The PUT was pretty simple to operate, especially since it manifested alongside a user's manual, in English, thank goodness, in the box it was in.
Just insert the language chip it came with, secure the headset on your head, put the actual device somewhere on your person, like clipped to my belt-loop in my case, and turn it on. Once it was, it would convert any language it recognised into the one the user selected as its primary one, even mimicking their voices to make it seem like they were actually speaking said language. It even had a text-to-speech function, scanning any written words you pointed the device at and speaking out what it said in a way you can understand. And since the chip apparently contained over two thousand known languages, including English, that should mean that barring me running into a super obscure alien language, I should easily be able to communicate with most of the known galaxy!
I had no idea why English, as far as I knew an unknown language in this universe, was on the chip, but I chalked that up to whatever weirdness that was SFO trying to make the product more accessible to me for some reason.
I still needed to sit down at some point and really test out the crazy super online shopping at some point, with my short browsing through it barely scratching the surface of what it apparently offered, but given my low amount of funds I was limited on what I can do on that front so decided to do something equally as important. Namely, finally talk with someone else and try to figure out where and when the heck I was in this universe.
What I did next would seriously be influenced by this information, after all.
Of course, given the now late hour, the only place that was open was the cantina. So on the one hand, I had to go back there and potentially embarrass myself over my earlier actions. On the other hand, if I didn't I would just be stuck sitting outside by myself for at least the rest of the night… hard choice.
Eventually I nutted up and decided to just deal with it, walking over to the cantina with as much confidence as I could while dumping the PUT box in a public trash can on my way over while keeping the user's manual folded up in my pocket. Besides, maybe the PUT wouldn't work and no one would understand my poor attempts at communication and give me a good excuse to leave again.
Speaking of which, I pointed the PUT at what I believed was the cantina's sign over the door and scanned it, translating what the device told me was Aurebesh into English.
"The Watering Hole," the device informed me in the first words I understood besides my own I understood since coming here.
"Oh thank goodness, it works! Also, huh… fitting name, if not very creative," I muttered to myself. "Then again, given I look to be in the boonies, maybe it is for these parts."
Test complete, I finally walked into the building proper and took another look around.
Most of the earlier patrons were gone, with only a few late nighters hanging out, most of them drinking alone except for a small group in a far corner playing cards, most likely Sabacc given what I remember.
I ignored all that and focused on the bar, where the bartender droid still was serving one of its patrons, walking up to it once more. I seemed to catch its electronic eye as I walked up and it apparently recognized me, letting out what sounded like a groan of annoyance as I approached.
"Oh great, the off-worlder again," the droid said in a slightly growly tone as I took a free barstool away from any nearby patrons. "I already told you, you can't hang around without ordering something. I figured even without you understanding what I was saying you got that part earlier."
"Actually, I've solved that problem," I spoke into my headset with a smile, glad that the translator was working and I could finally talk with people again! My words seemed to surprise the droid as he was actually able to understand me now too.
"Oh, got your a translator then? Good, didn't feel like playing protocol droid with ya again," the bartender said as he idly started to clean an empty glass. "My earlier point still stands, if you are gonna loiter around here ya need to order something. And if you got that translator, it must mean you got credits."
"Right, right," I nodded as I thought about what to order for a minute, picking the first thing that came to mind. "You got any blue milk?"
"Dantooine would be a poor agriworld if we didn't," the droid said as he picked out a fresh glass, a blue liquid flowed through one of the tubes connected to his back, and then used his nozzle hand to poor it into the glass to the near top before handing it over to me. "Two credits."
"Right, here you go," I said, taking a few single credit ingots that I had withdrawn from my SFO account earlier and handed them to the droid, who then deposited them into a nearby register while I took the drink. "This will be my first time trying the real thing."
"Really? What, you from someplace off the major tradelanes?" the droid asked curiously before shaking his head. "Doesn't matter, none of my business. I may not have taste buds, but even I know the synthetic stuff is garbage compared to freshly milked. Enjoy."
"Thanks," I said, not mentioning that the closest I got to blue milk before was that fake stuff from back on Earth as I took a sip.
Huh, that's different, I thought, finding the milk did taste similar to normal stuff back home, but a bit sweeter and a little more heavy? Either way, I didn't dislike it and drank a little bit more before putting the glass down to process what else the droid had just said.
I was on Dantooine, a sparsely populated farming world in the Outer Rim I mostly knew from the KOTOR game. A very unimportant and little looked at world in general where barely anything happened beyond people harvesting crops to sell elsewhere in the galaxy. Basically space Kansas, now that I thought about it.
I also knew that, despite being considered in the ass end of nowhere, that Dantooine had been involved in more than a few significant events in galactic history, with the most notable being that it once held a Jedi Enclave on the planet… or possibly still did, depending on when I was. Depending on the answer, I might have to get out of dodge, fast, since I distinctly remember the place being bombed from orbit at some point.
I quickly finished my drink with a sigh before addressing the bartender again.
"So, anything new recently? I just came by planetside a little bit ago, and as you saw earlier I was kinda out of sorts," I said, coming up with the most reasonable lie I could think of.
"It's Dantooine, so not much," the droid shrugged. "Honestly, I prefer it that way, especially with all the excitement we had to deal with a couple years ago."
"Excitement?" I asked curiously.
"The war, obviously," the droid grunted. "Separatists attacked the planet not long after it kicked off, wanting to hit as many agriworlds in Republic space as possible in an effort to starve out the Core. They brought in this repurposed mining craft to smash into the surface of the planet to try and wipe out the Republic forces before it was brought down. That whole section of the planet is still a huge junkyard of scrap and messed up landscape, especially since a lot got buried there due to said flying hammer."
"Wow, that must have been insane," I said, vaguely remembering an SW old cartoon that sounded like that, which implied I was in the Clone Wars period.
"Eh, I wasn't there, but a couple of people who used to live around there had to pick up and move out to greener pastures after the battle ruined their land," the droid said. "It's a good thing all that is over now."
"Over?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah, where have you been?"
"Oh, uh, like I said, been on a ship for awhile so been out of the loop," I said a little nervously. "What'd I miss?"
"Well, in that case I'm happy to tell ya the war is over," the droid said. "Heck, the whole Republic is now the Galactic Empire now, apparently, the new Emperor announced it about a week ago. I think I got a recording of it."
The droid turned and didn't notice as I froze up at the words, pulling out a small device and putting it on the bar before turning it on, revealing it to be a holographic projector that showed three figures standing on a very official looking platform.
My eyes quickly focused on the middle figure standing above the other too, cloaked so you could only see the bottom of their face, but I could still image the lightning scared wrinkles that likely hid underneath as the former Supreme Chancellor Palpatine gave his speech.
"In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society!" the man said with great emotion, followed by a great deal of clapping and cheering in the background.
"I've been around for over a century, so I can't say it will affect any of us very much, but then I didn't think our planet was important enough to invade a couple years ago, either," the droid said. "Who knows, maybe this will lead to less pirates showing up to push us around for food too. That'd be a first."
I didn't respond to the droid as he walked off to serve another patron on the other side of the bar, just staring at the holographic image of the hidden Sith Lord, the former Chancellor now turned Emperor, Darth Sidious as he smiled underneath his cloak due to his all his plans finally coming together and fulfilling his order's dream over a thousand years in the making.
If I looked close enough I could swear I could see yellow eyes burning with the Dark Side as nearly the whole galaxy cheered for him, reminding me of a quote that had sadly been very fitting back home and now most certainly was here.
"'So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause,'" I quoted to myself as the full situation finally sunk into me.
I had arrived in the Star Wars galaxy during the birth of the Galactic Empire.