Chap. 16 - Whim of Fate

Hello everyone. Before starting with the chapter, I would like to clarify one thing. I will use bold letters to indicate the Nelvaanian language.

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Half a rotation had passed since the events at the science facility, and the Kestrel Nova was in outer space just outside of Nelvaana. As ironic as it seemed, the conditions in open space were friendlier than the frigid temperatures of the planet.

After destroying the mountain on which the laboratory had been built, a loud rumble shook the earth and millions of tons of solid rock succumbed to the vacuum created by the open chambers, which could not withstand the pressure and collapsed. Hopefully, all those gruesome experiments were buried forever, and even Icarus deleted all traces of them from his memory files. Not even a soulless droid could tolerate such atrocities. How was it possible that some organics were capable of such a thing?

Enabling the Kestrel Nova's cannons was no easy task either. Icarus had no record of the ship, no list of specifications. It was a model so old it didn't even appear in the files of the Separatist mainframes. So they had to do a detailed analysis, and after several failed programming attempts, the droid was able to access all the ship's systems. But there was a reason such an important routine overhaul couldn't be done in Mygeeto.

Icarus was a tactical superdroid, so its creators never thought to install any navigation software, much less diagnostic software. His role was primarily to excel on the battlefield, so this information was not relevant to his mission. Once he was connected to the computers in Nelvaana's labs, he was able to download all those secondary functions along with a lot of relevant information that it had to review in detail.

[You have no idea how many websites I've searched to find "something" about the Kestrel Nova, but with nothing, I feel free to add my little input. XD]

The Kestrel Nova had impressive features for such an old model. Which surprised Icarus quite a bit, considering that he lacked any information about the ship: 50 meters long, 5 meters high and 4 meters wide in its most prominent areas. A class 1 hyperdrive, and considerable attack power comprised of twin laser cannons and a bow turbo-laser cannon, complemented by four missile launchers. In addition, it had rotating turrets on the starboard, port, and upper part, which allowed a moderate defense against the attack of smaller and faster enemy ships such as fighters. Except for the lower part of the ship, which was completely devoid of weapons, but with a good combat strategy that problem could be solved. To all this, it was complemented by a reflector shield that, although it was much weaker than the ones that the ships of the time had, could offer them some protection against medium and low intensity enemy fire.

The exhaustion affected not only the girl. Wag Too also decided to get some rest on the hard metal crates in the cargo hold. Apparently during his life in exile, the lurmen had to sleep in such unimaginable places that metal seemed as comfortable as a water mattress. And in those five or six quiet hours, Ícaro had time to review some files that were useful to him.

With his hand connected to the terminal in the captain's seat, he sent another recording of Wat Tambor to the holo-projector, and listened very carefully to the former Separatist leader's words.

"(...) Record 1: After several failed tests, I think we've finally made it. The new core works perfectly, and after much trial and error, we managed to determine the ideal material to contain its "bursts," so to speak. The details are classified, but I can say that Beskar is the only metal capable of containing the radiation emanating from the core (...)

(...) Record 3: The structure is ready. We'll be using a super tactical droid model to contain the new core. Hopefully, the results obtained will be as desired (...)

(...) Record 6: Unfortunately the reaction has destroyed the superdroid model. The new core is not compatible with droid spare parts. As a consequence, the durasteel plates within reached their melting point. These strange "organisms" behave very differently from any other microscopic being we know of. (...)

(...) Record 87: After a dozen failures it has been decided to postpone the Overlord project. The nucleus remains stable, but its host cannot withstand the radiation discharge it receives. Until General Grievous supplies us with more Beskar, I don't think we'll reach a new result. In addition, the shells destroyed by the core have reached very dangerous levels of radiation. The decontamination processes are reducing our budget even faster than the original project. (...)

(...) Record 97: Beskar's new frame is ready. The kernel is now installed, and we will proceed with the boot process. Starting in three...two...one...Start...Core seems to accept receiver...10 seconds and remains stable...Or not...System overheating...Radiation levels out from the norm... Turn it off... Turn it off (...)

(...) Record 115: Pure Beskar is too unstable at core radiation levels, so we'll use an alloy of the metal with gold and moderate levels of lead. Due to the increase in weight, the framework will be left only for the plates that wrap the core. The rest of the droid will use the original parts." -Wat Tambor yawns. -"I have not slept in three days. We will postpone everything until tomorrow (...)

(...) Record 116: Very well. Today we will continue with the startup process. Starting at three...two...one...Start...Core remains stable...10 seconds and remains stable...30 seconds with no change...1 minute with no change...Very well... Here we go... Switching to remote power in three... two... one..." - Wat Tambor presses a button and hundreds of sparks splatter around him, but after several seconds all is quiet. - "It works?... It works!... The core is stable! We did it! We did it!... The midichlorian core is stable! (...)

(...) Record 121: The droid passed the tests without any problems. Its level of analysis is on a higher level than Admiral Trench himself... However... its mere existence is more dangerous than I can imagine. I decided to call it Icarus; a name from ancient human culture. But with great meaning. My creation... my greatest achievement... I couldn't be more proud."

The image of Wat Tambor on the holo-projector freezes, hinting that the recording has ended. However, Icarus stared at the image of the Skakoan for a few seconds, feeling a strange sensation in his chest, just where his strange core was. Something he could classify as "nostalgia" or some kind of longing, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Ícaro spent several more hours going through different files and recordings of the last moments of the war. What happened in Mygeeto was not random. The clones killed their generals on every battlefront. And the last thing he was seeing was a projection coming from Mustafar. Separatist leaders being killed by a mysterious hooded being with a blue saber in his hand. The being killed everyone present in cold blood without any remorse, and then gave the order for all the droids to disengage.

Icarus took a good look at the assassin's face. His yellow eyes caused her an uncomfortable sensation, and his name was repeated over and over again in her circuits. Darth Vader. The one who destroyed the separatists and killed the leaders of the faction, including his creator, Wat Tambor.

The droid didn't know it, but at that moment it was experiencing something completely new. Something that made his fists clench, caused him anxiety, and an uncontrollable desire to defeat that strange being. Icarus experienced hate for the first time, and his core reacted to that feeling. The droid was so intent on his computations that he didn't hear the soft footsteps approaching him.

????: - What happened? -

Icarus turned around suddenly, startled. And without knowing it, he had ignited his lightsaber and was pointing it in the direction of the command center door. And when he could compute clearly, he realized that it was the Nelvanian girl, a little frightened by the light of the saber.

Icarus:- Oh... Ex... Escuse me. Those be new... to me. - He did his best to speak the little girl's language, which brought a smile to his childish face once Icarus put the saber away.- Wat are happenin? -

Little girl: - Ha ha. Nothing. It's just that your accent is horrible. -

Icarus: - I no a spelt in your language, nor an dloid plotocol. Well... wat do you wan? -

The girl said nothing. It simply fell silent, staring blankly at the ground, but before Icarus could ask again, a loud roar came from the creature's small body.

Icarus: - What was those? - The girl said nothing. She only supported her two hands on her abdomen. - Ale you hungly? - The little girl nodded her head. - There is lacione in kichen. You ca take une. -

Icarus turned around, and kept looking in the files, but when he looked back, the girl was still in the same place, as if waiting for something.

Icarus:- Wat are happenin? -

Little girl: -What is a kitchen? -

The droid couldn't believe such a question, but decided not to waste time, so he disconnected from the terminal, got up from his seat and walked next to the little girl, and instinctively, she followed him. In the kitchen, Icaro checked the drawers for some rations while the girl looked at everything curiously. But before she could ask a question, the droid gave her a strange scroll that looked "edible."

The little girl took it in her hands, but at first she looked at it with some strangeness, as if she was wondering if it was food for living beings or food for droids, but after several sniffs she decided to take a bite.

The revulsion on her face was unparalleled, but she was so hungry that she decided to swallow the morsel anyway. Intrigued, Icarus decided to ask.

Icarus:- Wat are happenin? -

Little girl:- Raw meat tastes better. -

Icarus:- That emergency food. It gives you necesary nutriens to keep running. -

Despite the droid's peculiar way of speaking, the girl did her best not to laugh. She looked back at the "food" slice and took another bite. But it was not lost on the droid's eyes that she did not find her very pleasant. So he tried something else.

Icarus turned around and checked the different shelves to see what else they had, but all he found were some strange powders that didn't seem very edible: sugar, flour, proteins, yeast, salt, among others. The droid wondered what all this was for, so he decided to turn on the terminal in the kitchen to find some kind of information. And among the data he found, a folder called "Recipes" caught his attention and he reviewed the content for several seconds.

The droid took different powders from the containers and followed the instructions to the letter. He prepared a strange viscous mass of a whitish color and put it in the oven for a few minutes. The girl had devoured the portion, however, the strange amorphous mass caused her even more revulsion. And while they waited, Icarus decided to find out more about the little girl.

Icarus: - We ale in the little orbit of your planet. We cam unravel and take you wit you familie. We cam leafe you a shovel rations that... -The droid stopped talking when he saw the little girl's head shake. - Wat are happenin? -

Little girl: - I do not have family. My town was destroyed a long time ago. My dad and I survived how we could... - A tear fell from the little girl's eye. - But then they showed up. And they took my dad. -

The girl had endured enough, but it was simply too much. He began to cry wildly, although she did her best to contain his cries, letting out only a couple of sobs. Icarus saw her, but did not know what to do in that situation. As much as he searched his database, he could not find anything related to how to calm a crying child. So he had to improvise.

He dragged a container and helped the little girl to sit on it. He took a glass and filled it with water and offered it to her, mistakenly believing that it was leaking, and then simply sat beside her, silent, and with his rough metal hand he began to caress the little girl's head. The droid didn't know what it was doing, but it had seen Wat Tambor do the same to a strange little creature it called a pet. Somehow, that calmed it down, and it seemed to have the same effect on the girl.

[You have no idea how difficult it was to convince my autocorrect that Icarus's way of speaking was not incorrect. XD]