1 Chapter 1 : Hope of the Galactic Republic
Episode 1 - Birth of an Empire-
Chapter 1 : Hope of the Galactic Republic
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
19 BBY
Traveled a Defender Class Light Corvette ship through the unknown reaches of deep space.
Sent on a mission by the Galactic Republic to chart unknown regions of the galaxy and establish first contact with any intelligent life along the way.
The Defender Class Light Corvette was by all means a mobile fortress armed to the teeth with laser cannons and Class 2 equipment that would make any lurking ne'er-do-well or Separatist think twice before engaging.
The 95ft tall red and white capital ship that cruised among the endless sea of stars was a manufacturer made model by the Rendili Vehicle Corporation.
Being first created and used by the Old Republic many years ago for serving the specific needs of the Jedi Order at the time.
The Defender Class Light Corvette carried an eccentric Jedi Knight and his young padawan along with a crew of Clone Troopers in case of any mishap encounters with Separatist or hostile inhabitants.
To the port side of the Defender Class Light Corvette in the personal quarters of the ship was Jedi Knight, General Gol Fon Due sitting on the carpeted floor of his room in deep meditation.
He was an old purple humanoid ape with a large upper torso, long arms, pure pink eyes and, covered in a thick coat of black hair.
His face, hands, feet, front chest and abdomen were the only places where his black hair did not cover his wrinkled purple skin.
His 6th padawan in training Cho Cho a young female Nautolan with green skin and pure black eyes lay face down on her bed snoring loudly as she slept.
While her guard shoto light saber was on the floor having been rolled off the bed in her sleep instead of being properly secured around her waist.
The rooms had a clean and minimalist design with no windows, furniture or gear aside from the bed and a small holo terminals installed by the door button scanner.
The rooms were identical and layered in a shiny white metal with a painted red stripe passing through the middle of the shiny metallic walls for decor.
Lit up by the many straight white lights that blended together well with the room while a large red carpet was laying under the bed, covering the surrounding area.
The beds were simple and furnished with a red and white Galactic Republic pattern along with one long red pillow with a white underside.
The personal quarters were kept mostly empty and neat with the only other object in the room being a holo terminal by the door,
Since most Jedi would rarely travel in the same ship twice unless it was a personal vehicle for missions.
Any accommodations or necessities such as food clothing, armor and, maintenance would be provided and handled by the clone crew during their mission.
The crew were all generic Clone Troopers in standard issue armor with the only distinguishing feature among them being the unique battle scarring on a helm or armor piece.
There were no shinies on board, shinies being the term commonly used by the Clones to identify new or inexperienced soldiers by the condition of their armor.
The clone in charge was none other than clone Commander Cado whose armor mimicked a fellow clone commander by the name of Commander Cody.
With the exception in appearance being the black and green color scheme instead of a white and orange palette.
Commander Cado was standing vigilant in the bridge overseeing the holo map of the galaxy waiting for the five other clones who were hard at work seated in the control panels scanning for unknown planets in the empty void of space...
When a green blimp appeared in the holo map alerting the crew of a few planets in a distant solar system just north from where the ship was.
Commander Cado sent General Gol Fon Due and his apprentice Cho Cho a message through his helmet on the holo terminals in there rooms.
Commander Cado : "Sir the scanners have picked up a solar system with a high probability of sustaining life, we will be engaging in hyper drive in T-minus thirty seconds."
And with that Commander Cado told a clone crew member at a control panel to inform the rest of the crew to embrace for hyper drive.
General Gol Fon Due opened his eyes, stood up and left his room to meet Commander Cado at the bridge of the ship.
Before passing by the room of his apprentice Master Gol Fon Due casually told his apprentice to "get up", as he walked by.
Cho Cho disgruntled at the sudden disruption of her beauty sleep groaned before getting up to yawn while her half closed eyes scanned the room out of habit.
She reached down to her waist when she felt something was missing and noticed that her light saber was gone again..
Cho Cho had a bad habit of forgetting to securely strap her light saber to her waist belt whenever she used it.
Every day before going to bed she would maintain her hilt by cleaning and repairing any damage to it herself.
So every morning when Cho Cho would wake up her light saber would leave her side and sometimes roll away.
Unlike her master Gol Fon Due, Cho Cho did not trust or get along with the Clone Troopers and did not see them as real people.
She believed clones were an abomination to life itself and were nothing more than disposable soldiers in their war against the Sith.
Naturally she would never let any "Clone" touch her treasured light saber unless it was over her cold dead body.
She quickly sprang out from her bed to look for it but ended up landing right on top of the shoto guard hilt with her foot.
Slipping and falling into the ground carelessly with a loud thud as her body hit the carpeted floor.
Cho Cho got up rubbing her head before strapping her light saber securely onto her waist belt feeling grumpy at the Clone Commander for waking her up and blaming him for making her slip.
Not wanting to socialize with the clone crew she decided to stay in her room and wait for her master to come get her when they arrived at the planet for their mission.
Cho Cho was a young and talented padawan who looked up to war heroes like Anakin Skywalker or Obi Wan Kenobi, Yoda and, Mace Windu for their exceptional contributions in the battle against the Separatist Sith lords.
She excelled at combat but lacked the discipline her master had as the two held very opposing views on the matter and current state of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic as a whole.
Cho Cho unlike her master did not wear traditional Jedi robes instead opting to wear Jedi armor modeled after the old republic like her role model Anakin Skywalker.
She did not want to wear the clone inspired armor like Obi Wan Kenobi or Mace Windu did as she did not want to even be associated with the clones.
Cho Cho was a strong supporter of Palpatine and for bringing the war to the Sith to fight for peace and order and root out any evils in the galaxy by any means necessary.
Cho Cho being a young and passionate padawan could only see the world in White and Black, Good vs Evil, Jedi vs Sith.
While General Gol Fon Due refused to wear armor and chose to keep his traditional Jedi robe mainly in part because he believed the Jedi Order had become too political and had lost what it truly meant to be a Jedi Order.
General Gol Fon Due did not support the political landscape or Palpatine's involvement with the Jedi Order.
Especially for allowing the use of creating slave soldiers to fight in their wars via the Clone Troopers.
Clone Troopers who were living sentient beings were treated as disposable casualties instead of actual people by forcing them to fight a war against the Separatist on their behalf.
General Gol Fon Due had felt like the order was no longer one that was held to the teachings and purpose of the Jedi.
So it was not uncommon for him to ignore or go against the Jedi Orders commands at time.
General Gol Fon Due was a radical and a close friend of the Old Guard Qui-Gon Jinn another radical in the order.
Who was considered unfit to become a Jedi Master by the council because of his beliefs despite his skill and wisdom.
Like him they shared similar ideals in what it meant to be a Jedi and how the Jedi Order strayed too far from the path of Jedi.
But unlike Qui-Gon Jinn, Gol Fon Due was a skeptic to the chosen one prophecy.
Master Gol Fon Due had become worried that Jedi were being seen more as warriors instead of peace keepers and guardians of the force because of the war.
This perception of the Jedi had already started influencing the younglings and padawans of what it means to be a Jedi.
No better example could be seen than in his own padawan Cho Cho who enjoyed fighting and wanted to become stronger for the sake of protecting and destroying evil.
Instead of guarding peace and never resorting too violence unless it was absolutely necessary, Gol Fon Due was fully aware of his padawans "fight first, negotiate later" mentality.
He sensed great potential in Cho Cho the first moment he saw her and had already made up his mind to take her in and train her under his tutelage into a fine Jedi Knight.
Gol Fon Due had already trained five other padawans into knighthood and he hoped to help mold and shape his current padawan Cho Cho into becoming what he considered to be a true Jedi like himself and Qui-Gon Jinn.
Gol Fon Due had accepted this mission in the hopes of discovering a planet with force sensitive inhabitants and welcoming them personally into the order and hopefully guide them to be proper Jedi instead of warriors...
