Mace held up his hand, "Well, Dern, you've no choice." He turned to the young knight who stood there and asked Ardeth Kralin, "Knight Kralin, what can you tell us."
Taking a deep breath, Ardeth began, "My former master should no be allowed to go unpunished for his crimes. He is abusive, and I have proof of that abuse." The young Knight ignored the hateful look he received from Dern.
Yoda's ears perked at Ardeth's statement, "Prove it you can? How so?"
Closing his eyes and taking several cleansing breaths, Ardeth turned away from the council. He lifted his tunic so his bare back was exposed. Several gasps sounded in the otherwise silent room. Qui-Gon took a step closer and examined the scars that covered the young knight's back in a criss cross pattern.
An outburst then sounded, "He could have gotten those anywhere! On a mission, in training! There are dozens of possibilities!"
In an vehement tone, Ardeth responded, "Dozens of possibilties, but only one true answer, Master. Or perhaps I should show the scar on the back of my head! Remember how I got that Master Dern? Rememeber how you threw me across the room of our home? How the back of my head slammed into the table?"
There was no stopping Ardeth, this man before him was the one person he should have been able to trust, but instead he lived and learned in fear.
"Remember how you left me there unconscious? And when I woke up, I was laying in my own blood? You recall how you made me stay up all night cleaning up the mess that you said 'I' made?"
Dern countered, "I was teaching you discipline. You were too soft!"
"Is that what I was, Master? Too soft? Is that what Ja'lisa was too? An innocent thirteen year old girl, you make me sick!"
The former Jedi Master's face turned bright red, "I make you sick? You, who would have been nothing without me! I made you and I can break you!"
Shaking his head, Ardeth responded, "No, you cannot break me. And what I am has "nothing" to do with you and what you taught me. Because all you taught me was that I was as worthless to you as slime stuck to the bottom of a boot. And I learned it so well, that I am to this day afraid to take my own padawan."
Pointing his finger at his onetime student, "You would not know how to train a padawan. They would be soft, like you!"
Standing up, Mace shouted, "Enough! Dern Galen, you have committed atrocities against your former and present students. You are to be force suppressed for the time being. We will meet here again in one week to decide on where you will live out your life imprisonment." Gesturing to the guards he ordered, "Take him away."
Mace then turned to Ardeth, "You have been through much, Knight Kralin. Your physical wounds have healed, but perhaps the healers can aid in your emotional recovery by lessening the scars that remain. You will remain on-planet for now, and I would ask that you seek the assistance of a soul healer to help chase away some of those old demons.
Bowing, Ardeth responded, "Thank you, Master Windu."