"Come to the dark side now, when it calls, or you will have failed. The dark side will forever shun you, the weak-minded fool who believed he had the right to wield its power!" ― Freedon Nadd

Sith Gothic

Part 12

It was not the armoured Mandolore who exited the ship once we had set down at the space port. Canderos had left behind the mask of Mandolore. Which was allowed me to see that really he hadn't changed much in terms of appearance.

His face was weather beaten, and set with a heavy jaw and he had a small scar above his left eye. He had salt-and-pepper hair, that was cut in a military style, along with a full beard, which was new.

He wore a red-brown leather vest over a sleeveless black shirt, with tan fatigue trousers and a sturdy looking pair of boots. A large pistol was strapped to his right hip, and that was the only weapon he carried, or at least it was the only weapon I could see.

"You should do the talking while we're in Iziz" the Mandolore advised "My kind aren't big on diplomacy. Don't expect any backup either"

There was a reason why Canderous was making an effect not to look any different that a thousand other spacers.

"I expect the Onderonians don't much care for Mandalorians" I said.

Mandalore laughed.

"No, they don't, but that isn't the point. One Mandalorian would get shall we say: an impolite reception, but the mask of Mandalore might be the most recognisable piece of gear in the galaxy".

Actually I hadn't recognised it at all, however the Mandos had never invaded my home world.

Canderous wasn't one for idle chat so we soon got moving. It was a little strange it just being the two of us. I'd had to leave everyone else behind because the ship we'd run the blockade in had any been a two seater. Things were also little odd because Canderous and I hadn't seen each other since I'd been captured by Malak, and before that we'd not exactly been close.

"Here we are, the city of Iziz" Mandolore declared "It's been shut down tight for months now. General Vaklu is close to declaring martial law. We won't be able to travel too far in the city; it's hard for off-worlders to get a starport visa good for anywhere past the Merchant Quarter. Fortunately I have a friend in this quarter of the city. He's a doctor by the name of Dhagon Ghent. His office is on the other side of the market square."

Mandalore snorted.

"He isn't a very good doctor" he went on to say "but he knows how to keep his mouth shut. He's who you go yo, if you want a wound treated and no questions asked, no official entanglements".

"Friends in low places." I said as I nodded. "I like it."

There was a security checkpoint at the exit from the landing bay, that was manned by an Onderonian soldier.

"Name of ship and business?" the trooper asked.

Mandolore answered that question.

"Ah, yes. Your manifest says it's been two months since you last came here. If you've been gone that long then you won't know about the new security measures" the trooper was now saying "Can I see your identification?".

Again I could not resist.

"You don't need to see our identification" I said, while using a Jedi Mind trick.

I resisted the urge to add 'these aren't the droids you're looking for'.

(Line Break)

Once we had gotten through customs we headed out into the Merchant Quarter, and along the way I took in the sights.

The Royal Palace rose into the sky at the centre of the city; the raised walkways of the Sky Ramp connected it to the gun towers and the wall. Down here the avenues were wide and clean, which meant the at least the cleaning droids were doing their jobs

Restaurants, bars, and shops lined both sides of the street, with more vendors in stands out front. It was a perfect morning to go shopping. The sun was warm, and the markets were bustling with people.

However I only spotted locals who all wore a similar style of dress, there wasn't much in the way of tourists or travellers around here. A small number of off-worlders were around, non-humans, and every vendor was making an to attract their attention.

I also spotted animals from Onderon and Dxun that were in the process of being shipped to Telos for the restoration project. The delay in customs checks meant the beasts were stored in several stockyards near the port, and the smell was terrible.

The wall between the port and the Merchant Quarter was topped with automated blaster turrets. Soldiers were posted every block or so, watching everyone suspiciously. The new security restrictions seemed designed to intimidate rather than to protect.

While this city had once been a bastion of dark side power I didn't think that was the reason why there was a blanket of dark emotions covering the city. There was tension here, fear and repression.

I stopped walking when I heard an argument. The source of which was a squad of masked soldiers surrounding an older man. They were trying to cuff him and he was resisting. The lieutenant leading the squad was snapping at his subordinates.

"Let's hurry this up. I want him escorted out of here quickly" he was saying.

"This is outrageous!" the old man called out. "I'm not a spy, I'm a journalist for Iziz Comm".

The lieutenant didn't accept this as the truth.

"You're a Republic spy and your propaganda will no longer be tolerated" the officer told the old man "We are taking you back to our barracks for interrogation."

The reporter was shocked.

"What? Well, you can't be serious? You accuse me of propaganda? I have proof that Vaklu is withholding information..."

The lieutenant didn't let the man finish talking

"One more word of treason out of you…" he started to say.

This was when the officer noticed me

"What are you looking at? This is none of your business" he said.

"Please, help me," the reporter pleaded. "Vaklu's troops won't listen. I'm just a journalist, not a spy".

Rather than get involved I moved on. Civil rites violations weren't my concern.

"Let's meet with Ghent, find Kavar, and get off this rock fast" I whispered to Canderous.

I was still making an effort to gather the Jedi Masters, even if it was just so Kreia could kill them. Seemed like a wasted effort, but Goto was right about the Sith-Jedi conflict needing an end. At the rate things were going the True Sith in the Unknown Regions wouldn't need to invade because the Sith within known space were doing a fine job of messing everything up. Someone had to stop the madness and alas it was me who got the job.

Mandalore led me down the street to a large plaza with a tall statue in the centre.. A man was standing at the base of the statue, making a speech to a small crowd. The speaker was a pro-Vaklu secessionist; his talk was long on rhetoric and short on everything else, he was just a rabble rouser.

We walked on, and I followed Mandalore through an archway and into a smaller square to the west. This was clearly not the bright and shiny part of the quarter. The streets were dirtier, there were no soldiers to be seen, and several armed sentients leaned against the buildings. Beast riders and other thugs.

"This is Dhagon Ghent's place." Mandalore told me as we stopped in front of a seedy-looking building with a medcenter symbol on the sign out front. "He's not the best doctor you'll ever meet, but he's well connected in this city. Doesn't look like he's here right now, though"

A local walked up to us

"You looking for Dhagon? You're not going to find him here" he told us.

I sighed in annoyance, knowing that I'd have to get the doctor out of prison before he could contact the Jedi Master, that would be dull. At times like this I wondered if I should bother with my quest at all. Although I got the feeling that if I strayed too far off the path that Kreia would find a way to yank my leash.

"Where is he?" I asked to know.

The man hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

"A soldier captain was murdered at the cantina" we were informed "The guards gathered up some suspects from around here. From what I hear, Dhagon Ghent was one of them".

Why was nothing ever easy?

(Line Break)

Welcome to what must be the smelliest place in the universe, off-worlder. How can I assist you?" asked the officer.

Clearly he'd never been to Nar Shaadda, parts of that place really reeked.

"I understand you have a man named Dhagon Ghent in custody," I said.

The captain nodded.

"We certainly do" he told us "He and several other people were picked up in connection to a murder".

As expected, but that didn't mean I remembered all the details. I did recall that this part of the game was pretty dull. Lots of talking to people, and not much fighting.

"Who was killed?" I asked.

"Captain Sullio," the officer replied. "She was in charge of the Starport checkpoint. A good soldier. Your friend was one of the last people that saw her alive. So far he's just a suspect. But if he did it, the punishment is death".

Harsh but fair justice in my view, assuming of course the person sentenced to death actually committed the crime.

"Any chance we can talk to him?" I requested.

The officer crossed his arms.

"No way. We're under orders to make sure no one sees the murder suspects. Command is taking this very seriously. He'll be in custody until we either eliminate him as a suspect or find the real killer" we were informed "Dhagon has quite a record with the authorities. The Colonel thinks that murder isn't too far a stretch for someone like him".

The officer then shifted to a more relaxed stance,

"Look, I know Dhagon personally" he was now saying "He's one of the worst doctors I've ever heard of. But I can't see him deliberately killing someone. There was no witness to the actual murder, but he was one of the last people seen with Captain Sullio in the cantina. Ask around there. If you can somehow clear that up and prove it wasn't him, then command will cut him loose. If I say any more I'll get in trouble".

I thanked the captain and headed for the cantina.

(Line Break)

The clientele of the local bar was a mix of spacers and locals. Most were drinking quietly enough, but one side room had been taken over by a boisterous swoop gang.

While I was no detective it didn't take me long to figure out that the main two people to talk to in this case were a Twi'lek named Kiph, and a human called Nikko. Both had been present just before the murder, and both were currently in the bar.

Kiph was closer, so I approached him first.

"You're an off-worlder, right? My name is Kiph. Nice to see a friendly face. Iziz has been a hostile place for our kind lately" he said by way of greeting.

I went through the pleasantries, bought Kiph a drink, and soon got down to business.

"I want to talk with you about Captain Sullio's murder" I said.

Kiph sighed and nodded.

"I had the misfortune of being here that night. It's very inconvenient. Soldiers were asking me some very pointed questions. Which is a big no-no in my line of business" he told me.

"What, exactly, is your line of business?" Mandalore asked.

"Most call me a slicer," Kiph replied. "But I think that sounds too crass. I prefer to think of myself as an expert computer security analyst".

That would look good on the old C.V.

"My current employer is legitimate, an import-export company here in the city, but I have a history, as do many who frequent this cantina." Kiph informed

I took a sip of my drink. I was being careful not to get drunk, it seemed unwise given what had happened last time.

"Do you know Dhagon Ghent?"

Kiph shook his head.

"I do not know the doctor very well, or Captain Sullio either. I normally try to leave the cantina before the more serious drinkers arrive. That night, I was very near Dhagon and Sullio. They were sitting with some others, spacers I believe, including two attractive females. Dhagon was attempting what I assume was a mating advance. Sullio began swearing at him, in front of the others. Many of the words I've never heard before, but the ones I did understand I assure you were most impolite"

He paused to down his glass.

"I told the soldiers as much" the alien went on to say "They calmed down somewhat and resumed their conversation, but later, Dhagon stood to leave with another man, to return to his office. Sullio insulted him again, this time denigrating his skill as a doctor. Sullio left a minute or two after Dhagon, then I heard the shots."

Next I thanked Kiph and moved on to Nikko. The short, cheery looking man was sitting alone at a pazaak table, waiting for a challenger. I sat down across from him, took out my side deck out and laid a few credit chips on the table.

Soon the game was on. Nikko was a pleasant sort, and made small talk as he won the first hand without even using one of his side deck cards. I also lost the second round, mostly by not trying too hard to win.

"So, what brings you to the cantina?" Nikko asked as we started the third round "I don't think I've see you here before".

Well I'd never visited Onderon until now, although I had wanted to, but I'd been aware of the coming civil war so I'd avoided the planet.

"I understand you were here the night of Captain Sullio's murder" I said.

While Nikko now seemed a little nervous he was good at not letting show in his voice.

"Dhagon is a good friend of mine. What do you want to know?" he asked.

I lost the third round as well, but I didn't care about the money. I could easily make more.

"One of the witnesses told me that Sullio deeply humiliated Dhagon the night she was murdered," I told the human "That's an awfully good motive".

The gambler seemed very surprised.

"Oh no, by the four moons what a mix-up!" exclaimed Nikko. "They got it all wrong. Dhagon and Sullio were good friends. It's just when they got a little too much juma juice, they'd carry on. They'd call each other all manner of things. It could get quite hilarious, really. But it was just friendly banter. It may look strange on the outside. But it was just their habit, their way of passing time during these dark nights. Listen, if the soldiers think that's a motive, they just didn't do enough digging."

Mandalore tapped me on the shoulder.

"That bit of information will help with clearing Dhagon" he said "but the Onderon military won't let him off that easy. They're very obstinate."

This I agreed with, so I went about gathering more information.

"So, what did you see the night of the murder?" I asked.

Nikko rubbed his chin.

"I was cleaning up stakes from a particularly rewarding pazaak game when I heard a loud sound outside" he told me "I grabbed my blaster and went out the door. When I got out I saw Captain was quite dead. Blood was everywhere. I heard a noise and saw Dhagon Ghent coming from his office across the courtyard. We both waited for the authorities to get there. The next day they picked up Dhagon and several other people in the area. It's crazy to think he did it. Sullio was his friend".

So far so good.

"It might be a good idea to look at the crime scene," said Mandalore. "The Onderonian military are soldiers, not professional police. If they didn't dig deep enough to find out that Sullio insulted Dhagon all the time, they might have overlooked something there, too"

This seemed like a good idea so I followed Canderous as he headed out of the cantina. There was a small section of street cordoned off, near an alley running along the side of the cantina. There was carbon scoring on the wall, from blaster shots that had missed their target, as well as bloodstains on the ground.

It was pretty clear what had happened, the attacker must have surprised Sullio, shot her at close range, and then escaped down the alley.

I looked around and paused. There was a wrecked droid in the alley, near a trash skip.

"Nobody we talked with mentioned a droid" he said as he crouched down to examine it. "This droid was destroyed recently, and someone took its head".

I thought about this.

"Maybe the droid saw the murder" I mused "So the killer blasted it and took the head to cover up the crime".

If I remember correctly someone around here would sell me the head. Which meant the killer hadn't been to careful when getting rid of the evidence. That or someone has removed the head after the robot had been shot.

(Line Break)

When Mandolore and I got back inside Kiph was still at his table, sipping a drink idly while he worked on his data pad. I quickly moved to sit down across from him.

"Kiph, I need your help" I told him.

The Twi'lek looked up.

"What is it? I have told you everything I know about the murder" he replied.

I showed him the head of the droid.

"This is something that may prove Ghent's innocence, but I need a computer specialist" I said as I set the head on the table.

"That is S-0D3, Bahima's serving droid." Kiph realised "What happened to it?".

Many bad things judging by the state of the robot.

"He saw the murder" I explained "The killer blasted the droid to try and destroy the evidence. Can you recover it?".

Kiph connected his data pad to a port on the back of the droid's head.

"I can indeed. Give me a moment" he said.

Once the Slicer was ready I brought Nikko over to watch the reconstructed footage.

"Hello there? What is this? Oh my, she's dead!"

A burst of blaster fire struck the droid square in the chest. Then the feed cut out.

"There's no way that Dhagon could have done it," Nikko said, sounding rather relieved. "I saw him coming from his office. That's the opposite direction of the marketplace. We should go talk to Captain Riiken and clear all of this up".

Finally we could get this over and done with.

(Line Break)

"Nikko, is it? And the off-worlder" said the surprised officer "What brings the two of you here?"

The pleasantries were skipped.

"Dhagon Ghent couldn't have killed Captain Sullio," I stated.

"That's a bold statement," the officer said, sounding rather sceptical "I assume you have some sort of proof?".

Indeed we did.

"It's a long story, so bear with me, Captain," Nikko began. "The night of the murder I was playing pazaak. It was a prosperous night…"

I ignored what Nikko had to say as I'd heard it all before.

"That should do it. We still don't know who killed Sullio, but this will greatly assist our investigation" the officer was now saying.

"You have been ordered off this investigation, captain." The speaker was an older man with a major's uniform, who was currently walking over to us "I hope you can explain yourself."

The captain came to attention and saluted.

"I had nothing to do with this, sir. This citizen found information about Captain Sullio's murder. It's material to the investigation" he explained.

The more senior officer crossed his arms.

"We've already got our man. Sullio and this Ghent were fighting the night she was murdered. He had ample motive" the older man said.

"I was a friend to both of them, major." Nikko explained "They did that every time they drank together. Bahima, the bartender, can confirm it, as well as half a dozen other people. They were an odd pair, but they certainly didn't hate each other".

"That's as may be," the the senior said, sounding doubtful "Ghent has a criminal record. Scum turn on their friends all the time. He was at the scene of the crime, and he did not have an alibi".

This time I spoke.

"He was at the scene, all right. Nikko testified to that" I agreed "But he came from his office, and a recording of the murder shows the shot came from the other direction"

Now the officer seemed interested in what we had to say.

"You have a recording? I'm sure you're just misinterpreting it" he said.

"I've seen it myself, major," the caption told his superior "Nikko isn't the only one that spotted Dhagon coming from his office. It really can't be Dhagon Ghent. The real killer is still loose".

"Very well, captain!" said the older man "Set Ghent free, then. But if later it turns out he did do it, it's going to be on your head."

With that he spun on his heel and walked away.

"The men will be working on getting Dhagon out right away. The major sure isn't happy." the captain said with a chuckle. "You're quite a team. Together you got the major to back down. That's no small feat".

For a moment I considered that there could be some sort of cover up going on and that the murdered captain had been killed by one of the factions who supported either the queen or the general, but in the end it didn't matter.

(Line Break)

It was about an hour later that Dhagon Ghent turned up. Mandolore and I were waiting for him outside his office.

"Thanks for getting me out of there" he said upon seeing us "As detention cells go, it had definite class. But I prefer being out on my own all the same. I owe you and Mandalore one."

He opened the door and led the way into his office. It was a mess; the place had been ransacked. Drawers and cabinets were open and their contents had been spilled all over the floor.

Dhagon groaned and began looking over the damage.

"The painkillers are gone, that's to be expected" he was now saying "They didn't rip the equipment out; guess they didn't have time".

It was safe to assume the local drug addicts had looted this place, while looking for their next hit. I pitied such people.

"Mandalore said you might be able to help me out," I said to Ghent "I'm looking for someone, a Jedi Master by the name of Kavar."

Ghent raised his eyebrows.

"A Jedi Master, you say? Now that is interesting" he replied "You know, there's rumours going around that there is a Jedi in the Palace, one of Queen Talia's advisors. I can get a message in there, but I need something from you"

Of course he did. It was never simple.

"Whoever robbed me took a set of encrypted holodisks. The people I know, you don't just walk up and chat with. There's a procedure. And that holodisk has the procedure" I was informed "Bakkel's gang pretty much owns this street so if anyone has them its her. She's in the local cantina most days. She's tough as drexl leather and more dangerous than an angry Wookiee. If you take Mandalore with you, though, you should be just fine. Just get me the encrypted holodisk. After that, if there is a Jedi Master in the Palace, I'll get you a meeting with him".

Great now I had to do more talking.

(Line Break)

Kavar arrived at the Cantina about an hour after I'd recovered the holodiscs. Which gave me plenty of time to set things up.

"You must have gone through a lot to arrange this meeting" said the Jedi "The Palace is at full battle readiness. Smuggling in a message is no small task".

No it hadn't been.

"Greetings Master Kavar" I said.

"Kavar, huh? The famed Jedi Guardian?" Mandalore asked "The Mandalorians counted on the fact that it would be you, not Revan, who would lead the Jedi against us during the Mandalorian Wars. I wonder how we'd have fared against you. I thought you were killed fighting Malak during the Jedi Civil Wars".

This wasn't exactly the time for ideal chatter.

"A Sith Lord and a Mandalorian. Strange times lead to strange alliances, though" Kavar said with a smile. "But Why are you here?".

I started explaining about the Sith who were after me, and how I needed help in stopping them. Only I didn't get very far.

"Am I interrupting?" Colonel Tobin strode into the cantina at the head of a squad of soldiers "In orbit, I was sure that the Ebon Hawk was mine. I was certain. Only to see you slip through my fingers during the battle. Imagine my delight to discover you were on Iziz. Quite careless, if you ask me".

He then snapped his fingers.

"Get them, men! And watch your aim. Civilian casualties cause a mess of paperwork" he ordered.

Nobody fired because everyone in the Cantina was now pointing a weapon at the soliders. Most of the people in here were for hire, and I'd paid them off.

"I must return to the Palace. I'll get word to you when I'm able!" shouted out the Jedi Master as he fled.

Mandolore and I left before anyone could open fire.