Two days later, the crew of the Ebon Hawk sat eating breakfast together in the cargo hold. During their sojourn on Manaan, Canderous had observed that the planet seemed to be attracting more mercenaries than would be expected for a politically-neutral system, and had come to certain conclusions. He now aired these opinions.
"This place is fishy, and I don't mean the Selkath." Canderous ripped open a box of supplies, felt around in it and drew out a packet of Tatooine-Style Nerf Jerky. He bit into a corner of the thick plastiwrap covering and jerked his head sharply, ripping it open. Several good-sized pieces of jerky fell to the floor. The Mandalorian and Republic officer bumped heads as they bent to pick up the scattered morsels.
"You're not actually going to eat that now, are you?" exclaimed Bastila. "They've been on the floor!.. next to Carth's boots - Carth wears his boots to the 'fresher...!"
Jolee laughed. "Oh, they will. Just you watch, lass." On cue, Carth and Canderous popped the strips of meat into their mouths and chewed avidly. Bastila made a face and turned aside in disgust.
"As I was saying, this place is fishy - loads of mercs have been turnin' up" - swallow, take another bite of nerf jerky - "and this is supposed to be a neutral system. Obviously one side is playing at something. Two questions: who, and what?" Canderous finished his sentence with a loud belch. "Sorry."
Juhani rolled her eyes. Such coarse behaviour! "What do you wish to do about it?"
"Investigate. There's a cantina roundabouts where all the mercs hang out. Gonna drop by. See what I can pick up," replied Canderous as he extracted another packet of jerky from the box. "We've already got the Sith on our asses, and I'll be a Kowakian monkey-lizard's uncle before I let those bastards start sneakin' on us!"
"For once I'm in agreement with the bucket-head," said Carth. "You saw what they did to Taris! There's no telling how far the Sith are willing to go to get their hands on Her Royalness here. You too, buddy - you've managed to put plenty water up their noses already: double-digit Dark Jedi body count and all..."
"Hey! They were hunting us down - not the other way round! Not as if I had much choice," the Jedi protested.
Jolee grunted. "Won't matter even if you did, son." He turned his attention to Canderous, who was well into the nerf jerky. "You do just what you proposed, Ordo. But be careful. It's possible we're being watched."
Carth wiped his mouth with the back of a hand and sucked his teeth. "I'll pop round to the Republic embassy here. Got a friend there - Roland Wann. He might know a thing or two."
"I won't be able to go with you, Carth," said the Jedi. "Sunry's trial starts in the afternoon, and I need to put my arguments together. Bastila has said she will assist me. Jolee or Juhani could go with you, if you like -"
Jolee shook his head. "Uh-uh - I'm going to be sitting in the gallery."
Mission waved excitedly. "Carth! I can go with you! ...or I can, like, go with Canderous, no problem. Cantinas and me get along just fine, right, Big Z?"
["You're underage, Mission! I keep telling you that!"]
The Twi'lek teen frowned and pinched Zaalbar. "Shut up...! And I keep telling you I got my back covered on that, yeah?"
["Only because you produce fake ID and bribe the bouncers!"] Zaalbar countered. Juhani growled and shook her finger sternly at Mission.
"There is to be no more of this bribing and faking the identichips!" she scolded. "Carth and Canderous do not need trouble about you getting caught! We do not need you in the Court also! Me, I will stay to look after the Ebon Hawk. I do not... like to leave only droids, in case the Sith decide to visit. Mission will stay with me."
["I will also stay to defend the ship,"] stated the Wookiee. Mission gave Zaalbar a black look and mumbled rudely under her breath, but did not argue.
"Fine by me. I prefer going to cantinas alone, anyway." Canderous emptied the last bits of nerf jerky into his mouth and tossed the packet.
Carth nodded. "I'm good too. Besides, Roland is likely to say more if it's just me he sees."
The impromptu breakfast meeting broke up soon afterwards, with people leaving either to pursue different lines of inquiry, 'get up' for trial, check on the ship's alarm and area-defense systems, or simply meditate. Mission grumbled to herself as she swept the cargo hold.
It sucks being fourteen, she groused. Everyone treats you like you're some dumb kid. Don't do this, don't do that! But someday - someday! - I'll be fifteen, and then I'll show 'em! Chucking the broom aside, Mission fantasised about how awesome and, like, totally cool it - she! - would be, when she was, like, fifteen. Better still, sixteen! Whoa! People would totally take her seriously then because she'd be, like, a lot taller. Hopefully. Would her lekku have, like, grown out already? A daft grin plastered itself across Mission's face as she imagined herself at the grand old age of sixteen, lekku beautifully grown out, her rutian complexion the envy of Twi'lek women from Ryloth to Nar Shaddaa... boys, lots of boys! ...Twi'lek boys? Hmm, maybe. They'd have to be awfully cute, though... and wear nice clothes, and come with their own airspeeder. Yeah! One of those classy Coruscanti models with polished chrome headlights and a little angel figurine in front, ooh...
"Dishes do not wash themselves, Mission!"
The dreamy visions vanished into thin air. Stupid cat-woman! Stupid dishes! Mission pouted and tromped off to the pantry to complete her chores. She couldn't wait to turn sixteen...
"...the Compendium?"
"Check."
"Precedents?"
"Right here." Bastila fished a blue datapad out of the box at her feet and showed it to the former Republic soldier. He nodded in acknowledgement, frowned and continued to read off a list.
"Okay, so... we have reference materials... there... and, um... our skeletal arguments are in Zaalbar's datapad - the orange one - also my opening preamble, and a bunch of stuff that we want to ask our witnesses... witnesses! Have you got our witness list there?"
Bastila held up both index fingers, shut her eyes and frowned. "I think so... ah, it's - oh yes, it's in with the sworn statements. In my datapad. The white one." Her eyes flew open and she breathed a sigh of relief. Madness! This going-to-Court business was madness! Bastila didn't think she'd ever had to write or do as much serious research as she had done in the twenty-four hours following their acquittal on charges of breaching neutrality. And she was only assisting! Poor Revan, she thought. I haven't any right to complain, really. He's the one who drew the short straw - he's the Arbiter. He's going to have to stand up in front of three - no, five! - judges of the Selkath High Court and talk law and argue on it... I don't envy him. How's he even managing to keep it all straight?
"...check... statements, check... hmm... recording, check..." Mumbling to himself, the Jedi worried at his hairline as he re-checked the boxes to make sure that nothing had been left out. Bastila hovered by his side, chewing her lip.
"Are you... I mean, I don't mean to disturb, but um... that recording? Uh... I think there's a very good reason why the embassy kept it secret. You... you're not actually thinking of using that, are you?"
"I... would prefer not to, of course. Unfortunately, being... an 'Arbiter' under Selkath law makes me an 'officer of the Court', apparently. And um, they've got some kind of strict rule about not 'misleading the Court'. Suppressing evidence which is relevant is, well, a serious offence."
"Oh." Bastila's shoulders sagged. Not good. From their researches thus far, she knew that if the Court - or, worse, the Sith prosecutor - demanded production of the recording, Revan would be obliged to disclose it. And then Sunry would be totally in the soup. How his wife would take it, she did not want to imagine.
Sensing her worry, the Jedi halted his examination of the box and its contents. "Princess?" Bastila blinked at him, her forehead furrowed.
"Huh?"
"Oh, you. Come here," the Jedi said, as he put an arm around Bastila's shoulders and led her to the pantry. "I think you need a tea."
He sat Bastila down and proceeded to make her a mug of tea, talking as he did so. "You're right - it would be very black on Sunry were the recording to go in. But... I think we've got a good chance of getting the recording excluded altogether - even if its production were to be demanded. There was some legislation... I made a note of it. Worth a shot, at any rate."
"...what if they decide to keep it?" questioned Bastila. She received the tea from Revan with a nod of thanks. "What do we do then?"
The Jedi sighed and massaged the back of his neck. A serious crick had developed in it over the past few days. Ouch. "Well... we... will have to convince the Court that it's... unreliable."
"Unreliable! But - but - you... that's, that's a recording!"
"I know."
"And it shows Sunry shooting that Sith woman - in the back!"
"It does."
"While she was lying on the bed!"
"Face down, as I recall it."
"Exactly! How's that not murder?"
"How long is the recording, Princess?"
Bastila tried to remember. "Erm, about... fifteen - no, twelve - minutes long, just about."
"Hmm. And the bit with Sunry and the shooting - that lasted only, what - twenty seconds at the most?"
"Ye-es."
"Right. So there's some six minutes before Sunry comes into the room and shoots Elassa - and he's out in under twenty seconds - and then there's another five or so minutes of footage, before Gluupor enters the room. Yes?"
"Mmm-hmm. But -" the Jedi motioned to Bastila to listen.
"Princess, what was Elassa doing for the six minutes before Sunry entered?" asked the Jedi.
"Nothing. She... was just lying there, she wasn't even moving," replied Bastila. "But I don't see how that's even relevant! Gluupor's not relevant either, I mean - the recording literally shows a murder! Gluupor entering the room is - well - it's circumstantial, at best!"
"Precisely. She. Was. Lying. There. And she was not moving! That's all the recording shows! That's all Sunry saw - he didn't even go near her! Does - so, can the recording prove, actually prove, that Elassa was alive when she was lying there?"
"No - " A light went on in Bastila's head. My goodness - it's so obvious now that he's said it - by the Force...! How did I not think of this? Genius...! I would hate to play dejarik with Revan, Bastila thought excitedly. Her heart started pounding. "Oh, my goodness - you - that's... wow! You're right! Sunry may have just shot a... a dead body! Which... which can't be murder, because... because Elassa would already have been dead, right? And the murderer is someone else! Um, but - but what if they decide that it's attempted murder? Do we have any answer for that?" The words tumbled out of her mouth and she was out of breath before she knew it.
The charming grin was back on Revan's face, and Bastila knew the answer even before he nodded. She squealed excitedly and knocked over her mug of tea as she jumped up to hug him. The Jedi laughed heartily and hugged her back. "Calm down, Princess! You have to keep this all very, very quiet - it'll stand a far better chance of working for us if you don't give any of your thoughts or feelings away - don't let the Sith or the Court 'read' you, okay? Sabacc face! Remember that. No emotion, just peace - you can do that, right?"
Bastila nodded vigourously. She was a Jedi - she could control herself! But right now, she just wanted to scream and jump, and hug Revan. Possibly even kiss him again - because he was so clever!
With an effort, Bastila peeled herself away from Revan and set her features into an expression of... nothing.
"I think you will be all right," she said calmly. "We should be going now."
Exiting the pantry, Bastila crossed the cargo hold, stopping only to pick up the box containing their 'getting up'.
Sunry's trial was in full swing. The Sith prosecutor, a thin, weedy man with a leering expression, had called all his witnesses and was now making an application to the Court.
"It has come to my attention that there is, in fact, a recording of the... incident. It is believed that agents of the Republic have since... removed this recording. Doubtless this honourable Court will understand the great reluctance of our Empire to... recover this vital piece of evidence, on our own accord. We are, after all, most respectful of Manaan's policy of neutrality. Perhaps..." The Sith turned and smiled at Bastila and the Jedi. It was a very unpleasant smile. "...perhaps the learned Jedi will, in their quest to uphold justice, assist this Court?" Another leer.
The presiding judges huddled together momentarily, discussing the merits of the Sith prosecutor's application amongst themselves. "Application granted. The recording is to be produced, if it exists."
The Jedi retrieved the recording and handed it to a court orderly, who scurried over to the judges' bench with it. "Indeed there is a recording, Your Honours. I will be objecting to its admission as evidence, however."
"Grounds?" barked one of the judges.
"Two grounds, Sirs. Firstly, Your Honours are well aware of the provisions of" - the Jedi consulted his notes from a datapad Bastila pushed over - "...Section thirty-five of the Evidence Act. There has been no express agreement between my... learned friend and I to admit the recording in evidence. Neither has he produced any certificate to show that the computer responsible for making this recording was not malfunctioning at the relevant time. The charge faced by my client is a grave one, and I would be remiss in my duty as Arbiter were I not to insist on strict proof that no reason exists to doubt or suspect the truth or reliability of the output, that is to say, this recording."
A murmur ascended from the bench as the Selkath judges conferred. "The Arbiter has made a point. Does the Prosecution have the mandatory certification?"
The Sith prosecutor had clearly been taken aback by the Jedi's argument. The Arbiters he was used to dealing with were largely incompetents, more interested in case-farming for their monthly stipends than in the art of litigation itself. He was, simply, unused to an Arbiter - much less a lay Arbiter - making this much sense. Or being this prepared. He went on the offensive.
"Certificate! This is preposterous - is this Court going to believe that in a day and age of advanced artificial intelligence interfaces, when computer systems operate independently and are self-policing - that something as mundane as... an error in recording could have occurred? What absurdity! Clearly the Arbiter is attempting to pervert the course of justice because he well knows" - the Sith prosecutor thumped the bar table for emphasis - "he well knows that that recording will show that man - this Republic 'hero' - shooting a defenceless woman in the back while she was lying on the bed!"
Again the judges went into a huddle. "Objection overruled," one of them finally intoned. "What is written in law is written. It is not the function of the judiciary to set aside statute. Produce the necessary certification or proofs."
"Very well: I shall call one of my embassy's engineers to testify that the system was in full working order at the material time..." started the Sith prosecutor. Two of the Selkath Judges cut in.
"The relevant computer system was in the hotel - not the Sith embassy," stated one.
"Why would a Sith engineer be interested in civilian computer equipment installed in a neutral zone?" queried the other.
A third member of the bench weighed in. "I find it most curious that a hidden camera was installed in a hotel room, of all places." The remaining two Selkath Judges nodded in unison.
"I - ah, well, our embassy's engineers are known to be amongst the galaxy's finest - they possess a wealth of experience, and... ah, are familiar with all the usual mainframe systems," offered the Sith prosecutor hastily.
The Jedi stood to speak. "If I may, Sirs?" The Judges nodded. "My learned friend's offer of his embassy's expertise is noted and much appreciated. However, this raises several troubling questions. One: how would a Sith engineer be able to vouch for the reliability of a system, the routine inspection of which - presumably - he was not responsible for? Two: the appropriate engineer would be one under the employ of the hotel owner himself, but my witness has already testified that he had no such persons under his employ. This, of course, raises the issue of why there was even a camera hidden in a guest room to start with. I believe I am well within my rights to state that the foregoing in itself raises very serious questions about how the camera got to be in the hotel room..."
Red in the face with anger, the Sith prosecutor jumped up and started talking loudly. The Selkath Judges banged their mallets on the bench and called for order. "Parties to be seated! This Court will adjourn to consider the points raised."
The Sith prosecutor stalked out of the courtroom, shoving aside several members of the public who were milling about outside the courtroom door. Bastila watched him go with interest.
"He's going to give himself an aneurysm!"
"So far, so good... could you pass me the Compendium?" muttered the Jedi. "It's his funeral, not ours. Need to check one or two things..."
Bastila handed him another datapad and continued. "Do you think they could have done it? Put in a camera on the sly, I mean."
"...irrelevant and deemed inadmissible... does not constitute proof - well, anything's possible, they're Sith..." The Jedi's head jerked up suddenly. "Did he say 'while lying on the bed' or did I just imagine it?"
Bastila stared at her companion. "Um... let me check." She scrolled through the text on her datapad, into which she had diligently typed a verbatim recording of the proceedings thus far. "Yes. Yes, he said that. '...shooting a defenceless woman in the back while she was lying on the bed.' That's it." She looked up. There was a hard glint in the Jedi's eyes that she'd never seen before - one which was simultaneously scary and reassuring.
"Very good," said the Jedi simply.
"Upon consideration of the evidence placed before it, and bearing in mind the principles enunciated in the cases of..." The lead Selkath Judge droned on monotonously as he read out his judgement. Bastila and the Jedi sat calmly, listening. The Sith prosecutor tapped an impatient rhythm on the bar table and ground his teeth. Cases, precedent... statutory interpretation, evidentiary principles... it was all very dense, and extremely hard listening, thought the Jedi. Imagine doing this for a living, day in and day out. Not for me - not for me! Very educational, but extremely dry and tedious. He glanced over at Bastila, who was doing her level best to follow the Court's logic, and smiled at her.
"...we find that the Prosecution has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, we acquit the defendant, Sunry, of the charges. There will be no leave to appeal. Any orders as to exhibits?" The Jedi scrambled to his feet, as the warm glow of victory suffused itself throughout his being. "None, your Honours, save that the recording be forfeited for destruction."
"So ordered. This Court stands adjourned."
The Sith prosecutor leapt to his feet in a paroxysm of rage. Barging over to where the Jedi and Bastila stood, he pounded a fist into the bar table angrily. "This isn't over, Jedi!" he shouted. "You may have won this battle - but you, and your precious Republic - will lose the war. Do you hear me? The war!" As he exited the courtroom, the angry Sith kicked over a wastebox, scattering its contents over the floor.
"Lovely temperament, for a Sith." Jolee picked up the box into which their datapads and reference materials had been packed. He wore a huge grin on his face. "Congratulations, young man! If the Order decides to chuck you some day, you know you can always set up shop in Coruscant..."
Sunry grasped the Jedi's hand tremblingly and wrung it in relief. "Thank you - thank you so, so much...! I - I don't know how I can repay you - I... you've done more than just give me my life back, I -" he shook his head, unable to continue.
"I'm not the one you owe a debt to, Sunry. You wronged your wife, and the Republic. Having an affair is bad enough on its own without consorting with the enemy," replied the Jedi. "Remember that two wrongs don't make a right." He shook Sunry's hand firmly.
"You're right," admitted Sunry. "I... I let myself get the better of me. How I wish I could turn back time! - but... I can't. I... I've hurt so many people. I don't know where to start again."
"Your wife needs you, old friend," Jolee told Sunry. "Charity starts at home. Best advice I could give you now." The old Jedi and the disgraced Republic hero embraced. "Take care, old friend."
"Take care, Jolee. And... may the Force be with you. All of you." Broken, Sunry staggered out of the courtroom, aided by Elora, who kept looking back over her shoulder, mouthing her thanks.
"I think the press is outside the courtroom," Bastila said.
Jolee's tone was bitter. "'Course they are. Bloody kath hounds, the lot of 'em! Can't leave folk alone to grieve, no siree! Gotta paste it all up on the HoloNews."
The Jedi shrugged. "Well, I don't know, Jolee. Even kath hounds have a function in the ecological system..." Grabbing a datapad, he headed out of the courtroom and straight into the media frenzy.
"Ladies! Gentlemen...! Attention please... thank you. Now, I'm sure you have all heard the verdict by now - innocent of all charges! And I'm sure you want to know what was in the recording, and why the Judges disallowed it?"
"Yes!" chorused the reporters.
"Briefly, the recording shows Mr. Sunry shooting a woman in the back. However! However - she had been lying on the bed motionless for at least five minutes before my client entered the room. Was she alive before my client shot her? Further," - motioning for the crowd to remain silent, the Jedi raised his voice and continued - "...a most interesting slip was made by the Prosecution during the course of the proceedings. The notes of evidence will show that the Prosecution stated that the victim had been shot 'in the back while she was lying on the bed'. Now, the Prosecution claims that it had never seen this recording as the recording was allegedly stolen - I mean, removed - from the incident location before they could retrieve it. So I think the question may be validly asked: how did the Prosecution know that the victim had been shot while she was lying on the bed? They took no statements from my client! The Prosecution have not even seen the recording, which in fact does show my client shooting the victim as she lay face-down on the bed."
"Arbiter! Do you mean to say that the woman may have been dead before your client entered the room?" called out a reporter.
"That is certainly a possibility," replied the Jedi. The victim never moved in the recording - both before and after my client shot her."
Another voice shouted. "Did Mr. Sunry approach the victim as she lay on the bed?"
"In the sense of touching her? No. He never went anywhere near her."
"About the Sith - are you saying that they manufactured the recording? That it may not even be genuine?" The holocams were flashing wildly now.
The Jedi smiled convivially. "I'm afraid I can't answer that question, ladies and gentlemen. However, the Sith prosecutor may be able to assist with your queries..."
The little party returned to the Ebon Hawk to find Mission running around the astrochart screaming, her hands in the air. "You did it! Oh, man, you guys - you did it! And the press! You were, like, totally awesome!" She hugged Bastila, Jolee and the former Republic soldier in quick succession before resuming her riotous dance of joy.
"You kriffin' sent the Sith a karkin' pack o' kriffing press hounds," guffawed Canderous, clutching his sides. "You karked-up son of a kriffing bit-"
"He means to say that that was a spectacular gambit," said Carth quickly. "That kind of thing at their door? Hah! Not going to hush it up so easily..."
Juhani relieved Jolee of the box he was carrying and set it down on the floor. "It was... amazing. We had the HoloNews on to learn what would happen. I am glad for how it turned out."
"Boy's a genius," Jolee remarked. "See - there's no way the Sith can answer the press without exposing themselves. Also it's clear that their case was built on uncertainties to start with. People aren't always as stupid as they seem. Folk are gonna read the Holonet, or watch the HoloNews, and start thinkin' things. And the hotel owner - ha! - he's sure to make a public statement about how surprised he is that there're secret cameras pointin' at beds, of all things, in his hotel. Mmm-mmm."
Bastila loosened her braids, running her fingers through her hair. "Well, we've all certainly learnt two things today," she observed. "First, lawyering is not fun, at all."
"Sure as hell you can say that again..." the Jedi replied.
"Second: you, Sir Cabbage, are a Class-A shit-stirrer. No offence."
Smiling, Bastila winked at the Jedi and headed for the pantry.