One of us!

[Mida Zebb]

"The Senator of Commenor is dispatched to Anaxes to convince the Senator of Anaxes to reconsider and join the Republic. There have been intelligence reports of Mandalorians targeting Anaxes as it’s not under the protection of any larger force right now. Will the Senator be convinced or remain stubborn in his ways?"

​

The senatorial transport shuttle was escorted by a Republic fighter escort while it approached Anaxes, which was only ordered to break away at the last moment before entering sovereign Anaxes space. Onboard the shuttle were various supporting personnel, most notable a human who received his commission as one of the new Republic admirals only last week. Mida hoped that this human's report about the Mandalorian threat assessment was enough to convince his old colleague to join the Republic.

Mida quite admired the view as the shuttle made its way to the office tower of Senator Hask-Starr and yet the abundance of Imperials seals and symbols also did not escape his notice. No wonder the senator had voted against the Republic and remain true to what he thought was still the predominant culture in the Core. Still, perhaps he overestimated the loyalty of other former Imperial Republica planets when it came to the legacy of Andraste's Empire and never expected his vote to bring him nothing but isolation.

Only when the shuttle had landed did the aged Abednedo snap out of his pondering and turned to his senior aide to give a small nod. "Only the admiral and myself will meet with Senator Hask-Starr," he said with a gentle smile. His support staff had been there to prepare him for the meeting and to make good use of the flight back to Chandrila, but that was as far as they went. No one liked their office getting crowded.

Thus together with the Admiral he made his way down the ramp. He knew that the manner in which Senator Hask-Starr welcomed him would say a lot about public sentiment and Mida's chances to convince him.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gideon Hask Starr]

Things had hardly been peaceful since Senator Hask-Starr had decided to vote against Anaxes joining the Republic. There had not been any open violence, at least not any linked to his decision, but the signs where there, signs that Anaxes was on the brink of a historic choice, one that could change its future for ever. He had been in meetings almost non-stop for the past few days, several of which came back to him now as he stood in his office, mulling over the meeting to come.

One of the first engagements he had upon his return to Anaxes had naturally been with Grand Chancellor Wulff Praji-Hyporis, the planetary leader, and the person to whom Gideon reported. Wulff had served in the Imperial Armed Forces all of his life, and for many his move into politics on his homeworld had been a popular choice, for a returning 'war hero' to set things right at home. Wulff had applauded Gideons loyalty, lauding the strength of the Imperial way of life, and fimly believing that Anaxes would be fine on its own.

"You have done well Gideon, well indeed. We have nothing to fear if we keep ourselves to ourselves, keep the economy strong and ensure security at home. The Galaxy will come to us for trade and relations, once things have died down of course."​

That was what the Grand Chancellor had said. He had been supported an hour or so later when Mistress Protinass of the Anaxian Naval College, who also sat as Proctor of the Anaxian Education Directorate, had made it clear that, for millions of Anaxians, the Imperial Code, and its education system, was deeply treasured. The two meetings alone had cemented for him the belief that the Imperial way of life, was one he just could not surrender.

However, only yesterday that belief was already showing cracks, following a meeting with Duke Randil Espa III, and his son, the Grand Air Marshall of the Anaxian Navy. He had met them in the formers stately home, both informing him that the Anaxian High Command was split, half wanting to force Anaxes to isolate itself from the Republic, who they viewed as traitors to the Empire, and the other half wanting to fold into the Republic in an alliance, to save themselves from the Mandalorians.

Duke Randil had made it clear - the Anaxian Army simply was not in a position to keep them safe if the Mandalorians arrived.

Then there had been the meeting with the Corporate world, most notably the heads of the Anaxian Banks and the Shipyards, all of whom favoured some sort of deal with the Republic, stressing that the Anaxes Shipyards would be a powerful bargainig chip.

It was all getting a bit to much. Gideon had dozens of different groups pulling at him from all directions, and that was not even counting the various political parties planetside who all wanted different things. The entire affair was a complete mess, and it was his job to sort it out. The buzzer on his table went off, and Gideon answered.

"Senator Zebb of Commenor has just arrived in the atmosphere Sir." came the voice.

He did not reply, instead standing and heading to the landing bay. As he left the room, he passed a mirror, and looked at himself. He had quite literally been forged by the Empire, his parents Imperials, and when they had died, the Empire had taken him in, educated him, put him in a Uniform, and after decades of service, sent him to represent them as a Senator for an Imperial aligned world.

The Empire had made him who he was.

Signing, he removed the Imperial signet ring from his finger, and took the Imperial shoulder cape off his uniform.

The Empire had made him, it had made Anaxes, but he now had to make a new future for the both of them.

As the ship touched down, he approach the ramp, hand extended. He was dressed in a simple black suit, the Anaxian flag serving as a small lapel pin, nothing to say which way he was leaning in this discussion already. Hand extended, he welcomed Zebb to his world, and let the discussions begin.

"Senator, welcome to Anaxes."

 

[Mida Zebb]

As Senator of Commenor whose official word usually carried weight, Mida knew he shouldn't be too freely with expressing sentiment. Still, when he saw Senator Hask-Starr welcoming them personally he couldn't help but smile appreciatively. "and thank you for receiving me, Senator." he made a show of looking at the city and the shipyards in the distance, "It certainly is beautiful and a I regret not having visited sooner."

As admirals were not expected to be diplomatic in nature and simply present as a tool on a senator's belt, the human that accompanied Mida merely nodded a silent hello and kept the appropriate distance. Still, it wasn't in Mida's nature to simply pretend like he was the senator's only visitor. "If I may, Senator Hask-Starr-" he turned halfway and allowed the senator to see the admiral in his new Republic uniform, "-this is Admiral C. Widden of the new Republic Navy. I asked him along to provide more detailed context to the topics I wish to discuss with you today." The admiral stood at attention for a moment and nodded his head again. Perhaps most notable was the holo-drive he held in his left hand. They would get to that drive eventually, but first Mida needed to get ceremony out of the way and hopefully enjoy a freshly brewed cup of caf.

The introduction thus out of the way, Mida and the admiral would follow Senator Hask-Starr to his office.


@Nor'baal

 

[Gideon Hask Starr]

Returning Senator Zebbs greeting, Gideon welcomed the Admiral likewise, becoming aware that the Admirals presence was most likely a good forebearance of what the Senator wished to discuss with him. Gideon was not all that shocked, and rather than pass comment on the Admirals presence, merely invited the duo to follow him inside. There would not be required to pass through security checks, their diplomatic credentials saw away that requirement. Entering into his office, he gestured to a large low table out on the balcony, surrounded by low seated chairs. It was a rather relaxed setting - something Gideon felt offset the somewhat astere neo-Imperial look of the building they where in.

Once his guests had sat down, Gideon would do likewise, and spoke:

"Firstly, let me thank you for coming again. The decision to not join the Republic was not one that we arrived at easily, and it is good to see diplomatic channels and the desire for future relations is still open. Your office was however, rather ambigious as to the purpose of your visit?" Gideon stated, preferring to play at ignorance, rather than to put his cards on the table all to early.

 

[Mida Zebb]

Mida was pleasantly surprised by the comfortable setting he found himself in on the balcony. It was rather unexpected and as such gave him hope that Anaxes was trying to close the cultural gap between themselves and the Republic. "Ah, yes-" the elder Abednedo seemed to have been started out of a pleasant daydream when the Senator of Anaxes had finished talking and for a moment padded the pockets of his tunics before turning towards the admiral, who ever helpful, handed Mida a small datapad. "Yes," he said again as he seemed to scroll through a document, "That's because my visit here is two-pronged. You see we are in the planning process of building a navy and your home hosts one of the galaxy's most, if not the most, formidable shipyards." He wouldn't go into specifics, but also knew that the Senator sitting opposite him wasn't a fool. Navy-building was the kind of order that could last a shipyard for hundreds of years and more importantly ensure great enduring wealth for the planet.

An apologetic smile followed before he nodded to the admiral, who pulled out a small holo-device and pressed a button after setting it down on the middle of the table. In a small projection with half a meter for diameter stood Anaxes in the middle, turning on its axis as if to simulate days passing. "Right now we're looking at Anaxes," the admiral's voice was that of a stern man giving a lecture to midshipmen on their first day on the Naval Academy. "These signify your current fleet-" he pointed at the small grey dots that suddenly appeared, coming from the planet's orbit. "-and these a typical Mandalorian raiding fleet in line with current reports." Only when he finished his sentence did larger orange specks appear on the map, clearly bigger than the grey ones and greater in number. Three seconds later and the grey dots started disappearing and slowly the planet in the center of the projection turned into orange as well, signifying Mandalorian conquest. "Now, if-" the admiral was stopped by Mida, who held up a hand. "Let's rewind the image back to before the arrival of Mandalorian forces, admiral."

The Senator of Commenor, who was rumored to be the Interim Chancellor's pick for Secretary of Defense, turned his full attention back to Senator Hask-Starr. "The current reports that the admiral mentioned will be made available to the government of Anaxes, ofcourse. Unfortunately they will show that the admiral's assessment is not a gross exaggeration." the admiral looked offended for a moment, not quite grasping the political angle of presenting false information as a tool. "This is our main concern. It would be catastrophic if our newly commissioned ships would fall into the hands of other powers."

Another nod towards the admiral and the uniformed man frowned, but nevertheless rededicated his focus on the projection "Once again we see your fleet mobilizing and here, too, comes the Mandalorian raiding fleet-" the projection was identical to the events shown prior, but before the grey dots started disappearing the projection suddenly froze. "Because Anaxes is close to Republic space we can confidently predict this would be our response time and numbers," the admiral pressed a few buttons and a great number of green specks appeared, signifying a combined fleet from Republic worlds that were all within a single hyperspace jump. In the same three seconds it took the Mandalorian fleet to eradicate the fleet from Anaxes, so fast did the Republic fleet cause the Mandalorians to disappear.

The projection shrunk in size to a twenty centimeter diameter and once again Mida reclaimed the attention, "I know I am very forward-" he said, as if he thought that being a politician always meant that he had to speak half-truths and be cloaked in deception and his unwillingness to do so made him per definition a bad politician. "-but while we want to commission the shipyards here on Anaxes, we can only do so when we are confident that they will be safe. In other words, we'd like Anaxes to accept and enter into a military alliance. In truth, we beseech the government of Anaxes to reconsider and join the Republic."


@Nor'baal

 

[Gideon Hask Starr]

The news of the strategic importance of his world was not new to Gideon, and the Senators eagerness to discuss the utilisation of his worlds shipyards came as no shock. In truth, it was up the consortium that owned the yards as to whether or not they accepted the order, but Gideon had little doubt that they would do so - profit was the master in business, not geopolitical powerplays. When it was the Admirals turn to speak, Gideon said nothing. Having served in the armed forces of the Empire himself, he knew well the military capabilities of the Mandalorians - speed and the focus of overwhelming force in one area, being the name of the game.

Senator Zebbs approach to the situation was amusing to Gideon, he appeared more concerned with the Republics as of yet ordered ships falling into the hands of Mandalorians, than he did with the siezure of Gideons world by a power that despised hus culture and people - or so the populace had been left to believe.

The way in which Senator Zebb followed up his point with the simulation of the Republic coming to Anaxes' aid, was tantamount to blackmail. However, had Gideon been in his position, he would have done the same thing. "This is all well and good Senator, and I thank you and the Admiral for making this information known to me," he paused briefly "...however it appears I am in between a rock and hard place. If I take my world into the Republic, we make an immediate enemy of the Mandalorians, and half the Imperial population of this world at least. If I leave it, there is nothing the Republic can or will do - apparently - to stop Anaxes falling into the hands of the barbarians?"

He leaned back in his chair, as if thinking "But there is a way we can do it. Anaxians are an Imperial people, we have our own courts, our own police and our own strong economy. We can join a military alliance for sure, but it must be there that the intergration ends. We control our borders, we control our courts and police - we meet in the middle if you catch my meaning? We join your Military Alliance, join the Senate, with an opt-in clause on any future intergration with the Republic."

OOC: #BrexitOnSWRP

 

[Mida Zebb]

The admiral had learned from his earlier mistake and remained still and silent while Senator Hask-Starr was talking. Both he and the soon-to-be Secretary of Defense were surprised by what they heard, but neither therefore let that emotion show. When Hask-Starr was finished talking, Mida grimaced for a short moment and then smiled, "Senator, please explain to me why joining the Republic would make an enemy of the Mandalorians?" This received focus in his response because the Republic and the Mandalorians were actually in a close partnership of sorts. The Mandalorians trained much of the Republic fighting force, including the admiral's men, and were instrumental in designing an effective combat uniform. Mida himself was scheduled to meet with their forgemaster within a fortnight. "Aside from the military deterrence that Republic membership enjoys," he nodded shortly in the direction of the admiral, "There's also a neutrality in place between the Mandalorians and the Republic, or dare I say, an informal partnership when it comes to trade and the sharing of knowledge."

"The Republic cannot stop the Mandalorians from raiding or taking non-Republic worlds," Like for instance, Anaxes, where the threats of incoming Mandalorians raids was credible. "-but Republic worlds themselves are currently protected by an unofficial agreement of non-aggression." Mida hoped that this explanation would convince the Senator of Anaxes to drop the seemingly baseless assumption that joining the Republic was taking a stance against the Mandalorians. It merely protected them from the same planet-crippling raids any other non-Republic world could be the victim of.

"As for your offer-" Mida had been afraid that the senator would make such an offer and while there was no doubt merit in accepting it, he was also fully prepared to accept the blame if it meant Anaxes refusing to join the Republic. After all, how could he look at himself in the mirror if he abandoned the one issue he had championed his entire political career? "-I'm afraid that complete integration is mandatory." The government simply had to choose between Mandalorians crippling their armed forces and economy, with all the consequences of suddenly being a greatly impoverished society, and the wealth and security that came with accepting Republic values and legislation.

@Nor'baal

 

[Gideon Hask Starr]

PIt was painfully clear that this discussion was already at its end, with the Republic Senator doing nothing to assuage Gideons legitimate concerns regarding the potential for civil unrest should Anaxes be forced to assimilate fully into the Republic. Indeed, Senator Zebbs entire line seemed to focus on a thinly vieled blackmail attempt; join us, or we will do nothing when the Mandalorians come for you.

"Senator," Gideon supressed a buzzer on the arm of his chair calling for his attache "...if you have no desire to be even slightly open to a negotiation as to Anaxes membership, then there is no point this discussion continuing." he said nothing as the attache entered, and held the door open, a clear signal if one was needed that the Republic Senator and Admiral should leave.

Standing up, he would extend a hand to bid them both good day, adding "My first duty is to Anaxes, and I cannot countenance joining a Republic that there is little appetite for, even you will not budge at all, and wave the threat of invasion over our heads as some form of incentive. Good day Senator, Admiral."

Once he had finished, the attache would lead the two visitors back to their ship.