Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Celestial Throne

24 BBY, fifth month

"You're toying with me! All the known planets in the sector are ours. 566 systems with planets, and 2300 or such star systems without. How long till you make me immortal?" Ventress asked, controlling her emotions better now.

Solana attempted a smile, with her half hologram/half water-woman lips. Didn't quite work, and if I still felt things, it would be probably fear and sliminess. If that was a feeling.

"Well, beloved maid. There are three possible answers. First, I make you my Voice, and bond your soul to mine. But, that will mean you're always under observation, in all your future existence, which may last a trillion years or longer. I can't see that far." I mused out loud, raping my armored fingers on the Golden Throne armrest, in a familiar march, sometimes known as Vader's entry.

"Oh. Always? Forever and ever?" she said, with some hesitation. I nodded patiently. Well. Most likely.

"The second option, biological immortality. You will never age, and your mind will not degrade substantially for about a million years, maybe less, depending on the amount of information you receive."

"Ageless, but a lucky headshot or a lightsaber to the neck, and I'll die. So, a thousand years, if I'm lucky." Ventress answered, her enthusiasm slightly less now. Yes, or a bioweapon and much sooner.

"And the third option, a phylactery. Like my Avatar will be. Your soul linked to a holocron and depending on your force connection and capacity to learn, able to reincarnate. There are risks too, like losing the holocron or such." I explained with some amusement.

The woman hesitated, calculating risks and advantages.

"The other maids, they all chose the Voice. Why?" she asked with some annoyance. She did have a highly independent streak though.

"Safety of course. And knowing I'll always be there for them. To love and cherish them, till the end of time" I replied seriously. Choosing a Voice was serious business after all.

"How? I can't imagine..." she said with a short shiver. Gah, another droid hater.

"I have another way. Demolecularization by Solanus. He'll give you a new body, just as pretty as mine" Solana added with a pirouette, showcasing her assets. Huh, she did choose a body shape exactly like I liked, a blue Lara Croft. Probably stolen from my mind, along with Cortana, and other sources of inspiration...

"Hell, no!" Ventress exclaimed and fled the throne room.

Why would she hate water though?

I thought only Jaybo did. Since a month ago.

The boy did get a lot faster however. Sharks motivate kids even more than electricity. Make a note to add the water pool to the Sanctuary curriculum. Make a second note, research for a shark-hybrid with a scorpion as well. Human body had to have higher speed limits.

Solana stepped closer to me and poked my belly with curiosity.

"Baby Pef should hatch next month. If Immortal Pef didn't make any error." she observed through some arcane means.

"Yeah, the clone will emerge just fine. But will it be like me? Will it be sane? What if it starts blowing up stars?" I asked rhetorically.

"Solanus wonders the same about Solana. But Solanus took a risk. Made new life. And molded Solana to be what Pef needed. An immortal companion, like Pef dreamed of. A bit crazy, or maybe even more" my Voice said, sitting in my lap and molding herself comfortable on my armor.

"A great war will start soon, half the galaxy fighting the other. And after that...much worse." I mused with a soft voice.

"War never ends. Solanus has not felt peace in a billion years. But some wars, they must be won. Make an armored suit for Solana, will you?" she demanded with a stern voice. Why would...

"You're going to hunt that Sith croke, by yourself?" I asked surprised. She was kinda new at being alive.

"Pef is willing to blow up a starship or a city, just to end this threat. Solana thinks she will be enough. And reduce death a little." She argued, quite convincingly.

"Try to drain him if you can. 20 millennia is a long time to learn skills"

"Solana doesn't waste good brains. She learns from Pef. She is the perfect Voice." the water woman replied sensually, and floated away, already using her pad to request a ship and funds for her expedition.

Huh. What has she been watching on her pad? That was almost seductive.

For an alien. Made of water.

'I heard that!' she sent before she left the room.

Gah. I will be under surveillance, forever and ever, till the end of time...

Kriff, what have I done?

Planet Gand, Pef Empire

EA testing ground, Silicon mountains.

I walked around, testing the mobility of the power armor on the rocky ground. Seemed good enough traction for me.

The heavy tank in front of me was struggling however, trying to climb the incline on their tracks.

Zuckuss wore a repulsor belt and floated beside, and was sipping a drink. He was lazing around like a boss...possibly my fault, since I do kinda float around on the station. But, that's only to reduce the huge noise the armor made while smacking into the metal floors with 3 tones of armor.

Make a note, rubber soles for power armor. Or whatever the galactic fashion was. Could be scarlak skin this month.

A medium tank rolled up the slope with little effort passing us and the heavy tank and joining the light tank already waiting on the ridge.

I turned around, and looked over my planet. Blue sky, green grass, red trees. Home.

Hey, I remember that tree! I planted it myself...along with a million others.

"Is it a good dream, my friend?" I wondered, maybe not loud enough.

"The Dream just is. Good and bad, just words. Zuckuss likes the green though. And the tanks you dreamed are nice as well, Emperor Pef" Zuckuss said wisely.

Hmmm. He and Zuralee were basically leading the Gand people now, with Mujilik retraining himself on Sanctuary, and getting stronger in the force.

"I think I'll double their armor again, and use the heavy tanks for sieges. They'll never keep up with the mechanized infantry and light tanks." I said with a sigh, watching the heavy tank slide back a little.

I should add more tracks to each tank, at least three pairs, and reduce the pressure of contact, that would help somewhat with muddy terrain or sand.

"See, I knew you weren't stupid, after all. Using heavy tanks to climb mountains, kriff! Did any of the tanks, in the wars you saw in your visions, do that?" my First Hand asked curious.

"No, but I hoped the reactor-powered engines will be strong enough..." I said with a sheepish voice. Then again, the heavy tanks fared as well as the tanks of the 21st century, while weighing 20 times more.

"Ask someone smart next time. And don't waste months on projects that don't work" he concluded, too wise again.

Great. Solana was right again, I kept making mistakes, by trying to seem smarter than I was.

'I did say that. Keep trying Pef, you're still young.' My Voice said from where ever she was, in hyperspace.

I had the droid tankist turn his heavy vehicle around and test the downslope speed limit.

Much better now.

'Open fire on the lead tank. Light weapons first' I demanded, and watched the fireworks go, the only less visible shots being the prototype light MACs. The only way to detect them was by impact points. Would work perhaps, against unprotected targets.

But energy costs were much higher, and the acceleration rails were too short. Tanks were impervious, at least the heavy tanks.

Keep it as prototype, and test against all types of targets, from beasts to droids and various armored mannequins.

No wonder the galaxy didn't have rail guns and coil guns, except a few force powered ones in myths.

Accelerating a projectile for 19 kms of rails on a spaceship worked much better than 5 meters on tanks.

Plus the spaceship reactors were much stronger, and vacuum didn't slow down the projectile through friction, like it happened in atmosphere.

I'll have to think of a way to use proton torpedoes as anti-tank weapons on my armored vehicles.

I did test their effectiveness myself, with my armor.

Ah, Fay. Having a clever Jedi on my side might prove even more worth than I thought.

Still, the Clone Wars were an assured victory.

Better concentrate my research and weapon development on maser guns, which were certain to work on the Vong. Sure my maser tech is ancient, courtesy of the Crusades, and thus less powerful, but at least it's reliable, and doesn't use consumables.

Turbolasers needed tibanna gas, and had less effective damage on the Vong bioarmor, and rail guns would require projectiles, thus more consumables. More logistics and more delays if I wanted a sustained offensive.

For now, I will focus on cheap droids and fast repulsor tanks, backed up by siege tanks. Once we had the orbitals, any planet was certain to fall in weeks, so I wasn't worried about ground warfare.

I will just bury my enemies in droids.

And hopefully during the Clone Wars, I will find better weapons.