Chapter 24 - The Epi-Prologue

Space. The final frontier. The land beyond land, the ocean beyond water. The infinite everything and nothingness that carries the promise of all potential in the universe. Where any number of beautiful and horrific creatures and events lie in wait for a hapless wandering soul to stumble across them and change their lives irrevocably.

Like, for example, us, Fu suggested in our telepathic way after laughing at my little monologue.

Us as the wanderers, or the creatures and events?

Why not both?

It was a good thing we didn't need to breathe, as my portal had plopped us out in the vacuum of space rather than on the surface of a planet. My interdimensional GPS clearly needed some fine-tuning. The nearest planet was several million kilometers away, but we could easily teleport over to it. For now, though, we simply looked around.

While some may consider a void like that as terrifying on an existential level, we actually quite enjoyed the view. Being able to see far better than any other living thing, we could watch the coronas of light emanating from distant stars, the colorful cosmic dust scattered all around, the faint trails of everything moving around in the whole universe at varying speeds. It was like a beautiful cosmic ballet, or celestial clockwork. Marvelous, really.

That's when we felt… it.

Frowning, I extended my senses to the upper planes of reality where divine entities and the like existed. When that wasn't enough to "see" what we were feeling, I broadened my scope and looked at the even bigger picture. When I could visualize it, it was akin to standing on the ground and gazing up at the sky above, so vast was this entity.

What is that? came the questioning thought from my wife.

That… I think… is the Force.

Of course I had anticipated that the Force would be bloody massive. After all, it spanned the entire galaxy and permeated most everything in it. Still, to properly get a good look at it was another matter from watching a movie and hearing about it.

Something I was very pleased to note was that it didn't seem to be doing anything about our arrival. It didn't try to smite us, boot us out, contact us, or anything. The feeling that led me to even properly notice it was more the sensation of it trying to connect like it felt like it was connecting with everything else. Naturally, we both blocked it from doing so, being perfectly content without having some outer force trying to become one with us.

Wow. And I thought we'd hit the peak.

Theoretically, we could reach that same level, I mused, but not something I'm interested in being for now.

Anything else interesting around here?

Actually, yes. Some people.

While scanning for the Force, I'd noticed a distant ship. Inside were a few lifeforms of varying kinds. Looking at them, I spotted several alien species. With a subtle mental probe, I determined they weren't pirates or other bastardy types, then proceeded to carefully plunder their minds for as much info as I could take. My own meta-knowledge was all well and good, but I didn't even know when the hell we'd shown up.

So, I think we're sometime before the start of the Clone Wars, I informed my sexy tanned companion. And that planet over there is Korriban. And it seems like Galactic Basic is just English, at least verbally. Downloading the memories of the various crew members on the vessel gave me a wide variety of new languages. Now I'd just need time to practice them to iron out any pronunciation or spelling errors.

Ito, she thought exasperatedly, I can't remember everything about this universe off the top of my head.

Sending over a quick mental playthrough of the prequel trilogy, I gestured to the ship. It means we've got some options. The Republic is in decline, but they're still plenty powerful, which means a lot of colonized and advanced planets with a ton of cultures to explore. Upwards of a million, I think.

Fu perked up at that. That sounds fantastic! The prospect of traveling all across the galaxy together and experiencing all kinds of neat things was very appealing to her. It was pretty much exactly why I chose this universe; it would take a long while for Fu to be out of interesting places to see.

That, and my own desires to see this universe brought to life and to sup on the many unique flora and fauna.

Agreed. First we should find a place to call our vacation home. Korriban is practically a deathworld full of Dark Side shit, so we can safely take the whole thing.

Isn't the Dark Side bad stuff that corrupts people?

It won't affect us. We shrugged off the Force already, and no Sith lord in the history of this entire universe came even close to our power level.

Good point. Let's check it out, then.


If any sapients had been on the surface of Korriban, they'd have likely been shocked at our arrival.

I was clad in much the same clothing I had worn in life; smart silver dress trousers and vest, black leather shoes, white snakeskin belt, loose tan linen button-up shirt, and my signature open silk-white doctor's coat. However, the coat now sported red tomoe designs along the hems as a nod to our origins. My hair was utterly pitch-black in my usual Ivy-League cut, and a carefully maintained stubble decorated my chin and face. I was roughly 6'10 and had tan skin that matched Fu's. The major difference was in my eyes. Rather than the pink sclera and dark green iris of my youth, they were now a smorgasbord of colors and plants. A slowly shifting, twisting sequence of leaves and flowers and vines and berries and more. It was like looking into a kaleidoscope and rotating the lenses. It was dramatic and entirely unnecessary, but Fu was enamored with them and I thought they looked cool while hinting at my nature.

Fu didn't end up going back to her canonical outfit and instead opted to stay with the one she'd worn for so long; a form-fitting light-blue vest that showed off her every curve and exposed her midriff, dark-blue armbands on her forearms, a brown leather skirt that was open in the front, and blue baggy trousers tucked into brown leather boots. On her back was the Kusanagi, kept mostly for nostalgia sake than any real need. It added to the hot warrior look she pulled off marvelously.

As that thought left my head, I felt her satisfaction and slight arousal. With a glance, I saw her trying to look innocent as she smirked.

Her natural features remained the same, but divinely accented. Her shoulder-length minty hair practically shined when the light caught it, like metal. Her tanned skin was rich and smooth, free of blemishes or scars. Her amber eyes actually glowed, producing a faint light that was quite beautiful.

All in all, we were probably normal enough at a distance or glance, but alien beyond the normal standards for "alien" in this galaxy when observed closely. The fact that we'd appeared on the planet in a swirling dark portal would have added to that conclusion.

The surface of Korriban was as unpleasant as one might expect. A barren desert planet with no seasons or water to speak of, covered in sand and rock. Since we were out in the open and not tucked in a valley or cave, the wind did its best to tear into us. It was hot and inhospitable.

"So, what do you think of the new place?" I asked.

She looked around. "It… sucks."

"Agreed," I said. "So take your pictures now, because I'm gonna spruce the whole thing up."

She pulled out a camera and took off into the air, zooming away at speeds that should have caused sonic booms, but naturally didn't because she didn't want it to. Meanwhile, I willed some biomass into existence, turning a lump of nearby sand into Jiongu threads. God though I was, I still enjoyed the process of what I'd become so familiar with. My threads dove into the ground and replicated, spreading throughout the planet at an exceptional rate. Within a few minutes, I'd found several dozen Sith tombs in varying states of decrepitude, as well as the local fauna.

In order to survive on Korriban, you needed one of two things; biological badassery, or Force favors. Most every creature living here was either some kind of evolutionary champion that defied the world's constant attempts to kill them, a science experiment by Sith, or both. The Hssiss were one such example. They were lizards that mutated and warped after millennia of Dark Side exposure, both passive and active. With the ability to vanish from Force detection and inject a Dark Side poison, they were deadly enough foes before they'd been trained as guard-dogs for many Sith tombs. And that was just one species. Voxyn, Tuk'ata, Shyracks, Wraids, and many more were being devoured as I infested the ball of sand and rock.

Easily ignoring the waves of the Dark Side attempting to lure and even make contact with me, I took every Sith tomb (as well as the Sith Academy, Valley of the Dark Lords, and any other above-ground construct) I found and isolated them in individual barriers. These barriers essentially suspended it in space and time, preventing it from leaking Dark Side and influencing anything outside it. The temptation was there to simply delete them from reality, but I was loathe to destroy rich history in so lackadaisical a manner. Once you got past the Dark Side parts, there was good stuff to be seen and studied. Maybe scholars of the future would take a look?

The rest of the planet was permeated with the Dark Side as well, but that was no trouble for me. Rather than being an internal force, the Dark Side seemed to be connected to… something exterior. So, I just went around and severed that connection while converting it all to Jiongu. Soon, everything under the surface was biomass surrounding a few suspended tombs. That taken care of, I went and found Fu.

"All done?" I asked.

"No! We've got to get some pictures together!"

Chuckling, I nodded. "Right, sorry. Valley of the Dark Lords first?"

So we took a tour of the surface and got some photos done, adding them to the scrapbook. Once that was done, Fu gave me the go-ahead to make the place more comfortable.

All across the planet, my threads poked up into the surface and began terraforming. At the moment, I didn't have anything specific in mind, just to add some life to the whole thing. So after the whole top layer had been thoroughly covered in mass, I began constructing flora: lots of green plants, trees, flowers, and anything else that sprung to mind. A few sections of surface sunk to allow for water to fill in the gaps. With so much ground to cover, the process took probably half an hour before I was satisfied.

"Still rough, but it'll do for now. Wonder if they got a good show up there," I wondered with a laugh. I sensed the ship far above in space scanning the planet and probably having a good panic at the sight. "Well, best we get moving."

Much as I liked the idea of waiting for every starship in the galaxy to come gawk at the marvelous transformation, I didn't feel like dealing with the bother when the news broke. Using the knowledge taken from the crew of that ship, I picked a random spot in another distant and vacant sector of space and willed the planet to accelerate in that rough direction. I could have opened a portal, probably, but that would have gotten the onlookers even more excited and implied a sapient hand in this event. I did flex a little pulse of chakra towards them as we left, just to make sure they stayed put.

We hurtled through space for a few hours until I deemed us properly lost to the wider galactic maps, and planted us in orbit around a random yellow star. While I navigated us into a comfortable distance away from the burning orb, Fu had taken it on herself to find a place to plant our house down.

In the middle of the largest ocean, Fu was concentrating. Ever since she gained the ability to make animals, she really wanted to pull off a great piece of mythology she read in a book once, and this was a better place to try it than the Elemental Nations. Being careful to picture exactly what she desired in her mind with detail, she forced her will onto reality with an application of divine power.

A great splash emerged from the water, launching sprays a hundred meters high. When it landed back down, there was a massive shape in the water. One that was mostly round, but had five protruding extremities.

"I did it!" she shouted, throwing her fists in the air and laughing. "I made a World Turtle!"

It was, indeed, a very large turtle, easily several kilometers in length. On the back of its shell, poking out from the surface of the water, was a great mound of dirt and grass. It was, as the rest of the planet, rough, but was perfectly acceptable for getting the job done. The newly made Legion turtle let out a warble and settled into the water, relaxing as it coasted along. Fu flew over and pat his massive head, then looked back to the island.

Out of a shimmering distortion wave, our house from Toitsu appeared in the middle-ish of the island. Fu wasted no time hopping in and checking to make sure everything made it in one piece.

I teleported in. "Honey, I'm home," I joked.

Her laugh, like always, warmed my heart. "Looks like everything was perfectly preserved!"

"Good to see it confirmed." I plopped down on the couch, joined momentarily by my sexy wife. We snuggled for a few minutes, just taking a moment after a busy morning. Or afternoon. Wasn't sure on the time for this planet. I decided that I'd need to shift the rotation speed to match the standard 24 hour one we were used to. But that was for later.

Fu's glowing amber eyes looked up into my shifting rainbow ones. "So what's next?"

"Since I know roughly where we are in the timeline, a few errands before we start heading out to travel to new places."

"Aww," she pouted cutely, perking up when I planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Just trying to prevent a galactic catastrophe, dearie," I placated.

"Always something with you," she teased. "Do we need to go take care of it right now?"

"Of course not," I assured her. "It's going to be a while before anything major happens, though I'd like to get this knocked out soon."

"Good," she said, vanishing both our clothes with a thought. She swung her legs over my lap and lowered herself onto me. "Time to break in the new planet."

I smirked and rolled my hips, eliciting a moan from her. "Sounds like a plan."


NEW STORY NOTIFICATION:

Heyo, folks.

Short chapter, I know, but really just a teaser and opener for the sequel. And Hey, guess what! My sequel fic "Star Tours" is now out on my page! Pop on over and take a look.

Had a lot of suggestions for titles, though no one explicitly gave me this one. A few different people made reference to "Tour" in their ideas, and from there I just came up with it. Also thought I should give props to a few of the noteworthy ones.

First submission was by IgnorantlyInfatuated:

"Energy Field Space Jesus meets Vacationing Gods"

AmazonLilly, who claims to have not read any Star Wars Fanfic yet (And I would've messaged you personally, but you have PMs disabled, but I highly recommend you check out my favorites for a few good ones; particularly "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" which is a great crossover fic taking place right at the end of the Clone Wars show):

"Plague in the Stars

Force Plague

Tour of Two Gods

Maelstrom of the stars

The Thread Side (lol not a good suggestion but funny)" (AN: That comment was made by AmazonLilly, not myself, but I do agree with it.)

xPYROTECHx, who was inspired by Noodlehammer's naming convention and kindly supports me on Pat*reon:

"Tipping the Scales (AN: This one was the front-runner choice for the title until I settled on the one I have)

A New Tapestry"

Empererbor, who I responded to a review of in April of 2020 and who replied to that message thread to shoot me the idea like the ghost of Fanfic Past:

"Force of Nature"

rehfeldt10, whose ideas sound sarcastic even though they were kind in their review:

"Star Gods: The Phantom Lords

Anakin's Godly Mentor

Yet Another Overpowered Naruto Character In Star Wars: OC Edition

Go Away Palpatine I'm On Vacation

I'm Not A Sith I'm A God"

Anyway, that's all the shoutouts I could remember, but thanks to everyone else who also threw out some ideas.

There was some concern and hopes from some readers that Ito and Fu would be de-powered when they reach the Star Wars universe. And no, they will not be. Building up a super-powerful character only to Nerf them for the sake of trying to re-do the power building for another story is a decision made by bad writers who can't live with their decisions. It would be stupid. Ito and Fu are Gods and they will continue to be in the sequel. You got to watch them grow; now you'll get to watch them prosper.

Fun little side note; that Guest reviewer who went off on one about Fuinjutsu? Apparently they've been making the rounds, because I scoped out a few Naruto fic this past week and they also had Guest reviews of a guy lecturing the audience and the author about Fuinjutsu stuff. It raises a lot of questions, but because they won't make an account, I suppose we'll never have answers.

If you've enjoyed this story and want to support me writing the next one, feel free to head over to my Pat*reon. The link is in my bio, or you can just look me up by name, same name as on here.

Hop on over to the other fic and see you there!

-Waki