Entry Twenty-Eight – Days after Geonosis, One Hundred Sixty-Eight
After much dithering, favor trading, and outright vote-buying the Senate Committee for Wartime Development finally completed their Phase One plan for the Core, Coruscant included. The various news outlets have almost universally condemned the Senate's process and many have circulated an unconfirmed report that the final plan only reached approval following an ultimatum from the Chancellor. This seems at least possible. I have read through some portions of the Coruscant-related sections and they appear sloppy, unrefined, and filled with unedited droid-written legalese.
The plan, hurried as is it, also takes the path of least political resistance at the expense of efficacy or wisdom. Here on Coruscant the overwhelming majority of sites targeted for new construction are currently held by squatters or owned by members of species primarily aligned with the Separatists. The former have no political support, and the later have lost theirs due to their association with the hated enemy.
With the law finally passed and funds duly appropriated the various contracted construction firms wasted no time. The law offers bonuses for speed and they are eager to claim them. Within hours of ratification plots were cordoned off and demolition droids dispatched. Perhaps this rapid deployment went well near the surface, but here in the Bucket the local residents registered their displeasure at these sudden seizures and evictions, many of which came utterly without warning.
They were numerous and violent.
There has been rioting all evening, and not of the mild sort. It has been very bad. The police, surprised by the sudden passage of the law, were unprepared. No units were pre-positioned. By the time officers could be summoned and assembled into emergency details it was far too late. Fires rage still across huge swathes of neglected sectors as the Underworld Police refuse to storm barricades or attempt to disperse organized and armed gangs and militias. I do not blame them, many of their opponents have equal or superior armament, and the number of clones available is nowhere near sufficient to begin to grapple with this.
I spent all evening out in the chaos, treating the injured on both sides of this spontaneous struggle. I should be sleeping, but there will be no rest tonight. I cannot watch this place, my home now, tear itself apart. Nor can I reconcile myself to the part I have played. Geranite, Kage, Tassia, these three species acquired the official 'Separatist-aligned' affiliation because of actions I took personally. Over three-quarters of their property is scheduled for redevelopment, and compensation for such seizures is woefully insufficient; with values calculated using ancient surveys rather than reflecting the current market.
They are being robbed, they are fully aware of it, and they already despise the Republic. Armed resistance was almost inevitable. The storm is growing fast, and many are being drawn to one side or the other.
I worry for Lia. That is self-centered of me, but of those who live here that I call friend she is at the greatest risk. The Stegocep homeworld joined the CIS and one of their number serves in its sham senate. I believe their diaspora, much of which is here, as is common for so many species, remains deeply divided. Lia's residence has not been targeted for redevelopment, not yet, but I do not know if that will sustain. Many Stegocep fighters joined the barricades in solidarity with others, and I suspect Phase Two will treat them harshly.
No part of me expects this desperate resistance to succeed. The rioters have taken control of large areas, but the police have contained them for now. None of the Bucket's true powers have backed the protesters. The Syndicates are too busy finding their own ways to leech into this stream of new money, a position shared by the bureaucracy. Independent military powers such as the Ayae have not been roused, for the plan ignores them. Even the better armed Separatist affiliates such as the Tassias or Koorivars have not committed the balance of the resources the police believe they have in hiding. Whatever influence Dooku retains in the underworld he has not yet summoned it to battle.
The rioters will be broken. All know this, it is a matter of dreadful inevitability that hangs down over all. For now the only question is who will do it. I do not think it will be the police. Perhaps the Chancellor will dispatch clones, or maybe the construction corporations will pool their resources and hire mercenaries. Better if it is the latter, if anything can be said to be better in this wretched circumstance. Frightful as they are, the clones are good men and startlingly innocent in some ways. This failure is not one that should be forced up them to mop up.
Notes
Nema's point about the Stegocep diaspora actually holds true for many species. The structure of hyperspace lanes and corresponding Republic expansion is such that while it pushes human settler populations outward toward the Rim it draws non-human emigrants back in toward the core. This parallels how rural development programs might send huge numbers of immigrants out into the countryside even as the current residents of those regions retreat toward major cities. Coruscant, because it is located where the hyperlanes stop, has a much larger and more diverse populace as a consequence compared to other extreme-populous Core Worlds.