Rule34Economy 4
Star Wars 9
Base. Ruusan.
After dropping off a certain cute blue-skinned alien senator back at Courscant we'd left as quickly as possible due to the bounty on my head, and there might be people out there who wouldn't mind getting their hands on my ship even if no one in the Republic seemed to care about them not having access to my technology. With that in mind, I'd brought us all the base here on Ruusan which was cut off from the hyperspace routes used by the space travelling peoples of this galaxy.
Within the base, that was still under construction, I had a command and control room, and inside that room, there was a command throne for me to sit on that was on the top an elevated platform made out of steps. From this fancy seat, I could the 2Davatar of Andromeda who along with the bioroids was working to make sense of the information we were using from the holonet to run a game of sorts.
It was more a large scale simulation that a true game. The giant table in the centre of this room was both a holoprojector and a communications device as well as a complex computer. It used all the information we'd gather on the galaxy, via the holonet and other sources, to simulate the Clone Wars, with me playing as the overall commander of one side (either Dooku or Palpatine) while Andromeda handled everything else.
No human mind could have handled all of the details of such a large scale war, not by a long shot, so to make it as simple as possible I only had to make choices that were presented to me by the simulation. Palpatine and Dooku both had a lot of power, but they didn't micromanage the war, they had generals and agents to take care of matters for them.
Long before playing the simulation, it had been clear to me that the Republic should have lost the Clone Wars by now and it would have been forced to recognise the CIS as a true nation upon reaching some sort of diplomatic solution. Failing a diplomatic solution the CIS still would have won the war and the Republic would have collapsed, it would just have taken the CIS longer and cost more.
"Even with flawed decision making by the organic leaders of the CIS, they could have won the war by now" the hologram of Andromeda was now saying to me "some of the targets selected by CIS leadership simply make no sense. Any High Guard admiral with the resources of the droid army would have demolished the Republic in a few months even with a decent AI to help them. Although the presence of Force-users could cause some slight problems with my simulations. I can't predict their behaviour as well I can of the clone troopers and other Republic officers".
This didn't surprise me at all.
"This whole war just a means for the Sith to take control of the galaxy, aside from feeding the growing power of the dark side the war is getting a lot of Jedi killed and its an excuse for Palpatine to gain more control of the Republic," I said, which Andromeda knew as well I did "The CIS just need to look as if they are trying to win".
Which explained some of the worlds they took. They couldn't just take Courscant as simple as it might have seemed during the start of the war as Coruscant itself has a population of more than a trillion. Sure they could have taken the world, but any invasion by droids could not be sustained as it would be worn out by guerrilla warfare lead by the security forces and even normal civilians who knew how to shoot a blaster without hitting a friend would have been recruited into a rebel army.
Every Republic planet had its own security forces, even if they only numbered in the hundreds, so even a small planet (in population and economic terms) would be able to offer some resistance and those who did fight an invasion would have the aid of any Jedi in area. This was why the CIS had forked out the credits to build such a large droid army in the first place so they could just overwhelm the Jedi and the security forces with sheer numbers, much like what happened on Naboo during the events of the Phantom Menace.
"I can present this data in the form of a report and spread it to people via the holonet" Andromeda offered "It should raise some questions in the CIS leadership. Assuming the Separatist civilian population don't simply consider it to be a conspiracy theory of some kind".
Even if only caused a few important people within the CIS to start asking questions it would be worth it so I authorised her to spread the info around.
"Let's try the other way around" the AI suggested, "You take the role of Dooku and direct the droid army".
Andromeda speed things up as much as possible so by the time the Republic armed forces had finished crushing the CIS droid army a total of three years passed inside the game, the game projected by the holograms not that one I was playing for real.
"How did you beat me?" I asked, "I was playing to win and in our simulation, Count Dooku didn't take any orders from Palpatine, and I had you pushed back to the Core of the galaxy".
Andromeda didn't seem pleased by her victory, and that was odd since she was in some sense the mind of a warship.
"I was defending resources at the expense of worlds" she explained, "You took a lot of planets, but I was able to hold on the industrial centres in the Core worlds and more importantly Kamino, while the CIS starts with a lot of foundries and shipyards they can't compete with places like Kaut and Fondor once they get going, I simply outproduced you and when I was ready to go on the offensive you couldn't hold on to the worlds you captured because you had your forces spread so fine and you left your industrial centres vulnerable to attack".
The actual Clone Wars worked out a lot like that only the real CIS was purposely making bad choices, such as getting bogged down in needlessly long battles and invading planets they didn't really need. The Republic, once it got onto a proper war footing, was able to drive the Separatists into the Outer Rim with a couple of years, at least mostly.
"Yes I did notice that you sacrificed worlds, but I needed their resources to support the droid armies," I said to Andromeda "and I don't think the Jedi Generals would have allowed all those worlds to fall without more of a fight".
The simulations couldn't account for the Force only the stuff that normally mattered in a war such as resources, morale, production, logistics, that sort thing.
"I can use this data and information from the holonet to also show people that the Republic should be losing a lot more than they have to the droid armies" Andromeda was now saying "No one will know where this information came from and it should make some people start to question their leadership".
The Jedi already knew that the war was a trap of the Sith, but they couldn't just abandon the Republic, and I felt sure that many clone officers had reached the conclusion that the facts of this war didn't add up. Still, it would make a few people question their reality, and that along with my other actions should have an effect on the plans of the Sith.
"Go ahead, anything we can do to screw up the plans of the Sith is good for us," I said.
While it might seem simple enough for me to end the Clone Wars early, which would be good as the war needed to end for me to finish this level, I had to survive any effort to end them. Doing something like taking out the Sith could actually make the war last longer because right now it was a controlled affair. Like a deadly performance.
However, if the Sith lost control of the war it would still keep going. General Grievous, who was now in charge of the droid army, at least until Dooku broke out, he still wanted to kill the Jedi and heads of the organisations that supported Dooku wouldn't mind taking over the galaxy for themselves once they no longer had to fear their Sith Masters, in fact, without the Sith around the CIS leaders had more to fear as if they lost the war they'd spend the rest of their lives in prison or worse. So they'd keep fighting and might get desperate.
Not that killing the Sith, or Jedi, was my concern. Balancing the Force, that problem had been placed on Anakin Skywalker's shoulders, not mine. My job was to either hide out here until the Clone Wars came to an end or find a way to end the way early so I get on with the game.
It would serve me well if either the Republic or the CIS collapsed. So far I'd worked to provide minor aid to the Republic, but that hadn't been my main motivation, I'd been making money, gathering information and earning a few allies, all of which would be useful later.
Also, there was the matter of Ahsoka, whom I really, really wanted to bind to me, but she wasn't old enough to be a waifu yet as they have reached a certain level of maturity before I could try to bind them, so if I ended the Clone Wars too soon I'd lose my chance to have her as a waifu. Sure I could just by a version of her from the catalogue, but she wouldn't be the Ahsoka I was already getting to know.
It seemed best to do whatever I could do to screw up the plans of the Sith, or at least to undermine them and to enjoy myself while in on this level. There was plenty out there to explore and a lot of technology to find, and nice stuff I could loot. Plus sexy females to get naked with.
"Captain, Lara has returned" I was told by my AI waifu.
I'd sent Lara and Isabela on a trip to one of the worlds in the Deep Core, due to density of the stars and the black holes at the centre of the galaxy the local version of hyperdrive wasn't much help in reaching the Deep Core, but we had technology the locals didn't have and my cruiser was very fast when it used the Stargate type of hyperdrive, which was actually its main form of FTL drive.
As to why I'd not gone. Well, I'd been spending my time here at the base on other matters. I was working on a lot of projects, including the personal shields and the combined gauss/phaser pistols that were now available for everyone. I'd even invested a few hours into trying to figure out if I could make a holocron of my very own so that I could leave behind some of the knowledge of the Force I'd acquired, so far looked like I would be able to but I would need some special crystals.
"Open a channel" I ordered
Lara's hologram appeared before me. She was sitting in my captain's chair, and for a moment that annoyed me as that was my seat. but I was just being petty.
"So did you find Tython?" I asked.
Tython was a planet in the Tython system of the Deep Core that played a pivotal role in the histories of the Je'daii Order and its successor, the Jedi Order. The Je'daii Order, based their philosophy of balance upon Tython's two moons Ashla and Bogan which acted as symbols of sorts for the light side and the dark side. The original Jedi hadn't feared the dark side like the current Jedi do and had understood that the extremes of both sides could be corrupting so they'd used both sides and had done so carefully.
If someone was corrupted by the dark side and began to behave insanely they were sent to Ashla, the light moon, so that they balance their darkness with the light, if they became too strong in light, which resulted in them becoming unable to much other than sitting around in robes and meditate all day, then they'd be sent to the dark moon to recover.
"We found it Captain" Lara reported, "and as you feared it's covered in Force storms".
I'd been worried about that as the world of Tython itself reacted violently with Force Storms and quakes to an imbalance between the light and dark sides of the Force. I suspected that its two moons had a part of play in that if one of the moons moved closer to the world it would cause changes in the weather and cause problems with seismic activity. But again the imbalance in the Force wasn't my issue to solve.
"A pity I was hoping to recover some evidence of the ancient teaching and use them to shake up the Jedi Order, if only for my own amusement," I said.
Well, more than that. Discovering that their teachings would be considered insane heresy by the original Jedi would have hopefully caused the modern Jedi to take a good hard look at themselves. How the modern Jedi could consider themselves to be servants of the Force if they tried to have as little to do with the dark side as possible I simply didn't know. Balance requires two things to be equal to each other.
"What about Byss?" I questioned.
Byss was the secret throne world of Palpatine and the location of his towering Imperial Citadel. He also kept his secret supply of clone bodies there. If he was already arranging a way to make himself immortal then I wanted to stamp it out and further derail his plans.
"Near as we can tell there's no Sith presence on that world, at least not one we could find," Lara told me "Maybe he hasn't started building anything there".
That was possible, and I figured that I should check again later just to be sure. For now, there were other worlds that we could go and check out. Only they would have to wait as Andromeda had some important news for me.
"According to your smartphone, one of the high-value waifus for this level is about to die" the AI let me know "The phone doesn't have a feature to warn you about this, but it does keep track of possible waifu so I can keep an eye on them for you".
Even after more than a year of playing this game, it could still surprise me, and having AI to work with the smartphone was paying off, Andromeda was proving to be how useful the more expensive waifu could be.
She quickly brought up the file which was all about a woman simply called Fay who was a centuries-old, female near-human Jedi Master who was known to have had an intensely strong connection with the Force which allowed her to retain a youthful appearance. She was one of several legendary wandering Jedi Masters whose exploits were known throughout the Jedi Order.
Not believing that she was destined to teach, Jedi Master Fey left the Core and began roaming the Outer Rim worlds. For many centuries Fay allowed the Force to guide her to where she was needed, and as a result, was known to have resolved many conflicts, and even ended entire wars.
During the Clone Wars, she felt the Force guide her to the planet Queyta, where she rendezvoused with a number of other Jedi Masters, including Obi-Wan Kenobi, to recover a vital antidote needed for a deadly new chemical weapon. The ensuing mission resulted in Fay and the other Jedi encountering the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress and Durge, a 2,000-year-old bounty hunter. During the confrontation, Fay fought with Ventress, but following an intense explosion, Ventress severely wounded the Jedi Master. Fay gave her last remaining strength to Kenobi so he could escape with the antidote, and thereby save millions of lives.
However according to the file, Fey was about to die on a world other than Queyta. Instead, she would ie on Iego which was a mysterious planet located in the Outer Rim Territories on the fringes of the known galaxy that was surrounded by a thousand moons collectively known as the moons of Iego, and at least one of which was populated by a race of beings known as Angels. During the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems constructed a superweapon of some kind that prevented anyone from leaving the planet, before the field was destroyed by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, freeing the people trapped on Iego.
"If I remember my Clone Wars lore correctly there's a plant on that world which is a cure for the Blue Shadow Virus," I said, thinking out loud "Fey must be going after the cure".
The Blue Shadow Virus was a deadly disease that spread like a plague in the galaxy many years before the Clone Wars. Although the virus was eradicated, Doctor Nuvo Vindi of the Confederacy of Independent Systems re-engineered the virus on Naboo. He attempted to spread it across the planet, but in the show, he was stopped thanks to the efforts of the Jedi and some clones who put themselves in great danger to protect others.
"Lara I'm coming on board," I told her before closing the channel and turning to face the 2D image of Andromeda "I need my fighter and a couple of shuttles".
For a while now I'd suspected that there was some sort of intelligence that kept pushing me into a more active role in the Clone Wars I had after all selected to come here during a time of crisis so that I could afford to purchase my cruiser and the extra credits came at a price. If this was the case then I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. Oh well, at least I wouldn't get bored.
"I take it we're going to Iego," said Andromeda.
Yes, we were.
(Line Break)
Landing Pad. Iego.
From space this planet had looked to be both a temperate and tropical with ice caps and plentiful oceans, not that unlike many other worlds I'd seen that could support humanoid life. This world was located on the fringes of the known galaxy and was orbited by a thousand moons, that were collectively known as the moons of Iego, however, most of the moons were really just lumps of bare rock of small size. The most interesting thing about them right now was that they were a big hazard to navigation when you were trying to land on the planet.
I did my best to let the Force guide my actions, and this involved taking my personal slipfighter down to the planet, a fighter craft more suited to flying in an atmosphere than the void of space. The craft had recently been upgraded. Thanks to Hermoine who had used magic to expand the internal space of the engine compartment of the fighter, Andromeda had been able to pack a much bigger power source into the fighter without increasing its mass, because of magic. As such this fighter now had shields and a high-quality Star Wars hyperdrive which could be swapped out for a different type of FTL engine in a later level.
Behind me sat Tonks who was getting some experience with slipfighters and we were escorting a shuttle down the landing pad that I'd selected using my judgement, or the Force had selected for me, it was hard to tell the difference at times since the Force was a part of me.
Not after we landed the waifu I'd brought with me (Tonks, Lara, Isabela and Hoshi) along with some bodyguard droids and a few bioroids, all joined up together so that we could decide the next part of the planet. I wanted to gather some samples of the planet that could be turned into a cure for the Blue Shadow Virus in case the virus started to spread across the galaxy, and also to help Fey stay alive as she was a high-value capture, equal to Hermoine or Tonks. Although given her experiences and the fact that she was a Jedi Master I could be forgiven for thinking that she was worth more. Well, I didn't make the rules.
Before we could discuss anything we all heard the sound of marching, the movement of many metal feet, there was a heck of a lot of droids currently coming towards us. Thankfully they were only B1 battle droids so as long as we were careful we should all get through this fine.
"Find some cover" I ordered.
We all took what little cover could be found on the landing path and prepared for combat. Now we could see them the B1 droids were marching in a parade formation and they weren't opening fire. They just stopped as if they were waiting for someone.
Reaching out with my senses I could feel a force-sensitive nearby who wasn't familiar to me. What was curious was the lack of danger I was sensing, or that I wasn't sensing in this case. There didn't seem to be anything here that could threaten a Jedi Master, but my memories of this part of the Clone Wars series wasn't great so perhaps the danger was ahead.
"Welcome to Iego!" the droids started chanting.
I got no feeling from any of this that we were in danger, and while this was nice as I didn't want to get shot at, it was all very strange.
"Hold your fire," I ordered.
Two vulture droids, in walker configuration, were now moving behind the square of B1 droids and they were a real threat if they turned hostile.
"His excellency Jaybo Hood wants to meet with you," said a droid that stepped forward.
It was obvious to me that this Jaybo Hood was the Force-sensitive who I'd sensed and I was equally sure the Jedi didn't take him in for training when they came here for the root. Probably because he was too old, but I couldn't recall them mentioning that he could have been a Jedi. Perhaps the dark side or their urgency had clouded their senses. My senses were more clear. Or it could be a change in the setting. There were elements from both canon and legends in this universe so it should be expected that people and places would be different than I expected.
Also if the kid was really responsible for all these droids it showed that he had some frighteningly good tech abilities for someone so young and potentially self-taught. Much like a certain slave boy that Qui-Gon Jinn had found on the ball of sand that I'd once had the displeasure of setting foot on.
Perhaps it was the will of the Force that I'd come here, or the plans of something else, after all, someone must have made the Smartphone that I used to set up the levels of the game, and it was well beyond any technology or magic that I'd seen so far. Perhaps I'd come here because of the will of something or someone, and if so there had to be a reason. Maybe one beyond trying to save a high-value waifu.
I removed my helmet and took a deep breath of cool, clean air. My armour had been modified recently to include a personal shield and a dart thrower had been added to the wrist on my right arm as an extra weapon, but I didn't think I'd need it here, or any weapon for that matter, at least not yet.
"Oh, I get to say it!" I suddenly realised.
I'd been about to tell the droid to lead the way when I could have used the classic line. This was not something I could pass on.
"Take us to your leader," I requested.
I was even the alien landing on a planet in a strange ship. My inner geek was now squealing in joy.
"Hi, there!" the kid said when we found him in his hammock.
I cheerfully smiled at the boy who had many droids tending to his needs. Including a couple who were fanning him, and one even carried a tray that held a cold drink and a bowl of snacks. Why I'd not thought to this with my bioroids, who were much more attractive to look at than battle droids, I just didn't know. Perhaps this boy could teach me a few things while I taught him how to use his powers.
Should he become my apprentice I'd have to keep him away from the Jedi Order as they would try to take him off me since they wouldn't want a failed Jedi taking an apprentice, and they could do that since they'd made an expectation for Anakin when he'd been the age this boy was now. There were even laws in place to make it easier for the Jedi to take in Force-sensitive children.
For a moment I considered calling in a favour and getting the Jedi Council to give me a knighthood, I'd certainly done enough for them to have earned it, and then I could take Jaybo as a Padawan as Obi-Wan had with Anakin. I would not let the Order take him as even if they didn't ship him off to one of the Corps he'd likely be lost during Order 66. But that was something to think about later as Jaybo would need to decide to come with me before I needed to concern myself with training him.
"This is a nice set up you've got here" I praised.
The wall to the right, which was covered with posters of scantily clad women from different human-like species, most certainly got my attention, and I made a mental note that if I took the boy with me, even if it was just for a while since I wouldn't be in this galaxy for long enough to raise him, that I should give him his own scantily-clad bioroid just so he'd have something more real to admire.
"Where did you get all the clankers?" I inquired.
I must have spent too much time with the clones I was picking up some of their slang words.
"The Separatists left a whole warehouse full of the things when they left," young Mr Hood told me "It wouldn't do to let poor things rust away, would it?".
Waste not, want not, as the old saying went.
"Maybe I should put you in charge of droid production and maintenance on my ship," I said too softly to be heard.
One of my waifu was now mentioning to another how adorable she found this kid to be. Waifu could be maternal it seemed.
"Are you another Jedi?" the boy asked as he pointed at my lightsaber which I was wearing on my belt "I've already seen two Jedi today".
At least he didn't simply assume that I was a Jedi as many would have, as for the Jedi he'd seen that was likely Obi-Wan as I'd sensed his presence. The other must be Fay.
"I do use the Force. However, I am most definitely not a Jedi" I told him "I flunked out the temple".
He seemed surprised to hear that.
"I didn't know that you could stop being a Jedi," he said.
Few Force-users who entered the temple ever left the Order even if they didn't become Jedi Knights. It was more like the Circle of Magi in the Dragon Age games than it might seem. Only it was Jedi Masters and Temple Guards who watched your every move rather than Templars, looking for signs of corruption, such as falling to the dark side, or too much free thinking.
"Not many of us escape their clutches," I explained to the young man, "I got out as soon as I could".
While I was enjoying this conversation I did have things to do, and it wasn't as if the boy could go anywhere.
"We are looking for Reeska roots" I mentioned "Do you know where we could find some? I can pay you to lead us to the roots. I can even get you off this planet".
He told me about the phenomenon he thought to be something supernatural.
"I know what shoots down the ships trying to get away from here," I said to the small human"There's a weapon array on one of the moons. I have a cruiser outside of the moons which can make short work of it once it is located. I have drones scanning the moons so will we find the weapon and destroy it. Once that is done we'll be free to leave this world".
"You are not joking around, are you?" Jaybo asked
I did not miss the trace of hope in his voice. He must want off this world. Not because it was unpleasant, he just wanted to get out there. He was much like a young Anakin Skywalker.
(Line Break)
Canyon. Iego.
Jaybo Hood led the visitors to a canyon to the east of the city that he called home. Once there he pointed Captain Gothic, he'd gotten the man's name and title on the way here, towards a plant that was growing down in the bottom of the canyon. He warned them that something bad would happen if someone just started trying to gather the root so they would have to be very careful.
The boy called Jaybo wasn't sure if the man in the black armour meant it when he offered to take the lad off-world, but the young mechanic was certain that he could earn his keep fixing droids at least long enough to find his way to a planet more interesting than this one. Not that Iego was boring, he'd just been here a while and he was itching to see me.
"Wait here" Gothic ordered.
Jaybo Hood blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes, even then he couldn't tell for sure what had just happened. As far as he could tell Gothic had just teleported himself down to the bottom of the canyon. Jaybo's quick mind realised that Gothic was going to take a sample of the root he needed and then teleport back to where he'd been standing a moment ago. That would have quick and easy, as well as awesome, but because things never went smoothly something unexpected soon happened.
While Jaybo had no idea who Ventress was he did know Obi-Wan and the lady who'd come with Obi-Wan who didn't carry a lightsaber, she was called Fay. As such he recognised the two Jedi when they came running out of a cave with another Jedi hot on their heels. All of the Force-Users made an effort not to touch any of the roots. It was an impressive display of acrobatics to watch Kenobi duel with the scary Jedi with red blades, as they all avoid touching the roots.
"Don't step on the cracks or you'll break your mother's back" one of the women with Gothic muttered to herself.
The woman with no hair and two red blades used of her blades to awaken the plant, which took objection to someone harming it, and did it what it needed to do in order to remove the danger. Alas for the Jedi and Gothic it didn't do so in a safe way.
"Obi-Wan get the cure to Naboo!" the pretty lady called Fay called out.
This involved Gothic and Kenobi jumping up and out of the canyon while the angry Jedi with the red blades attacked Fey and soon they both vanished beneath the attacking roots.
(Line Break)
Landing Pad. Iego.
We gave Jaybo and Obi-Wan, who was mourning the death of his Jedi friend, a ride to the landing platform where Kenbio could take his own ship to Naboo, but I warned him about the CIS weapon that would prevent him from leaving the planet in a most fatal way if we didn't deal with it first.
He didn't pay much attention to my words, not at first, the death of Jedi Master Fay, and she was dead according to my Smartphone which had removed her from list of possible waifu, seemed to have affected him rather badly. I hoped he'd recover enough to get the root to Naboo.
Ventress was still a possible capture so she must have survived, but she had at least failed her mission, which must have been to prevent the Jedi from getting samples of the root. Both Obi-Wan and I had been able to get some of the plants before we'd had to Force Jump away.
I contacted Velma, the waifu I'd left in charge of the ship just so she could experience what it was to like to be in command even if the ship's AI would actually do the work. Andromeda had the drones in place, but since the weapon was on different moons and dormant it would take a while to find and to it destroy unless it powered up as that would give Andromeda something vital to aim at.
"Captain I detected... well actually Andromeda did it, she found a small craft trying to escape the system" Velma let me know "it will be able to reach hyperspace because we're not in the right position to stop it, but the weapon didn't come online. Any idea why?".
Ventress must have a code she could broadcast to the weapon keep it from targetting her or maybe an IFF system that let the weapon known she was with the CIS.
"Ignore it" I ordered.
I was sure that I'd get the chance to deal with Ventress some other day.
"So, can you lift the curse?" Jaybo asked me.
Well not exactly.
"It's a powerful weapons' system, not a curse," I told the boy "But I can shut it down by having my ship blow it up all to hell, so then yes I can lift the curse in a sense".
I looked over the kid's vulture droids and at my slipfighter. I'd sacrifice the fighter if I had to, but I'd rather not and given its sheer speed and small size any weapons system would have trouble targeting it without the ECM. If we sent the two vulture droids up a the same time the chances of my fighter getting shot down were lessened and the more targets it had to fire at the longer it would be active so my cruiser would have an easier job taking down the weapon.
"Jaybo, how much for those vulture droids?" I asked.
They had been designed to be expendable.
