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On the other side of the river, the idea of letting those four ships in the hands of any regional power is a worrisome one from the Senate's perspective. I am certain that the Republic Senate will authorize payment of what, is it called prize money?"
"I will release them to your care, Chancellor, when all of my people are accounted for." Padme grimly handed a large sheaf of papers across the table to the Chancellor. Her grim appearance was aided by her white makeup. Since she was working as queen at present, Padme was dressed in her formal robe. I wonder if the reason we keep these stuffy robes around is as incentive to get our work done. The faster we get meetings like this done, the faster we can change out of them, after all.
Palpatine glanced through the papers, all of which looked like hospital and obituary reports, followed up by citywide missing people reports. As he did so Padme explained, her voice serious despite whimsical thought. "There is a large difference between the number of missing people being reported both in my capital and in other cities in comparison to the ones that are known to have died during the occupation. What happened to them? Where did they go? Are we looking at some kind of long-term hostage situation, or have they merely been misplaced elsewhere? None of the Lucrehulks left the planet, so we have no worries of them having been taken away en masse. Yet even so, that begs the question of where they are."
Putting the papers down one after another, Sidious frowned. "I…do not have any idea where they could be," he said honestly. "Is this disparity accurate? Naboo is currently missing upwards of 11,000 people?"
"It's accurate," said Master Piell. He had heretofore been silent, speaking up for the first time during the discussion. He had allowed the Chancellor to be the mediator for this meeting between the two principal leaders of the planet, only speaking up when asked details about the battle, what he thought about the distribution of the weapons, and whether Naboo should invest in a planetary shield generator. "I talked to the police chiefs of the various cities myself this morning, and they've been very thorough about keeping records of who went missing. I have Obi-Wan looking for video footage from any of the cities that might show anything unusual at the moment. I imagine he will have something for us later today."
"I can understand your concerns, however I fail to see how holding the four Lucrehulks will help. I am already dealing with a backlash from the Senate about our high-handed nature in ramming through reparations from the Trade Federation, as well as my push to limit their military power before the trials of Gunray and his fellows finish. If you keep those ships, you're just going to look petty, I'm afraid," Chancellor Palpatine said sadly. "They really should return to the trade routes they were assigned to before this. There are dozens of systems that need their goods."
"I can deal with looking petty, so long as I hold a very effective hammer over the Trade Federation," Padme said dryly. "I've already spoken to the representative they sent here to speak on their behalf as their Gunray languishes in my jail, and he knows nothing about this. But he is just as dismayed as you are that those ships remain under our control. Not that Naboo could actually do much with them. We lack the industrial base to make best use of ships of that size."
"Hmm…" Palpatine mused, leaning back, frowning. He let the Lannik Jedi and the fat amphibian discuss possible hiding places for that large a group of hostages for a moment as he thought. The four ships weren't really that important to Sidious in the long term, but they represented a tremendous amount of capital and investment from the Trade Federation. Easily able to hold an entire army of droids each or literally trillions of credits worth of merchandise, those ships, and their ability to build hundreds of them, had, along with their knowledge of the hyperspace trade routes, been the reason the Trade Federation had become so powerful.
Yet despite their massive size, they had proven to be vulnerable in this, their combat debut. They had good armor and shielding, but their anti-fighter defenses were a major weakness in their design, as was the fact that the control type's signal output marked it out as the flagship. Then, of course, was the fact that once inside the energy shield, the central control sphere was horribly vulnerable to attack.
Sidious had wanted to remove those ships from Naboo ostensibly to have them destroyed, or handed over to the Republic for humanitarian aid missions that would net "Palpatine" a major boost in public relations. Then, of course, once they were out of the public eye, the Lucrehulks could be used to start building up the Trade Federation's real military strength hidden away from any prying eyes out in the Outer Rim. The Trade Federation had all the infrastructure and industrial nodes ready to go, but they still needed to be transported, and at this point all of the Trade Federation ships were being watched too closely for any of them to do that. Yet it would be some time before that lack will truly matter in the long term…
"I will agree to this," Palpatine said, interrupting the discussion going on and addressing Padme. "And I will inform the Senate of these missing individuals. We will put as much pressure on the Trade Federation as possible in the court of public opinion both here and throughout the Republic. We can contact several intergalactic news agencies to run the story. This might not work, but…"
Just then someone knocked on the door, and the queen turned, holding up a hand to stall the Chancellor's words. "Come in?"
Obi-Wan came in then, leaning heavily on his crutches and moving forward slowly, his movements a mockery of the speed and quickness he had shown before his injuries. He had been cleared to leave the bacta tank, but his legs were still very wobbly underneath him, and even with bacta gut injuries took weeks to heal.
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