Star Wars: Republic: Honor and Duty was the twelfth story arc in Star Wars: Republic. It is set in 23 BBY.
Plot summary
A mysterious figure falls through the sky near a Coruscant skytower, causing multiple speeders to crash into each other and impact against the tower in a massive explosion. Hours later, several Senate guards discuss the incident, stating that 20 people were killed in the collision. It is also revealed that the falling human was a Senator, and that he was dead before the fall. In a meeting with Chancellor Palpatine, two of the guards are introduced to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, who have been assigned guard duty over another Senator. The Chancellor notes that several systems have become fed up with corruption in the Senate and he fears they may secede. The Senator is voting on a crucial matter which may determine whether he is targeted for assassination like his predecessor, the man who fell from the skytower.
In the same meeting, Chancellor Palpatine continues to encourage Anakin's pride in his past accomplishments, and Obi-Wan notices that one of the guards is Force sensitive. After a tense discussion between the two parties, the guards decide to leave to attend to personal matters. One of the guards, named Sagoro, has a son who is involved in pit racing, and has taken his sister with him to one of the races. The two guards head down to the pits to retrieve them, and Sagoro remarks that maybe the Jedi are right in not having kids. Meanwhile, his son Raymet is having the time of his life, flying straight through holes and dodging trash canisters. In a daring move, he drops through 3 of the open holes in a row, stunning the audience. Barely managing to dodge another canister which hits the contestant behind him, he dives for the end of the tunnel and makes it in record time.
The two guards arrive just as a raid by Coruscant Security Forces takes place, and Raymet’s girlfriend is stunned with a blaster while trying to defend his sister. In retaliation, Raymet flys straight at a trooper and hurls him into the ceiling, but is also stunned in the process. Sagoro intervenes and takes custody of his son and daughter, leaving the girlfriend to the Security Forces while the sister struggles against her father in protest. He ignores her however, and escorts them out of the pits.
Meanwhile, in the Senator’s safehouse, the two Jedi are suddenly attacked by a blaster wielding droid. Anakin and Obi-Wan swing their lightsabers through the air, deflecting a barrage of blaster bolts as the Senator takes cover. Anakin uses the Force to deflect a missile into the wall, blowing it up, then Obi-Wan cuts the droid in half. Anakin remarks that the assassin must have been aware of their presence, as droids cannot be interrogated.
Meanwhile, Sagoro yells at his son for almost getting himself kicked out of the guard academy, and Raymet angrily demands that he be allowed to see his girlfriend. Sagoro says that he should forget about her and focus on his training, but Raymet retorts that he has never wanted to have his father’s career. Sagoro then gets angry and says that his brother already tarnished their family’s reputation, and he is not going to let his son do the same. The daughter, Lissa, steps between them as tensions escalate, saying that maybe his father’s career isn’t right for him. At this time, there is a knock at the door, and it is revealed to be Sagoro’s brother, Venco, who had previously disgraced him and his family by betraying the guards.
Sagoro asks him what he wants, and his brother tells him he is dying. The guard tells his brother to take his own sympathy, as he won’t give him any, and kicks him out. His son yells at him for being so cruel and heartless, and his daughter tells him he will be lucky if they are even there when he gets back from guard duty. Sagoro and the other guard head back to the Senator’s apartment, where they find the wreckage of the droid being investigated by Anakin and Obi-Wan. Anakin uses his technical knowledge to decipher what the droid is and where it came from, and the two guards are impressed by his mechanical abilities. The senate guards continue their investigation, discovering that the deceased Senator ordered his personal droid to shut down almost an hour before his death, meaning that he was most likely meeting with someone and didn’t want it recorded. The Senator they have been assigned to protect decides to leave for a meeting, and the two Jedi follow him out while the senate guards continue their investigation.
Meanwhile, Raymet visits the prison where his girlfriend is being kept, but a guard keeps him from entering. He begs to be let in, as his girlfriend is sick, but the guard still doesn’t let him in. The argument almost turns to violence, but Sagoro’s brother shows up and pays off the guard. Raymet thanks him, and the two of them talk about his father. Venco asks Raymet for help gaining access to a Senator, saying that he is involved in the creation of a new regulation, but the guards won’t let him get anywhere near the Senator’s apartment. While Raymet meets his girlfriend inside, he gives Venco his father’s access codes as a way of getting back at him for taking his mate.
Simultaneously, Anakin and Obi-Wan watch the Senator at his meeting and notice that everyone in the building wishes him dead because of his political standing. Sagoro and his partner head to the analysis center, where they find that Princess Tsain of Ord Mankus sent the assassin droid to kill the Senator. They track her previous locations, noting that there were unsolved political assassinations at every stop. The commander of the guards reluctantly gives them access to the Princess’ current location, and they rush to intercept her before she can carry out another operation, warning the Jedi on their way.
At the gathering, Tsian seduces Anakin into letting her and the Senator talk alone, and Obi-Wan rushes over a few moments later, telling him that she is the assassin. They burst through the door onto the balcony, and find hundreds of miniscule drones attacking the Senator, slicing him up at all angles. They rush to his aid, but there are too many drones for them to combat at once. Just before the Senator can be finished off, Sagoro and his partner arrive in a starship, blasting through the drones with laserfire and sending Tsian flying away. She lands on the ground several feet away, and is knocked unconscious.
The guards yell at Anakin for letting the Senator out on a balcony, and Anakin blames them for allowing the assassin to enter the building in the first place, but Obi-Wan tells him to accept responsibility for his own mistakes and not blame them on others. The two continue their conversation on an airspeeder with the Senator in tow, but another assassin opens fire on them, forcing Obi-Wan to turn their craft sideways in order to dodge the bolts. He then pulls up next to a repulsor train, using its guidance track to keep them away from the bounty hunter’s view. The Jedi fly around the train as it passes them at full speed, and the hunter attempts to follow them, a barrage of bolts hitting the train as he attempts to gun them down.
Obi-Wan deflects several shots with his lightsaber then leaps out of the speeder, hurtling down towards the enemy’s own craft. He then slices the Dug bounty hunter’s speeder in half and holds him at lightsaber point with Anakin idling in midair.
Media
Issues
Collected in
- Star Wars: Honor and Duty trade paperback
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Menace Revealed Vol. 4
Notes and references
- ↑
Star Wars: Republic (2002) #46 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Republic (2002) #48 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Republic 46
- ↑
Autem, Sagoro in the Databank (original site is defunct)
- ↑ Star Wars: The Comics Companion
- ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia