Chapter 27: Kev Rel'skar
Coruscant
Standing alongside his Rodian Padawan Ekos, the dark brown-furred Bothan Jedi Knight, Kev Rel'skar squinted in the afternoon Coruscanti sun. Coruscant, the Jedi Temple, all of it was much brighter than he had remembered.
Ever since his near-death experience aboard the Avaricious Snaltowg—where a half-Squib half-Bothan named Nebhir had put glass in his ice—Kev still did not feel quite the Bothan he once was. He had spent more than a month in the sickbay of a Venator and then two weeks living semi-independently in crew quarters.
While his Padawan had tried to spend that time as productively as possible, studying up on Jedi history, stellar-cartography, exobiology, Kev had spent most of his time sulking.
After that, the other Jedi stationed on Praesitlyn dragged Masana Tide back to Coruscant in an orange jumpsuit, leaving Kev and Ekos very much alone.
In any event, Kev was now very glad to be back on Coruscant, hopefully we will get an assignment here, he thought optimistically. If only the sun wasn't so bright…
Carrying duffel bags, Kev and Ekos stood on the taxi rink of the Central District Spaceport, waiting for a lift to the Temple.
"Ekos, does Coruscant seem bright to you?" Kev asked, voice deeper and more gravelly than it once was.
"Yes Master," Ekos said calmly, looking at the skyline. "It is because we spent a month indoors. After MGX-93776… After months under a Red Dwarf, I could hardly bear to look at the sky when I came back here."
"Ah…" Kev growled. He always sounds so much wiser than me.
"I have a question," Ekos said, turning to the Bothan.
Kev's fur twitched with pride. Good. I should be teaching you... Not the other way around. "Yes?"
"Will we be paying Masana Tide a visit?"
Kev frowned, fur swirling with worry. It was not a topic he had completely forgotten about, but also not a topic he wanted to think about. Over the last month, whenever his first Master's name slipped into his mind, Kev had forcibly pushed her out.
In Kev's second week, still bed ridden, his first Master, Masana Tide had come to visit him—But instead of visiting him, the Dowutin flew down to the Separatist POW camp on Praesitlyn's surface and, for reasons Kev could not fathom, murdered a captured Separatist—Admiral Tonith, of the Banking Clan. Tonith was a brutal war criminal who had cut dozens of captured Republic personnel to pieces but that hardly excused Masana Tide's actions. She abandoned me in the hospital to kill some Muun.
"Master?" Ekos asked, antennae perking up.
"I don't wish to speak about Masana right now," Kev snarled, then coughed, feeling sharp pain in his throat. He sputtered, hacking out of control.
"I am sorry Master," Ekos gasped, rushing over to his side.
When Kev finally stopped coughing, his fur twirled unhappily. "It's not your fault." How can I explain? Ekos lost a Master too but… Not like this… At least Jazal is on the straight and narrow. She doesn't have a dark streak.
In the distance, their taxi hovered into view.
o.o.o.o.o
"Master Windu," Kev croaked, fur swirling nervously. "I thought you were on Ryloth."
"I just returned and will be on Coruscant for the next few weeks," Windu replied, eyebrows raised. "Are you feeling better, Kev?"
Kev gulped, regarding the human standing in the doorway of his Temple quarters. If I say yes, he might send me right to Ryloth. The dryness… The Twi'leks… My throat—"Yes," he sighed, then explained truthfully, "better but still not recovered."
Mace Windu frowned. "I am requesting your help with an assignment. It is entirely voluntary."
Voluntary? Volun-telling me to do things more like. "Oh…" Kev growled in pretend interest.
"I could use Ekos's help too," Mace Windu said thoughtfully. "It is regarding Itoll Oc'skar."
Kev shook his head in confusion.
Mace Windu folded his arms angrily, mistaking Kev's body language for a refusal.
"No—No Master Windu," Kev stammered, "it's not like that. I am just confused!"
"So are we," Mace Windu sighed. "We have Lir Sey'les in custody for sedition against the Jedi Order. We released Itoll Oc'skar—"
"—Sedition?" Kev yelped. "They—WHAT?!"
"Calm yourself," Mace Windu said sternly. A group of younglings walking past Kev's door stopped and stared for a moment.
Kev took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Relax. Calm myself. "Okay. So what happened?"
o.o.o.o.o
After being brought up to speed on the details of Murkhana, Ekos and Kev joined Mace Windu aboard an LAAT/le police interceptor, bound for Itoll Oc'skar's abode.
"I can't believe it," Kev moaned, fur bristling with anger. "The Republic Forces just shot at each other."
"We believe a Clone initiated it," Mace Windu sighed. "And Tarkin was the primary aggressor after that."
"And Wulf's alive?" Ekos asked serenely.
"Barely," Mace Windu muttered, gazing out the open hatch across the skyline to the COMPOR Arcology. "Just barely. I am bringing you up to speed though because you both worked with Itoll Oc'skar. And Kev, You've been in his apartment."
Kev's fur began rippling with embarrassment. He closed his tightly calm down… Calm down. It's fine… It's… There… He blinked, looking Mace Windu directly in the eye. Kev's fur was now perfectly still. "Ah yes, I have been."
"Why were you in Itoll Oc'skar's house?" Ekos asked curiously.
"A story for another time, Padawan," Mace Windu snorted.
"Indeed," Kev agreed serenely. Another time… Like never.
"We have found some inconsistencies between his apartment as you reported it, and the state of the dwelling now."
Inconsistencies! Does Mace Windu think I committed perjury? "I—Master Windu," Kev whimpered, "I was being truthful. If there are any inconsistencies in the report, they were modifications—"
"I don't think you were lying, Kev," Windu sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I think Itoll Oc'skar made some changes… Changes we don't quite understand. Many things about the apartment's current design just don't add up."
"Like what?" Kev asked, ears perked up.
o.o.o.o.o
"What the hell?!" Kev snarled, looking out the interceptor's window to the apartment.
Mace Windu frowned at him.
"Uh, pardon my language," Kev growled apologetically. "You too Ekos, I am sorry you had to hear that."
Ekos said nothing, antennae perked up as he looked out to the strangest apartment on Coruscant.
Where a transparisteel window had once been, was now nothing but solid metal wall, pocked with blaster burns. Someone had tried very hard to shoot their way through the wall Itoll had added to the apartment, and failed. A single crater from one blast looked like it had penetrated the wall.
The apartment number "761" was still written where it was before, but below it was covered in silver titanium. Even more baffling, the landing pad outside was now rendered pointless—there was no door in the titanium wall through which one could enter the apartment.
"Itoll seems to have gotten very paranoid…" Ekos finally muttered. "He must have been so afraid to have built a wall like that."
"My thoughts exactly," Mace Windu agreed. "Unfortunately, the wall cut off all access to the apartment. We will have to enter through Phare Mall and take a turbolift up. One more thing Kev, you initially reported finding Jedi artefacts in Itoll's apartment?"
Kev gulped. He had changed that bit of his report at Masana Tide's urging. "Uh… Yes Master, there might have been a few. It is why I thought Itoll was a Sith Lord."
"Well," Mace Windu muttered darkly. "We are wondering about that ourselves. There is something very mysterious about this entire situation."
"I really doubt that," Ekos said. "Respectfully, Masters Jedi."
Kev frowned. You don't disagree with Mace Windu!
o.o.o.o.o
Ten minutes later, Kev, Mace Windu, and Ekos arrived at the rear door of Apartment 761—the door connecting the apartment to the turbolift, which led down to Phare Mall. Inside, Coruscanti Police droids were searching through every inch of the apartment.
The appearance on the outside was correct. One of the shots had penetrated the titanium wall on the outside and hit the transparisteel window on the inside.
Ears perked up, Kev walked across the living room, right up to the window. He gently touched the transparisteel, which had melted. "What temperature does transparisteel melt?"
"Ah, depends on the make!" a Corellian accent drawled from somewhere. "These windows must have been hit by light laser cannons, probably from a gunship."
Kev turned around. A plump Coruscanti police officer had appeared out of nowhere and was now standing next to Ekos and Mace Windu.
"Lieutenant Inspector Tanivos Divo," the human said, grabbing Mace Windu's hand. "Always such a pleasure to have Jedi help. Monks holding laser swords… Exactly the help one needs at a crime scene! Ah, and what do we have here?" he asked, squatting to Ekos's level. "A trainee… What do you call them? Padawans…"
"Have you found anything useful?" Mace Windu asked curtly.
"Bothan DNA all over the place," Divo said excitedly, standing up straight. "Miraluka DNA too… A dash of Rodian and Ardennian. Other than that, I'd need a more advanced forensics team than what we have on site. We haven't found Polo Se'lab's DNA anywhere, so his shooting might have been unrelated to this."
"Is the Senator going to be able to answer my questions?" Mace Windu asked Divo.
"How am I supposed to know?! You know what, Master Jedi, ask the good Senator's doctor!"
Kev cringed. Just watching Mace Windu's frustration made his fur crawl. Mace Windu was now frowning more deeply than Kev thought possible.
"The real mystery," Divo said in a dramatic detective narrator voice, "is how the perps knew what they were shooting at. How would they even know Itoll Oc'skar was in the apartment with solid metal walls? How could they have possibly seen through these?" Divo walked up to the transparisteel in front of the titanium barrier and rapped on it twice with his knuckles. "See? Not transparent at all! The perps must have had infrared out the wazoo!"
For a moment, Kev paused. He took a deep breath resolving to reach out with the force. Something is hidden from me… Itoll is hiding something. Out the wazoo? His heightened sense of Bothan hearing, coupled with the force, suddenly made him aware of the breathing noises all around. Ekos's breaths were so shallow. Mace Windu's sounded deeper, stronger warmer—mammalian… Tanivos Divo's breath sounded beleaguered, labored—unhealthy… Tanivos is very unhealthy, Kev thought, reaching out to the plump human. How can you be so unhealthy? Why? How did the Coruscant Police not fire you? How can you even run a kilometre with so much weight? How—
"—Jazal!" Mace Windu gasped in astonishment interrupting Kev's serentity. "I told you to recuse yourself from this investigation. That you were to have absolutely no part in it!"
Wait, what?! Kev opened his eyes, snarling in shock. Sure enough, the Miraluka stood in the doorway to Itoll's apartment.
"It is nice to see you too," Jazal snorted sarcastically.
"Jazal," Kev growled interrogatively, glaring at his former Master. "Did you know that Itoll Oc'skar made these structural changes to his apartment? Did he know he was in danger of attack?"
"Structural changes?" Jazal asked, raising her eyebrows high.
Kev looked into Jazal's eyeless face. Can she not sense the metal over the windows? This is a pretty big structural change! It definitely violates Central District fire code.
"Jazal," Mace Windu said consolingly, pulling a datapad from his robes. "My apologies. I sometimes forget you can't see as we do. Connect up your ShadowSync to my datapad and I can overlay the schematic to—"
—Jazal walked away from Mace Windu, stepping into the kitchen. After reaching the refrigerator, she leaned forward and flipped a switch.
A deafening metallic grind emanated into the room from every direction. Kev yelped in terror, fur flat as he staggered into the middle of the room, covering his ears tightly.
To his utter astonishment, the metal wall all around them—the metal wall which covered the transparisteel windows on three sides of the room, retracted. First on the far right side, it slid to the left, followed by the middle portion, and finally, the last bit of titanium retracted away from the leftmost window with a sickening grind. Transparisteel shards jingled as they rained to the ground.
With the metal wall—no protective barrier—gone, it was clear that the windows were far more damaged than Kev had believed. Dozens of pock marks were on the surface, most not penetrating or cracking the window, but burning and melting it on the outside.
Kev blinked stupidly, unable to believe his own eyes. Everyone in the room stared at the windows in astonishment, even the Coruscant Police droids.
Ekos was the first to break the silence. "Wow," he gasped, looking around the room in bewilderment. "A defensive barrier… Like on a Munificent-class bridge."
"Well… That was surprising," Mace Windu admitted, voice filled with unease. "How did you discover that the wall was temporary, Jazal?"
"Lucky guess," Jazal yawned boredly.
Kev sensed something from her. She's… She's lying to me. His fur swirled with suspicion as he adopted a Windu-like frown on the tip of his snout.
"You mean Itoll Oc'skar showed you?" Mace Windu frowned. "The Coruscant Police found your DNA all over this apartment."
"Maybe," Jazal snorted, sitting up on the counter. Her feet dangled awkwardly, suspended off the floor beneath her robes. "You're just assuming things, Master."
Mace Windu folded his arms over his chest.
A quieter metallic grinding noise started faintly in the distance, then grew closer in the hall. Once again, Kev's ears perked up.
"Masters Jedi, I am sorry I am late," a droid voice echoed in a worried monotone. A short crime scene analysis droid, a model Kev had seen once at the Temple, entered the room.
"You're fine Russo," Mace Windu said with a nod of approval, pointing to the bedroom. "The Coruscant police have started an investigation, but I know your DNA analysis is far more sophisticated than anything they—"
"—Hey!" Divo exclaimed in protest, holding up three fingers. "In three days, we'll have this entire apartment profiled!"
"Master Windu is quite correct," Russo said proudly. "My analysis techniques will have this apartment not only profiled in minutes, but with my half-life analysis, I can figure out how old any piece of organic matter here is through the natural atomic decay rate of DNA."
Kev sensed Jazal tense up.
"Great," Mace Windu sighed in relief. "Start upstairs!"
"As you wish," Russo replied with a Jedi-like bow.
Kev's ears perked up as the droid disappeared up the staircase. Ekos walked up to him, then turned around frowning at Jazal.
o.o.o.o.o
Ten minutes went by. Kev stood idly by along with Mace Windu, Ekos, and Divo. Jazal paced about the floor nervously for a while until finally, she decided to go upstairs.
Fur swirling with suspicion, Kev reached out with the Force, ears perked up. From up the stairs, he could hear a muffled conversation, likely far too quiet for a human to hear from the living room.
"Ah Jazal, just the Jedi I was wanting to speak to," Russo said serenely. "There are some facts about this place which just don't add up! Not at all."
"Oh?" Jazal asked.
"Given your past relationship with Itoll Oc'skar, I expected to find some of your DNA here. But, I am finding a lot more of your DNA than his—And surprisingly old samples. Is there any reason why there are DNA samples here belonging to you from 9 years ago? You were a Padawan 9 years ago, were you not?"
"Huh. You know Russo, is there any chance I could get you to not reveal that information to Master Windu? I will do you absolutely any favour… This is a serious problem, you see. It is actually my apartment."
"Your apartment?!" Russo squeaked in alarm. "But the Jedi Code! How did you come across so much money?"
"Russo, I will do absolutely anything for you. You name it, you get it. I know you are sentient. You have a life beyond your programming. Curiosity, scientific—Certainly, maybe other things too though. Do you want a female droid? Maybe a male—"
"Why I never!" Russo stammered in an indignant monotone. "It is against my oath to the Jedi Order to—"
—Russo was interrupted by a lightsaber hiss. Jazal's voice spoke ominously. "I was afraid you'd say something like that."
At that, the droid wailed like a dying lothcat, so loudly anyone downstairs could hear. The sound of a lightsaber hissed against metal as Kev leapt to his feet.
"What in the name of the Force?" Mace Windu gasped
"Jazal!" Kev yelped, fur flat in fear, igniting his lightsaber. "She's killing Russo!"
"Sorry guys," Jazal sighed shakily, emerging at the top of the stairs. "Itoll had a bunch of training sabers. Russo must have activated one."
"Training sabers don't cut through metal, Kev thought to himself, fur flat.
"You're coming back with me to the Temple," Mace Windu hissed, igniting his purple blade and holding it pointed to the ground. A threatening and disarming move at the same time.
"As Itoll says, bless his little Bothan heart, HA!" Jazal snarled.
Kev's danger-sense suddenly blared. His fur swirled nervously as he stared up at the Miraluka. "Jazal," he croaked, unable to bear having a second Master betray the Jedi Order. "Please just… Just come with us. You made some—"
—Shards of wood bounced off the side of his snout. A stool had flown through the air before broken into pieces on impact with Mace Windu's raised lightsaber.
"Learned a trick from Rael Averross I see," Jazal snorted. She continued speaking as she hurled another wooden stool flew in Mace Windu's direction, sending Kev and Ekos ducking out of the way. "You know, putting Sey'les on trial but assigning a Jedi to protect Tarkin... Even Piel is protecting a monster who murdered Fojo in cold blood—As Sey'les would put it: that's kriffed up. The only reason I arrested Itoll and Sey'les was because they were hiding a darker truth, and I knew the Bothans would only forgive them if they were forced to confess… Or if it looked like they were being forced. The Bothans are doing essence transfer. They've killed Jedi, Clones—They've infiltrated the Republic. But Tarkin… I don't know if I can forgive the High Council for that!"
Mace Windu cut another stool defensively, sending the bigger bits flying safely back towards the door. However, he screamed furiously as the tiny wooden shards he missed bounced off his face.
"THIS IS INSANITY!" Kev snarled. "YOU CAN'T JUST ATTACK—AHH!" he yelped as a clay pot sailed over his head, smashing into the floor in front of Tanivos Divo's feet. "That could have hit my Padawan!"
"I am not gonna hurt you or Ekos," Jazal cackled. "I am just trying to demonstrate my determination."
"That's it," Mace Windu said through gritted teeth. "I'm ending this."
"You're ending this?!" Jazal jeered. "But I am at the top of the stairs and you—Oh damn..."
Kev's eyes darted from Mace Windu to Jazal, then back to Mace Windu.
Mace Windu had his hand outstretched, face scrunched in determination.
Jazal was now floating a meter off the ground, lightsaber still ignited.
"Drop your lightsaber," Mace Windu instructed in an authoritative voice.
Jazal began to sweat, struggling to fight Mace Windu's grip. Two seconds went by, then Windu began slamming the Miraluka down on the floor like a ragdoll. She screamed as she bounced off the floor, then slammed into the ceiling, then back down to the floor.
Finally, her blue lightsaber extinguished. The hilt rolled harmlessly down the stairs.
For once, Kev and Ekos both had the same astonished look on their faces. Their snouts hung open as they stared up at Jazal's moaning form, then back to Mace Windu, who was smirking.
The human looked to Kev and Ekos, lightsaber still ignited. He cocked his head in Jazal's direction and said, almost gleefully, "arrest her!"
"Yes Master," Kev croaked, jogging up the stairs, Ekos in tow behind him. "Jazal, you are under arrest for assault of Jedi and law enforcement officers and for… Robbery?"
"Robbery?!" Jazal spat furiously as Kev dragged her to her feet. After being thrown to the floor repeatedly, she now had a bloody nose.
"Well how the hell did you come across enough credits to afford an apartment?!" Kev demanded, slipping her hands firmly into bindings. "What? Illegal gambling was it? Or extortion? Spice Smuggling?"
"Spice smuggling?!" Jazal gasped indignantly. "Kev, you really don't know me at all!"
"No, no I don't," Kev agreed through gritted teeth. His throat was aching after so much yelping and snarling.
"Oh boy," Divo said, gazing over the scene. "The boys at HQ will never believe this!"
o.o.o.o.o
Mace Windu still had a perturbing smirk on his face as the four Jedi flew back to the Temple—Jazal in handcuffs.
"I think he is enjoying this," Ekos whispered in Kev's ear.
"I think you are right," Kev whispered back. He whispered not only because he did not want Mace Windu to hear, but because his voice had died. His fur twirled unhappily as he looked over to Russo.
In the back of the LAAT, Russo's was cut in two. The droid's corpse did not literally smell like anything to Kev—besides metal, burning plastic, and burning rubber—but it metaphorically reeked of betrayal. Would Jazal have killed me if I refused to obey her?
"Russo is going to be fine I am sure," Mace Windu reassured. "The Jedi Temple has the best technicians in the Galaxy."
"That's… That's good," Kev whispered, fur continuing to twirl. Now Jazal and Masana can play Demesne together down in the detention block, I suppose. Why would Jazal sacrifice so much over nothing? Mace Windu said she could leave the order when the war ended. Why wasn't that enough?