Tabloid Star Guardians: True Healers or Multi-Million Credit Profiteers

[The Storyteller]

Star Guardians: True Healers or Multi-Million Credit Profiteers​

- By @Tiamat , An Oracle Investigation Contributor-​

Sometimes when these feel good stories come across the holo, we are lead by this idea that there are truly those out there who lead selflessly. And while there are certainly those individuals exist, it is the larger organizations that draw the question: do they really hold the best interests of the average galactic in mind? Take for example a recent phenomenon: Star Guardians, lead by a young @Clove Vanhoop. An organization that has no boundaries, literally taking their hospitals and camps into hostile territories, warzones, treating any and everyone. Offering free healthcare, healing regardless of their background and offering near neutrality as war criminals and predators recover from their wounds.

However, as far as the greater galaxy knows, nothing is free.

So how is this Star Leader, Clove Vanhoop, able to keep her star guardians from collapsing into bankruptcy?

Public records identify donations and gifts from the Vanhoop Boutique, a small family business, but could one really sustain such a vast healthcare system on such a miniscule income? Probably not, so if records dig a little deeper, surprising it was not hard, as the Star Guardians are trying to protect their brand by literally banking on transparency. However, honest as it seems, let's understand who their stakeholders are, which isn't the people the care for, no because they don't need to pay a crown, it is the corporations!

Yes, multi-billion credit corporations buy their products, give gift donations, whether in credit or assets, and what would happen if those stopped? Who would the Star Guardians be if all those credits stopped? Chasing the sick and injured isn't an extension of goodwill, it is a profit, a scam, and one the members and the leader of the Star Guardians should have shame. The public should be concern, the governments should be concerned as they seem to disregard the rules of engagement during a time of war. The Star Guardians are not here for the greater good, they're here for the greatest body count and the highest bidder.

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

Things just seemed to get worse and worse. While Clove's personal life had deteriorated, the Star Guardians remained a constant, a positive, something she could cling to. It made dealing with the never-ending paperwork much more bearable, especially since they were investing in many more hospitals. But even that positivity seemed to have its limits.

Clove sat in her office, her skin paler than usual, the dark purple bags under her eyes revealing how little she'd slept. Bob had stormed in, flailing around his datapad before shoving it over a piece of paper she'd been studying. "The Star Guardian's very first tabloid! We're making headlines!" He'd say enthusiastically. It was adorable how invested he had become over the months. Clove herself wasn't optimistic, given that it was a tabloid article rather than a holonews article, but she'd try to laugh enthusiastically for Bob, giving it a fair shot.

But Clove's stomach dropped when she saw the title of the article and the author. Tia. This was sure to be interesting. The more the half-Annfyn read, the more her soul vanished from her eyes, until she sat there with an empty stare. This was how Tia was trying to get to her? Talking about profits and stakeholders? As a non-profit organization, every single credit was spent on the Star Guardians. Clove herself hadn't seen a single credit. And corporate stakeholders? She admitted she didn't know much about stakeholders, but she knew she didn't have a single deal with corporations, nor did she rely on them for donations and sales. Without them, the Star Guardians would still be fine. The majority of the multi-million credits were donated by Senators and faction leaders. It was them the Star Guardians were relying on, and even then they were trying to be as self-sustainable as possible, just in case the donations run dry. But that final line, caring about nothing but a body count... Oh, it was the absolute definition of pettiness.

"Should we put together a statement?" After reading alongside Clove, Bob asked with a gloomier expression. Clove tapped her fingers on the desk as she considered her options. Did Tia want a reply? Did she intend to turn this into a dirt fight? Regardless of what Tia had planned, she wasn't going to feed into it. "No, we're not goin' to make our first major public statement JUST in response to some petty tabloid post." She lowered the datapad, her gaze fixed on Bob. "Almost everythin' she claims we can disprove by, apparently, makin' our documentations more accessible. I had hoped they already were, but alas. Anyway, let people confirm thin' for themselves. We'll ignore it for a few weeks." Clove sighed softly and handed the datapad back to Bob. "An' once that time has passed, I believe it is appropriate for us to make our first public statement. We've got some news to announce anyway."

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tag @GABA ​

 

[The Storyteller]

BOYCOTT THE STAR GUARDIANS! BLOCK THEIR ACCESS! DO NOT FUND THEM!

Citizens across the galaxy are in uproar over the Star Guardians taking funding from the Empire. Rumor has it that Ms. Vanhoop allegedly met with Darth Raze himself, a man responsible for the murder of Onderon’s King and countless other war crimes. The galaxy does not want ‘help’ from an organization that would throw in its lot with the Sith!

“Did we forget the last time a Sith funded an effort that spanned multiple worlds?” A concerned historian asked, “Did we forget the Clone Wars? Did we forget Order 66? Did we forget all the steps that the Emperor took back then that first appeared as a show of good faith?”

Rumors suggest that the Star Guardians are a Sith ploy to plan spies across the galaxy and gain unadulterated access to places they would not have otherwise. What other group can easily access data and intel amidst the chaos and confusion of a battle? What other group can have immunity, sneak in and pass information to the Sith without anyone stopping or questioning them? That’s right, a 'humanitarian effort' that’s stood up by funding from the Sith.

“I would rather die than take help from an organization that takes money from the Empire!” A soldier that considers himself part of a Resistance cell declared.

While the Star Guardians have good intentions, clouds of doubt gather over a group that would collaborate with the likes of Darth Raze.

 

[Darth Trelain]

Darth Trelain had seen the article about the Star Guardians, but the deals that Raze had made with them were something that she mostly stayed out of. Though she'd considered seeing to it that Clove had an "accident" she'd decided that poisoning the well was more useful than filling it up.

She had taken about five minutes to consider what - if anything - to do with the article before finally settling on an idea. You see, she had no interest in the public feeds or being the face of a response - the Empire had people for that - but what she did care about was the impact it would have on someone who was pressing out in front of the pack to become one of her new pupils.

She quickly attached the article with a short message to Altair (@Sreeya).

She knew he would feel guilt and sadness for her being raked over the coals, but perhaps deep down he'd also feel a hint of anger. Anger that he probably couldn't place. A feeling of visceral injustice that he couldn't explain. Trelain was here to give voice to that anger and allow it space to grow.

Altair,

Interesting that you're not allowed to fight for the Empire against military assets, but she can make deals with the man who glasses planets. I guess cooperation with the Empire is only acceptable so long as it feeds her interests. Food for thought.

-Trelain

In this case, she knew less was more. His imagination would fill in the blanks that she couldn't possibly fill, and the seeds would continue being watered.

 

[Clove Vanhoop]

Clove was hyperventilating as she paced around the office, her hands on her head. Somehow t he tabloids found yet another target, and this time it was enough to make the entire galaxy shudder in hate and disgust. It went on for days on end, her Switter getting flooded with hate messages. Sith sympathizer. Spy. One insult after another. Did nobody realize that being neutral with the Sith meant they couldn't harm the people the Star Guardians were protecting? Wasn't that exactly what the ISC was doing?! Why did she become the demon?!

The looks of the Jedi and Sith was still crystal clear in Clove's mind as Yavin kept repeating. But as she left Yavin, she managed to ground herself enough to stop the darkest thoughts and cling to the Star Guardians. But now?! Soldiers would rather die?! She would only harm the Star Guardians if she stayed. She'd only...

"Bob!" Clove shouted out. "Bob! Prepare a camera!"

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tag ​