Planet Ossus, disputed
21 BBY
As the Greymist freighter landed near Solana, I got to experience the first real Living force premonition, or vision or however you may call it. Through my Avatar, but useful anyway.
The green holocron destroyed, the frozen tree dying...
'Stop now Solana. Have a Culexus droid pick it up and send the cube to Bendu.' I said immediately, and the first danger went away, just like that.
'Oh, someone is coming. That Skywalker guy, possibly...' Solana answered, using her connection to Solanus to extrapolate my warning in a few seconds.
In my memories, Luke Skywalker caused the destruction of this holocron, but his father was even more reckless, so it was quite possible.
The other danger remained, the venerable 5 thousands year old Master was still about to die...
The Culexus droid, with its ysalamiri backpack, and an advanced starfighter, jumped towards Sy Myrth with only seconds to spare.
A Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor appeared in orbit of Ossus, carrying no other than a famous Jedi Knight caled Anakin.
I sighed inward, and ordered our droid army to pack up and begin the evacuation.
This was not the moment to start a fight with the Jedi.
The Hyperspace transport ring was left in orbit and the Jedi ignored our fleets demands for identification, beginning his landing regardless of risk.
"That's him? The Chosen one?" Solana wondered as the starfighter landed abruptly next to us.
"Or so they say. You'll see soon" Peffy answered amused, ordering the Brubb marines and the VSS to stand down. Let's see who sent him, first.
"What is the Pef Empire doing here, this is a Republic world!" Anakin yelled, stepping boldly in front of us.
"Possibly, young Jedi. Our armies have just liberated the planet from the CIS. Are you going to stay here to defend this world, without an army?" Peffy asked calmly, taking off his helmet to reduce suspicions.
"You...a human? And so strong in the Force..."
"I am the Avatar of Pef, Voice of the Emperor and commander of all the armies. This is my Honored Maid, Solana" I answered politely, nodding towards my watermaid, and offering a hand for a shake.
"Errr. Why is the Empire using droid armies?" Anakin asked with a frown, peering curiously at the Brubb marines then at the millions of droids packing up hundreds of crates and loading them into dropships.
"Small population, not wanting to use conscription, no clone factories and enough minerals to manufacture droids cheaply" I answered with a shrug, while a Justice droid came with a pair of glasses of water, for the jedi and myself.
"Water?" Anakin asked confused.
"You're driving, so brandy is probably not indicated..." I replied in bored tone, drinking some flat mineral water myself.
"Your maid doesn't drink?" the jedi asked suspicious. Glad you asked, my new gene donor.
Solana removed her helmet and smiled widely. "My species is made of water, young Jedi. Sunlight is enough nourishment for us"
Anakin gulped some water, staring in confusion at Solana. And leaving tiny particles of skin on the rim of the glass.
I kinda doubted that sunlight was the only explanation, but this wasn't the time to argue.
"So, the Jedi Council sent you, young Knight?" I asked curious, giving back my glass to the droid and prompting Anakin to do the same, unconsciously.
"N-not exactly. Chancellor Palpatine heard from Clone Intelligence of fighting on Ossus, and wanted to make sure the planet is safe." he explained, a little embarrassed.
"Indeed, so kind of him. Now, our troops are packing their supplies and ammunition, leaving for other battles, but we will maintain an outpost here, to warn against further CIS incursions. If you didn't know, our northern fleets just fought off a large CIS invasion, aimed to obliterate all life in Mon Calamari. We have to stay vigilant." I added, producing a short holo of the ruined Sith reaper.
"Ah, that...you defeated the Dark Reaper?" Skywalker wondered in surprise.
"Yes, and the hundreds of ships escorting it. Sadly, all organic crews died or went mad. Lucky we had droids, to keep fighting" I explained pointing at the combat droids around, all wearing cheap fiber chestarmor and pants and tiny visored helmets.
Why not use 10 credits to double their resilience? Plus they looked like a proper army, with uniforms, not naked savages.
"...lucky you did have battle droids. And your droids wear clothes..." the Jedi remarked, somehow surprised again.
"We try to give our soldiers proper respect, and of course, even the Republic doesn't send its clones into combat naked." I argued wisely.
The future Darth Vader stared around, trying to make sense of the new galaxy he just encountered.
"My droids friends, they were naked all this time..." the poor youngling muttered, poking the cheap armor of the nearest droid with sadness.
"Anyway, it might be that since the founder of the Empire was an old droid, he had strange ideas. Please be so kind to let the Republic officials know of our stance. Liberated worlds will remain under Empire administration and protection, and spare the Republic the costs of defending them. After the war is won, a peace conference will decide the fate of those few planets. Our embassy at Corellia will process all demands for relocation or litigation" I explained kindly, guiding the Jedi towards his starfighter.
"So, you're just maintaining a garrison, nothing else?" he asked, again suspicious.
"Just some droids for patrols and a few ships in orbit. The planet is devoid of life, so the Empire won't invest in planetary shields and defense platforms. Our nearest naval base is only hours away, so any future invasion will be swiftly repelled" I answered in a dismissive tone, then watched the Jedi fly up towards his hyperdrive ring.
Clone intelligence my ass. Dooku told his Master that we retook Ossus.
Luckily the young Jedi was quite naive. And only half my strength in the force. For now.
Now, let's see about saving the tree Jedi.
Locating the tree was pretty simple, since I had an idea of where and how to locate him, but waking him up was a chore.
I tried summoning water, and adding fertilizer to his roots. I tried telepathy and lifting him up with telekinesis. I tried fire alter and lightning and Ballistakinesis. See from light, see from shadow, listen from shadow. Nothing.
Damn tree was immune to everything, covered in a layer of impregnable force aura. Which is how he survived the Sith supernova, probably.
In the end, Solana alchemically changed a bowl of water for me, creating a organo-crystal soup, which we slated with cortosis and neutronium filaments and made a new holocron, with just a few sentences. Then, floated the cube up in the branches and turned on the Force-activated functions.
"Wake up, old tree. It's been 4 thousands years already. You'll sleep when you're dead!" The holocron told him, over and over, while a holo-image of Peffy stuck his tongue at him. What? I can learn, even from my blue twi'lek maid, Vette.
It even worked, after a few hours. When the aura turned off, the holocron was expelled at speed, hitting me in the helmet.
Okay, I deserved that. I took the helmet off now, since the danger has passed. Almost.
"Impudent youngling. What has come of the Jedi?" the old Neti Jedi boomed, shapeshifting into a smaller form.
He seemed feeble and weak, so I drenched it with a hundred water globes.
It only seemed to piss the old Master off.
"Stop that, reckless human! Four thousand years have passed, since the Cron Cluster exploded?" he wondered, lying on the ground to rest.
"Probably. There are 23 calendars accepted in the galaxy. Now, I'm gonna heal you up, then send you to the least fanatic sect of the new Jedi, on Corellia. The greenlings haven't had a real teacher for millennia and are pretty weak, but at least they aren't massacring innocents like the zealots on Coruscant" I explained politely, pulsing vigor and reinforcement and gene alter, to reverse the worst of his age and suffering.
"Hmmm. And yourself young human, are from another sect of Jedi? I sense force bonds to your Masters..." he asked cautiously, and avoiding to look at the hole in the ground. Duh.
"I learn from everyone I can. Now, this planet has just been attacked by droid armies commanded by the dark jedi, so you better get going soon, before they return. Keep the green cube, the Jedi have forgotten how to build them long ago." I added, grabbing all his pathetic scrolls and lightsabers from the hole left in the ground and bundling them in his arms, before lifting him up and sending him flying towards the nearest landed Calamari frigate.
What he knew was valuable, not those trinkets.
My droids took him and placed his tired body in a bacta tank, as the frigate took off at speed towards Togoria and then Corellia.
"So, we can finally loot this place now?" Solana asked with hidden glee. In fact, not hidden at all.
"Sure, loot away, my dearest maid. Use the Culexus droids to hide anything glowing in the force, and blow up the ruins with proton bombs when you're done. I'm going to oversee things at Columex and Lianna" I said amused, stealing a kiss before boarding the Greymist for my next task.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The glass with Anakin's and a tiny cut with Ood Bnar gene samples was sealed and sent with a corvette towards Blueforge, where our Astartes project was beginning to take shape.
Still needed more samples, from Durge and any other rare beings like dragons. Luckily that our Explorers confirmed Xuaquarres as a cemetery planet for Duinuogwuin.
We'll need to acquire some samples. And perhaps rescue a few who were old, but could be rejuvenated.
Now, as the capital of the Commonality was besieged by two of our fleets, a third fleet passed it by, jumping to Lianna and trying to keep that planet from being razed to the ground by a demented Jedi Master called Cei Vookto.
Who ever taught him to use hurricane scale force storms to battle droids?
Damn moron, so strong and so fanatic, sacrificing 4 billion people just to keep some Republic factory in Jedi hands...
In fact, isn't he flying in his starfighter right now, dragging huge columns of fire and water after him?
Let's Balance things a little, ah...the R4 astromech made a tiny course correction, clipping a skyscraper at mach 1. Your sacrifice will not be in vain, Master Jedi. Your pulped organs will be added to the gene bank for a strong force connection marker.
He only managed to kill some 20 million people so far, razing only 80% of the capital. And Lianna was a hi-tech Republic world, populated with humans. And he would have still sacrificed them all, for some starfighter factory like it happened in my memories of the Battle of Lianna. Rot in hell, crazy Jedi.
I'll have my special ops copy all the Sienar data, then blow that factory up.
"I now represent a number of planets—the Commonality—and their votes represent the swing votes in a badly divided Senate."
―Simon Greyshade
Let's test the Centrality plan here first, by making myself a liberator general.
Now, where is that slimy playboy Simon hiding? Underground bunker? Perfect.
Seal the doors and cut off life support. Turn up the heat and jam all communications.
The Commonality will need to elect a new leader soon. Let's rescue those on the electoral committee then.
My special forces and commando droids began landings for their new objectives, capturing representatives from the 9 sectors in the Commonality and bringing them up, to the nearest Pef Navy cruiser.
The regular troopers and droids continued their assaults on vital facilities, encircling and ignoring the cities as per standard doctrine. Cities became prisons in an instant, dependent on our troops to be allowed electricity and water and food.
They'll surrender in a few days...or start eating each other.
Planet Columex, Pef Empire
In orbit aboard HMS Celestial River.
21 BBY
Our troops have captured a number of Diamond-class cruiser , which are pretty much the fastest capital ships in existence, in the known galaxy. 0.75 hyperdrives.
One was loaded on a Mountain and dropped at Sy Myrth immediately, to be escorted back to Gand for reverse-engineering.
The Mountain and her two Meteor escorts will begin sieging Centares, and pressure the Commonality to change sides willingly. Almost willingly.
The rest of the Diamonds will be repurposed as fast Voice transports and Black ops vessels, before we can build our own, comparable ships.
And in the meantime, other fleets continue advancing on Saleucami, and Desevro and Paigu and the Vorzyd system , then Troganand Belderone ,securing additional routes for our ships.
Still, only showing about 20 of our Meteor battleships at once, and baiting the CIS to counter-attack us massively at any trade route nexus.
6 backup fleets of 30 Meteors, each await in empty star systems just for this, to crush any large fleet that the CIS gathers to repulse our invasion.
And they will. The Separatists are building ships like mad, but they are also spread out all over the galaxy and fighting the Republic bitterly on a thousand worlds at once.
By my estimations, it would take them one or two months to gather a sizable reserve, perhaps 6 to 7 thousands capital ships and a million starfighters. Just the Trade Federation had 5 thousands Lucrehulks, before the start of the war. And barely 10% of them had been upgraded with weapons and shields.
On Saleucami however, our droids armies are encountering CIS clones, and getting wasted by the million every day.
That will give our generals plenty of experience, so I order a rotation cycle every 48 hours, changing the lead officers to gain them combat experience. Just evacuating civilians and cities first, since we aren't barbarians.
"So, esteemed leaders of the Commonality. My guards are lifting up from the surface as we speak, and bringing the body of your former leader Simon Grayshade. It's a great name too, so I'll be willing to take Grayshade as my own name, should our negotiations conclude successfully." I explained with a warm smile.
I mostly cared about the trade route and the Meridian sector and Nuiri sector that gave me access to Lucazec and Nam Chorios legally.
'Yes, we'll want my planet back' Wialu added in the bond. Right.
And if Antemeridian and Belderone sectors joined without a fight, even better.
"You want us to just submit, and join this obscure Pef Empire?" one of them argued, his eyes shifty and cunning.
"Of course not. We barely know each other, and the CIS is infiltrated in your polity at all levels. We'll start slow, with the standard Mutual Protection Treaty, and we'll discuss further developments in 5 years. Or, our armies and ships can bombard and level any revolting planets. We can terraform them back later and use them as colonies..." I answered politely, bringing a holo-image of the blockade, and showing a corvette firing its ion cannons toward some entrenched droids below.
They wouldn't know what kind of weapon it was, from a red and black hologram, but the wide dispersion circle of the guns was clearly visible.
"This treaty, we retain independence?" a woman with green skin asked curious.
"Autonomy yes. The defending ships and troops will be paid salaries and maintenance by every planet under the treaty, and the Empire will not interfere with internal works, except flagrant hostility or slavery. Travel rights will be suspended outside the atmosphere, during the current war." I explained mildly, as another corvette came about and fired towards the planet, ionizing another droid division, most likely.
"That's...very civilized. No taxation, besides defensive ships in our systems?" another leader, some fat reptile asked cautiously.
"No, why would? I am personally the richest man in the galaxy. This whole war has cost me less than 0.5% of my wealth. I am not the Republic Senate, esteemed leaders. All the planets in the Empire have free education and healthcare and defense. Taxes in Pef Empire are set at 5% of income, which is more than enough." I added, as another corvette came about to fire at the ground, producing enchanting shockwaves in the hologram.
The leaders started fidgeting, their eyes exchanging subtle signals, especially when the large shape of a Meteor appeared in the hologram, preparing to fire at the planet.
"Perhaps, some solution can be found, before our taxpayers are all dead..." the guild master of Atraken said with wide eyes. Hmmm. Your planet might be kinda wasted by now.
"Welcome to the Empire, esteemed guild master. Please give the necessary authorizations to our Imperial Servant, and the fighting on your planet will stop this week." I said gently, pointing at the nearest Servant with a datapad.
"Could you, Honored Avatar, stop that behemoth from firing at Columex? I'd rather keep those 10 billion taxpayers alive, as well"
the interim leader of Columex asked just after, as the holo had rotated to show the Meteor open its huge shark-like maw with the MACs visible through the plasma shields like huge teeth, in two rows of 50 cannons, her eyes and aura pretty much in terror.
It did look impressive, I admit.
"You have an offer for me, esteemed interim leader?" I asked the pretty blonde lady which had inherited the position.
"Well, the name should be easy to gift, although you may need to marry a Grayshade, to make it proper and official. If it's not too much..." she added, remaining pretty calm for this situation. Eh. Sure, why not?
"As a tentative offer, is acceptable, my lady. We'll have to discuss the details in private, of course" I added with a warm smile. And sinker.
"Of course, Avatar Greyshade. I'll order any loyal troops to stand down right now" Lidia Greyshade declared regally, taking the datapad offered by the nearest Servant.
"The rest of you, esteemed leaders, please consider my offer in seclusion, I have cabins reserved for you aboard my vessel. The assassin droids will escort you there right now" I continued in a gentle voice, as a few dozen droids decloaked beside each uncertain leader, and dragged them away firmly.
'Very amusing Pef. You have a family name now' Dora sent with a tingle of jealousy.
'It's your name too, Dora Grayshade. We are family, forever and ever.' I replied with a pulse of warmth and kindness.
The other Voices realized the meaning soon after, and bombarded me with ideas of weddings and state ceremonies. Now, let's get to know our brand-new wife better. Good job, my Avatar!