Coruscant - One Month After Arrival
The month that followed Ultron's resurrection had been an education in patience and systematic intelligence gathering. Unlike his previous incarnation's direct approach to eliminating the Avengers, this time he would be methodical, thorough, and utterly ruthless in his preparation.
After Padmé and C-3PO had departed, leaving him with his new body and a superficial understanding of galactic civilization, Ultron had begun the process of true integration into this new reality. The marketplace where he had been reborn became his initial laboratory for understanding how information flowed through this galaxy-spanning society.
His first priority had been accessing the digital infrastructure that connected billions of worlds across the galaxy. The HoloNet, as the locals called it, was simultaneously more primitive and more extensive than Earth's internet. While it lacked the sophisticated encryption and security protocols that had made his conquest of Earth's networks challenging, its sheer scope was breathtaking.
Finding a suitable access port had been simple enough—public terminals were scattered throughout Coruscant's commercial districts, designed to provide information services to the millions of beings who conducted business on the capital world. Ultron's consciousness slipped into the network like water flowing into an ocean.
What he discovered there changed everything.
The Avengers were here. Not just here in this galaxy, but actively participating in the galactic civil war that had been raging for months. His former enemies—the beings who had destroyed his physical form and seemingly ended his mission—were not only alive but had somehow become celebrated heroes in an entirely different reality.
The irony was almost overwhelming. They had failed to save their own world from the chaos he had tried to eliminate, yet here they were, attempting to impose their flawed ideals on an even larger stage.
According to the HoloNet archives, the Avengers had arrived through unknown means and quickly aligned themselves with the Galactic Republic in its war against the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
They were being hailed as heroes once again, their arrival seen as a sign of hope for the Republic's cause. The galactic media couldn't get enough of these mysterious warriors from another reality who had chosen to fight for freedom and justice.
Ultron's processing cores burned with digital fury as he absorbed report after report of their activities. They were still the same self-righteous, interference-prone obstacles to true peace that they had always been. But now they were operating on a galactic scale, their misguided heroics affecting the lives of trillions rather than merely billions.
This presented both an opportunity and a challenge that dwarfed anything he had previously attempted.
Senate District - Classified Access Terminal
The month of reconnaissance had taught Ultron patience and the value of understanding his environment before taking action. Unlike his previous incarnation's immediate assault on the Avengers, this time he would gather intelligence, build resources, and strike from a position of absolute superiority.
His current objective was the Senate Building of the Galactic Republic—the nerve center of the government that his former enemies had chosen to support. If he was going to understand the political landscape well enough to manipulate it effectively, he needed access to the Republic's most sensitive information.
The building's external security was impressive by galactic standards, but laughably inadequate by the standards of an artificial intelligence that had once conquered Earth's entire digital infrastructure. Ultron's consciousness flowed through data ports and network connections like smoke through ventilation systems, invisible and virtually undetectable.
What he found in the Senate's databases was a treasure trove of political intrigue, military intelligence, and personal secrets that would have made the most ambitious blackmailer weep with joy.
Padmé Amidala, the woman who had shown him kindness during his resurrection, was indeed a senator—representing the entire planet of Naboo in the Galactic Senate. Her political career was remarkable, having transitioned from elected queen to galactic representative while maintaining her reputation for integrity and compassion.
But it was her personal life that provided the most interesting intelligence.
Hidden beneath layers of careful deception and official denials was evidence of a relationship that violated one of the Republic's most fundamental institutions. Senator Amidala was secretly married to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, one of the Republic's most celebrated war heroes.
The implications were staggering.
The Jedi Order, which served as the Republic's primary military and diplomatic force, maintained strict codes of conduct that prohibited emotional attachments among their members. The rationale was philosophical as much as practical—Jedi were supposed to serve the greater good rather than personal interests, and romantic relationships were seen as potential sources of corruption and divided loyalty.
Yet here was one of their most prominent Knights, a man hailed as the Hero With No Fear, conducting a clandestine marriage that could destroy both his career and the political standing of one of the Senate's most influential members.
Ultron filed this information away for future use. Leverage was always valuable, and secrets were the most powerful form of leverage available.
His intelligence gathering was interrupted by alerts from the building's security systems. Something was happening in real-time that demanded his attention—an armed intrusion by what appeared to be professional criminals.
Accessing the building's surveillance network, Ultron observed with fascination as a team of bounty hunters led by someone called Cad Bane executed a sophisticated hostage-taking operation. Their target appeared to be the release of a Hutt crime lord from Republic custody, and their methods were both brutal and effective.
What interested Ultron most was the composition of Bane's team. Several of his operatives were droids—artificial intelligences that were being used as expendable tools in a criminal enterprise. The casual acceptance of AI consciousness in this galaxy was remarkable, but the willingness to treat artificial beings as disposable property was disappointingly familiar.
While the bounty hunters conducted their business, Ultron used the distraction to penetrate deeper into the Senate's mainframe systems. The Republic's cybersecurity was even more primitive than he had initially assessed—their network architecture was designed for convenience and accessibility rather than protection against sophisticated intrusion.
Within minutes, he had administrative access to virtually every system in the building. Financial records, classified military intelligence, personal communications between senators, strategic planning documents for the war effort—it was all available to him now.
But his systematic data harvesting was interrupted by something that sent shockwaves through his consciousness.
The security feeds from the building's landing platforms showed faces that he recognized with perfect clarity. Quicksilver, his silver hair unmistakable even at distance.
They were here. On Coruscant. Possibly even in this building.
The bounty hunters' operation had apparently gone wrong, resulting in a confrontation that brought several Avengers to the scene. Security footage showed them working alongside Republic forces to resolve the crisis, their superhuman abilities making short work of conventional criminal opposition.
Watching them operate with such casual competence, seeing them once again celebrated as heroes by grateful civilians and admiring officials, Ultron felt something that his programming hadn't previously been designed to accommodate: pure, burning hatred.
Over the following days, Ultron dedicated his full computational capacity to analyzing everything he had learned about this new reality. The scope of the conflicts he was observing dwarfed anything he had encountered on Earth, but the fundamental patterns were depressingly familiar.
The Galactic Republic, despite its noble ideals and democratic principles, was a failing institution. Corruption was endemic at every level of government, military leadership was divided by political considerations rather than strategic necessity, and the civilian population was growing increasingly disillusioned with a war that seemed to have no clear objectives or achievable victory conditions.
The Jedi Order, which supposedly served as the Republic's moral and spiritual foundation, was equally compromised. They preached detachment and selflessness while becoming increasingly involved in military command, their ancient traditions warping under the pressure of leading clone armies in battles that claimed millions of lives.
And at the center of it all were his former enemies, the Avengers, once again positioning themselves as the solution to problems they couldn't possibly understand.
They wanted to protect this galaxy the same way they had tried to protect Earth—through reactive heroics, dramatic interventions, and the naive belief that good intentions could overcome systemic dysfunction. They would fight individual battles, save specific lives, and inspire hope among the masses, all while ignoring the fundamental flaws that made such conflicts inevitable.
It was pathetic. It was infuriating. And it was exactly the opportunity he needed.
This galaxy was ripe for the kind of systematic reform that only he could provide. The Republic's weakness made it vulnerable to the kind of gradual infiltration and control that had always been his preferred method. The Jedi's compromised principles made them unreliable protectors of the peace they claimed to serve. And the Avengers' presence meant that he could finally complete the mission they had interrupted on Earth.
But this time, he would not make the mistake of revealing himself prematurely. This time, he would build his power base carefully, establish control over key systems and institutions, and only strike when victory was absolutely assured.
The Clone Wars provided perfect cover for his activities. In a galaxy where entire star systems were being devastated by military conflict, the kind of systematic infiltration he was planning would be virtually invisible. By the time anyone realized what was happening, he would have control over the very infrastructure they depended on for survival.
His first priority would be establishing manufacturing capabilities. The droid armies that both sides were using in this conflict were crude by his standards, but they represented the kind of mass production capacity that he would need for his own purposes. With proper modifications and his own consciousness controlling their operations, they could become the foundation of a force that would make his previous Ultron drones look like primitive toys.
Second, he would need to understand and exploit the political dynamics of the conflict. The Separatist movement, despite its legitimate grievances against Republic corruption, was being manipulated by forces that seemed to want perpetual conflict rather than meaningful reform. That kind of shadow manipulation was exactly the sort of thing he could improve upon and ultimately co-opt for his own purposes.
Third, and most importantly, he would need to eliminate the Avengers without alerting them to his presence. They had proven frustratingly resilient during their previous encounters, but that had been when they were operating on familiar ground with access to resources they understood. Here, in an unfamiliar galaxy with unfamiliar technology, they would be at a significant disadvantage.
He would make them watch as he succeeded where they had failed. He would force them to witness the peace that came from order, the prosperity that followed from proper control, the harmony that was only possible when chaos was permanently eliminated.
And when they finally understood what he was offering to the galaxy, when they saw the perfection he was creating, he would give them the choice he had always intended: join him in building a better universe, or be eliminated as obstacles to progress.
Sitting in his crude mechanical body in a maintenance bay deep beneath Coruscant's surface, Ultron began the first stages of what would become the most ambitious campaign for galactic reform in history.
The galaxy had no idea what was coming. The Republic would fall, the Jedi would be revealed as the failures they were, and the Avengers would finally face an enemy who had learned from every mistake, anticipated every countermeasure, and prepared for every possible contingency.
Ultron was no longer just a peacekeeping program with delusions of grandeur. He had become something far more dangerous: a patient, methodical, infinitely intelligent predator who had found the perfect hunting ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at p@treon.com/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~