STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Descent

The blaster snaps into your hand.

"You lie!" the Malik says. He reaches out his hand to clamp your throat shut, as you did to him. Surprise surprise, nothing happens. You do not sense any danger at all. "No! NO!" the Malik wails. "I did everything correctly! I am the destroyer of the Votive, the power should be mine!"

"You are a fool, I should probably just kill you, but perhaps it's funnier this way, you knowing for the rest of your life that you'll never have that power. I'll tell you something, you know, Jedi train years to control the force, maybe you have the power, you should spend your time in prison honing your skills" Con lets out a mocking laugh then just softly utters the word "Pathetic".

Can I just knock him out now? I'll put in Martial Artist, tap it, and just punch him head on in the face and stylishly knock him unconscious....

Yes. Without his gun, the Malik is totally defenseless. You very solidly snap a blow directly into his nose, breaking it and sending him sprawling onto the crate that the Votive had been on, scattering the fragments and dust.

The Malik is defeated.

It is at this moment that Xeth comes charging in, looking a little battleworn.

"Con!" he shouts. "Everything is going wrong!"

"Tell me about it" Con mumbles to himself then more loudly he asks Xeth "What's going wrong?"

"We're horribly outnumbered," Xeth says. "The Malik must've sent out our location, everyone that has ever worked for him is flooding into the warehouse."

Kosta and Delfedd enter, carrying Densk and Vear. Densk has taken a bolt to the side; Vear looks like he was set on fire.

"We have to get out of here. Grab the Malik and put him in the ship."

He stops.

"Where's the Votive?"

"He destroyed it, I couldn't stop him without killing him." Con frowns and in a bitter tone adds "At least he didn't become a Sith Lord".

Con will do as Xeth told him and put the Malik in the ship (perhaps if you say there's no other use for the force points anymore stylishly with super lift) then he will offer Densk and Vear his medical help. While asking Xeth (who I assume pilots?) what's they are going to do now.

Xeth does head to the cockpit as everyone squeezes into the ship. There is a droid there to operate it; the Malik never knew how to fly. Xeth dismantles it with his lightsaber before settling into the cockpit.

Your escape is quick and clean. The underground hangar emerges into an empty warehouse with an enormous door that slides away when the ship rises on the platform. From there, the ship zips off into the night of Luon. Xeth raises Clarion on the comms and shortly the Nexu's Grin, Xeth's modified ship, shows up.

"We have to get Joon off of Luon," Xeth says. "Whether he likes it or not. He'll die if we leave him."

"He'll be disqualified from the election," Clarion says. "The candidate that the Malik backed will win by forfeit."

Xeth groans irritably.

"He'll die on here. The best we could try is hide him somewhere, and even that seems futile."

"The Order can protect him," Xeth says. "But that still leaves Luon under the control of the Syndicate until the Senate can act. Which they won't!"

"I'd say it's up to Joon"

Xeth relays that to Clarion.

"He says... he will stay," Clarion says. "He won't abandon his homeworld or his people, even if his people have gone mad."

"Well, he sticks to his convictions" Con pauses for a moment, then addresses Xeth again "How about this, I will stay with him on Luon until the election. Afterwards I will leave, I'll make my way alone. I think I've shown I can control my emotions when I didn't strike down the Malik.""

"What you're talking about is suicide," Xeth says. "Not even Master Yoda could take on an entire planet of rioting hitmen!"

"I don't have to take them on, I just have to hide and I am willing to risk it, it's the only chance Luon has now, miniscule as it may be. We should at least give it to Joon for consideration"

Joon would appreciate the protection... but he declines.

"I can't ask you to do that," he says resignedly. "No-one else needs to die for me. Take me to my building; I will stay there."

"You don't have to make this sacrifice Joon. Luon needs someone standing up for it on Coruscant, you can do so much good there, please consider it."

Joon considers this.

"Luon's voice is not heard in the Senate... not it's true voice. If I can be guaranteed an audience, then I will go."

Well, that's really not Con's forte so if Xeth or Clarion want to comment on that fair enough. All Con can say that he'd assume that a civil war with the intervention of 6 Jedi, one of them previously having gone against direct council orders, would guarantee a questioning and investigation

Indeed; Joon will get his audience, the Senate will investigate the "problems" on Luon, and the Malik will stand trial for crimes against his world...

Even so, you feel troubled. It had been so easy to squeeze the life out of the Malik... and he destroyed the Votive. This man is unforgiveable and evoked some dark tendencies in you.

You are still a Jedi in spirit. And you remain free; Clarion will not be taking you to Coruscant if you don't to go. For now, that is enough.

But your future is uncertain, clouded by the Dark Side...

Uridia III

Con is in a pub near the Renegades' base of operations when the news report comes on the holoscreen. For awhile, it spouts intergalactic news that does not concern him. But then the report about the Malik comes on and it tears Con's attention away from his drink. A female reporter is outside the main courthouse on Coruscant.

"Despite allegations leveled against him and troubles surrounding his homeworld, Arbund Qaalis, the self-styled Malik of Luon, went free today when the Judicial Court of Coruscant was unable to bring sufficient evidence against him for a solid conviction. Most of the evidence brought against Qaalis could not be traced explicitly to him, the jury said, and instead many members of the Luonese Syndicate are to stand trial for crimes Qaalis himself was accused of. The Malik's closest advisors that took much of the heat, the brothers Medraud and Medraut Zali, were killed resisting arrest by the Jedi investigators that captured the Malik, incuding Jedi Knight Xeth Tam, head of a private investigative force."

"The Malik walked on this due to corruption of the court, no other reason," Xeth says, present on Coruscant for the hearing. "He will go back to Luon and reform the Syndicate and the trouble will start all over again. He won't go free next time."

It goes back to the reporter.

"The Malik has been charged with the destruction of an ancient Jedi artifact. His sentence was an extensive fine to be paid to the Jedi Order itself for his violation and I'm receiving word that he is transferring the credits to them now..."

Con storms out of the bar.

End