The Liberator/Part 23

Day 81 of the Occupation of Milagro

"Milagroans shouldn't be afraid of words," Zemma Rufos insisted. "The Republic's presence here is the only thing keeping Milagro safe from the return of the Sith. General Darakhan has proven as good as his word, and I for one trust it still."

"The Republic's occupation here is keeping the Republic safe," her opponent countered at once. "The same way the Sith presence kept the deeper recesses of Gasald's territory safe—as a buffer. The Republic—"

"That was a mistake," Raven commented. "She shouldn't have given him the opening."

"What's she to say?" retorted Raina. "'No, it's not really an occupation, we just called it that so we could put someone to death without a trial'?"

Raven sighed. They sat in the hotel suite the Milagroans had given Raina, watching the debate by holo. Both were dressed down—Raina in a simple wrap dress over leggings, Raven a doublet unbuttoned at the collar and slacks—though both wore simple, fashionable belts with their comlinks and lightsabers attached. Raina had dropped her hair from the severe bun she had affected since being seated as a tribunal judge; Raven thought it made his sister look more Human, though the stern austerity of her daily look was probably the point.

"Are we going to have this discussion again, Ray?"

Raina regarded him long enough that he understood her continuing disapproval, but she shook her head, and Raven sensed her clearing her mind. Picking up her wine glass, she took a sip. "No, let's not."

They turned back to the debate in time to catch the Free Milagro Party candidate say, "—rely on General Darakhan, General Darakhan won't always be here, and who's to say we can trust his successor as much?"

The moderator nodded. "We'll now move on to closing statements. Acting Prime Minister Rufos won the toss-up and has elected to conclude second.  Mr. Kolayd, your closing remarks?"

"Thank you. We must remember—"

"—that freedom is the foremost virtue in Milagroan hearts," Raven said, muting the feed.

Raina's lips twisted; Raven recognized his sister's look of being caught between the smirk she wanted to show and the scowl she felt obliged to. After a moment the smirk got the better of the contest and she added, "Freedom is the foremost value underlying the essential nature of democracy."

"And true freedom can not be achieved by submission to a foreign confederation, no matter how beneficent it may appear," Raven concluded.

He held out his wine glass, Raina clinked it with hers, and they both drank.

"She'll be elected," Raina said.

"Of course she will, but that isn't the point," Raven replied. "She's the voice of the pro-Republic movement; her single election is less significant than the broader showing of the party. The 'fors' have to outnumber the 'againsts'."

"Polling supports that result, doesn't it?" Raina asked as she swirled the red wine in her glass. Like most luxury goods on Milagro, it was an import; the Sith had confiscated the majority of high-end goods during their reign, and though Mali had broken open their stores and given the luxuries back to the people, that by itself could not revitalize Milagro's flagging leisure industries.

"The election is still four days away," Raven reminded her. "Even on Coruscant a lot can happen in four days, let alone here, in the first election cycle after invasion and occupation."

"Ah, but we're not after occupation, brother," Raina pointed out. "As Mr. Kolayd has pointed out…eight times?"

Raven sighed. "I counted seven, but I'm sure there's been at least one in his closing."

Raina did not look sympathetic. "Rufos did this to herself."

Raven was committed to not refighting the battle, so he unmuted the holo just as Zemma Rufos was warming up in her closing. "We've brought Milagro through the Sith conquest," she was saying. "Mr. Kolayd speaks of what we'll lose by joining the Republic, but we can not forget that if it wasn't for the Republic, neither he nor I would be here debating it. Jossi Feld and I, Doctor Enkfolo, Speaker Tafen, Sergeant Sepzee and Commander Beethar, Pastor Jeh-Kro…we all led beings through the era of Sith domination, but all of us lost brave souls to Sith tyranny before General Darakhan helped us throw off our oppressors.  We have an obligation to their memory to ensure they didn't die in vain."

"That was well said," Raina conceded, sitting forward and holding her wine glass in both hands.

"Bringing in all the Resistance leaders, even the ones who don't support her?"

"And appealing to the memory of the dead."

Raven grimaced. "Speaking of the dead, did you see the report about the terrorist attack?"

"Another one?"

"Yes, another fire-bombing. A patrol squad of Republic soldiers this time.  Two dead, one critical.  The fourth one seems to be all right."

"I remember there was some sort of propellant bomb outside the tribunal the day Ssron escaped…"

"The Free Milagro Only protestor?" Raven shook his head. "I heard, but it sounds like this is something different. It was a suburb of Derresor, and that's where the Marines recruiting office was fire-bombed two weeks ago."

"I doubt Free Milagro Only is just a capital area movement," Raina observed. "There wasn't one unified Resistance to the Sith, why should there be one terrorist campaign against the Republic?"

Raven nodded, turning his attention back to the holo. Like Mali, Zemma Rufos was a soldier, and even months of leading Milagro in the tentative post-Sith peace had not made her more loquacious. But her speech—filled with clear, direct language, and impassioned without becoming fervid—showed her experience motivating beings and stirring them to action. Camera cutaways to the audience revealed the impact of Rufos's words, and she finished to a swell of applause.

Raina turned the feed off rather than sit through the commentary, and for a few moments they sat in silence, drinking and reflecting. Eventually Raven asked, "How badly has dar Grosskis's death affected the tribunals?"

Raina gave him a long-suffering look. "You know I can't discuss it, Raven."

The tutelage of nobility allowed Raven to stop himself before he rolled his eyes, though it was a nearer thing than it might once have been; he wondered if he had spent too much time around Mali and Aldayr. "I'm not asking you to discuss your views, I just meant in a general sense."

"'How badly ' suggests there's a right outcome beyond merely 'the just one'."

Through a supreme effort of will, Raven restrained himself from saying there is; he knew how seriously his sister took her duties, all the more because she was the only non-jurist on the panel. "Excuse my carelessness. How has dar Grosskis's death affected the tribunals?"

Raina swirled the wine in her glass. "The prosecution hasn't asked to dismiss any charges."

"Do the other defendants seem any different after Ssron's death?"

"As in, was he affecting them too?" Raina shook her head. "If he was, I've seen no evidence of it."

Raven thought it unlikely he could push his sister much further, so he settled back in his chair. He was just thinking of excusing himself when there was a knock at the door and Renata stepped in. "Master, I—oh, I'm sorry, Raven, I didn't know you were still here."

Raven opened his mouth to reassure her, but Raina beat him to the punch. "Why not?"

"Master?"

"Why didn't you know Raven was here? You know my brother better than any Jedi other than me, can you not feel his presence?"

"I…" Renata looked hard at Raven, and he felt her reaching out with the Force. "I can."

"So why didn't you?"

Raina's expression was inquisitive—Raven had never heard her raise her voice to her Padawan, or even betray much emotion when correcting her—but Renata still flushed. "I guess I didn't think about it. I assumed I wouldn't—"

"'I assumed' can be the ruin of Jedi," Raina cautioned her. "Don't assume and don't guess, Padawan. Know, and put the effort into attaining knowledge until it becomes second nature."

"Yes, Master," Renata said, bowing her head in contrition. Like Raina, she wore her long hair loose at the end of the day, though her Padawan braid was tied separately and she was still in her tough Jedi garb.

Raina nodded. "What may we do for you, Renata?"

"I just wanted to see if there was anything you needed before I went to bed, Master."

Raina thought for a moment, then said, "I want you to ponder…"

Raven kept his smile tucked at the corner of his lips; Renata made no sound, but Raven could hear her mind groaning in the Force. Raina raised an eyebrow, then said, "Imagine you are able to secure a conflict-altering victory over the Sith—Mizra the other way, if you will. In order to do so, however, you're required to act in such a way that an entire non-sentient species goes extinct.  What are your considerations, and what do you do?  And then, what if you learned that in a thousand years, left to its own devices, that species would become sentient—would that change your answer?  And why or why not?  Ponder that."

Renata sighed and bowed. "Yes, Master. Good night, Master.  Good night Raven."

"Good night, Renata," the twins answered in unison.

"You do love tormenting her," Raven observed when Renata was gone.

"Our teachers did it to us," Raina reminded him. "She's spent so much time with Mali, I have to make sure she's more than just a warrior. Jedi are called to more than just skill at arms."

"Mali's not just a brute."

"No, he's not. But he had her as a receptionist when Aldayr was gone; that's hardly observing the scope and complexity of all the things he does here."

Raven nodded. "Granted. But I still think Mizra has been good for her.  Broadening—"

"Milagro."

Raven frowned. "What did I say?"

"Mizra."

The twins shared a look, and understanding passed from mind to mind without words. It had come to Raina at once when she needed an example, and it had clung to Raven's unconscious mind after she had voiced it. Mizra was a shadow upon the whole Jedi Order, but all the more for Jedi named Kaivalt.

"Anyway," Raven pressed on, "Milagro has broadened her. She's seen and done things here a Padawan needs to see and do, and early in her apprenticeship, too.  And, odd as it sounds, in some ways Milagro is…"

"…healthier for her," Raina completed. "No, I agree. I thought it would be."