When that happened, we saw a thirteen point five percent slowdown in the median monthly rate of new signatories to those vile Articles of Secession" Professor Tahli Assadi of the Shili think-tank Critical Solutions began.
...
She went on to say "Being flown out to view a task-group of C.I.S vessels could persuade any monarch from a provincial, backwater agri-world to supply the Coalition's population.
Until you show that monarch the simulations of how that task-group fares against even two or three squadrons of the Judicial Forces new Venators, all being lead into the fight by one of Kuat's new or refitted battleships.
At that point, even Rim-world chieftains and high priestesses can do the arithmetic.
They understand that if or when the day comes that the Republic loses a battle, we'll simply build more ships and train more men.
We can absorb losses which would quickly bankrupt the far less robust economy the C.I.S is trying to knit together, because we possess the nearly bottomless industrial might to make that happen.
When the C.I.S loses a battle, however, that lost tonnage and manpower won't be so easily replaced.
It's a numbers game at this point, and the M.M.S.A will be what teaches those worlds considering making the worst of all mistakes the all-important lesson. You can't win a war against an enemy with a deeper war-chest, superior industrial base, and vastly greater population."
Others aren't so sanguine about the outcome of a war between the Republic and the so-called Coalition of Independent Systems. More than one historian this reporter spoke to pointed out the pivotal roles of trained Force-sensitives in nearly every major conflict of the past twenty-five millennia.
In several instances, they (correctly) attribute victory to the side whose Force-wielders were capable of liquidating the executive authority of the opposing polity. Since the Rim Autonomy League's raid on what they referred to as an.
"Extra-judicial detention center funded and maintained by a Jedi Order dedicated to maintaining it's monopoly on the training and subsequent allegiance of Force-sensitives."
The Holo-Net has been full of speculation concerning the R.A.L's motives for the raid, as well as the Jedi Order's reasons for creating a prison.
HoloNet News reached out to the Jedi Order for comment, but at the time of this publication, the Order had declined to offer any response concerning the so-called Ghost Prison whatsoever.
Unlike past wars in which the Jedi featured prominently, the conflict potentially brewing between the Republic and the C.I.S lacks the critical component which has traditionally galvanized the Jedi Order into war participation. The polity opposing the Republic being lead by their ancient enemies, the Sith.
With the Chief Executive of the Coalition of Independent Systems himself a former Jedi, it's difficult to say whether the Jedi will even fight on the Republic's behalf.
Those who believe the Jedi will fight point to their many dangerous reconnaissance missions to C.I.S worlds to gather evidence of Precept-violations. Correctly characterizing the Jedi Order as a de facto intelligence-gathering service for the Senate and the Republic's burgeoning Judicial Forces.
While Jedi detractors point to the fact it was only those Jedi who overtly defied their own High Council that chose to defend the Republic during it's conflict with the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders.
"The Mandalorian Wars might have been more than three millennia ago, but they do represent the last time a major interstellar war was precipitated by something other than the Jedi-Sith conflicts of old" said one reputable historian.
With all the rumors floating around concerning former Chancellor Palpatine, it's difficult to know which side of the issue the Jedi Order will come down on this time.
When asked for a comment on where the Order stood with regards to conflict between the Republic and the C.I.S, all Master of the Order Mace Windu would say when he caught up to him leaving a meeting with Chancellor Organa and Vice-Chair Ashgad was "No one wins an interstellar war, ever.
The reactive nature of such conflicts guarantees the cost in innocent lives, destroyed infrastructure, and the damage to fragile trade-based economies is always immense.
No government proving capable of fielding fleets enough to both protect it's every member star system and prosecute a war, plus communication signals from a system under attack traveling no faster than warships, equals one ravaged star system after another.
That's why we only see one such conflict occur every few millennia. Quite simply, it takes the galaxy that long to recover from each such conflict!"
Additionally, some experts pointed to the droid-based forces the Coalition of Independent Systems continue to assemble as reason for concern.
Jett Farran, a former Captain in the Judicial Forces who is now employed as a senior design consultant for Rothana Heavy Engineering expressed this worry.
"It takes time and credits to train, outfit, and maintain a soldier. This is before the soldier's side derives any actual benefit from the fighting man, you understand.
Droids have very little of that front-loaded expense apart from their actual fabrication and comparatively little maintenance costs.
They're inferior to soldiers in many respects, sure, but just how inferior? Quantity has a certain quality all it's own, as they say. You can't mass-produce fighting men like you can droids.
Even these clone troops the Senate's been arguing over for years take half as long as real troops to ready for the fight.
A long campaign might well favor the C.I.S. I mean, I doubt they could hold out long enough for attrition to become a major worry for the Republic, but it's something it wouldn't pay to forget, either."
All of this is set against the backdrop of a pivotal vote in the Senate concerning whether or not the government of the Republic will once more contain a Minister of Defense set to occur early next week.
Derided by the coalition formed from the shrinking yet outspoken Reconciliation-Faction lead by Naboo Senator Padme Amidala, and the Pacifist Faction represented by Senator Kim Robb as a foot-in-the-door tactic intended to advance the prospects of the twice voted-down Military Creation Act.
The M.C.A, currently languishing in a limbo of parliamentary procedure due to Robb's preternatural ability to discover and utilize ancient Senate practices overlooked for centuries, yet never removed from the books, would enjoy increased viability after a revival of the Minister of Defense position.
"Much of the Reconciliation/Pacifist success in stalling the M.C.A has come down to two points. Their ability to court votes among Rim-Faction Senators whose worlds would.
Despite their refusal to sign the C.I.S Articles of Secession, undoubtedly be harshly affected by a conflict anticipated to occur mainly in their part of the galaxy, and their subsequent ability to send the M.C.A to chair-moderated debate.
With no specific government body to speak for the M.C.A in such a proceeding, Senate procedure causes any bill so treated to return to the floor for a general continuance vote after a period of (30) Coruscanti days has elapsed.
Obviously, the existence of a Minister of Defense would close this procedural loophole and send the M.C.A back to the Senate floor for a consideration, rejection, or adoption vote on the merits.
In such an eventuality, you can expect the M.C.A to enjoy considerably more support in the wake of the failed summit and increased R.A.L attacks" said Tomas Vilbryte, head of the Shili think-tank.
"The people who identify themselves as loyal to the Republic are becoming less and less willing to believe there's any difference whatsoever between the so-called Rim Autonomy League and the Coalition of Independent Systems.
In a recent Holo-Net poll with a sample size of a two hundred randomly selected worlds from the Core to the Expansion Region, an overwhelming 79.5% of the five hundred million respondents believe the C.I.S and R.A.L leadership are one and the same.
We're tabulating the votes and finalizing counts on a poll with more detailed questions and a far larger sample size of two thousands worlds and twenty billion respondents right now, but I haven't seen anything yet to convince me the results are going to be any different this time around.
Given the R.A.L raid on the Prism Citadel hadn't yet occurred during the first poll, it's quite possible the numbers will be skewed even more in favor of those demanding less talking and more action concerning an opposition government which seems to grow more violent by the day" Vilbryte concluded after a long swallow of Corellian whiskey.
With the much watched Defense Minister vote looming, and the potential consequences for the hotly debated Military Creation Act alternately overshadowing and inflaming the ongoing tensions, it's difficult to say what the next few weeks hold.
This reporter prays that cooler heads on both sides will prevail, but fears we may already have missed that turn-off. All that is certain at present, is that the fate of the galaxy at large is still uncertain.
Except for those watching here and informed by HoloNet News! Forty-five credits a month for our full-access package. Never miss out on the most recent developments, and avoid being the office-being awkwardly behind on current events around the drink-dispenser!
HoloNet News Publication: 531st Volume.
...
Coruscant, Jedi Temple 22 BBY
16 Days since the stone mite infestation.
The Halls of Healing were one of the most peaceful, soothing locales I'd ever visited. Which was saying something, when you considered places like the Room of a Thousand Fountains.
The bright Coruscant daylight entering from the high windows to glimmer gently off the soft blue-green floor and walls gave the place a warm and welcoming ambience.
The light glinted off thousands of tiny crystals embedded in the rosy pink columns rising from floor to ceiling, and these helped break up sight-lines between the four rows of beds in the main infirmary.
Presumably to give recovering patients an illusion of privacy, because many Jedi seemed to become introspective for a time after being seriously injured.
Gliding quietly through the infirmary after securing permission from Chief Healer Vokara Che only by promising not to disturb any of her patients who were resting, I wondered if that trend toward introspection represented a temporary disruption of belief in Jedi near-invincibility.
The Force knew I'd met enough Jedi like Ferus Olin. Beings who moved through life as if nothing could touch them without their leave. It made no sense to me given how often Jedi pyres were lit, but some things about human nature not even the Force could grant insight into.
A patient whose stay was to be measured in weeks rather than days, Bultar had been given a private room on the far side of the Halls in its furthest right corner. Approaching the door to her room, I could sense two familiar presences inside.
Their emotional states giving me reason to believe they would not wish to be surprised by a senior Jedi Healer who considered knocking in "their" Halls redundant, so I knocked loudly and waited patiently.
...
Hey guys can you throw some power stones to Elevate the ranking.
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