( 31 BBY )
Count Dooku began the Galactic New Year with an inspection. His daughter proudly showed off his own House Guards to him, and Dooku could clearly see their competence.
He'd fought in many battles before, and had seen what the best warriors in the Galaxy, the legendary Mandalorians, were capable of first hand. Though his House Guards didn't quite meet that lofty bar, Dooku couldn't think of any other military force he'd seen that was as fit, enthusiastic, and cynically disciplined.
Apparently, while Dooku had been distracted with other things, Tan'ya had been taking her personal army on frequent, long ranging hikes through the jungle where she enjoyed occasionally calling down artillery strikes on them with a battery of turbo blasters borrowed from Serenno's Defence Force. A strange mix of feelings overcame Dooku at the revelation, a mixture of pride at his daughter's talent and discipline, and fear over what Athemeene would do if she found out.
"There's just one thing, though." Tan'ya was explaining to him afterwards. "They're armed with blasters and armored in plastoids, which is standard across the Galaxy for good reason, but they won't really have much of an edge in a fight without more specialized equipment. They're good, but still not enough."
"Did you have something in mind?"
"I did have a couple of ideas, but they would all be very expensive." Tan'ya said. "A mixture of directed energy shields that resist blaster fire and subsonic slugthrowers that bypass the shield would be quite effective."
Slugthrowers? He was uncertain about the idea of using such primitive firearms, but she seemed sure of the statement. "That seems… unfeasible, with our current means." For the price of ten thousand directed energy shields, Dooku could almost buy a warship.
Tan'ya nodded in agreement, though looked disappointed. "The other idea I had was to create armor from blaster resistant metals."
Dooku almost scoffed in disbelief. He didn't think there were any large cortosis seams being mined in the Galaxy, not since the last of what was known and easily accessible had been mined up and used in the New Sith Wars. Everything that was left was privately owned, collected from scrap and broken down ancient artifacts. Expensive beyond belief. If the energy shields were unfeasible, then cortosis was a fantasy, let alone beskar. Trying to wrestle even a single ton of beskar from the Mandalorians would probably result in generations of war.
"I know, but I was thinking we could probably use sacanium." Tan'ya continued, and brought up a recording on her holopad of a blaster test performed on different forms of durasteel. "Zersium durasteel is the most common kind of durasteel, but it's only able to stop blaster rounds when thickly plated and shaped correctly, like a starship hull. Phrik durasteel can temporarily block a lightsaber, and stop blaster rounds at low velocities. Sacanium durasteel is rare, but reportedly even hardier than phrik. I wasn't able to find any published blaster testing for them, but I can't see why a thick plate of it shouldn't at least be somewhat blaster resistant." She looked up at her father. "I know you're reluctant to bring the Galactic Mining Guild to Serenno, but we could at least hire a small, private mining outfit to start unearthing the stuff. We can start testing ourselves to see what we can do with it."
Dooku considered her suggestion. As long as they weren't trying to sell the sacanium on the Galactic market they shouldn't attract much notice.
"We'll speak with your Auntie Jenza about it, and see what can be done." He promised Tan'ya.
...
A few days later, Dooku and his daughter took a speeder to the Advisory. It was a short journey through the city, but to his eyes it looked like it was doing better. Some of the wealthier people were driving around in shiny new speeder models, and he could see many of the older buildings were having work done on them to install new electrical systems or repair damaged roofs. It was good to see, though Dooku supposed the district that separates the Palace from the center of government was likely to be the wealthiest on the planet. If Serenno did have a prosperous middle class, they could be assumed to reside here.
As Dooku entered the Advisory, the bureaucrats hushed up and avoided eye contact. They cleared a path for him, and bowed as he passed. He didn't think much of it, such respect was owed to the House of Serenno, and he naturally disliked their kind anyway.
Jenza was never trained as a Jedi, and had no ability to shield her mind at all. He felt her reluctance when he presented Tan'ya's proposal, along with her nervousness about telling him no.
"You have objections?" He finally asked.
Jenza hesitated for a moment more before explaining. "The security arrangements we already have with the Trade Federation have been more than adequate. If our security needs are already being met, then I think there are more important things for our government to focus on. Our planet's life expectancy is below fifty for adult men, and we're in the republic's top one hundred worlds for amputees as a percentage of the population." She shook her head. "Look, digging into our Sacanium seams is a nice idea in theory, but we're already struggling heavily with our energy sector as it is."
"We're facing power shortages?" Dooku asked, surprised.
Jenza nodded. "Not shortages exactly, it's just a terribly underdeveloped sector. Our planet doesn't produce enough energy to meet our population's needs. Most villages are dependent on expensive solar power panels for any electricity that they have, which is dangerous because of power surges, and unreliable because of the weather. Even in regions like the open savanna's where rain is rare, days are still shorter in winter and longer in summer, resulting in power floods and power droughts."
"How are we powering our cities?" Dooku almost felt embarrassed to ask the question; he'd been so focused on his diplomatic efforts that he had to admit he hadn't been keeping up with the day to day affairs of his homeworld, let alone something as seemingly insignificant as why the lights still worked.
"Reactors run on imported plasma, but we're purchasing it at a rate set by the Senate. Unfortunately, at the moment, we just don't have the infrastructure to get power out to the towns and villages, and until we do it's just not cost efficient to expand our power supply. Without more power we can't afford to build up our heavy industries, like mining."
Tan'ya spoke up for the first time in that conversation. "We have plenty of natural gas, as well as oil and coal. Why can't we just make old fashioned coal fire and oil fire power plants?"
"Because that would be illegal." Jenza replied. "It would violate Republic regulations on environmental protection."
Tan'ya scoffed. "The damage we do to the environment with our logging industry already must vastly exceed the potential effects of a little global warming."
"You may be correct, but we have to follow the rules as written. Some planets can find their way around it thanks to their friends in the Senate, but our world is just… not an immediate concern to them."
Which was a nice way to say that because Dooku was not taking part in the corruption and favor exchanging ways of the lobbyists and the slugs in the Senate, his people were suffering.
Without an expanded energy sector, they couldn't build up their industries. Without that, they couldn't mine up their own sacanium and turn it into usable goods.
"I'll start doing some reading." Tan'ya promised Dooku as they left the Advisory together. "If the Megacorps are leaving loopholes in legislation to allow themselves to skirt around the regulations, there may be some we can slip through as well. Coal-fired power plants would absolutely meet our needs."
"Don't stay up reading too late." Dooku warned her. "You'll be starting classes at the New Temple soon, once I've arranged a teacher for you."
Irritation was clear on her face; Tan'ya clearly thought what she was doing was more important than mere lessons, and it was, but she wasn't the only one who could be reading old Senate Bills. Whatever Tan'ya's strange gift at navigating paperwork and bureaucracy, she was still a powerful Force user and had to master it fully, lest it master her.
"Have M8 assist you, but you can't neglect your other duties." Dooku said firmly, then added. "I'll call our lawyers and see if they find something as well."
...
Don't forget to throw some power stones ;)
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