Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Two hundredish years have gone by since I secretly took over the political galaxy with bribes and crimes. In the beginning, there were the usual people who would fight back in the name of justice but after the first sixty years, those who fought for justice were now old and learnt from their age and joined in with getting paid. My type of politics was now part of proper norms.
Thanks to my biopod healing tank, the force and a lot of genetic research done by the Arkanians, I'm still alive and at my peak. It would be impossible to guess my age. Everyone assumed that I was the fourth generation of the founder of the Grove. The only ones who knew better were the long-lived Hutts, business was good and peaceful. The Hutts are glad I'm still around as the underworld is a brutal business but still a business that I make immensely profitable.
I no longer look at credits or resources, as I have so much. I only look at projects. My Dyson swarm project had been completed for twenty years and I have six suns semi-covered, things were excellent. The energy from the swarm of energy-collecting bots was enough to power all of my projects, with vast amounts left over to sell. World energy shields were placed on my planets and expensive giant energy weapons were at the ready to target any invaders
My life was peaceful and the only strife I came across was project problems. And yet, something that I had been waiting for finally happened. I have found a point I could recognise in the year and date. A new master in the Jedi temple took his place. a young Yoda, no older than one hundred years old.
This was epic news for me because while I understood that I was in the galaxy of Star Wars, I wasn't ultimately familiar with the timeline and dates. Now I had a reference point.
At the destruction of the Deathstar, the dating system would change to BBY and ABY but until that event happened the dates were just numbers to me. With Yoda in the picture and his age being documented I could estimate the time of the downfall of the Republic and the new age of the Empire. There were seven hundredish years until the Clone Wars and a further ten to fifteen years until the Empire took over. Just enough time to incorporate my being into every facet of life, so that if the Empire tried to get rid of me it would topple the board over.
I decided to offer an invitation for dinner to the new Jedi master.
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Watching a transport ship land and a small young Yoda hop out excited me greatly. This was quite possibly the greatest Jedi that I would ever meet and his combat ability and control over the force was second to none, or it would be. The youthful Yoda had a wicked set of hair that looked permanently wind-swept and the bounce in his step showed how young he was.
I, on the other hand still had my fat suit on, it was highly upgraded with all kinds of secretly protected technology that I hadn't made public. I pushed back a massive leaf that was concealing me to make myself known and welcomed Yoda with my fat jiggling arms.
We both exchanged pleasantries and I directed Yoda to a speed wagon fit for my size. As we travel to my home I briefly look over Yoda's mind. Compared to other Jedi, Yoda's mind was confusing to look over. Yoda wasn't any better at protecting his mind than other Jedi masters but due to his species a strange complexity like a mirror reflecting a mirror occurred. There was plenty to see but a lot of it was duplications.
Another thing was that Yoda thought in complete sentences, unlike the way he spoke. Rumours were that he spoke in that semi backwards way to honour his master and now I suspect it was true.
We breach through a mass of foliage to show a circle of Eden ships surrounding a lush green park full of children. My droid parked the wagon and began to leave the wagon to open my door.
At this, I stop the droid and give it the afternoon off. The droid takes the wagon to the other side of the planet to go and watch some pod racing. For a brief time, it was just the two of us making our way to my personal Eden ship. I could feel Yoda looking around and pausing at the kids at the park. I knew what he was looking at, some of the kids in the park were using force powers. Floating balls and kids jumping higher than a building was always a sight to behold but this was only common at the Jedi temple. Here it was different than the Jedi temple, they took children away from their families and trained them at a young age but I took the whole family and over the many years and generations of people having kids and those kids inheriting the force, so now instead of a single force user in a family, the whole family had abilities in the force.
Judging by Yoda's eyes, he hadn't seen this outside the temple. It wasn't his fault as any force community kept to themselves and wouldn't allow outsiders to investigate. Plus, Yoda was still very young for his species and possibly hadn't seen much of the galaxy. If my calculation was correct then Yoda was still in his very early teens compared to humans.
The children rushed over to get some free sweets from me, some of them literally skipped through the air, while others used the force to speed up to me and start tugging on my clothes. Yoda would have been tackled to the ground if he wasn't one with the force and dodged.
I tossed a big bag of my own fruity jelly sweets like a grenade and watched the kids dive at it with great gusto. There was a slight tussle for the bag but it was easy to see that the amount of sweets would cause all of them to puke with overindulgence. Many small hands grabbed what they could with the swiftness of the wind only for it to slow down when each kid couldn't or wouldn't eat anymore.
I, on the other hand, opened a new bag of sweets and offered some to Yoda to break him out of his concentration. He passed on the sweets, probably because they had jellytine in them and Yoda was most likely a vegetarian.
Entering my Eden ship was quite a scary feeling as many auto guns tracked our approach and even cannons and missiles quitely sat all over my Eden ship. Yoda didn't stir even a little. The force was telling him he was under no threat and was perfectly safe.
I led the way and offered to take the master's robe, he declined but that didn't stop me from putting my coat away and storing my shoes to the side. I lead us to my living room, slash kitchen. It looked like a huge studio apartment.
Yoda sat down in one of my sofas. The size difference was hilarious, the already small stature of Yoda superimposed against a sofa built for my ginormous size was amusing.
I turned on my high-definition holotube and turned it to the sports channel. One of the things I had to include when making the high-definition holotube was new channels. Cash was generously spread out to make programs and channels so my holotubes could host them. It was costly in the beginning but now new channels sprung up every day without my help. There was no sound as it was only on for background entertainment.
I moved to my kitchen counter and pointed at Yoda to ask him a simple question "What do you fancy eating"
The list I offered was extensive, small vegetable and herb deep fat fried to crispy perfection, all the way to frog leg stew with a side order of spawn eggs. Yoda chose a simple Jedi porridge that I ignored and made a nice selection of meals.
As I was chopping some onions, carrots and greens, Yoda asked me questions. Some of them were just idea chit-chat to test the waters but he soon started to get serious.
Some of those questions asked about my plans in politics. I wasn't soft about it and told Yoda plainly that one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
I could feel that the answer I gave greatly displeased him. So much in fact that he asked me if I believed I was better than them.
My answer was simple. "I know I'm better than them, they lie with their lips and lie with their tears to get whatever they can get. However, I lie with a smile and tell you the truth with my actions and by doing so make the galaxy a better place"
Yoda answered back with his broken language about how arrogance leads to a fall and the dark side. I shrugged while adding a slug of brandy to my pan and rolling over some chopped nuts in caramel "My arrogance is well-earned and my downfall has been predicted by my enemies many times but I'm still here"
A slight silence spread across the room until I asked "Do you want some tea and dried lizard tail?"
Yoda accepted the tea and I brought over some chocolate chip cookies that held no animal fats. I sat opposite him to enjoy a cookie.
Soft and gooey cookies were my favourite thing when drinking hot drinks. I dipped one in my sweet tea and slurped the treat.
Yoda carried on asking questions about politics and paused as a thought passed his mind. I didn't need to read his mind because he told me almost immediately. He asked about the political nature of the underworld.
The answer was it was both honest and brutal. Yoda knew I had been in the underworld for some time and asked about the nature of pirates.
Yoda's first padawan who was now a Jedi knight was having trouble with pirates. The answer I gave was something I knew Yoda would understand, if not today then in the future.
"Do you destroy them or help them, one is the way of the light side and the other, the dark side. And yet there is light within the dark and the same opposite. To kill them would be bad but ultimately it will do some good. However, leaving a void of evil will be taken up by evil again."
Yoda was fully invested in what I was saying and didn't notice the soft chopping and stirring of ingredients despite that I was sitting right in front of him.
"The force is neither light nor dark but the whole, a balance. and so too a balance must be filled when dealing with the pirates if you want lasting change" I dipped the other half of my cookie into my tea.
"I remember a wise and clever underworld boss was once asked a question on where ever it was better to be loved or feared. If not both then it's better to be feared than loved. Fear lasts longer, love that is bought means nothing. It's fear that keeps people in check."
I could sense Yoda's feeling and it wasn't good, he was about to interrupt me on the downslope of the dark side
"The trick is not to be hated, you treat your allies well but not too well, you give them too much and they don't need you, you give them just enough that they need you but don't hate you. If you want to control the pirates without leaving a void in power then you give them something that they need but don't hate you for it, that's how you deal with the underworld"
A lot you have given me to think about was Yoda's answer
Yoda's face looked deep in thought and yet the surprised look on his face when floating dishies came and placed them selfs on the table was priceless. This was the first time Yoda had noticed I was using the force.
"I wasn't talking out of my ass when I speak about the force, light side or dark side" I gave a small smile to Yoda