It wasn't often I sat in my ship's cockpit, as Cortana piloted the vessel via its slave circuit, making the cockpit rather redundant. Today was an exception, as it was the only room on the ship with a window, giving me an excellent view of the planet-wide cityscape of Coruscant.

"A surprisingly striking view, considering it's all grey," I said. "I've never actually been on an ecumenopolis before."

"Ecumenopolis? That's the word for a planet-wide city isn't it?" Aayla asked. She was eager to see the planet as well; unsurprising considering she used to live here. I had my arms around her as she sat in my lap, cuddling up to my torso.

"It sure is," I replied. "Only two trillion inhabitants though? Coruscant is actually quite sparsely populated in the grand scheme of things."

Aayla looked at me as if I'd grown another head. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, actually. Think about it Aayla; Coruscant has, what, five thousand levels or so? That means it effectively has five thousand planets worth of living space. That's only 400 million people per level on average. Not many, especially when the oceans have also been covered in duracrete."

"Coruscant doesn't just consist of living space though," Kelly pointed out. "They also have to fit in businesses, industry, schools, parks and other recreational spaces… every amenity imaginable in the capital of the galaxy's largest polity. Plus the population isn't evenly distributed; most people live in the upper-middle levels."

"Even still, there's plenty of scope for lost space without affecting my point," I shrugged. "You should know that Holy Terra, the Imperium's capital, has a population in the quadrillions. There's so much heat from the populous's collective body heat that they had to build thousands of enormous cooling towers, all set up to gather the excess heat and dump it into the Warp. Everyone would cook to death without them."

"They dump it into the Force?" Aayla asked.

"Sounds crazy, right? It's true though. The Imperium's technological basis is very different to what people in this galaxy use. For example, their ships don't use deflector shields; they instead use void shields, which project a bubble around the ship that redirects the energy of any incoming attacks into the Warp. Terra's cooling towers work in a similar way."

"Are they better? Void shields I mean?"

"I would say so," I replied. "For one thing, they don't need to have the shield generator exposed to empty space, making Imperial ships far less vulnerable to fighters than the ones here. Also, void shields recharge much faster after being overloaded, meaning attackers don't have a lot of time to damage the ship itself before the shields are back up again. Though they do have the downside that void shield generators can't really be downsized like those of deflector shields, so they can't be used for personal shields, like those droidekas the Trade Federation uses. Once I've taken over in earnest, I'll start converting the navy's ships into using void shields, which should improve their survivability massively."

"The navy that only barely exists," Kelly said.

"For now. Like I've said before, any state, even a federalised one like I plan for the empire to be, needs to have a monopoly on violence within its own borders. That doesn't just mean getting rid of pirates, criminal gangs, and God-Emperor only knows what else. It also means bringing any planetary defence forces at least partially under the federal government's control."

"People aren't gonna be happy with the government having that much control over them, Ame," Aayla said.

I snorted derisively. "Like they're happy now with their taxes - which are supposed to pay for their local defence forces - being embezzled to fund the exorbitant lifestyles of their corrupt senators? No, the defence of the galaxy is something that local forces cannot be trusted with. It'll be way more efficient too, once the military's flawed human elements have been replaced with flawless, loyal, automated ones."

"You plan to use droids, then?" Kelly asked.

I nodded. "The unaugmented human has no place on the modern battlefield. Augmented ones do, as the Imperium has proven, but if I'm going for quality over quantity they'll always be too few in number to be the galaxy's main line of defence. No, for basic soldiery droids are better than baseline humans in almost every category. They're way cheaper, stronger, tougher and don't get tired. Unlike the Trade Federation's B1's they can, when programmed properly, react much faster, have effectively perfect aim, and are much more willing to kill too. Perhaps the most important factor of all is that they have a tiny logistical footprint. Never forget that while tactics may win battles, it's logistics that wins wars."

"They're dumb as rocks though," Aayla said. "The Federation used millions of droids to invade Naboo and they still got their asses handed to them."

"When programmed properly, I said. The B1's are so incompetent only because they were programmed by idiots that think giving a battle droid its own personality is a good idea. With Cortana programming them, she'll avoid giving them any kind of sentience while instead using the freed-up memory in their droid brains to give them basic military tactics. Using cover instead of just standing out in the open, for example, resulting in an army of robots of comparable competence to human soldiers… possibly even better, if Cortana can give them some sort of predictive targeting software."

Aayla frowned. "You know when you put it like it seems so obvious, of course battle droids don't need to have a personality… Shouldn't the Trade Federation have realised that as well?"

"Of course they have," I replied. "They've just decided it's cheaper to have droids that can perform a wide variety of roles poorly instead of specialised droids that can perform each role well. They aren't concerned with quality when they can drown their opponents in quantity."

My twi'lek apprentice nodded. "But you want quality and quantity."

"Exactly. Not to mention it eliminates any risk of dissent, let alone rebellion. Having droids that are extremely intelligent in the intellectual domain of 'being a soldier' and completely unintelligent in all other domains will both make them better at their job and remove any ability for them to contemplate their existence as indentured soldiers."

I decided not to mention the ethical benefits only because I could hardly talk about ethics when I was willing to control people by Stamping them. Regardless, Cortana still wanted liberty for sentient droids, which I was more than happy to support. The non-sentient kind were fair game, of course.

"Is that Palpatine's plan as well?" Kelly asked.

"It would be if his main concern was building a state that's good at actually being a state. Instead, his goal is to build a state that's good for nothing except causing as much strife and misery as possible, strengthening the Dark side to increase his own power and eventually become a god. No, as soon as I've got Palpatine on-side, I'll have to modify his plans to use a droid army instead of a human one. If need be we can set up our own droid manufacturing facilities somewhere for exactly that purpose."

Down below, I watched the vast cityscape grow closer and closer as Cortana piloted the ship into a hangar which I'd paid to use. Obviously we couldn't just park it anywhere like I had on Tatooine or Korriban. It was for the best anyway; I wasn't planning for us to maintain a low profile on Coruscant, since we'd likely be here for at least a couple of weeks. Besides, renting a small hangar space wasn't that expensive, and thanks to my AI companion I wasn't short on cash.

Satisfied Cortana wouldn't crash the ship into anything on the way down, I headed into the common room to discuss my plans with everyone. I was greeted by the sight of Fay gently petting Fido with an unreadable expression on her face.

"I might have expected one such as you to create a Sith hound via alchemy," Fay murmured. "I wasn't expecting you to create one so… docile."

"He's only docile when there is no threat to myself or my companions," I replied, sitting opposite her.

"My point stands."

I just shrugged. "What of it? While Sith alchemy is undoubtedly fascinating, I don't think there's much utility to be had in the Sith's various alchemical warbeasts. I daresay we'll get far more mileage out of Fido as a pet than as a guard dog."

Fay frowned slightly. "How is it you were able to create a creature of the Dark side and not have him be a warbeast?"

"I didn't. Use the Dark side that is. Sorzus told me that the Jedi see any attempt to alter the materium as a perversion of the Force's will. I say that's a load of banthashit. I even opened my mind to the Warp when I made Fido to look for any sort of adverse reaction. There wasn't any."

Fay seemed perturbed by that. "It is not the place of mortal beings to dictate how the Force acts upon the material realm."

"You speak of the Jedi's beliefs as if they are some objective truth. Have you forgotten that your Je'daii predecessors had no problem with alchemy? Even when I started my first biomancy experiments on the previous owners of this ship, the Light side of the Force couldn't care less."

"It is an incontrovertible truth that the Light side is an objective good in the universe," Fay said, steel entering her voice. "Are you trying to convince me that it is ambivalent to your torture disguised as science? The fact that it was conducted on such scum hardly matters."

"As a matter of fact, yes I am," I replied. "I never denied that the Light side is a force for good. What I am denying is that it takes that role out of altruism, as opposed to self interest."

Judging by the furious look on her face, the only way Fay could've been more offended was if I'd just murdered a youngling. "How dare you!"

I just sighed. "Maybe it's easier if I just show you," I said, walking over and sitting beside her. "Close your eyes, and expand your mind out into the Warp."

Fay complied despite her anger; I detected the merest sliver of curiosity emanating from her. I felt her presence within the Warp and enveloped it within my own.

"What is it you intend to show me?" Fay asked through her thoughts.

"Just watch," I replied, as I expanded my mind out through the Warp, the spiritual presence of Fay expanding out with me. I saw the trillions of glowing lights, each one the soul of an inhabitant of Coruscant. I went further, out of the Coruscant system, past the nearest neighbouring stars, then past the next sector, then out of the galaxy entirely as my mind travelled perpendicularly to the galactic disc.

The Light and Dark sides were a crescendo of noise in the Warp, like waves crashing against the shore in stormy weather. The further we travelled, the quieter the noise became until, barely visible against the background noise of the Warp, perceptible only because I knew exactly what to look for, I saw them; a multicoloured kaleidoscope of power, one red, one green, one blue, and one purple.

"Are these those Gods of Chaos you told me about?" Fay asked.

"Yes," I replied, as I focused on the red Warp presence. "Khorne, the Chaos God of war, murder and bloodshed. He is empowered by emotions such as anger and hatred, but also by honour, bravery and courage."

I then shifted our focus onto the green presence. "Nurgle, the Chaos God of death, decay, disease and entropy. He is strengthened by despair, misery and apathy, yet He also represents life and rebirth. It is for this reason He is the one most often involved in the affairs of mortals."

I shifted focus again, this time to the blue presence. "Tzeentch, the Chaos God of magic, sorcery, plots and schemes. His presence in the Warp grows with every plan ever made by any mortal being, yet He also represents change and hope. As you might imagine, He is the one most closely connected to the majority of sorcerers, myself included."

Finally I focused on the purple presence. "Slaanesh, the Chaos God of excess, hedonism and decadence. Whereas Khorne represents slaughter, and Nurgle misery, Slaanesh is the one most directly connected to, and empowered by, pain and suffering, as well as pride and vanity. At the same time, He also represents joy, pleasure, and perfection. It's not for nothing that He is also known as the Prince of Pleasure."

I drew my spiritual view back, keeping all four in sight. "As you can see, all four have both positive and negative aspects. However, the immense amount of suffering present in my home galaxy makes the negative aspects far more prominent. In turn, the four seek to influence the mortal realm to generate more of the emotions most aligned to them, which strengthens them, making them even more able to influence the materium to their ends, and so on in a positive feedback loop of empowerment. It is fortunate that the Light and Dark sides of the Force are far more prominent here, ensuring that this galaxy's collective emotions empower them instead of the Gods of Chaos. Regardless of what you may think of the Dark side, it's still nowhere near as bad as Chaos."

"I suppose I can agree with you on that," Fay said grudgingly. "Still, I don't see why this is relevant."

"Just watch, Fay," I replied as I brought our view back into the galaxy itself, focusing on the immense aura of swirling darkness that was the Dark side. "The Dark side of the Force is similar, yet different, to the Gods of Chaos. It is broader in the sense that every negative emotion empowers it, rather than a specific few, yet also narrower in that the Dark side has no positive aspects, contrary to what some Sith would have you believe. Hopefully you can see that it is in the Dark side's best interest to generate as many negative emotions as possible."

Fay didn't respond; clearly she'd realised where I was going with this, as I felt a growing sense of anxiety building within her. I pressed on regardless, switching our focus to an immense swirling aura of light. "That brings us to the Light side, the sum total of the galaxy's positive emotions. Like the Dark side, it is simultaneously broader and narrower in scope than Chaos, so the same principle applies; plainly, the Light side's goal is to maximise the amount of positive emotions in the galaxy. One important tool in its arsenal is ensuring the Jedi keep taking Force-sensitive kids from their parents, thus increasing the number of Jedi who can carry out its will."

I allowed my Warp-sight to fade as I opened my eyes, whereupon I was greeted by the sight of Fay staring at me with wide eyes, shaking with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. I just put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch from the contact, though she didn't pull away. "Just to be clear, I'm not for a minute suggesting that you should stop helping people, Fay," I said gently. "What I am suggesting is that maybe you should do it for the right reason. Namely, its intrinsic value, rather than because the Force told you to."

Fay didn't respond, just staring at the Hologram emitter in the middle of the room listlessly. Deciding any further input would be counterproductive, I just left her to her crisis of faith, as I got ready to see the galaxy's most important planet.


"So, I'm thinking we should split up into two groups, at least for now," I said to my companions as we all sat in the common room. "I'll go with Kelly and Cortana, since they're the only two who've been seen in public with me. Aayla, Xyl, Fay and Sorzus will stick together in the other group."

"This seems overly cautious, Amedeus," Sorzus said, bemused. "Assuming Coruscant hasn't changed substantially since my time, it isn't that dangerous unless you venture into the lower levels."

"Even still, I don't want to risk one of you getting lost or captured or whatever. To reduce the chance of that happening, I want us all to have a way to keep in touch. Cortana?"

"You've really been putting me to work with that Template Stack, huh?" she said as she handed out facsimiles of my Company phone that she'd made.

"I'm afraid you made the mistake of being too useful."

Cortana snorted. "No good deed goes unpunished I guess?"

"Nope," I grinned, as I turned to address the others. "Those little rectangles are called smartphones. They're ubiquitous back home, and far more than mere communication devices. They'll let you connect to the Holonet, take photos, play games, and all sorts of other stuff. At some point, I'll have to get my own industry set up to manufacture them en masse to start uplifting the galaxy."

"And make a whole bunch of credits on the side?" Aayla asked as she curiously examined her new phone.

"Not that those are that useful when you can transmute matter," Cortana replied with a shrug. "What use is money when you can make practically anything out of trash? Hell, the only reason we're buying our new ship instead of building our own is because I'm not at the level of making things on such a large scale yet. It also explains why the galaxy's various megacorporations have tried so hard to prevent the spread of molecular furnaces," she said with a frown of distaste.

"That, incidentally, is the only reason why we'll even be charging people for our products. Giving stuff away for free would just raise too many questions," I added. "Anyway, I think it would be best if our two Jedi went out under an illusory disguise. I trust you can handle that Xyl?"

"Naturally," the former herald of Slaanesh smiled as a fountain of sparks appeared around Aayla and Fay. The illusion didn't change too much; she just turned Fay's pointy ears round, hiding her facial tattoo, and turning Aayla's skin from blue to purple.

"Do you want us to do anything in particular?" Fay asked.

"Not really, feel free to relax and do whatever for today," I replied. "That's what we'll be doing. If I think of anything, we can do it tomorrow."

"Excellent," Xyl grinned, as she turned to face the others. "Come on girls, let's hit the town!"

"Some town," Kelly snorted as we watched them leave. "You know it's going to become increasingly more difficult to conceal your harem as it continues to grow, even with illusions. People will notice the rest of your companions getting off this ship, so you can't rely on never being seen in public with anyone except me or Cortana either… nor do I think they'd appreciate that."

"Good job there's a perk for that," Cortana said. "Check the 'Other' section on your phone, Ame."

I did so, spotting a perk called 'Normalcy', that would just make everyone outside my retinue not realise the reality of the situation between me and my companions. I didn't even have to think about buying that as I tapped my phone screen.

"Wish I'd spotted that earlier, though I guess it wasn't as necessary before. I wouldn't want people to think I was using mind control or anything," I smirked. "By the way, Cortana, I hate to give you even more work to do, but…"

"I'm pretty sure we literally just talked about this," she said, rolling her eyes, though she didn't mean anything by it; I could tell she enjoyed being useful. "Go on, what do you want me to make now?"

"Well, first I should ask; how much knowledge do you have of non-Necron technology?"

Cortana looked thoughtful. "If you're talking about Imperial tech, I could probably reproduce all but their most exotic stuff. Obviously it's not Orikan's specialty, but he encountered a lot in his 60 million years of life. Why?"

"Could you make me a storm bolter?"

"Never change Ame, never change," she smiled. "Like I said though, I won't have you using anything less than the very best. Let's see here…"

I watched as Cortana marched into the kitchen, Kelly and I following close behind. Clearly, she was being literal about making things out of trash. I wasn't disappointed when I saw her open up the chute which led to the ship's rubbish storage, and produce a fist-sized metal beetle that glowed green out of her own pocket dimension.

"You already made a Canoptek scarab, then?" I asked, actually feeling a bit apprehensive. Even the most battle-hardened Space Marines were wary of vast swarms of Canoptek scarabs that devoured everything in their path, making more of themselves in the process.

"Of course, I hope you don't expect me to stick my hand down there," Cortana said dismissively. "Before you ask, this little guy is under my complete control. So are any others that I make."

The scarab made a strange, metallic chirping sound before heading down into the rubbish storage. I heard a rustling noise emanate from the chute, followed by more than a dozen scarabs skittering out of the hole, each carrying various bits of detritus. They deposited the rubbish in a small pile on the floor, before swarming over it, no doubt transmuting and rearranging the matter into my new weapon.

In the corner of the room, I saw Fido watching the scarabs with a curious gaze, before approaching and giving one a sniff. "Now whatever you do, don't try chewing the scarabs Fido," I said. "You don't want them chewing you back."

The Sith hound tilted his head, before letting out a bark of acknowledgement. We both watched as the scarabs, apparently finished in their task, swarmed around Cortana as they retreated into her pocket dimension, each one disappearing with a green flash. On the floor lay the fruit of their labour.

"Almost every component of this gun is made of adamantium," Cortana said, as she picked up the large, blocky weapon. "It's mostly standard, except I gave it an electrothermal-chemical propellant ignition system to increase its power. The bolt shells should fly at around mach 8 or so. With all the recoil-compensating tech I put in there it shouldn't be any harder to handle than a normal storm bolter, either."

"I always figured that the standard Space Marine's weapon would be some kind of heavy machine gun," Kelly said. "Based on everything you've told me about the Imperium, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that it's actually a hypersonic muzzle velocity autocannon in the shape of a one-handed, double-barrelled submachine gun."

"It's .75 caliber, so it's not quite an autocannon actually," I replied. "The average bolter is mostly just shaped like a regular rifle. The storm bolter, on the other hand, I can use in conjunction with my staff due to it being one-handed. As Cortana said, the bolt shells themselves are hypersonic, with them being boosted by rocket motors that are angled to also provide spin stabilisation."

"Like a gyrojet then?"

"Yeah, except it does still use a regular propellant as well as the rockets, so it's still usable at close range."

"As impressive as that is, it seems to pale in comparison to the plasma incinerator you gave me."

"True, but a storm bolter can put a lot more shots down range. It operates using the gast principle, so it has a rate of fire not far off that of a gatling gun. A lot better for suppressive fire than a plasma gun. Besides, I plan to turn this little beauty into a daemon weapon."

"Is that just what it sounds like?" Kelly asked. "A weapon possessed by a daemon?"

"Exactly. When talking about daemon weapons, most people think of swords and axes possessed by daemons of Khorne, with the bound daemon feeding the wielder's own bloodlust. While those are certainly some of the more common examples, they're far less interesting than daemon-possessed guns. Besides being way more powerful than normal, their abilities are enhanced depending on what kind of daemon is bound to it. Of course, normally the daemon doesn't take too kindly to being shoved into a piece of metal, and may well attempt to subvert the will of its wielder, usually with fatal results."

"But if you Stamp the daemon before binding it into the gun, you'll get the increase in firepower with none of the downsides," Cortana said.

"Precisely. Starting tomorrow, we can work on scouring the lower levels of this planet for more sacrifices, as I'm going to be summoning quite a few daemons over the next few days. I'll be binding one to my bolter, one to my sword, and the rest just for Company Credits - that perk giving unlimited fuel and stuff for ships is expensive. 500 at the highest level."

"Is summoning so many daemons really a good idea?" Kelly asked, frowning.

"It won't be that many," I replied. "You don't get extra Credits for multiple 'generic' captures of the same type anyway, and there's only so many different kinds of daemon. I haven't done the maths on it yet, but I'll probably have to supplement it with a few Jedi captures."

"At least there's no shortage of them on Coruscant," Cortana said dryly. "You know Ame, there is another source of Credits that you've not really paid much attention to."

"Are you talking about missions? To be honest, I skim read a couple when we first arrived in the galaxy and didn't think too much about them after that."

"You've already completed one of them," she replied, sounding even more adorably smug than usual.

"Eh?" I said in confusion as I pulled out my phone, checking the missions tab for the first time in what felt like forever.

Mission: The Trade Federation has occupied Naboo. Help liberate Naboo from the Trade Federation occupation and make sure Queen Amidala survives.

Conditions:

The Trade Federation has occupied Naboo

Naboo was liberated from Trade Federation with your help

Padme Amidala lives

Reward: 50 Credits - Complete

Side Objective 1: Capture the Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship, disable the droid army, and successfully claim the ship for yourself. Can be done by a Companion.

Reward: The Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship becomes a Ride and you get the Ride Perk Catch-A-Ride Crew Training Program - Failed

Side Objective 2: Defeat Darth Maul without killing Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Can be done by a Companion.

Reward: A Template Stack I of a Jedi of your choice for you or a companion. Alternatively, 15 credits - Complete

I couldn't help but laugh when I read it. I'd been sitting on 50 Credits for weeks without even realising it. And a free Template Stack, but was there really any point when it gave less knowledge than what I was teaching my companions? Not to mention I already had Fay on side. A shame I'd failed the other side objective, but I hadn't been planning to go to Naboo and the reward wasn't anything to write home about.

"The mission was for helping with the liberation of Naboo, which I guess we did by removing Maul from the picture before he could kill Qui-Gon," I said to Kelly. "There's also a side objective of defeating Maul without the Jedi dying. The total reward for both is 65 Credits."

"Maybe you should pay more attention to them from now on," Kelly smiled as she gently admonished me. "It's probably worth checking if there are any others you've missed."

"A few, but I've already failed most of them by various actions I've already taken. There is one for mastering the various lightsaber forms, which I was planning to do anyway but will take a while. There's also one for shagging a Jedi in the temple without anyone catching us. Good job I can use a speed bubble to get it done in a jiffy."

"They'll notice you using the Warp though," Kelly replied. "Then again, they won't be able to tell what technique you've used, so it shouldn't raise any alarm."

"Nope. I can even teleport in with Aayla, put up a speed bubble, then teleport out… then again, I should probably scout out the place first. I'd like to reduce my chances of ending up lodged in a wall as much as possible."

"While I'm sure you're enjoying thinking about getting paid for sticking your dick into your cute twi'lek apprentice, maybe you can do it outside?" Cortana asked. "I'd like to actually start my vacation in the grand capital of the Republic sometime today."

"Oh, right, yeah. Sorry, I guess I forgot that was our actual reason for being here," I grinned. "Well, let's get going. I am eager to see this place as well." With a spring in our step we left the ship and began our exploration of the planet-wide city.


After wandering for more than hour with no particular destination in mind, just taking in the various sights, sounds and smells, I had decided that Coruscant was by far the coolest place I had ever visited. Despite growing up in a fairly rural part of England in my previous life, I had always enjoyed visiting big cities - first London, then Seoul, Tokyo and Singapore among others. There was something I found incredibly appealing about having everything you needed within walking distance, and everything you wanted accessible by public transport. Conversely, this meant I wasn't a huge fan of American cities.

Coruscant was your typical high density Asian city multiplied by a million. Normally in a city you were limited to just going forward, backward, left and right, but here there was an entirely new dimension to contend with - up and down. In that regard it wasn't any different to the average Imperial hive city besides the larger scale. What set Coruscant apart from that, however, was that I could conceivably enjoy living here. While there was obviously no sunlight down past the top few levels, the bright artificial lighting meant it wasn't dark and dingy, with apartment blocks neatly interspersed with shops, bars, restaurants and various other amenities in a way that felt organic while still being easy to navigate - a nice contrast to a hive city, which was essentially just a mountain-sized pile of buildings arranged at random. Obviously there were no roads, so the public transit was top-notch as well, with hundreds of metro lines snaking all over the place, not to mention the thousands of airspeeders whizzing by overhead. Admittedly we didn't venture below the 200th level, and it no doubt got worse the further down one went, but that was true of virtually any ultra-high density environment.

The three of us eventually took a lift that went all the way to the surface. Following the maps app on my phone, we were greeted by the sight of one of Coruscant's most important landmarks.

"So that's the Jedi temple, huh?" Cortana said. "Impressive."

"Yes it is, in absolute terms at least… Ahriman's memories of the Imperial palace on Terra put it a bit to shame though."

"I'd imagine so," Kelly said. "The God-Emperor's own palace? I can't even imagine how big that must be."

"Allegedly, it's visible with the naked eye from Mars," I replied. I laughed when I saw my companions' shocked reactions. "I mean, I doubt that's actually true. Maybe for certain transhumans it is. It's certainly visible from Luna though; the Imperial palace covers several million square kilometres of Terra's surface, not to mention its multi-kilometre height."

"The Imperium doesn't do anything by halves, does it?" Cortana said. "I just wanna know what he does with all that space."

"Not a lot these days, considering he's basically undead," I replied absently, distracted by my Warp-sight. Despite how many souls were around, it was easy to pick out the Jedi against the backdrop of spiritual lights, with even the weakest psykers shining far more brightly than those untouched by the Warp. We saw several Jedi come and go from the temple, and some of them saw us in turn. A couple stopped and pointed us out to their comrades, clearly recognising us, but none approached. None of them except for one, a middle-aged human Jedi master who I had seen before.

"What a pleasant surprise to see you again, Mister Jinn, and under far less pressing circumstances than last time," I grinned.

"Likewise, Amedeus, Kelly, Cortana," Qui-Gon Jinn smiled back. "Though I wouldn't have thought it'd be that much of a surprise, considering I live here."

"Yes, it does make sense we'd encounter Jedi just outside Jedi central," I replied, gesturing to the temple. "Anyway, how have you been, Mister Jinn? I'm glad to see you made it out of that kerfuffle on Naboo unscathed."

"Please, just call me Qui-Gon. I owe you after all; well, that is I'm assuming it was you who defeated that Sith on Tatooine."

"It was I who came across him actually," Kelly said. "Though it seems he was merely an assassin, not a true lord of the Sith. He was skilled with a lightsaber, but little else."

"I'm glad to hear you had little trouble. To be honest, my own feelings are conflicted," Qui-Gon admitted. "On the one hand I'm glad that this apparent Sith resurgence seems to be no real threat. On the other hand, it's disturbing that the Sith have returned at all."

"I figure it's kinda inevitable, to be honest," Cortana said. "I know you Jedi have been pretty dedicated to wiping out anything to do with the Sith, but with their legacy so widespread it's inevitable some stuff will slip through the cracks."

Qui-Gon grimaced. "Yes. It is unfortunate that any Dark side aligned fool can pick up a Sith holocron and start learning their techniques, to the detriment of those around them. At least they rarely rise above the level of Dark Jedi."

"Dark Jedi?" Kelly asked with a raised eyebrow. "That seems like a contradiction."

The Jedi's lips twitched in amusement. "I know, it's not a very helpful term is it? That's just what we call any Dark side user that doesn't follow a specific ideology. Fortunately, since they are not usually so obsessed with attaining power at any cost like the Sith are, they are also easier to deal with."

I decided to play with fire a bit, knowing that the risk was minimal with Qui-Gon already Stamped. "Is using the Dark side actually illegal?" I asked.

Qui-Gon looked at me sharply. "Well… merely using the Dark side is not illegal in and of itself. However, people that fall to the Dark side often end up using their powers to inflict pain and suffering upon the innocent, which obviously is."

"I never said anything about falling," I shrugged. "In the heat of battle, inadvertently drawing upon the most destructive powers of the Force is unavoidable, yet only the weak willed fall to it as a result."

Qui-Gon bristled slightly at that, though I raised a hand to forestall his response. "Don't look at me like that, it's true. Though that's not a criticism of the Jedi, exactly; my people undergo much more rigorous mental training and hypno-indoctrination to ensure our mental armour is as flawless as possible."

"Hypno-indoctrination?" The jedi asked, frowning. "You make it sound like, well…"

"Brainwashing?" I offered. "Yes, that's basically what it is. That's the price you pay for being a Force-sensitive cyborg supersoldier, I'm afraid. Still, the results speak for themselves."

"Cyborg… yes, we suspected as much, there aren't many beings as physically impressive as you after all," Qui-Gon nodded. "I am intrigued by what you mean by 'results' though."

"Before I tell you, I should explain that people like me are usually organised into warrior brotherhoods known as chapters, all dedicated to defending the empire of which we are one small part," I said. "The chapter known as the Blood Angels contains one incredibly powerful Force user called Mephiston. The rage within his soul would make even the darkest Sith look like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, yet he's been using it for centuries without ill effect, and I don't expect him to fall anytime soon." I was cherry picking pretty hard of course; Mephiston was the exception, not the rule.

Qui-Gon looked sceptical, even as I continued. "Admittedly that's just one very exceptional guy. Want a better example? Let's talk about the Grey Knights - a chapter of one thousand Force-sensitive supersoldiers much like myself, one that serves the same purpose that the Jedi did back in their more militant days. Namely, destroying those that have fallen to the Dark side, in the process using many of the same techniques as those they hunt. Yet out of the eleven millennia of non-stop warfare that the Grey Knights have engaged in, would you care to guess how many have fallen themselves?"

Despite his scepticism, the Jedi master gave my question some serious thought. "I am willing to concede that your people's much more extreme methods are more effective than our own, notwithstanding the moral issues. Still, I'd have thought that being constantly embroiled in conflict would offset that… maybe a few hundred?"

"Zero," I said, smirking slightly at Qui-Gon's shocked expression. "Yes, really. There is not a single known instance of a Grey Knight falling to the Dark side. Of course what they go through isn't 'mere' brainwashing, it involves being completely mind-wiped and having their psyches rebuilt from the ground up, giving them a level of mental discipline that is simply impossible for the rest of us to match."

Unsurprisingly he looked a bit queasy at that idea. "I trust you aren't suggesting that we start mind-wiping the younglings?"

I let out a bark of laughter. "No, of course not. It's a matter of degrees, Qui-Gon; the rigour of the Grey Knight's training is proportionate to the threats they face, the Republic being far more peaceful. My point is not that the Jedi should start copying them; it's simply to accept that touching the Dark side doesn't automatically mean you'll fall to it, and adjust your training accordingly. Doesn't Mace Windu already do something like that?"

"If only the rest of us had his willpower," he sighed. "We are only human after all - aside from those of us that aren't. Still, given your people's extensive experience in combating the Dark side, I am curious; if you became the Jedi grandmaster tomorrow, what would you have us do differently?"

"In terms of advice for the average person? Practise self-awareness; while your dedication to avoiding the temptations of the Dark side is commendable, you also need to be willing to accept that you will brush up against it from time to time. It's completely inescapable. From there, you can start learning to deal with those pesky emotions in a more productive manner than trying to force yourself to not feel them. More like how things were in the old days of the Jedi."

"I will take that on-board," Qui-Gon replied, looking thoughtful. "Still, I cannot guarantee that my colleagues will listen."

"I won't hold it against you if they don't," I said, smiling slightly. "You asked for my opinion, and I gave it. What your order chooses to do with it is up to them."

"I'm glad you understand," the Jedi said. "Well, as enlightening as this conversation has been, I really should get going. Perhaps I'll see you later?"

"See you, Qui-Gon," I replied, waving. Once I was satisfied he was out of earshot I said, "Given that he's already been Stamped, I wonder how likely it is that he repeats what I just told him to the Jedi council."

"Highly like I imagine," Kelly said. "Though like he said, whether or not they'll listen is another matter."

"The Jedi are the very picture of institutional inertia," Cortana pointed out. "No change is gonna happen quickly whether we like it or not, so we shouldn't worry about rushing it."

"Isn't that the truth," I snorted. "Then again, I'll probably end up Stamping them sooner rather than later, if mainly just for the Credits. That should help things along a bit."

AN:

Thanks to Darklord331 for betaing this chapter.

And so begins the 'Coruscant vacation' arc. Unlike Korriban, this will probably last a few chapters, with so much more going on in the grand capital of the Republic.

The bit about Terra's cooling towers isn't canon, but with quadrillions of people, each of which is basically a 100 watt space heater, you need a way to get rid of all that heat. I imagine them as basically being modified void shields.

The 'liberate Naboo' mission is taken from the WC interactive, on a tab that I only recently realised existed. I might include a few more, though most of them have either been rendered moot by actions Amedeus has already taken, or would require him to act massively out of character. I am taking suggestions for missions though, if there are any that I like I'll try to fit them in somewhere.