| |
| Anthony Bibble | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Homeworld |
Sochi |
| Birth Name |
Anthony Sio Bibble |
| Born | |
| Physical description | |
| Species | |
| Gender | |
| Height |
5'11 (1.80 m) |
| Hair Color |
Brown, later gray |
| Eye Color |
Blue |
| Skin Color |
Light |
| Family information | |
| Family |
Antonio Bibble (father) |
| Political information | |
| Affiliation | |
- "This attack will gain you nothing. We're an empire. The people have decided."
- ―Anthony Bibble
Anthony Sio Bibble was a human male who served as Governor of Sochi during the the reign of the Galactic Empire. At first, he served under Prime Minister Anderson Veruna, and later the woman who succeeded him, Marion Zimmerman. Bibble was instrumental in the election of Zimmerman as prime minister and was one of her staunchest supporters.
Some time into her incumbency, Station IIP-9, on the outer edges of the Sochi system, was attacked by a pack of Agamari pirates. Despite interfacing with the Agamari government in the wake of the attack, Bibble was unable to verify their involvement, although he did learn that they had been hoping to steal several of the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps' N-1 starfighters.
The following year, Sochi was attacked by the Rebel Alliance, who were protesting the Imperial Senate's new taxation of trade routes. Captain Rudo Panaka, the head of Amidala's security, called for an increase in Naboo's armament, but Bibble disagreed with him vehemently. In due course, the Federation went so far as to invade the planet, arresting Bibble and the Queen. While Amidala was able to escape with the aid of two Jedi Knights, the governor elected to stay, and speak for his people. He led them in a hunger strike, and earned the ire of the Trade Federation Viceroy, Nute Gunray. Eventually, Amidala returned with a small supply of Earth Royal Navy reinforcements, and after allying herself with Boss Rugor Nass of the Gungans, was able to defeat the Federation, and free the planet. Bibble continued to serve Amidala's successor, Queen Jamillia, up until the Clone Wars.[source?]
Biography
Early life
Anthony Sio Bibble was born in Kursk, Sochi on May 20, 38 BBY into a wealthy and influential family on the planet. He was the only child of Antonio Bibble and Pheodora Vasina. Bibble's father was the CEO of a large corporation on Sochi. Bibble's father had also served in the Sochi Senate. Bibble's mother was the daughter of a herbalist and she, herself, was a schoolteacher.
Anthony Bibble was valedictorian of his class during his final year of high school, and he later enrolled in the University of Kursk. While at college, he met Jennifer Whitley. The two married during their second year of college. In their third year, Bibble's wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Gardenia. After obtaining his D Phil, Bibble spent much of his adult life teaching philosophy at the University of Kursk. While teaching at the university, Bibble and his wife had a son named, Bartholomew.
Political career
Running for mayor
Bibble eventually stopped teaching philosophy to pursue a political career, like his father. He began his political career running for mayor in his hometown of Kursk in 8 BBY. Bibble stated during a campaign speech that he would reduce poverty in Kursk and add more jobs for the people. In the speech, Bibble first used his popular campaign slogan: "For the people, by the people. Jobs for everyone." Bibble's campaign opponent, Osbert Stravinsky, later nicknamed him "Fibbing Bibble" and said that Bibble "...will never keep to his campaign promise."
Some time later during his campaign, Bibble ran a controversial ad that claimed that his opponent, Osbert Stravinsky, was looking to align Sochi with the Rebellion and was an ally of them. Stravinsky responded to Bibble's ad in an interview and said that "...Bibble's ad was dirty politics at it's finest. I have absolutely no sympathy for the Rebellion whatsoever." Patrick McCarthy criticized Bibble's ad for the fact that "...a mayor wouldn't have enough power to align Sochi with the Rebellion." The ad had a slightly negative effect on Bibble's campaign. However, Bibble won the election for mayor the following November in a close contest.
Mayor of Kursk
- "We, as people are always looking for peace, freedom and joy. The people have decided that they want Sochi to be run as a democracy. Democracy allows us to get closer to those three things. People do not just want peace freedom and joy, they need them, they crave them. Monarchies are flawed in almost every way. As are dictatorships and communism. But, democracy allows the people to decide what's best for themselves. Then, of course, you could bring up the fact that there are flawed democracies where one person holds the entire power, like a dictatorship. But Sochi, does not have a flawed democracy. The city of Kursk will be stronghold of our democracy, which I keep close to my heart. We must always remember our democracy and never forget to abide by it."
- ―Anthony Bibble, in his inaugural address as mayor.
As mayor, Bibble added more jobs and helped to reduce poverty. During his tenure as mayor the city prospered. Crime rates dropped dramatically in Kursk. At this time, Bibble became very popular with the public and was easily reelected for a second term in 6 BBY. During his second term, he met and befriended future prime minister, Marion Zimmerman, who, at the time, was a member of the Sochi Senate. The two would often engage in political debates. They often debated upon things such as; whether or not planets need to be to aligned with a galactic government. Bibble's administration was often noted for helping lower corruption in local departments. In February of 5 BBY, the owner of the Association football Kursk Wolves, Thom Bolivar, requested a new stadium that would be paid for with taxpayers money. Bibble denied his request stating, "The city does not want to pay for a stadium which you [Bolivar] are more than capable of paying for yourself." A heated debate between the two ensued for the next two months with Bolivar at one point threatening relocation. Eventually an agreement was met where Bolivar would pay for 70% of stadium, and the city 30%. By the end of his second term in 4 BBY, Bibble decided not to run for mayor again. Due to these actions, many of Bibble's admirers wondered if he was going to run for prime minister. Bibble responded to the populace in his farewell address saying that he "...would never run for prime minister." and that he "...never had any desire to become prime minister."
Governor
- "On this very day, a rebel threat is growing. But let us not concern ourselves with that rebel threat, for it's not our threat to deal with. It's a problem that the Galactic Empire has to deal with, not us. I know that many of you here tonight are concerned with this growing threat, but I ask for you, the people of Sochi, not to concern yourselves with this Rebellion. I ask for all of Sochi to do their jobs, while not concerning themselves with the Rebellion. The Rebellion will be dealt with by the Galactic Empire and you needn't concern yourselves with them. But if the people of Sochi are to concern themselves with anything they should be concerning themselves with the state of Sochi. Corruption abroad, violence throughout the streets, rapes, murder, robbery; crimes like these happen almost everyday. And I ask but one more thing from you, the people of Sochi, just turn away from galactic politics just for a moment, and take a good long look at the state of your own planet, and I imagine that you'll find that the only real way to stop corruption, is by stopping corruption on your own planet. Therefore, if corruption is to be eradicated, you must start by making Sochi a better place for a better tomorrow."
- ―Anthony Bibble, in his inaugural address as governor.
In 3 BBY, Bibble announced that he was planing on running for governor. The following year, Bibble entered the primary election for governor of Sochi in 2 BBY. Bibble, who was still very popular with the people of Sochi, easily won the election. He defeated his opponent by more than 550,000 votes. In his capacity as governor, Bibble oversaw all matters that were to be brought to the prime minister's attention. As governor of Sochi, Bibble would deal directly with regional representatives, and governing officials from the towns in their day-to-day administration. Bibble was highly critical of Prime Minister Anderson Veruna, and the planet's representative in the Imperial Senate, Senator Igor Samarin. Bibble, who had become increasingly bothered by Sochi's foreign policy, was even more concerned with the fact that Veruna's policies payed more attention to the Galaxy at large, rather than Sochi. Bibble wrote about Veruna's foreign policy saying "If Veruna continues to ignore Sochi, he'll have to remember to clean up the mess." In 0 ABY, Bibble appeared with Prime Minister Veruna at a public appearance in Amur in which Veruna gave a speech. Later that year, Veruna passed a bill which substantially increased the size of Sochi's military. Bibble said that "...the only thing Veruna wants, seems to be war." Veruna responded to those claims by saying that "...it's a reasonable possibility that we may have to go to war with the Rebellion, and I believe that we should be prepared." Despite Bibble's opposition to the bill, Bibble was pleased with prime minister Veruna when he vetoed construction of any new Imperial warships on Sochi. This did not, however, stop construction of all Imperial ground vehicles. Bibble, however, had little displeasure with the construction of ground vehicles as he saw it "...necessary for the protection of Sochi." After this event, the governor's opinion of Veruna changed and he eventually became one of his supporters.
The following year in 1 ABY, Veruna ran for reelection. Bibble officially endorsed Veruna's campaign and was present at several of his campaign rallies. At one such rally, Ian Lago, the son of Veruna's deputy prime minister Kun Lago, confronted Bibble's daughter, Gardenia, and told her that he loved her. Bibble, repeatedly asked Lago to stay away from his daughter. Lago was eventually ejected from the rally. This action angered the deputy prime minister, however, his son was allowed back after a talk between Kun Lago and Bibble.
Bibble criticized Veruna's opponent, Bronik Turcotte, for being "...even more militaristic than Prime Minister Veruna." Turcotte responded to this claims by saying "I'm certainly no more militaristic than the Prime Minister. I just believe that we should have a strong planetary defense." Turcotte also called Bibble a hypocrite for calling him out on his militarism, while openly supporting Prime Minister Veruna. Later in August of that year, Bibble stopped all of his funding to Veruna's campaign. When asked about why he stopped all funding, Bibble responded saying "I feel that I should be spending my money somewhere else." A month later, Bibble donated 70,000 credits to a homeless shelter in Kursk. Osbert Stravinsky, Bibble's former mayoral opponent, called Bibble's donation "...showy, but surely appreciated by those in need." Veruna won the election the following November.
The incident at Station IIP-9
- "Nothing but dead ends. The Prime Minister won't be happy to hear that."
- ―Anthony Bibble
In 3 ABY, Station IIP-9, located in the outskirts of the Sochi system, fell under attack by a band of what was assumed to be pirates. Bibble sat in as a Security Officer briefed the pilots of Echo Flight and Bravo Flight, who were to be dispatched to stop the attackers from destroying IIP-9. Bibble personally wished the pilots good luck before they departed. During the subsequent battle, seven of Echo Flight's pilots were killed, and one of the Sochi pilots, Dren Melne, turned on his compatriots. Apparently, Melne had been hired by the Agamari to aid in the capture of at least two of the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps' N-1 starfighters. The station was successfully defended however, and Melne was killed by the Agamari forces that had been attacking the station in order to lure out Sochi's fighters.
Governor Challep of Agamar denied that his people had any degree of involvement in the incident, but Bibble and his people requested that Sochi's senatorial delegation prompt an investigation nonetheless. Bibble and his people learned that the Agamari had been purchasing a variety of weapons and starfighter technology, including vulture droids from Xi Char. Bibble's people had also traced a credit transfer from Melne's Ord Mantell account to his Selton account of one thousand credits, but were unable to verify where the credits had originated. Making matters more complex was the fact that the authorities on Ord Mantell were reluctant to cooperate with Bibble.
Ric Olié, commander of the Royal Space Fighter Corps, and Bravo Flight leader Essara Till were summoned to Bibble's office five days after the incident, and Olié reported that the Agamari had made three requests to purchase N-1s or N-X Police Cruisers from the Corps, but the Advisory Council had declined each time. Bibble then inquired as to whether there were any connections between the Agamari government and Melne, but Olié conceded that most mercenaries would spend some time in the service of the Agamari. Till, who had once personally served with the Agamari, had nothing to add. Bibble was disappointed with the scant results, and did not look forward to informing Amidala about the lack of developments.
Invasion of Naboo
- "A communications disruption can mean only one thing. Invasion."
- ―Sio Bibble
In ? ABY, a fleet of Trade Federation cruisers under the command of Viceroy Nute Gunray blockaded Naboo, as a protest against the Senate's new taxation of trade routes. With the planet threatened, Captain Rudo Panaka, who was in charge of the Queen's security, called for greater armament, but Bibble strongly opposed such measures, as he considered himself a philosopher. Chancellor Finis Valorum reacted by dispatching two ambassadors to Gunray's flagship, the Saak'ak, in the hopes of reaching a settlement. However, when Amidala contacted Gunray after the ambassadors were supposed to arrive, the viceroy claimed that he had met with no such emissaries. Bibble and the rest of the Advisory Council were present when Amidala contacted Senator Palpatine, and inquired as to what was going on. Palpatine was surprised, as he had been assured by Valorum that the ambassadors had already arrived. Before the senator could go on, however, his holographic image faltered, and then disappeared.
Amidala demanded to know what had happened, and Panaka had one of his subordinates check the palace's transmission generator. Bibble, however, had come to his own conclusion already: that a disruption in communications meant that the Federation was invading Naboo. Amidala was not convinced, and Panaka agreed with her. The Queen insisted that they keep their faith in negotiation, but Bibble was quick to remind her that they had already lost all their capacity for communication. Also distressing to the governor was the absence and possible whereabouts of Valorum's ambassadors. Panaka reminded the Queen that his Security Forces would not be able to repel the Federation's advance, and Amidala insisted that she would not go to war with the aggressors.
Occupation of Theed
- "The death toll is catastrophic. We must bow to their wishes. You must contact me!"
- ―Sio Bibble
Sure enough, an invasion was in progress, and Gunray's Droid Army swept into Theed. Bibble was arrested, along with Amidala and Panaka. Gunray personally met with them in the palace, and spoke with the group briefly as they were escorted out of the building. Bibble was curious as to how the viceroy would explain the situation to the Galactic Senate, but Gunray was convinced that Amidala would sign a treaty legitimizing the Federation's occupation after she witnessed the suffering of her people. Bibble, Amidala, and Panaka were grouped with the Queen's Handmaidens, and several Palace Guards, and were to be taken to Camp Four.
Bibble was later re-captured by the Federation forces. He sent off a transmission to the Queen's J-type 327 Nubian royal starship, claiming that the death toll from the occupation was reaching "catastrophic" levels, and he pleaded that the Queen try to contact him. No reply came, however, as the Queen's entourage had deduced that it was a ruse concocted by the Federation to trace the ship's location. Bibble decided to protest the occupation by participating in a hunger strike, and he was soon joined by others. As a result, Bibble was brought before Gunray. The viceroy was growing impatient, and he saw fit to remind the governor of his current predicament. Bibble was defiant, however, lambasting Gunray and declaring that the people of Naboo participated in a democracy. The viceroy responded by having the governor dismissed from his presence. The Queen was unable to find support in the Senate, but she returned to Naboo with a small supply of Earth Royal Navy reinforcements, and allied herself with Boss Rugor Nass of the Gungans. He, in turn, had the Gungan Grand Army engage the Federation's forces, and, in a combined effort between the Gungans, the Queen's security forces, and the two Jedi, Naboo was liberated. Gunray was arrested, and several days after the Federation's defeat, Bibble participated in a victory parade, helping Amidala present Nass with the Globe of Peace.
Personality and traits
Anthony Bibble
- "I'm a man of my word, Jen."
- ―Anthony Bibble to his wife, Jennifer
Anthony Bibble was an outspoken man, and did not like resorting to violence, as he claimed to have never been in a fight in his life, and believed himself to know more than a simple soldier. He was also intelligent, and saw himself as a scholarly and philosophical person. He was quick to jump to conclusions, and was consistently outraged at events he thought to be unconscionable. Bibble was defiant in the face of great danger, as he demonstrated when the Alliance invaded Kursk.[source?] He would occasionally disagree with Anderson Veruna, and was genuinely fearful for the safety of his family. Bibble spoke his mind on such matters as the Rebellion, and was considerably louder than others when doing so. Bibble claimed that he was an honest man, though he was noted by his opponents for not keeping his promises.
Bibble took particular care about his appearance.