She spoke in a way that made it clear she wasn't just some little girl. Julgut didn't know much about her, but knew her father was a Jedi, and so was Sifo Dyas. He had heard rumors that Jedi padawans were made to grow up fast, and so decided to just treat her like an adult until she proved otherwise.
He was still a little shocked at just how young she was, though.
...
"Hello Milady." He swallowed, and before an awkward pause derailed him he continued, "How are those Hammerheads I fixed up going? Any issues?"
"There have been no concerns." She answered, firmly. "Is there a reason you've called?"
"Uh, well… I'm sorry, milady, I understand your time is valuable. That is to say, uh, I can't finish the job anymore." He froze, trying to think of how to break the news delicately before continuing. "We were hit by some kind of bombardment. My mobile shipyard's been blasted to pieces, and the hull we were working on is just a wreck now." He scratched his head, shrugging helplessly. "I won't be able to complete the work for all six hulls, milady. I can only apologize."
She looked angry, but obviously not at him. "No apology necessary, this matter is clearly beyond your control. Several other shipyards under construction across Prime were also raided."
Julgut paused, this was the first he'd heard of other places being bombed as well. "I see. Someone crippled all the shipyards on Raxus?"
"Yes, quite." She then added, "I don't suppose you'll be able to purchase another mobile shipyard anytime soon? We are committed to building up our defensive fleet."
Purchase? Julgut hesitated to correct a noble lady, but didn't want to let her work under false assumptions. "No, Milady, I'm sorry, but no one sells those. I built it myself."
She nodded, accepting, before a thought seemed to strike her. "You built it yourself? Out of what?"
"Oh, well. Prime is full of all kinds of parts, Milady. There's always a bit of wrestling and improvising, but me and my father put it together. He was mostly inspired by a Jawa desert crawler he saw in a documentary."
The Lady Serenno paused at that, looking faintly impressed. "Are you saying you're largely self taught?"
"Uhh…" He scratched at the back of his head, feeling self conscious. "I have a Masters in astro engineering from Kuati university." He demurred.
"Does astro-engineering qualify you to build your own shipyard?" She asked, pressing.
"Well. No." He finally admitted. "I was taught by my father, and he was self taught. No offense to Kuati University, they have a great engineering program, but they just didn't have much to teach me. I got the accreditation to help the business."
"Do you have your credentials? Can you show me?"
"Uh…" He looked around the office. "One moment, Milady." He stood up from his chair, walking over to his desk. It was covered in documents, and had accumulated an unwashed mug or two, but underneath that he took out the framed degree. He took a moment to try and dust the frame off, before taking it back over to the holocom and showing it to the little princess. "I can send a copy to you."
"No, that's very good." She said, smiling. "Tell me, have you ever considered making a regular shipyard? One large enough to produce regular battleships?"
"Uh… Well, yeah, but the cost of land would make it impossible." He began to explain, though he realized she wasn't really listening as she began to type something. "You can't just plonk a shipyard down anywhere. You need either the right geographic features, or you'll have to do a ton of excavation."
"That will be no problem." Tanya replied, smiling as she continued taking notes. "Is your father unharmed?"
"Well, he's retired."
"Perfect." She answered, and all of a sudden Julgut's com device chimed with a notice that he'd been paid a million credits.
"Uh, Milady, I can't accept this."
"Of course you can. Use that to take care of yourself, and all your remaining employees. I'm sure their experience and training will be quite valuable. And please, send me your father's contact details. You said he was retired, but would he like to become an educator?" She didn't even wait for him to answer, barreling ahead with obvious excitement. "Wait right where you are, and start drawing up preliminary plans right away."
"Plans?" He said. "Plans for what?" But she'd already hung up. Julgut stared at the com unit, wondering if he really had just held that conversation or if he was imagining things. It sounded almost like the young lady was expecting him to build her a shipyard?
He considered that, before looking over to one of his many old abandoned plans. An idea from decades ago, one that he never could bring himself to throw away. It had started out as a kind of new mobile shipyard, but he quickly realized it had been too large to hold its own weight, and wouldn't be able to function on Prime's uneven terrain. So he broke it up, reimagining it as a series of smaller mobile shipyards, capable of interlocking and working together on a larger project. Theoretically, enough of them could even lift a dreadnought out of the Raxus muck.
Now that he was looking at it though, a new idea struck him. What if he wasn't trying to refurbish an old hull? What if he was building a new one from scratch? With his series of smaller crawlers, he could build a ship in a series of pieces, before transporting those to the same location and putting them together there.
He was just starting to sketch on his tablet, when his comm device pinged again.
He glanced at it, then did a double take seeing that the message supposedly came from the Duke of Raxus himself, ruler of both Prime and Secundus, and forty other worlds besides. The contents of the message informed Julgut that he was being moved to the Duke's palace for his own protection, and asking for information on where the rest of the work crew was.
His jaw hung open, gaping at the words projected there as he tried to understand what was going on. Whoever was really behind all this had a lot of credits, and a lot of influence.
...
Hego wasn't quite certain of the extent of the Old Sith Empire under Naga Sadow or Marka Ragnos, but he speculated that through his banks and subsidiaries, he decided the fates of a greater number of sentients than those Emperors did at the height of their power.
Never let it be said that bankers didn't have an inflated sense of self worth. The chambers where the Core Five met looked less like a tidy office building, and more like a mixture of a glittering royal court and the Galactic Senate. Really, that's what it was. A royal court where five kings met to decide the fate of the Galaxy.
The other members of the Core Five were much like Hego, in that way. They were wealthy in their own right, ruling vast holdings and controlling an amount of credits that dwarfed entire sectors. But their true power came from the institution they sat atop. Individually, they might have held vast influence, but the InterGalactic Banking Clan as a whole was a titan that decided the fate of the entire Galaxy. Theoretically, the Senate ruled, and if unified in purpose there was nothing the Intergalactic Banking Clan could do publicly to resist it. In reality, that Senate was composed of Senators, who were purchased and sold like slaves on Nal Hutta. Individual senators might be trying to do what they saw as right, but in the end their power depended on getting reelected, and those campaigns were expensive things…
Plagueis' eyes went over each of his fellow purveyors of senatorial flesh, finally coming to rest on Tahm Sipas. Sponsor of many a reelection campaign, his private interests were deeply intertwined with those of the Republic's political elite, far more so than any other Chair's. His ventures made him Hego's biggest detractor, envious of the political pull his 'friend', the charming senator - and now Supreme Chancellor - Palpatine afforded him at a fraction of the investment.
He was also the one to call in the meeting.
"Thank you all for coming," Tahm finally broke the silence, his long fingers steepling into a tent in a distinctly human gesture. "As you have probably guessed, I called in this meeting to discuss the recent developments on the Outer Rim, or more specifically, the involvement of one of us in them." He shot Plagueis a caustic glare which he matched with his own dismissive one.
"If it is the losses I suffered that concern you, rest assured, while the worry is appreciated, it is also completely misplaced." Hego replied, just a shade on the side of politeness. "The losses incurred in the bombing of Raxus Prime, while unfortunate, are but a drop in the ocean of estimated profits I stand to gain from my Outer Rim investments."
"A drop at a time bleeds the life support dry," the man retorted. "But your questionable business ventures are not why we are meeting here today. No, I called the meeting because of what your pet Jedi pulled." His piece said, Tahm activated the room's central holoprojector, displaying the recording of Count Dooku storming out of the Senate Courthouse, cape billowing in the wind as he went.
"This flagrant disregard for Republic law already raised a few heads in the Senate." Tahm continued. "The words 'Jedi Lord' are no longer spoken in the Forum in mockery, but in fear, Damask.
My ears in the legislature already caught whispers of sanctions aimed at the Outer Rim, and Dooku's allies in particular. For you, a Chair of the Banking Clan, to be counted among their numbers is unthinkable! Far from just being a member, Damask Holdings is the one funding these hillbillies!"
"Damask Holdings is a private company," Plagueis hissed from behind his respirator. "Its businesses are of no concern to the Clan. They are certainly of no concern to you." His cold eyes met Sipas' incensed gaze.
He reached through the Force to pierce the clouds of cold fury of his rival's mind, to no avail. As loath as he was to admit it, one did not rise to become a Chair of the Banking Clan by being weak-willed.
"They are if the fallout would tarnish the Clan's reputation." Brils Los spoke up. Second in seniority only behind Damask and the most entrenched in the organization's internal politics, he was usually relied on to mediate any dispute that arose during the Core Five's meetings.
For him to side against Hego spoke of the precarious position he was in. An agreeing humm from Jildia Cinir, the only female member of the Five, only confirmed it.
...
Apparently, chapters write themselves faster when Power Stones are involved. Who knew? Feel free to test the theory go ahead, toss a few my way.
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