Private Good Cooks

[Kel Se'Taav]

Location: Senate Offices, Coruscant | Soundtrack: The Presidium

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Kel clapped his paws together triumphantly at Sonya Provost ‘s remark, a booming ‘Ahah!’ sounding from his lungs.

“Irys ta!” he said with gusto, clearly pleased with her energy. It had been far too long since the Senate was interesting, let alone exciting.

The Bothan turned his attention to Auteme , waiting expectantly as she handled the datapad. If Alicio Organa had sources as deep as his, even a single file on that device could spell the downfall of the Corporate Authority - and with it, the Corporatist chokehold on the Senate. It was a mission he set forth to accomplish long ago, and now that he stood on the precipice with these fellow senators, he could almost taste their victory.

It was long overdue, and with each revelation at the table, it became that much more tangible.

“What do you say?” Kel asked eagerly.

“Shall we peel back the wallpaper, expose these roaches like the parasites they are?”

A bit vulgar, perhaps, but never was there a more fitting analogy.

[“Irys ta” = “You are clever / quick-witted”]

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Tags: Auteme ; Alicio Organa ; Sonya Provost ​

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[Auteme]

Alicio Organa Kel Se'Taav Sonya Provost
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Auteme took the datapad, and silently skimmed through it for a minute or two before handing it to the other Senators. Once they were finished with it, she directed it over to Perav, who hooked it up to her own device.

"I managed to establish an investigation when I was a Senator -- which, of course, has been frustrated legally for years and was, for a long time, obstructed by Tithe's administration. But it's good to see someone was able to make progress." She regarded Alicio for a moment. He didn't seem the type to have too many deep connections on a place like Denon; if she had to guess, this was a Jedi friend. But maybe that was her own bias -- her mind wandered to Dagon, and found herself sending a silent prayer for him.

She listened to the thoughts of the others, then nodded. "I think we are in agreement.

"I think we do the, ah, legal thing- hand this off to said investigation. I can move some things around; I've just appointed a new Prosecutor, and I trust him to handle this sort of thing with care. Then... one of our eminent investigative journalists, perhaps the esteemed Halifax Hewett, happens to dig up some of these records. And, of course, being the trustworthy journalist he is, he would release them to the public, which would, rightly, be outraged at these many injustices and crimes. The people of Denon especially cry out for justice.

"We move first to properly empower our Prosecutor. He finds more and more evidence of the CAD's crimes. As such, we must place greater restrictions on corporations -- disarm them, take away their most direct coercive power, and through our continued rhetoric convince the public that they are not to be trusted. We ask the CAD to step aside such that they can be properly investigated, and that the violence on Denon can end. Regardless of their reply, though I imagine they will decline, we have reason to intervene.

"As..." She stopped herself. Even here, she didn't want to give everything away; the Senate's internal order demanded at least the appearance of cohesiveness between the Chancellor and the Alliance's intelligence agency. "I'll speak to Director M about... deploying Alliance assets to minimize dangers to the people of Denon and the Alliance as a whole. And, of course, because of the resistance that the CAD will surely present, the SIA must necessarily recommend transparency of corporate operations and particularly the demilitarization of the CAD and corporate security forces in general.

"This is the narrative I foresee. With what you've brought us, Alicio, the CAD aren't really a player here. When we- the media- decide to go public, I'll make my public appearances more frequent, talk more about this, keep control of the frame. I think the biggest thing we need to worry about is how the corporatists within the Senate will react when they realize we are using this to also legislate against them."

 

[Alicio Organa]

The downtick of Alicio's brows showed his mild discomfort at the language of Senators Se'Taav and Provost . He didn't want Denon to burn. He'd talked with Sonya about this exact subject when they had first met, and knew that she also didn't wish to put Denon in danger, but...

Their enthusiasm was disquieting.

Alicio had been fully prepared to come forward with the information himself, to give it the legitimacy it needed to be taken seriously in the senate. It would have been dangerous, maybe career-ending, maybe life-ending. But Auteme's ability to use her influence saved him from that fate, a fact which brought a small, relieved smile to his face.

"I doubt the Corporatist reactions to our push will be anything but adversarial." Alicio frowned. "They'll fight us on principle, unless opposing us is more costly to their companies than cooperating." The Count tilted his head to the side. "We could propose harsher sanctions on corporations found guilty of breaking Alliance law. That would be much more difficult to disagree with publicly, and still leaves the window open to demilitarize at the same time."

- Kel Se'Taav - Sonya Provost - Auteme -

 

[Sonya Provost]

At Se'Taav's clear approval, Sonya let the nascent twitches of a grin curl across her lip. The Montitian senator was by nature cynical of the political landscape, but in this moment, she felt excited. Energized. Dare say… optimistic? Maybe, just maybe, they'd make something out of the senate again after all.

When she noticed Alicio's more subdued reaction, the smile gradually faltered into uncertainty. Sonya wasn't quite sure what to make of the Count's expression, but said nothing, letting herself wind back down to a more professional level.

The Chancellor had her own plans in mind for how to get this information into the public eye. A bit underhanded, but effective. This operation was always going to require a bit of sensitivity to work, "Corpos are greedy, but they aren't stupid. It won't take long to discern our intentions, and when they do, they'll do everything they can to corrupt the narrative regardless of how we approach it. But if you all trust we can keep control, then so do I," This was a much bigger scale than Sonya's previous victory over corporatists, but with their own alliance in the making, she was confident, "We're not fighting alone anymore. A unified front gives us all the more credence."

Auteme | Alicio Organa | Kel Se'Taav​