Chp-7: Upgrades People, Upgrades!

Chp-7: Upgrades People, Upgrades!

My terminal hummed quietly as I surveyed the statistics of the Minda system. Three and a half months into this backwater position and I was doing pretty well for myself. A refinery in the belt, a scrapyard being built, new cities springing up, more colonists… Frankly speaking things are looking good.

And so, I turn my vision to the future. While things are good, they aren't what I expect Las's mother to consider adequate. While digging through his memories is a foggy experience, the general sense I get from Commandant Mola is harshness. The kind of person that sets high standards because she herself is capable of achieving them. Very much like Tarkin. Probably why he promoted her to Commandant.

In terms of further improvements, I have some options, which I have condensed into a plan of sorts. That plan was to invest, invest, invest! That is to say, invest in the people of the Minda system. After all, what is an economy if not the collective actions of a shit ton of people? And if those people are educated and the like, that means they are getting better paying jobs(income tax!), buying expensive things(sales tax!), purchasing land(property tax!), and more.

The first step was education. Simple enough, all things considered. Try and poach teachers from neighboring systems with tax breaks and higher government salaries. If I could one day build a university that would do very well, but that's for later.

The second step is expansion. By expanding the colonies, more jobs open up with the newly founded industries, which attract workers and their families, which expand the population, therefore allowing for the expansion of the colonies, etc… This includes setting up mining colonies on Minda-1 and 4, in the hopes that there are valuable resources there.

The third step is trade. With all these new resources, if I expand the trade fleets, and when the capitol station is set up in orbit, that will allow for both myself and independents to export their ore. This will in turn attract more companies, entrepreneurs, and independents to Minda looking to get a piece of the pie. All this fuels a growing economy, bringing in more settlers, who get fed through steps 1 and 2.

The fourth step is less of a step and more of a guide throughout the whole process. Moderate yourself. If all this expansion happens to fast, not only do I risk bankruptcy, which might force me to beg the sector moff for money(not happening) or Las's family(just kill me), but if I bring to much prosperity in a short time frame I get the wrong kind of attention, which could get me killed for someone else's ego.

City infrastructure had been improving as well, with better public transportation, housing, and education, the people had been very happy, especially because I had only slightly raised taxes for short periods of time to pay for some of these. Most of the budget came from government run installations in space. With the spider-web idea really coming into fruition, each region of Ugea, even the oceans, were designated with a number, Accordia being Region 1. Each region that was inhabited would have a Nexus, that being the largest city in the region, and then multiple sub-Nexus's that connected to the smaller towns/villages that were spread about. This allowed for resources, developments, infrastructure and more to follow a route that makes sense, spreading from the most populated places down to the boonies.

Now, there are some other measures I have been planning that would be beneficial, but nothing particularly major, as they were mostly administrative measures.

These included the formation of planetary councils, groups of people elected by the citizens to represent the area they lived in at a higher level, like U.S Senators. These representatives would number at 3 per region, and could only hold office for 5 years, after which they had to step down, and could not be re-elected. These representatives would be chosen based on a tiered voting system. Towns/villages with a population exceeding 300 would vote for their choice of 3, after which those teams would be sent to the sub-nexus cities in their region to be voted on again by both the people of the city and all the towns that sub-nexus was connected to. The team that won that vote would then go on to their region's Nexus, at which point all citizens of that region would vote on the team of 3 that would represent them for the next 5 years.

This system would give the people a sense of choice and control, and create a bridge between them and me. The most important effect, however, is that it reduces the amount of work I have to do! With this in place, the problems of the people of Minda will be condensed down, instead of me having to go flying all around the planet meeting with locals to find out what the problem is. And, with only one go in office, and rules that insure these representatives can't make any money aside from a government salary, the chances of corruption were very low! Not only that, but these representatives don't actually have power, they just yap and yap and then give me a paper that tells me what they were yapping about and why I should fix it for them. They can't actually pass laws. It's incredible!

I lean back into my chair, enjoying a nice cup of some hot chocolate equivalent. It had an odd tang to it, but was close enough that I didn't mind.

Taking a long sip, I look out the window of my office, taking in the view. The capitol building had been remodeled some weeks ago, to stay the tallest building in the city, due to the rise of larger commercial and residential buildings in the city. Currently, my office sat at the top of the now 10 story tall monolith of ferrocrete and durasteel, while the comms tower was raised to an appropriate height. The other Imperial facilities were improved and heightened as well, but not to the same extent.

Accordia had grown, that was an undoubtable truth. From a city of 40,000 to nearly 70,000, Accordia held the HQ's of most of the major corps in the system, along with a newly improved space-port.

One building in particular caught my eye. Right down the main road that led to the capitol building, was a sharp, angled building, with rust colored signage contrasting the imperial black and white. The Minda Imperial Guild of Industry and Commerce , or The Guild, as it was more commonly called, was an organization I had started to ensure that the bevy of miners, entrepreneurs, and all kinds of companies and independents coming into the system had a way to organize. The refinery in the belt had a branch office, as would the orbital station once built, but it was here, at the capital, where the heavy lifting happened. The Guild offered these independents a way to be organized, connect with the government directly, get the correct permits, obtain loans, request escorts, and more. It funneled new businesses into an easy to follow path to getting started, the convenience of which attracted more people as things started to ramp up. This was all accounted for, with new, empty apartment buildings ready for colonists, better road, energy and comms infrastructure that was great for the PDA's. Especially considering new models had been added for workers, from mining ones that could connect to ships sensors, to engineering variants that could store blueprints and help troubleshoot diagnostics.

I'll admit, I had been inspired by the fantasy/isekai trope of the adventurers guild. While it was kinda expected in a fantasy isekai, the idea of this organization that exists to support this line of work was interesting, and I figured that if a country with an adventurers guild could get business, then a system with an industrial guild could get even more business. Of course, I had it regulated so that it did not spread to other systems and the like. If a Guild I made spread far, and caught people's attention, that could bring the wrong kind of eyes on me, especially without my escape plan ready.

Speaking of my escape plans, I…kinda had one? That is to say, I had a plan in the works. You see, I couldn't just buy a ship, because then it would be registered and everything. So, I squirreled away some of the whopping 50 MILLION FORCE-DAMNED CREDITS I made by auctioning off that Aethersprite on Nar Shaddaa. Clearly, Grakkus appreciated the goods. So, with some of that money, I discreetly hired a middle man to hire a middle man to… well, you get the idea. Somewhere down a line that cost 50,000 credits, a YV-560 was purchased brand new for an additional 90,000 credits. A CEC light-freighter that was decently fast, maneuverable, looked good(the YT-1300 side cockpit is kinda meh) and was inconspicuous. This wasn't a rare, expensive or super old ship that would look out of place on any trade route.

The ship, which I had yet to name, was sitting in a dry dock in Nar Shaddaa being upgraded extensively at the cost of 170,000 credits. It usually wouldn't be that much, but I paid extra for both discretion and for the mechanics to not just take my shit. An extra 50,000 was waiting for them if they followed through. The ship would be upgraded with better specs(hyperdrive, sunlight, weapons, systems, generator, etc…) but that would take time. When ready in another 5 months or so, it would be hidden in an old hangar built into one of the hills not too far from Accordia. If I needed to jet, I could use the emergency escape tunnel built into the newly improved capital building, rush to the sewers, and escape out a release hatch far from the city. It wasn't glamorous, in fact it's really gross, and I had to keep updating my PDA's tac-map everytime the sewage system was expanded, but it would get me out of the city undetected(since I wouldn't use a speeder or shuttle, which are more easily tracked) and to a ship that is registered under a new identity from a different planet. Hell, I even had a whole set of outfits that came with voice modulators disguised in their helmets so I could hide my voice as well as my face. It was a pretty solid plan, if I do say so myself.

If I had to escape, assuming I made it to the ship and out of orbit, the immediate plan would be to head in the direction of one of the 3 hyperlanes that ran to Dubrillion. There were some convoluted and frankly dangerous old paths that circumvented the need to go to the sector capital that would allow me to head over to Bescane, and start moving coreward through the hyperlanes until I pivot, and start moving towards the galactic east. Eventually, my plan was to hide away in the corporate sector, Cantonica specifically. This is because of the city there by the name of Canto Blight. A hedonistic shithole for rich crimelords, war profiteers, and other such wealthy people, it was the perfect place to hide, as it was rich enough that the Empire didn't interfere. The corporate sector it was located in is basically a fiefdom, with its own patrol fleets, laws, etc… While the Empire nominally controlled the area, realistically it was a haven for former Separatists and whoever else sought to hide from Palpatine's eyes. And, being the corporate sector, there were bound to be plenty of opportunities to haul cargo around.

I did have backups for my back ups, of course. Savareen was a prime spot if Cantonica didn't work out. Tatoineene was also on the list, though certainly last, right next to Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta. Easy to hide, easier to die.

Now, I'm no monster. While I spent a chunk of the auction money on my own security(and a nice L-99 executive transport shuttle…what, I can have nice things, right?) I invested 25 of the 49 or so million remaining right back into Minda, the 24 mil going into a vault for emergencies and the like. With that money, many of the previously mentioned improvements were made, including the purchase of 3 Baleen-Class Heavy Freighters that fully replaced the Acclamator as a trade ship, along with 5Imperial Nebulon-B Escort Frigates (three of which were to stay in Minda) to go along with them, each filled with their own complements of TIE's. The Acclamator was refitted, and an Imperial Arquitens-class command cruiser was ordered to replace Captain Veer's aging republic version. Once these ships arrived/were refitted, things would start looking up in terms of protection and commerce.

The remaining money? Spread about. Make no mistake, I really wanted to just buy more ships, build new colonies, start spreading out to the other planets in the system, but I was already kinda stretching things with the strides I had made. So, the money was tossed out to various programs that needed them. Schools, infrastructure, The Guild, etc… along with the creation of an in-house R&D lab. While I was more than happy to contract local companies for the creation of new products that I wanted/needed, the fact of the matter remains that they have other customers, and are more prone to information leaks. Therefore, a small but well funded R&D team was started to research the small stuff. The kinds of items and upgrades that usually went unnoticed, but that would increase efficiency across the board. Better cyber-security, better targeting software for StormTrooper helmets, better body armor, improvements to policing tech and vehicles, etc… Nothing that on its own would be huge, but things that would add up over time.

I'm snapped out of my thought's by the sound of Darna rushing in through the door, a frantic look in her eyes.

"Sir, we just got a report from a Guild Miner! A pirate raiding fleet has entered the system!"

"...Can't have SHIT!"

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Hi there folks! Las can't seem to catch a break, huh?

I finally decided to try some combat, spice up the POV's and add some action, cause fleet building is fun, but ya gotta use the fleet at one point, right?

I also included a fanon ship, solely because EcHenry does great work, and cause the L-99 he came up with is sick as fuck.

As always, feedback and comments are welcome!

Thanks for reading!