I feel that I would be remiss unless I gave proper credit: LSG deserves writing credit as he wrote a fair bit of this chapter, which I've included almost verbatim. So, this is dedicated to LSG
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Chapter 11: Beyond the PaleThe week had passed quickly. Surprisingly—or perhaps not, given that Ari wanted to take with her the possessions accumulated over four years—there was quite a bit to pack and store for the voyage with her People. And while she’d almost finished, she still needed to get some of her things from Jorol and Tsarvung’s home.
But before she left, she stopped Saani and Kazic, an eager expression upon her face.
Ari held out both hands; in each were two small marbles…to call them black was an understatement…their nature was misty to Kazic's infravision, the edges not fully defined. Blue sparks of energy flickered from each of Ari’s fingers and onto each marble in turn…her fingers moved with rapid grace performing operations and changes that were too complex and quick for Kazic to follow…yet he could feel the basic premise of what was occurring…it was some kind of Force based programming.
“Here,” she handed one to him and one to Saani,
“What is it?” Saani inquired slightly shocked at the weight of the small sphere.
“It’s a…” Kiraea tickled at the back of Ari’s mind in the beat between words she argued with the older women about what she could and couldn’t tell them…of course Ari would do what Kiraea said, she was a Guardian, but she was still allowed to argue her case.
“A communications device…you have to…you have to delve the one in your hand a little…its like a genetic imprinting in the force...then I do the same to these two and we swap.”
“A personally coded Peer to Peer comms device that uses the Force,” Kazic determined as Ari nodded already sensing his understanding before he spoke…while still beyond his ability to comprehend fully he had a reasonable idea of the underlying theory, somewhat like a holocron, Force telepathy and a quantum entanglement network combined in a way he couldn’t fathom without years of study…or a direct implantation of the knowledge as Ari must've received from Valens or Kiraea.
“That way we can stay in contact no matter how far away we are.”
“How does it work?” Sanni inquired as she gently pressed her mind into the unnervingly…hungry was the only word she could use to describe it…sphere.
“I…can’t tell you…” her aqua eyes looking down in disappointment. “Kiraea says only People are allowed to know…she didn’t want me to give you them at all…but Jarys said it was alright.”
Kazic’s eyes darted up looking around the room, unable to trust his ability to sense Ari's peoples presence...he had expected there would be more of them somewhere...Valens was too cunning not to have backups and several extraction options.
“Jarys? Is Jarys…here?”
“Oh…” Ari looked around uncomfortably, both Saani and Kazic could sense she didn’t like keeping her Peoples secrets from them but her culture left her no option.
“He’s…busy in the city…they weren’t sure I was safe here...or you'd let me go…he’ll take the bombs they brought away…”
Saani’s eye widened at the thought of what contingencies Ari’s people may have unleashed had they tried to keep Ari from them…Kazic though concerned couldn’t help a wry smile.
…So much for your security screenings and orbital traffic controls Anson…Sensing their disquiet Ari offered something positive. “But things are changing…Valens says the Guardian system is not well adapted to our new environment…so when I get back Kiraea and Jarys are going to teach me all the Guardians ways…we’ll all be the same now….” She reached out taking the spheres they had delved and giving them hers in return.
“Maybe one day things will change even more and I’ll be able to show you how these work…”
As Ari’s voice trailed off, she looked up to Saani and Kazic. Seeing their love for her, she quickly wrapped her arms around them, all three holding one another in a tight embrace.
<<<<< >>>>>
“You know that you are always welcome in our house, Ari.” Jorol and Tsarvung warmly hugged Ari in turn, their three children—all teenagers now—behind them. Syrena and D’arial were still apprenticed as teidowans, although D’arial was to take her Gray Trials in the forthcoming month. And as luck would have it, Arnis was on holiday from his anthropology school, visiting home for the first time in the season.
All of them had grown up around each other and considered Ari their favorite “cousin.” As such, her leaving was particularly emotional for their family. And for Ari; aside from Saani and Kazic, Jorol and Tsar had been a second home that she had grown to love. And to aspire to: theirs was a family that Ari thought of as perfect. And after Saani and Kazic, they were the people she loved most.
As the day wore long, the shadows of dusk began to appear. Knowing that Valens wanted to disembark tonight, Ari made her final goodbyes, exiting Jorol and Tsar’s apartments ahead of Kazic and Saani, bittersweet tears still upon her cheeks while she put one foot in front of the other, lost in thought.
It was how she found herself surrounded by almost a dozen Vhal’Dan sentinels, their distinct gray, white, and gold armor gleaming in the light of the setting sun. Quickly recalling herself, she drew in the aether, her senses flooding with stimuli as she slowly backed towards Saani and Kazic, standing beside them.
Arrayed in a semicircle, the Vhal’Dan sentinels stood tall within the large courtyard. As specialists in Galtean Home Security, the sentinels were typically armed to the teeth: all carried a saberstaff, multiple sabers, vibroknives, a variety of grenades, and more than one was armed with a thermal detonator. Their presence meant that a powerful Force-user was to be apprehended as an “enemy of the state.”
One of the sentinels stepped forward, his saberstaff in hand but not ignited. “Aresaea K’aval? Come with us at once.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Kazic’s voice boomed, challenging the sentinels, faceless under the armored masks of their station. He stepped in front of Ari as Saani did likewise, the two Speakers standing shoulder-to-shoulder in their armor, an atmosphere of menace and power radiating off of them even though they were empty-handed. “On what charges? Under whose authority?” Despite the commanding tone in Kazic’s voice, the sentinels did not back down.
“Mine.”
The sentinels parted, revealing Anson wearing his full tactical armor. The Arbiter walked forward, saber hilt in hand, his eyes unwavering as he stared at Ari. “This girl is a spy against the Vhal’Dan.” Standing only a meter away, Anson turned his eyes from Saani and Kazic and back. “I have foreseen calamity being visited upon the Vhal’Dan and know that this girl is involved. She has
never sworn the Oaths, she is
not a Vhal’Dan,
she isn’t even human! And you both…invited her to live among us.” As Anson shook his head, his brown hair swayed slightly, the calm, cool breeze of the wind incongruous with the heated atmosphere of tension that pervaded the entire courtyard. “No. She’s coming with us.” He reached a hand towards Ari.
Faster than thought, Kazic’s hand shot up, clamping down upon Anson’s forearm in a vice-like grip. His face remained expressionless but the intensity of his eyes belied his anger. “Not human…like you, Anson?” Kazic intoned deliberately. “The hell she is. You will not touch her.” With that, all sentinels ignited their saberstaves, the yellow blades casting an unnatural pall upon all. Saani, Kazic, and Anson still stood empty-handed, Anson even breaking out in a slowly spreading smile. No one moved for a moment. The setting sun had turned the sky a dark-violet purple, like a bruise underneath the skin.
And then five of the sentinels rushed the two Speakers. A second before they were within arms length, all five flew backwards as if caught in a tempest gust, smashing them against (and through) the old courtyard walls. Saani and Kazic ignited their sabers almost in unison, standing side-by-side, Anson and the remaining seven sentinels moving to flank the two.
Suddenly, Anson and his sentinels went down to their knees, all limbs frozen as if the air had hardened into ferrocrete. Although only Anson’s eyes were visible, Kazic imagined that all of those belonging to the sentinels were likewise fervently looking around, bulging from heads that were locked in place. And in the middle stood a figure that had begun to radiate purple electricity, lightning beginning to arc from her hands and legs, arms and torso.
Ari stood, eyes half-lidded, in the midst of the courtyard, near the wall that was broken from the sentinels that had crashed through it. She no longer looked like a young woman; she looked like a force of nature. Cascading from her fingers, her feet, her eyes, lightning forked outward, a cloud of fire beginning to form around her. Her pupils and irises were no longer visible and her clenched teeth seemed to glow, indeed her entire body looked as if it had ignited.
“You see now Kazic!
This is what you’ve brought amongst the Vhal’Dan!” Anson’s head did not need to move in order for him to witness Ari’s transformation.
Anson’s words penetrated Ari’s state, her aqua eyes blinking, focus returning as her head made brief turns to either side, uncertain as to what had precisely occurred. She went from appearing like an avatar of light to what she was: a frightened, hunted young woman. “…S…Saani?” Ari’s head swiveled searching for the Twi’lek woman. And as Saani moved to join Ari where she stood, a pair of armored arms suddenly encircled the young woman in a crushing bear hug.
One of the sentinels that had flown through the wall had recovered. And while he had lost his saberstaff and shoto, he still had a thermal detonator on his belt. And as he grabbed Ari, in one of his hands he held and activated the device, arming the “dead-man’s switch.”
“Back off, both of you!” He yelled at Saani and Kazic, then directing his shouts at his prisoner. “Don’t move girl! You know what this is, what it can do. One false move, and I’ll vaporize your parents and this entire courtyard…” Even hidden by his mask, the tone of his voice sounded angry, dangerous.
Ari heard it, all of that and more. She knew that this man was threatening her family. Kazic…her teacher. And Saani…
Saani. Her mother.
Before the sentinel even knew what was happening to him, he was gripped in unbreakable tethers of the Force, crushing muscle, tendon, and bone. His hand was bound in a solid cube of air, his fingers unable to move an iota even if he had wanted to do so. And with speed born from her anger within the aether, Ari…propelled the man away from her. As he was standing at her back, he flew towards Jorol and Tsarvung’s apartments, hitting the front door. But so vehement was her rage, the furious reaction of her emotions translated directly to force. The door crumpled against the onslaught of the sentinel’s body, the resulting collision also breaking every bone in this body and rupturing several organs. Inertia carried the body through the bottom floor of the apartments, collapsing several walls. The entire building complex shook as a result, everyone in the courtyard momentarily stunned by the violence of the still-shaking structure.
Ari was about to run in when she was grabbed by Kazic and Saani, the two Speakers pulling her to the ground. Ari was about to shout at the Anzati Master, her confusion matched by her concern for the family inside, her anger still hot, raw, and causing her to lash out.
Then the thermal detonator exploded.
The primary shock wave pulverized the first, second, and third floors of the apartments. The ensuing fireball that engulfed the residence tore through the already weakened structure, igniting multiple fires as furniture caught ablaze. One of the sentinels that had not taken cover was thrown bodily from the courtyard, landing out of sight. Finally, the entire building collapsed in upon itself, producing an expanding cloud of detritus, soot, and metal dust.
Everyone in the courtyard stared wide-eyed, mouths agape. In a flurry of motion, Kazic, Saani, and Anson ran towards the destroyed building, searching for any sign of life. The sentinels—those that were still conscious—were attempting to contact Fire- and Civil-Services. Meanwhile, a crowd was beginning to congregate in front of the courtyard.
Lips quivering, Ari sank to her knees, tears flowing, her face a mask of desperation, abject horror, and grief. Her open mouth was wide in a silent scream that impotently keened against the backdrop of ruination. Putting her fists against either side of her head, she slowly began to sway back and forth, her eyes crushed shut against the hellish tableau of her extended family’s devastated home.
“Ari…Ari! ARI!!” Saani’s hands and voice were consoling, her firm but gentle embrace a salve against the terror that threatened to overwhelm her. “This is NOT your fault! Do you hear me? NOT YOUR FAULT!” She felt Saani’s hands caress her face. “Dear One…I’m here…I’m here…” And while part of her was grateful, another part felt numb…numb for fear that she would become inundated with anguish.
“Saani! SAANI! Please come help me, I’ve found D’arial!” Kazic held the small, dusky skinned teidowan in his arms, blood covering the young woman. Her left arm was bent the wrong way and the jagged bone of her femur was protruding from her leg. But she was breathing.
“Help me!” Anson shouted at the sentinels as he half-dragged, half-carried Jorol from the wreckage of the upstairs bedrooms. The dark maenowan was missing his right leg below the knee and he was bleeding profusely from several lacerations, two severe. As a temporary triage was set up in the courtyard, several emergency personnel began to arrive. The night had turned completely black, further accentuating the fires that continued to consume the apartments.
And as the night wore on, more and more people came to help, putting out fires, offering an extra pair of hands, or providing a blanket, food, water. But they found no more survivors.
<<<<< >>>>>
“And you—unilaterally—made this decision, Anson?” Arkady’s blue eyes could have been ice for all of the warmth that they held. The small Kage’s stance was rigid and he seemed to loom taller than the Arbiter despite being 10 centimeters shorter.
“…Yes, Kage. I am responsible.” Anson’s jaw was clenched, the muscles in his jowls rippling. He still was covered in soot and dust and he had a look of distress on his face. “I…I did not intend for anything like what happened to occur… I… I’m sorry.” He lowered his eyes. “…It…it was my fault.”
Besides him, Kazic glared at the Arbiter, his own face the worse for wear as he’d come straight to the Kage’s Offices from the wreckage site. And despite the look he gave, he was silent.
Arkady never so much as blinked. “Yes, it is. Anson D’Aklon, you are arrested. You are hereby formally stripped of title and office. You will stand trial for the deaths of twelve people, the destruction of property, and breaching the peace.” Arkady spoke to the sentinels behind Anson. “Bailiffs, escort the prisoner to his cell.” And as he was led away, Anson left silently, grief and remorse evident upon his face.
Arkady did not move; he turned his head, addressing Kazic. “First Speaker Kazic Ovarug, you are to assume the station and duties of Arbiter until such a time that a formal election can be conducted. This appointment is immediate and done on my authority, under the Vhal’Dan Articles of Impeachment.” As the room cleared of everyone, leaving only Kazic and the Kage, Arkady’s shoulders slightly but visibly sank a few centimeters, his voice relaxing somewhat. “Kazic…Anson will answer for what he’s done. I promise you.”
The taller Anzat looked down at his Kage and nodded, opening his mouth to speak…but no words came forth. Arkady put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “…I am so sorry my friend. I didn’t know Tsarvung like you nor his children but… Please accept my condolences.” Kazic put his hand upon Arkady’s, briefly nodding again before moving to walk from the Kage’s Offices. But once he got into the doorway, he stopped, talking over his shoulder.
“…Thank you, Arkady. But it’s to Jorol that you should offer them… Tonight he lost not only his husband but his son and daughter as well…” Kazic thought of Arnis and Syrena and how they had had their entire lives in front of them… “At least it looks as though D’arial is going to pull through…” He whispered the last, remembering the tears on her dark face as she called for her fathers, Jorol’s broken body racked with sobbing as he repeated the names of his lost husband and children.
…Damn you Anson…And he still had to deal with the situation at home…
<<<<< >>>>>
“…No Dear One, Kazic is right. It’s best if you go with your People like you’d planned.” Saani’s patient voice was as soothing as the gentle rubbing of her hands upon Ari’s shoulders. Ari’s forlorn face turned towards the Twi’lek womans, her aqua eyes watery as she stared into Saani’s purple irises.
“…But…I…I want to help…I want…for Jorol…and D’arial…for them to be…I want to…” Her voice trailed off as she began to cry anew, her quiet tears rolling down her cheeks.
Ari had thought that in joining Valens, perhaps she was taking an extended vacation. Now, especially in light of the tragedy that had befallen Jorol’s family, she was loathe to leave any of them. But Kazic knew…even though she was in NO way responsible for what had happened, there were already whispers suggesting such, championing Anson, and questioning the Kage’s decision to incarcerate the former Arbiter. Ari would be safer with her People, away from Galtea.
…Damn you Anson… He thought not for the first time tonight.
“Ari, Dear One, we know that you want to help—Maker knows that we love you for it—but you must go with Valens, with Kiraea, with your People. They also need you, just as much if not more than we do.” He fondly ran his hand through her long red hair. “Thanks to you, we can always speak to one another with your gift…” He indicated the small orb upon the table in the front Atrium. “…and will be right here whenever you need us.” Kazic’s eyes looked kind, transported back all those years when he’d first met her at Yavin 4. “Know this Dear One: you are our daughter, Saani’s and mine. You will always have family here.” Bowing, he gently kissed her upon the top of her head, quickly followed by Saani’s own kisses.
By the time Ari had given her final hugs and goodbyes, the Galtean sunrise was beginning to alight the western horizon. But it was a false dawn, at least for Kazic. He knew that the events of the previous evening would act as the harbinger of the coming conflict, the underlying tensions finally given a face, an issue for people to polarize to either side. For that, he was grateful that Ari would be spared.
But for the Vhal’Dan, he knew that it would tear the Order asunder.