-3:00 PM, July 15th, 2054-
-Coruscant-
I smiled at the man in front of me. "I'll take it."
The man smiled back and offered his hand. I shook it firmly. "Wonderful, sir. We'll handle the paperwork. All that remains is payment." He held out a datapad for me to sign.
I grabbed the datapad and quickly scanned through the payment agreement. Simply, it authorized a one-time payment from my bank account to his. Without waiting any longer, I drew my signature and handed the datapad back to him.
The salesman handed the datapad to the droid next to him. "We'll get the identification set up and then you'll be on your way. Might I interest you in an astromech? They are crucial to any starship."
I shook my head as I admired the lot of starships in front of me. It was an impressive catalogue. "I already have one. Thank you, though."
The salesman nodded but his smile shrunk slightly. "Well, if you ever run into any issues with it, contact me directly. I'll get you the best deal on Coruscant."
I nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."
Paying no more attention to him, I turned towards HK. "HK, run a diagnostic please. See what we can upgrade."
This was exciting! I had just closed a deal on my own starship. It was a mid-range light freighter. It had the capability to be heavily, a full residence, and a state of the art hyperdrive. It was a normal starship and quite inconspicuous.
Some of the amenities included 3 quarters with bathrooms, an engineering bay, a kitchen with a dining area, and an underbelly compartment for a mid-size speeder. Mine would fit perfectly.
Well, the speeder was only recently mine. Galen said that I could keep it.
Speaking of my speeder, I heard the sound of it approaching. I looked up and saw it approaching with a container being towed behind it.
Once it landed, the cockpit opened up revealing Sirius.
I smiled. "How was it? Did you get everything?"
Sirius scratched his head. "Shopping is stressful."
I chuckled and gestured towards the ship. "Let's get everything loaded in and then head out. We have one more stop but then we're off."
Sirius nodded and then opened up the container before grabbing a crate from inside. I followed suit and then we walked up the ramp and into the ship.
A lot has happened in the past several days. First, Sirius officially became my padawan. It was approved by the council. What followed was the expected issuance of robes, an attempt at shaving his head..., and the gathering. Weirdly, he was only down in those ice caves for 20 minutes. Does he fear nothing?
Like me, he constructed two lightsabers. His were green though. They were very similar in style to the swords he just recently parted with. One saber was longer and the other was shorter. The hilts were in an ovular shape. They were jet black anodized metal with a white tsuka-ito.
Aside from that, great news came from Kessel. A coaxium vein had been located. At that site, the second of two towns started construction. The first town was going to replace what was formerly known as ANV Main Base. I was curious if the towns had been named yet but there was nothing about that.
Ground was also broken on Little Kessel. Since it was just outside of the maelstrom, it was the perfect location for a space port. We hoped to use it as a logistics hub in the future.
Lastly, and arguably most importantly, Sirius, or Leighton as his name turned out to be, started an experimental cancer treatment involving nanobots. It was so experimental that he had to sign a whole binder full of waivers and an NDA.
Since everything seemed to be falling into place, it was a good time to turn inwards and do a bit of self-improvement. I needed to work on my lightsaber skills and Sirius needed to improve his connection with the force. Thus, it was time for a training retreat.
We were headed to an unpopulated system in the outer rim called Scarif. All we would be able to find there was wildlife and raw nature. A bonus was that it wasn't too far from Kessel. Just in case anything was to go wrong, we could be there within a few hours.
It was commonly known among Jedi that the best way to get in tune with the force was to go into seclusion. Doing this together as master and padawan could also deepen the bond between us.
After about an hour, I placed a crate down into the hold and stood up. I pressed my palms into my back and stretched. "Ahhhhhh, finally done."
Sirius followed me into the hold shortly thereafter. "Master, the salesman is outside."
I waved him off, nodding in the process. "Yeah, yeah. Go handle it, will you?"
Sirius nodded and then disappeared from the hold. No matter the circumstances he has lived under, he has essentially been sheltered his whole life. I was honestly impressed that he was this self-sufficient to begin with. All I could do was push him to learn as much as possible so that he could truly reap the benefits of life.
I exited the hold, grabbing a bottle of water from the kitchen as I passed by. I twisted the cap open and took a few gulps. Continuing on, I entered the cockpit and sat down in the pilot's seat.
Looking around, I spotted a datapad on the dashboard and wiggled my fingers. "Oooh, let's see what we have here."
My eyes lit up as I found the most important collection of information on the ship. This was the holy bible. This was... the manual.
After several minutes of flipping through it, I felt that I had a good enough idea of the controls to get this thing moving. Just as I started gleefully flipping switches, Sirius entered the cockpit.
I glanced back at him and noticed him holding what looking like a high-tech brick. "What's that?"
Sirius held it out towards me. "This is the transponder. It identifies the ship."
I nodded, snatching the brick and examining it. It had a pulsing blue light on it and a port for a cable to plug into. Aha! I know where this goes.
I got on my knees and opened up the panel under the controls. There was a slot that looked to be the size of the brick and a metal prong in the back. I gently pushed the brick into the slot until there was a click. The pulsing blue light turned green. Green is good, right?
I pulled my head back and closed up the panel. "So, how are you feeling?
Sirius shrugs. "I mean, my arms are a bit sore from carrying all those boxes and I'm a tad hungry but I'm fine."
I shook my head as I flicked another switch, causing the engine to whir to life. "You know that's not what I mean."
Sirius sighed and leaned against the doorframe to the cockpit. "It's weird. There's something off about my body. It's as if there's something inside of me that's not supposed to be there. But at the same time, I feel as if my body is becoming more and more my own."
I paused for a moment and blinked, trying to process his words. "Firstly, don't ever say that there's something inside of you that's not supposed to be there. It sounds weird. Secondly, that is undoubtedly weird. I can feel your discomfort from here."
Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "Worry not, master. Let's just head to the beach. I haven't been to one in almost a decade."
I chuckled, glancing at his skin tone. "Well, your pale ass is gonna need some sun block. I hope you bought some."
Sirius nodded. "It wasn't exactly named the same but yes, I did."
I nodded. "Good. How are your parents taking all of this?"
He rolled his eyes at me and scoffed. "How else do you expect parents to react when they find out that their cancer plagued son is working for a billionaire in a videogame he picked up to distract him from dying and is now also receiving treatment so cutting edge that it hasn't even hit the news yet?"
I sighed and gazed out of the windshield. "Fair enough. I'm just glad that they allowed for you to be transferred sates side. Both for your treatment and your safety."
Sirius nodded and then sat in the copilot chair. "So, where did you learn to fly?"
I grasped the throttle and gently pushed it forwards. A smirk formed upon my face as the ship slowly and steadily ascended. "The manual."