New Planet, new home

[Armethis]

Armethis Slay sat in the Stardust cantina aboard the Mon Calamari “M” class liner the Corellian
Queen.

He was staring out the view port as the massive luxury liner slowly moved into orbit with the war
ravaged planet of Coruscant.

The lovely female voice emitting from the comm system announced that shuttles would start transporting
passengers to various destinations across the planet in “just a few moments”. He sat wondering if he should take her up on her suggestion to double check that all of his belongings were being loaded onto the appropriate shuttle and was quite sure she would be disappointed to know that he had not, in fact, enjoyed his stay aboard the Corellian Queen.

Under different circumstances, he would have thoroughly enjoyed the trip from Ord Mantell to the galactic capital and it truly was an impressive ship. It’s not the first time he had been aboard her, although each time before it had indeed been a “pleasure” trip.

Nor was this his first trip to Coruscant having visited occasionally while conducting family business.

What made things different this time is that on each previous occasion, whether business or pleasure, he had had every intention of returning home afterward. Now he was not sure where “home” was anymore.

Just a few years previously everything had been so….normal. He was just starting to learn the ins and outs of the family business and enjoying the lifestyle that being the eldest son of one of the upper class families allowed.

Despite the family rift caused when his twin sister, Armethia, had chosen to marry a university
professor, so beneath her station, his relationship with her could not have been better. She wouldn’t
associate with the rest of the family but he knew that that would heal in time.

He would have eventually taken over the family business, married well, lived the life of an aristocrat. Sure, there was a war going on but his family would not suffer from it. Far to the contrary, there was profit in war for the Slay family Trading Syndicate.

Now his sister was dead; killed, along with her husband, for the separatist cause. A cause he was only just beginning to understand. His future was in turmoil. And he had left everything, the business, the lifestyle, all of it.

The signing of that stupid treaty had started it. He knew the Republic had no choice but to sign it but it
didn’t change anything. If the Sith hadn’t forced that treaty there would be no separatist movement on Ord
Mantell. His sister would be alive now. His family would never have been tempted to begin trading illicit
weaponry and equipment with both sides of the conflict.

Sure, they had done the same thing with the Republic and the Sith but that was somebody else’s war. This was their planet; their people; their home.

Something about losing someone close to you really changes how you think about things. Seeing your own people tear each other apart can open your eyes to what is truly important in this galaxy, especially when the weapons they are using to do it where provided by you. He couldn’t continue to be a part of that.

Armethis roused himself from these dark thoughts to discover his date for the evening, a very attractive Twi’lek named Kar Temar, was still chatting insistently. He had caught her eye a few nights ago and a little charm and maneuvering had awarded him the pleasure of her company for the evening.

Unfortunately, their time together had quickly revealed Kar Temar had a near fanatical preoccupation with the cheesy holonet show, Corellian Nights.

Her dismay at finding out that Aremthis had not only never watched it, but had never even heard of the show did not seem to stop her from talking about it-non-stop. She was also apparently completely undaunted by the fact that he had been staring out the view port for the last few hours, evidenced by the constant, mind numbing, flow of babble.

When the lovely voice announced that all shuttles had begun boarding, Armethis stood and left the cantina without a word to his date. He felt slightly guilty at being so rude but he quickly got over that. He had, after all, just sat there ignoring the woman for hours. He was completely over it by the time he got to the door as she had still not stopped talking.

As he stepped onto the shuttle his thoughts drifted to his most uncertain future. He didn‘t really have a plan. He was unsure of what the future might hold for him now.

There were only a couple things that he was sure of.

Somewhere on the planet below he had another twin-a brother. He needed to find him and tell him
about Armethia.

He needed to find a way to survive on this new world.

And, he needed to figure out a way to make the Sith pay for it…all of it.

[Armethis]

Chapter 2

Armethis walked out of the space port and hopped on a shuttle. He needed to get a place to stay but finding his brother, Armethil, was something he wanted to handle immediately. The unpleasant task notifying Armethil of their sister’s death, and the circumstances surrounding her murder, was not something that he was looking forward to. He figured he might as well get it over with right away.

The whole thing was made even more uncomfortable by the fact that he had not been particularly close to his twin brother since they swept him off to the Jedi Temple when they were only children. He had had only a hand full of conversations with Armethil since that time and none in the last three years.

The last thing he had heard of his brothers activities was that he was nearing completion of his Jedi training. That would have been about three years ago as well, and Armethis had figured the Jedi counsel had sent him off to the far side of the galaxy on some mission or something. In any case, it was irrelevant. He would have to track down his brother no matter where he had gotten off to.

His first stop was the Republic Command building. With the destruction of the Jedi Temple many of the Jedi had removed from Coruscant, along with the Jedi Counsel. There were still, however, as significant number of Jedi still on the planet; those working with the Republic military to continue the fight against the Sith. A fight that was still very much alive in spite of the treaty.

After arriving at the Republic Command compound, he was shown to a waiting area and, after a short time, was introduced to one of the Jedi on duty.

Unfortunately, he was not able to pry any useful information out of him. He was either unable, or unwilling to tell Armethis anything concerning the whereabouts or activities of Armethil.

On the way out of the building, Armethis was stopped by a somewhat grizzled older man wearing battle armor. The name he gave was Sgt Brindle.

After introducing himself, he escorted Armethis to a side passage and made sure there was no one with earshot.

“You don’t know me” he said, “but I know you and I know your family. I was injured a number of years ago and spent some time on the “light duty” roster so they assigned me to purchasing. It was my job to test, evaluate, and then purchase various weapons and equipment, some of which I purchased from your family’s business. Wasn’t a bad gig-I got to try out all the latest weaponry, which really helped keep an old troopers head in the game, if ya know what I mean.”

Oh, I do“, Armethis replied, wondering why this guy was telling him all this, “I was able to play with those same toys when I worked for my family. It’s one of the things I really miss about it. I gotta ask, though, surely you didn’t pull me down this hallway to tell me some old war stories? What’s on your mind, Sgt?”

Looking around again before continuing, “I wanted to help you find out what happened to your brother. I wouldn’t waste my time asking around here, if I were you.”

Armethis, interested. “Why not, what can you tell me about it?”

“If you want to find out the truth, and you don’t want to waste a lot of time running half way around the core to find it, I recommend going straight to the Jedi council. As soon as that Master Jedi you just met with reports in, I imagine they’ll be wanting to speak with you anyway. I can’t really say anymore than that.” And it was clear by his tone that he wasn’t going to elaborate any further.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to find a ship outta here then”, said Armethis.

“Wait, I got one other thing I’d like you to think about”, replied the old Sgt.

“And what is that?”

“Once you get the answers you’re looking for concerning your brother. I want you to come back here and get in touch with me.” Brindle said.

Armethis, raising an eyebrow, “Why would I want to do that?”

“Let’s just say that I think you’re not going to like the answers to your questions. And, I think you’re going to want to put yourself in a position to do something about it.”

“And you’re going to help me get in that position, is that it?”

“Look, the Republic is looking for every capable fighter we can get our hands on. The Jedi have a lot of other demons to tackle right now. With them moving off planet, the Republic needs men to step up and help fill the void. I could use someone with the weapons experience that you have. These Sith ain’t gonna go away without a fight. I can provide the kind of training you need to be able to tackle whatever monster is waiting at the end of this road you’re on. My money says it’s the Sith.”

“Oh, I have the Sith on my radar already. They are directly responsible for the murder of my sister. Once I find Armethil, I hoping he and I can find out exactly what happened, and then, someone is going to have to answer for it.”

The Sgt seemed like he wanted to say something but then said instead, “Just tell me you’ll think about what I am offering.”

“Ok, I will think about it.” Armethis replied, realizing that the old trooper knew a lot more about it than he was willing to tell, and wondering why. “I know that there’s more you could tell me. When I come back, if I come back, I’m going to want to know the whole story.”

“Oh, you’ll come back, “said the Sgt gravely. “And you’ll want answers but not from me. My job will be to teach you how to properly ask the questions. The kind you ask with your trigger finger.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

Armethis left the building and hopped into a shuttle, bound for the space port. As he starred out the window he couldn’t help but review this last bizarre encounter in his mind. He had even more questions now than he did before. He was starting to get a very bad feeling about this whole thing, and it was already bad before he left Ord Mantell. He suspected he was just scratching the tip of a giant, ugly iceberg and he began to steel himself against it. It didn’t matter. No matter how ugly it got, he was going get to the bottom of it all.

[Armethis]

Chapter 3

Grabbing another shuttle back to the spaceport, Armethis quickly located a small inn in which to rest and think things through. Sleep was a long time in coming.

He awoke the next morning to find a message had arrived during the night. It was from Brindle.

“Armethis, I took the liberty of speaking with Master Pelko concerning your situation. Master Pelko was the jedi with whom you briefly spoke here at the compound. He, in turn, contacted the Jedi council and they, as I suspected, are eager to speak with you.

Master Pelko instructed that I send you this message, asking you to return to the compound as soon as possible. I am not privy to the particulars of their meeting but I can tell you that Pelko was somewhat unsettled by whatever got said; and that’s sayin something for a jedi. Get here as soon as you can.

Brindle”

Armethis sat back for a second and thought about it. “This doesn’t sound good. Oh well, better than traveling all the way to wherever it is the Jedi council has gotten off to,” he thought.

Without wasting any more time, he jumped up, grabbed his gear, and headed back to the compound. Upon arriving, he was immediately intercepted by Brindle.

“Good to see you again so soon, kid,“ the Sgt said in greeting, reaching out to shake Armethis’ hand. “I’m glad you got my message and came right away.” Dropping his voice and stepping close he continued, “Listen kid, I don’t know what’s going on but I know it ain’t gonna to be good. Pelko was in that meeting for most of the night and he’s clearly not looking forward to meeting with you this morning. Now, my instincts tell me that you ain’t gonna like it any better than him.”

“Well, that’s certainly encouraging,“ replied Armethis. “No sense in waiting around. Where can I find Master Pelko?”

“I will take you there, just follow me, but listen to me for just a second. You seem like a level headed young fella, but I want you to prepare yourself. Don’t do or say anything rash, no matter how bad you may want to.”

“Rash! I think I can control myself,” he sarcastically replied. Then, suddenly very sober, “Is he dead, Brindle? My brother…has he been killed?”

“I don’t know, kid,” Brindle relied sympathetically, “Just try and remember what I said.”

And with that, the old sergeant turned and lead the way down the hall.

Heading back to the same waiting area he had been taken to the first visit, Armethis was let into the room and the doors where closed behind him. Looking around, he found that Master Pelko was already in attendance.

Rising from his chair, “Greetings to you, Armethis Slay. I am glad to officially make your acquaintance, though I wish it were under better circumstances. Please have a seat,“ indicating a chair next to his own, “we have much to discuss.”

Taking the offered chair, Armethis said, “I am honored to meet you, Master Pelko, though I am very confused and somewhat apprehensive about this whole affair. As you know, we have suffered a loss in our family, and I am simply trying to locate my brother so that he is aware things. I am starting to suspect that you’re about to tell me that we have suffered yet another loss. Is that what’s going on?”
“I wish, my young friend, that that was the extent of it.” Quickly raising his hands in a placating motion, “I mean no offense by that. Once you hear what I have to tell you, you will understand, I think.”

“Well,” replied Armethis, sitting back in the chair and crossing his arms, “let’s get it over with then.”

The Jedi Master got up and began to pace back and forth as he started to speak. “There’s really no way for me to sugar coat this so, I think, it would be best if I just give it to you straight out. I spent the better part of last night in communication with the Jedi council and they have imparted to me the full account. I have been authorized to share it with you, though it will not be easy to hear.”

“We lost contact with your brother, Armethil, approximately 3 years ago. He and another, older jedi, were sent to track down a Sith named, Pelbar Mehn. It was his first assignment.”

“At the time, we weren’t even sure that Mehn was Sith. He had begun jedi training as a child but had struggled. Nothing ever seemed to come easy for him, which we believe, frustrated him greatly. One day he simply vanished. It was years later that word of Mehn came to us. He had surfaced on various planets in the outer rim. He was running a recruiting operation but we had no idea what it was for at the time. Their mission was to find out, and stop it.”

“We can’t be certain of the details but we think this is what happened. We believe that Mehn had been found and trained by a Sith Lord, we don’t know who. He was then sent to back water planets in an effort to recruit warriors, again, it is unclear for what specific purpose. Armethil and his partner, a jedi named, Deltran, found and were defeated by Mehn. Deltran was killed and your brother was captured.”

“When they failed to return, we sent a team to investigate. We found nothing. No trace. No bodies. No witnesses. We could find no one that had had any contact with Deltran or Armethil. Our operative on the planet, their ship, everything, gone. That it was a cover up was obvious but the thoroughness of it was very disturbing. Unfortunately, we were left with a blank; a dead end.”

“And so it remained until the murder of your sister and her husband.” Coming again to sit across from Armethis, he continued. “This next part will be difficult to hear.”

“We believe that they were killed by your brother, Armethil.”

Stunned silence. Master Pelko continues, “During the course of his captivity, whether through coercion or persuasion, Armethil was turned to the dark side. Your sister and her husband led an underground organization that opposed the crime lords that truly run your home world of Ord Mantell. That organization had begun to make serious head way among the general populace, turning them against the crime families and the sale of arms to the Sith. I think you knew this in part already.”

Armethis gave no response to this, nor even an indication that he had heard it.

“The Sith are supplying their forces through the various family syndicates of your planet. We know this very fact is why you chose to leave. Unfortunately, the Sith do not tolerate opposition and sent Armethil to deal with it. I’m afraid that with this horrendous act, Armethil’s Sith training is complete.”

As the jedi told his tale, Armethis sat in shock. Tears began to course down his face as the treachery of Armethil was detailed, though the rest of his visage betrayed no emotion.

Reaching across the table and briefly clasping Armethis’ hand, the jedi said, “You will need a moment to collect yourself. Take all the time you need. When you are ready, I will be waiting in the hallway. For what it‘s worth, I am truly sorry for your loss.” And with that, he arose and left the room.

Armethis’ mind was reeling from all that he had heard. His emotions ran the gambit, settling somewhere between anger and hatred. It was a long time before he could even rise out of his chair. When he finally emerged into the hallway, he found master Pelko patiently waiting.

As he looked into the face of the young man, the jedi could see that Armethis had come to some sort of resolve, though the anguish he was feeling was clearly outlined there as well. “I divine that you have made a decision, my young friend. Now is not the time for rash choices, though I do not accuse you of such. I can offer wisdom and council if you would like to share with me your thoughts.”

Stopping to think for a moment and then turning away from the jedi to stare off down the hallway, Armethis replied, “The Slay family name is not an honorable one, Master Pelko. As you have pointed out, we peddle weapons. The nature of our business is such that profit outweighs legality. Under such conditions, to be noble is to be out of work. It was war on our own streets and the loss of one I held dear that opened my eyes and allowed me to find my honor.”

“Though I have not lived my life with honor, I have resolved to do so from this point on. I thought it would be enough just to separate myself from it, but now I see that more is required. I will not allow history to remember the Slay family name to be one associated with war, treachery, and organized crime. Nor will I sit idly by and permit a murdering Sith to carry that name, though it will mean killing my own brother.”

Turning suddenly back to the jedi, “Can you teach me how to kill a Sith, though I am no jedi?”

With a cautiously appraising look, the Master Jedi replies, “I believe I can help you with that. Let’s go find the good Sergeant.”