Late 961 ARR (39 BBY)
I was dead again.
That happens when you crash a starfighter at high velocity into an asteroid.
Gavin and I had been spending some time relaxing at the arcade, messing around on a piloting simulator. I continued to demonstrate zero aptitude at controlling any kind of vehicle at speed, which made the whole exercise a bit less fun than I'd like. The problem with the simulator is that it is a bit too real, programmed to train actual pilots rather than give a fun experience to those of us with lesser reflexes.
I had been thinking about how I could go about incorporating gaming into my products, but I was making no progress here. Without being able to amend the coding I couldn't, for example, produce a mobile version of a simulator. Changing the inputs and outputs to work for a different kind of device was just beyond me.
I also considered dejarik, but this presented several problems. Dejarik boards required multiple projectors, and I had no way of making the game 2D for my screen. Mobile dejarik devices already existed, so there was less to be gained by developing my own version. These devices didn't include an AI opponent, which for a while I thought might be a possible niche.
Droids can learn to play dejarik, just like computers can play chess on Earth. The problem comes when you want to add difficulty settings. Just as computers can beat any human opponent, droids can beat any organic sentient. Technically, droids that had developed their own sentience could choose to lose on purpose, but otherwise it would be a rather unsatisfying experience to just keep losing to your SuperPAD.
Since it was probably a bad idea to deliberately create millions of sentient SuperPADs, I would need to programme an AI opponent to make mistakes. This once again, would require me to be able to edit the code.
It was a frustrating irony that my drive to develop a means of gaming, was proving wildly successful at everything I could wish for, except developing a means of gaming.
---
If I was to corner the entire Naboo market with my device, I needed to seriously step up production. Making one unit at a time in my bedroom simply wasn't going to cut it, and frankly it was rather tedious after the first dozen.
Using my initial profits, I was able to rent a small industrial unit in Theed (though like every building in Theed it was picture perfect on the outside, with its green roof and sandstone walls. I installed a second-hand plastic fabricator unit for 3,000 credits, so I could have a simple production line in house. This along with a couple of rows of workbenches and a small office would be enough to get my business moving.
I got in touch with my former classmates from the technical college, offering generous salaries of 2,000 credits a month to work on my production line, which a few of them took up. It would probably be more efficient in the long term to purchase some engineering droids, but bringing in some talent into my company now meant I could have experienced people in the future. I put out ads in the market, looking for more skilled hands.
I purchased an old library droid from Zomir's shop, which I heavily modified into a stationary tool on the assembly line, which would install the coding each on SuperPADs, before they are passed on to a human tester. The task was repetitive, but something I didn't really want to teach other people how to do just yet.
Zomir's wholesaler contacts came through and I was able to find parts for another 5,000 pads. I was pushing what was readily available on Naboo, given that planet had no other tech manufacturers. By buying these parts in bulk, I was able to get the parts cost down to just 350 credits a unit. This offset a lot of the labour and other costs, meaning I would be able to sustain the high rate of return for each unit sold.
---
After another month, I now had a several employees yet still had no way to meet the rapidly growing demand for the SuperPad. Jaarl, an older technician I'd managed to hire as Production Manager, had been going through the steps in the manufacturing process to work out what could be most easily automated by droids. I had made it clear to all my team that I wasn't looking to replace any of them with droid workers, but that they would all earn more overseeing a droid assisted production line, if we could keep increasing our output.
Zomir had reached out to his contacts to find me a handful of engineering droids that could be configured for the work. These were cheaper than the more widely available astromechs, which would have been excessive for such repetitive work. I did splash out on one astromech unit called R2-S4, which would be used to keep the other droids in good working order. R2s are far superior to the budget R4s I was used to, but could apparently develop quite eccentric personalities if not memory wiped frequently.
Keeping track of the orders and admin was already becoming an overwhelming headache for me and a poor use of my time. I had given Ari inventory and database management programming, to help me keep track of the rapidly expanding business, but this was asking a bit much of his budget astromech droid-brain.
I was a technician with a dream, not an experienced business manager, and I needed to look for talented people who could help me with that if Theed Tech was to continue growing. The Pannians really helped me out here, putting me in touch with two former experienced colleagues from the plasma industry.
Ona was a woman in her early 30s, who had been Sunde's personal assistant. I was more than happy to pay her a very generous salary to manage my office, helping me keep up with all the flimsy-work.
As for Cota, she was a highly experienced plasma sales representative, who had been consistently overlooked for promotion to senior management. The promise of a leadership role in my growing start-up, with a generous compensation package, led to an enthusiastically accepted job offer.
---
As the year came to an end, I decided to move out from the apartment I had shared with Gavin all this time. We had now passed 5,000 sales, with no sign of slowing down. I was theoretically a multi-millionaire already, and in credits that meant even more than it did in pounds or dollars of Earth. It was hard to compare as prices that could vary wildly for different things, but given I was comfortable when earning 1,000 credits a month working for Zomir, a credit felt like at least two British pounds.
I was making so much money that it seemed a bit silly to keep on sharing a tiny space. I hadn't wanted to leave Gavin in the lurch, but one of my junior technicians had been looking for somewhere to live and was happy to share with my quiet, if untidy, friend.
Having yet to spent much of the money I had coming in on myself and anticipating a lot more credits to come, I decided to rent a high-end apartment on the edge of palace district. It had multiple guest and reception rooms, and all the best conveniences. It had a concierge droid at the entrance to the tower and discrete access by the lift-tube to a speeder bay.
Marble floors and elegant woodwork gave it what looked to me like a southern Mediterranean style, at least, it looked like places I had seen on a family holiday to the south of France in my old life. I had been assured this style was all the rage among Theed's great and good.
What had really sold me on the apartment, was that I had Asherré accompany me for the viewings to cast her more expert eye over the options. She had practically screamed when we stepped onto the balcony for the first time, which had a view of the palace district and the vast green fields beyond.
I had also splashed out on a brand-new Seraph Urban-Landspeeder, in what I thought was a very stylish sky-blue colour. This was the civilian version of a model used by the Naboo Royal Security Forces, which I assumed would make it good enough for ensuring a safe commute. It set me back 5,200 credits, a figure that would have been unthinkable just a few months earlier.
I had never learned to drive a car on Earth and my speeder license had taken me more than a couple of attempts to acquire. Apparently, my lack of piloting talent extends to ground based craft not just starfighter sims.
In just two years. I had gone from a naked man found in the street, to a successful local businessman. It had happened so quickly, no one had even really noticed. That was all about to change.