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The idea of adding them to the Republic Navy, which outside the Ord System patrol fleets was a small and anemic force beyond the Core Worlds, was a good idea, though Dooku wondered whether it was actually a possible one. The other idea, the idea of using one as a humanitarian aid vessel, was a concept Master Fay quite liked.
"But they are prizes that you and your people took, aren't they?" Harry asked frowning. "Surely you're due some recompense."
"We have the weapons, the droids, the starfighters, even the tanks that made up the TF's army. Which is the other part of that equation," Padme replied. "Most of their forces were taken intact, hence why everyone is leery of us having control the Lucrehulks. Using the weapons to from a defensive army is fine, even a fleet, so long as we don't have the means to project that force elsewhere."
The queen chuckled, leaning back in her chair, munching on another pastry before continuing. "It isn't as if Naboo actually has the industry to keep them running anyway. We've never been a large industrial center. Small specialized ships, yes, like my own yacht, we can design and even build. But we don't have the means to service ships that large, nor the sheer number of Vulture starfighters we took intact thanks to Anakin's bravery. In fact, we're going to be hard-pressed to even keep up the maintenance on the infantry style droids we took, let alone their machines. Just another headache I have to deal with," Padme finished with a long sigh.
Aayla looked at Harry, having felt a sudden spike of interest from him. "What are you thinking, Harry?"
"Well, it strikes me that the main issue with the Lucrehulks is both enormous size, and that you've got four of them, correct?"
"That and the fact that as I've just said we can't service them, Harry," Padme said tartly, a little miffed that Harry seemed to not have listened to her for a moment there.
"I understand that, but sometimes… well, Master Fay's always told me that if you have several problems, sometimes you can sort of set them against one another to become solutions. And it occurs to me that while the Wookies joined us on this mission for the sake of friendship with Count Dooku and the respect they bore him and the Jedi Order, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be paid for it."
As everyone turned to him Harry went on thoughtfully. "And Serenno has that industrial capacity. How long, or should I say, how much would it be worth to set that kind of thing up here? Industrial platforms, orbital repair yards, that sort of thing."
None of the other people in the room knew the answer to that question, but it was an intriguing idea, as was the idea of paying the Wookies. Master Dooku smiled faintly, exchanging a glance with Master Fay as he stood up. "I think I will go and see if one of the Wookie leaders can join us. Does this room have access to the palace's Holonet relay?"
"It does," Padme said, swiftly standing up and moving over to a desk in one corner, pressing a few buttons. A second later a screen rose up out of it.
Master Fay joined her, smiling slightly. "I think we need to get in touch with the Council of Counts on Sorenno."
"Actually, Harry," Lily said from the air above them, audible yet again only to the Jedi of course, "I am interested in that giant Lucrehulk ship too."
They looked up at her as Padme frowned, realizing once again that Lily must have said something. Fay replied for them all. "Really, what interests you about it?"
"Well, it's already so large, and you and I have used space expansion charms on your ship. Think about how much space we could fit into a ship that's already that huge!"
While Fay immediately became interested in that idea for the amount of carrying capacity such a ship would have, Harry was more interested in the defensive aspects. "If we did that, we could double up the generator runs to all of the shield capacitors and load enough starfighters and workers in it to make a massive army!"
"I'm just going to ignore the aspects of this conversation that I have no idea about and put the rest in a file marked 'not my business,'" Padme said dryly, shaking her head as the door opened to admit Master Dooku and several of the Wookies.
The conversation from then on centered around the Lucrehulks and what they would do with them. At first the Wookies were a little irritated about what was going on and the idea of being paid for helping their friends. But it was pointed out to them that Naboo was not actually among their friends or allies before this, and they had done Naboo a tremendous service. Master Fay also brought up a point of contention between them and the Trade Federation a few years back about the Wookie colony of Alaris Prime.
The mention of the jungle moon and its colony brought sharp roars and snarls from the Wookies, who still remembered the confrontation they had with the TF about the mining rights for that planet. Many Wookies had died against the TF's droids during that conflict before the Jedi could step in and resolve things. The TF had been forced to back down, leaving the moon entirely, but had not been forced to pay reparations, something the Wookies had been enraged about at the time. Receiving an entire Lucrehulk to do whatever they wished to would be a way to poke the TF in the eye.
After that the Wookies were on board with the idea, but they also demanded that they pay for the ship in some ongoing manner.
Here Aayla spoke up. "Padme, how many of your palace guard survived the fight to reclaim the planet?"
"Barely any," Padme said with a sigh. "We lost several of them against pockets of resistance here and there in the palace, and more died against the droidekas before we were able to take control of the control center and those within it. And of course my captain was ambushed and killed by that Dark Side user."
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