The Truth [Open to All]

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Rumours do seem to spread like wildfire the moment something truly terrible happens. People only catch a glimpse of the truth and draw their own conclusions, then spread their inaccurate views onto others, who again bastardise them into even less accurate depictions. The truth has until now only been known to those who were there to witness it with their own eyes. It was time to share the truth with the denizens of the galaxy.

The following broadcast would be sent to every major news station across the known galaxy, to every galactic organisation whose influence stretches across the stars. Everyone would know the truth today; whether they choose to believe it remains up to them.

"Greetings," the blue hologram spoke, bearing the Grandmaster's likeness. "I am Jedi Master Thurion Heavenshield, and I call on your attention to speak of what is most likely already the topic of countless conversations. I represent the Order of the Silver Jedi, as I have for many years now."

"A few days ago an unknown group comprised of Sith launched a full-scale attack on Korriban and several other worlds in the sector, all of which belonged to the Sith Empire of old. Korriban had long been under Silver Jedi control with the goal in mind to diminish the planet's darkside corruption, and we'd established several enclaves dedicated to this endeavour."

"The rumours you've probably picked up on by the time this message is broadcast mention how the 'honourable' Jedi sacrificed innocent lives to deny the enemy their foothold. You're probably reaching for your torches and pitchforks right now. Consider this message my honest attempt at setting the record straight." As the message goes on, his voice grows more intense.

"The bombardment of Korriban City is a tragic and terrible act. Civilian lives were lost - the people we were sworn to protect as Jedi. We are not blameless in this horrific event, but if you believe for one second that I or anyone else would ever give the order to commence such devastation upon innocent civilians, you are terribly mistaken. No, the decision was entirely made by the person in command of the vessel that carried out the foul deed."

"This person's name is [member="Charzon Loulan"]. She acted on her own accord, and she has the blood of thousands on her hands. Her current whereabouts are unknown, but rest assured we're taking steps to ensure she won't get far should she try and run. She is hereby declared an outlaw and war criminal by the Order of the Silver Jedi, and she will answer for her crimes, one way or another."

The intensity in his voice diminished until there was barely any left, and he let out a sigh. "As Jedi, it is our sworn duty to protect people. We failed in that regard, and we have to live with the guilt." There was a pause as he collected his thoughts. "When I felt the loss of so many lives, I personally gave the order to pull out our forces. Too much blood had already been spilled."

"I wish to ask something of you: I ask that you join me in a full minute of silence for the innocent lives lost at Korriban." His head slumped forward with his eyes closed, and would remain this way for an entire minute. "May the Force be with you. All of you, always."

 

[Undin Jaii Kryze]

The young Padawan sat down in the Library of the temple of Voss, waiting for the broadcast of Grandmaster Heavenshield. He wore no sunglasses today, neither had his lightsaber with him, he had heard rumors of what happened in Korriban. He was there, far away, but there, went the act was allegendly done.

After he heard who had done this, [member="Charzon Loulan"] , he remembered her. He had gone testing witch's brooms once with her. "Why did she think she had the right to do such an awfull thing? She is no better than Sith, that.... half-baked...no good...", he didn't even know the words to describe his anger towards her. Then, he realized, she was only but a lost soul. She made a bad decision, and for that bad decision, civlians were killed.

As the boy finished his minute of silence, he got up, shutting off the holoterminal where he was viewing this message, and started strolling around, trying to calm himself, and draw some attention from some nearby Younglings.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

As Darth Abyss watched the hologram his face deformed into a cruel, inhuman grin. Korriban was once more in the hands of those who it rightfully belonged, the sith. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. A jedi had cause a civil massacre, one that he couldn't have done better himself. How amusing. At the meeting of the sith order he had suggests civil victims as tactic against the jedi, only to be told that this wasn't the time for large scale destruction. How amusing. Normally he was responsible when it came to spreading news about jedi doing such things, and normally he was only spreading lies. How amusing.

A dark laugh left his lungs as the jedi master asked for minute of silence. The opportunities this would open up in the future were endless, and this message would be more than useful for his propaganda. Oh the jedi would pay for this mistake, Abyss would make sure of that. Time to get to work.

 

[RIP Carlyle Rausgeber]

Carlyle Rausgeber watched the proceedings from his comfortable leather sofa. The hologram of the Jedi, simulcast across all First Order planets flickered as the Silver Jedi master tried to explain his actions. Carlyle scoffed a little and sipped on his whiskey. "Excuses, excuses." he muttered quietly. For the last few days, the attack on Korriban had been all the First Order news services broadcast about. From the exclusive officers oasis, Cliveden which sat in downtown Avalonia. Carlyle had spent the last few days of his shore leave watching the debacle all unfold. He'd seen pictures of the ruins of Korriban City, and scenes of parents, taken by grief of their lost children. He felt disgusted by the hypocrisy of the Jedi. Preaching peace and love, and now this. The Captain turned to his TIE pilot compatriots once the broadcast finished, "Can you believe this poodoo?" he asked, "They're obviously covering their arses and putting this Charzon person up as a sacrificial lamb. Stupid Jedi."

[member="Sara Lee Jones"] | [member="Pierce Fortan III"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7c-n4k3XrU​

​

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]'s personal communicator, wherever it may have been, began to chime incessantly shortly after his public disinheritance of the individual responsible for the orbital bombardment of Korriban City rang out through the stars. Each pitched jingle was shrouded in a foreboding aura, as if each trill counted down the seconds to his agonizing doom. The beeping would neither stop nor slow in its consistency until it was answered, and once activated it would project a three-dimensional holographic image of a man dressed in baroque plate armor shrouded in a lengthy loose cloak sitting upon a throne sculpted from stone and wood. The individual's imminent surroundings would be indiscernible, but any form of signal tracing would reveal that the transmission was being broadcast from that dismal lightning-stricken world of Thule.

His face was concealed by heavy hood, but Thurion would know exactly it was who was calling him directly. A hand rose, armored fingers grasping the hem of the hood to slowly pull it back to reveal a man scarred by endless conflict, a full beard jutting from his lower face and jaw while his eyes burned with such an intense hatred that it could be felt across the vast emptiness of space.

"See now how you pay the price for your hubris, Heavenshield? Your efforts in the Caldera have failed miserably, and now you're responsible for the deaths of thousands. You and your kind thought that the darkness of the Caldera could be quenched, but you Jedi have never truly understood nor ever will you. The Sith Worlds cannot be cleansed, the Dark Side cannot be so easily wiped away. Mark my words, Heavenshield, the Caldera will never be yours to take so long as the Sith still draw breath in the galaxy, so run back home with your honor in tatters or the next time you and I meet each other face to face it will be to watch Midvinter burn."

 

[Nick Sept]

The ghost watched the hologram, grunting slightly. Friggin' bozos. Blame the Sith, blame the travel agent, blame the country. Hell, he remembered when he was the fall guy. When that Schutta half-brain named Garter put mind control chips in an entire army to preserve the Republic's sanctimonious lunacy. The ultimate truth was that war never changed. It never shifted. Politicians who couldn't fight happily condemned the war they helped created, crossing lines they were ordered to trespass upon. Poor discipline led to poor planning. Poor planning led to high casualties.



Nick simply adjusted his glasses. The dead man sighed. "These kids....always staying far away enough from the war....all playing. This is their ideal peace? Their hope in heaven? Pathetic...." He sighed, taking a cheap cigar off of the table and lighting it. Solid for three hours, we was gonna spend all of it smoking. Then, it was time to talk to some people. Spookily. "Blessed are the peacekeepers, for they shall evade my wrath. Less blessed are the liars, because I am petty," the man in black said with a wave of his hand.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

"We estimate that she will achieve limited physical functionality within two weeks. Psychological reconstruction will take longer. The trauma inflicted upon her can have detrimental effects on her psyche. She may harbour resentment against us due to organic irrationality."


"Reconstruction shall be accompanied by psychological reconditioning. We've invested a lot in this unit. We made errors whilst raising her and she was weak as a result. Moulding her in our image shall strengthen her."


"Studies indicate that extensive use of cybernetics may weaken Force potential. We do not know enough about the phenomena called the Force to make a complete assessment."


"She will adapt or be discarded. What transpired on Korriban should incentivise her."


This was how it felt to be Enyo Typhos at the moment: One image was etched into her brain. That of fire and brimstone raining down upon a city, beams of turbolaser fire lancing down from the sky, vaporising both buildings and human beings. The fire burnt as brightly as a supernova. She remembered trying to do the right thing and save a child. She remembered her body being broken and shattered.


Above all, she remembered anger, glowing white-hot with a burning, all-consuming rage. Rage against the Jedi, rage against Archangel for sending her to Korriban...and against her own weakness. It was a flood of impotent anger, a hunger for revenge.


A hyper-sophisticated surgical droid and an enhanced medical droid, both built by Archangel, laboured day and night to reconstruct the woman's broken body. Damaged internal organs would be replaced. Weak, organic flesh would be replaced with cybenetics. For the flesh was weak, metal was not. Naturally, no one saw the need to ask for her consent. She was expected to function like a cog in a well-oiled machine.


The clone was only dimly aware of what was transpiring around her, being sedated for her own safety. Here and there, she regained consciousness, but it was not long before she was once again pulled into the realm of Morpheus. What gave her solace was the image of her sister, [member="Amara Zarides"]. It was something for her to hold on her, a candle in the darkness.


Throughout her treatment, she would be given the best of care, and subtly fed a healthy dose of propaganda in order to assure her loyalty, whilst stoking the fires of her own rage. Control of her environment and the flow of information was key. Coincidentally, she would also eventually hear part of the broadcast of Grand Master Thurion Heavenshield. Suffice to say, she did not believe a word of it. Perhaps this was also convenient to her, for she'd come to Korriban in the company of Sith who unleashed undead monstrosities. To her, the proclamations of the Jedi were nothing but excuses and attempts to shift blame. She'd respect them more if they didn't try to 'apologise'.


There was no Light, there was no Dark. There was no good side. She had been weak and paid the price...but not again. There was a part of her hated Archangel as well. The clone stared into the abyss, and the abyss stared back at her. There would be blood.

 

[Ria Misrani]

Charlyra's upper lip curled in disgust. "They know not the meaning of the word, Jedi." Her fists balled tightly until her knuckles turned white, she laid in her recovery room. Healing from the battle on Castameer. These Silver Jedi were only that in name and not in action, and it made her sick to know that once this name had been something to be feared - something a dark sider knew to steer clear of. Now, it was nothing more than a precious title no different from another, and once more the name of the Jedi would be dragged through the mud. While Charlyra herself had long since divorced herself from ways of old, in her heart of hearts she still clung to those teachings.

To answer power with power is not the Jedi way.​

​

She sat in her recovery room watching the footage of the bombing of Korriban, and her anger grew. Charlyra calmed herself, reminding herself of the early lessons her masters [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] and [member="Tempest"] had given her. She could not allow her emotions to control her, still. It burned her on the inside to see what had become of these Silvers. She could not stand for it, refused to simply let this be. And so she let the anger fester, for as long as it would - and then she gave into an introspection. Meditating on the path she would choose. Reminding herself of what it meant to be Firemane, "there is passion, yet emotion." Her passion for doing what was right, the emotion she felt over the course of actions these Silvers had taken. They were no different than the Sith at this point, no better - in fact, they were now on par or worse than the Sith. "There is serenity, yet peace."

Peace is a lie, my apprentice... Darth Saprus broke through the webbings of the Force, there is only passion - you have this passion. Punish these Silvers for their actions, destroy them.

I am not your apprentice, I am not your acolyte. There is chaos yet order - through the chaos there will be order and the galaxy will right this wrong, but not by your hand or mine.

I see... Chained to your masters are you? I can break those chains, if you like.

You will do no such thing! There is no dark side, there is no light side there is only the force!

Through your passion you can gain strength, and through strength power! And with power, victory! I will come for you Charlyra Araano, soon - and we shall see who remains standing at the end of it all, mhmm?

I am the wielder of the flame, the protector of balance. I am the holder of the torch, a soldier of balance. I am the balance, I am the Force. I am Firemane.

Charlyra repeated her code in her mind, a mantra to keep Darth Saprus out of her head. She laid in her bed, her aura fluctuating as the mental combat waged between her and Saprus. Saprus doing her best to lure Charlyra away from Firemane, and Charlyra standing her ground. I will serve your head to that of my masters, Siobhan and Tempest. You can join your apprentice, Tabium, on our wall... But that shall be your fate, the fate of the Silvers does not rest in my hand. Nor does it rest in yours, it rests in those that were wronged. The Force will balance this out or I shall balance it in the name of the Force, but until I am called to do so - you are not permitted into my mind. I am a Fire Sister of Firemane's own Order. And you shall perish by our hands, Darth Saprus. This is not a threat, but a promise.

I welcome it, dear.

I'm counting on it.

 

[Michael Shado]

Within the bars of Nar Shaddaa, Michael found himself bar hopping to one to another with his vod'ika, [member="Cerasi Kent"]. It wasn't til the last one that the alor found them with another named [member="Alkor Centaris"], buying drinks left and right for each other, and enjoying the night. If Michael recalled, this man had been at the Five Dunes, but there was no point in mentioning it. Not when there was drinking, and fun.

"Vod'ika, you must try this, it's like someone dipped their shebs in it. It's terribly good!"

Said Michael as he passed his drink to his little sister. Suddenly, the small holonews radio began broadcasting something from the Silver Jedi, and their recent bombardment of Korriban. Michael had only heard little things about it, but he knew it was a big deal.

"Ah, vod, how does that sit with you? The bombardment of Korriban by the Jetii? We have a name for that, dema'golka."

 

[Alkor Centaris]

"Silence? For the dead?"

Centaris sat watching the feed with a blank expression once [member="Thurion Heavenshield"] finished his drawn out shunting of blame. There were many ways to say "it's not my fault," and some of them even managed to be halfway convincing. The fallen Jen'jidai firmly believed that this man considered his words to be deeply meaningful, and perhaps the Master even truly believed the things that fell from his lips. Alkor was not convinced. "Piss on that, the dead have silence enough where they have gone."

Alkor raised his shotgun, closed one eye, and fired at the screen. It exploded into fragments. Sparks and ruin adorned the wall where it once sat, along with a large indentation from where the round impacted. "These dead you're on about can't forgive you, Master Jedi," he drawled though the man would never hear. "Nor do they care who gave the order. They found their way to hell just fine."

He replaced the weapon on the table between himself and [member="Michael Shado"], then reached for his drink. "That's the real difference between men like me and the Jetiise," he slurred as his deep blue eyes opened once more, set on the other Mando'ad. "At least I can embrace the monster inside me, rather than denying it exists at all."

The man sipped his ale, soured by the scene. "I don't care who the Jedi kill, or why," he replied simply. "But they ought to watch their backs."

He leaned forward and placed a credit chip on the table before Shado. "Because I'd just as soon kill them."

 

[Cerasi Kent]

She didn't know why she let her vod drag her around bar jumping. She didn't particularly care for the activity. She hadn't drank much at all, just watching her brother get more intoxicated. They had run into another too, [member="Alkor Centaris"]. She didn't know the man, but he was a brother too.

Tonight, for once, Cerasi wasn't dressed in her full battle armour. She chose just a simple tunic and pants and a vest. Her blasters were strapped in holsters around her thighs. Very casual, but not to be mistaken as not as deadly without her armour.

Her brother shoved a bottle her way, declaring it tasted sheb-dipped. She sniffed it, recoiled a bit, the bitterness already hitting the back of her throat. "N-nayc vor'e." She politely declined the ale, sliding the drink back to her brother. That was when the news came on, breaking news, of the Jetii attacking Korriban. Before any of them could get more information, the holo radio exploded. She looked over at their newest companion just as he set the still-smoking blaster on the counter.

 

[Hailyn]

Somewhere in the galaxy a Sith Lord chuckled at the news of what had actually transpired on Korriban during the middle of her resurrection. 'So it was the Jedi that caused that tear in the force?' Silara thought. She felt no anger or emotion beyond satisfaction at that enlightenment. For the first time in a very long time, at least during the years that Silara had still been living, it was the Jedi that were being condemned for genocide and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians along with perceived enemies.

'How amusing.'

Silara had been on Ziost, in the middle of securing her resurrection and return to power when it had happened. She'd felt it of course, the sudden death of so many people and the shock and fear that spread like wildfire throughout the system immediately as news spread. The Sith had fed on that collective fear, animosity, anger, and pain, too, to expedite her short ritual. The woman hadn't attempted to stick around to learn who had done whatever it was that caused such massive death, but she'd assumed that a Sith group had gone about killing innocents - it was the only reason she could possibly reason why some flippant young man had tried to confront her just after she'd completed the process.

He'd questioned her identity, as if she had one that would mean anything to him, and then she was asked if she was going to wreak havoc on the populace. He, of course, would have been entirely outmatched at the time - if he thought that he could have waged a war with her through might in the force - but she wasn't some mindless brute and had no reason to either engage him in some pointless duel that gave her no benefit or to kill a large amount of civilians when she had absolutely no desire to draw attention to her rebirth. The last thing she needed was her face, which was already warping through alchemy to mirror her original at a snail's pace, to be plastered on wanted posters, spread over the holonet, and broadcast on screen galaxy-wide.

Infamy was pleasant, but infamy that brought her status to a family she had no right to be a part of was not something she would willingly engage in.

Remaining an unknown, especially now, was far more important than acting like an idiotic acolyte. Still, this nonsense of placing the entirety of the blame on the shoulders of one person was laughable - if it had been a rogue member of the One Sith that had done this the Silvers, Republic, and Mandalorians would be pressing for another battle on some world-to-be-devastated. Of course, she'd heard about the recent fall of the One Sith and the rogue group that sprung from their ashes. The moment she'd discovered that the Dark Lord had, in fact, been killed in a coup within the Sith she was unsurprised by their demise and the subsequent demise of the splinter cell that rose up afterward. He had been their anchor, their reason, and the infallible leader that led them victorious through every single invasion they had taken part in. The moment he was gone? Certainly moment carried them through a few more.. but they quickly lost traction, they lost loyal followers, and then they lost the battles that they picked until they were cleaved wide open by the Galactic Alliance.

'What happened to "There is no Death", Jedi? So quick to express guilt, to condemn a so-called traitor, and yet your action is to retreat from a system that likely would have gullibly accepted your aid.'

'But I suppose the guilt is not misplaced, being that the blood is on the hands of the Silver Jedi.'

'No order might have been given to the imbecile that so brazenly ruined the perfected image of the Jedi, but they were bred like a feral dog to learn to make their decisions that way. Raised to hate their foes - to hate the Sith - with such passion that they struck out against so many. Why, I might even hazard to call the Order of the Silver Jedi a coven of Dark Jedi. Clearly they promote an environment conducive of the dark side.'

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


Having watched the broadcast, Siobhan just narrowed her eyes before shaking her head. "Jedi...," she muttered, sounding slightly exasperated. "You denounce her, good. Go put a lightsabre in her throat. Withdrawing from the Caldera is just cowardice. War's hell. I wondere where he was when Sith armies landed on Thule." She switched off the holotelly.

 

[Keira Priest]

Her first thought upon hearing the news had been, At least I'm not on either side this time. That meant none of this would have any immediate, direct effect on her or hers, which was all she could ask for at this point. Throughout the years she had been called to war for less than this, and being a neutral party meant recompense from the typical call to arms that followed something of this scale. It gave her time to sit back and gauge the damage while deciding what the best course of action was. Thus far it seemed the majority of the galaxy was still reeling in shock from the tragic happening, but Keira had no doubt there were already others assembling the full strength of their military to capitalize on something like this.

Thankfully the Crusaders wouldn't be taking part in the following unrest, at least to her knowledge. As callous as the mindset no doubt seemed to outsiders, those hadn't been their civilians. There was no doubt that it was an utterly terrible thing those lives had been lost, but it wasn't worth them starting any kind of conflict over. The Silvers had made themselves out as an entity to be watched over carefully, but no attack would be launched. The only thing this incident had proven to her and the rest of the galaxy was that the Jedi weren't altogether fit for their roles as supposed galactic peacekeepers. This had only furthered her opinion of them as being relatively useless on a galactic scale.

For the past forty-five minutes or so she had been sitting in a lounge area on Echoy'la watching the general broadcasts, maintaining an awkward silence with a small group of those within the clone army, including [member="Commander Lusk"] himself. Not a word had been exchanged between them, and all had secluded themselves to their own worlds in relative distant proximity to each other. When the image of the Silver Jedi Grandmaster overtook the screen her position shifted, and she sat up just a little straighter. None of what he said was different from what had been expected, and the shifting of the blame was a wasted, worthless effort in her eyes. In the end none of the semantics really mattered, but that was all the Jedi were ever on about.

"Di'kutla Jetiise." The insult was muttered under her breath, and she rolled her eyes, none of them within the lounge seeming to acknowledge the presence of the others for a long moment. Each was lost in their own private thoughts, coming to terms with this in their own way. To her everything had already been made up, and her opinion of the Jedi had only continued to decline. The word vod'ika almost fell past her lips, had she known it wouldn't receive immediate enmity from all those gathered, not to mention the one it was intended for. Instead she only supplied them with a look, glancing to the screen as if to say, 'Well? What now?' This resembled entirely too much the beginning of the end for the Republic they had all once sworn to protect, and they all knew that.

Spoiler

 

[Sara Lee Jones]

[member="Carlyle Rausgeber"]

She finished her glass and looked to the screen before she rolled her eyes in disgust * seems Jedi will do that, you mess up even once they will make sure to hang you out for the wolves*she said and looked to Carlyle * i mean look so quick to claim that the person isn't their own....*she shook her head* truly disgusting

She said and ordered another drink

 

[The Mistaken]

oops

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"I can't believe Charzon would do that! I know her corporation would build armed freighters all right, but I would never suspect that she would actually 1) recondition an armed freighter into a carrier, 2) Charzon has NO Force-training whatsoever, let alone Jedi training, because she is unable to use the Force and 3) Ringo Vinda, which was her home base, is NOT Silver Jedi property. As a result, Charzon cannot be regarded as a Silver Jedi on her own merits. Plus she is rather inexperienced as a fleeter. IGR Brokerage and, along with it, Clan Lok, pledges some money and materials for reconstruction of Korriban City, as well as connecting Korriban to the Galactic Multi-Listing System"

Cathul was more Jedi than she was willing to admit, especially given her approach to what she does for a business and in government. She did fight Sith Lords on occasion, but she never seemed to be one to actually fight them on a regular basis, even with her songsteel slugthrower shooting 7.62x54s. She heard patients talking much more often about how slugthrowers were more effective at hunting down Sith Lords than blasters, back in her baat'kaysh days. But she respects a minute of silence for Korriban victims. Would the Sith Order, now ruling Korriban, be willing to work with her to rebuild Korriban City?