From the floor of the Republic Stock Exchange on Coruscant this week comes an uplifting cry of gratitude to the Mon Calamari Republic. As you may know from their press releases flaunting the subject, Emperor Teebo's faction has recently signed a massive, unprecidented deal with the privately owned and operated BlasTech. But, the darker side has reared it's ugly head, lurking in the shadows of this elation.

"It's a great thing," says Calamari stock analyst Weerin Vellicar. "They've really given a boost to the galaxy's economy." Other analysts seem to echo a similar sentiment. The press release from the Mon Calamari themselves tout this as a shot in the arm for the slumping economy, and as a deal which benefits the worlds under MCR reign in terms of defense. The benefits are obvious; with the standard-issue E-Web blasters upgraded to the substantially better E-Web 15's, the Mon Calamari forces should have a significant edge in ground battles.

"The blasters are far more powerful, with an increased reloading rate and a larger clip size," BlasTech representative Karl Zellor said in a holonet interview with Generation News and Vermillion Equinox Press. "In terms of ground combat, it should allow a unit 5/6ths the size do half again the damage, and that's a significant increase."

The defense, many military experts agree, offered to Mon Calamari space -- especially residential areas, which cannot benefit from fleet spending -- is considerable. In a typical ground assault, such a weapon would be able to do more damage with less crossfire, reducing civilian casualties and holding more enemies at bay in the process. The downside? "The majority of consequential battles which take place today are not ground assaults." Says Captain Gorshaw, a leading military analyst. "Relying on this protection alone could be disasterous. If the fleet defending a planet is taken, Victory Star Destroyers [the largest craft that have the capability to conduct atmospheric assaults] could easily tear an entire planet to pieces in a matter of a day, maybe two." Given that the Mon Calamari count the Empire -- who have shown they are not above mass brutality, on certain occasions -- among their enemies, this wouldn't be out of the question.

"However," Gorshaw adds, "I think we owe the Mon Calamari Republic a little more respect than that. Chances are, this will result in a significant increase in the safety of their population. I doubt they'll rely solely upon these blasters."

But while this all seems to predict glowing and wonderful results for this suprise move, annonymous market analysts say otherwise. "It's ridiculous, to present this as some sort of triumph," said one prominent Republic Stock Exchange official, who wished to remain annonymous for obvious reasons. "This is possibly the most irresponsible economic move by any government since the Empire funded the Corporate Sector Authority's expansion in their sector." Those strong words are backed by numerous traders.

While the market is, to some degree, divided on this issue, the constant thread running throughout all statements is that because of the volume of the forces of the Mon Calamari, and because of their resources -- which outweigh any independant investor or corporation in existence -- the amount paid to BlasTech must have been enormous. While the actual amount has not been disclosed, it is obvious that it is the exceedingly high degree of funds is at the core of the predicted effects of this move, good or ill. Traders who favour the move believe that this was something only a government could accomplish, and that spending budget which could've been thrust into the fleets of the faction was generosity.

Those against project a message of disbelief that any government could, and I quote, "be so stupid," as trader Veerlin Shyer, who operates largely in Imperial and Corporate Sector (Rogue Jedi and Vinda Corp) space, put it. "Funding BlasTech with such a ridiculous amount of money is something which is not only terrible for the economy, but for the galaxy in general." He says.

According to these sources -- and these points were featured in my earlier opinion article on the subject -- money for BlasTech essentially results in more productivity, which means BlasTech can produce more guns. This results in more blasters being put into the hands of criminals, on average. More guns circulating though the system will mean that they integrate themselves more completely into the economy, making them more important -- which means, in order to keep the bubble from popping, gun laws must be made more lax. More production means that, not only are costs driven down for BlasTech, but for consumers; which means that blaster prices go down, and more blasters may be produced in the future.

But, these are the societal effects. What about the economic effects? "Those are, for the short term, good. Prices go down, which makes a better market for the consumer, which makes it a better market overall." Veerlin says. But, he qualifies this with a rather ominous statement. "In the long term, this huge influx of money means that BlasTech makes prices lower than everyone else, and drives the galaxy's other gun manufacturers out of business. At which time, prices will shoot back up -- and with the increased portion of guns already in the hands of criminals, all that will do is cripple the economy even further."

When presented with this case, Elian Toritho, a high ranking official of the Mon Calamari Republic, had this to say on the subject: "Criminals may at first have access to more weapons due to lower retail costs and more production of weapons however a large part of our order would be used to outfit a up to date modern police force trained to combat such criminals...The fear they will inspire in criminals is going to create less criminals. And any government that creates laxer blaster laws because of more blasters on the market will be in for a rude awakening. If there were a influx of blasters on any Mon Calamari Republic world it will result in stronger laws."

When read this statement, Veerin Shyer stifled a chuckle. "Frankly," he says, "That's ridiculous. BlasTech is an independant company which retails in every known faction's territory. To think that a government which controls five planets can stifle an insurgence of violent crime all over the galaxy, when the largest government in existence [the Empire] views them as unfriendly at best, is insane." When asked about this, the BlasTech representative declined statement.

With ominous economic and societal implications on the horizon, only time will tell whether this move will revolutionize the galaxy, or thrust it into further turmoil.

Reporting on behalf of Generation News,
Viryn Quell,
Freelance Author,
Vermillion Equinox Press