Janquers POV
Janquer squealed with joy as soon as she got out of the Building, holding up the Trophy she had just bought and she seemed barely restrained from jumping in Joy.
She had, after all, stood in a queue since 4 o' Clock this morning and had been worried that she wouldn't be to purchase her precious, since the queue already had been very long when she got in line.
Her fear that it would sell out before she got to the Check-out had turned into giddy triumph and now she nearly floated in happiness.
Janquer had been a fan of the new Author, Bolding Clonida, since their first book. The collection of Fairy-Tales had been original and so very different to the many Holo-dramas or Crime-stories that were normally popular.
It had cracked record with how many people bought it on the Holo-net and after releasing the Hardcover-book, they had sold out on every single Bookstore on Coruscant by noon.
And now the next book of the series Harry Potter had been released and she had an exemplar!
She had already taken the day off and after getting her book she had no other plans but to roll up in her fluffy chair, make herself a hot-chocolate and read.
She had absolutely no intention to move until she had finished!
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A few days later she stared at the article on her pad, her thoughts whirling in her mind.
The bold letters of the 'Coruscant News' announced: 'We uncover: The famous author Bolding Clonida: Just a Clone!'.
She didn't know what to think about it.
Janquer, like most people of the Fanbase, had wanted to meet the Author behind those amazing stories.
Normally, a Writer would hold Press-releases, speak with Magazines and on Holo-shows and the publishing-team would organise Meet-and-Greets and other occasions you could get a signature and for the Author to promote their work
Not so Bolding Clonida.
He was, from what the Publishing-Team of Gakjanbo said, very shy and didn't want to do any kind of public Meetings.
Now she knew why.
Because he was a soldier and either guarding politicians on Coruscant from assassination-attacks or because he was on the front, fighting against the Droid-Army of the Separatists.
Oh no, what if he died before he finished publishing the series?
The second part would go into print in just half a year, Gakjanbo had announced just a few days ago and it would only be the second part of seven books!
He couldn't die, she was too curious about what happened next!
Janquer had never really thought about the war. Of course she knew about it, she read the Holo-News, but it never really hit home.
She was safe on Coruscant and the only way she was affected by the war was by the rising prices of food and Clothes.
But now it was different.
Her favourite Author was probably on the front.
Her favourite band already was on the front: The Jets Updating-schedule had often been affected by the battles they had to fight.
Just now, Drum was in the infirmary, so the fans would have to wait until his stump of an arm had healed and he had been fitted for a prosthetic until they would get any new songs.
The fandom had been understanding and a lot of well-wishes and cards had been sent.
Both facts had really hammered home that not only were the Clones normal people, they were fighting and getting hurt and died for the Republic.
Janquer resolved herself to get more information on the Clones and the War, it couldn't be that she was that unknowing.
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Janquer was a secretary for a senator, one of the six who coordinated his schedule, met with other secretaries to network and did his paperwork.
She had to interact with the Clones to do that and her opinion from the beginning had changed a lot over the Year they had been stationed here on Coruscant.
At first she had been uncomfortable around them.
They were silent men, watching her and what she did.
She knew that they were there for her protection, but that didn't change the fact that they were intimidating in their white-red-plastoid-armour, their sturdy frame and them simply being male.
Maybe, in another life, that had never changed and she would have forever seen them as similar to Droids.
But something had changed. On the third shift guarding her, one of her guards pulled out wool ad two knitting needles.
On her incredulous look he said defensively: 'Don't worry, we are still protecting you, Ma'am. Bookworm here still has his hands free and I will still perform a Perimeter sweep every quarter Hour. There is, however, nothing in the Regulations forbidding knitting.'
The intimidating aura of her guard shattered like her mother's porcelain.
Slowly but surely she got to know them.
Their names were Knit and Bookworm.
Both had chosen their own names after the hobby they enjoyed.
And really, after geeking out together with Bookworm about the Fairytail-Book, there was no way she could still fear him, especially since he was absolutely wrong about the prince of one of the Fairytailes.
There was no way he could fall in love with just one dance, one needed so much more to build a healthy relationship!
Love at first sight wasn't realistic and one needed so much more than just love to build a healthy marriage.
A relationship was build on Compromise and not someone that wouldn't even recognize your face after dancing all night, who had to rely on a shoe!
After that discussion there was no way she could be intimidated by such an idiot with so many wrong opinions.
And Knit was as intimidating as a Kitten after he cried when he realised that he lost a stitch at the very beginning and had to unravel the whole scarf he had just made.
Bookworm and her had bonded over books and they regularly recommended each other some.
He was also a member of her Book-Club after she invited him.
He was a delight to have and always ready to deconstruct a character's development with her, even if he often ate all of her favourite cookies at their Book-Club Meeting and was so wrong about Romance it wasn't even funny.
Both insisted on escorting her home when she had to stay later and Bookworm had even once saved her from a very uncomfortable situation with another diplomatic envoy where a man who wouldn't accept her 'No!'.
The Clones, at the beginning, had been not better then Droids with the way they acted exactly to protocol.
But now she knew that they were simply human like her, they were her friends and the conversations she had with them made her day.
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And now, Bolding Clonida turned out to be a Clone.
According to the Article, there had been a leak in the publishing team, someone just trying to discredit the highly-sought after Author.
And now the huge Fandom was up in arms.
The stories not only had never been seen before, they were also something for every Generation and Species, which meant that the Fandom came from many backgrounds, all of them raising up for their favourite Author.
Janquer scrolled through her different Social-Holo Platforms: In every single one People rallied to defend their Author and with it the Clones.
Soon enough the discussion about the Legality of the distribution of the songs by the Jets was brought up again, even through the case had been through the courts and already decided, and widened to include the new books.
Vultures, all of them. Just wanting a piece of a profitable venture.
But the fans came together to fight for and defend their idols.
For the next week one couldn't go outside without seeing posters, sign or demonstrations for the Clones right to their intellectual property.
But swiftly the discussion changed to the debate that had been rather ignored until now: The Rights of Clones.
Janquer now hadn't been the only one who realised just how exploited the Clones were.
Now that they did interviews, talk shows and Blogs about their lives, everyone realised just how wronged they were, which just stroked the publics outcry.
Janquer hadn't known how they grew up, grown in capsules until they were decanted.
Never before had Decommission sounded so terrible like after the interview with the Kaminoans.
The terms they used while talking about Human-beings were horrifying.
Another Holo-video that went viral was one of Drummer from 'The Jets'.
He had asked on another Platform for Questions they wanted to ask him.
The answers were horrifying.
On 'How old are you?' he answered 'five, nearly six years old'.
He was a baby!
He had only learned the Drums a few Months ago, since no Clone was allowed a Hobby on Kamino.
He had lost his hand in a battle on a planet which was now again belonging to the Separatists since they had been sent to another Battlefront, not holding the planet or supporting the new Government.
'The war seems to be endless and fruitless battles. The only things that happen is the sky rocking Fatality-rate of us Clones.' Was a statement that echoed in Janquers ears long after the Holo had ended.
A lot of Generals were also speaking out in favour of the Soldiers they commanded.
'They deserve so much more than they get. The only life they know is training and fighting a war. The Clones still have to learn how to be people first and soldiers second, which can only happen when they are treated like people by the Republic. The Citizenship is long overdue.', Depa Billaba said to a reporter.
Another speech even made Janquer cry.
'We are Clones. But in what way are we not sentient? We are just as human as the Prime they created us after. But no Natural Born People are ever treated like we are.
We can write Stories that touches people, that are new and famous and liked, yet we are still thought Droids without any higher Thought-Process.
When was the last time your Cleaning-Robot wrote Books? Songs? Isn't the ability so write and form thoughts the foundations of sentient Rights?
So why do we not deserve the Citizenship?
We live and die for the Republic. We die so that you don't have to. And what is our Thanks?
We are no Tookas, we are People and we DESERVE to get the same consideration as any other human.
How many times do we have to prove that we are sentient before you grant us rights? We are no better than slaves, beholden to fight and die for a Republic we have never had the chance to see.
Is it a wonder that so many planets refuse to stay a part of the Republic when you are slavers? Slavery was forbidden in 3653 VSY, it is written as one of the foundation of your own Constitution. Yet here we are, with no rights, working for no salary and having to follow the whims of the senate and the Chancellor.
Maybe the Separatists are right to declare their independence. The Senate have lost their core tenants.
They have already enslaved us Clones, when will you be next? The Constitution won't stop them, as you see.'
The Holo-net was swamped with research, with articles and with so much more. The Support of the Clones grew exponentially.
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It truly said something about the Senate and the way they failed to cater to their Voters that many Senators were surprised when a Case was opened and the Clones sued for Citizenship.
The Lawyers of the Clones (They had earned money of the Songs and the Books, now they could afford to pay them) sued Newspapers and Reporters left and right for defamation of Character.
Only now Janquer realised just how awful the report of the Clones had gotten: At the beginning they had been nice and factual, but over time they realised that they could just report what they wanted without any repercussions.
And now they literally paid for it.
It felt like Karma for Janquer.
However, the Lawyer not only did that.
They had pulled out every mention of Clones in the long History of the Republic and now used the precedence to argue the Case.
Being a secretary of the Senate meant that Janquer was at the Pulse of this new movement and of course had a stake in making sure they were winning, but she hadn't even had to do much.
The Case was very good researched and the Precedence of lkvis, where the whole populations had been cloned after a pandemic had devastated the Population, made it pretty clear cut.
This debate and especially this case made it clear that the Senate was not used to Public scorn or the Transparency of the Case.
The first Senator that positioned clearly against the Citizenship was voted out of service and the next one was coincidently the exact opposite.
Never before were the Senators so beholden to their voters and their Homeplanets opinions on the issue.
Even the ones who were absolutely rotten with Corruption had to bow to the public if they didn't want to be replaced.
No one could accuse the Senators of not knowing where the Wind blew.
Just a week later the Vote passed nearly unanimously.
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I hope you have a good day,
Profimacher2