- "What does ideology matter at this point? Is it worth being beaten to death? Look at what they did to you."
- ―Christo to Onaconda Farr
Christo was a Quarren male who served as a senator of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. Loyal to the constituents who had appointed him to the Senate, Christo placed their needs before those of all others during his career, even the clone troopers who had been bred to fight for the Grand Army of the Republic. When Senator Halle Burtoni proposed a drastic increase in clone trooper production, Christo initially considered voting for the bill, especially after several opponents to the measure were pressured into supporting it by bounty hunters. However, he rethought his position following an impassioned senatorial address from Senator Padmé Amidala.
Biography
At the time of the Clone Wars, Christo supported the Republic's production of clone troopers, who were bred for the Grand Army of the Republic's campaign against the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to the point that he considered their purpose to be little more than soldiers marked for death. Around 21 BBY, the war's second year, Senator Halle Burtoni of Kamino, representing the Kaminoan cloners who manufactured the Republic's clone troopers, introduced an emergency appropriations bill to order five million additional clones for the war effort. Christo considered giving the bill his support, especially after some senators who were opposed to the measure were set upon by bounty hunters, who pressured them into endorsing it. However, his as-yet undecided position earned him a visit from Senators Padmé Amidala and Onaconda Farr, two of the bill's main opponents, who desperately sought support for their side in the Senate.
At first, Christo dismissed Amidala's and Farr's claims that the troop increase for the Grand Army would mean greater death tolls in the war—as he saw it, the clones were simply serving their purpose, regardless of whether they lived or not. However, when Amidala mentioned that Bail Organa, who was also against the bill, would soon be speaking before the full Senate, Christo reconsidered his position, though he only promised that he would listen to what Organa had to say. When the time came to vote on Burtoni's bill, Organa was severely injured by bounty hunters and was unable to speak. Instead, the scheduled address from the bill's opposition was delivered by Amidala, who won support in the Senate by arguing that the longer the war went on, the more it would consume funds for the Republic citizenry's basic services. She supplemented her case with a moving account of how the war had affected the life of an everyday citizen—one of her handmaidens, Teckla Minnau. Christo joined in the thunderous applause that followed Amidala's speech, which resulted in many senators joining the opposition to the bill. Despite the efforts of Amidala's coalition, however, the bill was eventually passed by the majority of the Senate.
Appearances
- Pursuit of Peace (First appearance)