The Death of Youth
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The new round started right after exams. The time before it I can describe in one word - things to do. Studying dragged me with a new force - so much so that I didn't even notice how spring came. Snow never fell on Alderaan, and the winter was quite warm. Spring is great for two things - the mating season, which was reflected in the spontaneous increase in my fellow students' sexual preoccupations, and of course, the start of exams. Although it was already summer. I was studying the third year programme and was ready to take exams - if everything went well, the number of problems with my studies would decrease dramatically. Teachers couldn't be happy about such a student as me, though the others shunned me. Relatively shunned - I stopped all business with my fellow students, only with Ali sometimes spent time, no more than that.
The year had lasted ten months. The third was coming to an end now, so exams were just around the corner.
As I studied, I sometimes found time to go to Lin's workshop - the hyperactive and active guy never missed an opportunity to brag about his achievements or ask about mine. The invention of the scanner put him in a stupor for a long time. And he looked for a long time for a trick in my invention, but when he gave up, he offered to patent the idea. I did not refuse, but hired a lawyer for this case, as I had no time to deal with inventions. There was another insurmountable difficulty - I could not describe technically the scanner I had created. I understood how it worked, saw it, felt it, but I could not describe my feelings. No way - even the drawing was difficult to make - it looked like it was just a bunch of twisted wires of different metals, with a sensor inside the coil. It's-it's unreal. When I tried to explain the invention to Lin, he told me it couldn't be, and cited several physical laws that my scanner violated. True, I was granted a patent based on the idea and a working sample, but how it worked, or rather why it could work at all... Lin Riekan, who by that time had already become quite good friends with me, couldn't explain. I needed an expert on force fields, but I delayed - I had no plans to develop this topic. It was impossible to create such a scanner in an industrial version - you need to be an archivist with power. And according to my information, a Jedi assembles his sword within two days at most. Needless to say, I can do the same thing, given the parts, in about twenty seconds? That Jedi understand the structure of hyperdrives and fields, that they can configure their own devices on similar principles - I haven't heard, I haven't seen, and there was no confirmation in the films!
To put it simply, here was something that I simply put down to my "special", unique capabilities and preferred not to waste my time. To make a fortune and fame by producing scanners... nonsense. I had created such a tool for Erdv, but only as a friend, but the issue of replication remained open until I decided to wrap up the topic completely. There was another problem - I couldn't create such scanners for all droids in the galaxy, and if, say, a team of droids with scanners repaired a starship, it would change a lot of things in it, because in the process of modelling it would create other schemes, already optimised. They will be different from the blueprint in normal droids, meaning the ship will become unrepairable. A normal droid will freeze when it sees that one drawing comes from the database, but in reality it sees something completely different. In short, this invention was way ahead of its time. But it's nice to see that the galaxy's resources are not exhausted and the peak of evolution has not passed. I once thought that the galaxy had really overcome the technical period when it could still develop and fell into the swamp of stagnation, but I was wrong. I guess the ancient pre-Republican races thought so too, but if you look at it from the other side - half of the galaxy hasn't been explored yet, no ships have been sent to other galaxies, so we're in the same period as the Earth before the discovery of America - we haven't explored our own home yet... and the "Age of Discovery" is still waiting to happen somewhere out there in the future....
The scanner was still Erdv's unique gadget. And it also came with software limitations, which I set - optimisation is allowed only by replacing old parts with new ones or by optimising the repair process itself, but not by reshaping ship units at the droid's will.
The end of my studies was marked by exams. Exams in the galaxy are surprisingly similar to their Earth counterparts - we enter the auditorium in several batches, then the droid's artificial intelligence gives us tickets based on some random number algorithm of its own and gives us half an hour to prepare. I was taking the exams for my third year, while everyone else was taking the exams for their second year. Since the auditorium was far away from the one where my classmates were taking the exams, I couldn't see Ali, but I could feel her excitement in her strength. It was a strange sensation on the edge of my consciousness.
When it was my turn, I walked proudly into the auditorium and, taking my ticket, sat down to prepare. Sitting at the desk, I fell into a light trance and quickly threw the answers to all the questions - in this way the maximum results were achieved, because the memory in such a state is sharpened to the point of impossibility and it becomes quite easy to remember anything.
Having passed the test and having answered a few questions to the teacher, I got my highest score and was sent away. I wasn't too happy about it - I had no doubts about meditation, but I was worried about Ali's results. I knew how dangerous it was for students to go on benders, periods of fun, sex, serenity and all the rest. That was exactly what I was trying to avoid.
As I approached the auditorium, I didn't see my sweetheart in attendance.
- Have you seen Alessia? - I asked through muffled whispers.
- Over there," someone nodded at the door, and everyone started whispering again.
I didn't have to wait long - Alessia came out five minutes later. Her emotions were either negative or positive.
- Seven," she said sadly, and when she noticed me, she immediately moved away from the group of students, closer to me. Some of them grinned understandingly, and some of them didn't notice and morally prepared themselves for the execution.
- Well, Ali, shall we go? - I nodded and we went together to the dormitory. On the way my friend seemed to get away from the worries and revived, and by the time we flew into the territory of the dormitory, and was quite a lively and cheerful girl. The exam was the last one, so we were both happy about the upcoming summer. I finally paid attention to my finances. Ali kissed me as soon as she got out of the turbolift and ran off to her room, while I went home and unfolded my financials. All the deductions to the Mandalorians for land, Tyber, car parking, paying repair bills and such.
Just the other day I'd received a report from the Corellians about the cruiser, which was now a yacht-the repairs had cost me a hundred million, and the balance for the nine months of production was two hundred and twenty million, not including what they'd taken for repairs. Including that, the balance was one hundred and five million.
When you think about it, the most expensive thing about maintaining a cruiser is the crew. Size and cost aside, the average stipend is one thousand two hundred credits a month. That's not a bad salary by space standards - in ten years of honest work you can save up for your own cargo ship. And if you take into account the seniority bonus, then for five years, because the more you work, the more you get paid. Corellians said that the crew will not exceed one thousand people, so a month's salary to the crew will cost me a million two hundred, and if you take into account the price of minor repairs, droids, fuel and other things, then about a million and a half a month.
I was getting twenty-five million a month from Mandalore - fifty tonnes of beskar were worth that much, according to our contract. So far, the payments had never been delayed, and the transaction list showed twenty-five million every thirtieth day.
Having finished with the accounts and transferred half a million credits to Tyber, due to the discovery of his wife's pregnancy, I closed all the banking programmes. A generous gift is supposed to create some kind of attachment - it shows that I care about his problems and joys, and this in turn will ensure my loyalty. That's what the powerful do when they want loyal subjects.
The Corellians promised to finish the modernisation of the yacht by the end of the summer - I had already approved several design options, which in turn raised the cost of the work considerably. Now the decorating was underway.
When all the work was finally finished, the call came... from Satine.
I'd forgotten all about it, but she must have remembered I was a student and found out when my exams were.
- Erdva, put her through.
This time Satine's figure appeared next to Erdva, full-length, extremely clear, like a ghost... only in colour.
- Yes, Satine, what can I do for you? - I began, when the Duchess's gaze fell on me. Erdva pulled out the sensors so that they coincided with the eyes of the Duchess's projection, thus eliminating the "Skype effect" when you look at the person you're talking to and they're looking in the other direction, i.e. at the screen.
- Hey, Anakin. How'd the exams go?
- 'Not bad thank you,' I replied dryly, 'was there something you wanted?
- You think I can't just get in touch to see how your exams went?
- I didn't think you'd waste your time on such trivialities, Satine. You've got a whole planet under your command, a very turbulent one, mind you, so yeah, I don't believe you're going to get in touch to ask about exams, health or to wish me a good holiday," I tried to keep my tone cold but not dry.
- You're right," she covered her eyes for a second, "you're right, let's leave it aside. I need your help.
- I wondered," I moved forward, closer to the image, "what could you possibly need from me?
- It's very simple. Three days ago, one of the old clans that joined the protests last year was defeated. They've been pushing for the removal of beskar from the planet, although after the restriction we agreed to, the public seemed to calm down....
- What's this got to do with me? - I interrupted her.
- It's just that in this case I need to support the party's policy and conclude an agreement that will be mutually beneficial to us. Just for the sake of appearances, even if the sum won't be that great.
- Do you want to signify an alliance? - I smiled with the corners of my lips. - Yes, I can do you such a small favour. By the way, the KMC is almost finished with the cruiser, ugh, yacht, so we need about a thousand crew members. Can you help?
- No problem," the Duchess nodded.
- What about the KMC? Have you agreed with them too? After all, they are the ones who mine and are always visible, I'm just a landowner, nothing more, - I thought about the KMC officials, who are supposed to deal with it.
- Yes, I contacted the KMC first and they agreed to make a couple of contracts with MandalMotors and the government to order armour for their ships.
- That's good. I guess we can find out the rest when we meet. When's the meeting, by the way?
- The treaty will be in a week, the KMC officials have already left Corellia.
- That's good," I nodded, "in that case, I won't sit still.
The Duchess switched off.
Something like this I assumed - she needs to maintain her credibility and make not only unsubstantiated announcements, but concrete evidence of our arrangements. It's a perfect opportunity for me to get something else of sufficient value out of the Duchess, or just to get a couple of contracts with MandalMotors to arm my "yacht".
The first thing I did after finishing the negotiations was to go to Ali's room. The girl's room wasn't too far away, so I knocked and entered.
From the looks of it, she was in a tizzy - hair messy, things scattered and all.
- Ali, what's going on? - I walked round the sofa and came closer.
- А? Yeah, I'm going to. There's nothing to do in the dorms in the summer, you know.
- I know, I know. This time it will be more difficult to get over the separation for the summer.
- Don't remind me, - the girl turned slightly pink and pouted.
- I've just spoken to Satine. I have to go to Mandalore. I'll make a couple of contracts, purely to portray alliance and goodwill....
- That's how... - Ali seemed upset. But there was also the odd prick of jealousy, for some reason. It was strange. Very strange.
- Yes, exactly. And then taking the yacht from the Corellians, and many other things....
- "I'll go with you," Ali told me, "don't even try to talk me out of it.
- But they're waiting for you at home," I tried to prevent the inevitable.
- They'll wait, - the girl cut me off and, throwing some clothes into the common pile, came closer, - when are we leaving?
- Now," I had to give in, "right now.
The flight to Mandalore really wasn't that urgent, so Ali had time to pack and it wasn't until the next morning that we left.
Ali wasn't aboard the Crown yet, so I left her to explore the delights of the VIP yacht while I jumped into the pilot's seat and started the reactor.
The droid-secretary stayed with Ali, and Erdva was in the cockpit with me, supervising the preparation process.
We pulled away from the surface of the spaceport and crawled upwards into orbit. While I, relaxed in the pilot's seat, watched the instrument readings, Erdva supervised the entire preparation process. Theoretically, on a normal flight, I could have left everything to Erdva, but it would take almost four days to get to Mandalore, and about two days by detour through the wilderness. So, to save two days, I had to pilot myself. Both of these things were practically equivalent, but after flying the cruiser, I had a speed complex, and I didn't want to sit in hyperspace too long.
But this time my journey was brightened up by Alessia - the girl, who was interested in climbing all over the yacht and found a lot of interesting things for herself, such as a gym, immediately came to my cabin and lying on the sofa, read Alderaanian fiction.
After climbing into orbit, Erdva switched on the sublight engines. I reported out of planet space and, having moved a safe distance from orbit, switched on the hyperdrive. We did without navigational calculations - from the first second I took over the controls and, falling into a trance, steered the ship in the direction of Mandalore.
I came out of the trance when I was tired to the point where my eyes fell asleep and my hands let go of the wheel.
The ship dropped out of hyperspace as I hard-circuited the power to the hyperdrive. There were stars all around, and absolute emptiness - no planets or star systems or anything around.
I turned to Erdv:
- Keep an eye on the parameters for now. I'm going to sleep.
- Aye, Captain! - He replied. - I'll be waiting!
- And good..." I glanced at my watch. I'd spent more than ten hours in hyperspace.
Then I had enough strength only to get to the cabin and not paying attention to Ali, who was disturbed by my dead look, to collapse on the bed.
The morning was not much nicer than the evening - I woke up to Ali, who, as I realised, was sleeping on my shoulder. She'd tweaked my arm again, but that was nothing.
- Morning," she stretched and yawned widely, "how did you sleep?
- Fine," I opened my eyes and looked at the girl's back. It turned out that I had been undressed and even tucked in while I was out. I'm not used to such care.
- If you're so tired, why do you torture yourself so much? And why are we in normal space? - Ali glanced at the large porthole, or rather a whole window halfway down the wall, next to our bed.
- We're in wild space. And it takes almost twice as long to fly the route, so I'm leading the ship through wild space.
- Wow..." the girl marvelled, and finally stood up. She was wearing nothing but a very pretty lace panties, and I, while she was walking around the room looking for clothes, started to get turned on. A little more and...
As I expected, I came up behind her and pulled her back to bed, but for something more useful than sleep.
I didn't return to piloting until two hours later. Ali stayed in the cabin, lying down and resting, and I, having been energised and having had a snack of the local equivalent of hamburgers and coffee, returned to the first pilot's chair.
- How was your night, Captain? - Erdva turned the video sensor to me.
- I had a good night's sleep. And the morning is even better," I smiled.
- I switched off the video recorder when you woke up.
- Erdva, you have a lot of tact," I found myself at once.
- I try, Captain. Shall we go back to hyperspace?
- Yeah, go ahead and warm up the reactors. Get the systems ready.
- I did it while you were making breakfast," Erdva said. I opened the hyperdrive parameters in the holographic interface. Indeed, the numbers above the console lit up, indicating that the ship was ready to jump now.
- Thank you, Erdva. Let's go! - I pressed the appropriate lever and the ship jumped into hyperspace. And yesterday's torture of constant Force Navigation continued. Perhaps nothing less spectacular - just sitting and steering the helm, occasionally slowing down due to the difficulty of getting through, even with the Force, in some places.
Arriving at Mandalore it wasn't long before I was finally tired. As my eyes began to slip, the ship approached the Mandalore sector and I leaned back in my chair, cutting off the power at the last moment. The ship dropped off right in the Mandalore system - not far from the planet. We reached Mandalore in two minutes on sublight engines and entered orbit of the planet. As we were supposed to do, we were contacted by the air defence, clarifying our destination and giving us directions to the Duchess's palace in Keldab.
Ali, noticing that the ship had entered the planet's atmosphere, came out to me and sat in the co-pilot's chair.
- Have we arrived?
- Yes, Ali, this is Mandalore," I turned to her. - How are you?
- Better than I've ever been," she smiled. - How long will you be here?
- I don't think so long. There's not much to do.
- Whatever you say.
- We're going to Keldabe, to the Duchess's palace, so get ready to meet her.
- And you didn't tell me? - Ali was surprised and immediately jumped up from her seat. - I have to get dressed properly... and I've taken almost nothing....
- It's not bad," I smiled, nodding at the very frivolous outfit, the translucent nightie she'd spent most of the time on the ship in.
- Fool," the girl didn't take offence, but went off to her cabin. To get dressed.
It was unlikely the Mandalorians would appreciate the outfits and such, but it was problematic to explain it to the girl.
The ship was descending over Keldabe and I went to get ready too - after two hard flights I looked... bad. After a shower, which was supposed to cheer me up, I wanted to sleep even more. We'd probably arrived before the KMC Directorate, so there was time to get some sleep. The ship came down and landed at the Duchess's spaceport, right in the palace, in a separate hangar for ships.
Ali had put on her usual clothes, and on top of them a purple-coloured hooded robe, so it was hard to recognise her as Miraluka and not a human.
As the ramp opened, we saw Satine, who came out to greet us in person.
- Mr Skywalker, you're quicker than I expected, as usual," she chastised me. - Are you sure it's you?
- Don't doubt it, Duchess," I indicated my bow. Satine was accompanied by a guard-two armoured Mandalorians with blasters in their hands. They didn't seem to move at all.
- But as I recall, it's a long way from Alderaan.
- My ship is fast enough that we don't have to wait," I countered, "Let's get to the palace.
Satine smiled politely and we went to the palace. There, upon reaching the residential wing, the duchess dismissed the guards and led me and Ali behind her into the apartments.
- Anakin, would you introduce me to your companion? - The Duchess shot a glance in Ali's direction.
- Alessia, my girlfriend. Ali," I turned to her, "this is Satine Kriz, Duchess and local superior.
Satine smiled at my interpretation of her position, but Ali was perplexed.
- Well, we have met, - Satine nodded courteously to Ali and she also bowed.
- So, Satine, let's do without politeness, as it is difficult to tell in words how much I want to sleep, - I cut off officialism at the root.
- Yes, I'll have your rooms assigned to you at once," the duchess perked up.
- First, tell me when the KMC will arrive. And who's coming?
- They promised to send one of the board of directors," the Duchess shrugged, "so Semetrius, one of the biggest owners, will probably be there.
- Maybe, maybe..." I frowned, "why would he arrive, given the scale of the deal?
- I don't know. Probably also to negotiate with MandalMotors. And because of Galapolitics," the Duchess shrugged her thin shoulders again.
Alessia was silent, apparently unsure of what to say.
- In that case, I'll take advantage of your hospitality and get some sleep before the important business," I said confidently.
Satine contacted someone on the comlink and after a couple of minutes, which we spent exchanging unimportant details, a servant arrived.
Servants, as Mandalorians were supposed to do, wore armour, but in this case it was cloth armour, not much different from ordinary thick clothing. Except for the high-strength ballistic fabric and a layer that protected them from blaster fire, but tradition was tradition.
- Give Lord Skywalker and his companion rooms in the guest quarters," the Duchess said haughtily. The servant bowed slightly. But then Ali spoke up:
- 'One bedroom is enough for us.
The Duchess looked at me in surprise, though her emotions were dominated by playfulness. But Ali, a little jealous of me to the duchess, celebrated the victory.
I, on the other hand, with a look of complete equanimity, agreed, accepting Ali's game.
- Only I would sleep soundly.
A servant immediately escorted us to the spacious rooms, where I, barely undressed, fell on the bed and, after a few seconds of dozing, did not notice Ali lying next to me. She has a habit of sleeping on my shoulder, from which it is always laid back in the morning.
I was dreaming... something disturbing. Something I didn't like at all, but I remembered absolutely nothing. In the morning, when I saw Ali's hair in my face, I calmed down and slipped out of the blanket first. While the girl was peacefully dozing, I did a warm-up, took a bath, drank a cup of coffee, and even waved my lightsaber in the centre of the living room. It should be noted that bringing weapons into the palace is strictly forbidden without permission - only for the duchess, guards, or Jedi. But the latter, due to their moral principles, were not restricted, and the Senate gave them special permission to carry the lightsaber with them at all times. As I was finishing my warm-up with my sword, the same quartermaster who had put us up here yesterday came into the room, attracted by the sounds. He stared in surprise at the sword, which I immediately switched off and turned to him and asked:
- Yes?
- Her Highness invites you and your companion to breakfast.
- When?
- In thirty minutes in the small dining hall," he said.
- In that case, we'll be there.
- I am to escort you," the servant insisted.
- Don't bother, we'll find our way," I was getting annoyed. I knew that Ali was almost naked at home, so I didn't want that prick to stare at my girlfriend. Yes, I'm possessive, but only out of love!
The servant understood my movements with his hand, in which was a lightsaber, correctly and proudly left. I went back to the bedroom without trying my luck. It was soundproofed, so Ali could hardly hear anything.
She was - she was sprawled out on the bed, her blanket in the corner, and she was drifting off to sleep. I had to shake her awake.
- А? Ani?
- Morning, sunshine. Come on, get ready, we've got breakfast with the Duchess in half an hour.
- Could she have said anything later? - The girl was indignant and immediately jumped up on the bed and went to get dressed. It didn't take long to find clothes - when we were getting ready, I preferred to hurry her up - buying clothes was half an hour, but getting her clothes would have taken two hours. And it was simply unprofitable to waste energy - on the last night in the dormitory we preferred to sleep well.
Ten minutes later, the girl, already in full parade, came out of the room and said:
- I'm ready! Lead the way.
And off we went. Navigating in an unfamiliar place is the same as navigating in hyperspace - just trust your intuition and correctly formulate what you want, and it seemed as if my feet were carrying me in the right direction. It was as if I had lived my whole life in this palace and knew it well.
We reached the small hall after ten minutes of walking and just in time - on the other side of the hall through the door entered the Duchess.
- Ani! You're right on time," Satine smiled. Power can do that too, so I just smiled back and changed the subject:
- 'So Satine, when are our Corellian friends arriving?
- At noon they promised," she walked over to the already set table and continued. - Come in, sit down, how is the night? - Satine asked not hiding playfulness looking at Ali.
- Terrible, - I answered, - something bad dreamed.
This changed the mood of the Duchess, but she outwardly remained the same cheerful.
Next, we proceeded to breakfast. For breakfast, the rugged Mandalorians served steak, a side dish of local vegetables, desserts, sweet and savoury and, of course, drinks. The Mandalorian tea was quite unusual in flavour, but I liked it. Ali, on the other hand, apparently did not. She set the cup aside and took another. When everything had been eaten, Satine suddenly started talking to Ali:
- We are supposed to contract with the KMC to retrofit some of their ships with armour and weapons, in return for help with hyperdrives for patrol ships. Along the way, we'll place an order for several hundred light transports to trade with our main customers.
- Is signing a contract so important? - I hinted at the situation.
- It's all about the clans," Satine nodded, "the people need confirmation that my policies are working. Right now we've resolved the beskar issue without a shot being fired and in our favour. If it wasn't for you...
- Let's forget this issue, - I immediately interrupted Satine. - Let's talk about the treaty. The Corellians said that my yacht needs a thousand men.
- It is possible, - nodded the duchess.
- Salaries, ammunition, armouring, supply, that's on me, - I said at once.
- In that case, I'll give you specialists from the army. We have an army of five million men, and I think I can give you a thousand of those who are not yet assigned to their ships.
- As an ally, then," I concluded.
- If you want, they'll swear an oath to you, as they should. Mandalore doesn't betray alliances, much less military ones.
- That depends on how you look at it. I'm not sure I'll be using the yacht for military purposes, but an oath wouldn't hurt," I knew from my academy training that Mandalorian warriors took their Mandalorian code of honour seriously.
Breakfast was over, and the Duchess briefly told me the details of the future treaty before leaving with her guards. The time before noon was free and I took her, in Ali's company, to the garden I had noticed during my last visit to the palace.
The garden was quickly found - it was internal and quite varied. Some of the plants I recognised, as I had seen them when I lived in the woods looking for beskar. Ali was interested too and she was examining the plants, flowers, and even some of the insects flying around the flowers and pollinating them. There were local counterparts of butterflies, though with a different pattern of brightly coloured wings. Ali liked them the most.
Noon came unnoticeably - no sooner we were walking together than it was time to go and meet the guests. One of the largest co-owners of the KMC had promised to fly in, as I understood that the disputes between Mandalore and Corellia were on a political level as well.
The way to the hangars I travelled quickly - thanks to Power Navigation I managed to intuitively find the shortest route.
The hangars were quite modest, similar to the ones the Nabuans had, but only open areas, with large metal hangars. At the appointed time, I saw the Satin delegation, accompanied by counsellors and guards, approaching from the other side. My procession - me and Ali, no more.
A small dot appeared in the sky and rapidly grew larger. After another minute Ali and I approached the duchess. It was indecent to stare at the sky, as we were seen by the ship's video sensors.
But Ali and I were being looked at by the Duchess's counsellors and guards.
The ship descended and landed - remarkably, it was the same modified "crown" as mine. The Duchess cast a brief glance at me and straightened her dress, preparing herself for the meeting. The meeting took place... routinely. There was no press, so no politeness.
A heavyset man, quite fat, with a bald spot, stepped out of the ship. He stood on the ramp, looked round and descended, and then there was a typical meeting of two politicians - nothing of significance. The man was enough for about thirty seconds, after which he met me and introduced himself as Semetrius, a member of the KMC Board of Directors. He treated me as a small but still important partner of KMC, as I was the only supplier of beskar.
The Duchess and Semetrius debated for half an hour, haggling while Ali and I listened without really listening. After a brief final debate, and apparently several rounds had already been completed earlier, they moved on to signing the treaty. Here the signing of the strategic alliance between the KMC and the Mandalore government was already a public procedure, and we made our way to the public. A press conference was scheduled with the signing of the treaty. Contrary to my expectations, we did not go to the conference hall, but signed the treaty in the open air - there were several hundred guests and journalists who were waiting for us in one of the gardens of the palace. This garden, or rather courtyard, was apparently used for public events when everyone could not fit indoors.
The Duchess took the podium and made a speech, which was broadcast on the local television, and then Semetrius repeated it, about peace, friendship, gum. I didn't have to say anything of the sort, I was simply introduced to the public as the owner of the land, but I also signed a document stating that KMK would not produce more than fifty tonnes a month. Semetrius didn't seem upset, but that was enough for the corporation, and smelting beskar was a complicated process.
Ali sat in the front row.
Everything changed in an instant-I sensed danger and immediately made my way to the Duchess's guard.
- I sense danger," I said to the guard who turned his attention to me.
- Excuse me, sir? - He didn't understand. I had to say it like it was so he would understand:
- I am a Jedi. We sense danger beforehand," I explained, "I sense something is about to happen. Take the duchess and the guest away immediately.
The guard believed me, and communicated via comlink to the head of security. The audience barely noticed my movement.
And ten seconds later, while my sense of unease was building, the alert was sounded. Apparently, the head of security knew who the Jedi were.
A group of power armour-clad soldiers approached the Duchess and took her in a "box" and led her away from the press conference. The guards immediately picked up all the guests and led them in small groups into the building. I, sensing that danger was approaching, grabbed Alessia and said:
- Something is happening. Danger is close," I'd been in deadly situations before, but now, that forgotten sense of adrenaline was coming back to me.
- What is it? - The girl was confused.
- Let's run to the hangar, - I immediately decided, feeling that the movement of guests did not affect the danger.
And we ran. Ali ran after me, and after five minutes of running we reached the hangar where our ship stood. I took out my comlink and shouted to the droid:
- Erdva, bring the ship out!
- Aye," the droid replied through the comlink, and five seconds later the ship crashed into the hangar gate. The gate was made of thin metal, and the ship crushed it, flying out onto the platform. Immediately the ramp opened and Ali and I ran inside. The girl was confused and I asked her:
- Ali, stay in the cabin," I checked my weapons and sat down in the pilot's chair. The droid was already ready to work and the ship took off upwards.
I felt the danger - after a couple of seconds I noticed the sensors picking up a ship approaching, a small interceptor that was coming towards us at a great speed. I moved the hyperdrive voltage lever - jumping from the planet's surface can only be done once, but it destroyed the hyperdrive. In the next moment, two events occurred that affected my life more than anything else.
A turbolaser charge hit the ship just as I moved the jump lever and the hyperdrive field began to unfold to pull the ship into hyperspace.
The ship shook violently after the hit, but something happened... something I was really, really not going to like. Red symbols lit up on the console after a second, the whole cockpit lit up with alarming messages. Erdwa said:
- Depressurisation. Severe damage to the hyperdrive. One engine torn off...
Without listening to his monotonous voice, I unbuckled and sprinted back towards the cabins, and running with all the speed I could muster towards the main compartment, I came across a sealed door that wouldn't open.
- Erdva, what's going on?! Open the door now! - I knew Erdva could hear me. Ali stayed exactly in the main cabin, so I began to go crazy with a premonition that something terrible had happened. Erdwa informed me of the verdict over the speakerphone:
- The compartment is locked down due to depressurisation.
- What??? What did you say? Open the door immediately! No, get some air into the compartment now!
- Aye," the droid replied. I reached out forcefully and sealed the compartment, plugging the horrible hole in the plating.
- Open the door!
- I can't, the system has locked the compartment," I heard the droid's monotone voice over the speakerphone. I drew my sword and repeated Qui-Gon's trick, cutting through the door and forcefully pulling out a piece of metal. I ran inside. No, I didn't see Alessia's corpse, but the things scattered all over the cabin made my legs feel woozy.
I listened to myself-the connection to Alessia that had appeared after the night at the hotel was unresponsive. She wasn't there at all! I searched frantically for Ali, thinking she might be under the overturned couch, but to my dismay I found... clothes.
A purple hoodie, a blindfold, underwear inside, shoes... empty. I switched off the sword I'd chopped up the couch with and dropped to my knees, picking up Ali's blindfold that she'd never taken off.
- What happened here? - I shouted, knowing Erdwa could hear me.
- She disappeared," the droid said.
- What the hell do you mean disappeared?
- After the depressurisation, Alessia disappeared. I don't know how. It's like she went into hyperspace.
- That can't be...' I said, and repeated it a few more times. It can't be. Ben Kenobi disappeared in the film. Why? Because that's how Forcers died.
My mind was completely jumbled. All I could think about was going back and slicing and dicing everyone involved! Who did this?
I didn't notice how I cried, and a force that I couldn't contain with my consciousness rushed in all directions - a small storm of power rose up in the cabin, and running lightning through me, knocked out the electricity, hitting the hull.
- Erdva...," I asked, "why? How?
- I... I don't know," Captain, the droid said in a sad voice.
I stood up, as the lust to kill everyone involved in Alessia's death was empowering. Though I couldn't believe that Ali was gone. I didn't notice as I jogged into the control room and asked Erdv in a gruff voice:
- Where are we? Coming out of hyperspace!
- Aye, - The ship has dropped into normal space.
- Let's go back immediately," I demanded.
- I can't, - Erdva answered, - the hyperdrive is almost destroyed by the launch from the planet and a direct hit in the circuit.
- On the backup, damn you!
- No beacon signal," the droid replied.
- How? - I asked in reply. The hyperspace beacon signal was also well received in wild space, away from hyperspace routes.
I hadn't noticed, but I still had Alessia's blindfold in my hands, which I didn't let go.
- Where are we? - I asked the droid.
- I don't know. No navigational signals.
The emotion finally let go of me, and I closed my eyes as I looked at the blindfold in my hands, completely confused. Yes, I was a thirteen year old boy, so I couldn't do anything but cry as much as I could, as I still wasn't used to such displays of emotion... Lost to the unknown and alone again....