Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.

Phase 19: Storm front

=RK=

Part 6

=RK=

Dry dock Sigma 3

KDY Orbital array

Kuat

Ahsoka used the first opportunity she got to get away from Zash, even if the reprieve offered was going to be temporarily. Her salvation came in the form of a call from her people back on Coruscant, who were still securing and investigating the primary Republic R&D facility on the planet. While waiting for additional information, Ahsoka went to the closest view port overlooking Kuat and marvelled at the ring-station surrounding the planet. She stood within the manifestation of KDY's power, the heart of their industrial might. The ring surrounding Kuat had multiple purposes – it provided secure docking points for resources, hundreds protected docks where ship could either be repaired or constructed and as importantly, the gargantuan facility was the first layer of Kuat's planetary defence. The KDY array could project a fortress shield that not only protected the station but the planet it orbited and when combined with the Kuati fleet, the planetary shields and other defensive emplacements, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that this was the best protected place in the galaxy.

That thought dampened Ahsoka's mood. All that hardware, the millions of people crewing and servicing it, all ground forces Kuat had, they didn't prevent Zash from bringing Onara Kuat to her knees. It was a sobering and terrifying thought. Only now Ahsoka was beginning to see that without the Jedi Order as a factor, there were few precious things that could give the Sith pause… and she was one of the people who would oppose them. For the people who relied upon her not to waste their lives, for the Republic and its citizens who were abandoned by the other Jedi. She could even see why the Council was so afraid of the Sith and understand why they went for a coup – Zash and what she did was a good enough reason. It was just that, Ahsoka wasn't ready to pay the price of opposing the Sith at this time, because even if she was uncomfortable with their methods, they appeared to be among the precious few whose actions would benefit the Republic citizens as a whole, even if that was merely a nice side effect as far as they were concerned. The Jedi, the sworn guardians of the Republic? Too many of her friends and mentors were all too eager to sacrifice the ordinary people and whole worlds in order to oppose the Sith. For all Ahsoka knew, the Council might even be right, however that wasn't a path she could follow. It wasn't for her, nor the other Jedi to decide who must be sacrificed in order to pursue their vendetta against the Sith. If they were just risking themselves, that would be one thing. Their actions directly leading to the fall of Corellia and all the chaos, strife and tragedies that followed? That was a step too far. It was a terrible time to live in, when Ahsoka lately found more in common with the Sith than the Jedi who raised her.

Her comm pinged and she was glad for the distraction it offered. Lately, being left with her own thoughts was downright depressing.

"You've got more details for me, captain?" Ahsoka smiled when she saw the face of one of her subordinates.

"We finally cracked another layer of encryption." The young captain scowled. "You're looking for Project Space Angel, ma'am. Solumn worked on creating a synthetic life form as a super military droid to be installed in capital ships. The first proof of concept, though with R&D in mind is already installed and operation in this facility." The captain looked almost faint. "It appears to have the provisional approval of both generals Kenobi and Veil so until it goes rogue we're to do nothing about it."

"What am I going to deal with here, Mike?" Ahsoka asked.

"At least one Victory Stardestroyer that should be almost complete with the system installed but supposedly not yet operational. From the data we have so far it's not clear if it's a single unit as a proof of concept or we're looking for others installed for at least a whole battle group."

"I really need to speak with Veil… Strangle the damn fool..." Ahsoka grumbled. "Capabilities of those things? Should I expect to get blown up along with a this whole section of the array?"

"There's no way to know how crazy those boffins over there are. I wouldn't have given a droid, much less some kind of fancy new super one access to weaponry, propulsion, life support or gravity. Solumn and his friends however..." The captain shrugged helplessly.

That idiot wanted to experiment on Zash of all people. The only reason he was still alive was that the Sith had other things to worry about at the time and couldn't give him the attention he deserved. Solumn should be hoping to end in some deep dark hole and after that everyone forgets he was there after throwing away the key otherwise Ahsoka didn't want to think what might happen to the fool.

"I'll call security and coordinate with the Kuati fleet just in case then." Ahsoka decided. "Keep the good work and make sure our boys and girls stay out of trouble. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Will do, ma'am. Keep safe." The captain saluted and cut the channel.

"Super droids in ships. What else was he working on? Super Sith because we don't have enough of those?" Ahsoka muttered darkly.

A few calls later, one to Zash so Onara Kuat could facilitate everyone moving with haste befitting the mess they might all be stuck into, Ahsoka walked into the nearby dock where thousands of people and tens of thousands of droids of all sizes worked on an almost complete Victory. Two platoons of fully kitted out local security marched behind her and she knew that at least a Venator squadron was making its way to blockade this section of the array just in case.

Looking at the ship, which was more than a kilometre long and hundreds of meters thick at the tallest section, Ahsoka wondered how in the name of the Force she was supposed to find out where that supper computer was hidden. The damn thing could be massive and still it could take them days or longer to even get close. At least some of the engineers working of the ship should know, right?

"We need to find the one responsible for this project and start asking questions." Ahsoka decided.

That at least was easy – the woman in charge headed their way once their presence caused enough commotion to gain her attention. She was just old enough to be Ahsoka's mother and with her short red hair looked like a younger version of Zash, which was extremely creepy. The last thing the galaxy needed was a second Zash!

"Ah, you mean the new main computer?" The Kuati woman beamed at Ahsoka once she explained what they were there to inspect. "She's plugged in and fully operational. She's blowing through all the tests so far! It's incredible! If everything pans out we'll be able to reduce the crew by a third and this is with more or less standard Victory configuration! If we go with even more automation we can cut the crew by at least half!" The engineer began bouncing on her feet in excitement.

She had no idea why Ahsoka looked as if she just bit into something rotten, nor the reason the security people behind her suddenly felt very apprehensive.

=RK=

Part 7

=RK=

Republic cruiser Victory

Dry dock Sigma 3

KDY Orbital array

Kuat

Walking into the belly of the beast was initially underwhelming. All over the place they could see open bulkheads, an inordinary quantity of cabling and equipment being slotted into place even if on the outside the ship appeared almost complete. The large corridors were chock full with people, droids and crates with supplies and machinery awaiting installation. Ahsoka expected something in that vein. What she found disturbing was the way Nalia Ceres, the chief engineer responsible for the Victory waxed lyrical about the super droid plugged into the ship. The exited explanation how this was the namesake of the class' flagship that got destroyed above Duros and was expected to end up being at least as distinguished as its namesake, didn't help.

What clinched things for Ahsoka was when they stepped through an invisible line and a holo-image of a youngish human woman came into being besides Nalia. She looked very chipper and at a first glance, one would be convinced that this was a human, not a machine!

"We have guests I see, Nal! Care to introduce us?" The droid's avatar leaned forward as if to peer at Ahsoka and even more uncomfortably feeling security troopers accompanying her. She sounded awfully happy to see them too!

"Colonel Tano from the GAR, those behind us are array security. They're very interested in meeting you. Do we finally have green light to built more just like Vicky here?" Ceres asked excitedly.

"I won't go that far yet..." Ahsoka stammered at the insane question.

"Nal, I don't think she likes me." The droid sulked! That thing wasn't right! Who in their right mind put it into a fully fledged capital ship?!

Ahsoka looked at Engineer Ceres who was sulking too, thought about that madman Solumn and she had her answer. It was Veil's idea too, which only made everything that much worse. She rubbed her forehead wondering how to handle this without ending up with hundreds or even thousands of people either suffocated, turned into paste from overloaded gravity generators, vaporized by the Guardian system or worse… Ever since she learned about this, all kinds of horror scenarios ran through her mind, each worse than the previous one!

"What's not to like? Vicky and her sisters will change the course of this war once we have enough of them!" There was not a hint of a doubt in Ceres' voice. She sounded proud of herself and the unhinged droid!

The hologram beamed at the praise and her head bobbed up and down as she nodded.

"Of course you can't see how this can concern people..." Ahsoka's eyes twitched in frustration. "This all was Veil's idea, wasn't it?!"

"That's my understanding too! He's like my step-dad or something! If it wasn't for him I wouldn't exist! You know him right? Tell me about him, please?" The droid fixed its attention on Ahsoka.

"What? Just what?!" She stared at the hologram.

"Vicky's kinda excitable and she's been very bored stuck in here. She can't wait for her crew and shake up cruise!" Ceres confided.

As if anyone was insane enough to want a crazy droid plugged in their ship…

Ahsoka's comm beeped. She looked at it in irritation, however she had to answer – that tone was reserved from transmissions from command. She schooled her expression in one of polite professionalism and answered.

Speak about the devil or the Sith in this case…

"Colonel Tano!" Veil in all his Sithy glory grinned at her. "Congratulations of graduating with distinction and about your promotion. From what I her they were both richly deserved."

"General, sir!" The time spent at Anaxes kicked in, Ahsoka stood straight like a pole and gave as much of a textbook salute as possible while her superior spoke to her through a comm built in the left arm-guard of her armour.

There was approval in Veil's eyes as he sharply returned her salute. "At ease, Colonel. Zash just informed me you've made an interesting discovery."

"That's one way to put it, sir." Ahsoka's smile was all teeth. What was that madman thinking wanting to build super droids?!

"Tell me all about it. Being stuck away from the Core, I've been unable to keep abreast with certain projects being vital to Republic security."

"It's operational!" Ahsoka sent an accusing glare at the Sith who nodded approvingly.

"That's what I want to hear! Can you patch here in? I would love to meet her."

"Her?" Ahsoka asked faintly.

"I was under the impression that the artificial sentience of the ship would be female. Am I mistaken?"

"I am female, thank you very much!" The droid's avatar moved or at least the holo-projectors built in the corridor gave it such an impression until it walked into Ahsoka comm's camera range.

"General Veil, sir, it's an honour!" The droid gushed. "I am Prototype Artificial Sentience VK-01, Victoria, assigned to Republic cruiser Victory, hull number VK-31!"

"It's good to meet you, Victoria!" Veil sounded genuine too!

Ahsoka looked from the general to the unhinged droid and back. What was wrong with those two?! Or better yet, what wasn't wrong with them?!

"I'm looking forward to seeing you in action. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I'm calling. If your hull is complete and you're operational on time, I would want to have you along when we go liberate Mandalore."

The droid's avatar began bouncing just like Ceres did earlier and Ahsoka wondered who was a worse influence on whom among those two.

"General, are you sure that would be a good idea?" Ahsoka tried to be the lonely voice of reason.

"I can assure you that if we have two to three more weeks we'll have Vicky here ready and raring to go!" Ceres promised.

"That's excellent. While I would love to go earlier, it would be at least a month before we can gather an appropriate fleet to send to Mandalore. Can you be at Tanaab within three to four weeks? I can find a battle tested and experienced crew for you."

"Really?!" The droid exclaimed. "I mean I would be honoured, general Veil, sir!" The droid shook itself up and took stood at attention.

"She's a bit excitable. It's mostly the boredom and being stuck in the dock since awakening. She really doesn't like being cooped in inside."

"I'm a warship! I was made to fly and smite the Republic's enemies!"

"That's the spirit!" Veil nodded in approval and Ahsoka despaired. "In fact, I think I would personally escort your future captain and some of your officers and crew to Kuat and come meet you in person."

Ahsoka didn't know what she was more afraid of – Veil facilitating the creation of more droids like this Victoria or him and Zash meeting and plotting together… She even pitied Onara Kuat who would have to deal with them both at least until it dawned on her that she would be in the middle of it too...