Path of the Stars- Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Once I got Aayla Secura and Talon onto the ship we were taking. I settled in with Talon in another room as I began putting together my own lightsaber.

And as for my own lightsaber... I wasn't a master lightsaber duelist. I woudn't have the training, I wouldn't have the time to iron out a perfect style or anything.

With my Imaginary Energy that fueled my Paths of Abundance and Destruction, I was a monster of pure force and destruction. Not an elegant duelist.

So with that in mind, I didn't go for some nonsense like Maul's double blades, or even Dooku's heavily curved hilt to help in mobility during dueling.

I instead copied a lightsaber design that woudn't be seen for a good few decades at this point. Even if he was a little shitter, Kylo Ren's lightsaber design with lightsaber guards would be perfect to help me defend myself from other jedi/sith's lightsabers.

"Hmm... I should try to get some Beskar and Cortosis. I wonder how effective a blend of those two metals would be in reflecting lightsabers for armor." I mused to myself.

Because fuck running around in nothing but Jedi robes and such nonsense. I wanted to make Jedi and Sith utterly shit themselves as I head but their lightsabers with a Cortosis helmet and then just punch them to the ground before shooting them.

I didn't want to die to some random sniper nonsense. So a good set of Beskar and Cortosis armor that could take some blaster fire would be perfect.

Then Talon spoke calmly. "Beskar can no longer be found directly. The mines of Mandalore have run dry. And the secrets of forging and treating Beskar into a form in which it can block lightsabers and blaster fire is held only by the Mandalorians. They go utterly mad at any hint that another organization has the secret and will do their best to purge said organization at any cost." 

I just silently took a drink, and after a moment, I said rather coolly. "I didn't plan on 'asking' for the secrets of Beskar forging. I was going to take their armor off their corpses when I get the Dark Saber." 

I wanted the Dark Saber and with my antics... I had no doubts some dip shit Mandalorians would declare the sword was their inheritance or some nonsense justification to take it off my corpse in turn when I became more well known across the galaxy.

As my Abundance Abominations are powered by the power of Abundance, and likewise, my creations that are powered by the Path of Destruction in the Antimatter Legion. They... Were not in any way subtle.

"And as for Cortosis... Although very expensive isn't something that is impossible to get." I mused while Cortosis itself had major issues as a metal to be used in metal.

Trying to forge a metal that was as brittle as like charcoal or shale rock was just asking for it to shatter in half when I tried to bend over. Hence I wanted to alloy it with Beskar if at all possible.

Either way, I refocused on my lightsaber, which shot out its blade with a crackle of energy as four smaller lance's of energy also shot out above the hilt at a slight upward angle.

The smaller prongs were to catch enemy lightsabers when they clashed with mine as I always planned to either have a gun in my off hand or just using my Abundance or Destruction path energy as well.

So if I sword locked my enemy duelist... They coudn't catch the attack I made with the other hand.

Though as I was staring at my lightsaber I had an idle thought. 'Hmm... With how Grevious is being turned into an android basically, with how so much of his body is mechanics. I wonder if the CIS is going to throw some Biotic implants into his body as well?'

As General Grevious was obviously a fucking monster in combat. So I couldn't help but be interested in seeing how things would change if he also had access to biotics.

"Hmm, Kali doesn't understand the force either. She doesn't understand that the Reaper's and Vong are the Anathema enemy of the Force itself." Talon noted, seemingly recalling Kali's bitching about how me going to Geonosis was a stupid as hell idea.

Which, to be fair. Was indeed a stupid idea. But millions upon millions of credits in precious metals? Enough to buy a colony ship so I could go wherever the fuck I wanted. And recruit whoever I wanted.

While also arming that colony ship to the point it became a capital ship of a Navy? I coudn't deny that desire. Especially since my powers came from Honkai Star Rail.

I couldn't help but want to have my own Xianzhou Ship that was basically its own roaming world.

'Hmm, I wonder if, through the power of Erudition, I could rebuild the Starforge or something like that to build me in turn my own Death Star. Because having a planet-sized ship would be... Fucking awesome to say the least.' I thought, though having such a ship?

Was a bit excessive.

"She is a 'normal' person. Someone without Biotics or any Force potential. She almost lives in another world from us." I said evenly before I looked to Talon as she herself was refining her lightsaber a good bit.

As the one she made previously was a bit rushed, suboptimal, and clearly done just to get the job done. Said job was killing me at that point.

And I saw the refinement of her lightsaber as a change in herself as well.

Though... There was something to note with Talon after her mind settled after I broke it so completely.

Her connection with the force was much stronger at this point. It seemed that in destroying the Sith named Talon. The force had much more room to fill into her essence.

"What about Aayla? You plan to restore her memories?" Talon asked curiously before she added thoughtfully. "Besides, when she struts like a dancer and plays around you. She walks as a warrior even if it's clearly subconscious, memory beaten into her muscles over years of training." 

I exhaled before I said helplessly. "Yeah, I want to try anyway. She was a Jedi with Jedi Master potential before she was betrayed and had her mind melted with drugs."

Talon nodded, then said calmly. "If she does become a jedi again. What will you do when she decides to leave? And refuses to serve you anymore?"

To which I chuckled and said with a shrug. "Then that's my fate. Though with how that old wreck Yoda said she should stay with me regardless due to the 'will of the force' She may not leave at all regardless of her getting her memories back.

Then I refocused as I turned off my lightsaber with a hum, leaving me before I asked Talon. "So, how should I find a member of a cult of Sith who is mentally bound to a Reaper ship?" 

Talon just shrugged with a helpless look crossing her twi-lek face as she said. "I cannot help there, Jake. We don't know what kind of Sith sect or creed they even follow."

"They could follow the old Republic's military and merit style Sith that follows the logic of the strong ruling. They could follow the more modern stealth focus of Sith, or they could even be like the Dathomir witches who are worshipping that Reaper ship as their god or something."

Then a soft bleep rang out as Aayla's voice came through the ship's intercoms. "Jake, I need the ship's paperwork for when we approach Geonosis."

And that was a fair point. I had no idea if Geonosis was still a major droid fabricator for the upcoming clone wars. But if it was, then the CIS wouldn't be letting Republic vessels land so easily.

"Hmm, well I should go check on here, I suppose," I said with a shrug before I slipped my lightsaber onto the magnetic clasp I had on my belt.

I then made my way to the larger cockpit where I saw Aayla was looking at the starmap. A holographic table that projected Tattoine and Geonosis as we were only a single small light speed jump away from the system.

And sexy Twi-Lek in those leather pants were giving me... Idea's as she input navigational data into the ships system to have us jump out of Hyper Space just outside of Geonosis.

Aayla made a soft exhale as I grabbed her ass casually with her quickly pushing against me with her leaning partly against me as she 'should' and knew to do as I asked quietly. "Now what paperwork did you need again you pretty thing?" 

And my answer was the twi-lek grinding on me as she said quietly. "I need all of the paperwork for when I check us in, Master. Are we going in posing as merchants with food to sell again? Or we going to go in straight as Bounty Hunters working for Lord Jabba?" 

I knew what she meant, because either path would have their advantages and disadvantages. Going in as a simple merchant would give us the cover of being a simple merchant, nothing to be too concerned with.

But if I went in as a bounty hunter with two people with light sabers at their hips. To say nothing of my monstrous creations? I would have the power of fear, the fact that smarter people would keep their fucking noses out of my business if they wanted to stay alive.

On the other hand, going in loud like that could spook the Reaper ship and it's Sith Cult. To say nothing of any CIS agents.

As unironically... An army of droids was my worst enemy as I coudn't turn them into monsters nearly as easily.

Then I gave Aayla's ass a firm spank with her giggling in a frivoulous manner as I pulled back with a grumble as I went to get said paperwork and thought more on our entry plan.

And after a while, I decided that going in treating this freight ship as a another produce ship in a merchant manner was the best plan. As the bounty runner path was just going to get too much attention on such a... Very dangerous planet.

Going in loud and running face first into Count Dooku and General Grevious sounded like a quick way to die after all.

-

The trip to the red mostly badlands and desert world of Geonosis literally only took half an hour in hyper space and it only took that long as well because we has the Hyperspace engine at lower power.

So that I could fill up the loading dock with pallets that were loaded with produce options that were then freezed as we let some of the vacuum leak into the loading docks.

And honestly... Geonosis looked more like a shithole then Tatooine did. Tatooine at least looked well fried with it's light color sand from orbit and such.

But Geonosis with it's very high iron and metal content in it's soil was just a floating red ball that looked like hell with zero signs of life on the planet.

Which was fairly true. All of the life on Geonosis was underground as the worlds actual atmosphere was notoriously shit so not only was the solar rays from the planet's sun very dangerous. But it was also scalding hot during the day, and then deadly cold at night.

"Take us down towards Stalgasin Hive." I said to Aayla as we bypassed the cosmic dust ring that surrounded Geonosis and with a couple buttons we had already connected with the systems Holonet and we picked up directions to the main hive city on the planet.

"Hmm, how well do you know Geonosians?" Aayla asked quietly and I just shrugged before I said rather bluntly in turn.

"Not much, don't care too much to learn either. We are here to find some Sith cultists, and going to the main hive city is the best bet to get a clue as to where they are."

As I very... Very highly doubted the arrogant sith, even if they were mentally slaved by the Reaper ship would take in the local's as member of their cult.

But I had a way to find them either way... I was going to turn Karina 'The Great' into one of my Abominations of Abundance for sure. As she being the queen and birther of the main cities native population.

I was truly curious as to what kind of Abundance being she would turn into with her holding the Galactic world record for giving birth to a new egg every five seconds for a whole year straight!

Which meant that she alone... In a single year gave birth to close to six and a half million sentient young.

That was some real talent. Even some eldritch monsters could only nod in appreciation to her efforts.

Still, if anyone knew where the sith were. It was her with her connections across all of Geonosis and all the other hives bowing to her brutal breeding might.

I exhaled with a soft force as Aayla responded to several hails and then I said quietly. "Aayla, you and Talon deal with the offloading of goods. I am going to look around to see if I can find anything."

Karina the broodmother wasn't going to be easy to find I was sure. Not to mention I wasn't sure if she was already protected by her undead legion. Said undead legion being several dozen if not hundreds of her kin that were already dead but were being controlled by weird brain worms.

Brain worms that she could control somehow from what I could remember from the old clone wars show.

Still the moment we landed, I put on my cloak and with a force based 'Notice me not' nonsense. I quickly faded into the shadows of the hive city Stalgasin.

The walls of the hives entryway were polished stone and even the windows were especially thick to block out the potent solar radiation and stellar storms that regularly racked the planet.

'Hmm I wonder if I could restore this planet to it's verdant state way before it's moon was shattered.' I mused thoughtfully.

Though I wasn't too interested in such a thankless task... Because what could I get for doing such a deed from the Geonosisan's? I wasn't a freak who had an interest in monstrous bug humanoids.

"Whelp... Asking these bugs for info is just a losing game with how tight knight these clans are." I muttered as I was reminded about how despite how much of a shit hole this world was.

It still had a fucking obscene population of over a hundred billion due to how fast the queens and other 'noble' Geonosians would breed. To say nothing of the five billion large population of foriegn slaves that were also kept for slavery and especially the infamous gladiator events.

So without much fanfare, I quickly found a dark corner in a maintence area... And after scoping out the local's I found a higher ranked elder that I walked up to.

And with a crisp noise of my lightsaber I killed his three guards before he could bink and react and then I just shattered his chest region in general with a force push that left slammed into a wall and dying.

But him dying wasn't going to be an issue as before anyone could properly react. I grabbed the dying bug and zoomed off with the force and my path energy enhancing my speed as I quickly took him to the maintence room I found.

"Alright, now come back!" I whispered as I flooded his form with the power of Abundance as I didn't think he could sustain the power of Destruction.

And his form quickly was engulfed with the blessings of the Plague Author's designs. 

His form was naturally bug like so with an extra set of wings and some wood like armor on him along with gaining some size as he grew said wings. I knew he could make a good scout unit at the very least.

Either way I quickly began playing charades with the random ass Geonosis native I turned. And as for answers as to where the Sith where?

Yeah he had nothing at all.

So with that, with his memories still complete from life, I had him write down all his information on where I could find his previous queen.

But then... Just as I was getting ready to go deal with the queen in order to find more information.

My transponder came to life with a hologram of Aayla coming up with an estatic expression. And seeing me she proudly began to speak. "Master, of the merchants that came to buy from your ship. One of them was clearly part of the Sith cult getting local supplies! Talon even made sure to put a tracker on their speeder while one of them was trying to buy me off of Talon!"

My face twitched at this news... How the hell did they come across the sith so easily? Why the hell would the sith show themselves so easily more importantly?

So even as I started to make my way there. I asked quickly. "How do you two know for a fact they were part of the sith cult?"

And Aayla said rather bluntly. "One of them force choked another merchant to death for attempting to buy up half of our entire cargo load." 

Well... Sith strangulation was a fairly patented process at this point. So I nodded and said. "Good job both of you. I am on my way and we can try to track down that sith to turn him to my side." 

As just following the sith was a fucking terrible idea. I wanted nothing to do with following said sith to the Reaper ship with the connection the reaper ship had with their drones and slaves.

So I needed to merk him before he could react and pass on the information or likewise draw attention to us.

I swiftly made my way back to the ship and I saw... Several corpses that were hidden behind some carts that were used to carry off the cargo I was selling off.

And once I got back onto the ship and saw the two in the loading dock thankfully in one peice. I got straight to the nitty gritty. "Well what has happened? What kind of Sith agent was it?"

Talon then spoke up with a slight frown. "I... I think they are as you put just a more random cultist based Sith that doesn't have connections with the other major sith factions or schools of thought." 

She took a breath and then continued with that frown. "But the Sith in question was still a Dathomiran Zabrak in question. Combined with her having several male slaves, its possible she has ties to the Night Sister clans of Dathomir."

I exhaled in annoyance as that could all be true. For all I knew, with how the universe was so much 'bigger'. The CIS was going to be heavily supported by several other Sith Schools and groups as while there wasn't a Sith Empire currently.

There was still a large number of sith in the galaxy as they realized that instead of doing nothing but killing jedi and each other. There was the entire mostly unexplored western side of the galaxy they could rule over with impunity.

Either way... I was now worried that this random ass sith wasn't just one of the Reaper's cultists. But actually a dignitary from the Dathomiri dark side witches who were here to do business with the CIS.

As while I did interrogate the elder bug I transformed into one of my abominations. I did find out that Geonosis was indeed filled with droid factories that were built deep underground.

So it was perfectly possible that this witch was here on 'official' business.

But... In reality.

"Well, too bad for them. Whether I find where the local cult is, or I get more information on the CIS or her own group. It's a perfect chance in either way." I said coldly before I asked.

"Where is she going now? She hasn't left the planet has she?" I asked as if she left already... Whelp this hope and dream was dashed before it could even begin.

Then Aayla handed me over a data slate and explained. "The speeder she was using has already moved a good distance yes. We believe she went to one of the smaller neighboring hives. Because she is deep underground and the signal transponder is having issues getting past all the rock at times."

"Hmm. Then I suppose we should get going then. And how did these merchants pay actually? Did they pay in Hut coin?" 

Both Twi-Leks shook their heads and my face pinched as Talon said rather flatly. "In order to keep up our disguise we sold for decent prices... At least normally, but we got paid in CIS script. Which isn't as valuable as Hutt coins or Republic chits." 

My lips smacked at the annoyance at that. But it wasn't a big deal. Making a bit of money wasn't the primary goal obviously.

"Alright Aayla, lets get going to that tracker." I said firmly.

As even if that Dathomiran Zabrak was just a Night Sister... Well I certainly wasn't against learning their 'magic' nonsense which seemed fairly potent as force abilities.

"Alright, I will take us into the air. Should I take a long route in case our ship is being watched?" Aayla asked with a slight frown.

I made a humming noise before I looked out the ships window and said thoughtfully. "Yeah, go ahead. Geonosis's peak sun time with in a couple hours and everyone will bunker down to avoid the harsh solar radiation at that point. And even their radar systems are affected by it." 

With a shrug I then said with casually. "In that case... I am going to go relax for a bit."

And that's what I did after putting away my newest little Abundance Abomination.

I went into my personal quarters and sat onto my bed and took up a meditative position as I felt for the Force.

 Seeking it's guidance to find 'Da Way'. Or more like just find out where the Reaper ship was hiding. As even on this damned planet. I coudn't sense a god damn thing about it besides the feeling of Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance's gaze being ever so slightly more heavy.

But whether it was the clear sith influence in the area. The ties of fate in the Clone Wars for the future. Or just the Force being a bitch and not paying attention to me.

I coudn't get anything out of my burst of meditation and it was actually irratating.

"No... I shoudn't rely on the force for guidance. It is obtuse as shit and never gives a clear answer." I muttered as I opened my eyes to take back in the world only to see Talon sitting across from me patiently waiting for me to leave my fugue.

Talon bent her head slightly in greeting before she spoke quietly. "You should actually rest Master. Deep meditation in trying to attaine the Truth from the Force is anything but actually relaxing."

And after a moment of thought I nodded and rolled over on my bed to look up at the ceiling before Talon naturally laid down beside me like the mind broken pet she was.

But... I knew that despite me breaking her down. She still had her inner fangs, even if those fangs woudn't be aimed at me for the time being.

My hands naturally pulled the red skinned Twi-Lek up close and in order for me to become comfortable. I naturally began squeezing her ample breasts to take my mind off the impending conflict to come.

"Hmm, I can't help but wonder if those Asari are also watching us at this very moment." I mused aloud.

As my ship didn't exactly have any cloaking features or just stealth features in general. I literally tore this frieghter ship out of Watto's scrapyard and put it back together with overwhelming life force turned space magic.

So it was perfectly possible they were following us and watching our every move. As force users had a history of just falling face first into trouble.