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

Jelena does not feel that there is much that can be done if Tavers remains around, nor does she feel that the Jedi Order or the Synod can do much to change what has already been done. Not without committing to the path that Gallagher laid out for them. However, if anything can be done at all, she will push for it.

"Roan tells me you were out of favor with Sienar's administration," Jelena says, watching as the older man fiddles with the lightsaber. "I do not think that the Synod will have any further effect on the Committee now that Sienar has passed, but please appreciate the situation as it is. None will believe what Sienar really was, nor what his aims were; we lack proof of it."

(Have we come to Father Sott just to tell him about Sienar, or are we seeking some assistance here?)

Well, you had to inform SOMEONE. What you wanted out of that is up to you.

"Hardly my business to interfere with the operations of the Senate, Jedi, as you should know well.." He looks up at you. "But you are right. No-one will believe you. Well... not enough will, anyway."

He sighs.

"I did warn you not to get involved. It has brought no good. Now the situation has become very awkward."

-

When you get to the starport, Gallagher, the arrivals board says the ship has come from Coruscant.

At first Gallagher thinks that maybe Zaland or Ithrorn have come to meet them on Mandragos, but he feels that it is not them as they were on Spiridos last he checked. He decides to go meet the civilian transport at its landing site, in order to see who disembarks. For some reason, the fact that this transport has come from Coruscant vaguely worries him, but he pushes this to the back of his mind.

"It was our duty to try," Jelena says. "Sienar is now responsible for much sadness and instability that will sweep the Galaxy."

She pauses.

"Will the Synod release the Archimandrite's actual cause of death?" Jelena asks. "I do not mean to sound selfish, but that could have horrific effects for the Jedi Order, let alone our own careers as Knights."

"Your trying made no difference to whether that is true or not," says Sott, "and with Sienar dead under your blade, it has made everyone's life much harder."

He looks thoughtful.

"I don't think it benefits anyone for the truth about this situation to come out."

---

You watch the people streaming off the transport, Gallagher. It seems for a long time that there is nothing of interest there at all, but the last one off is an elderly man in a wheelchair, though this being Star Wars it is a repulsorliftchair.

It is Korth.

Andro had been sitting there, listening but not participating in the conversation. He is still determined to keep his silence, but there's really nothing useful he could say anyhow. His head snapped up a little though, at the declaration to not release the truth about Seinar. No one but this man and the Jedi will ever know the truth then. He lets his head sink again into his robes, realising now that it must be this way. Maybe that means Andro can begin to let his issues about Seinar go.

"The way I understand the situation," says Sott, "is that you don't have a warrant against Sienar. Everyone you did have one against has died, either resisting arrest or presumkably at the hands of one of their confeerates.

"You could, of course, push the matter. You have your word and this sabre. But I fail to see what good you could possibly do. Say people DID believe you. What would happen then?"

Gallagher boredly watches the disembarking passengers for some time. He starts to lose interest as nobody of interest leaves the transport, wondering why his senses pulled him toward it at all. But then, a man who has not been able to talk with Gallagher for years comes hovering down the ramp.

"Master Korth!" Gallagher shouts, running up to the Jedi Master from where he was watching the passengers.

"Nothing would come of pressing the issue," Jelena says. "It is his lawyer that is now carrying out Sienar's plan, and we have nothing at all against Tavers that we can bring him down with. All we would achieve is the defamation of Sienar."

"On the contrary," says Sott. "Quite a lot could come of pressing the issue. Just nothing desirable. You would create an enormous scandal when it becomes clear that the Jedi killed Sienar as part of a criminal investigation, and many would never believe your justification. You would alienate the Jedi from this sector of the Galaxy. But perhaps worse would be the effect from those that DID believe you. If it truly was revealed that Sienar was a manipulative Dark Sider, you would destroy the credibility of the Synod, and destroy all the good we could ever do for the rest of time. You may also sabotage what good has already done recently. Sienar was invovled in setting up many of our recent efforts. These would collapse. Meanwhile, Sienar would still be dead and your fears for the Senate would continue. Probably still worse, because if you discredit Sienar you discredit his message of charity. I feel that's the only part you would change; you would not avert the setting up of this committee. Maybe it wouldn't house itself on Mandragos, but whilst the Senators here exist then it will go on.

"Sienar built a legend around himself. That might have been a lie, as I had long suspected. But nonetheless the legend exists, one that preached good deeds and progressive thought. That is all that is left for you to kill now."

-

Korth wobbles down the ramp towards you, Gallagher, still with the same smile.

Once Gallagher reaches Korth, the Knight kneels down before his old mentor, the man who helped his training along before the terrible incident occurred.

"Master Korth, it has been too long!" Gallagher says. "When did you come out of your coma?"

(Oh boy, I'm surprised I'm even awake right now.)

"It is a legend that I have no intention of killing," Jelena says. "It is a necessary secret, I feel; even if Sienar's aims were unwholesome, none will know but the Jedi Council. That way, the Order and the Synod can carry on as they have been.

"Why did you fall out of favor with Sienar's administration anyway, Father Sott?"

"I am an old man, set in my ways. Sienar wanted his own people around him."

(High Willpower people cannot be Corrupted)

-

"I have been out for some while now actually, Gallagher, though I have not been fit to move for some years."

"That has obviously changed," Gallagher says, "as you are with me now. I am supposing you heard about what was going on here?"

Korth's presence has brought a certain lightness to Gallagher, knowing that the man is on the mend and that his old mentor probably has some sage advice to share with him.

"I had a dream," says Korth. "And when I awoke, I was feeling better. The Council told me what had transpired. Why don't you fill me in in your own words?"

Gallagher begins to recap his most recent adventure to his mentor.

"I met the Abbot Sienar on Spiridos earlier this week, a man who evoked inspiration and charity, who was nominated to become the Archimandrite of Mandragos and the Synod of Ferradyne. My visions told me that his life was tied to those of billions, and so I tried to protect him from harm... but it turned out that he was none other than our old enemy, Brith, under a new guise, disfigured and unrecognizeable due to a parasitic fungus. It was his plan to instigate these billions of deaths by famine, and I had misinterpreted my visions. Dedicated to stop his plans but also wanting to pursue his promises of reviving my memories of what happened with my sister... I came here with him.

"I stayed with him under the pretense of trying to unravel his plan and put an end to it, on the condition that I would not interact with the other Jedi that the Council sent here to investigate Sienar's activities. But it became apparent that it was not something attainable, Master Korth. To stop Sienar would mean to lose myself to the Dark Side, and to threaten and manipulate and murder until his damage was undone..."

Gallagher's mind wanders off.

"Even now, I can sense the deaths beginning. I had become attached to them, to these faceless billions that I felt I could save. But as all great Jedi must do, I have let go of my attachment. Sometimes our Order must stand by and watch terrible things happen, in order to keep within our limits and not stray from the righteous path of the Light."

Gallagher looks to Korth.

"What did you see in your dream, Master Korth?"

"A strong mind can resist the temptations offered by minions of the Dark Side," Jelena states, "as should all members of the Synod be, if they adhere to their faith strongly enough. Now that Sienar is no longer at its head, there should be no others like Varm or Kathya plaguing your church. Little good has come of this, otherwise."

"You lack faith, Jedi," says Sott. "My faith is in the Force, and I believe that through the Force all things will come to the good in the end. That's the problem with the Jedi Order. You always try to intervene- but the Galaxy and the Force have their own designs, and they care little for your intervention. That is why you feel failure."

-

"I do not quite remember," says Korth. "but I knew the time to see you had come. So. quite a story. How do you feel now?"

"Sometimes it is just difficult to see how that can be so, Father," Jelena says.

She looks upon the old man and thinks of how much his perception of the Force would be changed if he could actually touch it, as Jelena can and as Sienar did. She does not feel she needs to be lectured about it, but maintains her polite demeanor and engages in the conversation.

"Perhaps the perspective of the Synod can remind us that the Force seeks Balance over all, but your pacifistic ways are not for us. Occasionally, the Force needs a helping hand, guiding certain players into the spotlight on the Galactic stage. Intervention did not help here on Mandragos, but that is not so for other events."

"I feel... sour," Gallagher says. "I feel that I should not regret having remained in the Light, and yet I feel that I did not do everything I could to stop this famine from beginning. I know that the Jedi can not prevent every tragedy from striking the Galaxy, but... this is different. Overall, though... I am glad that I did not attempt to carry out what was necessary to reverse the damage that Brith has done."