Chapter 8: I Need Help!

8. I Need a Helper!

"We, Corellian, merchants. We, looking for, furs, rare metals. Please, let, us, go home." A cylindrical droid translated word by word.

Beside the droid, the three militants who had been captured earlier were lying on the table, groaning weakly, occasionally spitting out a word or two.

Tang Xiao sat across the table in the interrogation room, legs crossed, watching the performance of these three men. The T-850 stood expressionless behind him, maintaining a standard military stance with feet shoulder-width apart and hands behind its back.

One Earth standard day had already passed. In these 24 hours, under the demands of the Mainframe and the beatings and coercion of the marines, the three militants had been forced to speak countless words for analysis. Perhaps from the moment they were born until now, even counting their infant cries, they hadn't spoken as much as they had in this single day.

Now, the analysis of this language, called Galactic Basic, had exceeded 40%, allowing for a certain level of conversation. However, the analysis of the alphabet, written characters, and grammar would still take some time.

The three militants were completely unaware that a miserable future lay ahead; they were still working hard to play the victim, hoping that Tang Xiao, who looked relatively amiable and young, might show mercy and let them go.

Tang Xiao ignored their performance, turned his head, and said to the translation droid, "Where is the capital of the Galactic Empire?"

The three heard the translation and looked blank. One of them corrected him: "Galactic Republic, not Empire. Coruscant, the capital."

"Then who is the leader of the Jedi Order?" Tang Xiao asked again.

The three continued to look confused, shaking their heads to indicate they didn't know.

That made sense. Although the Jedi Knights held a transcendent status during the Republic era, they acted with low profiles, silently guarding the Galactic Republic. To the average person in the galaxy, the existence of the Jedi was mostly just a legend.

Tang Xiao thought for a moment and changed the question: "Who is the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Senate?"

They pondered this question for a moment, and one of them replied: "Finis Valorum."

Tang Xiao's expression changed. He asked one last question: "Has there been a war on the planet Naboo?"

The three shook their heads.

Without a word, Tang Xiao stood up and walked straight out of the interrogation room toward the bridge.

【The Administrator has left, let us continue. Now, please describe the appearance of this cat using the most accurate sentences.】 The Mainframe's voice sounded, and several burly marines walked in, looking at the militants with a cold snort.

Soon, a miserable wail echoed from the interrogation room.

Back on the bridge, Tang Xiao sat in the command chair, leaning back and staring blankly at the ceiling of the command center. He had now narrowed down the current era of "Star Wars" to within 20 years, but he couldn't feel happy about this result at all.

Tang Xiao was undoubtedly a "Star Wars" fan and naturally had a full understanding of it before he transmigrated. In the "Star Wars" plot he knew, the decade or so that Chancellor Finis Valorum was in office was precisely the most chaotic decade of the Galactic Republic.

Because in these 20 years, the galaxy would usher in a terrifying war and turmoil unprecedented in scale, with almost every corner of the galaxy drawn into the flames of war. In this war, the Galactic Republic, with its history of over 25,000 years, would meet its final destruction. Just like the Eternal Empire, the Infinite Empire, the Sith Empire, and even the Killiks from hundreds of thousands of years ago that had once appeared and flourished in this galaxy, it would vanish into the long river of history.

Tang Xiao began to organize the "Star Wars" plot in his memory. The current Chancellor of the Republic Senate was Finis Valorum, and the war on Naboo had not yet broken out; this was an important node.

Because the Battle of Naboo ultimately led to the downfall of former Chancellor Finis Valorum, and Sheev Palpatine became the new Chancellor of the Republic. And then... under his conspiratorial planning, 10 years after the Battle of Naboo, the Galactic Republic completely headed toward division and war.

The exploited Outer Rim planets of the galaxy declared the establishment of the Confederacy of Independent Systems to oppose the Galactic Republic. The two sides fought a 3-year total war, which was called the "Clone Wars" because the Galactic Republic used a large number of clone soldiers.

As perhaps the greatest conspirator in the history of the "Star Wars" world, Sheev Palpatine planned all of this. He used this war to ultimately subvert the Galactic Republic, wipe out the Jedi Order, and sweep away the resistance forces in the Outer Rim.

Then, he ascended the throne on the ruins of the Galactic Republic, changing the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire {Note 1}.

Thinking of this, Tang Xiao let out a long sigh, feeling his head throb.

This is a dark age... Palpatine is arguably one of the top conspirators and ambitious men in "Star Wars" history... Whether in politics or conspiracy, whether in personal strength or influence, the opponent far exceeds me... How am I supposed to survive this?!

"Submit to him? Join the Galactic Empire and become a pawn of His Imperial Majesty?" This thought flashed through Tang Xiao's mind, but then his gaze turned cold. "Impossible! These things... are mine!!"

Tang Xiao looked at the busy people in the bridge command center and muttered to himself: "If it's the Republic era... because the Senate still exists, before our strength develops, we also need someone to go to the Senate to make our voice heard. Perhaps we can secure more help... That's right... I need a politician..."

He understood that in the "Star Wars" world, at least for now, the Galactic Senate still called the shots. What did this mean? As long as it was handled properly, a politician's lips might be worth more than a fleet!

The Galactic Republic in "Star Wars" was a democratic regime that was "white-left" to the extreme. In such a situation, even if one's own strength was insufficient, an excellent politician could still secure more benefits for them.

Planet Dawn was only one planet. Even if all the technology in the database were realized in an instant, there was absolutely no foundation to meet the future war. Therefore... more allies and a better political environment were needed.

Tang Xiao looked up at the backs of Clement and Qi Jian and shook his head slightly.

They wouldn't do.

Clement's expertise was not in this area at all; don't expect her to get involved in politics. Qi Jian, coming from a staff background, was also just a person from the ordinary class, and his current abilities were still quite limited.

He also discovered that most people in the ordinary class were relatively young, those in the elite class were slightly older, and there were quite a few 50 or 60-year-old men in the master class.

This indicated that this level classification was only based on the person's current achievements. As long as there was enough time and experience, people from the ordinary class could also become master-level figures.

But talent cultivation was one thing. To compete with Palpatine—no, that couldn't be said yet; he didn't even have the qualifications to stand on the stage. At the very least, he had to first step onto the big stage of the galaxy before talking about competing with anyone.

He needed a master-level politician! Only then could he continuously expand his strength at home while striving for more benefits in the Republic's political arena.

Tang Xiao took a deep breath and began to flip through the list of personnel who could be awakened. Suddenly, he noticed that the list seemed to have changed! Previously, there were three classes: Ordinary, Elite, and Master, followed by three question marks.

And now, one of the question marks had been revealed: Legendary!

A legendary-level figure!

"Mainframe! When was the legendary-level figure unlocked?" Tang Xiao asked in surprise.

【After you awakened, Administrator. If you do not have powerful abilities, legendary-level or higher figures will not pledge their loyalty to you. Forcibly awakening them might instead lead to chaos. Figures of this level each have such capabilities, or even worse.】

{Note 1}: This is the main content of the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy movies and the long-running animated series "The Clone Wars."

(End of chapter)