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***
I flew to Mandalore at the same speed I'd flown back from Corellia - as fast as I could. This time, though, it was much further away - Mandalore is on the periphery of the galaxy, and Alderaan is among the core worlds.
Running out of the dormitory, I jumped into my speeder, which had been assembled from Sith interceptors, and sped towards the spaceport at the fastest available speed. The speed of my speeder is, to put it mildly, prohibitive - the maximum subsonic. That is in the region of a thousand kilometres per hour. The way to the spaceport, which was about ten kilometres away, took less than a minute. That's where the trouble began. My ship stood in its place, but looking at it, I decided on a desperate step - to buy a new one. Simply because a week to Mandalore is too long, and I've flown before, so I know how long the journey will take. If I go roundabouts, that is, bypassing all the paths, the speed won't increase much - the distance between Mandalore and Alderaan will be long anyway.
Having thought of buying another ship, I turned the speeder and rushed with the same prohibitive speed to the bargainer, who was already a few minutes later.
In general, the trade in ships is quite a specific business - there are representatives of manufacturers and resellers, from whom you can find quite rare copies of used or new ships. Sometimes resellers were official dealers, but only big ones. I bought my G9 at a local luxury salon, but now I was rushing to the "ship market". There was such a market on Alderaan, and I often visited it - I looked at ship designs with the help of my power, memorised and analysed certain technical solutions. However, after the beginning of my real studies, I had neither time nor energy for that, but still....
Separately I can say about brakes of my speeder. If everywhere during braking the thrust vector of the main engine is shifted forward, I have a separate brake motor. Unlike the thrust reverser, which can give about ten per cent of the engine power, this solution allows you to brake instantly, true, with overloads gravicompensators cope with difficulty, but it was worth it. My approach scared away the people standing near the big pavilion, who flinched away, and I braked, thanks to the power, a millimetre away from the wall. Immediately I jumped out of the speeder and rushed into the pavilion. There were no natural ships inside, but there was a market, which reminded me of "Gorbushka" or "Savelovsky" - thousands of stalls and corners, in which there were droids, parts of ships, other technical gadgets of various kinds, ranging from datapads of thousands of different variations and ending with huge navigation computers. There were also departments for retro goods. I even thought about selling Sith interceptors to them, but I didn't have time for that, and it wouldn't make much money - such interceptors weren't a collector's rarity, they'd been made by the hundreds of thousands during the war, and it wasn't that hard to find one.
I went to the place where the ship dealer was sitting - I didn't even know his name, and he was in no hurry to introduce himself or smile at his customers.
I found the right merchant quickly - I reached his pavilion with such a quick step that it would be more correct to say that I was running slowly.
- Oh, it's you," he greeted me, "I haven't seen you for a long time. Have you decided to come in?
- Not now," I cut him off, "I need a ship. The fastest one you can find.
The salesman seemed taken aback for a couple of seconds, but quickly got over himself and walked over to the terminal.
His shop was a boutique that sold the highest quality ship stuffing. The prices were frightening, but the quality was good. And more often than not, it was worth it - it wasn't hard for me to see what was underneath the hull of the goods.
In the corner stood three droids of the R2 series - blue, yellow and pistachio-coloured. While the salesman was stuck with the ship, I examined his wares. I wished I could hurry him up, but there was no point - most likely he would just brush it off and continue working at the same pace.
On a separate stand stood several models of ships, from small fighters to large merchantmen. While I was looking at the insides of the droids with the force and mentally whistling at what could be done with simple R2s, the salesman finally found what he was looking for and caught my attention with a cough.
- Look at this," he unfolded a holoprojection over the counter. There were several ships there.
Seeing my scrutinising gaze, the salesman explained:
- Three of the fastest ships we have.
Two I recognised were the Nubian ash-class yacht and the fastest Corellian Corporation yacht, the Crown of the Sun.
It's large, half a hundred metres long, with chopped forms that are surprisingly harmonious. Somewhat reminiscent of a highly elongated mix of the HWK-290 and the Corellian passenger shuttle. The engines were not located in pylons, but stood on the hull, as in the Corellian passenger, only they were located directly on the hull, on three sides in special equally square-cut enclosures.
- Hyperdrive, crew?
- The Nubian yacht has a crew of three - navigator, pilot, technician and droids. The Corona has the same, and this," he poked at a ship and the image zoomed in, "is a Discoverer research vessel from the SoroSub Corporation, crewed by one man and one droid.
- Is there anything faster? - I squinted. - The hyperdrive on the Nubian ash is too low class. I won't say anything about the Discoverer, it's a highly specialised vessel, but the Crown meets my needs. But I would like to have the fastest ship possible.
The salesman smirked, but went back to the terminal, asking as he went:
- How much are you willing to pay?
- Don't count my money, show me the ships.
He smirked once more and said:
- The fastest are the kastoms, but their price is much higher, and the range is small.
- Show me.
As far as I knew, a custom is a ship modified by handy engineers, whose specifications went far beyond the usual slightly modified ship. These were full-scale modifications to ships, sometimes changing the class, size and shape of the ship. A typical example of a custom is the Millennium Falcon, in which not only the hyperdrive was replaced, but also a bunch of all sorts of systems. And those TTX that the Falcon had became available to the masses only a hundred years after the fall of the Empire.
Anyway, custom is what I needed.
- I don't have the blueprints, but the guys at the docks will tell you what's what.
- Can you walk me out? - I asked. The salesman hesitated, but I convinced him: - I'll buy it for sure. I have to leave urgently today, and you guys are handy, as I see. What you did to R2..." I nodded at the droid. The salesman frowned. Outwardly these droids didn't differ from the usual ones, though inside they were quite different - real monsters of engineering - four manipulators each with a set of tools, powerful reactors, systems that can do precision metalworking and a whole set of tools from plasma cutting to engraver.
Leaving my suspicious remarks, the salesman closed the shop and we flew... well, flew - in my speeder. My hands were in the right place, too - although it was uncomfortable inside, the interior was completely from a warship, and the speed... when I started towards the specified spaceport, the salesman whistled. In fact, the speeder easily picked up speed close to mach speed, and in a couple of minutes we were already in a small spaceport on the outskirts of the city. The buildings were fairly large hangars and concrete boxes that contained workshops, according to the salesman's story. I pulled up to the entrance and braked as before. The salesman remained unperturbed, but scared badly - the speeder stopped less than a centimetre from the wall.
We got out and went to look at the ships. Erdva followed us.
In the hangars I was shown a Nabuan yacht that had been modified to the max. For one VIP passenger. The next custom was the Crown of the Sun, with a zero-five hyperdrive. And at the end I was shown a yacht from Incom Corporation, which also had the same hyperdrive. Shields were only on the Nabuan ship, and even then symbolic, the others did not have enough energy for shields, so they left it as it was. The speed in the atmosphere was impressive - Mach four for the Nabuan and three for the Corellian. The Baudo couldn't boast of that.
The interior of the ship, which I immediately looked at, said that they had been modified in a remarkable way - it seemed that there were no special "major" improvements, but the main instruments, systems, even parts of the hull, had been replaced with some of the best.
- Give me the Crown," I said, pointing my finger at the ship. - How much do I owe you?
- Ten million," cut off the salesman who was walking next to me, "I warned you.
- Yeah, yeah, I remember. So, zero-five main and third class - reserve... - I sighed. - Let's do it. You don't have to bother with local registration, I'll leave immediately, and then I'll have time.
If you don't register the boat with the locals, the speed of registration will increase many times over. All that is left is to sign the contract and send the data to the relevant bureaucratic authorities.
The registration did not take long - just signed where necessary, left a fingerprint and genetic material, and voila. Half an hour later I was already taking off, the technicians from the hangar kindly threw me supplies and fuel.
Mandalore and his problems were waiting for me.
Despite the ship's top speed, I couldn't get there right away, if only because I was flying in a straight line, past all the hyperspace routes. It was faster, of course, but I wasn't a robot; after twelve hours of navigating by force, I had to get at least four hours of sleep. That schedule wore me out, but it was acceptable. The ship's speed was... remarkable. Just like on the old Barloz, with the same hyperdrive, the ship travelled in hyperspace, bypassing stars and planets. No one stopped it, no one inspected it, and there was no one, in fact, all the surrounding planets had been explored. On some planets in such a "dark" place there were mining colonies, most often with droids as workers, as living personnel required supplies and surveillance, and it was expensive to organise them.
Tired, I decided to rest for the final flight, not four but eight hours, and got a good night's sleep. Usually four hours was enough for me to be happy, but with a heavy workload I needed six to eight, no less. So I got myself cleaned up - I didn't need a shave yet, but it was nice to visit all the facilities available on a luxury yacht. There was a cabin bigger than my dorm room, and furnished according to the first class, there was a local "Jacuzzi", and many other things.
I didn't make the final jump until I was ready to face trouble head-on.
It took a couple of hours to get to Mandalore - the ship left not far from the planet, where I gave my usual report to the Mandalorian air defence about who I was and why I was flying to the capital. An audience with the Duchess is a worthy occasion. I imagine she'll be informed of my arrival immediately.
The ship was travelling down to Keldabe. Much faster than the transporter, so in ten minutes I was in the spaceport of Mandalore's capital.
* Mandalore, Anakin Skywalker *
The Duchess of Mandalore, Satine Kriz was surprisingly calm. And, admittedly, a rather pretty girl - she was twenty-four years old, and looked like the rest of the twenty-four year old women who grew up among aristocrats. Though she differed from the aristocrats I'd seen at the academy in a positive way. First of all - sincerity and almost complete absence of hypocrisy.
The government residence was located a few blocks from the Mandalmotors tower, and was a large building of a rather original layout.
I was quickly escorted through the corridors of the palace to a spacious but rather cosy room where the Queen was. As far as I understood, she was not expecting my arrival so soon - she did not have time to prepare properly, so she improvised. In a separate wing, in a cosy sitting room, Satine Kriz was waiting for me. After I entered, the servant escorting me bowed briefly and quickly left. At first glance, there was no one in the living room. A couple of sofas, a coffee table, flowers in a vase, and a pretty view of the garden outside the window. A woman's hand was immediately apparent, a male ruler would have invited a study or conference room. The Duchess chose the format of a one-on-one meeting.
From the next room, while I was looking out the window, the Duchess came out. She walked quietly, probably intending to startle me a little with her appearance, but I looked her over, taking advantage of my unusual visual feature. Blonde, human, with correct facial features, blue eyes, and ordinary hair, without any of the ceremonial adornments so beloved of the galaxy's high-ranking ladies. In some ways she reminded me of my current self - eye colour, hair colour, face shape almost skinny... I smiled at the resemblance, but continued to remain silent. She came up behind me and spoke sharply:
- Anakin Skywalker.
I didn't turn around, admiring the garden where the droids were watering the flowerbeds. She knows exactly who I am and why I'm here, she must have been told before the ship landed in the spaceport. But it would be wrong to be cheeky with the ruler of a planet like Mandalore - it was with Padme that I allowed myself some rather ambiguous jokes and teasing, for she was a kind girl, and in some ways sweet in her simplicity and honesty. Satine I didn't know, so I followed the universal advice of diplomats.
- Satine Kriz," I smiled with the tips of my lips, which she must have considered since I was reflected in the glass of the window.
- Anakin, I'm glad you flew in as quickly as you could," she dismissed the hint that she was expecting me later.
- "With the throne wobbling beneath you, any wait will seem like an eternity," I replied with a hint of innuendo, "so I was trying to get to see you faster than a death watch," Satine shuddered inwardly, clearly in a businesslike mood. The mention of her nemeses brought the girl to her senses and the exchange of pleasantries ended. She felt some ground under her feet - her rule was the only thing keeping the people from massacring KMC and nationalising the deposits, but it was a double-edged sword - she couldn't threaten me with being overthrown, so she'd fight to the last man. Not wanting to give her the lead in the negotiations, I began my half-improvised speech:
- I realise that my little venture into ore mining has led to a legitimate discontent among the people. If I were them, I would not delay in overthrowing the government, so please accept my admiration for your subjects' loyalty to you. But, as always, there will be someone who will benefit from all this, won't there? - I asked, and finally turned round to face Satine. I have to admit, as I thought, we're quite similar in appearance, so if you put us side by side, we could pass for brother and sister. Hmmm... she also looked me over, but quickly stopped that activity and sat down on the couch. She was wearing a navy blue dress just below her knees, with almost no cleavage.
- That's right," Satine nodded, "and here you have done my opposition a great favour.
- The opposition knows how to use every assumption of power in their favour, so it would be strange to expect them to do otherwise. You're right, though, this beskar affair has undermined your position," I didn't know the situation very well, rather I only read from the news the various sketches of pacifists and journalists bought by the death watch. The situation was frankly unpleasant, because I had set Satine up and damaged her reputation.
- You can't take that away from them, but you know what I mean," Satine squinted her eyes, "there's no way we can drag this out any further. According to my experts, more than forty per cent of the media is already engaged in a discrediting campaign against the government.
- You can deal with the media yourself," I interrupted her rudely, "it's not my business who to punish and why. Also, as you understand, many internal disputes of your aristocracy and their eternal mutual claims do not concern me.
- I understand," Satine nodded, "but you have become a very important figure in them.
- Perhaps... - I evaded from the answer, - but it does not prevent me personally from treating you and the warlike clans equally. True, they haven't invited me to talk to them yet, and that's a plus for you," I smiled at the dubious compliment. - So let's talk business, not politics. I have no desire to get involved in a fight between two factions right now. Even though I'm the cause of it.
The duchess smiled strainedly. She was probably hoping to win me over to her side and make me an ally, if not a subordinate, to strengthen her position. It didn't scare me, but the polarity of our relationship had to change-an alliance with Mandalore fit my plans well enough to make my life easier when I needed it, but the opportunity to act was now. In a way, I was glad it was happening, but it was untimely, it was too soon, and I was frankly unsure of my ventures, and it could have gone wrong at any moment. I had to act on the basis of a very elusive Plan. Any long-term planning for the future was problematic, even though I had a good idea of what was going on in the Republic.
I had made my decisions, so now I could relax and start bargaining.
- 'Speaking of business,' Satine nodded, 'what do you want for the mines? Money? A title, perhaps? - The duchess was willing to give what she could. But I could have achieved such primitive advantages without her help, she just didn't know that I wasn't acting with the purpose of putting my arse in the soft chair of a high-ranking official and filling my pockets with credits. Although this is true for almost all of my classmates - money and title would guarantee them a good career.
- No, it won't work that way," I shook my head, "I can make money. Not with the help of your planet, but in other ways. A title? It's warmer now, but in that case I'll be your subject, and it's not pleasant for me to obey anyone but the law dictated by common sense.
- I can give my word that I will not interfere in your affairs,' Satine said. - 'So there's nothing wrong with that.
- 'No, Satine, you will allow me to call you that, won't you? - The lady nodded in response, clearly not offended by the familiarity.
- Then let's go with "you", you don't mind, do you? - suggested the Duchess. You bet, I had the power to both make her an exile and strengthen her position in the political arena. You could say that Satine Crease was in my hands at the moment. Powerful enough hands. An understanding of interconnectedness and dependency is instilled in aristocrats from childhood, even Mandalorians, so de facto I was no less a figure to her than she was to me. Not legally, but in this position, I was on a par with her, if not more so.
- No, of course not," I smiled. Satine, too, since the "switch to 't'" was a standard situation, showing that to some extent the parties were favourable to each other. Standard in the galaxy was a more protocolised address, though how it is in Mandalorian I don't know.
- What exactly is it that you don't like? - Satine made an attempt to identify my needs. Crude, but effective in most cases.
- You see, unlike most of my fellow students at the Alderaan Academy, an official's chair and a steady paycheck are not the pinnacle of my ambitions. I wouldn't say I've planned my life, but I aspire to more than a middle-class aristocrat can achieve, even with a fair amount of enthusiasm and ambition. So a title won't help my position. It would only cause trouble. And now to the point," I turned the conversation to my own desires. - I can't give you the mines just yet. That doesn't mean it won't happen in the future, but for now, selling beskar is my main source of income.
- I don't even want to know what you want to do there," the Duchess pretended to be horrified, "your actions are the most audaciously adventurous I've ever seen.
- Perhaps," I smiled, "but still, I'm willing to make significant concessions. Besides, my contract with the Corellians does not provide for possible extraction by third parties. At least not by the Mandalorian government.
- So you could give us part of the mine..." Satine frowned slightly. - It's better than nothing, but it won't make a difference.
- It depends on how you look at it and what rights the parties will have. The text of the contract with Corellia implies, firstly, unlimited possibilities to break it. By any party, with or without cause, so we act together in good faith. However, I have no intention of losing a market as wide as the KMC. The deposits are larger than any previously discovered on Mandalore, so they won't be depleted for several centuries.
- It depends on the rate of extraction," the Duchess corrected me, "you must have encountered a smelting problem.
- I can't deny it," I smiled softly, "but there is a way out of every problem. In this case, I can renegotiate the contract with KMC, limiting their production to a certain amount. And after a while, I can cancel the contract altogether. But, as you realise, that would be a serious obstacle to my goals," I hinted again that money was not my goal, and I was willing to compromise if she could give me an alternative way to achieve my goals. And she could - for starters at least technical support and help with people, some resources, including military. For Satine, that would be the perfect way out. I hope the Corellians will understand me, as my dealings with them are also part of my path to my goal, but not the goal itself. It was quite feasible to get Mandalore as an ally in addition to the KMC. The Duchess understood me correctly:
- What exactly are you proposing?
- A treaty. You undertake to give me as much help as you can, to support me, to help me with people, including military, and I, in turn, will severely limit the extraction of beskar by Corellians. And give the Mandalorians access to the mines so you can mine your metal as much as you want. Of course, the Corellians won't be happy, but I think I can negotiate with them.
- What's the format of this 'help' you speak of? - Satine squinted. - 'Because it's a very vague formulation.
- I understand, but I don't know exactly what I might need. People. Information. Resources. Equipment. Intermediary services," I said. - Though I can sign that my demands will not contradict the laws of Mandalore or the Republic.
- So you want an alliance, am I right?
- That's right," I smiled. - One thing I can tell you now. At the moment my ship is in the shipyards of Corellia, and it needs a crew. A good crew, preferably trustworthy people who won't be spies. And men I can be sure will not betray me, my interests or the interests of my crew. Your warriors fit that description very well.
- How many men are needed? - Satine relaxed and leaned back on the sofa.
- More than two thousand, for sure.
- Excuse me? - Satine was so surprised that even surprise slipped across her face for a moment.
- ''In her maidenhood, my 'yacht' was a cruiser, so the crew is over five thousand according to the staff. Of course, after modernisation and partial demilitarisation, the crew will be smaller. It will also need to be fitted with hidden weapon systems. But you won't have any problems with that. Of course, I guarantee the salary of the crew and payment for the equipment and engineers' work, - I smiled. - So you can not only save money on it, but also make money.
The Duchess snorted. It's understandable - the alliance seemed to be mutually beneficial in the first approximation.
- If so, I agree to make an agreement. How would we formalise it?
- I wouldn't want to make a treaty. If only because it would make it clear that I'm acting in my own interests and not for money.
- Verbally? - Satine was surprised.
- Without registering with the justice system, or else there's no other way. But if we're talking about politics, then documents don't mean much. Your word of honour will suffice. I've never heard of Mandalorians being known for deceit," I shrugged.
- Then I agree. - Satine sighed, and we made a figurative handshake. I had some not so happy news for the KMC.
- How much beskar do you agree to give to KMC? - I asked a clarifying question.
- No more than fifty tonnes a month.
Considering the size of the deposits, it was a crumb, as it was theoretically possible to get ten times as much per month from them.
- Then I'll inform the KMC of my decision. And you can make your subjects happy. And start mining the deposits yourself.
Of course, it was practically my gift to Mandalore, and a very valuable one at that, but on the other hand, I'd get a lot for it, too.
- Will you stay for a while? - Satine asked, looking towards the window. - Or do you have to leave?
- Unfortunately, Satine, I'm still studying. But in case of anything, you can contact me.
She only hummed at that and proudly walked away.