Republic Reigns: Star Wars Fanfiction.

Chapter 6: Nooks' Crannies

3rd Person:

Master Zinn struggled to suppress shuddering winces of distressingly increasing pang as she led Jarelle through the balanced steps of Shii-Cho lightsaber combat. Though her leathery Kel Dor forelimbs were still scarred and nearly disfigured from De'Busk's failed assassination attempt, she pushed her frail body to demonstrate the ancient basic motions of the Jedi honed into Form 1.

Jarelle followed along intently, echoing Zinn's saber-polearm maneuvers with her own gleaming beskar twin-blade. She took care to control her natural strength when sparring, not wishing to tax her wounded mentor further than her limits. However, fierceness still smoldered behind Jarelle's purple eyes as she envisioned confronting the Trandoshan commander's Jedi lackeys once again.

Noticing Jarelle's simmering irritation misaligning her already barely practiced steps, Zinn dropped her gold-colored saber-pike. "Remember, passion can lend potency when tempered, but uncontrolled it will consume all in its path." She gestured to the habitat's window where a swath of land still lay bare, bombardment marred Dantooine's once pristine forests from De'Busk's attempts to find the hidden location over a few cycles.

Jarelle bit back a remark before Zinn's staticky voice came through again. "I witnessed similar destruction firsthand when I served alongside Sansa years ago on Alderaan." Zinn's expression grew distant at the memories, her breath became shakey. "We exposed the previous Chancellor's scheme to defraud the core systems banks..."

Zinn laughed to herself for a moment. "In the political fallout, the Council conveniently reassigned me far from the Core on this neglected Frontier assignment." Jarelle's green eyes widened with recognition as Zinn pressed on.

"I remember the day--the jaded fools could not even meet my eyeline!" Subtle memories threatened to break through Zinn's hazy mind but it was as if only certain memories peaked through, her head wracked with pain.

Jarelle cocked her head "Why would the council side with such a scandalous regime?." She stepped closer, intrigued to finally hear her mentor's full story. Zinn lowered her head solemnly. "Chancellor Mathus could not abide a Jedi interfering with his profits or authority, I had discovered his family's plot to create false loans toward Ambria...." The Kel Dor sat resting her body for a moment on a carved wooden chair.

"The foolish human thought it was a good idea to launch a whole fleet of clunky battle droids funded without anyone's consent to crush the Outer Rim with impunity." Zinn rocketed for a moment, letting gentle breezes sing her memories back to life.

"So he influenced the Council to remove the 'agitator' while granting protection to corporate stakeholders like Trazzeck Arms and Minerals--represented by none other than Commander De'Busk Trazzek..."

A nesting large snail that called the Dantooine Treeline it's home came into view before the two hardened female warriors. "When I first arrived I began to notice data streams about large amounts of cargo being lifted toward Ambria still--Mathus may have stepped down but his cut ran deeper than the order cared to admit."

Jarelle set her jaw, her long black hair masking her large facial scar. "Then the Jetii Order is complicit in both Mathus and the Trandoshan's colonization and crimes!" Zinn raised a fist but Zinn interrupted her. "The Council believed they acted justly, Dantooine having been an already exploited hyper-lane meant we Jedi could not disrupt the 'essential' flow of the new territories...but detached doctrine is blind without compassion." Her voice trailed off.

"I realized that truth too late" Her weathered clawed hand came to rest gently upon Jarelle's worn gold-ornemented Beskar armor, the much younger warrior regarded her master with grace. "I only wish I had spent less time focused on what I was told to--not what I saw..."The evening began to express its purple blanket as the ex-Jedi Knight Jarelle spoke with spite on her tongue. "They are all kath hounds eating each other..."