[17 BBY]

[Command Bridge, Command Deck of Moff Daron Stormcrow, Eriadu Authority Capital-class Warship Stormcrow, Republic 5th Fleet (reconstituted), in orbit Cyrillia, Cyrillia System, Cyrillian Protectorate, Expansion Region]

"Enjoying sparring with Padawan Kestis?" I asked Ahsoka as she came unto the bridge, my fleet parked in orbit of what could be called Hutt friendly world. We had blocked out any external comms the moment we'd hit the system, though, ideally, they wouldn't complain over much after we handed over our prices at what one could call reasonable rates of sale. We were privateering after all, not pirating!

Ahsoka gave a smile "Yes actually, I did. He's feeling better I think doing so"

"That is good to hear" I replied with a sigh. I'd have liked to give more time to our recent 'recruits', especially when they were a bunch of elite clone commandoes and a padawan that'd lost his master. They'd actually come to Bracca at different times, and I hadn't realised there were female clones, but it seemed they'd decided to lay low here…till the Confederates rolled into town and resistance kicked in. Cal Kestis…I hadn't known, nor his master, but Ahsoka and Bariss vaguely knew them, so they were 'mothering' him as it were. Unfortunately, I'd been rather busy these past weeks between teaching Ahsoka and running the raids to do more than a spar with the padawan, meeting the commando squad, and occasional small talk. Braika was handling that side of my ground forces for now.

I shook my head "I'll try make more time, but right now…"

She waved it off, coming over and looking at the star charts "Bariss explained, you explained, it's fine, he understands, so do they…I wish Rex was here, but…"

"Well, I'm sorry to say we'll be trying to steal them for ourselves, rather than those fine fellows on Corellia that you work for when you're not part-timing here Knight Tano" I told her with amusement, studying the tactical displays, and the galaxy map more importantly "Same with Cal"

"Hmm" was her reply to that, I chuckled as we were in competition, but it wasn't for any massive secrets either here and now. Even the galaxy maps, which were rather secretive, weren't entirely there either. No, our star charts were a multi-level, multi-map, multi-variant, analysis of a number of star charts, the main of which being overlaid here being the ones the Republic had, along with those the Confederates had. Ones we'd updated as we'd ripped the data from their data drives, and as such most of the hyperlanes and star systems had that 'Republic known & Confederate known' colour scheme.

But beyond that there were various smuggler routes we'd either bribed or threatened into knowledge of, along with the star charts from the Jedi Archives I'd gotten access to. Why they were different to the Republic ones despite being theoretically available…I wasn't sure, but, they were, so that was another layer. Followed by a few that Celeste had known, or Aayla Secura had update from her starfigher databanks, as well as the Jedi serving astromechs thanks to Moff Kota. We'd even gotten what we'd paid for off the Hutts there as well, along with my hidden bases…though those, like a few other worlds and routes, weren't visible outside secure units like my helmet and secure eye-reader monocle thing.

'Command monocle?' I mused mentally as I was wearing it right now, there being worlds like Ossus and Russan visible to me, but not to Ahsoka, along with a number of hyperlane routes to and from them "As you can see…I'm plotting our next moves"

"How long do you think you'll stay here? It's out of the way, and you're selling those transports"

"A day at most" I stated honestly with a shrug "We can't afford to linger in settled systems, even an out of the way place like this. Second, we're gone they'll report us of course…but that's fine, nature of the business, but trying to block their comms for days on end might make them mad and impede business. And this place is an unofficial Hutt aligned system, hence the bribes"

She made a face at that "Those…sleemos, do you have to?"

"Have to?" I shook my head "No. But, well, it's a bad idea to provoke them at the best of times….and these are not the best of times. Can't let personal feelings get in the way of business dealings, especially in a war like we are in. Especially when I'm doing very dangerous and foolish things like planning a deep raid into the heart of enemy territory. You worked for them after all"

"The Council sent me to rescue a youngling" she replied, arms folded across her chest "And even then they back stabbed us!"

"Nah, they just got a better offer from the CIS after the fact" I replied tapping the controls to adjust the displays to try judge travel times and what status the data was at or timestamped from "The Council were right in that decision, even if it's less than pleasant. Oh, of course, that's why we've only got fourteen ships here of the fleet as well by the way. Sudden, but inevitable, betrayal and all that by the locals making them predictable"

It was more than that of course. We'd taken several supply ships intact, along with the data-cores and droid-brains of several of the warships escorting them, and therefore gotten good data off of them. We had solid penetration into the Confederate C loop because of the way they worked, and we'd done our damned best to confuse the situation too. The Raid at Gamorr had involved my Stormcrow and thirteen other ships, and we'd captured two warships near Rhommamool and Osarian that we'd sent off false data-trails about us, hours after we'd taken them.

Only destroying them when we'd data-mined them totally and informed CIS High Command of being attacked by my ship and thirteen others. That was the key, as they were much, much, better at information security now than early in the war, but I'd been ensuring the own systems continued to be state of the art for this task. But we also needed to avoid their sensor nets, and vengeful fleets as…dumping all those hyperspace mines on the Corellian Run at both Gamor was going to piss them off royally. Confluence of multiple hyperlanes after blowing up a forward logistics hub?

'Well, that's what Grand Moff Tarkin wants me to do…wreak havoc them' I thought as I tapped a series of smaller, smuggler, lanes that would bring us towards potential targets over the course of a week or so. Then, beyond that, a system that wasn't on any modern charts, but had nice options for little ol'me beyond that star system; Ruusan "But, for now, we get out trading done and regather the fleet…"

--

[17 BBY]

[Ambassadorial Quarters, Bothawui, Both System, Bothan Sector, Mid Rim]

Voe Atell, Senator for the Corporate Alliance to the Separatist Parliament…

'We well and truly have to rename that' she thought to herself as she studied the documents with said name on it that the Bothans had provided. They were de facto part of the Confederacy now, but she didn't trust them over much as they were clearly attempting to manipulate events to their trade advantage even before any such negotiations truly began!

The worst part was that the last negotiations had been a grand success, led by Onderon in the person of Mina Bonteri, and now the obnoxious human's faction was in the ascendant. In part because she'd made a successful peace, one that had broken the Republic…and then the Confederate Fleets had fallen apart without Dooku and Grievous till recently. Recently, where they'd had great success…till they hadn't, and she'd gotten the bitter fruit to suck on of attempting to negotiate with a weaker hand…

'Though, be fair…' she reminded herself firmly as she sat with her delegation, sans the Bothans for now, over what could be called a working breakfast '…we were winning and therefore unwilling to settle for anything less than our demands at that stage. If only we had kept winning'

She resisted a sigh, allowing the small talk to continue a moment after they had ordered from their waiter droids, before trying to focus them all "We should get started, even if just to decide our likely position now that we have the Tarkinist delegation in town, as well as the start of one from Corellia"

"Hmm, yes, and I'll say I'm mildly bothered by that" By Bluss, the Leyakin, grumbled politely "I'd expected the presence of the military junta…"

"They did…or do?" Voe's Gossam collegeue, and another Bonteri ally, Amita Fonti offered "Coruscati-Alsakans I mean, they just aren't…officially here you understand"

Voe nodded "True Amita, but I agree with By, that they were clearly in negotiations with Corellia, and we did not know that till now, is a concern. Along with the bad news of the morning, - Tarkin's pet raider hit Gamor, disrupted the hyperlanes, and then vanished off into the wild once more, and the Kuati have taken back a slice of system all the way up the hyperlane to Zeltros"

"Thankful then that none of the Republic factions have the capacity for a mass offensive" By hummed thoughtfully, nodding to them "According to our intelligence services, and those of our new member sectors"

"They just stand to do enormous damage to our already damaged economy" Voe said back, and that was the main thrust here, and largely why the Trade Federation was being held back from the delegation, beyond advisory roles. Their attitude to 'reparations' was, frankly, delusional, as even Voe could see that the Mid and Outer Rim represented by Eriadu was simply too strong in the short term to simply overwhelm militarily. It was a similar issue when it came to the Core and Colonies regions….the resistance was simply too much to overcome without years and years more of war. And, in the end, the simple truth was that both the populace at large of the Confederacy, and the various corporate backers of the nation, were exhausted.

'Some of us win, some of us lose, but, overall, we have won the war with the Republic. A few sectors here and there are worth the costs considering all our future gains' were her view on things, but one couldn't say that out loud of course. Mostly because places like Sullust were, in theory, founders of the Separatist Alliance…even if they'd clearly jumped starships since then, like a few systems in the galactic south. Voe's instructions were to ensure that market share, of some sort, was restored into the former Republic territories, though primarily into lost sectors of the galactic south. That, at the least, might ease the issues with the Commerce Guild and Trade Federation for lost facilities and the like.

"They do, I don't think it will change much over how the war ends…for us" Amita said almost sadly "Because, truly…once we stop fighting them, they'll turn on each other"

"Let me finish that for you" Voe offered with a chuckle without much mirth behind it "Turn on each other till there is only one left and they declare themselves the rightful heirs to the Republic and now want their systems back thank you very much"

"I'd prefer if that was just cynical thinking on your part Senator Atell, but I tend to agree with you" By agreed thoughtfully "But that requires one of those factions to win outright. Something best avoided"

Amita frowned "Unpleasant to think so"

By Bluss nodded "I agree, but we'd best bare it in mind for our constituents. We need to stabilise our new members economies, clear the hyperlanes of pirates, as well helping those pockets that have been reunited with our Core territories once again. I myself have hopes of breaking off Eriadu, the Mon Calamari…even perhaps Mandalore, from the Republic succession wars in the medium term"

Voe snorted at that "The Mandos? No, sorry, you'll not get my vote there. That Sith wannabe over on Dac I can tolerate because we can ignore them economically, Tarkin and his band of merry barbarians on Eriadu….largely because they have resources, and our sponsors need to get back to selling into those markets"

Amita nodded "I am loath to agree to such warlike talk, but the Mandalorians are not to be trusted by civilized folk. Indeed, I have doubts the Corusca-Alsakans will accept peace terms! But the others…yes, tolerable. War has drained us all. The galaxy is war-weary my friends. I am war weary"

Voe nodded at that, looking at the others "I think we all have been so. Things seemed so bright and brave when Dooku rose up…and now, here we are, years later, shorn of so many great leaders. Still forced to deal with the corrupt and squabbling Republic and its petty interests!"

By gave a guffaw of sorts "Ah, but at least this time it is divided and weak. We can be free now, and they cannot stop us this time…"

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