Chapter 9

Ryu Jayks, his wife Shaznia and their two children, Kenod and Gabrielle stood in the elevator going to the top of the spire of the rebuilt Jedi Temple. Resisting the urge to bounce on his toes took an immense act of willpower. Shaznia turned to him and said, "Calm down Ryu. This isn't the first time any of us has been to the Council Chambers after all."

Smiling tightly he said, "Individually, yes, that's true. But all of us together? That's a little strange."

Shaznia shrugged and said, "Okay, I'll give you that point but don't worry. The Council will probably just want each of our impressions concerning the attack on Kenod."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. The New Republic insignia stood out on the polished marble floor just as its creator intended. As Ryu and his family neared the doors that entered into the Council Chambers proper, the double doors swung open noiselessly and the group of four entered. As the doors closed behind them, Ryu saw the entire Council assembled either by hologram or physical presence. Ryu saw his adopted brother Dieter and his cousin Michelle as well but kept silent. After stopping in the center of the Chamber to stand upon the red cross, the four bowed slightly at the waist and waited for Luke to speak.

"Greetings Jedi Ryu, Jedi Shaznia, Jedi Kenod and Padawan Gabrielle; know you, why you are here?"

When Ryu indicated ignorance, Luke spoke again, "It has been decided by the Council, that you, Ryu Jayks, and your wife Shaznia Jayks have demonstrated many of the greatest traits that Jedi should aspire to. Your selfless service to the New Republic, the Jedi Order and to your many, many students has been exemplary and beyond contestation. The missions you have undertaken regardless of complexity have been successful by way of negotiation, or mediation, both aggressive and passive. Your humble dedication to the students of Teräs Käsi, both Force Sensitive and non-Force Sensitive has been a model of equality. For all of that, you both still ensured that you raised your children in a loving and nurturing environment that flowed with the Force and its many eddies and currents."

Luke was silent a moment and then continued, "Since you both have proven yourselves time and again, it has been decided that you both shall be Masters. Confer upon you both this Council does, the rank of Jedi Master."

Ryu was stunned, and through the mental bond he and his wife shared, he could sense that she was too. Over the years they had been together, Shaznia and Ryu had developed the ability to share thoughts and send short messages to each other through the Force. Ryu sent to Shaznia, "Are you ready for this?"

She sent back, "I am if you are my love, but I can sense hesitation. You are my friend, my husband and my partner. Your debts are my debts; your word of honor given is my word of honor to carry out."

Ryu replied, "You use my Father's words?"

She answered, "Truer words have yet to be spoken and you know it."

In perfect time with each other, Ryu and Shaznia went to one knee and said in unison, "We accept this greatest of honors with humility and gratitude Master Skywalker."

Luke stood from his seat in the circle of Masters and stepped in front of the newly minted Jedi Masters. Placing both hands on one of their shoulders apiece, he said, "Rise my friends and let me be the first to congratulate you both."

Stepping away, Luke started clapping and soon every other person in the room was clapping loudly as well. Dieter came over and gave his adopted brother and sister-in-law a hearty hug and handshake, joined soon by Kenod, his sister Gabrielle and their Cousin Michelle Karu´.

The clapping continued for a time and when it ended, Luke resumed his seat and said, "Though this is a joyous day, and a celebration is in order, there is a tremor in the Force that cannot be ignored. The Council was informed less than an hour ago of an assassination attempt on Admiral Picard, the Federation Ambassador-at-Large. That incident, in conjunction with the attempted attack on Kenod Jayks of only a few days ago has therefore made your first assignment an easy one to decide upon. Jedi Master Ryu Jayks, Jedi Master Shaznia Jayks you both will head up the investigation of this incident. You will need to work with Starfleet Security as well as the New Republic Peace Officer Corps on this. Corran Horn will give you what information he has up to this point. The Council is certain that the two incidents are related. Just how exactly they are related, we don't know yet but the Force, though seldom clear is clear on this matter. Go carefully and investigate, then report back to the Council. As for you Jedi Kenod, your mission is still yours if you want it. It might simplify matters inasmuch as the investigation is concerned if you were offworld, but you must do what you feel is right."

Kenod nodded and said, "Thank you Master for giving me the choice in this. I choose to continue my planned mission. I agree with you that it would probably be easier for my parents if I were offworld so that's where I'll be."

Luke nodded, "May the Force be with you all."

General purpose meeting room, Jedi Temple

A short time later, Ryu, Shaznia, Kenod and Gabrielle walked into one of the many general purpose meeting rooms to be found throughout the Temple. Corran Horn was waiting for them. Upon entering, Corran walked up to them and said, "Congratulations to you both. It's been a long time in coming."

Ryu started to speak, "Thank you Master . . ."

Corran cut him off in mid-sentence and said, "Don't even think of calling me 'Master' now. We're equals. It's Corran from now on. Got it?"

"Yes Mast . . . er, I mean Corran. It will take some getting use to though. I honestly never expected to be made a Jedi Master in any other way but posthumously perhaps." Ryu said.

Corran spoke, "Luke spoke to me earlier about it and he was ready to just promote you and Shaznia both, with or without your consent. More than once, he's mentioned how difficult it is to give you any praise. Something about having too much of your father in you he says. I might not have told you, but once, many years ago, I met your Father. He came to Corellia once. I never knew why he was there and he didn't stay long. After that, I've only ever heard his voice coming from a holocron, so I have to take Luke's word for it. Anyway, like Luke said, you and Shaznia will be leading the Jedi involvement of this investigation. With the help of my contacts throughout the NRPO community here on Coruscant, I was able to read transcripts of the statement you gave senior Detective So Leet at Station 17. I was also able to get a copy of the holo-recording that Warbler made of the incident. To start, I'd like to go over the recording with you and get your thoughts and feelings on it. After that, I'll give you what information I have so far and then maybe we can start building a plan from there."

As the Jayks family sat down at the conference style table across from Corran, he dialed some controls on the tabletop. The windows tinted from clear to opaque and the lights faded as the holo-emitters built into the ceiling scanned the data Corran had already provided and started to show what Warbler saw that day: Kenod was visible sitting on the couch in the living room at first and in the background, the voice of Ronin Jayks, Ryu's father, could be heard saying, "The kinitite hadoken is, I believe, one of, if not the ultimate expression of one's unity with the Force. Unlike Sith Lightning which is created by tapping the darkest hatred within the Dark Side, the hadoken is created by life. Using my own life energy like a primer from a slugthrower's projectile, my ki triggers the ambient life energy around me to give a little of itself. This energy is easily replaced by the natural cycle of life and is not missed. Using my arms and hands like magnets, only instead of ferrous metal particles, I'm attracting life energy, collecting it, focusing it between my hands and focusing my intent. The Force is perceived by every Jedi, whether they be Padawan, Knight or Master, differently. I have read accounts given to me by Luke that verify this beyond any doubt. Some perceive it as threads that tie everything together, others as waves like one would see on a sandy beach as the tides come and go. As for me, I perceive the Force as blue orbs of all sizes as they flow into my arms and hands."

Kenod was seen to stand up from the couch and stand in the middle of the living room. The voice of Ronin Jayks was heard to say, "Assume a neutral stance with your weight evenly distributed on both feet, breathe deeply and evenly in through your nose and out through your mouth. Smoothly rotate your arms in a circle just barely larger than the height of your head and torso and open yourself to the Force." As Kenod continued to follow the instructions, the voice of Ryu's father continued, "If you approach this focusing technique cold, say just as you begin your daily training regimen, you will have to hold it upwards of thirty standard minutes. If on the other hand, you do it after a solid workout when the Ki and Force are working synergistically, or in a critical moment during a fight as my son Ryu has done, it may only take a minute or less. You will begin to see multi-colored streaks cross your field of vision, these are your intentions, and this is good. Now focus your intentions on one point, one place in time and space and feel the Force around you."

The depth of field started to lengthen as Warbler moved towards his recharge station but he continued recording. After a moment the image stabilized. Kenod held a blue orb of tightly condensed energy between his palms. The main door to the Jayks residence opened and the three would-be attackers charged into the main room. The Bothan made one remark, "We are so kriffing stanged."

Kenod shifted his weight forward into a zenkutsu-dachi and yelled out, "HADOKEN!"

In the hologram, the hadoken was seen to leave Kenod's hands and fly unerringly at the three assailants. The Bothan took the brunt of the blast and was knocked back out of the field of view but the sound of the breaking of the closet door where Ryu saw him when he first entered the apartment could be heard, while the Barabel and Falleen were knocked back at 45° angles. The Falleen slid across the floor for a short distance and lay still while the Barabel hit the wall and slid down to fall over on its side on the floor.

From Warbler's point of view Kenod was seen to slowly recover to a standing position and then sink down on both knees. Moments later, Ryu entered the room with lightsaber in hand but deactivated. The image ended in a fizzle of static. As the windows went back to transparent from opaque, the ambient lighting increased back to normal.

Corran was the first to speak, "Even seeing it again still surprises the blazes out of me. My family line, the Horns, descended from the Halcyon line, has as their strongest attribute the ability to absorb or dissipate energy which is how I can block a blaster bolt with my bare hand, though it still stings like hell. Don't ask me to levitate or Force Push anything though without a dose of energy from an outside source. Your family line, Ryu, has the ability to absorb additional energy from the very life around you whether it is plant or animal. On a strictly hypothetical note, I have to wonder what would happen if you or your son fired one of those fireballs at me or mine. Anyway, back to the case at hand. I was able to access the arrest reports of the Barabel, Falleen and the Bothan."

Manipulating the controls on the tabletop again, Corran brought up the images of the attackers. Just beneath their respective images was a summary of their public files. As Corran continued to operate the controls, he spoke, "Eoth Kohm was on the household staff of Kultan Vor'esk, a functionary of the Bothan Consulate and had no criminal record until this incident. Not even a parking ticket. It's a mystery why a regular fellow like him would suddenly recruit two thugs and try and assault a Jedi."

Ryu spoke, "What do you mean exactly by 'was'? Did his employer fire him over this or bail him out of detention and send him offworld?"

Corran shook his head, "I wish that were so. In this case, he's dead."

Kenod sat back in his seat plainly surprised, "I didn't kill him did I? I recall seeing him being taken out on a stretcher but I could have sworn he was still alive."

Corran said, "Relax Kenod. He was alive when he was taken away from your home but he had an allergic reaction to the bacta that he was placed in to heal the cracked ribs and concussion. I wasn't kidding when I said Eoth was a mystery. By all accounts, he should have gotten out of that tank better than new but not only did he die in the tank of anaphylactic shock when there was no record of him having an allergy to bacta in the first place, but then his corpse was turned over to his employer for disposal before an autopsy could be performed. According to public record, Eoth was a ward of Vor'esk. Eoth's parents died when the reborn Emperor sent his World Devastators to Bothuwai. The Vor'esk household took him in, finished his education and gave him a job. I imagine you'll want to interview Kultan Vor'esk, so I already made the request on your behalf. Right now, there's been no answer but hopefully there will be soon."

Corran continued with, "Our next contestant is the Barabel, who calls himself Barab the Barabel. Not very original sounding, I grant you, but believe it or not, that is his name of record and speaking of records, his is one of basic thuggery and strong-arming. Don't let his usual choice of employment fool you though. He holds several academic degrees all through the Criminal Justice field. It's probably how he's stayed out of serious trouble until now. Several times he's been scheduled to appear in court to face charges ranging from extortion to assault and even racketeering. Each time though, his accusers decide suddenly to drop charges or they come into enough money to get a one way ticket offworld and that's the last they're heard of. This time around, Barab lawyered up as soon as he got to Station 17. His lawyer found a technicality and got his client released quicker than a dianoga exits a trash compacter about to start its cycle. There is a BOLO out on him but there is a large Barabel population on Coruscant so it's doubtful that he'll be found."

Kenod asked, "Bolo? Isn't that a type of wild game capture tool?"

Ryu answered, "Yes and no son. There is a device of the type you describe but in this case its spelled capital B-O-L-O, an acronym for Be On the Look Out."

Nodding in understanding, Kenod looked back to Corran and said, "What about the Falleen?"

Corran manipulated the controls still further until the Falleen's image was center of the display. "The Falleen's name is Xoran and he's probably the most dangerous. Before going into crime, he was a competitor in the GFC."

Comprehension dawned openly on Ryu's face. "That's why he seemed so familiar!"

Everyone's attention suddenly focused on Ryu.

He said, "I encountered and fought only a few Falleen while I was on the Tournament circuit with the GFC. It was before I met you Shazi and obviously before Kenod and Gabrielle were born. This one though was a rare one. Not only was he trained by Prince Xixor, the Underlord of the Black Sun syndicate, but he's Force Sensitive too. Although I don't know if he knows that he is or not. He left a trail of brutality behind him in every tournament I ever saw him in. At the risk of sounding vain, I think he was looking to defeat me and claim the title of 'Galaxy's Strongest'. We almost fought on more than one occasion but never got the chance for one reason or another. I remember once he issued a direct challenge to me for the Title and in his last semi-final match before he was slated to face me, he was disqualified for trying to establish an inroad for performance enhancers into the GFC. His DQ came about by way of an inter-organization sting operation. I helped set Xoran up, as well as a couple of the dealers who were looking to make a connection in the GFC. I don't recall if it was proven that Xoran was using but if he was, he didn't need the stuff. Despite of or maybe even because of his penchant for brutality, he was quite popular with the fans and one time at a 'meet and greet' with the fans, I saw him kick a sunfruit off of a tall humanoid's head without a warm-up stretch."

Gabrielle had been silent until now, "Like you say dad, if he was using, why would a DQ make him go into crime? Six months to a year of clean living and the enhancers would have cleared his bloodstream."

Ryu said, "In any other type of organized fighting, that would be the case but the GFC is the highest caliber of fighting and its clearly outlined in your application that any use, and I mean any use of or supplying performance enhancers or other narcotics will result in a permanent, lifetime ban from fighting in the GFC. The GFC fighters are the highest paid of any organized fighting circuit; they get the best venues, the best perquisites. If someone gets banned from the GFC, the best they can hope for after that is to fight in the underground circuits for rent and food money. Now that I think about it, I remember after he was disqualified, he was stripped of all his accolades he'd earned to that point and was about to be prosecuted, but he disappeared before going to court. Soon after, I met Shazi and had other things on my mind. It would appear he still has a grudge, since he tried to get to me through my son."

Corran said, "That was my first thought as well and so far the evidence matches the theory. This one's lawyer was waiting at, big surprise here, Station 17, for his client and got him released. While the total Falleen population on Coruscant is far less than the Barabel one and there is a BOLO on Xoran, there's even less of a chance of finding him."

Kenod asked, "Why's that Master Horn? There can't be that many former GFC level Falleen on the planet."

Corran answered, "You would be correct but back in the early days of the Civil War, there was a flesh-eating bacterium that got loose on the Falleen homeworld that would rival the Krytos virus epidemic of many years later. It came from an R & D facility that was working directly for Darth Vader. Few records remain of that specific incident except to say that when whatever it was, got loose in the nearest population center it started to spread. No record remains that clearly indicates just how far the virus got but there is a record of Vader personally ordering a sterilization of a very large tract of one of the landmasses and all of their inhabitants in an effort to stop the spread of this virus. As a result, Falleen have a tendency to stick to their own, usually working to further their own status as a species and generally don't concern themselves with much of anything concerning the 'lower' life forms, which pretty much means any other sentient species."

Ryu interjected, "You probably won't find him through regular channels Corran. He's the reigning 'King of Fighters' in the Demon's Battle Cave, in point of fact, he practically runs everything there."

Shaznia spoke, "This NRPO Station 17 sure is coming up a lot. The Force is trying to tell me something about this but I don't have enough information to put it into words yet. Does anyone else feel the same?"

Ryu, Kenod and Gabrielle all nodded their heads in agreement.

Corran said, "I've got the same feeling but even though the Jedi Order was granted limited police powers upon its reconstitution, feelings like ours don't go very far in the courts. As you all know, anyone can ask for our help in matters of justice but what we find is only admissible in court if it results in large bodies of evidence. This evidence can take the form of physical material from a search and seizure or audio-visual evidence like a confession either written or in a hologram like the one Warbler made of Kenod at the time of the incident. I'm going to quietly inquire of my Father-in-law, Booster Terrik, if he can have his slicers look into the background of Senior Detective So Leet of Station 17. As much as I dislike investigating other law enforcement officers or even suspecting them of wrongdoing for that matter, I think it may turn something up. What will you two do?"

Shazi said, "I think I'll see if I can borrow Michelle for a time and go to the Titan and see if Admiral Picard can tell me anything and then check with Starfleet Security to see if they have any leads yet. What about you three?"

Gabrielle said, "I have to get with Master Mara and see if she wants me to assist. Don't get me wrong, I want to help any way I can. After all, someone tried to hurt my brother and I'm the only one who can do that."

There was a short chuckle around the table at that comment. Kenod said, "I wish I could help too but I have to leave first thing tomorrow for my mission for the Jedi Order. Master Skywalker may assign a partner to me to help watch my back since I was the target and someone might try again but I'll have to wait and see."

Ryu was silent for a moment. He knew his choice would not be a popular one but it would have to be done. "I know where to find Xoran. I'm going to the Demon's Battle Cave. If I find him there, and I probably will, I must face him . . . alone. That's the only way I'll get the information I want and need. What puzzles me most about Xoran's involvement in this, why would someone like him take on the role of a hired thug?"

As expected there was a sharp intake of breath from his family but each one knew in their own way that he would do what he needed to do.

A short time later, after the group ended their meeting, Ryu and his wife were standing on a balcony looking out at the Coruscant cityscape, their children having sensed a possible argument in the offing and needing to return to their respective tasks. Shazi was saying, "Why won't you let me join you? I was a GFC fighter too, don't forget. I can hold my own in any hive of scum and villainy just as well as you can."

He answered, "Your fighting ability is not at question Shazi! If Xoran is where I think he is, then the only way I'll get to him is by myself! From what Corran was able to uncover so far, Xoran may still have it in for me. If the locals see two Jedi, they'll close their mouths faster than a space slug going for its first snack in a century. I might even have to enter a local sector tournament to do it. Things like that can always be found if you know where to look."

She answered, "But you haven't fought in almost twenty years! I just got back from a mission of my own; our son was attacked; now he's going on his own mission offworld into who knows what. You might get hurt or worse you, you, half-witted . . . nerf-herder!" Her emotional control had started to crack as she turned away to stand at the railing. Involuntarily, her vision started to go misty.

Ryu walked over to her and gently turned her to face him. Tipping her face up to his, he wiped away her tears and said softly, "Hey there . . . this is me here. To borrow a phrase from one of Master Yoda's holocron sequences, worry you should not. For my ally is the Force and a powerful ally it is. While it is true that I haven't fought professionally in almost twenty years or so, you forget that I have a high level, nearly full contact, hard spar every other week or so. I swear to you I'll be fine just as I swore that you and only you would have my heart. I love you Shaznia Dree-Jayks and I will be careful."

Shazi felt her heart and soul shiver with love when he spoke her name that way. "I love you too and on an intellectual level, I know that you will do what you need to. On an emotional one . . . all I can say is don't you dare get yourself killed or I'll never forgive you!"

Ryu kissed his wife deeply and with much tenderness. When their lips parted he said, "I will return to you. This I promise with all my heart and soul."