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The first assassination was technically a failure on the Guard’s part. Which was rather unfortunate for Chancellor Palpatine.
Fox noticed the sniper approximately three-point-two seconds before the shot. Which, under normal circumstances, would have been plenty of time. Except the Chancellor had insisted on a reduced escort, a completely separate route for the Coruscant Guard, and fewer aerial overwatch units. Which Fox had hated, because it made his job that much harder.
The shot cracked through the night air and Palpatine hit the ground second later, dead before the echo. The Coruscant Guard present froze, and heads swivel towards Fox. He only stood frozen for a moment more before his training kicked in.
“SNIPER, EASTERN SPIRE!”
“TARGET ACQUIRED COMMANDER!”
The assassin made it exactly six steps before a Guard sharpshooter removed the upper half of his torso.
Fox stood over Palpatine’s body and looked at the dead Chancellor. Then calmly said into his comm, “Shooter neutralized.”He paused, and sighed, placing his hands on his hips. “…Well. That’s inconvenient.”
It started because nobody wanted to explain this to the Senate. Because the problem was that the Chancellor being assassinated was bad. The Chancellor being assassinated under Guard protection was life-endingly bad.
So someone—possibly Thorn, possibly Stone, possibly Fox after seventy hours awake—said the sentence that altered galactic history forever: “What if we just… didn’t mention it.”
There was silence for a moment. Then a Corrie asked carefully: “…The assassination?”
“Yeah.”
“You can’t cover up the death of the Supreme Chancellor.”
Another pause. “Can’t we?”
After all, the Coruscant Guard had: total control of the scene, complete communications lockdown authority, Senate security clearance, and enough collective confidence to attempt crimes normal people wouldn’t even conceptualize.
So they did.
Fox stared at the still cooling body of Mas Amedda. Then at the broken window that they had thrown the assassin out of. Then at the growing list of incoming Senate communications. Then at his men.
“What’s the current status.”
A shiny checked his datapad. “Officially?”
“Yes. I’m aware of the actual one, vod, I’m looking at it.”
The shiny flushed red in embarrassment. “Offically, Mas Amedda is in a private emergency security briefing.”
Fox sighed deeply. “Right. Time to get to work. Call Commander Thorn.”
The Guard thus began what would later become known internally as: “The Incident.” There were four steps.
Step one: Delete all camera footage, and that footage’s backups. Step two: Delay Senate communications. Step three: Claim the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor were handling a classified crisis. Step four: Figure out what the hell to do next.
Shockingly? This worked. Mostly because nobody in the Senate actually liked speaking to Palpatine or Mas Amedda directly.
The next one was an accident. Mostly. A senator from Malastare exploded on a balcony during a diplomatic banquet. The assassin was immediately caught by Guard troopers. Unfortunately, the senator was already dead.
“Did anyone important see that happen?”
“Negative.”
Fox looked at the body. Then at the assassin. Then at the horrified Guard troopers nearby.
“…Did the senator have any pending legislation?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Would his death cause problems?”
“Massive ones.”
Fox sighed heavily and looked toward the Senate building. Then back at the body. He closed his eyes and tilted his head to stare at the sky as if it held all the answers to his questions.
“…Fine. …New policy.”
The Coruscant Guard stopped reporting any and all successful assassinations immediately. Mostly because one, the Senate was impossible to manage during crises, two, paperwork was exhausting, and three, every emergency succession hearing somehow made the Senate worse. So instead senators became “unavailable,” and the Guard started handling the governmental duties themselves. At first it was temporary. Just until things stabilized. And then things did not stabilize.
“Where is Senator Tal, clone?”
Fox checked a datapad. “Unavailable, sir.”
“What does that mean?!”
“Unavailable.”
“Well for how long?”
Fox shrugged. “Depends.”
“ON WHAT.”
“Several factors.”
Truthfully, Senator Tal had actually died three days earlier during an assassination attempt involving poisoned wine and a ceremonial spear. The assassin had been thrown out a window by Commander Thorn. Officially, Senator Tal was “reviewing classified trade disputes.”
The Guard slowly realized that the Senate functioned better when fewer senators were actively involved. There was less gridlock, less corruption, and overall faster bill responses. And because the Guard handled all security clearances anyway—they accidentally started controlling access to government operations.
“There’s a senator requesting emergency audience with another Senator.”
Fox looked exhausted. “Are they alive?”
“…Currently.”
“Fine. Schedule him.”
“Someone wishes to speak to Senator Varo to file an ethics complaint.”
“Status?”
“…Exploded.”
Fox pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why is that such a popular method?”
The Guard became disturbingly good at managing political disappearances. Of course, other GAR battalions eventually started asking questions. How could they not?
Bly frowned at a Senate roster. “…Wasn’t there another Senator from Ryloth?”
Fox answered immediately, with a dead tone of voice. “Retired.”
“When?”
Fox blinked.
“…uh… few weeks ago. Wanted to be quiet about it.”
Bly didn’t ask any more questions, not really sure he even wanted to know.
Wolffe elected not to ask any questions at all after witnessing a Guard trooper casually redirect a senatorial investigation by inventing a fake zoning dispute, two fake inspections, and an entirely fictional plumbing emergency. All of which occurred in under six minutes.
Cody discovered the truth accidentally. Which was fitting. He appeared in the doorway of Fox’s new and improved office, that had coincidentally once belonged to a Senator who’d had… retired a few months ago, late one night.
“…Fox.” Fox looked up from the datapad he was precariously balancing on his lap, feet on the desk. Cody stood in the doorway holding very classified Corrie records.
There was a long silence before he spoke. “…You’ve been covering up assassinations.”
Fox considered this. “Yes.”
“INCLUDING THE CHANCELLOR.”
“Yes.”
“FOX.”
Fox looked genuinely tired. “In my defense, we meant to fix it quickly.”
Cody stared. “How long ago did Palpatine die.”
There was another pause as Fox did some quick math in his head. “…Six months.”
Cody sat down slowly across from him. “…Then who’s running the Republic.”
Fox blinked. He looked around the room slightly before gesturing to himself. “…Us?”
About a year into this decision, Fox came to the realization that the Coruscant Guard had accidentally become the central governing authority of the Republic through administrative necessity, too many cover-ups, and sheer unwillingness to explain embarrassing situations.
The Senate still technically existed. Well, mostly. But the actual power lied in the hands of the Corries. And the worst part was that nobody had formally appointed them. They just kept solving crises faster than the Senate could create them.
A senator stormed toward Fox furiously. “You cannot override committee procedure!”
Fox checked his datapad. “Already did.”
“That’s unconstitutional!”
“Nah.”
“You can’t just decide to override the Senate’s decisions!”
Fox looked genuinely confused. “…Why not?”
Eventually the galaxy adapted. And things improved somehow. Assassination rates dropped, although that could be attributed to there being a minority of Senators to actually assassinate. Corruption investigations skyrocketed. Military funds improved dramatically, because it turned out that Palpatine had been unfairly distributing money to certain battalions. And, mysteriously, senators stopped taking bribes quite so openly after the Guard was a little too late to stop the assassin from pushing one of them down an elevator shaft.
Nobody was entirely sure when the Coruscant Guard officially took over. Including the Coruscant Guard. But historians generally agreed it was probably somewhere between: “Palpatine died and nobody mentioned it” and “Chancellor Fox began approving planetary trade agreements.”
Years later, when asked how exactly the Guard ended up running the Republic with Fox becoming Chancellor, Fox reportedly answered: “Poor communication mainly. And a strong desire to avoid paperwork.”