Chapter 64: The Apostles' Revenge

The topic for the hearing that day was the big one: the argument to crown all others, whether the Galaxy should be united under one government, and if so, what that government should be. When Rey entered the room, she could feel the tension and recognized almost everyone present to be a big shot. All seven admirals were present, and all of the remaining chairmen of the Corporate Alliance were present. Marcus, Minerva, Poe, and the leaders of the other New Republic political parties were also present. Ray sat amongst her New Republic peers, though they were somewhat separated to grant her her own spotlight.

Looking out over the audience, the Jedi felt as though the entire Concord had just been a farce, and the remaining meaning behind everything that had been planned and schemed was to get this group of people together in one room. Her suspicion only grew stronger as the debate began, though she quickly became lost as the discussion exponentially increased in complexity. She could still read the mood, and when tension began to grow high, she recognized members of the Peace Seekers Alliance who would step up to discuss things. Many figures became irritated, though many more delegates whose eyes were shown opportunistically were clearly undecided.

Rey had anticipated Admiral Primidian would speak up last as a trump card, but in fact, things panned out almost the opposite. He interned the conversation very early and proposed a strong centralized democracy to govern galactic trade and security while proposing regional control would belong to the individual systems. His argument was clear, concise, and, most importantly, practically ended any mention of peace not being an option at all.

As hours passed, the situation began to spin out of control as conflicting opinions led to more and more bickering. However, it was at this point Marcus Ultor took the stage and proposed his stance on a governing system similar to that of the Old Galactic Republic in that it involved a Common Law managed by a complex series of Galactic Courts. However, after this, he proposed that the Galaxy should be broken into a number of smaller segments to be governed by localized democracies. These quadrants would then elect a representative to represent them on a galactic level. This galactic-level Senate would have authority over the Quadrant Senate but could not pass laws on particular local matters.

It was a very bold declaration that had many delegates caught off guard. It was totally different from anything they had seen in the past and was almost immediately declared impractical. Although it was unlikely the Chancellors' proposal would pass in totality, it marked a sharp contrast to Admiral Primidian's, and people began to formulate a conversation that existed between these two extremes.

Ultimately, it was Minerva who gave the last blow and proposed a system unlike anything anyone had heard of. Like the Galactic Republic, it would have a branch of government dedicated to the Courts. However, in this system of government, there would be a legislative branch made up of two branches, one representing all systems equally and another where systems represented by population would exist to pass new laws. This system would also have a third branch, which would possess e a President elected by votes from the systems themself who would manage disaster relief and the Galactic Military Force. These three systems would have the ability to keep each other in check by overruling each other's sessions to ensure no single branch could harm the Galaxy due to corruption.

There was a lot of approval for this plan, which was a healthy middle ground between the other major plans that had been proposed. For the last few hours of the conference, the delegates excitedly discussed the details of imposing such a system of governance, and its conceptualization passed with a large majority. Rey was amazed to see history in the making, and even though she only said one line near the very beginning, she felt very satisfied. Ironically, it would be this one simple line that would go down in history and be quoted for centuries to come, "The Galaxy has been stuck in a state of war long enough; it's time we move on and find peace."

Following this decision, there were celebrations all through the Galaxy as people who never thought it possible now heard that peace was possible. It had been voted on, and although it would take time for details to be finalized and for a full transition to occur, the groundwork had been set. In the eyes of the people, peace had essentially been declared, and thus, the stars were once again filled with hope.

Rey honestly couldn't remember much of what happened after that. She, Poe, and Finn, despite their tensions, had all met up and got completely wanted by their old Resistance buddies. The Jedi had tried to resist the temptation, but seeing everyone having so much fun, they decided this was a once-in-a-millennium occasion and decided to enjoy it. She didn't even remember being half-carried back to her room and helped to bed by a very excited Fama. That night, she slept deeply and soundly happier than she had been in a very long time.

As punishment for breaking her vows the next day, the Jedi woke with a terrible migraine. She was then grabbed by Emi, who dragged her to a luxury spa. Despite its expensive appearance, the workers here messaged her mussels into nonexistent and scrubbed her skin so thoroughly she was surprised she had any left. They treated her with dozens of oils and lotions that caused her to sneeze and ended with a beauty treatment that took hours. For the junker-girl from Jakku, this was essential torcher, though, for the sake of the Concord's Closing Ball, she endured.

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This time, the ball was held in the Emperor's Personal Palace from the age of the Empire, which Rey found rather amusing. Having learned from her past mistake, the Jedi steered clear of several troublesome parties, including Suket Blu, whom she boldly told, "Give me a moment; I need to say hi to an old friend."

Rey darted away, and Fama at her side asked, "Are we really going back."

The Jeid responded quighty, "Not on your life." The two giggled and arrived at where Poe was having a passionate conversation with a woman with long brown hair. When they arrived, she remarked teasingly, "Isn't she too respectable for your taste."

The man nearly blew wine out of his nose while the lady smiled and commented, "Well, I certainly hope I'm not that boring." She nodded to Rey and Introduced herself, "My name is Belladonna, Belladonna Organa. But you can call me Bella." It was the Jedi's turn to nearly snort out her drink with surprise while the woman chuckled and clarified, "Yes, I'm Minerva's oldest daughter." She looked around and added, "My siblings are probably hiding with Father somewhere." She refocused on the Jedi and added, "They do hate politics."

Rey grew excited and grabbed the woman's hand, shaking it firmly, "It's an honor; your mother is a real inspiration to me."

Bella took Jedis's hand confidently and answered, "I wish I could say the same; from what Mother told me, you're going to worry her to an early grave."

Her words were fiery, but they were spoken in a kind and teasing tone like they were old friends. The Jedi smiled, liking the woman's spunk, and responded, "I try my best; bad things just keep happening."

Bella seemed ready to respond to this when a loud explosion caused the ballroom to go quiet. The woman turned to the noise and blurted, "What was that?"

Rey drew her lightsaber, "Bad things." She began to sprint towards the location of the explosion while shouting, "Everybody gets down."

Some of the people around her obeyed, but most of the room had dissolved into chaos. The Jedi managed to see a figure draw a red lightsaber. This man lunged towards Az Tavuurd and ruthlessly cut him in two. He then leaped towards none other than Admiral Adolfus but was intercepted by Rey's own blade. The man was none other than Luca, who snarled out, "Don't get in my way."

Rey ducked down and tried to sweep his feet, but he performed a backflip to avoid her. The Jedi noticed baster bolts shot in her direction from two other cultists and had to leap to avoid them. Fighting all three of these people would be difficult, but just as things were looking bad, Finn appeared and charged the blaster wielders while shouting, "I got there, guys."

The Jedi heard blaster fire somewhere else in the room but didn't have time to look as Luca attacked again. Like before, they were locked in a rapidly moving battle, and if possible, it seemed the man's skill had once again increased. He was either the fastest earned the Jedi had ever encountered, or some other foul play was involved. Her own force abilities had still not completely recovered, though she was willing to make the effort if she had to. The situation was made much worse when Rey nearly slipped on a woman's discarded bracelet, allowing Luca to put her on the defensive. He then used a force push to increase his advantage, though just as he was going to make a move towards the civilians again, he was hit in the shoulder by a projectile.

Rey glanced back to see Fama with a makeshift slingshot and swore she would punish the child for a month after praising her. She took this opportunity as the man staggered from the stunned bead and managed to force him into retreat. They made it all the way to the rear window that looked out over the vast city and reflected the light of their sabers. Luca took the chance to shatter this with his weapon, then held out his left hand, using the Force on the pieces to attack the Jedi.

To get through this attack, she had to rely on her Battle Meditation to its fullest extent. As if on autopilot, she ducked down, rolled, rose up, and cut off the man's left arm at the elbow. As he howled in pain, she cut his weapon in two at the hilt and then moved the blade to his throat. She was panting and almost collapsed from the pain that coursed through her mind and body, but she managed to shout, "Surender."

His ferrous and pain-filled yellow eyes were the only thing visible with his mask still on, though he growled, "You understand nothing, Jedi; everything you think you know is a lie. The Dark Apostles are only the beginning. Now, you will begin to witness what true evil looks like."

Rey's vision was growing blurry, though she shook her head and responded, "Then I will be there to stop it; the Jedi always will."

Luca laughed in a horse voice, "A mere human can never stand in the way of a hurricane." His eyes grew wide as he finished, "Your pride will be your downfall."

At this, he fell back out of the window into the night; Rey lurched out to grab him and barely missed. She looked down and saw his body disappear through a gaseous layer of smog, certain he would not survive such a fall. The Jedi moved away from the edge and stumbled but was caught by Poe, who held a blaster and commented, "You don't look so good."

Rey looked back at him and grumbled, "I won, didn't I…" She shook her head again to clear it and shoot back, "Where are you, lady friend."

The notorious playboy had the audacity to blush at this and responded, "She's with Minerva." He then smiled and added, "But we do have some good news."

They walked over just in time to see Cronos Naux being led into a Security Force transport in restraints. He was unconscious and clearly stunned, and a small group had come over to celebrate his arrest. Admiral Primidian was overseeing the matter and had a burn mark on his suit that revealed an interwoven metal so fine it appeared like fabric. He spotted her and smiled warmly and happily as though he thought everything was the way it was supposed to be.