Chapter 111: The Grind

Chapter 111: The Grind

- Bimmisaari – 280 Days into the Hutt Crusade

“So, that’s the long and short of it then. The digital ink is on the dotted line, as it were. This is going to cause a bit of a shift we won’t be able to take back, you know?”

Aayla might not be as politically versed as some of the others present, but her comment got nods from those around the table of the conference room. The emotions behind those nods ranged over quite a spectrum from person to person. Padmé looked a bit dejected, but not confrontational. Over the course of their entire political tour she, in particular, had been forced to open her eyes to some standing issues within the Republic. For all that she was genuinely good at politics, and her growing power base had exposed her to a lot of Mid-Rim world politics in particular, her view had still been far narrower than she’d realized. Within the Senate, she’d mostly been dealing with other worlds, or collections of worlds, that had decently strong voices. Discovering how so many of the Outer Rim, and less fortunate Mid-Rim worlds, viewed the Republic had been a heavy blow to her worldview. Made worse by the fact those worlds had completely legitimate reasons why they held those views. It hadn’t been pleasant for the senator, but it had likely been a revelation she’d badly needed if she wanted to make effective change or attempt to prolong the current relative peace.

Others present, such as a Shaak Ti and the majority of Padmé’s Handmaidens, were less moved by the fact that the Halla sector capital had, just hours before, signed their shift of allegiance from the Republic to the League of Free Stars. Shaak Ti didn’t really see it as an issue either, viewing it simply as a peaceful people doing what was best for themselves to retain that peace. She might regret that the Republic she and her Order were tied to had failed the people here, but she was too pragmatic to view the Republic through the rose-tinted lenses some Jedi were prone too. The Handmaidens, meanwhile, were more concerned how it would affect their and Naboo’s own position. They were, every one of them, honestly better at the cutthroat parts of politics than Padmé was, even if they lacked the raw charisma that made their boss the better choice for the role of senator.

Izuku was the one to speak up after the nods of agreement. Aayla’s comment might have been more a general statement than a true question, but he was still the appropriate one to answer. Something he did with a shrug.

“It will cause a splash, but it’s within the letter of the existing agreements. The fact that virtually all of the worlds joining us, even Bimmisaari, are considered remote and of little practical value to the Republic, will offset a lot of the issues. At least hopefully. Even our total number of new worlds, when the list eventually comes out, shouldn’t cause too much of panic, since the vast majority of those shifting into the League are unaligned worlds, not Republic worlds.”

Padmé stirred at that comment, voice unhappy but resigned as she spoke up.

“There are still over sixty worlds that have some measure of Republic membership involved in the shift. With the grumblings of the so-called ‘Separatist’ movement in the Senate, that’s not going to go unnoticed. It may even enflame the situation.”

Izuku nodded, but it was Shaak Ti who actually spoke up, voice serene.

“Perhaps. That movement, however, is likely inevitable, as you well know. You’ve seen the data that Master Tholme sent along, just as we have.”

Everyone around the conference table grimaced at that particular reminder. To say the knowledge that both the loyalist and separatist factions were subtly arming to the teeth was alarming was an understatement. The details of who was doing the arming were even worse, as it made it painfully obvious that the public issues and official positions were masking an uglier push by parties that sought to profit off the conflict. To say a galactic-scale war would be good for KDY’s bottom line, for example, was something of a hilarious understatement. It put a far darker outlook on the chances of attempting to divert the conflict, too.

Not that people like Padmé and the Jedi Order weren’t going to try anyway, of course.

It was in the nature of both good people and idealists to attempt to prevent mass casualties. The Hutt Crusade had been one thing, the League having been able to spin a completely legitimate narrative of doing the ‘right thing.’ They’d been taking on an openly criminal, largely reviled, empire. Not to mention freeing slaves, rooting out galactic corruption that was being concealed by corporations using Hutt Space for their dirty deeds, and liberating oppressed populations. Add in the fact they’d fought a remarkably ‘clean’ war, with virtually all atrocities (excepting a few by rebel groups not directly associated with the League) being from the Hutts’ side , not the League, and it had been possible to come out looking like the Good Guys overall. Despite the initial unhappiness and bellyaching by the more pacifistic members of the Republic, their observers had found nothing truly usable to paint the League as violent warmongers.

A galactic scale war, on the other hand, with a potential for far higher death tolls and fought at least partially for war profiteering? That was another thing entirely, something that various factions and power blocs would rightfully try to derail. Not that most of those in the room here and now expected it to work. Even Padmé grudgingly accepted that it might not be entirely possible to prevent a conflict, focusing instead of trying to mitigate its scale and the damage it might cause. That was, in fact, partially why she was okay helping with those sixty worlds leaving the Republic. Many of them were pressure points that could have been used to enflame the debate even if they’d stayed.

A hush fell over the group for a short bit, with it being a curious-sounding Dormé who finally broke the silence.

“You know if you spread this out over more time, you’d probably draw in far more worlds? Doing this in such a big chunk will cause a reaction in the Senate, demanding you redraw the treaties regarding the ‘soft border.’ If you let this happen over several years, instead, you could probably draw in two or three times as many worlds before the Senate acted.”

Several people shifted at that, uncomfortable with the more coldly calculated observation, but Izuku was completely unbothered by it. He shrugged, waving the idea off as he replied.

“We easily could, yes. If I thought we had the time, I might have even been inclined to do it that way. If for no other reason than the bolster the thin connections between Tythe and Hutt Space by directly seducing some of the worlds in the relevant sectors. I honestly can’t see the building conflict taking longer than two to three years to come to a head, though. I want the League’s borders properly built up and secured before that happens.”

Dormé pursed her lips, but nodded at the logic. Padmé tried to rally as best she could a moment later.

“I’m sure it won’t be bad enough to worry the League. Look at the Bimm! They are leaving specifically because they want no part in a fight, really. Even King Dendup’s position is an argument that many worlds will mostly want to stay out of the way.”

Aayla snorted at that.

“And your old mentor Senator Bonteri is evidence of the opposite, that many will seek more drastic solutions. It isn’t only the corrupt war profiteers driving the wedge in and hammering it deep.”

Padmé winced, unable to properly respond to that telling point. Before things could become acrimonious, Shaak Ti thankfully stepped in.

“Both of you have points, yet I think, among ourselves, there is little need to debate said points. None of us want the conflict, after all. Instead, I think it would be nice to take our last day here to tour more of the Bimm homeworld. They are known for their incredible works of art. It would be quite a shame to leave without seeing more of it.”

Thankfully, the other women at the table all agreed to that quite easily. Much to the relief of Izuku, who abruptly realized how badly out numbered he was by the gender split. Well, at least the Bimm weren’t the right body structure for this to turn into a shopping expedition. Thankfully, he could use the tour the group was slowly growing in enthusiasm for to review the results of their political tour, rather than being expected to give answers to loaded questions. There was going to be a lot yet to do once they got back to Tythe, and spending a bit of idle time mentally pre-sorting it could only help.

After all, there were now nearly three hundred worlds that were making moves and signing treaties with an eye toward joining the League…

… … …

- Sleheyran – 290 Days into the Hutt Crusade-

High Admiral Lin, recently so titled in a command restructure that put her in charge of the entire League Navy, reporting only to Sovereign Midoriya, stared at the map of the region she was now in charge of taking. Gathering the Fleets for the assault on the Shield Worlds of Bootana Hutta hadn’t been a quick endeavor. While their quiet and secret mapping of the other worlds inside the subsector had revealed just how tough of a nut many of the Hutt Throneworlds were going to be to crack, none of that would matter until they broke through the Hutts’ Shield Worlds in the first place.

Their back channel lanes into Bootana Hutta, mapped for them by some Force using group she’d never even heard of before, weren’t suitable for taking anything larger than a frigate through. They were more smuggling-appropriate routes rather than the sort of hyperlanes you could trust battlecruisers or battleships to. At best, with a Jedi or two involved in jump calculations, they could get some Volitions through those paths on a good day.

No, if they wanted to have a go at capturing Bootana Hutta and the Throneworlds within, they were going to need to directly assault Mulatan, Gos Hutta, and Sakifwanna. That last was less critical, the Elgit-M’Hanna Corridor wasn’t suitable for moving large fleets through, even if it was the main ‘civilian’ route in and out of the subsector. Mulatan and Gos Hutta were both critical, however. Each was set up as a ‘Shield World’ for the ‘Garden of the Hutts,’ where all the major clan Throneworlds resided. That meant the two systems were absolutely bristling with weapons systems, defensive fleets of actual Hutt-built warships, and ancient gravity well generators from before that technology was mostly lost. Bootana Hutta was a hard defensive point for a good reason, as any assault into the subsector would need to punch its way through at least one of those two Shield Worlds.

Rana was going to take both.

Gathering the forces to do it had been a painfully slow affair, compared to most of the war, and it was going to cost more than any other set of battles in the entire Crusade. Yet, as far as she was concerned, trying to ram their attack on the subsector in through a single vector would give the Hutts too much of a chance to dig in even farther. So they needed to break both systems.

Thankfully, she was now confident she had the ability to do so.

The last several months had let their building and refitting programs run wild. Despite a number of new Paladins being committed to defensive roles, she now had three dozen of the powerful battle cruisers to work with. On top of those, she also had fully half of the Battleship modified Lucrehulks they’d discovered at the Nimban yards assigned to her. Those twenty-five ships, even if they didn’t quite fit the doctrine of the rest of the Fleet, might as well have been sent by a higher power to help in bashing their way through the Hutt Shield Worlds. Their immensely tough, yet minimally crewed, design made for a perfect vanguard to soak up the inevitable nasty surprises the Hutts would have waiting for them. Even if Rana lost every last one of them, so long as they shielded the Paladins long enough to crush the defenses of the two systems, she’d count it as coming out ahead.

Not that she intended to lose all of them, of course. The fact she could and would still count it a win if they pulled through still stood as true despite her intentions, though.

“Alright. I think we’ve got the best plan we can make here, everyone. Both Fleets move out in five days. Make sure your crews are ready and in top form. It’s going to be rough, but once we’ve punched out these two systems, we’re golden to start grinding our way through the rest of the Hutt trash. Get to your ships and may the Force be with us all…”

There were quite a few who looked at her oddly at the comment about the Force. Maybe she’d been spending too much time around the various Force users in the fleet? Eh, even if she didn’t have much sensitivity herself, she wasn’t about to deny the Force existed after the things she’d seen so far during the Crusade. So she considered it an acceptable way to kick things off, and she had to admit it really had quite a bit more gravitas to it than ‘Good Luck.’

… … …

-Hidden Laboratory – Muunilinst -

Celeste was pleased. At least as much so as she could be while standing in a ruined lab heavy with the Dark Side. It had taken her months, but she’d finally found something that revealed more of the mystery that was Hego Damask II. Specifically, after a lot of winnowing through his old holdings and several clandestine visits, she had discovered a laboratory on the island of Aborah, in the Western Sea of Muunilinst. The lab had been well-hidden in the lava tubes of an inactive volcano, connected to a mansion belonging to the Damask clan.

Someone had, unfortunately, been through the facility and stripped it of directly incriminating evidence. Whoever that had been, what they hadn’t been able to do was quiet the Force in this place. The Dark Side lay thick in the striped facilities, and Celeste was no novice with such things. Her entire purpose, all of her training since childhood, had been laser-focused on hunting down the Sith and their works. She knew not only how to detect such Dark Side presence, which had led her to the lab itself despite how well hidden it was, but also how to draw a certain amount of information from the echoes here.

Most of the echoes were of pain, of course.

Such was to be expected of what had clearly been a research laboratory of a Sith Lord. Such cruel entities were not given to gentle experimentation, but to brute torture that produced results mostly by forcing them, rather than properly understanding the Force. It was unpleasant to experience those echoes, to say the least. Yet, it had also been enlightening, as the echoes had come with faces and a name.

Hego Damask II either had been, or possibly still was, Darth Plagueis.

Personally, she suspected at this point that Damask was truly dead, and that she would be chasing the trail of possible apprentices, rather than the man himself. Yet that hadn’t yet been confirmed, so she would act on both possibilities until she could say one way or another. Either way, it was a major step forward. She knew the name, both the civilian mask and the true identity, of a recent Sith Lord. It was only a matter of time now, before she found more links in this chain and followed it to its end…

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: Wrapping up the political tour and showing a snippet of what's going on with the Crusade, but well and good...but...

A/N 2: ...the bigger bit is the small section where Celeste has finally managed to identify a modern Sith :-p. With what Izuku and Co learned about Bane recently, they now have a building picture of the Banite Sith Order, and Celeste has a thread to try and follow. Of course, Hego Demask was a major figure with routine contact with a large pool of people, and Palaptine has gone to some effort to erase connections. So she still has her work cut out for her.