Back to the Star Forge

In an instant, you were back aboard the Star Forge to see your personal chambers. Opulent would be considered light terminology as your new home was grand enough to befit an emperor.

The room was massive, decorated tastefully with tapestries of reds and golds, a study area with a full library's worth of books, abstract marble and granite statues, but most importantly a bed large enough for twelve to sleep comfortably. It was here that you found Shmi resting peacefully with deep, easy breaths. You weren't exactly sure when she would wake up, so you spend the next few days focusing on your burgeoning armada as well as monitor the Galaxy as events unfold.

Things occur much as you expected on Coruscant. The Separatists grow in number under the guidance of Count Dooku, a failed **** attempt on Padmé Amidala's life leads to Anakin and Obi-wan's new assignment as her bodyguards, and Chancellor Palpatine discusses militarizing the Republic with the Jedi Council. You do notice that the nightmares that had plagued Anakin leading up to this point no longer occur. With Shmi out of danger, he can no longer sense her suffering through the **** and thus is far more relaxed during his reunion with Padme, as well as more respectful to his Master.

You wonder if you should allow their romance to play out. It would be child's play to step in and keep the feelings platonic at best, but at the same time you didn't want to pass up the opportunity of Leia being born. Choosing to make a decision at a later time, you set to work laying the foundation of your own fleet and you knew exactly what kind of ship you wanted as its backbone.

You venture back to the Observation Deck to begin your work, and with a large holographic display hovering in front of you, you set to modifying the schematics of the fearsome Harrower-class Dreadnaught of the Sith Empire.

The first change of course was the size. At its current setup, it was only 800 meters in length, half the size of the traditional Class-I and II Star Destroyers of Palpatine's Empire. Now with the endless resources of the Star Forge, you extend your flagship to 2200 meters in length, nearly tripling its original size. This of course leads to a greater capacity for armaments such as turbolasers, concussion missiles, ion cannons, and proton torpedos. Its complement increases as well, now able to house 160 starfighters as opposed to the original 95. You queue up fifteen more Dreadnaughts for construction over the next three months to make up the bulk of your first fleet.

This led you to a second issue; crew and personnel. As impressive as these ships were, they'd merely be glorified asteroids with guns without anyone to man their stations. Droids were out of the question as you were fully aware of the limitations in their programming. Your eyes drift to Lehon and you wonder if you should uplift the Rakkata back to the status of a space-faring species, but this seemed even less appealing. Your mind then wanders to the Chiss Ascendancy here in the Unknown Regions, as well as the old capital of the Sith Empire Dromund Kaas and the civilization you could will back into existence. Finally, you could borrow a page out of old Palpatine's book and simply grow your subjects like the Kaminoans and their clones.

A small voice in the back of your head reminds you that you were God in this Universe and that literally anything was possible, but using what amounted to a reality bending cheat code just seemed to suck the fun out of everything. Maybe this was why God back home never did much direct interference in human issues? Regardless, you estimated your first Dreadnaught would be completed by the end of the second week so you had until then to make a decision.

Pleased with your work, you head back to your chambers to rest for the first time since coming to the Galaxy.