The Jedi had definitely taken notice of my prolific collection of droids. To be entirely honest, I concede that I went too far with the sheer quantity of my acquisitions. It's just that they are proving to be so incredibly useful, an indispensable force multiplier for a young Initiate like myself. My official responsibilities are identical to the other younglings, but with my cadre of droids operating with optimized efficiency, I waste virtually no time on mundane tasks.
The vast amount of studying that each Initiate is expected to complete is what initially led to this automation surge. Back in my first life, we had search engines and the internet, tools that could find what you needed, but even that process took precious time to sift, verify, and apply the correct information to your studies. Here, in my new life, the immense, collective knowledge collected by the Jedi Order is stored in dense stacks of data chips within the towering Grand Library.
With my droid collective, all of that time consuming research is now streamlined. With my many different types of droids, each specializing in a different field, all working together, they piece together exactly what I need and what I might need in the future.
The sheer coordination and efficiency of the system surprised even me. It baffled me even more that no one else in the technologically advanced Jedi Order seemed to be doing this. I looked into it, and there was no evidence of any historical uprising or fear of droid armies. It seems most droids simply lacked the necessary programming to competently analyze, synthesize, and strategically utilize the vast amounts of information they processed.
I still don't entirely grasp the source of this pervasive mistrust of droids. I frequently hear Jedi Masters and Padawans issuing the cryptic warning: "Never underestimate a droid." Yet, they simultaneously rely on them for everything from cleaning the floors to piloting starships.
So, when my droids began to work collaboratively, cross referencing information and teaching me advanced concepts that I wanted to learn, it naturally grabbed the attention of several curious Padawans and even a few Jedi Knights.
Padawan Jessa, a slightly older student, stopped me in the corridor one afternoon, nodding toward a stack of freshly cataloged data chips my service droid, Unit 27, was carrying. "Bee Bee, is this all your research for Advanced Astrogation?"
"Yes, Padawan Jessa," I replied brightly.
"But... you have three droids dedicated to cross referencing historical naval codes," she said, frowning. "Why not just speak to Master Trexus? He's the expert."
The Jedi instructors tried to lecture me about the value of learning directly from living Masters, implying that learning from droids was somehow inferior. This was quickly and easily shut down by simply stating the obvious: "The Masters all decided I was too dull to teach, Padawan. I must learn somehow." I began to suspect that the Jedi's real, innate superpower was merely persistent, passive nagging, and I silently thanked my lucky stars that they still hadn't managed to locate my hidden droid workshop near the Temple kitchens. That secret room contained some of my more profoundly un Jedi like experiments.
A good example of my technical deviation was my collection of various crystals and the different ways I've utilized them. A specific project involved repurposing a large mining droid that I had fitted with a Kyber crystal.
"Target stability at 98.7 percent, Master Bee," the mining droid's modified voice box would occasionally announce as it slowly vaporized a block of dense scrap metal.
It technically worked, but the intense, powerful energy blade that emitted from the mining attachment instantly turned everything it touched into molten slag. The Jedi, I knew, would not appreciate the fact that I had recycled a lightsaber crystal, a sacred object, into something more… utilitarian.
The Jedi seemed perpetually annoyed with me. I suspect they truly believe that droid facilitated education and technological tinkering is beneath them, despite the fact that they use droids every single day, even if they don't consciously register the fact. It seems the Jedi Order might be, quite simply, a bit stuck up.
This doesn't surprise me much. The vast majority of a Jedi's time is dedicated to meditation and the repetitive practice of their Force abilities and lightsaber techniques, often in solitude. This leaves little time for self study, technological literacy, or understanding the complexities of the Republic's common life. They have effectively lost touch with the concerns of normal people. They surround themselves with either impossibly powerful, equally disconnected Force users or self interested, distant politicians. They truly believe they are better than the masses, and of course, they are right, given their immense power, but no one likes to hear that or, even worse, admit it.
It's gotten to the critical point where I realize I absolutely do not want to be a Jedi Knight. The Order's restrictiveness, the overwhelming rules, and the philosophical demands of detachment would condemn me to a life of rigid servitude to the Republic, not self mastery. It's best if I'm honest with myself: I want power to live exactly how I see fit, to explore and enjoy the vast bounty of this new life, not to perpetually sacrifice for others.
With that decision settled, I executed my next strategic move: I formally asked to be reassigned into the Service Corps. More specifically, I requested placement into the Medical Corps. I am committed to living a safe life in a galaxy that, as I learned, is teetering on the edge of full scale war. Therefore, it makes perfect logical sense to me to be positioned where I am surrounded by the greatest density of battle hardened, powerful Jedi who are committed to protecting the Temple.
There are other choices within the Service Corps, such as the Agricultural Corps, but that would mean I would have to leave the relative safety and technological infrastructure of the Jedi Temple to practice growing plants on some foreign, isolated planet.
I considered the options thoroughly, but becoming part of the Medical Corps allows me to remain right here on Coruscant, often within the shielded confines of the Temple itself. The Council of Reassignment, after their inevitable deliberation, agreed with my request.
Master Boran, my former Ilum handler, stood before the Council of Reassignment, summarizing my case. "The Initiate Ban Bailo shows great intellectual curiosity but lacks the necessary focus on combat or deep contemplation. His connection to the Living Force is weak."
Another Council member, a solemn human woman, replied, "He is proficient in technical skills, and his grades in Xenobiology are acceptable. Let him serve where his talents lie. The Medical Corps needs dedicated personnel."
With no Master stepping forward to teach me, and their consensus that I was generally weak and unimpressive in the Force, they had little choice but to place me where I wanted to go, effectively washing their hands of me.
The transition was smooth, surprisingly so. It took longer to officially log and move my small army of droids to my new quarters than it did to process the reassignment paperwork. The whole medical focus wasn't drastically different from what I was already doing while training as an Initiate, simply a shift in application. The biggest formal difference was that instead of daily lightsaber training, the Medical Corps focused heavily on healing using the Force.
While every Jedi is taught how to heal themselves through basic meditation and application, the Medical Corps takes this much, much further. The best healers in the galaxy often come directly from the Medical Corps. They are, in fact, better at healing than even the most advanced Class One medical droids. Droids possess precision and vast, encyclopedic medical information at their command, but even that cannot compare to the Force guiding your healing hands and mending the very spirit of a patient.
The potential for studying, understanding, and manipulating life at its most fundamental level through the Force was a fascinating new area of interest, one that guaranteed me long term safety and access to unparalleled biological data. I was exactly where I wanted to be.