Extra Chapter will come after this!! 🎆🎆🧨🎇🎇
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I grinned excitedly as I emerged from the space between spaces onto a large dockyard. Shuttles and fighters fluttered in and streamed out in a constant flow as technicians worked on damaged spacecraft. Droids of all descriptions moved between the temple staff, from R2-D2 units to Protocol Droids and even cleaning droids.
About five kilometres from mine and Luke's current positions was a massive stone temple resembling an Aztec pyramid stretched skyward into a stepped tower. Hundreds of levels were clearly visible from our position and glimmered with the light of the sun, Yavin.
Craning my head upwards from the tower I noticed the massive red-purple gas giant that Yavin-4 orbited. The giant ball of gas was like a ruby carved into the sky, tinted with the lazy orange light of the sun. The air was fresh but infected with humidity and the temperature of the world was tropical at best, downright torturous at worst. Already I could feel my white undershirt sticking to my body, a prickly heat stabbing at my skin uncomfortably.
"Welcome to the New Jedi Temple." Luke gestured to the surrounding dockyard and temple with his prosthetic arm, his ash-blonde hair lightly flaring as a ship disturbed the nearby air.
"This is superbly better than the sequels of your story..." He quizzically tilted his head but ignored my words, instead preferring to start out walk through the docks towards the Temple proper.
"I have mentioned that you are a diplomat that I have personally invited to the temple, in the hopes of acquiring some 'materials' that the Jedi have specific need of. If any Jedi or Padawan questions your presence just send them to me and I can clear any misunderstandings." I nodded, it was pretty clear that he would be asking for some help material-wise whilst I profited from a Stage-1 Civilisation's basic technologies.
Marvel's humanity never truly reached Stage-1 or Advanced beyond Stage-0. Sure there were timelines where Tony created clean energy and distributed it across the planet, starting a basic Space program, etcetera... But that was still Stage-0. I wanted to get Humanity to Stage-1 at the very least, even if I had to do it by giving humanity such a wedgie that they had to advance.Â
"Sure Luke, no problems, you fine if I start scanning the ships and droids?" He chuckled whilst shaking his head, gesturing outwards with his arms as if it say: 'I thought you were doing it already?'Â
"I wanted to discuss Kyber crystals with you. In the past we've theorised that you could perhaps form them naturally using your powers. I wanted to test that theory whilst also getting you to create a fair amount of them as a, surplus, in case of emergency." I hummed in agreement as I copied R2-d2 into my mental library.Â
"You're allowing me to copy spaceships and technology, some crystals ain't gonna make me say no, Space Wizard." Luke laughed at the epithet and dragged us closer to some cargo ships and even some of the larger vessels.Â
One such vessel was around 80-90 metres in length, 10 metres tall, with a large rotating cluster of goods clutched around it's middle section. Turrets were mounted on the aft and above the bridge of the ship with four different engines for propulsion. Its metal was a mixture of Titanium and Steel, an alloy of some kind. I didn't know all of Star Wars Lore but I knew it was a common material used in ship manufacturing in the universe.
"That is a YT-370 Locust-Class Corellian Heavy Freighter. The traders use them extensively in the less populated segments of the galaxy. We get our construction materials, food supplies and even our younglings through the transports." I quirked an eyebrow at him as he continued his spiel.
"The star ship itself is made of Durasteel most of the time, an alloy between Steel, Bauxite and several other materials I currently am forgetting... That one in particular however is owned by a rather wealthy trader that had chosen to base his operation off of Yavin-4 due to his positive experiences with Jedi before the Clone Wars. His ship is unique in that it is made with Alusteel." We both stopped near the front of the ship, looking on as droids piled out of the cargo ramp with several crates worth of produce.
"I'm sure you'll love the ship. Alusteel is used in capital ships most of the time and the only reason Zraxus has added it is because his wife often loves to take trips through the galaxy. The old man is as soft silk..." Luke appreciated the view of the ship before he started walking again, my mind already storing away the composition of the armoured plating, the ship itself, the hyperdrive and the Tibanna gas that was currently filling the mounted weapons on the ship. I smiled as I follow the Jedi Grandmaster.
"So, am I able to scan a lightsaber?" Luke sighed in mild exasperation at my question. He'd probably known I was going to ask, seeing as how he knew, that we knew, that he had one... Yet he still stared into the middle distance as if considering, or inventing, a philosophical perspective that would get him out of showing me one.Â
Eventually his shoulders slumped and he simply dipped his head in resignation. "I suppose that can be arranged." My smile widened into an excited, toothy, grin.
"However! I want you to experiment with the Kyber Crystals first." Couldn't help but roll my eyes at the petulance in his tone. He may be the Grandmaster of the Jedi but he sure as hell wasn't anything like Yoda or Obi Wan. All in all, it was probably a good thing.
"Fine, fine... Let's get going then so I can come back and absorb every little schematic and material that I can get my hands on." Luke nodded before smirking. He'd won this round, in future I would ensure that he doesn't... His smirk grew wider. I wonder if he could read my mind and emotions? It turned into a grin.
'This little bastard!'
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I was dragged through the shipyards slowly, methodically, Luke teasing me with the possibility of scanning a lightsaber. The guys had stripped himself of his lightsaber just so he could troll me, I was certain of it... Anyway... He had allowed me to scan several types of fighters, cargo ships and droids. Alusteel, Durasteel and Transparisteel were all added to my collection of materials that I could now create with my Mutant abilities.
My Technopathy skill had allowed me to interface with a protocol droid. Giving me an opportunity to understand the vast programming that was fit inside their positronic brain. Droids were far more complex than the movies made them out to be. Their brains allowed for an insane flow of information to be communicated and translated into numerous other languages and structures.Â
Astromech Droids were even more complex, their memory capacity and redundancy being staggering in comparison to their sad Protocol cousins. R2-D2 for example had been known to have personality, remember information that was supposed to have been erased numerous times, repair fighters mid-flight whilst fighting off errant droids or enemies... It was like someone took Data from Star Trek, shrunk him down into a the size of a toilet, gave him wheels and then told him to go pilot ships and fix them whilst in the middle of combat!
My fun was short lived however as we finally reached the temple and our trek towards the mines began. I exaggerate of course, since Luke was just taking me to the Kyber Crystals. Speaking of the Space Wizard, he was clearly tired... His eyes had a slight droop to them every now and then, his gait was methodical but lined with a slight stagger that he caught most of the time before it effected his pace. Whatever had been occurring in this Galaxy was drawing from him. Thrawn returning probably didn't help... Add my greedy ass asking to visit and I can now understand why he is exhausted.
"So... Have you slept yet...?" Luke didn't stop his stride and continued forwards, his arms held behind his back as he walked. At first he didn't acknowledge my drawled question, but I could tell he was thinking on his response, easy to tell when he starts moving his fingers against eachother.Â
"Not yet. My wife is naturally, displeased with me, but she understand as well. It's not easy being the glue that holds an entire order together. Mara works just as hard as I do and If I don't overwork she will have to... It is the only recourse currently, until I have trained my replacement." I hummed along as we walked through corridors illuminated by soft blue lights, echoing with distant footfalls and the smattering hubbub from room to room.
The temple itself was busy but felt contemplative despite that. One could feel a relaxation from the prickly heat outside, as if one were stepping from an abrasive blast of heat into a cool bath of tepid water. The sweat that had accumulated after walking five kilometres was slowly evaporating in the confines of the temple. Why they needed mood lighting was beyond me, but hey, each to their own.
"Ah, here." After fifteen minutes of cursed stairs we finally reached his super special, super annoying room filled with special crystal or whatever. I hated stairs, I should remind him that elevators even exist on my world. He continued speaking despite my displeasure.
"I have gathered some Kyber Crystals from Illum and Kashyyyk, hoping to spare some of our youngest from journeying to areas that are too dangerous for them." I looked into the room and noted that it was a sterile laboratory with hundreds of different benches, machines, scanners, contraptions and any other number of devices. The crystals he was motioning towards were suspended in an energy field of some kind, hovering above a continuously scanning machine. The mood lighting was the same... I bet that wasn't up to code...
"Right, you want me to scan them and copy them, I'm guessing?" He nodded slowly, his bright green eyes clinging to the crystals as they softly hummed in place, their inner glows flickering between green and a deep purple.
"I'm guessing that we can both 'connect' to them in some way, or them with us? Because I have only heard about Kyber Crystals choosing a colour when close to someone who can wield them." Yet again he nodded, his attention sapped away by something else.
Glancing between him and the stones I eventually decided to just get this over with. I wanted to scan a lightsaber and Kyber Crystal already and this was getting too mystical and 'fate-addled' for me.Â
Walking up beside him I extended my hand and spread my senses into the atmosphere around me. Rapidly my search began and I mentally strode towards the glowing crystals of destiny. A feeling of energy filled my senses for a few moments as my mind interacted with the crystals, before it was sapped away. Moments later I had copied the intense crystalline structures of the stone, the striations and shapes... Four new copies were floating beside the original three.
Luke's gaze finally snapped into focus and a small smile was scratched onto his face as he watched the four new stones flicker between our colours. "Wonderful." I erased some dirt from under my nails and gave him a nonchalant stare, it was a basic process, I don't know why he felt all... 'elated' and stuff.
"So, do you think you can make a few hundred?"
"HUH...!?"
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