"The Empire offers these terms to the Republic," I said. "We will allow without consequence the Corellian Re-Annexation. We will cede the Taris system. And we will pay reparations for the destruction of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. In return, the Republic will cede the Tython system. The Jedi will assent to the Pact of Grey Faith. And a number of embassies between our governments will be opened, to ensure the continuation of normalized relations."
"With the power vested in me by the Galactic Senate," the Republic Diplomat said, "I accept these terms."
Of course, this was the culmination of nearly an entire year of diplomacy, of back-and-forth arguing over the terms of the treaty- which was far, far more detailed than what we'd just verbally outlined. But! With the treaty finally worked out to a standard that the Republic and the Empire could accept, alongside the Pact of Grey Faith- a separate treaty I'd had to make with the Jedi because, naturally, the Jedi weren't officially part of the Republic's government- we could finally do the ceremonious part of the diplomatic process, and sign some documents.
"The Sith offer these terms to the Jedi," I continued, turning to address the other diplomat present. "Both of our orders will share custody of Tython, and build upon it a joint educational institution for the training of both Jedi and Sith by both Jedi and Sith. We will allow, freely and without consequence, the movement of members between our orders. We will, both of us, swallow our pride and admit that, perhaps, our ancestral enemies have a perspective worth considering and learning from."
"The Jedi accept these terms," Jedi Master Lucas Startreader said, nodding. "Let the Pact of Grey Faith be held to and carried out for the rest of time."
"To a brighter future, and a better tomorrow," I said.
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"Fuck! Where's that last goddamn- there it fucking is!"
"So dignified," Jaesa said, grinning a little.
"I hate my past self," I muttered. "Oh, it's free points, all I gotta do is collect some random garbage that's scattered around places I was already going to go. No the fuck they're not! Why would I ever go to Quesh, or Voss, or Belsavis?! Why are these things even here?!"
"To torment you, specifically, it would seem," Jaesa said wryly.
"Yeah, well..." I sighed, and tapped my earpiece. "Karasuba, I found the last one. We can go now."
"Oh thank god," Karasuba said. "I've been psyching myself up to dig around in this trash compactor."
"You're still going to want to take a shower once we get back to the ship, then," I said. "Speaking of which..." I took my finger off my earpiece, and looked to Jaesa. "This is goodbye, then, if you aren't coming with us."
"The galaxy still needs me," Jaesa said, shaking her head. "Are you sure you have to leave?"
"I do, but not now," I said. "We aren't leaving now because we have to leave now, but because we get to leave now. There's more worlds out there than just this galaxy, and they need saving just as much, if not moreso. And, well. Judging by the fact we can leave now, the galaxy doesn't need me anymore."
Jaesa nodded. "You were a good Emperor, I think," she said. "For everything. Not just the scholarship on Tython you gave me."
"Hey, I did that for everyone," I said. "Your power's a useful one, and we wanna figure out how to replicate it for people who aren't me."
"And it most certainly was not born out of any personal affection for me, your wife's friend and apprentice."
"Naturally. Also, wife? Karasuba and I aren't married."
"You did crown her as Empress."
"...Okay, point. But still." I sighed. "I guess that's a chat I get to have with her, once we leave."
"Safe travels, Rose," Jaesa said. "Keep your hatred for injustice, but don't forget to give love a place in your heart too."
"Oh, don't worry. That will not be a problem for me."
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"Home again, home again," I said as Karasuba and I debarked our ship, which I'd landed near my house in the Warehouse. While I was leaving behind a lot of stuff in Star Wars, there were enough things I was unwilling to leave behind that I'd needed a lot of nested pocket dimensions to fit it all into a ship that was only as big as a house. "You know how long we were in there?"
"Four years for me, five for you," Karasuba said.
"Sounds about right," I said, nodding. "A year at the Academy, a year as Zash's apprentice, a year hiding in Rosy Palm and then becoming Chief Archaeologist of the Sith Empire, and finally two years as Emperor Thanaton. I started Jumping at 25, spent pretty much two years in Sekirei, then five years in Star Wars... I think I'm, like, thirty two now."
"So, why do you ask?" Karasuba asked.
"Well, the Warehouse experiences a hundred times the amount of time I do, in-Jump," I said. "So if I'm right, they've had five hundred years on their own, and I'm really curious just what the hell they've done in all that time."
"We've been busy," Adrianne, the Chief of Warehouse Staff, said with a shrug.
"How the fuck did you- jesus christ, Adrianne, you startled the shit out of me," I said, whipping around to behold someone who hadn't been there before. "Is that any way to treat an emperor?"
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Thus always to tyrants," she said dryly.
"Yeah, that's fair," I said.
"So before Rose shits herself again," Karasuba said, "why don't you fill us in on what you've been busy with?"
"Certainly."
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"Oh holy shit," I said.
Five years without access to my Warehouse for me, and five hundred years of unguided development for everyone inside it. It turns out, half a thousand years is a fairly long time, and things can get a little insane in that time.
"I was expecting maybe some better computers," I continued. "Space stations. Maybe a galaxy that was now fully occupied. But this?"
My Warehouse contained a galaxy, but it also contained what seemed to be, by all accounts, a truly vast amount of empty space all around that galaxy. And now, about three galactic radii upwards above the galactic plane, it was developing a new galaxy.
"We call it the Stellar Nursery," Adrianne said. "With five hundred years, those archmages have developed their Material Creation powers so much that they can, in the span of a few years, create stars. Now... granted, they originally did so as part of a separatist movement, but..."
"Okay," I said, nodding. "I wasn't expecting to come back from an adventure in which I became an Emperor and brought a snarling cult of fascist warrior-monks to heel and be humbled by what was originally just a place to keep my stuff, but I can live with it. Of course... this ship we're in, that's new. You found your own method of faster-than-light travel that doesn't rely on Star Wars' hyperdrive stuff."
"We experimented with it, but found it to be a bit too finicky," Adrianne said, nodding. "About fifty years after the Star Wars Jump began, someone developed their own method, which worked on principles analogous to the Alcubierre Drive. However, due to the inventor being a fan of one of the same webcomics you are, the drive was named The Circle's End."
"...Does my galaxy now have, among its populations, a group calling itself the Continuum of Makers?" I asked.
"Yes, but they're quite unlike the group in the comic," Adrianne said. "They are not isolationist technotheists who think reverse engineering their technology is grounds for declaring holy war."
"Not anymore," an ensign chimed in. "This version of the Circle's End is also pretty capable of cracking planets in half; the Continuum surrendered in pretty short order."
"You've got to be fucking shitting me," I muttered.
"Before you announce any imperial ambitions," Adrianne said, "I will inform you that the war was more than three hundred years ago, and currently, the galaxy is kept at peace by a meta-governing body that is controlled in no small part by the Warehouse Staff, and even the Stellar Nursery Separatists have rejoined the fold; as it stands, the Stellar Nursery project continues primarily because they enjoy working on it, and don't have a compelling reason to stop."
"Well, that's... something," I said. "Well! In more pleasant news, there will be a new branch of the Warehouse Staff joining you fine ladies, calling themselves the Red Hand. Clover, if you would please introduce yourself?"
From behind me, and through a cleverly-hidden portal, stepped Clover, one of the oldest of the Red Hand, and a tall, slender elf technician. That's an elf who was also a technician, not a technician for elves; the proper term for that was "medical doctor," and Clover wasn't any sort of that.
"Hello there," Clover said, in an odd voice.
"General Kenobi," Adrianne quoted back in an impressive imitation of Grievous' rasp.
"The Red Hand were created by me on Hoth, using copious amounts of Minion Creation, Minion Empowerment, and The Force," I explained. "And the other major addition to my Warehouse, from Star Wars, is the prize for the Light Side Pax Jumperia Challenge."
"She has a second galaxy now," Karasuba said.
"Well, kind of," I said. "It's a pocket universe with its own metaphysics that I can customize however I want. Funny enough, as someone who's spent several years writing science fiction and fantasy, I'm pretty aware of how I can creatively use that latitude to produce some disgustingly potent results." I started pacing. "For the time being, it's only the Red Hand in my new pocket reality. I haven't started getting truly absurd with the metaphysics yet, because I want them to have time to settle in and adjust to their new life circumstances, but at some point, I'm going to throw a switch and empower them with all sorts of insane bullshit."
"For those worried," Clover added, "the Red Hand is not trapped in that pocket reality. Individuals are free to leave as they see fit. A few of them have. But most of us are staying."
"So," I said. "I think I've gotten the shape of things, here, and while obviously, I'll be reading any and all reports you send me... I do believe that, right now, I'd rather take some time to rest and relax with my darling crow."
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One little oddity I noticed was that Jump-chan wasn't showing up to say anything about how I finally found my balls and landed a long-term girlfriend, or making lewd comments about anything I'd done with said long-term girlfriend in the year or so I'd spent alternating between Emperor Shit and using Karasuba as a stress toy- something that she'd discovered she actually quite enjoyed, so long as she knew she wasn't just a stress toy.
It seemed she was being honest when she said she was done with me, and wouldn't waste any more time or attention on me. Which, frankly? Good riddance.
"Well, hello," Karasuba crooned from the top of the stairs as I entered the house I'd built first in my Warehouse. She looked like she'd just gotten out of the shower, with her skin moist and glowing, and her hair blow-dried into a fuzzy, fluffy cloud that I knew from experience to be kitten-soft, the whole affair wrapped up in a fleece bathrobe whose belt was struggling valiantly to keep some fabric over those tits. "Happy anniversary, Rose."
She used the shapeshifting I'd given her- along with every other EBM perk, because why wouldn't I- to sprout a pair of rabbit ears, and shrugged out of her robe, revealing a classic bunnysuit, with a lovely twist: rather than the classic leotard bottom paired with fishnets, she'd gone with a mini-skirt and thigh-highs, just like her usual outfit. And, y'know what? I'm not too proud to admit that I was a sucker for some thick, bare thighs peeking out between a skirt and some thigh-highs. Call me basic all you want. I'm too horny right now to care.
"Happy anniversary, Karasuba," I said, before bolting up the stairs. "Oh, Jaesa said something that I wanna talk about- do you consider us to be wives, or are we girlfriends?"
"Neither," Karasuba said, throwing herself into my arms. "I'm your Sekirei, and you're my Ashikabi. And what that means?" She shrugged. "We'll find out together."
"Well," I said with a shrug, carrying her towards my- well, now our- bedroom. "Can't argue with that."