[POV ANAKIN]
We were climbing higher and higher above the planet’s surface, deeper into the emptiness of space.
On the horizon, I spotted the target of today’s chaos the Lucrehulk.
From this distance, it looked like a colossal giant that blocked out the sky like a second moon.
I could barely make out the Naboo starfighters that, like ants attacking an elephant, were trying to break through its shields.
It was a truly comical spectacle…
if only people weren’t dying.
And to think that just two weeks ago, I would have been worrying about my job in corporate.
I sighed at the thought of how unpredictable life could be.
I looked down at Naboo once more.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this view.
Its seas, rivers, and vast stretches of land looked beautiful.
I could watch it for hours.
The only things I was missing were a beautiful woman to hold, a drink in my hand, and, of course, an adult body, because this was really starting to get on my nerves.
Then I could ignore power and everything people desired.
Unfortunately, the galaxy didn’t allow for such luxuries, so I’d have to struggle a little longer before retiring.
Maybe after conquering the galaxy, we’d think about finding a nice place to disappear for a few hundred years.
I snapped out of the daydream that the beauty of the planet had drawn me into and had to remind myself that I was flying a tiny starfighter toward a massive warship while being a nine-year-old child, and I dared to dream about conquering the galaxy.
I really think I have some issues.
I looked toward Theed and wondered how Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan were doing against Maul.
I’d be genuinely disappointed if Qui-Gon lost his life even after my warning.
I had several truly interesting plans for him.
It would be a shame if such a talented and genuinely good man died so senselessly.
In the distance, hundreds of droid starfighters began appearing, fighting against barely a few dozen human pilots.
People had to be truly afraid of droids in this galaxy.
I couldn’t see any other explanation for why such a small number of pilots could compete with hundreds of machines except that their capabilities had been deliberately limited.
One machine uprising had been enough for the entire galaxy to design them dumber than they could have been for thousands of years.
Surprisingly, people actually learned from their failures.
There were, of course, exceptions to that rule—droids that had developed personalities comparable to those of sentient beings thanks to no longer having their memories wiped.
I had always wondered why, after so many years together, Anakin had never upgraded one of those exceptions—R2-D2—but that was probably because of the audience’s attachment to familiar faces.
It was apparently better to create a cute character than to make him more logical.
Returning to reality, I noticed that we were slowly approaching the battlefield where people were heroically dying, so I pushed my wandering thoughts aside and focused on the task ahead.
I really didn’t want to become one of them.
I switched the controls to manual, which clearly stressed R2-D2 out, because he immediately started beeping again.
“Piii!
Piiiiii!
Piiiiiiiii!”
“Don’t worry, R2-D2.
I know what I’m doing…
I think.
So you’re in good hands.”
Apparently, my compelling argument didn’t convince him, because he kept screeching wildly.
Qui-Gon Jinn told me to stay in the cockpit, so I’m staying in the cockpit.
The fact that the starfighter happened to be moving was another matter.
I returned to thinking about why I’d gone through so much trouble.
Together with Vardis, we had obtained the general plans of the Lucrehulk.
Unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to acquire detailed ones because the Trade Federation had modified those ships after purchasing them.
Still, I knew roughly what I was looking for—one of the backup control nodes that had access to parts of the sensor and shield systems.
The first droids spotted our starfighter, but just seconds before they opened fire, the Force sent me a warning.
Without thinking, I twisted the controls and performed a full barrel roll.
Green bolts passed the cockpit by only a few meters away.
My heart started pounding like crazy.
If I’d reacted even a fraction of a second later…
I visualized my destination and began circling around the enormous hull of the Lucrehulk, trying to lose the starfighters chasing me.
“Piiii!
Piii!
Piiiiii!”
“I know, R2!
I’m not thrilled about this plan either.”
I don’t know why I wanted to take part in this.
Maybe I’m just too ambitious for my own good.
The next volley sliced through the space exactly where we’d been only moments earlier.
The Force warned me again.
Left turn.
I pulled the control stick toward me so violently that the acceleration almost stole my breath.
The starfighter shot upward, passed over a protruding antenna, and nearly scraped against the Lucrehulk’s hull.
Two explosions echoed behind me.
I didn’t have time to check what exactly had happened because I received another warning.
Left turn.
I dove between the enormous sections of the ship’s plating.
Green flashes passed me from every side, and I felt less and less like I was the one flying.
My hands moved on their own.
Up once.
Barrel roll.
Half-turn.
Every maneuver came a fraction of a second before the next volley.
“PIIIIII!”
“Don’t scream!
I don’t know what I’m doing either!”
In the mirror, I saw more Vulture Droids join the pursuit.
Now there were six of them.
I had no chance of beating them in a normal fight with my pathetic skills.
My only goal was to survive the next few seconds.
In front of me, a burning wreck of a Naboo starfighter flew past.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dead pilot cut in half by a turbolaser beam.
It was a horrible sight.
Instinctively, I aimed the ship straight at the wreck.
Only when I passed it by a few meters did I hear a powerful boom behind me.
One of the droids failed to react in time.
It smashed into the debris.
The second made a violent dodge and crashed into another machine.
The Force simply guided me down the right path.
I tightened my grip on the controls.
“Just a little more…
just a little more, and we’ll be there.”
I could already see the hangar I had to fly into, one of those without intrusion sensors, which meant we wouldn’t immediately trigger an alarm across the entire ship.
With no other choice, I trusted the Force.
And, pushing the control stick as far forward as it would go…
The N-1 starfighter’s engines howled under the strain, and the whole ship turned sideways, barely slipping past the plating as it flew perfectly inside.
I bounced violently off the hangar floor, somehow without destroying the starfighter, and continued sliding across it for another dozen or so meters.
I barely remained conscious, gripping the control stick tightly so I wouldn’t slam my head into one of the canopy windows and damage my fragile child’s head.
When we finally came to a stop, I noticed battle droids beginning to approach us, wanting to check whether anyone had survived the crash.
I grabbed the cannon controls and fired a burst, destroying some of them in front of me.
Somehow, the engines were still working, so I rotated the entire starfighter, mowing down every droid within the cannons’ line of fire.
Seeing that none remained, I opened the cockpit canopy and climbed out.
R2-D2 floated down on his small thrusters and landed beside me.
“Alright.
Now comes the most important part of our mission.
Remember, stay close to me and try not to get detected.
If we run into any B1 battle droids, try to outsmart them.
They’re pretty dumb.
We have to avoid everyone else.”
“Bee bip…
biiip.”
“Yeah, yeah.
I know you didn’t sign up for this, but you wouldn’t leave a friend hanging, would you?”
I looked at him, putting on the sweetest smile I could manage.
“Bip…
bip…
biiip.”
“Alright, never mind.
It’s not like you’ve got anything better to do.
Let’s go.”
I turned around and pulled the blaster from behind my belt.
“Biiiiiip!
Biiiiiip!”
“Relax.
You didn’t think I’d be crazy enough to board an enemy ship unarmed, did you?”
I ran toward one of the corridors that should lead me to the place I was looking for.
I pressed myself against the wall and carefully peeked around the corner.
Fortunately, the corridor was empty, so I moved on.
R2-D2 watched me walk away for a moment before hurrying after me, clearly not wanting to be left alone aboard an enemy ship.
The Lucrehulk’s corridors all looked almost identical.
Gray walls, rows of conduits running beneath the ceiling, and the characteristic metallic sound of hundreds of machines working echoed throughout the vessel.
Every now and then, I stopped at each intersection, listening and checking through the Force whether any patrols were nearby.
Several times, we had to hide in side maintenance alcoves while groups of B1 battle droids and Neimoidian technicians passed by.
Fortunately, nobody expected to find a child and a small astromech wandering around the decks of a warship.
After several minutes of walking, we reached the sector I had been searching for.
According to the plans, one of the control nodes responsible for part of the sensor and shield systems should have been located here.
Now came the hardest part.
We rounded another corner when I heard the characteristic sound of droidekas rolling nearby, so I pressed myself against the wall, pretending I didn’t exist.
Fortunately for us, they rolled through the corridor beside us, completely ignoring their surroundings.
We both breathed a sigh of relief, grateful for our lucky escape.
Several corridors later, I spotted a larger door guarded by two B1 battle droids.
I came up with a simple plan.
“R2-D2, go distract them.
When you’ve got their attention, I’ll shoot them.”
“Biiip?
Bipp?”
“Come on, it’s an easy job.
They’ll just question you.
Nothing’s going to happen to you.
Trust me.”
“Please upload this access module.
It should confuse their systems long enough for me to deal with them.”
I handed him the data module containing the codes.
“Bipp…” (resigned)
R2-D2 rolled out from behind the wall and approached the door.
“Beep bip…
bipp.”
B1 #1: “Halt!
Who goes there?”
The droid walked toward R2.
“Bii…
biiiiiip.”
B1 #2: “I think he’s saying he’s a courier and has a message from command.”
B1 #1: “We’ve got communications.
Why would he deliver a message manually?
And why is his access code so strange?”
Seeing that their tiny brains were occupied, I disengaged the blaster’s safety and, focusing through the Force while holding it with both hands, fired two quick shots into their exposed heads.
Both collapsed lifelessly onto the deck.
“Biiii…
biiip…
biiiip.”
“Yeah, yeah.
You’re very brave.”
“Come on.
We don’t have time.
Someone will notice they aren’t responding soon.”
“Open the door.
Quickly.”
R2-D2 plugged into the access port and began slicing the door’s system.
A few seconds later, it opened with ease.
Fortunately, there was nobody at the technical terminal.
Knowing I had to hurry before they cut off my access to the systems controlled from this console once they discovered the intrusion, I took out a miniature droid specially prepared for this occasion.
I could have left this task to R2-D2, but I would have had to explain exactly what needed to be done, while this little one already had everything programmed.
It quickly connected to the system and began issuing the appropriate commands using the access keys from the old Lucrehulk design.
Fortunately, during the refit, they had left the old service port intact.
Apparently, nobody had considered it a threat.
A signal, unnoticed by everyone aboard the ship, was transmitted toward a previously designated region of space.
Our droid then began searching for the appropriate systems while simultaneously disabling some of the sensors covering that direction.
[VARDIS POV]
(Mission Control Center – CR90 Corvette)
“We’ve got the signal, boss,” one of the technicians announced with obvious excitement.
“That kid never stops surprising me.”
“Send the signal to the boys.
We begin now.”
“They’re to win this operation no matter the cost.
We need that ship.
It’s essential to our future plans.”
…
Author note
If you have the time, please send me stones on Webnovel, since the week is ending and they’re about to reset.
Thanks for suport🥰
….
Interesting facts about the Lucrehulk
Originally, Lucrehulks were not warships.
They were designed as massive cargo freighters for the Trade Federation and were only later converted into heavily armed battleships.
A single Lucrehulk could transport over 1.5 million battle droids.
It also carried thousands of tanks, transports, Vulture Droids, starfighters, and enough supplies to support a large-scale military campaign.
It contained multiple command and control centers.
Besides the main bridge, Lucrehulks had backup control nodes responsible for systems such as sensors, shields, hangars, and internal operations.
The ship was approximately 3 kilometers in diameter.
Its ring-shaped structure housed countless hangars, factories, storage bays, barracks, workshops, and kilometers of corridors.
During the Battle of Naboo, destroying the control Lucrehulk disabled the entire droid army on the planet.
Most battle droids relied on the ship’s central control signal, so when it was destroyed, they immediately shut down.
Lucrehulks could manufacture and repair battle droids onboard.
They contained automated factories, assembly lines, and maintenance facilities capable of producing, repairing, and deploying large numbers of battle droids during extended military campaigns without returning to a shipyard.
If you want more chapters my patron whitedeath0 .
If you can, give me a stone 😉