STARLIGHT Beautiful Hostage (Episode 8)

"Yeah, well things apparently got complicated. It seems like the senator foolishly decided to resque his lover himself and he was caught in the crossfire. I was told that Barracudas was able to strike down one of the Assassins with her lightsabers. Because of some weird bond I'm not sure how that works anyway, but moving on, the other Assassin was dying too. In a final desperate act he force pushed both the senator and the Diva from the roof, to fall to their deaths. This is were Barracudas did the craziest thing ever and jumped after them. There is video footage of the hole affair, they are still sending it out, almost every news show is still talking about it. She told me she was not able to bear the weight of both the senator and the Diva and that the only one she taught she could save was the leighter one of them, seeing what she had to do, I have to agree with her. What she did was very heroic and stupid too. But that's where you Jedi are different I guess, such things are considered impossible for us, for force users however, well let's just say your limits are on a hole different level. Must be fun though." She comments.

"Yes the Assassins had connected their life itself together through the force... I was rather caught of guard by it in fact, though hearing that Barracudas was able to defeat them and also save the Diva strengthens my faith in her even more so, It seems Lin'drala's instincts were right about her."
Zemalia sighs. "Although my own actions again were no so great... having such powers like we do always leaves us believing that we could of done more... All those people that died... I was blinded by the heat of the battle, in rushing to defend the Diva and our crew I failed to protect the innocent... I am unworthy of the Jedi..."

"You should not blame yourself for what happened there. The only one to blame is the Empire, if they didn't send those 2 sith all this wouldn't have happened. What you did was justified, you took down that ship to save the Diva and everyone else. It was unfortunate that many lost their lives because of the following crash, but that does not make you a lesser jedi out of it. You can only go forward by making mistakes and you should always learn from them. How can one progress otherwhise? Do not think yourself unworthy, your action gave the rest of the crew the chance to regroup to protect the Diva after the empire crashed inside. Without you, the Diva would have been dead even before she reached the elevator that got her out of there."

Affection +10

"Your words are kind... a lot of what you say is true though I doubt many of my fellow Jedi will feel the same way. My past is shrouded in darkness and mistakes and another action with consequences such as this will just be even more fuel for some of them to poison the order against me further... Though I do not blame them."

She smiles at Sicilia "At the end of the day I am not trying to play the hero, there are far younger and far more skilled warriors who play that role."

"Do you value the opinion of others above your own? Because the only opinion that matter is yours, you know what you are. That's all that matters. How others see you should never be something you should place before how you see yourself. If you say what you do is right, that's all that needs to be said. I know that best myself. I don't care how others see me, be it good, evil, in the middle. I know how I am myself. I do what I want, regardless of what others think of me by doing so. Anyway I think the Captain would like to be notified that your awake again, including that Twi'lek friend of yours, I'm not one to tell my patients to lay down in a bed for a week or don't do anything. If you believe your ready you can leave, you're all grown ups, I shouldn't have to tell you what to do. Have a nice day Master Zemalia." She tells her, making her way to leave the medbay if she isn't spoken to again.

"Of course. thank you again Sicilia, well I cannot speak for what the others say, But I at least am glad you came along with us for what it is worth... I shall return to my place of meditation near the holding cells if someone comes looking for me."
Zemalia thinks for a moment "Do I really know who I am...?"
She wonders to herself.

STARLIGHT Beautiful Hostage (Episode 8) - Page 8 Star-wars-the-old-republic-20100430084813868

There was already holo conversation in the holo room between General Garza and Captain Jag. It appears that Garza is greatly upset from the results of last mission: "Republic Senator dead, 63 civilians dead, I don't care how reality shows presented you in public, I received the results of the mission. This is disaster, I cannot believe you allowed something like this to happen during your mission. I've had high faith in you but this is too much and cannot be unpunished."

"Things got out of control, it is true. I don't even know how the ship crashed on the platform, we had no fire power to take it down, at least not that fast." Jag replies to his superior with admitting tone. "There is no excuse for what happened there. I am ready to suffer the consequences of the mission, mam."

Sicilia nodded a final time to Zemalia and left to search for Jag, preferring looking over the ship for him than just using the intercom of the ship. She found him quiet easily having a conversation with a strict looking woman in the holo room. Not caring in the least she entered the room, took a pen, wrote on the clipboard she was still carrying that Zemalia had woken up, handed it over to him and moved away again, waiting out of view in the back of the room, listening to where this was going.

Zemalia was passing by and heard the holo call that was going on.
She pulled down her hood and slowly entered still feeling a little bit ruff from the impact with the building support pillar when she was knocked back.
"Sorry for the intrusion, but I believe I can grant insight on what brought the ship down."

"And you are?" General Garza crosses her arms and narrows her eyes suspiciously at Zemalia.

"Jedi Master Zemalia, or perhaps soon former Jedi master... It was I who brought down the imperial ship. It was firing upon the crew and the target we were there to protect, I acted out of instinct and destroyed the ship with the force, it was not until after it went down I realised the consequences of the impact it would have."

"Now it makes all sense. Obviously this was a big mistake. It does make sense why Jedi outrank soldiers in Republic, because they are not capable to follow orders given by republic soldiers. I don't know whose idea was to promote this vanguard to Captain of Vigilance Beacon, when it is a Jedi Ship. This is what happens when chain in command is being broken, only chaos is the result, and failed mission. I do not have authority to deal with you Master Zemalia, but I will have word with Master Satele Shan about this, I assure you." Garza then eyes Jag: "However, I do have authority to deal with this vanguard, and because this was his mission that he failed, he will suffer the consequences of temporariy suspension and demotion. Galaxy is at war, and republic troopers could always use more men to carry ammo and food supplies for them. Report to your superiors on Republic Fleet and surrender your weapons."

"General please... As you said this was A Jedi failing not that of the soldier. Our mission was to protect the Diva and protect her we did. In the heat of combat when you are fighting for your lives and protecting your allies you don't always have time to think, or perhaps you yourself have forgotten what is it like to act in the field? Easy to cast the blame pointlessly when you are stood behind a command console.
This sort of decision will give the Empire the victory in this war, when you yourself don't strike me as someone who would never fail to put the mission first despite innocent lives... Jag did his duty, as did all of the crew. We Fought our enemy and they lost, the damage was caused by that of war. I accept the outcome of my actions but you cannot tell me the Empire is not the one to blame.
I ask you again, whatever you think of me is fine. But making this solider take a fall for no reason is pointless, he is an exemplary soldier of the Republic... If anything he should be promoted for dealing with out of the ordinary circumstances, not punished for standing against Sith with powers far beyond his own capabilities as a man. If you take this soldier out of the field you might as well start sending diplomats to the Empire with our terms of surrender."

(roll diplomacy.)

The member 'Zemalia' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Skill 1d20' : 18

Diplomacy Success

"Don't fail a mission again, because next time you wont be able to hide behind a Jedi, "Captain"... Garza out." Zemalia convinced General Garza to let it go ... at least this time. Same thing will not work again.

[Affection -5]

Jag lowers his head down as Garza ends the holo call. With head still lowered, Jag asks Zemalia: "You killed those innocents on the platform?" He asks it as he still does not believe she did, first he cannot figure out how would she menage to take down a ship without a missile. Second, he expected more from a Jedi, to him it was always an honor to work with one.

"Unfortunately yes, When the assassins ship was firing at us Barracudas called out for help, I used my power to destroy the ships hull and engines, had I had more time to react... I would of simply held the ship and the rubble, but sadly I didn't and I have to live with that for the rest of my live. If I had not acted we could have all been killed. I take no pleasure in my actions and I certainly do not consider myself a hero for it, but at the same time I will not see you fall for my actions."

Jag turns to Zemalia and rubs his chin curiously: "You have a power that can destroy ships ...? Is that some sort of a jedi power? I've seen jedi in action before, they can move objects with their mind and perform dangerous stunts, like Barracudas did in the last mission. I've never saw or heard that someone could actually destroy a ship."

Sicilia moves up from her leaning position on the wall, her own curiosity making her pay attention, wanting to know the exact same thing Jag was asking. "I do know they aren't indestructible, they bleed the same color as anyone else." She says smirking, knowingly looking at Zemalia's back.

"My connection to the force is very strong, I am after all a Mirilian... My race can harness and channel their power with the force to control much larger objects, we can lift, move and even destroy things with the force, but it takes quite a lot of concentration to focus and control it and clearly in the middle of the combat been fired at by the ship was not the best place, but as Sicilia rightfully says I can be just as fragile as anyone else, my body is in above average condition for my age mostly due to my connection to the force, but I am simply not the same young Mirilian I used to be."
She sighs... "Perhaps in my youth I would have been strong enough to save those people I simply cannot say, but I am glad at least I was able to save our crew and that you all were successful in saving the Diva even at such a high cost."

While the crew discussed stuff Ceviran was in her room meditating, The Vigilance Beacon was the greatest test to her patience that had stumbled in her path for a very long time and she was considering giving up but that would just make them able to freely go to the dark side with no consecuences and she wouldn't like that.
Ceviran sent a message to the Captain "What is our next move?"

Jag carefully listens to Zemalia, and as she explains he has hard time picturing it but the he remembers that starfighters in Dantooine's orbit that were destroyed without any fire power, and soon all dots get connected. Once Captain realizes that, he eyes Zemalia as someone who could be dangerous for other civilians or for the crew. "If we put ourselves above innocent people, than we are no better than Empire. When I wear republic uniform, it's because I chose to give my life for Republic Citizens. If we are going to destroy them to save ourselves, than what we do has no purpose. Anyone not willing to make that sacrifice has no place on this ship. I do understand that you tried to help crewmate Barracudas, because she called for help, and I will speak with her as well. But you are a Jedi Master, I do not ask you to be perfect, I ask you to be at least half of the rumors I've heard about them. If your age clouds your abilities to do your duty, then you need to retreat, or many lives can be lost like they were last time. Since you are able to crush down ships, I don't think that age is an issue here, maybe something else is in play. I suggest to meditate or whatever Jedi do to find the solution for this problem." Jag then replies to Ceviran: "For now we are leaving Coruscant and then we'll see what's our next mission."

"I didn't sacrifice them on purpose... but it dosen't really matter now, whats done is done and I cannot bring them back. I shall not be so quick to act in future though, also if I might be so bold... I suggest we had to the planet Felucia next, I sense there is something to be resolved there but that is just my feeling..."

Jag glances once at Zemalia to see if she fully recovered for next mission, if she is he would be surprised, despite of knowing that force users have many advantages, including fast healing. Jag calls for Axo: "Axo? Didn't you say you have been trying to locate the signal from the core worlds? Did you manage to crack its readings?"

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