...

Kach, unlike his Coalition contemporary, was staying the night planetside.

His suite, outfitted to accommodate dignitaries and negotiators of every species, was well outfitted well enough to be given five stars on any planet, even Cruscant, no mean feat for an out of the way planet like Bandomeer.

However, he wouldn't have any time to lay on the soft beds for more than an hour or two, or watch any of the 4,000 channels on the holovision. Tonight was going to be busy.

First things first, he had to go see the president.

Right now he was headed down the dimly lit corridors to the presidents office. He knew Mr. Starsky was there, they had a live feed from a bug placed in the room, most likely doing paperwork that he hadn't had a chance to do because of the confrontation now taking place on and around his planet.

He was alone, he didn't even want his Stormtrooper honorguard to see this and especially the Coalition scum who had doubtlessly left (in an Imperial fashion) at least two or three bugs in the office themselves. That was why, when he stepped uninvited into the Presidents office, the first thing he did was take out a silver sphere and press a red button on the side much to the dismay of the President (who thought it was a Thermal Detonator)

"Don't be alarmed. It's an Electro-magnetic Jammer to keep anyone, even my own troops, from listening in on us."

"What is it?" he said, clearly agitated.

"I'll get to that. But first, I want to apologize for my conduct this afternoon. It was very ungentleman like of me. Second of all, I want to say I fully support the voting initiative. Next, I want to apologize for that demonstration bombardment this afternoon. That was more to spite the Coalition man than to scare you. I have already dispatched a crew to help clean up the devastated areas.

"But on to the most important thing. I recommend the voting period is extended by six hours to allow both sides to present their counter arguments before your Senate."

"That's reasonable," the President replied. His agitation had completely disappeared.

"So you'll have it done."

"Yes."

Picking up his Jammer, Kach was out of the room ten seconds later without even leaving his good wishes.



It took only a minute or two after Kach left for him to reach the Imperials planetside operations center, the suite next to his own. After shrugging off the "Where have you beens?" he was approached by a Black Clad officer who handed him the days intelligence summary.

After reading only a few lines he was stopped in his tracks. His eyes wide, he looked up at the lieutenant. "Why wasn't I told about the Coalition transmission?"

"Well, uh," the young man was obviously at a loss for words as he uneasily shifted from side to side, "Well, it was short, and we couldn't decode it, so we figured it wasn't important to tell you."

"Well if you couldn't decode it was obviously important," he shouted, and then under his breath added, "goddamn it."

"Alright," he shouted so everyone could hear him," we have a possible problem. Therefor, I want the fleet and all troops to go onto a 24/7 alert until I tell you to stop. And in addition," he paused to check the jamming devices located at every corner of the room and by the door to make sure at least one of them were currently functioning, "I want four more teams moved down in case we need more leverage. You all got that?"

The speechless crowd looked emptily at him, but finally a few of them nodded.

"Good, back to work."

No, with this new revolution he wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.



Like the solution to many great problems, the answer came to Kach Thorton in a dream. The Coalition man, Harrison, knew that as long as Kach had overwhelming superiority in orbit he couldn't actually take the planet because there was no conceivable way to get rid of him until he was satisfied.

Therefore, the only conceivable course of action was to call in reinforcements of their own.

"Four hours?" Kach said to the foot-tall blue figure on the holopad in front of him.

"Yes. We will be in the Bandomeerian system in four hours and take up a position 3/1,000ths of a light-year away from the planet. From there we will remain on call in the event of an emergency."

"Very good. I will see you soon Mr. le Range.

"Yes. In four hours."

President Starsky looked down at his datapad and frowned. This Imperial commander had been quite an enigma. First threatening, then appearing nice and sincere. Starsky doubted that the man didn't have something else going on. His first transmission, before he could even know of the presence of the Coalition had been enough to prove to the President that this was an aggressive man who was planning on coercing and threatening his planet into submission.

"Sir, the senators are assembeled."

Starsky looked up from his datapad and his speech to see his aide standing there.

"I'll proceed directly to the Senate Chamber."

Starsky retraced the steps to the Senate without any thought. He knew the path well having walked it thousands of times first as a Senator and later as the President of this planet. Today, all that work that had led him to the pinnacle of power had been put in danger. But he was not worried about no longer being in control. He was worried that all those years of working for democracy would be squandered and that Bandomeer would end up controlled by a foreign power. Whether it be the Coalition or the New Order it did not matter to him.

As he entered the Senate Chamber he immediately walked to the lectern where he was to address the senators. He could tell that the senators were very inquisitive, wondering as to what he was going to say. All that they knew was that the Imperials had made demands, a Coalition ship had arrived and that the Imperials had bombarded parts of the planet.

"Senators and People of Bandomeer. Long have we lived out of the eye of the galaxy. Around us wars have been fought, there have been victors and there have been losers. But never have those events focused on us here on Bandomeer. With the wrath virus and the New Empire we sent away our sons and daughters to fight, with the hope that once the war was over we would be able to live peacefully and simply. We have acheived that for many years but now all has changed. Once again, galactic events have come to focus on Bandomeer.

As you all know today, the Imperial Navy arrived led by Line Captain Kach Thorton. He claims that he is here to bring us into the Empire. His demands are simple and non-negotiable. We will immediately deactivate all of our weapon and our defence forces will stand down. Following this we will be "absorbed" into the Empire.

Also arriving at the same time as Captain Thorton, is Captain Harrison of the Onyxian Commonwealth and the Galactic Coalition. He says that he is here to make sure that we are not coerced into joining any government against our will or the will of the people. He has also assured me that if we so desire we are offered membership into the Onyxian Commonwealth and the Galactic Coalition. He has also pledged to assist us in remaining neutral if that is our desire.

Captain Harrison suggested and I agreed that portions of the Imperial forces withdraw from our airspace and from our territory so there is an equal number of Imperial and Coalition forces in system and so we will not be overrun by Imperial troops. Captain Thorton categorically refused saying that he was not here to negotiate rather to force us to join the Empire. It was at this point that he ordered the orbital bombardment.

Following this Captain Harrison proposed that there be a debate in the parliament followed by a vote 12 hours after the debate started. Captain Thorton agreed and proposed that the timelimit be extended to 18 hours.

This is were we currently stand. There are currently nearly 40 Imperial Troops on the ground with another 40 or so on their way. Captain Thorton has dispatched 10 engineers to help clean up the areas that were bombarded. The Empire also has two squadrons of fighters patrolling. The troops are currently only operating around the Grand Hotel a four blocks away where Captain Thorton is staying in the Presidential suite. His troops have been confined to a one block radius since it would not be appropriate for armed troops to be running around our planet. The Coalition has begun to land troops and are operating out of the Plaza of the Rising Sun at a similar distance and with similar restrictions.

As such I table a motion. The first, is a decision as to whether or not to enter the Empire with the conditions that Captain Thorton has already outlined. There will be 8 hours of debate, followed by a 4 hour recess, another 5 hours of debate and another 1 hour recess after which the vote will be held. As always I will moderate the debate and abstain unless the vote is tied. I know turn the floor over to the Prime Minister who will have the first statement. Mr. Prime Minister?"


<center>*****</center>

<b>Onboard the <i>Pride</i></b>

"Welcome back sir!"

"Thank you Commander. What's your status?"

"Bravo Company has begun landing, the government has restricted us to the Plaza of the Rising Sun. 1st and 2nd Platoon are on their way. 3rd Platoon is on a ready alert, just waiting to load up in case of emergency and I have Alpha Company on alert. The Imperials have matched our deployment and they still have those Defenders on patrol. They've also deployed a team to help clean up the devestation the bombardment caused."

Harrison laughed.

"They bombarded the planet! They think a few men will fix that? That area will never be the same. What does Intelligence have?"

"They're currently preparing various psychological operations as well as stirring up dissent groups. Bandomeer does not have many political activists, but we trust that this issue will be enough to get the planet going without much prompting at all. Most people are opposed or indifferent to allegiance with either power. That being said the Empire has not done a good job so far. The area where they bombarded was a popular camping and picnic spot many people visited the area."

"Casualties?"

"No dead, there was one little boy who was burned because the strikes started a fire. He's currently being treated. But the low number of casualties doesn't matter. A lot of people knew and loved the area. Now all they have is black sterile ground and craters. And the Empire has pretty much set the vast majority of the political interest groups against them, the enviromentalists won't like them because they just killed a forest, the libertarians won't like them because the Empire is renowned for being Big Brotherish, the Freedom Party, which is one of the four main parties won't like them for the same reason. The Unity party which is the official opposition is likely to be negative, burning the little boy was not a good idea. Only the conservatives are likely to give near automatic support to the Empire and they only represent about 20 percent of the population. Nobody knows how the Centrist Party, the main governing party will vote and they will be the key."

"So all in all not a good day for the Empire?"

"Hardly. We've already got word of a very large protest, upwards of 50,000 forming at the Grand Hotel. This protest is anti-imperial and gaining strength. There is a similar sized protest outside the Senate though there is a greater diversity of the opinion at this demonstration. A small demonstration has sprung up near our troops but it hasn't gained much strength yet."

"What are the odds of the demonstration turning violent?"

"Against the Imperials? Likely, there will always be somebody willing to stir up trouble. Against us, also quite likely. I wouldn't put it past the Imperials to insert an agent in the protest."

"Alright, standing orders for all troops, set weapons on stun, and send down barricades. All troops are to be issued with flash grenades only. I want a live feed from the senate. They're bound to call a recess eventually and I want to know when."

"Aye Captain!"

"What's the ETA of <i>Beast Squadron</i>?"

"First two ships arrive in 40 minutes. Then one 20 minutes later. The last one arrives in 2 hours. We've also got the <i>Lynx</i> taskforce 3 hours out."

"Very well. They'll do good."

<b>17 1/2 hours untill vote</b>

In the past four hours since both the Coalition and Imperial reinforcements had arrived, the relatively stable planet of Bandomeer had become Chaotic. Normally respectable citizens were now roaming the streets or standing outside either of the two factions ground operations centers.

Both groups were inflamed, and all it would take to start a massive riot would be even a minor burst of violence.

The spark that lit the fire was supposed to be Keyan Reevis and the other men of the 21st and 24th commando teams.

As of now he and the twenty four men under his command were moving into position outside the Coalition Command Post within the Plaza of the Rising Sun. Within the fairly large crowd, which had been growing larger by the hour, were nineteen men as well as him self. The remaining four men in the two commando teams were in buildings surrounding the square ready to play sniper as soon as they were told to open fire.

Over the past few hours the crowd had been growing more passionate as their leaders gave speeches and rallied them, and at the same time it had grown larger; it now numbered nearly three thousand, and estimates predicted that it would reach that monumental number within the next two hours. But Keyan and his men weren't going to wait for them to get here: They were to begin acting now. The crowds fury had reached its peak and it was time to act. They were ready for war; All they needed was a little push to reach the edge.

Picking up a rock from the ground, actually a two inch cube of duracrete knocked off from a nearby building during the earlier demonstration bombardment, he heaved it with all his strenght towards the Coalition guards.



Outside the Senate building the mobs were also reaching the point of rioting, though here they would receive no encouraging from the Imperials in the crowds, at least not yet.

This group was made up of two bodies centrists, the planets political majority, that had totally opposing views. Most of these people had seen the Imperial "demonstration" earlier and were accordingly scared that joining the Coalition would bring upon them nothing but death and destruction. They wanted to join the Empire; a wise choice.

This group was made up mainly of family men and women aged thirty and above.

The others were leaning more towards the Coalition side. They were just as radical in their opinion, but there opinion was based more on economic concerns, mainly the misguided belief that absorption into the Empire would cause there economy to wither like a fruit on a dead vine.

"Sir, the demonstration outside our camp is increasing. There's about 30,000 people."

Captain Harrison nodded his head. It was expected that the crowd would grow. He just needed to make sure nothing rash happened. "Very well. Order Captain Knox to take up defensive positions. And call the local police. They should deal with the crowd."

"Yes sir!"

"What's the status on the other demonstrations?"

"They're continuing to swell in size. Last figure had the one at the Grand Hotel around 80,000. The one at the Senate is also about 80,000 and the opinions remain fairly divided."

"Okay. And the debate?"

"It's being broadcasted live across the planet and we're just picking up their feed. The president has remained neutral, apparently Thorton approached him last night and extended the vote for another 6 hours. The first recess is to be in around 7 hours. Then the last one will be an hour before the vote."

"Alright, how are reinforcements coming?"

"The first three ships of Beast Squadron have landed as expected. There was no interference. The <i>Lynx</i> Taskforce is still 3 hours out."

"Very well, inform me of any developments."

"Aye Captain!"

<b>Plaza of the Rising Sun</b>

Private First Class Ryan Smith surveyed the square through the lens of his spotting scope. He along with a few of his compatriats had been stationed in the upper floors to look for any imperial infiltrators. It was a long painstaking process but a necessary one. Suddenly he noticed a group of men. He'd seen plenty of men today but there was something special about this group. They were big, tough men all travelling together. They didn't look like your usual radical. Four of them were wearing trench coats under which they could be hiding anything up to a sniper rifle and they all moved with a military bearing.

Immediately Smith summoned the other members of his spotting group to focus on them. At the same time he began to take pictures from a small portable holocamera.

As they reached the square they split up with four of them going into surrounding buildings. Smith immediately switched on the infrared scope and he saw the residue of body heat on the metal rifle body as each man drew their rifles out from under the concealment of their coats.

That was enough to confirm Smith's suspicions and he immediately informed the Company XO Lieutenant Perry.


Captain Knox stood watching his troops and the seething crowd. The crowd had begun to expand and he was worried. He didn't want to set off an international diplomatic incident. Then his Executive Officer approached and saluted.

"Sir the spotters have located Imperial infiltrators."

"Where?"

"20 in the crowd as well as 4 in the buildings surrounding the plaza. The 4 in the building appear to be armed with sniper rifles."

"Make sure that all except first squad is inside the building and away from windows. How is the riot squad doing?"

"The men were already following those orders sir. I ordered that in case of an emergency such as this. The riot squad is pretty good. Considering they probably don't get much practice here."

"Excellent. Inform them of the suspected infiltrators. Give descriptions and locations. Also inform them of the snipers."

"Yes sir. Shouldn't we take any action?"

"No need, I'm sure that they'll handle it."

"Yessir."

Constable Rick James was in charge of the group of riot police that was in charge of protecting the Coalition troops. Why one of the best armies in the galaxy needed protecting James didn't know but his job was to follow his orders. And one of those orders involved the prevention of any harm coming to the Coalition soldiers. When the Coalition Lieutenant told him of the Imperials in the crowd his only reaction was to nod. He was a professional and he'd do the people of Bandommer proud.

Rick had already inserted a few dozen infiltrators into the crowd just in case and know it was time to make use of them. Quickly he relayed new orders to the infiltrators who began to slowly move into position behind their targets. At the same time he requested that the Coalition prepare snipers to neutralize the other snipers.

Just as Keyan Reevis and his team hurled their stones the infiltrators had seen enough and they pounced. Keyan felt a blaster poke him in the back and the soft voice of a Bandomeerian riot officer informing him that he was under arrest.

At the same time 4 Coalition snipers fired rounds from their specially designed silenced particle weapons. These weapons were similar to the weapons of years past which shot bullets. Except instead of exploding these weapons shattered easily and released a quantity of a sleeping agent that would knock out a human in a second. The effects were perfect and the snipers found themselves unconcious while their unknowning companions found themselves being arrested.

<b>16 1/2 hours until vote </b>

Like nearly all stereotypes, the belief that Imperials were a bunch of stuck up, self-centered nerf herders was completely false. In fact, Keyan Reevis actually felt sort of proud of the man who had caught him. Of course, that didn't mean he felt any shame for what he was about to do.

Lifting his hands up as he was told to, he brushed his right arm against his cheek, activating a hidden distress beacon to send both command and his comrades a warning. The high command would soon have reinforcements down here, and hopefully it would allow his comrades to avoid the fate that had been thrown at him and allow them to finish the mission if what he was about to do didn’t go well. Then, after a count to three so that both his and any of his teammates that were in the same predicament as he was could synchronize their actions, he acted.

Now as any smart soldier or policeman will tell you, the classic "pistol in the back" is a bad idea because at close range you give up all advantages given to you by a ranged weapon.

Quickly, Keyan bent forward, catching the policeman behind him off guard, while snapping his hands behind his back to grab the weapon. The Riot trooper, a smidgen too slow, accidentally sent a stun bolt into a group of men standing in front of Keyan; the propaganda chiefs would have a field day with that footage. At the same time, he lifted up his right foot and smashed his heel into the agents groin, the unopposed impact telling him that he wasn't wearing a cup; a bad decision for a riot trooper. A second later he flipped the trooper over himself and onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. Two and a half seconds later he fired a stun blast into the man with the blaster he’d retrieved to temporarily incapacitate him.

Barely four seconds had passed.

With his opponent subdued, he turned around to see the exact same thing had taken place with his two nearby comrades in place of himself. Unfortunately he couldn't be sure about the other members of the team since they weren't in visual sight.

"Watch my back," he told them, pulling a pair of wicked looking Proton Grenades out of his Trench Coat. Three seconds later they were en route to the Riot Polices line, joining the hail of stones that had been thrown by other protestors.

Of course, unless the Coalition guards were dumber than he expected or he was lucky, the two grenades wouldn't do much. Any man with half a brain would be ducking behind those barricades they'd set up to avoid the hail of rocks and hunks of duracrete. Rather, they were being thrown for the psychological factor; hopefully the two weapons would be enough to push the crowd over the edge and start a riot.

A riot is an interesting social phenonemon. What drives somebody to progress beyond peacefully, but loudly expressing their opinion to actual physical violence? There are many answers to this question, perhaps they had been provoked? Perhaps they wanted greater attention for their cause? Or maybe they just wanted a good scrap. Whatever the reason, there was one thing that unified these men and women, they all wanted to live, to reap the benefits from the greater attention to their cause. And chucking around proton grenades weren't a good solution to that problem.

Up until know the protestors while violent had remained non-lethal. A few rocks wasn't going to do anything to heavily armoured riot troops. But grenades, that was something different. Angela Gast would remember seeing the scuffle beside her as somebody, apparently a police officer attempted to arrest the tall man in the trench coat. Angela saw the officer be shot with his own weapon and saw the man motioning to three men similarily attired. That was when he pulled out the grenades and threw them at the barricades. Angela only had time for an indignant yell before she found herself falling down. A coalition sniper had spotted the disturbance and he'd already fired a knockout round in the area knocking Angela and the Imperials out in seconds.

At the same time the riot troops saw the grenades flashing lazily through the air towards them. Already hiding behind the barricades it took only a few small movements on the part of two of the police officers to send them bouncing off the shields and safely away from them and the Coalition soldiers. A second later the relief had been replaced by horror as the grenades went bouncing back towards the protestors. Those nearby saw them skittering along the ground and tried to run but there was too many people. The grenades exploded killing 8 protestors and injuring a dozen more Two of the dead included one Imperial agent and the arresting officer who he'd subdued. The reaction was immediate, there was a pause as everybody was shook by the sudden explosion. Then the screaming started. Most of the rioters had seen the grenades flash through the air towards the riot police. They knew that they had come from within the crowd, thrown from the same general direction as the first rocks. Those who didn't know the source of the grenades were quickly informed by their compatriats within the crowd.

The riot police in their turn reacted instantly, Constable James was an experienced officer and he knew that he had to take advantage of this lull. Immediately he started moving his troops forwards to surround the bodies who had been injured and killed. Coalition medics ran forward and began to treat the bodies as the crowd looked on in horror. Things weren't supposed to happen this way. Sure they'd through a few rocks, and the riot police might arrest them but nobody would die. Somebody had changed the rules.

Immediately one of the Riot Squad's loudspeaker's turned on and Rick James' voice sounded over the square.

"Citizens of Bandomeer. You all have come here to express your opinion as is your constitutional right. My men and I respect that right and we will do our best to allow you to keep that right. However, your opinion must be expressed peacefully and that has not happened. I ask that you all cease your activities for a short time while we care for these bodies. My men will be passing through the crowd and performing arrests on those people who threw the grenades as well as anybody who continues to act beligerent. They will not harm you and they only wish to give you the best platform on which you may peacefully express your views."

James waited to see if his gambit had worked and astonishingly it did. The deaths had obviously shocked the protestors out of their anger. They may still have supported the Empire but killing their fellows was not in the cards. Immediately James began to dispatch groups of two riot police throughout the crowd. The first group immediately secured Angela Gast, Keyan Reevis and his comrades and brought them back to the medical area. At the same time the infiltrators from the riot squad began to bring their prisoners forwards. The majority of them had been subdued with only 4 escaping immediate arrest. Three of them had been subdued by the knockout bullet fired by the Coalition Sniper. The other one had been kiilled in the grenade explosion. A piece of shrapnel embedded in his chest severed his pulomonary artery. Within seconds his heart began to run out of oxygen to keep it pumping. After that it was just a matter of time. Riot police were also dispatched to retrieve the four snipers who lay blissfully asleep while their comrades were arrested. Along with the unconcious bodies of the snipers was also brought out four sniper rifles. The crowd began to murmur at this latest development. Grenades were one thing, but 24 men appearing to be part of a co-ordinated force which included sniper support, that was the mark of a professional army.

As the first ambulance arrived to begin to medevac the more gravely wounded protestors James stared at his prisoners with disgust. They were obviously Imperials, the only question was if they could get it out of them.

"I want all of these men seperated. Hands and feet in stun cuffs and have them chained to a wall or something. I don't want them to be able to budge an inch. These men are responsible for the deaths of 8 people including one of my officers."

"What about the unconcious ones?"

"They're not going to revive for another hour, but chain them up too. Except the woman. Put her in a room too but leave her unchained."

"Yes Constable!"

"Good. And run the serial numbers on those sniper rifles, it's probably a dead end but you never know."

"Yessir!"

<center>****</center>

"Captain good news!"

Harrison looked up surprised. He wasn't expecting any good news especially not so early in the game.

"What happened to Thorton get up and quit or something?"

"Not yet sir. But the riot at the <b>Plaza of the Rising Sun</b> appears to be more or less under-control. Apparently some Imperial threw a few grenades, they ended up in the crowd and that shocked them out of being violent. About one third of the demonstrators have gone home, probably think its too violent. The other two thirds are still there but they're currently very subdued at the moment and likely to remain so."

"Bombarding a planet and practically killing a little boy and throwing grenades in a crowd? Thorton must be the dumbest son of a bitch around. He should be commanding the janitorial detail not a major task force. What's the status of the riot at the Grand Hotel?"

"It's almost 100,000 sir and things are about to kick off, the news of the Imperials throwing the grenade should really help."

"Excellent. Any other news?"

"<i>Beast</i> Squadron has arrived and is in position. <i>Lynx</i> Squadron is two hours out, apparently they've managed to pick up a few craft on the way so they're a bit stronger than normal."

"Too bad they couldn't have picked up a Dauntless Cruiser eh?" Harrison asked with a smile on his face.

"That would be nice sir."

<center>*****</center>

<b>Grand Hotel</b>

"....Democracy! What does that word mean to me? It means freedom. The freedom to choose the people who I think are best suited to govern my nation. The freedom to live in a world that is free of hatred, intolerance and racism. The freedom to walk down the street and express my opinion without having to look over my shoulder for a police officer. All of you enjoy these rights today and you enjoy them greatly for without these rights our lives would be decidedly different. But if we join the Empire we <i>will not be able to enjoy these rights anymore!</i> You can't put a price on freedom, it is the most valuable thing in the galaxy, more valuable than any gems or precious metals you can find. But not to the Empire. The Empire is indifferent to the needs of you the people. Especially out here on the Outer-Rim far away from Coruscant and Corellia. The Empire does not care about freedom, it cares about power and it will go at any lengths to acheive this power. Early today they bombarded our planet nearly killing a little boy. Then only a few minutes ago an Imperial operative at the Plaza of the Rising Sun threw two grenades into a crowd killing some of your fellow citizens. If that's what they do when they're trying to get us to join them what do you think they'll do once we're safely under their control? Who knows? And I will do my best to see to it that we will never know, because we will not join the Empire without a fight."

Andrew White, was dressed in perfectly normal dress for a Bandommeerian citizen in fact that's exactly what he was. However, like, Paul Ramsay he was also an operative of the Coalition Intelligence Bureau. His orders had been to nudge the crowd along, however as he watched the speaker on the podium rally the crowd to the point of a frenzy he realized that any intervention on his part would be unnecessary. Already the rocks had begun to fly, breaking windows. It was a large angry violent crowd that was facing the Imperials and things were about to get very very interesting.

Serenno Council Chambers

The man standing six feet tall and wearing an olive green uniform with the rank bars of a naval lieutenant walked into the courtroom where the current proceedings deciding Serenno's fate were taking place. Sitting at a desk in the lobby was the president's private secretary, and looked up in suprise to see the Imperial standing there. She asked what he wanted, and he responded that he needed to talk to the president as soon as possible. She verified that it was urgent after a quick conversation, and punched up a line to the president's desk where he sat at in the proceedings. Several more moments passed until Pyle could hear the drum of a hammer on wood when the president called a temporary halt to the meeting to see what was going on. Moments later Starsky emerged into the corridor and found the Imperial waiting there.

The president was looking angry, and began rapidly walking torward the Lieutenant. Well, reflected lieutenant Harkum, if what appeared to have happened in the plaza of the Rising Sun really had happened, I suppose I would be too. But one of the many reasons he had come to speak to the president was to set him straight about what had really happened, and convince the president it was in his best interests if he joined up with the Empire, or at the very least, stay neutral.

"Mr. President, allow me to introduce myself. I am Lieutenant Pyle Harkum, Imperial Navy." said Pyle in a warm but crisp greeting followed by a slight bow from the waist.

"Mr. Harkum, perhaps you would like to tell me as to why you and your men are murdering civilians out in the city?" asked the president in a brittle voice.

"Mr. President, I must ask you to take into consideration that it was in fact, not Imperial agents, but rather Coalition troops that staged the incident in the plaza." responded the Lieutenant with a hint of malice.

"I..what was that?" responded the President.

"Mr. President, Imperial Intelligence, while very active in missions concerning reconissance and intelligence gathering as needed, would never stoop to something so low in order to draw people onto our side. Moreover, had capitan Thorton wanted to attack the Coalition troops, he need not have bothered with subletley and just used his flagship to once again bombard the planet." stated the Lieutenant in a matter of fact voice.

"But then, how, why?" stammered the President.

"I would call to attention the results of the incident. Here, before it happened, citizens were voicing their protests against the Coalition in support of the Empire, against the line of Coalition troops. Suddenly, a few grenades pop out of the crowd, hit the soldiers barricades, bounce back into the crowd, and go boom. And all of a sudden, the crowd quiets, and soon start voicing support for the Coalition. The soldiers who were a moment ago seeming to protect the evil were suddenly heroes helping the innocent and wounded." said the Lieutenant.

"But surely the Coalition isn't capable..." started the President.

"Oh no?" replied the Lieutenant, "Well let me tell you something about the Coalition. Their leaders, these Azguardians, follow a strict religious cult. Their followers are, if you have heard of the term, religious fanatics who would do anything to gain the grace of their supposed gods. And I mean anything."

"So your telling me that Coalition fanatics are the ones responsible for this?" said the President, still in a voice of dis-belief.

"In my opinion, yes they are. And if they are, then the ones captured would surely point their fingers at the Empire. I would request that the prisoners taken would be transferred to a prison free of either Coalition or Imperial control, where the captured men can be questioned by Imperial, Coalition, and Serenno authorities, so that the truth, the real truth, may be found." proposed the Lieutenant.

"Yes, excellent suggestion. However, I cannot see to this myself, but I will forward this to my chief of security forces with a signed paper before I go back in to resume session proceedings" responded the president.

"In addition, I would like to tell you something else." asked the Lieutenant. The president looked at him warily, then nodded to proceed.

"The Empire, while it is not a necessity, would like to see Serenno either join it's ranks, or barring that, remain Neutral. The reason being that the Coalition has already tried once to cut off the Empire's outer colonies from the Core region, and you world, lying on such a valuable hyperspace route, would be another attempt." said the Lieutenant.

"Ah, I see. So our world has a strategic position for the Coalition." replied the President.

"Especially in a time of war, which the Coalition has always had an abundance of. Although I can't say for certain, it seems likely that the Coalition will soon make a move on the Empire and her territory with this siezure of planets. I mean, we though it was innocioius that the Coalition was annexing planets within the realm of the Black Dragon Empire, and so did they, but it turned out to be a ruse, a Coalition fleet ambushing the Dragon delegation to Teth, and then invading their territory. Now the same thing appears to be happening here." said the Lieutenant. The president was clearly starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Remember, the Coalition started the war against us at Corellia, they started the war against the Dragons at Teth. The Empire maintans a large navy in order to keep peace, the Coalition is building a large navy to start yet another war, another religious crusade. Your people will become religious fanatics, swayed by the faith, blowing themselves up to bring down gas mining platforms, like at Bespin and Taloraan. Rule under the Empire may not sound appealing from the arguements surely made by the opposition, but rule under the Coalition even less so. If it were up to me, I would certainly vote for neutrality." said the Lieutenant in a brittle voice.

The president nodded, now sweating bullets, and inquired if there was anything else. The Lieutenant replied no that there wasn't, and with a bow and a handshake, the Lieutnant departed. Soon afterwards Pyle was back in his hovercar and on the way to the next city over, to have a chat with the local citizens. They had a lot of work to do, but maybe, just maybe, they could save this planet from becoming a inevitable war torn and battered world. In the meantime, the president went back into the chamber and made a statement based on what had happened, what new information he had learned, what was being done about it, before allowing the prime minister to resume his tirade of arguements.

"What?" Kach screamed in rage. "Grenades?"

"Well, sir..." Zek tried to answer, but was cut off in mid sentence by Kach.

"I said non-lethal weapons only. Rocks are one thing, but grenades?"

"Sir, you also ordered snipers and they're very..."

"The snipers were to cover our agents were discovered and needed to make a fighting withdrawal, not to shoot guards."

"Damn you, the idea is to take the planet peacefully, not to enrage its citizens. You have just made that task that much harder for me."

"Sir..."

"Why the hell didn't you consult me about this before ordering it. And before ordering this, did you think of the propaganda value they'd get out of it?"

For a silent moment the two men thanked the various deities of the galaxy that the event hadn't been caught on film. They'd have known if it were, because the Coalition would be putting it everywhere.

At the same time a messenger walked into the room, though Kach barely noticed his presence because he was quiet and stood at the back of the room.

"Sir, it was not my orders but the leader acting on his belief on the best way to incite the crowd that caused the grenades to be tossed."

"I know, but still." He was calming down now.

"Sir," the messenger said, "the crowd outside is becoming, er... overly passionate."

"Damn it. How many infiltrators have we found?"

"So far we've found two for sure, and there's another three we suspect are."

"Good enough. Get ready to bring them all in, but do not bring them in without my express orders."

"But sir...?" Zek asked, pausing mid sentence since they all knew what his question was going to be.

For a moment Kach turned away from the messenger to Zek. "The idea, Zek, is to have some captives of our own since they have our commandos."

He turned back to the messenger. "Don't try to capture them awake. Stun them first. Take no chances, this mission is critically important."

"And the crowd, sir," he asked.

"I know," Kach said, standing up and putting on his Utility belt, "That's why I'm going out there."



“And because Freedom…” Andrew White trailed off in mid sentence as two squads of Stormtroopers marched out of the hotel and towards the podium with Kach sandwiched between them.

The shock of the emerging Imperials was enough to stop most of the crowd in their tracks. Not out of fear, but of out of curiosity of what was happening.

As Kach approached the podium his honorguard set up a pair of autoblasters on each side of him. These weapons weren’t for shooting at the crowd, but for shooting down debris thrown at Kach with their fast track technology.

Stepping up to the podium, the first thing Kach noticed was the size of the crowd, almost 100,000 beings and nearly thirty times the size of the Imperial supporters outside the Coalition Plaza. Of course, that was deliberate. While the crowds were assembling his agents had specifically directed Imperial supporters to the Senate hall and not the Plaza of the Rising Sun so that they would be visible to the Senators, giving them an effect far beyond their size. As a result, about 60 percent of the 125,000 Bandomeerian citizens outside the Senate hall were Imperial supporters, with more arriving every minute. Though the Coalition actually had more supporters, the fact almost all of the Imperial supporters were there meant they had a far stronger influence even if they were outnumbered.

But for now, at least, his focus was here and now. Leaning into the microphone he began to speak.

“People of Bandomeer,” he called into the microphone, “I have emerged to inform you about the lies this man has been telling you.”

“Lies?” the crowd shouted, “Freedom has no price.”

A few rocks were tossed towards Kach, but the autoblasters elegantly shot them out of the air with low power laser bolts.

“I listened to Mr. Smiths speech. He listed many freedoms. Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom from hate, intolerance, and racism.

“One thing he didn’t say, however, was that too much of a good thing is not good at all. I assumed that Bandomeers citizens were smart enough to know this on their own, but apparently I was wrong.
“The Empire gives you the exact same freedoms as the Coalition does, just with a few limits, to prevent weakness from seeping into the Empire.

“These abundance of rights in the Coalition causes weakness, and in addition the hatred, intolerance, and racism that he stated so boldly that the Coalition was against. The truth is, that right now, and for almost the entire history of the Coalition and the New Republic that preceded it, the member worlds are at each other’s throats. Since the founding of the New Republic it has been like this, and the Coalition is carrying on the tradition. At many points, the New Republic nearly broke up because of this.

He paused a moment.

“Another Freedom he conveniently forgot to mention was the Freedom of Peace. Lately, the Coalition has been threatening war with us, such as in their state of the Coalition speech earlier this year.”

The crowd muttered as they remembered the Coalitions Prime Minister all but declaring war on the Empire.

“In addition, as of late they have been running a bloodthirsty campaign of expansion, often using underhanded tactics.

He paused once more.

“Peace. Isn’t that what you want most of all? Well, if you join the Coalition that is one thing you most certainly will not get. They want war, not peace, because it suits their goals.

“And if you joined the resource hungry Coalition, in the event of war their Congress would lay down tax after tax upon you as they conscripted away hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of your younger men and women. The Empire, on the other hand, is larger and doesn’t need to draw so deeply under the same circumstances.

“In addition, you would never see those young men and women you sent off to war with them. In the event of a full-scale war they would be gradually pulled back to defend more important worlds as less important ones fell, and many would get killed in the process. Then, when the Empire launched its final offensive, they would almost certainly be killed.

“If they were serving with the Empire, the far smaller number of you citizens would be returned to Bandomeer immediately after victory is achieved.”

The crowd was now muttering among itself.

“Another lie,” Kach continued, “That Mr. White claimed was that you would no longer be able to enjoy the rights you enjoy now if you joined the Empire. That is a complete lie and he most certainly knows it.

“The truth is, as of late the Empire has never been freer. Freedom of speech, press, religion, and assemble are all guaranteed. Now granted there are some limits. For example, you can’t speak out against the government and the press must pass all stories by the government, but this is not out a hate of freedom but are safety measures to stop weakness at its source. As I stated earlier, too much of a good thing is not good at all and freedom is no exception. Too much freedom causes weakness, and weakness is one thing the Empire is most certainly against.

“Another thing that I mentioned earlier was how the Coalition had begun using underhanded tactics to achieve its goals.

There was nodding and shouts of, “Yes,” from the crowd.

“And I am sure you all have heard bout the so-called ‘Imperial’ Grenade attack on civilians at the Plaza of the Rising Sun earlier this morning.”

There was more nodding and “Yes’s,” but this time there was also another call of “Get on with it.”

“Well, what if I told you that the Grenade attack this-morning was not performed by Imperial agents, but by Coalition ones hoping to turn the crowd and if possible the rest of the planet to its side. And by all measures they have nearly succeeded.

“Yes, I will confess there were Imperial agents in the crowd, and snipers in nearby buildings in case they were discovered and had to make a fighting retreat, but they were under express orders to observe, not instigate, the crowd and to report on Coalition movements. Not throw grenades at them.”

Once again Kach thanked the whatever the galaxies true deity was that there was no footage of the grenades, and the fact that other than the two illegally obtained grenades the leader had, there was nothing to mark them out as Imperial agents.

“This is just another example of their cheap tactics, though this time it took place right on your doorstep. They hope that by discrediting us that you will join them and their underhanded, blood thirsty war machine. But instead of have doomed any hopes of them taking the planet peacefully.”

He paused to let his words sink in.

"Go home, people. The faction you support is a faction of underhanded, bloodthirsty liars. You do not want to join them. You might not want to join the Empire, but joining the Coalition would be even worse.

There was muttering throughout the crowd. He waited for the crowd to quiet down. Eventually, realizing he had more to say, they did.

Perhaps Neutrality would be the best course, perhaps the Empire. But one thing is for certain. Anything is better than joining the Coalition. Go home, people. Leave us and your bloodthirsty comrades in peace.

"That bombardment yesterday. The Empire is most sorry about it. I didn't want to do it, it's a beautiful planet you have, but that's what I was ordered to do. The exact same thing I'll be ordered to do if you join them. Please, I do not want to do such a thing. Last time a little boy was injured. Now, at my own expense he is being given the best in Imperial medical care. But next time, if there is a next time, which I hope there isn't, it won't be like that. It won't be hills surrounding your city's. The turbo laser bolts will land on your cities. Please. I do not want to do that. Go home. Do not force me to do it. Joining the Coalition will only make you receive even more of the same, and that is not something I want to do."

The surrounding square was dead quiet. You could quite literally hear the wings of Hawk bats flying on the other side of the square beating.

And with that, he turned away from the podium and stepped down to meet Zek, wiping the sweat off his face. He had to admit there were some moments where he was sure he was about to fail, but he'd done it: The crowd had calmed down.

“Sir,” he said, “agents are in position and ready to pick up the Coalition infiltrators and suspects.”

“Good,” he replied, “Get it done with then.”

Behind him, the Bandomeerian speaker, Adrian Smith, was seized by a pair of Stormtroopers, who put a stun bolt into his chest just after they grabbed him. Hearing the short-lived struggle, Kach turned around.

“Him?” he asked.

“Yes sir," a young lieutenant answered. We intercepted a call between him and Harrison proving beyond a doubt that he’s one of them.”

“Good. I was trying to think of a way to silence that man without causing the kind of fuss that an unprovoked arrest would have caused. But since we have a reason to take him we avoid all that. Excellent."

"What other agents have we identified?"

"There's one named Gabriel, he's just a suspect, and there's one of the people we've positively identified named Andrew White. The others identities are unknown."

"Alright. Capture them, and then ship them to the jail were our and the Coalitions men are being sent. Along with a group of guards, of course, to make sure that there's no funny business."

"Yes sir," the man answered. But Kach was already moving away from him towards a man who had appeared in the doorway in front of him, Lieutenant Pyle Harkum.

“Mr. Pyle,” he said, “I have a job for you. I need you to go see the president and tell him everything I just said, particularly that bit about the grenades.”

“Yes sir!”

15 miniutes later, both Pyle Harkum was gone.

(OOC: Marth. I know you don’t like how I’ve got all my supporters over by the senate, but that’s what you get for not changing your numbers [you 50000, me 3000] when I object and this was the only way to even that out. You brought this upon yourself by not changing that when I objected to it, so you can stick any objection you have about that up your ass where they belong.)

OOC:YAY it's going again. P.S. I'll be gone mon-thurs and i may not be able to post until friday. In the meantime post or PM any problems you have or if none just reply. Note: I still disagree with portions of krakens post.

IC:

<b>Grand Hotel</b>

The only reason he was even here was because of that Elaine. Mike Florio had no hatred for the empire or the coalition. Like many on Bandomeer he was actually quite indifferent towards them both. But Elaine, she was a huge supporter of the Coalition and she was hot. Mike listened to the Imperial Commander speak and even though his face had a look of hatred on it, some f the things he said even made some sense. But Elaine appeared shocked by the sudden quieting of the crowd.

"We've got to do something!" she whispered to Mike.

Mike groaned inwardly, but she was hot so why not. The actions of the stormtroopers gave him just the help he needed. Stormtroopers have never been known for their delicacy at handling crowds, pumping a stun bolt into a speaker at a rally when he was being arrested was rarely a good idea either. Mike stooped down and grabbed a rock on the ground and hurled it at the Imperial Commander.

"Liar! If you have rights why can't he say his speech! Why do you shoot anybody who disagrees with you! Murderers!"

Within seconds the crowd became riled up again, Kach Thorton had put so much effort into calming down the crowd but all it took were a few instances of heavy-handedness and suddenly all that hard work had gone to waste. Once again the crowd was riled up but this time there was no way the Imperials would be able to diffuse the crowd. The whole crowd began to surge against the barriers set up by the Imperials and more rocks flew through the air. Then there was an explosion as a molotov cocktail crashed through a second floor window. More and more followed as the situation spiraled out of control.

<b>Pride of Iridonia</b>



"Sir, new report from the ground!"

George Harrison looked up from the screen he'd been perusing to see one of the communications officers saluting.

"Continue."

"The Imperial Agents have arrived at a Bandomeerian holding facility. They've been seperated and are currently being interrogated. There's a whole team of investigators from the Bandomeerian Police are collecting evidence. The crowd remains fairly loud but calm. At the Senate, things are similar, there is currently about a 60-40 split in the demonstrators for the Empire and that appears to be holding fairly steady. At the Grand Hotel, the Empire has arrested a few of our agents as well as some leaders of the protest. They are also on the way to the Bandomeerian holding facility. The Imperial commander managed to quiet down the protest for a while but it's back in full swing. Also we've received a report that an Imperial Naval Lieutenant had a private meeting with the President where he denied everything and asked that we transfer the prisoners to a Bandomeerian holding facility. Also, the Lynx taskforce arrives in half an hour."

"Excellent! If you can encourage all new pro-GC protestors to go to the Senate. Other than that things are going splendidly."

<b>14 1/2 Hours until the vote</b>

Short but i didnt have a whole lot of time.