JEDI HoloNet

Ex-governor-general and senator Laa’ken Ruun is to be investigated for prospective charges of war crimes, bribery and treason, the Senate Investigation Unit decided today. An official inquiry has finally been called after years of lobbying by prominent senators into the conduct of Laa’ken Ruun during his tenure as Governor-General of Vohai.

Though a divisive figure, many in the Republic see Laa’ken Ruun as a proud patriot and military leader that helped steer the Republic away from dangerous terrorists and corruption on the Outer Rim. The call for an inquiry has been met with conspiracy theories and responses of the “establishment” getting their own back.

However, Ruun’s rule of the planet was seen by many as an anti-democratic power grab. As governor-general he was given the authority by the Chief of State to effectively oversee military, judicial and economic practices on the planet while only being answerable to the Chief of State directly. The crisis around this resulted in the last Chief of State resigning, and Laa’ken Ruun’s hopeful attempt at becoming Chief of State in his stead.

Senator Manning, leader of the inquiry, had this to say:

“Despite the opposition’s claims of bias, this investigation would categorically not have been launched without significant evidence already existing that leads us to believe that it is worth officially prying open. The Vohai Civil War was one of the most destructive and violent conflicts since the Imperium Wars, and it wasn’t even outside of the territory of the Republic. An investigation into the conduct of Laa’ken Ruun is long overdue.”

Dear members of the Jedi Order,

I would like to thank my fellow High Councillors for bestowing the honour upon me of Grandmaster. It is a duty I take with the most humble of gratitudes. However, I would like to take this moment to speak plainly to you all, so that you may understand the motivations of what is to come.

Recently, Grandmaster Don’roq and myself received a letter from the Galactic Republic’s Chief of State, Lammee Ranack. In it, she expressed a clear desire to work more closely with the Jedi Order in the hopes of building a stronger relationship. Though she did not directly say it, the language implied that this stronger relationship can only mean one thing: alliance.

Near-unanimously, the Jedi High Council has decided that it will entertain talks to renegotiate our previous alliance with the Jedi Order, one that ended centuries ago.

However, let it be known that the High Council is well aware of the past and does not make this decision lightly. The Republic is a temperamental thing, but it is showing worrying signs of corruption that we feel, as Jedi, we are best poised to deal with. Working closely with the Chief of State, we want to negotiate our alliance so that the Jedi may work more effectively in tackling the inner rot of this galactic government, wherever it may be found and on whatever level.

We must never forget our duty to life. It is my belief that, so long as we allow this rot to occur in the institutions of the Republic, we debase ourselves and our principles. Therefore, I would ask every member of the Order in a position to do so to grow a relationship with one of the Republic’s organisations, those which I will list below.

Let it be understood that we are not in an alliance with them yet, but it is the Jedi Order’s desire to do so. It is imperative that we do not make our relationship with them more precarious. When we can operate from within, the Jedi Order may begin assessing the levels of corruption – and how to best deal with them.

The following institutions I recommend that Jedi spend time working with.

• G.R.I.D – Galactic Republic Intelligence Division, the intelligence / spy network of the Republic. The Jedi Order has a long history of work with them.
• P.S.F – Planetary Security Forces, local police work usually ran by local governments, but some in the core are Republic-funded.
• Senate Investigation Unit – An independent judicial body that investigates senatorial misconduct or misdemeanours.
• Supreme Court – The Republic’s highest judicial authority.
• Galactic Republic Military – The GRM is comprised of the GRSA, the Grand Republic Service Army, and the GRSN, the Grand Republic Service Navy.

May the Force be with us on this crucial task,
– Grandmaster Coron Audax

At 03:23 Galactic Standard Time, Holonews received the word from the Ossus Praxeum’s press office that the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order, Don’roq, had succumb to his wounds and painlessly become one with the Force. In an earlier meeting of the High Council, it was decided that Master Coron Audax, 71-year-old Talortai, is to take over as Grandmaster and lead the Jedi Order as his successor.

The following is to be considered Master Don’roq’s eulogy by Holonews. His service to the galaxy will not be forgotten.

Born in 249.02 ABY on their planet of Toola, the young Whippid Don’roq displayed an early potency in the Force and quickly rose through the ranks of the Jedi Order while the temple at Coruscant was still in use. There, Don’roq was taken under the tutelage of Master Dennin Mial, where he excelled in both study and duty.

It was Master Don’roq’s service in the Attrition Wars that defined him as a man, where he showed outstanding bravery as a frontline hospital doctor. Master Don’roq was among the few Jedi whose hospital tended to both side’s injured, for they were all sons and daughters of the Force in his eyes.

Master Don’roq trained over twenty-two padawans during his time in the Order, himself knighted in 276 ABY. Each one owes their wisdom and sense of duty to his guidance. During the Great Plague, Master Don’roq took up the role as local councillor in the temple of Ossus. It is there that he would spend the rest of his life. He led the Praxeum’s defence during an assault by the Sith Imperium, later doing much to aid the order’s recovery following the decimation of the Great Plague and Imperium Wars.

In 361 ABY, the Jedi Order chose Master Don’roq to lead them. It was there that he was faced with the most serious challenge of his lifetime: the rebuilding of the Jedi Order. Over the next 37 years, Grandmaster Don’roq gave himself tirelessly to his duty. The threat of ‘the Void’, an anomaly in the Force whose agents had begun kidnapping would-be Jedi children, showed the two defining qualities of the Grandmaster: bravery and compassion. The Jedi had struggled with much sacrifice to combat the threat of the Void, finally rescuing all but two of the stolen children.

In 397 ABY, Grandmaster Don’roq led a strike team of the Jedi’s finest into the heart of the Void, killing its master and freeing the galaxy from its plague. But it was from this battle that he was injured grievously. For some time the Grandmaster’s body fought bravely, but a fever would take him in the night. He became one with the Force surrounded by friends and those who loved him, not only for the man that he was, but the compassion he had shown the Order.

Only five years ago a Holonews report concluded that the levels of homelessness on Coruscant were reaching levels never before recorded in Republic census data. That number has now been surpassed.

Outside of the Republic’s core, an average of 3.8% of the Republic’s population now declare themselves in extreme poverty across planets. The worst case, the industrial planet of Contruum, hosts a homeless population of 8.5%. In other words, almost 1/10 people on Contruum have no active living address and, without that, lack the basic necessities of living.

Homeless citizen Lana Me’n of Contruum told Holonews that:

“Not only do I feel abandoned, I feel completely lost. Me and me kids are just lost down ‘ere. Most nights we shack up with the other squatters – and sure, we all have jobs, but that don’t mean we have somewhere to live. What we earn we need for livin’, we’ve got no way of puttin’ down ’nuffin on a rent, or a house even. Worst parts is, I grew up with a house. It wasn’t much but compared to now it was like we were billionaires. Where ‘ave all the houses gone?”

Holonews spoke with economic analyst Bannun Krimgar at the Institute of Social Sciences, who had this to say:

“What is crucial to understand here is that the patterns of homelessness are not something exogenous to the economy, they are a direct consequence of economic action. What creates homelessness? Wages haven’t been depreciating – sure, some of the fatcats talk about hard work and how the poor ‘deserve’ it since they can’t manage their money, but it doesn’t change the fact that things have just been getting more expensive. What we call real wages, the actual spending power of the worker, has been crippled by a constant increase in the price of living and goods. Not inflation per se, no, but little expenses.

The real danger of homelessness is that it isn’t magic, it can happen to literally anyone just from a string of terrible events. Let’s say your last living relative dies that you were close with, like a brother or a mother. So you haven’t got a support network – which is a surprising amount of people anyway. Then, maybe your rent goes up a little bit. All of a sudden you break your hand. Can’t afford a doctor? Well then you’re working with a bit of a handicap. So you start slowing down in work. Sure, they can’t fire you for your injury, but they can make your life harder – and believe me, they’ll be breathing down your neck just looking for the opportunity to get rid of you. Then your airspeeder breaks down and you can’t get to work anymore, it’s not like you have the money for it. Then you’re late on your rent. And before you know it, you’re out on the streets.

This is happening to families everywhere on an unprecedented scale. What’s causing it, you might be asking? The economy, plain and simple. Those in control of the economy, business and political leaders, are making it harder and harder to live in this Republic as things are becoming more and more expensive with less and less support.”

Protests erupt across the Republic as a three-year community service sentence has been given to Senator Arkanus of Pantora, found guilty of illegally spending 13,000,000 credits of state funds.

Senator Arkanus, who was a leading figure of the senate’s anti-corruption league during the Galactic Recession, has since been in a five-year battle with the Supreme Court of the Galactic Republic over multiple allegations of bribery, abuse of powers and fraud.

The Supreme Court justified its sentence with the following statement: ”

“The Supreme Court has acted on this matter according to the legal definitions of existing codes of conduct, while taking into consideration the character and good that Senator Arkanus has provided for not only his community, but the community of the Republic.”

Critics of the Supreme Court, such as ex-governor Laa’ken Ruun, describe the sentence as “a disgusting misuse of justice… symbolic of the heart of corruption in our Republic”. Lord Ruun himself currently undergoing investigation for allegations of war crimes during the Vohai Civil War by the Supreme Court’s investigative body.

However, critics outside of the political sphere of the Republic seem outraged by the disparity of sentencing charges by the Republic’s legal code. Holonews spoke with Coruscant lawyer Grangram Bibblesman, a criminal lawyer that has “fought tooth and nail” for “far less egregious crimes”, but his defendants have often received far greater penalties.

“Believe me, my clients have stole nowhere near 13 million credits, and they rarely get away with no prison time. This is inequality before the law, plain and simple. It’s telling that, because of the ‘sensitivity’ of the case, the transcripts won’t be released for another twenty years! All I want to know is just how many of those judges were close friends of Senator Arkanus, hm?”