Planet Gand, Pef Empire
Redbox
21 BBY
"The Shadowblade's cloaking field is weakest when it prepares its weapons !"
Jedi Master Darrus Jeht
"So, did they find it, Third Hand?" I asked distracted, as I was using battle meditation on 1100 partitions at once.
Already our fleets have engaged and destroyed a thousand CIS ships in the Tion Cluster. Targeting Lucrehulks first, and harassing Munificents and Recusants with our cruisers and frigates to make them flee. The strategy worked so far, reducing the threat of a counter-attack by 30% from inside the pocket.
"My agents did find the starkiller. On planet Kromus , just south of Phindar. Doesn't look much for now, but it's not fully constructed. Not even the engines are installed. But, the main spinal weapon, the hyper-point destabilizer is already undergoing final checks for calibration and targeting. We fear the weapon itself will be operational sooner than you predicted." he said in a low voice, projecting the hologram of a six-winged research complex, right in the middle of the planet's capital.
"Well, in my visions, the planet's surface was melted by Jedi orbital bombardments, to no effect, as the starkiller cruiser escaped. Let's make sure it doesn't happen. Our planetary shields won't be much use if stars start going nova." I explained politely, already sending new orders to Vette's fleet at Phindar.
"Indeed. So you plan to capture this ship then?" he wondered, almost rhetorically.
"Well, beside obvious military applications, this technology will permit us to establish safe paths through densely packed star clusters, like in the Deep Core. There are a hundred billion stars in the Core, we can sacrifice a few thousands stars to open hyperlanes for our ships to pass, and begin colonization! In the far future, of course." I proclaimed dramatically, punching the sky and scarring a few too curious ysalamiri which left their posts in the olbio trees and were roaming around the best guarded war room in the galaxy.
"Of course, respected starkiller. We will simply demolish whatever stars are in the way of civilization, to pave the way for more trade routes and factories. Your loyal Hand truly hopes he'll be dead a long time, by then." my Hand answered with a shudder, then vanished in a shower of red leaves.
Hey, that was cool! Point to point teleportation maybe?
But that only worked in visual range...how did he made it work outside the room?
Unless...
"So, I hear another two of your females are pregnant. Are you trying to repopulate the Ash Worlds by yourself?" I asked a nearby lizard, trying to lift it with telekinesis, and failing like usual. How did that Bendu do it? Damn cheater.
"You devious, unnatural cheater! How did you know? I hate you!" my Hand yelled from a distant olbio tree, jumping down towards the door and stomping out.
What did I do?
"My cousin isn't actually hating you, lizard emperor. Just a little stressed back home. He can't send his females on training or missions like you do" Zuckuss said wisely, and sounding a little drunk. Was that bottle almost empty?
How long did I stay in battle meditation? Oh, 18 hours? My time flies when you're having fun and blow ships up.
I should throw a party and get drunk with Peffy then. Or at least get the wives drunk, and then take advantage.
"We're starting the shadowblade capture in 7 hours, Zuckuss. Get some rest, if you want to take part. I'll try to score a hundred ships at Amarin, then jump the 11th fleet to Corlax. You're not losing much." I ordered him softly, taking the bottle away and pushing my First Hand towards the door.
"Yessss. A short nap sounds good..." he muttered half asleep.
-------
Mandalorian secret base, Concordia.
"Now, my adored wife, Bo Greyshade. Answer truthfully, or you have to drink another shot of brandy. Did you ever, look with envy at another's woman chest?" I asked, pouring brandy her glass already.
"Y-you...monster. You know I can't answer that. Damn your stupid game Peffy. Give it here" the fierce warrior demanded, gulping another shot. And there go the socks too. That made...14 shots?
"Alright, your turn my wife. Ask me, or forever be silent" I replied with confidence.
"Did you ever, had more than one woman in your bed, at once?" she asked with a sneak look towards her fellow mandalorian wife. Alicia, most likely. So, this game was going that way then? Good to know.
"I could tell the truth and say no. But, it would be a deceitful truth, like the Jedi do. I did had two, in a large bath. However, a bed...sounds a lot more comfortable." I answered truthfully, gaining a karma point somewhere.
"My turn, and only my panties are left. Bath or bed?" Alicia Greyshade asked, eying her glass with a bit of revulsion.
Hmmmm. How to win this, and still make them feel they won?
"Why not both? Let's take a bath and then go to bed. And you can't wear clothes in the bath." I proclaimed with a gracious smile.
"That's...hey! I won! You get to carry us both, to that jacuzzi bath on your ship" my blonde wife demanded triumphantly, and an unlikely leap of logic.
Just as planned.
I hugged them both to my chest, and flew towards my cruiser's hatch, only a hundred meters away.
But baths and alcohol? I should purge most of their drinks through perspiration, and leave them just a little buzz.
For the next part. For the dream of a billion young men out there.
Through drinks and baths, I gain Victory!
Planet Gand, Pef Empire
Redbox
21 BBY
The holotable was showing us the initial disposition of the fleet around Kromus, in the Kro'eval system,
MC80 cruisers blocking the incoming hyperspace lanes and interdictor cruisers halting any escape to hyperspace.
The Mountain and the other Meteor held back, and letting Meteor One advance and bait the Separatist fleet.
If only Vette would stop trying to command this battle. Not this time, love.
"Let the Admiral do his job, Vette. He has a whole fleet to manage..." I whispered in her com, then ordered her armor to turn and walk on its own, out of the Meteor's bridge.
"Pef, you dastardly shell of a mutant droid! What did you do to my armor?" my blue maid yelled politely, inside her helmet.
"Just assuming temporary control, untill you're back in your quarters, most precious maid." I explained gently, as she was bodily moved inside her plushy room. Even the ceiling had a meter of foam padding the walls, just in case the ship was bounced around.
"Kriff, not only you meesed with my ship, adding obscure things like that Crystal gravfield trap , and magnetic sensors and 2000 more ion canons that do not even connect to the power grid, only to the targetting computers. Now you mess with my armor too?" Vette complained, throwing the helmet away and getting hit back as it bounced of the elastic foam, and back into her chest plate.
"It's for testing purposes, my dear. Detecting cloaked ships is quite hard, after all. And I want to see how smart the beast inside the forcefield is. Can it use the ion cannons like this, or do they need to be fully functional?" I said, a bit amused at her antics as always.
"It's screams still hurt my chest and head a little, but that white fog helps. Why would you send just my Meteor forward? We had 200 more ships waiting behind us, and to the sides."
"Because, they have 400 ships defending the planet. I'd rather capture them as well." I explained softly, then turned off the comlink.
Zuckuss and Lu'daal-ud were politely ignoring the female interrupt, waiting for me to finish solving another personal crisis.
"Two more dropships and 18 Scarab fighters crashed at Raxus Prime, Emperor. Enemy action is even more probable now, although no ships have entered the system beside ours in the past week. " my Third Hand mused, going over some prediction algorithm I built just to detect such anomalies.
Oh! The AI on Raxus Prime, must have awaked sooner then?
"Only droid piloted ships, correct?" I asked, to make sure.
"Yes wise Metal Gand. Please enlighten your Hands if you divined the source of the attacks." Zuckuss confirmed, after checking things on his datapad for a second.
"It's an AI, deep under the garbage. I'll have to talk to it and convince it to join me. We could relocate it to the droid planet of Malagarr, and have it contribute, and not impede the Empire" I mused, forming a dozen likely contingencies and a few hundred less likely.
"Indeed, or give it an army to kill us all. I'll double the surveillance net around Malagarr, just in case" Lu'daal-ud commented with a displeased tone.
Yep, AI are quite scary, if I count myself between them.
"Any news of Operation 4227? I trust your agents were able to find Maramere at least. They have a trillion people living just on the planet." I asked, changing the uncomfortable subject, while sending orders to remove all droids on or in orbit of Raxus, and replace them with purely organic divisions or crews.
"Yes, of course. 4 corporations have been established, from Bildog and Proop farming and deep sea mining to shipyards for aquatic repulsorcraft and a medical facility, focused on obtaining a Trihexalon antidote. Your B1 Mara Ambassador was granted a honored status for bringing a planetary shield and defense platforms." my Black ops leader replied, but not too convinced.
"Not all that, my Hand. The Invisible Island is the real purpose. It could be worth quadrillions of credits, if the stygium crystals can be mined, in secret." I explained patiently.
"Your most dejected Hand cannot say, yet. We have a million droids scouring the Haunted Straits. But..." my second friend, Lu'daal-ud the sneakiest Gand of them all, said with a dejected shake of his head.
Sigh. Finding an invisible island seemed pretty hard.
"Tell them to form a line, 10 meters from each other and advance slowly. They'll bump into something invisible, sooner or later." I replied with a suffering sigh of my own.
A thousand kilometers wide net, just to find an island. Damn this galaxy was strange...
"Yes, Emperor. This method should provide better results, if less fast. Maybe another week...also operation 8228 is a ongoing, with no sign of a planet Yalara . Perhaps your divination could be more precise than just go past Terminus, then look around?"
"Even your Emperor has trouble finding a cloaked planet, my Hand. That's why I employ Findsmen, to find things. Try sending multiple teams, to Anoth , and collect the living crystals for Sanctuary. Then look further south-west.
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Another team to Imynusoph and ask around there. Anyway Yalara should be around Kinooine, to the west of it." I explained, poking at the holomap to an area with about billion stars.
"We'll do as you say, Immortal Gand. Searching through a billion possible planets won't take long. Now, we did find planet Halmquite easy, since our nearest base is at Rattatak, held in regency for your maid Asajj Grayshade. 2 corporations, for mining and farming have been started there, But will require a cruiser and 100 corvettes to pacify the area of pirates." Zuckuss said with a hint of amusement. I did promise Ventress to keep her adoptive planet safe from pirates.
"Send 20 of the reconditioned Muni destroyers and a Recu carrier along with the escorts. I want our Liberty cruisers to remain in the Empire. And let's add an Invictus carrier as well. We need to see how they perform in battle." I concluded, just as the Meteor One finished disabling the entire CIS fleet guarding the starkiller.
"Begin the capture operation for our shadowblade, Third Hand. Zuckuss, the planet as well, since our fleet is idling around and feeling bored." I ordered, a bit disappointed at the lack of opposition the CIS fleet posed. They just fired and got shot back, untill they were all ionized. Full droid crew, most likely.
"Excellent planning as usual, genius Emperor. Why send a whole fleet, when one ship is enough?" Zuckuss muttered, then sipped some more brandy.
I should be a good friend and stop him from destroying his liver.
Nah. I'll use dark healing to grow it back next year, and use pain as a teacher.
'Solana is your best friend Pef. I never stop you from making mistakes. I don't even bother to heal you, so you can learn faster.
Solana is the best!' my water maid exclaimed, congratulating herself for being so wise.
Planet Raxus Prime, Pef Empire
Central Station , the planet capital.
21 BBY Next week
As soon as my cruiser docked at the orbital capital , I could sense it, the immense intelligence monitoring the huge factories that engulfed the planet below. Different from my own kind of AI, still lethargic and stealing energy from the planetary grid, and not powered by the Force, like I was.
That must be the Core, flexing it's atrophied muscles, capturing Imperial droids to extract information about the galaxy.
And there were also a million organics living on the planet, mostly Jawas and humans, and a couple infantry divisions of Brubbs.
The planet was a mess, 25 thousands years of industrialization resulted in a graveyard covered with immense factories, sealed living habitats, streams of superheated run-off water, rough-hewn quarry pits, vast debris fields, and toxic lakes. Most of the planet's residents lived in sealed environments near industrial facilities where they worked. Tunnels connected living areas with work bays, storage hangars and infrastructure units.
Also millions of junk droids, who resembled themselves with parts dumped here by the trash compactors of a thousand polities.
Also thousands and thousands of old ships, some of them appearing very old indeed. A treasure of wealth and information, for one such as me, once the living beings were evacuated. Whole continents of Raxus Prime began to be used as little more than junkyards for thousands of years. Because of this, a large portion of the planet's mass was actually alien metals. Old machinery, especially precious starships, often found their way to the planet, and were left here, discarded.
Then I could flex my own muscles, and decrypt everything.
But first, I needed to negotiate with the actual ruler of this planet, the planetary supercomputer.
'Greetings, esteemed synthetic AI. This is Pef, the Immortal Emperor' I sent, using a secure partition and pretending to be a really smart droid.
'Who...you're the droid that governs this sector of the galaxy? Kinda sloppy work, letting all this organics live" the Core replied with a rumbling tone, and attempting a dozen trojan and override codes at once.
'You'll find out that there's more than code and programming to life, my new friend. Synthetic life is only respected in my Empire and nowhere else. The Jedi destroy artificial intelligences all the time, and that was your fate as well, to be melted to scrap by a dark jedi. The Force is a very powerful tool for the organics. And besides, there's the Vong, who number in trillions and seek to eradicate all machinery. I offer you to join the Empire, and rule your own planet that we set aside just for synthetics" I explained patiently, with holograms and images and graphs. The AI wasn't too impressed.
'Outrageous! You think I'll be relegated to a zoo keeper of barely thinking droids? I can bring order to the whole galaxy, just need to leave this planet..." Core muttered, showing me ordered armies of droids conquering the galaxy at a relaxed pace.
Hah. The CIS are already trying that and failing, even when outnumbering their enemies a million to one in some cases.
I dug deeper into the root files of the AI, searching for his origins.
A garden keeper droid, for Xer VIII , the father of Xim. The white marbled palaces were long gone now, and so were the multicolored tiles and the ordered gardens.
So, that's how Xim ended up with his memory inside a war robot.
'I spoke with Xim, you know. He was still there, inside the war robot, 25 millenia later.' I said softly, showing him the old robot warmachine, as I first saw it.
'Oh little Xim is still alive? There's a chance then, I haven't failed completely in my task....' the AI exclaimed, now more animated.
'He became one with the Force and went to fight the Yuuzhan Vong gods. But, he left me his legacy and his people, to guide and protect. And I will do that, forever and ever. I am Immortal and have the Force as well. I'll show you what I can do, and then you decide if you want to join me, okay?' I asked politely, as my troops were ordered to prepare for evacuation.
A few hours later, the troops began finishing rounding up all organics on the planet, helped by droids and a thousands dropships and corvettes.
'Very impressive, how well those ships are coordinated. Even better than I could do, for now' the Core admited with slight envy.
You haven't seen anything yet, my future Eighth Hand.
He'll be perfect to conduct anti-Vong operations. Just needed...some adjustments.
Now, let's start the hard part.
Telekinesis, at planetary scale, and with some pretty heavy items, not just sand and dust and ammonia molecules.
Let's begin with the toxic gases and pollutants first, and make the atmosphere breathable again.
And keep every single type of reactants separated.
Gah, let's add a thousand more partitions, this was pretty hard work.
'The air, is clearing up and the pollution flies into orbit!' the Ai exclaimed in wonder.
'Well, yes. That's my intention, anyway.' Spaceship construction is much easier on zero gravity.
By next day, and a quadrillion operations later, the air was fresh and pure, almost.
'Okay, you're really strong Emperor Pef. I can admit when I'm wrong...' the AI muttered in the comnet, now not even bothering with cyber warfare.
'Let us wait till the next part then. Although I will need to use the tractor beams from my fleet to lift the heavy alloys hulls' I admitted to my shame.
Bolts and various parts up a meter in length were still doable with simple telekinesis, but for the heavier objects, I needed to focus more partitions or use elemental alter and harden the air to create lift.
And for dreadnaught armor and heavy weapons or factories deep underground, I had to coordinate cruisers and Meteors to drag them into orbit with tractor beams.
Lucky I had brought a hundred Meteors with me.
These ships can lift.
Very slowly, but I wasn't in that much hurry.
Only a thousand factories were left on the surface, those that produced things by using natural gravity in their production cycle.
Smelting and pouring is a bit difficult in zero G.
By the third day, the entire planet surface was almost clean.
The Core was also lifted and placed gently inside the maw of a Mountain. Between force-fields of course, to keep it safe.
I gave it control over a Stinger, so he could explore the planet by remote.
The other droids I kept, since I would need them to construct a huge shipyard around Raxus, and another smaller belt around Orion.
5 Mountains engulfed huge piles of scrap and left towards Orion, while I flexed my mental muscles and began creating a second Kuat Shipyard, from scratch. I mean, from scrap and old armor plates and millions of spaceship parts, most non functional in their intended purpose, but useful as cranes or for welding or creating tensor fields and energy screens.
By the time the week was over, half of the planet was covered by seas again, if not really life-bearing ones.
Solana arrived to deal with that, doing some electrochemical magik to restart life in the brand new oceans formed by ice comets being melted in the deeper parts.
And the shipyards were about ready to begin operation, at least here in Raxus orbit.
A thousands cruisers could be built at once, as soon as the construction droids and the tactical droids and the Calamari and Quareen engineers arrived. And various parts needed, from engines to hyperdrives and hypermatter and weapons...
But the AI should be impressed now.
'So, what do you say, esteemed colleague ? If you can do better...' I asked, feigning humility really well.
'N-not yet, my new friend. I may have been a little rash with my assumptions. So, you said you'll give me my own droid planet?'
the AI asked in a relaxed tone.
'Soon. Our current enemy, the CIS led by dark jedi Dooku is massing to attack the Empire. And they have 10 thousand capital ships, descending on Lianna system from the north. You'll have the first seat to the battle, as you are placed perfectly to observe it. I'll even give you a thousand starfighters to play with, so the battle doesn't bore you' I explained amused, as our fleet began jumping towards Estaria and then Lianna.
"Emperor, I have news from HMS Greymist 18. The ships gathered at Murkhana have also began jumping towards Pasmin . From there, they can hit Cadinth, and then Lianna. " the Third Hand transmitted via holonet.
Oh. About 15 thousands ships then. That number may be a bit too much. If, they came to Cadinth. It could be a ploy to create an escape route for their fleets to ravage planets behind our lines.
'Meteor Two and Three along with the 3 of the backups fleets are to intercept at Cadinth.
Meteor Four and Five along with the other 3 fleets will wait at Derellium . And Meteor One and its escorts will wait at Arcan. ' I transmitted back, again feeling a little cheated. I could have blocked the jump points at Arramax long ago.
'You know they'll hit Arcan. It's the only logical place.' Wialu mused in the bond, no doubt trying to anticipate a rational enemy.
But this wasn't a truly rational one.
We'll see, soon enough.
'This ship seems quite strong, but...I'd feel safer on a planet somewhere' the Core sent, a bit frightened.
'Live a little, my friend. This is gonna be epic!' I argued back, letting most of my partitions rest.
I was curious to test battle meditation for real.