Summary: Politics everywhere! Well, at least there's potentially a future for bunnygirl fashion!

  Chapter 71: Viewpoints

  —Coruscant – 1 Month into the Hutt Crusade—

  "Well, this has worked out far better than we could have expected. Guess it's a good thing you held off on smacking your future boytoy, Padmé! Why, I think we might need to reward him~. I've found a source that can make those Bunny outfits! Asora was quite happy to send me the pattern for them…"

  Padmé groaned, too exhausted to lift her head from where she was lying, arm covering her aching eyes as she rested on the couch of her office. She had, at least, remembered to order better furniture be installed while she was off pnet. The fact that seventeen listening devices had been found in the process had been more than a little irritating, though. Yet another in an unending stream of things she'd had to deal with since returning from Tythe.

  As much as she wanted to gre at Sabé for her comment, part of an unending stream of suggestive teasing she'd endured regarding Izuku, it just wasn't worth moving right then. Ever since their return, she'd been bombarded with meetings and special requests. Sabé wasn't wrong that the results of their gamble with the League had been the closest thing to drawing Pure Sabacc on a pot that could break the house. Suddenly, Padmé was among the most sought-after Senators by literally every side of the giant free-for-all the Gactic Senate had descended into.

  Now if only she was sure that 'breaking the house' wasn't a literal statement.

  While, in some very important ways, what the League of Free Stars had agreed to had put out a few critical fires, it had started dozens of smaller ones at the same time. There had been some grumbling over her uniteral assumption of a position of official contact between the Republic and League, but the position was risky enough that most of the true power pyers hadn't wanted it. The fact that she'd also gotten everything they officially wanted and sent her out to her had been a major point in favor, too…sort of.

  The pacifist faction was the most pleased with her results. They were disgruntled by the fact that the first and primary observers into the war weren't from their own handpicked people. But the selection of worlds involved that would get immediate observers was a cross-selection that was hard to compin about. Most of them also hadn't quite processed just how bad it was likely going to be when the majority of the 'war crimes' broadcast were actions by the Hutts. Few of the idealists had ever been out to the Outer Rim Territories at all, let alone Hutt Space, and couldn't quite compute the reality they were dealing with. Padmé remembered Tattoine painfully clearly, and suspected most of the peace faction were in for a rude shock when their 'Send Observers' pn backfired on them badly.

  That much at least wasn't Padmé's problem. For the moment, that section of the Senate was pleased with her results, and there was no realistic way for them to bme her for the inevitable backfire. They were being annoying in badgering for more access to Tythe through her office, but that much was manageable and had been mostly expected. The groups that were less manageable were the wildly divided Corporate and Core World interests that had mentally hiccupped, then dug in their heels at the idea of ratifying the Communication and Free Trade agreements.

  The Trade Federation, shockingly enough, hadn't even blinked and was still trying to push the ratification through as fast as possible, with no addendums or alterations deemed necessary. It had taken a few back channel meetings, using her new position as leverage, for Padmé to figure out why that was. Hoersch-Kessel Drive, Inc was currently headquartered in Hutt Space. They hadn't been originally, but they were now, and one of their rgest shipyards for production of the Luchrehulk cargo ship was over Nimban. A pnet which was, as of now, under the control of the League of Free Stars.

  Technically, the Trade Federation had plenty of yards outside Hutt Space that were producing the css. But legally, those yards were now stuck in a grey area, as the official headquarters that controlled the licensing of who could and couldn't build the ship was no longer part of existing trade arrangements. If the wrong people realized that and decided to make it an official issue, the Trade Federation might well be forced to temporarily halt all manufacture of their signature cargo ships. Something that, while not outright crippling, would certainly be painfully expensive. Particurly when they still hadn't fully recovered from the hits they'd taken post invasion of her homeworld.

  They were clearly quietly freaking out about the whole thing, particurly as they weren't officially supposed to be the owners of the shipyards and designs any longer. Hoersch-Kessel Drive, Inc had been 'sold off' after the Battle of Naboo. One of the concessions that the Trade Federation was supposed to have made into downsizing their fleet and limiting their monology as punishment for their 'criminal overreach' with Naboo. Padmé was personally irked at discovering they'd pyed shell games to get around that punishment, and grimly amused that it was now backfiring on them.

  Unfortunately, the Trade Federation was one of the few major factors out of the original group that had pushed for the ratification that hadn't backpaddled. Hard. The revetion that the League was serious about stopping criminal activity from moving through Hutt Space was a threat to the bottom line of some very big fish. Worse, some of the Chancellor's loyalists who believed in stronger centralization had caught onto the little detail that systems along the Hutt Space border could legally leave the Republic via old agreements about that region of space being a 'soft border.' The agreement was ancient and had never been an issue before. But now a wide array of groups were throwing up blocks, trying to argue that since it was a 'new polity' that a 'new treaty arrangement' would be needed for the League. One with more clear definitions of who owned what.

  Padmé was stamping on that idea hard, and with a fair amount of luck. She'd even gotten some very weird allies, like the meeting she'd most recently gotten out of. Senator Orn Free Taa of all people had approached her to offer his not inconsiderable influence to help in pushing the ratification through. Apparently, Ryloth was interested in trading with the League? The karking Corellian hells if Padmé knew what that was about. But Orn Free Taa was legitimately influential in the Outer and Mid Rim worlds. He even had quite a few Core World connections. Much as she personally found the man a bit…less than pleasant. He would be a useful ally.

  As would Count Dooku of Serenno, though he had seemed more interested in setting up a meeting with Master Midoriya through her. Shaking that particur oddity off and finally deciding she had to surface from her thoughts, but still not wanting to move, Padmé called out to the room at rge. Filled, now that her st meetings of the day were over, with just her and her handmaidens.

  "Alright. So Orn Free Taa is onboard for some reason. Weird, but useful. Sabé, make a note to find out just what the kriff his angle actually is. Count Dooku's too, if you can. Dormé, you've been fielding contacts from Mina and the others of her power block. What are they saying right now?"

  Her newest handmaiden was quick with a response.

  "They are tentatively happy. Mina, in particur. Onderon is located in The Slice, and the entire region of space is seeing a sharp drop in pirate and sver activity as they flood toward Hutt Space chasing the Cartels' Credits. Even if no one thinks that will st, the chance to get their own pnets and hypernes more firmly in order than they have been in decades is making pretty much all the worlds of The Slice happy. Well, except for the Hutt leaning ones, obviously. But even those worlds are providing a lot of the mercs headings to Hutt Space, so they aren't actually all that unhappy either. It's not like the Hutts inspire loyalty beyond credits, and credits are currently flowing to those 'allied' worlds in massive amounts."

  Padmé snorted. She couldn't help but let it slip out, able to practically hear the air quotes Dormé had used. That sitatuion was, frankly, a bit hirious. Even the Hutts own supporters were happy the Hutts were being attacked, since it meant the slugs had to cough up more credits for help. No wonder the Senate was such a jangled mess at the moment. Izuku couldn't have picked a single target in the gaxy more likely to confuse the few braincells the Senate had left to rub together!

  "About that, the chances it will st, that is. Eirtaé, you've gotten a lot of information from the Gungans, right? How's the analysis of the League's chances actually looking?"

  Her engineering-focused handmaiden sighed.

  "I've only a vague idea at best. I've made contacts with a few military people we can trust not to leak the information, but no one has fought on this scale in so long that even the best strategists we can get safe access to are uncertain. What I can tell you is that the hardware the League has is…almost unreal. Their ships are bad enough, with several new technologies being reported that no one has ever even heard of before, let alone seen in active mass deployment. But it's honestly their ground elements that are really kriffing scary."

  Padmé blinked, finally stirring enough at that to at least turn on her side and make eye-contract with Eirtaé.

  "What? Everyone has been going on and on about their fleets and where they came from. I've barely heard a word about the ground forces?"

  Eirtaé sighed again, slumping to rest her head on one hand. She looked almost as tired and haggard as Padmé, now that she was looking at her properly. Not good. Padmé was going to need to find a way to increase their staff size. Even with some additions she'd ordered brought in from Naboo while they were away, they were being slowly overwhelmed by all demands on their time. Making a mental note of that fact, she listened as Eirtaé expined.

  "I know. It's the easy thing for Armchair Admirals and militarily illiterate Senators to think about. X number of big ships means Y result on paper is easy to understand. Strictly speaking, though, despite no one knowing where it came from? Kuat's defense fleet could shatter the League's entire order of battle by drowning them in tonnage. So could Corellia, and a few of the other major ship manufacturing worlds could match the League's numbers, at least. No, the kriffing horrifying thing is the way they've completely rewritten the book on ground-based hardware. They've rapidly rendered traditional force mixes pretty much obsolete."

  Eirtaé frowned, clearly trying to come up with a way to put it in context for the non-engineers in the room.

  "The new droids are bad enough. They are way better than the complete shit that Trade Federation was using on Naboo, and you know those were dangerous."

  That got head nods all around. In truth, the B1s that made up most of the assault on Naboo were pretty…weak. But there were so many of them that they could drown you in numbers. The Gungan's Grand Army had been mauled even just in a very limited engagement, one focused on distraction. Despite its own surprising capabilities, the Gungan army would have ultimately lost if the Droid Control Ship hadn't been taken out.

  "But I've been pawing through reports of mass use of Power Armor, as well as some new types of walkers that are far better than anything I've ever heard of. Artillery, tanks, air support. They've got a bleeding edge army bigger than even someone like Kuat or Corellia maintain. Aside from a few militaristic species like the Ailon, I can't find any reference to existing armies this big and well equipped. Not unless you go way back to the Mandalorian Wars, at least. Even most of the various Sith/Jedi wars fielded quantity more than quality when it came to regur troops. It's worse, of course, if you look only at current militaries. Most of the gaxy's modern fighting forces are more police than they are true militaries, boss. Heck, ours is the same way, despite the additions we've made."

  Padmé frowned at that. It was…true so far as she knew? Without any truly serious wars in the st thousand years, no one really maintained huge ground armies. Why would you? Generally, if you were defending it was better to spend your credits on ships and orbital defenses to stop invaders from reaching the ground at all. You only needed a rge standing army if you were an invader. Which, she realized with a sinking feeling, was what Eirtaé was getting at. There weren't any comparable forces out there. Even the ones that did exist were out of date compared to what the League was fielding. Even casting her mind to the limited history lessons she'd had on the New Sith Wars she couldn't think of a comparable force, either. Wars typically happened too fast for someone to pre-prepare a qualitatively superior force of the size the League was fielding.

  "I don't know if they are going to go the distance, Padmé…but if they don't, there will be a fantastic body count required to pull them down. One way or another, things aren't going to go back to the way they were. Already, I'm hearing some half-panicked whispers about R and D teams being put together in a hurry to try building a counter for the League's groundside units. Right now? Anyone that can't stop them in orbit sure as hell can't stop them once they nd. Not unless they dogpile them with numbers that make me shudder to think about."

  Which meant, even if the Hutts could somehow defeat their fleets, they might not get their worlds back without burning them to ash themselves. Silently, she hoped very, very hard that Izuku and his people knew what they were doing. If they didn't, this was going to be a lot uglier than she'd been imagining even just a few minutes ago. Thanks ever so much Eirtaé…

  ... ...

  Mace Windu was, for once, gd he was bald. Mostly, it had to be said, because he was virtually certain that he'd have been physically pulling it out by now if he didn't regurly shave and wax. Sighing, he looked to his companions. The very fact that this wasn't a full meeting of the High Council, instead barely a third being present, with a few other prominent Jedi joining them, said unfortunate things. Still, as Master of the Order, he had to ask the question they were gathered in the small meeting room for.

  "How bad is it, Knight Fisto?"

  Kit Fisto was a promising young Knight. So promising, in fact, that he was on the short list for Master status in the near future. Much as Shaak Ti had been before she left, though perhaps not quite so close. Knight Ti would have already been a Master if she hadn't been busy with the Karazak situation. Knight Fisto's possible promption wasn't why he was with Adi, Mace, Eeth, and Depa at the moment, sadly. The four of them were the glue trying to hold the Jedi Order together, while their fellow High Council members were pushing and pulling in opposite directions regarding the recent upheavals in the Order. Grandmaster Yoda was staying entirely out of it for now, trying mostly to shield the initiates from any arguments spilling over.

  As for Knight Fisto, he was here because he was one of the most gregarious of Jedi Knights. A friend to nearly everyone and enemy to few, he was the perfect person to help them get the pulse of the younger, faction-unaligned Knights. Which was the group hardest to get the measure of, as the situation currently stood. The fact that he winced when the question was asked wasn't a great sign. Not that any of them had really been expecting good news. Your first few years serving on the High Council did a good job of quashing such nonsensical optimism.

  "It…could be worse. Mostly in the sense that we could all be falling off a cliff with a Sarcc waiting at the bottom!"

  Adi groaned at the joke, and Eeth Koth snorted but said nothing. Thankfully, Fisto was more serious with his follow up.

  "Truth be told, the Knights are…restless. The ones that didn't jump immediately are unhappy, but in wildly varying ways. Those that lean more traditional are unhappy that the Council is taking a wait and see approach with what they consider 'defectors,' wanting those who left to be brought back and censured."

  Mace tried not to sigh at that. 'Defectors' was a term that Saesee Tiin and Oppo Rancisis had started using, and it had unfortunately spread from the two High Councilors to many that believed as they did. That, regardless of right or wrong of the situation, it was beyond the pale for so many Jedi to simply leave and cease following Council directives. Individual, nomadic Jedi were one thing. Dozens leaving all at once was something else entirely. At least such was what the traditionalists, or perhaps reactionaries was the better term, felt.

  "Conversely, the ones that were too cautious to leap immediately, but were already unhappy with the status quo and the growing Senate corruption, are equally annoyed. In their case, they see the Council as having failed, because someone else had to take up the duties they believe should be part of our fundamental mandate. They want firm action from the Council, now that action has come, to act against the bad actors within the Republic. Such as many of the known problem actors within the Senate. The fact we did take down Senator Ask Aak and several others a few years back is pointed to as proof we can and should be policing the Senate to root out the corruption."

  That made Mace want to curse aloud. They'd had Ask Aak dead to rights and gotten several of his associates as spsh damage. But even with all the proof that the, at the time amnesiac, Knight Secura had arranged to send them, the move had cost the Order considerable political capital. They'd gained some with certain factions within the Senate too, but on the whole they'd lost more than they'd gained. Trying to unch some sort of crusade to clean out more of the corruption would likely turn the Senate as a whole against them. Doubly so right now, when half the Senate was screaming about the 'on vacation' Jedi who'd gone off to join in the efforts against the Hutts.

  "Kit, can you tell us how likely we are to see mass movement one way or the other?"

  It wasn't Mace that had spoken, instead being Adi Gallia. It was the core question for which they needed an answer, though. What Knight Fisto had said so far was really just a more votile reflection of the Jedi Masters within the Order. Even the High Council was currently split three ways, with their own group being focused on holding everything together. Meanwhile Masters Aerith, Koon, Mundi, and Piell were pushing for action in favor of aiding the war against the Hutts and removing Senate corruption. Masters Tinn, Trebor, Kor, and Rancisis on the other hand, argued vehemently against it. Not all for the same reasons, but whatever their individual reasons, they were each staunchly opposed to either the Hutt War or the Jedi that were leaving. One, the other, or both.

  "Master Gallia, that's difficult to say. Right now, I'd say no. But only because both sides are waiting for the High Council's public reaction. If the Council stalls much longer, the situation will change…possibly to the point of outright violence. I wouldn't have believed that st part, until I started asking the right questions. Feelings are strong on the topic and, at least among the Knights, we're facing a potential active split in the Order. To the point a few of our more hot-blooded members could easily end up dueling in the corridors. Given that the Temple Guard are all heavily on the Traditional side, I wouldn't expect them to come down unbiased if that happens, either."

  Eeth Koth whispered a quiet curse. Inappropriate, maybe, but Mace certainly wanted to join him. There had always been factions within the Order. But this test series of events had struck a weak point. When there is no question that the enemy who was being warred against was corrupt and morally bankrupt, the ability to argue that they shouldn't be fought became dubious. Yet, the Senate would never authorize them to act in such a way against the Hutts. Which had brought the division between those that believed they were servants of the Republic first, and those that believed only the Force, or even only Good and Evil, mattered.

  Mace himself leaned strongly to the idea that they were supposed to be servants of the Republic. Yet, it was difficult for him to argue that the removal of the Hutts wouldn't be a net positive for the Republic itself. So long as what repced them wasn't worse. Hence, his own position of neutrality. As Master of the Order, however, it was his job to keep the Jedi Order as a whole from fracturing and descending into infighting. Something which was becoming increasingly difficult.

  "Okay. That means simply waiting this out is out of the question. We need to create some sort of middle-ground here. We are virtually certain to lose some more Jedi, possibly from both sides. But we have to keep the core of the Order intact. I think our only route forward is to take decisive actions that both sides can rgely live with. Cleaning the Senate is beyond our reach. But many of the Corporations screaming behind the scenes are not. Not if we can prove there are illicit reasons why they want Hutt Space to remain under Hutt control…"

  Slowly, Mace Windu spun out a pn, trying desperately to avoid hitting too many of the shatter points he could feel looming. He was depressingly aware that there was no way at all he could avoid them all…

  ... ...

  Anakin Skywalker set down the special, encrypted comm that he used to periodically contact his mother. It wasn't the original. Anakin's curiosity about the comm having long since demanded he investigate it. Something which had almost destroyed the thing, given that whoever had made it was a seriously paranoid soul. Only the fact the Force gave him an edge over whoever had built it had saved the day, allowing him to disassemble most of it without destroying it. To this day, he still hadn't been able to break into the bck-boxed encryption module, which was frankly both maddening and impressive as hell.

  None of which was particurly important at the moment. The re-built version of the comm was something he kept hidden in their Master-Padawan quarters at the Temple. Given the sorts of adventures he and Master Obi-wan got up to, with Anakin being somehow on his third lightsaber because of them? Well, he wasn't about to risk a bck boxed comm he couldn't replicate out on those missions.

  Which meant that, despite news of what was happening in Hutt Space being all over the intergactic broadcasts, and Knight Secura's face being pstered on many of them, he'd need to wait until their ongoing mission was over to contact his mother for information. That she would know something was practically a given, causing Obi-wan to have been just as interested in cutting their mission as short as possible while still getting the job done.

  Now, finally back on Coruscant, they'd called Shimi to discover just what she did know. The results of that conversation had been…riveting. Jabba and Gardul were dead, Tatooine was somehow reforming into a three-party representative government that included the Tuskans and Jawas, and it was all being led by a Jedi named A'Sharad Hett. A Knight who had apparently been raised with the Tuskans. Anakin was seriously surprised he hadn't known about Hett, though he supposed he didn't exactly socialize with full Jedi Knights much. Regardless, and back on point, the whole coup had apparently been a thoroughly pre-pnned action.

  An action that was only one of a massive, sweeping series such preemptive strikes that had occurred through Hutt Controlled or Hutt Influenced space. The scale and depth of which staggered the mind. The whole affair was made all the more staggering with revetion that the better part of fifty Jedi had already 'gone on vacation' and made their way to Hutt Space. Including, much to Master Obi-wan's incredulous disbelief, one of his Master's own close friends in the healer Bant Eerin. All of which begged certain questions.

  "Master. You once expined to me, at length, that it was essentially impossible to wipe out the sve trade. It appears someone crazier than you has decided you were full of bantha crap."

  Obi-wans expression was chagrined at that pointed comment. Though he slowly shook his head.

  "Even if they win completely, it won't wipe the trade out, Anakin. You know that. Admittedly, however, it would be a hell of a lot rger a blow to it than I'd ever imagined possible. I admit I never considered the idea of someone starting a Crusade that scaled this far. Let alone one targeting the entirety of Hutt Space, instead of just their Republic-side operations."

  Anakin could certainly give his Master that much. While he'd dreamed of wiping out svery himself for obvious reasons, he'd never quite gotten beyond 'free every sve on Tatooine' in his own daydreams. He'd still firmly believed that the Jedi should be doing more, though, which made his next point inevitable.

  "So, when are we joining in?"

  Obi-wan sighed at his apprentice considering it a foregone conclusion. Yet, the same part of him that had demanded he remain on Melida/Daan pointed out that he wasn't exactly someone who could point fingers and tsk at those who'd left the Order for principles. He'd done almost exactly the same thing, if on a much smaller scale, to resolve a single civil war on a single pnet, in defiance of his then-Master Qui-Gon. Something told him that, with an even bigger cause, one that hit close to home, tugging at him…that Anakin wasn't going to ignore it. Regardless of what Obi-wan said.

  "First, we need to find out what the Council pns to do, Anakin. Clearly, they aren't stopping Jedi from going. But they may have something more in mind to act within the Republic as well. Let's ask some questions, find out how the Order as a whole is going to react…then we can talk over our options."

  Anakin, who looked like he wanted to steal a ship and head for Hutt Space right this second, reluctantly nodded. Obi-wan had bought himself time to think, at least. Now if only he was sure the Order as a whole even had an idea what it was going to do. He hadn't admitted to Anakin that he'd made some quiet inquires while they were on their way back to the Temple, and it was obvious the High Council was split and currently stalling for time.

  This might call for more than just talking to the Council. He could and would give the Council Shimi's information, in case they didn't have some of it yet. But there were other pces he might get yet more for them to work with. It might just be time to visit a certain diner that Qui-Gon had long ago introduced him to. And, more importantly, have a chat with its owner. It had been a while since he'd dropped in on Dex, and the Besalisk had a lot of knowledge about the Outer Rim stuffed between his ears…

  ... ... ... ... ...

  A/N 1: Padme was a bit less fun this time since it was mostly politics, but she still served as a good viewpoint to show a bit of what's happening with the Senate. As well as to point out a little detail that may have gone unnoticed...

  A/N 2: Specifically, something I didn't notice myself, at first. That, in making a proper ground force for the League...I sort of accidently made something that doesn't normally exist within Star Wars. Even in most of the Eras where everyone hadn't been disarming like idiots, full blown ground armies are unusual in Star Wars, since most defense efforts focus on Space first. Pretty much the only major faction that ever makes proper Ground Armies are the Mandalorians, even the Sith generally outsourcing that...to the Mandalorians. Not even the Empire ever really went into full army groups. The Clones in the Clone Wars came closer than most, but were sort of bad at being an army. Mostly they ended up as several million commandos forcefully shoved into an army role and acted like it. Rather than like an actual proper army. With them not even existing yet...the League currently has one of the only proper armies anywhere in Star Wars. With a few militaristic species as just about the only exceptions.

  A/N 3: The Jedi, meanwhile, are stirred up internally. It's REALLY hard for any of them to argue that the Hutts don't deserve what's happening to them. Yet, at the same time, the Jedi that are leaving for Hutt Space are going against the 'Republic' and Jedi Order alike, in many ways. Causing the silent tug-of-war between patriotism and following the Force to get dragged front and center.