I always considered the Baobab Academy on Mende a second home. Since I grew up in this field, having watched the studies and risks associated with freight transport many times, this planet became an important part of my life.
While it isn't Coruscant or Corellia, Mende is a major trade hub and industrial center for this part of the galaxy and our sector in particular.
Life here is in full swing, and the Merchant Fleet Academy is its largest spring, graduating excellent specialists who will go on to overcome the nightmares of space, discovering the new or protecting the old.
Mende is an ordinary planet... said the one who had never been beyond its borders. Ironic, what else can you say.
As a teacher, I passed my knowledge to students, dreaming that they would one day become Captains of their own ships, fearlessly crossing the stars.
I spoke of rights and duties, as well as the various nuances awaiting future space travelers. Every day, my work brought me pleasure... seeing the happy faces of those who had absorbed your knowledge for years and thanked you for your labor...
But recently, the atmosphere in the academy changed.
Just a few days ago, I noticed strange things happening in our secure data center.
A standard reason for a data search. During a break, I grabbed a couple of buns with caf and sat habitually in a far corner of the data center, studying something new on a student's recommendation.
But what I discovered made my head spin. Through the thorns of tedious and uninteresting information, I found hidden trap programs that periodically sent data somewhere outside the academy.
A leak of hyperspace route data is a serious crime, and I couldn't believe it was happening on the grounds of our educational institution.
The Baobab archives hold a wealth of dangerous information. Should it fall into the wrong hands, a surge of crime and violence would crash down upon the sector.
I checked the security systems multiple times, but soon became convinced that someone knew how to bypass any obstacle. Notifications of unauthorized access troubled my thoughts, and the fear that hyperspace route data might be compromised began to slowly fill me.
I wasn't that good at programming, but even my meager skills were enough to understand—the situation was too dangerous.
That evening, I took the first step in my investigation. I already knew that one document had been altered, and I stayed at the academy after classes, reviewing surveillance footage. On one of the screens, I noticed a figure hidden by a hood. He spent less than a minute hacking the system. My heart beat faster when I realized that whoever did this must have known no one would be around at that hour.
The unknown figure gestured expressively and was clearly cursing at the computer, but less than a minute passed before he achieved his nefarious goals and vanished into the darkness of the corridors.
I left the office and headed to the computing technology department. The feeling that someone here was displeased with my interference and was watching me did not leave me.
An unpleasant sensation crept into my heart. And when I placed my palm on the door handle, my hair stood on end, and my heart pounded fiercely from a surging wave of anxiety. Listening to my own fears, I slowly backed away from the door of the computing center, only to vanish around the nearest corner a moment later.
I was short of breath, and my ears rang from the panic that consumed me.
The creak of the center's door opening nearly stopped my frantic heart. Just a moment of stupidity, had I ignored the sensation, and...
Listening to the receding footsteps, calm and measured, I slid down the wall, swallowing tears and biting my swollen lips until they bled. I wanted to scream and break down in a fit of hysterics, but there was no time for that.
The next morning, I found a note in my mailbox.
"Don't interfere, Talia. Not everyone in the academy is as perfect as you think."
Icy terror pierced me. What did this mean? Had they identified me? But why the warning? How much did they know... and how well did they know me?
As soon as I left my office, my colleague, Professor Richard, approached me with feigned interest.
"You look upset, Talia," he said, looking into my eyes. "Is everything alright?"
A stray thought flashed through my mind: could he be one of the traitors? My distrust grew, but I couldn't let these thoughts distract me. Letting go of my fears, trying to look at Richard from a professional perspective, I politely brushed off his questions, stepping slightly out of my usual persona. My investigation had to continue, and I would not betray my students or the academy that had given me everything.
The deeper I delved into studying the records and documents, the more convoluted the situation seemed.
At the heart of the archive were large volumes of encoded data—full contact with all hyperspace routes known in our sector and some neighboring ones.
If this information fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be catastrophic. Professor Richards approached me again, but an internal sense of wariness did not leave me. Why was he so eager to help?
A polite smile, an attractive gaze from blue eyes, and complete self-confidence. This man was incredible, but whereas before I could hardly look away from him, now I was saturated with fear.
The very thought that someone in the academy could be breaking laws and threatening the safety of cargo transport wouldn't let me go.
Every step around me, every word spoken by my colleagues in the department, became a potential reproach.
I decided I needed to meet with some of my students who might know about current trends in smuggling and which routes were the most risky. Perhaps they had heard something I might have missed.
Gathering my best students, those I was absolutely sure of, I organized an informal meeting in a cozy cafe on the academy grounds. Over cups of coffee and sweets, they shared their concerns about the current situation.
At one point, one of the students said:
"Professor Talia, there are rumors that some academy researchers are working with criminal groups, and it's not just talk." Many reacted to his words quite casually, as if there were nothing unexpected in such news. "You shouldn't get involved in this; it's very dangerous."
My heart skipped a beat. I remembered that the first changes in the data that caught my eye were dated as far back as last year.
With each passing day, my life became more dangerous. And then one cold evening, as I was leaving the academy late, several people in hoods surrounded me.
Feeling them drag me into a dark corner, I experienced true animal terror, for some of them did not hesitate to speak out frankly and amuse themselves with what was happening.
Assuming what fate might await me, I tried to break free, but in response, I only received a deafening slap that knocked me to the ground.
"We warned you," one of them whispered. Likely the leader. "You seemed like a smart woman, but so naive."
A familiar voice cut my heart with pain. Jimmy Larne, a straight-A student who had received a scholarship from the academy. Raised in a bad family, the boy had thrown himself into his studies with fervor, wanting to change his life. He was the last person I would have suspected, for the young man had promised to grow into a fine Captain and a righteous sentient.
"Jimmy... why?" Swallowing hot tears, clutching my torn shirt, I peered at Larne's silhouette. Without my glasses, which had fallen to the ground, I couldn't clearly see his facial expression, but from the emotions in his voice alone, I knew he was smiling contemptuously.
"So I don't have to break my back for the rest of my life behind the wheel of a freighter, that's why." Spitting on the ground, her student knelt beside her. "I always dreamed of seeing what you hide under those dull, baggy clothes..."
His hand gripped her wrists, pulling both her arms aside. Her attempt to scream was cut off before it even began. Her head, jerking from a new blow, hung on her chest, and scarlet drops of blood dripped from her split lip onto the asphalt.
Tears stood in my eyes, my head ached mercilessly—from the betrayal or the blows... it no longer mattered to me.
Feeling coarse male hands begin to tear her clothes, while a malicious, vile laughter rang in her ears, I closed my eyes, preparing to bite off my own tongue.
But then the situation changed abruptly.
"Justice is coming!"
A wind rushed past my eyes... no, that was Jimmy Larne's body being swept away by a kick. Flying head over heels further into the alley, the young man slammed his head against the wall of a house, splashing the contents of his cranium across the dirty ground.
Ignoring the cries of the petty bastards, the unknown man began killing them with his bare hands, shouting some silly, childish phrases about freedom and democracy.
Bones crunched above my head, and I didn't react at all, only watching the man in the red cloak, with the familiar hood I had seen on the video camera screen.
Entranced, I caught only the end of this brutal slaughter, which only the blessed would call a fight. The sole survivor, on shaking legs, drew a Blaster from his tunic... but I didn't even have time to be afraid before the weapon was knocked from his palm, flying straight toward me.
But the battle didn't end there.
Intercepting the arm of the last attacker, he broke the limb in several places with a single blow to the back of the elbow. To the scream of the failed rapist, her savior, with a kick from a heavy boot with a high sole, drove the kneecap inward, forcing his opponent down onto his other leg.
The final blow completed this pageant of violence. The elbow of the man in red, reinforced by an elbow pad, punched through the bastard's temple without any trouble, sending him to meet the gods.
"And yet, Justice," emphasizing that word with his intonation, my savior brushed the blood from his hands, "is the best judge; she offends no one!"
Pointing a finger upward, he only then turned his attention to me. From under the red hood, the smiling face of a young lad looked my way, one who could easily be studying in the final year of the academy.
Fair-haired, with a mischievous gaze and a simple face like thousands of others... but together, it created an indescribable and memorable image that was deeply imprinted in my mind.
Unable to withstand the flood of emotions, I reached out a hand toward him, hoping he would help me, after which I blacked out, falling into a merciful oblivion.
***
Well, what can I say. Mende has treated me to a heap of interesting things since the moment I arrived.
One might start with the fact that they tried to rob me... Me. Rob me. Just a brilliant idea. After the natives of Tatooine, smuggler dens, and interacting with all sorts of criminal dregs of society, I've become so used to being recognized as a dangerous bastard with just a couple of glances that I was actually taken aback at first.
Some petty punk pulled a knife on me, shaking from withdrawal and waving his little sticker in every direction.
I didn't even bother turning him over to the local Judicial Forces. I gave the boy a few clips round the ear and advised him to get his life together, otherwise next time: at that moment, I brushed aside the folds of my cloak, demonstrating a set of grenades, blasters, knives, and other joys of militants...
The boy wet himself... it was just wonderful. Some old man even had a go at me, saying big brutes like me shouldn't be scaring children. And you can't explain to the old crank that the kid was trying to rob me... no normal sentient would believe that just by looking at us from the side.
Then the grumpy old man told everything to the owner of the nearest cantina, who in turn snitched to his fellow establishment owners...
And now I'm not allowed across the threshold of a single pub on this cursed planet! Just brilliant! Fate is a villain, Force-Schmorce, God, or whoever else is putting spokes in my wheels?! Maybe that's enough already? At this rate, I'm seriously starting to think I'm cursed.
But let's not dwell on the negative and move to the moment I became a champion of justice in a dark alley.
To start with, infiltrating the local academy turned out to be easy...
Damn, too easy! I confess, until the very end, I thought it was some kind of joke or part of a security system. That as soon as I reached the end, all the doors would slam shut and guards would pour out of every crack and start blasting at me, 2000s action movie style.
But meter by meter I made my way further... and still no one. Peace and quiet. No, there were guards, of course, there were cameras, droids, and other junk... but somehow it was...
Anyway, I reached the local archive or local data center, as they like to call it. And nothing. There was the reason for such lax security.
Powerful cybersecurity, which even Shorty probably wouldn't crack right away.
Hardly for me, with my meager brains. So after standing there and cursing the wretched computer, frustrated in every sense of the word, I headed wherever my feet took me, until I stumbled upon a local cafe.
By that point, I hadn't eaten for three days, so the fragrant smells of fresh pastries and sweets wafting to my nose were true torture... so I didn't deny myself and went inside, where I witnessed a most interesting conversation.
No, honestly. Who even thinks to discuss such things not in closed chambers, but in a cafe?! What kind of idiot do you have to be to just dump such information on a crowd of teenagers, and simultaneously on everyone sitting nearby, the waiters, and the cooks?
No, Professor Talia didn't do it on purpose... she just didn't know how to hold her tongue and immediately dumped everything she could think of onto her interlocutors.
Even then, I realized this simpleton had a couple of days to live, max. So I decided to watch her, in the blind hope that it would lead to something...
And my frantic optimism and inexplicable hope were justified.
The fool constantly wandered alone, fiercely sniffing something out, causing everyone to look at her, sometimes tapping their temples. For the sight of her eyes, burning and excited by discoveries, said more than any words.
And then, not even a couple of days had passed, just as I predicted, and they tried to kill Talia Neris, after apparently wanting to rape her.
I hate rapists. A terrible scourge of this world, and my first one too, where such creatures are sooner or later released or acquitted altogether due to a "lack" of evidence.
But I don't suffer from such mercy. If anyone, these creatures deserved their death.
Fiercely clenching my fist, I imagine, remembering how such scum were dealt with on Super Earth until almost all the bastards were eradicated.
Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice the failed teacher wake up and now stare lost at the ceiling of her own apartment, where I had carried her that night.
Not thinking of anything better, I decide to just walk closer and say hello, but apparently, I didn't account for her reaction being somewhat different.
"Good morning, are you just going to..."
"A-a-a-ah!"
Jumping up on the bed, the girl slid onto the floor, hitting her bottom on the floor and the back of her head on the nightstand.
Wincing demonstratively, I watched as this restless woman, trying to scramble up, armed herself with whatever was at hand and didn't take her eyes off me...
In the process, she was constantly tripping, stumbling, falling, or simply ready to slip on level ground.
After the third attempt, even I couldn't take it anymore and, walking right up to the woman frozen like a frightened piglet, I extended my hand, offering to help her up from the floor.
"Shall we talk?"
***
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