《Star Wars, A Reincarnation Story.》


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1


    Reincarnation is hella boring. If by some unknown miracle, you can retain your memory you still have many years of growing and learning as a child. But in some even rarer miracles, reincarnation can happen a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.


    My name is Ban Bailo, or Bee Bee according to my new mother. In my two years of a new life, I''ve witnessed that this world and by extension this galaxy has a weird contradiction in its technology


    It''s both extremely advanced than what was in my previous life and yet looks cheap and simple. I had to get my hands on some and take a closer look. And with a giant chunk of luck, a harvest droid unexpectedly crashed and landed beside me


    These floating droids scanned the fields looking for weeds and vermin. That wasn''t important, the important thing was the droid didn''t have propellers or thrusters for lift. The droid just seemed to ignore gravity


    The brief look at the droid interior before I was pulled away by my mother showed just how simple the design was and only the power source integration stumped me


    There was very little to do. The entertainment meant for children didn''t grab my attention and the 3D projection that showed daily news while very impressive looked cheap with low definition. It amazed me that we had 3D holograms and yet very low-quality image projectors and collectors.


    Then the answers came all at once. A visiting robed man came and persuaded my family that I was special and needed training. Now I knew the kind of world and galaxy I was in. The weirdly clunky advanced technology, the holograms and the very good luck that allowed things that I wanted to land in my lap. This was a galaxy with the force, Jedi and probably the Sith.


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    It didn''t take long for the Jedi to take custody of me. Possibly through bribes or forced persuasion or appealing to my parent''s hopes, the Jedi had a lot of pull and respect, so much so that something like this was quickly resolved.


    It turns out I''d been using the force in small unintentional ways that had rippled throughout and this was how they had found me. And while the immense power of the force greatly interested me, it wasn''t the only thing.


    I left with the Jedi recruiter. The galaxy was a big place with many dangers, Something that I wasn''t keen on, and yet, I needed a starting point, a place to protect me.


    There was another problem, the date. When I witnessed Star Wars in my original galaxy the date in the story was always classified as ABY and BBY or to put it in words "After the Battle of Yavin" and "Before the Battle of Yavin". This was a huge problem because until the battle happened the calendar was completely different to what I knew. I couldn''t plan for events when I didn''t know when those events happened.


    I could wait for notable Jedi to turn up like Yoda but until that happened I was in the dark just like everyone else. There were three different calendar dates, possibly more, it was damn confusing and ultimately pointless without a reference point.


    Travelling to new worlds greatly excited me. Back in my first life, the furthest man had gotten was the moon and now I was going to eclipse that by a few thousand light years. My excitement was somewhat dulled when the transport ship that would carry me through the void was just a stripped-down old Shuttle refurbished many times. It looked like a Lego-made DeLorean.


    I wasn''t alone as I entered. Apart from the Jedi recruiter, there were three other children. Each one sniffing and holding back tears. Those poor blasters, this was a new adventure for all the children, including me but it was also the end of one family and the embrace of the Jedi institution. I was under no illusion that this whole transition wasn''t going to be a cakewalk.


    Travelling to Coruscant was dull, there was a lot of space and nothing to fill it. Even Hyperspace lost its attraction after watching it for hours on end. Only entering the Coruscant atmosphere broke my dozing mind with the amazing view of floating highways and buildings among the clouds. The technology used for the most mundane events was inspiring, I couldn''t wait to get my hands on it.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    As a youngling, training was at best mildly interesting and at worst, boring. Each day was the same as the last, meditation at least five times a day and studying rules, regulations, laws, customs and language.


    Some of the laws were worth studying as I could see loopholes and ways to take advantage but it was hidden behind a wall of lawyer jargon. I was able to power through it using the experience of my previous life and mentality of getting your work done, but I could see that the other nine children that made up the youngling clan I was part of would fall asleep or their minds would wander.


    Teachers were a mix of whoever was free at the time. So sometimes you would get a master and then other times it would be a padawan.


    It was fine, nothing special. No the biggest problem for me was mediation. I could do it but it felt like a waste of time, especially with how much they wanted me to do.


    I thought that this was going to be the cost of using the force and I was willing to pay it but it turns out that meditation was a tool to use for clearing and cleaning your mind of problems. Upset about something, time to meditate. Lost a loved one, the answer was to meditate.


    The Jedi''s answer was just to meditate. No wonder Jedi fell so heavily to the dark side when it happened. If your answer is to do nothing and cut yourself away from existence then when it goes bad you might break instead of bend.


    Nighttime was lonely, even for me. I could hear the soft sniffing of crying children. The Jedi did their initiates dirty. This was why the youngling was placed in a group in the hopes that they would adopt each other into a new family.


    It took me three days before I was sick of meditation and yet I would be a fool if I told any of my teachers. I could hear them in my head "Darkside this blah blah, dark side that blah blah" They would mark me as undesirable. If I was going to learn the force then I needed to keep it quiet and relaxed. I have to remind myself that the Jedi developed all kinds of force skills that could read my intentions and future actions through visions.


    I visualise an image where I place my un-Jedi-like thoughts in a box and lock them away. It was a shallow thought process and yet that was all I had. It most likely wouldn''t work but something that would work was a healthy dose of reason and realism with a dash of scepticism and humour.


    The first step I would take was to make sure I enjoyed myself. To do the things I wanted and make sure I didn''t regret my stay here. After all, being unhappy leads to annoyance. Annoyance leads to spitefulness, spitefulness leads to becoming a dick, and no one likes a dick. not even the dark side.


    So instead of meditating and driving my individuality out through the teaching of how a good Jedi should behave, I did it my way. I would study the things I wanted and avoid the things I didn''t want with no regrets.


    And yet, I was still just a child, even if I was a potential Jedi in the making I didn''t have access to shit. I wanted to visit the library and go through the data cards stored there. But of course, that wasn''t going to happen, Jedi rules of some sort.


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    The Jedi held certain beliefs and while they didn''t prohibit everything, they most definitely looked down on most things. It boggled my mind how the Jedi would use a lightsaber but look down on the mechanics of droid-making.


    The Jedi were just like a cult, the same as the Sith but with different superficial ideas, but at their core, it was all about the force.


    Six months of political studying was beginning to grind my nerves down. There was a whole galaxy''s worth of interesting things at my fingertips but the curriculum was still the same. The only thing that saved my mind from turning to mush was the designs that I had created using the very few blueprints I could find.


    And yet without resources to make my construction, it would stay on a data chip. It turns out the Jedi don''t give out an allowance to the younglings. A youngling doesn''t need cash was the opinion of most people, and it was true.


    Meditate, study, eat, sleep and maybe a couple of hours of playing child games with the other initiate. What a terrible life to live, I wasn''t going to meditate the long hours, I wasn''t going to play child games that offer no stimulation. Studying was becoming a drag without variety. The only thing left was sleeping and eating and yet the food here was plain. It wasn''t for the older students as they could go out for meals but that wasn''t an option for us. I''ll be damned if the only thing I could look forward to was plain oat porridge.


    One of the things I had to study was the layout of the Jedi temple as well as the names of the many statues that lined the halls. I used this to my advantage. I was aware that walking with purpose could allow a person access to many places that they shouldn''t be but a three-year-old walking down a corridor amongst battle-hardened Jedi stood out like a sore thumb. There was no way I would be left alone to my own devices, however, there was a different way, a way that the Jedi left clear.


    The droids that maintained the temple had their own passage. I found them when following a cleaning droid and now had an avenue to almost everywhere, including the kitchen or what the Jedi called the refectory.


    Food was prepared by droids for a vegetarian diet. The force was in all living creatures and the thought process was it would be wrong-ish to eat meat. So while eating flesh wasn''t banned it was looked at with questioning eyes. Others would say that eating flesh was part of nature and thus part of the force but those people would just eat out.


    The droids were cutting and pounding their ingredients ready for the next meal. I tried to get them to prepare something for me but they only took orders from the council. I suppose that was wise as any assassin could come in and order the food to be poisoned. If I wanted something good to eat then it would seem like I would have to do it myself.


    Standing on a box filled with orange-coloured cabbage, I created my first meal, fried salted mushrooms on heavily buttered toast. It tasted ok, not great but somewhat rich enough to make the dish acceptable. Cooking was hard when you only had the reach and strength of a three-year-old. It didn''t help that the actions of the droids were so precise and planned out that every space in the kitchen was filled with moving metal. Quite a few times I flinched when a droid came too close to my face with a pot, but never once did they hit me. That was the power of droids, precision.


    New, cheap or badly designed and constructed droids would fall apart when put into action but these kitchen droids were old and reliable. They had most likely been working here for decades, maybe centuries and the weak had broken down, while the strong continued.


    With toast in hand, I continued to explore. The droid pathways seemed to be fixed behind the walls of the Jedi temple. There were rooms now and again but no windows, this area was purely for the droids. Sometimes the rooms held nothing, other times I opened a door to be met with droids bathing in oil. That was an awkward few seconds as I closed the door slowly at the stares of said droids made me feel self-conscious.


    A room with non-functioning droids, a room full of atmosphere-controlled climate machines, a room that I didn''t even know what it was used for but it had a lot of boxes with blinking lights.


    This was by far, more interesting than meditating. I was even able to bypass some of the no-go areas that were blocked to me. I didn''t dare go too far down that path as I didn''t know if others could sense me. The droid pathway was a treasure trove of easy knowledge, it would be a waste if I was caught and the droid pathway was closed off to me.


    I returned to my room for a light nap before the history of the Hutts class started.

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    The quality of life has improved, not by much and yet it''s enough to make me quite giddy. Studying has splintered into new areas and instead of just learning political stuff I''ve been given free access to what I want.


    Still, this isn''t why I''m giddy. I''m four years old which means Force studies. The basics are "control, sense, alter."


    Control opens up the user to the force and allows me to interact with it but only within myself. Make myself faster, stronger or smarter, that was under the aspect of control.


    Sense is the next step. To be able to feel and use the force outside the body. The combination of possible skills under this aspect would make a great tracker, detective or bounty hunter. The skills allowed the user of the force to pick up information that should be gone in time.


    Alter would only be taught after mastering control and sense. It was a dangerous aspect of the force that would bend the force in different and sometimes unique ways but there were times that Alter could hurt the user. It was a shame, as the best and most interestingly useful skills were in this aspect.


    As well as training in the way of the force I and the rest of the Jedi Initiate had taken a trip to Ilum to gather our first Kyber crystal. Travelling there was a massive pain. That was the first time I felt meditation would have helped pass the time, instead, I was stuck on a ship with nothing to do.


    The Jedi handler was a Kel Dor. This alone didn''t matter as there were thousands of different species but the Kel Dor had a particularly strong connection to the force and great skill in telekinesis, and so when I saw the Jedi use his powers, many thoughts poured into my mind on just how useful this skill was.


    The rest of the trip was miserable. Ilum was a damn cold place covered in ice and snow where the Jedi made us go searching for crystals on our own. Some kind of test to overcome our fears, a damn stupid idea if you ask me.


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    Thanks to my insufficient control I ploughed into a snow bank when I tried to use the Force to strengthen my body. I wasn''t used to the increase in speed, tripped and went flying.


    The kyber crystal was easy to find as they were all over the place. Mine turned orange when I bonded with it causing the Jedi Kel Dor to give me an odd look. I think it was an odd look as the Kel Dor wore those odd but cool-looking masks.


    On the way back all the initiate constructed their lightsaber. I stayed away from any Jedi initiate that held that weapon. Even if the initiate lightsaber couldn''t cut shit I still wasn''t going to chance it, not with very excited kids.


    Now I had force studies, lightsaber combat, and my own personal interest with a light shower of whatever the Jedi thought was a good idea to study. Talking about my interests, I''ve constructed some bots. It tickled me to no end to create a flying drone in the shape of a bee, the wordplay was fitting.


    The information gained from my drone was mostly mundane, Initate, padawan, Jedi or master, they all talked about the force. And yet, there was a shocking piece of news I wasn''t aware of.


    A pair of padawans, on their way out of the temple, had discussed the latest revelations on the Brotherhood of Darkness.


    The Jedi weren''t at peace but at war with Sith-like force users and the worst part was there were more than two. The rule of two was what I was familiar with, one master and one apprentice. This complicated things to no end.


    The Jedi fought hard, trying their best to fight a group of dark side force users, but even the best and luckiest Jedi could fall when overwhelmed.


    I''m apprehensive about just what the Jedi expect from me. If they want me to fight then I would rather not, The dark side is famous for being stronger than the light in a straight-up fight and there''s a good chance I would lose, I''m not even a padawan.


    I''m not too sure how the Jedi would treat me in a war-type scenario, I recall the Jedi tenets.


    People are flawed and open to sacrifice, and Jedi are all about sacrifice. I don''t trust the Jedi with my best outcome, especially if the force wills it.


    I get the suspicion that the Jedi are training us to fill the void of lost in combat masters and their padawan. I''m not paranoid, well..... yes, I might be paranoid but it doesn''t mean I''m wrong. For force''s sake, the Jedi have the Jedi mind trick and sometimes lie to their apprentice.


    I don''t want to fight and die for anyone. Some might say that was Sith talk but I like to see it as survival, nature, existence, and seeing as everything alive is part of the force, then that means its force talk. Perfectly acceptable Jedi talk and action......in my opinion.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    I''m ten years old, I think. It''s hard to know for sure as there are four different dates. It doesn''t help that Coruscant has a different orbit time than my home planet. Still, I''m probably close to ten if not past it.


    I''m at the age when initiates get their apprenticeship and become padawans. I''ve worked really hard for this moment, not to get a master but to avoid it.


    I practice every day like every initiative but I use my abilities to their fullest. The control aspects of force powers had an interesting ability that allowed the user to achieve their best results to date for the individual, Force Enlightenment.


    Right now I''m using force enlightenment to boost my strongest ability, telekinesis, while in the kitchen. As usual, the droids are busy at work using the area to its full productivity but unlike when I first entered here, I no longer need to be at the preparation table to create my meals. Knives are chopping, sauces are stirred, and peppers are stuffed, all by the power of telekinesis.


    I''m able to pass my limits by


    achieving my best results every time and then modifying my ability until it becomes better, then rinse and repeat. This alone would get me noticed by a master but I''ve also practised Force stealth, an ability that does what it says on the tin. With this, I have been passed by for apprenticeship by the masters. They think I''m weak in the force and refused to teach me. but unknown to them I''ve practised force enlightenment, telekinesis and force stealth to such a degree that a unique ability has formed. I''m able to use very weak telekinesis while disguising my force ability. In short, I can force move objects without other force users realising. At the moment I can only move items the size and weight of a coin but I hope this ability will grow. With these skills, I hope to be passed by and accepted into the Service Corps where I won''t be forced to fight.


    The self-chopping knife stops and fresh new diced ingredients float to the pot with a dash of pepper and a knob of butter I wait for the vegetable to sweat and bring out their aroma and flavour. I look over to the oven and find my spiced buns ready. The door opens on its own and the searing hot pan drifts out filling the room with a sweet addictive smell.


    My meal is a simple risotto with what I can say is the closest rendition of cinnamon buns I can find, with lashings of cream cheese icing. I shovel down my food as I''ve made plans and need to be somewhere as soon as possible.


    I''m at the age where no one looks at me out of curiosity if I leave the Jedi temple. They think I''m a padawan on a mission, which I use to the fullest.


    My mission today is to make a nice bit of credit, I''ve made a deal with an old timmer to enter a gambling ring and use my force powers. The spilt is 90/10 to me. If you think it''s unJedi to do these things then what can I say apart from "I''m still going to do it"


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    I stand beside my fake grandpa and manipulate the dice in my favour. I of course use my undetectable force telekinesis to roll a winning number just in case there is somehow force-aware security. Grandpa makes the rolls, and I adjust the dice and profit for both of us. We have to be careful not to win all the time but a few well-placed losses keep the heat off of us.


    When we have cleaned up and earned ourselves a substantial amount of credits we part ways. Grandpa is going to use his credits on his actual granddaughter to improve her education and maybe get a better placement on one of Coruscant''s five thousand layers.


    I, on the other hand, spend my credits on droid parts. I get a great deal on scrapper yard parts. I pay a fee to enter broken down or obsolete warships that are ready to be recycled and take what I want. Each time I pay I have a limited amount of time to gather what I want but using the force to strengthen my body and guide me through the maze of crushed corridors I''m able to find some juicy parts. This is by far the most cost-effective way to use my credits.


    I can skip past the competition at neck-breaking speeds while pushing my wagon. I scoop up a language processing unit from an unlucky destroyed protocol droid, and into the wagon it goes. I pass by an intact cleaning droid, It''s trapped by crumpled metal but it still trying to clean the mess of the now defunct starship. In the wagon it goes. I prize open a turbo-lift and gut the components I want using my telekinesis. The components are useful but I don''t


    need to be gentle with them.


    As I go deeper I find better things. I don''t need to be careful when moving caved-in ceilings or be wary of sharp things as I have the force with me. An average team of scavengers have to be careful, plan their movement and remove debris just so they can keep their life from the many things a sloppy scavenger would die from. And now I was surrounded with loot to such a degree that I was spoilt for choice. What catches my eye the most is the sign beside a door, the cross of healing that anyone with half a brain understood.


    My greed flickers a little daring to hope what I might find. In my mind I was sceptical. I couldn''t believe that the scraping yard wouldn''t have gone and picked this area clean before opening it to the public scrappers. The doors are easy to open, I don''t even have to open any panels, I just use the force to flip a switch behind the panel and the door slides open.


    What awaited me was a treasure trove of class one medical droids, four to be exact, three stationary medical droids that are fixed to the wall and a hover nurse. I wanted them all but their large size meant I had to discard my loot up to this point. That day I went overboard and spent more credits making a further three runs. My thoughts were simple, if the scrapping yard didn''t collect the medical droids then they might not have collected anything from the engine room.


    I was right but the worst thing about being first as a scrapper in a fresh new area is choosing what to take. I decided to only take the thing that wasn''t bolted down for ease of looting. As I was studying droids, that''s what I took the most.


    I got a load of second-class engineering droids, the aforementioned medical droids, a couple of third-class science droids, a navigation droid and a downright silly amount of service droids. Every single one of them was sent to the Jedi temple under my nickname. There were other things I picked up like energy weapons such as blasters. I think the ship must have been attacked judging by some of the torn walls but their loss was my gain.


    I can''t wait to start tinkering.

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5


    The Jedi have taken notice of my many droids. If I''m honest I went too far with how many I have. It''s just that they are so useful. I''m an initiate with different responsibilities but with the droids making my life so efficient I don''t waste any time. The vast amount of studying each initiate has to do is streamlined with my droids. Back in my first life, there were search engines and the internet to find what you needed but even that took time to find the correct information and apply it to your studying. Here, in my new life, the vast amount of knowledge that has been collected by the Jedi is in data chips stacked in a grand library.


    With my droids, they do all the time-consuming research and with my many different types all working together they piece together what I need and what I may need. It surprised me that no one seems to be doing this. I looked into it and there wasn''t any uprising of droid armies. Most droids just didn''t have the program to competently use the information.


    I didn''t understand where this mistrust of droids came from. I hear Jedi say "Never underestimate a droid"


    So when the droids started to work together and teach me the things I wanted, it grabbed the attention of some padawan and Jedi.


    The Jedi tried to lecture me about learning from masters but that was quickly shut down by stating the obvious. I began to think the Jedi''s real superpower was nagging and thanked my lucky stars they hadn''t found my droid room near the kitchens. That place had some of my more un-jedi-like experiments, like my collection of different types of crystals and the various ways I''ve used them. A good example was when I repurposed a mining droid that was fixed with a kyber crystal. It worked but the powerful lightsaber that emitted from the mining droid turned everything to slag.


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    Still, the Jedi wouldn''t like that I recycled a lightsaber crystal into something more.......useful?


    The Jedi seemed to be annoyed with me. I think they believe that droid education is beneath them despite using droids every day, even if they don''t know it. I think the Jedi might be a bit stuck up.


    It doesn''t surprise me. The majority of the time the Jedi have is used to meditate and practice their force ability and lightsaber techniques, alone. This meant there was little time for self-study. They had lost touch with normal people. They surrounded themself with other impossibly powerful force users or disconnected politicians. They thought they were better and of course, they were right but no one likes to hear that or even admit it.


    It''s gotten to the point where I don''t want to be a Jedi. The restrictiveness and rules would mean I would live a life of servitude. It''s best if I''m honest with myself, I want my power to live how I see fit and enjoy the bounty of life.


    I made my decision, I asked to go into the Service Corps. More specifically the Medical Corps. I''m trying to live a safe life in a galaxy full of war, so, it makes sense to me to be able to stay at the Jedi temple where I''m surrounded by battle-hardened Jedi. There are other choices in the Service Corps like the Agricultural Corps but that would mean I would have to leave the safety of the Jedi Temple to practice growing plants on a foreign planet.


    I thought about it but becoming part of the medical corp allows me to stay on Coruscant. The Council of Reassignment agree with me. Without a master to teach me and they believed me to be weak in the force, they have little choice but to put me where I want.


    The transition was smooth. It took longer to move my droids than anything else. The whole medical thing wasn''t much different than what I was already doing while training as an initiate. The biggest difference was instead of lightsaber training the medical corp focused on healing using the Force. Every Jedi could heal themselves through meditation but the medical corp took it much further. The best healers in the galaxy came from the medical corp, They were even better than medical droids who had precision and vast information at their command but even that couldn''t compare to the force guiding your healing hands and mending spirit.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6


    This is the best decision I''ve ever made. The medical corp is actually well-liked. It wasn''t uncommon to hear rumours of Jedi kidnapping and abducting because of the way they trained and yet while the Jedi were respected they weren''t liked, especially in the lower levels of Coruscant


    The common man had almost no interaction with the Jedi but most had heard the legendary stories of Jedi. Justice, honour and peace were their calling cards but the common people who lived in the lower levels couldn''t swallow the injustice they faced every day or the roaming gangs that took and killed when they wanted. All of this was done right in front of the Jedi, or more precisely, right under their boots. The common people could only see that the Jedi let trillions of people suffer without helping or caring right on their doorstep. The common people didn''t care to be told that the Jedi were saviours but knew that their inaction had resulted in many people suffering.


    The Service Corps had better public Relations than the Jedi. This is where I learned that personal power was great but one bad turn could turn the public on you, I needed a good PR team or at least have a good image in the normal people''s eye.


    I set up three basic general practitioner facilities using the medical droids I had scavenged. I charged a low price to see the droid to cover the cost. It was odd that if you gave away free medical care in this Society then people felt a great distrust towards it, but charge them a price and they will believe it''s their god-given right to use it and will fight for it.


    I called it Bee''s Medical Care.


    It was very popular. Too popular. Bee''s medical care was swamped by the masses, I thought that this was going to be a huge problem until it worked to my advantage. Gangs started to muscle their way in and tried to take over. A single normal person would be afraid of the bully tactics and physical violence of the gangs but it wasn''t a single person, it was a mob in the thousands of strong, and those poor defenceless people turned into a berserker like a warrior when something good was taken away from them.


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    The money was good if not much and yet many small incomes would build into a substantial cash flow, all while painting a great picture of my character. I decided to put the cash back into the business.


    In a wonderful feedback loop, I bought medical droids, set up a new GP and raked in the cash, rinse and repeat. Every week a new medical room was installed. It was super cheap to set one up because of the technology this galaxy had to offer. The greatest cost was the droids themselves. I would love to be able to find medical droids whenever I wanted but the first time was luck. I had to pay full price for brand-new ones.


    All of the technical sides of running a medical empire were taken care of by my statistical and manager droids. With a couple of careful commands, the droids would look after the business. The biggest problems came from political pressure from greedy legislators, ministers and statesmen, but with a quick flash of credentials from the Jedi temple those same blow-hard ministers hide back in their shadows.


    As more and more medical rooms popped up my name grew. Fourtanty that wasn''t the only thing that grew. Thanks to my personal floating medical droid nurse, my force enlightenment and the teaching of real masters dedicated to mending the body, my skills in the healing arts grew fast.


    The masters taught me about using the force in different subtle ways to encourage delicate improvements on the body, to stitch wounds together using the impossible power of the force, and to scan and guide using the inconceivable precognition that all force users had. The smooth and gentle art of force control and sense grew like a weed in the most fertile of grounds.


    My helpful nurse droid taught me the intrinsic design of bodies and the chemical and biological reactions. The healing arts of precise cuts and the brutal nature of destroying selective parts increase healing.


    All of this experience consolidated under force enlightenment causing great growth. I started to apply what I''ve learned to my own body, just small things that complemented force abilities. Moving faster with the force was a basic ability that all force users had and yet it turned into something unique when the body of a force user was augmented with medicine, an overly trained body and force-stimulated exercise. This was the same with any part of the body, that included the mind.


    I realised that I probably wasn''t the most efficient person to ever hold force powers but it boggled my mind how many different combinations there were just to increase force abilities and yet no one seemed to be taking advantage of it. Their loss is my gain.....I guess.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7


    Bad news. A padawan from my clan has died. Killed by a brotherhood of darkness sneak attack to force the master to lose control. Apparently, it didn''t work as the master retreated to fight another day. It was the correct choice to retreat as the brotherhood of darkness usually attacks in mass but it shows me just how expendable a padawan is compared to a master. It wasn''t fair, the padawan didn''t choose to fight but rather followed their master in a fight that ultimately got them killed.


    He was only fifteen when he died, the same age as me. The master picked up a new padawan as if nothing happened. After all, attachment leads to the dark side and if this Jedi master was anything to go by he didn''t have a drop of attachment in him, he was a jerk, but a good Jedi. Are all good Jedis massive jerks?


    I think the answer is a giant yes. I''m so proficient at healing that I''m allowed to take care of a patient''s pain using the force and the common sight I see are masters teaching physically disabled padawans to meditate on the pain and heal using the force. It was the correct thing to do as it made my job easier and speed up the recovery of the padawan but when arms and legs are missing from a quick stroke of a lightsaber and the pain of having a mechanical one fused to your nervous system, the last thing I would want to hear was some guy who got you into the fight that had crippled you for life say "meditate". Talk about bad bedside manners.


    Healing took a lot of my time but I still have time for my side hustle. A new interesting thing about my cheap healing rooms is they are trading at the stock market. Which is odd as it''s a private business with zero shares and is completely owned by me. Someone was playing funny games with my bread and butter, unforgivable.


    I had to hire a private investigator, turns out a young Hutt had started trading a broke company with the same name as my private business. The Hutt was using my good name to increase his shitty company worth, likely to sell once his stock reached a nice profit. The Hutt was only able to succeed because people who were willing to invest in my name were too lazy or stupid to check. It was a new twist on the pump-and-dump stock fraud, and yet when the fraud was complete and every lazy investor found out the truth, it would be me who would suffer. My good name will take a hit and I will be swamped by lawyers and angry investors, and it won''t matter to them that I had nothing to do with it. I probably could get away with it just because I''m connected to the Jedi but I don''t want people to know I own it.


    I decided to handle this quietly.


    The Hutts and their species are known as basterds. They seem to excel at criminal activities but fortunately for me, not all Hutts were big crime bosses.


    Finding the Hutt should have been hard because of their nature but because the fat slug was the major shareholder in this fake company it was easy, I just followed the money. Thanks to the Jedi training in laws and customs I was able to find the paperwork and find some of the Hutt''s other holdings. With that bit of tasty knowledge, I deployed my bee drones, each one flew to its place and waited for the Hutt to surface.


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    In the meantime, I visited the Hutt''s warehouse and stole everything, including some of the support beams. A nice bit of paperwork with the right stamps and seals opened doors with ease.


    Bank accounts were harder to attack and not worth the time and potential counterattacks from banks but taking a page from the Hutt I started to take out loans in his name. Loans from the bank were out of the question but ordering specially made items from various artisans in Hutt''s name only took a small down payment. I didn''t expect the Hutt to lose any money from this but the more people chased him down in search of payment, the more hassle the Hutt would go through.


    That was how I attacked an enemy that didn''t know they were my enemy. A thousand cuts from unpredictable angles. Not enough to grab the Hutt''s attention but enough to cause a little pain. Paperwork was the answer to cause enough mental pain to the Hutt that he would know that he was under attack but not know who, why or how many. Paperwork such as petty health and safety checks or foundation rot in buildings, stuff that didn''t need me but would cost the Hutt time and money. It didn''t matter if the Hutt was clean, the inspectors would likely find something wrong just so they could fine them or receive a kickback. That was the power of a corrupted system. Then it stepped up a gear when I put my class one droid and Protocol droids to work. The Hutt would be crushed under the many defunct laws that still held sway, all of the tiny crimes that held a slap on the wrist would pile up, and all of this was done using the corrupt nature of bureaucrat. Nothing illegal, just morally grey, with a hint of bastard mixed in for good measures.


    It took less than two months before the fake stock was removed from trading. I don''t know exactly why and I didn''t care. The droids continued with the paperwork attack just so the Hutt didn''t suspect the healing rooms as the instigators. It all went off without a hitch, the only downside was I never found the Hutt, I wasn''t even sure if he was on Coruscant but I was sure he didn''t even know who attacked him let alone who I was. There was a real possibility that if they did find out, they would back off quickly due to my connection with the Jedi. But it was best not to push my luck.


    Not much happened after that. I upgraded my droids so that they could better run, organise and operate the vastly growing Bee''s healing room empire. It used to be a new healing room that would be created once a week but now I couldn''t keep up. New medical droids were ordered, delivered, and placed every hour.


    The once simple single healing room that had a single medical droid had evolved into more advanced and stable. A waiting room that had a simple droid to pick up people''s information and deal with payment, a battle droid that protected my property and a fleet of repair droids that made sure that nothing was broken for long.


    All of this was paid for with the little profits that each healing room produced. A little from hundreds of thousands made me rich and it was getting better whenever a new healing room was created. The lower levels love them and that''s where I made my profits. Who would have guessed that keeping people underground away from sunlight would make them sick?


    Bee''s Healing Rooms became part of their everyday life and with that, the nickname my mother had given me grew with it. If you lived on Coruscant, you knew the name Bee and the healing rooms attached to the name.

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8


    Really, Really bad news, the war between the Brotherhood of Darkness and the Jedi has increased in ferociousness. The two forces are tearing at each other throats so much that each battle incorporates everyone around them, that also includes anyone connected to them, like the service corp, aka the Medical Corps or more importantly, me.


    I''ve been drafted into a nasty little planet-wide battle as a battle medic. I can''t say I''m happy about it, in fact, I nearly told them to stick it right up their ass but there have been disturbing stories about the Jedi imprisoning Jedi who goes against the Jedi teachings, just imagine what they would do to a failure like me that doesn''t strictly believe in the light side or the masters that teach it.


    It was totally unfair, the Jedi sent me out with only soldiers to protect me. What idiot thought it was a good idea to send out the magical force healer into a fight against magical dark side force users that specialised in killing?


    A dark side user who bends the force to their own will, to damage and kill is stronger when it comes down to a fight, but the Jedi still thought it was a good idea to send me into the thick of battle with a team of grunts that literally can be one-shotted, at least I''m in command but that just means I can pick my death spot.


    All of this and more I ponder as I get a ride to the front line, suddenly my mind is jolted out of its daydream of telling all of the Jedi to stuff it by an explosion that shakes the ship.


    A goddamn Brotherhood of Darkness transport ship has rammed its way into the ship''s docking port. Now hundreds of laser-firing warriors pour out of the ship followed by a couple of red lightsabers-wielding Brotherhood of Darkness members.


    Instead of opening the shields and sucking all of the brotherhood of darkness out into the cold dead space the person in charge has met the attacking force with bodies, and one of those bodies so happens to be mine.


    I enter the fight and instantly one of my so-called bodyguards gets wasted by a lucky shot. I dive to the ground, where a flurry of lights passes by where my head was just a second ago. Someone was targeting me and judging by how fast and accurate the laser shots were they were probably force sensitive. The force was used to predict what was going to happen, this made it possible to redirect blaster and fire back into the opponents. I swore under my breath as I had been slacking off my lightsaber training. I never thought a valuable healer would be put into this kind of situation.


    I''m poorly equipped to fight back, I have my bearly used lightsaber and a blaster borrowed from the dead guard.


    I didn''t dare raise my head just in case the previous lucky shot was in fact skill. Instead, I used the chrome of the blaster to peer over my barricade.


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    Whoever was targeting me had a wickedly good shot, despite blasters having the worst accuracy, hot plasma hit my blaster causing it to fizzle and be unable to fire.


    I couldn''t hear a goddamn thing. Blaster fire, screams from the dying and the distinct sound of lightsabers cutting down......everything.


    I can''t understand what the Jedi want me to do. One swipe of a lightsaber and that was it, no coming back from that, What the hell do they expect a healer to do about that? Stupid Jedi don''t know how to use the army properly. I should be held back, fixing what I can.


    My guards are gone, some dead because they don''t have precog abilities like force users, and some have just run away. I wish I could but the shithead with the blaster is most certainly targeting me.


    I have little to work with but I have to "man up" and do something, doing nothing will get me killed. I tear the broken blaster apart using my telekinesis and meld parts together. A bodge job but it will do, I punt the blaster over my cover and marvel at the amazing shot that my nemesis pulls off causing the gun to fly at a different angle with a single shot. I close my eyes tight.


    Blasters are plasma-based weapons, each one contains a massive amount of stored energy. When released all at once a wave of energy spills out like a mixture of fire and water and causes a compact explosion.


    Fragments of metal rush from the now destroyed blaster and yet that wasn''t what I had wanted. It was the secondary attack, the bright light. I had made a flash grenade and it didn''t matter that my bomb didn''t make it close to my attacker, the light would certainly do its job.


    I began to move away from the cover only to get an inkling from the force to pick up a torn slab of metal. This saved me when I darted out of cover and somehow my attacker got a once-in-a-lifetime shot off that was blocked by the metal.


    I''ve been enhancing my body through medicine and the force for many years now and with the help of some extra force ability I sprint as fast as a fox with its tail on fire, zig-zagging across the battlefield grabbing anything I could get my hands on that would defend me. The amazing shots from my attacker had deceased but that didn''t mean I was going to stop. Staying here was not the answer, I dove through a hallway and waited.


    The amount of pistol-wielding normies coming into my choke point hallway only to find that their weapons didn''t fire was satisfying. A little bit of telekinesis to switch the safety on caused great confusion to spread on their face and an enormous smile to spread on mine.


    I didn''t spare them, they were here to kill and it would only cause difficulties if left alone. Each normie dropped to the floor, lifeless with only a burnt blaster hole in them. Aiming with a blaster was a problem but when you have this many attackers trying their hardest to pass a chokepoint then you couldn''t miss.


    A telltale red lightsaber appeared letting me know that a brotherhood of darkness had arrived, he was quickly dispatched. Using my stealth telekinesis I pulled the pin on some grenades that had fallen with the attacking dead normies. The explosion took the dark side user out, If it was just one explosion then there was a good chance the dark side user would have survived but I didn''t leave it to chance and pulled all the pins. The explosion wiped out all the remaining enemies and turned the dead into blood porridge. They didn''t see it coming.


    Through the mass of smoke and raining gore sprinted a new brotherhood of darkness. I fired a shot from one of the many blasters I''d picked up and when that didn''t work I threw the gun just like before. I didn''t stay to see what the explosion and resulting light show did but popped into turbo lifts and got the hell out of there.

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9


    I can''t say I like fighting but I know I like winning, the rush of destroying a superior force user gives me a magnificent feeling.


    I''ve been deployed several times for my healing skills but every time I''ve had to defend myself with lethal force. It turns out that wherever it is soldiers or force users, they will try their hardest to get rid of the healer. This makes the brotherhood of darkness and its allies predictable and simple to slay.


    I''m really good at it, I''ve even got a better kill confirmation than some proper Jedi. It''s all thanks to how I don''t leave any witnesses to my fights. My tricks are kept with the dead and this means that the brotherhood can''t learn from them.


    My equipment has been upgraded. I have an energy shield ripped from a battle droid, It doesn''t last long but it only needs to block the first swipe of a lightsaber for the force user to lose their focus and for me to use my lightsaber. I keep it hidden and only activate it in close combat. When it extends, that''s the first and only time the dark side user sees it as it pierces into an arm or chest. Of course, they don''t see it coming as I attack using blasters and bombs and only when they get close enough for them to use their own lightsaber do they realise that I too have a lightsaber. Sometimes if I''m lucky enough I can take them out with my new slugthrower. It''s just a fully automatic pistol with an extended clip.


    They don''t see it coming and most people think slugthrowers are primitive tec but the speed at which they fire, out-classes blasters, making it hard if not impossible to defect the shots back at me. I also have a powerful blaster because while it''s hard to hit anything with it, the massive amount of ammo makes up for it. I use it on non-force users.


    Gripping grenades, sonic mines, teargas, and flashbangs are a few things I use to fuck up my enemy. I remember using a flashbang on a lightsaber-wielding jerk who sliced his shoulder with his own lightsaber when he tried to cover his eyes. He was most likely new to the brotherhood of darkness.


    Then there were the environmental kills. I knew that the Brotherhood and their allies would attack the defenceless medics and healers, so I set up traps waiting for a passing patrol or getting lucky and getting a passing dark side user.


    The best dark-side kill I got was when a shithead forced his way onto a parked ship I was on. Everyone on that ship was just there for support and yet this asshole thought it was a great idea for easy kills. That idea soon turned into a nightmare when I overclocked the gravity in the room he was in causing the lightsaber wielder to fall flat on his face. After that, he was easy pickings.


    I had been in a lot of fights, most of them I won but there were times I knew that running was the best thing. I used guerrilla warfare, hit and run tactics. It works incredibly well when your opponents don''t even know what you are doing it becomes child''s play to lead them by the nose, even if you and they have the force whispering secrets.


    To fight a dark side user there are rules.


    ONE. DON''T LET THEM GET CLOSE


    TWO. DON''T USE BLASTERS


    THREE. EXPLOSIONS WORK WELL


    FOUR. PRETEND TO BE WEAK AND TAKE ADVANTAGE. Darkside users are weirdly evil and will try to kill the defenceless to inspire hate and fear.


    FIVE. DISTURB THEIR WAY OF FIGHTING, FIND THEIR PAUSE MOMENT. Do the unexpected and cause the force user to pause for a second.


    With these guidelines, I have so far come out on top. My name has become famous in the right circle of Jedi and yet most Jedi don''t make the connection that I, a service corp medical healer have defeated much more Brotherhood of Darkness members than a normal Jedi. All they hear is my name and think I''m a Jedi skilled in combat. Let''s keep it that way, I don''t want the Brotherhood of Darkness to attack me.


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    I still heal my comrades but I find it easier to get rid of my enemy and then focus on saving life without looking over my shoulder from an unexpected strike. This is a problem, according to the Jedi in charge. While a full-fledged Jedi would be commended for removing the threat, I''m not a Jedi, there is talk about falling to the dark side. Just because I never give the enemy a chance to escape and kill without hesitation makes me a liability.


    I was cornered by Jedi and subjugated to an interrogation due to my refusal to take hostages. They talked about how brutal and un-Jedi like I was but I soon shut their mouths up when I pointed out their weapons were killing weapons. A lightsaber had little to no defence against it. A casual blow from the weapon, if not deflected by another lightsaber would kill or at the very least dismember. I just don''t have the luxury to take prisoners.


    I''m getting chewed out by my superiors, but I''m not too unhappy. It''s all thanks to my coping mechanism, I steal things. Nothing belonging to the Jedi but anything and sometimes everything from the brotherhood of darkness. A brotherhood transport shuttle was easy pickings. I just wait for the cargo doors to open a little bit and then I dump gas canisters into the vehicle and force close the cargo doors. This only works if there isn''t any force user on board but when it does work, one free transport shuttle and everything on board. Easy pickings.


    I''ve got into the habit of stealing ships, reprograming the droids and sending them back for my benefit, fully loaded with all kinds of useful things. spoils of war, I guess.


    It''s not all good, a few padawans have overstepped their ability and got themselves captured. The only reason a dark side user captures padawans is to torture them into the dark side or use them for a trap.


    I thought the Jedi was going to leave them to the dark sides non-mercy but I was pleasantly wrong. Two masters, a bunch of Jedi followed by their padawans and to support them a special team of soldiers and one force healer that could survive,... It''s me, I''m the healer.


    Using one of my stolen transport ships we stealthy enter the starship that holds the padawans. Of course, the enemy demanded an access code to board but it''s strange how much a droid will pick up and even stranger that people will overlook such things. Does everyone underestimate droids to such a devastating effect, you should never underestimate what a droid can do.


    I would like to say the team stealthily enter, find the padawans and leave without trouble but the goddamn Jedi don''t seem to understand that concept. They didn''t even change their clothes, almost immediately they started to use their lightsabers, which is a dead giveaway that their multi-coloured weapons weren''t part of the brotherhood of darkness. The team destroy whatever they come across, even if it be apprentices or full-on dark side user.


    On the other hand, I feel like there is something amiss. The force isn''t telling me anything but my gut is practically turning on itself. I separate myself from the group, by changing my clothes and picking up an engineer''s belt and tools, I look like any average person.


    I shouldn''t leave the group as I''m the healer but it''s quite obvious to me that they don''t need me, and this feeling I''m having is causing my hair to stand on end.


    The ship is on alert, yet I don''t get a second look with the Jedi causing massive amounts of chaos and damage. I have complete free rain of the ship. As I go through the ship, I use my spy drones. They still look like bees but I''ve slightly upgraded them, they now can use their stings to hack the security video and relay it back to my holo-bracelet.


    I flick through the images until I find what I want. The padawans are secured but what I see has turned my nervous stomach again. There doesn''t seem to be any major security, all of the padawans are fine, and none seemed to be tortured. This goes against everything I know about the Brotherhood of Darkness.


    I flick through the images and find the Jedi masters. They were going in a completely different direction from the trapped padawans. I watched as they busted into a room full of mediating dark-side users, the resulting battle left shivers down my spine. Both dark side and light side force users dropped as the battle continued, the special soldiers died almost instantly, not because of the enemy but because they were suicide bombers. They took out a good chunk of the brotherhood of darkness and gave one of the masters a chance to grab something and call a retreat. Just as fast as the Jedi entered the room, they had left being chased by the brotherhood of darkness.


    I couldn''t believe my eyes. The Jedi had left wounded allies behind and more unbelievable was the dark side users hadn''t finished them off. Whatever the Jedi had stolen was something big.


    I watched the images of Jedi making their way back to the hanger bay and back on my stolen transport shuttle. The basterds had gotten what they needed and had left followed by the brotherhood in their fighters. It hit me, the mission was never to rescue the padawans but to collect something. Those assholes had abandoned us on a brotherhood of darkness battleship without even telling me why.


    No wonder my stomach was telling me things that the force hadn''t. The force wanted this thing more than it wanted to tell me what was going on. I think the force is an asshole too.

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10


    Being stranded on an enemy battleship with no hope of rescue gave me a cold head chill. My blood felt like it had drained from my head and pooled at my feet, I felt sluggish and weak. I had plans to escape but all of my equipment was on the transport shuttle, now my fate was in the hands of luck. Something I despise.


    I walk with purpose, not going in any particular direction. I need to give the illusion I belong here and am not a stowaway. As I walk around I see people rushing to do their jobs, Whenever I see a pack of tropers coming my way, I pretend to do some maintenance.


    As I work to be unseen my mind thinks back to a couple of moments ago when the Jedi stole something that the brotherhood of darkness was protecting, or were they worshipping it?


    Whatever it was I flicked back to the security image, perhaps there were clues. The room that held the artefact was still very active. The injured Jedi that were left behind had fortified their position and the battleship troopers had amassed outside ready to attack.


    An idea popped into my head. It was so stupid that it might work.


    I run to the room while changing, I toss the engineering uniform and belt and pull out a lightsaber. As I approached the troopers who were ready to attack, they turned on the spot ready to attack me. The dark side allies are jumpy and ready to kill at the drop of a hat.


    I make sure they know I mean business by activating my new stolen lightsaber. A beam of red light flashes out ready to slice and dice. Here''s the thing about red kyber crystals, no one questions if you are a dark side user or if you have a red lightsaber but anyone can use them. On this battleship that the Brotherhood of Darkness and their allies own, the red lightsaber becomes an all-purpose multipass. But just in case anyone thinks otherwise I violently force push everyone away, gave them the order to stay out and entered the room.


    While a red lightsaber can give you unlimited access on a battleship like this, it also can get you killed by an over-anxious Jedi who only sees the red of the sabre. I was fortunate that my lightside attacker was a padawan, if it was a Jedi they would have followed up the first strike with a flurry of attacks, Lucky for me I was able to block the first hit with my energy shield causing the padawan to be stunned that his attack didn''t work and, I followed up by force pushing the padawan away.


    The padawan was shocked but not as much as the Jedi. They knew who I was but said nothing, I was the healer but now I had a red lightsaber. I could sense what they were thinking, they thought I had fallen to the dark side. I quickly dropped the red lightsaber before another trigger-happy Jedi attacked and used my orange lightsaber.


    The following plan had to be quick and so with a brief outline, I persuaded the Jedi to follow my lead. I left the room followed by Jedi who wielded the dead dark side user sabre. It was so simple to fool the troopers, all it took was a lot of noise and the Jedi to swap clothes.


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    The troopers left us alone and with a single order, they flushed the dead brotherhood of darkness members out into space thinking that they were Jedi. If I had enough time I would have liked to use the battleship''s healing facilities but I didn''t know how long the dark side users that went after the artefact would stay away. The time to strike was now.


    We freed the other padawans, captured the bridge and sealed off the docking bay. It was too easy. That was the beauty of a chain of command, I ordered, and they obeyed.


    I had essentially taken over a battleship with very little life lost. The added icing to the cake was if any of the brotherhood of darkness returned, they would find empty space where the battleship used to be. It was very likely that they would be left adrift in the cold deadness of space. I destroyed a pack of dark-side users without firing a single shot. Whatever that artefact was had cost them their lives.


    I and the Jedi managed to enter allied space, and with some special codes, we were able to hand over the battleship. I personally executed the officers on the bridge to stop any of my secrets from escaping, this got me a one-way visit to prison. It didn''t matter that I had saved many padawans, Jedi and even one of the masters from the brotherhood of darkness interrogation, which meant immense torture and physical pain until they fell to the dark side or death, they chose to imprison me.


    The Jedi can suck it. Even the Jedi I saved didn''t stand up for me. I could sense that they were wary of me, they were afraid of the dark side and that I would fall into it. They might have executed me if not for the teachings of the light side, and yet I knew that wouldn''t always save me from a particular zealot or tired Jedi council. I''ve seen what the Jedi will do when backed into a corner, and I''ve read the stories and history of the Jedi. When it comes to doing the best they can do, they usually do what they think is the best for themselves.


    I might have been angry at imprisonment but it meant no more fighting or abandonment on enemy battleships. I could take over the prison and have my way, the prisoners would fight me on this but what were they going to do to a force user?


    That was my thought on it but I was wrong, I didn''t go to a normal prison like the Jedi Temple detention centre but to the most hardcore prison called The Prism. I had never heard of the place before, it was a secret from most Jedi. Only the master knew about it. I, who had my droids to search the Jedi library for interesting and useful things didn''t even get a hint of it. I only knew about it because I was going there.


    And this was the end of my trust in the Jedi. Wouldn''t it be enough to hold me in the detention centre? and yet here I was going to the most hardcore maximum security, hidden prison that any force user has ever known. The Jedi master didn''t know about my abilities or that I had upgraded my body. They just had a knee-jerk reaction to me, a healer, killing enemy officers. This was completely unfair as I had seen the Jedi kill defenceless dark-side users when they refused to give up.


    My actions were brutal but they saved lives by keeping my tactics secret. Imagine that I hadn''t taken over the enemy battleship, it would have been used to attack others. Loss of life was certain, battleships were made to kill.


    My tactics could be used over and over again to save lives by taking a few. The holier-than-thou Jedi weren''t willing to use those tactics, instead, they would send fighters out to destroy a piece of the battleship, weakening the ship and then boarding, cutting down any resistance before being repelled or succeeding. My way protected the fighters, the boarding party, the padawan and Jedi and all of the enemy. Their way caused death on all sides with no certainty that any of it would mean anything. My way was better. My way was much better

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11


    It had been a few years since I arrived at The Prism. It was a self-sufficient prison that held the scum of the galaxy, mostly force users. Only the Jedi Council masters knew about the Prism, and because of that, no rescue attempts happened. There were just over a hundred security droids taking command from a single Jedi master, meaning the ability to mess with minds couldn''t work.


    My cell was alright. While the Jedi were shitheads for doing this to me, they at least kitted out their prisons with comfy beds and hologram sets for entertainment. If only the prisoners were more likeable, Each one of these dark side users had a massive chip on their shoulder, they hated the system that put them here, they hated the food that was delivered to them, and they hated each other for being weak enough to be captured.


    I wondered if putting force users that became more powerful with hate in a situation where hate bred like rabbits was a stupid idea. It was.


    The prison wasn''t like how I expected it. Instead, it was smooth running, when you had droids planning and executing those plans everything ran efficiently like clockwork. The only thing that was the same as the brutal prisons I had come to know was the inmates. They were behind energy shields and something that diminished our force powers but they still tried their best to start fights and use their force abilities.


    I witnessed one dark side user threatening someone only to be knocked out by that person when they used a powerful force to pull the dark side user into the energy shield. Force abilities can be used but they have to be powerful and skillfully used so that the droids don''t see them. A force-lighting blast was eye-catching but a person jumping at an energy shield was something the droids didn''t take notice of or didn''t care about.


    People might think that staying in prison would be boring and yet it was anything but boring. With so many powerful force users, there was an amazing amount to witness and perceive. Floating crosslegged meditating force users were common, a giant bug practising lightsaber forms with a table leg, a very angry brotherhood of darkness discharging blue lighting at the energy shield. That last one got a cell full of gas, he wasn''t subtle enough for the droids.


    I, on the other hand, didn''t have flashy techniques but I was spotted by other force users. It was probably due to eating things that were considered contraband, I was standing watching others use the force while chowing down on deep-fried sea squid.


    The Jedi had made a big mistake putting me in a prison filled with technology. At first, I had no access to it but with my un-noticeable telekinesis I was able to pull a screw here, steal a bolt there, turn a switch and hey presto, a droid would fall over right into my cells energy field or a security droid travelling along its tracks would fall off its rail and land crashing down. There were quite a lot of accidents happening around my cell for the first couple of months. This only stopped when I had enough materials to pull the metal walls apart and cannibalise the interior, how was this possible without getting a room full of gas? subtlety. As long as the prisoner was still there and all of the equipment still worked then according to the droids, nothing was wrong. If the Jedi master was paying any attention instead of meditating or whatever they were doing then they might have noticed something.


    After that it was plain sailing, I made rudimental tools that I used to high jack the cleaning botts. With a cleaning bot under my control, I collected better tools and started to take over. Small insignificant droids that cleaned, and then light fixture control from the system. The biggest hack was the repair droids that fixed torn-apart cells. They went everywhere and that''s when my sub-standard food evolved to pre-packed deep-fried nom noms.


    Given enough time, I would run this prison and take over, but that was unlikely. What''s the point of being free to roam in prison when you can''t leave the grounds? There was no communication in or out and no way to leave the prism. I could free the population but having murder-hungry dark-side users running about destroying everything, wasn''t the best choice for me.


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    Instead, I traded with them. Food was my currency and the only thing they had to offer was training in the force. The Force was multifaceted, what worked for the dark side didn''t necessarily work for the light side but there was a crossover.


    I learnt many things, A powerful dark side illusionist who had been caught by the Jedi after his fellow brotherhood of darkness sold him out, taught me Doppleg?nger. Strictly, Doppelganger wasn''t a dark side power but a universal one but as I said before, there''s a crossover for most force powers.


    That was a hard ability to master, even with Force Enlightenment, or it might have been hard due to the interference this place had. Subtlety was the key, I didn''t manifest animals or plants because having life forms apart from the prisoner in one cell was suspicious enough for the Jedi master to have a look. Small screws and pieces of uneaten food are what I created.


    It didn''t take long for me to get good. It was within my nature to learn a more deceitful way of the force and with the help of Force Enlightenment and my nature, I was able to create a full course meal with all the trimmings, and a replica of myself.


    I learnt more about Force powers and how to alter them from this prisoner than I ever did with the Jedi. The Jedi were creatures of worry and panic.


    "Will I turn to the dark side with this"


    "What will happen if I lose control of this"


    The dark side just did it, they had already fallen and had lost their panic when it came to learning new ways to manipulate the force.


    I, on the other hand, hadn''t quite gotten over the effects the dark side had on its users. I understood that objectively there was no dark side or light side, there was just the force and the ways to use it but I have seen what the so-called dark side and its madness can do.


    And because of this I''m taking what helps me and repelling what hurts me. I have to find my way, not the dark side and their extreme anger issues to the point that their action hurt themselves and not the light side where you can''t act like a living being and enjoy all the wonders that life have to offer and the hypocrisy the whole Jedi hold to their hearts. It''s my way or no way.


    As time goes by the dark side user get angrier, they use meditation to sharpen their negative emotions and plan for nasty, evil deeds to the other captives. They aren''t going anywhere, they are stuck here until the war ends or they die. Their anger only fuels what they might do to themselves or even worse, what they might do to me.


    I feel sorry for them. Their emotions lead them to do horrible things, and then the horrible things lead to greater negative emotions. They don''t get the therapy they need and just delve deeper into the spiral of Madness.


    I tried to reason with them but a few choice words from a stranger didn''t help them, so instead, I just befriended them. Why not, it''s not like they could kill me while they were in their cells.


    Some dark side users weren''t worth knowing. Some idiot with a particular powerful mind control power tried to force bind me to her will to get my goodies but the stupid git didn''t know that for many years I was a force healer and that force healers can cleanse their minds from interference, it helps us to be more efficient healers. I held eye contact with her whilst continuing to shove food in my mouth. I answered her shocked look with a sad little shake of my head.


    Others would do rude hand signals. One dark-side user raised his fist in a threatening way, blue lightning rolled off his fist and down his arm. It looked cool, that was until a droid caught notice and edged closer to the cell. The dark-side user quickly hides his arm behind his back looking sheepish. That was worth a small chuckle. The next day, when the dark side lighting fist woke up he found a bowl of creamy root mash and a cup of bitter coffee waiting for him. In prison, a small chuckle is worth rewarding.


    I played games, studied the force, and ate anything worth eating. It was a very numbing experience, our needs were filled but our souls were hungry. At times I felt anxious, so much so that I started to copy an inmate''s monk''s fist arts just to starve off my negative feelings. I realised something, I don''t like exercise without purpose, but I already knew that. What I hate is this creeping negative feeling and while exercise made my body tired it also drove those feelings away.


    With time, I''ve gutted and rewired the mechanical components behind my cell to such a degree that I''m able to leave my cell. Of course, I leave a doppelganger in my place, just to make sure. How am I getting past the droids? I put myself on the white list. I''m seen by the droids but they don''t have any programs to stop a white lister. Finding the white list was easy as there was only one Jedi master on it, but putting myself on the white list was hard. I had to disassemble my holotube, this was why I had been watching other force users a lot. I still avoid the cameras as much as I can, I don''t want to be seen or recorded.


    It''s a shame that I can''t trust the inmates to keep their mouths shut but I know that if I were to walk out in the open and be spotted by them they would use all kinds of methods to escape, including blackmailing me. Subtly is the key to this type of freedom.

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12


    Good news everyone. I found where the knock-out gas is kept. I''ll use it for my own needs, one sleeping Jedi master later and I''m completely in charge of the station. This was the prism''s weakness. With only one Jedi master in charge, I only have to re-write the passcodes once. It was so simple, much easier than putting myself on the white list. I know that there''s no way off the station and yet that doesn''t mean I won''t make it easier for myself by adding a deceased note in my file and editing the video security so it appears I wasn''t here.


    Now I have complete control. The droids don''t bother me, the security videos don''t see me, I have access to the station and if I want to I could gas the only powerful Jedi master at the drop of a hat. The other prisoners are still a problem and I have to keep up with inmate appearance for I know they will tell on me. Does it matter if the inmates and Jedi master even know that I''ve escaped, they can''t do anything about it.


    This was all thanks to the Jedi being complete amateurs in droids and computer understanding. They looked down on the usefulness of the skills. They choose to study the force and meditate but little else.


    I''m now watching the Jedi master through the security feed struggling with his meditation. It''s not his fault that he''s having a hard time, I''ve pumped certain small amounts of gas into his room. The reason is simple, I can''t afford the Jedi master getting precog visions about my control over the station. So I poisoned his mind when he was awake and put him in a dreamless sleep when it was time for bed. The master is exasperated, he knows something is wrong but isn''t sure what it is. It doesn''t help that I have no intention of hurting him or freeing the inmates.


    I''m fine with all this, it''s not like I can leave. I will make the best of the situation. A nice little effect of my force studies is that I can produce lighting without strong emotions. By taking some aspects of force lighting, force shock and ionize, I produce lighting from my fingertips, It''s a bit weak but the distance is fantastic. The other drawback is the colour, blood red. It is what it is but I do feel cheated because the force lighting on the dark side is a beautiful blue. When people see this, they will automatically think of the dark side, bad, and kill. I will continue to work on it.


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    My improvement isn''t giving me the joy I once had. What''s the point in becoming more vital in the force when you didn''t use it for anything? It wasn''t enough for me.


    That''s why I introduced ping pong to the inmates. They crushed the balls and shattered the table tennis racket, they pissed and moaned in their usually dark way and refused to take part. That was before I would reward the players with fried food.


    Let me tell you that when force users to play ping pong it becomes infinitely more interesting. The rules were the same as normal ping pong but you could use your force powers as you see fit, as long as you don''t destroy the equipment or damage the opponent.


    Each game was held in a single-room cell big enough for the game. Two opponents entered and were sealed in with energy barriers, then surrounded by droids. If the duo dark side users decide to work together gas would be pumped in and knock the two players out. All of this was done under the nose of the Jedi master and broadcast to the other inmates.


    The spectacular feats of each player shined though as they both tried to outdo each other. Force powers flowed to manipulate the game. Flips and tosses, ducking and diving, everything they had was used to win points. When one tactic was found to win a point a counter was quickly developed. This game showed off the competitive aura the Brotherhood of Darkness had.


    Of course, some thought they could escape but a quick zap of red justice calmed them down, and if it didn''t then the gas was the answer. The best players were those who had mastered a lightsaber form and had applied it to their bats. The speed their arms moved was a sight to see.


    The inmates enjoyed ping pong, or they might have liked the competition. It wasn''t all smooth sailing, I had forgotten about the dark side''s ability to receive visions. Thankful the prison and whatever dulled their force abilities stop them from getting a full picture. I know this because none of the inmates has pointed me out but I do see them with their shifting eyes.


    I don''t know what to do, I can''t gas them all, can I?

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13


    The answer to the inmate''s pre-cog was simple, action within the group. I can do anything I want as long as I appear to be a true inmate. The visions show things that might happen but in a way that if a person doesn''t stand out then the mastermind would stay a mystery. I took heavy influence from the only Force user to have completely fooled the galaxy, and gain political power right under the noses of the best Jedi for years.


    Some of the inmates rightly thought I was the one able to leave because of the snacks I was able to gain. I curved their mistrust by "purposely on accident" showing that I collected my grub from cleaning droids. It wasn''t enough for the inmates to completely trust me, but it was enough. Or perhaps it wasn''t, it was hard to say.


    I kept my head down, made the droids move me to a different cell and continued my life like this.


    Life had become tedious. Ever since the pre-cog visions started to flood the inmates about a potentially freed inmate their natural distrust turned a once grumpy, trading and training dark side partner into a closed-off, suspicious and angry menace, that refused to share their knowledge. Force training became slow again and even the small amount of entertainment that ping pong gave was quickly stifled because of mistrust.


    I didn''t want to stay anymore. I was still safe because of the nature of this prison but it lacked the spark of joy life had. We existed but it was an empty life. The Jedi could be so very cruel in their indifference decisions. Maybe it was just me, as I refused to meditate.


    And so I planned my escape. I had to wait for the spaceship that would deliver new inmates but it gave me plenty of time to prepare. When it came I gassed the whole transport ship. It was easy.


    With the Jedi master completely high as a kite due to my gases, the only worry was the ship which was staffed with droids and that was never going to be a problem. The new inmates found themselves being gassed, carried to their cells and imprisoned. None of them even saw me enter the ship.


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    And that was how I escaped the unescapable prison called the prism. The hardest part was deleting my information from the network so it looked like I had died. This was the problem with an almost completely automated system like the prism. It only took someone who could hack into the system and have it work for them to take complete control.


    The Jedi wouldn''t even know that I had escaped and that was the perfect escape in my opinion. They wouldn''t look for me, they couldn''t find me and they wouldn''t even know I exsited, perfect.


    I left the transport ship and deleted the ship''s records. I hopped to different ships and travelled to backwater planets, each time making sure I changed my facial features using some simple force illusions. I wasn''t heading in any one direction and just floated around making sure that my ass was covered, only after my fifteenth backwater planet did I put the thought into my actions.


    I made it super simple for myself, I never wanted to be controlled as the Jedi had done before. What would I need? Power. Personal power, political power, what I needed was a terrifying threat that destroyed the game board if ever I was attacked. A nuclear table flip. Something that would dissuade an attack because it would take out the attacker as well, mutual destruction, if you will.


    I didn''t know how to achieve that but I could work towards personal power. The Jedi and Brotherhood of Darkness weren''t the only force users out there and so I searched for them.


    From the Dagoyan Order, I learnt how to use the force passively and deepen my roots with it, I had personally seen a master punch through dark steal but it might have been fake, I wasn''t that close to the example. The Matukai were like monks who primarily used the force to sense their surroundings and boast themselves physically, they also made great bread. The Fallanassi had incredible control to make illusions, they even had a secret illusion ability that projected an image across the galaxy by the cost of life force, I didn''t learn that. Zeison Sha hated the Jedi, which was fine by me. They were amazing with throwing weapons such as disc blades, each one thrown would curve and twist until it found its mark with the help of telekinesis, I would have stayed with them longer but they were isolationists who lived on an inhospitable planet. I met up with an Aing-Tii anti-slave ship and tried to learn some of their abilities, they had abilities that left me dumbfounded. Their ships were organic, powered by the force and travelled instantly from two points like teleporting. It took a lot of presents and promises to learn a little of flow-walking and ended abruptly when they had enough of me. There were many groups of force sensitives out in space but not all of them were successful and yet there was always something to learn about the force.

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14


    I have turned thirty-five years old and have returned to Coruscant. I''m so sure that I won''t be recognised because of the mechanised fat suit I wear and the illusions that surround me. The fat suit is something I created. It acts just like a healing and protective tank, With a mixture of healing kolta and the new healing agent Bacta my body is refreshed and energised. My understanding of the body, my knowledge of healing, my power over the force, the dark alchemy I''ve learnt on my travels and my reinforced body I''ve kept at my physical peek with zero medical consequences. It baffled me that other force users who searched for unlimited life didn''t combine medical, mechanical and the all-powerful force together to gain what I have. I can''t say for certain that I will live forever but it certainly feels like it. I''ve never been as strong physically, mentally or with the force as I am right now. This was the main reason why I''m confident about returning to Coruscant despite it being the Jedi''s stomping grounds.


    My old name, Ban Bailo has been lost to time and fake death, to be replaced by my nickname Bee. I have taken active action in running my business of Bee''s healing rooms or I should say Bee''s healing halls. The business has grown much bigger. It was once just a single room with the bare necessities, and with time it spread throughout Coruscant on all the different levels. The speed it grew was insane, just like compound interest the healing rooms grew with more of them. When there were enough healing rooms it looped on itself and started to upgrade the healing rooms into healing halls with new and better equipment.


    Then it hits me, instead of mutual destruction to destroy my enemies I could go the way of political suicide. By making the common people love me, or at least what I can do for them, no bigshot bigwig would dare to attack me due to the repercussions of the normal people. It had already happened with gang members trying to take over my healing rooms. The common people fearing the loss of cheap medical care fought back to protect what they had.


    That was the plan from now on, to get the people to love me so I could use them for protection. The first step was to put a face to the name of Bee''s healing halls. I solved that by going on the holotube and plugging a new idea to the people.


    I wore my fat suit and told the common people who I was. It was a gamble to show the people how fat I was, but I span the idea of a fat caring uncle and was there to help you but I was also brutally honest with them. There was nothing more damaging to politics in any form than the people who you wanted on your side to think you were fake and a liar.


    That''s why while I chuckled and winked at the holographic projector I also told the people what I wanted from them, or what I could do for them.


    I offered cash for great ideas. If you had a prototype but not the cash I would offer to buy it. I went on to tell the common people that I wasn''t doing this out of the goodness of my heart but I wouldn''t take it away from them. I made a new holographic show inspired by Dragons Den and Shark Tank.


    I would make money from the show while looking for investment opportunities. It would take time for people to take advantage of my little deals but with a lot of adverts plugging the new program, I would get the message out.


    In the meantime, I put together a different plan to make the people love me, Project Eden. By pooling existing technology I created a blueprint for a level-detachable advanced hydroponic base. The core idea was to produce a huge amount of amazing cheap food.


    Water would be needed but that was solved thanks to the tec of moisture farmers. The energy was solved due to thermal, wind and solar collectors. Artificial gravity and environment to control the comfort of the plants were extracted from spaceships. The technology already existed, all it would take was to put it together. A hexagon-shaped single-storey building took shape with all the needs that a collection of plants would ever need. It was a beautiful design, easy, simple and stable. A great design if I do say so myself. A mini forest or a highly efficient growing lab could be grown with ridiculous ease. I was proud of the design and the best part was it could be extended with new floors added to the whole like Lego.


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    With blueprints in hand and a big team following my orders, construction began on a scarp-yard moon. The moon was a hidden secret from the galaxy, I hadn''t stopped my sticky fingers from pillaging spaceships while I was learning from the force.


    The alien race, known as Aing-Tii hated slavery and attacked any slave ships they could find. A lot of the ships on this scrap yard moon came from them. The construction material for my Eden project would be found here, it had almost everything for the project. I left my team to it while I had a nice piece of cake.


    The cake was heavy with cream and fruit, just the way I liked it. My fat suit was a heavy piece of tech that no normal person could move in and yet I had to keep up the appearance of a food-loving fatty that looked like they had family in the Hutt species. Still, the food was nice.


    As soon as the first Eden hexagon was completed I brought it to various planets to test them out. I left my construction and engineering team to complete more Eden Hexegons while I tested them. It might have been wise for a normal person to have a team of testers work on Eden but I wasn''t normal. I could inspire growth using the force and cut the testing down by lots, and I didn''t need people questioning why the plants were growing so quickly. I had to keep my secrets to myself.


    As time went by my testing grew, new floors were added to my Eden garden and different planets became their home. Surprisingly, desert planets work incredibly well with Eden ships, it was the excesses of heat and light that became the reliable factor.


    Space was unhospitable, if you wanted to survive there you needed reliable tech that all spaceships seemed to have. So a desert planet was simple compared to space. The heat and light powered the facility to keep it at the ideal conditions for plants. The artificial gravity machine worked against the planet''s gravity to create a moon-like atmosphere that worked with the incredible growing speed of the plants and caused a nice little hop and skip to anyone who was in Eden.


    The water was collected at night using the same tech as moister farmers, but on a bigger scale and used during the day. Growing food this way meant only ten per cent of the water used in normal farming was used. The excesses were recycled and stored for further use.


    The unseen benefit that I hadn''t expected was the amount of oxygen produced by each Eden. Most desert planets didn''t have oceans to support oxygen-producing plants and so had to be artificially created by giant structures called air scrubbers. Any family who ran one of these would get paid by the government or whatever taxes they could get. If Edens produced enough oxygen then they would also get paid extra by the government. A nice little consequence for what a plant would consider a waste product.


    Manuals were drafted for each different kind of planet and how Eden ships would react. An example was high freshwater planets that had a lot of insects, the air purifiers would need to be cleaned almost daily because of the constant insect invasion.


    Testing was complete, the construction was constantly increasing how many Eden ships, and all that was needed were people to maintain and repair the mechanics and droids.


    I went the way of the Jedi. My organisation visited the family of force-sensitive children that had dismissed the Jedi instead of handing them over and made them an offer. Instead of taking their precious children, my organisation wanted the whole family to work in their own Eden ship. A better life with guaranteed profit and their force-sensitive children would be trained in growing plants and repairing Edens.


    It was a win-win for everyone. The family would stay together producing mega amounts of food that would be bought by my company and sold cheaply in Bee''s food halls across the most starved worlds. The force-sensitive kids would learn a craft and use their force abilities to produce more fruits, veg and ultimately cash.


    I would be famous for my good works and feeding the hungry but still make a little cash on the side.


    Worlds that needed food like the lower levels of Coruscant would get it, making me and my organisation a necessity that no sane government would think about messing with.


    A new school was developed teaching everything that was needed for Eden and while I would like a force-sensitive child in each Eden to dramatically increase the growing speed the truth was there were so many mouths to feed and not enough force sensitives.


    Lotteries were set up where the winners would be sent to my Eden school with their families to fill the need for food manufacturing.


    This was just the beginning.

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15


    I''ve just turned forty and a lot has happened within the past five years.


    The war between the Jedi and the Brotherhood of Darkness seems to have no end. According to the vast amount of security videos I have, both sides haven''t learnt a damn thing. They fight with passion and controlled skill but apart from being visually impressive both sides'' gains are unremarkable and losses too great. Still, that means I can take what I want from both parties and put it down to the other, just a little sticky fingers here and there.


    Bee''s Eden School is full to the extreme. A glassed planet from one of the many battles throughout this galaxy has been repurposed, the dead surface has now skyscraper-sized Edens spotted throughout. Each one produced enough food to feed an army. It was a good idea to get the whole family involved as they lived together, played together and were genuinely happy. The force-sensitive individuals handle love and death better than the Jedi and the Brotherhood because they learn from their families. It was small losses that helped to prepare for the loss of loved ones.


    Rewarding people for their ideas, such as inventions has paid off massively. At first, they were tiny ideas, like a power cable that increased efficiency by sixteen per cent, or a ship''s air scrubber design that looped on itself and made cleaning easier. All of them had their use and all the people were paid according to the invention. A lot of small advantages added to ginormous results. And when massive, world-changing ideas came my way I paid handsomely. There had been several great inventions that went on to become their own business with a trade on the intergalactic stock exchange. The good ideas had their leaders and CEO and I just offered cash in exchange for stock options and anything I found interesting. In short, money, money, money


    Bee''s Healing Halls and Bee''s Food Halls have been met by the public with great vigour and are critically acclaimed. I was regularly seen on billboards, holo-programs and adverts proclaiming my food halls.


    I even had a catchphrase, "Hunger is a sin to all the galaxy, Eat at Bee''s Food Hall, cheap, cheap, cheap"


    Almost everything was going well but of course, there was the nosey Jedi. I didn''t expect the Jedi to push their fat noses into my business, especially with the war ongoing. One Jedi and his padawan walked up to my personal Eden tower, I had been watching them through the security cameras ever since they landed and left their transport ship.


    They paused briefly at the entrance, I could sense that their minds were at peace. They didn''t have an ounce of unease about them. This was good news as they probably weren''t here to put me back in prison, Their minds would be laced with all kinds of thoughts and feelings if they were here to attack an escaped prisoner, especially the padawan but the only thing I felt in the boy was boredom.


    One of my many secretary protocol droids welcomed them to the first floor which was my living courter and offered a place to sit, a smooth fruit drink and veggie-filled buns to eat. Both the Jedi and padawan were looking at my motto "hunger is a sin" that had been imprinted on a glass trophy when I walked in with a basket of freshly picked apples and pears.


    The basket of food was on purpose because my fat suit made me look like a tank and worried some people, The basket was on my arm to subconsciously give the impression that I was a harmless fat farmer.


    There were greetings from both sides and sweet pleasantries that went nowhere and would make you sick with diabetes. The padawan finished his bun before the Jedi got to his point. Beating around the bush was causing me to grit my teeth, The Jedi had either read my body language or sensed my emotions because he quickly got to the point.


    The Jedi explained that the Council and service corp had seen what a good job my Eden project was doing and wondered if a team-up would benefit both groups.


    I sat down on my huge comfy armchair and slowly peeled my apples. The bastards thought I didn''t know what was going on, I occasionally put a piece of peeled apple in my mouth while the Jedi explained all the benefits of a team-up.


    I knew what they wanted. The war had gotten super spiteful and the Brotherhood of Darkness started to attack and take hostage the non-Jedi service corp. The Jedi wanted to hide their corp members in my Eden project.


    It was hard to forget how much of a basterds the Jedi were. An individual Jedi might be pure and only have the best intentions but unlike the light side and dark side, the world had layers of grey. This was the biggest problem the Jedi had, they were arrogant and couldn''t bend with the real world. The choices they made could end up hurting the normals and most importantly, me.


    Yes, by hiding the non-Jedi corp members they could continue their good work at feeding the galaxy but by trying to hide them in my Eden project they were putting my interests at risk. It would only be a matter of time before the Brotherhood of Darkness found out. By adding the Jedi troubles to me they risk the whole galaxy going hungry.


    Something told me that the Jedi and the service corp wouldn''t stay to themselves and try to incorporate my Eden project with their service corp. They had already done it with many force-sensitive cultures. I didn''t trust them not to overstep my boundaries. I decided to tell them a story. During the past five years making my Eden community across the galaxy, I''ve had pirates, raiders, salvers and just the worst scum trying their best to cut a slice from my Eden project. The only answer for them was might. My Eden project would hire bounty hunters, killers and the same scum of the galaxy to destroy anyone who thought it was a good idea to mess with the Eden project. There were no second chances for anyone attacking Eden. Brutal efficiency, mass destruction and when it called for it, public execution. This was the only way to keep my Eden projects safe from the scum. If you attacked, stole or were generally a pain to the Eden projects laced throughout the galaxy then you were met with severe repercussions.


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    All of this worked well mostly because of how small the enemy was but my reputation wouldn''t hold back an army of dark-side users. I had already been visited by the Brotherhood of Darkness. They wanted the food that we grew free of charge but that wasn''t going to happen. It got pretty bad when a lone Brotherhood of Darkness ransacked a family and their Eden home to find information about me. They tortured the children to force the adults to give him my contact information.


    What happened after that was I met up with the torturous Brotherhood of Darkness member at the family home that he had invaded. As soon as I was in range, I backhanded him so hard that the dark side user lifted off the ground, crashed, and landed on his knees. He didn''t expect I would attack him, he thought I was just a powerless fat man. Instead, he found knuckles that could bend metal and break bricks, Of course, he recovered quickly and pulled out his lightsaber, he anticipated a red beam but nothing came of it. My special type of hidden telekinesis had improved throughout the years, I could still only move a coin''s worth of material but the power behind that had increased immensely. I had ripped the guts of the lightsaber and twisted them so it wouldn''t work.


    He was surprised that nothing happened but only a faction compared to how fast I moved to grab his lightsaber hand and crush it with the broken lightsaber in it. He didn''t expect a fat man to move that fast. After a couple of powerful gut punches, broken bones and swollen eyes the dark side user that terrorised the family was now captured.


    After some fingernail pulling and tooth removal I managed to get contact information out of the dark side user. I contacted a figurehead of the Brotherhood of Darkness using a holo communication. A bureaucratic pen pusher and I worked out a deal. Throughout the deal, I had the weeping family in the background and the torturous Brotherhood of Darkness member by my side in a side hug.


    I could see that the bureaucratic pen pusher was at a disadvantage in dealing with me. The way they usually did business was, that they demanded, and if you were smart, you comply but I was an unknown that had somehow overpowered a dark side user.


    The deal was done and the bureaucrat was eager to leave but I didn''t turn off the connection. Instead, a further message was passed to the Brotherhood of Darkness in the form of me pushing my thumbs into the dark side user''s eyes, and a clear cry of anguish wobbled out of his mouth. I left him on the floor for thirty seconds as I cleaned the blood off of my hands. The crying noises from the family had one new addition to them as the dark side user wailed. I could feel the pain and hate coming off of him, so I decided to finish him off, It was no point leaving a dark side user of the force alive so that they might come after you again.


    I grabbed his hair and pulled him up to his feet. The man knew what was coming and fought back with his one good hand. A spike of telekinesis ran through the room and latched on to the kitchen knives, each one wobbling as to get ready to pierce my body. It was only then that the blinded dark side user realised that I was a force user, and judging by how I overpowered his telekinesis with my own, a much more powerful one. Before he could say anything, I wrapped my hands around his throat and squeezed. Death wasn''t instant, rather his face changed colour as the air was denied to him and the blood pooled on his face, Once he stopped moving I snapped his neck and crushed his skull on the ground. This was the message I passed on to the Brotherhood of Darkness. It was a good job that the dark side users didn''t care about their members as much as they cared for a good and profitable deal, that was how I ended the call. I ended up paying the family and healing their children, They no longer wanted to stay on that planet, so they came with me to start again on a glassed planet but with my immediate protection.


    The Jedi who was sitting in front of me listened to my tale and the fact I was selling food to the Brotherhood of Darkness. The padawan jumped to his feet and released his lightsaber, he didn''t even get a foot closer to me. This was my home and I had complete control over it, the area the padawan was in lost its gravity and caused the rambunctious boy to float away. He tried to fight back but it would seem that the young adult wasn''t used to zero-G as he twisted in the air. The padawan being inexperienced, did a desperate act and threw his lightsaber at me. With a quick flick of my wrist, the knife I was using to cut apples left my hand and embedded into the hilt of the lightsaber causing the lightsaber to return to sender.


    The Jedi had much more experience with zero-G and instead of stepping in the way of the flying lightsaber to block it, he used his force powers to grab it and stop its motion. He turned to me ready to explain what had happened only to be shocked that I was already on my feet with the massive chair I was sitting on in my hands posed over my head ready to slam it down on the padawan.


    Then I saw it, the padawan fear. He was just a kid, he had been taught but not well enough to make proper decisions that could and would affect the galaxy in a negative light. He had attacked with anger and fear not understanding that by striking me down the Jedi would be tainted with the title of killing a great compassionate man who healed the sick and fed the hungry and poor. The poor kid was stupid and young, a mixture that would get him killed if he didn''t correct himself.


    The Jedi did nothing as he watched on the edge of his chair. He was wise enough to know that sometimes the best course of action was to do nothing. I paused over the young padawan. The action I didn''t take caused the padawan to relax and when I dropped the massive chair on the floor causing a loud noise and making both the padawan and Jedi jump, did they both realise that I wasn''t going to attack.


    I grabbed the floating lightsaber out of the air and released the young padawan from zero-G, to his credit, he was able to twist and land on his feet. I turned my back on them. Both of them were quiet, the Jedi was hoping and the padawan was out of his depths to know any better.


    I turned on my holographic T.V. and showed them what I knew. The screen was split into different security images, most showing different battles between the light side and the dark side. There was no clear winner, no one side that dominated over the other, and some of the images showed the service corp of the Jedi being attacked.


    The Jedi got the point, but the padawan didn''t and so I showed him the last moments of a foolish dark side user who had attacked an Eden ship and was destroyed by my hands.


    The Jedi couldn''t protect me, they wanted to use me but I had shown them that I didn''t need them and I wasn''t afraid of either side.


    They left. I didn''t see them out.

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16


    The Eden project had taken a great turn for the better. Dead planet after dead planet was now covered with skyscraper Edens producing mega amounts of food. That wasn''t all, some young man had adapted terraforming into my Edens. Where ever Eden ships were placed a slow but steady healing of the land occurred.


    Slowly but surely the land around every Eden changed. Dry land became grassland, grassland became scrubland, scrubland became bushland and so on. The only place that Edens couldn''t transform was planets without water.


    Eden and the many families who ran each tower had created their community, they would discuss what each family was growing and plan. They swapped recipes and food stock. It became like an old-time farming community where they would support each other. For entertainment, they devised their games. Some younger members used some of the droids to reshape the grounds into a racetrack. Others introduced herd animals to take advantage of the newly grown vegetation. Cheese, milk, wool, all kinds of animal by-products.


    Things were so good that I created a new blueprint, a new business, a way to cement my name in the hearts of all and make it so that they would always need me.


    I had my healing halls to fix the masses, the food halls to feed the galaxy, and the Eden project to supply the food halls and now I was planning cheap, cheap, cheap energy. Project Iokath or the name I was most used to, is a Dyson sphere. I couldn''t make a proper Dyson sphere because the resource needed was so vast that if I sold everything I owned it wouldn''t be enough to cover a single percent of the cost. Instead, a Dyson swarm would have to do but before even that a super mega duper computer would have to be built to manage all of the designs and calculations. This was a project that would take years, maybe generations, but I will take my time and do it right. After all, it took the galaxy-wide empire twenty years to build a moon-sized super weapon.


    There were always problems when dealing with business. My biggest one would be the medical droids I use to staff my healing halls. In the beginning, I would buy a new one every week but now they couldn''t build them fast enough before I would snap them up. My healing halls were placed throughout the galaxy, each one making profits that went into my pocket. But because of that other places that needed a medical droid such as cruiser went without. Supply and demand caused the price to skyrocket.


    The answer to that problem was simple, I just didn''t buy anymore for a while. The ships would get their droids because of the excess supply the companies were making to fill my needs and the price would come down to normal when demand shrank.


    I want to say that the Jedi and Brotherhood of Darkness left me alone but that was never going to happen. The nature of the Brotherhood of Darkness meant they were always trying to gain an advantage. They would send dark-side users to pressure and cause fear, they acted like a mafia trying to shake families down for protection. Each time I would have to find the individual and crush them brutally, It wasn''t that they couldn''t learn from my brutality but they didn''t care. And so, weapons were installed in every Eden and new booklets were handed out on how to deal with force users. The answer was to hold up in your Eden, turn the anti-gravity on and gas the place until they were dead or left. The Jedi didn''t visit anymore but I knew that the extra government pen pushers that would send messages because of tax or safety reseasons were because of them. The answers to that were lawyers, lots of lawyers counter sewing and just causing a massive annoyance to anyone who thought it was a good idea to mess with me.


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    There was a great moment when a particularly arrogant and annoying head of state increased my taxes due to profit. No counter-legal means seemed to work as they were ignored. Instead after fighting the much higher tax my healing halls and food halls left the world. It was made public why I had pulled my support. It only took a month before the head of state was removed by his party and new tax relaxing laws for my firm to be introduced.


    This is what I wanted all along. The common people had stood up to protect their benefits and in turn, they had protected my interests. I rewarded them by lowering my price to reflect the new tax breaks I would get.


    Life wasn''t all good, the dark side users were learning and despite not knowing how I was killing their mafi-like intruders they had noticed that I would take the star ships as my own. They set a great trap for me, that I only escaped because of a lack of intelligence on my enemy''s part.


    I had done the usual thing of disposing of my enemy in the most efficient way I could, this time it was a simple mine blasting a hole in the side of the ship and watching the force users use their abilities to save themselves only to find a selection of grenades and pistol firing to either blast them to shreds or blast them out into the coldness of space. However, this time it was different as the dark side users had hidden and cut me off in the Corgo Bay when I was packing my winnings.


    I didn''t make it easy for them as I killed at least twenty of the shits. I was finally captured but they had no idea who I was. With no way to escape, I changed my identity. The Brotherhood of Darkness had been fighting the fat businessman known as Bee but they only found the considerably slimmer Ban Bailo. I had used my fat suit as a bomb to kill some unlucky punk, The dark side user had some impressive skill with a lightsaber but a grand explosion vaporised the flailing lightsaber. They assumed I was Bee''s pilot and captured me, They found out I could use the force when they tried to interrogate and couldn''t use the force to find answers. That was when I found out the Darkside was just a tad more brutal than the stories would suggest.


    Torture was common in turning force users to the dark side and I wasn''t any different. They prodded and probed using specially designed droids to find ways to break force users, Even though I had special training as a healer that I expected to block the invasive torture the droids pressed on to find ways to cause pain like an exposed nerve in a tooth. I had to cut my pain receptors to save my mind. It would take some time to fix but it was better than losing my reason to hate and pain.


    At this point, I changed the colour of my eyes to emit a soft orange glow using the illusion skills I had picked up. This was the change the Brotherhood of Darkness was waiting for, From this point onwards the torture relented and I was transported to a sort of Academy for the force users of the Brotherhood of Darkness.

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17


    Obviously, the way the Brotherhood of Darkness taught their force users was nothing like the Jedi. The biggest difference was the need for resources. The masters didn''t teach for free, you had to earn their tutelage and it was certain that they wouldn''t teach you all they knew. The students constantly fought each other for resources, taking from the weak to become more powerful. It was a rancore eat rancore world.


    I was no different and was attacked. They knew I had just been kidnapped/recruited but it was a power move that the masters encouraged. It was no wonder that the dark side was better at fighting than the light side when every moment was about becoming strong and winning.


    This was a problem for me as I didn''t fight the way the Jedi and Brotherhood did and I didn''t want them to learn from my tactics. The resources that were assigned to me were quickly stolen. I could have pulled them apart using telekinesis but then they would learn from it. The Brotherhood was my enemy and I wouldn''t give them any chance to learn from me.


    Still, I wasn''t completely defenceless. As well as my usual force powers of telekinesis I had been using my force powers to disguise my face. Now I had doubled down on the ability and was trying my best with it.


    At first, I used my force illusion ability the same way I had always used it. I would change my features in the hope that I wouldn''t be targeted but I soon changed that as there was no safe place and no one was safe. It didn''t matter what face I wore, I would be attacked for resources or just because of the nature of the dark side causing pain and misery.


    I then adapted the illusions so it looked like I was already injured with broken bones and cuts but it would seem that nothing spurs on the sadists of the dark side more than causing more pain to someone who was already weak.


    At times like this, I would usually concentrate on gaining support in the form of droids and tec but the dust ball of a planet the Dark Side academy was on had no droids and basic stone technology. There was nothing to steal or buy for me to tinker with. Even if I had an army of droids to do my bidding the emotional side of the Brotherhood caused them to lash out on almost everything. The very few cleaning bots I had seen had quickly been crushed by an upset force user.


    If I were to win against the dark side force users and escape without giving them anything to learn from I would need to lean in to subterfuge.


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    Illusions became my bread and butter. I still took the beating but I made it appear much worse than it was. The simple fact was, as a student in this academy, I was a resource to the Botherhood, which means that if I was damaged to an unexpected level then that was the fault of just one person and that person was at fault for damaging the Botherhood''s resources. That was the theory, it didn''t always work because of how the dark side thought but it was enough to protect me, sometimes.


    It turns out that the reason I was able to kill so many Brotherhood of Darkness was that most of them were initiates doing missions so they could get resources to exchange for lessons from masters. I was no different. The Brotherhood had a quantity-over-quality mentality and sent their initiates into battle. The ones who survived were strong and the ones who died had fulfilled their purpose. This was how I found myself on a transport ship heading towards battle.


    The whole thing was unbelievably messed up. In the eyes of the Brotherhood, I had almost no training but was still given a lightsaber and pushed into battle. The initiates were packed into a simple cheap drop ship and released from the transport ship. The usual tactic was for these drop ships to charge in and smash through any entrance. It wasn''t just the initiates that were packed with me but normal soldiers and a couple of move-powerful force users. The idea was to cover the powerful by using the weak.


    When the dropship opened up to release its payload we all rushed out to minimal resistance. A very light shower of blaster fire peppered us. I wasn''t going to help the Brotherhood in any way, why should I? They kidnapped me, tortured me and most of their members were massive jerks.


    I used my powerful illusion ability to fake a blaster bolt hitting me and dropped to the ground. I would stay out of the way until I could escape, the best time would be when the Jedi turned up and started to fight with the Brotherhood. I just needed to stay out of the way.


    Thankfully, training illusions meant that I was pretty good at disappearing as well. It was called force cloak or force camouflage. It was easier to do than my illusions. Disappearing with force camouflage was done by manipulating light and sound, while my illusions had to be created to be seen or forced into someone''s mind. It was odd that I had learned the harder force ability before the easier one.


    I would wait for the Jedi, snap some poor initiates'' neck and steal their ship while the two enemy forces attack each other. And yet, the Jedi didn''t come. I had made the mistake that every attack the Brotherhood made was countered by the Jedi. The truth was the galaxy was a big place and not every fight was against the Jedi and Brotherhood.


    Of course, without anyone of substance to counter the Brotherhood, they won easily. Bad news for me. The Brotherhood took over the ship leaving me no choice but to go back to the academy. Until I could make a ship disappear I wasn''t going to be able to leave without being shot down or swamped by a hoard of Brotherhood of Darkness initiates.


    Despite not being able to escape I was able to take some sonic grenades, a repeating pistol blaster and a dead initiate arm guard. The arm guard was a nice find as it was a material that had resistance to lightsabers. I had to get more of this stuff. I was a long-distance fighter but it didn''t hurt to have protection against one of the most badass weapons in the galaxy.

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18


    The Brotherhood of Darkness are cheap mother herders. I''ve been on several attack ram missions and despite not helping in any way, which they didn''t know, I''ve just about earned enough kudos points to visit the academy and peer into my first Holocron.


    Looking at the vast amount of Holocrons lined up gave me chills. I had thought the Jedi library was impressive but the amount of darkside Holocrons put the Jedi''s to shame. I hadn''t seen the Jedi''s holocrones as they were meant for masters and maybe their padawans but unlike the Jedi, the Brotherhood collected any information that would make them strong. No ability in the force was out of bounds, unlike the Jedi.


    If you wanted to learn how to turn people inside out, there was a Holocron that had a master with its teaching in it. One holocrone could have the complete life story of an unimposing master from a thousand years ago or a master who was able to mind-control a long-dead battle creature. In short, there were lots of less useful Holocrons but the nature of the dark side meant that lots of masters had made their own. The worst part of it all was the Brotherhood didn''t offer a Dewey Decimal Classification System. The Brotherhood had a way to navigate through this much information but you had to pay for that as well. Nothing was free.


    The Holocron library was a dead end. I didn''t have enough kudos points to continuously check the many Holocrons for something that might be useful.


    The whole thing was frustrating. I had better luck learning dark side powers from the prisoners than I did with the Brotherhood Holocrone library. In jail, it might cost me a packet of data disks full of entertainment but I had been taught the beginning of my illusions and mind manipulation.


    Here, in the Brotherhood training grounds, everything costs something from the users, usually some action that might tear down your morels and cause you to tread down the dark side with your emotions firing on all cylinders. That was the way the Brotherhood wanted it. But for me, the cost was too much. I would easily kill anyone here and not think twice about it but not at the cost of my rational mind.


    The irony wasn''t lost on me that while I was able to escape the greatest prison ever to be made, this dustball of a planet was causing me no end of trouble. If only I had some droids and machinery to work on without some hot head initiate crushing it or slicing it in half because they felt like it.


    And then there was the Brotherhood''s speciality of not trusting anyone, especially their initiates. Highjacking a ship had a high chance of just being blasted out of the sky. A better pilot than me might have made it but my talents didn''t go in that direction. My best chance of escape was to wait for the Brotherhood and the initiates to be defeated on one of their raids and just blend into the background, steal a ship in the chaos get the hell out of there. If there was some type of tech I could fiddle with then I might have made plans to escape but the planet was a dead end when it came to droids, computers and anything mechanical.


    There was more bad news. Some asshat has learned force lighting and was pretty good at it. I wouldn''t care but the jerk is using it to bend and break the other initiates to her will. It was a shame that when she turned up and used it on me I was forced to use my unique force lighting on her, she didn''t survive. She was a genius in force lightning but I had been taught by legitimate dark lords of the force. Now I had a dead initiate body, which I sold and bought the index to the Holocrony library.


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    I choose Knowledge Drain. My logic is, if I''m going to be here then I might as well get what I can. I am not willing to save up the points by doing missions and killing just so I can learn from the Holocrons, instead, I''m going to get my information from the other initiates by taking it straight from their minds


    It was a brilliant combination. I would stun them in their rooms with a little lightning or smack them in the back of their heads with a bit of telekinesis or even a modified grenade and then I would search their minds. It was hard because their strong negative emotions protected them but with my Force Enlightenment paired with Knowledge Drain, I got the best results I could muster every time. Some of the initiates shake and turn in their unconscious bodies but I don''t feel bad for taking what I want from their minds. It''s the Brotherhood of Darkness way and they would do it to me if they had better control. By the nature of the ability I couldn''t be sure that someone hadn''t already done it to me, but I seriously doubt it. If they found out I had been reborn, I would be locked in a room and experimented on.


    The information was glorious. Learning from holocrons was the best, the information learnt from long-dead masters who specialised in the craft had no equal. The best part was some of those holocrons had emotional mind fuckery but I learnt it from the mind of the initiates which was like a filter.


    I also used a few illusions and put them into the initiate''s minds. If it wasn''t for the initiates and masters.....and the missions and the killing, then it would be a nice place to learn. At least they severed meat, it was a shame that it was pickled, I guess they surely were evil.


    My only activity was picking the brains of the initiates. There wasn''t any tech to fiddle with and I didn''t dare try to connect to my business in case the Brotherhood was listening in. This kind of life would have been boring if it wasn''t for the life-threatening initiates.


    With nothing to do but pick the minds of the initiates I got really good, so good that I''m incorporating my mind illusions from afar. The trick is to persuade the mind with things it already knows and then embellish. If you go against the person''s nature and and push in a direction they wouldn''t take then they start to rebel and when that happens, force users start to use the force in ways that can protect them and interfere with my illusions. In other words, keep it as real as possible. It was a paradox that normal people are harder to control because they have a diversity of emotions, wants and needs but the dark side users use negative emotions to power their abilities. It is so easy to manipulate them. I''ve classified their emotions to better help me use my illusions. Hate, which seems to be the cornerstone of all the Darksider''s emotions gets shit done but it can cloud the details of the Darksider. This is perfect for my manipulation. I can drive their mind to certain places with hate and use the emotion to blind them to any imperfections my illusions have. Fear is subtle, too much and the mind will rebel and cause unknowable actions, just the right amount freezes up the mind and body, giving me time to adjust. Frustration is a problem because of how the mind works hard to solve the problems, I use a little bit of Inadequacy to temper the rolling mind and curve frustration. I can''t seem to use guilt to control my subject. It''s not that Darksiders doesn''t have any, they have tons of the stuff, it''s just they choose to ignore it or blame others for it. It''s the fastest and most elusive of emotions and because of that I can''t use it yet but when I''m able to the Darksiders will be in deep doo-doo. Resentment and jealousy are a pair of super-effective emotions that I use with gusto. This long-forgotten dark side academy is filled with resentment. It''s my go-to thing when I manipulate the initiates. I can steal from them and then blame others.


    That''s how I got my hands on some interesting items

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19


    Lightsabers are scary things. A tool that can cut anything is super scary. Even when I''m using the weapon I can''t help but be a little freaked out and that is not useful when you fight monks who can read your emotions and use them against you it''s not wise to use a tool that you can''t get the hang of.


    That is where my new items come in. There seem to be several lightsaber resistance cloths, metals and others. I picked up a lightsaber resistance bracer on one of the missions and now I''m collecting them like some trading card game. After all, the lightsaber is a tool that Light Sider and Darksider use alike and having some defence against something that''s unblockable would be a nice little surprise.


    Mandalorian Iron, Songsteel, Ultrachrome, Cortosis-weave armor. Surprising how many lightsaber resistance materials there are and even more surprising just how little the force users use them.


    Someone once said first comes speed, then comes accuracy and then strength. The Jedi fought with speed because of the amazing cutting power of lightsabers. And this was why speed was the best and armour was abandoned. I understand that with great speed comes an easier time of running away but I still want the materials, maybe for a new improved fat suit


    There wasn''t much to talk about. The days, weeks and months rolled along and not much changed. For the missions I was forced to go on, I just hung back and took advantage where I could. To the untrained eye, it would seem the Brotherhood of Darkness was winning, they hadn''t lost any battles since I joined but they were low-level fights with low-level resources. The brotherhood would win a system that had little strategic or monetary value and yet each time there were fewer brotherhood members. It didn''t help their cause that the brotherhood of darkness had in-fighting and their allies would abandon them whenever the situation called for it. The Jedi on the other hand knew how to fight to gain the best results, they would give up sectors at great cost to the Brotherhood of Darkness. As a combat army, the Jedis were better. The Brotherhood had better fighters but charged in and fought like demons and ultimately get their asses handed to them by non-force users. Yes, it took a platoon of blasters to take down one dark sider but there wasn''t a shortage of normal people.


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    It was strange that the light side was using normal soldiers more efficiently to kill the Darksiders. I expected the Darksiders to use normal civilian as meat shields but due to their arrogance and stupidity, they didn''t.


    The ending of the war came when a civil war on the brotherhood killed untold amounts of Darksiders and then a massive strike team of ships laid waste to the whole planet I was on. Orbit strikes glassing the planet. Fourtantly I was deep enough to escape the destruction with many others.


    When a group of massively powerful dark side force users find that there isn''t a way to survive they become murder hobos. The Darksiders stole whatever they could and I was the same. I didn''t bother with gold or credits but a sack full of holocrons cubes.


    Hearing the planet being bombarded from underground was a scary thing but it was a secondary thought when the halls were being stalked by the brotherhood of darkness masters. Each one was killing any and all the initiates they could find. It seemed that they knew there was no way out and they weren''t giving anything to the victors


    I didn''t even try fighting the masters. My greatest skills were aligned with deception. Yes, I had force lightning and other abilities but the masters were killing machines that knew how to defect, avoid and block all kinds of abilities. They were so in touch with the force that I saw a master, force push an initiate into a room when said initiate tried to suicide exploded and took the master with him. After the explosion, the master moved on while I made myself as small as possible. Thank the force that I could hide from force users and disguise myself with illusion.


    My paranoia was kicking into overdrive. While I knew I could fool initiates with my abilities I wasn''t sure when it came to masters. The answer was to go somewhere that the masters wouldn''t want to go. I hide in the trash compactor.


    I was feeling pretty smug with my choice of a safe haven. That was until an initiate decided it would be easier to kill me by activating the compactor and crushing me to death. I had a lightsaber that I could easily use to cut my way out but as soon as the initiate activated the crusher, a master who had been following the initiate turned up and drained the initiate of life. I would''ve been next but the bombardment stopped which meant the Jedi was coming.


    The master left immediately. I don''t know if he knew I was there or he didn''t want to be without allies when the Jedi turned up but he left. I on the other hand did not. I broke the compactor and stayed, where else was I going to go? I needed the Jedi and their army to do their thing and soften up the dark side masters.


    I''m finally getting off this dirt ball of a planet and going home.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20


    I blended into the roaming death squads by stealing a dead warrior''s clothes. As I pretended to be nothing but a simple soldier I witnessed masters battling it out. Fast and flash was one way of describing the master''s fight. The Jedis weren''t taking any chances. They double-teamed any darksider user with blazing lightsabers cutting them down. And yet, sometimes even this wasn''t enough. The dark side users fought every waking hour and their instincts helped them to win. A poor Padawan was kicked away by a master of the dark side. Even with the force protecting him, the padawan ribs cracked and he flew through the air in an arc. The Jedi master and dark side master continued to fight while I heaved up the padawan.


    To his credit, the padawan tried to get back into the fight but I held him back. The padawan looked at me in surprise as I was able to hold on to him. That''s when I pulled out one of my personal grenades and tossed it towards the dark side master. It rolled on the ground towards the dark side master and without even looking in that direction the dark side master used his ability with the force and tried to push the grenade away, only to get a small surprise when the grenade griped to the ground with a simple timed claw and it failed to move an inch


    The explosion wasn''t much to a master who wielded the force like armour but as the explosion caused the dark side user to stubble I pulled the guts out of his lightsaber and let the padawan go. I expected the dark side user to be defeated by the Jedi master, and yet the Darkside master threw his hilt at the Jedi master and moved forward to catch the wrist of the Jedi before he could be cut down. It was the padawan who won the day as he sliced the dark side master''s arm off and the Jedi master finished him off with a cut through the chest.


    After helping the padawan, I followed the youngster around. It was best to be on the winning side and I knew he wasn''t ready to take on a dark side master. If I wasn''t able to take on a master of the dark side of the force then this youngster wasn''t either. I help out with shots from my blaster fully expecting them to be deflected back but giving the padawan breathing room whenever he was in too deep.


    The padawan would have been killed five times over if I wasn''t there, something the padawan seemed to understand when he started to talk to me. The poor kid was fully indoctrinated in the Jedi way but he had a great instinct that he rightly guessed that I was force-sensitive and asked some very difficult questions, like the fact I wasn''t on the battle manifesto. I didn''t deny this and weaved a story about how I was earning some cash for my own Edan ship from my master.


    The padawan was interested in this as Edan ships had made noise across the galaxy by feeding the hungry and refused the Jedi and the brotherhood of darkness. But when he asked about my master I shocked him by naming my alter ego, Bee.


    He asked if Bee was force sensitive and I said that was something you had to ask him but don''t hold your breath because his lips were sealed tighter than a rancor''s butthole.


    The padawan continued to ask questions about my alter ego, in which the only straight answer I gave him was what Bee likes the most is food and wealth. It felt odd talking about myself to this padawan in the third person, it felt strange but necessary.


    The padawan was joined by his master in asking questions but at this, I simply said you have to ask my master. I was shitting myself. I shouldn''t have been here at this battle, I had no qualifications to prove who I was and I had a sack full of holocrons. The only thing that was stopping the Jedi master from stopping me was the rumours and stories of my alter ego.


    Thank the force that I openly attacked the brotherhood of darkness with assassins and bounty hunters whenever they hurt what was mine. Bee''s reputation for violence in any form had protected my interest not only from the scum of the galaxy but from the Jedi as well. No one wanted to be on Bee''s shit list.


    So while the Jedi master didn''t believe a word I said he gave me leeway. The master insisted that he was to accompany me back to my home. It was on its way back to Coruscant and he wanted to meet the infamous Bee. I saw right through him, if I was fake and couldn''t get into the heavily fortified Bee''s Eden ship then I would be taken away to Coruscant as a prisoner. He didn''t believe me for one second, the Jedi''s instincts were pretty good as well, it was just a bit different than the brotherhoods.


    Travelling with the Jedi master was the most uncomfortable I had ever felt. It wasn''t just his eyes on me, consistently scrutinising me but the force as well. I hated it, I know I can''t beat a master but I still wanted to shove his lightsaber up his ass.


    Entering the planet''s orbit that had my Eden ship on I felt at ease for the first time in months. The Jedi sitting opposite me on the other hand seemed to tense up, I can understand why. My alter ego had political power and was loved by the people and worse of all, Bee was a vengeful jerk that he wasn''t ashamed of.


    It felt great entering my home. I could see the Jedi master look worryingly at the tracking auto guns. These bad boys spritted out lead tip explosive rounds at five thousand a minute. I had yet to see any force user able to withstand this barrage. With the right amount of armour or shielding the bullets wouldn''t take effect but the arrogance of force users hindered such thoughts.


    The Jedi master and padawan sat in the public area waiting to see what would happen. I, on the other hand quickly passed the halls into the private area. This was it, here I was king. I no longer felt worried, a one-on-one fight with a master would end in my defeat but here I could take on an army and win.


    I dumped my sack of holocrons in a room and found one of my spare fat suits. Casually, I zipped up my suit and changed my facial appearance with the force. When I let myself be known to the master and padawan Jedi they had been waiting for an hour. The young padawan was stuffing his face with pastries and glazed fruits served by a protocol droid, while the master was meditating.


    "Greetings" I bounced across the room making sure that my fat suit wobbled in all the right places.


    The padawan choked a little on a chocolate cream-filled eclair. My fat suit caused people to be surprised when they saw me for the first time. Something I made sure to take advantage of. On the other hand, the master Jedi stood calmly and came closer to greet me, he obviously had better intel on me and expected my size.


    "That''s close enough" raising my hand to stop the Jedi''s approach. It was never a good idea to have a lightsaber-wielding wizard close to you.


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    The Jedi mannerisms stayed polite due to years of training but I could sense an annoyance on the tip of his tongue. A master should have known better but because he was a master, the Jedi expected more respect and when he didn''t get it the negative emotion wormed its way in.


    My alter ego had a reputation for being a charismatic jerk. Bee would do what he wanted to do and hell to anyone else. My mind easily switched to my altar ego, Bee. I waddled over to the bar and skillfully mixed a tall multi-coloured alcoholic drink. Pouring out a drink for me and my two guests I pointed at my droid to serve them.


    With a simple hand gesture, the Jedi denied the drink for himself and to the disappointment of the padawan, him too. The droid brought it back to me, from which I poured all three drinks into a bucket and started to take big swiggs.


    "Ahhhh, waste not want not" I sighed while slapping my gut.


    The Jedi was about to say something but I interrupted him "Soooooo, what do you want"


    I felt that same annoyance rise again in the Jedi. To his credit, the control he was showing was the best thing I had seen in months but that wasn''t saying much when I had been spending my time with raging murders.


    "Sir...Bee" the Jedi began


    "Just Bee is fine" I interrupted.


    Unexpectedly the Jedi sighed his frustration away.


    The Jedi went on to explain what they were here for. I listened, only interrupting with long slow slurps from my bucket.


    Basically, the Jedi were complaining about a loose and unregistered force-sensitive sneaking into a war area.


    I looked hard at the Jedi from across the room and only after seven seconds did I speak.


    "Let me get this straight, the Jedi have wiped out the brotherhood of darkness, destroyed their bases and plundered their loot... I suppose congrats are in order"


    This was not the reaction the Jedi was expecting but he was even more surprised when I waved my droid over


    "Tell my salvaging team to partner up with two of the bigger firms and go to the Brotherhood of Darkness territories and claim as much as they can...dump the salvage in the usual place"


    It didn''t stop there. "Call the usual bureaucrats and see if there are cheap planets for sale, the level of destruction isn''t a factor"


    There was more "Send some eden ships and cheap food to the area and use my favour with the local pirates and underworld to protect them, explain that there should be plenty of weapons and loot to salvage, they may use my salvage team credentials to get what they want"


    It continued "Get rid of every share we have in the insurance business and invest heavily in construction and resources, oh and tell the Hutts, they most likely already know but its good business to spread the wealth"


    and "Take over the ruined trade routes filled with debris, it will probably take five to ten years to clear them out but it will be a good long-term project and give the salvage companies some long-term work"


    The young padawan''s mouth had spilt open in disbelief but it was the frown from the Jedi that gave me a sense of a job done well. Essentially, the information the Jedi had calmly dumped on me to explain his complaints was being taken advantage of, and best of all, they couldn''t do a thing about it.


    It was considered bad taste to make money off suffering but I was doing it in a way that would benefit many people from the top to the bottom. If you are going to do nasty things then make sure they love you for doing it. Glassed planets would be nursed back to health by my Eden ships, cheap food for the hungry and getting rid of space debris were things every normal person could benefit from.


    So what if I made a galactic sum of cash, I wasn''t breaking any laws thanks to my long hours learning the law, even if I was, a nice healthy stack of credits would solve that. I had the means and power to make use of the info the Jedi so carelessly gave. The only reason the Jedi cared as I did it in front of them without caring what they thought


    A small smile flickered on my lips when I saw the Jedi''s hand tighten up as the droid left to do its thing.


    "So sorry, just a little bit of business" I smiled while swirling my bucket of booze


    Without a pause, the Jedi chose to ignore what had happened and continued to complain about my apprentice and heavily insinuate a monetary punishment


    "You want to punish my boy for being somewhere he shouldn''t have been. That''s fine but I think you''ll find that all of his paperwork involving privateering is up-to-date and triple signed. My boy was there for the ships and whatever isn''t nailed down, it''s perfectly legal. Instead of punishment, shouldn''t you reward him for saving your apprentice five separate times"


    The silence was shocking. Even though the Jedi would deny it they all had egos and very often did the Jedi ever admit that they were in the wrong or needed help outside their order.


    The Jedi master wasn''t able to position his knowledge and the fact he had found me in a battle, but what was he going to do? I was ready enough for the Jedi to spout laws at me and counter the fact that all of the law-breaking happened in the Brotherhood of Darkness territory and thus nothing was illegal.


    I over dramatically and visibly sighed for effect and reached out an olive branch.


    "I understand why you are here, Money, or to be more precise, resources" I put my bucket down and pulled a disk out of a draw and activated the hologram map of the galaxy.


    "The Savareen sector needs close to three hundred million tons of food aid, I''m willing to give a two percent discount"


    The Jedi frowned yet again "Such a small discount for a grand businessman, surely you can go as high as thirty percent discount"


    I looked at the Jedi who had the passive look of a stone, it was clear, to him at least that he had asked for something reasonable. By the look of the padawan, he didn''t know what was going on, someone had neglected their studies.


    "I won''t ask my suppliers to take a loss for the sake of others. They work hard for what they have and earn their pay. The discount I offer comes out of my pocket. It''s a fundamental rule to keep your allies happy and fat and your enemies scared and doubting"


    "Do the math" I said to the Jedi " Two percent discount of three hundred million isn''t a small amount. Six million tons of free food aid. I''ll tell you what, I will even throw in free transportation. That''s a great deal seeing the fact you have nothing against my boy. I''m practically giving you something for nothing"


    "Three percent and one hundred million tons of medical aid" demanded the Jedi


    "I don''t make medical equipment, I just buy it and resell it in my healing halls. If you want medical aid then you''re talking to the wrong man" I answered back


    "Four percent" the Jedi countered


    "Four percent but I''m not paying for transport costs and fuel" I offered


    "Four percent and the Jedi will pick it up and distribute it" the Jedi answered back


    The Jedi wanted to take credit for giving food aid to the masses and I was ok with that. The information I gained with the complete massacre of the Brotherhood Of Darkness would give me complete access to many sectors and trade routes that when active and cleared of debris would pay for them selfs completely every day. The cash that I could earn was immense and possibly enough to get my Dyson swarm started. The Jedi earned a little on the side.


    "Deal," I said and handed over a recording of our discussion to the Jedi.


    On the way out the padawan asked why his master had asked for a thirty percent discount and settled for four percent. The answer was simple, he had nothing to bargain with.


    "So you fooled Bee and earned eight million tons for nothing" asked the now impressed padawan.


    The Jedi master almost stopped to look over his shoulder "First of all it''s twelve million tons of free food aid my young padawan, you need more tutoring in numbers and less in the art of lightsabers. Second...." at this point the Jedi cupped his hands around his mouth and leaned in closer to the padawan "Whatever discount mister Bee gives will be earned back tenfold in unforeseen ways by the end of the day. It only a matter of time before he owns a corner of the galaxy for himself"


    "I .... don''t understand" answered the padawan


    "Of course, he didn''t. The young padawan followed the way of the Jedi and cash and credits meant little to him" thought the Jedi master but he knew there was more to Bee because throughout the negotiation he had used his force mind trick and been battered back multiple times, he even had the impression that a mind trick had been used on him but that would be insane to even think.........or perhaps that what they wanted you to think.

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21


    You can make a lot of cash in war, especially a galaxy-sized war, and yet with the exception of stealing some ships, I tried to stay away from making too much profit from either side as both would tear me apart if I pushed too far.


    However the war was over and the Jedi had won, now was the time to make serious dough.


    Scrap yards and salvage companies were in hog''s heaven, as the materials from the Brotherhood of Darkness were harvested. I bought and filled a glassed planet full of salvage that would keep my Eden ships fleet in production for years to come.


    I cut out a section of the galaxy for myself near Hutt space. The Hutt clan had their big fat sweaty hands in all kinds of pies, mostly illegal. A myriad of illegal businesses was how the Hutts made their money but it also caused governments to apply heavy embargoes, sanctions and no trade. I could take advantage of this.


    My knowledge and time frame were inconsistent because of the many different calendars in this era but there were things I did know, despite how messy the galaxy got and how many people died, the Hutts were able to persuade all the superpowers such as the empire not to attack them. I wanted that.


    I would have to make deals with the Hutts and new deals would have to be made when other Hutts become powerful but I knew it was better to have the Hutts on my side. It would never be a stable partnership as the Hutts would consistently prob the deals and see what they could get away with but as long as there was plenty of cash to be made, the Hutt clan would see me as an ally or maybe a pet.


    I would clear out the debris from the hyperlanes and give free passage to the Hutts to trade whatever illegal smuggling they wanted and in return, my sectors would be free from raids from pirates, slavers and all kinds of scum. The Hutts and my own vindictive reputation had strangely caused the safest place in the galaxy, right next to one of the most lawless places.


    I bought more and traded with everyone. My number one rule was to share the wealth, I made sure everyone got a nice piece of the pie. This caused my own slice to shrink but when the pie is the size of a galaxy then it didn''t matter. My empire was stable, profitable, safe and expanding. The Rebupiclic changed their maps to include my new sectors, right beside Hutt space, it was called Bee''s Grove.


    Bee''s Grove had many planets that hosted nothing but Eden ships, growing the galaxy''s food. I would send presents to the Hutts, massive containers of hard-to-produce delicacies like Klatooine paddy frog patte or wiggling slow grub worms. It was a nice arrangement with the Hutts that was profitable.


    Talking about profits, a Carosite female created a perfect counter agent to the galaxy''s second most used illegal drug in the hopes of relieving the suffering and had the foresight to realise that her life was now in danger from the producers of such drug. That''s where I came in.


    The Carosite were almost perfectly peaceful beings. They saw life as sacred which in turn molded their culture and society to a passive healers. In my opinion, they were what the Jedi should have been.


    I used my power to help the Female Carosite. I gave her a world and resources in the Grove to do with as she saw fit, in return I retained one hundred ownership of the counter agent and promised it would be used to help.


    If I were stupid, I would create the counter agent and place it in my healing halls for a small profit but instead, I made calls, found all the major producers of the drug and made them a very profitable deal. Everyone gets a piece of the pie.


    It was simple really. Illegal drugs were highly addictive and sold well but the market for them was stunted due to the stigma and negative repercussions but now we had a way to negate the negative side. Some would say that what I was about to do was immoral but it was nothing new to what had been done before.


    It was simple for someone like me who had the power and cash, I started a legitimate corporation surrounding the once-illegal drug. The old producers of the drug were folded into my new corporation and produced the legal drug with the counter agent for a nice payout or if they were smart then some stocks in the corporation. The old illegal drug that was sold in alleyways and seedy bars was brought out into the light made legal with healthy bribes to the bureaucrat and rebranded as a reliable entertainment product at reasonable prices. No one would lose their homes trying to get their next fix, overdose was a thing of the past, thanks to the counter agent and unified production. The price went down but the supply was through the roof. People would use the drug to get a nice hallucinogenic high after work and when it was time to pick up the kids or go back to work the counter agent would make you a functional member of society


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    This was how you should do business. The old drug dealers were now legitimate stock owners of a highly profitable corporation. The money they made could be spent without worry from the law. Death squads that roamed cities ready to kill any competition didn''t exist anymore because there was no competition, you either worked for the corporation or you didn''t make the drug. There was no reason to illegally create the drug in back shops as there was little profit from it.


    I had filled my pocket with cash, fulfilled my promise with the female Carosite and best of all, no one had to die and everyone was happy. Some argued to just take what was mine but a short reminder of who I was and what I could do shut their stupid fat mouths.


    My reputation increased yet again and the Hutts were interested in what I had done, they liked the idea of making their illegal gains into something the law couldn''t touch, so I pumped cash and resources to the female Carosite to see what she could do. It didn''t take long for more Carosites to join the first and start to do their medical miracles. When breakthroughs happened I would incorporate them into the drug corporation or into Bee''s healing halls. To make it fair, I shared the stocks. The Hutts with their greed demanded more but I just said that they could do it themselves and start their own corporation. Some tried but their reputation and the embargoes placed on them stopped them flat in their way. The Hutts preferred to be feared and weren''t willing to share good fortune.


    This worked against me. The big Hutt clans were with me as they knew that the criminal world was still a business, they didn''t do things without some good reason but not all Hutts were smart and some low-level Hutts thought I would be an easy target for a quick slice of my pie. The Hutts had a coming of age-right, where they had to make it on their own. Unfortunately for me, these new young Hutts didn''t have the best information gathering and thought it would be a good idea to squeeze some credits from me. They kidnapped a kid while he was visiting a podraceing track, he was from a family of well-respected farmers who had twenty-seven Eden ships. They paid the ransom and were disappointed when the kid wasn''t released. Then the Hutts tried to ransom the kid to me


    Those poor misguided Hutts had got bad intel from their enemies. The young Hutts had demanded forty percent of my earning, not realising just how much that was but still demanding it. It had only been five years since the Brotherhood of Darkness was destroyed and yet someone had a genius moment to use the young Hutt''s ignorance to destroy them by blocking the many videos of Brotherhood of Darkness members being outclassed and destroyed by me and my money.


    With a quick check with the Grand Hutt Council, I made sure that there weren''t any untouchables in the young Hutt group. There wasn''t, the Hutts didn''t care. They lived such long lives that it was common to have many kids out and about doing their misdeeds.


    I decided to take care of this myself to send a message to any who would take what was mine. Finding the young Hutts was so easy that I thought this might be a trap. It wasn''t. With just a little bit of illusion, I walked into their shabby base and past their hired muscle, searched for the kid using the force, and found him locked in a box


    I released him, the poor kid was bruised and shaken up but was still defiant. Pod racing was a scary sport and you needed nerves of steel to participate, I had the force with me and I still wouldn''t be caught podracing. I picked up the kid and we both left for the main room that held the young Hutt.


    I knocked on the door. The Hutt answered. The look on the giant slug''s face was priceless when he saw a human the size of himself causally walk in with the hostage in his arms.


    "You''ve been a very bad and stupid Hutt," I said


    What followed was a lot of pain for the slug, with a small intermission of rest when the gang members flocked into the room because of the screams. I did nothing special with the gang members, a simple snap of their necks using the force and I tossed them in the corner. The lesson for today was there were repercussions for touching my stuff, a lesson that I wasn''t teaching to the young Hutt but recording for everyone else.


    When I was finished with the young Hutt he was a mess, dead and hung up in all his dismembered glory. Tounge ripped out, spine shattered, flesh twisted and finally, his eyes burned out of his skull just so he could see all the things I did to him before I took his sight. I keep the Hutt alive with my force powers and advanced technology just so I could do more to him. The lesson wasn''t over when the Hutt died, I stuffed the dead gang members inside the Hutt and pushed him out of the twenty-first floor of the building that they were using as a base. The mess caused by the amount of bodies made when hitting the floor was disturbing. The recording of the whole event found its way up for the public to find. This was the lesson, what is mine is mine, what is yours is yours, don''t confuse the two together.


    It took a lot of bribes for the law to look the other way and even more cash for the recording to stay up for the public but the message was very loud and crystal clear. It was a testament to how hated the Hutts were when only a couple hundred thousand complaints followed the brutal dismantling of the Hutt. It was clear that I wasn''t a soft target and would go to strange and unusual degrees of effort to make that clear. As a nice little cherry on top, I donated the young Hutt''s ill-gotten gains to different charitable organisations and supplied the kid and his family with two new Eden ships.

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22


    It feels great when your allies love you and your enemies fear you, it is how a successful life works after all.


    It''s been five years since the war ended but despite the galaxy becoming a more peaceful place the Jedi''s reputation was at an all-time low. The way they destroyed the Brotherhood of Darkness was, in my opinion, correct but all-consuming and the Brotherhood had allies that are now in decline but still very vocal.


    The Jedi have a large presence and wealth despite being a monk-like religion and even though they don''t do the correct thing all the time, sometimes they do the smart thing. They have increased their falling reputation by delivering cheap food and medical assistance.


    It''s a good start but most of the people just roll their eyes at their help. If they are hungry then they go to Bee''s food halls and if they are injured they go to Bee''s healing halls, I''ve long ago filled their basic needs.


    Peacekeeping is another thing the Jedi do but the war has shaken the people''s hearts, when they see Jedi all they recognise is a type of hyper-violent police force. It''s going to take time for the people to forget.


    A good move by the Jedi was the notice of a public livestream interview of a Jedi master to answer any questions. They even held a poll for the public to choose who was going to do the interview. It was a smart move that I might have done for myself if I needed to boost my reputation.


    The poll was going quite well, with a very beautiful female Twi''lek hoverboarder taking the lead. It was going fine until a new name was nominated by the public and heavily voted for. My name.


    The public wanted me to interview the Jedi master on subjects. The truth was probably the public just wanted to see me. I was very public and famous throughout the galaxy but no one knew who I was. A couple of people realised that I might make a better interviewer but that was overshadowed by my legend. After all, there was a part of the galaxy named after me. The people wanted to know who I was and because of that, they voted for my name.


    The poll was a foregone conclusion as the votes for me dwarfed all others. I wasn''t going to do it but the Jedi in their infinite wisdom deleted my name from the poll. The Jedi was already wary of me and possibly through the force thought it was a bad idea to have me ask the question.


    I felt disappointed and miffed by the Jedi''s actions. The more I thought about it the more the disappointed feeling disappeared and the annoyance doubled. The negative emotions bubbled to the surface and the annoyance turned to anger. I didn''t like my name being used and then discarded by the Jedi. Anger rolled around my mind to the point that I did something to ease my emotions. I went on a trip.


    --------------------------------------------------------------


    The interview was now only moments away from being broadcast and Maristela Arushi the master Jedi Consular was waiting for the hoverboard champion to arrive. A knock on the hotel''s door let the Jedi know she was here, and yet, the Jedi master had an ill feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had been picked by the Jedi Council because of her abilities in court, it was a nice bonus that she was a female and seen as more gentle to the masise but that wasn''t true. In court she attacked the enemy like her life was on the line, she wouldn''t give her enemy any chance to escape. but she was good at her job and knew how the law worked and yet even with her many years of experience, she felt an ill omen creeping up on her, the force was trying to tell her something.


    Her aide opened the door. Maristela tensed up, she half expected to be surrounded by an inescapable force, the bitter taste of worry quickly disappeared when the young female Twi''lek entered. The Twi''lek seemed to be in awe of the Jedi master. Maristela could feel the excitement roll off her mind, it surprised Maristela that the young hoverboard champion had a strong connection with the force. The aide closed the door and Maristela relaxed her mind readying herself for the interview but before the door could close completely, a jolt of worry enhanced by the force caused her eyes to snap open wide. A hand the size of a dinner plate had wedged itself between the door and frame, the aide not realising what had happened only pushed harder causing no difference.


    Like a horror film, the door slowly opened pushing the aide with it. A long shadow covered the doorway. The person in front of the door was so large that the light behind was unable to find a way in.


    The force was whispering to Maristela but it wasn''t clear what it was saying, it was like the force couldn''t make up its mind about where the potential danger was coming from


    "What a wonderful day for a spot of interrogation"


    The man''s voice was undoubtedly at ease, the shadow across the body melted away as the hulk of flesh bent over and shimmered into the room sideways.


    Before anyone could complain the fat man gave out orders.


    "Set it up over there"


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    Droid after droid matched in pushed past the aide and set up table after table of food. Maristela was on the edge of her seat, she knew who this was, the man was infamous as much as he was famous. He had been known to kill the brotherhood of darkness without question, purposefully by death with cash, or a blaster to the face, the man went to extraordinary lengths to win.


    "Ahh the famous Hazjehu Vao, winner of the Hollow Mile and world record holder on the Hoth track, let me introduce myself, please call me Bee"


    If there was a person where no introductions were necessary it was for Bee. His face and name were everywhere, even if you lived on the furthest station, away from any connection there was a healing and food hall ready to be used.


    Hazjehu Vao''s attention which was squarely held on the Jedi was now completely on Bee. It must be said that the Jedi were famous but mostly for being Jedi. Bee was an individual and famous for his deeds and there were even small holotapes of some of the amazing things he did. He was a philanthropist with his hands in many pies, fought off the brotherhood using underhanded methods, partnered up with anyone who had a good idea and made sick amounts of cash that he shared fairly, fought and made deals with the Hutts, carved a corner of the galaxy for himself and yet, no one knew who he was and how he started it all.


    Maristela had subconsciously placed her hand on her lightsaber. The force had calmed down but it was still nudging her that there was still danger. Maristela felt cold, she had tried to read Bee with the force to gain a nugget of information but she couldn''t feel a single flowing emotion. Maristela had helped to prosecute mass murderers who had an appearance of ice but in their mind rolled conflicting emotions, Bee felt like a wall of ice.


    A cluster of droids broke Maristela''s thoughts as they created an extensive sofa out of a collection of pillows that Bee laid on like an Emporer


    Maristela gracefully flipped her robe and got to her feet "This is a private interview Mr......what is your real name"


    Bee waved over a droid and picked up a crystal goblet of purple liquids "Ms. Arushi you can call me Bee" he gave a small wink "And it is hardly private when the whole galaxy is watching" he nodded over to one of his many droids that was holding a camera.


    Maristela wanted to use some force power and destroy the droid. There was something that upset her about a camera pointing at her that she was powerless to control, it surprised her just how much it disturbed her and she choked down her first knee-jerk reaction and by using her teachings she let the annoyance go.


    "This is an interview for the Jedi and not one for Mr. Bee, you will have to leave" spoke Marrristela in her calm courtroom voice.


    "Hmmmmm that''s a great idea, why don''t we make this a double interview? One for the Jedi and the other for Mr Bee" said the female Twi''lek.


    A loud slap echoed through the room as Bee slapped his hand against his ample thigh. "That''s a great idea, how about a little question for a question"


    The Jedi''s face was as still as pooled water but inside she felt a mixture of foreboding and opportunity. It was an opportunity to get answers to questions long overdue that the Jedi council had been wondering for years about Bee but it could be risky to answer any question that came out of a well-informed individual like Bee.


    "Fine but I ask the first question" Maristela said as she took her seat across from the lounging Bee.


    The camera crew and droids took their place and started to broadcast. The female Twi''lek became the host instead of the interviewer, introductions were made and the first question was asked.


    "What is your true name" asked the Jedi prosecutor


    "I call myself Bee, I''m known as Bee and legally, in tax and corporation I''m called Bee"


    "No, you misunderstand my question, what is the name you were called before Bee" asked Maristela


    "I''ve been called many things, for -instance the brotherhood of darkness calls me killer whale because of my vast size. Not to my face though, well, not the alive ones" replied Bee


    Maristela huffed, she was used to non-answers that lawyers gave and was ready with a hyper-personalised reduction of the question to get an answer that she could use.


    "What name did your parents give you"


    "She called me Bee Bee" answered Bee without a hint of shame.


    "That''s not what.." Maristela was interrupted by Bee''s fat hand


    Bee put down his cup and shuffled himself into a sitting position "That''s three questions, I think it''s my turn to ask a question or two"


    Maristela paused and looked at the surrounding cameras. She of course didn''t feel fulfilled by the answers that were given but a deal was a deal. especially when it had been agreed upon in front of the galaxy.


    "I wonder, I wonder......" the lengthy pause was only disturbed by Bee''s rubbing his hands together, causing sounds like sandpaper rubbing against a stone.


    "Ahh, my first question is..... what question should I ask you that the galaxy would find enjoyable" said Bee


    Maristela didn''t understand immediately, the question was open-ended but it quickly dawned on her that Bee was fishing for information that he could use, just like how the officers of the republic did when apprehending a suspect. She, herself had used this technique many times to corner a defendant.


    "I''m not sure what you mean" Maristela deflected.


    "You are telling me and extension the galaxy, that with the long history of the Jedi and the amazing adventures they have had, not one thing would interest the people of the republic," Asked Bee, "It''s not good to lie"


    "The Jedi don''t lie" sputtered Maristela


    Maristela''s inner feelings turned as she witnessed Bee look directly at the camera with a look on his face that suggested that wasn''t true.


    Before she could collect herself she asked another question "I suppose you don''t lie or even break the law"


    The fat fellow chuckled into a napkin before tossing the bit of cloth over his lap "I lie all the time and there are very few laws I haven''t broken, but I might be lying right now"


    "Are you guilty of murder" demanded Maristela.


    Maristela looked at Bee for any body language that might tell her what he was thinking. The force was telling her to be careful but that was it, even the mind prob she had used turned up empty. The fat man looked up and then waved to a droid that was holding a platter of sweet bread.


    A roll landed on Bee''s lap as he broke open the crust of the bread and took a long deep breath in.


    "Delicious, this bread was made on the one hundred and forty-first level of Corcant in the grog sector by master baker Dunta Seer. Go visit them for a free loaf, only for the first one hundred thousand customers, it''s on me"


    Bee had advertised some bread on the Holonet. Maristela didn''t understand why he did this but was glad when the fat man continued to talk.


    "To answer you''re question. Yes, I''m guilty of killing, and not just one but many whom I''ve shown no mercy" spoke Bee


    "I''ve got you now," thought Maristela.

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23


    My emotions are a mix of annoyance and humour. Listening to the Jedi woman consistently avoid my questions and not answer them is giving me anger issues but it is fun when I answer a question and get a reaction, no matter how small it is. It seems like Maristela is super interested in my past. Probably looking for a way to attack me. The Jedi and Sith are very much alike, they just use different means.


    I feel her emotions spike now and again. Especially when I answer a question that gives her nothing. I''ve been giving her softball questions that could be answered in any different way and yet she hasn''t answered them at all, typical lawyer.


    Still, it was fine until she asked about murder. The kid gloves have come off quickly. I answered and the waves of excitement rolled off her mind like a kid with a puppy.


    "You admit to being a murderer" asked Maristela


    I could see Maristela''s hand clenched into a fist, grasping at nothing and yet hoping for her weapon. I could feel the Jedi losing some of her control. She was excited and angry, however, she hadn''t realised it herself. Maristela''s body language was almost unperceptable but I was able to pick it up and read her.


    "Whoever you are, even if you are a poor farmer or a rich lawyer you have to protect what is yours, in the name of family or friends or peace. If you don''t, expect this uncaring galaxy to take everything away while rubbing dirt in your eye"


    I could see that Maristela wasn''t interested in what I had to say


    "I have killed and I have maimed, all in the name of protecting what I own. I have crushed skulls and plucked out hearts, used my enemy''s weapons against them and watched their disbelief as I bested them. I offer no mercy and expect none in return, that is the nature of this galaxy and the way of the force"


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    If Maristela hadn''t been listening to my speech before, I knew she had heard the mention of the force as she stood up with her lightsaber blazing.


    "You speak like a Sith and have admitted to killing, I will take you into custody where you will be questioned"


    "Only the Sith deal in absolutes, YOU sound like a Sith" I slowly reached into my jacket pocket and showed what I had pulled out. "if you want peace, prepare for war" I pushed the button and a red light flashed.


    "This is a detonator, rigged to five separate explosives in highly dense population areas"


    Maristela''s eyes were glued to my hand, she wasn''t experienced in this area of negotiations. She was a master but not in the way of combat. I wouldn''t try this otherwise.


    "Think fast," I said as I tossed the cylinder at the Jedi woman.


    All of the galaxy watched as the Jedi sliced the detonator out of the air and witnessed the fat man who had struggled to sit up quickly break the distance and smoothly slapped the lightsaber out of the Jedi''s hand and slammed the Jedi in the face with heavy meaty punches that lifted her off the ground.


    "That was my favourite pen," I said, as I picked up the metal fragments that the Jedi had cut apart.


    Maristela was crumpled on the floor but was still conscious thanks to the force "You.....lied. That wasn''t a detonator..." Blood trickled out of her nose


    "I did say, I lie all the time, especially when a weapon is pointing at me" I picked up the lightsaber and tossed it out of the window


    The aid helped up the Jedi and they both retreated to a chair, at least the aid was doing his job but the way they both looked at me made me feel like I was the bad guy.


    "Enough is enough, this interview has gone nowhere. Every question I''ve asked has been clumsily unanswered with questions. This was meant to be a question for a question but the Jedi can''t do anything without their little secrets. I tried to play softball with you, I could have asked some shooking questions and yet here I am defending myself from a JUSTICE-hungry Jedi"


    I gestured to my droids who left, I followed but before I did I would take one last stab at the Jedi with my final question "If the force is in everything and the dark side is part of the force then there has to be a bit of dark side in the Jedi"


    I left and let that question mull over everyone''s mind, to be honest, it wasn''t as good as the real last question I wanted to ask but I didn''t think asking about the super mega secret prison called Prism was a wise idea

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24


    The Jedi interview was a big success, not for the Jedi but for gossip that rolled around the galaxy. Because of the non-answers it offered and the quick temper of the Jedi, the normal citizens of the republic questioned the whole event.


    Non-answers turned into gossip, gossip turned into rumours and rumours turned into fall-fledged conspiracy theories. It wouldn''t take long for someone to make up a story that was so over the top that it would take hold and become part of history.


    As for me, there were many stories and rumours but the conspiracy theorist had less to work with. After all, the Jedi had been around for tens of thousands of years.


    I would rather have a host of lies with a small amount of truths littering the place. The lies were probably going to protect me better than any truth could. And as for the Jedi, dank them.


    Instead of worrying about conspiracy theorists, I started working on my Dyson swarm plans. The first thing I looked up on the dark holonet was the best A.I available. The answer was a bit worrying, it turns out that the very best A.I have a habit of trying to take over. There were many stories of The Great Droid Revolution. The Jedi force lightning known as Ionize was developed to counter the droid uprising.


    This was why all droids had memory wipes and inhibited bolts but with extraordinary A.I they grew fast and soon took over. That was a huge problem for me. I needed an insanely good AI to manage all of the inter-workings of a Dyson swarm but the problem was his other A.I managers. If a super A.I took over his Dyson swarm project then it could take over his other droids and his whole empire was reliant on them. Every part of his empire had droids working in it, if not droids then programs that could be taken over by A.I.


    I want to start the Dyson swarm project but without an A.I it seemed impossible. And yet there was a way around A.I. They were called Arkanian and Yaka species.


    Both species were hyper-intelligent. I already know about the Arkanian species, they as a whole are the most stuck-up people I''ve ever met but unfortunately, they have a reason to think that they are the best because they very well might be. The species were dedicated to improving themselves and their chosen art was genetic manipulation.


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    If you somehow offended them they would become salty and difficult. I''ve had many dealing with them, both good and bad. The problem with them was they were good and they knew it. They had brilliant minds and the patience to study and experiment for generations which led to them making The Adasca BioMechanical Corporation of Arkania, but they also liked to experiment on other species.


    I had a hard time working with them as they weren''t that interested in cash or fame but couldn''t get along with other species. Instead, I would just swap, buy and sell research with them. It was a shame that they were untrustful jerks as their minds and work ethic was top-notch.


    The Yaka had powerful minds that rivalled Super A.I and they would augment them with implants. Their interest was difficult to say, their minds were so advanced that one second they could be thinking of a brand new way of hypertravel but then get bored of their own thoughts the next second. They did have a saving grace to their species, their humour was dark and they enjoyed causing mischief.


    Out of the two species, I could work with the Yaka but not the Arkanian. The Arkanians had too much bad blood with the rest of the galaxy. I would still make deals with them but only deals.


    I drafted my plans and moved some cash around but before I could introduce myself to the Yaka and see what I could do for them in exchange for developing my dyson swarm, I got a rude visitor in the form of a Gen''Dai bounty hunter looking to collect on a bounty that was put on my head.


    It was my own fault that the bounty hunter knew exactly where I was. I hadn''t exactly been discreet. The Jedi, Sith, government and underworld would call for business and knew where I was, it wasn''t hard to hack or pay for information on my whereabouts.


    What wasn''t my fault was the way the bounty hunter attacked. The Gen''Dai bounty hunter was an amazing species that had bodies made of regenerative tentacles and no organs. This made their species incredibly resistant to damage, and so, when the bounty hunter rammed an escape pod into my Eden ship, the bounty hunter was fine.


    The Gen''Dai bounty hunter fell out of his damaged pod with a mashed-up body, he quickly reformed and regenerated. Unfortunately for me, the bounty hunter had bypassed my outside defence and crippled my indoor defences. This tactic would have killed any normal person and most definitely crippled anyone with force powers. This was something I didn''t predict


    My cameras told me the whole truth. I ordered my droids to defend and attack with a hit-and-run tactic just to slow the bounty hunter down. I would like to think of myself as a battle harden and ready for battle but if I''m honest with myself I only knew how to kill normal people and members of the brotherhood of darkness. Their anger made them easy to predict and their powers made them simple to pick off but this was a whole new type of battle.


    The Gen''Dai were flexible, fast and hit like a speeding truck. The worst part was damage was an afterthought for them. They shrugged off bludgeon, piercing, and cutting damage. Energy weapons such as blasters did very little to them, even the cutting and cauterising power of lightsabers only slowed them down. There were a couple of species in this galaxy that were more powerful or had better regeneration but none of them were here right now. Now was the time to do an emergency field test of my new fat suit armour.

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25


    My very first meeting with the intruder went unexpectedly. Anyone who thought it was a good idea to attack a heavily defended Eden Ship owned by a person who was well known for taming a chunk of the galaxy that was right next to the Hutts and fought off powerful force users with zero hesitation must be powerful or crazy. The bounty hunter opened fire as soon as he saw me. Blaster fire splashed on every surface causing burn marks on everything, everything except me.


    My fat suit that operated as a healing tank was now kitted out with armour. It was mostly lightsaber-resistant metals and matrials but anything that could stop a lightsaber was going to stop blaster fire. Cortosis, Phrik, Norris Root, and Armourweave were used in the forming of my armour. I would have loved some Beskar aromur but the Mandalorians kept the secret of how to work that metal under lock and key. I had some ingots of the stuff but didn''t know how to form it.


    The first volley of blaster fire soon ceased when the bounty hunter realised that I had never been there and he had just shot at an illusion. A soft chuckle came from the bounty hunter helmet.


    As the bounty hunter walked through my Eden ship, various broken turrets and specially manufactured war droids interrupted his travels. The turrets were tied to the ship''s systems and even though the ship''s defence was damaged the turrets still were able to fire. It was too bad that they couldn''t hit a barn door, but they did make a good crowd-control device and sometimes they would hit the mark. The war droids did their job with consistent firing and retreating with guerrilla tactics.


    I spied on the results of the fight adding technology holograms and my mind illusions to the whole. It bothered me that it didn''t matter what damage the defence caused, no matter how many blaster bolts or metal slugs the bounty hunter took he just healed. The armour the bounty hunter once wore had been ripped apart and only the wiggling tentacle body was left.


    The weapons the bounty hunter had been using were gone. Some had run out of ammo, others had been destroyed. However, this didn''t mean the bounty hunter was weak. The regeneration power was simply amazing. I had seen many species that could heal their wounds and repair lost limbs but not at this speed. It literally took seconds for dissected tentacles to reattach and for burned blaster marks to disappear.


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    This was troubling. It was clear to me that the intruder thought he was untouchable, unstoppable, unkillable. If he didn''t think this way then he wouldn''t have rammed his escape pod into my Eden ship, and the sad fact was he was right. None of my defence had stopped him for long.


    Desperate times called for desperate means. I used explosives and collapsed floors on top of the bounty hunter. If my gravity systems were working I wouldn''t need to do this but you got to work with what you have.


    This little attack had ruined my Eden ship. My favourite fruit trees burned, my personal space violated and my time wasted. The only thing that would slightly make up for this was the regeneration ability of the bounty hunter.


    I made my way closer to the mess of collapsed material and the pinned-down bounty hunter with containers and medical droids. However, before I could claim my prize the rubble turned over and a massive tentacle swiped me off my feet causing me to tear through some walls.


    It was my fault. I should have gassed the place, I should have blasted the rubble until it was slag, I should have poured molten metal on it and fired my eden ship into the sun.


    The bounty hunter seemed to have a little villain in him as he picked me up by my neck and started to monologue and laugh. His laughter didn''t last long as I tore his tentacle appendage away from my neck and slapped the bounty hunter so hard that his head twisted like a spinning top. Nothing hit like a genetically enhanced body infused with a little shadow magic from the night sisters and amplified by a technologically advanced body suit that was buffed by the force.


    Using the fighting technique I had learned from prison, I used the open palm attack to bruise and harm the bounty hunter. The damage didn''t do much but the bounty hunter couldn''t counter, his body wouldn''t listen and it had seized up.


    The palm strikes were a bluff. I knew that if a blaster bolt couldn''t harm him then a slap wouldn''t either. Instead, I had fused my force lighting into each strike. My blood-red lighting was incredibly good against droids and even better against the bounty hunter.


    The bounty hunter was a Gen''Dai and as a species, they were incredibly tough to kill. Their bodies were made up of regenerative tentacles and they had no organs. It was a perfect killing machine with little to no weakness except that the tentacles had massive amounts of nerves in them. Any type of electricity would cause the cluster of nerves to cease up and cause a paralysed effect.


    The bounty hunter didn''t understand what was going on but it didn''t matter, he was defenceless and I would take full advantage of that.

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26


    A lot of things happened in a short time. First, I found out who had put me up for a bounty. The way bounty hunters work is they are independent contractors paid a commission for the capture of their target.


    This is where it gets complicated. If the target has broken the law and offered bail to gain freedom and then skipped on the bail, then a small percentage of the bail is paid to a successful bounty hunter. That couldn''t apply to me.


    Then there was the type of bounty that was issued by a private corporation that has filed litigation, won and is now claiming damages. They could send in bailiffs to claim property or if they were feeling lucky a bounty hunter to claim a person.


    However, both of those didn''t apply to me. I found out using investigation and cold hard cash that something unexpected was coming my way.


    The second big thing was I was being offered a seat on the Galactic Senate. Owning a chunk of the galaxy and being a leader of many glassed worlds and successful corporations has led to a seat. It turned out that the Supreme Chancellor or someone high up tried a little scare tactic. They wanted me to be afraid of constant attacks from bounty hunters and look for safety in the Galactic Senate.


    That was why the Gen''Dai bounty hunter was sent, probably not to kill me but to capture me and with a little torture just to push me in the direction of a senate seat. It was a government plan, they made a problem in the form of a bounty and then tried to offer a solution in the form of a seat.


    It was a terrible plan. They were so lazy that the offending party didn''t even outsource and cover their tracks. If it was me I would bounce at least three different government agencies from across the galaxy and corporations just so the water was well and truly muddied.


    They issued the bounty, paid for it using funds held by the appropriate accounts, and signed the right paperwork with the right seals. It was set up for me to desperately join the Senate. I was beginning to think that someone was setting me up so I would attack the government and be declared public enemy number one. It was only after I got a visit from an official that I realised that the Galactic Senate was just lazy.


    The visit was what I expected. A Jedi Consular with her apprentice and an official of the senate followed by a parade of droids. The Jedi Consular had an unmoving face that reminded me of a well-made marble statue. A no-nonsense kind of Jedi and judging by the emotions rolling off of her she was in control. Even the padawan had good control over his emotions.


    The official from the senate was different, he had the facial control of a well-established politician but his mind was swamped with fear, curiosity, greed, sadness and all kinds of micro emotions.


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    After the introductions and the pleasantries, a vast amount of paperwork in the form of treaties, laws and straight-up political bollocks was handed over to my droids. There was no way in hell I was going to deal with that, and so my droids met their droids to argue the details.


    The official curiosity soon outweighed his fear of me and he started to ask questions about my Eden ship on why it had a ship embedded on its side.


    I could feel the thoughts rolling off his mind. He knew exactly what had happened. His emotions also had a hint of mirth and smugness, something that was quickly wiped from his mind when I showed him my new prize. A fresh new carbon-frozen statue of a Gen''Dai bounty hunter.


    The fear from the official was shared by the apprentices but not the Jedi Consular. Instead, she pointed at the slab of metal and spoke for the first time.


    "Is that an alive Gen''Dai?" she said in a dull voice.


    "No" I answered back "that''s my newest statue" it cost me a lot of wealth"


    "Gen''Dai are a protected nomad species under subsection of..." I interpreted the Jedi Consular before she could waste any more of my time"


    "The Gen''Dai don''t need any protection from the galactic senate, and this is the Gove where the law is me, not the galactic senate" I laid down the law and the law is me.


    The Jedi Consular seemed to know better than to question me. The Jedi were meant to follow the law and that was me but for the first time an emotion rolled out of the Jedi''s mind, annoyance.


    I was getting increasingly suspicious. The Jedi I knew wouldn''t control themself like they were doing. Might make''s right and even tho the Jedi wouldn''t emit it they too followed this rule


    I looked over the official mind. Emotions and thoughts passed through his mind like water through a sieve, unfortunately, a troubled mind wouldn''t focus on the things I wanted, not without going in further. I bring my attention to the young and inexperienced padawan. His mind was well maintained and orderly, strong with a youthful flexibility but it wasn''t complex.


    I could sense a slight flutter of emotions, nothing I would take notice of usually but my gut and the force were edging me to push further.


    I tested the padawan by calling one of my droids over and asking for an update on the contract. A small flicker of doubt rushed through the padawan''s mind. If I wasn''t looking for it I would have missed it.


    A further test was needed. I tapped the digital copy of the contract in my palms and tutted to myself.


    "There''s a big problem, a massive inconsistency..." I vaguely shoved the contract in the air and watched as three pairs of eyes focused on it


    The Jedi mind was like a steel trap, nothing was coming from it but the official mind had focused on the contract. He was worried, something in the contract had him on the edge. This confused me, how the hell did they hide anything in the contract that my droids wouldn''t find?


    I sighed to myself, this was politics. Not the politics I knew, where I had to balance the needs and wants of my people against the criminal galaxy, that was easy. No, this was the worst kind of backstabbing and double dealings where it wasn''t guaranteed to even work, it was governmental politics. The worst thing was, that it was all legal. If some kind of two-bit criminal backstabbed me and stole from me, I could send killers to sort out the mess but the contract was legalese and needed to be fought in court. It would take years and even more money than a simple assassin to take care of it. Working with the government legally was slow and painful. The rewards would be insane but inefficient.


    I rubbed the brig of my eyes and tried something.


    "I get the feeling that something isn''t quite right, something that might hurt me. I''m going to go over this contract personally and if I find what I hope isn''t there, then a lot of people are going to suffer"


    It was at this point the padawan and the official both had a brain stumble. I could feel that they wanted to say something but their mind had gone blank in shock.


    Something was off and I would get to the bottom of it.

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27


    Usually, I would have my droids look over any contracts and paperwork but the way the officials and Jedi behaved caused me to go down one of my paranoia tunnels. Paranoia was bad but when you have the force backing you up and basically saying "Yes, you are correct", it became a powerful tool.


    I paid and threatened flesh and blood lawyers to go over the contract while I slowly read it line for line. Having many eyes on the contract will help me, even if I miss something.


    The lawyers would send me many messages pointing out possible problems but it was a little detail of a paragraph hiding under a headline near the back of the vast amount of pages that caused me concern.


    Anyone who joined the senate as a leader of their piece of the galaxy couldn''t hold a seat in any corporation, company, firm and so on. Even owning a peanut farm was too much and would need to be sold if you wanted to join the Senate.


    For me, that meant I would have to get rid of my absolute control over my shares in my healing hall, food halls, Eden shipbuilding, shipping corporation, food production, medical corporation and everything in between. If I didn''t want to part with them the galactic senate could hold them in arrears at the low cost of twenty percent. This was to stop conflicts of interest but there was no doubt in my mind that the galactic senate would never give up their hold over my companies once they had them.


    The other question was why didn''t the droids find this, the answer was a nice bit of programming that worked against the droids mega fast computing power. The paragraph that held the conflict of interest rule would jump to a different part of the contract if it was speedily analysed. So, my droids would never see it. It was a great bit of coding that I could honestly admire. It was a good lesson that my droids could still be fooled using a simple code. This didn''t mean I wouldn''t strike back, however, I had to do it legally.


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    And so, a puppet prime minister became part of the galactic senate but not me, and because it was me who owned everything in the Grove it essentially meant the prime minister ruled over just one person, himself.


    The galactic senate immediately tried to mess with me. They wanted to trade my dead solar system for an alive one. Something like that was too good to be true, and it was.


    They didn''t even want the system it was the stellar routs that lay just outside of the dead solar system they wanted. In other words, they were trying to take my extensive trade routes.


    The greedy little shits learnt that the puppet prime minister had no power and couldn''t sign over anything from the Gove. I found out what they were trying to do when they believed that they now owned the trade routes and started to interfere with my and all of the Hutt''s profits.


    A nice little fleet of Pirates, bounty hunters and a private army full of the scum of the galaxy forced its way to the front lines. They hovered there menacingly neither taking action nor sending messages. Each one had heavy weapons ready to fire. The pressure the simple galactic law enforcement agencies felt was intense.


    The galactic law enforcement agencies issued a warning and then threats followed by an almost pleading begging. It was only after a brief message from one of my droids that the galactic law enforcement agencies calmed down and relaxed. This whole thing was above their pay grade something like this was the Galactic Senate fleet problem


    This little act was a combined manoeuvre of the Hutts and myself. It cost me a pretty penny to hire the mercenaries, a whole four hours of trade on the stellar routes would cover the cost.


    The law enforcers backed down quickly as they were only trained in dealing with defenceless citizens. The mercenaries deployed a vast amount of mining droids designed by me. I had made these little bots years ago but found that they destroyed the ore they picked up. This was different if the senate tried to take my trade routes again, they would find cheap little bots that had powerful mining lasers ramming and cutting their expensive battlecruisers.


    The mining bots were easy to destroy and to outmaneuver but they were cheap to make. the best part was with a little tweak the mining bots turned into explosive ship-seeking mines. And that was how the borders of the Grove and most of my trading routes were armed.


    There were many things to learn from this whole situation. One thing was that my most useful tools known as droids could be fooled. I think it might be a good idea to get good with my tools

 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28


    Studying under the Yaka was beneficial and yet madding. The Yaka were a near-human cyborg species that could out-think supercomputers. They were first found and experimented on by the Arkanians but unlike the Arkanians, the Yaka had a more passive side to them.


    Either species was smart enough to study under but the Arkanians were more problematic. They concentrated on genetic modification but were known for creating some of the best mega projects in the galaxy. They could spend decades on a subject and even pass their work on to the next generation but they were fickle with other species. They thought they were the best and would kidnap other species to do experiments on. the slightest slur at them would cause a blood feud that they wouldn''t hesitate to act upon in the most extreme of ways. They were the Karens of the galaxy.


    The Yaka were just as smart as the Arkansans, they had better computing power and could think faster with their cyborg brain implants. The only problem was they lost interest quickly and their thoughts wandered in totally different directions. The only thing that held their attention for any time was their dark sense of humour where they would pull practical jokes on each other and sarcastic comments.


    One species would look down on you as a lesser life form and may end up trying to kill you for an unforeseen slight. The other lost interest and would cause a little harm in a joking way.


    I went with the Yaka because you can work with a joke but you can''t work with a asshole.


    I delved deeper into robotics and programming. The galaxy had its own holonet where you could gain information but it was slow and lame.


    It was like the early years of the web, with crappy pop-ups and shitty graphics. I didn''t even understand why. All of the tech was there to make an amazing piece of technology, all they had to do was bring it together. I guess the galaxy had the mindset of "if it''s not broke don''t fix it"


    It would be a great financial project that wouldn''t take the Yaka long to complete. I, on the other hand, decided that the projection screens that most of the galaxy used, needed an upgrade or a downgrade, depending on how you see it. Holograms were great but most were like a black-and-white old television set and flickered at best. It would be a nice side project and help with high-definition podracing that was hard to follow using holographic and a simple programming project that would help with my learning


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    Many hands make light work. With my programming and expertise and my force power of force enlightenment and droids, it was easy to create new programs and create high-definition holograms. The force whispered to me and in turn, I went into a trance, hours went by as my hands danced across my screen. An elegant story in scrip and code flowed across my page. The force offered an awesome piece of work using the knowledge I possessed in a way that caused a masterpiece. The best part was the code was written in my previous life languages. This was an added protection towards my projects, drones, and droids tech. Not only would my enemies need to crack my work, but they would also need to know the languages, slang and even memes to start unravelling my work. The force had truly given me a gift.


    The code acted like a living moving maze. I took inspiration from the contract for the Senate. Any person, code, or virus would need to make its way through my code and in turn, get infected by it. It was a code that wasted people''s time and effort and like an assassin stabbed it in the back with a poisoned knife. The code reflected my personality, I didn''t attack from the front but used deception to win.


    I decided to make my new code part of all of my projects and droids. It was a great success. When the Yaka examined the code with their attacks, they got bored with attacking my code and just dropped it. If they put their full might behind the attack they could break it, but it was purposely there to waste time and was possibly the only thing that could stop the humanoid cyborgs. The Arkanians would have a better time of it at the beginning, their patience would allow them to navigate through the code but the infectious part of the code would slowly and quietly seep into their work. Both of the smartest species had their strengths and weaknesses, but my code would fight and win by using a war of attrition. For a program, it was slow but it would win.


    Creating a suitable imaging system was harder than I expected. The problem was that there were so many different species, all with different abilities to see. Humans had Trichromacy, and we were only able to convey three color information, derived from the three different types of cone cells in the eye, but other species were different. There was no way around this, I could add the complete spectrum of colours but there was always a species out in the galaxy that in the most bizarre alien-like way. My new holovision would have to be a custom job for each species.

 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29


    Politics are more corrupt than the underworld. Despite my reputation and power, there was no end to the backstabbing and snide side deals, all in the name of progress. Thankfully I had my impotent Prime Minister to weather the storm. Deals would be done with him and if they were good for the whole I wouldn''t need to stand in the way but if not then it didn''t matter because the mister didn''t have the power. The senate complained but there was little they could do. You see the contracts were signed by the minister and he had no say in how my Grove was run. If the senate pushed too hard and demanded I join and sign the contract then I would leave altogether. They could have a fake minster who could make deals and trade or they could have nothing. Better to have something, than nothing.


    Still, I learned a lot when it came to the dirty side of politics. Something that I applied to the underworld to help it run better... or worse. One of those was red tape. Red tape was all over politics and the way it was used was to control each other through inaction.


    There was such a thing in the underworld but it was similar. If someone had to be killed then that person might be protected, you would have to visit people get their permission and pay off the correct people. This helps to stop high-level criminals from being whacked by a low-level snot bag. There were repercussions when killing someone and the more power they had the more fierce the revenge.


    Apart from kickbacks and high-level killing, there was little red tape. That was the beautiful thing about the underworld, you can get shit done, fast. The red tape I put into place was pay. When most criminals got a big score they didn''t know what to do with it because there were many different ways to trace the credits back to illegal gains. This was where I came in.


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    With my new programs, I set up a simple way to launder their credits and give criminals a way to spend their cash how they see fit without fear of losing everything. It would take a couple of days but they would get their loot and that was the end for them.


    This was where the red tape came in. If someone paid an assassin credits to kill someone, they would have to wait for the cash to be cleared by my program. But as my program was cleaning the credits it was also checking where, when, and how. My program was checking to make sure that I and my interests were being protected from killers and their like while taking its time to clean the money.


    You might think that only hardcore criminals would use this but it was the politicians who used it the most. Bribes, cutbacks, and gifts all found their way into the open hands of politicians. They were interconnected which gave me massive amounts of blackmail power.


    There was no end to the stupid and egotistical in politics who thought that they could win against me. The power they had wasn''t a fraction of what I could release but they couldn''t understand what I could do to them. However, they fully understand loss and gain. A simple message calling out their nasty deeds would be enough. And so, while there was no end in sight with the stupid and greedy, there was a way to control them.


    It was odd. I was a big part of the underworld but I had more control over the political world. It just goes to show that the Senate was more corrupt than the underworld. There was honor between thieves but there were no gentlemen in the world of politics.


    I felt better. I''m sure that there isn''t anyone I couldn''t get to, anyone I couldn''t bend to my will, anyone I couldn''t bribe or trade. I think this may be the safest I''ve been. And it was all thanks to my spyware


    I kept my eye on the powerful such as the Jedi, Hutts, Yaka, and anyone who had some kind of ability. However, no matter how much I expected it, nothing majorly bad happened. There were the usual political assassinations and the Jedi trying to muscle their way into my Eden ships or healing halls but nothing like the war.


    It was the golden age but it could get better

 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30


    Two hundredish years have gone by since I secretly took over the political galaxy with bribes and crimes. In the beginning, there were the usual people who would fight back in the name of justice but after the first sixty years, those who fought for justice were now old and learnt from their age and joined in with getting paid. My type of politics was now part of proper norms.


    Thanks to my biopod healing tank, the force and a lot of genetic research done by the Arkanians, I''m still alive and at my peak. It would be impossible to guess my age. Everyone assumed that I was the fourth generation of the founder of the Grove. The only ones who knew better were the long-lived Hutts, business was good and peaceful. The Hutts are glad I''m still around as the underworld is a brutal business but still a business that I make immensely profitable.


    I no longer look at credits or resources, as I have so much. I only look at projects. My Dyson swarm project had been completed for twenty years and I have six suns semi-covered, things were excellent. The energy from the swarm of energy-collecting bots was enough to power all of my projects, with vast amounts left over to sell. World energy shields were placed on my planets and expensive giant energy weapons were at the ready to target any invaders


    My life was peaceful and the only strife I came across was project problems. And yet, something that I had been waiting for finally happened. I have found a point I could recognise in the year and date. A new master in the Jedi temple took his place. a young Yoda, no older than one hundred years old.


    This was epic news for me because while I understood that I was in the galaxy of Star Wars, I wasn''t ultimately familiar with the timeline and dates. Now I had a reference point.


    At the destruction of the Deathstar, the dating system would change to BBY and ABY but until that event happened the dates were just numbers to me. With Yoda in the picture and his age being documented I could estimate the time of the downfall of the Republic and the new age of the Empire. There were seven hundredish years until the Clone Wars and a further ten to fifteen years until the Empire took over. Just enough time to incorporate my being into every facet of life, so that if the Empire tried to get rid of me it would topple the board over.


    I decided to offer an invitation for dinner to the new Jedi master.


    -----------------------------------------------


    Watching a transport ship land and a small young Yoda hop out excited me greatly. This was quite possibly the greatest Jedi that I would ever meet and his combat ability and control over the force was second to none, or it would be. The youthful Yoda had a wicked set of hair that looked permanently wind-swept and the bounce in his step showed how young he was.


    I, on the other hand still had my fat suit on, it was highly upgraded with all kinds of secretly protected technology that I hadn''t made public. I pushed back a massive leaf that was concealing me to make myself known and welcomed Yoda with my fat jiggling arms.


    We both exchanged pleasantries and I directed Yoda to a speed wagon fit for my size. As we travel to my home I briefly look over Yoda''s mind. Compared to other Jedi, Yoda''s mind was confusing to look over. Yoda wasn''t any better at protecting his mind than other Jedi masters but due to his species a strange complexity like a mirror reflecting a mirror occurred. There was plenty to see but a lot of it was duplications.


    Another thing was that Yoda thought in complete sentences, unlike the way he spoke. Rumours were that he spoke in that semi backwards way to honour his master and now I suspect it was true.


    We breach through a mass of foliage to show a circle of Eden ships surrounding a lush green park full of children. My droid parked the wagon and began to leave the wagon to open my door.


    At this, I stop the droid and give it the afternoon off. The droid takes the wagon to the other side of the planet to go and watch some pod racing. For a brief time, it was just the two of us making our way to my personal Eden ship. I could feel Yoda looking around and pausing at the kids at the park. I knew what he was looking at, some of the kids in the park were using force powers. Floating balls and kids jumping higher than a building was always a sight to behold but this was only common at the Jedi temple. Here it was different than the Jedi temple, they took children away from their families and trained them at a young age but I took the whole family and over the many years and generations of people having kids and those kids inheriting the force, so now instead of a single force user in a family, the whole family had abilities in the force.


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    Judging by Yoda''s eyes, he hadn''t seen this outside the temple. It wasn''t his fault as any force community kept to themselves and wouldn''t allow outsiders to investigate. Plus, Yoda was still very young for his species and possibly hadn''t seen much of the galaxy. If my calculation was correct then Yoda was still in his very early teens compared to humans.


    The children rushed over to get some free sweets from me, some of them literally skipped through the air, while others used the force to speed up to me and start tugging on my clothes. Yoda would have been tackled to the ground if he wasn''t one with the force and dodged.


    I tossed a big bag of my own fruity jelly sweets like a grenade and watched the kids dive at it with great gusto. There was a slight tussle for the bag but it was easy to see that the amount of sweets would cause all of them to puke with overindulgence. Many small hands grabbed what they could with the swiftness of the wind only for it to slow down when each kid couldn''t or wouldn''t eat anymore.


    I, on the other hand, opened a new bag of sweets and offered some to Yoda to break him out of his concentration. He passed on the sweets, probably because they had jellytine in them and Yoda was most likely a vegetarian.


    Entering my Eden ship was quite a scary feeling as many auto guns tracked our approach and even cannons and missiles quitely sat all over my Eden ship. Yoda didn''t stir even a little. The force was telling him he was under no threat and was perfectly safe.


    I led the way and offered to take the master''s robe, he declined but that didn''t stop me from putting my coat away and storing my shoes to the side. I lead us to my living room, slash kitchen. It looked like a huge studio apartment.


    Yoda sat down in one of my sofas. The size difference was hilarious, the already small stature of Yoda superimposed against a sofa built for my ginormous size was amusing.


    I turned on my high-definition holotube and turned it to the sports channel. One of the things I had to include when making the high-definition holotube was new channels. Cash was generously spread out to make programs and channels so my holotubes could host them. It was costly in the beginning but now new channels sprung up every day without my help. There was no sound as it was only on for background entertainment.


    I moved to my kitchen counter and pointed at Yoda to ask him a simple question "What do you fancy eating"


    The list I offered was extensive, small vegetable and herb deep fat fried to crispy perfection, all the way to frog leg stew with a side order of spawn eggs. Yoda chose a simple Jedi porridge that I ignored and made a nice selection of meals.


    As I was chopping some onions, carrots and greens, Yoda asked me questions. Some of them were just idea chit-chat to test the waters but he soon started to get serious.


    Some of those questions asked about my plans in politics. I wasn''t soft about it and told Yoda plainly that one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.


    I could feel that the answer I gave greatly displeased him. So much in fact that he asked me if I believed I was better than them.


    My answer was simple. "I know I''m better than them, they lie with their lips and lie with their tears to get whatever they can get. However, I lie with a smile and tell you the truth with my actions and by doing so make the galaxy a better place"


    Yoda answered back with his broken language about how arrogance leads to a fall and the dark side. I shrugged while adding a slug of brandy to my pan and rolling over some chopped nuts in caramel "My arrogance is well-earned and my downfall has been predicted by my enemies many times but I''m still here"


    A slight silence spread across the room until I asked "Do you want some tea and dried lizard tail?"


    Yoda accepted the tea and I brought over some chocolate chip cookies that held no animal fats. I sat opposite him to enjoy a cookie.


    Soft and gooey cookies were my favourite thing when drinking hot drinks. I dipped one in my sweet tea and slurped the treat.


    Yoda carried on asking questions about politics and paused as a thought passed his mind. I didn''t need to read his mind because he told me almost immediately. He asked about the political nature of the underworld.


    The answer was it was both honest and brutal. Yoda knew I had been in the underworld for some time and asked about the nature of pirates.


    Yoda''s first padawan who was now a Jedi knight was having trouble with pirates. The answer I gave was something I knew Yoda would understand, if not today then in the future.


    "Do you destroy them or help them, one is the way of the light side and the other, the dark side. And yet there is light within the dark and the same opposite. To kill them would be bad but ultimately it will do some good. However, leaving a void of evil will be taken up by evil again."


    Yoda was fully invested in what I was saying and didn''t notice the soft chopping and stirring of ingredients despite that I was sitting right in front of him.


    "The force is neither light nor dark but the whole, a balance. and so too a balance must be filled when dealing with the pirates if you want lasting change" I dipped the other half of my cookie into my tea.


    "I remember a wise and clever underworld boss was once asked a question on where ever it was better to be loved or feared. If not both then it''s better to be feared than loved. Fear lasts longer, love that is bought means nothing. It''s fear that keeps people in check."


    I could sense Yoda''s feeling and it wasn''t good, he was about to interrupt me on the downslope of the dark side


    "The trick is not to be hated, you treat your allies well but not too well, you give them too much and they don''t need you, you give them just enough that they need you but don''t hate you. If you want to control the pirates without leaving a void in power then you give them something that they need but don''t hate you for it, that''s how you deal with the underworld"


    A lot you have given me to think about was Yoda''s answer


    Yoda''s face looked deep in thought and yet the surprised look on his face when floating dishies came and placed them selfs on the table was priceless. This was the first time Yoda had noticed I was using the force.


    "I wasn''t talking out of my ass when I speak about the force, light side or dark side" I gave a small smile to Yoda

 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31


    The reason why I revealed that I could use the force to a young Yoda was, that it didn''t matter. When I first escaped the maximum security prison called the Prism, I understood that my force powers could have been a dead giveaway to who I was and where I came from, it was a small chance but not one I was going to take at the time. However, now enough time had passed and there was no way a chance in hell anyone was going to find out that I, a mere human had broken my longevity and lived for more than two hundred years. The other reason to reveal my ability was Yoda would become the most respected grandmaster of the Jedi. That kind of power and connection was always welcomed in my book. It was better to befriend him now and watch his power increase and get benefits from it in the future.


    The many political questions turned into questions of the force. Both of us had expertise in different force abilities and it was easy to gain a little enlightenment in force abilities that I wasn''t inclined to. Yoda had great power in his force abilities which transformed his force push and telekinesis into something special. He was still too young to talk about the true balance of the force as he had only been in the light but Yoda would become a great training partner.


    I, on the other hand, stayed away from talking about the dark side and its benefits because of how the Jedi were notoriously unflexible about it. Maybe in a couple of hundred years when the golden age of the Jedi was well established will I talk about it to Yoda. In the meantime, I talk about my speciality, control.


    I wasn''t a genius in the force or had overwhelming power but throughout the years I did increase my abilities. Instead of showing my impressive abilities like my red force lighting or Douplgander clone, I stayed with my ability to control and show off some telekinesis control. By using a domain skill that I had learned from a force-sensitive species I could efficiently control many objects with precision like I was holding them in my hand. It was one thing to lift tens of boulders in the air and another to control tens of cooking utensils each was doing a completely different task. Control was the key and with my unique ability to hide my force abilities to a certain extent, I was an efficient assassin.....if I wanted to be.


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    I was naturally inclined to secrecy and underhand methods and the force had greatly increased those abilities in that area, but there was always more when it came to the force. It was a shame that Yoda''s greatest feat was in lightsaber dealing, something I wasn''t great at.


    Each day Yoda stayed was filled with talking and force use. We both walked through a field of ripe Meiloorun fruit that was being seen by force-sensitive kids. That is when I asked a question that had stumped me for many years.


    "if the darkside users know that the force is in everything alive and becomes stronger with more life in the galaxy then why do they kill so freely" The power-hungry Sith always wanted more, so it made no sense that Sith members would weaken them selfs with wars. It was a contradiction.


    Yoda didn''t have an answer. He was too young to have fought the Sith in the great war and now the Sith were underground, hiding using the rule of two. In the future, if Yoda was unlucky he might come across them but right now he had no interaction with them.


    It tickled my funny bones that I was probably the closest to a Sith that Yoda had ever met but it also meant I had to be careful.


    When Yoda had to leave I would like to say he learnt a lot from me but I wasn''t sure. Yodas species were unnaturally strong in the force and what I could offer him in the form of understanding the force might be nothing. Still, I did give him a small present in the form of a token. For the small price of never mentioning what I could do or any of my technology, I offered a one-time, no-bar help in something of his choosing.


    Yoda looked confused but I didn''t want too many secrets stored about me in data cubes. The golden age of the Jedi had just begun but it wouldn''t last forever and I didn''t want the empire to find small nuggets of info lost in the Jedi temple when it fell. I shouldn''t worry, the empire was almost eight hundred years away.

 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32


    Another hundred years have gone by and I''ve seen them come and go. Whether it be in politics, business or others, I''ve witnessed a lot. The new golden age has made the galaxy a boring place. There are still wars and conflicts but my power wasn''t affected and I would take advantage of it, in small ways.


    I''ve stepped back from being the visual head of my corporation in preparation for the Empire. The Empire will last twenty-odd years and during that time the Death Star will be created. I can''t afford to be targeted by a planet killer. What if Palpatine uses it on me for the first shot instead of Alderaan? I can''t block that kind of firepower, even with my energy shields. I need to be hidden. However, that didn''t mean the power I''ve gained will go to waste. My Corporations will protect me and my interests and the people will protect the corporation.


    The Grove is now a fixture in the galaxy that no one questions thanks to my interference in the senate and is one of the safest places to live in the Galaxy despite being right next to Hutt space.


    The old powerful Hutts are dependent on me. So much that getting rid of me would destroy the board game completely. With that in mind, the young Hutts are always trying to get benefits in any way they can. It''s become a disgusting running joke that when I turn up for a spot of revenge and stop the young Hutts, they act like a spoilt child and start acting cute, calling me Uncle Bee while flickering their massive eyes at me. The Hutts see me as part of the family, and yet that didn''t stop them from trying to get a sneaky spot of cash.


    The Jedi temple has its problems but that isn''t something I''m willing to fix and quite possibly not able to fix due to the many contradicting methods hiding in its teachings. Yoda is a fine master and has trained many padawans but the core of the Jedi teaching is too unflexible.


    The Sith still exists but they are now using the rule of two, which in my opinion is stupid and wasteful. The results would eventually pay with the destruction of the Jedi order but it would take them close to Eight hundred years to pull it off.


    This was the golden age of the Galaxy. There was peace, not true peace as that would be impossible but nothing compared to the last war. I still stole a ship here or a ship there but it didn''t hold any excitement it once did. When I stole my first ship it was the starting point of my wealth. With that ship, I could come and go freely. But now I had the cash to build a fleet of ships from scratch, I had the political power to go where I wanted. The only excitement I got was when I became more powerful. And that is where I spent my time.


    I visited the Nightsisters, they used the force in unique and interesting ways, better than the Sith or the Jedi, more flexible but they were incredibly stuck up. They were an order of women and me being a man they looked down on me, they also had one of my favour tokens. Years ago I came and learnt some dark alchemy, I think this helped me with keeping my youth but I can''t be sure. In return, I would give them a favour. They never collected. This means that they have forgotten about the favour, lost the token or know about it but never cashed it in.


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    It turns out they do have the token, they do remember the favour and they have been waiting for an appropriate time to use it. Damn, the force and its weird ways. I thought I was going to get a freebie. How the hell did they know I would still be alive after this many centuries?


    However, the sisterhood isn''t as unfriendly as the first time I met them. I don''t know why as I hadn''t had any interactions with them since the first time. My pondering is answered when they cash in their token of favour.


    They want me to take an apprentice but they want me to train them here on the planet of Dathomir. I could very well take an apprentice, it was within my time and power to do so but to stay on one planet for years as I trained them, was going too far.


    And yet I agreed but only if the nightsisters taught me more if they taught me more about their way of the force and the magical ichor they used. A deal was stuck.


    The sisterhood didn''t like it when I landed my own personal Eden ship on the planet as the sisterhood was wary of technology, but I explained that any planet that had a native species of Rancor was a place I wasn''t going to stay without protection.


    I didn''t understand why the Nightsisters wanted me to train one of them, however, I did enjoy the way the Nightsisters used and altered the force. They were the best I''ve ever seen at it. Sith was able to create lighting by Altering the force but due to a lack of knowledge or imagination that was all they seemed to do. The nightsister on the other hand could blast waves of flames and toxic clouds from the force, it just took longer and with a lot of chanting, something I''m sure I could change.


    My understanding of the force is perhaps better than any mortal in the galaxy. I don''t shy away from the dark side or lose control of it. The light side can be useful in many ways, like growing plants and healing but it takes time to learn and control. If it makes me strong and is useful then I will learn from it, incorporate it and bend it to my will and needs.


    This might be why the nightsister wants me to train a pupil. The Nightsisters as an order don''t like leaving their planet but they do like power. They live on a planet that is saturated with the dark side of the force but they don''t want to conquer the galaxy and instead want their piece of the galaxy. They are somewhat a contradiction when it comes to an order but so are the Jedi. They practice plant and animal manipulation but aren''t afraid of distorting the natural world with all kinds of crazy things.


    One of the many crazy things the Nightsister had done was use the force to inspire awareness on a Rancor. The Jedi avoided doing this most of the time because it''s a lonely existence when you are the only one of your species who understands that life ends.


    The Nightsisters don''t have that type of restriction but they do have their higher accuracy, which makes it hard to teach. The Nightsisters have offered me two pupils to teach. One male and one female.


    The Male is a rare talented ability user that seems to be well-adapted to melee fighting. He uses a hammer and knife combo and is very skilled with it, better than I am with the same weapons. He seems to be over-the-top violent and systematically attacks me whenever he can. On the third time, he attacks me I give him a brutal reminder by lifting him off the ground and pinning him in mid-air that I wasn''t a Sith and if I was he would be a deformed, dead pile of mush. He struggled but with a small bit of squeezing he chose not to fight back


    The female was a problem, I could feel her mind at work and just like the male she also had her sights on my life but she hid her actions by being a good pupil. It was a good job that I hadn''t gone all out and shown my power to them because there was an unusual amount of accidents and mistakes that could have damaged me or killed me.


    I of course read their minds when the near-death mistake clipped me, but they didn''t know anything. All they had in their mind was orders from the Nightsister to find a way to kill me. They didn''t know why but that meant I was behind enemy lines. Which was fine by me. This little plan of theirs had freed me of the deal we made. I would work outside of their expectations and take advantage in any way I see fit.

 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33


    The deal I made with the Nightsister was the only thing holding me back. I make good deals so I don''t get messed with and when those deals go bad then that''s when I go nuclear.


    The best part is that the Nightsisters don''t know that I know. I keep the deal going while dodging my pupil''s lame assassin attempts. They don''t know what they have let themselves in for.


    During the day I train the ungrateful pupils in the way of the force and learn a little of the Nightsister''s abilities. I can tell they are holding back on teaching me but that doesn''t matter anymore. When night rolls over, I act.


    My natural talents in the force lean toward being sneaky and unseen. I''m able to disguise my force and shape causing an almost perfect camouflage. The only thing I leave behind is torn plant fibbers as even my footsteps are silent from practice. With a little Telekenises, I''m able to skip off the ground without leaving a single footprint, I can use the force to fly but it''s a strain on me, gavity is a force that is too much for me to overwhelm.


    But I don''t need to fly to do what I want. My job for tonight is to test the Nightsisters. I need to see how deeply they use the force, I take indirect action by capturing snakes and bitting incests and dumping them on lone Nightsisters and see their reaction. If they can react before the snakes touch them then that means they have pre-cog abilities but if they get bitten, then they are prime targets for a light bit of kidnapping.


    I can''t be sure how good the Nightsisters are at fighting because of how they use the force in different ways but it''s a nice little test and it tickles my darker side that I''m using the planet animals against the Nightsister. Those who fall for this trick, I quickly snap them up and drag them away.


    The Darkside of the Force has a nice little ability called Drain Knowledge, and I''m really good at it. This ability uses the force to not only read the surface thoughts but also deep memories at the cost of pain to the victim. I have worked out how to use the skill without the pain part by mixing the ability with a different dark side force ability called force drain.


    By using force drain and my extensive knowledge of medicine, I''m able to pull a small amount of their force causing pleasure and while the victim is paralyzed with good feels I extract the knowledge, this was all thanks to the Sith holocubes.


    This Nightsister had no clue why I was on the Nightsister''s kill list but she did have knowledge I could use. She had a deeper understanding of how to Alter the force. The Nightsister should have taught me this stuff but I can see they are holding back.


    I leave the Nightsister where I kidnapped her. I put up mental barriers in her mind to block her memories, it won''t last forever but unless a deep mental shock happens to her then it should be fine for a while.


    I slink back to my ship ready for a light sleep. For the next three weeks, I repeat my nightly crawl and rip my reward from the minds of lesser Nightsisters.


    Training during the day is becoming annoying as my apprentices are becoming increasingly violent to me, so much so that they aren''t even hiding their emotions anymore. Even the female with her controlled mind has hate rolling off the surface.


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    I can feel the dark side of my emotions triggering nasty dark thoughts cheering me on to choke out the little shits. I control myself with reason but I''m not above hurting them with sly little jabs to the ribs or a blackeye and split lip. The people are getting to me, the planet is a dark side focus point and it might be seeping into me.


    I can feel the rage, and with the rage comes stupidity. I''m becoming more restless and I''m making poorer choices. My nightly kidnapping has become more daring as I take stronger foes and look through their memories. I''m making bigger mistakes that are harder to cover up.


    I had forgotten or ignored that even though the Nightsister didn''t use the force in the same way as the Sith or Jedi, they still were able to glimpse into the future. A lucky Nightsister had some inkling and set up an ambush with two other Nightsisters.


    What followed was a hard fight, for them. All three of them ran towards me with blades raised ready to slice me apart. With the first Nightsister, I allowed the blade to cut into my ribs positive that my armour would protect me. In return, I offered a punch filled with my spite and anger. The blow caused the Nightsister''s bottom jaw to crack and dislocate. If it wasn''t for the Nightsister''s special magic that weaved throughout the planet and themselves, then her jaw would have been turned to pulp. Instead, I kicked the Nightsister away. She twisted in the air like a cat as she tried to get to her feet.


    The other two Nightsisters attacked from either side of me. Their swords were playfully stabbing with caution as they just witnessed their sister taking a boot to the chest. Double blades tested my defences on either side of me.


    It might have been a problem but I had been training with droids for centuries. Droid attacks were heavy and fast, especially my droids and I didn''t limit myself to one at a time. Back in my training room, there were five specially adaptive four armed Asura-ranked droids. Each one could contend with a Jedi or Sith if they didn''t use the force. These droids have trained my fist into killing machines. My once weakness towards close-up combat had disappeared. Now I was an all-rounder fighter.


    The Nightsister''s blades danced and poked while my arms and fists redirected and deflected. The third injured Nightsister recovered and joined the fight. A soft green smoke snaked around her body and consolidated at the end of her weapon.


    With a speed that shocked the Nightsisters, I turned on the spot and sandwiched the blade between my hands. The green smoke twisted around my hands and took a form to bite me.


    The green smoke was some kind of poison or acid. Red ribbons of lightning danced off my hands and battled the smoke. It was a fight between the Nightsister''s magical ichor and my red force lightning.


    The other two nightsister didn''t let up and swung their weapons only for both of them to quickly jump away when my red lightning jumped out of my body to defend me. I no longer need to point my lightning as it could flow freely to any point of my body. All thanks to the domain I had learnt from other force users.


    If the Nightsisters were shaken by my speed then they were spooked by my defensive lightning.


    I must admit the sight of red lightning rolling off my body was an epic sight to behold. One that no one had seen before.... no one alive that was. The group of three Nightsisters hadn''t been on full alert. Before, they had run into the fight ready to attack. Now they were cautious to the extreme. The green smoke that a single Nightsister had used was now joined by two others to form an enormous snake.


    The sister might have gloated but a long overdue change in my understanding hit me after witnessing the green smoke from the Nightsisters.


    My red lightning fluctuated, melded, consolidated, and changed. What was once lightning was morphing into purple fire and then into aqua-green water. My weeks of stealing knowledge and witnessing the Nightsister''s abilities in a real fight allowed a Quantum Leap in understanding. I finally managed to do it. I was now a master at Altering the force


    The Nightsister''s green smoke snake dived to attack and thin lines of aqua-green water from me tied it up and dragged it to the ground. The water Altered into flames to burn the snake into nothing and my force pushed the last vapors of sickly green smoke away. The fight had been somewhat easy but now it was a joke. The Nightsisters were at Jedi level but I was a master. The follow-up attack I gave caused the three Nightsisters to disappear. The only thing that was found was an arm and a leg that I so happened to dump in a creature pit to cover my tracks.

 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34


    I''ve had enough. I don''t want to stay on this planet any longer. The final straw that broke the camel''s back was an attack on my Eden ship using a wild Rancore. The poor creature''s head was blown off by a well-placed missile and I genuinely felt bad about it. Because of that I had taken action and kidnapped an Elder Nightsister.


    I was tired of being attacked, I wanted to retaliate but I still didn''t know why they wanted me to train some low-level snot-filled kids the way of the force when they didn''t care and for them to try and kill me. The answer came from my new friend.


    What did the Nightsister want from me, the answer was everything. I had made the mistake of thinking that the Nightsisters only stayed in their home world. That was true but not always. The Nightsisters had a change of heart and wanted to branch out.


    They wanted to use my resources by zombifying me. The Nightsisters had a special funeral that put their mummified corpse into a pod on a tree. With their dark magic they wanted to control me using the tree and green magic of the world and bind me to their will but why not go all out and attack me with all of the Nightsister if they just wanted my body?


    It was part of their magic. I had to be seen as an ally for my body to be puppeted and for the green ichor to seep into my dead body. The only way was for a youngling who wasn''t strongly connected to their magic to murder me.


    Their damn magic was powerful but held many weaknesses and stipulations. I''m no longer going to pull any punches and after gaining the knowledge from the elder Nightsister of her plans, I drain her life force causing her great pain.


    My time is coming to an end here, but before I leave, I will leave them a message that can''t be ignored. A lesson that they should have already learnt.


    The Nightsister want their Elder back and have surrounded my Eden ship.


    "Attention, attention you dirty nerf herders" my voice echoes across the land using my ship''s communication devices. "I''m tired of your shit and there are repercussions to your actions. I know everything, all your tiny little plans and you make me sick. The deal is off"


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    Across the sky, battleships entered the atmosphere. A fleet of killing machines, piloted by droids caused the Nightsister to regret ever messing with me


    "This is going to be the hardest lesson you will learn and I''m glad to teach you" The dark side wells up and I''m shaking with anticipation. My voice breaks out of its calm manner and shrieks with rage


    The dark side was controlling me and only my knowledge and intelligence were holding it back. I desperately wanted to glass the planet and get rid of an enemy but my mind battled the dark and stupid side. What would be the repercussions of killing this Sect of Nightsisters? The answer was any survivors would go into hiding, buy their time and attack me from the shadows. I would earn myself a blood feud with a powerful unified magical force users. The Nightsisters also had a part to play. By destroying them now I would change the future and things I know would happen. This was unacceptable.


    However, the night sisters couldn''t get away with this. The dark side was messing with me at the moment but it was right, the Nightsisters had to pay.


    I demanded to be paid in blood. I wanted the person who came up with the zombified plan and yet it wouldn''t be enough. I wanted more blood to wash away the annoyance and anger.


    I had to get off this planet now, it was destroying my reason. If I stayed I would end up killing everyone. Even now, I''m thinking about stripping the atmosphere with a firestorm and watching every living thing suffocate from lack of air and then get roasted by the stellar radiation of their sun.


    But one last demonstration of my power to make sure they understand how close their whole clan of Nightsisters came to their demise.


    The dead Elder Nightsister is placed on a transport ship and bombarded with every weapon from all the battleships. The resulting firepower doesn''t stop for days. The Nightsister who had surrounded my Eden ship had taken shelter underground in the bosom of the green ichor magic. The crater left behind was larger than a city, and deeper than a lake, all for a single Elder Nightsister grave.


    The message was very clear. Mess with me at your peril.


    If the Nightsisters thought I was finished they were sorely mistaken. I removed myself from the dark side-powered planet, giving up the revenge I so desperately wanted and stationing my ships that had caused the earth to melt in orbit. A consent reminder that while I was leaving, my reaching hand was constantly hovering over their heads and with a tiny order it would come crashing down.


    Trade was cut from the planet, the senate was bribed, ordered and even threatened with my displeasure if they offered any help at all. No one entered, no one left. The Nightsister would truly be alone, an isolationist clan not by choice but by my word. The word of Bee. I was still trying to keep a low profile ready for the Empire but this was one of those times when a very public message needed to be sent, to ease my mind from the dark side and for the protection of the Nightsisters. After all, if I didn''t get the satisfaction I wanted from their agony then I might come back for a touch-up in pain. The way of the dark side.

 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35


    The dark side of the force is addictive and lingers like a bad smell. It acts like an adrenalin shot. Think about it like all of those small pleasures in your life that fill your mind with Dopamine but times ten. The lingering effect lasts so much longer. I am a good light year away from that planet but I can still feel the effects, a part of me wants to go back and dive into the dark side but that would be a poor choice that would lead to my destruction.


    I had been infected, tainted by the dark side. I was worried. The force was meant to be the will of both the dark side and light but while the light side didn''t feel right to me, it never put me in a situation like this where I could kill myself with a stupid action. The light side didn''t have the same addiction as the dark side


    I needed to purge the dark side effects but keep the essence. The dark side was part of the force and I wasn''t going to give it up because I had one or two bad moments with it. I sound just like an addict but the power I have was useful and something that had saved my life.


    The way of the force had many different religions and cults following it and making rules to their religion but I felt like they made it too personal. The Jedi cut the emotions away causing them to become dull, the Sith had too many problems with their view on the force, and the Nightsisters could go straight to hell.


    I had to find a way to embrace what strengthens me and repel what weakens me. To be honest, I had thought I had achieved that already but spending time on a strong dark side Nexus point told me otherwise.


    As I travelled, I played with my abilities. I had to make sure that my new skills weren''t tied to the dark side and that I could use them without any negativity.


    Lightning turned to fire that gently warped over my arm. I wondered why my own fire wasn''t hurting me. When Palpatine used his force lightning it was redirected back onto his face and caused harm. Did he do it on purpose to gain sympathy from Anakin or did I know something that he didn''t?


    The fire turned into water. With a twist of the wrist, a whirlpool swam through the air. The dense but calm core of the water rippled less than the braking swirls on the outside.


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    "The eye of the storm" I pondered. It was the core of the whirlpool but it wasn''t the place that produced the most clashing energy. There was peace in the core, as well as power.


    This mentality was familiar as it was like the yin and yang symbol in Taoism. A religion that didn''t believe in god but rather the positive and negative, the soft and hard, the power in destruction and creation.


    They believed that there was light in darkness but also destruction in light. It was how you understood the element. For example; fire burned and destroyed things but it also offered warmth and light. Light illuminated the dark so you could see but too much light could blind you putting you in the dark. The soft gentle snow on a branch was beautiful and gentle but too much would snap the tree.


    I understood that while the dark side nexus point flooded me with dark side power and I found it hard to control myself, there were light side qualities within it that I didn''t take advantage of, that I couldn''t see but I still knew it deep down in my mind.


    The water turned to air and gently caused a light breeze in my room. The softness of the breeze turned a fraction colder as the winds turned and sped up. Water droplets condensed and were taken by the wind. The droplets would split or meld into each other.


    The gentle wind and the malleable soft water drops were considered yin and yet with both of these elements clashing and speeding up into a miniature tempest they now had qualities of yang.


    The light side and the dark side not only can work together but must do so. The tempest was causing small damage as the water droplets fired out at great speed. The dark side that had wormed its way into me and caused such anger was now calming down, no, it was melding into my force.


    The tempest stopped, and the water and air both melded into each other pouring out a thick mist that covered the room. The mist would be considered yin but with just a twist of its nature, it could drown a person and become yang.


    "Darkness and light are part of the force" It was simple and yet I can feel the darkness in me dull and meld within me. I''ve always known it but now I''m one with it.


    The mist rolled around me and turned into a ribbon of lightning. It hung off my arm as a decoration causing no harm. The ribbon morphed from one element to another with just a brief thought. I was no longer compelling, or coercing the force, it just did. It was an extension of me, part of me and yet completely detached from me.


    My anger was still there but it melded with my calm becoming part of my emotions and was tempered and elevated but controlled.


    My understanding of the force had inspired great changes throughout my abilities. My camouflage ability was one of blending in, distorting people''s perception but now the force just made it that I was unseen. people would see but not realise.


    It was odd, I understood the force but didn''t realise. I was blind but now I can see.

 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36


    While moving about from clan to cult I studied under many masters but it was when I was learning under the B''omarr order did I get an unexpected message from the Black Sun.


    Being part of the underworld for any amount of time would mean dealing with the Black Sun. There are small groups who nickel and dime then there''s the protection racket of well-established weaklings and yet none of those are part of the Black Sun but they are subservient to it. You needed to be at the level of a mafia family before you could interact with the Black Sun.


    I am part of the Black Sun but not officially. While I do take part in the darker side of the law and bribe my way forward, I''m just a businessman who makes the impossible come true. I clean credits and make them untraceable through legitimate work. I make the seedy side of drugs running into a profitable legitimate business but I''m not part of any family, mafia, or syndicate but I''m connected to them, hand in hand.


    The Black Sun hadn''t sent me any message before, Why would they? I take no cash from them and help them in their deals using my empire. They didn''t make cash from me in a traditional way but I''ve purposely made myself valuable so that they wouldn''t try to step on me.


    They want a meeting. What answer can you give to an empire of the underworld that has been around for over two thousand years? I must admit that while I have done my best to make myself valuable to as many people as possible, I''m not confident against the Black Suns.


    The Sith were easy to predict, the Jedi had their rules and the political galaxy loved their money but the Black Suns were unpredictable. They had started in the outer rim and over time made it across the Galaxy. The leader was always changing because of the nature of the black suns but nine Vigos were always intrusted with their territory and sectors.


    The black suns were known for piracy, smuggling and the drug trade. They also did a bit of slavery and kidnapping but only when immensely profitable.


    It wasn''t the leader that contacted me but one of the Vigos, they wanted a face-to-face meeting in Hutt space on the planet Cyrkon. There was a notorious hub for pirates and smugglers. I think it would be better to go than offend the black suns but it didn''t mean I had to go unprepared.


    The meeting was something I didn''t expect. Entering the atmosphere to Cyrkon I was messaged by a protocol droid and directed to a port. The character of the place was one of dirt and rust. The buildings looked rusted and were on the verge of falling apart but the inside was different. Wealthy fixtures, followed by rich-looking individuals dressed in fine suits and dresses. A crystal statue in the form of the Black Sun''s insignia was the dominant fixture.


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    I felt like this was a set-up. The people walking around seemed at ease but also had a set pattern to their walking. Most people had things to do and would go straight to their destination but everyone seemed to walk in wide and complex circles. One person doing this was suspicious but everyone doing it felt like a trap.


    I pressed my panic button once to start my plan. I wasn''t going to use it so soon but I didn''t feel safe, and this was only the entrance to the building. I was rushed to the meeting place by a protocol droid into a grand ballroom. Instead of a meeting, it was more like a party and I was the guest of honor.


    The oddities continued as the room went silent and the people in the room parted ways. There in all of his splendour stood one of the Vigos. Everything about him told me I should kill him immediately but I felt like that when meeting with the Hutts too, and they were my allies now. The way he held himself, the way he walked and especially the way he talked told me exactly the character of this Vigo.


    "Brother, I''ve been waiting for you," said Vigo Rena Beenz


    I pushed my panic button once more.


    What followed was whispered hidden threats mixed with delightful promises of power. All I would have to do was join him and work just for him. This was no good as I washed the galaxies ill-gotten credits and to work for one Vigo of the black sun meant the rest of them would suffer. That wasn''t good for me. It made me think that this Vigo didn''t know the extent of my money laundering.


    But the problem was this Vigo of the black suns wanted to take advantage of me at the cost of his other black sun brothers. He offered nothing in return and the deal would get me killed by the other black sun Vigos. If I joined him it would weaken me in every possible way and put a chain around my neck.


    Rena Beenz was a newly appointed and hungry Vigo of the black sun. It wasn''t enough to have his very own sector of the underworld he had to push it further. And so, when he found Bee and his empire and friendly nature with the Hutts his logical thought was to use his sector''s power to bully me into an offer I couldn''t refuse.


    My reputation was excellent but it also hurt me. I was now a legitimate business owner and head of many stable mega-corporations. It had been many years ago that I had fought the Brotherhood of Darkness and shown that I had very few limits when it came to getting my revenge. but people had forgotten. The Hutts hadn''t with their long life but the Vigos had.


    Rena Beenz continued his ideas, he spouted off the potential of having me on his side but the whole room became stone-cold quiet when I asked "what he could do for me". The crowd turned to me completely quiet and the live music stopped. Everyone here was my enemy. It was a simple power move that I would laugh at if it wasn''t for the other Vigos and the black sun as a whole.


    I was trying to balance my actions with what may happen if I were to attack but that left my thoughts as the other guest pulled a fast one and started to arm themselves.


    "I''ve heard that you are a clever man, if you don''t join me as a friend then you are my enemy" explained Rena Beenz.


    That was the final straw. I had to bow my head or lose it. Either one wasn''t going to happen and so, I offered a third choice.

 Chapter 37

    Chapter 37


    The silence would have caused any normal man to sweat buckets. The weapons being pulled out slowly by each guest would have caused any normal man to fold. The hysterical laugh coming from the black sun Vigo would cause any normal man to shiver away into a corner. However, I don''t respond to these threats well.


    Admittedly, it has been a while since the last time I had to respond to something like this. Taking a step back from the public side of the business and keeping my hands clean from the underworld had allowed others with short memories to think that I was easy pickings.


    That was the problem, erasing my footprint on the galaxy ready for the Galactic Empire to take over had given me a type of weakness that I hadn''t expected, mediocrity.


    I was anything but that but my enemies didn''t know. They saw a businessman who was ready to be squeezed, and they thought they had done their due diligence in researching me but made the mistake that the Bee who founded Bee Grove and fought against Sith, Jedi and politics was my ancestors and not me. Rena Beenz thought I was a soft fourth-generation descendant and was easy prey. It was time for a very costly lesson.


    I pushed my panic button for the third and last time. Within seconds, every door into the banquet opened and in poured a wave of droids. They fanned out and surrounded the room. Each of these droids was my special design of battle asura droids. They were kitted out with the best weapons and energy fields money had to offer.


    The surprised look on everyone''s face greatly warmed my belly. I''m not above taking pleasure in others'' pain but only if they deserve it. Rena Beenz had a confused look on his face, rightly so.


    Rena Beenz is one of the highest members of the most powerful criminal underworld and yet he didn''t see my droids coming. Moving this amount of droids would grab so much attention that many people would investigate where they were coming from. He doesn''t understand that I supply the high-class food with the Eden ships and my company transports the containers that hold the food. My droids are hidden in those containers. There was no way I was going to go and meet a Vigos of the black sun without bodyguards.


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    My Asura droids use their four arms to point weapons at the crowd. The silence is one of fear more so than what it was before. I can see many itchy trigger fingers resting on their weapons. However, the one who acts first is Rena Beenz.


    With great practice, the Vigo pulls his embossed elegant pistol smoothly out of his holster and points it at me. I honestly expected a monologue of some sort but was surprised when he fired without hesitation. The blaster bolt goes straight through me.


    Rena Beenz doesn''t hesitate to fire five more rounds while dodging to the left and diving over a table expecting a barrage of weapons firing from my droids. None come and he probably thinks that the droids have deactivated or were poorly built.


    The truth is that I haven''t ordered them yet. Rena Beenz risks a quick look over his cover to find that the person he had fired on was now flickering and turning into mist.


    Again he doesn''t understand but that''s because he doesn''t understand the force. The person he had been interacting with for the last thirty minutes was just a doppelganger of me, one that had been enhanced by my master-level Alter ability. There was no way in hell I was going to be ambushed by anyone. I let my clone take the risk.


    My real body is on the ship ready to leave at the drop of a hat. The Vigo stands out of cover in confusion. The answer he gets is his last as all the droids work as one and fire their weapons with accuracy and speed. The place is turned into a precise blood bath as each droid targets four different targets and shoots to kill them. A single barrage of laser bolts crossed the room and met their targets.


    As one, everyone in the room drops to the ground with an energy bolt to the head. Only Rena Beenz is left alive and to his credit, he still stands like a proud warrior. He goes to say something but stops as the air in his lungs is pressed upon, he tries to struggle but finds that he can''t move. He lifts off the ground and floats in the air. His eyes are looking for answers, dirting from one droid to another. Again, he doesn''t understand but the dead don''t need to understand.


    I fold him up like a napkin using telekinesis. The first snap came from his spine and the muffled scream followed by blood pouring out of his mouth lets him know that he is finished. The follow-up foldings and audio snaps are just for my peace of mind. Rena Beenz has put me in a mighty unpleasant position.


    Now I was the enemy of the black suns. They didn''t know it yet but even if I got rid of the evidence the black suns would find out. They might just guess and get it correct. The black suns didn''t need to get it right they just had to make someone pay.


    The reach they had was far and wide. I had a lot to protect but did I cover all of my bases? I don''t know and I didn''t want to find out if I was weak in certain areas. This was going to be a war. And like any war, I was going to need reliable allies.

 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38


    The Hutts as allies were reliable but only in that they would serve their own best interests. In a war, they would ally them selfs with the strongest. That would be the black suns and yet, they knew that I wouldn''t lie down and take it but instead dish it out. My revenge was well known to them and they wouldn''t want to chance it. Instead, the Hutt council would play dumb and be slow to act. They would wait to see who would win and take action at the last second.


    The Black Suns would likely take advantage of bribed politics but I would see that coming from miles away. I monitored the cash politics earned. With a little investigation, I would find exactly what was going on but that also meant the politics wouldn''t risk their necks for me against the black suns.


    The Jedi might be a good idea as an ally but I had to keep this quiet in case the future Empire gets a taste of my power.


    There was an answer. One that was both risky and yet would get amazing results. I could ally myself with the Sith. In a certain point of view allying myself with the Sith and expecting future Sith not to know who I was and maybe target me was stupid. Palpatine would hear about me through the Sith masters and I didn''t want that master manipulator to set his eyes on me.


    And yet, it wasn''t that simple when it came to the Sith. Ever since the rule of two came to be established by Darth Bane, there were always two. One master and one apprentice. But it wasn''t like that anymore.


    I made sure to follow the rise and fall of each new Sith Master using my connections. Darth Bane was killed by his apprentice. Darth Zannah was replaced by Darth Cognus and she had a failed apprentice who just disappeared. At this point, the rule of two was broken as there was no more Darths anything.


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    But the force finds a way. A human male mining director who found a dark side waypoint had immersed themself in the dark side, his name was Darth Vectivus. He was an unusual Sith as he had worked hard to shut down the mining colony to protect the normal people being corrupted by the dark side and despite the negative side of the force and with his strong and shrewd principle Darth Vectivus was able to keep his mind under control.


    Darth Vectivus hadn''t passed the test to become a full-fledged Sith master and I reached out to help. I bought the mining rights and mining company and handed it over, to show good faith. What I wanted from him was the unique ability that he had gained.


    Darth Vectivus could summon phantoms. If I was going to fight an underworld and its army then I would need an army. The reason I was willing to accept Darth Vectivus as an ally was he understood that killing wasn''t always the best answer but he also understood that killing one to save many was needed as well. He basically did no evil, stayed in his dark side hotspot and just learned. He could control the dark side''s negativity, didn''t want to control the galaxy and had a high work ethic. So, it was me and my droid army and Darth Vectivus with his ghost army. A good start.


    This isn''t going to be like a war between two armies but a guerrilla war. I don''t know for sure how many resources the black suns have and I won''t know how they choose to use them. If I were them then I would attack the trade routes I have set up. Bomb from orbit the stand-alone Eden ships that aren''t protected by my world shields. Pirates could be hired to take my ships and cargo and bounties could be issued to anyone connected to me. It was a defensive game that I couldn''t win without losing something.


    So, a defensive game was off the table. An offensive war was going to be hard as there wasn''t a typical army to attack. The worst thing was I couldn''t wipe them out. I mean I could find every Vigo of the black sun and send hundreds of Asura droids to destroy my targets but that would change the future I know.


    During the clone war, Darth Maul would somehow ally his shadow collective with the black suns and cause numerous underworld syndicates to unify under his banner. Later, the Emporer will weaken them but still use it as a tool.


    The butterfly effect could be disastrous. If I were to destroy the heads of the black sun a different more competent syndicate could take its place or even worse, when the Empire looked for an underworld organisation and the black suns weren''t there then he may pick on me.


    Dealing with The Black Sun would need both the carrot and the stick.

 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39


    The leader of the black suns is a man called Rharo Dine and he lives a weird sheltered life on the planet Ord Mantell. I suspect that he has many different names to protect himself from assassin attacks. I know a few of them but I highly doubt I know them all. Rharo Dine lives a quiet life as a bartender who is hired by the owner, he comes to work, does his hours and goes home. For all good purposes, he pays his taxes and lives an unremarkable life, he even pays a local thug gang a small protection fee to stop stealing his stuff and harassing him. I wouldn''t even look twice at the man but the daily life of this man wasn''t how I found him, I followed the cash of the black suns.


    While Rharo Dine had very few paper trails leading to him and his bank accounts were as clean as freshly dropped snow, that didn''t mean the other Vigos were as good at hiding their ill-gotten cash. After all, I cleaned their ill-gotten cash through various businesses and funnelled it through my programs that allowed me to find where they had bank accounts. With their bank accounts'' whereabouts, I was able to find where they withdrew and spent their cash and how they paid the leader''s cut. I didn''t search for the man but followed the money.


    I wonder if I should even tell Rharo Dine about how and why I killed one of his Vigos, he might not know or even care but their organisation also has top-notch information-gathering abilities that aren''t connected to mine and I''m not infallible enough to cover all my bases.


    Killing him isn''t the best option. Someone would take his place and may come for revenge. I could get rid of the top people and allow a trickle-down effect of less competent people who wouldn''t know what was going on to take over but that might ruin my future plans with the empire.


    And that is why I was now sitting at a bar taking long sips of cool house beer while Rharo Dine cleaned and severed. I watched him with every tilt of my glass upwards and silently inspected him. Rharo Dine''s act was almost perfect, every action he took suggested that he had been a bartender for years. The way he effortlessly knew every inch of the bar and stacked glasses into their exact place with practice ease would fool anyone, me included. And yet I had followed the money and was now reading his surface thoughts.


    The thoughts of a hard-line criminal were one of problem-solving through hard violence and even harder cash but when you reached the top, that kind of violence was done by subordinates. Rharo Dine''s mind was full of numbers and alliances. He was thinking about weakening a Vigo power so he was easier to manage. The black sun''s leader had to keep a balance and that''s where I was shocked to find that the leader of the black suns had set up one of his Vigos to pressure a businessman. Rharo Dine was thinking about me.


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    The black sun''s leader had seen the actions of the Vigo Rena Beenz and didn''t like where the man''s ambition led him. Through subtle actions and masterful placements, he had moved his Vigo to commit suicide against a much more vicious opponent. Rharo Dine had suppressed the information on me so Vigo Rena Beenz would overextend and make a stupid action.


    The black sun''s leader had planned for his Vigo destruction by sending him to me. In his mind the Vigo was dead either at my hands or what would happen when the other Vigos found out that they had to pay for their money to be laundered. It was a masterful piece of criminal politics that weakened him in the short term with the loss of one of his Vigos but strengthened himself in the long run. Even Palpatine would nod his head at such a good plot.


    Of course, he knew that Vigo Rena Beenz had been killed by me, that was one of the outcomes he had planned for, in his mind, plan after plan rolled out to take advantage of his Vigo death. There was a moment of hesitation from Rharo Dine as he wiped a table down when he was thinking about taking advantage of me but a flash of understanding came to his eyes as he weighed the losses and gains of a battle against my tiny slice of the galaxy and his operations. It amazed me how quickly his mind worked, he had no special ability with the force but his mind visually planned for battles that would never become reality, situations that might never come true.


    It was a good thing that Rharo Dine lived at a separate time than Empire Palpatine because if these two ever fought each other the galaxy would suffer let alone thinking about if they teamed up together.


    I planned to pursue the leader of the black sun using both profits from washing and investing his cash and pain from the length I would go but now I see that wasn''t enough. A man who was willing to hurt his organisation and extension himself was a man who would go to extreme and subtle lengths to get what he wanted.


    It wasn''t enough to profit from me, Rharo Dine needed to feel secure and as long as I existed he wouldn''t feel safe.


    Sometimes to ensure your way of life you needed to fain weakness and take a step back. Just like Rharo Dine did causing a slight weakness in his organization. It was an interesting lesson.


    I was going to go to war with my droids, ships and borrowed phantoms but that would lead to nothing but losses. Killing the man in front of me would gain me little profit in the short run and most likely hurt the timeline I knew was coming.


    A different plan was needed. I had to show weakness so I could keep my strength, And there was only one type of weakness that Rharo Dine would accept.


    I left Rharo Dine to clean and pour while I had to plan.

 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40


    A grand event was being held. Many ships were docked at the space station in orbit of a blue gem of a planet. A party was being held for the retirement of the fourth generation of the Bee Federation. Reporters from across the galaxy were ready to get a scoop on the very elusive figurehead. The station was packed with good food, good drink and good company and all of it was to celebrate one man.


    Ship after ship docked and joined the party. Bright explosion lit the dark space causing a dance of light welcoming the star of the show.


    An Eden ship like no other sailed through the dark expanse. Full to the brim with advanced weapons and rippling with energy shields. The personal ship of Bee was a testament to power and wealth.


    As the ship got ready to dock, every screen, no matter how small turned on to show Bee with his grin plastered across his face. The cheers rippled across the station as the main man arrived, and yet the joyful cheers turned into panicking screaming as a ship barreled into Bee''s ship and exploded. The shock wave caused the space station to vibrate.


    Every screen captured the powerful man known as Bee being thrown off his feet as his ship absorbed the powerful explosion. The Eden ship had taken a hit but its shields still operated, that was until three other ships barreled into the Eden ship and copied the first. This was no accident and everyone knew it when a further six ships aimed their load for ramming speed. Unlike the first four ships, the others were destroyed by heavy firing from the Eden ship.


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    Bee''s Eden ship had taken damage that left it with its shield down and part of its hull pierced. Those who were watching through the TV screens witnessed Bee''s body flailing under a turned-over unit.


    And yet that was only the beginning. The planet''s atmosphere lit up with the light of cheap spaceships. Thousands of ships headed towards Bee''s Eden ship, each one packed to the brim with explosions. The resulting exchanges of weapon fire made the resulting fireworks look plain in comparison.


    The many cheap ships acted like ants as they rushed toward Bee''s Eden ship. Most were blasted to vapour but one got through causing damage to the weapons arrays, then a second and a third followed.


    The people were shocked. Bee was a man who was generally liked throughout the galaxy. The work he did followed the ideas of the first generation Bee. People had a place to eat and heal because of his continued work, they couldn''t understand who was attacking and why. They watched their screens unable to peel their eyes off their screens. They watched as the artificial gravity lost power and the unit that had pinned Bee to the ground was shoved to one side.


    They watched as Bee rolled to his feet and gave commands. The screen was filled with repair bots as they went to work getting the shields back up. Things were looking better for Bee as he gained control and fixed his ships but the attack hadn''t finished. From the dark side of the planet''s moon came a new attack force of the same suicide ships.


    Anger rolled in Bee''s eyes as everyone knew he had lost and yet for one last act of fuck you, Bee sent a message throughout the galaxy before the ships rammed their way into his ship and exploded, causing the Eden ship to explode.


    Everyone throughout the galaxy read the last message of the powerful Bee


    "Find and destroy my killer, make them pay, cause them pain and you will be rewarded with credit, property and power. I want revenge"

 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41


    I leant back in my chair staring at my armoured fat suit. That was the last time I would wear it. Bee in the public eye was dead and I had no reason to pretend to be the fat overlord of Bee''s Gove.


    My very public explosion from the living world was done on purpose, I was never on the Eden ship that was attacked. It had all been a carefully constructed ruse.


    Using the phantoms borrowed from the current Sithlord to pilot the kamikaze ships I had manufactured a villain that couldn''t be tracked. It wasn''t how I planned to use the phantoms but it was better than an all-out war


    It was a simple misdirection, and yet that was the easy part, now was the hard part.


    It wasn''t enough to fake my death, plenty of people have done the same. Taking a page from the Black Suns leader it was time I hurt myself and weakened myself in the short run but strengthened myself in the long run.


    Dragging my chair forward I went to work with the most painful thing I had done, cutting up my empire.


    It wasn''t enough to die, I had to show the galaxy that my empire would take a hit, something that hadn''t ever happened while I was around. This was the plan, I would lose control over certain parts of my empire and it would look like the vultures circling a corpse to take bites out of it.


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    I wanted to keep my part of the Galaxy a safe place but I would have to shrink it down a bit just to show that it was vulnerable. Then there were the many corporations under my wing. Some will have my tight grip relaxed and be taken advantage of and fall to the greedy and smart. The Hutts were going to have a party with those rare corporations I let loose.


    The healing rooms and Food halls will look after them selfs, and the populous will fight tooth and nail to keep them. The big loss on my end will be the dissolvement of the Dyson swarms and the energy production that came with it. I set up competing companies that will compete to own the Dyson swarm energy company. The best thing is if done right then the competing companies will put my energy company into a deadlock, and when I''m ready, I can just pick it back up.


    My biggest headache will be the trading routes that I own. Each one earns more than a planet''s GDP for a year every day. Money like that causes smart men to become stupid, and stupid men to become brave. And there were a lot of stupid brave men who would risk their lives and others just to get a slice of this profitable pie.


    I ponder what to do. With little fanfare, I do what my SithLord friend would do by doing nothing. One of the many things I''ve learned through the years is how to predict how individuals, corporations and governments will react to events. My trading routes were very valuable but the Hutt clan needed them and yet they weren''t unified as one and they would lose control of the trading routes. And yet, I only had to last for twenty to forty years and wait for the current leader of the black suns to die of old age or if I was really lucky someone would waste him. Could the Hutt clan keep the trading routes, it was unlikely as every government would try their hardest to take it for themselves. And so by doing nothing, it would appear that the trading routes were defenceless and I was truly out of the picture.


    Of course, this wouldn''t happen overnight, and I would still rack in the cash and that cash would be used to complicate everything even more so. This was just the beginning, a good opportunity to disappear, and a perfect time for a working holiday.

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42


    I am on holiday, I could go to any number of beaches and pleasure worlds, but there is a chance that despite me not wearing my fat suit, others might make the connection that I am the now-dead Bee, and because of that I''m taking a nice ten-year break at my Sith lord friends Asteroids mining site.


    Darth Vectivus was unlike any Sith I''ve seen before, he wasn''t interested in galaxy domination or killing and conquest in any way. The man even had a family that loved him and by all accounts he also loved them.


    It wasn''t that Sith couldn''t love but their love was twisted into something destructive. The dark side often caused the users to spike in emotion, and yet despite Vectivus diving in deep into the dark side of the force and studying it in a strong dark side focal point, he was able to control himself, it was very impressive.


    I on the other hand had learnt to control the dark side by integrating it with the light side. I made a complete whole of the force with balance, understanding and control. Whenever there was a dark feeling, I would use the light side. After all, there can be no light side without the dark side.


    With permission from Vectivus, I stayed on the asteroid that held the dark side focal point. I wasn''t staying for free as I helped to shape the inside of the asteroid into a proper temple.


    With my control and altering of the force, I was able to reshape the rock of the asteroid. Walking through the caves of the asteroid was enough for me to shape the rough terrain into smooth paths. Each slow step I took caused the very rocks under my foot to condense, flatten and harden into a path ready for the future.


    The walls became slick and smooth as they curved into a monolithic structure that any temple would be proud of. Broken walls would have rocks float into them and fuse to make it complete. Boulders would roll and follow me waiting to be used when pilled on top of each other to make massive pillars. This was my power at work, the power of alternating the force. Most force users couldn''t even produce lighting but I had gone further than even masters when using the force to my will. Lightning was simple for me, childlike, it was as easy to me as breathing to a newborn.


    Other elements were a tiny bit more.... restrictive. They took a few moments to get started but when they did they flowed like water going downhill. The manipulation of earth through the force was the hardest and took time but that was what I had plenty of.


    With each new step, the reshaping of the earth into a colosseum caused growth and understanding in the way I used the force. It helped that I perhaps had my very first friend in the force of the dark side who was willing to share what he knew and didn''t hide anything. Darth Vectivus was a lot like me, his power was nothing compared to his control, in a way his control was better than mine.


    We got along well and through the years he even officially introduced his family to me. They really liked him and he was generous to them. His employees were in the same mind as his family. They respected him and in turn, he looked after them. In my opinion, Darth Vectivus was everything a user of the force should be, I admired him greatly.


    The way he taught was just as generous as his dealing with his employees. I could see this when a young human who took the mantle of Darth Gravid became Vectivus''s apprentice. The young human was desperate for power but the dark side focal point twisted his desires. Unlike his master, he was unable to separate the dark side''s ability to distort emotions from the power it offered.


    I met Darth Gravid a couple of times as I walked through the asteroid. I could feel the hatred building up in him. He hated being here but no one said he had to stay. He hated Vectivus for being better than him, he even hated me and the power I was displaying. I would follow his eyes as he watched me reshape rock. I didn''t like the way he watched me, desiring my ability but not putting in the effort. He was lazy by my and Vectivus''s standards and his ego didn''t match his power. It didn''t take long before he left to make his mark on the galaxy. Usually, the apprentice would kill the master to take their place but Darth Gravid knew that he wouldn''t win, he was afraid, not just from his master but also retaliation from me. Darth Gravid thought I was either Darth Vectivus''s master or a hidden apprentice. Either way, he didn''t like the odds of two powerful force users who were friends with each other attacking.


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    It was a shame because if he had just been patient Vectivus would have taught him how to control the dark side completely, instead Darth Gravid did the stupidest move he could have done, he attacked, and it wasn''t the calm understanding Sith Lord he attacked but the quite rock shaper.


    As I slowly walked the astroids it was comedic how he thought he could hide from my senses. Against a wall, hidden from the low chemical lights he waited. Darth Gravid had somehow swallowed his force ability so as not to give his position away, but his thoughts told me exactly where he was. With my ability to read thoughts, he was practical shouting where he was with his constant rage warping off his mind.


    The young lad hesitated as I got closer and the soft rumbling of rock rolled around me. It always left a strong impression on anyone who saw my alternating ability. I once made a house for Darth Vectivus''s daughter and sons from the side of a hill and they were gobsmacked. For Darth Gravid who planned to strike me down, it was a threatening power.


    To help him along with a choice I turned my back to him. This was the opportune time to hit me while my back was turned. And he did so.


    Darth Gravid swiftly dashed out of the shadows with a darkened blade and plunged it into my back, with a hard twist Darth Gravid retreated. Job done Darth Gravid let the damage take effect. And yet as he waited he knew something was wrong, the force was whispering their secrets to him and like any force user worth their salt he listened. Unfortunately, he could only understand small snips and those didn''t make him feel good. A bead of sweat formed on his brow and his knife hand started to shake. He was afraid, the force was telling him he had just fucked up and a slow cold chill ran up his spine and rested in his brain as he witness me slowly turn on the spot and stare him down.


    As Darth Gravid pulled back he rested against the wall. His sight was locked in by my stare and he didn''t notice the very wall behind him swallow him up and form around his body. Only his face was left and even that was unmoving due to the fear he felt.


    I slowly walked to him as thick lightning rolled from my arms in the form of snakes and eels and danced off my body to turn into water and the firebirds that flickered away, showing Darth Gravid just how stupid he was to attack me.


    The blade he used was spat out of the wall and clacked on the floor before it raised to his face and pressed against it causing a cut along his brow. Only then did Darth Gravid was shocked out of his fear and realised he was completely stuck in the wall.


    His eyes panicked as he tried to look at where he had knifed me and then to my face. He didn''t understand, he didn''t have a lightsaber but it was still a sharp knife that he had reinforced with the force, it should have done something but by all standards, it hadn''t.


    The knife drifted away from his face and fell into my hands. Without losing eye contact I showed him why it hadn''t worked. My hand rested over the knife edge and slowly descended causing the knife to curl on itself from the pressure of my powerful hands.


    My body had been tempered with years upon years of genetic research, martial prowess, and the force causing it to be tougher than anybody had any right to be but it was my newest discovery that gave me the confidence to take a knife in the back without a scratch.


    I was able to Altanate the force into many forms. Anything from lightning to clouds of poison and with practice I was able to absorb those alternating forces into my body. Lightning made me impossibly fast as my synapse fired with lightning and my muscles responded just as quickly. Fire increased my body temperature and made all kinds of healing faster. Water caused ideas to form easily and flow from one answer to the next. And earth made the minerals in my body as hard as rock.


    I watched some more as the fear returned to Darth Gravid, as sith Lord''s go he was the weakest I''d ever seen. It didn''t matter, I wasn''t the forgiving type and Darth Gravid would learn that


    Or that was what I planned until a phantom with the voice of Vectivus lazily drifted in and asked for his release. I did what he asked and Darth Gravid was freed from the wall that had swallowed him up.


    Later, as Darth Gravid fleed from the asteroid into the wide galaxy to search for his place I asked Vectivus why he had stepped up to protect a literal backstabber, his answer was "A master should protect the student"


    That was an odd thing for a Sith to say but I had to admit that I hadn''t even heard the Jedi say it. Was Darth Vectivus a better light-side philosopher than even the Jedi? I think he might be

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43


    Leaving the Astorid dark side focal point temple was a bittersweet feeling. The asteroid was transformed into a majestic work of art and my original reason for hiding my presence was fulfilled with the death of the black sun''s leader. Rharo Dine had died of old age but deeper investigation revealed that the man had been assassinated by a street thug while the black sun leader was on his way home. I was sure no one was looking for me and it was time I moved on, but I had a strangely good and peaceful time here.


    Vectivus was more like a brother than a dark Sith lord and his family was also sad to see me go.


    I walked the halls I had created one last time with Vectivus by my side. We had learnt a lot from each other and grown not just in power but as people. I felt conflicted. Ever since I learned how the Jedi would use their padawans and they''re less than squeaky clean reputation I had separated myself from them and gone into the Galaxy on my own. I didn''t know how alone I was until I had made friends with an equal and they had adopted me into their fold.


    I questioned if it was a good idea to leave here and maybe stay for another ten years but my purpose was complete. We parted ways and I promised I would return for light day. I boarded a mineral transport ship and left. My purpose here was complete but I would be leaving a new family that I hadn''t even known I wanted, a bittersweet moment indeed.


    It felt like a long couple of weeks ship hopping to get to the corner of the galaxy named after me. Bee''s Grove was one of those few things that I had built up that hadn''t diminished in quality thanks to the many minefields and killer mining drones that had been erected around the Grove. Many governments tried to incorporate the Grove into their power structure but ultimately failed because while they were able to send fines and embargo Bee''s Grove just ignored it. It cost them too much to try to clear the mines and the damage they would receive from forcing their way in wasn''t cost-effective. The embargos were also nothing as the close relationship with the Hutts and pirates made smuggling easy and profitable.


    Passing the checkpoints leading into the Grove was easy. The powerful army of droids that protected the entrances knew who I was. In contrast, others had to skip through hoops and show a biblical book amount of paperwork as I was let through without a care to the shock of asylum seekers who had waited in line for hours.


    Getting home was a nice feeling, I even missed the auto turrets targeting me as I entered my home. Asura droids saluted me and maintenance droids tilted their heads to me. As soon as I sat down, a protocol droid handed me a stack of data sheets. It was time to get my empire back.


    The Hutts put on a deeply annoyed act on that I was claiming back my trading routes, but it was fake indignation trying to get any positive advantages they could using great displeaser to get better terms but the simple fact was without me unifying the space routes they couldn''t gain any wealth from them. After some struggle, the Hutts handed over the trading routes that they had managed to scrape together.


    The Hutts are solo entrepreneurs who don''t do well sharing. This way of business was fine but not on a vast trading route system that had been carved up into many different greedy hands. No one was making money, as soon as you left the part of trading routes you protected then you were hit with taxes, payoffs, pirates, government hand-me-downs and any number of ways to steal money. The Hutts couldn''t make the same kind of profits they once did when I owned the space routes, and so they just gave up what they had knowing that I would do something about it.


    The rest of the routes were stolen by Republican council members but that was easy to get back. Bribing didn''t work because the routes were worth tons of credits but threats of violence and blackmail caused the unification of the trading routes. Something the Hutts couldn''t do over ten years I was able to achieve in a month. The Hutts were excited that the trade route was as one once again, they gave me presents and thank you slaves when my fleet of transport ships that I had hidden on a moon turned up to start trading and pushing product.


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    News spread fast that a successor to the Bee name had taken over. Bee''s healing rooms and Bee''s food halls fell under my wing immediately as they were droid-run businesses. The Eden ships that produced food were a little complicated as they were privately owned. I gave them the best deals for their grown food. And yet, only about fifty per cent left the poorly run union they had created in my absence. They didn''t know who I was and in their mind, I wasn''t the old Bee that had granted them freedom and wealth but the ones that did leave hated the fat union that had too many useless people on the payroll that saped their earnings.


    Shares, bonds, commodities, funds and hidden savings were safe and sound and where I had left them. The mass of credits from the Dyson energy-collecting swarm even caused me to take a slight breath of shock. That was the power of compounding interest.


    Regaining lost power and money was easier than hiding it. The benefits of a well-placed plan supported by loyal droids made it simple.


    I got a personal visit from Yoda who was a little surprised at my weight loss and upset that I had faked my death but also happy that I was still around. Long-living species lose their friends a lot and while Jedi say attachment leads to the dark side they too have feelings towards loved ones, even if they deny it.


    I made a nice moss salad with a side order of deep-fried sliced root vegetables and a tall glass of spiced honey alcohol while Yoda caught me up on the epic things the Jedi were up to. The Jedi was experiencing a golden age and while they still fought in wars and sent their masters to negotiate, the galaxy''s peace was at an all-time high.


    And yet, I had to plant an idea. The idea that the Sith still exists. The problem was that the Sith had been gone for roughly four hundred years and even Yoda with his long life had never encountered them. The Jedi were becoming weaker and weaker with every passing generation without the Brotherhood of Darkness constantly probing for weaknesses. Yoda was a good example, he was good with a lightsaber but not the best I''ve ever seen. There were Jedi lightsaber users who could take on two Yodas at the same time and win. The Sith at their strongest had any number of unusally force users that could bypass a great lightsaber deulist. I needed Yoda to be aware that the Sith was still out there. Now was the time to medal with the time frame just enough to make it easier for me when the shit hit the fan.


    I told Yoda about the rule of two. How the Sith had changed from having an army to only one master and one apprentice. I had to tell Yoda about this, he was unaware because of how Darth Bane had wiped out the remaining Brotherhood of Darkness. When he asked me about it I told him simply that I had been around for some time and talked and hired those who were less than clean.


    In my opinion, if Yoda knew that there was a possibility that instead of an army of Sith, there was only going to be two then he might be able to spot them when the Sith started to make changes. I had to start to interfere with the timeline now because of what the Empire will eventually make. The Death Star.


    I can deal with governments, assassins, underworld bosses and Jedi but a privately owned planet destroyer was problematic. There are about Five hundred and forty years before the clone wars happen and forty years before that when Palpatine starts his plans. Some would say that is plenty of time but I''ve got to work in the shadows because any super big changes will divert what I know should happen but even that was an excess. It has been many years since I was born and many changes throughout the galaxy I have made, and yet the most important things have still happened. It''s like fate is a very real thing in this galaxy and the most important things have to happen. However, just because they will happen doesn''t mean I''m going to turn the table over and destroy anything I want safe in the knowledge that fate will make it happen. It''s better to be safe than sorry as I''m not one hundred per cent sure that fate is a certainty. I work in the dark and obscurity because I know it works. It''s like planting a virus, it works best when no one knows it''s there. Yoda stayed with me for two days and left to train his new apprentice.


    I spent the next month moving credits around to keep people happy while carefully spending cash on resources. My privately owned moons are steadily filled with more materials. The plan was to increase the Dyson swarm and make even more cash through energy collection.


    On the second month back I had a terrible incline from the force. It was weird as the force was just giving me a vague warning that I was in trouble. Something was blocking my intuition.

 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44


    The answer to why my force intuition was warning me but I could not get a fix came from an uninvited guest/invasion. It was a creature I''d never seen before. Someone had dropped the thing close to my home and it headed straight for my Eden ship. The blue dog thing was ugly, its front paws looked more like ape arms but it ran with a trot like a horse. It ran past other buildings to make a straight line for me and passed my defence with little care as it got sprayed by my turrets. The thousands upon thousands of shots caused the beast''s skin to ripple as each bullet failed to pierce the beast.


    It climbed the side of the walls trying to find a way in. The walls electrified causing the animal to jump off my home and tumble to the ground. More shots failed to pierce the skin and the beast flipped around to avoid them as best as it could. I was watching this from the inside and could honestly say it was impressive. It was hard to see but I was sure that the creature wasn''t force sensitive but somehow was blocking my abilitys. I tried a little telekinesis to hold down the beast but it failed. I also tried to throw things at the beast, this worked better as an item in motion stays in motion but as soon as the item reached the beast I lost control.


    I change up the weaponry as the bullets aren''t working. Laser shots are my next choice and they work better but they don''t stop the beast. The only thing that worked is heavy things I''ve tossed at it, this confuses me as my slugs are essentially the same thing but faster and yet they did nothing.


    The fun part was the beast had no way to enter my home and it was constantly being attacked, in time it would either fall tired or run away, but the real question was who brought it here. To answer the question a barrage of missiles attack my Eden home. Every single missile is shot down by my home defence, not a single scratch is made.


    As all of this is happening I''m searching through my screens to find the attackers. There are many. A small army that I''m surprised was able to get this close without my droids, checkpoints and customs discovering them.


    They are spread out but almost all of them are targeting my home. Some of them are planting charges in other places that aren''t connected to me, they may be going to use others as hostages. There is likely a ship in orbit but how is it there without being destroyed by my defences? I have invested heavily in defence and attack. I have shield generators throughout the world to protect what is mine. This whole operation is well-planned and is targeting me. I know this because they have sent a strange beast that is not only immune to the force but is also interfering with my abilitys. Someone has done an investigation on me but who? They know my strengths and have found a weakness in the force.


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    Who is organized and powerful enough to do this? They must have used the pirates or Hutt''s smuggling routes to bypass my droids but what about the ship in orbit? I can''t find it. I have several satellites but none of them are picking up a ship.


    There is something fishy. I send a message to my fleet.


    I send out a small army of droids to get rid of my guests, I permit them to maim but not kill. I want answers. I watch as the droids with expert sharpshooting blow off arms and legs and then drag off the wailing hostages. One of the jerks holds up a detonator and threatens to blow up hidden bombs. Both of his legs were shot off and beaten when he pressed on his switch.


    The droids cleared up the terrorists and wore down the blue beast that was interfering with my ability. Only when I thought it was clear did I leave my home. The beast was breathing hard with burnt laser marks all over it but it had enough stamina to jump at me.


    Ducking under the attack I give a perfect uppercut. The beast''s face compressed and warped as the power from my fist distorted the flesh. It crumpled to the floor knocked out.


    Despite the one-hit KO, I felt sick around this beast. It felt like I had no ability for the force. I used the force all the time to reinforce my body but now I felt weak. I''ve met with species that the force doesn''t affect but never one that scared the force out, this was a predator of force users.


    A giant blast of light caused by an explosion in the atmosphere made the world shield shimmer. It was a ship in space that had fired high explosive ammo.


    My fleet picked it up and headed at top speed to capture the ship but to my surprise, it disappeared. A cloaking ship was very illegal, they existed but if you were caught with one it would be best to pretend to kill yourself rather than react to the consequences.


    My mind wonders as the blue beast is wrapped up in non-Newtonian fluid restraints, that absorb powerful creatures'' movement without destroying them. I wonder who has the power to do all of these things. The force starts to whisper to me as soon as the beast is gone. Connections empowered by the force make leaps and something that I hadn''t thought possible slid into my mind. I wasn''t the first to fake my death to escape notice and it was very likely that the person who attacked me had done the same.


    They had power, wealth, and smarts and were willing to break the law. Perhaps they were above the law or more likely part of the underworld.


    I couldn''t accept the answer I just came up with, I had to gain some evidence no matter how small.


    The captured invaders had their minds destroyed by my skill, I drained them of all their knowledge discarding what I didn''t need and pieced together a puzzle. The results didn''t make me happy. They had been hired through several underworld organizations that all pooled back to the black suns. This was enough information for me, Rharo Dine, the leader of the black suns was still alive. He must have faked his death like I did, properly not because of me. The force whispered to me that I was correct. Faking my death now seemed such a waste. I don''t know why Rharo Dine would think I was still alive but it didn''t matter if he thought I was the real Bee or someone who had taken over. He had attacked and now needed to be removed. Thankfully, this battle would be out of the history books and just a side note that no one in the future will care about.

 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45


    I found Rharo Dine but the bastard was now part of the Republic senate, not a powerful member but high enough that I can''t just bombarge him from orbit.


    I think about sending an army of droids to snatch him, it might work but I would have to strike quickly in case he runs. The problem is that stealth ship. I don''t know where it is. I doubt the man would keep the ship in orbit as a stealth ship was useless if he couldn''t get to it, which was a shame. If the ship was in orbit I could detonate a couple of Sonic mines and catch the rippling waves to pinpoint the ship but detonating mines on the planet would kill a lot of innocent people and make me a lot of enemies.


    Instead, I remember something similar happening in a movie, where there was an invisible foe that was found using paint..or was it flour? That is when a more expensive plan easily pops into my mind, a city-wide party. The stealth ship had to be near Rharo Dine to be useful but not too far away that he couldn''t escape within minutes.


    And that was why I paid for a city-wide party, that had massive amounts of glitter dust wafting through the air landing on everything. The second thing I did was put tracking bugs on everything around Rharo Dine. I couldn''t get close but I was able to place bugs on tables or lamps in rooms that he, as a senate member would have to go.


    The bugs were there to scare Rharo Dine into fleeing. I knew the bastard most likely had a way to find bugs and when he found that his surroundings were full of them he would run straight to his ship.


    A stealth ship not in stealth was just a ship and that was why it was hard to find amongst others. My first plan to find the stealth ship with glitter and a party was fruitless but scaring Rharo Dine to flee and returning to his ship worked like a charm. The ship left the planet and went into stealth. That was when I snapped the trap. My fleet circled an insignificant area and fired stunning rounds designed to destroy engines and weapons.


    The ship came out of stealth drifting in space. I give the order and my droid fleet hooked on the stealth ship like pirates and cut into the hull, cut the engines out and twist the weapons apart.


    I board the ship in my new armour. This armour is purely war-related, I don''t need the fat suit for this. I walk in with a small platoon of Asura droids and they spread out to shoot everyone, except one person.


    Rharo Dine is sitting at the helm of the ship, his dead crew lies on the floor with three droids double-tapping each one. I enter the helm.


    "This is high treason," Rharo Dine says. He doesn''t shack with fear, he just sits there. Rharo Dine looks old, the last twenty years haven''t been kind to him.


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    "Why did you attack me?" I ask, I could rip the info from his mind but Rharo Dine''s mind might fight back and I would lose the information. I am going to ask first and then take his knowledge from him


    Rharo Dine plays the game "I''m just a senate member, I don''t know what you mean"


    "This is a highly illegal and costly stealth ship, something like this isn''t affordable on your wage" I answer


    "I don''t know what you mean" replies Rharo Dine


    My headache is flaring, I''m so close to strangling him without asking any more questions.


    My anger is tempered by a message from one of my droids. A blue beast was released on the ship when it was captured. Rharo Dine had a second blue beast that interfere''s with the force. The headache I felt didn''t come from Rharo Dine but from the blue beast getting closer to me.


    Rharo Dine smiles "Is there something wrong"


    I stand and get closer to Rharo Dine. I pull a Grenade out of my belt and force it in his mouth. I taped the hole closed and say "Don''t go anywhere" I slapped the old man on the face which caused a small beep from the grenade. For the first time, Rharo Dine jumps in his chair.


    Blaster fire can be heard getting closer. The blue beast is getting closer. The beast avoids the Asura droids and heads straight for me. It bursts into the bridge and pounces toward me.


    I pull out my pistols, one slug thrower with explosive bolts and one laser pistol with an incredibly high fire rate. I let loose on the beast in mid-air. I aim for the eyes and mouth filling it with lead, my laser pistol blasts the belly as the beast flies over my head. As the creature crashes into a console. I spot in the corner of my eye Rharo Dine tugging on the tape around his mouth. A high-powered pistol rests on his temple causing the struggling man to lower his hands.


    The blue beast scrumbles to its feet and gets a few shots from Asrua droids on the joints. It stumbles and slides towards me with its front paws swinging and attacking. I kick at the paws expecting to knock the attack away but instead knocking my foot away causing me to do the splits


    The beast has drained me of my force powers. My attacks that could crush stones and spilt metal with reinforced force punches have been weakened. My force speed which allows me to punch as fast as a speeding bullet has been nerfed. The beast is on me snarling and biting the thin air as I hold it back and dodge its attacks. I use point-blank shots in the beast''s mouth, it flinches and starts to back off.


    I don''t let it escape. I hook its leg with mine and use the heavier beast to right myself up. I duck under it swipe and lock the arm against the creature''s body. It tenses up and the muscles bludge to fight against me. A few more point-blank shots cause the beast to flinch again, I flip onto the beast''s back and break the arm I locked up.


    The skin is tough but even bones will break when twisted with pressure at an odd angle. I continue to beat the shit out of this creature, sometimes the beast gets a lucky hit but my armour is some of the best in the galaxy and can''t be scratched by a mere beast.


    Finally, I tug on the beast''s tail to see if the beast has any control over its broken appendages. It doesn''t but it freaks out with large movements despite zero control over its arms, it only calms down when it hits itself in the face with a wondering broken arm.


    I have the beast taken away and frozen in carbonate


    I look back at Rharo Dine while rubbing my joints, I clear my throat and say "You''re next"


    Rharo Dine doesn''t look well, he knows his life is over but what comes next will be the most interesting, memorable and painful part. That is what I promise to him.

 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46


    The late and great Rharo Dine had a huge amount of useful knowledge and yet it was the first question I asked that I needed the answer to


    "You faked your death, started a career in politics, rebranded yourself away from the underworld and yet you attacked me when I didn''t even know you existed. You made yourself a target, jeopardised everything you have to kill me when it would gain you nothing..... why"


    At first, he played the role of an innocent bystander but when I started to play with his mind, I wasn''t gentle.


    The answer struck me a little, Rharo Dine wanted to leave a legacy behind, he wanted to be remembered but he was also scared. He had essentially weakened himself too much, he no longer had the immediate power of the black suns. When he heard about me taking the place of Bee he panicked.


    The last official words as Bee would reward anyone who found the killer of Bee. Now, of course, there was no killer, i had faked my death to avoid a clash with the leader of the black suns, but he didn''t know that.


    After all, the old Bee promised massive riches to the head of his killer, and now, there was a new Bee with all those riches. He thought his existence was at risk.


    Rharo Dine had overthought it. He had thought I was out to get him and he needed to strike while I was possibly at my weakest. The more time that went by, the more money, power and connections I would gain. He gathered as many old soldiers, loyal black suns and powerful weapons as his power could gain and attacked because he was scared of what I would do.


    I can feel the regret in his mind for giving up so much power from the black suns that he needed now. The fear that his legacy would be forgotten and the anger that he had acted without proper planning.


    With a little skill and a lot of patience, I withdraw the information from his mind. How the ship was made, the allies he still had, and the work he was paid for but the thing that got my interest the most was a newly discovered plant that the blue beast came from called planet X


    Planet X was a new mystery. In a galaxy filled with magic-like events and the force empowering all life and with a galaxy that had giant creatures that could live for billions of years something new like this was worth investigating.


    I send my fleet to investigate. In the meantime, I look over the stealth ship. It''s nothing special as a designed ship but it used Stygium crystals as a cloaking device.


    I like it, I like it a lot. My number one problem with making any large changes to the galaxy was if I would be used by Darth Sidious and the Empire if I made myself known. I have to make sure that the future I know will come true. With a stealth ship and Stygium crystals, I can take myself out of the public eye in everything I do, no matter if I do it personally or send a fleet. I want Stygium crystals.


    Buying the crystal wasn''t possible, whoever had it didn''t want to give it up. So I used the pirates and other underworld to steal it. That''s the power of money, I didn''t have to raise a finger. However, it still took thirty years of bandits and pirates raiding to get me enough, the bastards tried to hold out some of the crystals when they found out why I paid so well, but they quickly handed over the crystals when they found their captain floating in space. A deal is a deal and there are repercussions when you break a deal with me.


    The crystals are installed and now I can go where I want when I want and never leave a paper trail. Only twenty percent of my fleet has stealth but that''s a good start.


    My enemies are dead, I''ve never been more secure and now I''m safe from prying eyes, things are looking good but I get a message from the family of the only person I respect in the galaxy.


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    Darth Vectivus is on his death bed, I drop everything and go to him.


    When I enter his home a very strange sight to behold for a Sith master is there. Vectivus is surrounded by his family and loved ones who are all crying and are sad to see him like this.


    This is possibly the rarest thing in the galaxy, a sith lord who is dying of old age. He has no enemies because he is in control of the dark side and not the dark side controlling him. He didn''t want to control and dominate the galaxy and kept to himself while studying at a darkside hotspot. He looked after his family with the passion he used to look after his business. Darth Vectivus had everything he wanted and no one took it from him. He lived a life that few Jedi could equal to.


    I slip past the grieving family members and give some of them a small hug and whisper sorry, and then I reach the bed of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy and hold the old master''s hand.


    His eyes open and I can see the untainted blue that lets me know that the dark side never controlled him to look at me. Vectivus gives a small chuckle and looks away with a tear squeezing out his left eye.


    "You look terrible," I say


    "You look the same," he says


    What more is there to say, I will miss you, I respect you, and the galaxy won''t be the same without you. We both know each other''s feelings, and the force allows us to read each other like a book. There are no secrets when it comes to our feelings. He''s a much-beloved brother.


    Vectivus was powerful but even with that power he didn''t try to extend his life. Through Sith Alchemy or skills that could drain life from others he had several choices to extend his life but didn''t.


    Vectivus had made his choice, he hadn''t shamed himself by taking life, he had lived his life and this was his end.


    Vectivus asked a question "What happened to Darth Gravid"


    Vectivus''s one and only apprentice who ran away "He lives and has his own apprentice called Darth Gean" I answer. "He isn''t doing so well, he''s trying to combine the teachings of the Jedi with the Sith. I think he might go mad"


    Vectivus sighed "He doesn''t have the flexibility to combine the teachings of both the Jedi and Sith.


    "They aren''t compatible, if you want to combine anything then the extreme emotions of the Sith with the Jedi way of control would be a good start but not the rules and laws of their schools" I say


    He looks at me, a long look and then says "I wish I had an apprentice like you"


    Water wells up in my eyes, I''m at a loss at what to say but I swallow the emotion and say with a slight crackle in my voice "I wish I had a master like you"


    For the first time in a thousand years, tears fall from my eyes, matched by a Sith lord. What needed to be said has been said and I go and sit in the corner to give room to Vectivus family.


    I feel odd as I watch Vectivus slow down and his family weep. I know this isn''t the end as the force will take him, afterlife or a force ghost I know that this isn''t the end of Vectivus but it''s a bittersweet moment of a well-lived life coming to its end. The pain coming from his family is genuine and all of them feel that their life will be that slightly worse without him. The pain from their feelings tells me he lived his life well.


    When Vectivus does go into the long night his body disappears to everyone''s great surprise, including mine. Only the light side becomes one with the force because of the way the light side guides the force. The dark side twists it and makes the force do its bidding, when a powerful dark side user dies they can make a copy of themself and become a wrath of some sort. Vectivus has become one with the force while still being a dark-side user. Not even Darth Vader was able to do that. Darth Vader had to choose the light side and protect his loved one by throwing away his master and the dark side.


    I helped the shocked family who had just witnessed Vectivus''s disappearance by explaining it was the force. I showed a little bit of power so they could accept it. Then there was the reading of the will, I wanted to leave but I was asked to stay a while by the family. They weren''t strangers, I had spent lots of holidays with them but without Vectivus I wasn''t strongly connected to them. And yet I stayed to make sure they were ok, a last favour to the greatest dark side user I knew.


    The will was well written and none of the family members would go without. Vectivus gave them a lot but also put checks and balances to make sure that money wouldn''t ruin them and their ambitions. As a Sith lord, Vetivus understood how important purpose and ambition were and how fast money could destroy them. Each family member had tailored missions to complete before they would get their money. Surprisingly, so did I.


    I had been given a Sith Holocube with Victivus teachings. A complete step-by-step guide of how his phantoms worked. The message that went along with the cube fully understood that I wasn''t compactable with the force ability because it used deep dark side powers to create phantoms and I wasn''t intuned that way, but Vectivus hoped I would find someone who was and pass on his teachings like a new apprentice.


    Perhaps Vectivus thought I didn''t have a purpose and set this up so I could train some apprentices. I didn''t want Vectivus''s way to disappear. It was worth protecting, in my opinion.

 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47


    Darth Vectivus had tried to teach me how to create dark-side phantoms before. With what I already knew and the fact I specialized in illusion, and mind control and had a great understanding of the body I should have been able to create the phantom but it was not to be


    I felt a little shame because I would have an easier time adapting the ability of phantom creation to create my own similar skill if Vectivus were alive but now that he was gone, it was too late and I felt like I would shame myself and Vectivus even further if I didn''t at least adapt the ability and copy it somehow, to keep it alive.


    So I decided to train but also kill two birds with one stone.


    I train using the holocube that Vectivus left me on my stealth ship that orbits planet X. I use my skill to make a doppelganger and with the information from the holocube, I change the ability bit by bit. I tested each doppelganger with battle tests, droid attacks, and the force and finally, I sent it down on planet X.


    I won''t go down to the planet because the whole planet was alive somehow. Even entering the atmosphere called the "veil" caused a strange effect where you couldn''t leave the planet unless a certain amount of things had died. It was a great training spot for my doppelganger as the whole planet was alive and the more life there was the better the ability of the force. One of the other problems was that the blue beasts that hunted force users lived here. My force made doppelganger stood no chance agaist them. In the best case, my doppelganger would spot the beast coming and use some lightning or force push to stumble the creature but as soon as the beast got anywhere near the doppelganger they would interfere with the force binding the doppelganger and they would unravel into nothing, the beast didn''t even have to attack, being close to them was enough.


    Still, it was great training for making doppelgangers and letting them fight on the planet for experience that came back to me. In battle, my strong points are my adaptability, pistol arts and thanks to my droids training me I have considerable close combat fist fighting. My weakness was probably long-distance sniping. I''m not great with that kind of weapon, I''m also terrible at space combat which I leave to my droids.


    Here on planet X, I give my doppelganger high-powered disintegrating sniper rifles. They were used to either scare the blue beast away or with a lucky shot to the eye, kill them. It was great survival training where the doppelganger was continuously being hunted by creatures that if they got too close would interfere with the force. A balance of attacking, defending guerilla war between the doppelgangers and blue beasts happened.


    I was safe in my stealth ship but I was improving at an astonishing rate. I should have evolved my doppelganger skill sooner to fully take advantage.


    I sensed a really interesting way of using force pull that one of my doppelgangers used to escape a blue beast. It used some cloth to make a crude gliding suit and whenever the beast got too close the doppelganger forced jump in the air and then pulled gliding away. I shared that with the rest of the doppelgangers which increased their survival rate.


    With this force pull gliding I was able to drop my doppelganger from space. Before this, I would drop them down in a missle tube but now they used a part of the force to protect themselves self entering the planet and glided down. A small piece of cloth was certainly cheaper than missile tubes. With that, I stepped up the creation of a modified doppelganger.


    Each doppelganger is weaker than me in the force but they have similar control over the force. They know what I know but there are limits to their awareness. They aren''t aware. They aren''t able to create doppelgangers them selfs as the power for that was beyond them but I''ve witnessed each one alter the force to produce wind and lightning. My doppelgangers are master-level alters but it takes too much power that the doppelganger doesn''t have but they start making adjustments and make efficient changes.


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    I might use a hard blast of lightning to attack but this isn''t effective for a doppelganger, they use short bursts of lightning to redirect. I saw a doppelganger use that technique to stun a horn jungle cat that had pounced at it before retreating and leaving the cat alive and passed out.


    Each doppelganger is like a battery for the force, they don''t produce their own force and once they exhaust their power, they disappear. The phantoms Vectivus was able to create somehow recycled the force and were able to last longer.


    I go a different way which greatly increases my ability. I studied Force Meld. It''s a technique that Jedi use to join their minds and draw strength from each other. Connecting the doppelganger is stupidly easy. They already share my mind and with a simple force enlightenment, I connect with them.


    I connect groups of nine together and me being the tenth. I actively become the power source when their batteries start to run dry. Here is where the explosive growth comes in.


    With each of my doppelgangers using Force Enlightenment and their minds connected with the added benefit of Force Meld the growth of any skill the group learns is amazing. It''s not just force abilities that get the explosive growth but normal skills like writing and reading get the bonuses. I have created a supercomputer using doppelgangers and the force.


    Now the doppelgangers are changing themself to be more efficient and on some occasion are changing their shape. One group of nine doppelgangers are working on Force Lightning. The steps I went through to create a substitute force lightning was being put to shame. I went through many experiments to meld justice lightning that the light side users use with the easier and more powerful dark side force lightning and Ionize to produce deep red lightning that I could use despite not being that connected to the dark side. With my altering skill, I turned my form of lightning into a shield base lightning that attacked and defended at once, this took years. Now I''m watching and experiencing a sped-up version of that. I''m looking at doppelgangers who are warping the air around them selfs with consent changes. One is changing the colour of lightning while another is using that newly gained knowledge to make his lightning strike semi-transparent and then another was able to make it completely invisible. The growth is amazing.


    And yet there are side effects, because of the singularity moment where a doppelganger becomes self-aware and fights for control I have to be careful. That''s why I destroyed the doppelganger.


    After that, I won''t let the doppelgangers change themselves as to stop the singularity from happening again. I can''t let a doppelganger who knows what I know that has the ambition that I have to compete with me.


    That was the great thing about Vectivus Phantom, they were able to carry out instructions and they never rebelled.


    However, this new combo of skills was too good to give up, instead, I cut down the number of connected teams. I no longer populated planet X with my doppelganger, I just had two teams of nine using this new method. It was the safest way I could be sure that there wouldn''t be any rebellion.


    It worked beautifully, one doppelganger positioned itself on a barren hill and was fighting off three blue beasts. The doppelganger was stuck as his gliding suit seemed to be damaged but it hadn''t given up, it continuously fired shots from his high-powered rifle and was able to get a lucky shot in the eye causing the beast''s head to vaporise.


    The world answered the lucky shot by attacking the doppelganger. Everything on this planet was alive and a bolt of lightning struck at the doppelganger but thankfully it was deflected by the efficient lightning-deflecting technique. The doppelganger was now fighting in a two-front war.


    The blue beasts were charging and getting closer to the doppelganger which would mean destruction for it and the world itself rejected my doppelganger. When the beast was just in range the doppelganger did something that I wouldn''t even have tried. The doppelganger reached up and tamed the lightning, it rangled control and absorbed it and then immediately fired it at a blue beast. Force lightning would do very little to the beast as it was made from the substance the blue beast was immune to. But natural lightning was vastly more powerful than force lightning. You could get hit with force lighting and if you had some talent with the force you could survive for a little while, but natural lighting ripped through the defence, it could destroy nature and buildings and even blue beasts. The doppelganger cast the lightning at one of the blue beasts. Almost immediately it vaporized the beast leaving only the scorch marks on the floor, the other blue beast smartly disappeared leaving one doppelganger triumphant over the blue beast and nature itself.


    This was a great discovery and would increase my power. A good day indeed

 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48


    The blue beast no longer attacks my doppelganger. The doppelganger''s power and adaptability have caused the blue beast to be wary. My doppelganger moves worldwide, adapting and improving at such great speed. It feels amazing. I''m watching my doppelganger''s beautiful movement, if they are not gliding through the air they are hopping from hill to hill using efficient force push and pull. A little force power here and then letting the momentum take its course, an application of force speed here and I watch as any attack passes by without touching my doppelganger.


    Despite how great my doppelgangers are they don''t behave the same way as the intangible floating phantoms of Darth Vectivus. I feel ashamed, no that''s not the right emotion. I feel frustrated but it''s mixed with disappointment. I understand that just like precognition and psycometry schools of force powers I am not suited for the rare create force wraith. I am putting a lot of effort into understanding the ability and with my new way of boasting my understanding of the force I''m sure I will be able to do it but I wonder if I should do it.


    If it weren''t for Vectivu''s death I wouldn''t even try, I would have pooled my efforts into something that I would get much more results. However, I can''t deny the results. Without trying to acquire the phantom ability I wouldn''t have tied the minds of many doppelgangers together and have each one use force enlightenment. What else was I missing out on just because I wasn''t entuned to it?


    In my hands is my old lightsaber. It has been many, many years since I used this. My fear of the blade has held me back, just one slice cutting through armour, flesh and bone without resistance upsets me. All of that effort in skill and body could be destroyed by one slice. With my long life, my fear of a debilitating wound has increased my fear of lightsabers as time went by. The Jedi would say that I am susceptible to the dark side because of the emotion of fear, but everyone is, it''s part of existence but even so, the lightsaber is a weapon I hate because it takes everything away from you with one mistake.


    I like fist fighting because as long as you temper your body you can recover from many mistakes, even blaster fire can be blocked with good armour. I look at the weapon and the orange blade extends from the hilt. I think it''s time to conquer my fears, And there is a perfect teacher who can help me, Yoda.


    I leave planet X with my doppelgangers and travel to Coruscant. As I travel I search my feelings and analyze my fear. My fear isn''t of death but there is something about it that I don''t like, it''s the fear of loss. Fear of loss is connected to my potential. I fear that I will be weaker because of a small mistake. I fear that I won''t be all I can be, all I choose to be.


    Ahhhh, it''s not fear of loss but fear of my freedom being taken. This blade can damage me and I won''t be able to do the things I want, my freedom will be cut. Is this why I''m willing to destroy governments, pirates and anyone who stands in my way without a drop of hesitation? It''s not that I''m inclined to the dark side but I won''t compromise over my freedom.


    Should I meditate on my fear? I don''t want to, it feels like a waste of time. My mind is strong and anytime I have a logical problem I use reason to solve it. Logic has never let me down and I haven''t mediated since I was a child.


    I''m dropped off at Coruscant and my droids look after my ship. I walk into the Jedi temple as a cleaner. No one bats an eye at me. It''s strange how people see without seeing. The younglings, padawans, Jedis and masters see that I''m here to clean but don''t question why a temple with cleaning droids needs a human. The help of servants is always unseen.


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    I move through the temple easily, not much has changed. It''s been hundreds of years since I''ve been here and a thousand years since I was a student here but not much has changed. There are still the same statues of old dead masters littering the temple. The familiar maintenance droids are still coming and going through their secret hallways that I used as a kid to gain access to the temple. There were a lot of memories here, this was where I started my empire of wealth and droids.


    I knock on a door knowing that Yoda is behind it. There is a slight pause as I feel the force subtly wash over me and then the answer.


    "Come in, you may"


    I open the door while pretending to polish the door frame.


    "Come visit me, you have" said Yoda "Mysterious your actions are" Yoda pointed at my slightly dirty jumpsuit.


    The illusion warps and disappears leaving a clean three-piece suit. Yoda''s old eyebrows raise like the amused old creature he is.


    "You know how private I am, I don''t want anyone to know I was here" I answer.


    "This old man, what can do for you" spoke Yoda in his broken way.


    I show Yoda my lightsaber from when I was a child.


    The surprised look on his face tickles my bones as he realises that I might have been a Jedi.


    "Yours, this is?"


    "Mine, it is."


    Holding it in his clawed hands, yoda uses the blade. A powerful orange light emitted from the hilt.


    "Orange, your colour is. Fits you well, it does" Yoda twists the hilt in his hand causing the blade to swing in the air leaving after images "Balance and creativity does the orange blade mean, both the light and dark I sense"


    I smiled at Yoda, I wasn''t sure if he was just cold reading me and saying things he already knew but I wasn''t here to be praised.


    "I''m looking to master it," I said


    "Not the force, I think not," said Yoda as he looked deep into the blade


    "I am the best when using force abilities, my control and altering are second to none and I keep getting better with each new day" I honestly say "I want to conquer my fears of the lightsaber"


    "Much arrogance you have" replied Yoda.


    "Is it arrogance when it''s true" I give Yoda a taste of my power by pulling a ribbon of water from Yoda''s cup. I''m not transmuting the liquid to form the water but using amazing telekinesis to control and pull the liquid.


    Of course, Yoda can tell the difference but he doesn''t back down, "Arrogance leads to anger, anger leads to fear, fear leads to the dark side"


    I huff at his reply "Everything leads to the dark side. The dark side is part of the force and everything has the force. Light and dark are like different runs on a tree, you go far enough back on the branch and you will connect. The trick is to absorb what strengthens you and throw away what weakens you"


    Yoda looks at me with sad eyes, I can feel the disappointment rolling off his mind, he was hoping that I would come to be a Jedi after he found out that I was connected to them "Sound like the Sith you do" Yoda says.


    "How would you know what the Sith sound like, they were before your time" This was a little mean for me to say but it was true, I doubt anyone could say that to Yoda with a straight face.


    "People have said that before to try and shut my views down but I don''t teach my ways, I only say find your way, even if it''s the dark side. It is better to be violent if there is violence in your heart than putting on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence" I brush a piece of non-existent flint from my suit. "In short, be true to your self"


    I''ve known Yoda for a long time and I can tell that he is not convinced by what I''m saying but it doesn''t matter, I''m not here to convince him that my way is better, it probably isn''t, it just fits me well.


    "I''m not here for debating, I''m here to get proper training with the lightsaber from the best and discreetly"


    "Too old you are, too much fear in your heart" answers Yoda.


    "Too much fear for a youngling maybe but not for me. I think I''ve proven control over my emotions and abilities in the force. Besides, I''m not asking for training in the Jedi way." Yoda wasn''t convinced so I made a deal.


    "How about some cash or resources, I''m sure the Jedi need something that I can offer," I said


    At this, Yoda had a smile on his face. I could feel the amusement slipping his mind and forming that terrible Yoda chuckle.


    Yoda shuffled along until he was at my legs and then gestured down with his claw, instead of bowing down I picked him up. Again he looked surprised but the chuckling in his mind was getting louder.


    "Instructor you will be" cackled Yoda.

 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49


    I thought for a while but accepted the deal. I would learn in secret with Yoda the forms and styles of lightsabers and in return, I would teach skills I find useful. According to Yoda, I wasn''t allowed to teach philosophy because of my dark side influence. I could teach about the force in its truest sense but because I had dark side experiences Yoda thought better of it, he didn''t want the younglings to be confused.


    I could certainly teach about history and law as I was constantly updating myself with different laws and regulations to take advantage but my heart wasn''t into it. I learned the law to take benefits from it, I don''t want to teach it.


    Instead, I might put some pistol martial arts into my lesson plan. However, I don''t want to be called master. Masters are recorded in the Jedi database. Instead, I will be a teacher and using my illusions my image won''t be recorded in the Jedi''s history.


    My first lesson had the younglings lined up and ready to learn. The teaching method of the Jedi hadn''t changed and the kids in front of me had just spent years learning the basics of law and diplomacy. Now they were ready to be taught life skills.


    Each youngling was two years away from having a master teach them and promote them to padawan. I could see their lightsabers hanging from their hip. It always shocked me that children this young would hold a killing weapon like this. I looked over their minds and found confusion that I was teaching life skills.


    The kids had a pretty good constitution boosted by the force. Perhaps they changed the age requirements and allowed the youngling to practice force reinforcement. They called me teacher instead of master with only a couple forgetting and stumbling on the word master before they corrected themself.


    I start with the cold hard truth about money. Money is god, people want it, and they will sell out their families and friends for it and are willing to do horrible things to obtain it. Many little hands raised to the air, the children didn''t understand.


    I explained that as padawans and Jedi, you will be sent on all kinds of missions to stabilise the galaxy and while the Jedi are great at persuading governments and individuals some people will only respond to cold hard cash. A Jedi can deflect energy bolts and use their lightsaber to tear through defences but sometimes the quieter approach will get you better results, and that''s where money comes in.


    Jedi younglings are smarter and more disciplined than the average child but they are still kids and not full of real-life experience. I will continue the money lesson later.


    Instead, I teach about projectile weaponry. Each kid has a pistol loaded with stunning ammo. If they are stupid or unlucky enough they won''t kill them selfs with a bad shot. What I didn''t expect were the little monsters to finger rattle the pistol and expel the ammo clip, all one hundred shots. The dummies they shoot at are tossed around and ripped apart. The deadly younglings have found a way to make a stunning weapon into a killing one.


    I skip the rifles because if they can rip the dummies apart with stunning ammo from a one-hundred-shot capacity then they might kill them selfs with a weapon that carries three hundred shots.


    I will wait a while to teach them about weapons like blasters until they are more disciplined with lightsabers. I move on to basic circuits like door locks. One of the kids asks the question "What is this useful for". I had to explain that if you want to get to places where you are not meant to be then be quiet and bypass a door''s locks.


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    The same child tells me that a lightsaber can bypass any door. I tell the class that lightsabers are noisy and even if you stab the lock it doesn''t necessarily mean the door will open. The whole purpose of picking locks and understanding circuits is so you go unnoticed so you can investigate.


    I can feel that the child doesn''t understand, his stubbornness only has eyes for the overwhelming power of the lightsaber. And so, I take his lightsaber and give a little demonstration. The class is quiet and I paint the picture of boarding a ship that''s holding hostages. Each turn in the ship might bring them face to face with the terrorists. And while they will have no trouble in dealing with the crew, once the terrorist knows you''re on board they might just kill the hostages and flee from the ship or fill the rooms with poison. If you are quiet and blend in, use your ability to avoid detection you might be able to get to the hostages before the terrorists even know you are there, but... and that''s where I turn on the lightsaber with a long humming noise. I explained if you make too much noise and show your ability too soon then they might counter you.


    It''s all about making choices that give you a better chance to succeed, the more you know then the greater choices you have. The kids don''t understand and why would they, they have yet to go on missions as a padawan. I will arm them now with useful things so they can excel.


    The final thing I say and is totally optional is for them to get a simple droid to help with their studies or chores. The more free time they have, the more time they can spend doing the things they like. I dismiss the class.


    Visiting Yoda, he looks like a smug cat, his amusement is rippling off his mind "Your first lesson, how was it"


    "Kids will be kids, it''s not like I''ve never taught before, I know what kids are like" I answer.


    Yoda looks interested in what I just said: "Younglings taught before you have?"


    It is obvious to me that Yoda thinks I''ve taught the Jedi before but I haven''t


    "Of course, but not every force-sensitive being becomes a Jedi. I snap them up and teach the younglings how to inspire growth in plants or become great healers, they go on to make a lot of money for themselves and me. It''s profitable"


    Yoda looks disappointed, he was hoping to gain more information but he shakes his head "Teach today, what did you?"


    I shrug "The power of money, a little bit of pistol usage, the usefulness of basic circuit study and for homework, to get a simple droid"


    "Droid?"


    "Never underestimate a droid" I answer "They are super useful creations"


    I draw out my hilt "When do we start" I say


    "Much time and effort, this will take" said Yoda


    "So many fail because they don''t get started" My blade extends and the room is filled with the soft humming of my weapon.


    What follows are shots from the lightsaber training drone and me trying to deflect them. I''m not bad at it but at times I don''t even try to stop the bolts of energy with my lightsaber but hold the blast of energy in mid-air. My type of combat is to win and use whatever I have at hand, my force powers are a large part of that but isn''t useful when I''m trying to learn lightsaber combat.


    Yoda goes to hit me with his cane but a brief spark of lightning deflects the stick "Difficult to train younglings but more difficult to train powerful force users"


    Yoda changes his training to a more hands-on approach, he starts to use his lightsaber. The first form of lightsaber is called Shii-Cho. It''s a simple form that uses fast strikes. Every Jedi uses this form in one way or another. The form in my hands looks clumsy but Yoda is a master in all the forms and he makes the form look fluid and yet, highly randomized and unpredictable.


    Lessons with Yoda don''t last long as he is a very important Jedi master with his padawan to teach but he has shown me the way. I remember when I was a youngling and the masters thought I was a waste, no one taught me the proper forms, it was my fault but a master''s teaching truly makes the difference.


    I leave the temple and return to my ship where my doppelganger is practising. One of them is hovering off the ground using a mix of force push and pull with a taste of telekinesis. Unfortunately, I don''t think the doppelganger can help me with lightsaber training, they could help me learn the forms faster but it''s the fear I''m here to conquer. I go to my room to practice.

 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50


    My lessons have become a mixture of exasperation and enjoyment for the youngling. They really like pistols to the great annoyance of the Jedi but they can suck my feet. The younglings are visible learners and when I asked them to disarm a dummie and save a fake hostage they used a lightsaber to cut the dummie apart at the cost of the hostage. I showed them a better easier and more cost-effective way. With practice ease and the fluid motion of a gunslinger, I whipped out my blaster, aimed and fired hitting all the dummy''s hands in a flash. No hostages dead, no dummies terrorists dead and all at the cost of a couple of blaster shots. The right tool for the right job.


    On the other hand, the younglings did not like the little day trip to the lower levels of Coruscant. It was meant to show that the Jedi aren''t universally loved, that even on the same planet as their temple base the people are so removed from the Jedi that they have no interactions with them and that their wealth makes the poor hate them, but the younglings didn''t get far in the lessons because they started to feel the desperation and anger of the common people that their soft little minds closed off. That got me talked down to by Yoda, which I didn''t care about because I am older than him, which is something I like to rub in his face.


    The lightsaber''s first form is coming around nicely, I''ve decided to put my Doppelgangers to work but only on the form, I''m still waving around my orange lightsaber to get used to it. With each swing, I feel the fear being imprisoned by familiarity and confidence.


    Yoda has tried to hit me several times when my form is slightly off but the stick he uses is zapped by my force electric shield. I swear Yoda is probing my defence for weakness. I allow a few hits on my legs and shin to give false information to Yoda, you never know who will become your enemy.


    Yoda has no patience with me, he attacks me with all the forms he learned despite me only knowing the first form. I''ve seen him attacking slowly with zero faints with the younglings but he doesn''t hold back with me.


    I''m getting the impression that Yoda is enjoying attacking me. I''m getting the feeling that Yoda is a bit of an asshole, but there''s no one whos a bigger asshole than me. I can''t compete with lightsabers but I''m a true master of fighting dirty. At first, I change his space awareness by a couple of inches. Yoda adapts quickly but not before I piggyback off Yoda''s emotion of being surprised. Simple changes in a person''s mind work the best and I find the easiest thing to change in their perception is colour.


    Yoda has a great mind rich with Jedi training but I''m no beginner when it comes to the mind, it''s not like I''m trying to change Yoda''s instincts and personality, I just add a little colour.


    Yoda pauses as his perception of colour changes like a Psychedelic drug fiend. I sense Yoda is using the force to protect his mind but he hasn''t realised yet that this isn''t just a mind attack but I''m messing with his chemicals. This little technique is very useful against non-force users but against Siths it would be useless, they fight with anger and emotions that can cause spikes in chemical changes and thus make it much harder to do these things but Jedi are all about control which gives me a stable platform of emotions to mess with. It is a win-win for me because if you are stoic and controlled then messing with your chemicals is easier but if you are powered by emotions then I can piggyback ride on those and mess with other things.


    I do some basic strikes and push Yoda back, he flips through the air and avoids them. Even while in mid-air I can feel that Yoda is wrestling back his perception at the same time Yoda is closing off my connection with his emotions. Smart and skilful but he''s doing this on instinct and it will take time. I swiftly apply my dirty trick, before his perception is closed off from me I change his colour scheme to orange.


    The floor is orange, the ceiling is orange, and even the furniture is different shades of orange. This doesn''t affect Yoda as much as the mind-warping Psychedelic colours but what it does do is make my lightsaber effectively invisible.


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    However, I''m not the only one using the force, Yoda is listening to their secret whispers. It''s an odd and frustrating feeling when each of your strikes is parred, blocked and redirected by an opponent who can''t even see the weapon. Yoda is better at me when it comes to listening to the force, he has complete faith that the force will tell no lies and protect him from my future strikes. Yoda doesn''t need to see he just trusts the force. To fight Yoda is to fight a long-lasting battle where an all-powerful force is telling him where to attack next.


    Yoda slowly and skillfully pushed me back, not because I was a challenge but because he was just that much better and he was making sure not to hurt me. I tucked in and worked on defence while I sneakily attacked with telekinesis. Chairs and tables moved towards Yoda but would stop at random. I hoped that the random movement and threats of moving furniture would break Yoda''s timing.


    Yoda''s movement became stunted, this was practice and Yoda could have sliced the furniture in half but this was his stuff, there wasn''t any way to learn from the destruction of his stuff.


    Yoda''s floating chair positioned itself between us causing his attacks to be diverted. Yoda jumped onto the chair and swung his blade to miss me because I raised the chair. Yoda stumbled when I let go of the chair and he had to take control of the falling chair to keep the high ground.


    I blocked an attack and kicked the chair to give me more space. The chair only moved a few inches due to Yoda''s control over the item but it was just a distraction so I could pull the water out of a cup that Yoda was drinking from before the training. The liquid crept across the floor and spread wide.


    I yanked control from Yoda and started to shake the chair around like a rattle, he flipped through the air ready to land but I wasn''t done, i pulled a three-pronged chair from its corner and put it in the way of Yoda. Again he flipped off the stoll legs and landed.


    Yoda paused and looked at the floor and where I was pointing, he didn''t understand until he felt a numbing feeling all over his body.


    I understood how the force whispered secrets but I also understood how vague it could be. The force would tell the user if they were in trouble but not what kind of trouble. The shaking footrest of the floating chair, the awkwardly placed three-pronged stoll, and my indirect pointing at the wet floor were all slight troubles that the force warned Yoda of but he didn''t understand why. It was a combo of small attacks that led to a trap.


    I gave Yoda the answer, the air between my finger and the floor warps and reveals a thin lighting stream that connects with the water and travels up to Yoda. The force warned Yoda but each tiny thing I did was so small that even the force didn''t warn Yoda just how much trouble he was in, it helped that both of us weren''t attacking with intent to harm.


    "Fight well, you do," said Yoda "Tricks serve you well"


    "I''ve built my skills over a long time, fought The Brotherhood of Darkness, defeated people who were stronger than me and through all my time I know I could be killed by a lucky shot. Tricks are my bread and butter, they''ve kept me alive" I reply


    "Your Shii-Cho good it is, think Soresu will be good for your fighting style," says Yoda


    Soresu is the third form of lightsaber combat and is a defensive style that uses tight controlled movement to conserve energy. Yoda has picked the best style for me to use with all my tricks. The more time I''m able to deflect, parry and dodge, the more time I''m able to use my force abilities and tricks to survive. It would be a battle of attrition and with my tools, the more time that passed, the greater chance of winning.


    Unfortunately, training Soresu is going to hurt. I''m going to have to redirect blaster bolts and deflect Yoda strikes without my force lightning shield. Using my force skills won''t help in the development of my third form. I would have to go deeper into the force and listen to the whispers. Soresu is the art of listening to the force and trusting it.


    I''m not weak when it comes to listening to the force but I can''t tell you how many times two powerful force users fought trusting in the force and one of them dying in shock that they misinterpreted what it said. I''ve been fighting with the knowledge that I''m not the best and the force might one day be on the side of another. Some would call that paranoid but it has to happen or there wouldn''t be a winner and loser in the force. My thoughts are, to trust the force but have a blaster as a backup.


    After my training, I had a day to roam the temple. The library would be a great start as its archives were vast and well-documented. When the Jedi are purged the information will be lost, I should make a copy but not today.


    I have questions that no living Jedi can answer but I must find out, for my future. Why, despite the Jedi''s overwhelming numbers did they not see the dark side in the form of Palpatine on their very doorstep? The force should have told them. The Jedi order has powerful clairvoyant users who should have seen it coming but despite the resources they failed horribly. If a giant like the Jedi can be fooled then so can I, even if I know what''s coming.

 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51


    Deeper and deeper I go. Never before have I gone so deep into the Jedi temple. Coruscant is a planet with thousands of levels and I feel like I must have passed a good chunk of them. I''ve gone way past the holding cells the Jedi use for force users. The walls are no longer the clean metallic stone hybrid but dark dirty stone with thousands of years of grime.


    Deeper still and the walls change to have hieroglyphs that I''ve seen before. When I was kidnapped and brought to the Brotherhood of Darkness temple the same carving was there. My questions were finally being answered. The Jedi, in their infinite wisdom, had built their temple on top of a Sith temple, a possible focal point for the dark side.


    What were they thinking? The worst thing was that they knew this, I can''t be the only one who has some knowledge of the ancient Sith, the Jedi must have information on the Sith.


    I scan the walls with my tec and record the walls, I reach out with my senses and find.... nothing. No dark side energy infused in the stone, no lingering dark side ghosts or negative feelings that haunt the Sith temples and newly made Brotherhood of Darkness temples. The focus point is gone, I suppose if there can be an astroid dark side focal point then it can be moved but I don''t like it. I know what is coming and I think this is why the Jedi lose, It''s not just Anakin Skywalker''s betrayal that causes the downfall of the Jedi but the Jedi master''s inaction and superior complex that causes their downfall.


    I want to start translating the text on the wall but first, I need to ask Yoda a few questions.


    Yoda is meditating when I slide into his spacious room through the droids cleaning port. He senses me and doesn''t like that I''ve let myself in, the annoyance rolls off his mind.


    "I have questions that need to be answered" I ignore Yoda''s hurps and get straight to why I''m there.


    "Do you know that the Jedi have built their temple over a Sith temple"


    "Old, the temple is" I pause to understand what Yoda just said, his mind was strong and wasn''t under the influence of mind fuckery.


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    "You do know that the Sith build their temples on dark side focal points," I ask almost completely flabbergasted.


    "Well informed, you are" he speaks in that broken grammar.


    "Why would the Jedi do such an insane thing" I ask


    Yoda chuckles, it''s one of the few times that I don''t know something and Yoda is eager to rub it in my face.


    "Balance in the force, you need. The focal point was once of light but was corrupted by the dark side, now the light side turn it is" answers Yoda.


    A short pause in the air as I try to piece my next words together without sounding arrogant. "Why would you stay at a temple that''s corrupted by the dark side before it''s cleansed


    The answer Yoda gives is that they used a meditation area that performs rituals that neutralize dark side effects and artefacts.


    This is when I plant the seed for the future "Doesn''t the dark side interfere with the light side making it harder to use" I hope that Yoda remembers this conversation in the future when the Jedi become weaker and unable to see the future as clearly. Maybe they will get off their ass and leave the temple.


    Yoda pauses like I did to think about the question and repercussions.


    "At least you shouldn''t train impressionable younglings here"


    Yoda isn''t chuckling now.


    "Look, I have seen a couple of light side focal points in my travels that the Jedi can easily set up a temple and train their kids but this place is problematic"


    Yoda slowly speaks up "Much you have given me to think about"


    I sigh, Whenever I hear a person say that they will think about it, what I''m told is that they will do nothing until it''s too late. However, Yoda might do something as he sees the reasons behind my words but this is the same guy who saw the darkness in Anakin Skywalker and still allowed his training.


    It''s fine, I won''t push it too heavily. I''ve still got time to persuade Yoda to take positive actions, after all, there is still time before the clone war.


    Instead, I will improve myself and use what I know about the future. I have a lot of work to do but I can''t push too hard. From here on now subtlety is the key to success.


    I need to work on both sides. Yoda and the light side, the Sith and the dark side. The problem with the Sith at the moment is that I don''t have any foreknowledge of the current leaders of the Sith, not until Darth Plegius. The leader of the Sith at this time is Darth Gravid but in my opinion, Darth Gean will take over soon.


    Darth Gravid is conflicted and is trying to incorporate the Jedi''s teachings with the Sith. This is causing him problems as the two ways aren''t easy to blend. If I was him I would abandon both and make something new. The problem is Darth Gravid''s mind is breaking down and he has already destroyed some of the Sith Holocron cubes. There isn''t any point in persuading a madman to travel the middle path and try to change the future, it''s only a matter of time before the apprentice becomes the master.


    I plan to stay near the Jedi temple and copy the library, learn from Yoda and every couple of years change my position within the temple to avoid detection.

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52


    The year is 383 BBY according to my understanding. I''ve set up a dirty little machine shop on the lower levels of Coruscant. I don''t often go to the Jedi temple anymore.


    I have mastered the first and third forms to the extent Yoda wants me to teach. However, when I showed my training and training room full of droids equipped with blasters and moving targets he changed his mind. I started with the lowest level to give Yoda an idea of what it was capable of. The droids take their positions and fire their weapons. I easily dodge and redirect the blaster shots at my targets, slowly the speed of each blaster is increased and new droids take positions to add to the attack.


    Yoda seems to be impressed with each footstep I take and each shot I redirect but that''s only the beginning. As the speed of the attack rises, so does my speed, i reinforce myself with the force and hop and skip through the air dodging each shot with impossible reactions. When I can''t escape I redirect shots, when I can''t move my lightsaber fast enough to block then I pull the loose plates from the floor as a makeshift shield. Yoda then realises that my training is too brutal for younglings when a blaster shot hits me in the arm but the droids continue firing and I don''t stop.


    Yoda is very impressed. The simple movements of each of my strikes and parries conserve energy. The blasters my droids are using are on full automatic, each shot is followed by a new one to the extent that it looks like a ribbon of hot laser fire.


    Yodas'' feelings of impressiveness are soon replaced by shock when the droids take two steps closing the training circle. I''m just a blur and my lightsaber is moving so fast that the light left behind looks like a wall.


    The droids start to miss their shots. I''m pushing and pulling their weapons from the droid grip, not enough to disarm but enough for bolts to go over my head. The droids are used to this and they change their grip and reboot their targeting systems. I blend my force abilities, lightsaber techniques and body to create a master of combat.


    Wherever it comes to pistol blasters or lightsabers I combine them into my form and become a menace to my enemy. A droid tosses in a stun grenade only for it to pause in mid-air a couple of feet away from my blurring image and get steadily pulled apart by my power. My knowledge of droids, mechanics and technology makes a simple explosive easy as pie for me to rip apart without detonating.


    Yoda''s mouth opens but is quickly shut again when the droids take another step forward but their shots still don''t connect. Some of the shots are stopped in mid-air by shots that are coming from me. I''m shooting blaster shots out of the air with my own blaster pistol. It''s not even hard to do because for some reason blaster shots are slow, and slug shots are too fast and small for me to do this reliably.


    Again, a blaster shot hits me but in the leg this time. I stumble but slide across the floor with a neat tug of force pull to carry myself away from blaster shots. The blaster shots follow me causing brunt marks to spread across the floor. Yoda''s eyes widened, he thought the blaster shots were nothing but light energy without any of the destructive power behind it but with burn marks on the floor, he now knows the truth.


    I flip through the air on my one good leg parrying many shots with my lightsaber and pistol blaster. I''m using the protective floating metal pieces from the floor as stepping stones to keep my movements as unpredictable as possible. The droids take another step forward but are frozen, they shake for a couple of seconds until they stop attacking and step back to their stations. The demonstration is over. The steam from the many shots of energy weapon clears and I''m left in the middle of the room hobbling, sweat dripping from my face like a waterfall and inching my way closer to a seat.


    Yoda enters as I sit. I''m hitting the spots where I''ve been shot to the surprise of Yoda.


    "Damage yourself you will, healing is needed"


    I shake my head and a blaster rifle the same as the ones the droids were using floats over. I hold it in my hands and fire a shot, blue stunning rings float out and slapps against the wall.


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    "The stunning setting causes the electric current in biochemical life forms to destablise in a fluction causing the target to lose consciousness" I then flip it to the shots that hit me and fire a shot. The blaster shot looks like any other but I explain "This is a modified blaster shot that works the same as a stunning shot but instead of destabilizing the biochemical electrical field it overcharges it causing severe pain in the nerves in a 30cm around the shot. It does little real damage but you still do not want to be hit by them"


    "Painful, it sounds. No purpose it serves" Yoda says with a little frown


    "Yoda, you know better than that. Pain is the mind-killer, pain can make us do things that go against our very survival and a person who can''t overcome pain might stumble and fall and give up but those who can overcome it have a chance to live" I continue to beat the pain out of my leg and shoulder.


    Yoda looks at his clawed hands, he concludes that I''m right but something in him wants to fight back and deny my brutal training but he can''t, even the younglings train with the Marksman-H training remote droids that give a sharp sting if it hits.


    "Enough talking about training," I say "Tell me about Supreme Chancellors Orlen Mollo''s plan for the great hyperspace rush"


    "Know more than me properly" mutters Yoda


    That was true, i always kept an ear open when things like this happened, there was a chance for super amounts of profits and power to be earned and I didn''t want others to become insanely powerful without me knowing.


    What I knew was that the Supreme Chancellors wanted to unify the galaxy with undiscovered hyperspace routes. The high Republic was expanding into the outer regions and they wanted safe and profitable trade routes. The Supreme Chancellor had already started ten years ago with pathfinders sent out to claim new hyperspace routes and claim them for the Republic. However, it was costly and took a lot of time, instead of spending money now and claiming the huge benefits later with a united trading route owned by the government they did the silly thing and used the private sector to find the hyperspace trade routes. It was such a stupid idea to share this massive pie with others.


    I have been looking for undiscovered hyperspace trading routes since I got my first one, but they were incredibly hard to get. Unlike the government with its short-term thinking, those who discovered or had a trading route knew the wealth and power that they held and wouldn''t sell it for anything.


    Of course, I understood why the Supreme Chancellor was offering this to the private sector. It was simple, Supreme Chancellors weren''t in office forever, they couldn''t lean back and wait for the galaxy to be connected and take political advantage over it. They needed a positive outcome as soon as possible so they could leverage it into their next campaign.


    "You know, I think it would be in the best interest of the Jedi to find an undiscovered hyperspace route and keep it for them selfs"


    Yoda looked away from his claw at me. "Why," he asked without questioning me further, he was used to me saying things that made sense but were uncomfortable to say.


    "A backup plan, you never know what''s out there ready to destroy you in any numerous unseen ways" Yoda was about to interrupt but I pressed further "Let''s play a game, What would you and the Jedi do if a rich, powerful well connected Sith slithered its way into the Republic and worked its way up to Supreme Chancellor. I can only guess the damage they could do to the Jedi"


    "Never has that happened before, who is powerful enough to do something like that" asked Yoda


    "Who knows but it''s always smart to have a secret bunker that no one knows about, especially if you have powerful enemies such as the Sith. You never know I might fall to the dark side"


    Yoda''s hand squeezed into a fist and brushed against his lightsaber, strangly, despite knowing I had mixed the dark side with the light side he hadn''t thought of me as a threat in hundreds of years. I had the money, power, connections and knowledge to cause the Jedi any number of headaches behind the scenes, if I were to go all out I could turn the Jedi temple to ash and wipe out the Jedi completely.


    "Wouldn''t it be wise to have a secret hyperspace route that the Jedi could retreat to at desperate times? Even if I''m wrong and there will never be a force that wants to attack the Jedi you can still make a shit ton of cash from it. It''s a win, win"


    I pressed upon it just a little more "That''s what I''m doing, I''m going to hire so many pathfinders and claim as many hyperspace routes I can. The profits will be insane and if I need to disappear then all the better.....think about it but not for too long, the private sector will snap up all of the hyperspace routes before you know it. Look after the future of the Jedi by preparing for the worst.


    I stood to my feet with a slight limp and felt what Yoda was thinking, his little clawed hands squeezed closed like he wanted to attack. He was working his way into a fight, everything I said was true. The Jedi have had several enemies that have hurt them throughout the years and even though I hadn''t done a thing to the Jedi I could destroy them.


    "Yoda... you need to leave before you attack me," I said with the cheekiness of a senior "May the force be with you," I said before I limped away breaking eyesight and giving Yoda no further chance to strike me down.

 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53


    Time flows, and years go by. It''s difficult to pay attention to a galaxy of adventures to piece out what I will expect, but in the meantime, there are interesting events worth mentioning.


    My hyperspace routes that hover around The Grove and the ones I''ve cleaned up bring in huge cash. Having more would be great but I hope I can get hyperspace routes covering from one side of the galaxy to the other. Imagine the trade and cash people will willingly spend if they only have to deal with one owner. Gone will be the days of paying off multiple governments, individuals, organisations and businesses, one payment and you can get where you want to go with ease. Merchants will happily take detours and the long way around if they aren''t hassled by different hands outstretched for their piece of cash.


    This is why I''m funding huge amounts of wealth to different Pathfinder companies so they can find me my hyperspace routes. The Corellian Run was a super-hyper route that started at Coruscant passed core system worlds and ended at Lamaredd, it was highly profitable but it had to share the cash with numerous worlds, i want something like that but without the sharing.


    The Hutt clan with my recommendation also decided to join the rush for Hyperspace routes but they are cheap and disorganised. The Hutts will probably fail as fighting and backstabbing is a norm in their clan. Each Hutt member likes to take the easy way to gain cash and will take another Hutt property if they are weak.


    Several other events happened as they always do but some stood out more than usual. There was a convocation of the force that unified several force religions, it was ultimately boring and didn''t hold my attention.


    The Rod of Seasons was stolen by the children of the Open Hand. A silly secret organisation that believed that the force was better off without force users tampering with it. The silly group didn''t even know that their reverend mother was a force user herself.


    An ambush done by the Graf family grabbed my attention. The galaxy had thousands of ambushes every single day but this one stood out because the Graf family had attacked a subgroup of the Path of the Open Hand called Children of the Open Hand. The children tried to steal an artefact called Jedi Tears and they were betrayed by their reverend mother, information was given to the Graf family so it was easier to kill the members of the children.


    I wouldn''t be interested in anything a cult like the Path of the Open Hand did but they had been very active over a single year trying to collect artifacts. They didn''t seem to care how the force-sensitive religions saw them, instead, it seemed like they were in a rush to achieve something. To be honest I was a little stumped, the artefacts were of no use to them as they weren''t force sensitive... except for their leader.


    The Artifacts were a wild card in the galaxy, I''ve seen many but still didn''t know how or what they did. Most of the time Artifacts looked like normal items ready to be used by a select few people.


    Then there were a couple of terrorist attacks and some peace talks between warring planets that succeeded with a marriage to my surprise. However, the path of the open hand had a surprise for all the force users in the galaxy by using the blue beasts on planet X. By using some artefacts they were able to control the blue beast that they called the nameless. I didn''t know that they could be tamed. I, myself had a pair that went through genetic testing and probing but no combination of tests and drugs could control them. Still, many things were learnt from them like their muscle structure. It was tight and flexible which allowed amazing explosive power. Other species held more attention to me like the billion-year-old Exogorth slugs but their massive size made it hard to scan them and their sentience made it impossible to get deep reading. Imagine getting stomach acid samples when the regeneration and toughness of the skin couldn''t be pierced.


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    That was what held my attention for many years, experimentation on many things that I tried to copy using my force healing abilities. It was difficult as not all the species in this galaxy were silicon base but I took advantage where I could. That was my days as I hired and fired teams to do the work a single person would take thousands of lifetimes. I pushed them in certain directions and let them go before they could complete their work. I would hire different teams and make them do work that they had zero clue what it was for. I alone would combine the knowledge and take it for myself to exploit as I see fit. I did all of this to make sure that the benefits would never fall into the empire''s hands. I had to make sure that anything that would improve me wouldn''t improve Palpatine, after all, if my memory serves me well, Emperor Sidious was just a clone that caused the galaxy to fall on its knees for forty years, imagine what the real Palpitine could do with my years of life and experience. I wasn''t willing to give that dark side user any chance if I could help it. It got especially real when I recognised a name that would hold great trouble, wealth, power and then major destruction. According to my calculation, in the year 350ish BBY, the Trade Federation was founded.


    Confronted with the knowledge of a future profitable business I bought up what I could at a good price when they were weak. They would soon explode in power and have their own standard army when the Neimoidian species started to run it. It was better to hold some power over the future bad guys.


    The Trade Federation are really big bastards. Instead of competing, dealing and supporting their business they work in the outer rim of the galaxy placing trade embargos on isolated planets making them sign incredibly unfair trade contracts, and if any of the planets stand up for them selfs the Trade Federation bribe the courts to waste time and whittle the planet''s resources, and then counter sue.


    They have even tried it with some of the planets that were in my hyperspace routes, they quickly retreated when a small army of lawyers and droids fought them in court. They knew what they were doing was illegal but with enough time and counter suing they would win or wear down their opponents. However, like any bully they quickly back down when they are challenged, to the Trade Federation it''s all about cost and effort. They are willing to spend a little lawyer money to gain big monopoly trade money but not battle in court against good lawyers when it would cost them and they would probably lose.


    Still, the Trade Federation made big money and many trades that caused their coffers to swell. It was a dirty business but easy and profitable. I would have incorporated them into my fleet of transporting cargo ships to increase profits but I knew that in the future the Trade Federation would go under the command of Darth Sidious. It''s better to keep my eye on them so I can win later. However, that isn''t the only thing I''m keeping my eye on. There are three other points of interest that I have to quietly probe.


    The first was the Jedi, they would have major problems in the future that I hope my secret mis-givens and casually guarded worries to Yoda would help.


    Seconded was the planet Naboo, the home planet to Palpatine, the future Empire of the galaxy but that wasn''t all. Naboo was also the home planet to the wife of Anakin Skywalker. It was still too early to do anything about that but it was always on my mind.


    But the third interest had just surfaced on the estimated year 80BBY.


    The Sith were having a very uneventful time with the masters and apprenticeship. My friend Darth Vectivus had an apprentice called Darth Gravid who went mad trying to combine the teachings of the Jedi and Sith and was ultimately killed by Darth Gean, she would lose her position to Darth Guile and this continued to Darth Tenebrous but it was when Darth Tenebrous acquired his apprentice called Darth Plagueis did my ears rise and I put my long-awaited plans into action.

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54


    A young and freshly minted Darth Plagueis was debating on how to achieve the Sith''s much-desired path of immortality. The Jedi believed they would become part of the force when they died but there was no evidence of that, no Jedi had come back to alert others and the Sith believed it was just hopeful thinking. On the other hand, the Sith had succeeded in making memory phantoms of themselves that had survived for thousands of years.


    Darth Plagueis was also hungry for immortality as the road to learning the force was long and hard and only those with enough time could truly master the force. Life is like a drug, the more you have of it, the more you would do to keep it.


    The goal of the Sith was to claim back their lost power, take over the galaxy and destroy their hated Jedi enemy so no one would challenge them again but immortality was high on the list of any Sith as their hatred and fear of losing power extended to death.


    Darth Plagueis wasn''t sure how to achieve this but he wouldn''t just stand still. He dove into his Sith studies and when that didn''t get the results he hoped for he believed the secrets of immortality laid in science. He worked conducting research into bioengineering with a brilliant young researcher.


    With the two of them, they were able to peer into undiscovered potential areas of immortality, it was the perfect stepping platform to boost his powers. For some reason, the Sith never thought to use science to extend life with the help of the force. Everything was perfect but Darth Plagueis was steeped with visions that he didn''t understand.


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    The brilliant young researcher hovered in his dreams, always just out of focus and peering into the secrets of science. Plagueis must have done a deep dive into the researcher''s life half a dozen times with no outstanding results to worry him, many scans using the force also came up empty. The researcher wasn''t sensitive to the force.


    Plagueis wondered what the premonition was trying to tell him, it angered him that the force was vague when he was so powerful. As the years passed and Darth Plagueis took his rightful place as the master of the Sith he didn''t need the reseachers anymore. He had mastered certain powers that extended life by controlling the midi-chlorians. He quickly killed all the researchers and burnt any evidence they were there, all except one researcher had just disappeared. The brilliant researcher had done his job and the further betterment of science didn''t interest Darth Plagueis if it didn''t bring him closer to the force or immortality.


    Darth Plagueis personally cut down the researcher to stop any of his secrets from escaping and yet, Darth Plagueis still had visions of the same person.


    Throughout Darth Plagueis''s time admiring the work the researcher did he hardly ever noticed the clumsy cripple assistant. He had seen him around now and again but didn''t think much of the weakling who hobbled with beakers full of liquids at a slow pace to stop from dropping the valuable test subjects. At one time Darth Plagueis thought about choking the weakling life out of him. The shuffling disgusted him, and the way the assistant stuttered grated on his nerves. Darth Plagueis hated that kind of weakness and his thoughts chose to ignore the useless assistant and concentrate on the brilliant talent that focused on wonderful revealing information but when it came down to destroying the researchers and everything connected to him the assistant didn''t even rejester a thought. The visions didn''t go away but Darth Plagueis focused on the wrong person. Always, in the background of the visions was the cripple, quietly doing his work and staying under the radar of force users such as Darth Plagueis.

 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55


    Yoda was training, he tried his best to incorporate movement with force powers. According to his old friend, "small tricks can lead to big outcomes," and Yoda had little choice but to agree with him. The way he fought was unpredictable, even with the force telling secrets. Yoda struggled with his friend''s unique fighting style.


    It was hard to add a new, unfamiliar fighting style to his repertoire of Jedi lightsaber styles. It didn''t help that he was old, and his bones and flesh didn''t have the greatest flexibility and power they once had.


    Yoda slowly practised form four, the way of the hawk-bat, with a single coin floating by his side. Yoda knew of the incredible versatility of the force with its push and pulls but each time they were used cost a sum of concentration that didn''t mix well with fast-paced lightsaber duels. Concentrating to force pull or push sapped the greater ability to predict your opponent''s next move. It wasn''t worth it until he had seen it done beautifully.


    He witnessed his student and old friend flip through the air in odd angles that would leave you vulnerable to attacks, only to pull himself out of the way and deflect a stray bolt of energy with a casual flick of his lightsaber and then hop on a floating piece of metal left Yoda inspired and a little awed. By all standards his old friend had invented a new form for lightsabers and yet it was more than just the form.


    Using the force in combat was hard to do well but to do it while swinging blades was nearly impossible. The old masters of a few thousand years ago could hold three lightsabers using telekinesis and circle around their bodies like moons but Yoda''s old friend was doing more. It was damn impressive.


    Yoda wasn''t sure if what he was doing would result in anything useful but it would be a new way for his training to move forward, maybe it will be useful in the future.


    The soft humming coming from Yoda''s weapon was interrupted by a knock on his door. Yoda''s lightsaber stopped and the floating coin dropped in his hand. Confusion hovered in Yoda''s mind, he couldn''t sense a mind on the other side and yet he quickly realised who it was through the years of experience he had built up. There was only one person who knocked on his door instead of activating the coms and that was his old friend. The door opened to reveal a unique battle droid, there it stood with a holoprejector waiting for permission to continue.


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    Yoda sighed to himself. His old friend was unusually paranoid for such a powerful person. He hid in the shadows, made powerful and wealthy deals behind the scenes and kept his name out of the public eye. Even now Yoda had to strain his memory to recall his old friend''s name. Yoda wondered why Bee would clean the very existence of his name out of the records when the Galaxy was at the most peaceful it had been for five hundred years.


    The holoprojector came to life with a bright colourful image of Bee sitting at his desk. Yoda listened with rap intensity, Bee wouldn''t send him a message unless it was important.


    "I''m leaving" the Holo Bee announced. "Of course, I will still be around but I won''t make any connections with you for the foreseeable future"


    Yoda wanted to ask why but this was a prerecording that wasn''t interactive.


    "There are changes in the Galaxy that suggest that a great war is coming, something that I as a single person can''t defend from if the public knows about me, I am just one person after all"


    Yoda''s stomach twisted as he heard these words. Bee had been preparing for something for years and told Yoda to do the same. Yoda had complete faith that something was coming as Bee was a survivor and fought with the brotherhood of darkness, if he was going to disappear for a while then there was good reason to do so.


    "In the case of both of our survival, I hope you destroy everything to do with me and wish you only the best of luck. Perhaps if my premonitions are false we will meet again"


    The droid then held out a square piece of tec "If you are in trouble..... deep trouble that risks not just you but everything you hold dear press the button and I might......might help out"


    The droid handed it over "I''m sorry I can''t explain better but the force isn''t clear....which in itself is something to worry about, good luck and remember if you want peace, prepare for war, if you want to win, be ever vigilant even if you think you have won."


    The holoscene blinked out of existence and within a second the droid crushed the holoprojector into dust and left.


    Yoda was worried. The force was calm, it hadn''t warned him of any ill effects or plans of a galaxy-sized war. This was the age of peace and the golden age of the Jedi. All signs pointed to good times and great growth, nothing suggested anything bad. But you don''t live a long life dealing with pirates, Hutts and the scum of the galaxy if you were careless.


    Yoda had learnt to trust the unusual instincts of Bee. If he said that the moon was made out of cheese then Yoda would have sent an investigation to check it out. However, the force was telling him one thing and Bee was practically telling him the other. Spending his whole life with the force it was a hard choice to prepare for war when all signs pointed to peace. Still, it wouldn''t hurt to stockpile a planet or two.

 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56


    It''s a sad truth that competence isn''t always rewarded. You can be the best and yet still fail in society. The army was an excellent example, as inconstant and stupid people were promoted, and those with a list of successful missions longer than an arm hardly ever rose above certain ranks. If you had connections and money, you could always fail upwards despite how much life you lost or how much land you lost.


    Planet Naboo was a little different. Its people were peaceful and didn''t need a powerful fleet or strong soldiers, yet it still had the Royal Naboo Security Forces. The planet was so peaceful that volunteers made their security forces.


    One new such volunteer had just taken his first steps in officer training and was excelling through the program. His hand-to-hand skills were top-notch, and his marksmanship was near perfect. He took all kinds of extra training, even if it wasn''t connected to the army, like lessons in law and ethics. His fellow officers in training always had something good to say about him, but there was something that each of them pondered on: He always looked tired or bored, like he had done this all before and didn''t need the training.


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    He went on to become a second Lieutenant and disappeared into the vast amount of work the volunteers had when policing the planet Naboo. He only resurfaced to take a guard role to the newly elected queen of Naboo called Padm¨¦ Amidala.


    The once second Lieutenant and now full-on Lieutenant carefully read his orders. It had taken a small amount of bribery to get this post and there wasn''t much growth but it was where he wanted to be, in the next few months a good portion of the galaxy will be entwined in the actions of a few people who came from Naboo.


    "This is where the fun begins," said the Lieutenant or to a very few people in the galaxy, Bee.

 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57


    Guard duty was incredibly boring. I had a part to play and that part was guarding Padm¨¦ Amidala but I couldn''t branch out and fill my time with other activities while I protected her. How would I explain my force powers if they were seen when I was supposed to be a simple Lieutenant, i needed to stay at an arm''s length so I could see without being seen.


    Padm¨¦ Amidala was a freshly elected queen. My guard duty meant I had to protect her but I knew that the one I was protecting was her lookalike and the real queen was the handmaiden. I watched the Queen and her entourage do their activities. My mind wondered why and how such a young child was elected to the highest position on Naboo. I understood most queens were elected young due to their youth and purity but politics were not like that at all. Being pure was not a lasting trait in the dirty underbelly of politics, very often a pure person was quickly taken advantage of before they learnt what it meant to be part of this world.


    Still, I was here because of Palpatine, he had started his long career messing with the Galaxy here on Naboo. This would be a great place to sow a little mayhem into his plans while keeping the timeframe intact.


    The first step was Naboo vs the Trade Union. The trade union was hungry for wealth and for three hundred years had successfully bullied their way to the top, even though they weren''t a planet or representative to a species they had members in the galactic senate working for their benefit. However, despite bullying the outer rim of planets and forcing them to sign illegal contracts earning them great wealth, they wanted more.


    The Trade Federation tried their luck with selling energy and they didn''t like competition. Unfortunately, Naboo was located near the border of the outer rim and with their weird planet core producing plasma energy they were a target for The Trade Federation.


    I found this all weird because I had created a vast business of energy-collecting Dyson swarm machines, fifteen suns had a collection of swarms gathering large amounts of cheap energy to be sold, but the price never went down. I expected the Trade Federation to not even care but having a peaceful planet that produced high-quality energy on their border was too tempting and they started their usual invasion tactics.


    It was such a stupid thing to do. The Republic barely cared what happened on the outer rim and the Trade Federation could get away with their illegal activities as long as they paid the senate members well but they blocked a peaceful planet that had a small voice in the senate.


    The reason was simple why the Trade Federation would risk everything they had. Due to bad luck, the previous leaders of the Trade Federation had been killed and a Neimoidian party jumped into the power vacuum, anointed Senator Nute Gunray as the new Viceroy who went on to consolidate his power by forming a pact with a Sith. Probably the worst thing you could do at the beginning of an invasion. The Trade Federation was now a game piece for the Sith at the start of a war that would only harm them.


    The Trade Federation blockaded Naboo and started their usual grandstanding in the Senate to explain what was happening. I knew they wouldn''t succeed but it was a delaying tactic to gain enough time for the contracts to be signed.


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    On Naboo, I was protecting Queen Padm¨¦ Amidala from the attacking droids with some spectacular shots that I would have been proud of if it wasn''t for the fact that the droids were made cheaply and a weak hit with a normal meat fist would shatter them apart. I would probably be promoted to captain if not for the fact I had to let the Trade Federation capture the queen so the Jedi could save.....us.


    It didn''t sit well with me as we were paraded down some stone steps with nothing more than a few crappy droids as our captures and to my shook the viceroy of the Federation. What didn''t surprise me was how fast Naboo had been invaded, as we marched I saw many groups of people being marched away by crappy droids that couldn''t hit shit. I could have torn these droids apart with my bare hands and I was itching to do so.


    As we marched near to an overhanging arch two Jedi and a gundun dropped and cut down the weak droids like nothing. Qui-Gon Jinn took command immediately and after a small conversion, we left Naboo for Coruscant and get attacked, taking damage that a little droid fixies and saves our asses. That was the point I was most wary of. I was hovering over the shield matrix ready to rip its cover off and repair it. It''s a terrifying thing to let others handle your fate when you know you could do so much better.


    We were hit and wouldn''t make it to Coruscant so we made our way to Tatooine. I had been there a couple of times. There was a crime syndicate with a Hutt at its head and a very unsafe Pod racing course that the local Tusken Raiders would take pleasure at sniping but overall, it was a dive bar-like planet that had only one thing worth mentioning, it was the home planet of Anakin Skywalker.


    Talking about things that caught my eye I wonder what I should do with Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon Jinn was considered a maverick but he was well-liked and respected, he had been offered a seat in the council but turned it down to follow the living force. Qui-Gon Jinn would be the one to rediscover or invent the Force Ghost thing.


    I thought about helping him out when he fought Darth Maul but he needed to die to become one with the force and pass the teachings to Yoda and then Obi. It would be a waste as the Jedi master was close enough to be a grey Jedi and help teach Anakin Skywalker the proper way to control his emotions. I can see that Obi-One Kenobi''s brash sarcasm wouldn''t translate well when teaching Anakin. Obi One was able to stay on the path of a Jedi because he took joy in his odd and fun sarcasm moments but I don''t think Anakin will.


    No, Qui-Gon Jinn had to die to pass on his teachings, but did he have to die? I was at odds because if there was someone that I could help that would rock the plans of Palpatine and it would cost me very little then I should do something, but that would screw with the timeline utterly. No Darth Vader, no future offsprings of Palpatine, maybe no super weapon death star, a lot of maybes and guesswork. Fate might work it all out but I wasn''t sure.


    Just then one of the handmaidens asked me a question, it was Padm¨¦ Amidala in disguise.


    "Would you like a towel" I shook my head very slightly to indicate a no.


    "Your shooting was excellent, but I wonder how many shots did you do, I stopped counting when you hit that droid in the shoulder causing its weapon to fling away and explode when you shot it disabling three other droids"


    I pulled out my blaster. "A modified blaster that holds more energy doesn''t overheat as fast and can fire twice as fast as normal blasters, the downside is that it doesn''t have the best stopping power" I hand over the weapon to Padm¨¦.


    "What happens if you need stopping power" asked Padm¨¦


    I reached over and holstered the weapon "Then you shoot twice and hit the same mark, but...." I pulled out a second weapon, "a smaller but powerful Modified pistol with ten shots that can rip armour apart and cause disintegration if hit in centre mass" This weapon I don''t hand over.


    "Why does a Naboo lieutenant need such a weapon" asked Padm¨¦.


    "Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it" my answer didn''t seem to please her "Also it makes a wonderful breaching weapon that breaks down doors and walls for easy access"


    This made her a little happier as now she could see I had a legitimate reason for having it.


    "Me so hungie"


    That was the other thing on my mind, Jar jar Binks. The potential Sith master in disguise.

 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58


    In my previous life, I had heard that there was a theory that Jar Jar Binks was a secret Sith Lord who had manipulated Palpatine behind the scenes. His uncanny way of surviving impossible odds and being in the right place at the right time was magical, just like a space wizard.


    If this was true, then I had a lot of things in common with the supposedly Sith Lord. Both of us hid in the shadows and pretended to be something we weren''t. The difference was that I knew what was going to happen in the future and took steps to take advantage. But if Jar Jar Binks was a Sith lord, he was skilled enough to come to manipulate the galaxy without knowing the future like me.


    I took a little look at his surface emotions, nothing invasive, just a little taste of the emotions that naturally roll off every person. Hungry and itchy was what I found, I dove deeper to gently brush up against his mind to listen to his thoughts. I cringed a little due to the way Jar Jar thought. It was the same way he spoke, loud and full of confidence in that baby crass voice of his. Even Yoda didn''t think the same way he spoke but Jar Jar was either a genius at hiding and manipulating his thoughts to a degree that a master such as myself couldn''t tell or he was as thick and stupid as everyone thought him to be.


    I dove into his mind as Jar Jar pestered Padmae for food to find memories and dreams that showed his whole boring, clumsy life. It was sad but I didn''t stop searching, I had to make sure.


    Most of Jar Jars'' memories were fuzzy like the early baby memories of normal people. Jar Jar was so stupid that he couldn''t remember parts of his life that happened last week. I tore some of his memories apart and modified them to see if there would be a response. Nothing, absolutely nothing, no reaction or force power feedback, no backlash of a Sith lord''s memories being overwritten and changed.


    It was clear just how weak his mind was, it was highly unlikely that he was a secret Sith lord as I had kept my eye on the line of Sith lords for some time with no expectation of a secret Jar Jar Binks being raised and taught. The final nail in the coffin was when I checked his blood for Midi-chlorian and found a slightly higher amount than normal which would explain his unusual luck and clumsiness but ultimately ruled him out as a force user. Jar Jar Binks was just an unlucky, lucky stupid fool.


    Jar Jar was a harmless joke....well until he makes a passionate speech for Palpatine to take power but that was in the future.


    The ship rumbled as it entered the atmosphere of Tatooine and sat down surprisingly smoothly. The Jedi had their discussion about getting spare parts to fix the ship, I could have repaired the ship by gutting and cannibalizing the none essential components but this was the time for the Jedi to find the most important individual in the Galaxy for the next twenty years, Anakin Skywalker.


    Oddly, Padmae went with Qui Gon Jin, why would Padmea want to go to one of the worst places in the galaxy? It was vastly odd. I couldn''t follow them as I had to look after the understudy of a queen but I wasn''t going to stay. A quick and shifty doppelganger took my place and I also left the ship.


    I hopped through the desert using the force to push and pull me at great speed with my Altered transmuted force wind at my back, each step was about a hundred meters and the sand under each step condensed into rock to give me that extra push-off. It took me no time at all to reach Mos Espa and with quick hand movements I stole cloth from some guy''s back and wrapped myself up. My ability to disguise myself through illusions was top notch and it wouldn''t matter if I wore my Naboo uniform but I still needed the stolen cloth as the goddamn sand got everywhere.


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    There was a different purpose to being here instead of meeting with the future savior of the force and that was to visit the ruler of Tatooine. I walked through the hallways ignoring the dirty and violent-looking murderers who were hired to do the leader''s bidding, one of them went to touch me but found his hand snapped at an odd angle before he even knew what was happening and then his neck twisted and snapped. No one saw what happened but the message was crystal clear, don''t go near me.


    I could feel a Hutt''s mind and hear the insane languages they call speech. I moved closer to where Jabba was and met his Twi''lek attendance blocking the door. Before he could do that awkward thing where he would guess how powerful or violent the person was by judging the patience of the people he was talking to by half-bowing and half-grinning I told him to go for a break. He wondered off with a stupid look as the force took effect and whizzed his mind to do as I said.


    I could feel Jabba was on the other side so I knocked on the door and entered. A sudden blast of plasma fire was quickly and neatly dodged leaving part of my stolen cloth vaporized. Jabba had the fattest weapon, it was one of the deadliest old weapons in the galaxy, it was used to hunt live game such as the Rancors and Dianoga.


    I patted myself down giving Jabba the look of a slightly miffed but amused elder.


    "That''s no way to treat your uncle," I said to Jabba while wagging my finger at him.


    Jabba''s weapon slightly dipped as his brain caught up to what I said.


    Of course, I wasn''t a blood relative to the Hutts but I had worked with them for so long and made huge profits for all that they gave me a seat on the Hutt council and gave me the title of Uncle.


    Jabba''s weapon raised again with good reason as the title of Uncle and the face who was using it now didn''t fit. The Hutt clan knew by now that I had unusually force powers but they didn''t know all of my identities.


    "Calm down young one," I said to the six-hundred-year-old space slug as I pulled a symbol of my membership out of my coat pocket.


    Jabba''s eyes swelled up and a hearty laugh poured out that shook the room. He dumped the weapon slithered over and embraced me. I lifted him off the ground just like the first time I met him when he was a child to the surprise of Jabba and his 3000-pound weight.


    Every Hutt member worth a certain amount knew about me and how feared I should be but they also knew that they had more leeway than other species. They would say to each other "If you were caught putting your hand in uncle''s things then just act all cute and say sorry like a naughty child." It wasn''t the first time I had been shot at by a Hutt and I doubt it would be my last but overall, despite the sudden violence I had a very good relationship with the Hutts. So much so that the Hutts didn''t fear me unless they had done something to me, then they shat themself with fear.


    I walked beside Jabba and congratulated him on becoming a crime boss and getting a seat on the council. I gave him a knowing smile when he told me about the failed assassination attempt he tried against the Hynestian royal family but it only failed due to Jedi interference. I patted him on his arm, it was a nice try at assassination but when Jedis were involved most good plans can go up in smoke.


    We both peered out of his balcony over the pod-racing course "I would like to say I''m here to congratulate you on becoming a major crime lord and joining the council lord but I need a favour"


    Jabba''s eyes widened again and his long snake-like tongue slipped past his lips. Earning a favour from me was better than any number of hyperspace routes. I was famous for making the impossible into a profitable business, if you had my favour then you could expect the world or the impossible.

 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59


    The atmosphere has changed since yesterday. The once hard, hot air filled with nasty-smelling spice and awful stench of piss is now filled with laughter, cheers and paper confetti. Tatoonie was celebrating the Boonta Eve Classic and thousands upon thousands of people came to watch the dangerous pod race. Due to the unsafe nature and freely flowing bribes this backwater, outer rim world saw a lot of cash flow into Jabba''s pocket.


    The pod racers were already lined up on the track and the crowd was getting worked up. I didn''t need to try to sense everyone''s feelings as the air was thick with excitement. Jabba wobbled his way to the balcony and waved to the crowd. I joined by his side to get a better look at the race. The Troig pod racer announcer called Fode and Beed did all of the work introducing Jabba and thanking him while working the crowd into a controlled frenzy. The two-headed creature had a lot of charm and easily helped the people to understand what was going on.


    I looked at the pod racers and spotted Anakin in his beat-up racer. I could interfere now in a way no one would expect and cause the young kid to be a slave for the rest of his days, but he was needed in the Clone Wars. It''s better to keep the time frame intact so I know the future.


    Jabba could see that I held some interest in the pod race, a rare thing to hold my attention. In that slow, thick language he laughed and baited me. The Hutts said all kinds of things about me to my face and behind my back knowing that I didn''t react negatively. On the infrequent occasions, I went to the Hutt council I was mocked endlessly but not by the lesser Hutts, you had to have power and wealth for the honour of taking snide jabs at me.


    Jabba was about to start a fresh mocking parade when I interrupted him, "Would you like to make a wager on the race?"


    A small chuckle escaped his belly "How about the favour I offered you for a new favour? Two is better than one after all" I said


    The deep chuckle that came from Jabba instantly disappeared. Jabba had just earned this favour from me and didn''t want to potentially lose it in a bet. Cash can be earned or stolen but a favour from me weighed as much as a planet.


    Looking hard at Jabba his eyes shifted a little, his mind was flickering through the possibilities of a way to win without losing my favour.


    "Am just kidding" I slapped Jabba on his arm causing the whole thing to wobble "How about we bet on hyperspace routes"


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    Jabba didn''t continue to laugh, his whole wealth and power came from his hyperspace routes. Causaly just betting on hyperspace routes showed how wealthy I was.


    Reading Jabba''s mind showed me he wouldn''t agree "OK, I understand. You are a new member of the Hutt council and need to consolidate your power. How about three of your ships filled with spice vs three of my ships filled with energy banks"


    Jabbas laughter returns. Jabba tells me off, saying that three ships of spice aren''t equal to three energy-filled ships.


    "What kind of odds are you looking for" I ask, knowing exactly how his mind works


    Jabba wanted five-to-one odds but I managed to get five-to-one odds in my favour by picking the weakest pod racer, a little human slave, Anakin Skywalker.


    The pod race itself didn''t hold our interest because Jabba had seen hundreds and I already knew who would win, Jabba offered me some of his favourite Klatooine paddy frogs for a snack. I snapped the frog''s neck and tore off some of its flesh. The snack had a good crunch to it but the slime put me off. Jabba swallowed his whole and mentioned the squalls of the frog as it struggled down into his belly, the wiggling and struggling of the frog was the best bit, according to Jabba.


    Jabba mocked what I was wearing saying "To go natural was the best suit to wear." I responded with "Not all of us have wonderful rolls of fat to show off, some of us need to cover our shame"


    Jabba chuckled at that, he knew I didn''t mean it but he liked it nonetheless. Jabba was that rare kind of crime boss, slow to anger and could take a joke. He was the kind of scum I liked.


    The crowd was screaming and the commentator was riling them up, a number of pod racers had fallen and it caused a fantastic commotion throughout the people.


    Jabba finally realised he was beaten when the favourite to win the pod race was taken out by the slave human. The cheeky Hutt tried to pay three ships worth of spice but I told him ten would be fine. Every Hutt I met always tried to do this kind of thing but I was soft with them. I truly liked them, almost my favourite species in this galaxy. The spice was sent to medical corporations to be used in experiments.


    Before I left to head back to the ship I reminded Jabba of our deal.


    "You must buy, free and protect the slave woman owned by Watto, a Toydarian junk dealer called Shmi Skywalker. Set her up with her business and make her feel content. Her happiness is the top mission and she must be protected on the same level as you, Jabba"


    This was part of my counterattack to Palpatine. For some odd reason, Anakin would spend years not freeing his mother despite having the power, it''s like he forgot her but when the time comes and she dies because of the cruelty of the Tusken raiders, Anikin will lose it and fall a tiny bit more to the dark side. I think that was the time he thought that killing children was the right thing to do and carried that mentality onwards to the extermination of the Jedi temple, children and all.


    A happy and safe mother may save the galaxy.


    "Remember my dear Jabba, this is important to me" I hugged the giant slug and went on with my business giving a passing thief who tried his luck with me a backhanded slap that knocked five of his teeth out. I will put up with a lot when it comes to the Hutts but I won''t when it comes to a two-bit crook. Back to the ship, I go.

 Chapter 60

    Chapter 60


    I was easily able to make it back to the ship before Qui-Gon Jinn. As I took the place of my doppelganger I could hear the complaining of Obi-Wan. He didn''t like his master picking up something "pathetic", Even Obi-Wan seemed to have elitism in his belief. In my opinion, Obi-Wan Kenobi was too young to become a Jedi and gain a student, he didn''t have the even temper Qui-Gon Jinn has. Only time would curve that elitism to turn this brash Obi-Wan into the legend he will become.


    New components were delivered ahead of Qui-Gon Jinn and installed by the crew. Next came Qui Gon with a little Anakin, closely followed by Darth Maul on a hoverbike.


    What I once thought was amazing now turned into mediocre lightsaber fighting. Their moves were simple with no passion and quickly finished When Qui Gon jumped onto the ship as it passed by. The whole thing was quick and lacklustre and yet the biggest thing for me was the way both Qui Gon and Obi-Wan reacted to a red Sith force user like it was just a normal day. This was the first time the Jedi had interacted with the Sith in almost a thousand years and yet they treated it like it was common.


    I couldn''t even understand how Darth Maul found them, the crew were specifically told not to make contact with anyone because it would lead back to them on Tatooine. There was no way the Sith knew that our ship had been hit so badly we needed repairs, they didn''t have the manpower, droid power or any type of power to search that many planets. Maybe in the future when and if Palpatine took over the Republic and created the Empire but not now. How did Darth Maul find us? Was it the force or just amazing good luck on their side, even my information network developed around my Labyrinth program would have taken time. A question I would have to ask if I ever met Darth Maul.


    We contuined to Coruscant.


    While there I wasn''t needed as much. The queen and her handmaidens were being looked after by captains and a lowly Lieutenant like me wasn''t needed. I watched as the queen was separated from me and took a meeting with the senate seat for Naboo, Sentate Palpatine.


    My lip reading wasn''t very good and it failed to pick up the stone-cold way the queen spoke, I thought it was a better idea not to read their minds just in case Palpatine picked up my power. There wasn''t a good way to find out what was happening in the office but there was a way I could find out what was going to happen faster than most. I have a seat in the Senate.


    My Seat was hardly ever used and a fake politician sat on it before leaving it empty. However, it didn''t mean I held no power over the Senate, I owned a piece of the Galaxy that held several species that could freely vote for whatever as long as I allowed it. More than a hundred votes could be pooled at once under my command. The Gove Collective was a powerful piece of the Senate that could pass laws if they were united. I sat on my seat and listened.


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    The true art of manipulation was to appear like you had done nothing and Palpatine was doing a good job of it. He stood up and claimed that Naboo was being invaded and didn''t even lose his focus when the cries of the Trade Federation pleaded it wasn''t so. It was a good piece of manipulation. Palpatine had ordered the Trade Federation to cause a blockade on Naboo and then argued in the senate that it was unjust so he could get a vote of no confidence and make a power move as a new Supreme Chancellor. If Palpatine failed then the Trade Federation would become stronger and he would have a better ally in the senate that could vote in his favour but if he succeeded then he would worm his way into the ultimate seat of power in the galaxy. It was a win-win for him. A good piece of manipulation.


    Of course, the Supreme Chancellor needed evidence that the trade federation, one of the most powerful collections of votes in the senate had indeed invaded without cause but that wasn''t enough for Queen Padmea, she needed action now to save her dying people and predictably she called for the vote of no confidence. What choice did she have, lots but she was panicking. If she was older she might have realised that a vote of no confidence on one of her greatest allys was a stupid move. She could have pleaded for the Jedi to take action or for them to speak to the Senate to verify what was happening on Naboo but she chose the nuclear option not understanding that it might weaken her political career and make passing votes like this for her benefits near impossible. No one wants to ally them selfs with an inexperienced Queen who will vote for no confidence at the drop of a hat, especially when the Queen of Naboo was an elected position that only lasted two years.


    This was the start of a war that would engulf the Galaxy.


    After the Senate settled down and the investigation into no-confidence started smaller and increasingly more boring laws and legislation would be held. Most of the Senate had gone to prepare for the benefits and losses of war and a vote of no confidence earned, however, I was still in my seat as well as all of the Gove Collection members.


    As more and more Senate members disappeared and new, less important laws came to be voted on, what I was waiting for turned up. The Legislation of The Goves isolation and reinforcement. It was already incredibly hard for people to get past customs to the Grove but this Legislation would make it law for the Grove Collection to make it nearly impossible to enter. After this passed I could legally and without restraint do what I liked without permission, this included all of my hyperspace routes. I learnt in my other life that if you wanted a law passed that was unfair then do it on a day of great suffering. Everyone will be so busy with the war and vote of no confidence that they won''t see what I''m doing. The fun part was Palpatine didn''t even see it coming and by the time he took over the republic and turned it into the Empire my slice of the galaxy would be so reinforced with droids, mines and roaming spaceships that even the Death Star wouldn''t be able to get near without suffering great loses. Of course, I would have reinforced the Grove Collection without the law supporting me but there''s an extra nice feeling when it was all above the law.


    The law passed easily with an almost empty Senate. Only the Gove Collection votes mattered.

 Chapter 61

    Chapter 61


    The Jedi council had been summoned and was now debating over Qui-Gon Jinn''s newly found chosen one. Yoda was tired, but he was here judging a small child. It didn''t feel right. The child was too old to train and he could feel much fear in the young one.


    Qui-Gon Jinn was there telling the Jedi masters that this child was the chosen one. It was possible. Yoda could feel the young boy had talent and power but his future was unclear.


    "His future was unclear.....unclear," thought Yoda. Bee had warned something like this might happen. He said that building a temple on a corrupted force point would interfere with visions but was this it? Looking into the future was always a hard thing to do as the smallest change can cause a completely different outcome.


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    Qui-Gon Jinn spoke of taking the child as an apprentice Padawan and promoted Obi-Wan on the spot to take the test of Jedi Knighthood.


    Instead of choosing what will happen to the young boy, the council told Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan to go to Naboo with the queen and see if they could bring out the mysterious Sith attacker


    Yoda wondered if this was the correct thing to do. Yoda carefully hovered the coin he received from Bee. Bee once said that when in real trouble too call him but only if in utter no hope to do so. This wasn''t the time. Right now he could do much and didn''t need his help, he hoped.

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62


    Now was the time of great annoyance. Queen Padmea wanted to take back Naboo from the Trade Federation but she didn''t have the manpower to do so. The greatest annoyance of my life hit me when the Gungans joined our army. If you thought Jar Jar Binks''s way of speaking was disturbing then that was nothing compared to a whole species trying their best to sound smart when in fact they were closer to pond scum.


    Their dull minds were also a source of irritants as they all thought in their language causing me to wince now and again. I wanted to shoot them in the face so they would stop talking. Even when they said nothing, their gangly legs and arms wandered around like they had a life of their own


    The real Queen Padmea revealed who she was and begged for help on her knees. The leader of the Gungars ate it up and readily accepted to help them with no benefits to themselves. Quenn Padmea had just earned herself a terrible army of Gungars and all that it had cost her was to kneel and beg. The Gungars were truly, utterly, magnificently, without brain cells. The perfect meat shields. If I hadn''t been there I would think that they had been mind raped by the Jedi the way that the leader of the Gungars easily agreed to die for the Naboo Queen. The Gungars even cheered on their new roles as fodder. Idiots.


    It was then I got a message from the Trade Federation. It was simple and to the point. They were worried about the Gungar army that had appeared. They didn''t know what to do, the trade federation had allied itself with Sith and became their puppet. With little foresight, they had started a blockade against Naboo hoping to get their contracts signed quickly and made legal. They were worried that the republic would send reinforcements before the contracts were signed and a new Gungar army would suggest that they would fail.


    I was a heavy investor in the trade federation since it first formed and now the viceroy was asking me my opinion, as he had grabbed power and wasn''t qualified to run the organisation he reached out to someone competent. I made it simple for them, they were fucked either way.


    If they succeeded in the contracts being signed and made the invasion legal then they were still under the boot of a Sith. The Jedi, who had the power of the republic behind them would fight the trade federation until they lost just because of the Sith.


    If they couldn''t find a way for the trade federation to make the invasion legal the republic would destroy them with fines, embargos and lawyers until the trade federation was broken apart.


    My advice was to cut a huge part of the wealth of the trade federation and start a different federation. Let the old part die and use the remaining cash to start fresh. Distance yourself from the Sith and go into hiding in the outer rim of the galaxy. Smaller profits where the republic didn''t care was still profits. Take a huge loss now so you can save yourself later.


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    I didn''t know if they would take my advice but I hoped so. A smaller but still hungry trade federation that wanted nothing to do with the Sith could only help to interfere with them in the future. I gave them my word that I would help and transfer my holding and stakes in the trade federation over so they could do it cleaner and without fuss.


    It did cost me, but over the years I had made a lot of cash from them, right now I was betting on the future of the galaxy and creating interference for Palpatine. I had swapped the healthy stock of a well-established trade federation for a newly made merchant federation. The Neimoidians might try to scam me but I only cared a little. The trade federation was done for and their only hope was to jump a sinking ship onto a smaller unnoticeable ship. In the next couple of hours, through my labyrinth program, I witnessed the Neimoidians transfer their cash holding, signed contracts and hyperspace routes to the merchant federation. The Viceroy saw no hope in the federation and planned to escape. Probably the smartest thing he had done since taking over the trade federation.


    While the Gungan fought in open fields against poorly made droids the Naboo royal force with Queen Padmea and two Jedi stealthily tried to retake the palace and take the Neimoidians as prisoners. Instantly that went tits up as Darth Maul was waiting for us.


    While Jedi fought Darth Maul, the royal Naboo forces went the long way around only to be stopped almost immediately by three Destroyer Droids. I hardly cared about the droids and my mind was focused on the Jedi and Sith. When Darth Maul revealed his double-bladed lightsaber small goose bumps stood on my neck. The lightsaber play was meh but Darth Maul flicking through the air as he pulled a piece of trash to hit and open some blast doors reminded me of my fighting style, and that was it, the Jedi and Sith had disappeared from my sight.


    After the Jedi and Sith left, I lost most of my interest. Anakin destroyed the three destroyer droids with blaster fire from a Naboo N-1 starfighter. The autopilot went on to fly Anakin away leaving us. I used my modified powerful shots to demolish walls and give us easy access. And then we used a gadget to shoot up a rope only to be captured by the Neimoidians and then turn the event around by capturing the Neimoidians instead.


    The Gungars took heavy losses and were on the verge of defeat when Anakin destroyed the Neimoidian''s mothership that controlled the droids. A stupid design if I ever saw one.


    And that was that. The people of Naboo were free again. The Neimoidian Viceroy was imprisoned and charged. Palpatine became The Supreme Chancellor. I on the other hand had taken steps to mess with Palpatine but I had just one more thing to do in the Naboo conflict.


    On a trash planet called Lotho Minor, I picked up an interesting ally that hated Palpatine and would go to incredible lengths to destroy or make him suffer. I couldn''t allow such a great tool to go to waste. Darth Maul was still alive, broken but I was just the ally he needed at this moment.


    I wasn''t able to get everything I wanted, like the fact that I wasn''t able to talk to Padme as much as I wanted to and maybe curve the reliance she had on Palpatine or save Qui Gon Jinn from his death but some of these things were unstoppable. At least I had Darth Maul in my hands, he will make a fine and willing tool for my collection.

 Chapter 63

Chapter 63


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 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64


    The war against Count Dooku and his Confederacy of Independent Systems known as the Separatist Alliance against the Republic was in full swing. General Grievous had already been introduced and had won several interesting battles, he fought against Jedi and won in their chosen favourite weapon. He wasn''t skilled but he attacked in many different directions at once and overwhelmed his opponents.


    The Jedi was in full battle mode. Jedi were given the rank of Generals and their Padawans had commanders. It didn''t surprise me that the Jedi would use children as soldiers, they had been doing it for thousands of years. Anakin was a full battle-harden soldier at this point. A scar over his eye and a fake hand that came with the duel with Count Dooku.


    The Clones had been completely integrated into the army and fought hard for their Jedi masters. I felt a little wary whenever they were around me. The stories of loyalty and bravery meant little to me as I knew at the drop of a hat they would turn on the Jedi and kill them. I didn''t want them around me.


    With the war continuously taking lives and destroying starships I joined the war as a privateer. I became a Dreed Pirate that would snatch whole starships and disappear without a trace.


    My first mate called out "Sir, there are three Separatist ships transporting materials to the Cybot Galactica and Industrial Automaton"


    I looked over to the young boy. Boba Fett had lost his parent on Geonosis and was alone when I found him with his father''s armour. I picked him up and made him my first mate as the Dreed Pirate. He would become an instrumental piece in the future. I also picked up the Kaminoan, they did great work creating the Clones and their data made the Carosite medical species dance with glee. Both of the species would do wonderful work together and a whole water planet was given to the Kaminoan in the Grove to protect them from the war. This would make Darth Maul very happy as he had spent the last couple of years hobbling in anger about how his legs and waist were attached back but not perfectly. There was no doubt in my mind that with these two species working together and with the dark powers of the force, they would fix Maul almost new.


    "How many escort ships do they have" I asked my first mate Boba Fett.


    "Two, sir" answered Boba.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Three transport ships being protected by only two escorts, very fishy "What messages are they sending to each other"


    A droid answered "None, sir"


    Very fishy. The fact that they might be running silent right now was a possibility but there weren''t even incoming messages to the brig. It was a trap.


    "Good, detonate the mines on the far side of the moon as they pass" I ordered.


    "But sir, that won''t do any damage" replied Boba.


    "Just do it" I ordered.


    "Yes sir" called out the droids.


    The explosion caused a ripple that washed over three of the transport ships and both escort ships.


    "What are the comms saying" I asked


    "Nothing, sir" replied the droid


    There was no message calling for help or telling the ships to continue, stay or regroup.


    "I''m calling a full-on retreat to position five quadrants 6" I ordered


    "But sir" Boba pleaded "They are easy prey"


    Boba Fett wasn''t the only one he thought that they were easy pickings. An expensive Republic Battlecruisers position them selfs to take advantage.


    Boba slapped the counter he was at in frustration.


    "Control yourself first mate" I yelled "I want at least double the distance from them"


    The Republic Battlecruisers released a barrage of focus fire on the escorts disabling them within moments.


    "How is our stealth" I asked.


    "Complete sir" answered a droid.


    I wouldn''t be a Dreed Pirate captain without my stealth ships. I might be an extremely powerful force user but I wasn''t the best pilot, I had to put my life in other more capable hands and that wasn''t enough for my liking, stealth was the bare minimum if I was to do this.


    A vast shock wave of light caused the viewer''s screen to blank out in white.


    "Turn to infrared and electromagnetic wave length screen" I ordered


    The screen flickered and then showed a devastating scene. One of the three transport ships had exploded and damaged the Republic Battlecruisers. The Battlecruisers was floating at an odd angle but I could tell it was still salvageable but not after the second transport ship rammed into the Battlecruisers and exploded taking out a third of the ship.


    Unfortunately for the many lives on the Battlecruiser, separatists don''t take prisoners. The third and last transport ship carefully positioned itself to cause the most damage it could and exploded destroying the Battlecruisers and everyone on board. For the low cost of five dirt-cheap ships, the separatists were able to destroy a much more expensive Battlecruisers.


    I doubt that there was anyone on those transport ships because of the lack of coms and it was properly filled with extremely powerful explosives that could damage the Battlecruiser.


    I didn''t want to watch anymore. I ordered the navigator to take us away. The only noise the brig made as I walked away to my office was the slow hiccuping of Boba Fett and the soft clacking of droids fulfilling their orders.


    Death wasn''t something I shied away from but I had to walk away and check on a message I just received from Jabba the Hutt. He was calling in the favour I had given him. He didn''t laugh in his usual way, the message was simple, to the point and very serious. Jabba the Hutt wanted his child back.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65


    The Hutt species were one of the longest-living species in the galaxy and because of that, they didn''t have the strongest connection with their offspring. Even a well-established relationship could crumble between Hutts if they couldn''t offer anything substantial to each other.


    Jabba the Hutt was willing to exchange a valuable favour from me to save his child, not only that he had told the Jedi and Sith that whoever brought back his child to him would have free passage through his hyperspace routes in the outer rim. That would give either side a great advantage in the war, Jabba must really love his child to offer that.


    The data I was able to piece together told a story of the Separatists kidnapping Jabba''s child under the plans of Ziro the Hutt. Ziro planned that at the time of a rescue attempt, the rescuing Jedi would be killed and the Jedi would attack Jabba. It''s a stupid plan if I ever heard one. The separatist plans were to kill the child when the Jedi attempted a rescue and then pin it on the Jedi. Another quite stupid plan, Count Dooku must have had a brain fart when he came up with this plan.


    I had to move fast, the Separatist and Jedi were ahead of me and they had already made their way to planet Teth. My stealth ship made the journey in good time while I prepared myself.


    Through security cameras, I could see that Asajj Ventress was busy fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi. The security videos showed me exactly where Jabba''s child, Rotto the Hutt was. He was being protected by Anakin and his pupil, Ahsoka. I followed them both waiting for the perfect time. They easily destroyed the attacking droids and moved with good speed. I had to do something to separate Anakin and Ahsoka, they were efficient and nothing the droids did even gave them pause. Interestingly, I could feel Anakin''s feelings, he didn''t protect himself like he should and that was the perfect time to interfere.


    With the greatest control of the force, I piggybacked off his emotions to give him a cold feeling that Obi-Wan was in trouble. Before Ahsoka could dissuade him, Anakin ran towards his old master and abounded to protect Rotto, leaving the baby Hutt in the sole hands of Ahsoka.


    That''s when I took action. With my tec, I closed off doors that Anakin ran through isolating Anakin and Ahsoka. Obe Wan was fighting Asajj Ventress in a tight position while Ahsoka was relatively safe. The force whispered its message to Anakin and he blindly followed with complete faith in the direction the force was giving him.


    With Ahsoka and Rotto alone I made myself known with a small cough. The reaction speed of Ahsoka was something to admire as she twisted on the spot with her lightsaber ready to fight. To be honest, her reaction to a silent being clad in black armour from head to toe was correct.


    "Good day Ahsoka," I said "Let me introduce myself I am Dreed Pirate Captain of the ship called Mirages"


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    "Jabba the Hutt has given me a task to collect his son," I said


    "How do I know that this isn''t a separatist trick to get stinky...Rotto" replied Ahsoka.


    "Hmmmm, good point" I flipped out a symbol of the Hutt council. Ahsoka eyed it but didn''t understand what it meant. Not many people know that a human was part of the Hutt council and even if they did they wouldn''t recognise the symbol of the position, however Rotto did. The small little turd of a Hutt wiggled towards me while Ahsoka struggled to keep him under control.


    I tucked the symbol away and that was when little Rotto stepped up as a Hutt and puked on himself.


    "Little Rotto isn''t feeling well, probably something he ate" I hover a bag of crunchy, buttery maggots towards the Hutt at the great surprise of Ahsoka.


    "Are you Jedi?" asked Ahsoka ignoring the young Hutt ripping the bag apart to get to the highly flavored maggots


    "A little, not much tho" I answered as I took a slow step forward.


    "What do you mean a little" Ahsoka was wasting time, she already knew that there were many different religions and cultures that used the force, and the Jedi and Sith weren''t the only ones.


    I held out my hand "Give me Little Rotto and I will see him returned to Jabba the Hutt and the credit will go completely to the Jedi, I already know why the Separatist did this and who was behind it. Jabba the Hutt will make Count Dooku''s life a little harder"


    Due to my force pulling of Rotto, the rucksack Rotto sat on was causing Ahsoka to dance on her toes. The surprised look on her face caused me a little bit of delight.


    Ahsoka was great at saber fighting but her force powers were a little undeveloped. Ahsoka unhooked her bag and grabbed the bag with her arm giving her the much-needed room to use her feet.


    All of this activity didn''t change Rotto''s hungry nature and his grabby little hands didn''t stop shovelling maggots into his gaping mouth.


    "Stinky, stop eating those, they could be poisoned" yelped Ahsoka.


    As Ahsoka''s attention was fixed on Rotto I drew my blaster and fired at a corridor, the time it took the blaster bolts to travel was enough time for a couple of droids to turn the corner and get an energy bolt cleanly in the head, all five of them.


    To Ahsoka''s great credit, she was calm and collected, her lightsaber held fast and undisturbed. She will make a great duelist when she gets older but right now I couldn''t spend time complementing her technique.


    "Ultimately, you cant be sure that this isn''t a trick to capture Jabba the Hutt child to use him against the Jedi," I said "But search your feelings ask the force and see if you can sense any deception, I know you Jedi believe in the force more than your own mother"


    Ahsoka was looking a tiny bit guilty, she wasn''t that way inclined in the force and did things on instinct. Luckily for her, that had made her a good padawan and an excellent survivalist, perfect for this kind of work.


    "I can''t let you have Rotto, I am responsible for him" said Ahsoka


    "Then come with me to Jabba the Hutt and drop the young Rotto home," I said


    "I need to tell my Master first and he will want to come with us," said Ahsoka


    I stared at Ahsoka with my blank black armour, it made her visibly uncomfortable. Without any screen to show my face all she had to work with was the emotions that rolled off most people but even that was as blank as a sheet of ice.


    After a pause lasting no longer than ten seconds I answered "You can come but your master has too much darkness in his heart, a man like that will turn on his family let alone a passing dreed captain like me, he has to stay away from me"


    I reached out with the force and to Ahsoka''s great surprise, she was lifted off her feet and hovered beside me. I held Rotto while stroking his head pouring a little healing juice into him to counter the slight fever he had. The simple child slug only answered with a green burp that wafted in the air.


    And that was how I kidnapped Ahsoka so I could claim Jabba the Hutt''s son.

 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66


    On the stealth ship Mirage, I held Ahsoka captive in the sweetest prison there was. I offered her a comfortable setting and rich food, but she declined. Ahsoka spitting with anger like a wild kitten, she promised that her master would find and avenge her. I sat with her throughout the trip to Tatooine because she was very good at escaping.


    Ahsoka was a pro, She didn''t stop asking me questions and trying her best to dig some information out of me. The only times she wasn''t asking questions were when she spoke briefly to Anakin through a coms and when she witnessed Rotto getting force-healed by me.


    Most Jedi and Sith had ways of Healing themselves when wounded but to heal others took practice, control and an understanding of the body that would rival doctors. Ahsoka was having a day of surprise.


    It was one thing to understand your own species'' body to the degree of a doctor and another to understand a completely different species. I was showing just how well I understood healing by causally healing Rotto.


    I patted Rotto on his back and caused him to burp and puke on my legs. Instead of a stain on my legs the sick floated to the trash can and was vaporised.


    "Hungry," I said to Ahsoka "Well, even if you''re not, we are" I stood and went to my kitchen with Rotto. I pulled out ingredients from their containers using telekinesis. Each piece fell perfectly on the counter, each piece was sliced using floating knives. It was an impressive sight but an old trick for me.


    Ahsoka''s face was like stone but I could sense how impressed she was.


    "Should I teach you a little about the force?" I asked


    "I have a master" explained Ahsoka


    "And a powerful Jedi he is but not a good teacher" I replied.


    I moved away from the counter with its blades chopping and bowls stirring, and I sat opposite Ahsoka with Rotto on my knee. His wandering hands grasped anything they could get their hands on.


    "Go to sleep, go to sleep.." I softly spoke as Rotto slowly stopped his grabbing and rolled up in my arms.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "You don''t need a master to learn and you shouldn''t stop learning from your surroundings even if you do have a master"


    Ahsoka didn''t say anything so I continued "Fine, you have a master, then just listen and watch" I showed Ahsoka the three themes of force abilities. Control, which the Jedi used for inner abilities like self-healing but I used it for every force ability I had. Then it was sense and then Alter which I showed off by force-lighting a hovering knife.


    I had limited time to teach Ahsoka so I concentrated on something she already knew but could make better, Telekinesis. I showed her how pushing and pulling was only the start and that a creative mind could make weapons of her surroundings but also shields. I pointed out that her wonderful agility and movements could be enhanced by pulling yourself on an anchor point. A clump of earth could be broken and used to fire small stone projectiles and rip shields apart. Small tricks.


    Why was I showing her skills like this, I felt sorry for her.


    You see, I hardly knew anything about Ahsoka. I only knew what the movies had told me and Ahsoka wasn''t part of them, which means she was dead or imprisoned or had left the Jedi. She seemed like a good kid despite being a child warrior. So I pitied her and taught her a few pointers, all the way to Tatooine.


    I have never seen a Hutt so excited to see his child when Rotto was handed over by Ahsoka. The young slug was equally happy to be in Jabba''s embrace and it brought a tiny bit of warmth to this cold galaxy.


    Ahsoka said her words of peace about Jedi inclusion and cooperation that no one in the room believed for a second but Jabba the Hutt was a Hutt and kidnapping his son had to be punished. The Jedi and the republic would gain access to Jabbas hyperspace routes in the outer rim to deal with the separatists.


    I had to remind Jabba that my favour was complete and I would need my coin that signified my promise back. Jabba gave me a fake coin that I quickly shot at a retainer of his who was about to argue for Jabba''s honesty and majesty. Jabba laughed again and handed me my real coin which I pocketed.


    I said my goodbyes and promised to send a couple of ships of delicacy on life day to Jabba. I kept Ahsoka close to me as hungry eyes peered through every corner of Tatooine that would snatch her away.


    Entering the port, my skipper ship was waiting for me "This is where we part young Jedi" I said


    The surprise on Ahsokas''s face was delightful, I do enjoy bullying the weak.


    "Wait, you''re not sending me back to Coruscant" Ahsoka almost whined at me.


    "Why should I" I asked


    "I protected Sticky and brought him back to his dad" Ahsoka protested.


    "And you were rewarded for it with free access to Jabbas hyperspace routes" I replied "You didn''t do anything for me"


    "Y...You kidnapped me" answered Ahsoka.


    "I kidnapped Rotto, you came with him because of responsibility" I answered again.


    "Anything you believe I''ve done to you has been paid back with my valuable time and masterful teachings" I explained.


    Ahsoka stood there hands on hips, anger rolling off of her. I took pity on her again "I''m just kidding, I will drop you off on Coruscant"


    And that was how I met Ahsoka Tano.

 Chapter 67

    Chapter 67


    The war is coming to a close, Count Dooku was killed by Anakin. I thought the fact that Anakin''s mother was alive would cause Anakin to curve his killing urges but he still cut Count Dooku''s head off. I can''t say he will be missed, the stupid idiot prattled on about equality and justice while knowing that his master was playing both sides of the war. Count Dooku had a legitimate reason to distance himself from the Jedi but he caused so much harm and solved nothing.


    On the other hand, I am unhappy that poor General Grievous met his end at the hands of Obi-Wan. I used to think the general was just an angry cyborg who loved to kill but throughout the years I learnt that the galaxy had done him dirty.


    Grievous story started when an alien race called the Huk invaded his technology-undeveloped planet to enslave his people. Somehow Grievous and his people managed to fight back, get better weapons, take over the Huks spaceships and take the fight to their planets.


    When the Huk started to lose they ran to the republic for protection despite slavery being illegal. The republic fought Grevous people using Jedi and embargos and staved them to near defeat.


    In my opinion, the Republic and the Jedi were in the wrong here. They attacked a defending people, and the Huk used their political power to scam everyone to their side. Somehow, the Jedi couldn''t sense the Huk''s deception. Not only that, when the Republic was told about the Huk''s complete shittyness, they still didn''t release the blockade. Grievous and his people were starving because of the Jedi and the Republic.


    I didn''t care about the embargos and planned to send Grievous people food and medicine but before I could finish the delivery Grievous had signed up with InterGalactic Banking Clan so his people had a say in the republic council. Grievous sold himself so his people wouldn''t die.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Over the years his body was replaced and even his brain had cybernetics installed. At this point, it was too late to save General Grievous and use him as a tool for my benefit as his mind was gone and he only fought for the separatist. I could have made him into a wonderful pirate captain but I was too late, if only I knew more about him before the change.


    On the other hand, I had gained a name for pirating. My Dreed pirate captain persona had a mega increase in reputation. The separatists were scared to enter certain areas of space because of the missing ships that I took. Careful planning and selective raiding meant I never allowed my victims to get messages out. Ships that crashed into planets or asteroids due to bad piloting were chalked up to my Dreed Pirate persona, even though I did nothing.


    Darth Maul had gone and did his own thing and started to take over a little bit of the underworld. He wasn''t subtle about what he was doing but I told him that if he stayed away from Obi-Wan and Skywalker then I would help him out. He didn''t like that but I repaired his legs and gave him back the ability to walk so he followed my orders... for now.


    Ahsoka had completely left the Jedi, she was accused of murder and instead of the Jedi doing an investigation, she was tossed out, later she was proven to be innocent but still didn''t return. The stupidity of the Jedi and the Masters leaves no doubt in my mind that they are blind to their own evil deeds.


    Anakin''s mother, Shmi Skywalker was doing very well, she owned her own bar. Due to Hutt''s protection, she had no enemies and even the criminal aspect of Tatoonie didn''t mess with her. I hoped that with Anakins mother still being alive she would stop Anakin''s dive into the dark side but the son didn''t visit his mother and I''m not even sure if he knows if his mother had been freed. I feel like saving Anakin''s mother was a dead end and it won''t result in anything special.


    Talking about possible changes to the timeline, Padme might be the person to concentrate on if I''m to change Anakins behaviour.


    I''m getting to the point of great nervousness because I''ve just gotten information that Anakin has been elected to the Jedi Council but doesn''t have the title of master. It''s now only a couple of days away when the Jedi falls. This is the time to manoeuvre my piece for great gains and hopefully, a way to talk Anakin into a better path. If not maybe I could sow a little distrust into his thick mind and poison the Empire''s new toy.

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68


    I''m waiting, waiting for the perfect time to act. Right now, I sit on a homemade chair made from scraps. Hundreds of my Ausra droids surround me, waiting with me. I carefully watch a security feed coming from my coms. It''s difficult to judge the perfect time to strike. The time frame is all over the place, and I''m not sure when Palpatine will strike the Jedi.


    The point I''m looking for is Master Windu''s confrontation with Palpatine, that will be the time to make my move on the Jedi. I wait and receive a message from Yoda, it''s not unexpected as I have sent him a message warning him about the clone troopers. A simple message that tells him not to trust them and separate himself and his fellow Jedi away from them. The reply I got was one of confusion, I didn''t explain but sent him a schematic of the inhibitor chip. I''m pretty sure Yoda already knows about them but even if he knows he doesn''t understand just how overwhelming the chips are. It won''t matter how many battles the Jedi go through with the clones, they will betray them with a single order. The honour and trust the Jedi have built with the clone troopers mean nothing when order sixty-six comes.


    I wonder if I should tell him what I''m up to. After a couple of seconds, I send a simple message. "Vision of the Jedi temple being raided, position myself to take advantage"


    Quickly Yoda sends me a message back but it''s not one I expected. No questions, no force debate, just permission to do what I may and a long overdue favour he calls in. The favour is so vague I wonder what he wants me to do but I realise he wants me to do as much as I can without hindering me. Yoda doesn''t know what''s coming next but he knows I was right about the clone war, Yoda doesn''t dare ignore my warnings and for some reason, he trusts me despite delving into the dark side of the force.


    I didn''t have to wait long, just a further two hours and I witnessed Master Mace Windu enter the lift leading to the supreme council. Now was the time.


    With a quick gesture of the hand, the Asura Droids fan out and take action. We are under the Jedi temple in the lost part. It was the only way I could enter the temple with this many droids and get away with it. We climb up into the temple and position ourselves.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I was here for the Jedi treasures that they had collected over the aeons, the Jedi holocron cubes and also a certain someone who would complete my Jedi knowledge, Jocasta Nu, a Master of the Jedi Order who served as the Chief Librarian of the Jedi Archives, a person who wielded many a lost tomb.


    Me and the Asura droids slowly used my old hidey holes and background cleaning droid corridors that I once used as a kid. None of the Jedi sensed me or the threat that was coming to them. As I witnessed the Jedi doing their thing I had to acknowledge Palpatines perfect way he blocked the Jedi''s Force sight abilities. Even now I''m not sure how he did it, how was he able to not only block the Jedi council masters ability to sense future trouble but also every Jedi throughout the galaxy?


    That''s when I started to feel it, the death of many Jedis throughout the galaxy converging at one point in time. It feels a bit cold and the flash of pain and fear coming from the dying Jedi isn''t new to me. Back in the Brotherhood of Darkness days, every war had Darkside users die with their light side causing a similar effect. However, I can understand how someone like Yoda would have a hard time getting over this sensation, it''s possibly the first time for Yoda to feel such death in the force.


    I shake it off and wait for the attack, the perfect time to start my plan. I don''t have to wait long as I can feel the anger of Anakin rolling off his mind when he attacks the Jedi temple.


    Almost without hesitation, he kills a couple of Jedi with the help of his clone troopers. It''s at this point my Asura Droids attacked, not the clone troopers but the librarian of the Jedi Archives. They stun them and steal all of the Jedi Holocron cubes. This was why I was here, to steal the Jedi holocron cubes but there was also the area the Jedi kept Sith holocrons that could only be interacted with by the dark side. My droids stole everything whether it be the librarian, book or data pad and after they finished with one part they uploaded my labyrinth computer program that went on to destroy everything left over.


    It was at this point I had to make a choice do I continue to steal everything not locked down or do I fulfil Yoda''s request and favour?


    It''s a difficult choice on my end because once the Jedi start to get hunted, I won''t be able to return here. I chose to keep Yoda happy, there were other Jedi temples that I could ransack but only one Yoda.


    I give the order to my Asura droids to help out the younglings and for lack of a better word, kidnap them as well. I on the other hand have to change Anakins fate a little.

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69


    I rush to the youngling''s training area with three Aura droids behind me. Each of their upper torso is twisting and monitoring the many blaster sounds in the air. They are here to protect me but they are falling behind as I get faster and faster. I see Anakin entering a room, the doors close automatically and two clone troopers stand guard.


    I''m not playing at the moment and instantly kill them. Their helmets collapse on themselves crushing their brains into pulp. They don''t see it coming and both of them drop to the floor.


    I open the door and feel the shooked feelings of the confused kids who have just witnessed Anakin Skywalker, the war hero and chosen one threaten their life with his lightsaber but I also feel that Anakin is just as shocked by the state of the clone troopers behind me.


    Anakin was sharp and clear when it came to battle, he could see that the dead clones had been killed with brutality, something a Jedi wouldn''t do. He points his weapon at me as I am the most dangerous enemy here.


    The younglings don''t know what to do, Anakin hasn''t attacked them yet but each one knows something is deeply wrong. I on the other hand have a complete jet black armour that looks evil but the younglings feel better around me.


    I have my hand on my slugthower weapon. Both of us are silent and judge each other, probing with the force. Unfortunately, it is Anakin who speaks first.


    "Dreed pirate of the starship Mirage," he says quietly under his voice.


    Ahsoka properly told Anakin about the small amount of time I spent with her. It''s not like many people could afford such armour as mine and Anakin guessed correctly.


    "The one and only" I reply


    "Why are you here" Anakin barks out


    "I''m taking advantage of a bad situation created by a dumb shit" I answer.


    Anakin twitches forward ready to attack but I show him something that causes him to pause, a dead man''s switch.


    "This, my stupid friend is a detonator that is connected to my pulse" I lied "It will explode when I get too excited or I lose blood or if I die, in fact, a light jog might cause it to detonate"


    Anakin reached out and tried to force-pull the detonator out of my hand.


    "Hey dipshit, you know I m force aware too" The force pull washed over my hand doing nothing.


    "The explosion will kill the younglings" Anakin had the balls to say this when he was so close to killing them himself.


    Anakin dashes towards me, he doesn''t care who he hurts at this point. His thought process is one of hurt and kill, it''s the only way he could kill children without second-guessing himself. His blade slices down as I pull my slugthrower out of its holster.


    The blade is stopped by my own lightsaber. Orange lightsaber vs blue causes Anakin to be surprised. Anakin was focused on my slug thrower and didn''t realise I had a lightsaber. I quickly kick him in his side causing his metal hand to crumple into spare parts when he used it to block the kick.


    It''s safe to say that Anakin is a great master with the lightsaber, he was taught by war and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the master of masters for form three but Anikin wasn''t a master in hand-to-hand like me. A single punch from me could brake stone and when reinforced with the force I could snap steel like it was a twig. Anakin was able to keep his ribs from breaking because he had a great survival instinct to block my attack with his robotic hand.


    Using the striking force from my kick Anakin created distance to save himself from further attacks. This didn''t help him because I pepper him with slugs. Anakin was a lucky son of a bitch because he flipped a table over to protect himself. The table slowed the bullets enough that they no longer did piercing damage to Anakins reinforced body but I didn''t let up, even if the bullets didn''t price Anakin they bruised the hell out of him and caused Anakin to be shepered away from the younglings.


    My Asura droids caught up with me and scooped up the younglings. Anakin was caught between a rock and a hard place, I didn''t give him a place to hide and escape. Anakin tried to cut the floor open so he could escape but I held the newly cut floor up with force abilities.


    Poor Anakin gave me a deep death glare with his new yellow eyes he sneered at me as I juggled him around with bullets and force powers. Two clone troopers tried to attack me while I was dealing with Anakin. I kill the clones by using invisible lightning. Anakin only witnessed the clones drop down dead like it was a command but he didn''t hesitate to throw his lightsaber when he thought I was distracted. Anakins plan for his blade to cut me soon failed as the lightsaber bounced off my armour. My amour had many materials reinforced into its design, one of those materials was the Mandalorian steel that easily defended against blaster fire and lightsabers.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Anakin tries to call his weapon back but I pull as well. I can feel that Anakin has a lot of pure power and talent but there''s a negative side to using the Darkside, one that a new Darkside user doesn''t understand. I take advantage of his new power.


    If I had to say which side of the force I knew the most of, it would be the dark side. I don''t even think Darth Sidious knows more than me but I might be wrong about that. I easily piggyback on Anakin''s emotions and speak to him through his mind.


    "What would Shmi Skywalker think of you right now"


    Anakins grip with the force wavers enough for me to snatch his lightsaber away from him.


    Anakins blade flew to my hand and I collected it.


    The anger that rolled off Anakin was thick, he wanted to kill me and his anger was egging him on, the only thing stopping him was his mother''s name.


    "You really are a stupid and unfaithful son, you haven''t visited your mother in years," I said


    "What do you know about my mother" Anikin shouted at me "You know nothing"


    "I know more than you, after all, I was the one who freed her and orchestrated her life," I said "While you trained you forgot that your mother was a slave and even after you joined the Jedi you didn''t go back to free your mother despite having the wealth and power to do so. You forgot your mother...but I didn''t"


    Anakin gritted his teeth "You are an ungrateful shit, even now after finding out that I''m your mother''s benefactor I can still feel your anger and need to kill me"


    I feel his anger change and twist. Instead of being grateful Anakins emotions are twisting trying to find a way to blame me.


    I press forward to stem his thought process. I disturb his thoughts by speaking to his mind as well as talking out loud. "You could be the greatest force user of this generation but you are so stupid"


    Anakin twitches again but without a weapon and my slugthrower pointing at him, he rightly stays still.


    "You joined the Sith, who you have sworn to fight and are fully aware of how evil they are and the reason you did that was because you had a vision that your wife was dying and Darth Sidious promised to heal her despite telling you that he didn''t know how. Am I correct" I say with a mocking voice.


    I didn''t let him answer "You thick son of a nerf herder, you must know that Palpatine has been using the war to fight both sides" Anakin went to say something.


    "Shut up" my voice changed to a metallic-like robot voice "You love Padme and would kill children to protect her but why haven''t you tried to kill Palpatine, the man who has tried to assassinate her"


    Anakins anger skipped a beat.


    "Palpatine has all the power, has set things into motion and now controls the separatist and the republic, completely. It wouldn''t surprise me if he makes himself Emperor but why would you go to a Sith Lord who has tried to kill you, the Jedi and your wife? This is why I call you stupid" My voice steadily returns to its normal pattern and I return my slugthrower to its holster.


    "You are an idiot but even stupid people can learn" I say to a confused Anakin. I feel his emotions and can sense shame and guilt.


    "You have very few choices left, the Jedi won''t want you after this betrayal you showed here and I doubt you have the brain power to make the best choices so this is your first lesson from me. Palpatine isn''t your friend, he will be a bad master who will teach you nothing and have you do his dirty work. You will never be a master under his tutelage"


    I walk to the door that has a single Asura droid waiting to take my order but I''m stopped by Anakins voice.


    "What should I do" he asks in a near whisper.


    "Whatever you do, stay away from me. I won''t have someone like you near me if you so easily betrayed the Jedi who are like brothers to you then I hate to think what you would do to me" I answer but before I leave completely I give him a little advice "your love and muddled brain is the reason you are in this mess. You can''t trust a mind that can''t think for itself so ask yourself this question"


    Anakins ears are twitching for answers.


    "What would your wife want, do you think she would be proud of you for killing kids could she look you in the eye and love a baby killer, always ask yourself this question because you are so very stupid" I drop his lightsaber on the floor, broken from a single squeeze from my hand and walk away to kidnap some unexpecting Jedi and children.


    The Jedi temple is in ruins. Even with Anakin temporarily frozen from what he thinks he should do and what his wife would want him to do there are still thousands of clone troopers attacking the remainder of Jedi, padawans and younglings overweleming them with numbers. It''s a fact that not all Jedi are masters at deflecting blaster bolts, they aren''t like Obi-Wan or have the ability of Yoda. The Jedi are falling one by one and with each Jedi falling down dead it makes it that much easier for the clones to win.


    My droids are doing a fine job at keeping out of sight. They have all turned into Assassin mode, a mode where if they can''t kill every clone trooper within seconds then they leave and find other Jedi to kidnap.


    I wish I could persuade the Jedi to come with my droids peacefully but there is limited time, and effort spent persuading a single Jedi could be used to save three Jedi by stunning them. Some Jedi are skilful enough to dodge or deflect stunning shots but only to their great misfortune. If stunning doesn''t work on the first shot then a combo precise shot at all four limbs at the same time causes them to crumple in great pain.


    My droids know what they are doing and a lot of pain now will be better than being killed. My ships that were packed with Asura on the way to Coruscant are now sardine-packed with Jedi, I''m not giving them a chance to escape and flood the chambers with a knock-out gas that causes dreamless sleep, a little technique I learnt when I was imprisoned.


    My time at the Jedi temple is at an end, there''s nothing left that I want so I leave.

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70


    The Jedi I captured are stripped of all technology and dumped on a jungle planet in the Grove collection system. I can''t persuade the Jedi that keeping coms silent is in their best interests. I know that every single Jedi will try to escape the planet and return to the Jedi temple, but in attempting to make a connection to the temple, they will give away their position, just like how Darth Maul found Qui-Gon Jinn.


    I won''t even give them a chance to fuck up as I know they will, let Yoda explain to them why they have to go into hiding. I on the other hand will try one more huge change to the galaxy and see what I can do with it.


    I wait on the lava planet Mustafar. Of course, I''m waiting to see if Anakin turns up and fights Obi-Wan. I''m not even sure if he will turn up but I would bet money because Padm¨¦ is here with Obi-Wan Kenobi. I start to wonder if I would lose that bet but a ship with a single life form lands.


    Anakin is raging, something has made him angry. He thinks Padm¨¦ has betrayed him when Obi snuck on board and turns up to confront Anakin. The dark side has corrupted him and he''s still not thinking straight. I know this because he says the stupidest line I ever heard "In my opinion the Jedi are evil"


    I agree that the Jedi are that special kind of scum but to think the Sith was better was straight up wrong. The evils I''ve seen the Sith and Brotherhood of Darkness do aren''t even close. However, I am stumped as to why Anakin still choked out Padm¨¦ and said that line, apparently Anakin can''t handle the dark side of the force, not even a little. Anakin didn''t end up killing any younglings but I guess when you kill the rest of the Galaxy peacekeepers then the look Padm¨¦ gives him is still going to be awful.


    Anakin and Obi-Wan go off and have their fight while I go and check up on Padm¨¦. Padm¨¦ is the reason I''m here, as a politician she was ok. She succeeded in many things like keeping ultimate power out of the supreme councillor''s hands but also failed when she allowed Jar Jar Binks to be manipulated to start the clone wars.


    I wander into Padm¨¦ star skiff and find a medical droid working on her. She''s not doing well. I feel her hope is gone and she has given up. The man she loved and would have followed into the dark side with has tried to kill her and now I feel that she has no purpose. Her life''s work as a politician is gone and just like she said "The Republic falls with a round of applause" is very true and it adds to her lack of hope.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I see her reading on the monitor and witness the expert skill of the droids, there isn''t anything wrong with her body but the spirit is gone. It''s an odd illness as it rarely kills and with time and purpose you can make a recovery but poor Padm¨¦ has just given birth to twins and her body''s weakness is adding to her spirit''s weakness.


    Padm¨¦ is crying, she feels alone and isn''t attached to her kids because she thinks they are safe. I ponder for a few seconds, what I''m about to do feels massively wrong but Padm¨¦ needs a purpose, she needs a kickstart to her spirit.


    I make myself known, A scary unknown person in scary black armour hovers over the newly born children, I say nothing and wait for Padm¨¦ to notice me. The sudden gasps that choke out her crying let me know she has seen me. I turn my head to her while slowly grasping out my hand to touch the baby''s hand. I say nothing, I only feel Padm¨¦''s terror rising.


    Without a single word said I take the children. The medical droid tries to stop me but I deactivate it by unplugging its power supply with force powers. To Padm¨¦ it looks terrifying, she calls out but is out of breath through the crying and giving birth. She pulls herself up and reaches out to me but I don''t answer. Padm¨¦ is desperate, with no weapon she can''t fight back and even if she could she wouldn''t in case she hit her children. Padm¨¦ flops off the table hurting herself but she continues to crawl towards her children.


    It''s a dirty trick but I feel her purpose is steadily coming back. She no longer thinks about her failed politician career, even what Anakin did to her is only lingering at the back of her mind. She reaches out to grab my leg but before she can tug on my armour I grab her hand and lift her off the floor.


    I have her children in one hand and I pull Padm¨¦ up to my face. The shiny black armour shows no emotion and Padm¨¦ is finding it hard to look away. Her fear is high and each moment I feel like she is going to cry again.


    "I will take your children and use them as tools of war" I speak in a human-robotic voice.


    Padm¨¦ sputters out a no.


    "Why not, you gave up on life, why would you care" My words shake her heart.


    Thick tears spill from her eyes and she raises her weak hand to slap me but it has no power. I dropped her like a sack of rocks, she panicked but that turned into surprise when I placed the babies in her arms and picked her up.


    "The second you give up I will take your babies" All of this was a trick that went a little too far but Padmea needs to think that I will do as I say, if not she might give up again.


    I took all three of them and left a message for Obi-Wan under Yoda''s name. Obi-Wan will probably have a fit when he comes back from the fight but fuck him, his idea of splitting the kids up and giving one to a senate member and the other to a moisture farmer is messed up, I''m going to put all of my new treasures to good use.

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71


    Ten years have passed since Emperor Palpatine took command and lots of happened, of course.


    First, the Empire tried its luck with the Grove Collection. They wanted full access to my part of the galaxy but I won''t have clone troopers anywhere near me or my things. When they were denied and told to beat it the forces of the galactic empire tried to strong-arm the grove by sending three newly built Star Destroyers to my borders. They had done their homework and knew about the minefields, they deployed a mass of trash that would trigger the mines and leave a clear path for the Destroyers but unfortunately for them, there were other things mixed in with the mines.


    The Destroyers moved forward to take advantage and invade which was the last thing they did. An old invention I put together as a child tore the destroyers apart. Simple mining pods equipped with lightsaber lasers buried themself into the ships targeting life support, engineering, and navigation ripped the ship apart from the inside out. The fear coming off the ships would feed any number of dark side users until they were full but it was nothing compared to when several scrap ship hauliers started to rip the Destroyers apart without a care for life.


    Comms were blocked and that day three newly made Star Destroyers disappeared. The Empire had to learn this lesson a further eight times, each time the Empire lost dozens of star ships.


    The Empire was a hungry beast that wanted to bite down on the Grove Collection and when direct powerful attacks didn''t work they sent individuals to infiltrate. They were imprisoned in carbonate and were hung as decoration as a warning. The Grove Collection wasn''t playing. Everything from bounty hunters to inquisitors in odd posses were aligned at the checkpoints of the Grove Collection.


    The Empire was at a loss to understand how the Gove was able to weed out individuals but it was simple, I use the kidnapped Jedi as a police force. It would be a waste not to use this Galaxy space wizard for my benefit so I partnered them up with my Ausra droids.


    Jedi are great at finding other force-sensitive beings but are extremely unflexible in snipping unwelcomed visitors, my droids are not. After the Jedi massacre, some Jedi wanted revenge but fully understood that they didn''t have the power any more and those bitter angry Jedi took it out on the invading visitors.


    It took three long years of unwanted visitors to find their frozen bodies paraded for all to see before the bounty hunters refused to take any paying job to venture into the Gove and a further two years after that before the Empire stopped sending their resources to interfere.


    Instead, the Empire put embargos on the Gove with little to no effect it hurt the Empire because while the Empire wouldn''t do business with us, the rebels would.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The rebels needed food and equipment and the gove was able to provide. Ships were supplied by the now legendary Dreed Captain and his lieutenants, Padme and Boba Fett.


    Padme was very good at capturing ships. Boba Fett did what was needed when Padme couldn''t. Padme was the tactical mind that caused victory after victory and Boba Fett stood to attention when Padme couldn''t bring herself to kill. They made a good team.


    Thanks to my unregistered hyperspace routes my team could go where ever they wanted without the Empire''s knowledge.


    The rebels were still weak and they hadn''t found their feet but thanks to my resources they were in better shape.


    Darth Vader was also in better shape than he should have been. The battle in Mufasta ended with him losing his legs by Obi-Wan cutting them off but Darth Vader didn''t land close to the lava that would have burnt him. He still joined the Empire. I think Palpatine still lied about Padme''s death but that was a key piece of information that would come in use later. Darth Vader was hunting for the remainder of the Jedi at a much lower success rate. He would sometimes be successful when Jedi left the Gove to help with the rebels but instead of a kill rate of hundreds or thousands, Darth Vader was only just in the double digits. Without a way to get into the Gove and kill the Jedi who hide there, the Empire worked on its public perception and ways to discredit its vocal enemies.


    It was weak, if Palpatine was able to get rid of most of the Jedi then he could freely say anything about them and why they were traitors but thanks to Yoda and the other Jedi I had kidnapped they were able to save even more Jedis and padawans from execution. The Jedi had never been weaker in the past thousand years but they were still here.


    The propaganda that came out of the Empire bored me, it was shallow at best and easily destroyed by the remainder of the Jedi. I helped in a small way by making cheap toys of the Jedi and dumping them on planets with high populations. Yoda wondered why I did that but he saw the results when young children would openly play with them on the street and act out the legends. A useful bonus to that was the clone troopers who patrolled would see this and arrest children for being traitors. The clones were smart, and they had battle experience but they were ordered by their Inhibitor chip to find the Jedi and destroy them and anyone harboring the Jedi had to be brought in for questioning. Riots happened when younglings were taken away by the troopers, the propaganda halted as individuals children were taken away and their parents fought back with everything they had. Somehow, recording all around the galaxy showed what the Empire was doing.


    Yoda looked at me with contempt "Know this would happen, you did"


    "I hoped it would but you never know with one hundred certainly" I answered "Either way it would have resulted in a good boon for the Jedi. Either take the toys by force and have to explain why grown clone troopers are kidnapping children or leave them be and watch the next generation make the Jedi into heroes, win, win"


    "Despicable, you have become" muttered Yoda


    "I was always a dick, it''s just fortunate I never pointed it at you, stop your whining and tell me how many coins you can keep afloat while using lightsaber forms"


    "Three" answered Yoda while he tried to wipe his head of the mental picture of dicks


    "That''s..... good enough" I say while holding out three shield projectors each the size of a coin.


    It''s time for a lesson.

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72


    Yoda is considered a grandmaster and is the head of the Jedi. When it comes to lightsaber forms, he is the master of masters, but I''m the master of cheese. I will use whatever I can to win. I will cheese myself to victory, and Yoda is my apprentice, but so are a couple of others.


    I''m not a typical teacher. Instead of one apprentice and one master, I will take any number of students as long as they are talented, lucky, or hardworking. Yoda doesn''t like this, but he and the Jedi order need as many capable hands as possible to teach the next generation.


    My students are a nine hundred Yoda, a pair of ten-year-old twins and a collection of Jedi and padawans. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses, however, I don''t teach the best ways to use a lightsaber because there is Yoda for that, I don''t teach how to connect to the force for everyone is different and unique and to find their own way is the best way, what I teach is to cover weakness with strength and hide strength with weakness.


    In my lessons, I concentrate on telekinesis because that force power is simple and can cover almost anything your enemy throws at you if you have enough creativity and imagination.


    I show my new coin-sized shield generators to the group and offer a demonisation. A small chubby hand is raised with gusto and waves back and forward to be picked.


    I pick them up with telekinesis to show off and place the ten-year-old Layla in front ready.


    "Attack me," I say


    Layla doesn''t hesitate and swings a wooden sword at me. Each strike is intercepted by a coin that projects a small shield no bigger than an adult hand span.


    Despite not being able to get through the shield, Layla doesn''t stop striking. I become bored and lay down on my side. Layla is trying her best by standing over me and whooping her weapon down. She changes her angles but the coin follows and I suffer zero damage.


    "This is boring," I say as I lift the other twin with telekinesis to join the fight. Luke joins his sister swinging his weapon and instead of adding a new coin to combat the extra weapon I redirect each weapon using deflects and parries from the single shield coin to cause wondering swings to get in the way of others.


    I pull out a chocolate bun and take little bites as the twins start to get hit by their own deflected weapons. When they start to cry I make them stop. The bruises they get instantly change colour and begin to heal as I fix them. With a light pat on their heads and a chocolate bun in their hands, the twins are whisked off the floor by my telekinesis.


    "What use is a shield that big" asks a padawan.


    The poor kid witnessed her master getting gunned down by the clone troopers and now has a bit of an anger management issue. I don''t blame her, that''s what happens when you isolate your emotions and then have a sudden life-changing event that you can''t adapt to. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I look at her with a little sympathy and a lot of cheekyness. I want to rub the fact that if the Jedi had these little shield coins then the blaster fire from the clones wouldn''t have killed so many Jedi but that wouldn''t be right and may cause the young Padawan to be hurt and do a silly thing like trying to hurt me.


    I lift her out of the group just like the twins before and place her in front. "Attack me"


    The Padawan looks shocked and nervous, her eyes dart over to my Asura droids. They are ever present and ready to protect me at a single notice. The padawan still remembers three Asura droids gunning down twenty clone troopers in seconds and then pointing their weapons at her to knock her out to save her. She learnt that I was the master of these killer droids and has become immensely warry of them.


    It''s been ten years since the horror at the Jedi temple and even tho Yoda has vouched for me I''m still not looked at with trust but that''s ok, this kind of distrust will probably save their life if properly trained and honed.


    The padawan is lifted back into the crowd and I nod at my droids. Two of them replace the padawan and attack me. I tone down the difficulty of the droids so the rest of the apprentices can see what I''m doing.


    The two Asura droids fire their blaster at me and the shield coin blocks one while I move out of the way of the other. The younger apprentices are impressed but not the Padawans and Jedi. A further nod causes a new pair of Asura droids to join the attack. I release a further five coin shields and block all the shots. The droids start to move around to get a better line of attack. I stop moving altogether and the coins are deflecting the shots to each other and hitting the droids at odd angles that can''t be defended from. The droids suffer little damage due to the armour built into them. The blaster fire stops as the droids switch their energy blasters for slugthrowers. The bullets rattle on the shield like rain on a tin roof but none of them are reflected to sender.


    That''s when I changed the game a little, a single shield coin turns on the side and just like Captain America, the shield is used as a weapon slicing the droid''s weapon in half.


    I stop the Asura droids hoping that my audience has got the picture of how vital the shield coin can be. I just showed how this little toy can be used for deflection, protection and attack by using a simple force power that few use to the greatest effect.


    "But that''s not fair, your speciality is telekinesis" moaned the padawan


    She had one hand on her hip and she was looking away from me like I just irrated her.


    Yoda gave a little chuckle "Many powers he has, but telekinesis isn''t his speciality"


    "What is his speciality then" said the annoyed padawan


    Yoda looked at me with anticipation. I turned away from her and clapped my hands "Illusions" and as I said the word that spread out and echoed off the walls the room warped and changed colours.


    The sudden gasps that came from everyone showed how mind-boggling this was. Every one of them uses the force to protect their mind from manipulations but here is a forest where a room was once.


    "I don''t...I don''t understand" muttered the padawan


    It wasn''t just a visual illusion but sound, touch and smell all told them that they were in a sweet-smelling forest filled with life and movement. The trees were dancing in the soft breeze, and rays of light broke through the canopy to cause the padawan to frown as it directly invaded their eyes.


    "Telekinesis was the first thing I learnt and it helped to keep me alive until I developed my speciality. Without telekinesis and the many tricks I developed, I wouldn''t have grown to my point now. Learn the basics, adapt them to serve you and survive. Living is war and you need all the tools you can get, whether it be telekinesis or a shield to block an unexpected attack. That''s what I teach, survival.


    The illusion disappears and the group are given their own shield coin to use and adapt into a new weapon for the Jedi.

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73


    The shield coins are a great success. Easy to make and cheap with the only major cost being the energy it uses,  a useful tool for the Jedi. Several tech-savvy Padawans have modified the shield coins as explosions or stunning electricity currents. Some of the Jedi have adapted to using protective shield bracers, it''s the same idea as the shield coin but bigger and attached to the arm. After the death of so many Jedi, they realized the benefits of energy shields. It''s about time. If the Clone Wars told the Jedi anything, it would be that battle droids have amazing energy shields that could protect them from return fire and lightsaber attacks. Unfortunately, the Jedi didn''t learn that lesson until it bit them on the ass. I, myself, have an amour that is laced with all kinds of tricks and survival tech, not the least energy shields.


    I go out of the Grove and make life a little hard for the empire. My favourite thing apart from stealing ships and selling them cheaply to the rebels is to purposely get captured, sent to a maximum security jail and bust everyone out.


    It''s not even hard to get clone troopers'' attention. I can just sit out in a park eating a nice fat sandwich and a trooper with a battle droid will turn up and harass me. They can''t help themself, also they use the captured prisoners as free labour that build their starship components. Prison is the perfect time to upload programs into the components that the prisoners make. This is how I and my team of pirates can steal the empire''s star ships so easily. I simply scan the starship''s identity and cross-checking the serial number gives me easy access to certain areas of the ship by using the corrupted components. It''s a piece of cake to take over a ship when you can overload the life support system and watch the crew escape in pods leaving an unprotected starship. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    My pirate fleet is huge. Most of the starships are piloted by droids who are commanded by a Jedi, who in turn take commands from Padmea or Boba Fett. It may sound odd that the Jedi take orders from Padmea and Boba Fett but they are my right and left hands in the pirate fleet and know how I work. I can''t take a chance the Jedi will do something stupid and show mercy. If the Jedi want to win then they need to take the same playbook as Palpatine and keep their plans hidden. They can''t afford to board ships with their lightsabers attacking everyone until they take over and give the empire further propaganda material showing how crap the Jedis are. That''s why Padmea and Boba Fett are the leaders and the Jedi follow orders.


    It''s not a perfect system because the Jedi are angry at the empire and think they are better generals than they really are. I had to force-choke a young Jedi when he stepped out of line and ordered an attack on an empire''s ship-building moon. Thankfully the droids under his orders knew to cross-check orders and refused the order, which caused the Jedi to go alone hoping my fleet and the Jedi in them to back him up. I literally had to drag him back using force choke, it''s the ability that has the longest distance use and I was able to use it over the cold expanse of space. I should have used telekinesis to pull out some power cables and stall the ship but the Jedi made me angry. I can''t afford my enemy capturing my crew and gaining information on the way I work as a pirate. That Jedi was sent back to the grove so he wasn''t a danger to my pirate fleet.


    The rebels are a mess even with the Jedi helping them but it''s expected because they have little power compared to the amazing might of the empire. The rebels have a good success rate in missions but when they do lose, their most important resources are lost, people. It is too soon for the people in the galaxy to realise how bad the empire is and when the rebels lose individuals they aren''t easy to replace. It might have been a mistake to give the rebels so many ships and resources, they are acting very irresponsibly and losing ships and fellow rebels because they aren''t aware of how little they have compared to the Empire. Only time and loss will teach the rebels how to become better at resource management.

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74


    The Empire is becoming more sneaky. More traps, more hostages, better propaganda. They even found the Grove Collection legal amenities that they have rescinded. The Grove collection is now illegal and an enemy of the Empire. The laws that have been passed do not favour me in the slightest and if the Grove should ever give access to the Empire then I would lose almost everything.


    This has sparked a small group in the Grove collection to worry and work against their best interests so they can get on the good side of the Empire. I make their names public in the Grove and within two days they disappear, most are dead, some of them leave the Grove to work for the Empire but they also meet with a violent end.


    The Empire start a smear campaign on the Grove that brings the collection as a whole down in the eyes of the public but that soon stops when I send Palpatine a little video recording of him approving the death of Count Doku, i repeat the scene of him saying "do it" over and over again, it doesn''t paint him in the best light. It was hard to find video evidence of how evil Palpatine is and I came across that piece because I knew where to find it. If I had the fight scene between the Jedi and Palpatine then this war would be so much easier but wisely Palpatine didn''t have recording devices in his office.


    I do have the video recording of Yoda and Palpatine fighting all across the senate seats but due to the bad images of the video recording and the fact that Palpatine always had his hood up I couldn''t use that as evidence that he was more than meets the eye.


    However, this isn''t enough for me, I think Empire Palpatine has to suffer a little and what better way to fucking with the Empire than helping his apprentice.


    Darth Vader isn''t hard to find, you could go that extra mile and set up a Jedi honey pot, which I did. Predictively, Palpatine sends Darth Vader to investigate an abandoned Jedi temple that is rumoured to have a powerful artefact. The rumours were spread by me and I waited for my guest to turn up.


    Darth Vader enters alone like the little proud force user he is. I am waiting for him and technically alone if you don''t count the droids hiding under rubble or hanging from the roof.


    The surprised feeling and sudden spike in anger I felt from Darth Vader let me know that he was not expecting me.


    "Good day," I say in my computerised voice.


    Vader pounces forward with his red lightsaber at the ready, it''s a shame that he is much slower than he once was, robotic legs that can''t use the force just can''t keep up with me.


    I jump back and slowly hover back to the ground creating distance.


    "How are you and your master" I ask with just the smallest amount of humour in my voice.


    Vader throws chunks of falling debris at me which I turn into sand and it drops to the floor.


    "Have you learnt a lot from your master, or has Palpatine failed to teach you like I guessed" Only now does Vader pause


    "I can see that he hasn''t even repaired your missing limbs, brutal" I point to his legs.


    Hope wells up in Vader''s heart, something that has died for many years has been causally awakened due to the want and need to have his legs back.


    "How can you repair something that is lost," Vader says in that wonderful Darth Vader voice.


    I talked to him like he was slow and stupid "You can grow them back like you would do a clone and graft your new arms to your own body. Haven''t you seen the bafta tanks that are used for enhanced healing, shit, its harder to graft a metallic robot hand to living flesh than just replacing flesh on flesh"Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    The only noise from Vader is that hard breathing, something he doesn''t even need as his skin wasn''t badly burnt.


    "I understand why Darth Sidious didn''t want to repair his weakened apprentice but you know all of this and didn''t think to heal yourself, you fought in the Clone Wars and must have known about it. Time hasn''t made you smarter" I rub the insult further by putting a finger to my temple and twisting it about.


    Anger and shame vibrate off Vader and he raises his good hand and releases a stream of lighting. It''s strong but isn''t controlled well, it spilters apart causing much destruction over a large area. I counter with my lightning, it''s thinner than Vaders because I know how to use it. My doppelgangers have expertly experimented with it and know it looks like laser beams.


    Vader''s lighting is cut at its root just a couple of inches away from his hand. That''s the power of control, I''m able to demolish a much more powerful ability with a less powerful skill.


    Darth Vader has little to be proud of but his force abilities are something he can lean on and yet, being unable to overwhelm me cause a doubt in him. It doesn''t make him feel better that I''m using my abilities without effort.


    Hate replaces anger. Vader hates how much better I am at using the force.


    "Soooo, you killed your wife" I casually say. Vader dashes towards me fully intending to strangle me to death. I do him dirty and force-pull his legs away from him. That''s the beauty of using force powers on unprotected robotic legs. The hate in Vader''s heart is replaced with pain in his crotch as I split his legs away from him.


    "Did your master tell you that Padme is dead and you killed her in anger, your stupidity knows no bounds" I yank his lightsaber away from him and crush it in front of his eyes.


    "What would you do if Padme and your children were still alive, do you think they would be proud of you and want to be with you, or do you think they would be ashamed of you and curse you"


    The hope in Vader''s heart is blooming and his mind is tumbling all over the place. Just the mention of his wife causes great emotions, which is enough for me to piggyback off and into his mind.


    Darth Vader''s vision clouds over and all he can see is an image of Padme. He stumbles and reaches out to her but she falls back afraid. Vaders black armour falls off and he''s at his peak. No scars, no missing limbs, just Anakin Skywalker. On his knees, the young man cries and reaches ever more towards his love. Small pattering feet cause him to wipe the tears out of his eyes and focus on his children who join Padme.


    Now and only now does Anakin feel ashamed of his actions. For so long he has chosen to ignore the effects of what he has done and pushed the guilt down in his stomach but seeing his wife and children cower away from him causes painful guilt.


    My voice echoes in Anakin''s mind "Has Palpatine said anything true, has he taught you anything? Your master orders you to kill children, ruin your brothers and turn the galaxy on its head just to earn himself power. Everything he has told you has been distorted by lies and fear that he would lose power. You know what I say is true, you knew when you told the Jedi that Palpatine was the Sith Lord. You knew when Palpatine begged for his life when master Mace Windu redirected the Siths own force lightning back in his face. The Sith aren''t your friend, they can''t help you and they wouldn''t even if they could"


    The image in Anakins mind changed to the Brotherhood of Darkness wars against the Jedi and showed some of the evil things that were done. Padme and her children cowered into a ball as lightsabers and lasers lit up the area. A long line of Sith masters revealed themselves starting with Darth Sidious and then Darth Plagus all the way to Darth Gravid each one''s face distroted with dark energy and glowing eyes, each one dead by their apprentice''s hand.


    "When you are Sith, there are no happy endings. You can rule the galaxy and be alone like Palpatine or you can fight for your happiness and be surrounded by family and love" I say


    "In my opinion, the Jedi are evil" I hear Anakin say under his weak breath.


    I want to shake the shit out of Anakin for saying something so stupid "Then don''t join them, if you have to be connected to the force then find your own way, a way you won''t feel ashamed of and will allow you to have the family you desire"


    "How do I know you tell the truth" he pleads to me.


    "You don''t but understand this, everything I''ve told you up to this point has been true, Palpatine will use you until he finds something better and if you do not change then you won''t be able to redeem yourself in your children''s eyes" I answer.


    "What about Padme" Anakin''s hope is at an all-time high


    "........I don''t think that there is anything you could do to redeem yourself in her eyes. Too much death and destruction over her precious senate, too much death over her friends, too much shame and anger to swipe what you have done under the rug" I answer with honesty.


    The illusion fades away and The armour-clad Vader is on his knees, alone. His head slumped forward, not moving an inch.


    "Fix your body and then when you are ready fix your soul, only then will you be able to look your children in the face and witness some pride in their faces"


    I disappear from the room and leave Darth Vader to himself. I''ve done what I can to persuade Darth Vader to change sides. I hope the rebels can get a double agent like Vader working against Palpatine, only time will tell

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75


    The big day is here when the calendars are set to zero and a new galactic date starts. The rebel fleet is well-equipped and ready to attack the Death Star. The date is sooner than expected because Vader has been giving the rebels information that has led to their great victory, which has led to more effort being placed on building the Death Star.


    This will be an easy victory. On our side, we have several Jedi Generals ready with their expertise and experienced fighters. We won''t have to rely on one force-aware child to make the impossible shot through a vent leading down to a reactor; we have any number of Jedi who could do that.


    The fleet has expensive shield generators, weapons tailored to punch holes in defences, and auto turrets that fire on fighters.


    My stealth fleet hovers in place ready to give support. I have been given the rank of Admiral but I know it''s just pretty words as I''ve never been given any pay, in fact, I''ve used up a lot of wealth just to get to this point.


    On the Empire''s side, they have an incomplete Deathstar that isn''t nearly well enough protected. A shield generator on the planet the Death Star revolves around is constantly shielding the incomplete weapon. There are more construction vasals than Empire destroyers. The biggest problem is the Death Star isn''t complete enough to give it one hit, the guts of the weapons are incomplete and won''t cause the whole thing to explode, but at least there aren''t nearly as many tie fighters about.


    The rebels attack in a typical wedge formation allowing for support and retreat. A good start, it was better to be over-prepared than to be overconfident. The start of the attack was to judge the defence of the Death Star and the shield emitting from the planet.


    Just like we thought, the shield generator needed to be removed. I insisted on taking command over this part of the attack, it had the greatest chance of success without loss and with my fleet, it would be a breeze. My fleet held position over the planet while I used the force to pinpoint the best place to attack. My droid crew made no noise as they waited for my command and even the two viewing screens that connected to Boba Fett and Padme star ships made zero movements as they both watched me waiting for their commands.


    "Scan these coordinates," I say to my crew.


    The crew came back to life and with that so did the soft clacking of metal fingers pushing metal buttons.


    "Admiral, scan complete. Bunker at coordinates" answered a protocol droid.


    "What is the energy output of the bunker" I ask


    "Negligible" answered the droid.


    The force can be distracted and blocked but only if you use the counterpart of the force. I''m using all of the force, dark, light, grey it''s all the same to me. If the force tells me that this is where the shield generator that protects the Death Star is hiding then it most likely is.


    What would I do if I wanted to protect a shield generator bunker, I would hide it by redirecting the energy omitting from it. I would make the bunker look like it was just a simple, wasteful, broken-down bunker that couldn''t possibly have any use.


    "What are the life signs like, include thermal and electromagnet with the life scans" I ordered


    "Inconclusive," a droid says


    It wasn''t difficult to block scans but you needed good technology and manpower to do so. It was massively suspicious that I couldn''t scan a broken discarded bunker.


    I ordered three ships to come out of stealth and rain down a hail of fire from orbit.


    "Scan communications" I ordered.


    "Nothing" answered a droid.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "Stop the attack and fall back into position" I ordered


    This was the place, I felt it in my stomach and the force. There was no way in hell that a bunker with enough staff to block scans from a starship wouldn''t ask for help from their allies or beg for a ceasefire from whoever was attacking them but there was nothing. They were hiding and doing a fine job of it, it was likely the bunker went deep in the ground to avoid damage from orbit firing and only the first couple of layers were destroyed.


    "Fire the bunker busters missiles" I ordered.


    Missiles were the poor man''s weapon in space battles. Unbelievably slow with any number of ways to block or detonate them before they managed to deliver their payload, but this wasn''t space battles.


    My bunker buster was a simple design that pierced the ground at high speeds and didn''t explode from the excess force because there was a high-powered lightsaber crystal attached to the nose of the missile. The laser softens up the ground to let the missile go further than before. Without the laser, the missile could go ten to twenty meters into the ground before exploding.


    The first missile entered the bunker area and slipped into the ground. A few seconds later the earth bulged a little as the explosion caused waves to wash across the surface. A second missile followed the first and caused a bigger bulging of the earth than the first.


    That was when I intercepted a message coming from the quiet bunker, a message of extreme distress. Now we were getting somewhere. I pause to watch the starship placements on my screen and see two destroyers peel off the Deathstar defence to position themselves here.


    That was enough evidence for my fleet to release twenty bunker-buster missiles in a chucker board formation on this unimportant bunker, after the third collection of missiles the shield generator that protected the death star fizzled out of existence, and with our mission complete my fleet disappeared before the destroyers could counter-attack.


    The rebels were having a much better time attacking the Deathstar. Without shields and complete armour, each attack ripped a tiny piece of the huge weapon away. The only thing they had to worry about was the enemy starship and tie fighters but they managed.


    It was then at the cusp of victory that a new fleet of Empire starships appeared. The panic I feel from the rebels is thick and they break formation to escape. My fleet is relatively safe as they can''t be seen.


    I wonder if Empire Palpatine used the unfinished Deathstar to bait the rebels to attack. It would be a risky and costly move but it seems to be paying off. The rebels are fleeing in all different directions and the Empire is concentrating fire on the flagship. There is a small cluster of ships that the Jedi have taken command of who are protecting themself and trying to rally themself into position but the fleet flagship is probably going to be destroyed.


    "Permission to intercept and take command," asked Padme.


    "Denied, stay in position" I ordered


    I turn to Padme''s screen, I feel her emotions and can sense she is coming to a decision.


    "Don''t forget about your children and what I said about making them into tools of war" I warn her.


    I can feel her worried mind relax a bit, she doesn''t believe me. It has been years since that day when she crawled to my feet to stop me from kidnapping her children and in that time she has only seen me teach her children and protect them. Padme knows how vicious I can be but she doesn''t believe I will turn that on her children.


    Padme wants to protect the rebels, she had to witness her beloved Republic being twisted into the Empire that it is today and she doesn''t want to see that again. Padme has friends in the rebel, both Jedi and normal, she has made relationships by dealing, selling and fighting with them, and she has built a comradeship with them that is strong that only being in near-death situations can grant, she doesn''t want to see that come to an end. All of this I can feel.


    "If the fleet flagship falls then it will become harder to destroy the Deathstar" Padme says


    "Yes it will, stay in position" I reply


    "If the Deathstar isn''t destroyed then it will become a weapon of mass destruction that may destroy the Grove Collection" Padme says


    "Do not mention that over coms" I snap at her.


    Padme is visibly shaken by my outburst of anger, she hasn''t felt my force anger before and mentioning the Grove over coms was a mistake I won''t forgive a second time.


    "If the rebels are destroyed then there won''t be anyone to buy captured starships" Padme quickly says as she shakes off the fear I installed


    "There is always a market for cheap starships, if the rebels don''t buy then the Hutts will" I answer with just the smallest hint of anger in my voice.


    Padme is losing hope as she watches the flagship, she is on the verge of doing something stupid. She flinches with every shot that hits the flagship, and then it happens.


    Padme ignores my orders and places her ship in between the flagship and attacking starships. My Fleet is equipped with the best shields and weapons money can develop and her ship takes a whopping but is still intact. My anger is at an all-time high, not only has Padme disobeyed my orders but she has put my fleet in harm''s way. Now the enemy knows without a shadow of a doubt that there are stealth ships in the solo system. With one stupid move, she let the Empire know that the reason their ships disappeared without warning was because of these stealth ships. All the starships in the system feel my anger, the defending Jedi are hopping on their feet because of my anger, the empire ships are pausing in their attack not knowing what the hell they feel, and the fleeing rebels are burning their fuel to escape sooner and Padme is returning fire on the Empire''s starships.

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76


    I''m not talking at the moment. Anger rolls off of me like waves and the starships are like little islands that those waves brake on. Captains feel sick from my rage and anyone with a weak will throw up in their mouths. My anger is well placed because while Padmea may want to save lives and the hope of the galaxy in the form of the rebels she has in fact tipped my hand. I know there''s a second Deathstar in the early steps of creation, I was hoping to attack that one as well when the empire had put enough resources into it that it would hurt them when destroyed but at the same time be easy enough that my resources aren''t depleted. Now the Empire will hide the second Deathstar and develop counters to my stealth ships. Padme has cost the galaxy many more lives than she has saved today.


    I''m super tempted to force-choke her back into position, but that would be a mistake. My anger is still there, but I''m thinking about the cost of battle. Should I get involved? My fleet has seven starships, minus the one taking a kicking. I suppose I better join the fight. The cost of attacking the second death star means I need the rebels, and I can''t just hide building up my power because of what Padme has done.


    My fleet first attacked with the bunker busters. I wouldn''t use them in space, but my six starships still have the element of surprise in stealth and can get close enough to deploy the missiles. Armour and shield-piercing missiles excel at opening attacks, and the Empires starships that are attacking Padme are drifting damaged in space.


    Padme has dragged the Rebels flagship towards the Jedi clusters. I''m making a nuisance by positioning myself behind the damaged Empire ships and using missiles mixed with laser fire to pepper them with damage. I''m attacking their sensitive parts and then activating programs that cause my enemies'' ships to fail. As the Empire engineers try to fix their ships I mix illusions into their heads. At this distance, I can''t do much but what I can do is change the perception of colour and that is enough to cause more problems that would take time to fix.


    "Go, go, go" I use my mental abilities to send a message to my hangers. Sixteen starfighters rush out of my ship and fly in different directions. Each one heads for a starship. Two of them are destroyed but the other fourteen find their mark. I wince as the starfighters turn to vapour and debris


    "This is why I hate star fighting, you have to be skilled and lucky to even survive the most mundane fights," I thought to myself


    The fourteen starfighters are not dog fighters, they aren''t here to whittle down other starfighters, their job is to get aboard and damage the starships from inside.


    "Boba, deploy the sonic mines" I order


    Boba Fett does as he''s told and while thousands of mines rush out of our ships, I close my eyes and peer into one of the starships that the fourteen starfighters boarded.


    I see through the eyes of one of my Doppelgangers and see his actions. He jumps out of his ship and deflects several blaster shots. Almost immediately the doppelganger slashes into the electronics using his lightsaber and dives into the circuitry. Covered by wires and delicate electronics my doppelganger rips and tears anything he can get his hands on. Every now and again he burst out of a wall like some horror story to rip and tear the flesh of an unexpected crew. This was the most cost-effective way of destroying a starship, once the doppelganger was on board then it was near impossible without another force user to stop him.


    Dopplangaers know what I know, their force abilities were just as controlled as mine, their only weakness was they couldn''t recharge force abilities. The more force they used, the quicker they would disappear as they, themselves were only a force ability but I and my doppelgangers solved that problem with the dark side of the force ability called Drain force and Drain life. When a doppelganger became weakened through the excess use of the force it would drain what it needed from my enemies around them. It was brutal and something I made sure not to show anyone alive as the fear it caused made allies and enemies alike hate you and even sometimes attack, but for war like this, it was perfect for my doppelgangers. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Each one sliced their way to the most important places of the ship and placed explosives that detonated taking everything within the room out, then they would move on to the next area.


    I pulled myself away from the doppelganger and focused on the space battle. The mines were deployed and being used efficiently as a barricade against starfighters. The enemy tie fighters rushed to take their shots at my fleet only to be monentary surprised when the mines magnetic locked on to them and explosed. The other tie fighters thought twice about attacking my fleet.


    The Jedi starships came under Padme''s command and they reformed their lines to attack the Deathstar. They only had a certain amount of time before the might of the Empire would send fleet after fleet to counterattack. I was left to deal with the Empire''s fleet which was a daunting task as the enemy outnumbered me ten to one. Thank the force that the Deathstar wasn''t even halfway complete or the Empire might have thought it was a good idea to protect it with thousands of starships instead of the sixty-odd they had here.


    Not sixty starships but fifty-three, seven of them just lost their command thanks to my doppelgangers bombing the bridge. I felt one of my doppelgangers being sucked out into space. This would have been the end of any normal force user but I and my doppelgangers were decked out with armour, technology and force abilities. My space doppelganger had the survival abilities that I had and it pulled itself through space using broken ship parts to land on a mine. Quickly, it pierced the mine and ripped out the detonator and then used force choke on a passing tie fighter pilot until it was close enough for the mine to magnetic lock onto the ship. My doppelganger tossed the pilot out and flew the tie fighter back to finish its job on the starship.


    One of my doppelgangers fought a pale-looking inquisitor, it wasn''t a close battle. My doppelganger sucked the inquisitors dry and continued. Another doppelganger took over a start ship and rammed it into another pushing it into the mines. Each doppelganger had the flexibility and cheese I had and they used it with great success but they were alone on a vast starship, each one would take time and I was alone dodging and attacking the Empires fleet.


    Ten of the Empire''s fleet peeled away from attacking my fleet to defend the Deathstar. Now I was in a pickle, my hands were full with the attacking fleet, with time and luck I could cause enough damage to make the empire think twice about attacking or I could just leave but Padme''s newly formed Jedi fleet would soon be surrounded.


    It was now or never, I didn''t want to reveal this tactic as it had gained me so many capture ships but without the rebels and the Jedi it would have been increasingly harder to destroy the second Deathstar so I used the dirty programs that I had infected the empires ships with. Not all of them were affected but enough that when activated it caused six of the empire''s ships to stutter in space. With only four of the starships active, they waited for support that a futher ten starships joined them.


    Thirty-three starships would soon be twenty-odd as more and more fell because of the doppelgangers but I needed a different tactic or the rebels would lose


    And that''s when I ordered one of my starships to evacuate all crew and piloted the vessel with telekinesis. It wasn''t hard, it wasn''t like I was fulfilling all the crew''s duties, I just steered the ship into the minefield I made. The mines latched on but didn''t detonate, every square inch of the vessel was covered in mines and it was used to ram the starships that went to attack Padme''s ships.


    Ramming didn''t cause enough damage to incapacitate a single starship but the release of the mines spread out causing a vast area to be surrounded by mines that detonated to cause sonic waves to ripple out and incapacitate the other ships. It wasn''t enough to destroy even one starship but it granted time for the destruction of the Deathstar.


    The Deathstar didn''t have the explosive power stations that would explode when destroyed but it did have a mass that was now compromised and the Deathstar fell into itself as a implosion.


    I felt the pain of many lives being lost as the Death Star collapsed on itself. I have felt this feeling a couple of times before and let it wash over me. There was no point in fighting it and it was a better idea to accept it but to those who had never felt something like this it was shocking, even Yoda felt dizzy when a good chunk of the Jedi was killed due to order sixty-six.


    I wondered if Padme was cheering instead of reinforcing the ships and helping me with the remaining empire''s fleet. A victory like this could swell the heads of anyone and cause them to forget that the battle wasn''t over.


    I couldn''t rely on Padme to help me. I used a very dirty trick, I used the pain and suffering of those who had just died to mess with the attacking Empire starships. I transferred the feelings over to their command and felt their minds turn to mush, many thousands dead screaming out for peace towards the captains, there was no way in this galaxy that they would be mentally stable after that. It was nasty but I had to protect myself and attacking the head of each starship with a newfound resource called the pain of thousands was something I would do and did.

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77


    The celebrations that followed the destruction of the Death Star were unwarranted in my opinion. I left to do some paperwork that needed my attention and as I took off my helmet to hang it up Padme entered my office. She was flush in the cheeks from the yelling, hugging, and celebration but pale on the forehead, now she found herself in front of me.


    Padme thought it was best to ask forgiveness and came to me before I had her sent for, but I wasn''t in a forgiving mood. I looked at her and my eyes flashed yellow several times, something that Padme caught and quickly closed her mouth.


    I pulled off my armour and placed it away, every now and again I would look back towards Padme with my eyes flashing with anger.


    "You have ruined everything," I said to Padme.


    She didn''t say anything but I could see drops of sweat rolling off her brow. She wasn''t worried but angry and she was holding it back.


    "So many lives will be lost due to your actions today," I say as I kick off my boots.


    "you are wrong" whispered Padme


    "AM I?" I yelled at her


    Padme''s courage built up quickly which bypassed her reasoning and made her mouth brave. "Our fleet was saved due to my actions and it gave us a possible way to attack in the future"


    "Do you think the Empire is gone because you defeated a starbase, do you think the Empire won''t make another death star and hide it better? I never thought you were this stupid. As long as Empire Palpatine exists the Empire will never fall, he has all the power and the only way we will defeat him is if we have a hidden hand that can be used to attack him" I spoke with a chilling coldness in my voice.


    "Without the rebels and the Jedi who will fight the Empire, you" Padme spoke with a little venom and sarcasm forgetting everything I''ve done.


    I sat down on my chair "It''s only a matter of time before the near-infinite resources of the Empire find a way to detect my stealth ships and make a counter, that means no new ships for the rebels. My covert and deception allowed for the capture of starships and made the Empire afraid and wary of attacking the rebels but now they know how I do it and won''t be afraid"


    Padme was about to say something but I wasn''t in the mood "Shut up, due to your actions the empire knows about the stealth ships and will become more aware, they also know about the faulty equipment that some of their starships have. You exchanged certain safe victory for the lives of a few thousand and worst of all you put your husband, my informant''s life at risk"Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Anakin..." muttered Padme


    "Yes Anakin, who else could get us the information we need to find such a heavily protected secret such as the Deathstar and its twin"


    The shock of her husband being mentioned as a double agent was quickly pushed to the back of her mind when Padme heard about the death star''s twin. The warmth from her face from the successes of the deathstar being destroyed fleed and her pale skin turned even whiter.


    "You have cost me a lot of pain and the galaxy even more lives with your actions," I thought hard about my next action. There have to be repercussions to Padme actions.


    "You are excused from my fleet" I waved her out of my room.


    "Wait, just because I went against your wishes and broke formations to rescue our allies? Can''t your ego find..."


    I don''t allow Padme to continue with her self-righteous bullshit speech. I slam my table causing the legs to buckle and splinter.


    "I RECUSED YOU AND THE ALLIES, I FOUGHT BACK THE EMPIRE SHIPS AT THE COST OF MY POWER, I REVEALED MYSELF AND MY SECRETS TO SAVE YOUR LIFE. ALL YOU DID WAS WADE INTO AN ATTACK THAT YOU WOULD HAVE LOST IF I WASN''T THERE AND LET THE EMPIRE KNOW MY TACTICS" My anger was rolling off me as I spoke causing Padme to sway on the spot


    I controlled my voice so I wasn''t shouting anymore "Ultimately, the Empire knows that I''ve been stealing ships using stealth ships and will counter my tactics, this means fewer ships for the Rebels, less firepower for them and more deaths. If the Empire is clever then they will make the connections that the Grove is the main benefactor of the Rebels and will act accordingly" My knuckles are tightly wound up and clicking through the pressure I''m placing on them as I clutch my fists into rage balls.


    "You swapped a thousand lives for my secrets and protection," I said


    "Are your secrets worth more than a thousand lives?" asked Padme with a little stubbornness. She turned on the spot to leave but didn''t move. She wasn''t going to get the satisfaction of storming off after saying her piece.


    I held her in place using the force and turned her around to face me "My secrets have saved more lives than you have seen" I glared into her eyes "My secrets saved the Jedi that are your friends and allies" I stood and causally pushed the heavy table away to reveal a straight path to Padme "My secrets fed the masses and armed the rebels" I walked up to her "And the worst thing is.....you know this and still trying to explain away your actions by trying to make me feel shame for my inactions"


    "You are not cut out for piracy," I said


    "Thank god for that" replied Padme


    "You did more good as a pirate than you ever did as a politician, indirectly saved more lives and fulfilled more people through my orders and made the galaxy a safer place using my secrets"


    "Your instincts to protect your friends caused you to act but your ego is causing you to think you were right despite what you know to be true."


    I lifted Padme''s blaster from her holster and tore it apart "If you want to play General and be in charge then you also have to take responsibility for the lives you send to their death, you will no longer be in charge of my droids or the ships they command. Become a leader and realise that with each death you cause, it could have been saved with my secrets"


    I don''t allow Padme to talk back anymore and whisk her out of my room like a parlayed ghost. The door shuts and Padme is free to disobey others orders.


    I can''t use a tool that works against me. I thought she understood how I worked but human minds can work against their best interest. Now I had to search for the second Deathstar... if it exists.

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78


    Searching for the second death star was a bureaucratic mess. In a galaxy far, far away a single moon-sized space station was like a grain of sand on a beach. Usually, I would follow the money and use my labyrinth program to search the mountains of data to find the beast but gone were the days of The Republic and the ineffectual spending that would spread throughout the senate. Now were the days of massive mega projects like starship builders and mining projects that could only be staffed by thousands of prisoners. I followed several dead ends that led to a huge amount of cash spent on new energy shields. Now the Empire was mostly united they could afford to spend a lot safe in the knowledge that anyone who tried to siphon credits would have the complete attention of terrible people. I didn''t even know if the second Death Star had started to be made. It was unlikely as the first Death Star was just a shell but I wasn''t sure.


    I''ve been alive for a thousand-plus years and throughout those long years I had tried to keep the timeline intact so I could gain benefits but now there were only twentyish years left of what I believed would happen. It didn''t matter anymore. The timeline was close to finishing and one of the death stars had been destroyed.


    Without a clue what was now going to happen, I relied on my intuition and decided to create a mess of the Empire so I could get a reaction and maybe follow it for useful info.


    The time for protecting the timeline is over, now was my time.


    My old world didn''t have spaceships or intergalactic travel. There were no space wizards or gigantic creatures in space. My old world had basic technology compared to the Empire but there was one thing my old world dwarfed the Empire in, and that was cruelty. In all of its forms and infinite flavours, my old world had taught each citizen that they were expendables while promising with crossed fingers behind the back that each and every person had rights that were protected by god and the government. All lies.


    I took a little joy in introducing new propaganda to this galaxy. Without the worry of keeping the timeline together, I interfered. Prisons that held the guilty and innocent alike lost their power and miraculously opened their cages with just a little fiddling. Public transport became unmanageable and inconsistent with the smallest tweaks in programming. These small interruptions wouldn''t gather the attention of Palpatine but in some ways it made me feel better.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    A nasty but useful trick I liked to do was to find useful and creditable efficient people who ran the Empire''s needs and wire huge amounts of stolen cash to their accounts. The response of the Empire was always over the top and shallow when investigating. They would destroy the innocent individual without much care into finding the truth and ruin a useful person that made the Empire work.


    Tactically targeting people with cash wasn''t the only thing worth doing. Simple honey pots were also highly effective. Threatening people with their dirty little secrets resulted in the Empire''s secrets being revealed.


    Forcing the Empire to punish innocent competent people helped to show how evil the empire could be. Most only saw the public transit running on time or the lower amount of wars being broadcasted on the news and they were happy but now they knew better as each person that was brutally punished was shown for all to see. The public didn''t care that the rebels were being hunted and destroyed, as long as it wasn''t them but they did care when normal people were kidnapped from their homes and never seen again. The Empire tried to blame it on the rebels but images of Empire troops were broadcasted to the galaxy.


    It was a nice bit of work on my part. Having the rebels fight the empire alone was inefficient but having the public question everything the Empire does was another form of battle.


    News stories were broadcast about people being unjustly imprisoned and forced to work at the risk of death and never able to leave, even when their time was up. Interviews from escaped prisoners found their way to the masses, stirring up sympathy.


    This was the softer side of what I was willing to do to the Empire. The other side, the much darker side would turn the stomachs of the public and may cause Yoda to lecture me for hours. Every single dark thing the Empire did I would do better. Every assassination attempt by the Empire was met with not only the assassin but the employer as well strung up brutally tortured and killed. The galaxy was running out of murders for hire as the consequences of killing the wrong person were full retaliation. The galaxy became oddly peaceful as the local psychopaths had to choose between getting paid or staying alive. My Asura droids didn''t have that problem. They were killing machines that used everything at hand to make sure of a successful kill. They were so skilled that they would wait days outside the hull of a starship waiting for their prey and then just detonate them out to space and disappear in the cold void of space. When you didn''t need air, food, light or company there were any number of truly unique ways of killing.


    All of this was just a side project while I searched for the second Death Star. My irritance at failing was soon discarded when I decided to attack the source of my problems, Palpatine. Unlike a potentially non-existent second death star, Palpatine consistently gives his position away. It was obviously a trap but one I was able to navigate thanks to Vader.


    I only had to get ready, plan for my encounter and make sure I was able to escape if everything went tits up.

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79


    Palpatine has pretty good instincts. The old devil can''t touch me with my cautious behaviour and ever-changing nature, but that doesn''t mean he hasn''t placed traps. I know they are traps because of the way he has set them up.


    An example would be when he broadcasted the capture of three hidden padawans and announced their trial and execution hoping the Jedi would come and rescue them. The old dog hadn''t captured any padawans, they were just some criminals who had murdered and raped but the citizens didn''t know and didn''t care, all they wanted was their deaths.


    It was all a lie to generate unreasonable hatred toward the Jedi and the rebels. Yoda was worried, but I calmed him down by promising to do something.


    Yoda was pleased until he found out what I did. I had the fake padawans executed before their trial could take place with a nice set of timed explosions. The mess that it made caused the public to be disgusted and Yoda wasn''t too pleased either.


    Yoda bitched at me in that annoying broken speech way.


    "More and more the dark side path you take"


    "Darkside, Lightside it''s all the same" I answer with little care.


    "Hearing disturbing stories about you, I have. Killing innocents, I have heard."


    "In a roundabout way, but only when I need results"


    Yoda was about to say something but I didn''t care.


    "This time there were no innocents, just three murders. With these unexpected deaths, there will be any number of discussions and arguments on what happened and no one will know the truth. The Jedi''s limited reputation will be protected and the public will find any number of convoluted stories to explain what happened. No one apart from Palpatine and us will know what truly happened. The longer we say nothing the more ridiculous it will become and never the true answer will rise to the surface. And the best bit is we won''t have to do a single thing extra to spur the madness on. It will become an argument where the truth was lost and no one will care to find it, the only thing they will care about is being right and proving others wrong" I rub my hands together.


    "A mess that sounds like," said Yoda


    "Very much so" I answered "The truth and lies mashed together with extra servings of pointless info that will branch off to other questions that have nothing to do with what originally happened. It will become such a mess that Palpatine will never be able to use it without covering himself with shit"


    Yoda looked to the floor and shook his head "The dark side is in politics.


    "Now you''re learning," I say with glee "In politics and reputation, you either swim in shit and get it done or stay clean and become ineffective"If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Yoda shakes his head in disappointment "Not the way of a Jedi, way of the Sith it is"


    "You are correct, I am always surprised when the Jedi involve themselves in politics and war. The Jedi should separate themselves away from governments and stay as a peaceful religion, concentrate on good works, bend the will of the people to see you in the best light and take advantage in changing laws to benefit yourself and your allies"


    "You use the Jedi as a police force, hypocrite you are" says Yoda


    "I don''t pretend to be anything other than me. I know what I am, I do things that benefit me and most important of all I don''t pretend to be a Jedi. It''s too hard to be a Jedi. Too many rules contradict each other. Too many rules that make life more difficult than it has to be. I am who I am, and the Jedi shouldn''t be involved in so much death and corruption if they want to be seen as a peaceful group"


    "What is the answer then" asked Yoda


    "Unfortunately, there are no solid answers in this galaxy. If the Jedi did nothing but good works, the hidden Sith would have wiped you out.......or they may have left you completely alone. The rules of the Sith are one of power and control, and they don''t like having to share."


    "Defeating Palpatine through politics may be the answer?" asked Yoda


    I shook my head "Palpatine is stuck in the power of politics like a Mimban tick, there are no ways through politics to remove him. No one who is involved in politics will risk receiving the wrath of the complete Empire to remove Palpatine from office"


    "Defeat him, how do you?" asked Yoda


    "I would have said to outlast him and wait for him to die of old age but that is not likely now" I flipped my personal computer on my wrist open and did some small calculations "Even with a small part of the empire''s resources they should find a way to counter my stealth ships within the year"


    My fingers danced on the screen while Yoda looked down at his cane "The empire will most likely start a brutal campaign of invading the Grove Collection to weaken the rebels within the year"


    Yoda looked up sharply at what I was saying.


    "Within five years, the empire will have cut into the territory and attacked, divided and spread out through the Grove causing many of the inhabitants to flee or join the Empire for protection," I said


    "Counter him, how do you" asked Yoda


    My fingers stop and I flip the screen back closed "You can''t, the problem with fighting a unified galaxy under an evil wizard who has no problems with murdering at the planet scale is it doesn''t matter how many times they fail or how badly they use their resources they will eventually succeed due to chance. We have to be lucky or skilled every time, the Empire only has to be lucky once"


    "What is the answer" Yoda was almost whispering


    "You have to cut off the head, the Empire is too big to succeed under one normal ruler. If you left the Empire in a normal man''s hands there would be infighting, backstabbing, different groups battling for control, and any number of sneaking thieves trying to steal whatever they can, ultimately you get what the Republic used to be"


    Yoda didn''t like that I called the old Republic names, I could feel his annoyance.


    "It was messy but you could work in that mess. However, Palpatine is a scary ruler backed up by an army and magic that defiles common sense, and the worst thing is he can fight. Assassins don''t work when you can crush them before they know what''s happening. Bombs have little effect when the force warns you of death. Getting near him is challenging enough but he has the skill to defend himself and the power to call on thousands of starships to wipe you out"


    "No answer, is there?" Yoda muttered


    "Not necessary" I muttered back "Power is the only currency of the Sith worth protecting, if you affect their power you can move the person into a less favourable situation"


    Yoda gripped his cane hard, his hope was within his next question "What would make Palpatine move to an unfavourable position


    I turned to Yoda with a slightly crazed smile "That, my old friend is the billion credit question"

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80


    What do you get the man who has everything? The answer is simple: More. More wealth, more land, more power. This was what Empire Palpatine wanted. By the efforts of generations of Sith who came before him and the grand experiment of political power of moving pieces around unknown to their dreaded enemies of the Jedi, Palpatine was able to destroy his enemies and conquer the galaxy¡ªwell, almost all of it.


    There was of course the Hutt''s space but Palpatine enjoyed that kind of scum in the galaxy, if he wanted he could destroy them but the amount of pain and suffering they created filled his belly with hot feelings that powered his force powers to no end.


    Palpatine had two major problems, the rebels and the Grove Collection. When he became the emperor he couldn''t believe how much trouble the rebels would cause him. Somehow they were well equipped from the beginning as tho they knew that the emperor was going to take over, and the worst thing was the Sith hated enemies seemed to have survived and allied them selfs with them. Having Jedi generals on the rebel ships was a game-changer.


    And yet even with the force whispering their secrets to him, he couldn''t appreciate how much trouble the Grove Collection was going to cause him. They openly despised him and attacked every change made to the council and laws no matter how small it was. Even when they were voted to comply they conceded away from the Empire. Palpatine was looking forward to crushing the Grove Collection with overwhelming power but it wasn''t so. Every ship that was sent to conquer the Grove Collection simply disappeared. Every spy that was sent was found instantly and hung as a decoration for all to see.


    This frustrated Palaptine to no end. The Grove Collection was like a black hole of information. Who were their leaders, how much power did they have, and what were their plans? Nothing.


    Even the force only gave basic information. Palpatine could see individuals through visions but all of them were small local leaders that couldn''t organize themselves out of a wet paper bag. For years the Grove Collection was a pain in his side until Palpatine received information from an admiral.


    Turns out that Palpatine didn''t have two major problems but one massive complication. The Grove Collection was working hand in hand with the rebels. Palpatine''s mind went still like water. A sudden realisation washed over him. The rebels were well equipped from the start, the saved Jedi. Everything made sense. Palpatines mind flickered as it made the connections and at first slow the rage in his heart and mind flared to warp the space around him, and like any good Sith he directed it at the Grove Collection.


    Palpatine felt like a fool, how could he not see that the Grove Collection was behind it all? The force warned him that there was great danger there but the Grove Collection never attacked out of their system or that was what they wanted him to believe. Stealth ships had been reported.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Palpatine left the throne he was sitting at which caused it to collapse on itself to the raw power. A protocol droid came to drop off some drinks and received the full force of lighting causing the droid to be melted down to slag. The anger almost took physical form as Palpatine destroyed his surroundings.


    Palpatines anger flared once again only to be replaced with annoyance and disappointment when his apprentice entered.


    "My Master..." bowed Darth Vader


    Darth Vader was meant to be the greatest force user born from the force but his actions as a Jedi were mildly entertaining at best and his actions as a Sith were boring and weak. Having a broken apprentice pleased Palpatine as he could feel his pain radiate from him but he was useless. Darth Vader was inefficient as a killer, Palpatine could have counted the Jedis Darth Vader had killed on his hands.


    "Yes, my apprentices" The words almost choked Palpatine as they left his throat. The weakness Darth Vader radiated made Palpatine sick and hate him even more.


    "My Master, a mass of stealth ships have been reported" answered Darth Vader.


    "Good, good.." Palpatines anger calmed down. He was pleased that the investigation and experimentation were already bearing fruit. There was a fatal flaw with the stealth ships that produced a gravitation pull. A single ship wasn''t big enough to collect data and pinpoint the location but when there were enough ships together the gravitation data increased.


    "How many ships are there" asked Palpatine with a smirk on his face


    "My master, it''s estimated to be around thirty to fifty stealth ships and increasing" answered Darth Vader.


    Palpatine paused, that was much more than he expected. The results of the Deathstar being destroyed reported that there were no more than ten stealth ships who engaged in battle but even they were enough to destroy many times more empire ships. The commander behind them was gifted.


    "What are they doing.." muttered Palpatine to himself


    Darth Vader answered without pause "My master, they seem to be staging an attack by pooling their resources together"


    Palpatine huffed, of course, they were staging an attack. Why would you collect many stealth ships together if not to attack? "What is their target, the second Deathstar..."


    "No, my master. They are nowhere near the Deathstar but our military generals are confused at their location, there seems to be no resource or planets worth invading.


    "interesting. What are their location" snickered Palpatine for a second time.


    "My master, they are located on the edge of the Red Honeycomb Zone of the Galactic Barrier" explained Darth Vader


    "IMPOSSIBLE..." screemed Palpatine. The smirk that plastered his face was well and truly removed to be replaced by fear. Darth Vader had never seen his master look so panicked and scared.


    "SEND THE FLEET THEIR RIGHT NOW" ordered Palpatine.


    "Yes my master, which fleet would you like to send.." asked Darth Vader but he was quickly pulled off his knees by the force abilities of Palpatine.


    "Send them all" Palpatine face was just a few inches away from Vaders and it shook Darth how panicked he was. Spittle was running down his cheek and the cold yellow eyes of Palpatine were replaced with the very human eyes of a mortal who was afraid of death.


    "Master, what do you mean by sending them all" Darth Vader asked


    "SEND EVERYONE...." Palpatine''s voice vibrated across the room causing everything to rattle


    "It will be done, my master" Darth Vader left quickly and under his helmet, he smirked with great glee at his master''s panicked face.

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81


    Emperor Palpatine, the Sith lord who came closer than any other Sith to completing the mission of the Sith and taking over the galaxy, was intently watching the battle between the Empire''s fleet and the Stealth ships. It might have been the most entertaining battle that could feed the darkest side of a Sith lord, with the deaths of so many, but not for Palpatine. He was on the edge of his seat, but he wasn''t sure why.


    He was uneasy but it wasn''t the fight that worried him, that was a way of life for him. He was perfectly safe in the first Deathstar, which was almost complete. Palpatine had sacrificed the second Deathstar while it was just bare bones to draw out the rebels, he knew the plans for the Deathstar had been intercepted and did a quick swap to save the better Deathstar. Now he was sure he was safe on his throne inside the fully operational Deathstar but he still worried.


    It felt wrong somehow, something was on the tip of his mind. The force wasn''t clear on why he was feeling this new worry but his gut was turning around and making awkward jumps every time a stealth ship revealed itself or caused an Empire''s battleship to crash in plasmic flames. Palpatine was worried, and yet Palpatine couldn''t understand why he was worried. If he wasn''t scared for his life then what other thing could cause his body to react like this? He was nowhere near the battle and had devoted every spare ship to attacking the cluster of stealth ships.


    Tactically, it wasn''t the best move to wipe out his enemy but something caused him to throw everything he had at these stealth ships even though he knew it was a bad war move. Palpatine would have even moved the Deathstar into position if it was ready to travel through subspace.


    The image Palpatine was watching of the battle fizzled out to be replaced with an officer decorated with badges and symbols that even Palpatine didn''t know.


    "Emperor.." the officer clicked his boots together and slightly bowed to Palpatine.


    "What is it..." Palpatine was annoyed at an officer directly making contact with him


    "Emperor." began the officer.


    "Get on with it..." Palpatine annoyance was quickly turning into a rage at being interrupted at this important time.


    "....There are reports of undisclosed hyperspace travel points openings.....many undisclosed hyperspace openings." explained the officer.


    Palpatine had moved the Deathstar into an asteroid field to take advantage of the resources and protection. It had taken a lot of time just to move the weapon where it wouldn''t be noticed. There were also very few hyperspace routes that led here, which meant he was able to place warships throughout each hyperspace exit. But thanks to his panic, those ships no longer protected the routes.


    "Have a contingent of Tie fights scout the area.." Palpatine began to say.


    "....MMM" The officer hummed under his breath.


    Palpatine was momently stunned at the interruption but his rage began to boil and he raised his hand to choke the life out of the officer. Before that could happen, by instinct, the officer blurted out his message to save his life.


    "The hyperspace routes exits are undocumented and there are hundreds of ships leaving" spurted the officer.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Palpatine raised from his throne "Why didn''t you tell me immediately..."


    The poor officer was damned if you do, damned if you don''t. He was hoping that there was a way to report this bad news softly and keep his life but judging the way the Emperor was gritting his teeth, there was no way to protect himself, and to answer the unasked question the officer''s neck twisted in place.


    "Where in the Chaos or The Void is Vader" gritted Palpatine


    Palpatine wanted to recall all the Empire''s battleships to protect himself but there was a deeper stronger feeling that told him he must continue the attack on the stealth ships.


    The viewer screen showed the Rebels burst through the hyperspace exit unmolested thanks to Palpatine removing the ships that would have defended the routes.


    The Rebels attacked quickly. Thankfully the defence of the Death Star was top-notch and active, whoever took over from the last officer knew to bring the shields up ready for a fight. The barrage of focus fire from the Rebels caused little damage as the energy washed over the Deathstar and distributed across the whole moon-sized shield.


    As a counter, thousands, if not tens of thousands of Tie fighters entered the battle and supported the Death Star.


    A single Tie fighter was nothing compared to a battlecruiser but just like how elephants will run from a horde of bees, a battlecruiser will find its end if not supported. X wings flew to the rescue and started to gun the Tie fighters down.


    Palpatine smacked his lips together as he felt the fear and pain of death floating towards him, and yet, despite the overwhelming numbers of Tie fighters and the superior defence of the Death Star offering him undienable protection he felt exposed. It was then many Tie fighters exploded.


    The dirty Rebels had ejected hundreds of thousands of tons of scrap and trash from their cargo holds, they were taking full advantage that the Tie fighters didn''t have shield deflectors. High-speed vehicles slapping into small metal pieces caused the ships to be shredded. X wings had their own defection shields and could bait Tie fighters into their deaths safe in the knowledge the small floating pieces of metal wouldn''t do a thing to them.


    Palpatine didn''t care if everyone was killed but he did care about himself, with his battleships engaged with the stealth ships across the other side of the galaxy and his Tie fighters running into scrap and killing themselves, Palpatine was running out of meat shields.


    The Death Star wasn''t just a fortress that was only there to protect Palpatine, but a killing machine that would wipe out planets. This were no differences when it came to a target, the Deathstar released its power.


    A single powerful line of hyper-condensed energy shot from the Deathstar and destroyed two battlecruisers and clipped a third, numerous X wings and Tie fighters also met their end. These deaths caused Palpatine to shiver with delight, he was only disappointed that the Rebels had spaced themselves out and the massive super weapon could only do so much with a single shot.


    "Good, good.." said Palpatine as he rubbed his hands together


    The Rebels didn''t falter and continued their barrage of focus firing hoping that they could open up a way to the DeathStar. The Rebels were winning the fight between the Tie fighters but they couldn''t breach the DeathStar.


    A second shot from the Death Star caused a further three battleships to be lost.


    Palpatine was having a wonderful time. The number one pastime of the Sith was collecting power but they also enjoyed picking on the weak and crushing their enemies, this was it. There was no way for the Rebels to reach him and it was only a matter of time before all of Palpatines enemies would be turned to dust. Even the sneaky stealth ships and Grove Collection would soon meet their end with a swift attack.


    Palpatine could feel the despair coming from the Rebels, it brought him joy, until a new hyperspace exit opened up and out poured.....nothing. Time went by and the hyperspace exit didn''t close and the Rebel''s mood increased from no hope to excitement. Something was happening but none of his officers seemed to know what was going on.


    "What''s going on here" muttered Palpatine


    "That, my dear friend is the counter to a super weapon able to destroy planets" answered a mysterious voice


    Palpatine jumped on the spot and twisted around with his lightsaber drawn "Who are you"


    Out of the shadows, a dangerous figure stepped out clad in black armour. At first, Palpatine might have mistaken this person for Darth Vader but there weren''t the usual emotions of hate coming off his mind, instead, it was calm and Palpatine was having trouble reading him.


    "I''m a representative of the Grove Collection, you can call me Bee" The sound of a lightsaber extended to reveal an orange light ready to combat with Palpatine''s red.

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82


    The two parties stood opposite each other. One glared at his unknown enemy with hate-filled yellow eyes, while the other stood calmly with zero impression on his helmet.


    "I can feel your anger, but I also feel that you are confused and have many questions." I was sure that Palpatine was a master of the force and lightsaber, and to make sure I got the tiniest bit of advantage, I would plant a seed of curiosity to make the Emperor hold back just enough to gain an advantage.


    Palpatine eyes darted around trying to find any more enemies.


    "Don''t worry, old man. Right now, it''s just you and me," I chuckled to Palpatines'' great annoyance.


    "Your overconfidence is your weakness" Palpatine twisted his fingers to give a lazy order and the smirk plastered on his face was replaced with further worry and confusion when nothing happened.


    I sighed using the force to cause the air to vibrate. Palpatine might have been impressed that I had such control over the force but a loud crumple metallic sound caused him to raise his lightsaber. A collection of droids fell from the rafters, each one holding a sniper rifle disintegrator. Palpatines hidden assassins were dealt with under his nose.


    "Further questions you have" I mocked Palpatine by mimicking Yoda.


    Palpatines gritted his teeth and launched himself towards me while spinning in circles, using the very same move that killed three Jedi masters. His screams were laced with the dark side intending to disturb my mind and cause hesitation.


    With a swift slice and quick parry, I safely sidestep the attack and punched Palpatine''s shoulder. Both of us had a surprised look, Palpatine''s look came from the power of the punch but also the way I easily ignored his force-power scream. I couldn''t believe how tough the old man was.


    "Genetically enhanced body, not bad" I nodded in approval.


    "You....." Palpatine is on the verge of attacking me with pure rage, something I don''t want just yet.


    "How did I get on to the Death Star when shields are raised?" Palpatine stumbles a little and takes a single step back with that question.


    "Easily" I tap his defences with some lazy fast strikes with my lightsaber "Stealth ships are useful tools to hide from my enemy but a moon-sized base needs food and resources delivered, I just wondered in with stock and forced mind raped the quarterstaff man, it was easy, In short, I came before the attack on my stealth ships"


    Palpatine strikes back with a less-than-full-powered hit, the poor old man is staved for answers and now he''s getting them but at the risk of being cut down. The Sith wanted power and the only other power in the galaxy that could rival the Empire was the Grove Collection, Palpatine needed answers, he needed a way to protect himself from the only other power that could harm him. Knowledge was power and Palpatine was about to get a three-course meal.


    "What is your purpose here" Palpatine angrily barked.


    "Same as yours, protect what is mine" I stab at Palpatine and he flicks over his own shoulders to do a clean backflip that I didn''t know he could doIf you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I nod again "I can''t have a planet destroyer floating about endangering the Grove"


    "This is treason then" spat Palpatine.


    "The Grove was never part of the Empire, how can it be treason" I laughed back at Palpatine.


    I block a furious attack from Palpatine and return the blow with a smooth drawing of my pistol. Palpatine is a great force user because within the first slug leaving the gun, he blasts my weapon with blue lightning making it into hot slag metal. I use the melted scrap metal and force-push it onto Palpatine which catches him on the arm. It doesn''t take a hot second before Palpatine has ripped his clocks arms off to avoid the damage.


    I clench my hand to shake off the electric damage.


    "Not bad old man" This didn''t shake Palpatine and he continued with his force lightning.


    Each blast was powerful and erratic. I was able to pick up an interesting idea that I hadn''t ever thought of before, it came from the unusual power behind Palpatine. Somehow Palpatine was using the abundant energy of the force to empower his abilities making each use overcharged, it was a powerful technique but there was a drawback, once started he couldn''t stop. Lightning flashed from his fingertips and I casually blocked it with my lightsaber. I concentrated on his technique and found he had created a loop where he tied into the surrounding force and connected it to his lightning. Blasting out tons of lightning Palpatine wasn''t using a lot of his power but he couldn''t stop.


    "This technique of yours, is it the reason for your disfigurement" I pointed with my free hand at Palpatines face. By his own doing Palpatines face was rippled with folds and flaps caused by the redirection of his force powers by Mace Windu.


    At the time I wondered why Palpatine didn''t just stop with his volley of blue lightning and protect himself from his own power. Some would say that it was a risky calculating gambit to get Anakin Skywalker on his side but now that I could see that Palpatine couldn''t stop his attack against me. I released he had overplayed his hand at Mace Windu and was begging for help from the only other person in the room.


    I copied the move that had disfigured Palpatine all those years ago. My lightsaber closed the gap to steadily get closer to Palpatine. The worried eyes of Palpatine darted as he moved his head from side to side to avoid the stray bolts from his power.


    "NO, NO, NO, NO..." Palpatines voice croaked. With each "NO" the force of lightning pulsed with new power as he fed his own power into the skill as well.


    The bolts of stray power were now hitting the emperor and his body twitched and spasmed. My lightsaber was about to make the connection with his face when the force lightning disconnected causing me to stumble forward. Palpatine took advantage of this by sidestepping my forward stumble and slicing at my lightsaber-held arm.


    Quickly the Emperor pushed himself away from me to escape a follow-up strike from my lightsaber. Palpatine looked at my arm with great eagerness and expected a detached arm but I was there full in body and spirit ready to continue.


    To answer Palpatine''s confused face I tapped my armour with my lightsaber "Clothes make the man, Good armour protects the man"


    That was the final straw, Palpatine wasn''t interested in fighting to get answers anymore. Coming that close to death had flipped a switch and he was in full fighting mode.


    Rage-induced force abilities warped the surroundings as Palpatine threw himself into battle and continuously swiped at me with emotion-fueled powers and a barrage of strikes with his lightsaber. I had long known how good the Sith were at fighting. The Brotherhood Of Darkness were constantly at war with the Jedi and even themselves and the group as a whole were better at mixing force powers with their lightsaber techniques than the Jedi, and Palpatine was the same.


    In short, Palpatine lightsaber techniques were better than mine and I was put on the back foot as I twisted and turned to avoid strikes. I flipped through the air to avoid a sweep to the legs only for Palpatine to use his power to bring me down sooner than I expected. I stumbled again trying to find my footing and Palpatine followed the route of my lightsaber to guide him down to the underpart of my armour. I knew that if I corrected my footing then I would lose an arm from the unprotected underbelly, so I didn''t.


    I let go of my lightsaber as I fell back. Palpatine lightsaber no longer had a target but I didn''t have a weapon, not after I kicked my lightsaber hilt at Palpatine. The weapon flowed forward to cause Palpatine to retreat and use his lightsaber to block a crazy attack that wasn''t in any book and wasn''t part of any lightsaber form.


    Both of us retreated, readjusted and found our footing.

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83


    Two force users looked at each other, me clad in black armour without my lightsaber against Emperor Palpatine who now held my weapon as well as his own. The vicious angry face of Palpatine had converted back to his smug face.


    "Now what will the great Grove Collection representative do, no allies, no weapons, no power" Palpatine twisted the lightsabers around like playthings


    The Deathstar''s lights turned red and flashed warnings of an attack. The total rebel army hadn''t caused the Deathstar to go into full-on defence, but now something had changed.


    The floor trembled as the whole moon base rumbled.


    Without missing a beat I answered "Now my old enemy, Now it gets interesting"


    Ribbons of lightning rolled over my body and transformed into biting snakes and snapping dragons.


    That smug look drained from Palpatines face like water going down a drain only to leave a pale cold face devoid of anger and ego. The Sith craved power, but this was something Palpatine had never seen before. He had more power but right in front of him there was someone who knew the force better and had greater control over it which made him feel small and wasteful.


    I adjusted my armour so I was more comfortable "Do you feel that" I asked Palpatine through the rumbling Deathstar "That is the end. Right now, your super weapon death star is being conquered by my super weapon killer"


    Palpatine didn''t say a word, he only changed his stance and circled.


    "You''ve made a powerful weapon but no matter how big or strong your creation is there is always a counter, even elephants will run from a hoard of bees" I gestured outside to the hyperspace exit that had refused to close.


    "Hundreds of thousands of itty bitty ships packed with simple directives are passing through and making connections with your Deathstar" I knew the Death Star was coming and had retrofitted one of my Dyson swarms as a counter to the Deathstar. My swarm of energy-collecting ships, no bigger than an escape pod had been turned into a death swarm of exploding tiny ships that now swarmed the death star and detonated causing the moon-sized base to shake.


    "It''s only a matter of time, before you have lost" Palpatine didn''t like hearing those words as he lunged at me but to his great surprise a shield made from lightning rippled as his weapons bounced off. To Palpatines great credit, he didn''t give up but used telekinesis to throw whatever wasn''t nailed down. Lightning shield dashed away all of the projectiles but even that didn''t stop the Emperor as he closed the gap and used twin lightsaber techniques to assault my lightning.


    "How are you so powerful" yelled Palpatine as he leaned against his duel lightsabers against my lightning shield.


    "The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities, some of which are considered unnatural" I mocked using the same words that Palpatine had once used.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    While Palpatine was furious his tactical mind was still intact and working with his powers. With a twist of his lightsaber, he stabbed into my stolen lightsaber and caused an overload that rippled my shield away. If Palpatine thought that this was going to be the winning stroke he was sorely wrong as I started to throw punch after punch towards the now single lightsaber-wheeling Emperor.


    Surprised, Palpatine defended expecting to cause some damage but my fist that could dent steal and crush stone came out unhurt due to the rolling power of my electrical fists. With well-placed strikes, I was able to push Palpatine back into a corner and with a swift sweeping attack to his legs I was able to take the old man''s footing.


    To my surprise, Palpatine used my own move against me. He let go of his lightsaber and attempted to kick it at me. By pure luck he hit my underarm and cut my arm off, he might have gloated but my unhurt arm broke his jaw with a counter. Neither of us would back down and like true warriors we found counters and weak points in everything we did, even losing an arm or having your face crushed.


    Twisting in the air, Palpatine pulled his lost weapon towards him and jabbed it upwards to slice under my helmet. My helmet held against the power of Palpatines lightsaber but he had a focal point where he used his hilt on my helmet and with immense strength gained from the force and the heat from the lightsaber was able to rip half of my helmet off. He was rewarded with a hard roundhouse kick that crushed his arm and caused him to fly across the room.


    Again, we were separated but unlike before we both had suffered injuries. Palpatine crushed arm and broken face and me with my sliced off arm.


    Palpatine pain was great but that gave him more power. A deep growling laugh mixed with gurgles of phlegm and blood pooled in his mouth only to be quickly spat out onto the floor. "Good, good. You fight well. Become my apprentice and we will rule the galaxy"


    My back was turned to Palpatine but my voice still carried "I know more about the force than you, I''m the master...." at this time I decided to use my strongest abilities cleverly.


    My decarded arm floated up to my stump and reached itself, I slowly turned to the amazed Palpatine while my attached arm flexed and my next words shocked Palpatine to his core.


    "....my young apprentice." my face distorted and my height increased, my armour fell away and a heavy cloak sat on my shoulders


    Palpatines face dropped and he almost lost control of his lightsaber. Fear rolled off his mind and his mashed-up tongue became numb. Right in front of him was an image of his long-dead master, Darth Plagueis.


    Darth Plagueis the wise floated off the ground and inched ever closer to Palpatine.


    "This is impossible, i killed you, I KILLED YOU" Yelled Palpatine through the gargling mess


    I knew how Darth Plagueis died and it wasn''t through the skill of the force or lightsaber "Strike me down and I will rise stronger, I can manipulate all life, including my own. When you struck me down in my sleep did you think I didn''t have a way back? Death has no grip on me"


    Darth Plagueis could will the very force to make people live, this was one of the stories that Palpatine told Anakin to persuade him into betraying the Jedi to save his wife so when I lied and told Palpatine that his master had never died and was waiting to get his revenge, he believed it, he believed it with his whole heart.


    At this point, Palpatine was on his ass with his one good arm held up high to use it to protect himself, his lightsaber fell from his grip that quickly flew to my hand. I stood over him, my shadow blocking out his light.


    My hand lowered slowly and tapped his flailing hand away. It flopped to his side to stabilise his body. Palpatines eyes never left my face and the fear was clear as crystal, even when my hand wrapped around his throat and squeezed. Every Sith was afraid, it was the nature of the dark side. The Sith were afraid of losing power, losing ability, becoming sick, dying......and Palpatine was just the same. Fear no longer rolled off his mind, instead it filled his mind. As the air failed to gather in his lungs and his vision went dark, the fear he had caused the galaxy never once popped into his mind, only his fear of dying was there. All Sith are afraid but this one Sith Lord would soon be free.

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84


    When I entered the throne room of the late Emperor Palpatine, there was only one person there¡ªnot even a person but a doppelganger, my doppelganger. I didn''t dare go into the Death Star until I knew the Emperor was dead and the Death Star was out of his hands. Only after my doppelganger had killed him did I enter the scene.


    I had witnessed it all, the fight and death of Palpatine through the eyes of my doppelganger. I could have gone myself, or I could have sent a team of killer droids with my doppelgangers but with the death star having the vent weakness, I thought it wasn''t wise to devote so many resources just in case the rebels received a lucky shot that travelled down a vent and hit the main reactor. Odds like that were the reason that I stayed away but now the enemy fleet was occupied and the world-destroying weapon was in my hands....well, our hands.


    "Difficult fight, there was" explained Yoda as he looked around the broken room and at the even more broken dead body of the now ex-emperor "Crushing the body, necessary, was that?"


    I looked at the twisted remains of Palpatine and nodded "The dark side is full of weird and wonderful abilities. Complete regeneration isn''t a far-off ability if you think about it. Better to be safe than sorry"


    Yoda tapped the mess of a body with his cane "What now?"


    "For you?... I don''t know. The Empire still exists and there will be others who will want to be in charge but you are the Jedi that now has a super weapon. If you use it well then there is no limit to what you can control" I wandered over to the throne and searched over it.


    Yoda eyed me closely, he could feel that I was searching for something but he had no idea. The galaxy''s dreaded enemy was dead on the floor and we were in the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, what else could there be? "Looking for something, you are"Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Yes...I just hope I don''t find...." I stopped and turned to show Yoda what I had found


    "A Wayfinder, you have found" explained Yoda.


    "A Sith Wayfinder" I answered back with a sigh.


    "What does that mean? asked Yoda


    I walked over to the dead twisted remains of Palpatine and pulled out a dagger "Did you ever wonder why stationing stealth ships on the red Honeycomb Zone would cause the Emperor to dedicate all of his spare ships to attacking them? It left him weakened to an attack and would never gain him anything of note"


    "Why" asked Yoda


    I struck down and drove my dagger into Palpatines skull. The stab was so sudden that I felt Yoda jump a little from my unexpected brutalness. As I cut and flicked away skull pieces I felt Yoda become nervous.


    "Every action taken by Palpatine after I stationed my stealth ships made no sense unless he was complied somehow" A long and slow sigh left my lips as I pulled the final piece of information I needed from the corpse of Palpatine. An inhibitor chip. Palpatine was a clone.


    Now it made complete sense. I had hoped it wasn''t possible but I still placed stealth ships in the red Honeycomb zone because I wanted Palpatine to protect the hidden Sith planet Exegol. I didn''t know for certain it existed, didn''t know if Palpatine would even move to protect it but when he did my stomach turned a little as answers fell into place. The real Sith lord was hiding in Exegol and now I knew that the place existed due to the Wayfinder and Palpatine''s clone. Why else would this master mind do something so stupid as to devote his ships to defending a worthless area? He was complied to just like the Jango Fett clones were complied to turn on their Jedi friends and allies despite their close bonds. Palpatine was compelled to go to extraordinary efforts to make sure that Exegol was protected, even at the cost of his own life. This was the only way for Palpatine to do something that would weaken him. Palpatine wouldn''t care if a thousand ships were destroyed as long as he won and he wouldn''t put his existence in harm''s way unless he was a clone following orders that he didn''t even know about.


    The true Sith lord still lived.

 Chapter 85

    Chapter 85


    Knowing that the true Sith Lord was hiding out on the hidden planet Exegol didn''t make me happy. It meant that Palpatine was still alive and most likely even more powerful than his clone. I wasn''t sure when he made the copy but after further investigation of the corpse, I found that it was a pale imitation of the clone from the Clone Wars. It was very understandable as I had somewhat kidnapped all of the Kaminoans and stored their medical expertise on a planet in the Grove collection. They worked for me away from Palpatines grip. Still, that didn''t matter because while I had the experts and data, Palpatine had hundreds of thousands of template clones to work from.


    I wonder just how developed his cloning machines were as I flew in a chunky space cargo ship. I almost immediately acted against the true Emperor and went to Exegol. I can''t have an unhinged Palpatine biting at my heels, especially one that could make powerful clones. I peered through the cockpit window as we travelled through the red honeycomb zone using the Sith wayfinder. I hate travelling through dangerous space as I''m not that skilled in piloting, this was why I made the finest pilot in the galaxy fly us through.


    Darth Vader wasn''t happy, he thought that he had done his part when he left Palpatine unguarded but now he was fairing me through a death zone to fight an even greater enemy. Darth Vader did complain but it was pointed out that the Death Star wasn''t being left alone and the people who suffered most through his action now had control of it, Yoda refused to leave the planet killer because he couldn''t afford to lose it to anyone else. This was incredibly bad news for Darth Vader and he quickly understood that I was his key to freedom.


    The ship rumbled as we entered normal space. Exegol was shocking, the planet seemed to be in perpetual twilight darkness and the planet was in ruin. It closely resembled any of the glassed planets I had bought except for the hideous dark side aura wafting from the surface.


    This was the beginning of a big fight. It was in no way the same as sneaking on the Death Star to fight a single person. This was a battle, a proper war.


    As soon as we were in the planet''s atmosphere, the giant cargo doors opened up and my army of Asura droids and doppelgangers jumped and spread out like commandos doing an airdrop. Just for this special event, I released the limitations I placed on my doppelgangers and tied their abilities and thoughts together. Within minutes the first encounter happened as I saw the bright flashes of abilities and weapons firing. The doppelgangers had intercepted a hooded group that called themselves The Sith Eternal.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The fight cost the doppelgangers a lot of force power which they happily recharged by draining the Sith Eternals. My doppelgangers weren''t gentle and took everything they had, be it force power or memories.


    As the focal point that connected all the doppelgangers, I was hit with a ton of information. It was hard to sieve the useful stuff from the everyday living that held zero usefulness. Thankfully I could feel the inner thoughts of the Sith Eternal and didn''t feel a single drop of pity for them. Only comic book villains had equal amounts of evil as they did, they existed to create pain. For no other reason but to inflict as much suffering as possible, they had captured victims and placed them in Bacta-like tanks so they were in a state of pain and fear forever more.


    My army continued as more conflicts happened, the surface of Exegol lit up with lightning, blaster fire and explosions revealing structures that were hidden by the shadows of mountains.


    More and more info flooded my mind, so much that I had to relieve myself by allowing the other doppelgangers to make decisions on what was useful and what wasn''t. This gave me the freedom to replace my lost doppelgangers.


    While there was a limited loss in the beginning as my army attacked an unaware planet, there were soon some losses as the Sith Eternal countered. Buildings that the Sith Eternal lost to my doppelgangers exploded from ruptured power lines or explosions that the last remaining Sith Eternal purposely self-destructed.


    Doppelgangers were formed in my cargo ship where they would equip themselves with spare weapons and armour and leave by flying through the air to where the latest doppelganger was lost and continue the fight.


    After an hour of fighting the doppelgangers stopped altogether from losing members as they adapted. It was an impressive sight to witness a single doppelganger pull information out of a Sith Eternal and use it immediately. The doppelganger used an ability I didn''t know called Darkshear and forged an imperceptible weapon in the form of a spear from dark-side energy tossing it at Sith Eternal and pinning the guy to the wall where he was met with three Asura droids blasting him with gatling laser gun firing. While that was impressive, it was even more so to witness the other doppelgangers showing off with the same technique but adapted. Some of the doppelgangers would create massive spears that destroyed a passing Vehicle while others used the new ability to create spears made from tiny needles that split apart as they were tossed to decimate large amounts of land with tiny piercing death.


    It was then the doppelgangers started to work their force powers together to create more destruction. A combo of Darkshear and force lightning caused a web of lightning to jump from each of the spears and vaporize anyone trapped in the web. If they were fast enough the Sith Eternal could escape but what they didn''t expect was for the very winds to betray them and drag them back into death.


    This continued throughout. When the doppelganger faced something unexpected there was a chance of losing some droids or even a doppelganger but it didn''t last long as captured Sith Entnrals were probed and their power was added to mine. A cloud of hate was pooling in my mind as the doppelgangers drained the Sith Eternal but I allowed it to wash over me like it was water and the unique way I handled the force allowed me to ignore and discard the rage.

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86


    I was wrong. I thought I could ignore the dark side negative side effects by allowing it to wash over me like a shower of hot water but the problem with doing that on Exegol was that the whole planet was awash with the dark side. Like a rising tide, the pooling dark side that held no hold on me surrounded me instead. At first, I didn''t notice but as the dark side aura became thicker with the help of the doppelgangers draining their enemies I couldn''t pretend it wasn''t affecting me greatly. I first noticed my abrupt emotions when a droid protecting me took a step that clicked and clacked from the metal floor causing my nerves to strain.


    Anger was unnecessary building up in me for no good reason. I let it go but just like squeezing a container of liquid under water, it was soon drawn back. I could see that the dark side was invading me and I tried using my thought process that the dark side was part of the force and temper my mind with logical and emotional positivity. This would have worked on any other planet but the force, while made from the dark side was also infected by the emotions of the many Sith Eternal my doppelgangers had drained.


    My logical side was being overwhelmed. Fear, anger and hate caused me to fight back, not with the knowledge I''ve built up over my life but with the sudden power I just obtained. My eyes flashed yellow as I used the hate to fight the pooling dark side. The newly dumped emotions fought me causing not only my mind to sieze up but my body. Thankfully, my doppelgangers weren''t affected as they weren''t stuck with the feelings and yet it didn''t help me. My mind flashed with my history, all the things I did wrong, all the things I could have done better, even the stupid shit like stubbing my toe that happened over three hundred years ago surfaced in my mind and caused negative emotions that stunned me in my seat.


    I tried to discard the thoughts as they didn''t help to ponder on things like that but my thoughts were spurred on by the pooling dark side, it latched on like sticky glue. When that didn''t help I turned to accept, I tried to incorporate it and better myself but it was harder than usual because the dark side was looping my hopes, losses, anger and fears so that my regrets were recycled and played in my mind. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The many people I had killed, it didn''t matter that most were from the Brotherhood of Darkness that wanted my head, my mind still questioned my actions and asked "Could they have been saved?". It didn''t matter that I had set up a food empire that fed the Galaxy, my thoughts quickly asked if I could have done more.


    All of these questions paralysed my thoughts which clattered my thinking and ultimately would never manifest answers. My body tensed up without me noticing and my hands gripped the handrails of my seat until they broke.


    A flash of red bathed my sight, quickly followed by a blue energy shield. Darth Vader had just attacked me. Thankfully my droids were equipped with energy shields just for this purpose but I didn''t think for a second that he would try to kill me. I was his only hope, he had done too much evil to be forgiven by the Jedi and without me they would hunt him down with or without the Death Star as a backup.


    The reason for Vader''s actions was obvious. If I was having trouble with the pooling darkside then he was drowning in it. All of his reason was turned to anger at being controlled, at first by the Jedi and their silly rules then the dark lord and now me. Darth Vader wasn''t thinking straight, he lashed out and attacked me while I was at my weakest.


    My droids protected me and with quick actions, they decided the best course of fighting, they fled. My droids were great killers and could hold up, adapt and strategise with the best of them but they didn''t have protection against the force. They could shield against lightning and lightsabers but when it came down to being forced crushed they were completely at the mercy of the force.


    They knew this and couldn''t guarantee my safety while they fought, so they did the thing that would grant them the greatest chance of victory: They fled. One droid ripped me out of my seat and carried me over his shoulder while blasting from his other arms. My second droid used itself as a meat shield and interfered with Darth Vader''s attacks.


    The meat shield droid was doing well but with each successful block of lightsaber or redirected blaster bolt Darth Vader became ever more irritated and angry. His swings became less and his force powers became more. In the end, my second droid was crushed and flung aside, just in time to witness my first droid jump out of the cargo hold and exit into the atmosphere of Exegol. As a parting gift, my droid gave Vader a feast for the eyes by leaving flash bangs causing Darth Vader to scream like a smacked Shriek-hawk.

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87


    The roaring atmosphere as I fall is matched by the gun firing coming from the cargo ship that follows. Darth Vader hasn''t thrown off the effects of the pooling dark side, it''s only got worse as I feel the panic coming from him and the dark side hyping it up. Vader is scared, he realises that he has fucked up and now he''s chasing hoping to blast me out of the air. In Vader''s mind, he can''t afford to let me live.


    Unfortunately for me, a falling body is slower than a powered ship. Vader is catching up easily. Thankfully, Vader''s aim is compounded by fear, and he''s ignoring the aim assistant and force.


    I''m coming to myself as I''m no longer drowning in the dark side of others but that doesn''t help as a stunning large bolt of energy whizzes past followed by many others. It''s then my last protecting droids kick me away before getting hit by a ship''s blaster bolt. The rupturing energy causes my teeth to rattle.


    Now I''m defenceless but my Asura droid made the right decision to sacrifice itself to protect me and as the cargo ship no longer has a target the ship''s aim is far off. However, in their panicked mind, Vader doesn''t care and he continues to fire.


    I''m not at my best but I can do simple things like telekinesis. My cape becomes ridged and I use force pull on the chasing cargo ship to tug myself out of the way. Just in time as the cargo ship barrels past with intent to ram me and make me a smear on the viewing screen.


    The ship takes a wide turn as it''s just a cargo ship and doesn''t have the best movement but I''m still not close enough to the ground to take advantage of the high mountain peaks. Vader aims and just before he is ready to take the killing shot, the sky bursts with colour. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Vader hadn''t taken notice of my ground forces. If he did then he would have seen the many light shows of my doppelgangers and droids had stopped. They were no longer busy taking down the Eternal Sith but were carefully taking aim and causing the sky to be blinded with laser fire. As a final act, my bodyguard''s Asura droids transmitted what had happened to the other droids. My doppelgangers quickly separated themselves from battle and flew to my aid.


    It was an amazing sight to behold, the first wave of twenty doppelgangers flew to my rescue, each one with their lightsaber and blasting lightning from their fingertips to distract the cargo ship.


    I could feel Vader''s emotions. Panic turned to fear and he froze his attacks, giving just enough time for my doppelgangers to mix me into the fold and protect me. Concentration blaster fire rattled off the cargo ship as my droids let Vader know he had failed to kill me.


    I wasn''t going to be easy to pick off now I had support, something that Vader was very aware of. When a couple of doppelgangers charged at the cargo ship Vader was shocked back to reason but the fear was still there. One doppelganger had fought and won against the emperor and now there were two flying directly at him with intent to do very bad things to him.


    Vader did the smartest thing he had done in the last twenty years, he fled. He had the Wayfinder and the ship, if he left now and disengaged with me then I wasn''t going to receive support from the Jedi or the Grove Collection. Vader didn''t know why he had attacked me but he knew there was no chance in hell I wasn''t going to retaliate. He had to leave, it was the best option for a fear-clouded mind.


    I watched helplessly as the cargo ship used its thrusters to leave the planet''s atmosphere before my doppelgangers could guess Vader''s plan and counter it.


    The bastard had left me stranded on a hostile planet with an enemy that I wasn''t sure of beating.


    A real dick move, even for Darth Vader

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88


    I am alone on a hostile planet that affects my mood with extremely powerful dark-side tendencies. Many Sith Eternals have fallen by my hands, but it feels like they are endless. My Asura droids killed so many that their armour was coated in blood, which is many more deaths than you would think as my Asura droids killed the majority with blaster fire. With every one hundred Sith Eternals killed, a single Asura droid may fall.


    With time on their side, the Sith Eternals have whittled down my army, thankfully I still have my doppelgangers to fight the good fight because I would truly be up shit creak without a paddle because the Sith Eternals are going all out. They no longer fight my doppelgangers with lightsabers and force powers but also true weapons of destruction.


    Tanks, planes, guns and bombs started a full-on war.


    I wondered where they were getting such massive amounts of killing tools. I''ve seen through the eyes of my fighting doppelganger, and the chaos that is shown reminds me of the Clone Wars but fifty per cent flashier. Blaster fire lights up the sky, and lightning counters to protect flying doppelgangers who land on tanks and rip the tanks apart with their bare hands. A number of my lightsabers have been captured by the enemy due to each fallen doppelganger dropping the weapon and being destroyed.


    Now, my doppelgangers are fighting without armour or weapons, but that just meant that they fought completely with force abilities.


    I, on the other hand, have found a deep hole in the ground and have kept myself there like a corpse. I''m finding it extremely hard to adapt to the waves of negative energy coming from all around me, and it doesn''t help that I haven''t eaten a bite in three days.


    I can extract water using my force powers. I could even set up a water condenser using the components from the tanks and other broken machines, but the food my doppelgangers have found is tainted with something I''m not too sure about. If I had the proper equipment, I could filter out the toxins and viruses and find the answer, but it puzzles me that even though the Sith Eternals have very fine weapons, tanks and vehicles, my doppelganger has yet to find a single manufactory plant.


    The ground rumbles as a passing bomber carpet bombs the area. I can''t risk staying this close to the surface; the weapons the Sith Eternals are using are too powerful to hide from by using a bit of dirt. I move deeper into the caves. The dark side is thicker down here, but the rumbling earth is long gone.


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    I deploy several doppelgangers to explore. The speed they show is incredible; by using the force in mute ways and the absolute control I have earned throughout the years, they can skip through the caves with ease without touching the floor or ceiling. Each one squeezes through the tightest areas, places I wouldn''t even try due to the natural claustrophobia we all have.


    They find something unusual, an awkward system that leads deep down into the earth, something that is common enough, but there''s a steady stream of warm air flowing up. And yet that was also common enough not to be surprised, but the continuous flow of warm air stops and stutters, leaving a chance for my inquisitive doppelgangers to dive in.


    The fall was deep, and every second going down increased the heat. Each doppelganger scraped earth from the sides and coated themselves with mud to save themselves.


    I was tempted to leave the doppelganger''s mind because the heat was terrible and would have done so if a doppelganger didn''t have the same thought and developed the ability to split the heat around him. I guess when you can''t escape the heat, then you have to make do with what you have. With one doppelganger able to split the flow of heat around him, all the others picked up the skill.


    Interestingly, the doppelgangers were falling at increased speeds by using the controlled heat to their advantage. They plummeted to the depths like falling stones with rockets strapped to them.


    It was then I was abruptly disconnected from my doppelganger as it dive-bombed into a huge manmade chimney. If my doppelgangers were made of flesh and blood, then it would have left a giant smear on the rising cooling tower. This was the price to pay for an untested ability, and I was glad it wasn''t me that had paid it.


    I reconnected to a doppelganger that had landed and witnessed a great sight of an automatic construction plant that didn''t pale to any other I''d seen. The Geonosians built the droid armies for the Trade Federation and Separatist Alliance and used mega structures to deliver an army, but the structure in front of me was so much more and yet only a fragment.


    The size was overwhelming, a true mega structure that spilled out nothing more than bolts, screws, nuts, rivets, and washers that lead out of a belt to feed the next superstructure that I could barely see off in the distance.


    I had no idea how the Sith Eternals had so many fleshy bodies, but at least I knew where they were getting their hands on their equipment. Without a doubt, I would find tanks and ammunition further down the automatic construction. I briefly thought about destroying this factory, but I was almost certain that it wouldn''t make a difference to the manufacturer. The loss of this factory would only tell my enemies that I had found their stash. Instead, I changed the design of the bolts and nuts just a tiny bit. A higher dose of carbon in the mixture would cause every bolt to become weaker, and with the right amount of force, I could cause them to break. It would be unfair to me if I didn''t visit all of the automatic factories and tinker with them.


    Thankfully, there was a long line of belts leading to where all of the factories would be. God bless the Sith and their lazy ways.

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89


    The war between me and the Sith Eternals has continued for tenish years. I say tenish years because time here is an awkward thing. Exegol is a broken planet saturated with the dark side, and I''m not sure it even has a stable rotation around the sun. I suspect that Exegol is a rogue planet that has drifted into a nebula and found a perfect Goldilocks area where life can be sustained.


    I shake my head to get rid of my useless thoughts and sucked on a protein pack. The Sith Eternals are alive, and with them being alive, they have to eat. I found their food stash but was disappointed to find that all of it was contaminated with a flesh virus that didn''t affect them because the Sith Eternals are all clones and are bred to be immune. The Sith Enternals seemed to rely on the tainted food to survive; without it, they lose common sense and become thralls to their negative base instincts, which on a planet that pumps negative emissions like oxygen, has a stunning effect. My doppelgangers purposely capture lone Sith Eternals just to starve them into a berserk state and then toss the thrall Sith into the enemy and watch the fun.


    The protein packs I suck on are from the clone machines I''ve found. Protein is needed to make the clones, and before the genetic material is added, I take it for food. It''s a hair''s breadth away from eating humans, but I don''t have a choice. It comes in one giant vat container and is always grey like boiled chicken, the taste is metallic.


    Mushrooms are also part of my diet. With expert care coming from my abilities I trained as a grower of fine food, I adapted the light side force power "plant surge" to develop a mushroom from the spores that naturally attached themselves to my clothes. Of course, my doppelgangers have turned them into a weapon as well as a food source. The Sith Eternals have their virus, and my doppelgangers have developed giant forests of toxic mushrooms using dark-side Alchemy.


    To counter the toxic mushrooms, the Sith use flames to burn down the invading mushrooms, but that turns on the Sith quickly when they find out that my doppelgangers have tied the growth and spores to the dark side of Exegol so when they are destroyed they spread like wildfire and propagate further infecting even more space. My doppelgangers go into battle with giant mushrooms just so they can lob them into a crowd of Sith Eternals and watch the Sith rip out their throats to clear the toxic mushroom spores. Unfortunately for me, the Sith Eternals adapt to the mushrooms with a fresh batch of clones. The planet is covered with my mushrooms, and they are here to stay.


    The war has become an adaption race. The Sith deploy grab mines that jump out of the ground and attach to my doppelgangers when they pass, causing my doppelgangers to fight on the canopy of giant mushrooms and fly to avoid them. The counter to the grab mines was reprogramming the mines and tricking them into exploding on the Sith. It took a long time to reprogram the first mine, and a lot of doppelgangers faded out of existence due to an unexpected explosion, but when we succeeded, my labyrinth program took over and turned the Sith''s weapon against them. It was pleasant to witness my enemy pussy footing around searching for my doppelgangers and getting demolished by their mines. After that, they stopped deploying grab mines.


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    Droids were introduced to the war by the Sith, but they soon scrubbed the idea when my doppelgangers easily reprogramed them to fight for me. After all, even though I''m a master of the force, I was a master at making and programming droids first.


    I''ve heard many soft-brained idiots say that war isn''t good for anything, but I and my doppelgangers would argue otherwise. Ten years of constant warfare with little resources and a never-ending, well-supplied enemy have caused my abilities to grow.


    A good example would be air battles. It used to be that my doppelgangers had to get close to bombers so they could use their force lightning,g but they have adapted their lightning skill to long-distance laser beams that can penetrate armour from focus fire and leave a pinprick hole that''s enough to destabilize machinery using the light side force power "Ioinze". The laser beam doesn''t have to be a good shot when the effects of lightning spread out and the effects of Ionize destroy machinery like cotton candy in water. It''s probably why the Sith aren''t using air support and are focused on tough ground forces that can tank the excess mines and deflect my beams.


    The war was like an ocean tide; sometimes I would gain an advantage, and other times, a new tool or poison would be effectively used.


    I was about to order a new attack using an extreme use of force speed that a doppelganger had invented when I received a visitor.


    "Busy, you have been. Long time it has"


    I jumped on the spot, drawing out my last lightsaber and bounced off the wall with such strength and speed that the wall cracked like a web and fired four individual light beams from my fingertips that passed through the spectral image of Yoda.


    My attack was dulled down as I paused from hearing Yoda''s terrible crackling laugh that always reminded me of a witch mixing potions in a cauldron.


    "Scare easily, you do. Frighten cat, you jump like"


    My yellow eyes relaxed, and the pent-up anger I momentarily felt from being surprised vanished to be replaced with sadness. If Yoda was here in a spectre form, it meant he was one with the force and had died.


    I raised my hand to touch Yoda''s ghost-clawed hand. This was my first time experiencing a powerful learned Jedi taking the form of a ghost. I had seen many a Sith ghost-like creature, but this was different. Yoda''s hand was there; I could see it and even feel it through the force, but as my fingers passed through Yoda''s claw, my senses told me there was more to this.

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90


    Talking to Yoda has always been a frustrating experience. Now that he is dead, the old green bastard has taken his art to a new level. Like a cliche get-well card, he''s full of nondescript sayings and one-sentence quotes. I suspect that Yoda is doing this to test me; after all, my appearance has changed a little over the past ten years.


    Despite being a force ghost, I can feel Yoda''s hesitation when he spots my yellow-glowing eyes.


    "It''s been a hard ten years", I answer the question on Yoda''s mind.


    I pinch the bridge of my nose, take a long breath of air and focus my eyes back on Yoda. "This planet is thick with the dark side energy, I''m finding it somewhat difficult to find the balance of the force"


    The glow from my yellow eyes faded a little.


    The little green devil chuckles like I was a small child who had done something stupid. My eyes flashed once again with the glow of annoyance that silenced Yoda''s laughter.


    Poor Yoda was at an impasse. I was one of the most powerful force users in the galaxy, but my eyes told a story of leaning to the dark side. Yoda shuddered at the thought of me being let loose to the galaxy if I had fallen. Right now, I was trapped on a planet, but it was only a matter of time before I was free once again.


    This is where the impasse exists. In Yoda''s point of view, if he did nothing, then it might as well be a coin flip on what side I would eventually land on and yet if Yoda reached out to help, it might give me yet more power to destroy the galaxy.


    "What did you do with the Death Star?" I ask.


    Yoda flinched; it wasn''t a good sign that the first question I asked was about a super weapon.


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    "Dismantled", Yoda answered.


    "Shame...I tire of this planet and the never-ending Sith looking for my life. It would have been fitting to ram the Death Star right into the planet and destroy two problems with one action"


    Yoda''s voice was stuck in his throat.


    "Did you at least gain some benefits and threaten to use the Death Star?" I ask


    "The way of the Jedi, it is not", sputtered Yoda.


    My glowing eyes pierce into the spectral image of Yoda, causing him to wiggle in discomfort, and then it''s my turn to laugh at a child who had said something stupid.


    "It''s very much the way of the Jedi to force their views onto others. Every war your peaceful order has participated in is a promise of violence to those who disagree with you. The Death Star was just a bigger stick to use"


    Yoda says nothing for a couple of seconds, and when I''m tempted to ask how the Grove collection is going, Yoda bursts out laughing.


    "Changed you have not; only you talk down about the Jedi while fighting for the galaxy''s betterment"


    For many years, I realised how contradictive I can be when it comes to the Jedi, but hearing it from my old friend at the darkest of dark side focal points in the middle of a one-man war against the Sith leaves a nice tingle of contradiction and humour in my brain. I join in with Yoda''s laughter. A rare moment of fun and joy on Exegol twilight hell.


    Ever so briefly, I feel lighter than I have in the last ten years. With all the victories I''ve earned, I haven''t felt this lighthearted. My laughter continues past Yoda''s chuckle until he becomes a little worried. My laughter then turns into a long, drawn-out sigh as the troubles of my life leave me.


    "Find the joy inside, and it will burn out the pain", I muttered to myself.


    The dark side that has soaked into my body is finally countered. I was too close to the problem. The dark side seeped in, and I didn''t realise the simple truth that most people know but very rarely say, and that was problems and sadness are part of living, don''t hinder yourself and find the simple joys that bring happiness to you.


    I knew this, but I''ve been fighting a one-man war without my favorite things. A good meal would have changed my outlook. A stiff drink would have refreshed my soul, and laughing out loud would have brought a new light to my eyes.


    The yellow in my eyes seeps away, and I''m left untouched for the time being by the dark side, and all it took was an old green Jedi grandmaster to turn into a force ghost and remind me just how ridiculous all of this was.


    With a clear mind and a balanced body, this is where the fun begins

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91


    Yoda floated to my side, giving me tips on how to reach the oneness of the force, pressing me to meditate better and calm my overthinking mind to accept the living force.


    "Wrong, this is" Yoda pointed at my doppelganger as it mediated.


    "We all have our weaknesses, mine is stilling my mind and meditating. Ever since I was young.....boy, have I thought that mediation was a waste of time. You''ll get over it, Yoda"


    "A young boy... not a young padawan by any chance?" Yoda asked about my long and mysterious past.


    "I''ve never been a padawan", I answered Yoda truthfully while looking directly at Yoda with the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster. There was joy in messing with Yoda that would always cause a little chuckle in my heart.


    "Frustrating, you are", Yoda pointed out.


    Yoda changed the conversation by filling me in with what I had missed for the past ten years. Boring rebuilding and handing over of power. Stuff that I wasn''t needed for but would have sure liked to be part of. The dismantling of the Death Star would have been a lucrative contract that I could have sold for favours to the right pirates.


    Now and again, Yoda would pause and watch as a new doppelganger drifted out of me and disappeared in a blur of speed to join the war.


    "Hurt, does that?" asked Yoda.


    "Not really. My doppelgangers are part of me but not a crucial part of me. At this point, it feels closer to an expelled breath. It was once part of me, but now I don''t think about it"


    I walk opposite my mediating doppelganger and turn the hard earth into a flat surface that a fresh doppelganger quickly occupies.


    "The more, the merrier", I answered Yoda''s chewed-up lip.


    I repeat the flating of the earth, and fresh new doppelgangers join the mediating circle and position themselves in a cross formation with a single doppelganger in the middle.


    "Doing, what are you?" asked Yoda


    I chuckle to myself and place my last lightsaber in the lap of the doppelganger in the middle "Just making use of all my resources"


    "Going, where are you?" Yoda witnessed me leaving the cave system. We both met back up on top of a glassed hill where I made myself comfortable.


    Yoda doesn''t understand what I''m doing, and I refuse to spoil the surprise. Tucked under some loose earth, I focus on the entrance of the cave system my doppelgangers were in. I wait hours upon hours, all while my doppelgangers meditate and practice.


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    Yoda complains, but I let him as my plan falls into action. A commando team of well-kitted-out Sith eternal pull up on silent hover tanks. Each Sith is doing their best to compress their force abilities and hide from me as they surround the area, but no matter how quiet their actions are, their position is clear as day to me with their constant overthinking and thoughts of murder wafting through the air. Even droids are quieter with their constant low humming static noise from their minds. Years of battle have passed, and the Sith Eternal still hasn''t realised that it''s their surface thoughts that give away their positions.


    They invade the cave system like angry ants. My doppelgangers fight back, which causes more Sith to enter. I''m chuckling to myself as I predict what''s coming next.


    A Sith runs out of the cave, shouting to his comrades that they need to run. That Sith is quickly killed, and the dead Sith evaporates into the force. It was a doppelganger disguised as the enemy. Tricks like that are an old part of fighting me, and the Sith eternal aren''t easily fooled by it. A true Sith Eternal runs out of the cave with his hands raised and loudly announces a password.


    This is what I was waiting for. I''m on my belly with a quilt of earth over me while rubbing my hands like a boy on Christmas.


    "What''s going on?" asked Yoda as he watched the whole group of Sith charge into the cave.


    "The Sith have long realised that only one person is attacking them and have developed a kill squad to find and assassinate me. Expensive to make and time-consuming to deploy. They believe that they have found the true me and have deployed resources to deal with me," I answer.


    "Look the same as your doppelganger, you do. How do they know it''s you down there?" Yoda leans on his ghost cane


    "They obviously don''t know, but they also think that only the real me would have the last lightsaber", I answered.


    "What now?" Yoda points at the twenty hover tanks all pointing at the cave, ready to fire at the drop of a hat.


    "We wait and hope that the Sith have a new toy that they can use, I like to see what new weapon or force powers they pull out of their ass in a controlled environment. If they have nothing new, then the doppelgangers will most likely win"


    To answer my great expectation, I witnessed the Sith use a new grenade that emits an energy shield and fills it with chemical, sticky, poisonous compounds. It''s a nice try, but even normal Jedi are immune to poisons, let alone my doppelgangers. But there was a nice touch of viciousness when the Sith detonated the acid-like poison with some heat and caused an explosion that destroyed my doppelgangers. In a closed-off tunnel, my doppelgangers didn''t have enough room to escape.


    It was a nice move from the Sith that took advantage of the closed-off space and failed movement. Without the doppelgangers to witness through their eyes, I wouldn''t know what had happened.


    A sigh escaped my lips "I guess it''s time"


    Before Yoda could ask, I pulled out a detonator and released hell. Getting good explosives was hard when you could only rely on what the opponent had, but with a little bit of hogpog backwater tinkering and super large amounts of energy ammo coming from defeated tanks, you could change the landscape with the earth bluging out like a rising giant turtle. It was costly to lose the stockpile of explosive ammo I had collected from the enemy, but the added benefit was the surrounded hover tanks getting swept up from the overturned earth more than made up for it.


    "What now?" asked Yoda as he watched the earth settle


    "That''s a good question," I pondered to myself. Fighting for ten years had made me and my doppelgangers incredibly powerful, but I was still just one person against what seemed like a never-ending army of replenishing enemies. I was no closer to winning than I had been when I first started. An all-out frontal war, while very beneficial to my skills, wasn''t my chosen way of fighting. Surprises and shadow warfare where I hid and attacked, deception and misdirection were what I had mastered.


    "I think I need to go back to my roots", and just like that, I dismissed all of my doppelgangers throughout Exegol.

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92


    Immediately, I recast my doppelgangers, and they left to hide. No longer would they attack the enemy, but instead, they would watch them, collect information, and stay out of everyone''s way. Each one could blend into their surroundings, leaving zero trace of ever existing. Due to the ability to change lightning colours and illusions, we could walk through a hoard without being noticed. If it wasn''t for the flickering effects of stealth when using other force power, I would have won by now but even force speed caused my stealth to collapse.


    That wasn''t why I dismissed my doppelganger throughout the world. Instead, I wanted to instil a false sense of security and let the enemy think that they had killed me. The timing was everything, so when the perception of me being killed in a cave system through the action of their kill squad, it was too much of an opportunity not to act on their script. I made my fighting force weaker by dismissing my doppelgangers, but I would now build my strength back up using the Sith Eternal''s unearned perception of victory.


    It was risky but something I was not only familiar with but a master.


    The doppelgangers spread far and wide. Once the battlefield calmed down, the new mushroom forest continued to grow and what little peace Exegol had apparently returned. The Sith Eternal retrieved the last orange lightsaber from the depths of the cave system and believed that they had won.


    Thankful, for once, the absolute heavy dark side energy hid my existence to the force. Any weird feelings or premonitions that a force user would use to warn them was just a normal day on Exegol.


    The long, ten-year private war between me and the Sith Eternal resulted in a pointless battle of attrition. I wasn''t able to gain any long-term land before the Sith would bomb the absolute crap out of it.


    It was somewhat of a failure. I couldn''t gain a base, and my enemy wasn''t weakened permanently. Now, the doppelgangers and I stepped into the old familiar role of spymasters and saboteurs.


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    The Sith Eternal and the true Palpatine concentrated on their automatic manufacture factories and creating starships. Ghost Yoda panicked at the sight of the starships. He left to tell the Jedi what was happening and to warn them of the future.


    I waited for years, hiding in plain sight and using illusions. I had thought that Yoda had abounden his mission to protect the Jedi and the newer republic when a vast amount of ships burst into the atmosphere and Yoda matrialised beside me.


    Yoda would have come sooner but he had to find the Wayfinder to Exegol, and the only one he knew about that was Darth Vader. It took Yoda all of this time to pinpoint the fleeing Vader and retrieve the wayfinder.


    Spotting so many allies quickened my soul. I could finish this damnable fight, destroy Palpatine and be on my way. To my great displeasure, the air picked up a heavy dose of ozone, and the hairs on my arm raised. I knew what was coming; Palpatine was bringing the big guns out and turning the very environment against the new ships. Palpatine had done this several times to my doppelgangers when they captured a key base. Instead of fighting to retrieve the fallen base, lightning crashed down and vaporised the base to slag.


    I needed my allies so I could get off Exegol, and because I didn''t know which ship had the wayfinde, I had to protect them.


    Thousands of doppelgangers revealed themselves and took to the sky, each one landing on a newly arrived ship, causing their crew to wonder what was going on. Before anyone could answer, the atmosphere exploded with light. Massive streams of natural lightning burst forth, causing everyone to be blinded by stinging white light. only a faint glow showed the doppelgangers fighting back with their own powers.


    It wasn''t enough as the lightning overwhelmed the doppelgangers; some were able to deflect nature''s lightning, but the majority took a full load and evaporated. Possibly thanks to the doppelganger, many of the ship''s survived, but they lost power and had to make emergency landings.


    The natural lightning steadily lashed out. It didn''t matter that my doppelgangers were doing their best to protect them; it was a force of nature against a copy, and the copy couldn''t stand against it.


    With little choice, I used my detonator to explode all of my secret explosions planted throughout Exegol. My dopplegangers didn''t just hide; they sabotaged. With a single click, the ground flashed with orange explosions mirroring the white lightning in the sky. Years of hidden explosives released their payload and erupted together, causing fire and smoke to plume like a field of flowers.


    It was enough to cause whatever Palpatine was doing with lightning to lose concentration and make the ever-growing natural lightning falter and stop. I saved my ride home but at the cost of an easier win against Palpatine

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93


    With the Jedi''s and New Republic army''s help and the massive amount of damage my explosions caused, we were able to win. My doppelgangers took command because they had the most experience on the dark side focal point called Exegol and because the vast mushroom forests that covered the planet needed special consideration when travelling.


    With my help and experience of Exegol, we could surround, conquer and destroy. On my own, I had difficulty holding positions and gaining supplies but I wasn''t on my own. I could sense that the army was wary of me and my doppelgangers but the Jedi and Yoda''s spirit were a great persuader.


    The turning point for the republic army''s feelings came when my doppelgangers would dive in front of enemy fire to take a hit. There aren''t many things that can change an ally''s mind faster than a sacrifice.


    My doppelgangers stepped up with new equipment from the republic ships. Before they got here the doppelgangers only wore what they could find and made do with force abilities. Now they had machine laser guns and rocket launchers, in short, they weren''t shy about using weapons of mass enjoyment. Doppelgangers would dive into a room full of Sith and redirect the first couple of shots basted at them to return with a wave of lightning and gun firing. There''s nothing like a badass storming the enemy that boosts your ally''s feelings toward you.


    The world forges that lie deep underground, exploded. My allies used their ships to carpet-bomb everything that looked like a target. The Jedi and Republic were taking zero chances, many years under Emperor Palpatine''s foot were causing over-the-top but justifiable bombing runs that glassed the already glassed planet.


    It felt good to win again. Years of stalemate, of careful planning just so I could gain a benefit that wouldn''t last a day. I like to win.


    Me and my allies took over with little effort. The Sith were destroyed with their cloning machines and Palpatine was cornered. I couldn''t say with a hundred per cent certainty that this was the only Palpatine there was but at this point in time, I didn''t care. I wanted to win and get off this stupid planet.


    Palpatine sat on a huge ridged spiky throne made from rock and sadness. I can feel the dark side wafting off him and I''m not even in the area. I wouldn''t set foot near him until I''ve made sure it was safe and there''s nothing safe about this anaemic old man. The sight alone tells me he''s a monster on his last legs, his dropping skin holds loosely over his bones and his milky blind eyes would make any normal person feel pity. However, despite being old and broken, Palpatine is fixed to machines that make the mind wander to body-machine horror.


    Palpatine chuckles and his deep voice echos throughout. The vast space absorbs his voice and the colosseum-like seats vibrate it out to every inch of the room.


    Palpatine is alone, none of the Sith Enternal are sitting in the stadium. All of them are dead or fighting to recoup their losses by making more clones. It''s just him against a squad of soldiers, Jedi and doppelgangers armed to the teeth.


    And yet, with all of my advantages, the dark master of the Sith greets us like long-lost pets.


    "Welcome...." Palpatine laugh radiates out. He has the best laugh I''ve ever heard. It comes deep from his belly and would light up the room with pantomime evil and joy. Despite the deaths he has caused and pain throughout the galaxy, there isn''t a hint of remorse in his voice but only the certainty he enjoyed every second of it. A true villain, a person you can admire and respect but hate and only wish a painful death for.


    Palpatine''s yellow eyes scan the surroundings spotting my doppelgangers. I feel that he is afraid but he doesn''t hide from his emotions instead there seems to be a contradiction in that he admires me. I see it in his eyes, they scorn and narrow whenever they rest on a Jedi and yet crinkle like a smile when he sees my doppelgangers.


    "You are worthy to stand in the presence of the dark side, the focal point of all Sith" Palpatine points his bone-like finger directly at one of my doppelgangers.


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    A doppelganger flys into the arena and lands beside troops from the New Republic "This isn''t the focal point of the Sith, why lie about such a thing"


    A thick beam of lightning cascades towards the doppelganger that has just spoken, only to be deflected to the ground by a multi-coloured beam of light.


    Palpatine attacks without warning. His target was me, the other people here didn''t even make it to his eye. I was the threat and he knew it for the last ten years.


    "The origins of the Sith come from a long-dead species" rebutted a different doppelganger.


    "The power of the dark side comes from the individual" spoke a different doppelganger still.


    "The dark side is in all of us from the beginning of the galaxy and beyond" The broken sentence structure that comes from different doppelgangers speaking in turn makes Palpatine eyes shake back and forward trying to keep up as he looks at them.


    "There''s no need to lie at this point" my voice rings out "Your death is guaranteed. Allowing you to live will bring me many sleepless nights"


    The broken smile on Palpatines face is wiped away instantly. Palpatine recognised he was in trouble and did the thing that worked before, he bargained. "


    "We could rule the galaxy, with our power there wouldn''t be anyone who could contend with us. We could have ultimate power" sputtered Palpatine.


    I''ll give it to Palpatine, he has no shame. Without an ounce of shame, he has just tried to win me over in front of the Jedi with promises of power that we both know he wouldn''t share.


    "What''s the point in ultimate power when this is your outcome? Better to control a slice of the galaxy than have your hand forceable removed altogether. You are 60 years old and have failed the Sith, you came close to destroying the Jedi but now it''s your turn to feel the wrath of the force. This is the consequence of your actions" My doppelgangers release their new lightsabers and surround Palpatine.


    "NOOOOOOOOO" screams Palpatine, causing his force scream to paralyse everyone except my doppelganger.


    A doppelganger at the back charges up a hefty Gatling laser gun and cuts the large mechanical appendage above Palpatine. He drops to the floor in defeat but all of my doppelgangers know better than to underestimate the dark Sith lord.


    Palpatine senses that faining weakness won''t help him and he slides back up using the force and fires thick lightning from his fingers. However, I''ve seen this before. The clone Palpatine did the same thing by recycling the force through him to power a never-ending stream of powerful lightning.


    Three of my Dopleganagers intercept the lightning with lightsabers and their own blasts of lightning and move closer to Palpatine. He suffers the same backloop that makes turning off his force lightning impossible. He struggles and I can feel the fear like a strong breeze. He fears losing control, he fears losing, but most of all he fears death and knows unlike the Jedi, I will kill him without mercy.


    His eye darts to look for a way out but before any actions can be taken four blasts from high-powered rifles destroy his hands and legs. There''s no point in making this harder for myself, I''m not above crippling my enemies for an easy win.


    Palpatine is forced into the air as each shot twists him about. My doppelgangers take action and surround Palpatine, the shock on Palpatines face as his power is drained from him is enough to keep me warm at night. Palpatine tries to recover and drain back his power with force drain but my doppelgangers are better at it and are many compared to the single broken man of Palpatine.


    A crippled defenceless old Palpatine with his head bowed in defeat. Most of the Jedi have a sense of pity for him but I don''t. It wouldn''t matter how sorry Palpatine was or how many times he bowed his head for forgiveness I wouldn''t chance the idea of showing mercy just so later he would come back. Palpatine only has one thing that I want, and it''s something that will destroy him. I want his memories.


    Just like draining the force, memories can be extracted. However, it''s painful and can leave the victim''s mind scrambled if done incorrectly. I don''t care and free his mind of information.


    Palpatines teeth grit together as I invade and take what was his. I collect what''s useful but I''m strictly looking to see if he is a clone. He is not and the actions of taking his memory leave him a drolling mess. I can feel the stunned feeling from the Jedi and the accepted thoughts from the Republic army. All of that changes to shock when I cut off the man''s head and split it down the middle to make sure he isn''t a clone. Taking zero chances the doppelgangers vaporise Palpatines body and start to collect and destroy every piece of information they can on Exegol. This is the end of Palpatine.


    "Your arrogance is your weakness" the voice of Palpatine rang in my mind. The Sith lord has highjacked one of my doppelgangers through Sith''s dark side powers.


    I slammed my hand down on the cockpit of the ship I had taken for my ride home. This was the worst news I''ve ever had. My doppelgangers had skills in the force that a powerhouse such as Palpatine could take full advantage of, it wasn''t clear what Palpatine could do with my doppelganger skill but the worst thing flickered through my mind...


    "GET OUT" my voice quaked through the ship making all that heard it follow the command with wet pants.


    Palpatine had awoken my fighting spirit and he was going to get what he deserved. A good old-fashioned kicking.

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94


    "Your arrogance is your weakness" Those words roll out for all the Jedi to hear. Their confusion is well earned as the doppelganger that had protected and fought with them, eyes turned yellow and the once smooth voice twisted and crocked to sound like their terrible foe.


    Their confusion jumps up a further level when other doppelgangers speed towards the yellow-eyed one and slash at him with their lightsabers. The yellow-eyed doppelganger turns to vapour, becoming one with the force.


    A doppelganger that just dispatched the yellow-eyed one is now infected with the same yellow-eyed treatment: "HEHEHEHE..."


    The Jedi haven''t a clue what''s going on, all they see are dopplegangers destroying each other. At first it was a simple one sided fight with a twitching doppleganager arkwardly fighting off skilled force users but as each one is dispatched the changes become more and more shocking.


    The army of the new Republic seem to have a better understanding and lower pay grade for them to interfere with force users fighting and make them selfs busy away from the battleling lightsabers. It was the correct move.


    Doppleganger vs doppleganger. When one fell, anouther was an unwilling contaner for Palpatines spirit. The Jedi was stunned, they couldn''t take action, they didn''t know who was the enemy.


    A young padawan desperate for action and to finish the fight rushed towards a newly yellowed-eyed doppelganger ready to strike it down. With a swift flick Palpatine was able to disarm the padawan and slice at the same time. Thankfully a Jedi master was able to pull the padawan back as a small coin floated towards the deadly strike and immited a force field that was able to protect the padawan.


    "Stay out of this, kid" yelled the master as he tossed the padawan back.


    As he flew back the padawan expect the master to join the fight but instead he follwed the padawan away from the dopplegangers. The master wasn''t a coward, he could hold his own in a lightsabers fight but he knew that this was just the beginning.


    The master had once been a padawan and been taught a few things by the people who were fighting at the moment. He rememberd how frightningly fast Bee was, he rembered the amazing flips and cuts that Bee did but what stuck with him for all of these years was the illuisons that incopassed the whole training yard and fooled padawans and Jedi alike.


    The master wasn''t a coward but he didn''t want to be ingulfed by those illusions only to strike down his fellow Jedi thinking they were the enemy.


    The Jedi retreated further away, enough distance to see the fight but hopefully not enough to be affected.


    Just in time as Palpatine''s spirit became more aware of the abilities of the doppelgangers and started to warp the area around him to inficlet illusions of terrible pain and suffering, of images of death and gore. It started small with blood seeping from non-existing wounds, then a few fingers crawling out of blood and flesh. Palpatine with all his power engorged himself with the delights of sicking illusions.


    This did nothing to the doppelgangers as Palpatine had missed the rules of inflicting illusions on the masses.


    Palpatine was cut down again and as his spirit left the doppleganger, he now understood that illusions wouldn''t work on the dopplegangers but that didn''t matter as he found somthing better.


    The newest victim of Palpatine was the fastest possion to date as the doppleganger only shuddered as he took over. Almost emmitealy Palpatine was attacked but this time he retreated up the stone steps of the collesem to buy time.


    Thick lightning passed through his new fingers to slow his persuers and he hopped futher up the stone steps. Palpatine marvoraled over the raw power of each dopplegangers body as he jumped away without any force powers. His leg would scap at the stone because of a miss step but instead of bonceing off the strong stone, chuncks of stone would break off at the amazing strenght of his new body.


    Palpatine was pleased with the doppelganger''s power but he did wonder what the real body was like. With that momentary lapse of concentration, both of his legs were blown off, and yet instead of pain and anger, there was a soft smile. A hand was placed on Palpatines shoulder from behind and the soft smile on Palpatines face twisted into an evil grin as he turned around to meet with a doppleganger who looked just like him, twisted smile and all.


    "Hello me" Palpatine giggled.


    "Hello you" replied the newly formed doppelganger


    Palpatine had made his own doppelganger.


    This was the worest thing that could happen. A force user that was able to tie the surrounding force in to powerful dopplegangers. Self replacating Palpatines, each one with the will power to surive and creat massive suffering to the galaxy.


    The new doppleganger kicked the spirit Palpatine at the advanceing enemy. Palpatine''s crulity and brutality was legdendary, even to him self.


    Palpatines doppelganger split the air with his laughter. The course noise burst through the air to be met with new laughter and then another as more Palpatine doppelgangers were created.


    The Jedi that were watching and didn''t like what they were seeing. Palpatines doppleganagers were muiltplyiong out numbering their allies. It became clear that the once one side fight had turned on its self and now Bee''s doppleganger were the ones being out numbered.


    The Jedi fired apoun the expanding crowd and laughing dopplegangers. A wall of laser fire caused any new dopplegangers from being created and made the old ones take cover.


    It was then the Palpatine dopplegangers disapeared, thier images warped and faded away. Palpatine was making a run for it, better to live and create many more doppleganger to take over the galaxy than chance a defeat here.


    Palpatines laughter echoed as he made his way and yet the force whispered to him. Something deadly was coming for him. He looked around to witness a starship ramming his way. The ship landed at great speed causing the ground to buckle, it turned on one side and flipped crushing any number of doppelgangers and before the sparks from the rushing movement of the ship could stop, Bee ripped through the metal like it was tissue, twisting in the air like a circus performer shooting from a blaster, hitting every mark and never hitting his men. Landing beside a Palpatine doppelganger, catching the wrist of a badly thrown punch only for its head to be causally kicked off with a roundhouse kick.


    Even the invisible Palpatine doppelgangers that had tried to escape had holes blasted into their chest, not a single doppelganger was missed. A bunch of new Palpatine doppelgangers worked together and ejected a giant slice of the colosseum towards Bee, who jumped onto the rock, stamped it down into the ground and with the crumbling rock he shot out ground missiles that blasted Palpatine doppelgangers head away. It was an amazing use of the force. Very little was being used but each use caused a doppelganger to fall. A Palpatine doppelganger who had gained a lightsaber challenged Bee with a swift swipe only to find his hand ripped off by the more deft, powerful hands of Bee. Nothing was being wasted by the actions of the real Bee, the blaster shots that coloured the air that the panicking Jedi and republic released were redirected like any force user that had a glancing understanding of form three but the way Bee did it left Palpatine''s jaw opened like a fish. It was causal, something that took no effect but the results were staggering. Blaster shots would clip off doppelgangers and hit multiple targets leaving them crippled and easy pickings. Palpatine spirit was dispatched from a doppelganger by a bolt of hot blaster energy that he had redirected only for that same bolt to be redirected not by a lightsaber but from a second blaster bolt.


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    Refilling into a new doppelganger, Palpatine felt anger but also immense joy and eagerness. The doppelgangers were great containers for his spirit but just imagine what he could do with the original. His jaw became stoic and his lips became tight, Palpatine licked his lips as he shortened the distance between his new prey. He was wary as he watched the original use force powers together like it was nothing. Three Palpatine doppelgangers rushed Bee, each one possibly with the same idea as the spirit Palpatine and yet without mercy they were destroyed. Jaws were ripped off, eyes were gouged, and one unlucky doppelganger mistook an illusion for his target only to have his balls kicked so hard that it crumpled the whole body and caused the doppelganger to thankfully turn into mist.


    Palpatine focused, gently he moved closer watching his doppelgangers becoming mist in more brutal ways, and then he pouced. Glee was all over Palpatines face as his falling body dropped on his target. The cowardly ability to hide himself that he had stolen from the doppelgangers was now the creator''s downfall. It brought joy to him that he would take over the original''s body with the same abilities that had vexed the whole of Exegol for the last ten-plus years.


    Palpatine was so close, all he had to do was grab hold of Bee and drain him, wipe out his mind and take over his body. He was meters away when a sudden stillness surrounded him. It felt cold and lonely, Palpatine didn''t know what was going on. It scared him more than death, at least with death he could take over a new doppelganger but, this was different.


    To add more shock to his fear, Bee swiveled on the spot with great speed and caught Palpatines hands. The fear turned into joy as it didn''t matter who touched who, Palpatine was in striking distance and yet he still felt cold.


    Bee gave Palpatine a toothy smile "Hello again, old man" Bee''s hands gripped ever harder over Palpatines wrist "You look better as a doppelganger"


    Palpatine wanted to sneer at him but found his legs being snapped apart by a deft kick from Bee. "I wonder if you can leave a doppelganger at will or do you have to die first, what would happen if I broke you and trapped you in this body"


    Palpatine ignored the threat as there were any number of ways to kill himself. Instead, he concentrated on taking over Bee''s body with his spirit.


    Another snap caused Palpatine''s arm, wrist and shoulders to become useless.


    Pain was nothing to a Sith and Palpatine worked ever harder to take over.


    "You seem to be having trouble there" called out Bee "Haven''t you caught on yet? You must have asked why every shot I made and every single stone I threw made its mark without interruption from the very skilled doppelgangers"


    Palpatines mind was devoted to its task but a small part of him was desperate to know why a stone from Bee was able to kill a doppelganger with vast experience in form three of lightsaber techniques, something a padawan could deflect with little effort.


    "Are you understanding yet? Do you feel that cold, lonely feeling of being truely alone" Palpatine allowed his enemy to monologue, the longer his enemy talked the more time he would have to take over.


    "You can''t hear the soft murmurs of the force talking to you or the unexplainable warnings of the inevitable attacks. The force isn''t saying anything to you right now, you are alone" gloated Bee


    The realisation that Palpatine hadn''t heard anything from the force caused a cold dread to hit him.


    "That''s good, I feel your dread, I like it" Gloatted Bee.


    "Impossible" muttered Palpatine through bruised split lips. "You don''t have this power, you can''t stop the force"


    A light chuckle left Bee''s lips, he was enjoying this "My doppelgangers don''t have this power but I''m not a doppelganger. Everything my doppelgangers understand, I know but they don''t know everything I understand"


    Bee gestures out to the battlefield. Doppelgangers were being wiped out and the once-expanding army of Palpatine was whittled down.


    Each doppelganger that fell by Bee''s hand didn''t have his first unique skill, the ability to hide his force abilities. Be it Bee''s or Palpatines doppelganger, neither knew this ability, only Bee. The ability''s size started as a single coin but while it didn''t grow in size it did grow in multiplication. Now, Bee was able to fire hot bolts of plasma and hide it from the force.


    Bee''s hand grasped around Palpatines neck "With just a small squeeze I will paralyse you and contain your spirit into a broken mess"


    Palpatine noodle-like arms tried to grasp at Bee''s arms. "Yes, struggle more. I like my enemies to cower, especially ones that give me as much trouble as you".


    The pressure built up over Palpatines eyes as Bee carefully increased his power. Death wasn''t scary, he would just bounce over to a different doppleganger but as his neck started to click horribly  he could see that the dopplegangers that had been fighting were all quite.


    None of them was here anymore, every single one of the were gone. Palpatines doppleganger had been destroyed and Bee''s were dismissed so Palpatine didn''t have a doppleganger to grasp onto.


    Desperation sweep through Palpatines mind. The unknown was burtal to a Sith Lord. He tried again to grasp Bee''s hand, to stop him from imprisioning him in a wall of flesh.


    "I like the way you struggle" Bee whispered to Palpatine. The glow in Bee''s eyes deepened and yellow eyes looked back at Palpatine. To his shock, Bee''s face was smacked by Palpatine hand. A lesser person would have been sent flying by the blow but not Bee. He looked down to see what had hit him and there was a third, unbroken hand growing out of Palpatine.


    Palpatine had discovered a way to use the doppelganger''s skill in a way that Bee had never thought of before. Many arms grew from Palpatines back and struggled to fight back. Each arm attacked Bee''s grasping hands.


    When one wasn''t enough then two and then three extra pairs of hands struggled to overpower Bee''s vace-like grip away from his neck.


    "Not bad" nodded Bee "Not bad at all" A quick bolt of lightning caused Palpatine to seize up.


    An ulgy snap caused Bee to whines. The struggling Palpatine cause an odd twist and his neck broke cleanly. Palpatines doppleganger disapeared and only Palpatine''s dark spirit was there hovering.


    "You stupid, weak....nerf herder" Palpatine''s insult rocked Bee as he expected a deeper more animalistic insult. "What can you do now, there''s nothing you can do. In death, I''ve become unstoppable, ultimate power"


    Palpatines laughter was shortly joined by Bee''s laughter.


    Controlling himself, Bee answered Palpatines final question. "The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural" Palpatine quickly shut his spectral mouth after hearing his own words against himself. "That includes creating force wraiths"


    Palpatine of course knew about force wraiths. It was the defining force power of Darth Vectivus. That Dark lord of the Sith could have taken over the galaxy with his ability but he was too weak and allowed it to go to waste but there was no way that Bee was able to copy that skill. The dopplegangers didn''t even know about it and yet they didn''t know about the hidden force attacks Bee could create.


    To clear up any further questions, ghostly spirits were called from the depths of the dark side closing in to Palpatine. The fear in Palpatines face turned to pain as the wraiths clawed at him, tearing off pieces of spirit. Panicking, Palpatine desperately looked for a doppelganger to possess but to his horror, he didn''t have the power or victim. Each swipe with a wraith''s hand tore more power away. Each set of hands rooted Palpatine from escape and every tug caused him to fade. The wraiths kept on coming, more and more ripped at him and tore his essence. Each wraith took a part of Palpatine and flew away, they ripped and tore and within a couple of seconds, Palpatines spirit disappeared. If there was a way to come back from death then this was the answer, a brutal answer that destroyed the spirit never to be reformed again. Palpatine''s spirit would become part of the force but not in the way of the Jedi but just as wasteful trash that the galaxy would recycle.


    Bee sighed, that was the end of Palpatine. The dark lord of the Sith was truly gone, and yet, the Jedi didn''t know that.


    "FREEZE, DON''T MORE. YOUR UNDER ARREST" Yelled a nervous Jedi master.


    "Not again" muttered Bee

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95


    This is the second time I''ve been held as a prisoner by the Jedi. The first time was when I killed prisoners of the Brotherhood of Darkness over a thousand years ago. At least they haven''t put me in their ultra-super max space prison. Instead, I''m under house arrest and guarded by the Jedi on a planet with the bare necessities.


    There are no droids, machines, or technology for me to tinker with, all because the Jedi are afraid. Not without good reason. The battle between me and Palpatine was confusing as hell. They witnessed spirits and ghosts, as well as fighting doppelgangers, square off each other, and Palpatine possessing and controlling my powers. They don''t know if I''m me or a new, more powerful Palpatine.


    What questions could they ask me to verify that I am me and not just Palpatine reading my memories? What test could they do that a powerful master of lies and illusions wouldn''t be able to fool? They don''t know; they can''t know for sure. I could swear on the force and plead with them, but ultimately, that would mean nothing.


    Even Yoda isn''t sure. On the rare times he has visited me, I feel he is unsure. He wants to believe that I was able to win against Palpatine but he fears the slim chance of my skills in Palpatine. He can''t risk it.


    That is why I''m on an insect-infested planet. I''m unsure where I''m at, but I know I''m alone. The Jedi can''t risk getting mind-controlled and freeing me. Instead, they are guarding the sol system that this planet is revolving around in. The only company I have is my doppelgangers and rarely a tired Yoda.


    I treat this like a holiday, after many years of combat I feel like this might do me some good. It would be better if I had some technology that I could listen to music and watch some news but it is what it is. This is the price I''m willing to pay to have a small piece of peace. Could I escape? Very likely. I now have the wraiths that can follow simple commands and travel through the cold expanse of space but the distance between planets is vast and time-consuming.


    No, I think it is better to find myself once again and live a quieter life for a few years.


    Over the years, many ships have dropped off cargo for me but never landed. However, a sleek ship built for speed and luxury breaks the atmosphere and lands on the soft mud. The weight causes the ship to sink a couple of inches as the constant rain persuades the soil to loosen up.


    A guard captain is alone surveying his surroundings, blaster at his hip, hand at the ready for sudden surprises. He probs around with his pocket machines looking for life signs.


    I watch him call back to the ship''s entrance. With the captain''s hand signal, he is waiting for an older or richer individual to take his hand in comfort or stability.


    My guess is going to be a rich refined lady and I''m not wrong. An older lady, prim and proper, elegantly walks outside with her hand gently being held by the captain. The bulk of the ship protects her spectacular expensive dress from the rain and her headpiece wobbles just a hint from the wind. She is refined in her mannerisms, elegant in her pose and walking, and while old, she has a beauty to her that is still eye catching.


    She points to the slightly rotten cargo that the Jedi drop off every month that was meant to help me survive, each one never opened and left there. Over the years the unused cargo has turned into a sizeable pyramid.


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    The guard shrugs to indicate he has no idea and salutes her as she walks back inside. This woman is part of the military and a high-ranking one. You can''t be at that age without being at the top of the pecking order and staying in the military. Not a general, she is not a fighter like the Jedi generals. Possibly an Admiral or I could be completely wrong. She could just be rich and have a private army.


    A burst flare shoots from the sleek ship and explodes in the air pinpointing their positions. They are trying to get my attention.


    My curiosity is peaked. My only visitor has been from Yoda and even he has stopped visiting in the last couple of months. I jump off the tree branch I''ve used to spy on the newcomers and float to the ground like a make-believe princess.


    As I walk towards the starship I almost forget to turn off my abilities. My force powers have become refined and gentle in the past couple of years. Ten-plus years of army experience fighting made me a powerhouse to be feared but now I''ve had the time to just incorporate everything I''ve learned without being attacked. It''s made all the difference, my powers are on automatic. They are used to incorporate the best outcome for me for what I''m doing at the time.


    The force is part of me in a way like wanting a drink and raising an arm. My brain controls the arm to reach out and tilt the cup of water to quench my thirst but I''m not conscious of all the things that go into using my body. The force has become reactive, proactive, instinctive and automatic. If I''m hungry, instead of searching for food and actively looking for resources, grapes will be plucked from a vine and pushed up to my lips with only the thought of "I could do with a snack".


    The force warps around me and fall to the side revealing myself to the scanning abilities of the starship. It doesn''t take long for them to find me as they never stop their scans.


    The captain greets me with smiles and pleasant words but his mind is unsure that he has the right person. It''s not his fault, for some reason, he is looking for the dread pirate captain that caused the Empire to fear going into certain areas and not me now who is covered in dirt and plant materials that barely cover my parts. Instead of the feared captain who robbed the galaxy''s most powerful governments of whole battle star ships, he is looking at a bum in tattered cloth. To his great credit, he doesn''t show it on his face.


    He invites me onto the ship but I decline, which leaves him at a loss for what to do. A protocol droid offers me food and drink. The new model of the droid interests me briefly but I''m becoming increasingly tired by the way it fubbly talks to me. The rain is still pouring down as I wait for the interaction to finish, mud slushes off me and reveals my ever-naked body. The captain offers me his cap to cover my shame but I just look at his outstretched hand and use the cap how it was intended by putting it on my head.


    "Greeting to great dreed Captain Bee" the old lady speaks. Her emotions are off, apart from the usual surface emotions that all thinking people have, her feelings are filled with guilt and a little more shame than most.


    "Do I have the honour of meeting the real Captain Bee" she mentions my doppelgangers.


    I shake my head and point to a rough area where my true body is.


    The old lady walks to my side, ignoring the rain as it splatters her face and looks me up and down as if I wasn''t becoming ever more nude as the rain washes my filth away to show more filth.


    Her hand clenches and I feel her emotions spike toward anger but not toward me, but to herself.


    "You''ve aged well," I say to her.


    Her eyes sparkle in humour "Not as well as you"


    It was obvious to me who this person was, there weren''t many who knew my secret identity as a pirate. It''s been a rough decade since I last saw Padm¨¦ Amidala, the once and twice queen of Naboo, the left-hand woman of the Dreed pirate Bee and now admiral of the new republic. Pleasantries are quickly thrown away as her time is short and she is needed elsewhere. She proclaims how important her mission is and demands an audience from the real me. When pushed to explain herself in more detail she only says that the galaxy needs help with a new enemy, a new war. One where it wouldn''t be decided by the power of the force but the power of the quality of the heart. A war where the Jedi were powerless and the powerful technology of this galaxy couldn''t stand up.


    The galaxy needs that special type of evil that I am a master in. A tactical mind that can ruin the enemy and make them wish they were never born. They need me because of how far I will go to win. They need me to kill.... a lot.