Engines of Heaven: Renunciated
Posted on Tue Aug 16th, 2022 @ 8:54pm by Thane & Bomoor Thort
3,739 words; about a 19 minute read
Chapter:
Additional Stories
Location: Gubernatorial Precinct, Marathon, Ord Yutani
Timeline: After "Beasts"
This post takes place in 1,213 ABY, around four years before Thane and Bomoor encountered the Cult of Axion on Nar Shaddaa, during their earliest years as Jedi Knights.
"When you go to war against the Renunciates and see Beasts and Star-yachts and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because your Goddess and Her Terrible Glare, who brought you up out of the Void, will be with you. When you are about to go into battle, the Prelates shall come forward and address the army. They shall say: “Hear, Her Faithful: Today you are going into battle against the Renunciates and Rimkin. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For Your Mother the Goddess is the one who goes with you to fight for you against Her enemies to give you victory."
Seripture: Centax Revised Edition
— Tessebok 20:1-4OLD
As he took another swing, an extreme pain seized the forearm connected to Thane's dominant fighting hand, as the current of some weapon coursed through him and caused his entire body to seize up and cramp. A moment later, he had released his lightsaber and it clattered away into the crowd, who now fully fell upon him, urged on by their lunatic priest nearby, landing blow after blow onto his body, as he also tried to bring his legs and arms in closer to his chest, to preserve whatever he could of his bulk.
As Thane felt his consciousness slipping away from him, he tried desperately to reach out to Bomoor through the Force, to push past the extreme pain and the mundane world to find even the barest echo of his nearby friend, to be sure that he was still alive. But, he sensed nothing, feeling little but the agony of the beating the Marathoni cultists were inflicting upon him. With his eyes sealing closed and his body growing ever number, Thane's last thought before he finally surrendered into unconsciousness was that he and Bomoor were going to die on this forgotten Mid Rim world, murdered by beating for trying to save an unknown Rodian from a pointless execution.
NEW
"Confound this Jedi and that prattling Koorivar fool!" Senator Polt Rakhesh bounded into the small but lavishly-decorated office that was attached to the diplomatic hall, his sizeable girth knocking into his ornate bureau and sending a number of parchments and ornaments tumbling over its side, to which he paid no mind.
He poorly directed himself around the furniture in this chamber, thick hands scrabbling over hard surfaces to better shift his weight round to his specially-crafted wide chair, which was, for lack of a better description, more of a throne. He reached out for the nearby goblet which, mercifully, was still filled with wine, even if his calamitous entry had caused a small amount to trickle over the rim.
Following close behind him but far enough back to avoid any toppling furniture that the senator jostled on his way through, came his secretary. She was a slight Human female, with brown frizzy hair and chestnut eyes that flitted between her employer and the datapad she clasped firmly in her hand.
“Um, Senator Rakhesh,” she announced herself, with a soft mid-Rim twang to her voice, “Before you get comfortable, I have been sent word from the Prelate of Her First Light Chapel in the market district. Seems they have apprehended two Jedi spies who were profaning their sacred ceremony; one of whom was one of those hammerhead aliens. He seeks permission for a public execution.”
"Pf-gkhr-what!?" Rakhesh spluttered, spitting some of the wine out that had tried to suck down between laboured breaths. He slammed the goblet down onto the bureau and looked at Whats-Her-Face (he never remembered their names - only their curves, and even then, only on the nights they were actually in his bedchambers). There was a mild panic in his widening eyes.
"Jedi!?" He stammered, immediately rummaging about the desktop, as if there might be something even remotely worthwhile or useful he could grasp at, although he knew he was just surrendering to his fear. He calmed himself as quickly as he could, although his chest was already raspy and tight. He was made for soirees and balls, not political intrigue and espionage! "Two Jedi?" He shook his head. "Who else knows?!"
The secretary jumped back slightly and pointlessly tapped at her datapad as if it contained some information that would spare her from the truth she already knew she must divulge, "Um, well a sizeable portion of the market district was present at or involved in the capture of the Jedi and most are not exactly keeping the matter a secret."
She nervously ran a hand through her hair, "Oh, and two warriors of Her holy army were involved too so there's a chance word may have also reached..."
"His Holiness!" The senator exclaimed, his panic growing.
He missed the days when Jedi were little more than a myth, a bedtime story to either excite or scare babes in their cots, dependent on which part of the galaxy you came from. Rakhesh himself had been raised on the stories of great heroes, like The Skywalker or Revan and the Star Forge, as a child, and he had been guilty of swinging branches like lightsabers. The Jedi of those fables achieved marvellous feats, which he truly struggled to believe, as there was not a hope in the Void that the likes of Hale Dunrar could tear starships from the sky, or summon great storms across the blackness of space.
No, the Jedi of this age were meddlesome and arrogant, more obsessed with accounts, books and warring with farmers. It did not mean, however, that they were not lethal with those blades of theirs.
"Have them brought here at once, on my authority!" He rambled loudly through heavy breaths, grabbing more stationery to begin scribing some strongly-worded documentation, for the benefit of both His Holiness and Master Dunrar and his Judicial Forces. "We can fix this before Contispex knows or arrives; this can be made a success! We will have these, um... uh-" What was the word? "-Renunciates! Yes, we will have these Renunciates hurled from our world. A bargaining chip for more control over these 'talks'. An end to them, even!"
He assumed that the woman was making note of everything he was saying and ordering, and had not yet looked up to see if this was so. As he broke the nib of his writing instrument as he barked his commands, Rakhesh finally looked up, irritated. "Well?" He boomed. "See to it! And have Dunrar brought back immediately. His espionage cannot go unpunished!"
The young woman seemed to hop up off the ground as his voice reached her and she uttered a little yelp before following on with an acknowledgement, “Yes, senator. I’ll go right away!”
She hurriedly escaped from his presence while Rakhesh slowly sunk back down into his chair as he considered the turmoil to come.
Hale Dunrar held his hands together within his brown robes, the warmth of his palms comforting to the Jedi Master as he was escorted out of their diplomatic quarters and out into the larger building. The attendants, garbed in the garish colours of the religion that had gripped the planet, had been quite abrupt in their sudden explosion into the room.
His calm, bulbous eyes flitted just briefly to examine the one nearest to him, a thickly-muscled male that had an exceptionally closed-off mind, aside from the stray consideration around the two Non-Humans he was now escorting. Being so young, he probably did not even fight in the Second Outer Rim Conflict, yet it seemed he had forged some extreme views and values in the short time he had heard stories of that troubling and confusing war.
Dunrar rubbed his hands together a little for a bit of extra comfort at the thought, doing his best to retain his usual relaxed and considered facade, even as he considered the implications of this most recent summoning, so soon after Senator Rakhesh had called an unplanned adjournment from the peace talks. Naturally, his mind had turned to Thane and Bomoor Thort, and, judging by the expression worn on Sroo Mekhala's dark face, the Koorivar had made similar assumptions.
"A wise Jedi Master once said that should the wind change, your face will be stuck like that," the Neimoidian commented cordially.
“Can I really be blamed for my expression given the circumstances?” The Koorivar’s yellow eyes flitted to his Jedi companion, “I was making real headway in these talks. We are at a delicate stage and now and being summoned back so soon just does not bode well.”
The senator seemed to await some correction from Dunrar, which did not materialise. The diplomat was well aware that, despite the supposed peace talks, the Glarist faction on this planet continued to build their fleet. People were turning more and more to the opinion that the sector’s senator, Polt Rakhesh, had agreed only to buy time for their military might to grow.
It had also been speculated that Mekhala was poorly suited to this diplomatic assignment, with the xenophobic Glarists paying him little respect during negotiations with almost nothing agreed by himself or the numerous aides he brought along with him. Perhaps as a result or out of the senator’s own hesitance, he had called for numerous halts in negotiation to reconsider his position, which usually meant him returning to his quarters on the JSD Great Manifest and ordering catering to his room.
But now, it was just himself and Dunrar heading to meet Rakhesh and his Glarist allies. His aides had not been allowed along this time and his anxiety could be felt by the Jedi at his side.
Mekhala seemed to stumble a bit with his words, “You know…” he began, turning to Dunrar, “You should probably reassure them that your presence here is not a threat. One of the key talking points has been freedom of religious belief and I don’t want this to devolve into a religious debate of the Force versus their Goddess. You must re-affirm my position of peaceful co-operation.”
Neimoidians were infamous for their hard-to-read expressions. By most Humanoid standards - being the largest and most recognisable grouping of sentient in the Republic-dominated galaxy - Neimoidians had a sullen or sad expression on their slick faces. Nevertheless, the thin-lipped Jedi Master did a fine job of making his face look more dismayed than usual at Koorivar's comments. The pair had barely seen eye-to-eye since the commencement of their assignment here, with their allocation perhaps a reflection in the lack of interest this incident had garnered from the Senate at large, with a large amount of their issues perhaps being divined from Koorivar's attitude.
"Fourteen standard years of service on the Jedi High Council have lent themselves to a certain appreciation for different religious views," Dunrar said, trying to remove any terseness from his accented voice. Concern was growing in his mind regarding the situation, and the senator was proving himself a greater obstacle than a boon to his efforts, whether political or tactical. "And five years of conflict with fellow Jedi led me to draw a few additional conclusions about the righteousness of prattling on about the measure of the Force."
The Jedi now stepped past the senator, especially as their escorts were now offering less than savoury glares at the two diplomats, and continued walking ahead. "Unfortunately, I fear this conflict is just another child of the galaxy's last great failure to express itself sensibly. A failure both the Jedi and the Senate must own-"
The doors back into the assembly hall were thrown open and the Republicans were met by the roaring voice of Senator Rakhesh. His face was flushed a bright red and his cheeks wobbled aggressively as he shouted at the pair of them. Sweat had made his skin slick and his hair was sticking to his forehead, in spite of his movement. The warm Marathon evening did not seem to agree with Ord Yutani's formerly-elected representative to the galactic congress, but nor did any true physical exertion.
"Perfidious beasts!" He shouted, a fat finger jutting towards Dunrar and Koorivar. Flanking the portly Human were a number of red-garbed Glarists, their armaments and clothing a mixture of refined and ramshackle, indicating these were not comprised just of the honour guard that had been paraded out for the Third Republic's benefit. Two of them were equipped with staves, which they used to rhythmically bang the marble floor.
Dunrar's mouth twitched as he spotted the two figures hunched upon the floor in front of Rakhesh. Their clothes damaged and torn, nearly-dried blood dotting their features, Bomoor and Thane looked wearily up at the Jedi Master.
With matted hair covering one of his blue eyes, Thane just about peered through his other, bruised one at the Neimoidian. A small half-smile was offered to him, but Dunrar was unable to tell if it was apologetic or amused.
Bomoor appeared somewhat more discomforted as he lay awkwardly cradling one of his mouths, that appeared to have suffered a nasty tear, with hints of blood still oozing around more dried patches as he panted. Yet his eyes still seemed slightly brighter at the appearance of the Jedi Ace.
"Spies!" Rakhesh roared, snapping attention back to him, his voice competing with the clacking of the Glarist guards' weapons that were still beating down on the floor. "Typical Republic treachery; espionage to undermine us from within! You have no respect for our laws yet you expect us to obey yours." With his other hand he threw the two lightsabers that belonged to the Jedi Knights scattering across the floor between them and Dunrar. "Did the Alliance teach you nothing?" Rakhesh demanded, some of his bluster now being to fail, perhaps as he already grew tired of the performance.
Because that is what it is, Dunrar reminded himself, a bright-red eye sliding between Rakhesh and the warriors at either side of him. A performance, to keep your place. To keep your plush cushions, credits and females.
“I was not…” Senator Mekhala stumbled, his eyes wide and flitting across all those in the room, hovering slightly longer on his Jedi companion, “I had no idea…”
He straightened up and took a deep breath, as though drawing on a deep, rarely utilised ability, “I mean to say, I was unaware of any Jedi activity in this region besides our own efforts. As I’m sure you are well aware, Polt, the Jedi are the peacekeeping arm of the Republic and so I am sure that their presence was merely…”
"Unacceptable!" Rakhesh interjected, appearing to summon another reserve of energy to continue his act. Spittle came from his mouth and his jowls wabbled a little with the exertion.
Dunrar did not glanced to Koorivar during the exchange, although he was silently grateful and humbled by the senator's quick-thinking decision to support the Jedi Master's gambit, even after it was unsuccessful. Even amongst the lowliest and most ambitious of beings, charity, forgiveness and loyalty could be discovered. Instead of lending voice to this newfound appreciation for his Koorivar companion, however, Dunrar used the small semblance of serenity to carefully speak up when Rakhesh finished his display.
"Whilst Ord Yutani makes its case against the Republic, its opposition to the galactic government is not universal; you cannot yet speak for all citizens of this world, and you are still beholden to the laws of the Senate," he said, spreading his hands out in an open gesture. "These young Jedi were simply doing what comes naturally to them, and were exercising their legal right to see that the people they are sworn to protect are well. To see that they are cared for and happy."
Rakhesh stumbled at those comments a little. His bloodshot eyes widened a little and he lost some of the emotional momentum he had created. The brief pause he offered - for, despite him also being a man of many vices, he was not known to be needlessly callous or cruel - resulted in at least one of the adorned religious guards angling their heads towards him.
"This world belongs to the Yutani. It is governed by the Yutani, for the Yut-"
"They were preparing to execute a man," Thane now spoke up, his dry voice forced to be louder than Rakhesh's. One of the guards prepared to hit the Jedi but Rakhesh raised a hand to stay the weapon. A small grimace could be seen from the exposed lower half of the warrior's face.
"Ord Yutani law is a Yutani matter," Rakhesh now insisted, making the mistake of actually addressing one of the prisoners.
Dunrar held back another smile. Whilst the news was concerning, Rakhesh had weakened his position by actually engaging with one of his own prisoners. Either the subject was sore to the wayward senator, or he worried for his role in this whole affair. Either way, in the eyes of those observing, it meant he had given some credence to Thane and Bomoor's actions and complaints.
"This is why this world, Master Jedi," the portly man continued, "like so many others, seek to abandon the corruption and irrelevant, discriminatory of the Third Republic!"
"They were going to murder him for being a Rodian!" Thane growled with a cracking voice, angling himself to better look at Senator Rakhesh. "For being different!"
Rakhesh's face dropped. Whilst a degree of panic could be felt through the Force from the man, who did not harbour the sort of mind capable of concealing its intentions or meandering fears, the comment clearly struck him. Whether he knew of such atrocities being committed on the world he had sworn to defend and represent or not, the accusation stumbled him.
"I- You..."
"Hold your stammering, Senator," Dunrar said, steel in his low voice, and a flat, green hand thrust towards Rakhesh. The dismay and anger he expressed were genuine, and he reminded himself of the Code before he continued. "This is a travesty. A travesty of leadership, and a travesty of spirit." He made a point of addressing the guards flanking Rakhesh, Thane and Bomoor as he spoke. There was an irony to Rakhesh's comments regarding freedoms, justice and the rule of law. "The Old Republic, the one of legends, faced down dark days of religious zealotry and discrimination in aeons passed. The Third Republic is founded on those same tenets of liberty and the sanctity of life, and the Jedi are sworn to upheld those venerable values. There can be no diplomacy whilst you hold the people of the Republic to these barbaric laws - for executing them for not sharing your genome!"
Again, Rakhesh remained speechless. A few times, he had attempted to bumble some sort of retort, but his expression had lost all rage and was now somewhere between confusion and apologetic. He reached outwards Dunrar, but before he could say anything else, two of the Glarist guards stepped forward, and they smashed their staves into the marbled floor in front of their senator and activated the shock-tips.
Dunrar raised his offhand and placed it before Mekhala in a defensive posture and he outstretched his other hand, summoning both of Thane and Bomoor's discarded lightsabers into it.
"Do not be fainthearted or afraid!" One of the guards declared, whilst the other continued, "Do not panic or be terrified by them! The Goddess is with us!"
"A beast shall remain a beast and it is Her will that Her chosen shall have dominion over all their kind for the rest of time!"
"No!" Senator Rakhesh shouted, pulling back at one of the burly holy warriors desperately. "You will not harm these men!"
Thane looked up at the spectacle unfolding around them, his swollen eye locking with Dunrar momentarily. Dunrar could feel the young Guardian summoning the Force within himself, power beginning to bristle in the Caanan.
"Return the Knights to me and we shall leave immediately," Dunrar urged, allowing some of the Force to swell about him, too, and silently urging Thane to resist any immediate action against his captors.
With the mood in the room shifting, the young Ithorian knight arose slowly, clearly still in some discomfort from his attack. When one of the Glarist warriors pointed his staff in his direction he held up his hands as an indication that he did not intend to fight.
“My friend and I will leave in peace now,” he offered through squinted eyes, most-likely silently reinforcing his statement with some Force persuasion, although that would not have been clear to all parties in the room.
Like his compatriot, the Glarist backed down and Bomoor nodded before offering a hand down to Thane to assist him in arising also. The pair edged back to stand beside their senior Jedi and all three Force users now faced down the senator and his guards.
“There, you see, Polt,” Mehkala gestured towards his Human fellow-senator, now regaining some of his self-assurance, for better or for worse, “You can be reasonable. Now perhaps we can resume our diplomatic discussions and you can set aside this non-Human prejudice and stand down the unlawful militia you are developing here.”
"Yes," Rakhesh began sadly, nodding quickly, his chin dipping into the folds of his neck as he offered a sad expression to the other senator and the three Jedi. He offered a couple of glances to the Glarists who were now looking to move ahead of him, the grips on their weapons tight and their eyes locked on the others across the room. "Yes, I can be reasonable. But-"
"But," Master Dunrar concluded softly as he placed the lightsabers upon his belt, "the discussions appear to be at an end." Offering a mournful look to his colleagues, he offered one final expression to Senator Rakhesh, who now looked surprisingly small beside the zealots flanking him, despite his portly build. "Goodbye, Senator. May the Force be with you."
TBC
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