Trial of the Flesh

[Lilla Syrin]

t was almost dark by the time Reklama landed the black shuttle on the outskirts of Bestine.

“No time for long good-byes,” he said, opening the hatch. “Time is survival.”

Lilla made sure she had her only two possessions, the gem and a blaster. She thought about it once more and returned the weapon, shooting it was not really her style.

She paused in the doorway. “Bye.”

“Good luck,” drawled Reklama. “You’ll need it.”

Lilla jumped out of the craft and ran for cover as he shot the thrusters. A second later, the shuttle and Reklama were gone, and she was alone again, surrounded by darkness. It felt soothing, like the darkness was a natural place for her these days.

Bestine was the most cosmopolitan and largest settlement on Tatooine, a city of sculpted, graceful stone buildings the same colour as the desert and ruddy mountains that ringed it. Lilla had never been here before, but she knew enough to get by – at least for a while.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Having fenced the gem, Lilla had enough credits to last her a while and she was frustrated that she’d yet to formulate a plan. Whoever had helped her get this far clearly had greater expectations of her ability to prove her innocence than she had.

She rented a room in the least on-the-grid inn she could find and bought some take-out before having the first sleep on an actual bed in what must have been days.

Then she checked out the news, and was surprised by the coverage. She expected the authorities wold want to deal with the matter with the minimum of interference and so, when she was executed, they’d have less of a need to tell their side of the story to the rest of the galaxy. But the story was attracting interest, even if it wasn't front page news any more.

But the flimsi that contained the news also had a classified section. It was often used by Jedi working undercover to send and receive messages without using open communications. Why hadn’t she thought of that already?

She scoured it and, almost immediately, found an advert that was intended for her. Technically it was about the whereabouts of a lost puppy, but Lilla knew it was meant for her. And the data, when she applied the standard Jedi cypher, gave her an address.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

She took a speeder cab to the address she'd been given. The route took her past the capitol building, a beautiful, domed structure – the tallest in Bestine.

The address turned out to be an inn. The clerk directed her to the ‘Bright Sun’ suite, and a passcode admitted her to a suite of rooms that was, without any exaggeration, the most luxurious residence she had ever been in. She hadn't even imagined a place like this existed on Tatooine, but of course, it must. The wealthy, the celebrated, and the diplomatically important had to be lodged somewhere.

Lilla was none of those things, and felt conspicuous because of it. But oddly, none of the staff or residents of the inn seemed to find her of the least interest. Credits bought discretion it seemed.

In the suite's opulent study was a HoloNet terminal to which Lilla went immediately upon her arrival. His heart rate rising, she activated the terminal and saw that there was a message on it.

“Play message,” she told it.

“Voice recognition necessary,” said the terminal in a prissy computerised but definitely female voice. “Please answer this question: Master Mei did not receive his title how?”

“What?”

“Inappropriate response. answer this question: Master Mei did not receive his title how?”

“In a game of Sabacc.” Sometimes her master displayed a quirky sense of humour.

The Cerelean Jedi shimmered into existence. Lilla had never been more pleased to see him.

“I trust in the Force, for it will never let me down. Second to the Force, I trust in you. Soon I hope to get to say that in person. But in the meantime, I've arranged a little surprise for you. It's in slip 6218C at the Bestine Port Authority. You can pick it up whenever you like.”

Lilla sagged back into the chair, relief flooding her. She had the means to leave the planet and not have to waste one of the uses of the identicard. She took a deep breath and let it out. Just for the moment, then, she did belong here.

As if her master were reading her mind across time and space, he said: “I hope you'll stay and enjoy the other part of my gift awhile. At least until things calm down a bit in the outside world. You need it. Don’t venture forth until you have a concrete plan. I've made sure both your room and board are open-ended.”

He hesitated, and there was a twinkle in his eyes as he smiled. "And there’s a small present in the safe too.”

As his image disappeared, Lilla headed to the in-room safe and pulled out a saber hilt. Then she wandered around the room and opened every draw and door. The wardrobe contained a variety of clothes, all in her size. They were designed for comfort and as un-Jedi like as you could get.

Her next port of call was the bathroom and she showered five times before she felt clean enough to put on the bed-clothes and lay on the bed. She meditated for a few minutes before she fell into a contented sleep.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla sat up and wiped her eyes. She stared at the morning light as it streamed through the window, knowing what she had to do. She had to run. No more running away though, she had to run to somewhere. But where? Back to the moon? That was where the answers were – and based upon finding her here, the last place they’d think to look next.

She hurriedly put on a set of clothes and stuffed some more into a small back-pack, along with the saber hilt.

Then she stared at the identicard. She’d had to use it to get the credits for the room she’d hired – and then she’d paid for the room. Two more uses and then she’d be rumbled.

So she checked out and then went to a nearby store and paid for some groceries. Then she bought some clothes at another shop. That concluded her four free swipes. Finally, she went to the main shuttle terminal and bought a ticket to the furthest destination she could find that was leaving within the hour. One that would take ages to clear hyperspace – and therefore delay the truth that she wasn’t on board.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla sat on the corvette and, using Jedi clearance procedures, left the spaceport without having to declare who she was. The moon’s intelligence would not be able to link the ship to Lilla any time soon – even if they’d been tipped off. And even if they did, they would have no way of telling where she was headed.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

“Welcome,” said a synthesized voice. “The time is 13:11, and the temperature is 379 degrees Celsius. It is hot and dry. Please watch your step as Mars has thirty-eight percent of the gravity of Earth.”

The comms was clearly piped in to all incoming craft as well as commercial flights.

Lilla disembarked and hurried from the sparse hangar where her ship was into an area with more bodies – more places to hide.

Then, a monstrous explosion ripped the building!

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Lilla staggered to the floor. She saw a flaming refreshment cart go rolling down the middle of the mall, spewing great clouds of choking, black smoke. A security guard was trying to hold back a panicked line of passengers while yelling into his link, and he wasn’t paying any attention to her. She jumped to her feet and dashed through the smoke.

Just what she needed – another bomb and she was right next to the action again!

She bumped hard into a strange man, who wrapped his arms around her. Lilla was taken aback at his bizarre appearance, but then she realized he was a regular man wearing goggles and a breathing mask.

“This gas won’t last forever,” he warned, grabbing her arm and yanking her down the corridor. “It’s not a real bomb, just a distraction.”

Lilla had no idea how the man knew who she was, or the fact that she was due here at all, let alone now. But he knew more than she did, so decided to allow him to guide her, in the hope that answers would be forthcoming.

She let the man drag her away. As they approached a clearing in the smoke, she whipped off her mask off and stuck it into his pocket.

He whipped out a cardkey and got them into a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. They swept through a sweltering kitchen where workers were baking doughnuts. The bakers glanced up from their work with minor interest, as if they were prepared for such intrusions.

After they rushed out another door, they found themselves in a grey, unfinished corridor full of conduits and ducts for ventilation and life support.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

The man stopped and faced Lilla.

“So, with everything that has transpired, are you with the movement?”

“What movement?” asked Lilla, but as the words passed her lips, she realised what he meant. “Not exactly,” she admitted. “But I’m not going to let mass murder go unpunished. We have to talk somewhere about what to do next, and it might as well be at your place.”

The man shrugged and then nodded and took off at a jog down the dimly lit corridor. Lilla could hear nothing but a rush of air coming from the ducts overhead, plus their pounding footsteps, echoing between the narrow walls.

He stopped at a large hatch in the centre of the floor. “Help me with this.”

Lilla used the Force, and they managed to twist the wheel enough to open the hatch. They threw back the cover, and the man took a small glowstick out of his pocket. He turned it on and blinked the light three times into the hole. There was an answering beam of light that flashed three times across what looked like a river of stimcaf at the bottom of the conduit.

Lilla leaned farther over the edge and peered down. She saw the glowstick beam sweeping eerily over the black water, and it was followed by the noses of three inflatable rafts gliding into view. The first raft had a young woman in it, and she was steering two other rafts with her hands.

“You may get wet. Don’t worry, it’s clean water. Or as clean as recycled water gets on this rock.”

 

[Lilla Syrin]

A metal ladder descended from one side of the cavity, and the man started down. The woman floating below carefully positioned an empty raft underneath him, and he dropped into it with hardly a splash. He motioned for Lilla to come down, and she did so without question.

She wasn’t as adept at getting into the raft as the man, and water came sloshing over the sides, coating the seat of her pants. Thankfully, it was warm water, almost the temperature of bathwater, although it did smell strongly of chemicals.

With powerful strokes of the paddles, they took off. A trembling glowstick beam led the way. Soon the only noise in the darkness was the sound of paddles slipping through liquid and the steady drip of condensation over their heads.

After about an hour of steady paddling, it began to get extremely warm in the conduit, and the air was thin and dry. “Don’t worry,” the man said. “We’ll get out of the aqueduct before all the air is gone.”

“That’s good to know,” said Lilla. “Does this aqueduct go outdoors?”

“Yes,” answered the woman. “It’s just a short stretch, and it’s well insulated. Or we’d be cooked. We’re getting out just before the turbines.”

“So that wasn’t a real bomb you set off?” asked Lilla with disapproval in her voice.

“Not really,” answered the man. “It was mainly sound and smoke, although I think we used one concussion cap. I’m not into violence if I can help it.”

He slapped his paddle on the water and said, “I plead guilty to wanting a home that is free from this current government and its greed. What are they to us? Do they know us? Do they care about us? Or do they want only what they can take out of our soil and our sweat?”

He chuckled. “Stop me before I start making a speech.”

 

[Lilla Syrin]

“But we can’t win by fighting. We can only lose people and lose the moral high ground. What I do is organize non-violent protests and promote passive resistance. But it’s hard being passive, when people are trying to kill you.”

He turned and smiled. “I know what it’s like to be in hiding, to run from every shadow.”

“What do you know about the bombings?” asked Lilla.

“Nothing!” said the man with a scowl. “But those two stupid bombings sure brought us a bad reputation and a lot of biased media coverage. I’d like to have a word with whoever they are, before they do a third bombing.”

“A third bombing?” asked Lilla.

“Yes, the news said that ‘you’ had released a statement this morning that you’re planning a third bombing soon.” He chuckled. “I have to admit, the threat of a real bombing made my little smoke bomb at the dock all the more effective.”

“I know who’s behind the bombings,” said Lilla. “If I can put the right guy in jail, I can go free.”

“Right,” muttered the man sarcastically. He shined his glowstick on a grating that protected a line of pumping equipment recessed into the side of the aqueduct. They could hear a cascade of water somewhere in the darkness ahead of them, plus turbines churning. He steered his raft toward the pumps.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

“Tie up on the grating,” he ordered. “There’s a narrow footpath – just try to follow me. Remember, we have to take out the rafts and deflate them, so don’t let them get away. We can’t leave anything that will give us away.”

The man grabbed the grating and hoisted himself onto a narrow ledge in front of it. He tied up his raft and helped Lilla step out, then he caught their rafts and tied them at the grating. After his acomplice was safely on the ledge, he dragged the rafts out of the water and deflated them.

Very carefully, they skirted the narrow ledge. Through the soles of her boots, Lilla could feel the heat rising up from the metal. They squeezed through a gap cut in the grating and walked carefully among the high-compression pumps, kerchunking away. Finally they reached a secured doorway, and the rebel produced another keycard that opened the door.

They went through and found themselves in a storage room lined with shelves containing pipes, washers, fittings, and tools. There was a spiral stairway leading upward, and the air and temperature in the room were normal, or at least as normal as they got on this moon.

“I think this room is good place to talk.”

 

[Lilla Syrin]

“The Leader-elect is behind all of this. If I could get to him, I might be able to get him to confess. Any ideas?”

The man stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I do have the ability to send out press releases to the media. That’s about the only way I can make myself heard these days.”

Lilla waited for him to explain.

“Then I could expose him. Tell the press that he is the man behind the bombings. It happens to be the truth.”

Lilla smiled but shook her head at the same time. “Fake news. It will be simply dismissed – and besides, we have no evidence. But if I could get him to admit his culpability and you could broadcast it live?”

A smile crept across the man’s face. “Give me five minutes,” said the man, heading for the staircase. “Then come up after me. You’ll find yourselves in a factory up there – just ignore everyone and keep climbing stairs until you find a monorail stop. Take it to the capital building and tell them you’ve got an appointment with the Leader-elect. I’ll set it up now. He won’t know it’s you until you actually meet him. And he’ll agree to meet, given I’ll tell him I have evidence and will agree to hand it over in exchange for a few favours.”

“Corrupt politicians have no trouble believing others are crooked too.”

He handed her a small device. "Wear this on your lapel. It broadcasts short-range but that will be enough. I can boost the signal from outside the building.”

“Okay,” said Lilla. “Let’s give him what he deserves.”

 

[Lilla Syrin]

Jedi Master Mei-Udo-Shael was sitting in the refectory when the holo-screen jumped to life. There was a newsflash that was clearly playing on a loop.

The newscaster looked solemn and said, “There has been a dramatic development in the Jedi Lilla Syrin bombing story. In an undercover interview, the Leader-elect admitted that the bombings were the work of just one man – himself!”

“According to the transcript report, it was organisaed to allow him to take over the leadership of the government with the help of the military. The bombings were an attempt to rid himself of political opponents and discredit the peaceful opposition movement on the moon.”

In the canteen, there were gasps of surprise and an occasional “I knew it!” Everyone put down their eating utensils to listen to the gruesome details, which included two fatal bombings, dozens of deaths, and the murder of anyone that got in the way of the plan.

 

[Lilla Syrin]

The commlink on the wall buzzed, and the closest Jedi answered it. After a moment, he brought it across to Master Mei.

“Thanks,” Lilla said.

“Get home and you can thank me in person. And then I can thank you.”

“What for?”

“For being you. For being precisely what I believed you to be. What you have endured? This comprises the most trying test we could ever ask a Padawan to face. Not that any of this was intentional, believe me.”

“You have had to contend with great physical pain. You have had to overcome hardship and you lost what was nearest to you. And you have endured.”

“I have,” said Lilla, her voice lighter than it had been for many days. “I have that. I also have to be honest, at times I thought I’d lost my way.”

“But you didn’t,” said Mei. “Which is why your path is determined by a compass. A moral compass. Maps can be misread or even altered. But you were guided by something internal. Innate.”

Lilla punched a button and she entered hyperspace. The next stop was the Jedi Academy.