GrS 35:3:30 Death Star investigation

I've completed my examination of the Death Star records, and managed to piece together some kind of understanding.

First, they capture this "empty" freighter. Then, next thing you know, unauthorized prisoner transfers from cell block 1138 are taking place, then a weapons malfunction in Detention Block AA-23, followed by a large reactor leak. Annoyingly, the officer reporting all this never gave his operating number, so I can't cross-check anything. Anyway, before you know it, prisoners in Detention Block AA-23 are being sprung, garbage compactors are being breached, and there's a pitched firefight in the detention block that finally ends when two groups of stormtroopers realize they've been firing at each other along the hallway.

But here's the thing that's got me all jumpy. All the garbage compactors on the entire Death Star were shut down at one point via astromech droid, using the encrypted protocol we set up. But the ID signature of the droid that issued the command? R2-D2!

He was there! He was on board! And I missed him. If I'd been there, I would have noticed him accessing the controls and I could have found him!

Of course, I could also have been killed when the Death Star was destroyed.

Actually, at first, I was worried R2-D2 might have been destroyed too, but it looks like he escaped on the freighter before the station was blown up.

One more thing--I'm lurking on some Rebel-biased forums, and the word on there is that this hero that blew up the station is some kid called Luke Skywalker. Apparently, he used to bulls-eye womp rats in his T-16 back on Tatooine, which, as some systems guy noted years ago, is exactly the kind of expertise required to jam a proton torpedo down the exhaust port.

But Skywalker? Is that Vader's kid?! I mean, he was Anakin Skywalker, his "good friend" Padmé was pregnant, and her last known destination was Polis Massa, a medical outpost.

I know I'm not the only one that saw that viral video of "Darth Vader" wiping out the Separatist leaders on Mustafar, but maybe I'm the only one that recognized that Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker. Wow, this is explosive. Vader has a kid. Hardly seems the right kind of father figure though.

Wonder if I can use this knowledge to my advantage?

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 13:6:1 When Clones Attack...

Heard through the grapevine that the Republic's Army is an army of clones that they started building years ago.

The media have seized on this and are calling the conflict The Clone Wars. Wow, what a stupid name. Well, at least they haven't done a special documentary called When Clones Attack or Attack of the Clones or some equally stupid name.

But, I saw some of the clones on the news, helmets off, and they're all clones of Jango Fett. I thought he was on the Techno Union payroll. We paid him 5 million Republic credits a bunch of years ago, money that should properly have gone to fund R&D.

Why would he agree to be the template for a Republic army? Is he secretly working for them? Or did we know about this clone army? If so, why did we attack when we did? What the hell is going on? Does any of this make sense to anyone?

GrS 13:5:21 Cat's out of the bag...

The news is out. The Republic must know or suspect we've been working with the Trade Federation, and that we've got this droid army ready to roll. They've granted even further powers to Palpatine.

He's created a Grand Army of the Republic that appears to be fully staffed and equipped already... not quite sure how that happened.

GrS 11:6:1 The Confederacy of Independent Systems

Just had a meeting with Wat Tambor. We are now officially part of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and officially against the Republic. Oh, and that massive droid army? Apparently, that's ours, though no one in the Republic knows about it yet.

Chancellor Palpatine has been granted emergency powers and is staying in office until this crisis is averted.

I'm an apolitical sort of person, but can't help wondering if all the confusion likely to come will make it possible for me to snatch my beloved R2-D2 back at some point.