Saga ~ Our Online Roleplaying Family

[[OOC- This thread is a sequel to Indirect Service of the Republic. We have a bit of behind the scenes plot coordination going on; so please send a PM if you would like to join.]]

Padawan Shandra Ivari stood in the ruins of the Jedi temple on Coruscant shortly after the "peace talks."  The wind blew her black hair against the strip of cloth that hid her lack of eyes. She could hear the cries of friends who were long dead and smell the blaster bolts and lightsaber blades charring stone and flesh. Suddenly the ruins faded away to reveal a dark street somewhere in the undercity of Coruscant. She could sense a busy cantina nearby. Shandra knew she was alone, but she heard the voice of Wiln Kraylo her dead master.

"Beware, Shandra, all is not as it seems". 

Consular Shandra Ivari jolted awake. She felt the room around her in the Force. Everything in her small diplomatic quarters was as she had left it the night before. She reached for the mask on the bedside table and began getting ready for work.

Shandra had been sent to Coruscant to join the small contingent of Jedi diplomats assigned to help the Council of Reconciliation work with the Republic senate. Master Naa told her the High Council had given her the assignment because they felt her prior diplomatic experience made her well suited for the position. She knew the Council wanted to keep her where she could not cause trouble after the incident on Ord Mantell.

As soon as Shandra entered the senate building she sensed  a rodian female dressed in Jedi robes pacing around the lobby. Master Adira Bel, the Rodian, radiated impatience as she approached Shandra.

"There you are, Shandra," Master Bel said "I've been looking all over for you. I require your presence immediately in a meeting with Senators Elinda Traska, Jakar Phin, and Sarisa Ghem."

Shandra dashed across the lobby to catch up with Master Bel who was already walking toward a corridor of meeting rooms. Master Bel was always on edge; so her reaction did not surprise Shandra even though she had arrived early.

When they arrived in  the conference room senator Traska, a purple Twi'lek female, was seated across from a tall human male Shandra knew to be Senator Phin. Senator Ghem, a Mirialan female, was between both of them at one end of the table. Their aids were seated along the wall. Master Bel took a seat at the head of the table and Shandra sat down beside her.

"Please take notes of the proceedings, Consular Ivari." Master Bel said.

Shandra removed a data pad from her pocket and began entering notes. The protocol droids were already recording the meeting, but she felt it inappropriate to point that out to Master Bel.

For Months Senator Phin and Senator Traska had been openly arguing with each other in the Senate assembly. Senator Phin loudly advocated open war with the Empire in the Senate assembly. Senator Traska had been advocating attempting to open a trade agreement with the Empire just as loudly. Apparently, Senator Ghem had arranged for the meeting so that the two of them could work out their differences and hopefully come to an agreement.

That was not very likely to happen. Shandra struggled to focus her Force Empathy to block out the emotions as the discussion became more heated. She cleared her mind of emotions and let the Force flow through her. Suddenly she sensed an impression of the Cantina from her dream. It was so clear she could read the sign. She snapped back to reality. Shandra knew she had to find this Cantina.

When the proceedings ended Master Bel snatched the datapad out of Shandra's hand and left the room without a word. Shandra walked over to a computer station and searched the planetary directory for  The Tipsy Gamorrean. As she was searching for directions she sensed Bentro Mar, Senator Traska's aide, looking over her shoulder.

"What business do you have in such a disreputable establishment,  Consular Ivari?"

"Oh, nothing in particular." Shandra said "The name of the Cantina came up in a conversation I heard yesterday, and I was curious about its location."

"If I may be so bold, I have heard rumors about your involvement with some...unusual incidents in the past, but I would recommend that you stay as far from that area of the undercity as you can. It is quite dangerous." Bentro said.

"Thank you, Mr. Mar, I will keep your advice in mind." Shandra replied. She could feel him watching her as she left the conference room. As soon as she was sure no one was following her she headed toward a transport to the undercity.

"Bleeep boop bip bip"

Val Gith (http://evil-wizards.org/swtor-wiki/index.php?title=Val_Gith) stifled a yawn and looked over at his astromech droid Jak (http://evil-wizards.org/swtor-wiki/index.php?title=Val_Gith#Jak.2C_The_Mechanical_Droid). "Sorry bud, no droids allowed. Take care of yourself out here, ok?" He patted Jak on the head and walked away from him.

Since coming to a relative dead end with his pursuit of Azel after his escape with the aid of a random Darth. He had lost Azel somewhere on Nar Shaddaa. Azel ditched his ship and disappeared because Val was too slow to follow. Part of the problem of working with other people he supposed ...

Val had picked up the trail of a murderer known to have ties to the Black Sun (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Sun) organization on Coruscant. The man's name was Zannos and Val had deemed him enough of a threat to warrant execution without trial. He was known to be guilty as he had been caught on security cameras and it was simply a matter of apprehending him. However, given his ties to such a powerful and resourceful organization, finding him was going to be difficult. His last murder took place on Nar Shaddaa and Zannos coming to Coruscant could not be good. He was becoming more volatile and chaotic so there was no guessing who he would be hired to kill next.

Val had squeezed some minds back on Nar Shaddaa to little benefit as they knew very little about Zannos or where he might be on Coruscant. However, he did find out that he frequented a cantina called the Tipsy Gamorrean when not working to enjoy dance and drink. It was not much of a lead but Val might be able to gather some information from patrons or staff in the cantina.

He walked into the Cantina and looked around.


[OOC - I am fairly sure the Black Sun organization existed at this time in galactic history. If not I will change the name of the gang to a random made up one.]

The meeting had lasted nearly the entire day, and Shandra could sense the planet's sun creeping lower on the horizon as she boarded the speeder bus. She was not eager to be caught in the undercity at night, but she knew that for some reason the force was guiding her to visit this cantina. As the bus landed at her stop, she pulled a datapad out of her pocket. According to the directions she had downloaded earlier the cantina was only a few blocks from her bus stop.

Shandra walked quickly across the walkway trying not to attract attention, but she could sense the stares of passersby. She began to wish she had taken time to change out of her consular's robes. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally reached The Tipsy Gamorrean. Shandra struggled to keep her footing after she knocked into a small barrel on her way into the cantina. She jumped in shock when the barrel beeped.

"My goodness, I'm terribly sorry. Pardon me." she said reaching out to pat the top of the astromech droid's dome.

When she entered the cantina Shandra was met with a dizzying swirl of noise, activity, and emotion. The cantina was full of customers just ending a long day at work ready to talk and drink and fight. The band in the back of the room was playing a raucous tune and a Twi'lek dancer was entertaining a group of customers crowded around the stage. The rodian at the Pazaak table in the corner still hadn't figured out that his ithorian opponent had been cheating for the last three rounds.

Shandra walked to the bar, a sad smile creeping across her face. Nothing made her miss Master Kraylo more than a crowded cantina. She was just about to order when she sensed a familiar presence. A man's voice called out to the bar tender from behind her.

"A Pink Nebula for the lady, Jo, and I'll have a Flameout."

Shandra turned to face a human male dressed in a Jedi Knight's robes and armor. His shoulder length blond hair was pulled back from his smiling face. He immediately pulled her into a tight hug. Garrit Far and Shandra had both been assigned to the same Initiate Clan when they were younglings. The clan had eaten, slept, played, and studied together from the time they were five until they were chosen as Padawans at twelve or thirteen.

"Garrit! What brings you back to Coruscant?" Shandra asked when they pulled apart to get their drinks.

"I've been back and forth a few times over the years. Tython's pretty, but this, this is home. And what about you, what are you up to?" Garrit asked. He drank the Flameout and motioned for the bartender to bring him another.

"I've been assigned to the diplomatic team aiding the Council of Reconciliation. Mostly, that means running errands for Master Bel. I swear the woman thinks I'm a protocol droid."

Garrit winced with exaggerated sympathy.

"How did Master Bel get promoted to one of the councils?" He asked "She was one of the worst instructors at the academy."

"I don't think she likes me much." Shandra said "No matter what I did in her class I could never seem to please her, and that hasn't changed a bit."

"Don't worry about it. That schutta didn't like anyone."

"She liked Arlo." Shandra replied

"All of the teachers liked Arlo. He was the only one of our clan who was more straight-and narrow than you were. I can still remember the look of shock on his face when Master Kraylo taught us all to cheat at Pazaak." Garrit altered his voice to emulate their former classmate "Mmmmaster Kraylo, I dddon't see how-how-how we can benefit from learning to cheat like common criminals."

"Stop. That's not nice. He couldn't help that he stuttered, and he did learn to control it. By the time he became a Padawan it only happened when he got really upset." Shandra said " I never liked the way he looked at me, though, like he was staring right into my soul. I felt like his eyes were following me every time I left a room. Still, he was a member of our clan and a fellow Jedi, and that made him family."

Shandra's expression was sad once more as she thought about lost friends.

"In a way it's good that Arlo joined the Force when the Temple was destroyed." Shandra said "The Order meant everything to him, and it would break his heart to know how many people hate us now. This morning Senator Phin could barely speak three sentences without reminding Master Bel that he held us responsible for the Sith attack."

Garrit pulled a buzzing comlink out of his pocket and walked out of earshot to answer it. His brow wrinkled in concern as he talked. When he returned he downed his second Flameout in one gulp and pulled Shandra into another hug.

"It's been great catching up, Shandra, but I'm afraid I have to go. Here's my number. Give me a call some time. Maybe we can track down some of the others and have a proper reunion."

Shandra felt Garrit leave the cantina. She sat at the bar sipping her drink lost in thought. She wondered if the Force had brought her to the cantina to meet Garrit or for another reason she had yet to discover. She opened her mind to the Force trying to sense its will.

Val sat there in the Tipsy Gamorrean watching Shandra talk to a random Knight.

"Weird..." Val thought to himself. He mostly viewed the Force as a tool, one which he used and wielded to accomplish whatever he needed to get done. The whole will of the Force thing was something Val didn't put a whole lot of stock into other than its own tendency to seek a balance between light and dark. However that came into play Val didn't really think too much about it.

This was a little odd though running into Shandra in the lower slums of Coruscant, which is a pretty big place. Val simply shrugged it off.

As usual, Val was actively misdirecting attention from himself as to remain unnoticed by pretty much everyone in the tavern, simply sitting at a table with a bottle of water he had brought in himself. He had been sitting there all day trying to glean some sort of information about Zannos from the conversations and thoughts of the people in the tavern. To no avail though. Val was getting a little bored but he was used to long term stakeouts. He was getting a little hungry though and he should probably relieve Jak from his duties outside the tavern to return to their ship and recharge.

Val shrugged to himself again. "Not much to go on really," Val thought to himself, displeased with his progress thusfar. Rising from his seat, Val glided through the crowd without disturbing a soul or drawing so much as a passing look to come to a halt beside Shandra at the bar. Taking a seat, Val looked to his right directly at Shandra and waited to see what would happen.

Shandra felt the Force flow through her. She sensed a vision of Val Gith right before they parted ways on Ord Mantell. The vision was so clear it seemed as though she could feel him sitting beside her. It took Shandra several seconds to realize that she in fact could feel Val sitting on the bar stool beside her.

"Val, hello, this is quite a surprise. How did your pursuit of Azel turn out? Are you following a lead or just here for a drink? Speaking of drinks, I'll buy you one." Shandra waved to the bar tender. "Another Pink Nebula and one....what are you drinking ,Val? "

Val raised his bottle of water and waved off the offer with a thankful nod. "I don't follow a lot of Jedi rules but that is one I do follow. Don't drink myself." He smiled and laid down some credits for Shandra's drink. "On me. To a quite fortuitous meeting. Val raised his drink in cheers. "Although, not a place I would expect to see you in. I spend a lot of time in places like this unfortunately."

Val took a drink from his water and replaced the cap. "I was here on business but things seem to have run a little dry. So did my pursuit of Azel actually to be honest. I didn't get after him quick enough. By the time I made it off Ord Mantell and jumped to Nar Shaddaa he had ditched his ship and disappeared." Val shrugged with displeasure. "Was here looking to pick up some leads on someone but nothing so far. Was going to call it a day actually and give Jak time to recharge. I could use a bit of a recharge myself." Val chuckled softly.

"What are you doing down here anyways? People down here don't take kindly to Jedi, especially when you go announcing it dressed like you are. Val looked around as he said that, wondering if there were any eyes following them. Val could remain unnoticed if he wanted to but when sitting at the bar talking to someone else it was difficult. "How'd cleaning house on Ord Mantell go?" He looked at her. "Not well eh?"

"Not well at all. The Council was quick to take care of the weapons dealers, but they did nothing about the corruption in the local government. At least they replaced the corrupt officers. That's a start. I'm beginning to believe you were right about the current political climate. I'm not sure how much good the Order can do if we're concentrating so much on regaining the favor we lost." Shandra took a sip of her drink and sighed. She finally understood what Master Kraylo had meant when he told her he felt as if he didn't belong in the Order any more.

" After the trouble I seemed to cause there Master Naa arranged for me to get a post here as Master Adira Bel's protocol droid. I leave work most evenings in need of a drink, although this Cantina isn't my usual preference. It was in a dream I had last night. I'm afraid I was in such a hurry to find out why I felt drawn here that I didn't stop to change. I'm beginning to regret that."

Shandra swept the room in the Force trying to detect any hostility or suspicion from the Cantina patrons. She felt plenty of each, but the cacophony of emotions made it difficult for her to determine if any of it was directed at her. She wasn't sure if she wanted to stay and find out.

"In fact, I came down here so quickly that I forgot to eat. I know a lovely Corellian restaurant in the senate district. Why don't we head up there, and I'll buy you dinner?"

Val smiled politely at Shandra. "Food is fuel. Going beyond that into the realm of extravagance is not something I indulge in. And besides, do I look like I would fit in in the Senate District? I am unaccustomed to eating in places where I must relinquish my arms at the door." Val was in fact carrying 6 weapons other than the Force: 2 lightsabers concealed underneath his duster, 2 curved blade knives concealed in each boot, and two blasters one on each thigh, and many more weapons back on his ship for any number of circumstances that could require different types of arms.

"Along with the rank and title within the Jedi Order I also gave up participating in politics as that is exactly what frustrated me into leaving the Order in the first place; something that I detect more empathy for from you now that we meet for a second time. I am on Coruscant pursuing a man named Zannos, an up and coming assassin for the Black Sun Organization and I have very little to go on. If you hear of any politically charged assassinations please let me know as that might be my man, and even if it is not, that is the sort of thing I should turn my attention towards. I should get back to my ship though and recharge Jak and formulate a new approach to my pursuit of Zannos. Things are not looking good for our hero." Val smirked and chuckled.

In fact, our "hero" was not doing well at all lately. Val had lost Azel on Nar Shaddaa and now had little to go on with this murderer Zannos who was proved to be guilty through numerous witnesses and security camera footage. Everything didn't always work out in the end and this was something Val was keenly aware of. Often Val would not be able to complete the missions he set himself because of any one of a plethora of complications. Nonetheless, Val plods on through his life of service to the Republic as best he can, hoping to do as much good as he is able to do.

"You don't seem too happy with your current situation. Are you going to continue to do this Master Bel's bitch work or do something of more consequence with yourself? I have no idea what that would be but I somehow feel as if Jedi are put to better use than you are currently." Val shook his head at all the "politicking" that seemed to follow Jedi wherever they went now-a-days.

Shandra stirred the fizzy, magenta liquid in her glass as she considered Val's question. She had been a Jedi all of her life.

"The Order is my life...it's who I am. I'm not even sure what I would do if I left." Shandra smirked. "I could try tending bar. Master Kraylo taught me how to mix drinks for him, and he said I had a 'good eye for it.' Maybe I should have gone with him when he asked me."

Val shrugged at Shandra's comment. "Who you are is a compilation of everything that has happened in your life thusfar. No one thing defines you, just your choices as you make them. So maybe bar tending is the way to go. All the war and politicking going in the galaxy, stuff down here doesn't change much for these poor folk. I wonder how long it took people down here to find out the Jedi Temple--that gleaming symbol of a life these people will never have--was sacked, eh?" Val looked around the room.

"There is a resentment down here for those that live above; senators, jedi, and the like--and a lot of people looking to get into a fight for no other reason than to hurt something. Which is why I suggest we wrap up this little chat and talk again some other time. You have my ship's comm information and Jak will relay any message you send there to me if I am not aboard."

Val could see attention turning toward Shandra who was obviously a Jedi; Resentment, hate, simple confusion, or even fear. A Jedi was a great symbol to bash on and a lightsaber fetched a fair price on the black market if you could kill a Jedi. Most people were not stupid enough to try this solo but groups had been known to jump Jedi in the lower slums of Coruscant.

"How about I escort you out of here to your Senate District and then I will be on my way?" Val offered his hand in a sort of play offer as if he were helping a lady down from a carriage.

Shandra took Val's hand and slid off of the bar stool. She could feel a shift in the dynamic of the room. Shandra was disturbed by what she felt. Several of the patrons had begun to feel suspicion, anger, or in some cases simply a spark of opportunity. More importantly, she felt the tangible mysterious sense that somehow each person was realizing he was not the only one who felt that way. She had encountered a mob mentality before, and it was never pleasant. If enough people came together in the throes of intense shared emotion or opinion they could explode into a herd of destruction that was entirely beyond the reach of individual reason. It was impossible to tell what could be the spark to ignite them

"You're right. We need to leave NOW. Many of the customers here do not feel very happy at the moment, and I can't tell when they will decide to act on that." Shandra used the Force to send this telepathically to Val as she began to move toward the door.

Val could have redirected attention away from himself if he had wanted to, but given the room's focus on Shandra, that would have only worsened matters for her. Val signed inwardly, realizing that people were getting up for a fight because that is how they bleed off stress. Probably nothing too bad, no blasters or sabers involved, but weapons might come out if Shandra pulled out her saber. Better to leave the lowlives to the one that was used to dealing with them.

"Meet my astromech outside. He tells me you bumped into him on your way in. I will distract the masses." Telepathic communication came innately to one of Val's race. [OOC: If he were a Kel Dor, which I am still leaving sorta ambiguous for now but that is how I am RPing him even if he will be human due to game mechanics]

Val ushered Shandra toward the door that Jack was outside and then turned toward the crowd, pulling a few items out of his pockets. "Anyone around here know where I can find me a good pazaak game? Cause man am I itching to be losing some money!" Val held out his pazaak deck in one hand--a tool of the information gathering trade in places like this--and a fist full of credits in the other. "Who wants to have a run at me?" Val laughed jovially, which was quite out of character for him but he pulled it off convincingly enough. Appearing to be a bit drunk, Val wandered around the room looking for interested individuals. The sheer amount of credits he was carrying, obtained from smugglers/criminals/etc that he had had the pleasure of meeting earlier in his life, was enough to distract the crowd for a bit as he wandered, inadvertently dropping a few credit chips on the ground as he wandered. "Anyone? Huh? Nobody here knows how to play cards? Pfffffttttt" little drops of spittle spewed from his apparently inebriated lips as put his credits back in his pockets. "Shame ..." Val looked dejected.

By now Shandra was safely out the door and presumably linking up with Jak. Jak would know enough to get them away from the door and Val would find them later--they had done this sort of thing before together.

Suddenly looking confused, Val looked around the room for something. "Frack you all, I gotta take a p**s!" he announced to no one in particular. "This way to the washroom?" Val pointed toward the other entrance to the cantina opposite from the one Shandra used. He began to wander toward it already beginning to unzip his pants in anticipation and no one bothered to correct him. However, some eyes were following the man that was carrying a large amount of credits. Violence was a good way to bleed off stress, but money always trumped people's attention.

As Val exited a few ruffians smelling easy money from a drunkard followed. But by the time they came out the door a few seconds after him, Val was already gone, invisible and circling the building that held the cantina, following the signal on his wrist comm--that he currently could not see because it was invisible like the rest of him but he got a good look at it before he cloaked--that he knew to be Jak and hopefully Shandra unless something untoward happened to her before she found Jak right outside the door.

... and after a few seconds of circling the building Val remembered to zip up his pants again. "That would have been funny to explain" Val thought to himself with a chuckle as he worked his way out of sight of the Cantina entrance.

Shandra easily found Val's droid, and followed him as he rolled quickly away from the cantina. She remained alert of their surroundings to make sure noone was following them. While she was sweeping the area in the Force she felt Garrit in a nearby abandoned warehouse. Shandra could feel that something was very wrong. She called out for the droid to stop for a moment.

"You travel with Val, Little One, so I know you'll know you will be able to help me. I think a friend of mine may be in trouble nearby, and I would like to investigate. I need you to come with me and be very quiet." Shandra said.

Shandra quietly walked over to an alley beside the warehouse. She pressed up against the side of the building next to an open window and listened to Garrit talking into his comlink.

"I waited at the meeting place for over an hour, and you didn't show up. You don't seem to be very willing to cooperate. How can I help you if you won't cooperate? Don't make me take matters into my own hands." Garrit hissed. Just then two men walked into the warehouse and approached him. Garrit slipped the comlink back into his pocket and turned to face them.

"So, Jedi, you say you want to work with the Black Sun. Why should we believe you." One of the men said.

Shandra gasped in shock, and ran out of the alley.. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Garrit was always very unconventional. He had never hidden the fact that he disagreed with the Order in a number of areas, but she never thought he would turn to crime.

For as long as Jawa could remember, he lived on the streets of Coruscant.  He survived on what food he could find or steal and his ability to avoid trouble.  In truth, it was the quiet voices that guided him.  The quiet voices lead him to food and away from trouble.  Occasionally they lead him to a safe place to sleep or even a kindly stranger when he was in need.  He wore a dark and dirty, hooded cloak over a hodge-podge of torn and ragged clothing.  Only his shoes were in fairly good shape as he had recently stolen a new pair from a shop near the temple.  His long ginger-colored hair was tied back at the nape of his neck inside the hood of the cloak. 

Jawa probably was not Jawa's real name.  He had no idea what is mother had called him.  He didn't know who she was though occasionally the quiet voices showed him a picture of a sad, but pretty young woman – a girl in truth not much older than himself.  She had the same color hair as he had and the same haunting green eyes so he guessed she was his mother.   

An old shop keeper, named Juma, had named him Jawa.  He knew Juma wasn't his mother.  Juma was dead now though.  She had been for some time.  He had been pretty young when she died so he didn't remember a lot about her.  Jawa knew Juma was from some far away planet named "Tattoon" or something like that and that she had once been a smuggler until her ship crashed and took one each of her arms and legs.   Beyond that, he knew very little else about her.   But she had taught him to survive; her and the quiet voices inside his head.  He didn't even know for sure how old he was.  Juma had said not too long before she died that she thought he was about 5 or 6 years old and Jawa thought that had been 4 or 5 years ago.  He wasn't sure.  Time didn't mean much to a street urchin who stole to survive.

As he peered out from behind the crates, he saw a woman in a fine robe with long brown hair and a beat-up droid beside her.  He sensed a great deal of power within this woman.  He sensed the light sword inside her robe.  She was listening intently to something inside the warehouse.  "Shandra" the quiet voices said in his head and he knew that was the woman's name.  He sensed danger too partly from inside the warehouse and partly from elsewhere.  The woman was both dangerous and in danger too.

Why was she here, this Shandra?  She didn't belong here.  He could see that easily enough without the quiet voices telling him so. Why did the quiet voices want him here?  He had learned to trust the quiet voices so there was never any question of him following them.  But most of the time he understood their purpose.  But this time he was clueless. 

At that moment, the quiet voices showed him an image of a shadow man approaching from behind him.  He quietly moved behind an empty refuse container and watched as the man whisked past him like a shadow.  The shadow man had power too.  Then he moved back in time to see the woman run out of the alley at a speed he would not have expected.  The droid beeped softly and followed the woman.  The shadow man followed her but at a slower pace. 

"Follow the Jedi" the Quiet Voices said and he knew they meant the woman, Shandra.

Jawa didn't know much about Jedi except that they used something called the Force.  All the people he knew at once admired, feared and hated them.  They were spoken of like evil gods. Twice in his life he had seen Jedi.  The first time, two of them had strolled down the street near him and Juma.  She had carefully avoided looking at them so he had turned his back on them too and pretended they were not there.   

The second time, two of them stopped a trandoshan on the street, not 10 meters from him and then cut the trandoshan in half when he tried to draw a blaster.  The quiet voices had shown it happen a second before it did.  But even with the warning, it had happened so astonishingly fast, he couldn't believe it.  The trandoshan's arm moved and then he was in two pieces on the street with one of the Jedi standing over him with his light sword in hand.   Whoever or whatever these Jedi were, he didn't ever want to tangle with one!

But this Jedi, this "Shandra", was not like any of the other Jedi he had seen.  The other Jedi had been strong and sure like raging river.  This Jedi was more serene like a quiet lake.  And she wore a robe rather than the tunic, belt and leggings that the other Jedi had worn.

With a sigh, Jawa followed after her and the shadow man.

Shandra didn't know where she was going and she didn't care. For a moment she had forgotten the dangers of the undercity and Val's plan. She just wanted to get away. She wanted to forget that she had witnessed her friend, her brother, betraying The Order to join a crime syndicate.

Shandra got halfway up the walkway with Val's droid close behind when the sound of shouting and blaster fire made her freeze in her tracks. She frantically swept the area in the Force to find out what was going on. She felt anger and confusion from the Black Sun thugs shortly before they died. She felt shock and a jolt of pain from Garrit. She ran back to the warehouse.

The deal must have gone bad. When she reached the warehouse Shandra could see the two mercenaries' corpses on the ground with wounds in their backs. Garrit was lying nearby clutching his stomach. Shandra knelt down beside him and wrapped her arms around him. She had never practiced Force healing, but she tried with all of her might to focus the Force and heal his wound. Garrit grabbed her arm and struggled to talk.

"Sh-shadows...Phoenix Rising." Then Shandra felt the spark of Garrit's life extinguish as he joined the Force. She hugged him close trembling with sobs.

As Jawa followed after the Jedi and shadow man he heard the sound of a blaster inside the warehouse.  "Pain.  Death," the quiet voices said.   The shadow man stopped.  Even without the quiet voices, he knew Jedi Shandra was coming back.  "Inside" the quiet voices said.  Jawa quietly moved back along the wall of the warehouse to a small broken window and he slid inside. 

Jawa had no trouble navigating to the main area and hiding behind a pillar.  A second later, Shandra came inside and paused for a moment.  He could tell that she was checking out the place though her head did not move around as she did.  It was as though she was listening rather than seeing.   Looking closer he saw that the covering over her eyes was not a mask, per se.  At least it didn't have holes for her eyes to see though.  "She does not see with eyes," the quiet voices said.

Jawa watched her move quickly to the golden haired man who was still alive.  He could feel her fear.  He felt the life leave the golden-haired man.  He felt her grief.   He heard her cries.  Jawa was very good at moving unnoticed by others.  It was one of the ways he had stayed alive in the dangerous world he lived in.  "What am I doing here?" Jawa wondered to himself.  Normally when trouble like this broke out, he stayed far away from it.  Yet this time he was here.   "I should be getting out of here fast!"  Yet, in spite of this feeling of dread at being here, and without deciding to do so, Jawa moved around to the front of the pillar and sat down silently on the floor with his back against it,  The lady Jedi was just a few meters away.

With his hood pulled over his head and wrapped in is dirty cloak, Jawa sat and studied the woman in front of him.  As he did, two thoughts came to him.  The first was that the shadow man not followed Jedi Shandra into the warehouse.  The second was that the man in Shandra's arms was also a Jedi.  The other two men were dead.  Within one of the dead men he felt darkness. 

"The darkness was not in him," Jawa said in a quiet voice though at first he didn't even realize he had said it aloud.

Shandra jumped at the sound of a voice behind her. She swept the warehouse in the Force. At first she didn't feel anything. She stretched her mind out further in the Force like a hand groping in the darkness. Then she felt it, a faint tiny sliver of an aura. She couldn't tell whose aura it was. It felt like Val's aura had felt when he was stealthed on Ord Mantell, but that was not Val's voice.

"Who's there? Who said that?" Shandra asked her hand hovering over her lightsaber hilt.

Val, being nowhere near Shandra at this particular moment, was circling around the rather larged based building that housed the cantina in which Shandra and himself had just left. He had had to use the opposite entrance that brought him out on the other side of the building, which made it a bit of a trek back to where he had planned to meet up with Shandra.

Having little to no gift for Force sense other than to pick up on dark side taint, Val had no idea that Shandra was not where he had planned to meet up with her. However, he did have a tracking beacon installed inside Jak his astromech droid that is linked to his wrist comm. Activating the beacon Val saw that Jak, and presumably Shandra as well, were not far from where he was now. Not in the direction of his ship though ...

"Odd .." Val thought to himself. Jak always does exactly what Val tells him to so something must be amiss.

Snaking through the crowd Val found a good place to disappear from without attracting any attention and dropped under a Force cloak. Very few in the Galaxy, and only Force adepts at that, would be capable of detecting Val at all when cloaked but he knew that Shandra would be aware of his presence if not his exact location. However, since they were not headed back to Val's ship as he had instructed Jak, Val automatically assumed something was wrong and approached the area under stealth and with hands ready to move to his weapons if needed.

Val noticed a small being present near Shandra but discounted it as a non-threat and approached Shandra, keeping an eye out for any further threats in the area. He saw the bodies and Shandra hugging what appeared to be a corpse and approached carefully. Val was not a person with an over abundance of emotion but he recognized that this person must have been known to Shandra to elicit such a response.

"Who's there? Who said that?" Shandra asked her hand hovering over her lightsaber hilt.

"Is everything alright, Shandra?" Val asked, eying the small being from underneath his Force Cloak, communicating telepathically as to not freak out the person that would then hear him and not see him.

"Odd", thought Jawa to himself.  "She can't see me?"  Jawa knew he was pretty good at being unnoticed by others when he didn't want to be but he was surprised this obviously powerful lady could not see him while he sat in plain sight.  Jawa wasn't sure what to do now.  If he ran, would she see him then? Her hand was inside her robe near her light sword.  The image of the trandoshan flashed through his mind.  His first instinct was to scurry back behind the pillar and hide again though if she was as fast as that other Jedi, he doubted he'd make it there. 

"Stay," the quiet voices said. 

"Why?" Jawa silently asked the voices though he knew he would get no answer.  He never did.  The quiet voices were good and telling him what to do but not so good at explaining the why of it. 

Normally, Jawa avoided contact with everyone.  Before Juma died and even more so afterwards, bigger kids and grown ups would steal his food and clothes from him.  Or worse, they would try to hurt him though thus far he had manage to escape any real harm. So he quickly learned to avoid others and keep to himself.  He found it safer just to hide and avoid interacting with anyone else.  He kept a few safe holes to hide in about the neighborhood.  He'd come out to forage for food or whatever he needed.  He'd beg, find or steal then scurry back to his safe hole. 

A few years ago, he'd had a friend.  Mora was girl a little older than him who like him had no home or family.  For a few months shared food and safe holes and watched each other's back.  He'd found her one day, naked, beaten to death and tossed in a large garbage bin.  Aside from when Juma died, it was the only time in his life he could remember crying.   Other than to beg for a credit, she was the last person he'd had any human contact with. 

So this was new territory for him.  Hoping it was the right thing to do, Jawa pulled back his hood.

"Why can you not see me?" he asked aloud though he was ready to bolt if she drew the light sword.

Shandra struggled to regain her composure. She felt as though someone had driven a knife through her chest. She had trouble concentrating when she tried to feel for the voice in the Force. She struggled to shove the emotions out of her mind and open herself to the Force. Shandra calmed as the Force flowed through her.

"Why can you not see me?" the voice asked

Shandra was surprised to find a youngling in tattered clothes sitting right in front of her, and she was also surprised that he radiated a strong Force aura. The aura she had felt was gone. She knew she had not felt the youngling. There must have been someone under a Force cloak in the room when she came in. Looking at a person under a Force cloak was like looking at their shadow. She could tell someone was there, but she could not tell who it was.

"I'm sorry. I was quite distracted before. What are you doing hear? It isn't safe. You should go home right away." Shandra said. She continued to sweep the room in the Force trying to detect any other unexpected guests.

Just then she felt another faint aura enter the room. She put a finger to her lips to signal for the youngling to be quiet for a moment as she tried to sense the aura's location. She pulled out the hilt of her lightsaber, preparing to defend herself and the youngling. She relaxed when she heard a familiar voice in her mind.

"Is everything alright, Shandra?"  

"Garrit is dead, Val. He was in my initiate clan. I sensed that he was here, and when I came he was meeting with Black Sun representatives. A fight must have broken out. I still can't believe he was going to join the Black Suns." Shandra replied to Val out loud. She was still in shock.

The jedi woman finally seemed to focus on Jawa and seemed to be troubled.

"I'm sorry. I was quite distracted before. What are you doing hear? It isn't safe. You should go home right away." the woman said as she seemed to be looking around the room alarmed.  Then the woman put her finger to her lips and pulled out her light sword.

Jawa crawled behind the pillar he was leaning against and scurried between some crates in the direction of the back room he had entered through; trying hard not be be seen.

Quote from: Aerion Istari on November 15, 2011, 02:38:38 AM"I'm sorry. I was quite distracted before. What are you doing hear? It isn't safe. You should go home right away."

Val appeared beside the young person hiding behind a pillar, one of his blasters in hand. "She is safe enough boy." Val eyed him curiously before holstering his blaster and walking toward Shandra. Listening to her relate the story of what had just happened, Val accepted it as fact and thought about what to do next.

"More Jedi falling prey to temptation of easy money and a life with more than service. A common problem, now especially what with our very low level of popularity ..." Val shook his head. He stood a respectful distance from Garrit's body, waiting to see what Shandra wanted to do from here. "Moving a body through the streets is not going to be an easy thing. Perhaps we should call the authorities and allow them to deal with this for now?"

The man in the long coat suddenly appeared beside him with a big blaster in his hand startled Jawa.  "Time to go" he said to himself and slunk behind a couple of crates, trying to make himself invisible as he headed for the broken window.   The man in the coat was talking to the Jedi so maybe he could escape before they noticed he was gone.

Shandra  felt like she had been hit by a giant wave in the force. She had been right there. She had felt the life leave his body. She tried to think clearly and respond to Val.

"You're right. We should call the authorities. They'll know what to do. They'll take his body back to the Order for a proper ceremony. I should bring his sabers, though. The Order will want it and I don't want it to be stolen." Shandra began searching Garrit's body for the two lightsaber hilts. "I still remember when he made it. He worked on the design for hours. They both had lovely curved hilts, and he even figured out how to etch the same Pazaak card design into the hilts that Master Kraylo had etched onto his saber. That's odd. I can't find either of his lightsabers. Why would he have come here unarmed?" Shandra stood up and straightened her robes. Then she remembered the youngling she had encountered earlier.

"Val, there was a youngling here. I don't know what he was doing here, but we should make sure he's alright." Then Shandra called out to the youngling "Hello, youngling, I'm sorry I don't know your name. Are you alright? Forgive me if I startled you. My name is Shandra Ivari and this is Val Gith. It's getting rather late for younglings to be out. Would you like us to escort you home?"

Val turned and pointed at where the youngling had been. "He is right th..." Val noticed he was pointing at an empty bit of space where the youngling no longer was. He hadn't even noticed the youngling wander off. "Well, he was there," Val said with a shrug. "What? You think that little guy stole that one's lightsaber?"

"No, I don't think so. I didn't notice that he was here until he spoke to me. He could easily have gotten away. Why would he announce his presence if he was guilty of theft? I just hope he's alright. I don't know if he was here during the fight, and I don't know if he was hurt." Shandra replied. She walked toward the area where she had last sensed the youngling trying to sense where he had gone. If he was still nearby she might be able to feel him still.

[OOC: I hope the lightsaber thing was a toss.  I'm taking it as one.  If not, ping me and we'll adjust]

Jawa made it to the back room with the broken window.  Once out of sight of the main room, he stood and moved quickly, but silently to the window and slithered out.  As he was leaving he heard the jedi woman call out to him.  She called him a youngling and offered to escort him home.  Then he heard the big man with the bigger blaster say something that made him slither faster.

"... that little guy stole that one's lightsaber?"  Oops!

Jawa hit the ground toes first and moved 30 meters down the alley and slid behind a trash container.  He paused for a few seconds to catch his breath.  He reached in his shirt and felt the slender cylinder he had stuck there a few moments ago.  As he had been crawling out of the main room and slithering between two crates, his hand had come down on a warm, metallic cylinder.  Without even thinking about it he had picked it up and quickly stuck it in his shirt without even slowing his slither towards the exit.  He hadn't even known what it was.  It was just there and he grabbed it.

They called it a "lightsaber" he muttered.  He guessed it was one of the jedi light swords he had seen.  He couldn't wait to take a closer look at it.  But right now he knew he needed to move.  It wouldn't take them long to figure out he wasn't still in the warehouse.  He peered out from between the trash receptacle and a couple of empty crates in preparation to scamper away.  As he did, he saw the shadow man again up the alley back the way he had come.  "Pooduu!", he muttered to himself.  He dropped back down behind the trash receptacle again and slowly let out his breath.  What do I do now?

[OOC: Feel free to interact (or not) with the shadow man any way you please]

Shandra felt the youngling in an alley nearby. There was a man standing there with him. Something felt odd about him.

"He's over here Val. There's someone with him. Hurry, he might be in trouble." Shandra said.

Shandra stepped out into the alley and called out to the man who was standing there.

"Who are you and what is your business here?"

"I could ask the same thing of you, Consular Ivari. This is an unusual place for a Jedi diplomat to be lurking." The man said.

"How do you know my name?" Shandra asked preparing to activate the two blades of her lightsaber.

"That won't be necessary I assure you. I am Master Albar Brin. I was sent here by The Order on a special investigation. I know a great many things about you, Consular." Master Brin said

"What have I to do with your investigation, Master Brin?" Shandra asked

"Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Only time will tell. Good evening until we meet again."

Master Brin Force leaped onto the top of the lid of the trash receptacle and pushed off onto a nearby rooftop. Shandra could sense him running along the rooftops above her. She turned to the trash receptacle where she could sense the youngling hiding.

"It's alright. You can come out now. We won't hurt you. Are you alright?"

The shadow man had apparently seen Jawa because he started moving towards his hiding place.  Its movements were slow, cautious and cat-like. What am I doing here! he screamed to himself.  Jawa hope for some advice from the quiet voices but heard none.  Just like them to get him into a jam then abandon him.

As the shadow man drew near his hiding place Jawa pulled the light saber out of his shirt.  He had no idea what do to with it but he figured it would do him more good in his hand than in his shirt.  As he held it, he realized he didn't even know how to make the blade come out of it. Maybe I can throw it at him, Jawa muttered to himself with disgust.

Just as the shadow man was nearly on him, Lady Jedi and Bigger Blaster came out of the warehouse.  They saw the shadow and called out to him.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" Lady Jedi demanded as she approached him.

"I could ask the same thing of you, Consular Ivari. This is an unusual place for a Jedi diplomat to be lurking." The shadow man replied with authority.  He reminded Jawa of the way security scum spoke to people like himself when they stopped them for questioning.

"How do you know my name?" Lady Jedi responded, clearly agitated herself.  It was obvious to Jawa they were not friends.  A corner of Jawa's mind was telling him he should be using this opportunity to make his escape.  But he found himself fascinated by the exchange between Lady Jedi and the shadow man.  Also, Bigger Blaster was keeping a pretty close eye on him too. 

Lady Jedi looked ready to cut the shadow man in half, yet the shadow man was standing relaxed like he was standing on a street corner waiting for a hover transport.

"That won't be necessary I assure you. I am Master Albar Brin. I was sent here by The Order on a special investigation. I know a great many things about you, Consular." The shadow master Brin replied with a tone that suggested he was beyond reproach.

"What have I to do with your investigation, Master Brin?" Lady Jedi asked.  Her tone was still guarded but the edge was gone from her voice.  Her hand holding her lightsaber lowered a bit.   

"Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Only time will tell,"  Master Shadow replied. "Good evening until we meet again."  In the blink of an eye, the Shadow Master had leapt up on the trash receptacle and bounded away.

Lady Jedi glided slowly over to where Jawa was hiding.  Her lightsaber was no longer in her hand. "It's alright. You can come out now. We won't hurt you. Are you alright?" she said to him gently.

Jawa slowly stood up and stepped out from behind the trash receptacle.  He held out the lightsaber in front of him on his open palm. 

"Don't cut me in half, Lady Jedi," Jawa said with sincerity.  "I didn't steal it.  I found it."

Shandra took the lightsaber from the youngling. She ran her hand along the straight, smooth hilt. This wasn't one of Garrit's sabers, or at least it wasn't one of the sabers he made when he was a Padawan. Perhaps he made a new one, but why? he had loved those lightsabers.

"I have no intention of cutting you in half, Younlging. Whatever gave you that idea? Thank you for holding this. I'm sure someone would have taken it if you had not kept it safe.  Tell me, did you see any others with it?  Also, what is your name?" Shandra asked the youngling

Jawa watched cautiously as Lady Jedi took the lightsaber from him and examined it.

"I have no intention of cutting you in half, Youngling. Whatever gave you that idea?" she said kindly.  But without waiting for an answer, she continued.  "Thank you for holding this. I'm sure someone would have taken it if you had not kept it safe.  Tell me, did you see any others with it?  Also, what is your name?"

"I saw a Jedi cut a man in half once." Jawa replied.  "I don't want to be cut in half.  I found that as I was crawling out.  I don't know who's it is.  If you don't want it, can I have it?  I've never had one before but I think Juma used to have one!"

"I'm sorry you witnessed such violence. Sometimes Jedi need to do unfortunate things in order to protect innocent people. Although I've begun to wonder how much of what we do is really necessary. Well, enough of that. As for the lightsaber, I should probably..." Shandra was about to refuse the youngling's request, but she paused.

She thought it would be dangerous to give a lightsaber to an untrained youngling. However, something inside her told her it would be the right thing to do. She turned over the hilt in her hand and ignited the blade lighting the alley with a violet glow.

"That is how you turn it on. This is not a toy. It is a very dangerous weapon" Shandra turned off the blade and handed the hilt to the youngling. "Garrit is dead, and whatever may have happened to his previous lightsabers he no longer has a use for this one. You may have it. I would like to take you to someone who can teach you how to use it, though. Care for it well, and maybe one day I'll show you how to build your own."

Val stood there as Shandra consoled the youngling, but could not stand by as she handed the lightsaber to a completely untrained child. Val extended his hand and Force pulled the saber out of Jawa's hands after Shandra handed it to him.

"I may not be associated with the Jedi Order anymore but I cannot stand idly by as you hand over a deadly, valuable, rare, and often illegally sought after weapon to a completely untrained child. Sorry Shandra. I will turn this in to the Jedi somehow or else it will remain safely on my ship in my weapons lockup." Val clipped the saber to his belt beneath his duster and crossed his arms in front of himself, expecting Shandra to argue but the issue was not really up for discussion in his head.

Val's Force sense was limited, more focused on sensing dark side taint than anything else, but he could sense some Force connection on the boy. "If you really want to do the boy a favour put him on a shuttle to Tython where he will be trained and then someday he can make his own. Every Jedi should make his or her own saber themselves, not take one off a corpse."

Jawa's eyes went wide with amazement when Lady Jedi said he could have the lightsaber!  He watched her closely when she demonstrated out to turn it on and was startled at the surprisingly loud "SSSSHHHWWWWWWYYYYYYNNNNNNNNNNNN" sound it made as the one meter beam of light leapt from the hilt of the saber then glowed a brilliant violet color.  He could not just hear, but feel the low humming, pulsing noise it made.  It was beautiful yet Jawa knew how deadly it could be.  It was so COOL!

Lady Jedi then turned it off and held it out to him.  Hardly believing his fortune, he reached out and took the lightsaber.  As he looked closely at it to locate the on switches it suddenly flew from his hand.  He turned and watched it as it sped through the air directly into Bigger Blaster's outstretched hand.  Jawa was so stunned and outraged that he didn't even here what Bigger Blaster was saying.

"THAT'S NO FAIR!!  THAT'S MINE!!  I FOUND IT!!"  Jawa screamed at him!  "SHE SAID I COULD HAVE IT!!"

Shandra placed her hands on the youngling's shoulders to calm him and turned to Val.

" Val Gith, what sort of blast-brained idiot do you think I am? I said I would give the youngling the lightsaber. I did not say I would leave him alone with it. Of course I'm going to bring him to Tython. He's a bit old to enter an inititiate clan, but I'm hoping the Order will let me take him on as a Padawan when they see his potential."

Val's face remained implacable as Shandra chastised him, ignoring the youngling's outburst. "He can have a lightsaber when he makes his own. Firstly, I do not feel comfortable having it in his possession especially since you just showed him how to turn it on. Can you imagine the damage he could cause to himself or others in just a few seconds? Secondly, stealing the saber from a recently deceased Jedi is both dishonourable and distasteful." Val glared at the kid with a neutral expression on his face. "If you want one of these you are going to have to make your own little one. That is the way things work with these. So quiet down."

Val was tired of this discussion already. Attempting to change the topic, Val looked at Shandra and asked, "Did you know that Master Brin? He seemed to know a lot about you. Kind of a slippery sort." This last bit was said sort of to himself as he mused over another person employing stealth through the Force. Not many people practiced this side of the Force, preferring to practice more "honourable" sides of the Force such as straight up melee combat or more diplomatic practices.

He shrugged, not really caring at the moment. "You need to call the authorities and I will disappear for a while. I wasn't even here anyways and talking to Republic authorities without any ID will just cause me problems. I will stand guard until they arrive and you two are assured to be safe but I will do so from a distance and unseen."

Shandra crossed her arms and faced Val. Her eyebrows arched in frustration letting him know that she would be glaring at him if she had eyes. When he finished talking about calling the authorities she sighed and shook her head.

"No, I don't know Master Brin. That causes me a bit of concern. Aside from our little adventure on Ord Mantell I am not usually involved in matters that warrant the intervention of an Investigator. Something did not feel right about him. Anyway, you're right. We ought to call the authorities for now."

Shandra knelt down in front of the youngling so he was at mask level with her. Eye contact was never an issue among Miraluka, but she had learned that many races found it reassuring.

"I'm afraid Val is resolute about keeping the lightsaber. He can be very stubborn sometimes. However, he was correct about one thing. I can teach you to make your own soon, if you would like. In fact, I can teach you a great many things if you come with me. You seem to have a strong connection to the Force. Do you know what that means? We would have to ask your parents' permission, of course, but I would like to train you to be a Jedi like me and Va...like me." 

Jawa was fuming at Bigger Blaster for stealing his lightsaber!  And now Lady Jedi was going let him!!  Without really thinking about it, he held up his hand and tried to make the lightsaber fly to him like Bigger Blaster had.  But nothing happened.

Lady Jedi was talking to him again but he barely understood her words at first.  "...In fact, I can teach you a great many things if you come with me. You seem to have a strong connection to the Force. Do you know what that means? We would have to ask your parents' permission, of course, but I would like to train you to be a Jedi like me and Va...like me." she said.

"I don't have any parents," Jawa replied.  "It's just me.  What is the force?" Jawa continued.

"The Force is an energy that flows through all living things.  Some lifeforms who are sensitive to the flow of the Force can sense it, manipulate it, and use it to do amazing things. The Force is what my race uses to see without any external eye structures, it allowed Master Brin to jump to the rooftop, and it is what Val to pull the saber from your hand without touching it. It can be used for good or for great evil. I believe you may be sensitive to the Force. I need to get things sorted out here first, but I would like to take you with me and teach you to use your gift to help others. Would you like to come with me and learn?" Shandra stood up and extended her hand to the youngling inviting him to come back into the warehouse with her .

While Shandra and Jawa and distracted were talking Val quietly wandered off and disappeared, taking up a guard position within a bit of a distance from Shandra to keep watch until she finished talking to the youngling and got in contact with the authorities. People might have heard the blaster fire and came to investigate so Val did not want anyone wandering into the warehouse and finding a few dead bodies.

From Shandra's conversation with the youngling Val realized that he no longer had the patience nor the will to take on a Padawan learner. He had been forced to try during his time on Yavin IV at the secret garrison there but he had only done it because it was part of his own training. All said and told he had had students for less than 4 years of his life and he was glad that part of his life was over and done with. It was fortunate for Jawa that Shandra had found him as Val most likely would have moved on and not noticed the child's affinity for the Force. Yet another Force adept that would have fallen between the cracks of this vast galaxy.

Val was amused that Jawa had tried to pull the saber back to himself in the same fashion that Val had taken it from him. Val had actually put a hand over it just in case it had moved, which it had not.

"The Force is an energy that flows through all living things," Jedi Lady replied.  "Some lifeforms who are sensitive to the flow of the Force can sense it, manipulate it, and use it to do amazing things. The Force is what my race uses to see without any external eye structures," Lady Jedi's fingers brushed her face in the area of her eyes.   "It allowed Master Brin to jump to the rooftop, and it is what Val to pull the saber from your hand without touching it. It can be used for good or for great evil. I believe you may be sensitive to the Force. I need to get things sorted out here first, but I would like to take you with me and teach you to use your gift to help others. Would you like to come with me and learn?"  she finished.

Shandra stood up and extended her hand to the youngling inviting him to come back into the warehouse with her.

"Does this mean I can learn to be a Jedi - like you?" Jawa asked in an incredulous voice as he followed Lady Jedi back inside the warehouse.

Upon entering the warehouse Shandra called the local police. She had to do a bit of creative lying about her reasons for being there. She told them that Garrit had contacted her and asked to meet at the cantina to catch up on old times, but he was called away early. She said she suspected something was wrong and followed him to the warehouse. When they expressed suspicion about Jawa's presence she told them he was a young Force Sensitive she was trying to recruit into the order.

Shandra was not sure how much of her story the authorities believed, but they believed enough to give her and Jawa a ride to the Senate District and leave them at the diplomatic housing area with a reminder that they may need further information.

"This is home for now, although we'll probably need to move to a bigger room soon. I'll order us some dinner and you can sleep on the sofa for now. We'll talk to the Jedi Council about your training tomorrow." Shandra said as she led Jawa inside.

Val watched from a distance as Shandra got the authorities involved. Nothing untoward happened and when they got into the vehicle to go to the senate district Val left himself, linking back up with Jak and heading for his ship.

"Bloop .... blooo ... blaaaaa....." Jak bleeped lazily.

"I know Jak, sorry. I was worrying you would run out of power completely. Sorry about that."

Val got Jak into his holding cage to charge and then removed all his weapons. He assumed he would not need them as he was on board his own ship and the door was locked from the inside. He hung his gun harness on the back wall of his weapons closet as well as his own two lightsabers. He then unclipped the deceased Jedi's saber and looked at it for a moment. "You are one with the Force now." Val bowed his head in respect for the fallen Jedi then placed the saber at the bottom of his weapons closet for storage until he could send it to the Jedi Temple on Tython. He would need to find a more secure way to get it there than to simply send it in an unsecured package. A problem for another day.

Val undressed and washed before lying down to get some much needed sleep. He would need to decide what to do with himself next but that could wait until tomorrow.

Jawa wasn't sure what to expect.  Lady Jedi had said he would be trained as a Jedi.  He wasn't sure what that would mean for his life but the change could not be for the worse.  He settled down on the couch and went to sleep.

The conversation with the Council was rather like beating her head repeatedly against a brick wall, but Shandra finally convinced them to let her take the youngling on as a Padawan in spite of his age. The next order of business was to buy him some new clothes and request a larger apartment so he could have his own bedroom.

After a few days they had settled into a regular routine. Shandra brought Jawa with her to work every day to help her run errands for Master Bel, ans she found opportunities along the way to train him in controlling his Force powers. Her own master had been unconventional in his lessons; so she was able to take inspiration from him in thinking of creative lessons like using the Force to stack a Pazaak deck. She had yet to tie him to a chair so she could teach him to use the Force to untie the knots, but it did take a few years before Master Kraylo taught her that.

As he faced Garrit with his lightsaber he slipped into a Wrath Guard position with his right side facing Garrit with this hands over his head and his lightsaber blade pointing straight down along his body.  Garrit moved a half step forward and slipped into the Two Handed, Eight Point stance with the blade of his lightsaber pointing straight up and hilt of his lightsaber a few inches from his ear.   

Then Garrit slashed downward at an angle across his body with the point etching an arc through the air that would have cut across his chin had he not ducked to his left. Then Garrit pivoted to his right and brought his blade into a horizontal slash at chest level.  He moved his blade forward to block slash, but his lightsaber blade suddenly went out and Garrit's slash went right through the place where his blade had been.  He watched in slow motion horror as Garrit's blade slashed right through his torso.  He screamed...

He bolted out of his bed as he screamed.  He turned a flip in mid air and landed on his feet in the center of his bed chamber.  As he moved through the air, a lightsaber flew from a dresser and into his hand.  As he landed, the blade of the lightsaber sprang from the hilt and he assumed a high guard position.  He scanned with the force for threats but detected none.   "It was a dream," he said after few moments.  To calm his nerves, he executed a series of lightsaber forms and ended up facing the mirror over his bureau with his lightsaber in the Wrath Guard position. 

Lightsaber forms always calmed him.  There was something about the elegance and the concentration that focused him and cleared his thoughts.  It was almost like meditation for him.  Fortunately for the Shadow Knight, the encounter with the traitor to the dark side, Garrit, had ended differently than his nightmare. 

He looked a long time in the mirror.  He tried to see the person he had once been but that person was long gone.  "You are the Shadow Knight," he said to the reflection in the mirror.  "You will vanquish the Dark side!  The Jedi have been corrupted and can no longer be trusted to protect the Republic.  You MUST restore the balance!"

Then he brought the hilt of his lightsaber up in front of his face then sharply downward in the classic swordsman's salute.   Then he turned it off and tossed it casually over his shoulder to land dead center of the bed.  He looked down at his naked body at the mostly healed wound on his thigh.  The Doc Droid had done a fine job knitting the wound.  The scar was visible but fairly small.  It still hurt but it was a very tolerable dull pain now like a deep muscle bruise.

The Shadow Knight had been born of the Force.  He had not always been the Shadow Knight.  Once he had been a youngling padawan training to be a Jedi.  Then later he had passed the Jedi Trials and become a Jedi Knight.  He was a fairly unremarkable Jedi except that he was the most skilled with a lightsaber than any other Jedi.  Everyone had said so.  It had been widely expected that once he became a Jedi Master, he would take over as a teacher of the lightsaber to younglings and apprentices.  But all that had changed during the war...

Shadow Knight had learned of Garrit's defection into Black Sun through one of his Black Sun contacts.  Not coincidently, that contact was one of the other dead bodies left in the warehouse.  In a way, he regretted having to kill the twi'lek.   In addition providing good intelligence, he had proven to be a biddable bed companion.  Twi'leks are most ... exciting ... that way.  His being mercenary had also added an interesting spice to the relationship.  He would be missed but his duty as the Shadow Knight came before his own personal pleasure.

As a force shadow, Shadow Knight had slipped through the alley and into the warehouse unnoticed.  He had been surprised and dismayed to see Shandra outside the warehouse.   It had delayed him slightly getting into the warehouse as he had needed to be extra careful to avoid being seen by her.  He wasn't sure if her Force Vision could see through his Shadow or not.  He couldn't take the chance.  He had been almost too late. 

Once inside the warehouse, he had slipped in behind the two mercenaries in Shadow form.  He had executed a Flying Long Slash on the mercenaries' unprotected backs.   The twi'lek had fired his blaster as the blow struck but then they fell forward and were dead by the time their bodies hit the floor.  He had immediately leapt the distance between himself and Garrit and slashed downward in a powerful blow.  But Garrit had somehow managed to get his lightsaber up to block the blow.  Garrit had been a decent opponent with a lightsaber but his skill was well short of the Shadow Knight's.  But then, much of his later training had focused on defeating other Jedi.  Until the very end, the fight had been almost textbook fight.  Parry, slash, block, then repeat until the final blow. 

Unlike the nightmare, the Shadow Knight's lightsaber didn't fail before Garrit's vicious horizontal slash.  Instead he had blocked the slash easily, then spun around lifting Garrit's blade over his head and following with a quick, low thrust into Garrit's exposed lower torso.  As Garrit began to topple forward towards the floor of the warehouse, the Shadow Knight turned off his lightsaber and side stepped to his right away from Garrit's lightsaber.  As Garrit fell forward, he managed to roll and thrust his lightsaber into the meaty part of the Shadow Knight's thigh, fortunately missing the bone.  It had been a painful strike and even more so in that it had come when his guard was down.  His own lightsaber had flown from his hand across the warehouse as he had reached down to quickly remove the lightsaber from his thigh before it took his leg off.   

It had taken every bit of his training to block the pain in his leg.  Once he was under control, he first looked for his souvenir.  Garrit's lightsaber was beautiful and very well made with its curved handle and clean lines.   It would make a worthy souvenir so he scooped it up.  He was about to search for his own lightsaber when he felt another presence enter the warehouse.  He sensed right away that this presence was hidden by the Force but he could not tell anything else about it.  He had successfully blocked the pain and could function normally, but he was in no condition for another battle with another Jedi.  Besides that his work here was done. 

He would miss the lightsaber.  That had been the first lightsaber he had made as a padawan learner.  Since that time, he had, of course made a much finer weapon that he usually carried.  But that lightsaber was well known and it wouldn't do for it to be found.  So the Shadow Knight had always used his first lightsaber for the executions.  Its simple, apprentice design was nearly untraceable.  And, unfortunately, it was fairly common for those crude, padawan lightsabers to find their way into the black market.  So it was much safer to use the old lightsaber.  And though it was crudely made, it was nonetheless a very sound weapon.  Even as a young pawadan, his skill with a lightsaber included their construction.  So he made the decision to come back later to leave the lightsaber in the warehouse and come back later to look for it.  But that had not worked out either.

Once outside, there had been the encounter with Shandra.  She had claimed to be there working on an investigation.  Was she investigating Garrit and his treachery or was that to cover up for the fact that she was working WITH him.   The Shadow Knight would have to keep a close eye on this one!!

Shandra sat at the desk in the waiting are outside of Master Bel's room sorting through Master Bel's mail. Jawa sat in one of the chairs across from the desk reading a lesson she had assigned him. Shandra didn't like acting as Master Bel's protocol droid, but what frustrated her the most was that she was cheating Jawa of a real training opportunity. Master Kraylo had needed to sort through messages and fill out documents, but she had the opportunity to watch him during real diplomatic proceedings. He had also been able to devote time to training her in advanced Force use and lightsaber techniques.

The Council had refused her request for reassignment. They said Master Bel found her indispensable to the diplomatic relations with the Senate, and Force forbid Master Bel should have to read her own mail.

"I know this has been a thrilling morning, but if you feel you can tear yourself away from all of the excitement in a few minutes we can go to lunch and then begin lightsaber training. Hello, what's this?" Shandra had been sifting through the standard set of messages containing diplomatic information, appointments, and requests for intervention when she came across a strange message. It had no return address, no subject label, and only Master Bel's password could open it.

Shandra had noticed a great many strange messages and comlink calls coming in for Master Bel recently. The Rodian had also seemed to be more tense than usual ever since the day Garrit died. She likely had not heard of his death. A murder in the undercity, even the murder of a Jedi, did not often draw much attention from the inhabitants of the Senate District. No, Master Bel's recent change in demeanor must have been a coincidence, but Shandra couldn't figure out what could have caused it.

Shandra could hear Master Bel talking into her comlink as she entered the office to inform her of the message. The Rodian seemed to be very upset about something.

"Yes, what happened was quite a shame, but I assure you I had nothing to do with it. No I don't think they found out. There's no need for our arrangement to change." Master Bel jolted upright and disconnected the comlink when she realized Shandra had entered the office. "What the frack are you doing her?"

Shandra was taken aback by master Bel's harsh reaction. She approached the desk with a datapad containing the messages that she would not be able to answer.

"I'm bringing you the messages that require your attention, Master Bel, just like I do every morning. Is everything alright?" Shandra asked Master Bel grabbed the datapad out of Shandra's hand and began scrolling through the list of messages although she didn't seem to be paying much attention to them.

"Everything would be much better if you were not sneaking around scaring the living daylights out of me." Master Bel said as she entered her password to access the final message. As she read the message her face turned as pale as a Rodian could manage. She stared at the datapad with an expression of utter shock. "It's not possible...he's....he can't be..."

"What isn't possible, Master Bel? Are you alright? Can I get you anything?" Shandra asked. She walked around the desk to try to help Master Bel, but the Rodian pressed the datapad to her chest and Force Pushed Shandra away to keep her from reading the message. Shanra felt her back hit the wall beside the office door.

"Mind your own damn business, girl!" Master Bel shouted as she scrambled to delete the message. "Get out of my sight and take your filthy pet street rat with you."

Shandra straightened her robes and tried to remain calm as she walked into the waiting room.

"Come along, Jawa. It's time for lightsaber practice." Shandra said. She led the youngling out into the courtyard and pulled two training lightsabers off of her belt. She handed  them to Jawa.

"These are training sabers. They hurt, but they won't do as much damage as the real thing. You'll start with the basic Shii- Cho form, but you will eventually have the option of choosing to learn a more advanced form as well. I'll give you a demonstration of some of the forms I know." Shandra said.

She pulled out her own saber and ignited one end. She rapidly swung the blue blade in the slashes and lunges of the Shii-cho form. Then she activated the blade at the other end and showed Jawa the spinning swings of a saberstaff. After she had executed a few combat techniques Shandra deactivated her blades and took a step backward. She jumped in shock as she felt herself back into someone's chest. A pair of hands came down to rest on her shoulders.

"That was lovely, Consular Ivari, truly lovely." Bentro Mar said into her ear. Shandra sprang forward and spun around to face him.

"Forgive me for bumping into you, Mr. Mar. I did not realize you were there. Do you require my assistance?" Shandra said with a strained voice.

"Oh, no. I was merely taking a walk when I noticed you and your...err...Padawan practicing. You are always so graceful, even in battle....as are all Jedi I suppose. Really, I don't see why more people don't appreciate your unique talents."

Bentro walked around Shandra and Jawa for a moment as if he were studying them.

At first, Jawa had been a little afraid when he went with Jedi Lady.  He hadn't known what to expect.  The idea of becoming a Jedi was exciting and a little frightening.  The truth and turned out to be sometimes fun but a lot of monotony.

He hadn't seen Bigger Blaster since he stole Jawa's lightsaber.  He was glad.  He hated him for that.  One day, he'd pay him back.  He fantasized about one day finding Bigger Blaster and snatching the lightsaber from him and cutting him in half with it.  One day, he will.  You'll see!

Lady Jedi had been very kind to him.  He was never cold or hungry anymore and he always had a warm bed to sleep in and clothes that were clean and not falling off him.  She would spend time talking to him and he had found himself telling her things he hadn't really known himself.  Things like how he had felt about Mora and his fears after Juma was killed.

Jawa hadn't known how to read or do sums so one of the first things Lady Jedi had done was to give him is very own datapad and start teaching him to read and do math.  The math was really easy and he liked doing that.  Reading was slow at first but he found the more he did it the easier it became. 

The funest things he did were the Force training exercises.  Right after she gave him his datapad, she showed him a game on it where he had to touch the screen where the next ball would appear.  Then she taught him to clear his mind and just "feel" where the ball would appear.  It took him a few days but he eventually got to where he could predict every single ball.  Then to make it more challenging, he had to only touch balls that were red but not touch those that were blue.  After he mastered that, then the game changed to where the ball was always moving and he had to not only predict where the ball would appear but had to trace the path of the ball as it appeared. 

She usually took him to work with her and he'd hang out in her office learning from the datapad.  Sometimes she' let him go out to the city and hang out on the streets and watch people.  She had even given him his own credit chip with credits on it and he'd go out and get food or whatever he wanted.

Today, he was in her office with her again.  He had been about to ask her if he could go out to the Senate Park a short distance away when she had told him she would take him out for lunch and start to teach him to use a lightsaber.  A LIGHTSABER!!  He couldn't wait!!

He had finished his math and reading lessons and was playing the Balls game on his datapad when he sensed Mean Green Lady coming.   He slid over into a corner hoping she wouldn't notice him.  He knew she hated him though he had no idea why.   He had never even spoken to her and as far as he knew, he had never given her reason to dislike him. 

As he usually did, he focused on his Balls game and tried to ignore Mean Green.  But he could not ignore the fear and anger that filled the room like a really stinky odor.   He turned off his datapad and listened with his guard up.  Something is very wrong.  He hated Mean Green, but she was acting totally off.  Usually Mean Green just ignored him and Lady Jedi with her piggy nose stuck in the air like she was too good for the likes of us.

"Mind your own damn business, girl!" Mean Green shouted as did something quickly to her datapad. "Get out of my sight and take your filthy pet street rat with you."

"Come along, Jawa. It's time for lightsaber practice." Lady Jedi said. Normally she would just walk away, expecting him to follow along.  But this time she took his hand as she led the Jawa out into the courtyard.  Her hand was warm and her touch was kind and reassuring.  Then she pulled two training lightsabers off of her belt. She handed one of them to Jawa.

"These are training sabers," Ladi Jedi said.  "They hurt, but they won't do as much damage as the real thing. You'll start with the basic Shii-Cho form, but you will eventually have the option of choosing to learn a more advanced form as well. I'll give you a demonstration of some of the forms I know." She finished.

He watched her carefully as she pulled out her own saber and ignited one end. She rapidly swung the blue blade in a series of beautiful and graceful slashes and lunges. Then she activated the blade at the other end and showed Jawa the spinning swings of a saberstaff.  After she had executed a few combat techniques Lady Jedi deactivated her blades and took a step backward. She jumped in surprised as bumped into the man who had walked up during the demonstration and had watched her with admiration.

"That was lovely, Consular Ivari, truly lovely," the man said to her. She sprang forward and spun around to face him.  He was a rather mushy looking man.  Not very tall and he always wore a fake looking smile that seemed to make Jawa feel like he was stupid.  Yet something about him seemed familiar.

"Forgive me for bumping into you, Senator Mar. I did not realize you were there. Do you require my assistance?" Lady Jedi said to him.  Jawa could tell she was upset but he wondered why.

"Oh, no," the man replied with a slippery looking grin.  He was talking down to Lady Jedi the way most adults talked down to him.  "I was merely taking a walk when I noticed you and your...err...Padawan practicing. You are always so graceful, even in battle....as are all Jedi I suppose. Really, I don't see why more people don't appreciate your unique talents."  Then the man started looking at them the way some of Juma's customers would look at one of her black market blasters.  Lady Jedi looked like she wanted to slap him.  Jawa was tempted to slash him with his lightsaber.

Shandra cringed under Bentro's examination. She was never quite comfortable around him. He always felt smug and condescending, but she also felt a predatory edge to him that must have come from the competitive nature of politics. Initially he had been one of the most vocal protestors of her assignment to Coruscant. She assumed he was one of those people who thought the fewer Jedi underfoot the better. Now she couldn't get rid of him. Sometimes it seemed like she could feel him watching her every time she turned around, and he had a way of looking at her like someone examining an item in a shop window.

She stretched out her mind to brush against Jawa's. She could feel him getting the same impression that she did and considering violence. She wrapped an arm around Jawa's shoulder to reassure him and keep him from doing something they would both regret. She used the Force to send a message into Jawa's mind.

"Be calm, youngling. He is incredibly creepy, but he is a member of Senator Traska's diplomatic staff nonetheless."

"If you will excuse us, we were in the middle of training." Shandra said backing away from Bentro.

"Forgive me. I did not mean to interrupt. Of course I'm sure that you and your "Padawan" have a great deal of business to attend to. Although,I thought Padawans were usually a bit older that this one, but if that is what you fancy than who am I to judge." Bentro said. His eyes darted between Jawa and Shandra for a moment before they settled on the Consular. A knowing smirk spread across his face.

"How dare you imply that I have done anything inappropriate with my Padawan. He is only a youngling." Shandra hissed.

Bentro moved closer until he was standing only a few inches away from Shandra.

"I thought it was commonly understood what sort of business Jedi masters attend to with their padawans. Didn't your master?" He whispered. He reached up and twined a stray wisp of her hair around his finger.

Shandra smacked Bentro hard across the face. He laughed as he removed his hand from her hair to cover the red mark her hand left behind.

"Be careful of the Dark Side, Consular Ivari. It seemes you may be slipping, and the last thing we need is another Sith." He said. With that he turned and walked back into the Senate building.

Shandra stood for a moment fuming as Bentro walked away. She reached out in the Force to feel him, but he was hard to clearly read for some reason. Perhaps she was too upset to focus. She was sure he had been testing her. He must have very little trust in the Jedi if he felt such measures were necessary.

"Well, I'm quite hungry. Let's go eat lunch now, and we can finish our lightsaber training later." Shandra said as she began leading Jawa out of the plaza toward the Senate building's  dining area. Shandra ordered food and found a small table in the corner. She sat in silence for a while eating her lunch and trying to take her mind off of the encounter in the plaza.

Suddenly an alarm began screeching over the Senate building com system. All around them people were abandoning their meals and evacuating the building. Shandra grabbed Jawa's
hand and pulled him out into the hallway to find the nearest exit. When they got outside she could sense smoke billowing from a section of the Senate building. The security forces were instructing everyone to remain calm until they could find the source of the fire. Shandra led Jawa over to a large decorative planter and sat down on the edge.

It seemed like hours before they were finally allowed back into the building. Apparently something had ignited some of the cleaning supplies in one of the supply closets causing a small fire. No one was hurt and there was minimal damage.

When Shandra got into the Senate building she led Jawa back into Master Bel's office. The lights in the inner office were on when she came in.

"Master Bel? Are you here?" She called out. Shandra felt the area in the Force and knew instantly that soemething was wrong. She could sense Master Bel's body on the floor devoid of life. Shandra screamed and ran out into the hallway.

"Someone help! Master Bel is dead!"

It had been a relaxing few days since Val had last talked with Shandra and the youngling that was oddly named Jawa. He had spent the last few days trying to gather preliminary intel on what had happened to Garrit and who had killed him. Also, what had caused him to break his Jedi vows and try to cash in with a criminal organization on Coruscant. That random Force adept that had showed up after Garrit was killed was also a source of curiosity for Val.

Val had observed the Republic officers while they had cleaned up the scene after Shandra had called them. He had observed from stealth so no one knew he was there but he had wanted to examine the bodies. Garrit had been killed by a lightsaber--not a blaster--and a few of the Black Sun members had saber wounds as well. It looked like someone had wanted it to look like Garrit had been killed by the Black Sun members but Val knew that to be false.

So Val had gone on the hunt. He knew that there was a dark Force user killing people but he did not know why. Also, he had gotten in and out of the warehouse without Shandra's keen Force sight/sense sensing him as she had thought Garrit was killed by the Black Sun members.

In order to try to glean some information about what had happened, Val had spent the day meditating and trying to see into the Force signature of the lightsaber he had taken from Jawa that he had assumed had belonged to Garrit. However, with his gift for average level psychometry (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Psychometry) Val had seen Garrit's last moments. He had been cut down by this very saber in fact so Val had seen the event from the view of the killer, not the victim. Someone had taken Garrit's lightsaber and, for some completely unknown reason, had left his own at the scene of the crime. Val had planned to return the saber to the Jedi Temple on Tython out of respect for the deceased but now he knew it to be evidence in an unfolding crime that involved corrupt Jedi and Force users killing other Force users.

All in all it had been an eventful few days. Val had tried to find out more from his psychometry but it had yet to yield anything other than the events directly before Garrit's death. Perhaps it was time to give Shandra a call and see if her Force sense was more attuned than his own. Val was talented at finding and tracking dark side taint but otherwise his Force sense was about average; stealth really is his forte but deduction is also something he excelled at outside of his Force powers. He just needed something to go on. Perhaps the Jedi archives would be able to tell him who this particular saber belonged to originally given that the Jedi were usually pretty particular about keeping records of that sort of stuff. Especially since it looked to be of amateur design which suggested it was a Padawan saber.

What was odd was that Val had been unable to find any sign of the murderer at the scene of the crime, even through psychometry. That would imply that the killer was very good at covering his or her tracks or as adept at Force aided stealth as Val was. The thought of that was disturbing and oddly challenging to Val.

In summary, Val had no trail to track this murderer from, which was very odd. Psychometry usually allowed Val to track pretty much anyone within a certain time frame. Val had the murderer's lightsaber, which he assumed the murderer would want back eventually. Padawan sabers usually held sentimental value to Force users--Val still had his original sabers he had crafted back on Dorin, though he did not use them anymore. What was troubling Val about the saber was that he did not sense outright evil or dark side taint on it, which was odd for a presumably Sith assassin. This warranted more investigation. However, since Shandra had known the deceased, interviewing her was probably a good place to start.

"Jak. Could you punch up Shandra's commlink for me?"

"Bleep booop plaaa."

"Thanks. And remind me to get you an oil bath sometime soon, you are looking a bit dingy."

"WHOOP BEEP!"

"Yea, right back at ya tin can" Val looked at Jak with a smirk.

Val sat on his ship, feet up on his comm desk. The commlink opened up and began to call Shandra. "Hey Shandra. You there?"

Shandra extended her mind in the Force trying to feel anyone nearby. She felt the faint traces of a Force aura like she felt when Val and Master Brin were using Force cloak. It was only a few moments later that her cries attracted the attention of a nearby guard. He brushed past her into the office without a word and crouched down next to Master Bel's body.

"These look like lighsaber wounds. What happened here?" the guard asked.

"I have no idea. I came in after the fire alarm and she was dead." Shandra said

"You have a lightsaber, don't you? Where were you after the fire alarm went off?" the Guard asked glancing sideways at Shandra.

"I was sitting in front of the Senate building with my Padawan the entire time. You can ask Senator Ghem if you like. I saw her standing nearby." Shandra said " Really, I don't see what you're implying"

"I suppose there isn't enough evidence to arrest you yet. Stick around in case we have further questions for you." The guard stood up as more members of the security force entered and began examining the body and parts of the office.

They asked Shandra a few more basic questions, but mostly they told her to wait, and wait, and wait some more. It was well into the evening before they felt confident enough in her innocence and uselessness to release her.

She took Jawa's hand and led him home stopping to pick up takeout on the way. After dinner Shandra tucked Jawa into bed and sat down with a cup of tea to contemplate the events of the day. Suddenly her comlink chimed.

"Hey Shandra. You there?"

"Yes, Val. I'm here. I seem to be encountering death wherever I go. Someone killed Master Adira Bel in her office at the Senate Building earlier today. I felt someone cloaked at the crime scene. I couldn't tell who it was." Shandra said

Val sat there at his hollow terminal looking at the projection of Shandra as he appraised him of her situation. "A dead Jedi master in the Senate building? Wasn't Master Bel the one you were playing errand girl for? Regardless, a murder in the senate building is pretty serious. Anything caught on camera? I definitely was nowhere near the senate building today so whomever you sensed was not me."

Val picked up the saber they had found at the scene of Garrit's death and showed it to Shandra. "It turns out this saber actually belonged to our killer and not Garrit. Good thing I didn't let the little one keep it. Its design is amateur which would imply a Padawan saber. I need access to the Jedi archives to see who built this specific saber. Think you could help me out with that? It would appear that our murderer left his saber and took Garrit's. If I could find Garrit's I might be able to tell what happened just prior to his death and see why he was dealing with the Black Sun organization in the first place."

Val put the saber down again and thought for a moment. "How was Master Bel killed? Who around the senate building could take down a Master without anyone noticing? I take it she died from a saber and not blaster fire?"

"That's very odd about the lightsaber. I thought there had been a gang fight in the warehouse, but if the saber wasn't Garrit's then there must have been another Force user involved.It had a lovely purple blade. That's not common among Padawan sabers. I've only ever known one Padawan who had a purple blade. I'll help you search the archives. " Shandra paused for a moment to finish her tea and gather her thoughts. She closed her eyes and opened her mind to the Force letting the soothing warm liquid calm her as the Force flowed through her. A few moments later she set the mug aside and turned her attention back to the conversation.

"Yes, I was assigned to Master Bel's staff. She had been acting very stange of late....more on edge than she usually was. She had also been receiving a number of strange calls and messages for a while, but they seemed to increase in the past few days.She was killed by a lightsaber. I believe when the guards were holding me for questioning I heard someone mention that there was something wrong with the cameras. I doubt anyone noticed much of anything during the incident. There had been a small fire in a supply closet on the other side of our section of the building. Alarms were blaring, the section was sealed off from the rest of the building,and everyone was either gathered out front or investigating the fire. Someone could have been standing in the office completely naked singing Gamorrean drinking songs and noone would have noticed. I went into the office right after we were allowed to reenter the building. As far as I know I was the first to find her."

Val listened to Shandra, wondering about something as she talked. "I take it senators do not have cameras in their personal quarters out of respect and privacy? So if we were going to catch the murderer on camera it would have been on his or her approach to the scene of the murder?" Val made a disappointed sucking sound as he realized that there would be no lead to be had from senate tower surveillance. "I still cannot believe how ridiculous the security at the Senate building has become after the sacking of Coruscant. Evacuating it because of a fire?" Val shook his head.

"We need to find out what Master Bel got herself into that resulted in her death. I am going to need access to the senate building and the Jedi archives to find out who originally built this saber and to mine Master Bel's computers for leads. Do you think this will be possible or will the Republic authorities make this impossible? I can let myself in if I cannot approach the senate building's restricted areas openly if need be but accessing the Jedi archives is beyond me without my Jedi privileges."

Shandra thought for a moment about how to get Val inside the building. With the tension between the Republic and the Empire increasing security measures had become ridiculous. She still could not believe the evacuation had been caused by a small easily controled fire. However, there was one way to get him in if they were creative.

"Val, how difficult would it be for you to pretend to be a Jedi? I can find you some Consular's robes. I will be expected to temporarily take over some of Master Bel's duties until a replacement can be found. We can tell security that you are an old friend I called in to help me with my work. It's not even terribly far from the truth. You'll be required to sit through some dull and frustrating negotiations, but you will have full access to Master Bel's office. I can help you with access to the archives as well."

Val chuckled at the unintentional implied insult in Shandra's words. "I still have my Master robes that were presented to me. You forget that I am still a Jedi Master if not presently affiliated with the Order." He reached inside his duster and pulled out one of his sabers. "Still got these too. Still remember the Jedi Code--no emotion, only peace and all that--so don't worry, I think I can blend in. Though, if I am asked for official ID I will need to present my actual ID unless you have a good forgery available. That will send up an automatic red flag as I am sure I am listed MIA presently. Maybe even dead actually." Val chuckled at the notion. "But if you don't mind a little gentle manipulation I am sure they will not even think to ask for my ID when I have you for them to focus on." He smiled with only a hint of mischief behind the smile. He used his abilities for good but it did occasionally dawn on his how much power he had over other people to cause a ruckus if he chose to--which he never did (unless they were evil and deserved it, but then his mischief was usually aimed toward their arrest).

"Identification won't be a problem. Just send me a picture for the ID and I'll talk to an old friend of my Master. He specializes in false documentation for diplomats who want to travel without making their presence known. He did some work with the Jedi during the War as well. He works fast as I recall; so I will see you bright and early for work in the morning." Shandra said.

She disconnected the comlink and placed another call. The image of an old Ithorian male appeared on the holocall.

"I'm listening. Whadda you want?" The Ithorian said

"Mr. Kanu, I don't know if you remember me...."

" Oh, yeah, of course I remember you. You're Wiln's Padawan, the one with no eyes. It's been a long time since I saw old Wiln. How's he doing?"

"I'm afraid he died some time ago."

"Died? Really? Sorry to hear that. He was a good lifeform, that Wiln Kraylo, a real good lifeform, well for a Jedi at least. But I assume you didn't call to talk about old times. How can I help you?"

" I need some identification for a Jedi Master sent to my quarters tomorrow morning if possible. I'm sending you the information and some credits for the job now."

"Hmm...I see...no problem. This'll be a piece o' cake. I'll send a droid over with 'em first thing in the morning."

"Thank you."

After the image disappeared Shandra took a shower and went to bed early. She and Val were going to spend the next day in another shouting match tactfully called a meeting with Senator Phin and Senator Traska, and she would need all the sleep she could get before entering that warzone.

As Shandra's image disappeared Val chuckled to himself. "Fake IDs no problem? ... I am having a bad influence on this one." Attaining that level of falsified identification was difficult for Val even with his extensive knowledge of underworld workings. That is why Val would usually forgo with ID entirely and just slipped into places unnoticed.

"Actually, probably a good influence," Val mused silently to himself. Jedi were so stuffy and by the book when they were straight out of the academy. A good dose of the real galaxy was needed for most to get them into a more realistic and less idealistic head space. Thought, many Jedi turned out to be too weak to walk the line as Val was so it was the destiny of many Jedi to remain naively idealistic in order to preserve their ability to function as a servant of the Republic. Val did not believe this was the case for Shandra though.

"Hey Jak. Take a head shot of me would you? Matt in a senate standard background to it would you?" Val looked serious for a moment while Jak snapped a picture of him. "Thanks. Send that to Shandra please."

He stretched out as he thought about where he had last stored his Master robes. He would need to dispense with his normal attire and array of weapons and get back to basics--robes and lightsabers. He wandered his storage area for a bit locating his robes, standard issue belt to attach his sabers to instead of his normal harness, boots that did not contain hidden compartments for his two knives and some plain pants.

After locating all the gear he would need Val picked up the saber that Garrit's murderer had left behind. An image flashed through his mind as his powers of technometry showed him an image of the man wielding it, though his face was obscured somehow and he could not make out who it was. He shrugged and placed the saber with the rest of his equipment. If the saber had been wielded by a purely evil user Val would have been able to feel the taint left on it but he did not feel evil, only purpose.

Going through his normal routine before going to sleep Val made sure the ship was locked from the inside and that Jak was plugged. He lay down on his bed in his sleeping quarters aboard his ship. "I wonder what time bright and early is according to a senatorial aid on a city planet that never sleeps..." he murmured to himself. He shrugged. "Whatever time I make it there I guess." And with that he closed his eyes fell into a light sleep.

All in all, it had been a rather satisfying day for the Shadow Knight.  There is something deeply fulfilling about besting your former master.  He had known it intellectually that he had long ago surpassed all his former masters in lightsaber technique.  But knowing it and proving it in a one-on-one contest is a galaxy apart.  It had given him a deep sense of arrival.  He knew he should be above such feelings but he could not deny them.

He supposed some part of him should have hated having to kill Master Bel.  She had been his favorite master in his padawan days.  While he was still a youngling, she had recognized his skill with a lightsaber and had spent extra time teaching him.  When he was ready, she had taken him as her padawan.  That had been quite an honor for him and had set him a bit apart from the rest of his youngling class.  She had treated him as though he were her own child and he had both loved her as a mother and worshipped her as a master. 

When it came time for him to build his first lightsaber, he had been determined to build his with a purple blade, just like hers.  "It will be much harder to tune a purple crystal, young padawan," she had said to him, not unkindly.  "You seem to enjoy choosing the more difficult path".  But she had acquired a purple crystal for him and had patiently coached him on the process.

She had been right, of course.  But he had decided he was going to make the best padawan lightsaber in the Republic!  Rather than just a straight-walled cylinder, he had made the pummel rounded rather than flat.  He had spent a week polishing the plas-steel hilt until it gleamed with a mirror finish.  He had spent nearly a week getting the blade emitter set, angled, tuned and polished so that his blade would be a full meter long – nearly 25% longer than the typical padawan weapon. And tuning and setting the purple crystal had taken all his skill and patience to accomplish.  When he was finished, his lightsaber, though still fairly basic in shape, exhibited fine workmanship and had a deep purple blade hot enough to cut through a half meter of composite armor plating. 

She had been proud of his workmanship and praised him on the final result.  He had even overheard her brag to other masters how well his lightsaber had turned out.   His only regret now was, he had not been able to use that lightsaber to kill the traitor, Master Bel.  It would have been fitting indeed and perhaps a bit of redemption for her to die from her own creation.

Slipping into Master Bel's office had been too easy.  In a building filled to capacity with narcissism, one hardly notices anything in the Senate building unless it adds to or subtracts from their power.  When he slipped inside her office, she had stood quickly, her lightsaber in hand, blade out.  He dropped his stealth and let her see him; really see him in his true form.  He drew his own lightsaber.  Both the blades shone with the same deep purple color.  He waited patiently and watched her eyes.  He saw first fear then curiosity, confusion and finally a wide-eyed gasp of recognition.

"Padawan", she said with the same kindly, parental that sounded as though she were saying, my son.  She looked both fearful and happy at the same time.  "I thought you were dead?"

"The padawan you knew is dead, Master," the Shadow Knight replied.  "He has died and been reborn.  I am now the Shadow Knight.  The Force has charged me with the task of purging the dark side from the ranks of the Jedi."

"What has that to do with me?" Master Bel said with an indignant tone that failed to convince anyone.

"You know the answer to that question," the Shadow Knight replied with flat certainty.  "Master Adira Bel, I sense the dark side in you.  I sentence you to death."  Then he attacked.

He had been looking forward to this contest.  He had hoped for a fight worthy of two masters of the lightsaber.  But in the end, the fight had lasted a mere few seconds.  He had force-leapt across the room.  She parried his first attack and her riposte was at best a half-hearted effort.  She was old, he realized and her skills had lapsed.  He spun around as she began her riposte and parried behind his back.  As his momentum carried him around he brought his blade round in a vicious circle to slash across her torso just below her breasts.  The blade had not gone deep enough to cut her in two though the wound was very deep.  He caught her lightsaber as it slipped from her fingers.  She crumpled to the floor and ended up on her back facing him. 

The look on her face was strangely serene.  Her eyes were fixed on him.  Her green mouth held that kindly shape that passed for a smile for Rodians.  "Padawan," she said in that same, kindly tone.  Then her arm lifted weakly and outstretch in his direction as though she wanted to touch him. "I've missed you," she whispered kindly. Then her arm fell to the floor and she died.

The Shadow Knight turned off both lightsabers and stuffed them under his cloak.   Then without a backwards look, he pulled his hood over his head, cleared his mind and invoked Force Stealth once again.  Then he slipped from the room.  Ten minutes later, he had been outside the the main door of the Senate building.  He quickly assumed is cover identity and blended into the crowd in the plaza outside and ordered lunch. 

Five minutes after that, the fire alarm went off.  He knew one of those Black Sun buffoons had started the fire.  He wasn't surprised.  Sometimes those guys were so amateurish.   

He had even expected the Black Sun to come after Master Bel and attempt to kill her after what happened in the warehouse.  They probably thought Master Bel had been the one to kill their two goons there.  He had even considered letting Black Sun do his dirty work and kill Master Bel for him but instead decided he couldn't risk them bungling the job.  Besides that, he had wanted to face his old master and be the one to end her life. 

Doubtless the Black Sun would still take credit for the kill.  That suited the Shadow Knight juuust fine.

The next morning Shandra stood with Jawa in front of the Senate building waiting for Val.

"Remember what I told you at home, Jawa. I know you and Val got off to a bad start, but he is working with us right now. I would appreciate your cooperation, please. " Shandra said. Just then she sensed a man in Jedi robes walking toward them. She reached out in the Force to speak to the man telepathically.

"Very nice, Val. I barely recognized you. You're name is Gareth Quincy. You have spent the last several years studying in a secluded enclave. Mr. Kanu has had the identity in the database for a number of years waiting for a Jedi, but be careful not to attract too much attention or someone might dig deeper and discover that neither you nor the enclave exist."

Shandra walked forward to greet Val with a warm smile on her face.

"Gareth Quincy, it's been ages since I sensed your presence last. How are you, Old Friend?" As Shandra spoke she took one of Val's hands in both of hers discreetly pressing a small package containing his I.D. into his palm. "Our first order of business will be to moderate a meeting between Senator Phin and Senator Traska. They have been engaged in rather vocal debate on the Senate floor of late and some of their colleagues felt they would benefit from some intervention."

Shandra led Val and Jawa into the Senate building. When they arrived at the conference room the two senators and their aides were already in the room talking to some droids who were handing out their breakfast orders. Bentro Mar picked up two bags and walked over to the group.

"Consular Ivari, I would like to apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was uncalled for. I took the liberty of ordering you and your Padawan some breakfast. I believe Muja muffins and Blumfruit juice are your favorite. "

"Why thank you, it is my favorite breakfast. I haven't had blumfruit juice in quite a while. I usually order Tarine tea, but it will be a nice change." Shandra said. She cautiously took the bags from Bentro's outstretched hands and gave one to Jawa. She still was not very fond of him, but it was best to keep the peace whenever possible.

"Who is this? Another Jedi? I thought there were already quite a few of you here as it is.  I'm afraid no one ordered him anything for breakfast." Bentro said eying Val suspiciously.

"This is Gareth Quincy. He's an old friend of mine from my days as a Padawan. He's come to help me until Master Bel's replacement is appointed." Shandra said

"Really? How interesting. I was not aware that a friend of yours would be joinging us. The two of you must go back a long way I'm sure." Bentro said his brow furrowed pensively.

"If you will excuse me I must get ready for the meeting." Shandra directed Jawa to sit in a chair against the wall and work on his lessons, and then she walked toward the table leaving Val and Bentro standing near the door. She could feel Bentro watching her for a moment as she sat  down, pulled out her data pad, and began eating breakfast.

After the group finished eating the meeting was called to order, if one could call it order. It took several minutes to stop a shouting match that had begun between the two senators. They were now glaring at each other from opposite ends of the table.

"Senator Phin, Senator Traska, this meeting has been called to address your disagreement concerning the Republic's stance regarding the Empire..." Shandra said. Senator Phin cut in before she could finish.

"Stance? What stance? We sit here cowering like Jedi while they control half of the galaxy." He shouted, his breathing shaking the war medals pinned to his chest " Well I say enough is enough. We need to march in there and take back what is ours."

"Really, what kind of senator are you? All you can think about is reliving you glory days in the war." Senator Traska cut in, her lekku twitching "We could have an opportunity to broker a trade agreement with the Empire that would ensure a lasting peace..."

"Bargain with that filth? You stupid Schutta...."

"Enough!" Shandra hissed "Senator Phin, You will kindly address Senator Traska with the respect afforded a fellow diplomat."

"Oh, I'm supposed to take orders from a Jedi, now?" Senator Phin scoffed "It's you lot that got us into this mess in the first place, you and your war with the Sith. Why are you even here?"

"The Jedi promote peace and order in the galaxy, Senator..." Shandra said

"Peace and order? Is that what you call it? You're killing each other now from what I've heard. That Master Bel died from a lightsaber wound from what I've heard." Senator Phin said.

Shandra put her head in her hands for a moment to regain her composure. She opened her mind to the Force and let it flow through her calming her. Suddenly she sensed a vision of the Temple on Coruscant the way it had been before the attack. Her Master was standing in front of her, but he looked translucent and shimmering like a holomessage without a transmitter.

"Beware, Shandra. All is not as it seems." Master Kraylo said.

Val stood up as Shandra put her head down. "If you please senators. I have been brought in as an outside mediator with no previous ties to these discussions. I think everyone here has to accept some basic truths if we are to move forward. First off, the Jedi are protectors so it makes sense that the Empire will target the Jedi first in order to weaken the Republic. Anyone that thinks the Empire will stop their killing and conquering if the Jedi were to disappear over night is a fool or fooling themselves. Secondly, the Sith returned from their exile after an order of genocide was given to the Jedi to hunt down and kill every last Sith and to leave no survivors. Some survived and a thousand years later they have built an empire and are making war against the Jedi because of the orders we were given by the Republic during the Great Hyperspace War (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Hyperspace_War). So lets just say that we are all a bit responsible for what is happening right now and move on to more important topics, shall we?"

Val said all of this in his usual detached monotone, displaying no emotion about what he was saying. However, he was lacing his words with a bit of Force suggestion to try to make people calmer. He would never dare to openly mind trick Senators--senators tended to have strong resistances to tricks like that given their education and training in various fields, plus the fact that it would be obvious to the others that he was controlling them--but a bit of a suggestion attached to his words never hurt.

"The Empire is here to conquer, plain and simple. Allying with them will provide a brief respite that will only serve to allow them to get themselves organized to make a more decisive final strike. Being friends is not an option. Pacification is not a policy that will yield any results other than our inevitable domination. It is time to step up or get out of the way! There are those who are fighting already without the open support of the Republic. Dividing us is the Empire's greatest weapon because they are not divided in purpose. 1000 years of building an Empire with the sole purpose of destroying the Jedi who attempted to commit genocide and the Republic that gave them the orders to commit this act. Everyone who was hunted or did the hunting in those days are now dead but their purposes lives on. The Empire's purpose is to do to us what we attempted to do to them. The Republic is aiming to defend itself as it, always has, even if our methods are somewhat misguided and genocidal at times. I take responsibility for the crimes of my order and it is time for you Senators to take responsibility for the politicians of old that started this conflict through strong arm policies."

Val stopped pacing and looked both Senators in the eye one at a time. "Put aside your personal agendas and do what you know is best for the Republic or step aside and let others make the tough decisions that you cannot."

Usually Val would be focusing attention away from himself to avoid detection but today he was opening his aura up and making sure everyone was squarely focused on him as he lectured these senators. People like them were the reason why he had left the Jedi Order and he was tired of people that were happy to argue amongst themselves while outer rim planets were falling prey to the Empire and billions were dying from war as well as all the other strife that comes along with it--famine, dehydration, exposure, etc.

He sat down and allowed the Senators to absorb what he had just said. They did so in wide eyed silence, not expecting such a forceful outburst from a Jedi. Plus Val's discrete Force suggestion it made for a palpable blow to both Senators and they took a few moments to recover.

Senator Traska seemed to glow with the Jedi's words, feeling empowered by his words. Senator Phin was cowed by Val's speech but still defiant. They both stood in silence for a moment wondering where to go from here.

"Perhaps the children need a recess to think on their responsibilities to the citizens of the Republic before talks resume. Unless there is any argument I will adjourn this meeting for the time being." Val shook his head in open disgust and sat back down beside Shandra. "I prefer the direct approach. Sorry if that only caused you more problems." Val projected into Shandra's mind telepathically.

The room cleared out, a palpable cloud of emotional turmoil following them out as Val sat there with Shandra and Jawa.

"Well, that went well, wouldn't you say? This moderation stuff is easy." Val laughed and smiled, waiting to see what Shandra would do.

Shandra began laughing as she turned to Val.

"Well done, Gareth. Those two have been arguing on the senate floor for months. It got so disruptive that the other Senators called for an intervention." Shandra said, the corners of her mouth turning up in a small grin "If I had known you were this good at diplomatic negotiations I would have called you in to help sooner. Now let's go back to the office and I'll help you get acclimated to Master Bel's files."

Shandra got up and walked toward the door motioning for Val to follow her. Bentro slipped in front of her blocking their path.

"Well done, Jedi, well done." He called to Val over Shandra's shoulder. Then he turned back to Shandra with a condescending smirk on his face. He patted Shandra's shoulder as if he was acknowledging the accomplishments of a child. "Consular Ivari, your friend has a gift for diplomacy. Wherever did you find him? It is quite convenient that he was available to help. However, I must wonder whether it is really necessary to bring another Jedi into our midst. Surely he has better things to do with his time."

Shandra felt through the Force to try to read Bentro. She felt arrogance and suspicion, but he was hard to read. There was something about him that made her ill at ease. She slipped out from under Bentro's hand and backed away from him inadvertently bumping into Val.

"As Gareth said, Mr. Mar, Jedi seek to maintain peace in the galaxy. I do not wish to speak for my colleague, but I would guess that there is nothing he would rather be doing than give our esteemed Senators the message he delivered to them there. Now if you will excuse us, we have a great deal of work to catch up on."

Shandra tried to move past Bentro, but he stood in her path a moment longer studying her and Val.

"Of course, don't let me keep you from your duties." He said sliding to the left to allow Shandra room to walk past him.

Val eyed Bentro Mar as he walked past him, giving him a try it look, not bothering to hide the fact that he didn't like the man.

"That guy is ... slimy. What's his deal?" Val listened to Shandra's description of Bentro, him being a senatorial aid and no one of great importance. "He certainly has taken an interest in you. Seems a bit off." Val shrugged. "Now onto the more useful part of our day. Let's find out who made this saber and what the late Senator was getting herself into."

Shandr took Val straight to Master Bel's office. Once they were inside she motioned for Jawa to take his usual chair in the outer office. She knelt down in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"I know adjusting to your new life hasn't always been easy for you, and I'm very proud of the progress you have made. I've felt the anger you feel toward Val, and I want you to be cautious. It is natural to feel anger at times even though many Jedi overreact about its danger. However, there is still a danger. Uncontrolled anger can not only lead you to the darkside, it can lead you to do things you will regret. Val really is a good man, and he meant well. Someday you'll understand." Shandra hugged her Padawan then walked over to the computer station at her desk.

"Val, I can help you access most of Master Bel's messages from here. She had been receiving a number of locked private message lately that I could not access. You might want to see if you can unlock some of them. She received one the morning of her death that seemed to upset her greatly. Oh, and, bring the Padawan saber here. I'll take a picture of it and send it with an inquiry to the archives. I'll tell them I found it in the Undercity and suspect it was stolen  and sold on the black market."

Jawa was finding all this strange goings on interesting.  He knew Bigger Blasters was sneaking in where he didn't belong.  It made him afraid it would cause something to happen to Lady Jedi.  He didn't want anything to happen to her.   He liked her and liked being with her.

They went into Mean Green's office and he took his usual chair and was about to take out his datapad when Lady Jedi said, "I know adjusting to your new life hasn't always been easy for you, and I'm very proud of the progress you have made. I've felt the anger you feel toward Val, and I want you to be cautious. It is natural to feel anger at times even though many Jedi overreact about its danger. However, there is still a danger. Uncontrolled anger can not only lead you to the darkside, it can lead you to do things you will regret. Val really is a good man, and he meant well. Someday you'll understand."

"Grownups like him have taken things from me all my life," Jawa replied.  "They'd take my food or a warm cloak I found or someone gave me, or even some credits a kind person gave me, " he continued with tears threatening to well up in his eyes.  "I found that lightsaber and you said I could have it.  He shouldn't have taken it from me like that.  It's NOT FAIR!" 

After she showed Val Master Bel's messages Shandra walked back over to Jawa. She sat down beside him and pulled him into her arms.

"Shhhh. I know it doesn't seem fair. You have seen and experienced a great many terrible things in your life, more than any youngling should have to endure, but you need to understand that this is different. Those adults took from you because they were selfish cowards who preyed upon the weak. Val took the lightsaber because he knew you had not trained to use it and he did not want you to hurt yourself. He and I did not agree on the matter, but there was never any doubt in my mind that he had your best interest at heart. Honestly, it turns out he was right to take the saber. The lightsaber was most likely the weapon used to kill Garrit; so if Val hadn't taken it the police would have needed to take it eventually anyway. Some day soon I'll take you to Tython and teach you to make your own lightsaber. Just remember that you are safe now. You don't have to worry about people stealing from you anymore."

The Shadow Knight moved effortlessly through a complex series of lightsaber forms.  His movements were slow and deliberate.   His hands and feet moved silently and precisely and his balance was almost unnatural as he moved through the predetermined stances, attacks, parries and ripostes of the lightsaber forms.  He knew he executed every move of the forms to complete perfection.  His mind was in a meditative state and his thoughts seemed to flow of their own accord as he moved. 

He finished his forms and turned off his lightsaber.  His well muscled bare torso gleamed from the light film of sweat.  He stood still and erect and concentrated on slow, steady breathing and slowly raised his arms straight out to the side of his body, palms up, until they were perfectly level with the floor.  He held the pose for 10 full minutes while breathing slowly and steadily.   Then he slowly lowered his arms back to his side then he slowly and gracefully knelt on the floor with his hands casually placed on his bare thighs.  He was now perfectly relaxed and in tune with the Force.

He was pondering two problems.  The first was Shandra.  He had known Shandra many, many years ago though he doubted she would even remember him.  They had been in the same youngling class at the Jedi Academy.  Even at that young age she had been breathtakingly beautiful.  His heart had burned for her though he had been told many times that Jedi could not love and could not have families.  If Shandra had been aware of his infatuation, she had never given any sign.   She had always been nice and polite to him though at the same time always aloof.  But Shandra had kept an emotional distance from all the other younglings in the class, except Garrit and other girl, Layla.  They alone, she actually befriended.  He never understood what she saw in Garrit.  His lightsaber technique had been the worst in the class.  And that Layla girl could barely spell Force. 

Seeing her had almost instantly awakened feelings in him that had long ago left him.  She made him feel love and anger and hatred.  The love was for her.  The anger and hatred were for her and Garrit.   And feeling those feelings now made him even angrier at her but even angrier with himself.  It took all of  his skill and training to clear his mind and get back to that calm, relaxed state that allowed him to be one with the Force.

But the real trouble was that suddenly she seemed to pop up everywhere the dark side traitors were.  She was there when he killed Garrit and then again when Master Bel took her last breath.   Shandra must be involved, he reasoned.  Why else would she turn up as she did.  It was hard to believe though.  Everything he ever knew about her seemed to make her the last Jedi anyone would ever believe could turn to the dark side. She had been the perfect Jedi.  Her emotions were always even, level and calm.   She was always kind but in a non-emotional way.   It was unthinkable... yet...  time and time again, when he took out a traitor, she had been right there.  If only she didn't cloud his feelings so.  He couldn't get a read on her.  It was frustrating!! 

He felt his heart beat increasing.  He attempted to clear his mind of her but her perfect lips appeared in his mind's eye.  They were moving steadily to his own...   STOP!!

His anger started to flare for just a second before he clamped down hard on it.  He stood with his lightsaber in hand and spent the next 15 minutes executing the most demanding and complex lightsaber forms he knew.  When he turned his lightsaber off again, he was once again calm.

His second problem was Senator Traska.  He had started to feel the dark side in her some time ago though he could not have said exactly when or what it was.  She was considered to be one of the most devoted Senators to the Republic.  She was well liked by everyone.  As far as anyone knew, she never had an unkind word to say about anyone.  She lived a relatively austere life for a Senator.  She rarely missed a session of the senate nor especially a vote on even the most trivial issue.  She appeared to be a model senator.  But he, the Shadow Knight, knew differently.

He had pulled out all the stops – even risking exposing himself – to find actual proof of her treachery.  But he could find none.  Once he had seen her with a package that she had tried to hide as she slipped into her office.  It had taken all his skill to spy on her to determine where she hid it in her office.  He had slipped in her office a few days later and carefully opened the package.  Inside it had been only a child's doll.  He couldn't believe it!!  He had almost destroyed the doll in a fit of rage, though he managed to place the doll back in the package exactly as it had been so there was no evidence it had been found.  He even made sure every wrinkle of the dress and every lock of hair was exactly the way it was before he found it.  She MUST have known he had seen her hide the package and exchanged whatever she had hidden for that doll!!  He couldn't be wrong about her!  HE COULDN"T!!!

He had hoped to find a solid connection between Senator Traska and Senator Bel but he couldn't find that either.  By all accounts, the two senators despised each other.  But twice he had seen the two of them look at each other so he knew that there was something there.  It had to be a cover.   Traska was a clever one, to be sure.  But NOT clever enough by half!

Just last week, Senator Traska had eaten lunch at the same small café as Garrit.  He had watched them for nearly an hour but he never saw then even look at each other.  Traska had gone to the privy shortly before she left and he had even searched the privy afterwards to look for a drop but found nothing.  Somehow, they had passed information, he just knew it.  But he couldn't figure out how.  It was driving him crazy!! 

He stood up and walked over to a small cabinet mounted on the wall.  He pressed his palm to a pad located on the side and the doors of the cabinet quietly opened.  Inside were his trophies from his kills.  One of his first trophies was a lightsaber that had belongs to Shandra's former master.   Master Kraylo.  It was a double-bladed lightsaber with a Pazzaak card design chemically etched into the hilt to have vibrant colors.  Wiln Kraylo was a disgrace of a master.  For all his charm and flamboyant ways, he had died pretty quickly.  He also had Garrik's lightsaber along with several blasters from Black Sun members who no longer had need of them.  There were seven other lightsabers that had come from seven Sith who had the misfortune to face the Shadow Knight.  There would soon be a few more trophies to add.

He closed the cabinet and pressed firmly to be sure it was locked and returned to his pondering.  He could not be wrong about Traska!  He could NOT!!  He is the Shadow Knight.  It is his DUTY to kill Senator Traska!  He disliked killing her with out solid proof, but sometimes you just had to go with your feelings!  He had to do it!  She was a traitor!  Soon!

And if Shandra was involved with the dark side, she would die too along with her pet street rat and that absurd, make-believe Jedi she's been hanging out with lately.  He is the Shadow Knight!

Shandra held Jawa for a few moments until the youngling seemed to have calmed down. Then she handed him his datapad and walked over to help Val. When she got to the computer terminal she noticed the time. The Senate was going to convene for a vote in a few minutes, and she knew Master Bel had been scheduled to sit in on this session.

"Val,I have to go sit in on a brief Senate session. They're voting on a minor policy change, and Master Bel had been working with them on the issue. I'll be expected to take her place you can keep working if you would like to. Anyone who sees you will think that you're just getting caught up on the issues Master Bel and I had been working on." Shandra picked up her datapad and turned to Jawa on her way out the door. "Please be good for Val and work on your assignments. I'll pick up some lunch for us on the way back."

Shandra slipped into one of the seating boxes in the Senate chamber as roll was being called. Shortly after she sat down, Bentro Mar entered the box and sat down beside her.

"Have you seen Senator Traska?" Bentro asked "It's not like her to be late for a Senate meeting."

"No, I have not spoken with her since this morning." Shandra noticed that Senator Phin was also absent when his name was called. That was very odd indeed.

Regardless of the two absences there were enough Senators present to complete the vote. The issue at hand involved changing a few lines in some of the minor diplomatic procedures which few people payed much heed to in the first place. Thus, a majority vote was reached in a surprisingly short time with the usual pre-vote arguments replaced by grumbling that such a minor change should not require wasting their time on a vote.

Shandra was contemplating the joys bureaucracy as she left the Senate chamber. She pulled out her comlink out of her pocket.

"Jawa, I'm going to get lunch from the Blue Bageraset. What do you and Val want for lunch?"

When she walked out into the corridor she felt a hand on her arm stopping her from progressing. She sensed Bentro beside her.

"Consular Ivari, I was wondering if you would care to have lunch with me in the dining area. I would like to discuss some of the current issues on Senator Traska's agenda with you." Bentro began leading Shandra toward the dining area. She pulled her arm back breaking his grasp.

"Forgive me, Mr. Mar, but I do not have time to stop for lunch at the moment. I am going to help Garrit catch up on the issues that Master Bel had been working on." Shandra quickly walked toward the nearest exit.

As she walked a few blocks to her favorite Corellian restaurant Shandra wondered why Bentro had been acting so strangely. He had always been a bit odd, but recently something seemed to be amiss. She walked up to the counter and gave her order to a flustered Rodian girl.

The dining room was full of assorted lifeforms on their lunch breaks. Shandra casually swept the room in the Force as she waited for her food. Much to her surprise she sensed Senator Phin and Senator Traska sitting at a corner table. They were talking very quietly and looking around occasionally to make sure no one was watching them. They both seemed to be very concerned with the infomation on a data pad Senator Traska was holding. Shandra felt through the Force to sense their emotions. They were both scared and confused.

Senator Phin's comlink chimed. He spoke into it a few moments then got up and took Senator Traska's hand to lead her out of the restaurant. Shandra left the restaurant and cautiously followed the two senators. Much to her surprise they boarded a speeder bus to the undercity. Shandra sat several rows behind them trying to blend in with her surroundings.

Once again she cursed herself for venturing into the undercity without changing out of her Consular robes. When the bus stopped she followed the two senators a short distance to an abandoned building. She was about to slip into the building when a large Twi'lek stepped in front of her.

"What the frack is a Jedi doing down here?" He asked

Shandra tried to walke around him, but he moved to the side to block her path.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Schutta. I don't think you belong here, and I think someone needs to teach you to stay where you belong." The Twi'lek grabbed Shandra's arms and began dragging her into an alley. She reached out in the Force and grabbed an old pipe lying on the walkway nearby. She pulled the pipe toward her rapidly and directed it to collide with the Twi'lek's head. Shandra stepped over the unconscious Twi'lek and proceeded to enter the building.

Inside Shandra found the bodies of the tow senators lying next to each other. She stifled a scream and knelt down to examine the bodies. They both had lightsaber wounds. She also noticed that Senator Traska's headband and one of Senator Phin's war medals were missing. It was quite disturbing. She picked up a datapad beside Senator Traska's hand. It displayed a short, anonymous message asking her to meet someone at the Blue Bageraset to hear some interesting information about her.

The whole scene seemed oddly similar to Garrit's death...an abandoned building, a lightsaber wound, items removed from the body. Shandra was lost in thought when she heard a noise behind he. She  turned around to see Master Brin standing over her with a scowl on his face.

"So we meet again under unpleasant circumstances, Consular Ivari."

"What happened here?" She asked

"I could ask you the same question. I'll be watching you." With that Master Brin disappeared under a Force cloak.

Shandra pulled out her comlink to call the authorities. She realized she could not explain her presence in the undercity this time; so she tried to disguise her voice and pretended to be an innocent passerby. Then she ranback to the bus stop. When the bus arrived at the Senate District she nearly ran back to the Senate building.

Shandra was nearly out of breath when she arrived in Master Bel's office. She fell into one of the chairs in the outer office and sat with her head in her hands struggling to catch her breath.

"Senator Phin and Senator Traska are dead, and Master Brin was at the crime scene." She gasped between breaths.

While Shandra was gone Val had successfully sliced into Master Bel's passworded files with the help of his droid Jak. Jak bleeped proudly at how quickly he had gotten into the files as the encryption was not all that difficult.

Apparently Master Bel had been dealing with the Black Sun organization. There was also a message warning Master Bel to call off her "jedi dog" that was poking his nose where it didn't belong. Since Val only knew of one Jedi death lately he assumed that this particular Jedi dog was Garrit and that he had been trying to get information on the Black Sun and not actually working for them, which is why he ended up dead. That didn't explain why he had died from a lightsaber instead of a blaster though since Val was sure the Black Sun doesn't have any Sith working for them unless they were paying back a favour.

So that left identifying the owner of the murder weapon which would tie all this together. The crystal was not synthetic as well as the design was of Jedi origin so it implied it was not made by a Sith. Perhaps stolen and used by another but that would have left dark side taint on it which Val's technometry would have picked up on. It was a confusing problem to think that Master Bel had been killed by a person with no taint but merely purpose driving them. That type of behaviour would imply a delusional person that believed killing was truly the right thing to do--some sort of vigilante killing Master Bel because she was dealing with the Black Sun.

"I guess we need to wait for Shandra to come back. I would imagine my Jedi clearance has been disabled by now." Jak bleeped in reply. "Senate meetings usually take a while. Get comfortable buddy."

Val moved to a seat by Jawa who was ignoring him for the most part. He shrugged, not really caring, and sat down. Jak rolled over in front of Val and he put his feet up on one of Jak's "shoulders" and put his head back.


Val felt Shandra approaching the room as she burst through the door.

"Senator Phin and Senator Traska are dead, and Master Brin was at the crime scene." She gasped between breaths.

"The two bickering senators are dead? Hmmm. It looks like we are going to need to have a word with Master Brin. Catch your breath while I look this saber up in the archives. I need your clearance to do so which is why I waited. While you were gone Jak here decrypted Senator Bel's passworded messages. Turns out she was dealing with the Black Sun organization and Garrit probably died trying to figure out which Senator was corrupt and dealing with them. I would imagine whomever owns this saber is connected to the murders but is delusional and believes that what they are doing is the right and just thing to do."

Val allowed Shandra to punch in her Jedi access codes to bring up the archives. As she sat back down Val scanned in the dimensions of the saber and set the computer looking for a match.

"This killer is pretty slippery if he or she is able to kill two senators without anyone seeing a thing. Sounds a little bit like me actually ... but eviler ... ya know." Val shrugged his own unintentional implication that he himself was a vigilante.

After a while the computer came back with several sabers that matched roughly the dimensions of the saber Val had in his possession. He sorted through the sabers and found the exact match. "Looks like this saber was originally built by a Padawan by the name of Arlo Wen. Says here he died on Coruscant during the sacking." Val exhaled, wondering where this new information would lead him.

Shandra felt a mixture of relief and confusion. She had hoped that Garrit hadn't been working for the Black Sun, but she was shocked to learn the information about Master Bel. And Arlo's saber... It was strange that so many shadows from her past kept springing up.

"Arlo Wen...he was in my initiate clan. That does make sense. He was the Padawan I referred to earlier, the only one I knew who had a purple Padwan saber. Looters must have stolen it from the Temple ruins. It's a shame. He worked on it for weeks. It took a level of skill some masters never achieve, but then his lightsaber skills always were exquisite. Master Bel taught advanced lightsaber combat to the initiates, and Arlo was so gifted that she chose him to be her Padawan. " Shandra picked up the saber and studied it for a moment. She turned it on and began to execute a few advanced  lightsaber techniques. Then she deativated it and set it on the desk with a sigh.

"It's a shame to see such a lovely instrument used by criminals. I know we've had this discussion before, but I have begun training Jawa with a practice saber. I would like to take Arlo's saber and save it for him until he has practiced enough to prove he can use it. It would better honor his achievements to have a youngling use it to practice the art he loved than to leave it in a closet somewhere." Shandra paused to let Val consider the request. In the mean time she walked over to Jak and handed him the datapad." Jak, would you decrypt the messages on this datapad, please?"

The droid began whirring and beeping, and a few moments later he chimed for her to come look. She took the datapad, patted the little droid on the head, and showed the information to Val.

"The datapad contains a series of messages between Senator Phin, Senator Traska, and an anonymous third party over the past few days. Apparently our two senators were romantically involved during the war. I wonder why they would fight so bitterly, though? Anyway,  during the war Senator Phin was a trooper and Senator Traska was a Senatorial aide. Apparently they were both involved in an operation to smuggle black market supplies during the war. If their involvement in this was made public it would have ruined them." Shandra set the data pad down and began searching for information. "Master Brin has shown up at the scenes of two murders in a row. Something just seems wrong about him. I think he may be our murderer. Also, I can't quite get out of my mind Garrit's last words. He said something about a rising Phoenix. I want to see if I can find anything about that."

Val listened respectfully to Shandra's request but shook his head no again. "Every Jedi must construct their own first saber. It is part of the trials and a tradition that should not be discarded lightly. It will be returned to the Order on Tython and they can choose to either store it or disassemble it." Val looked down at Jawa. "Sorry kid but this is how you become a Jedi like Shandra and myself. I made my own sabers and so did she. You will too one day if you make it through all the trials."

Val waited as Jak and Shandra decrypted some messages and listened to Shandra's explanation of their content. "The one thing that confuses me is that if this saber was used by looters or criminals to kill Garrit and the two senators, there would be some sort of evil taint left on it but I sense nothing. My Force sense is limited compared to yours Shandra but I have a knack for picking up clues and impressions from objects and I could usually sense evil on an instrument of murder." Val shrugged his shoulders in confusion. "I do agree that Master Brin seems suspect though given his proximity to the murders and his general attitude toward you. He is probably a good place to start looking."

Val extended his hand toward Shandra and her personal datapad. "May I see the information you collected?" Val took the datapad and sat down beside Jak, reviewing its content. "Jak, make a copy of all of this to your memory just in case." Val waited for Shandra to be distracted talking to Jawa and then added "And install a tracking program so we can keep a tab on her location." While Jak was installing the tracking program Val withdrew a tiny disc from one of his pouches and used the Force to float it around behind Jawa and attach it to the arch of one of his new boots so he could find him if he went missing as well. Feeling secure that he had his bases covered before venturing out to find a murderer with others along for the ride, Val stood and readied himself to leave.

After Jak had disconnected from the datapad he handed it back to Shandra. "Thank you. Best to have copies of important information. Shall we off and find the slippery Master Brin and see what he has to say for himself?"

The Shadow Knight pressed his hand against the panel on the side of the cabinet and the door whisked open.  From the pocket of his cloak, he removed two objects.  The first was a twi'lek head band.  It was feminine and ornate.  It was burnished red bantha hide amd had several blue crystals set in it in a star pattern.  Just the sort of head band a twi'lek senator might wear.  In fact, it had been adorning the head of Senator Traska just under an hour ago. 

The second item was a military metal awarded to one Captain Phin, not Senator Phin.  He recognized it as the Republic Medal of Valor.  It was the highest honor bestowed on a Republic starship officer.  The Shadow Knight would have to find out what Phin had done to earn it.  He carefully positioned a couple of magna-hooks onto the back of the cabinet and spent several minutes getting them exactly aligned and centered with the other hooks.  Then he hung each of the two trophies on the hooks.  He admired his growing collection for a few minutes then closed the cabinet.

The Shadow Knight's efforts to find Traska's corruption had finally paid off.  He'd gotten a lead from an acquaintance that lead him to information about some black market dealings Traska had been involved in during the war.  The information had also implicated Senator Phin.  He had sent a message to Traska using an anonymous account telling her to meet him at an abandoned building in the lower city and to bring Phin with her.  The rest had been all too easy.

He Force Stealthed into the abandoned building and waited.  When the two Senators walked in, he executed the Flying Long Slash form on them against their unprotected backs.  With their torsos nearly cut in half, they were dead within seconds of hitting the ground.  As he reached for Traska's headband to remove it from her limp figure, he sensed Shandra's presence entering the building.  He had barely removed Phin's medal and shifted into Force Stealth when she walked into the room. 

Why had she been there – again!  Surely she must be involved in the dark-side plots!  But how?  Why?

"I'll be watching you," he had said.  Indeed.  I'll be watching YOU!

Shandra stood up and walked over to Jawa. She handed him his training lightsaber and a belt with a loop to hold it.

"I got a belt for your training saber. You should practice carrying it so you can get used to the weight of it until you make a lightsaber of your own. Be careful with it. It can't cut as well as a real lightsaber, but it can still hurt someone. I would rather you stay in the office, but if you come with us you need to do exactly as we say. This could be quite dangerous.  I want you to promise me that if I tell you to leave you will run to safety and alert the authorities as  quickly as you can." Shandra and Jawa followed Val to the door.

Val let Jawa wander out into the outer office alone for a moment and turned to Shandra. "I will probably not be able to get this to Tython and you are far more likely to go there given that your new Padawan must go there at some point so could you please make sure the Order receives this and you explain the story behind it once this is all wrapped up and dealt with?" Val handed Shandra Arlo Wen's padawan lightsaber.

"If we are going to hunt a murderer I need to go gear up and get out of these stupid robes. I will meet you at your speeder in a bit. I need to return to my ship and drop Jak off as well. He usually runs intel for me from my ship and that is where I feel comfortable having him if I am out looking for a murderer."

Val bowed to Shandra and left the late Senator's office, making his way to a speeder but to the dock that his ship was currently housed in. Coruscant is huge but travel has been made quite quick, for those on the top tiers at least. He returned to his ship and changed into his normal attire and put his duster on, a wide brimmed hat, and bringing his usual array of weaponry. "Jack in Jak. I will be in contact with you throughout. Keep an eye on my locator and make sure to keep tabs on Shandra and Jawa as well. Let me know if they wander off or are captured."

Val boarded a speeder to meet back up with Shandra.

Shandra took the lightsaber from Val and slipped it into the pocket of her robes.

"I should change as well. This investigation may take us to areas where Jedi are not welcome." Shandra said.

Shandra set the computer to forward search results about Master Brin and Phoenix rising to her datapad and led Jawa home. On the way she stopped in at a shop to purchase a simple dress and a cloak. She bought a cloak for Jawa as well to hide his lightsaber belt.

When they returned to their apartment Shandra slipped the hilt of the padawan saber into a desk drawer and went into the bedroom to change.

After she finished changing Shandra and Jawa left the apartment to meet with Val.

On the way to meeting up with Val Gith, Shandra's computer ran a full Holonet search on any words connecting Jedi Master Brin and the words 'phoenix' and 'rising'. A complete Holonet scan would normally take hours given the amount of information that existed across the virtual expanse. That is why it could possibly be a shock to the Consular that her datapad would blip and contain a search result from her computer back at her apartment.

Upon opening the message she would see what her computer found:


The search result was heavily encrypted, including the title, to the the point where she would have to use some serious decryption droids and programs to break the code. Below the gibberish of the title was a short document that was also encrypted to the same degree as the headline. It was not much, but it showed that she was definitely on to something. Just what that something could be was still anyone's guess at the moment.


"Did you send the information as ordered?"

"Yes, Se- sir. The searching party should be receiving the results any moment now. I still don't think t-"

"You are not paid to think, Sergeant. You are paid to do. I will handle this the appropriate way."

The dark room where the conversation was being held got even darker as the two men shut down the terminals that they were working on. Both of them exited out of the same door, leaving a small blinking red light as the only source of illumination. If anyone could examine the crimson light up close they would see it was actually tracking a percentage of something. The number was at 27% and steadily rising.

As she approached the meeting place in a courtyard near the senate building she heard a chime on her datapad alerting her to a search term result.

"That was fast. I have a result from my search already." She said as she approached Val. " It's heavily encrypted, though. I can't read any of it. If you don't mind, I'll send Jak the file and see if he can decrypt it."

The Shadow Knight was Force Cloaked and nearly a block away from Shandra as she stood by her speeder talking to her street rat.  She seemed to be asking him questions and he was answering them.  He must have given her the right answers because she reached out and tousled his hair affectionately.  An hour ago he had placed a tracker on her speeder and tested the receiver.  It was working flawlessly.   He would know everywhere she went on Coruscant.  She seemed to be waiting on someone – probably that fake jedi scum-sucker she had been hanging out with.

I am SO sick of Bentro Mar, the Shadow Knight said to himself as he watched her.  He's a slimy rakghoul but his placement in the senate has made him invaluable.  He played his roll to ferret out Bel, Traska and Phin.  Thus far he has helped ferret out Shandra and her treachery as well.  But he had outlived his usefulness.  He was starting to become a liability.  Destroying him without raising suspicion will be a challenge and a pleasure!! 

He focused again on Shandra.  She was reading a datapad and he could see a look of intense concentration on her pretty face.  It was startling how well she could "see" without any eyes.   The mask she wore gave her a mysterious look that accentuated her beauty.  And her shy, unassuming personality made her so adorable.  But he knew beneath that beauty and shyness was a strong, determined woman.  Why did she have to turn to evil, he signed.  Such a waste!

Seeing the look of concentration on her face brought back memories of long ago when they were younglings and his name had been Arlo.  She had been so beautiful that his heart had burned for her.  But that was so long ago that the memories didn't seem real.  They were more like a half-forgotten story from one's childhood.

Arlo Wen is dead he thought.  He had died during the war when the Sith sacked Coruscant.  He had been inside the Jedi Temple when it had been destroyed.  Arlo Wen died then.  But the Shadows had found him and the Shadow Knight had been born from the ashes of Arlo.  The Phoenix Rising.   They had found him and took him away.  They had returned life to his body.  When he was whole again, they trained him like no Jedi has ever been trained.  They taught him not to fight, but to kill – there is a difference!  They taught him stealth.  They taught him to blend in to any surroundings.  They taught him to disguise his appearance in subtle but very effective ways.  They taught him thousands of ways to kill. They turn him into an assassin.

The Shadow Knight glanced down on his own datapad at the words that appeared there.  They were a mirror image of what Shandra was seeing.  "Bentro Mar" had placed a tracer on her datapad a few days ago and he had been spying on her ever since.  He chuckled to himself when he saw the words.  He had no trouble imagining what Shandra would think of them she saw them.  He knew they were meaningless to her.  But they had definite meaning to him.  He could probably guess exactly who had sent them.  He knew exactly why they had been sent. 

The fake Jedi showed up and they all piled into Shandra's speeder and took off.  But the Shadow Knight did not follow them.  First, "Bentro Mar" must die.  But unlike the others, Bentro must not look like a murder.  A murder would mean a very thorough investigation.  Such an investigation would reveal things that the Shadow Knight did not want discovered.  Things that might lead them back to him. So...

The Shadow Knight started his swoop bike and sped off towards Bentro's apartment building.

An hour later, the Shadow Knight dumped the body into Bentro's speeder and hissed the door closed with the wave of his hand.  The term "body" wasn't technically correct as the man inside the speeder was not dead.  At least he was not dead yet though he would be in just a few seconds.  The Shadow Knight stood outside the speeder and cleared his mind for a few seconds.  Then, using the Force, the Shadow Knight, started the speeder and flew out of the parking garage and into the traffic of Coruscant's busy airways.  A few seconds later, the Shadow Knight guided the speeder directly into the path of a large shuttle.  The shuttle slammed full speed into the side of the speeder.  The speeder simultaneously disintegrated and burst into flames.  The pieces of the speeder fell the nearly three kilometers to the walkways of the city.   He smiled with satisfaction of a job well done.  Bentro was dead.  Mission accomplished!

Now it was time to deal with Shandra and her poodoo friends.  He knew exactly where she was going though she would be following a more circuitous route.  He had to get there before her to prepare...  He smiled.

As she climbed into the speeder Shandra's datapad chimed. She looked down and saw a message from Jak. She sent back a quick thank you message and showed the datapad to Val.

"That little droid is wonderful. Look what he found out."

Val looked at Shandra curiously. "Was Jak able to make sense of those encrypted messages? He is pretty good at that sort of stuff." Val smiled knowingly of his droid's abilities.

"So... how do you want to deal with this situation if Master Brin is in fact the killer? He has already bested a few Jedi and I am not the best duelist. I prefer to strike from stealth. Some call it cheap, I call it effective." Val shrugged, not caring about the Jedi's typical straight up "honourable" approach to combat. "If he does need to be subdued arrested and proves too much for us do we retreat or go for the kill?" Val absentmindedly checked all his equipment and weapons as the speeder moved and he talked to Shandra, habit by now.

Shandra started up the speeder and steered it into the air. She turned in the direction of Master Brin's quarters from the intel she had received.

"I'm not sure. I was fairly good at lightsaber training when I was an initiate and a Padawan, but I don't really have any combat experience. Most of my knowledge is with training drills and dueling contests. I would usually say retreat if we get the chance, but we may need to kill him if we are certain he's the murderer. It may be the only way to save more lives. Let's at least see if Master Brin will talk to us first."

Shandra landed in front of a rundown housing complex in the mid levels of the city. She exited the speeder and took Jawa's hand.

"Stay close, Little One. I don't think this area is terribly safe."

Music was and drunken chatter drifted from the window of a nearby Cantina. Shandra sidestepped a spray of broken glass from an alcohol bottle that carpeted a part of the walkway in front of the building. She walked through the hallway of the apartment building clutching Jawa's hand. A Gotal was passed out in the hallway near one of the doors. She could hear a loud argument coming from another.

Finally, Shandra got to Master Brin's room. She rang the door chime and waited for a few seconds. When there was no answer she noticed that the door was not locked. Shandra slipped into the room pulling Jawa in behind her. She stifled a scream when she saw Master Brin lying on the floor. Shandra let go of Jawa's hand and ran over to kneel beside him.

"What happened? I'll call a doctor..." Shandra reached for her comlin, but Master Brin grabbed her hand to stop her.

"No...it's too late...listen...not much time" He whispered "Arlo...Arlo Wen...left The Organization....He's gone rogue....He..." Master Brin's voice trailed off as his life force left his body to join the Force.

Shandra stood up staring at the body in shock. Arlo was alive? Did that mean he was the killer? Where was he now? She remembered the information on her datapad. Slowly the puzzle pieces clicked into place in her mind. A secret organization...identity changes....her favorite brealfast when she was an initiate...how did he know?

"Val, I know who did this." Shandra said. Suddenly she could feel a Force cloak envelop her as someone's hand clamped over her mouth and an arm grabbed her around the waist. She screamed and struggled against her attacker. A familiar voice whispered in her ear. She felt an injection pierce her hip and her senses faded.

Val Gith would receive a message via his personal datapad. A wall of scrolling text consisting of what seemed to be a hastily encrypted message. After the text finished scrolling, his normal protection on the device would decode the message and display information regarding Shandra's investigation.