Opening Crawl
Rattatak - Five years before the events of the Phantom Menace
The Enduring Crusade, a Consular-class frigate displaying the scarlet coloration of the Republic’s Judiciary Corps, exited from hyperspace over the red, dusty world of Rattatak. Entering the atmosphere, the ship was hailed, causing the Commissioner, a grizzled old Devaronian with half of his left horn broken off, to gesture for the helmsman to send the call through to the ship’s holoprojector. Seconds later, a life-size hologram of a human male dressed in long robes, his hair intwined into a single horn with gold wire and jade inlay, was standing before him.
"Greetings, my friends. I am Governor Odis Kakor." The hologram stated with a short bow, "I can assure you, Commissioner, that our operations here on Rattatak are all in line with the Republic standard, as part of our bid to gain representation in the Senate."
"We are not here to carry out contraband inspections, Governor; we are here at the behest of the Jedi regarding sightings of a rogue member of their order. Any cooperation from you and your representatives will be appreciated but not necessary." The Devaronian replied as the Enduring Crusade flew over the main arena, a warning flashing up in Aurabesh on the main view screen, warning that the landing pad was currently a crime scene.
"Sir, we have planetary defences tracking us." The helmsman announced, his words drowned out by the Enduring Crusade’s threat tracking system and the outline of a recessed turbolaser battery outlined in red on the screen.
"Governor, if you could inform security that we are here to take jurisdiction of the crime scene, we would be most appreciative." The Devaronian stated that the helmsman looped the Enduring Crusade around so that its own weapons were focused on the defences.
"Of course." Odis hissed, bowing deeply before turning and whispering something to a hidden aide, one that was repeated at least one more time. Seconds later the turbolaser stopped tracking the Enduring Crusade and Odis turned to face the Commissioner again. "You are scheduled to land on Pad 4, and our head of arena security, Thox Alys will meet you there." Odis informed them before the holographic message was cut short.
"Commissioner, shall I inform the Jedi that we have arrived?" The helmsman asked as a landing pad across from the turbolaser battery lit up with green emergency lighting.
"No, but prepare the guards; something about this entire situation does not sit well with me." The commissioner replied as he got to his feet, the blue of his uniform clashing with his brick-red skin, his hand resting on the hilt of the ceremonial sword he had been awarded ever since he achieved his current rank. "Rattatak’s government sent footage from the arena slayings as part of a diplomatic package to the Senate as part of their bid to join the Republic, despite knowing that they are not up to the standard required. Governor Odis is playing a game, one we don’t know the rules of yet." He added as the Enduring Crusade hovered over Landing Pad 4. "Keep communication with command open; this has all the hallmarks of either a hostage seizure or ship theft." He mused as he turned away from the Enduring Crusade’s helm and headed towards the conference room that the Jedi ambassadors had been gifted.
**
The snarling figure holding out his hand, the two gladiators levitating off the ground, their hands reaching as if they were fighting to remove an invisible hand clamped around their throats, were enshrined in a hologram in the centre of the Enduring Crusade’s conference room. Standing at opposite ends of the hologram table, the two hooded figures looked into the yellow eyes of the fighter.
"He is clearly trained in the use of the Force." One of the hooded figures hissed as the footage was rotated to face her. Staring at the figure, Amarita Kay stroked the rose-pink tendrils that hooked around her thorn-like ears. Even the holographic image had malice to it—a sense of something burning with hatred and anger. Originally from Dom-Bradden, the Afytekan Jedi Knight could feel her fellow Jedi, Ryka Timo's, anxiety grow as she studied the tattooed chest of the fighter.
"What does his ornamentation tell you?" Amarita asked as Ryka pulled the sleeves of her robes back to reveal a pale hand decorated with a red ink tattoo of a radiant firebird, a symbol that was adopted by the Jedi after the Order was almost exterminated by a shadowy cabal of dark-side users known as the Sith Triumvirate.
"Some of the symbols are familiar, but from where, I am not sure." Ryka replied as she touched the hologram and expanded the chest tattoo of the fighter. "They do tell us something about this man; he would have been in great pain for months after the tattooist was finished, especially if they covered his entire body. He likely used the Force to soothe the pain, but even then, it would be akin to fire running through his body every time he moved."
"When we find him, we can get some answers." Amarita hissed as the door to the conference room chimed, the terminal next to the lock showing the face of Commissioner Plutarch waiting on the other side. "Those answers lie in the arena; hopefully we aren’t too late to catch up with him." She added, as the door slid open, the Commissioner was waiting for them, flanked by two figures dressed in blue body armour emblazoned with the crest of the Republic’s Judiciary Corps.
"We’ve arrived." Plutarch stated flatly as a thud could be felt through the ship as the Enduring Crusade touched down on Landing Pad 4.
"What should we expect, Commissioner?" Amarita asked as the Jedi left the conference room and followed Plutarch through the ship’s corridors to the landing ramp.
"Rattatak is atypical for the Outer Rim; there is plenty of money here, but it is all held by the planet’s nobles. What isn’t atypical is the low-level civil war being carried out between the Vollick-backed government and groups of Rattataki guerrilla fighters." Plutarch grunted as he gestured for one of the officers flanking him to open the landing ramp. "Security will be lax; the government’s armed forces are engaged in fighting in the highlands." Headed as the seal around the ramp hissed before lowering, revealing the red rock of the planet and the rusting metal of the landing pad,
Descending onto Landing Pad 4, a vile smell of spoiled meat and refuse washed over the Republic forces as they came face to face with Thox Alys, the security chief of Rattatak’s Grand Arena, a fat, balding Vollick wearing a green tunic stained brown, his chalk white hands gripping a blaster pistol. Flanking him were two HKB-3 security droids, their camera-like heads locking onto the weapons of the Judicary forces.
"Commissioner, welcome to Rattatak; unfortunately, before we can escort you to the crime scenes, there is the matter of the docking fee." Thox stated that a glob of saliva dripped down his lips onto the durasteel of the landing pad. "It’s an initial 50 credits for landing, and then another 100 credits for every hour your ship is obstructing the normal flow of business." He growled as Commissioner Plutarch took a step forward, the HKB-3s locking their weapons on the Devaronian’s head.
"And if we refuse to pay?" Plutarch asked, his hand moving off the hilt of his sword and the holster for his blaster. Thox’s response was a snarl, one that was answered as two lifts either side of the landing pad shot up level with the pad, each one loaded with guards dressed in the same tunic’s as Thox as well as more HKB-3 droids, all of them armed and ready to fire.
"We take your crew hostage; there is money to be made selling Republic investigators to certain organisations." Black Sun alone is paying ten thousand credits for the capture of judiciaries." Thox snarled as Amarita and Ryka shucked their robes and stepped forward, the former festooned with the rose-pink vines and tendrils of her people, the latter dressed in a forest green tunic, her red hair tied into a braid that exposed her pointed sylvan ears.
"And who are you?" Thox growled as Plutarch took a step back, so he was in line with the Jedi. In response to the Vollick’s question, two hisses sounded, and bars of green and blue flame erupted from the hands of the Jedi Knights.
"And the Black Sun pays how much for Jedi?" Amarita asked as the two Judiciary officers escorting them took up a position behind the Enduring Crusade’s landing ramp, one removing a stun grenade from his belt, the other charging the barrel of her blaster carbine rifle to deliver one single shot, typically used to disrupt crowds of rioters, in an attempt to gain time and ground. Behind them, in the Enduring Crusade, an entire unit of officers was poised and ready to enter the fray.
"Half a million credits each!" Thox snarled as he opened fire, the first two shots reflected by Ryka’s blue lightsabre, the second one knocking his weapon out of his hand. The second shot was barely audible as the rest of the Vollick guards and the HKB-3s opened fire, and the Judicary forces answered force with force as they wasted no time in joining the fray. With the landing pad illuminated by flashes of red and blue energy, Amarita deflected the blaster bolts back at the Vollicks and the HKB-3s, the latter seemingly unaffected by the projectiles with their robust chassis absorbing the energy.
Feeling through the Force, Amarita felt Ryka reach out through the Force, gripping the brakes of one of the lifts and flicking them open, causing the elevator to slide down. the guards dropped out of the battle save for one Vollick, who attempted to make the jump onto the landing pad before slipping back down. With one group of attackers defeated, the Jedi and their allies in the Judiciary turned their focus on the remaining guards, who had to leave the lift platform. While the majority of Vollick had been cut down, the HKB-3s were still pushing forward, with some of them even stepping onto their allies, crushing bones under foot.
"We need to scatter these droids!" Ryka called as she deflected a stream of blaster bolts into the HKB-3s, the droid’s chassis now charred black from the amount of fire they had absorbed.
"Together." Amarita replied as the two Jedi held their hands out, flinging the majority of the HKB-3s off the landing platform, except for those few that remained staggering for long enough for the two Jedi to move in, their lightsabres flashing as they cut through the thin necks of the sentry droids.
As the tide turned, Commissioner Plutarch’s mind began to make sense of what was happening, even as he used his sword to bite into the inbuilt blaster of one of Thox’s HKB-3 guards before delivering a shot to its sensor head with his blaster pistol. Everything he knew about Ratattak’s military and security forces was that they were primarily comprised of biological units with some recon droid support. The fact that in this security battalion they had been able to field at least six HKB-3s so fresh off the assembly line that the warning stickers pointing to their blasters were present was surprising.
"You’re dead!!" Thox growled, snapping Plutarch out of his deliberations, bringing his sword up to block the scalloped axe, its head covered in dried blood swung at him. Grabbing Thox’s hand, Plutarch wrestled the axe away from the head of security, even as the last of the HKB-3s was knocked down by the Republic forces.
"You are under arrest for assaulting officers of the Republic’s judiciary forces." Plutarch told him as the other Judicary forces moved to secure the other Vollick guards and deactivate the HKB-3s. "Stabilise the wounded and lock down any weapon systems." Plutarch ordered his men as he snapped binders around Thox’s wrists. "You have questions to answer," He snarled as Amarita and Ryka walked over, "not just from me but from the Jedi. Why did you attack us? Your government contacted us for assistance regarding eight deaths at the hands of a Jedi in your arena."
"I can’t tell you anything." Thox growled as he looked up at the Devaronian and the two Jedi.
"We are not your enemies; you are cleared to tell us what you know." Amarita purred, her hand waving past Thox’s head, a heavy aroma filling the air."
"What is she doing?" Plutarch asked as he tried to stifle a sneeze, his eyes moving from the bound Thox to the Afytekan Jedi.
"It’s a mind trick; it can be useful to gain information from those with a weak mind." Ryka replied as Thox’s eye twitched as he tried to resist the strange force clouding his mind.
"You…you have clearance." Thox growled as his eye continued to twitch uncontrollably. "Governor Kaka sent the diplomatic package. A day later, he was contacted by those who hold our planet’s debt; they promised to write off Rattatak’s debt if we stifled the investigation."
"I need to have another conversation with Governor Kaka." Plutarch snarled as he went down to pick up Thox, only for Ryka to place her hand on his shoulder.
"There are some more questions we need to ask him." Ryka told him as Amarita bent down to look the Vollick in the eye, his twitching increasing as the scent in the air grew heavier.
"What else did you do to stifle the Republic’s investigation?" Amarita asked as Ryka crossed his arms, and Plutarch turned to where some of his men were tending to two judicial agents that had been struck by Rattatak’s security forces.
"We fed the bodies to the beasts in the arena; all but one, his clan wanted to take his body back home." Thox groaned as he ground his teeth between words, the twitching eye now bloodshot as he desperately tried to resist. "The footage of the fight not already forwarded to the Republic was scrubbed, and the droids involved were taken away for disposal. I ordered the sensor data of the Jedi’s craft from our database, and we’re currently sterilising landing pad nine."
"I’ll have to add tampering with multiple crime scenes to your charges." Plutarch stated as he turned back to the interrogation. "Is there anything else you need to ask?"
"I don’t think he has anything left to tell us, at least nothing so urgent that you couldn’t extract from him, Commissioner." Amarita replied as she stood back up and looked towards the looming arena. "If arena security has been as thorough as they claim, then there will be little left for you to analyse." There may be something we can detect through the Force that can lead us to this mysterious Force user." She added as Plutarch lifted Thox to his feet, hand on the Vollick’s shoulders, ready to walk him into the Enduring Crusade, following the other judicial forces who were walking the guards into the ship’s brig.
"Before you leave, take this." Plutarch grunted as he removed a communicator from his belt and handed it to Ryka. "If you have any problems, let me know, and I will dispatch assistance." He added as he marched Thox into the Enduring Crusade. Before disappearing into the hold, he turned and looked at the two Jedi. "Good luck Jedi."
"Commissioner, in my experience, there is no such thing as luck." Amarita replied.
"She means thank you." Ryka stated before the two Jedi walked towards the looming arena, the blast doors of the Enduring Crusade sliding shut behind them. After a minute had passed, a dark-eyed probe droid detached from the cliff, warbling silently to itself before flying off into the highlands.
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