Chapter 4 - Politics by Other Means
Vader tightened his grip on the lightsaber's hilt. Igniting the red blade, he moved away from the window and around his desk. "Arm yourself," he ordered Tarkin and a compartment on the side of the desk opened at a wave of his hand. A BlasTech DC-15 carbine popped out and the Moff quickly drew it free and cautiously looked around.
"Where is this threat coming from, Lord Vader?"
"Straight through the window." Turning aside, he activated his comms. "This is Vader. Hostiles inbound from the main traffic lanes."
Tarkin and Emperor Vader watched as an air speeder angled away from traffic and towards the former Jedi temple. Defensive batteries hadn't been fully installed, but some were on line and as they turned to take aim, a voice came over the comm system. "We see them, Sir! Permission to open fire?"
"Granted, Commander."
Bolts of blue laser cannon fire ripped through the car and it immediately dropped out of the sky, slamming into the ground and skidding to a stop in front of the guns that brought it down. As Guards approached, it burst apart, an EMP within detonating. Once the guns were down, two more cars and an air bus gunned their engines and cut through the airspace above the temple, screaming towards Vader's office. Troopers and Imperial Guards on the ground opened fire on the vehicles, for all the good it did.
"Prepare yourself," the Sith said as he stalked around his desk and then turned to face the window. With a Force-powered shove he sent the desk straight through the glass and into one of the cars which spun out of control, slamming into the wall of the temple in a fiery explosion. The other two vehicles hit the window, cracking the old stonework and rending steel in the process. The speeder turned sideways as it skidded in, stopped only by Vader's command of the Force. Before its momentum was fully arrested the doors on the far side opened. Armed and armored fighters, organic and combat droids alike, burst out with guns blazing. From the air bus, now hanging half in, half out of the office, even more assailants spilled forth.
With his saber in one hand, Vader reflected the blaster fire while his other hand Force-pulled metal plating off the floor, bending and twisting it in front of Tarkin to become an instant barricade. Several shots pinged against it before the Moff peeked out to return fire, felling one of the assailants. Vader dealt with two more by turning their own shots back into them.
From behind, four Stormtroopers and a pair of Imperial Guards burst into the room and opened fire on the enemy. One trooper fell to the attackers, but the assailants were forced, under volume of fire, to dive behind what cover their vehicles provided. "Lord Vader, Moff," the lead Guard said as he took position behind more flooring that Vader turned into ad hoc cover. One trooper dragged his comrade into safety while the others forced the enemy to keep their heads down.
"Status." Vader demanded as he stepped behind the twisted metal.
"Two casualties, Lord Vader," the Guard said, then glanced to the fallen Stormtrooper. The other Imperial Guard looked up and shook his head. "Three now, Sire."
"We will repay the debt one thousand fold," the Sith replied and extended a hand. Three squirming enemies floated up from behind the air speeder. "Open fire." They were torn apart by blasters before Vader released them.
"You monster!" a cry came from within the air bus and shots erupted out the front window, peppering the barricades Vader constructed for his allies.
"What other actions have these terrorists begun?" Vader asked. "Attacks on the Senate?"
"None yet, Sir," the Commander answered.
Tarkin leaned out to fire and then asked, "Can anyone hit them from the outside?"
"Snipers are heading up to the skyscrapers opposite the palace, Moff Tarkin."
"It's Grand Moff, now," Vader corrected. "Consider it a battlefield promotion," he said to Tarkin, then stepped out of cover and threw his lightsaber in a spinning arc. It ripped through the front of the air bus, felling the two hiding under the windshield and continued on, cutting the speeder in half and finishing off several more enemies using it for cover as well. As it returned to his hand, he bounced another few bolts back, barely even bothering to look. Instead, his focus was on the interior of the bus.
"They're paying a lot of money for you, Vader." A Durosian dived out with a blaster pistol in each hand. He managed to take out all three Stormtroopers as he sailed through the air, then hit the ground and rolled behind the speeder. Wary of Vader's abilities, he sent a few blind shots towards Tarkin without leaning out of cover.
Vader strode forward, heedless of danger. One man, shouting, "For freedom!" leapt out of cover with a heavy blaster. The only remaining droid tossed a thermal detonator while a human flung herself out of the bus, vibroblade raised. Vader's saber flashed, severing her arms. Before she could scream, she felt her throat tighten. The Sith lord didn't bother to watch. He stretched out his left hand and took heavy blaster fire directly in the palm. Simultaneously, chunks of broken stonework and debris flew past Vader and slammed into the man. Sent flailing over the broken edge of the window, he had just enough time to see the detonator that was falling with him. Before the droid could bring up a gun, Vader cut the synthetic apart. As everyone felt the distant thump of the explosion, the woman choked out her last breath.
The Durosian, still trading shots with Tarkin and the troopers, heard Vader say, "Hold your fire." Like that, the battle stopped.
The cyborg emperor looked down at a familiar face and said, "Cad Bane."
###
"-attack on the Imperial Palace is still developing. Three speeders and an air bus attacked the Imperial Palace just minutes ago. Seen now, the bus and one speeder succeeded in hitting Emperor Vader's office and combat can be heard from inside."
Bail Organa stood frozen to the spot. He received messages from a dozen of his fellow senators about an attack on the Jedi Temple. It was hard to think of it as being Vader's palace, nonetheless, he'd turned on the news report. The first thing he saw was the back of a smoking air bus sticking out of the council room window.
"-unknown at this time who, if any, are taking credit for this assault on the Galactic Empire. One moment… we've received word that Vader was in a meeting with Moff Tarkin, commander of imperial military forces, when the first vehicle hit the palace. Stormtroopers are already moving into position inside and out of the temple, but so far no word on Lord Vader or the Moff."
There were enough factions within the Imperial Senate that it was impossible to pick a single one which might do something so reckless. True, Bail agreed that taking down Vader was borderline essential if they wanted a chance to resurrect the Republic, but this was lunacy. The report droned on in the background, finding dozens of ways to reiterate the lack of information on conditions inside. For the moment, Organa's primary concern was Tarkin. Although they hardly saw eye to eye, the Moff was their best inside source on Vader. As senators, the others were hardly in a position to accurately judge Vader's attitudes, opinions, and likely reactions. They needed a soldier who would have a chance at thinking like the Sith warrior. Thoughts racing through his head, Bail passed messages through his assistants to the others in his faction such as Mon Mothma, trying to get a handle on what everyone knew. So far, less than nothing.
Only half paying attention to the holovid, Bail's head snapped back to it when both the bus and speeder exploded outward in a shower of scrap metal. A single figure flew out with the debris. Whoever it was, they wore a duster coat with a wide brimmed hat and fired into the office with a blaster in each hand. A pair of hover boots kept the attacker aloft as the ruined vehicles plummeted down onto the walkway in front of the Jedi Temple.
From the lanes of traffic, another speeder swung out and the blue skinned figure dropped into the open top before it dashed off into the tangle of Coruscant's innumerable skyscrapers and walkways.
Emperor Vader himself stepped into view, tattered cape billowing in the wind, red lightsaber glowing in his right hand. The black gauntlet was gone from his left, burned away in combat. The metal prosthetic curled into a fist.
"Breaking! Lord Vader has appeared from within the wreckage of his office. Details to come as we-"
Still standing, mouth agape, Bail suddenly received communications that Vader and Tarkin would explain what happened at an emergency meeting of the Galactic Senate.
###
Politicians, diplomats, and bureaucrats gathered in the Senate to hear Emperor Vader report on the attack that was mere hours old. When the earliest arrived, they overheard the Sith Lord's conversation with one of the palace Stormtroopers.
For the first time since he appeared on Coruscant, they saw Vader's temper flare. A high ranking Stormtrooper was all but cowering before the Emperor.
"Commander, tear the underworld apart and find those responsible for killing my men! I want those traitors alive!"
Bail Organa and Mon Mothma shivered. The entire, massive room felt colder than usual and neither could help but wonder if it was a result of the Sith Lord's Force powers or their own fear at seeing his wrath. When the last of the politicians arrived, Vader's repulsor pod floated into the center of the chamber and he spoke.
"You all saw the news," he said, his tone calmer. "Rebels and traitors attacked the seat of our Galactic Empire. Worse, they hired a bounty hunter who once worked for the Separatists."
That sent a ripple through the Senators. The war certainly wasn't so far gone that they'd forgotten it.
"Yes," Vader continued. "Cad Bane is now taking his pay from these traitors. The very same who killed Palpatine, no doubt. We must be wary of any Jedi working behind the scenes."
Bail held doubts that Order 66 survivors would even have the resources to stage an attack, but at the back of his mind, he knew full well that more than a few might want to take a shot at Vader for what he and his master had done to the Old Republic. And Bail couldn't say he entirely disagreed. All those years of dead end politics led to this. Maybe taking direct action against the Sith would make him a hypocrite, but he thought it might be worth it to restore democracy to the galaxy. He sighed and shook the thoughts away. They'd already discussed things in private. It wasn't an option. Not yet.
"Lastly," Vader said as his speech concluded, "the assassin scum took the lives of Stormtroopers and even members of the Imperial Guard." According to Vader and Tarkin, the first group of reinforcements fell to enemy fire. Only after the Sith expelled Cad Bane did a second compliment of Troopers arrive to secure the scene.
The rest of the meeting was a bit of question and answer along with reviewing the security footage from inside Vader's office. More than a few Senators and dignitaries present gasped when seeing Vader's skill and use of the Force. For those who'd never seen a Jedi in action it was sobering. Watching the death of Mas Amedda on that first day was one thing, but to see Vader in actual combat, ripping apart the floor and cutting down the assassins, was something else entirely. Those such as Bail, who'd seen what Jedi could do, were shocked in a different way. They'd seen the graceful, flowing combat of Light Side users. Vader was an unstoppable maelstrom of power and violence. The holovid cut out when a stray bolt from Cad hit the camera. The last image was Vader cutting a droid to pieces. From there, it switched to an outside view and showed the bounty hunter's subsequent escape.
The other subject was Tarkin's new title: Grand Moff. Vader chose not to address the promotion he'd given the Moff in the heat of battle, but did state he would make a later announcement.
When everything was done, Bail and those in his faction gathered once more in the old part of the Senate. Surprisingly, the meeting was called together by the new Grand Moff, himself.
"You have something for us?" Mon Mothma asked the military man when the dozen or so where finally sitting down. He stood at the head of the table, leaning over a few data pads. For a long moment he said nothing, merely looking at the screens.
"What are your thoughts after everything you saw and heard?" he finally said.
The group traded looks, unsure what Tarkin might be leading them towards.
"It wasn't a trick question," he said a moment later.
"Well, I don't think any of us believe the Jedi to be responsible," Mon Mothma said to a chorus of agreement.
"That's it exactly," Tarkin agreed. "No one actually thinks Lord Vader is telling the truth about the Jedi. Understandable considering his own Sith order has a long standing feud with them. No doubt you all think he's trying to further tar the Jedi and therefore the Republic."
"The way you phrased that…" Bail said. "You have doubts?"
"After the attack, Vader opened a panel on the wall and looked over several small objects, a collection of cubes and tetrahedrons. I think they were those Jedi puzzle boxes."
"Holocron," Mon Mothma supplied. "The Jedi store information on them because only a Force user can open one." Her expression clouded and her eyebrows knit. "He took over the Jedi Temple, but perhaps it was more than a symbol. Maybe he was after the Holocron?"
"As good a guess as any," Tarkin agreed. "Would Jedi be willing to attack if it meant retrieving these objects?"
"They could hold anything," Bail said. "Jedi secret arts, maps, and who knows what else. I can see why Vader would want them."
The gathered politicians considered things in light of these new facts. If there were Jedi out there, fighting against the Empire, they needed to find a way to get in touch with them. It was anyone's guess how receptive the survivors of the Jedi Purge would be to parlay, though. Even if those Senators gathered were dedicated to the Old Republic, that would be hard to prove now that they found themselves working under Vader.
"I will leave you to discuss these matters privately," Tarkin said as he picked up the data pads.
"Why?" one of the younger Senators asked.
"I meet with Lord Vader rather frequently. I don't fully understand what he can see through the Force, so best not take undue risks, hmm?"
After Tarkin left, Bail and Mon Mothma shared a look before activating a short range, low power EMP. It would fry any electronic monitoring in the room, but wouldn't be detectable from more than a few yards away. Tarkin had been helpful, but they couldn't trust him just yet.
"I'm not happy about it," Bail Organa began. "But if there are Jedi out there we need to get in touch with them. They might be our best shot at fighting Vader if it comes to it."
"We agreed not to clash with the Emperor directly," Mothma said to Bail.
"For now. However, that was when anyone who could oppose him was dead. Vader might be able to fight clone troopers, corrupt politicians, and criminals, but what if we could get a few Jedi Knights?"
"Even if we wanted to," the younger Senator said, "How would we find them?"
"I don't like it, "Bail Organa said as he stood up, "But I think the news broadcast has our answer." He pulled up the holovid and froze it right as Cad Bane flew out of the Jedi Council room along with the bus and car that Vader Force pushed out the side of the building. The distaste of those Senators who remembered the Hostage Crisis was palpable, but the infamous gun for hire was all they had.