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The Trial of Darth Vader

Chapter 4

"Your Honor, the prosecution calls the Rodian Greedo to the stand." Gareth said.

Trugg and Dia Koban, the silver bladed Jedi bailiff, escorted the Rodian in. It seemed odd that they should treat a witness like they did, until Anakin realized that Greedo had probably been sentenced to the lands of the dark side. If he should decide not to testify, but to make a run for it and hide somewhere in the lands of the light side, his mere presence might have a terrible impact if he were to remain for too long.

Dia placed Greedo in the witness box. "Do you swear that what you say shall be the truth and nothing but the truth?"

"Or what, I'll be held in contempt, sent back to the lands of the dark side?" Greedo said. His native tongue emerged first, but Anakin could hear Rodian somehow translated into Basic. He assumed that what ever it was that made it possible for him to hear Rodian as Basic also made it possible for Greedo to hear Basic as Rodian.

"If you lie, you will be sent to one of the worst places in the lands of the dark side," Dia told him. "There you will find that you do not have as long as you do now before the dark side destroys you. If you had been a dark sider when you were alive, then maybe you would have about ten or eleven years in these places before you finally cease to exist. But because of who you were, you'd probably last about a week, maybe two.

Greedo visibly swallowed. "I swear to tell the truth."

This time the language was Huttese, a language Anakin had known so well from childhood. There was no need for any translation, though it was still provided. And Anakin instantly recognized the Rodian.

"Greedo," Gareth began as soon as Dia moved way from him, "have you and the defendant ever met?"

"Yes. Many years ago when we were both children."

"And did you know him well?"

"Well enough. He was a slave at the time."

"Did he ever show any signs of violence to you? Anything that could have been a suggestion of the dark side?"

"Yes. He attacked me."

"Attacked? In what way? Did he come at you with any weapons. Maybe use some Force power to try and kill you?"

"No, nothing like that. He used his fists. It was purely physical, punches, kicks, that sort of thing."

"Did you fear for your life?"

"Yes. He seemed like a mad man. I didn't know if he just wanted to beat me senseless or if he was going to kill me."

"Thank you Greedo. No more questions for the witness, your honor."

"Counselor Ahtze, your witness."

Tristain got up and moved over toward the witness box, stopping a few feet from it as if she were afraid the Rodian might try to grab and kill her. "Greedo, do you know what caused my client to attack you?"

"I'd have to say that it was probably because I called him a cheat," Greedo sheepishly admitted.

"A cheat? Why would you call him that? What had he done that you felt he had cheated at?"

"He was a pod racer, and the Boonta Eve Classic had just been run. He'd been one of the racers. But everyone knows that slaves aren't as good as normal folks at anything. Especially pod racing. The only way he could have won was if he cheated."

Anakin once more felt the heat of that remark so many years ago. Yet now it didn't hurt him nearly as much as it had then. Now it just seemed like the remark of a pathetic creature who was trying to make himself more important than someone else. He found himself feeling sorry for poor Greedo and wishing he'd not reacted the way he had back then.

"Slaves are less likely to succeed than everyone else, is that it?" Tristain asked.

"Yes."

"Had the defendant ever completed a pod race before that one?"

"Never."

"And why not?"

"Because he was a slave, and not a good pod racer."

"Well his master Watto obviously thought otherwise, or else he wouldn't have kept entering him as the pilot of his pod. And there was the problem of a certain Dug named Sebulba. He was known as a cheater himself, wasn't he?"

"It's only cheating if you get caught. And besides, Sebulba wasn't a slave."

"No, he wasn't. But he saw to it that he'd win no matter what. And he cheated, often at my client's expense. And the expense of others."

"Like I said, it's only cheating if you get caught. Sebulba never got caught."

"Then how did you catch my client?"

"He was a slave, it was the only way he could win."

"I thought you said it was only cheating if you got caught. Aside from his being a slave, you had no proof that he cheated."

"Objection," Gareth said, "the defense obviously has made their point that the witness caused the fight."

"Your honor, the fight had more to do with whether or not my client cheated."

"Over ruled, though I'd suggest you not drag this out much longer counselor."

"Of course. Greedo, lets forget the last question. You've already said my client was a slave."

"That's right."

"Can slaves fall in love?"

"Yes, I suppose they can."

"And did you realize my client had fallen in love?"

"Objection."

"Counselor, this line of questioning had better be important as I am forced to agree with the prosecution."

"It is, your honor."

"Very well, the witness will answer the question."

Greedo nodded. "No, I had not."

"Nor had you realized that he'd won that race for her. And as a result, he was going to loose her. She had been able to get what she needed so that her ship could be fixed and was then going to leave the planet. But you didn't know that, did you?"

"No."

"So a young slave falls in love, perhaps for the first time ever, and almost as soon as they meet, he looses her. She was going to leave the planet and being a slave, he'd probably never see her again. How do you think that made him feel?"

"Objection, speculation on the part of the witness."

"Sustained."

"Let me rephrase the question. If it had been you under those circumstances, how would you have felt?"

"Angry, upset, I suppose."

"Maybe a little resentful at your situation?

"Yes."

"You'd probably just want to lash out at someone or something, correct?"

"Yes."

"So someone claiming you'd just cheated would have set you off?"

"Yes."

"Yes, I suppose so."

"So maybe my client, being upset, angry, and a bit resentful at his situation tried to ignore you at first instead of attacking you right away. And maybe you thought that he hadn't heard you, so you tried again. You pushed him, and he couldn't take it anymore. And that's when he finally attacked you."

"Yes, I suppose that could have been it."

"No more questions for this witness, your honor."

"Would the prosecution like to redirect?"

"No."

"Then you may call your next witness."

Tristain returned to her seat as Greedo was led out, Gareth watching the Rodian leave as he organized his notes in preparation for the next witness. Anakin looked at her quizzically before leaning over and whispering in her ear.

"Why didn't you ask him about his time as a bounty hunter? As Vader I learned he met his fate on Tatooine a little before Yavin by finally pushing the wrong person around. Couldn't that have gone to show that he continued to have a habit of picking on people besides me?"

"You're people told you that Greedo the Younger got killed on Tatooine. He was the witnesses son. Keep that in mind. Now hush, Gareth is about to call his next witness."

Gareth stood and faced the judge. "The prosecution calls the Blood Carver Ke Daiv to the stand."

Anakin expected to see Trugg and Dia escort the Blood Carver in through the same doors as they had brought Greedo through. Instead, he came up from behind Anakin, without an escort.

"Just like when we first meet," Anakin mumbled, to no one in particular.

"But this time he is not here to kill you," Obi-Wan whispered.

Anakin nodded, though his mind was light years away, back when he'd been just twelve years of age. He found himself reliving the events of the pit race and the days that had followed. But even as his mind wandered, he watched as Gareth questioned Ke Daiv.

"Tell us, Ke Daiv, where did you first meet the defendant?"

"On Coruscant, in one of the garbage pits. He was to take part in a pit race."

"As were you, correct?"

"Only for appearance sake. I had been hired to deal with the then young Skywalker."

"And did you? Deal with him, that is."

"I tried, but thanks to his master, and certain circumstances, I failed."

"You were then hired by the future Grand Moff Tarkin, were you not?"

"I was part of a unit given the task of trying to bring him back an example of a very special type of ship."

"And did you succeed?"

"No. I failed to purchase such a ship. Knowing that Skywalker and his master were also attempting to get their hands on one of these ships, and that they were likely to succeed in their attempt, it had been decided that I would take their ship."

"And so you took their ship, correct?"

"Yes. But I needed a pilot. Skywalker was to be the pilot. Then we needed to fuel the ship before we could leave the planet. So we landed where there was suppose to be some fuel, though I do not believe there was any there."

"And what happened next?"

"I had taken Skywalker against his will, so I guess he decided he would try to escape. We ended up fighting, but it was nothing like I had ever seen before. It was as if he had become both pure rage and energy at the same time. I could tell that he wanted me dead, and there was nothing I could do about it. He was just too powerful, I could actually see what looked like lightning arcing from point to point across the portions of his body that were visible. And then there was the heat. It literally came off of him, causing the air around him to shimmer. And he used it along with that lightning and so much more on me."

"To kill you."

"Yes."

"Thank you, that will be all."

Tristain rose as Gareth returned to his seat, not giving Ulic the chance to call her up. "Ke Daiv, you said when you first met the defendant that you had been hired to deal with him. In what way?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you are asking."

"Well, dealing with someone could mean a great number of things. Maybe he had leased something that he had missed payments on and you had been sent to reposes it. Perhaps he was suppose to testify in some kind of trial and refused, and you had been sent to bring him in. Or he was going to testify and you'd been sent to scare him into not testifying. Just what had your employers sent you to do?"

"I am a Blood Carver. We are known for the art of chipping away that which is not wanted, particularly when it comes to the living."

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"Assassination."

"So you were sent to kill the defendant."

"That's right."

"And because of his master's intervention, you failed."

"Yes."

"Then Tarkin hired you as part of a unit to bring him back an example of a special ship. Where were you to get this ship?"

"On the planet Zonama Sekot, the only place where they were built."

"And you failed to do so. Why?"

"The way they built ships was to use what they refereed to as seed-partners. The ship created with these seeds responds only to the person who manages to get seed-partners. The seed-partners rejected me, and ate my clothes. There was no way I could purchase a ship."

"So what did you do in response to this?"

"I wrecked much of the place where one went to get their seed-partners, injuring several of their people when they tried to prevent me from leaving. I then reported to my superior for the mission and explained what had happened and that I would be proceeding with the back-up plan."

"Did my client know of this?"

"Objection, requires the witness to make an assumption on what the defendant did or did not know."

"Sustained."

"Let me try that again. Do you think the defendant knew what you had done?"

"He must have. He knew that the seed-partners rejected me."

"And how did you capture him and his ship?"

"I surprised him and his master, taking his master out and threatening the life of the female he had with him if he would not fly the ship. So he flew it."

"And you continued to threaten him and the female."

"I made it clear that if he did not do as I required, I would kill him and the female. If he did not do what I wanted, my mission would be a total failure and my superiors would not hesitate to kill me for it. If I were to die, I would at least take pleasure in their deaths."

"So you took out his master, whom we must assume the defendant did nt know whether he was alive or not, you then threatened the defendant's life and the life of another, a female. Would you say the defendant was scared by what you had done?"

"Objection."

"I want to hear this, over ruled."

"As you said, I had dealt with his master, and threatened his life and the life of the female with him. I had already tried to kill him once, and he knew it. As old as he was, if he had not been frightened he would have been foolish."

"So he took the chance to save himself and the woman with him."

"Yes."

"And frightened as he was, do you think it's possible he had no idea what he was doing?"

"No, he knew what he was doing. But it seemed that it scared him more than I did."

"Thank you Ke Daiv." Tristain returned to her seat.

"Would the prosecution like to redirect?"

Gareth nodded as he stood up. "You said that your superiors would kill you if you failed the mission. Did that scare you at all?

"It certainly did, made me more determined not to fail."

"And that meant that you'd use any means you thought necessary to succeed."

"Yes."

"Even if it frightened the defendant to the point where he would be willing to kill you?"

"Yes."

"Thank you Ke Daiv."

Tristain was up once again. "Did the defendant actually want to use the powers he used on you?"

"No. As I said he did want to kill me. But the powers he used frightened him more than I did, and he wanted to stop, to not use those powers. Yet it seemed he had no choice, that he had been possessed by them and had no chance in stopping what he did."

"One final question. Did he regret using them?"

"He most certainly did. He wanted me to live. I could feel that he would do what ever he could to save my life. But he couldn't. And I'm certain that fact hurt him even more than I could have."

"Thank you, Ke Daiv."