Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 10, Section 10 - Speaker of the Republic

Coruscant, the Coruscant Galaxy.

Korusa Sector.

“Jabah pleads with anyone who can help find his kidnapped son to provide relevant information immediately.”

The holographic message flickered once, then began to play the recording on a loop. The etiquette robot relayed the distress message over and over again, while its owner watched from the side.

Palpatine never imagined this day would come, but even the mighty Hutt Jabba seemed anxious, the behemoth writhing restlessly.

“We must help Jabba—” He could sense the discomfort in the Jedi in his office as they heard this through the Force, “—this is the opportunity we’ve been looking for.”

"The Jedi must rescue Jabba's son," the Speaker stated calmly and firmly.

The holographic projection disappeared, retracting into the holographic transmitter embedded in the center of his office.

Faced with the Jedi's unanimous silence, Palpatine invited them to sit in the seats arranged in a circle around his desk.

They accepted the invitation, and the speaker carefully observed their reactions while remaining expressionless.

Mays Windu stroked his chin, one arm resting on the other across his chest, his face always bearing a furrowed brow.

This guy seems to have never been truly satisfied with anything in his life, let alone just thinking about helping Jabba the Hutt.

The other two, Prokhon and Luminara Onduli, remained silent, letting Windu express their thoughts.

Convincing Jedi to help someone like Jabba, who goes against their principles, is no easy task.

Wendu leaned back in his chair with a serious expression. "I don't like this, wasting resources on helping that criminal scum. This will be a dark day for the Republic."

“I agree, my friend,” Palpatine offered this so-called peace proposal, “but do we have any other choice? And isn’t this the best job for the Jedi? After all, nothing can escape your perception for long.”

Obviously, except for him.

Even after so many years of meticulous planning, he would sometimes feel secretly proud of his ability to act among them undetected as a hidden Sith Lord.

These idiots are completely unworthy of their title as "Guardians of the Galaxy".

"Speaker, don't you find it strange that Jabba is asking us for help?" Mace Windu made no attempt to hide his displeasure—this was hardly the tone of a Jedi. "This Hutt is definitely plotting something. Otherwise, why would someone like him—someone who can hire countless bounty hunters at will—ask the Republic for help? Why should we send a Jedi to take this risk, just for Jabba the Hutt?"

“Because a child has gone missing, Master Windu,” Palpatine replied.

He didn't need to occupy the moral high ground, but he found it incredibly amusing to do so in front of three Jedi Masters.

Jedi, when you are long gone, the Milky Way will remember you like this: blind and hypocritical, oblivious to everything before you.

It's ridiculous that you ignore him, and even more ridiculous that you ignore your own responsibilities.

“If it were a human child who had gone missing, would we even be having this discussion?” Palpatine urged. “What does the parents’ behavior have to do with the child’s plight?”

“If the father of this human child were the head of the largest criminal organization in the galaxy,” Mace Windu calmly replied, “would we even be having this discussion?”

“Yes,” the Speaker replied. “If that father controls the outer ring’s hyperspace channel, and if that father is willing to exchange the right to use the channel for our help, we need to use his channel to mobilize the army.”

Windu remained strongly opposed, saying, "I still feel uneasy. There must be something more to this kidnapping. I can sense that, given Jabba's character, this is definitely some kind of trap."

"Then you must send as many Jedi as possible...after all, you know Jabba."

“That’s impossible, Speaker,” Mace Windu shook his head slightly. “The Separatists have scattered our forces too much. We don’t have any extra Jedi to send.”

“If we cannot access the outer ring and keep the supply chain running, our fleet and military will be more dispersed,” he pointed out.

“I must agree with the Speaker,” Luminara Onduli finally broke the silence. “Regardless of the background of this kidnapping, we have no choice but to negotiate with Jaba. And there is no better opportunity to put us in a favorable position at the negotiating table.”

“It’s killing two birds with one stone,” Palpatine insisted. “You saved a child, and we saved the army.”

Wendu remained silent for a while, then reluctantly gave in.

“Well, Speaker. But we really don’t have any extra Jedi, that’s a fact,” he said thoughtfully, leaning forward. “I was going to say that Kenobi and Skywalker’s location would be perfect for a search, but they’re still attacking Christophersis. We can’t let that planet fall into the hands of the Separatists.”

“This is indeed a tricky situation,” Palpatine agreed. “We must seize Christopher’s natural resources and strategic locations at all costs. Is the resistance stronger than expected?”

“Their first attempt to reinforce ground forces was repelled,” Windu explained. “We just received word that the separatists have recently dispatched a second fleet to strengthen the blockade of the planet in response to the Kenobi’s counterattack. It will take them time to retake the planet.” This isn’t right.

Why did the blockade fleet receive reinforcements?

Dooku couldn't possibly give that order—the Republic should control Christophersis to maintain the balance of power in the outer ring.

Once the Hutts' hyperspace route falls into the hands of the Separatists, the Republic and the Confederation will fight each other for control of the Corellian route.

Is this the work of Severn Tann, the girl Thrawn sent?

When Dooku took her as his dark apprentice, he warned him to be careful of the girl.

She was more like an officer—a general—than a soldier. Tann was a gifted tool and weapon, but as a professionally trained tactician and strategist, she would never deliberately make poor military decisions to prolong a war.

That's why she doesn't know about the grand plan, and she absolutely mustn't know.

Palpatine reminded Dooku once more.

Given that the Supreme Commander must be aware of the grand plan in order to guide the war in a direction that aligns with their objectives, Dooku must expedite the rollout of Grievous.

Grievous was not particularly concerned with winning the war—this brute was only interested in killing Jedi, a motive Palpatine had no objection to.

This cyborg will obey any command as long as it leads to more Jedi deaths, and he also has relevant military experience from his home planet.

He is the perfect weapon in the grand plan.

That's why he became the Supreme Commander, not Severn Tann, not Asaj Ventress, and not that bounty hunter Dutch.

"Do you have any other candidates, Master Windu?" The Speaker did not reveal any thoughts.

“I will carry out this mission, Speaker,” Andoli suddenly said. “My apprentices can also gain experience from it. We will prepare to depart immediately.”

Mace Windu nodded vigorously, and the Jedi stood up.

They bowed politely together and left, Palpatine returning the bow as he watched them file out of the office.

Isn't it interesting? These paragons of justice, these Jedi, when they heard a child desperately needed help, didn't act immediately.

Jabba may be a corrupt and evil crime boss, but his son Rota... that child is still innocent.

It's fascinating how selective these Jedi are in displaying their legendary compassion.

However, Windu has a point.

Jabba can hire any number of bounty hunters he wants and controls an intelligence network so vast that it is the envy of the entire government.

Why did he turn to the Republic, to the Jedi, for help?

Dooku proceeded cautiously.

On the other hand, Jabba's plea for help saved time for his plans to sow discord between him and the Republic.

The Jedi have taken the bait, and now it will be much easier to frame them for kidnapping Jabba's son, Lota.

From a broader perspective, this was just one of many tactics Palpatine used to manipulate the ebb and flow of the war until the opportune moment.

Palpatine will be able to end the war and the Jedi Order itself when the Jedi are at their weakest.

However, Palpatine hoped everything would go smoothly and that the little Hutt would be returned unharmed after completing its mission.

After all, the Huttite Rota may become another potential ally in the distant future.

But if something happens to this poor little guy... alas, there are always innocent casualties in war.

Now that the Republic has accepted Jabba's request for help, if such a thing were to actually happen, the Hutts would be even more determined to stand on the anti-Republic side.

Palpatine lightly touched the communicator on his desk. "I want to speak with Lord Jabba. I am the Speaker of the Republic."

(End of this chapter)