Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. You guys probably don't need to be reminded that, but our familiar GFFA is about to look very different, so I felt I should clarify: I'm just playing in George's sandbox.

Notes: This has been in the works for a very, very long time. A very long time. In fact, when it was first conceptualized, it was an AU centering on Luke and Leia and a Skywalker family that had never left Tatooine. Needless to say, that's not what I ended up with. Ankyra may or may not end up as just the first of a series of multi-chapter fics. I'll shut up now and let you read.

Prologue: A Correspondence

Coruscant, 20 BBY:

From the offices of the Galactic Embassy:

First off, allow me to thank you profusely for your kindly-worded letter. We here at GE are always thrilled to hear that our work is admired, in hopes that it will inspire others to join us in the struggle against galactic corruption. I, personally, was flattered by your knowledge of my part in the founding of the Embassy, and my work in the Outer Rim.

However, I must be frank with you. The arrival of your letter caused quite a stir in the higher offices, a stir which had nothing to do with flattery.

You must be curious as to why you are receiving a reply from me, when it was our chief executive you wrote to. The reason is simple. Before I address the focus of your letter, I feel an obligation to share with you a very personal story, although more than anything it's an explanation for our ultimate response to you and the part I personally play in it.

Allow me to catch up with myself.

If there's a bright center of the universe, Tatooine is without doubt the planet it's farthest from. This wasn't the planet I was born on, but it's the one that had the biggest hand in raising me. And as anyone that's familiar with the planet will tell you, a Tatooine childhood is no childhood at all.

I arrived at the age of five, courtesy of pirates. My father was killed in the raid on our ship headed for Asalecea as I would learn years after the fact, but the prison onboard the pirate vessel was vast and at the time I naïvely assumed that we had merely been separated. It was a wishful notion I held onto for years. Through eight masters, four cities, and thirteen years spent in the desert, I was always on the lookout for him. Even after I resigned myself to the fact that he was long gone, probably sold off-planet, I never considered that he could have died that day, so long ago. Not until my estranged sister told me years later that his body had been shipped back to them in pieces.

It was a warning, impersonal. A warning to the Republic not to stick their nose in where they weren't wanted.

Asalecea was a Mid-Rim planet, too small and unimportant for anyone to notice it had been taken over by pirates until twenty years after the reign of terror had begun. The Asaleceans were tired of handing over their crops at blasterpoint, of the horrific crime rates in their cities. They had long-since given up dreams of taking back their home. They wanted out.

It was a simple mission. We weren't even landing on Asalecea, but at the rendez-vous point on one of its moons to distribute clothing, food, and all sorts of donations made by the people of our planet. As a neighbor of Asalecea, you can be sure they were all suitably embarrassed by their obliviousness to the pirate situation, and doing their very best to make amends.

My father paid the price, and I continued to pay it for the next thirteen years.

So you can understand, Chairman Ohnaka, my hesitation at your request. While a professional relationship with the Haroko System of Free Planets (which I am to understand has now grown to include both Chommell Minor and Marukesh in addition to Asalecea) seems prudent on many levels, I can't help but cringe at the thought of having anything to do with your alliance. I have spoken to our chief executive on the matter, and found her in agreement with me. Some will protest that a personal vendetta has now created that many more obstacles for our organization, but understand that we Ambassadors have always found ways around such barriers.

I wish you a fine day, and may the Force be with you.

P.A. Skywalker

Department Chief

Sentient Rights Division