Unlike Twa'janii Station, Ord Lagaran Staging Platform offered the first of many needed reassurances with the dense and diverse population to be found there. A great many ships had been entering and leaving the system when they arrived. It was far too large to be all part of yet another conspiracy just waiting to be sprung upon them.
It was all Maarani could think about in the time it took them to get from Telos to Ord Lagaran. Even before they arrived at the Exchange outpost, she knew that she would inevitably have to confront Zariba alone, on her own terms. And with the other four set to wander the station in search of supplies and new weapons while the ship itself was given an overhaul, that time of confrontation had arrived.
"Two thousand credits? What exactly are you hoping to buy Cecile?"
She could hear the four arguing in the centre room from her seat at the kitchen alcove. Cecile using deductive logic to justify her excessive share. Dana making the valid point that she could get stolen just for holding that much money. Izan asking the equally valid question about what she actually intended to purchase with that money.
As expected, Jayden's voice rang out loud yet again.
"You haven't decided? Cecile, this isn't an excursion to a racing arena. And there's still too much junk lying around here already."
The discussion went on for a bit longer before it finally broke up. Cecile had somehow gotten her requested funds after all, and was the first to make her way over to the boarding ramp.
Maarani's gaze returned to her drink while two of the others followed after. The last took a seat opposite her. She knew immediately that it wasn't Zariba, as she hadn't been let out of her confinement yet.
"Are you certain you want to do this alone? We won't be able to help if something goes wrong, not immediately anyway."
She dragged a fingernail across the table. Safer to have Dana there certainly. But it would also inhibit what she could say, what she wanted to say. For all the nice things she had said and from the moment they met outside the Jedi Temple to that very question, there were still things that Maarani couldn't bring herself to say in front of her.
"I'll manage. I need to know what happened that one night together for starters. And that is absolutely between myself and Zariba."
Dana's breath slowed a little. The particularly volatile nature of Maarani's mood swings lately had become taxing. And that last thought carried a great deal of bitterness with it. Her moment of concentration was just that, a brief pause, but it had been quite the strain within.
"I'm going to say this again for the sake of it. I will listen to anything you have to get off your chest. I'm not the Jedi Council watching over a padawan who's showing signs of a bad path being taken after all. The bond between master and student, psychologist and patient, or however else you want to look at this has to be above that. Alright?"
Maarani didn't waver in her glare. She didn't want to look Dana in the eye just yet.
"I've got too much to get off my chest. Just go and get Zariba in here already."
Her lips tightened in a little when she finally heard Dana walking off, and returning a minute later with Zariba in hold.
"Sit. And don't forget that I will know if you try anything at all. You won't get one foot off the ship."
Were the mood different, that might have struck Maarani as unusual for Dana to say. Right then and there, she didn't care. For once in her life, she was the one calling the shots, laying the rules, and asking the questions.
It wasn't until she heard Dana leaving the ship altogether that she finally took a deep breath and lifted her head, meeting Zariba's equally cold gaze.
"After we're done discussing the truth about what happened on Twa'janii, I'm going to tell you a little more about myself. Because, I want you to understand just how painful your betrayal was to me. The others won't understand just how hard it is to feel anything when you've had your emotional heart torn out time and again. And you did that one too many times…"
Difficult as it was to find a decent spot to actually stop and talk on the station, Dana did eventually find a suitably recognizable sign for them to meet under.
"We meet back here when Teegs calls, or in three hours. If something comes up, or you're being followed, notify whoever is nearest. Hopefully we don't have to leave before we actually get everything we came here for."
Izan scratched around the back of his head. "Which was what exactly? I know we never actually got those EVA suits for one. And we can't exactly do much flight training in three hours."
"I'll work out the EVA suits, they're bound to have a Twi'lek helmet here as well. Flight training can wait for when we get the ship upgraded properly." Dana looked up to Jayden, who had seemingly already found something to focus her attention on. "Discrete communicators would be ideal, the sort that fit in the ear if you see them on the way. Maybe they also have one designed for Twi'lek women."
"Possibly. I'll be looking for personal shield generators of decent quality in the meantime. Both you, Izan, and Maarani need something better than leather jackets for protection."
Dana gave a shrug to that before looking to Cecile. The droid had been watching them all in surprising silence, barely even moving a finger. "Still not going to tell us what you're planning on doing?"
Cecile's eyes flickered, and her usual idle motions returned again. "If I told you, I might not be allowed to proceed. Rest assured that I have the best interest of the Mistress in mind. Good day."
The remaining trio watched her shuffle off in surprised silence. That was rather more polite of Cecile than they had come to expect. And while her silence was suspicious, there wasn't a whole lot she could do without them finding out immediately anyway.
When the silence grew awkward, each looked to the others with a bit of a shrug.
Jayden put her helmet back on before preparing to leave. "I expect we'll be done in just one hour, if that. Ord Lagaran is not known for its cuisine or alcohol if you're looking for distractions." She left without further word, her helmet still visible above most of the crowd until she was beyond the curvature of the corridor..
Izan shoved both hands in the pockets of his jacket, glancing to Dana. "So, assuming that buying more pazaak cards would be utterly pointless for everyone else, what's left for me?"
"Supplies, I think it's time we avoided populated planets for a few weeks."
She made an observational look around the rest of the corridor. If anything, he had already done his part in securing more funds for them to work with, and at no small personal cost. Handling the harder items herself only seemed fair.
"Something to help Teegs sort out the mess of parts would help too. Maybe a second droid?"
After scratching his beard, Izan gave another shrug. "I'll see what I can do."
Utan was still surprised by how empty the archives were as he entered the expansive hall again. Something he had noticed before was that the area below the walkways and the workstation itself had been giving off a bioluminescent light. Only now it was far brighter, casting the columns that continued to float around silently in a jade light.
It made it harder to see from a distance that the previously brilliant consoles had been dimmed, likely as a result of Molbe's absence. In further discussion, she had mentioned that her work there was solitary, and it was unlikely that a replacement would be ready so soon.
Whatever other risks there were to accessing the files had to be considered irrelevant. Every day spent on Mirial with unseen enemies moving in put both Molbe herself, and Maarani's group in increasing danger. And with more secure access codes in hand from his slicing efforts the day before, now was the time to dive into the truth.
It took more effort than expected to clamber up onto the solitary chair available on the platform, likely due to a lack of it ever needing adjustment when there was only one operator at a time. When he did finally settle into the surprisingly cold seat, the panels laid out before him lit back up into the dazzling display.
"Hm."
He gestured to a control system on his left. A hologram flickered into existence before him, depicting the appearance of an older Mirialan man in a rather overtly firm stance.
"Sento! Ni kawa lok si nawa! Sen-"
The hologram vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, a gruff from Utan following after. His understanding of the Mirialan language was quite poor, something Venu knew as evident by her 'private' conversations with Molbe. And the tone that the hologram spoke with didn't give the helpful impression either.
His attention moved towards the centre panel, another gesture bringing up an interface that displayed text in Mirialan.
"Last time I decline language studies…" He closed his eyes and raised his hand to the screen. After a few moments, it finally began cycling through translations until setting on Basic.
That time he grunted in approval and began browsing through the very well organized lists. As he guessed earlier, a number of the floating pillars were built around non-Republic data storage systems, likely containing either records from the very early days of Mirial, or from worlds they had conquered since then.
Yet another surprise came when he narrowed his search down to a specific segment. On cue, the pillars began to glide around silently in order to make way for the one in question as it moved towards the central panel. A beam of soft green light formed between the two objects, allowing for full data access at last.
"A little impractical, if not intriguing."
His musing continued while he scanned through the files in question. Most of it he had already seen back on Coruscant. Daily reports of Blue, Green and Zeta Squadron' patrols, 227th Infantry Division's peacekeeping operations on the ground, records of supply shipments to and from Mirial.
Further in, he found more previously viewed files, most notably the psychological reports he had poured over with Pettadal.
A cold feeling began to form as a closer examination revealed that Maarani's specific files were undeniably absent. As was any detail in the reports that he hoped would lead him to the answer he sought.
With another gruff, he slid off the chair to access the underside of the panel with a slicing tool concealed in his left pocket.
"Unauthorized access detec-"
Hearing the same Mirialan voice cut off a second time brought a smile to his face as he clambered back out from under the panel. The intrusion would be discovered eventually. But with luck, he would be back on Coruscant by then, and thus spared the experience of explaining himself.
To the utter horror of Cecile as she walked into the droid workshop, the single attendant and apparent engineer of the place was yet another bright blue Twi'lek. And she looked just as young as Maarani, if not younger still. It was already bringing back horrible memories of the Mirialan child from the depths of her memory core.
"Oh wow! A 3rd Iteration CC droid!" The Twi'lek hopped over the table in a moment of excitement to get a closer look at the now panicked droid. "No-one's been taking care of you for a while huh? All the synthflesh is gone, there's corrosion everywhere."
Cecile pushed her hands away when they came uncomfortably close to feeling her over. "Please, I have enough trouble as is keeping my Mistress at bay." When the Twi'lek relented at last, she straightened up and lowered her arms back down. "I need a combat protocol module installed, as well as a wireless transceiver for my vocabulator. I have sufficient credits for parts and services, and would prefer minimal interaction."
The Twi'lek hummed in thought, then finally shrugged and made her way back to the workshop area. "Just lay down on the table and I'll get to work. 3rd Iter CC's have front access for the head, right?"
A low buzz came from Cecile's vocabulator. The memories were not going away anytime soon.
"Yes."
"Great, I'll get everything together then, we can be done in half an hour." She made her way around the cluttered workspace, searching every drawer for the requested parts, and the tools and programming chips necessary to implement them.
After pulling a nearby cart over with her foot, she glanced back at Cecile, who by then had settled herself on the metal worktable. "I'm Lani by the way. Uh, anything else you want installed? Could always call up your 'Mistress' if you need more credits."
Cecile buzzed again, not doing a good job of hiding her discontentment. "Designated CC-13. The items I requested are enough."
"Sure thing."
As soon as Lani brought the cart over, a bag of credit chips was dropped on it by Cecile. With a short sigh, she took the bag over to a nearby table and returned to work. "Before you shut down for maintenance mode, I need to know if there's anything important I should be aware of. Modifications, enhancements, deficiencies…"
"Running diagnostics…" The buzz came on yet again, accompanied by a rapid flickering of her eyes. "No abnormalities detected."
"Fine, I'll get started when you're ready."
"Initiating maintenance shutdown procedure."
Once the final buzz had been sounded, Lani reached in at last to unclasp Cecile's face. The hinge at the top was stiff from age, but didn't require a discomforting amount of effort to push open. Below the faceplate was a different story. While some parts had clearly been replaced within the past few months, most of the components were grimy and potentially shorting out.
"No wonder you're buzzing and flickering."
After removing the upper component layer and setting it aside, she had a much better view of the protocol and memory cores. The nanny protocol package was there as expected, while alongside it sat what she soon recognized as a starship maintenance package.
"Your 'Mistress' has a strange sense of humour, and doesn't think to clean everywhere apparently."
She proceeded to remove a few more of the other components to provide better access to the package slots, and to the vocabulator further down. Right before installing the combat module, the memory core's placement finally caught her attention.
"It shouldn't be this low down, so why would anyone move it..."
With some careful unlatching, and a more precise tool, she undocked the package sockets and lifted the whole mess out. Above the memory core in question, stamped with 'CC-13', sat what looked to be a second memory core. It took a fair amount of work to wipe away enough grime to find 'DCE-06' stamped into the metal casing.
"DCE? What the hell is DCE?"
She glanced over at her computer terminal. Something felt very off about the second core, but the fact that she had never heard the acronym once before worried her.
On reaching her decision, she left the other components on the cart and hastily wiped her hands down on her overalls on the way to the computer. A quick search of the station database gave nothing in regards to the acronym either.
With nothing else to go on, she returned to her task with the mindset of trying to ignore the discovery for as long as she could.
Just like that, the second memory core was covered back up, piece by piece. The transceiver fitted onto the vocabulator, protocol packages reinserted, and the inner components of her face clipped back into place. When the plate came back down, there was virtually no sign that anything had changed.
"Re-initialize, maintenance complete."
She was quietly relieved when Cecile powered on and sat up without any issue. No flickering or buzzing, and no apparent change to her personality.
"I don't feel any different. There isn't a sudden compulsion to go to a firing range and test out some blasters."
"Droid's don't have compulsions, or feel things though…"
Cecile shrugged Lina's words off while removing herself from the table altogether. "I have no reason to believe you skimped on parts there. It's not like I was recently accosted by Twi'lek mechanics on a crazy cultist colony after all. Good day."
When she left the workshop area, over the disapproving hums of Lina, her eyes flickered.
"I came to that dinner with a blaster shoved between my boobs. Izan and I both felt something was off. I told him to forget it because I thought you were pretty, and wanted to trust you."
Zariba's lip trembled a little, her gaze having drifted well away from the cold glare across from her.
"You had so many opportunities to tell me something was wrong, that we had to leave. We slept together and you told me nothing!"
The trembling faded, if just a little. For all the pain that Maarani had caused in turn, the words just spoken cut deeper than ever.
Her head slowly lifted, though her eyes were slower to do so, held back by her ever-present apprehensions. "You betrayed me too. I was terrified of what you'd do if I told the truth sooner, that you'd run off without me, the only friend I've been close with. I guess it's even worse than I thought huh?"
A very faint rumble ran through her fingertips into the table, pupils tightening as a spark of self-assuredness flared up. "I thought you were feeling guilty all this time, that you'd eventually apologize." The rumbling grew a little louder. "You don't give a shit about anyone other than yourself though, not unless they always put on a nice smile for you. My father loves me more than you think. More than you ever could. I'm starting to understand that now."
Some impulse in the depths of Maarani's mind told her to lash out. A strike to put her prisoner in place. The impulse had Omena's voice behind it.
"Zariba, I told you I'd know the instant you try using the Force. You've got five seconds-"
"I'm handling it Dana."
She nearly threw the communicator across the room on an identical impulse.
"I told you, I've lost so many people that I loved over the years. It hurts more when I open up after four only to be stabbed like this. I had to learn how to get over it on my own." For the first time since Zariba had sat down, her eyes wandered down to the table. "I'm not here to make myself feel better about taking you hostage against a death threat."
She reached into her jacket and slowly removed a projector. After making a few adjustments, she set it on the table between them.
The first display was of a young Twi'lek girl, bearing vaguely similar tattooing to Maarani's original patterns.
"Nurrina and I were childhood friends. We were around eleven when we started to draw closer, bit by bit…"
Her voice was starting to waver, small shudders racking through her fingers as she reached up to the projection. Eventually after that, her gaze rose up again.
"I was barely fifteen when she was taken by the Hutts. So many of my friends were dragged from their beds screaming. When my parents went to rescue them, they didn't come back with Nurrina."
Zariba's expression was cold.
It didn't stop Maarani from proceeding. The second image was of a human woman, pretty to look at, and wearing an identical jacket to the one she had on.
"Tebahney, Blue Eight, Sharpeye was her flight name. Two months before the Mandalorian Siege we hit it off." A shuddering breath that wracked her nerves was drawn. Every memory drawing closer to the core of her pain. "She died spotting out a fatal error in our attack plan. We very nearly allowed the Mandalorian stealth fleet to fly into a massacre. And while she got a posthumous medal, I nearly got court marshaled for making good on her discovery."
This time, Zariba's lip tightened a little, as did her fingers now gripping onto either arm. "Am I supposed to feel sorry? You're not in a position to make me feel guilty. What happened to them is awful yes, but that's no excuse for what you've done."
Maarani snatched the projector away and shoved it back in her jacket. The fierce glare had returned at last. "Fuck you. Your father kills people in the name of a long gone malfunctioning droid! I fought for eight years to defend the billions of innocent people in the Republic! I am the one with the moral high ground here!"
Zariba's gaze turned down once more. "Keep telling yourself that…"
Tears began to well up. Maarani's self taught lie was coming undone altogether. The last straw had been pulled.
Hit her.
Blue flashed past Zariba's eyes. Her head shot up in a reflex to see Maarani's fist slamming into the bulkhead wall. Through the thud, she heard an unpleasant crack. Blood began to trickle down from the impact zone shortly after.
Maarani's breathing was very heavy, and a dangerous tone had come to her voice. "Go back to your room. Now."
She waited until the sound of the door being closed before pulling her hand away. It was shaking heavily, unsurprising as she had managed to break two of her fingers.
Izan was first back to the ship, leaning against a few crates containing food and medical supplies when the two Jedi returned. To his left was a rather rugged looking astromech droid that beeped to both in greeting.
"Maarani isn't in a good mood, figured I'd hide behind one of you rather than facing her alone."
The expected eyeroll came from Jayden to his surprise.
"I see no point in reminding everyone that I had serious doubts from the beginning, but then I don't need a reason to."
While Jayden went ahead with a few cases in hand, Dana approached more slowly, a hovercart carrying the EVA suits behind her.
"Have you talked to her yet, or is this just an assumption?"
"I haven't gone inside yet. But, something just felt like it was warning me she didn't want anyone near her." He rubbed at the side of his head briefly. It was now becoming a familiar feeling, something he had noticed most prominently on Twa'janii Station.
Dana already knew what the feeling was, though her understanding of it was still limited, so she remained silent on the matter. "Just get this stuff up to the cargo hold. We've got the cart on loan until we depart. I'll handle Teegs."
Shortly after the ascent into the ship, she noticed Cecile with a small case that contained four small blaster pistols However concerning the sight was, it was still a minor issue that would only get in her way.
"Teegs? You doing okay?"
From a glance through the bulkhead she saw an empty common room. And yet, that was the first place she was drawn to. "Teegs, you can't keep brooding about this. If you've said your peace, let the issue go…"
Her voice trailed off a bit after her glance around the room settled on a mess of blood on the bulkhead behind the table. Zariba hadn't done anything, so the only other possibility that remained…
She very nearly knocked Jayden over in her bolt to where Zariba was being kept. The door was thrust open with an equal amount of haste.
"What happened? Did she-"
All Zariba did was twitch the corner of her mouth into the hint of a smirk. By all appearances, she was untouched, and revelling in that fact.
"Some Jedi she's going to become."
Dana left the door open in her rush to the cockpit. In what was becoming an uncomfortably familiar sight, Maarani was focused entirely on the ship controls and paying no attention to her approach. This time however, she had a blood-soaked bandage around her hand, with some bits of plastic strapped down around two fingers.
"Teegs, what happened? And don't tell me 'nothing' when I'm looking at a bloodied hand."
"Fuck off."
At that, Dana grabbed the chair and forcibly turned it around. The resistance from Maarani was clear, and only made her own concern stronger.
"Zariba got to you, didn't she? She didn't even have to use her own powers for that." When the defiant expression persisted, Dana slowly reached up to clasp at her jaw, feeling more pressure than ever at that moment. "Jayden was right. Or at least was on the right track. Holding her wasn't enough to stop the Hidden Hand from trying to kill you. If anything happens to her, they'll go all out. And she knows that."
"Then I'll kill them when they come…"
Dana got down on one knee at that, her hand moving from the chair to Maarani's shoulder. "Right from the start, the Jedi Council made it clear to both of us that you are not to be involved in fighting. This kind of thinking will eat away at the good person I've come to know. The person that Masadar would be proud to call his daughter."
The tears began to start up again for the young Twi'lek, though they were not out of sadness, or guilt.
"You really don't know what you're talking about. You don't know me at all..."
Another sigh followed before Dana moved her hand yet again to prop her chin up enough to meet her watery gaze. "I'm not leaving your side throughout this ordeal. I was tasked with guiding you through these coming months, and nothing is going to change that."
There was a brief pause as she let Maarani's head drift back down again.
"Let me handle Zariba from now on, we can drop her off at the next landing point with credits to get back home and hope that it's enough to make Seradan back off. If it isn't, we'll face him when he comes. Together."
"And the HK-50 droids, and the Sith?"
Jayden had only just walked in, and was met with glares by the other two occupants. "I heard only that you plan to let the girl go and take our chances on the run. Quite frankly it sounds like a better plan than what this supposed visit to Jedi allies started out as."
"We didn't expect forces other than the Sith to take interest when the plan was made. And you still have a score to settle with the droids, no?"
For once, Jayden held her tongue. What Dana said sounded very suspiciously like an attempt to bait a reaction out of her. "I won't be alone when I face them next time. When we do find them, I'm calling in Mandalorian support to wipe them out decisively. That's my decision to make."
"As a liaison between the Jedi and the Mandalorians, not as someone who is supposed to be protecting Tegama."
"I can't protect her from her own mood swings. That was your job specifically in fact."
At that, she glanced over at the mess that was Maarani's right hand. A small sigh of disappointment came. "That explains the blood."
Between the glare from Dana, who by then had stood back up, and the downtrodden look of Maarani herself, Jayden finally relented with another small sigh.
"I sometimes hit things when I'm frustrated too. Maybe consider installing a punching bag at some point for us both to make use of."
"How long before you decide to use the Force to knock it clean off the roof?"
"Go away. Both of you."
Maarani left a streak of drying blood on her head when she rubbed up along her temples in a tired manner, looking to both shortly after. "We're going into deep space for a while, and I want to start my quiet time now. Zariba can wait a week longer."
Only when they both finally left did she turn her chair back around and set the final adjustments for departure from the station, now waiting on Izan to finish loading the ship. The prospect of having a week to herself without any crisis to overcome was barely enough to keep her from screaming.
"Access restricted. Secondary authorization required."
For the upteenth time, Utan's forehead landed right in the palm of his hand. What had initially seemed to be a promising start to his slicing effort had led to block after block. The levels of security placed on that one file, and others hidden alongside it were astounding. Whatever the Hidden Hand had done on Mirial had Republic Intelligence shaking in their boots by all accounts.
As if to relieve him of the growing stress, his communicator signalled up again. Venu was on the other end unsurprisingly.
"I don't mean to rush you, but I've heard word that some of the authorities here are growing suspicious of people running reconnaissance in the city. If you can't get the information soon, we'll have to abandon it."
"I'm close, I just need a while longer." He hummed in thought for a few moments, looking at the restriction, then looked back to the hologram. "I need an access code from Republic Intelligence. Any one will do. Contact whomever you need to and relay it immediately. Until then, I'll try to slice through manually."
He barely had time to shut off the communicator before his awareness kicked in. There was danger approaching, and yet he was only just now sensing it. As he slowly turned around, the wrongness of that became even more apparent.
"Toss the lightsaber away."
Utan did just that with a growing frown. He slipped off the chair onto the ground as instructed by his new captor by a wave of her blaster. After a few moments, he finally recognized her.
"Chief Rinzaan. We met at a strategy meeting once. There to represent Republic Intelligence."
Rinzaan smiled at that, taking the moment to adjust the cap that concealed most of her native tattooing.
"We wanted to see how far the Jedi were willing to delve into the deep dark of matters where they don't belong. After all, you have secrets of your own to keep, and until now we chose to respect that. This intrusion changes things."
"I didn't believe Republic Intelligence would agree to release the information, even as part of an exchange. And if I asked, it would just be buried deeper."
The smile grew wider as her finger began to close down on the trigger. Seeing the Jedi squirm under the effects of the radiating resin was bringing a lot of joy indeed.
"You would find that these secrets are far better where they are than in the hands of anyone else. And as for the exchange of information, something tells me you wouldn't want to reveal why Tegama'Arani is so important to the Jedi…"
Her imposing speech was interrupted by a swift strike to the back of the head by Venu, who after shaking the pain out of her hand dragged the unconscious woman onto her back.
"What the hell is it with you getting caught out at the worst times? And by another Rattataki no less."
Utan gave only a slight shrug as he retrieved his lightsaber and clambered back onto the seat. "If that was the Force giving me exactly what I asked for, then it has a very unusual sense of humour today." To his short relief, the system hadn't timed out on him just yet.
"See if you can find anything that has her access code on it. And for that matter how did you get up here so quick-"
To his great discomfort, Venu was already performing a mind invasion on Rinzaan to obtain the code directly. Unlike Molbe, she had shown every intention to kill, and in this case there was little other choice, but it was still a very disconcerting sight indeed.
When Venu was done, she clutched at her head for a few moments before turning and stumbling up to the access panel. "She'll have a nasty headache when she wakes. I landed the ship nearby in a hopefully secure location. Seems that some other old friends of mine haven't taken kindly to the security alerts, we're on the verge of another riot in the city."
The computer cycled for a few seconds after the code was put in. To the relief of both, it finally passed through into the array of files hidden until that moment.
"Finally. Open a transmission to the Temple, there's a section ready to receive everything."
While Venu prepared the transmitter, he quickly sifted through the files now available to him. To his relief, the psychological report was first among them. A sign that they were on the right track.
"Transmitter aligned. Here's hoping they're too busy elsewhere to notice."
Utan nodded at that, setting the upload on all the files in question while continuing to browse. Further in came holographic recordings, all dated in succession, and marked only by acronyms that he couldn't discern the meaning of.
"This must be interview files with any captured members of the Hidden Hand, and anyone else involved in whatever transpired here."
After glancing over them a bit longer, he selected one at last. 'Molbe' was listed as the subject line. "If they interrupt the transmission, I think it best that we know exactly what this has been all about."
After another tedious pause, the hologram flickered on at last. Three people were displayed. Molbe as expected, bound to a chair by her hands, and quite obviously sobbing. The others…
"By the gods… We were wrong…"
"Answer the question! Who planted the bomb?"
"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!"
Utan drew a sharp breath upon seeing the Togruta deliver a sharp punch to Molbe's stomach. It was unmistakably the face of Omena.
"Two hundred and eighty four innocent people died in the space of ten minutes that day! Their blood is on your hands until you tell us who!"
"I wasn't involved, I don't know anything-"
At that, the recording of Maarani kicked the chair out from under Molbe, and proceeded to bash her face in. Blow after blow after blow.
A fourth entered the display at that moment, barking orders in Ryl that made her stop at last.
This time, both Venu and Utan knew exactly what had been said. And while the former was too stricken with horror to repeat it, the latter felt he had to in order to dispel his disbelief.
"There's nothing more to be learned from her. Don't kill her, Blue Six…"
On cue, the three members of Blue Squadron left the room, leaving a badly hurt Molbe to sob for a while longer before the file ended altogether.
The air around Venu began to grow cold as she glared back at the files, her lips pulling away from her teeth to form a snarl.
"They extracted that segment from the rest, didn't they? They wanted my friends to see what would happen to them. What would happen when they dared to defy the almighty Republic!"
"Venu-"
Her hand went out to strike Utan clean from the seat. In an equally forceful response, he lifted his own to freeze her in position.
"We don't know the whole truth!"
"You let my padawan work alongside a barbaric soldier without any kind of supervision! What if she suddenly snapped and beat the everloving shit out of Carmen!? Like she did to Molbe!"
"We didn't know!"
Utan finally mustered the strength to push Venu away, his other hand now reaching for his lightsaber in a defensive gesture. Already he could sense the darkness starting to overwhelm her presence.
"Venu, following this incident, she was quite literally suicidal, unlike any of the others! I would say with certainty that being ordered to conduct this kind of illegal action broke her! And for the sake of all that is good, Jedi do not seek revenge!"
It took several moments for Venu to calm down. There was a small patch of ice at her feet that slowly melted away when she did. And even then, her voice still carried a bitter edge to it.
"When we get back, the Council better have a damn good reason for protecting her. Sith or not, my people would hang every last one of Blue Squadron out over this."
"Except the White Terror got to them first."
From beyond what normal hearing could perceive, they both heard the distant blare of sirens.
"It's starting. We need to go now, Molbe's waiting in the ship."
Utan nodded in agreement and looked back to the access panel. The transmission was just about complete anyway, and they had more than enough of the full holo-records to go on.
"Utan!"
"I'm coming." He hopped back down from the chair for the last time and followed on after. A single glance was all he gave Rinzaan before they reached the long ascent upward again.
Things had deteriorated further when they reached the surface. Fires had already broken out in the city below, casting the late evening sun in a menacing red haze. And worse still, there were security hovercars racing the mountainside towards them.
"For what it's worth Venu, I'm sorry it came to this…"
He turned around again only to find yet more weapons pointed at them both now. Some of the police force had already reached the plateau.
"We know you transmitted classified documents offworld! Surrender into custody!"
Venu's sleeves pulled back up her arms without any physical contact from herself.
"No."
A spray of lightning raced from her fingertips as she thrust them out, sending the enforcer line falling back to the ground. She grabbed onto Utan's arm and yanked him in the direction of the ship before he could protest again.
Molbe was waiting in the hatch for them both, quickly ducking out of the way when they bustled in.
"Someone already released files to the populace about the peacekeeping operation. That Republic soldiers were the ones behind people like me disappearing, torturing us for information."
Venu glanced to the cockpit briefly, then nodded with a pained expression. The moment was brief as she had to brace herself against Utan's hasty launch.
"We know. Blue Squadron was involved. And we're going to get justice for you and the others." She glared over her shoulder at Utan, who was currently occupied with dodging suppression fire from the surface. "Mirial should have refused the offer to rejoin the Republic. They've brought nothing to us but more blood."
For once, Utan had little argument to offer.
"The transmission was terminated shortly after receiving all files. As far as we know, the Mirialans won't have any record of an interception, and neither will the Jedi. We have everything they now have access to."
Seradan was still very silent. While the hologram didn't display what he was staring at, his posture made it all too clear that he was lost in contemplation.
"My daughter, in the hands of a brutalist. Hands stained with Mirialan blood, touching her…" A small scoff followed as he finally turned around to look at Aruga and the others. A twisted smirk was present on his face. "We now know why that musician was breaking into her quarters, don't we?"
Aruga slowly swallowed, trying to remain firm. "Our agents are being extracted from Mirial now, the planet is falling into anarchy. The Republic and the Jedi will be too busy to intervene if we make more advances on the Distant Star."
"No, not yet…"
Seradan let the moment sink in as he turned back to stare into the beyond. "Release these files to the galaxy. Make every single world in the Republic, the Empire, and neutral space see this. See her face. Many will not care, but those who do will demand that the Republic take control of its own soldiers. The Jedi will have to abandon or recall her. And we will demand Zariba's return if they do indeed return to Coruscant."
He reached up to his right lekku, scratching down the outside in a moment of thought. "If they decide to run, hunt them down. And if the rescue party finds a scratch on my little girl…" A short breath came right before the glance over his shoulder. "Send her head to the Jedi, and her body to the Senate. Without her hands. I want them to know that we are not a force to be trifled with."
"Of course. We will find her Seradan. The Hidden Hand prevails."
The trill of the computer station across the room woke Lina from her three hours of sleep in a state. She barely had time to pull a gown on before the computer opened up a holographic transmission anyway.
"Linak'udur, please respond promptly."
With a confused tilt of her head she approached the computer, taking that moment to adjust her lekku. "If this is a night-time call to fix a droid it'll have to wait."
"In this case it cannot. Records show you attempted to find information on a droid registry code identified as 'DCE'. Is that correct?"
She glanced away for a moment. Until that moment, she had effectively forgotten about the nanny droid as she had hoped to. And now she was getting a late hour call about it.
"Yeah, a unit called CC-13 walked in for some upgrades. I noticed a second memory core with that printed, found nothing about it and moved on.
"I see. I'm afraid I must ask you to remain in your quarters until I arrive in person. Do not attempt to leave the station or tell anyone else about this matter."
"What? But I-"
"Rest assured you are not in trouble, so long as you co-operate and do as instructed. In fact, I'd say that you are incredibly fortunate that your accidental discovery did not end with your evisceration. Good night."
