Protecting with the Protectorate

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Callisto Scarlett"]

Homecoming…that’s what it felt like for Aurelia Saelari. Or, at least, returning to a second home. For a while the Protectorate had been her home, she had been Chief Minister before she had returned to the Republic.

Now she landed at the Lord Protector’s palace and with her bodyguard Callisto she headed inside. They were asked to hand over their weapons, and Aurelia deposited her hold-out blaster in the collection tray without much problem. Once Callisto had done the same they were shown to a meeting room to wait for the Protector. Callisto, being an HRD, was permanently armed anyway, not that they were expecting a fight.

Aurelia took a seat and waited for Ayden Cater to arrive, she could feel Callisto standing behind her, watching her.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

In an extremely unusual departure from his past habits, Ayden was already seated behind his desk when the Senator arrived. He at first did not acknowledge her arrival, so engrossed in several pads worth of information and orders. After finishing up with one, he sighed and set it down to pinch the bridge of his nose. It was then that he realized that he had visitors. Immediately breaking out in a genial smile, Ayden rose and gave Aurelia a proper bow and greeting. "Good afternoon, Senator. I'm glad to see you arrived unharmed. There seems to be no end to the daring of the One Sith these days. I hope the added security did not cause you any discomfort." He gestured to a number of bottles on his desk, ranging from simple water to various teas and spirits. Once they were all seated, Ayden folded his hands in front of him and gave the senator his full attention. "What can I do for you today?" If he had any problems with the bodyguard, he gave no indication of it. In fact, he did not seem to see her at all.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"], [member="Ayden Cater"]


Whether the Lord Protector had a problem with her attendance, or whether he even saw her, was frankly a matter of complete indifference to Callisto. The thoughts of organics did not concern her, unless they were relevant for her mission. In any case she gave the room a quick scan as she stood besides Aurelia, then took a seat alongside her. The roles were very clear and there was no need to break from protocol. Aurelia was here to represent the Republic, she was here to act as a bodyguard should the need arise. One advantange of machines was that in most cases they did not see the need to interrupt others with pointless chatter. As an HRD - one of the most sophisticated models created by Archangel Research and Design - she was lethal even without weapons. As a matter of fact she counted as a living weapon in itself.


There seemed to be no end to the war with the One Sith. The constant failed offensives against them might remind a meta-loving history buff of the Isonzo battles. The latest Republic attempts to liberate Alderaan and Teta had failed, but likewise the Protectorate's invasion of Coruscant had been a complete debacle, ending with Lady Protector Cira presumed dead and the Starfall crashing into the planet. As a dispassionate, cynical machine Callisto had her own thoughts upon why the latter had happened, but that was not relevant at this juncture.


Perhaps a coalition of the willing would come into being and crush the One Sith. Perhaps said coalition would not fall apart once the common enemy had been removed. After all, there had been a time when the Republic and the Protectorate had been on the brink of war. Callisto was, you might have guessed, it, indifferent. Expression and posture were controlled, focused on business.

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Callisto Scarlett"] ([member="Siobhan Kerrigan"])

Aurelia smiled in the way a true politician does, with just her mouth and not her eyes.
“The trip became a lot more pleasant the moment it finished, Protector. Fortunately the omnipresent Sith Dark Lord did not see fit to interrupt my passage.”

She accepted simple water, took a sip and set it down on the table.

“Protector, the reason I have come is two-fold. The first is to offer congratulations from the Senate and People of the Republic on your successful defence of Naboo against the ‘Authority’. I can only hope that this defeat dissuades them from any more foolish invasions.”
“The second reason is to discuss with you terms for a military alliance for the duration of the emergency with the One Sith and Authority. I know we both have our own wars to fight, and that allocating resources away to someone else is dangerous. However, we are largely on our own in this fight. The Silver Jedi and Levantines treacherously refuse to aid us, and with the current Mandalorian strife there is little chance of aid from that quarter. Meanwhile, the Fringe’s anarchic lunacy veers them closer to the One Sith and the Black Sun are ever waiting to take advantage of any lapse.”

“Therefore, I propose that for this war only, we form an alliance. I do not expect you to send your fleet to Anaxes, no more than you would expect us to send ours to Fondor, but there are other means of cooperation. Sharing of intelligence and information not critical to national security helps greatly, joint planning for operations where possible and sale of armaments between both our factions at the least can be of great benefit.”

Aurelia was trying…really trying to be diplomatic and not launch into a tirade about the cowardice of the Silver Jedi or the obstinate stupidity of the Mandalorians.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

He afforded himself a brief look of surprise. "I'm not entirely sure I follow, Senator. At last check, the Protectorate was already sharing its intelligence with the Republic, as well as giving military aid when it can spare it. This has been the way of things for a long time, all the way back to the Protectorate's founding even. Excepting for the madness of Chancellor Ardek at Polis Massa, the Protectorate and Republic have always shared a very close connection to one another. So I'm not sure then what is being changed by your proposition." Despite his questions, Ayden's tone never wavered from polite and professional. It was soon apparent though that a question occurred to him.

"I apologize in advance if this offends you, it is not my intent but... Do you have the authority to speak for the Republic on such matters? I must ask because the last time as Senator attempted to negotiate a deal behind the back of the Senate and Supreme Chancellor, the Senator in question ended up taking his own life on the Senate floor when I brought his treacherous actions to light. I do not mean to insinuate, of course, that you have some nefarious plot in mind for the Republic, but I want to make sure that what we discuss here will not find me in front of an irate and confused Supreme Chancellor."

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
“Nothing is being changed, Protector, but as far as I can see it was never formalised and actually signed that way. We are happy with the co-operation we have with you, but we would like it formally written into a treaty so that there is no misunderstandings.”

As Ayden spoke Aurelia smiled slightly.
“Ah…Brunswick. Rest assured that the Republic’s platform diving champion is not comparable to my mission. I am not asking for anything outrageous, merely to formalise what was already happening.”

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

Ayden nodded and seemed to take a moment to consider something before he reached over and grabbed a pad. Tapping on its screen to bring up something, he briefly looked up at the Senator. "You seem to have no problem freely speaking your mind about any subject. If I might be so bold, I'd like to ask how you viewed the Republic and Protectorate's war efforts to date. A... fresh perspective can be enlightening, and I certainly welcome any observational criticism of my actions."

That much was certainly true. In the wake of the failed attack on Coruscant, some had questioned the Lord Protector's decision to attack. To them, nothing was accomplished in the act. Lives had been lost and nothing gained. Some others understood what the attack was, a symbolic attack that showed the Protectorate's continued willingness to stamp out evil in the galaxy. The old Imperial Palace had been heavily damaged following the Starfall's destruction and crashing. The Protectorate was willing to make the hard choices to help the Republic in its war. He could only hope that more would grow to see it in that light.

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
Aurelia there, was trapped in a terrible dilemma. She had been sent here to make friends and influence people. And yet here she was, being gifted a chance to state her opinion. Though it was perhaps unkind to say that Aurelia was in love with the sound of her own voice, she did have a deep sense of her own importance.

“Protector, the war against the Sith has been a catastrophe. Unmitigated and near total. For a band of cultists to emerge from one of the least productive regions of the galaxy with a fleet of antique ships to then conquer Coruscant and much of the core…it is humiliating. What’s worse, they are led by some ‘Dark Lord’ who may or may not be a Mandalorian, or may or may not be some man hiding behind a curtain. We have been repeatedly defeated on many fronts, barely held off further incursions, and failed twice to retake Alderaan. By any definition this is a disaster of the highest order.”

“Why has this happened? The reasons are many and various. I am not military strategist, but it seems to me the Sith have some magical means of avoiding our armies…reducing them to background noise as it were. With our army taken out of the mix and the Silver Jedi and Levantines cowardly refusing to aid us, we are left at a disadvantage. As for the Protectorate, I am not in your inner councils, so I can only comment slightly. In my view your attacks are too slow and lack too little impact especially against Sith mages. The failure of your campaigns has come down greatly to the inability to defeat or kill high ranking Sith Lords.”

She was still a diplomat here, so any more trenchant criticism would have to remain silent or implied.

“What can we do better? Use our resources to grind the Sith down. There is no reason why either of us should not be able to bring overwhelming military power to bear. Sith Lord or no, a turbolaser bolt is a great leveller. Secondly, we must coordinate with what allies we have to pressure the Sith. Finally, we must prevent the Sith drawing in others on their side into the war. Your efforts in defending Naboo have been most helpful here.”

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

Ayden passed on hand over his mouth, brushing the tip of his nose with one knuckle while consumed in though. It was a question he had asked himself before. What could they do better? They were already doing everything they could. Their production facilities were all running around the clock. Trainees were pushed through rigorous boot camps as quickly as they could be without compromising their combat effectiveness. Vehicles were rolling off assembly lines in record numbers, and the shipyards were producing battleships as quickly as their keels could be laid. Yet it didn't seem to be enough. So what then?

He froze suddenly, his entire body stiffening. Could they? It was a near impossible task. People would try to argue against it, say it couldn't be done. But why not? They were more alike than not. So why not... "Senator?" Ayden looked over at Aurelia with a level gaze. "We don't have quite the same governing body that the Republic does, so I could be misinformed on certain things, but you have the power to propose a bill to the Senate, correct?" It was clear that he had a larger question held back, one that set a fire behind his eyes. If that were the case, if she could put that bill forward and it passed... The Sith would surely be destroyed.

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

“I am aware our systems are different. I was Chief Minister of the Protectorate, remember,” she said haughtily.

Still, she listened to his surely rhetorical question. “I do have the power to do that. However, whether I will or not depends on the content of the proposal and whether I feel it has any chance of passing. I will not put a measure before the Senate unless there is a good chance of it passing. I do not wish to look a total fool.”

She waited for Ayden to explain his proposal.

 

[Ayden Cater]

"Of course. Of course." Ayden said amicably before continuing. "What I propose, Senator, is a bill that will forge a more effective alliance. We have both of us, the Protectorate and Republic, taken to fighting the Sith. Thus far we have come up short in making any meaningful headway against them. It's not enough that we throw our might at the Sith like this. We cannot hope to defeat the Sith if we continue our current approach of 'Fight your way and we'll fight our way'. So rather than fight the Sith as two separate entities, I propose we combine our forces. Merge our states, as it were, in a Galactic Alliance.

In centuries past, the Republic controlled near the entirety of the known galaxy. Their successors continued this feat. Since the Four Hundred Years of Darkness, no single galactic power has held more than a quarter of the galactic under its rule. By bringing our two states together, we could more efficiently coordinate our attacks and repel the Sith."

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
Aurelia listened impassively. When Ayden was finished she let out a breath.
“I see,” she said finally.

“I hardly think that the middle of a war is a good time to propose a full political union. For a start I have doubts whether the conflicting ideologies of a Republican Dictatorship and a Constitutional Republic could be easily reconciled. There is no place in the Republic tradition for a strong Executive like you have, and no place in the Protectorate for a sometimes obstructive Senate. I fear that any union would spend so much time squabbling over jurisdiction, differing laws and competing interests to communicate effectively. I also feel the Republic would believe they inherited a vast frontier to defend without much additional gain. Likewise the Protectorate would find itself having to pay for the upkeep of Jedi Temples and frontier posts in remote areas.”

The Senator shook her head.
“I cannot see that it would end well. Everyone would feel they were losing something, and gaining less in return. Whilst in time these discussions might happen, wartime makes a poor staging area. Imagine trying to reorder your armies and ours under one banner. Different equipment, doctrines, tactics and traditions. The Sith would not be intimidated, far from it they would see the disunity and strike.”

“I would suggest a formal alliance though, where we share all our plans, go a step further than we have now and combine operations to make use of both our nation’s powers.”

 

[Ayden Cater]

"I understand your concerns, but disagree with your assessment. The Protectorate is every bit the military equal of the Republic. Some might say we hold the edge. And of course this wouldn't be something that happens overnight, but it's a declaration - both to the Sith and the galaxy. By bringing our forces under a single banner, we can more effectively coordinate our attacks. We could issue orders directly to the troops rather than pass messages along to each other. Most won't have any trouble coming together. And really, there are a good number of similarities between our two governing bodies. Our Exarchs function similarly to your senators, albeit with some measure of military authority over their personal star systems. As I said, though; I know it wouldn't happen over night, but the message is every bit as important as the execution. It will take time for the motion to carry through the Senate anyways, as bogged down as it can get. The sooner we introduce the idea, the sooner it could pass. In the meantime, we could sign a formal alliance to get something going."

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
Aurelia blinked. For a moment she wondered if her ears were not functioning, or whether Ayden was playing some sort of elaborate game. It seemed not.

“Protector, I was Chief Minister of the Protectorate, and I know that this is simply not true. The Exarchs are a small group, under Cira and Alcori there were two of them, and even if there are more now, they are nothing like Senators. Exarchs are appointed to their offices, and hold power over anywhere up to half of the Protectorate. They are the subordinates to the Protector, their viceroys in those regions. They have complete military, financial and political power in their sphere, answering only to the Protector.”

Now she was started, Aurelia decided to continue.
“Furthermore, I wish it could believe it would be as simple as you suppose. Optimism is all very well, but there are some pretty key questions. The Protectorate’s form of democracy is local only; would you stand for election in Corellia, or would you be expecting to be made Vice Chancellor? Or are you expecting for the Protectorate’s form of government to become the dominant one? Either way there’s going to be people whose privileges and powers are curtailed.”

“I tell you this only as a preview of what you will experience when this becomes public. There will be uproar from both sides, those pushing for more or less influence from interest groups. Unless you have a comprehensive manifesto on how this will work I will not embroil the Senate in a discussion which will divide rather than unite.”

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

"That was then, Senator. You'll find that a great many things have changed with my coming," he said very matter-of-factly. "Within two weeks of my being made Lord Protector, there were six Exarchs. There are presently forty-eight Exarchs overseeing hundreds of Councilors in their duties. Perhaps then it would have been a better statement to say that our Councilors function similarly to your Senators, since there is a Councilor for every world and an Exarch for every major sector."

He took a drink from his glass and sifted through some pads before continuing. "There will be uproar, of course. However it will come to naught. The end result of this will be a stronger galactic power than either the Republic or Protectorate currently is. I do not have a complete manifesto, Senator, because I don't know that you're authorized to negotiate such matters. My intent was for you to first present the idea to colleagues of yours who you believed to be receptive to the idea, to build up popular support for the move. There will never be one hundred percent of a group satisfied when the status quo is changed. Most will see improvements, many more will be largely unaffected, and a handful will see their relative power go down. I'm not doing this for the power. I'm doing this so the galaxy doesn't fall to the Sith."

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
To be fair, this writer did check all the OOC information they could find, and the whole change of structure thing wasn't clearly mentioned.

"Forty-eight Exarchs? I see things have indeed changed, Protector. It must make determining a successor difficult, if you've had to consider that problem yet."

Back to the problem at hand, Aurelia shrugged. "I feel this is ill-advised and foolish, Protector. However, I will present it to the Senate. Since my support is luke-warm at best, I'd like to hear your ideas. Even if you don't have a full manifesto, you have to have some ideas or notions about organisation, structure and government. I cannot approach even a committee of my peers with 'The Protector wishes to form the Omega Republic, what do you think?' That is a short step to a Senate holding pattern whilst the matter is argued over. With some ideas from yourself though it may be slightly easier."

Even then, Aurelia was not certain it would go far at all, nor did she think it should. Why not cut the matter down here? Well, it might reflect bad on her reputation to single-handedly torpedo an idea when the Senate could have a chance to mangle it.

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

"The matter of succession will be handled by the Councilors and Exarchs. They'll vote for the candidate that they believe is most qualified for the task. This will most often be an Exarch, but I can see a time when even a Councilor might be able to leap into the position." Ayden chuckled to himself at a thought not shared before moving on.

"I understand that this must sound ludicrous and out of the blue to suggest. I've worked very closely with several ranking members of the Jedi Order and have discussed it with the few that I implicitly trust. They gave me their support on the notion, but that is neither here nor there. The Jedi do no make the laws and govern the planets. It is the Senators and the Republic that does that. As far as a name goes, the 'Omega Republic' sounds a little ostentatious, don't you think? I was thinking something a little simpler; the Galactic Alliance.

Most of the changes and headache would likely be on our end. Our Councilors would become Senators and would likely have to deal with the loss of authority over their personal star systems, though perhaps that is a power that might be extended to the Republic-side of things. Sector governors would help subdivide control and prevent needless stalling actions in the Senate. A single sector could take action on local matters without the need for a convening and voting of the entire Senate. Naturally some decisions will mandate such votes and some greater decisions will need to remain with the office of the Chief of State, though I believe having two leaders at once might be best. A lot of this is somewhat speculative on my part, as I don't know what the Senate would or would not approve. But it's a state, I suppose."

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
Aurelia could see that the Protector was bent on his mission. And so she simply shrugged and nodded ascent.
“Provide me a list of your suggestions before I leave and I will put this before the Senate. I would suggest you try and encourage other Senators and leaders in the Republic to push your plan. I am not enthusiastic about it, but I am not so overconfident as to declare it will not or should not pass. I will sponsor the bill, but I will only present your arguments for and my own against, and then let the matter be decided. I trust you have the support of your Exarchs in order to get this approved on your side were it to happen?”

The Senator smiled and moved her chair back, showing she deemed the meeting almost over.
“Is there anything else we need discussed?”

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Aurelia Saelari"]

Ayden smiled and nodded. "I do. I want to thank you for your time, Senator." He rose from his chair to see her out and offered her a hand to shake. "Anything you need from me, please don't hesitate to inform me. I'll forward all my preliminary outlines as well as the official outline for Senate consideration. In the meantime, I will happily sign a formal alliance with the Republic. Even if the Senate rejects the motion, we will remain allies against the Sith aggression."