Republic of Deception (Part One)

by edwin-drood

This is part one of a series I have been working on, a dry run if you will. The story takes place years before The Phantom Menace and follows Palpatine, Dooku, Qui-Gon, and Plagueis. Ideally, the arc will follow Dooku's disillusion with the Jedi and the Republic and will develop a character who I feel is underrated.

Chapter 1:

Tragedy on Coruscant

52 BBY

Stars. He used to look at the stars. His homeworld of Bandomeer, deep in the outer rim seemed to be surrounded by stars, but it was nothing compared to the stars surrounding him now this far into the core. It seemed like the space around his shuttle would burst of energy if a single star.

"Making the final approach to Coruscant, Your Excellency," shouted Captain Rieeken from the front of the bridge.

Kalpana turned from the starboard wide viewport forward to the planet ahead of them, Coruscant. Bandomeer could learn from Coruscant in terms of infrastructure. He was almost overjoyed to finally be back in the core instead of in the mid rim on backwater worlds making endorsements for politicians he had no interest in. Now he would get to address the new delegation coming into office. The new Senators would crumble under the stress the Galactic Republic put him under. "Thank you Captain Rieeken," stated Kalpana, "I trust you can handle our descent. I must finalize the address."

"Yes, sir." Shouted Rieeken, now thoroughly engaged in the shuttle's instrumentation.

Kalpana turned and began to head aft. Riiken was a good man, married with a son on the way. Or maybe it was a daughter. He decided to make a mental note to talk to Rieeken once all of the formalities were taken care of. Kalpana liked the hue of the the accents in the shuttle. The shade of blue reminded him of the fool of an assistant, Finis. The door in front of him slid open to permit him entrance into his quarters. Comparatively spacious as far as shuttle quarters went, the room included a desk situated in front of a viewport. His previous shuttle lacked any viewport it's personal quarters. This viewport was actually a personal favour Kalpana had called in from some hotshot on Kuat.

Kalpana had made his way across the room and now had his hand pressed against the transparisteel. It suddenly hit him. All of the stars he could see answered to him in some way. "Hmm…" Soon Senators will be begging him to take full control of the galaxy so they can go back to planetary politics. Maybe he would take them up on it. No. Why take on that extra responsibility just to be labeled as a tyrant? Supreme Chancellor is enough.

"Strange." a wing of fighters was maneuvering along a path to intersect with them. They were small and spear-like in build, some of the most elegant ships he'd ever seen. Coruscant security does a good job of keeping the space lanes clear. It was probably just a security detail to meet the maximum standard of security. Typical. Flashes of red erupted from all of the fighters at once. "Stang!" The blasts rocked the shuttle and sent Kalpana tumbling backwards. His spine struck the edge of the desk and he heard an awful crack as he lost all feeling in his legs. Pain shot through his body as he hit the floor. It was so overwhelming that he failed to notice that the emergency klaxons were sounding.

"Sir, a small group of fighters hit our escape pods," sounded a voice on the intercom.

Assassins. Despite the agony in his spine,Kalpana tried to reach the comlink on his desk. It was impossible. "Help!" Kalpana could see the door to his quarters his position on the floor. No one was coming. He could feel more explosions rocking the ship. He needed to make his way to the bridge, so that he could get a sense of the situation. His new objective pouring strength into him, Kalpana crawled across the floor to the door. Never had he hated the blue carpet in his quarters so much. The next shuttle would have no carpet. He was halfway to the door when the ship shook from more explosions worse than the last set. What was the ship's status? "Rieeken!" Kalpana flinched. He felt like his whole body would erupt in flames. At last he reached the door separating him from the hallway, but it didn't slide open. It must've been been locked by emergency protocol. Kalpana beat his fist against it. "Override code Tsavong!" The door slid open to a field of debri and stars. Kalpana stared forward, unable to look away. His last moment seemed like almost an eternity. He decided he liked the stars on Bandomeer more.