Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 18 - Funding Issues

Almost two days had already passed since Maul had left for Zygerria. Ana had provided him with a secure commlink and seen him off onto the same freighter she and Ventress had taken to Corellia, and they hadn't heard from him since. And while waiting was of course annoying, Ana still felt confident that he'd come through.

To make the most of her time, she had been helping out Windu a lot the past few days. Together, they had already managed to reduce the amount of unfinished paperwork quiet a bit, but they still had a problematic topic ahead. The money problem that was finally becoming all too clear.

while the war was still ongoing, Palaptine had ensured they'd always have enough funding for whatever kind of project they needed it for. In hindsight, he had probably been a little suspiciously generous. But now that the war was over, loans the Republic had planned on taking were put on hold or urgently redirected towards the rebuilding effort.

The result was that, despite the the Republic still being obligated to cover the cost for Jedi missions, they were now having to prove that every credit spent was actually necessary. Organa himself had apologized for the inconvenience already, but had also pointed out that the Republic was near bankruptcy. Their budget for the Jedi was only going to be getting tighter and tighter in the near future.

"We need to find a different solution," Windu sighed as he finished filling out yet another funding request form. "At this rate, budget cuts will have us operating at only a fraction of our capacities and filling out hundreds of these forms."

"And right now it's more important than ever that we can function at full capacity," Ana pointed out.
"Indeed. So let's hear some ideas from you, you're good at this kind of stuff."
"Well, I do have one idea," Ana began. "I've kind of been thinking that we have been approaching the whole idea wrong.

You see, we as jedi have a duty to every citizen in this galaxy, right? So why is it we are only billing the Republic for it? We have the independent systems, united through the Council of Neutral Systems, and the Confederacy of Independent Systems as well. Why should we send our bill to the Republic when helping one of their citizens?

Part of the problem of the clone war was that we were tied to just one government. We were biased when we shouldn't have been in the first place. And in order to prevent that from happening again, I think it's be fair for everyone to cover our costs evenly."

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Windu asked.
"We involve the Republic, the Confederacy, and the Neutral Systems. Each of them covers a third of our funds to make it fair and they allow us to recruit force sensitive children under the same laws that have been active within the Republic for years.

In return, they all have equal rights to our services. And we build something like embassies on Raxus and Mandalore between which each Jedi can choose, or even rotate between if they want to. That way, we show now favoritism. Everyone gets the same rules, the same Jedi presence in their capital, and the same cut of the funds," Ana concluded.

"I like that idea. Maybe you can present it in the Council meeting later. It's probably going to be a bit of a challenge to convince all parties that this is a good idea, but if anyone can do it, it's you," Windu commented.

"Well, Bail and the Republic will be on board for sure, nothing would change for them apart from the fact that they'd have to pay us less. And Mandalore has been taking a liking to us too. Alrich Wren and I got along splendidnly, and I heard Obi-Wan has a good relationship with the Duchess."

Windu chuckled at Ana's comment. "What about Chancellor Corren though? The Confederacy is going to be tricky after we spent years fighting their armies in battle."
"Maybe. But I've become friendly with everyone on the delagation on Mandalore, perhaps that will give me a starting point to go from," Ana tried to be hopeful.
"Well, I hope you succeed."

Several hours and a successful Council meeting later, Ana was having dinner with Ahsoka when her commlink began to beep. The caller ID belonged to the commlink she had supplied Maul with when he left for Zygerria.
"Be right back," Ana whispered to Ahsoka before hurrying out of the mess hall find a quiet spot to take the call.

"I think I figured out what's going on here," Maul's voice sounded from the other end. "The Shadow Collective payed for Bane to steal that sonic disruptor for the Zygerrians. In return, they received some slaves for their spice mines. In terms of your Jedi friend, it seems he caught onto what was happening, but the Zygerrians discovered him and took him into custody.

They've been leveraging the slaves to keep him in check and influence what information gets through to you. Consider anything he's been saying in the last few weeks to be utterly useless."
"What do they want with a sonic disruptor?" Ana asked.

"Mass produce it, to stand a chance against all of you," Maul replied.
"Are they aware we have Bane yet?"
"It does not appear so. Neither does it seem like they figured out how your sonic disruptor is constructed yet, but they're getting closer every day. I suggest you get here fast," Maul advised.

"What can we expect on sight?" Ana questioned.
"Same situation as last time probably. Just that this time they actually seem to have a better plan," Maul explained. "Their new king, Atai Molec, should ring a bell to you."

"Yeah, he was prime Minsiter last time. He betrayed the Queen and conspired with Dooku," Ana recalled. "I'll inform Windu and then you can probably expect our arrival in the morning."
"I'll be here, waiting," Maul confirmed before they ended the call.

"Was that the call you were hoping for?" Ahsoka asked as Ana returned to the table.
"Yeah. Let's eat up, I've got a lot to do. We're going back to Zygerria," Ana replied.
"Oh boy, not again," Ahsoka sighed.