The capital Confederate sins

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Do you have any idea what these monsters, as you call them, did to the Confederacy?"

"These monsters! When the Silver Sanctum attacked Ruusan five years ago, I had to leave my practice on Ringo Vinda behind to go help out the Silver Sanctum military with their wounded. I had to do so here yet again with the flesh-and-blood Geonosians. Because the Geonosians have such a low yield of Force-sensitives and medical staff, both Jessica and I had to use Force-healing on whatever wounded we could" Catria commented.

Certainly an exact body count was difficult to do, as was the case on Korriban with Charzon's actions, whose trial has begun on Voss. For some reason, Silver Jedi authorities denied Jessica a chance to attend her predecessor in the two offices she used to hold, and was a far worse monster. But the Sith Triumvirate monsters would repeat such exactions anywhere in the galaxy as long as they exist as a faction. But clearly the Triumvirate leaves a trail of corpses everywhere they go. Geonosis one day, where else will they strike next? But the acolyte knew better than to reveal that he used to be a Triumvirate member. Yet said Triumvirate won a Pyrrhic victory against the Silver Sanctum five years ago, and the amount of wounded was staggering on the Sanctum's side. And Catria was that unofficial liaison between the Silver Sanctum and Ringo Vinda at the time, holding a position that was never officially recognized by the Silver Sanctum/Jedi. Two of the three incumbents of that position were here in that very room, that is, both Jedi: the one that was in office between them, in chronological order, is standing trial, and is unable to use the Force.

[member="Herr Vanderhing"]

 

[Herr Vanderhing]

Vanderhing was getting increasingly more annoyed

"Yes I do happen to know what they've done to us all! And I question if you actually realize it!" He stands up now fuming in anger "And yes, I happen to be the only one who calls them by their proper name........ MONSTERS!!!! THEY ARE MONSTERS AND FREAKS WHO SLAUGHTERED MY GEONOSIANS AND RUINED MY RALLY!!! AND NOW, I AM THE ONE UNDER QUESTIONING FOR PROVIDING JUSTICE!!!!!......... I have grown sick of this sideshow act, and I refuse to answer any more of your worthless questions, that are waiting MY time, until I speak to my lawyer!!!"

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"It would not make anyone any good to continue interrogating Herr in this condition"

"Why?" the acolyte asked.

"Anger in the person being interrogated would compromise any response we're going to get"

The acolyte would sense his own anger on top of Herr's. He was angry that he was unable to get all the answers he wanted out of Herr, the latter leaving the interrogation room. Which means that, by Herr ragequitting the interrogation room, the acolyte had to find another way to release its anger. Anger at the lack of reliability and/or precision of the information, anger at the bias of the information, anger at the very crimes for which they were interrogated. True, the Sith Triumvirate crashed the party, er, rally, but the official reports point at Hutt Cartel members being killed. Perhaps Herr mislabeled the Hutt Cartel criminals as being Sith Triumvirate members. Perhaps the Sith Triumvirate was using the Hutt Cartel as a proxy to operate in Confederate space. He cedes to his temptation, and he then proceeds to ask the same question to Jessica, knowing that she used alchaka to keep calm despite the anger spreading all around the room:

"Do you realize what you did to the Confederacy?"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I do know there has been a hiccup on Ryloth, but it was better at the time to retreat than to be roasted to pieces in space. But I had a relatively minor role in Stalgasin"

"Therein lies the reason why you have to be on Hypori, Jessica: if we succeed on Hypori, then we are on the right path to redemption"

"That doesn't answer the question in full"

The acolyte didn't quite get the answer he expected. For this reason he is tempted to use Force-lightning on Jessica but it has fizzled: he was only able to get a spark out of it. So he was doubly angry, and thus he proceeded to use Drain Knowledge to pick Jessica's brain again; if he previously found that Jessica had an astronomical amount of information in her head, then he could do it again for a large number of things. There he could get Maxwell's equations from her mind, and how to turn Maxwell's equations into Force-lightning. With Drain Knowledge, he would learn Force-lightning a lot faster than Catria herself learned Electric Judgment; she didn't have Jessica's computational power, and neither did the acolyte, but the acolyte had to take his time to digest the larger amount of information he copied from Jessica's mind in his desire to get even with her. Because Jessica knew from experience that, the more information a user of Drain Knowledge could copy from her brain, the more advanced the practitioner. Five years ago, she was merely complaining that she was being used as a computer in the Force; today, she can even sense what and how much others are copying from her in the Force.

"Now let's find out whether I have improved on my Drain Knowledge skill!"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Do you realize what you did to the Confederacy?" the acolyte asked again.

The acolyte found it difficult to make sense of Jessica's mental notes on electromagnetism and will realize the hard way that not all methods are suitable for all Force-users. Whereas Jessica and Catria could solve for Maxwell's equations in their heads, the acolyte simply lacked the computational power for that sort of thing. Which means that he either has to rely on a very approximate understanding of the data he obtained from Jessica through Drain Knowledge, or to use another mechanism altogether. He tries using Force-lightning without a sliver of understanding of what Maxwell's equations even mean, let alone solving for Jessica's. Meanwhile, sensing danger a split-second after, Jessica, in defense from his attempt at Force-lightning, instead prepares to use pyrokinesis in self-defense, but does not fire it just yet. As the blue lightning bolt emanates from the acolyte's hand, Jessica screams in pain while Force-lightning impacts her in the belly.

"Ouch! I'm hit!"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

From the moment Jessica gets hit by an angry Sith Acolyte, Jessica's mind snaps and lashes out the carefully-calculated increase in vibrational frequencies in the acolyte's double-bladed lightsaber, in hopes that the burning lightsaber would distract him for a while, causing him to relent. They were seemingly locked in a duel of space magic, of which the acolyte's only Force-weapon was the somewhat unpredictable Force-lightning, due to his lack of understanding of electromagnetism. He learned the hard way that a spellcaster able to calculate so precisely the effects of the Force is much more difficult to counter, since the red-hot lightsaber heated the belt holding its hilt. As he tried to maneuver, he realizes in horror that Jessica's mind is a lot faster than his, but he fires Force-lightning again, doing nothing more than making Jessica a little dizzy. After that she immediately changed her refraction index to -1, using the Force, making herself invisible.

"Where are you, Jessica?"

"Little acolyte, you will stop this duel of magic!" Catria told the acolyte, using the mind trick.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Jessica made me angry, she should learn her lesson!"

What the acolyte doesn't realize is that Jessica used multiple spells at once in the cramped confines of the interrogation room. Poor acolyte! Without knowing where his target is, he would never be able to even do so much as aim his space magic. Because Catria's mind trick failed, the Geonosian acolyte was now angry at both Jedi rather than at just Jessica; he used another Force-lightning on the blue-haired healer. She used Force-agility and Force-refraction to make herself invisible. But once these two spells fade, the acolyte is right in front of the blonde-haired Jedi whose refraction index is back to normal, and not facing the right way. His back is exposed to that Jedi, who uses cryokinesis and his feet freeze. And yet the acolyte hasn't given up yet and fires yet another round of Force-lightning at Jessica once the latter overtakes him. He doesn't suspect that Jessica is solving for his Maxwell's equations in the meantime.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

The acolyte managed to hit Jessica's breasts, distracting her for a few more seconds and slowing her mind down a little bit. Once the acolyte's Maxwell's equations are fully solved for in Jessica's mind, she unleashes another volley of Electric Judgment at the cost of intense migraines. Even though she has been accused of being more droid than person (and Cathul, too) due to her ability of calculating the effects of the Force at lightning-fast speeds, she is still a person: using multiple Force-powers in quick succession, each with their own demands on her brain, caused her computational power to saturate. When that happens, she knows that she must go all-out with the last Force-power she can afford to cast. Both people were caught in a green electric arc, making them both dizzy. Both people were pushed back by the sheer electric force between the two of them. Catria watched, amused, how much Jessica has grown in power, and how much skill she had gained in Electric Judgment. They'll be more or less fine physically, hopefully.

"I did that?" Jessica asked, incredulous, and in a rather low voice.

"Your Force-batteries are completely drained"

"Ouch: that's one space witch I wouldn't want to fight"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

After Catria removed Jessica's headaches using Force-healing (allowing her to think clearly again) and later removing the headaches Jessica caused onto the Geonosian acolyte during the magic duel, and they stood near each other, recharging their Force-batteries, being exhausted from their magic duel. To them it was a battle of wits, but now Jessica is confident that she could weaponize her offensive spells­, and fight at range using the Force. But once the acolyte's Force-batteries were back to normal, he proceeds to use Drain Knowledge to learn what exactly has transpired on Ryloth, again from Jessica's mind. Faulty intelligence that made Ryloth look like a PR disaster even though there were no shots fired, or casualties. Initially Rogue One Sith were going to be present, and they found a completely different force. While winnable on the ground, if they were blasted out in space, no way they could get any relief of supplies from off-world sources.

"Do you realize what you did to the Confederacy?"

"I made the then-Techno Empire look like cowards and these Sith Triumvirate rioters made us look like fools. Then again, we're barely a blip on the galactic radar"

"You did what was right in that context, Jessica. Better live to fight another day, like Hypori which is soon due to begin"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I see that you have come clean, Jessica. Very well, prepare for the expedition to Hypori"

"Are you going to go to Hypori, knowing I will not?" Catria asked the acolyte.

"I'm not going either. After all, I swore to be a magistrate in the Geonosian system of justice when I was offered to have my life spared"

So the Geonosian acolyte was to be some cog in the Geonosian court system? The Geonosian court system entitles hives to have a court at a given level according to the position of the hive in the hierarchy, and a hive with the highest courts can also operate at least one each of the courts at the lower levels. While the human ladies couldn't readily know how skilled he actually was at the practice of law from the standpoint of the bench, practicing law from the standpoint of the bench is not the same as practicing law from the standpoint of a lawyer. But they suspect that even a Force-sensitive judge would still have to earn its way to the top of the Geonosian legal system, where unfortunately having the right amount of favor with the right aristocrat could do wonders rather than the actual legal merits of lower court judges, when comes the time to appoint judges to higher-level courts, or sometimes to even hear cases from the bench at all.

"By the power vested in me by the bylaws of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, by the will of the Force, I dub thee, a Sith Knight"

"I shall henceforth be known as Darth Golbah, the only Geonosian alive to make it to Sith knighthood"