Reviews
Geeknasty
I do like that idea, and it should be possible given that Jumper Gothic and his group have terraforming technology.
Joe Lawyer
I have no idea why a YT-2400 light freighter is on the list. I didn't create this Jump I only selected it because it of when it allows you to arrive in Star Was.
Also he can take the ships with him that's why he has the Shipyard Addon to the Warehouse. I just didn't mention that in the draft sample chapter as I still have some work to do on it. Plus he can upgrade them with advanced tech he already has while still having a ship that can blend in. That could be very useful.
The Republic was reformed a thousand years ago and from the start the Sith were working to destabilize it, so with the Sith gone things could get better, and if they don't well there's nothing like an outside threat to bring people together hence the need to alert the galaxy to coming Vong invasion.
He already has holocrons and the setup doesn't state when they were form just that they could be used to train a Jedi or Sith so I get to decide what is on them. But be fair to the modern Jedi the darkside is infertering with their ability to call upon the Force, Yoda mentions this, so once the Sith are dealt with they should be able to use the Force more fully. If they can't well the Vong will wipe them out, and that will be long after Jumper Gothic leaves so its not his problem.
Jump Chain Gothic 6 - The Phantom Menace
Part 3
Aurora-class Warship. Hyperspace.
I'd set a slow pace back to Tatooine so even with Naboo being relatively close to the desert planet this trip was going to take the better part of a day. There was no rush, and we all needed some time to prepare for the big project that would start very soon. As part the preparation work I'd gathered everyone together for a meeting in what passed for a conference room on this ship, or at least I thought that was its purpose.
Given that the room contained a big table, lots of chairs and a holoprojector, it could serve a few different purposes I figured, it might even be meant for entertainment as odd as that might seem, but right now it was a conference room, and I was using it to host a very important meeting.
"This is the city I have planned" I informed the group, once everyone had taken their seats "Originally I was thinking along the lines of some nice domes, and now I'm thinking more about towers".
The holoprojector came online showing what looked to be a large settlement of Lantean construction, a lot like the city the Asurans had built.
There were in fact still a few domes, which would contain massive indoor gardens and parks, however for the most part the city would be made of tall, elegant towers which would allow us to make better use of the space available within the time dilation field without needing to sacrifice the domes, which while not vital would be very pleasant to have for the people living in the city.
This wasn't totally new information to anyone as while the planned layout for the city had changed more than a few times since I'd come up with the idea about a decade ago, the idea of using Lantean styles had been agreed upon before this Jump had started.
"We have a limited amount of room to work with" I was now saying "We can use a time dilation field, and some environmental technology, to recreate the Cloister, which is a big dome with a ten mile radius. I know that this sounds like a lot, and it should be more than enough, but we might need to expand later".
Plus we could always add to the city later on. The vast majority of the planet was unsettled, there wasn't much in the way of mountains so it was mostly flat. Which made it ideal for building on as long as you avoided the Sand People, Sarlacs and the Krypt dragons.
"We need to use towers as we're going to need housing for thousands of people, as well as schools, hospitals, entertainments of different kinds, and the industry I desire" I went on to say "I want to be able to produce fine quality electronic goods for as little expense as possible without cutting people out of process of making these devices".
I turned to look at Samantha Carter.
"You'll be in charge of defending this city, so build whatever you think is best, but do include a shield and some ion cannons" I said "You also need to worry about native predators, sand storms and the Sand People. We can worry about fighters and such later when we have some people that we can train to be pilots".
I went back to addressing the whole group.
"Listen, I know this project will demand a lot from all of you" I said to them "But if you work together as a team I know you'll succeed".
I didn't intend to actually take part in the construction work, and I mentioned this once again.
"You really aren't going into the time dilation field with us?" questioned Tali'Zorah.
I shook my head.
"While no one will be able to get to while you're inside the field, once it comes down you'll be vulnerable for a sort time, because you'll have no way of knowing what's going on outside the field" I explained "By now I'm sure the Hutts have learned about what I did to Jabba, and I don't want to drop the field only to field a fleet of mercenary ships in orbit ready to bombard the new city as unlikely as that is. Sure it will have a shield for defence, but it take a few seconds to raise that after the field comes down leaving you vulnerable".
Hence it was best to keep this ship in orbit and the under the command of the person who could best control it. Which was me.
This was also why we were going to use the field, because if we didn't I'd been spending a long time sitting on my ship in orbit, making sure that no interfered with the construction. With the field I'd only have to wait on my ship for a few hours. Then once the new city was up and running, I could take my ship out for some fun if I so desired.
"Plus we'll need someone to keep an eye on the natives so they don't start messing about with the field" I added.
I had no desire to see some idiots hurt because they decided to fly their speeder bike into the time dilation field. An act that would leave nothing left to bury.
"You'll help will be missed" Miranda said, with no trace of flattery in her voice "It will take a lot of work to get this done".
Estimates ranged from six months to a whole year. It was impossible to predict exactly because time dilation was a bit weird, and a lot of time would be spent building the robots, that would build bigger robots, which would do the building of the towers.
"I'll give you Cortana to help keep things organised" I said to Miranda, who would be in charge of this massive project "And if anything goes wrong you can just lower the field".
Cameron moved over the table. She'd been standing behind me for the duration of the meeting.
"I will help" she told everyone "I don't need to sleep or eat, and I don't need much time to take care of myself, so I can do a lot of work".
This surprised me as my Terminator didn't like to be parted from me, but it would only be for a few hours.
"Once we arrive back at Tatooine we can start beaming down supplies to the selected area of the planet" I said "When the field is active no one will be able to enter it, however until it is up you'll be vulnerable down there so I'll send some security bots with you".
That was nearly everything I had to say.
"We will arrive back at Tatooine in less the hour, and since I want this to be over in a few hours, from my perspective, you should do your best to prepare now".
There were no questions as this hadn't been the first or even the third time I'd gone through this plan with them. Only Cameron choice to join the building efforts had been a surprise. Her going with the rest of them would leave me on the ship with Morgana, and I was sure that we'd find something to do.
(Line Break)
Aurora-class Warship. Hyperspace.
Using some very high tech machinery I'd replaced the crystal that had come with my lightsabre with the magical gem I'd gotten from the crystal cave back in the Merlin universe so many years ago. Which made the weapon more powerful I was sure, but I had no idea what that meant as even after years of the study of magic I didn't understand all that magic could do. However I was certain that the crystal would serve me well.
My lack of understanding concerned me somewhat as I now needed to devote myself to mastering the powers given to be my connection to the Force while still studying the information I'd gathered about magic during the last Jump in the hopes of gleaning some greater understanding of the mystical powers.
My very advanced mind allowed to me to easily understand a wide range of things, but magic was still somewhat of a mystery to me despite years of study. This was because magic wasn't a science and therefore couldn't be fully understood. If it could be then it wouldn't be magic anymore.
Hopefully the holocrons I'd purchased would help me with that as while I had a background in this universe that included training it wasn't complete. Then again that was life was about. When you had nothing left to learn there was little point going on.
My background in this Jump was minimal as I didn't need to blend in, and while I had some new memories that covered my training in the use of the Force, there was nothing personal about them, no emotional connections with strangers. Which was how I preferred it, and clearly Jump Chan understood this.
I had been trained as what could be called a Grey Jedi. The term Grey Jedi actually had two meanings. One meaning was used by Jedi and Sith to describe Force-users who walked the line between the light and dark sides of the Force without surrendering to the dark side. Which was a state of being that suited me very well.
The term also described Jedi who distanced themselves from the Jedi High Council and operated outside the strictures of the Jedi Code. However, those who were considered to be true Grey Jedi met both qualifications and did not belong to any particular Force tradition.
Which I did as I was going to keep my distance from the Jedi and I cared nothing for their stupid code. I cared nothing for the Sith either, they were fools ,and as mad as the Jedi were blind. Proof of this was how easily I'd defeated the Sith, even with the advantages of having superior technology and with them knowing nothing of me while I knew all about them, it shouldn't have been so easy to defeat them. Although to be fair they'd doomed themselves as well.
My training as a Grey Jedi told me not to rely on the Force too much, and not to go too far down the dark or the light path, as both corrupted in their own ways. Those strong in the light became too passive, and less able to act, which was why Jedi Masters tended to stand or sit around while telling younger people what to do rather than being useful.
Those that embraced the darkside were corrupted in more obvious ways, both mentally and physically, becoming insane, at least in my view. They lost everything in their pursuit of more power, forgetting why they wanted the power in the first place, and before long it was just the power that mattered. For me power was a tool, it allowed me to accomplish my goals, and it was important to remember that.
I flicked my wrist and the training remote I'd built took the air, and soon began firing very lower powered blaster bolts at me from different angles. If I'd been hit they would have stung without doing any damage, the short lived pain was enough of a teacher, there was no need to do myself an injury even if I did have healing abilities.
Using the Force was a little different that using my magical powers or my near-ascended abilities. While magic had rules and it could demand a heavy price for its favours, the Force could control your actions as well as obey your commands. This was better understood by me as soon I began allowing the Force to guide my actions as my lightsabre moved to block the blaster bolts.
Using a lightsaber was not like using a sword, no matter what appearances might suggest, my training told me that. The blade was weightless, but the actual lightsaber was rather heavy, heavier than it looked. Which required a much different fighting style, which was why I'd gone for the melee training perk, while also having Grey Jedi Training, as without them I wouldn't be able to safely use this weapon.
The memories I had of training were already serving me well, and this was good as I would need these skills in the future as I was sure that I would face foes in the future that I could not just beam away from.
"Gothic the city has appeared" Morgana's voice told me over the intercom.
I was impressed for two reasons, the first was that the project had been finished sooner than predicted, and second Morgana had adapted very quickly to living on a star ship if she'd already figured out the comm system. While it impress me it didn't surprise me as I'd exposed Morgana to advanced technology in order to help prepare her for future Jumps, plus she was a smart cookie.
"On my way" I said.
I shut down the lightsaber and made my up the bridge. I wanted my first sight of this new city to be from above.
(Line Break)
Lantean Style City. Tatooine.
The city didn't have a name, and the reason for this was that Gothic hadn't picked one as of yet. It hadn't seemed important while the project was still in its planning stage. Now that it physically existed rather than just existing in theory someone would have to name it. Carter felt was sure that something would come to the mind of the man she'd followed to this reality.
Currently Samantha Carter and Gothic were standing on a balcony of the central tower, which served as the command centre for this new city. Since she'd been put in charge of defending this new civilization the former Air Force officer had set up here. It made sense and the tower was massive so there was plenty of room for both her and Miranda, who was the governor of this city, to work in.
Other members of Gothic's harm would claim their own parts of the city. Tali'Zorah had already set up near the city's industrial centre, and she had taken most of a tower over there so that she would have enough workshops, warehouses, and whatever else it was she needed for her work.
"Your quarters are in that tower" Samantha said while pointing at a tower that happened to be connected to the central tower via a narrow tube like bridge "I've seen your rooms, you have a penthouse suite. Miranda decorated it herself. I've got my room on the lower part of this tower so I'm close to my office".
Gothic didn't turn to look at Carter when he spoke as he was too busy admiring this place, and there was a lot to admire. The city was made up of many tall metal towers that made most skyscrapers look like the creations of imaginative yet inexperienced architecture students.
There were also some domes scattered about, one was meant to be a massive indoor garden, but the one thing they didn't have in the Cosmic Warehouse was a seed bank so the plants would have to be imported. From here a dome which would soon be an indoor water park could be seen. Having a water park on a desert planet seemed so strange to Carter, but in a fun way.
Trees would also need to be imported as well in order to add a touch of green to the city. Many of the buildings had power, but no real furnishings yet as there was little point having a full functioning hospitals and schools, when you had no doctors or teachers.
Thankfully that would soon be dealt with as if slaves with the needed skills couldn't be brought and then employed then they'd be hired the old fashioned way. There were bound to be professionals out there who could be lured to a new civilization with the promise of good pay and a high standard of living.
"You did a great job here" the Jumper praised.
Samantha couldn't help feeling a swell of pride fill her. She hadn't been with Gothic as long as his other girls, in terms of time spent, however that didn't stop her from wanting his attention. There was something about him that drew her in. She didn't know what it was, and while might be one of the perks he'd collected in a past Jump she suspected that it wasn't any single thing that made the Jumper so special.
Of course it helped that he was powerful, rich, not too bad to look at, and had access to incredible technology. Plus he'd liberated her version of Earth from Goa'uld occupation, which was the kind of thing that earned someone eternal graduate from Samantha Carter.
"I'd like a proper tour later on" Gothic mentioned "For now I need to deal with the remaining Hutt presence on this planet. I'm hoping that I can make a deal with the Hutt Clans, but they are crime lords so I doubt they'll be reasonable".
Samantha was glad that she'd installed so many defences for this city, as it sounded as if soon they might be at war with the Hutt Clans she had best go read up on them before any conflict started. Gothic was certain that would attack in the near future, and he was normally right about this sort of thing.
(Line Break)
Mos Espa. Tatooine.
Gardulla Besadii the Elder, better known to the varied peoples of this galaxy, as Gardulla the Hutt, was a crime lord who'd been fighting for control of Tatooine with Jabba the Hutt for decades from what I understood.
Also I knew that Gardulla was the one-time owner of both Anakin and Shmi Skywalker until she lost them to the Toydarian junk dealer Watto in a podracing bet. This weakness for excessive gambling was something I might be able to exploit. Unlike Jabba this Hutt lived in a townhouse in Mos Espa, in order to be closer the gambling I assumed.
"I have a bad feeling about this," said my Terminator.
There had to have been something her latest updates which had taught her to say. Before the start of every Jump my bodyguard/companion had her software upgraded, so that she could better blend in whatever universe I'd dragged her cute little ass along to.
"I don't think these Hutts understand what it means to negotiate" Cameron then said "You should have come by hologram".
That would have been safer, however I would need to test my Force powers out in the field so to speak and this seemed like a good a time as any. Besides I was hardly defenceless, what with my weapons, body armour, shields and super powers.
"Just let me do the talking" I insisted
We soon entered a large smoke-filled chamber and right away I picked out half a dozen guards who were mixed in with general scum, and of course there were the slaves, whose lives would be spared if this all went horribly wrong for the Hutt.
My eyes quickly adjusted and I could now make out the lumpy silhouette of a Hutt who was currently behind some sort of curtain, and I was very sure that I didn't want to know what she was doing behind there.
"Gardulla Besadii," I said,
"Coo sa je ateema!"
The slave girl standing by the hutt opened her mouth to translate, but there was no need for her services.
"I am sorry for disturbing you" I said "My name is Gothic, your greatness. As I am sure you have been informed by now that a new city has sprung up from nowhere. I am the man responsible for this, and I am the commander of the large ship currently in orbit".
There was no sense hiding these facts as everyone on the planet must have heard about the next city by now as the time dilation field had been up for hours, and that alone had drawn enough attention from the locals. Now that there was an entire Lantena style city sitting on the surface of that planet, and that was the kind of news which would spread faster than the holonet should allow.
"Crispo..."
Before the Hutt could finish giving the order to kill us I had drawn my saber and ignited it. The Gamorreans, the pig like alien used as guards by some Hutts, squealed and staggered back, spears pointed at me with uncertainty.
Letting the Force fill me I became aware of the room in great detail I could see translator slave's eyes grew wide while in the background several people reached for weapons or began to move away, no doubt seeking an exit. I could even sense Cameron, she had no emotions that I could detect, but there was a sense of danger around her as she prepared to do violence.
"JEDI!" the Hutt yelled.
Wrong I was no Jedi, but her mistake was understandable.
"Crispo Doe Jedi" Gardulla ordered.
It was the last command that she would ever give. As while I was outnumbered, I was near-ascended Force Sensitive who had magical powers and layers of technology protecting me. The people here had a few blaster and some stabbing weapons.
Cameron and I quickly took down the threats, while everyone who wasn't a fighter ran or did their best to get out of the line of fire, but the time I was done only a few slaves were left alive, everyone else was either dead or had run away. Gardulla was also dead as Cameron had vapourised the slug like alien with her disruptor rifle.
"I might need to go all the way to Nar Shadda for my slaves" I muttered.
Once I had switched off my lightsaber, testing it out in combat had been one of the reasons why I'd come here physically, the room became much darker.
"Excuse me" said a soft voice "If you want a slave I can serve you".
It was the translator slave, she was a green skinned Twi'lek, and like the dancers in Jabba's palace what she wore could only be called clothing because it did leave just a little to the imagination. The colour of her skin wouldn't normally be of concern to me, however I didn't fail to notice that the shade of green she was happened to be rather flattering.
"Actually I'm hoping to buy some slaves so I can free them and give them jobs in my new city" I explained.
That news took the alien woman a few moments to process. Sometimes other people seemed so slow when it came to thinking.
"It's just that I know where the slave market is" the green skinned babe told me "I was recently sold there".
If I could buy people wholesale right here on Tatooine that would be useful. Of course I might just forcefully liberate them.
"Are you looking for work" I asked the Twi'lek "I could do with an assistant, someone with local knowledge, who can run errands for me. I'll pay you, and you can wear proper clothes".
Although I might regret saying that last part. The woman had a rocking body.
"Pay?" asked the woman "Clothes?"
I was now thinking that she'd look good in one of the bodysuits most of my harem favoured.
"Yes I'm offering you a job, you know wages, decent clothing, a roof over your head, and as many meals as you like" I said "What's your name?".
I imagined that this was all a bit too much for her.
"Supi" she told me
"Supi" I said "Why don't you come with me and I'll have someone take care of you".
Anakin's Mother must be wishing for something to do. I'd always intended to give her meaningful work and taking care of rescued slaves could be a good job for her since was also a former slave.
"Okay" she said.
While I normally beam about I wanted to keep that technology hidden as much as possible, but that didn't mean we had far to walk far as I had a puddle jumper parked nearby. Which was good because some of the other slaves were now asking to come with me. Perhaps I would have offered Jabba's slaves some proper jobs, but I'd not actually been there. Still at some point I should return there and see anyone was left, plus I could loot the place.
(Line Break)
Lantean Style City. Tatooine.
Given how powerful I'd become doing stuff like building my own meditation space, that was as cut as possible from the rest of the universe without actually leaving the universe, was something that only took me the afternoon. By evening I was floating in a very low gravity environment inside a sphere, which was made of sound proof materials.
Actually the materials were pretty much everything proof, you'd need a plasma torch or something like it just enter this room as the only way in or out for a humanoid was to phase through the walls, or to use the emergency exit I'd built in case my phase cloak somehow got damaged.
I wasn't the only thing in this room that was floating. My lightsaber, which I'd taken apart, also moved about with little gravity to affect it. I'd taken it apart because I replacing the power cell with one of my own designed that was based on Ancient technology. The cell made use of a small amount of naquadah to provide a stable source of power which would last much longer than local power cells.
These power cells were hard to come by because not only did I make them myself there was a limited amount of naquadah in this universe and while I could get more it wasn't an efficient process as the Matter Furnace had been designed to supply a Jumper with needed raw materials to keep his or her vehicles running, not to support an entire civilization, even if that civilization was really just one high tech city.
While I could have easily replace more parts of the weapon with superior tech I was loathe to do so because this lightsaber had been created by Jump Chan and part of Jump Chain and items that were created by her didn't follow the same rules as other stuff.
I was worried that if I replaced too many parts that it would stop being the same lightsaber and might revert back to it original form at the start of the next Jump. However should I only replace or improve a few things it shouldn't change. An example of this was the runabout I crashed during the Stargate verse Jump, which I'd gotten during the Trek Jump, was returned to me at the start of the Merlin Jump in the state it had been before the crash, which was a different state than it had been when I'd first gotten the little ship.
Normally I wouldn't about this too much as I could always build a new lightsaber, but this lightsaber, which had been created for me alone by Jump Chan, now contained a special crystal, one that I could not replace, and I didn't want to risk losing that. Besides if I really wanted to I could just make another lightsaber, modify it to my heart's content, and try the whole duell weidling thing.
That was something to think about later, right now I need to put this lightsaber back together, and since I had no tools with me I would have to reassemble it using my powers. Which was not as simple as it might seem as this time I would the bind components together on a molecular level, and this would take time as not only did I need to bind the weapon together I also needed to truly bond with the device through the Force.
Since I'd replaced the existing crystal with the magical one I'd already changed the weapon before adding the new power cell so I understood that the saber had changed in some sense beyond merely the physical. So I would need to understand that in a more spiritual way in order to truly master the weapon.
How much time this took really didn't matter as I could control how time flowed within this chamber. I could spend hours in here, maybe even days with the Force to sustain me, while only minutes went by outside. Thanks to time dilation technology I was really in my own little world right now.
Closing my eyes I began to align all the parts of the lightsaber, which had a black and silver outer casing, and line them up correctly. I was seeing in my mind's eye where each part needed to be in order for the parts to become something greater than themselves.
This wouldn't take long, and when it was done I would fuse it all together, binding the components together on a molecular level without using a machine. Making the weapon so durable that it would take something a blaster bolt or something like that to damage the weapon. It would not simply break down or fall apart.
The process was not a simple one and so it would take all my focus as well as much time it required so I devoted all my mental focus to the task, and stopped thinking about anything else.