If you want to read more 25+ chapters ahead from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
https://patreon.com/kelly_over
____________
"Young man, I understand that you Jedi know quite a bit about this esoteric 'thing' called the Force, but trust me, we've been over this design quite thoroughly over the past few months. Besides, this is only the first of several designs were trying out," the man replied, sounding somewhat affronted before going on more normally. "And between you and I; I don't think it will be the one that will be accepted as the main starfighter for the SSG. We've learned a lot by making it though, which is all to the good."
"What do you call it then?" Harry asked, smiling at the other man's tone rather than taking offense.
"And how aerodynamic is it in atmosphere? It looks somewhat sleek, but I don't know; these side shield portions, they look as if they'd really be an issue with side to side maneuvering," Aayla interrupted, reaching down to push at one of them.
"They are," the man said, smiling at Aayla before turning to Harry. "It's not very aerodynamic at all in atmosphere, really, because of that and because of a few other things. As for the name, we call it the Falcon."
"I like the name, at least," Aayla replied, looking over at Harry. The two of them shared a moment's silent communication, and Harry nodded at her. Unlike Aayla, he had actually been involved in space combat before, and while sharing memories was a good way to learn, it was not as good as having the experience in the first place. "So, what do you want us to do?"
Eventually it turned out that this design really wasn't either cost-effective or very good despite its firepower. When the designer had said that the shields were not as powerful as the Nabooan starfighter, what he really meant was that they were almost nonexistent. They could stop one blast from a starfighter's weapon, but a second hit would short them out, and it was proven in a series of tests that despite the best efforts of the astromech droids, they simply could not be repaired without returning to dock. They also required quite a lot in the way of combat reflexes and skill to get the best out of them, being somewhat slow in turning but not reacting.
So that design was scrapped outside of five prototypes, each of them slightly different from eachother. All of them, however, shared the issue of the shields.
After that, Harry and Aayla continued to be called in occasionally, but with that first initial design seting them back so much, it looked as if it would be at least a few years before Serenno really had a good starfighter design to call its own, especially considering that several of the designers wanted to design not one starfighter type, but two.
One would be predominantly a star fighter, designed to take on other starfighters. The second would be what Lily, when she heard of it, called a bomber, a starfighter designed to take on capital ships. A combined arms unit like that would be able to handle anything it needed to and be able to do both of those jobs well rather than have a single starfighter that would only be okay at both.
No one involved in the project thought anything about handing over the five prototypes to the Jedi Order. And no one else in the training center, not even Dooku, realized that Lily and Harry had plans for those starfighters.
While Harry and Aayla continued their training, their teaching, and even more training, Master Dooku slowly withdrew from everything but retraining the other masters and Harry. At this point they had enough of a foundation to retrain themselves, and Master Giiett could take over some of the classes. Dooku was always available to teach when needed, but not at night.
At night Dooku no longer took part in their mental and force based training sessions. Instead, he began to use his own Force senses as hard and as often as he could to try and search for anything he could use to identify the Sith,
Dooku was convinced that the Sith was someone he had met in the past. Someone in his past who had subtly influenced his own interest in the Sith. But because of his own guilt over it, Dooku never went to anyone else for aid. He fasted; he meditated for hours upon hours every night rather than sleeping and began to organize his mind in what Fay called Occlumency, never hinting to the other master why he had to do so.
That, of course, would take him months, but Master Dooku was certain that it had to be done, and, just as fanatical, that he would not ask for aid in doing so. No one else at the school had a hint of his new interests.
And so the months passed until about five and a half months after the school had opened, Harry entered his master's room for an evening's study and meditation. Aayla wasn't walking with him for the moment, despite this being one of the few times the two of them could be alone together given their hectic schedules. Quinlan had returned from a mission which had taken him away for a few weeks, and the two of them were spending time together.
When he opened the door to Master Fay's room Harry stopped, looking confused at the tableau inside. On one side of the room Master Fay stood, practically glaring up at Lily. His mother's ghost was staring back at her just as hard. "…Should I come back later?" he asked hesitantly. "Or perhaps get one of the other masters to mediate?"
Both women broke off their stares at one another to look at him and noticeably calmed down. "That is not necessary, Harry," Master Fay said with a smile, gesturing him into the room. "We're not having a shouting argument or anything like that."
"No, no," Lily said with a laugh, sitting down next to Fay and her son, as much as a ghost could anyway, kissing him lightly on the cheek as the rest of her began to fall through the floor that he had sat down on. Grumbling, she righted herself, shaking her head. "We were having a most polite argument, it's true, but it's not a personal one, just a difference of opinion."
_____________
If you want to read more 25+ chapters ahead from here you can visit my Patre-on.
[P] [A] [T] [R] [E] [O] [N]
https://patreon.com/kelly_over