Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Zero garden

23 BBY Eighth month

Have I told you lately how strong I had become, in the Force? Well...it probably has to do with my Avatar learning to use the Living Force.

Miss Zero is kneeling in front of my kneeling Avatar, now looking like a 7 years old boy, and she's breathing deeply, trying to regain her breath.

Her body cannot keep up with Peffy anymore, not physically. I have to reduce my speed and strength by lots, just to gain some combat experience.

"I'm not certain what I can teach you now, Avatar. You can block lightsabers with your naked hands, for kriff's sake" she muttered, partly proud, partly in desperation.

A guard droid stepped forward and placed 2 holocrons between us. Made by your truly, the Immortal Artisan.

"Well, Miss Zero. My droid self has mastered holocron creation, at least the polyhedral ones. I think it's time we begin the next step" I said with Peffy's childish voice, picking up a trapezoidal blue holocron and starting imprinting energy absorption teaching on it, clue by clue and lesson by lesson.

In 10 minutes, I had a priceless holocron in my hand, allowing any force-sensitive above Knight level to become immune to blasters and lightsabers, for a short time.

Then I glided it into my teachers hand, and just waited.

As expected, she drank the lessons avidly, only stopping hours later, when the sun vaned and the cold of evening wake her up.

"This, this is a priceless gift, initiate!" Zero exclaimed, testing her own lightsaber on a finger tip and withstanding it for a second.

"Still left a bad burn, but better than losing the finger, right?" I asked amused, as my droid came with a kolto cup, and gently placed her hand inside.

"Kolto? Nobody uses it anymore..." she said with some surprise.

"Yes, thus is a great product to have, once the wars start" I explained politely, pointing at the datapad held by another droid, and projecting the Military Creation Act debates in the Senate.

Seems my own actions of fighting thousands of pirates and some CIS fleets have changed things a bit, a few more Senators leaning towards creating a Navy of their own, even citing some of Vette's more outlandish actions.

The woman glanced at the holonews with a disintersested face."You are so certain this will happen, no matter what anyone does." she concluded after a minute.

"Not at all. Anything I see, it can be changed. But then, you lose surprise advantage, and most of the tactical positioning you can gain. Let's say we intervene and stop the war. The CIS will grow and build even more ships and droids, and attack years later, a hundred times stronger. The Republic, with their rangers and judicial forces will fall in months" I explained patiently, while forming a water globe in my hand, and spinning it slowly. Water was still the hardest element to work with.

"And Dooku will rule the galaxy, and exterminate most force users, including the jedi" Zero concluded, picking up the green cube in front of her.

Well, perhaps not Dooku, unless he manages to get much stronger and kill Palpatine.

"Possibly. I showed you that Vong soldier's body. An entire species, without the force, and hating everyone who uses it. They are coming for us, and soon." I answered as I crafted a Vong worldship miniature, floating above my tiny palm.

"And your droid maid hasn't reported since?" Zero asked curious. And implying she's already dead.

"Ray would be more similar to what Pef is. She has a sentient crystal inside, after all. I would know if Ray died." I answered, almost certain. Solanus would know, most likely.

"Okay, I'll try to imprint the Teleport ability on this holocron. Maybe you will master it too, like you did with all the knight abilities I showed you" she conceded, poking at the empty holocron with a finger. It didn't bite her. Too bad.

"Take your time, Honored teacher. I'm going to Rancor Isle to play with my ponies. They are absolutely amazing, and so cute!" I gushed out with a wide smile, abusing my charming dimples. Or so my adoring maids said.

Her lips trembled a little more, no doubt impressed by my bravery or cuteness. One of them, for certain.

"Tomorrow as sun rises then. Have fun riding rancors..." she said with a long sigh.

Yes! Another small step in breaking her icy shell. I had another year to make room for me near her heart. And then, she'll never leave me. Through love, I gain Victory!

I returned to my other partitions, as Peffy went to complete his Animal bond abilities.

A hundred Meteors were under trials, and consuming prodigious amounts of Hypermatter, which is why a hundred uninhabitable planets were being drilled into with capital ship weapons, to allow solar radiation to reach their metal cores and form hypermatter building blocks.

Sadly, more Meteors would have to wait, since we already used 100 thousand heavy masers and missile launchers to arm them.

Even for my empire, that many weapons were hard to manufacture fast enough. Not to mention navigation equipment, modern bridges and hyperdrives. Droids were no longer a problem though. I had enough droids to crew two thousand Meteors, even at 1 million droids per ship.

Another black ops mission was being prepared for Jakku, and aimed to obtain the Sith artifacts that Palpatine dumped there for his Contingency, as well as stealing all the routes already found by the Jakku Observatory.

A mining corporation, for magnite, osmiridium and kesium gas and even bezorite would make a good cover. Only droids, of various types and a Gand Claw, who begged for another serious mission. Seems dodging feral Rakata on Thyton wasn't enough for him. Another corporation will provide fertilizers and farming and also water from comets.

Then extract the orphanage manager and his kids, before collapsing the borehole to the core. I mean, come on! Habitable planets anyone? They're quite rare...

'Pef, Solanus has an idea, and it should work. Select 10 barren planets at the Empire borders, and transform them in ocean planets with cometary rain. He thinks he can oceanform them, by pouring part of him into those oceans. It would take millions of tonnes of water, but the unfinished Meteors can cary that easily. They just need engines and a bridge.' my water maid sent, while exploring another ocean world.

Hmmm. Solanus could expand, to encompass the Empire and provide early warning and safe systems for refuel and healing.

And be less exposed by living on a single planet.

'Sure thing Solana. How deep can the new armor go?' I asked curious.

'All the way, my soulmate' she sent, with a slight blush in her bond. Oh.

Doublespeak. She'll be fantastic once she masters shapeshifting.

Vette took her Meteor One in the Periphery, and was scattering pirates like rabbits. Then again, 20 kilometer ship.

With corvettes and frigates around it like remoras following a shark. Seems civilization can be imposed by guns, if you bring big enough guns.

Proto One was touring nearby Hutt space, forming trade treaties and buying slaves. My Empire needed people, and the Hutts had plenty to sell. Win-win. And my Ambassador only got shot a few times, the commando guards taking care not to kill the guilty Hutt, only half his entourage. Can't kill my customers after all, but I could sting them a little.

Next partition. A million new survey droids were being manufactured and prepared for deployment, their tiny hyperdrives only permitting one jump forward and then return. But if only a thousand came back, that meant a thousand new routes and systems to claim.

If they worked, I'll build billions more, and seed the whole quadrant with Empire worlds.

Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Celestial Throne

23 BBY, Ninth Month

"I will not let this Republic which has stood for a thousand years be split in two. My negotiations will not fail." Palpatine

Palpatine arranged for another CIS-Pef meeting, urging me to take it more serious and send at least a Honored Maid. Okay then...

"Droid B11/766555/ you are hereby promoted to: female gender, Honored Maid and Deputy Ambassador. You can wear the wig and the maid robes of your rank, and will represent droid rights at the next peace summit with the CIS. For the Empire!" I ordered him grandly, in the large council, and thus observed by a thousand Councilmen and women and droids and various other genders.

Some species have a thousand genders in this galaxy, so it gets confusing, really soon.

"Roger, roger. I'm so dead..." the droid responded with familiar humour. For 576.4 credits, the factory cost, this maid will be the best investment I ever made.

"Honored Maid B11, you will be provided with a suicide capsule, in case those monsters try to torture you for information. Remember your model's motto B11. 'Death before dishonor'. Die bravely, or do not come back at all" I explained kindly,

"Roger, roger..." the Deputy Ambassador said weakly, then left the podium with her head hung.

My council observed this with some lack of clarity, especially the newest ones to join. The droid went to the Mechatronic art lab to be disguised as my maid, even adding eyelashes and platform shoes. Her thin legs will be much better evidenced now, making her the new model for the fashion industry. Then I installed a proton bomb about 5 kilotons yield inside her torso. Her suicide should be seen from orbit now.

"I know, some of you may think me rude, or cheap. But remember Lira, our first Honored Maid, and my Voice being assassinated by CIS. Remember Proto One, who barely escaped the same fate. We will give the CIS the exact respect they showed us. Our newest maid was built on Metalorn, by the Techno Union factories.

We freed her, and gave her rights and ranks and authority!

Let them show us, how they really respect droid rights and diplomatic immunity." I orated, calling flames and lightning to surround me.

After the ovations stopped, I added the actual thing they were all expecting. "Bets on B11's survival start at production value, so 577 credits."

By the time the old Gozanti cruiser carrying the Honored Maid left the system, the bets had passed 1 million credits against, and only 2330 credits towards survival.

It wasn't like I expected the Ambassador ship to survive anyway, thus it was only piloted by a brand new R2 .

Old R2 were worth their weight in gold, since they knew lots of tricks and smuggler routes.

Make a note, buy a million more old astromechs, possibly from Tatooine.

They'll be happy to escape torture. Hmmm. Add them to Proto One's trade list as well. The Hutts might have more.

Okay, next thing on the agenda.

"People, calm and sit down! You can place bets after the council is over. Let's welcome the newest planet to join the Empire, planet Kintoni . Let's also welcome the representative of Wyndigal 2 and the one from Xuaquarres. The later two planets only have Imperial Servants to rule them, but that might change, should we discover native sapients. But if they don't, they'll be open to colonization and industrialization, just like all the newly discovered worlds."

"Immortal Emperor, how will the new worlds be distributed? Some planets will be richer or more hospitable than others?" a clever MPT signatory asked.

"For now, about one or two colonies per every full member and none for the MPT members. If they can't protect their own worlds, they surely can't expect the Empire to protect their colonies. But soon, the first surveyor droids will return with thousands new planets to colonize. It's sad that the MPT members only wish to receive protection and not riches and free education and healthcare and new colonies, but as I said from the start I will not force worlds to join us, except in rare cases where we get attacked first.

And those worlds, like Anzat for example, will be penalized for 5 years with MPT status, and only after allowed to request to join as full members. I can be merciful and generous, as all of you know, but even so, there are limits." I explained patiently, observing some dozens of MPT representatives squirm in their seats.

"Oh, thousands of new planets...I'll argue with my king to think more about full membership. Millions of our younglings might survive next winter..." A certain MPT reptilian councilor commented loud, as agreed when he received his new luxury yacht.

The bait was planted. Can't have too many Military Protection Treaties after all. Just a dozen strategic ones should be easier to enforce.

"That's it for this year people. Enjoy the shops and the saunas, then return to your home planets tomorrow. I am eager to hear from your leaders." I concluded, forming wings of shadow and flying away majestically.

'Again the same tricks. Come to Redbox.' Wialu sent, and I rushed to obey. Can't keep my wife waiting...

Zuckuss had asked for another layer of protection, a security corridor with scanners and various traps, which amused me greatly. Almost like there's a Red Queen on the other side...

The third Hand might find it difficult to sneak in, even wearing a hundred million credits stealth suit.

"What is it Wialu?" I asked, since she was alone in front of the holomap.

"I have a proposal, my Emperor." A gand voice said behind me.

Gah. My Thrid Hand! He still passed through the corridor, undetected.

'Sure thing. Propose it then." I said calmly, going to sit on my durasteel block. My Hand decloaked next to the holotable and sent a schematic for a stealthed survey droid.

"The survey platform will not have hyperdrives or sublight engines, only a few pressure gas canisters. They will be deployed, in every accessible system, both ours or not, and at various distance from the main star, thus allowing us to observe everything in the known galaxy, from ship movements, battles and even invaders or spies. Also, when corroborated together, they will show us where every single ship was, is and is going to be." he explained, then began expanding on various forms of scanners and stealth modes.

Hmmm. Very ambitious. But too soon, at least for the Core and Inner Rim.

"Begin testing it in Empire space and the Outer Rim, as well as main trade routes nodes nearby and Hutt space. We can't risk being caught with this in CIS or Republic space. And send a thousand units to Solanus as well."

"I humbly bow to your wisdom, Immortal Spy. Perhaps the Great Ocean will be able to devise effective methods to avoid the Sith and the Jedi" he replied, catching my meaning fast. Almost.

"And others, even more dangerous. How many such platforms will we need for complete coverage?" I asked curious, while devoting a partition for my own calculations. 256 per system, spread out every light minute from the star. Not so much then.

"Between 200 and 1000 for large traffic lanes. They will have to be small, and use passive sensors only, and just those outside the Oort clouds will send holonet transmissions. For nearby planets we can also use subspace transmitters, which would be even safer."

"Okay then. Approved for a million units, and up to 10 million more units, at your discretion, Honored Hand. You may take another female as well." I allowed graciously. It wasn't like I gave him a Maid or something. The Gand had females aplenty. Most likely. And it was a decent idea. Even if, it will cost a trillion credits to build so many stealth satellites.

"Your generosity is boundless, Immortal Matchmaker. For the Empire!" my Hand declared grandly, punching the sky and then vanishing with a smoke grenade, thrown by his other hand.

Hmmm. My armor's olfactive sensors couldn't detect him now. Clever.

"One day, he will be too tired to work for you Pef, if you keep adding more females to his harem..unless, you're forcing him to strengthen his force connection by withstanding sex?" Wialu asked, smiling widely.

"I'm just generous to my friends. Nobody is forcing him to pleasure all his females every night" I answered with a fake shrug. A few olbio leaves moved, in the wind behind me. Curious.

"Except his females. They might force him. Oh well, at least 6 of them are pregnant now, so he must sleep easier." she added with a wicked smile, looking somewhere behind me.

"Enough, I had enough! Pregnant females are a pain..." my third Hand exclaimed, breaking camouflage and leaving the olbio tree, then stomping out of the Redbox.

I held my palm up, and my Voice gave it a high five.

We hugged afterwards, sharing an evil smile.

Blueforge, Pef Empire

Blue Base.

23 BBY, Tenth month.

Solanus decrypted some of the Vong biotech, allowing both of us to start creating advanced biotech, especially important for ship life support and trauma medipacs as well as blaster resistant armor and better synthskin for our droids.

Bioengineered spaceship armor should also mitigate most of the Ion weapons effects on the surface electronics, and we've both began parallel production for the Meteor upper fins here at Blueforge, and at Sol I, the first new planet that Solanus has lived on since a billion years. He will make bio-armor for the Calamari ships, since those can submerge by design. Three hundred MC30 frigates and same number of MC80 cruisers, and it would possibly take him only a week.

Just the upper fin on the first Meteor will take us just as long. Gah, it's not fair!

That also means I have to endure Vette at close range, while the Meteor One is getting up-armored.

"So, Peffy and Jaybo are twins now. Same age and height and face, only the hair is different. What if you mix them up?" she asks curious, petting Peffy on his head. I made sure to pet her bottom for this. Pet for pet.

"I have a chip in my brain, Honored Maid. The Emperor would know" Jaybo answered politely, still fiddling with the defective nano-missiles. Barely 75% accuracy, after months of work. But at least they could change trajectory minutely and hit critical spots. And Vong armor was no defense.

"My friends have examined that Matukai meditation band, and will make me one as well. They're very glad there's such artefacts still existing, with other force users. Means a lot for them" Vette explained, showing off her Jal Shay gloves and belt and bracelet and sash and necklace. Seems every different nomad group had different items to imbue and add abilities to.

Now she also wears a Matukai band and a collapsible Wan-shen, which could block lightsabers. One of the Anzati I sent to learn decided to run away, along with the force soup and the items of a Matukai adept.

Solana found him and drained his knowledge, along with the Matukai training and confiscated his items.

The Matukai were a bit upset but admitted some of them sometimes went mad too. Damn it, though. A single adept could have trained hundreds more.

In a couple months, the weak and new Findsmen I sent there became twice as strong in the force, and three times more in pure strength and speed. The bota extracts and daily baths in kolto must have helped too. I also paid a million credits for each of them to ease the negotiations, but anyway. Just money.

Peffy uses kolto and bacta baths alternately, growing in strength even faster. If it was safe enough, I'd send him there too, but my Avatar can only teleport a few feet. To reach a ship in orbit requires complete mastery of this ability. So maybe another year.

For now, Solana can try to teach what she glimpsed when she drained the Anzati defector. And he probably won't be the last.

For some, murder and killing for fun or money were still better than loyalty and defending their home.

"Very well, Vette. You can keep a Mentor Jal Shey with you, but the rest should go to Sanctuary. The Meteor is our flagship, not a cruise liner for nomads sects. And they'll have friends and the great Bendu to learn more." I said softly, watching the blue twi'lek with sadness. She had so much potential, drawing people to her, but she still couldn't accept me for what I was...

"Fine! But don't shoot her, like you did last time. They're my friends, not pirates or target practice, stupid droid..." she muttered, ignoring the facts completely. That changeling wasn't her friend.

"We shall see. We have genetic testers now, to confirm identity and species. And if you brought another infiltrator on my ship, you'll get stunned as well. Deal?" I asked, opening my arms for a hug.

"Deal. But the stun better not hurt. In case I was wrong..." Vette added with a little guilt, and hugged me back.

As we walked towards the barracks where the nomads were hosted, Peffy went to help his clone with the nano missiles.

They could both use friends of their age, even if only for a week.

Also, B11 maids...I can send a million such Ambassadors from now on, and they won't get insulted again.

She just came off the Diplomatic Transport Cruiser DT002, and entered the venues of the conference, when she was surrounded by ugly B2s and droideka and had a red lightsaber pointed at her photoreceptors by some dark acolyte.

"What is this joke?" the acolyte yelled, ordering his droids to invade sovereign Pef Empire territory, or the Gozanti cruiser, to look for the real maid.

The R2 pilot panicked and engaged hyperdrives in atmosphere, evaporating a nearby spaceship, and a few kilometers swathe of spaceport.

"Death before dishonor" My B11 maid managed to say, before being electrocuted with Sith lightning.

The live transmission cut, and was replaced by an orbital view of the spaceport. A red bloom marked another successful negotiation, in kiloton range. The images captured were also flowery and enchanting.

Next time, I might send 2 B11s, if the CIS asks for a maid again.

Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Celestial Throne

22 BBY

The first graduates from the Matukai training are returning home, to become instructors for every single VSS and Black Ops agents.

They are quite strong, at least Jedi Knight levels. The Anzati graduates will undergo cyborgification, since I can't trust them not to snap.

Meanwhile, I stare at Mujilik, as he pets his tiny Gand pup. The single survivor of the Easter Egg birth omlette.

"Venerable Mujilik. Just say yes, and become my 6th Hand. I need someone to oversee the Exploration Corps and the survey droids. My 3rd Hand is quite busy with Black Ops already." I asked patiently.

"Indeed he is. He can barely walk. Perhaps you were too generous, gifting him that many females. All right, my old female can raise the kit. But I want my own cruiser, and a hidden asteroid base. And a billion credits. This old gand may not have a pretty ass like your maids, but still, Mujilik can't go and ask Zuralee for money, it's unseemly" he complained, and made me smile inside.

"Sure, that is easy. I have also a question, that can't bring myself to ask Zuralee about. Why keep one or maybe two kits? Why not ten? I gave you two new planets to colonize, beside the Dream. Your species has room enough now, and droids can farm..." I said, a bit hesitant. This was quite delicate, but I needed answers.

"Slow to change we are, and we have endured cycles of famine before. Many still can't believe the Dream is real, and hide in the ammonia canyons. Also defective Gand are the same as those dark jedi. The females dream and look for the ones who will be more balanced. What would you do, should billions of Findsmen go mad and pillage everything?"

Hmmm. So that was it. They traced forward, and stabbed the crazy ones. And genetic defects too, most likely. Their gene alter was what made Peffy so strong, along with kyber crystal infused bones and a power gem infused soul.

Lira was also fused with a kyber crystal, and had some gene sequences copied from Fay, but it was too soon to tell if they'll work.

Bota plants extracts surely did. Quite amazingly, but that should end in a year or two.

Make a note, send some to the Voss, and the Zeison Sha and Makutai. A stronger force connection should help them survive, perhaps.

"I need one of those bad Gand kits. I have to know how to tell them apart. Is that okay, my Sixth Hand?" I asked cautiously.

"That's easy. One bad egg won't be missed from the birth omelette. You'll have one tomorrow, Egg Emperor" the grumpy Gand said with some amusement and checked his datapad for credits and his new cruiser.

Solanus was graceful enough to add a meter of diamondoid armor over the normal durasteel, tripling the effective value of those ships, and protecting the exposed bridges. And with another meter of laser and ion resistant bio-armor over that, the Calamari ships were now the best protected ships in the galaxy, for their size. They sort of were well protected before, but only by shields.

Too bad this procedure couldn't be used en masse.

We'll have seed to algae and corals and to drag more asteroids and comets down into the ocean though, since Sol I didn't have enough organics and minerals to sustain such undertaking.

'Do that for every ocean where Solanus goes. Just smash them to bits in near orbit, and Solanus can lower them with telekinesis, just like you can' Solana added to my musings. Okay then. Problem solved. Dual Voice was really useful.

Sending orders to a hundred corvettes idling around.

The Clone Wars start this year.

Hmm. I should check on Fay, and perhaps gift her a holocron or two as well.

Some bota plant crates, for her and the changelings...

Yep, and take Zero and Peffy with me.

This visit should be interesting. I'm not scared, at all.