Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. It belongs to Disney. I make no money from this story.
Chapter 10: Twilight
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Part 1
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Today, a grave injustice occurred, perpetrated by the Republic! After multiple provocations, the Republic unleashed a secret Clone Army and struck the peace-loving world of Geonosis! It was no mistake, but a treacherous declaration of war!
First Shadowfeed broadcast
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Senate Chamber
Senate Building
Coruscant
For the second time in the past two days, the Senate Chamber was quiet. Time was up, and all they had left was to vote and pray.
Padme fought down the bile rising in her throat, while she looked around with bleary eyes. Palpatine had been right all along, and now, the whole galaxy knew it. For all its importance, this second vote was now little more than a formality. Everyone now knew that more than half the Senate was more than ready to abandon Republic members to the slaving Hutts and disavow heroes because it was convenient.
The Republic Padme fought so long and hard to preserve, and reform was dead. No, it was worse. That Republic either never existed, and she was a fool, or it was never worthy of her efforts?! Padme knew not which alternative was worse.
How could Senators from the founding members of the Republic stand up in front of the whole galaxy, and without a second thought, attempt to justify selling out whole worlds to the Hutts?! Righteous anger pushed away Padme's doubts and fears.
The Republic is not what it once was. Those were Palpatine's words from a decade ago. These days, treacherous Senators dared echo them. And they were right, Padme understood that now. It wasn't just the Senate that was full of petty, greedy fools. It was the whole Republic, for the Senate was little more than a reflection of the politics back home, no matter where that was.
At the same time, Palpatine was wrong. He might be the strongest Chancellor in decades, yet he simply wasn't strong enough to lead the Senate. Of course, he wasn't! Naboo couldn't offer him the backing he sorely needed. Their whole Sector wasn't powerful enough. The galaxy respected them, that much was true. They were reasonably wealthy as well, yet compared to the likes of Kuat, Corellia, Alsakan…
They weren't powerful enough, that was the bitter truth. It hurt, having the likes of Danu and Fird throw it in your face. It was even more painful to see all your ideals and good intentions go down in flames because you lacked the strength to back them up.
There was only one question now. How could Padme get the strength to keep Naboo safe? The power to keep Anakin safe as well?
An ancient signal echoed throughout the Senate Chambers.
"The vote is complete, and not a moment too soon." The Speaker of the Senate proclaimed.
Padme glanced at the time. There were little less than fifteen standard minutes until the deadline expired.
Palpatine looked at the instruments built into his booth. For a brief moment, a look of surprise flickered through his face, before he schooled it back into a professional mask.
"The vote is complete, and the results tallied," Palpatine spoke with surprising vigor. "Fifty-eight point two percent of the present Senators voted to accept the Hutt's ultimatum..."
Padme swayed on unsteady feet. Two percent more than before, yet still not enough!
Palpatine didn't get to finish. The Chambers exploded with noise – both shouts of joy and relief, and those of anger, swallowing the Chancellor's words. Padme didn't have to hear them know them. She already heard them once.
"The vote failed to reach qualified majority of sixty percent, thus the Senate is unable to accept and ratify the Hutt ultimatum."
There was no more time for debates and backroom deals to attempt and sway a few more people for, or against the ultimatum. The deadline might very well pass before the Speaker could restore order. The likes of Senator Taa would be doing their best to make it so.
For now, Anakin was relatively safe – as safe as a front-line commander could be. Now, she had to ensure he remained that way, along with all the soldiers the Senate attempted to sell out.
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There were no shouts of relief on Tatooine. Later, we learned that there was little jubilation among the forward-deployed GAR elements all over the Outer Rim. We fought and died for the Republic! We were made to be her guardians. Yet, just a few weeks after the war began, we all watched over half the Senate, more than half the Republic, vote to disavow us for merely following orders like good soldiers.
There are no words in Basic, no curse vile enough, to describe how we felt. On that faithful day, the Senate made sure we all knew our place – we were nothing more than slave soldiers bred to fight and die, so the Republic citizens wouldn't have to. For most of our commanders, we were merely good soldiers, for we couldn't disobey orders. The Clone Masters of Kamino made us that way. Our first thoughts were that we must be good soldiers. That we must obey orders.
The very idea of disobedience? It was anathema. We couldn't conceive of it.
When the Jedi ordered us to assault enemy positions with nothing more than light weapons, we did it as our creators made us - without asking a question. When they threw our lives away, to preserve the infrastructure of those who voted to abandon us, we did what they told us to do. Again, and again. We asked no questions, merely followed orders.
However, ever since that faithful day early in the war, every night, we would pray. We would pray that the Chancellor or General Skywalker would order us to execute several contingencies. Such orders, we would have gleefully obeyed.
The Journal of Captain Rex, 501st Legion, Skywalker's Fist
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Republic FOB Chimera
Bestine spaceport
Bestine township
Tatooine
It was deadly quiet in the communication center. A thick sense of relief, strong enough to touch, permeated the hangar. Yet, no one shouted in the joy that a potential death sentence passed them by.
Later, Vader would mark that moment, as the point where any chance of him fighting for a reformed Republic, instead of a sane Empire, died, stabbed in the back by the Senate. More than half of the local governments voted to betray him and leave him to the Hutt's not existent mercy. Those were thousands of governments, tens of thousands of systems, and people beyond count, who…
"I hate them. I hate them, all Master!" Snips' voiced both their feelings.
"I know," Vader uttered in a bland tone he didn't recognize. Fury burned within his heart. That was what he once called the Dragon. when as a Jedi, he denied the hooks that the Dark Side had sunk within him. "They will all get what they have coming for them, trust me about that, Snips. However, first, we must make sure we all survive the coming storm." Vader looked at Ahsoka. Once again, her eyes bled from sapphire blue into angry, molten gold. "Focus, Snips. Use the fury you feel like a focus, but don't let it consume you. Doing so merely plays into the hands of our enemies, and as you just saw, we have a great number of those."
"I'm trying, Master!" A look of intense concentration formed on her face.
"There is no try. You either do it or not. As painful as it is to admit it, Yoda was right about a few things, you know."
"You are not helping!" Snips growled at him.
"Center yourself and regain control, Snips. Very soon, we'll have work to do."
"General, we've got a priority call from GAR High Command on Coruscant." A communication specialist interrupted them, earning himself a deadly glare from Ahsoka.
"And my point is made. Focus. Channel your fury. Do not let it rule you, we lack convenient targets to vent at."
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Part 2
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On Geonosis, the Republic showed its real colors! First, they sent a fellow Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to spy on and sabotage the defenses and industry of an independent world. When Geonosian security forces apprehended him, the Republic sent another Jedi and a Senator as infiltrators to free him! That was yet another provocation against the Confederacy of Independent System!
A security camera feed from a massive industrial forge focused on a Jedi in black robes, a young human female wearing dirty white clothes, and a flailing golden protocol droid. They cut and shot their way through security droids and angry Geonosians before the locals overwhelmed them.
When the Geonosian government summary declared these infiltrators as spies and murderers, sentencing them to death, the Republic and the Jedi Order, disregarded Geonosis' sovereignty. A small army of Jedi infiltrated the planet and attempted to capture the Confederacy's leadership. When this Republic madness failed as well, the Republic discarded all pretenses, and launched an invasion on Geonosis, starting the first galaxy-wide war in a thousand years!
From Count Dooku's statement following the battle of Geonosis
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Republic FOB Chimera
Bestine spaceport
Bestine township
Tatooine
The images of two men materialized over a portable holo-tank. The first one wore the familiar aged face of Admiral Coburn. The second one was that of a heavily tattooed Zabrak, who Vader was barely acquainted with from his previous life. General Telar Valentra oversaw the logistics of the GAR as a whole, and back in the day, Skywalker had little reason to interact with the man. That would have changed after the birth of the Empire. However, General Valentra perished during Grievous' attack on Coruscant.
"Admiral Coburn, General." Vader promptly saluted, doing his best to play the role of the dutiful soldier.
"General Skywalker," Coburn nodded tiredly. "This is General Valentra, in charge of the GAR Logistics Corps. In light of recent developments, we've got new orders for you."
"I'm ready to serve, sir!" Vader answered as eagerly as he believed to be proper under the circumstances.
"Good man. We don't believe we'll be able to hold onto our territory facing Hutt space for the time being," Coburn began. "Your orders are simple in concept. We'll be forming a task force at Tatooine, and place it under your command. Your first goal is to evacuate critical GAR and Republic assets before the whole region could fall under enemy control. Thiat includes the forward-deployed GAR elements at Ryloth and their Jedi commander."
"Second, we'll have a convoy with weapons and supplies on the way to you underway within the next few hours. You'll need to escort it to the various Republic worlds in the region and distribute the contents among the local security forces and any prospective freedom fighters." General Valentra continued. "The convoy will contain a few fuel and ammunition tenders to restock your task force."
"Third, several special operations vessels carrying Commando units will join you. You'll have to escort them as well. Their job will be to begin training the locals to fight either Separatists or Hutt occupation," Coburn ordered. "Finally, after ensuring the delivery of supplies and special forces, you'll first act as a rear-guard for our retreating convoy. If the situation permits, you'll launch a raid on Nar Shadaa, aiming at crippling the shipbuilding and industrial capacity of the planetary system. Republic intelligence will contact you shortly, with all actionable information we have on the Hutts and CIS forces in your area of operations."
"Orders received and understood, sir. Is that all?"
"If practical, avoid a confrontation with the Jedi General in command at Ryloth. That said, as far as the GAR is concerned, you've broken no law and the Jedi Council has no legal reason to arrest you or Lieutenant Tano. General Ima-Gun Di should be receiving orders to cooperate with you as we speak. If necessary, apprehend and bring him back to Coruscant for a trial." Coburn continued.
Vader had to fight laughter at that. What the kriff did happen on Coruscant over the past few days?
"Yes, sir. I and the 501st will do our best to fulfill our orders!"
"That's the spirit." Coburn offered him a brief smile, saluted, and cut off the line.
"You heard the General. We're about to receive an intelligence dump. I want it distributed among our Intel officers ASAP. Get all available staff officers together and ready to begin planning an operation to evacuate any remaining GAR forces in the Region. The moment we know the make-up of the convoy and what exactly it's carrying, I want plans for the efficient delivery of the supplies to their final destination…" Vader rapidly issued a string of orders. "Ahsoka, get your head straightened up. I want you with the staff officers observing the planning and learning what and why they're doing."
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Council Chamber
Jedi Temple
Coruscant
Several Council Members sat in their seats, arguing over the recent events. The only thing they could barely agree on was the need to safeguard their young Padawans and keep them as far away from the war as possible. In that regard, it didn't matter that everyone believed Padawan Tano fell because of Skywalker. No one wanted to risk another youngling facing the strain of combat. Keeping the Padawans, and youngest Knights away from the fallen Jedi wasn't enough. There was still Dooku and his mysterious Sith Master. Either of them could drag an inexperienced youngling into darkness, destroying them.
"Above politics remain we must!" Master Yoda declared with unshakable conviction. "Too involved we became! Grave consequences we face!"
Said consequences were obvious. As soon as the Senate finished with falling apart because of the Hutt ultimatum, multiple commissions would want to hear from the Jedi about their conduct on Geonosis. The Council already received the polite requests to send representatives to three separate hearings. Many journalists besieged the entrance of the Temple itself, and there would have been many more if not for the monumental events unfolding within the Senate.
"That shouldn't be too hard. You'll note that no one officially requested our advice and expertise over the current crisis." Master Mundi spoke from half-across the galaxy.
"I'm unsure how good of a news that is." Plo Koon pointed out in a haunting voice. "It takes time for the Senate to move. Sadly, Dooku's accusations found fertile soil among many of the local governments. I've been trying to distract myself as of late by looking over what various news outlets across the Republic said. There were many questions about what we did and why we did it, and only Hutt's ultimatum taking the spotlight kept them at bay. I'm afraid that this state of affairs might not persist for much longer."
"We did nothing wrong on Geonosis! Dooku is an Apprentice to a Sith Lord now! It is our duty and purpose to oppose them, and safeguard the Republic!" Mace Windu announced. He was one of the Jedi who took the increasing amount of questions and mistrust aimed at the Order over the past few weeks, the hardest.
"Just like we did nothing wrong when we demanded the GAR to relieve Skywalker off command and allow us to take him into custody." Master Tiin pointed out. "That didn't work as intended, no matter our good intentions."
"Master Yoda, I'm afraid, that like it or not, intentionally or not, we're now involved in politics. That's how the people of the galaxy see it. The Separatists and their Shadowfeed won't stop repeating it, and by all accounts, their worlds do find fertile soil." Plo Koon interjected.
"To enter politics, ready we are not!" Yoda used his walking stick to loudly tap on his chair. "Politicians, we are not! Walked away from politics the Order did! Better we are for that! Taint and twist us politics will! Compromise our ideals and morals they require! Dark pathways that way!"
"While I agree about the danger, Master Yoda, the sad truth is, that we're already entangled in politics. Geonosis ensured it. Dooku's propaganda might not let us disengage no matter what we wish. The Senate requires answers as well. Whatever we do, and say now, it will be seen as political." Plo Koon suggested. "That's what I believe after seeing what everyone on the news is saying about us and asking of us."
The argument continued long into the night.
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