Planet Gand, Outer Rim

Lording above my new subjects, aboard Celestial Throne.

2 weeks later.

Ah, I knew the Hutts will be useful. My closest neighbors, and new trade partners.

The hoarding slugs love gold and gemstones too much. And they have quite nice toys to sell as well. They kinda are the black market, at least in this sector of the galaxy.

Zuckuss and my frigate was sent to buy goods with gold and gemstones and returned with samples of dozens of nanoplagues and scraped models of droids from a hundred different manufacturers.

I reserved a section of the imperial station for my biotech division, and instituted quarantine and bioweapons protocols on that deck.

Another space station was designated as ship repair and admiralty headquarters. A hundred old ships are being dismantled and refitted, mostly freighters and haulers.

The other three stations I started to expand, adding more docks for future trade. Planning ahead.

The bioagents I have now aren't very useful, having been programmed just to kill and having little extra functions.

But they are good for learning and experimenting. A full partition of my AI mind is now working on reverse engineering these bioweapons into terraforming agents.

Another partition is working on the droids, sifting code and hidden programming bugs and backdoors.

A dozen Findsmen are still deployed westward, trying to find the provider for those nano-droids. Saleucami was the most powerful trade center nearby, and another target for my empire's expansion, once the wars began.

And since the Trade Union was starting to take over the planet just now, my window was closing fast. I had to acquire holo transmitters and begin decrypting Republic transmissions.

Luckily, my agents were officials of my government, thus allowed to purchase a holo node and a wide band frequency for our planet's expanding trade and commerce.

No news of nano-droids yet. Perhaps the research is still ongoing, in some hidden Trade Union lab.

And also, the first obstacles in the local fronts.

Gand were slavers, and even more, used their gifts to find fugitive slaves. Stupid organics.

They wouldn't run or revolt, if you paid them.

And thus, I decreed that all slaves in the Pef Empire will become Imperial Servants, and be replaced with droids where their labor was deemed important, like farming or mining.

A new partition in my mind, delegated to manage the former slaves, and begin educating and training them as Imperial officials and administrators. I kept a few nicer looking twi'leks and other humanoids as protocol and entourage, much in the vein of the Hutts. Only with perks and hints of authority.

My visit among the slave compounds did reveal a few perks. Like a self-imposed slave leader, looking after them and trying to keep them alive and fed. A green Twi'lek former dancer, with a heart of gold. I kinda need one for myself, to have some perspective.

"Dora, my dear. As First maid to the Imperial throne, you will speak with my Voice. You will have billions of credits to spend as you wish. So stop complaining and study harder!" I explained to my newest addition, a bit amused at her doe eyes.

"Can I buy myself a necklace, with pearls?" the green skinned dancer asked with a cute pout. Sigh. Now I kinda miss having certain glands.

"See that huge pile of gold and gemstones? Pick whatever you want, and wear them. Just...." I trailed, as the girl dropped her pad and ran to the pile. And began loading herself up with a dozen kilograms of metal and rock. Cause really, gold and diamonds?

"They're too heavy..." she complained after failing to move back, dropping the loot and keeping a single diamond, maybe egg size.

"Finish the trade routes chart and the galactic history course, and I'll give you a droid to carry some gold for you..." I told her with a fake, sad sigh. She began reading from her datapad again. Huh, I hope this will work.

Stupid organics, so proud of carrying rocks around their necks, when they could wield real power with a swipe of a finger, on their datapads. Then again, I am a rock now, so what do I know?

Huh, minor alchemy success in my biolabs. First ammonia/nitrogen explosive was complete. The testing chamber wasn't damaged by the explosion at all. Eh, small steps Pef. Concussion class explosives may take more work to achieve.

Droid recombination protocols still wouldn't mesh, too many proprietary codes. But they'll work, someday.

A Gand woman approached the throne and looked at my maid with slight disgust. Not that you could see it on her insect-like face, but I have the Force, so yeah.

"Great leader. This one is named Zuralee. Zuralee wonders why she's not down on the planet, tending her animals." she asked politely, slightly confused.

"Zuralee. You are now the Emperor's Hand. Take the blue datapad and start learning galactic basic. I will need you to represent me on the council." I clicked and hissed back at her, pointing at the datapad I programmed for her instruction. Gand sounds strange and requires hand gestures to be fully fluent. Then again, I'm not an insect, so why do I care?

"A female on the council, what insanity is this?" she grumbled and complained, sitting next to my maid and starting to learn the aurabesh and new words.

Eh, I told them I bring the wind of change. Gand will never be the same.

Another partition in my AI mind, using the Force to implant my servants with vocabulary and concepts, accelerating their learning speed a thousand times. Cheating right? Memory modification has quite a lot of potential applications, so I'll have to explore this ability in depth. Changing how a society works will not be easy.

Already the more traditional Gands were chaffing at the new rules, since buying new slaves became counter-productive, only adding to my Imperial servants.

The new weapons and machinery I sent to the planet helped though. Droids will work harder and without rest or food.

And beating and whipping droids would just tire their master. Some Gands were a bit of sadists. Learn to cope, for now. You'll have the chance to deal pain to others soon. I made a note, to mark those more aggressive for my black ops division.

And on the other partitions, I was running intelligence and counter-intelligence actions all over the sector, guiding droids to infiltrate the Centrality and their networks. Finding spies and infiltrators from the Hutts and the Trade federation and even the Galactic republic.

Those that could be turned, with bribes or blackmail I'll keep, the others made to disappear. Contact toxins and other bioweapons were quite useful now.

"We can sell ammonia to the Mon Calamari" Dora spoke, somewhat intrigued that someone would need the toxic gas for anything.

Ah yes, water world, they would need ammonia for cooling and other things. Like explosives.

"See, your first trade route, my maid. You will earn half a percent of the profits, if you make any" I told her amused, as she began typing furiously on her pad, calculating fuel costs and profit margins.

"About a thousand credits per ship. That's 50 credits. I could make the same by dancing one evening" Dora complained, still not satisfied.

"So, sell a thousand shiploads, every month. Would be a better income then..." I mused out loud, while subtly highlighting possible buyers and trade routes on her pad.

My twi'lek maid began computing new trades routes on her pad, exclaiming happily as one or another appeared more profitable.

Ah, the joy of becoming rich...

Another success in the biotech division, separating ammonia into water and other gases, like hydrogen and nitrogen.

Ah, fuel for fusion plants then. Energy costs will drop if I don't have to import energy.

Another partition, energy department, first task, hydrogen fuel cells along with solar power cell reverse-engineering. The Crusaders won't bother me with patent litigation, having been gone for a dozen millennia.

Hmmm. Maser tech as well. Mostly nobody used it anymore, except perhaps the Chiss Ascendancy, on the other side of the galaxy.

And heavy maser cannons didn't need tibanna gas for supercharging, only better hypermatter reactors, or more of them.

New partition, send a hauler back to Garn, droid crew only. Salvage some working guns from the Cathedral warship, and bring the soul snares as well. Might need to drain those soul containers and fill them up with Gand defectors or Tund sorcerers.

New force abilities were always welcome.

Planet Gand, Outer Rim

A month after becoming Emperor

Council Chambers

The Golden Throne was a nice touch, being actually made of starship gold plates, and decorated with gems.

Probably not really comfortable to sit on, if I was still an organic. At least it wasn't a wooden throne, still steaming with warm blood. My first Council meeting was quite radical.

My council had the back of their seats also plated with gold, to point out the newly acquired riches and importance.

But on my left and right, I had my Hands, their seats decorated with a pole carrying a golden hand. And on their chest, a tiny hand containing access codes to the Empire's network. That was their purpose and real power.

Zuckuss and Zuralee, Hands of the Emperor.

Dora was sitting on a comfy pillow at my feet, recording the Council's proceedings on her datapad. First Maid to the Emperor.

And once her training was finished, she will have a Khyber crystal pinned to her chest, and become my Voice.

"Esteemed Councilors. Honored Hands. And adored Maids. We can begin" I proclaimed, gesturing dramatically with my droids arm, and opened up the huge hologram depicting the Empire and our achievements.

Security, commerce and profits, Findsmen and their trainees and lastly the Dream. The terraforming project.

Man, I was ripping off Dune like a boss. But if it works...

"Zuckuss will explain the security aspects first. We have purchased 143 spaceships of various classes, including one more frigate and 23 corvettes. They are being upgraded as we speak, with twenty concussion missile launchers each. The new defense fleet should be enough to protect our shipping from pirates for the next two months. The other ships form the transport fleet and the Black ops division." Zuckuss began, producing various schematics for the warships and their ongoing upgrades.

I motioned him to skip over intelligence reports then looked at my other Hand.

Zuralee looked at me hesitantly, then began explaining the commerce aspects, in basic. And man, weren't the councilmen surprised. Two weeks to become fluent in galactic basic must have been a shock. And a female to boot!

"Empire commerce and profits have increased by a thousand fold, in the past month. It appears that selling ammonia and Exploration services to various corporations and universities can be highly profitable. The profits have been reinvested in more ships and equipment, but soon the esteemed Findsmen will need to delegate more of their trained diviners for the Exploration Corps. Every minor hyper trade route that we discover will mean billions of credits to our budget. Our Empire has expanded to three new systems, and the Empire has claimed them as exclusive economic zones. One ship has been lost to pirates, but the droids pilots initiated self-destruct and took a pirate ship down as well. This humble one hopes more navy ships will be directed to protect our commerce" Zuralee said, and appeared both exalted and terrified of speaking to the Council.

"Chief Findsman, if you would..." I added softly, gesturing towards the eldest Gand.

"Yes. Well. The new teaching that the Emperor has gracefully provided did increase the success rate of our Findsmen. Mental disorders have also subsided in both intensity and rate of occurrence. Meditation techniques do seem to work. However, only 6 of our hunt packs have listened to our summons and returned home to Gand.

Mujilik estimates at least a thousand and possibly two thousand Findsmen are still roaming the galaxy and have yet to hear our call. This one hope the Emperor isn't displeased. Change is harder for us, as he already knows" Mujilik spoke softly, with a faint aura of grief and sadness.

"The Emperor doesn't blame you personally, Mujilik. The training I provide will work, both mentally and physically. Give it time, and learn. You are only 84 years old. And you could live to be 500 or even more. A teenager you are, truly. Trust in me who trusts in you, and the dream will happen. Have faith in your Emperor. And blame me if the teachings I bring you were wasteful, 500 years from now." I replied, observing the Gand going through shock, then doubt, and lastly hope in his aura.

"This rash teenager apologizes, esteemed Emperor. We shall discuss my failings in a hundred years" Mujilik responded with a faint humor in his aura. Still doubting me, even as the Force reinforcement I implanted him with worked to repair and reinvigorate his body.

"Now, it's my turn. The dream." I proclaimed, changing the holo projections to the biotech discoveries and adaptations.

"The samples your Emperor had to work with are still limited, and highly restricted. Mostly to killing organics. But I have managed to obtain partial results. Ammonia derivatives and hydrogen extraction. Coupled with ammonia exports and factories being established planetside, I estimate one more month till I can mass produce a biospore to evaporate ammonia above 1000 meters altitude. The third month will be critical, as the safety of our people will become the prime concern. Ammonia breathers should prepare to relocate in the Kiruk Canyons, once the oxygen-nitrogen levels balance out at sea level altitudes. We will discuss that move at the next council" I explained, producing a holo of the planet and projecting the ammonia levels decreasing.

The gand looked at the projection with wonder and hope. The dream of thousands of generations becoming real in their lifetimes.

A green world.

Oh, if only they knew. Garden worlds were prime targets for invasions and colonization. Their safety was about to expire.

And then, they will have to defend their new world, for the next thousand generations.

A reason to keep training and manning the fleets and the army. And support their Immortal Emperor, till the end of time.