Chapter 36: The Trial of Fate
Keira went to go and touch it with the tip of her index finger, and suddenly, she found herself sucked through a vortex that changed the scenery around her. She started to scream in terror as she found herself falling down once more, but stopped once she landed hard on a hard surface. She looked up, and saw thousands of senators gathered around her, in what appeared to be a Republic Courtroom.
Young Samos approached behind her, holding his only child, escorted by Jedi Temple Guards. He was brought forth to the stand, looking up at the podium, where Chancellor (at the time) Valorum delivered his opening remarks to the fugitive:
"Samos Hagai, you have been charged with adultery by committing an open relationship with the late Jedi Master Rhiannon Almedia, treason towards Republic officials, illegally partaking in solo missions unsanctioned by The Jedi Order and The Republic, disregarding any aid from your masters, and aggravated assault towards other citizens of The Galaxy, which included destruction of their private property when resisting arrest, thus disrupting the peace. All of these allegations led to your expulsion from The Jedi Order. How do you plead?"
Samos bit his lip tight and sputtered, "Guilty, Chancellor. I take full responsibility of all the crimes I committed towards the people of The Republic. My expulsion from the order was right and just. I truly loved Master Almedia with all of my heart, and her dying promise to me was to protect this child and to watch over her like the father I am destined to be!"
"And what is the child's name?" Chancellor Valorum requested.
Samos declared as he raised the baby up, "Her name is Keira Pallas Hagai, destined for greatness. Maybe a Jedi, maybe a Sage, I don't know. I cannot predict that far ahead. However, I do know that The Force has blessed her with many qualities that will make her a strong, virtuous woman that will not make the same mistakes that I have made, if you grant me the opportunity to guide her to it. You can punish me however you like, but whatever you do, just be sure that my daughter and I are together, so that she can live the life that she deserves. She is not the criminal, I am. So please, Chancellor, and members of The Court, I beg of you: please do not separate my child from me. She needs her father now more than ever." Keira smiled behind him as her father finished his monologue towards the stern politicians.
The Chancellor nodded slowly and replied, "The Senate will decide your fate, and the child's." He turned to then Senator Palpatine to his right and asked, "Prosecution, do you have anything to add to this matter?"
"Indeed I do," Then-Senator Palpatine began, "Samos Hagai, it is fair to say the charges brought forth to you today would fall under the category of Treason, which is the highest vice that any Republic official can commit. Not only did you commit treason by willingly engage in a relationship with the late Jedi Master Almedia that produced this illegitimate child…"
'Illegitimate?' Keira mouthed to herself as she stood behind her father.
The Senator continued while holding a tablet in front of him, with the contents on that screen showing simultaneously on a large-screened monitor for the court to see, "…but mainly because of your 'solo missions' that you embarked on without granted permission from your master, the rest of the Jedi Council, and The Republic as a whole. What is more troubling is what these solo missions entailed: Master Hagai, your unsanctioned missions entailed actions that were personal only to you. Navigation charts and data from The Jedi Archives included you travelling to worlds, recovering peculiar but dangerous artifacts, leading you to theorize of a peculiar race of people that you claimed used a substance called 'eco' to create life. You called them…The Precursors."
'My father's work started here.' She thought to herself once more.
"We do not recognize them as a powerful race that exists within this Galaxy." Palpatine added on, "You brought forth these blasphemous claims to The Council, claiming that these 'beings' could help us. If you had assistance, this would merely be an issue. However, you acted alone when you were not supposed to. You came here to learn the ways of a Jedi for selfish reasons. You came here, to fulfill your interests of heresy, not the interests of The People. That my friend is the mark of a Separatist."
"Why aren't you saying anything!?" Keira pleaded softly toward her father, "Why aren't you objecting!?"
Samos grumbled to himself, "He's right."
Then, the Senator finished by declaring, "Which is why I propose to you, fellow Senators and members of The Court, that the proper punishment for this traitor would be the following: Removal of this child from his custody, so that she may be placed in a foster home for adoption, and penalty of death for 'The Father!'"
"I object!" One senator stood out in the courtroom, "Though Samos the Jedi did come to our establishment for selfish reasons, his intentions were never to harm our way of life! He has a child! Let him at least watch her grow. Exile is already enough of a burden for this family to bear."
"I concur," another one chimed in, "A man should have the right to be with his child, and a child should not be alone. If they are separated, it would cause more pain for them."
"The child would be placed in a home that would condition her to be among the satisfactory well beings of law-abiding citizens of this Galaxy!" Palpatine argued, "If we let her live with him, she too would pose as a threat to our society."
"Senator," a third colleague spoke his rebuttal, "I do believe this form of punishment is a bit rash. He acknowledged that he violated the laws of Our Republic, and is willing to accept the consequences for his actions. He has a child now, so his responsibilities will have to grow beyond his own interests naturally. He at least deserves the privilege to live and grow with this child, as her father is her best chance at living a prosperous life in our universe!"
Three Senators turned to twelve, twelve turned to fifty, then fifty suddenly turned into thousands of members within one massive courtroom clamoring on the verdict of Samos and his child. Many suggestions were taken into account by The Chancellor amidst the ambient arguing that took place. They all clamored in showering shouts of shriveled screaming, arguing both sides of the case, which caused jeering, teasing, and name-calling towards one another.
After growing intolerable to listening to the politicians ramble on such as feeble of a case to them as this, Chancellor Valorum bellowed, "ORDER! WE SHALL HAVE ORDER!" Then, all the senators drew silent, and sat in their seats solemnly and quietly.
The Chancellor continued with his verdict, "Both arguments are quite compelling, weigh in equal amounts of pros and cons, and therefore, seem like just measures to levy against this former Jedi. Therefore, I have decided to lay down a verdict that will satisfy both parties," he turned to the man who would eventually betray his own Republic he claimed to love to become Emperor, "Senator Palpatine, though your assessment of punishment fit the crimes that young Samos Hagai committed, they are still far too harsh for him. (Turning back to Samos) I agree with the majority of The Senate that you should have an opportunity to live, and to raise your child to be the woman YOU envision her to be, as every man deserves the opportunity to do so, Jedi or not. However, since you are willing to take punishment for the crimes you committed, this causes a peculiar situation that involves expelling you from our Republic and banishing you from this Galaxy in some way, some how, without executing you."
He concluded to the young Jedi as he held his daughter tightly, "So as punishment for your crimes that will satisfy both parties, I hereby banish you to your home planet, where you will be transported to a rift gate at the edge of 'The Brink.' There, you will travel back through time, in an unknown period in the past, where you will remain there, with your daughter, for the rest of your life."
The gavel pounded, and two Temple Guards quietly escorted Younger Samos, still holding his infant child, to a rift ring. Keira's eyes teared up as the rift ring opened to a bright light. The rift ring sucked the three of them into a bright abyss and then they proceeded to fall. Keira screamed as this happened, not only because of the frightening thrill ride she was taking, but what she was seeing in front of her was even more horrific for her to watch:
The young Samos loses grip of the infant child of herself as she flies free into a bright vortex of her own. The child took a last glimpse into the father's eyes as she vanished, causing him to shed a tear. He turned to Keira, looked into her eyes, and screamed of agony and sorrow. His height stunted short, his skin turned green, his hair and beard turned from Maplewood brown into snow white, his muscle mass shrank to that of twigs, and he materialized into the Green Eco Sage that he is today.
They both landed inside the lounge area of what appeared to be The Renegade. Keira believed that she was still on Dromund Kaas and her father had joined her while the others infiltrated the Imperial Base. What she didn't realize was that her father was actually communicating with her from afar, and that her loyal and loving husband had lied to her out of her own protection, and the Green Eco Sage was about to break her the news;
"Keira!" Samos called.
"Daddy?" She replied, confused, but then she exclaimed, "I'm glad you're here!"
"I'm not." Samos broke to her.
"What?" She asked, dumbfounded, "How could you not be? I'm standing right in front of you!"
"Yes, I see that." Samos confirmed.
Keira asked once more, "then how are you not with me? We're on Dromund-Kaas together, right?" She thought of that statement for a few moments, and then gasped. She spoke to herself, "He took us to Korriban, didn't he?"
"I'm afraid so," her father replied, "Jak lied to you out of your own protection. He knew that if he really told you where he needed to go, you would be opposed to it. So he went where The Force told him to go while you were resting."
"That's the excuse he came up with when he first told me-" Keira started.
"And I opposed of it too, just like you did," Samos confirmed, "However I learned during my time at Dagobah that he wasn't wrong at all. He must learn all about The Dark Side to use it as fuel for all of us to share, to prevent total destruction from The Empire. I figured he was chosen because of the darkness that's already in him has been all but harnessed."
"If this is about dark eco," Keira refuted, "then why aren't I out there with him? I know how to manipulate dark eco too. I can harness it and convert it to the other four colors!"
"I'm afraid it has to be more to it than that…" The Sage began to ponder.
"But, why?" Keira began to panic, "Why must I suffer all the time? I have an illness that I don't even know where it came from, my husband lied to me about this whole mission, and I have someone torturing my head and manipulating my dreams while I'm in my sleep, while you and the others are in danger! And he gets to do whatever-"
"There's a connection with him and The Dark Side that he can use to his advantage," Samos interrupted her, "he is stronger. He's seen what evil can do first hand to the ones around him and has stopped it, several times. From what was taken from him and destroyed he can rebuild."
"And you're saying that I can't!?" Keira fired back.
"No," Samos replied, "I do think you can, but there is something more precious on the horizon for you that must not be tarnished."
'That's what mom said.' Keira thought to herself.
The Sage continued, "That is why I am here for you now. I am protecting you from The Emperor's nightmares. I know he has planted a rotten seed inside your head, terrorizing your self-consciousness, filling you with doubts, fear, and attempting to defeat you from within. I am here now to teach you how to combat your fears within yourself, and to become wiser, and not give in to the fear and the lies that evil has told you already."
"How am I supposed to do that?" She asked her father.
He answered, "Trust in The Force." She rolled her eyes as he stated this redundant phrase, but nevertheless he continued, "Do not interfere with whatever Jak is doing. He is protecting you. Do not be angry with him no matter what, for he is doing this for all the reasons, whatever it may be. Only fight when the time is right. Don't ask me how, because you will know when-"
"FREEZE!" A voice shouted as the main hatch of the ship opened. A squadron of Storm Troopers with their weapons cocked rushed in to confront the meditating Sage, who threw his hands up in panic.
As did Keira, but she remained confused as to how the troopers didn't see her. Then she realized that she was invisible to them, as one of them ran through her. The lead trooper barked, "Who were you just talking to!?"
As other troopers were rummaging through the consoles of the ship to garner all of its communication history, Samos stammered in fear, as sweat bullets were rushing down his head, the trooper grabbed him by the robes, lifted him off the ground and yelled, "Don't lie to me, old man. We know who you are! We know your friends are with you! Just tell us where ALL of them are…NOW!"
Samos then sternly barked, "I won't tell a thing to you cretans!" And just like that, the trooper threw the Sage against the wall as hard as he could, knocking him unconscious. He became imprisoned, yet again, as a couple of troopers carried him and took him away.
As Keira covered her mouth and held back her tears, the lead trooper ordered, "Let's go tell Lord Vader we found what we're looking for. I'm sure he will be quite pleased."