[18 BBY]

[Senate of the Galactic Republic, Senate Buildings {formerly Team Eriadu Limmie Ball Stadium}, Eriadu, Eriadu System, Seswenna Sector, Outer Rim Territories]

Jar Jar Binks found he hadn't liked being a Senator of the Galactic Republic soon after he became a Senator of the Galactic Republic, and that had been back on Coruscant before the universe decided it wanted to throw a tantrum like younglings squabbling over toys. Except that that tantrum had led to billions of deaths, and he, as Senator Binks of Naboo was there with all the others making things worse, being tricked and silly….and worse, trusting and giving power to the Supreme Chancellor. He'd tried to follow the advice of smart people, smarter people than he was, and….

'Now mesa in the big bombad doo-doo, justa like all'n elsesa'da peoples' he thought walking onto the benches of the Senate Floor….which was a far cry from the Great Senate Building back on Coruscant. This place was, had been, some sort of sports arena, then temporary military base, before being turned into the Senate of the Eriadu Authority as they called it. There were no fancy hover-things here, no vast sea of information to access from the droids….just a large stadium with basic voting machines and the ability to speak so everyone could hear you and be translated.

But even that felt like a small thing somehow for the difference, as Jar Jar had found all the luxury and fancy-ness of the Senate strange from the day he'd started. Deep Ocean the 'reduction' to 'wartime circumstances' as some called it made him feel less awkward and out of place than all the things he'd had to get explained to him by Padme and everyone…all the time. Simple things were good, they easy to understand and that meant he could do things without always looking like an idiot asking 'whatsa dis buttons doza?' to bad effect. Now he could read things on simple data-slates, or even actual paper, and then ask simple, to the point, questions…and get actual answers that weren't a billion-billion words meaning nothing.

No…that wasn't the thing now. The Senate had been scary, always scary, but the people in the Senate…had not been so scary as the Senate itself towered over him, and them, and he found himself *sad* or *angry* when seeing many Senators who weren't like Padme, or nice Bail and….others he wasn't with right now. Most Senators hadn't been like them, or at all like Jar Jar, or what Jar Jar expected, and they weren't scary…just bad, like lazy-greedy bad, only thinking 'Mesa! Mesa! Mesa!' about themselves all the time rather than on what people, the Republic, needed them to give…

Jar Jar glanced around the filling assembly as he took his place standing at his booth, unlocking his stand with gene-print. No, now the Senate building was less scary, but the Senators were scary, big bombad scary sometimes. On Coruscant his 'colleagues' had been lazy, or greedy, or some few like his friends who'd truly cared and fought for the good of the people. Here on Eriadu though…they were scary Jar Jar thought. Tired, but burning with energy…and so angry it felt like to him, an undercurrent that ran through the ocean of this reduced Senate. Oh, there were some Senators till like Fatty Twi'lek around, but most now were…different, even wearing uniforms not Senators robes…

'Mesa not compains. Mesa notsa wers robes either' he reminded himself not looking at his own uniform of the Gungan Grand Army that he wore in honour of Roos Tarpals….a better Gungan than he'd ever be. Some even though he, Jar Jar, was scary like he thought they were scary. Which was silly, but he shut his mouth as he had to shut his mouth so much now. Padme had taught him that on Coruscant, and Palpatine's betrayal even more had hammered it home…don't open your mouth and remind people you're an idiot. Only open it when it was important and you had to fight for something to the Naboo, or the Republic. Things were different here after all, very different.

For one he watched as Chancellor Tarkin strode in, and up to the podium, calling this session to Order and the matters of the day flashing to their data-slates and into Jar Jar's translator. It was brief and too the point, and then the scary-scary human stepped aside so the debate could begin on the….Hyperlane Taxation and Security Reform Act. Things were debated, and then decided upon *fast* here on Eriadu, not taking months upon months for preliminary debates alone on Coruscant;- no, this would pass or not pass by the end of the standard week, along with the other Bills on the Agenda. He'd spent all night reading the things, because everyone was *expected* to do that now, and all without help they'd had back in the old Senate either.

Jar Jar didn't want to be here….but there was nobody else, and the Big Bosses back home wanted him here, and if he left then they might to try arrest his friends Padme and Ani for being on Corellia instead of here. If they ever caught them of course, which was unlikely, but nobody wanted trouble….well, no one that Jar Jar liked or was friends with anyway. He was very sure there were many scary people who'd like bad things for people he cared about. For now though he push those thoughts away as he listened to the growly human from Lutrillia complain about the need for hyperlanes to be taxed equally on a planet by planet basis, rather than the long held 'Distance of Lane' method brought in hundreds of years ago. He resisted whining as he noted his time to question was coming up, so he braced himself, hating the attention that came on him, and desperately hoping he didn't make a fool of his people and homeworld.

"Tanken youse per da invitateon to speakens Honebulls Speakeners" he started as the 'Honourable Senator from Naboo' was called out on the question time list "Mesa supportins dis ah measures as de hypur-lanes issa de lifeblood of alls the worlds of de Rim, be mesa havin' concerns ah dis will hurts many worlds dat no hassa access to de hypur-lanes. Is noes fairs pays fers things hava no accesses tooes mesa sayins, an's mesa say dis whens Naboo havin' hypur-lanes and pays lessa muy-muy by this. Da Cores beens exploitins the shortness ah dems hypur-lanes an' de longness ah ours fers longs-longs times…"

He gestured with one hand, holding the data-slate in the other "Buts mesa knowin's wezza needings muy-muy credits so to fightins da war. Mesa sayins wezza makes charge ah smaller an' chargin's fees ons da tradins on the lanes so that's themsa makins muy-muy credits issa ones dats ah'payins da mosta as wells…"

This part at least could understand as the Core had been like the worst Big Bosses back home in making those with biggest patch of ocean pay the biggest amount, even if it wasn't the size that mattered, and they themselves had small, rich, ocean farms. The Naboo had tried that a few times long, long, ago the Elders had taught him when he was a youngling, so all the unfair things were being abolished now while they had a chance. While he didn't *like* seizing any of the Mega-corps ships and property….many of them had done bad, bad, things up till now and damages had to be paid back somehow…

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[18 BBY]

[Senatorial Palace, Peachtree City, Abrion Major, Abrion Major System, Abrion Sector, Outer Rim Territories]

Esu Rotsino missed the quiet days, before the madness, when her greatest priority was trying to get around the corruption of Senate 'Inspectors' that were really sent by the Mega-Corps, or Farmers Unions protesting when they had to bow to the most recent Republic bullying. Or at least she missed the fact she wasn't perpetually tired during those days, or having to juggle so many dangerous outside threats – where any misstep could lead to her home being turned into a funeral pyre. And planning out wars was not the same as planning out harvests, no matter that she'd had to learn fast on how to do just that.

Now a restored, former Republic, Venator-class 'Star Destroyer' they'd named the Hopeful Dawn was in orbit with two ancient Hammerhead-class cruisers, and a dozen light corvettes and frigates of more modern make, to form the ridiculously named 'Home Fleet'. The other Venator-class, Bountiful Harvest, they'd recovered was out handling so-called 'pirates' at the edge of the Sector. Who those 'pirates' actually worked for was, unfortunately, still a mystery but her credits were on the Hutts, or at least one of those ugly fat crime-slugs anyway. Targets weren't anything important, yet, but they were putting a lot of economic pressure to protect those trade lanes just outside the edge of 'her' territory…

'Or its an effort to hurt the Bothans and we're just getting the raw end of the deal' she thought tiredly as her Uncle's second wife, now 'Admiral' of the Sector's ad-hoc militia Fleet entered her office. Harnesso was looking just as stressed as she herself felt, and the same dark patches under her eyes as the Sector Map on the screen updated. Still the other woman bowed respectfully, datapads held under her right arm "Senator"

"Admiral…" Esu greeted back wearily but politely "…and what news do you have for me today?"

"Much of the same I'm sorry to say. Pirate activity around our Sector, and the Duflivian Sector is up, even if activity into our operational areas remain relatively low…" Esu grimaced at that. 'Relatively' would have been unacceptably high a mere decade ago "…and our production of drone-fighters remains ahead of losses for those engagements. But overall situation remains problematic as we've got our forces as strong as we're ever going to get them without outside support"

Esu smile tiredly "Sorry to say indeed, an unfortunate situation to be in. Is there any positive news before we begin?"

Harnesso nodded "Our base and monitoring station on Ord Pardron is up and running, so we are getting increased warning of enemy forces on those hyperlanes. It won't be able to handle any significant enemy forces, but it has raised out overall readiness levels. Hmm….the three Agri-corps Jedi we managed to recruit for the defence forces have proven a significant help in dealing with the smuggling problem into the Sector"

"And the bad news?"

"We are still running out of time Senator…" came the simple reply, as usual, from the military officer "…even if our stalling tactics are working, they won't work forever. We're fairly certain now the engagement at Manda was between forces coming out of the Rishi Moons loyal to the Supreme Chancellor….and the Bothans, who are also, in-theory, loyal to the Supreme Chancellor"

Esu gave a bitter smile at that. The Bothans were very publicly, and often loudly, loyal to the Republic, even if the question was 'what part of the Republic do you serve?' from anyone. At the start of the Republic's fall into civil war they'd been, supposedly, loyal to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and that was, in-theory, still true right now as well. But, as with everyone in nearby Sectors, alliances and loyalties were ever shifting by the solar cycle, and as far as Esu Rotsino was concerned the Bothans were loyal only to the Bothans mini-state they were running 'for the Republic' right now.

Worse, she couldn't risk openly stating that, or the fact Bothan ships had tried to raid Ukio about three standard months ago because at Rishi and Molavar they'd fought on the same side against the Republic (which one?} and Hutts respectively. Just like she couldn't risk aggravating the Hutts and their pirate proxies, as they'd had to ally with said proxies to drive off the Ukio raid. In truth the only ones she could risk alienating were the Confederacy, which she was, at least officially…in-theory…a member of right;- even if the ungrateful kriffers sent demands from Druckenwell, rather than aid. So she nodded, giving an unhappy, bitterly amused, snort.

"Yes, loyal Bothawui, ever loyal to….the winner I expect" she stated, another look at the Sector maps "So, yes, I know, and the Outer Rim Republic continues its slow expansion towards us as well, and Hutts continue to demand concessions…" because they didn't want conquest, merely 'cooperation' as they call it "…so we'll have to jump, it's just to where when we do"

She sighed "Do we think the Bothans will join Tarkin's lot if the pressure comes on? Or will they throw in with the Confederates at Druckenwell?"

Harnesso let out a small cough "Don't you mean our OverSector Command and noble allies at Druckenwall Ma'am?"

Esu gave the other woman a tired look "Oh, don't get smart with me niece-in-law, you know exactly who I mean. We are in private, and things need to be discussed openly"

"The truth is we can't know, the Bothans have many spies, and we don't, so unless the Hutts or others warn us we can't know in advance. If you want my opinion?" she shrugged "They'll try fight a proxy war against them, even if it means helping the Confederate Sector fleets there as a buffer. In the long-term we know we can't stick with them, because we're to be gobbled up as colonies, and slave on the farms, if Bothawui has its say on the matter. We are still between the Rancor and Lyrit now…"

"And the Hutt and a host of other scavengers waiting in the wings to feed on our corpse…" Esu sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose "Okay, show me the reports and where we are on salvage of damaged enemy ships…"

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