"I didn't OPEN the gates!" says Skorzeny, feeling under pressure. "I just didn't close them. And the allegory is very poor!
"It's all very well for others to sneer and say I should have pushed that button. They weren't the ones who actually had to DO it. The responsibility was mine and mine alone.
"We had no warning. Negotiations the day before had been heated but not disastrous. Then suddenly, at dawn, Volun and his men just attacked, without provocation. We had no idea such an absurd thing would happen. And so there we were, suddenly awoken, noise everywhere, violent extremists rampaging through the gates of the Sanctuary, threatening harm and violence to all around, from passers by to Government personnel to even the young students in the schools!
"And so there I was, watching it all on the cameras. And people were shouting and screaming for action; panicking and crying. The safeties were de-activated and the tactical programme loading. The passwords were in, all procedures were followed... and then it was just down to me. Just to press the button that would confirm it all and kick in the security systems."
His eyes moisten slightly.
"That is where your allegory is poor, Jedi. It wasn't closing a door. If only it were that simple. It was pulling a trigger. Trilanger, there has been no violence on Cassilis in a millenium. None- not a mugging or robbery. All deaths have been from natural causes, disease, or accident. A thousand years of tradition- and many millennia before that, in the times when the Sith weren't rampaging- called out to me. And yes, the violence had already started and it was not my doing, but how far could I reasonably compound that?
"Others might see it as statistics on a screen. But I could see the Rebels in the cameras, coming closer and closer towards us. I could see the systems ready to take action, powered up, ready to fire. And I knew... the moment I pushed that button... that I would see those people die.
"The systems are automated, but their masters are human. And in that moment, *I* was their master. Pushing that button would have been no different to going out there with a gun and pulling a trigger. I would have killed them, Master Jedi. I, First Minister of Cassilis, the one who pulls the trigger to commit the first violent death on Cassilis since the old wars. But it wasn't even the ruined reputation or the betrayal of history that finally stopped me. It was personal, Jedi. Very, very personal.
"I couldn't kill those people. I'm sorry, I know pacifism is a very romantic notion in the Galaxy these days, but I am still committed. No matter what wrongs they were committing, none of them deserved death. I could not bring my self to bring death to them.
"And beyond that? If they died, if I KILLED them... what hope for Cassilis then? That would have been war for sure, at MY instigation, because I would have fired the first shots. At the back of my head, I still desperately hoped that some kind of negotiated settlement could still take place. That more violence would only make a proper solution impossible, and that if we could just have another chance to talk things over..."
"And then it was too late. They were already inside, and all we could do was evacuate. And I was wrong, wasn't I? There were to be no more negotiations. The Rebels were not interested. And now I have had to bring this army in and... everything is finished."
There are tears now.
"I an an economist, Jedi. My degree is from the Sanctuary itself. I'm... rather good at numbers, though I say so myself. I had such great plans for this planet. I was voted into power because my economic plans had helped trigger the boom that has made Cassilis more prosperous now than at any time on record. I thought I would be remembered for the GOOD I did this world. All I ever wanted to do was to serve, to give back to the world that had given me so much. And now? It is my tax plan that the Rebels have disupted. And now all I will be remembered for... is that I am the one who brought total disaster for Cassilis, all for failing to push a button. That will be my legacy. And generations will suffer for it.
"I suppose I am a traitor after all."
I see. I too have had to kill people. It's not a job I enjoy. I regret every time I have had to use the weapon I keep at my side. But I understand, even now I can't tell if I would have pushed the button or not.
But you are wrong. It is NOT to late! I have a plan. A ploy to get the Rebels back to the neegociating table. But I need you for this. We need to offer the rebels either power that is ultamitly worthless, or Offer what they want, but simply don't follow through. We are at a disadvantage here. Miran wants to attack the sanctuary even without the artillery that would keep the loss of life at a minimal. He would have had no trouble pushing the button, Pulling the trigger. But thats what makes you different, it makes you better. You both have the same end in mind. A peaceful planet yet again. But YOU won't resort to violence. You won't sacrifice the pasifism for the peace. And thats why I need you."
"What, lie to them? They are pretty canny," says Skorzeny. "They ARE Cassillians, after all, even if they are not Z'Har. And for sure, I am not BETTER than the Venerable Z'Har... this is all very difficult for him..."
He thinks, drying his eyes.
"But I guess we could bring them back with SOMETHING, some offer that I don't ultimately mean. Just to bring them back out here. They may even lisen more with you here; thewy won't listen to me simply because I am a Z'Har; totally irrational of them. Yes... yes! It's worth a try!"
He's in the command tent, with a group of officers. He is looking intently at the strategic holotable, where more scenarios are being planned out.
You've not looked much at all that yet. The strategic situaiton seems pretty simple to you, yet Anaz has been running these simulations constantly since you got here. You have no idea what he is trying to work out.
"I'll show you," he says. The board animates to show the areas he is referring to.
"The Sanctuary itself was built on a hilly area and is surrounded by a valley. The automatic defences mount countless hundreds of machine laser emplacements designed to fire down into that valley, and dozens of larger calibre guns that can rake fire into it also.
"The walls are a very thick permasteel alloy that is impenetrable to small arms fire, and resistant to heavier fire or even orbital bombardment- and talking of which, a very tight and high-powered defence shield makes that impossible also. These walls have no obvious weak point and form an effectively impenetrable barrier around the complex.
"The only weak spot is the one that has to exist, which is the main entrance. The gates themselves could be blown by explosives, should sufficient numbers reach there in order to survive their setting and detonation.
"However, the gate is facing a second valley which acts as the main approach road to the Sanctuary. The auto defences in fact have a heavier covering of this approach valley than they do of the valley surrounding the walls. At short range, heavy and repeated laser fire, and at long range, much larger firepower turn that approach Valley into a deathtrap.
"At any point that my men reach the walls, the escarpments and firesteps give the automatic defences a continuing field of fire downwards which allows for no contingency of return fire from my men. The estimated weight of this firepower effectively removes the possibility of a successful escalade, certainly in the numbers I would need to make such a manoeuvre practical. It goes without saying that the air defence is particularly tight also.
"In fact, the Sanctuary has only one notable weakness, which doubles with the weakness of the Rebels themselves. It has no outside forts that cover any of its potential firing points where I could site my guns close enough to the shield to make small breahces, or even inside the shield. Nor do the Rebels have the capacity to send forces outside to prevent me siting my guns. Therefore, my Engineers can easily build sufficient parallel trenches and saps to move my guns in free from effective return fire, and there they can begin the process of breaching the walls; once a practical breach has been created my men can effectively storm that breach.
"Of course, without my heavy guns I have no breach. Hence these scenarios to examine the defences to see if any other weak point presents itself. Personally, I feel an infantry solution is not practical."
Well, he certainly talks like a general...
The tactics, like the uniforms, are Napoleonic.
"If you define 'not being here' as a problem, then yes, I have a very severe one."
"What about the Naval solution?" asks a Colonel. "Hire out a big enough battleship and pound the shield then the walls into submission? I doubt these people bought a big enough shield to stand up to maximum orbital firepower."
"I wouldn't bet on that," says a Brigade General. "The original specifications for the Sanctuary's defence millennia ago called for it to be proof against a spiteful Sith attack seeking to destroy it from space."
"But the technology is old! It may not succeed against modern firepower."
"Give it a 50/50 chance, then? Not worth the time or effort."
"Rather time and effort than five figure casualties," says the Colonel, referring to the predicted results.
"It would be worse than that," says Anaz. "Say the 50/50 comes down on our side. The Sanctuary may be large but it is but one complex, not a huge city, that a bombardment of that size would be calibrated for. If the bombardment is powerful enough to breach the shield it is also possible enough to level half the Sanctuary, which is what would happen the moment the shields failed. If we want the Sanctuary destroyed, it is far easier just to wait for the Rebels to do it."
"Could the walls be undermined?" asks an ambitious Captain.
"Possibly," says an Engineer. "That valley would make it damn difficult. Could take a while, and the Rebels would spot something up pretty quick."
"Is that of consequence? It's not as if they wouldn't notice the bombardment either, if we had our guns."
"There is a lot more they can do about us mining than us firing. And a lot longer for them to try it."
"But worth a go, surely? What's the worst that could happen?"
"Sadly irrelevant," says Anaz. "The heavy digging equipment is with the Artillery train."
"Oh..."
"A logisitical failure," says Anaz. "Due to problems with loading, the train is unable to safely enter hyperspace. It's taking longer to sort out than I wanted."
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Meanwhile, things kick off pretty fast in the Hockey match! Leaving teir droids behind, both Varm and Deel rush to the centre!
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CURRENT SITUATION- Spiridos Hockey Match. Score- 0
Your third
Gallagher: Skill 11, Initiative 7
Red Droids (x1): Skill 10, Initative 7
No-Man's Land
Red Droids (x2): Skill 10, Initative 7
Andro: Skill 14, Initiative 9
Deel Twain: Skill 13, initiative 7
Father Varm: Skill 12, initiative 8
Their third
Blue droids (x3): Skill 10, initiative 7
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