Chapter 42: Talent
After reading Jedi texts all day, his understanding of the force had rapidly increased. Revan's Holocron contained a lot of advanced techniques, rituals, and his views on the Sith. The problem was it assumed the user had a basic understanding of the force itself.
Up to that point, everything he and Belia knew was figured out by themselves. Now, that weakness was being made up for. It wasn't as serious for him because he had Vala's memories, but even she had holes in her knowledge.
The Sith wouldn't teach basic knowledge, only how to make their apprentices better tools for them to use. They had to learn on their own to overthrow their master. This made them strong, but knowledge was constantly lost because of it.
Khan spent three days meditating before he opened his eyes again. He spent another day reading before spending another four meditating.
Eight days were spent in an ocean of learning. The knowledge brought him power, and closer towards his goal.
Habitat already informed him Belia's Holocron contained the knowledge of a Jedi Master skilled in force protection abilities.
He left the library for the first time in over a week to get a breath of fresh air. His eyes turned towards the sky and a frown appeared on his face. He could feel something was coming.
Not long after he felt the disturbance, Habitat contacted his comms.
"Khan, a Republic A-wing has entered the sector I've covered with probes. They seem to be headed for Ossus."
"Just one ship?" Khan's brows raised. He was surprised by how confident the Republic was.
"Yes, should I try out the sector defenses I have in place so far?"
Khan thought for a moment and smiled. "No, wait for the ship to fly further into our sphere of control before turning on the signal jammers. Use the interceptors and drive the ship to me, I want to see what our guest wants."
Khan cut off the comms and turned towards the Tree in the distance. The Neti species fascinated him. They were sentient plant creatures who could reproduce regardless of gender.
They could give up their life to create a number of seeds depending on how much lifeforce they have left.
"A species who can live for thousands of years. The knowledge that must be in your head." He already had a plan for the Jedi. But he'd need to wait for now. Having such a timebomb near him wasn't comforting. He needed to wait till he had more power in case something went wrong.
He turned his head away and moved towards the settlement on the other side of the mountain. He didn't have to walk very far before he could see the droids extending the camp down the mountain.
The side of the mountain had been hollowed out and a palace was built inside. Other facilities cascade downward to process the ore found while digging.
The facilities in space were occupied and needed to be supplemented on the ground if they wanted to extend their forces.
The pits had buildings built over them and the space at the bottom was turned into dungeons. The Cereans had already transplanted all the crops into a more open area at the bottom of the mountain.
Most of the droids were stationed at the bottom of the mountain to prevent anyone from escaping or sneaking in. The others were patrolling the streets to keep order.
Khan walked past the droid barricade and up the road towards the castle. The higher he climbed the nicer the buildings became. While it looked like a large village, most of the buildings were deserted and it looked like a ghost town.
The Ysanna people he did see at the bottom held pickaxes and dug into the mountains. Groups of them worked together while a few acted as overseers that made sure they were working. They held leather whips in their hands and would snap at any of them that slowed down.
Only when he neared the top did he see more people who weren't working. These Ysanna lived in around a hundred villas and worse nice clothing. They lounged around and had others serving them while a few droids stood guard. When he saw their faces, they looked a bit intimidated and tried to hide from his gaze.
The Rattataki lived in the villa area as well. Some of the Cereans they kept as slaves were waiting on them, providing a good example to the new Ysanna servants. He also saw a few Ysanna youths mixed into their servants.
He walked past four whip droids standing guard outside the palace and entered. Directly inside was a grand hall, Natasha was in the middle surrounded by six whip droids.
She held her lightsaber and defended herself from the cracking whips, but more often than not she was hit.
Her eyes flashed every time she was hit and her lips quivered. He could tell it was not from pain but enjoyment.
The droids stopped when they saw him. Just as she was about to get upset, she finally noticed Khan had walked in. "Master!"
She hurried to put away her lightsaber and wiped the sweat from her face.
Khan looked her up and down but didn't comment on her strange new hobby. "You selected a hundred families to start?" He moved to the back of the hall and sat on the decorative throne.
"Yes, Master. I picked them because they had the lowest status before. Just miners or field workers. Right now they're in charge of a few servents. They use them to complete the task I give them."
"Those who actually do the work are slaves from the pits on a rotational basis. It provides those who are weak a chance to earn food if they lose their match in the pits. The labor they perform is slow but it frees up a few droids."
"This will create three distinct levels of power. The slaves, the servants, and the masters."
Natasha went over her plan and Khan nodded along.
"It will take time for their new reality to set in, you can't rush it." He crossed his legs and looked around the room. "Where is Sheva?"
"We've tested the midi-chlorian counts of all the prisoners. The masters we selected were those with the lowest status but highest counts. She took a few men with the highest count and her handmaidens are sucking them dry."
Natasha shook her head. "You said the Rattataki men had to stay away from the women, but not the other way around. She wanted to increase the number of Rattataki before they lost their usefulness."
Khan taped the armrest when he heard this. He originally wanted them to be a group of non-force sensitives, but it doesn't matter. There will be plenty of chances later when his fleet wages war to capture the territory he wants in the future.
"Good, she has the right idea." Khan nodded. "That's part of the new task I have for you. I want every woman of age to be impregnated. I want an army of ten thousand force-sensitive Knights."
Natasha frowned when she heard that. "Controlling that many women will be difficult, Master."
"It wasn't a request but an order." He glanced into Natasha's eyes and spoke with a flat tone.
"Yes Master, it will be done." She could only agree and figure out how to do it. The only thing she could think of was having the masters sleep with every woman till they're impregnated. This will further drive a wedge between them and their people.
Khan rose from the throne and went to explore the castle. Natasha followed behind him in silence and further worked on her plan in her mind.
Most parts of the castle looked no different than a standard medieval castle. The only exception was towards the back, it opened up to the inside of the mountain where the droids were constantly digging.
A factory area had been built inside and more droids were being assembled from the mined elements.
He used this time to inspect his territory and clear his mind. He left Natasha behind and moved to the top of the castle.
The wind blew against his face and he took a deep breath. Everything he's learned these past few days was replaying in his head. His arms stretched out and he seemed to grab at the air.
The force warped around him and bent the light, causing him to disappear in thin air. The light curved around him and made him effectively invisible.
The corners of his lips curled when he succeeded using force stealth. While one may be able to see the light bend if they looked hard enough, he was a Shi'ido.
His natural telepathic abilities could make up for all flaws in this stealth technique. It could make anyone ignore the discrepancies they saw. He further concentrated and used his self-created ability to hide his presence in the force further.
Unlike what he thought, his energy didn't drain as fast as it said it would in the book. Everything clicked at this moment, he finally realized what his talent in the force was.
"Trickery, illusions, and mental abilities." He couldn't help but mumble to himself. "No wonder I could never figure it out, when I dominated minds before I used pure force; I should have used subterfuge instead of pure power."
The more he thought about it, the more he realized what a fool he had been. He may have been subconsciously using his talent on Belia this whole time, he just never realized it before.
His words and actions were aided by the force and he always assumed it was due to his previous knowledge that it worked so well. Belia's unreasonable trust in him finally made sense, she'd been influenced every day for over seventy years by his talent while she was at her weakest state.
"Now it's been ingrained into her personality, not even she will ever be able to tell how much of her mind had been affected." His eyes shone the more he thought about it.
If he's correct, he needs to strengthen this talent more than any other ability. Once his army was born, he could influence them and turn them into religious fanatics that see him as their God-Emperor.
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