Planet Gand, Pef Empire
21 BBY, 2 days later.
The covert ops to capture the Devastation failed, possibly because there were 4 dark acolytes on board that ship. Kriff.
That Dooku is turning Jedi faster than I can kill them.
Not really, but still a pain. At least the assassin droid reached the hyperdrives before it was killed. The proton bomb that he carried should delay the repairs till I get there.
Your plate number will forever be remembered, faithful droid.
Because I can't really forget, unless I delete a partition with top secret ops.
But, at least the collector of antiquities on Commemnor was found, and his accounts show he paid 34 thousands credits for a 'real Sith relic'. Yea, that auction bid won't flag a few dark jedi on your head, not at all.
We'll 'exchange' the item with a replica, of course. Even hide a diamond inside the hilt. Worth 34 thousand credits.
We don't steal...I mean, only from bad guys.
Having wives is a blessing now, since I sent Alise Greyshade, the blonde mandalorian with a tiny mole on her neck, to Gargon , to begin mining Phobium and clear the planet of pirates and criminals.
Along with 5 divisions of droids wearing Mandalorian-like armor, of course.
I'm not Yoda, to send a Jedi on a rescue mission, with a single seat fighter and a sword.
She wears the latest Devastator 2.M power armor, which looks Mandalorian, but, well. It's not.
My Sisters of Battle will wear this variant of power armor, so it's quite nice.
Also, my Avatar did the sending, since they don't know me.
And with Kenobi there, they won't, for a few years. What? You thought I trusted the lying scumbag?
Nope. They don't call him 'the negotiator' for being open and truthful.
And so, I use the occasion to ride with Zero and Aurra till we reach Botajef, where we will part ways, Zero to save the trees, and myself to save...to acquire...to confiscate a force superweapon mounted on a dreadnaught. Along with the whole dreadnaught. By myself.
This will be fun. I hope.
-----------
Dathomir system
This is not fun!
Well, the whole invisible spy insertion, while the Devastation was running around the moons of Dathomir on sublight engines kinda was.
And then taking over 50 thousands droids, and the ship was fun too.
And draining the poor three dark newbs...a little. They stood so careful and attentive, looking at every corner with their mouths open and bright lightsabers, glowing red and barely keeping the dark away.
And breathing in invisible sleep gas...
Okay, it was quite amusing.
But driving this thing by myself sucks. Guess I'll borrow a Gand for this from Ventress...
'Damn idiot droid. Why did you blow up the hyperdrives? You could have come sooner and take the ship intact!' Asajj said politely,
as her shuttle and guards were approaching to board the ship as well.
'I can do almost anything, yes. But not everything, everywhere. I need people who can do difficult jobs and not die. Stay away for the ventral part while I replace the hyperdrive engines with those 3 Muni destroyers's you managed to blow up' I explained calmly while dismantling the rear of the ship.
'They're too small! ' my Voice agreed politely.
'So, I'll use more. Simple.' I managed to say, before my fabulous not-Sith maid rushed into my arms.
"It's good to see you, Pef" she murmured into my sonic receptors.
"Of course it is. Who else grabs you by the bum, and tells you how pretty you are?" I asked, very serious.
"Sadly, just you. But when I looked over those weak, savage, unwashed Nightbrothers...I rather stick with you. And Peffy. Same thing, but more muscles..." Asajj admitted with sadness. And love. But mostly sadness.
Hmmm. Should I try to invent synthetic muscles...like nano-carbon fibers, bundled up and use electricity to...
"Not gonna happen, lover droid. Now, why are you here? A ship won't make you move your metal ass this far away..." Asajj asked sternly.
Gah. Caught me.
"I came to learn, of course. Maybe take a few maids..." I said softly, hugging her to my chest.
"My sisters...they are sick, Pef. Those alchemy potions they drink, the rituals and the..." she complained at my chest, hopping for a real answer. There wasn't any.
"I need to speak with Old Daka . And don't really care about the rest. But I hope you gave them shampoo and toothpaste. Jungle planets are harsh. " I declared amused, as she began to blush a little, from all my attentions.
"The Nightsisters have 'contacts' with smugglers and pirates. They're not actually primitives. Just...religious fanatics" my Voice explained, with a slight disgust.
Well, those had their role to play too, maybe. Cannon fodder, probably.
Now, let's see...engine check?
Seemed fine. Let's check again. Piloting the Devastation back to my empire would be a risky job anyway.
Better assign a brave explorer to drive it home though. Let's change the IFF codes, and transmit the ship's location by hyperspace....
I looked over the VSS escorts and picked a couple Gands and a few loyal droids.
"You two esteemed Findsmen, take the ship to Greyforge, after I disembark. Don't stop to rescue puppies on the way" I ordered them, and then carried Asajj towards my Fade frigate, docked at the convenient escape hatch all CIS ships had.
'What's a puppy?' one of them asked the other in their native Gandese.
'I think it was just a saying. Like, 'run don't stare at the rancor...' the other replied wisely.
Eh, almost perfect.
'That animal in your memory wouldn't survive ten minutes on Dathomir' Asajj sent telepathically.
'Dunno. They might adapt and grow large enough to swallow a moon' I answered with a mind shrug. It's was quite possible here, after all, that thing on Felucia....it might be 1000 kilometers long.
As we landed at the Nightsister's fortress, I wondered for a second if that sarlacc was sentient. Possibly not. Hopefully.
"Our sister has returned. With a droid in armor. Very amusing." Sai Sircu remarked with a wide grin. Huh. So, you're not dead here. Then again...I changed things.
"More strategy meeting with Mother?" Karis asked, but in a friendlier tone.
"Asajj, gather them all till I'm finished. She knows I'm here" I said softly, and flew directly towards the Hidden Cave.
An energy barrier stood invisible at the entrance, but didn't protect the rocks walls. I could just punch my way in. But it would send a different image.
Now, let's see. See from shadow, Alter environment, attune self with the barrier, phase and teleport.
Pretty complicated method for entering a meager cave.
Last year I wouldn't have been able to do the last part.
"Amazing, for a simple droid, in a suit of armor." the old Nightsister exclaimed, not actually impressed at all. Well, I'll have to awe her in some other way.
"I am Pef Greyshade, Venerable Old Daka. We have much to speak about." I said in a humble tone.
"Yessss. You've learned a lot since you just appeared on Garm, Immortal Pef. But not enough." the old witch concluded, summoning herself a cup of tea, with tea in it. Meditation stance, check.
"Of course, most learned one. I hope Angie was of help" I answered politely, kneeling in a mediation pose, in front of the most powerful thing I've seen, since Solanus.
At least twice as strong as me. Which wasn't bad at all.
Planet Dathomir, Pef Empire (under MPT)
Hidden Cave
21 BBY , a few hours later
"Well then, most learned witch. Please think about my offer. We are family...almost." I said softly as the tea time was over.
Now it was time for politics.
"Hah, not even close, Emperor. We'll take the credits and the luxuries though. Selling our sisters must indeed stop. And I want to see the boy. Be warned though, my tests are quite...painful." Old Daka said with a wicked smile.
Mortal pain? Not too worried. Unless some gene alter broke my protections and he died. That would suck.
" The Avatar was born from pain. Whatever else happens, he will not break. But if he dies, I lose 3 years, and I'll be displeased, Old Daka" I said gently, then engaged all the partitions for escape abilities, from phase, to hyperspeed, to invisibility and scatter air, then floated outside in silence.
Almost perfect. She still sensed me as I passed through her barrier.
'Don't kill Talzin Emperor. I'm too weak to lead the Nightsisters...' the witch whispered through some sonic focus, just inside my helmet.
Weak, my ass. Sure, you're old, but that can be fixed. Age is not a real problem after all. Not anymore.
Kriff, I should at least break Talzin's legs. And arms. Yeah. That should do it.
The Nightsisters were gathered in the middle of the fortress, some of them pretty young.
I went to inspect them, one after another. Naa'leth would make a good commander, one day.
She had height and presence. Luce , a gunner maybe.
Talia , front lines. But none of them were actually strong. Proud, but untrained. A recipe for disaster, for most.
And Mother Talzin...now she backed away a step, as the force gathered around me, anticipating a fight.
"Come Talzin, walk with me to the ship" I said gently, while gliding a centimeter over the dirty ground.
"W-what..." she asked confused, as I started to move away, not waiting for her reply.
"Please Mother. He's our only hope." Asajj whispered so gently I needed force listen to actually hear it.
Ah, Asajj used her eyes to point up, where the Meteors were the only thing keeping the sisters alive.
Still dark jedi, even with all the airs they put up.
They were actually related, all descendants of a fleeing dark jedi woman, millenia ago.
Much like the Sith, and most other sects. Damn religion, contaminating everything.
Sisters, by blood not just by beliefs. At least the Sith had the decency to not have children.
And worshiping a pair of overgrown killiks insects like they were the force itself.
Talzin teleported next to me and floated as well, now less arrogant.
"Miss Daka requested you'd be kept alive, for some family reason. But you should know, in my Empire, we rip slavers appart. The limbs attached to some objects, then just...sufficient velocity" I explained gently, but gesturing with my arms expressively.
Her aura changed from mild politeness to fear and preparing to escape.
"You won't be killed Talzin. Beside what Old Daka wants, we are allies now. Darth Sidious and Tyranus want you dead, and you want them dead, for Maul. But Asajj, and all the others you sold...the law is the law. I'll just have to keep you alive, then put you back together..." I whispered softly as the hanger's rayshield hissed behind us. This will be a bit difficult. I never tried to put back someone I dismembered.
---------
Centrality, Open sea sector
On the command couch of MC80 Celestial River
"The ThonBoka nebula is dangerous Peffy. Most ships that explore it do not return." Clara argued, perhaps even correctly.
"This will be fun! Going boldly, where no one has gone before!" I exclaimed with real joy.
"We better not die. I have a job to do, and so do you, mister Scrivinir." my new wife argued, very logically.
"And this is why my ship has masers and maser interpreting protocols. The Celestial River is...wait...is that a space creature?" I asked with almost fake wonder. Cause yea, a half a kilometer manta ray floating in vacuum was pretty unexpected.
"Shoot now, before..."
"Shoot before we say hello? What are we, corporate security?" I asked in fake anger.
"You really are having fun. Look how big that thing is!" Clara Greyshade yelled in a bit of panic.
"Indeed, it's pretty big. And half of that big thing is his brain. I wonder if he likes poetry..." I mused with some sincere hope.
Ray could use a poet to talk to. Cause I doubted the Tsil really enjoyed my attempts. Even said the Gree were better poets.
Which means too many things...
But my Tsil maid better not be holed up in that Gree enclave near Helska, and holding poetry recitals...most likely.
"See, it's shooting at us! Blue beams. Shoot back!" Clara proclaimed dramatically, pointing at the maser streams scintillating on our shields.
"Tactical coms. Begin aurabesh contact package, same intensity." I commanded out loud, so my wife would know what's going on.
"It's asking for food, Avatar. And toys." the com droid replied with earnest politeness.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"His name better not be Lehesu . I'm too busy for that guy..." I muttered weakly, as the front screen began printing the next demand.
"Celestial River is such a poetic name. You have poets too? Come out of that shell and let's play! Name's Lehesu!" the young Oswaft asked, with even more intense calls.
'You're being rude man. Keep it in a whisper, we have scared females on board.' I sent via the biochip.
'Sorry, got excited metal friend. You're stuck in there? Lehesu can break you out, I think...' the Oswaft said doubtful.
Not by yourself you can't. But he could scout around for me. Once I figured out what he eats.
It better not be ships.
Planet Dathomir, Pef Empire
Next day
I left Talzin to recover from her anti-slavery education program, inside a bacta tub and with neural imprint loyalty routines being forcefully scribed on her mind. Yes, I can be merciful, on occasion. She didn't know she was breaking the law, for a start. Not that she would care, if I really think about it.
Then I flew up and went to see the other witches on this planet.
The good witches. Maybe they have a Glinda? I will so confiscate her, if they do.
Let's see, where is a big enough pyramid overgrown with vines and moss?
There it is, the other Star Temple. One was destroyed by that Vos Jedi 10 years ago, and the star chamber of the other was safely extracted and moved to Sol V.
Just one left, here on Dathomir.
Let's go there...
Just as I arrived at the base of the pyramid a young woman greeted me, pointing a metal spear at my neck and keeping 2 rancors close by for support. Very cute girl too.
"You would be Kyrisa right?" I asked amused, while stealing the animal bond with the rancors for myself. Heh, if she thought two rancors would impress me, she should see Rancor Island on Gand, where I had 5 thousands of these animals.
Her breath faltered for a second, as the rancors came to be petted by their Emperor.
"Who are you, I sense no life force inside that armor!" she exclaimed, with a bit of panic.
"Emperor Pef, my dear. I rule this planet, if you didn't notice my ships in orbit" I said politely, while swirly confiscating her spear to check for something. Yep, alchemic binders, runes to amplify durability and sharpness...
Much like the vibroblade in my forearm's guard.
"G-give it back, you stupid droid! Mother Augwynne will break you into bits, if you don't!" she threatened me cutely.
But, who you're gonna call, if your 'Mother' is not enough?
Let's upgrade the thing a bit, add 'Levitas' and 'Lumen Azure' . There you go! Now it glows in the dark and it's light as a feather.
I held her spear afloat, horizontaly in front of her.
"Don't get so upset, pretty girl. Just made your toy better. Try it!" I said amused, as more witches started to appear from whatever hiding places they used.
Kyrisa took the spear cautiously, then noticed how light it was and smiled with real joy.
She had some skill, twirling the spear in a Soresu form, and then figuring out how to make the blade glow blue.
Should work underwater, or even in vacuum, as long as someone provided some force connection. It didn't have a kyber crystal drawing from the force directly, so it wouldn't remained powered up.
"I think the ships above are yours, not of the Nightsisters'?" Augwynne Djo demanded sternly, with a hand covered in elemental fire. And she also had a lightsaber, hidden at the small of her back. Kriff.
"Yes, venerable Miss Djo. Some upstarts dark jedi keep trying to exterminate all life on this world. And they brought a force-powered superweapon this time. About 5 kilometers long." I explained gently, floating up to check on the pyramid.
Still locked tight, and the star chamber intact. Very good.
I may actually need two of them, to figure out how to access the pocket dimension around the control chamber of the gates.
The good witch flew up beside me, her aura warry. Should I be surprised she can also fly?
She was strong, but only about the same as me. The elder Nightsisters were twice as strong. Seems pain and hate do make someone much stronger in the end.
But just power, was useless. Without knowledge and a worthy aim, and a loving family...it was also for nothing.
I stopped when we reached the top, to let the old witch rest on the wind scared stone, and catch her breath.
"That evil starship, I sensed it, destroying dozens of ships in raids around the moons." the Singing Mountain leader said in a weary voice.
"My ships, unfortunately. But now I captured the Devastation, so Dathomir should be safe, for a few years" I answered in a level tone, sitting down beside her and looking over the former homeworld of the Kwa.
"And the Nightsisters? What are you going to do with them?" she asked, directly to the point.
"Well, they want to be warriors. I'll make them my Sisters of Battle, and send them to annoy bad people elsewhere in the galaxy. After they receive proper training and armor, of course. Proton bombs and turbolasers are harsh on the skin." I explained gently, while scanning her body attently. About 400 years old. Not bad for a human.
She had the appearance of a sixty-year-old woman, with pale eyes and hair the color of moonlight. She was tall and regal, with facial features looking handsome as well as graceful, long-fingered hands. Mother Djo wore a tunic of glittering yellow scales over a hide robe with black lizard shapes sewn around the hem. Her ceremonial headdress was made of smooth golden wood, and was decorated with cabochons of yellow tigereye.
"Savages, and cretins. The galaxy is full of them. Take the darksiders and leave, Emperor Pef. I want to raise my daughters in peace." the jungle queen proclaimed, pointing at the sky.
"This planet will change, and become an Empire fortress world, Miss Djo. The Vong invasion will target this system with millions of bioships. They aim to exterminate all force users, and vongform all the force nexii. As the first stage of their plan, to conquer our galaxy too." I explained with a sadness pulse, and formed the propaganda holograms in my palm.
"I can't sense them...and they should be in my range. Bimmiel is only 3 sectors away..." she muttered with some distrust.
"The images were taken with normal holorecorders, not with force vision. They do not have the force. Only biosynthesis and telepathy. Just like the dragons and the oswaft of our galaxy, but highly advanced and numbering in trillions and aggressive and organized religious fanatics." I said softly, giving her a datacube with most relevant info.
"Like trillions of Sith. Oh dear Goddess, just those few ships out there won't be enough..." The good witch realized with some delay as she stared at the innocuous tech in her hand like it was a live grenade.
"Yes, much like the Sith. And the Jedi. Those clone soldiers they use in these clone wars, they are not volunteers, you know?" I said with a fake shrug, then gripped her with telekinesis and floated down.
She remained silent after that, while she force scanned the nearby sectors for confirmation.
What? Did the clones get to choose to be soldiers?
I know even my future Astartes will get to choose. Well, between service branches at least.
But medics and scientists and engineers will be welcome too.
"We should take a short trip, and capture a few of these Vong. Life should not be possible without the Force..." Miss Djo whispered just before we landed.
Heh. This was an universe of miracles. Anything was possible, with sufficient knowledge.
And about that....
Make a note, and begin mining Dor the fourth planet of Endor now. Neutronium and other rare metals were cheaper to mine than to buy. Maybe fit it with sublight engines and steal the whole planet away? Mine it in secrecy, away from spies? Yep, that sounded even better. Our base at Rattatak was fairly close.
Liberate Bunduki too, while at it. It was home to the Followers of Palawa, who developed the martial art of Teräs Käsi , after all. They would make good instructors for my troops.
I had enough bota to make tonnes of self regenerating armor for my new project. Pyronium was rare, but only as rare as diamonds.
I could buy Lucrehulks cargo of it. Untill we found a few asteroids to mine it too. Or possibly volcanoes, because melted lava was a thing here.
And keep on eye out for Miss Barris Offee. She would lead me to the hidden nano-droid maker.
So much knowledge, better put it to use. And only a dozen more clans to go. Sigh.
We had holo-conference tech in this galaxy, why did I have to fly around looking for savage clans living in jungles and valleys?
Bimmiel system, Galactic North, Yuuzhan Vong space (contested)
Next week.
We're flying in stealth and silence, all 8 of us staring at the screens around the bridge walls with some concern, or even terror in some cases. Organics panic too easily.
The Vong are clever and keep their big ships hidden in the Oort cloud, only using smaller ships to survey the hyper-route lanes and the single inhabited planet.
Some Jedi already clashed with the Vong on the surface, and used the local fauna, some kind of huge packs of Slashrat , that were made to use an ability of theirs called killscent to track and destroy a Vong camp.
Pretty standard tactic for Jedi, sacrificing whatever many locals to attain their objectives.
Might have been Anakin, for all I know. I wasn't yet, in this universe.
Miss Djo was still suspicious though, distrusting the instruments of my Fade frigate.
"You don't have windows on this ship, images can be faked..." she said, quite correctly.
"We have an observation blister, just below the hangar. If anyone wants to see the Vong ships with their own eyes, they can come" I told the other 7 Mothers that joined me on this trip.
Mother Talzin knew better though and just continued to gather images and compare sizes and power outputs that the bioships emitted. Because they did. Even biotech operated by natural laws, fusing elements with cold fusion and gravity fields.
The bioships had mass and displacement, even if they barely registered on magnetic sensors.
But volumetric holocapture worked, as they ships still reflected light. And light can be analized spectographically and thus obtain the rough chemical composition. Carbon and silica, if you cared.
We just couldn't use active scans yet, to determine complete composition and durability for the Vong ships.
Just had to keep a close watch and approximate hull thickness when a mouth opened to disgorge another smaller ship.
About 100 meters thickness for their battleships, give or take. But they had to have nutrients conducts and capillaries for that skin armor, so perhaps only 50 meters of actual starship grade carapace.
Still 10 times thicker than a Victory Star destroyer's armor.
Miss Djo returned from the transparisteel cockpit unhappy.
"I can see them all right. And lifeless in the force, although clearly alive. How can a being this large exist?" she wondered with confusion.
What, 2 and 5 and 10 kilometer long battleships seem large?
"The sarlacc of Felucia is 100 kilometers long and 5 kilometers thick. If not much bigger. I'll let Miss Djo know, after I pluck it out and measure it..." I said with a fake shrug and a deep breath.
It better not be 1000 kms long. I wasn't sure I could deal with a worm that long.
Mother Talzin typed rapidly on her console, and brought up a picture of the Ancient Abyss, from the files stored in the ship's databanks.
"The mouth of the Abyss is 4 kilometers wide. That sarlacc could be 10 kilometers thick. And who knows how long..." the Nightsister said with a bit of concern.
"I might install engines on it, and use it as my space-mount. Should be the biggest ride in the galaxy..." I mused, half seriously.
What? They did it in Dune! I could at least try...
"Even you Emperor, might have a hard time bonding with such a big creature. The Felucians have been feeding sacrifices to that thing since times immemorial...'' Talzin mused, with a doubtful voice.
"Whatever, I could have it eat this whole fleet for lunch, then make it grow even bigger. And then..." I proclaimed and stopped, realizing the stupidity of my plan.
Eating a few trillions Vong... and then needing a planet every week, to keep hunger away.
"Let's not make sarlacc spaceships that eat planets, Immortal Pef. We're trying to stop an apocalypse, not cause a bigger one." The good witch concluded with a last look and a shudder towards the sarlacc mouth on the wall screen.
Sadly the good witch is right. Sorry, my dream ride. Guess we'll never get to ride together, in space and take bites of Vong worldships. No matter how cool that sounds.
I'll just have to use mundane tech, like Kyber lasers and Devastation-class force beams.
Make a note. Convert a numbered Meteor to use the prow gun-beam of the Devastation.
Because those ships were durable.
And after I reverse-engineer it, equip all my numbered Meteors with a force beam weapon. Just in case.
I had already scanned the device with my technopatic senses, getting a first look at how it was put together, but it might be more complicated than just a ion charge cannon with a few synthetic red crystals than have been imbued with the blood of a thousand children.
Dear Force, I hope It's more complicated, or any two credit dark jedi could build a ship like that...
It probably is, isn't it?
Just that most them them don't live long enough, or think beyond their lightsaber.
And since Sidious and Tyranus were both over 60 years old, and were both thinkers and manipulators...
"Let's land and interrogate some Vong prisoners." I said softly, as they other Mothers started to return to the bridge.