The Liberator/Part 15

Day 52 of the Liberation of Milagro

Aldayr hadn't exactly packed formal attire for the assault on Milagro, but he managed to unearth a clean Jedi robe, shave, and polish the scuffs off his boots and his lightsaber hilt before setting out across Rogeum. Traffic yielded for his armored speeder, marked with the spoked wheel of the Republic and the winged lightsaber of the Jedi Order, and bystanders stared at the tinted windows as he passed. Throngs of Milagroans ringed the Judiciary Hall, holding up signs and holo displays; some chanted as leaders led their cries, while others let their signs speak for them. They made way when the Republic speeder pulled up, but no sooner had Aldayr exited than cries reached his ears.

"Independence! Free Milagro Only!"

"Bless you, Jedi!"

"It's Darakhan's apprentice! Three cheers for Darakhan the Liberator!"

"DARAKHAN THE LIBERATOR!"

"No Jedi judges! No foreign judges!  Traitors to Milagro answer to Milagro alone!"

Aldayr did his best not to get bogged down on either side as he pressed through the masses, though once or twice he put the force of his cybernetic arm behind a push when a particularly intransigent protestor wouldn't budge. Republic Army soldiers made a sentient barricade before the doors, and Aldayr sensed the cool, alert professionalism of plainclothes agents in the crowd; Marine Guards or Judicials, he thought.

Aldayr's Jedi robes and lightsaber opened more doors than any security pass, and he made his way through the court building without incident. Soldiers stood at the tribunal door, too, but the most one of them did was touch a finger to his lips before opening the door. Nodding, Aldayr stepped inside.

"—charged with treason, murder, torture, espionage, and crimes against sentients," the presiding judge was saying. "How do you plead?"

A well-dressed Human stood. "Your Honors, my client challenges the jurisdiction of this court. The court—"

"This court has ruled on your pretrial motion, counselor," the center judge said, raising a hand. "The ruling stands."

"That being so, Your Honors, we request the disqualification of Judges Grolt and Kaivalt, who are not citizens of Milagro or members of Milagro's judiciary. Their presence turns this proceeding into nothing more than a kybuck court, a puppet regime operating on behalf of the Republic.  They seek only victor's justice, and their presence highlights who they truly believe won victory here."

As muttering rumbled through the gallery, the Duros judge, Jard Grolt, furrowed his blue-green brow but said nothing. Raina Kaivalt's dark face was unreadable; she obviously had brought attire for all occasions, but today's noble garments were subdued, and if she felt any unease on the bench beside distinguished jurists, she didn't show it. Aldayr spotted the back of Renata's head across the room, seated in an observer gallery.

"Your challenge is denied, counselor. How does your client plead?"

Deordis Bevrelles rose beside his attorney. He took a moment to straighten his robes and brushed a twist of his hair away from his forehead. He looked thinner than Aldayr remembered from the holo Intelligence provided, but held himself up with gravity and an air of wronged dignity. When all eyes in the courtroom were on him, he spoke.

"Everything that I have done, in my entire professional life, has been for the betterment and in the service of Milagro." His voice was reedy but calm. "I am guilty only of doing what had to be done for my world. But as to the crimes alleged by this…court, I am not guilty."

He sat back down, folding his hands on his tabletop while boos rebounded off the walls. The presiding judge rapped a gavel. "Order! Those observers who do not respect the rules of this courtroom will be removed.  The defendant's plea is accepted by the court; trial to begin one week from today.  Next case."

Bevrelles spoke with his attorney for a moment, then rose to be escorted out of the courtroom by four Republic soldiers. As the next defendant was brought in, Aldayr took the opportunity to spot his master. Mali could surely have gotten himself a seat, but he had opted instead to watch from the rear wall of the courtroom. Aldayr spent a moment studying the courtroom angles and realized Mali had chosen one of the few spots where the media, confined to a box on one side of the court, could not get a good view of him. Pressing his lips together so the cameras couldn't get a picture of him smirking, he pressed through the observers to Mali's side.

"Not guilty," he breathed to Mali. "What a shock."

Mali half-smiled, but said nothing.

"Is this just going to be a parade of not guilties?"

"A couple of them are doing deals to avoid the death penalty," Mali whispered back. "They'll give evidence on Bevrelles and the others."

"Do we need them to?" Aldayr asked.

"It'll make things go more smoothly."

"But we can prove it all, can't we? You should tell the—"

"I'm not getting involved," Mali cut him off. "You know that."

Aldayr knew it, though he still didn't agree with it. Everyone knew Bevrelles was guilty, and though giving him some sort of trial was probably fair, if only for comparison with how Bevrelles had conducted his regime, there was no need to belabor the point. And certainly no need to let guilty parties escape with their lives. Much of the blame might be laid at the feet of Halicon Karzded, but Aldayr had still heard enough survivor stories to wish Mali hadn't had the Marines wipe out the prison camp's execution chamber until the verdicts came down; more than one of Bevrelles's cronies sounded like worthy candidates for the flames.

The next two defendants—the erstwhile Ministers of Public Safety and Interplanetary Cooperation—both pleaded guilty to capital crimes, and Aldayr leaned over. "Do we need to be here, or…?"

"Something more pressing?"

"Something you might want to know about sooner than later."

Mali frowned in thought, then looked up. "After this one."

This one turned out to be Kysl Ssron, a reptilian Cha'a dressed in black and escorted in by a dozen soldiers and three Jedi. Even across the room Aldayr could feel the darkness in the Force that surrounded the man, the highest-ranking offworlder to be tried and the only Sith Lord taken alive. He had been Chief of the Secret Police under Bevrelles's rule, and though he was smaller than most of his guards and brought to the defense table in chains, Aldayr felt fear spreading through the gallery. No one dared to boo or hiss now.

Ssron hissed a few times himself as the presiding judge rattled off the crimes, but did not interrupt. As the judges looked down, stone-faced, the presider asked, "How do you plead?"

Ssron laughed, a hissing, predatory sound; a few people shivered. "I am not Milagroan, worm. You dare to judge me?  You will pay for this insolence when my master returns."

He turned his slit-pupiled eyes on the crowd and pulled his scaly lips away from his sharp teeth. "And makes no mistake, little worms—Lady Gasald will return."

The crowd stirred under Ssron's gaze, but Raina Kaivalt said, "We'll take that as a plea of not guilty, Lord Ssron."

The Sith Lord turned back around, and Aldayr sensed his powers at work. Some of the judges flinched, but Raina stared Ssron down, and one of the Jedi guards jabbed Ssron in the back of the head. He snarled as the soldiers surrounded him and removed him from the courtroom. Mali watched until he was gone, then twitched his head toward the door, and Aldayr followed him out.

The marble corridors were quiet and the two Jedi were alone; those beings not admitted to the courtroom were excluded from the building entirely, and the guard patrols cycled through in silence. Mali stopped under a frieze of the Four Sages of Dwartii, leaned on a pillar, and asked, "What's going on?"

"Contact from the Republic. They can't keep sending supplies at the same rate."

Mali frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Foodstuffs, medical supplies, the works. All imports are going to be reduced."

"Why?"

"It's too dangerous to keep moving supplies up from Pax, they said. If the Sith figure out what they're doing, it could draw Gasald's wrath down on the Seventy-Second just when Lakalt's on the ropes.  And with Taanab fallen, the Republic has less food to spare in the first place."

Mali's confusion gave way to blatant disbelief. "Milagro's dependent on supplies from outside the system! And we have to bring them up from Pax, we have Gasald on every other side!"

"That's what I said."

"Who exactly did you talk to?"

"The Deputy Minister for Matters of the Expansion Region on the Trade Commission," Aldayr recited. "And that's after bullying my way through three other people with 'let me talk to your superior'; the Deputy Minister wasn't buying it, and I wasn't sure if you wanted me to threaten to go to the High Council."

Mali crossed his arms. "No, you made the right call. But I'll go to the High Council."

"I already set you up holos with Master Cazars and Senator Rose this afternoon."

Mali just nodded, and Aldayr was disappointed his master had nothing to say about the foresight of that. Were things still awkward with Rose, or was he that unimpressed? "Even if she goes to the Chancellor today, we'll still have a week of a delayed shipments."

"I thought of that," Aldayr said. "As soon as I got off with Senator Rose, I spoke to the Diktat. He wasn't pleased about the Republic dropping the ball, but he said Corellia will pick up shipments in the interim."

Mali's eyes widened. "He did?"

Aldayr shrugged. "Corellia's committed a lot to this campaign, and we're winning so far. I think he's on our side."

"And wouldn't want to see everything we've gained fall through…" Mali agreed. He thought on it for a moment, then refocused and smiled, laying a hand on Aldayr's shoulder. "Good work. Corellia will only be a stopgap in the long run, but it was quick thinking and a creative solution.  Well done."

Aldayr smiled, pleased. He gestured toward the main courtroom. "Are you going back in?"

"Nah, they don't need me for this. Let's get back to the government center and see if we can't get a Deputy Minister for whatever demoted."