Mid 962 ARR (38 BBY)
It took two days to travel back from Vulpter to Corellia. The longest part of that being getting through the messy hyperspace routes of the Deep Core, which were the country lanes of this galaxy. Progress was much quicker once we reached the express highway that is the Corellian Run. While passing through a customs station on the route, I was able to place a holocall to Cota, letting her know of our initial success and ensuring everything had been running smoothly in our absence.
As we came out of hyperspace and into view of Corellia, I was completely blown away. Corellia is one of the most Earth-like planets in the galaxy, big blue oceans and terrestrial continents, mountains, forests, deserts, tundra; with both dense cities and open countryside.
The difference is that this if the home of some of the most important shipyards in the galaxy, sitting astride the busiest trade routes. There were thousands of space stations, orbital construction platforms and ships parked in a chaotic constellation orbiting the planet below.
I was sat in a seat beside Captain Jestos in the cockpit, to better appreciate the view. He was explaining to me that Corellia is the apex of the galaxy's spacefaring civilisation. At any given moment there are no less than 10,000 ships transiting the system, be that moving between the various stations or passing through along the trade routes. The traffic control here manages more than anywhere in the galaxy save for the Republic's capital of Coruscant.
We passed through numerous CorSec checkpoints before being directed to land at pad in the capital of Coronet City. Theed, as Naboo's capital and largest city, had a population of over 10 million, but spread out over many klicks, allowing it to maintain its picture-perfect streets and only ever feeling crowded during the Festival of Light.
Coronet City was space London, huge towers and bustling streets of hurried people, speeders racing around on the ground and in the air, along with transport tubes connecting the various buildings. An effort had clearly been made to keep open space, with parks and squares dotted about between the skyscrapers.
Captain Jestos told me that thousands of years ago, this city was a dense industrial zone where large warships were built floating just above ground, but over time the Corellians relocated their industry onto moons, asteroids and their orbital platforms, allowing them to reclaim their planet's environment. I asked him how he knew this, and he explained that Corellians were unbearably smug about it and told the story often.
---
While the crew unloaded our luggage from the Pride, we took in the sights around us. Our landing pad was halfway up one of the many towers which contained the hotel Ona had booked, giving us a great view of the city around. Kyla and Ona were excited, Asherré was in heaven. For an architect, to be here in a well-planned city, on a scale far beyond anything in Naboo, this was a significant life moment for her. Really, she was showing admirable restraint not taking out her sketchbook there and then.
We eventually carried on through to the hotel, a couple of droids carrying our luggage behind us as we went to check in. Now, I was obviously Naboo wealthy at this point, but I wasn't Correllia rich, so we were in a comfortable mid-range hotel. Our rooms were reasonably sized, with big windows, but really felt like a space version of the UK's Premier Inn.
We had arrived around the middle of the day, so I ordered lunch for all of us, including the yacht crew, in the hotel's cantina. Brihlalon was very happy to be on solid ground again and was chatting happily with Captain Jestos about places they had visited over the years. The two middle-aged Naboo men seemed to get along well, which meant I didn't feel quite so guilty about dragging Brihlalon across the galaxy.
After a couple of hours, Kyla, Asherré and I said our goodbyes and headed for the university campus. Captain Jestos had assured us we would be fine on our own, but warned us to mind our pockets. The well trafficked areas of Coronet city are pretty safe, but in any big city it pays to be a bit careful. If anything, that summed up my typical experience of growing up in London. That, combined with my long-standing preference for Corellian clothing, meant in many ways I was more at home here than Kyla or Asherré.
After a travel tube ride and a couple of wrong turns along the way, we finally arrived in the square outside the enormous School of Starship Engineering. The Corellia University campus was the size of a decent sized town in its own right, and this was its largest and grandest department. Rana found us quite easily, rushing over and giving me a big hug, before also embracing the girls.
I had long since accepted that our romantic relationship wouldn't be continuing. Rana would be studying on Corellia for years, and long distance really doesn't quite cover it when it can be measured in sectors of the galaxy. Still, she would always be an important part of my life, not just because she was my first proper girlfriend, but because of how she had supported me when my budding tech empire was just pieces of broken droids scattered around my bedroom.
"You're looking amazing Rana." Kyla commented, quite accurately. Clearly, she had been keeping in shape, and she had cut her hair to a shorter more practical ponytail. She wore a huge smile which spoke to not just being happy to see us, but being excited for the chance to show us the things she loved about her life here.
---
A whistlestop tour of the campus followed, and I was frankly a little out of breath keeping up given the vast scale of everything. I'm not really an exercise and outdoors person after all, I'm happiest in my workshop tinkering, the girls were all a tad more energetic. It was impossible not to be impressed by futuristic university. There were sections of starships sitting in huge halls with students clambering over them to practice repair techniques, or learning more about the deep mysteries of hyperdrive and blaster cannon.
If Naboo ships have class, then Corellian ships have character. Rather than the sleek flowing lines of our yacht, these segments were from asymmetric ships with exposed pipes and components squashed together in whatever form seemed to work best at the time. The centrepiece of this bizarre collection was a complete, if battered Barloz class freighter, a decades old design that used to dominate the small-scale shipping industry.
Rana explained Corellians weren't really 'big ship' people. They liked their starfighters, small freighters and corvettes. There were a handful of larger cruisers patrolling their system, but really at heart, the typical Corellian spacer wanted their own ship, not to be part of crew of thousands. I soaked up her chatter about the ships and the cool spaceship tech she got to work with now. She was well on her way to being a Level 2 technician for starships, and she saw that as just the beginning.
Up to now, I had only really been able to play with droids and consumer electronics. While aspects of these, like the AI, were centuries beyond what we used on Earth, the products I had been making would be very familiar and understandable to most people in the urbanised world.
Space tech was really in another category, and I was excited to explore what I could do with it. I wouldn't have time on this trip, but I knew from just hearing Rana rattle off her thoughts that I would be returning to the shipyards of Corellia again soon, not as a tourist but as a customer.
---
Rana and I were cuddled up in my hotel room after the third night. Just because we weren't in a relationship anymore, didn't mean the physical attraction had gone, and I had really missed her. I had been telling her all about my breakthrough since that had happened after she left and the rapid pace things had moved for me since, and she was more than a little impressed.
Though perhaps it was the 'revelation' we'd had earlier at dinner that night, that really got us in the mood.
- Three hours earlier -
"So Asherré and I have something to tell you both", Kyla announced after we finished eating. For most of the trip we had been casual with our meals, met some of Rana's friends and had Ona join us mostly. For this one night however, I had taken just the Rana, Kyla and Asherré to a really nice restaurant a short walk from our hotel.
I worked to hide the smile on my face, and gave her my full attention. "Kyla and I, for a few months now, have been seeing each other, dating, romantically… we're together, a couple." Asherré finished, as if she had just revealed a state secret.
"No!" I responded with a mock shocked tone. "Oh how can this be?"
"What?! You mean like kissing and stuff?!" Rana joined in, barely containing her giggles.
After an awkward pause Kyla glared at me "How long have you known?" she demanded.
"I saw you kissing a couple of months back, but it was pretty obvious long before that."
"It was obvious to me that you both felt that way before I left for Corellia." Rana helpfully added.
I looked at the pair of them and said with sincerity: "Honestly, the only real mystery was why you were bothering to keep it a secret in the first place. I'm happy for you both, really."
"We were friends for so long before, I think we were scared to jinx it." Kyla explained, Asherré gazing at her adoringly.