Education

[Kiro]

[OOC: This thread is open for anyone to post their reactions and thoughts about the broadcast.]

Across the galaxy, every holoprojector and computer hooked up to the HoloNet and capable of picking up an Imperial signal flickered to life, and revealed the familiar figure of Director Raide Vakri of the Imperial Diplomatic Corps. It was a face every member of the Imperium knew. As usual, she was dressed in the classy uniform of the IDC, but unlike most of her broacasts, the petite blonde Director wasn't seated behind a desk and looking every bit the professional. Instead, she was lounging in a far more comfortable and ergonomic chair. And seated next to her was an aging, slight corpulent, Rodian in flowing robes of office.

"Greetings, dear citizens of the Imperium," Raide begins, her warm and friendly voice being heard on several thousand planets and by uncounted trillions of sentient beings. "I thank you all for watching on this most auspicious of days. As I'm sure you all know by now, I am Raide Vakri of the Imperial Diplomatic Corps and the Bureau of Information, and I am here in our studio at Anaxes, joined by my dear friend and colleague, Mar'noa, the Director of the Imperial Office of Education. Thank you for coming, old friend."

"Oh, my pleasure my dear!" The Rodian replies in near flawless Basic, bowing his head to the petite blonde. "I wouldn't miss it for all the grain of Dantooine!"

Raide smiles brightly in turn to the Rodian and takes a brief sip of water, before leaning back in her chair, a datapad and stylus in her hands. "Indeed, for today is a rather important day for not just the both of us, but the entire Imperium, is it not?"

"Indeed, indeed!" He chirps, his antennaes twitching rapidly in excitement. "Today, we just recieved the results of the sixth annual Imperial Scholarship Program for the Unfortunate and Underprivileged! As you know, having helped me found the entire program under the new Imperial government, this program interviews trillions of children and youths across the Imperium whom sadly are less fortunate than most of our citizens and live in conditions that might well be considered inferior and squallid, and examines potential of these children. Should they meet our requirements, they will be granted a scholarship from the Imperium, and be guaranteed a top level education!" Mar'noa explains, his voice quite animated and excited.

"Indeed. Now, the Galactic Alliance, the corrupt and failing government the Imperium replaced, had a similar program as well, did they not, when you served as the Junior Deputy Minister of Education?" Raide queries, watching her colleague with a soft smile on her attractive and kindly features.

"Indeed they did. However, the Alliance's program focused only on a child's academic potential, and was decidedly more restrictive, compared to that of the Imperium. Now, the Imperial Scholarship program does examine academic potential, but also their potential in several other branches, such as sports, art, creativity, and even their potential for future law enforcement. This means a far larger percentage of children will be given scholarships than under the Alliance."

"And this is why we created the Scholarship program in the first place, to help the poor and unfortunte children across our Imperium, and hopefully one day the entire galaxy, make a future for themselves, and hopefully usher in a future were every child can grow up in comfort, peace, and recieve a propper education. And as it just happens, I have the data of the results of this year's scholarship grant right here." Raide continues, before gesturing to the datapad in her hand. The blonde diplomat taps her stylus twice on her datapad, before smiling brightly.

"Today was a good year, my dear friend. The program granted over one and a half million scholarship to poor children and orphans across the Imperium, with an amazing ten thousand being accepted and enrolled into the illustrious Imperial Academy of Anaxes, or a promised a future at the academy once they reach the required age to begin their studies. The rest are spread across the many quality universities, schools, and sporting academies across the Imperium."

"It warms my old heart to think of all those children being rescued from poverty and a grim and dismal future, and given a genuine future. I can't wait to see them all at the first day of school!"

"So true, my old friend!" Raide replies with a genuine and warm smile to the Rodian before turning to face the camera directly again. "So, there you have it, my fellow citizens. One and a half million children having been rescued from squallor and a dark and uncertain future, and given a far more promising one where they will be able to forge a bright new future and careers equal to any privilieged Imperial citizen. Thank you for your time. We will now be returning to your regularly scheduled program."

 

[Dominus Maximus]

Raun Krynid made his way through the academy’s hallway, on his way to the archives, when a flash of bright light and a sudden burst of loud Imperium music caught his attention. It was hard not to be unaware of the holoprojector placed in the corridor; the Imperium broadcast stations always had a flare for the dramatic. Though he wasn’t the type to care about anything else besides spending time in the archives, a familiar face caught his attention, as well as his curiosity: Director Raide Vakri of the I.D.C.

Raun knew that the director had this uncanny ability of following the passions and the prejudices of her crowds. Whenever she spoke, the masses moved, like how a pebble would summon a ripple when dropped into a pool. What’s more, Raun could sense a fracture on her, like he does with many of the high-ranking members of the Imperium. If those fractures were to be acted upon by its enemies, the Imperium will falter, if not crumble. Raun always found such fractures fascinating to observe. That and the overweight Rodian the Director was talking to seemed like an awfully humorous sight to him.

The pair in the holoprojector conversed about a new program the Imperium was launching. It was a scholarship program for the less fortunate, or so people are being led to believe. Raun saw this as an opportunity for the Imperium to not only reinforce its ranks significantly, but also to reduce the economic difficulties brought about by the impoverished sectors of the Imperium. A clever move, Raun would admit. Unfortunately, however, this might bring about a huge number of inexperienced or incompetent soldiers and officers, perhaps an entire generation of them. Still, quantity is its own quality, as a long-dead Alliance politician once said.

As the Director began to go through the closing remarks, Raun couldn’t help but stare at her aesthetically pleasing façade. Even after the broadcast had ended, Raun could still see her face. He shook his head. What sorcery was that? Suddenly, Raun remembered what his agendas were and made his way to the archives, apathetic to the reforms the Imperium was making. All he needed was a good read, and he couldn’t care less if the galaxy burned around him.

 

[Tara Bronwyn]

Tara was happy to actually get a broadcast. Tattoine got the news about as often as one would think it would and even then, it tended to be baised to say the least. So the fact she got anything at all was something, at least this place picked up a signal which meant some one had bothered to shovel out the sand at least one today, a fact which pleased her just a little. For the moment she would be happy to at least be able to view something important to the galaxy as a whole.

She leaned in order to better see what this one was about. Something to spend the time, and as soon as she had committed herself, she almost wished she hadn't. She was no fan of the sith to start with and she was fairly certain that no one in their right mind would be stupid enough to actually believe that this was being done out of the goodness of their hearts. She snorted at the screen, not that any one on the otherside could hear her anyway.

Tara leaned back in her seat, watching the speech, she made a mental note that some one ought to do something about the sith. She made a mental note to take steps to get around to that. However, for the moment, she was not getting that done, there were other things to take up her attention, for now. However, she would have to take steps to remove over eager sith in certain sections of space.

 

[Wit]

Jace was flicking through channels, trying to find one that Dejah would like enough to not start pestering him every two seconds to change it. He could have simply put on and watched something that he liked, but though she could not actually touch the controls to change the channel, Dejah could touch him and send a small shock up his body if she tried really hard, and she had started getting really good at it since they had first discovered that she could do that.

It was in between one of her spurts of talkativeness that he stumbled upon the broadcast, sushing Dejah as he tried to hear what the Vakri woman was saying. "Jace Darkstart," Dejah said with mock indignation, "did you just shush me, looks like you need another round of shock treatment." She quitened down when she noticed the serious look on his face and turned to the holoscreen to see what had caught his attention, a soft Oh escaping her lips as she recognized the woman on the broadcast.

He didn't say anything till the broadcast was finished or even after, which worried Dejah a little as she started to wonder if he was seriously thinking of buying into the Sith propoganda, because that's what this was, propoganda. "One and a half million children saved from squalor," she whispered softly, "what about the billions upon billions of children who died when that witch burned Coruscant to the ground? The countless others who died in the war they started?"

Jace turned his head to look at the ghostly form of the woman he had loved, and saw the pain and sorrow etched on her beautiful features. She was right, the Sith might try to act nice and turn public perception in their favor, but regardless of what they did now, they had innumerable crimes to pay for. They had much to answer for, and it was for him and others like him, those who could see through their lies for what they were, to stand up and do something about it.

"Don't worry," he said as he switched off the holoscreen, "someday, they will be brought to justice for all they have done. After all, weren't you the one who always said that in the end good will always triumph over evil?" Dejah looked up at him and say the smile on his face and felt her own heart lift. Even if she could no longer do anything about it, he could, and he knew from the earnest look on his face that he would.

 

[Dmitri]

Like usual, Raide Vakri knew how to put on a show. Elegant and dramatic, yet informative. She managed to promote the benevolence of the Imperium along with subtly showing the inferiority of the defunct Galactic Alliance. Still, it wasn't like it was all a ploy. The Imperium really was helping those in need. The more people with knowledge and skills, the more they can benefit society. That in turn leads to less poverty, so at least in theory, one that Geist supported. In fact, he had sponsored a few of the mentioned scholarships. The Geist Weiss Scholarship, for example, focused on individuals seeking the arts. Even outside the Imperium he had a few scholarships out there. From his days as the Scivinir of Education for the Systems Commonwealth, there was the Dmitri Valentyne Scholarship. The Skeith Centrality had weakened since the Centrality had been annexed by the Imperium, but still had some of its programs running, including the Christian Shepherd Scholarship. Education was the path to opening doorways. Not everyone could just slay their competition as some Sith did.

Sitting in his office aboard Parjai, he had listened intently. It had been a nice break from The Crucible, which he served as Master of Ceremonies for under the name Ran na-Mevrain. It allowed citizens something to see between the preliminaries and the final round, the Forge of Force. He chuckled as his mind compared the broadcast to a commercial between Spaceball matches.

"Continue the good work, Director," Geist complimented. "The age of Sith tyranny is in the past. Order and stability are the way to go, and that is done by lessening those in the lower classes. Knowledge, after all, is power."

 

[Inquisitor Isha]

Alaria Celina strolled slowly through the academy’s hallway, on her way outside her hood pulled up to cover her face in a dark shadow, only her chin and plush lips where really visible for any onlooker. She paused as she noticed the holoprojector flickering to life with the familiar face of Director Vakri, the usual imperial fanfare catching her attention initially though the Director captivated it wholly as she stood still with a small smile on her black painted lips.

She stood perfectly still as she watched and listened attentively, her gloved hands held together in front of her self standing at pretty casual attention as she found her self at least to her knowledge mostly alone right now. Her lips curl into a bright smile as she listens unable to suppress it, as she realized the elaborate nature of what was being done here “Knowledge is Power” she softly said. Talking to her self with a soft chuckle, and to no one else in particular.

Leaning her head back a little as she caught a last glimpse of the Director before the holoprojector flickered off to its usual programming once more, her amber eyes stared for a second longer as she gave the message some more thought, suppressing a light smirk that tried to form on her features, continuing on her way out of the academy, allowing her hood to fall forwards again to obscure most of her face once again.