Currently I was looking into the holo of a very angry Boss Nass, and fighting hard not to laugh. I could also see a now familiar Gungun little girl in the holo. She was showing off all her new toys to several other Gungun kids but she seemed quite taken with the toy blaster... which caused me to sweat a little because I realized that size shape and looks, looked exactly like an E-11... Whoever was in the toy department that designed this was getting murdered, we did not need the lunatic in the Trade Federation. Realizing what a disaster it was, I quietly made an emergency message to upgrade the blasters into full stunners and rebrand them as lightweight protection. The upgrade wasn't hard, and wouldn't even add any weight to the 'toy'. It would only require a few internal tweaks to turn the toy into a better stunner than even what the Naboo 'police' had.
Getting back to Boss Nass, who was still very angry at me for stealing his, well, she was the niece of the brother in law of Boss Nass cousin, so she technically wasn't anything to him... But considering she had been forced onto his lap, climbed on top of him like a tree or rock, and ran around his meeting area like she owned the place, I was pretty sure he had adopted her, or she had adopted and enslaved him... I wasn't sure which at this point.
The funniest part was that Boss Nass kept his thousand yard glare on my the entire time, I may have secretly recorded the entire thing for blackmail later. Who I would be blackmailing I wasn't sure.
Now, Boss Nass was understandably angry with me. I would be as well, sort of. How was I supposed to contact him when the Gunguns had run away to their secret base. Considering the timing, and that I knew the Jedi were already at Theed I blamed it all on Binks. Boss Nass did not curse... in a language I knew... which was pretty impressive because Nute was fluent in 31 languages and could curse in... a lot more.
"I would like to propose an alliance." I said, pretty obvious and on the point I know, but there are only so many unique ways to say hello, and not go into obscure languages to do it.
"You surface worlders are all alike, make demands of Gungun, yet never show your face to Gungun, expect Gungun to serve you! Brrrbrrrbrrr." Boss Nass said. The glare from a certain young Gungun did not make me laugh... I turned down the gravity in the room to .75 to keep me focused and strait faced.
"I suppose it is good then that I am on my way to the surface, you will find me at the lake where I... met this precocious little Gungun." I said. I was well aware of how the Gungun operated, honest, open, and honorable. They were not stupid, or silly like they were demonstrated on tv, and they actually made fairly good pilots. Gungun pod racers did fairly well on the open circuit every year, the few that left their homeworld.
Boss Nass stared at me incredulously. What the Corellian hell was going through my head? And only then did I smile, because I knew I had him. Now, Most Niemidians would not be able to set up this deal, in fact I was actually amazed at how well the Niemidians as a species did. It was only the sheer power of their trade fleet that allowed them to compete. And the reason was simple, they only understood numbers, numbers go up good, numbers go down bad, that simple. They literally evolved that way, because star wars, it worked...
But Gunguns were different, they only traded or dealt with 'friends', there was no need to deal with anybody else. It was why they retreated deep, and were exploited so hard by the surface humans. For them as a species the deal was actually good, sell off some 'useless' plasma and don't have to deal with other people that are not friends. People only look at the surface of Naboo and not go any deeper. Even Sidious did not know of or deal with the Gunguns and he was a local, that I did not 'know'. Then again, Sidious grew up as a small town suburbanaut, with no connection with the nobility that were actively secretly trading with the Gungun using the mining operations as a front, or the kicks that saw the Gungun regularly but sporadically. Sidious grew up thinking that the Gungun were myth and monster.
I knew differently, the Gungun were actually a very old race, with no exact origins they had been advancing their shield tech to a terrifying degree. They had to, with the monsters that traveled the deep of Naboo. It was also why they used bombas, plasma based explosives. Because they had to effectively fight underwater krayt dragons, many larger than even those monsters on Tatooine. I had no doubts that Boss Nass bigger concern was not the invasion, that would have a hard time reaching the depths that the Gunguns were at, but some ancient and scared enemy monster that was longer than an imperial star destroyer, and they haven't even dreamed of those yet.
So for me to personally come down, and be the first surface worlder to treat with the prime minister of the Gunguns to a face to face meeting. Old and new Nute felt for the Gunguns, even when they were forced from the surface by the Naboo they were not treated like people, and just animals to be moved. While they were not a naturally space faring people, it was simply because they lacked a need. Very very few Gunguns left the depths these days, and fewer still left for the stars, so they developed advanced technology, particularly shields, but not space ships. This left them vulnerable when the Naboo invaded, and still vulnerable to the trade federation.
However, this did not mean they were not technologically advanced. Yet another thing the Naboo stole from the Gungun was technology. The same technology that allows the Gungun to glide through the depths with ease is what gives Naboo craft its advantage in all areas over other craft in the galaxy. The Gungun probably didn't even know that the Naboo were using their tech in such a way, but not it was painfully obvious to me.
As I looked out through the ambassadorial sub's shielding that they quickly slap dashed together I was amazed by the wildlife. Also, I found it terrifying and slightly hilarious about how the Gungun were putting it together. We were waylaid 16 times by wildlife and the Gungun doubled, then tripled that number, then octupled that number of guards as they chased away ancient horrors, or more often then not, baited away the beasts with Gungun lives. The route I took was incredibly circuitous and took who knows how much longer as we were constantly diverted. But I knew that the Gunguns were growing more and more anxious about the meeting the longer it took.
At first it seemed the Gunguns did not care, like in the movie. They were a very isolationist if codependent species. Only needing Gunguns. However, it soon dawned on them that this was a momentous occasion for the Gungun, as the surface was not treating them like savages, but as an actual people. And soon, I saw the naked greed, something my people the Niemidians spoke very well, as they realized the potential of striking out to the surface without the Naboo in the way.
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While the Gunguns still wished to remain reclusive mostly, they still thirsted for things. Being unable to leave the depths of the planet due to an ill thought out, but dystopianly functional treaty had allowed the Gungun to thrive in almost as many ways as it had suffocated them. Their limited trade with the surface had given them what little outside needs they had, mostly a piece of technology here or there, or some republic credits to give to the outcasts or wanderers that left Gunga. But the Gunguns themselves were self sufficient, and had developed very advanced technology in isolation. The unintended tour had shown him many sites, tourist outposts he had unintendedly visited for a short period, and ancient architecture that the ancient Gunga had used in times past.
In one particular and slightly hilarious note, my guards and I were 'not' forced to take a tour of an ancient structure that was still occasionally in use as a hunting outpost. An ancient temple, who knows how old, made of stone in the unique architecture of the Gunga. Unlike the stone piece in the movies, this one still had the paint and details left after time, because it was left untouched by the elements forgotten by time and the elements both in the depths. It was beautiful, like Nepalese, the Kremlin Palace, and the Taj Mahal had a perfectly beautiful baby. I wished we could have seen and explored the much larger structures we passed, but there were no giant monsters hunting us at those times unfortunately. Instead I had Lunch in one of the glass observatories watching a monster chow down on another monster. The Gunguns were polite enough not to interrupt me in spite of really wanting to turn my attention away from the Kiaju massacre.
But eventually the tour ended, taking the better part of a day and a half for what should have only been three curesca hours. Circuitous route indeed. Again, this could be blamed on Binks, as they stirred up the monsters, but I would only learn of this much later. I simply apologized to the horrifiedly embarrassed Gunguns for not being prepared for the journey and blaming myself for it. Or so it appeared. Mostly, I didn't want for the situation to become any more awkward than it already was as that may ruin the negotiation as the turned me away in embarrassment. That would come back to bite me worse later as that would turn into anger at me, even though it was their own fault, something only I knew I could not afford.
"Brrrbrrrbrrr These Naboo! How dare they rename the ancient and revered Gunga! How dare they steal what is ours! The planet belongs to us! It is in their treaty! Which they signed! And we followed! Brrrbrrrbrrrbrrrbrrr!" He stated in anger. Even his fellows stepped back from him, both angry and afraid. I waved my droids down before they could move in to protect me, I knew I was safe for now. "I would be interested in this treaty you keep mentioning Boss Nass. I would also like to point out that this is very interesting. Your people are so advanced, yet the Naboo claimed this world as uninhabited, and thus ripe for colonization. But I am given to understand that is only possible if there is a non-native population of non sentients who have not invented space flight, and the planet must be given back to them once they have been 'enlightened' " I said. Not that that second thing ever happened, as when it was time people conveniently 'forgot' they were supposed to hand the planet back.
But finally I found Boss Nass, and a little Gungun monkey hanging off of him, like a jungle gym. He welcomed me with open arms... and slobber, which I could have done without. Again, I was glad I was the Niemidian doing the job, as most would have started shooting right there. I did have 60 B1s and 13 OOM with me, but they would be limited so far from a repeater. I was also glad I did not bring any 'meatbags' along as well.
"So Boss Nass, your nation is quite beautiful." I said. Boss Nass Nodded, slobbered and then said, in that order "Yes, my nation is beautiful, my people are beautiful, and my planet is beautiful, we Gunga are truly blessed!"
"Oh, I was not aware it was your planet, I thought it was owned by the Naboo?" I said, with faux sincerity. The anger and rage I saw in Boss Nass face was worth it. "Brrrbrrrbrrrbrrrbrrr, those dirty Naboo! They take the homeworld of the Gunga, say that it is for their betterment, and use that to take more from the Gunga! They force us into the deep, and say it is for our benefit! They take our plasma and give us trinkets and say it is for us! We are the true rulers of ancient Gunga! Not Naboo!" He said, and I was suddenly not sure if the shower of saliva was worth it.
I smiled, fully knowing I had him. "But that is not what the republic senate says, they say that this planet of Naboo, belongs to the Naboo, not the Gunga." The anger in his eyes, seeing that the planet had not even kept its ancient name was all the trap I needed, though it did mean I had to prepare for a tirade of complaints I was sure was coming. I also had to be careful, as if I pushed too far he may see me as no different than the rest of the surface and decide to simply try to get rid of them all. Not the worst outcome, but not the most beneficial.
Oh this set off Boss Nass something fierce. I stepped back as he devolved into what I could only call an animal, constantly spraying the area in saliva, only broken by a few words, most of what I could understand being swears, and the rest I could only think must be the native language. "They, they dare! They dare to claim the Gunga are savages! How... After all we have done, after all the time... How dare, how dare they!" I wondered if this is what the sith felt when they turned someone to the dark side, I have to say not bad... I also noticed that the young Gungun had been escorted out sometime during our talks, probably before Boss Nass started cursing.
"Why yes, and it has passed the 500 year mark. At this point for a species to not have space travel it becomes a protectorate of the species that is 'guiding' as they are clearly underdeveloped and cannot be allowed to guide themselves, you can thank the Hutts for that." I said. Boss Nass squeezed his fists till they turned greenish white, and I could see blood dripping down. He was a silent angry now, as his face turned a dark black, and veins bobbed as he shook.
"What do you wish to do, the Naboo, they cannot be trusted. For them, for what they did to us..." he said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, but it might have well been thunder for the seething anger behind it. I knew of course I could ask anything, and the Gungun would act my knife. There would be a war with the surface now, regardless of what I said or did now, now that the Gungun knew. Because the agreement was a carefully crafted noose. At first it looked innocent, the Gungun need not use the surface, as they were an aquatic species anyway. Why should they risk war? Simply split the planet into land and sea and be done with it. But no, because they had no exposure to the greater republic the didn't know the hidden rules that were burried deep, the hidden meanings, the hidden context. The entire agreement was a trap, and the Gungun were slaves the moment the signed that agreement... no further back, the moment the Naboo saw their lush planet they had enslaved the Gungun no better than pirates they denounce!
"Oh my dear Nass, do not fear me or what I have to offer, for together we shall rule the galaxy!" I said, and in a way I meant it. Sure, it was doomed to failure, but I knew that I was already failed, and in a way so were the Gungun, but, just one stone placed, one pillar raised, and maybe if we raised enough, the sky just wouldn't fall on our heads...
