Jedi Temple- Coruscant- Monday morning
Jaina supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that when she and Lando got to the Council Chamber everyone seemed mad at each other. There had obviously been some kind of fight before Jaina's urgent request for a meeting came in, and now everyone was avoiding looking at everyone else. So, awkward.
She kept that in mind, and bowed as she took her place. “Thank you for seeing us so quickly.”
“Given the rumors of where you’ve been, I saw no reason to doubt the urgency of your request," Kenth said coldly. "We’ll discuss your unauthorized actions after your briefing- immediately after.”
Of course. Of course she managed to do what everyone else didn't and brought back information and she was going to get into trouble for it. You'd think she'd be used to that by now. But she had to suck it up. The important thing here was to get the Masters moving in the same direction, and she would not do that by antagonizing the temporary Grand Master of the Jedi Order.
That could come later.
“I look forward to the discussion, Grand Master,” Jaina said evenly. “Regarding the briefing, however- before we start, it would be helpful to know what you’ve heard about my trip.”
"We’ve heard that you went to... evaluate Luke’s situation," Kyp said, nodding towards Lando. “Apparently, you ran into Lando and joined him aboard the Rockhound. After some excitement on Klatooine, the pair of you followed Luke, Ben, and a flotilla of pretty nasty allies into the Maw. We’re thinkingyou were trying to find out what’s been turning Shelter Jedi barvy and eliminate it. Is that about it?”
Jaina nodded. “It is.”
“We assssume you were successful,” Saba said. “Because the mad ones have recovered.”
While that was great and Jaina was glad, she also had some terrible stuff to tell them, so it was hard to get too excited. "I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that."
"And I am, too," Lando said, pulling out the datachip he and Jaina had prepared. "Because you're going to need every Jedi Knight you can find."
“There was trouble with your allies?” Kyle asked.
“They double-crossed us, but we expected that,” Lando said. “What we didn’t expect was this.”
He tossed the datachip towards the Council circle, with Kyle summoning it to his hand and inserting it into the reader-slot in the arm of his chair. A moment later the holograph of a Rebaxan MSE-6 droid appeared above the projection pad hidden in the center of the circle.
"This is an impostor droid a pirate group used to impersonate Lando’s voice aboard the Rockhound," Jaina explained. "Its commands redirected us to an ambush point, disabled our comm and sensor systems, and crippled my StealthX.”
“We’ve already delivered it to Lowbacca for analysis,” Lando added. “He’s taking it apart now.”
“Thank you,” Kenth replied drily. “I’m sure those are the orders we would have given anyway.” He was obviously in a great mood.
“We’re hoping Lowbacca can tell the Council something about the programming style," Lando said pointedly. "It might help you locate the pirates’ home base.”
The image changed to a recording of the cockpit tactical feeds as Jaina went out to challenge the ambushers. “As you can see,” she said, "They came at us in three BDY crew skiffs, launched from a Damorian S-eighteen light freighter.”
“I do see,” Hamner said. “You filed a top urgent request in order to inform the Council that you were assaulted by pirates?”
He was pretty clearly annoying Lando. “That’s right. Except these pirates also redirected us to Ashteri’s Cloud. And there’s only one way they could have known to choose those coordinates for an ambush.”
“You’re saying they knew you would be coming out of the Maw," Kyp said, frowning and leaning forward in his chair. "You’re saying they had to be Sith.”
“Yes,” Jaina said. “After the mouse droid sabotaged my StealthX, the only weapons I had left were shadow bombs. Every time I launched one, their gunners found me. They felt me using the Force.”
“So... Sith,” Barratk’l said. “A double cross. Then Master Skywalker and Ben must be-”
“No,” Lando interrupted quickly. “They’re fine- at least they were when we left orbit.”
“We’re not sure of the details, because we never made planetfall,” Jaina added. “But after Abeloth’s death, Luke came to some kind of arrangement with the Sith to investigate her nature. Only three people from each side stayed behind, and everyone else was ordered to leave.”
“And you’re sure the Sith obeyed?” asked Octa Ramis.
“We’re sure they left when we did,” Jaina replied. “And it wouldn’t be easy to return. The planet was tough to reach.”
“The Sith lost a frigate going in,” Lando said. “And they would have lost another if the Rockhound hadn’t been there to pull it to safety. They could probably make it back on their own, but they wouldn’t be eager.”
“And I think I would have felt it if something had happened to Uncle Luke or Ben,” Jaina assured them. But since Kenth was starting to frown again, she turned to Kyle. “Will you advance to the next image, please?”
Kyle did, showing them a holographic map of the galaxy, with certain areas covered in red triangles and circles. “This map is derived from the one Jaden Korr has been assembling during his piracy investigations,” Jaina explained. “We spent most of the trip back filtering out attacks that don’t fit the same profile as the one against the Rockhound.”
“Basically, we were looking for two things. A recent port call, followed by the total disappearance of the vessel- no survivors, no wreckage, no flotsam or bodies,” Lando said
“These triangles represent a fleet of old ChaseMaster frigates that disappeared on their way to a decommissioning yard,” she went on. “We know that they were taken by the Lost Tribe, because High Lord Taalon had a squadron of twelve with him.”
“And the circles?” Cilghal asked. “They represent assaults you merely believe to be Sith in origin?”
Jaina nodded. “That’s correct. There’s no way to be certain, at least until we locate the Lost Tribe’s home base, but they fit the same profile.”
The room fell silent for a long moment, till Corran got up and walked over to the map, taking some time in studying it. "There are Sith everywhere," he realized. "And they're building a war fleet."
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Taken from Vortex by Troy Denning.]
She kept that in mind, and bowed as she took her place. “Thank you for seeing us so quickly.”
“Given the rumors of where you’ve been, I saw no reason to doubt the urgency of your request," Kenth said coldly. "We’ll discuss your unauthorized actions after your briefing- immediately after.”
Of course. Of course she managed to do what everyone else didn't and brought back information and she was going to get into trouble for it. You'd think she'd be used to that by now. But she had to suck it up. The important thing here was to get the Masters moving in the same direction, and she would not do that by antagonizing the temporary Grand Master of the Jedi Order.
That could come later.
“I look forward to the discussion, Grand Master,” Jaina said evenly. “Regarding the briefing, however- before we start, it would be helpful to know what you’ve heard about my trip.”
"We’ve heard that you went to... evaluate Luke’s situation," Kyp said, nodding towards Lando. “Apparently, you ran into Lando and joined him aboard the Rockhound. After some excitement on Klatooine, the pair of you followed Luke, Ben, and a flotilla of pretty nasty allies into the Maw. We’re thinkingyou were trying to find out what’s been turning Shelter Jedi barvy and eliminate it. Is that about it?”
Jaina nodded. “It is.”
“We assssume you were successful,” Saba said. “Because the mad ones have recovered.”
While that was great and Jaina was glad, she also had some terrible stuff to tell them, so it was hard to get too excited. "I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that."
"And I am, too," Lando said, pulling out the datachip he and Jaina had prepared. "Because you're going to need every Jedi Knight you can find."
“There was trouble with your allies?” Kyle asked.
“They double-crossed us, but we expected that,” Lando said. “What we didn’t expect was this.”
He tossed the datachip towards the Council circle, with Kyle summoning it to his hand and inserting it into the reader-slot in the arm of his chair. A moment later the holograph of a Rebaxan MSE-6 droid appeared above the projection pad hidden in the center of the circle.
"This is an impostor droid a pirate group used to impersonate Lando’s voice aboard the Rockhound," Jaina explained. "Its commands redirected us to an ambush point, disabled our comm and sensor systems, and crippled my StealthX.”
“We’ve already delivered it to Lowbacca for analysis,” Lando added. “He’s taking it apart now.”
“Thank you,” Kenth replied drily. “I’m sure those are the orders we would have given anyway.” He was obviously in a great mood.
“We’re hoping Lowbacca can tell the Council something about the programming style," Lando said pointedly. "It might help you locate the pirates’ home base.”
The image changed to a recording of the cockpit tactical feeds as Jaina went out to challenge the ambushers. “As you can see,” she said, "They came at us in three BDY crew skiffs, launched from a Damorian S-eighteen light freighter.”
“I do see,” Hamner said. “You filed a top urgent request in order to inform the Council that you were assaulted by pirates?”
He was pretty clearly annoying Lando. “That’s right. Except these pirates also redirected us to Ashteri’s Cloud. And there’s only one way they could have known to choose those coordinates for an ambush.”
“You’re saying they knew you would be coming out of the Maw," Kyp said, frowning and leaning forward in his chair. "You’re saying they had to be Sith.”
“Yes,” Jaina said. “After the mouse droid sabotaged my StealthX, the only weapons I had left were shadow bombs. Every time I launched one, their gunners found me. They felt me using the Force.”
“So... Sith,” Barratk’l said. “A double cross. Then Master Skywalker and Ben must be-”
“No,” Lando interrupted quickly. “They’re fine- at least they were when we left orbit.”
“We’re not sure of the details, because we never made planetfall,” Jaina added. “But after Abeloth’s death, Luke came to some kind of arrangement with the Sith to investigate her nature. Only three people from each side stayed behind, and everyone else was ordered to leave.”
“And you’re sure the Sith obeyed?” asked Octa Ramis.
“We’re sure they left when we did,” Jaina replied. “And it wouldn’t be easy to return. The planet was tough to reach.”
“The Sith lost a frigate going in,” Lando said. “And they would have lost another if the Rockhound hadn’t been there to pull it to safety. They could probably make it back on their own, but they wouldn’t be eager.”
“And I think I would have felt it if something had happened to Uncle Luke or Ben,” Jaina assured them. But since Kenth was starting to frown again, she turned to Kyle. “Will you advance to the next image, please?”
Kyle did, showing them a holographic map of the galaxy, with certain areas covered in red triangles and circles. “This map is derived from the one Jaden Korr has been assembling during his piracy investigations,” Jaina explained. “We spent most of the trip back filtering out attacks that don’t fit the same profile as the one against the Rockhound.”
“Basically, we were looking for two things. A recent port call, followed by the total disappearance of the vessel- no survivors, no wreckage, no flotsam or bodies,” Lando said
“These triangles represent a fleet of old ChaseMaster frigates that disappeared on their way to a decommissioning yard,” she went on. “We know that they were taken by the Lost Tribe, because High Lord Taalon had a squadron of twelve with him.”
“And the circles?” Cilghal asked. “They represent assaults you merely believe to be Sith in origin?”
Jaina nodded. “That’s correct. There’s no way to be certain, at least until we locate the Lost Tribe’s home base, but they fit the same profile.”
The room fell silent for a long moment, till Corran got up and walked over to the map, taking some time in studying it. "There are Sith everywhere," he realized. "And they're building a war fleet."
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Taken from Vortex by Troy Denning.]