USH'S STAR WARS GAME- CAMPAIGN II EPISODE IV (JEDI)- Purity

(OOPS! I forgot he was still cleaning up on Spiridos. Drat, I even looked back through the thread for my info, but messed that one up.)

Andro ignores Travers, for now. "Gallagher, calm down! You're starting to sound like Seinar. Don't you see what he's done to you? You've completely bought in to the utter success of his plan. We havent. He's defeated us here yes. Like I just pointed out, his plan included destroying the two of you, and neither has happened, yet.

And I'm not defending my shortcomings, I'm laying them out. Yes, I have failed at every step since I set foot on this planet. I've failed. Jedi have failed before. It's not a proud thing, but the Order are not to be ashamed of it either. We're mortal beings like everyone else. But we are Jedi. We have a code, and a responsibility to that code. I learned it the hard way on this trip, now you can too; you're certainly smarter than I am. You can't throw your ideal, your honor, your life away just to prevent someone like him from winning. Your killing him will be almost as bad for our case as my killing Seinar would have been.

We need him. We need you. Seinar has won the day, we didn't stop his plan from starting. But it's not done yet. We can show the galaxy who Seinar really was, lay bare this whole twisted mess. Let the people know, make them see what is going on, just like Travers threatens; but turn it to a good use. It will be very difficult, it will take time, people will starve and many will die. We can't help everyone, I know that. Seiner will at least have a partial victory, and we will all have to live with our failure to prevent that. But his victory does not have to be complete, and if we do nothing more to reverse his damage, we will have to live with THAT too."

"No, Andro, no," says Gakllagher, his eyes still closed. He shakes his head. "I told you what I saw, back on Spiridos. If Sienar dies, all those people die. But Sienar was already dying, wasn't he? I wasn't being shown what to change. I was being shown the way it had to be. It's only in trying to change it that you will doom yourself. In as much as a man like him can win at all... Sienar has won completely."

"Give me my case back," says Tavers. "I might just not prosecute all of you for assault."

Ignoring Travers once again, Andro replies "Well if it was all meant to be, then why bother to stop it, and why seek revenge? What does any of it matter? Yes, Seinar won, and he died happy. Probably the happiest I have ever seen anyone be at death. He died happier than a Wookie on Life Day. That doesn't mean we have to just stand by and watch the Galaxy go to hell, or go there with it."

"Standing by and watch is all we can do. Now answer the lawyer before he makes your life worse."

Jelena will throw the case the Tavers wordlessly, having nothing at all to say to the lawyer.

"You're right, Gallagher," Jelena says, putting her lightsaber back on her belt. "I'm so sorry. For all of this."

Andro finally acknowledges the lawyer. "There's your case, now would you stop babbling and let us work? You can't prosecte all of us for assault, because none of us have threatened you. Furthermore, we're trying to stop Gallagher from removing your head. So if you don't mind..."

Andro returns his attention to Gallagher. "Now, if all there is to do is stand by, if nothing we can do will help anything, why kill the lawyer? If nothing we do can make a difference, then all you'd be doing is throwing your own life away. Why? If your sister's death was self defence, I can understand that from you. So why commit a meaningless murder now?"

"You just killed the Archimandrite, Jedi. No-one will believe a word you say about what happened on this roof. They'll believe me, though. I can prosecute whoever I like. Maybe I'll do you for the lip you are giving me now."

"Stop wasting everyone's time, Andro," says Gallagher.

"You know, for someone who was acting as if they didn't want to die a few minutes ago, you're really making a good case against Gallagher letting you live right now... Shut. Up."

Andro takes a breath, he's beginning to get tired of all this circular arguing. Perhaps his wound is getting to him, but what little focus he had is leaving him.

"Fine, Gallagher. Let's waste no more time. We have no warrant for your arrest. Our mission, such as it was, is done here. I'm sure Roan will want us to be going soon. Are you coming with us?"

"If not, I'll have to ask you again what your intentions are regarding our lawyer friend here." He rests his hand near his saber, but doesn't draw it. He wants to show his intent, but is trying not to make it a direct challenge. "Because as Jedi, we would be forced to protect him."

"Gallagher, please come with us. It doesn't have to end this way for you."

(So as far as the lawyer is concerned: I'm still very fuzzy on Due Process in the Star Wars universe. Would we have any grounds to take the lawyer in as an accomplice to Seinar? We can do nothing against an individual without a warrant regardless of our own knowledge of their crimes? I should have asked earlier, I had wanted to make that point to Gallagher if it is valid.)

You don't have any knowledge that the lawyer has committed a crime at all so that's pretty irrelevant.

"Don't you tell me to shut up, you oaf of a man. Shut up or what? What are you going to do about it?"

Gallagher says nothing to you, Andro. He's waiting to see what you do with the lawyer.

(The phrase 'kill all the lawyers' has been running through my head all week.)
Then is his Andro (thanks Ush). This whole argument can be turned back at Gallagher, possibly.
"Gallagher, let me ask you this. You were upset earlier about assumptions of guilt. How do you know Tavers has done anything wrong? Perhaps whatever his interactions with Seinar have been completely within the bounds of the law. Has he confessed to you, or are you, too assuming his guilt? Perhaps Seinar may have told you things, as Ithrorn told me things. If so have you questioned Tavers about that?"

"Don't confuse wrong with illegal, Andro<" says Gallagher. "He's done nothing we can get him on legally. Hie's made all the evidence point to Varm, Mirani and Kathya. But he knew he would be profiting off a scheme to kill billions of people, so don't tell me he's not in the wrong. Nor will he deny it to you. He told it all to me himself."

"Deny it?" says Tavers. "I am PROUD of it. That is why I am going to make sure you all remember just how much happier and more successful I am than all of you."

"Now stop being tiresome, Andro. I know you are acting out of good faith, but it's no good. You didn't even understand why your questions are all meaningless. You haven't biothered to understand anything. Though thank you, Jelena," he says, in response to her action.

"Now. What are you going to do with him??" asks Gallagher of you, Andro, and that's all we are interested in now.

Andro sighs, "I wasn't talking right or wrong. Of course it was horribly wrong." Be bigins to move forward, to impose himself between Gallagher and Tavers. He removes his lightsaber now. "What am I going to do with him? I am going to protect him, much as I hate to." Andro fixes Gallagher with a sad but determined stare, waiting to see what he will do.

(So, would Tavers admision be something we could get him for? For a lawyer, is knowledge of what your client is up to and profiting from it illegal? Even in my own coutry, I'm not sure what the answer would be. Still, it wouldn't warrant execution, at least not on the spot. If Gallagher is intent on killing him, the Jedi do have a duty to protect Tavers, don't we?)

What happens between a lawyer and client is confidential, so it's irrelevant. But even if it wans't., what arer you going to get him on, exactly? He literally has not committed any crime,. Even what he just told you isn't illegal. It's not illegal for him to make money off a committee he knows won't actually do its job.

The lawyer laughs at you, Andro. "What do you think you are trying to achieve, Jedi? Is this really the quality of person coming from the Temple these days? No wonder no-one likes you any more."

"I never realised what a greatly exaggerated sense of your own importance you have, Andro," says Gallagher. "I think you should be looking at yourself, not me. If I was going to kill him, I would have done it before you got here. You could never have made a difference, Andro. And you wouldn't have known how to make one even if you were here earlier. In fact I am pretty sure you would have made things worse.

"You're going to let him go. None of his threats are going to happen."

"Oh really?" says Tavers.

"No. Because there's never going to be a case brought for you to feel you have to strike back." Gallagher looks at you Jedi. "You are all going to have to drop it. Let it go. That's the only thing left to do."

But Gallagher is too peeved at Andro to stay with you now. He leaves the roof, still a Light Sider because he indeed was willing to let it go.

-

I am afraid you may be looking at a penalty here, Andro, having rather missed the point (not to mention your Dark Side tainted behaviour during the game). I've been trying to steer you towards the area of what your attitude to the lawyer is, but you keep trying to make it about Gallagher despite me doing everything possible to discourage you from that. Gallagher wasn't going to kill him; he wasn't even bothering to enter into an argument of "Tell me why I shouldn't kill him"- that was all in your head. He even directly told you- his visions weren't telling him what to change, they were showing him what he had to accept. He wasn't trying to change it. But you kept on talking to him as if he was.

(Well, that's rather depressing, then. My intent was the exact opposite of that. Sorry guys.)

Andro watches Gallagher go, crestfallen. How could he be so stupid? Was he still blinded by his issues with Seinar, so much so that he couldn't manage to see that the person he came here to save didn't need saving? He finds that he feels...angry at the whole situation. He's been finding that anger has been with him a lot lately. That's something a Jedi should never find about himself. Perhaps he needs help."

He looks at the other two Jedi left on the roof.

"I guess I don't know what to say." He holsters his beloved saber, then pauses a moment before untying it's holster from his leg. He wallks over and hands it to Roan. "I want to submit myself for discipline by the Jedi Council. Please take me in." He puts his hood up, covering his face, his shame, as much as possible, and falls silent. He clasps his hands and bows his head. He begins to meditate about the evens and his actions since Spiridos, and vows to himself that he will not speak again until he stands before the Council.

Tavers leaves with a smirk on his face.

Thunder sounds. It is still raining on Mandragos. And thousands of light years away, the people are starting to die.

-

Gallagher, irritated at how Sienar misled him, irritated at himself for misjudging what he was here to do, oddly unsatisifed at having stayed on the Light and irritated even more by having snapped at his friends in his moment of passion, descends the stairs of the citadel.

There's still much to do. This may be lost but there is always more to play for. The Woman with White Hair still dwells on his mind. And perhaps Sienar has taught him a few things after all, as promised. He may even be a better Jedi for it.

Control is restored to him at this point.

-

Yu guys on the roof descend back down; there is nothing more of interest here.

Neither Gallagher nor Tavers have touched Sienar's body, if you cn call it a body. One of the last remaining intact parts is his ruined right hand, with his sabre still there in its custom grip.

Jelena will walk over to Sienar's body. Gingerly she reaches down and tries to remove the lightsaber from the rotted hand it is gripped in, careful not to disfigure the hand any more than it is.

"Though I am sure Tavers will carry out his plan to parade his victory over us, this can serve as a reminder of what transpired here. Also, tangible evidence of Sienar's power in the Force."

She will examine the lightsaber closely before tucking it into her robes.

Gallagher gives only a passing glance to Sienar's corpse on his way down through the Citadel. The man was not that rotted flesh cage; it was the powerful mind that was trapped in it. Now that it is no longer contained, Gallagher sees no point in dwelling on it.

Knowing that he has passed his personal trial has brought a certain amount of clarity to Gallagher, but the fact that his friends failed to understand his plight and that Sienar's plan has gone off effortlessly keeps things from being brighter for Gallagher. He outwardly remains composed, but inside he aches as he senses the oncoming famine that will claim so many lives.

He knows that later he will apologize to his friends for his harsh and passionate outburst. It wasn't unnecessary, though. It needed to be said so that his friends would understand. Particularly Andro, who he wants to help with his anger issues so that the Jedi does not ever find himself in the position that Gallagher found himself in. He knows that Andro treads that dangerous path just as all Jedi do, just as Gallagher has.

Now that nothing more can be done about Sienar's villainy, Gallagher turns his thoughts to the Woman with White Hair and the images he associates with her from the vision he had when he arrived on Mandragos. He thinks about it now as he makes for the exit to the Citadel, to observe what has gone on outside while the storm rages. He makes no effort to raise his hood; he is already drenched, there is no point.

(Don't feel too bad, Andro; I figured out much of it under the pressure of losing Gallagher, or was told directly by Sienar what was going on.)

The day after

You have been wandering the city streets, Gallagher; anonymously, with your hood up. You fit in well with the priests, the faithful, the penitent. It is still raining. You can feel the anxiety of the people around you. Sienar has not been seen for a day. An announcement is expected soon, but people already fear the worst that Sienar's great efforts with the Senate have overwhelmed his frail body. Everyone remembers Sienar as they last saw him- triumphant, as his speech to the Senators was received by all. One in the face for the corrupt businessman and bureaucrats under which the Republic suffers so much.

Your eye catches a ship emerging from the cloud over, landing at the starport. A civilian transport. There are many such ships coming and going, over the course of the conference. Why did you notice this one? Your Instincts, maybe.

-

The Jedi are with Father Durson Sott, ex-Abbot and the longest serving member of the Church. Roan met him briefly at the banquet. With the death of the Archimandrite, as its most senior member the Synod is under his control until new elections can be held, which also makes hi de facto ruler of this world for a time. You didn't know who else to inform, really- and Roan also knew he was out of favour with Sienar's administration, so presumably he was 'safe' as it were.

His room, like all of those at the Basilica, is plain and simple, though rather more of a wooden brown than Sienar's slightly sinister grey and black metal. He sits behind a desk having heard all you have to say. He is looking with a faint curiosity at Sienar's sabre, which he is turning slowly around in his wrinkled hands.

"Difficult," he says, eventually.

Having noticed this particular transport and having done nothing but wander the streets to clear his mind and regain his composure, Gallagher, feeling that the Force is at work with him, decides that his curiosity must be more and so moves toward the starport, aiming to find out what must have aroused his senses and brought the vessel to his attention.

"I understand." Roan Says, "I hope we can count on your help in ending this famine and insuring that the money does indeed go to the correct places."

While this may be an unchangable point, Roan fixates on it. Sienars destruction weighs heavily on Roan, as does the nagging though of Sienars plan coming to fruition post mortum. Therefore he has resolved to do as much as he can in order to stop this Famine from achieving the destruction that was planned.