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Before the Republic eraOld Republic eraFeatured article

Every citizen of this young Republic must work together, or else we will have failed in our task to bring peace to the galaxy. Right now, we are witnessing the beginning of this new republican cooperation as we gather in this new galactic dome, but coming together is only just a beginning. Keeping together is only progress. Working together, as one unified government, is success.
—Jonathan Bac during his inaugural address

Jonathan Bac was a legendary Alderaanian Admiral, Ambassador to the Coalition of Planets and the first Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. In the role of Admiral of the Alderaanian fleet, he was responsible for the decisive final campaign against the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets that brought the Unification War to a close. As the Ambassador to the Coalition of Planets, he worked closely with the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi to ensure a smooth transition between numerous regional governments and one galactic democracy. In his role as ambassador, he also drafted the Galactic Charter and was the first to sign it at the ceremony that witnessed the founding of the Galactic Republic.

One of the most important politicians in the early history of the Galactic Republic, Jonathan was credited with saving the House of Organa and the Corellian Empire from destruction and for paving the way to the founding of the Galactic Republic. He was also responsible for allowing the Jedi Bendu, and later the Jedi, to become a major presence in the day-to-day affairs of the Galactic Republic. It was also foretold that his descendants were those spoken of in the Prophecies of The Skywalker. During the Ashlan Civil War, the Great Sovereign Crusades and the Galactic Civil War, that foretelling was proved correct when Ussej Padric Bac, Ussej Padric Bac II, Ussej Padric Bac III and Ussej Padric Bac LXIV fulfilled passages within the prophecies. Jonathan was also well-remembered and revered for literally setting up the brilliant democratic system that lasted for twenty-five thousand years after the beginning of his term in office.

History[]

Early life[]

Jonathan Bac was born on Alderaan during the final days of the reign of the Organian Empire of Alderaan to the notable prisoner of war and Organian General Conrad Bac and his wife, Tella Crell. When Jonathan was only one standard year old, his father was captured by the Corellian Empire during an attack on Alderaan and was kept as a prisoner of war for a year and a half. When Conrad returned, Jonathan was two and a half standard years old and did not remember much about his father. However, he could remember glimpses of him from when he was an infant. Either way, the young Jonathan was pleased to have a father figure in his life, as his mother could only provide so much for him as a homemaker and as a female figure.

Throughout his youth, Jonathan was able to attend the best schools on the planet because of his father’s military standing and somewhat of a celebrity status due to Conrad’s time as a prisoner of war. When he was eleven years old, Jonathan joined an Alderaanian youth organization called “Becoming Soldiers of Alderaan”, B.S.A. for short, an organization dedicated to help instill time-honored values and responsibility into young men across the Organian Empire. When he was fifteen, he earned the organizations coveted highest award known as the Falcon Medal.

Two years later, when his father was the Army Chief of Staff, Jonathan said goodbye to his father for what he believed was a few days or weeks, as Conrad was sent to Onderon to oversee troop deployments. However, while in Iziz, Conrad and the Governor of Onderon were caught in an explosion. The governor was killed instantly, but Conrad was alive as they tried to pull him from the rubble. He survived just long enough to tell emergency crews to tell his family that he loved them, and hours later Jonathan and Tella were given the painful news. Two days later, Jonathan attended a full military funeral for his father at the First Church of Alderaan. He helped lay his father’s body to rest in the Bac family cemetery just outside of Aldera, and the next day he accepted a posthumous Monarchial Medal of Freedom in his father’s honor. Two days after that, King Organa declared on the Corellian Empire, though Jonathan watched on the holo-feeds as the monarch said that it was the Corellians that had declared war first by assassinating Conrad and the Onderonian Governor.

Jonathan was given regular updates as the Organian Intelligence Agency continued to gather evidence on his father’s murder. He was concerned that the war would have devastating effects to his homeworld, as the two empires had been attempting to form a lasting peace with one another. Although all evidence continued to point towards the Corellians, Jonathan was unsure if they truly did assassinate his father as he did not believe that they had anything to gain from it. Despite this, he had a very hard time trusting anything that anyone from the Corellian Empire had to say, regardless of what the issue or the situation was about.

During his time at the University of Alderaan, Jonathan gained a great deal of respect for the Order of the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi as he learned more about them. They had tried their hardest to maintain the peace between the Alderaanians and the Corellians for years, despite the many differences between the two peoples. Jonathan studied the Jedi Bendu culture, philosophies and history for years and part of him wished that he had been sensitive to the Force of Others so he could have been a member of the noble and monastic peacekeeping organization. Despite his inability to use the Force of Others, he always made sure that he was up to date on the happenings and the news coming from within the order.

After graduating from the university, Jonathan broke from his family traditions and decided to study at the Organian Naval Academy rather than joining the army. Although he did not know how his father would have felt about him breaking a long-lasting family tradition, he could only assume that he would be proud of him. Jonathan studied at the naval academy for two years before being commissioned as a Junior Grade Lieutenant on board the Alderaanian flagship Liberty. Due to his performance on the flagship, Jonathan was able to quickly rise through the ranks and become a Lieutenant Commander within two years. However, he nearly destroyed his entire career when, after doing a great deal of studying about the relations between Alderaan and Corellia, he realized that much of what his government said about the Corellian Empire was nothing more than propaganda to keep the public in favor of the war effort. When he confronted his captain about it, he was nearly dismissed from service. It was only through a direct order from King Organa and the legacy of his father that he was able to retain his commission. He was also given a promotion to Commander at the behest of the monarchy, though his superiors were less than thrilled about giving it to him.

Military Career[]

When Jonathan was a young captain, he met a woman named Talura Rheli. She was the daughter of one of Alderaan’s more senior regional governors. Though her father’s position was relatively powerless, she found a way to make a name for herself while working to spotlight humanitarian efforts across the planet and the Core Worlds. After seeing each other for a few months, the two ultimately fell in love and were married in a small ceremony on the shores of Lake Aldera. After a few months of marriage, Talura learned that she was pregnant with Jonathan’s child. Family members commented that they had never seen the young couple so excited.

Seven months after learning of her pregnancy, Talura gave birth to a baby girl. She and Jonathan decided to name their child Elizabeth, a name that many of their ancestors had. Throughout the years, Jonathan came to see Elizabeth as a ‘daddy’s girl’, always wanting to be around him and always trying to impress him. It was one of the many reasons that Jonathan considered leaving the military. Jonathan shared his thoughts of leaving with Talura, though she was unsure of what she would do were she in his position. In the end, they both realized that being a soldier and a leader was in his blood and was his one true calling, aside from being a father and a husband.

Fifteen years after first joining the navy, Jonathan had been promoted to the rank of Admiral. From his position, he was able to watch as many galactic governments and organizations joined together and formed what they called the Coalition of Planets. The loose federation grew fast and promised to create a Galactic Charter and one galactic government. The government would encompass all of the former democracies of the galaxies that wished to join. Despite the promising rewards that such an effort promised for the people of the galaxy, Alderaan decided not to join.

Jonathan was adamant on having his government join the Coalition, but King Organa refused. It was one of the few things that King Organa and the King of Corellia had in common, as he also refused to have his government join. When Jonathan questioned them both, they told him that they their governments wished to maintain their sovereignty. Though they did not say it publicly, Jonathan knew that they also wished to protect themselves from their so-called enemies. He could only imagine what the Jedi Bendu thought about the situation, though he could not bring himself to ask them.

Not long after Jonathan met with the two governments, insurgent attacks broke out across Alderaan and Corellia. Both governments blamed the other for the attacks, though they both denied the accusations against them. It did not take long for the small conflict to erupt into a full-scale war between the worlds. Early on, King Organa ordered Jonathan to lead the assault against the Corellians. Though he publically disagreed with the conflict, he decided not to fight the orders.

Shortly after he was given his orders, he brought his fleet into orbit over the skies of Duro, the planet that housed the Duros High House, where he found the Corellian forces. According to intelligence he intercepted, the Corellians were attempting to convince the High House to secede from the Coalition of Planets and join their empire in the hopes of defeating Alderaan. The two fleets were evenly matched and the commanders on both sides knew that. Though they engaged in a minor skirmish, Jonathan and the opposing commander each agreed to cut their losses and return to their respective home worlds.

When Jonathan returned to Alderaan, he met with his furious king. King Organa felt that it would have been in the planet’s best interests to have destroyed the Corellian fleet over Duros, but after showing the king the sensor data from the brief skirmish Jonathan was able to convince him that furthering the conflict would have been devastating for either side. Though the king’s trust in him was somewhat shaken, Jonathan asked his leader to appoint him as a diplomatic ambassadors to the Coalition of Planets. After days of thought, the king approved the request and allowed Jonathan to travel to Coruscant, the small and neutral city-worlds that had become the meeting place of the Coalition and the Jedi Bendu.

Upon his arrival on Coruscant, Jonathan did not waste any time in formalities or diplomatic pandering. He immediately requested the assistance of the Jedi Bendu, begging them to become involved in and stop the conflict that had engulfed his home. He believed that they could easily end the violence that threatened to tear the two governments apart. Despite their superior fighting skills, the Jedi Bendu knew that they could only help negotiate, as their philosophies prevented them from becoming involved in the fighting. Despite their disagreements, the Jedi Bendu and Jonathan made fast friends out of one another. Each felt that the other was level-headed and fair-minded.

Despite his military’s request to return to Alderaan and lead the royal navy once again, Jonathan decided to remain on Coruscant to help in the negotiation process. King Organa demanded that he return to Alderaan, as he disagreed with the notion of asking the Jedi Bendu for help, but Jonathan openly defied him and said that he would find a way to end the war without having to fight. Though he told the truth, he also wished to remain because he could not fight in a war that he did not agree with, despite the fact that the Corellians might have been responsible for the assassination of his father.

The Brotherhood[]

Months into the war, the Jedi Bendu shared intelligence with Jonathan that pointed to a covert organization feeding false information and rumors to the Alderaanian and Corellian governments. With Jonathan’s help, the Jedi Bendu launched an investigation that found out that their information was true. The organization was called the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets, a lose organization of anarchists that reluctantly banned together to prevent the drafting of a charter and the creation of a galactic government. With the blessing of the Jedi Bendu, Jonathan took command of the Alderaanian fleet and shared his information with the Corellian government. Allying himself with them, they launched the final battle of the Unification War.

During the battle, Jonathan led a team of commandos onto the lead Brotherhood ship to destroy it. Based upon the scans he took of their vessels, he believed that if he destroyed the command ship the other ships would no longer be able to work in unison, thereby making it easier for them to be destroyed. When they were onboard, it was if they were expected as they were ambushed by members of the Brotherhood. Jonathan and a few men made their way to the lower decks and fought their way into the engine chamber. In the chamber, Jonathan accessed the main computer and found information pointing to the Brotherhood being responsible for the death of Conrad Bac. After planting the spatial charges, they immediately made their way back to the airlock. Jonathan, however, was stopped by armed guards and he ordered his men to keep going to their ship. After managing to slip past the guards, he activated the charges and the ship began to implode. As the sparks flew out all around him, he was able to get into his ship and take off before the vessel exploded. With the Brotherhood vessels unable to perform their vessels in unison, the Coalition forces destroyed the Brotherhood force.

After the battle, Alderaan and Corellia put aside their differences and officially became members of the Coalition of Planets. The Jedi Bendu recommended that Jonathan be given the right to draft the charter, as they believed he would be best equipped to do so. The other governments agreed with their assessment. The Jedi Bendu also saw an aura of prophecy surrounding Jonathan, feeling that he would somehow be indirectly involved with the Prophecies of The Skywalker. After much deliberation, they shared their beliefs that his descendants would fulfill one or more of the prophecies. Though he was flattered, Jonathan was far too humble to believe that anyone in his family would be a prophetic figure.

After he completed the Galactic Charter, the date for its signing and the official founding of the Galactic Republic was set. Each government, including the Jedi Bendu, was given one vote as to who would be the Supreme Chancellor, the position that would serve as President of the Galactic Senate. The Jedi Bendu did not put any of their own members up, as they did not believe it was their place as they were not a government, but instead gave Jonathan the second vote he needed, as each government voted for their own member, and was elected Supreme Chancellor. When the founding came, Jonathan was the first to sign the charter as well as the first to stand and address the galaxy as the first Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic.

Supreme Chancellor and Death[]

When he began his speech, the first thing he did was give thanks to the Jedi Bendu for everything that they had done for the galaxy and the newly formed Galactic Republic. He also formally requested that the Jedi Bendu take on the mandate of guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. They accepted his proposal and were given permission to build a monastery on Coruscant near the large, oval chambers of the Galactic Senate.

In his eight years in office, Jonathan helped to create the policies of the Galactic Republic and formally set up the democratic system that he pledged would be used for millennia after his term was over. Despite the requests of many people, Jonathan did not formally register with any of the new political parties and, in the end, loathed the fact that they had been created because he feared it would create conflict and, in the end, stagnation that would interfere with the governing of the Republic. Many of his advisors, however, did align themselves with other parties and it became clear that two powerful factions had emerged. The Secretary of the Treasury pushed for a financially powerful government and a national credit, but the Secretary of State strongly opposed such an act. In the end, Jonathan sided with the Treasury Secretary as he knew that having a financially strong state would lead to a decrease in poverty in cities and outlying worlds.

Two years into his first term, the Galactic Senate voted to create a hefty salary to attach to the Office of the Supreme Chancellor. Jonathan was well off at the time, but he certainly was not as wealthy as many others thought a Supreme Chancellor should have been. Though he accepted the salary, it was not to gain any form of financial success. It was to show that he did still need some form of a salary to live comfortably, as he wanted to show the galaxy that the Office of the Supreme Chancellor should not have been held by those who could afford to do the work for free. His wife disagreed with his decision as she felt that it would make people believe that he was the Supreme Chancellor simply to gain monetary success, but she later accepted the wisdom in his idea.

Three years into his time as Supreme Chancellor, Jonathan noticed a disturbing stagnation taking place in the Galactic Senate. Though he was a member of the executive branch and the Commander in Chief of the Republic Military, he felt that he needed to find a way to put himself into a position where he would be able to keep the Senate working as it should have been. Because of this, he drafted a constitutional amendment that would make him and all succeeding Supreme Chancellors the President of the Senate. It was a relatively powerless position, but it gave him the ability to keep the government working. There was a great deal of opposition in the Senate, as many felt as if it was him trying to gain more power, but after months of debate the amendment passed. However, it was only by a very narrow margin.

In his fourth year in office, Jonathan devised a plan for a galactic network of basic holographic information. There would be three branches to the network, the first two being classified for the government and the military and the third being a public news network. After three years of work, the system was put in place. Messages were routed along millions of non-mass transceivers buried in hyperspace and routed through massive computers to reach their very distant destinations. The technology allowed data to be sent and received faster than the speed of lead, ensuring near-instantaneous communication to thousands of worlds.

At Jonathan’s request, the designers of the system also made sure that information transmitted through the Holographic Network, code-named the “HoloNet”, would be nearly impossible to capture by spies. Because of this and the technology that went into creating the system itself, it was an extremely costly venture. However, within the span of one year, it became one of the major methods of communication in the Galactic Republic. Many outlying factions also began working on systems similar to it.

By the end of his second and final term, Jonathan was fortunate enough to have not had to face down any enemy factions and that he had high approval ratings throughout his time in office. He felt as if he had ended his career on a spectacular high note and that he had accomplished something great during his time in office. The day before he left office, he addressed the people of the Republic over his Holographic Network and thanked them for supporting him. He also used it to advise the government on the importance of a strong union, the value of the Galactic Constitution, the pitfalls of political parties and the proper values, morals and virtues of government. The next day, he left Coruscant and returned to Alderaan with Talura and retired to the small villa on the shores of Lake Aldera where their wedding had been held years earlier.

The Supreme Chancellors that succeeded him in his declining years constantly contacted him for advice and he graciously gave it. He did the same for any politician that contacted him, agreeing to meet with many of them depending upon the situation. When he was seventy years old, he became ill and was brought to Aldera for medical tests. Two months later, he passed away peacefully in his sleep with Talura, Elizabeth, her husband and her two children at his side. Days later, he was given a state funeral on the shores of Lake Aldera. Supreme Chancellors, Senators, planetary leaders and thousands of citizens attended to pay their final respects to their trusted leader.

Legacy[]

Like all leaders throughout the history of time, the legacy of Jonathan Bac was looked out, praised and scrutinized for thousands of years following his death. The overwhelming historical consensus of his military career during the Unification War and his time as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic was a positive one, as most scholars and historians agreed that Jonathan was one of the most important figureheads in the early history of the Republic. This was mainly because he was responsible for many of the original policies and laws of the Republic, as well as being one of the people responsible for the drafting and amending of the Galactic Constitution. His galactic reforms were able to bring about thousands of years of peace, as the Republic was not immediately threatened by any force until the first of the Alsakan Conflicts began.

As far as his military career went, Jonathan was credited for saving Alderaan and Corellia from what many believed was an imminent destruction. This was due to the fact that he was largely responsible for uncovering the identity of the members of the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets and because he was able to uncover their motives and stop them before they were able to carry out their final phase of their plans to bring the galaxy into a state of complete anarchy. Most historians agreed that if it had not been for his quick thinking during the final days of the war after he was given intelligence from the Order of the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi, the Brotherhood would have most likely succeeded in preventing the formation of the Galactic Republic.

Despite the mostly positive reaction his to his life’s work, there were criticisms of him from some historians and scholars. Many believed that it was improper for Jonathan to have made the position of Supreme Chancellor be synonymous with the position of President of the Senate, as some felt it was an intrusion of executive leadership into congressional affairs. As they said, it created a conflict of interest that was simply too large to ignore as the Office of the Supreme Chancellor was designed to have a specific agenda, specific policies and specific points of view. However, because he would also be President of the Senate, they felt it gave one man too much influence over the governmental process. This line of thought emerged every century or so with some congresses attempting to amend the Constitution to split the offices apart, though there was never enough votes for such an amendment as most members of the Galactic Senate agreed that the position was beneficial.

Another point of contention for some people was the creation of the HoloNet. This mainly came from people who were against the democratic-republican system of government and the capitalistic economy that had been created for the Republic. These outspoken people claimed that the HoloNet was created only to be used as a tool for the government to spread propaganda about their intentions in the galaxy and what they were doing on a day to day basis. They claimed as evidence the fact that Jonathan had ensured the HoloNet would be nearly impossible to hack into, stating that even though the government said it was to prevent enemy spies from gaining access to critical information it was really so the citizens of the galaxy would not know the government’s true motives. These citizens organized mass protests in the years after Jonathan’s death to speak out against the HoloNet, though as support continued to drop the leaders of the movements became disgruntled and ended their fight against what they perceived to be a tyrannical system.

Despite the favorable historical legacy that Jonathan was given by historians, those who knew him recognized that he never would have admitted to such feats considering how humble and modest he was. This modesty was one of the reasons that Jonathan was looked upon highly as a man of principle and as one of the most effective leaders the Republic ever saw. Immediately after his death, he was given the nickname “Father of the Republic” by the citizens of the galaxy and such a title was even immortalized on his tombstone on Alderaan. Very few leaders were able to live up to his ideals in the later days of the Republic, though many did look to his example when nominating and electing politicians for the position of Supreme Chancellor well after his death.

Jonathan was memorialized by the Order of the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi and he was well remembered by them until the schism broke them into the Jedi Order and the Bendu Order. The Jedi Order continued to recognize him as a great leader, though he was less celebrated than he was during the time of the predecessor order. This was mainly because he was very much tied in with the Jedi Bendu, and the Jedi and the Republic did not want too much information on the early days of the government to spread as it would risk revealing the truth about the foundations of the Jedi Order. The Bendu, however, continued to credit him with setting up the democratic system that lasted for twenty-five thousand years.

While most members of the Bac family continued in an attempt to emulate Jonathan’s behavior, his legacy was nearly tarnished by the actions of Senator Alcor Bac during the major Alsakan Crisis two-thousand years after the Jedi Bendu schism. Alcor had a somewhat skewed definition of justice and firmly believed that the ends justified the means, regardless of what the means were. Alcor was responsible for bringing down kings, warlords and senators when he felt they were betraying the public trust. However, there was more than just the simple revelation of that fact. If he felt that someone had broken the trust of the people or were not performing their duties as they should have been, he would destroy them and even broke some laws while doing it. Alcor also received aide from many societal outcasts such as murderers, drug dealers and crime lords when attempting to destroy rival politicians.

Despite Alcor’s actions, Jonathan’s legacy carried on and reached fruition once again during the Great Territorial War. One of Jonathan’s descendants, Ussej Padric Bac, was regarded as a war hero to the people of the Republic because of his actions during the war. Although Ussej briefly turned to the dark side of the Force and became the Sith Lord Darth Mantus, he was redeemed and eventually found the Bendu Order in the Ashlan Expanse. During the Ashlan Civil War, Ussej and his son Ussej Padric Bac II fought in numerous battles to liberate millions of people, and by the end of the war Ussej fulfilled the destiny that the Jedi Bendu had predicted and became the Shaman of the Whills. Ussej Padric Bac II and, later, his son Ussej Padric Bac III went on to fulfill the Prophecy of the Evening Star and the Prophecy of the Morning Star, respectively. All of this allowed for a great deal of respect and accreditation towards Jonathan for setting the standard of all members of the Bac family that followed him.

Jonathan’s legacy lasted well into the time of the New Republic. Bail Organa, the first President of the New Republic, cited Jonathan during the signing of the New Galactic Constitution numerous times, echoing the hopes and dreams of the first Supreme Chancellor. Like Organa, Jonathan constantly looked to the future and dreamed of a better tomorrow. When the Second Jedi Bendu Order was formed, Luke Skywalker and Ussej Padric Bac LXIV ensured that the galaxy-at-large remembered Jonathan in such a way, and fortunately for the Bac family lineage Jonathan was remembered as a visionary and was held in a high regard for thousands of years after the formation of the New Republic.

Personality and traits[]

Jonathan was a highly humble man who never truly wanted to take too much credit for anything, even if credit towards him was due. For example, he insisted that historians focus more on the efforts of the Coalition of Planets in the creation of the Republic than his own personal involvement. He felt it was best to share in the credit, as he believed that when one person took credit for something large they were shunning a great deal of people from praise and historical remembrance.

Jonathan was a staunch supporter of the Jedi Bendu, which was one of many reasons he formally requested that they adopt the mandate of guardians of peace and justice in the Republic. Though he disagreed with the Jedi Bendu philosophy that they should not go to war, including the Unification War, he still held a great deal of respect for their ways. Had he been sensitive to the Force of Others, he would have undoubtedly requested training in the ways of the Jedi Bendu.

Jonathan was also a very skilled tactician. He led the successful campaign against the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets, though he never wanted to be remembered as a soldier. Instead, he wanted to be remembered as a politician who remembered his oath of office and did not give into personal temptation, as well as a politician who dedicated his life to serving, protecting and helping the common man both before and after the formation of the Republic.

Talents[]

Unlike most politicians, Jonathan put in a great effort to remain as honest to himself and his people as he possibly could. While he knew that stretching the truth or making up his own truths was required in certain situations, especially when things became hostile, he felt that remaining true to his principles was the best course of action he could take. He had grown up around and served with politicians who constantly lied not only to those around them but to their people as well. When Jonathan first took office as Supreme Chancellor, he helped set up a vast system of checks and balances to ensure that such lies would not continue and would not help to destroy the democratic system that he had worked so hard to help establish.

Jonathan was also said to have had a shrewd and objective mind for governing. In the very early days, there were very few Galactic Senators who chose to gain power simply for the sake of having power. However, when such situations arose, they were brought before Jonathan and he was always able to make them choose between resignation or changing their style of politics. When a senator refused, Jonathan managed to convince their planetary leaders to expel them from office, proving that being a member of the Galactic Government was a no-nonsense affair. Those who chose to remain in office generally did change their acts, lest they also face expulsion from their planetary leaders. The methods proved to be effective in multiple cases.

Behind the scenes[]

Appearances[]

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