It was the first time I left the jedi temple since my arrival there. I sat in a speeder heading to the tower of the senate with my mother and my father, as well as Yoda, grandmaster Skywalker and master J‘zargo, though I didn’t know why those three were coming along.
There wasn’t any conversation, but a somewhat tense silence on board, this would after all decide the fate of an entire planet and all the people living on it.
When we reached the huge plaza in front of the senates tower, I couldn’t help but let my jaw drop a bit. In front of me was a towering building, it’s shape somewhat like a mushroom but all in all huge enough to be awe inspiring. Sure the jedi temple was just as big, if not bigger than the senate building, but people, in my opinion, should always be awed seeing such a building for the first time.
When we walked out of the speeder I took both my parents hands as we walked inside the building.
When I looked around I was relieved I had changed my clothes, everyone here had on some pompous robe or beautiful, luxurious dress, everyone but the jedi masters by our side who wore their usual simple beige tunics and brown coats.
Even my parents were clothed in extravagant clothing, though it wasn’t as gaudy as the clothes the other people wore, my father wore a simple black suit, which was, if he was to be believed the traditional clothing of male members of the royal family of Dubrillion (it really looked just like a modern black suit, with a blue dressshirt and black leather shoes), while mother wore a flowing black and silver robe similar to a kimono which succeded in conceiling her growing belly.
I myself had a silver and blue sundress with silver slippers my parents had brought with them, though it was a puzzle to me, how they were able to procure something that fitted me so perfectly. Oh and I had my new pendant around my neck of course, showcasing my identity as the first princess of Dubrillion.
Because that was what it was: the pendant of Dubrillions first princess. Father had told me it’s story after he gave it to me.
It was an ancient heirloom of the Drayen family, the crystal was found by Ducion and Risha Drayen during the war of the eternal throne and brought back „because it was shiny“ as the then future king Ducion said. In a ceremony after the war ended, Ducion collapsed and had a dream of the crystal in the hands of an undiscernable girl and a multitude of voices demanding at the same time: „Thou shall bestow this crystal upon the first of princesses of Dubrillion and the first princess after her and even the one after her until one time a princess shall be born who shall craft a blade of it surpassing any other blade. So mote it be.“ After the last echoes of the voice had ended, Ducion had seen a writing in silver, which had burned itself into his brain: GLADIUSFILIAEREGISLUNAE before he woke up again.
After his dream he had asked the present grandmaster of the jedi, Satele Shan, about his dream and was told to heed the command of the voice and so he went to a jeweller and tasked him to make this pendant which from then on was given to each first princess until it reached me. When Yoda had seen it he imediately recognised it as a lightsaber crystal, though he hadn’t ever seen one quite like it.
Anyway, we walked through the senate building without any problems, except having to greet and being greeted by everyone we happened to come across. When we finally reached the hover platform of the senator of Dubrillion my head was swimming with all kinds of names and titles of polititians and rulers. There was a surprising amount of rulers, kings, queens, presidents and any other kind of leaders present, confirming my suspition of the great political impact of todays session.
There also was a great nuber of stares directed at me. It wasn’t as bad as it could be, the galaxy was after all crawling with all kinds of strange species, but no one of these no doubt far travelled politicians had ever seen a human with cat ears and cat tail.
Though I prepared myself before stepping onto the hoverplatform of the dubrillionan delegation I was still awestruck when I first came into the session hall of the republic senate.
It looked close enough to the movies, but to see it on the screen and to see it with your own to eyes were two entirely different matters.
„Your Majesty!“ came the voice of a woman, I looked in the direction it came from and saw a bowing elder human woman in a luxurious robe, „It is an honor to finally meet you again.“
„Ah senator Dimaen, it’s nice to see you again, how long has it been, eleven years? twelve?“
„It has been thirteen years, we last met when you declared your father a lunatic and left with just one heirloom of the royal family when you were just fourteen years old. May I ask what you have been doing all this time?“ The senator asked in a respectful but still curious voice.
„Really nothing much, I just studied medicine and when the security forces began search for any remaining Drayens I went into hiding, fell in love, married and got a daughter.“ Father answered quite nonchalantly.
„So these two are our new queen and princess then, it is my absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance your majesties, my name Felicity Dimaen, the senator of Dubrillion“ she exclaimed and bowed deeply again.
Mother smiled at her and said: „I am Sheila, Marcus‘ wife it’s nice to meet you“
When all looked at me I introduced myself in a cheerful voice: „I’m Shira, nice to meetcha“
The senator was going to say something else, but she was interrupted by a loud male voice, which proclaimed: „Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats, it is time for this session of the senate to begin.“
All eyes went to the center of the great conference hall as the seat of the chancellor and his secretaries rose up. The chairman of session stood there in his ornate ceremonial garb and his long staff. Unsirprisingly it wasn’t Mas Ameda anymore, but a tall black haired and skinned man with imposing figure and a booming deep voice. Next to him sat the highest chancellor, an Ithorian. The first Ithorian highest chancellor to be precise, he was an exceedingly popular politician and leader with a name unpronuncable without two mouths and four gorges, like the name of any Ithorian. To the public he was known as Rr’brrlthornk or simply as chancellor Thorn.
The chairman once hit the floor with his staff, making a loud bang resound in the hall and gravely recited: „I hereby declare this session of the senate of the New Galactic Republic“ here he made a pause, turning and sweeping over the whole room with his eyes, before again hitting the floor with his staff, „as commenced“
„The first item on today’s list ist he question wether or not to reinstate the Drayen family as the royal family of the planet Dubrillion or not. As a reminder, thirteen years ago the late ruler of Dubrillion, Navos Drayen founded a seperatistic movement and started a rebellion alongside the surrounding planets against the rule of the Republic. Their uprising brought a warlike state to the surrounding systems, thus forcing the senate to send the republic army and the jedi order to put down the aggressors. All members of the Drayen dynasty on Dubrillion were imprisoned or killed in battle.
Now the people, common populace and the ancient noble houses of Dubrillion alike have demanded to let the former first prince, Marcus Drayen, who half a year before the start of the uprising left in disagreement to his fathers decisions, return and take up the crown of the kings of Dubrillion, like his ancestors have for more than five thousand years. I call Marcus Drayen forward to state his case.“
A murmur went through the crowds of delegates as the chairman sat back down and our booth began to float down towards the platform of the chancellor.
Father stood up and began with a calm but strong voice: „My name is Marcus Drayen, I am as you know the former first prince of Dubrillion. When I was fifteen I left my homeplanet because of the way my familiy had changed. In my childhood my father ruled kindly over his kingdom, like his father before him and like his father’s father before him. But one day he took in a traveler who had come exhausted to our front doors, bringing us ancient artifacts he thought belonged to our family. After a while while he had earned my fathers respect.
The man became fathers advisor and I had to watch as my family and the whole government gradually changed and their rule became stricter and more unfair, as the people began to demonstrate the government blamed the Republic for the hard times and after a while rebelled with the support of the people. I left half a year before the Rebellion, taking with me only an ancient family heirloom fathers new advisor wanted to destroy and enough money to live for a while.
I fled to here to Coruscant and began to study medicine. When the Rebellion had ended and the security forces began to seek for any missing members of my family, I decided to hide on a planet with low republic influence, on Cathar.
For eleven years I lived there, married a wonderful woman and had a beautiful daughter. I am happy with my life on Cathar and don’t desire the throne of Dubrillion, but I recognize my responsibility and duty to the people of my homeworld and am willing to do my best to govern and protect them. Thank you.“ He bowed and sat down. Applause came from the delegates of the other systems. My father looked at me with a questioning gaze, I smiled and gave him a thumbs up before jumping into his lap. It was a good speech, though it was short, just a retelling of the relevant events and a explanation of his current circumstances, all the while not trying to obviously or aggresively appeal to the crowd, he offered it without stuttering or faltering and with a sure and truthful voice, making everyone want to believe him.
On the right corner of my field of vision I could see a yellow light flare up. The chairman stood up again and proclaimed: „I give the word to the delegation of Corellia“
A booth came floating toward us, mounted by a twi’lek and two humans. One of the humans spoke up: „I and I am sure many others of the here present delegates am wondering who this man was you seem to blame for the deeds of your family and what kind of heirloom would be so important as to save it from destruction through it’s owners.“
Another murmur ran through the hall. My father was about to speak again but master J’zargo interrupted him.
„I believe I can shed some light on this mystery.“
The chairman spoke again: „The word belongs to master J’zargo, representative of the jedi council.“ „Thank you. As you may all remember, I myself led the final assault on the capital of Dubrillion. When I arrived inside the palace I was confronted by a man with a red lightsaber and knowledge of the force: A sith. I beat him in the following duel, but he managed to flee heavily wounded. Since then there hasn’t been even a rumor about him or other sith so you all might have forgotten about the incident. Through the use of the force it is possible to influence the mind of other people, with long exposure even their whole character can be changed, for better and for worse.
That’s one of the reasons we jedi aren’t allowed political positions and generally don’t meddle with the matters of the senate.
Concerning the heirloom, it’s an ancient pendant, which has been handed down to each first princess of Dubrillion for the last five thousand years. It was discovered by the legendary Ducion Drayen, a hero of the war with the Sith Empire. Said hero got a message from the force to always hand it down to the first princess of his line. We have identified the pendant as a unique lightsaber crystal. Inscripted on the pendant in an ancient human language are the words: ‚The sword of the moonprincess‘ , leading us to believe, that it’s destined to be wielded by the first female force sensitive from the Drayen line, which so happens to be young Shira here.“ I chose this moment to brightly smile and wave at all the people in front of me.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
I could distinguish some „Awww“ sounds coming from some of the delegates, but chose to ignore it.
Another flash of light and another booth came forward, this time from Kuat: „So the allmighty jedi can’t find a single one of their sworn enemies, despite their precious force?“
„The galaxy is vast, senator. Even the jedi order can’t know of everything happening in it’s far reaches. We have been searching for him and others of his order constantly since the fall of the first order more than a thousand years ago and we will continue to do so until the end of our existence. But we have other duties, our knights and masters are constantly roaming the galaxy, helping it’s dwellers and resolving conflicts. The force grants us great power, but there is no such thing as allmighty.“
J’zargo didn’t even seem fazed by the quip of the Kuati and replied with a patient and clear voice, like he was teaching a child.
The Kuati senator seemed indignant at the veiled questioning of his intelligence but knew better than to try and argue with a jedi: „That may be so, but what makes you think that this Marcus Drayen isn’t in league with this Sith too?“
Without pause J’zargo explained: „There are multiple reasons for that, but chief among them are the facts that we can’t feel even the slightest lie from him ever since he was in our presence and the fact that he married a Cathar. The ancient Sith empire was deeply racistic and even if sometimes a non human was allowed in their ranks, a marriage between a human and a non human was seen as unnatural and disgusting. In the empire, both the ancient one and the recent galactic empire interracial marriage and copulation was outlawed. There too is Marcus‘ specialization in herbal medicine and is love for plants. Sith tend to be homicidal and not interested in things that grow and people influenced by them usually share that trait.“
The Kuati wanted to say something against J’zargo, but another bang hindered him. Everyone looked in the direction of the chairman, only to see the chancellor stand. Rr’brrlthornk began to speak, surprisingly in basic: „I understand that Marcus Drayen has the backing of the jedi order, is that correct?“
This time it was Luke who stood up and spoke: „The jedi order vouches for his worthiness.“
Again there were murmurs, the backing of the Jedi wasn’t easy to get after all.
The chancellor nodded and continued: „Then I believe it is time for the vote. Those who vote for the reinstatement of the Drayen dynasty flare a green light, those who are against it flare a red light.“
He sat down again and suddenly the whole hall was illuminated by a bright green light. The vote was unanimous, nobody would want to out themselves and be seen as opposed to the jedi after all. Due to the ability to heal the galaxy from the damage the galactic empire and the first order and the myths and legends running rampart during that chaotic time, the jedi were seen as some kind of deities by the majority of the people and since no other organization of trained force users existed, there was no one equal to a jedi.
Even if there were senators and delegates in the senate, who didn’t like or approve of the jedi, they wouldn’t risk openly opposing them, thus whenever a case was backed by the jedi, the vote was unanimous, though it was extremely rare for the jedi to interfere in the politics, the last time was in order to stop the rebellion of my family and their allies, as all the senate did was discussing endlessly, not sending anyone to deal with the situation and leaving the seperatists to do as they pleased. So the jedi stepped in and organized a batallion of troups to put down the threat.
The jedi were peacekeepers, no soldiers and to fight an organized rebellion with huge starships, tanks and the like, an assault team of jedi would not exactly be the best way to deal with them.
Though I myself didn’t believe that. I had felt the powerlevel of Yoda, Luke and Rey, each of those three was strong enough to tear down an entire starfleet no problem, but if they did that it would send the wrong message about the jedi way and the people would look at them with fear of the terrible power the jedi were able to command, thus damaging the relationship between the order and the people of the Republic.
On short term sending one of the orders powerhouses to deal with the uprising would save more lives, but in the long term it would cause an alienization of jedi and fear of asking them for help for a long time, causing maybe more damage than the brief civil war had.
The voice of the chancellor awakened me from my musings: „The result of our vote is unanimous, as of today the Drayen dynasty with Marcus Drayen as it’s head has been given back the rule over the planet of Dubrillion!“
His words were answered by a large applause and loud cheers. I didn’t really know how to feel. Happy for my family to be back in their rightful position or sorry for them. They were going to have to babysit a whole planet after all, I could imagine many things more interesting than that. Or relieved that I’d become a jedi and wouldn’t have to deal with it myself.
I heard my father let out a huge sigh behind me as he muttered: „Great, back to babysitting a whole planet“ Huh, we were similar after all. He lifted me up and set me down on the floor before standing up and speaking to the crowd: „Honored members of he senate, I thank you for the trust you set in me and will do my best to lead Dubrillion back to it’s former peaceful and respected position.“
There was another applause. I didn’t understand why it lasted so long though. I always hated it if people applaused too often or too long, a little was fine as aknowledgment and praise but to do it too much is just annoying for the one on stage, that’s from experience, I always felt uncomfortable if the crowd applauded me too much.
When the applause had ended, my father continued: „As my first act in my new position I wish to ask for the abolishment of a certain law, which only exists on one planet: the law that outlaws the existence of Nekomata on Cathar."
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I sighed as I lay down on the soft matress of my bed. It had been a really draining day, most of all the endless discussions of the senate. The reinstatement of the Drayen dynasty and the outlawing of the outlawing of Nekomata had been done very quickly (the law had been abolished, against modern ethics, backing oft he jedi, the only existing Nekomata too cute to kill (I am not narcistic at all) etc.), but after that was a matter concerning the eventual increase oft he taxrate, the seemingly recurring discussion about the needed strength of the republic army and other such things.
I knew those were kind of important, but the thing was, that I wasn’t allowed to leave until the lunchbreak, as all entrances were sealed during the session, though I was wondering how they would react to emergencies, there was after all even an electromagnetic field blocking any kind of communication to the outside. Meh, they probably had some emergency protocol, those were the people who kept the republic running after all (of course that was probably done by the backstage guys and gals, not the ones making grand speeches in front of the people). It was boooooring.
Though after that came my birthday party. It was totally surprising for me, it was not normal for jedi to have birthday parties, maybe a small tea party for the closest friends and family, but nothing of the magnitude I got: One of the bigger training rooms had been decorated, with holo banner ploclaiming in bright silver letters „HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRA“. I knew I was popular within the order, but this was bordering ridiculous, the whole council was there, most of the younglings and a high number of Padawan, Knights and Masters, there were even some non-jedi.
Most likely almost all of the jedi residing in the temple at the time were there. It was really fun, but I suspected they just used my birthday as the excuse for a big party, there weren’t many parties in the temple after all.
One notable thing was the appearance of the director of a holo-net company. As far as I understood, the director had heard from master Rey, who was more or less the face of the order on the holo-net, of my singing voice. I loved to sing after all and sometimes I just began to sing, regardless of were I was or who was around. The director told me about the unexplanable decline in the singing capability of the galaxies residents and begged me to make a few recordings for him.
I agreed but only on the condition he would also play other music I would send over from time to time. I wouldn’t come to his studio and I would be anonimous, I already had enough attention, I didn’t need any more. I would do the recordings in the culture storage, in there were state of the art studios of varying sizes so I could just do all the recordings by myself.
Anyway back to the present, I closed my eyes and let myself drift off to sleep, expecting the usual three choices, but instead I was directly transported to what looked like a gaming room, waiting there were Bob, Luna, Diana and Ces. I could only take a glimpse, before the dragon lunged forward and hugged me with his front legs and his wings while happily shouting: „Shira-nee!!“
Now, normally if you were to be hugged by a dragon you would be squashed like a bug, but somehow Ces succeeded in controlling his strength so that I could only feel a slight squeeze. His happiness to see me was heartwarming and when he let go I had a huge smile on my face, I couldn’t help myself.
„Hi little bro, how was your day?“ „It was really fun, mommy took me flying and showed me a really cool track, we even had a race…“ I listened as he recounted the day with a wagging tail behind him.
Somewhere around the tale of the afternoon, he suddenly stopped talking. His mouth continued to move but no sound came out.
Then Bob began to speak: „As wonderful as it is to watch your sibling bonding time, we are here for a purpose. Shira I have something really important to tell you, but that can wait for now. First we must do something far more important…“ He made a dramatic pause as his till now jovial face changed into a serious and grim visage.
Until now I hadn’t seen him even close as serious as he looked now, granted I didn’t know him for long, but till now he seemed really laid back and always ready to crack a joke or pull a crazy stunt, even when he reprimanded Vritos he seemed carefree, but now he looked all the part of the ruler of all existence.
And then the Lord commanded: „Let us play mario kart“ – and it was done.
*pflatsch*
That was the sound as all of us, excluding Bob and Ces did a face palm.
Nonetheless without arguing we began to play and after a few rounds I turned to Bob: „So what was this important thing you wanted to tell me?“
„DAMN YOU AND YOUR SHELLS“ was what he answered. I had just stolen the first position from him by bombarding him with a barrage of green and red shells.
„Oh, sorry, what was it again … a yes it was about that lightsaber crystal of yours.“ „What about it? Is there somethng wrong with it?“ „I wouldn’t say wrong, it’s just that I was the one who sent it to the galaxy and gifted it’s finder with a vision. Though I wouldn’t have thought it would take that long for a suitable wielder to appear. This weapon is destined for you and in this life you won’t find any other crystal that is suitable for your sword.
Normally I wouldn’t do this, but since I really like you I will tell you of the special powers it has …“
So it really did have special powers. I suspected it, after all why else should there be a unique crystal destined for a specific person if they didn’t have special power? As such I turned my focus fully to Bob, who too looked at me.
„This crystal was created by me personally, though I didn’t know who it was meant for, I could have known, but I don‘t like looking into the future, it’s boring to know of everything before it happens, but I knew that they would be a princess and be related to the moon. So that’s the phrase I carved into the mind of the one who found it. You see this crystal of terrible power is used in the construction of a lightsaber, the result would be a blade unlike any other…“
The tension was thick in the room, even little Ces understood that something important was happening, all of us leaned forward to hear what kind of power the crystal contained. Bob took a deep breath and said in a gravely, deep voice: „A completely normal lightsaber with rainbow coloring“ Eh?
There was no sound in the room as all except Bob had a gobsmacked expression on their faces.
And then Bob began to laugh hysterically, even beginning to roll around and pummeling the floor with his fists as he brought out between his laughs: „I HAHAHAHA made this to see the reaction of the unlucky princess when she realized she would remain in memory as ‚the rainbow jedi‘ BWAAHAHAHAHAH.“
I couldn’t believe it. This was so, soo…
So typical Bob.
„Ahh, I won“
He didn’t even pause the game.
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Here's the next chapter, hope you like it
IMPORTANT
I'm completely unsure about the session of the senate, please give me a comment about it. I didn't include the rest of the session, I didn't want to make it too long, as it was a in my opinion rather importat part, though it was necessary to write all this backstory in there. There are of course methods to make it interesting, but they are either not realistic or I have not the ability to come up with them on time.
I had a hard time deciding whether or not to make a cliffhanger this chapter, but I decided not to. It would be really disappointing to wait a week for the revealing of the great power of the lightsaber. I could have revealed it later in the story, but I thought it would be mega disappointing to build up great expectations for her weapon. The reason I didn't give Shira a special lightsaber? Simple: She already is a monster and the lightsaber in itself is an overpowered weapon, why should I make it even more overpowered?
NOT IMPORTANT
Eeeeeeeh, what should I write here today?
Did you know, that I have as of this moment exactly 50 comments for this story? And exactly 85 followers? Those numbers are somewhat ... I don't know maybe it's just me.
There was also a day last week, were almost the whole day the number of average views was 666... I even made a comment for that on that day, don't know if you read it.
Did you know I made the biggest comment I have yet seen on this website below last chapter? If someone read it, please tell me if it made any sense, it's an important number of reasons why this story will play out as it will (I think, as I haven't planned out the details for the story yet) and will (hopefully) fill a number of potential plotholes.
Well that's it for today, I originally planned to make the senate session and the revelation of the "power" of Shira's lightsaber two different chapters, but I already had it written to a point that felt comfortable to end the chapter and I decided to just combine them into one.
Bye, see you in the comments.
P.S.: Could I have some more reviews? Pretty please, with a cherry (scratch that, I hate cherrys), I mean with a strawberry on top?