If any plan worked like the one Phantom had accomplished in the Outer Rim, the entire Galaxy would have been his before he was even born. While the other Separatists were only about to proclaim independence from the Republic, the planets he had set his foot on flocked to the rebellion. It happened too quickly, and the officials just couldn't get how it was possible. One day Phantom was on the South, in a few hours he and his mercenaries, aka division of the First Legio were banging down the doors of the planetary administration on the North.

Komand took part, too, fighting with the Death Troopers and HK on the less important worlds. The population was mostly supportive of them, but the rest of the Republic bared witness to the power of who seemed to be the Jedi. Since this revolts were the first, they caused an additional uproar on Coruscant. The Jedi were disliked already, and after they learnt that not only the former Jedi Dooku led the separatists, but another two Jedi were conquering the worlds, the gunpowder keg ignited.

The Order had to explain everything to the public, and Danny had a lot of fun observing everything from above, invisible and unnoticed. But despite how well the revolt went, he was still the Emperor of now the largest state of the Galaxy. The worlds he brought under the unknown Imperial protectorate became sort of the trade hubs. The people were happy that the goods weren't going to Coruscant but were exchanged there. However, what they didn't know was where the exchanged goods went. Danny ordered to only use droids for the trade, because someone could have lousy lips.

All in all, both on the North and on the South Phantom was renowned as the temporary Dictator of that regions. No one but the Republican Media complained. And immediately afterwards he officially pledged his support for the CIS. Confederacy of Independent Systems was a united government of all planets which were previously supporting the Separatist movement. The revolting sectors formed the Separatist Senate. And Phantom, not only as the corporate leader, but also as the ruler of several planets, got a seat in the Senate. He didn't occupy it personally, sending a representative there, namely Komand. She was surprised and unwilling, but Danny managed to convince her. In reality, he just wanted to keep his beloved as far from the battlefield as possible, since he finally got an opportunity to do so.

The situation was stable. Stable because both sides had an equal power and potential, but it was going to change soon. The battles were limited to the small skirmishes at the moment, while both states were busy rallying their forces. There were exceptions: Admiral Trench attacked the Republican world of Cristophsis. And Phantom was going to play his part in the war, too. As soon as he got reinforcements, Danny commenced an attack on the nearest system. It happened to be Eriadu.

Trench was the one who annoyed Phantom. So, the moneybags COULD use their employees, and he couldn't use his!

Eriadu served as the capital of the Seswenna sector and was situated at the intersection of the Rimma Trade route, the Hydian Way, the Lipsec Run and the Yankirk Route. The situation there was quite bothersome. The planet sided with the Republic and could become a stronghold if not taken immediately, but now they were surrounded from each side by the forces of the Confederacy. Eriadu was an industrial powerhouse. Filled with the factories to the brim, with extremely polluted atmosphere and nature in general. All that factories could be used for the Droid production. Or something Phantom would need to fight autonomously, without relying on supplies from the corporations.

And speaking of which, the ectoplasmic fuel was giving Danny a lot of money. Unlike the other companies' leaders, Phantom didn't actually need to expand the influence of IMC. He expanded his own influence on the Galaxy. The money went on making the lives of the people better. People not only saw that Phantom was their savior, no, this authocrat managed to do what elected leaders couldn't. Danny needed to keep the war out of that planets.

The war campaign was being planned by the War Council for several years, taking and using every tiny bit of information they had. The Clone Wars were going to be a battle reconnaissance. The Imperials were going to learn about every hole in the Republic's defense, in order to exploit them later. Blitzkrieg at its finest.

CIS lacked an officer crew. They lacked admirals and they lacked generals. So, Phantom came up with an initiative. If the members of the Confederacy, their leaders deemed a person worthy of taking the position, they could assume it. Dooku questioned the decision, because there could be traitors within the ranks. Then the representative of Baktoid Combat Automata offered the solution. They made a special kind of droids, Tactical ones. The droids had the advanced algorithms, making them quite smart for the clankers. Many liked this decision, they didn't need to be paid, but Danny was not happy.

Phantom couldn't do anything about it. Military issues were the responsibility of the Separatist Council. That greedy fools weren't interested in finishing the war. They needed money. Danny also couldn't complain to the Senate, when he had no reputation it could only make him look pathetic. It seemed that the ghost would have to work along with stupid machines for the time being. HK was an exception, he had a character, was trustworthy and extremely smart for the droid. Granted, he was a bloodthirsty maniac, but it was at least something.

Returning to the matter at hand, Phantom gazed down at the gray planet. The plan of conquest was all the same, bomb, land, take over the key cities. Besides having enough droids given to him from the CIS, Danny had the First Legio with him. He was going to use the Stormtroopers from time to time to fix the holes in the frontline. The entire war was going to be a battle of quality against quantity. Extremely cheap and stupid rustbuckets against clones trained from birth and brainwashed into serving the Republic. Each side needed its own tactic.

Then the ship got a slight shake as the wave of turbolaser shots flew at them. The Republic got to the system faster than them. They too saw the grave importance of Eriadu. Phantom turned to the tactical droid. It only played the role of an assistant. The machine was about the same height, with rectangular flat head. It was painted in blue, with a white insignia of CIS on its chest.

"Take the loose formation and fire at will!" Phantom commanded. "And do NOT approach them, they will eliminate us on point blank range!"

"Roger, roger."

The droid sent the message to the small fleet of the Confederacy ships. There were ten of them, and all were deemed pathetic by the Emperor in disguise. Thrawn examined them, too, and came to the same conclusion. Skeletal structure created a lot of weak joints, if hit, the entire construction could collapse. There was a reason Imperial and Republican Star Destroyers had a triangular shape, it allowed them to wield a tremendous firepower, especially in comparison to the frigates used by Confederacy. And he had to work with ten against eighteen heavily armed Republican Venators.

They, as was previously mentioned, had a dagger shape, but unlike the Imperial ships, their double bridge was positioned too high, and there was a huge hanger in the central deck which could close and open. And speaking of, they were opened and several squadrons flew out at them. Phantom commanded to send all droid fighters they've got. He was sad Thrawn wasn't there. They were tremendously outgunned. Danny couldn't get a Providence. And Hyperion was a trump card he wasn't ready to use.

As the fight broke out, Phantom rubbed his chin, standing at the window.

"Sir, there is a transmission," The tactical droid said.

"I swear, if it's another bolstering idiot..." Danny muttered. "Bring it."

The image wasn't holographic, it was an image on the special screen. The man on the other side was wearing a gray Republican uniform, had a face with a militaristic air about him. He was a human, with gray eyes and brown hair. He looked to be around his thirties.

"This is just insulting," he said, "Not only they send an inferior fleet, they send a child to command it!"

Phantom liked that everyone underestimated him. It made them reckless.

"Nevermind, it IS a bolstering idiot," he commented. "Is there a reason you are distracting me?"

"Why you...I'm ordered to offer you a surrender."

"Is that all? I didn't have my coffee today, and I'm feeling grumpy. What's your name at least?"

"I am Gideon Tarkin, the Captain of the Eriadu space defense, and you are not getting on my planet! Fifty Republican ships will arrive soon."

"We'll see about that."

The transmission was over. Danny fixed the axelbant on his uniform, watching the transpiring battle. They had fewer fighters, losing the only superiority. Then he saw a squadron flying towards his bridge. About thirty fighters. Phantom outstretched his white gloved arm and swiped it like the annoying flies were bugging him. The ships flew in the midst of dogfighting. They were shot down by the Vulture droids and accidentally by their own comrades. Danny smirked.

"Alright, playtime is over," he said.

Venators moved forward. Their intention was obvious: their most powerful batteries were located on their sides, and they seeked to fire like in a sea battle of the XVIII century. Phantom commanded to use the most powerful forward batteries, as they were of any use. Four Munificent frigates were required to outgun the Venator. So that's what Danny did, he was trying to wound them as much as possible. He concentrated fire on the certain ships. Still, five enemy ships were approaching, and even three would have been enough.

"What do we know about Gideon?"

The tactical droid looked into the datapad. "He has been a Security Minister of the planet before. He was born..."

"That's all I need."

Tarkin was not an admiral, he wasn't going to realize the bait. Danny also needed to get rid of the enemy fighters.

"Order the Vultures to fly above the cruiser in front of us, taking evasive maneuvers."

"Sir, they aren't able to harm the ship efficiently."

"Follow. The order."

The droid nodded and sent the command. Ignoring the fighters piloted by the clones, the Vultures made an abrupt turn and flew where they were ordered to. Their peculiar feature was that there weren't any pilots inside, the fighters themselves were the droids. Everything went just as he planned, the clones started to pursuit them, but when they were above their own ships, an invisible force pulled them downwards. Venator couldn't stand such a massive projectile bombardment. One down, more to go.

Gideon was conflicted about what to do. He realized that that bastard could pull of something else with that Jedi tricks. But he never knew about someone who could do that. Sending fighters was a suicide, it was like throwing ammo at the enemy. But what choice did he have? Fighting with only laser cannons? They couldn't destroy the entire swarm. Phantom waited just that. The weakest point of the Venators - their bridges, was bombarded with fighters from both sides. The ion cannons weakened the shields, making the ships more vulnerable to such attacks. Soon the attacking force was beaten, turned into a space debris. The Separatist fleet was mostly smoking, some were even burning. Fire brigades were sent to extinguish the flames.

Danny smirked. He didn't care for Vulture droids, and he knew history, which could teach a lot. Kamikaze strikes rained at the opponent. Not entirely, but at least enough to wound them. The numbers of the Republican ships were thinning, but so did the Separatists', even if at slower rate. Now there were eight ships on each side.

"Start the deployment as we have planned," he commanded.

"Sir..."

"We are losing the soldiers along with the ships. If we keep fighting, we won't have enough to troops to conquer the planet. Send them down."

Phantom got up from his seat and walked off to the shuttles. He couldn't show his teleportation just yet. Once in the elevator, Phantom's comm beeped. Danny activated it and Komand's image came into view.

"Hello there, beautiful, how is your day?" He grinned.

"Could be better," she grumbled. "I'm not into politics."

"I know. But it would be hard to find someone more proper."

She reddened slightly at the praise. "At least you get all the fun."

The ship shook. "What's going on?" Komand asked worriedly.

"Just a little nuisance got a lucky shot at this rustbucket of the ship. No worries, the situation is adequate."

"If you say so..."

Danny chuckled. He won't say it, but she looked so cute when she was worried. "So, why do you call?"

"The Senate plans to start the vote on the taxation. It's either centralized economy or the other way around. You know more about that than me."

"Well, being centralized will help the Confederacy. But if money stay here, it will be better for us. Vote for the last one."

"Alright. Stay safe out there," she smiled.

"You, too."

Danny turned off the communicator and went to the hangers as some light metal parts of the ceiling fell on him. Munificent-class frigates didn't have living quarters, so the Death Troopers were stationed in improvised ones. The furry members of the squad were the most adaptable. At seeing their Emperor, they all stood up. There were fifty of them. They were veterans of wars, and fighting against the local militia should be a piece of cake for them.

"Soldiers," Danny called, "You are tasked with an important mission for the Empire."

He wasn't worried about someone hearing them, no one understood the language he was speaking on if he didn't want to.

"Yes, this is not a capital of the Republic, sadly, but nonetheless you are fighting for the future even now. You are fighting against amateurs, but don't let it get into your heads. The cornered animal is the most dangerous. I value the lives of every soldier. There are only five hundred of you - the most talented soldiers of the Empire. Now show them what the best of the Imperials are capable of!"

The soldiers hit their black armored chests with their fists, causing a rumbling sound to erupt. Phantom smiled and got down in front of the squad. Most of the soldiers were eager for the fight, not fearing at all. Danny approached one of them, putting a hand on his shoulder. The soldier wore a helmet, so the face was hidden behind it.

"I put high hopes in you, Centurion, do not prove them futile."

The soldier hit the chest again and bowed. "I'll do my best, My Lord."

The Death Troopers were the Emperor's personal part of the army, along with the First Legio, so he was free to do what he pleased. Including own ranks, taken from Roman military.

"Good, act according to plan, I will join you shortly."

They were ordered to move inside the assault ship.The C-9979 was an elegantly designed transport manufactured by Haor Chall Engineering and was controlled by a central computer. The Death Troopers quickly put on their helmets, took up their weapons and hurried into the ship in an organized formation. Years of drills were showing up. Once they were inside and started to descend to the surface, Phantom turned around and hurried to the bridge.

The battle was still going, and Danny ordered to give cover to the landing ships. It was difficult, because Munificent were designed for straight shooting, not from its sides, even if they did have batteries there. Another idea sparked in the current commander's mind.

"Were all the landing crafts sent down?"

"Yes, sir," the droid nodded. "Three quarters have reached the ground."

"Good. Now send the most damaged ship forward."

"Sir, there will be reinforcements for the Republic. We cannot sacrifice our ships so inefficiently."

"Send it to ram the Venator. And if you question my order again, I'll shut you down."

The droid complied with the order and sent it forward. Back on the Republican cruiser Gideon watched the action.

"He is a madman!" The officer exclaimed. "Take the evasive action, all power to the thrusters!" He ordered to the clone assistant.

At seeing this a devilish fanged grin appeared on the stark haired man's face. Poor human was not an admiral. They turned away and accelerated on big speed. They won't be able to stop at the right moment, all Danny had to do was to push the ship a bit forward. That's exactly what he did. Venator couldn't slow down as it was turned slightly to the other ship. Phantom moved his hand slowly, even for him such a task was quite a feat. The flagship hit the other Venator's bridge and hit it off with a massive explosion. The flagship itself survived the ordeal.

Gideon got up slowly after the shake.

"Sir, we have a transmission from the planet," the clone said.

The officer only nodded. On the hologram appeared the man who had similar traits to him. He had auburn hair and blue eyes.

"What's going on, Gideon? All I see is you hitting your own ships!"

"Oh, yes? Well, I'd like to see what you will be able to do, Wilhuff. This Jedi tears down everything by moving his hand!"

"AND there is about million of droids on the ground! Do something, we won't be able to hold them for long."

The communication ended and the Republican officer turned to the clone crew. "Connect me with Master Koth this instant."

Soon the Zabrak Jedi, with brown skin and eyes, raven hair and multiple small horns appeared.

"What's wrong commander?" He asked.

"When the hell are you going to arrive? We are about to be destroyed!"

"What?"

"You tell me why!" The ship shook again. "You are the Jedi here!"

"We need two more hours. Retreat immediately if you want to keep your fleet intact."

Phantom watched how the Republican ships were turning away and jumping into hyperspace and blinked. He didn't expect them to flee. The guy was overdramatizing, he had a chance of winning.

"Awe, I wanted to blow up someone else. Droid, report."

"We have only five ships left, severely damaged. Three quarters of our fighters are lost."

"Yeah, nasty occasion. Will we get any reinforcements?"

"Count Dooku commanded to send you forty ships, including the newest models."

"Just great, we are doomed. Stay here and maintain the formation. Fix everything you can."

Danny turned around and left the room. Eriadu had to fall, because later it would become a thorn in the Confederacy's side. After putting on his battle robes in a split second, he vanished and reappeared on the surface, with nasty looking sky at the spots where the smoke from factories wasn't present. If Danny had to breath, it would have been bad for his health. Now Phantom needed to find his soldiers, checking up on the droid army as well. They were marching towards the headquarters of Eriadu Manufacturing, the biggest company on the planet. The clones were putting the resistance, but they were severely outgunned.

Number superiority allowed to attack from different sides and come to the flanks. It was something most of the Separatist generals didn't get. Needless to say that the victory was going to follow. But just to be sure, Phantom ordered to bomb the reinforced positions. Hyena bombers appeared in the sky and started firing proton torpedoes. Laser batteries opened fire and Phantom understood his next target.

Meanwhile the Death Troopers had another order. They needed to take the Governor's palace, cutting off any leadership. Centurion took the binocular and looked at the surroundings. Clones were patrolling the building, and there were several blind spots he could use to get in. But just to be sure...

"Disable the cameras in the eastern wing," Centurion ordered.

To the outsider it could seem like they were talking in the series of hisses, interrupted by radio interference. But inside the helmets were special transmitters, and the Death Troopers understood each other perfectly. One of the operatives took out an EMI device and followed the order. It sent a magnetic impulse towards the network of cables, disrupting it in the process. Of course, it called the required attention. The clones started to move there. Once the moment was right, Centurion raised his hand.

"Now, to the western wing, move."

Of course, they were noticed by the functioning cameras, but the clones were on a distance, giving the Death Troopers a chance to get inside and take cover inside the building. Shooting in the backs was dishonorable, but practical. The Clones didn't expect to be fired at from behind. Several thermal detonators flew forward and the entire front yard was ruined. Some survivors hid into covers and opened responding fire. Red and blue blasts flew across the yard, hitting mostly the clones. Trained from birth or not, the hardened veterans were superior even to them. And even if the white armored soldiers hit the Death Troopers, it was mostly non vital.

The Imperial soldiers went further inside the building, eliminating any obstacles on their way. Suddenly they found a clone with minigun in the opposite end of the corridor.

"Eat laser, scumbags!" He shouted.

He kept firing, forcing the Death Troopers to hide behind the corner. There were ten of them, other ten had choosen another corridor, and they were seemingly out of grenades. Centurion tapped on the wall with his finger. It seemed to be very thin, which meant there could be a room behind it.

"Bring this wall down," he ordered, turning to one man in particular.

His subordinate unrolled the special device, which looked like a small wall rug. The troops stepped aside as it blew up, taking the wall with itself. Confused, the clone with minigun stopped shooting, not being able to see the ordeal. Centurion went inside the newly formed hole.

"You two, stay here and distract him, others, follow me."

The soldiers complied. Two remaining troopers fired occasionally from their cover, and the clone kept responding. Centurion and the others went through the conference room, which was empty at the moment, before they exited on the other side. The leader carelessly took out the blaster pistol and shot the guy with minigun on his way. Then he took the rifle again. It was X-181, the gun wasn't for mass production, only for commandos. It could shoot both like a machine gun and a long range rifle, which could get an enemy from a ten mile distance.

They moved forward, before stopping near the door. At the Centurion's command, one of the operatives took out the tiny device not bigger than a holocommunicator. He slid the device through the vent. Small legs came from it and the small droid ran inside. Soon all the Death Troopers saw a infrared vision of who was inside. Centurion counted till three with his fingers, before banging down the door of the command room. It was big, with many officers inside. Some clones managed to take out the blasters, but were killed immediately.

The clones on the platform above were shooting down, but the Death Troopers took covers. Suddenly the clones' guns flung out of their hands. Some clung tighter to them, and because of that they fell ten meters down with the cries. Suddenly from the door barged other ten Imperial soldiers and started shooting. Then the pause fell as both sides prepared for another round, hiding in the covers. And everyone heard a slow sarcastic clapping.

"Hm, it took longer than expected, I must say."

Everyone looked up and saw the silhouette of the Confederate leader on the platform, emitting the dim light. Phantom grinned fangily down at the governor and the remaining soldiers. He made a step forward and levitated down, the edges of his robes flowing with the air. The Republicans were in shock and awe.

"Alright, who is Governor Tarkin here? Oh, what am I talking about, there is only one guy who is not a clone."

"Yes, it's me," Wilhuff stepped forward. "And just what are you planning to do, boy?"

"I'm not a boy, I'm twenty four," Danny deadpanned, as his shoulders sank. "Anyways, good job, Centurion, you guys are getting a pay raise!" He called to his subordinates, who were still behind the covers, not worried at all about the Emperor's safety.

"And you are Phantom," Tarkin said. "You leave quite an impression."

Danny smirked.

"An impression of immature amateur."

The smirk fell. "And you are a grumpy old man. Even Dooku is more welcoming."

"A little lapdog is sure to say this," Phantom heard some clone saying.

They jumped at how fast the young man's head snapped in his direction. "I'm no one's lapdog," Danny moved his hand a bit and the blaster bolt hit the clone dead on.

When his brothers wanted to respond, they lost their weapons immediately. Phantom whistled innocently.

"Damn Jedi," Tarkin growled.

"Neither I am a Jedi. Just a man who fights for what he believes is right."

Tarkin looked at where the enemy soldiers were. "These men are not mercenaries."

"Oh, so you noticed? Yeah, Death Troopers have been fighting together for years. And their loyalty to me is unquestionable. Anyways, are you going to surrender? Please, say yes, I really need my coffee now."

"Then I think you will have to stay without it."

Phantom sighed. "Oh, nothing can stand between me and coffee."

He snapped his fingers, knocking the Republicans out. Fixing the collar of his robes, Danny looked at the Death Troopers. "Stay here and clean the building. And tie this guy, I'll need him later."

The Emperor had previously learned that the factories were taken. Formally, the capitulation was in order. He then personally lead the assaults on several remaining spots and in each he offered a surrender. None agreed. He was definitely going without his morning drink. One hour later the Separatist fleet arrived. Phantom received a Neimoidian shuttle in order to get to the flagship. It was Providence, a ship type made by the Quarrens. It had something fishy about the design, and had a firepower equal to the Venator, maybe even more. There were other ships of that type.

Danny was led to the bridge under a guardianship of the strange droids. They wore torn gray cloaks, and wielded corthosis staffs. Impressive machines. They went up and exited in the cockpit. It was spacy, illuminated with red light.

"General Phantom," a metallic voice sounded. "Or should I adress you as an Admiral?"

The man turned to the side, and saw a strange being. At first Phantom thought it was a droid, but then he saw the eyes - yellow snake like eyes, surrounded by seemingly burned off wrinkly flesh. He was engulfed in a white plating, making him look like a skeleton. His legs, ending on raptor-like claws clanked as he approached Danny. The cyborg wore a black and red cape, and if he wasn't hunching, he would have been head taller than Phantom. Then the man stood straight, looking down at the stark haired ghost.

"Do I know you?" Danny raised his eyebrow.

"No, probably not. I am General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the Droid Army."

"Hm, well, nice to meet you then."

Grievous was surprised by lack of intimidation, and he voiced his question. Danny shrugged.

"I have seen plenty of scary things. So, we have to work together?"

"No, I am to depart to Hypori. This ship is yours."

"Hm, could be better, but I'm not complaining. I don't have Dooku's number, so please tell him that we need to ensure the situation here."

"I'm not an errand boy," Grievous growled. "But...I'll do it so you won't fail."

The cyborg put hands behind his back and walked off, followed by his droid guards. Danny could feel it wasn't just because of the state interest. Still, he had a more pressing task, he needed to hold the line.

A.N. I get a lot of questions about Ashla and Bogan. I just want to say that they are like Chechov's rifle. They are still there, but for now they just hang on the wall like this same rifle. One day it will shoot, it involves the Ones, for those who know the deal.