Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Celestial Throne

21 BBY

Planet Charros has fallen, as our blockade denied the CIS some crucial materials to continue building droids. About a dozen rare minerals are used in the construction of combat droids, and the planet used all their reserves building droids like crazy.

And Vulture starfighters too, trying to use them as mecha units, without armor or shields. Didn't quite work.

Of the 10 million droids we landed, we managed to lose 55 millions, 50 million of them freshly produced by the captured factories.

The CIS lost about 250 million droids, so I'm not too upset. The Scorekeeper is happy, and thus I must accept only 25 to 1 effectiveness, or 5 to 1 in absolute terms.

Kriff. Damn logistics broke my Dota game.

Let's hope the clone facilities on Saleucami will provide more entertainment.

Since Sora Bulq couldn't use his former base on the moon Ruul, in Sriluur system , which was sold to us by the Hutts, he had to continue his dark jedi work on Saleucami, creating Morgukaiclones in the magma caverns under Taleucema.

I think I should leave some mountain pass undefended though, so they can gain access to whatever materials needed for cloning.

Damn those Nikto clones are too effective against my droids. Guess I'll add their genome to the Astartes project too.

Even just one of them can destroy a thousand of my upgraded B11/p droids, those with pilot programming and reflexes, that I was so proud of. Oh well.

Time to create a melee patch as well. Version B11/p/m here it comes.

No, don't arm yourselves with sticks and stones ! Sigh.

Let's send the Canis droids and see how they do for a change.

Now we're talking! Chain lasers and missile launchers kinda trump spears and pistols.

Retreat! Don't kill them all, yet.

"You're fighting CIS clones on Saleucami?" Lira asked curious, her age about 16 now, and looking like a healthy Ashoka Tano.

I know she'll become even more beautiful and with generous proportions in a few months. I seen it before she died, actually. Only the slightly pointed ears change her looks, a little.

"Yes, my love. Trying to lose, in fact. My better droids are too effective for these times" I explained gently, hugging my maid with one arm, and closing the holomap with sadness.

Was I too clever for this galaxy?

'Ask your Hands, Genius Emperor, they'll set you straight soon enough...' Dora answered from Sanctuary.

Hmmm. It was time to send Lira there as well then. More Jedi or dark jedi will come snooping around. Better keep you alive at least a hundred years this time.

"Oh, I'm going to Sanctuary too? But, I wanted to see Peffy and..." my near-Togruta Voice exclaimed, then blushed.

"Try to learn mind-shield and hide in shadows first Lira Greyshade. Peffy will come back, once the Tion campaign is concluded." I spoke softly, patting her young bottom.

"He'd better. I'll be 18 by that time, so no more excuses" Lira added with a pout, then left to pack her things for the trip.

And as Lira left the throne room, another maid entered, positively exulting happiness.

Na-Jia. How to thank her for my birthday gift?

"My most adored maid. I heard a few hundred life crystals have vanished from a medical transport. I thought you're a rich and refined woman..." I said gently, lifting her up with telekinesis and spinning her around in a circle.

"It's in my nature, silly droid. If it's not welded to the floor, it's mine. And if it is welded, the floor can be stolen too" She answered with a naughty grin.

Okay then. I do have an appropriate gift.

"I'm thinking of creating a secret, no one knows about Seventh Hand. To lead my Fiscal Division..." I explained, as a droid appeared by her side with the latest generation of slicer helmet.

My maid demurred politely, caressing her long, violet hair. A single finger glided down my chest, poking my belly.

"You want me to collect taxes for you, tincan?" she mused with a frown, and blur of fingers. Gah, she stole the credit chip again.

"In..a certain meaning of that word. Collecting money from other polities, who forgot they need to pay taxes to the Immortal Emperor. Hutts, CIS, barons and Senators..." I explained politely, phasing two fingers and stealing my credit chip back, undetected.

Her eyes widened, as the exact meaning of her new job was realized in her pretty head.

"I see. I will need my own network, and spy satellites and cloaked ships. Shapeshifting operatives, and the best tactical and slicer programs money can buy. And perhaps more." she mused, deep in thought.

Only that? I already had 99% of her needs.

"The Third Hand will train you for the next 3 to 6 months. You're pretty good, but still an amateur. Stealing trillions of credits will be hard, but also very rewarding" I concluded, patting her round posterior, then placing her hand in my Third Hand's hand.

"She will possibly become a passable operative, and the bioneural implants don't even hurt anymore..." the Gand master said gruffly, probably annoyed I detected him again.

My maid tried to protest something, but the soporific patch already worked its magic and she fainted in the Black ops arms.

"Full mental conditioning then, Eternal Sabacc Emperor. For the Empire!" he added while pulsing a holografic mirror covered in mist and smoke. In a second, he vanished from my sensors.

That was new, alright. I'll have to figure out how he did it. Damn his trillion credit intelligence budget. They came up with the craziest ideas.

Planet Lianna, Pef Empire

21 BBY

"I sometimes can see the weak places in an opponent—shatterpoints where the unbreakable can be broken. They can occur in individuals…and in events."

―Mace Windu

The Jedi Council wasn't all that happy with my decision to keep the liberated planets as Empire protectorates.

Thus, a mean killing machine is now standing in front of me, his eyes glowing with righteous fury.

Master Windu.

I somehow doubt my cortosis armor will keep Peffy safe from his Shatterpoint ability.

It was too strong an ability, even when used by a maniac like Windu. If mandalorian iron armors could be broken in pieces, so would my own cortosis armor.

"Master Jedi, I see you are displeased with the result of this battle..." the Avatar spoke softly, pointing with his chin at the large screen which was used to simulate a window looking down on the planet.

Our droid and marine units were mopping up the remainder of the CIS droids, while the clones were embarking on their own Acclamator transport ships. Those that survived of course, not that many, after the force storms and the CIS tanks and bombers did a number to their numbers.

"Saving one planet wasn't important, mister Greyshade. Those starfighter factories were our objective, and they were sabotaged and destroyed. The Council doesn't care of collateral damage, not when the Republic is at stake. We need your big ships to help." he demanded with a slight tendril of force persuasion. No thanks.

"Our Empire is doing its best to help, wise Master. But our meager forces are stretched thin, battling the CIS on a dozen worlds.

Perhaps after we manage to pacify the Tion Cluster..." I said with a pulse of regret.

"And so I've heard. The Meteors could turn the tide of battles, why not lend us a few and help the Republic conclude this war, even sooner?" he wondered, trying to bend my mind to agree. Kriff. Jedi mindtricks.

"Please understand, Master Windu." I said politely. "These ships are all that stand between civilization and anarchy in this corner of the galaxy. Even with all the ships we have acquired from our Mon Calamari friends, they won't be enough to resist a concentrated attack by another large fleet like Dooku used to the north, especially if they have more of those hate beams." I explained calmly, gesturing to the holotable and replaying the first minute of the Dark Reaper encounter.

The Jedi zealot clutched his chest at that memory, as no doubt he had felt the Sith beam fire, like all the galaxy did.

"You should have left that task to the Jedi, mister Greyshade. Even with the training that you have received from Master Kuro, trying to fight dark Jedi is a foolish plan. Next time you might not be so lucky" he argued, almost convincingly.

"I have some degree of competence, esteemed Master. Your lightsaber is purple as well, is it not? Please, let me show you what I learned from Master Fay. And why plasma blades aren't that scary." I replied gently, taking off a glove and holding out my palm.

He blinked in confusion, since he wouldn't be certain what skills Master Fay would have.

"You want to fight me?" he asked, combative and angry at once. Whoa! Calm down, Mister no emotion.

"Oh no. Just hold the lightsaber and turn it on..." I answered, and damn he was fast, the weapon flying into his hand and being lit in a millisecond. Faster than me, for sure. I just took a step forward and grabbed the purple plasma beam with my naked hand.

And just stood there, swinging the beam side to side like a stick.

Ha, should have seen his face.

"Truly, there's no wonder Master Fay doesn't need a lightsaber anymore...Perhaps only Master Yoda is this skilled with Tutaminis and energy resistance, this complete..." he muttered, turning off his useless toy.

"Of course, I didn't have the time or the patience to learn velocities or forms from Master Kuro, since properly learning those would take decades, but working with energy was easy for me. And also Thought shield and Force resistance came pretty easy, and helpful, since it allowed me to defeat a handful of dark jedi already." I boasted, pretending to be proud of those achievements.

"Indeed, your mind is shielded well, for one as young as you." he admitted with a grimace. "So, the Pef Empire will occupy and keep these former Republic worlds from becoming CIS puppets...not that bad, for the duration of this war. But I also hear the Empire is expanding forcefully in wild space and the Outer Rim, even buying planets from the Hutts?" he demanded, now back to political scheming.

"In the past three years, our fleets have destroyed 30 thousand pirate vessels and liberated billions of slaves, Master Windu. These planets need to be defended, or the pirates and slavers will return. As for the Hutts...they would be a thousand times harder to fight than this CIS. They are still here, after 40 thousand years of crusades and devourings and thousands of failed attempts to restore civilization in that space. If buying planets saves us from avoiding another Ash World sector, we will do that, and help protect trade routes with diplomacy." I explained with a sterner voice, using the screen to show pictures from dozens of Ash Worlds barren of life.

"Ah, yes...you know your history, mister Greyshade. I did not mean for your new Empire to fight the Hutts. Not even the Republic would try it, for now. Just trying to reach a conclusion about your government and its policies. What worries the Jedi Council is the stance your Empire took, allying itself with Corellia, and following their actions, instead of coming to Coruscant for advice and guidance."

"About that, it's simple. The Diktat is the most enlightened government in the galaxy, and we model our policies after them. Also, Master Fay refuses to hear about Coruscant, and Master Zero...is mostly moody and harsh. She had me train with scorpions, you know? And sharks..." I explained with a smile at first, then a fake shudder. The scorpions and the sharks were rather cute.

"Ah...that. It's good you survived then. We knew of her harsh training methods..." he answered with a frown.

"Eh, the training works. Now, our own intelligence suspects another dark jedi is pulling strings from Coruscant, just as Master Fay claims. With access to all Republic intel, that individual might be dangerous too. What's worrying even more, is that CIS is creating their own clones, on planet Saleucami. A dark Jedi named Sora Bulq is leading that project, but the technology is very advanced, beyond anything our scientists are able to duplicate. Perhaps a few Jedi will be willing to cooperate with our ground troops and get to the bottom of that mystery?" I asked politely, changing the screen to captured images from the Saleucami battlefields, with millions of broken droids, and Nikto clones whirling about with cortosis spears.

"Those, are worrisome indeed. Your losses must be catastrophic going by the millions of droids already destroyed on the battlefield. I'll speak with the Council and send a dozen Jedi Knights to deal with those clones." he spoke with a rictus of hate.

Oh. Some kind of religious disagreement then?

"They all practice some kind of evil religion, Morgukai or something..." I added with a feigned shrug.

"I know of their death cult, mister Grayshade. They will be cut down soon enough. Let your commanders know to fall back and let the Jedi deal with this. Your troops would be better used to pin down CIS droid armies, not wasted by the millions." Mace Windu demanded as he turned to leave.

"All right then. Perhaps a few more than just a dozen Knights...those clones are very fast, and the spears made with cortosis as well" I hinted, tapping my armor's chest.

"Then I should go myself, and see how fast they truly are." The best swordmaster in the galaxy said with a tiny smile, his aura exuding anticipation and conviction. He had no doubt in his lightsaber skills.

My Avatar nodded, as I smiled inward. Well, then. You asked for it. Don't blame me if you die, Master Jedi!

Planet Saleucami, Pef Empire

21 BBY

Full evacuation of the capital is underway, every single civilian being transported to new cities on another continent.

Half of the planet is already under the Empire's full control, with Servants and construction droids and their Tactical droids (now with architect and engineering programming as well) building a galactic standard civilization far from the explosions and death cries on the battlefields.

The Umbara burrowing tanks prove very useful in planting seismic charges under the cloning complex, and even creating hidden tunnels for our black ops unit to steal some clone zygote and their advanced apparatus.

Very good tech to have for the Astartes program. We can even begin printing the first gene-seeds and start the first Astartes Legion soon.

Which is why my new Engineering Corps has hired a few most talented thousand of Chadra-Fan to work on the new Astartes armor, the Devastator Mark 3/1, alongside the Land Warrior prototypes.

The Terminator cortosis-laced armor that my Voices use now, is sadly too complicated and expensive for mass production, but a scaled down version, with some components created by Solanus on Sol IV, like regenerating life support, and toxic biofilters and laser and blaster absorption fibers will help too.

Only the chest and the faceplate will have Cortosis filament inserts. The less vital areas will have to do with Quadranium and diamondoid hexaplates. Still, the cost will rise at over 100 million credits for each armor. That's as much as a fully equiped Venator, just for one armor suit.

Sigh. Just a single Legion will cost me a trillion credits to armor them properly. If I wasn't this rich, I'd be crying right now.

They better be worth it.

The tiny Chandra are geniuses at miniaturization and redundancy, already going over the prototype designs and changing things here and there, every little component gaining additional functions and still meshing flawlessly with the entire armor.

Make a note, hire them all and export them to my every factory. Their planet Chad, was fated to suffer catastrophic floods soon, and wipe most of them out. I'll replace them with amphibious droids, to keep supplying the empire with milk and meat from the sea creatures they domesticated.

Just the tiniest neural programming was needed, to imprint advanced material science education and the Empire's laws.

Such a resource of genius and inventivity, the tiny rodents, and such a cruel fate. No more!

Planet Moorjhone could be shielded and showered with ice comets, and made a paradise, not a death world.

Planet Cardooine could be colonized properly, after the Chills disease was eradicated, and made a productive Fijisi plantation, with the 90% of the surface exploited rationally by droid woodcutters.

The Ri'Dar sentients from Dar'Or could be uplifted and trained to farm the Elix, instead of being hunted themselves.

Plus some of them could be recruited for the Exploration Corps, as flying scouts and recon units.

So many amazing species, neglected or even harmed by this harsh galaxy.

But not in my Empire. A few billion credits for a planetary shield and a space-station, and a new world would start contributing its unique values to the ever increasing...

'Just stop ruminating Pef, I have work to do, avoiding this Neti Master. He is quite skilled and very sensitive' Wialu muttered in the bond.

'He's not an enemy, my love. Talk to him when you find him alone, and you'll see. And you might learn stuff too.'

'Fine. But no pointed ears for me, if I die...' the Fallanassi Grandmaster complained in a resigned tone.

Back on Saleucami, the Jedi Knights begin dying one after another, since the Nikto clones were bred to kill Jedi.

More consular cruiser debark more and more Jedi, all sprinting at full speed forward, lightsabers in hand.

They finally have a worthy enemy to fight.

My droids have retreated some 20 kilometers away, After evacuating the capital.

And have found a blind Jedi Master, named Zao wandering the streets of the capital.

"The war is already won or lost as the Force wills. We are all leaves blown by its wind."

―Zao

Very wise and strong in the force as well, the old Veknoid Master.

But how to use him?

Forming a Jedi retreat, for those like him, who do not wish to take part in the wars?

On Ruul then, where a few more such defectors have gathered.

But, not yet. He could recruit those at Almas Academy and bring them with him, saving them from another wicked fate, at the hands of dark jedi and pirates.

Lanius Qel-Bertuk and Felanil Baaks had already invoked the Right of Denial and they would be almost safe on Ruul.

Once we finished placing planetary shields and ground to orbit ion cannons and lasers. And orbital defense platforms. And a fleet of warships. Yes, almost safe.

The fast cruiser carried Master Zao away, just before another Jedi Master, Oppo Rancisis entered the Saleucami system, bringing a clone division and twenty more Jedi Knights.

Hey, those clones have guns! that's cheating...

Oh well. Not like guns served my droids any good.

The fighting intensified on the ground, and another dozen Jedi died, for a similar number of Nikto clones.

Oh my! Perhaps bring more Jedi?

No, don't use walkers and long range artillery Master Rancisis!

Damn it. Now the clones have retreated into the catacombs.

Master Windu was only injured once, and has killed a hundred clones himself. Amazing with a lightsaber, really.

They're debating to use orbital bombardment? No!

Not on an Empire world you don't!

My Mon Calamari ships interpose themselves between the planet and the Venator star destroyers.

Your turn Peffy.

"Esteemed Master Jedi, this planet is inhabited and is also an Empire world now. If the Jedi cannot deal with the clones with conventional weapons, our droid armies will advance and do the job themselves. But we will not tolerate orbital bombardments and massive ecological damage, just because your skills with swords are inadequate" I told the Jedi on Saleucami.

Master Windu seemed a bit angry at my hologram, but I did warn him the clones were very fast.

"Very well, mister Grayshade. Let us come with a new plan, and wait for more Jedi reinforcements to arrive. I will lead the assault on the cloning complex myself, and end this threat, once and for all. I trained Sora, so I am a little responsible for his actions." Mace Windu acknowledged with a bit of regret.

Next week, 200 Jedi and 2 Jedi Council members entered the catacombs and dueled valiantly with their enemies.

But as Sora Bulq was finally slain by his former Vapaad Master, the insidious dark jedi plan was revealed, seismic charges exploding and creating a massive volcanic eruption.

The nikto clones and their pods, the Jedi and their clones, even the nearby walkers and Acclamator assault ships vanished in a huge terraton scale supervolcano.

A certain A'Sharad Hett will never become Darth Krayt.

His grand funeral pyre, was illuminating the ships in orbit, and creating a massive pyroclastic cloud, devastating everything for 300 kilometers.

Even the million B1 droids securing the perimeter were melted completely.

300% military casualties, and 0 civilians. I win.

Now, the burdened droid Emperor will have to go and clean up the volcanic ash, and perhaps collect a few souls...how strange I was already in orbit.

'Keep that Sora Bulq essence for me, greedy soulmate' Ventress hissed in the bond, as her ships were destroying another invasion fleet over Dathomir.

'Stop arguing like children. There will be 250 souls to collect and drain. I only want 20' Wailu added, not greedy at all.

All right then. Guess the Avatar can drain the soul snare with Windu then, and I'll get Battle meditation from Rancisis. An ability that boosted my fleets and weakened the enemies?

Not bad, for just a few billion credits.