Chapter 71: Planetary Trade Organization Act (Part 1)

710 A.R.R, SENATOR ORGANA's PENTHOUSE, CORUSCANT:

Senator Rian Organa was standing near the landing pad, waiting for his allies to arrive. He watched as a starship landed and four people descended from the ship. These people were Senator Organa's major allies in the Galactical Senate. Senator Organa stepped forward to greet his allies and lead them inside for a meeting. After few minutes, Senator Organa stood up and said, " My Friends!!! I have gotten a important piece of information from my sources, a new act is going to be introduced in the Senate, which can potentially change the face of our galaxy. The Act is called Planetary Trade Organization Act, which will introduced in the next session of the Galactic Senate."

Senator Arkush of planet Atrisia, " I have also heard of this act but no important information has made it's way to me."

Senator Lega of planet Humbarine, " I know something about this act. This act enables people to buy planets for it's entire life time."

Senator Plumo of planet Eufornis Major said in a firm voice, " I personally think that it is a plan made by the rich to acquire more power in the Senate. We all know that a planet must have at least 100 million habitants to be given an official seat on the Senate. It won't be a problem for the rich to attract some people to settle down on their newly acquired planets."

Senator Keesh of planet Bar'leth said, " I have heard from the grapevine that the old timers and galactic corporations are spearheading this act. This is surely a move to acquire more political power."

Senator Organa, " I am more worried about the people who will settle down on these planets. Those people will be definitately exploited but even after knowing this, millions will flock towards those planets. The galaxy has countless poor and desperate people."

Senator Lega, " But this will also increase the overall development level of the galaxy. New trade routes, resource deposits, hyperspace lanes and many more will be discovered due to this."

Senator Plumo said with a sigh, " At what cost?"

Senator Keesh said in firm voice, " If we cannot stop it then we should at least try to save the new settlers from exploitation...." Senator Keesh turned to Senator Organa, " .... What does the Jedi think of this? Can they be convinced to interfere? Their support will be very helpful."

Senator Organa said with a sigh, " The Jedi are also supporting this act."

Senator Arkush exclaimed in surprise, " Why?? They are not materialistic or have any interests in such matters."

Senator Organa replied, " The last war with the sith brought the Jedi Order to the brink of extinction. The Jedi are, for the last 700 years, trying to regain their former numbers but the process is extremely slow. The framers of this act promised something to Jedi in exchange for support."

Senator Arkush asked, " What did they offer to the Jedi?"

Senator Organa, " The framers included a law in their act that all the newborns and children under the age of 4 years born or living on the newly settled planets, will have their midichlorians test done and the data will be given to the Jedi Temple so that they could choose their younglings. The infaliable Jedi were tempted by the act but didn't agree to it immediately but the framers put forth a point that convinced the Jedi."

Senator Lega, " What convinced the Jedi and how do you know about all this?"

Senator Organa, " As you all know, the Jedi always want to help the republic and it's people but are unable to do so as they are quite few in numbers when compared to the planets which require their constant presence. The framers pointed out that they would be able to help more people with their increased numbers and bring stability to the galaxy. After a few months of back and forth, the Jedi finally agreed and now, the act is going to be introduced in the Senate. The people behind the act did not try to hide anything as the support of the Jedi convinced many fence-sitters to join their side. The act is set to be passed with how much support they have."

Senator Plumo asked, " Who are the framers of this act? Why did this act is being framed?"

Senator Organa, " I don't know the framers but I know the reason behind the framing of this act." Everyone looked quite interested after hearing Senator Organa's words. Senator Organa continued, " Eight years ago, a man called Samuel Fortis brought a jungle planet in the inner regions, from the Senate for it's entire life time. He achieved this with illegal means but no one had gone after him for that. The man hired 100 small construction companies to mine the gold deposits present on the planet. He made an interesting competition out of it and promised that the winner of the competition would enter into an permanent partnership with him in mining the other metal present on the planet."

Senator Arkush said, " Yes, the Fortis Competition, that was what it was called. The show made on the competition was quiet popular in some circles of the galaxy. Many at that time, had thought that the mystery metal was not very valuable and the Fortis fellow was doing this to attract attention but the amount of gold extracted, processed and exported daily was alone worth billions of credits, which made many people green with envy. It is said that Samuel Fortis recovered the money he invested in the planet by the end of the competition. It was the other metal that shocked the galaxy."

Senator Lega said, " Yes, I remember. I was working under Senator Tas'kin. The news had remained in headlines for days. The planet was named Fortis and it had massive deposits of Agrocite under it's surface. The estimated amount was in millions of tons. According to geologists, the crust of that planet was made of gold, agrocite and very fertile soil which lead to development of jungle planet. Samuel Fortis attracted quite a heat due to the presence of agrocite and the massive gold deposits were just the icing on the cake."

Senator Plumo said, " Yes, many pirate groups and bounty hunters attacked the planet and tried to capture it but were killed off for their efforts. That Fortis fellow had fortified the entire planet with the money he earned from selling gold in the past 6 months. Moreover, the presence of high grade planetary defence shield made the attempted conquest even more difficult."

Senator Arkush asked, " What about the republic patrol ships?"

Senator Plumo snorted and said, " They were paid off by the powers behind the attack. Samuel Fortis then, revealed something which shocked the entire galaxy again."

Senator Keesh continued, " Yes, The Agrocite Cannon, a normal cannon made entirely of agrocite which enhanced the power of the cannon by so much that it destroyed a capital ship in one shot. Samuel Fortis revealed 12 such cannons installed on his personal planet to the galaxy but according to experts there are way more than that present on the planet."

Senator Organa, " This is obvious and didn't need any experts to know. The main point was that a previously deemed resourceless planet had such massive and valuable metals hidden underneath it's surface sparked a thought in people's mind, 'what if similar or more valuable resources were present under the surface of other unexplored planets?' As one cannot maintain a mining installation on un-inhabitated planets without the permission of Senate, without being declared illegal up to the mid rim as everything is possible in the outer rim, people sought to legally own the planets. This thought and desire lead to the birth of this act. Moreover, the rich snobs of the galaxy are seeing this as a means of utilising the lower class people whom they see as rubble."

Senator Lega, " I think we should move to gather as much support as we can so that the undesirable content of the act could be changed." Everyone nodded and after a few minutes of planning, left Senator Organa's penthouse while Senator Organa also started to contact his other allies. A new age was arriving in the galaxy and what changes it will bring, no one completely knows.

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