Private War and Empires

[Shem Spinner]

War and Empires
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Rakaan Horne ​

The library within the Jedi temple was far more expansive than he had imagined. Oni had hoped to use such a tool to learn more about the history of the Jedi and help fill in the 30,000-ish year gap in time he had experienced. It turned out to be a far more complicated task than he had initially believed. Not only did the archives contain Jedi history and texts, but literature of all kinds. Information on different states, past wars, political campaigns... The catalogue had to be the single most dense collection of knowledge the swordsman had ever seen in his life.

Oni was looking for something in particular on this occasion. After hearing about the events of Ilum and war breaking out with the Empire, he was curious about how such a state even came to be and specifics on how it operated. The archives seemed like a good, non-biased source to begin looking for answers. If he was to defend the people of the Galactic Alliance from such a group, he wanted to first understand them. Unfortunately, references to "Empire" factions were scattered and not as well organized as other materials in the library. There seemed to be a few groups which had taken up the name, but there was so much material and time to cover that Oni was struggling to find a definitive answer for what this Empire was.

It was getting into the evening hours now. Oni sat alone in the archives, datapads piled up around him in a particularly messy fashion. He was still struggling to understand exactly what it was he was to be facing. Without the context for what the Empire was, all mentions of it were simply words: Ideas strewn together into a line of similarly empty events in his mind. Oni reasoned that, at the current rate in which he was finding information, this was not a very effective manner to learn about the Empire. It seemed to the Pantoran that, if he was to learn, an outside source would be necessary. The only question was: Where he would find such a source?

 

[Rakaan Horne]

CORUSCANT - Shem Spinner

​

In the late Coruscanti hours, the Jedi remained hard at work. His new mission, substituted in to replace the old, had been to catalogue all that Rakaan learned in his assignment within the Imperial ranks; the role of an inside man ensured there was a perceptive, if not vigilante, sense of self on alert at all times. From the basic to the more complex, Rakaan filled entire holocrons and data-storage units to be shuffled away into the blue, glowing stacks of shelves that comprised of the Jedi archives. Some even found themselves deposited in the upstairs, the various walls of emerald green storage.

"Busy catching up to speed?" He idly asked Oni without offering so much as a sparing glance, his hands shuffling about to stow information. "If you're Oni, then I hear you've missed a lot."

Somewhat of an understatement.

​

 

[Shem Spinner]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Rakaan Horne ​

"Busy catching up to speed?" He idly asked Oni without offering so much as a sparing glance, his hands shuffling about to stow information. "If you're Oni, then I hear you've missed a lot."

Oni glanced over to the man who had spoken to him. He was a Jedi Knight, but for how long the swordsman was unsure of. The knight had been busy organizing data-storage units, presumably new ones he had a hand in recording. It seemed that, in some way through word and mouth, Oni's predicament had made it's way to other members of the order.

"I'm attempting to do that," Oni answered, continuing to skim through the datapad in his hands. "Unfortunately the material is... denser than I had hoped."

Dense was a tame descriptor. Oni had over 30,000 years of history he needed to catch up on. It was, truly, a monumental task. The swordsman reasoned that it may be a good several years before he was able to fully grasp what he had missed.

"I'm making good progress," he continued in a lighthearted tone. "I only have 28,000 years left to go... You've been here for a while. What is it that you're cataloging?"

 

[Rakaan Horne]

CORUSCANT - Shem Spinner

​

"Just..." His sole word trailed on, left there to stew in his mouth even after it had been uttered. It was an endless wave of consideration that swarmed Rakaan then, to think on the state of the Jedi and the Senate both; the discussions that shifted the fates of thousands, if not millions. Even the role of the Jedi seemed to be under a dispute, or so the Jedi often believed, or rather was of the mind that it should be. Still, the diplomatic minds must have their meal and with the Imperials on the hunt for causation, Rakaan and his mission offered it to them. To some lesser extent than whatever it was the Imperial propaganda undoubtedly spouted each day.

"Just some research on the Empire," Rakaan confessed with eyes that settled on Oni, and a somewhat vague answer to boot. "I spent time in Imperial space, allowed them to think I was one of them so I could learn all about them. If there's a war on the horizon, we all benefit from even the smallest detail on their functions, assets, and so on."

​

 

[Shem Spinner]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Rakaan Horne ​

"A deep cover," Oni nodded, scratching at his chin. "I understand. I imagine that after Ilum, that information will be highly valuable. It seems like war with the Empire is inevitable at this point, or at least that's what I've gathered on the situation. I must admit, I'm not too confident in such a conclusion. I'm still trying to understand how the whole 'holonetwork' thing works. It seems that a lot of things aren't very reliable sources of information..."

Things like falsified articles, propaganda, and journalism in general were all things that were very new to the young swordsman. With so much informational noise and so much he still had to learn, Oni found it a struggle to separate fact from fiction. It definitely made learning about the state of the galaxy far more difficult a task. Suddenly, a thought ran through his mind. If this Jedi Knight had been behind lines, he was clearly a good source of the information he had been looking for. There was no harm trying for some details.

"Do you think you could tell me about the Empire?" the Pantoran asked. "If they become a danger to the common folk, I feel it would be disingenuous to not understand them. Alienation can drive people to do terrible things. I'd very much like to avoid such an outcome, or at least do my best to. I hope you don't mind me asking..."

Oni had seen such a thing with his own two eyes when the Rakata invaded Tython. It had shocked him the brutality some the warriors of his order had taken in order to repel the Infinite Empire, those he would have considered to be the best of the Je'daii. Since coming to the future, he found that this was a result of the Bogan: The dark side. It's study was not forbidden in his day, but it didn't take much for Oni to understand why the modern Jedi Order did not teach such things anymore. Such a destructive force, one wielded by the Rakata of old, would lead to nothing but chaos. The Pantoran felt he had a responsibility to keep himself from such a fate.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

CORUSCANT - Shem Spinner

​

"I could..." Rakaan commented after a mere moment of hesitation, left to conduct his idle movements in a continued loop. It was an odd subject, one in which Rakaan himself was left uncertain of - least of all his permission to discuss such details, whether learned fact of personal discoveries. It was with eyes settled over Oni that the Jedi cracked somewhat of a small smirk, one that fell into the corner of his mouth and opted to do little else.

"There's a lot to know," Rakaan plainly remarked as arms shifted over his torso, "Where do you want me to start?"

​

 

[Shem Spinner]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Rakaan Horne ​

"There's a lot to know," Rakaan plainly remarked as arms shifted over his torso, "Where do you want me to start?"

There was something Oni had taken note of just before the knight had stated this. Was it hesitation? It was unusual given the professional nature in which he had introduced what he was doing. Perhaps there was more than he was letting on. For now, the swordsman had things that he needed to understand.

"Well," he began with a frown, "I guess what I'm curious about most is how conflict began. From what I've been told, the Empire and the Galactic Alliance were previously on hospitable terms."

Learning how conflict broke out was a good place to start. He was incredibly unfamiliar with such information. Oni figured that it would be a good jumping off point, providing some flexibility to ask questions as the knight explained.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

CORUSCANT - Shem Spinner

​

It was a loaded tale. Full of a rise and a fall, cataclysmic and yet able to breathe new life into what was once shrouded in the darkness of the Sith. Hundreds of systems across the northern arm had known life beneath Sith-Imperial rule, a different beast from the Imperials of the New Order - the Imperials of now, the Jedi conceded in a silent muse.

"Once, yes." He remarked with averted albeit focused eyes, an effort to recall the details. "The Imperials came from the Sith Empire as rebels, and so the Imperials and the Alliance had a common enemy in the Sith. But the ideals between the two were too conflicting, I think, to allow for a lasting peace. So when the Sith were defeated and that common enemy that bound them together was no more..."

​

 

[Shem Spinner]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Rakaan Horne ​

"So when the Sith were defeated and that common enemy that bound them together was no more..."

"I see," Oni nodded.

Conflicting ideals. Oni was familiar with that. There was a growing tension when he left to face the Infinite Empire, or attempted to anyways. Some in his order wished to focus on the Ashla, the light, out of fear for what the Rakata were capable of being replicated. Others wanted to take that power for themselves. If he was to believe what records remain of that time, it lead to war, a battle from which he was ultimately spared. A small ripple of guilt pulsated through his body. In trying to face the Rakata, he had unintentionally abandoned his comrades. It was a saddening thought, but there was little more that could be done now.

"It seems odd," the swordsman continued. "The ideals of the GA seem so... flexible, at least from what I've experienced. What ideals could make conflict unavoidable?"

 

[Rakaan Horne]

CORUSCANT - Shem Spinner

​

"It's Imperialism." He remarked, half-amused with a small tilt to the corner of his mouth. "The Senate is free and equal, but that makes it slow; it cares, maybe too much. It makes it exploitable to those that seek to do harm. Still, those decisions benefit us all in their borders. It allows us to live better lives than those that are stuck in some lawless state, or under Imperialism."

For all the comments and observations translated into words, Rakaan could not hide the hint of hesitation that settled across his youthful features. It was simple to cast a foe as such and refuse to believe their side is valid, their beliefs are real, their acts have cause. Once thrust into the heart of the Empire, under the guise of a newly indoctrinated Imperial Knight, there was a certain appeal to their system. One that he favoured over the Senate and the issues that the Jedi found in it.

"The Empire has a Triumvirate and a Moff Council. It's a small number of men, no more than ten. It's those men that decide all the rules for all Imperials, but it's a state that thrives on security at the cost of freedoms. It's safe, only because stormtroopers and the ISB lurk around every corner. It's air-tight, firm, incorruptable. It's tyrannical, it oppresses those that fall outside of what the Empire wants, but those that do may well live better lives than the richest men in the Alliance."

Security. It made them effective, it made them strong. Stronger then the Alliance could ever be, yet lacked all the morals. It was like a poison.

"Those two just... don't, can't mesh."

​

 

[Shem Spinner]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Rakaan Horne ​

"Security through tyranny..." Oni echoed, pondering the Jedi's words.

It sounded very much like the Rakata of his time, though both were vastly different. Still, the use of tyranny to ensure the security of their states was one through line that he could very much make between the two. Oni knew all to well that the philosophy could be dangerous. When you build a state around militarization to ensure security, one must always be at war to ensure that the 'security' remains. It's the very force that drove the Rakata to expand and come into conflict withe the Je'daii, and records seemed to indicate that it had also been their undoing. Still, the threat that such a state posed was undeniable.

"I'm familiar with the concept," Oni stated simply. He didn't see the need to go into the details of his backstory. "I... am curious about something else. I read some of the reports of Ilum, what I was allowed to anyways. They mentioned another force order, knights loyal to the Empire. Are they also Jedi or something else? The way they're spoken about is... confusing."