Chương 22: 22

22 A Young Girl's War Between the Stars 22 Mandalore, Sundari, 41 BBY/959 GSC. I had hoped that Satine was wrong, but the longer things went on, the more it looked like I would have to concede that perhaps she had a point. Obi grew steadily more sulky and pouty by the day, and oddly of two minds at night. When she was awake, she huddled on the opposite end of the bed and proceeded to ignore me. The moment she fell asleep however, I became a human dakimakura again.

The problem with that was, even in her sleep Obi was sulky. Do you have any idea how hard it is, trying to get to sleep feeling someone actively sulking practically on top of you? Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. Cracking an eye open, I poked and prodded the older girl until she woke with a confused sound, radiating annoyance. Realizing she was wrapped around me, she started to let go and turn away as more annoyance filled her. Taking a breath, I bundled up apologetic feelings and shoved them at her.

"I'm sorry." Obi stopped trying to both push me away and untangle herself so she could roll away. She studied me carefully for several moments before her sulking and pouting stopped and she grew happy. Pulling me back into a hug, she wrapped herself back around me and settled back in without a word. Within minutes, she was out like a light—this time, dreaming happy dreams apparently.

Sighing quietly, I closed my eyes and let myself drift off for what felt like would be the first good night of sleep since I'd woken up after the attack. The next morning, we gathered the few things we'd brought to the hotel and packed up early. We ate a quiet breakfast together that the hotel staff brought for us, then made our way to the hangar, where we found Jaster and Jango waiting, along with several squads of Mandalorians.

To my surprise, a taxi landed nearby and Satine hurried out along with her personal guard, which now consisted of two Mandalorians in full armor. They each carried a bag with them, I noted." Thank goodness, I didn't miss it," Satine smiled. Master Dooku chuckled while Master Qui-Gon sent her a raised eyebrow." Missed what, exactly?"

"Our departure, of course," she answered, as though the answer were obvious.

"I'm going with you. My people are going. If we can find a means to negotiate peacefully, then I don't have to endanger them. And failing that, if negotiations break down… I would like to take this opportunity to gain some much needed real world experience. It isn't often that Mandalorians and Jedi work together. Between our two groups, this is perhaps the safest I will ever be and I would hate to miss what may be a once in a lifetime chance while I had it."

The Masters all exchanged looks, before eventually, Master Dooku nodded. Master Dooku shifted a look towards Jaster, "If Mandalore Mereel will agree to provide an extra security detail." Jaster nodded in agreement.

"We'll get it done. Once we get there, I'll join them and we'll go with you while my men get into position. I'd like to keep our presence hidden until it's time to strike. Make contact, attempt negotiations first, then when those break down we'll start hitting them where it hurts." Master Dyas nodded.

"In a little over a day and a half, we'll reach Serenno. Just in case the planet has been blockaded, we should drop out of hyperspace early, on the far edge of the system. Do we have a map?" I held out a hand and spun up an illusion formula, projecting the system map I'd memorized. The Serenno System contained only five planets. From closest to their star outwards, there was a planet nearly in the same distance to it as I recalled Venus was from Sol.

In the second orbit was Serenno itself, sitting right in the Goldilocks zone. Technically in the third orbit was an asteroid belt, sitting between Serenno and the third planet. Their third planet was rocky and just a bit bigger than Serenno, sitting right on the outer edge of the habitable zone. Their fourth and fifth planets were both big gas giants comparable to Jupiter and serving largely the same purpose—that of a sweeper, keeping out rogue asteroids.

Master Dyas nodded and pointed to the ring of planets circling the Serenno System's star.

"We will drop out here, in the shadow of the third planet. With the asteroid belt between us and the inner system, it's unlikely we'll be spotted. I suggest our Mandalorian friends come out on the opposite side of the system, here," he tapped at the map and I helpfully provided a red dot.

"From there, we can assess the situation and make a decision, but we should put together our plans for handling any potential blockade now. Remember, we're dealing with Abyssin mercenaries, but we believe that someone on the planet is giving them orders." Master Qui-Gon nodded.

"If there's no blockade and they have moved fully over to ground warfare, then we can simply move in closer and have our diplomatic team come down outside the capital while our main forces muster nearby, under cover. Perform reconnaissance on the city, then reconvene and plan our next move."

"If they're at all competent, they'll have at least a small force blockading the planet at the standard hyperspace exit and in-system patrols looking for trouble," Jaster pointed out.

"Then if it's a light blockade, we should be able to slip our forces in on the opposite side of the planet, depending on their formation," Master Qui-Gon continued.

"The question is, should we attempt to negotiate with the blockading force and ask them to vacate the area?" Jaster shook his head.

"Abyssin mercs have no honor. You could probably bribe them. On the other hand, anyone who uses them knows it, so they'll have paid them well in advance to keep them from just taking more money and fucking off. Best to just assume they're hostile and are going to light us up if we approach. If there's few enough of them, we could take their blockade out and move down to the planet. Otherwise, best to maneuver and slip on by." Dooku hummed.

"I don't like the idea of leaving a foe with the high ground. A small strike force to remove them would be ideal, if they aren't present in large numbers. However, the moment they're detected, or failing that as soon as the blockade fails to check in, the enemies on the ground will be alerted to our presence. We should prepare accordingly."

"What if the blockade is too large to deal with?" Satine asked, drawing their attention to her.

"I assume we won't have the ability to field a navy's worth of starfighters to deal with a large blockade. Our people simply don't have them and I doubt the Jedi have been hiding a fleet of starfighters up the sleeves of their robes. So, what then?"

"A series of smaller insertions, one or two ships at a time, in between patrol and visibility windows," Jaster answered immediately.

"Once we're in atmosphere, dive for the deck. Stay low and find somewhere to set down. We'll be moving either by small craft, jetpack, speeders, or on foot from there. Move in, secure the ground defenses, then shoot the blockade out of the sky." Looking over the group and seeing that we all seemed to be following along and no one objected, Master Dooku picked up from there.

"Master Sifo-Dyas will accompany the bulk of the Mandalorian forces, with Tanya." Shifting his gaze to me, the old man smiled.

"Follow Master Dyas's instructions, but use your best judgment as the situation calls for it." In other words, follow orders, but I'm free to improvise, I translated. I nodded, confirming I understood." One more thing," Master Dyas added, grinning.

"I received a holo-com last night. Master Lene will be joining us."

"Oh?" Dooku raised an eyebrow.

"It has been some time since I've seen her. What convinced her to come out to Serenno?"" She wants to help." At Master Dooku's expectant look, Master Dyas chuckled and held his hands up in surrender.

"And the usual hunting for Sith artifacts." While they were speaking and I was listening with half an ear, Jaster had turned to Jango and given his own instructions.

"You're in charge of the force. I'll call in orders if I want something specific done, but once we go hot, you're free to assign missions as you see the need. Cause as much hell as you can." Nodding at me, he grinned, "Don't hesitate to put her to work."

"Latrine duty, yes sir," Jango chuckled. I turned my sweetest smile up at the man, thinking on the last time I got to use a short-handled shovel…

"I assume you'll be issuing me a trench shovel?" Something about my words or tone made him flinch for some reason. I took that as a win. After some last checks, we were soon on our way to our ships. I found myself pulled aside and into a hug by Obi. The taller girl pressed her face into my hair and inhaled, before letting it out in a sigh.

"You going out on your own makes me nervous. Something always happens when you do."

"It's not like I go looking for trouble," I lied, and given the way her chin dug into the top of my head, she knew it." Besides, I won't be on my own. I'll be linking up with Jango and the others and mostly acting as support."" Stay safe," she demanded, squeezing me a bit tighter." I will," I agreed." As much as I can." Obi sighed.

"I hate it when you say things like that." To the side, I saw Master Qui-Gon wave to catch my attention, then nod his head back towards Master Dooku's ship, before turning and walking away. I sighed and carefully extracted myself from Obi's grip.

"It's time to go." Obi made an annoyed sound, but let go. She turned and hurried up the ramp of Master Dooku's ship. Pausing, she turned to send one last look at me over her shoulder before stepping inside and hitting the ramp control to close it up. I made my way to the Rusted Silver and hopped up to the hatch, heading inside and closing up behind me.

I reached out with the Force for a quick scan just to be sure and avoid any potential Death Watch traps if someone got cute, but upon finding nothing, I ran the preflight sequence. Soon enough, I was lifting into the air and leaving Sundari's dock, following behind the other two Jedi ships as the Mandalorian ships lifted off from the surface and joined us. Once we were in space, I laid in a course and waited, signaling my ship's readiness to make the jump to hyperspace as we got in formation.

It was a wait of a few minutes while the rest of the ships joined us, but soon enough a light on my board went green and the by now familiar streaks of light filled my transparent steel view for just a moment before they were replaced by the shifting blues and whites of hyperspace. A countdown timer started on my navigational computer—a timer for when my ship would drop out with the others while maintaining formation.

I quickly set a second timer on my computer to go off five minutes before and, after making sure that all of my sensors and systems were green across the board, I pushed the seat back along the track in the floor and swiveled it around so I could leave the cockpit. L ooking around my ship and seeing everything was as it should be and right where I wanted it, I considered what to do to spend the next day and a half in transit. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author.

Report it. I had already done everything I could to improve my gear at the moment, I believed. At least, with the limited time, resources, and tools I'd had available. I had focused my efforts mostly on my sidearm and carbine blasters. Some experiments and minor modifications to the existing hardware had netted some decent percentages of increase in range, power, and penetration.

Replacing the focusing crystals with kyber crystals from my chunk of crystal had increased it further, but the shots now came out the distinctive white-silver of my blade—so when, not if, I had to fire one of them the bolts would stand out in the crowd in a bad way. The gains were worth it, however, so I left the new crystals in. My ship was the other thing I'd spent the most time on.

I hadn't gotten around to playing with the weapon systems beyond testing the blasters and turret and modifying their fire control systems a bit, but a ship grade laser cannon was nothing to scoff at for ground troops, even if it was only from a starfighter. No, most of the improvements had been in making it livable, turning it from a military vessel meant to house a small crew in cramped, uncomfortable quarters for a prolonged period into something more closely resembling a civilian vessel on the inside.

Really, it was down to choosing between working with my holocron, or working on my computation orb. And since I'd spoken with the holocron recently, and it had given me some things to think about when it came to the Jedi and Sith, I decided to go with the orb instead. Pulling it out from under the chest piece beneath my robe, I sat down in the middle of my practice/meditation area and relaxed, allowing my mind to drift a bit as I worked on it.

I mentally drifted for what felt like days as I opened myself up to the Force and slowly inscribed the formulas that trickled into my mind, guided by the Force itself. I wasn't sure how long I was in that state when I felt something click into place. And then, I noticed the nearly silent but persistent tick, tick, tick, tick of the orb working away, every tick accompanied by a faint pulse in the Force; a tiny, minuscule draw, not on myself but on the Force just floating freely everywhere.

Curious, I fed it more of my power. The ticking sped up to match and I felt the beginnings of a reservoir inside the orb begin to fill. An unbroken circle of force collecting and passing between the four cores that slowly grew more distinct the more I fed into it. Checking over the whole thing with the Force and trying to sense for any potential danger, I found none. When I pulled back and stopped feeding it my power, it just sat there, ticking away as it drew in ambient Force.

Opening my eyes, I stared at the orb floating above my palms—and within it, the tiny seed of the Force, growing one tick at a time. It was small now, but one day, it would grow into something truly impressive. Though, being realistic, even this much was impressive. I had done it. I'd found a way to collect and store the Force, and fix it in place just as my old Type 95 had with mana.

My sense of satisfaction was only dimmed by the sudden urgency of biological needs, as my stomach growled and my bladder demanded relief. I checked the clock and found I'd been at it for over twelve hours. Shaking my head, I slipped the necklace back on and went to take care of those needs. Then, I took a quick sonic shower and went to bed, racking out for a few hours.

As I slept, I focused on an exercise I had perfected in my second life—feeding my mana, or in this case the Force, into the orb as I slept, letting my natural sleep cycle recharge me at just slightly more than the rate I was feeding the orb. Serenno System, outside the asteroid belt. I frowned at the passive sensor readout.

Looking out the 'windshield' into the view of space ahead and a bit above me, as I'd pitched the Skipray down a few degrees to give myself a better view of the planet through the asteroid field between me and it, I spun up and reran another passive detection formula—using only infrared, UV, visible light, and other EM sources to detect movement and potential enemies. There were plenty of things out there with high albedo capable of confusing the formula.

However, after taking some time to filter the results to exclude reflections off of ice or rock and then to color code each potential enemy contact based on how many of those factors overlapped—orange, to yellow, to red—and add basic dimensions and estimated mass, I was able to get what I felt was an accurate count of enemy ships circling the planet, even if they were too far for my Mark I eyeballs to see without a sniping formula. The sensors confirmed what my detection formula was saying, for the most part.

There were a few sources within the asteroid field that my formula picked up which the ship's nearly over-taxed passive sensors didn't in amongst all the clutter—likely observation satellites or automated drones. By my count, there were a lot of ships out there. Well more than we had been expecting. There was very little in the way of uniformity to their ships—it all seemed to be cobbled together crap, likely whatever they could buy, steal, or kill someone and claim and then get into the air.

Several wings of five starfighters ran irregular patrols around the planet—though not all at once. Based on my observations over the past few hours after we had dropped out of hyperspace and decided to observe, there were at least six wings rotating through, just by the number of different models of junkers flying around. I wasn't entirely certain, but I thought thirty starfighters seemed like a lot— with who knew how many in reserve.

Their other ships ranged in size from heavy fighters like my own, to converted freight haulers, older model corvettes, frigates, cruisers, and even what I thought was a dreadnought. Well, I called it a dreadnought, but the reality was, it was actually a converted civilian freight hauler, whose cargo bays had been converted into fighter and missile bays. That made it more of a carrier, really. Together, they made up a force of forty-three ships—with most of them being on the smaller side.

The blips in the asteroid belt were much smaller—smaller even than a typical fighter—which was why I was pretty sure they were drones or an early warning system of some kind. Our own force was composed of small to medium craft, mostly made for transporting and landing troops—a lot of AIAT/i gunships and similar. There was no way we were going to fight them head on.

I'd used formulas to get accurate images and measurements, and then compared them to known ships in my own ship's database for identifying other vessels. So far, I'd been able to identify ninety percent of the vessels present, and while many of them were civilian models… the fidelity of my formulas was good enough to make out modifications that had been made to those formerly civilian model vessels to add turbolasers, missile racks, torpedo racks, and more. They were armed to the teeth.

F inished compiling my findings, I tapped into the comm system and aimed a laser tightbeam at first Master Dyas's ship, then one at Jaster's ship, sending it off in a small data burst that the enemy wouldn't be able to pick up. A few minutes later, I received requests to connect to a forming network of tightbeam comms and accepted. I knew that someone would already be moving into position to send a message across the system to Master Dooku and relay whatever decision the group came to.

I piped the feed back to my holo terminal and left the cockpit, moving back to the larger unit as I waited for everyone to connect. While they did, I projected the recorded scans into the center of the room and studied them, moving around through the illusion and looking at it from different angles as I played back hours of footage on fast forward, looking for something, some sort of weakness, gap, flaw, or oversight that I could exploit.

Finally, the holocom came online and Jango's upper body and face appeared, showing him standing in front of his own holocom terminal.

"Alright people. I'll get right to the point. It looks worse than we thought it would be. Good news is, thanks to Tanya, we've got detailed scans of their patrols. They're semi-random, but not more than twice an hour. So if we leave someone here to signal via tightbeam, we can move around the back side of the planet and wait for their patrol to pass, then as soon as they're over the horizon, we can scatter and all go down as a group.

If we wait for dark on that side of the planet and go in late at night, odds are good that by the time anyone sees us show up on their scanners, we'll be long gone. Trying to go in one at a time is just going to give them more chances to spot us at this point." Jango's image was replaced by Master Dyas, sitting in his pilot seat, wearing a contemplative expression.

"I agree. This presents the least risk. However… With this many ships, I don't believe that the ground defenses will be able to get a target lock and shoot them down before the ships can destroy them from orbit."

"…None of the patrol wings are coming from other ships in the fleet."

"None of them?" Jango asked immediately, and I nodded.

"They're all coming from the converted carrier. The other ships may have their own fighters, but it's probably less than the carrier has." Master Dyas was back, frowning.

"What are you thinking?" I finished rolling the thought around in my head and shrugged.

"Single man insertion. Sabotage mission. Plant explosives on the reactor. Set them on a timer. Steal a fighter and fly out before it blows." There was a moment of silence from both of them before Master Dyas asked, "Jango, can you handle it?" The mercenary considered for a few moments before nodding.

"Low risk of success. High danger. I'd get at least three volunteers."

"Too big," I shook my head as I moved offscreen, opening the locker just behind the pilot's seat and pulling out one of the two vac suits stored inside. One was white, with high visibility reflective material built into the outside—meant to be very easy to see against the backdrop of space. The other was a non-reflective matte black. Both were sized to me—purchased in Sundari before we left, as part of my preparations for the mission. Out of view of the communicator's visual pickup, I began undressing.

The body stocking and armored chest piece I left on, along with my computation orb, the rest came off.

"What do you mean?" Jango asked. I quickly stepped into the vac suit, enjoying the soft, comfortable feeling of the interior liner against my hands, feet, and neck—it was almost like silk inside, while being closer to rubber or plastic outside. If I wasn't already wearing my body stocking, I was sure it would feel great all over. I was kind of tempted to just start wearing one full time, considering how useful they were. I'd have to test how viable that was, first.

When sealed up, it would look like your standard, run of the mill pilot or plug suit. Anyone from my world who had seen anything from the Gundam franchise would recognize one.

"You're too big. You'll have more of a sensor cross-section. You're also all wearing a lot of beskar armor. High albedo and you'll show up on anything that can pick up concentrations of metal the size of a torpedo or missile fired from a starfighter, or mines." Grabbing the belt for my pistol out of my pile of clothes, I cinched it around my waist and moved my lightsabers and staff over to it. Then, I tossed the clothes and boots into the locker.

Grabbing the collapsible helmet, I clipped it to the side of my belt and hurried for the back of the ship, where I kept my weapons locker and some of my gear—and all of my explosives.

"Tanya, there are other ways. You don't have to—" Master Dyas began, only for Jango to cut him off.

"Don't bother," the mercenary chuckled.

"She's already made up her mind. So kid," he called, and I assumed that was directed at me, "how are you getting over? Won't they pick up an EVA pack?"

"Not taking an EVA pack," I called back, shaking my head then remembering they couldn't see as I was out of frame. I wouldn't need it. I had grown in the Force enough to be able to use a flight formula to glide for decent periods of time. Powered flight was more costly, but I could do it in short bursts. In space, short bursts was all I would need. Grabbing a backpack, I began stuffing the inside with explosives—both demolition charges and grenades.

The demo charges could be connected to a timer or a remote detonator receiver—both of which, I collected several of. I believed in redundancy, so I made sure I had spares for both, just in case. I strapped the p ack on, then grabbed my carbine and made sure it was secure on my front, hung by its own strap and then tied to the backpack strap with a quick release knot, so I didn't lose it in space if something unforeseen happened.

Finally, I made sure the oxygen reserve and filter were at 100% on my suit, its internal water reservoir was full in case I needed liquid, and then grabbed some emergency ration bars to stuff in my bag in case I needed them—I wouldn't be able to eat them in space, but there was a chance I could be on the ship longer than a few hours. As prepared as I could be, I moved back to the holocom." I'm going to move to a small asteroid within the lunar L4 point and latch on.

Then, I'll use thrusters to make it look like just another asteroid knocked inward. I'll set it on a course to loop around Serenno, bringing it close enough to the planet's gravity well to be redirected but not so close that I look like a nice target to shoot. I need someone on the other side to catch it and collect my ship."

"We'll take care of that," Jango confirmed.

"We'll have it waiting for you on the ground." I nodded and sent him the entry and ignition codes. With that done, I grinned.

"See you on the other side."

"Good hunting," Jango nodded. Master Dyas looked much less sure, but nodded as well.

"Be safe." I cut comms and moved back to the cockpit. Plotting a course in my head for a nice curving flyby, I extrapolated a starting point and left the asteroid field, then went looking for a good asteroid within the lunar L4 point, which they were apparently using as a cache for asteroid mining. It didn't take long to find one, thankfully.

Lining up for another tightbeam transmission, I plotted the route out on the ship's computer and squirted the data off to be forwarded to Jango, to let them know where to pick up my ship. Then, I eased her down carefully onto the surface of the asteroid. Anchor cables fired into the surface and kept the Rusted Silver in place, then I fired off the auxiliary thrusters. It took a bit of work and the asteroid was slow to accelerate, but eventually it began to move.

I got it up to a respectable speed and gave the rock some tumble—just enough to be believable. Finally, I shut off all of the non-essential systems and set a timer to let me know when it was time to get moving. Then, I settled in to meditate and wait out the hours long flight to get me close enough, opening myself up to the Force and drawing more in, before passing it on to the orb. I'd need it soon. E ventually, the half hour warning alarm went off.

I got up and took a few moments to use the restroom—thankfully, the suit had been designed with that in mind and had a seam to remove the bottom like pants, which sealed up again when I put them back together. I finished up, washed my hands, and hastily ate a protein bar and drank my fill of water before putting it away. Then, I went through and triple checked that everything was secured on the ship. The ten minute warning off and I made my way to the hatch.

I pulled the helmet off my belt and snapped it open, then secured it over my head. The controls on the inside of my wrist pressurized the suit and checked its integrity, and only after confirming that it was green across the board did I press the buttons beside the hatch to depressurize the ship. Without an airlock, the entire ship had to depressurize, sucking its atmosphere back into the environmental system. It only took a minute, and then I was good to open the hatch.

Another button shut off the internal artificial gravity, so I wouldn't go from an area of artificial gravity to zero gravity. My magnetic boots engaged automatically, but I had to shut them off anyway, so I did. I hung there, suspended maybe half an inch off the floor, as I hit the hatch release. The hatch opened and I eased outside under the very minute direction of a flight formula and sealed the hatch again before I changed my mind.

I hurried across the pitted, barren landscape of my small patch of solid ground and stopped at the spot I'd calculated I'd need to launch from when the asteroid's tumble brought it in line with the carrier. I came to a stop and looked up, the suit's onboard computer highlighting the path I'd already programmed in and providing a countdown for when I needed to jump. Staring out into the black, starry expanse of space with a planet looming in the foreground and my target just a tiny spec in the distance, I froze.

My mouth was suddenly dry. My heart hammered in my chest. My stomach roiled, I tasted acid in the back of my throat, and I kind of regretted eating. My body broke out in a cold sweat and my muscles trembled.

"What was I thinking?! Fuuuck…" The alarm beeped on my suit and my helmet's HUD flashed, indicating I was within the window to jump. I took a deep breath and in that moment, I swore I could smell pine, snow, and bitter cold. I was there in the skies above Norden again, staring down a group of enemy mages looking to take out the forward spotter for the artillery. I let it all out in a slow whoosh. My heart slowed to a steady thump. Muscles clenched, then stilled. Everything fell away.

There was just me, the enemy ships, and the space between us I needed to cross before their sensors picked me up. I jumped. To the battlefield! The front lines! Then the edge of death!