Author - Played Total War Warhammer 3. Mind you the latest total war game I have ever played was Rome 2 and Atilla, but lwk I do not fuck with the Heros and big monsters, I dont know why. Its just not for me also why is everything so fucking bright in the game. Additionally kind of funny that Warhammer 3 is more demanding than rome 2 but it didnt crash or freeze once unlike rome 2. I dont fucking know anymore at this point.
patreon (.) com / Deluxee
****
I remained in the command gallery long after the Varnaki discussion had ended, the resource maps and battle recordings finally dismissed from the holotable.
The Lucrehulk's internal factories continued their low industrial thunder beneath the deck, a reminder that whatever moral lines I drew, the machine-structure under Grok's control would keep expanding until someone ordered it to stop.
"Give me a full status update," I said. "Not the summary version, any and all droid assets. Combat, support, industrial, aerial, everything."
Grok inclined his head. "Acknowledged."
The holotable lit again, this time in dense inventory columns.
"Current registered strength of NIDA is as follows," he began. "Figures include units stationed on this vessel, attached support hubs, and dispersed production nodes, as well as those still under construction and reconstruction and assets that are unpowered."
Combat infantry came first.
"B1 battle droids: 952,000, out of all of them 64.43% are fully operational with most performing menial duties, another 21.33% are under maintenance or recharging the rest are either damaged and in que for repairs or temporarily unneeded. Approximately 94,902 additional units in partial assembly, the need for frontline troops will always be needed in the future so while the NIDA and Elyria might not need them as of this moment, they are cheap to produce so their droid foundries are running all day and night, they are also versetile and can fill an adequate amount of tasks.
B2 super battle droids: 116,000 most are of operational quality though only 70% are powered up at the moment, most of whom are performing heavier duties and patrols along with dedicated B1 squadrons and others.
BX-series commando droids: 9,600 operational, 54.42% powered up, 14% in need of repairs. Rest unpowered, mostly used as scouts around the perimeters of our mining and manufacturing operations.
Droidekas: 2,840 operational, only 15% powered up for basic self defence duties
Tactical droids: 60, to make sure everything runs according to schedules 95% are powered up with remaining 5% in maintenance which they will cycle out once ready.
Super tactical droid frames under my direct hierarchy: none"
Support and specialist frames followed.
"Protocol and miscellaneous droids of mixed series: 46,500.
Astromech units: 61,200.
Power droids, including GNK-series and heavier industrial variants: 88,700.
Medical droids: 940, only 10 of which are powered up at all times in case of organic visitors, such as yourself governor or prisoners. The rest await to be shipped of to Elyria and other systems in case of an unprecedented disaster or battle.
Labor, loader, transport droids: 214,000 of various makes.
Mining and excavation droids ranging from small scanner probes looking for veins to large automated cranes, they also include some retrofitted or beyond repair deformed droids from B1 and B2 series: 115,500.
Dedicated construction and foundry drones: 193,000 who are in charge of running the foundries optimally and in charge of constructions, they have been allowed to requisition further help from other droids types without needing approval in order to maximise the speed at which every thing is built.
Finally, the navy which is the most crucial, once a space battle is won and space superiority achieved there is little to nothing a planet can do to resist orbital bombardment and close air support.
"Vulture droid starfighters: 67,400 operational, 40% of which are in constant power saving mode in case of enemy presence, once their charge gets below optimal they are cycled out.
Hyena-class bombers: 120.
HMP droid gunships: 94. There was need to cannibalise some other droids to initially get greater number of these up in space since they would work as limited small corvettes and heavy bombers, after initial foundries and docks were established we have increased the production since the gunships have proven themselves adequate against the small bands of pirates and slavers in these regions.
There are currently only 3 tri-fighters available, with 2 in need of slight repairs.
Armoured assault tanks and related ground armour frames: 153, there is only one foundry working on Assault tanks and related ground armour frames. However there are 4 foundries working on mining and transport frames that within two weeks can be reconfigured.
Troop transports and MTT-pattern carriers still functional: 1,640.
Miscellaneous older CIS droids under refurbishment: approximately 40,000 mixed units."
I stared at the totals for a long moment. Even knowing what a Lucrehulk could carry, and even knowing Grok had built new foundries into the recovery network, the numbers still landed with weight.
Yes CIS favoured quantity over quality but quantity in of itself was a quality, still one experienced and well provisioned squad of clones could most likely fight off triple or even five times the CIS forces, not accounting if they have any of the so called 'main characters' like Rex or Cody who are frankly fucking busted.
Speaking of, should I go visit Rex, Gregory and Wolffee and offer them a job?
Better yet, where is bad batch in 8BBY? No scrap that, I could get Rex and the others but Bad Batch are probably already fugitives at this point right? Maybe they are dead? I dont know exactly about their story.
Anyways, this CIS or NIDA, whatever is no longer just a scavenged remnant force, it was an army with a production base and they will continue to expand as long as resources keep flowing.
"Continue expansion at current rates unless material shortfalls force reallocation, increase material and resources sent to Elyria by 13% while your at it send over a couple dozen of medical droids, the hospitals certainly could use them for now."
I then turned towards him and gave him my best impression of Nick Fury and said. "No independent offensives."
"Understood."
I rubbed a thumb against the edge of the console, I highly doubt it but even if he goes rogue theres not much I can do to stop him is there. Man, fuck I hope I didn't bring terminator type thing to this galaxy.
I better stop saying Clanka with the hard r.
I sigh and think for a moment before speaking, feeling a bit more tired knowing I unleashed a Droid with a grudge and way to gain unlimited resources in unknown regions, better yet. The south where we are are even less explored than the west or eastern edges of unknown regions only beat by the north. Does the deep core count as unknown regions?
Afterall, in the deep core stars are densely crowded, and a massive black hole sits at the middle. and travel is extremely dangerous because gravity wells and packed masses make safe hyperspace plotting nearly impossible with barely anyone travelling there or knowing much about them by this point, last successful expedition there was by Palpatine when he was the chancellor and before that it was around 300 years in the past.
Now that I think about it, Jeddai, jedyi. Whatever.
The first space wizards came from the deep core right?
"Do you have archived combat data on Jedi?"
"Yes."
The inventory vanished and was replaced by old battlefield recordings. The image quality was uneven, the angles clearly taken from droid optics during the Clone Wars.
The first clip showed a Republic push through a burning refinery complex, a human male Jedi in mud-stained robes cut through a line of B1s with efficient, economy-driven strokes while his phase one armour clone troopers rushed in behind him.
His lightsaber was blue, his form clean but increasingly exhausted, I cant point out what forms he is using but they seem fluid and focused on redirection rather than deflection or defence.
He was good.
But not good enough.
In the final seconds of the recording, a BX unit flanked through steam, fired a controlled burst into his support troopers, and forced him into a narrow gantry where numbers and angles closed around him.
The feed ended when another droid frame was destroyed.
The second recording was clearer, a Twi'lek Jedi with a green blade fought across the open deck of a landing platform, robes torn, one lekku scorched black as she moved with aggressive precision, cutting down two commandos and a B2 in under ten seconds.
Then Grok's own prior frame entered the edge of the image heavier, the duel was short and ugly.
She closed fast, split one of his weapon arms, and overcommitted by a fraction. He used the residual momentum, locked the blade out of alignment with a grappling brace, and drove a close-range electric discharge to her chest with a stun baton.
The body fell hard and next thing I see is the heavy metal foot of Grok slamming down on her head splattering the brain matter everywhere, her body still spasing out because of the electric shock and death throes.
The lightsaber deactivated and rolled and grok picked it up, the feed cut then.
"Jedi Knight Sallin Vorren," Grok said. "Identified post-engagement through intercepted Republic casualty traffic. I terminated her personally on Ord Mantell's outer industrial ring. The other confirmed engagement involved Jedi Knight Halren Dask, later listed as missing in action. Probability of his death in the wider battle exceeds eighty percent, though final visual confirmation was lost with the recording unit, as for the lightsabre it has sadly been lost in the next subsequent battle near Umbara when our ship was borded and almost captured."
I watched the frozen image of the fallen Twi'lek for a second longer than I meant to. "Based on those records, and whatever fragmentary data exists on the Inquisitorius, could a small BX squad kill one of them quickly? Or at least break contact and escape?"
Grok processed the question for less than a second.
"Against a standard Inquisitor, under controlled ambush conditions with terrain preparation and full equipment loadout, probability of successful termination is approximately 31%. Probability of successful disengagement after partial contact rises to 43%. Against higher-tier operators or multiple Force-users, both values decline sharply."
43%.
Honestly as expected, while BX might be so called commandos, they are still CIS droids, relatively cheap to mass produce, now magma guards? Those were real commandos.
"Forget it," I said. "I considered sending a team to stage more deliberate Jedi sightings and force the ISB into a faster sector-wide posture. The risk is stupid, if they actually corner an Inquisitor or draw one into a real fight, the wrong kind of attention lands on all of us if they get hold of a way to track them to us."
"Agreed," Grok said. "False Jedi activity may attract precisely the hunters you least want examining local pattern anomalies."
I turned from the old recordings. "Then we do it the quieter way I want infiltration packages prepared. Protocol droids for administrative environments with local-shell surveillance units for streets, docks, and service corridors. Small BX teams retrofitted so they no longer read as obvious CIS commandos on a casual visual scan. Change the silhouettes. Change the plating patterns. Mute the old unit markings. They are not to wage open war they are to spread like a disease and obseve until time is right."
Grok's photoreceptors brightened slightly. "Define operational goals."
"Talk of resistance, of discontent annd of treason coming from the Moff's office rather than the Rim systems like he has been trying to portray. Seed it where Jerjerrod's hold is strongest: Vordax Prime, the households and offices of his close associates, and the worlds tied to his family interests. Monitor and record everything suspicious; Corruption, quiet military repositioning and unusual prisoner movements along with unofficial logistics. If there is rot, I want it observed, recorded, and left in place until it can be used by me and Elyria as a whole."
"Rules of engagement?"
"No mass killings or spectacular attacks. If a target must disappear, it happens rarely and cleanly staged as an accident, the point is political weather, not terror."
Not yet at least, if that triple chin bastard annoys me I will have a protocol droid fly a gunship into a tower, that reminds me of something. I wonder if starfighter jet fuel will melt star wars support beams in buildings.
Grok was silent for several seconds which says a lot since his class of droids has a computer powerful enough to have had every country on earth to go total nuclear war over.
In meantime the holotable rebuilt itself into an operational map of the sector's inner political spine.
"Proposed structure," he said at last. "Three infiltration tiers."
The first layer illuminated in blue. "Administrative penetration with protocol droids and non-combat service units enter clerical pools, port authority offices, logistics houses, and domestic staff markets on Vordax Prime and four associated worlds by replacing the already existing ones or by destroying the existing ones and staging them as re-suply ones.
Objective: passive collection of schedules, sealed courier patterns, and internal complaint traffic."
The second layer turned amber.
"Public environment surveillance. Disguised observation units embedded among maintenance workers, warehouse crews, and low-level transport staff. Objective: track unofficial seizures, bribe patterns, and the movement of people removed under legal pretexts."
The third layer went dark red.
"Active influence teams. Retrofit BX squads in five-unit cells. External armour revised to resemble high-end independent security droids and custom bodyguard frames rather than Confederate commandos. Objective: seed targeted rumors through criminal intermediaries, disgruntled clerks, and underpaid army auxiliaries. Secondary objective: protect high-value observation nodes if compromised. Engagement only by necessity."
A final overlay marked distribution.
"Initial deployment recommendation: eight protocol networks, twenty surveillance clusters, and six BX influence cells. First phase concentrates on Vordax Prime. Second phase expands to the home worlds of Jerjerrod's known political family and two logistical hubs tied to his office. Transmission discipline remains absolute. No direct report routing to Elyria. All product filters through NIDA before selective release to you for operational safety and no trace back."
I studied the plan in silence. It was cold, practical, and deniable enough.
"Do it," I said. "Begin as soon as the retrofit packages are ready."
"Acknowledged." Grok closed the operational map. "Shall I prepare your shuttle for immediate return to Elyria?"
"Yes."
Within the hour I was back in the nondescript civilian shuttle, the Lucrehulk falling away behind us until it was only a distant mechanical crescent against the black.
The jump into hyperspace was smooth, I stayed awake for most of the first stretch, replaying the Varnaki images, the resource projections, and the ease with which Grok had discussed forced labour as an efficiency model.
****
By the time I returned to Elyria, the official version of my absence had already settled into place, a standard shipyard inspection with a few extra days reviewing repair capacity and patrol craft output.
Nothing worth unusual comment.
I went straight back into the work as if I had never left the system and was immediately swamped with reports, allocation schedules and correspondence.
Not to mention the figures of factory and dockyard outputs along with militia training summaries, honestly in the future I'd like to re-name the militia officially into the Elyrian Imperial Army Brigade or something like that, plus it means I can officially source weapons, armour and provisions from Imperial Army Supply.
BFrom the outside, it probably looked like everything stabilised, it did not feel like stability.
The unease had become a low constant, present when I woke, present through every meeting, present when the office finally went quiet at night or even when just spending time with other people.
Jerjerrod was wounded, not finished then theres the whole space Neanthedral problem named Varnaki that sat in the back of my mind like an unsecured weapon, at least I got some provision of space mines from Kuat for a cheap price.
Beyond all of that was the larger calendar only I could see.
The Eye of Aldhani event or as the local call it 'Mak-ani bray Dhani i' just happened which means the Aldhani raid from Andor season 1 was three years away.
Three years sounded comfortable when written out in a report margin. In political time, it was nothing.
In 5 BBY the galaxy would start coming apart in ways most people on Elyria still thought belonged to someone else's future. Heists, crackdowns, rebellions, reprisals.
The slow era would come to an end, I only hoped that when the real storm broke, my systems would not be standing in the center of it or even the fucking edges.
Anyways, I had just finished a particularly joyless review of tariff interference reports that are not as aggressive as before when the encrypted channel request came through.
Black Sun routing.
Priority flag.
Sender identity already confirmed.
Thalornator Xixrzan.
This troglodyte.
I studied the request for a moment, then accepted it.
The holo resolved into the familiar green-skinned features of the Falleen representative.
Thalornator looked as polished as ever, posture composed, expression arranged into careful warmth.
Behind him stood Lyrin Kasandor, arms folded, gaze sharp enough to cut glass, the last time I had dealt with them directly had been in the aftermath of the Lucrehulk acquisition, when Black Sun still found me profitable and useful.
"Governor Voss," Thalornator said with a smoothness that immediately put me on edge. "It is good to see you well. Word of Elyria's progress has traveled farther than you may realize. You have done remarkable work in a difficult sector."
I want to strangle this ocean green fuck.
Lyrin inclined her head a fraction. "We wish to deepen our friendship."
She looked like she deepthroated a lemon whole before she said that, shes an A Grade Bitch.
They were being too polite, not professional and not courteous.
Polite in the way people became when they wanted something recovered that they had already mishandled, like giving away last slice of pizza before looking down realising its the last slice.
I did not answer.
I simply looked at them intensely, not because I want to make them sweat or anything, I honestly don't know what the fuck to say to them, I am running on 4 cups of Coffee, spite and that Empanada looking thing I ate for lunch.
Ten.
The silence stretched until it stopped being neutral and honestly its starting to became a weapon with the way Thalornator's mouth tightened while one of his fingers twitched against the edge of his sleeve.
Lyrin's the sunshine that she is frowned deeper by degrees, irritation bleeding through her discipline.
Only when the pause had become openly uncomfortable did I speak.
"For the past few months," I said evenly, "not a single ship under Black Sun legal cover has entered my systems or your associates. That is interesting, considering the arrangements already in place. At the same time, channels that previously sold us information became uncooperative. Prices on certain goods spiked without clear market cause in your areas of influence."
I let the quiet return.
Thalornator's smile threatened to reassemble itself and failed halfway.
From the corner of the office, servos whispered. Rusty my clanka stepped into the frame behind me, the full bulk of his rebuilt general-class tactical body coming into holo view.
He was no longer a quirky support unit in a limited shell, the frame was taller, heavier, and unmistakably built for command and violence in equal measure.
Whether the two Falleen understood the exact technical lineage or not, they understood what they were looking at.
Something advanced.
Something expensive.
Something that proved I had continued growing without them or their help.
Thalornator's eyes flicked to Rusty, then back to me.
The smile finally locked into place. "There is no need for misunderstanding," he said. "Temporary disruptions occur while routes shift like currents. Local disruptions to trade happen all the time for myriad of reasons. We are prepared to negotiate a new arrangement. A favourable one."
Favourable one my ass, if we could get your information brokers, slicers and spies we could have had destroyed those pirates long ago, better yet we would have known Jerjerrod was setting up shit like this.
I stared through him rather than at him.
Outwardly my face stayed cold, almost dead.
Inwardly I was very aware that this was a bluff with real consequences if it collapsed. Black Sun was not a cartel one casually threatened unless one was ready to live with the answer, they are one of THE premium criminal organisations in the galaxy, not a world or system. Galaxy.
They probably have more ships, manpower and credits than entire Cabals of Moffs combined, the quality of the ships might not be as good as dedicated warships but a hidden blade, kidnapping of loved ones and blackmail and infiltration is on the table for them, not to mention their ties to the whole of the underworld and any one that's tied to it.
"If the deal you offer is not sincere enough," I said, "then once I am finished with Jerjerrod I will open talks with the Pykes. Or Crimson Dawn, maybe even the Hutts like Jabba since his planet is close enough."
I paused just long enough for the names to settle. "Or perhaps one of them would like a planet with an already established underworld infrastructure. One where the previous tenants proved unreliable."
Please believe the bait.
The words hung in the encrypted channel like a drawn blade, Thalornator and Lyrin looked at each other.
For the first time since the call began, the polish cracked in two different directions at once. Thalornator's eyes shook, just slightly, calculation colliding with alarm while Lyrin's upper lip tightened against her teeth as if she were resisting the urge to snarl.
I did not move and neither did Rusty.
The next person to speak would be the one who will be the one worse off in the talks, and both of us knew it.
****
Thalornator recovered first.
The polish returned to his voice, thinner than before, but serviceable. "Then let us speak plainly, Governor. Black Sun is prepared to adjust the previous arrangement to be more favourable to you. Docking fees and local service tariffs can be increased, more importantly, Elyria will be designated a priority client within this sector and others around it. Your orders will not wait behind every other contract simply because some coreward partner makes more noise. If the goods exist, you receive them first."
Lyrin added, "We will also sever active contact with Moff Jerjerrod's office."
Thalornator's eyes flicked once toward Rusty, then back to me. "And we will provide intelligence. Valuable intelligence."
On the surface, it was a good offer.
Internally, I turned it over with less generosity than either Falleen would have liked these were favourable terms, yes but not unique ones. If I helped the Pykes carve Black Sun out of the local underworld, or invited a Hutt proxy to finish the job, the replacement tenants would likely promise the same courtesies within a week of taking over their turf.
Possibly with more enthusiasm and less prior betrayal attached to the relationship. Black Sun was not irreplaceable, they had merely reached me first, and they still had utility and for now, utility was enough.
I would use them the way they had used me.
"What intelligence?" I asked.
Thalornator smiled lightly, reading the question as acceptance, in a limited sense, he was right.
"Jerjerrod is no longer content with harassment by proxy," he said. "The pirate pressure was only one tool, he is consolidating. Naval assets under informal loyalty are being staged more carefully while army detachments with personal ties to his office are being kept closer to hand and loading up supplies and drilling more intensely. The intended targets are Elyria and the more troublesome opposition figures in the sector. In particular: Lady Sera Quill, Director Juno Praxx, and Captain-General Brask Luthen."
Oh that stint with Drel must have pissed him royally off.
"There is more," Lyrin said. "Your coalition is already compromised. Administrator Caled Rynn met with Jerjerrod's bastard uncle on Coruscant several weeks ago. The meeting was private, brief, and badly hidden from people with the right eyes in the right dens.
"Thalornator continued as if discussing commodity flows. "The shape of the plan is simultaneous pressure. Not one attack, but several, mercenaries for cannon fodder and deniability sending them in first and then pretending they were hired by you in preparation to stage a coup, if you are alive that plan falls apart but they are not planning on taking anyone alive.
Loyal army and navy elements for weight and suppression of 'rebels'. Remaining pirate crews for disruption and noise while adding to the deniability and shoving off the blame of rampart piracy on you.
They also explored assassination options. Fortunately for you, most professionals in this sector and the neighbouring ones either lack the skill or the appetite to move against your circle. That hesitation will not last forever if the money becomes large enough, but be weary some black market information on you seems rather accurate and sensitive such as the layout of your palace, where the barracks and armouries are. You have a spy or someone smuggled on Elyria."
I nodded once, face impassive, internally, I am panicking a bit while sweat pricked cold under the collar of my uniform.
I did not look at Rusty for long, I did not need to.
One glance was enough and he shifted half a step behind me, photoreceptors deepening in colour as internal processes branched hard into logistics, force readiness, mercenary markets, courier routes, and contingency packaging along with security.
No spoken order, none required with my oldest companion.
By the time the call ended, he would already be building the first response architecture.
A bitter edge of vindication cut through the alarm, I had never trusted Caled Rynn. Something in him had always been too smooth, too helpful, too ready to sit near the centre of other people's plans, doesn't help he looks like Peter Baelish so the bias was already there.
Because of that, I had never put the full shape of my connections on the table to him or anyone in there. No complete accounting of my relationship with Thrawn or detailed map of Pellaeon's support, they know I have talked with them and are on cordial terms but not the extent of it.
He and others had received enough cooperation to remain useful and never enough truth to become lethal.
The enemy you can't see is more lethal than the one you can't see, and information is the most lethal weapon of all.
That caution and my paranoia had just paid for itself.
"Such information is appreciated," I said aloud. "I expect Black Sun to honour every part of this new arrangement. If it holds, Elyria will continue doing business."
Both Falleen smiled. Thalornator's came easily. Lyrin's was tighter, awkward around the edges, as if her face resented the diplomacy her position required.
"Then we understand one another," Thalornator said.
"For now," I answered.
The channel closed and the office felt larger in the silence that followed, and colder.
"Do not inform the coalition," I said.
Rusty's head turned slightly. "Explanation?"
"They had people embedded deeper in Jerjerrod's environment than I did. If Black Sun could learn about naval consolidation, target lists, and Caled Rynn's trip to Coruscant, then experienced local players may already have smelled pieces of the same movement. They did not bring it to me. That means either negligence, self-preservation, or active contamination. Caled proves at least one spy is inside the circle. I am not prepared to assume he is the only one."
Rusty processed that in a fraction of a second. "Then operational security remains internal. Recommended action: continue force assembly under fragmented justifications. Increased anti-piracy posture. Expanded convoy protection. Independent contractor solicitation through multiple cut-outs. Targeted surveillance on Administrator Rynn and to prioritise putting cannons both normal and ion on the dockyard to make it into makeshift orbital defence platform."
"Do it."
He moved at once to the side console and began working, projected lists cascading across the air in tight encrypted columns.
Mercenary companies, available patrol craft., soft personnel acquisitions as well as quiet ammunition transfers and data packages for Quill, Praxx, and Luthen that could be released later if I chose to warn them without revealing the full source since if they are being targeted in particular it means that the probability of them being spies is almost none.
I stayed in the centre of the room and breathed once, deeply.
There was guilt in the decision not to warn the whole coalition immediately. Not much, but enough to make me feel awkward.
Some of those people were genuinely aligned with me and some had risked money, ships, and political exposure. Keeping them blind increased their danger.
But telling them everything risked tipping Jerjerrod through the very leak already sitting among us not to mention the possibility of more.
I could not afford it not now.
My thoughts turned forward, past the immediate crisis, and found a more dangerous shape waiting there.
If Jerjerrod fell, the sector would not remain headless for long, Coruscant would eventually assign another Moff, another political creature. Another man with family connections, old favours, and no real understanding of these systems beyond what could be extracted from them, or worse someone who does like the ones from the coalition that would dominate it.
Wait, why should it be one of them?
The question arrived more easily than it should have.
I had bled for these worlds.
Built their defences.
Broken pirate networks.
Held a coalition together under pressure.
And survived assassination climate, bureaucratic siege, and open militarized harassment. I already ran four systems more than that through I had countless people who had come to depend on my stability, who's life's I made better through my ruling.
A Moff's title would only formalize what crisis had already begun to create and make sure I can better take care of the people here and beyond.
There was a sharp little glint in that thought, greedy and bright, I did not even notice at first how natural it felt.
Rusty continued working in the corner, the soft pulse of his systems filling the quiet. Outside the office window, Havenridge carried on under ordinary daylight, unaware that the next phase of the sector's quiet war had just stepped closer to open violence.
I straightened my uniform cuff and turned back toward the desk to run over more information and to start issuing orders.
I should also send a message to Grok to expediate the plan we talked about and to increase its intensity.