NationStates Jolt Archive

If Chris wasn't going to talk with people he had known his entire adult life (admittedly, the blink of an eye to the one who stood before him), he sure as hell wasn't going to talk about it to a complete stranger...

Then again, Master Elendil emitted some aura that no others in the room had. A mildly comforting one. Elves tended to do that.

I blast some kid's father. The kid, winded, turns around, panting. The mother yanks him and runs in the other direction. For whatever reason, I get a glimpse of that kid's face...

I fire the pulse laser and strike down the mother. The boy runs away, but is caught by a platoon of troops disembarking from a troop transport.

I recognize the boy's face...

JOHN MASAKI. I KILLED BOTH HIS PARENTS.

The image of death, and the horror in that kid's face, seared in his mind. One of those whom he had struck down had forgiven him...but could he ever forgive himself?

He did not know why he had spontaneously disappeared a few minutes ago, but now he wish he would. However, such a wish was not forthcoming.

Instead, soft-spoken, shaky, muttering issued forth from his mouth. "I killed both of John Masaki's parents," he confessed. "His mother appeared to me as a ghost just now, and...intervened to prevent me from committing seppuku upon realizing what I had done."

The other officers present blinked but didn't say anything...

It would have been simple to cast out the man. Most ordinary militaries would have done it on grounds of insanity and given Chris some time in a mental ward. Hell, most ordinary militaries would have killed all the men on grounds of association to a dictator on the battlefield.

But Jedi weren't like that. And elves even more so. The Jedi believed in redemption, believed in turning the wicked back from the Darkness. Elendil knew exactly what to say.

"The road to redemption is never simple, even at the beginning." Master Elendil said. "But to kill yourself now, to commit seppuku will be meaningless. All is not lost, however. The woman is right to intervene. Take this second chance in life you have been given to atone for your sins."

His eyes trailed from Chris to the other soldiers.

"Heal, instead of wound. Protect, instead of harm. Create, instead of destroy. Will you take up this cause?"

Chris remained dead silent. As did everyone else, until Keith spoke up, speaking for the group. "Which is why I went to find a Jedi in the first place...we all carry similar burdens. We did not associate ourselves to the Dark Lord by choice; we were enslaved to him...as proof, I would challenge you to find fifty memories between us all from before we were fifteen years old. A few of us were freed from the Dark Lord before the war ended, and had a chance to atone by fighting against him ourselves. A very few. I am the only one in this room who had that chance."

He paused. "And you have just described why the Government of Evil Woody Thoughts did not go on a witch hunt, as it very well could have done, after the war."

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Dmitruk stood up, looked at the Jedi Master, and replied with a single word. "Aff."

Master Elendil nodded sagely. "I understand that Major Mrozik here has disappeared from view and reappeared. That is a Jedi skill. One of the rarer ones, in fact. I also sense that the rest of you have ability in the Force, the very reason the Dark Lord have chosen you. So therefore, I have an offer. Learn the ways of the Force under the tutelage of the Jedi Knights and you will be well on the road to redemption."

Lieutenant Colonel Dmitruk spoke again. "There is one other in whom you will be interested--Lieutenant Colonel Raúl Vigil. Unfortunately, he is on a next-of-kin-notification mission to White Diamond related to yesterday's battle at the moment. However...you will find him at Admiral Riordan's memorial ceremony three days hence...assuming you look. He'll be in uniform, same insignia as mine, so should be easy to spot."

"As for your offer...I accept. I was afraid I would have to wait for Master Whitfield to finish training his apprentice." Keith looked at the floor, with just a twinge of embarrassment on his face.

Majors Mrozik and Sorensen also accepted in short order, acknowleging that while the circumstances revolving around the discovery of their Force-sensitivity were most unfortunate, that Jedi training represented their best oppurtunity to atone for such circumstances...

"Very well. Your training will begin after the ceremony is over." Master Elendil nodded. "Will there be anything else?'

Major Mrozik looked at his wristwatch, still set for White Diamond Mean Time (he hadn't bothered to reset it at Konoha, preferring instead to do the time zone calculations in his head).

"The stock market closes in five minutes," he said softly. The group had spent pretty much the entire evening/morning before the census announcement watching the Woodian news; only the Trial of Possession had interrupted this. "And Master Whitfield is slated to address the nation in thirty-five minutes. You are welcome to watch the address with us."

The other officers present nodded their assent, keeping one eye politely on Master Elendil and the other on the Holonet. It was clear that today would be a record-breaking day on the Woodian markets, despite the fact that the stock market *had* been as much as three hundred points higher than it was now, before the census was announced, with much higher-than-expected casualties.

But even that news failed to lower the floor of trading below 5000...the market today would record a gain considered eye-popping for a full year...in excess of twenty-five percent. It was a fairly accurate marker of a nation that suddenly felt its fortunes reversed by events galaxies away, where the party stood. It might have helped that the Parliament ordered the markets to stay open for the full trading day, where normally trading would get suspended with this kind of volatility.

The closing bell rang, to much applause from the traders on the floor. The day's numbers flashed up upon the screen...

OPEN 3983.6 CLOSE 5019.84 +1036.24 (+26.01%) VOL 8.433.004.955.000

The business commentator on the Holonet seemed mostly content to let the numbers speak for themselves. "Well, there you have it...a record day of trading. Record for single-day point gain broken by four hundred points. Record for percentage gain broken two and a half times over. Record for trading volume broken threefold with an incredible 8.4 trillion shares changing hands...far exceeding the normal volume of about 1 trillion shares..."

"I must say, that is above even the Galactic Stock Exchange's best days." Master Elendil said calmly, although he is surprised in an Elvish sort of way. "And of course, I will wish to watch the speech here."

One cloaked John Masaki, having recovered somewhat from his earlier vision, continued to watch the news right under the noses of Taylor and Jacob, right up until the closing bell.

Noting the results, and that things would probably be a bit dull (compared to the rest of the day, that is), he headed back towards the barracks area. Little did any of the Jedi-to-be, nor even Master Elendil, would have a clue he was even there, though he did not even realize his cloak was that good.

At first 'awakening' from the initial vision, the cloak had drained him a bit, but by now his body had reached an equilibrium between the draining effects of the cloak and its ability to regenerate itself. John did not yet realize the implications of this; he would eventually have to get that explained to him. For now, he knew that he had been cloaked for well over an hour and was no more winded than he would be three or four minutes after a four-hundred-meter-dash. He wondered how long he could *stay* cloaked...

In the five minutes before Whitfield's scheduled speech, figuring he should somehow announce his presence but curious as to how long the cloak would last, he found a piece of paper, wrote a note, and handed it to Major Mrozik. The only thing the Major saw was a piece of paper suddenly appear on top of his hand and flutter off, and he bent down to pick it up.

Reading the note with a wry grin, he commented, "Apparently I'm not the only one who discovered the ability to cloak today." I wonder how he'd react to what *I* saw earlier...that I killed his parents...

A slight shudder would betray those thoughts to Master Elendil, but fortunately John Masaki wasn't paying attention. The latter settled in to observe Whitfield's address.

And so it started, the elderly statesman appearing on the Holonet projection.

"Good evening." Well, it was evening in EWT's capital, at least. "It is an accurate reflection of changing times that, for the first time, a Woodian minister of state addresses the nation from foreign soil. I am still on Konoha, but I am well aware of events at home."

"For the last seven months, the people of Evil Woody Thoughts have wandered aimlessly amongst themselves, minds numbed by the sheer destruction that befell the nation, bereft of any semblence of hope at all...

When the Empire attacked Jurai and Evil Woody Thoughts was unable to answer, millions more fell by whatever tantō or equivalent they could find.

Today that response is come. Today begins a new era, a Restoration, of Evil Woody Thoughts and what the nation stands for. Your children, will have a hope, that was lacking upon this very ground. Your names and deeds, will be carved on soil and rock not of your home planet. And your children will speak of names that one day, could rise prominetly as... well... spirits and gods.

I believe your new day has come...

...However, it will not come on its own. Today, we finally learned exactly how devastating the civil war was. But the war was, and still is, far more devastating than a nine-digit-number announced at a press conference.

There are still more than a thousand localities and municipalities in Evil Woody Thoughts that lack a single justice of the peace, for the judiciary was one of the first institutions purged.

Seven thousand schools closed, for want of students to teach. Another six hundred closed, for want of faculty to do the teaching.

And the members of the government are painfully aware that, for the first time in history, they were not elected to their positions. I was not elected to mine. The first hundred people to wander into the Parliament Chamber became the hundred members of the Eighty-Third Parliament of Evil Woody Thoughts. All are well aware that they are there because of circumstance, not because of an election.

Yet, hidden in the news that six hundred ninety-four million Woodians are either confirmed dead or listed as missing and presumed dead, is the information necessary to rectify that problem. Hidden in the numbing numbers is the information necessary to recompile destroyed voter registration rolls, reapportion districts to restore the one-person-one-vote principle, and hold a fair, free, and honest election."

The Prime Minister's voice raised. "Therefore, I call for a special election before this year is out, not because running it will be easy, but because it will be difficult...Woodian society must reconstruct itself; a new generation of poll volunteers shall arise to take up the mantle of the purged...and Evil Woody Thoughts shall reconstitute itself as the Third Republic in its history."

Major Sorensen shuddered. These words would no doubt be etched in Woodian consciousness for centuries.

"I further call upon the Parliament, as soon as it re-enters open session, to enact a process by which the missing, if found, can be welcomed back into Woodian society with open arms, with the full rights and responsibilities as Woodian citizens.

I call upon those of you watching from home to volunteer your time as poll workers.

I further announce that I will not stand for election, and will yield my position to whomever is elected in my place, as it is time for a new generation of leadership to arise.

Yesterday, Evil Woody Thoughts reclaimed its honor over Konoha orbit.

Today, Evil Woody Thoughts began to reclaim its economy from the depths of despair.

It is now time for Evil Woody Thoughts to reverse the tyranny of the Dark Times, by reclaiming the Republic before those times.

The dead did not make their sacrifices to see their survivors wallow in guilt, despair, and shame."

It was on that note that the Prime Minister ended his address to Evil Woody Thoughts. By now, all of the Woodians in the room had goosebumps on their skin, even John (though no one could see him). What Master Elendil had said about healing a little while ago, the Prime Minister had amplified a hundredfold...

OOC: I said I'd finish this story arc, with or without CoreWorlds' involvement. I said it. I meant it. I stand behind it.

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Great Woody City

By the time the business day ended, that wind off the Bitterwind Range, colliding with the usual winter onshore flow, had made the weather quite nasty.

However, not even thundersleet combined with gale-force winds prevented the masses from reacting to the day's news. Thousands went out into Canal Street, the most prestigious street in the nation, one that ran through the heart of the government district.

Then millions, within about twenty minutes of the conclusion of Prime Minister Whitfield's address.

With candles. Some carried placards with Admiral Riordan's picture instead. The ones with candles kept them defiantly lit in the storm. The streets filled with just as many candles this evening as they had half a year ago, during the infamous March of Sorrows, when the survivors of the war had marched more than sixty kilometers one way, their dead relatives in makeshift coffins, to bury them at the foot of the Bitterwind Range.

This night, many of those same people honored the late Admiral Riordan as they would someone from their own family...

...It was this crowd, not a government employee, who lowered the flag flying over the Parliament Chamber to half-staff, in his memory, a couple of days ahead of the official memorial.

Upon lowering of the flag, practically the entire nation (there wasn't a Woodian soul who hadn't been glued to the Holonet the whole day, it seemed) observed a moment of silence...

Captain Jason Altor was in the lounge of his unit's barracks. As a member of the 13th Wolf Guards, Jason was stationed in Great Woody City. Having spent the whole Dark Times in the Bitterwind Front Range fighting against his own people who were under the control of the Sith Lord, Jason and his lance were enjoying some long overdue rest time and therapy.

Looking up from reading some letters, Jason watched as just after Prime Minister's speech, millions of Woodians marched into the ice storm with candles dedicated to either those who had died or Admiral Riordan. As they lowered the flag to half-mast at the government building, Jason and the rest of his lance came to attention and saluted during the moment of silence.

When the moment was over, Jason quickly changed into his winter Battle Dress Uniform and ran outside into the ice storm. Running into the gym of the compound, Jason quickly grabbed all the ice hockey equipment and spray paint that he could find and threw it into the back of an APC. Turning on the ignition, Jason headed into the city to go to Canal Street.

After about an hour of negotiating traffic, Jason finally reached Canal Street. Picking his way through the crowd, he stopped the APC in the middle of the square and left it there beside a natural ice rink. Reaching back inside the vehicle, he pulled out a candle he had brought and used someone else's to light his. Joining the large crowd, Jason shuffled along, thinking about all the people who had died in the Bitterwind Front Range because of his choices and his resistance to the Sith Lord.

After about an hour of walking and thinking, Jason noticed quite a few of the younger children, who were with their parents, fidgeting. Looking over at one kid, he smiled at him and made his way over. When he reached him, he saw the kid's parents were there with him. Giving the kid a wink, he turned to his parents and began to quietly talk to them.

After about 15 minutes, Jason turned back to the boy. Bending down, he smiled at him and said,

"Hi, my name is Jason. What's your name?"

The boy looked at Jason, a mixture of fear and relief in his face. Sticking out his hand, he said,

"My name is Kyle. I'm 11. Were you in any of the big battles mister?"

Shaking the kid's hand, Jason decided to tell the kid about what he had done during the Civil War.

"No Kyle, my commander ordered me to do some bad things but I didn't want to so my friends and I ran away into the mountains."

When Jason said that, Kyle smiled.

"That's good."

Jason decided to get to the point now that he knew the boy's name at least.

"Hey Kyle, I have some hockey equipment in the storage area of my APC. I want you to go collect all the kids that you can find and meet me at that natural rink in the middle of the square."

Kyle's face lit up with joy. He turned and raced off into the crowd as Jason headed back to his APC and pulled out all the hockey equipment. Jason was in the middle of tying his skates up when Kyle returned with about 40 kids behind him. Seeing the hockey equipment, they all rushed to grab some stuff and put it on.

Forty minutes later, after a lot of mixing and matching equipment and tying skates, Jason and the boys were deciding the teams. Throwing their sticks into a pile, Jason got down on his hands and knees and began to throw sticks to one side or the other. Twenty minutes later, the boys were all ready to go with their teams and started to warm up while Jason painted on the creases around the nets, the goal lines, faceoff dots and circles, blue line, red line and all the other circles to go along with it. Finally, another ten minutes later, they were ready to start. Lining up at centre, Jason took a puck and whistle out of his pocket. Bending down, how smiled at the two kids ready to take the draw, straightened up, blew his whistle and dropped the puck.

Jason Altor could not have expected that a hockey game amongst eleven and twelve-year olds would take on the same national significance as the Olympics. But it did.

Since the civil war, Evil Woody Thoughts had just been too damn glum for sports. For the first time in their memory, even physical education teachers had had to force all, or nearly all, of their students, to play sports against their will, not simply the usual minority who weren't good at sports.

There were indeed very few Woodians who had the heart to participate in, or even watch, a sporting event since the war. But even that was about to change...

Perhaps the game amongst adolescents "accidentally" ended up broadcast live on the Holonet for all to see. Perhaps it wasn't an accident at all. Either way, cameras had already been fixed on Canal Street to cover the vigil, so they caught the start of the hockey game, too.

The throngs of people, candles in hand, observing the game as if they were at a professional sporting event, quickly started rooting for one side or the other. Even in the Konoha officers' barracks, the game had its viewers.

John Masaki, still Force-cloaked, watched with a joy he had not known since before the war.

Majors Mrozik and Sorensen nearly got into an almost-playful fistfight, as the two of them had chosen to root for opposite sides.

Those skating in the natural ice rink, complete with spray-painted blue and red lines, managed to play a game surprisingly clean and free of clock stoppages, racking up in the entire game only a cumulative four minutes in penalties, and only five clock stoppages for things like offsides and icing. After a full three-period, sixty-minute game, plus overtime, the game ended in a tie.

The score mattered not. What mattered was the fact that Woodians could have a bit of fun again, without the burden of survivors' guilt.

By the overtime period, the sleet had changed over to a heavy, wet snow, and when the clock ran out, the kids, after shaking hands, decided to have even more fun by pelting Jason Altor with snowballs...

Jason had been skating non stop for almost the whole game. Only 5 whistles and 2 penalties in the whole game. He was very tired and decided to take a little break when the kids began to shake hands and take their equipment off. He only got about 10 minutes. Just as he was finished changing into his boots, a snowball hit him square in the side of the face. Looking around, he spotted Kyle with a snowball in his hand, ready to throw. Ducking, Kyle's snowball flew right over him.

Getting up, Jason smiled and then let out a load rour. Running after them, he quickly stooped to grab some snow and then kept running. He quickly caught up to Kyle and grabbed him. Opening his jacket, he dumped the snow down Kyle's shirt and quickly closed his jacket again. As Kyle stuggled to get the snow out, Jason laughed and was quickly pelted with about 30 snowballs and then promptly tackled by the rest of the kids. After wrestling with them for about 5 minuted and allowing himself to be covered in snow, Jason got up.

And was hit right in the face by a snowball.

Lieutenant Colonel Raúl Vigil could not hide the grin on his face. That snowball that had hit the good Captain had originated from his hand.

Back from his mission to formally notify Admiral Riordan's widow, and present because of Miyu Riordan's desire to attend the unofficial memorial in her husband's honor, Raúl hefted another snowball and aimed it square at Jason's face. Again.

Jason was looking around at the crowd for the person who threw the snowball when he was hit right in the face, again. Looking around, Jason had a hard time seeing the people in the crowd because of all the snow and sleet coming down. Spotting a Hispanic looking man in wood camo BDU's, Jason grinned. Shuddering a little from the cold, he assessed the man, 6'3" and a good 190 lbs. Bending down, Jason began to make a very compact snowball. Other snowballs were wizzing overhead while Jason was doing it as the boys had turned on each other. Standing up, Jason took very careful aim and threw his snowball at the man.

Raúl, unconsciously taking advantage of Force-enhanced reflexes, dove to the ground, allowing the snowball to whiz overhead and hit someone else (who promptly started throwing snowballs at the kiddies), and scooped up a bunch of snow for himself before getting back up...all within a few seconds...too short a time for Jason to physically tackle him.

Hearing thunder in the distance, he noted the declining visibility, as the snow was getting heavier, with a smile on his face. Thundersnow. Yum.

Very quickly, he made four snowballs, two for each hand.

From his right hand, he launched both at once, aiming one for the face, the other for the neck, and immediately thereafter, transferring one snowball from left hand to right. The third and fourth snowballs whizzed toward Jason's head in rapid succession...

Jason reeled as 4 snowballs hit him in quick succession. He quickly bent down, making 2 snowballs as a huge snowball fight erupted all around him with everyone joining in. Finishing his snowballs, he ran towards the man in the camo. When he was about 10 feet away, he threw the snowballs as hard as he could at him and then diived for the man's legs, hoping to be able to tackle him and get some snow down his shirt at least.

Jason's two snowballs hit. But the captain would be surprised by his ranking officer's athleticism yet...

Raúl jumped over Jason's dive, landing on the other side of him on both feet. With a smirk on his face, he started manufacturing another snowball to pelt the prone Jason Altor with when Miyu Riordan stopped him. But he had a snowball ready just in case.

"Captain Altor," she said softly. As a military wife, she knew how to read officers from their uniforms. "Do you wish to come to Admiral Riordan's state memorial two days hence?"

Jason Altor was ready to charge at the other man in the camo when he heard a voice behind him. Whirling around, he saw Miyu Riordan. She had asked him to attend Admiral Riordan's memorial. He stood there awestruck for a moment until he gathered his wits. Coming to attention, he bowed deeply to her and replied,

"Madame, it would be the greatest honour of my life to attend Admiral Riordan's memorial when invited by his wife. I am sorry for your loss yet at the same time I am not. I hope that I do not sound cold-hearted when I say that but I am sure you understand. If you will give me the time and place that I need to be there at then I will see you there."

Miyu, being a woman of few words, simply returned the bow.

Lieutenant Colonel Vigil let his snowball drop to the ground, as it was clear that it was no longer needed; the environment had suddenly become much more serious again. "Do not concern yourself with how to get there, Captain. A simple redeployment order will take care of that."

Meanwhile, on Konoha...

Prime Minister Whitfield, too, had managed to enjoy the hockey game (and subsequent snowball fight) from his private chambers. He chuckled at the thought of one of the officers that he knew he had to find a Master for getting into a bit of harmless mischief.

His countrymen sorely needed a night like tonight. He sorely needed a night like tonight.

Nevertheless, as the snowball fight drew to a close, he knew there was other business that he had to attend to. Knowing that his direct adjutant was in orbit handling Admiral Riordan's codex at the moment...

Lieutenant Colonel Dmitruk, is it possible for me to borrow the field manual on military medals?

The telepathic communication made his ears perk in the presence of everyone else in the officers' lounge. Very quickly, and without a word, he found the necessary manual and delivered it to the Prime Minister, who thanked him for his services and let him get back to enjoying himself with the other officers.

After closing the door, he turned to the seventy-third page: The Cross of Honor. The one medal in the manual that had never been struck before. Until now.

Whitfield disassembled his primary lightsaber, as it was the only local source of the required mithril that he knew, within a few minutes. He looked one last time at the hilt, etched upon it The Flame of Sierra Nevada, named after the mountain range whereupon it had been forged only seven months ago. He then turned his attention to the specifications for the medal...

...He locked the door, for privacy, then set to work, melting his own lightsaber hilt, using his thermokinetic Force powers.

An hour later, smelting the hilt, Master Whitfield removed those few impurities he had missed the first time (he had, after all, forged the hilt under emergency conditions). Tiny black specks appeared on a glowing red rod of mithril. Some three hours later, he blew off all the specks of impurities.

Over the next hour, the medal took shape, looking somewhat like an elongated Iron Cross, but a bit more...ornate. Whitfield used the Force to patiently cast the molten mithril into an invisible mold, making ever-so-subtle decorative imprints, as called for in the manual's artists' illustrations, in the process.

He fell into a deep meditative trance as he consolidated the invisible Force-mold to allow the first-ever Cross of Honor to be struck time to cool. He would not emerge from his quarters until about two hours past sundown Konoha local time (early hours of the morning next day, before sunrise, White Diamond Mean Time).

"Wow. He isn't bad with a speech." Taylor breathed.

"Yeah. Even better, I think he wrote it himself. No speechwriter did it." Jacob pointed out.

"How do you know?"

"Inflection, and besides, no speechwriter is this good." Jacob said. Next, the news turned to the impromptu memorial and he bowed his head for a man he never knew as if in prayer. The Force be with Admiral Riordian.

"Ah." Taylor nodded. He was intruged and a little sad that so many people would turn out for the Admiral. Then again, he knew if Admiral Pellaeon died, millions of Coredians would do the same. Then, his attention turned to the game. "Hey, look at that."

"Yeah. Haven't seen a game like that. But soccer's better." Jacob said.

"Yep." His twin agreed.

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"Intruging." Master Elendil nodded in understanding at Whitfield's speech. "I must say that he certainly does have a way with words."

At long last, a couple hours after sunset, the mithril had cooled long enough for Whitfield to put the newly-minted Cross of Honor into a small case, which he quietly pocketed...he would guard the object with his life until properly transferred, as the material alone in the medal was worth enough to buy a fairly nice spacecraft; the fact that it was a one-of-a-kind medal probably multiplied its monetary worth many times over. Therefore, no matter how safe the neighborhood, Whitfield's handiwork needed to be protected.

He needed only find violet cloth with which to make the medal into a pendant, as prescribed in the regs, but that would have to wait until morning, as it was now an hour or so past sundown; therefore, the only applicable merchants open were the big-box chains that had a nasty little habit of forcing workers to work off the clock, denying sick leave, and generally taking advantage of the many loopholes in Coredian labor law, loopholes that Whitfield saw as one of the few dark sides of CoreWorlds, loopholes that made Whitfield cringe. He did have a conscience...

...In the meantime, he figured that there were those who wished to talk to him...yielding his time to such necessities, he ventured to the officers' lounge, where Master Elendil happened to be watching the aftermath of the memorial-turned-into-hockey-game along with a few prospective padawans...

Master Elendil watched Whitfield enter the officer's lounge. "I must say, I haven't seen a speech that good since Daniel's father was alive."

"Master Elendil, perhaps you keep to yourself a tad too much...if you were a politician for a few decades, or perhaps centuries, you'd get good at it too. But I sense there is something else you wish to discuss..."

His voice trailed off as he found a piece of paper on the floor, apparently dropped as the person reading it had suddenly become fixated on the news again. It fluttered toward him as he used the Force to call it to him, and his eyebrows raised upon viewing the content. "John Masaki is here? Cloaked?" Only his eyebrows betrayed his surprise...

Master Elendil raised an eyebrow. Even he didn't sense John anywhere. "The boy can cloak at his age? Interesting. I see he will be powerful one day. But I disgress. Master Whitfield, the Council has a proposition, one that has become more likely since you announced that you would not seek reelection. I am pleased to announce that you are eligible for a seat on the Jedi Council, if you wish it."

"A seat on the Jedi Council?" Once again, the politician/Jedi Master's eyebrows raised, and his voice ended up sounding more like Obi-Wan's than it had in the speech he had given a few hours earlier. "While it would be a conflict of interest for me to serve on the Council during the remainder of my term as Prime Minister, I would be honored to serve on the Council after such term is discharged and the Prime Minister's office transferred to the next elected."

Master Elendil nodded. "That's all right. Your seat will remain open until your tenure as Prime Minister is over."

Whitfield bowed his head. "If that is all, I take my leave. If not...anything else to say have you?"

Now, it was the turn of the officers present to raise their eyebrows...

"Oh, yes. I noticed that one of the young men playing that game earlier appears to be Force-sensitive. It would be beneficial if he could come here for testing. Other than that, that is all."

It was not the Prime Minister, but rather one Major Sorensen, that answered Master Elendil's latest point. "Oh, he will, he will...whereupon we can have a bit of fun with him." He flashed a wry grin.

Whitfield bowed and left, to take care of other miscellaneous business...

OOC: OK, CW, prolly should skip ahead a day or so and get to Daniel about now...

Lieutenant Colonel Dmitruk smiled as he saw ration bars somehow mysteriously disappear from the box. He knew to have the quartermaster send the bill to the Masaki family, as John, still cloaked, was thinking it was dinnertime...around eleven at night.

Wanting to have a bit of fun, he tackled the air...and it turned out to be some pretty solid air. He heard an "Oof!" as the kid fell to the ground, followed by the laughter of a five-year-old boy, though he couldn't see anything. He let the boy get back up.

A few seconds later, he felt something collide with his leg in an apparent attempt to tackle him, but John was not physically strong enough to knock the six-foot man over. The Lieutenant Colonel could do little but grin as he felt the boy decide to climb him like a tree instead.

Cloaked five-year-olds could be fun. Kevin Dmitruk stretched his thick arms like they were tree branches and let the boy "climb" them. Sure was ticklish though...

Finally, he asked the air around him, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Bed? What's that?" the air replied. "I don't think I could fall asleep while cloaked even if I wanted to."

The Lieutenant Colonel ordered a subordinate to deliver to Taylor Masaki the note the kid had written earlier, the one stating that he wanted to see how long he could remain cloaked for. But the weight on his arms vanished.

It was clear that John had ideas other than Taylor finding him prematurely.

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Sometime before sunrise, Keith returned groundside from Konoha orbit, having pried the necessary codex records from Admiral Pellaeon. Whitfield had a little surprise for him.

And it wasn't the news that Whitfield had concerning the Jedi Council. Instead, he procured a small case from one of his robe's many pockets, and handed the case to Keith. "Open it."

Keith did, and upon seeing what was inside, nearly fainted. It took him a few seconds to regain his composure. "That medal...doesn't exist," he stammered.

"It does now. Struck for the first time yesterday afternoon. The Parliament demanded it. I tell you now, because I am appointing you Loremaster over Admiral Riordan's memorial..."

The politician then proceeded to extract something else from his robe...the resolution the Parliament had passed not so long ago. "As Loremaster, you will need to know about this. Tell no one before the appointed time."

"Aff." Keith nodded. "If I do, strike me down immediately." Though it might have seemed a bit harsh on himself, he knew full well the penalties for divulging classified information...

-------------------------------------------------

Colonel Allaire wasn't the only one to return to Konoha in the wee hours of the morning. Only a few minutes after one shuttle touched down, another one did.

This one bearing three people: Lieutenant Colonel Raúl Vigil, Admiral Riordan's widow Miyu, and Captain Jason Altor, whom for reasons known only to the Force, she had invited to the forthcoming ceremony.

Little did Miyu Riordan know what was in store for her, however. Colonel Allaire wasn't going to tell even her.

Just before sunrise...

My eyes opened for the first time in a while. I was no longer in the tank, but on a bed in one of the medical bays of Konoha General Hospital. I tried to get up, noticing the bandages on my chest, arms and legs. All the locations felt achy, like pins and needles.

Dr. Marcoh, normally the head resident of the Temple Infirmary but now appears to be stationed here, sauntered over to me. "Good. Glad to see you're awake. Now I don't recommend moving since your body is still recovering from that battle. You really shouldn't have pushed yourself so far."

I nodded idly at his admonishment. He says that every time one of us Masakis is in for healing after a major battle. "I know, Doctor. Nevertheless, I would like to start moving."

He sighed. "All right, but don't say I didn't warn you so."

He handed some crutches over to me. Wincing as the pins and needles grew, I managed to get up, testing my legs. My right leg wasn't too bad, so I put the weight on it. My left was kept up so it could heal. "It's all right. I can walk."

"Very well. I'll prescribe some calcium supplements and a bone-growth potion. The bacta fixed most of the damage, but the bones are still setting. It will be at least another week before you won't need the crutches." The Doctor said. "Don't do anything foolish, mind!"

"Yes, Doctor." I nodded like a schoolboy, clinking over to where fresh clothes was laid out in the event that I got up. The Doctor stepped out to check on other patients and I managed to put the brown two-piece jumpsuit and my shoes on. The final piece of my wardrobe was my utility belt and I put that on as well. Now I was ready to head out and find out what's going on since I've been out.

But not before Katrina embraced me. "Ow! I'm still healing!"

"Sorry, love, but I thought you'd never get out of there!" She replied. It appears, though that she hasn't had a lot of sleep. Now she will.

"Yeah, me neither. What happened so far?" I asked. "And where's Travis?"

My heart sank when Katrina's face fell. The last I remember of him was that he was chased by his cousins. "We need to talk."

I had a bad feeling about this.

"Jiraiya told me some of what happened." Katrina said. "It seems that after you went after Nightshade, Travis was cornered by her sons and the Huntaerians. He fought well, but was overwhelmed and taken prisoner. He tells me that Kurt's son Daniel was captured as well. Naruto took the Rogues to try and stop them, but..."

"Yeah, I got it." My heart filled with anger and I vowed to find him before the Dark Lady did too much damage, though somehow, I knew that it would take a while, if ever, before he is rescued. But now I have to concern myself with affairs of state as much as I hated it. "How did the battle itself go?"

"Fortunately, we made them pay dearly. The Woodians have destroyed the SSD Obliterator with the sacrifice of their Battlestar and the Huntaerians lost most of their fleet when reinforcements from the Duel of the Fates fleet and the Woodians arrived." Katrina replied severely. She was angry too.

I was surprised to hear the Battlestar sacrificed itself to kill a Super Star Destroyer. I would have to hear the whole story soon. "I see I missed a lot."

"Yeah. Anyway, we do have good news. I heard from Jacob that young John is talking again. It seems, the news of the victory here has reached the Woodian and their economy rose greatly as a result. Also...well, you'll want to see this." Katrina decided it was better to click on the holoscreen in one of the waiting rooms and tuned to GNN Konoha Station.

"--at the top of the hour and the news from White Diamond continues to stagger economic experts. The victory over the Empire at Konoha has somehow lifted the national state of disgrace enough that the stock market jumped a full nine percent in the first hour alone and continued climbing, even after the casualty count increased. At last count, we are recording a thousand points, a 26% jump in gains, a jump never before recorded in the stock markets. The gains have caused Coredia's own stocks to jump seven percent, a gain that would have been higher if not for the loss of many during the battle, including Emperor Masaki and King Kurt II's own sons, presumed missing during the fighting." The anchorman paused and rearranged his papers. "In other news, in response to the unprecidented economic booms, the Woodian Prime Minister Whitfield has concluded a speech that, for the benefit of those just tuning in for the hour, we will replay."

"Good evening." Well, it was evening in EWT's capital, at least. "It is an accurate reflection of changing times that, for the first time, a Woodian minister of state addresses the nation from foreign soil. I am still on Konoha, but I am well aware of events at home."

"For the last seven months, the people of Evil Woody Thoughts have wandered aimlessly amongst themselves, minds numbed by the sheer destruction that befell the nation, bereft of any semblence of hope at all...

When the Empire attacked Jurai and Evil Woody Thoughts was unable to answer, millions more fell by whatever tantō or equivalent they could find.

Today that response is come. Today begins a new era, a Restoration, of Evil Woody Thoughts and what the nation stands for. Your children, will have a hope, that was lacking upon this very ground. Your names and deeds, will be carved on soil and rock not of your home planet. And your children will speak of names that one day, could rise prominetly as... well... spirits and gods.

I believe your new day has come...

...However, it will not come on its own. Today, we finally learned exactly how devastating the civil war was. But the war was, and still is, far more devastating than a nine-digit-number announced at a press conference.

There are still more than a thousand localities and municipalities in Evil Woody Thoughts that lack a single justice of the peace, for the judiciary was one of the first institutions purged.

Seven thousand schools closed, for want of students to teach. Another six hundred closed, for want of faculty to do the teaching.

And the members of the government are painfully aware that, for the first time in history, they were not elected to their positions. I was not elected to mine. The first hundred people to wander into the Parliament Chamber became the hundred members of the Eighty-Third Parliament of Evil Woody Thoughts. All are well aware that they are there because of circumstance, not because of an election.

Yet, hidden in the news that six hundred ninety-four million Woodians are either confirmed dead or listed as missing and presumed dead, is the information necessary to rectify that problem. Hidden in the numbing numbers is the information necessary to recompile destroyed voter registration rolls, reapportion districts to restore the one-person-one-vote principle, and hold a fair, free, and honest election."

The Prime Minister's voice raised. "Therefore, I call for a special election before this year is out, not because running it will be easy, but because it will be difficult...Woodian society must reconstruct itself; a new generation of poll volunteers shall arise to take up the mantle of the purged...and Evil Woody Thoughts shall reconstitute itself as the Third Republic in its history."

Major Sorensen shuddered. These words would no doubt be etched in Woodian consciousness for centuries.

"I further call upon the Parliament, as soon as it re-enters open session, to enact a process by which the missing, if found, can be welcomed back into Woodian society with open arms, with the full rights and responsibilities as Woodian citizens.

I call upon those of you watching from home to volunteer your time as poll workers.

I further announce that I will not stand for election, and will yield my position to whomever is elected in my place, as it is time for a new generation of leadership to arise.

Yesterday, Evil Woody Thoughts reclaimed its honor over Konoha orbit.

Today, Evil Woody Thoughts began to reclaim its economy from the depths of despair.

It is now time for Evil Woody Thoughts to reverse the tyranny of the Dark Times, by reclaiming the Republic before those times.

The dead did not make their sacrifices to see their survivors wallow in guilt, despair, and shame."
Boy, did those words send shivers down my spine.

The anchorman was wrong at one point. It was not simply a national state of disgrace that lifted like a curse off of Evil Woody Thoughts.

It was dezgra.

=====

Taylor and Jacob were heading back to their apartment when a subordinate of Lt. Colonel Dmitruk met up with them.

"Sir, I have a message from Lt. Colonel Dmitruk." The subordinate said and handed over the note.

The twins read it and Jacob smiled as Taylor scowled. "Kid thinks he's so good..."

"Perhaps. I wonder just how long he could stay invisible." Jacob's smile grew wider.

"You're enjoying this, knowing I'm not gonna find him so easy." Taylor accused.

"Of course." Jacob grinned.

"Bastard." Taylor growled.

"I love you too." Jacob laughed.

By day

Colonel Allaire remained quiet, speaking only when necessary to give orders related to the preparation of Admiral Riordan's memorial. Including telling the media that it would occur precisely at sundown, not at five Konoha local time as previously reported. Journalists and news networks groaned at actually having to look up local sunrise/sunset times, but even worse, having to inform their viewers of the time change (approximately twenty-nine and a half minutes as it turned out). Due to the time difference between local Konoha and the capital of Evil Woody Thoughts, it would actually be a bit past midnight in the capital when the ceremony occurred. However, even the early risers committed to staying up to watch the ceremony.

Including ordering the deployment of special projectors, and programming them to play the proper recordings at the Force-flip of a switch.

Including selecting from the Bitterwind Range Army Base's entire selection of ceremonial uniforms--Keith had made sure the entire supply was brought over. Most in the Woodian military had only seen such uniforms described in field manuals, in sections regarding what uniforms were permissible in parades.

Including making sure that certain interested parties were notified. Daniel Masaki, especially, would need to catch up on his news.

Compared to yesterday, the daylight hours of today were quite tranquil on the White Diamond news networks. The Parliament remained in closed session, and had not publicly reported anything out yet, so there wasn't much to report there that hadn't already been reported. The stock market held its gains from the day before; it even went up another fifty or so points, on much lighter volume, as traders weighed the good news regarding Konoha against the bad news about higher-than expected civil war casualties (and, therefore, presumably, rebuilding costs). The market seemed to be waiting for something to tip the balance. About the biggest news that broke today consisted of a press conference called by the Woodian Hockey League, announcing that there would indeed be a hockey season starting in the fall, even if it meant dropping the requirement that each team have five lines to requiring only four lines of players.

That news was well received. And considering the (apparent) silence of Parliament (in an unknown reality, its members had been working the last twenty-four hours straight, and showed no signs of succumbing to the need to rest), it was the Colonel who had the honor of reporting a little Parliamentary present to the public. Soon enough.

About four in the afternoon, he changed his uniform, wearing instead something unrecognizable to at least the Coredians, and a good number of Woodians as well. Colorful robes with bright hues, decorated with resplendent feathers, he donned.

A very few, well versed in the history of the Clans, would recognize it as a replica of the ceremonial robe used by Marthe Pryde, of the Jade Falcon Clan, who had served as Loremaster for House Pryde at the memorial ceremony for Star Colonel Aidan Pryde.*

Evil Woody Thoughts did not have Houses, or Bloodnames, or genetically-engineered "trueborn" warriors, nor the rigid caste system that went along with said "trueborns." Evil Woody Thoughts did not even have the same military rank system, though, like the Clans, it did require that MechWarriors be commissioned officers. One cultural trait that Evil Woody Thoughts did share with the Clans, however, was a deep obsession with honor; the nation, and especially its military, had gone so far as to adopt certain Clan ceremonies and rituals--the most widely known cultural adaptation of the military being the Trial method of resolving disputes and selecting people to promote.

For that matter, the Colonel had studied Aidan Pryde's memorial in great detail, and had decided to use it as a guide as to what should be said.

The forthcoming ceremony was, therefore, befitting of Admiral Riordan's life.

Immediately before sunset

Colonel Keith Allaire, wearing his ceremonial Jade Falcon robes, looked upon those gathered.

Miyu Riordan, widow of Admiral Michael K. Riordan, Prime Minister Jacob Whitfield, and Miyu's personal invitee, Captain Jason Altor. What exactly had led Miyu to invite some random captain was not yet revealed to Keith, but he would not judge her. Whitfield, for his part, suspected the Force had led her to extend the invitation, so that Jason would be in the company of Jedi Masters who could sense his latent ability, and thus be trained in due course. But now was not the time.

The entire Woodian army garrison, in Class A dress uniforms, with a goodly section of the naval garrison orbiting Konoha groundside for the ceremony as well, present.

Admiral Makaryk of Evil Woody Thoughts, who had finished what Admiral Riordan had begun.

A sizable chunk of the Coredian garrison.

Admiral Pellaeon of CoreWorlds, who had briefly fought alongside Admiral Riordan before the latter had sacrificed his life and his ship, and whom Keith had asked to write the last entry of Admiral Riordan's codex. At least the second-to-last-entry...Parliament had claimed the last entry for itself.

(Regrettably from the Loremaster's point of view, though he didn't show it at all), Admiral Horvath of CoreWorlds, whom Woodian commanders who had to deal with him found...somewhat immature. He, too, had participated in the Battle of Konoha, commanding the reinforcing Coredian fleet. Colonel Allaire only hoped that he wouldn't be too disruptive.

The Masakis, including Daniel, in crutches. The Colonel had made sure that there would be a seat for him in front where he could see what was going on, as normally, these ceremonies were conducted standing. Young John Masaki *finally* decloaked to observe the ceremony next to his adopted family but did not say anything to announce his decloaking. However, he breathed heavily for a few minutes, as if he had just been out for a long, brisk walk with weights in his hands.

A few news crews from Evil Woody Thoughts, with their cameras and such.

Lieutenant Colonel Raúl Vigil made sure his men were all sitting on the tiers that those same men had set up earlier in the day. It had been tedious for them, but now they would be thankful they did not have to stand for three or four hours...

Colonel Keith Allaire waited for the sun to slip below the horizon. When at last it did, his voice, without aid of microphone but nonetheless heard by all, broke the long silence.

"It is my honor to serve as Loremaster for the Evil Woody Thoughts Navy and I am especially honored to guide the Evil Woody Thoughts military, and government officials, in the ritual we perform this day. Ferocious bravery is the hallmark of all Woodian warriors, but at times there are those who transcend even that. These warriors deserve a special place in the history of Evil Woody Thoughts."

"Seyla," whispered a couple of the Woodian military officers. It was echoed, of all people, by the five-year-old John Masaki, and then some others in the Woodian delegation, spoken a bit louder. Then the multitude of Woodian personnel present, fifteen thousand or so strong, joined in, the chorus of "Seyla!" quickly becoming deep and strong.

"Such a warrior was Admiral Michael K. Riordan."

The air felt silent. Colonel Allaire bowed his head in a moment of silence, not announcing it. But the Woodians knew. Including the more than billion of them watching from home, or wherever they were.

Finally, Colonel Allaire began ceremoniously naming the exploits of Admiral Riordan, who had graduated from academy only fifteen years ago, starting with his Trial of Position. However, the items in his codex of most interest had occurred within the last year.

"On 19 May of the year previous, a meeting of the Naval Chiefs of Staff was convened to discuss the possible promotion of Rear Admiral Chris Bielski, who would reveal himself to be Darth Ebolus shortly thereafter. Both Rear Admiral Bielski and Admiral Riordan were present at this meeting. From security recordings that the Dark Lord Ebolus overlooked, we know that Admiral Riordan voted against promoting Rear Admiral Bielski, which would have given him more access to sensitive officials, whom he then would purge."

"The Dark Lord proceeded to Force-electrocute those who had voted against promoting him, and purge the memories of those who had voted in favor, so they would not recall that atrocity. Miraculously, Admiral Riordan survived, though the Dark Side had also removed his sovereignty over mind. However, the Dark Lord considered Admiral Riordan disgraced and thus did not give him any assignment. In this way, he is one of the few high-ranking military officials who made it through the civil war without committing atrocities of some sort. When at last the Dark Lord was killed, his mind was cut off from everything, as the Dark Lord had enslaved Admiral Riordan's mind to him, and he became incapacitated. The Hokage Master Tsunade reconstructed his mental capacity, and shortly thereafter, along with Master Jacob Whitfield, found a residual mindlink between Admirals Riordan and Makaryk, which the two of them were able to cut. Following the war, Admiral Riordan served with great distinction, providing vast assistance in reconstructing and retraining a navy purged of personnel by the civil war."

"It is the effect of his diligent work off the battlefield that was displayed on the battlefield in Konoha orbit recently, in the form of a devastatingly efficient coordination witnessed by few militaries in history." The Colonel gave an ever-so-subtle nod in the general direction of Admiral Makaryk.

"When confronted with the fleet of the Dark Lady Nightshade, Admiral Riordan ordered the reactor output of the entire EWS Battlestar to be fired through a single particle projector cannon battery. His crew warned him about excessive heat, but Admiral Riordan proceeded with the order anyway. The resulting output slagged the weapon...but it also slagged a third-generation Imperial Star Destroyer with a single shot."

By this point in the ceremony, the sky was completely dark. Keith used the Force to flip the switches for the massive holoprojectors he had ordered set up for just this moment...and they projected a 10:1 scale hologram of the EWT Battlestar, and its position relative to the SSD Obliterator, and position relative to surrounding fleet...some two thousand meters in the sky. The length of the Obliterator's projected image, at about 1760 meters, covered almost as much distance as there was between ground and hologram, constructed from the battle recordings of the Coredian fleet.

With another mental gesture, Keith set the hologram into motion and narrated it. Deep lances of purple issued forth from the Obliterator in the projection, from some unknown weapon that tore asunder typical Star Destroyers in a single shot, not unlike Admiral Riordan's creative use of PPCs as ortillery, at various Coredian ships, some within the hologram, some not.

Of course, nearly everyone looked up. Including the news cameras.

"At his point, after witnessing the ruinous effects of the Obliterator's weapons, Admiral Riordan ordered the Battlestar's crews to fire its entire reactor thoroughput at the unknown weapons batteries," Colonel Allaire continued, expecting everyone to be listening, yet not looking as the hologram in the sky tended to grab the eyes' attention. "Along with Coredian Artillery Star Destroyers commanded by Admiral Pellaeon, Admiral Riordan succeeded in disabling several of the weapons in such a manner." The hologram continued, with an image of the Battlestar firing a single heavy PPC bolt every forty seconds or so, the bolt powerful enough to punch through even the shields of a Super Star Destroyer, resulting in several shots before the Obliterator's main guns finally recharged. From some point unseen, blue mini-superlasers also targeted additional emplacements in the hologram.

"At this point, Admiral Riordan attracted the attention of the enemy commander. The Battlestar's shield absorbed one hit from the remaining unknown weapons, diverting firepower that otherwise would have destroyed outright some other ship." The holographic re-enactment continued, with another salvo from the Obliterator, most of its weapons directed at the same spots from whence the blue mini-superlasers had came. "The Coredian Artillery Star Destroyers that had fired upon the Super Star Destoyer were all destroyed by this weapons salvo, but the Battlestar's shield held and recharged for the enemy's next round." Colonel Allaire stopped, letting the hologram play out in real-time rather than getting ahead of it. This time, instead of firing every forty seconds, the Battlestar fired every ninety, resulting in the destruction of two more of the unknown weapons batteries before the Obliterator fired again. Moreover, the visible lights on the Battlestar dimmed to nothing on the hologram, as everything not related to combat shut down. To those well versed in naval tactics, it was obvious that Admiral Riordan knew at this point he would not survive the fight, and wanted to shield the Coredians as much as possible by absorbing as much firepower as he could...and diverted as much reactor power as he could get away with to regenerating the shield. Normal turbolasers also peppered the Battlestar, but it was clear the ship was dumping so much power into its front shield that it regenerated faster than the turbolasers could wear it down...a testament to the standards that Evil Woody Thoughts held its engineers, designers, and shipwrights to.

The Obliterator's four surviving batteries of doom facing the Battlestar fired. This part of the re-enactment required no narration from the Colonel.

One of said hypercannons, fortunately missed entirely, while another grazed the ship's dorsal shields, causing them to evaporate into oblivion, but missed the ship itself. The other two, however, caused problems...

They both hit on the front shields, but not on the same exact spot. The shields flared a deep red as they dissapated one of the shots entirely, while only being able to handle most of the other shot. Nevertheless, about the first four hundred meters of the Immortal Star Destroyer's 2.5 km hull (forty meters and 250 meters in the hologram, respectively) were slagged as if the Battlestar itself had been hit by a giant PPC blast.

"Three more hits the Battlestar absorbed, three hits that would have destroyed other ships outright." The hologram showed a sudden flare from engine exhaust longer than the Battlestar itself, that fried a corvette unfortunate enough to be in its wake. "At this point, Admiral Michael K. Riordan, knowing his life and that of his crew to be forfeit, sacrificed himself and his ship, ordering the dedicated sapper crew onboard to prepare charges and performing a data dump, the recipient of which was Admiral Pellaeon's Chimaera." As the Battlestar lumbered towards the Obliterator with an acceleration unbecoming a ship its size in the hologram (due to the dumping of more than 95% of total reactor output into the engines...after sending this transmission, Admiral Riordan had even ordered life support shut down), Colonel Allaire read his final known words:

"Admiral Pellaeon, it is the highest honor for me to have the oppurtunity to decommission the Empire's newest playtoy. Our Star Destroyer is now Solohma, cannon fodder to be sacrificed to the greater good. I am transmitting this vessel's final recordings and battle-roms to you, so that you may analyze them. Seyla."

"Seyla." Quiet murmurs of the sacred word circulated throughout the Woodians gathered. Young John Masaki bowed his head. Colonel Allaire let the holovid continue for the next couple of minutes as he bowed his own head in deference to the deceased's final words.

About fifteen seconds later, the holographic projection depicted the Battlestar crashing into the Obliterator's midsection, in spite of the latter's futile evasive maneuvers, in a plume of flame...then a fiery flash so great that it almost was projected all the way to the ground, as the charges the sappers had set in the minute or so previous made themselves known. As the flash dissapated, revealed a gaping gouge that had disentigrated about a fifth of the Obliterator there was; the Super Star Destroyer's midsection held together by superstructure only on the side opposite the ram.

The Colonel continued his silence as numerous secondary and ancillary explosions punctured the Obliterator, even as a beam of energy from an oppurtunistic Coredian ship, her captain taking advantage of the Obliterator's collapsed shield, disintegrated the Super Star Destroyer's bridge, taking advantage of the collapsed shield...but not the superstructure. Instead, for two full minutes, the Woodians watched the recording, played at normal speed, not timelapsed, of numerous explosions and fires slowly weakening the enemy's midsection. Turbolasers from Coredian ships splattered across what little remained of the shield and across the armor on the side of the Obliterator opposite the ram, but it was clear the secondary explosions were ripping the ship apart from within.

The warping of metal was visible in the hologram. The effect of Konoha's gravity on the doomed ship, its ability to maintain orbit now gone, was visible in the hologram, as both ends of the ship seemed to bend down ever so slightly.

At two minutes, sixteen seconds, after a multitude of explosions and fires tearing apart, melting, warping what superstructure held the thing together, the recording depicted the Obliterator finally snapping in half.

Loremaster Allaire broke the silence. "So, to use Admiral Riordan's words...the Empire's newest playtoy was decommissioned. It remains in salvageable condition and will be taken as isorla by the Government of CoreWorlds."

"Seyla!" A few shouted it, their voices deep and rhythmic. Others joined in, until the night sky was filled with the chant: "Seyla! Seyla! Seyla!"

"Three hours later, Woodian reinforcements arrived from White Diamond. Admiral Pellaeon immediately advised the commanding Woodian admiral, Rear Admiral Makaryk, of previous events, and Admiral Makaryk quickly adapted the firepower management tactic credited to Admiral Riordan. He ordered all craft in his fleet capable of the feat to overcharge a particle projector battery and to fire in a fleetwide coordinated target...twelve ships, bringing to bear a total firepower approximately that of the output of a Death Star superlaser at full charge, hit within a two-meter ciricle of error on the Huntaerian Empire command ship Megadolon. Within five minutes of Woodian re-entry into the Battle of Konoha, the Megadolon met the same fate as the Obliterator and will be taken as isorla by the Government of Evil Woody Thoughts."

"Seyla! Seyla!" The chant once again filled the air.

"The Empire's command fleet carrier was destroyed by conventional fire from the two Sovereign-class Star Destroyers under Admiral Makaryk's command in approximately the same timeframe," the Loremaster continued. "The Huntaerians retreated within a half hour of the arrival of Admiral Makaryk's reinforcements and a second Coredian fleet, their own fleet in ruin, much of it in salvageable condition. Konoha's shipyards will be busy indeed repairing captured enemy ships."

"Seyla! Seyla! Seyla!"

"The only surviving witnesses to the last acts of Admiral Riordan were Coredian. Therefore, Admiral Pellaeon was asked by ranking Woodian military officials to write the final entry of Admiral Riordan's codex. This is what he wrote..." Loremaster Allaire read the entry.

I have not known Admiral Riordan for very long, but what I do know is that he has done far more to defeat Imperial efforts to conquer Konoha than anyone else has ever done before. When the Star Destroyer Battlestar entered the fight, the enemy Super Star Destroyer Obliterator was living up to its name. The Star Destroyer engaged the Obliterator with everything it had, knocking out several of the massive heavy turbolaser turrets before being crippled by a heavy assault. As the Obliterator prepared to deliver the final blow, Admiral Riordan ordered his ship to ram the Super Star Destroyer, sacrificing himself and his ship to cause mortal damage to the Obliterator, eventually snapping it in half. I have never known a braver man, and I can only mourn the fact that I would not be able to get to know him better on this side of the mortal coil. I salute Admiral Riordan and hope that he gets the honor he deserves from all.

"However, the Parliament of Evil Woody Thoughts also wishes to express its sentiments on the record. Its declaration of war against the Huntaerian Empire in reprisal for the Konoha attack was actually the second resolution it passed after entering closed session. It is my honor as Loremaster to divulge the first such resolution. Miss Miyu Riordan, please come forward."

The Admiral's widow did so, her face a bit pale from practically living out her husband's final moments. She said nothing. Colonel Allaire gave her a deep bow, then, careful not to look directly in her eyes, handed her an opened envelope. The envelope was the same that Prime Minister Whitfield had opened earlier, and it contained a single piece of paper. Miyu quietly and quickly read it, to much the same reaction of the Prime Minister when his eyes had first seen it.

She dropped the paper, stunned, in shock, speechless. The Cross of Honor...never before had one been awarded. Not only was it the highest honor that Evil Woody Thoughts could bestow, but it had in fact been rumored to not even exist outside of mythology. Truth be told, it hadn't existed in a physical sense...until now.

The Loremaster allowed her a moment of silence, during which no one dared utter a word, not even the Loremaster. Finally the fifty-year old widow herself asked for a microphone, her voice shaking as if she was twice her age. She knew she would need it. The request was granted in short order.

So great was the honor of receiving the Cross of Honor that the Loremaster yielded the floor entirely to her. It would be Miyu Riordan who would have the honor of reading the resolution to the assembly, and that she did. Her voice shook, erratic and uncertain, uncertain that the words she read were real, but they were real nonetheless, and she read it to the assembly nonetheless.

PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION 591
18 JANUARY 2079

SUBMITTED BY: MR. AMBROSE, MR. ATISURU, MR. HYITISHAMA, MS. JULLES, MS. OKIDIJIMBA, MR. POLLARD, MS. ZHUKHOVSKII

THE EIGHTY-THIRD PARLIAMENT OF EVIL WOODY THOUGHTS

AWARE OF events transpiring in Konoha orbit the previous date, 17 January 2079,

RECALLING that in the early stages of battle, the only Woodian orbital presence consisted of a single Immortal Star Destroyer commanded by Admiral Michael K. Riordan,

NOTING WITH DEEP APPRECIATION Admiral Riordan's selfless designation of his ship as Solohma, and subsequent order to ram the modified enemy Super Star Destroyer Obliterator,

RECOGNIZING that said ram generated an explosion large enough to cause the enemy vessel to break into two major pieces a few minutes after the ram,

FULLY AWARE that the sacrifice of Admiral Riordan's ship EWS Battlestar removed a large proportion of enemy firepower near the beginning of the battle and thus prevented a significant amount of allied casualties from occurring before reinforcements could arrive,

FURTHER AWARE that the enemy ship Obliterator is in salvageable condition and can thus be taken by allied forces as isorla;*

1. AFFIRMS the professional judgement of Admiral Riordan in ramming his ship;

2. COMMENDS the crew of the EWS Battlestar, especially the ship's helmsmen and sappers, for executing the ram successfully and in such a way that doomed the much larger vessel;

3. AWARDS posthumously the Cross of Honor to Admiral Riordan;

4. DIRECTS the Prime Minister to ensure that the appropriate medal is struck within seven days' time from deliverance of this resolution;

5. APPROPRIATES up to 100,000 universal standard credits for this task;

6. FURTHER DIRECTS that this resolution be disclosed only to those whom the Prime Minister deems will be necessary to strike the medal, until such time as is appropriate, specified in next operative clause;

7. ORDERS that this resolution be read into Admiral Riordan's codex as its final entry during his memorial service;

8. INSTRUCTS the Prime Minister to appoint a Loremaster to preside over Admiral Riordan's state memorial ceremony.

ENTERED BY THE CLERK: ADOPTED BY CONSENSUS VOTE, WITH NO ABSTENTIONS FROM CONSENSUS REPORTED, 11:04 ANTE MERIDIAN, WHITE DIAMOND MEAN TIME, 18 JANUARY 2009, AND HEREAFTER SEALED UNTIL SUCH TIME AS DIRECTED IN RESOLUTION.

By such time as she was finished reading it, the hands holding the piece of paper were shaking as well, and she very nearly dropped it again.

Finally, the Loremaster broke the silence. "Prime Minister Jacob Whitfield, please report."

The Prime Minister came forward, seeming to glide in his robes, bearing an elongated case about two feet long. He had taken care of putting the medal he had personally struck on a pendant that morning, hence the longer case. Like the Loremaster, he dared not look into Miyu's eyes.

Upon reaching the place where honored and Loremaster stood, the Prime Minister fell to the ground, kneeling on both knees, head bowed almost into his chest. With both of the hands holding the case shaking, he presented it to Miyu Riordan, not daring to say a word.

Miyu gasped as she opened the case. The words she had read a moment earlier were indeed real.

The medal was indeed real.

The Cross of Honor was indeed real.

It rested upon a violet velvet lining inside the case, the mithril cross glittering in the Konoha moonlight. For two, then five minutes, there was utter silence. Finally, she extracted the medal from the case and, hands shaking, put it around her neck, almost reluctantly. Whitfield remained on the ground before her, not moving, the entire time.

"Where did you get this!?" she finally gasped.

The Prime Minister's voice trembled as well. "I disassembled my lightsaber..." he paused for what seemed like an eternity... "and melted its hilt for scrap, so that the Cross of Honor may be struck."

Miyu broke into tears, and asked Whitfield to rise, which he did, whereupon she hugged him. Without a husband anymore, she needed someone to hug right about now, and the Prime Minister was just as convenient as anyone. The Jedi Master understood the need and therefore implicitly assented to it.

It was yet some time before the Loremaster broke the silence (and the crying upon Whitfield's shoulder). "Since the Battle of Jurai, where Evil Woody Thoughts was regrettably out of position to come to the aid of CoreWorlds, and some argue, since the civil war, Evil Woody Thoughts has borne the consequences of dezgra. Yet there is honor in Evil Woody Thoughts once again. Hail Admiral Michael Riordan, first person to earn the Cross of Honor."

"Seyla!"

*OOC: For those of you not familiar with Battletech lore (i.e. CoreWorlds), Star Colonel Aidan Pryde sacrified his life to enable the rest of his unit to retreat when it otherwised would have certainly been crushed, and killed so many of the enemy in the process that the kills were never fully counted. Though retreat is generally considered cowardly to the Clans, the circumstances that Aidan Pryde faced meant that the battle was ruled a draw instead of defeat. That unit was the Falcon Guards, previously shamed by a humiliating defeat; however, that shame was wiped clean, and the Falcon Guards suddenly considered an elite unit, because of Aidan Pryde's deeds in his last moments.

Also, CW, please tell me over MSN of any correction that needs to be made to Tsunade's title, including spelling. OOC, I am unsure of my memory. IC, Keith would be careful not to make that mistake.

By day

Colonel Allaire remained quiet, speaking only when necessary to give orders related to the preparation of Admiral Riordan's memorial. Including telling the media that it would occur precisely at sundown, not at five Konoha local time as previously reported. Journalists and news networks groaned at actually having to look up local sunrise/sunset times, but even worse, having to inform their viewers of the time change (approximately twenty-nine and a half minutes as it turned out). Due to the time difference between local Konoha and the capital of Evil Woody Thoughts, it would actually be a bit past midnight in the capital when the ceremony occurred. However, even the early risers committed to staying up to watch the ceremony.

Including ordering the deployment of special projectors, and programming them to play the proper recordings at the Force-flip of a switch.

Including selecting from the Bitterwind Range Army Base's entire selection of ceremonial uniforms--Keith had made sure the entire supply was brought over. Most in the Woodian military had only seen such uniforms described in field manuals, in sections regarding what uniforms were permissible in parades.

Including making sure that certain interested parties were notified. Daniel Masaki, especially, would need to catch up on his news.

Compared to yesterday, the daylight hours of today were quite tranquil on the White Diamond news networks. The Parliament remained in closed session, and had not publicly reported anything out yet, so there wasn't much to report there that hadn't already been reported. The stock market held its gains from the day before; it even went up another fifty or so points, on much lighter volume, as traders weighed the good news regarding Konoha against the bad news about higher-than expected civil war casualties (and, therefore, presumably, rebuilding costs). The market seemed to be waiting for something to tip the balance. About the biggest news that broke today consisted of a press conference called by the Woodian Hockey League, announcing that there would indeed be a hockey season starting in the fall, even if it meant dropping the requirement that each team have five lines to requiring only four lines of players.

That news was well received. And considering the (apparent) silence of Parliamment (in an unknown reality, its members had been working the last twenty-four hours straight, and showed no signs of succumbing to the need to rest), it was the Colonel who had the honor of reporting a little Parliamentary present to the public. Soon enough.

About four in the afternoon, he changed his uniform, wearing instead something unrecognizable to at least the Coredians, and a good number of Woodians as well. Colorful robes with bright hues, decorated with resplendent feathers, he donned.

A very few, well versed in the history of the Clans, would recognize it as a replica of the ceremonial robe used by Marthe Pryde, of the Jade Falcon Clan, who had served as Loremaster for House Pryde at the memorial ceremony for Star Colonel Aidan Pryde.*

Evil Woody Thoughts did not have Houses, or did it have Bloodnames, or genetically-engineered "trueborn" warriors, nor the rigid caste system that went along with said "trueborns." Evil Woody Thoughts did not even have the same military rank system, though, like the Clans, it did require that MechWarriors be commissioned officers. One cultural trait that Evil Woody Thoughts did share with the Clans, however, was a deep obsession with honor; the nation, and especially its military, had gone so far as to adopt certain Clan ceremonies and rituals--the most widely known cultural adaptation of the military being the Trial method of resolving disputes and selecting people to promote.

For that matter, the Colonel had studied Aidan Pryde's memorial in great detail, and had decided to use it as a guide as to what should be said.

The forthcoming ceremony was, therefore, befitting of Admiral Riordan's life.

Immediately before sunset

Colonel Keith Allaire, wearing his ceremonial Jade Falcon robes, looked upon those gathered.

Miyu Riordan, widow of Admiral Michael K. Riordan, Prime Minister Jacob Whitfield, and Miyu's personal invitee, Captain Jason Altor. What exactly had led Miyu to invite some random captain was not yet revealed to Keith, but he would not judge her. Whitfield, for his part, suspected the Force had led her to extend the invitation, so that Jason would be in the company of Jedi Masters who could sense his latent ability, and thus be trained in due course. But now was not the time.

The entire Woodian army garrison, in Class A dress uniforms, with a goodly section of the naval garrison orbiting Konoha groundside for the ceremony as well, present.

Admiral Makaryk of Evil Woody Thoughts, who had finished what Admiral Riordan had begun.

A sizable chunk of the Coredian garrison.

Admiral Pellaeon of CoreWorlds, who had briefly fought alongside Admiral Riordan before the latter had sacrificed his life and his ship, and whom Keith had asked to write the last entry of Admiral Riordan's codex. At least the second-to-last-entry...Parliament had claimed the last entry for itself.

(Regrettably from the Loremaster's point of view, though he didn't show it at all), Admiral Horvath of CoreWorlds, whom Woodian commanders who had to deal with him found...somewhat immature. He, too, had participated in the Battle of Konoha, commanding the reinforcing Coredian fleet. Colonel Allaire only hoped that he wouldn't be too disruptive.
The Coredian military that rolled out to be included in the ceremony were all decked out in dress blues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fullmetal_Alchemist_s01e15.png) and navy blue overcoats (for the military leaders) while the High Council, the Shinobi present and the Masaki Clan (men and women included) wore formal robes and cloaks. Tsunade had her (rarely used) Hokage's robes on, which consisted of a red hat-like garment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tsunade_Hokage.jpg) and white robes.

The Masakis, including Daniel, in crutches. The Colonel had made sure that there would be a seat for him in front where he could see what was going on, as normally, these ceremonies were conducted standing. Young John Masaki *finally* decloaked to observe the ceremony next to his adopted family but did not say anything to announce his decloaking. However, he breathed heavily for a few minutes, as if he had just been out for a long, brisk walk with weights in his hands.
When Taylor saw and sensed John Masaki pop into view, he was surprised. Not only that he popped right in front of him, but that John has been in cloak for over a day. Hey. Where have you been?

A few news crews from Evil Woody Thoughts, with their cameras and such.

Lieutenant Colonel Raúl Vigil made sure his men were all sitting on the tiers that those same men had set up earlier in the day. It had been tedious for them, but now they would be thankful they did not have to stand for three or four hours...

Colonel Keith Allaire waited for the sun to slip below the horizon. When at last it did, his voice, without aid of microphone but nonetheless heard by all, broke the long silence.

"It is my honor to serve as Loremaster for the Evil Woody Thoughts Navy and I am especially honored to guide the Evil Woody Thoughts military, and government officials, in the ritual we perform this day. Ferocious bravery is the hallmark of all Woodian warriors, but at times there are those who transcend even that. These warriors deserve a special place in the history of Evil Woody Thoughts."

"Seyla," whispered a couple of the Woodian military officers. It was echoed, of all people, by the five-year-old John Masaki, and then some others in the Woodian delegation, spoken a bit louder. Then the multitude of Woodian personnel present, fifteen thousand or so strong, joined in, the chorus of "Seyla!" quickly becoming deep and strong.

"Such a warrior was Admiral Michael K. Riordan."

The air felt silent. Colonel Allaire bowed his head in a moment of silence, not announcing it. But the Woodians knew. Including the more than billion of them watching from home, or wherever they were.
The air hushed as a moment of silence was given for Admiral Riordan. Even the children in the crowds were quiet.

Finally, Colonel Allaire began ceremoniously naming the exploits of Admiral Riordan, who had graduated from academy only fifteen years ago, starting with his Trial of Position. However, the items in his codex of most interest had occurred within the last year.

"On 19 May of the year previous, a meeting of the Naval Chiefs of Staff was convened to discuss the possible promotion of Rear Admiral Chris Bielski, who would reveal himself to be Darth Ebolus shortly thereafter. Both Rear Admiral Bielski and Admiral Riordan were present at this meeting. From security recordings that the Dark Lord Ebolus overlooked, we know that Admiral Riordan voted against promoting Rear Admiral Bielski, which would have given him more access to sensitive officials, whom he then would purge."
I raised an eyebrow at that. So Admiral Riordian voted against Ebolus? I could see how that went down for him.

"The Dark Lord proceeded to Force-electrocute those who had voted against promoting him, and purge the memories of those who had voted in favor, so they would not recall that atrocity. Miraculously, Admiral Riordan survived, though the Dark Side had also removed his sovereignty over mind. However, the Dark Lord considered Admiral Riordan disgraced and thus did not give him any assignment. In this way, he is one of the few high-ranking military officials who made it through the civil war without committing atrocities of some sort. When at last the Dark Lord was killed, his mind was cut off from everything, as the Dark Lord had enslaved Admiral Riordan's mind to him, and he became incapacitated. The Hokage Master Tsunade reconstructed his mental capacity, and shortly thereafter, along with Master Jacob Whitfield, found a residual mindlink between Admirals Riordan and Makaryk, which the two of them were able to cut. Following the war, Admiral Riordan served with great distinction, providing vast assistance in reconstructing and retraining a navy purged of personnel by the civil war."
Tsunade acknowledged her part in the Admiral's life with a nod and a tilt of her head, knowing she had a hand in saving Konoha in freeing the Admiral from the vegetative state he was in.

"It is the effect of his diligent work off the battlefield that was displayed on the battlefield in Konoha orbit recently, in the form of a devastatingly efficient coordination witnessed by few militaries in history." The Colonel gave an ever-so-subtle nod in the general direction of Admiral Makaryk.

"When confronted with the fleet of the Dark Lady Nightshade, Admiral Riordan ordered the reactor output of the entire EWS Battlestar to be fired through a single particle projector cannon battery. His crew warned him about excessive heat, but Admiral Riordan proceeded with the order anyway. The resulting output slagged the weapon...but it also slagged a third-generation Imperial Star Destroyer with a single shot."

By this point in the ceremony, the sky was completely dark. Keith used the Force to flip the switches for the massive holoprojectors he had ordered set up for just this moment...and they projected a 10:1 scale hologram of the EWT Battlestar, and its position relative to the SSD Obliterator, and position relative to surrounding fleet...some two thousand meters in the sky. The length of the Obliterator's projected image, at about 17600 meters, covered almost as much distance as there was between ground and hologram, constructed from the battle recordings of the Coredian fleet.

With another mental gesture, Keith set the hologram into motion and narrated it. Deep lances of purple issued forth from the Obliterator in the projection, from some unknown weapon that tore asunder typical Star Destroyers in a single shot, not unlike Admiral Riordan's creative use of PPCs as ortillery, at various Coredian ships, some within the hologram, some not.

Of course, nearly everyone looked up. Including the news cameras.
The crowd oohed and ahhed like it was a fireworks display, and some instinctively ducked when a fighter zoomed low. I quirked my mouth in a smile. So that's why the super-sized projectors were taken from the storage depot. I was wondering about that.

"At his point, after witnessing the ruinous effects of the Obliterator's weapons, Admiral Riordan ordered the Battlestar's crews to fire its entire reactor thoroughput at the unknown weapons batteries," Colonel Allaire continued, expecting everyone to be listening, yet not looking as the hologram in the sky tended to grab the eyes' attention. "Along with Coredian Artillery Star Destroyers commanded by Admiral Pellaeon, Admiral Riordan succeeded in disabling several of the weapons in such a manner." The hologram continued, with an image of the Battlestar firing a single heavy PPC bolt every forty seconds or so, the bolt powerful enough to punch through even the shields of a Super Star Destroyer, resulting in several shots before the Obliterator's main guns finally recharged. From some point unseen, blue mini-superlasers also targeted additional emplacements in the hologram.

"At this point, Admiral Riordan attracted the attention of the enemy commander. The Battlestar's shield absorbed one hit from the remaining unknown weapons, diverting firepower that otherwise would have destroyed outright some other ship." The holographic re-enactment continued, with another salvo from the Obliterator, most of its weapons directed at the same spots from whence the blue mini-superlasers had came. "The Coredian Artillery Star Destroyers that had fired upon the Super Star Destoyer were all destroyed by this weapons salvo, but the Battlestar's shield held and recharged for the enemy's next round." Colonel Allaire stopped, letting the hologram play out in real-time rather than getting ahead of it. This time, instead of firing every forty seconds, the Battlestar fired every ninety, resulting in the destruction of two more of the unknown weapons batteries before the Obliterator fired again. Moreover, the visible lights on the Battlestar dimmed to nothing on the hologram, as everything not related to combat shut down. To those well versed in naval tactics, it was obvious that Admiral Riordan knew at this point he would not survive the fight, and wanted to shield the Coredians as much as possible by absorbing as much firepower as he could...and diverted as much reactor power as he could get away with to regenerating the shield. Normal turbolasers also peppered the Battlestar, but it was clear the ship was dumping so much power into its front shield that it regenerated faster than the turbolasers could wear it down...a testament to the standards that Evil Woody Thoughts held its engineers, designers, and shipwrights to.

The Obliterator's four surviving batteries of doom facing the Battlestar fired. This part of the re-enactment required no narration from the Colonel.

One of said hypercannons, fortunately missed entirely, while another grazed the ship's dorsal shields, causing them to evaporate into oblivion, but missed the ship itself. The other two, however, caused problems...

They both hit on the front shields, but not on the same exact spot. The shields flared a deep red as they dissapated one of the shots entirely, while only being able to handle most of the other shot. Nevertheless, about the first four hundred meters of the Immortal Star Destroyer's 2.5 km hull (forty meters and 250 meters in the hologram, respectively) were slagged as if the Battlestar itself had been hit by a giant PPC blast.
Admiral Horvath's eyes grew wide as he realized just how much power was dumped into the Battlestar's shields and whistled quietly in approval at the ability of the ship itself to survive. Our engineers can learn something from theirs.

"Three more hits the Battlestar absorbed, three hits that would have destroyed other ships outright." The hologram showed a sudden flare from engine exhaust longer than the Battlestar itself, that fried a corvette unfortunate enough to be in its wake. "At this point, Admiral Michael K. Riordan, knowing his life and that of his crew to be forfeit, sacrificed himself and his ship, ordering the dedicated sapper crew onboard to prepare charges and performing a data dump, the recipient of which was Admiral Pellaeon's Chimaera. As the Battlestar lumbered towards the Obliterator with an acceleration unbecoming a ship its size in the hologram (due to the dumping of more than 95% of total reactor output into the engines...after sending this transmission, Admiral Riordan had even ordered life support shut down), Colonel Allaire read his final known words:

"Admiral Pellaeon, it is the highest honor for me to have the oppurtunity to decommission the Empire's newest playtoy. Our Star Destroyer is now Solohma, cannon fodder to be sacrificed to the greater good. I am transmitting this vessel's final recordings and battle-roms to you, so that you may analyze them. Seyla."

"Seyla." Quiet murmurs of the sacred word circulated throughout the Woodians gathered. Young John Masaki bowed his head. Colonel Allaire let the holovid continue for the next couple of minutes as he bowed his own head in deference to the deceased's final words.
Admiral Pellaeon's head bowed in deference along with the Coredians, being the man who recieved the last words of his deceased counterpart.

About fifteen seconds later, the holographic projection depicted the Battlestar crashing into the Obliterator's midsection, in spite of the latter's futile evasive maneuvers, in a plume of flame...then a fiery flash so great that it almost was projected all the way to the ground, as the charges the sappers had set in the minute or so previous made themselves known. As the flash dissapated, revealed a gaping gouge that had disentigrated about a fifth of the Obliterator there was; the Super Star Destroyer's midsection held together by superstructure only on the side opposite the ram.

The Colonel continued his silence as numerous secondary and ancillary explosions punctured the Obliterator, even as a beam of energy from an oppurtunistic Coredian ship, her captain taking advantage of the Obliterator's collapsed shield, disintegrated the Super Star Destroyer's bridge, taking advantage of the collapsed shield...but not the superstructure. Instead, for two full minutes, the Woodians watched the recording, played at normal speed, not timelapsed, of numerous explosions and fires slowly weakening the enemy's midsection. Turbolasers from Coredian ships splattered across what little remained of the shield and across the armor on the side of the Obliterator opposite the ram, but it was clear the secondary explosions were ripping the ship apart from within.

The warping of metal was visible in the hologram. The effect of Konoha's gravity on the doomed ship, its ability to maintain orbit now gone, was visible in the hologram, as both ends of the ship seemed to bend down ever so slightly.

At two minutes, sixteen seconds, after a multitude of explosions and fires tearing apart, melting, warping what superstructure held the thing together, the recording depicted the Obliterator finally snapping in half.

Loremaster Allaire broke the silence. "So, to use Admiral Riordan's words...the Empire's newest playtoy was decommissioned. It remains in salvageable condition and will be taken as isorla by the Government of CoreWorlds."

"Seyla!" A few shouted it, their voices deep and rhythmic. Others joined in, until the night sky was filled with the chant: "Seyla! Seyla! Seyla!"
Caught up in the moment, even we Coredians took up the cry. "Seyla! Seyla! Seyla!"

"Three hours later, Woodian reinforcements arrived from White Diamond. Admiral Pellaeon immediately advised the commanding Woodian admiral, Rear Admiral Makaryk, of previous events, and Admiral Makaryk quickly adapted the firepower management tactic credited to Admiral Riordan. He ordered all craft in his fleet capable of the feat to overcharge a particle projector battery and to fire in a fleetwide coordinated target...twelve ships, bringing to bear a total firepower approximately that of the output of a Death Star superlaser at full charge, hit within a two-meter ciricle of error on the Huntaerian Empire command ship Megadolon. Within five minutes of Woodian re-entry into the Battle of Konoha, the Megadolon met the same fate as the Obliterator and will be taken as isorla by the Government of Evil Woody Thoughts."

"Seyla! Seyla!" The chant once again filled the air.

"The Empire's command fleet carrier was destroyed by conventional fire from the two Sovereign-class Star Destroyers under Admiral Makaryk's command in approximately the same timeframe," the Loremaster continued. "The Huntaerians retreated within a half hour of the arrival of Admiral Makaryk's reinforcements and a second Coredian fleet, their own fleet in ruin, much of it in salvageable condition. Konoha's shipyards will be busy indeed repairing captured enemy ships."

"Seyla! Seyla! Seyla!"

"The only surviving witnesses to the last acts of Admiral Riordan were Coredian. Therefore, Admiral Pellaeon was asked by ranking Woodian military officials to write the final entry of Admiral Riordan's codex. This is what he wrote..." Loremaster Allaire read the entry.

I have not known Admiral Riordan for very long, but what I do know is that he has done far more to defeat Imperial efforts to conquer Konoha than anyone else has ever done before. When the Star Destroyer Battlestar entered the fight, the enemy Super Star Destroyer Obliterator was living up to its name. The Star Destroyer engaged the Obliterator with everything it had, knocking out several of the massive heavy turbolaser turrets before being crippled by a heavy assault. As the Obliterator prepared to deliver the final blow, Admiral Riordan ordered his ship to ram the Super Star Destroyer, sacrificing himself and his ship to cause mortal damage to the Obliterator, eventually snapping it in half. I have never known a braver man, and I can only mourn the fact that I would not be able to get to know him better on this side of the mortal coil. I salute Admiral Riordan and hope that he gets the honor he deserves from all.

"However, the Parliament of Evil Woody Thoughts also wishes to express its sentiments on the record. Its declaration of war against the Huntaerian Empire in reprisal for the Konoha attack was actually the second resolution it passed after entering closed session. It is my honor as Loremaster to divulge the first such resolution. Miss Miyu Riordan, please come forward."

The Admiral's widow did so, her face a bit pale from practically living out her husband's final moments. She said nothing. Colonel Allaire gave her a deep bow, then, careful not to look directly in her eyes, handed her an opened envelope. The envelope was the same that Prime Minister Whitfield had opened earlier, and it contained a single piece of paper. Miyu quietly and quickly read it, to much the same reaction of the Prime Minister when his eyes had first seen it.

She dropped the paper, stunned, in shock, speechless. The Cross of Honor...never before had one been awarded. Not only was it the highest honor that Evil Woody Thoughts could bestow, but it had in fact been rumored to not even exist outside of mythology. Truth be told, it hadn't existed in a physical sense...until now.

The Loremaster allowed her a moment of silence, during which no one dared utter a word, not even the Loremaster. Finally the fifty-year old widow herself asked for a microphone, her voice shaking as if she was twice her age. She knew she would need it. The request was granted in short order.

So great was the honor of receiving the Cross of Honor that the Loremaster yielded the floor entirely to her. It would be Miyu Riordan who would have the honor of reading the resolution to the assembly, and that she did. Her voice shook, erratic and uncertain, uncertain that the words she read were real, but they were real nonetheless, and she read it to the assembly nonetheless.

PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION 591
18 JANUARY 2079

SUBMITTED BY: MR. AMBROSE, MR. ATISURU, MR. HYITISHAMA, MS. JULLES, MS. OKIDIJIMBA, MR. POLLARD, MS. ZHUKHOVSKII

THE EIGHTY-THIRD PARLIAMENT OF EVIL WOODY THOUGHTS

AWARE OF events transpiring in Konoha orbit the previous date, 17 January 2079,

RECALLING that in the early stages of battle, the only Woodian orbital presence consisted of a single Immortal Star Destroyer commanded by Admiral Michael K. Riordan,

NOTING WITH DEEP APPRECIATION Admiral Riordan's selfless designation of his ship as Solohma, and subsequent order to ram the modified enemy Super Star Destroyer Obliterator,

RECOGNIZING that said ram generated an explosion large enough to cause the enemy vessel to break into two major pieces a few minutes after the ram,

FULLY AWARE that the sacrifice of Admiral Riordan's ship EWS Battlestar removed a large proportion of enemy firepower near the beginning of the battle and thus prevented a significant amount of allied casualties from occurring before reinforcements could arrive,

FURTHER AWARE that the enemy ship Obliterator is in salvageable condition and can thus be taken by allied forces as isorla;*

1. AFFIRMS the professional judgement of Admiral Riordan in ramming his ship;

2. COMMENDS the crew of the EWS Battlestar, especially the ship's helmsmen and sappers, for executing the ram successfully and in such a way that doomed the much larger vessel;

3. AWARDS posthumously the Cross of Honor to Admiral Riordan;

4. DIRECTS the Prime Minister to ensure that the appropriate medal is struck within seven days' time from deliverance of this resolution;

5. APPROPRIATES up to 100,000 universal standard credits for this task;

6. FURTHER DIRECTS that this resolution be disclosed only to those whom the Prime Minister deems will be necessary to strike the medal, until such time as is appropriate, specified in next operative clause;

7. ORDERS that this resolution be read into Admiral Riordan's codex as its final entry during his memorial service;

8. INSTRUCTS the Prime Minister to appoint a Loremaster to preside over Admiral Riordan's state memorial ceremony.

ENTERED BY THE CLERK: ADOPTED BY CONSENSUS VOTE, WITH NO ABSTENTIONS FROM CONSENSUS REPORTED, 11:04 ANTE MERIDIAN, WHITE DIAMOND MEAN TIME, 18 JANUARY 2009, AND HEREAFTER SEALED UNTIL SUCH TIME AS DIRECTED IN RESOLUTION.

By such time as she was finished reading it, the hands holding the piece of paper were shaking as well, and she very nearly dropped it again.

Finally, the Loremaster broke the silence. "Prime Minister Jacob Whitfield, please report."

The Prime Minister came forward, seeming to glide in his robes, bearing an elongated case about two feet long. He had taken care of putting the medal he had personally struck on a pendant that morning, hence the longer case. Like the Loremaster, he dared not look into Miyu's eyes.

Upon reaching the place where honored and Loremaster stood, the Prime Minister fell to the ground, kneeling on both knees, head bowed almost into his chest. With both of the hands holding the case shaking, he presented it to Miyu Riordan, not daring to say a word.

Miyu gasped as she opened the case. The words she had read a moment earlier were indeed real.

The medal was indeed real.

The Cross of Honor was indeed real.

It rested upon a violet velvet lining inside the case, the mithril cross glittering in the Konoha moonlight. For two, then five minutes, there was utter silence. Finally, she extracted the medal from the case and, hands shaking, put it around her neck, almost reluctantly. Whitfield remained on the ground before her, not moving, the entire time.

"Where did you get this!?" she finally gasped.

The Prime Minister's voice trembled as well. "I disassembled my lightsaber..." he paused for what seemed like an eternity... "and melted its hilt for scrap, so that the Cross of Honor may be struck."
"He actually did that?" Katrina asked me quietly. It was a surprise to all the Jedi present that he disassembled his own lightsaber to create the medal.

"I's say so." I nodded. Then I had a thought. It's very symbolic that a Jedi's weapon was used to create the highest honor in Evil Woody Thoughts. What the lightsaber stands for: duty, honor, justice, peace, the Admiral has executed to the ultimate end. Though he is not Force-sensitive as far as I could remember, I believe he truly is a Jedi.

Miyu broke into tears, and asked Whitfield to rise, which he did, whereupon she hugged him. Without a husband anymore, she needed someone to hug right about now, and the Prime Minister was just as convenient as anyone. The Jedi Master understood the need and therefore implicitly assented to it.

It was yet some time before the Loremaster broke the silence (and the crying upon Whitfield's shoulder). "Since the Battle of Jurai, where Evil Woody Thoughts was regrettably out of position to come to the aid of CoreWorlds, and some argue, since the civil war, Evil Woody Thoughts has borne the consequences of dezgra. Yet there is honor in Evil Woody Thoughts once again. Hail Admiral Michael Riordan, first person to earn the Cross of Honor."

"Seyla!"
It was after the last "Seyla" that the applause began. A standing ovation for the man who gave his life so that Konoha would be saved, and it lasted a long while. The Force be with Admiral Riordan, and may the Force be with his widow.

During the applause, I recalled what Allaire said about the first and second resolutions passed by the Parliment. The first was the Cross. The second...was the declaration of war against the Empire (Huntaer in particular). This war has just taken a turn for the better. Certainly, the Empire has much to fear from these Woodians...

*OOC: For those of you not familiar with Battletech lore (i.e. CoreWorlds), Star Colonel Aidan Pryde sacrified his life to enable the rest of his unit to retreat when it otherwised would have certainly been crushed, and killed so many of the enemy in the process that the kills were never fully counted. Though retreat is generally considered cowardly to the Clans, the circumstances that Aidan Pryde faced meant that the battle was ruled a draw instead of defeat. That unit was the Falcon Guards, previously shamed by a humiliating defeat; however, that shame was wiped clean, and the Falcon Guards suddenly considered an elite unit, because of Aidan Pryde's deeds in his last moments.

Also, CW, please tell me over MSN of any correction that needs to be made to Tsunade's title, including spelling. OOC, I am unsure of my memory. IC, Keith would be careful not to make that mistake.

The Coredian military that rolled out to be included in the ceremony were all decked out in dress blues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fullmetal_Alchemist_s01e15.png) and navy blue overcoats (for the military leaders) while the High Council, the Shinobi present and the Masaki Clan (men and women included) wore formal robes and cloaks. Tsunade had her (rarely used) Hokage's robes on, which consisted of a red hat-like garment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tsunade_Hokage.jpg) and white robes.

When Taylor saw and sensed John Masaki pop into view, he was surprised. Not only that he popped right in front of him, but that John has been in cloak for over a day. Hey. Where have you been?

OOC: Would actually be more like active camo expiring in a game of Halo. He'd shimmer back into vision, not pop like a teleportation.

IC: The kid's conveyed his response via Force telepathy, as he dared not interrupt Admiral Riordan's memorial as it started. I saw my mother. The one who killed her will soon want to talk to me.

After the ceremony concluded, it was as the youngling predicted. Not fifteen minutes after the last of the applause died down, Major Chris Mrozik found him.

John spoke first, making a very careful distinction no one could expect from a five year old. "By your helm my parents were killed." While the boy knew that 'Mechs were usually piloted via telepathy of some sort, the word neurohelmet was a bit long for a five-year-old, so he used a shorter, if more imprecise, word instead.

To say that the Major was surprised was the understatement of the day. "You recognize that the thoughts that went into that neurohelmet were not my own." His voice came off a bit shakier than he would have liked, owing to that surprise.

"Aff."

"How did you know?"

"She is one with the Force. She forgave you."

A single tear formed in Major Mrozik's eye as he was reminded of his absolution. "She stayed my hand from sepukku. Thirty-six hours ago."

John gave an understanding nod. "Master Whitfield spent the entire night after Jurai trying to talk me out of killing myself, too."

A long pause ensued as neither party could quite figure out what to say. Finally, John spoke once more, with the wisdom of someone a hundred times his age. "My mother said your curse was lifted. The Loremaster said the nation's curse was lifted. But you must let it lift...only you can do that."

The Major nodded. This kid was sounding a lot like Master Elendil...and both had much to think about.

Major Mrozik especially.

Jason had been very nervous at first about the whole memorial and attending it. He had spent hours racking his brain trying to figure out why Admiral Riordan's wife might have asked him to attend her husband's memorial. Looking for a possible reason, he could not find one for the life of him.

Upon arriving at the memorial with Miyu Rirodan, he took his seat beside her and sat silently for the memorial to begin. Jason was, of course, honoured to be present at the memorial but he had never known the Admiral nor had he heard of his accomplishments before that fateful battle. One of the setbacks of hiding out in the mountains for so long.

As the memorial began, Jason could feel the tension build as Colonol Keith Allaire, the man appointed Loremaster and a legend among the military for what he had been able to do in the Civil War. Jason stared in awe at the Loremaster's robes, reminiscent of ancient times, of the Clans.

As the Loremaster began to retell the exploits of the Admiral, Jason began to feel a profound sense of respect and regret for the Admiral and his wife. The Admiral had done everything he could and more for his nation; and his wife had suffered for it as well. Jason wondered how she could continue.

Finally, it came time for the closing of the ceremony, but it ended with a bang. A big one. As the Loremaster yielded the floor to Miyu Riordan, Prime Minister Whitfield presented her with a medal, the Cross of Honour. Jason stared at the medal and then at Whitfield, the thing was made completely of Mithril! The Prime Minister must have greatly respected the Admiral to have melted down his own lightsaber to make it. Making a mental note, Jason decided to try and get his hands on some Mithril so he could give it to the Prime Minister.

As the last Seyla was uttered, people began to filter out of the area or into groups. Looking for the Colonel and Miyu, Jason began to look through the crowd to see if he could find them.

As the last Seyla was uttered, people began to filter out of the area or into groups. Looking for the Colonel and Miyu, Jason began to look through the crowd to see if he could find them.

While the Colonel had already left (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=517561), Miyu Riordan and Prime Minister Whitfield remained available, the latter busy attempting to impart on the former that 1) no she didn't owe him her life, and 2) that no, he wasn't crazy.

The Prime Minister raised an eye...he sensed a Force-sensitive that he hadn't met before. A presence drawing closer. When he came within twenty feet, Whitfield took a step back so that he could face both Miyu and the approaching presence at the same time.

"Captain Altor, I sense that you wish to speak to us."

Finally spotting Miyu Riordan, he saw that she was with the Prime Minister. Not wishing to interrupt, Jason lingered around, waiting for the Prime Minister to leave. The Prime Minister, however, had something else in mind and turned towards Jason.

"Captain Altor, I sense that you wish to speak to us."

Startled, Jason looked over at the Prime Minister. He had forgotten he was a Jedi. Standing to attention and giving the Prime Minister a salute, Jason quickly formed a reply.

"Well sir, I wished to speak with Mrs. Riordan and I was going to wait until you two were done but I guess I can say what I wanted to now."

Turning to Miyu, he said,

"Ma'am, I am very sorry about the loss of your husband. In those minutes when the footage was being shown, I felt very honoured that you had asked me to come to the memorial."

Turning to the Prime Minister, Jason also thanked him.

"Sir, I know how attached Jedi usually are to their lightsabers and I would like to say that you have done a very selfless thing in melting your hilt down to make the Admiral's medal. I am very honoured to meet you but now I must return to my barracks. I am supposed to go out for training soon."

Once again turning to Miyu, he said,

"Ma'am, if you ever need anything, just contact me at my barracks. The Prime Minister will know where I am and how you can contact me."

Bowing to Miyu and Saluting the Prime Minister, Jason turned to leave the memorial.

Master Elendil approached the group, intending to follow up on the training arrangements for the newest students to the Jedi Order. For those who have never met the HeadMaster of the Order before, Master Elendil is an elf, with the pointy ears and the lithe build, but there is a power about the Jedi Master that commands attention.

The Master noticed that there is a newcomer to the scene, a man he came to know as Jason Altor and another Force Sensitive, now that Armas Elendil was able to sense the young military officer...

Miyu simply gave a slight bow to the captain in reply before falling quiet again...

...and Whitfield's attention turned to Jason. "And I sense that you have the capacity to be trained as a Jedi...this works out quite well...here comes Master Armas Elendil, Headmaster of the Jedi Order."

Meanwhile, about fifteen feet away from the platform upon which *that* conversation was taking place, Lieutenant Colonel Raúl Vigil, the one whom Jason had had a snowball fight with a day or so prior, overheard Whitfield's remarks, and *knowing* that he too was Force-sensitive, joined in...

Master Whitfield grinned at Jason. "And yet you are not the only one who will need such training..."

OOC: CW, since you didn't finish it before signing off...

...IC consequences for not posting must start.

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There comes a time when kids will be kids. Very quietly, so as to actually get away with it.

While the adults around him chattered, young John Masaki thought once again about how long he had cloaked for. I could've been hidden for longer, but the ceremony started too soon...still don't know how long I can hide...

Therefore, he pulled away from Taylor and vanished into the crowd milling about, letting the crowd hide him while he focused inward as intensely as he had before...

It took a moment yet, during which he went further into the crowd, before he vanished. Completely. Force signature and all--he had mimicked becoming one with the Force once again.

A smile crossed the five-year-old's face. This time he really *would* see how long he can cloak...

Miyu simply gave a slight bow to the captain in reply before falling quiet again...

...and Whitfield's attention turned to Jason. "And I sense that you have the capacity to be trained as a Jedi...this works out quite well...here comes Master Armas Elendil, Headmaster of the Jedi Order."

Meanwhile, about fifteen feet away from the platform upon which *that* conversation was taking place, Lieutenant Colonel Raúl Vigil, the one whom Jason had had a snowball fight with a day or so prior, overheard Whitfield's remarks, and *knowing* that he too was Force-sensitive, joined in...

Master Whitfield grinned at Jason. "And yet you are not the only one who will need such training..."
"Indeed. I can sense it within you." Master Elendil nodded as he walked by. "I have already asked the others to join the Jedi Order, but now is the time to ask you two if you wish to learn the ways of the Force."

OOC: I can answer for one character, but not for Jason Altor, as he is not my character to RP. CoreWorlds and Dantari, you will need to contact each other to RP training of Jason Altor, because at long last, I'm moving on.

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"Indeed. I can sense it within you." Master Elendil nodded as he walked by. "I have already asked the others to join the Jedi Order, but now is the time to ask you two if you wish to learn the ways of the Force."

Lieutenant Colonel Vigil didn't need to receive the invitation twice. Giving the Elven Jedi Master a bow, his response consisted of a single blunt word: "Done."

Sometime really late that night in Konoha...

Somewhere in the Woodian barracks area, a holovid display ran with nobody watching it. Or so it would seem.

More than once, an officer had walked by and turned it off, only to see it flicker back on again; the usual response was something akin to "Meh."

Said officers also noticed that every few hours, a single ration bar seemed to disappear from the stocks...

There were two possible explanations, and everyone knew what they were:

1. John Masaki.
2. Major Chris Mrozik.

As the latter didn't cloak just for the fun of it, the garrison accepted Explanation #1 as the most likely.

And yes, there was someone watching the Holonet, even if it didn't look like it...the Woodian officers were correct in their assumptions.

Moreover, around three thirty in the morning (one thing about the Force cloak that parents would object to: it wouldn't really allow sleeping), the newsfeeds lit up...

"The Parliament of Evil Woody Thoughts has just returned to open session, to make announcements...we will bring you more as it becomes available..."

A few minutes later, the President pro tempore of the Parliament, Sergei Illaynovich, appeared to give a press conference. His eyes had the look of someone who had not slept in three days; indeed, he hadn't slept since the Parliament moved into closed session two days or so ago.

John Masaki fired off a quick telepathic note to Master Whitfield, telling him that important news was breaking. He could still send telepathic messages, but he could not receive them unless the sender could sense him, not bloody likely unless the telepathy itself got traced.

Mr. Illaynovich spoke with a crack in his voice, weary from lack of rest. "Citizens of Evil Woody Thoughts, the Parliament has moved out of closed session. Nonclassified legislation passed will be published in the Federal Register within two hours. The Parliament will suspend session for twenty-four hours and resume at 10:30 tomorrow morning, White Diamond Mean Time. We have not had any rest since closed session began."

He drew a long breath. "Please allow me to summarize the acts passed by Parliament in closed session. The first, the New Economic Plan Act, establishes a framework for the government to issue arms contracts. Arms contracts will be given under a cost-plus-ten percent basis. This means that any arms contractor who contracts with Evil Woody Thoughts is guaranteed a ten percent profit margin. However, as we do not like war profiteering, these costs will be VERIFIED through extensive auditing against Woodian accounting standards. Any business doing business within Evil Woody Thoughts knows what these standards are; they have not been changed."

"Any corporation caught defrauding the government is subject to nationalization. In the event of a shortage of contractors, the Parliament reserves the right to nationalize defense contractors. We do not expect to have to wield this power, and it is a power of last resort; we wish to work through the free market as much as possible, while still preventing war profiteering. It is the sense of Parliament that this policy offers a compromise between the extremes of war profiteering and nationalization."

Another pause on the holovid. "Moreover, the Parliament has also passed the Corruption Act. This act reclassifies both war profiteering and bribery in excess of one hundred credits as capital crimes, eligible for the death penalty. This was done only after much debate, as war profiteering and bribery now join mass murder and treason as the only crimes eligible for capital punishment. The Parliament notes that Evil Woody Thoughts, the Dark Times aside, has only executed five people since the Christofascist Wars, a rate of one person every fifteen years. We hope that those doing business in Evil Woody Thoughts have the honesty to not run afoul of the Act; if you are not a corrupt businessperson you will have nothing to worry about, but the law must be enforced."

"Moving on, the Parliament has also set agenda items for returning to open session. The first agenda item consists of forming a select committee to draft proposals on how to deal with the special circumstances facing the election that the Prime Minister called for yesterday. This committee will be fully open to public comment. It is the sense of Parliament that elections must be held as quickly as possible, while still maintaining the integrity of the election process. Furthermore, the Parliament will also consider a measure that would grant stipends for families to raise children, be they by birth or adopted..."

Wow. Both John Masaki and Jacob Whitfield shared much the same thought...