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- #1
The apocalypse had come.
Bastele knew it would. He had warned of it for months. Ever since that day with the Jedi Masters, after they had rescued him from the Mandalorians, he warned that the armies of evil had one goal in mind: Coruscant. He didn't know how they would arrive or when, only that they would. Part of the Chief of State wanted to feel the sweet release of vindication, and to say "I told you so" to everyone who said he was wrong. But he couldn't. His world was burning.
Everything was bigger on Coruscant, even the explosions. Every time a plume of fire erupted from a building, he knew that meant hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people were dead. That's why he stayed here. His staff begged him to leave. Even Congress wanted him to fly to safety and take refuge from what was coming, but he couldn't. Leaders don't run away as their people are slaughtered. If they are to die, then he will die with them.
His advisors told him it was to maintain a functioning government. It was an absurd notion. By the time this battle was over, there wouldn't be a government left to function. This was the end of the Galactic Alliance, a government forged by war. He may have chewed out the Jedi Council for fleeing, but the truth is, deep down, he couldn't blame them. The Old Republic had survived numerous attacks on Coruscant before, but this time would be different. These Sith can't be repelled. These Sith didn't travel all the way here to make a point. This Empress and this Dark Lord would burn down the whole world if they could rule over the ashes.
So he just sat at his desk, watching out the window as the world burned around him. Star Destroyers slowly made their way down from orbit, hovering over the city and releasing thousands upon thousands of fighters into the traffic lanes. Innocent civilians, just trying to make their way from one place to another, were being cut down like flies. He could just barely make out the ground below his executive office, where he watched as Sith forces began to move into the Congress Hall, but he knew they were coming. It wouldn't be long for him, and he didn't think there was anything he could do.
That's when it hit him.
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Twenty minutes later, Bastele was underground, beneath the Congress building where the government kept a high-level prison facility for only the most high profile and important detainees. It's where they would keep a rogue soldier, a corrupt politician...and a Jedi Master.
The lift doors opened and the Chief of State bolted out, sprinting down the short flight of stairs towards the prison's entrance. He swiped his keycard and the door slid open, revealing the massive jail guards that were employed to watch over the prisoners. He had to admire them. Bastele knew that they could hear the bombs falling all around them, but they stayed at their post. All 20 guards were lined up along the cell block, manning their stations. He had half a mind to tell them to leave, but he knew they wouldn't. Not when they knew he was there and would need protection.
That didn't mean any of the other people here needed to stay. He turned between two of the guards and punched in a command code in the keypad, releasing the forcefields around every cell. "You're all pardoned," Bastele shouted to the prisoners, knowing that was probably his last official act as Chief of State. "Get the hell out of here!"
As he stepped forward towards the last cell in the row, he said, "That's everyone but you, Master Vainikainen. It may surprise you to hear... but I need your help."