So, people, getting the Bacta is not the problem here. It'd be nice, but the real issue is Palpatines little paradox. Even if we successfully steal or replace Bacta on out own, the planet us still asking to join the CNS.
Here's the second part. The real muscle is obviously the CIS. Bacta is not actually important for them, but it is a strategic resource for the Republic, whose Clones cannot be healed or replaced nearly as quickly as droids can. Thus, one possibility is to make denying the Republic a strategic resource less attractive than cedeing it to us. At the moment we're neutral because neither side can afford to piss us off and gang up on them with their enemy. We could play that as our stick. Is keeping one strategic resource (which again, has no direct benefit for the CIS) from the Republic worth more than staying out of a two front war? The risk is of course that they might decide they need to hold their own ground to not set a precedent of us threatening them. If they do, we go to war, likely with the Republic as allies. We'd keep faith in the CNS, but we'd be loosing our popular appeal as neutrals. By the same token, the CNS is still much weaker than the other two, just strong enough to turn the tides if we join a side. Our advantage is that even with growing armies, the Rep and CIS are grinding each other down while we have an untouched economy to keep growing. Basically, the longer it's neutral, the better off the CNS will be. Going to war means spending lives and ships and resources on conflict. We might have more of the galaxies economy, but we definitely cannot outlast the CIS or Rep.
That was the stick and it's risks. What about the carrot? Well again, the CIS's goal is to deny Bacta to clone armies. If we distribute freely, the Republic has the buying power to still take a big chunk, if they don't just bully us into forking it over. So, we've got to deny Bacta to the Republic, while also not appearing biased. Again, relief efforts save us. Now realistically, it's a smarter move for the Republic to shove all the Bacta it can into it's at to end the war faster, rather than, say, giving it to civilian casualties and refugees. But those civilians aren't likely to appreciate that fact and whoops, the Rep is still democratic. Spin it enough and we'll come out the heroes again, the Rep has good PR, and the Steps deny the Clones any Bacta and not fight a two sided war. I kinda feel bad for the Clones, but really we're loyal (for a given value) to the CNS first.
Unfortunately, I don't think stealing/replicating Bacta is going to defuse things. Even if it removes the technical Monopoly on Bacta, and thus makes available for clones, practically all production of Bacta is still on the one planet no matter what we do. And the CIS knows it. Now that could change, but it'll take years of infrastructure beyond acquiring the stuff before the Monopoly is broken. Too long for this crisis. A humanitarian invasion of that festering slave pit is also a problem. Beyond the issues of Rep/Separate intervention, it's a terrible precedent. A sovereign planet asked to join our side, and we stepped in and deposed the government. We might manage to keep our popularity with some good spinning, but that precedent is there. And Palpatine is going to use it on every planet that even thinks about joining us. Better to just bump them off quietly after they've joined, then swallow both companies while massively increaseing quality of life and profits, as per Ciaren takeover plan v.26.
