Mid 964 ARR (36 BBY)
"We're both far too busy for all that, no thanks to you." Kyla protested.
"Oh, I'm sorry you get to help run what is fast becoming the biggest philanthropic organisation on Naboo, and that Asherré is forced to design the most spectacular building to be constructed in Theed in decades." I reply, my voice oozing with a disgustingly thick layer of sarcasm.
"Besides, I don't even know if she would want to."
"Nonsense, you have been together for more than two years, and in love since you were children."
"Well, she might want to be the one to propose to me."
"Asherré is only ever pushy when it comes to architecture; for literally anything else she'll procrastinate for months to avoid a difficult conversation. If you leave it up to her, you'll be living together in a retirement community before she gets around to it."
"What if she says no?"
I just stare at her with the overwhelming incredulity that statement deserved.
Kyla and Asherré got engaged that night.
---
I had long since figured out that droid-brains and the processors in regular datapads were essentially the same technology, but with different software and less processing horsepower in the datapads. This was a major part of my early research and was essential for the range of capabilities built into the SuperPADs. The more powerful droid-brains can do all the tasks of the regular processors; it was all cross compatible.
In the SuperPADs, I had retained the droid operating system for its ability to handle multiple complex processes simultaneously and to understand complex verbal instructions. If all I needed was a droid-brain to do a single complex task, like aim and fire a weapon at a designated target, or process data from a sensor, then that droid-brain should theoretically work with the simpler pad operating system. The datapad operating system is designed for the execution of simple instructions directed by user input, it lacks any of what you might consider AI autonomy.
The result would be a weapon, with a droid-brain processor powerful enough to execute targeting and weapon control instructions sent to it, but dumb enough not to make its own decisions. Other systems could be managed in the same manner, with all the controls routed directly to the bridge.
The bottom line was that this would enable the ship to be operated at full combat efficiency by the bridge crew, controlling all the systems remotely. Astromech and mouse droids could handle the bulk of the maintenance with weapon loading automated by adapting parts from cargo loader droids.
---
After a couple of days testing in the lab, I reconvened the team meeting, with the addition of Ona.
"If that works, then even accounting for duty shifts, we would only need a crew of around 25 sentients." Dal reasoned through slowly once I had explained my proposal.
"It would require a similar number of astromechs to cover the bulk of the crew's repair duties." Jaarl added.
"Astromechs are expensive, but much cheaper than crew wages in the long run." Ona replied. "If it works, we could convert the whole of the lower crew deck into cargo space, as it would be on the cargo variant. Then about half the remaining crew space can be converted into comfortable passenger accommodation." She added, looking over the schematics with Dal.
"Would it really have the combat capability of a full sentient crew?" Jestos asked.
"There will be a lot of trial an error calibrating the control systems, mapping the inputs to the droid-brain programming, but I had to do something similar with the buttons on the SuperPADs so it is doable, just tedious. If we use some of our stock of Arakyd D3-Scoutbrains, then the ship should be pretty effective at processing sensor data and tracking targets. It might not match a sentient when it comes to tracking manned fighters, but it should be extremely effective at tracking droid starfighters" I explained.
"There is however a catch. We will need a single high quality battle droid-brain to copy the combat programming from. Then it should be possible for the weapons officer to assign a weapon to attack a ship or a set of targets like a squadron of starfighters, and for the weapons to automatically track, target and fire on those assigned targets."
"And because the weapons officer will have explicitly selected the targets, and pressed a button to attack, it doesn't technically breach the existing laws." Ameé concluded. "It is almost funny how much of our business depends on the Republic not having specific laws for the things John can do."
"Getting a hold of a good battle droid won't be easy. Officially there are no high-end battle droid manufacturers active in the Republic. There are rumours that droideka are still being produced on Colla, but the Trade Federation have that system firmly in their pocket." Jestos pondered.
"According to my research, our best bet would be an older design, ideally pre-Ruusan reformation. We don't need it to be in good condition, scrap is fine so long as the droid-brain is intact." I replied.
"And how do we get our hands on an ancient, questionably legal, battle droid?" Ona asked glancing at Ameé, who was staring intently at the ceiling whistling to herself.
"We would need to go to a world where the Republic has as little presence as possible, where it is easier to acquire such things." Jestos replied. He glared at me "Which is you have already worked out and intended all along."
"Vulpter, Chad and now this, you really have a great taste in holiday destinations John." Ona joked.
"Corellia wasn't so bad." I argued.
"We all know why you liked Corellia so much."
I'm left blushing with embarrassment as Jestos and Ona look at each other uneasily, contemplating all that could go horribly wrong on such a mission.