Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Celestial Throne

22 BBY, 10th month

Knight Anakin and Master Kenobi managed to retake the first planet they lost, in the Second Battle of Rhen Var . Projected loses are only 50%, showing their great improvement following their promotions. Also, the first cool-looking walker units, All Terrain Experimental Transport helped the Republic greatly.

The walkers look amazing, so I'll have to acquire a few and build my own, better model.

Both of them heroes also managed to win the Battle of Dorin , forcing the CIS to retreat, by bringing about a parity of forces. The losses were an equal 20% for both sides. One Jedi died, by being targeted by 300 Vultures at once, by some crazy tactical droid.

At Quell , the CIS won again, while the burning Republic star destroyers crashed on the planet, obliterating a few millions.

The Battle of Drongar did not take place, since we had a hundred ships chasing the first CIS fleet poking around. Sovereign space and all that. We'll have to investigate how they reached the system though, since they didn't come through the normal route.

Perhaps those bota plants will survive now, without the rivers of blood reaching their roots in 3 years of continuous war.

In the Battle of Amaltanna, my future maid, Jedi Swan, managed to obliterate her own army and the enemy army as well, remaining the sole survivor. That's 200% casualties. Kenobi would be proud.

And lastly, the Second Battle of Geonosis which marks the end of the year with more massacres and fireworks.

The second the medical frigate left the system, our long ago planted weapon activated far into the Oort could, a shower of ice comets being launched at the planet, their trajectories intersecting major temples and hives on the surface. If any hive survives, they'll be flooded and kept busy for next 5 years. And stop them mind controlling people with worms through their nose, that was disgusting.

The droid Munificent frigate in the Geonosis system jumped to Tatooine and accelerated constantly until it impacted Jabba the Hutt's hideout on the surface. Made a pretty flower as well, less bloom and more explosion though.

And next time, invest in planetary shields. Keeps things from falling from the sky, on your head.

"So, what do think Third Hand?" I mused, watching the holo again, before deleting it.

"Your Hand is glad all our planets have shields, Bombastic Emperor. The expense for getting the technology and producing them independently, seems trivial compared to the risk of random accidents, obliterating key cities or even the entire life on a planet" he replied, opening his claws in a mockup explosion.

"Great. You looked over our first wave of attacks that the Admiralty has put together? Don't answer that. Got any vital target you think we missed?" I asked politely.

"Your wise hand thinks we should anchor the northern flank higher, at Cholganna perhaps. Also, that Centares is too far, for a first wave. Sy Myrth will give us plenty of trouble." the Gand answered, choosing caution over the boldness of Ventress.

Our military doctrine and droid troops were not tested in ground battle, after all, nor in real fleet engagements.

Garrison duty, even on feral worlds did not compare to enemy action.

"All right. We'll go slowly. I predict Corellia will join the war, in a few days." I muttered in defeat.

"I'll send the codes to our agents then. A few days...and a few females, waiting for me on Sanctuary. I'm so doomed" he complained, vanishing with another smoke pellet, this time smelling like strawberries.

Gah. That wasn't why he had access to our biomedical division...

Peffy is dancing with Celine, trying to become cultivated and elegant for the Centrality plan.

The Avatar will need to look a bit older for the scrivener position though.

Let's postpone that a month or two, maybe he'll get taller... Damn Jaybo, could have told me he was a bit small. I don't want to implant femoral elongations in my Avatar. Kriff.

Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Redbox

21 BBY first month.

"It is possible that the war itself has been only one further move in some greater game."

―Palpatine

Pef News:

"It is with sadness and compassion that our Empire joins the Clone wars. Our foremost allies, the Corellian Diktat took half of the step for us, answering the call for liberty of the Galactic Republic. And the other step, it was also taken for us by news of atrocities committed against the sentients of this galaxy, by the CIS.

Our armed forces will not conquer, but liberate and bring civilization to the worlds struggling under the boot of CIS evil corporations. We are hopeful that our small help will mean something, and bring the war to a close faster, saving untold trillions from famine and disease and other tragedies of war" I proclaimed with Peffy's face and voice.

Because, a droid saying the same things wouldn't be that well-received by most of the galaxy. At all.

"We thank the Honored Avatar for his kind words and his future leadership in this trying times. As the Immortal Emperor retreats into contemplation and meditation, saddened by the harsh realities of our galaxy, it falls to us, the Hands and the Voices of the Emperor to bear the weight of the Empire. For the Empire!" King Kikipi proclaimed, punching the sky and ending the feed.

Eh, good enough. Miss Zero was visible for a second in the background of the feed, letting the Jedi and the Sith figure out which side we chose. All our available officials were on that podium, supported by the thousand representatives of the Large Council, about 700 of them humans, and the rest from other various races in the Empire.

Now, back to the actual war.

It seems having installed ion cannons on every ship's bow is even more useful than I first imagined. The entire defensive grid of the CIS forces on Sy Myrth succumbs in 5 minutes of orbital bombardment. Electronics and droid cores spark and explode, shields fall and power grids shut down.

Our tanks having wheels and tracks also works great, allowing them to pass through shields at a slow walk pace, although the light tanks need to turn off repulsors before doing the same.

In space, the 3 Meteors in the first fleet barely even feel the return fire from 50 Munificents and Recusants, focusing their MACs on the 5 Lucrehulks and orbital defense platforms, while the fleet carrier has launched the Scarab fighters then retreated, leaving the corvettes to cover the flanks and guard against surprise attacks on the Meteor's engines.

Just as the CIS defense fleet at Sy Myrth gets evaporated, the Mountain begins the landings, depositing the first division near the

capital, the dropships then returning for the next divisions.

Half of the corvettes and the fighter screen protect the landings, our ground forces a mix of organics and droids, about 10 to one more droids. Our Carrion variants of the Vulture assumed the role of mecha and gunships, supporting the ground troops.

Commando droids and special forces rush to capture databanks and droid control centers and also the actual banks and vital infrastructure installations like reactors and factories.

About 5 hours from the first landings, the retaliation arrives, in the shape of largish fleet, about 200 frigates and a hundred Recusants-variant destroyers with 30 Lucrehulks battleships carrying Vulture starfighters.

They came from Centares, so there's probably a larger fleet forming at Columex. Let's not spring the trap yet.

I want to see how my ships do when outnumbered 100 to 1.

"Playing it close, Desk Emperor. We have no idea how well the Meteors will fare at these odds" Zuckuss mutters, rotating the holomap to see the battle from above.

It was of course the whole point, finding out if my ships were good enough.

Oh, the CIS are clever, I'll give them that. Splitting in groups of 100 to target our engines from behind, while the Lucrehulks mass together to bring 12 thousands turbolasers on a single Meteor. No doubt thinking themselves invulnerable to our MACs alpha strike, due to their upgraded shields.

Star formation then, our Meteors maneuvering to bring their dorsals close, blocking fire from every side with their hulls, and starting a slow rotation using lateral sublight engines.

The Dakka corvettes prowl at the edges attempting to shoot the engines of the CIS fleets as they head towards our capital ships.

Then the range closes enough, and the blue and violet bolts of energy from our ships start crashing into the light armored frigates and destroyers of the CIS, pulverizing and decimating the nearest ones.

That's only 20% of the Meteor's firepower though. The rotation brings the maw of a Meteor in line with the Lucrehulks, and 100 shells fire in quick succession, destroying 5 Lucrehulks outright.

Installing tractors beams around the grinning mouth of the space sharks allows a minute course deviation, enough to target a salvo of twenty ferrous shells onto a single target, much like Jaybo and Peffy did with our nano-missiles.

The explosions impact the nearby Lucrehulks, and 80% of the Meteors guns target each vulnerable battleship in turn, 2600 heavy masers and 300 ion cannons proving enough to shatter even the Lucrehulks prodigious shields.

By the time the corvettes have finished coming about, only half of the CIS fleet is still intact.

Another 120 degrees arc completes in the rotation, and the next in line, the Mountain fires 12 shells at each of 4 Lucrehulks in front of it.

Combined it the already pouring damage, the CIS begin splitting up and trying to retreat.

Yeah, let's not.

The corvettes fire their long range lasers and masers, focusing on the engines only. Only 10 battleships and 20 frigates escape and jump towards Trogan, while 6 Lucrehulks and 28 Recusants are stranded here, and start surrendering and being boarded or having their weapons slagged, then boarded.

The CIS Vultures continue to engage our own fighters though, losing 3 to 1 against my Scarab starfighters. Considering the Scarabs are 30% cheaper, having 300% more effectiveness sounds good enough.

Then again, the Vultures have no shields or armor, and only fire frontally with their blaster cannons. Sigh.

"So, what do you think, Sixth Hand?" I wonder aloud.

"Hmmm. Even a bantha can step in the right poo sometimes. The Meteors worked fine, this time. But we still lost 20 corvettes and a thousand starfighters." Mujilik answered, still not convinced, or happy.

"The Dakka did fine, watch them clean up the Vultures" I grumbled, as the corvettes did just that, closing into laser and missile range from different vectors, and blowing the surviving Vultures up.

Through armor and firepower, I gain Victory!

I changed the holomap to our other targets, but the fleets were not counter-attacked there, not yet, leaving us with 10 more systems in our possession than 6 hours ago.

Of course, only Bimmisaari was important in the larger scheme, while Togoria fell rapidly to our 82nd fleet and its occupying troops, considering the natives rode animals and used metal spears. Our contact Lucrehulks began their work, assembling civilization and defenses, while Wialu headed corewise towards Nazzri, with the purpose of linking our efforts with the Republic.

Now we had Charros encircled, and the 81st fleet was moving in.

Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Zero Garden

22 BBY, a week later

I smiled at Ventress, who was centering herself after another sparring session, focusing to repair her broken ribs.

"Feeling okay, beloved maid?" I asked, placing Peffy's hand on my maid's thigh and accelerating her healing speed ten times, pulsing reinforcement and dark healing at the same time.

"Kriff, it's not fair. You were only a baby, 2 years ago!" she muttered opening her eyes to stare at my hand on her thigh. No murderous intentions though, just a little hesitation and embarrassment. Eh, critics everywhere!

I snatched her white lightstick and turned it on, then gave it a long lick, taking care not to actually burn my tongue off. Growing it back was painful, the first time I tested this, for my prank.

"Mhhh. Plasma tastes weird" I explained, making a sour face.

"You're weird, damn idiot! Lightsabers are dangerous, not ice-cream sticks..." she exclaimed, grabbing the lightsaber by the plasma beam and snatching it back. Getting slightly better with energy absorption then.

Right, that's why a third of the lightsaber users somehow become cyborgs. You could at least be thankful I taught you to keep your hands intact.

Even if, her palm was still burned, pretty bad. Oh well, I was already healing her body, what's a slight burn more?

"You could remove that hand already, I feel fine now" Ventress muttered in a low voice, but didn't do anything to push the hand away.

"You are not fine Asajj. Hate can give you strength, but you'll be empty inside. Without love...we're nothing. You've seen your Nightsisters on Dathomir. Did they feel fine?" I asked gently, drawing her into a hug. She didn't resist this time, just relaxing and breathing deeper.

"They were strong and fast and powerful in the force. They also knew many magiks, like that crazy droid does, as well" my War Maid answered with a sigh, and hugged me back.

"Indeed. They tap into the energies left by the Kwa artifacts and their ghost forms. Spirits they call them, not even realizing what power they use, is not their own. And Dooku will come for them soon. They are not immortal, Asajj. You have to decide soon, or they'll be gone, whatever survivors remaining collected as dark jedi. You could take 20 Meteors and can guard them, forever and ever, or leave them to their fate." I argued gently, caressing her back and planting my hook deeper.

"Kriff. At least I know it really works, teasing Lira is quite fun, after all." She replied, hugging me harder. And sinker.

"Okay then. I know this great resort, with warm springs and a great restaurant. Let's go celebrate our wedding there..." I whispered in her ear, then kissed her long neck gently.

"Oh! We are that kind of maids, after all..." Ventress realized with some surprise. She was a good kisser. Passionate too. I guessed right.

*************

Interlude CIS

"Master, I can't send another fleet to be ripped to pieces by those monstrous sharks. We'll have to retreat a little in that corner, until the next build cycle is complete. General Grievous will command the new Subjugator, and crush that Pef Empire upstart with five thousands ships. I just need 2 months to put that operation together. The sharks are big, but less armed than a Mandator, after all." he argued to his displeased Dark Lord.

Darth Sidious was mad, his plans thrown in disarray by that new droid army. And a few of those independent Jedi were spotted in that sector as well, Master Fay and the dark woman too. Was this some kind of secret Jedi backup plan?

"No, my apprentice. If that Pef continues at this rate, we may lose Columex and Felucia too, in two months. While their offensive is concentrated corewise, use the Dark Ripper, and get us access to Drongar and Pakuuni and Zigoola. Wipe them out in the north, then conquer Mon Calamari. Most of their fleet is still Calamari ships, and those big sharks have to be made there. They can't have more than the dozen Meteors we seen. Even Kuat only produced 7 Mandators. Big ships take very long to build, after all." Darth Sidious ordered, and the Count of Serrano had to obey.

For now. One day, his Master will make a mistake, and then he'll be the Dark Lord, and rule the galaxy for eternity...

Still, the Sith superweapon will need to be protected, even if it meant leaving a few sectors undefended.

Who to send then? Admiral Trench did well enough at the Battle of Christophsis , destroying 90 % of all the heavy walkers and gunships of the Jedi army, and killing 50% of the clones. Skywalker and Yoda interfering in the battle wasn't his fault after all.

This Pef Empire however, didn't have 9 thousands Jedi to appear from the woodwork at inopportune times either. Just some upstart tactical droid and too many credits to spend.

And about that...it seems someone interfered and reprogrammed a few tactical droids to unleash all available firepower when Jedi were in their targeting sensors. Possibly the work of his Master then. So insidious, this Darth Sidious. Jedi casualties climbed steadily, bringing the new order to fruition, even sooner.

**********

POV Republic

"Only good news we've heard, of this Pef Empire. Slavery outlawed, new cities and factories being built in months. And if Master Fay is there..." Master Windu mused, deep in thought.

"And help us with the Blue Shadow antidote, they have, mhmm" Master Yoda added, smiling kindly.

"Master An'ya Kuro is there too, and not returning to Coruscant for deployment." Master Fisto argued, trying to pierce the dark shroud, and failing again.

"The Force guides those two, taking them where most needed. Join our cause, did they not?" Master Yoda said gently, no doubt reminiscing about his padawan.

"Only when Corellia did, let's not forget. And now the Green Jedi of Corellia stay home, as advisors to their generals, instead of leading the armies of the Republic" Master Ki-Adi-Mundi said with a thinking pose.

"The Altisian Iron Knights of Dweem also declined to respond to our calls, and said they're will be better suited in the reconstruction effort, after the war" Mace Windu said displeased.

"A great dishonor, to those Shards and their Master Aqinos, we did. Excommunicated they are, are they not?" Master Yoda asked softly, his gaze passing from a council member to the next.

"Heresy it is, the meld of the force with technology. They are lucky we didn't cut them down already" Master Saesee Tiin added his opinion.

The Jedi Masters nodded in approval, before moving on the next crisis, the First Battle of Kamino .