Path of the Stars- Chapter 1

"Twi'lek, Torgruta, Asari... You are a man of cultured tastes, but why fixate on xeno ladies?" My sponsor asked with a wry smile.

To which I answered with zero shame. "Because a big titty Twi'lek in a slave outfit is much hotter then a normal human in a maid outfit."

There was a pause before my sponsor shook his head and said with a sigh. "Alright, fine, you have me there. I have a certain fondness for elves, especially of the hentai world variety due to how... Proactive they are, so I understand your interest."

He then took a breath, and I asked curiously. "So, I got my PTSD via dying by rogue volley of potato cannons dealt with by the dream eaters. I still can't help but ask why, why are you reincarnating me, beyond us just being an alternate version of one another?" 

My sponsor leaned back in his chair, and he said thoughtfully. "I've been around the block for a while, dude. I have seen a lot of Jake's, even sent a good number of them on their way... In more than one way, then one. Still, you newbies very rarely ask why we do it." 

He shook his head and said firmly. "You don't need to worry about it... Not for a good couple of centuries, anyway, at the very least. Now let's get to the meat of things with your reincarnation."

He took out the file for my processing and smiled, but it was weak before he coughed and said. "So you are slotted for a power/soul enhancement scifi reincarnation. And the verse you are going for is a bit special, and for your own sanity, I am going to give you some spoilers."

He took a breath, and then he said firmly. "First, you are reincarnating in a mix of Star Wars and Mass Effect with both civilizations having merged together via the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy merging with their central galactic cores merging together due to the force helping things even out galaxy itself."

"So, while you will be reincarnating just after the events of The Phantom Menace, the universe itself is... Very different from what you think."

I slowly paused at the realization, and I asked quickly. "Wait, so what happened? Did like the Citadel and its armies save Naboo or something?"

My sponsor's face turned up into a smile before he said with a small smile. "No, the Citadel is well into the northern Outer Rim of this mega galaxy. They are a bastion of civilization for the northern and more... Unexplored parts of the western galaxy as they galaxy merged."

He shook his head and said firmly. "No, I meant to speak of the more serious threats to yourself and the greater galaxy as a whole."

He pointed at me and said flatly. "There has been A LOT of base-level universe changes dude. Don't think you can go in there and shout onto the Net that Papatine is evil and whatnot. As the Sith and Jedi are far closer in power to their empire days, due to two large issues that over the millennia are well known as they come back every once in a while."

He held up his hands, and with his left hand moving up he said. "The first issue... The Reapers, which were created during the height of the Rakata's reign to deal with them and other sentient beings of both galaxies, which of course got out of control. And now in the deepest hidden parts of deep space outside of the galaxy. Massive factories endlessly create more Reapers."

With his other hand, he said rather bluntly. "On the other hand, the Yuuzhan Vong have managed to corrupt parts of the Force around themselves to amplify their fleshcrafting and bio weapons. Both the Reapers and the Yuuzhan Vong have invaded the greater galaxy many a time and are a constant threat."

I raised a hand and then asked rather bluntly. "Ok, so I know the whole Trade Federation wasn't entirely the puppet of like Palpatine, as the Outer Rim and Hut Space especially is a shit hole. But so are you saying the Sith aren't my enemies or something?"

My sponsor smiled with a sigh, leaving him, and he said with amusement. "No one is your enemy if you break their minds and souls... Still, they are your enemies only if you make them your enemies, it's not like you are going to be a Jedi, are you?" 

Before I could reply he also added rather bluntly. "Just to be clear, there will be a lot more Sith than just Palpatine; the Rule of Two never was used in this universe. To say nothing of like the Night Witches of Dathomir being more active."

I shrugged and asked helplessly after his explanation. "I mean, I have no idea where you are going to drop me off. Let alone what cheat I may have. Still sooo no Palpatine to worry about?" I asked for clarification.

To which my sponsor's smile turned dark, and he said quietly. "I think... I will leave that as a surprise for you. Still, you will learn that this galaxy is far different from that abomination called 'Canon' and still even more different from Legends."

He shook his head and then clapped his hands together and spoke more brightly. "Now! Let's get to the best part of this meeting, your cheat!"

I sat up even more upright if it was possible, and he grinned before my vision dulled and I heard his voice ring out as if he was speaking to me through a thick layer of water that separated us.

"Yeahhh, throwing you into this mess of a Star Wars verse with the force entities boiling as though it is going to become a new 40K Warp after the War in Heaven is a shit idea. So you can listen to some more stable galactic star gods to gain your power from their P̸͍͙͗̈́a̴͈̱̐̅t̸̙͙̽h̸̡͋̈͜."

All the while, I saw IT. Not a being of corporal or even a physical form, as its form was changing before my inner eye.

And unbidden to me came a voice, not of my sponsor, not even remotely human in tone or depiction... But the love, care, and despair within the voice caressed and tore at my very soul with the obsession in the voice.

[T̴h̴e̶ ̷f̷l̴o̷w̷e̸r̴s̷ ̷s̶h̸a̸r̸e̷ ̷t̵h̵e̵i̶r̴ ̵p̷e̸t̷a̵l̸s̸ ̵w̴i̵t̵h̴o̴u̷t̷ ̷c̶a̴r̴e̸,̶ ̴w̴a̵i̷t̶i̵n̸g̷ ̸f̶o̶r̵ ̶t̶h̴e̴i̴r̴ ̸i̵n̵e̸v̵i̸t̴a̴b̷l̸e̷ ̵w̴i̷t̴h̶e̸r̴i̴n̶g̴ ̴d̵e̴s̸t̶i̸n̷y̶ ̶o̴f̷ ̴r̴e̶t̵u̴r̴n̷i̴n̸g̴ ̴t̴o̴ ̵t̴h̷e̸ ̸s̸o̶i̶l̴ ̵i̶n̶ ̵w̸h̶i̷c̶h̴ ̵t̸h̸e̶y̵ ̷s̵p̸r̸a̷n̶g̶.̶ ̵T̴h̵e̷ ̵b̶i̸r̵d̴s̵ ̴f̷l̵y̴ ̴h̵i̶g̴h̷ ̴i̵n̵ ̶t̴h̷e̶ ̴s̷k̸y̷,̷ ̵s̶h̵a̸r̶i̶n̸g̵ ̵t̵h̸e̴i̸r̶ ̷s̶o̷n̶g̵,̸ ̶b̷u̸t̷ ̸w̸i̷l̵l̶ ̷i̵n̴e̷v̵i̷t̷a̶b̶l̵y̷ ̸m̷o̶v̶e̵ ̴t̸o̶w̷a̶r̶d̶ ̷t̵h̴e̷i̴r̷ ̶i̴n̶e̸v̴i̸t̴a̴b̶l̶e̴ ̶c̷r̷a̸s̴h̴ ̸a̸n̶d̸ ̵d̴e̷a̶t̴h̷.̶ ̵T̸h̸e̵ ̷s̶t̷r̶e̶a̶m̴s̷ ̸f̵l̴o̴w̶ ̴r̸a̷p̸i̶d̴l̵y̵ ̴w̷i̶t̸h̵ ̷l̷i̵f̴e̷,̷ ̵i̵n̵ ̵a̷ ̷d̴i̸r̵e̴c̸t̵i̴o̵n̸ ̴w̶h̴e̸r̸e̴ ̵t̵h̶e̴y̶ ̸w̷i̵l̸l̵ ̶i̴n̷e̵v̸i̷t̶a̷b̶l̴y̴ ̴r̸u̸n̸ ̴d̷r̶y̸.̸ ̴W̶h̷y̶ ̸m̴u̴s̸t̷ ̶a̴l̷l̵ ̸t̴h̶i̴n̴g̶s̷ ̴c̸o̴m̷e̷ ̸t̵o̷ ̷a̵n̸ ̵e̷n̸d̸?̴ ̵T̸h̸e̶r̴e̵ ̴m̶u̴s̶t̴ ̸b̵e̷ ̸a̴ ̴m̵i̷r̶a̷c̷l̵e̴ ̶s̸o̶m̸e̷w̶h̶e̸r̸e̸ ̴i̴n̵ ̴t̴h̶e̸ ̴u̴n̶i̷v̸e̵r̴s̷e̵ ̸t̸h̷a̷t̷ ̷c̵a̵n̵ ̶c̷u̵r̴e̷ ̵t̷h̵e̵ ̷d̶i̴s̶e̷a̴s̸e̸ ̸k̵n̴o̷w̵n̵ ̴a̷s̶ ̴T̷h̴e̵ ̵F̷i̴n̴a̶l̷i̸t̸y̶.]

THEIR voice reached my very soul, and as the androgynous form looked upon me, truly I felt their gaze in multiple eye's that were across its humanoid body blink before I instinctively felt the power from the Path of Abundance fill my soul.

And then I knew no more as my mind was overwhelmed by the power of an eldritch god/Aeon looking upon me with so much focus, closed down.

-

Thick, cloying smog filled my breath and burned my lungs as I 'awoke' from my dreaming of the Path of Abundance with the power of the Path filling my form with unstatable vitality. "Where... Where the hell am I?" I muttered with a grunt as I sat upwards on a pile of debris to look around the massive hall I was in.

And it was certainly a hall. A long hall with thick, cloying, and humid, dirty mist that covered the uneven ground and the surrounding walls was covered in rusted and old iconography that made zero sense to me.

My face twitched, as although I knew the Basic language, that was the common language used across most of the Galaxy. The language and script around the walls of the area was something I couldn't register at all!

'Damn, a lot of people tend to forget that Star Wars has countless thousands of languages in it and there is a whole line of special droids that are totally devoted to being translators.' I mused with a sigh.

With a mental flex of will, I filled my hand with the glowing green vitality of Abundance which banished the burning toxic air and also gave more light then the dull little light strips that were in the distant walls.

And despite my light, I couldn't at all see the ceiling of the long hall I was dropped into, but as the light flared to life, I heard a hiss a distance along with crunching of metal as something fled in the distance from under the fog that covered the ground.

"Well, that's lovely... Some shit is hiding in the fog." I grumbled with a wry smile before shaking my head as I flared a bit more power into my hand so I could see further down towards the end of the hall.

Thankfully, I wasn't reincarnated without clothes or like shoes, as the ground was uneven as hell and filled with debris that was a rusted mess from the toxic mist that covered the ground.

Still after a couple of minutes of rough walking, I made my way to the end of the hall, and I found a half-opened scifi metal door that needed a rough jostle to force open with a loud rumble of un-lubricated metal sliding on rusted hinges.

I came out of the hall... And my face became dull as it was like I entered a stupidly massive hall or a whole new world, as like... three hundred meters above me was a roof? Or upper level of some kind that will be speckled with industrial lights and such upside-down towers that came down below as well, but not to the surface where I was.

"Where the fuck did I get dropped off?" I cursed helplessly as this Warhammer 40k bottom Hive City-like surroundings left me at a total loss obviously!

Still, I knew one thing for sure. I was on a planet with civilization at least somewhere as there were countless lights active and filling this trash and debris-filled underdark with some semblance of direction.

The question was finding my way to the surface, or at least to civilization, anyway.

So with that, I stepped forward... As there was nothing else for me to do except try to find someone who could help direct me towards civilization. 

Though seeing how derelict this area was, I couldn't help but squeeze my glowing hand into a fist as I mused that I needed to find out a way to use the power of Abundance as a weapon if need be. 

But there was just one... Major issue with that. The Abundance, and it's Aeon despite giving the curse of Immortality, and endless life or vitality to countless people. It had NEVER directly used it's powers offensively to directly hurt someone or anything.

No Yaoshi just ran away from the problems it created and the people that were hunting it in turn. Though the constructs and things blessed/cursed by the Abundance did have significant power as well.

As I knew instinctively that being a Pathstrider of Abundance, my lifespan had been increased to at least a thousand years... At the very least, and beyond that, so long as my brain wasn't destroyed, I could heal from any other wound and any other amount of damage.

'Ok. Operation discount Hashirama plan is a go.' I mused as I made the ground near me glow as I walked ahead. Leaving a stream of gleaming grass that, through the eldritch power of Abundance, it forced life upon where it should not exist.

And so I kept walking... And I kept walking as I had made an early target of what looked like a giant pillar that went up to the higher level and ceiling above. But it was a good couple of miles away.

Not only was it miles away, but the ground was filled with deep metal crevices filled with unknown machines and as I neared some crevices. I could feel the Abundance power within myself going to work as it rid my body of some unseen poison or something.

It didn't take me long to realize that it was clearly radiation or something like that, as I would have felt the heat or smelled some chemicals in the air if tainted air was being radiated outwards.

Still, it was only as I got closer to that massive pillar that I realized that it was almost certainly NOT my way out as loud crackles and screams of plasma and blaster laser shots shot into a large lumbering mutated... A thing that wandered close to the pillar and began roaring.

The mutated monster was quickly gunned down but as I watched from behind a piece of debris. I saw the 'people' were clearly gangsters or just people I couldn't trust a damned bit besides clearly not being human.

As they were although upright in a humanoid form they had reptilian appearances that were cast in the dark light of the pillars' lights and they huddled over the mutant before clearly ripping the flesh from the monster and even fought over pieces of it as they brought it back and began cooking it over some ad-hoc electric hot plate of some kind.

'Yeah... They look like they would literally fucking eat me rather than just ask questions. Or worse, enslave me or something as I can't dance around or block blaster fire at least yet.' I mused with a wry smile.

If only I were a Pathstrider of Preservation, I wouldn't be afraid of some low-grade blaster fire due to their shields, which they could innately call upon.

Still, I exhaled as I took in the surroundings around the pillar as I tried to get an idea of what was going on and where I was.

Then came a flicker... And my gaze landed on the flickering holoscreen that the gangsters had put up of some scantily clad red-skinned Twi'lek working her assets on a stripper pole.

And as I naturally watched them big red alien tits bouncing about... I eventually saw below the dancing twi'lek was a header talking about this 'Miss Asaim' who would be dancing at the Nirvana Canteen on the 2046th Floor.

Then it struck me as I put things together, as I recognized the Basic used on the poster. I literally WAS in a fucking Hive World!

"Seriously dude... I didn't piss you off. Why would you drop me off at the bottom levels of Coruscant?" I muttered with a groan as I realized that getting to the surface wasn't going to be easy.

As the tunnels leading upwards were clearly going to be controlled by deadly defense systems. Or gangs who were raiding the lower levels of Coruscant in the hopes of finding ancient advanced technology or even Jedi/Sith artifacts to be sold on the black market.

Hell if I didn't have the power of Abundance I would likely have a few years knocked off my lifespan due to the radiation and toxic air that was surrounding me even now.

'Now how do I get past the gangers... And get up to the higher levels?' I mused to myself as I knew that getting past the gangers and using their own elevators would be far easier then trying to get past the trash shutes violent defense systems.

Because getting past those ganger's wasn't the least of my issues. The Aeon's only know what issues the elevator may have... Hell with how old it is, it may not even have it's display system or buttons in Basic! To say nothing of the rest of the gang who owned the outside of the elevator.

"The Abundance can even heal machines and such. I should find a broken elevator!" I muttered and the idea was pretty sound at least in my head.

So I kept moving, well away from the murderous Trandoshan's who were clearly hunting and eating the mutants to feed their 'Scorekeeper' goddess who tallied their kills and hunts.

'The way my sponsor talked about the so called Force Entities fucking around outside of reality... Does that mean the more esoteric entities are going to be around as well.' I mused to myself as I kept moving.

But my thoughts were soon cut off as a loud rumble rang out followed by a rapid stuttering of heavy footsteps towards me and I quickly whirled around to see what looked like a giant humanoid mutated created having thrown itself out of a small crevice towards me.

I held up a hand towards the monster and from my hand came a flare of green light that shot forward in an expanding cone and from where the light fell thick branches burst from the filty rusted ground to encircle and crush the monster.

As loud and wet crunches rang out as the large but emactieted monsters gave way and it's clearly radiation born cancer filled organ's were crushed as well. I coudn't help but shudder at how vile it looked.

'Is this supposed to be a Coruscant Ogre or whatever it was called? Shit, honestly the underbelly of the Capital of the Republic wasn't exactly explored that much. Or at least, I remember very little of it.' I thought with a frown before I shook my head and continued towards the next pillar that led up to the higher levels.

A Pathstrider's power of their Path wasn't something that really needed to be practised as I realized as I kept moving. A Pathstrider was someone's who total power and understanding of their power was entirely reliant on how well they understood and traveled their Aeon's Path.

And seeing as Yaoshi directly gazed upon me and whispered a mantra to me of it's hatred of the inevitable Finality of Death. Although I wasn't an Emanator of the Path, I was certainly not weak anyway.

"One day though... Should I become an Emanator of Abundance, I should try to bring life to this planet almost entirely devoid of natural life." I muttered to myself in thought and I could feel my advancement upon the Path of Abundance at the thought.

A couple minutes later, I was forced to stop stock still with a sinking feeling as what I thought was a large building that was like four stories tall in the distance moved and with a loud rumble it tunneled downwards deeper into the metal and concrete below us.

"Fuck this... Fuck that shit so hard!" I hissed with a shudder at the sight of the giant worm going back down into the radiation and polution rich depths.

And it seems the movement of the worm made everything else hide as well in fear of it coming up or something else as I didn't see any other monster as I made it over to the other large pillar/tower that led to the upper levels.

Once I got to the tower, I realized it was an automated defense based tower or something... As I could literally see what looked like a couple of turret droids or something with obvious guns protruding from it's form.

'Yeahhh, do I take my chances with these things? I am almost fucking positive those are bones of mutants and maybe even sentients in front of them.' I mused as I saw with my enhanced senses that the two droids were very much active as they ever so slowly spun back and forth looking for enemies or maybe movement?

Still with a moment of thought as a loud rumble rang out as the fucking massive worm monster below myself began eating the ferrocrete foundations out from under my feet in a quite literal manner.

And the realizations that other than mutants, gangers, and other humanoid monsters. There were literal kaiju's roaming around made me willing to take a chance with my powers at least.

So I first huddled near the polluted ground that even up closer made me taste pennies on the air I was breathing so I was more out of sight. I began channeling my Path energy as I looked towards the droids.

And for a long moment... Nothing happened before slowly but surely the static turret droids stuttered as thin but strong roots grew from the ground underneath the droids and entered their internals.

'Now... I got to fuck them up from the inside!" I thought as I held up a hand and then closed my hand to enhance my perception of what I wanted.

Then in the distance I heard a loud crack as the thin roots that had entered the droids violently constricted around all the internals they had wrapped around previously.

"Well for static droids that can't move... That was effective. Not like my roots could mess with a Droideka though." I said with a small smile as I carefully approached the tower where the droids where clearly guarding the door leading into the tower.

As I passed by the small wrecked turret's that sparked slightly as their sensors picked up my movement and approach. I was thankfully NOT shot at by the unknown but obviously still powered guns as the turrets themselves were hooked into the tower which explained how they still had power after god knows how long they had been down here.

Still once I got to the door... I got stared at the thick metal door that didn't open up automatically or anything which made me want to scream as the damned keypad was also in a language I just literally didn't understand.

For all I knew with how I was clearly almost at the base level of Coruscant, the keypad could have been in the language of the Rakata or something even.

"Nanook... Guide my pimp hand." I prayed to the Aeon of Destruction before I fucking drop kicked the glowing keypad with a loud crashing noise as the ceramic like glass gave way under my drop kick.

There was a heavy silence as I just stared at the rusted ceiling above my head and I swear. I could feel the wrecked droids judging look as their sensors watched me. Before with a soft hissing noice the large cargo metal door leading into the door snapped open! 

With my own head snapping up from it's position of just listly staring at the ceiling to look towards the long hall inside the tower that lead to another door that was probably the elevator!

I rolled up to my feet and then with a shout of exertion I dashed forward as the door then began closing with a swiftness that made me roll as the retracting heavy plasteel door threatened to crush me.

"Fucking Indiana Jones ass doors." I cursed with a groan as I came back to my feet and then carefully made my way over to the next door that also had it's own keypad.

And after staring at the glowing keypad that wasn't a rusted over wreck like the previous one was... I leaned down closer to it and I smiled as I realized something so simple.

The four keys alot with entry button were clearly more worn out compared to the other button displays. So it took a couple of minutes but I got the right four digit sequence after a bit which opened up the large door leading to the elevator.

And once I got onto the elevator... My face twitched as I realized I coudn't read the buttons that controlled the elevator.

But seeing one button at the end glowing, I realized that it was almost certainly the floor I currently was on. So going to the complete opposite side, I clicked the button leading to where I hoped would lead me to the highest level.

Because the higher up I went on Coruscant, the safer, the cleaner, and more 'normal' shit would be obviously. 

Then with a hum and a creaking of long abanonded mechanics, the elevator came to life and I felt the weight as I built an upwards momentum which made me sigh in relief at the realization that I was getting away from the bottom layer at least.

The elevator went up for a long while and all the while I was thinking... Thinking of what I could and should do in the future. As although I could take care of myself especially with my power of the Abundance.

I still wanted to have a roof over my head, I coudn't really make clothes with my powers and god knows what else I would need. Hell, with how Coruscant was such a trouble ridden area. Being able to leave in a ship I could buy would be a good idea.

'Maybe I could offer my powers as a healer? I could pretend to be a force based healer or something?' I mused as I had... Zero fucking paperwork or anything so things were going to be bit sketchy regardless.

But after a long... Like fifteen minutes elevator ride the elevator slowed and I felt the pressure on my shoulders lower as the elevator came to a stop and with a ding that made jolt the door opened and I saw the actual civilization!

"Floor 2046... Wasn't that the floor with that bar that had that big titty Twi'lek stripped poster?" I mused as I had already forgotten the alien's stripper name at this point though I did remember the bar at least?

Either way, I stepped forward with a big more of comfort to myself as MOST of the neon signs were in Basic, along with it very much not being a monster filled hellhole as although there were all kinds of inhuman aliens going about their lives.

They were clearly horribly radiation tainted mutants who might have even been twisted by like Sith alchemy or something.

I walked out and after a long minute of merging in with crowd I realized I needed that I needed to get my feet underneath myself obviously. So I walked over to a bar that was almost certainly controlled by one of the local gangs like all the rest of the bars and such.

The 'man' working the bar itself had grey skin that had uniform lines going down along with red lined eye's and sharp teeth and claw tipped fingers. A race I coudn't recongize to be honest.

But still, I walked over and I asked curiously as I took a seat on a rough metal seat. "Got any work for a man with special talents?"

The man gave me a look of amuesment and he said blandly past his amuesment. "Five hundred credits and I can get some boys to escort you back up to the clean levels boy. You aint got a blaster, and are as green as it comes."

My lips twitched and I shook my head before I said clearly. "No, no. I am not not a merc or bounty hunter. I have a talent with force healing and want to setup a bit of a shop to get some credits. Or. If you have some people you can push my way, I am sure we can get you a finders fee."

The man paused at my words and he shook his head before pausing again as he took me in and my expression before he shrugged and said with fang filled grin. "Alright human, I can take a chance with a couple grunts to see if you have such a talent. But if you are lying to me, or you are using some horrible Sith toy to do this. We will gut you and feed you to the mutants."

At his very blunt threat to my life, I just said blandly. "You will see the truth in due time. Now would it be so rude to give me a drink for all the emotional harm you caused me?" 

And the man snorted before he took a metal cup and poured me a cup of water that I knew could be fucking turned into battery acid with a bit of imagination.

So with a dull expression I pointed a finger that glowed a gentle green with the water glowing green as it was cleansed and I looked up to that alien bar tender staring at my glowing finger for a moment before it lost it's light.

For a brief moment though... I thought about pointing my glowing finger at him and making an ET reference but I barely. Barely managed to hold it in.