Precipice by shadowsong26
Part 5: Lessons
Lessons: Chapter 8
Bail had, back during the War, served on several key finance committees in the Senate; and so he knew what kind of logistical nightmare it could be to keep an army supplied and functioning. Particularly when (or, at least, so they had thought at the time) no one had had advance warning or time to prepare.
Their rebellion, of course, was still probably at least a few years off from open war, at least on that scale; far enough, even, that a determinedly optimistic part of Bail could still almost credibly whisper 'maybe we can fix this some other way, maybe it won't come to that after all.' But with the rapid expansion of Obi-Wan and Anakin's contacts in the last year, Bail thought it was time to start preparing for that eventuality. No matter how much he wanted to believe that little voice in his head.
Especially since, in all likelihood, the logistical problems facing them would be far more difficult than any during the War had been. Even leaving aside the need to conceal their activities and cover their tracks, at least for a few years more, they didn't have much of an infrastructure to start from. Even without an army before the clones had appeared, they'd had the Judicial department and a few intrasystem militias to build off of, and the resources and trade routes to adapt with reasonable speed when their backs were against the wall.
Truth be told, he'd actually been thinking about this particular problem for a while now, ever since he'd had to improvise a secure supply line when General Skywalker had been so badly hurt after killing Specter. Because information, and even the physical letters Padme and General Skywalker exchanged, had been one thing, and they'd had communication networks set up from the very beginning. But a much larger, easier to track physical object had taken some doing. If they'd had the necessary supply routes and everything set up before then, it wouldn't have been quite so difficult. And when they were at a point where they would need to move significant volume-let alone weapons -they would need even more.
But, since then, solving those problems had kept getting pushed aside for more immediate priorities. Keeping up appearances on Imperial Center and elsewhere, managing actual crises and mercy missions as they came up, stealing time to visit his wife and daughter at home, evaluating his fellow Senators as potential allies or threats…
That last could be a particularly complicated one. There had been one incident, not too long ago, where Bail had misjudged the...sense of debt, for lack of a better term, that one of his colleagues had felt to Palpatine's government. It was all due to a situation that Palpatine himself, of course, had engineered, but attempting to convince the Senator in question of that would have been difficult and time-consuming, and posed an unacceptable risk. If Mon and Padme hadn't convinced him to take a step back and reconsider, things could have gone very wrong very quickly.
They had been, though. Disaster had been averted. But Bail had, as a precaution, pulled back a little from evaluating contacts as a result, freeing his attention for other things.
But between that near miss, and the fact that that Darth Infernalis was now active- openly active, going on missions and committing atrocities the way Specter had; not just a name whispered between children-Bail was convinced that it couldn't be put off any longer. Palpatine hadn't missed a beat in replacing his dead apprentice, after all, which was symptomatic of the larger issue of the overall disparity between the Empire and the nascent rebellion: the Emperor had the resources, at this point, to simply starve them out if he so chose.
Of course, this would not be a war won by resources alone-if Bail believed that, he might as well give up now; there was no way their movement could ever match the Empire for manpower and weaponry, no matter how carefully, or how far in advance, they planned. Not in his lifetime. Likely not even in his daughter's, or her children's.
Still, the more they could shrink that gap, the likelier their success would become. If- when -their conflict moved out into the open, they would need every advantage they could have. At the very least, it would go a long way towards limiting their losses, which was-not least at all. Too many people had died as a result of Sheev Palpatine's evil and ambition already.
So, under cover of discussing an education bill that had been stalled for over a year, he had set up a meeting to start getting things in motion. They might even actually discuss the bill, at least for part of the evening, depending on how long their actual business took. It wasn't likely to unstall, but there was always a chance
And every step forward, even on something seemingly unrelated to their movement, meant something. So Bail never gave up trying.
Mon arrived exactly on time, as she almost always did. He hadn't explained exactly what the meeting was about, for obvious reasons, but she didn't ask. They'd been doing this long enough; she knew he would brief her as soon as they were clear.
"Are we waiting for Padme?" she asked, once they'd gotten settled in his study and Captain Antilles had confirmed the countersurveillance measures were up and running.
He shook his head. "She's helping Pooja get situated." Padme's niece had joined her office as an intern at the start of the new session, after the Founding Week holiday, and Padme had promised her sister that Pooja would be kept far away from any Rebel activity.
Which Bail completely understood—Pooja was only a few years older than Winter, after all, and the idea of his daughter getting involved in all of this horrified him. And Breha felt the same. Padme's sister, who wasn't even directly involved herself, probably felt even more strongly on the subject.
"She may join us later," he added, "but she said to go ahead without her. If she can't make it, I'll update her tomorrow, after the nature preservation committee session."
"Right," Mon said, and accepted a cup of tea. "What's going on? Did something happen, with your…friends?"
"Not exactly," he said. "More of the same, really."
"All right," she said. "Not exactly?"
He nodded. "Just...general trends, that got me thinking. I believe that we need to start putting some serious thought into dependable funding, among other things."
"Things are moving that quickly?" she said.
"For a given value of quickly," he conceded. "But I think we'll be at a point where we need a real base of operations sometime in the next five to ten years. Assuming our…field network keeps developing the way it has been."
That was the primary issue, really; and potentially the hardest to solve with any kind of speed or security. But they would need something truly centralized in order to actually integrate the disparate cells and resistance movements across the galaxy. Depending on Obi-Wan and the others running from cell to cell, and recruiting couriers like the Nautolan Moonshot to maintain the communication links when the Jedi couldn't, was a temporary solution at best.
"I see," she said, and set her cup down. "I don't suppose they've stumbled across any reasonable locations?"
"One or two," he said. "But I don't think they've been looking in particular. I haven't discussed this with them yet. I wanted things set on our end first."
"Of course," she said, and frowned, considering. "I can start looking into base sites-there are a few places I can think of already, actually, that have some sort of facilities we can adapt, which makes things easier. But once we have a base, and soldiers to populate it…"
He nodded. "We'll need to supply it."
"I think you're better established to start working on that," she said, after a moment of quiet thought. "Most of the communication already goes through you anyway, and we can build on that, I think."
"Probably," he said. "At least for getting the supplies to the base. But in terms of acquiring them…" In the scale they were starting to build to, there was simply no way they could get what they needed legally.
"I'd prefer to go to the black market rather than steal things ourselves," she said, immediately. "On that issue, obviously, we'll want Padme to weigh in-I think the risk of exposure is about the same either way, but the potential loss of personnel bothers me."
She had a point there, but he wasn't entirely sure he agreed about the risk of exposure being equal. That, however, was a debate they could have another time. Particularly since, as Mon said, they would need Padme's input to make a final call.
"And that brings us to the question of funding. Even if we could manage something on the scale I'm picturing out of our personal discretionary funds, I'm concerned about the ethical implications." The last thing he wanted was to set their party up as an oligarchy, with the implication that newcomers had to either buy or be born into positions of leadership. Not that he or Padme or Mon ever would, of course, but…
Appearances in politics meant a great deal. And they could not afford the appearance of overthrowing a dictatorship only to replace it with their own, however benevolent. Even if they made changes to the structure of the Republic, when they restored it, it couldn't be that.
Something else they needed to start discussing, perhaps. If they found the time. There was no way the transition back to democracy would be entirely smooth, no matter how quickly or cleanly the open conflict phase of the restoration of the Republic went. But the more they could do to mitigate that, the better it would be.
Mon nodded, and started to answer, but Captain Antilles tapped on the door.
"Sorry to interrupt," he said. "Senator Amidala is on her way up."
"Of course," Bail said. "Thank you." Which was good timing, as well-Padme was still more familiar with the Banking Clan's convoluted regulations than either he or Mon was. With her input, they would be better able to make an informed decision about how to pull all of this off.
Padme was only a moment behind the Captain's warning. "Good evening. I'm so sorry I'm late," she said.
He shook his head, and passed Padme a cup of tea. "Pooja's doing all right?" Bail asked.
"Yes," Padme said, and smiled. "Luke's very excited to have her here. He's planning to show her all over the Senate district tomorrow. Dorme's going to take them."
And would probably be a better guide than a small child. But it wasn't surprising-Bail knew that Luke got along reasonable well with his cousins, age difference aside, and he'd had a lot of fun showing Winter around, too, when she'd visited. "I'm glad to hear it," he said.
Padme nodded. "So, what have I missed?"
Mon filled her in, as succinctly as she could.
"Huh," Padme said. "So, to sum up, we have three problems-finding and concealing a long-term base that can support a small army, finding and securing a dependable supply chain, and finding a way to safely fund all of this. Right?"
"More or less," Bail said. "I can probably expand our communications network, which is a start, but moving any high volume material-" He shook his head.
"I think our allies have some resources in the Outer Rim," Padme said.
"Maybe," Mon said. "But connecting our suppliers to theirs, not to mention verifying and securing routes, will still be a problem."
"Yeah," Padme said. "I can check some of my contacts, and have my handmaidens do the same. I'm not sure where to start looking for a base, though."
"What about funds?" Bail asked.
She considered, tapping the rim of her teacup. "Sourcing credits is going to be the hard part, I think. Concealing them-I know how to do that." Her mouth twisted a little, at unpleasant memories Bail knew better than to ask about. "It's the same problem as political recruitment, really. We all know how to raise money, it's finding sources that won't betray us."
Which would be both easier and more difficult than cultivating political assets within the Senate, since quite a few of them would be technically outside the political structures they'd spent the bulk of their professional lives learning to navigate.
"Why don't you go ahead and set up the accounts?" Mon said. "And all of us can start sounding out allies of this type, as well."
"All right," Padme said.
"If you feel like you should wait, while your niece is here," Bail started.
But she shook her head. "No, not for the accounting part," she said. "Maybe for running down possible supply chains, but if I leave that to Sabe and the others for now, it should be fine."
"All right," he said. "Let us know if that changes."
"Of course," she said.
"Now," Mon said. "Can you talk us through at least the bare bones of what you'll be doing? The more we know now, the easier it will be to coordinate once we have a source or two to tap."
"Sure," she said, and pulled out her datapad.
And after that, if they had time, they would either switch gears to talking about the education bill-in case anyone asked them about the progress they'd made-or start putting together lists of potential locations or things they'd need.
The point was, they were making progress, and Bail felt a weight lift off his shoulders. They had all learned the hard way, through the War and its aftermath, that being caught off guard was costly, in terms of lives and resources and all those intangible things that made them who and what they were. But this time-they would be prepared this time, if-when-the worst happened. They would be not only willing, but ready to meet it.
With that, and a little bit of luck, maybe this war, when it finally broke out in earnest, wouldn't have to last three long and bloody years.
Bail sincerely hoped it would be so.
Original Author's Notes: Hi, guys! So sorry about the long unplanned hiatus. Life got a little bit in the way, and this chapter ended up being hard for me to put together, due at least in part to writing about people much smarter than me talking about areas in which I have no expertise...
Anyway! The plan at this point is to actually put two more chapters out before the end of the calendar year, which should bring this arc to a close, and hopefully I'll be back to regular weekly updates starting with Part Six in January.
Thank you so much for your patience, and for sticking around this long 3 ~shadowsong