Open Naboo The Senate Convenes

[Jana Kang]

Jana was surprised by the reactions from the other senators. She hadn't had a chance to respond to president Thorne and others as the session seemed to move away from her, but that didn't mean she couldn't collect her thoughts.

Apparently the President of the Intergalactic Systems Consortium thought that being the first to announce an audit meant you had a higher chance of passing said audit. Which was a ridiculous statement of its own and wouldn't need a retort. To assume that an audit was weighed on public opinion might be how it worked on the Hutt worlds the ISC is currently so keen on taking, but it sure as kark wasn't how the civilized worlds operated. Then him seemingly thinking that announcing an audit was a bigger conflict of interest than being a boardmember of one of the affected megacorporations and voting against sanctions on that very company. It surprised Jana that none of her fellow senators, not even those among the Republic, made any notion of that in their own contributions.

Then senators tried to refute her claim that Blackwell droids have been used in the armies of the Sith Empire simply because they haven't been mentioned to be among their numbers in the most recent conflicts. What Jana had said was that the droids had been used when the Sith first became a galactic player. They were the backbone until a military of people could be formed. Surely no one denied the droids being used in Sith attacks before the Empire was able to launch invasions. Her whole point was that megacorporations had helped establish an Empire. A pity that no one seemed to realize this. Perhaps she simply was too new at this and couldn't yet find the right words that could sway the others.

Sanctions and audits were actually quite easy to perform, too. All you really needed was to check bulk shipments on paper. There's a list of transactions. Does one look suspicious, say a shipment of three million rifles to Eriadu, then you flag it for further investigation. You halt the shipment and slap a fine in case you can objectively prove it was meant for the Empire. Sanctions aren't meant to completely halt trade, for that's simply impossible, but you can make it less cost-effective en less profitable. Above all else its a political statement to publicly denounce the Sith Empire for their past actions. Their direct attacks on Republic and FWA worlds, or their attempted assassination on the president of the ISC. It tells the galaxy that simply removing 'Sith' from 'Sith Empire' doesn't suddenly not make the Sith Lords responsible for their past massacres of republic civilians.

Jana's fellow senators seemed intent to bury the resolution by pretending it was a logistical nightmare. By pretending that despite being at war we were not allowed to strike back -regardless of how the Chancellor did it- because unlike the Empire we would face repercussions for every single civilian death while ignoring the countless of innocent lives lost due to Sith aggression.

If this was how the Galactic Senate operated, then no wonder the Empire was winning.

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Spoiler: OOC

OOC: I realize me making this post seems a bit passive aggressive. I decided to do it this way because I didn't see any fun in an endless back on forth. I think I addressed all the post that were directed towards my character and their arguments. All points are 'on the record' already and I wouldn't be making new points in a dialogue retort.

 

[Cal Starros]

Senator Starros had to admit to a degree of annoyance at the way the session was handling this resolution, once again getting bogged down in a series of details that had little to no bearing on the discussion at hand. To him it was clear what the real cause of the objections was - many members of the ISC delegation and the NR had direct links to arms companies.

Simply put, many of the Senators here were on the take.

Rising to his feet, Senator Starros decided to set the record straight. "Speaker, I feel it important to once again take to the floor and address some of the issues being raised. Many of which have been discussed as if they are facts, which, from what I have heard, is simply not the case. Firstly, it is not accurate to suggest that proposing an audit makes one more likely to pass that audit. I struggle to see why an audit would be a negative thing - if a company is selling weapons to our enemies, why would it be a bad thing to expose that?"

"Yet I must stress another point. Senator Kang has proposed an audit, and there appears to have been a suggestion made that proposing an audit is a conflict of interest? Senator Kang is not linked to BlasTech in any way - they are not for example, a sitting member of the board of a company that is being hit by these sanctions."

"There are, however, in this body, members who are."

"Sitting on the Board of a company, that will be hit by these sanctions as a result of this vote, is a clear and direct conflict of interest. Members are here to represent the people, not Corporations and their interests."

"I, therefore, move that the Speaker disallow members currently on corporate boards of companies involved in the sale, development, production or distribution of weapons, ammunition, warships or combat droids, from voting on this resolution."

Starros heard some of the hushed mutters of the floor, as the Speaker rose to address the matter. Yet he was not done.

"I do not yield the floor, Mr. Speaker."

"I am tired of the inaction of this body, I am tired of the inaction of its members. On Lothal we have spent billions levelling up our defences, we have contributed to the AMS vaccine distribution. We stand a few jumps from the border with an Empire, that bombards planets for fun."

"An Empire that killed over 140 billion people last time it was in power, by blowing up planets with superweapons."

"And this Senate seems content to do nothing."

"We have a war machine on our doorstep, murdering hundreds-upon-thousands of people, or our people."

"Droids were used by the Sith Empire when they had first started their rise to power, that is what Senator Kang said. She must have the intelligence to back this up, which I am sure she will share with honourable members here today. MegaCorporations helped establish a genocidal empire, those same MegaCorporations who have members here, on their payroll."

"Sanctions and Audits, are not hard to impose. Governments sanction goods and services each and every day."

"We can see transaction and audit lists through the import and export logs, which are used for the collection of tax duties across the Galaxy. We can see it easily, the information is available for Governments to see. It is not hard to impose a fine on people who break these sanctions."

"It does not require a massive logistical effort."

"Even if it did, since when did the Senate place the bottom line of Corporations above the lives of its own people?"

"How can anyone in this Senate go back to their homeworld, and say to their people, that they voted to shore up the bottom line of an arms dealer when their planet could be firebombed into oblivion by the Sith if their Empress decides one day that your world is next on the list?"

"Tell the people of Firrerro that you voted to protect the profit margins of Rothana Heavy Engineering, whose warship designs brought ruination to their world."

"Tell the people of Denon, that you voted to shore up the share price of Seiner and Kuat Drive Yards, whose ships were used to drop of Imperial Troopers armed with rifles manufactured, and sold by Blackwell Munitions - which subjugated a free world, by force."

"We saw the holo-videos."

"We heard the screams and witnessed the fires."

"And members here would rather do nothing, they would rather sit on their hands, instead of imposing sanctions against companies in Senate space, that profit off of the deaths of our own people."

"Speaker - this debate is futile and acts as nothing more than a gossamer-thin veil for the true intentions of many members of this chamber."

"There is no 'logistical nightmare' to be found in fining companies that break sanctions, when their transaction records are already shared with Governments as standard import-export procedure."

"There is merely a choice."

"Sanction those who sell to our enemies."

"Or support your corporate paymasters, at the expense of our people."

"Speaker I move the motion that members who presently serve on the board of companies affected by this motion, be suspended from voting on this resolution, forthwith."

Starros resumed his seat, and for what seemed to be the first time in his public political career, he was visibly angry. He had always known that the Senate was not a particularly effective organ of Government, but to see it meandering away from the topic of the day, in favour of 'logistical questions' that simply did not exist.

The facts, as far as he saw them were simple.

An Empire was openly using weapons manufactured in Senate space, by companies that were based on member worlds of the groups the Sith Empire was at war with. The solution was to make the trade-in arms, which fuelled this war and caused more death, illegal. The implementation of such sanctions was easily done - fining companies that traded with the Sith Empire, or their agents, with such trades needing to be reported in the companies accounts for share value reports, and taxes.

From what Starros could see, the opposition to this resolution was mostly born out of naked and unabashed, self-interest, and seeing as some members seemed not to want to separate their business interests from their duty to represent their citizens, Satrros saw nothing wrong with invoking this clear conflict of interest and asking the speaker to suspend them from the session.

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc couldn’t help but blankly stare at Starros as he got impassioned about coming to Kang’s defense and speaking for her. His gaze flicked over to the woman who sat there stewing in silence and then he looked back at Starros. Was Kang incapable of speaking for herself? Why was Starros doing all the talking for her and so passionately coming to her defense? It was a bizarre and heated display from a FWA Senator and a New Republic one. It told him that these two would consistently agree and kiss each other’s asses in the senate and vote on the same thing every time coming from two different governing bodies. He made a mental note of that, filing it away as something he’d need to discuss with the other ISC representatives.

As the motion to keep him from voting was once again brought up, Emryc had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. As the head of his state, he didn’t vote unless it was to break a tie regardless. He didn't have general voting power anymore to begin with. If they wanted to take even that from him, whatever.

“I’m happy to abstain from executing my tie breaking vote,” Emryc said dryly, “I am on the board of Blackwell and I am also a founding investor in MorataCorp. Both are very public information,” He confirmed flatly. It was not exactly a secret how he was involved in the corporations. However, he prided himself in directing corporations to better serve the general public - or so the galaxy knew so far, “Senator Starros, if I cared about corporations more than people, I would not have suggested to Blackwell to create a line of low-cost droids that planets could buy and no longer risk losing their loved ones in fights against AMS or risk spread of the disease. If I cared about corporations more than people, I would have tried to argue against MorataCorp’s move to distribute the vaccine for free and I wouldn't have worked tirelessly to ensure the vaccine used Thyferra's bacta distribution channels so the vaccine could get to every corner in the galaxy. If I cared about corporations more than people, I would not have supported the creation of the GHO. If I cared more about corporations than people, I would not have been the first to nominate Senator Belasi, a brilliant scientist who is not from ISC, to lead it. If I cared about corporations more than people, I would not have prioritized programs like ISCRA,” His tone was even and tempered as he spoke. Even from his tone, it was clear he wasn't going to debate that point further. If they wanted to quip back about his corrupt nature, he would remain silent after this and let them continue to appear as if they had no argument outside of taking personal jabs, “However, I will not support a proposal that appears half baked to me. I will support any audit and any new rules imposed on corporations, but it has to make sense.”

Emryc looked back at everyone else, “There are two motions being thrown in here which is what is causing the churn,” He glanced across everyone else, “While there is more to discuss on Senator Starros’ sanctions, I motion to toss out Senator Hedarial’s idea of a full embargo and a stop to all items getting into occupied worlds,” By now, every senator on the floor was also likely getting feed and updates about the citizens of the occupied worlds loudly protesting, “As for the sanctions, while I can get behind the idea of reasonable audits and restrictions on the corporations, the logistics of how the extra resources and process changes to supply chain would be funded and supported are still undefined. No amount of decrying the Senate for lack of action and painting me as the boogeyman will make up for the absence of cold, hard data. If I were to vote on this, I would vote no.”

The ’Emryc Thorne doesn’t care about people’ approach was not going to be an easy angle for anyone to take against him. For all the shots they could take, that was a space where he was ironclad. Public opinion of him was exceedingly high across the board, and it wouldn’t budge so easily even with tactless attempts to demonize him on the senate floor. He was much calmer now than when he first walked into the room, easing right back into his chilled stoic.

 

[Cal Starros]

Starros let out an audible sigh, before rising to his feet to respond.

"Speaker."

"On the specific point addressed to me, regarding the logistical and supply chain issues these sanctions would cause, I must admit to being somewhat lost. Why would the Galactic Senate need to deal with the supply chain issues of BlasTech, for example, if BlasTech stopped selling weapons to the Sith Empire?"

"As far as I am aware, the supply chain of BlasTech, is an issue for BlasTech."

"Furthermore, I do not understand why despite what I have already said in this session, there still seems to be an issue around the idea of fining Corporations that break these sanctions. This resolution is very simple. You break the sanction, you get fined."

"There is no requirement for the Galactic Senate to do anything it doesn't do already in relation to the trade of other illegal goods."

"If a shipping company is found shipping illegal spice, it gets fined."

"If this is passed, and a company ships blasters into Sith Space, for example, it gets fined using the same mechanism. The Galactic Senate does not need to deal with the supply chain issues these companies will face for breaking the law."

"If companies do not want to face fines and supply chain issues, they can stop selling weapons to people using them against us - the Sith Empire."

"If the Senators want to vote down a resolution that will stop our enemies having access to war materials manufactured and sold by companies in Galactic Senate space, fine."

"But if Lothal is the next world to be firebombed by the Sith, with weapons made on Byblos, and dropped from bombers built on Indupar, deployed from carriers built on Kuat, ask yourselves if you can look me and the eye, and say you did all you could to stop that catastrophe."

"Mr. Speaker, I yield the floor."

With that, he sat down, and, deciding enough had been said in the session by him so far, he waited for others to speak, deciding that the next time he rose, it would most likely be to vote.

 

[The Storyteller]

The loud crack of a staff butt striking the floor rung out, as the Speaker rose to his feet.

"Order! Order!"

"I will have Order!"

"The question standing on the paper is as follows - "The Senator for Lothal moves that the Resolution standing in their name on the Order Paper, be read a first time.". That resolution can be found on your datapads, and pertains specifically to the imposition of sanctions against the Sith Empire, by the Galactic Senate."

"Senator Hedarial, if you wish to move another item, you must do so at the next session. If you wish to amend the present resolution, then you may do so in the correct way - submit the amendment through my office."

"Furthermore, we really are getting a little excited today Senators."

"Senator Kang, Senator Starros, you will desist your suggestions of improper conduct from other members, and Senator Starros, you will stop holding too much time on the floor. Finally, the request to censor other members from voting is rejected, as it is not in the standing orders."

The staff clashed into the floor once more as the Speaker drew themselves up to their full height.

"Order!"

"This session of the Senate shall resume, with the question standing on the paper to be read as follows - "The Senator for Lothal moves that the Resolution standing in their name on the Order Paper, be read a first time."."

"Senator, you have the floor."

The speaker gestured for the next member to speak, having called the session to order.

 

[Cal Starros]

Suddenly, there was a great deal of commotion in Senator Starros' pod, as various bits of paper where passed between him and his advisors, before, after a few moments, he received a nod from the Speaker, who had been speaking with one of the Senators advisors.

"Speaker, I take to the floor to provide some points of information, following questions raised through the secretariat from members."

"Question One: How are shipments to be tracked, so they do not end up in Sith space, after having passed through third parties?"

"This is of course a complex issue, however using the current anti-smuggling measures in place at various members worlds, I believe that this can be achieved. Not only do we already stop, as individual members, in partnership with planetary law enforcement and the Sector Rangers, illicit items, when it comes to the sale of items mentioned today, and subject to this resolution, I believe that we must be practical. This cannot stop all shipments, there will always be bad-faith actors who will try to profit from this war. However, large scale shipments from large companies, can be stopped by law enforcement. This would lessen the amount of shipments being made to third-parties."

"Question Two: How would the Galactic Senate be able to validate whether or not someone is a Sith?"

"Simply put this resolution would make it a criminal offence to ship the specified items into Sith space. We, therefore, do not need to make such identification."

"Question Three: How will this logistically be enforced?"

"In the event that a company is found, through their tax returns, shareholder reports, audits, import/export records or, by the authorities, to have breached this sanction, they shall be fined. I am no reason to believe that this will cause undue logistical stress, as much of this is already being done through inspections carried out at the planetary level. It is important to note that restricting the Sith Empires import of weapons will save millions of lives, and billions of credits, due to a shortened war effort."

"Question Four: Who is going to be collecting the evidence and bringing up a potential breach?"

"This will rest with planetary and trans-planetary authorities, courts and inspectorates."

"Question Five: What responsibilities does the Senate have vs. the Corporations?"

"It is the responsibility of the Corporations to obey the law, the Senate to pass it. It is the responsibility of the Senate to ensure, as we do today, that the processes are in place should this law be broken, so that it might be enforced."

"Question Six: How are we accounting for corporations having to beef up their validation process for every large purchase to it's not going to Sith. Are they going to be doing background checks and extensive profiling of the buyer?"

"Any company engaged in the sale of items subject to this sanction, that is not already going through a comprehensive validation process for every large process, needs to be audited as a matter of urgency. I would hope that, for example, should an order come into Seiner Fleet Systems for 80 Star Destroyers, that they perform due diligence, I am sure their shareholders would hope for the same."

"Question Seven: Where/how does a trial take place - how does that process vary in member worlds."

"I would recommend that the process is the same across the board, simply because a law set here, should be enforced in the same way, so as to prevent multiple enforcement approaches. I would suggest a hearing, or a committee is established to assess the larger cases when they arise, whilst the courts are used for cases below a certain value."

"Question Eight: What auditing practices will be used and who's assigned to do that?"

"In this instance, the audit can be carried out by the Sector Rangers Fraud department, supported where needed by the courts. I have no reason to doubt that the administrative services of this Senate itself can support the hearings and committee for the larger cases."

"Question Nine: How will you distinguish between a buyer stockpiling in preparation for a border planet fleet defense vs. a Sith buyer until after the fact."

"Finally, this would be easy to distinguish. A planetary Government in, for example, the Free Worlds Alliance, would be allowed to purchase weapons. A planet in the Sith Empire would not. As long as our galactic map is up to date, I doubt distinguishing between the two should be too much of an issue."

"Thank you, Speaker, and I yield the floor."[/b]

 

[Caliban Drast]

Caliban appreciated the Lothalan Sentor's persistence, he was willing to talk and answer, but unfortunately it wasn't enough.

"Tax audits, financial reviews, Ranger overtime, forget the indirect fallout of trying to enforce sanctions. I am sorry, but with the existing strain on our economies from the AMS virus, Coruscant, and probably much of the Republic, simply cannot bear to support this proposal."

If it had been just him then he would have been in support of such a measure, the Sith did need to be put in check, but he was not here to vote for himself. He voted for his constituents, and such a resolution might have adverse effects on Coruscant's economy. So he had to do what was best for everyone, even if it wasn't what he wanted.

"Coruscant votes no."

 

[Korre Belasi]

There was a lot of talking. There was a lot of argument. In all honesty, Korre could see both sides of the argument, but she firmly felt that the proposal was a good idea. As long as medical aid was given a exception, she saw no problem with restricting trade with an entity they were waring against. That, and Belasco had already given her the green light to vote in favor of it.

"Belasco votes yes."

 

[Sibyl Lassiter]

After having recovered from her breakdown, Sibyl started to pay attention to what Senator Starros was proposing. She already hates the man. It was absurd and impossible to be made. The New Republic already has to deal with the AMS, its economy would not survive the expenses that the ideas of this idiot are going to require. At least Senator Drast seemed to understand that. The Brentaal Houses would also never support it.

The Senator of Brentaal was completely amazed to see how the minds of the FWA people seemed to work. They would rather spend credits and time doing trade controls than spend those same amounts in making a decent army and fleet to crush the Sith at once. She was starting to think that perhaps they really wanted to be conquered. A bunch of masochists that like to suffer slowly.

After Caliban finished his speech, the Senator of Belasco voted yes. The Brentaalan woman rolled her, Belasi was another idiot. Sibyl was starting to think that her theory that the members of the FWA were masochists was true.

After the representative of Belasco finished her speech, Sibyl rose from her seat and activated her microphone. “I agree with Senator Drast. The economy of the New Republic is already under strain due to the AMS virus, we can’t afford the expenses that will be necessary to make the ideas of Senator Starros work.” she made a pause, everyone would notice by her voice that she had been crying “Brentaal votes no.” then she returned to her seat.

There she continued to think how her happiness lasted only for 48 hours. She wanted that this assembly could end at once, so she could throw this stupid dress away and sleep. Perhaps in her dreams she would find a place where Tristodd was still dead and that Cal Starros doesn’t exist.

 

[Eumi Redrish]

Eumi keyed up her mic for her own vote, having discussed the logistics, the cost, and the insults that had been thrown at the Kuat Drive Yards thoroughly with both her pages and the Principal Director himself. There were so many things she could have said, so many defensive arguments she could have made at some of the other Senators' remarks – but she'd held her tongue. It wouldn't have helped her homeworld or herself to get dragged into the debate only to look a fool like the rest of them. It was better just to sit back and let the heat dissipate. No one would remember every word that was said during this little debacle anyway.

Maybe I'm not cut out for this job after all, she thought to herself, a slight frown on her face.

With her hands folded in front of her, the Senator of Kuat leaned subtly forward as she rendered her vote to the senate, her voice echoing despite how softly she said the words. “Kuat votes no, with a small caveat. It may be too late to motion for this proposal to be tabled, but I would like to see it return to this floor at the next senate session, reworked and refined of course. I think it just might pass if the concerns of the other honorable Senators here today are addressed in an appropriate manner.”

In truth, the Kuat Drive Yards were already nearly litigious where it came to keeping records of sales, and the extra manpower it would take for audits and accounting for shipments would cost them little. But the proposal needed to be reworked in order for it to be the most strategically effective it could be while also being the most cost-effective. It was much too vague as it was now. The Ten wouldn't allow themselves to be placed under a microscope unless they were completely aware of all the ins and outs of the sanctions, and all the loopholes they could exploit too, of course. It was the Kuat way. Besides, it might take some work, but if the other Senators were honest in their desire for transparency and accountability, she was certain they would put in the work to get it done.

Eumi moved to sit and let out a soft sigh. The game was already getting to her, and she'd only just begun her Senatorial career. She was also finally beginning to understand the position her predecessor had been placed in before his untimely demise. The question now was what she was going to do about it. Adapt and overcome? Or remain the puppet.

Only time would tell.

 

[Emil Ro]

Emil was keenly aware the bad position this put him in. The New Republic caucus was split. One had voted for the sanctions, while three of the others had voted them down. That left himself and Jin Vaisra by his summation. Emil knew Vaisra well enough to guess what his vote would be; but now his own vote was sure to draw attention. If he backed the sanctions, he would reveal a deep divide in the New Republic Senate. If he did not back them, he would look like a hypocrite who was willing to attack the Sith on Denon but not punish them economically. There was no way to win.

Not entirely.

He ran the numbers. Tallied the yays, nays, and potential remaining votes. If he voted to support the motion and Vaisra voted the way Emil thought he would, that would leave the Senate nearly deadlocked. Nearly, but not entirely. The motion would likely lose, but barely, which Emil meant could vote to support the sanctions without risking them actually going into place. If everything went as he thought it would, and with this group, there was no telling.

The hell with it.

"I have remained consistent on what this body must do, and I will do so with my vote as well," Emil said, rising to take his own mic. "Sith expansion and imperialism must be ground to a halt. It brings me no pleasure to vote against three members of my caucus, but on this issue, I will not budge. As Chancellor, I vote 'yes' in support of the motion."

Emil returned to his seat and squeezed his eyes shut. Half of him expected Emryc Thorne to dump another glass of liquid into his lap, purposely this time.

 

[Jin Vaisra]

Jin sighed. The agenda item was supposed to be a simple one. The way he saw it, the proposal was more of a token measure, a precedent to make corporations think twice about double dealing with the Sith and, should they be discovered, make it easier to convict them. It could not stand as a fully fleshed out task force. Trying to actively prevent secret arms deals was about as realistic as emptying an ocean with a teaspoon.

Still, Jin had appearances to make. Voting against sanctions would make him look heartless and driven by corporate interests. Which was true. He owned a tremendous stake in Fondor’s shipyards. The planet had sold to the Empire in the past and it probably would again in the future. The point of his vote would be more symbolic—sympathetic to the lives lost on Firrerre.

Besides, he was tired of so many one-sided proceedings. It had been a while since there was a close vote. Jin doubted the proposal would make it through, but he wanted to see Emryc sweat. If another pro-sanction Senator materialized out of thin air and voted yes, it would result in a historic tie. He smirked. Unlikely as that was, he relished the drama that might unfold.

“Fondor votes yes.”

 

[Cal Starros]

Senator Starros has to admit to feeling someone deflated by this stage in the session. The questions had been merciless, and the debate heated beyond what he had expected. It was certainly true that crisis begat disaster, and Starros has thought he and Kang would be the only ones to vote this resolution through. His eyes had nearly popped out of his head when that turned out not to be the case.

With a degree of renewed confidence in his voice, he stood and said "Lothal votes yes."

 

[Jana Kang]

As the session had moved on from debate to voting, Jana Kang stepped up only at her assigned moment in the voting procedure. "Byblos votes yes"

It wasn't the place for additional arguments, nor caveats and amendments, but for a simple vote of yes or no. She was glad that she -along with the senator of Lothal- had managed to convince other senators of the importance of sanctions and the politics they represented. It had also made it painfully clear that there was a lot more animosity in the Galactic Senate than she had expected when she accepted to represent her government, although she had personally stirred the pot today and was partly to blame for the heated exchanges. It was interesting to see the difference between senators. Some immediately thought in restrictions and limitations of managing all aspects of sanctions, regardless of whether or not they had the full picture, while others seemed focused on how the tabloids would perceive their contribution. Jana didn't have that worry, for as a senator representing a government she didn't have to worry about winning elections. She could be fired if public opinion took a dive, sure, but she didn't need everyone to like her.

It was something to take into account in the next sessions, however. It would spare her some tabloid headlines if she only voted and not meddled too controversially in the debate.

 

[Raycom Hedarial]

Finally, the moment that he had been waiting for. The question how. Rising from his seat and striding to his podium once more, he went through his opening lines again and again in his head, turning the sentence more to be of his liking. The shift from why to how had occurred earlier than he had anticipated, yet he had a concept and he was willing to present it. Yet, fate would throw a wrench into ´his plans. Before he had the chance to rise the vote commenced. With gritted teeth, he still rose when his moment to vote came, and used the chance to elaborate on the how.

Activating his microphone, he once again gestured into the room, bringing attention towards him: "Madam Speaker, my fellow colleagues. Have we stooped so low as a galactic community, that our belief in our capability is so low we doubt to even place economic guidelines?"

With a sigh, he went on to elaborate. "I know that this entity has not the power and capabilities of the Empire or the old Galactic Republic, but it has something that is in my mind even greater: Complete willingness to remain inside the Galactic Senate and wishes for cooperation. We do not need to keep our systems in line, as our systems are working with us on their own behalf. We have adopted this Federal stance for this very notion. So let us work within our system."

He gestured towards the Free World Alliance. "The FWA is the most federate of us all, so they should know that my suggested approach shows merit. Let us introduce the embargo into law, and make it the assignment of any system to comply with it themselves. Whilst none of us have the power to control the galaxy, we all have the power to control our systems."

He paused to let the said points linger in the chamber, before lampshading against what would be the greatest criticisms: "Now I am aware, that we will have a hard time finding out if a planet or system does not abide by our direction. But thanks to the mandated logs, paperwork and purchase process, we will learn of it eventually. Of course, by then it may be too late, but we can then retaliate as we do with all Galactic discrepancies, by punishing the offender with sanctions. Sanctions that will be administered following the severity of the breach. And whilst we can not control the whole galaxy, we can enforce these sanctions against singular planets with quite an ease."

With a smile and a court nod, he took to his leave. "I thus vote yes, and am adamant that we should revisit the extent of the embargo in a future session. This sanction does not do enough, the Sith can not be allowed to even profit from breadcrumbs thrown their way. Mrs Speaker, I yield the floor."

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Despite Emryc stating multiple times that he could be convinced to vote on anything as long as the logic made sense, it appeared no one ever heard those words. While Starros began with a complete fumble and Kang was utterly worthless and nothing but accusatory, the former had returned with a list of answers to questions posed to him at the very last minute. The half Sephi considered these answers and found it difficult to poke holes in it without reaching. At the end of the day, no one from here was going to go out to his worlds to ensure process was being followed. No one from here was going to set foot on Tatooine, far from their cushy office seats, to walk through the industries there and check their protocol. And he had enough pull with Renfry and Blackwell at least to work out easy bypasses.

“While the proposal appeared shaky and vague at the beginning of this discussion, Senator Starros has made a commendable effort in explaining his logistics directly before voting began,” Emryc said, his face as neutral as always. If Starros hadn’t taken the time to run down the list of questions, Emryc would have abstained from voting entirely, “I vote yes with the caveat that the ISC worlds are not expected to follow the same exact procedures that the New Republic or Free World Alliance worlds would follow in their far more established worlds. In return, the ISC will present our approach for implementing sanctions to the Senate for full transparency.”

The full embargo was a hill he would die on, but the sanctions were not. For him, getting the embargo tossed out was his primary goal, and he was glad that died before this proposal morphed into that as an amendment. Emryc was largely oblivious, at least overtly, to the fact that some of the Core World senators had been banking on him to say no or were expecting him to be furious. The half Sephi, as always, was consistent. If you had logistics, data and a good argument, you had his vote. You could convince him to send a fleet into Sith space and bomb their worlds if you sold him on the idea. He was, however, keenly aware that he was going to be irritating some of his fellow governors. But this wouldn't be the first time he detracted from his ISC constituents.

 

[Jade Archer]

With his lengthy elaboration, Senator Starros hadn't touched on the other two points of the active resolution. At least that ridiculous embargo had been cleared from the floor. The sa

The travel ban was reasonable. Freezing assets and funds owned "directly or indirectly" by Sith, as deemed by who knows what criteria, sounded like a means of control. Jade was by no means an expert in the Force, lightsabers, or any of that space wizard mumbo jumbo. But to the woman from a long-standing Outer Rim shadowport, the ability to freeze someone's assets by 'deeming' they had undetectable mind powers of the "evil" variety sounded abundantly abusable. Especially given the Jedi were known allies of the New Republic and from from beyond suspicion themselves.

If Governor Archer voted anything other than 'no' to vague corporate and trader audits or unchecked asset freezes overseen by an outside power's agenda she'd be thrown into a river. She was no fan of the Sith, their actions, or the war in general. However, she'd represent her sector's interests the same as any other controlled by cutthroat trading guilds and manufacturers.

"Llanic votes no."

 

[Carrick]

Carrick had come to the conclusion that further work-shopping of the idea in a public forum would serve no one. Having them work out the intricate inner workings of something like this was just asking for those companies who were aware of shady dealings being done on their behalf to figure out how to circumvent them.

Furthermore, he was just generally against the idea of the Galactic Senate having the power to seize assets them someone deemed to be 'suspicious'. That the 'someone' was likely to end up being some overworked, underpaid Sector Ranger with loyalties to a foreign power did little to make him enthusiastic about the bill.

He was against anything that required the ISC to surrender their rights to regulate themselves to the Galactic Senate, as doing so would act as proof that it had the right to do so in regards to other aspects of government.

Nuts to that.

"Tinnel IV votes no."

 

[Galek Ordalos]

Having since returned to his seat since speaking, Galek listened silently at the voting began – hazel eyes fixated down onto the datapad in his lap. He couldn’t deny being more than a little bit satisfied to see the embargo taken off the floor before it could progress farther, successfully smothering the morally reprehensible proposal in its crib.

Despite the longwinded elaboration from the Starros, the prince remained largely unconvinced that anything in this proposal would be enforceable – least of all on the Outer Rim Planets that constituted the majority of the ISC. If Senators from the FWA and New Republic wanted to waste precious resources auditing industries and searching cargo freighters, more power to them. But Galek wasn’t going to support it.

It wasn’t until he heard the vote of Emryc Thorne that Galek glanced up from his datapad, instead fixating his attention upon the ISC President out of the corner of his eye. Hazel eyes narrowed harshly, and the President would no doubt be able to see Galek giving him the side eye.

Given the uncomfortably even number of votes on this proposal, Galek had hoped to see consensus from the ISC delegation, only for that notion to be summarily torpedoed by their own illustrious leader. The prince’s fingers tightened slightly on the edge of his datapad when he heard the half-Sephi mention how the ISC would be presenting their version of the proposal.

The hell we will.

Galek slowly rose from his seat, activating his mic. “Indupar votes no.”

 

[The Storyteller]

Once again in the session, the Speaker took to the floor and punctuated doing so with the characteristic strike of their staff onto the floor of their podium, activating their microphone as they called the session to order.

"Order! I can now announce the result of today's vote in relation to the item on the order paper entitled 'Resolution 3781: Imposition of Sanctions against the Sith Empire'."

"As members are aware, President Thorne and Supreme Chancellor Ro hold a 'tie-breaker vote to be called in the event that the sessions vote is tied. For the record, both voted in favour of the resolution, should their tie-breaker be called."

"In respect of Senator Starros Resolution, 3781, the Yes votes where 45 and the No votes where 45. Abstentions stand at 10. Therefore I say that the resolution must move to the tie-breaker votes."

Some considerable chuntering went about the session as the Speaker looked somewhat annoyed, and called them to order "Order! Order!"

With a great degree of finality, the staff came crashing down again, signalling the conclusion of the reading, as the Speaker intoned "I will have order. Due to the votes cast by President Thorne and Supreme Chancellor Ro, the tie-breakers are cast for the resolution - I therefore declare the resolution has passed."

"Order! This session of the Galactic Senate is hereby, adjourned."

OOC - After much maths and a hurty head, we worked out the remaining votes would not have changed the result. The resolution thus passes.