Senate Addressing the Proposal of One Sith Peace (CLOSED SESSION)

[The End Narrator]

Alyesa stood at the edge of her pod, the holocam of the Senate circling her pod as she raised her arms out. "You all have seen the message, my answer is simple." She brought her hands down and shook her head.

"No. We do not negotiate with terrorists and that is exactly what the One Sith are." She pointed towards the side. "This is exactly what they want, we surrender the last line of defense we have against those who are capable of defending us against individuals with similar abilities." She pointed down at the base of her pod. "Another Jedi Purge, that is all this is about, so a Sith Empire can rise in it's place un challenged and uncontested."

She took a few steps back. "We are standing on our own, against this tyranny and the One Sith are having a hard time swallowing that pill. In a few hours time, if their collaborators and informants have not left Republic space and when they are arrested, they will see we mean business."

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

Aurelia’s Saelari’s contempt for the Sith had reached stratospheric heights. Now, Aurelia did not like the Jedi. At all. In her opinion the loss of the whole lot of them would make the galaxy a better place. However…she would not kow-tow to Sith.

She rose. “I thank the Senator of Alderaan once again for her insightful words. We must all stand united against this grand and most terrible threat.”

“Would that Daella could have offered herself up for death rather than betraying us, we might have solved a problem and not had to deal with this insipid request. Do the One Sith really feel the Republic is so stupid as to accept this? Perhaps, but in doing so either they underestimate us, which will be to their cost. They will find that the Galactic Republic does not negotiate with the lackeys of a Sith Lord from the Shadows. If this ‘One Sith’ wishes to treat with us, send not a traitorous fool to make preposterous demands, but come in person to us and sue for clemency.”

“In fact, I have a counter offer for ‘Darth Junra’ – all Dark Side Force users and your precious hidden Dark Lord will surrender to us at once. Do that, and you will have peace with the Republic. When you stand before a court and pay for the innocents you have murdered, to the citizens of Coruscant whose planet you stole, then we shall have peace. Until that moment it shall be war to the knife, and there will be no respite. The tyranny of the Sith, once extinguished in our lifetime, shall be ever expunged from the galaxy.”

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Maria had come to the Senate with a warm cup of coffee and a scarf around her neck. She was feeling a bit ill. And yeah, who wouldn't get ill after moving to a dark planet like Umbara is? She had lots of tissues with her, and the fellow representatives of the system were there for her, too.

As soon as Maria really understood what the topic of the day was, her excitement she had had before was gone. Jedi. The issue was about the Jedi Order. Being only a Jedi Padawan and the topic being really sensitive, Maria decided to abstain from any kind of voting, any kind of opinion-giving or anything else.

But somebody had to represent Umbara in these matters. She had to do something or let the fellow representatives do that. Listening to the women speaking before her, she sighed. It looked like the Republic's heads were trying to do everything to save the Jedi Order and prevent what was about to happen.

Maria, on the other hand, tried to think about the feelings normal people have - what the simple citizens of the Republic would think of this matter. She was about to speak of that, but decided to wait a bit, listening to a few other Senators.

 

[Kaiden Rohn]

Skippity-bob-boop-pip.

He held up a newspaper as he burst (literally) into the senate halls. It was a headline for the recent One Sith invitation for peace.

"**** THEM RIGHT IN THEIR ****ING FACES THESE GOD DAMN MOTHER FRAKKING PALE FACED LASER SWORD WIELDING BAG OF JERKS THINK THAT THEY COME INTO YOUR AND MY REPUBLIC-"He paused for breath.

"AND THINK THAT WE WILL LAY DOWN SOME OF OUR BEST JEDI FOR SOME STUPID *** PEACE TREATY THAT OBVIOUSLY THEY WON'T UPHOLD?"He threw the newspaper up.

"I am Commander Rohn, and I am the leader of Havoc Squad, and I say to you Senatorial uppity-ups-in-the-up-up that we should not even remotely entertain the idea of dealing with these jerkasauruses. We're the Republic. We're THE Republic. They, despite what they claim, are not good for the galaxy. And they, they are going to burn big time. Now, my request is that I want anyone who was on that lists name, RIGHT NOW IN MY ******* HANDS! BECAUSE ME, AND MY TEAM, ARE GOING TO ****** KILL THEM SO ****** HARD!"

 

[The End Narrator]

Alyesa blinked at the sudden outburst from the either drunk or just stupid Commander of Havoc squad. A sigh escaped her lips as the whole outburst was recorded on the Senate holocameras and she turned to respond in a polite, respectful nature…well as polite and respectful as one could be in such a situation.

“Commander…” Her aide approached her from the side, bringing up his complete profile. “Commander Rohn, I’ve seen you’ve done great things for the Republic over the years but that doesn’t give you the right nor the reason to come in here screaming like a blithering, drunk idiot.”

She paused and looked down at the datapad. “No one said we were accepting the peace of the Sith, and as amused as I am by your enthusiasm, I’m appalled by your inability to conduct yourself as an Officer of the Republic.” She turned to face the tiny figure of Rohn in the distance from her pod. “Currently, you’re a threat to the members of the Senate in the state you’re in. As Chairman of the Security Council, I am hereby executing Order 479 of my Council and banning you from the Senate Chambers.” She pressed a button that would summon no less, than two dozen Senate Guards. These guards would escort him out of the building with little to no problem.

"I will also be contacting your Commanding Officer regarding this incident, as I'm informed now, this isn't your first little outburst." She would turn away from him and motion back to the Senate floor. "Please, continue Senator Natalja."

 

[Serah Oricion]

"Let them rot, that is all. If they have the guts to suggest that we betray our greatest allies..." His voice came out from the podium, though a thought had finished what he was going to say. '...And weapon...' After the thought sounded he continued with his words, making sure he was clear in what he wanted. "... then they can rot in the very ruins that remain on their homeworld. The Sith have overstepped the power that they think they hold, they control Coruscant, they make themselves out to be saviors of our 'corrupt' ways. But they are the ones that are corrupt dictators, they may protect and help those now, but what about in six months, one year, one decade. The sith are always the same and will do -anything- for power..."

"They are gutless worms that work in the shadow and do everything they can to get a step over someone else, and now they send us this message instead of coming themselves as Senator Saelari said. They do not realize that they will never remove freedom and peace from this galaxy without the removal of their greatest threat, that is what the Jedi are to them. The Jedi are a threat that the Sith think they can trick us into turning against, but it is the Jedi that have always been warriors and guardians of freedom and peace... even if peace never seems to be attained. I say if they want to beg for us to turn over the Jedi, then come here and do it, beg on their knees for us to give them the one thing they fear." Yusan's entire being was in rage at this, staring at the message as he had spoke, his hands balled as he thought one name a million times over within his head, his eyes only coming up and his scarred features staring out at them as he finished and he stood straight, letting the cane he used rest against the console.

[member="Alyesa Praxon-Organa"] [member="Maria Natalja"] [member="Aurelia Saelari"]

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Maria, a bit tired and feeling bad, yet rebellious at the same time, took a deep breath before starting to speak. The breath was accompanied by a look down and biting her lower lip. But she looked up again and started spreading the opinion of the planet she was representing, even tough she was feeling a lump in her throat and his voice was not of the best kind that day.

"My fellow Senators and other members of the Senate... As a Jedi and as myself, I would say we shall never accept this proposal, and I would even call Sith with bad words maybe, but that is not why I am here. Even though being a Jedi Padawan and it being really hard for me to talk about this topic, I must represent the opinion of Umbara. As it is my home planet and I live there, I can see what the people of the planet, or maybe even the majority of the Galactic Republic's citizens, think about this matter.

Even though for us, and for the heads of the Republic, Jedi are important and helpful, serving as our greatest weapons... people don't always think the same. I as a representative can't deny the wants of our people.

But I can abstain from any kind of voting or giving opinions on some matters. Today, I have decided not to talk of Umbara's wants, unless I am sure it is safe to do so.

I'm sorry."

The woman's eyes had teared, and she took a deep breath. It didn't help, though. She shouldn't have come.

The fellow representatives and aides of Maria started to comfort her and push her to talk and represent the planet's will and wants, to make her perform her duty. But she couldn't.

 

[Serah Oricion]

Yusan relaxed at the words of the woman and glanced over at her, thinking for a few moments before sighing and sitting down, glaring at an Aide that attempted to speak to him. She spoke with sadness, and he spoke with hate... all the while the Sith would be laughing at the display they presented and his words continued on as he spoke again without standing. "I must abstain from a vote aswell, my own state is not in the right mind to speak for those i represent."

 

[Marcello Matteo]

Long strands of blonde hair hung loosely in front of the Rogue Master's glacier-blue eyes. Through his self-imposed exile, Marcello had seen and heard much of what the end-state to this conflict would be. This was, however, the first time he'd heard mention of a legitimate offer of peace from the One Sith. It lead him to believe that it was...most likely a hollow request. What was peace anyways? It certainly was not any consistent state of being that any government in the galaxy was any good at. It was too easy to break peace and extremely difficult to broker it.

There was a flipside to that coin, however. What message did the Republic send if it simply elected to...dismiss the proposal. Terrorists? In the very basic definition of the word, yes they were. A terrorist was little more than someone that utilized violence and intimidation to achieve political goals. What was the Republic on Empress Teta? They'd not gone there to win back one of their recently lost worlds. They weren't there liberating oppressed people because nobody there was oppressed. No, they attacked the capital of the Sith for no other reason than to lash out in vengeance, to cripple the Sith's power-base. The Republic and Sith were locked in a battle for political control of the galaxy, nothing more, nothing less. They were all terrorists.

It was funny to him...that it was the Sith offering the olive branch and the Republic preparing to rebuke it immediately without even, at least, entertaining a deeper conversation. Marcello's thoughts were almost immediately silenced by the outburst of a Republic trooper he did not recognize. "Let's hope the One Sith don't get their hands on the transcripts of any of these meetings. One release to the galaxy at large and the Republic would have done more damage to its image than any external entity could hope to accomplish with years of warfare." The comments left his lips softly, dissipating in the air around him from the observer's seats well away from the action of the Senators.

The spacer's glacier-blue eyes settled on the familiar form of [member="Alyesa Praxon-Organa"] for a moment. The youngest sister of Marcello's childhood best friend, Harm. He'd died in a simple training accident on Naboo. It had been Marcello's fault, of course, a reality that had chased him like a ghost for so many years. Eventually, he had managed to push that aside along with many other failures. They all existed within his being still, encased his soul as little more than a reminder of his humanity. For the briefest of moments, a smile touched his lips, happy to see the young woman had made something of herself. It was people like her, idealists, youth that would determine the future of the Republic. His responsibility was to defend them...and so many other innocents. He just...had fundamental disagreements with the Jedi Order at the moment, so he'd be a one-man show for now.

Well. He had some partners in crime, but the concept remained. He was not worthy of any seat of authority within the Republic...be it in a Senate chamber or in a Temple. A warrior was necessary during war...and then he would undoubtedly leave to bring himself elsewhere. He had no talent for peace...though he tried. That was why he remained a man apart, an exile.

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

"There will be no peace with the Sith."

 

[Kiskla Grayson-Matteo]

The Jedi were the only ones qualified to defend the Republic from the supernatural forces of the Sith. Daella Apparine’s life was a lie, and betrayal was in her blood. The Republic’s democratic influencers would be foolish to consider this any different — so far, it turned out they weren’t foolish.

And to be honest, they really weren’t in any position to serve up their greatest allies and guardians on a silver platter to their enemies. They might folly and consider themselves so, but it was evidence enough that they were weakening with the departure of so many to the Silver Order. With more Jedi in the hands of the oppressors, how would that go?

Kiskla was pensive, though. She didn’t want to offer up the souls of her organization, but she didn’t want to jeopardize the masses by simply existing and protecting. She covered her mouth in thought, watching the discussion with a listless gaze from the shadows of the hallways that looked into the pod-filled room. This building on Anaxes wasn’t quite like the one on Coruscant, but it served its purpose.

The commander that had barged into the discussion had threatened her before, and announced that Jedi could easily rule the world. It was true, they did have a celestial ally beyond comprehensive power — and here the Republic was entertaining an idea of overriding them? Would the Jedi react? Would she?

As if to communicate with a look, she regarded the Master on her right-side to evaluate his reaction to the proceedings. “The Sith have a terrible habit of infighting, even if they’re currently satiated beneath the power of their dark lord. It’s history. If they cannot keep peace within themselves, how would they handle a third party?”
Kiskla commented beneath her breath, audible only to her companion, [member="Michael Sardun"]. The blonde shook her head, but kept her mouth covered with her arm crossed over her stomach for support.

A senator contributed to the conversation, followed by silence. From the doorway, a single mutter was whispered between fingers.

“I hate Apparine.”

 

[Arage Bao]

Standing next to [member="Kiskla Grayson"] I stared at the proceedings with a brow furrowed in thought, they offered peace in exchange for our lives, for the lives of all the Jedi in the Republic. Yet… was it not our responsibility to put our lives in danger, to protect the Galaxy? If what they said is true, if all bloodshed and conflicts would stop the moment we all turned ourselves in… wouldn’t it be worth it? That’s the sticky point though, how would we know that they would honor the agreement? How would we know that they wouldn’t just crush the Republic into submission, the moment they thought they were safe and were ridden from their staunchest ally?

We could not, was the simple answer and with that it seemed that any thoughts of turning ourselves in was off the table. Guaranties would never be taken at face value, not by the Order and not by the Republic. It would keep gnawing on me though, this easy way out, keep me awake at night wondering if I wasn’t just being a selfish bastard who valued his life more than the lives of the citizens of the Republic.

Concerning thought, but in the end it mattered not. As long as my brothers and sisters in the Order stayed firm, so would I and that was the end of it. Then Kiskla spoke seemingly to me, but it seemed more as a thought spoken out loud, still.. I replied in the only way I knew.

“I don’t know, Kiskla. What I do know is that we have to preserve our own unity, make sure our younglings, padawans and young knights don’t feel pressured into surrendering to the Sith for a promise that is built upon smokes and mirrors.”

Then she said something about Daella that made me laugh bitterly, I had fought her, briefly. Such a… strange creature.

“Agreed.”

 

[Persephone Callas]

Long slender fingers would lightly tap upon the surface of Persephone's pod as she heard the various. It wasn't until the Senator of Umbra spoke. What she revealed made Persephone's brows arch high.

Why was there a Jedi in their midst as a Senator? It was all about conflicts of interests. Aquamarine eyes would narrow upon [member="Maria Natalja"]. There was a reason why Persephone did not like having a forcer within their midst as a Senator. As proven in prior sessions, they were not above using their powers against other Senators for their own cause.

Oh, the issue with the One Sith was the main case of the day, but Persephone felt an instant animosity towards the Jedi Padawan sitting beside them as an equal to the rest of the Senators.

She would be having words with the Chancellor about this. If they wanted to separate the Jedi from the military, then they should also ensure that the separation included them from the Senate itself.

"There will be no negotiation." she would state coolly.

 

[Aurelia Saelari]

Aurelia looked around the chamber, pleased. At least none of the wet hens and whiners were begging to capitulate to the Sith.
It was well that she did not hear the words of [member="Marcello Matteo"], or she might have been driven to a call of righteous anger.

For now though, all was well in the Senate.

 

[Chi Chuchi]

Well this was turning into quite the historic day, it seemed as if the whole of the senate were in agreement for possibly the first time in existence. 'Frack the Sith' indeed. It just went to show how badly they'd gone and ticked off the leaders of the Republic when they had commanders of elite units bursting into closed senate sessions. And there was no question of how her represented planet swayed.

"I think it's fairly safe to say that we will be rejecting the offer of the Sith as nothing more than a rubbish attempt at propaganda. Rendili and her yards have yet to step down from wartime production of ships and munitions in anticipation of this. We stand as ready as ever in support of this Republic." That probably would have been a bit grandiose of a speech if not for the soft and cultured tones customary of the Pantoran. She was stating a fact, and even if Rendili primarily wanted the war to continue as a military supplier, they tended to support the Jedi more often than not.