Star Wars: The United Terran Federation
Chapter 13: Unfolding Secrets Part 2
34 BBY / March 2057
Planet of Coruscant
Jedi Council
Day after Qui-Gon Arrived on Mandalore
The day after the Jedi ambassadors arrived on Mandalore, they had given a very thorough report to the Jedi Council. The report they provided was something not expected.
"And all the ships that the MandalMotors are building for the Terrans are completely unarmed, until the Terrans install them, of course." Spoke Jedi master Qui-Gon, finishing his report to the Jedi Council.
"This is indeed surprising. I for one would never think that the duchess would allow the construction of any kind of warship, even completely unarmed." Commented one of the Council members.
"Apparently the Terrans were willing to pay a little less than twice the cost of the ships. That and with the promise of helping to restore the planet and other financial support incentives, it was nearly impossible for the duchess to refuse." Replied the investigating Jedi.
"Reason for the ships, in such numbers, did they say?" Asked Master Yoda, who was interested in the number of ships.
The reason for this curiosity was because, within the report, the Terrans had apparently had ordered 70 Frigates, 40 Destroyers, 25 light cruisers, 10 Heavy cruisers, 10 light carriers and five fleet carriers, coming to a total ship count of 160 ships of Terran design. A fighting large number of ships to be sure.
"Actually yes, master Yoda. Apparently, they have also been under major pirate attacks for months now, and only recently have been able to properly deal with them in any sort of capacity." Spoke the Jedi master.
"Why didn't they just simply ask the republic for assistance?" Asked Windu.
"That question the Terran Ambassador gave three reasons, one they had no diplomatic standing with the republic to even ask in the first place, two the last diplomate that had to deal with insulted them by calling them by calling them 'ungrateful savages' in front of the entire senate" Explained Qui-Gon.
"And lastly, he pointed out that, the Judicial fleet as it is right now can't protect the vast majority of the republic from criminal and pirate attacks, stating 'so how are they supposed to protect us, if they can't protect the vast majority of the republic they represent', his words."
"That is a bit arrogant of them, isn't it?" Asked Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi.
"One could say that, Master. But it appears from what information that I have been able to gather, that the Terrans are more paranoid than arrogant." Responded Qui-Gon
"Is all that you have to report, Master Qui-Gon?" Asked Windu.
Remembering something before their conversation ended, Qui-Gon then added, "The only other thing left to report is that the Terrans asked to pass along a message to the chancellor and the Republic senate."
"The message, what is it?" Asked Yoda.
"That the Terran's would be arriving with diplomats within a week or two time for a diplomatic meeting." Told Qui-Gon Jinn, passing along the message.
"We will let the chancellor know ahead of time. May the Force be with you." Ended Windu, ending their Holo call.
One hour later
Office of the Supreme Chancellor
"So, we can expect a diplomatic envoy within the next two weeks or so from these Terrans, master Jedi?" Asked the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, Finis Valorum.
The Jedi Master had just finished giving a report to the Chancellor about what was found out from their investigation in the Mandlorn system. And what they told them was not what he was expecting.
They were being employed to build a large number of completely unarmed ships for a nation that didn't trust the republic because of the bad diplomatic first contact on the republic's part.
Every last question that was asked was answered with straight upfront answers, with every single one of them being the complete truth, further backed up by the Duchess herself.
"Yes, Chancellor."
"Well, thank you for the call, master jedi. I'll make sure that everything appears for their arrival."
Turning to his allied senators, he asked for their thoughts about the Jedi's report.
"Well Chancellor, this could be a great opportunity."
Wondering what his ally is. "Care to explain, senator?"
"Well, we could use them as economical competition to the trade federation."
"Continue."
"You see, if we can get them to join the republic, we could open new markets for both the core regions and the outer rim. With this, we could persuade them to attempt to expand any business into the outer rim, possibly weakening the Trade Federation before the hyperspace lane tax on the outer rim."
"Interesting idea senator let's go with it. I will lay the foundation for this idea when they arrive, I would like you all to look into ideas of how these Terrans could worm their way past the Trade federation for 'businesses', understood."
"Understood Chancellor."
"Well then, have a good Gentleman."
Unbeknownst to the politicians, a Terran intelligence Agent, Cliegg Lars, was monitoring and recording the whole conversation.
"Well, Well, Well. You really think that we will let you try to use us for your own purposes." Remarked the Terran Agent. "Too bad that we already know your plan now."
Sending the full Recording and all related information involving that whole conversation, he prepared for another day at his 'job' at the senate building, while thinking about everything that he has done the last few months from spying to intel gathering.
Surprisingly, security was very light with most things, from security background checks to the checking for bugs. In comparison, most Terran mall Cop's had better security. Mall Cops were better at their jobs then government agents, what a joke.
The greatest incompetence in that regard was when trying to get access to the private requirements. More specifically, all the hyperspace route information involving the location of earth.
Because of the fact that earth turned down the republic the first time, the republic senate had ordered all information involving the location of earth and how to get there was classified, to prevent any corporation to move in without republic knowledge and possible later get the Terran people to join the republic, just to get a hyperdrive to prevent overpopulation.
Getting access to the file was a little bit of a problem, but one that could be bypassed by accessing a lower squared system and once inside the mainframe, find the information and delete the file.
The whole process from start to finish took no more than an hour, but the significance of said process was astronomical.
Why was this little hour job so important?
Well, how does someone fight an enemy, if you don't even know where they even are in the first place?
The next day
Earth, Terran Federation
Joint chefs and minister meeting
The whole room of people had finished reading the report from the ambassador to Mandalore, Mickey Jackson had sent back once he had finished his dinner with the jedi and the Duchess. More importantly, in the report, the response to the Terran President "Truth telling policy" With the investigating Jedi.
The head of The Office of Terran Intelligence, sitting next to the Terran Leader, spoke up after reading the report. "Well Mr. President, it looks like your plan of truth works. How the hell it worked I will never know."
The President, Alexander Petrov, looked like a top spy. "Well, let's just say you're not the only person who thought that."
"But besides that, good piece of news, I can speak for everyone here when I say, we need a plan to move forward." Commented the Terran Vice President, Chen Zhen.
A newly promoted General, Bruno Leopold agreed. "I agree with the Vice President, Mr. President. We need a game plan before we do anything else."
After a few others joined in agreement with the suggestion.
"In that case, I think we should first List out all the numbers we currently have, from all military branches to the civvies." Declared the Minister of Defence, Michael Jones, using his old military lingo.
One General Luther Murray, Head of the army, began to speak about the strength of the Terran Army. "As of right now, the army is about 2 million strong, with numerous Infantry, Mechanized and Armored divisions. As of right now, the republic doesn't really any ground forces, so we have the advantage."
The CTNO, Fleet Admiral Jonson Whitlock Began to list the strength of the Terran fleet. "As of right now, we have about 123 frigates, 84 destroyers, 29 Light Cruisers, 6 Heavy Cruisers and 6 Light Carriers. A good size fleet to be sure, but still not enough to deal with the Republic Judicial Starfleet in a long prolonged engagement."
The President Frowned. "What about the ships under construction, Admiral?"
Looking at the data pad with the current reports of said ships, he was quick to reply. "Well, this time next month we should have another 31 frigates (18 from MandalMotors), 16 destroyers (10 from MandalMotors), 7 light Cruisers (4 from MandalMotors), another Heavy Cruiser (from MandalMotors) with two additional light carriers (both from MandalMotors) with our first fleet carrier (from MandalMotors), we then just need to arm it."
Taking a moment to have a drink of water, he then continued. "By next month we should be getting a similar number of ships, along with also our first Gremlin Class Battlecruiser."
Taking the chance to speak up, Fleet Admiral Ridwan Hughes, Head of the Terran Defence Force, with his Australian Accent also added, "While the TDF may not have the funding like the navy, we are doing not bad as well. We currently have 15 Dreadnaught-class heavy Cruiser, seven of which were captured from pirate attacks, 11 Carrack class light cruiser, three of which were captured from pirate attacks and 21 CR70 Corvettes."
Then continued in a near sourer voice. "We also plan to buy another four Carracks and another ten CR-70 from the CEC."
Turning to his fellow Admiral, Whitlock then commented, "Sounds like you don't like your new toy Hughes."
Quickly shooting back a response, the top dog of the TDF replied. "I'm not saying I don't like the ships, they're fine. However, that doesn't mean that I care for them that much."
Wanting a more in-depth explanation, the Admiral sigh and continued. "The ship is good for republic standards yes, but not Terran standards. Most of the crews are force to work with equipment that are years behind what they are used to. Most of the ships are slow and clumsy, and in my opinion, under armed. Hell, I've even as some designers to look at said ships to see how we could refit them to bring them up to our standard. However, that's not going to happen any time soon because I don't have the funding and the dam pirates keep hitting us so much, we barely have time to do repairs, let alone full ship refits."
The Minister of Defence then speaks up. "I believe that if Joe can get the money, and Jonson's ships to take care of the patrols, we'll get your ships refit Hughes. That I Promise."
Then the head of Office of Terran Intelligence, Jack Harper began to speak as well. "I believe I could arrange a respite from the Pirates. The data from the last pirate raid provide us the location of their main base." The last point got everyone's attention.
The man raised his hand before anyone could demand a fleet to be sent to deal with the pirates, once and for all. "Before anyone goes off and attacks, there is something I wish to also include. A few weeks ago, my analysts found something within the republic data banks, something very interesting and if we play our cards right, very valuable."
"Apparently, many years back, the republic attempted to retake control of the outer rim with a new fleet of automated dreadnought heavy cruisers called the Katana Fleet. To make the story short, something happened, and the fleet was lost with all hands. When going through some old records, we found old information about the general direction of said ships. Taking in consideration of local area and possible drift, my people believe that the Katana Fleet ended up just a few light years away from the pirate's base of operations."
"How many ships are we talking about, jack?" Asked Hughes.
Harper dropped a bomb shell. "About two hundred dreadnought heavy cruisers."
If anyone was asked what happened next, they would all say that there wasn't a person who didn't swear.
Taking a chance to see if the Harpers plan is what he was thinking it was, The CTNO begins to lay out what he thinks the plan is. "Let me see where your thinking is going with this. We send a task force to deal with the pirates, when this is going on, another small force, under the public eyes of going with that main attacking force, goes and looks to see if this Katana fleets is where you say it is and maybe takes the fleet back to Terran space if it's where you think it is."
The head of OTI replied with a smile. "How did you guess?"
After an hour of planning the new operation, the President decided to get back on topic. "In any case, even with this new fleet of ships, what are our chances against the republic in a war?"
Harper then frowns. "According to our analysts, we could win a short war by launching a full-scale attack on the core and rush them. But anything longer than a year and... we will lose. The republic will use its full industrial might and simply overwhelm us with numbers while they send their Jedi to infiltrate and attack our own industrial base. Either way, we still take Heavy losses, losses that we might not recover from."
"So, our best bet forward is to let Ambassador Terrance Ford make the next move and establish diplomatic relations with the republic while we deal with the pirates."
With the game plan set in stone, it was the republic's turn to move.
Peace or War was up to them.
Planet of Coruscant
Terran Pelican
In route to the landing platform
Two weeks later
Ambassador Terrance Ford was once again nervous.
Scratch that, not nerves, no, he was scared.
He didn't know if he was very lucky or cursed.
Being the only real diplomat that has had experience with the republic, he got the job to be the Terran ambassador to the Galactic Republic.
'A nightmare of a job to be sure.' Thought the man, just thinking of the enormous challenge ahead of him.
To begin with, he had to address the republic senate and explain that his people didn't want to join them, then arrange some sort of embassy, trade deals and all the other stuff.
Then, attempted to get the corrupt senate to investigate and possibly prosecute the Trade Federation for funding pirate attacks.
And to top it off, prevent them from getting involved with any Terran politics.
'So much to do within so little time.' He thought, as the pelican shacked as it slowly descended towards the senate building, he hadn't even arrived yet and he still was stressed with work.
Suddenly, the pelican's pilot began to speak over the PA system. "Ladies and Gentleman, this your pilot speaking, we will be landing the Republic senate building shortly. Thank you again for riding Pelican Airlines and have a good day."
Within moments, he could feel the Pelican land as his security team exists and takes a look around before calling that it is clear.
Walking out of the craft, the first thing he noticed was the tall, mushroom-shaped dome building.
Next was the Republic delegation coming towards his transport. From what the OTI gave him, there were a few republic senators and the Chancellor, Finis Valorum, walking towards his party.
The old Human extended his hand out, which the Ambassador separated and shacked. "Welcome to Coruscant Ambassador..."
"Ford, Ambassador Terrance Ford of the Terran Federation. My thanks to the welcoming committee."
"Well then, please follow me."
As they walk through the building, Ford looks out the window, noticing the vast city he comments, "Such a vast and wonderful city, no wonder this planet is your capital." Playing the 'it looks beautiful' card.
"Why thank you. Having a population of over Two Trillion people and being the center of all trade in the galaxy, makes one of the best planets in the whole galaxy."
Under the mask of delight and curiosity, he was quite bored and unimpressed. 'Isn't he overstating the greatness of this planet, like the crime rate are the heights in the galaxy for peats sake. And there's no color, just gray buildings without any real difference between each other.'
They soon arrive at the lavish office of the Supreme Chancellor of the republic and take a seat.
Before the Terran could get the first word out, the Chancellor began "Well ambassador, I guess we should get to work right away in order for your government to become a member of the republic. Since it's been over a year since contact with, and the fact you also acquired a hyperdrive means that you also have established colonies they will also join. But you will have to cut back on your military forces until we arrange the formation of a judicial fleet to protect you and …" "And I'll stop you there, Chancellor."
The older human gentleman was surprised, being interrupted rarely ever did it happen to him.
"You seem to be in the belief that the Terran federation will be joining the republic. Just to make sure you understand, we are not."
"Why? Both your people and your government could greatly benefit by joining the republic."
"Really, how so?" Asked Ford, in the most sarcastic tone possible.
"The republic has a very large economy that could assist your people to bring their lives closer to galactic standard and with our government, your people will have great amounts of stability that will..." "I'll stop you there again. Let me make it clear why we won't join the republic, Chancellor.
One, my people have a strong enough economy as it is without the republic 'supporting' us. In fact, according to our economists, we will probelike crash our own economy. We also believe it would take nearly a hundred years before our economy even begins to recover.
Two, our standard of living is currently better than the rest of the galaxy which has had some of the highest unemployment rates for a long time. That doesn't include the great many slaves out there in the galaxy still.
Three, your government has too much corruption. Currently, I would be willing to bet that over half of them are currently taking bribes of some kind right now. And the way that your government is set up, we won't be able to bring our own problems to the table, at least not without bribing every last member of your senate.
And lastly, the restrictions on our military are way too far reaching and restrictive. At our current strength, we can only just keep our worlds safe. And that's if your government doesn't stare giving them more support and funds."
The last statement shocked not only the Chancellor, but every non-Terran there.
"How dare you sir. This Republic does not support criminals or pirates."
"If that is true, then why is the Trade Federation, a member of your Galactic senate, actively funding pirates which have been attacking Terran planets killing hundreds, if not thousands of our people."
"That can't be tru-…." Finis Valorum was once again interrupted once again, this time the Terran raised his voice.
"My government has plenty of evidence to prove this. And since they are members of your senate, this means that your government has actively been attacking my nation. That fact itself could be considered an act of war and you're wondering why we won't join your republic."
"Calm down Mr. Ambassador. I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement to take care of the Trade Federation without escalating it to a full out war."
For the next few hours, an agreement was forged between the two parties. In exchange for not joining the republic and not signing any military restrictions in regards to the Terran Military if no major build-up of military or ships on the border, the Republic will launch an immitted investigation into the trade federation with the evidence from Terrans have gathered, with the possibility of taking them to court.
Unknown to the Republic side, the threat of war was a large bluff on part of the Terrans.
With this new agreement, it was the belief of everyone that the peace would last for years to come.
No one would ever think that the apparent guardians of the peace, nearly destroyed it all, just six months later.
Hello there, StarTrekBattlestar123AMF here. I hope you all enjoyed the story so far.
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