Chapter Three: Peace at Any Price
The Battle of Coruscant continued for two more days. Two days of fighting, carnage, and death. The Jedi and Republic forces fought with courage, but were no match for the seemingly endless flood of Sith. The Jedi Temple was reduced to rubble, and much of its ruling council was killed. The Supreme Chancellor of the Republic also fell. Long before the fighting ended, it was clear that the Republic capital was firmly under Sith control.
Those members of the Senate fortunate enough to have been off world hastily formed an interim government. The Jedi Council continued to operate, though with a much-reduced count of five members.
As other Republic worlds braced for invasion and the military commanders formed plans for an extended defense, the Sith Empire did the one thing nobody expected: It sued for peace, promising to return Coruscant to the Republic in exchange for "reasonable accommodations."
It was with a mix of wariness and hope that representatives from the military and from what remained of the Senate and Jedi Council came to Alderaan, to discuss terms with their enemy.
"It's an outrage! They are talking about surrender as if it was some kind of accomplishment!"
Orgus Din, a Jedi Knight who had been smuggled off Corsucant, fumed outside the Council chambers as Satele Shan sat calmly on a nearby bench. Orgus had been on Coruscant during the invasion. He had managed to escape the planet one day after its fall, and had brought back stories of the horrors he had seen. He was already off balance when the Council shared the terms of the proposed treaty with the rest of the Order. Reading that proposal had sent him into a state of naked rage.
Satele shared his frustration. She wrestled with control of her own emotions when she recalled Master Darach's sacrifice.
No, she thought. Call it what it was - His murder.
Still, she was not inherently opposed to the idea of a treaty with the Sith. Some of the proposed terms were even reasonable. They demanded the return of Korriban and its system to their sole control. The dark nature of The Force as it existed on that world made this a concern, but it was their ancestral home world; Satele would have acknowledged this as a fair trade in exchange for peace. She would also have agreed to non-interference in internal Sith matters, and to the removal of Republic personnel and equipment from their territories.
But the Sith wanted more. They wanted territory. Specifically, inhabited planets – with their full populations turned over to Sith control. This was something she could not support.
"Their build-up was in secret," Orgus continued. "They can't really have endless troops and supplies. If we fight, we can wear them down! Make them to come to the negotiating table on our terms, instead of them swaggering up to it like conquerors!"
As badly as she wanted peace, Satele found herself in agreement with him. The two had come to address the delegates, as witnesses to the assaults on Korriban and Coruscant, in hopes of swaying enough Republic votes to stop the treaty.
Orgus was called first. From outside the chamber, Satele could not hear the man's words – but she could hear his voice, rising in anger and frustration. He stormed out just a few minutes later, his face dark with rage.
"Satele Shan," an Alderaanian attendant called.
She allowed herself to be escorted before the delegates. The five members of the Jedi Council sat at the far left, representatives of the Republic military beside them. Seven representatives of the Republic Senate were also on-hand. The Chancellor's seat remained empty, the divided Senate representatives unable to settle on a replacement. That further weakened the Republic's bargaining power. Each senator spoke for him or herself, while the Sith spoke with a single voice.
Not that other Sith were not present. At the far right were two representatives of the Dark Council, and to their left were high-ranking Imperial military officers. But none of them spoke. They just sat in absolute silence, some glaring balefully at the Republic representatives, others looking bored and inattentive.
At the center of the table stood their one voice, the man spoke with authority at these deliberations on behalf of all the Sith. The author of the Sith's proposed treaty.
Darth Baras.
Satele was surprised by how young he was. He looked to be only a few years her senior. He also had a certain rough handsomeness, the type that was only enhanced by the scar that had permanently closed his left eye.
"So," Baras boomed. "This is the young Jedi who was attached to the unethical spy station orbiting our homeworld?" His voice was a deep bass that resonated throughout the chamber. He had a microphone, but he knew he did not need it, and kept it switched off.
Satele raised her head, meeting Baras' good eye calmly.
"I am the Jedi who survived the unprovoked assault on the Republic monitoring station," she said. "At no time had any representative of the Sith contacted my Master or any member of the Jedi Council, to make demands. At no time prior to the attack did we have reason to believe the Sith even existed. You might have reached out diplomatically. Instead, you made your existence known with a massacre."
A few murmurs in the room. Frowns from some of the senators, and two of the Jedi Council. Looks of approval from the Republic military officers. No reaction at all from Grandmaster Zym.
Baras merely smiled. "You would have had us come to you, hat in hand, as supplicants? A successful negotiation is one done from a position of strength!"
An Alderaanian senator rose to address Satele.
"I'm sure Darth Baras does not wish to silence your voice, Knight Shan," he said. "Nor will much be achieved by rehashing our grievances. It is my understanding you have read the proposed Treaty, and wish to make a statement on it."
"More haranguing, like her fellow Jedi," Baras scoffed.
Satele took a breath, focused on remaining calm.
"I do wish to make a statement," she said, keeping her voice even. "I realize that my appointment as a Jedi Knight remains recent. However, I wish to make plain my case against this Treaty, in its current form."
"The exact form is still under debate," one of the Jedi Masters pointed out.
"Debate, hell," a Republic general replied. "We've just been inking around the margins."
"Let us allow the Jedi to speak," the senator from Alderaan repeated.
Satele gave him a grateful nod, turned to the full assembly.
"While all in this room should value peace, the Treaty in its current form does not create a groundwork for a lasting peace. The Sith do not just ask for the return of their home world, nor even for the territory surrounding it. They demand inhabited planets, with thriving Republic populations. Their Treaty does not even allow the citizens of those worlds a chance to relocate. The moment the paper is signed, these full populations instantly become citizens of the Empire, their destinies forever changed by your signatures."
She allowed this to sink in, knowing that it was the biggest single sticking point for many of the senators.
"Think how the rest of the Republic will react, once this takes effect," she stressed. "Think of the families, torn apart by this move. If the government will sacrifice its own populace – the very thing it exists to protect – then how much faith will the rest of our populace have in us? Will they not be justified in asking which of their worlds we might trade away next?"
Baras protested.
"The populations of those planets will be fully protected," he insisted. "The Treaty provides for their worlds to be self-governed, by their own ruling councils."
"And you provide no insurance that these ruling councils will be truly independent," the Republic general interjected. "No Republic advisors are allowed on these worlds. No Republic inspectors, not even inspectors from neutral territories. No way for us to know that the planetary councils are anything but your puppets."
Baras laughed. "Come now, General," he boomed. "You sound as paranoid as the Jedi who just left." He turned back to Satele, giving her a genial smile. "Tell me, Knight Shan. Do I strike you as a fool?"
Satele shook her head. "No, Darth Baras," she said. "You are anything but that."
"Precisely!" he crowed. "Only a fool would expect a lifelong Republic citizen to transform overnight into a perfect Imperial subject. Our Empire will protect these worlds, and Sith representatives will provide advice and guidance to them. But the planetary councils will have final say on internal planetary policy."
"And that will satisfy you?" Satele challenged. "To turn your own question back on you - Do I strike you as a fool?"
Baras chuckled.
"You have far greater control than your colleague," he congratulated her. "You would have made a fine Sith."
"You'll forgive me if I'm not flattered by the compliment."
"To your point," Baras said. "Of course we plan to directly rule those planets. But we will do so by guiding them and their populations to an appreciation of our philosophies over a generation of time. We believe our view of the universe is the correct one. If we are correct, why should we have to use force to persuade our own people of that?"
Satele bowed her head to Baras.
"You are a skilled wordsmith," she admitted, "and I am only a simple, still inexperienced, Jedi Knight."
She turned her head to look at the Republic representatives.
"Even so, and even if you believe Darth Baras' honeyed words, this Treaty would be a travesty. I know my colleague, Orgus Din, was perhaps overly emotional. But you must understand, Orgus is a Jedi, just as I am. We believe in peace. But peace at any price can too easily transform into surrender."
She nodded, thanked them for hearing her. She glanced back at the Jedi Grandmaster as she left the room.
His face remained unreadable.
In the end, her words achieved nothing. Baras told the Republic representatives that he would persuade the Dark Council to allow independent inspections. When pressed, he even added a paragraph to the treaty establishing a joint Republic/Sith committee to schedule for such inspections.
That concession broke the last of the Republic's resistance. Though the military remained staunchly opposed, the senate united behind it. The Jedi Council remained divided, but for the sake of unity, ultimately recommended the treaty's ratification.
The Treaty of Coruscant gave the Sith all they had demanded. The galaxy was effectively divided in two, each side agreeing to take no action against the other. Many Republic worlds were signed over to the Sith, along with their populations. Baras' exploratory committee never met, and all contact between the two sides was severed. Ultimately, the only tangible benefit the Republic received was the return of Coruscant – so shattered by the invasion and occupation that it would require decades to rebuild.
Even so, the initial reaction among the public was relief. War had been averted. But as more and more families took stock of their loved ones, only to discover relatives who had been trapped behind the Sith curtain, rumblings of discontent began to build.
The Senate hoped to raise morale by rebuilding the capital chambers of Coruscant, making them even grander than before. Again, this initially worked, particularly in the creation of jobs for people who had lost so much during the occupation. But the project's expense created a financial deficit, which in a few short years led to an economic catastrophe. The discontented rumblings grew ever louder, and little by little, the Republic's central government became more unpopular than at any previous point in its history.
During this time, several planets, including Alderaan, voted to secede from the Republic. On other worlds, separatist movements rose. These were initially peaceful protest movements, but the frustration of voices left unheard gradually led to their takeover by more violent factions. Eventually, the term "separatist" became synonymous with "domestic terrorist."
In the end, most were forced to acknowledge the truth. The Treaty had been the ultimate Sith victory. They had taken themselves from a dark legend from a distant past to a Galactic Empire, and sewn seeds of chaos that had severely damaged the Republic. Perhaps even damaged it beyond repair…