Liberation of a Planet
Summary: It's not the first time I am renamed and it won't be the last. I have carried many names. I am Coruscant. OneShot.
Warning: Umm… Yes. Ever heard a world talking? Except Zonama Sekot, of course…
Set: Post "The Unifying Force", with flashbacks to the Clone Wars, the founding of the New Republic, the loss of Coruscant in the Yuuzhan Vong War and the end of it.
Disclaimer: Standards apply.
I.
They say they have rid me of a bad influence.
It has begun.
Fights have broken out on my once-peaceful surface; friends and neighbors are going against each other. One being has risen to power, has wrestled it from the hands of the Council and now is using it to move against his former allies. There have been upheavals – I have sensed them; felt them deep within my soul and my consciousness.
The self-appointed guardians of peace and life have been under attack.
I have felt the children of my world die – children from different planets, children of diverse origin and yet my children, the ones brought to me and placed under my protection. But not only children have died. Many of those fragile beings living on, with and in my care have died or fled and still are dying and fleeing. Because I refuse to let them fight openly on my surface, they have located those fights to other worlds and my brothers and sisters are crying out with the pain of millions of deaths. We don't understand the reason for wars; we don't understand the sense behind fights. We don't want to.
But nobody ever listens to us.
They say they have rid me of a bad influence. They say the Republic was old and derelict and had to be replaced. They say the beings that call themselves Jedi were dangerous and had to be extinguished. My sisters and brothers call this genocide but the beings call it liberation. They say their new order is everlasting and their power and glory will outlast even my suns and moons. They say what they do is right and what others do is wrong and in order to save them, they have to fight them or die fighting.
There is a new reign established on my surface, and a new title is given to the head of state. With him, I am renamed.
Imperial City.
It's not the first time I carry another name and it won't be the last. Names are nothing, mere wind in the abysses of time. These times will pass, these beings will come and go, live and die, but I shall remain.
My name is Coruscant.
II.
They say they have re-taken me from the Empire.
It hasn't been easy.
For years now I have been the capital of an Empire so great the blaze of the suns has diminished besides it. I have been the heart and the soul of an entire galaxy. Now, I have been made a prize in a war, a war between those fragile beings of various inheritances that came to rebel against the Empire I have accepted for such a long time.
I don't participate in Wars.
Those trifling human affairs don't bother me. After all, what is a beings' life in comparison to my eternal existence? I refuse to be part of their petty discourses and trivial wars. But that doesn't stop me from mourning for the lost ones. In every war, beings die. Don't they see what damage they do to the cosmic balance? No, of course they don't. Beings of whatever race and whatever origin are too short-lived, too small to be able to view the great picture of the universes. They don't see the colors, the beauty of it. They are blind to anything around them except their own trivial, simple matters.
I weep for my children.
They say they have reclaimed me from the Empire. They say my taking has given them the final boast of strength and self-consciousness they need to finally defeat their enemy. They say they have claimed back what has been rightfully theirs from the beginning. They say they are founding a New Republic which will do better than the old one and the Empire, they say they will right the wrongs and give every being a place to live. There are whispers that the Jedi have returned, that the peace-keepers are back and will help to rebuild a new state in which every single being will be welcome and able to feel at home. They claim to be better than the Empire, to be more just and good.
They think by returning me my name everything that was done wrong will be set right.
They couldn't err more.
III.
They say they have saved me from the Infidels.
I watch and weep.
Those new enemies are different than anything the beings have yet met, different and vicious, strong and cruel. They have overrun this galaxy, thrust their teeth deep into what once was ours and now is nothing. They have forced my sisters and brothers to obey to their will, have altered orbits and changed the courses of moon and stars. They have brought war, anger, fear and terror. And death. So much death it is unbearable.
Never before have I encountered beings so utterly empty.
Those beings have been stripped of their lives. Have been stripped of their purpose in life. I can feel their fear and anger and see the impacts they have on the beings that have lived in my protection for the last years. Here, finally, two universes collide and neither of them knows what to do with the other. So they fight. My sisters and brothers and I, we watch from the sidelines. We have sworn never to interfere. We are the silent guardians of this universe, of this galaxy, and we won't be drawn into wars. We can't. It's forbidden to us.
I am changing. I can feel it deep within.
They say they are cleansing me of technology and unnatural structures. They say the beings are infidels and heretics and have to be either reformed or killed. They say the ultimate way of becoming one with life is by bearing and inflicting pain and their cries echo to a purple sky, pleas for help and of desperation. But nobody listens. They say they won't stop until the entire galaxy is in their hands and nobody is able to stand in their way for a long time. They say I am their new capital and with me, they will win the war and end the fights. They say I am their new home and yet know, deep inside of them, that I was never meant to be what they want me to be.
They call me Yuuzhan'tarr.
IV.
They say they have freed me from the enemy's grasps.
I can feel it.
Once again, I am starting to change, slowly and gradually but unstoppable. I can feel it in my very core: there is change in the air, in the skies, in the stars. I have lost two moons, I have lost my friends and guardians, but others have come and have left again. My appearance has changed. Where once were graceful bridges, walls and domes, where once were forests and grass-lands of strange beauty and life, there now is a mangled mix of both. Steel and glass, moss and trees mix in a fashion that suggests something hasn't been set quite right. Surprisingly, I like it.
The last fights are slowly coming to an end.
The beings have fought till the bitter end. How many of them have died I cannot say but I feel there have been far too much casualties on both sides. But that, ultimately, is not my concern but theirs. Don't misunderstand. It's not my concern who lives on my surface. It's not my concern what those beings do to each other. I am the heart and soul and consciousness of this planet and I don't meddle with human affairs. My siblings and I have long ago sworn not to do so anymore. We have encountered a new consciousness in our midst, a child we thought lost for a long time. It has returned, but it is different from us. It acts. It speaks to its beings. It influences their decisions and leads their ways. We don't do that. Maybe we're too old for it, maybe we're simply wiser. But no one can tell what will come from it.
Life continues.
They say they have liberated me from the hands of the so-called Yuuzhan-Vong. They say they will be able to strike a compromise with the durhyam, the being the Far Outsiders placed close to my core. They say they will need years to rebuild me, but it will be done, eventually. They say without me their state has no chance of prevailing and without me they don't have a cause for fighting. They say with me, they will be able to stop new wars from arising, will be able to solve confrontations peacefully. My sisters and brothers and I laugh silently at the foolishness of those beings that have inhabited us for such a long time.
Once again, there is a new state established and my name is returned to me.
V.
I am Coruscant.
I am a planetary consciousness, older than the oldest world in this universe, younger than the youngest being on my surface. I am unchanging and everlasting, never the same and different every day.
I cannot be named and yet have many names.
I cannot be populated and yet millions of people call me home.
I cannot be claimed, I cannot be liberated. That's the catch, isn't it? How many beings have fought for me, have died to liberate me or to occupy me. How many beings have made me the one desire in their lives only to realize I don't return their love the way they expect me to. They say they have liberated a planet. I say: I bear no grudge against those beings that fight for me like children fight for their toys.
I am not like them.
I am constant and all-encompassing and I don't serve anyone else than myself. I don't interfere when beings start to fight each other, when brother turns on brother and sons on fathers. I don't react when voices call on me for help, I don't defend myself when my surface is under attack. I don't defend myself and I don't defend those millions of beings that believe just living on my surface is enough to be protected from all evil the universe contains.
They can try.
They can establish a state and instate a president; they can call upon Councils and Advisors and Senators. They can install planetary shields and orbital defense platforms; can build star fighters and war ships and troop transporters. They can go to war with neighbors and friends, can kill each other and be killed in return.
And I will do nothing to stop them.
I am Coruscant.
I am not responsible for the actions of the myriad of beings that live on my surface or have ever lived there. Like my siblings, I am a guardian, but I don't interfere. We watch from the midst of the beings, listen to the cries and pleas, to laughter and happiness and weep and laugh with them. We rejoice in every single birth of a new being and mourn the death of others. We see suns and stars, moons and planets pass and watch quietly.
Because this is what we were created for.
Sometimes, we feel helpless. Sometimes, we want to act, to interfere, to stop beings from doing foolish things and starting wars and fights. But we are not allowed to do so. If we were, nothing good would arise. There is a reason to everything in this universe.
I watch.
I weep.
I laugh.
Whoever lives on my surface, whoever calls me his home, is welcome.
But, fragile beings, remember this: I am not going to do anything. I am not going to interfere. Destroy your homes, destroy your enemies, destroy yourselves and I am not going to lift a hand. Destroy me and I'll only be watching.
You are mine, as I am yours forever. I guard your dreams, your sleep, your happiness. I guard your life, but not against yourselves.
I am Coruscant.
A/N Luke knows why planets shouldn't be allowed to act on their own accord.
