[4 BBY]
[New Palace, Rwookrrorro, World of Kashyyyk, Kashyyyk System, United Wookie Kingdom, Mytaranor Sector]
Grakchawwaa, High King of Kashyyk, frowned as he looked out from the balcony of the new palace at the forested city before "Yes Tarfful, I know of this problem. I also agree with you that we most do more. But…we cannot draw water from these stones. Not now at least. You say we need a true. I agree. But how to afford such is beyond both of us"
"It is needed"
"Yes, but the what and the how are the trees we fall from" Grakchawwaa said to his fellow Wookie, and subordinate Chieftain as the General was being purposefully unhelpful it felt like "We cannot increase tariffs, that would start a war with either or both blocks of the Old Confederates. I cannot increase taxes any more upon our people, the High Families, let alone the people, as a whole, would not tolerate such. Such talk of doing so are merely words on the wind"
That was the greatest difficulty for defending the world, let alone the system beyond; the Galactic Republic was long gone now, and his people were not of the means or mind to 'be a power' as some wished. Yet independence, and remaining so, required effort and sacrifice, and they had already given so much….he had already given so much. Even his own blood. All so the system once again stood independent and free despite being surrounded by enemies; despite vast invasions they had turned back. Yet that had come at a cost, burned forests and cities in turning back that tide; cities needed rebuilding, and forests long years to truly heal and return to former glory.
'If they ever can be with the compromises made for defending them' Grakchawwaa thought unhappily, as even Rwookrrorro itself had been forced to skilfully integrate three captured Lucrehulk wrecks, a theatre-shield, and various defensive batteries into the forest itself. He himself could see and feel it himself, the wrongness it brought to the capital city, as did many of the residents even if the youngest of the younglings seemed blind to the works. Every city across his world required similar sacrifices, though each was different based upon the Clans, Houses, or Chieftains that had taken responsibility for their creation from the wreckage of the invaders, what could be scavenged in space, or what could be purchased through contacts beyond the homeworld.
"We need to be ambitious my King" Tarfful argued coming to stand beside him "We have had but a few years peace, but it will not last. Oh, perhaps not for us as a target at first, but…"
"And attempting to create a true orbital shipyard by such as this plan would cause us to be a target, let alone the resistance from the Houses you, yourself, know have been vocal against any further centralisation" he told his general with a head shake and growl "My friend we are creating a defence as secure as we can afford, both in credits and in relation to our neighbours. Many of whom could crush us should the political will arise on their side"
That was the harsh truth that some, including to a certain degree his old friend Tarfful here and his faction of Chieftains, struggled to accept. Yes, they had driven off the invaders…because the invaders had collapsed into civil war, and the political will to keep throwing armies at his world had evaporated before that point. Even the presence of Grandmaster Yoda and his Jedi had aided the battle, along with remnant Republican forces…but Kashyyyk had stood alone in the end. And still stood alone, and would likely continue to stand alone, as it existed between the power-blocs of the reformed CIS, the Trade Federation, the Hutts, and the regions claimed by the New Republic. Not the pirates weren't a problem either, or potentially the Mandalorians returning to the Sector despite being quiet for now.
The other 'truth' was that they had collected quite the fleet from scavenging the battlefields of the invasion, and then the system itself…
Even before the battlefields of the Confederate Civil War had been a business that was continuing to make many of his subjects wealthy even now, and likely for many years to come if peace remained. It had certainly contributed massively to the vast web of city-to-theatre-to-planet shields and defences created in the last GalStandard decade and a half, and would continue for another decade at least. Almost two dozen 'battle-stations' were in orbit now, integrated into the planetary and moon shields, but these were merely Lucrehulks with the hyperdrives torn out, replaced with interdiction drives, and then welded together to form a 'battle-station' by welding three ships together.
It was truly the best his people could do, as their strengths lay not in the vast mass production of the former united Confederacy, or production yards of the Core that was the Republic. Even his people's nascent fleet was hard maintained, with the eleven Venator-class Star Destroyers they'd inherited from refugees, remnants, or 'gifted' in prisoner exchanges…had turned into six individually crafted refits from cannibalising the others. All while having to call back warriors and merchants from beyond the system to successfully crew them; Tarfful believed they could expand the Heavy Starfighter production, and small freighters, up to true fighting vessels.
Grakchawwaa knew that was impossible. Yes, the two-seater heavy fighter was a success, and they had built a decent number. But it had it required linking rebuilt CIS droid-fighters to support the Howling Shadow Heavy Starfighter, and it had stretched current production capacity to deliver the force required. There was a reason he had been forced to have a few droid crew frigates and hired 'mercenaries' by allowing them settle here to avoid persecution elsewhere – there was only so much their world could do, and afford, now. Or that he still followed the stipulations of his original treaty with the CIS, despite it having split into multiple factions, and that Grandmaster Yoda ensured his Jedi stayed here once they were officially declared Knights or Masters. Because they were the toughest of hardwoods….there were axes out there that would have no trouble shattering their bark. So, calming down hotheads, continuing the growing trade, and subtly, carefully, increasing defences was the best that could be done for now. That and ensuring neutral ground that proved too useful for others to use that attacking them was too costly in other ways…
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[4 BBY]
[Private Grove, Outskirts of Rwookrrorro, World of Kashyyyk, Kashyyyk System, United Wookie Kingdom, Mytaranor Sector]
'What a beautiful sight after weeks aboard a starship' Rachi Sitra, Jedi Master (of Corellia) thought to herself as she was escorted to the private 'cantina' or 'garden' after taking a shuttle from orbit. And compared to many sights she'd been stuck with in recent years it was a pleasant change of scenario for the lilac-skinned twi'lek, though it was not quite as her memories of home, Ryloth, were. Then again, Ryloth had supposedly changed a great deal since then, so the twi'lek Jedi merely smiled, savouring both the beauty and the calming feeling within the Force of the place of meditation and repose.
"Quite the place to conduct our meeting" came a male to match the quiet feeling in the Force, arriving at the same time as she "Better than most I've come across"
"Just as I was thinking!" Rachi said cheerfully, turning to her right "Knight Kestis"
"Master Sitra" the red-haired human said with a faint smile on his bearded face "But you can call me Cal"
Rachi smiled back "Ah, not the stern and terrifying Imperial Knight! Then call me Rachi Cal, nice and informal, since we are being secret holo-vid agents and such"
It was childish sounding way to put it, their efforts to retain some measure of the flame of the Jedi Order, but being overly serious was a flaw at times as well. Because these were not formal meetings, not formal anything, but rather personal efforts to have lines of communication open in this terrible galaxy of chaos since the Republic collapsed. All because, formally, she was not to acknowledge the talented, and dangerous, Jedi Knight standing before her by anything other than 'padawan', just as he was likely to view her as 'Knight' perhaps, as that had been her title when the Fall of the Order occurred. Silly, so very silly….but it was politics, and, much as she was loathe to admit it, the Jedi Order was forever trapped by those politics. They just had to admit to it now, because they could no longer lie to themselves any longer.
"Leave the youngling inside you, you have not" said a bemused, but tired, voice one Cal Kestis had already given a bow towards "Master you are now"
"Master Yoda"
"But ever young at heart!" she couldn't help but reply with joy tempered with sadness "Grandmaster"
"Oh, no more" the small, green-skinned Master of the Order hummed back from where he sat on a stone 'chair', amidst a circle of such in the centre of the garden "Sit you should, talk we must"
The worrying part was….the old master looked so…old somehow to her as she did as was asked, the slightly younger Imperial doing the same as they sat amidst the circle of equals as the circle of stones was named "Come in peace we all do"
"With gifts even" Knight Kestis offered with a faint smile, looking every bit the Imperial Inquisitor, Hunter of Dark Jedi, she'd imagined in that moment, holding up a holocron it seemed "Perhaps to make up for not sending a Master, as both of thee are. But, secrecy is hard, and…my job involves such travels and is not suspicious as all I can offer in defence"
"No offence is offered, no offense we take" Master Yoda said kindly, holding his walking stick, shaking his head wearily "Come together we do to share what little can be shared. Dark it has become, some Light we must shed in these times"
Kashyyyk, and Master Yoda's…Sect, could be considered Neutral Ground, of a sort, much as the Hutts could be as well, though their 'neutrality' was not pleasant to a twi'lek's mind. But she worried when Master Yoda passed away what would happen, for while she could now travel with Cal Kestis to within the Empire, and see her homeworld before meeting Rahm Kota and his sect, and the Stormcrow's…
How long would it last? Especially as the New Republic restricted her own Sect ever more to Corellia in the face of the abomination that they called the New Jedi Order?
It was such an unsettlingly curious thing, that the so-called Empire's Jedi Orders, no what the called themselves, with their dangerous, heretical, inclinations in some actively engaging with darksiders…were by far the most active in fighting the Dark Side. Her own Sect, and especially Master Yoda's, were increasingly locked to their 'worlds', and for Kashyyyk it had been so for many, many, years. It was evidenced by the young Knight here who was not a Knight, but rather a Shadow in all but name;- an Imperial Inquisitor, trained by both Rahm Kota's Sect and then the ever on the borders of heresy (and beyond) the Stormcrow. Part of that was why she herself was conducting this 'tour' of her world of birth and then to discuss philosophical differences between their varying Sects so they, ideally, did not become poisonous. With so many former knights and padawans having fallen in the dark years since the Fall…well, they had to continue avoiding it here.
"Concerns you have, worries, yes?"
"Yes Master Yoda" she admitted, nodding "The New Jedi Order as it is called…are not Jedi, or, perhaps, not as we would wish them"
Knight Kestis gave a wan smile "Ah, but that has been said of myself and my former master as well"
"You did marry a darksider witch good knight, as did your former master, that does have some marks against the Code" she replied, but teasingly, not offering insult "Still, what we have seen form and take shape upon the ruins of the Temple are not…ideal. Those that truthfully followed the Dark Lord lurk upon Kuat, hiding in sight, but the Official Order taking shape is Falling in ways that are dangerous to far more than a Dark Side temper tantrum as some Fallen suffer"
"Because they have not Fallen, they are just…twisted?" Cal Kestis asked calmly, and she nodded, Master Yoda studying her, them, in silence a moment "We have heard of the training methods of the New Jedi Order, not much, but what we have heard is concerning. And that is with experience dealing with damaged and….twisted…younglings due to darksiders"
"They claim Temple teachings, but…" she started to say, trailing off, then shaking her head "That is true, and it is a hard-line they take it seems, but the official manuals are too….military"
"You won't get a major argument here. Trying to impose a one-size fits all Force Users training and framework is very much opposed by certain Masters" and she knew who Cal meant of course "But, can we discuss this in detail, our knowledge is limited…"
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