Chapter 55: Renaissance-2
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***
- So, my friends," I looked at their sour faces, "I didn't promise it would be easy. Ju, I have a task for you. You were saying about the extra heavy container ships? Somebody's gonna have to do some shipment of valuables into the empire. And it's urgent. We're gonna need at least four of those container ships and their crews. Lin, you have an even more difficult task....
- Don't bore me," the young man with aristocratic features looked at me. There was nothing particularly remarkable about his appearance - brown eyes, thin face, no tan, as he spent most of his time in the workshop, his clothes were more than unremarkable - a light jacket and trousers made of durable fabric, like many technicians wear.
- The planet is..." I pushed the folder with Koros's photos toward him, "a ruin. And everything has to be put back together, in the form of buildings, cities, towns, settlements, spaceports, palaces, and other essentials.
- Well, that's the architects' job...
- They only draw up the plan," I disagreed, "the droids work, and that's your diocese. We could hire some big construction company, but I'd rather have our droids under their control. It would take hundreds of droids like EVS to clear an incredible amount of ruins. Ten per cent of the land mass is ruins. And that needs to be fixed.
- Well, it can be done," Lin agreed, "Keep in mind, one such droid costs over a million credits.
- I'll give you five hundred million credits, - I nodded, - that's for EVS, and for regular ones, and for technicians to maintain and keep all this crowd. It's better to hire a whole office at once, with a reserve. Provided that they can only leave on the return flight, you can sign long-term contracts right away. You can't spare the money, they'll need motivation. Architects... I can't say anything for sure here either, I'm not a construction expert. We'll have to hire a large team of architects. The primary objective is to rebuild the only city on Koros in the shortest possible time.
- How quickly? - Lin asked.
- The shortest, Lin. The sooner the better. I don't want to do this for decades, and we have money and a contract with the KMC, which will give us billions and trillions of credits," Lin whistled, and Julian nodded, "So the sooner we rebuild the capital, the better. If we need to, we can use a thousand EVS droids and the like to clear the rubble and ruins. Especially since we're talking about one city, there are five more on the planet, and in total on all seven planets of the former Empire there are dozens of cities, which are giant piles of building materials. We'll have to clear them all out, but the capital is priority number one. It is there that we will place the headquarters for further restoration of the sector.
- I see," Lin nodded, "Then we'll start by hiring architects and builders. And together with them we'll buy construction droids, because I'm not going to do something I don't want to do, am I?
- That's right. Joo, that goes for you too. The droids have to be transported by something. KMC has promised to work in-house. They estimate that the first shipment alone will take five entire freighters, a billion tonnes each. That's prefabricated buildings, construction and geological droids, machinery, molecular furnaces, smelters and other heavy equipment for colonisation and mining. But it's finances - they don't work for me, they work for themselves. For now. Specifically, we'll need at least four freighters and a base for further cargo transfers...
- May I? - Julian coughed, -I think we should build, or buy... but it's better to build space stations, or one big one, near the border of the exclusion zone.
- Argument. - I asked.
- Loading and unloading super heavy container ships would require the most complex operations. We can save a lot of money if we unify the process by building a transshipment base. In addition, if heavy container ships are loaded and unloaded in space instead of on planets, it will save a lot of time. And further, the valuables taken out of the Empire can be reloaded on ordinary ships and distributed to the addressees. The return process will also be easier - it will be possible to collect valuables at the base and gradually load them into cargo blocks, sending the container ship only when it is full.
- Okay," I nodded, "I think the contract with the KMC said they'd send three lormar stations.
- Three won't do it," Ju shook his head.
- And that's in addition to the fixed bases," I noted, "only to work with especially valuable ores on planets with aggressive atmospheres... they used to be called Ottabesk and Lialik. The third planet didn't have a name before - it's the one we've been to....
- I see," Julian nodded, "Anyway, I've made my suggestion.
- And it's a good one," I nodded, "but we're going to have to do a lot more work on the project. After all, we need a transshipment base that can hold at least eight container ships, that is, eight to ten billion tonnes. In space, it is, of course, it is not particularly important, especially since the design of the space station can be any, but must be as accurate as possible to fulfil the purpose. Loading, unloading, storage. And the coordination of countless ships. If we offer metals to a wide range of consumers, the number of freighters and medium-sized freighters on the base will be incredible.
- That shouldn't be a problem," Julian nodded.
- So, Lin... - I drew the old acquaintance's attention to myself, - now I have a big and responsible assignment for you. I need to find a large team of architects, a construction company, a large number of droids, at least a hundred EVS, and start clearing out the capital city of Cinnagar. We need to sign a long-term contract with all of them, but without full payment, no more than half in advance... Right now, before the money comes from the KMC, our finances aren't as good as we'd like them to be.
- You can count on me," Lin nodded, "by the way, where will all these people live? Because, you know...
- On ships, - I sighed heavily, - you can also build a space station as a headquarters and distribute accommodation of personnel - managers, architects, and other management on the station, and workers on the surface, in temporary housing. Or, alternatively, you can buy a large liner and convert it into a headquarters until the time when at least a minimum of housing will be ready. And after that - to live in a city with hundreds of two hundred metre droids and constant noise...
- You haven't counted the thousands of smaller droids," Lin said, "you're right, it's better to split up and keep the architects away from the construction site.
- In that case, as I understand it, we don't have to bother. No one promises amenities during construction anyway. So, financially, we're still within reason. The construction of the transfer station can be postponed until the money comes in, the purchase of transporters and worker droids, along with the hiring of construction workers - this is required now. I'll do further search for personnel - we'll have to create basic ministries - defence, education, communications, space management, industry, construction. And these are just the basic ones, without which the state cannot survive....
I had a rough outline of some of these things. Lin and Ju received all the instructions, so I left them, and myself went to the shuttle, informing that I would be gone for a few more days. Maybe even longer. The Ministry of Defence is unequivocal, mandalore. It was a good thing I'd already made friends with Satine - otherwise I'd have had to work hard to make contact. Education won't be needed right away, the military can make the connection, but the Republic can help with the Ministry, as well as with construction, and we can ask the KMC to allocate some of its talented managers to the mining industry. We will have to co-operate closely anyway, so they will have a vested interest in having "their" minister. Of course, he won't be able to act against me in the interests of the company - nobody cancels Jedi empathy and foresight. I'll make an agreement with KMK in the working order, so to speak, but I'll have to talk to Valorum and Satine personally and fly to them. Satine first.
Leaving the promised billion for Julian and Lina, I left Coruscant with a clear conscience.
* * *
Mandalore, one week later.
* * *
Satine met me in her chambers, as usual. We didn't make a big deal of my arrival.
- So, how are your adventures going? - she began at the door.
- Good day to you too, Satine, - I smiled back, - they are going well. You don't realise how much has happened since the last time we met....
Kriz walked over and sat down across from me, grinning:
- Yeah... wonder what you've done this time?
- Oh, it was nothing. I opened the way to the core of the galaxy, declared myself Emperor of the Koros Empire, used my acquaintance with the Chancellor to legalise my status, negotiated with the directors of the KMC for long-term cooperation, made a little money....
Satine Kriz's eyes began to round at the first words, reaching a completely round and surprised state by the end of my remarks.
- Anakin, you can't joke about this," she sighed, "the Koros Empire ceased to exist a long time ago....
- Yeah, yeah, right," I smiled, "legally, it existed. And by the way, it was allocated money from the republic's budget... but it was embezzled. My honour to the republican officials - to steal for five thousand years - it is necessary to be an ace! They outsmarted themselves, though..." I smiled, "I had no trouble privatising the whole empire.
- You're not kidding..." the Duchess frowned, closing her eyes, "you're really not kidding?
- Not a bit," I raised an eyebrow, "and by the way, as emperor, I have a lot of work to do now. To rebuild the empire from the ruins. One good thing is that the core is a fabulously rich region, and money is not expected to be a problem. But with many other things, it will be. For example, the army... where am I going to get an entire army and navy to defend my interests?
- Wait, I need to think about... - Satine asked for a timeout and was silent for a few minutes, then asked:
- But still, you are now officially the head of state?
- To be exact, the head of the empire, which has seven systems, - I reminded her, - that's only habitable planets.
Satine sighed heavily:
- You are growing by leaps and bounds. It would seem that only a short time ago you were a poor student from Alderaan....
- Well, that's a bit of a stretch. but you're right, I didn't try to take the caravanless mines away from you for a good cause.
- And now you've come to me... I won't believe it for nothing!
- That's right, - I agreed, - I wouldn't be lazy to come just like that, but now it's for important, archival business. I need a war fleet.
- И? - Satine didn't understand.
- No one is better suited for this role than the Mandalorians. Besides, you already have a decent fleet. Care to share?
- No, no, no! - Satine was indignant. It's not like asking for a pie. This is a battle fleet, do you understand?
- All right," I backed off, "how much do you want?
- What? She didn't understand.
- Money, of course. Not for free, - I smiled, - I will provide the military with money and ships, the main thing is that they should fulfil the combat task. To scare away the pirates. In time, I think, I should start recruiting different people, but it is desirable to staff the officers with Mandalorians....
- Hmm..." Satine thought for a moment. I, while she was thinking, looked at her - long dress, slim figure, angular face, similar to mine because of the colour of her eyes and hair....
- 'Well...' she thought, 'I think I can spare you a certain number of military men. Provided, of course, that you take care of their upkeep.
- At the moment I need more senior military officers, so that they can use the money given to them to build a fleet and provide landing groups on the ships. That is admirals and generals, together with property managers, who could provide the recruits with everything they need...
- It can be arranged," Satine nodded, "there are quite a few officers who need to be promoted anyway. At least I can give them a rank... If they serve in the allied navy.
- That can be arranged too. But I don't have the necessary ministries to sign a contract.
- It can be made official later, - nodded Satine, - well, agreed. But you have to pay for it!
- You are offended, - I smirked, - there will be payment, within reasonable limits, of course.
* * *
Anakin Skywalker, Coruscant, two weeks later.
* * *
The room at Five Hundred was booked three months in advance. Rome wasn't built from the ground up, and this was a much larger empire, so it was clear that it wouldn't take several years to complete the basic tasks. No, I'm lying, I can do the basics in a few years.
Julian and Lin just went about their business - ordering and buying, making contracts.
The Chancellor also promised to help me in my work and recommended several people, among whom I quickly found the right people. Of course, they are not specialists of extra-class, but simple office labourers-managers, but they can do the job.
I had to stop again and do a business plan, so as not to sit in a puddle. The KMC had already begun to gather the necessary resources in the Coruscant system, on its outskirts, and promised to finish loading the first two transports in a week, each of which packed an entire colony - equipment, houses, provisions. Each colony, according to their calculations, would have a capacity of two hundred and fifty million tonnes in three months, given the average richness of the deposits. Therefore it was more expedient to make either a large coupling, or to order transports of much larger size - from five billion tonnes and upwards, so that I would not have to become a cabman. Then one trip will bring us astronomical sums. But they promise to give us the first money in a month after the colonies are abandoned - they, like me, need to provide themselves with metals, and secondly, to get kickbacks from investments, which would pay off at least part of the costs, and not get into a crisis situation. And so the first lorries will go soon, but with a small amount of metal. Purely anti-crisis accounting measure, covering the budget deficit created by the sudden investments by receiving an intermediate batch.
The Lormars had already been purchased - they were giant space stations, usually drifting in orbit or beyond orbital space. To them, on crawlers - big ugly, but very strong and reliable ore carriers - are brought ore, which is processed by the station. The peculiarity of such a station must be that it is prepared for work outside the final place of work and almost immediately after delivery it starts work. It doesn't require space on the planet itself, and it can have a super-aggressive atmosphere, high gravity and other harsh conditions down there.
I myself, having looked at the characteristics, lusted for such a station, and preferably a dozen, but the problems of supplying it on a remote planet... one hell, we'll have to build a planetary base, so why have a station in orbit, if for the same price, a billion and a little, a similar and more productive base is built on the surface?
Long or short, the process creaked along.
Lin wasted no time in hiring a major construction firm - Galaxy Advanced Building, or roughly translated, Galactic Advanced Construction. Judging by the portfolio, this firm uses mostly droids and has a multi-million dollar staff of workers who will gladly go to the hell on the horns, and there to build anything. At least the construction of many buildings in the central worlds is their work. However, the price is appropriate - for three thousand workers, with their equipment, housing and other things, had to pay twenty million. And this is only the first batch, who will build a temporary place to live and assemble all the shops, hangars, build a temporary spaceport to receive the next batches and droids. But Lin assured me that everything was going right and all I would need to do was not to interfere with their work. For money, of course, anything could be done. In response, I advised Lin to keep in touch with Julian - or, better yet, to have Ju send his transports to this firm, so that they could move everything they needed in one fell swoop.
Julian got in touch, too, though all I had to do was redirect him to Lin.
Another week passed in relatively minor but important activities - I was sitting in a rented flat on Coruscant and using all the communications systems to the hilt - I had to talk to so many people I'd never talked to before in my entire life. Lin and Ju took two problems off my plate, and there were many more.
I had to urgently summon the future management of the empire. All of them came, and the flat, which was usually occupied only by me and Shiai and his teachers, became crowded at once - ten people arrived. Most of them were recommended to me by the Chancellor, the rest I had to literally "buy" from the information dealer, for a decent amount of money he found through his spy network the talented specialists I needed. They were usually quite competent.
At the table was Kevin Anderson, the Minister of Justice. Former big boss in the Justice Corps, but moved up to a younger and less conservative spy. Jan Duursima, middle-aged lady, future Minister for Communications. Also a gift from the Chancellor. She'll be building information infrastructure in the future. Chris Warner, already in-house, hand-picked through an information trader. Former head of a major construction corporation, has many connections in the construction industry. Quite a respected expert in the galaxy. He didn't pay attention to the money he was offered, but the idea of building entire cities in the centre of the galaxy led to instant agreement. He'll be the Minister of Construction and Reconstruction. He already had all the knowledge and connections, just give him the money and let him work... Next was Randy Stradley, a rather young but attentive businessman. He was sent to me by KMC, he used to hold a high position in ore mining and metallurgy. He also has all the necessary connections to the KMC, and will serve as a buffer between the Empire and the KMC as Minister of Natural Resources. Behind him sat Joy Ostrander, an older man, already grey-haired but clear-eyed, wearing needlepoint clothes and a sad look. This is the future finance minister I found. He once headed the finance ministry of the planet Korulag, that is, the central world. And the last, most colourful character was Shin Konoth, who Satine had singled out for me. The acting admiral of the Mandalore fleet. Since there was no need to build a land army yet, the navy was the predominant force, and land commanders were ranked lower. Of course, it was premature to talk about the existence of a fleet, but the Admiral had all the men needed to build it with him - Satine would tear off a bit of the military, disarming his own planet at the same time. Konoth arrived at the meeting wearing light beskar armour, with the Admiral's insignia of two red stripes on his left shoulder pad. Two others arrived besides them, but they did not participate in the general meeting.
- So, ladies and gentlemen," I began, "I see you've already met each other. That's good, because we're going to be working together a lot. Today we have primary objectives on the agenda, Randy, you're up. What can you tell us about what you've accomplished?
- Ahem..." the young man stood up, "the results are in. According to the development plan adopted by the KMC, two super-heavy transports, fully equipped for the mining colony and space processing stations, have been assembled. At the moment, the first batch is over ninety per cent complete, with one of the freighters already in the Coruscant sector and the second in the final stages of loading. Two more are preparing for loading operations. One of the space shipyards that used to produce heavy transports has been converted for this purpose.
- Good," I nodded, "when will my participation be required?
- In the near future," Randy agreed, "Anything else?
- Yes. In addition to your job at the KMC, you're also the acting minister. I'm telling you that we need money, not just from the KMC, and not just in a few months, but now. For military needs, for transport needs, to continue the work of restoring the empire. The first tranches through the KMC will go no sooner than three months after the colonies are built, but until then it is not a good idea to waste time. Yes, gentlemen, time is our most scarce resource. So make sure you extract natural resources as soon as possible.
It is better if it will be small but valuable batches from already discovered deposits, extraction by common methods, like mining barges and other mobile systems. We'll also have to make a big raid to inventory the deposits in our sector.
- It can be done, Your Majesty," Randy nodded, "but it would require capital investment to buy those systems...
I only have three billion left, by the way. The other two were already spent, so I had to make a heartfelt promise:
- I'll have the money. We don't pretend to really mass production, there are stationary systems and Lormars for that, but we need to cover the budget deficit during the period from the beginning of development until we get a stable source of income.
Shin Konoth was next.
- Sin? - I turned my attention to the military officer. He was listening attentively and thoughtfully, and immediately stood up and stretched out in a straight line:
- Yes, Your Majesty?
- At ease. We are in a civilian meeting, so military protocol is not observed here. So, Shin... you have an idea of the financial state of the empire by now. We need a navy. A fleet that's capable, strong, ready to fight. Not quantity, but quality. The funding for your ministry will come through Joey," I glanced at the veteran minister, "Once funding begins through our main partners, Correlia, you will have the hard work of building a strong fleet. But for now, use the relatively quiet time to prepare for the work ahead. It's like before a battle, you have time to prepare, and then you don't. So I'm going to ask you to use your time wisely. Firstly, it is necessary to draw up a rough picture of the future fleet. I will also make adjustments based on the situation and our capabilities. For now, we need to determine the quantitative composition of the fleet, the quantitative and qualitative composition of the army. The fleet needs to be strong and balanced, without distortions in any direction. With people, I think, you will understand better than me. But with equipment, I advise you to set high expectations from the start. The Empire, if necessary, will pay for the design of all ships and stations of the fleet from scratch. In this regard, you can look at both ships and shipbuilding engineers for orders to design equipment exclusively for our Empire.
- Aye, Your Majesty. - said the Admiral a little louder than he should.
- I believe your task is clear. I can also add that the isolation of the sector is both an advantage from the military point of view - a natural defence against invasion, and a disadvantage - inside the system it is extremely difficult to supply, and to leave the Empire, you will have to wait for the next voyage. I will certainly work on this problem, but I do not guarantee the result, so the use of a large number of droids together with professional soldiers seems to me the most appropriate. Droids do not complain about monotonous boring work on planets, and can be in reserve for years and decades. So we'll have to find the most optimal ratio of living soldiers to droids.
The Admiral nodded in agreement and sat back down.
- Okay, next up is Chris Warner," I looked at the man. He was not young, about fifty years old, with rough features and a bulky physique. If you met him on the street, you'd never guess that he was a respectable and wealthy man, a professional builder, not a common labourer. Warner looked at me and nodded:
- Yes, your majesty?
Judging by his emotions, he had no piety for rulers, or rather he didn't care about monarchy and monarchs.
- Lin, our droid specialist has hired Galaxy Advanced Building to clear debris and ruins. Huge ruins. The work is supposed to be done in three main phases - clearing the rubble, building simple, generic buildings on the outskirts of the city, and building architectural structures - that's the rest of the city. The first goal is to build the capital city. Galaxy Advanced Building itself will not be engaged in the construction of the entire city, only clearing and maintenance of droids, the rest will fall on the shoulders of other contractors.
- What's wrong with them? - Warner raised an eyebrow, "They're pretty fast guys, but you're right, they can't handle particularly complex structures. And they don't have any experience in mass complex construction.
- Not surprising," I nodded, "if most of the work is done by droids. But this is your diocese now, as Minister of Construction and Reconstruction. At the moment, the bulk of the clearing work will be done by large droids, and the work will be completed in at least six months. During this time it is required to find and hire a team of architects, and create a finished project of the city, with all the buildings, with all the details of the infrastructure, in general, complete. And it is desirable that this city would not be ashamed to show to other inhabitants of the galaxy - that everything would be of the highest standard.
- Six months isn't long enough," Warner sighed, "it's about a year's work. Maybe a year and a half.
- So hire more specialists. Buy out the building projects so that the construction of standard buildings can be started as soon as possible. The thing is, we're facing massive tasks, and if we wait a year, that year we'll have to deny tens and hundreds of thousands of people basic needs. The system is isolated, so it is required that at least in the capital there is everything that the population may need. The population is at least the workers from the KMC, who will work in the colonies without leaving for a whole year, because there is nowhere to go....
- You're wrong, Your Majesty," Randy interjected, "the pay for working in a region like this is quite high. We have a lot of people who want to work here.
- That's true," I nodded, "but after six months of working in their colony, people will want to get away, to go somewhere, to rest... and it's not because of greed. We don't want employees working their sleeves off from a monotonous and boring job, do we?
Randy sat back down. I've outlined the basic tasks.
- Any questions? No? In that case, this first cabinet meeting is adjourned.
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