[SW-TOR] Shadows of the Republic [Please send a PM if you would like to join]

[Gith]

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. 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.

[Catri]

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.

[Gith]

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."

[Catri]

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."

[Aerion Istari]

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!" 

[Catri]

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."

[Aerion Istari]

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!

[Catri]

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.

[Gith]

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.

[Catri]

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."

[Gith]

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?"

[Aerion Istari]

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!

[Catri]

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.

[Gith]

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.

[Catri]

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.

[Tys]

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:

P)oe[Kx I2itiaCXv1

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.

[Catri]

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."

[Aerion Istari]

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.

[Catri]

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."

[Gith]

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.