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***
* Three days later *
I took Lyn two days later, with me, to a larger galaxy. Despite everything, the military had installed holonet translators, so there was no problem working from the inside - Lin found everyone he needed to. We flew by shuttle to Coruscant, and from there to the target planet. Lin only came to me, taking the keys and access codes to the flat in the five hundredth building. I was supposed to make an appointment there. Erdva came with me, he was helping me operate the shuttle.
I also had a lot of work to do - I had to talk about ships. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to see, and Shin didn't screw me up - I needed a relatively small but well-armed fleet of ships. In my mind, a squadron should have one big ship, like an imperial "executioner", which could serve as a weapon of special power, like a dreadnought in a battle of gunboats - to blow all enemies to smithereens with its cannons. Though both the design and size of such ships were subordinate to the three main pillars of combat application. The ultra-long-range scanner - fulfils the same function as the radar on the ground - warns of the enemy and does not allow to catch the enemy by surprise, as well as to prepare and think over the tactics before the fight begins. Or escape before the enemy can find your ship. Superlaser. This is more of a distant relative of the turbolaser, which has nothing left of lasers. Due to its specific beam, it is not stopped by deflectors, meaning it can shoot through planetary shields. Due to scalable power it can destroy entire planets as well as individual objects. It works where land forces face particularly difficult defences, and in addition it can take out any enemy ship with a single shot, and in battle it is expensive to destroy a flagship. And finally, armour. The defence of such a ship puts it on a different level than smaller ships. If, say, a squadron of fighters can compete with a light cruiser, and a group of cruisers - with a battleship, then it is almost impossible to destroy a giant, heavily armoured and protected by powerful shields, without using a superlaser. That makes any number of cruisers and fighters useless - even if you send a whole fleet, the result will be the same as in a firefight between a heavy tank and a horde of infantrymen with pistols. The nature of such a ship is purely attacking, it is not designed for defensive purposes, although it can be used, but it will not be so effective - the enemy can prepare for an assault on the NWR. I had already reconstructed from memory the look of the Imperial destroyers and the flagship of my evil doppelganger, Darth Vader. The Executioner came out beautifully, considering I had shortened it a bit and reduced it to twelve kilometres. Having a crew too big for me is an unacceptable luxury. Even a rough calculation showed that the flagship wouldn't cost more than thirty thousand - there was nowhere else to go.
The third ship I recreated from my memories was the Venator. Of course, I reconstructed only the shape and approximate layout, but it would be enough for experienced engineers to understand how the ship was built. And I'm not just a noodle man, I know what's what. As an aircraft carrier and heavy cruiser, the Venator will be perfect. Of course, I won't get a hundred per cent Venator, it will be better in some ways and worse in others. However, the model turned out to be beautiful. The last one was a fighter recreated from a fragmentary memory. Here I did my best, using all my available knowledge and intuition - the fighter turned out to be the most realistic and the most thought-out, although I saw it the least, just a glimpse, of the others.
I had no illusions - as a professional military man I can't even make up the types, not to mention the equipment itself, but in some matters I'd rather show the models of ships recreated from my memories and tell you what they will be used for than guess at the coffee grounds. It is clear that in the galaxy warships larger than two hundred metres are very rare, they are practically non-existent. Only the most wealthy planets have battleships of various semi-artisanal construction, and more or less well-known corporations have not produced anything serious for half a thousand years. No need. The most popular land-based vehicles were droid-tanks and juggernauts - huge wheeled armoured vehicles, fighters - daggers. Cheap and simple, but manoeuvrable. The most popular ships in the galaxy, even in the central worlds, were light cruisers and corvettes, pirate hunters. That's about it. The Venators and Destroyers can be handled by the KMK, and I set a course for Correlia. It's a couple of hours away, so after dropping the controls to Erdva, I went to the models and worked on them again. The models turned out fantastic - hangar doors opened, turrets moved, and in terms of detail... it looked like a small but fully functioning ship. Thanks to the power, I had no trouble remembering what kind of Venator I'd seen and recreating it exactly as it looked in the image.
* Two more days later *
Correllia's engineers received the new work with great enthusiasm. And the models themselves led to fierce arguments about the qualities and function of the various components. In the end they slowly came to a consensus and I left their office. The requirement to design and put into production within six months is already very, very harsh, but for that kind of money they will easily hire a legion of engineers to do the job. In addition, the modular design would allow for faster production compared to the slipway method of assembling a whole ship from scratch. The chief designer nodded in agreement, didn't argue with me, and sent me away.
Leaving the Correlians together with the preliminary designs of the two ships, I left the planet, in the firm belief that in due time the ships would enter service. In total I needed no more than two or three hundred aircraft carriers and twice as many heavy cruisers.
The second was a fighter design, and I took the model to Mandalore, to MandalMotors. The concept of manoeuvring engines on separate wings was not new, but a two-stage wing serving as both armour protection and a nacelle for a manoeuvring engine was a novelty. I also had to talk about my desires - powerful engines that would provide high speed, two force field generators, a reactor, manoeuvring engines and their control system, four heavy laser cannons, movable by twenty-five degrees and a unique fire control system that would allow the pilot to concentrate on manoeuvring. And armour made of freak and singing steel, in addition to the already strong shields. The engineers took the order again, we signed all the paperwork. I had the exclusive rights to the fighter, as well as the concept of such a fighter. And I warned them to make a prototype within six months. The development fee also followed - one billion in advance. After I'd given the Mandalorians the technical task, I bought a couple of Droideks from them and headed back.
What do I need droideks for? For work, of course. I wasn't going to mess with the colicoids at all, instead I'd rather build a droid myself. But they didn't suit me in many respects, so I'd have to take on the task of remodelling them into normal machines.
Having returned to the ship and having given Erdva the task to fly to Coruscant, I began to work on the droidekas. Firstly, their landing gear. Certainly the long legs with the small articulations were unnecessary. I melted them down into a new type of chassis - a large, thick axle on which the small legs were attached. The parts of the axle sticking out to two sides rotated, so that the droid could seed quickly, instead of walking in sprawling steps. But that's only half the problem - the arms. I didn't understand why the droid had long arms - it's a travelling turret with a droid brain, so I replaced the two long arms ending with laser cannons with two short arms that extended out of the hull. I had to mess with the deployment mechanism a bit, but it wasn't an insurmountable obstacle - the droid didn't take up so much space now - instead of a tall droid, it became a squat little colobus. The weapon was a standard army weapon - a rapid-fire blaster. I still have to work on this droid - I don't like the thin "head" of the droid located on the body and the spherical base. In my opinion, the droid and its body should be different parts, and the base integrated with the body part. But for that, it would be better to hire professional engineers who could redesign the droid for me more thoroughly.
The journey from Mandalore to Coruscant is by no means a short one, so I had plenty of time. No one could contact me in hyperspace, so I relaxed and busied myself with the droid, changing it more and more. What else was there to do when you had to spend almost a week in a comfortable, but deserted cabin of a lambda? I had plenty of time, so I thought I had an ingenious plan for Alderaan. But it would have to be talked about with one special person.
Arrival on Coruscant was long awaited - Mandalore was far from the capital after all. There were two people waiting for me - Lin and the last of my specialists. And the most unusual of them all. He didn't come to Koros with me - there was no reason for him to go there, there was no work for him there at all. Cinna Isaurik, a nerd I found through an information trader, was a typical nerd, with a distinctive face, shoulder height, and a dark side. Cinna used to run part of the nerd spy network - he was one of its heads and was well versed in espionage, intelligence, covert operations and related topics. Now he'd fallen out of favour with his clan because of his beliefs, so he'd been kicked out of the nerd society, and I really, really needed such a specialist. I gave Cinne about two hundred million and left him in a rented flat for a year, so he was busy creating a spy network on my order. I had no intention of getting under Cinna's arm, so I didn't interfere with his work at all - if it was wrong with the other ministers, I was a complete zero in the espionage business. Cinna had already acquired two hundred subordinates, having opened a small... brothel on Coruscant. Well, a strip club, except the strippers had a part-time job. Bribing everyone and hiring the most beautiful girls made the brothel, if not prosperous, then certainly not unprofitable - and most importantly, no one would guess that the owner of the brothel was actually the head of a spy network. And they wouldn't go to such a compromising place, but I had to - I directed the shuttle not to the five hundredth house, but to Cinna's brothel.
The brothel was not far from the political centre of Galactic City, in an area famous for its entertainment venues. It cost money to get in, so I paid and went inside. It was dark, with loud music, catwalks on which half-naked beauties danced, people, and sometimes more exotic strippers - Tilinks and Echanis, even Togrutas. Mostly for the human crowd, the wealthiest on Coruscant. I had little interest in the beauties - I found Cinna by force and headed towards him.
When the nerd noticed me, he whispered something to his guards and waved to me to follow him. Cinna came into the office and when the door closed behind me, he spoke:
- Good afternoon, Mr Skywalker.
- Good day to you, too, Cinna. How's the service going?
- Not bad," he nodded, sitting down at his desk, "I recently added a specialist in Jabba the Hutt's entourage and pirates. By the way, some rumours have been circulating in that environment, but they haven't reached a dangerous stage yet.
- I hope we have time," I said, nodding in agreement. "We'll start building a fleet in half a year, but for now our main means of self-defence are light cruisers and justice patrolling the area.
- You won't," Cinna shook his head, "the rumours have already started. They'll be able to match the two facts, so you can expect visitors during the next batch. By the way, Julian-san has begun construction of a large cargo station.
- Already started? - I was surprised, he's fast.
- And it will be completed in at least a year. Pirate raids may occur before it is operational.
- We'll take measures," I nodded, "Can you tell me about Naboo? How are things progressing there?
- It's quiet there," Cinna answered immediately, "if you mean your relatives, nothing drastic has happened there. But the queen has reason to worry.
I am worried:
- Don't keep me in suspense. What about Padmé?
- If things continue as they are, I can't rule out another intervention in a year. Chommell's neighbouring sector, Enark, is acting extremely hostile.
- What's Enark," I squinted at him, "and what is it?
- It's a small sector a hundred and twenty light years from Naboo. Enark was a peaceful planet, but that all changed when it signed a treaty with the Trade Federation. The Trade Federation used the planet, and all cargo bound for Naboo was intercepted while still in the Enark system. So the sector government was playing on the Federation's side. The failure of the intervention caused relations between the two planets to deteriorate permanently into a cold war. Naboo and Enark began to arm themselves.
- Okay, stop," I stopped him, "I see. When can the war begin?
- Not soon, Your Majesty, certainly not soon. Both planets are not actively arming themselves. I have agents in both camps, so I'm keeping an eye on developments.
- By the time the empire's fleet is established, they won't be at war?
- 'Probably not,' Cinna sighed, 'I can't say with absolute certainty, but judging by the current pace, both sides aren't used to war, but relations are such that diplomacy has reached a stalemate. Sooner or later it's going to have to boil over into something. But a cold war is inevitable.
- In that case, keep your finger on the pulse and let me know immediately.
- I will, Your Majesty.
- One more thing... the permanent agent, Tyber... is there any way to get him closer to the Queen? To have him working in the palace, or better yet, in her retinue....
- It's possible," Cinna nodded, "I've had that scenario before.
- All right," I nodded, "just make sure he doesn't get Padme. We don't want a scandal involving our agents.
- That's for sure," Cinna nodded, "and it's unlikely, he loves his wife, and the kids...
I thought about it, looking round my Beria's office - it was luxurious, with a heavy white metal desk, according to the latest fashion, and massive paintings on the walls. The furniture was wooden, and the walls, unlike most buildings in the galaxy, were draped with beautiful wood panelling. A large rug underfoot and comfortable but old-fashioned chairs. It all made it feel like a cramped, massive, overdecorated office. Cinna didn't stop me from thinking and I, gathering my thoughts, said:
- Okay, here's an idea, Cinna.
- Yes, yes," he came closer, "what is it?
- Tell me, how long have you been on Alderaan?
- I've never been.
- That's all right. I'll transfer funds to you, buy up media stocks through third parties, special attention to Alderaanian companies. I may need to have a strong, I'd even say striking influence on this planet. I mean the ability to manipulate public opinion.
- Why? - Cinna was immediately curious, stepping forward.
- I have an idea... Right now Alderaan is ruled by the House of Organa, Mazicia Organa, and her son, Bale Organa, has a lot of influence. The second most powerful family are the Antilles, led by Bale Antilles. The two Bailes, Antilles and Organa, were and still are supporters of Chancellor Valorum, but after recent events and in particular the strengthening of the republican system and the tightening of the screws, the two Bailes have cooled down a bit in their pro-Chancellor views. In the Senate, Antilles still leads the pro-Chancellor faction, but his relationship with Valorum is hardly the same. Antilles had benefited from a convenient, pliable and non-conflictive chancellor through whom he could conduct his affairs, but recently things have taken a turn for the worse. Following Antilles, many of his supporters began to lose faith in the Chancellor.
- So there are two families vying for power on Alderaan," Cinna nodded, "I take it Antilles cannot be allowed to have the throne, can he?
- You could say that. I suggest we take up the Alderaan case ourselves. The fight between Organa and Antilles is going to happen anyway, so why not hurry them up?
- Why? - Cinna doesn't understand, it won't do us any good anyway. Unless the Chancellor asks.....
- Cinna, you're a good expert and it's not for me to teach you, but my ventures are characterised by extreme boldness. You're being petty, there's a much more interesting side to it. Look," I pulled the chair closer to the table and began to outline: "Organa and Antilles are the enemy sides by default. Each of them wants the throne, Organa doesn't want to give it up, and Antilles wants to take it. If we have a man-made scandal? Let's say everyone already knows the families are irreconcilable, so why not set up a couple of particularly sordid episodes of their war that will "accidentally" come out and the press will blow it even bigger, all over Alderaan and all the central worlds?
- Are you suggesting provocations? - smiled, scratching the fur on his chin, "That would be interesting. And why do we need it?
- 'Listen further,' I smiled, 'we're, say, setting up a move for the Antilles family. Let's say... let's say they want to set up an accident for the Organa family... The Organas respond, in light of the crisis brewing, with a similar method and try to kill the Antilles family, but the attempt is foiled and the whole story comes out.
- Then the noble houses will be in such a mess," Cinna shook his head, "but how do you do it?
- That's your job," I smiled, "you're the expert, aren't you? Hire enough professional saboteurs, set up a couple of explosions in which the Organa family would "accidentally" survive, the Organa would retaliate... at least what it would look like... and accidentally leak the whole truth because of, say, a captured mercenary. You'd have to fake droid records, take away alibis, and take over the media to manipulate public opinion. If it all works without a hitch, the Chancellor's enemies will be in deep shit, and we'll have a unique chance to put our own man on the throne," I nodded.
- Yes..." Cinna marvelled, "that's not just brave, it's beyond brave. To play out such a performance...
- But the main factor of this performance is complexity and influence through the media. If it's not, it won't even attract much public attention, they'll let it go. The plan is ninety per cent based on pressure on society, and the performance... it's a good catalyst, but no more than that," I shook my head, "that is, we need not just good specialists, we need information warfare aces who can lie without shame. Especially since you can organise "sensations" for them yourself and tell them where to look for the next sensation.
- That would be expensive," Cinna sighed, "very expensive. Local media will cost a decent price, and with galactic media... controlling stakes in such companies and media holdings will cost us hundreds of billions of credits. You don't have that kind of money yet.
- I'll take care of that," I sighed, "I have a few stashes.
I wish I'd brought the coruscans. If I sold them on the sly, I'd have enough money. This stash has become something like my secret fund.
- If the money issue is resolved, it's going to come down to the perpetrators. It's not easy and it's not quick.
- I'm not saying the plan has to be done now. It's a job for years at least. You can't just buy up all the media in one year, you have to play it slow.
- I think I get it. Lin. You want to put him on the throne? - Qinna nodded.
- That's right. If Lin is on the throne, then our situation will go uphill. The Chancellor's support will be secured, and so will Alderaan's. And that's a lot. Though that won't happen until the patriarch of House Riekan passes away.
- And your relative, de jure, will already be a bastard of the royal house," Cinna realised, "and that's a different category. He has no right to the throne, by the way.
- I know that. I'm already the emperor of a rather rich empire, I can't go any higher within the galaxy. Or emperor of the galaxy, no less," I sighed. "Besides, my family is safe from this political crap thanks to my bastard stepfather, so I'm going to work on Lin. He doesn't seem to have such a negative view of politics since he became Minister.
- I see,'' Qinna nodded, ''In any case, as long as House Riekan is led by the patriarch of the house, there is time.
We said goodbye at that - Cinna walked me to the striptease lounge and there I took a quick step towards the shuttle.
If Lin knew what fate was in store for him ...
The nanoengineers arrived with Lin. Already entering the house, I noticed three people - one young, thin, with dishevelled hair and an interested look, jumped up as soon as I entered the house.
- Is Lin here?
He nodded back. Next to him were his colleagues - an elderly man and a girl in her twenties, wearing a strict grey suit.
Lin dwelt in the study.
- Hello! - I came in, - how are you?
- Great," the guy nodded, "by the way, have you seen the engineers?
- Is that the three of them?
- Yeah. Mago, Adis, and Tia. They promised to do all the work required. They have a dozen nanodroids with them, by the way....
- Really? - I was glad. After all, if there are samples, I can start experiments now, - where are they?
- At their place, - Lin got up from the table, - let's go.
We went out into the living room and three engineers immediately came up. Lin turned to them:
- 'Here, may I present his majesty, Anakin Skywalker, Emperor of the Koros Empire. Show me the samples you have with you.
The men turned to the lady, and she went to the case lying on the couch. I, to make up for the pause, said:
- I will need to create a fully operational project of nanodroids for various purposes. Just the blueprints.
- Of what nature, your majesty? - asked the eldest of the men, Adis.
- Medical and for assembling material objects.
- We already have the medical one," Adis rejoiced, "and the assembler is almost ready.
- Where are they? I mean the nanodroids themselves.
- Here, here... Tia, what are you doing there? - He turned to the girl. As soon as she got down to work, the mask of the strict office supervisor fell off - the girl smiled embarrassedly:
- Here, chief. You said to bring it.
- Oh, I'm sorry," Adis apologised, taking the briefcase from her hands. He put it on the table and opened it - there was a terminal inside, like a laptop, but much bigger - it took up all the space of the case. Adis sat down on the couch and began to fiddle with the machine, commenting:
- This is the control and navigation station. Small objects like nanodroids can easily get lost, so we have to use a full-fledged navigation system... only on a smaller scale.
- Let's go in order. Where are the droids themselves?
Adis pulled something small and white from somewhere in the machine:
- It's a protective shell made of duraplast. Inside are the droids. Unfortunately, there are only ten of them, but they're varied. Shall we open it?
- Wait," I stopped him, "let me have one.
I took a small white cube from him, about five millimetres in rib, and plunged inside with the help of my power. There appeared to be some kind of gas inside, which was where the nanodroid was. The droid was a hybrid of a spider and a jellyfish. The body itself was a thousand or two nanometres in size, I won't say exactly, and was equipped with additional equipment in the form of a microlaser and a dozen manipulators, as well as a canister of fuel or some other chemical compound. The second, as well as all subsequent ones, were modifications of the first one - with different manipulators and different layout, but still the concept remained the same.
- And what can your nanorobots do? - I asked, handing the nanorobots to the man.
- Oh, they can do anything! - he said excitedly, - they can diagnose diseases, change cells as they wish, monitor the effect of drugs on the cell, destroy harmful cells and even viruses. A colony of such droids could do anything.
- Good," I nodded, "and the control apparatus? How many droids can it support, and how does it control them?
- Droids have their own processors. Extremely primitive, but they are enough to fulfil simple direct instructions from the remote control. And the control programmes can be run on any powerful computer. This console can control a hundred droids, but in directive mode - according to the concept there should be another droid, the first level, with artificial intelligence, to which a man will give a task, and he will develop a plan for its fulfilment and will control the small droids.
- Okay," I nodded, "I need nanodroids of all types at the moment, as well as first-level droids. Medical purposes and assembly. You don't have to worry about computer power or the production of the droids themselves. I'll provide the money, you can rent any lab you want. The development rights will be mine. Any questions?
- No, not at all," Adis backed off.
- Is this sample workable? - I nodded at the case.
- Yes, of course.
- In that case, I'll buy it. How much?
- Oh, no, it's not worth it," Adis waved it away, "a computer is cheap, and there are only ten droids here. It's not much.
- Okay," I nodded, "it's a small thing. Lin, make sure the engineers don't need anything. You can borrow money from Joey if you need it.
- I see," Lin nodded, "and... are you guys leaving?
- Yeah, it's about time," I shrugged and grabbed the case, "by the way, I left you a couple of droidekas here. I'll have to get them up to speed, and we'll do it later. For now, it's time for me to go home.