Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Gandia, the first Gand city

20 BBY

I can be generous, I said it many times.

Which is why I made Gandia a dream city, with parks and waterfalls and skyscrapers. Enough room for 20 million people, when the whole Gand race is 1.7 millions.

The tall buildings are made of quadranium steel and diamondoid windows and are plated with 10 centimeter plates of real gold.

The most modern droid chefs and medidroids, state of the art holonet and holotheaters, repulsorlift trains and 20 million jacuzzi baths, in every home.

10 spaceports and 10 planetary shields. 50 million droids, and two Mechanized Legions stand ready to defend my first friends.

And now, 9000 males and 1000 female Gands, which have completed their flash memory training becoming explorers and starship captains await in the Aurodium Plaza, plated with real aurodium of course, to receive the greatest gift. The Force.

I hope I don't have to do this individually, but I'll do it if I must. This only take a single partition anyway.

My AI mind is working continuously on a thousand tasks, and monitoring the galaxy in real time through hyperspace emitters.

"My loyal subjects. Your Immortal Emperor remembers his debts. When he was weak and feeble, your Findsmen found him and rescued him. When your heroic predecessors, the Hundred Explorers, gave their lives to create the Dream, I was there and I remember. When the evil corporations started the war on freedom and liberty, I was there. And many Findsmen or officers lost their lives winning the war. Now, we are victorious. But we must not forget, that other evil beings hate liberty, and will come for us, sooner or later. Will you let them take the Dream away?" I proclaimed rhetorically.

The Gand before me clicked and hissed in denial. No lungs or vocal cords for most of them. They sort of needed the Force, and gene alter to modify themselves. A few had adapted naturally, but we could give nature a hand.

"Indeed, fresh graduates. We will not give them our freedom. Now, who wants to live forever?" I asked grandly, holding the Ragnos scepter in front of me. Everyone? Good to know.

Start with test subject 00001 and autorun.

Sigh, still only individual activation.

This will take 3 hours at least.

Now what else is happening out there?

Corruption and collusion on Centares? Arrest the big guy, fine the other 44 people involved. 30% of total wealth, each.

Be more careful, next time.

On Gibbela our droids were torn to shreds by the locals and turned into plows and pots.

Sigh. Sent a Titan and a few Servants on flying platforms, outside the range of those claws.

The Vong will have similar shapeshifters, so it will give my Titan a good test.

On Nam Chorios, a native is not what he seems. The Plague became sentient and created a humanoid shape as a vector. It is a droch genetically altered by Beldorion the Hutt. His torso and fingertips are covered in razor-sharp toothed orifices. He has the same ability to leech life. And spread the infection.

Calls himself Dzym . Kriff. If he gets of the planet, trillions will die. Or everyone.

Test every non-lethal munitions, then increase damage, up to 50 megatones. I hope I don't have to glass the planet...

Hey that was a Tsil focused beam! Good to know you're helping, guys.

906 people on the spaceport are dead, 4 kilotons of proton bombs and some 300 Tsil force beams.

It looks dead, but shoot it again my droids. Till tomorrow.

And no more spaceports, till we cure the plague. Air drops of food. Damn it, who makes this kind of things?

'I didn't sense anyone like that Pef, when I killed that dark hutt.' Asajj said at once, with some panic.

'It's like the Vong love. You have to sense what should be there, but it's not.' I explained patiently, moving to the next and the next planet.

Aha, planet Obredaan . The Imps are sniffing around, testing the waters to see if we want the cortosis deposits or not. Decloak and destroy the corvette. Let the Venator run.

Launching V-19 fighters? Okay, blow it up, and bring me a few ionized V19. They have good engines.

And claim the mines, of course. Cortosis is a strategic Empire mineral, to craft Baneblades and Titans and Terminator power armor, not toys.

Planet Ord Tessebok is unclaimed, and has 3 billion people? Most of them refugees?

Most excellent. We need engineers and miners. Start training the refugees, and keep the biometric scans active.

Less than one in a trillion people are force-sensitives. But with refugees, the chance increased a thousand times.

The lucky ones are usually favored by the force.

Planet Selnesh ...nothing there, except a cool name. Mining and shipyards then.

And yes, we claim planet Orinda . It is a great planet. Land and oceans and all.

What else?

Ah. My Avatar is on Shili.

And Alicia...T&I center? Really Palpatine?

'Triumvir Arnold. Leave no survivors on this op. Start jamming ImpSec now' I ordered over the Pefnet.

'HK-47 wants a Terminator armor when he succeeds.' the triumvir said a bit amused.

'If he succeeds. Assume the place is rigged to blow. And make sure it does, after.'

'Most commendable, Droid Emperor. I estimate about 6 thousand prisoners in the cells. What do we do with them?'

'The same thing we always do, my friend. We save them, teach them, and then send them to fight' I answered with virtual shrug.

'I'll keep an eye out for suitable damsels, happy to be rescued. The Avatar can't have the second place in the harem race. And I do have 6 eyes as well.' the Culexus droid said smugly.

I know you do Arnold. I made you, after all.

'You're a good friend, Arnold. But don't give HK-47 shatter guns again. They make a mess' I said with a cringe, as another wall was sprayed with brains. Kill them softly, damn Sith droid!

'He likes it that way. Not everyone is as subtle as you, most exalted Emperor' Arnold replied amused, snapping two necks at once.

"I know my sociopath friend. I'm a misunderstood genius. Now tell me, does it work?'

'Most of the times, surprisingly. Come with me if you want to live? How gullible are these organics?' My Assassinorum droid named Arnold complained, while puffing sleep gas, then cutting off heads and eviscerating guards and torturers, invisible and silent.

Hk-47 instead... He made lots of noise and explosions of gore and guts, sometimes impaling a guard with the spine of another.

Sigh. He really has too much fun being invisible.

Planet Gand, Pef Empire

Celestial Throne

20 BBY Next day

The Altisian cruiser school Chu'unthor has finally arrived. Took them long enough.

And sorry, but you have to surrender the lightsabers, as you step off the ship.

Damn it, I so want to dismantle their ship and rebuild it. Class 4.0 hyperdrives? My Meteors are 1000 times heavier and can do 5.0

A few pretty ladies, as expected. Callista Masana for one, but Ash Jarvee is nice too. The force shines through them, like soft sunlight through flowers.

These are the heretics? The cast outs from the Order? I want a million more.

The men are subtly different too. A gray haze, the alignment shifted. But still, no babies on their ship, only padawans.

"Welcome to the Celestial Throne. I am Pef" I said politely, inviting the delegation to sit at the Council table.

A hologram of the galaxy was lit above the table, with green glows over the Pef Empire space, and red arrows for incoming invasions. The Hutts and neutral systems in blue, and the Sith in black.

Made a scary story. We were not ready. No one was ready for the future.

" I am Jedi Master Djinn Altis , the..." he started saying, and saying the wrong thing.

"We know everything, Mister Altis. Your past and your future. Just yesterday, we stopped the galaxy dying once again, on Nam Chorios, this time. The plague took human shape and wanted to board a ship. What do you want, Mister Altis?" I asked politely, examining the delegation with a few Zeison Sha tricks.

They wanted repairs, then hiding away.

Then dying on Belsavis.

That place gave me the creeps.

"The droch plague...unbelievable. How did you stop it?" he muttered with dread.

"With weapons, of course, and the Tsil crystals helped weaken it with their force powers. Our droids are still busy incinerating the remains, and the bodies of those people that died next to it. Watch" I answered softly, replaying the event captured by my droids and starport security.

The playback lasted 7 minutes, and people could be seen dying as the droch leeched their lives to maintain itself.

"And the crystals helped, with those beams. I never knew they could do that" Geith Eris commented, after the playback ended.

"It's probably not dead anyway. Force plagues need different solutions than pure firepower. We may need to drop the planet into a black hole. That should cut the droch off from their power source" I mused, maybe a little loud.

"You're not sure? How could anything survive a black hole?" Callista asked confused. Duh, the Force can do anything.

"We make gravity altering plates and repulsorlifts and hyperdrives components from black holes. This type of technology is xenoarchaeology tech. Maybe a billion years old. Even the Celestials could play with black holes and make puzzles out of them. What about cultures a million times more advanced?" I answered with a suffering sigh.

My crystal self might be fine in a black hole too, though I didn't want to test that. Accidents happen.

"And the red arrows? More such things?" the last jedi asked, pointing at the red arrows on the hologram.

"Eh, extragalactic invasions are simple enough. Ships and troops. Only plagues are dangerous." I said gently, waving the map away.

I had 78% chance to stop them all, even now. In 10 years we'll be much safer. And in 30 years...99%

The rest was luck.

"Well, your Empire is certainly prepared, already heading off most routes of invasion. You used the Clone Wars to position your forces, for the future." Master Altis said after a few minutes of thought.

Of course, I did. I wasn't gonna beg for a starfighter and hope my torpedo hits the right thing.

And lose a quadrillion lives to wars. Stupid Jedi. And Sith. Damn it all.

"So, tell us, Mister Altis, what do you want?" I asked again, a bit harsher.

"I want the people on my ship to be safe. And learn...whatever I can. You likely don't even care about Palpatine..." he muttered with some doubt.

Of course, I cared. The galaxy needed a bad guy, and Palpatine was doing great.

"Well, our laws are simple. No flashlights, no evil ways. You kidnap a child or mind rape someone, and we'll dismember you, publicly. Miss Kuro trains some girls down on Gand, and Miss Fay is on Ruul with other jedi refugees. Kids under 13 stay with me"

I stated calmly, turning the holomap back on, and zooming in to watch Asajj kick ass at Kalee, and having her Titans stop those insects like bugs. Billions of bugs...

Huh. Maybe Triumvir Bond will like to help?

'That seems such a great idea. Freedom, but with bloodshed and stomping bugs. You're the best, Immortal Pef!' my faithful droid exclaimed with glee, and started selecting his most lethal operatives, to stop the flood of enslaving bugs.

"That battlefield...you're liberating Kalee?" Miss Callista said in wonder.

"Eh, training troops and tactics. A few billion slaver bugs make excellent testing grounds for my generals and new vehicles" I explained politely, noticing that the tracks of my tanks became clogged with insect limbs.

Make a note, increase tracks width by 20%. Should help with muddy terrain.

The shoulder lasers on the Titans needed more power, to slice chitin at first pass.

The masers worked okay. The Hellprojector...eh. Perhaps install a dial to turn it down when needed... Using it on units without heavy armor was overkill.

Proton torpedoes worked fine, but may need to increase the autoloader. Missiles too.

Too many things can fly in this galaxy...

But those armies, spreading out well over the horizon. They need to be thinned out. Some artillery units maybe?

Those proton cannons from the CIS should work. And sonic screamers, perhaps mounted on the medium tanks?

Two sonic guns, in a twin battery, amplifying the sound waves...

"Errrr. Mister Emperor? You're talking out loud and scaring the girls" the young Jedi Knight muttered, a bit embarrassed.

"Huh, you're still here, eh? So, you gonna stay or what?" I asked a bit curious, raising my photoreceptors towards the heretic.

"Well...with some reservation. Ruul seems quite far from here, and safer..." Master Altis mumbled, a bit weirded out. I know, I got a bit strange locked in here. And Ruul was indeed a reservation. Watching the Jedi in the wild...going to water themselves at sunset...but, I kinda liked Callista a lot. And Ash was nice too.

"You girls, go see Miss Kuro first. But be careful, she's really, really weird. And scary." I told them, while floating towards the door.

I get to see the famous Altisian cruiser! My fans on the Holodiscovery will be amazed, when I publish the documentaries next decade.

"He said Master Kuro is scary?" Ash whispered confused.

"What can scare this Pef? He's quite scary himself..." Callista murmured, in a low voice.

"I know. I have a bad feeling about this..." Ash said with a tinge of terror.

Eh, you'll survive. Possibly.