Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 364 (Patreon)

For about twenty minutes, Leia outlined her plan to reorganize the Rebellion. She wanted to create a real chain of command so she didn’t have complete dictatorial control over everything, and she wanted to spread some of her power and work to her ministers, so she wasn't the keystone of the entire operation. This was, of course, a direct reaction to what happened with Mon Mothma, so almost every single one of her group was nodding in agreement, as were most of my people.

She then continued, explaining they would be recreating the Rebellion's original charter, which would reaffirm the commitment of the core groups, as well as allow them to include smaller groups, as well as new ones. Then she moved on to our inclusion, the section she called the Pages of Collaboration. 

Her description was considerably less casual now than it had been the night before, her words precise and clear, describing the first page that would outline our actions, the bond, and what we had provided, while the second page and beyond would be what both sides pledge to the other. This is where we'd lay out our deals cleanly, with no room to sweep us under the rug.

It was clear that she had already talked to her people, and that they already knew her plan, as there was hardly a single shift in their demeanor. My people were a bit more active, but they stayed mostly calm since I had given most of them a quick rundown the previous night, once Luke, Leia, and Winter left our home. 

The first step, creating our first page, the introduction to our group, was pretty simple, as it was just listing off some of our accolades, how we had helped the Rebellion, and why the Rebellion valued us, along with why we valued them. The hardest part was agreeing on the wording, though even that wasn't particularly difficult, since we weren't trying to get away with lying, and the Rebellion was usually happy to describe us as positively as possible.

By the end of the day, we had finished writing our introduction, the page containing five points of contribution in total. First was the supplies, equipment, and starships we provided, all at a discount, and a large fraction of the payment delayed. It outlined several of the larger ships we sold them, as well as the general volume of supplies we supplied.

After that was our willingness to perform direct, high-risk missions for or with the Rebellion. They focused on our rescue of Wedge, Hobbie, and Tycho from the Imperial base POWs, as well as the mission to destroy the fuel depot that disrupted a large sector of Imperial space. They also mentioned several other missions we had done for them, most of which were done by the other fleets.

The remaining three focused on our own crusade against the Empire, specifically our blitzkrieg of outer rim assets with our Dovah-class ships. The battle to take down the Executor was its own point, since it was such a large battle and stood out as one of their most successful operations ever, and the page ended with mentioning our direct assistance and contribution of several secure rebel bases. 

Honorable mention went to the encouragement and supplies needed to start using droid assets in the field, something the Rebellion had been doing frequently once the idea was proven to work. 

As the day went on, each of those concepts was expanded on, explained, and modified with properly flowery speech, eventually filling a full page. They even added mentions of "communication difficulties" being their fault, which wasn't much, but the fact that they were willing to mention our issues in a permanent document went a long way.

At the end, both Leia and I signed the page as witnesses that the words were true, and that we were working together for the betterment of the galaxy. We then broke for the day, both sides tired but satisfied with the progress we had made.

The next day, we began discussing the remaining pages, where we pledged what each side was getting. Immediately it was clear that this process would be significantly less simple. Some of it came easily, especially since we were still sticking to the same ratios for our sales, meaning around forty to sixty percent of each sale was added to a growing debt, which the Rebellion would have to begin paying six months after the Emperor's death.

It was still a trap, of course, since I knew the Rebellion wouldn't magically control the entire galaxy after beating Palpy, and that paying back nearly a billion credits in six months was something no one could do without access to the full funds of a galaxy that wasn't at war. They may be able to pay in installments, but that would mean owing a large amount of interest.

Once the contract was triggered, we would have an incredible amount of sway in the resulting government, simply by offering them time without interest accrual, or even offering to forgive a chunk of the debt in exchange for consideration, political sway, or whatever else we wanted.

If we had been bad guys, we would have had the New Republic over a barrel, because the only way they could stop it was through drastic measures that a newly formed government, still at war with the Imperial holdouts and warlords, couldn't survive. Now, once the pages were done, even drastic measures would be off the table, as their other allies would not be happy to see us treated so poorly, since it was a threat to them as well.

Over the next few days, the pages were slowly filled, ideas going back and forth, talking about things like safe harbor, mutual protection contracts, and several other ideas. Part of me was very against the idea of tying myself down to the more restrictive pledges, though some of them did make a certain amount of sense. On the third day, we agreed to send aid should one of their major groups or bases be under threat, and in exchange we got a safe harbor agreement out of them, which would allow any of our fleets in need to seek shelter in several large Rebel bases. We also strengthened our intelligence sharing, now much less one-sided, with us now feeding things we learned into the Rebellion's intelligence databanks. In exchange, Sheora would work directly with Rebel Intelligence, creating our own assets and influencing missions.

We also formalized our agreement to give the Rebellion first dibs on any starship at corvette scale and above, which was fine since we were already following that almost completely, so confirming it didn’t cost us much.

Perhaps the biggest offer, something I should have seen coming but was caught off guard by, was the promise of inclusion in whatever government the Rebellion instituted on the other end of the war. While that sounded like a no-brainer, being part of the core group of worlds that directly supported the Rebellion and were guaranteed a seat at whatever came next would carry a lot of pull in this new government.

I knew from the books that being part of the core group had brought places like Mon Cal, Bothawui, and several other planets to the upper echelon of political power. All of them were powerhouses, remaining influential in the political systems even decades later.

Getting in on the actual ground floor, surrounded by places like that, would all but ensure we had a huge amount of influence. That combined with our rising importance and fame, as well as the huge amount of debt the Rebellion owed us, meant we were looking to become a serious political heavyweight from day one.

Of course, such a thing didn't come for free, and they were looking for something in return. 

“We would like to purchase several Dovah-class heavy cruisers,” Leia revealed. “There are some who would have preferred you trade us the plans so we may build our own, but I convinced them to purchase the ships instead.”

“How many do you want?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

“To start, we would like six of them,” she responded. “But we would also like assurances that we can order more as well.”

“... twenty million credits each,” I said, listing a price five million credits more than the ship cost to actually make. “And that will get you every other ship out of the yards until you have six.”

That got quite a few looks, both from my side and the Rebels, both surprised I was so quick to offer up our new ship. Thankfully, I had already considered this possibility, discussing it with several people, and the fact of the matter was there was no point trying to hoard the Dovah-class.

The tech necessary to make a Dovah equivalent was based on ion cannon designs that existed long before we came along. On top of that, the galaxy at large already had plenty of experience with how to put large spinal cannons on ships. When it came down to it, people didn't use ships like the Dovah because they assumed, based on popular opinion, that large ship-mounted cannons were not worth the cost, which, given the success of the Malevolence, Palpy might have been actively encouraging.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, it was only a matter of time before people realized that we didn’t have a monopoly on the idea and started making their own. I was willing to bet that the Empire was already looking into getting their own program going. Thankfully, it was not likely that they would use ion weapons, which meant they would be missing the rather big point of being able to fire instantly on arrival. Basic laser weapons struggled to hold powerful charges that long, which is why the largest weapons had much longer charge times. Meanwhile, ion cannons simply required power and capacitors, meaning they could be pre-charged and fired with considerably less difficulty.

In the end, agreeing to make six Dovah-class ships for the Rebellion was a good way to pad out our agreement while also making more money, most of which I intended to invest directly back into building a second ship berth alongside the one we already had. I didn’t know if it would be another of the same size, or if we would be building something new, maybe to build a different model ship, but I knew I wanted another one. 

“Twenty million credits is a sizable price,” Leia pointed out. “That is a bout half the cost of an Imperial Star Destroyer.”

“And it’s more than half the size,” I pointed out. “Even ignoring the Central Core Cannon, the Dovah is a capable warship, runs on a small crew, and can carry enough starfighters to be considered a decent carrier. It repairs easily, with easy-to-source parts, and it can take a beating. Taking into account the Triple C, twenty million credits is a steal.”

Leia frowned, realizing she couldn’t quite argue with my points. The Dovah wasn’t a cheap ship, but it was worth every credit. After a moment to consider the issue, she offered a counter idea. 

“Would you consider applying the same deal we have for ships taken from pirates and the Empire to the ships you make?”

“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible,” I responded, shaking my head. “Reducing the amount by such a significant amount would mean producing it at a loss, which is not acceptable for us. Cutting it down partially until there is no profit is also an issue, as how else would we pay for the next one.”

She frowned, not happy with the response but forced to accept it anyway. Before she could decide whether it was worth trying to negotiate a lower price, I threw her a lifeline. 

“There are other ways to lower the cost of production,” I pointed out. “Quite a few of the parts are relatively common. A few Imperial raids could lower the price for each by a few million.”

If they provided the parts we weren’t capable of building ourselves, that would significantly decrease the cost per ship. At this point, with our steadily increasing production, we could make a Dovah for just under fifteen million credits.

“We will provide a list of appropriate parts, things the Empire produces and ships in suitable amounts,” I explained. “Contributing some of those parts would reduce your price.” 

“...I fear if I don’t take your deal, Minister Ackbar will be quite disappointed,” Leia admitted, before nodding in agreement. “Very well, six Dovah-Class heavy cruisers for twenty million credits each, adjusted with available parts.”

“You have a deal.”

I said, nodding and reaching over the table to shake her hand. 

Negotiations continued, and while a lot of the finer details, the nitty-gritty of what we were debating, were already decided, we still had some things to discuss. Eventually, we opened the floor more directly to our entourages, letting them poke holes and suggest additions. After nearly a day of fine-tuning everything, one of the Rebels brought up the Jedi. 

“Our forces have greatly benefited under Luke Skywalker, and while she remained with us, Ahsoka Tano was pivotal to our early years,” they pointed out. “The Rebellion would likely greatly benefit from being loaned even just a few Force users.” 

“While I disagree with the word ‘loaned,’” Leia added, giving her subordinate a look. “The idea is not without merit. We recognize the command structure of the skyforged is different, and that they are individuals, so bartering for them without their input would be unethical, but if there is a way we could amicably negotiate for their services, we would happily engage.” 

“While we do have around a hundred Jedi or Force sensitives on Nirn, I will not order them to leave and aid you,” I said with a frown. “The Jedi have been burned by being voluntold to fight in a war before, and I refuse to put them through that again. Not even the ones who have fully integrated into the Skyforged Vanguard and are part of combat teams. Their choices are their own, and I won't override that.” 

“Admiral Deacon is perhaps a bit too protective of his people, of which he considered the Jedi to be a part,” Master Amescoll said, speaking up after I finished. “Only a small number of Jedi are willing to fight anymore, but there are some who would, and more who would be willing to advise. I will ask for those willing, on the condition that they are not subjected to the standard chain of command.”

"Who would see the benefit of these individuals?" One of the rebels asked. "If they are not part of the Skyforged directly..."

“Not only is Nirn now our home, but Admiral Deacon and the Skyforged Vanguard have supported us, rescued many of us from less-than-fortunate fates,” Jedi Master K’kruk responded, though he was sitting up on the rows of rising seats behind us. “Any credit or influence gained from our help should be shifted to their benefit, as without them, many of us would be lost among the stars, unable to help at all.”

"Those willing will come to me, and I will contact you or your people," I finished, catching Amescoll's eye, the older man nodding. "For now, let's move on.