Writing on the wall and other bad news (open to senators)

[Nick Sept]

Nick grunted rather calmly, holding a stack of copies in his hand. Basically, the letter involved blaming the current Republic for every thrice-blasted thing in the galaxy.



Still, in a sense, they weren't wrong. War, pain suffering, madness, the occasional bit of hooplah, and a great deal of self-loathing. A jedi wishing an insurrection on the government. A call for reform. Well, the senator -elect had staked his campaign on reform. For clones, for people, for every other fool trying to make their way in this poodoo cover circus of a galaxy. He grunted and sat down, pouring a cup of decent-tasting coffee on the table. He turned to poet.


"Think any of the senators may show up?" He mused to his subordinate officer-turned assistant.


"Hell, I hope so. That little guy who keeps talking about peace and reform, Taff, he's likely, he's got guts. Drump, he's a loose cannon, but I think even loose cannons appreciate the issue of job security. A very real issue has come on our doorstep, literally. And we need to acknowledge and address it."



Poet blinked. "Comman--er, boss man," he corrected himself, old habits dying hard, "do you really think that this poster matters that much? It's just an opinion piece form a Jedi."


Sept sighed. "Sadly, the Jedi can become arbiters of public opinion quickly."





(OOC: every senator is welcome to attend this meeting, I just tagged the ones I could think of and remember the name as I was writing this)


[member="Auru Taff"] [member="Tonald Drump"] [member="Janira Fenni"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"]

 

[Minna Balin]

Senator Taff sat in his own home, readying his holotable for a meeting. He wouldn't be able to be there in person, sadly, but he might as well be there in hologram form. Auru turned to his servant, another Caamasi by the name of Alic, and motioned. "Okay. I am ready. Begin the transmission."

Alic, with the press of a button, began the signal, directed towards Sept. The Caamasi couldn't leave his home planet in the chaotic state it was in. The Caamasi people were outraged, and Taff was doing all he could to keep the peace. Leaving now would send a bad message.

Near Nick Sept, a life-sized holographic image of Auru Taff materialized, sitting on his comfy plush chair, robes crossed over his small chest. The small figure bowed. "Sept. A pleasure, as always." The young Senator from Caamas hadn't been sleeping well, that much was obvious. He ran a claw through his fur, trying to preen himself for the company he was in, and the holographic image fizzed.

[member="Nick Sept"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith sat in the home of her Aunt Rianna she was being allowed to access communications and follow Republic events. She sat with the holo and listened in on a meeting that she had been tagged in through communications.

Much happened, much was still happening, and she..was having tea with her Aunt, and wondering what her mother was thinking at this moment.

It was a slow day in the office. Something that was rare. Her assistant kept sending her updates, and Faith was looking at the numbers for the election. She could only smile she had conversations a hundred times with family and other Senators about her thoughts on Leadership.

Funny how none of them listened and did what they wanted to her anyhow.. And yes to her. She never did anything she wanted, only what everyone else wanted.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was able to arrive in person to the meeting. And so she did. She had seen [member="Nick Sept"] a couple of times and liked him so far. It wasn't uncommon to see holo-projections of Senators during meetings and votes. She bowed her head to all of them, [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] and [member="Auru Taff"] included.

Though Kay had no staff to speak of, she did acquire a gift from a friend ( http://starwarsrp.net/topic/77739-k1-series-astromech-droid/#entry1147146). Her K1 unit was blue with gold plating. She hadn't customized the droid to speak basic yet, but that would happen soon. In the meantime Kay used her datapad to translate the droid's beeps and bleeps. As for a name, she chose Mrs. Nesbitt. This was her trial run of having an assistant, so the two of them were still getting accustomed to eachother.

"Am I late? Or just early? Sorry but I've been busy with this owner's manual and only just noticed the message. Normally I'm quite punctual."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

Janira was on Eshan dealing with an issue on the homefront, which left Sannes back on Chazwa. She had no idea if he was going to the meeting or not, but she'd been alerted that someone had done something or other in regards to a thesis on the fall of the Republic and nailed it to the front gates of the senate hall. Even though she couldn't physically be at a meeting, she still needed to attend. Thus, her hologram appeared showing her sitting behind a table and regarding the others.

"Senators, what's this all about? All I heard was something about a thesis on the downfall of the Republic."

[member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] | [member="Auru Taff"] | [member="Nick Sept"]

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Jack entered as Janira began speaking. "Is it any wonder?" he asked with a smirk, sweeping off his hat and tossing it perfectly so that it perched itself on the corner of a chair. "We've done more to damage ourselves than any three wars. Time something was done about it, says I." He sat in the chair his hat had claimed.

 

[Darion Blackstaff]

Darions blueish image fluttered to life as he was one currently pre-occupied elsewhere as well.
Smiling he greeted everyone with nods and frail waves of his hand.

"Perhaps it is not the time to listen to enemy propaganda. But there is a need to put a leash on those officials that claim to work on the behalf of the republic without proper sanctions."

He turned his head especially at [member="Jack Sparrow"] and [member="Faith Balor-Organa"]

"It rests fully in the hands of the future Supreme Chancellor to make sure the right people are appointed to the key positions in both our military and government. Wise choices will lead to stability, unwise will further cast us into chaos and instability. Perhaps you could illuminate your reasoning around those future appointments. And if you have none, now is the time to start that reasoning."

Darion bent forward to pick up his cup of tea. It was soothing and helped against his aching bones.



[member="Nick Sept"][member="Auru Taff"][member="Faith Balor-Organa"][member="Lady Kay"][member="Janira Fenni"][member="Jack Sparrow"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

"I agree with Senator Blackstaff. There are some in our government that do more harm than good. They believe that they have free reign to do whatever they want without going through the proper procedures and chain of command, as they are silly enough to believe that they know better than anyone else on a given situation. But that's not how our government should work. It's not like organizations like the Cartel. We are not a bunch of rogues. There is structure and rules to be followed. Those that are bad examples, should be cut."

Sure it could be a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, but after facing up to her own actions done in her non working life, she saw the error in what she was doing and had grown up. Fortunately her past actions only had implications on herself, rather than harming the Republic at all.

[member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Nick Sept"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Auru Taff"] [member="Janira Fenni"]

 

[Nick Sept]

He greeted everyone jovially. "Hello, all. I hope this broadcast is suitable quality, for those of you who couldn't make it on short notice. I understand, it's quite busy for a lot of us. I'd also like to thank you all for coming Anyhow, I'll be brief," he said, as Poet handed each of hose physically present a digitize copy of the speech on holodisc while he mass-mailed it to the various holocomm addresses each person was using. "This is a copy of the letter that was nailed to the front door of the Capitol earlier today."



"Disavowal of war, discontent with military policy, pretty unpleasant stuff," he said with a sigh, nodding slowly. "The reason I've called this conference together is simple. There is a massive wave of discontent within the republic. At this point, the new agenda is going to have to involve winning back the people's trust. While the Jedi who wrote this letter may or may not be of much consequence, in the long run, there is a lot of talk of revolution," he said flatly. "Dissent is part of life. But frankly, people are angry. In addition to this, the former Supreme Chancellor, Aleidis Ijet, was spotted giving stirring speeches and raising hell," he said dryly.





"Folks, the question here is simple. We've got a large group of senators and both possible supreme chancellors in this room. How in the hell do we convince the people we're still on the side of the angels?" He looked to the room and saw others mention multiple avenues. Accountability, appointments. He nodded thoughtfully.


"Mister Sparrow, 'something' is a definite. The hard bit is what," he then listened as Darian supposed the matter of appointments. Ambition was present in his movement, but it still had some merit. Senator Kay proffered the same matter. Hmmm. "Maybe....how about the creation of an ethics commission with the power to try war criminals and investigate military proceedings? With publicly available records? We create a group to watch the watchers, keep them transparent and publicly available."


He typed something into his datapad and looked up. "At some point, military reform has to be made a policy discussion. Tattooine, Roche, Metalorn," He shook his head. "Every soldier we have that goes off the edge of reason is another disaster we can't handle. How do we rein this in," he asked, dropping his usual rhetorical, dryly sarcastic and honestly inquiring. He hoped somebody more experienced than him took point on this--this was a huge mess to clean up.


[member="Lady Kay"] [member="Darion Blackstaff"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Janira Fenni"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Auru Taff"]

 

[Miria Lasedri]

Unlike the others present, Miria hadn't been a senator for an extensive amount of time. Her time in office had been of short duration, and given the surname she possessed and just who her adoptive mother was, it was a surprise she had been granted this position in the first place. But she was here in the senate building on Chazwa regardless, having received notice of the meeting and thus choosing to attend. No doubt it directly concerned the attempted coup made by her caretaker. This would be interesting.

Without a word she entered the designated meeting hall, being present for the initiation of the discussion, though she remained silent until the others put words forth. The state of the Republic and its affairs weren't a subject she had exponential knowledge on, but she was more than capable of operating on a higher train of thought once prompted. And while she agreed with what [member="Lady Kay"] and [member="Darion Blackstaff"] had to say, there was a point where their viewpoints clashed, and it was that she would expound upon.

"While I concur with both Senators Kay and Blackstaff, I believe there is a point where following things exactly by the rules no longer suffices. There comes a time where we must forego the rules, if even for a short while, in order to accomplish what is best for this Republic.By no means do I necessarily condone the actions being referenced, but as with everything, there are exceptions." Typically one to communicate via sign language, joining the Senate had played a large part in her coming out of her shell.

In short time she fell silent once more, reading through the document that had been granted each of them. What was being said was true, the Republic was in a large state of disarray, and it inevitably fell to them to determine how best to clean it up. "Perhaps part of the problem is giving any one individual an overarching reach of power. I won't go so far as to say we should renounce those positions entirely, though it may be pertinent to consider their true enormity before appointing an individual." They all saw what happened with the former Prime Minister, her mother. And they would be loathe for it to happen again.

[member="Nick Sept"], [member="Jack Sparrow"], [member="Janira Fenni"], [member="Faith Balor-Organa"], [member="Auru Taff"]

 

[Minna Balin]

Senator Taff scratched his chin, and thought about the words being spoken. The hologram fizzed again, static dancing across the image. He turned his eyes to each of the senators, and gauged their reactions. Finally gathering up the courage to speak, he nodded.

"Well, the easy answer about these rouge soldiers is to proclaim that these soldiers are war criminals, and send out a taskforce to reclaim them and deliver justice. That would make us look better in the public eye, and separate us from any tragedies that these soldiers have been instrumental in. It's only a little, but it's a start. As for the rest..." The Caamasi trailed off as another protest started outside his home. The sound of dissent could be heard in the room. "My apologies, my people are quite angry with us at the moment."

Senator Taff motioned to his Advisor, who went to quell the crowd. Resting his tired eyes on the rest of the politicians, Taff waited for a reply.

[member="Nick Sept"] [member="Lady Kay"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"]
[member="Darion Blackstaff"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Janira Fenni"]

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"It's easy to claim things, but the repetitive nature of their occurrence does not lead credence to such a claim."

Janira was reading over the treatise after it had been sent to her. It was obvious she was doing so as she was looking down at a datapad in her hands rather than at the holographic appearances of the other senators as they appeared before her. What she read wasn't all that unexpected, to be honest, but this was neither the time or place for her own feelings on the subject to be broached.

"As for what you've said, Senator Lasedri, there is a time and place for everything, but the Republic is not the place for the actions which have compounded and lead us to here. We are not the Empire, though I dare say it feels like that's what we are becoming ever since we allowed them to join us. Foolhardy at best.

"There is no easy answer to this issue. There never will be. If you want to solve this, you need to throw out any notion of fixing it in the short term. This is a problem that has been growing for years, and has now exploded. Major changes, and a long term plan, are going to be needed to fix this."

Fortunately, she was already aware of that, and her plan was in motion, but she would keep that to herself.

[member="Auru Taff"] | [member="Miria Lasedri"] | [member="Nick Sept"] | [member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Darion Blackstaff"] | [member="Jack Sparrow"] | [member="Faith Balor-Organa"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

"We can't just focus on the long term without also focusing on the short term. Senator Taff was there with me when we went out to observe the Clones Lives Matter protest. There were Sith among them, riling the crowds up and even using their magic to force the clones into opening fire on the protesters. Don't you all see? We are being played by our enemies. They are creating situations, knowing that we'll jump right into them to try to fix it or change it, giving them the right holonews footage that they want to continue to spread their lies about us."

Kay sighed a little and looked to each of them in turn. "Some may believe that those in the Senate are corrupt and that we don't do anything. But those people are wrong. We've weeded out the ones that took part in the coup. We've set up elections. We've had a very successful fundraiser for refugees on Azure. I've been helping on Taboon and other worlds like it that need supplies, money, shelters and jobs. We should stop focusing on all of the negatives that are causing us to play right into our enemies hands and focus on the worlds within our jurisdiction that we are helping right now. Just because some Sith or others say something about us, it does not make it true. And every situation is not black or white. There are always multiple shades of grey." They couldn't see the whole picture. That was the problem. Their enemies were just helping the Republic to lose their own footing in the galaxy. And like a naive child, the Republic was following the path that the Sith and others lay before their feet.

[member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Nick Sept"] [member="Darion Blackstaff"] [member="Auru Taff"] [member="Miria Lasedri"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith sighed, "They are doing it because they know we have a weakness right now. They know internally there are issues that we face that we did not see, and had no control over."

Faith looked down, thinking for a moment, "A Campaign that shows the positive would help but things being what they are, spin masters will play it for their own purposes. A wag the dog move on our part"

Faith steepled her fingers as she thought, "We need to formulate our plan and execute it. Without over reacting, or under reacting. A difficult balance for certain, but in truth no matter what we do we are under a microscope and the galaxy will find fault if it can"

"We need short and long term plans, the short to stop our bleeding now, and the long to prevent hemorrhaging and death." She looked across to all of the Senators present.

"Military Intelligence can work to reveal the truth, a few well placed operatives would help to gather information to show who is pushing the buttons behind the disruptions"

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Jack nodded at Faith's wisdom. "We also, methinks, need something to do something publicly. Something to show both the members of the Republic and the galaxy at large that we're not all about violence and hostile takeovers."

He thumbed a tab, sending a holo to everyone. "Obroa-skai. A planet of libraries and med centers, and, some say, containing a Jedi training center. Those same some say there is more data located here than anywhere else in the galaxy, and currently outside the scope of any faction, while sitting right on the edge of both Republic and Mandalorian space. I propose sending a diplomatic team, headed by me, to see if we can convince them to join the Republic. Imagine the good publicity if we could peacefully fold them into our warm embrace, and the information the Republic could leverage, not to mention improving our standing with whatever Jedi Councils may be hovering about."

[member="Faith Balor-Organa"] | [member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Nick Sept"] | [member="Darion Blackstaff"] | [member="Auru Taff"] | [member="Miria Lasedri"]

 

[Minna Balin]

Taff examined the new information with interest. "Obroa-skai, you say? This could be a good start. The Republic is too focused on war these days. Not only with our enemies, but within ourselves. We need to show the people that we even know the word peace anymore." The little Caamasi nodded. "I agree with Senator Sparrow. I would volunteer myself to go, but..."

A soft yelling droned in from outside. The Senator's hologram fizzled, and momentarily went out, flickering back into existence. The Senator had a sad expression on his face. "I am in no position to leave my home. I'm doing my best on my own. Caamas is outraged, and terrified. We fear that if the Republic stays in the state that it is in now, our planet is one of the first stepping-stones to a One Sith invasion. Even I am feeling the effects," he said, wiping a tired eye.

[member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Lady Kay"] [member="Janira Fenni"] [member="Nick Sept"]
[member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Miria Lasedri"] [member="Darion Blackstaff"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay sighed a little. She had already mentioned the positive things that had taken place already, helping out new worlds and raising funds. But she guessed that the others were too busy with their own thoughts to hear her. To each their own.

Not one to be petty though or to whine about small things, she piped up. "Operatives and military intelligence do need to be used, especially if we want to prevent a coup from happening again. And also if we are to prevent anyone from trying to destroy us from the inside. Continuing our efforts on helping other worlds and getting them to fly our banners would also do very well for us. It will make our enemies work at dismantling us all the harder."

Kay dropped her voice and gave herself a bit of a pep talk, reassuring herself as to what her heart feels. Despite everything that the holonews and our enemies are saying, I won't give up on us....Even if I'm the last one that believes in the heart and hope that we bring, I won't give up..." Whether or not anyone heard her this time, she wasn't quite sure. Though she knew that she wasn't just sitting around while everything was happening. There was a few reasons as to why she didn't have her own place to live in. Her job required a lot of travelling.

[member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Darion Blackstaff"] [member="Auru Taff"] [member="Nick Sept"]

 

[Faith Organa]

Faith listened. She looked down at the data on Obroa-skai .

"I am concerned, we keep extending our borders and bringing members into the Republic." She did not want to bring up the fact what was blaringly obvious it was on the border between the Republic and Mandalorian space. "After this last encounter with the Mando'ade don't you think we are tempting fate just a little?"

Faith looked again at the data, "I am all for saving libraries, and medical facilities, and all that is good in the galaxy. I just, don't want to lose anymore lives" she smiled, or tried to.

She looked to [member="Lady Kay"] , "I think we need to breath for a moment before jumping in again. Be sure we all sing or speak from the same positions, this way we look unified. We look stronger" She then looked around at each of the others, "Do you agree?"

[member="Auru Taff"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Janira Fenni"] [member="Miria Lasedri"] [member="Nick Sept"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

There were a few reasons why Kay never put herself up for the nomination of Supreme Chancellor. And one of them was that at times she knew that she was impulsive. It wasn't always until she had time to process things, or to hear a different take on things, that got her to see the bigger picture more.

She met [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] 's gaze and nodded in agreement. In truth Kay didn't look at her datapad to see where the planet was. She just...expressed her thoughts out loud. Maybe there were times when she should be patient.

 

[Nick Sept]

Sept was genuinely impressed with capability of these folks to utterly miss the point. A legitimate group, with legitimate grievances, had practically stormed the senate. And apparently discounting it plowing through with prior plans was the order of the day.


He sighed a little. "I think we're distancing ourselves from the point. I asked how we restore trust from our curent citizens. While an aid mission to Obroa Skai isn't a bad idea, taking it over, even peacefully, isn't goign to adress the interests laid out here. And Miss Kay, I've read the incident summaries. I was actually present at the riot. While the escalation to violence was not actually ordered, and likely created by an agent provocateur, the same cannot be said for the presence of armed troopers, or the reasoning of the angry mob. It cannot be dismissed as enemy propaganda simply because that narrative exculpates all of us. We have hundreds of thousands disenfranchised clones. We have millions of people who have their own nation go so mad with the doctrine of strength against our enemies, we have forgotten compassion for our own people."


He looked to the room. "Lady Organa, Mister Sparrow, esteemed colleagues, I submit my answer to the question of trust. We start with the amendment of the Declaration of Sapient Rights, that explicitly includes cloned individuals in the language, and clearly defines them as a protected sentient. It's a half measure, but it would demonstrate a willingness to atone for the atrocities of prior administrations while allowing a legal justification for integrating them into existing services. Good PR, easy law to argue in favor of."


He looked very calm, collected. This wasn't the humble, folksy senator from Cartao. This was the commander who turned a war into peace. "I've been at these protests. These aren't insurgents. While some foreign agents might be using this situation to their advantage, that merely means that addressing the concerns now and doing some damage control is essential, before we get another situation that only requires a nudge from to turn into a death and a riot. Aside from the commitment to the clones, the other issue--the one stressed by these protestors, and by the Jedi who attempted to sway sentiment--is war. The military command structure needs to be reigned in. It needs to be held accountable, in a public venue. Hadrix is likely to be tried, yes? That trial should be broadcast, publicly. We can't keep this in-house and ask the people to extend rust they don't have."



He looked towards them. "Do you have any counter-suggestions or proposals to address this matter at hand? Or, are we to continue discussing our somewhat related side-projects? I'm not opposed to either, but occasionally, we need to remind ourselves of the import of what we're doing, here."


He frowned a little. He hated to speak out of turn to more experience folks, but this was quickly descending into irrelevancy. It was time to actually prove that the Senate could help the people.




[member="Lady Kay"] [member="Darion Blackstaff"] [member="Jack Sparrow"] [member="Janira Fenni"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Auru Taff"] [member="Miria Lasedri"]