Chancellor Valentinian was sitting on the plain, curved desk of his private office. The office's deep red runner was matched by softly curving walls, long comfortable walls and a huge arc of window behind the desk, offering a mesmerizing view of Coruscant. The sun was giving the sprawling ecumenopolis of Coruscant an amber glow. Chancellor Velentinian was in his late sixties. His gray-white hair was glinting in the light from the window behind him. His face was wrinkled. He had brown eyes and an aquiline nose. He was thin and wearing a long grey silk robe.

He had been elected Chancellor only a year ago, on promises of reforming the New Republic and finishing up the war with the Imperial Remnants. Yet none of his promises came true. The divided Senate obstructed any attempts at reform while the Imperial Remnants under the leadership of the charismatic Marshal Xi delivered one blow after the other at the ailing New Republic, gradually driving them out of the Outer Rim. Valentinian had received news of the defeat at Nildi. As a high-ranking officer had put it to him, "we are truly and well screwed in the Outer Rim." Even worse, the news of the defeat had somehow been leaked to the media. Journalists were pointing fingers at him, questioning his leadership and the direction of the war. It made his blood boil thinking about it.

"Chancellor," a female voice said, taking the Chancellor out of his deep thoughts. It was General Leia Organa. Once the New Republic had been established in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, the princess had been offered the leadership of the New Republic's armed forces due to her decisive role in leading the Rebellion to victory. Since then she had been leading the war against the remnants of the Empire. Leia was no longer the rebel, the dreamer, the hopeful person she once was. It could be seen in her sullen, pessimistic eyes. She rarely smiled anymore.

"Have you seen the news about Nildi?" the Chancellor replied. His voice was shaking and so was he, barely able to hide his anger.

"I've seen it. Chancellor, I believe we should abandon Hoth. With the loss of Nildi, we won't be able to protect our outpost there. It is better to retreat, regroup and fight another day."

"You want us to abandon the Outer Rim?"

"We've already abandoned it," Leia calmly explained. "Most of the worlds of the Outer Rim have either been overtaken by Imperials or have been abandoned at the hands of pirates, bandits and warlords. What I am suggesting is regrouping our forces, so that we may fight this war on our terms instead of needlessly wasting lives. When we were fighting the Empire, we had to retreat more than a couple of times. We abandoned Yavin IV, we abandoned Hoth. Yet we returned eventually. That is the key; the people, not the land."

"That's easy for you to say. You aren't the one facing reelection. Do you know what people will say if I approve of your suggestion? 'Valentinian, the man who abandoned the Outer Rim', 'Valentinian, the man who gave up without a shot being fired'. They will tear me apart!"

"We need to consider the greater picture. If we make strategy thinking solely of domestic political gains, we won't win this war."

"I'll consider your suggestion..." Valentinian sighed. "Speaking of the greater picture, can you tell me how the news of our defeat at Nildi leaked to the damn media? It was deliberately kept from the public yet somehow those bastards managed to find out about it. Now it's everywhere!"

"There was a security breach. Some kind of hacker. We're investigating this and also taking precautions to prevent any such breaches in the future."

"That's just great!" Valentinian sneered. "We are paying millions of credits for cybersecurity only to get hacked." The Chancellor paused for a brief moment to take a deep breath. "This highlights once again the fundamental problem we face in this war; we do not control the flow of information. In the territories controlled by Marshal Xi, all the media extoll his successes. They never question his regime or his decisions, they never report the failures that could undermine public morale."

"Those security leaks are unavoidable but rare," Leia interrupted.

"I ain't talking about security leaks. I am talking about the fact that having media without rules places us at a distinct disadvantage: defeats become highly publicized and undermine our public support, fake news spread by the enemy undermine our unity, our populace are goaded by journalists to be disobedient and question the leadership. We need a controlled media that will not publicize defeats or falsehoods. A media that will glorify our armed forces and our struggle against the Imperials. A media that will extoll our republican institutions and rally the populace behind our leadership."

"You are talking about censorship!" Leia protested.

Valentinian nodded. "I do not like it either but it is a necessary evil to preserve our Republic. Only if we control the flow of information can we defeat Xi and his terrorists."

"We did not fight for years and lost so many people to replace the Empire with a new dictatorship! If we become like them, then what's the point of fighting this war in the first place?"

"It is either that or Marshal Xi having a parade in the streets of Coruscant. Unfortunately, though, I will not be able to push this without the approval of the damn Senate and you know very well how long Senators take to debate such things. I can however sign an executive order to make it a felony to publicize military information without the approval of the Chancellery. I've been thinking about this for a long time but this last leak to the media made up my mind. Do not worry about the legality; I've made some calls to the Judges in the Supreme Court. While such an executive order would violate the Constitution, considering the extraordinary circumstances they've assured me they will delay the case if brought to court and will eventually find some excuse to rule in favor of it. It is time we impose some rules!"

"Chancellor, this is a dangerous overreach. The people deserve to know the truth about the war, even if it isn't always going as we wanted."

"If you disagree, General, you can always offer your resignation."

Leia stared at the Chancellor with anger in her eyes. Her heart beat fast and she was shaking. But she did not utter a single word. She hated it, but she couldn't resign. Not with the Imperials gaining the upper hand and destroying everything she had built after years of sacrifices and pain.

"I'm late!" he exclaimed. He tried to rush into the building of the Core News Digest but with all the people going in and out of the building, this was a herculean task. He was breathing heavily and his fingers were being crushed in the rhythmic grip of his other hand. His parents had told him not to have stress when meeting Danny Adison, Editor-in-Chief of the Core News Digest and, hopefully, his new boss. But he couldn't help it. Core News Digest, or CND for short, was the most popular news holochannel in the New Republic. While under the Empire it focused mainly on financial news and toed the government line, under Danny Adison it had expanded to encompass political and military news, and regularly criticized the government. 'It would be an honor if I manage to get a job here,' the man thought.

A ringing sound notified him that the elevator had arrived. He walked in and pressed the button to get him to the sixth floor. When the elevator reached the sixth floor, he rushed to Danny's office and knocked the door.

"Who is it?!" he barked.

"It…It's me," the young man said. "I mean, it's Johnny Wells."

Danny opened the door and welcome Johnny in. He was a young man in his late twenties; tall, thin and wearing thick black rimmed glasses and a black suit with a red tie. Danny, on the other hand, was in his fifties. He spotted a grey flattop haircut and a toothbrush moustache, and was wearing a white shirt and black trousers. The fact that he had a stern, authoritarian look on his face made Johnny even more stressful. Johnny put up an awkward smile and stammered, "I…I am….here for…for…the interview. For the job."

"I see…" Danny said. "I've read the email you send me with the articles you had written for the TruthNet. You have potential. I especially liked your investigation into the lives of the refugees from the Outer Rim."

Hearing this, Johnny allowed himself to relax a bit. "Does this mean I am hired?" This time his smile was genuine.

Danny sighed. "Sorry, kid. You do have potential, but not enough experience. This is the CND we are talking about, the greatest holochannel in the entire Galaxy! We have tens of billions of viewers across every known planet. We are the most trusted news source in the damn universe."

"But experience is not everything!" Johnny protested. "Give me a chance to prove myself and I will."

Danny thought about it for a moment. "You do have passion. I like that in a reporter. Well… bring me a story and prove me wrong!"

"So… am I hired?"

"Yes. But if you do not bring me a good story really soon, you will leave as fast as you were hired."

"I understand," Johnny said. As he walked out of the office, he bumped into a young woman. "I am sorry," he quickly apologized.

"Watch where you are going," she said. "Are you blind?"

Johnny was about to apologize again when he saw that woman. She had tall frame and a slender body. Her hair was straight black, her eyes dark. Johnny was at loss for words.

"Are you deaf too?" she asked.

"I…Sorry... I've…me…I…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Danny interrupted him. "He is Johnny Wells, our newest reporter." He then turned to Johnny, "And she is Jessica Wing, the best reporter of the CND. She's the one that revealed to the public what happened at Nildi."

"Nice to meet you!" Johnny said and offered to shake hands but Jessica ignored him. Instead she handed some papers to Danny. "This is the story about Hoth," she said. "I've got info from my source that the General Staff are considering abandoning the planet and the entire Outer Rim with it."

Danny read the first page and smiled. "Once again, an excellent work. This will be our cover story for today. 'Is Chancellor Valentinian abandoning the Outer Rim? The people demand the truth!'. I can see our ratings skyrocketing! Johnny, you could learn a thing or two from Jessica. I advise you to pay attention to her. Ask for some advice."

Johnny simply smiled. 'She's so beautiful…' was all he could think about.

As he and Jessica walked out of Danny's office, he approached her. "Hey… I…"

"Don't be so afraid; I ain't going to bite you," she chuckled.

"Of course you won't. That would be silly, wouldn't it? I-" Johnny blushed so much his entire face turned rosy.

Jessica sighed. 'Damn rookies!'

"I mean I am glad to meet you and I look forward to be working with you. Can you give me some advice? I am a newbie here."

"I-"

Before Jessica could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the sudden sound of footsteps and screams. More than twenty heavily armed Republic troopers surrounded them, pointing their rifles at them. Hearing the commotion, other journalists gathered around to see what was going on. Danny too rushed from his office. "What are you doing here?" the Editor-in-Chief asked.

"We've got a warrant to arrest Jessica Wing," one of the troopers said. "Under the newly-signed Executive Order 251 those who publicize military information without the approval of the Chancellery are considered felons. Miss Wing publicized classified military information about the battle of Nildi in direct violation of this law."

"That's ridiculous!" Danny barked. "When did the Chancellor sign this law? And even if he did sign it, when Jesssica publicized the story this wasn't considered a felony. You cannot jail someone for doing something that wasn't a crime back then! That's preposterous!"

"Yes, we can. We've got the backing of the Chancellor. You are free to sue the government, but with the war and all, it will take a few years until the case reaches the court. Until then we can shut down CND and charge you too for running the story. Worst case scenario, we lose the case in five or so years and pay you reparations but by then you will have been ruined. You are lucky that the Chancellor has decided to pardon you and to only arrest Miss Wing."

Jessica reached for her purse. "This is pure bs. I'm calling for my lawyer. Whatever legal advisor the Chancellor's got, he has no idea of law. This won't hold up in any court."

Suddenly, one of the troopers grabbed her and threw her on the floor. "You've got no such right. Imperials and their collaborators do not enjoy civil rights."

"Ouch!" Jessica let out a cry.

"What are you doing?" Johnny screamed, placing himself between Jessica and the troops. "She is no collaborator!"

"According to the executive order, those who publicize military information without the consent of the Chancellor are considered collaborators of the Imperial Remnants. Now get out of our way or you will be going in too for obstruction of justice."

"This executive order violates the Constitution! The Supreme Court won't uphold it!"

"Yeah? Sue the government. You do know most of the Judges were appointed by Chancellor Valentinian, right? Even a knucklehead like me knows about this, so I am surprised a suit like you doesn't. Maybe you should pay more attention to politics." The trooper pushed Johnny out of the way and grabbed Jessica while another soldier handcuffed her.

They then got out of the building, with everyone staring at them in a state of absolute shock. Danny's face was ashen white and he was gaping. Johnny felt as if he was suffocating and he could hear his own heartbeat race like crazy. The rules of the game had changed.

Jessica was screaming but no could hear her. She was tied on a chair and her mouth had been staffed with a wad of cloth. She was in a wide dark room, with no other furniture but her chair. A dim light illuminated somewhat the room, barely enough to allow her to see her surroundings. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a door opening and someone walking towards her. It was a man in his fifties. He was of average stature and wearing a brown t-shirt and military trousers. He had grey hair and deep-set eyes that had a predatory glint as chilling as that in the eyes of a panther. Terrible scars slashed his face, making it unbearable for Jessica to look at him. He was using his wooden walking stick as a crutch. Jessica could see he had lost his left leg.

"Hello," he softly said as he lit up a cigar. "Name's Joshua. Joshua Matthews," he gave a wry smile as he puffed on his cigar. "You know, once I had a little daughter. In fact, she looked a lot like you. She was so beautiful, so cute, so kind. But the Empire wanted to make an example of our world. You see, there had been protests that were deemed sympathetic to the Rebellion. So Darth Vader ordered his Star Destroyers to bombard our planet. Our entire world was ruined. Millions dead. My daughter among them. I survived. I might have lost a leg, but I survived. You know why I haven't replaced my leg? I could you know. Cybernetic legs do not cost that much nowadays, and I can afford it. But this is a reminder of what the Empire did to me. It reminds me of why I am fighting. It gives me strength, purpose. You, on the other hand, have forgotten about the Empire and the danger it poses."

Joshua puffed on his cigar and four rings of smoke came out of it. "Good cigar," he smiled. "But I didn't come here to talk about my daughter or about my cigars. I came here because I want you to tell me how you learned about our defeat at Nildi. You were the first journalist to publicize this, so it is a reasonable assumption that you learned the news either from the hacker who breached our security or from someone who knows that hacker."

Jessica made some incoherent, muffled sounds causing Joshua to laugh. "Oh, it seems I forgot you were staffed." He unstaffed her and Jessica took deep breaths.

"I... I... want... law- lawyer."

"There we go again! Didn't the guys who arrested you already explained that collaborators have no civil rights? Can we please move on?"

"No-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Joshua slapped her. "Didn't say you could argue." He clapped his hands loudly and two men came inside. One of them was holding a plastic bag. He placed it over her head and suffocated her for a few seconds. When he removed the bag, Jessica's face had a bluish complexion and she was grasping for air.

"Now," Joshua said, "shall you give me the info I need or do we need to repeat this?" As Jessica struggled to breathe, Joshua went on a rant. "I did not like this at all. I ain't a monster. I know this is evil, but someone's got to do it. You see, in order for the average folk out there to live in peace and enjoy their precious democratic rights, people like me have to do the evil stuff to keep the terrorists and totalitarians at bay. We are the ones that have to live with the consciousness of those brutal acts while they get to sleep happily at night and feel good about themselves, about how moral they are. If it weren't for people like us, those folks would have suddenly found themselves under the boot of the bloodthirsty Empire with no rights at all. But do we get any thanks? Oh no, because we dare to violate the rights of a few troublemakers to defend democracy and peace for ninety-nine percent of the population. W-"

"I will you give their email!" Jessica screamed, a large stream of tears flowing from her eyes. "That's all I know. I do not know their name, gender, what species they are. That's what I know and I'll give it to you. Just stop this! I don't want to hear about it anymore."

"See? It wasn't that hard."

"Cookie's ready!" the elderly woman announced as she opened the oven and took out a cookie sheet. Their delectable aroma pervaded the air- a melange of honey dew, orange preserves and dabs of crackling nuts. Suddenly she heard a loud sound that caused her to gasp and let go of the cookie sheet. Republic troopers were battering her door with the butt-ends of their guns, breaking it down. Shouting, the soldiers poured in and aimed their rifles at her. The woman fainted, collapsing to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

A small, fat man in a white t-shirt and blue pants rushed out of his room. He was wearing black glasses and his shirt was stained with cream. "Mom, what's going on? I've got work to finish on my comput-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the troopers turned their rifles at him and gunned him down. He jerked under the impact of the multiple shots, blood staining his shirt as he fell back and slammed down hard on the floor.

"Target eliminated," one of troopers said through his comn. "I repeat, target eliminated."