Ahsoka Tano; Mightiest Force Wielder (Book 1: The Rise)

Alone on Coruscant 3

Mike studied research articles and technical magazines about "thought reading" to see, if he could find anything useful. One article stated, that for motorial thought control the activities of the motorial center have to be interpreted, general thought reading is not very suitable. By happenstance, in one of the magazines he stepped over an article about super resilient materials. The article consisted of one section mentioning a super resilient and also light material which was the shell of Obralisks. It sustained all known types of radiation and abrasive tools. At least currently, the material was commercially not interesting, because it was difficult to get and impossible to machine. As such, that was all the article mentioned about Obralisks. It was interesting enough for Mike though, to do further research on those Obralisks. He found out that Obralisks were a bug producing a shell where the top layer is granite enriched with chrome, followed by a steel layer followed by a silver layer. The obralisk bug would build those layers with crystal structures providing for light weight and good mechanical connection between the layers. The chrome enriched granite layer would deflect many types of light and radiation while the granite would isolate and the steel providing mechanical durability and the silver distributing excessive heat that would get through. The proportion of chrome and its crystal structure in the granite would vary, thus giving the Obralisk shell its distinctive color mix ranging from silver, to orange and green all the way to black. The steel layer is built up in a mono crystal structure without grain boundaries making the shell one of the most robust materials. His research also revealed, that Darth Bane, one of the mightiest Sith who ever existed, had an Obralisk bug armor. Using technology, such a structure could not be created, at least not yet. The strong mechanical connection between the various layers could not be obtained. As well the chrome granite mix was impossible to achieve. The bug built the layers up on a molecular level which ensured that the layer boundaries were interwoven with each other. Intuitively Mike understood, that Obralisks were the key to his armor project. Looking for more information on the Obralisk bug Mike found out, that it is a parasite, which preyed on the flesh of force wielders. Once infested, the bug would reproduce and eventually infest the whole entire surface of its host, building an indestructible, alive armor. There were a few very bad side effects which meant, that alive obralisks were no good for an armor for Ahsoka. But how about dead ones? His further research also revealed a group of scientists raising Jakobeasts on Dxun, infesting them with Obralisks, then letting the Jakobeast starve, and thus the Obralisks would die. The dead bugs would then be used for scientific or technical matters. Problem, those bugs were expensive, pretty expensive. In any case, he knew he had to contact these people and potentially visit them.

Finding a solution for the problem of the thought control system, Mike purchased equipment that he deemed suitable. Via the com link he had fixed an appointment with Darth Vader to visit them again for another test run. Two simulation systems with same setup were ready. One of his colleagues flew one plane and Darth Vader the other while the data stream of both was logged. It took only 20min. and off course, the dark Lord had his issues keeping the plane under control. One of his colleagues, who always looked down on Mike, because his Engineering certificate was from Alderaan and he deemed the University of Coruscant more advanced, bantered: "Your girlfriend flew well, maybe she should do the training. What was her name again? A-choco, the choco-ruta? Choco skin, choco sweet, wasn't she? Why is she not here anyways?"

Mike's heart dropped into his boots. How could this wretch bring up matters about Ahsoka right in front of Darth Vader? He thought about choking his colleague, thus silence him, but the guy continued: "She is an In-." There he stopped right in the middle of his sentence, grabbed his neck, coughed hard and walked away making a dismissive gesture. Mike was relieved about the wonderful coincidence. He could just hope, that the thoughtless patter of his peer did not raise suspicion with Darth Vader. In any case, the Sith Lord left their premises without mentioning the babble of Mike's colleague.