Chapter 44: Old Sins
"You…what…what were you thinking?!"
Jas said nothing, what was there to say?
If Sy expected some kind of apology, or for him to stammer or to try to explain himself, that wasn't going to happen.
Jas Dar Bynn was neither foolish nor naïve.
He had done what he thought was right.
Sy…should have accepted that.
The two brothers had gone to a small side room off of the main room where Vess had just confronted her aunt via holo. Jas could feel his brother's disbelief and anger, surprising considering his training.
Jas frowned slightly.
Master Venari would not have been pleased with his old apprentice.
Surely the Jedi High Council member had taught Sy better than this.
Sy paced before him, his mind awhirl with what had just taken place. His reaction surprised his twin, but probably shouldn't have.
Jas remembered what Sy had been like when they were younger. The unexpected had always thrown his brother off. He didn't…adapt well when plans went awry.
Once again, Jas was surprised.
He would have thought that Master Venari would have helped his brother deal with that flaw. He should have learned to rise above it.
Sy turned to him again, his grey eyes cold and unsympathetic.
"How can you justify what just happened in there, brother," he demanded, "You had one job, a very simple one."
Sy snorted angrily.
"I thought we had a deal!"
Jas sighed and crossed his arms.
"You asked me to come here and speak with Vess, to try and convince her to abdicate her throne. I came here with that goal in mind, but at the same time, I've tried to keep both an open mind, and to let the Force guide me."
Jas shook his head.
"There are alternatives to what you believe needed to happen here, brother. There are other paths that we could take to bring a more satisfying conclusion for all parties involved."
Jas shrugged.
"Isn't that the mission of a Jedi, to serve as a guide, and to help find the best answer for those that we serve and protect?"
Sy snorted angrily, clearly, he had his own views of what a Jedi should be in this situation.
Those views clashed with those possessed by his twin brother.
"The Republic needs this deal, Jas. Do you have any idea how important this is to the galaxy as a whole?"
"No deal has been made yet, Sy, both sides are talking, that is a good thing, now we can find a solution that suits everyone, or at the very least, reach a compromise that all parties can agree with."
"Compromise?" Sy hissed, as he glared at his twin, "This isn't some negotiation exercise at the temple, Jas. Don't you understand how hard I've worked to set all this up? Can't you see how important this is to me?!"
Jas frowned.
"This isn't about you, brother. It is about helping the people of Bantoon."
"It is about helping the Republic!" Sy reminded him, "Trillions of sentient beings are depending on this deal going forward. This…matter as you call it, was a well-oiled machine, everything was in place, and it would have benefited so many…"
Sy pinned him with a cold accusing look.
"You don't know what you are doing, brother, stay out of this."
"Hey, you brought me in, remember? I was content to remain on Peebee. It was you that wanted me to come to Alderaan. I was content to fulfil my role for the order, as their agent within the fringe, as well as continue to advance my business interests."
"Exactly," Sy said, "I needed you to serve a role, to follow your best interests, as any business man would. I thought we had a deal? You deliver the abdication that I needed, and you and yours would profit from it."
"You asked me to come and speak to an old friend, and I did that. I listened to what she had to say, and what those that loved her had to say, and then…chose offer my help. I still think that we can negotiate, find a way that can serve all parties involved."
"You weren't sent here to negotiate," Sy growled, his voice going more and more shrill.
"The Force is still with you. Are you telling me you couldn't see the value in simply using it to influence some stupid little noble girl?"
Jas' eyes narrowed.
He didn't like the fact that Sy called Vess stupid.
"I don't use the Force in that way."
"Really," Sy said, "How surprising."
Jas frowned.
He didn't like his brother's sarcasm.
Sy didn't detect his anger, either that, or he didn't care.
He was too angry to care.
"Do you have any idea what you've done here?!"
Sy turned away, he took a deep breath, but it did little to dispel his anger, he had control over it, he wasn't about to fly into a rage, but it still boiled beneath the surface.
Why was this so important to him, Jas wondered.
What did he gain from this?
"The committees back on Coruscant are waiting for the princess's signature. Queen Adira is already onboard, the ships that Vice Admiral Rakkas was talking about, they are going to revolutionize the colonization effort, and provide a new level of security for all the new worlds that the Republic has gained within the mid and outer rim."
Sy turned back to him.
"Members of the Bantoon matriarchy are opposing the deal; they see Vessaria Istillo as the perfect symbol to rally around, to keep their world stagnant, and to remain in the past. They refuse to accept all that the Republic is offering them."
"That is an over simplification of the situation, Sy. The Bann are members of the Republic. They deserve to have a voice in how their world is run."
"They have yet to learn their place, we WILL give them a voice, but first they need to prove their commitment to the Republic. They need to understand why they need us, and why they need to embrace change."
Jas frowned, that was an interesting point, but it brought up a question, one that Sy had not answered to his satisfaction.
"Why?" he asked.
"Why what?" Sy replied.
"Why do the Bann need the Republic?"
Jas' question caught Sy off-guard, he blinked, his jaw working silently.
Jas pushed forward.
He would have an answer.
"Tell me, brother, what do you know about Bantoon, its people, their culture?"
"I've read the census reports," he answered.
Jas shook his head.
"Reports aren't people, have you ever spent any real time with the Bann? Have you talked to one about their world, their history? I'm not talking about a business discussion you might have had with the Senator or one of his staff, I'm talking about an actual person from Bantoon, someone that has spent their life there, and has a stake in what you are trying to do to their world?"
Jas sighed.
"I've spoken with them, I've heard from Vessaria Istillo, and Char Valenthyne. I've also spoken with the lords and other high born that have come here to try and court the young queen. I've learned much about their world, they are justly proud of the home they have built for themselves."
"The Bann are a strong people, brother. Five hundred years ago, they were divided into warring city states, but when pirates invaded their world, tried to subjugate them with an army of droids, the Bann fought a near forty-year war of liberation. They didn't need the Republic navy or the Jedi to free them from their oppressors, they did it themselves. Their people put aside their differences and worked together, they unified as a planet, and have remained so ever since. They even had their own Force-wielders, they didn't need the Jedi to tell them how to use it wisely. When the Sith attacked them, those wielders sacrificed themselves to try and save their world, and despite their loss, it worked, the Bann resisted the Sith, and won back their freedom, they didn't need the Republic or the Jedi to free them. They fought and freed themselves."
Sy gave him a cold look.
"You admire these people?"
"You don't think they deserve our admiration? Now, the Republic has come to their world, telling them that what they have done, how they have lived for almost five centuries is wrong. Our business interests have taken it upon themselves to meddle in affairs that they should not have. Did the mining guild assassinate Queen Annara V, I can't say for certain, but the fact that her daughter is here and alive means that, as Jedi, we owe it to the oath we took to serve the Republic to aid her. She has a rightful claim to her mother's throne, we have no right to tell her that she needs to abandon it because we find it politically inconvenient. The Senate should accept this."
"Progress needs to be maintained, brother," Sy spat back, "Do you think that this girl will do what the Republic needs, what is best for galaxy as a whole?"
"She deserves the chance to prove herself, Sy. If Queen Adira and her husband are responsible for the death of Vessaria's parents, shouldn't the Jedi do what we can to see justice done?"
Sy Dar Bynn turned away from him then, Jas could sense that his brother didn't want to hear this. He had come here with a plan; he had made promises that he shouldn't have made.
Yet, his pride would not let him let go, he didn't wish to adapt and find another way.
"This is for the greater good, brother," he said again, "The Republic needs this. The Committees that have been put in charge of this…"
"Are NOT acting for the benefit of the Bann, brother! Can't you understand that?!"
Sy Dar Bynn glared at him, his eyes turned cold.
"You truly don't understand, do you? You never have understood?"
Jas frowned and crossed his arms.
"And what don't I understand?"
"You never looked at the big picture. You always thought that you could solve the galaxy's problems by involving yourself in the affairs of the small and insignificant!"
Sy shook his head.
"You never had the drive to do what needed to be done, and yet you were always applauded and adored, even when we were young. You always had to make me look a fool, despite my willingness to go beyond where you would even dare tread, to do what was right for the greater good."
Jas pursed his lips.
What was this now?
They were no longer talking about Bantoon. It seemed that Sy had something to say, and yet…Jas didn't think this was the time.
This wasn't about him wanting to make Sy look bad, it had never been about that.
Sy glared at him, his grey eyes filled with disdain.
"You dare lecture me on how a Jedi should act, and what a Jedi should do? You…who turned your back on the order when they offered you a chance to come back. You…who chose to hide in the shadows and pull strings."
Jas shrugged; he had no need to defend his choices.
He had accepted the mission the council had given him five years ago, and now, that he realized that there was more for him than mere duty, he could finally say he was content with that choice.
It took coming here to realize it, he thought to himself, by helping Vess and Val, it helped me as well. I've finally found my way back.
He had found the serenity that he had sought. He was no longer hiding behind a mask of apathy.
He felt hope, both hope and compassion.
Why was his own brother trying to belittle him for that? Surely, he could feel the truth?
"I chose to remain where I could help, to use my skills for the benefit of others."
"You could have been so much more," Sy replied, "You chose to step away from the order. You may think yourself an acolyte of the light, but all you are is a useful pawn of the powerful."
Sy sneered at him.
"You are a common thief, Jas. You aren't worthy to stand in the light. You are not fit to call yourself a Jedi!"
"I never said I was," he responded, he was starting to get angry now, but he would not let Sy bait him.
I walk the path that the Force has put me on. I don't need to swagger around in Jedi robes to prove that I listen to the will of the living Force and try to do what is right.
"Be careful, brother," he said, "Your pride will be your undoing, if you let it."
Sy laughed at that.
"You think I care what you think? You are not walking the path of the light, brother. I can sense it. It is not the Force that guides your actions, but your weaknesses, your attachments."
"You actually care about the Bann, you think you're playing the hero, but you are wrong. You are standing in the way of the Republic, the light in the darkness."
"A government is NOT the Force, brother. People are flawed, they can be greedy, and they make mistakes."
"And as a thief you would know all about greed, wouldn't you?"
Jas ground his teeth; he was trying to maintain his calm.
There was no emotion, there was peace.
Sy was trying to bait him again, like he had done on Peebee, but again, why?
Why was it so important to him to see me lose control?
"I won't deny that I was shocked that I heard you came back. I was surprised that the Mandalorians took you in. Why that nest of savages didn't kill you on the spot, I'll never know."
"Careful, brother," Jas warned him again, "Do not speak ill of my clan."
"Your clan?" Sy sneered, "You actually think you are one of them?"
"I never swore the creed, but that doesn't mean that I don't care what happened to them. They took care of me, gave me a choice, let me choose the path that I wanted to walk."
"Isn't that what family is suppose to do? Aren't they there to help you find your way?"
"Butchers and bounty hunters all," Sy growled, "I can see where you started to go wrong now, having to survive in that nest of scum."
"Don't," Jas warned him again.
"And when you escaped them, you still didn't come back, you didn't seek to rejoin the order, and make a real difference, you became a criminal, an ally of thieves and liars."
Sy Dar Bynn shook his head.
"The council should have just taken your blade and sent you the labor corps, at least there you would be productive, at least there you wouldn't be damaging the galaxy anymore than you already have."
Sy tried to walk away, from his emotions, Jas sensed that he was done with him, that his brother believed both fully and truly that he was above him in all things.
He thinks he is better than me, Jas realized.
Maybe that was what did it.
Jas Dar Bynn's eyes narrowed.
He had heard enough.
He had had enough!
"SY!"
He grabbed his brother's sleeve and spun him around, Sy hissed, and looked about to push him away, but in that moment, that brief instance of contact…
Jas gasped.
In that moment…he saw it.
In that moment…his whole understanding of the last fifteen years changed.
He felt swept away, the Force moved him in a way that he couldn't believe.
He couldn't move, and he couldn't speak, but he could see.
After all this time, he could finally see.
HE was back about the Jedi ship, he was nine years old again, only this time he was not seeing with his own eyes, he was seeing with the eyes of his brother.
He was looking through the grey eyes of Sy Dar Bynn.
Again, he heard the blaring of alarms, felt the ship exploding all around them. He found his way into an escape pod, the noise and the flashing lights drowning out everything around them…almost everything.
Sy looked up, he saw Jas, his twin, his blood, running down the crumbling corridor, the deck shaking around them, the sound of distant explosions heralding the end of the ship.
Sy reached out for his brother, he was so close now, so close to joining the rest in escaping, in returning to safety, and his life.
Sy had known that Master Venari had asked Jas if he would be his student. He had embraced his brother, and they had celebrated his good fortune.
Sy…Sy had been happy for him…or…had he?
Jas felt it, that ripple in the Force, temptation, and with it a thought, a thought that no nine-year-old boy should have, not towards his brother, not towards anyone.
He stands in your way, the voice of ambition whispered, he has never understood.
He will waste all that has been given him.
Sy heard that whisper, and then…in a moment of weakness…he had listened.
He had.
He gestured, it was the smallest of things, just a slight shift in the Force.
The deck plate between Jas and the escape pod exploded upward, flinging him back, there was another explosion and…
SHHHHHHHHHCK!
The pod sealed, its escape thrusters fired, and then…they were away, falling away.
Sy Dar Bynn stared out the viewport, watching the ship breaking up.
He knew what he had done, but in that moment, he did something he never thought he could have done.
He smiled.
You would have wasted your gifts, brother.
I will be better.
I…WAS always BETTER!
Jas gasped, he pulled away from his brother, and stared at him, seeing him for the first time with new eyes.
Sy Dar Bynn glared, he was angry again, not because of what Jas had done, but for what he had seen.
He knows, Jas thought, he knows that I know.
Jas Dar Bynn glared right back.
I know.
VMMMMMM!
Sy Dar Bynn stepped back, a blade of violet energy now glowed between them.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"Lower that blade…NOW!"
Jas heard, but he wasn't listening.
"You," he whispered.
"It was you!"
Sy swallowed hard.
"What? Me?"
"You stopped me from reaching the pod. You left me to die."
His breath hissed angrily as he stared at his brother.
"You abandoned me. You WANTED me to DIE!"
"You don't understand," Sy said, "You've never understood."
"What is to understand, Sy?"
Jas shook his head.
"Tell me something, when did you start thinking that you were better than me?!"
"I don't have to listen to this," Sy said trying to step around Jas' weapon, trying to escape into the hall.
His brother didn't let him.
He left me to die, the thought kept looping through his mind.
He left me to die!
"Do you deny it?" Jas asked, "Do you deny ripping up that deck plate? Do you deny trying to murder me?!"
Sy sniffed.
"I've never tried to murder anyone."
"But you did stop me from reaching the pod?"
Sy waved his hand dismissively.
"You are imagining things," Sy said, "I reached out with the Force, I tried give you a chance. You didn't jump soon enough. I raised that deck plate to help you. You could have leapt from it, and made it to the pod, but you were too slow."
His brother shook his head.
"You could have saved yourself, but you weren't good enough. You were never good enough, Jas."
"Is that what you tell yourself?" Jas demanded, "Is that how you justify what happened?!"
"I've nothing to justify, my conscience is clear. I've become everything that you never had the skill to become. I will sit on the Jedi Council one day, I will be grand master one day, and what will you be, Jas, some smuggler still wading through the filth of the galaxy!"
Jas was almost shaking now, he…he still couldn't believe it.
Now he understood why his brother had refused to reach out to him with the Force, why he had avoided him all these years.
He didn't blame himself for Jas's loss, he was angry that Jas had survived.
It didn't matter what lie Sy told himself, Jas now knew the truth.
He was determined to make sure that others knew it too.
"I'm taking you into custody, brother," he said.
Sy laughed.
"You want to arrest me?"
"Yes."
"For what? For tearing up a deck plate?"
Sy tried to step around him again, and again Jas blocked his path.
His brother gave him a dirty look.
"Get that lightsaber out of my face!"
"I said you are coming with me, Sy, you will go before the Jedi shadows."
Sy shook his head.
"You can't be serious. You aren't going to harm me, Jas. I can sense it. You are a thief, but you won't kill your own brother, you won't kill in cold blood."
Jas hissed angrily.
He could hear the distant whisper of the darkness; it was practically begging him to surrender to it.
All he had to do was let go, and Sy would realize just what it was he had created that day, he would.
VMMMMM!
The two brothers both looked up, a third lightsaber had been ignited, its aqua colored blade glowed brightly, turning its wielder's face as white as a bleached skull.
Mirax Fallenstar grinned as she stepped out of the shadows.
Jas was caught completely off guard.
What?
How?
He…he hadn't even sensed her?
"What is this," Sy demanded.
"Who are you?"
"Fallenstar," the bounty hunter said grinning, "But you can call me justice…TRUE JUSTICE!"
Sy's eyes widened.
"Fallenstar," he murmured, he must have recognized the name.
Suddenly, he felt something other than contempt.
He felt…fear.
"Jas," he gasped, "This…this woman…she is insane! She is a Dark Jedi, and an enemy of the order."
Fallenstar laughed, it was as cold as the icy grip of space.
"I'm just a simple girl trying to make her way in the galaxy, and you…are an attempted murderer. You tried to commit fratricide, you naught boy."
She held up her blade.
"Do you have any enemies? I'm sure you do. Tell me, how much do you think they would pay for your head?"
Sy Dar Bynn's eyes widened.
He senses it, Jas realized.
Fallenstar wasn't kidding, or lying.
She would happily take his head, and gladly take any number of credits offered for it.
It was the way she worked, the way her concept of justice worked.
"Jas," Sy said, realizing he was now pinned between two lit lightsaber blades.
"You…you can't let her do this!"
"Why not?" he asked.
"Would you let your own twin die? Your own blood?"
Jas frowned.
He…he…
Fallenstar grinned hungrily, she had the same look in her eye that she had years ago, back on Corellia.
Jas remembered that look.
She had nearly killed him that night, and would have had Mondar not intervened.
The bounty hunter licked her lips, she was a predator ready to consume her prey.
"I've known a lot of men like you," she said, "They think their power and privilege means that they can get away with anything, they don't think that justice applies to them…they…are wrong."
Sy Dar Bynn began to reach for his belt.
"Go ahead," Fallenstar said, "Draw your weapon, see what happens."
Sy pulled his hand away quickly, Jas could feel his fear now.
He was no longer in charge here, and he knew it.
He was on the verge of panic.
The unexpected always did throw you off your game, brother, Jas thought.
Now…he just had to decide what he was going to do.
"Jas," Sy said backing away from Fallenstar's lit weapon.
"Please."
Fallenstar was like the spring on a trap, her eyes were wild, like she was about to snap.
"You think you can hurt people and get away with it? I have news for you governor, you can't. YOU CAN'T!"
In that moment. Jas realized that Fallenstar was looking at Sy and not seeing him, she was seeing the man who drugged her, abused her, and slew her master.
She was one word away from lashing out at Sy, and if she did, she wouldn't stop until either he or she was dead.
That realization stopped Jas in his tracks.
He didn't want to see Fallenstar die, and, despite everything he had done, he didn't want to see Sy die either.
"Stop," he said, "Fallenstar! Stop! Please!"
She glanced over at him.
"Why should I? He deserves this!"
"Maybe," Jas said, "But you don't! Don't become what he thinks you are."
She glanced back and forth between the two brothers. Sy said nothing, he realized that if he dared, Fallenstar would attack.
"You say you serve true justice," Jas said, "Well, as one of the people that this man wronged, I'm asking you to step back. He isn't worth it."
The bounty hunter snarled, her code of justice clashing with her desire to punish someone she believed deserved it.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, "Why would you spare him? You heard what he did. You know very well what he did."
"I did, and I know," he agreed, "and still…I'm asking you to stop."
She swallowed hard, her eyes wide and angry.
"Jas," she said.
When he spoke again, it was in his softest and most compassionate of voices.
"Miri," he said, "Please…stop."
Fallenstar blinked, she…she looked like she had come out of some bad dream.
She didn't lower her weapon, but she was no longer radiating with that cold sense of malice that Jas had first felt on Corellia.
Finally, she lowered her weapon, and powered it down.
She sighed heavily.
"You are lucky your brother is here, pal," she said, "You should be on your way to one of my merchandise pods right now."
She turned to Jas, she smiled weakly.
"You…you called me, Miri?"
"Vess says it suits you," he said with a shrug.
"I'm starting to agree."
Fallenstar…Miri…smiled.
She stepped back, standing down, letting him decide what should happen next.
Jas sighed, and lowered his weapon.
"This is over, Sy," he said, "We're done. When we return to Coruscant with Vess, you are going to turn yourself over to the Jedi Council. It is time you answered for what you did."
Sy continued to watch Fallenstar, but he sniffed at his brother's command.
"You think Master Venari will believe that I acted with malice? I was a nine-year-old boy, Jas. They will look at my record since and know that I'm not what you think I am."
"You need to do this Sy, for your sake."
"Why? You think this will give you closure? You think the masters will see you as more than what you are?"
"This isn't about me?" Jas said, "It is about you? You can still come back; you can stop yourself from turning into something worse."
"I know what I am," Sy Dar Bynn said, "I'm a Jedi."
"Then you will do what is right," Jas said bowing to him, "Good bye, brother."
He turned and left, Miri falling in step behind him.
"You never understood, Jas," Sy called out.
"You never could grasp the bigger picture!"
Maybe so, he thought, but if grasping the bigger picture meant turning out like Sy, he didn't want to.
He sighed.
I'm not like you brother, and I never will be.
Praise the Force, for that.
"He is never going to do it, you know," Miri said, "I've known men like him, he will never confess to what happened."
"I've given him a chance," Jas said, "The same chance that Mondar gave you five years ago."
She frowned.
"You think he is worth saving?"
Jas shrugged.
"He is my brother. I have to think that he is worth it."
She nodded.
"My way would have been faster. You wouldn't have had to wait to see justice done."
"Justice will be done," Jas said, "But first, we need to help Vess. She is the priority."
She shrugged.
"You're the client," she said, "Your call."
He nodded.
"Thanks for standing down, Miri. You…you did good."
She smirked.
"Don't tell anyone, I have a bad reputation to uphold."
He smiled.
"Don't worry," he promised.
"My lips are sealed."
