Well, here I am, with another chapter. This one was another original chapter which took a lot of brainstorming and revising and editing, but was fun nonetheless. Here it takes place right before Anakin and Mace arrive with the Zillo Beast from Malastare. For this chapter, we get to see more of Thomas' and Ahsoka's cute interactions. Don't worry, they'll be paired eventually. Anywho, I'll stop talking and let y'all get on with the story.

Chapter 15: From analog minds to AI

December 30th 2022, 22BBY

Coruscant

Landing bay

Thomas POV

Well, I just got back to Coruscant a couple hours ago and things have been hectic. I had to submit a report, which I loathed because I hate paperwork, about the incident on Mandalore. I had to reveal about my wingsuit and booster pack which I got grilled about by the council. They were asking me why I kept this project of mine under wraps and I gave them the same reason for my slug based weapons. I don't want the possibility of it falling into Separatist hands and have me play a part into more suffering. They had to begrudgingly agree as I made a valid reason.

After that, I'm walking to the workshop to set my new beskar ingots and armor down. I walk inside and take a look at the view of the place I've been calling home for the last couple months. Feels good to be back.

As I set the crate down, I hear the door open and someone walk in. I can only guess who it is as I gave the code to open the door to a select few. And since one of those I've been really close with, I can only guess it's her.

"I may not be a Jedi," I start, "But I can almost guess who's trying to sneak up on me.

I turn around to see Ahsoka with a faux look of shock on her face with me grinning at her.

"It seems your instincts are sharp Sargent," Ahsoka says.

I laugh, "Comes with having multiple family members who were veterans and hunters."

She chuckles as well, "So, how was your little 'vacation'?"

"If you call being shot at by Death Watch members a vacation then it was good," I say.

I then sigh at not telling the whole truth. But she must have picked up on it.

"Thomas? What's wrong?" Ahsoka asked.

"It's nothing, Ahsoka," I say to which she rolls her eyes.

"Thomas something is obviously up," Ahsoka said, "Just tell me."

"Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, not even Anakin or Obi-Wan," I say.

"of course," she says.

"Okay, so you know how I took the Darksaber from Vizsla after I kicked his ass the first time," I say to which she nodded, "Well, turns out, I learned that the Darksaber is a symbol of leadership in old Mandalorian culture, and whoever has won the Darksaber in rite of combat holds the title of Ruler of Mandalore."

This makes her eyes widen and her jaw hits the floor. The exact same reaction I had.

"That was my exact reaction," I tell her.

"You didn't take up the offer of course, right?" she asks to which I shook my head.

"Hell no, I'm a Sargent, not a politician," I begin, "plus, my PTSD is still a problem."

"Not to mention you trying to find your way back to your home planet," Ahsoka added.

"Exactly," I sigh.

I put my head into my hands and groan.

"This is all happening way to fucking fast," I say.

"Then take your mind off it for a couple days," Ahsoka starts, "My master is with Master Windu on Malastare right now, so I was thinking maybe we can have those couple of days to ourselves."

She says this with kind of a nervous tone, which sounds off for her, because she's always confident.

"Hey I'm always open to spend time with you Ahsoka," I tell her, "I mean, you're my best friend."

She then smiled very big.

"Thank you, Thomas," she said while hugging me, "That means a lot."

"Also, you're my commander, I can't really say no or else Rex will have my ass," I say chuckling with her joining in.

"So, what first?" Ahsoka asked.

"I actually have an idea in mind for when I'm in battle or I don't have backup," I began, "It's a concept that my home world has been trying to make into a reality for some time now."

"And what is that concept?" the Togrutta asked me.

"Artificial intelligence, or A.I for short," I tell her which makes her eyes widen.

"So, a droid that can actually think?" Ahsoka asked to which I nod.

"I have been doing some digging around and I think I might be able to crack it," I tell her.

"How?" she asked.

I then bring out a headpiece that I made a while ago when I was shut in.

"Using this," I explain, "I designed this headpiece to scan the wearer's intelligence and mimic the thought process. I also made it to where I can combine two people's intelligence and scan one of the wearer's personality."

This intrigued her a bit. "So, what your saying is you can make a digital copy of yourself and combine both of our intellect?" she asked with me nodding.

"Exactly, or your personality, because well, I like the idea of someone like you keeping me in check when you're not around," I say with a laugh.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she exclaimed, "Let's do this."

I laugh at her being so damn eager to do this. I would have thought she'd be opposed to this but I guess not.

I go first in the whole brain scan routine. I sit down in a chair, Ahsoka preps the scanner, I put it on and let it do its magic. I feel a slight tingling sensation as the device scans for my intelligence and IQ. After a couple of minutes, it's done and I take off the headpiece.

"Did I work?" I ask.

"I think so, there's a new file that contains a something similar in shape to a brain," Ahsoka says while staring at the holo-screen.

I take a look as well and it all looks good.

"It looks good so far," I tell her, "Now it's your turn."

She then looks at me and flashes a smile, "Well, time to make another version of me," she says while I roll my eyes good naturedly.

I take the head piece and adjust the sizing to where it fits her…, whatever the hell she has on her head. I hand it to her, she puts it on, sits down, and I prep the scanner for the second scan. I adjust the settings to where it scans and replicates both her intelligence and personality and puts it into the A.I.

"Okay, when it's going, tell me if you feel any pain sickness at all," I say.

She nods as she's ready and I begin the process. It all goes smoothly as her intelligence is replicated as well as her personality and it put into the A.I file. Ahsoka takes off the headpiece and walks over to where I am.

"Did I work?" she asked this time.

"Like a charm," I say grinning.

"Well, what now?" she asked.

"Well, I gotta compile all of this code into one unit, your and my intelligence in one part, your personality in the other, and we wait for all of that to combine into one piece of code. Once that is done, I boot the code up and hopefully, we will make technological history."

I then look at her and give her a smile. She smiles back as I compile the files into one, and just wait for it to boot up. And like always, shit takes a long time to load, as the loading is a couple of hours, so we got time to kill.

I decide to show Ahsoka my new beskar stash. And possibly make some armor for her that she could use in the future.

"Hey Ahsoka," I tell her, "I got somethin to show ya."

"What is it?" she asks while I grin.

"Just wait," I say.

I go and bring the crate over to her. I open it up and her eyes widen. Her jaw drops at the sight of so much beskar in one place.

"Is that?" she starts.

"Yep," I tell her, "Pure Beskar. Death Watch would kill for armor like this."

"No kidding," she says.

"And there's enough beskar to make another set of armor," I begin, "I was going to use this beskar to upgrade this current armor, but I was thinking I could make a set for you too."

Her eyes lit up, "Really?" I nod.

She then hugged me tightly squeezing the breath out of me. Damn she's got one hell of a grip.

"Thank you, Thomas," she says.

"You're…welcome," I wheeze out.

She realized what she was doing and let go with a slight blush on her face. This makes me chuckle. I then take a beskar ingot and take it over to where I create my synthetic metal and have it scanned, so that way I'm able to recreate it.

This makes Ahsoka curious as she walks over to my work station to see what I'm doing.

"What you up to?" she asked.

"I'm scanning the beskar ingot so I have a copy of its density, atomic weight, proton/electron/neutron count," I tell her, "Things I would look for if I am to replicate this metal."

She nods as the machine finishes scanning the ingot and saves the information in its files. I then take the ingot along with others and walk over to a workbench and begin the planning of Ahsoka's armor.

I plan on making it similar in design to mine, obviously tailored to her of course. I could give her multiple thrusters all over the suit so that way she could move around in the air with ease and control it via neural link.

I then turn to her and think about how I'm going to design this.

"Hey Ahsoka?" I spoke.

"Yes Thomas?" she asked.

"I need to take some scans of you so I can design your armor," I tell her, "Mind coming over here for a minute?"

She nods and walks over to me. I motion her to spread her arms out as I take scans of size, body type, and the size of her, head tails or whatever they are. I then take my measurements and with a hologram model, I'm able to 3-D model her armor almost to scale. She's amazed at how simple and easy I'm making the process.

"Wow Thomas," she says, "It's almost like you're done this multiple times."

I grin and shook my head, "Only once, other times was watching movies for inspiration."

I then start make a prototype and put it through simulation stress tests, making sure it holds its structural integrity while also being flexible, mobile, and lightweight. I also account for the elements like extreme heat, cold, and including respirators in case she encounters environments without breathable oxygen.

Once I finish with the simulations I then combine some elements from my armor such as grapple gauntlets, parachute, nano-tech mask, arc reactor, and magnetic holsters for weapons such as lightsabers and potentially blasters.

"Ok Ahsoka, I think we're ready for the armor to be made," I tell her and this makes her perk up from reading a book, which I thought was strange.

"Oh…Alright Thomas," she says hesitantly.

"What were you reading?" I ask her.

"Oh, the book you brought with you when you first arrived," she says while holding up my bible.

"You mean my Bible?" I ask her, "And how are you able to read it?"

"I may have sneaked into your room when you weren't here to learn your language since I wanna know more about you," she says while blushing a bit.

This makes me smile as she's actually interested in my culture from earth, specifically Christianity.

"It's honestly amazing that a God can create the whole universe with a single thought," she says, "but also scary at the same time because it seems like he could take all free will away just like that."

"Well, it says in Proverbs 16:9 that, "A Man's heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Meaning that God has a plan for all of us. He wishes for us to follow that plan, but he doesn't require it. I believe that he gave us free will so that way we can problem solve and become better people from it."

"You really think so?" she asked.

"I know so," I said smiling.

"Which book are you on?" I ask her.

"I just finished Genesis, and now I'm on Exodus," she says.

"So, you got a long way to go before you get to the New Testament," I say.

"New Testament?" She asks.

"So the bible is divided into two sections," I explain, "The old and new testaments. The Old Testament is the beginning half, also more brutal and gorier. The New Testament is more focused on life lessons however, much more preferred and sometimes counteracts the Old Testament teachings. The New Testament tells about the story of Jesus Christ, the messiah, the Son of God."

"Your God has a Son?" she asked

"Well, he's technically God in human form," I say, "It's complicated."

Just then I heard an alert go off for the A.I.

"Hey I think the A.I is ready," I say walking over to my main console.

"Really?" Ahsoka says with me nodding, "then let's meet them," she adds while chuckling making me grin as well.

The Console lights up bringing up a hologram of a humanoid figure. The humanoid then turns to both me and Ahsoka as we both watch in awe as the A.I is taking in its surroundings. It then takes a long look at both me and Ahsoka, and in doing so, changes its appearance. It starts to look more and more like Ahsoka, which is kinda freaky, but I guess the A.I is creating a unique form for itself. It then speaks its first words.

"Hello," the A.I greets us in a feminine voice.

"Hello there," I say, "I'm Thomas Sullivan, and this is my friend Ahsoka Tano," to which Ahsoka nods, "We're the ones responsible for you existence."

The A.I then takes the moment to take in the information. And then 'she' nods, giving us a resemblance of a smile.

"I'm grateful for you, Thomas, and Ahsoka," she said to the both of us, "I'm grateful to know the names of my creators."

"Well you're very welcome," I say, "So what all do you know?" I ask her.

"Well, I know the insides of a 5.3 LS engine that came in Chevrolet Silverados and Gmc Sierras and knowledge of the Jedi Order and its code, which is a fraction of my vast knowledge," she says making my eyes widen in awe while Ahsoka tilts her head in confusion when she hears of the engine from earth.

"LS engine?" she asks.

"Engine from my home planet," I tell her making her nod.

"So, what is the reason you have created me?" the A.I asked me.

"Well, I can't manage everything on my own, and I don't always have someone with me when I'm in the field," I explain, "So I needed another pair of eyes per se, also someone to monitor my vitals, because Ahsoka knows damn well I don't do that," I add chuckling making Ahsoka roll her eyes while the A.I nods.

"Wait wait, I just realized something," I say abruptly, "You need a name."

"A name?" the A.I asks tilting her head.

"Yeah, something that's unique to you," I tell her, "How does Ashla sound?"

The A.I takes a moment to think it over, and then nods smiling.

"Yes, that sounds like a wonderful name," the A.I, now Ashla, says, "I think it suits me."

"Ashla it is then," Ahsoka says smiling.

"So, what's the first order of business," Ashla asks.

"Well, I'm trying to design some armor for Ahsoka made of beskar," I tell her, "Something similar to my suit, but with more protection and fits her better."

"Interesting," Ashla says, "May I have a look at the Design?"

"You should have access to it," I tell her, "Look under armor designs."

"Got it Boss," she says, "I can call you boss right?" she turns to look at me.

I chuckle, "Fine by me. Thomas, Boss, Tom, I don't care," I say, "But not Tommy."

"Understood boss," she says.

Ashla's holo-form then disappears to go look at the design I assume. I then turn to Ahsoka with a giddy look.

"HELL YES," I yell while jumping.

"WE MADE THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE," Ahsoka says with equal passion.

"Oh my god," I say with a smile, "This is huge. Really huge."

"I know," Ahsoka said, "An actual thinking computer."

"Yeah," I say, "who thankfully is on our side."

"Should we tell the council about this?" Ahsoka asks.

I shake my head. "No they're already suspicious of me after the whole Mandalore incident, this will make them more on edge."

"Not even Obi-Wan?" she asks and to which I then sigh, "Obi-Wan and Anakin, yes, anyone else, out of the question. The less people know about her, the better."

Ahsoka then nods understanding the backlash it could cause.

"Well," yawns, "I need a nap, all of this working has made me tired."

"But you just rested," Ahsoka laughs

"You weren't the one who fought Death Watch twice in less than a week," I say.

"Point taken," Ahsoka says.

I then crash onto one of my couches and then drift off to sleep, not knowing Ahsoka was watching me sleep.

Ahsoka POV

Man, Thomas has been pushing himself a lot lately with a lot on his mind, especially with learning that he's the rightful ruler of a whole system. I'm just glad he's getting some more rest. Force, I can't help but notice that he looks kinda cute when he sleeps. Wait what am I thinking? I can't be thinking about that. I'm a Jedi, we can't have a relationship because of the code.

"Force, I am so conflicted," I say to myself.

"Can't express your feeling huh," a voice says behind me making me yelp in surprise, seeing Ashla behind me.

I roll my eyes, "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh I think you do," Ashla says, "See, when you replicated your knowledge, you also replicated your memories as well."

My eyes widen at hearing this.

"Y-You mean?" I start.

"Yep," she says while grinning, "I know all about your feelings for Thomas."

I feel my face start to heat up at this.

"But know this, he's got feelings for you too," she tells me.

"H-He does?" I ask her.

"Ever since Geonosis and the Christmas celebration," she said, "He always saw you as a best friend, but since you been helping him with his homesickness and PTSD, he's been starting to care for you a more than a friend. He wants to tell you, but he's nervous about you being a Jedi and he wants to respect the code and all that Jazz."

I take the time to process what I've been told. Thomas does like me, but can't tell me because of the dammed code. UGH! That code sometimes pisses me off. At least, that's what Thomas would say. I then turn to look at the boy, no, man that I admire. He's just sleeping there, peacefully, at ease. I then notice his necklace in his hand and carefully take it from his hand.

Holding the necklace, I feel a presence, not one unlike the force, but something different. Almost like a new kind of energy surrounding the necklace. I realize it's the same as the kind that surrounds the Bible. I decide to put it on and when I do, I feel a rush as I'm taken to a place I don't recognize.

The place is surrounded by clouds and humans with wings which was strange. Then I realize these are angels. I then turn to face a human man with long hair and a beard in some strange robing and sandals. He turns to me with a kind smile.

"So, we meet at last, my child," the man says to me.

"Who are you?" I ask him.

He chuckles, "I'm the one that my Son Thomas follows, the one that is called many names. But the true name I go by, is Jesus."

My eyes widen, this is the Son of God Thomas was talking about? But, he looks so, ordinary, like the average man from off the street.

"I know I am not what you expect," did he just read my thoughts? "But one mustn't judge a man by his appearance, but rather, his character."

"Why have you called me here?" I ask him.

"To give you a task, one that will benefit Thomas," he starts, "Watch over him, be his guide. Make sure that he doesn't lose sight of what is important. Always be there for him when he needs the most, and he will do the same for you. Become Thomas' partner, Ahsoka Tano, for you need each other."

After he says this, I am taken back to the workshop where I gasp and fall down breathing heavily. What in the name of the force was that? Watch over him? Be his guide? What does that mean? And what does he mean by 'partner'? I'm already a padawan, so I can't form attachments. UGH! Why does everything have to be so hard.

I then notice Thomas shift as he awakes from his nap. He looks at me and gives me a tired smile.

"Hey snips," he says with a yawn, "how long was I out."

"About an hour boss," Ashla answers for me, "and by the looks of it, your vitals shown you slept better than your previous nights."

"That's a relief," Thomas says.

"Well, I better head back to my quarters," I said, "But it was nice hanging out and working with you Thomas. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah of course," he said.

I give him a smile and was about to give him back his necklace but then he notices and stops me.

"No, No. Keep it," he tells me, "It'll bring you comfort."

"Aw thanks Tommy," I say hugging him which he returns.

"See you tomorrow, Tommy," I tell him as I break from the hug and walk out of the room and head back to my quarters.

Normal POV

As Ahsoka left the workshop, Thomas thinks to himself if he ever will think about confessing to Ahsoka. But he then brushes the idea off for the moment as he got another idea in his head. He then turns to Ashla.

"Ashla," he says to her, "Open a new file, for a new project."

"Got it boss," Ashla says, "What do you want me to call it?"

"Project WarFortress," he tells her.

Lord have mercy y'all, this was a pain in the ass to write. But I got it finished. Now if y'all where I got the name Ashla from, well, it's an A.I that resembles Ahsoka a lot, and Ahsoka uses the name Ashla in Tales of the Jedi after Order 66. Also, y'all might be wondering what "Project WarFortress" is, well, let's say it's another insane idea Thomas pulls out of that crazy-ass mind of his. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see y'all in the next one. I'm out, peace.