Private Investigative Practices

[Tycho Arak]

​

Coruscant
Mid-levels

After the events on Ansion, there were several a small number of clues about the culprit. While he was certain Katarine was also following up on them, he didn't want to standby and do nothing. And even though going to Coruscant was probably dangerous for him given his alignment in the Force was such that he utilized both sides, solving the case was worth it. The only transport that had come into that city on Ansion and then left had come from Coruscant. It wasn't a private transport, but getting the passenger manifest was nigh impossible because they sold tickets and didn't really take names. But Coruscant was big, and there were a lot of cameras, so he was hoping he could get some sort of information from someone. If nothing else, maybe he could track down similar incidents.

To be less conspicuous he'd chosen not to wear any armor, but was dressed in a more traditional Kage garb with green tunic. He still carried his lightsaber on his hip, but he didn't otherwise look like a threat. Hopefully the Jedi on the world would accept that and not try and kill him for his darkside presence.

In the meantime, he approached a pharmaceutical company, one of the smaller ones, and stepped into the lobby. It seemed this particular one didn't just manufacture, but was also a distributing pharmacy as well. That was fine, but it meant that he had to stand in line to wait for someone at the front desk to speak to. Being nomadic, he wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere, and he waited patiently as the line moved one after another until it was his turn to speak to the person behind the desk.

"How may I help you?" a young Twi'lek woman asked him.

"I was hoping to speak to someone about getting a compound identified," he said, holding up a small canister. "I'm investigating a crime that took place on Ansion, but they didn't have the facilities to analyze this."

She stared at him and then pointed off to a small waiting area. "Let me call for someone. Please sit while you wait."

He nodded and walked over to sit in one of the seats. Hopefully she wasn't calling the authorities, but if she was, he could explain, and he had the contact information for the people on Ansion that hadn't been affected by the toxin if need be. They could confirm his story. But for the moment, he settled in to wait.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Arak

The pharmacy wasn't always a place you'd expect to find a jedi master, let alone one sitting on the Council. But, today, you would. Why? Because Jonyna had to restock her ship.

The Reaper was low on medical, especially after she had spent the last week trying to get Jenn Kryze back to full health. The woman had become a bit of a hyperfocus of Jonyna, but considering they had survived a fight with Carnifex, it was no wonder both were still licking their wounds.

Still, bacta didn't grow on trees, and neither did heavy painkillers.

Walking in, Jonyna couldn't help but scan the store. There were others around here, other Force Users she could immediately sense. Still, despite the immediate feeling, she wasn't one to pick fights. Instead, she walked around and went about her day.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up some drugs I ordered. Should be under Si, Jonyna." She said to the receptionist, the young twi'lek motioning her too to the waiting area.

As the jedi master took a seat next to the man, she raised an eyebrow. "So, what brings you to Coruscant?"

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

The first thing that happened out of the ordinary was a Cathar sitting directly next to him. The second thing was she spoke to him. Not that it was out of the ordinary for people to talk when they sat next to each other, but he was pretty sure she was a Jedi, and instead of taking his head off, she asked a relatively norm-, well, not that you mention it, that wasn't totally normal. She was clearly probing by asking why he'd come to Coruscant, considering it was a huge city planet. She clearly knew he wasn't one of the locals, and his best guess as to why that was, was because of his alignment in the Force.

"Curious way to phrase that," he said, giving her a once over before he held out the small cannister in his hand. "Someone was using this to poison people on Ansion. I want to find out what it is."

Best thing to be truthful. Not like he had anything to hide anyway. If he could figure out what the toxin was, then maybe they could figure out how it was made. If that was the case, they might be able to track down the component sales, which would allow them to eventually track down the chemist behind its creation. Didn't exactly mean said chemist was the culprit, but they would certainly be a prime suspect in the whole ordeal. Might give him more to work on that what'd gotten trying to get info from the transport company.

"What brings a Jedi like yourself below the upper sector?"

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Arak

"Checking in on rebuilding progress. I run the Service Corp, and we're still looking to rebuild the lower sectors. Wanted to scope out the damage from the Imperial invasion before we move in. That, and my girlfriend is currently dealing with injuries sustained while fighting Darth Carnifex. Sooooo...." She whistled lightly.

The reality was, she didn't really care what his alignment in the Force was. He was looking to help people, and that was what mattered to her. "Poison though, that's a tricky thing. Used it a few times back in my Rebel days, was never a big fan. Not very heroic. But, when you're trying to kill a moff, that goes out the window a lot of the times. Imps don't play fair, so we couldn't either."

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

"Fair enough," he said in response to why she was there.

He honestly had no idea who Darth Carnifex was, but he probably also didn't want to know. Given the name he figured it was a Sith. Probably egomaniacal, wanted power over everything and everyone, didn't care who got hurt in the process. Yeah, he'd known some actual Sith before and he didn't much fancy them. Too much of an obsession with themselves. Plus, their weird code made no sense to him. What chains are they breaking? Who, or what, are they being freed from? Last he checked, he didn't have any chains holding him down. Kind of made him superior to them, didn't it?

When she mentioned using poison, being a Rebel, targeting Moffs, he frowned and studied her again. He hadn't expected that.

"I hope you used it in a manner that didn't harm innocent people."

That was his one pet peeve. Any harm to innocents was something he could not stand for. He'd seen it way too often, and that was one of the few things that could cause him to get angry.

"The person who used this one caused a lot of harm to innocent people. Whatever this compound is, it causes people to become apathetic. People were openly committing crimes, including murder, and nobody cared."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Arak

"Wouldn't dare. But ya know, Moffs aren't exactly innocent by any meaning of the word." Jonyna twitched an ear, frowning. "Apathy is the death of the mind." She said with a growl. "Any leads on who? I might be able to put a word out with my fellow jedi if we've got some suspects."

 

[Tycho Arak]

​

She was correct, Moff's weren't exactly good people. He had no problem with bad people getting the deserved rewards for their misdeeds. It was better for the galaxy if such people learned hard lessons.

"Unfortunately the only thing I know is that the person is male," he said, looking at the vial again. "And even that is possibly not true. The person responsible has great talent in the use of Force illusions."

Too much talent. Tycho was skilled in many things himself, but his knowledge was more of a broad stroke than a honed precision. On the plus side, the gave him a greater ability to understand what was being used around him. If he had the time, and the knowledge that something was amiss, it was very easy for him to resolve a situation through knowledge.

A worker approached them.

"Sir, you wanted a compound tested?" the man asked.

"Yes," he said, offering the container. "Please give me an analysis of this compound and what components might have been used to concoct it."

"Right. It might take a bit. If you leave your contact information at the desk we'll notify you when it's ready."

"Thank you."

He turned his attention back to Jonyna Si .

"I think I might be able to get some useful information out of knowing how it was made. Perhaps that will lead to the purchases of the component parts and the purchaser might be our terrorist."

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Arak

Jonyna rubbed her chin-fur in contemplation.

"...a male who's using poison maliciously, and is powerful in illusions of the Force." She parroted, thinking out loud. "I can think of a few sith lords on file that operate like that. Darth Nefaron comes to mind, he hit New Cov recently with a toxin that induced horror. He could be a suspect."

She couldn't exactly go to the Sith and arrest him, but it was a lead at least.

 

[Tycho Arak]

"Sith would make sense, but I don't know many Sith that can move freely through Alliance space," he said, settling back in his seat. "Not that they couldn't hide what they are, I suppose, but the only transport that came to that area had come from Coruscant."

Still, a lead was a lead and he would have to investigate all leads. Whether it was a Sith or someone else that was involved he didn't know. They certainly knew their way around the darkside, but that didn't mean they were a Sith. Plenty of organizations out there utilized dark abilities but did not follow any form of the Sith code. He pulled out his datapad and wrote down the name she'd mentioned.

"I can't rule him out just yet, so he'll stay on the list. If this current line of investigation goes nowhere I will look into him."

It occurred to him that she'd mentioned an injured friend.

"You mentioned having an injured friend. Could a Force healer not help them?"

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Arak

"If they came from Coruscant, it could also be someone from the Dark Empire. We've had to deal with rogue agents left over from the invasion for months now. I'm sure the Imps would have a field day with that kinda terror weapon." She proposed, rolling her shoulders.

"I mean...they could, but I don't know if Jenn would want that. She's a mando, and they're pretty prideful about not wanting to get jedi help at times. Even if Jenn Kryze is trying to improve the culture of her clan, I'm not gonna be the one to broad that subject. Still feeling out my relationship with her after all..."

 

[Tycho Arak]

"That seems plausible," he said, adding that to his notes.

If there were rogue agents still on Coruscant, they might field test outside of Alliance space before unleashing something within it. And if that was the case, it was imperative he got to the bottom of the situation sooner rather than later.

She mentioned that the injured person was a Mandalorian and he tried to think if he'd ever met one of them before. So far as he could remember, he had not, and he didn't really know all that much about them. They wore armor that was fairly distinctive is all he really knew. It would be impossible for him to make observations about her culture.

"I see. I've never met a Mandalorian before, so I can't really comment, but I'm also not a Jedi. I'm not really anything. Just someone who uses the Force to try and ensure justice is served and to keep people safe from unnecessary harm."

Some might say that fit well with the Jedi, but Jedi also ascribed themselves to more than that, and further limited themselves by not using some abilities within the Force. He couldn't do that himself.

"Perhaps this Jenn Kryze would let a non-Jedi help?"

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Arak

"Trust me, I get it. Once upon a time, I was in your boots. Ran around fighting Imperials with a group of mine. Didn't call myself a jedi, just...a hero, I guess." She chuckled, rolling her shoulders. "She's got her clan looking after her. I can't help but worry for her, but she's being looked at by professionals. I'm just her worrywart of a girlfriend."

 

[Tycho Arak]

"Fair enough."

They weren't quite the same boots. He didn't run around fighting Imperials and he certainly didn't call himself a hero. He also practiced the Force in its entirety, which he was certain she did not do. However, she didn't seem to be judging him for doing so, which was a refreshing change. Granted, she'd probably react the same as Katarine had on Ansion if she'd seen what he did to the murderer. He still felt that killing the man was justice served, though.

"Can you tell me more about the invasion that happened here? Perhaps knowing more will help my case."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Arak

"Oh Sylvar, where do you want me to start?" Jonyna laughed. "The Dark Empire, whom I'm pretty sure are just remnants of the New Imperial Order and the Maw, came around and took Tython and a bunch of core worlds. Then then invaded Coruscant and...well..." She made a hand gesture. "It didn't go well for them. Tried to pull a fast one on us with a star destroyer that they had under the senate building, but that got shot down quick. Still, it was a massive invasion. Sith tried to take the Jedi Temple which I'm still rebuilding..." There was a bit of frustration in her voice there. "And we had Imp troops crawling all over the city. Still find a few a week crawling through the rubble. Most surrender when we find them, but there's a few deep cover agents that make it hard."

 

[Tycho Arak]

"Star destroyer under the senate building? Sounds oddly repetitive," he said, shaking his head. "How in the world did they get it there, even?"

It sounded like an absolute mess. A planet like Coruscant was not one that was easy to invade without causing significant damage to it. It absolutely sickened him that anyone would think to do the things they had. And for that he was glad it hadn't worked out in their favor. People who had no value of life should never be allowed to govern. That being said, it sounded like there was still work to be done in dealing with this Dark Empire. Perhaps there were some of them hanging around with larger intentions still.

"This does sound like a promising lead in my case. Could be they were testing this on Ansion because it's outside of Alliance space, and then they plan on using it here in retaliation for their inability to capture the world. I don't like it."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Tycho Amnen

"We still have no idea. The SIA has been looking into it, but there's no leads on it. Might have you look into it honesty. The NJO could use more investigators on this case." She let out a sigh, clearly having dealt with this for a while now.

"I don't like it either. if the Imperials or the Sith are using terror weapons like this, then we need to plan for it."

 

[Tycho Arak]

If they had no idea, and they'd been there for years, then it would take nothing short of a miracle for him to figure it out. Investigation being what it was, he had no doubt that someday they would know, but it might not be so until they were all dead and gone. If he had to guess, they'd been secretly building it in the lower levels under the guise of regular construction for years. A little bit here, a little bit there until it was put together and ready. The level of secrecy surrounding such an operation was incredible, though. It was, honestly, impressive they could do such a thing. Impressive, and worrisome.

"Contingencies should be put in place, I agree. The water supply needs to be watched more closely than normal."

The technician returned, bring with them a readout, which he took and studied momentarily before nodding.

"Mostly gibberish to me, but I see a lot of simple compounds that could have been used to make this. Gives me somewhere to start. Problem is, it's all mundane and could be purchased anywhere. Sophisticatedly unsophisticated. This person, or persons, is far too good at this."

Jonyna Si