Continuation of the Star Wars one:
"Soldiers, sailors, stormtroopers, pilots, fellow defenders of the Empire, some of you may know me. I am Commissar Ciaphas Cain. On my oath, on my honor and on the proof included in this transmission, I regret that I must inform you that Wilhuff Tarkin and Sheev Palpatine have committed treason against the Empire. They ordered the construction of the planet-destroying super-weapon known as the Death Star and then ordered it to be fired on the Imperial world of Alderaan as a demonstration of its power."
"In so doing, they revealed themselves as madmen planning treason and murder on a truly grand scale and placed my loyalty and the loyalty of every servant of the Empire in direct conflict with the loyalty owed to the Emperor. Such a conflict can have only one outcome for any honorable warrior, personal loyalty must give way to the broader duty to the Empire and its people."
"For his crimes, I have executed Tarkin and seized control of the Death Star. I and my fellow Imperial Loyalists have secured the Perlia system as a rendevouz point. I call upon all true servants of the Empire to join me in the Perlia system, so we may prepare to move on Coruscant and arrest Palpatine for his crimes."
"To those who feel torn between their oaths to the Empire and their personal loyalty to Palpatine, you are free to stand aside and you will not be harmed, either before, or after his execution."
"To any who allow their personal loyalty to Palpatine to outweigh their loyalty to the Empire and stand against us, I can understand that, but must remind you that any conflict between us will necessarily be a civil war and I expect all parties to behave honorably. The murder of Imperial civilians carries the death penalty, as Tarkin has learned. If you must fight against us out of loyalty to Palpatine, do so with honor, for I will be watching."
"But why should you feel loyalty to Palpatine. He is not the man, or the Emperor he once was. The man who brought an end to the Clone Wars has long since vanished under blackened robes, twisted flesh and ugly lies. You need only ask yourself one question to see the truth of the man he has become. Who is his successor? Who is to inherit the Empire he proclaimed some two decades ago? He is an old man, but he has never named an heir. Why? That question did not seem urgent so long as the Senate existed, because power would return to it upon his death, but now he has dissolved the senate and still refused to name an heir! So why?"
"Because he does not care what happens to the Empire after his death. If it ends up in the hands of a Tarkin, or a Vader, or whomever happens to end up in control of the 'Death Star' then what does he care? He'll be dead. That is a man unworthy of your loyalty, unworthy of his title and unworthy of the Empire!"
"And, to Palpatine himself, I say, as no one except Tarkin has yet died to this madness and in recognition of your past service, I will give you one opportunity to peacefully surrender, in which case you will be allowed to live out your life under house arrest. If you choose not to avail yourself of this chance, then I will deliver to you the same punishment I brought to Tarkin. There can be only one penalty for traitors."
"But, let my closing words be ones of hope. To the people of Coruscant, you need not fear, under no circumstances will I fire the Death Star on Coruscant and destroy it. That would be immoral, illegal and dishonorable. To the people of the Empire, a cleansing fire comes. There will be pain, but we will emerge stronger for it. And to my brothers and sisters in arms, it is time to choose a side. I hope you choose wisely."
As far as speeches I wrote in the scattered moments I could steal in between endless politicking, strategizing and a truly embarrassing number of duels (my fellow commissars seemed particularly invested in those for some reason), I didn't think it was too bad. Plenty of subtle and unsubtle messaging. I'm sure the propagandists at COMPNOR could have done better, but I didn't have access to any of them and couldn't have used them even if I did. My reputation for plain speaking and directness meant I had to handle it myself.
Wouldn't do for them to see me vacillating back and forth between 'hope' and 'pray' as I tried to decide who to appeal to. Still, it was finally done and sent out on the broadband to every Imperial ship, base and station we could reach, which, given the arrays on the Death Star (a name I still had trouble taking seriously and was trying to convince people to abandon it, seriously, for a group with a remarkably competent propaganda arm, the Empire was total shit at naming things. What next, a Sun Razer to go with the Star Destroyers which were undoubtedly flying towards us already?) was basically everywhere. Including the recordings of the execution and my interview with the Emperor would help convince some people of the truth of my words and my overblown reputation should help others, and the fact that we now had the Death Star in our possession (even if the 597th was still playing 'find the sailor' with some Palpatine loyalists in the depths of the thing) would help with the more...weak willed.
Still, we would see how many showed up, before we had to move out. And we'd see whether the Rebels would show actually show up. I sort of hoped they wouldn't. This was already going to be hard enough, trying to merge Imperial loyalists with Rebels would be really, really hard.
"Is this a trap of some sort?" Ackbar asked the assembled leadership of the Rebel Alliance (or, more formally, the Alliance to Restore the Republic), along with the newly added General Kenobi, arrived from Alderaan with her father, though he seemed to be content to leave her to speak for their people today.
Leia, who, given she was at least a decade younger than the next youngest person in the room, usually didn't push too hard in these meetings spoke up. "It's possible, but unless Tarkin was committing suicide it would have to be...elaborate."
General Asmar didn't shift out of his rigid stance, but he shook his head, the small jewels sewn into his headscarf flashing. "Not if it was truly Cain. I fought beside him in the old days. That isn't how he operates."
The crusty veteran's words carried surprising weight, if only because he didn't speak that much to the rest of them on anything except operational matters.
"Besides, you swept everything for trackers and ditched their shuttle before returning here, right?" Leia nodded. "Hard to see what they gained by letting you go," General Dodonna argued.
"There's a squad of stormtroopers in our secret base," Ackbar countered.
"From the 597th. They gave their word they would not reveal our presence, or fight, except in self-defense," Asmar put in.
"The Legion's number matters?" Mon Mothma asked, playing up her role as civilian to try to bring this discussion to an end.
"The 597th is an elite formation, recruited by Cain from the ice moon of Valhalla when the initial Se-" he cut off the slur and replaced it as more than one officer in the room had fought on the 'wrong side' of the Clone Wars, "CIS invasion overran the planetary surface. They were with him throughout the entire campaign and were one of the very few local units which was inducted into the Imperial military as a unit. Usually it was new recruits and veteran units were broken up," Asmar explained. Indeed, Leia happened to know that it was the attempt by the Imperial military to do exactly that to his own regiment (along with attempting to impose uniform standards which clashed with local custom) which had resulted in his resignation (with his troops following him in droves) and eventual recruitment into the Rebellion.
"Makes it harder for people to do, well, exactly what Cain seems to have done," Dodonna pointed out. "Having the same homeworld and shared loyalty to something outside the Empire makes it possible to act as a unit. Most legions would collapse into civil strife if they tried this."
General Draven, who'd been talking to a messenger walked back to the group and the holo-projector they were gathered around. "It's not a trap. Or if it is, it's not just for us." He flicked something on the screen and Cain appeared on the projector in the center of the room and began to speak. When it was done there was a moment of contemplative silence, then Draven flicked up the latest intelligence reports which showed Imperial warships moving seemingly at random.
Asmar's eyes flicked to certain markings, all Leia could decode was that one of the fleets in the Outer Rim had disappeared. "Moff Zyvan has served with Cain for decades. If he supports Cain, half the Outer Rim fleets move with him. That will open up many opportunities for us. Zyvan's the only thing keeping those fleets together and able to oppose us."
"Do you think he will?" Draven asked.
"Zyvan's an honorable man," Asmar carefully didn't look at their chief of intelligence who had made six attempts on the Moff's life. "Takes his duty seriously and was loath to sacrifice his troops, but preferred ground assault to planetary bombardment...I think the Death Star would be a step too far for him. It's an inherently indiscriminate weapon."
"The 9th Fleet left behind its frigates. There's no reason to do that if they're attacking Cain, they'd want them for anti-fighter work. Only makes sense if they're trying to maintain their anti-piracy work, while relying on the Death Star's thousands of TIE fighters to provide anti-fighter work," Ackbar noted, tapping another marker.
"And the forces around Coruscant have already doubled." Dodanna added.
"The reference to the Senate is interesting. You said he took the position that it hadn't actually been abolished?" Mon Mothma asked.
"Yes?" Leia's voice rose at the end, turning it into a question. Mon Mothma surely hadn't forgotten that, she was fishing for something.
"His speech makes an obvious point, unless we can identify a weakness in that battle station from the plans recovered at such cost, whoever controls it, controls the galaxy. Is this all prelude to making himself the next Emperor?" she asked the group at large.
Asmar shook his head instantly and the other veterans, except the intelligence expert Draven did as well. "Cain's got no interest in civilian leadership. They offered to make him governor of the Perlia system after the war. King, even. He was totally uninterested."
Mon Mothma nodded, apparently willing to take them at their word, though Leia was sure the cunning politician wasn't taking anything on faith. "Any word on how the Emperor's taking all this?" she asked.
"No official response, though the ISB is trying to squash the transmission and running around threatening people."
"The Emperor is the most powerful Sith Lord in history, he will not simply sit on the sidelines while his empire is torn apart around him," Obi-Wan stated, with the calm certainty of a Jedi Master.
"We shall see," Mon Mothma responded. And on that unassailably true note, the meeting ended.
"Do you understand your mission, Hand of the Emperor?" Vader asked, towering above her kneeling body, the dark force of his presence and will almost as oppressive as his physical form.
"Yes, My Lord," the woman knelt, dark robes circling her body, obscuring her beauty and her lightsaber both.
"Good. Perhaps when this rebellion is over, I will assuage the public by naming an heir. Who better than the one who brings it to an end?" the Emperor asked.
Vader's hatred leaked into the air like poison gas, but Amberley Vail, most accomplished of the Hands of the Emperor, ignored that and the temptation of future power that the Emperor offered, rising gracefully to her feet. "I live to serve," she said as she withdrew from the presence of the Sith Lord and his apprentice before she could be used any further in their internecine conflicts.
This was going to be difficult, in many senses of the word. It always was when she had to work with, or against, Ciaphas.