I was brimming with excitement when I teleported Sorzus and I back up to the surface, the Sith lady having reclaimed her lightsaber and amulet. I then teleported us both up to the ship briefly, doing a quick meet-and-greet with my companions as I changed out of my armour, before teleporting us back down to the surface of Korriban.

"Before we begin, I was curious about something," I said. "The climate of Korriban is far more arid than what I'd expect of its relatively cool temperature. Was it always like this, or did you and your colleagues make it this way?"

"The latter," Sorzus replied. "When we first started using our powers to dominate the Sith - the species that is - living on Korriban, we decided it would be a good way of increasing their dependence on us. Especially with how many resources were being brought from off-world, we didn't need Korriban's formerly balmy climate for agriculture or anything, so it was worth the slight cost."

I nodded. Turning a lush, fertile planet into a desert seemed suitably on-brand for the Sith.

"Now I have a question for you," Sorzus said. "What was with that unconscious Jedi I couldn't help but notice you had in your ship's common room?"

I couldn't help but smirk. "Right, that. The Jedi - Fay is her name - is apparently more of a pacifist than most, refusing to even carry a lightsaber. She told me her calling was not to teach, but instead wander the galaxy, helping whoever she happened to come across. She was doing that with some of the locals when I captured her."

"I see. And what do you plan to do with her?"

"I have ideas, but no solid plans yet. Obviously I can't let her go back to the rest of the Jedi… I'm still thinking about it." Of course, I already had a plan for Fay, one that I wouldn't tell Sorzus about until her Stamp finished - namely, turning her into my own personal hentai elf cumdump and cocksleeve. While she had altered her body with the Warp in more ways than just ceasing to age, her proportions were still plausibly natural, having a similar build to Cortana only taller. Once she and Sorzus were fully captured, I would instead be giving her body as exaggerated as Xyl's. Probably make her ears longer and pointier while I was at it, more like an actual elf instead of a Star Trek Vulcan. I wouldn't, however, affect her mind in any way, at least not directly; I couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she noticed the mounds of flesh attached to her chest.

Sorzus just nodded. I had deliberately not shown her around the cargo bay, which still contained a couple more sacrifices within a slowness bubble, since she might question why I hadn't also put Fay in one, which might lead to other annoying questions if she drew a connection between Fay's Stamp mark and her own.

"Well, if we're trading questions, here's another one," I said. "How much do you know about Sith alchemy?"

This time it was Sorzus's turn to smirk. "I practically invented it."

"You did!?" I blurted out with a not-so-manly squawk, but I couldn't care less; this was like winning the lottery, my first Christmas and sixteenth birthday all rolled into one. "That's the one area I most wanted to learn!"

Sorzus chuckled. "Well, you're certainly one of the more eager students I've ever had. What exactly were you planning to use it for?"

"I thought I'd start simple, like using it to strengthen my armour or something. Once I've gotten a solid grasp of it, I can move onto grander projects. I know, for example, that you Sith have used it to create augmented creatures like those Sith hounds I fought in your tomb. I figure I could use something similar to augment myself."

"Indeed?" Sorzus asked, sounding intrigued. "While I created many alchemical creations in my previous life, I never tried using it on myself, nor am I aware of anyone else who did."

"My people are pretty into biological augmentation," I said. "I am just one example."

Sorzus raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? I had originally assumed you were some near-human species of unusual size. Now I presume you are in fact an otherwise ordinary human that has been 'augmented', as you put it?"

I nodded. "If you can, why don't you use alchemy or some other Force technique to peer into my anatomy?" I said, taking her hand. The binding runes I'd put in her shouldn't block this, as it wasn't an attack.

"Fascinating," Sorzus murmured. "I can see you have an additional heart and lung, and what looks like an extra kidney? I can't immediately tell what most of the others do though. Perhaps even more interesting is the foreign DNA of your augmentations, which is practically glowing with Force energy."

"Yep. The guy whose DNA my augmentations were taken from, his soul is composed of an enormous amount of Warp energy."

"Warp?" Sorzus frowned.

"That's what my people call the Force," I explained. "That isn't the result of the Basic language diverging over the past few millennia, by the way, most people in the galaxy do still call it the Force."

"I see. Please, continue."

"Right. The Warp energy that seeps out of my gene-seed, which is what the organs are collectively called, is truly what gives my augmentations their power. I had originally planned to implant myself with new organs of my own design, created from the same DNA as the rest of the gene-seed. That option is definitely still on the table, but I'm now also considering ways in which I could use Sith alchemy to augment my body directly."

"Do you have any experience in creating your own augmentations?" Sorzus asked.

"Yes actually, though obviously not using your methods. I've got this guy working for me on the side; Maul is his name, a zabrak. I used a school of Warp techniques known as biomancy to increase the strength of his muscles and bones, improve the sensitivity of his sensory organs, and a bunch of other stuff as well."

"Biomancy? I've never heard of any such school, though by the name it clearly refers to techniques for manipulating life via the Force."

"Exactly, it's a specialty of my people, which is why you've never heard of it. Anyway, perhaps the most interesting of the augmentations I gave Maul was one that strengthened his connection to the Warp."

"Now that is impressive," Sorzus said. She actually meant it as well, instead of just being part of her attempt to manipulate me. "I am curious as to how exactly you achieved that."

"It wasn't anything too complicated actually. I took the kyber crystal from his lightsaber, and carved it into a symmetrical shape better suited for channelling Warp energy. I then carved hundreds of runes of psychic power and control into the crystal, which I inlaid with the same Warp-resonant alloy I used for the runes which are binding your spirit to your body, before using biomancy to bond the crystal with his muscle tissue of his primary heart."

"Is that the reason why your connection to the Force is so strong?"

"Actually, no. I intend to use that particular augmentation on myself only when I've acquired the most Warp-resonant materials I can get my hands on, whatever those happen to be."

"A sound decision," Sorzus nodded. "Once the augmentations are applied, they cannot easily be removed. Though that begs the question of just how you became strong in the Force."

"I guess I'm just built different," I smirked. "In all seriousness, I was just lucky enough to be able to channel more Warp energy than anyone else in the galaxy. There are other ways I can grow my power even further, but they require a bit more setup than I have access to right now." With my rapid power growth, I was fairly certain I was the most powerful living psyker in the galaxy by now, the Son, Daughter, Father and Abeloth being the only exceptions. I'd guess that I was roughly as powerful as Anakin eventually would be at his hypothetical peak, though by the time he reached said peak I'd have grown way beyond that.

"What other ways?" Sorzus asked, listening with rapt attention.

"My… teacher, a sorcerer by the name of Ahzek Ahriman, created a ritual that does exactly that. Essentially, it rips out the souls of those around you and infuses them into your own, strengthening your connection to the Warp by an amount equal to the sum total of those souls." Not that that was the original aim of the ritual, but I couldn't be bothered explaining the history behind it right now.

If Sorzus had been impressed before, she now looked positively awestruck. "Incredible… absorbing the souls of the Jedi… you'd be so powerful as to be practically a god."

"Yes I would, if I felt so inclined," I said. "But despite what you may think of me based on the state of my soul, there are certain red lines I will not cross. Consuming the souls of innocent people is one of them. Sacrificing them in rituals is another."

"What about the people you sacrificed to bind my spirit to my body?" Sorzus asked.

"Slavers and criminals who would be executed for their crimes. Once we're done on Korriban, we'll head over to Coruscant and scour the lower levels for more suitably despicable individuals to use in future rituals."

Sorzus frowned at that, causing me to laugh. "What, are you disappointed I'm not completely unprincipled?"

"I'm more surprised than anything," she admitted. "My fellow Sith and I gave up everything in the pursuit of power, yet not even the greatest of us could match you for raw power."

Gently brushing my mind against her emotions, I saw that she was indeed surprised, but the strongest emotion was actually resentment. She resented the fact that I had the choice of compromising on power for the sake of my flimsy morals, and had still reached a greater level of power than her despite that. It wasn't as if she'd had done the same in my position, either; she simply didn't like the fact that I had the choice at all. I was somewhat gratified to see that she was also kicking herself for never thinking of trying to absorb the souls of others to increase her own power.

"Anyway, we were discussing using Sith alchemy as a means of creating new augmentations and things?" I said, not-so-subtly bringing us back on topic.

Sorzus nodded, forcing her resentment down. "Yes. You already mentioned wanting to use it to reinforce your armour, which is certainly possible. There is in fact a rather obscure, strange technique known as Mechu-deru which revolves around manipulating machines with the Force, which may also be relevant in that regard. Some of my colleagues even combined Mechu-deru with Sith alchemy to create biomechanical constructs known as Technobeasts."

"Biomechanical?"

"They created a Forced-infused virus called the nanogene spore. When the spore infected a person, it would cause metallic tumours to grow all throughout their body, turning them into fusions of flesh and metal bonded on a much deeper level than mere cybernetics, effectively turning them into a kind of droid," Sorzus said, raising an eyebrow as she noticed my manic grin.

"You've just described, to a tee, the creation of what my people call fleshmetal," I said. "I should explain; most of the people augmented in the same manner as myself served in one of 20 legions of supersoldiers. My cousins within one of these legions, the Iron Warriors, sought to use the Warp to embody their maxim of 'iron within, iron without' in a very literal sense. They created the Technovirus, a Warp-powered virus which would cause those infected to merge with their weapons, armour and other wargear, transforming them into beings of flesh and metal which had merged on a level that went beyond cybernetic augmentation. Sound familiar?"

"Yes, it is fascinating how two completely separate groups created two very similar creations completely independently of each other," Sorzus smiled. "Though perhaps not completely identical; the Technobeasts were effectively lobotomised by the growing metal within their brains, leaving them as little more than metal zombies. I presume that your cousins retained their higher brain functions after becoming one with this 'fleshmetal' as you call it."

"Yes they did, though many of them were driven insane by the process. Still, I'm pretty sure that's only because they merged with their machine spirits, essentially primitive AIs that controlled their weapons and other gear. They were also able to morph their fleshmetal bodies into any weapon they wanted, provided they'd already absorbed one, and even grow ammunition for them within themselves. I don't plan to go that far, but merging my body with durasteel or something would certainly increase my own physical prowess. Not to mention infusing my brain with computer hardware, or attuned kyber crystals to strengthen my connection to the Warp even further." I probably wouldn't be using mere durasteel of course. Since learning of the existence of molecular furnaces, I would try to acquire one of my own and set it to churn out adamantium and auramite, or failing that, whatever the strongest materials in this galaxy happened to be.

"All in good time," Sorzus said. "First, I need to make sure you know how to walk before teaching you how to run."

"Haven't my actions already proven that?"

"Not in the Sith way," she insisted. "We will start from first principles of manipulating the Force. We'll either do this properly, or not at all."

"Fair enough," I said, glad to see she was taking her teaching role seriously. "Though I'm not about to start using my own negative emotions to draw in extra power as you Sith do, and that is completely non-negotiable. After all, that is a trick that only works while the Warp is as calm as it is here. Even then, it has still clearly marked you, as evidenced by your orange-yellow eyes."

Sorzus looked bemused by that. "How unstable is the Force where you come from that merely drawing upon your own emotions becomes dangerous?"

"As unstable as you would expect after more than a dozen millennia of unending warfare, and all the pain, suffering and other negative emotions churning up the Warp. A state which, incidentally, would almost certainly happen here if the Sith ever truly won over the Jedi." I was massively underselling it of course; the birth of Slaanesh alone would have sent ripples through the Warp stronger than every action ever undertaken by everyone in this galaxy put together.

Sorzus seemed sceptical of my claim even downplaying it as I had, but she didn't press the point. "Well, Sith techniques can still be used without drawing upon one's own emotions to power them, even if it requires a much greater strength in the Force to achieve the same results. That shouldn't be a problem for you though."

Sorzus spent the rest of the day teaching me how to wield the Warp as the Sith did. True to her word, she started with the absolute basics, which meant the Sith's version of Warp-sight. It wasn't fundamentally different to what I already knew, just an alternative way of achieving the same result, which I wasn't surprised by; there were only so many ways to skin a cat, as it were. By the time we called it quits that evening, Sorzus seemed happy that I knew what I was doing.

The next day Sorzus and I teleported back down to Korriban after spending the night in orbit on my ship. We had been going by galactic standard time, which meant it was still the early morning twilight on Korriban, with its 28 hour day-night cycle.

"So, about last night…" Sorzus trailed off.

"What about last night?" I smirked, knowing exactly what she was referring to.

"Do you enjoy the... 'company' of your apprentice and friends regularly?" She asked.

I couldn't help but snort in amusement. "How about I cut straight to the heart of what you're talking around; yes, I fuck their brains out every single night without fail. Most mornings too. If you haven't noticed, we're out in the galactic middle of nowhere, with only so much capacity for watching Holonet films before getting bored. Of course, I never let Maul join in, which is one of the reasons why he's no longer here."

Reading the Sith lady's thoughts, I saw that she was starting to get suspicious, but she hadn't yet come to the conclusion she would end up like my companions. Clearly, it helped that the mental effects of Stamping someone were a lot more subtle than overt mind control. It seemed she was planning to make a show of joining my harem at some point, in a ploy to gain more of my trust, before attempting to wrap me around her little finger. It wasn't a terrible plan either, based on the information she had at her disposal. But I doubted she'd guess that applying a rubber stamp to someone's skin for a few seconds was enough to make them mine. Even if she did somehow guess… well, that's what the runic bindings were for.

"I'm satisfied with your understanding of the fundamentals of using the Force, so I will now start teaching you Sith alchemy, as you requested," Sorzus said. "Seeing as you're so keen on genetic augmentation, why don't we start with the creation of Sith hounds?"

"Sounds good," I said. "Though I should ask; your amulet was also created via Sith alchemy wasn't it?"

"Indeed it was, though I suspect there is more to your question."

"It just seems like that wouldn't have much in common with altering life with the Warp. It doesn't seem entirely appropriate to lump those techniques together under the umbrella of Sith alchemy, when they do completely different things."

"The term 'Sith alchemy' encompasses a multitude of different methods of manipulating the Dark side of the Force; what those methods all have in common is that they relate to permanently altering something in the material realm, be it living or inanimate," Sorzus explained. "Within that broad definition lies different sub-groups of methods, with those relating to the alteration of life being only indirectly related to those you'd use to create Force-infused artefacts."

"I see," I said. That did have a certain logic to it, even if I personally wouldn't have lumped biomancy together with technomancy. "It seems that, theoretically, you wouldn't even need the Dark side to do that. Any properly directed application of the Warp would do. You've already seen how I used biomancy to restore your physical body to life, even if I then had to use a ritual to bind your soul to it."

"That's exactly right," Sorzus nodded. "Before my time, the techniques were originally called Force alchemy, with most having no specific Dark side bent. However, the Jedi regard any attempt to alter the material realm as a perversion of the Force's will, which is why it fell out of favour with Light side oriented Force sects."

"Fucking Jedi, ruining doing fun things with the Warp for everyone," I muttered.

Sorzus actually laughed at that. "Quite. Though, despite that fact, I get the impression you do not seek the Jedi's downfall."

"For all their flaws, I'd much rather reform them than wipe them out," I said. "They are by far the most well established group of Force users in the galaxy after all. Comparing my own prior knowledge of the Warp to what I've learned in this galaxy, I'm beginning to think the Jedi are actually being played by the Light side for its own ends. You already know that the Warp is a reflection of the thoughts and emotions of all beings in the galaxy that have souls."

"Yes, of course," Sorzus replied, clearly wondering where I was going with this.

"Back home, the ripples in the Warp caused by people's collective emotions were strong enough to coalesce and gain a degree of sentience, becoming regarded as gods - not that they were worthy of anyone's worship, mind you. In turn, these gods began manipulating people to carry out their will, which would in turn generate the same emotions that brought them into existence in the first place, thus making themselves stronger."

"Viewed through that lens, you would presumably regard the Light and Dark sides of the Force as gods as well," Sorzus mused.

"Pretty much. The Jedi carry out the will of the Light side because they believe it is an absolute good, without realising that it cares about acts of good only insofar as they make it more powerful. It's an understandable mistake to make, given how closely aligned those two motivations are, but it also leads to situations where the galaxy's supreme arbiters of good are OK with taking kids from their parents and inducting them into their own religion, which the Light side benefits from since that increases the number of Jedi who can then empower it further."

Sorzus looked thoughtful. "Fascinating. You told me that that unconscious Jedi on your ship, Fay, claimed she was led to Korriban by the will of the Force, without realising it wasn't as altruistic as she believed. The Jedi have always altruistically served the Light side of the Force, without realising the Light side isn't telling them what to do out of altruism," she said, unable to suppress a grin. "If you are correct, then it means the Jedi are wrong about Force alchemy as well; the Light side of the Force doesn't care how people wield it, just so long as it serves its own ends."

"That is one area where the Jedi's beliefs have hamstrung them, clearly. There is no actual evidence - that I'm aware of, at least - that manipulating physical things with the Warp is harmful in any way, assuming it's done consensually when applied to sapient beings."

Sorzus nodded. "It seems relevant to mention at this juncture, if you aren't already aware, that the Jedi order, in its current form, was preceded by the much older Je'daii order. They died out a extremely long time ago, you understand - more than 18 millennia before my death. Anyway, the Je'daii believed that the Force consisted of three aspects - the Ashla, or Light, the Bogan, or Dark, and the Bendu, which is Balance. Their belief in this trichotomy continued without ill effect until their homeworld of Tython was invaded by the Rakatan Empire, who were heavy users of the Dark side. This led to a civil war amongst the Je'daii, with those devoted to the Ashla emerging triumphant, which subsequently led to the creation of the Jedi order as it exists today. I bring all this up because the Je'daii had no qualms about the usage of their own version of Force alchemy, which was simply regarded as a kind of Force-based science prior to the Je'daii civil war, with it only gaining its negative connotations due to its association with those devoted to the Bogan."

"It seems you know the Jedi's history better than they do," I said, amused, but also intrigued. I added Tython to my mental list of planets to visit at some point.

"Oh, I am quite certain the Jedi know all this, at least intellectually. Their point of view is merely biased by their own misguided beliefs," Sorzus smirked.

"So it would seem," I said, not bothering to point out how Sorzus's own point of view was biased by her own beliefs, even if the facts of her story were no doubt true. "Anyway, I believe you were planning to show me how to make a Sith hound?"

"Yes. First we'll need to catch a Hssiss, one of those lizards I'm sure you've seen about. Green scales, around three metres long."

"I saw some of the natives cooking a dead one," I replied. "I haven't come across any wild ones, but that's mainly because I wasn't looking."

"They aren't hard to find via Force-sight since they, like most of Korriban's native fauna, have evolved a mild Force sensitivity after being exposed to the Dark side for so long. Catching them alive is a lot more difficult, since they can use the Force to make themselves invisible. The non-Force-sensitive natives hunt them by watching for the clouds of dust they kick up when they walk. You, of course, can use a more direct method."

I nodded, expanding my mind out through my Warp-sight. A few dozen metres away and a few metres underground, I felt a number of weakly Warp-sensitive beings in close proximity to each other - hopefully a group of Hssiss in a burrow. Walking over to the entrance, following my Warp-sight the entire time, I saw a hole going down into the ground, though it was so large it could almost be mistaken for a cave. I telekinetically grabbed one of the creatures and levitated it out of the hole, waking it judging by the hisses of displeasure. True to Sorzus's words, it was invisible.

"I suppose this will be easier if I can make it visible - and unconscious," I said to myself as I telekinetically pinned it to the floor, before punching down on its head. It tried to bite me, but with its head on the floor it couldn't get its jaws up to the right place, so it was helpless to stop me knocking it out cold, turning visible as I did so.

"Very good," Sorzus said. "It is possible to create Sith hounds from creatures other than Hssiss by the way, they just happen to be the most readily available quadrupeds on Korriban. Now, observe as I transform this lizard into something much more useful."

Through my Warp-sight, I watched as Sorzus began channelling Warp energy into the lizard. In typical Sith fashion, she focused on her rage and hate to draw in as much power as possible, which in this case caused some of the roiling emotions to rub off on the newly created Sith hound, which in turn the creature would direct towards its prey. The Hssiss's green scales turned grey, with a bright blue ridge appearing along its spine. Its body morphed in shape from an oversized Komodo dragon into something more wolf-like. Its jaw lengthened to become more like a dog's muzzle as its teeth grew, as did its claws. Specialised glands sprouted in its jaw and between its claws, which had the sole function of producing venom. The most interesting part however were the mental changes, with Sorzus 'reprogramming' the lizard away from its normal animalistic instincts and replacing them with an all-consuming urge to kill.

"Those venom glands… they draw upon the Warp-touched nature of the beast don't they? That's no ordinary venom they produce," I observed.

Sorzus nodded. "Sith poison is one of the simpler examples of Sith alchemy. As you can see the hounds produce it naturally, instinctively drawing upon the Force to change the venom from a mundane chemical cocktail into Sith poison."

The newly created Sith hound growled at Sorzus, unable to move under her telekinetic grip. Satisfied I'd adequately learned the process, she used a Force push to toss the creature away. It scrambled away when it touched the ground, at least until I seized it in a telekinetic grip of my own, breaking its neck.

Sorzus just looked at me questioningly. "No need to make things any harder for the locals than they need to be," I said in response.

Her lips curled in disgust. "Your compassion towards people you've never even met is unbecoming of a Dark side user of your calibre, Amedeus."

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. "If 'not letting loose an alchemically-forged monster' counts as compassion, I hate to think what you'd consider to be cruelty," I said once I'd calmed down. "And you still wonder why I don't want to become a Sith?"

"The Sith never would've survived as long as they had if they'd let their morals get in the way of power," Sorzus pointed out.

"And yet the Jedi have been overwhelmingly more successful despite their morals," I countered.

"Only because they had the backing of the galaxy's largest polity by far," the Sith lady shot back, getting annoyed.

"And how do you think they got that backing? If you're willing to sacrifice your chances of success on the altar of power, you shouldn't be surprised when you do not, in fact, succeed. Nor is it a surprise that Darth Sidious, the most successful Sith of all time, was the one willing to sacrifice power on the altar of success."

Sorzus looked at me strangely. "You say that after disparaging him yesterday?"

"I only disparaged his ability as a Force user," I said. "As a politician he's been wildly successful. Objectively he's the most successful Sith of all time… or at least he would if not for me."

"You must have some level of precognition to speak of the future with such certainty," Sorzus observed. "As I recall you also mentioned wanting to bend Sidious's schemes to your own ends."

"Yes, though I have yet to decide on the exact details of that, including how exactly I will insert myself into them. I will freely admit to not having the political acumen, or the patience, to bring about such schemes myself, which is why I'll let him do all the hard work."

"I see," Sorzus nodded, seemingly satisfied with my response. "Now, I believe I was showing you how to create a Sith hound?"

"Right. I'll grab another Hssiss," I said, telekinetically bringing myself another one of the lizards, though this one was much smaller, likely a juvenile. That was a deliberate choice, as Sorzus would soon see.

As my Sith teacher had shown me, I began focusing my biomancy in the Sith style, transforming the creature into a Sith hound, though without focusing on my own negative emotions as she had done, which no doubt gave it a much milder temperament. In fact I specifically focused on not making it too aggressive, attacking only to defend me or those I cared about. Within a few minutes I'd created a much smaller version of Sorzus's creation, this one about the size of a large dog. Unlike hers, this one actually acted like a dog as well, not resisting as I set it down on the ground.

"This is your version of a Sith hound!?" Sorzus yelled, appalled by its lack of aggression.

"Well obviously, I don't want to be attacked by my own pet," I said as I stroked its scaly skin. I was unable to suppress a smile as it began panting and wagging its tail.

"Pet!?" Sorzus screeched in outraged incredulity. "They are supposed to be creatures of war! Not objects of affection!"

"And you still wonder why I don't want to be a Sith?" I said dismissively, before turning back to my new Sith hound. "Hello Fido, you're a good boy aren't you?" I felt Fido's joy radiate through the Warp as I ruffled the tendrils at the back of his head, causing him to let out a happy bark.

Sorzus just stared at the two of us in horrified fascination as I got to know my new pet. I hadn't been a dog person in my previous life, but that was mainly just because of how needy they were; bathing them, taking them for walks, and their propensity for destroying furniture, for example, not to mention the smell. Fido would have none of those problems. I'd have to get some dog food when we got to Coruscant, but he was a good bit more intelligent than a normal dog - not that those existed in this galaxy - so I could train him to use a toilet to avoid any messes.

"Fetch!" I said, tossing a rock, gratified to see Fido run after it, grab it in his jaws and deposit it at my feet. "Well, I'd say I've emulated the behaviour of my home's canines remarkably well," I said to Sorzus. She just sighed as she buried her head in her hands.

-x-x-x-x-

Sorzus spent the rest of the day showing me some of the more basic applications of Sith alchemy, like Sith poison. I could definitely see a use for that, but the potion-making kind of alchemy wasn't really my style; grinding up plants in water wasn't my idea of a fun time. Having achieved everything I'd set out to do on Korriban, at least for now, we departed the next morning, heading straight for Coruscant.

"I still can't believe that even you would take a Sith hound as a pet, Ame," Aayla said, as we all relaxed in the ship's common room. Well, all of us except Fay, who was still unconscious as I waited for the Stamp to finish, and Sorzus, who just sat with her arms crossed as she glared daggers at Fido.

"I can believe it, actually," Kelly smiled as she petted Fido, his head in her lap. "He's only a Sith hound in appearance, his behaviour is almost exactly like the dogs we have back home. The only bit I can't believe is that Ame gave him a name as mundane as Fido."

"For all of my many talents, naming things is not among them," I shrugged.

Kelly snorted. "I take it I'll be naming our kids then?"

"Undoubtedly," I replied, raising an eyebrow at the certainty of her statement that we would have kids, before turning to our resident Sith, whose eye was twitching something fierce. "Cheer up Sorzus, it might never happen."

"It already has," she growled, causing the rest of us to burst out laughing.

AN:

When I first read about Mechu-deru and the technobeasts, my first thought was 'wow, what a coincidence that Star Wars and Warhammer have almost exactly the same thing', until I realised that with so much expanded universe material for both, there was bound to be some near-identical things like that purely by chance.

The bit about the Light side being a god that manipulates the Jedi obviously isn't canon, but if the Force = the Warp it seems like an obvious conclusion to draw, especially considering Amedeus's own Chaos-influenced bias.

The Je'daii order is canon, despite the silly name. Though I guess its not as bad as Luuke (not to be confused with Luke) Skywalker.