit, similar to a holster for a mobile phone.

- Erdwa? Ready?

- Ready," the droid agreed.

- Here's the deal. From now until further notice, I am Hennia. Distant relative of Kriz, Mandalorian, son of a mercenary.

- I see. Henya.

I climbed into the fighter - I prefer to travel in it. Although it's very uncomfortable, mine had a boot and a droid mount. The droid itself was also available in case I had to fight on the ground.

By my order, Lieutenant Henya was assigned as chief pilot of the second squadron. There are two squadrons, one and two. A dozen Guard fighters in each.

From that point on, I regrouped - I forgot about the Imperial swagger and just flew in the direction of my troops.

The Empire troops were positioned on the outskirts of the sector - six acclamators. One of them was an aircraft carrier, and it wasn't hard to recognise it - by the large hangar gates on the sides instead of ramps. I steered the fighter towards it and, after identifying it, flew into the hangar. The senior officer commanded the arrangement of the ships inside - the Guard cars were closer to the centre, Erdva had landed his car neatly between the other two. I climbed out, a man in a captain's uniform approached me.

- Who is he?

- Lieutenant Henya, Second Guard Squadron," I reported, "I'm here for....

- Enough," he pulled out a clipboard and after a moment added: "Confirmed. Your squadron is based here, cabins two hundred and sixth to two hundred and eighth. The commanding officer is Sabine Josis. And don't forget to check in with the supply officer. Come on, don't keep me," he turned away and walked on.

The squadron called Theta was a dozen snouts. Four women and eight guys. From the looks of it, there wasn't a single one over thirty - mostly twenty-five and up. The most active age - under twenty-five - no experience, forty and beyond - not so active. And no medicine can change that.

I introduced myself to everyone - the squadron occupied three rather cramped cabins, four bunks in each. After getting to know the boys, I went to find Sabine Josis. I found the commander in the corridor. She was a pretty girl, about twenty years old, with a sharp look. Hair black as pitch, cut a little longer than a man's.

- New? - she took the clipboard with the assignment from me, looked at it superficially and gave it back, - I see. I hope the GS knew who to send.

She had a voice to match her appearance, ringing, without softness, but not nasty either. She was more used to shouting at her subordinates. I didn't answer, as the question was rather rhetorical.

- Have you found a place yet?

- Yes, I have.

- So, I'll explain the rules, - she moved with me to the wall of the corridor, - no flirting with girls, unless there are serious intentions, no fights, no relationships, not a drop of alcohol, do not leave our sector of the ship until further orders. Any questions?

- No questions.

- What, you won't even ask when we're leaving? - she smiled. Pretty cute when she's not threatening violence.

- No. We're leaving soon. There's someone I know," I hinted.

- I see. Anyway, no surprises, okay?

- I got it, I got it, - I didn't fall for the pressure, - let me go?

- Come on, - she turned round and left.

There were two guys I'd already met in the cockpit - the others had scattered around the ship. These two were reading something on their tablets and I decided not to disturb them and went to the hangar. The hangar was a gigantic room - it was filled with... Crosswings. Brand new, fresh from the Incom and Sorosub slipways. Since I owned the project, I placed an order with both companies. In my opinion, the Incom fighter came out better. There was room for two or three hundred fighters, but they were half as many, just over a hundred. In general, the Acclamator, as a military freighter, had a remarkable amount of space, so there was enough room for everyone. Here, in the hangar, there were crates with spare parts for field repair - they stood a couple of metres high along the walls, and were taped to the walls with magnetic grip tapes. Many of the crates had military markings on them - the name of the contents, the branch of the army, the state affiliation.

The symbol of the empire was a concentric circle, like a mark on the water from a stone throw - seven circles inscribed one in another. Purely heraldically, it signified the seven planets that made up the Koros Empire. The technicians didn't pay much attention to me - the whole hangar was filled with technicians. However, instead of their core jobs, they were sorting and stacking military cargo, along with the loading droids, arranging all the duraplast crates into different sections along the walls and securing them with magnetic grippers. Judging by the fact that most of it was already laid out neatly, on alert they just left the crates on board, not caring about neatness. Then, in flight, they worked.

Erdva obediently travelled behind me, occasionally commenting on certain events and people he saw. In a binary that only I would understand.

I had to climb into the fighter, which would cut myself off from unnecessary ears. Erdva also took the slot, but the ship didn't start the reactor, running on battery power.

- Erdva, patch me through to Sin.

- Yes," he fell silent. The call information appeared on the windscreen in front of me.

Shin answered after a few minutes.

- Yes, Your Majesty?

There was no image, but judging by the acoustics, he was in the room.

- How did it go?

- As you expected, - the commander-in-chief replied with satisfaction, - she agreed. The girl's mood is as bad as it gets.

- We'll raise it. Okay, I've already got a job in the Second Guards Squadron. I'll wait for the job.

- You'll wait," Shin grinned, "by the way, we're not attacking the enemy yet, so we've got a lot of work to do. But I have good news, both squadrons of the Guards will be redeployed to Naboo, to Tidus, and will provide near space patrols, intercepting infiltration attempts. You'll work in pairs, two men, two by two, six hours each pair. Do you have any requests?

- No, I'll figure it out. When do we move out?

- Six hours. I need to discuss the location of our troops.

- All right. Push the bureaucracy all you want, but find a better location. And make sure it's easy for locals to get out of town.

- We'll do that," Shin chuckled, "don't worry, Your Majesty. Any other questions?

- No. Good luck with the negotiations.

Shin switched off. There wasn't much time left before the squadron, or rather a group of military specialists, would move in. I was about to get out of my fighter when I ran into Sabine. The commander looked at me and shouted:

- "Freeze! What were you doing in the car, pilot?

- I was checking if everything was ready, - I immediately found something to answer, - the car had just come from the factory. It hasn't been flown yet.

- I see, - she smiled bloodthirstily, - then get back in, we'll fly it around....

Apparently, it was in her bright head to chase me to show me who was the boss. Considering that the Guard pilots are hired only for the weakest, but only forsusers - mere mortals don't have the same reactions, Sabina could be a threat. After all, she is weaker than any Jedi as a Forceuser, but her reactions must be superhuman. That leaves me with two options. Either I'm her or she's mine.

As I climbed back into the fighter, I thought frantically. If I beat her, I'll have the respect of the team. However, Sabine will lose some of her command authority. If she beats me, she will gain authority, but I will not show everything I am capable of, which in the future could be a planning error on her part and result in casualties. So I'm gonna have to give it my best shot. I had already flown the machine, so I had to show what this bird was capable of - even I hadn't realised its full potential, and I was a daredevil pilot. I have no experience in combat piloting, but I have a powerful gift of foresight, albeit five to ten seconds ahead, but clearly, which helps me to do things that no one would ever dream of.

Our vehicles lifted off and the droids took them out of the hangar into pure black space. Sabine's voice came over the speakers:

- Put the blasters in training mode. Lock on the missiles.

- Aye," I looked at the status of the guns. Erdva did exactly what he said.

- In that case, let the fun begin! - the girl chuckled and cranked up the speed to maximum. I had to activate my sensorics to the max to sense her on the battlefield. She tailed me and gave me a short burst. Anticipating her, I waited for the charges to come closer and dodged out of the path of the shot, activating all manoeuvring engines for braking and flipping. Then I switched on the afterburner of the main engines and thanks to it I escaped from another attack - only now we were approaching. The distance to her was less than ten kilometres - by the standards of space - "pistol shot". As I passed under her belly, I took the fuses off the cannons and somersaulted into her tail. Sabine turned the car around as well, meeting me face to face again with a burst of turbolasers. I dodged, once again.

For the next five minutes, all I did was dodge, letting her shoot at me at will. Occasionally, I'd wait for a moment to get round her, but I didn't attack.

When she was done shooting, she asked me:

- Hey, don't you know where the trigger is?

- Why? I'm not testing you, commander, on the contrary. By the way, it's a nice car.

She followed with a not too censorious, but not too profane phrase in Mandalorian and a demand to attack the enemy immediately. I grinned. She asked for it.

I slowed my speed to zero, and when she attacked, I used the thrusters to divert shield energy to her back. A jerk, after which I was literally in the inversion trace of her engines, and now she had already received a full line in the tail - the least protected part of the machine. Normally a fighter can close its armour plates in case of a threat, but this particular reconfiguration reduces manoeuvrability and is done slowly. Didn't make it. Erdwa highlighted the result of the battle - the enemy machine was destroyed.

Sabina swore again and we started again. Letting her chase me around a bit, I invariably won the fight, sometimes completely lighting up my anticipation and getting out of the lines of intended attacks. She was never able to get me. The girl was apparently angry with me, and after an hour of fighting like this, she started to lose her common sense. I had to stop her:

- That's enough, Captain, I've flown my car round.

- Let's go back," she almost hissed.

We made our way back to the transport and before I could start making excuses, the signal to depart sounded. She gave me an angry glare and went to her cabin before I could say anything.