Chapter 62

Now was the time of great annoyance. Queen Padmea wanted to take back Naboo from the Trade Federation but she didn't have the manpower to do so. The greatest annoyance of my life hit me when the Gungans joined our army. If you thought Jar Jar Binks's way of speaking was disturbing then that was nothing compared to a whole species trying their best to sound smart when in fact they were closer to pond scum.

Their dull minds were also a source of irritants as they all thought in their language causing me to wince now and again. I wanted to shoot them in the face so they would stop talking. Even when they said nothing, their gangly legs and arms wandered around like they had a life of their own

The real Queen Padmea revealed who she was and begged for help on her knees. The leader of the Gungars ate it up and readily accepted to help them with no benefits to themselves. Quenn Padmea had just earned herself a terrible army of Gungars and all that it had cost her was to kneel and beg. The Gungars were truly, utterly, magnificently, without brain cells. The perfect meat shields. If I hadn't been there I would think that they had been mind raped by the Jedi the way that the leader of the Gungars easily agreed to die for the Naboo Queen. The Gungars even cheered on their new roles as fodder. Idiots.

It was then I got a message from the Trade Federation. It was simple and to the point. They were worried about the Gungar army that had appeared. They didn't know what to do, the trade federation had allied itself with Sith and became their puppet. With little foresight, they had started a blockade against Naboo hoping to get their contracts signed quickly and made legal. They were worried that the republic would send reinforcements before the contracts were signed and a new Gungar army would suggest that they would fail.

I was a heavy investor in the trade federation since it first formed and now the viceroy was asking me my opinion, as he had grabbed power and wasn't qualified to run the organisation he reached out to someone competent. I made it simple for them, they were fucked either way.

If they succeeded in the contracts being signed and made the invasion legal then they were still under the boot of a Sith. The Jedi, who had the power of the republic behind them would fight the trade federation until they lost just because of the Sith.

If they couldn't find a way for the trade federation to make the invasion legal the republic would destroy them with fines, embargos and lawyers until the trade federation was broken apart.

My advice was to cut a huge part of the wealth of the trade federation and start a different federation. Let the old part die and use the remaining cash to start fresh. Distance yourself from the Sith and go into hiding in the outer rim of the galaxy. Smaller profits where the republic didn't care was still profits. Take a huge loss now so you can save yourself later.

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I didn't know if they would take my advice but I hoped so. A smaller but still hungry trade federation that wanted nothing to do with the Sith could only help to interfere with them in the future. I gave them my word that I would help and transfer my holding and stakes in the trade federation over so they could do it cleaner and without fuss.

It did cost me, but over the years I had made a lot of cash from them, right now I was betting on the future of the galaxy and creating interference for Palpatine. I had swapped the healthy stock of a well-established trade federation for a newly made merchant federation. The Neimoidians might try to scam me but I only cared a little. The trade federation was done for and their only hope was to jump a sinking ship onto a smaller unnoticeable ship. In the next couple of hours, through my labyrinth program, I witnessed the Neimoidians transfer their cash holding, signed contracts and hyperspace routes to the merchant federation. The Viceroy saw no hope in the federation and planned to escape. Probably the smartest thing he had done since taking over the trade federation.

While the Gungan fought in open fields against poorly made droids the Naboo royal force with Queen Padmea and two Jedi stealthily tried to retake the palace and take the Neimoidians as prisoners. Instantly that went tits up as Darth Maul was waiting for us.

While Jedi fought Darth Maul, the royal Naboo forces went the long way around only to be stopped almost immediately by three Destroyer Droids. I hardly cared about the droids and my mind was focused on the Jedi and Sith. When Darth Maul revealed his double-bladed lightsaber small goose bumps stood on my neck. The lightsaber play was meh but Darth Maul flicking through the air as he pulled a piece of trash to hit and open some blast doors reminded me of my fighting style, and that was it, the Jedi and Sith had disappeared from my sight.

After the Jedi and Sith left, I lost most of my interest. Anakin destroyed the three destroyer droids with blaster fire from a Naboo N-1 starfighter. The autopilot went on to fly Anakin away leaving us. I used my modified powerful shots to demolish walls and give us easy access. And then we used a gadget to shoot up a rope only to be captured by the Neimoidians and then turn the event around by capturing the Neimoidians instead.

The Gungars took heavy losses and were on the verge of defeat when Anakin destroyed the Neimoidian's mothership that controlled the droids. A stupid design if I ever saw one.

And that was that. The people of Naboo were free again. The Neimoidian Viceroy was imprisoned and charged. Palpatine became The Supreme Chancellor. I on the other hand had taken steps to mess with Palpatine but I had just one more thing to do in the Naboo conflict.

On a trash planet called Lotho Minor, I picked up an interesting ally that hated Palpatine and would go to incredible lengths to destroy or make him suffer. I couldn't allow such a great tool to go to waste. Darth Maul was still alive, broken but I was just the ally he needed at this moment.

I wasn't able to get everything I wanted, like the fact that I wasn't able to talk to Padme as much as I wanted to and maybe curve the reliance she had on Palpatine or save Qui Gon Jinn from his death but some of these things were unstoppable. At least I had Darth Maul in my hands, he will make a fine and willing tool for my collection.