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***
The morning of a new day greeted the Alderaanian Academy student with the squeak of a droid and the singing of birds that had taken up residence in the crown of a tree near Skywalker's room.
Anakin stretched lazily on the bed and rolled from one side to the other until he finally decided to wake up.
When he got up, the student found it was noon, so he ran to the shower to make himself look decent.
No, it was a normal day, a weekday, not a holiday, but Anakin had slept for a long time only because the summer holidays had begun.
Yesterday he had passed his final exams and happily piled home. And followed by his girlfriend, who had also turned in all her "tails". The teenagers went for a walk and walked around Alderaan all day, returning to their dormitory as night fell on Alderaan. Alessia, who had politely declined the invitation to her boyfriend's room, went to sleep, as did Skywalker himself.
Running out of the shower, Anakin dressed quickly and went to the next wing where the girls lived. The lone first-year strolling through the girls' wing of the dorm didn't raise any eyebrows, so Anakin walked easily to his girlfriend's room and knocked on the door.
- Come in," came the girl's voice from behind the door.
Anakin walked in. Alessia was sitting on the bed, and in front of her were two suitcases in which she was putting her things.
- 'Leaving already? - Anakin asked from the doorway, looking at the painting.
- Yes. I'm going to visit my parents. What about you?
- Me?" Anakin wondered. - I'll probably go, too.
- It's just for a few months, right? You look sad..." the girl smiled, "Come on, don't just stand there, come on in," Alessia encouraged her boyfriend and Anakin entered the room.
Inside, to his surprise, it was rather modestly furnished, just minimalist.
- Well, I'll probably survive one holiday without you, Allie," Skywalker sighed.
- I'll miss you, too, Ani," he said, sadness in his voice, "but I'll get to meet my parents and sister.
- Yeah, that's a thing. Anakin was about to say he'd like to go to Naboo too, but he stopped and thought about it. No, he would like to see his family, but having escaped once, it wouldn't be right to return now - if he did, he would have to stay, change universities to be closer to his mother, move....
"No," Skywalker decided to himself, "I can go to Naboo, but I can't go back."
- Ani? - He was brought back to reality by the voice of Alessia, who had become alarmed at the fact that her boyfriend was frozen in place like a statue.
- А? No, no, it's fine," Skywalker hastened to assure her.
- Don't scare me like that, Ani," the miraluka said grumpily.
- I'm sorry, my bad," Skywalker said cheerfully, and immediately changed the subject, "Well, I'm going to go pack my things, too, then. I probably won't see you for two months, if not more.
- Alessia got out of bed and walked over to Skywalker and pecked him on the lips, but Anakin kissed his girlfriend goodbye.
After the teens parted ways, the miraluka hid her face even deeper into her hood and turned away, hugging her boyfriend:
- 'Well, that's it, Ani I need to change and get out.
- Understood," Skywalker nodded and turned around and walked out of the girl's room. Five minutes later, Alessia followed, carrying her suitcases in her hands. Skywalker immediately forcefully intercepted Alessia's burden and picked it up. He escorted his girlfriend to the exit and helped secure the burden to the girl's speedybike, before giving her another kiss and guiding the girl's departing figure with a glance.
There were others leaving - after all, not one group was free today, so the dormitory was a mess - students were everywhere, but at the same time there was freedom in the air, the feeling of beaches and holidays. The girls had already shed their heavy and tight clothes, and most of them were in rather frivolous outfits, regardless of their race. Despite the fact that Skywalker was dating Alessia, it was hard to resist glancing at the twi'lek. If Alessia had seen him, she would have poked him in the ribs with a sharp elbow....
Anakin hurried back to his room and turned his attention to other matters. The first thing he did was to pull out of the wardrobe his belongings that he had brought to Alderaan - a pair of lightsabers, a training lightsaber and a regular lightsaber, some credit cards, some parts from Erdv, and some clothes. Immediately, the swords jumped into his hand. Activating both, Skywalker waved them through the air for a few seconds, listening for a hum and deactivated them. He had yet to find a place to train. There had been holidays in the winter, but Skywalker hadn't even bothered to find a place to train - Alessia and his studies had taken up all his time. Now he was free of both the girl and his studies, and was hurriedly thinking about how and where he should train...
The boy hid his swords, handing them both to Erdva, who approached:
- Here you go, my iron friend. I think it would be best to leave this place for now. Now..." Anakin reached into the datapad and inserted the credit cards to get a better idea of the financial situation - money was Skywalker's most pure and noble love.
There was a little over a million and a half on the credit cards. Considering how much he'd had in his pockets recently, he was spending too fast - it should be enough to live on, but he needed some financial freedom in addition to his livelihood.
- So what to do? - Skywalker asked himself. - Obviously, look for dough..." he sat down on the couch. Erdva paced around the room, also pondering the question.
- To earn money? No, I have enough to live on as it is. Win?
- Your name is on the databases of all the race organisers. You can't expect to get the kind of stakes you got on Tatooine," Erdva squeaked.
- You're right," Skywalker nodded and sank back into thought. But he quickly snapped back to reality and spoke to himself: "So, let's approach the problem as we were taught. We need: Money. Lots of it. What do we have? A million loans. That's very, very good, but we need more. What else? The Force, two droids, academy student status... smugglers I know, more..." Anakin didn't say what he had, but he thought clearly that he had a limited knowledge of the canon, as far as that word applied to Star Wars.
- Erdva, I'm meditating, don't bother me," Skywalker said and sat down on the couch and sank into meditation, merging with the force. First of all, Skywalker wanted to scour his memory for valuable knowledge that could be used or sold.
* * *
Coruscant. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jedi Temple.
* * *
- Ben, a voice distracted Ben Kenobi from the important task of swordsmanship training. Though he had already achieved a fair amount of skill, Ben Kenobi thought the worst of himself, so he didn't slack off. The voice belonged to his teacher, Qui-Gon.
- Yes, Master? - Ben asked, switching off his sword and stepping out of the training area. The training droids, not noticing the student, switched off and landed where they were.
- Let's step back, we have a conversation to have," Qui-Gon nodded towards the door. Ben Kenobi walked across the stone floor of the temple to the indicated door, beyond which was a spacious corridor. Qui-Gon, after leading his apprentice down several corridors, walked with him out onto the balcony. Along the way, they met students and teachers, attendants, and almost everyone greeted the knight and his apprentice. Qui-Gon, stepping out onto the spacious balcony that overlooked the beautiful view of Coruscant, was quiet for a moment, looking out over the city. Kenobi was of course panting, but he didn't rush his teacher and looked out over the city with Qui-Gon. After a moment of silence, Qui-Gon spoke:
- I have just come from the council chamber. I have news for you...
- Yes, Master? - Kenobi sighed.
- 'Hmm... for starters...' Qui-Gon turned to his apprentice, a slight smile appearing on his not-so-young face, 'I am now a Jedi Master. Or rather, the ceremony will take place tomorrow.
Ben Kenobi, also smiling, was already happy for his teacher when he asked a question:
- What about me?
- Your training is finished. Yoda was impressed by your success and decided that you should become a knight... - Qui-Gon couldn't resist and spoofed the little master's manner of speech. However, Ben Kenobi didn't pay much attention to it, as he was immensely happy that his training was over. Though there was a bit of sadness - while he was an apprentice, he freely thought of himself as a young student, and now... new responsibility, new problems, and the teacher wouldn't be around this time.... Kenobi frowned and voiced his indignation.
Qui-Gon smiled at this statement and patted the now grown up student's hair:
- Then Yoda was not wrong. You've grown up, Obi-Wan, you've grown up. It's time to move on.
The balcony was remarkably quiet - no one had disturbed the Jedi who had been talking the entire time.
- In that case..." Ben began, but Qui-Gon interrupted him before Ben could continue:
- "The ceremony will take place tomorrow. You'll be knighted first, and then I'll be made a master. If you do well, you'll be given an apprentice.
- Yes, Master.
- I am no longer your master," Qui-Gon shook his head and stepped away from the railing.
- You'll still be my teacher," Kenobi disagreed, "Anyway... I'll do my best to justify your trust, Master," Obi-Wan bowed briefly.
- That's fine, Ben," Qui-Gon smirked, "but don't expect to get the kind of challenging assignments you and I have been doing.
- I understand, Master," Kenobi bowed his head.
- It is good to see, - Qui-Gon looked at the panorama of the city once more, and then he said:
- Tonight we will celebrate.
Ben looked at the teacher incomprehensibly and Qui-Gon explained:
- Tomorrow you will become a knight and I will become a master. It won't be appropriate for us to go to bars and drink.
- But Master... what about the code..." Ben was confused.
- You're taking the code too seriously," Qui-Gon sighed, "it's the rules of Jedi behaviour, not an immutable law. And you don't have to live strictly by the code, but you don't have to break it without good reason. I believe we have a good reason to have a little fun tonight. After all, a man has to relax and rest once in a while. Fatigue leads to bitterness and nervousness, and they lead....
- To the dark side," Ben Kenobi muttered.
- That's right. If memory serves, the last time we had a holiday was on your twentieth birthday. So let's go... - Qui-Gon headed for the hangars, and Ben followed him.... Qui-Gon's treat today.
***
Alderaan.
***
On the couch sat a boy, a teenager, in a pseudo-lotus pose, and was immersed in himself, Next to him stood the astrodroid and obediently waited for his master to come to his senses. Anakin Skywalker regained consciousness after half an hour, and opened his eyes sharply. True, he could see without those imperfect senses, but a headache would come after ten or twenty minutes of panoramic force vision, which he had inherited from his Miraluka father and the Force. Grumbling unhappily and stretching his stiff legs, Anakin climbed off the bed. Erdva, who noticed this, immediately squealed with joy.
- Sha, kid, I'm sick of your squeaking," Anakin muttered.
- I apologise, sir," the droid sneered and fell silent.
- Okay... we're going to Mandalore," he said, frowning unhappily.
- Mandalore? - squeaked the droid.
- That's right. Mandalore," Skywalker gathered his things. Unlike his girlfriend, the former smuggler was a lightweight, and he forcefully pulled his duffel bag to him and threw some of his belongings into it. He stuffed his credit cards in his pocket and quickly changed into his travelling clothes - trousers made of a material similar to jeans, but consisting of a dense green fabric of natural origin, a shirt and a thick leather waistcoat, which he bought only for its resemblance to Han OWLs' waistcoat. Completing the traveller's picture was the usual duffel bag.
- We can move out, Erdva," Skywalker said and walked briskly out of his room. Erdva followed him, but Anakin had forgotten about his secretary droid, who also followed them. Unlike Erdva, the secretary droid, aka training droid, couldn't move that fast, so the clumsy humanoid robot had to order a taxi to the spaceport.
Anakin got on his speedybike and headed for the spaceport with the speed of the wind - his lightness of manner, inherited from his work as a smuggler, didn't make it hard to get away - on the contrary, Skywalker was getting nervous about spending a year on one planet without ever boarding a ship. Anakin raced to the spaceport and disembarked at the concrete car park. The spaceport building was beautiful, and the landing field stretched several kilometres into the distance, giving even large and heavy ships room to manoeuvre. Actually, there were not so many heavy ships now - mostly shuttles and passenger ships that flew flights all over the galaxy. Alessia, with whom Anakin was in love, had already left on one of them. And there were plenty of passengers on other ships, too, due to the end of the school year.
Skywalker took a quick step towards the spaceport building. He had seen hundreds of spaceports in his time as a smuggler and vagabond. This one was no exception to the rule - a large lobby, like a railway station, ticket offices, piles of droids scurrying back and forth, signposts telling the way to the waiting room or toilets, and finally, schedules and ticket offices.
No doubt Anakin could have looked up the schedule on the datapad, or asked Erdwas to do so, but out of old habit, he stared at the holomonitors in the lobby of the spaceport.
The nearest flights were to Coruscant, other central worlds, a few flights to less popular planets, even Naboo had one. But not Mandalore.
- Erdva, see when the next flight to Mandalore is," Skywalker stepped away from the schedule. Five seconds later, the droid answered:
- Tomorrow morning.
- Tomorrow? Shit," Skywalker grimaced and, after standing for a few seconds in thought, headed back with a quick step. Erdva had to turn on his repulsors and take off to keep up with Anakin, otherwise he couldn't catch up with the teenager.
- Where are you going?
- Back," Anakin answered over his shoulder, "I'm going back," he said as he exited the spaceport. The secretary droid was waiting for him near the entrance and, having found him, approached him. But it made no difference - the poor secretary had to follow Anakin. And Skywalker, not wanting to stick around all day and wait for a flight, headed for a small room not far from the main spaceport building. Five minutes later, he was already entering a small room furnished with couches and coffee tables with real paper (well, almost paper) magazines on them. Not far away was a counter, behind which a beautiful young girl in her early twenties was bored.
Skywalker came to his favourite place - they sold ships here. The prices weren't the same as on Tatooine, but the quality was a little better.
- Hello," Anakin said, and walked into the hall, ignoring the other people, he sat down at a table and found the right place in the magazine and began to read the price list. He didn't intend to read for long, though at another time he would have undoubtedly sat here, familiarising himself with all the market offerings.
Anakin was looking for a small and inconspicuous ship that would have the possibility of being retrofitted with at least - a new hyperdrive. Skywalker looked at a number of different yachts and rejected a few because they were too slow or too expensive, until he found one that suited him - a small and cheap, frankly shitty G9 light freighter that pirates wouldn't even look at.
- Lady? I'd like to purchase this ship. As soon as possible," Skywalker said.
The lady looked Anakin up and down, but still went to her datapad and a few seconds later the sale began....
It took a few minutes to clarify the configuration and other details, and another two hours for Anakin to sign the paperwork, register the ship and get all the data to use it.
The former flight mechanic would have refused the honour, but a lady no less pretty than the one behind the counter came to show him the ship, so he watched her smile as she told him something. What exactly - Anakin wasn't listening.
The epic transport purchase was over, and Skywalker, having become the happy owner of the ship, brought the droids inside, immediately ordering Erdw to check all the major components. The speedybike fit in the cargo hold, and Anakin took a couple of hours to buy groceries and food and climbed aboard.
The first pilot's seat was frankly uncomfortable, but there was no choice and Skywalker, having checked all the systems once again, requested to leave the planet's atmosphere. The headset responded with the voice of the dispatcher, who after a few seconds confirmed the authorisation and the G9 soared into the sky.