Private Uncertain Point of View

[Jend-Ro Quill]

QUILL RESIDENCE
FERRYMAN'S REACH, PAGODON
CIRCA 900 ABY​

The Romi Jade trial coverage played nonstop on a small screen in the library, surrounded by multispecies books and empty mugs. Quill got little sleep these days. More than once he'd taken out the old pill bottle he used to visit ecumenopoleis at extreme need. Coruscant didn't need to be that bad.

But then again, Coruscant had the show. Coruscant didn't have the truth. Every line he heard from prosecution, defense, Jedi, Alliance, experts came gift-wrapped with two or three reasons to doubt its framing or its honesty. Shame underscored the realization, once or twice a day, that the same doubt applied to whatever his old friend Romi said. A former Darksider himself - born and raised in the Raskava - Quill understood all too well how memory could shift just for survival. Just so you could live with yourself.

Everyone involved had an outcome in mind. To punish; to absolve. Quill searched his heart and found he only wanted to know. Once he was sure of that, then he could trust himself to find out.

Snow was coming down like hyperspace. He missed Hoth, even its periodic chaos. He was reading the ancient war-poem Sugaan Essena and had been for hours; it was not a long poem. Around nightfall he stuffed his pilgrim's pack with the usuals: simple clothes, a notebook, a lightsaber. He shuffled outside, locked the door, and whistled into the wind for the ferryman.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

MARA CORRIDOR
EN ROUTE TO PANTORA​

Quill bundled up in a back corner of a charter transport, avoiding people.

The Pantoran Assembly's charges, which Quill had copied down verbatim in his notebook, were as follows:

1. Looting Ancient Artifacts: She is charged with stealing and desecrating valuable Jedi artifacts.
2. Destruction of Rhen Var: The prosecution alleges that her actions directly led to the further destruction of Rhen Var's ecosystem and the planet's further uninhabitability.
3. Destruction of Cultural Heritage: The Pantoran Assembly charges Romi with willfully destroying cultural heritage on Rhen Var, including historical and artistic sites, thereby erasing the planet's cultural identity, as well as on Pantora.
4. Inciting Sith Aggression: The Pantoran Assembly claims her redemption efforts directly led to the Sith Empire's attack on Pantora.
5. Sabotage and Espionage: Romi is charged with infiltrating and sabotaging Outer Rim Coalition's operations while working with the Sith Empire on Rhen Var. Her actions allegedly led to the deaths of numerous Outer Rim Coalition members and the compromise of their defense strategies.
6. Torture and Interrogation: The prosecution claims that Romi was directly involved in the torture and interrogation of captured Jedi and Outer Rim Coalition soldiers to extract information and weaken their resistance.
7. Forced Labor and Slavery: Romi is accused of overseeing the forced labor and enslavement of captured civilians on Rhen Var, as they were used for mining and resource extraction under brutal conditions.
8. Assault on Pantora: While Romi fought in defense of Pantora, her actions are scrutinized in the trial, with claims that her involvement in the battle inadvertently led to further civilian casualties and infrastructure damage.
9. Excessive Use of Force: The charges include accusations of disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force during battles, causing unnecessary harm to civilians and property.
10. Sabotage of Peace Efforts: The Pantoran Assembly argues that Romi's actions on Rhen Var and subsequently Pantora undermined previous peace negotiations and provoked further hostilities for Pantora from other governments/factions.

There were attached lists of cultural and historic sites on both Rhen Var and Pantora, which added considerably to his places to start. He'd also accessed Outer Rim Coalition/Outer Planets Alliance records from his time with them. That time had included personal involvement in support to Pantora and, prior to that, the battle at Rhen Var. Often over the past few days, he'd found himself consumed by the idea that he'd been there, and should have known more.

One had to be meticulous about these things. Systematic.

First: there were three battles involved. In sequential order:

• The ORC/OPA assault on Rhen Var. Quill had been there.
• The Sith Empire's successful invasion of Pantora in retaliation. Quill had not been there.
• The ORC/OPA reclamation of Pantora one year later. Quill had been there.

In theory he should be going to Rhen Var first, to handle things chronologically, but Pantora was much closer to Pagodon and not in Imperial hands. Rhen Var would be much more challenging. To Pantora, then.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

PANTORA ORBIT​

You could rent basic sublight shuttlecraft on many worlds, and Pantora was no exception. Out of practice at commerce, Quill muddled through the rental at an orbital hub and took a nondescript shuttle out to orbit.

Based on ORC/OPA records, Jade's involvement at the Sith invasion had been based on a CR90 corvette in orbit. Quill found a traffic-free place in a similar orbit and began to meditate. This kind of work took patience. Visions, sensing echoes, didn't always come when you called, or in predictable ways.

What he found was...brief. It arrived quickly and simply. There'd been a moment, an inflection point, when Master Jade began to use battle meditation. She'd exerted a pervasive, subtle influence on the combatants: battle meditation bolstered the resolve and morale of your chosen side, and tried to reduce it on the other side.

A second clear echo presented itself: Master Jade fully engaged in battle meditation, and resisting some form of mental attack.

That appeared to be the extent of her involvement at the Sith Empire's invasion of Pantora: sitting in orbit, attempting to improve the defenders' morale and decrease the attackers' aggression. Full stop.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

The obvious next questions were:

• What actions did the defenders take during the Sith invasion of Pantora?
• Did any of those actions substantiate any of the allegations?
• If so, did Master Jade's battle meditation plausibly cause or exacerbate them?

He delved as he could, both in the Force and in the records he'd pondered en route, searching for connections. The big picture of the battle unfolded to him: the surprise Sith orbital bombardment; ORC supporting Pantoran defense forces in their efforts to keep the Sith fleet away from the planet; the Pantoran authorities' complex efforts to put up regional shields and coordinate an evacuation as the Sith summoned a two-hundred-metre monster in the capital; the Sith forces' indiscriminate gravity bombing in near space. Battle meditation would have assisted the Pantoran defenders and their ORC allies in all those efforts subtly and indirectly. It hadn't been enough.

So far as Quill could determine, Master Jade's involvement in this particular battle had been exemplary and at arm's length. There was no indication anywhere, in vision or record, that she'd done anything at the defense of Pantora except improve the Pantorans' own will and coordination at a moment when they desperately needed it. He found no indication that her actions at this particular battle substantiated any of the charges whatsoever.

So much for the easy part.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill turned his attention to the events of one year later: the OPA's reclamation of Pantora, which had hinged on assisting the beleaguered Pantoran authorities with the instalment of shield technology and the control of Sith cultists. Quill had thought himself familiar with these events. He'd been part of that effort elsewhere in the system, negotiating with the Talz of Ordo Plutonia and helping them disable a Sith device called a Seed of Rage.

There'd been chaos on the surface and in space. Pantoran Guard, OPA forces, and irregulars had fought cultists and ex-First Order pirates. In the year leading up to this fight and in the fight itself, yes, there'd been real damage to hab blocks, infrastructure, cultural sites. A grim business.

Romi Jade had not been involved. Not in that battle, not anywhere.

Quill pulled back to his grounded, tangible surroundings, the interior of the rented shuttle. He'd turned off the artificial gravity to drift in the dark, with the viewports oriented toward the planet below. He needed to make sense of this.

The Dark Side could cloud everything, of course. There had to be something he was missing. He reached out to bend probability in the Suerton manner, as an augment to his work. He needed a stroke of luck.

He got one, and it left him more baffled than before: a snippet of Master Jade's voice from other events, long gone and far away:

Apparently there was more than one of me running rampant on Pantora.

A new vision opened, three distinct bursts: more clarity on the telepathic assault that she'd suffered at the initial Sith invasion, and how she'd struck back. There was a name in there: Vi'kas. And a face that was like and unlike Master Jade.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Apparently there was more than one of me...

The fragment stuck with Quill. It provided a focal point to reexamine the Sith invasion. In very short order, a new vision resolved as Quill drifted in the dark shuttle: an infiltrator, a doppelganger, first deceiving the Jedi and then betraying them. She'd done so in full view of at least half a dozen people - at the same time as the actual Romi Jade was at work aboard the corvette in orbit. The more Quill probed the visions and pored over the records available to him, the clearer the picture became. It didn't just cast reasonable doubt on charges one, three, and six in relation to Pantora, it exonerated her outright, and might explain elements of the other charges too.

He turned on the gravity and lights again. In very small letters, across two notebook pages, he wrote:

Charge	Pantora (in orbit for first battle, not present at second)	Rhen Var (preceding both Pantora battles)
Looting Ancient Artifacts: She is charged with stealing and desecrating valuable Jedi artifacts.	Certainly did not do; impersonator may have.	Unknown
Destruction of Rhen Var: The prosecution alleges that her actions directly led to the further destruction of Rhen Var's ecosystem and the planet's further uninhabitability.	N/A	Unknown
Destruction of Cultural Heritage: The Pantoran Assembly charges Romi with willfully destroying cultural heritage on Rhen Var, including historical and artistic sites, thereby erasing the planet's cultural identity, as well as on Pantora.	Certainly did not do; impersonator may have.	Unknown
Inciting Sith Aggression: The Pantoran Assembly claims her redemption efforts directly led to the Sith Empire's attack on Pantora.	Possible; check actions taken at/after RV.	Unknown
Sabotage and Espionage: Romi is charged with infiltrating and sabotaging Outer Rim Coalition's operations while working with the Sith Empire on Rhen Var. Her actions allegedly led to the deaths of numerous Outer Rim Coalition members and the compromise of their defense strategies.	N/A	Unknown
Torture and Interrogation: The prosecution claims that Romi was directly involved in the torture and interrogation of captured Jedi and Outer Rim Coalition soldiers to extract information and weaken their resistance.	Certainly did not do; impersonator may have done	Unknown
Forced Labor and Slavery: Romi is accused of overseeing the forced labor and enslavement of captured civilians on Rhen Var, as they were used for mining and resource extraction under brutal conditions.	N/A	Unknown
Assault on Pantora: While Romi fought in defense of Pantora, her actions are scrutinized in the trial, with claims that her involvement in the battle inadvertently led to further civilian casualties and infrastructure damage.	Spent entire battle in a noncombatant ship in orbit, resisting telepathic attack and engaging in broad battle meditation to bolster Pantoran/ally morale/coordination and sap enemy morale/coordination. Certainly did not do; impersonator may have done.	Unknown
Excessive Use of Force: The charges include accusations of disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force during battles, causing unnecessary harm to civilians and property.	Certainly did not do (spent battle in noncombat ship); impersonator may have done.	Unknown
Sabotage of Peace Efforts: The Pantoran Assembly argues that Romi's actions on Rhen Var and subsequently Pantora undermined previous peace negotiations and provoked further hostilities for Pantora from other governments/factions.	Unlikely; supporting role at Pantora; impersonator may have done.	Unknown
OVERVIEW	Certainly not guilty of any war crimes; indirectly involved in only one of the two battles. The only outstanding items are what unknown actions the impersonator may have taken while RJ was provably elsewhere, and - crucially - whether RJ incited the Sith invasion. This also seems unlikely. If anyone other than the Sith Empire is responsible for the attack, it is probably the ORC/OPA leadership that decided to raid Rhen Var.	Unknown

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

RHEN VAR
EMPIRE OF THE LOST
​

A shivering Ithorian smuggler deposited Quill in a long-broken icefield. Quill exhaled and watched his breath become a cloud. Rhen Var was a pleasant place in its way, with a touch of the chill he so loved from his many years on Hoth and Pagodon. He'd been here for the battle in question, but at a different location: Dreypa's Peak.

He found himself slogging through snow into a cave opening where, if the echoes were right, a Dark-corrupted Romi Jade had crouched many years ago. He could almost smell the Sith poison in her veins; the echo was that distinct.

The cave led into buried stairs and galleries; he stalked Master Jade's long-ago steps down and through. His vision expanded - or rather, the overlay of the echoes on the spaces he was traversing by saberlight - as he realized that she had been walking with, and obeying, Darth Arcanix herself. In a gallery space or old public square, he watched Jade challenge Coren Starchaser. Catching only snippets of their conversation and fight, he watched Starchaser generate Force Light, and Jade respond...positively. Jade turned on Arcanix, Arcanix disabled Starchaser and summoned things that Quill refused to observe directly even in vision, and Jade tossed a grenade at Arcanix and dragged Starchaser out to save him.

The echoes faded. Quill deactivated his lightsaber and took a seat on a stone column scarred by that grenade.

Master Jade's actions during the battle seemed extraordinarily straightforward. But several of the allegations hinged on what she'd done before and after. He needed to think.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

So Master Jade had turned on a ranking Sith, but there was no reasonable connection between that and the invasion of Pantora. Which meant that if charge number four had any substance at all, it would have taken place after ORC attacked Rhen Var and before the invasion, a fairly short window of time. There was no doubt, of course, that the invasion had been retaliation for the ORC attack - but Master Jade had been Arcanix's thrall and incapable of inciting Rhen Var, not remotely culpable. So what, if anything, had she done to oppose the Sith between those two battles?

Probability twisted again. He got glimpses of Master Jade meeting with old friends, participating in skirmishes against Mandalorians and slavers, being promoted to Jedi Master by a large conclave...

But nothing he could see, anywhere, in any strand of the past, no echo, no record, nothing connected Romi Jade in particular with the retaliation at Pantora. ORC had struck Rhen Var, the Sith had struck back, and that was that.

Which, so far as the Pantora side of the charges were concerned, and with the caveat that the impersonator could have done any number of things...Romi Jade was nothing but a scapegoat.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

A new notebook page, then, scrawled by saberlight in the broken city beneath Rhen Var:

Charge	Pantora (aboard noncombat ship for 1st battle, not present at 2nd, impersonator planetside for unknown amt of time)	Rhen Var (preceding both Pantora battles)
Looting Ancient Artifacts	Did not do	Unknown
Destruction of Rhen Var	N/A	Unknown
Destruction of Cultural Heritage	Did not do	Unknown
Inciting Sith Aggression	Did not do	Minimal
Sabotage and Espionage	N/A	Unknown
Torture and Interrogation	Did not do	Unknown
Forced Labor and Slavery	N/A	Unknown
Assault on Pantora	Did not do	No connection
Excessive Use of Force	Did not do	Unknown
Sabotage of Peace Efforts	Did not do	Unknown
OVERVIEW	Scapegoat	Unknown

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

The Dark Side clouded visions still. He found little when he reached back for a better sense of what Master Jade had done during her servitude, and he couldn't say whether that silence was the Dark at work or a simple lack of events. All that turned up at this stage were glimpses of the odd training/indoctrination session, a confrontation with a former Master, and the occasional nefarious but low-caliber errand - all loomed-over by the presence of Arcanix. Everything lined up well with what Master Jade had said at the trial about the scope of her role:

"I held the rank of a Shadow Hand, in majority of cases it was the title given to the second-in-command of the Sith monarch. In my case, it was considered a term equivalent to an apprentice...an agent. I was indentured to a Sith Lord, known then as Darth Arcanix. I was not privy to any strategic planning revolving around the planet's subjugation. That was above me."

As with Pantora, nothing emerged about the specific cultural sites listed in the charges, but Quill felt this qualified under 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.'

He rested from his visions for a long while in the cold dark. The questions that had gripped him were, he felt, coming to a resolution. Beyond a reasonable doubt, the Pantora charges were without foundation. The same was true for two of the Rhen Var charges. The seventh charge - overseeing civilian enslavement - he judged as unlikely; the fallen, coerced Jedi Knight he'd watched in vision hadn't been overseeing anything. There was every likelihood, though, that her errand-lackey role for Arcanix on Rhen Var could have involved artifact theft, damage to cultural sites, torture, environmental damage, and general mayhem on an incidental basis. The prosecution's evidence was minimal so far, but even so, he couldn't dismiss any of those likelihoods beyond a reasonable doubt.

And empathy aside, if she'd done it, the people of Rhen Var - not the Pantoran politicians, not the Imperial politicians, not the Alliance politicians, not the Jedi politicians, the people of Rhen Var - deserved a voice in the outcome. A recompense. Maybe she'd given one before. Maybe she'd just wanted to put the past as far behind as possible, and failed to make it right. She wouldn't be the first.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

No further visions presented themselves down there in the subterranean ruins, but not for lack of effort. Once the ration bars ran low he caught and cooked small animals with his lightsaber. Those were his only times of light. He needed to focus. These ruins enabled that better than anywhere but home.

He wanted desperately to go home. He still had work to do.

He climbed to the surface near a half-ruined settlement where he could catch a ride. Send a message, too: he wrote up everything he'd discovered and surmised and sent it to Coren Starchaser , who might or might not have already given his testimony. Either way, Coren would know what to do with it.

Nobody owed Quill's file a presumption of objectivity, of course. But having left the Order decades ago over Jedi war crimes, Quill figured he had at least a little credibility in matters like these.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

CONTEXT

The night chill came down heavily on the settlement. Not far from where Quill had left the caves, this place was half ruins, a sleepy village built around blasted stone. He'd wrapped up sending his notes to Coren. Now, a bowl of local soup in hand, Quill hunkered in by a fire.

He'd felt the Dark Side growing all afternoon in unfamiliar but tangible ways. Though he'd have liked to take proper shelter in the middle of town, he couldn't risk some supernatural event or counterstroke putting these worn-down people at risk. So he sat alone as usual, at the edge of town, in ruins that gave him a good view of anything that might approach him, from the cave mouth or elsewhere. He kept his back to the fire's warmth so he could see trouble coming.

OOC/ Romi Jade — if your cult does want to act, go for it, here's as good a place as any

 

[Romi Jade]

The frigid expanse of Rhen Var lay still beneath the sprawling night sky, its icy plains untouched by warmth. Varek, the enigmatic but young operative of the Twilight Fist, surveyed Jend-Ro Quill from his concealed perch, a shadow woven into the fabric of the freezing darkness. His predatory gaze honed in on the unsuspecting Jedi as he meticulously planned an assault aimed not at annihilation, but capture - to stall.

Cloaked in the seamless dark fabric that melded with the night, Varek moved with calculated precision through the crunching snow. His every step was deliberate, the biting cold doing little to hinder his silent approach. The wind, laden with the whispers of the Dark Side, carried Varek's malevolent murmurs toward Quill.

"Alone in the ruins, Jedi? A precarious position for one who seeks to unravel the shadows," Varek's whispered taunt lingered in the frigid air. Observing from the shadows, he meticulously tried to gauge Quill's vulnerability, plotting the most opportune moment to strike.

As Quill huddled by the dwindling fire, seeking refuge from the biting cold, Varek circled silently, staying beyond Quill's peripheral vision. His strategy was not one of immediate confrontation but of a patient predator closing in for a calculated capture. The ruins themselves, with their jagged edges and skeletal structures, were integral to Varek's plan.

When the wind rose, Varek seized the moment. A sudden gust swept through the icy ruins, unsettling the embers of the fire. In that precise instant, he emerged from the shadows, his cloak billowing like a specter. Varek's actions were swift, but not overtly threatening; his intent was to disorient and immobilize, not to inflict immediate harm.

Quill, hopefully caught off guard for Varek to have the upper hand, would be inundated with a swift and calculated sequence of motions. The operative could only hope he could immobilize Quill quicker than the pilgrim could react or resort to using the Force. Varek, much younger, was planning to rely instead on his own physical prowess and the psychological vulnerability of the Jedi.

---

Jend-Ro Quill

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

That whispered taunt felt like Quill's own thoughts, and aligned with them too. He peered into the gloom for its source. He perceived nothing.

On the plus side, he knew exactly where this unknown enemy was going to be, and sooner rather than later: right here. Quill stayed seated with his back to the fire.

When the moment felt right, he breathed deep. And as the young man in the billowing cloak made himself known, Quill exhaled.

Once upon a time, he and his son Tilon had gone to visit with the Progenitor and the Order of Shasa. Ahto City had become Tilon's home — a beautiful place. Quill still treasured the memories of that first visit.

Including their shared education in the Progenitor's Call.

When he exhaled it came out as a deep, resonant, blatting whalesong. An echo of the ancient Firaxa whale-shark's influence swelled out from Quill and bore down on the minds of anyone around in disorienting ways. A good night's sleep or some serious meditation could clear your mind of the Progenitor's Call. Quill did not intend to allow his attacker that opportunity.

Focused as he was on generating the Call, Quill took a hit. The attacker, disoriented or not, drove Quill a step or two back. Quill limped through the edge of the fire and found his robes smoldering. Would he have time to deal with that? Had the attacker been sufficiently whalesung?

 

[Romi Jade]

Varek, the shadowy operative of the Twilight Fist, reeled from the unexpected onslaught of the Progenitor's Call -- he expected Force use, but this hadn't bee on the spectrum of things he accounted for. His vision blurred, senses fractured by the haunting echoes of pulsed calls. The plan to take Jend-Ro Quill by surprise crumbled in the disorienting resonance.

In desperation, Varek clutched at his head, momentarily halted in his tracks. The sequences of attacks he had launched at the opening of their exchange dissipated like smoke in the frigid air -- he couldn't focus any longer. The shadows, once his allies, now seemed to dance mockingly around him.

Pulling a blaster from the folds of his cloak, Varek sought to regain control. Panic gripped him as disorientation lingered, and he fired off a barrage of blaster shots. The echoes of the Progenitor's Call played tricks on his senses; doubles and distorted images plagued his vision.

In the flickering firelight, Varek fought against the encroaching chaos, each blaster bolt fired more out of desperation than strategy.

Jend-Ro Quill

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

The smoldering robe demanded Quill's attention at just the wrong moment. He was shuffling into a snowdrift when something hot and angry punched him in the shoulder. He tripped — the snow choked out the flames — and gradually became aware he'd been shot.

Pain control was an old friend; he started running through the same mental patterns as the times he'd been cursed with frostbite. Still sprawled in the snow, he gestured and bent probability in the manner of a Suerton or a Nun of G'aav'aar'oon. The blaster misfired.

"Haven't been a Jedi since you were a child," he said, hauling himself up by some convenient stonework. "You were in the caves? Go hunt rats down there. Don't hunt me."

Romi Jade

 

[Romi Jade]

Varek gripped his head, fighting through some of the lingering disorientation. The world around him remained fuzzy, and while he wasn't seeing doubles, his vision was still a blur, and his ears still rang. The cold night air seemed to pierce through the haze as he listened to Quill's defiant words.

His last shot had misfired, and the how had eluded him. The disoriented operative staggered backward, frustration etched on his obscured features. "Jedi or not, makes no difference. None of you should be able to touch the Force...but soon the Force will be free. We know why you've come here, but the hour of Twilight is near..."

Pulling a vibroknife from the depths of his cloak, Varek prepared to proceed with his assault on Quill. The icy landscape bore witness to this ominous dance between light and shadow. However, before he could execute his next move, a crackling voice echoed through Varek's commlink, interrupting the impending confrontation.

"Varek, disengage. Return immediately. The hour approaches, but it is not yet upon us."

"The hunt has only just started..." he growled at the pilgrim.

The directive hung in the frigid air, a command from the unseen orchestrators of the Twilight Fist. Reluctantly, Varek cast a final, piercing gaze at Jend-Ro Quill before fading back into the shadows. The battle, though momentarily halted, left its mark on the icy expanse, and the echoes of the Progenitor's Call lingered like a haunting melody in the night.

Jend-Ro Quill