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Talus


Jidai Geki

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Aelyn would have preferred that the negotiations at least waited until she had arrived to begin, especially since she was running on time. As it was, she hadn't even been briefed. It meant she was going in blind to a situation in progress and she wouldn't have any time to waste figuring out the positions of both sides while also finding the path that would reconcile them. Her father would have called the situation unprofessional; she could recognize it as such but also trust the Force and her own instincts to see her through.

 

As she approached the room she could sense that there was already a heated argument going on, and even when she entered she seemed to go unnoticed for a moment. On one side there was Aiwah Lanis. Frustrated, outraged, almost unbelieving of the situation that had developed. She felt like she was being cheated out of something that was really important. On the other side, the Skakoans that at times seemed synonymous with the Techno Union. Concealed within the pressure suits they needed to survive off of their homeworld, they were difficult to read physically, but in the Force she could see past the breathing apparatus. At least... she normally could. For some reason, when she stretched out with her senses to the Techno Union delegation, she felt nothing whatsoever.

 

Her brow creased in consternation. She had lived almost her whole life without these powers, but now when they didn't work she found it incredibly disquieting.

 

She did not need the Force to see that the lead Skakoan -- Chairman Persei, she'd thought she'd heard Aiwah call him -- was apparently bleeding from a head wound. Hopefully, Aelyn reflected, things had not gotten so heated that he had received it here.

 

Finally she approached the table and caught Aiwah's eye. "Hello," she said as she crossed over to her to shake her hand. Her tone was bright and friendly in her smooth Coruscanti Basic, offering a reprieve from the frustrating development for a moment. "You must be Ms. Lanis. I'm Aelyn Talis." She had made no attempt to conceal her status as a member of the Jedi Order: she wore traditional brown Jedi robes over a tan-colored tunic, and her lightsaber hung upon her belt, visible from the right angle if not prominently displayed. Her boots still had traces of Galan soil on them, now mixed with the dust of the Talusian road.

 

She turned and offered a pleasant smile and a gentle bow to the Skakoan delegation. "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance as well," she offered. She hoped the distraction and the pleasantries would at least break off the emotional high in the room and allow things to reset to a more civil state so that they could start again.

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After filling the bounty on Bogden, the Vevuts had returned home for a few days, but Mellanie had been eager to get offworld again. So when a contract had come through, looking for someone to make a little noise, she quickly accepted it. Araac had decided to stay behind--it was the beginning of planting season on Mandalore, and if he didn't get the crops planted now, it'd be difficult to catch up. So she had taken their ship by herself through several hyperspace jumps into the mid-rim.

 

Traffic had been slow once she entered the Corellian system. She had always liked this system. So many cultures combining and colliding. Araac and she had hidden in the system for a while when he was first protecting her as a teenager, but she hadn't had much chance to return since then. Now, as she descended towards the twin planets of Talus and Tralus, she wondered why she hadn't. The Casino was in this system for a while, she remembered. Aunt Brina always said it was a profitable location, but in the end, property damages from drunk angry Corellians made it not worth sticking around. She chuckled at the thought.

 

Once she finally got a landing berth, she rose and checked her kit. She had spent some of the flight tinkering on her mechanical arm, increasing efficiency and installing some new toys that she had purchased with the credits they had earned from the Black Sun bounty. Seeing that everything was in good order, she slipped on her buy'ce, and headed to the weapons locker. The other part of the trip, she had spent deconstructing some blasters into smaller attachable bits. Now, she took the pieces and slipped them into various pouches and hidden pockets. Two pieces clipped onto the side of her plates.

 

That done, she headed off the ship. Her deconstructed weapons raised no eyebrows at customs, although she noticed that simply being in armor caused the agents to treat her more deferentially and suspiciously, and she had to suffer through additional screening procedures. But half an hour later, she had rented a small landspeeder and was making her way through the Talusian streets towards her destination.

 

---

 

The office building was tall and unremarkable, in a part of town full of other commercial buildings, each attempting to make itself visually distinct but generally failing. Mellanie slowed, but not dramatically, flying with a purpose, not lingering, but quickly scoping out the whole situation. The entrance area was probably the best place for her goals--it was wide, with only a few ornamental bushes and trees breaking up the monotony of grey concrete. Twin pillars of engraved durasteel flanked glass doors. She parked her landspeeder in one of the corporate parking lot's guest spaces and headed off on foot. After a few minutes, she felt she had the lay of the area. Satisfied, Mellanie turned and headed to the building across the street. It was shorter, only a few stories tall, with a flashy neon sign that seemed slightly out of place in this corporate neighborhood, declaring the building the headquarters of a small prefab housing company. The building backed up into a small alley. Once there, Mellanie braced her feet and launched some liquid cable as high as it would go. The cable solidified upon contact with the air. She attached it to her belt, then quickly and quietly ascended. There weren't many windows back here, thankfully, as another taller building flanked the other side of the alley.

 

She perched on a ledge three stories up, then climbed the last floor to the roof. Her buy'ce didn't pick up any heat signatures, and only one security system, aimed at preventing speeders from landing on the roof. Staying upright to provide a small enough footprint to avoid tripping the sensors, Mellanie danced over to an access panel. Pulling out a small device from a belt pouch, she inserted it between two wires and clipped it in place. The device would disable the security system in that area without setting off any alarms, then automatically disintegrate when Mellanie told it to.

 

Once that was taken care of, she took a few minutes to reassemble her weapons. Her target was a Skakoan, so she had deliberately packed a small but powerful EMP rifle. One shot would disable his pressure suit, which would make him easy to capture. She had a regular blaster on her too, just in case, but she didn't think she'd need it.

 

The last thing she did was to attach another cable, this time to the building she was standing on, right above the neon sign. She tossed the other end over the edge.

 

Finally, she wedged herself in between two of the sign's letters. If all went well, she'd disable her target, rappel down the side of the building, grab him, and have a direct line to her landspeeder. She brought up her rifle and settled in to wait.

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Skakoans all looked displeased to see the newcomer, especially when the lightsaber hilt was flashed. All except Sobek, who merely waited calmly. The rest were visibly uncomfortable in their body language, their pressure masks hiding their facial expressions. One of the junior assistants in the back of their group checked the ysalamir they were carrying, trying to gain any measurable hint of if the lizard was doing its job. Sobek was the first to speak for the group.

 

"Master Talis...is that the proper title you Jedi go by? Anyways, I'm afraid to inform you that your skills will not be needed. I'm afraid this is a matter for the courts at this point. The agreements have been made, the deal put into binding agreement. The people of Talus now want to back out of this deal, at great cost to the Techno Union. Nothing more can really be said, and no Jedi mind tricks will convince me to change my position."

 

Sobek gestured vaguely back to the ysalamir as he sat calmly in his chair. Aiwah was still glaring daggers at him, but finally sighed and passed two datapads towards Aelyn.

 

"I'm afraid he's right, though I'm not sure how. Some of this paperwork was apparently signed by my deputies, but one deputy has been missing, and the other doesn't remember signing this paperwork. Their mining operations threaten the environmental sustainability of Talus, and while they were gracious enough to suspend operations for this talk, I don't think they intend to hold things up much longer. Contacting the Jedi was admittedly a last-ditch hope, and I'm sorry to have dragged you in...can anything be done?"

 

Sobek made a motion with his hand, and his delegation began packing things up.

 

"Governor, you know how to get in contact with me should any more concerns arise. I believe we are done here."

 

As the Skakoans moved towards the exit, Aiwah hung her head in defeat.

 

"If only I'd had more time."

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Use all your well-learned politics, or I'll lay your soul to waste.

 

 

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Aelyn had to admit that she found the power of a Jedi mind trick to be a frightening thing and she couldn't blame Sobek for being concerned about it being used during negotiations. Not that it was something that she or hopefully any other Jedi Knight would do. Even if if was ethically acceptable to manipulate someone's thoughts without their consent, Jedi could not be bought by any government, organization or individual and she was here to serve as a third party, not to push the agenda of either side.

 

The encounter with Sobek gave her a lot of insight into him though in just a few sentences. He was the aggressor in the situation. His assumption that she was not ethically opposed to using mind control against him probably meant he himself was unscrupulous. He was convinced the law would side with him. He kind of made her skin crawl, especially if he was going to hurt the planet's environment for the sake of profit.

 

Despite this she bowed politely when he and his delegation began to make their exit. "Thank you for your time," she told them.

 

As they filed out, she turned back to Aiwah. "With your permission, Governor, I would like to stay close by for a while and look into the matter with your deputies," she said. "If one of them is missing he or she may be in danger."

 

No sooner had she said the word than she felt a stirring in the Force. She frowned and looked in the direction by which the Techno Union delegation had exited. "Um, excuse me for a moment," she apologized before heading after them.

 

By now they were approaching the door outside and she hurried towards them. Unfortunately her danger sense was maddeningly unspecific. Was the danger coming from the delegation or from something else? Was Aelyn herself in danger or was it directed elsewhere? She stretched out with her feelings, but they were obscured somewhat by whatever the Skakoans were using to block her out. But beyond them, outside and above --

 

"Wait!" she called after Sobek, reaching for her lightsaber.

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It turned out Mellanie didn't have to wait long. She had been settled in place for only ten minutes when she saw movement in her scope. The Skakoans came into sight, approaching the door. Mellanie sighted her target, finger on the trigger. The door slid open and Sobek stepped through...and Mellanie pulled the trigger, sending arcs of blue electromagnetic pulses down on the delegate. It was a perfect shot. She immediately rose and made to grab onto her zipline, when movement at the scene grabbed her attention. Her target was seizing up, falling to his knees--and then, suddenly, he exploded. Pieces of metal and organic matter rained all over the pavement, and a red-haired human in Jedi robes darted out of the building, glowing lightsaber in hand.

 

Mellanie's jaw dropped. "Haar'chak!" she swore. She scrambled to get to her feet. What happened? It was just a standard EMP blast! It should not have been lethal! She cursed again, this time blaming herself--it had to have been a mistake on her part, and now someone was dead. She had no stomach for that--she had done enough killing in the war.

 

Focus, Mel! she scolded herself. Mellanie wasn't armed or prepared to deal with a Jedi. So instead of rappeling down the front of the building, Mellanie quickly climbed back up to the main part of the roof. Her best chance now was to try and lose the Jedi; she had no doubt the woman would be after her in a flash. Her brain spun trying to figure the best way out. Use the rooftops as much as you can, circle around, and high-tail it out of here in the landspeeder. Wasting no more time, the Mandalorian took off running, disassembling the rifle as she went. This was not good.

 

How could she have made such a terrible mistake?

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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For a few moments, there was shock as the realization of what had happened set in. Alarms sounded, and armed military guards began to scramble. Two Skakoans that were near to Sobek were obviously panicking as the power regulators for their pressure suits abruptly fizzled out with the focused EMP burst, leaving them still pressurized but immobile and unable to maintain the pressure for long. If they had to stay like that for over a standard galactic hour or so, they would die, but help would arrive in time to allow them to be put on auxiliary systems until their suits could be properly repaired.

 

Sobek's entrails were more or less everywhere, however, mostly liquid at this point as the fluids began to boil under the lower pressures, though chunks of him here and there were still intact.

 

--------------------

 

Aiwah cursed as she surveyed the scene. The Jedi was already on the hunt, but this had been an enormous clustercluck. She still thought calling the Jedi had been a mistake, calling in a favor that wound up not paying off that well, but in the back of her mind she also knew thay there was a good amount of luck involved. Hopefully, the Jedi could help soothe matters. And the Techno Union would take time to select another leader, which was also fortuitous for her, because until they did they would likely keep operations suspended. It was utter insanity that he'd died, though, one of the building guards had briefed her, and the assailant had used some kind of EMP weapon...which shouldn't have been fatal. Things weren't adding up.

 

Immediately she ordered two first responder units activated, passing on Aelyn's comm info so they could be placed under her command with a priority of hunting down the assassin, though their time to intercept would obviously suffer some delay.

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Like my posts? Google "zalgo font."

If you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, have some taste.
Use all your well-learned politics, or I'll lay your soul to waste.

 

 

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Her jaw dropped in shock as the the Skakoan basically ruptured in front of her, and Aelyn's stomach rebelled. She might have vomited at the gruesome display, but the weight of the lightsaber in her hand urged her to act. Someone had just died... it didn't matter one bit that she had a moment ago assigned to him the role of antagonist in what should have been a purely legal and diplomatic proceeding.

 

But she was not the hapless diplomat here, and she had a responsibility to seek justice for what had just happened. She shed her outer cloak and the azure lightsaber blade sprung from its hilt warm in her hand. She took three long strides across the street, the Force swelling around her, and then suddenly she was practically flying through the air to land a bit precariously on the edge of the rooftop far above. For an instant she teetered there, having landed on a slant she couldn't see from below, but another nudge with the Force and she found her footing.

 

Ahead of her she could sense the assassin. Elevated heart beat. Frustration. Shock? Probably hadn't expected to find a Jedi Knight escorting the delegation.

 

Aelyn took off, remembering her training. Her senses were open, her mind focused. This way, she knew no limits. The Force helped propel her up a steep incline as she sought higher ground, casually making a climb that would normally make her muscles burn in protest. From her new vantage point she caught sight of the assassin -- a Mandalorian by the looks of her, much to Aelyn's surprise. She had always thought that such sneak attacks were beneath a people that considered themselves to be proud warriors and mercenaries.

 

"You! Stop!" she called, leaping across to the next rooftop, attempting to improvise as she scrambled over an environmental unit while still grasping her lightsaber with one hand. She managed to scrape her shin on its metal edge, and she winced but kept going.

 

The rooftops ahead of the Mandalorian offered limited options for what paths she could take. Aelyn picked the most likely one and scrambled that way, hoping to make up some more time. Again she tried to take the high ground so she could keep eyes on the fleeing murderer.

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Okay, Mel thought, panting as she scrambled across the roof, maybe I should have listened to Keaz when he said a jetpack was a useful piece of kit.

 

The next building abutted the one she was on, so it was an easy leap of two meters to jump to the next rooftop. She heard the Jedi shout behind her and attempted to increase her speed. Thankfully, it seemed that this Jedi, like most, didn't carry a blaster, or else didn't want to shoot Mel in the back immediately. Not having to worry about dodging blaster bolts allowed her to run faster.

 

Unfortunately, the roof she had chosen was unkempt, wires crisscrossing the duracrete with abandon, both on the ground and at a height that, if she wasn't careful, would wrap around her neck and strangle her. Bending double, she ducked low, picking her feet up as much as she could to avoid being tripped. A wall loomed in front of her, and she jumped up, using her arms to pull herself up and over the wall, and kept going. But she was losing time. Spying a canister of some sort, she toppled it, putting it in the Jedi's path and hopefully slowing her down.

 

Finally, she reached the edge of the roof, and bit back another curse. A broad multi-lane pedway stretched between the building she was on and the next closest one, under construction with a lot of heavy equipment and droids rumbling away. She took a second to gauge the distance using the rangefinder in her HUD. Looks like I have just enough cable left, she thought, making a snap decision. Planting her feet, she shot the cable out until it embedded itself in a large construction crane. For a moment, she hesitated. This is dini'la.

 

And then she swung out over the construction zone like some kind of human/knobby white spider combination. As nerve-wracking as it was, Mellanie couldn't deny it: for that one moment, her dread and confusion about what had happened melted away in the sheer joy of adrenaline. She felt like a superhero.

 

At the right moment, she began to unwind more cable, lowering herself onto the opposite rooftop, a slanted thing that dipped down to shade the first story of the building.

 

With luck, the Jedi would be stymied by the gap, and Mellanie could get away.

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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In an effort to stay active, Aelyn had taken up jogging as a teenager and stuck with it over the years -- something that turned out to be a huge benefit for this new lifestyle. From her adventures so far, it seemed that dashing headlong around dangerous environments was as much a part of being a Jedi as mediating and philosophizing. But all the jogging in the world didn't adequately prepare her for the acrobatics that were now being required of her to catch a rather-spritely Mandalorian woman with a head start on her.

 

Having to deactivate her lightsaber, Aelyn utterly failed to gain any ground on the assassin as she crossed the dangerous wire-crossed roof, though the toppled canister she was able to lift aside with a hurried application of telekinesis and she had an edge in hopping up the low wall as she was unladen by battle armor. It did however cause her to temporarily lose sight of her target until she was rapidly approaching the edge of the roof, watching her rappel down a level on liquid cable.

 

She reached out instinctively to the Force for guidance. It told her not to stop, not to think, but rather just to act and trust. It was another critical moment, like when she had dove into the dark waters on Naboo to face the Leviathan's gaping maw. A moment where if she hesitated, she could get hurt or even die.

 

She didn't pause. With a mighty leap Aelyn crossed the divide out to the crane, took two steps along its metal face, then kicked off, the wind whipping back her long red hair and the edges of her tunic as she hurtled into the path of the fleeing Mandalorian. Just before she landed, the Force pressed up upon her from below, an even and reassuring pressure that enabled her to land softly.

 

Aelyn's azure blade sprung again to life as she came face to face with Sobek's killer. "Please stop," she said, a touch breathlessly. "Give up and face a fair trial for what you have done."

 

She really didn't want to fight the woman, but neither could she just let her go.

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Mellanie froze as the Jedi landed--no, more like wafted gently--to the ground in front of her. She bit back a curse and froze as the petite red-head lit her lightsaber and asked for her surrender. Mellanie sized the other woman up. Unless she had taken some kind of Jedi martial art, she thought her chances were pretty good to disarm her and run from there. Mel had no particular dislike for Jedi--in fact, some of them were pretty great, she thought, thinking of her father. But this one seemed to have the standard naive belief in justice so many of them had.

 

She slowly dropped her EMP rifle. "A fair trial?" she scoffed. "I was set up. Whoever did this will make sure all the evidence lands squarely on me. But there's no way I'm taking the fall for this." No sooner did the words leave her mouth than she sprang into action. With her left arm, she knocked the raised lightsaber aside, the beskar absorbing the energy, leaving only a blackened scar on the back of her gauntlet. She immediately stepped close, delivering an uppercut with her right fist, aiming for the Jedi's jaw. Twisting around, she shoved her hip back into the red-head and attempted to sweep her leg out from under her.

 

Knocking the other woman out quickly and efficiently was her only course of action left. Why didn't I bring someone to watch my back? she raged internally.

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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Aelyn recoiled in shock when the Mandalorian attacked her in hand-to-hand. Her arm somehow seemed able to knock aside a lightsaber blade and she was fast, not hesitating to move in for a series of follow-up attacks.

 

Despite her surprise, however, Aelyn still had the Force and the precognition that came with it. She reacted to the uppercut almost before it had begun, leaning far enough to the side that the armored gauntlet only grazed her cheek. The leg sweep came sooner than she expected however and she soon found herself falling off balance. Halfway down to the ground, though, she seemed to bounce off another Force cushion like she had used during her descent from the crane. Her lightsaber flashed between the two fighters and she backed up half a step. Surely the Mandalorian didn't think she could beat a trained Jedi Knight with her fists?

 

"If you were framed, I will help you," Aelyn said, ready to take another step back if the assassin charged, her blade ready to intercept any attack. "I'm interested in justice, not punishment."

 

She circled the woman for a moment. "I'll give you a chance to think it over," she said, then called the full might of her Force talent as she thrust both hands forward together in an attempt to slam the Mandalorian back against the wall behind her with a telekinetic push. If she somehow remained conscious, Aelyn would keep the pressure up to pin her there. She could already hear from the CoreSec sirens that her backup was just around the corner, so this fight would be over soon no matter what the other woman might have chosen.

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Unfortunately, the Jedi seemed to move out of the way of Melanie’s punches before she even threw them. She cursed to herself. Had she forgotten everything she had learned about Jedi? Their precognition was well-known.

 

Meanwhile, her HUD registered that local security had finally taken an interest and were moments away. Her mind was rushing through options, her window of escape slipping away, when the Jedi spoke.

 

“I’m interested in justice, not punishment.”

 

Mellanie froze. That phrase, that exact phrase...

 

About 6 years ago, she had been visiting her father on Coruscant. She had met him in is office after a long day, and he was weary over a political battle he had been fighting with the courts. Sabian had been convinced that a certain Twi’lek was innocent of a crime he had been charged with, but the man’s bullheadedness and penchant for not censoring his words had caused him to create enemies among many of the politicians. They saw this as a way to take him down quietly. Sabian had sighed as he and Mellanie headed to dinner that night. “It’s turning into a witch hunt,” he told Mellanie. “But I’m interested in justice, not punishment.”

 

All this flew through Mel’s mind in an instant. And suddenly, she knew she had made a choice. She had to trust her instincts. Slowly, she unclenched her fists and presented her hands palms-up. “I believe you,” she said slowly. “I surrender.”

 

Her guts clenched. I really hope this isn’t a mistake...

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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At the last moment Aelyn held off on her Force shove. "You do?" she asked, surprised. She quickly caught herself. "I mean, good. You're making the right choice."

 

It did have a way of raising some questions. Murder sentences were no light thing. The Mandalorian suddenly losing her willingness to fight to escape meant that she expected justice to be something else. Or maybe she thought she would have a better chance escaping from prison than beating a Jedi that had proven to be quicker than she was. There was still a dead Skakoan, a blast Aelyn had witnessed herself, and a Mandalorian fleeing the scene who had even attacked the Jedi who had pursued her. Unless there was something really unusual going on here, it would be tough to find a jury that wouldn't convict her.

 

But Aelyn hadn't lied. When she reached out with the Force, she felt genuine remorse rolling off the assassin and her gut told her there was more than met the eye here.

 

She took a deep breath. "Okay, let's go," she said, directing the other woman toward the CoreSec vehicles that were arriving on scene. "I recommend putting your weapons down so they don't get the wrong idea."

 

As the first officers arrived on scene, Aelyn waved them down. "It's okay, she surrendered. I"m Jedi Aelyn Talis, and I witnessed the incident."

 

She was starting to wonder just what she'd gotten herself mixed up in. Even before this there was the missing deputy and now there was a criminal matter of another sort to unravel.

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As one of the CoreSec officers cuffed the Mandalorian, another approached Aelyn as he holstered his comlink. "Ma'am, looks like there are developments at the scene of the crime. Governor Lanis requests your presence at the city morgue, a priority one request. We are to bring the detainee and escort you." Saluting, the man went back to his work as another two officers taking perimeter guard nearby were talking relatively loudly.

 

"Yeah, I heard they had to call in some big wig from the GA on the comm lines."

 

"You think they're going to try to butt in on our jurisdiction again?"

 

"No telling, man. No telling."

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Aiwah was panicking. There really was no other word for it at this point. At the least, the Jedi would know the truth of all this shortly. Well...her side of the truth, anyways. Now things were far more complicated.

 

She paced back and forth behind the mortician, who had already asked her to sit down twice already, and was avoiding snapping at the high ranking official. Though the place was cold, Aiwah didn't feel it. She couldn't. Not with so much at stake. Bits of goop covered the table in front of them, as well as bits and pieces of the pressure suit that used to hold Sobek Persei together. It wasn't everything, but it was the largest bits that they could get from the crime scene as soon as possible. At the scene, the investigators on scene noticed something strange, and Aiwah had ordered all possible resources devoted to this that she could muster without hurting her chances for re-election. Now, the mortician turned in her chair, making silent eye contact with the governor, nodding.

 

"Shab."

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Like my posts? Google "zalgo font."

If you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, have some taste.
Use all your well-learned politics, or I'll lay your soul to waste.

 

 

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A morgue, huh? Aelyn thought. She'd never been to one before and she didn't have any fondness for the idea, but if it was required for her duty she would put aside her reservations and go. There was no quiet simple life where she could be isolated from death and battle for her anymore. "Lead the way, officer," she responded.

 

The two women were loaded into the back of a speeder for the trip, which would have to be quick if Sobek's remains had already been taken there during the short chase. Aelyn looked across the seat to the Mandalorian, The warrior was a long way from the rest of her people. Aelyn wondered at the lifestyle she had taken up, working for hire, training for battle so she could fight for someone else's goals. She wondered at who her family was, how she had been raised, how things worked in Mandalorian culture. It was hard to imagine something that would have to be so different from Aelyn's own rather comfortable upbringing. Now that this had happened, it put her future in question in a way that almost made her whole past irrelevant except in that it had brought her here.

 

Did the Mandalorian have people that would mourn her if she got thrown in prison for murder? Surely she'd known the risks that came with the profession she'd chosen. Aelyn frowned. Why did people have to kill other people? Sobek had had a life, a history, friends and family of his own. How could there be justice for him without a high price being exacted on his murderer, and yet how could ruining a second life make anything right?

 

She opened her mouth to at least get the mercenary's name, but her prediction about the morgue being close proved correct and the speeder came to a stop outside a drab building. The officer sitting in front of her got out and opened her door, and Aelyn made her way inside. The air here felt close and still, and the Force seemed to linger about the storied dead deep within. She shuddered, though she tried to mask the reaction by fixing a strand of her long red hair that had come loose from her ponytail during the chase.

 

The officer led the way down to a table with a grisly pile of black sludge and environmental suit fixtures with tubes splayed out like the innards of a metallic beast. Aelyn eyed it warily, keeping her distance. "You wanted to see me, Governor?"

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Mellanie spent the trip to the morgue in silence. A few times it looked as if the Jedi was going to speak to her, but she didn't. Mel wasn't sure what to think. She had failed miserably. Her target had somehow died, she was being thrown in prison, and there was a Jedi involved in what had been supposed to be an easy score. She didn't understand how all of this had happened. It made no logical sense.

 

She did, however, feel like she had might the right choice by surrendering. Even if it meant spending life in prison, that was better than death. Right?

 

Her stomach was tied up in knots. At least Araac wasn't here. She couldn't have borne to see the look on his face. And Kalyani--if her sister had been here, she would have fought to the end, and the Jedi would have killed her. No, at least this way it was only her. Maybe this way I'll at least get to say goodbye to them...

 

She shook herself. Stop this negative thinking! You know you're innocent. Mum will hire the best lawyer in the galaxy, and I'm sure Dad will speak on my behalf as well. They'll see that you're innocent. She wasn't quite sure she believed herself.

 

The speeder came to a stop and the Jedi woman got out, leaving Mellanie in the custody of the CoreSec agents. Silence fell in the cab, and to Mellanie, it was like waiting for the ax to fall.

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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Aiwah put on a fake smile at the sight of the Jedi, but the worry on her face was unmistakable, even despite that the Jedi would likely feel the tension radiating off of her.

 

"Ah, Master Jedi. You have the assassin in custody?"

 

A CoreSec officer trailing behind piped up before Aelyn could answer. "Yes, ma'am, she surrendered to the Jedi without incident."

 

"Good. Bring her here."

 

"Ma'am?"

 

"She's no threat, and that's an order, lieutenant."

 

"Yes ma'am."

 

The officer saluted and left the room. Aiwah beckoned Aelyn closer, gesturing to the data the Morgue worker was sifting through. "You must forgive me, Master Talis, this whole situation has gone sideways in a completely unexpected manner, and...well, I had some part to play. But, there are other factors at work in all this. Something...sinister."

 

She paused for a moment, wondering if Aelyn would be able to see things immediately. After a pause, the CoreSec officer entered the room again, bringing the Mandalorian with him. Immediately, Aiwah addressed her.

 

"Remove her restraints. Devanus, you used the rifle provided to you?"

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Use all your well-learned politics, or I'll lay your soul to waste.

 

 

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Mellanie's eyebrows shot up when an officer reappeared at the speeder and told them to bring her in. A twist of hope shot through her, though she attempted to squash it. They walked her into the morgue, and Mellanie's eyes were immediately drawn to the twisted husk of the being she had accidentally killed. Strange black goo was eeking out of him. She frowned behind her helmet. She didn't think Skakoans had black blood.

 

A dressed-up professional woman stood next to the mortician. An order from her, and the CoreSec agents removed her stuncuffs. Mellanie raised en eyebrow as the woman launched directly into a question, the use of her maiden name alerting her to the fact that this woman knew something about her personally. "You must be Aiwah," Mellanie replied, her voice flat through her helmet mic. "And it's Vevut, now, actually. Jedi, this is the woman who hired me to capture the delegate." She turned her head to face the governor. "Yes, I used the EMP rifle your people provided. I didn't change or modify anything. Which to me says you were trying to set me up and frame me for murder." Her tone had gotten colder. She didn't move, knowing that the CoreSec goons would have their weapons trained on her the second she tried anything, but she made it clear in her tone that she was not at all pleased.

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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Aelyn's eyes shifted between the other two women. Aiwah must have really felt she she had been backed up against a wall if she had hired a mercenary to perform a hit. But surely she had known that taking down Sobek would be unlikely to change the Techno Union's plans... and the fact that she had also requested a Jedi Knight be dispatched to aid in the negotiations knowing that said Jedi would be there when the hit was performed seemed particularly poorly thought out. Did she not realize that a Jedi would investigate any such happening?

 

But those questions could wait for a moment.

 

"She didn't expect this any more than you did," Aelyn told Mellanie, picking up on Aiwah's emotional state clearly through the Force and attempting to soothe the Mandalorian's rage. Although, Aelyn reflected, Devanus didn't sound like a particularly Mandalorian last name, being that of the GA's first Supreme Chancellor. "Something went horribly wrong here."

 

She hesitantly turned her attention back to Sobek's oozing remains, then spoke to the mortician. "Just what am I looking at here? Why would an EMP rifle do this to a Skakoan? Don't they just disabled machinery?"

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The governor sighed. It was futile trying to hide anything now, especially with the Jedi present. Might as well get the truth out in the open.

 

"It was supposed to be something that rattled them. All it should have done was immobilize them in their mechanized pressure suits, make them feel a lot less insecure and confident than they already were. I mean, they walked around like they owned the planet. I was just trying to get any kind of negotiating foothold I could..."

 

Aiwah trailed off, looking at the chunks of suit and corpse laid out on the table. The mortician piped up, pulling up some information on a larger screen nearby.

 

"That's not what happened though. Technically the Mandalorian didn't kill him, he was already dead for quite some time. Necrosis had even begun to set in in much of the internal organs, and most of the nutrients left in the body were being pumped to the outer skin that was visible. What I don't understand, though, is what any of this graphene compound is...it has traces of carbon and synthetic oils to it. It's like something you'd find in a droid. To be honest, I don't even know what its purpose would be or how it got there, as it certainly wasn't produced by his body, or the decomposition process. It's like he was being manipulated like a puppet. But as far as what happened, the oils in this compound were responsible for deteriorating the seals on the pressure suit, and when the suit maglocks lost power because of the EMP, they failed, causing the body to explosively decompress in Talus's atmosphere."

 

Aiwah turned to the mercenary and the Jedi. "I've already requested a special investigator to be dispatched from the Galactic Alliance. I understand they are dealing with their own emergencies right now, but they were able to spare us an investigator. He'll be here by tomorrow." She paused for a moment, keying a few commands into her comlink. "Until then, I've arranged lodgings for the both of you if you wish to stay. Devanus...sorry, Vevut, is it? My contact must have given me dated information. If you'd like to stay, I can compensate you appropriately. I think it would be wise for the time being to have someone combat capable who is a third party. All I'd like is for you to ensure the safety of Master Talis here and the investigator when they arrive, because my gut tells me this is far from over."

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Like my posts? Google "zalgo font."

If you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, have some taste.
Use all your well-learned politics, or I'll lay your soul to waste.

 

 

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Things changed rapidly as the mortician gave his report. Already dead? Mellanie thought with revulsion. "How could he be walking and talking if he was dead?" she muttered, not really caring if anyone heard her. "Sounds like some Force osik."

 

The news changed the whole timbre of the discussion. Suddenly, the governor was offering her a new position. Mel was pretty sure the Jedi wouldn't need her protection--Jedi were usually excellent warriors--and she wasn't sure about watching the backside of a flabby Coruscanti investigator. But something about this whole thing nagged at her. What was going on here? How did this happen? If it was a disease, was it contagious? Who was controlling that Skakoan and why? Besides, she couldn't help but feel her honor had been stained by the murder charge, even if she hadn't actually killed him at all. The governor seemed willing to drop all and any charges, and instead offered to pay her to stay.

 

The smartest thing would probably be to go home and put this whole thing behind her. But Mel wasn't about to let a mystery like this pass her by. "Alright," she replied, "I'm in." She turned to the Jedi. "Looks like we'll be working together for a while. If I'm going to be watching your back, I suppose we'd better be introduced. I'm Mellanie Vevut. And you're Master Talis?"

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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Lips pursed, Aelyn continued to eye the black goop. It didn't feel like the Force had been at work here. She thought if it had been she would sense the dark side lingering on the Skakoan's remains. She wasn't sure the Force could even do that anyway. But maybe some really sophisticated technology, like HRD-level stuff that could actually fool humans into believing it was a living being.... The reality was more grotesque, as there was still some part of Sobek there in front of her, murdered by some at-large agent who-knew-how long ago.

 

With a twinge of unease Aelyn realized she might be able to gather some clues about that, but maybe she would shelve the approach she had in mind as a last resort.

 

For now she turned her attention back to those who were speaking to her. Although the Mandalorian, Mellanie, was innocent of murder, she had still performed an illegal hit and she had been working for Aiwah. Keeping the mercenary around under contract didn't make her a third-party agent -- Aelyn herself as a Jedi Knight not being bankrolled by any involved faction was the only one who could fill that role. Aiwah had just proven that she was willing to go to unethical lengths to resolve this situation in a way she found favorable, and her assigning a guard to Aelyn was at worst an attempt to keep tabs on or even control the Jedi's investigation.

 

Aelyn wasn't sure she was willing to make that judgment yet however. Even if Aiwah was unscrupulous, she had asked the Jedi to send a representative and she had to know what she was getting.

 

"Knight Aelyn Talis," she finally said, introducing herself to Mellanie. "I'm happy to have extra help along, but I want you to understand that I'm here to find the truth in this situation and to do the right thing -- however that looks."

 

She looked back at the mortician. "I'd like to be kept in the loop if anything else is found out about the remains. Any information could help the investigation." Then she turned to the Governor. "I think the other prong of this that we need to follow up on -- and maybe the most pressing -- is your missing deputies. Who can I talk to in order to get me started? Who might know where they were last seen?"

 

This whole thing stunk, and there was a lot of work to do. This was probably the best starting place.

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((Again, sorry for the late reply.))

 

Aiwah thought a moment about Aelyn's request. She honestly hadn't done much digging, assuming they had either called it quits on their jobs because of the most frustrating situation in the galaxy, but now... Now things looked a lot more suspicious.

 

"Only one of them had a fiancee, the other had no family that I know of. I do know they did most of their work over at the mining site, their primary job was to be my point of contact for the site foreman, as well as my eyes and ears over there. Does that help? Otherwise, I will clear you for full access to government records pertaining to this case. Whatever we know, you will know."

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Like my posts? Google "zalgo font."

If you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, have some taste.
Use all your well-learned politics, or I'll lay your soul to waste.

 

 

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Aelyn nodded. "I appreciate it," she said. "I'm going to head for the mining site first, try to get a feel for if something happened. I may need to visit the fiancee if nothing obvious turns up, see if she knows where he is."

 

Honestly she wasn't sure if that was doing it in the right order, but she was kind of making this up. She had no history of investigations like these prior to doing fieldwork with Aira and by herself on Naboo. But this way seemed to make sense, and she was really hoping that the Force would lead her to where she needed to be at the right time to pick up on something. She had special senses that most investigators didn't have, and they could potentially turn what looked like a dead end into a breakthrough. Maybe that kind of thing could make up for her lack of investigative training.

 

She glanced at Mellanie expectantly and then headed back up the hallway the way they'd come in. "You're a bounty hunter or something, right?" she asked. "I have no problem admitting you're probably better at finding people than I am. Don't hesitate to set me straight."

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The Jedi took charge without hesitation, but something in her manner seemed off. Mellanie frowned beneath her helmet for a moment, and then suddenly, she realized what it was. The other woman was unsure of herself. The thought astonished the Mandalorian. A Jedi who was unsure of herself? Who didn't have all the answers? Maybe Jedi aren't actually all that different from everyone else, she mused as she followed Aelyn down the hall. Maybe more of them are like Dad than I realized. For once, when she looked at Aelyn, she didn't see an all-powerful, all-knowing Jedi Knight, but just a human woman, practically the same age as herself, just doing her best with the situation she'd been thrown into. And unlike Mellanie, she had embraced the power that she could access.

 

Aelyn spoke, interrupting Mellanie's train of thought. She shook her head. "I'm a mercenary, not a bounty hunter," Mellanie corrected. Suddenly prompted by a strange sense of wanting to be honest with the other woman, she continued. "And even then, this is only my second job, if I'm being honest. I'm more a mechanic than anything else. No wonder this all turned to osik."

 

As they hopped into a landspeeder and headed off to the mining site, she turned the question back on the Jedi. "How long have you been a Jedi? What made you choose that path?"

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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"This is literally my first full mission as a Knight," Aelyn admitted. She was surprised that Mellanie seemed to open up a bit instead of continuing to play the part of the unreadable professional behind her helmet. It would make working together easier for however long it took to get to the bottom of this. "And as for the path... I was offered a chance to walk it by my Master, Aira Cadan -- to become more than I was and maybe do some real good in the universe. It's not a chance many people get and I couldn't turn it down."

 

It was a curious thing, when she thought about it. She'd basically won the lottery to even have the potential to use the Force. She'd won it again when she'd chanced upon Aira Cadan on Chandrila. That, or the whole thing was sort of predestined or prearragned by some sort of cosmic will, an idea that until she'd started studying the Force she would have rejected out of hand. Now she could see that the Force had a direction to its flow and she knew that by opening herself to it she could follow it to be where she needed to be. When Aira had done the same thing, it had opened new worlds of possibilities for Aelyn and now she was sitting in a speeder, a Jedi Knight responsible for unraveling a plot that already involved one dead body and two missing people.

 

"Vevut sounds Mandalorian, but Devanus certainly doesn't," she observed. "I'm sure you used to get asked all the time if you're related to the former Supreme Chancellor at all. How did you come upon the path you now follow?"

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"To become more than I was and maybe do some real good in the universe." The words echoed in Mel's head. Aelyn was altruistic, a good person who saw her Force-sensitivity as empowering her to help people. Mel admired that. It was a little naive--the galaxy was full of terrible people as well as good ones, and not all of them deserved to be helped. But it was admirable nonetheless. A shot of guilt pulsed through her, as it always did when she spoke with fully-trained Force users, at the knowledge that the same gift had been given to her, but she wasn't using it.

 

Mellanie made a wry face behind her helmet, and, as always, ignored the feeling. "I do get asked that all the time," she replied. "He's my father." It wasn't a secret, although it wasn't something that they had chosen to widely broadcast either. "As to how I came upon the path I'm following? The short answer? I fell in love." She paused to let that sink in. If Aelyn was like a lot of people in the galaxy, the idea that Mandalorians loved was rather foreign. "When I married my husband, I became Mandalorian. In the our culture, family is more than blood, and you don't have to be born Mandalorian to become Mandalorian. It's open to any who choose to be part of it, to honor the beliefs and traditions of the culture. The more I learned about it, the more I identified with it. And so I was glad to become part of his clan, of his family." The landspeeder began to slow. "I've only been Mandalorian for a short time, but long enough to fight for my people, my clan, and my family." She actually let herself smile. "Sounds like we actually have more in common than it appears," she offered softly.

 

The speeder came to a full stop, and Mel brought herself back around to business as they climbed out. The sun was beginning to set, casting long purple shadows. The mine was starting to clear out, workers heading home for the evening, but one of them pointed them to where they could find the foreman's office. Her HUD indicated the foreman was inside, so Mellanie opened the door and gestured for Aelyn to precede her. It wouldn't do to make the Jedi feel like Mellanie was trying to take the lead here.

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Daughter of Sabian Devanus and Zara Nargal

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Small galaxy, Aelyn thought with a start when the Mandalorian turned out to be Sabian Devanus' daughter. Not only did her father have a long history with Devanus during his days as the political head of the Rebellion before his eventual assumption of the role of Supreme Chancellor for the Galactic Alliance, but she had recently gotten the chance to meet Sabian herself in person with Aira. This gave Mellanie and herself much more in common than she'd anticipated, even though their paths had diverged dramatically.

 

She wanted to talk a bit more about it, but the speeder had arrived and it was back to the investigation. It did make her feel better about the situation now that she knew that she and her escort were somewhat alike. It didn't change the fact that the Mandalorian was working for Aiwah, though, and they both had their own goals which didn't necessarily align all the way.

 

"Excuse me," Aelyn said as they entered the office to find a man in dirty, comfortable clothes staring at a well-worn datapad looking thoroughly vexed by either the device itself or what was displayed on it. "I'm Jedi Knight Aelyn Talis and this is Mellanie Vevut. We're here on behalf of the governor, looking into a case of a missing person, who I'm told was her liaison with this site. Are you familiar with the situation?"

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((Assuming control of the NPC))

 

"Uhhh..."

 

The grubby man looked up, trailing off, a little confused at the people before him despite the introduction. A Skakoan came out from the back room, his pressure suit specialized with safety equipment and painted bright colors. Immediately he spoke up over the man holding the datapad.

 

"You'll have to forgive Fen, he's an intern. Part of the Talus work-exchange program. I'm Tegg. Foreman Tegg. I more or less run the operAAAAtion over here." He muttered a short apology after finishing, having to adjust his audio modulator halfway through speaking to account for pressure differentials, causing his voice to distort. It was a common problem among Skakoans and their pressure suits, but few actually bothered to apologize for it to other species. At the least, Tegg seemed to be honest and willing to work with them.

 

"As I told your associate who was here a few minutes ago, I have not seen nor had contact with Jarett in several days. And according to that associate, Ensign Daint I think he said his name was? Anyways, according to him, his signature appeared on some paperwork after he disappeared, which he thought was interesting. I think he went to go talk to my assistant, who is inspecting the mine. We've had several cave-ins recently of what were thought to be stable areas, leading to a few deaths, and it is impeding work at this point. Not to mention, we've had to inform the families and file the proper paperwork, and well..."

 

Tegg gestured back through the door he'd come through, and through it his desk was visible, piled high with datapads.

 

"It has been stressful."

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Of all the probabilities to exist, this iteration was not expected. And yet, it is as welcome as any other. Let us meet the oncoming storm together, united in strength of companionship.

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"Those poor families..." Aelyn said. There was so much death and talk of death and it was a constant reminder to how comfortable her upbringing had been even with all the travel and uncertainty of the war. "I'm sure you're doing everything you can to increase safety around the dig site.

 

"It's actually that mysterious signature that put me on this trail," she continued. She hesitated for a split second. "I'm sorry, did you say someone else was here asking about Jarett? The Governor didn't tell me that she had anyone else looking into this. Is this person still here, or perhaps did they leave you with a name?"

 

It was kind of suspicious. It wasn't likely that Aiwah had just forgotten to mention she already had someone looking into what Aelyn had directly expressed her intention to pursue. Unless there was some kind of mix-up, whoever it was that had just been asking about Jarett had been lying about whose authority they were acting on.

 

The Jedi Knight touched the Force, quietly reaching out around her, seeking any sense of danger or deception.

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