AdmiralF.: This Chapter mostly is to show what is happening outside the Empire at the time.
Disclaimer: I do not own SWTOR or anything in the Star Wars Franchise
AT THE SENATE TOWER ON CORUSCANT
Darrius Voltar smirked victoriously as he looked out at the endless cityscape of Coruscant. No longer was he a worthless and filthy Republic prisoner of war but now a powerful and respected Republic Senator for Kuat. However his true loyalties lay with his powerful master Darth Thyferus.
Darrius had been a lowly prisoner for several weeks before starting his supposed "transformation" of loyalties. Then over the next few months he acted as if he resented the Empire and praised the Republic. Then six months ago he gained freedom and the people of his Homeworld Kuat voted him as their new Senator.
At several times one of those bothersome Jedi almost discovered him and rooted him out as a spy. Luckily Darrius had an uncanny ability for flattery and used this to his advantage to gain the trust of the majority of the Senate and the Chancellor. Thus the old fools had to give up their investigations.
'Now is the time to contact my master and discover my orders.' Darrius thought as he walked over to his desk and pressed the offices lockdown button. This shut off the surveillance cameras, locked the office doors, and shaded the rear windows. Now no one could observe Darrius contacting his master.
Next he walked over to his Holocommunicator and keyed in the frequency allowing him to secretly contact a receiver in Imperial Space. Finally an image of Darth Thyferus appeared on the viewer. Darrius kneeled before his master. "My Lord I have become deeply entrenched within the Republic Government as a Senator. I have established close connections with the Chancellor and the majority of the Senate. The Jedi have been banned from conducting investigations into my past and personal life. What are my next orders?" Darrius kept his head bowed to show respect to the powerful Sith Lord. He heard Thyferus murmur in approval.
"Well done my loyal spy. Rise." Darrius stood up and looked up at the image of his master. "You have done well implanting yourself within the Republic. Now your next assignment is to eliminate any particularly frustrated Senators. Leave some sign that will incriminate the SIS in the deaths. By making it appear that the Republic is silencing rebellious Senators it will cause the replacements to consider joining the Empire." Darrius nodded seeing the logic in it clear as day. If the Senators thought the Republic would silence them for being rebellious then they would see the Empire as a sanctuary.
"A brilliant plan my Lord. As all yours are. Once I eliminate these Senators and cast the shadow of doubt on the Senate what are my next orders?" Darrius asked seriously as he saved all his orders in mental files. Thyferus cleared his throat before delivering his orders.
"Once the Senators are eliminated you will begin to convert the Senate over to our side. But ensure that you do not convert the whole Senate so that the political conflict continues and the Republic is too torn to focus on us." Thyferus said as Darrius nodded understandingly once more and then returned to paying attention. "After that await for me to contact you again. In order for you to accomplish your tasks I secretly had two dozen Assassin Droids delivered to a Coruscant Docking Bay B-12 for your use. Thyferus out." The image blinked out leaving Darrius alone in the dark room that was isolated from the rest of the world. He just stood there thinking for a minute when he was broken out of his thoughts by a knocking on his office door.
Darrius quickly deactivated the Lockdown and downloaded a video file to the cameras to cover up their lack of surveillance time. Then he sat down at his desk chair and pulled out a data pad and pretended to be working on something. "Come in." Darrius said and the door slid open to reveal three individuals entering the room. All Senators and only two Republic loyal.
The first of the three was the Mon Calamari Senator Obusk. He had huge blue and black eyes and wrinkled orange skin. He wore long white robes with red stripes and held a data pad in his webbed hands. Darrius despised him and was shocked that an alien could become a Senator and only saw the sense in it by the fact that there were no human occupants on the Senators planet.
The next was the Fondoran Senator Desik. He had slit like emerald green eyes and neatly trimmed wood brown hair. He had long red robes with gold stripes and also had a data pad. Darrius couldn't believe that the planet which had some of the best shipyards in the galaxy chose this idiot to represent them.
Last but certainly not least was the Tarisian Senator Moss. He had dark brown eyes that constantly scanned his surroundings and messy coal black hair. He wore long black robes with grey stripes but held no data pad. However like Darrius, Moss was an Imperial spy implanted in the Republic by Darth Thyferus.
Darrius looked up at the three and shared a split-second look with Moss before forcing a smile and turning his attention to the other two. "Good afternoon gentlemen. What can I do for you?" Darrius asked the men but mostly directing the question to the two Republic dogs. He knew Moss had also received orders from Darth Thyferus and they both found it easier to coordinate their actions then act on their own.
Obusk stepped forward and put the data pad on the desk before preparing to tell Darrius his reason for coming. However before he could open his mouth Darrius interrupted him. "Excuse me Senators but I would like to speak to Senator Moss in private for a few moments. If you could just step outside for a short time." Obusk and Desik nodded and then walked out of the office leaving Darrius and Moss alone to talk. Moss silently followed the Senators to the door and locked it behind them.
Moss walked back over to Darrius and sat down in one of the chairs. Darrius deactivated the cameras and ensured that no one could hear what was being said. Soon they found it to be clear. "Alright all clear. Those idiots wont be able to hear anything." Darrius said and Moss chuckled lightly as he took out a data pad with his orders on it. He slid it over to Darrius who slid over one containing his orders.
Moss scrolled through Darrius's orders and nodded at them when he looked through them. He slid the data pad back over as Darrius slid his back over. "You've been ordered to eliminate rebellious Senators and frame the SIS for it. A clever plan. And an effective one." Moss said as he took his data pad back from Darrius and handed the spy his. They nodded to each other.
"And you've been ordered to divert Republic funds from the military to seemingly useful but actually useless methods. Effective." Darrius said as the two spies coordinated their future acts of terror.
MEANWHILE IN THE HIGH COUNCIL CHAMBER AT THE JEDI TEMPLE ON CORUSCANT
(AN: I have created a lot of new members for the High Council since a lot of it was destroyed at Tython.)
"The Dark Council's offer for peace is strange indeed." Master Muvar said thoughtfully. The Zabrak Battle Master was recently plucked from the Outer Rim Campaigns to discuss the Dark Council's recent peace offering. "They have offered peace once before and they deceived us." The wise Jedi Master said.
"Indeed." Master Ardesk said cautiously as his Holo-image flickered. The Bothan Consular was currently entrenched in a civil war on Bothawii. "We do not want another Treaty of Coruscant to occur. The Republic cannot survive the loss of anymore territories." Ardesk said as he thought deeply about it.
"However perhaps this time the peace is genuine." Master Zez-Bak said as he stroked his chin with one of his four hands. The Besalisk Battle Master was well known for his four Lightsaber combat. "The Sith Empire is on the losing end of the war at the moment so a peace would greatly benefit them." The wise man said to murmurs of agreement. This topic was a greatly debated one.
"Rightly so." Master Darfak said in deep thought. The Corellian Consular was one of the Council's wisest. "It would also benefit us. It would give us time to regroup and repair." The topic only became more greatly debated.
Satele Shan raised her hand for silence and it quickly followed her gesture. She looked around at her fellow Council Members. "My friends we cannot afford to miss an opportunity like this. Our numbers are far fewer than those of the Sith and this war is bankrupting the Republic." She took a deep breath as she brought up some images on the Holoviewer. They were of the horrors of the war.
The first was an image of a Corellian City being bombed into submission by a Sith Fleet. Seconds later it showed a small Republic Fleet arriving to help only to fall. "Many innocents have died in this war and the Republic has too little money to send aid to all who need it." Satele said before shifting to the next image of the war.
This one was of a Squad of Republic Special Forces Troopers taking cover behind a crashed Gunship. Dozens of their fallen comrades lay around them and a Sith Army was gunning them down. "Millions of brave and loyal Republic Soldiers have fallen to Sith brutality and they are falling too fast for the Republic to recruit more and train more." Satele said to her fellows before once again changing the image.
This one showed a group of Jedi Knights being ruthlessly slaughtered by a group of Sith Warriors. They were cut down brutally and without mercy. "Many brave and noble Jedi have fallen in this conflict and our numbers are coming to the point of being too few to continue." Satele said before turning the Holoviewer off and turning her attention back to the rest of the Council. They all had gone silent. Deadly silent.
Finally Master Nomen Karr cleared his throat to speak and break the silence. "I call for a vote. All in favor of consenting to the Dark Council's peace talks say "ay"." Master Karr said and awaited several minutes for the answers. It was silence until the answers were given.
"Ay." Said Master Muvar as he still recovered from the horrifying memories the war images had awoken. They had all witnessed terrors in this war that they wouldn't wish upon their worst enemy.
"Ay." Master Ardesk said as his image flickered and in the background explosions and shouts could be heard. Ardesk possibly had the most painful assignment of them all at the moment since he had to put down a Civil War on his home.
"Ay." Whispered Master Zez-Bak who had remembered how his Homeworld was bombed by the Sith. He was the first to recall a memory from the images.
Soon the rest of the Council delivered their answers and the "Ay"'s had it. Satele nodded her head at the Council's decision and then keyed in the frequency for the Supreme Chancellors office. Soon an image of Supreme Chancellor Arnook at his desk appeared in front of the Council. Arnook was a Twilek male with orange skin and black circles around his lekku's.
Arnook looked at the Council through the image and smiled warmly at them all. Arnook had greatly respected the Jedi during his time in office. "Ah Master Jedi. Have you decided whether or not we should consent to peace talks with the Empire? As you know I highly respect and welcome your opinion in matters concerning the safety of the Republic." Said Arnook warmly making Satele smile as she cleared her throat to give him their answer.
"Yes Chancellor. We believe the Republic should consent to peace talks with the Empire. However I believe there is one condition we should make them follow this time." Satele said and she knew her idea would be shared by the whole Council. It was one which would ensure that another Treaty of Coruscant did not occur.
Arnook folded his hands together and looked at the Council curiously wondering what this condition might be. "Well what might this condition be?" Asked Arnook as unknowingly someone else listened in on his conversation from within the Senate Tower itself.
"The condition would be the peace talks must be held on Coruscant. The Empire would never attack our Capital if the leaders of their Government were on planet. This will prevent another Sacking of Coruscant." Satele said and the Council murmured in agreement as they all recalled the terrible events which occurred the day that the Sith Empire attacked Coruscant.
Arnook considered it for a minute but finally he nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed I shall inform the Imperial Delegation of our condition. Arnook out." The image of the Supreme Chancellor blinked out as the meeting was brought to an end. The Council began to file out of the Chamber.
When Satele was in the hallway she began to ponder why the Dark Council chose now for the peace talks. Surely they knew that the Republic was wary of any proposals they made since the Sacking of Coruscant.
'I sense dark times ahead of us.' Satele thought cautiously as she strode down the hallways in the direction of the Landing Platform.
I hope you all liked it and Please Review.