Watching his chosen agent approaching the podium with a level of formality that had been perfected over the course of his military career, Emperor Palpatine fought the urge to smirk in triumph at his current victim as he listened to the newly appointed Moff begin the process of discrediting those who posed a threat to the New Order.
"Esteemed members of the court, I stand before you today, waiting to reveal too you that despite the thorough cleansing the Empire has done to rid itself of the malignant influences of the Republic, the treacherous poison of treason remains alive and well within the very ranks of the Imperial Senate. With the evidence that has been collected, I intend to show you that now only has the former senator chosen to use the cowardly tactics of terrorism to try and thwart the Empire's plans to bring peace and security to a war torn galaxy, but that her treasonous activities helped to delay our final in the Clone Wars".
Inclining his head forward to show that he had finished his opening statement, Tarkin kept his face passive as his lord and sovereign thanked him for his words before directing the attention of the packed chamber elsewhere.
"Thank you for your opening remarks Governor Tarkin. I'm sure we are all interested to know what you have in store for us. But for now, it is time for the defence to plead their case".
Fighting the urge to scowl as the red haired former senator with a grace that echoed that of another former thorn in his side, the Emperor kept his face expressionless as he listened to the former senator attempts to inspire sympathy.
"Esteemed members of the court, I stand before you to day not as a traitor, but as a loyal citizen of the principles that have long been treasured by both the former government and its successor. Peace, security, justice. I have dedicated my entire career to ensure that these principles remain the corner stone of our society, and I assure you that I am innocent of any charges that my esteemed questioner promises to be my undoing".
Sensing that her speech had been met with approval by a fair number of the watching bystanders, the Emperor decided to move this along before she try and emulate the charisma that had always been present in his apprentice's thankfully departed wife.
"Be that as it may senator, I am afraid that we are here to prove whether or not there is a clear indication of treason. If there is not, then you have my full assurance that you will be returned immediately to your former station. If not, well I think that we've made it quite clear what happens to traitors".
Her emotions artfully concealed behind a mask that had been crafted after years of political debates, Mon Mothma bowed her head at the robed Sith Lord.
"Yes you have your majesty. And I hope to prove that I am indeed a loyal citizen of the Empire, and have done nothing to warrant all these accusations".
Nodding his head at her defiance, though inwardly he was cackling since he knew full well what information would be used to tarnish her character, the Emperor gestured for Tarkin to proceed with his argument before beginning to enact another one of the boy's ingenious ideas.
"Though I state for the record that I disprove of your continued use of that title, I shall address you as such to prevent any complications. Senator Mon Mothma, you say your career has always been dedicated towards promoting the ideals of peace and security in first the Republic, and then in our Empire. Is that correct"?
Though she was a tiny bit confused by the direction of Tarkin's questioning, Mon Mothma nevertheless answered the question with confidence.
"Yes I have Governor Tarkin. Peace and security are the building blocks that are required to build a funcition society, and I have dedicated my life to ensure that they remain as such".
Having expected such an answer, Tarkin allowed himself to smirk as he asked a question that had been provided by the Emperor's youngest, but no less enlightened advisor".
"Then why was it, that during the course of the Clone Wars, you voted against the decision to not only obtain new lines of credit for our beleaguered Republic, but also the decision to increase the number of clone troopers DESPITE the fact that the Separatists had just secured an order to construct even more legions of battle droids. Do you deny these claims"?
Grinning internally as he heard the surprised whispering of the assembled audience, Palpatine focused his power to inspire the small spark of fear in the Chandrilan senator to slowly grow.
"I do not deny those claims. But I protest that you are taking them out of context".
Smiling at sudden defensiveness of his opponent, Tarkin pushed on.
"Really? So your saying that you saw nothing wrong in blocking the government's attempt to increase its efforts in doing all it could to bring the war to a speedy conclusion? Tell me senator, don't you think the war effort could have benefited from having an additional 5 million troopers on the battle field"?
Allowing her carefully composed mask to crack just enough to express her disproval with Tarkin's accusation, and ignoring the soft murmurings of the assembled audience, Mon Mothma stuck to her defence.
"The fact remains that you are forgetting that in order to pay the cost for your soldiers, the government would have to further cut spending on many social programs that had already been overwhelmed thanks to the burden of the war".
Confident in her defence, the former senator was taken back by how quickly her opponent managed to come up with a retort to her arguments.
"But don't you think senator, that if the war had been brought to a more speedy conclusion, your social programs would have been able to have their funding restored to pre war levels? I also hasten to add that a quicker end to the conflict would have resulted in far less damage to the industry and infrastructure of loyalist worlds, which would have aided immensely in our efforts to repair the damage of the war. Looking at it that way, one could almost say that your efforts not only prolonged the war, but also ensured that the efforts to rebuild our devastated galaxy would become more difficult than they needed to be".
Allowing a barely noticeable smirk to spread across his face as Tarkin masterfully followed the boy's advice on how to discredit the senator's past achievements, Palpatine gave the watching audience half a minute to process this information before deciding to move this along.
"Though you bring up several valid points governor, I'm afraid that you are required to provide more than one example to prove that Senator Mon Mothma is indeed a traitor to the Empire".
Accepting the mild rebuke with a nod, and taking a moment to decide what would be the best weapon to put yet another nail in the coffin of the defendents case, Tarkin addressed the slightly frowning woman.
"Senator Mon Mothma, is it true that before the end of the Clone Wars, you were closely associated with one or more of the 63 senators who had the audacity to challenge the legitimacy of government before it was transformed into the more efficient Empire"?
Using his powers to increase the former senator's anger, Palpatine was immensely pleased when instead of denying the accusation, Mon Mothma proudly confirmed the Moff's question.
"It is indeed. Several of them were close colleuges of mine, and had in fact worked with me on several pieces of legislature that I'm sad to say is no longer considered to be useful under the reign of this government".
Smirking at the confession, Tarkin quickly moved to get to the point of this topic.
"Then you must have also known that before their arrest, they had been planning to rally nearly 2000 other senators to their cause in order to challenge the legitimacy of the then Chancellor's war policies. Esteemed members of the court, I would like to point out that this is not the first group of senators that had also become dissasisfied with our way of life, and would hazard a guess that it was only a matter of time before they decided to betray the loyalty of the citizens that had chosen to elect them by forming common cause with the nearly defeated Separatist Alliance".
At this accusation, the mumblings of the assembled members of the court and audience began to grow in volume, and proceeded to increase as Mon Mothma began to defend her actions with a surprising show of emotion.
"My friends had no intention of leaving the Republic. We only wanted to ensure that the changes to the constitution made in war time would only be temporary. And the only time I made common cause with the Confederacy of Independent Systems was when we tried to form a peace that would be acceptable to both sides".
Grinning at his opponents slip, and judging that now the time had come to drive home his arguments, Tarkin pressed on.
"So you admit that you were associated with not only the newly grown nest of traitors, but also with those had done their best to eliminate our way of life by plunging our galaxy into Civil War? But that's something I already know. For you see ladies and gentlemen, in an attempt to gain a certain degree of leniency for their crimes, several senators of the so called Delegation of 2000 named Senator Mon Mothma as one of the leaders of this conspiracy. I also go on to point out that they revealed that the late Senators Bail Organa, Padme Amidala, intended to form a new political body with whatever remained of the Separatist forces, but what they didn't know at the was that both Senators were in fact acting as undercover agents of the Chancellor's office to head off this latest attempt at treason. Sadly, their efforts were discovered by the Separatist leadership, and were executed for their so called betrayal".
Stunned that the Emperor's lap dog would go so far as to use the death of her friends to paint her as the guilty party, Mon Motha for the first time in a long time allowed her emotions to guide her actions as she verbally attacked the smirking Moff.
"HOW DARE YOU TRY AND USE THE DEATH OF MY NOBLE COLLEAGUES FOR YOUR OWN AGENDA. I assure you that if they were alive today, they would stop at NOTHING to ensure that this whole rotted government comes crashing down".
Smiling as Mon Mothma's outburst caused another bout of disproving mutterings to echo throughout the court room, Tarkin proceeded to deliver his last argument.
"Which brings me to my last argument. Thanks in part to the information we obtained from your former colleagues, the agents of the Imperial Secuirty Bureau have discovered that not only have you been sending millions of credits to those who prefer to cling to a decadent past instead of embracing a promising future, you have also used your position as an Imperial Senator to pass on crucial intel to those who would seek to escape Imperial justice. And while some of them have chosen to distance themselves from the affairs of the galaxy, others have joined up with remaining Sepratist forces and likeminded terrorists".
Satisfied with the arguments that had been presented, the Emperor raised his hand to quite the near deafening roar from the audience.
" Thank you Governor for your efforts. Before we pronounce on our final verdict, do you have anything to say in your defence Senator"?
Causing the former senator's emotions to form a burning inferno of hatred, Palpatine fought the urge to cackle as Mon Mothma lost all of her former poise by launching into a verbal tirade.
"My only defence is that all I have done is to ensure fairness and justice remain more than simple words used by your tyranny to keep the populace has done. And my only crime is that I have failed to prevent the galaxy from slipping further into the grips of a madman".
Dismissing the woman's regrets with a wave of his hand, the Emperor allowed his voice to adopt a slight mournful tone as he delivered the sentence.
"Though I regret this immensely Senator, I hereby find you guilty of not only the charge of treason, but also of aiding and abetting terrorism, being an accessory to countless war crimes thanks to your efforts in prolonging the war, and giving aid to those rightly convicted of crimes against the Empire. The penalty for such crimes is death. Guards, take her away".
Watching in growing triumph as another opponent to his rule was taken to her death, and immensely pleased with the approval he was sensing from the now jeering crowds, the Emperor left the podium intent on finding the one responsible for making this happy day occur.
For the time had come to not only see if the boy could prove his worth on the battle field, though he had every intention of keeping him safely sequestered in the shielded bridge of a new Imperial class Star Destroyer, but also to see whether or not he could survive an encounter with his failure intolerant apprentice.
...
Well...that didnt take long did it LOL.
Pleased with how this chapter turned out, especially Tarkin's manipulation of Mon Mothma's past actions in the Senate. YES I know that Palpatine is as fault for extending the war to ensure he has greater political power/kill off more Jedi before order 66, and would probably waste the lives of those additional soldiers, but I believe that I had a good point with my arguments. Its why people tended to support conscription in times of war (more soliders means war comes to quicker end, which means less casualties for your chosen side). Of course you have to factor in HOW these soldiers will be used (preferably not like how the British High Command used them during WW1), but the idea is basically sound.
Hoped you liked how I'm tarnishing Bail Organa's and Padme's legacy :P...making them matrys of an Empire they would have fought to their dying breath...again XD. Orginal idea was to have them seen as traitors, but think that would only piss off Vader since its his wife's memory being tarnished, and ppl would begin to suspect a mass conspiracy with the droid forces.
Also, I know that the series says that the force can't be used to control a weak minded individual (i.e. strong versus storm troopers and average secuirty forces, weak versus bad ass bounty hunters, hutts and toydarians) But that doesnt mean it cant be used to manipulate feelings that are already their. And since the rebel leaders always have this mamartyred outlook, what better way to discredit them than by having them loose compsoure in a public setting.
Anyways, not sure when next update will be, suprised by how quickly i made this one.
But KEEP Reviewing, and I'm sure to feel inspired lol.