"Will I regret this?" the base commander's voice rang out. "As if. Pathetic Jedi. You're so predictable! Always trying to save as many lives as possible. That's why you're so worthless! You can't save everyone — you could probably destroy us all by acting stealthily, but instead you surrendered yourself, Lorm Decer," the leader practically spat the name. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! It's a shame you're male, of course. Female Jedi are much more preferable. Slender and beautiful, they go for large amounts of credits — much more than men. And breaking them, Mmmm…" that freak said dreamily. Break a female Jedi? Given the upbringing in the Temple — breaking us is very difficult. To guarantee breaking a Jedi — you have to make sure they don't use Tutaminis and Crucitorn. These two Force Techniques negate electric torture and pain sensations. They can try to break us psychologically. For example, according to my mentor, female Padawans are incredibly valuable on the black market, their prices rivaling those of starships. And there are options — broken girls, or not. As a rule — it's done simply. All female Padawans are virgins, and you can break a girl by forcibly making her a woman… Though I think with that approach — there's a chance of Falling. A very big chance! More like the breaker would be splattered against the wall… In any case — that's not important right now. My mentor put himself at risk again because of me… It's my fault we were discovered — I didn't force my brain to work, filling it with a bunch of unnecessary information for this moment. I have, fuck, a ship with stygium crystals! Plagueis, if he found out how I use it — only as a small craft destroyer, not as an infiltration ship — would kill himself with a facepalm. And Palpatine would croak along with him… Alright, enough brooding.
"You're cut off, Jedi," the Base Commander told him. "Ha-ha-ha. Cut off!" I heard a dull thud, more than one. The mercenaries took Lorm's lightsaber, put handcuffs on him, and forced him to his knees. "Can't call your friends, can't kill us. Or no… You wouldn't kill us even if you were free. All that nonsense about Jedi being forbidden to kill plays a cruel joke on you…"
"Tch," Lorm spat — probably a mouthful of blood, since they'd punched him in the face before. "These sensations," the teacher said unexpectedly. "So you're Gifted, but very weak. The Order didn't take you, did they?"
"Ha-ha-ha-ha," the man laughed. "Smart, Hutt. Figured it out. Though why would I need your Order, when I can get whatever I want here."
I peeked out from behind the tank, trying not to be spotted. He walked up to a tall Togruta woman, one of the women who was naked. Tall, slender, beautiful. Her high breasts rose and fell, her breathing calm. Her skin was red, with white pigmentation around her eyes…
"Right, Zela Diren?" he addressed her. "Ow…" the woman headbutted him. Well, damn. "Still not broken. How many times have I told you — your fate is sealed. And I was planning to buy you myself — apparently I didn't break you enough."
"Go to a Hutt, Shoruk," the angry Togruta replied. "Give me a blaster, and I'll show you what I'm worth. Or are you scared? Or maybe you're proud of yourself for 'defeating' a Jedi. But your victory is worth nothing! Dirty tricks and absolute worthlessness."
"As sharp-tongued as ever. Take this slut to my quarters," he took out something like a pistol. An injector. Pressing it to my mentor's neck, he pulled the trigger.
"Ow. I don't like injections," Lorm muttered.
"That's not exactly an injection, Jedi," Shoruk grinned. "One signal and your head explodes, understand? A special control droid!"
Ah, there's another reason why Jedi don't always manage to bury the insolent bastard in the nearest star. Control chips, collars — good thing he's not using ysalamiri, otherwise we'd have incredible problems. Though — we have them anyway. He's weak, but Gifted. Did my mentor say that for me? Which means… Get it together, Light! No more miscalculations. Cloaking in the Force and careful planning…
"Take the Jedi to the holding cell," the base commander waved his hand. "Don't disturb me — I'll be in my quarters breaking this slut. Wish me luck, people!"
"Go get 'em, boss!"
"You can tame her…"
"Eh, I wish she'd give me a blowjob afterward…" a shot rang out. A dull thud of a falling body followed. The impressionable girls and women squeaked.
"She's my property! You don't even have the right to buy her — everyone got that?" Shoruk asked, holstering his blaster. "Throw his corpse in the incinerator. Should've done that first, then kill him," his muttering and footsteps were heard. The thugs hurried to carry out their leader's order. "By the way," he stopped unexpectedly. "Be extremely vigilant! This is a Jedi Knight, but he might not be alone. His Padawan could be skulking around here," oh fuck… Why are you so savvy? They didn't prepare me for this at the Temple… Wait, what thoughts?
I slapped my cheeks weakly. Get it together, Light! This situation is entirely your fault. Life here is just as real, not a game. You have to pay for mistakes, right? First priority — disable the safety systems… Though no, I don't know how the chips in people's necks will behave after that. There could be two scenarios: paranoid and lucky. Paranoid — the thugs might have covered themselves, and if the signal from the safety system stops — and the chips are definitely connected to it — a self-destruct protocol initiates. Lucky — actually, that disables them and everyone's free. What to rely on? Luck? The Force? No! Better to be safe and take the remote from this Shoruk. Went to his room? I need to figure out the base layout… Rolling closer to an entrance — not the central one where the recent actors appeared, but a farther one — I looked closely. Standard access cards. Guards patrol quite frequently. As for the route… The windows are tinted, so I can only guess what's behind that door… But I definitely sense another sentient being, probably in a seated position. So one guard leaves the room to go outside… I looked at the datapad — about every ten minutes, he does a circuit of part of the area and returns to the room… And his route isn't very good — constantly in sight. Hmm…
Through the Central entrance — too many guards. I can't slip past them all unnoticed at once… So — only this entrance, or find another, but that takes time. Honestly — there was also the option of going back to the ship, but the jammer isn't disabled yet. It's probably in that big antenna — I glanced at the antenna — get to it, disable the signal jammer, get to the ship to boost the signal for sure. No, too long. So… I sighed and waited for the guard to leave the booth. He walked over to the armored vehicles, going in a straight line and nodding to colleagues. A slight Force push and he turned the corner, behind a tank, to "check what's there." I acted instantly — immediate activation of the lightsaber, which absolutely no one heard, because something on the opposite side made a loud clatter… Knocking over the crates stacked by the tank with telekinesis was no trouble at all… These were old tracked vehicles, probably older than me. Beat-up, but on the other hand — if a pirate landing happened, they'd fight back.
The blow landed right on the man's head, since I didn't want to ruin the clothes. With disgust, I dragged the corpse into the tank, then in the cramped space began undressing him. Great, just great — stripping a dead guy in a tank. But it was good that they belonged to the same corporation. Which meant their clothes were more or less identical. So, who do we have here? I put his clothes on over mine, carefully folding my own. Unfortunately, I couldn't wear it on top — even though I was smaller than him, the clothes didn't fit… They were still warm, should've sprayed some antiseptic, because… I activated his datapad… An ordinary lowlife, goes by the name Chu. What kind of person, that kind of name. General information, more or less — I memorized. Time to infiltrate…
I came out from behind the tank, picking up the blaster — which I recognized as a battered DH-17 pistol, as common in the Galaxy as the AK is for us.
I tucked the lightsaber into my wrist comm. I'd modified my wrist comm a bit, adding a mount for the lightsaber, though I'd never used it before. Just made it so it was there, but now it came in handy. But the form-fitting uniform of the Zerta Corporation mercenaries stretched a little because of the lightsaber. Still — a light Force illusion… My master teaches me a lot in between our misadventures. And now I started actively using even that, removing the Cloaking, except for the sensor Cloaking. Shoruk is weak — if I just hide my Giftedness, he won't even realize that I'm here, nearby. And against his men, the illusion will work too.
"Chu," my fallen soldier's colleagues called out. "Didn't you hear anything?"
"Nah, guys," I shook my head. "I went to take a piss behind the tank."
A slight Suggestion. If Chu talked differently — this Technique will keep them from noticing the difference.
"Okay, buddy," the man nodded, as the colleagues behind him started dispersing. "Remember you lost to me that night at the cantina on Tyrann during leave. You're buying drinks all evening."
"No problem, brother," if you survive, you'll be drinking with a mirror. "Next break and we'll go."
"Good luck on patrol, Chu."
"And you too," I headed toward the guard booth. Opening the door, I ran into an older guard.
"Where the hell have you been?" he asked without preamble.
"Taking a piss behind the tank…"
"Don't let it happen again, Chu," the man growled. "If that Jedi's Padawan is sneaking around here — any such absence and you're dead."
"Have you dealt with Jedi before?" I asked the older man.
"That's right," he nodded. "They seem like infantile impotents, with no survival instinct, naive and stupid idealists," am I really that different from those Jedi he dealt with? "But they're dangerous, Chu. Incredibly dangerous. There were fifty of us in a mercenary gang against a single Jedi Master. What was his name? Dupa? Dooku! That bastard carved us all into mincemeat without breaking a sweat. And all Jedi aren't much weaker than this Dupa," funny old man — I almost burst a gut holding back my laughter. No, he definitely doesn't know the meaning of the word 'Dupa' that's for sure. But it sounds similar! In Polish, 'Dupa' literally means 'Ass.' And that's exactly what his squad got when they ran into Dooku… Total annihilation. It's not even funny — I could probably dismantle that kind of squad, more or less. He got distracted by the control panel. "These idiots don't understand what's happening. They think they caught a Jedi, sent the Togruta to the boss for breaking, and that's it. But if a Padawan is still here, then…"
"Then, wouldn't you mind telling me more about the base?" I interrupted him, using the Force, having made sure the cameras were disabled. "Why are some zones marked in red?"
"What?" the old mercenary shook his graying beard. "Chu, what's wrong with you? No way… You're not Chu!"
"Oh, Hutt," I cursed, pinning the man to the wall with telekinesis.
"Ugh," the man spat blood.
"Sorry, I didn't notice the shelf," I smirked, as his body twisted in pain. The bookshelf dug right into the middle of his back — could even break his spine.
"What do you want from me?" he asked.
"Answer my questions, old man, and that'll be it…"
"Gh… Fine, Jedi," he agreed quickly. "What? I still want to live. You're clearly planning to kill everyone here — Shoruk hates Jedi and threw your mentor in the holding cell. The torture team trains on those in the holding cell every day, and they haven't had their training session today yet. Not yet…"
"The red zones," I pressed. I don't know exactly when they'll come here, since I knocked out the camera with Ionization.
"That's where the 'second level' guards are. Soldiers smarter, stronger — they guard the special slave cells, as well as the Boss's quarters and the officers'."
I pulled up the map on the datapad in front of the old man.
"Which of these is the boss's room?" I asked.
"I don't know! I'm a first-level guard — you'd need to break into the main security terminals to find out. But they're all in the Red Zone…"
"Thanks for your help," I replied simply… Kill him? If I knock him out, he might wake up and tell everyone… Kill. Besides — I'm already just killing. So what if he's unarmed. I'll give him a quick death… A flash of the lightsaber ended the old mercenary's life. Two more guards burst into the room… Their eyes only had time to widen in surprise, and I was already behind them, returning my lightsaber to the wrist comm. The mercenaries who'd rushed in fell to the cold floor, each cut in two. "I've made quite a mess here," I surveyed the guard booth. Apparently it connected to the main building through a tunnel. I looked at the staircase leading down, where the guards had run from. I need to go there, but first — I turned my gaze back to the corpses. Hide them — luckily there were supply lockers here. Just in case, I frisked the bodies, finding a couple credit chips with bearer accounts, then started packing the bodies into the lockers. I can't guarantee no one else will come here. Better they think the guys slipped off to the toilet, the mess hall, or even to the slave girls, than that they died from a lightsaber. It's working so far… Gotta keep going.
Step, another step… Slowly, trying not to miss anything, I headed through the dark tunnel into the main building. It wasn't completely dark — barely lit… There were no incidents in the tunnel — not even cameras. Just a dead zone; after passing through it, I ended up in an ordinary corridor. A guard patrol passed by, and I tried to act natural.
"Chu, come with us to the mess hall," one of the mercenaries turned around.
"I'll come a bit later," I promised, and turned in the opposite direction. I'm not an actor, and I'd easily give myself away if I walked next to them. Besides — the red zone was in a completely different direction. Walking down the corridor, I tried to act normal. I walked like an ordinary guy, which was what I was… After so many trainings, I couldn't help noticing small changes even in my gait… I walked like an ordinary lowlife on a criminal gang base… A little sloppy and carefree. Three women were dragged past me… Horrifying… They were covered in bruises and signs of violence. One was missing an eye, her legs and arms broken… MONSTERS. I barely suppressed the urge to lunge and chop these creatures, who had reduced sentient beings to such a state, into little pieces. But after I finish my mission — I'll come down here and wipe them all out!
Reaching the staircase to the second floor, I froze. The elevator on the first floor was deliberately turned off. The elevators started working from the second floor, where the red zone began, or rather the zone with second-level clearance… And how to get in there? I could try to find the elevator shaft and climb up. I know how to climb, plus the Force's help… Or I could try to pass as one of their own… But if there are any checks at the post, I'd be compromised immediately… In that case — war with the entire base at once, or I'd become a hostage too… My heart clenched. I need to figure something out. The Suggestion didn't work on the old man — would it work on smarter guards? No… I'll go find the elevator shaft… Turning right, I moved down the corridor… My eyes caught details — the base was kept clean, and the walls and floor looked repaired. And there was the elevator… I stopped in front of the sliding doors… The elevator was off, but I could force the doors open… Though such noise would attract unwanted attention. I could try to turn them on through the terminals, but I doubt their base security would be weak… It's a base, after all. In the end, I made my decision. Slowly, with a creak, I forced the steel doors open with telekinesis…
The elevator shaft presented me with another unpleasant surprise. Motion sensors! Damn, they're thorough! Firing off Ionization again — I disabled them… Footsteps?! I heard running footsteps in the corridor. Hutt! Did they figure something out? I jumped into the shaft, grabbing onto the elevator structure that resembled scaffolding, and hid… Two guards forced the doors open, which I immediately closed behind them.
"What the hell?" one of them asked, shining a flashlight down. "Why are the motion sensors down?"
"How should I know?" the other replied defiantly. "They were just calibrated recently, and now… Probably because the maintenance crew used oil on the elevator mechanisms."
"What idiots! First they replace the sensors, then they oil up the elevator so it rides like crap. And now the oil broke the sensors," the blaster light swept across the shaft — I pressed myself against the wall, praying to the Force not to be discovered. I could easily kill them, but even two missing guards is already a problem. "Hey, didn't the doors seem strange to you?"
"What's wrong with them?" his colleague asked. "A couple months ago, before you started working here, Sholdj and Zurk got into a fight. You know Sholdj's punch?"
"I've seen it…"
"He bends steel plates. So they didn't bother replacing them — like, what's the point? No one from the first floors uses the elevator anyway. The boss only trusts us, the close ones."
"Makes sense," the man snorted. "Shoruk's always been like that. Alright, we won't report it to the boss — let's go knock some sense into the tech crew."
The doors closed with a clang, and I exhaled. Okay, now to climb up. And that was the easiest part of my mission today. Jumping, using the Force to help, I easily made it to the second floor… I forced the doors open with telekinesis again, but the presence of a guard slightly shocked me. Though why was I surprised? I threw the running guard into the shaft, only taking his personal ID card, which would help me move around the base…
"What the Hutt!" a voice exclaimed as I jumped out of the shaft. "You're still—"
I instantly pulled the man toward me with telekinesis and cut his head off with the lightsaber… Ionization… How I love this Force Technique. Hmm… Maybe take the card from the corpse whose head I cut off? After all — I could also take his clothes. Without thinking long about the dilemma, I ran into the room the man had come out of and started stripping him. And the room turned out to have a surprise — now I understood why he ran out. A security room with cameras! There was the holding cell, cells in the slave barracks, and… Even the upper floors! I switched from one floor to another, until I noticed a room with a sign on the door that read: "Boss" … Their boss is genuinely crazy! But that's his problem… Redressed again, I headed to the elevator… Swiping the card at the terminal, I entered the elevator and selected the sixth floor, where the boss's room was located…
There was only one corridor here, and the guards were only at one spot. I'd studied all the locations through the cameras earlier. Going up, I started walking calmly toward the guards, when one of them pointed a blaster at me… Did he figure it out?
"Something's wrong with him," he said to his colleague, who also aimed a blaster at me. Damn it, and I thought it would be easy. Just nothing was simple... Eh... I raised my hand slightly and pinned them both to the ceiling. The crunch of breaking vertebrae echoed... More corpses to my tally, but here it was either them or me... The door opened, and I squinted slightly, adjusting to the darkness. The whole base was maximally lit, but the boss's room, in defiance of the light, was maximally darkened. A huge double bed, where I sensed the aura of a familiar Togruta... To the left of the entrance stood a computer desk... The rest of the room was piled with weapons for every taste. Rifles, blasters, some slugthrowers, and even vibroblades!
"Mister Schormuk," I said to the naked man, who first turned slightly towards me.
A shot. Damn, I thought I could pass for a guard, but he shot his own man! No brains at all? I dodged the shot...
"I told you not to disturb me! I almost broke her!" he exclaimed. "Die!" he fired again... "Stop! You're not one of the guards! You're... a Jedi? I sense the Force in you!"
Today is a day of fucking amazing discoveries. An ordinary guard sitting in a sentry box turned out to be a man with resistance to the Force. And I turned out to be an idiot who drives nails — in my case, Small craft — with a microscope — in my case, a modified Star Courier worth sixty-five million credits!
"You're the second Jedi! The Padawan of that Knight... Surrender, or I'll kill your master!"
"Interesting," I grinned, igniting my lightsaber. "How do you plan to do that? The datapad, I see it on the computer desk," I nodded to the left. "And you're naked. If you lunge at me, I'll cut you in two."
"Bastard! Don't underestimate me!" he pulled a vibroblade to himself.
"Hmm..." I moved to the boss and struck him with a simple blow. Another strike, a second strike... He deflected them all. Alright, I admit it — he knows a thing or two. A blade shift and he left a scratch on my cheek, but he only grazed me, even though a vibroblade could have taken off half my head. Meanwhile, I drove my lightsaber precisely into his stomach.
"Ah," he sighed heavily. "Bastard... Jedi Bastard..."
I twirled the lightsaber and deactivated it... Then, pulling his datapad to me, I deactivated the chips... The master should be... For a while now, muffled echoes of his pain from the torture had been reaching me. But now that the chip was off... I felt a tremor... Yes, the master was free, and, judging by everything, he was very angry.
"Hey, I know I'm beautiful, boy, but maybe you could free me?" a voice came from the bed.
I walked over to the bed and deactivated the binders...
"Ha-ha, thanks," the Togruta smiled, rubbing her wrists. Judging by the marks, he had used a whip on her... "And you, little Padawan, aren't so bad. Lorm did a good job with you."
"You know the master?" I asked, turning away from her.
"Why are you embarrassed?" the Togruta asked sharply. "Oh, I get it. You've probably never seen a naked woman in real life before. But it's okay, your master won't mind if I thank you properly later. Zela Diren always repays a service..."
"Then..." my voice faltered, and I glanced over her body once more. "Maybe... cash would be better?"
"Payment should match the quality, boy," she pressed a finger to my lips. "You've done me a truly invaluable service. I'll do the same for you. But not now," she bent down — making my eye twitch — picked up a blaster rifle, and kissed it. "That bastard took my little girl. But it's okay, momma's back with her and ready to kill..."
Note to self... The master's contacts outside the Order are definitely some kind of crazy people.
"Judging by everything, Lorm is already having fun..."
The door opened, and three guards burst into the room.
"Boss, the Jedi got out of the cell and is killing everyone! We can't hold him back! Activate the chip, please... Uh..."
The man, with a blaster hole in his head, toppled backward. I finished the other two, pulling them in with Telekinesis and cutting them down with my sword.
"What's next, boy?" the woman asked.
"I didn't know if I'd make it to Schormuk's datapad," I sighed. "But I think now we should clear this building of enemies... And besides, I need to chop someone into little pieces..."
"Into little pieces?" the woman asked sarcastically. "I can see you're Lorm's Padawan. Alright, go ahead. I've got your back."
We stepped into the corridor, where second-rate mercenaries were crowded. They were glancing warily at the boss's room...
"The boss is dead!" one of the officers exclaimed and instantly took a blaster bolt to the head... They opened fire on us. I assumed a Soresu stance and began deflecting shots, while Zela fired from behind me.
Finally, I got tired of it and, using my newfound knowledge of Ataru, leaped over a group of mercenaries, landing right in the middle of the enemy crowd. There was no cover in the corridor, and that decided it. I sharply shifted left, instantly killing a guard, spun around and killed his comrade... Jumping up, I spun in the air, decapitating two at once. Deflected shots, one even returned right into an enemy... Closed in on the next group. Shot in the back? I leaped over a man, so the shots hit him instead, a kick to the next one's solar plexus and a finishing strike with the sword, shifting right and cutting off a head... I slashed and stabbed with my lightsaber, using Telekinesis... Mercenaries fell and died, struck down either by the blade or by Zela's shots... A sharp lunge, a man struck down by Shiak, collapsed like a puppet. I pulled his body, using it as a projectile, set his clothes on fire with Pyrokinesis, and threw him into a group of enemies. Their clothes caught fire, causing seven of them to stop shooting and try to beat out the flames. I jumped to them and put them to rest with two wide swings...
"Quite a show you put on here," Zela giggled after the last enemy fell to her shot. "A massacre, plain and simple. I saw your Yoda in a similar performance once. He moved almost the same way..."
Nearly fifty corpses lay in the corridor. Most of them were mine; the characteristic marks of a lightsaber testified to that. My breathing returning to normal, I surveyed the work of my hands... Yes... This is how you survive in this galaxy. I have to be strong enough to do this always...
"They deserved it," I muttered.
"Completely agree... So, shall we move on?" she asked. Another explosion sounded from below...
* * *
We attacked the base from two sides. Pumped up, Lorm, Zela, and I practically annihilated the guards. The second-tier, so-called elites only caused problems for Zela, as they behaved smarter than ordinary soldiers, but they were no problem for me. Having wiped out the guards, Lorm and I met on the third floor, and then decided to destroy the transmitter and jammer... Good thing I had the sense during my first visit to the guard room on the second floor to send the communication systems into a 'scheduled reboot'... The result was that we contacted the Order, and they promised to send Jedi Guardians, Healers, and Investigators... They also gave the go-ahead for us to take Mila Karnur with us.
"So, which one of you is Mila Karnur?" Lorm asked loudly on the same square. The slaves had been given some clothes and even allowed to wash. The master wasn't keen on staying here, and I understood him. We'd already wasted time here; the Shadow had been sent after Shilazh and Teyron. But who could guarantee that pair wouldn't escape the Shadow, or show up right next to us?
"Ummm... Well, that's me," a pretty girl stepped forward, the one I had seen in the holoprojector.
"You're coming with us," Lorm stated. "You're a Mechanic, right? You'll help fix the ship; take spare parts from these losers for the repairs," the teacher nodded towards the destroyed base. "The rest of you, take shelter in the base, someone will come for you soon..." Well, then... Mila Karnur immediately nodded, stood next to Lorm, and shifted her gaze from me to him and back. The girl Mila was characterized as modest, trusting, and friendly... Some kind of hellish mix of introvert and extrovert. Shy and timid, but having many friends. And, honestly, she attracted me somehow, but how... And why?
"And are you taking me, Lorm?" Zela's voice rang out. "I need to get to a certain little planet..."
"Your last 'I need to get to a certain little planet' ended with half the fleet of the Hapes Consortium chasing me! So..."
"Oh, come on, Lorm!" Zela exclaimed, stepping closer to him. "The usual deal from me..."
"No, go find a Judicial Forces ship," he shook his head.
"Then Light will take me," the woman moved closer to me. "You won't leave a woman in trouble, will you, Light-ik?" she hugged me and whispered in my ear. "And I do know how to be grateful..."
I looked at the master; a tornado seemed to form around his head, so vigorously was he shaking it from side to side...
"Ummm... Well..."
"I knew you wouldn't abandon me," she said and headed off.
"Oh, you idiot," Lorm said, slapping his forehead. "Alright. Student. We need to talk, let's step aside..."
We stepped aside... Actually, we left. Lorm decided to talk farther from the base, in a gorge...
"Master?" I looked at Lorm. His face twisted with malice... "UGH!" he slammed me against the wall with Telekinesis.
"You pathetic, worthless Gizka larva! Light, Hutt take you! What have you done, did your brain turn off?" he asked me.
"You..."
"About your screw-up! You have a stealth ship, and you get caught by every random bandit every single time..."
"But I thought..."
"You don't know how to think yet! Drism was your training, and you said you were proud of your knowledge of the ship, but in the end, your knowledge was just enough not to die when landing!"
"But, master..."
"Silence!" he pressed me harder against the wall. "Why can't you understand?! Or feel it? You're practically a son to me. Do you think I would want my son to die because of his stupidity? Or to be stupid? Understand, Light. Life isn't a game, and you have to think everything through to the smallest detail. What were you so busy with that you forgot about the Stygium coating? As always, will you get off by saying 'I was thinking about the future'? What the hell kind of future, my slightly dim-witted student? You need to survive the present! I expect you to reconsider your attitude, student. And reconsider it very soon, otherwise — the Galaxy itself will punish you."
* * *
At night, I already slept in my own bed, in my own cabin. Due to the lack of space, we had placed Mila Karnur and Zela in the cargo hold... What was surprising was that Zela somehow managed to convince Lorm, and we set off together... How, I still couldn't understand. And I didn't really need to; something else was bothering me. We were really put in danger by my stupid actions... The master was right. Now I need to focus on my training and get better. On missions, I need to not be an idiot... And the future... It's constantly in motion... Suddenly, I heard the door open.
"Can't sleep, boy?" I heard the sultry voice of the familiar Togruta.
"Zela?" I asked, stunned, taking in... her curves. She was naked! Completely naked.
"Remember, I told you about a comparable service. Get ready. I'm about to show you heaven!"