Private Daily Double

[Kyric]

Literally, right after the events of Precipice...

Alright, objective number one? Complete.

Kyric watched the other Jedi begin to disperse after the events of the most recent get-together. Everything went about as well as he expected. Sure, a lot of arguing, some tempers rising, but things went well enough. People had ideas to build from. The two members of the Circle he did recognize seemed informed enough to do something about all the madness. From there, he assumed Aeris and Bernard would manage to create proper much-needed boundaries between the New Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance. Kyric believed his father would be proud of them for that. Achieving something he never could.

On to objective number two. The bounty.

The fun part!

Why did everything dangerous always have to be the fun part to him?

Kyric rolled his eyes and moved towards the pale-skinned Arkanian, who lingered longer than most. The teenager smiled in greeting.

"Hey there, I had some questions regarding a recent bounty posted, and I was hoping to catch a moment of your time, Uncle B!"

Bernard of Arca​

 

[Bernard]

The events of the gathering on Tython had been exhausting. The same thing kept happening over and over when Jedi kicked open doors, overly emotional, and began chucking wrenches into the decision making process. Bernard sighed heavily as he turned to walk from the scene, opinions, accusations, and thoughts swirling in his head, but promptly paused as someone approached.

He resisted the urge to rub the bridge of his nose for relief of his headache, the Jedi demanded the Circle appear strong, and so he would. Meeting the Padawan's smile with a neutral expression, he cocked his head slightly. The difference in age between them must have been fewer than half a dozen, yet Bernard felt like he'd lived through centuries in that moment, in no small part because of the burden of duty.

"I'm not your uncle. What do you need? I'll try to be as helpful as I can."

Kyric

 

[Kyric]

"Pops said you would lead with that," Kyric chuckled and withdrew a little notebook from a jacket pocket. He flipped open to a blank page casually, almost like he'd done something like this a hundred times before. The teenager looked the part of a young interviewer, something he happily reinforced with an easygoing smile.

"The Corellian Confederation has recently put up a bounty for the former senator, Kaito Kiyoshi. My sources indicate you have a bit of history with the atrisian," he allowed the sentiment to hang in the air for a moment to provide Bernard an opportunity to think on the matter. "Footage recovered from the temple lead me to believe you were the last person to see Kiyoshi alive. Could you run me through the events of that moment?"

He clicked down on his pen. "What were you thinking? Did he say anything to you about where he was going?"

Bernard of Arca​

 

[Bernard]

Bernard shifted the weight on his feet and crossed his arms in front of him.

"He infiltrated the temple with two of his guards. I was the first to run into him. We fought, left him wounded, he escaped when I had to divert attention to defend the temple grounds from invading Sith," he didn't try to be terse on purpose. He'd always been more of a laconic Jedi, as one Knight had put it, but today's council left him exhausted and with a pulsing headache answering questions that made difficult memories claw out of the abyss.

"He wasn't much talkative, the fight took most of his focus, as it did mine. If he'd had said something about his intentions I would have followed up on them, but there was nothing, beyond your standard Sith taunts," he elaborated.

Kyric

 

[Kyric]

"That matches up to the reports, yeah," Kyric scribbled something into his notebook. He remained stoic in the face of Bernard's abrupt recounting. This was a Jedi matter. Having some no-named kid swing in to question him, for a bounty no less, had to be insulting in some circles.

"Knowing how the NJO operates, I doubt you'd let him operate freely," he scratched another short note into the book.

"The bounty explicitly mentioned the late Lanik Dawnstar. From what I've heard, he got along well enough with most Jedi before he died. You're one of the few people who, well, didn't think too highly of him. Is there a reason for that?"

Part of Kyric regretted having to ask that one. He didn't like having to dredge up anyone's past like that, especially one so notorious as the travesty of Lanik's death. But the work had to be done.

"And do you know if Lanik left behind any information regarding his investigations into Kiyoshi?"

Bernard of Arca​

 

[Bernard]

"The reason was a set of evidence I'd come across which seemed to reveal him as being under the influence of a Sith Lord, potentially a vector of infiltration into the Jedi Order created by the Sith. At the time, this evidence was overwhelmingly convincing, but later on it turned out to be partially true at best, if not outright wrong. Any differences originated based on that evidence and were only corrected after his passing," he didn't waver in his tone, simply pressed on with the methodical explanation.

His heart beat loud in his chest, and the heat of irritation pulsed through his limbs. The pressure to let his emotions spill only worsened, brought to a dangerous tipping point under the weight of the memories the questions dredged up. The momentum of method drilled into him by his time with the Marshals was the only thing keeping his resolve from cracking.

"All evidence recovered relating to Lanik Dawnstar was collected and placed under the jurisdiction of the Galactic Alliance Marshal Service, where it was processed and archived following the conclusion of the case."

Bernard's expression softened a little. This kid was trying to help apprehend a criminal, he could be a bit more forthcoming, despite the stress and the pressure.

"But there were some leads they weren't aware of. Lanik's padawan, for one, survived. She nearly died at the hands of Kyioshi, twice, but she confirmed the Senator's identity before his disappearance. There were difficulties surrounding any attempt at apprehension, a general mistrust towards the Jedi from the Senate didn't help, nor did the outbreak of the War for Chiss space, and so Kyioshi only reappeared on my radar during the battle on Coruscant."

Kyric