Commenor system, Pef Galactic Empire

Celestial Throne, a small artificial moon.

Redbox, a secure level inside the Pef Intelligence skyscraper

13 BBY

"I understand Emperor. Can't bring my daughter at work with me...not for a few years..." Triumvir Isard muttered with a sheepish look.

"Don't misunderstand Triumvir. I am certain she will be great one day. But children should experience childhood, if possible. Make friends, go on trips, jump from trees or play with droids or dolls. You're building a sociopathic subordinate, not raising a daughter, right now." I explained patiently.

Took me a while to realize what went wrong with Jaybo, and almost missed it. Not really, but my early training left him a bit marked. But now he has Lando as a buddy, and Han Solo will join their nefarious adventuring group soon.

Along with Ysanne Isard and Sabine Wren and a few others. The next generation of heroes of the Empire.

"I sort of hoped for Ysanne to reach a detailed understanding of the intelligence work. And perhaps get noticed by your Avatar..."

he answered with a cautious tone.

"Indeed, and you almost succeeded Mister Isard. She would have got you killed and taken your place. And should have known better, this type of conditioning is what creates child soldiers and then assassins. And I do not lack for orphans in this galaxy." I answered with a flat voice, returning to the holoprojector.

The Hutts were shrinking rapidly, as their clans were concentrating in their core worlds, trying to save whatever cash and power they had left, and learning to order droids around, instead of slaves.

Didn't work quite as well as I'd like, with more scummy hutts allying themselves with the remains of the Black Sun and various pirates, especially in wild space and thousands of asteroid belts, mostly in the south east of the galaxy.

"OKay then, I hope this change of scenery will do her some good. Now, about the informant network in the south east, it's not as extensive as I'd like. The Bothans are actually working against us..." he complained, still tapping on his datapad.

Gonna have to replace that with something less conspicuous. But, Jaybo and Ysanne both will benefit from learning at the prestigious campus on Zeltros. Perhaps the other three as well, who knows?

"Yes, I know. Especially against their oppressors, as most of the Galactic Empire was perceived in the Mid Rim and beyond.

You will be happy to know I kinda own 32% of the bothan spynet, and this percentage will only increase as my Third Hand replaces more cell leaders with his own people. It's just a matter of money and a common enemy, in this case the Hutts. With every raid carried on Hutt operations, certain people get replaced, while slavery becomes less profitable" I said with a hint of amusement.

"Oh. That's...very good. I wish I had thought of that myself" the man exclaimed with a hint of amazement and envy.

Yep, only hints in the voice tone, as a sign of delicate symbology. The games we played were quite subtle, after all.

"Any hints of more killik infiltrators into various insect races?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Possible five more, although it's difficult to say. Thyferra and Roche appear to be the killik main targets. Although I don't understand how they bypassed our blockade..." Isard said with a shudder.

"They obviously had a hidden colony somewhere, and got to a passing ship or perhaps built one. There are other possibilities, but I doubt them." I mused, revewing possible cretins who would help the killiks voluntarily.

"The Jedi, or some other force cult, perhaps captured. The Chiss trying to stir trouble, or perhaps another race in the region. Or a traitor, from our own navy. Pirates hiding low, and getting caught. Dozens other possibles from various bleeding hearts societies..." My Third Hand said wisely, decloaking on the other side of the holomap table.

"Miss Fay is strong enough to break the Joiner bond by herself. Yoda as well. No, it's a lower ranked force adept. Most likely a young witch or a someone similar. I'll do a search later, but my guess is planet Tenupe. There was a small killik colony there, in the other future." I said with a suffering sigh.

It never ends, does it?

Always having to be vigilant and fixing whatever stupid things other people do.

Gonna have to break out the contingency weapons already?

'Don't do it Pef. It's not worth it...plus you already have two less damaging solutions' Solana replied in the Voice bond, showing me images of Gand and Solanus.

Thanks love. Damn my preconceptions. I didn't need guns and tanks or chemicals or exotic weapons. Comets had ice and ammonia, while insects needed to breathe.

And I already used this type of environment change to subdue the Geonosians partially, in the clone wars.

'Open secure link to hypernet terminal. Encrypt message to Admiral Thrawn NW Command. Killik hives possibly present on Tenupe, upon such presence confirmation, oceanform it, and every infested planet. Relocate up to ten thousand survivors to Woteba, and depart to Csilla with sufficient inventory to integrate the Exploratory Fleets. PS: marry a dozen or so syndics, but leave a few for Avatar.' I sent after a minute of silent deliberation.

Enough time wasted with lasers and masers and low level toys.

We had enough ships now to liberate the entire galaxy once they began spreading out.

I had obeyed the rules of the game for too long, going slow and patient.

The Core will get to go ahead to start creating the next generations of warships, using Ardanium from planet Questal to increase the reactor output by two magnitudes, and Duranium from planet Kriekaal for the hulls.

The entire planet was made of duranium, so there will be plenty metal even for 50 meters thick plates of armor, more resilient than the 1 kilometer of iron shells of the Hammers.

And we already knew how to make weapons like the Solar ionization cannon and Proton beam cannon which were three magnitudes stronger and fired continous beams as the guns fire protons not photons, which are the particles that make light and have nearly no mass, so they are heavy and pack a punch. And kept firing for as long as necessary, or the hypermatter fuel was depleted.

The next generation of ships will have the 0.5 hyperdrives, the 4S shields and also cloaking and gravity and mass generators, along with the hyperspace motivators and immersion fields required to ignore the dovin basals of the Vong.

And they would be just a bit larger than the Nebula I and smaller than Nebula II that I made from the Venators.

Exactly 1000 meters long, while the height and width of the reactor chambers gave it the other dimensions, thus three separate reactors, for engines, shields and weapons, about 150 meters in diameter. Let's add two more smaller backup reactors, for life support and sensors and for secondary weapons and the bridge.

The sublight engine technology hasn't progressed far enough, but adding 9 more engines to the usual 6 engines of the Nebula

should give the ship enough acceleration to keep up with the frigates escorting it.

And I could export some duranium and ardanium to the Mon Calamari, as they came up with a MC-60 Star Cruiser variant of their own. Not exactly what I asked to, but good enough, once upgraded with better armor and reactors and weapons.

And I could also upgrade the already existing MC-80 cruisers of which I already had about 2000.

Yeah, two more years for the upgrades and the first cycle of new battlecruisers, and then it was time to chase after the Vong.

Waiting for them to finish mapping the galaxy and colonizing whatever many planets in preparation for a galactic invasion was not my game anymore. In two years, most of the west will be pacified, allowing the heavies to be stationed at all the major lanes intersections, as well as the populated planets.

And these fast and even deadlier Nebula III will go after the Vong.

"Had an epiphany, Nebulous Emperor?" my third Hand asked amused, sipping a shot of brandy, while Isard looked a bit pale.

Huh, must have thought out loud again...

"In two years we'll have 200 thousands Hammers, not just 100 thousand. Double the approximate strength of the Vong, and only needed in defense operations. I'll see about adding a proton beam battery to each of them, and the Meteors, just in case. Anyway, my friends, begin your own preparations and instruct our agents to be vigilant and how to recognize the Vong infiltrators." I demanded in a more serious tone.

"How can you make the new ships, and still construct the old ones? And finance the modernization of the Navy too, while expanding even more rapidly. There must be a trillion shipbuilders past Junkfort, working in secret..." Isard muttered with a concerned voice. Yep, just not the kind of workers you're used to.

"Indeed there are, Triumvir Isard. Just not organics. That example my Avatar said, in the Senate...it was not just a fable. Imagine a planet engulfed in deadly radiation, where nothing lives. And yet, ardanium will get stronger and droids can work even faster.

Still, you do have a point. We will need thousands more factories for the new weapons and reactors components. We'll need to evacuate the lower levels of all the big planets, and send the displaced people elsewhere. Coruscant will be a good start, but there are dozens more such worlds, death traps for any single Vong bioweapon. So you know what I'll do for the next year, to save up on transport? I'll parade the big worlds around the galaxy depositing 20 billion people at every stop, and create a thousand more trade nexii. Hmmm, three new star systems every day, for a year...see how hard I have to work, just to build the infrastructure for the next war?" I complained rhetorically.

I was going to do it anyway, but now I had a motivation.

And something to do. Just managing the spies and the politics wasn't enough, I just had to embark in the most ambitious colonization program ever.

Dispersing trillions of people on new planets, while making sure to give each world enough economy and genes balance to prosper.

At least I found a multitude of blackholes in the Tyus Cluster serving no purpose but to slow down traffic. They could be dispersed in a radial pattern around the galaxy, and give me dozens more energy refineries while also flattening hyperspace for dozen secondary trade routes, and enlarging them to super hyper route standards.

It would just take me a week of work and careful manipulation of S thread boosters and tractor beams, for every new route.

But distant and hard to reach worlds like Iskadrell could be brought into the greater galactic civilization, simply by tracing a blackhole from Brevost system to it.

Then a bit of neural and cybernetic education for those Iskalloni cyborgs, and they'll be perfect factory workers. And they did have interesting genes as well, allowing rapid healing and integrating metal with their bodies.

Malagarr system, Pef Empire

Diamond Cube

12 BBY, first month

'The ardanium mining will destroy at least 30 percent of the ecosystem, no matter how careful I am, Emperor. However, for the duranium there's no such problem any more. I see you have already carved the whole planet up into 1 meter and 50 meters thick plates....' Core said after examining my words for a minute.

'I know my friend. We'll deplete the aradnium mines, and then I'll rebuild the ecosystem back and place the planet in Lianna system.

I kinda want to extract the most of this mineral, so I can power up a million Nebula warships and Titans. Maybe the Swordbanes if there's anything left. Too bad we can't actually synthesize ardanium with transmutation.' I replied with an inner frown.

Most of the exotic elements defied material synthesis, which was most likely not a failure of technology, but an artefact of how this part of the universe worked.

Even belskar or cortosis refused to be created artificially, although their formation process should have been similar to all other metals, through fusion inside a star.

'And you don't want to use the Force, and alchemically transmute it?' The AI wondered with the wrong emote again.

Or maybe not. A red lightsaber was possibly the right emote, in this case.

'Anything the Force can do, science can do too. We just need to know more. Much more...' I answered with a white flag emote.

'So you did succeed after all. Which one?' the Core asked happily.

'Belskar or mandalorian iron. But only in Mandalore system. The process is still a form of solar ionization, just like the new reactor and weapons. It just needs the Force for some reason. Also, Force scribing on cortosis doesn't work, but it does on duranium, creating a micron thin layer of impervium for about 3.14 centimeters around the letters. So that's our maximum caliber for the proton beam guns we'll use from now on.' I said, thinking back on the last three weeks of fruitless experiments.

'So, there are rules after all, Emperor Pef. You just need to form a theory, then keep experimenting, just like I am' my Eighth Hand replied with a happy smile emote.

'I'm certain there are a few rules, especially when they touch upon the very small subparticles. Just like with quantum locks, they work on organic matter or derivatives like plastic, but not on metals. They work on some kinds of glass, formed from force resonating sand, but not on normal glass or transparisteel.' I concluded with another white flag.

Whatever material was even remotely imbued with the Force, was separated from normal elements by a barrier we could not pass. And I wasn't certain it was worth to keep insisting. Somewhere, there would be a red flag being raised at my actions anyway.

'But entropy fields can cover an entire ship, and do almost the same thing. I am building such a field for my cube right now. Only problem with it, you have to give it a consumable energy cell to draw from, or else you'd be stuck inside for a long time...' the AI complained, with the emote of an angry bear.

'Just keep refining the energy requirements for a small craft like a Reaper starfighter to use it for 10 seconds. They could become an unstoppable object and pierce the dovin basals of a Vong worldship, if our warships won't be enough. I'd like to test our weapons on that worldship parked north of Birgis.' I demanded with a fist emote.

The AI replied in kind, punching the sky virtually. 'That task will take me at least three months, Emperor. Also, the Jedi minds inside me want to see the girls they left with you...' Core answered without any emote. Didn't even care then.

'My Avatar...is exploring the galaxy. And the girls stayed on Gand in the garden, and study AI tech at the Zero university. When he returns, he'll come visit, with the former Altisian Jedi. Might take him a few months, there are plenty nice places to visit, and people to meet...' I demurred and declined politely.

'I can see the news myself, you know that Emperor. His state visit in the Hapes Cluster was the talk of the galaxy for weeks. Masterful work there, unlike the usual Avatar. He even gave back their Queen Lady Ta'a Chume Greyshade, after a few weeks. Just a bit more married and pregnant.' the Core commented a bit amused.

Well, she was called Queen Mother now, so it was only proper to actually be a mother.

The former Queen Ni'Korish was a known jedi hater, and most of Hapes took after her.

Not unreasonable sentiment, just for the wrong reasons. The ancestors of the Hapes Consortium were pirates, and the Jedi wiped the males out about 4000 years ago, leaving the women to carry on the new life.

The women blamed the men and the Jedi for their new dilemma, without considering the real causes.

I just confiscated all their ships, then had the Avatar stroll in, pretending to be a pirate. Worked great.

Now, back to the Nebula V variant, produced by the Core AI.

'So, how many proton batteries can we actually fire at once?' I asked Core with a tinge of trepidation. Power calculations promised over ten guns, but I wasn't 100 percent sure.

These reactors were three times stronger than what the Eclipse super star destroyer would have had.

'If the reactors do not overload, and the power conduits are lined with impervium, then 6 batteries. Using all three main reactors. But more realistically 3 or 4 batteries. In fact, it's risky to even mount more than 3 batteries. Some idiot organic might fire them at once, and explode the ship...' the AI explained with disdain.

'Indeed, perhaps it be better to mount just two baterries on every ship. Better use more ships, and cover more volume. Two twin linked batteries mean four superlasers anyway. Or proton beams. Whatever. We'll use the Diamond boron missile launchers for self defense, and gatling masers to mop up the smaller fries. Five gun barrels, for medium masers, and

twin linked magamasers.' I mused, going over the design again.

Now, the only question was, how to use the solar ionization beams? They'll be much less effective against the Vong, same as lasers and turbolasers. Even tank mounted infrared lasers didn't do much against the Vong bioarmor.

Their ability to bypass energy shields completely, was also wasted on Vong vessels, since the Vong used bioarmor and gravity fields for defense. Sad, I know.

We'll have to use them in the south, against the Nagai and Tof and the other invaders.

'Luxum, how long untill Orax can build Nebula destroyers?' I asked my Shard Voice, over the bond.

'Two years perhaps, but possibly five years. We're now building corvettes and frigates. The cruisers will follow next year, and when we master those, we'll have the experience to try destroyers. Not everyone can assemble starships with their minds like you, Pef' she replied with a tinge of envy.

Okay then, no miracles for my crystal friends. Just hard work.

'No problem. I'll bring you a billion tonnes of duranium and a thousand tonnes of Ardanium for your frigates. Just remember, the more things stick out of the hulls, the more leverage a tractor beam has to grab and rip the ship appart.' I replied with a sigh.

The Shard ships were quite pointy and irregular, much the older Calamari ships abused blisters and ovals. And also had some kind of solars, or hangars, where the crystalline crew could bask in the light of a sun, at least once a day.

There was something here, a mystery. Too many things used the suns' light to make things happen, from exposing metal cores of planets to create hypermatter, then solar ionization reactor and beams, then iron needing the sunlight of Mandalore to transmute into belskar...and even the Star Forge that the Rakata made.

And then Solanus, the sentient ocean, needed just sunlight to live...

'You will find out why, eventually, son of suns. Be patient and learn. ' Solana sent with a hint of amusement.

That's not what it means, does it? Can suns have kids?

Redforge system, Pef Empire

12 BBY

All the old models of Meteor I and II as well as the Meteors III and Mountains have been recalled back to Redforge system, to undergo their last modernization this decade. Not at once, but in waves of nine, going from the older models first.

The hulls get hollowed out even more, leaving them with just one kilometer of iron armor, then they get plated over with 50 meters of Duranium armor, get their reactors inner cores plated with Ardanium, and receive a nine more decks for troop transport and their vehicles. Thus effectively doubling their armor durability, while reducing the ships' mass by 30%.

With the increase in reactor power a thousand times, now they can all achieve 2.0 hyperdrive speed and 31 MGLT speed with subight engines, while becoming a new class of multirole ship. I guess I can called them Mountain II, to keep the names easy.

One deck for carrier operations can host and launch one million starfighters, while the other decks can carry droid factories and tank factories and various other component factories, and a billion war droids ready to go, instead of just 10 million.

One meter of Duranium armor is added to every ceiling, to increase the internal strength and prevent decks being collapsed by combat damage or extra weight. Also Duranium bulkheads every kilometer, to contain explosions or fires should something bad happen inside.

We don't actually have the inventory to arm and equip all these extra droid divisions, but that's what the on-board factories are for.

They will simply produce all the droids and war equipment they need, and replenish their loses locally. Can't count on the Vong to have droid factories to take over, like in the war with CIS.

Core is also installing a fork of himself on a third of these ships, to act as a high level administrator and logistic support for every fleet, like his children, in a way. And also to counter possible cyber viruses and bioweapons rendering the organic crew dead or worse. Don't want a Katana fleet repeat on my tactical assets, do I?

Plus having an AI direct starfighters in fleet engagements is quite a boon, as my Admiral Natasi Daala Greyshade has confirmed with her on AI, the Will.

Her Manta dreadnaught will receive upgrades as well, making it able to reach 3.0 hyperspeeds and 20 MGLT, which for a 50 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide warship is very good.

Sadly, there's simply not enough new megamasers and medium masers in the whole galaxy to simply replace 80 millions of their older heavy batteries, and the same for the medium guns, so that will have to happen locally as well.

Every upgrade these ships will receive in the future will be made on board, and spare me this hassle.

You want more missiles? Just make more. Out of MAC rounds? Even easier to fix.

That means I have to build megamaser factories and medium maser factories on each of these ships, and increase the organic crew to twenty thousand, just to oversee the factories, and pilot of dropships and fire the guns...

Still not as bad as the Imperial Navy would had been, with their 20 thousand Imperial star destroyers, packing 47 thousand people on a ship only 1.6 kilometers long and 1 kilometer wide. Now I will have 20 thousand Mountain II dreadnaughts, packing 20 thousand crew each, on a ship 16 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide internally, and 20 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide on the exterior.

See, I did in fact replace the Imperial II with the Mountain II in role and function, even if these new ships have a thousand times the firepower and planetary invasion forces. At least that, but possibly more.

I'm also upgrading the sensors and the power conduits, especially for the gravity well generators and the engines, but also for the new solar ionization beams and proton beam weapons.

Man, I'm so glad I thought of this from the start, and made my main ships large enough to support all these upgrades, while the iron that is left over, can be used for ammunition in case of MAC guns, and building material for factories and droids and other equipment.

I'm sure one day, someone will get smacked by a leftover MAC round which missed its target and kept going.

Possibly the dinosaurs back home, since they didn't have planetary shields. Nah, just kidding.

The rounds don't travel at hyperspeed or even at lightspeed, so they'll need trillions of years to reach another galaxy. But it does explain why some planets get hit randomly and disappear in this galaxy. With so many wars fought in the past, and so few planetary shields till now, it was inevitable that weapons fired long ago would eventually smack into a planet.

Won't happen anymore, I hope, since the Pef Empire policy is to install double planetary shields on every inhabited world, and ten shields and various planet to orbit guns on the large populations or important worlds.

Makes casual orbital bombardment a bit harder, and random accidents or space events, like comets and novas at least survivable, for the time it takes me to reach Centerpoint and yank the planet away.

Plus the whole quarantine thing becomes much easier as the new shields can also block outgoing traffic.

It won't stop a powerful force user, or a large fleet, but those are quite easy to notice when they act.

And for those, that's what I am for. I can't be everywhere, but I can be anywhere I have eyes on, with hypernet relays or force scrying or a Navy ship in vicinity.

The upgrades will take a few months, as ships rotate from throughout their bases in the galaxy, and I do have to intervene whenever a World Senator makes a grievance to my office on Commenor.

'Our planet is going through an ice age, killing all life on the surface!'

'Our sun is too close and our lives are miserable. Plus a few factories and shipyards would be welcome...'

'The local wildlife is attacking'

'The droids are revolting!'

'An asteroid is heading our way!'

'We want a better hyperroute...and more immigrants...'

'Take your droid armies away, we don't need no Empire'

'A plague has broke out, and our people are dying'

'Earthquakes!'

'Floods!'

'Too few men'

'Too few women'

'There can be only one Godking, and it's not you!'

And so on, and on.

Sure, I don't just run around on demand, sometimes a Voice or an Assassin can solve the problem with a kind word and a gun.

But shifting planetary orbits and creating hyperroutes is more delicate.

And dealing with the knowledge I obtained from the Chiss Ascendancy through Thrawn much more delicate.

We have reached Crakull in the west, the Croke homeworld. And they'll be useful as allies, but for now it's a state of cold war, with our fleets interdicting their worlds, while guarding them from the Lugrubrra and other such threats.

But much worse, is that the Chiss knew the location of Mugg Fallow , the residence of the Mnggal-Mnggal. The grey sludge that formed the being's body covered almost the entire planet, with only lifeless continents and the remains of fossilized trees visible. Mnggal-Mnggal filled the planet's former oceans, and ran across the continents in gray rivers.

A fleet of derelict ships formed a ring around the planet, their origins ranging across millennia. Mnggal-Mnggal used its mind-controlled zombies to pilot the ships there as macabre decoration, with Gree sailships between the thousand other vessels forming a grim carousel around the planet.

It's an evil version of my friend Solanus, a sentient ocean of a sort, strong in the Force but utterly mad and insidious.

And his vectors, somewhat akin to what Solana is, are infesting the nearby worlds, and taking over organics and machinery with ease. Too much ease in fact, and a bit scary to tackle.

Almost like a sentient mecha-deru virus. Which it probably is, created by some mad force user, like a Rakata.

It will take a while till our own research on molecular weapons like Gravitic polarization beam and Metal-Crystal Phase Shifter is advanced enough to use agaisnt such a monster.

And exposing Solanus to it is too risky. As is my Centerpoint station. We simply have no idea how strong in the Force this thing is, but I have to assume at least as strong as Solanus.

For now we'll deploy a network of Hyperspace nullifier satellites far beyong the Oort clouds of the systems infested with Mnggal-Mnggal and try to prevent it spreading further.

And also saving planet Seymarti V from complete destruction, like it happened in the other future, due to Han Solo...man, why was that guy a hero again? Palpatine only blew up one planet. Han Solo obliterated a dozen, just by being there.

Well, at least now that I have found the boy, his brain is being neurally remodeled to obey the laws, even if his love of luxuries and women and adventure have to stay. I mean, I kinda like the same things, so it's fair.

Huh, I hope Jaybo can keep a leash on him...and start making out with Sabine already. I know working on that AT-DP Arc Cannon Prototype together is quite fun, but you're on Zeltros for Force's sakes.

Live a little, my son!

Maybe Han Solo and Lando will be a good influence on the boy, taking him away from the lab and to more parties...probably not. At least I have Ysanne Isard as my agent in that group, so she can work her willes and seduction techniques on Jaybo, who serves as a rather frustrating seduction target for her.

In fact, since Jaybo has chip in his brain let's just tell him. 'Jaybo Grayshade. Ysanne and Sabine are your future wives. Do go dance and drink and have fun with them. And that's an order. At least four hours per day'

The boy blinked a little confused, as Sabine was chattering something about power projecting and energy, her face side by side with his, just ten centimeters away. And as he turned, their lips touched accidentally...

After a minute of blushing and embarrassment, they tried it again, on their own.

Finally, something went right! I was starting to lose hope.

Now, let's continue the work on personal weapons, using the Pulse-wave blaster and the N-416 Heavy Sonic Crusader guns for a basis.

'Well done Pef. I want our son to be happy' Wialu whispered in the Voice bond.

'I'm still on Sedri for now, but once I'm done here, I'll go visit Zeltros and congratulate the new couple' Solana said with some amusement.

The Golden Sun made the planet appear as a star on sensors, but I knew better. Another strong force user, even if it was a coral polyp. Will mesh with Solanus just fine.