STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Diplomacy

crap, should have know that 🙁

I don't think we'll be seeing the rest of the planet, Jovan! Don't feel bad haha 🙂

"You should be prepared to prevent rioting, not quell it should it happen," Jelena says. "I am not too familiar with the actual situation and mood of the mining guilds here, but I assume they will respond with violence if deprived of pay. Unless they have overbearing love for their government, or at least the corporation that runs it?"

Jelena realizes she is being very pointed with her commentary, yet she thinks that the government should be working harder and cutting other things before cutting the wages of those who work so hard for them.

Indeed; Fest City is your focus here.

-

"It is the only massive source of funding that we can stem the flow of, in order to redirect elsewhere," Senator Lobs insists. "And we cannot favor one mining team over another, or they will turn on each other."

You sense some evasion there.

Can I use sense to get a feel of the frustrations?

Certainly! Being a Scholar, you're good at that sort of thing. You open yourself up to the Force and take in the general emotional sensation of the mines.

The mine feels... tired, yet determined. The miners are hard at work below, toiling endlessly to excavate whatever minerals it is that the Fest Corporation values most.

You don't sense much negativity or frustration; the work is distracting.

which is basicly a good thing... I mean, it's not a bad thing, they have a job, they are determined.

"what hours do you run?"

Most workers work twice what is typically acceptable in the Republic, says Hardrew.

"Nobody looks so nobody cares," Hardrew says.

They get paid acceptable wages, though the overtime pay is subject to unexplained alterations.

can I use "Law" to see if this is possibly slavery?

Evasion as in he's avoiding something? Or avoiding my question?

"Is there nothing else you can put a hold on, or some fund that you have prepared for these moments?" Jelena asks. "Where does the majority of your funding go, aside from the miners' wages?"

Senator Lobs says that he can go over a readout of the budget with you, but overall it goes into the wages of the miners and the operating company's security forces- the mercenaries and the rag-tag fleet in orbit.

"Would the security force stay if their wages were temporarily suspended?" Jelena asks.

Senator Lobs seems to think not.

"Very few of the men are Festans," he says. "The Fest Corporation almost exclusively hires mercenaries from off-world. Stop paying them, they'll leave."

"Could you hire from the miners, in the event that they did not stay?" Jelena says.

"I'm loathe to do that," Senator Lobs sighs. "The miners aren't fighters, even if they're sturdy men. We need experienced men here. The Mantooinian military would make a mockery of a Festan militia."

(sorry for being so damned inactive!)

so is there anything indicating slavery? Besides the harsh environment and the rather low-ish wages?

Nothing readily apparent, Jovan. They do have taskmasters among them but only to coordinate the mining efforts, not to punish them for working slow. These men are free in the sense that they are not indentured.

what's the chance of the industry moving to another planet?

Jelena is a little exasperated by this.

"What is the logic in hiring a militia entirely comprised of foreign mercenaries?" Jelena asks. "How did you get to this point that you could not defend yourselves without help? No doubt it is expensive to payroll an entire mercenary contingent."

Jovan-

I'm not entirely certain what you mean by that.

-

Jelena-

Senator Lobs offers the lame response that military training was neglected tremendously in favor of full employment of the Festans in the mines; as a result, the Mantooinians had a vastly superior fight force and started threatening a defenseless Fest.

The mercenaries were hired to even the odds. The Festans can afford it when the mines are running at full capacity and supply lines are clear.

But not when those things are not running smoothly I'm guessing. How long can they keep the mercenaries around? What if they cut down half of the fleet? Might be that the Mantooinians take that as a concession though I'm sure Fest would be against it.