| Coruscant_Journal | Date: Tuesday, 08 Jan 2013, 7:56 PM | Message # 1 |
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Fowlkes Re-appears in Anti-Imperial Broadcast
Outer Rim Territories — Former Telosian senator Tremaine Fowlkes, who was presumed dead in an apparent fall from a balcony on Coruscant, has dramatically re-appeared in an anti-Imperial broadcast from somewhere on the Outer Rim. Clad in a nondescript military-style uniform, Fowlkes said that accounts of his death were "woefully wrong," identified himself as "commander-in-chief of the 'Libs,'"—which is believed to be an armed, anti-Imperial resistance group—and declared war on the Empire.
"The Empire had tried to take my freedom and civil liberties away, as well as my life," Fowlkes says in the holocast, claiming that an Imperial "shadow agent" attempted to assassinate him. "Yet, here I am." The former Senator's death was questioned early on as the Imperial News Network's (INN's) reporting of his supposed fall from a balcony of the Telosian embassy on Coruscant relied on the eyewitness account of a single, anonymous source. The Coruscant Journal declared at the time that INN's article on Fowlkes's death was "not credible."
"This strange message by Tremaine Fowlkes... certainly calls into question the credibility of the original story," Senator Ray (Dantooine) told The Coruscant Journal.
It appears, now, that Mr. Fowlkes went underground to establish an armed, anti-Imperial resistance group which he refers to in today's holocast as the "Brothers and Sisters of Liberation," or "the Libs." Despite having once remarked in the Senate that "ordinary citizens" are "afraid of getting shot for simply speaking out" (he later apologized for the remark), Fowlkes, who served in the Grand Army of the Republic, wasn't considered as anti-Imperial as other Senators, such as Mon Mothma. Mr. Fowlkes's holocast "[declaring] war against the Galactic Empire" has come as a surprise to many.
"I am not an enemy of the Empire," Fowlkes once said in the Senate, "I fought in the Clone Wars. I went to the war at the risk of my life, and yet I did it anyway so the galaxy can be a safe place once again."
"The man was one of the Empire's strongest supporters throughout his term in the Senate," said a flabbergasted Senator Kirkwood of the Cygnus Star Empire, "I believe, however, over the past few months we've seen this sad slide into madness and no one listened. This insanity has led to him declaring leadership over a group of... terrorists in some pseudo-idealistic war against the Empire which can not even stand on moral, let alone legal, grounds."
"I suppose it's always the person you least expect to do something like that, isn't it? But yes, it's still hard to believe," said Senator Thanatos (Chandrila), who worked frequently with Mr. Fowlkes in the Senate.
Vizier Ars Dangor, spokesman for the Imperial Ruling Council, expressed similar sentiments during a press conference at the Imperial Palace this afternoon, saying "our worst suspicions of Senator Fowlkes have proven true," and that "[Fowlkes] deceived us all, but none more so than his colleagues in the Senate, whom the Empire now calls upon to denounce his treachery."
"The Empire has already taken steps to disrupt and dismantle this 'Libs' organization," Dangor's statement continued, "Individuals are already in custody, and it won't be long until Senator Fowlkes, too, is brought to justice." Mr. Dangor declined to speculate about Mr. Fowlke's mental health, but added that "some Thakwaash STD's have been known to cause psychosis in Humans, I'm told." (There continues to be no evidence that Mr. Fowlkes was ever seen with a Thakwaash prostitute, as the Imperial News Network once reported).
The extent of Mr. Fowlkes's "Libs" organization remains unknown. The former senator's broadcast was traced to an empty area of space in the Outer Rim Territories; most likely, it was broadcast from a vessel with a military-grade communications suite. Nothing else is known about the "Libs," an organization that hasn't—until now—announced itself to the public, and has never claimed responsibility for any anti-Imperial attacks.
Imperial forces have reportedly been put on high alert in the wake of Mr. Fowlkes's call to arms, and the Empire has announced a bounty of 1,500,000 credits for Tremaine Fowlkes "preferably alive."
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