Barely a Nation

Staring out the palace window was Padme, the Queen of a hardly significant number of humans who banded together only a few generations ago to try, once again, to form a new homeworld for themselves. She seemed sad, even through the thick layers of makeup meant to make her look austere and above biased emotional states when making judgements for her people.

Her great, great grandfather was the first one in her royal line to establish the house of Amidalla. He had the right kind of charisma to gather enough pull to cause a mass exodus of humans. Normally when this would happen, as it so often did in galactic human history, some other species or extra-species race, such as the mandelorians, would brutally crush the ill-equipped and poverty stricken humans. What made this world of Naboo so different was that it rested on the borders of the Outer Rim and already contained an indigenous species, the gungans, making it significantly risky for planetary bombardment by "unsanctioned" human-haters. This was first because of its proximity to the Outer Rim, a sector of the galaxy just waiting for a reason to engage in outright rebellion, and second because of the political blow back that wiping out an innocent indigenous people would cause for whatever politicians who were stupid enough to attempt it. Unfortunately for the Republic, their politicians were never very bright.

After some successful swaying of the public against human colonialism, the first bombardment of Naboo took place. The Outer Rim declared itself a separate sector of space distinct from the Republic, justifying the rebellion by using the atrocities committed against the gungans of Naboo by the Republic. And so, the Outer Rim Schism began and lasted generations until about twenty years ago when both sides were so exhausted by losses that they both simply stopped fighting. Naboo's proximity to the Outer Rim finally gave it some peace during this time, as the Republic and Outer Rim both regrouped at their respective centres of power far away from Naboo's borders. Noobian space essentially became a cultural and economic backwater, but the power vacuum allowed the humans on Naboo to thrive very well under the reign of King Rion, Padme's father.

Near the end of his reign, however, one particularly nasty inter-galactic trading company and military corporation, the Trade Federation, decided to bolster its terrible public image by creating a blockade of Naboo, a peaceful way to attack the new human homeworld, which kept the Republic happy and the Outer Rim indifferent, allowing senators to issue trade sanctions from the safety of their own homes while the new and innovative use of droid armies by the Trade Federation enforced them all the way out in Noobian space. Cut off from intergalactic trade, the human population began overusing the planet's resources, straining the relations with the indigenous gungans, causing even more bitterness between the two species. It wasn't long before all-out war broke out on the planet over its increasingly declining resources. Before Queen Padme's father died, he drove the gungans back to their evolutionary starting point under water, a shameful prospect for the amphibious gungan upper class who found great status in living above water. But that was not the end of the war. As a final act of hatred against their human enemies who now held them underfoot, a suicide mission of gungans struck a blow against the house of Amidalla by assassinating practically the entire house except for one little girl who managed to escape – Padme – while King Rion was away signing the peace treaty between their two peoples. It was a bitter victory indeed, and out of grief and from the injuries acquired from the war, King Rion died, leaving the throne to a little girl.

Now sixteen, she was considered ready to handle the many decisions a Queen had to make for her people, but none of them were good. She hated war and all the suffering it brought; she would do anything to avoid bringing more of it to her people, but the gungan diplomats were beginning to get more aggressive in their demands and despite the Noobian humans finally being recognized by the Galactic Senate – mainly thanks to Minister Ki-Adi Mundi's intrinsic rights appeal before the Senate and the human friendly representatives of the planet Alderaan – having a brilliant senator from Naboo did little to reduce the sanctions when a thousand others outvoted him. Senator Palpatine had just returned to Naboo to inform Queen Amidalla that his latest appeal had gained very little in their favour. War with either the gungans or the neimodians, the race backing the Trade Federation as their primary share holders, seemed unavoidable.

"I will not lead my people into another war," she declared.

"But your highness-"

Senator Palpatine was cut off by the forceful Queen, "Silence, Senator. We have seen enough death. If we are to have any sympathy from the Senate, we must work towards peace: first with our gungan neighbours, then with the neimodians who can finally end this blockade."

"I think you underestimate gungan hatred and galactic fear of our species, your Highness," Palpatine responded.

"Then I will change their estimation of us," came her brusque reply.

Palpatine was something of an enigma to Padme. He sounded just as sincere whether he preached peace or encouraged war, and his meteoric rise to power without any significant achievements struck her as suspicious. His actual political positions seemed difficult to pinpoint since he was so adept at adapting to whatever view he deemed advantageous to changing circumstances, making him seem almost slushy or spineless. But he was a product of Naboo, a hard man to be sure, raised in war and no stranger to fighting with his fists as much as with his words. Being the galactic representative of Naboo gave him significant authority, making him a third threat for the Queen to be wary of besides the gungans and the Trade Federation.

She had very little room to manoeuvre if she intended to lead her people, and she believed to her core that her leadership was necessary for her people to survive. Naboo may not be the native world of humanity – in fact, no one knew where the humans came from – but she would carve and shape it into a new one through her philosophy, an inheritance of cumulative wisdom acquired by learning from her ancestors' successes and mistakes, further adapting it to her own experience of having lost every family member she ever loved. She was, perhaps ironically, aggressively pacifistic. She was prepared to martyr herself for her people if it meant their survival, and this degree of commitment meant she was highly suspicious of leaders among her people whose intentions she could not properly gauge, such as Palpatine.

The senator saw too much strength in the Queen's pacifist position, making it foolish for him to attack it head on. He would have to dismantle her position from a different angle.

"Your highness, for all the structures of power and class that exist in this galaxy, there are ultimately only two levels of society. There is the individual who makes up the collective in society, and then there is the collective making up the society itself. The individual who makes up society cannot ever exit out of himself and pretend to be society itself as a whole, projecting his will on it, as he is merely an individual part of it. And society itself, as a whole, has a sort of consciousness that emerges out of it which we call culture. You, your majesty, are merely an individual, for all your power and status, and are responsible for maintaining our Noobian collective consciousness. And yet, you are deciding for yourself as an individual how you want to live and not for the whole of this society. You fancy yourself a martyr for the cause of peace, but really you were already sacrificed by your ancestors when they created a House of Royalty bearing your name. You are just as much an individual as everyone else, but you also have a responsibility which no one else has, which will force you, yes I say force you, to make decisions for the sake of this society that will cost you your integrity as an individual. If you are unwilling to make the right decision for this society, then you have the right to relinquish your crown and leave yourself to your pacifism," and so was the stern rebuke of the Queen's position, relayed masterfully by mixing personal attacks on her and her House that were cleverly disguised by portraying her as the victim of circumstance. This made her feel every bite of the attack without giving her any way to adequately respond. So was the political genius of the senator representing Naboo.

Seeing her struggle to respond, Governor Sio Bibble of the capital city of Theed intervened, "The gungan delegates are likely growing impatient, majesty. We should set aside our disagreements and show a unified front as we approach the negotiating table. If we show any weakness at all, we will surely lose everything."

"Fair council, Governor, but that would not be the case if violence were an option," Palpatine responded.

"Violence begets violence," Bibble interjected. "The only logical way to achieve peace with it is to exterminate those who can use it against us, which is a means no end can justify."

Palpatine raised an eyebrow and said, "I see you have formed her thoughts well, and have included yourself into the conversation only after I provided strong opposition to her views. Perhaps the Queen's intentions contain less conviction and more dogma than I had originally anticipated."

The room became silent.

"You are dismissed, Senator," came the Queen's only reply.

At that, Senator Palpatine gave a curt bow before excusing himself from the throne room. Governor Bibble, a long time adviser of the Queen's father, practically raised her from the time she was six, and groomed her to become the queen that Naboo needed. They left the throne room side by side as he escorted her to the main hall where she would have to once again confront gungan diplomats on increasingly aggressive border disputes.

"Don't let the Senator's words discourage you, Padme," he told her as they walked. "Your father would have been proud of what you've been able to achieve based on your platform of peace."

"And what have I achieved, Sio? I'm practically stuck in these negotiations interminably while the gungans press on our borders. Maybe Palpatine is right. Maybe I need to reconsider my approach."

"Considering that there are actual negotiations taking place, I would say that you have achieved quite a bit. You also managed to free the city of Sarta from gungan terrorist occupation in a joint human/gungan operation. No one has been able to manage these things before you. These things take time, my dear."

"I don't know, Sio. I feel like the only reason they agreed to these negotiations is because they see me as a little girl and a weak leader, and they want to take advantage of that."

"You're sounding more like a Queen advised by Palpatine than a Queen advised by Bibble. Remember who you are and where you come from. I have never kept anything about your heritage hidden from you. The strength you need to lead your people is in in your veins, if not as a biological outworking of it than at least from the fact that the entirety of humanity, even those scattered across the galaxy, look to you as an icon of leadership and hope. That belief that they have in you, that hope, is more powerful than any individual's convictions, pacifist or otherwise."

She felt a bit overwhelmed by that little speech, but she also felt empowered and encouraged. All the knowledge and training from her royal advisers didn't seem to float away on some cloud named Concept, but were firmly grasped in her hands as tools she could use to build the world her people needed. She could do this. She took a deep breath before nodding to her guards to open the doors to the main hall.

She walked in to a dozen gungans standing by the negotiating table, with a few governors and royal advisers on the human side, including Palpatine who rushed to find a seat at the right hand of the Queen after leaving her presence in the throne room. The Queen knew that there was no tradition among her people about the right hand side of a ruler containing any symbolic power, but she knew, and assumed that Palpatine knew also, that sitting at the right hand of the gungan monarchs, the bosses, carried significant meaning for them. No one else on the human side of the room picked up on this except her, and she couldn't tell him to move as it would make the human front seem internally divisive and weak. She could only bow and take her seat before the rest of the delegation took theirs, now with Palpatine's words carrying more weight than she ever would have allowed. All the pieces were set, and it was time for the Queen to make her play.

"My fellow advisers, and our most honourable guests representing the gungan people of Naboo-"

"Naboo?!" interrupted a new gungan ambassador at the table, Chief Akaba. "This is a human term that never belonged to this planet. You do not own us, as you do not own our planet!" and the chiefs and bosses nodded their heads in agreement, despite the fact that they as well as the humans in the room knew that this was a blatant falsehood created by gungan propagandists to promote further hatred of the human occupiers.

"I did not misspeak, Chief Akaba, and as you very well know these talks are not to be broadcast to the public at large. You can save your political posturing for an audience that believes it," replied Amidala.

Boss Nass, the de facto leader of the gungans, burst out in laughter in response to the Queen's statement, "This little one is more fierce and articulate than our Chief Akaba, but this should not be considered too significant a feat," he said while Akaba took his seat visibly embarrassed by his attempt to intimidate the new human monarch. "But his sentiment is shared by our people. This planet is now more associated with you humans than with the gungans."

"Very well," responded Queen Amidala. "What would you have us call this planet?"

Everyone in the room fell silent. True enough, Naboo was the Galactic Republic's term for the planet containing a species that were not space worthy and were never consulted on the name, but it was the human settlements that made it galactically relevant. The humans merely adopted the name, and Noobian became synonymous with human. For the Queen to make such a concession was completely unexpected and at least superficially undermined human authority in this sector of space.

Senator Palpatine leaned in as if to speak in the Queen's ear, but this was only for show as he spoke audibly to the entire room, "Your highness, the gungans are a strong people, and they already perceive you as weak. If you grant them this they will-"

"I will show them what strength there is in weakness," she replied before he could finish. "What would you have us call it?" she continued.

Palpatine became silent. Boss Nass smiled at the Queen's ability to command the room despite the highly sensitive and controversial subject matter on both sides.

"We will call it, Gunga!" came his reply.

"Very well. I accept this name as equally valid as Naboo. Henceforth, this planet shall be identified as Gunga-Naboo to the galaxy."

"No," came Nass' reply. "Only Gunga. We have suffered much under the feet of humans. We will not be called a conquered people to the galaxy."

Palpatine responded first, "Unfortunately, Boss Nass, to the galaxy at large you are in fact a conquered people."

But before that outrageous comment of Palpatine's could garner a gungan reaction, the Queen spoke up as if to finish Palpatine's thought, "And it is a hideous truth about our past indeed – a truth we are here today to respond to and alter, not maintain. We cannot get into a discussion of who has suffered more than the other, as the pain that comes with personal loss, the sort that we have all suffered to some degree or another, is infinite in every instance. This is the struggle of finding justice in a situation so mired in injustice.

"We, the Noobians, have now been on this planet for more than four generations. We have established families, homes, entire cities and provinces. Our relocation is no longer an option at this table. But more than that, none of us living today and sitting at this table were here when the decision was first made by my ancestors to settle this planet. We are, each of our species, co-inheritors of the wars and sufferings caused by our ancestors. We didn't have a choice to be born into their mess. And so, I put this forward to everyone seated at this table. Is their cause, which none of us had a say in, worth our lives and the lives of our sons and daughters?"

Governor Sio Bibble kept his composure but felt inexpressible pride in his pupil. She was more than brilliant when given the opportunity to speak her mind, and her charisma was such that he would follow her even to his death.

And so, Sio was first to speak, "I am not willing. I was a part of the last war, as you all know, and led many engagements against your people. One of the consequences was the loss of my only son. I cannot take back the sons and daughters I have taken from your people, or the Noobian ones that were lost at the expense of our war. I can only agree with my queen thanks to the wisdom I acquired from hindsight, and live the rest of my life in regret for the foolishness I once propounded."

After the Governor's testimony, the Noobian side of the table seemed to lean towards the side of their queen and back her position. Both sides knew there was no way the Noobians would willingly leave at this point, so the only solution was either war or cooperation of a sort that only someone with as clear a vision as Queen Amidalla could actualize.

Boss Nass looked at the Noobians pensively before responding to them, "We do not believe that our ancestors are to be disrespected as you seem willing to do. But more than this, we do not trust you."

"And you have good reason not to. But with all due respect, Boss Nass, I have just as legitimate a reason to mistrust the opposition," replied the Queen. "My family was slaughtered after the Peace Treaty of Sarta was signed. But I do not wish to let that mistrust guide my actions and cause more damage and pain than the loss of my family has already created. Peace cannot be a cause for offence, ancestral or otherwise, and I firmly believe that peace cannot be maintained with one people subjugated to another. Gunga-Naboo is not a name promoting subjugation, but instead two species working together as coequals."

Boss Nass looked to his side of the table and they seemed to come to some sort of agreement.

"We tentatively agree to this name of our planet for the duration of these peace talks," Boss Nass said.

Now it was time for Senator Palpatine to play his hand, "As the galactic representative of this planet, I would be happy to oblige the will of this meeting on a galactic scale, should the gungans be willing to make the change permanent. Moreover, a true sign that strength has returned to the gungan people, and that they are not a people subjected to a foreign power, would be to join me on my next visit to the Galactic Senate to officially inaugurate the planet to the galaxy at large. We will happily have the gungans represent themselves in the senate as Noobians, and we will have the gungans host the inauguration ceremony to be sure to give your people the voice that they so desperately need on a galaxy-wide scale."

And that was the last little push the gungans needed to agree fully with the Queen's offer to change the name of Naboo to Gunga-Naboo. Palpatine piggy-backed off Amidalla's offer with an even better one that she could not offer at the table, now putting him in the lead of these negotiations as the gungans travelled to the galactic capital with Senator Palpatine. There was only one option left for the Queen if she wished to stay informed on talks between the gungans and a senator she didn't trust.

"I will accompany you for this momentous occasion to the Senate," she said.

Governor Bibble spoke first, "But your highness! You are our Queen, and are meant to care of your people in domestic matters!"

"The governor is right,of course," Senator Palpatine added. "Let the galactic politicians handle galactic matters."

"The peace we seek is not to be lived at the Senate but domestically – here on Naboo. If we wish to show a united planet to the galaxy, then both the gungan and the human leaders will need to go to the ceremony as one people: the Noobians. I have made up my mind on the matter," said the Queen, knowing full well that the world she was about to enter by leaving Naboo was nothing she was even remotely prepared for.


Sio Bibble continued to protest as Padme and a selection of her handmaidens packed her things for the trip.

"But your majesty! You are the last born of your house! How could you expose yourself to that level of risk with that man-"

Jealousy?

"Enough, Sio!" she said with authority tinged with the sort of exasperation one expresses when an overbearing family member intrudes. "We have spent the last two months arranging things in our government for my departure, and as for my leave, I can take care of myself. And you know I have you to thank for that."

Bibble looked down, a little flustered by the compliment. "Well, I don't know that..." he managed to mumble out. After regaining his composure, "But I do know that the leaders of our people are no strangers to suffering. And it is easy to forget that you are our leader, and will have to bear the brunt of that suffering, even though I'd rather you not."

His statement was as much a prophetic warning as it was a proclamation of genuine concern and care. It was time the Queen accepted the suffering destined in her role.

"I am not your son, Governor," she stated flatly. "You will refrain from making such comments in the future."

Bibble paused, then, "Understood, your majesty..." and after a slow bow, he left the presence of the Queen.

She turned back to her things and noticed the handmaidens staring at the scene playing out before them before they immediately went back to packing.

Not one to relegate a burden she is not herself prepared to bear, she dragged some wheeled luggage behind her as she made her way to the royal ship along with her maidens. The ship was not a lovely thing to behold, but it obviously used to be. It had been painted an audacious and highly reflective silver to not only hide as many of its rough spots as possible but to give it some air of importance. To the rich elites of other cultures, the word "trashy" would come to mind.

"This is so beautiful!" said Dal'An, the first born of Boss Nass, either too young or naive to be jaded enough by his enemies to refrain from paying a compliment. "We will finally have a voice among the stars, while we ourselves ride one!"

Boss Nass was not so willing to praise a human creation, but it was obvious that he was impressed with it.

"It is nothing like the bongo I had made for your mother, though, is it?" he said, drawing on both culture and family to remind his son why they were leaving.

"No, father, it isn't," he replied.

"Indeed!" interjected Palpatine. "Soon the galaxy will know full well that nothing travels faster across the ocean than one of your bongos."

This, of course, was not true, as any Republic sea cruiser could easily outrun the extremely efficient but still archaic bongo, but truth matters little when extolling ego.

"Yes!" Boss Nass puffed up his frog-like, heavy frame, with some difficulty considering his immense weight, and continued with his arms up in the air in dramatic fashion, "Gungans make fastest vehicles in the sea!"

Padme didn't trust Palpatine, but she could at least recognize how competent he was. Senator Palatine was a tall man, quite thin, with a commanding gaze that captured the attention of his interlocutors. He wore a standard suit popular among twi'leks not only because they were humanoids of about the same build as a human but because they were also a people beloved by the Republic, making up much of the upper class's artists, politicians, and activists. They were trendsetters, masters of culture, and this was likely due to their rather unique empathic ability to feel what it is that others do in any given moment. Emulation was key, then, for Palpatine to show that he was not interested in rocking the galactic culture boat, which would only make humanity be perceived as even more of a threat to the galaxy at large. His charm was in making whoever he was talking to feel as if they were the most important person in the room, even if it meant flattering different people with different political persuasions with contradictory statements. His personality overcame his logical weaknesses as far as the people interacting with him were concerned, making it difficult to call out those contradictions for fear of turning the room against whoever was perceptive enough to see through the charade. Every time he moved, every bit of clothing, all of his mannerisms and niceties were carefully calculated and constructed to make Palpatine who he was, and this person, at least to Padme, did not at all seem to be alive in a genuine sense. His personality was like a corpse stitched together with different body parts, and when he wasn't politicking he was as cold as a cadaver.

"Your Highness!" his steely gaze turned its attention to her. "Allow me to carry your luggage."

"I am thankful for the request but deny it nonetheless," she said. It was quite rude of her to do so without stating a reason, but that didn't mean she didn't have any. She was already on her way to the Galactic Senate, which meant she was going into a political situation where she would be at a significant political disadvantage, and she knew that around Palpatine, every time she spoke, moved, decided on her choice of food or clothing, she was giving away precious information about her personality and psychological state that he would read and eventually use against her – or so she thought.

"Then allow me, your Majesty," said Dal'An, who took the luggage without bowing or even waiting for a response.

"Of course," she said, knowing full well that even if she wanted to she couldn't say no to the son of Boss Nass' request. Besides, surely the willingness to be courteous exhibited by the future leader of the gungans was a sign of good things to come?

Once on board they began their ascent. The trip they were undertaking was no small event. It could take weeks depending on how well a ship's hyperstatic feedback rods could maintain the shift from space to hyperspace without needing to be vented – hyperspace being a state created around a vessel by its engines which pull the vehicle faster than light itself. One would expect royalty to travel in top of the line vessels, but considering the economic strain of the Noobians and their spaceless neighbours the gungans, that luxury could not be afforded. As for the normally grounded gungans, the whole experience was like riding a rollercoaster with private bed chambers instead of seats. But before they could get comfortable, they would have to pass through the neimodian blockade, under strict orders to allow the inter-galactic representatives to pass through. The neimodians, however, were known for concocting conspiracies, and the number of "accidents" their business competitors experienced that allowed the Trade Federation to develop something of a monopoly on trade in this sector did not induce confidence that Palpatine and Boss Nass' presence were enough to stop them from being assassinated, especially if they found out that Queen Amidala was on board. She was therefore not dressed in full royal ceremony, only as a noble lady of Theed, travelling as an aid to Senator Palpatine under the pseudonym Mrs. Liya DeBastille. Luckily for her, gungan sentiment towards the neimodians was just as bad as Noobian sentiments, making them a common enemy to rally around. The Queen's identity would be kept secret by all parties involved until her presentation at the Senate was announced alongside Boss Nass' – at least, that was the hope, and at the word of the pilot a cold silence could be felt among the ship's occupants, even Palpatine seemed nervous.

After a series of crackles and hisses, a mechanical voice could be heard from the intercomm, "Noobian vessel, you are attempting to cross the restricted zone into open space. For your own protection, please return to Naboo forthwith."

Padme looked over at Palpatine, whose face did not even flinch at the blatant lie propounded by whatever droid stand-in the neimodians had put in place to protect their interests. She almost felt a sort of admiration for him, now realizing the level of propaganda he had to tear down to represent his people on a galactic scale.

"Pilot," Palpatine said. "Open a channel. This is Senator Hilbrand Palpatine, representative of Naboo in the Galactic Senate. You are under strict orders to allow my safe passage through the blockade per galactic law." More hissing and static could be heard on the other end without any response. Palpatine looked over to Padme, who was visibly perturbed by the whole situation. He leaned in and spoke quietly, "The problem with droids is that they cannot meaningfully interact with us organics. They are calculating the probabilities involved in furthering neimodian interests by either obeying or disobeying the Senate's instructions. Let us hope that nothing has changed since my arrival on Naboo." This did absolutely nothing to comfort Padme, but she was grateful to at least understand their current predicament enough to more easily accept any eventuality – even if it should be death. The hissing stopped.

"Please provide your ship's manifest," came the hollow voice.

Palpatine nodded to the pilot who spoke next, "Uploading manifests now."

More waiting. Padme couldn't stand it. Liya DeBastille? How could she have thought of such an stupid name for her pseudonym. Again, the hissing stopped.

"Please proceed through the blockade by following these coordinates," it said.

The tension in the room finally lifted, but not completely. There were still several weeks travel left, but Padme felt comforted that a man with Palpatine's experience in dealing with the dangers of outer space was there to guide them on a safe route to Coruscant.