Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars the Old Republic nor Star Wars in general to my great personal sorrow
What beauty there is in a machine. What is a ship if not a cocoon? What are its passengers if not larvae ready to burst into the world?-Darth Mekhis, Dark Councillor of the Sphere of Technology (3699 BBY - 3643 BBY)
Though the Galactic Republic steamrolled the forces of the Sith Empire and was poised to launch a full-scale invasion of the Imperial heartland, the Senate chose instead to seek peace. This decision was largely supported by the Jedi Order and the Republic citizenry, though many high ranking officers in the military favored continuing the war to the bitter end to finally crush the Sith. It certainly could be said that this decision was motivated by war exhaustion on the part of the Republic's civilian populace, there was a much simpler reason the Senate agreed to the armistice: the war was won.
The Republic had spent twelve years at war and in that time it had wrested control of all Imperial holdings in the Southern galaxy away from the Sith, seen thousands of neutral systems seek membership, and eviscerated the Imperial war machine almost to being disarmed. The Jedi had bested countless Sith on the fields of battle giving the Order a massive numerical superiority over its ancient rivals, for no longer were the Jedi seen as child snatchers but once again the noble warriors of the Republic; parents of force sensitive children practically begged the Jedi to take their children in, whereas the Sith had to resort to mass conscripting untrained force sensitive slaves into their ranks. The best and brightest of the Imperial military had been wiped out in space or on the ground at Alderaan, Corellia, Balmora, and Falleen, while many a rising star shot through the ranks of the Republic military.
However, Jedi Master Bela Kiwiiks gathered around himself a coalition of hawk Senators and aggressive military commanders advocating the continuation of hostilities between the Republic and Empire. Though representing a relatively small portion of the Jedi Order, Master Kiwiiks wielded enough influence to continue stoking the fires of war among the citizens. While not powerful enough to restart the galactic conflict, this bloc still remained a thorn in the side of a Senate and military that wanted to project the image of victory to the Republic, to insist that the Republic now reigned supreme over all threats.
3629 BBY, Vesla System, Corosi Sector, Imperial Space
Darth Mekhis' years spent developing experimental superweapons for the Empire by means of the Sun Razer, had left a lasting impression on the Vesla System. Besides the debris of the infamous space station itself perforated throughout the system, there were clear signs that the planet's in the system had been used as test subjects for some of the late-Councillor's more 'creative' projects.
According to scans from the bridge of the Oracle, Vesla-II had originally been capable of supporting life, in fact Imperial records declared it a heavily forested world with several large landlocked oceans. That did not match the view that Darth Nox's expedition got when the planet came into visual range; what might once have been a vibrant world of green and blue, was now quite clearly a dead world. The whole of the planet was covered in red sands, as if its atmosphere had been stripped away and the whole planet scorched by the full power of Vesla's star, and massive craters marked where its oceans once nestled on the surface. Records also said the world had held a number of small colony settlements, though it was quite clear that they had not survived whatever had been done to Vesla-II.
Still that was nothing compared to another example of Darth Mekhis' efforts.
'What could possibly have had the power to do that?' Ashara stared wide eyed at the remains of Vesla-III, most of the southern hemisphere having been shattered into continent sized pieces of debris now floating in the planets orbit. The broken off pieces of the planet did not seem to have been ripped from their former home with the force to render them capable of slipping Vesla-III's gravitational pull, but rather hugged the planet they had once been part of. It was as if some horrifying gravitational anomaly had been unleashed upon the planet, which also seemed to be covered in an astounding amount of craters of varying sizes, signs of orbital bombardment. To think that it was a superweapon that did that to Vesla-III as opposed to some rare stellar phenomenon...
It sent cold shivers up Ashara's spine.
Admittedly it had taken longer to reach the Vesla system than it should've, largely due to the new security protocols instituted by the ISB to monitor the movement of Imperial citizens and especially military units. Where it should've taken a few days at most to reach Vesla, in order to keep the expedition secret, the Oracle had to make several stops in the Atrivis and Lahara sectors to throw off any possible spies tracking them, thus extending the trip to a week. They had arrived to find the system deserted save for the remains of civilizations destroyed by Darth Mekhis' prototypes, and the wreckage of the Sun Razer itself, but no sizable force nor gathering had been in Vesla since the Sun Razer was destroyed.
That had been two months ago now, and since then their gains had been...minuscule to say the least, practically non-existent if Ashara was being serious. So far most of the pieces of debris from the Sun Razer they'd managed to examine had either been too destroyed to be properly studied or of too little value to be of any real use. Most of the massive factory shipyard had been totally shattered with significant portions vaporized by the full force of Vesla when the Sun Razer broke apart, and of course those pieces of the station that were propelled off into the far reaches of the system were minor or unimportant sections such as maintenance areas or loading docks. Not only was it a very unrewarding assignment, it was extremely boring as well; the most exciting thing that had happened since they arrived in Vesla had been when Ashara and Xalek had gone aboard an old loading dock section and had to fight off a swarm of still active security droids.
'If I don't find something of use soon, Darth Nox will not be happy.' While Darth Nox was not the kind of superior to needlessly punish or discipline her subordinates, she also did not accept blatant failure well. Especially after she had gotten her hopes up so high with the very discovery of the Sun Razer's wreckage that learning absolutely nothing of substantial use could be salvaged would throw her into a rage, not since the botched defense of Corellia would she have been so angry. And Ashara should know, she'd been there to witness Darth Nox fall into an anger that literally tore starships asunder. A rather pompous and arrogant General had refused to obey Darth Nox's instruction to wait for the arrival of her task force before commencing his counterattack on Corellia with forces that had been worn down by seven months of fighting; seeking the glory for himself he had launched his ill-fated offensive and gotten a significant portion of the Imperial forces wiped out, allowing the Republic to monopolize on its gains in the Corellian Sector. When Darth Nox arrived, the scream in the Force was so powerful it tore apart the charred remains of Republic and Imperial warships in orbit over Corellia.
It had been truly frightening and Ashara had no desire to see an encore performance.
The best way to avoid that was to find something useful out here, chiefly being the automated replication technology Darth Nox suspected Darth Mekhis had somehow developed to perfect her super factory. After all, standard manufacturing techniques would hardly be sufficient for a facility of the scale and nature of the Sun Razer, so Arlyena came to the conclusion that Mekhis had somehow repurposed some ancient Rakatan technology or else made some galaxy-changing breakthrough in order to develop new self-replicating technology which would account for the Sun Razer's ability to crank out dreadnought's at three times the speed it should've been capable of. Ashara very much doubted Darth Nox expected to rebuild the entire Sun Razer from scratch, but if its industrial secrets could be revealed, then that would be just the kind of boon the Empire had been waiting for. The mass introduction of such advanced manufacturing methods into the civilian industrial base could lead to the economic revival the Empire had been yearning for since the signing of the Treaty of Korriban.
Not that the present Dark Council seemed at all inclined to do anything that might actually help the Empire, lest they anger the Republic and restart the War. But then that was why Darth Nox was working from behind the scenes to repair the crumbling foundations of the Empire. Ashara knew that her Master was connected in some way to other powerful Lords like Darth Marr and the Empire's Wrath, Darth Kurasson, all working behind the Dark Council's back but that was as much as Ashara knew. Darth Nox was very careful not to leave any sort of data trail that could lead a snooping Dark Councilor to any hint of what might possibly be treason for all Ashara knew. Initially upset and frankly a little insulted that Darth Nox did not trust her enough to clue her in on these dealings, Ashara steadied herself by remembering that every move her Master made was for a greater purpose. If there was something big coming, Darth Nox would inform Ashara before it arrived at their doorstep.
Ashara was just beginning to contemplate scrounging up what small pieces of technology they could and slamming it together to possibly make something of use, when one of the bridge crew attracted her attention from the communications pit.
The young ensign in question was quite eager to get her attention, perhaps believing the Sith Lord's praise would lead to praise from her own Captain. Not that it was very likely, Ashara gave out praise sparingly as it was, even more so when they were Imperial military personnel. They were such pathetic scroungers it was almost embarrassing.
"My Lord, I have a report from the third scout team."
Ashara was not the most patient and the ensign was trying what little patience she had left. "Well, are you going to make me wait or actually give me a report?"
The young woman both shivered in fear and flushed with embarrassment. "Um yes, while sweeping a section of debris we've designated Beta-34 with passive sensors, third scout team picked up low-level transmissions within the hulk. Switching to an active sweep revealed internal tight beam communications between harddrives rather than external operators." Now that was what Ashara was waiting to hear.
Tight beam communications hinted at data streams being transferred from one virtual vault to another and, knowing just how absolutely anal Imperial military clerks were, one computer might have the schematics for the entire station stored on a backup somewhere. Though they certainly would've settled for a partial schematic or even just some firmer details about the production process, a complete schematic of the station would be a treasure to bring back to Darth Nox. Not that Ashara was expecting to secure a complete set of schematics, but it never hurt to have faith in the outcome regardless of one's likelihood of success, really any significant takeaway might be enough to sate Darth Nox.
Five minutes later Ashara and Xalek both were on a shuttle hurtling away towards the source of these transmissions.
Little did they know they were embarking on a path set to change the course of galactic history.
Corellia, Corellian Sector, Galactic Republic
"It's really quite amazing how quickly Corellia recovered after the War." Jedi Master Haylcion Tahl remarked as he stared at the magnificent Corellian horizon dotted by towering skyscrapers and dotted with heavy airspeeder traffic. Beside him his ever constant companion and former Padawan, Kira Carsen, shrugs in mild disinterest, not without reason. After all the mindless debates on Coruscant, she must've been practically numbed out by this point.
"I suppose so."
Haylcion sighed and shook his head at her indifference. Coruscant may have dulled her perception of the galaxy at large, having quickly returned to the political quagmire it had been before the War, but not he.
Corellia had been in an odd conundrum before the War.
During the Cold War, while the planet was nominally still part of the Republic, and Corellian Engineering still received significant funds from the federal office, the Empire had also had a presence on the planet. They'd spent years subverting smaller corporations or taking them over outright to establish themselves on Corellia, using the corporate hostilities as a cover to setup a vast network of spies and saboteurs without drawing SIS's eye. That network had come in handy at the outbreak of the War when the Imperial's launched a wave of sabotage across Corellia bringing CEC and the other Republic-aligned corporations to a standstill, followed by the elimination of a significant portion of the planetary government.
It had proved the significant flaws in the theory of corporate independence that so many Outer Rim Senator's had been pushing before the War, that the double-dealing would one day come back to bite the Republic. That Corellian Engineering Corporation had been allowed to effectively establish what amounted to diplomatic relations with the Empire separate from the Corellian Office of Foreign Affairs as well as the Galactic Affairs Bureau on Coruscant, had allowed Imperial infiltrators the perfect opportunity to pave the way for their invasion. And the infiltration hadn't been limited to Corellia alone, dozens of major conglomerates across the Republic had paid the price for their back-alley deals with the Empire and allowed Imperial infiltrators access to their offices and headquarters, practically opening the door for the initial wave of Imperial offensives at the start of the War.
What followed was an all-out invasion by the Imperial military to seize Corellia, an operation that devastated massive swathes of the planet with its brutality. The Empire had planned and prepared for many years to take Corellia, and in fact they achieved promising gains in the opening weeks of the invasion, only for it to come crashing down.
Haylcion had been part of a special task force that executed a theoretical hypserpace maneuver to jump right into Corellia's high orbital's, circumventing the Imperial blockade to land reinforcements that helped turn the tide. Within a few weeks they managed to force the Empire back from many of its positions and retook CEC Headquarters, where Darth Fenris, the Sith Lord in command at Corellia, had his command center. Meanwhile the Republic Navy poured ships into the system to prevent the Empire restarting its own offensive, as the Imperial supply chain was still secured along the Corellian Run. The battle would remain a stalemate for the next two years until the Republic severed the already fragile logistics train the Empire was sending up the Run, cutting off all hope of reinforcement or resupply for the Imperial 16th Sector Army besieged at Corellia. Short on rations, ammunition, and morale the Imperial's began to surrender in droves though a number of units did fight to the death, including Darth Fenris himself whom Haylcion personally slew in single combat.
Still it had been a hard won battle. Two years of fighting had devastated Corellia, laying waste to her cities and bringing many of the corporations that were the staple of Corellian society to financial ruin. Though the Republic was quick to invest significant resources into rebuilding Corellia, the commitment at the frontlines meant many of these projects were sidelined until the Empire could be defeated. Even now more than a few reconstruction projects remained incomplete, some barely begun at all as skeletal husks of skyscrapers stood long abandoned, having become nesting grounds for thugs and creatures of all sorts. A whole slew of new criminal sects had sprung up since the end of the occupation to take advantage of the Corellian's and their sudden misfortune where once they had been among the richest and most prosperous in the entire galaxy. With the mass induction of millions into the underclasses their was no end to the targets these crooks could exploit for credits, labor, and far more depraved acts the likes of which were unwelcome in any civilized society. That was part of the reason Haylcion and Kira had come to Corellia, the local security forces were entirely inadequate for handling this sort of crisis; half of their infrastructure had been flooded by collaborators of the Imperial occupation who were not to be trusted with the continued security of a vital Republic world, so additional security forces including professional soldiers and Jedi were called upon from offworld.
Haylcion had spent just that very morning breaking up a spice smuggling ring accompanied by several squads of Republic troops, only to uncover evidence of a widespread connection to offworld crime syndicates, yet another sign Corellia was far from healed. Even more worrying was the presence of Imperial deserters among these criminal elements; when it became apparent that the 120th Sector Army was cut off beyond all hope of relief or reinforcement, while most of the Imperial troops chose surrender or death, a not so insignificant number chose desertion instead. General Kaarus Ulmain, the Imperial commander who surrendered to Supreme Commander Jace Malcolm, had stubbornly refused to reveal just how much of his command had deserted in the closing days of the Battle of Corellia but a good estimate was somewhere in the tens of thousands. Most of these deserters, and their equipment, found their way to the crime syndicates setting up shop on Corellia, bringing not only their military grade weapons but also their professional military training, allowing some of these gangs to establish their own small militia's to protect their business interests.
Though the Republic military was eager to capture all these deserters, fearing the potential for a long-term guerrilla holdout on Corellia, nevermind the countless other worlds playing host to Imperial deserters and prisoners, there were many among the planetary security forces who had quietly begun recruiting these trained soldiers into their own ranks to bolster their numbers. This was especially true on the poorer worlds in the Rim where they had been unable to afford and sustain a large PSF throughout the War as Corellia and Alderaan had, even if these same soldiers that now patrolled their streets had been turning them to rubble a mere few years earlier.
"In the positive, it seems that this peace unlike that which followed the last War, might very well stand." If the situation in the Empire was anything to go off of, the Imperial's might be at war with themselves soon enough. Not even all the secrecy for which the Sith were famed could hide the tensions rising between the members of the Dark Council, the rumors even went so far as to suggest that a civil war might be on the horizon for the Empire.
Kira merely shrugged. "I suppose so."
"Kira I understand that Coruscant may have bored you out of your mind, but now we're away from it can't you try to perk up a little bit."
Kira shook her head and sighed as she leaned over the railing looking down at the traffic below, Corellia, like Coruscant, would never see clear skies with all the civilian traffic in the air. "I'm sorry Master..." Even after having been a full fledged Jedi Knight for almost seven years now, Kira still called her old mentor Master, much to Haylcion's chagrin as it metaphorically aged him every time she said it. "...it just seems like we went from one pit of vipers to another." She took a step back and crossed her arms behind her head, bending backwards to crack the muscles in her back. "On Coruscant it was angry Senator's who can't stop shouting for one minute and would sooner kill themselves than agree with someone else, and here its corrupt business executives..." She gestured to a CEC office only a few blocks away. "...and bloodthirsty criminals." Then to a pillar of smoke rising from one of the many under-city suburbs.
"I see your point, but still at least here we're doing some good and keeping the citizens safe, rather than being on Coruscant twiddling our thumbs."
"That's just it, I know that we're working for the good of the people here, I know that. But it would be a lot better if I could see that we were making some sort of breakthrough in what's happening, rather than doing the same thing over and over again." Kira walked back inside the hotel suite the two were sharing and plopped down on one of the couch's, staring up at the ceiling as her former Master entered and stood looking down at her. While the two were sharing the suite they had rooms on the opposite side of each other for propriety's sake. "Today we broke up a spice ring, which we also did three days ago and two days before that and a week before that, in this month alone we've broken up nine spice rings which I'm fairly certain all belonged to the same syndicate!"
Haylcion nodded. "Yes these criminal's are a tenacious bunch."
That wasn't the response Kira was hoping for as she glared up at the ceiling. "Not the word I would call them. It feels like we're not making a dent at all Master! They just keep coming back over and over, as if what we've done already doesn't matter at all!"
"Unfortunately Kira this is the reality Corellia faces now after the devastation it sustained during the War, its impossible for society to return to what it was before the War. It will take time but eventually these criminal leeches will be dealt with and evicted from Corellia." Unlike his former Padawan, Haylcion had faith that the Republic still stood true with its core values, that it would find the right path and execute it in the right way, even if it stumbled a little along the way. "You must have patience, these infected roots cannot all be pulled up at one time, no matter what solution we imagine."
Kira snorted. "Its not exactly helping that the Corellian PSF is quietly taking in Imperial deserters so they can bulk up their numbers. Its sickening to have to work alongside the same soldiers who were shooting at us not even that long ago. Its kind of hard to weed the deserters out of the criminal syndicates with the PSF practically offering credit bonuses to deserters that want to sign up!"
"Its regrettable but its the only way for the PSF to legally retain their strength without violating the Corellian Constitution. During the War they were allowed to conscript Corellian citizens en mass to their ranks, but only for the duration of the conflict, and once the War was over those conscripts were given a choice. They could either remain in the PSF or return to civilian life and the vast majority chose to return to civilian life."
"Can you truly blame them for wanting to cast aside a life of violence and death for a much more normal existence?"
Kira snorted. "Its only normal because thats what their brains identify as normal because the general citizenry of the Republic are like cattle. If the Senate or the media tell them its normal, they'll believe its normal."
"Come now, its not really as bad as all that." But deep down Haylcion found himself doubting his own words, he had been around Coruscanti society far longer than Kira, he was twice her age after all, and he had seen the rot firsthand.
The Republic had once been the galaxies one true hope to avoid the depravity of chaos and war, to bring countless species and worlds together in harmony and cooperation, an end to an era of lawlessness and chaos. It was the Republic which brought about an end to the Tionese and Hutt incursions into civilized space, though the Hutts had come out of those particular centuries in a significantly better position than the Tionese did, after all the Hutts prospered to the day while the Tionese Empire was naught but dust on the winds of history. At its start, when those republican and federalist ideologues dominated the politics of the early Senate and Chancellorship, the Republic did truly operate as it was meant; the richer worlds of the Core funneled financial investment into the Colonies and the Inner Rim as the Galactic Republic continued to expand, the philosophy being that these loans and investments would be used to build up the industrial capacity of the smaller, and younger, worlds so that they could eventually be payed back on a long term basis. Without a proper standing military to fund as smaller galactic states had obsessed with in the times before its establishment, the Republic was able to properly distribute these funds and the projects proceeded smoothly for centuries, establishing industrial nodes across the Inner Rim which slowly but steadily paid their loans back into the federal treasury.
Then there came the onset of the Coruscant-Alsakan rivalry, a feud that would spiral into a series of wars spanning more than twelve millennia, in fact the most recent one, the Fourteenth had taken place a mere few centuries past. Haylcion knew that greed and pride had been with every living being since the first breath of life in the galaxy, in the entire universe, but the Alsakan Wars took that greed to a galactic scale. The Republic had fractured over a feud for dominance between two of its richest worlds, as Coruscant had, by virtue of its position at an intersection of the Corellian Run and the Perlemian, exerted near total influence over the vast majority of federally sponsored colonization and investment in the new territories. Alsakan had become envious of Coruscant for its power and influence due to what many Alsakan perceived as a fluke of galactic geography rather than any merit of Coruscant's citizens or Coruscanti society as a whole, an that envy spiraled into war. While somehow remaining officially united, the Republic had devolved into a state of civil war between the Coruscanti and Alsakan spheres within, fleets of battleships clashed in open space even as trade ships continued to depart for opposing worlds. Haylcion very much suspected that only the ever-escalating threat of the Sith, and other threats such as the Mandalorian's, in recent galactic history as well as the establishment of a strong federal military had prevented the Alsakan-Coruscant rivalry burning white hot once again.
In truth these conflicts had been spurred on by the Grand Companies and intergalactic conglomerates whom had steadily grown their power bases over the millennia of the Republic's existence. At the start of the Alsakan Conflicts it had been trade companies and colonization sponsors feuding that sparked a civil war, but eventually these Grand Companies realized, well rediscovered really, that war was good for business, and if the Republic could continue this somewhat ludicrous habit of fighting itself whilst remaining united, that was very good for business. For several millennia the greed of these corporations was subtly fueling the fires of hatred between the Coruscanti dominated Spin, the worlds which lay along the intersected Perlemian and Corellian Run, and the Alsakan dominated Axis, the worlds on the Northward side of the Perlemian influenced by Alsakan. Worlds such as Kuat and Fondor certainly made out a tidy profit from the conflicts between the two richest worlds in the Republic. During this time the philosophy of careful investment for the Colonies and Inner-Rim was largely shelved until the dispute could be resolved, if it would ever be resolved.
The Pius Dea had put an end to all that. When the religious fanatics seized control of the Republic, they threw all prior philosophy of galactic governance out the airlock. As the sect was largely human-supremacists this meant immediate suspension of all federal investment in alien-dominated worlds and for alien colonization, in fact the Pius Dea even enacted numerous bloody purges of aliens within the Republic, yet utilized the threat of overwhelming military might to prevent any worlds seceding from the Republic. Besides aliens they also had little to no mercy for 'infidels', in their mind any living being who didn't worship The Goddess with every fiber of their existence, and to them such nonbelievers must be purged, for they did not deserve life to begin with. Eventually a coalition led jointly by Alsakan and the Jedi Order, assisted by countless threatened species and worlds, even the Hutt's joined to save their own hides, brought the cultists to defeat and restored the democratic principles of the Republic.
But the damage had been done all the same.
"You know its really a pity that Coruscant and Alsakan still cannot resolve their differences. If they did they might decide to marshal all their financial might to respark the Founding Principles and we might see real change within the Republic." Haylcion looked longingly out the window at the sun dipping below the horizon, though the darkening sky was already well-lit by the lights of Corellia's megacities, save those which remained so devastated they projected but the bare minimum of power. Corellia was also one of the richest worlds in the Republic, which hadn't stopped the Empire bringing them to their knees through brute force. "Corellia will probably see a lot in reconstruction loans, loans that with a little time it can very well afford to pay."
"That's probably true, after all the rich will look after the rich won't they?" There was that cynical view of the galaxy again. "Master, I know you've talked about the Founding Principles before, how all the worlds of the Republic once genuinely looked after one another, but do you really think it can ever come back?"
Haylcion sighed. "I truly do not know, perhaps this peace we have won, wrestling supremacy back from the claws of the Sith, will be the spark that restores the true nature of the Republic, perhaps not." Skilled in the ways of the Force as he was, Haylcion knew he was no great Seer like some Jedi, Grand Master Shan was rumored to be a Seer but he'd never heard it confirmed, and so he could not properly see into the future. The Force would grant him the occasional glance at what was to come, a flicker nothing more, but the mysteries of the future remained just that, mysteries. "There are indeed many worlds in the Inner-Rim clamoring for federal funding to not only rebuild, but restart long abandoned industrial projects, some of them left vacant for over three millennia by now..."
Kira knew all about this lobby, having spoken with some of the Senator's herself when she was on Coruscant, Senator Argiverp Illnayss of Antar was particularly passionate about explaining his views about the industrial nodes the Republic had promised his people thousands of years ago only to abandon the projects when internal squabbles became more important. Having still been naïve at least as far as galactic politics was concerned when she first settled on Coruscant at the end of the War, she had been perplexed as to precisely why a noble cause like this should face heavy opposition. She had imagined that public opinion must surely be on the side of the downtrodden, that was how the Republic was supposed to work right?
Wrong.
"All those corporate Senators arrayed against the Reconstruction Movement, they'd love nothing more than to strangle the movement in its cradle." Contrary to the founding principles of the Republic which insisted that those of great possession should do their utmost to assist those with little, the rich worlds like Duro, Kuat, Fondor, Anaxes, Alsakan, and Coruscant herself were absolutely opposed to giving anymore than they absolutely had to to the less affluent worlds devastated by the War, despite the fact many of these planets hosted major manufacturers whom had profited significantly from the conflict. Even worse were the conditions that what small loans they did give out were to be paid back within an impossibly short period and with criminal interest fees. "Senator Avarr Duus from Kuat was a particularly loathsome gnat they way he openly expressed his disdain for sending Kuati credits earned through success in battle to worlds which had not, in her words, 'participated very much to the overall war effort'. I guess the Senator doesn't count being a battlefield significant contribution to the War effort." That really made Kira's blood boil. Just because the Kuati owned some of the largest shipyards in the galaxy, which of course had been hard at work pumping out battleships for the Federal Navy during the War, they believed themselves entitled to a portion of the credit for every victory won during the War. "Cold blooded bastards probably wouldn't spare a second to switch sides if it had looked like the Empire was gonna win. Every credit I've ever earned says not a day would pass before Kuat was churning out Harrowers instead of Valors if the Imperials had got anywhere close to Kuat."
Even more outrageously was the fact that the Federalist Party, as many of the affluent Core Worlds were member to, were all for massive loans for the reconstruction of Corellia and Balmorra purely because both worlds had been among the richest worlds in the Republic and prominent members of the Federalist Party. The first wave of loans approved for Corellia alone would pay for the reconstruction efforts of five of the worlds in the Reconstruction Movement. Kira had very nearly come to a physical confrontation with a Senator from Anaxes who tried to justify this blatant hypocrisy, only Haylcion's intervention had prevented her arrest for assaulting a Republic Senator.
"I would like to believe that the Federalist Party aims to rebuild the industrial giants first so they might then turn their full financial might to rebuilding the less prosperous worlds...but I am not quite that much of an optimist." Haylcion might have unwavering faith in the institutions of the Republic, but he wasn't a fool. He knew that the Senate was hopelessly partisan in its motives, even the Reconstruction Movement that Kira championed; though they did seek to rebuild their worlds in the aftermath of the War, those same Senators would happily let Corellia and Balmorra lie in ruin so that neither might regain its former position of power and influence within the Republic. "Everyone in the Senate had a motive, no one is truly genuine in those once sacred halls. Little as you might think of them though, the Kuati would hold until they Imperial's had actually won before switching sides, the Empire tried to seize those shipyards during the First War and it failed miserably. Does that excuse their conduct in the Senate? No, but I wouldn't think as little of them as you do."
"What you must realize Kira is that every single Senator sent by their world to Coruscant is acting in favor of their people first and the Republic second. Very few if any are willing to risk losing their position due to unpopularity back home in favor of working to help the greater galaxy as a whole. It doesn't much help if the Senior Senator from Bestine betters the lives of citizens living on Corulag only to be voted out of office by their constituents for choosing another worlds priorities over their own."
"Then maybe Master Kiwiiks has a point-"
Haylcion cut her off there, knowing just where she was going and he would not hear it. "No."
"But she's out there, saying that this piece isn't forever and that our squabbl-"
"I said I do not want to discuss this Kira."
Haylcion had been a Jedi Knight when he had first met Jedi Master Bela Kiwiiks, who was in fact Kira's first Master before Haylcion proudly took up that mantle, and his first impression had been admiration for her dedication to the Republic and its pursuit of peace. That she believed maintaining peace meant the establishment and maintenance of a strong Republic able to withstand any threat, was a viewpoint that Haylcion could understand if not entirely follow as his own. However, when Darth Angral murdered Jedi Master Orgus Din, Haylcion's own Master during his days as a Padawan and probably the closest he'd had to a proper father figure during his younger years, it changed something inside Master Kiwiiks. Her philosophy warped to become the best way to maintaining peace meant the establishment of a Republic strong enough to withstand any assault from without and root any threat from within, that peace could be obtained by the elimination of all threats to such.
Serving alongside her on battlefields throughout the War, Haylcion saw her rapidly become a figure around which the militant minority of the Jedi Order could rally just as Revan had become during the Mandalorian Wars, an enemy to those who preached non-intervention and absolute pacifism. She was a brilliant strategist who favored aggressive action rather than defensive entanglements, it had been the strategy of the Republic High Command to defend the Core, Colonies, and Inner-Rim by forcing the Imperial's to become bogged down in several intensive sieges, while the more inventive commanders ran riot in the Outer Rim. Master Kiwiiks had been a powerful advocate for continuing the war into the heart of the Empire when the Senate began to initiate peace negotiations with the Dark Council, and very nearly convinced several militarist Admiral's to launch an unauthorized offensive against the Imperial forces under Darth Acina which had taken Orinda. The attempt was stopped only by the signing of the Treaty of Korriban and a countermand which came direct from Supreme Chancellor Saresh, and a similar order direct from Grand Master Shan to Master Kiwiiks, stopping them from restarting the War before it had ended.
Haylcion knew that Bela had been very close to disobeying that order, and if she had, they might be still be slugging it out with the Empire in a guerrilla war within Imperial territory.
"Master I know you don't agree with her but she has a point, all this infighting has to stop, and the Senate must begin working in the best interest of the Republic." Kira had always had a fiery nature, dulled only slightly by her time spent with Haylcion, and had latched onto Master Kiwiiks new philosophy quickly upon the foundation of the Militarist Party in the Senate. The party was largely made up of Senator's from worlds recaptured from the Empire that had fallen during the First Great Galactic War, a number of worlds who had been subject to Imperial scorched earth tactics, more than a few prominent military commanders who'd advocated continuing the War to its finish, and a small but prominent segment of the Jedi Order.
"And her belief is to Make the Senate work towards the best interests of the Republic, not to let the wheels of democracy turn, but to adjust the mechanism of the great machine of society as she sees necessary. It comes just short of marching into the Senate and forcing her will upon the Senators at the point of a lightsaber." Haylcion felt a pang at his heart with every word Kira said in favor of those who would see the galaxy plunged back into war. Had she not seen enough death this past decade, must more really proliferate the galaxy? "It sounds as if Master Kiwiiks intends to destroy democracy in order to protect it. Rather a paradox that isn't it?
Kira was getting angry now, why couldn't her old Master just see sense. She rose to her feet and glared at the back of his head, Haylcion having turned away from her to gaze at the setting sun on the horizon. "Well if the Senate hadn't gotten cold feet and made peace with the Empire we might not have the problems we do now within the Republic! Maybe if they'd had the convictions to march right into the heart of the Sith, right to Korriban itself, we could've had a real peace! If democracy is failing to protect the citizens of the Republic then it should be rebuilt."
"We lost enough innocent lives during the last ten years in a war that created more chaos than it did order, another billion dead on either side would not have made much difference."
"We could've destroyed the Sith once and for all! Wiped them from the face of the galaxy now and forever!" Kira was shouting all her pent up passions now. Her old Master was too committed to the smallest glimmer of peace and order he could grasp, he couldn't see the big picture as she saw it. As Master Kiwiiks saw it. "For thousands of years those monsters had been murdering Jedi, murdering ordinary citizens of the Republic, and corrupting the Force with their perverse beliefs! How could we not leap at the opportunity to save the galaxy from such a threat!"
Haylcion was beginning to reach his breaking point, but he nevertheless tried to retain his composure. "Because it is not our duty to go forth and destroy what we declare to be threats to the galaxy, or would you prefer we took up the same mantle of so-called Protector as the Pius Dea did so long ago?"
Kira sharpened her glare at the mention of the long-deposed theocratic fanatics. "Master Kiwiiks and Admiral Aggassi aren't saying anything at all that we should become like the Pius Dea, they aren't seeking to purge Republic society of aliens and heretics in the name of some insane God! They just believe that the Senate must be made to cooperate rather than spend all its time, and all our credits, on squabbles between the megaworlds in the Core! Coruscant and Alsakan had disrupted the Republic for thousands of years with actual wars, while citizens were starving in the Rim they were fighting over who gets to assume responsibility for it! The citizenry must be shown that they must unite behind a common goal against our true enemy and that the fight against them must be carried through to the very end!
"That is not our duty Kira, by no stretch of the imagination. It is not the duty of the Jedi to involve ourselves in politics, that is the battleground of those with the talent for speaking with many faces. We must be above such unsavory acts as to deliberately mislead with the goal of personal gain, every politician on the galactic capital has a motive, be it pure or selfish they all have a motive. Our duty is not to question their motives nor to support their motives, our duty is-"
"To serve at the pleasure of the Republic and defend it from the chaos that would threaten its collapse, I've heard it all before, and frankly I'm fed up with it! How can you protect something while at the same time allowing that which might very well destroy the very thing your trying to protect, to run free and unrestrained, able to rebuild its strength?"
"They are not unrestrained, the Treaty places severe limitat-" Kira cut her former Master off as her inner passion finally made itself properly known.
"DAMN THE LIMITATIONS THOSE...THOSE POLITICIANS THINK THEY'VE IMPOSED ON THE EMPIRE! They'll find a way to rebuild anyway! We'll be fighting the same war again in ten years time! They'll kill more because we didn't destroy them when we had the chance! TELL ME! TELL ME HOW THAT IS FULFILLING OUR DUTY TO PROTECT THE REPUBLIC!"
"The Empire is untenable and will eventually collapse in on itself, unable to go on, the citizens will not stand its oppression much longer, and in a generation it may very well have fallen. We do our duty by following the will of the Republic, and right now the will of the Republic is set upon peace."
"THE WILL OF THE REPUBLIC ISN'T FIXED ON WHATS IMPORTANT! THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT WHAT AFFECTS THEM RIGHT NOW, THEY DON'T REALIZE THAT THE SITH WILL BE BACK IN A DECADE AND MURDER MORE! They can't see far ahead like we can, the everyday citizen only cares about what affects them on this day, not what WILL affect them ten years from now when the Empire returns to burn down everything we love and protect! So why shouldn't we just destroy them now while their weak-"
Haylcion had finally had enough and his dam burst, an anger he hadn't realized he'd locked within rushing to the surface and cascading forth in his words. Without realizing it he had spun about and advanced to within a foot of Kira, leaning down into her face as he screamed the very thoughts he had been trying to contain, in a tone he would certainly never display normally. "BECAUSE THE CREDITS WE CAN USE TO FIGHT THE SITH ARE MEANT TO FEED THE TRILLIONS OF BEINGS STARVING ACROSS THE GALAXY! BECAUSE THE SOLDIERS YOU WANT TO TAKE ON A MARCH TO KORRIBAN LEAVE BEHIND FAMILIES WHO MIGHT JUST MOURN THEM WHEN THEY DIE IN THE NAME OF AN INSTITUTION THAT CAN'T AFFORD TO TAKE CARE OF THEM BECAUSE ITS TOO BUSY ANNIHALATING ANOTHER GALACTIC STATE! WHAT DO YOU PROPOSE WE DO FOR ALL THE CHILDREN LEFT WITHOUT HOMES, FOOD, OR FAMILIES BECAUSE OF THE TEN YEARS WE WERE ALREADY AT WAR? PUSH THEM OFF TO THE SIDE WHILE WE FIGHT ANOTHER WAR JUST TO GROW THAT NUMBER? HOW MANY HAVE TO DIE BEFORE AGGRESSION FINALLY DIES OUT IN THIS GALAXY! HOW CAN ALL OF YOU BE SO DAMNED MORONIC TO WANT ANOTHER WAR, JUST TO CREATE MORE ORPHANS AND WIDOWS, JUST TO SEE MORE WORLDS BURN AND INNOCENTS DIE! ALL FOR YOUR FRAKKING PRIDE!"
Kira was struck dumb, Haylcion had never shouted at her like that before, not during the worst of her screwups in training or when she had botched an important mission. Frankly she didn't think he'd ever shouted at anyone like that before, not even when Master Din had died, then he had been alone for two days and Kira hadn't worked up the courage to interrupt and see what he had been doing. It was terrifying really, to think he'd kept all this bottled up inside, building up to this titanic explosion.
She saw the regret in his eyes immediately, as they switched from swirling grey tempests back to a calm but horrified blue, his expression open mouthed in terror. A thousand different emotions flashed through his eyes before he just marched away without a word to his room on the opposite side of the suite, leaving Kira standing there in stunned silence trying to process what just happened and make sense of it all.
In the end she couldn't.
OOC Section
Hello back again, sorry for the rather long hiatus on this project but life got rather hectic and I had to shelve a lot of my writing to deal with it, not to mention an intense case of writers block. I'm not going to promise a regular update schedule but I am going to be posting a new chapter at least once a month but I'll try for twice a month.
This chapter wasn't as long as I had originally planned, but thats because I cut some details I felt were best explained and fleshed out later on, leave a bit of mystery, not explain everything early on.
Please remember to Read and Review and Have a wonderful day wherever you are, hope everyone is staying safe and staying healthy