Private Humans

[Tilon Quill]

2:00 AM
DURING LIGHTSWORN/JEDI CONCLAVE
GROVE BEHIND HIRATA ENCLAVE
ATRISIA

He sat on a stone bench by a pool and tried to be his best self. The Jedi way had opinions about that. Many other opinions existed, all of them were yelling at him, and his ship clock was, coincidentally, almost synched with this zone on Atrisia. Nobody was their best self at two in the morning.

He waited to see who might arrive. Jonath Kago , who'd murdered someone Tilon cared for? Tansu Treicolt or Ren , who'd let him off? Their nearby friends and family — Talin Treicolt , Talsin Lota , Auteme ? He knew what Auteme was to him; what was she to them? How much did any of them know? And when he'd asked the room for any shred of anything, how many had heard and opted to stay silent?

Tilon had his lightsaber out, he realized. Not active, but unclipped from his belt and held across his thigh. That hadn't been a conscious decision.

 

[Ren]

A diminutive Amaran padded into the grove, ears tilted low. Black eyes met the Falleen's, but he said nothing. Instead, he sat cross-legged in the grass and waited.

He breathed in, held it, exhaled, held it, then breathed in again. Very gently through his nose.

This. This was where the black and white morality fell apart. This was where finding right and wrong felt like wandering blindly in a cave, without a light.

Ren hoped that Jedi Quill would have some answers. And, by the Force, some measure of peace.

 

[Talin Treicolt]

Five foot 'o blonde fury stomped through Hirata's grounds. All o' this was dang stupid. Jon most of all, for having got them into this mess, even if his actions had protected them. Actually, no - Morrow had gotten them here, now, she was pretty certain, with throwing the first punch. Talsin knew what he did. Oh, and Tansu... man, was she gonna get an ear full.

Despite all that anger, one speck of sense remained - and she grabbed Jon by the wrist, pullin' him in close, her voice a whisper.

"Got the feelin' he's gonna wanna settle this honor style. Don't. We ain't on Concord Dawn."

With that, she shoved him away again, seethin'. She spotted that pilot she had thought was so cool sittin' on a bench all by his lonesome. Some harrowin' voice insisted he was still awesome, and they were the problem - but she was pretty certain that was Tansu gettin' to her.

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

​

"This seems like it could go real bad. You're good at diffusin' right? Please help." She tugged on Auteme's sleeve, with giant, pleading eyes.

Jonath would have crossed paths once or twice with their aunt back at the homestead, maybe helping out with the harvests. At least they'd have that familiarity.

And if Tansu was the one to get them outside, she felt culpable enough to make sure it didn't end badly for Jon.

Tilon had seemed so cool, put together, and focused up in the centre of the council. The idea of her and her sister being on the other side of that felt like a horribly warped version of don't meet your heroes"

It would have been easier if she'd just fully been unconscious that night on Denon. Instead she'd been lamely awake and just bleedin' an awful lot. Part of her felt responsible. If she hadn't been shot, she'd've been able to help defend her friends, and Jon wouldn't have done what Jon did.

And it was so unlike him! Like he'd been possessed or some foreign thing had crawled into his body and wore him like a skin suit. His actions had not been his own.

That point had to be reinforced.

Auteme was the closest to her when she whispered, very low: “Who usually starts at these kinda things?”

____________________________________________________________
Auteme | Jonath Kago | Talin Treicolt | Tilon Quill | Ren | Talsin Lota
____________________________________________________________
​

 

[Jonath Kago]

What the hell

Those three words were the words best fit to describe this whole situation and how Jon was feeling. He was here to support his friends and lend a hand to a cause he agreed with, and now it got ugly and could potentially spark a violent confrontation.

Why the hell am I getting put on the stand? Why not the psychos that started that fight? Why couldn’t Tansu just…

It was frustrating that his actions to help defend his friends got him into this mess. It was more frustrating one of his friends would rat him out and put him in this position. She could’ve kept quiet until Jon could’ve figured a peaceful solution to that warrant.

"Got the feelin' he's gonna wanna settle this honor style. Don't. We ain't on Concord Dawn."

At least he had Talin in his corner. She didn’t judge him, she understood him. Something that soften his sour mood, before the blonde shoved him away from her. Enough to get a quick, small smile before standing in front of Quill.

His eyes looked at the cylinder object across Tilon’s thigh. The weapon of a Jedi. He looked at it with such…hate. He felt and saw red. Again, he didn’t understand why he felt like this. It was similar to his small anxiety attack in that room full of Jedi. Something deep down buried within Jon told him to be distrustful of the Jedi and they should all be purged. He tried to focus on his friends to rid of those unwanted voices, remembering they were Jedi and dear to him. It was enough to break focus on the lightsaber and look directly at Quill.

A moment of silence, before Jon began.

“I didn’t mean any ill intent to your friend even if that’s what you see on the footage. There’s more to story if you’re willing to hear me out.”

Maybe there could be a chance of peace. One thing was for certain: Jon would’ve done it all over again to secure the lives of his friends. If that was to earn him someone’s ire, then he had his own iron at his side.

Talin Treicolt | Tansu Treicolt | Tilon Quill | Ren | Talsin Lota | Auteme​

 

[Auteme]

Auteme couldn't remember a time when she'd told either of them no -- which did leave her wondering why they'd decided to sneak onto her ship that first time, rather than just asking, though that may have been a first if they had -- and tonight was no different. She'd asked the twins to meet with her later, so she could chat with the Jedi she'd needed to see for one reason or another. This late, though... no, she was probably the only one here with a bedtime.

She came in with Tansu, only mostly informed about the situation. Perhaps it was her distance from it, but she had the fewest worries here; no particular emotion took her, other than tiredness, which was not much of an emotion. Su asked, and Jon answered. There was something familiar about the young man, beyond a hazy memory more about the twins than him, but that would have its time. He started well enough.

Auteme, for her part, found a seat on another bench a couple paces away, closer to the Amaran, intending to let things play out. They'd learn, but she wasn't the teacher here.

Tilon Quill | Ren | Talin Treicolt | Tansu Treicolt | Jonath Kago ​

 

[Talsin Lota]

Tilon Quill Ren Talin Treicolt Tansu Treicolt Jonath Kago Auteme

He was furious.

At himself, at Talin, at Talin's "friends" but he was also proud of Tansu. The moment she spoke out on the side of truth she would have felt it between their bond. Support and approval.

They should have done this from the very start. Talsin had been ready to go after Jon and take him in when Tansu had shown him the footage of that night, but she had persuaded him to let Jonath do the right thing himself.

Then everything else happened and with the invasion and his family he just didn't have the time to follow-up.

From the way Jonath had behaved inside and even now, trying to make it seem like there was more to the story, he did not seem in any way interested in taking responsibility for what he did.

Talsin stood next to Tansu but his attention was on Tilon.

He did not know the man, but from everyone in the room he was the only one with the moral fortitude to continue to care about the murder of one life even if it was inconvenient or there were "more important" things to talk about.

He spoke right after Jonath's question. Maybe he shouldn't have, maybe he should have stayed out of it. But the image of Tilon sitting on the bench with Ren, it was too much for him. There was a inner scale he compared himself to and for a while now Talsin was coming up short. Tilon was obvious in pain, they had known each other, that much was clear.

"No matter what happens, I will stand by you to ensure justice is done today, Tilon Quill. I should have stepped up before but I was persuaded to give him a chance to do the right thing himself. I apologize for not stepping forward sooner."

Unlike Tansu there was no hesitation in his tone nor his posture.

If it came to that he'd draw his saber himself and assist Tilon with bringing this murderer to the law and place him where murderers ought to go.

He doubted this would be enough for Tilon and that is where his anger came from. Through several steps, small ones by themselves, Talsin had become party of a cover-up to murder. All he could do was offer him his assistance, it would not solve things, it wouldn't make it right.

But maybe he'd stop seeing his father's disapproving gaze for just one moment to give him rest.

 

[Tilon Quill]

The recent sight of that looped footage weighed on him more than the people here. The sight of Lurkvap dying over and over, yanked into the air to intercept blasterfire, a worthless shield in obvious defense of self and loved ones - that was hard to bear. The memory wanted to pull him from the moment, and that couldn't happen.

Auteme would remember how Tilon's father had handled a similar situation when Tilon was young. He'd walked away from the Jedi forever, permanently disillusioned, and Tilon had always been a Jedi Knight in the context of that disillusionment. His father's disappointment and his own. All the grief and anger and cognitive dissonance wanted to come out. It took a lot not to mirror the fury he felt boiling off at least a couple of them. He found he had a lot that wanted to be said.

He'd found a lot of value over the years in an obscure Jedi principle: action through inaction. Be in a space, ask a question or two simply, and the whole story had unfolded far fast than he could have...well, not hoped, but anticipated, yes. He didn't see the next steps, but he'd trusted the principle this far. He decided to give them just a fraction of what he wanted to say. He put the lightsaber beside his leg on the bench and settled down. He rested his elbows on his knees, looking around at all of them. It was a position that signalled candidness, informality, and attention. Fake it 'til you make it.

"The backgrounds you're bringing to this," he said slowly, "killing and enforcement for human institutions, they shape your expectations of me like they shaped how some of you saw Lurkvap. Say it's course prediction. Input key points - maybe the mass, the burn - and it shows up as a probability cone for you to shoot at or avoid. But you don't know if there's volatiles in the cargo, or if there's an afterburner, or whether that ship's got the agency to maneuver. So any captain knows you don't trust that cone. Only one of you actually knows me, and none of you knew him."

About a kilometer away, the Wake of Balmorra, running lights blazing up visible through the trees, rose from the ground. It stayed there.

"I'm going to tell you a secret. It's not something you'd hear from most Masters in the enclave, but I suspect it's one thing where our murderer here and I agree. The Jedi way isn't capable of creating a complete person. Resisting its demand for total commitment; making your own ethical decisions; disentangling those from power, prestige, wealth, titles, governments, causes, institutions; building your own identity and moral priorities of which 'Jedi' might not actually be the majority - that's adults' work." He indicated Ren with a shift of his head. "I think Fenn's well on his way to understanding that. It's why he's miserable. The cognitive dissonance isn't sustainable, and that's a good thing."

Auteme Tansu Treicolt Talin Treicolt Talsin Lota Jonath Kago

 

[Jonath Kago]

Everyone was watching, coming to judgment with whatever Jon had to say. Admittedly, it was complicated to say he was innocent.

"No matter what happens, I will stand by you to ensure justice is done today, Tilon Quill. I should have stepped up before but I was persuaded to give him a chance to do the right thing himself. I apologize for not stepping forward sooner."

Talsin’s words confused him, and then bothered him. Processing what felt like another stab of betrayal, he turned around and gave a dirty look at Jedi. Surely, this guy was influencing Tansu which made sense considering the fact she admitted to Jon being the suspect of this crime. The old Tansu wouldn’t have done that, he was well sure of that. The only helpful thing from Talsin was learning Tilon’s name.

He turned back to Tilon, again overwhelmed with anger and frustration from this dilemma. Against his own will, his subconscious started to think in ways to escape and attack what seemed to be his enemies. Like back at the Drop, it felt like a violent presence wanted to dictate his body. He was able to resist it as Tilon’s monologue distracted him. A good distraction, yet he could not make sense what the Jedi was saying.

“Look, Tilon…ya kinda lost me,” felt great being able to address him properly and not rely on calling him “man” or some other demonym. Now how to be direct while being cordial at the same time? “I’m no Jedi, okay? I don’t have an interest in it, I’m just here to support my friends and help with this mission. That night we were attacked in the Drop, and without wanting to I grabbed your friend to…well, as protection. If there wasn’t any danger, your friend would be alive and we wouldn’t be talking about this. It was the wrong place and wrong time for everyone. If anything, we should go after the people who turned the place into a shooting gallery.”

He said his piece, and anyone to dismiss it was a damn fool in his eyes.

“You think we can walk away from this in peace?”

Talin Treicolt | Tansu Treicolt | Talsin Lota | Tilon Quill | Auteme | Ren ​

 

[Tilon Quill]

Tilon clipped his lightsaber to his belt and got up. A kilometre off and maybe twenty metres over the treetops, the Wake of Balmorra began an approach.

"I think you're going to regret tonight," he said. "You'll remember your friends' faces when they really came to understand how wrong they could be. Not just about you, but about their own ability to see people and moral situations clearly.

"Most of all you'll remember tonight because your friendships won't last long. You think people like these can stay close with an unrepentant murderer? You already know their hearts aren't in it. And if they're hoping for some nice clean official course, some act that lets them feel good again, the bedtime story called redemption..."

The ship hovered over the rippling pond and set down its ramp. Tilon spoke a little louder to be heard.

"...I don't believe in human justice any more than human governments and Orders. I only came to learn who knew what when."

Jonath Kago Talin Treicolt Tansu Treicolt Ren Auteme Talsin Lota

 

[Jonath Kago]

That was all? He was expecting a lot more than this, if he were to be honest. Some hateful words thrown at him, or maybe a physical altercation. He could’ve considered himself lucky this was over…but the words he listened to did strike a nerve. What did this Jedi know about him? Or about his friends, even though he had the itch to punch Talsin in the face.

Enough to upset him to open his mouth.

"Got the feelin' he's gonna wanna settle this honor style. Don't. We ain't on Concord Dawn."

Sorry, ‘Lin.

“Y’know,” he started, yelling out loud for Tilon to hear him, “if you really gave a damn about your friend Lurkwhack, you’d go out and find the real bastards that killed him. Save your words when you find ‘em, yeah?”

He had enough Jedi lectures for a day. Jon, a murderer? That definition was more fitting for someone cold blooded that took life without care.

Tilon Quill | Talin Treicolt | Tansu Treicolt | Talsin Lota | Ren | Auteme​

 

[Talin Treicolt]

Mama always did say nothin' good happened in the middle of the night. Man, did Talin hate admittin' she was right. Talsin had been standin' there, lookin' real punchable after his flip on 'em, earnin' an uninhibited glower until the middle of Tilon's speech. When the ship lowered behind him, she blinked, stunned. He had said a lotta things that were gonna need processin' after she had slept, but that was... it? No grand stands, no high noon draw? This couldn't be real.

“Y’know,” he started, yelling out loud for Tilon to hear him, “if you really gave a damn about your friend Lurkwhack, you’d go out and find the real bastards that killed him. Save your words when you find ‘em, yeah?”

Nope. There it was - fuel to the fire. Panic surged. Jon didn't realize that Talin, unlike Tilon, very much did believe in human justice and thieves honor. The Imperial Remnant who had launched the attack on the Drop lacked the discipline and resources they woulda had under protection of an Empire. It hadn't even taken a week for her and Morrow to find them. Sweatin' at the brow, Talin crossed the step between them to grab Jon by the ear and pull him down to her height. Hopefully, all that wisdom Quill had wouldn't be washed away by a stupid insult - but she wasn't takin' no chances.

"You gas head! Would'ja shut up?"

There was somethin' a little bit more than urgency behind the quiet hiss.

 

[Talsin Lota]

“Y’know,” he started, yelling out loud for Tilon to hear him, “if you really gave a damn about your friend Lurkwhack, you’d go out and find the real bastards that killed him. Save your words when you find ‘em, yeah?”

Talsin's eyes widened.

The entire exchange between Jonath Kago and Tilon Quill had left him slightly confused. Like a floor suddenly giving away beneath him, leaving him unsure just exactly where he stood.

He hadn't quite gotten the sense that Tilon was being as forgiving as they assumed. It was something about his posture, something about the way he said those things.

All that consideration went right out of the window when Jonath opened his maw and said that however.

He marched forward, nostrils flaring in anger, eyes blazing in heat.

"You vile little man." Talsin shouted at him. This was beneath him, he shouldn't have yelled at someone like that. It was a waste of energy. But he had been holding out hope, just a little.

That the piece of chit would show some sign of gratitude, some measure of consideration.

His back was against Tilon's ship now and from this angle his body was covering both Talin and Jonath out of view of the vehicle.

"You are not just a murderer, you are scum. You don't deserve friends like these, who seem willing to cover every stupidity you do or utter. But I am not one of them."

Talsin didn't realize that every word he spoke to Jonath was inadvertently aimed at Talin too. Where one had murdered one, the other had murdered so many more. If Talsin knew... if only Tal knew.

"You don't deserve jail, you deserve to feel every fiber of fear your victim did when you murdered him. But jail is exactly where you are going because you are not getting out of this place without going through me."

 

[Ren]

Slowly, the Amaran Jedi got to his feet, brushing aside his robe for better access to his belt as he watched events unfold between the humans.

They were arguing now. Ren sighed inwardly and shook his head, whiskers twitching.

"Humans."

 

[Talin Treicolt]

Talsin’s words clearly struck a nerve. All that fury from earlier came bubblin’ back up and found its target. For her sister’s sake, she had tried pushin’ it down. Yet tonight, watchin’ him stand there, berate Jon, high and mighty - that restraint snapped. The blonde stomped her way over to cover the distance, pullin’ up the sleeves of her jacket.

“He saved us from gettin’ shot that night, you nerf herder! What don’t you get about that?! Maybe, you oughta take a page outta his book, ‘cause that’s more than you could do for Tan!”

With every passing word, Talin inched closer to Talsin, until she was inches from him. The mountain side echoed with her shouts.

“You let her get hurt! Then you go tryin’ to steal her away from us?! This just another way to push those plans o’ yers?! You ain’t better than us!”

Fightin’ and the Treicolt temper ran in the blood. And if this wasn’t her stuck up boyfriend, Talin knew Tansu woulda been damn proud of the right hook she threw.

 

[Talsin Lota]

Talsin knew there was a chance that even in that moment. Even when Jonath threw away all decency, that Talin Treicolt would pick his side anyway.

He could not remember when the last time was that the Treicolt surprised him positively.

When she rounded on him and started screaming at him, Talin would find exactly what she wanted in Talsin. Tall, back straight with iron through it, a Duke and a Duke's son through and through.

Her words about Tansu hit him in the gut. The last time this subject was broached it got a panic attack out of him. Tansu Treicolt would feel the pain laced through their connection at being reminded of his failure to protect her yet again.

But he stood tall and was about to respond when Talin decked him. This was not a slap, a slap would have been a Mercy compared to the sheer fury she brought to the punch.

Didn't it feel satisfying? Feeling the arrogant noble's nose crunch under her fist? The way Talsin fell down, the blood splattering all around, down his face, against her fist and further?

"When you are a hammer, all you see is nails. And you have been surrounding yourself with hammers lately, Talin Treicolt. When did you become one yourself?"

He spat blood next to him as he tried to get up, his whole face was burning, a few of his teeth felt loose too.

But Talin saw it in his stance. Talsin was not going to give up. He'd keep going to take Jonath down. Even if it was the last thing he would do.

This man would never stop.

 

[Talin Treicolt]

Crimson stained her knuckles. The entire hand throbbed with pain, but something akin to a smirk crept across her face as Talin watched the ire of her wrath fall. That was weeks in the making. He deserved a whole lot more, but the blonde was content to leave it at that - until he had the gall to speak again. He’d never leave it alone. Especially if Tansu shared any of Talin’s extracurriculars.

“Stop actin’ like you know me.” The shouting had gone. This was cold, precise rage. “Stop puttin’ that twisted version in my sisters head. And mind your own business if you know what’s good for ya.”

A red hand slithered down to hold the blaster grip at her side.

 

[Tilon Quill]

Everything that Tilon felt was clamped inside a fist, restrained from radiating into the Force or breaking into the carefully calibrated words he'd found. He felt so many things that pulled him in so many ways. Fury was in there. Fury was a lot of it. The killer disclaimiing all responsibility again while making a joke — that almost, almost got everything to burst free.

Satisfaction was in there too, and vindictiveness and cruelty even, and seeing and facing that, the pressure and the storm of feeling went away as if they'd never been. Because this tension between what he'd owed the dead and owed himself wasn't an insoluble problem.

From a certain point of view, he'd already solved it.

He jumped over to the ramp of the ship that hovered over the pond. There was a utility microphone on a curly cord by the top of the ramp, all hooked to the ship's extremely useful external speakers. He took the microphone, then clipped it back to its place and toggled the ramp closure instead.

Do anything else now and their attention would come off where it needed to be: reckoning with each other in ways they wouldn't forget. Seeing each other's deepest values and priorities clearly — as if this was any of the thousand times he'd served as a translator or a commscan officer. Setting up that clarity was, to Tilon's mind, maybe the only revenge a Jedi could take for a loved one and stay a Jedi.

Besides. It felt fitting to let them — to make them — give themselves the last word.


Talsin Lota Tansu Treicolt Talin Treicolt Jonath Kago Ren Auteme

 

[Jonath Kago]

“Where the hell you get off talking to her like that,” venom laced with his words. It was already enough he was getting judged on the spot, but he could not tolerate the fact of Talin getting chided. He was quite defensive about the twins and their family. He had no family of his own and nothing to put his name on. Life had meaning to it with the relationship he had with the Treicolts.

He placed a hand on Talin’s shoulder and placed himself in front of her, standing up to Tansu’s boyfriend. Jon was one to never run away from a fight, and the fact this man of nobility was a Jedi tempted him further to not back down. There it was again, that unknown hate triggering him. It did please him to see blood trickling down his face…but it would not be enough to hold him back.

“And ya know what, you sunavabitch, I would gladly do it all over again if it means keeping these two safe. I bet my whole damn life you ain’t got the gall to do that,” and he looked up and down at Talsin, as if measuring him. “No…you’d probably let ‘em bleed out to death in that bar to keep your hands clean.”

He looked intently at the Tetan…the look of murder behind his eyes. The image of Tansu bleeding in the Drop resurfaced, and it mixed in with all the pent up emotions he was trying to keep a lid on. Something in the back of his mind thought of two words, two words that were so familiar to him as if from another life.

Jedi scum

He snapped just like in the Drop. Muscle memory possessed him and delivered a swift punch to Talsin’s face. There was no hint of regret or other conscientious thoughts in his mind. His face had the calm, emotionless look of a killer wanting to destroy what was in front of him.

Jon started, and he wouldn’t stop.

Talsin Lota | Talin Treicolt | Tilon Quill | Tansu Treicolt | Ren | Auteme ​

 

[Ren]

Ren extended a hand, palm flat. A force push rippled outward, to slam Jonath Kago away from the other human he sought to beat to a pulp.

“I will not permit violence,” the Amaran said, drawing himself up to his full diminutive height.

He had already let this go on far too long, made this mistake once before in letting this particular human leave. And now, here this human was again, committing violence. Only seconds after Quill’s words to him. He would have let them all leave again, would have let this resolve peacefully.

But it seemed that was not the will of the Force this day.

A sternness came into the Knight’s features. His ears swiveled forward, stood tall.

“In the name of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance, you are under arrest for murder.”

Jonath Kago Talin Treicolt Talsin Lota Tansu Treicolt Tilon Quill