Note : Ok, episode 13. This was a very difficult episode for me, and frankly, I didn't much like how I portrayed the native population. I wrote down almost exactly how I have their culture in my mind, with its use of politics and forced convenient 'Neutrality', but overall I can't help feeling that the native way I've presented them as still falls flat.

If you guys agree with me that the Selkath fall flat as a people in how I present them, then I will reconsider redoing the episode or at least going back and trying to bring up out more.

Episode 13 - The Innocent Part 1/3

Summary: Starkiller, apprentice to the deceased Darth Nihilus, was tricked by Darth Sidius into becoming a puppet of the Jedi through a force mind-wipe. He was renamed Varus Wynn and assigned to Anakin Skywalker as his second Padawan alongside Ahsoka Tano.

Following a lead from the former Sith, Starkiller, they a Sith Holocron linked to Revan that was implanted into Varus's mind. The following investigation shed light on the fact that the Star Forge was still alive. Anakin Skywalker was assigned to follow the trail of Revan left in Varus's mind to find the Star Forge for the Republic.

Thus far they have landed on Dantooine and entered an ancient tomb of the Infinite Empire. Inside Ahsoka and Varus both encountered illusions. Varus's illusion was a version of himself, twisted and dark by the temple, and he was forced to end the illusion by promising to himself to eventually remember who he was. They recovered the coordinates to five locations that would piece together the coordinates of the Star Forge.

Varus returned home and moved out of the Temple. After a blood scan, he looked into information that was contradictory. He wasn't human. He was a Miraluka. The Jedi had been wrong on his profile information.

Despite the Jedi's hopes, sins of Starkiller's past are catching up to Varus. Maris remembers him after Starkiller murdered her Master, and sees him in the Temple. She has been told it is classified, and to leave it alone. She spent time in mourning, and has improved while Ahsoka was gone, but then someone kidnapped her and took her to a dark place on Coruscant. There, he talked with her, and showed her who her true enemy was.

And an unknown power called 'Manager' is conspiring against the Jedi, and while he died mysteriously, his legacy was taken up by a mysterious woman who also died. Just before death, she confronted Palpatine, and presented the mask of Darth Nihilus.

The second planet to on Revan's path has been Tatooine. There, Anakin is confronted with his personal demons, and his Padawans step up for him after they are captured by the Ghorfa clan: Ineh. Striking a deal with the Ineh, they will be allowed to enter Builders Valley for the Forge's coordinate segment provided Varus ends the Ghost of Ravine. Varus and Koj'Ineh hunt the ghost and Varus turns the ghost to his side after figuring out the ghost was actually HK-47, the personal assassination droid of Darth Revan.

While they are leaving Tatooine, a hunter, assigned by Palpatine to 'remind' Varus, encounters Maris, and after subduing her allows her to join him. Maris, in realizing the Republic had sent this hunter, turned to the dark side in her anger, fury, and loneliness of being betrayed. They followed Varus to the second planet, Manaan, and while Varus was in the process of returning from having reclaimed the next segment, the hunter attacks. Varus barely survives by accidentally stunning his suit with electricity, and the hunter is forced to flee as reinforcements arrive.

"How bad is it?" The Ambassador called as everyone gathered around the Manaan vessels. The pilot spoke with him while others unloaded Varus and HK-47 on stretch carts. Snips left them to go to her partner's side, and Anakin stood just outside the conversation. His every instinct screamed to barge in and demand explanations, but his Jedi training kept him back.

"Your Padawan was involved in a fight. The attacker fled faster than we could catch, and this foe was able to leave orbit. I don't know about you, but any craft that can enter and leave orbit at will would give me the willies. Anyway, he says your 'kid' should be fine and the… oh dear." The Ambassador argued further with the Manaan in a language that loosely resembled the native tongue.

"What?" Anakin half-demanded.

The Ambassador put up a finger, said a few more native words, got a response he clearly did not like, and said, "The trial will begin the day after your kid wakes up…"

"Trial." Anakin stated. He did not hear that right. It had to be the wind.

"Trial." The man repeated.

"What trial?!" Anakin demanded. "Varus was attacked and he is the one charged with this-"

"General, please." The Ambassador argued. "Its their way."

"To hell-" Anakin stopped himself. He clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly and heeled back his anger. He was an inch away from yelling things that was very much wouldn't help. The last thing his Padawan needed was the Master to blow up. He nearly did it on Tatooine. If he thought about it logically, there were a number of factors. Varus was rubbing off on him, he always had self-control issues, and he was still reeling from how close the time on Tatooine came to his heart. Just thinking about the Sand Raiders got under his skin and he had to spend days with them. It rubbed him every wrong way, and despite everything he tried, he was still angsty. It didn't help that he saw himself in Varus every time he looked at him.

He needed a vacation… Or a week home with Padme. Without disturbance.

"I understand." Anakin said at last. "Can you provide any information you can on their trial process?"

"I'll give you everything you'll need, but most of it will be handled by lawyers provided."

"Thanks… isn't now the time to say 'not to worry'?"

"Around here, that phrase doesn't exist."

Great. Stick Varus of all people on a planet like that, and what do you get? Worst Case Scenario.

"So let me get this straight. I am on trial. For defending myself."

I don't want to have to spend a lot of time explaining the fact that I am awake, angsty, and wondering where the hell Mr. Slashy went, or how I am getting really irritated at the lack of answers on how HK is doing. Then there is the fact that this Manaan translation droid is telling me something about a trial.

So yeah, good morning to them too. I can't even get the time for a pee first thing when I wake up before life is unloading all kinds of shit on me.

Sand People, crashing down into a sinkhole of sand, an army of droids, a huge droid, and having a mental make-out-session with a Sith Lord's memory isn't what is going to kill me. Oh, no, no, no. Not even a twenty-foot tall man-tank-rhino crossbreed on steroids is going to make the cut. The Force has to have a sense of humor. It's going to be law. Three letters, no waiting.

The Manaan translator speaks for my 'lawyer', and says, "The investigation into the wreckage of your escort shows he died, the goods were destroyed, and your accomplice escaped."

"Accomplice!" Wait, whats accompliss? Sounds like esparagus. "What that mean?"

"It means 'partner in crime' loosely."

Ah.

"Accomplice!" I yell. "He wasn't some friend of mine, he tried to kill me!"

The Manaan turns his -or her- fish head on a tilt and looks at me funny. "I did not emply he was your friend. The investigation shows clearly he turned on you, you two fought, but he chose not to end your life despite having ample oppurtunity. Otherwise, if he was your true enemy, he would have killed you."

Ok, that's an unpleasent thought. On so many levels. Did he just say the guy could have killed me but didn't? Ok, you know what, I don't know what the hell is going on anymore!

"Ok…" I rub my temples and try to make sense of this. "Ok, ok, ok, ok… Let me get this straight, Fish-Face… You let me go down to a spot by an old abandoned Republic underwater facility, pull my magic, get some stars, head back, get a sword through the whole stinkin' ship through your friends head! I barely get out of there before it implodes from water pressure, the sword-freak chases me up to the surface, comes at me with not just one sword, but SIX, while hovering over the water! I throw all the power of a hurricane-tornado in his face and apparently, not only does it do jack-squat, it blows up in my face! Only, apparnetly it isn't that bad. Guess why? It has morale issues! And somewhere in the mix of me being attacked and forced to run for my life, HE'S MY FRIEND?! And your blaming me for it!?"

"Again, the investigation does not claim him to be a friend. Accomplices tend to not be friends, as they turn on each other. Whether or not you are to blame for the murder of a Manaan citizen, will be decided by the judges."

"Heh." I don't claim to be all that intelligent in regards to law. Heck, I barely know what classifies as a crime to begin with! But it sounds to me like they already have all the facts and crap rolled up! While we're at it, where the hell is HK! "In what part of this do I have a say?"

"You do not."

"WHAT?!" I jump out of my bed and stop in front of the bars. Oh right, I'm in a cage.

"You do not speak during the proceedings. The facts will reveal truth. Flawed opinion of a defendant who has everything to gain and everything to lose, will not be allowed." The Fish-head bastard puts his hands up to a panel. "You will observe only." He presses his palm on a surface, and the area between the bars in front of me is clamped shut with metal plating, effectively sealing me in completely.

"BASTARD!" I yell, I rage, I beat my fists into the walls, and it takes every bit of self-restraint I have not to blow a damn hole in the wall. That would probably set off a crap-ton of alarms! I keep it up until my throat dries out.

Time goes by. I wish I could say how long. There is no light, no clock, and no sounds or sights of any kind to give me a reference. Everything is darkness. At first I am able to keep some resemblence of time through my steady breathing. Every breathe is approximately four to six seconds apart in and out. (I have no idea how I know that.) However, counting breathes only drives me mad. There are too many breathes in a day for me to actively pay attention to!

Finally exhausted and spent after about two hours of panic and rage, I collapse on the bed.

And think. Because really, there is nothing else to do.

I think about pointless the rage was. Tree-Hugger doesn't restrain me from being who I am for the most part, but he does keep telling me in every training session how overly exhausting extreme emotions are. Extreme emotions are able to put your body through as much trama as if you were running for ten miles (one in my case) without you physically doing anything. Which is just pointless. Right now I'm getting a very live demonstration of what he means by that.

Then there is HK. Last I saw of him -or it, rather- it was on the escape pod with me. It was trying to tell me that the escape pod is not designed to be piloted manually and that my plan was pointless. Then I… Oh no! Did I blow him up? My heart goes into my throat. All I remember was an explosion in my face as my power blew up not two feet away from me.

If HK is dead because of me, I don't know what I'll do… Falcon, Ahsoka, Tree-Hugger… even that freak of nature Kota are all I know. Then there is Koj and HK. These are not just my friends, being people I like and or trust, but everyone I know. Eria and Baldy go on the far bottom of that list. The people I know are limited.

I can't imagine losing a whole ten percent of my "world's" population.

Then there is Ahsoka. She has been more… compliant of late. She takes up the back end more and more lately, and she was really thoughtful on the way here (to Manaan). Maybe she is just having 'woman' blood issues. I inquired after hearing all woman apparently cut themselves and bleed on a monthly basis. She tried explaining it and she was flustered and I was confused and it was all stupid and rediculas. I just don't get women...

Tree-Hugger. Great guy who has been getting himself more on track lately. The good-natured lectures are returning and the daily training is on halt until we can get a place to actually train in larger than a three by three box, but… what is he doing? The moment he hears I'm held for this crap I can't say what he'll do. A part of me wants him to come in lightsaber blazing and bust me out, and I would love every moment of it. Another part wants him to sit back and stay out of the way and not get caught in the political bullcrap. There are so many things that can go wrong, and the last thing I want is him and Ahsoka getting beheaded for getting involved…

I think I should leave my green room to Falcon, my green lightsaber to Ahsoka, and my… droid to Tree-Hugger. Wait a second… not only is there a lot of green in my life (room, lightsaber, dreams and visions) but I am making a mental will?! "Snap out of it, man!" I hiss at myself and bolt up. "You are not going to go around making wills just because your mind wanders, you are not going to die. You are going to kick this lawyer bullshit in the ass and get back to hunting down that Revan Ghost bastard." I sigh. "And now you're referring to yourself as 'you' in a third person. Great Job, Varus."

Then when I find the real Revan, I'm going to punch him in the face for sticking naked pictures of his wife in my head. They are very much confusing and flustering and filled with emotion that is far beyond me! I'm sorry, but I don't see the point in a bunch of skin! Its disgusting the way they touch each other! Oh, great, now I'm thinking about it and my body is doing weird, painful things!

I slam my face into the wall repeatedly.

Those bastards need to get the crap on! The worst punishment they can set me to is leaving me alone with me, myself, and I! The two dozen of us are going to kill each other by the end of the day!

At some point the light turns on in my cage, and my pessimist lawyer walks in. He places a book before me, and produces a chair to sit in. "Read." He says. Well, good morning to you too, jackass. Or evening. Whichever it is.

"Why?"

"It will explain how the proceedings will occur."

I raise an eyebrow, but open it and begin reading anyway. He sits in front of me patiently waiting. I am not sure what that means, whether I have to make feedback or if he is waiting for any specific action. I guess I'll let him decide what reaction suits him more. As for the book, its very small. Its taking their entire legal system and boiling it down to the basics.

YES! THANK YOU! I would high five the guys if I was on their good side. Someone actually dumbs down the whole bullshit legal system down to the point that outsiders can understand. The Republic needs a copy of this. Maybe the Ghorfa too, they would have less confusion from 'outsiders'.

The legal system is rather simple. I am not allowed to talk, ever. They must be serious about that because they repeat it three times in progressively larger fonts and finally underline it. I am only an observer. My lawyer guy does all the talking for me. (okay, perhaps not that great. He strikes me as an extreme pessimistic.) There are an assortment of judges from across the lands, always odd numbered (rather than even), and there are multiple phases.

The first phase is where my lawyer speaks. Second phase is when the offense speaks. The final phase is where the truth speaks. Wait, what? "How is 'truth' supposed to speak?" I ask. Is this another of those Spirit things like Koj?

"Flip page." He says with a heavy dose of sarcasm and boredom. Wow, blow a man down for answering a question why don't you? Oh! The answer is on the next page. That works. Let's see…

…

Why am I not surprised? I can't help scoffing and laughing briefly at the irony of the situation.

"They're going to break down his mental walls and THEN allow him to speak!?" Anakin barks.

"Yes." The Ambassador squeaks. The man was a politician and used to controlling himself, but the aura Anakin was emitting was part horror, part desperation, all focused heat on the cowering man.

"Master, it will be okay! Varus didn't do anything wrong! If they do it, it must be because it works." Ahsoka offered. She was becoming slightly frightened as well. Anakin hadn't burst out like this in a very long time, not unless it was critical and on a large scale important level that was going TERRIBLY wrong. He may not be the most controlled of masters, but he wasn't the type to explode. It was moments like this when she felt his power in its full scale and knew if he tried he could crush the entire island with but a thought.

"That doesn't change anything!" Anakin continued. He glared down at the man and forced him to take several steps back with his eyes alone. "That is unruly! That is barbaric! That is… that is-"

"Them." Ahsoka pressed. "They aren't the Republic, Master. They are neutral. Our laws don't apply to them."

The Ambassador gulped as he stopped backing up. He raised himself up a bit. "Your Padawan is right, General. We should be thankful they aren't employing torture like they were taught to."

"Taught?" Anakin wondered. He was still angry, but that was a very odd word to hear.

The Ambassador explained. "They heavily distrust outsiders, and refuse to be part of any nation or faction due to their oppression under the Infinite Empire or 'The Builders' as they call them. They weren't always an underwater people, General. They once did have city's above land. The Infinite sunk the few islands and continents they had and incinerated half of their population by boiling the seas. Generations of their people were born to having third-degree burns until the heat finally dissipated."

Anakin was struck silent and Ahsoka gaped in shock.

Anakin narrowed his eyes. "That was long ago."

"Some wounds run deep. They didn't interact with outsiders willfully, not once, until Revan reached out to them. We should be very VERY thankful they aren't outright executing Varus while we speak. He has a chance!"

The seconds ticked by as Anakin stared him down heavily. The outburst of surprise, desperation, and anger left his eyes, and all that was left was something sad and guilty. Ahsoka smiled, her master was back. "Your right… But I don't see much hope." He said heavily.

"Master. He may be loud, a smartass, and… Varus, but he is still the guy who has those emotional scars from his amnesia. He still has the core innocence. What's more, he is the victim. Of that I have no doubt we will find if 'truth' is truly what they want."

Anakin stared at his pupil in dumb shock for a moment. It was odd hearing that kind of thing from anyone, but her? Where was that little girl who was about charging into the most dense place, always seeking to prove herself in the most difficult way possible, and always having something snide and stupid to say to aggravate him on purpose? This wasn't her. This was a girl just short of womanhood who was somehow being the voice of reason time after time again, having compassion and insight that was as warm and scary as his wife, yet all the temper of himself at all the right times. She was able to see Varus for who he was deep down.

He couldn't be prouder, unfortunately now wasn't the time to come to terms with the realization of how much his Snips had grown without his notice. There was something much more important going on. There was a very specific reason he was upset.

The process of breaking down Varus's ability to lie required breaking down every wall and resistance in him. He would be incapable of mustering the slightest ability to resist questions or the ability to lie, yes, but it would be so much worse than that.

If the 'mind-wipe' was a process of walls or true wiping would be put to the test! If there was even a single atom of Sith memory left in Varus' body that could be exposed and brought to his attention… Varus would effectively die and be replaced by a Sith assassin hell-bent on revenge.

And that thought horrified Anakin more than he could have ever imagined. He would lose a pupil he had come to trust and… attached to. He would lose Varus. Varus would be hurt beyond pain, beyond betrayal, and every bit of the blame would be on Anakin's shoulders and conscience.

The Jedi hadn't felt this guilty since he murdered the Sand People village.

He needed to consult the Masters.

"Master Jedi."

Windu stopped walking and sighed to himself. It was almost hilarious how many people hid in shadows, looked for him, and called him out from their hiding place. He was a Jedi. He preferred being confronted straight-up in a way that was obvious, like a hall with no hiding place. But every day he felt more and more like a politician sticking his hand in matters some called 'shadow games'.

The voice was kept by a young woman wearing red who had her back turned to him slightly. He felt her out to be a strong Force-user, tainted by the Dark Side, but not consumed by it, yet. She appeared to be gazing out into the night.

"It is impolite the stare, Master Windu." She joked.

He knit his eyebrows together in confusion. She wasn't looking at him. How could she know he was even looking at her. Taking the hint, he walked up beside her, yet two feet away. Close, but not too close.

"What do you want?" He asked, straight forward.

"I come on behalf of My Lady, and the Revanchist."

"I see…" He said darkly. He truly had no idea what to think of that. On one hand the organization has been helping along the southern regions without request or reward, on the other hand they were formerly lead by Revan and were fanatical in following him. The civil war they fought against the Republic also went a long way towards his memory.

"History aside, Jedi. We have a common goal and purpose, now more than ever. We know of what has happened to Palpatine even more deeply than you do. We have even more to provide once you come to terms with what we also gave you, and we predicted your reaction. You intend to arrest him for his own protection, take the mask away, and find a way to cure him."

Windu said nothing. She had just confirmed his thoughts of whether or not Palpatine even had the mask. Now he knew for certain.

"I assure you, it will be a waste of time. What has come over him cannot be cured."

"Then may the Force help this galaxy." He said.

"It is already too late for the galaxy, Master Jedi. If you had looked deeper, opened your mind more to the ways of your enemies or looked into the deeper nature of the Force, you might have been able to find Sidius. But now Sidius is gone, replaced by something less scheming but far more lethal in nature. The galaxy is in checkmate. The only thing left to happen is the final move to finish it."

"And how do you wish to help?" He replied, not believing her in the slightest. He was used to hearing extreme negativity, especially now that the Republic was losing ground. It was annoying how many self-proclaimed prophets there were sayign the 'end was near'. "If the galaxy is doomed, then what's the point? We should all just go home and wait for the inevitable."

"... Do not take this lightly, Jedi. You have done this to yourself. In taking Starkiller as your slave, you have only made the enemy act far sooner than we anticipated."

So they knew of Varus… why wasn't he surprised.

She continued, "While the end is no less here, proper action can prevent loss of life. If the enemy is allowed to act freely any longer, Coruscant will be left an empty husk and the whole galaxy will be consumed piece by piece. However if we force his hand, the galaxy will be shattered, yes, but it will live. He is a wound in the force, more presence than flesh, and in his wake life dies… sacrificing itself to his hunger. Hunger now pointed to the center of the galaxy itself."

"Right." He had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes.

"This is something we have predicted, and while we have tried to stop it indirectly, we have no choice but to warn you. Arrest Palpatine, but not because of any mask or disease that doesn't exist, but because of what he keeps hidden inside his dresser."

"And why exactly would I-" The woman was gone. He sighed and reminded himself to the Jedi code for the millionth time. "Revanchist…"