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Grasping at Straws: The Story of an Imperial Loyalist [Archive] - The Galactic Senate

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Raganork8
11-21-2007, 07:51 PM
It doesn't take a genius to know when "times change". People always comment "oh how time have changed" and things of the like; but, that was merely pointing out the obvious. One already knew and reminding them seemed to be something of a self proclaimed high-browness than an actual need to point out the change.

The Republic no...

The Empire had now issued blasters for everyone who worked within the capital or on some sort of capital ship. The blasters weren't like the big ugly rifles the Stormtroopers used; no these blasters were smaller, cute by comparison; but they still packed quite a punch.

There was a time when politicians had no need to carry blasters; but, as mentioned before, times had changed. The keepers of the peace were reduced to failed assassins and the "free" republic had been replaced by a loosely controlled "Empire".

Some things had remained the same; the Senate still met to discuss galactic issues; though every delegate was now of some humanoid decent to "ensure that everyone could understand one another" according to Supreme Chancellor

No

Emperor Palpatine.

Some called is racist or speciest, other ignored the problem and others merely knew better than to speak out against the Empire. Either way the Senate was still in session. Republic Credits were still being used, though, they were in the process of being fazed out and Haal Symeel was still a senator.

With a considerable amount of disgust Symeel put the blaster into the Imperial issued utility belt and put on his Imperial cap.

Symeel Jumped into his speeder and began towards the Senate Chambers.

The speeder stalled in the parking section; but, there wasn't much farther to go anyway, so without a foul thought Symeel got out of the speeder and began to inspect the fusion coils.

anything could be wrong with the blasted thing; based on the lack of knowledge Symeel had about mechanics. For ten minutes he stood there trying to figure out of he was looking at a Fusion Coil or a inner tube power coupling.

Another speeder came along not much longer and landed next to Symeel's; Symeel identified the man in the speeder instantly. A friend of his and a Senator from the Yurian system.

"Haal..." the man greeted. "...what's wrong?" he asked. Symeel stood up from the fusion coil/power coupling conundrum and faced the man.

"Hello Tarye..." he greeted back. "...I don't know it just stopped moving." He explained.

"It's probably the power coupling." Tarye Nestin explained. Symeel, gave a forced smile.

"I thought as much."

"Would you like me to stay?" Tarye asked; Symeel smiled at the generous idea; but, shook his head.

"No thank you; I'll meet you in session."

"Alright, I've got to head to the Imperial Cells first and pick up something." Tarye flashed a smile to Symeel and flew off.

It took Haal fifteen minutes of fiddling to get the speeder to hover above ground again and he promptly put it into a proper parking place and set off to walk the rest of the way and deal with the machine after session.

In the distance Symeel could see the Jedi Temple, since the day it was infiltrated it had been redone and fixed up; by order of Palpatine himself. A lot of people had opinions on why he had decided to do that as well; but, none of them made sense and it didn't really matter.

Another 'strange' thing Palpatine had demanded done was the total shut down of the industrial district. He used the excuse that it was so vast that rouge Jedi could gather there and his solution was to raid it, destroy everything insight and close it down using the largest establishment of Ray Shields in the galaxy.

Some people found that peculiar; but, Symeel found it to be mildly uninteresting. The galaxy was a different place with the Empire in place; there was stability now, though that was fading too.

Within the first Galactic year there were rumors of a team of senators or ex-Republic pilots (non clones) starting a political rebellion; it wasn't long until that rumor was substantiated. The original name for this band was the Galactic People for a Galactic Republic or G.P.G.R. but in later days it had become simply "The Rebel Alliance".

They were a mysterious bunch, there somewhat of a scare in the capital in finding out who was actual a rebellion member and who was not. Moves were monitored, trips were chronicled. It was all to reserve peace.

Symeel stopped walking to look around, something he had not done in a couple of years. This was his life wasn't it?

The lights around the Senate turned Yellow, which indicated that session was about to begin. Symeel suddenly found himself in a rush. His stroll of a walk became quicker and that became a jog.

He was going to be late!

He was panicking he could feel his body tensing up, he could hear a loud scream all around him. The ground shook, the air split and suddenly Symeel realized that he was not in a state of panic. H

Symeel's neck arch up and in the air he could see the very distinguishable shape of a ship. Two bright lights fell from the ship and fell quickly and with silence towards the Imperial Cells.

The explosion rocked everything and Symeel flew through the air and landed atop of a speeder and cracked the window. Symeel's Forehead began to bleed and his sight was fading. He could see the Imperial Cells on fire and collapsing upon themselves as the Y-Wing began to turn for what seemed to be another attack run.

Symeel prayed to any god that would hear him that this would all end with him still alive. And then the Y-Wing unleashed to more Ray Shielded bombs. The ground shook.

Symeel blacked out.

Raganork8
11-24-2007, 03:07 PM
I'm not sure whether to finish this...

let me know, if It's real crap or worth another chapter.

Darill Cyllem
11-25-2007, 10:04 PM
I'm enjoying - would love to see more, Raganork. Could be an interesting perspective on the first days of the Empire - cool idea :)

Raganork8
11-26-2007, 08:20 PM
When Symeel came to there was a lot of movement.

It wasn't immediately after, waking up, that Symeel noticed the racing speeders and newly uniformed "Stormtroopers". Symeel got up and noticed that he had been bleeding during his absence from reality. The window shield of the speeder he had landed on was covered in ruby red blood.

It must have been the blood, or the sound of one of those new fighters the Empire had put into place that reminded him what had happened. His body suddenly jerked up and got to his feet in a quick daze that almost knocked him back down.

A white hand grasped his shoulder unapologetically and spun him around. Symeel stood face to face with the white and black face that held no expression.

"Are you ok?" The trooper asked; without much genuine care. Symeel wasn't sure if he was ok, there was blood, seemingly, everywhere and, It suddenly dawned on him that Tarye Nestin had gone into the Imperial Cells; but, it was gone, completely.

fire and smoke burned in it's place; but, there was no sign that a building had existed in that spot. No one could survived. Tarye was most certainly dead. It was that realization that made Symeel vomit.

Symeel fell to his knees and grabbed his forehead, blood was still coming out; but, not as bad. somewhere in his gut, rose composure and he managed to stand. He turned to the Trooper and nodded to show his, minute, well being.

People were still scurry like small mice around the place, away from the wreckage, that was the Imperial Cells. The Senate didn't seem to be hit at all; but, in front of it stood more wreckage. a ship laid there dead and beaten, remnants of the Y-Wing it seemed like.

There would be a debate about this; the Imperials were already raving that the Rebellion had equipment that rivaled their own; yet some people said, they didn't and the rebellion wasn't as dangerous as some were making it seem.

This attack would discredit the latter's argument.

It wasn't long, until Symeel was bandaged and sent back to his living quarters in the deeper part of the city. His sat on his bed and stared at the blank wall, he never decorated this place, he'd never want to. Coruscant wasn't his home, it was an Imperial ghost town. Symeel only moved here because it put him closer to work. There was a time when you could commute back and forward to the planet and not miss a beat; but, now Senate sessions were getting out of control; every day, sometimes twice, sometimes more.

Symeel had a minimal family, a brother on Malestare, out of all places and a younger sister that enjoyed living in the Serreno system until Count Dooku was killed at the end of the Clone wars. She lived in various places now, here, there, everywhere. Bogden was being civilized again and she wanted to go there, so she probably had packed up and gone there.

Aside from that he didn't have anything else, his one and only child was killed in a raid by the separatist on a system in the outer rim and that child's mother...

There was an annoying click and Symeel came home from his reverie; the holocomunicator turned on with a permission icon

Symeel frowned; it hadn't been a full hour yet and the Trooper commander was already concerned with asking questions. Symeel didn't want to talk yet; but, knew that if he didn't answer the questions now that the Troopers would just come to his quarters to ask him directly.

It took several attempts; but, eventually the words left his mouth and the holocommunicator put up the image of the Trooper Commander.

The man was young, no more than twenty seven; but, his face was obscenely weathered. There was a scar on his cheek that seemed to have healed by itself and without medical attention. The Patches on his left arm indicated that he was a former member of the "clean up crew" and the ones on his right indicated that he was once, or still, a pilot of one of those new and dangerous 'Twin Ion Engine' Fighters. On his imperial cap there were several patches that must have indicated something or another.


"Haal Symeel?" The Commander asked; with a lack of concern.



"Yes" Symeel answered tersely.




"I am commander Cryt Ophin I'm communicating with you to get your story about the events that took place earlier today..." Ophin paused. "...Is this a good time to go over the events?" The question wasn't one with options. If Symeel insisted that it wasn't a good time, the commander would just insist back that it was proper to question him now before he suffered memory distortion.



"It's a fine time." Symeel answered, with equal disinterest in the conversation. The Commander nodded and a small device was planted in view of the holocommuicator; this was going to record the conversation, as well as patterns in Symeel's body language to determine if he was lying or was effected by the stress of the event.



"Good, let's start with what you were doing before the event." Symeel was taken only slightly aback by the choice of words. 'Event'? people had died today and here was this commander treating it as if it was some sort of parade gone wrong.



"Senate was in session today, I was to report to discuss the recent act of having regional governors keep direct control of the systems and senators being used as spokespeople for governors" Symeel answered; the commander didn't even look up from whatever he was filing down. The commander made a slight sound of recognition.



"...and what were you going to vote?" the commander asked nonchalantly.


"What?" Symeel asked; the audacity of the question was so striking that he felt his forehead throb again.



"At the hearing, what were you going to vote for?; the opposition or the house?" The commander clearly understood the reason for the question; but, didn't care. This behavior was not unlike a military commander; they all felt the same, as if they were higher than any other official. They were all pompous and they were all strikingly rude.



"I was going to vote in favor of the opposition..." Symeel's voice trailed off waiting for the inevitable 'why?'



"Alright..." The commander looked up to face Symeel directly. "...did you ever make it into the senate?" The Commander asked.



"No."




"Did you see the actual event occur?" There it was; that word again.



"Yes"



"Good, I want you to tell me the story twice..." The commander started. "The first time I want you to be very general and the second time I want you to be very, very detailed." the commander stopped talking and watched Symeel. Symeel felt his forehead briefly.



"I was going to the Senate and I looked up and saw a Y-Wing snub fighter drop two bombs on the Imperial Cells." Symeel relayed.



"Now, the detailed version"



"My speeder stalled in the parking-" Symeel started.



"What kind of speeder?" The commander interjected.



"XP-490"




"Go on..."



"As I was trying to fix the fusion coils in the speeder a friend of mine, Tayre Nestin, approached me and asked me for assistance; but, I declined-"



"Nestin?" The commander asked; but, this question was more inquisitive than the previous, as if he had said something odd.



"Yes." There was another pause.



"Go on."



"I declined and he continued into the Cells, not long after I heard the Y-wing fly by and dropped a pair of, what seemed to be ray shielded, energy bombs and I was thrown back into a speeder and blacked out." Symeel answered.



The commander scanned Symeel's face and then sighed.



"Would you like to add anything?" The commander asked.



"Thats all I remember" Symeel answered.



"Well; that was very helpful, your story will help us piece together how and why the events happened. I thank you for your time." The commander went to turn his end of the holocommunicator off; but, as he did Symeel noticed something he hadn't noticed before. There was someone else in the room with the commander watching the broadcast. The communicator shut off before Symeel could make out who it was.



For another moment He sat there before finally throwing himself back and falling asleep.



************************************************** *****************************************



"He knew the type of ship and the type of bomb used, all the way down to the ray shielding." His voice, like silk, swirled through the room and fell onto the commanders ears like venom on lace.



"He is very knowledgeable about such things; but, I wouldn't be convinced and neither will he." The commander answered.



"You're right..." The voice cooed and went dead. "...We'll keep an eye on him."

Darill Cyllem
11-26-2007, 08:48 PM
Keep it coming....

Raganork8
11-27-2007, 02:20 PM
I had to end the last one before i was actually done, so i'm going to edited it and keep it as one chapter.

Sorry for the confusion.

Darill Cyllem
11-27-2007, 08:38 PM
Didn't mean my last as a criticism - just an encouragement... i'll watch for the next installment :)

Raganork8
11-27-2007, 08:40 PM
Didn't mean my last as a criticism - just an encouragement... i'll watch for the next installment :)

I know, just keeping you in the know.

Darill Cyllem
11-28-2007, 01:41 AM
^Thanks kindly :)

sharyntyre
12-01-2007, 08:17 AM
interesting POV, I shall follow this thread. thanks for sharing :)

Machievelli
12-06-2007, 04:18 PM
To be posted 7 Dec 2007 on StarwarsKnights under The Critic returns and Lucasforums under the Critic’s Two Cents.

During period directly after ROTS: A politician keeps trying to maintain.

The work needed editing, but as anyone will tell you, I tell almost everyone I critique the same thing. There is some cumbersome word usage, but that is again something editing would correct. It is phased (Changed) not fazed (confused) and preserve not reserve when speaking of peace.

It is an interesting piece, covering an interesting period of history in the Star Wars universe. Though all of the senators being in uniformed and armed was a bit too much to accept.

Technical note: While I accept that the Y wing fighter would have been in service at the time mentioned it would have been a relatively new aircraft. The author of Raiders of the Lost Ark irritated me for the same reason, labeling the DC3 which only entered service in 1932 as ‘venerable’ in 1936.

Also getting one from off planet or flying it in on an attack run does not make sense. First, it would be like flying an F15 Eagle from England to Washington with no attempt at stealth. The defenses of Coruscant have been discussed in depth in the EU, and such an attack would be suicide long before you actually laid fire on the capital.

Now if you had suggested that it had come from a nearby base instead, it would have been completely acceptable.

Darill Cyllem
12-06-2007, 04:51 PM
^ Right little ray of sunshine, isn't he?

Machievelli
12-06-2007, 04:56 PM
^ Right little ray of sunshine, isn't he?

When I critique, I always look at the flaws, because after all, that is a critic's job. However I do the same things this author does, so I am speaking not as someone unable to write, but as someone who has made the same mistakes and has to correct the work just like the newest kid here. I didn't say it was bad, and considering the period, it was a pretty good piece. I want to see more.

Darill Cyllem
12-06-2007, 05:05 PM
Was just lightening the mood a bit, especially as I don't know if Raganork is familiar with your style, M, or what you do and I don't want to see him put off his writing. :yoda:

I'd also like to offer the opinion that a critic's job is not critique alone, but rather a commentary on both the positives and the negatives of a particular piece. Your style is often heavy on the former and light on the latter, which is obviously your prerogative, but can be a bit surprising to those new to your style of critique.

Anyway... carry on, Raganork!