The Republic has fallen.
In the final days of the Clone Wars, Chancellor Palpatine died under mysterious circumstances. With the Senate struggling to retain a sense of unity, it was the perfect time for the Separatists to strike. And strike they did...
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Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Lux was sure the beeping countdown in one corner of his holographic display was getting louder as time wore on.
Hunched over his HoloNet terminal with his eyes wide and glassy from a few too many hours looking at screens too close to him, Lux Bonteri was hardly the picture of calm regality his father wanted to make of him. He'd gotten his growth spurt later than most, and never quite figured out to do with the extra height when he was sitting down short of sitting straight as a rod.
The sun burned his skin instead of giving it the ruddy tan his father was convinced appealed to the working people, and his eyes looked too dull and grey a green to lend his pallor any extra glow. With nothing but a small lamp and his displays to afford his dark, wood-paneled office any brilliance, he knew he had to look even worse than usual. Thankfully, he was too preoccupied to care.
A red light began to flash above a few lines of code, a failsafe to draw his attention to a missing series of characters before it was too late. Lux's fingers raced to a keypad to his left to fix it on reflex. He was fully in the moment, laser-focused on the task at hand. He had to take the active security measures offline again before the alarms started, or it would be too late to–
The door slid open behind him, and Lux nearly jumped out of his skin.
Muffling a swear or three, he closed the program and scrubbed the computer core of the access history it had archived from the past day – or rather from the past planetary rotation. Technically, it had only been day for two hours.
"You're up early." Lux swallowed another curse at the sound of his father's voice. It was probably best not to tell him he hadn't yet gone to bed.
Lux flushed crimson but said nothing. The first thing he'd learned during his brief stint as junior Senator was if the opposition made an assumption they believed explained everything, it would not do to correct them while their ignorance could be of service. Noble-born or common, his father respected a person's urges, and taking some 'alone time' would be an excellent excuse to hide Lux's latest covert venture.
"There'll be no more need for that, soon," his father said, smiling without warmth as he stared down his nose at Lux. It was one feature they shared; Lux had inherited his sculpted features and dark hair, but that was where the resemblance ended. "I've found you something far better than common filth off the HoloNet."
"I don't understand, Father."
"That's nothing new."
Lux stumbled to his feet and swept into a slight bow to reclaim his dignity before he fell victim to another jibe. "I am sorry, Father. I'll do better next time."
His father sighed, and though Lux didn't dare look up, he had a feeling he'd just been subjected to an exasperated eye roll. "It's time to grow up and face the real world, boy. As it stands you're far too like your mother."
