WotH Chpt 38

==War on the Horizon - Chapter 38==
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===Signs of the Missing===
The Messenger dropped out of hyperspace, a handful of barely lit ships filling the viewport.
 
"Looks like we found something," Colonel Hull muttered from his seat. "What are we picking up on our scanners?"
 
"Sensor traces are coming back with positive IDs. Scans confirm them as refitted Consular class escorts that were supposed to have been attached to the Katana Fleet."
 
"Anything else in the immediate area?" Hull asked.
 
"It'll take some time, but we may have just found what we were looking for."
 
"Let me know when we've fully scanned the sector," Hull stroked his beard. "And have some of our people check on these escorts. If possible, I want them slaved to our ships so we can bring them back with us. Captain, I believe this is your show." Hull stepped off of the bridge to allow the captain of the Messenger and the commander of the fleet to do his job.
 
"Bring us about to heading 160, and angle us down forty-five degrees. I want our sensors to pick up everything we can about this area of space."
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===Burdens of Training and Governing===
Ferus Olin barely deflected the strike from Master Dooku, his small Soresu stance doing little to dissuade the older man from striking hard.
 
"You must learn to adjust as is needed," Dookyu barked. "Do not let your fear over your master consume you or it will be your undoing!" the Count of Serenno disarmed the younger padawan with a flick of his wrist as the training saber flew across the room.
 
"You are talented with both a blade and with the Force," Dooku recalled the other training saber to himself. "But you are too consumed with emotion at the moment to learn anything."
 
"I felt something happen to Master Siri," Ferus sighed. "There was something dark facing her."
 
"Regardless of what happens to others, it is you that must master your own emotions, no one else can do it for you. Anger, hate, jealousy, the things that we are told lead to the Dark Side as younglings will come and go, it is how we respond as Jedi that dictates how and what we become. There is not a being across the galaxy that does not feel anger when a known criminal gets away with his crimes."
 
"You are young," Dooku sighed and helped the young man to his feet. "And have much to learn about yourself and how to manage the more base impulses that come with existence."
 
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"Head of State, the council has asked for a meeting to determine how the spacelanes are to be divided up and protected from pirates and the like," a Twi'Lek with a datapad walked up beside the Count.
 
"Did we not already cover this during the first meeting?" Dooku asked.
 
"Unfortunately, aside from the notes that were taken at the meeting, there was no firm foundation for the patrols set."
 
"I see," Dooku paused. "Call for the meeting at their earliest convenience, we will need to begin drafting our response to any Republic overtures."
 
"Yes, sir." she nodded as she jotted down a note. "Is there anything else you need?"
 
"Yes," Dooku nodded. "Please ask Master Yaddle and Major Sheppard to join me in the meeting, they may be needed to assist with soothing bruised egos over the patrols."
 
"I'll get right on that." she hurried off.
 
"Why did I ever agree to this," Dooku reached out to the Force, allowing it to soothe the headache that formed from the stress of leading a stellar nation. "I should have refused this position."
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===Explaining Patrol & Taxes to Politicians===
"One at a time!" Sheppard barked at the planetary representatives. "If you'll each stop trying to speak over each other then we'll be able to get this done much faster. Now, I believe the Chair was speaking."
 
"Yes, thank you," the older representative nodded. "We've already gotten most of the patrols sorted out, the problem is that we lack the forces to cover all of the hyperlanes that we are supposed to protect at the moment, which leaves us with a potentially disastrous hole in our protection plans."
 
"The Marksman have a plan that may suit your purposes for now until we can heavily patrol the sectors and hyperlanes," Sheppard explained, stepping forward. "We've been exploring doctrine over the last few years, and have landed on a plan that will work, at least temporarily."
 
"Where is Colonel Hull?" someone cut him off. "Why are we not speaking to the leader of the Head of State's pet Mercenaries?"
 
"Because Colonel Hull is currently indisposed upon my request," Dooku spoke up. "Now, I believe that Major Sheppard was about to explain how we would rectify the holes in our sectors."
 
"Yes, thank you," Sheppard made a gesture and a handful of Corellian light freighters appeared via hologram to his side along with a half-squadron of hyperspace capable fighters. "We believe that light freighters modified with good sensors and supplemented by fighters will be capable of handling most individual pirates," Another gesture brought up the hyperlanes with some specific planets highlighted. "For everything else, we have what we call QRFs on standby."
 
"QRFs?" A woman asked.
 
"Quick Reaction Forces," Sheppard explained. "They'll likely be small battlegroups on standby able to jump into any action if given the word, this will allow us to patrol a larger section of space without compromising the security."
"What if one of said patrols is overrun?" another representative asked. "What will we do then?"
 
"That's why every patrol will be equipped with a 'Black box'," Sheppard shrugged. "There's no such thing as a perfect system, but this will allow us to use the resources we have available to us in the most efficient manner. And we can always add more patrols or even reinforce the ones that we have as we build up the military that we'll use for this."
 
"The central military force is in the process of being trained," the Chairman explained. "But it takes time, and even with volunteers from various Planetary Defense fleets, it will take credits and time."
 
"Now," Dooku stepped forward. "I am having the exact plans for the patrols and the forces that each planet is expected to contribute for now drawn up, we will hold the final vote on the subject tomorrow with the option to review it as things change."
 
"Now, we can move onto the next item that we were to go over," the Chair pushed a button, causing new legislation to appear. "We're to go over the taxes and how we are to establish a precedent here."
 
"If I may have the floor?" the Representative of the Regency Worlds stepped forward, the older gentleman leaning on a cane as he spoke with the force of a man younger than his years.
 
"Of course," the Chairman allowed him to speak.
 
"While there are some worlds that are wealthy, such as the one that my family hails from," the old man started. "There are just as many worlds that have struggled under the burden of the Republic's taxes, I believe that we must establish ourselves in a different manner, I call for a motion of a flat tax of a world's total earnings, and it may be paid in either credits, or in aid rendered to the patrols that we maintain."
 
"Seconded," a man from one of those poorer worlds stood up. "What we lack in credits, we will contribute in fuel and in food for the patrols that keep us safe, and one day, we may be able to stand with those such as Arkanis and contribute our own credits and soldiers in the defense of this Confederacy of Independent Systems!"
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===Search is Over===
"Colonel Hull, Knight Tachi, please report to the bridge, we have found the Katana Fleet, I repeat, we have found the Katana Fleet!"
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Chapter 38