Golden Age of the Republic: Hidden Truths/Part 1

Chapter 1
"Nevermore will the Republic stand if the corrupt condemn us to bureaucracy."

- Senator Servius Valorum

Above Coruscant, aboard the Averre
Free from the Coruscant gravity well, the Republic cruiser Averre sailed away from the planet. The red Consular-class space cruiser, which measured 115 meters long, was a new release designed for Senators and diplomats of the Republic. Standing alone at the front of the bridge was a man of tall stature, hair graying. Even though he stood with his feet apart, His military stoicism chilled the room. His arms were joined behind his back as he stared forward, out the transparisteel window and into empty space. Immediately in front of him was another male, piloting the craft away from the planet. The pilot acted dutifully, preparing the vessel for hyperspace. After entering the proper coordinates and prepping the vessel, he turned to the man behind him and nodded.

No signal was given to the pilot for action and both remained in silence. The remainder of the vessel was all but empty. Other than an array of supplies for travel and tools which populated the storage areas, only one other individual and two droids were on board. The individual was meditating in the privacy of an upper deck state room. A utility droid was working in the navigation room, and lastly, a maintenance droid was cleaning a lonely lower deck corridor. Eerie silence filled the remaining areas of the cruiser, which normally used a crew ranging from four to eight and carried upwards of twelve other passengers.

After two minutes of silence, the tall man spoke to his pilot. "Danstari," he spoke in a matter-of-fact manner, "proceed with the jump to hyperspace. We have work to do."

"Yes, Senator Valorum," the pilot replied without turning around. He then reached to his right, engaging the hyperdrive. The cruiser promptly obliged and entered hyperspace without fanfare. A few moments passed before Danstari stood, feeling secure about the vessel's status, and passed the still stoic Senator. He did not address or even regard the Senator as he passed him. Rather, he swiftly exited the cockpit and entered the navigation room. Senator Valorum remained, standing, peering out the cockpit window.

Inside the navigation room, Danstari saw the small MR-series utility droid accessing the vessel's central computer. The droid, officially named MR-A7, stood around one meter tall, with a body that was nearly identical to the long-successful T3-series models. The T3 model had been upgraded to include a better processor and programming along with stronger structure, without sacrificing size and versatility. In appearance, however, the MR droids were nearly identical in appearance to their T3 predecessor.

The droid turned its head clockwise, acknowledging Danstari's entrance, but continued working. It was browsing Republic records for information on Senators and their associates. After three minutes of daydreaming, Danstari's boredom got the better of him. "We're on our way to the Moddell sector, Emra. What are you up to? Need help?"

The small droid beeped quietly, and undocked from the central computer's access port. Turning around, it moved toward Danstari, stopping a mere finger width from his feet. It tilted its quasi-cylindrical head upward, looking at the young man who was responsible for piloting the ship. He was only around thirty standard years of age, with dark brown hair, deep brown skin and a rugged complexion. He wore the standard dark blue outfit for Republic security personnel who were a part of the Judicial Forces.

"What do you want Emra? I wasn't trying to stop your work." He spoke to the droid. Emra beeped cheerfully, indicating that everything assigned had been completed. Now, the droid needed to report to the Senator.

"Oh, so you want to see the Senator. He's still in the cockpit. I hope you know what's going on, because I have no idea. Why were we trying to leave the system so secretly?"

Emra simply responded with declining tones showing its lack of knowledge on the matter as well. Senator Valorum was commanding this vessel's mission, but he had not divulged any information to the others aboard. Rather, he remained silent, promising to explain the mission later. Danstari moved from the doorway, allowing Emra to freely access the cockpit. The utility droid dutifully approached the Senator, circuits quietly whirring and whizzing. The Senator appeared unphased by Emra's approach, but eventually turned and knelt before the droid. He put his left hand upon the droid's head and spoke, "Thank you, Emra. Now, I want you to gather everyone. Tell them to meet in the salon. I think it is time we have a quick meeting about this mission."

Emra beeped affirmatively, but did not move initially. The Senator stood and resumed his prior stance. Upon seeing this, Emra turned and left the cockpit. It traveled down the corridor, past the navigation room, and into a computer room. There, it plugged into another access port for the Averre's central computer. Using the central computer as a translator into Basic, the droid had messages sent via comlink to the other two passengers. The message was simply, "Senator Valorum requests your presence in the salon pod for a mission briefing."

The droid understood that this mission was of utmost urgency and secrecy. It had been asked to search for information in Republic records and the Senator's personal files regarding select individuals. Now, it was undoubtedly needed to relay that information which was retrieved. Emra undocked from the central computer and exited the room. Strolling down the eerily calm corridor, it beeped and whirred, haplessly breaking the silence. After meandering through the ship, it arrived at the salon pod. The droid unlocked the entrance to the pod and entered as the doorway whisked open. It engaged the lights in the salon meeting room, illuminating expanse, and allowed the doorway to close.

The meeting room was round, with a dome-like ceiling and had chairs and tables that were configurable for small or large meetings up to sixteen people. When Emra entered, there was one large vaguely rectangular table surrounded by sixteen chairs, with a hologram projector at the far end. The room used only ambient lighting rather than direct lighting, and had transparisteel windows on the forward end of the room which were sealed by secondary, durasteel doors.

As Emra took a position at the far end of the room, the door to the salon whisked open again. Danstari strutted into the chamber, looking around. He stalled a moment, then moved toward a seat near the back end of the table. He reclined and propped his feet up onto the solid table surface.

"Maybe we'll get some answers, Emra." Danstari chirped.

Emra beeped a response of affirmation.

"I can't wait. This might be the reassignment I was told about last week." He continued.

Suddenly, the door whirled open again. A pale-blue skinned figure wearing a brown and beige robe entered. She had white feathers for hair and deep blue eyes. She was an Omwati, but most notably, she was a Jedi and friend of the Senator. Emra excitedly produced an array of sounds at her arrival.

"Someone's happy." Danstari said, looking at the droid.

"Hello, Emra." The Jedi said as she walked forward, smiling. Then, extending her right hand toward Danstari, she pushed his legs off the table through the Force. "Bored, Danstari?" She smarted with a broad grin.

"That's not fair, Master Shalli. You can't use the Force in the salon." Danstari retorted.

Suddenly, the door whisked open again. Senator Valorum had arrived. Emra plugged into the holoprojector and prepared for the meeting. The Senator, stoic yet visibly troubled, took a seat next to Emra at the head of the table. Master Shalli then sat a couple of seats down, on the opposite side as Danstari.

"I am going to get directly to the point&hellip;" the Senator began. "As you know, part of my duties as Senator has been to serve as chair for the Senate Ethics Committee. In doing so, I uncovered evidence of substantial corruption among a couple of our government officials. Much of it was given through anonymous sources that have since proven factual or trustworthy. I reported all of my findings to the director of the Government Investigative Network and have turned the investigation over to his leading. The Director, in turn, has assigned his top investigator to the case."

"This must be big-time, then." Danstari interjected.

"It is, Danstari. It is." The Senator replied. "Now, Emra, please pull up Senator Hanik Regueny."

Emra beeped and an image appeared on the holoprojector of Senator Regueny. The droid also prepared information for Senator Valorum, and it appeared below the image.

Valorum scratched the back of his head, then continued. "Senator Hanik Regueny. He is a senior Senator from Commenor. He was elected thirty-two years ago and is one of the longest-termed officials in our government. He has never been accused of bribery or other corruption charges during his tenure, thus far, and is widely thought to be clean by other Senators. I have strong reason to believe, however, that he has his hand in quite a few dirty deals such as a spice ring, a weapons smuggling scheme and possibly even more sinister actions."

"Wait&hellip;" Master Shalli asked, her face with a crumpled expression. "He is smuggling weapons? What military could he smuggling for?"

"Not quite sure," Valorum responded. "Commenor has a menial defense force like most planets."

Master Shalli was unsatisfied. "Military forces were intentionally downsized almost three hundred years ago."

Senator Valorum continued, "That is true. The Ruusan Reformation did cause military forces to be designated for planetary defense only, and the Republic military was all but dissolved. So, your conjecture is as good as any, Master Shalli. The evidence is strong, though."

"Perhaps," Danstari interjected, peering at the holo-image, "he has no intent of using them himself. Perhaps he is planning to sell them to the Hutts or anti-Republic dissidents."

Emra created sounds of shock and sorrow, then changed the holo-image from Regueny to that of his known contacts, most of them Senators.

"That is what we need to find out, Danstari." Valorum remarked. "I have long believed that Regueny was in the Senate to better society and the people of Commenor. If he is smuggling weapons or participating in illegal weapons transactions, then he needs to be punished. Anonymous sources and tips given to me indicate his wealth has increased substantially from various places across the galaxy in the last standard year. He has received a substantial number of credits from Fondor, Kuat, Nar Shaadda, Outer Rim crime havens, and, most surprisingly, Umbara. We do not know what these credits are for, but he has paid a substantial amount out, as well. Most of the money has gone to mercenaries and known drug smugglers."

"Why don't we arrest him on charges of funding drug smuggling?" Master Shalli inquired.

The Senator sighed and sat back in his seat. Soberly, he responded, "At this point, it appears to be a minor deal compared to the larger weapons ring he appears to be involved in. Strictly speaking, any weapons ring greatly concerns the G. I. N. Director."

"So, Senator, how do we fit into this?" Danstari asked. "I take it we left Coruscant because we have this information."

"We are meeting with the top investigator in the G. I. N. on Mina in the Moddell sector," the Senator answered. "The G. I. N. Director directly assigned her to this case. A new team is being formed under her command, and it includes both of you and Emra. This investigation is completely top secret. Other than the Director of the G. I. N., myself, and those involved, no one knows about this information or the investigation."

Emra let out sounds of curiosity and beeped wildly. She noticed the Senator quietly place his hand on her head while he continued. "I am meeting with other members of my security detail on Mina and will return to Coruscant after you both have been dispatched. I will make certain Emra contains all the information your lead investigator will need when you disembark from this ship. Danstari, you already knew that you were going to be reassigned to G. I. N., and this is now your reassigned status. Shalli, the Director of G. I. N. wanted a skilled Jedi on the team. You were chosen, should you be willing to accept."

Master Shalli did not appear shocked. Rather, she sat back and responded plainly. "The Jedi Council informed me yesterday that you would be providing me another mission. I suppose this is it. I have no objections to taking this mission."

Danstari shrugged then his expression changed to confusion. "So, who is this lead investigator?"

The Senator rose and made a motion toward Emra. The small droid, knowing the signal, turned off the holoprojector and undocked from the machine. "Ironically, an old friend of mine. So, I will be forfeiting any further involvement in this investigation unless it is absolutely required of me."

As the Senator began walking toward the door, Emra followed his steady gait. The Senator strode to the doorway, and opened it. As he was about to leave, he turned and said, "Special Agent Evening Delwynn. I highly suggest you address her 'Agent Delwynn.'"