44 – Final Trimester
I'd hadn't
completely give up all pretense of secrecy at this point despite everything.
My ships that I had assaulting every Empire-aligned capital ship producing shipyard to steal what was within came equipped with more than enough stealth systems. On the other hand I had also started hitting the excess accounts of the many corrupt Planetary Governors in the employ of the Empire, grifting what they themselves had embezzled off into the ether of my unbreakable accounts . The galaxy was already publically blaming me for starting off the Shadow Banking War, so I stopped caring about trying to do that discreetly when it came to the criminal underworld.
Tens of thousands of credits lost turned into millions, then billions. Weapon shipments from pirates to Imperials disappeared only to end up in rebel hands – which they were accepting with a
lot more caution than I remember them having before – while other projects disappeared entirely. I stole every unmanned ship that they had, and even a few of the manned ones. The money was consistently being funneled into the Rebellion though I noticed they weren't using nearly as much as I gave them – by quite a significant amount.
On the other hand, I rather openly shot out my newest SSD acquisition, one of the Vengeance-class ships, right into Corellian space. I wasn't there to smash apart any Empire task force or anything like that. On the other hand, I
was there for something rather special. Since people didn't know which ship was which – Empire or Network – there was more than a little panicking when one of them appeared in anyone's system. What made it worse was my ability to fake out transponder codes. People couldn't know which was which unless the person in command went to rather extensive efforts to prove who they were.
I wasn't there to mess with anyone, mind you, though some feather ruffling was inevitable.
I was
there…for Centerpoint Station. One of the most ancient examples of technology in the galaxy. On its own it didn't look particularly impressive, just a big hunk of metal that people actually just lived inside of for the utility of it. It was actually bigger than the first Death Star which was pretty neat, but it was all big and bulbous looking. Almost like a much rounder looking Babylon 5. Regardless of its outward aesthetics were what were inside of it though. For this was a station created with some of the most powerful technologies not just for the time of its construction…but even now.
Because Centerpoint Station could move
stars.
It wasn't a gun. Not a traditional one.
Instead, it generated some of the most incredible sorts of energies in simply ridiculous quantities and qualities. Nuclear, magnetic, electric, tractor beam, and hyperspace power. All of that alike were within the purview of this elder monolith. The latter was especially incredible, given that it could use its beams through the various hyperspace lanes of the galaxy to affect things just about everywhere that hyperspace was. As in, I could point it in one direction, and send a beam bouncing and angling all around to the other end of the Corellian system – though that would be stupidly inefficient. Regardless, the idea of moving
stars through hyperspace is pretty freaking insane, yeah?
But yeah.
Centerpoint Station could move stars with its incredibly powerful tractor beams, or, if it needed to, cause them to outright explode. Hell of a not-gun. Basically it was a long distance Sun Crusher weapon that didn't require using the Sun Crusher itself. On the other hand I really couldn't afford to just let it move out of its place.
Getting rid of Centerpoint? That way lies accidentally releasing one of the greatest threats in the galaxy from prison. I ain't about that life, so no thank you. Instead I just have the Vengeance-class park itself over Centerpoint as I bounced my presence inside while scanning it from the outside through the ship.
Oooh.
Glowpoint, I hadn't even thought about.
It's an artificial
sun. Not a huge one, but the hints are there in the technology surrounding its maintenance. I hadn't even thought about making my own suns up until now, I just didn't have the technology. Functioning with almost zero maintenance since the creation of Centerpoint several millennia ago. That's pretty fucking neat-o, if I do say so myself. I yank that knowledge down while also just filling up the entire station with my presence so that I can absorb all I want and need to learn about it.
Jesus, these fucking tractors beams! These energy production centers, these beams! Everything that the Empire has regarding similar tech is practically a rock compared to this.
A
bad rock.
Hell, I could just tear a ship apart with these things, not just slow them down or pull them into a ship. A ripping grip that can shift entire stars around? Hell, put two of these down on two different turrets and then I could outright rip a ship down the middle.
Thank
fuck my baby isn't done being built yet, I can slot these into the design and have the fabricators smooth over any inconsistencies. Oop, a little more of a dip into my economy but that barely mattered to me more at this point. The very, very edge of the galactic rim was brimming with uninhabited solar systems. I was practically reaching out to the point where there weren't any more systems at all. Not even planets, or asteroids. If I could quail at the darkness that was most certainly full of terrors I might have, looking out into that seemingly infinite blackness that was so horrifyingly dark and lacking in stars.
I was up to…what, a hundred solar systems at this point? All of them covered top to bottom in extractors and generators. I'd had to stop at that point however, as I couldn't be bothered to explaining to various species out that far who'd had no contact with other groups beyond their own solar systems just yet who I was. Others were just outposts and settlers of weirdos from within the more inner galaxy.
Anyway. That was about it, at this point. I'd taken all of the technology that Centerpoint had, before leaving the station with a hard lock on using it to blow up stars. It could still be used to move them – gotta keep that prison maintained – but no way am I letting Sal-Solo use it to blow up stuff. Fuck that guy with a rusty pole. The Empire had no more technology for me to use. The Rebellion didn't either. There was no one who had something that I hadn't used yet.
So now…we waited.
Just a bit more.
I'd had to move the entire construction effort out of Hub, I couldn't afford the gravitational fluctuations, but it was still building. With the improvements to my economy I was even able to start on my other work.
Hexagon-class ships were now
pouring out of the Mega Yard and just settling up in a mechanically perfect formation in space. I'd need them for the fight ahead, but for now the only order that the commanders inside those ships had were to get into formation and then wait for orders. They did so without question, without odd little quirks, without
talking in any voice other than basic 'Affirmatives'. It was exactly what I had wanted. I might make a mess of things with certain activities but so far this was going just fine.
Heck, I know what I can do to pass the time. Thus far I'd built Alpha with literal gold, as in the actual element itself, coating him. But I could do better than that. It was time to design a real body for him beyond the largely ceremonial one.
Hopefully by the time I was finished…so too would my creation.
I'd just have to figure out what to do with the Storage Planet first. It was getting bigger everyday.
