History of the Regal Imperial Defenders/Year Four

History of the Regal Imperial Defenders

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash; &mdash; &mdash; Ghosts of the Past &mdash; &mdash; &mdash; &mdash; &mdash; The first day of RID’s latest anniversary was already off to a rough start. In our Tatooinian metropolis of Fort Farpoint Valley, Hel’mut Yovel faced yet another round of political resistance. This time, an opponent by the name of Gawau Kanati entered the election against him. Gawau was a leading official of an organization called Ghosts of the Republic, or GHOST for short. Although they denied it publicly, Ghosts of the Republic was clearly an organization sympathetic to the Rebel cause. Although we did not know it at the time, Gawau had been a citizen of Farpoint Valley since its early days, well before RID came along to takeover and fortify the metropolis. Nevertheless, RID had already secured control over Fort Farpoint Valley for a period of months, and we were not willing to so easily concede control over the city. Ramona herself had entrusted Farpoint Valley to us, and we knew very little about Gawau, and whether or not to trust him.

At first, the election started out evenly with both Hel’mut and Gawau tied in votes. To widen the lead, Hel’mut introduced new Imperial citizens to Fort Farpoint Valley, including Equitay and Anyg, both of whom voted for him. However, as time went by, Gawau slowly gained more votes, as Rebel sympathizers and other supporters of the Ghosts of the Republic began flocking to the ballot box. Hoping to reach a peaceful resolution, I requested to meet with Gawau on Hel’mut’s behalf in order to discuss the progress of the election. Gawau agreed to do so, and so I met with him in the Fort Farpoint Valley city hall where he, along with one of his supporters, was waiting. In an apparent attempt to aggravate me, I recall Gawau sitting in Hel’mut’s office chair, as if he had already won the election. Ty’e X’lor, the loyal crusader who had supported RID since its early days, requested to speak alongside me during the meeting. Sadly, Ty’e was no longer a member of RID. The once ardent supporter of the Empire had turned into an independent mercenary. Nevertheless, given our past histories, I continued to respect Ty’e, and indulged his request to join me during the meeting.

As the meeting began, I could already sense that Gawau did not have much respect for me, RID, or the Empire. However, I still hoped that we could cordially convince him to step down from the election, thus securing the stability of Fort Farpoint Valley for a long time to come. Unfortunately for us, Gawau was in this to win the election. Gawau claimed that he and the Ghosts of the Republic were more accustomed to the way things were in Farpoint Valley before RID took over. This came as something of a surprise to me. If Gawau and the Ghosts of the Republic did not approve of our leadership, why did they allow us to gain control of the city in the first place? They could have easily prevented us from securing control of the city back when Mul-bi Ve-New was running against Hel’mut. If GHOST was an early founder of Farpoint Valley, where were they all this time? I soon learned that the Ghosts of the Republic had never truly left Fort Farpoint Valley. Before RID took over, they weakened considerably, preventing any concerted effort on their part to oppose Hel’mut. Now, they were reorganizing, and desired to reestablish a foothold in our very city. I viewed this as the epitome of arrogance. Gawau and his “GHOSTS” may have been early supporters of Farpoint Valley, but I believed it was haughty of them to expect Fort Farpoint Valley to be rolled out before them in its previous condition, after they themselves already spent many, many months neglecting the city. As we saw it, GHOST had already conceded any right to influence the city. Where were they when Ramona was mayor, and the metropolis entered a long period of stagnant economic and social decline? In the end, it was RID who stepped forward to not only seize control of the city, but turn it into the military stronghold we desired it to be.

Of course, the Ghosts of the Republic were secretly supportive of the Rebellion, and did not agree with the direction RID was taking the city. In our eyes, that was all the more reason to prevent them from gaining power. We were Imperials, and we were not willing to see them undo our months of hard work transforming Fort Farpoint Valley into an Imperial safe haven. During the meeting, I regretfully informed Gawau that he would not, nor should he expect to win the current election. I urged him to step down, in order to prevent an unnecessarily divisive political struggle. Upset by my rather straightforward demand, I recall the meeting coming to an end, and Gawau and his friend angrily leaving the office. Following this meeting, the possibility of a civil war erupting seem imminent. However, GHOST was unwilling to partake in any hostile activities. Instead, Gawau and his supporters disseminated propaganda which discredited RID’s control over the city. Rebel insurgents who supported an overthrow of Imperial dominion over Fort Farpoint Valley emerged from the shadows to support Gawau’s candidacy. VII was one such organization which rallied behind Gawau. As more supporters began to vote for Gawau, and tide of the election began to turn against Hel’mut.

Pledging to safeguard Fort Farpoint Valley from this insurgency, we rallied the support of Fort Farpoint Valley’s loyal Imperial citizens. We also began launching an enrollment program to introduce new Imperial and neutral citizens to the city, many of whom cast their vote in favor of Hel’mut, the incumbent mayor. Although these enrollment efforts were proving successful, they also served as a source of contention for our opposition. Bawi Seida, an ardent supporter of Gawau, took to the public HoloNet to accuse RID of partaking in what they believed to be dubious election practices. Bawi essentially accused RID of illegitimately “buying” votes from these newly introduced citizens. He furthermore believed the election was not fair and balanced, as only Hel’mut had administrative control over Fort Farpoint Valley. No other citizens were allowed these powers, thus rendering it difficult for an opposing party to launch an equitable election campaign. In light of this, Bawi believed that the Farpoint Valley he knew and loved was dead. He believed it was futile to launch an election against the entrenched powers of RID, and that the Ghosts of the Republic, and their other supporters, should instead leave the city to seek refuge elsewhere. Bawi’s public statements did quite a bit to harm RID’s reputation. Up until then, the election in Fort Farpoint Valley was largely kept quiet, as we saw it as an internal affair.

However, when the many other citizens of the galaxy heard what Bawi had to say, RID was put on the defensive. People were beginning to see RID as the aggressive party, seeking to undermine the will of the populace. Nisdain, one of our old enemies, even stepped forward to criticize our actions, considering them to be “illegal.” T’omo Aedon, a long time citizen of Farpoint Valley, also stepped forward in Gawau’s support. Other individuals likened RID’s actions as “immoral,” if not technically illegal. One compared my actions to those of Weifert. Jeric, another supporter of Gawau who witnessed Hel’mut introducing a new Imperial citizen to Fort Farpoint Valley, curtly asked Hel’mut, “When are you going to fix the city?” And when Jeric accused the new Imperial citizen of being one of our bribed lackeys, the citizen cursed Jeric, and insisted that he was willingly moving into Fort Farpoint Valley on his own accord. Indeed, RID was not buying votes. We did move new Imperial and neutral citizens into Fort Farpoint Valley, but we never ordered them to vote for Hel’mut. We merely informed them that an election was taking place, and that a vote for Hel’mut would be greatly appreciated. In any case, it came as no surprise that most of the individuals criticizing RID were in fact Rebel sympathizers. Most Imperials were either ambivalent about the election, or had kind words to say about RID. Ramona, the former mayor of Farpoint Valley, remained largely neutral in the debate. Erougn Eomeir of RID came to my defense, insisting that RID would not have taken over Farpoint Valley in the first place, if GHOST had not rendered the place a “ghost town” (pun intended, on his part). I too attempted to defend our actions. It was not as though Gawau and his supporters were acting honorably. We even received reports from some of Fort Farpoint Valley’s citizens that Gawau was attempting to buy them out. Some of our newer citizens were even being harassed by Gawau’s supporters.

We remained firm in our conviction to maintain control over Fort Farpoint Valley. Over the course of the election campaign, Hel’mut continued to gain more votes. It became more and more clear that Hel’mut would emerge victorious over Gawau, if only slightly. However, Gawau did not admit defeat quite yet. Although he and his supporters already had made the decision to abandon Fort Farpoint Valley, and move elsewhere, Gawau continued to remain in the election. When Hel’mut curiously asked Gawau why he was continuing to campaign for votes, when he already made the decision to abandon Fort Farpoint Vallley, Gawau replied, “Because it’s driving you nuts, obviously.” At this point, Gawau was not seriously interested in winning the election to better the lives of Fort Farpoint Valley’s citizens. He was merely running in order to divide the city, and turn its citizens against one another. Even the election against Mul-bi was not this impassioned. Fortunately, this mayhem would be short lived. After about a couple more weeks, Hel’mut Yovel emerged victorious, retaining his mayoral office. Although he did not win by a vast majority, it was a victory all the same.

To his credit, after Hel’mut officially won the election, Gawau and his supporters did not contest the results any further. Instead, he and his supporters finally left the city and relocated to the city of Tergill on Naboo. Although this exodus of citizens did result in a reduction to our tax base, their departure meant that most of the remaining citizens were true Imperial supporters, or apolitical settlers. We no longer had to worry about GHOST, now that they were hidden away in their distant corner of Naboo. Nevertheless, some insurrectionists remained. In the weeks to come, an apparent Rebel supporter by the name of Schwab entered the election against Hel’mut. However, without a sizeable body of supporters, he failed to win the election by a considerable margin.