Halle Burtoni/Legends

Halle Burtoni was an elderly female Kaminoan who represented her Wild Space homeworld of Kamino in the Galactic Senate of the Republic and by extension she represented her star system and the unnamed sector of stars between the main galactic disk and the Rishi Maze. The original suppliers of the clone troopers that composed the Grand Army of the Republic, the Kaminoan scientists' cloning facilities were essential to the Republic's war effort against the Separatists during the Clone Wars. Their contribution facilitated Kamino's entry into the Galactic Republic, leading to Burtoni's appointment to the ranks of the Senate. As a politician, Senator Burtoni was a strong advocate for the increased production of clone troopers, mainly to further the interests of her world and to better enable the Republic to defeat the Separatists through force. Her political positions were supported by many loyalist allies in the Senate, but were also opposed by the senators who advocated for diplomacy. Burtoni's chief political enemies included fellow senators such as Padmé Amidala of Naboo, Onaconda Farr of Rodia, and Bail Prestor Organa of Alderaan.
==Biography==
===Senator of Kamino===
Halle Burtoni's political career began as a result of the Clone Wars, a galactic-wide conflict that started in 22 BBY after diplomacy failed to resolve the Separatist Crisis. Armed rebellion broke out, and the Galactic Republic found its sovereignty threatened by the so-called Confederacy of Independent Systems. At the same time, however, the planet Kamino, located within the Outer Rim Territories, unveiled its decade-long secret project—the mass production of an army composed entirely of clone soldiers. As a result of the war, the production of clones became the Kaminoans' most valuable commodity, and thus Kamino was admitted into the Republic as a member world with representation in the Galactic Senate. Rewarded with a seat in the legislative branch of the Republic government on Coruscant, Kamino selected Burtoni to serve as a senator.
As a politician, Burtoni cultivated allies and enemies within the Senate. On the one hand, her support for the war was opposed by other senators such as Padmé Amidala and Onaconda Farr, both whom wanted to end an illegal rebellion through negotiation with traitors. However, she also found strong supporters in Mee Deechi, the senator of Umbara, and Vice Chair Mas Amedda as well. A strong lobbyist for the maintained—or increased—production of clone troopers, Senator Burtoni and her allies achieved a political victory with the passage of a Senate Bill that authorized the creation of five million additional clone troopers. Later in the war, Burtoni presented a holographic display of the Phase II armor, an improved version of the clones' original armor, to a group of politicians, including Amedda and Deechi.
===Partisan politics in the Senate===
Although pacifism and diplomacy failed to prevent the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Senator Padmé Amidala continued to advocate for negotiation with the Separatists. With the support of like-minded senators such as Onaconda Farr, Bail Prestor Organa and Mon Mothma, Amidala introduced a legislative bill to further her personal ideals. If passed, the bill would have ceased the production of clone troopers, leaving the Grand Army of the Republic deprived of additional soldiers. Aside from the fact that the bill threatened the economic interests of Kamino, Burtoni resented Amidala and her allies for proposing legislature that would have placed the Republic in a strategically vulnerable position. Hence, she suspected treachery in Amidala's party, and even accused them of conspiring against the Republic as Separatist sympathizers.
Shortly after Burtoni's confrontation with Amidala, Farr suddenly collapsed and died. The suspicious circumstances behind the Rodian senator's death prompted an police investigation by the Coruscant Security Force, headed by Lieutenant Tan Divo. An autopsy of Farr's body produced evidence that he had been murdered by poison. Amidala immediately suspected Burtoni and Deechi of foul play, despite the fact that she lacked any evidence other than motive to support her theory.
===Murders in the Senate===
Amidala soon confronted them both in Deechi's office, but Burtoni dismissed the senator's accusations as illogical. She asserted that Farr's ineffective ability as a political speaker was useful to her fundraising campaigns. Deechi also denied the allegation of murder and claimed that he respected his late rival; Burtoni gladly revealed how she never respected the Rodian. However, Deechi revealed that Farr had a secret meeting with an unidentified individual at the Coruscant docks. When Amidala and Organa attempted to investigate the area, they were nearly killed by an unknown assailant. Both Amidala and Organa suspected Deechi of plotting their deaths. They moved to confront him, only to discover that the Umbaran senator had been assassinated. With Deechi dead, suspicion fell increasingly on Burtoni.
===The true murderer is revealed===
When Lolo Purs, a colleague of the late Onaconda Farr, accused Burtoni of assault and attempted murder, Lieutenant Divo issued a warrant for the arrest of the Kaminoan senator. Burtoni was soon apprehended and brought to the Chancellor's Suite at the Republic Executive Building by the CSF where she was interrogated by Divo in front of a group of politicians, including Amidala and Chancellor Palpatine. Burtoni proclaimed her innocence and denied Purs' accusation of assault, as well as any involvement in the assassination of Farrs, whom Burtoni regarded as too insignificant to kill. As for Deechi, Burtoni claimed that she had no motive to murder her own political ally.
However, Divo was certain that Burtoni was the murderer. With only suspicion and circumstantial evidence at best, the CSF officer believed that Burtoni was responsible for the death of Farr because of the fact that she left Amidala's office just before Farr died. He believed that Burtoni was the one who secretly met with Farr, and that she killed Deechi to hide the truth. A forensic analysis of Farr's corpse also yielded results that confirmed the poison in his system to be of Kaminoan design. Furthermore, it was designed to be lethal only to those who possessed Rodian DNA. Divo concluded that Burtoni was guilty because she was a Kaminoan, and thus she had the motive, means and opportunity to kill Farr.
Amidala, however, realized that the lieutenant's assumption was flawed because of the fact that the poison was in the other senators' drinks, including Lolo Purs. As a Rodian, Purs should have been killed as well, but only if she drank the poison. Just as the truth dawned on Amidala, the female Rodian pulled out a concealed blaster pistol and took her former friend as a hostage. With Purs revealed as the true killer of Farrs and Deechi, Amidala demanded an explanation. Purs confessed how she secretly loathed Farrs and regarded him as a traitor to Rodia. She also believed that he was too weak in his opposition to the Clone Wars. At that moment, two CSF police droids appeared behind Purs and startled her. Amidala swiftly took advantage of the distraction and disarmed the Rodian with a single punch to the face. The revelation of Lolo Purs' crimes absolved Halle Burtoni of Divo's accusations.
===Burtoni's victory in the Senate===
After the incident at the Republic Executive Building, the members of the Galactic Senate voted on Amidala's bill. The majority voted to oppose the bill in favor of the continued production of clone troopers, and thus Burtoni and her allies won a major political victory against Amidala and her supporters. Once the session concluded, Chancellor Palpatine consoled the defeated Amidala and claimed to oppose Burtoni as well. However, he also asserted that the majority had decided and the democratic system had to be upheld, to which Amidala agreed. On the other hand, Palpatine also confessed that he understood Burtoni's point of view. He defended his reasoning by implying that it would be hypocrisy for the Senate to increase its own defenses while depriving the Republic of the soldiers it desperately needed.
==Personality and traits==
Halle Burtoni was strong-minded and resolute behind her opinions; her political savvy and powerful connections made her a well-respected individual amongst her colleagues in the Galactic Senate, and her own people on Kamino. As a politician, her primary concern was the promotion of her homeworld's interests, such as the production of clone troopers. She was also loyal to the Galactic Republic and regarded the Separatists as traitors. Burtoni's animosity toward the Republic's enemies, as well as her rivalry with those who opposed her positions, caused her to suspect treachery within the ranks of the Senate. A strong proponent for the continued manufacturing of clones, Burtoni's politics made her enemies with Padmé Amidala, the senator of Naboo who hoped to end the Clone Wars by demilitarizing the Republic.
Senator Burtoni was characteristically aggressive and intrusive. Some of her colleagues suspected the Kaminoan delegate of engaging in illegal and unethical activities in order to further her own political career. She was well aware of the clone troopers' importance to her world, especially since they earned Kamino a place in the Republic and a seat on the Senate. Hence, any legislation that aimed to decrease—or even terminate—Kamino's most valuable commodity was opposed by Burtoni.
==Behind the scenes==
Halle Burtoni was voiced by Jameelah McMillan and was first identified in the episode Senate Murders.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
*Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia
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* Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Complete Season Three
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==Notes and references==
Category:Females
Category:Galactic Republic senators
Category:Kaminoans