Hey guys, and welcome to another chapter of True Immortals. I've read the reviews now (finally) for this story, and I've decided to answer and explain some of the stuff that you readers may be having trouble with.
For example...
Read the date below.
3491 ATC
That is before Sidious was born. This was before Sidious's master was born. This is before Sidious's Master's Master is a Sith. In fact, this is exactly 80 years before Sidious is born. He isn't even a goddamn sperm in his father's ballsak, and his father wasn't probably
So I hope you keep those in mind as you read the story. Enjoy.
Day 291, 3491 ATC (162 BBY)
Outer Rim Territories
Pirates and mercenaries alike love money. For most of them, money is the reason they took up their occupation.
So imagine their glee when they heard that some shady organization was willing to pay fifty thousand credit for every Jedi they bring alive, half that for those dead, and a bonus for every five Jedi's brought together alive.
It was open season on Jedi's everywhere. Even on worlds where they were welcomed, bounty hunters, mercenaries, and pirates swept the worlds clean of any Jedi that disappeared from public eye for even one moment.
It was the greatest "purge" of Jedi's in the Outer Rim Territories seen in centuries.
The Jedi had only realized this less than a week ago. It was perhaps because of this many of the members they recalled were still there in the Outer Rim Territories...
Like a certain Zabrak Jedi Knight. He was currently being chased by multiple pirate ships of various sizes. Fortunately, she had two light cruiser Republic escorts with her for her mission, and they were helping her fight them off. Another fortunate was that the pirates lacked proper equipment, and they blew up into space debris after three or four shots from the Republic frigates' weapons.
"This is JO Peaceful Ways on Zeison Sha Space Channel! Does anyone read?! I am Jedi Knight Cindaro requesting help from any armed ships! Please respond!" he shouted into his comm as three of the pirate ships focused fire on one of the Republic frigates. The frigate's shield absorbed two of the pirates' strikes, but the third got through, striking the reactor aboard. The frigate blew up in a spectacular fashion, one befitting only adventurous spirits.
"ORP Reclail is down! All hands lost!" the commander of the Republic frigates shouted through their channel.
Cindaro cursed. "Is there anyone else out there?!"
No help would come.
Because they too were dead or caught.
Day 294, 3491 ATC
Unknown Sector, Outer Rim Territories
Aboard Q's research ship, Mercury Brain
Q sat in his humanoid body within the bridge of Mercury Brain, the research ship meant to study Force, which is what the locals called the extraordinary talent. It had already been a month since he separated himself from the Outlanders do dedicate to his research here, keeping in contact only through David, the military leader of Outlanders and a fellow 'dark pillar' of the corporation family.
In the month since his separation, though, he had learned many things about the Force. He kept receiving data from the spider spies that he had sent to steal the Jedi knowledge of the Force.
The Force as the galaxy called it was indeed supernatural force that "Force-sensitive" individuals were able to sense thanks to "intelligent" sentient organelles within their body. Midi-chlorians, if present in large amount, can grant one the use of the Force. There had been so much data to go over. A history and data compilation worth more than fifty thousand years. Even for a supercomputer powered AI like itself, Q had trouble going through even a percent of the data given to him.
"Creator."
Q looked over his shoulder at one of the screens fitted on the walls of the bridge. The bridge itself was a very small place for a ship taking over 40 million cubic volume of space; the bridge itself was at best 30 cubic meters. Now, it was idiotic for a normal pilot/captain to have a bridge that small when there were a lot of information to process in a ship a kilometer long...
Of course, Q was not a normal captain or a pilot in the first place. He was a AI, something that processed data with speed that would make an organic drool in madness.
Only thing he made aesthetic about the bridge were the screens to show him some of the areas of the ship. Of course he didn't need the screens; as he was connected directly to the ship's computer via his version of a human capsuleer's "neural implant," he could see anything he wanted to as if he was a human examining his toenail.
And the one who had called on him was one of the service drones he had created and put into use for this ship. The locals would call it a medical droid, but Q had his own set of names to give out based on his past experiences. A robot was a robot, no matter what other name you stick it with.
"Answer me already, you metalhead!"
Did he mention that this one had David's recorded personality?
[What is it, MD-D1?] Q asked via text.
"Our first patient died from the surgery. Sending you the files."
Q sat silently as he watched a video of an alien tied down to a bed. Then MD-D1 came in. They spoke a few words. The organic started to struggle harder. Monitors on the side of the video showed increase of his heartrate. MD-D1 pulled out a syringe. The syringe contained within it numerous nanites programmed to extract the "midi-chlorians" that the ... pilfered knowledge from the Jedi Temple had pointed out as being the source of the Force sensing and usage.
By the end of the video, Q was already calculating possible theories as to why the Jedi had died when the midi-chlorians were extracted from him.
...And implementing the theories on the Jedi in the lab right next to now dead Jedi's lab.
The screams began anew.
"Latest shipment of subjects has arrived," MD-D1 reported in even as it injected nanites into another Jedi, though this time, the nanites were programmed to leave behind a set minimum; it was a experiment to see what was the bare minimum that could be harvested. "Shall I have them separated into separate labs?"
[Yes. Do that.]
Day 301, 3491 ATC
Jedi Temple, Coruscant, Core Worlds
Jedi High Council
"That's the twenty-fifth Jedi killed in the galactic northeastern Outer Rim Territories alone in the last month," human Jedi Master Amu Shotep grunted as the holoscreen in front of him crossed out the latest of the Jedi's they had to give a bodiless burial to. "I told you we should have infiltrated and ousted those Outlanders before they became an issue."
Yoda shook his head. "Outside of their territories, these murders happen," he commented. "Be still related, these murders can. How, though question, I do."
Neti Jedi Master T'ra Saa nodded. Despite having been risen as a Jedi Master in the a few years ago at a young age, the shapeshifting plant Neti had shown calmness often missing in Jedi Masters decades her elder. "I believe that we must send a spy before we do anything more rash."
"More rash?" Jedi Master Shotep grunted. "Already seven of our Jedi's have been killed after these Outlanders came on the galactic stage. Don't you hear about the rise of power in the Dantus Sector? They are scrapping in power and influence in the Sector! Already, planets tied closely to them have become powerhouses. There is even a talk about a new Trade Federation coming into being by the hands of the Outlanders. That sounds like someone is building an army."
Yoda shook his head. "No, send diplomat, we must. A Jedi Master and a padawan, we must send to northeast. Many Jedi's watching over Korriban. Fortify their position and the hyperspace lanes, we must."
A Ryn Jedi Master flicked his long ears once before speaking. "I shall go."
"Master Sonha?" Yoda asked.
"I feel that there will be much there I can do. I tire of sitting in this chair."
"Don't we all?" Minch, another Jedi Master of Yoda's species, chuckled. "If Master Sonha wishes to go with his platoon of padawans" there were giggles. "Then I say yes. Most of those padawans are worthy of being a Jedi Knight anyway."
Shotep grunted again. "I stand by my recommendation of ousting the Outlanders."
"Incoming emergency transmission..." the speakers in the High Council Chamber sounded.
A holo image of a Jedi Knight in the traditional brown and dirty white robes popped up in the center of the chamber. He was crouching down with a saber in right and a pistol in left. "This is Jedi Knight Vouc de Stauol reporting! I was on my way to Korriban system to report to make a full report, but my ship was stopped and hijacked! They're not pirates! I repeat, they are not pirates! They look like T-"
A single blaster shot ricocheted and struck the Jedi Knight in the temple.
He fell down and the transmission ended.
There was an immediate change in the atmosphere of the chamber. Even Shotep had stopped grunting.
"Let's secure the hyperspace lanes, first," T'ra Saa spoke up. "And let us not be sent out alone. Perhaps a rule of a squadron should be put into place for Outer Rim visits..."
And the Jedi High Council began to discuss the measures they would need to put into effect.
Yoda, on the other hand, was thinking to himself instead of participating in the discussion.
Under the assumption that Outlanders were indeed the ones behind this, Yoda had to accept that the Outlanders were merely able to take advantage of the chaos present in the Outer Rim Territories. Under the same assumption, Outlanders' attack on the Jedi could not have have happened if the Republic had paid more attention and invested more securities into the Outer Rim Territories.
It was, though, not the first time within Yoda's own life that trouble had brewed in that region of space. Being so far away, Republic, with its dwindling and almost nonexistent navy, could not spread its influence in the area. Perhaps the Outlanders was only the trigger that the bomb the Outer Rim Territories were. If such were the case, there needed to be resolutions passed within the Senate to spread the Republic's influence -and therefore its stability and safety- to the Outer Rim.
However, as a Jedi, one without personal political experience in the Senate, this was going to be uphill fight. Perhaps if he brought in some Jedi sympathizers and encouraged them to become politicians...
Alderaan came to his mind as a planet with many such candidate.
Shotep was thinking to himself as well. However, his thoughts were leaning more towards a militaristic maneuver. Unlike many of the other Jedi's within Jedi Order, he was one of few whose planet dearly wanted back home. His full title, outside of the Jedi Order, was His Eminence Amutan zi Shotep the Second, the Duke of Thory Sector, and the High Admiral of Thorian Dukedom Navy.
He knew that he could put an end to the Outlanders' threat if he just resigned and took up the navy as his arms...
But he knew that if he were to do such a thing, then he would never be accepted back not only for causing destruction but abandoning the ideals of the Jedi Order which should have been his method. The Order may go as far as to even condemn him for his actions, whether or not he prevented future deaths. Oh, he knew what would be at the end of the road should he go down this road.
On the other hand, with each moment he relented, more Jedi's died at the hands of pirates, bounty hunters, and mercenaries.
Ah... What was he to do?
To resign or to not?
Day 302, 3491 ATC
Unknown Sector, Outer Rim Territories
Aboard Q's research ship, Mercury Brain
"Research indicates possibility of node system formation with properties same as midi-chlorians. Must research more into node system. May be what we were looking for."
David nodded in the screen as Q made his report. This was a secure channel encrypted so heavily that computers actually had a lag translating them. Normally, there would not be a lag. The communications technology of this galaxy was much advance than that of New Eden, but even then, computers and receivers still had to translate the inputs and outputs, and if there was a lot of things to translate, the computer -and therefore the screen- also lagged.
"So you need slaves this time?"
Q shook his head. "Slaves unnecessary. Experimenting with node culture. Need any body. All subjects will be disposed of."
David grimaced. "Does everyone have to die by the end of that experiment?" he asked, not liking the ... massacre that he was about to support.
"...No. Subjects can be released to designated planets. Eliminates required energy for projected evidence elimination. All subjects will have to be pluses."
Pluses, or otherwise the unwanted and the unneeded members of society. In a galaxy this big, there were bound to be people who were unneeded.
"...How goes fleet construction?"
David brightened up at the change of subject. "It's going well. So far none of the capsuleers under our command have left our corporation, which is a good thing. We're training most of them to be able to handle at least battleship-class ships efficiently, so that's another plus."
"Fleet composition?"
"Nothing changed since you left. Under assumption that our fleet will not grow bigger as we lack more capsuleers, most of us will be using drone ships. We believe that at least seventy of our capsuleers will convert to drone battleships for fleet operations. You're still working on increasing the number of drones each of us could operate at a time, right? Because that's going to be core part of the fleet."
Q remained silent.
Back in New Eden galaxy, the maximum number of drones that any one capsuleer could operate was 4, regardless of size or complexity. Q was working on expanding that limit. Of course, there had been numerous attempts to increase the limit... but none of them were AI like Q was.
Unfortunately, drone programming for capsuleer is not a easy job. First off, it was not really a computer programming but a learning program... for the brain. Capsuleers, unlike the rest of the sentient kind, did not need to grab a hold of a book -holo or paper- and sit down to learn. No, all they had to do was input the skill learning program directly into the brain via neural implant. It took time for the brain to recognize the knowledge being poured in as its own. This itself was probably the biggest hurdle. It was also why back in New Eden, there were not many such neural implant learning programs, or "skill books" as the programs were often called between capsuleers.
Second, while drones were autonomous to a degree with the orders they are given, for example combat drones choose their own flight path according to the programming they were installed with, the capsuleers themselves still had to keep control over them, giving them commands and whatnot.
And lastly, no drones used the processing power built within themselves (because they didn't have any) but that of the ship they were working from. The drones took up massive amount of CPU as they calculated projectile trajectories, collision avoidance, strategic firing, and armor piercing. More often than not, four drones took up more CPU than half of the entire ship's CPU usage combined.
Q was trying to circumvent all this, but it was hard work because of few things to consider.
Let us first imagine a combat drone often found in New Eden galaxy. It has a structure, armor plating on top of the structure, and finally a shield. The shield generator, sublight propulsions, ammunition storage, and the power source took up a lot of space.
The first thing Q designed so far was a new drone blueprint for the Outlander's usage. To conserve space -and therefore less area for enemies to target- all drones' projectile weapon system have been replaced with laser weaponry. While not something some of the more vocal supporters of projectiles of the Outlanders were happy about, it went through.
This move saved up space by eliminating the entire ammunition storage and slightly increasing battery size. Overall, a smart move.
Second thing Q did was internal CPU exclusive of the drones. This was to increase the number of drones a ship's CPU can handle by delegating each drones' own calculations to its own CPU. Easier said than done, but no problem. Already finished, too.
So yes, he had finished the upgrades.
Q had simply been too focused on his research into the Force to think about anything else... literally. He had moved his body and "turned off" all alerts until he had just talked to David.
"...Oops."
A tick mark appeared on David's forehead. "You know, for an AI, you sure do have your human moments."
Q made mechanical chuckle noises. "Sending data package. Also need another subject. Special specification exists for this subject."
David frowned. "Goddamn, what are going to say now?"
"List of prerequisites has been sent. Procurement of target subject necessary for further research into the Force."
Day 336, 3491 ATC
Holonet Forum "Outer Rim Happenings, Your source of Outer Rim Territory InfoNetworking"
[Topic: Another Trade Federation on the rise?]
RakatanWarrior:
Okay, before I start what I believe is the new Trade Federation of the Outer Rim Territories, I want to put out some credentials that I have. I am a professor of history and political science in one of the Mid Rim worlds, and I have done multiple business-politic researches that have been published. With that said, I believe that the Dantus Sector will soon become another Trade Federation. My reasons behind it include the expansion of Gvonan influence after it came into contact with a new mining company calling themselves the "Outlanders." I suspect that Gvonans have a very profound foundation in manufacturing, but lacked resources until now to make use of it. There are several points in history when Gvona was used as a manufacturing center for the then existing Gvonan Hierarchy, a very ancient interstellar nation-state that existed tens of thousands of years ago before the Republic's influence broke down the Hierarchy. As long as they maintain it, the manufacturing baseline should still be operational, which I assume they did considering the growth of exports and income they are experiencing.
I highly doubt they suddenly found a treasure trove.
CoruscKoton:
I think you're thinking ahead a bit too much. I'm speaking as someone who lives in Gvona. While I must admit that Gvona has experienced rapid growth in the past few months, it's mostly because of the Outlanders. They're kind of like a celebrity. They brought in work by providing us with materials at a cheap cost than our usual dealers would, and often times, they provide insight and advice into business.
However, I did hear from some of the freighters that visit my bar often that the Outlanders' made a space station from one of their existing dreadnought-class ships. But now it's longer than forty kilometers at its longest axis. They did this in less than half a galactic year. Do you realize how powerful they must be to do this?
QurQur:
I'm sure the Outlanders employed thousands of droids from the Trade Federation or Coruscant manufacturers for their construction. I bet they were just loaded people. But I live in Coruscant, and I've never heard of any big buy that would help the Outlanders with a construction like that. I think these Outlanders have their own independent ways.
RakatanWarrior:
Exactly what I'm talking about. Those Outlanders will be the center of another galactic power. Look at the achievements they have made. Look at the power and money that's flowing into their territory. I'm telling you, sooner or later, when might becomes the law, they will become something bigger than anything anyone else can control. I assure you of that.
QurQur:
Well, money does equal power these days. But that gets me thinking... what do Outlanders do outside of mining?
RakatanWarrior:
Good question. I heard that they also do shipping lately as well as providing security for other shipping companies.
CorusKoton:
They do. One of my regulars hired the Outlanders for a shipping across the northern Outer Rim. I got curious so on local 6th day, I went to the space port on our planet. It was ridiculous I tell you. For a simple escort mission, they sent a kilometer long dreadnought and three crusiers. Have you also seen the guns on those things?
RakatanWarrior:
Guns? Did you see their laser weaponry? I have to admit that I am very curious as to their firepower. I mean, you could have a fleet of ships but if they can't shoot anything good, they're as good as a graveyard.
CorusKoton:
They weren't laser weaponry. That escort and my regular I was talking about? They were attacked by large fleet of pirates. Video taken by my regular showed them firing solid bullets, man. That dreadnought fired bullets bigger than people. Hell, some of those bullets looked like they were big as starfighters.
RakatanWarrior:
Projectile weapons? No one uses them anymore. At least, no one in the Republic does. Laser weaponry proved to be better.
CrosuKoton:
I haven't seen any laser weaponry tear through a cruiser after shattering its shield in one go. Which is exactly what happened. Here's the video.
vidpower/v-ef34b3fs3492fvmdp
RakatanWarrior:
I don't believe it. Can someone verify if that video is legit?
BonApetit(Guest):
Yo, just dropping in because one of the moderators asked me to verify a video. Yes, the video is legit. So that really happened, eh? I guess no one is going to stand up to that ship anymore. Did you see the dreadnought tank ten cruisers by itself? Nothing in the Republic's dwindling navy can stand up to that. I'm serious.
QurQur:
I'm more interested in their fighter droids. Did you see how they systematically targeted engines and weapon system once the shield was down? They all acted independently as well. It's been a while since I saw a good squad of droids.
RakatanWarrior:
Droids are however you program them. Which can mean two things: one, they are buying from a genius programmer, or two, they have a genius programmer. Either way, don't you guys see what I've been getting at? Dantus Sector will become the new Trade Federation!
QurQur:
I doubt it. Trade Federation will not like having another superpower out there who can threaten their trade. They're gonna try their damnedest to shut down Dantus Sector. They may even hire pirates to do their job for them; it's not below them.
RepDipo:
Okay, I am a Neimodian working in the Trade Federation, and I really don't like what you are insinuating. We do not just hire out assassins to kill off competition. If that were the case then, Trade Federation wouldn't exist!
QurQur:
Yet there have already been cases where the Trade Federation have been alleged to more than a hundred case of being involved in the black market, especially for assassination. For example, Trade Federation's human Directorate member Necola Trudoma is currently jailed for life for more than thirty second hand murders as well as to commit treason against the Republic by selling weaponry specifically to pirates and dissenters aiming at the Republic.
RepDipo:
That is only one person! The Viceroy certainly does not involve himself in such actions, and neither have most of the other Directors. You're just grabbing at a chink in the armor and exaggerating the facts.
Moderator:
Okay, the last few replies to this thread have been steering off the main topic. QurQur and RepDipo have just received a warning, and should this thread continue down, you two will be muted for a three months, as per usual punishment.
