Chapter Twenty-Four
While Dantius was cutting his tour of Dark Side worlds a tad short, Ashlynn and Inoy were making the necessary preparations for their own freezing. It would take a few days and a little extra pay out of the wealth that Dantius had accumulated, particularly now that Morgause had placed her aunt's assets in a trust fund that included his own funding as well. Ideally, over the next ten years, their combined wealth would accumulate to so much that they could practically bankroll the Jedi Order themselves. This money would go toward paying for any allies that might help stop the Sentience as needed as well as pay off any mercenaries within the Sentience's ranks to turn the tide of any battle.
"I don't understand why Dantius never abandoned his attachment to credits when the Republic would've gladly compensated him for his troubles," Inoy admitted.
"Dantius was of the impression that if he held onto it and spent only what he needed to, he could make worthwhile investments that would advance the Jedi cause. Plus, he wouldn't need the stipend that all Jedi get which he instead had the Council channel towards humanitarian causes across the galaxy in the intervening years since he rejoined the Order. So far, it's lived up to the potential he saw in it and now with the wealth that Morgana accumulated and his general financial affluency (hailing from adoption by Muuns), we should see benefit the Order manyfold," Ashlynn told him. Inoy conceded that the wealth would indeed benefit the Jedi: with every credit of the trust fund going towards securing the Order's interests and needs, the Republic could focus on the task of helping their citizens rebuild in their all. As long as the trust fund information remained hidden from even the Council, the Jedi would benefit greatly from the proceeds in the intervening years.
Knowing this, Ashlynn commed Dantius to inform her that the Chancellor had approved of their motion to join the leaders of the Sentience in carbon freezing. "But the Chancellor has agreed only to let us be frozen for the remainder of the years that he has been allowed by the Senate. We'll be in there for the same ten years that he has put the Sentience under for while their plans move toward fulfillment. Meantime, we're going to need Morgause to put a serious lid on the trust fund unless the Council order that she donate every credit to the process of rebuilding the Republic and its people. With it, the Council won't even have to tax the wealthy more substantially than he's already going to need to for the Republic to remain afloat," she told him.
"Morgause has already signed a contract of silence, indicating that she will not speak of the trust fund and that only T7-A5 will have access to making deposits to Jedi accounts. But even then, he is programmed only to do it if Morgause approves the deposit in those accounts that the Order may afford the expense of rebuilding themselves without Republic aid. They'll also go a long way towards accelerating the demilitarization of the Order in preparation for its peacetime role as the guardians of justice across the stars," Dantius told her as he was traversing the hyperspace route to Coruscant.
"Should I apprise the Chancellor of Morgause's supervision of the trust fund?" asked Ashlynn.
"I already did before I set out with her to the other worlds. When I told him of the Sentience's leaders' need to be frozen, I originally told him that I was already going to bankroll their enterprises. I lied when I said they would need ever credit accumulated in a trust fund so that if he was somehow interrogated by a member of the Sentience, they wouldn't learn anything about it from him," Dantius explained.
"You lied to the Chancellor about the nature of the trust fund?" Ashlynn exclaimed.
"A necessary precaution against the Sentience stopping our attempts to put an end to their rampage if they end up being the next great threat with the Sith gone. Their message is guarding against corruption but we can never be entirely sure that they will not be corrupted in the process of serving their assigned duty. We need to place limits on their power wherever the Republic cannot, that is the nature of countermeasures like our carbon freezing ourselves and the trust fund that Morgause and I have together created. If we are going to put out the fire of the Sentience, we cannot do it with fire: we must be able to fight with water," Dantius explained to her.
"You've placed too much faith in your niece and too soon for this to be a healthy adventure between the two of you. Are you sure you are not blinded by your imperative to do right by your brother now that he has finally done right by you?" she replied.
"Morgause is much like her father in all of the right ways. She is resilient, she is powerful, she is ambitious, and she is patient and compassionate to a fault. Though brash and impulsive at times, she owes much more to the sins of youth (sins I recall you and I engaging in quite heavily, by the way) than to any part of her tutoring or her true nature. Besides, the fact she has sunk all of her inheritance from Morgana into this means that she is taking even greater risks than I am. Apparently, Morgana was my better by nearly four fold financially and I'm a multi-millionaire," Dantius countered.
"Let's hope the Council sees it that way, should the true nature of the trust fund ever come to light. You two are still taking a very dangerous risk, you most of all for all that you have asked the Chancellor to approve. And for what? We may never need to fight the Sentience for all we know, we may have done this for nothing!" she said.
"That's what I'm hoping but the instability of my former master leads me to wonder if his path will inevitably cross with the Dark Side once more. As it did when I served under him at Confederacy on Uriek.
"For all our sakes, I hope that the Council sees the light in your decision but with their influence and power throughout the war, we're all taking a very dangerous gamble here. Even I have sunk too far to return now that the carbon freezing motion has been approved. Has Morgause been assigned a Master who will understand her?" Ashlynn said.
"She will be assigned, by approval of the Council, to Inoy's former master Aria Tethys. Once training begins, she will be in good hands until we return from the carbon freezing to face down the Sentience if and as needed. No matter what, the Dark Side can never win," he said before cutting the transmission.