66 The Grand Vizier

Valad wanted to be an Emperor on the frontlines of his creations, rather than standing behind the curtain and pulling the strings. His creation being his Imperial Federation, which could be referred to the Federal Empire or the Imperial Federation of Worlds. So he needed to use the structural pack which had been awarded to him in order to not only have someone run the day to day activities of the Empire, but to also be a good face for the public.

Valad believed he already had the hearts of the people, having freed them and gave them contact with their neighboring star systems and planets. With the act of slavery practically abolished in the Imperial Archipelago, it seemed that no one had to fear the archaic Rakata remnant anymore.

The bridge of the Imperious was no longer sealed off, Maddie and Valad had freshened up shortly after. Standing on the command strip between the two main control pits, they watched the stars from a distance.

Valad was staring at the voucher for the Grand Vizier, he was having trouble coming up with a person he would truly like to have in this seat. He wanted his main followers, his main party, to be within his arms reach.

So he couldn't just hand it off to Vaylin or Maddie. Especially Maddie. His eyes lingered on her form as she seemed to be smiling with a satisfied vigor about her.

The only thing that would be off putting to most was her golden sulfuric colored eyes left behind by scars of the darkside. Before they had met with one another, she had been deeply bathed in the energies within the dark side of the force. Her negative emotions to power her force saber, constant torment, depravity and emotional manipulation. She had at one point broken, but found herself redeemed as she eventually found pillars to stand herself upon. Given back her sanity, just prior to her discovery of Valad, she could finally be happy.

In a sense, she had been redeemed. In a sense, the darkside had been driven from her heart, but it still settled in the back of her mind. Just like any other narcotic or addictive substance.

She yearned for the darkside, but her passion and love for Valad kept her stable. Love itself is redeeming, passion when control is lost will be detrimental. Should she ever feel their bond break, should he ever die, she knew she would never last.

Valad was ignorant of this, she would barely speak of her time as a warrior slave to the Rakata. He knew what the Force Hounds had gone through, but he never knew one personally like this.

His initial idea when it came to getting a Grand Vizier, was to get someone from the local populace. Yet that wouldn't stand, plus none of them were politicians. None of them were even business men. They were mainly uneducated slaves who knew how to execute tasks that had previously leant, how to read and speak ancient basic.

Then there was the Wookies and non-basic speaking species. It was only natural he could sift through his choices given by the voucher. The question was, what kind of person did he want?

Loyalty, charisma. He wanted someone to be seen as someone for the people of the Empire, dedicated to its Emperor. Someone wise, knowledgeable and not so arrogant.

He spent an hour just sitting there, thinking over the choices he could make. Making someone of his own design would be good, but taking someone who is already familiar with this 'verse would be a good idea.

Thrawn came to mind, but he would be more of a Grand Admiral or Naval Advisor for his personal council. Haydel Goravvus also came to mind, he died thousands of years ago, so his reimergance wouldn't really be questioned as a large amount of information had been lost about the past. Plus, people could just assume he was a clone or was kept in stasis. Rumors wouldn't be a problem.

"Hmm..." Valad would continue to think for several more minutes, until he decided he needed a slight distraction in order to figure some other things out. He couldn't spend all day on one problem, he needed to settle the other things he needed to get done.

He'd open the planetary function tab, revealing an global map of the planet of Tul. Like most of the planets in the Archipelago, they were all tropical and while they had some main continental landmass, it was mainly ocean and islands.

He looked around the interface and noticed that he could use the interface for placing his vouchers. He moved towards one of the most uninhabited corners of the main continent.

Looking over the military vouchers, he would highlight one of them to see what it could be used for. Immediately the system would give him a meaningful explanation.

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[ Military Facility Voucher ] This voucher allows the creation of military facilities such as Fleet Command, Research & Development Labs, Military Factories, Weapon plants, Military Shipyards, Officer Training Schools, Garrison Bases, etc. Personnel will be randomly generated/recruited to sustain this facilities for their times of use.

[ Civilian Facility Voucher ] This voucher allows the creation of civilian facilities such as cities, prisons, entertainment districts, residential districts, commercial districts, mining facilities and other services.

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Looking over these vouchers, he wasn't surprised for what they could do since they were almost explanatory. At least he knew what he could use them for however. A small smirk appearing across his face as he used one of the Military Vouchers to place a Fleet Command on the planet of Tul. Designating the planet itself as the Naval Capital of the Archipelago.

He began to place down a couple massive Vehicle Factories. An Imperial Garrison building, a military research institute, an officer training school campus, an Imperial Palace for his personal stay. He then added a couple starfighter factories, a droid factory and a planetary shield in the very center.

The structures which had been summoned through these vouchers were unpainted and a metallic grey in color. What set them apart from the Rakata buildings across the planet itself, was the prominent and intimidating Imperial architecture. The interiors were dark blue in color with elongated ovular light emplacements within the walls.

Valad proceeded to surround the military nexus with a residential ring-shaped facility, followed by an entertainment ring, commercial ring and another residential. A Farming ring for local and foreign flora was then installed. Each of these rings were at most five hundred to a thousand meters apart.

The residential, entertainment and commercial rings shared a similar architecture, but had a less intimidating structure. It was clearly meant for civilians.

He added a starport between the commercial and residential ring, so freighters and fighters could land. He installed a hangar facility into one on the Fleet Command's buildings, so military personnel could come and go as they pleased.

It was already looking like an urban landscape. The rings not only acted as a sanctuary for people to live their lives, but also as walls against land invasions as well as layers should the shield fail.

The Civilian facilities would be operated by caretaker droids, which kept the places clean and basically operated as public servants. Police, fire fighters, paramedics. Most of these services would be provided by the droids. Hospitals and clinics were located within the inner residential ring, while police and firefighters came from the outer residential ring.

At the end of this venture, he began to think he was playing a city building tycoon type game. He was rather reminded of Simcity, though this was on a smaller scale. He could go out of his way to personalize the interior of the buildings, but didn't bother. All he did was glance over their designs and agreed to it.

As he was finished, he hit apply and these facilities began to fabricate onto the surface of the world. They would be completed within four hours, so with that all done, he was able to get back to thinking with a freemind.

He also had another idea, but in the long run, it wouldn't work in his favor as it conflicted with a number of others. His eyes narrowed forward as he closed the function screen and walked over to toward the lift. Entering it, he began his descent from the coreship and into the main body of the Imperious.

Exiting at the lift, he stepped into a corridor filled with people walking from section to section. It was a collection of regular officers and the special operations clone officers. They all seemed to be mingling rather nicely.

A small smile came across his face as he would begin to walk along the side of the corridor, avoiding getting sucked into the masses.

"Rae Sloane would be a good choice," He muttered to himself as he remembered the book he had read from Disney's Lucasarts Press. It wasn't exactly his favorite NuCanon material, but it was a good book. He snickered as he thought about a certain song, about a good book.

One of the Officers paused hearing his muttering, glanced over their shoulder and watched their Emperor walking alone. They squint their eyes slightly, curious of what the leader of all these people could be thinking about. And who was this Rae Sloane and what were they being chosen for?

Walking into an empty conference room, he would close and lock the door behind himself as he opened his inventory. Looking at the Grand Vizier voucher with intent to use it. Yet, was he really sure what he wanted? He bit his lower lip. Who he chose, what he chose, would effect the grand scale of his Empire.

Walking over to the padded chair at the head of the table, and flopped into it lazily and stared forward. To anyone else, it seemed as if he was just staring out into space. Really he was just sifting through his thoughts. Pros and cons he couldn't address.

"Gentis... The Hero of the Clone Wars. A Republic General who turned against Emperor Palpatine after the transformation into the Galactic Empire. He was morally sound..." He leaned back in the chair, tilting it steeply as he were to look at the ceiling. "He could be useful," he nodded slowly as he remembered that the Emperor had taken away his sons in the form of death.

"I'll choose General Gentis..." Valad decided with a small smirk across his lips as the Voucher took upon itself to activate with his final decision. Suddenly the anticipated black mass outlined by a shimmering silver light, appeared above the table.

A man dressed in a green Imperial uniform, cradling a dying cadet in his arms, found himself kneeling on the conference table with tears in his eyes. Begging him not to die, his voice weak due to having traveled through the unknown gate which 'assaulted' him just before Palpatine was about to fry him with his force lightning.

Indeed, he had been taken from the Mainstream timeline. It wasn't the same Gentis as the one present in this reality.

Valad stared at the boy named Caul in the man's arms. It was last son of General Gentis, the last one to be taken from him. Letting out a soft sigh, Gentis would immediately snap his head to attention, taking in the change to his environment.

"Where is this!?" He croaked as he went to take his blaster from its holster, only to watch it rip itself out of its holder and into Valad's hand. His eyes narrowed, he didn't feel the same eeriness as he recalled from the feeling of Palpatine's presence. "Who are you...?" Gentis demanded with a seething tone, despite his fatigued body, he appeared as if he were to have just enough to crush Valad's skull.

"Welcome to the past Mister Gentis," Valad referred to him as the grown man continued to cradle the dead body of his son in his arms. Those fierce eyes making him sweat drop nervously. "My name is Valad, or Vlad, Katsure. It's a pleasure to meet you." He looked over the weapon in his hand before using his mechu-deru to harmlessly cause the weapon to fall to individual pieces within seconds. Clambering onto the surface of the table.

"Where is this?" His eyes furrowed on the boy who was looking at him like a brand new action figure. Gentis had a peaked curiosity, but he was still distracted by the dead body in his arms, which he was protecting closely to himself.

"You're on board the Imperious Star Dreadnought, of the Imperial Federation. I am spotting you as my Grand Vizier," Valad said with a very generalized, almost singular, tone. His eyes gazed over the boy's limp expression.

It was like a clock was ticking as this man let this little bit of information register in his mind.

"What about the Empire?" Gentis asked with a glare, his eyes becoming venomous slits.

Raising a brow when he asked about the Empire, "Never existed. We're currently... Ten years before the Clone Wars. Palpatine is dead, Vader is dead. New timeline."

Gentis barely understood what just got told, the Empire never existed? They were ten years before the outbreak of the Clone Wars? The Emperor and his enforcer were dead? "And how am I here now? Why is my child dead in my arms?"

"Because you're from the mainstream timeline, around thirteen years from now." Valad's eyes rested on the boy's limp body, he couldn't sense any life from him. His heart had stopped. "I can offer you another son, or grandson." He said making sure to not say the word 'new' to this man. Valad knew very well that you cannot replace someone once they were dead. That you will see them in other people, that you will miss them.

Gentis felt Valad's words. There was sorrow, but no guilt or remorse. "Couldn't you have saved my son too?"

Valad smiled sheepishly, "If he was alive, he would've been left behind. Saving was also not my intent." Gentis slowly nodded in response, seeing that Valad hadn't saved him to simply save him. "I also had no control over this ability to that capacity."

Gentis would carefully law his son's body upon the table, kneeling over him with a tearful smile. "Since they're dead. Does that mean, my children will live?" He asked as he looked to Valad.

Valad could only nod slowly hearing him ask the question, "I can only assume the past version of you is present." He gave away some information which made the man understand, even if they didn't die in this reality, they weren't his to claim.

"Will you be my Grand Vizier?" Valad asked him, though they both knew that he didn't have a choice. Not only had Gentis been brought into a reality where Palpatine wouldn't be needlessly sending young Imperials to their deaths, he was being brought into a world where he was no longer subjected by the horror itself.

"I accept, on the condition that you gift me a grandson." His expression was morose, yet smiling in acceptance. His last remaining son was dead, murdered by his fellow cadet.

"Your condition... Will be fulfilled."