Planet Toong'L, Pef empire

24 BBY

I looked over my newest terraformed planet, content with a work well done. 10 days, and the huge nano-cloud has finished terraforming the devastated planet.

Then again, Toong'L had much less toxic gases than Gand, mostly some poison and silicates and dust. And bioweapons can be used to convert poison into medicine, millions of tonnes of it.

The Toong leader, King Kikipi was sitting on a wooden throne beside me, and just stared at the surrounding planet.

Grass was already poking from the soil, tiny wisps of green.

"You're giving us all this medicine you made from the poison comet?" he asked again, a bit confused.

"And new factories and droids and fertilizers. Yes. You need to trade something, and build the planet back to glory. Buy planetary shields and spacestations...all it takes is just hard work and credits." I mused, watching the grass grow, a bit faster than normal.

"But why, we said we will serve you, now that our loved homeworld is restored?"

"Hold out your right-hand King Kikipi" I demanded, doing the same with my armored glove.

We stared at his paw, 3 fingers and a thumb. Then at my own, again 3 armored fingers and a thumb.

"I need a fourth Hand for my empire. And you have 4 fingers. It fits" I said wisely, closing my hand in a fist.

"What does a Hand do? Or rather, the fourth Hand?"

"Dealing with new species. These 200 droids all have social protocols for millions of species. And the Findsmen will guide you around dangers. But, no slavery, even if it's in their customs or whatever. You will confiscate all slaves, and send them to the Imperial Academy to be trained and given jobs. That, is the price for your planet, my Hand" I answered softly, and floated away.

"I haven't said yes!" he yelled after me.

Huh. Everyone's a critic.

Let's wire him a hundred billion credits, for seed money. He'll need a starting capital, to make Toong'L great again.

His datapad chimed, and the king stopped to stare at his bank account.

I think he'll take it.

My MC30 frigate lifted just as I boarded, and we jumped away, toward Iego.

Wialu has found the boy, on the main planet, after searching almost every moon. She could have asked...

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Iego system, Pef Empire

A few corporations had a presence in the system, for mining or such.

I'll have to purchase the rights, then declare the system part of the Empire. And to do that, I'll need a native species to vote for it.

And luckily Wialu had stumbled into them, on the moon called Millious Prime.

A day later my ship landed at Cliffhold, the local capital and a center for spice trade and smuggling.

Wialu and Vette were sipping juices at a local bar, the Kristall Skull. They have taken a separee, and shared with three more people.

A young boy, perhaps 6 or 7 years old was also drinking something, while staring at a pair of white winged individuals.

Diathim looked positively angelic.

Oh, mind alter? They had force powers...

I arrived at the table and noticed the VSS agents hide in the booth corners, trying to seem invisible.

"Greeting gentlebeings. And Vette. Having fun?" I asked politely, and Vette responded in kind, sticking her tongue at me.

"Whoa! You're Immortal Pef? The droid emperor? The savior of Tund? Did you break your restraining bolt? Is it true you can lift spaceships with your mind?" The kid began asking in a rush of excitement, toppling his juice glass.

I held the glass aloft, and gently collected the floating juice back in the glass.

"A space wizard. I heard those come with skin and sabers..." A Diathim commented smugly.

And they can talk, as well. Excellent.

"Everyone in this booth is a wizard. Even the blue thing with glowing gloves" I added, leaning in to pat Vette on her head. Wialu glared at me for some reason, so I patted her head next. That seemed to work.

"I'm the Pirate Scourge, not a wizard. Stupid droid..." Vette muttered, in a hushed voice, and threw her blue leku over her shoulder.

"All right, let's go see the angels. All of them" I said, turning around and stepping out of the booth, where a rodian male was being restrained by two assassin droids.

"I know all the moons, like the back of my hand. Hire me and you won't regret it!" he yelled. And was lying. Too bad.

"Do you? How many spots of nic-ta-tine on your left hand?" I asked amused.

"Errrr. I know a secret moon, with real dragons. Just take me off this rock, please..." the rodian boasted, then pleaded more meekly. And wasn't lying either.

"Okay then. If you're lying though, I'll feed you to my scorpion-shark. Deal?" I said, holding my hand for a shake.

He hesitated for a second, then shook my armored glove. Great. Cause I don't have a scorpion-shark. Yet.

******

Millius Prime moon, System Iego, Pef Empire

The vote went fast enough, I had some experience dealing with star wars tribes by now. Glass beads and flowers and plastic toys.

Maybe metal armor and swords for more advanced races.

"I want to be a Voice too. And my voice is clear and more mesmerizing. Choose me!" Another Diathim demanded, joining the chorus.

"Enough. A Voice is not a game. They go out there and kill people. Blow up spaceships and stations. Exterminate entire races, if they think it wise. Can any of you do that?" I yelled, making the angelic creatures stop and blink confused.

"So, not about singing then?" a number of them said with sadness. A wave of telepathic images floated around, the Diathim using their minds to communicate between them.

"No, those are my Honored Maids. They sing a lot, especially Celine" I explained politely, and sent a few memories of Celine singing.

"Honored Maid sounds good enough. But I want a contract. I won't sing for free." the prettiest one demanded, playing with her hood coyly.

"You have a name, pretty angel?" I wondered, since the thoughtforms contained almost no individual designations.

"Angie. I picked it just now" she replied proudly.

"We can pick names? I want one too! Me too! Me three! What's after three?" melodious and crystalline voices started yelling, and almost drove me nuts.

Angie was really gorgeous though.

"Be nice to your droid guards and teachers. And stop painting them" I told my new subjects before I left, dragging Angie after me.

'We're going to the sea?' the Diathim Maid exclaimed, after stealing the next destination from my mind.

"I want to go the sea too. Let's steal a ship..." I heard more angels debate as I entered my own frigate.

Wialu had her hands full of those.

En route to planet Solanus, Dominus sector, Outer Rim.

Aboard HMS Butterfly, a MC30 Mon Calamari made frigate

Empty fighter hangar.

"Breathe slower, 3 times per minute. Think you're floating, suspended by water, not my telekinesis" I told my new shipmates, Angie, the angel maid, and my soon to be biological son/father Jaybo Hood

"Why are we breathing? At least two of us don't need air to live." Angie asked confused, trying cutely to stabilize herself in mid-air.

"Because it works. Even your own connection has grown a percent, in just a few days Angie" I replied, bothered a little by the pointlessness of breathing myself.

"It's the wrong sound tone. Jaybo is not suited either. He leans toward hard things, like ships and other machines" Angie said with a pout, and a flap of wings.

"We will learn all the aspects of the Force. This one, is the beginning of learning the Living force. You could grow more wings, when you master it, or long blonde hair..." I explained, baiting a couple hooks.

"Oh! I could grow different vocal cords, and sing even better. Why didn't you start with that, stupid droid!" my maid chided me with words like windchimes.

Sigh. I just had to pick the pretty one, instead of a smart one. Lesson learned.

The five wills. Did the sentient ocean speak about those creepy priestesses at the center of the galaxy? Or something else, maybe a fifth type of force?

Guess I'll find out soon enough. My own force senses were too weak with the Living force to scan the Deep Core. Then again, I was not alive, per se.

And the Unifying force, was only half learned. I still couldn't make myself invisible or project illusions.

That left me with the Physical force, which I knew pretty well now, and the Cosmic force, in which I was pretty much the only expert in the galaxy, just now.

That wasn't saying much though. The other force users didn't even know it existed.

The Diathim were using a slight variant of Cosmic force and were able to energize themselves, drawing sustenance directly from the force, thus surviving without air, even in vacuum. In this aspect, they were also close relatives to my own existence.

They also had an evolutionary adaptation, forming a golden glow and an aura of kindness around themselves, making other beings unable to attack them.

Coupled with the mind alter abilities they used instead of words, and they made Iego quite a dangerous place to be a ship pilot.

Many ships had simply crashed, because the angels were curious and were drawing the pilots closer to the ground.

Another fake breath and stop. No meditation today, just rambling thoughts.

Wialu was studying the Maelibus species, trying to capture more of the dragons and gain more abilities for our future Astartes. Impregnable skin sounded good so far. Maybe their speed and strong muscles and bones as well. And being naturally immune to mind alter...it was already a promising start.

Graft that on a loyal soldier, add some cybernetics...eh. Too soon.

Did the kid eat today?

"Jaybo, take a break and go shower and eat"

"Not yet, I can almost feel it!" the orphan yelled bravely. Too bravely.

Sith style electrocution makes kids react faster. Much faster.

I should tell the trick to the Force teachers on Sanctuary. Eventually, the subject will adapt and start using Tutaminis or energy absorption to protect and fuel himself, but that wasn't bad either.

"Not the red lightning again..." Jaybo complained while running towards the shower.

"Tomorrow I'll use blue!" I yelled after him.

"You forgot about me! Give me some too, Pef. Red tastes like pickles" Angie demanded, holding a hand out.

Sigh. She ate energy like candy.

Still, Angie was very pretty and had the voice of an angel. Literally. Made her quite pleasant to be around.

And her Force abilities were quite amazing. Because she didn't have to learn them, she just had them, for no reason. And since all Diathim were female and ageless, I had no clue how old they were.

Angie herself didn't know, just a vague 'before the Ones left'. Considering her species didn't even have a native language, never mind writing, it did point to some kind of experiment.

But their aspect was eerily similar to the Daughter, or the Winged Goddess. So, possibly not a coincidence at all.

Add that to their presence in a star system with a thousand moons, which were likely clustered here by a childish star engineer... The Celestials had a hand in the Diathims existence. And the Light Goddess was the most likely suspect.

Had me wonder about the purpose of this experiment though.

Planets Solanus, a water world. Dominus Sector.

24BBY

The ocean is sentient. How cool is that?

The second our ship emerged from hyperspace, I could feel it, an immense presence, stronger than me or that Jedi woman.

Similar to the Tsil crystals somehow, with vibes of other abilities, mingling and...

'Enough. You came to study the force not me. Sunshine-seen-through-mist spoke well of you, Immortal Pef. Bring your living friends as well.' the ocean spoke to my mind, reverberating like a gong in an empty hangar.

Great. Now, where did I put my snorkel? Oh, wait...power armor.

"We're going swimming! Yay. You think big mouth can make me cool gloves like your blue maid has?" Angie exclaimed, twirling in mid-air.

"Call it Solanus. Or it may break your wings. Not everyone tolerates rudeness" I spoke softly, while holding Jaybo and building a watertight light armor around him, still in mid-air.

"The air tastes funny. Too much cherry" the boy complained, inside his helmet. Critics everywhere. Okay fine. Lemon then.

Slap a personal shield as well. Underwater pressure was a thing with organics.

I called down my Findsman Captain, Orty Glikas and Nashira, the Fallanassi woman who was being groomed for leader.

Then built another round of submersible armor around them.

"Be polite. I want Solanus friendly, and your limbs intact when we return" I told my crew as our frigate descended to sea level.

"Strange that you're not worried about your own limbs, Emperor Pef. Glikas's own glands have retreated deep in his abdomen. But hey, maybe we can see scorpion-sharks down there" Glikas said, tasting the mixture in his helmet but not complaining. About the air at least.

"I thought the immortal droid was joking back on Iego. Sharks don't need poisonous stingers to be dangerous. Right?" the kid asked, looking for something in a tool box. A screwdriver. Excellent. Now we were safe.

I stepped out first, gliding on repulsorlift beams and catching each of them as they jumped after me.

And down.

One meter, two meters. The angel was swimming around, floating on her back and pulsing thoughtforms at high speed. Without any armor or air tank.

Sigh. She's such a cheater.

'You can hear me, right?' I thought out loud. I can cheat too.

'Yes. The Celestial pet is more interesting for now. Great gift, Immortal Pef. You're not as boring as I thought.' Solanus said, while magically building Jal Shey gloves for Angie already.

Figures. The angel got all the nice things.

"Hey, Solanus taught me how to make holocrons!" Jaybo yelled through his helmet's com.

Already, a blue cube was forming between the boy's hands, organocrystals and strange mineral matrices layering around a green kyber crystal.

Well, at least someone was learning. I wasn't envious. My future son will need that knowledge.

I scanned Jaybo's mind, learning the thing too. He has wide open after all. And found out I mostly knew all the steps, missing only a few links.

No more transfer crystals with one time use. I could stop being a CD writer machine for the Sanctuary. No more limited storage.

Just anchor the thing in the force. Alchemic twist here and there, connect there. So simple.

'You've only been in this galaxy for one year, Immortal Pef. In a billion years you'll think differently. And the Dark Jedi you drained, taught you plenty. You just don't think inwards enough. Always towards outside. Always towards technology. The wills are five' Solanus said, pushing the angel up, into the air. Angie flew around, emanating joy and kindness. Was that a will, expressing itself?

"The priest women, or whatever they are. In the center of the galaxy" I mused, drifting my thought to vague memories, a billion years in the future.

'Them too. But what do they mean? Stay on the path of Rakata, and you will lose the connection too. Bring me a bioship and some shields. I'd rather not die too soon. I want to meet Sekot too' Solanus concluded, ejecting us from his waters like corks.

A blue kyber crystal coalesced rapidly in front of me, then began glowing brightly. Another crystal formed after, but green. A slight knock on my mind, asking to connect with a Voice essence ability.

Hmmm. A dual Voice? The ocean was smart, I'll give it that. Oh well, more Voices couldn't hurt.

"Welcome to the Pef Empire, Solanus" I spoke aloud, before I boarded the frigate.

A few cubic meters of waters floated outside the ocean, forming a globe with both kyber crystals inside, then it entered the frigate's hangar after me.

'Immortality is great gift, Immortal Pef. Solana thanks you, for her new life' my new Voice said through the bond, and much less loud.

Nashira stared at me, then at the floating globe of water.

"Wialu is gonna rip off your limbs and smack you with them. Then set you on fire. And possibly worse" she concluded, shaking her head and vanishing, proving mastery of Fallanassi teachings.

I wasn't envious. I wasn't! Maybe just a little.

I looked at my Findsman, and noticed a dark mist around him. Then he vanished as well. Okay, now I was envious.