Chapter 10

Birth of an Empire

The Galactic Senate was a maelstrom of cheers and celebration. Inside the Senate Arena the excitement was palpable and the euphoria echoed across the resplendent walls in the form of unbounded praise for their new savior—Jedi Master Mace Windu.

The Senate Arena was filled with Senators and their aides standing in their pods screaming as loudly as they could. Each was desperate to be the first one to go on record congratulating the Jedi Order in general, and Master Mace Windu in particular, for their heroic acts in saving the Republic.

They all felt the same relief. They all shared the same thought.

Mace Windu has saved us all!

Well, not quite everybody.

Bail Organa remained seated, stunned into submission. He was still recovering from what he had just seen. He had never truly trusted Palpatine. The man had simply been too good a politician to have failed so terribly at negotiating a truce with the Separatists before it came to war. It was common knowledge that the Chancellor had secretly tried to pin blame for the war on the Jedi. No one had taken the rumors seriously though because the Jedi had no motive. But the pang of doubt had remained. Many were ready to outlaw the Jedi Order—although they would never have publicly voted that way. Not yet, anyway.

Now, Senator Organa noted sadly, these same Senators were standing tallest and shouting loudest in support of the very same group they had planned to betray.

Politics! his mind spat angrily.

Thousands of creatures from all over the galaxy were gathered together in this place for the express purpose of ensuring the safety and security of the Republic. So many men and women whose ideal was to be the common good. And yet, these creatures only knew how best to serve themselves.

He shook his head with increasing dismay at the way his beloved Republic had spiraled out of control.

The room suddenly quieted in the only way that it could have been under the circumstances—with the firm, but gentle upraised hands of the Vanquisher of Evil. The Grand Convocation Chamber became as deathly quiet as it had been prior to the uttering of the most famous four words spoken in Republic history.

The silence was broken almost as quickly as it began.

"I move that we elect a new Chancellor immediately as the next order of business!" announced the Senator from Sullist. "I nominate myself for the position."

As quickly as the cacophony had ended, it erupted again like the volcanoes of Mustafar. The entire auditorium was alight in heated debate as each Senator tried to convince the one closest to him why he or she should be selected as the next Chancellor.

Bail said nothing. Instead he watched the Jedi Master, who nodded in apparent resignation. He looked saddened by the display. He screwed up his face in a look of pure disgust and turned from the podium as if about to leave. The room quieted quickly as the Senators noticed the Jedi Master's actions.

One lone Senator from Manda spoke.

"Master Windu," she said in a voice that was calm and sincere. The room silently listened, seeming to weigh every word she uttered. "We beg you not to leave. There must be some way to maintain control without sinking into a political war. What wisdom does the Jedi Council provide?"

The Jedi Master's shoulders visibly slumped as if this beautiful young Senator had just laid the heaviest burden of all on his shoulders. He turned slowly and faced the podium again. In place of the smiling face he had produced for the Senate body upon his earlier announcement was a face of deep sadness, yet acquiescence. He looked out across the field of creatures that encompassed representatives from the thousands of worlds that comprised the Galactic Republic.

He smiled.

This is what it's like to be Mace Windu, right now:

You don't know where the words are coming from. You know your mission but you don't have the political acumen to achieve it. And yet, here you are getting them to eat out of the palm of your hands.

You realize now that the clone troopers stationed at every exit are unnecessary.

The Senators are easily swayed. The masses always are. They will give you what you want—no! They will give you what you deserve.

You realize that you are the Chosen One. You don't know how you didn't know this before. It is as obvious to you as it is obvious that you will rule the Galaxy and bring more order to it than had ever existed before.

It is your duty.

It is your birthright.

You hear the words coming out of your mouth and you no longer question how it is possible. The Force is a powerful ally, you decide. And, in the end, it doesn't matter. All that matters are results.

You assure the Senators that you have no interest in politics. You placate them with promises that were you not thrust into these circumstances by events outside of your control, you would never consider assuming the mantle they are now discussing placing upon your shoulders. You mollify them with assertions that you have only an interest in ridding the galaxy of the evil that permeates it—an evil personified in a man willing to destroy billions of lives in a pointless war to achieve his selfish goals.

You tell them everything they need to hear to encourage them to give you the power once held by the now-deceased Chancellor Palpatine.

In other words…you lie.

And it doesn't bother you.

You're not weighed down by pointless guilt about the choices you're making. You're doing what's best for them, even if they don't realize or like it.

You're going to bring order.

And they will thank you for it.

Or they will die.

The Senator from Alderaan couldn't believe his ears. Bail sat in shock as he heard the motions passing one by one. They were now voting on a new resolution on the floor. Thousands of Senators were moving as one to vote Jedi Master Windu into the position of Interim Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic.

Bail scanned the document before him.

How is possible that a resolution is already drafted? he asked himself. How can they want to vote for something they haven't even had time to read?

But vote they did.

One by one, in a voice vote that hadn't occurred in over a decade, the Senators voiced their support for the new Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. As Bail continued to scan the document, he saw that the Jedi Master would have all the same powers that had been granted to Palpatine.

Then something caught his eye.

There, buried in a subparagraph under a meaningless heading.

The Supreme Chancellor shall be granted leadership of the Jedi Council and all its subordinate organizations, both military and religious.

Tears welled into his eyes and he felt a lump form in his throat.

He knew nothing about Jedi politics, but he knew this was wrong. Master Windu was wrong. If they voted him into power, they'd be exchanging one dictator for another. The Galaxy would be destroyed.

I have to stop this! he announced to himself. He looked about the chamber at his colleagues, wondering how they couldn't see it. His gaze caught Mon Mothma's. He found Chi Eekway's stare. He searched the crowd and caught the saddening face of Terr Taneel. Fang Zar's head was in his hands.

And in those faces, he saw fear. They knew they couldn't speak out. They were going to vote for the resolution! It was outrageous, but he could see it in their eyes. They had decided to live to fight another day.

In Bail Organa's mind, there was no other day.

He screwed up the courage and moved to stand. The voice vote was still over one hundred pods away from getting to him. As he left his seat and began to rise, the room went silent.

Bail looked up to see the Jedi Master glaring at him from the Chancellor's Podium. His eyes were ablaze but the Korun Master said nothing. Bail looked into the man's eyes as they bored into his soul as easily as a lightsaber through duracrete.

Then the Jedi Master spoke with a smile and a gleam in his eyes.

"During this pause in the voting," Master Windu said, his eyes never leaving the Alderaan Senatorial pod. "I wish to remind the honored Senators that should you elect me through this resolution, I will make it my number one priority to find the traitors who conspired with Palpatine to destroy our great Republic."

Bail froze in place.

Was that a threat?

Bail couldn't be sure. As he turned to search out the faces of his fellow Senators who had joined him so many times before to fight injustice, he could see nothing but sadness and loss on their faces. When his search rested on Mon Mothma, the Chandrilan shook her head in a barely perceptible manner.

"Don't" she mouthed.

And Bail understood.

They would give Mace Windu whatever he wanted. The voice vote was just a formality.

He fell into his chair, defeated. Mace Windu's stare left him the moment he was seated and went back to the center of the auditorium.

"The battle with Darth Sidious has left me scarred. He scarred my heart. I will never be the same again. But he could not scar my integrity! He could not disfigure my resolve! The remaining traitors will be hunted down, rooted out, wherever they may hide, and brought to justice, dead of alive! All collaborators will suffer the same fate." A massive cheer erupted in the auditorium. "Now is the time! Now we will strike back! Now we will destroy the destroyers! Death to the enemies of democracy!"

The Senate roared.

Bail Organa slid further into his seat, more alone than he had ever felt in his life.

In the center of the Grand Convocation Chamber, the Korun Master leaned upon the Chancellor's Podium as though he drew strength from the Great Seal on its front. "This has been the most trying of times, but we have passed the test. The war is over!"

The Senate roared.

"The plot to destroy this great Republic has been utterly defeated, and the Republic will stand! United! United and free!"

The Senate roared.

"Now we have left that darkness behind us forever, and a new day has begun! It is morning in the Republic!"

The Senate roared.

"Never again will we be divided! Never again will sector turn against sector, planet turn against planet, sibling turn against sibling! We are one nation, indivisible!"

The Senate roared.

"Grant me the power I need to ensure that we will always stand together, that we will always speak with a single voice and act with a single hand. Grant me the power to change the Republic into what it needs to be. We must evolve. We must grow. We have become an empire in fact; let us become an Empire in name as well! We are the first Galactic Empire!"

The maelstrom that had begun so much earlier was eclipsed by the pandemonium that now erupted. Cheering in every language mushroomed into an annihilating cloud of elation. Virtually everyone was consumed.

"We are an Empire ruled by laws, not politicians! We are an Empire devoted to the preservation of a just society. Of a safe and secure society! We are an Empire that will stand ten thousand years!"

Bail Organa's tears began to flow freely. His comrades sat in apparent disbelief as the Senate took on a continuous boiling roll of cheers like the center of a permanent thunderstorm.

"We will celebrate our Empire for the sake of our children. For our children's children! For the next ten thousand years! Safety! Security! Justice and peace!"

The Senate went berserk.

"Say it with me! Safety! Security! Justice and Peace! Safety! Security! Justice and Peace!"

The Senate took up the chant, louder and louder until it seemed the entire Galaxy roared along. The closed session meeting of the Senate had at some unknown point become open to the public. Hundreds of HoloNet news reporters were broadcasting this historic event live across the entire Galaxy.

Bail Organa wept.

So this is how liberty dies, he thought with tears streaming down his face. To the sound of thunderous applause.