Anakin hummed to himself slightly as he worked on the custom built arm for his most recent droid. It had been so exciting working with such high quality components for once. The specs were like nothing he’d ever worked with before. His mind raced with ideas whenever he worked now, able to do so much more now that the components were so much more powerful.

  This was the third droid that Anakin had built from the ground up, and it would be the most powerful and smartest yet. Far better than even the state of the art medical droids in this place. Even the Count had expressed interest in Anakin’s droids during his visits. He’d actually taken the first two droids that Anakin had built away to show to some of the other members of his group. Well, he asked politely for them first, and Anakin didn’t mind all that much. Those first two were mostly just practice and exploring what the parts could do. This third droid was the real deal, and Anakin thought that this one would be far better than the others after he’d learned so much over these last few months.

  He’d been in this place for almost six months now. Nine months total since his rampage on Tatooine. Count Dooku came to visit every few weeks, but it still was a little lonely here with only droids to talk to most of the time. And meditate and do his best to practice drawing on the light side of the Force. He didn’t want to ever be forced to draw on the Dark side of the Force again if he didn’t have to. He’d nearly died last time, and if Dooku hadn’t saved him then he’d have been killed once he was unconscious and vulnerable once the Dark side left him. The Count had promised that he was almost ready with the arrangements for Anakin to leave this place and that Anakin could leave and go somewhere with more people within a month. Maybe more people from his mysterious group? Anakin wasn’t quite sure.

  Anakin was nearly done with making the droid arm when he heard some shuffling to the side of the workbench. He glanced over and flinched as he saw Draeth sitting there staring at him with its single eye and blue tentacles waving around.

  “Building a droid? Good for you, good for you. How long was I out?”

  Anakin let out a breath and laughed slightly and his racing heart settled down.

  “You scared me, Draeth. Almost nine months this time.”

  “Nine months? So everything went well? Where is this place? I don’t think you’d have gotten quite this rich in only nine months. That half built droid over there looks fancy.”

  “No, I… Well, I have a sponsor now I guess. Count Dooku, he saved me. Slarena and mom are out there in the galaxy somewhere still. Dooku said that neither he or the Republic have found them yet, so I guess that’s a good thing.”

  “So things went wrong? It was… Whoooooaaaahhhhh. This is ridiculous! How much of the Force have you been using in the last nine months? Why, this is wonderful! I’m nearly profitable already, and it’s been less than a year since we’ve been together! Oh, the gains I’ll get if you survive even longer…”

  Draeth stared at Anakin in what could only be described as hunger.

  “C’mon, tell me, tell me,” Draeth said excitedly, “What did you do that did so much with the Force?”

  Anakin answered him and explained what had happened back on Tatooine and his rampage while he was fully consumed with the dark side.

  “Hmmmm, that’s…. Well I’ll tell you one thing. There’s no need to blame yourself for all of that. There’s outside factors here complicating things.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Remember when I said that the Force itself would interfere and try to have you fall to the Dark side to restore balance? Well, it has jumped the gun a bit. I thought it strange I gained so much energy the first time with the pirates, but this confirms it. When you used the Dark side of the Force and drew on it beyond a certain level, the Force itself acted to reinforce your fall to the dark and increase your power to make sure that you stayed that way. That’s why I gained so much more energy compared to normal. If not for your mind shield, it might even have succeeded.

  “Whenever normal users use the dark side, it never fully goes away. There’s just a little bit sitting there waiting to grow and explode outwards when their emotions grow more intense. But your mind shield fully purged its influence, leaving you relatively normal until you draw on the dark side of the Force again. You’re not addicted or supernaturally tempted to use it like all the other dark side users are constantly.”

  “That’s… good, right? But why would the Force be so aggressive? I didn’t think it would be as obvious as what you’re saying.”

  “Yes, well I think it might be confused and trying to set things back on track more aggressively than strictly necessary when it saw the chance. It shouldn’t know about me, so from its perspective you’re suddenly taking strange actions and gaining abilities that are completely inexplicable to it. Now, it doesn’t really have a mind that can really focus on one individual but it can sense when things are wrong and try to correct them subconsciously. Well, not subconsciously since it’s not… You know what I mean.”

  “Will it happen again? Will the Force start doing other things to me now that it’s failed twice to corrupt me?”

  “No, well if you draw deeply on the dark side again then maybe. But in normal circumstances no. You’ve been settled in place for a while now. I’m sure that the Force has been adjusting things in the background to make things fit in its pattern again. It shouldn’t take any direct action unless it’s literally the last resort. It’s not in its nature to concentrate on one action like that unless it absolutely has to. Little nudges and pushes in its broad network of living beings to get its result is more its style.”

  “So, I should… be safe from it mostly? It won’t do anything else?”

  “Well, it’ll keep pushing you towards the dark side and generally trying to give you plenty of reasons to draw on it. Just think about it like bad luck constantly coming your way. Not the kind of bad luck that would ever kill you, but the kind that would make you angry enough to tempt you to draw on the Dark side again. But no, other than that things should be fine.”

  “That’s… That doesn’t sound so bad? I mean, could be worse right?”

  “Definitely,” Draeth agreed, “Especially since you’ve got me to help you. Now we’ve been going full steam recently, but now might be the time to settle down and think about the future. You’ve got a sponsor who seems decent enough. Your mother isn’t in active danger anymore, and you’re away from the Republic and Jedi. You could get an ability right now or you could keep building up the bank so to speak to get a more powerful one in the future.”

  “What’s the difference? What could I get now versus in the future?”

  “Well, it’s not rigid, you know. I have to personally customize and form your abilities using the available budget of energy that I owe you. But you’ve got a lot of credits in the bank already so to speak for this one. What would be years worth of accumulation normally, even for you.”

  “What’s an example? One ability I could get right now versus if I waited?”

  “Alright, that’s fair. I’ll try to come up with two ones that are similarish. Hmmmmm. Yes, yes. Okay…”

  Draeth started muttering to itself again for a few minutes before looking up.

  “I’ve got it. If you wait at least a year then you could get an ability to adapt to damage. So, if you are getting burned then your skin will get more resistant to fire. If you’re getting shocked by electricity then your nerves will harden and you’ll slowly adapt to be able to still move and resist it. Crushing force, stabbing, acid, basically anything if you’re exposed to it long enough. Bad part is that you have to be damaged first, and the benefits are only temporary. Well, temporary is relative. It should last a few days after, but without more damage to you then it’ll slowly fade until you’re just normal you again. Just like your dispersion ability, it costs your stamina or draws on the Force if it can. But it’ll pay off, especially since it’ll let you resist the burns from blaster shots or even lightsabers if you fight for long enough and build it up enough to resist the heat. Oh, also it lets you survive in space for a bit without a suit if you survive long enough to adapt. Even if you would be extremely tired after adapting to such harsh conditions.”

  “That’s what I can get in a year?” Anakin said in disbelief, “That’s so overpowered, what could I get right now?”

  “Right now, then I could give you regeneration. Like you were soaking in bacta all the time, but even better. You’d eat a bit more than normal, but the benefits would become clear pretty quickly. It’s much simpler than the other ability, but it’s a solid thing that’ll protect you whenever you get injured again. And keep you going longer in a fight.”

  Anakin thought about it and was tempted to take the regeneration right now. But the ability to adapt to damage like Draeth described, to be able to just take a hit from a lightsaber after a long battle and be completely uninjured…

  “Fine, I’ll wait,” Anakin said a little reluctantly, “No more abilities for now.”

  “Great! You’re making the right choice here, Anakin,” Draeth said cheerfully, “Well, I’ll be awake for now. Just call out my name if you want to talk. I’ll let you know when you’ve built up enough energy for the big shiny new ability. Keep meditating on the Force, that’s really good to increase the amount of energy that you have. Bye bye for now!”

  And then Draeth was gone again as if he was never there to begin with. After a few minutes of staring at the place where Draeth had been sitting on the bench, Anakin turned and kept working on the arm of the droid. For once he’d actually have to be patient. That ability that Draeth talked about sounded amazing, and it would be worth the wait.

  — — —

  Anakin stood on Count Dooku’s ship, with GR-32 standing behind him. It was humanoid except with a variety of tools sprouting from the end of its right arm instead of a fully articulating hand like the left arm. He was proud how smoothly it moved around, and Anakin had a vague idea of it helping him with all of its tools when he went to build another droid.

  “Where are we going, Count Dooku?” Anakin asked the man as the ship entered hyperspace, “Is it more people from your group?”

  “Hm. I think you deserve to know a bit more at this point,” Dooku said thoughtfully, “We are part of what you likely know as the separatist movement. We are looking to form a confederation of independent systems that will break away from the Republic. Away from the corrupt senate and the core worlds that it represents at the cost of those at the outer rim. Just look at Naboo and how the Trade federation escaped consequences from their invasion. The senate is too corrupt to govern the outer rim effectively anymore. I’m taking you to meet some like minded individuals.”

  “Breaking away from the Republic?” Anakin asked, “Is that even possible? I understand that… But I don’t think the Republic would let that happen, and they have all the fleets and military power…”

  “Ah, but not for long,” Dooku said with a faint smile, “The people I’m bringing you to are droid engineers. A whole team. The idea is that we will create droid armies to defend ourselves should the Republic try to force us back into line. Production has already started in small batches with a few friendly corporations. But seeing your talents, I thought it would be valuable for you to provide any insight you might have into their designs of my personal research team.”

  Anakin frowned, “You want me to help you with battle droids? What could I do that all of these engineer’s can’t?”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Oh, I think you’d be surprised,” Dooku said, “The corporate engineer’s focus is on cost per unit, not capability. I’m sure you’d be able to suggest a few improvements to my people looking over the designs. The battle droids as they are are… less than satisfactory. It’s been quite an issue that my team has struggled with to improve them without also drastically increasing their cost. I’d consider it a large favor if you’d help them find a solution to the issue.”

  Anakin felt overwhelmed by the responsibility that Dooku was putting on him before recovering his wits.

  “I’ll do my best, sir. I won’t let you down.”

  Dooku shot Anakin a glance with a thin smile and nodded slightly, “I should hope not. You are talented in more than just the Force, young Skywalker. From what I’ve seen so far, you’ll exceed expectations. Do not hesitate to call out any of the people you meet if you believe they are wrong. You will have my authority behind you to alter the droid designs as you wish.”

  “Is there any word on my mom and Slarena Reborn yet?” Anakin asked hopefully after there was a brief lull in the conversation.

  “No. They are hiding rather well considering how many people are after them. I will accompany you when you go to meet them at the bar, if you would allow it. I’m sure they will be relieved to discover that you are healed and safe and sound.”

  They traveled until they dropped out of hyperspace above a gray planet that was covered in volcanoes and in thick clouds of ash. The system was nearly empty of ships, and Anakin only saw a few points that could be settlements. The ship descended onto a seemingly random spot in a massive flat plain on the planet and when it was close to the ground a hatch opened and let them descend downwards.

  All around them was a long shaft going deep into the ground that was plunged into darkness as the hatch above them closed again, only the ship’s lights showing the way as they descended.

  The ship dropped for what felt like forever until finally it landed on a platform below and the engines turned off. A large door leading to the shaft running to the surface closed above them and lights all around them turned on and lit up the space.

  Dooku, Anakin, and his droid GR-32 walked out of the ship and over to a door that hissed open as the Count typed in a code on the access pad. They walked inside and saw a group of five people standing there, three women and two men.

  “Anakin, these are the lead engineers for this facility,” Dooku said with a gesture of his hand, “They work on the designs of our battle droids. Both in improving the frontline models and researching more advanced variants that are more expensive. There’s about a hundred and fifty people in this facility that they manage. Everyone, this is Anakin Skywalker, a mechanical prodigy. Someone that I thought is more than worthy to assist you despite his age. This droid here was built by him in only a few months. I’m told that even his less advanced models were considered impressive.”

  All five of the people looked at Anakin in surprise.

  “That was yours?” one of the women said, “By yourself? I thought it was from one of the corporate teams…”

  “Yes, I built them myself,” Anakin said, “Count Dooku said I was here to help all of you? I could explain how I build GR-32 if you’d like?”

  “Sure, tell us what you did,” one of the other women said with a note of challenge in her voice, “Are you sure no one gave you designs for it? You seem a bit young to be working on droids…”

  “No, I built them all by myself,” Anakin said, standing a little straighter before turning to GR-32, “Hey GR-32. Want to show them what you can do?”

  “Certainly, Anakin,” the droid said smoothly, “I’m eager to finally see some use. I’ve yet to test all of my tools to assist you.”

  GR-32 was usually quiet unless Anakin spoke to him, but the others seemed surprised at the smooth voice modulation of the droid’s voice. Anakin had spent some time improving the droid brain pathways so that the droid could express more emotional range and fluidity than normal. With all the quality components that the Count had supplied Anakin with, it had felt like a waste to not do it even if it wasn’t strictly necessary.

  “Great, do you have a workshop where we can show him off?” Anakin said as he looked around to the engineers.

  “Well, I suppose I will take my leave then,” Count Dooku said as he observed him, “Anakin has my authority to work as he pleases. I’m sure that you will all get along splendidly.”

  They all said their goodbyes before the Dooku walked back to the landing pad and took off in his ship to the surface. Anakin was a little nervous at first as he started showing off GR-32 capabilities and answering the engineer’s questions about him. But he wasn’t stumped and after some initial skepticism and probing to test if he was actually competent, the engineers accepted him and were friendly.

  Anakin was just happy to be talking to somebody besides the droids or stoic Dooku for the first time in almost six months.

  They showed Anakin the designs for the B1 battle droids, and his mind raced as he looked over the cobbled mess of it. He knew they were poorly designed in general, but seeing the diagram proved just how cobbled together and messy the design truly was. Anakin was surprised the droids were even able to walk properly with how haphazard their droid brain was.

  The other engineers had their own alternatives that they’d been working on to improve the droid while keeping the cost similar.

  Looking over what they’d been working on, Anakin had plenty of his own ideas. Really, most of the issues were with the droid brain itself and the connections to the frame. If they just changed a few things they’d work much better even with the hardware remaining almost identical…

  And so he got to work. It was nice talking with the other engineers and other staff. Everyone working together instead of all alone like he usually did, even when he was younger and there simply wasn’t anyone else smart enough to understand what he was doing.

  — — —

  “It’s truly amazing, sir! Where did you find this kid?” One of the women gushed as she took Anakin into a side hug as she praised him directly in front of Count Dooku, “He’s a genius! We’ve made more progress on the project in the last few months than we did ever before!”

  “Now, Relira. You guys did a lot too,” Anakin said, a little embarrassed by all the praise that all the engineers he’d come to consider friends kept giving him. They were all a bit older, in their thirties and forties, but after a few weeks they stopped paying attention to his age and just treated him as one of them. It was a nice feeling, like how it had been among the padawans of the Jedi temple. The feeling of community and working together on one thing all the time…

  “No need to be embarrassed Anakin,” Count Dooku said, looking pleased, “It seems you did not disappoint. So you have a model? Let’s see it.”

  “Of course, Count,” Relira said as she released Anakin and bowed slightly before leading the Count, Anakin, and the other lead engineers to the testing room.

  Inside was a B1 battle droid, but slightly different from the traditional design. A B1a droid. Its long ‘nose’ had been significantly shortened and all the electronics had been shifted to make its long and narrow head a bit bulkier. The neck was a little shorter and better rooted into the frame than before so it would have much more stability and clearer vision when it was moving. If the old design had moved faster than a crawl and tried to look to the side then their weak necks and extended head design would cause them to stumble and fall sometimes. Their necks were so weak that sometimes even a hard fall was enough to let the normal B1’s heads get wrenched out of its socket and get damaged.

  The B1a’s legs had a few stronger springs installed on the interior so that they no longer had to hobble around like before, but could move at a faster jog at their top speed. Still slow, but something more practical than the normal B1’s moving at no more than a fast walk for their top speed. The B1a’s normal walking was also much smoother than before. The rest of the frame was largely the same besides some small changes, but all of it was better integrated so the droid brain could control all of it more smoothly than the disjointed and jerky mess of a control scheme like it had been before.

  “This is the new model?” Dooku said as they looked through a glass window into the room where the B1a droid stood with a blaster in its hands. Right next to it a few meters away was the older model of a standard B1.

  Relira stepped forward and pressed the talk button to pipe her voice into the room as a series of holographic targets appeared at the end of what would be a firing range.

  “Both units, fire at the targets at will. Demonstrate full combat maneuvers using available cover.”

  “Roger roger,” B1a said and raised its blaster and started shooting at the blue holographic rings moving around at the end of the firing range. It jogged forward before crouching behind the raised metal sheet representing cover. It waited a few seconds to let its overheated blaster from all the rapid fire cool down slightly before it popped up again and continued firing.

  It wasn’t all too accurate, missing more than half of the targets that it aimed at, sometimes having to shoot two or three times to hit even some of the stationary ones. As soon as the droid shot the holographic targets, they disappeared and new ones appeared, leaving only a scorched reinforced wall behind it.

  But it was still far better than the standard B1. At Relira’s command, it raised its blaster and shuffled forward while ignoring all the cover around it, seemingly only firing vaguely in the same direction as the targets.

  At one point the B1 turned to track a moving holographic target and ended up facing a wall. It fired dumbly at the wall for over three seconds before it seemingly noticed its mistake.

  “Ahhhhhh,” the B1 said with an electronic nasally voice, “Tricky targets!”

  It turned again and started firing vaguely the same way as the targets again.

  “Retreat to the door of the chamber, fighting retreat,” Relira said and piped her voice through, after watching the two go at it for a few minutes.

  The B1a stood up and started walking backwards smoothly as it kept firing as it backed towards the door.

  “Eeeeehhhhh?” The B1 said, seeming confused as it turned around straight to the door before facing the targets again to keep firing. After a second of confusion it started taking a few shuffling steps backward and then tripped over itself. It stood up again and continued backing up, but Anakin saw that its clumsiness was noted as Dooku grimaced at the sight.

  Both droids reached the door and kept firing at the targets even from that angle.

  Relira pressed the button one more time.

  “Units, destroy the other droid in the room with you.”

  “EEeeeiiiiii!” the B1 squealed as the B1a turned and used its blaster to push against the B1’s torso and toppled it over. The B1’s arms flailed as it fell to the ground and dropped its blaster in surprise as the B1a raised its blaster and fired four times to its center mass and caused the B1 to go still.

  “Roger roger,” the B1a said in that same nasally electronic voice as the B1.

  “I see your point well. Although that last demonstration was excessive,” Count Dooku said thoughtfully, “What would the additional expense for these superior models be compared to the B1s?”

  “That’s the best part, sir,” Relira said, “The components are nearly the same for the two models, just some minor additions besides a reworking of the design. We estimate that it should only be five to seven percent more expensive per droid. And that can be brought down once things are done at scale.”

  Dooku reached up and stroked his white beard as he stared into the testing room where the B1a remained standing waiting for more orders.

  “Congratulations, you all get a raise and a significant bonus,” Count Dooku said, “I will present this new droid to our partners for manufacturing at scale soon. The difference between the two is night and day, well worth the price…”

  All the engineers cheered as Dooku turned to Anakin.

  “Anakin, that includes you. I’ve created a bank account in your name. I’ve paid you as if you were one of the lead engineers for your time. When we go to retrieve your mother, you will have enough money to support her and more. The bonus for your work will be substantial, in proportion to how much you’ve contributed to the project.”

  Anakin blinked, stunned at the revelation before he bowed to Dooku.

  “Thank you, sir. I appreciate it, I’ve enjoyed working here with the others.”

  “Excellent. I see that I’ve made the right choice bringing you here. Continue the good work, I will be back just before the new galactic year. Perhaps all of you might appraise me of the other projects that your teams have been working with?” Dooku looked around to the room of lead engineers, who nodded back.

  “Certainly, sir,” Relira said, “Our work with improving the spider droid’s heat dissipation issue has come along smoothly in your absence even if we still don’t have a solution at the proper price points…”

  Dooku was given a full tour of the facility where all of them lived and worked, and shown all the plans and droids that everyone was working on. Most of the staff here had been inside this base for over a year, hidden from the rest of the galaxy so word of their work wouldn’t spread. But despite that, most people seemed happy to work here considering they were getting high ‘hazard’ pay for their isolation by Dooku and his group. The Confederate of Independent Systems or CIS, Anakin learned they called themselves.

  Anakin didn’t really care all too much about the politics of seceding from the Republic or not. He’d grown up on Tatooine, which was ruled by the Hutts with an iron fist. As far as he was concerned, the Outer Rim was barely controlled by the Republic anyway.

  But the Jedi would side with the Republic in a civil war, which made Anakin a little torn over it. He knew these were battle droids meant for war, and that the masters and padawans that he knew at the Jedi temple would be fighting them.

  Anakin still felt some resentment against the Council and Master Druman for how they’d treated him, but that didn’t extend to any of the other Jedi. He knew that most were doing their best to help people, and he wouldn’t want any of them to be hurt.

  But at the same time, Count Dooku had done so much for Anakin already. He didn’t want him to be hurt either if the Republic crushed the rebellion and had him arrested. And on a more practical note, he sort of depended on Dooku as his sponsor right now, as Anakin would be captured and sent back to the Jedi if he was found by the Republic…

  Hopefully he wouldn’t be killed, but Anakin had used the dark side blatantly on Tatooine. He’d always been told at the Jedi temple how corruptive using it was, so they might kill him if they got it in their minds that he’d been fully corrupted and was just hiding it or something…

  Yes, Anakin would be best sticking with the CIS for now. Even if he had to keep making weapons for them and Dooku that might hurt the Jedi in the future.