Hearing on the Battle of Ando Prime

[Raif]

"A recess sounds like a splendid idea, Madame Chancellor. Let us reconvene in, say, one hour for any final comments and deliberations?"

Korembeck smacked his gavel on the table in front of him, signalling an end to official business. As the various Senators and officials rose from their seats, Korembeck made a point of heading towards Ahdam Bac. Walking up to him, the wookiee held out his large paw in greeting.

"Senator Bac, first of all I wish to express my condolences for your recent loss. The galaxy has truly lost a great man with the passing of your father. Had he been here today to see you in action I am confident he would have been more than proud."

The wookiee bared his fangs in a large smile as he said this.

 

[Cailst]

Tran Xu heard an odd noise. Short and punctuated it was. Very odd to hear in the chambers of the senate.

High Admiral Tran Xu was from Alderaan, a rather nice planet though he'd been born on Corellia. Within the last couple years, he'd advanced rather quickly through the ranks going from Officer Cadet to High Admiral in the time that it took from the raid on Corellia to the disaster on Ando Prime. And there had been quite a few bumps along the way: the other disaster at Mon Calamari, the small raid on Tatooine, the larger raid on Taris, the battle of Bothawui that had been stupidly abandoned, he was even hoping to make a short visit to Nal Hutta but somebody didn't like that idea. Fortunately, the disaster at Ando Prime was not something he had in his resume.

At the moment, he headed out to investigate the sound. Some of his aides had their eyes peeled as they began wandering outside. Fairly quickly, they discovered Adara lying on the ground bleeding with a senator nearby calling for emergency services. With just a quick look, Tran could tell that she had been wounded by someone as he couldn't think of sort of accident that would cause those wounds. And given the sound, it would be a reasonable assumption that she was shot.

Aides ran up and began applying their first aid skills to keep her alive. Since the senator was calling up emergency services, Tran called up any local law enforcement to try and investigate. Hopefully, they'd be able to catch the assailant.

Soon after, he called up the Chancellor. She had to know what had happened.

"This is Tran Xu, sorry to disturb you but Adara has been assaulted recently and is now unconscious, Senator Dibrijil has called in emergency services and we are trying to stabilize her before they arrive." Tran said on his comm.

 

[Sreeya]

Laida sighed as the group dispersed, having called for a recess. She was among the last to walk out, granting her the ability to eavesdrop on the transmission projecting within the hall. She did not think twice, nodding to her fellow Jedi as the group immediately rushed out. Laida had already begun to call upon the aid of the Force, the other Jedi doing the same. Their focus had turned entirely on the woman now laying on the concrete, her blood staining the ground.

Almost systematically, all the Jedi crouched down around the woman, Laida in the middle. None of them paid attention to the senator they had been slandered by only moments before. They circled around Adara's torso, all taking position near the wounds. Laida was the most accomplished Force user among them, her hands directly above the wound. She looked up to the Jedi directly before her.

"We have to do this very carefully. Pop each bullet out and I will heal and seal the wound. Ready?"

They all nodded.

"First bullet..ready...go!"

With the aid of the Force, the first bullet was extracted out. Before the blood could ooze out, however, Laida had applied supreme control to the site, suppressing the flow. The effects of healing were applied immediately as her skills in the Force allowed the tissues to join and form together. The wound closed within seconds. It was slightly taxing, but nothing she couldn't handle. Within minutes, all the bullets were removed and the open wounds sealed or tightened to where they had stopped bleeding. After the wounds were sealed, Laida sighed and slumped back on the sidewalk, exhausted from the ordeal. The other Jedi continued to aid in the healing, also working to ensure Adara's breathing and heart rate were normal. The entire process was a display of irony at its finest.

 

[Count Sam]

While Senator Daniel was standing up and walking out of the room one of his guards came and said something in his ear. The thing probably shocked him so much, and completely changed the facial expression on Daniel's face. Quickly, and without further hesitations Daniel sprinted outside the Senate building to see what happened himself. He was already angry and had a feeling that the Jedi were behind all of this.

Sadly, even though he did not know Adara well Daniel had high expectorations for the young officer.

"DAMN YOU IDIOTS HOW COULD YOU LET SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN!!!!" Daniel shouted at the guards who were guarding the Senate. Of course the guard could not help, but stay silent as they were shouted at. After all, it was their mistake that all of this happened.

"Senator Djibril were you able to see the face of the attacker??" Daniel asked in an angry tone as he walked toward Djibril who was the first one to leave the Senate building.

 

[Dmitri]

Tran Xu's aides arrives soon, and helped Djibril try to stop the bleeding. Xu called in security. The Jedi eventually arrived and healed Adara after removing the bullets. As Djibril was wiping the blood from his hands with a towel presented to him by a medic, Daniel asked Djibril a question.

"I'm afraid I did not," answered Djibril. "She had been shot by the time I got here."

 

[Tsar Fire]

A polished white and silver speeder came dropping out of the sky, sirens wailing, and landed several yards away. Figures jumped out, clad in white coats and gloves, hurrying to the scene.

The first two saw Adara, and assumed her wounds were healed. The third, however, did not.

"Get her onto a gurney and prepare her for transport. I want her on oxygen, and find out what blood type she is. We're going to need to get her into surgery as soon as we arrive at the hospital."

The surgeon was a gray-haired man, thin and wiry, with a sharp, harsh expression. He glanced at the onlookers, most of whom were giving him a confused, or perhaps even offended look.

"She isn't fixed. It looks like she suffered some serious internal injuries and those will need addressing."

As he was talking, Adara gasped, and took a pained, rattling breath. Blood oozed gently from her lips.

The ambulance staff were back, and began carefully lifting Adara to the gurney, a floating platform with several blank screens which came to life as Adara was laid down upon it.

"I'll thank you for your help Jedi. You undoubtedly saved this woman's life by stemming the bleeding and halting the progress of her wounds, but that kind of rushed force healing results in scar tissue, more than healthy recovery. I've fought beside Jedi, back in my army days, and I've seen it for myself."

"Man got shot and the Jedi pieced him back together, but the surgeons still had to go in and piece it all right, clean it out properly."

The surgeon gave everyone a professional nod, before turning to leave, barking orders at his lackeys as he did.

"Call in and have them prep the number 8 surgery. We need to operate before that Scar Tissue gets too comfortable. One of you give me her medical record, and move it!"

 

[Lavi]

With the ambulance, another speeder pulled up.They appeared to be RSF from their uniforms, performing the duty of RSF by asking all individuals to move back from the site of the crime, and searching the area for evidence of the assailant as the RSF.

Only one of them was wearing an overcoat, presumably the leader of the group, looked around the immediate area. There was no one watching the spectacle at a distance.

"Search the area for spent bullet casings," she instructed one of the officers. "And someone go to the security center to access the security feeds from the past hour."

She looked over the individuals again. Her cybernetic eyes betrayed nothing as she analyzed the expressions of those present. None of them seem to have seen the incident itself: only the aftermath. But faces can only tell so much.

"Did anyone see what happened?" she asked. Her voice sounded a little monotone, from a voice synthesizer.

 

[Dmitri]

"I was the first on the scene," replied Djibril to the officer. "By the time I got here, she'd already been shot and the shooter was no where to be seen."

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

In the back of the group, the former RSF nodded to the investigator. She'd heard the popping sounds of small arms fire. She could have been first on the scene, however she was biased. Now she stood a distance away where she could watch unmolested by the growing investigation.

 

[Lavi]

No one else seemed to hold a different thought than Djibril, which was disappointing, but of no matter. The security feeds will be able to identify the suspect once a simple analysis of the videos were completed.

Reporters were beginning to appear at the scene, asking about why an ambulance was at the senate building. Giving a mechanical sigh, the officer turned around, and directed her men to make sure that the reporters are kept away from the scene.

"Is anyone in need an escort to their next destination?" the RSF officer inquired as she pulled out her comlink.

Of course, the Jedi could perform the duty of escorting the VIPs, though she was only following protocol, given the situation. The Jedi were not wholly trusted.

 

[Count Sam]

"Yeah...I could definitely use an escort" Daniel answered back as he started to look around him, and obviously he looked shocked from all the actions that were going him. However, one thing he knew was that he was starting to hate the Jedi and especially that arrogant fool who was called master Haung, or whatever his name was.

 

[Will]

''I shall gladly escort you, senator'' Huang replied as he strode from the building, belting his sword back onto his hip. The man hated him. He knew it, he was an ignorant fool, jumping at the Jedi for any small reason. Huang had seen their kind plenty of times before. Their prejudice did not affect him anymore. They could do nothing to him other than speak their petty, useless words.

His face was expressionless, his tone polite, as he motioned for the Senator to lead the way.

''I must return to the temple anyway. The Grandmaster will want to know what happened.''

 

[Count Sam]

"Oh...sure..I....I would not mind at all master Haung" Damn that sly bastard. Daniel cursed to himself as he gave a sly smile to Haung, and as he answered back trying to make sure that he was as polite as possible. After all, he did not want any one to think that he was starting to hate the Jedi, and all the stuff he said in the hearing sessions were just to uncover the truth rather than him hating those monks and wanting to put the full blame on them.

"Looks like I will be be passing your offer tonight officer also see you later Senator Djibril I hope next time we meet it will be under better circumstances and in a more peaceful session that this." Daniel said to the officer and Djibril as he turned around and walked toward his car. Of course his driver already had the back door opened for both him and the Jedi master to get in.

"Well Master Haung don't worry my house is only two districts away from here So I guess you will be back to the temple soon enough." He added as he slowly got inside the car.

 

[Will]

Huang squeezed himself into the vehicle. Though spacious for normal humans, the nearly seven foot tall Sephi had a hard time.

''An interesting session, senator. Any thoughts on it?'' Huang asked, his voice flat as he attempted small talk with the bigot.

 

[Count Sam]

"Well, definitely Mr. Haung I do have a lot thoughts that I did not get the chance to say. However, I thought you Jedi had the abilities to read the minds of others using the force, but well looks like the force is not that powerful after all." Daniel said as his driver closed the door and stood between the car and the reporters who were gathering around the car and already starting to take photos of the Jedi and the Senator.

Of course the lights from the flash were blinding him, but the thing that was going to blind him more than that was tomorrow's newspaper with his picture with the Jedi in it along with a huge headline that was most likely going to be about the strong relationship between the Jedi and the Republic. That was surely absurd, and all what was happening today made Daniel feel disgusted like never before.

"Well Mr.Haung no matter how you look at it you can't just say that the Jedi are not to be blamed for this. After all, the Bogan or whatever you call them was once Jedi who turned to the Dark side. It was the mistakes of the Jedi order that formed the Bogan, but well it was also the ambitions of the Republic that made the Hutts an enemy. However, unlike the Jedi we are predictable and when Republic personnel betray the Republic he does it for certain known things like money or power. The Jedi on the other hand are unpredictable and they can turn to the darkside anytime and for no certain reason which is the reason why I can't fully trust the Jedi who depend on their instincts a lot." Daniel then stopped to gasp his breath before he continued talking.

"The fact that you guys are force sensitive makes you vulnerable to the dark side of the force, and thus that endanger the Republic. Of course you and your friend's arrogance today somewhat proved that theory to me today." Daniel then took out a bottle of expensive red wine and two glasses as he poured one for himself and another for Haung.

"I know I have drifted off topic but what I am trying to say is both the Republic and the Jedi are blamed for this however I could not sit idly and watch as the Jedi and some other Republic personnel used Adara as a scapegoat for their failures." Daniel added as he offered a glass to Haung.

"This is a pretty good wine made of high quality and it was manufactured here in Coruscant by one of the factories that belongs to one of my friends...You should try it I am pretty sure that even a Jedi won't say no to such a drink Mr.Haung" Once again Daniel found himself calling Haung mister. After all, the "Master" title was foreign to the Senator's tongue and he was not used to saying such a word to anyone since it always sounded weird to him.

 

[Will]

How very sickening. That there was still such closed-minded, toxic views dominating the political scene.

He looked out the window.

''This image will make a good story tomorrow. It will talk about the strength of the bond between us.'' He let out a sigh.

''A shame that some cannot see that bond that we Jedi have tried to forge. It is a shame your fear and jealousy plagues your mind, trying to break that bond, that now is so fragile.'' He reclined into the seat. The Senator continued his ignorant babble. He closed his eyes.

''We are unpredictable? Perhaps to a simple mind that takes things at face value. But, with some simple thought on the matter, it is quite the opposite. All beings fall to the darkness for the same reason: Weakness. As a Jedi lusts for the simple route to great power, a corrupt Republic official lusts for the simple route to power. Both fall, the weak Jedi decides not to strive, turning to the darkness. The Republic official caves into avarice, accepting bribes, seceding, turning to the Hutts. We are not so different behind this wall you have built, senator. We are all still people. Some are simply more...open than others.'' Huang's words were still cold, flat. No emotion rang in them.

''The simple fact is that, on the ground, Adara Kalai and the Republic command structure was the root cause of our failures. Her Hubris in rushing to meet an opposing fleet and cut us off caused those deaths. We had to salvage what lives we could.'' Huang replied. He didn't expect the senator to understand. What did a politician know of war?

He looked to the proffered glass.

''Sword Masters don't drink, senator, thank you. It dulls the mind.'' Huang replied, politley holding up his hand.