Chapter 31: Lir Sey'les
Coruscant
Jazal's second imprisonment in the Jedi Temple did not surprise Sey'les in the least. The manner in which Jazal had fallen from glory however, and the speed at which it happened, did surprise Sey'les. It also surprised Rael Aveross.
Beneath a golden statue that looked like an open tome, the three detainees sat on easy chairs up against one of the walls of the lounge.
"Hahaha," Rael laughed uncontrollably, slapping his knee. "Jazal! That's amazing… I'm surprised you aren't in the isolation bloc!"
"Master Windu must just not view you as a credible threat—like not a threat at all," Sey'les muttered quietly, looking over her shoulder at the Temple Guards standing behind them. "And I thought you were going all lawyer lawyer, deny, deny, deny—DENY SOME MORE—then plausible deniability?"
Feeling pent up energy from being kept indoors 22 hours a day, Sey'les found herself occasionally yelping random words excitedly. The calming environment of meditation chambers was of little help without something, or perhaps someone for her to burn off her excess energy.
"Calm your horses, Bothan," Rael coughed in a growly voice. "You are gonna end up like one of those nutcases if you can't calm down."
Jazal frowned at Rael, clearly offended by his use of 'nutcase.' Then she frowned at Sey'les. "Do you know what plausible deniability means?"
Sey'les's fur swirled with embarrassment. "No…"
"I'm impressed you admitted that," Jazal said serenely. "Simplifying somewhat, it is a plausible denial of your subordinates' actions."
Flashing her teeth, Sey'les once again looked over her shoulder to the Temple Guards.
"Quit looking at the blasted guards," Rael grunted. "I know the look... You wanna fight someone. My first month here, I was constantly starting shassa, but trust me—it gets better."
"It does?" Sey'les growled incredulously, ears perked up.
"Yeah. Well, worse for the first few months, but then you get used to the tranquility of it all… The boredom. Even simple things like going to the library, swimming in the Inglenook without Suldor's stinky self there, or eating a plum… They all become exciting," he added with a twinkle of life in his eyes.
Sey'les scowled. That does not sound convincing to me at all, human. I feel like I'd rather take my chances in real prison.
"But damn, what I wouldn't do for a pack of death sticks…" Rael muttered darkly. "Or to get laid."
Jazal scoffed. "You're always such a dirty little womp rat, Rael."
Sey'les's frowned, regarding the old dishevelled human. Rael had a strong resemblance to some of the stinky spice-headed nomads she had once spent some time around during a Judicial Peacekeeping operation on the tropical world of Akiva—only Rael wore Jedi Robes.
"Sey'les," Jazal hissed, "you're not seriously considering—"
"—No," Sey'les snarled, fur giving off one ripple of embarrassment.
Jazal frowned, continuing to stare.
Oh shtak, Itoll… He taught Jazal about wrendui, Sey'les remembered, fur now swirling in earnest. She heard a laugh coming—not from her mouth, but in the Miraluka's mind.
"Huh, imagine that," Rael said, looking impressed with himself even though neither Sey'les nor Jazal had said a thing.
"Seriously? I've only been here for fifty hours, Jazal," Sey'les finally snarled, unable to take it anymore. "I'm bored, but I'm not that bored. And my fiancé is in the hospital. I don't like these insinuations!"
"I did not say anything—"
"—GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Sey'les yelped, leaping to her feet.
One of the Temple Guards raised his wrist-comm to his helmet, speaking urgently into it.
Sey'les ignored him and began tugging on her own robes, howling in fury as she tried to rip them in half. "I AM TIRED OF THIS JEDI SHTAK! TIRED OF YOU KRIFFING ASS HOLES RUINING MY WHOLE LIFE! TIRED OF YOUR STUPID STINKY UGLY CLOTHES!" The fabric of the old monk robes was far stronger than Sey'les anticipated. Soon, she was yelping and snarling, tugging as hard as she could in futility.
A few detainees sitting on the couch, at the demesne tables, or in the studies, gasped. Onlookers came in, emerging from the kitchen to stare at the spectacle.
"Sey'les," Rael said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Relax. You haven't hurt anyone. If you calm down, the Guards will forget about it. You aren't going to be—"
—Sey'les kicked as hard as she could, sending her sandalled foot right into Rael's crotch.
"Sey'les!" Jazal screamed, jumping to her feet. "What the hell do you think you are doing?!"
Rael doubled over, grabbing the edge of his chair. "Oof! Damn, Guards," he pleaded, turning to the Temple Guards, "she didn't mean it, don't hurt… She's just—"
—Spinning around with a snarl, Sey'les bore her teeth, flashing a feral grin at the two Temple Guards who had approached.
"The Detainee will accompany us," the Guard on the left said sternly, voice muffled through his mask.
Sey'les could feel them reaching out to her, trying to persuade her to listen.
"I said," Sey'les panted, licking her lips, "GET THE KRIFF OUT OF MY HEAD!"
The Temple Guards ignited their lightsabers.
Sey'les backed up, blinking in surprise. Kriff it… "Um yeah, what Rael said," she chuckled nervously.
The Guard on the right held out a pair of cuffs, thrusting them in front of Sey'les. "Hands out!"
o.o.o.o.o
I have been given seventy-two hours in isolation, Sey'les thought glumly to herself. She took a bite of roasted tomato. At least they're feeding me.
Located in the maximum security bloc, the isolation cell was much smaller than Sey'les's normal cell. It was completely soundproof. She could catch occasional glimpses of prisoners in other cells here and there, but could hear nothing. Once or twice, she swore she saw a Miraluka.
Kriff I haven't been fair to Wulf, Sey'les gulped. The only time I've thought about him all day was as a stupid talking point. 'I have a fiancé! Look out Galaxy, Sey'les is not available!'
Sighing, she began pacing back and forth on her cell floor, once again flooded with bored energy. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to call the Judicial Arcology and ask for Wulf's status.
He might never be the same… Even if he wakes up. A tear formed in Sey'les's eye. She felt stupid for not having thought of that possibility sooner.
"This is just… Awful," Sey'les croaked, stopping in front of her plate of food. "Awful and…" Frightening… But why?
The Bothan's ashy fur swirled with nervousness. Something felt extremely dangerous and imminent. Her danger sense had told her warnings in the past but on the battlefield or in space. I am in a jail cell… Could there be a fire?
Sey'les pressed her snout to the small round sound-proof window, struggling to look down the hall to the left. Soon, her mouth-breathing steamed up the window to the point she could no longer see through it. She sniffed the air furiously for smoke. No smoke… No smoke… Come on... "TELL ME!"
A dim face appeared, obscured in the steamy window.
Ears perked up, Sey'les squinted, wondering to herself whether the Force had just sent her a vision of the future. I can't make out his face… Who is it?
The door slid open, revealing a Temple Guard standing there.
Sey'les yelped, clambering onto the cell bench, surging with adrenaline. Her danger sense was blaring harder than it had ever before.
"Get over here!" the Temple Guard yelled angrily, grabbing at her.
"It hasn't been seventy-two hours!" Sey'les yelped, swiping her arms at him. "GET THE KRIFF AWAY FROM ME!" When he stepped closer, she kicked him in the mask, sending him tumbling backwards out the cell, screaming in pain.
Two more Temple Guards pushed their way in, screaming and yelling.
Sey'les could sense the Guards trying to pull with the Force. In a panic, she stood on the bench, resisting with a feral snarl, nullifying their pulls. She attempted to sound as scary as she could when, in truth, she was more afraid than any other time in her life.
"WHAT IN THE BLAZES?!" yelled another human voice from somewhere in the hall.
"The detainee kicked me!" mumbled the Temple Guard with blood running down his mask, dripping onto the floor. "She's completely crazy!"
"She's resisting!" another Guard yelled, fear in his voice.
"STUN HER!"
Oh kriff. Sey'les faced a similar moment to the one she had when the Temple Guard pulled out a lightsaber. A checkmate move against which she had absolutely no defence. Pressing her back against the wall, Sey'les continued snarling "STAY AWAY!"
The lead Guard jabbed with a forcepike, sending Sey'les to the floor, yelping in pain.
She writhed for a moment as the Temple Guard stunned her again.
In the background, she could hear a muffled voice gasping "I broke my nose… She broke my nose!"
"Get to the infirmary!"
On the third jab from the force pike, Sey'les blacked out.
o.o.o.o.o
Kev Rel'skar
It was rare for there to be a heated argument amongst members of the High Council. Even during his trial, Kev remembered individual Jedi making quick quips against each other, snide solemn-sounding soliloquies, and insinuations that another Jedi lacked "wisdom." Arguments though, were another matter.
In the Temple Hangar, Mace Windu, Stass Allie, and Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine stood in a group across from Kev. An AEG-77 Vigo gunship had landed, piloted by a crew of four Bothans, and one funny-smelling long-armed creature who claimed to be a Bothan.
Kev's fur swirled with suspicion as he scowled, knowing that creature must be lying.
"We cannot extradite Lir Sey'les," Stass Allie repeated sternly to Palpatine, this time in a shaky affronted tone.
"I am afraid my hands are tied," Palpatine said solemnly, voice filled with regret. "The Bothans are requesting Lir Sey'les be extradited for murder. This is a far more serious crime than what she is being held for." He held up the flimsiplast extradition order. Suspiciously, it had what appeared to be a stamped signature on it.
"While I don't like this," Mace Windu sighed. "Both Lir Sey'les and Itoll Oc'skar were corrupting this order. Their influence—"
"—What message does this send?!" Allie interrupted in a yell. "Extraditing a cooperating informant, exposing them to their home planet!"
"Cooperating?" Windu scoffed. "Don't tell me you believe the stories of consciousness transfer too?"
Face scrunched up in suspicion, one of Kev's canines was visible poking out from under a raised lip. With his ears raised, he looked positively clownish. "Uh, Masters…" he whimpered worriedly, standing over Palpatine's shoulder. "The signature looks stamped…"
"Not now, Kev," Stass Allie huffed. "I don't believe Sey'les's interpretation of events, but the fact is, she was providing information to us."
A reasonable Bothan would have suspected Stass Allie and Mace Windu had not heard him. Instead, Kev thought they both heard him but simply didn't care. His fur twirled unhappily.
Palpatine looked Kev in the eyes, smiling pleasantly.
"Sey'les is hardly a credible witnessm" Mace Windu scoffed.
"Informant protections do not depend on how reliable their information is, Master," Stass Allie interjected, folding her arms. "I cannot believe our legal counsel—and the Supreme Chancellor—are doing this! I can't believe you are doing nothing to stop them!"
"Stop the Senate?" Mace Windu asked incredulously. "The Jedi serve the Senate, not the other way around," he explained, wagging a finger.
"We still have a legal obligation to protect a witness in our custody," Stass Allie insisted, raising her voice.
"Supreme Chancellor," Mace Windu sighed, "my apologies for… For this situation."
"You don't need to apologise for anything, Master Windu," Palpatine reassured. "These are trying times."
Stass Allie looked mutinous. Her violet pupils were smaller than usual, giving her an intense death stare.
"I sense we are going down a dangerous path," Windu noted in a calmer tone. "Supreme Chancellor, may I ask something of you—a compromise if you will?"
"Certainly," Palpatine replied with an innocent smile.
"Could you ask the Bothan Triumvirate, who oversees Lir Sey'les's case, to spare her the death penalty?
"I would be perfectly happy to," Palpatine beamed. "I will do everything in my power to make sure the Bothans are lenient. They seem like a… Perfectly reasonable species."
"You should emphasise her otherwise heroic actions in this conflict," Mace Windu added in a helpful tone, "her medal of honour from Antar 4."
"I will see to it," Palpatine said, patting Mace Windu's shoulder in an awkwardly fatherlike way.
Stass Allie sighed. Kev could sense she was somewhat placated and reassured by the Chancellor's pledge for leniency.
Three Temple Guards emerged from the hallway, guarding a stretcher that was hovering over the floor.
"Where is Nandi?" Mace Windu asked the trio.
Kev's ears perked up, wondering how Mace Windu could possibly recognise Temple Guards under their masks—Oh yeah. Force sight, he thought, remembering Jazal's frequent lessons.
"Nandi is in the infirmary. Broken nose. We had to stun the prisoner."
Mace Windu let off an exasperated sigh and ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Very well, turn her over to the Bothans."
Kev frowned, fur twirling unhappily as the Temple Guards guided her stretcher over to the Transport. He wanted to wake Sey'les up, tell her goodbye—that, despite everything else, it was nice working with her and that he was sorry he had once thought she was a droid.
"You are definitely not a droid," Kev growled firmly under his breath as the Bothans took her off the Jedi stretcher, transferring her to another. "Definitely not."