Chapter 88: Stranded Senator
Summary: Ambushes and realizations...
Chapter 88: Stranded Senator
"Jump! Hurry! We can't hold them off much longer!"
Padmé gripped the arms of her seat tightly as their pilot wove the diplomatic yacht through brackets of starfighter fire. A few shots hit, but if their yacht was unarmed it was also incredibly well shielded and lavishly equipped with defensive countermeasures. One of the more exotic fired off bursts of specialized sensor-baffling chaff even as the pilot pulled up hard. It was a rarely used countermeasure that was nevertheless effective at forcing the two missiles that had locked onto them to veer off course and explode. The ship rocked from the near-misses, shields dropping into the yellow. There was a reason that chaff was so rarely used, as it only worked at near point-blank, spoofing missiles for bare microseconds.
It was enough.
With one Defender II escort already an air-bleeding wreck behind them, and the other shielding them desperately, their navicomputer coughed up a clear vector and the pilot punched it without hesitation. Lines of hyperspace appeared, tense seconds passing before they all realized they'd made it. At least so long as that was the only ambush that awaited them. Of course, the only jump point they'd been able to reach was the one they'd entered the system from, not where they'd been intended to head. Meaning they were headed back toward Herdessa instead of Coreward past Mon Gazza.
Reports of increased pirate activity along the Enarc Run had decided them on taking the Corellian Run back towards the Core, with the intention of using the Duros Space Run to cut over to Naboo. It was a less direct route, but barely slower than if they'd taken the Enarc Run, and supposedly safer under current conditions. Only, they'd been pulled out of space by an unexpected mass shadow in the Mon Gazza system and immediately ambushed by a large force of pirates. As in, there had been an actual frigate present, alongside multiple corvettes and a large number of smaller vessels.
Only the fact that their Defender II escorts were unusually powerful and modern by corvette standards, and they'd been flying with a full squadron of N-2s already in space, had seen them through the initial moments of the ambush. Even then, if more than a few of the N-2s escaped, it would be a miracle, and there was no way their second Defender was anything but space debris waiting to happen. It had been soaking fire from the frigate as they escaped, unable to evade without opening their yacht up to the larger ship's fire.
"What the kriff was that!"
Padmé's unexpected curse broke the stunned silence that had fallen over the cockpit, and Sabé was quick to answer.
"The result of the Hutts finally getting fully into gear, I'd guess, boss. Mon Gazza is a known shadowport and spice mining world, as well as home to a major branch of the Pyke Syndicate. It makes sense that they'd have been paid off to cut Tythe from trade, just like what was already being reported from the Enarc Run before we left."
That…both made sense and really didn't. As Dormé's shocked voice was quick to point out.
"Are they insane? Blockading the Corellian Run will never stand! It's one of the super-lanes! The Republic will never stand for one of them being cut off!"
It was a statement that should have been true. There were exactly five 'super-hyperlanes' in the entire galaxy. Routes that, between them, spanned and connected most of the galaxy. The Corellian Run, Corellian Trade Spine, Hydian Way, Perlemian Trade Route, and Rimma Trade Route. Between them, they carried something like eighty-five percent of galactic commerce. Oh, much of that commerce would travel up or down other, smaller hyperlanes first or after. But virtually every long-distance transshipment used one of the five super-routes for at least part of its travel.
They were each old, incredibly well mapped, and immensely faster than any other route in the galaxy precisely because they were so thoroughly and completely mapped. Trying to cut one off should have been unthinkable. Yet, Sabé's voice was cynical and jaded as she responded.
"Won't they? It's just pirates, after all, and those aren't uncommon in The Slice. It would take dozens of reported attacks, meaning ones where someone got away to report them, for the Judicial Forces to act. The attack on a Senate diplomatic vessel like ours might generate a response from Ord Pardron, I suppose. But not quickly, and they won't stick around afterward to keep the route cleared. Meanwhile, a significant chunk of Master Midoriya's wealth is tied to shipping that uses the Corellian Run. This is exactly the Hutt's sort of warfare."
Padmé scowled, processing that, nodding sharply as she put the last mental pieces into place for herself.
"And with the Republic currently so touchy about the League and its Crusade, there's no way that sending escorts powerful enough to see off attacks like that on their convoys would go over well. It would mean sending warships into what is, explicitly and without question, Republic Space. You can bet that the Hutts will have their own bought and paid for senators ready to scream bloody murder about them doing that, calling it aggression by a foreign power, if the League tried it."
They all fell silent again, scowling, only to be interrupted by the pilot clearing his throat.
"That's as may be, Senator. I think there's a more critical question of what to do now, though. We can't continue on toward the Core. Do we land at Herdessa? It's a Republic world known to be peaceful, and there were no signs of trouble when we stopped to recalculate our new jump down the Run there."
Padmé frowned, considering options, then firmly shook her head.
"No, I don't think so. We burn for the planet and send an alert to them in case someone follows us. But we won't stay long. Just long enough to see if any of the N-2s made it out and refuel them if they did. After that, I think we should head back to Tythe. If we can't return to the Senate, we can at least do some good continuing to build relations there while trying to work out a stronger escort."
The pilot hesitated, unsure if he should point out the obvious, but Sabé did it for him a moment later.
"That might be dangerous. If they set up pirates at Mon Gazza, they might have done it elsewhere, too, Padmé."
Padmé nodded in easy acknowledgement, but responded equally easily.
"Possible, but it's extremely unlikely that they managed it between our previous passage and now. It's less than a day back to Tythe, and at least some of the surrounding independent systems have authorized the League to patrol. The chances someone managed to set up in the twelve hours or so between us passing back through the same points and into League space is incredibly low."
Sabé grimaced, but nodded. It was a risk, but her boss had never exactly been properly risk-adverse, and she was right. In all likelihood, they could make it back inside the shell of the League's protection before anything could catch them. Particularly given just how fast their ship was. Faster now, in fact, that it wouldn't have the Defenders tagging along and slowing it down a bit. She chose to remain silent, letting that silence carry her slightly unhappy agreement, even as the others chimed in to ask Padmé if she was really sure that was a good idea…
… … …
The journey back to Tythe had, in fact, gone smoothly enough. Speed or luck, one or the other, had seen them back safely aboard Tythe Central. There, they had discovered Master Midoriya preparing to leave again himself, though he and Aayla had delayed doing so to meet with them again about what had happened. They had, of course, sent their own sensor logs ahead to both the League Military contact they'd been assigned, as well as to the local Tythe defense force for completeness sake. So it wasn't particularly surprising to discover the Sovereign had already reviewed the chip of events.
Sabé had observed both of them closely, watching their body language as he'd commiserated with them over the death of their entire escort, save three N-2s and their pilots who'd made it back out alive. She'd quickly decided his distress for them genuine, unless he was a far better actor than anyone she'd ever met. He'd even offered to reimburse them for the lost Defender corvettes, given he'd been responsible for calling them out to Tythe. Padmé had declined, of course. While expensive losses in a purely monetary sense, Naboo was doing well enough these days that it was truly only the lives lost, not the hardware, that they mourned. Nor would they blame the League for the actions of pirates against neutral vessels. His next question, however, brought a bit of a puzzle.
"What do you intend to do now? You are, of course, welcome to stay here on Tythe Central, or even down on Tythe itself, for as long as you desire. We certainly have the holocomm capability to keep you connected to the greater galaxy while you're here. But, as I'm sure you're aware, we would need some sort of official senate approval to send escorting warships to punch you through the blockade at Mon Gazza or along the Enarc Run. They are blockades, by the by. We've had several vessels slip through, but they are being rather thorough. Enough so that our civilian transport fleet is being routed away from Tythe for the moment."
That was, unfortunately, about what they'd expected, and the chances of getting that senate approval were virtually nil. At best, they might be able to get approval for a Judicial Forces escort to do the same thing, but even that would likely take weeks. According to Chancellor Palpatine, the senate was more divided than ever on what to do after they'd reported the attack. Stalling for a moment, as they hadn't actually decided what to do just yet, Padmé asked her own probing question instead of directly answering.
"Will that hurt Tythe? Or your efforts in Hutt Space?"
Surprisingly, their host smirked and shook his head negatively.
"No. While we didn't actually expect them to be so brazen as to cut off the Corellian Run entirely, we did expect them to start engaging in commerce raiding at some point. As a result, we made sure Tythe itself is entirely self-sufficient for its own needs, even for the orbital shipyards. As for the goods that would normally move here, they'll simply be redirected towards Hutt Space instead. The Northern Route into Hutt Space is entirely secured, sufficiently so for our own freighters to reach a Fleet escort point at least. Under escort they can take their goods farther into the region. All of the worlds we've taken in Hutt Space can use virtually every sort of good we can pour into them anyway."
That had their entire party blinking, Padmé only slowly asking a follow up question.
"What do you mean? Medical supplies and such, I suppose makes sense, but…"
Padmé trailed off leadingly, only to blink in surprise as their host actually laughed, with Ayala joining him a second later in a fit of giggles. Neither seemed to be laughing out of any sort of mockery, instead seeming to be genuine amused, lips curling into grins. They both started to speak, only for Izuku's lips to twitch as he yielded to Aayla with an exaggerated half-bow that made the rest of their lips twitch a bit along with the Twi'lek's. Aayla turned a playful smirk on their party and leaned in as if to reveal a great secret.
"I see that, even for you, it hasn't quite sunk in yet just what the League is attempting to do!"
Aayla's tone and 'whisper' was so over-the-top that Sabé almost snorted. Padmé shook her head with a grin, giving up her formality and instinctive political fishing under Aayla's teasing act. Her voice was dry but friendly as she quipped back.
"Then by all means, great blue one, enlighten us poor souls?"
Aayla, far from offended, grinned as she leaned back to explain. The Twi'lek, Sabé noted, truly did have a gift for getting under Padmé's guard. Thankfully, it had yet to ever prove malicious, which is probably why it worked.
"We aren't just freeing those worlds from the Hutts and their eeevvviiilll oppression, we're also investing in them. We're targeting each world that joins us with uplift-flavor technologies that the Hutts often denied them, to keep them better under control. Slave labor is stupid and unneeded on agricultural worlds that have proper automation available, just as one example. Not to mention that on many of the newly freed worlds the Hutts cared about only a single resource, leaving a dozen others that are raw, untapped potential. We want the worlds that join the League to be prosperous. Which means helping them build up their infrastructure and local industry to use that potential fully. Just as we've already done for numerous worlds in places like the Abrion Sector."
For long moments, Sabé and the others processed that. Realization dawned quickly for her, given her research on the Outer Rim, and a glance at the others showed it was setting in for them too. All of them, even Dormé and Cordé who were their political and social experts, had missed a critical and unsubtle difference between the League's Crusade and most wars.
Worse, they had missed it because it wasn't what they were used to.
All of them were used to navigating the Republic's politics, a polity which would never consider simply investing in newly acquired worlds for the sake of creating more equals. Worlds generally only got approval for Republic membership these days when they already had something to offer. The Core Worlds, in particular, actively disdained the idea of offering aid to build up worlds in the Outer Rim, or even the Mid Rim most of the time. A stronger Rim was detrimental to the Core World retaining political control, after all. Factions like the one Padmé had initially angled to weld themselves too, led by worlds like Alderaan, normally had to work against the system in order to accomplish their goals of making the galaxy a better, fairer place.
The League of Free Stars, on the other hand, was in a completely and utterly different position. One which was so alien that they hadn't wrapped their heads around it until right now. For the League, every world they could bootstrap up to prosperity added legitimacy. The Republic was ancient, the Core Worlds ridiculously wealthy. It was the galactic government, against which all others were measured. It had no need to establish legitimacy. But the League of Free Stars was brand new, barely consisted of a handful of planets with functional governments so far, and every world they could turn into a prosperous contributor created the legitimacy that was the League's end goal.
Under those specific conditions, it was entirely reasonable to pour everything from industrial equipment to luxury goods into the worlds that joined them. Not only to build them up, but to make their neighbors dramatically more interested in joining. Wait...fuuuucccckkk, Sabé was slow! No wonder Dormé and Cordé were abruptly looking a bit pale, even if they were trying to hide it. After all, Aayla had just pointed out that the League had already done this in Abrion. Meaning they were willing to do it with worlds outside Hutt Space.
The clause, that damned soft-border clause that the Sovereign and his political minions been completely unwilling to be drawn on rewriting! There were hundreds of worlds in The Slice alone that would be tempted to go over to the League if they managed to hold off the Hutts. Just for the chance to get that same help! Worlds that, if things dominoed the wrong way, could rapidly end up subject to the soft-border clause that would allow them to leave the Republic in favor of the League.
It was obvious Padmé had realized the trap as well, but she was far better at hiding it than her handmaidens. Though her next question was very obviously made in response to the realization that they had no idea just how bad this might actually be. That they needed more information, information they hadn't even realized they needed until now, and that they had the excuse to get it if she angled things right.
"Coming back to your initial question of what we planned to do now, Sovereign Midoriya? I would very much like to see Hutt Space for myself, as an official observer for the Senate. Perhaps we would be allowed to travel for a time aboard your command ship? Just until a safer passage back to the Core becomes possible. Something that you, yourself, say would be much more likely if we were to leave from Hutt Space, correct?"
Sovereign Midoriya's eyebrows rose in genuine surprise, obviously caught off guard by the request. He frowned in contemplation, considering it for long moments, a bit of seriousness overtaking his previous good humor.
"That is true. Admittedly, I had received some odd information that I intended to investigate before re-entering Hutt Space, but it's nothing confidential. You could come along if you desire, or I could simply arrange for your ship to be taken aboard a Volition and transit straight through to Junkfort station to the North of Hutt Space. That would be quicker, and you could return to your duties faster. A roundabout route back to the Core, but it would get you there. The Hutts can hardly afford to target the Perlemian Trade Route along with the Corellian Run. They are pushing things as it is."
Padmé was, perhaps, just a little too quick to turn down an entirely logical solution. At least if she was trying to keep from giving their information gathering away.
"Our duties, my duties, also include assessing your League for the Senate, Master Midoriya. I feel I could do that better by spending time with you aboard your flagship."
Aayla's smirk changed tone just slightly, a twinkle that somehow made Sabé want to blush suddenly in her eyes.
"Ah! And we can observe you too. We need to make sure you don't overwork yourself! Besides, now that you've proven brave enough to go topless around Izu, you can get one of his amazing massages to relax! Better, if less professional than any masseur you'll find off Zeltron!"
Padmé actually did blush at the reminder of her incident in The Delve, barely managing not to sputter as she squeaked out a response. Oh dear, Padmé never squeaked. Except when…ah…well, this could be interesting! Also, she totally needed to talk to Asora about something uniform related. When on Zeltron, do as the Zeltrons do, right?
Padmé could hardly blame her if she was just following local customs…
... ... ... ... ... ...
A/N 1: *Gasp* Oh no! Padmé and Co are stuck with Izuku and Aayla for a while! Whatever shall they do! ;-). This is something I've had planned for a bit, as Padmé and Sabé need a bit of time to get closer to the group. They aren't likely to leap into a relationship soon, but some time getting to know each other more consistently was/is needed in order to eventually add them to the pairing in a realistic fashion. (Which, as a reminder, was/is what the my patrons voted for ;-)).