Rising up from a Nobleman to Intergalactic Warlord!!

With all escape routes blocked by my troops, criminals and politicians alike began attempting to surrender themselves to us in droves. Believing they would receive help from their allies and fellow comrades, once they were handed over to the authorities, their hopes were quickly crushed as the troops began mowing them down with chainswords and plasma rifles. Realizing that we were not taking any prisoners, the cowards armed themselves with weapons from the market and tried to make a valiant last stand against us. Unworthy of a semi-honorable death, after everything they had done, the troops requested fire support from the Zaku units.

Bursting in from the roof, the mechs began torching everything with heavy flamers and vaporizing groups with Nova Cannons. Watching the massacre happen in real time, while I worked on disarming the collars, Bo-Katan and Samus were impressed by how ruthless my men were with the bastards.

“My sister was right; you do not mess around when it comes to executing your plans.”, Bo-Katan stated, with a grin, “I must admit, given how my sister talked about you, I thought you were secretly a pacifist. Having seen you in action now, though, that opinion has drastically shifted.”

“With all due respect, please tell me you are not about to propose to me. Your sister did that, and I must admit, it was a bit off-putting.”, I admitted, as I completed my work.

“That certainly sounds like something she would do. As soon as she sets her eyes on something, nothing will stop her from trying to get it. Now that Obi-Wan and she are officially together, he is stuck with her for life.”, Bo-Katan laughed, ‘I understand now why Pre Vizsla and Satina were so insistent on me getting close to him. The Mandalore System would benefit greatly from having connections to such a powerful person. My initial concern was that I would become a trophy wife, like so many other women do in political marriages; fortunately, that does not appear to be a problem. If I can continue to practice our age-old traditions, I will be a happy Mandalorian woman.’

Releasing a loud hiss as they abruptly flew open, the heavy collars fell to the ground with a loud, metallic bang. A few moments later, smoke began billowing out of the collars as they shorted out. Stowing all of them in my inventory, I planned on handing the collars over to the Jedi Order so they could pursue the matter further.

“Alright, now that the explosives have been dealt with, let us see about getting these chains off.”, I stated, using my lightsabers to remove shackles.

“Roger that.”, the women acknowledged, as they began assisting me.

Setting people free one by one, the grateful victims began profusely thanking us for saving them. Promising to reunite them with their family and friends, a few of them wandered backstage hoping to find some of their personal effects. Continuing with our work, Amallyn suddenly let out a horrified scream as she called out my name. Rushing over to see what was wrong, Amallyn’s gaze was fixed upon a heavily wounded Eldar woman.

“What in the hell!?”, I said, immediately using healing magic on her, ‘I thought Amallyn was the first Eldar to set foot in the Galactic Republic, but I guess I was wrong.’

“I… I cannot believe it. Lady Lileath, you are… alive!?”, Amallyn gasped, immediately bowing her head to the Aeldari Goddess incarnate. “How can this be?!”

“Lady who?”, Aela inquired, walking over to see what was going on. “Is she the daughter or wife of some noble in your society?”

“Lady Lileath is the Aeldari Goddess of Dreams and Fortune.”, Amallyn elaborated, slowly lifting her head. “She and several other deities were devoured by She Who Thirsts shortly after that skank awakened within the Warp. Victor must have liberated them, alongside the Aeldari souls, when he defeated that floozy.”

“If that is the case, it explains why she is in such rough shape compared to everyone else here.”, Samus said, looking at the sickly woman with pity, “The poor woman, she has gone through literal hell and back.”

Performing a preliminary scan of her body to check for internal injuries, the Aeldari Goddess lifted her head to look at me as I reviewed the data. Breaking her shackles with relative ease, a pale light began to radiate from her as she stumbled toward me. Latching onto me, she began rubbing the right side of her face on my armor and let out a sigh.

“Saved… us… all…”, Lileath spoke in a raspy tone, “Thank… you…”

“You are certainly welcome.”, I said, patting her head. “Rest now; you are in safe company.”

Slowly nodding her head, Lileath’s body gave out as the light vanished entirely. Catching the goddess before she hit the ground, I sent her over to the New Genesis’ medical bay for observation and treatment. Elated to discover her people’s deities were still alive, Amallyn began to immediately reach out to her kin to share the news.

“Not to be a bother, my lord, but could you please cut me down.”, a woman close by requested.

“From the way you are speaking, are you perhaps the Rogue Trader Rose Thistlebutton?”, I inquired, freeing the woman from her shackles.

Frantically trying to straighten out her clothing situation, as the rags left little to the imagination about her pronounced female figure, the long, blonde-haired woman quickly knelt before me and bowed her head.

“Yes, I am Rose Thera Thistlebutton, Head of House Thistlebutton.”, Rose acknowledged, with a red flushed face. “It is an honor and privilege to meet you, Lord Stark. You have my utmost gratitude for saving me from becoming a slave.”

“There is no need to stand on ceremony here, Lady Thistlebutton.”, I remarked, retrieving a coat from my inventory and throwing it over her shoulders. “Tell me, where are the rest of your crew, and how did you end up here?”

“It is a long story, Lord Stark. Do you wish to hear it?”, Rose inquired, as she slowly rose to her feet.

“Of course, I will include it in my report to your family when we leave here.”, I stated.

“Very well, this entire mess began after our first encounter with the Orion Syndicate…”, Rose began.

Mistakenly identified as a group of refugee transports, due to the outdated appearance of her vessels, a large fleet of space pirates ambushed them on the outskirts of the Fespoth System. Dropping out of FTL several thousand yards from them, the pirates immediately opened fire upon them without warning. Destroying seven of her vessels in the initial volley, her fleet quickly began to engage the enemy with fiery vengeance. While they eventually managed to drive them off, what remained of Rose’s seventy-vessel fleet was left crippled, barely able to move under its own power.

Taking her heavily damaged vessels into the Fespoth System, they moored in a shipyard near Eshe V to have the damage properly assessed. The local shipbuilders adamantly refused to touch the ancient vessels as none of their technology was compatible with them. As for the Tech-Priests she brought with her, they told Rose it would take over fifty years to repair the damage with the minimal tools they had on hand. Left with little other choice, she sold the ships for scrap and bought several dozen ships with the proceeds.

“After removing all our sensitive equipment from my ancestral fleet, I had my crew undergo training to operate the foreign vessels. Once the crew was comfortable with the new systems, we put the Fespoth System behind us and continued with our journey. Due to my lack of foresight, I failed to consider that the pirates might have cohorts in the vicinity to assist them if victims managed to escape. Those bastards installed trackers on my new flagship and sabotaged the defense systems on all the vessels I purchased.”, Rose said, clenching her fists as a scowl formed on her face, “The very same fleet that attacked us weeks prior assaulted us once again, but this time, we were helpless to resist them. Still pissed off over our first encounter, instead of boarding us, they decided to push our ships into rapidly decaying orbit over a barren world in the middle of nowhere! Unable to correct ourselves with the engines or utilize the escape pods, we… we could only wait for death to take us. Two-thirds of my crew were killed on impact; those of us who survived could not stick around to mourn our dead as the pirates descended upon us like vultures. Over the next few months, they harassed us daily, capturing several people each time. Four days ago, they captured what remained of us and brought us all here. Since then, I have watched my cherished crew members be sold off to disgusting pigs one by one.”

“I promise you; we will do our utmost to locate your missing crew.”, I assured her.

“Many of my crew members were sold off to illegal mine operators from across the galaxy, but a few were fortunate enough to be purchased by an affluent politician.”, Rose said, looking me in the eyes, “Among my people, there was a group of seventeen Sisters led by Sister Superior Faustuste Solsten from the Order of the Sacred Coin. I heard from a few of the workers that they were purchased by representatives of Clan Hutt. Do you happen to know of them?”

“Ha! I would not describe their sale to the Hutt clan as fortunate. Their leader, Jabba the Hutt, is a disgusting, perverted slug with a penchant for purchasing beautiful humanoid women from all over the galaxy.”, Bo-Katan informed Rose, with a disgusted look, “His female slaves are forced to wear the skimpiest of attire and service his every filthy need.”

“When you say slug, do you mean he is ugly as sin?”, Rose asked, looking back and forth between us.

Shaking our heads, Bo-Katan produced a photo of Jabba the Hutt himself and showed it to her. Upon seeing his disgusting form, Rose released a horrified scream as the color left her face. Grabbing ahold of my armor, the Rogue Trader begged me to save them, or at the very least spare them from the nightmare that awaited them.

“Victor, we should definitely help her out!”, Samus remarked, grinning ear to ear, “Jabba the Hutt has a seven hundred and fifty billion credit contract out on his head, and most of his lieutenants are worth two hundred and fifty to five hundred billion each. The only reason he is still alive right now is because most of the Platinum Rank bounty hunters in the galaxy are on his payroll, making him basically untouchable.”

(AN: Before anyone asks, no, Samus is not a greedy person. Right now, she is a flat-broke mercenary whose net worth was spent on repairing her ship.)@@novelbin@@

“Lord Stark, please do not abandon them to a fate worse than death.”, Rose pleaded, bowing her head to me.

“There is no need to beg for aid, Lady Thistlebutton. It is the duty of a Primarch to protect all citizens of the Imperium. As soon as we are finished here, we will head to Jabba’s base of operations and rescue your crew.”, I stated, with a reassuring smile, ‘Finally, I have a reason to visit the cesspool that is Tatooine! Not only do I intend to kill the infamous Jabba the Hutt, but I also try my hand at some podracing in Mos Espa. Hehe, time to debut my custom space bike!’

With the facility completely under my control, I gave the civilians free rein to loot the market to their heart's content. Suggesting they find more appropriate attire and a few weapons to protect themselves in the future, the adults wandered off to sift through the debris while the children stayed behind. Teleporting them onto the Endless Horizons, my wives enthusiastically bathed, clothed, and fed the children while we began rigging the fortress with explosives to ensure no one would ever utilize this space again.