GrS 16:5:24 All hail the new boss--same as the old boss

Only 16 years after the Great Resynchronization, and we've got a new emperor, so naturally, some toadies are insisting we start all over again at year one. No thanks, I'm sticking with the GrS dates for now. It took me long enough to make all the mods to our software as it is.

Baktoid Combat Automata, always eager to jam an upgrade in, needed or not, are of course adding support for the new dating scheme to their products. Want to see lousy Baktoid software coding in practice? Ask a battledroid when he was constructed, and then ask "What's that in GrS notation?" He'll be stuck there for five minutes while he works it out.

It appears Emperor Palpatine is going to keep the core of the old Techno Union around. That's my group, started by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, or Separatists, as they're mostly known these days. So I've gone from being a lowly Separatist tech to a lowly Imperial tech! Actually, I won't deny there's been some attrition--in fact, most of the senior members were wiped out, including Wat Tambor, my boss. He was murdered^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hlawfully executed on Mustafar by Palpatine's new right hand man, Darth Vader, some weird guy who they say breathes funny and wears black armor all the time, helmet included.

Somehow, I've been kept around, even though not everyone trusts us Bothans. With all the attrition, I'm now the senior tech, so Palpatine's made me an Elite Technician, in charge of the Emperor's secret projects. I hope that doesn't mean I'll have to stop writing my journal though!

GrS 3:4:21 Naboo week

Haven't written in a long time, but had to share this. What a weird week. I've been glued to GNN for most of it.

First, some kid, a human kid no less, wins the Boonta Eve Classic on Tatooine. That was strange enough, but then I find out that I know this kid---Anakin Skywalker, the slave of that Toydarian, Watto, who I met at the Outer Rim Swap Meet last year. I saw last year that the kid had a gift for mechanics, but apparently he's a star podracer too. Whoever heard of a human podracing? Actually, I thought this kid might be a good fit for the Techno Union, so I gave Watto a call yesterday--ostensibly to discuss all the big news from this week. I worked the conversation around to Anakin, and boy, was Watto steamed. As a result of a bad bet, he's sold the kid to some "weird off-planet guy in robes." Man, that's not like Watto at all. If he wasn't a Toydarian, I'd suspect he'd been the victim of a Jedi mind-trick.

Then, the Queen of Naboo appears in the Senate, and claims that the Trade Federation has invaded Naboo, for reasons that have not been made clear, though some arm-waving was given to the "taxing of trade routes" reason. Next thing you know, she's calling for a no-confidence vote in the Chancellor so that Senator Palpatine from Naboo can become Chancellor. Gee, no high-level collusion going on there. What is this, Naboo week?

Oh, and that wasn't all that happened this week. The Trade Federation deployed a massive droid army against a bunch of Gungans and lost. Wow, I was being sarcastic about that a few years ago, and now it happened.

Actually, credit shouldn't go the Gungans. They should really reward a medal to the inept engineers at Baktoid Combat Automata, because the turning point in the battle was, big surprise, when the Droid Control Ship was destroyed and all the battle droids deactivated. I warned them this would happen! Idiots.

Oh, and get this, the destruction of the Droid Control Ship was, apparently, the work of Anakin Skywalker, the same kid who'd won the Boonta Eve race a couple of days earlier! What the hell is going on out there in the galaxy? How does this kid manage to get involved in two of the big news stories, a couple of days apart, one taking place in the Outer Rim, and the other above a Mid Rim world?

Oh, and here's the really weird thing. I saw some fan-shot footage from the Boonta Eve race, and guess who was watching the race from Anakin's family box? Queen Amidala of Naboo! And according to Watto, she'd only met him the day before. What... the... hell. Here's me, plugging away in my ordinary life every day, while a handful of people are influencing the major weekly events in the galaxy.

And who else did I see celebrating with Anakin afterwards but my very own little R2-D2! I'd know that little blue dome anywhere. I could even see the slightly bulging top panel where I'd installed the periscope. It's not enough that Anakin Skywalker gets to win the Boonta Eve Classic and save the planet of Naboo, but now he's swanning around with my astromech droid?

To make matters worse, R2-D2 seems to have made friends with one of those prissy protocol droids. Let's hope he didn't tag along when R2-D2 left Tatooine.

I'm doing all I can to find out where he's got to now. He was last spotted helping that Anakin kid pilot that Naboo Royal N-1 starfighter into the Droid Control Ship. I've tried calling the planet, but things are a little hectic in Naboo right now, and I'm having trouble getting in touch with anyone.

GrS 0:1:8 The Great Resynchronization

So a week into this goofy new dating system that the Republic Measures & Standards Bureau wants everyone to use. They're calling it the Great Resynchronization. Yes, great. I wish they had some inkling of how this mucks with the inventory and supplies-ordering system we've been working on for Baktoid Combat Automata.

Speaking of Baktoid, I just got back from Geonosis, where I sat in on a review of the B1 battle droid, their latest "autonomous" battle droid.

They weren't kidding when they opened by saying that the catch-phrase during the design of these droids was "quantity over quality." If the prototype they had in the boardroom during the review was any indication, they've definitely gone for low cost above any other consideration. I'm only as strong as the next Bothan, but I was able to pull both arms off the prototype, to everyone's annoyance. They're only held on via electromagnets, if you can believe that.

I wasn't impressed, and let the folks from Baktoid know it--I criticized the cheap armor, the substandard weaponry, and the shoddiness of the limb attachment. "I wouldn't bet on an army of these guys to destroy a bunch of Gungans," I said derisively.

Oh, and another thing--they've maintained the central control idea. When I pointed out that building in some small amount of independence, might be good, in case the control ships were attacked and destroyed, I was told that the control ships would be safely tucked away in orbit. "Right," I said, "because no invaded planet would ever launch starfighters." "Exactly," responded the Baktoid people. "The battle droids will quickly move to ground all spaceflight on the planet."

I suggested maybe building in some redundancy, having fewer droids per control ship, or maybe a backup control ship you could fail over to. They rejected all my suggestions, saying production is proceeding on these droids, but they promised to take some of my ideas under advisement for the next revision.

Sigh. They have no respect for us Techno Union types.