Reluctantly, Ranma said his goodbyes to Blissex and took his new data and plans back to his shuttle for the trip out to his Flamberge, the name vessel of that class. Ranko and Utena gave him a royal welcome.
And it was his concern for them that reopened certain worries about what his production could and could not do.
The two girls watched as once again Ranma paced the deck of his cabin. "We can steal some of what we need, but without ability to produce our own weapons we're never going to be much of a fleet. And, unfortunately, weapons manufacture is one of those things the Empire watches closest. Also it is among the most demanding of precision industries, with lots of rare components and highly specialized machinery required if you are going to do any good at all in your final product. Both those make it easy to track and hard to maintain secrecy. Plus," he stopped and sighed, "it's amazingly expensive."
"Go to Hutts. Aren't they weapons dealers?" Ranko suggested, brushing Utena's rumpled hair.
Her brother nodded, gravely. "Yes, trouble is they'd sell us out in an instant. They may be gangsters, but they work hand-in-glove with the Empire on some things. Escaped Jedi and the scale of weapons traffic we'd need are on that list."
"Too bad." The lady Jedi muttered, disappointed, finally turning to her own appearance.
"The Empire has entire planets devoted to turbolaser production." Ranma declared, staring out the port at the glowing lines of hyper travel. "But they're all very well defended."
"Couldn't you ask them to share?" Utena, who didn't quite understand the situation, innocently shared her deceased mother's advice for dealing with neighbor kids.
Ranko giggled, but Ranma's eyes were sparkling. She saw and stopped giggling.
"You don't think..." She got worried.
Her brother shook his head. "I couldn't ask the Empire for favors. But a Sith could!"
Immediately he composed himself to send a telepathic communication to Amelia, who could hear over long distances and was in position to put this into effect.
===========
Naga's personality prevented her from being the best of spies.
Still, she was a recognized Sith, even if not an actual one. So orders under her seal carried a great deal of weight. Of course, she'd 'died' in a hyperspace mishap that took her Victory and that convoy so they couldn't send her anywhere as a live agent. More importantly, she wasn't where they could get at her for this. But that was okay, Amelia knew where her sister kept her spare seal and stationary in the palace. Her father helped compose the messages then mother helped by rewriting them in Naga's style.
With the Imperial Bureaucracy as it was, and getting more calcified and officious as time went on, physical signed packets of sealed orders could be months waiting to be delivered before there was any question as to their authenticity.
They just made sure Sairune's fast and efficient courier fleet delivered them, anonymously, to points just short of delivery and let the Imperial Secure Messenger service take them the last step.
Thus, by order of the Emperor through his Sith, another secret project (among ten thousand or so others) rolled into motion.
What secret project would this be, then?
See other episodes by Lionheart
(Posted Fri, 07 May 2004 01:21)
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