Boyzilla: Yes indeed, I realized that Space Ishtar was the equivalent of the Death Star in biped mode... Yes, I know the Extended Universe.
arxangel1832: She remained in the Servant Universe.
end5: Thank you
Archangel Xireon Chaos God: Thank you, I hope to do as well for this chapter.
MaxHD2490: Well it was enough to ask, here is another chapter.
randomguy: I prefer this version of Space Ishtar.
Author's note: This is my new chapter. I started it immediately after writing the previous one, as I have several other series in progress and do not expect such a fast delivery of the next episode. Otherwise, the writing of this chapter led me to multiple rewrites. In particular, I added a passage with Vader and the Emperor that was not in the synopsis. I thought it would be rather awkward to explain during Vader's (future) intervention that the Emperor was aware of the presence of Space Ishtar from the beginning. And I got caught up... I added details, descriptions, and a psychological portrait of Darth Vader... After all, this is the first appearance of the most emblematic character in the saga.
The Mandalorian Falcon ( First Part)
Shipyard of Fondor
The bridge tower of the Executor was a typical KDY design similar to the one of the Imperator-Class stardestroyer. Its bay windows showed the black space, quilted by bright stars as well as some TIEs on patrol. But above all, the officers could see the gigantic shipyards of Fondor. The planet was surrounded by a gigantic ring that normally hosted hundreds of ships. Strangely, only one dry dock was occupied. In fact, the entire system had been blocked from civilian traffic, and all construction contracts were suspended to ensure secret. A ship like the galaxy had never seen one was under construction.
The Executor, a new class of Super-Destroyer, A ship so big and so well armed that at her sight alone would plunge the enemies of the Empire into terror and despair.
In the crew pit of the Executor, the hands in the Imperial crewman's grey uniform were very attentive to the screens in front of them, exchanging only necessary words. Even the officers moving from one post to another whispered, no one daring to raise their voices.
This made it perfectly possible to hear a person walking the command walkway. The footsteps resounded, accompanied by a sound of mechanical breathing. Throughout the Empire, this sound was the source of many nightmares.
One of the crew members shivered as two black boots appeared in his field of vision, as well as the bottom of a cape as black as night.
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, stopped in front of the vast bay overlooking the superstructures of the Executor, his flagship.
The man formerly known as Anakin Skywalker was now nothing more than a machine with artificial limbs, whose heart beat only with a cardiac exciter, whose lungs and stomach were assisted. A machine... but a machine that drew its power from an inexorable will fueled by anger, hatred, and, above all, the Dark Side of the Force.
When he raised his arms, the bionic limbs pulled on the stumps cut by Obi-Wan Kenobi... and it hurt. Breathing hurt because his lungs had been damaged by Mustafar's volcanic ashes. Talking pulled the burned skin from his face. His life was nothing but pain... and the only thing that softened his permanent torture was to be plunged into a bacta tank. But Darth Vader did not allow himself to be stopped by a problem as insignificant as pain. The cyborg had lost everything... except the Dark Side and a huge will to dominate others.
Yet no one suspected his torment. For the rest of the galaxy, or rather the rest of the galaxy except for Darth Sidious, Vader was a black armor and a black skull-like mask with dark lenses and a triangular mesh opening allowing him to breathe. This face, like his mechanical breathing, had become the personification of the despotism that the Empire exercised over the galaxy.
Although he had no official title within the Empire, Vader served as the executor of Palpatine's wills. And Sidious gave him the means of this task, besides the Executor, an entire legion of Stormtroopers, the 501st "Vader's Fist" was entirely at his command. At any moment, at the slightest whim of Palpatine, Vader could go to a planet with full authority. Corrupt officials and incompetent military commanders ended up strangled. Rebel bases were bombed from orbit. Vader was the incarnation of terror and repression. Moreover, the Dark Lord of the Sith was considered the heir of the Emperor, the one who would take the throne after Palpatine's death.
One could understand the terror that seized the crew members of the Executor. Vader was the embodiment of imperial autocracy. He could kill with one gesture... literally... and he often would!
Indifferent to the terror of the crew members - mere extras in a cardboard theatre scene - Darth Vader contemplated his ship.
The Executor was brought to Fondor a few months ago, now. The construction of this titanic ship had begun in an isolated system almost two years earlier. Millions of droids had worked tirelessly to assemble the main structure.
But the most delicate phase, the construction of the interior, the addition of the thrusters, and the hyperthrusters required specialized workers and technicians, hence the presence of the Executor in a dry dock that had been built at her size in this orbital shipyard.
Behind the dark lenses of his mask, Vader looked at the shuttles and freighters that entered and exited the hull openings without seeing them.
He just felt something...
A disturbance of the Force.
At this point, Vader felt that the attention of several officers was directed at him, without turning around he inspected them remotely thanks to the Dark Side.
He felt terror. The men were choosing one of them to talk to him by playing 'janken'
The loser approached the Sith Lord.
"My Lo... Lord, the Emperor wants to speak to you."
The bust of the emperor, wrapped in a black monk's robe, appeared on the holographic pod. Although translucent and faded, the image was projected larger than life.
Darth Vader knelt down, staring at the ground, with a feigned humility that he was far from feeling.
"My Master!"
Under the hood of the black dress, the Emperor's face was almost invisible. The shadows hid the part above the mouth and only his yellow eyes were shining. But the lips smiled. It was a malicious expression revealing rotten teeth and the lower face was incredibly wrinkled.
"Stand up, my friend."
The voice was smooth, sweet as honey... but poisoned honey.
Vader served Palpatine only to acquire all his knowledge of the Dark Side... and one day he will take his place as emperor and Sith master.
As for Palpatine, he found Vader useful as an executor of his dirty work. The Emperor would keep him until he found better... after? There could only be two Siths!
Both played a complicated comedy. Vader's false humility responded to Palpatine's false friendliness. They did not mislead each other, each knowing the other perfectly. This comedy was intended for those who were prostrate near the throne of Darth Sidious and to which it was reminded that the Emperor had a devoted servant ready to defend him. It was also intended for the officers in the Executor's bridge who could hear the conversation. That served as a reminder that it was the Emperor himself who had placed them under Vader's command.
Ultimately, one of the two Siths would end up killing the other. However, for the time being, everyone was satisfied with the tacit agreement that united them and was working to strengthen the position of the other.
The silence had lasted only a moment, Vader's black and shimmering helmet rose while the eyes hidden under the smart lenses were fixed on the eyes of the Emperor.
"My Master, how may I serve you?"
"I felt a great disturbance of the Force. An unknown form of energy upset the balance between the Dark Side and the Light Side... this event had not appeared in any of my previous meditations. It's an unexpected future, an unknown threat!"
"An unknown threat, My Master?"
"Lord Vader, I briefly confronted a very powerful entity... even though it was disoriented and weakened, it managed to escape me. You will go immediately to the Sullust Sector. You must destroy this entity or convert it to the Dark Side."
"But, My Master, I have an important task here..."
The Rebellion aided by Admiral Griff - the commander of the defense force of the Executor's construction site - sought to sabotage the Super stardestroyer before her completion. Vader remained there to counter the threat. But Palpatine cut the Dark Lord off preventing him from protesting further.
"Lord Vader, this unknown threat questions everything. Fear not for your... present task, I personally handle the matter."
Somewhere in an uninhabited planetary system 35 light years from Sullust.
Ishtar awoke with a sense of urgency. She opened her eyes to... the darkness. Her throat was burning and she had trouble breathing.
The memory of her host, Corianna Corvell, allowed her to understand what was going on. Excess of carbon dioxide. The air was no longer renewed and she poisoned herself with the carbon dioxide she breathed out.
Ishtar's personality easily dominated that of the child who served as her avatar. She was not one who panicked easily. But when she tried to get up her movement sent her softly up... or down... and she found herself floating in weightlessness.
The conclusion was simple, all vital systems were down simultaneously, even the emergency lighting and the dashboard diodes. This meant that the generator and the backup batteries were no longer working.
Space Ishtar's first reaction was to call Maanna her spaceship. But... she focused, looking for the link that connected her to her ship. And all she found was a feeble response... as if Maanna was very far from her.
The goddess swallowed, understanding that she was in a situation worthy of a horror movie.
It was a race against time.
Ishtar had to restart the pump connected to the carbon dioxide filter before the poisoning killed her...
Not to mention that the air was no longer renewed and the temperature dropped rapidly.
The CR-90 Corellian Corvette was rushing into the cosmic void.
The spacecraft was a very common model. Manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation, the Corvette was a great commercial success. Her highly recognizable silhouette, with a hammerhead-shaped bow and eleven tubular ion thrusters, joined in three rows at the stern, was frequently encountered throughout the galaxy.
She was a very customizable ship. The freighter version of the CR-90 carried cargo on all known commercial spacelines, the warship version was used by pirates, the Empire, the Rebel Alliance, and multiple other factions. Leia Organna's personal ship had been a Consular Ship version of the Corellian starship.
And history tended to repeat itself...
Like the Tantive IV, a few weeks earlier, the CR-90 Corvette Gold of Abaraq was pursued by a triangular ship with a white hull and a rear bridge tower.
Except that the rebel ship was not fleeing an Imperator-class ISD, but an Immobilizer-418 Interdictor cruiser, recognizable by the four spheres of her gravity projectors.
The Gold of Abaraq had been suddenly pulled from hyperspace by a large mass that was on her trajectory in the real universe... except that it was a phantom mass, created by a gravity generator.
Now, luminous projectiles crisscrossed the space between the two ships, exploding against their shields.
But the CR-90 Corvette was significantly faster than the Interdictor, which is why this type of ship was nicknamed Blockade Runner by the Imperials, and the distance between the hunter and the prey increased.
Adar Tollon (1) was a 40-year-old man with a chiseled face and greying hair. He was a hero of the Clone War, a commander who had distinguished himself in many battles against the armies of the CIS. Nevertheless, after Order 66, after the proclamation of the Empire, he had judged it more prudent to organize his own death.
His flagship, the Battalion a Venator-class Destroyer had been ambushed by unidentified pirates and destroyed. The new emperor gave a tearful speech and Adar Tollon had an official funeral.
Except that...
The group of 'unidentified' pirates was Quist's gang. Quist was perhaps a pirate now, but (before that) he had been a young captain of the Grand Army of the Republic... Despite his new career, Quist had kept in touch with his former superior... Adar Tollon.
I think it is needless to say that Tollon had been taken from the pirate ship before the destruction of the Battalion and therefore the notice of his death had been somewhat exaggerated.
When the Rebel Alliance was formed, Tollon joined it and his reappearance had not made everyone happy... especially among the Imperials. Tollon was now on their Most Wanted list.
Running in the corridors and crossing crewmen protected by blast-vests and blast-helmets, armed with blaster rifles, Tollon arrived on the bridge.
"Give me your report!"
An insectoid alien whose face disappeared behind a breathing mask turned towards him and said a few things in a whistling tongue.
Tollon did not need a translation; Vytor Shrike was his second-in-command for half of his life.
"Okay, so if the Interdictor doesn't destroy us before, we'll eventually get out of the area covered by her gravity projectors."
Tollon looked up at a screen. The cone of the gravity wells was represented in the form of a dark blue triangle. The Gold of Abaraq was already halfway to the nearest end.
Tollon's bodyguard, a colossal Trandoshan in a spacesuit, held out a hand covered with green scales towards another screen. It showed red dots that had just appeared around the Interdictor. It said something in a rocky language.
"Yes, you're right, go to the nearest laser turret and take Vytor with you. Thank you for offering your help, Jungen."
The Trandoshan laughed and slammed the shoulder of his leader and friend before running to a shaft followed by the insectoid. The Trandoshan had a bad reputation because they were slavers who had kidnapped many Wookiees on behalf of the Empire. But to say that all the Trandoshan were slavers was absurd, as everywhere else there were good people.
Sitting in the command chair that Vytor Shrike had just left, Tollon asked for the helmsman's attention.
"At my command, change course at full speed and begin a new heading at 045. Do not wait for my order, dive into Hyper as soon as we leave the cone."
Adar Tollon had only attained the rank of Commander of the Line ( a rank between Stardestroyer Commander and Rear-Admiral) at the end of the Clone War... but it was not his career as an officer that made him a hero of the galaxy. He had marked his time as a war theorist.
The Interdictor was using a tactic he had invented... and Tollon of course knew the flaw. The Corvette was not only faster than the Immobilizer-418 Cruiser, but she also had a shorter turning rate.
To get out of the gravity cone, the fastest way was not to continue straight, but to go out from the side since a cone is narrower than it is long.
Corianna Corvell was born onboard the Jumper. She had learned everything there was to know about mechanics and electronics by watching her parents. Like all smugglers, they were handymen who had upgraded their old cargo well beyond specification with a patchwork of scattered parts.
Ishtar had access to Corianna's memory.
Thanks to the girl's knowledge, the goddess immediately understood that the energy overload had fried all the systems on board. Fortunately, in a storage locker, there was a batch of spare batteries kept in a locker and protected by anti-static/ anti-choc foam.
She had started by opening the hatch in the ground that gave access to the artificial gravity generator. It was not a vital system but... working in 0-G was difficult and exhausting. And the quality of the breathable air decreased with each breath in! Space Ishtar had really no time to waste.
Only then did the goddess change the batteries of the other systems... except she didn't have enough. As she was using the Ligh Magecraft, she decided to do without the emergency lighting system.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to change the batteries for the broken devices to restart. With tears in his eyes, Ishtar saw the screens finally turned on displaying error messages and crash reports, The atmospheric regenerator still did not restart. The atmosphere was now very low in oxygen and very rich in carbon dioxide. The computer - which had restarted- taught her that four pumps out of five were broken. Only the cooling system pump was still running.
Of course, there were only three pumps in the equipment reserve!
Of course...
Ishtar turned her head back, rubbing her scalp with both hands.
"Can't I get lucky for once? Is that too much to ask?"
Fortunately, one of the pumps was not necessary, at least normally. It was the nitrogen cylinder pump. Nitrogen, although an essential component of the breathable atmosphere was a neutral gas, it did not decrease or increase with respiration (unlike CO2 and O2).
The only role of the nitrogen cylinder, and its pump, was to raise the pressure in case of atmospheric loss. Since the Escape Pod was still sealed, it was a no-vital system.
Once the pumps were replaced, the atmosphere gradually became breathable. And it wasn't a minute too soon, because Ishtar was panting like on top of a mountain and had visual disorders due to excess carbon dioxide in her bloodstream.
She lay down for about ten minutes.
Her life was no longer in danger, at least for the time being... Nevertheless, the radio was no longer working, the computer was malfunctioning and... the main generator was still off. The batteries had limited autonomy. Of course, they were rechargeable but... the battery charger was powered by the main generator.
The next operation was to restart the generator.
And things went much better than Space Ishtar had feared. After opening the hatch in the ceiling that gave access to the source of energy, the goddess discerned visible damages in the armor of the ion reactor. Nevertheless, it was enough to switch several times between "On" and "Off" for the system to restart.
Of course, the power supply was deficient, but by testing the components one after the other and changing the damaged ones, Space Ishtar was able to bring the power production back to a level sufficient to no longer need the batteries. Supreme luxury, the light worked.
The timing was almost perfect... since the battery supplying the gravity generator (the most energy-intensive system) was only 20% charged.
Ishtar then devoted her efforts to the reparation of the radio. It had suffered only minor damage, an electrical transformer and a resistor had burned. She just needs to replace them so that a green diode lights up. Now the Escape Pod was automatically diffusing a distress message.
But, her only chance of survival was the emergency arrival before her supplies ran out. And Space Ishtar was floating in a planetary system outside of trade routes.
Adar Tollon nodded at the end of the report and thanked the repair teams.
The brief clash had resulted in only minor damage... Unlike the Imperials who had lost six TIE fighters. Tollon shook his head with a mixture of old anger and professional indignation. In the past, when he was still part of the Imperial fleet, Tollon had written a memoir for the Emperor. He explained that the replacement choice for the old fighters (V-Wing, RCO-170) was a mistake. TIEs were fighters with little armor, no shields, no ejection seat, and short ranges making them completely dependent on a carrier ship. In fact, the list of qualities of the TIEs was very short. They were very agile fighters and very fast. They could easily be machined in an assembly line for a small cost. In addition, the ion turbines of the TIEs had no moving parts, they were very reliable propellers, easy to maintain... and for a low cost.
Except one wasn't saving money by endangering the pilot's life, after all the most expensive element, the most difficult to replace, and which took the most time to produce was the pilot himself... Even setting aside any humanitarian consideration, this was a senseless waste of resources!
"Sir, we'll be out of hyperspace in ten minutes."
Tollon focused on the present. His current mission was very important. This Mandalorian Falcon was to be recovered as quickly as possible.
The officer in charge of the sensor suddenly turned to him.
"Sir, I sense an anomaly in the planetary system where we will emerge."
"An anomaly," Tollon replied. "What kind of anomaly?"
The officer hesitated...
"I don't know, sir. I've never seen anything like that. I have completely abnormal readings... unknown particles have been detected. The phenomenon is on a cosmic scale..."
The man manipulated some commands and a holographic screen appeared in front of Tollon, showing a kind of whirlwind of energy that would measure several million kilometers in diameter.
"Are we heading for that?"
"No, sir. This image is several hours old, we only receive it now. At that time the phenomenon was already decreasing."
"I see." Tollon turned to the helmsman. "Get us out of hyperspace to one AU (2) of the anomaly."
The general was starting to worry. First a meeting with an Interdictor and now this... Of course, this cosmic whirlwind could be an unknown natural phenomenon or... a new miracle weapon of the Empire. The Emperor lacked the money to build fighters that allowed pilots to survive, but he had inexhaustible reserves of Credits when it came to building a super-weapon so poorly designed it could be destroyed by a mere starfighter.
The Gold of Abaraq emerged from hyperspace and seemed to slow down excessively. Tollon rose from his seat and approached the detection console.
The screens no longer showed any trace of the energy vortex that had appeared in the system a few hours earlier. It must have completely dissipated. As indicated by the galactic index, the planetary system NDH 23466 had eight planets... and none were habitable.
The general nodded, satisfied that the situation seemed to have returned to normal.
"Do you still see traces of the anomaly?"
"No, sir, just unknown particles."
About to ask new questions, the general was interrupted by the communications officer.
"Sir, we are receiving an automatic SOS. This is an Escape Pod ejected by the Jumper cargo ship!"
Space Ishtar emptied her glass of fruit juice before refilling it at the dispenser. She felt thirsty, exhausted, dirty, and... furious.
She had been sitting at the Gold of Abaraq conference room table for half an hour.
It must be said that the Rebels were surprised by her appearance. Obviously, they knew Corianna Corvell. Space Ishtar had perhaps the same (apparent) age but with her hair streaked with red strands and her eyes also red, she absolutely did not look like her! This prompted the soldiers to be cautious. They had taken her weapons and locked her in the conference room after taking a skin sample and recording her statements... indeed, Ishtar related the events that Corianna Corvell had experienced. Space Ishtar was certainly arrogant, but she was not stupid enough to proclaim "I am the goddess Space Ishtar, get on your knees and worship me!" Already the ship's doctor believed that she was in shock...
Besides...
Ishtar frowned.
Was it really wrong?
Certainly, Corianna's ego was buried in the depths of Space Ishtar's mind, the cosmic goddess had a much stronger personality. But Corianna had been locked up in a tin can drifting in the cosmic void with the corpses of her father and mother! Even adults would have been traumatized by much less.
The part of her that was Corianna seemed to hold out for now, probably because the part that was Space Ishtar was dominant... but the goddess was certain that at some point she would discover unexpected phobias, or personality twists that weren't in her character sheet.
Corianna Corvell and Space Ishtar formed an association that no party wanted and that was born under the pressure of extreme circumstances.
The only good side of the thing, Ishtar had inherited the memory of her host. The girl's knowledge of this galaxy, the spoken language, the news, etc... And, of course, Corianna knew the Jumper to the last of her bolts!
As for the negative side...
Ishtar shook her head with irritation.
She had lost 99% of her divine energy. Most of it had dispersed at the time of the explosion caused by her own negligence. Now she could not even exist outside of Corianna's body! Moreover, when she tried to call Maanna, the spaceship did not materialize. All she felt was a vague link... Maanna was to be present in this world, in one form or another, but the connection between them was broken. Maybe she just had to find his spaceship to restore the link... but Space Ishtar was not sure. That was the first time she had to deal with a situation like that.
There was also what happened to her while she was on board the Far Orbit... Ishtar had felt an evil presence during her brief sojourn in the ship and this sinister power attacked her brutally, without any warming. She had managed to flee by sacrificing almost all her remaining energy
She had taken refuge in the Escape Pod because it was as full of her energy. In the short term, it saved her. This even gave her enough strength to incarnate in the body of the only survivor of the Jumper's crew. Maybe her mana was present in other objects? In any case, she was sure that her energy should permeate the Far Orbit, all the mana she had lost a lot during her brief fight...
Hearing the door unlock, Space Ishtar stood up.
Really interested, the goddess looked at the gray-haired man and the two aliens escorting him.
"I am General Adar Tollon, and this is my lieutenant Vytor Shrike and my best soldier, Jungen. First of all, I would like to offer you my condolences for your parents, Corianna. They're not the first to die for the Alliance and... certainly not the last. I don't have much to offer you as compensation for their sacrifice, unfortunately."
Ishtar narrowed her eyes.
"So you believe now that I am Corianna?"
Tollon smiled and nodded.
"DNA confirmed it."
There was a moment of silence.
"My parents?"
"Their bodies are frozen, we'll... bury them as soon as we can."
Ishtar sat back and crossed her arms on her bust after rejecting one of her twintails behind her shoulder. She turned her head away feeling embarrassed by the trouble coming from the part of her that was 'Corianna'.
"Well... my parents would have wanted me to get the Jumper back. And for all I know, the Mandalorian Falcon is still hidden on board."
Tollon slightly frowned.
"How do you know we're looking for that locket?"
Ishtar had a perfectly evil smile.
"I listened to my parents without them noticing and I learned more than they think... thought." She corrected the last word by swallowing her saliva. The part of her called Corianna was crying. "Just before the pirate's boarding, my father hid the amulet in a hideout I know. You'll have a hard time finding it without me. The Jumper is a smuggler's ship, there's more than one place you can hide something. Since we both have the same goal we should help each other, don't you think?"
She looked at Tollon mockingly, elbows on the table, chin resting on her hands, with tightly closed eyes. The goddess seemed to challenge him to refuse her help. At first glance, it might seem odd that Space Ishtar was so eager to find the Jumper.
—but she had a hunch about this freighter. Her energy had permeated all objects close to her place of apparition such as the Escape Pod and the Far Orbit. But Maanna had disappeared at the same time as the Jumper. It was probably more than a coincidence. In addition, she needed all the energy she had lost... the noble Ishtar, the great goddess of space, was currently so weak that she had to eat, sleep, and breathe just to not disappear!
Tollon blinked, surprised by the tone and attitude of the 'kid who just lost both her parents' but he nodded.
"Okay. I have a lead. The secret base of Shiraz is unknown, but it is certain that he sells his loot at Starforge station, a shadowport of the Ado sector, in the Starforge nebula. My plan is to get there... to look for the Mandalorian Falcon. If we find the Jumper, you can keep the freighter. She is your inheritance; she's legally yours after all. Deal?"
"Deal" replied Ishtar.
Somewhere in the cosmos, between the Sullust sector and the Ado sector.
The Far Orbit had just emerged from hyperspace suddenly and of course unintentionally.
In the bridge, the screens turned on and off for no reason, while green lightning flashes were born randomly, ionizing systems before jumping from one console to another.
"But what's going on," shouted Vocis Kenit, trying to hide his fear under anger.
But the crewmen were unable to answer. They moved away from their consoles, looking around them with the look of wild animals caught in the headlights of landspeeders.
Only Dhas Vedij, the first officer remained calm, he headed to a communication console where a red lamp flashed.
The voice that rose was clearly recognizable. It was that of the chief engineer.
"Here, Main Reactor Control Room, Sir."
"What's going on? We just got out of hyperspace in the middle of nowhere and we have inexplicable outages, even our consoles are ionized!"
"Sir, I think that would be difficult to explain it in a comconsole communication. Could you come to deck 16?"
Dhas Vedjil ran in the long corridor that connected the front and rear of the Nebulon-B frigate before taking a turbo-lift that led him to deck 16.
When he entered the Main Reactor Control Room all heads briefly turned to him before the hands returned to their work.
They all spoke at the same time in incomprehensible jargon with many technical terms, units of measurement, and numerical values. But even for a neophyte, the scene looked like complete chaos.
"850,000 PMD? But it's impossible; it's 8 times the normal PM charge. The Far Orbit can't receive that much energy without exploding!"
"But, ma'am, that's what the computer says!"
The Chief Engineer Halla Malo -a woman in her fifties- rose from her seat and joined the junior engineer she had just called. She leaned over his console and blinked under the effect of amazement by discovering that the curves were blocked to the maximum...
"But... it's completely absurd."
She grabs her Comlink.
"Davis, what's the direct reading?"
Vedjil did not hear the answer but the chief engineer paled.
"It's... it's madness... have we all gone mad?"
Dhas Vedjil loudly cleared his throat.
"Could someone tell me what's going on here?"
"Yes, sir, sorry, sir..."
Malo returned to her console and a holographic screen appeared above her post. Vedjil recognized the image. He saw the Main Discharge Valve. The main generator of the Far Orbit was a tube separated into two parts connected by a permanent electric arc. Normally the arc was blue... except that it was in a normal case... and there the arc was green, a green energy that was beginning to become familiar to Vedjil.
Around the Main Discharge Valve, several engineers protected by heavy white padded armor (insulating armor) had installed batteries of portable sensors and were trying to understand the phenomenon.
"The color of the electric arc circulating between the positive pole and the negative pole changed about ten minutes ago... but it's not even the most absurd. The generator is now filled with 8 times more energy than it is supposed to contain. At least that's what our measuring instruments say, here in engineering. Because the portable instruments of the team of the second engineer Davis Creel don't detect any form of known energy in the electrical arc."
Involuntarily, the first officer looked ironically at the electric arc in the virtual window, if it wasn't energy, even a lot of energy; he was willing to believe that everyone lied to him all these years, the suns of the galaxy were frozen ice balls.
Meanwhile, Malo continued to speak.
"This strange energy flows throughout the Far Orbit systems. This is what interfered with the functioning of the hypermotivator... the strangest thing is that a mere frigate could not bear such phenomenal amounts of energy. The electronics should be fried immediately and the generator should have exploded. But we have not received any real damage so far."
"I don't quite understand your explanation, Chief Mallo. The Far Orbit contains more energy than it should be able to contain?"
"Yes, sir, that's right."
"How do you explain that?"
"I don't explain it, sir."
Vedjil looked again towards the virtual window.
"But Deputy Chief Creel's team measures no energy in the Main Generator."
"Uh... yes, sir... but... we're powered." With a hand gesture, she showed the room around them. "The light, the consoles, the computers, the screens all are powered by the Main Generator."
"Strange... the measuring instruments that are connected to the Main Generator measure the energy it produces... but portable sensors are unable to do so."
Chief Mallo looked at Vedjil bug-eyed before nodding. The First Officer was right, the portable measuring instruments were not powered by the generator and he did not perceive any energy.
"What are we doing, sir?"
Vedjil thought for a moment.
"Chief Malo, is the Far Orbit in danger?"
The First Officer's question was obviously the most important part.
She licked her lips and frowned.
"Normally, we should already be dead. Never could the Far Orbit contain so much energy, she would have immediately exploded... so - by all I know- normal conduct would be to abandon ship, except this weird energy has probably spread to all of our systems... and even to the Escapes Pod. So... we're just as much in danger aboard the Far Orbit as if we were on board the frigate's Escapes Pods."
"Try to protect our systems from overloading. I'll have Captain Kenit send an SOS to the Fleet."
Captain Vocis Kenit looked at Halla Mallo's hologram with irritation. Suddenly, he had enough and interrupted the Chief Engineer's explanation.
"I would have expected more skill from you, Chief!"
The engineer frowned and swallowed, trying to contain her fury.
"Sir, with all due respect, no one is competent to deal with an unknown phenomenon."
"I've heard enough of your pathetic excuses. Restart the hyperdrive, we have a mission to accomplish for the glory of the Empire.
—and for my personal glory.
With her jaw clenched, Halla Malo lowered her eyes trying to hide her helpless frustration.
"Under your responsibility, sir."
Starforge station, Starforge Nebula.
Space Ishtar walked into what looked like a huge market. Around a central aisle stands lined up. They were made of salvaged materials, old fabrics, and metal tubes. Thunderous music came out of poorly attended cantinas. The air smelled of greasy food, grime, hot metal and other smells even less pleasant.
The place was not outside but in an artificial cave dug inside an asteroid. In a wall, a gigantic bay of transpasteel allowed to see the clouds of iridescent gas which twisted and filtered the light of stars in gestation. From time to time a pirate ship took off or landed.
Ishtar looked around, both amused and intrigued, devouring a sort of lizard skewer she had bought at a kiosk.
But the most impressive was the mass that crowded the alleys of the space station. Twi'leck, Gamorrean, Tissa'shar, Sluissi, Faleen, Jawa, droids of all kinds crossed and discussed in a dozen languages.
She even saw at one point an Ewok crossing the aisle screaming furiously, brandishing a tiny stone-tipped spear, chasing an R2 droid who was striding while fleeing.
It was a lively atmosphere.
Suddenly, a shadow came between her and one of the sources of light. Ishtar looked up and saw a huge humanoid alien covered with pustules, he was drooling and his skin was a foul pink, covered with mucus with a foul smell.
He began to scream, brandishing a gigantic vibroaxe.
"Disgusting, filthy human, what are you doing here alone? We'll see what you can do without your beloved Empire to protect you!"
Ishtar gently struck him with a finger between the two eyes, the alien immediately stopped his babbling. Eyes rolled back he fell backwards like struck by a sledgehammer... stunned.
Without taking care of the sudden silence of all the spectators, who looked at her with amazement, Space Ishtar resumed her visit to the market.
Yes, it was a very lively atmosphere. There were even clowns...
The Gold of Abaraq had arrived three days earlier in the Starforge Nebula. But finding Starforge Station in a star nursery extending over several light years was a challenge. Especially since the stars in gestation bombarded the cosmos with radiation that scrambled the sensors.
Starforge was a huge space station that had been set up in a hollowed-out asteroid. This shadowport, a secret pirate port, had normal thrusters and even a hyperdrive. It was constantly changing its position.
The Imperials had been searching for Starforge for years and had never been able to locate it because of the surrounding environment and changes in the location of the station... but especially because the Starforge Nebula straddled two Sectors under two different Moffs.
As soon as a Moff decided to search for the station, it took refuge in the other sector...
There was only one way to reach Starforge. You had to ask permission to enter and wait for the local authorities to agree to guide you to the temporary location of the station.
Fortunately, the Rebel Alliance was among the organizations that were welcome. After a day of waiting - time to check that it was not a trap- two copies of a customs corvette escorted by Y-Wings full of tags came to inspect the Gold of Abaraq.
During the approach, Space Ishtar had felt more and more impatience. Because with each light-year she traveled, she felt her bond with Maanna strengthen. Her ship was at Starforge!
Of course, Adar Tollon refused to let her go with him to visit "a place of depravity full of violent and racist pirates" (Why should there always be a shrewd old self-righteous man to prevent her from visiting nice places ?). But that wasn't going to stop her from doing what she wanted... was it?
She had regained her weapons and had exited the main airlock simply by asking. No hand found it odd... simply because Ishtar had hypnotized them.
Suddenly, Ishtar stood still. She heard a cry... and it was a woman's voice.
Of course, the cosmic goddess judged herself as an evil entity but she had a certain moral code. A woman's cry resounding in a deserted alley... here? It really evoked nothing good!
She decided to make a small detour.
And what she discovered was a little different from what she had imagined.
Certainly, a trio attacked a lonely woman, but the woman was a redhead both tall and muscular. Her black leather jumpsuit exhibited her belly and arms widely, the design of a white skull on the chest and the case of a blaster on the belt did not evoke a 'poor innocent victim'. In fact, she might as well have walked around with an 'I'm a Space pirate' sign.
As for the attackers, they were Body Hunters, a Shistavian wolfman armed with a slugthrower rifle, a Mandalorian with an old worn armor whose paint was almost completely washed out, and a large woman dressed in a cape and armed with an electric spear!
The Shistavian stopped hitting the redhead, and all three turned to Ishtar.
The Mandalorian stepped forward and pointed his blaster rifle at her chest.
"You, get out of here, you didn't see anything, you didn't hear anything, get it?"
Ishtar had a perfectly evil smile. The three Body Hunters retreated mechanically, while shivering, understanding that this was not an ordinary little girl.
"And how will you force me to obey? You have an army hidden in the hangar next door, perhaps?"
The Mandalorian raised his weapon and fired... He must have thought a good witness was a dead witness. Except that the goddess had drawn her katana and blocked the blaster projectile with a stroke of her blade.
"Okay... Your mom never told you not to shoot little girls? I think you deserve a refresher course for good manners and I just have some free time."
The redhead was staring at the scene.
Jodo Kast, Puggles Trodd, and Zardra may not have been the best Body Hunters in the galaxy, but they weren't amateurs. And the kid had played with them like a rancor with a chained prisoner.
Jodo had used his jetpack to climb up the cave, firing bursts of blaster projectiles. But the little girl had used her gun. And the red beam from the weapon followed Jodo Kast in all his movements before catching him and neutralizing him despite his beskar armor.
Zardra had jumped forward using her cape in one hand and her spear in the other, both were designed to electrocute her opponents... the fight had been even shorter. The twintailed little girl had dodged and blocked all the attacks giving the impression of being bored... then with a single tap, not even a violent one, she had knocked out the huntress.
Seeing this Puggles had thrown two cryoban grenades that the girl had caught in flight and sent back towards the sender...
Now the kid was coming back to her.
The redhead straightened up, picked up her blaster, and put it back ostensibly in her holster.
"Thank you for coming to my aid. My name is Galiria, I am part of the Shiraz gang. We are people of honor and you have helped me. I would gladly return the favor."
The goddess of space froze.
"What a strange coincidence, I'm looking for Shiraz! Oh... and my name is Ishtar."
"You are looking for Shiraz?"
"Yes, he took the Jumper, my parents' ship, before abandoning us in the cosmic void! My parents died! "
Galiria turned green, shocked by Ishtar's anger... that of Corianna, in fact.
"Wait, it's not my fault... it's an accident..."
Ishtar breathed out.
"True, their death is accidental. But Shiraz is still responsible. I know the Jumper is here, take me to my parents' starship."
After what she had just seen, Galiria was very pale and did not seek to argue.
"Over here, she is docked in Wharf 21, follow me."
When she entered dock 21, Corianna-Ishtar looked at her ship in ecstasy...
It was the Jumper...
—and that was Maanna.
She wasn't even surprised.
When she met Galiria, she already suspected what had happened. Just as Ishtar had sought a host to accommodate her essence, Maanna could not exist without a physical form. And what corresponded best to a spaceship than another spaceship?
Ishtar pressed a button and the ramp extended to allow her to enter. All around her, the goddess of space felt... her own energy. The old Barloz-class freighter was saturated with mana, her mana.
"You want to see Shiraz?"
Ishtar shuddered. In her joy at having found Maanna (as transformed as she was), she had forgotten Galiria.
The redhead was standing behind and... oddly... had a breath mask on her face.
"Don't worry. I'll take you to him. I promised to do something for you and I only have one word."
About to respond, Ishtar realized that her thoughts were inexplicably blurred, she was sleepy... and such a sudden urge to sleep was not natural. Her eyes saw a small black object on the ground. In a hiss of gas under pressure, an almost invisible vapor came out. She understood at once... a grenade of Coma gas, a soporific weapon that allowed putting to sleep all those who breathed it.
As she fell to the ground, Ishtar's last consistent thought was to call oneself an overconfident fool. The goddess had not left behind the Tohsaka curse when arriving in the Star Wars galaxy...
Appendix
Starforge Station
In brief
Type: Asteroid
Temperature: Temperate
Atmosphere: Type 1 (Breathable)
Hydrosphere: Moderate
Gravity: 1G
Terrain: Artificial
Length of Day: 24 standard hours
Length of Year: 365 standard days
Sentient Species: Highly mixed (no autochthon specie)
Starport: Planetary class.
Population: about 10,000 (1 850 permanent residents)
Planet Function: Shadowport
Government: Tenant Council
Tech Level: Space
Major Exports: Free market, ship services, starships
Major Imports: Raw and proceeded materials
Capsule:
Hidden in the Starforge Nebula, Starforge Station is one the most important shadowports of known space.
The station is ruled by a council of tenants who select an administrator. The administrator commands a security force (12 frigates, and some Y-Wings) for exterior menace and armed police to enforce some rules: No murder (except self-defense); no assault; no thefts. Punishments range from exile to execution.
The station has facilities for light and medium freighters. And dock for small capital ships.
The shipyard can repair or construct all classes of ships under destroyer-class.
Starforge station has numerous interior accommodations: dozens of warehouses, repair bays, cyberdocs, arms dealers, restaurants, a casino,, and permanent living quarters.
Defenses:
5 Turbolasers
(1) His name is also spelled Adar Tallon. He is the inventor of two combat maneuvers used by the Stars War universe hunters (Tallon Roll and Tallon Split).
(2) Short for Astronomic Unit (in our universe, the distance Earth-Sun... in the universe SW, probably the distance between Coruscant and it sun).