Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 31 - Home (First round, please continue reading, it's very important)
(PS: Entering the first round of recommendations, please vote and keep reading, it's very important. Thank you all, I'm so grateful.)
The Lacus main planetary system, Lacus 2 satellite.

Kalulla Sector.

Just as the congressman's transport plane was screeching as it flew towards the city with its anti-gravity thrusters, Ryan arrived in front of the massive metal composite door.

He twisted his neck, his cervical bones making a slight clicking sound, relaxed the tense muscles in his shoulders, adjusted his breathing, lowered his expectations, and then pushed open the heavy door.

"Lord Ren?"

A sharp, synthesized sound, with a distinct electronic vibrato, rang out in surprise.

Ryan instinctively took a step back, his eyes quickly scanning the spacious hallway, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound.

"Here I am, sir!"

Renn looked down, his gaze falling on the ground. "Oh, it's you... Hello, Hal."

Hal is an LEP service robot, about waist-high to Raine. It has an oval body made of a smooth white polymer shell and a silent hovering disk at the bottom.

A pair of silver antennas resembling rabbit ears extend upwards from both sides of the head, with faint blue indicator lights flashing at their ends.

Hal was holding a metal tray with two dexterous robotic arms, on which were three steaming, dark-colored drinks.

It hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward slightly, raised the tray a little higher, and handed him a cup.

"Thank you."

Ryan gratefully accepted the cup; the warm liquid slid down his parched throat, bringing a sense of relief.

He reached out his other hand and gently patted its smooth, hemispherical head module. "How have you been lately?"

"It's functioning well, sir," a soft voice came from the small speaker on Hal's head. "Would you like me to prepare a room for you?"

“No need,” Ryan said, his gaze sweeping over the clean lines and geometric decorations in the foyer. “I’m not staying here this time. Can you take me to Mina?”

Hal's 'ears' on his head slowly drooped down a few degrees, almost touching his skull. "This way, please, Lord Rein."

As it spoke, its hovering disc silently rotated, guiding the direction.

They strolled out of the foyer, past several mansion staff in dark gray uniforms who were busy cleaning equipment or data panels, and entered the actual residence.

As Raine walked, he pondered how to settle Hal.

After his parents were involved in a hyperspace accident, he moved in with Mina's family and has lived with them ever since.

Or rather, until they were chosen as Ondron's representatives to go to Coruscant to fulfill their parliamentary duties, leaving him in Izz to look after the family estate while serving in the Royal Planetary Defence Force.

After the outbreak of war, they reunited in Laksulon, right in this house.

The house is equipped with this LEP robot, which Raine finds very useful and has a pleasing behavior pattern.

The first thing he did was to input the identification code "HAR" into it, because for him, it was too difficult to remember a long and boring string of alphanumeric codes.

HAL's main processor seems to have accepted this more efficient name, and so it was settled.

On Earth, the ethics and existence of artificial intelligence are hot topics, so no matter what kind of robot he encounters, Ryan always treats it with the same basic respect as any other conscious individual.

But he later discovered that this was not the case in this galaxy, because only Lux in the family, like him, called Hal by his name instead of simply commanding "LEP-unit".

In Renn's opinion, this was too rigid.

For some reason, these alien civilizations endowed machines with near-sensory characteristics, including complex behavioral logic, adaptive learning, and even the ability to simulate emotions, but never truly realized or cared about the potential moral implications of this.

“Hal, I’ll tell you!” Renn’s footsteps made a soft sound on the smooth synthetic stone floor. “I’ll ask Mina if I can take you with me. If she agrees, you can come with me.”

Now that Ryan is a general, he also needs an assistant to handle daily affairs and communications.

He didn't want to use Little Tower or other Level 4 combat robots for this task. They lacked the ability to operate them precisely, and hiring Vinok or Barisan bodyguards, aside from the potential risks, didn't quite fit his current need to maintain a low profile.

"really?"

Hal's head module tilted upwards a few degrees, its 'ears' stood up slightly, and the indicator lights became much brighter.

"real."

Ryan pushed open a door with a metal frame and walked into a spacious living room.

The huge viewing window on the left, which occupies the entire wall, was slightly ajar, and the cool air from the thin atmosphere of the LAX 2 satellite outside rushed into the room, making a continuous hissing sound.

Through the window, he could see the exquisitely structured pavilion in the meticulously maintained garden below, with several Ondron-style lanterns hanging on it emitting a steady white light.

The light attracted some small local flying insects, which formed a blurry, constantly moving black shadow around the light source.

"You're back."

Mina's voice suddenly came from behind her. She didn't look at him, but stared intently at a thin, glowing tablet in her hand. "Lux will be here soon. The hot water circulation system in the living area has been started to preheat. Don't use it all up."

“I don’t need it, I’ll leave it to him,” Ryan said, sitting down on the dark sofa opposite her armchair. He took off his military jacket with general’s epaulets and casually draped it over the wide back of the sofa. “I just came to take a look.”

This caught Mina's attention.

The MP from Ondron had a serious face and short, shoulder-length brown hair with graying ends. Although the years or the heavy pressure of her political career had etched lines around her eyes, Mina Bontri's gaze still retained its penetrating sharpness.

Her tone always carried an unquestionable authority, and people would naturally stop what they were doing and listen whenever she spoke.

Mina finally looked away from the scrolling data and charts on the tablet and said to Ryan, "This is your home too."

Ryan reached out and tugged at the sleeve of his coat draped over the sofa, showing her the Confederate general's badge sewn onto his shoulder and embroidered with fine metal thread. He said, "I have military duties in the city, so I bought a small apartment in the officers' housing area."

Mina scrutinized him with her grey-blue eyes, her brows furrowing into a shallow furrow. "How long are you going to stay?"

Raine had intended to say that it might be a week or several months before the Republic launched its offensive.

The key is that they will be caught off guard, and as the senior operations commander of this sector, he must urgently mobilize all defensive forces to engage in the battle.

but.

He couldn't tell Mina this top-secret information.

“Until I’m redeployed,” Ryan replied half-jokingly, leaning back into the sofa, “but I also have to patrol the defenses of several key star systems nearby, so I won’t be staying in Lax forever.”

His task was not easy.

The separatist officers are extremely independent, and the senior commanders from the core world deployed on the Peremian route are particularly arrogant.

Few people would willingly take orders from a human from an inner-ring planet, especially one whose entire career has been spent in the distant spin zone.

If you want to successfully protect the vital foundry, you must at least gain their tactical cooperation, even if you can't win their loyalty immediately.

In addition, Raine also had to go to the nearby Freedom Dako Alliance shipyard to purchase several capital ships for his core fleet.

The nearest shipyard is in synchronous orbit around Lacus's main planet, but he has to negotiate with representatives of Holsch-Kessel and the Free Dako volunteer organization to secure high-quality, well-armed, reliably shielded capital ships and well-trained crews.

At the same time, some key modifications need to be made according to his tactical ideas, such as enhancing the sensor array or adjusting the engine output curve.

Hal glided silently to his side, gently taking the empty ceramic cup from his hand with a delicate mechanical claw, and quickly returned with a steaming cup of the same drink.

"Where is that old gentleman?"

Ryan casually glanced around, referring to Mina's husband.

Mina said calmly, "He has been temporarily assigned to the Agnar system to reinforce the orbital defense platform there."

This is a typical sinecure, perfectly suited to an Ondron noblewoman, who is also the husband of a current member of parliament.

Agnar is a resource-poor, strategically insignificant star system located deep within the separatist space, symbolically protected from the side by the Confederate First Fleet, whose patrols regularly travel along the Peremian route.

Mr. Bontley probably thought that the secluded corner would remain undisturbed until the clone soldiers' blaster rifles were aimed at him.

However, a storm is about to descend upon that galaxy with the force of thunder.

The First Fleet is being secretly redeployed by the Supreme Command to the Nichols front, taking away most of the active defense forces in the star system surrounding the Foundry.

Agnar is about to transform from a peaceful, remote logistical outpost into a frontline position for the Republic's invading forces.

What should be done about this?

How long was his term?

Raine suddenly asked, his tone more serious than before.

Mina put down her tablet, sat up straight, and narrowed her sharp, grey-blue eyes as she scrutinized Renn. "Six standard months, what's wrong?"

"Can you use your influence to get him out? It needs to be done as soon as possible."

Mina leaned forward slightly, placed her hands on her lap, and lowered her voice, "Raine, what happened? What happened?"

“Do you think someone in my position can tell you what I know?” Ryan shook his head with a wry smile, his knuckles unconsciously tapping the hard armrest of the sofa. “I owe him, and I owe you a lot too, so I’m just repaying a debt of gratitude. You might also need to keep an eye on the situation in Landilis.”

Landilis was on the Peremian route, heading towards the core world, only a few standard jumps away from Lax.

It is the location of the military region headquarters of the 12th System Army of the Great Republic.

Located just 3000 parsecs from the Confederate border, this system would undoubtedly be the ideal assembly springboard and forward base for the Republic fleet should the foundry be invaded on a large scale.

Mina Bontri has been working her way up in the Galactic Council for years; she's no fool.

The sense of urgency implied in Ryan's words and the highly suggestive place names instantly connected her with fragments of recent parliamentary debates about the soaring military budget and the frequent mobilization of clone troop forces. She fully understood what Ryan was implying.

Her fingers, resting on her lap, tightened slightly, her knuckles turning somewhat white.

　This plot summary:
　　The war was being waged on multiple fronts, with the Republic focusing on two operations: the boarding operation and the ground evacuation operation, in Yularon and on Anakin Skywalker's two operations.

　　On the Separatist side, the main battleground is still between Tann and Yularen. Next, there will be a flanking operation, the Jedi Hunters' operation, and the protagonist Raine's solo operation.

　　This is the first round of recommendations; please continue reading.

(End of this chapter)