Disclaimer: I don't own the Star Wars universe or Star Wars KOTOR, George
Lucas and Lucas Arts do. They also own all the Characters and Worlds
contained therein. The characters created by me for this story are all
that I own.
Manaan - A Murder Trial
Our next destination was Manaan, I still had no idea how I was supposed to get us in and out of Korriban without being detected by Dark Jedi. I hoped some source of inspiration would strike me and the answer become clear. But in the meantime there was one more planet we could visit before Korriban.
The ocean planet of Manaan source of the kolto used in medical paks that had saved our lives several times. Once again Bastila and I shared a vision of the location of the Star Map, as before on Tatooine, the vision was not that helpful. It appeared that the Map was located somewhere on the ocean floor, but this planet was all oceans. I hoped that the force would guide us in the right direction as it had on Tatooine.
Bastila was still glancing at me after our discussion of the vision and I asked "You are curious about something?" She dropped her eyes then raised them and said "Am I so transparent? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering our bond. Yes, there is something I would like to ask, if you'll permit it." I nodded and waited for her to continue.
Bastila said "In our time together I've been watching you. You are a true servant of the light, you follow the tenets of the Jedi Order despite the lure of the dark side, and with so little training. For me it has always been a constant battle. Don't you find it difficult at all? You make it seem so easy, or is that only an illusion?"
I frowned thinking and slowly replied "Honestly, sometimes I don't think much about what I'm doing before I do it. In other cases I search my heart for what to do and the right thing makes itself known. In some cases it's a struggle not to give into anger or even my own twisted sense of humor."
Bastila frowned at me and I could see she was confused by the last thing I said. I said to her "Remember back on Tatooine, the man trapped by the droids?" She grimaced and nodded. I said "Before you and HK jumped in I almost told the man that I thought it was a good place to set up an ice water stand." Bastila gasped and then started laughing, "That would have been cruel" she gasped out between chuckles. "I wouldn't have of course, but it was on the tip of my tongue" I told her.
Bastila shook her head at me and controlled herself and said "In a way it's a relief to hear. I have never found the Jedi path and easy one to walk, and it's good to know that I'm not alone. I wish though that I had more moments like you do when the right path is clear to me. I've always struggled over my passions. I've always been too quick to anger, too quick to get involved. My instructors constantly berated me for it."
I chuckled and said "Well I can't say anything about getting involved, you have complained to me several times about my habit of going off and helping anyone who looked like they might possibly need it." She nodded and said "How did you know to talk to Eli and Matton anyway? I could tell Eli was lying when he spoke but I would have never gone over to talk to them." I frowned at her and said "You didn't feel something pulling your attention toward them?" She shook her head and frowned at me "Pulling my attention? No, nothing."
I said "How odd, that's how I usually get involved in other peoples difficulties, something about them draws my attention and when follow my feelings I find out there is some way I can help them." I paused thinking and then said "Now that I think of it, its similar to how I feel when I know what the right thing is to say in situations where I need to persuade people to listen." Bastila said "I do not understand what it is that you sense, maybe when this is over one of the Masters can answer your questions."
I nodded and said, "I think interrupted you, you had something else you wanted to say?" Bastila nodded and said "I've often dreamed that I might be able to confront Darth Malak myself. I dream I can use all this power I have to kill him and stop all the death and destruction. I just think of all the evil that the Sith have caused and I... I get so furious. Yet we are told that these feelings are the path to the dark side."
I could feel her emotions as she said this and I was very worried, such thoughts had been the downfall of many people. I said "It sounds like you have your own demons to face." Bastila looked at me thoughtfully and said "I suppose I do. Part of the thinks that it would be worth anything to vanquish evil, even if it meant giving into my base emotions. The very thought that I could become as evil as Malak; I just can't fathom it. It just doesn't seem possible. How could I..." she paused and caught my obvious concern and said "no, wait. I'm sorry. I shouldn't even be asking you this. The Jedi teachings are clear; who am I to question them? And even worse, who am I to try and make you question them?" I was confused since I hadn't taken anything she said as an attempt to make me question the Jedi teachings and said "What?"
Bastila was agitated now and said "These are dangerous thoughts, the indulgence of a vain mind. Please, forget I ever mentioned this." With that she quickly turned and left me, leaving me very concerned and worried for her.
I was worried about Bastila but I got the clear sense through the bond that she needed some time to think. We had landed on Manaan and I went and got Jolee and Carth to accompany me so that we could find out about Jolee's friend Sunry.
As we exited the landing bay we saw a Republic soldier and Sith soldier, the Sith soldier was insulting the Republic soldier and taunting him. When the Republic soldier finally threatened to hit him the Sith taunted him about the Selkath cameras and how he would like for him to make the first move. The Sith soldier finally left and the Republic soldier noticed us and snapped "Yea, what do you..?" Then he noticed my Jedi robes and started apologizing. I told him it was alright but he said that he should try and keep his calm like the Jedi. I smiled at him and asked him what the Sith had meant and he told me that they constantly taunted Republic citizens trying to get them to break Selkath law. If the Republic citizens responded they could get kolto export restrictions placed on the Republic and that might cause the Republic to lose the war. I nodded to him and thanked him for the information and he told us where the Republic Embassy was located.
We moved off in the direction that he indicated when a man paused and said "Carth, Carth Onasi is that you?" Carth said "Jordo?" They began talking about Telos and how they had both joined the militia together. The conversation got awkward as they talked about Telos and Jordo gave Carth his condolences on the death of his wife, and then said "At least your boy made it through alright." Carth looked at him and said "My... boy? You mean... Dustil?" Jordo looked at him and nodded and said that he had seen him on Korriban, that he was at the Sith Academy there. Carth was shocked and Jordo said hesitantly "Hope everything works out with Dustil." And then walked away saying he must get back to work.
Carth said to me "Dustil... Dustil is alive! We have to go to the Korriban academy and find him!" I nodded and told Carth that we would try and find him while we were on Korriban. Carth thanked me and said "I... I just have to see him. I have to know what happened to him." I nodded in understanding and waited for Carth to get himself back under control before we proceeded to the Selkath Port Official to pay the docking fee.
We walked into Ahto and I wandered toward the edge of the city where there was a wonderous ocean view. It was oddly peaceful watching the rippling waves for a few moments and I allowed myself a few minutes to enjoy it. I turned to Jolee and decided to remind him that he had never actually told me why he decided to come with us. He agreed that he hadn't and continued watching the water. I smirked and asked him if he was always going to be this elusive. He mentioned that he wasn't elusive, Twi'lek dancing girls after drinking too much Ondaran willek juice were elusive. I had to chuckle at that and he said that it had been time for him to move on from Kashyyyk. I asked him "Move on to where?" He quipped back "To bed. I'm old and tired, you know." I shook my head and said "No, really." Jolee asked me how many kilometer high trees can you find interesting after while and then there were all the critters. No he said he was happy to be back in space doing something new.
Then Jolee said something about my destiny again and how he couldn't help but be intrigued. I asked him what interest he had in my future. He said that he didn't have a vested interest, more of an idle curiosity. Jolee said "Your destiny is... rather unclear. In fact, everything about you that I can see is odd. Slightly off, as if my eyes were trying to trick me. Something.... something is very dark about you..." I stared at him startled wondering what he could mean, as far as I knew I hadn't knowingly done anything dark in my life. At least in the life that I could remember, I wondered suddenly chilled if there were something dark in the past that I did not remember.
Jolee said breaking my thoughts "I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. You remind me a bit of Nomi, heh heh, and that can't be all bad." I was distracted from my thoughts and said "Nomi? Whose Nomi?" Jolee said "Nomi Sunrider. She came late to the Force, just as you have, and became one of the greatest Jedi ever. Oh, fine, fine lass. Whether you'll follow the same path remains to be seen. For one thing, we'll never get anywhere if you stand around chatting up old men all day..."
I took the hint and we continued our search for the Republic Embassy. We found Elora, Sunry's wife first. She had heard from the Selkath that we were on Manaan and had come looking for us. She begged us to go to the Selkath courts and talk to the Judges. Maybe they would listen to us she said.
We went to the court and inquired about the Sunry murder trial and were told that in Manaan legal tradition the defendant could have an Arbiter whose duty was to prove their innocence in court. I agreed be Sunry's Arbiter and the Selkath Judge filled me in on the details of the case. Sunry had been seen leaving the room of Elassa Huros, who was found dead shortly afterward. Witnesses were being detained at the hotel. Elassa had died of a blaster wound and a Republic medal of Sunry's had been found clutched in her hand. No other evidence had been found at the scene to indicate the identity of the guilty party.
I was told that when I felt I had gathered enough evidence, I was to speak to the warden in charge of the prison where Sunry was being held and the trial would commence.
I decided to interview the witnesses first and we proceeded to the hotel. After questioning the hotel manager Ignus I knew that Sunry and Elassa had regular meetings at the hotel, at least once every week or so. The manager thought they were having and affair, and was pretty certain that Sunry had left her hotel room after the blaster shot, but he admitted the that it was barely possible that Sunry had left just right before the shot. But he was not willing to testify to that. I thanked him and went to interview the two other witnesses.
Firith Me, a Pazaak player, told me that he had heard the blaster shot and remained in his room for a minute then looked to see what was going on. He saw Sunry running and Gluupor in the hall by Elassa's room. He verified that Elassa and Sunry had met frequently in the hotel and had kept people up with their 'antics'. Then he made and interesting statement "There isn't any rule against Sith and Republics seeing each other for personal reasons. Although if you think her Sith Master didn't know, heh, you must be fooling yourself." He got nervous then and tried to tell me that all Sith had Masters but I was able to flatter him into telling me what he had seen to make him say that. He had brushed up against the woman one night and had seen a lightsaber under her cloak. Hmm, I thought to myself, this case was getting more interesting by the moment, a Dark Jedi and a Repubic War hero. She had probably been getting information from him and trying to turn him to the dark side to serve the Sith.
I went to see Gluppor next, he admitted he did not see Sunry actually murder the Sith woman but he saw him running away. Caught by his second reference to the Sith woman's room I asked him more, he said that he had no reason to go in the room no one paid for him to go in the room. I realized he wasn't that bright and asked him if someone had paid him to do something in the room. He was astonished and asked how I had known, a Sith man had come up to him and paid him to plant Sunry's medal at the scene.
I decided it was time to go and confront Sunry with what I had learned so far and see what he had to say about his relationship with Elassa. The Selkath prison guard let us into see Sunry and I asked him if he and Elassa had been having an affair. He finally admitted that they had but passionately said that he hadn't killed her, he had loved her. I stared at him realizing though the Force that he was both lying and telling the truth. But to what? He continued saying that he had went there with the intention of breaking off the affair, that he had made a terrible mistake getting involved with Elassa. All of this was truth I could sense.
Sunry continued trying to convince me that he had found out later that she was dead, but he didn't deserve to go to jail for just having an affair. I could sense with a sinking heart that most of this was a lie, somehow Sunry had killed the woman. I reached out with my force senses toward Sunry and encountered rolling dark emotions of anger and betrayal, and also guilt. Also present were lighter emotions of love toward both of the women in his life. What had the Sith woman done to him, I got the strong sense that he didn't realize she had been a Dark Jedi.
I spoke again to Elora and she told me that Sunry and Elassa hadn't been very discrete about their affair, Sunry had recently confessed of it to her and had promised that he would stop seeing the woman and had went to break off the affair.
I was puzzled as to how to continue and I thought back to the odd man that we had meet outside the hotel that had told us the Sunry and Elassa were proxies for their governments, that both the Sith and Republic were at fault in this matter. He had implied that if I wanted the truth I would have to find it out somehow from the respective governments.
I decided my next stop would be the Republic Embassy. The Republic embassy head Roland Wann skated around the subject when I asked if the Republic knew anything more about the murder case and I knew that he was hiding something. I dropped the subject and decided to ask if he had seen or heard anything about an ancient Star Map on Manaan. I could tell that he had information about what I was seeking but he insisted that I must help him with a task before he told me what he knew. They had been using an underwater reconnaissance droid to explore the oceans around the city when it was attacked by firixan sharks and damaged. The Sith had managed to get to the damaged droid before the Republic and he wanted me to infiltrate the Sith base and retrieve the droids data recorder before the Sith had time to decode it. I agreed to undertake retrieving it and asked if he had any ideas as to how we could get into the base.
There were three possibilities, interrogating a prisoner to get the passcodes, they also had blank Sith data cards that they were trying to decrypt. I might be able to break the code if I was skilled enough though and use one of those to gain access. The last choice was to use a passcard the Sith spy had on him to access a Sith hangar. The hanger housed a speeder there that was used to access an external entrance into the Sith enclave. It was likely to be heavily guarded but it was also the most direct route.
I indicated to him that I would like to try my hand at decoding the passcards and he gave me access to their computer room. I felt guilty that I was using this as an excuse to look for evidence for the murder trial but I knew that the Republic had more information than it was revealing to me.
It didn't take me long to find the data I was looking for, apparently the Republic had a camera in the hotel and had recorded the murder. Sunry had indeed shot Elassa in the back as I had suspected. But the tape left alot of unanswered questions, indeed it left me with more questions that needed to be answered. Did the Republic record all of the hotel rooms or was Sunry assisting the Republic with spy efforts and trying to get information out of Elassa?
I decided to let the matter drop for now and concentrated on decrypting the pass cards. As the technician in the room had said the sequence was complicated but with the assistance of my implant I was able to decrypt it.
I decided that my next step in the investigation was to go back to Sunry and confront him with the evidence I had found to see if I could clear up some of the new questions that had arisen. I told Sunry that we had the data recording and asked him to explain what had happened. Sunry slumped and said "So the truth is out. I never meant to kill her, you know. When I found out she was a Sith spy using me to gain information, something inside me just snapped. She didn't know I had found out, so I waited until she fell asleep and then I... I killed her. Simple, really. But once I realized what I'd done I ... I panicked. I contacted those spies from the Republic to help me. They found the illegal monitoring device that the Sith had planted in the room, altered its recording to hide my part in it and cleared up the evidence. I figured that was the end of it."
Sunry asked me what I was going to do and I told him the truth that I hadn't decided yet. He pleaded with me to keep his secret afraid of what the Selkath would do if they knew the truth, afraid that they would cut off the Republic's kolto export privileges. My mind was on other matters though and I waited for him to wind down before I asked him if he had known that Elassa was a Dark Jedi.
I could tell that he was stunned and he admitted that he hadn't known, he had just known that she was a Sith spy. I asked him how he had found out and he admitted that the Republic had let him know once they realized what was happening. I had strong suspicions that Elassa had been using dark Force powers on Sunry, I didn't know what she had been trying to attempt though. Knowing the Sith it was either something to bring discredit on the Republic, or an attempt to turn Sunry to the Sith.
I theoretically knew how to tell, I had read about the procedure but had never actually tried to use it. I asked Jolee if he had ever tested someone for mind tampering and he admitted that he had not although he also knew the procedure. Sunry asked us what we meant and I could see that he was now realizing that he might have been influenced by her Sith powers and was afraid.
Jolee told me that he thought I would be a better choice at making the attempt since I was more connected to the Living Force than he was. I was puzzled by his statement and he clarified himself by saying that I was attuned to the Force that was present in every living being. It was what allowed me to have the knowledge I had about who needed help and guided me in my attempts to help them.
I asked Sunry if he would trust me to make the attempt, I would only look for traces of dark influence in his mind, I would do my best to not read any of his memories or thoughts. Though I admitted that it might take me a moment to get the hang of what I was attempting to do. He looked at me and asked what I needed him; I told him that he should just sit down and try to meditate if possible. To think of nothing would probably be the best, and for him to tell me if he felt uncomfortable at any time. I gently put my hands on either side of his head and let my force powers thread their way though his mind searching for signs of tampering. I found what I had been dreading, and I pulled back and told Sunry what I had found so far. The tampering seemed to be connected to certain memories of his and I asked his permission to go into only those she had tampered with to determine what she had been trying to accomplish. He looked into my eyes and then nodded. I told him to meditate again and not be surprised if certain memories arose, these would be the ones that she had attempted to tamper with.
I went back to where I had had found the tampering and followed it to the memories that Elassa had been tampering with. Disturbingly they were associated with his intimate memories of his wife. I was puzzled what had she just been oddly voyeuristic? Or was there more to this. I concentrated on trying to tell what she had been attempting to do and discovered that she had been trying to associate those memories with feelings of overwhelming anger. I realized with horror that she had been attempting to make Sunry murder his own wife. If she had succeeded she would have struck a blow to Republic morale, if she managed to turn Sunry to the Sith afterwards that would have been a further victory.
I disengaged myself from Sunrys mind and looked at him; he was breathing heavily and looked extremely angry. It was as I had thought; it was only his love for his wife that had prevented him from killing her. That and the fact that he had been avoiding being intimate with his wife, because he thought he was in love with Elassa. What an odd turn of events, Elassa had actually caused her own death, her tampering had caused Sunry to snap once he found out she was using him.
I waited until Sunry had calmed down and he asked me what Elassa had been doing with those memories, I could tell he was revolted by the fact that his lover had apparently been exploring his memories of his wife. I gathered my thoughts and told him what I had found out, Sunry paled and I was happy he was already sitting down. Sunry said to me "She tried to make me kill my wife! Could... could that still happen is the damage still there?" I nodded to him and he buried his face in his hands and began to weep.
I took a moment to decide the best course of action and said to him "Sunry I will now tell you my judgment in this matter, I find you not guilty of the murder of Elassa since she was the cause of her own death with her attempts to manipulate your mind. However, you are still a danger to your wife, I ask that if you are freed by the Selkath that you immediately report to the Jedi Council on Coruscant and submit yourself to them for treatment. Do you accept my judgment in this matter?" I asked him formally.
He looked at me and nodded and I repeated that he must submit himself to the Jedi Council, He stood and said "I will submit myself to the Jedi Council as soon as I can get there once I am freed you have my oath." He slumped and said "I can't believe that I could hurt my own wife, but I killed Elassa and I never thought I could would do that either." I nodded to him and we left the prison are and went to tell the Selkath Warden that I was prepared for the trial to begin.
With skillful questioning of the witnesses I was able to obtain the not guilty verdict I had been seeking. I felt somewhat bad about withholding evidence from the court but the Selkath laws made no allowance for the actions of the Sith. The Selkath penalty for murder was death and for Sunry to die for his part in Elassa's murder would have been a grave injustice in my mind. I sighed to myself as the verdict was given and followed Sunry out of the court room. Sunry turned to me and asked what I wanted him to do and I told him to follow me to the Republic Embassy.
There we had a meeting with Roland Wann and I told him that I had found the recording, he started to get angry with me for accessing the data and I told him bluntly to let me finish. I informed him that Elassa had been a Dark Jedi and from the look on his face I saw this was something that the Republic had been unaware of. I then informed him that Elassa had been using her powers to tamper with Sunry's mind and had caused her own death, the tampering remained though and Sunry was a threat to himself and to his wife. Elora looked shocked at this and I told her that Elassa had been trying to get Sunry to kill her. Sunry had remained silent through this but at that he started crying again and apologized to her. I kept a close eye on them and advised them frankly to keep separate sleeping quarters until Sunry was healed. Elora looked shocked but Sunry nodded to me and I knew he understood how dangerous it would be for Elora to sleep in his presence right now.
I told Roland Wann that Sunry and Elora must get the next possible transportation to Coruscant and that Sunry had agreed to submit himself to the Jedi Council there for treatment and healing. Roland had been very shaken by all the revelations and quickly agreed saying that there was a transport leaving in four hours and he would make sure they both were on it, and had rooms on separate sides of the ship. He would assign guards to both of them for their protection and make sure that Sunry was escorted to the Jedi Council. I hadn't meant for Sunry to be effectively under arrest but Sunry gratefully accepted Roland's suggestion and I could tell that it made him feel safer. I nodded to Roland and thanked him for his assistance in the matter and took my leave of them, saying to Roland that I had other matters to attend to for the Republic. He took my meaning and nodded and wished me well.
Manaan - A Murder Trial
Our next destination was Manaan, I still had no idea how I was supposed to get us in and out of Korriban without being detected by Dark Jedi. I hoped some source of inspiration would strike me and the answer become clear. But in the meantime there was one more planet we could visit before Korriban.
The ocean planet of Manaan source of the kolto used in medical paks that had saved our lives several times. Once again Bastila and I shared a vision of the location of the Star Map, as before on Tatooine, the vision was not that helpful. It appeared that the Map was located somewhere on the ocean floor, but this planet was all oceans. I hoped that the force would guide us in the right direction as it had on Tatooine.
Bastila was still glancing at me after our discussion of the vision and I asked "You are curious about something?" She dropped her eyes then raised them and said "Am I so transparent? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering our bond. Yes, there is something I would like to ask, if you'll permit it." I nodded and waited for her to continue.
Bastila said "In our time together I've been watching you. You are a true servant of the light, you follow the tenets of the Jedi Order despite the lure of the dark side, and with so little training. For me it has always been a constant battle. Don't you find it difficult at all? You make it seem so easy, or is that only an illusion?"
I frowned thinking and slowly replied "Honestly, sometimes I don't think much about what I'm doing before I do it. In other cases I search my heart for what to do and the right thing makes itself known. In some cases it's a struggle not to give into anger or even my own twisted sense of humor."
Bastila frowned at me and I could see she was confused by the last thing I said. I said to her "Remember back on Tatooine, the man trapped by the droids?" She grimaced and nodded. I said "Before you and HK jumped in I almost told the man that I thought it was a good place to set up an ice water stand." Bastila gasped and then started laughing, "That would have been cruel" she gasped out between chuckles. "I wouldn't have of course, but it was on the tip of my tongue" I told her.
Bastila shook her head at me and controlled herself and said "In a way it's a relief to hear. I have never found the Jedi path and easy one to walk, and it's good to know that I'm not alone. I wish though that I had more moments like you do when the right path is clear to me. I've always struggled over my passions. I've always been too quick to anger, too quick to get involved. My instructors constantly berated me for it."
I chuckled and said "Well I can't say anything about getting involved, you have complained to me several times about my habit of going off and helping anyone who looked like they might possibly need it." She nodded and said "How did you know to talk to Eli and Matton anyway? I could tell Eli was lying when he spoke but I would have never gone over to talk to them." I frowned at her and said "You didn't feel something pulling your attention toward them?" She shook her head and frowned at me "Pulling my attention? No, nothing."
I said "How odd, that's how I usually get involved in other peoples difficulties, something about them draws my attention and when follow my feelings I find out there is some way I can help them." I paused thinking and then said "Now that I think of it, its similar to how I feel when I know what the right thing is to say in situations where I need to persuade people to listen." Bastila said "I do not understand what it is that you sense, maybe when this is over one of the Masters can answer your questions."
I nodded and said, "I think interrupted you, you had something else you wanted to say?" Bastila nodded and said "I've often dreamed that I might be able to confront Darth Malak myself. I dream I can use all this power I have to kill him and stop all the death and destruction. I just think of all the evil that the Sith have caused and I... I get so furious. Yet we are told that these feelings are the path to the dark side."
I could feel her emotions as she said this and I was very worried, such thoughts had been the downfall of many people. I said "It sounds like you have your own demons to face." Bastila looked at me thoughtfully and said "I suppose I do. Part of the thinks that it would be worth anything to vanquish evil, even if it meant giving into my base emotions. The very thought that I could become as evil as Malak; I just can't fathom it. It just doesn't seem possible. How could I..." she paused and caught my obvious concern and said "no, wait. I'm sorry. I shouldn't even be asking you this. The Jedi teachings are clear; who am I to question them? And even worse, who am I to try and make you question them?" I was confused since I hadn't taken anything she said as an attempt to make me question the Jedi teachings and said "What?"
Bastila was agitated now and said "These are dangerous thoughts, the indulgence of a vain mind. Please, forget I ever mentioned this." With that she quickly turned and left me, leaving me very concerned and worried for her.
I was worried about Bastila but I got the clear sense through the bond that she needed some time to think. We had landed on Manaan and I went and got Jolee and Carth to accompany me so that we could find out about Jolee's friend Sunry.
As we exited the landing bay we saw a Republic soldier and Sith soldier, the Sith soldier was insulting the Republic soldier and taunting him. When the Republic soldier finally threatened to hit him the Sith taunted him about the Selkath cameras and how he would like for him to make the first move. The Sith soldier finally left and the Republic soldier noticed us and snapped "Yea, what do you..?" Then he noticed my Jedi robes and started apologizing. I told him it was alright but he said that he should try and keep his calm like the Jedi. I smiled at him and asked him what the Sith had meant and he told me that they constantly taunted Republic citizens trying to get them to break Selkath law. If the Republic citizens responded they could get kolto export restrictions placed on the Republic and that might cause the Republic to lose the war. I nodded to him and thanked him for the information and he told us where the Republic Embassy was located.
We moved off in the direction that he indicated when a man paused and said "Carth, Carth Onasi is that you?" Carth said "Jordo?" They began talking about Telos and how they had both joined the militia together. The conversation got awkward as they talked about Telos and Jordo gave Carth his condolences on the death of his wife, and then said "At least your boy made it through alright." Carth looked at him and said "My... boy? You mean... Dustil?" Jordo looked at him and nodded and said that he had seen him on Korriban, that he was at the Sith Academy there. Carth was shocked and Jordo said hesitantly "Hope everything works out with Dustil." And then walked away saying he must get back to work.
Carth said to me "Dustil... Dustil is alive! We have to go to the Korriban academy and find him!" I nodded and told Carth that we would try and find him while we were on Korriban. Carth thanked me and said "I... I just have to see him. I have to know what happened to him." I nodded in understanding and waited for Carth to get himself back under control before we proceeded to the Selkath Port Official to pay the docking fee.
We walked into Ahto and I wandered toward the edge of the city where there was a wonderous ocean view. It was oddly peaceful watching the rippling waves for a few moments and I allowed myself a few minutes to enjoy it. I turned to Jolee and decided to remind him that he had never actually told me why he decided to come with us. He agreed that he hadn't and continued watching the water. I smirked and asked him if he was always going to be this elusive. He mentioned that he wasn't elusive, Twi'lek dancing girls after drinking too much Ondaran willek juice were elusive. I had to chuckle at that and he said that it had been time for him to move on from Kashyyyk. I asked him "Move on to where?" He quipped back "To bed. I'm old and tired, you know." I shook my head and said "No, really." Jolee asked me how many kilometer high trees can you find interesting after while and then there were all the critters. No he said he was happy to be back in space doing something new.
Then Jolee said something about my destiny again and how he couldn't help but be intrigued. I asked him what interest he had in my future. He said that he didn't have a vested interest, more of an idle curiosity. Jolee said "Your destiny is... rather unclear. In fact, everything about you that I can see is odd. Slightly off, as if my eyes were trying to trick me. Something.... something is very dark about you..." I stared at him startled wondering what he could mean, as far as I knew I hadn't knowingly done anything dark in my life. At least in the life that I could remember, I wondered suddenly chilled if there were something dark in the past that I did not remember.
Jolee said breaking my thoughts "I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. You remind me a bit of Nomi, heh heh, and that can't be all bad." I was distracted from my thoughts and said "Nomi? Whose Nomi?" Jolee said "Nomi Sunrider. She came late to the Force, just as you have, and became one of the greatest Jedi ever. Oh, fine, fine lass. Whether you'll follow the same path remains to be seen. For one thing, we'll never get anywhere if you stand around chatting up old men all day..."
I took the hint and we continued our search for the Republic Embassy. We found Elora, Sunry's wife first. She had heard from the Selkath that we were on Manaan and had come looking for us. She begged us to go to the Selkath courts and talk to the Judges. Maybe they would listen to us she said.
We went to the court and inquired about the Sunry murder trial and were told that in Manaan legal tradition the defendant could have an Arbiter whose duty was to prove their innocence in court. I agreed be Sunry's Arbiter and the Selkath Judge filled me in on the details of the case. Sunry had been seen leaving the room of Elassa Huros, who was found dead shortly afterward. Witnesses were being detained at the hotel. Elassa had died of a blaster wound and a Republic medal of Sunry's had been found clutched in her hand. No other evidence had been found at the scene to indicate the identity of the guilty party.
I was told that when I felt I had gathered enough evidence, I was to speak to the warden in charge of the prison where Sunry was being held and the trial would commence.
I decided to interview the witnesses first and we proceeded to the hotel. After questioning the hotel manager Ignus I knew that Sunry and Elassa had regular meetings at the hotel, at least once every week or so. The manager thought they were having and affair, and was pretty certain that Sunry had left her hotel room after the blaster shot, but he admitted the that it was barely possible that Sunry had left just right before the shot. But he was not willing to testify to that. I thanked him and went to interview the two other witnesses.
Firith Me, a Pazaak player, told me that he had heard the blaster shot and remained in his room for a minute then looked to see what was going on. He saw Sunry running and Gluupor in the hall by Elassa's room. He verified that Elassa and Sunry had met frequently in the hotel and had kept people up with their 'antics'. Then he made and interesting statement "There isn't any rule against Sith and Republics seeing each other for personal reasons. Although if you think her Sith Master didn't know, heh, you must be fooling yourself." He got nervous then and tried to tell me that all Sith had Masters but I was able to flatter him into telling me what he had seen to make him say that. He had brushed up against the woman one night and had seen a lightsaber under her cloak. Hmm, I thought to myself, this case was getting more interesting by the moment, a Dark Jedi and a Repubic War hero. She had probably been getting information from him and trying to turn him to the dark side to serve the Sith.
I went to see Gluppor next, he admitted he did not see Sunry actually murder the Sith woman but he saw him running away. Caught by his second reference to the Sith woman's room I asked him more, he said that he had no reason to go in the room no one paid for him to go in the room. I realized he wasn't that bright and asked him if someone had paid him to do something in the room. He was astonished and asked how I had known, a Sith man had come up to him and paid him to plant Sunry's medal at the scene.
I decided it was time to go and confront Sunry with what I had learned so far and see what he had to say about his relationship with Elassa. The Selkath prison guard let us into see Sunry and I asked him if he and Elassa had been having an affair. He finally admitted that they had but passionately said that he hadn't killed her, he had loved her. I stared at him realizing though the Force that he was both lying and telling the truth. But to what? He continued saying that he had went there with the intention of breaking off the affair, that he had made a terrible mistake getting involved with Elassa. All of this was truth I could sense.
Sunry continued trying to convince me that he had found out later that she was dead, but he didn't deserve to go to jail for just having an affair. I could sense with a sinking heart that most of this was a lie, somehow Sunry had killed the woman. I reached out with my force senses toward Sunry and encountered rolling dark emotions of anger and betrayal, and also guilt. Also present were lighter emotions of love toward both of the women in his life. What had the Sith woman done to him, I got the strong sense that he didn't realize she had been a Dark Jedi.
I spoke again to Elora and she told me that Sunry and Elassa hadn't been very discrete about their affair, Sunry had recently confessed of it to her and had promised that he would stop seeing the woman and had went to break off the affair.
I was puzzled as to how to continue and I thought back to the odd man that we had meet outside the hotel that had told us the Sunry and Elassa were proxies for their governments, that both the Sith and Republic were at fault in this matter. He had implied that if I wanted the truth I would have to find it out somehow from the respective governments.
I decided my next stop would be the Republic Embassy. The Republic embassy head Roland Wann skated around the subject when I asked if the Republic knew anything more about the murder case and I knew that he was hiding something. I dropped the subject and decided to ask if he had seen or heard anything about an ancient Star Map on Manaan. I could tell that he had information about what I was seeking but he insisted that I must help him with a task before he told me what he knew. They had been using an underwater reconnaissance droid to explore the oceans around the city when it was attacked by firixan sharks and damaged. The Sith had managed to get to the damaged droid before the Republic and he wanted me to infiltrate the Sith base and retrieve the droids data recorder before the Sith had time to decode it. I agreed to undertake retrieving it and asked if he had any ideas as to how we could get into the base.
There were three possibilities, interrogating a prisoner to get the passcodes, they also had blank Sith data cards that they were trying to decrypt. I might be able to break the code if I was skilled enough though and use one of those to gain access. The last choice was to use a passcard the Sith spy had on him to access a Sith hangar. The hanger housed a speeder there that was used to access an external entrance into the Sith enclave. It was likely to be heavily guarded but it was also the most direct route.
I indicated to him that I would like to try my hand at decoding the passcards and he gave me access to their computer room. I felt guilty that I was using this as an excuse to look for evidence for the murder trial but I knew that the Republic had more information than it was revealing to me.
It didn't take me long to find the data I was looking for, apparently the Republic had a camera in the hotel and had recorded the murder. Sunry had indeed shot Elassa in the back as I had suspected. But the tape left alot of unanswered questions, indeed it left me with more questions that needed to be answered. Did the Republic record all of the hotel rooms or was Sunry assisting the Republic with spy efforts and trying to get information out of Elassa?
I decided to let the matter drop for now and concentrated on decrypting the pass cards. As the technician in the room had said the sequence was complicated but with the assistance of my implant I was able to decrypt it.
I decided that my next step in the investigation was to go back to Sunry and confront him with the evidence I had found to see if I could clear up some of the new questions that had arisen. I told Sunry that we had the data recording and asked him to explain what had happened. Sunry slumped and said "So the truth is out. I never meant to kill her, you know. When I found out she was a Sith spy using me to gain information, something inside me just snapped. She didn't know I had found out, so I waited until she fell asleep and then I... I killed her. Simple, really. But once I realized what I'd done I ... I panicked. I contacted those spies from the Republic to help me. They found the illegal monitoring device that the Sith had planted in the room, altered its recording to hide my part in it and cleared up the evidence. I figured that was the end of it."
Sunry asked me what I was going to do and I told him the truth that I hadn't decided yet. He pleaded with me to keep his secret afraid of what the Selkath would do if they knew the truth, afraid that they would cut off the Republic's kolto export privileges. My mind was on other matters though and I waited for him to wind down before I asked him if he had known that Elassa was a Dark Jedi.
I could tell that he was stunned and he admitted that he hadn't known, he had just known that she was a Sith spy. I asked him how he had found out and he admitted that the Republic had let him know once they realized what was happening. I had strong suspicions that Elassa had been using dark Force powers on Sunry, I didn't know what she had been trying to attempt though. Knowing the Sith it was either something to bring discredit on the Republic, or an attempt to turn Sunry to the Sith.
I theoretically knew how to tell, I had read about the procedure but had never actually tried to use it. I asked Jolee if he had ever tested someone for mind tampering and he admitted that he had not although he also knew the procedure. Sunry asked us what we meant and I could see that he was now realizing that he might have been influenced by her Sith powers and was afraid.
Jolee told me that he thought I would be a better choice at making the attempt since I was more connected to the Living Force than he was. I was puzzled by his statement and he clarified himself by saying that I was attuned to the Force that was present in every living being. It was what allowed me to have the knowledge I had about who needed help and guided me in my attempts to help them.
I asked Sunry if he would trust me to make the attempt, I would only look for traces of dark influence in his mind, I would do my best to not read any of his memories or thoughts. Though I admitted that it might take me a moment to get the hang of what I was attempting to do. He looked at me and asked what I needed him; I told him that he should just sit down and try to meditate if possible. To think of nothing would probably be the best, and for him to tell me if he felt uncomfortable at any time. I gently put my hands on either side of his head and let my force powers thread their way though his mind searching for signs of tampering. I found what I had been dreading, and I pulled back and told Sunry what I had found so far. The tampering seemed to be connected to certain memories of his and I asked his permission to go into only those she had tampered with to determine what she had been trying to accomplish. He looked into my eyes and then nodded. I told him to meditate again and not be surprised if certain memories arose, these would be the ones that she had attempted to tamper with.
I went back to where I had had found the tampering and followed it to the memories that Elassa had been tampering with. Disturbingly they were associated with his intimate memories of his wife. I was puzzled what had she just been oddly voyeuristic? Or was there more to this. I concentrated on trying to tell what she had been attempting to do and discovered that she had been trying to associate those memories with feelings of overwhelming anger. I realized with horror that she had been attempting to make Sunry murder his own wife. If she had succeeded she would have struck a blow to Republic morale, if she managed to turn Sunry to the Sith afterwards that would have been a further victory.
I disengaged myself from Sunrys mind and looked at him; he was breathing heavily and looked extremely angry. It was as I had thought; it was only his love for his wife that had prevented him from killing her. That and the fact that he had been avoiding being intimate with his wife, because he thought he was in love with Elassa. What an odd turn of events, Elassa had actually caused her own death, her tampering had caused Sunry to snap once he found out she was using him.
I waited until Sunry had calmed down and he asked me what Elassa had been doing with those memories, I could tell he was revolted by the fact that his lover had apparently been exploring his memories of his wife. I gathered my thoughts and told him what I had found out, Sunry paled and I was happy he was already sitting down. Sunry said to me "She tried to make me kill my wife! Could... could that still happen is the damage still there?" I nodded to him and he buried his face in his hands and began to weep.
I took a moment to decide the best course of action and said to him "Sunry I will now tell you my judgment in this matter, I find you not guilty of the murder of Elassa since she was the cause of her own death with her attempts to manipulate your mind. However, you are still a danger to your wife, I ask that if you are freed by the Selkath that you immediately report to the Jedi Council on Coruscant and submit yourself to them for treatment. Do you accept my judgment in this matter?" I asked him formally.
He looked at me and nodded and I repeated that he must submit himself to the Jedi Council, He stood and said "I will submit myself to the Jedi Council as soon as I can get there once I am freed you have my oath." He slumped and said "I can't believe that I could hurt my own wife, but I killed Elassa and I never thought I could would do that either." I nodded to him and we left the prison are and went to tell the Selkath Warden that I was prepared for the trial to begin.
With skillful questioning of the witnesses I was able to obtain the not guilty verdict I had been seeking. I felt somewhat bad about withholding evidence from the court but the Selkath laws made no allowance for the actions of the Sith. The Selkath penalty for murder was death and for Sunry to die for his part in Elassa's murder would have been a grave injustice in my mind. I sighed to myself as the verdict was given and followed Sunry out of the court room. Sunry turned to me and asked what I wanted him to do and I told him to follow me to the Republic Embassy.
There we had a meeting with Roland Wann and I told him that I had found the recording, he started to get angry with me for accessing the data and I told him bluntly to let me finish. I informed him that Elassa had been a Dark Jedi and from the look on his face I saw this was something that the Republic had been unaware of. I then informed him that Elassa had been using her powers to tamper with Sunry's mind and had caused her own death, the tampering remained though and Sunry was a threat to himself and to his wife. Elora looked shocked at this and I told her that Elassa had been trying to get Sunry to kill her. Sunry had remained silent through this but at that he started crying again and apologized to her. I kept a close eye on them and advised them frankly to keep separate sleeping quarters until Sunry was healed. Elora looked shocked but Sunry nodded to me and I knew he understood how dangerous it would be for Elora to sleep in his presence right now.
I told Roland Wann that Sunry and Elora must get the next possible transportation to Coruscant and that Sunry had agreed to submit himself to the Jedi Council there for treatment and healing. Roland had been very shaken by all the revelations and quickly agreed saying that there was a transport leaving in four hours and he would make sure they both were on it, and had rooms on separate sides of the ship. He would assign guards to both of them for their protection and make sure that Sunry was escorted to the Jedi Council. I hadn't meant for Sunry to be effectively under arrest but Sunry gratefully accepted Roland's suggestion and I could tell that it made him feel safer. I nodded to Roland and thanked him for his assistance in the matter and took my leave of them, saying to Roland that I had other matters to attend to for the Republic. He took my meaning and nodded and wished me well.