High Council Chamber

[Jaster Chryss]

The High Council Chamber, or Jedi Council Chamber was a circular room at the summit of the High Council Tower of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. It hosted meetings of the Jedi High Council during the rule of the Galactic Republic.

While the Tower and chamber were destroyed during the Galactic Civil War, the Reconstruction Authority rebuilt the Temple in 35 ABY, seeing the Tower and chamber rebuilt as they had been in the days of the Old Republic.

Located at the peak of the southeast tower of the Temple, this circular chamber granted its occupants a rare glimpse of Coruscant.

The room has always kept the basic circular shape accessed by a single turbolift, high arching windows, and a ring of twelve cushioned chairs for the members of the august body. Each of the stone seats were equipped with a holoprojector that could be used when a Council member was attending the meeting from a distant world.

A lone protocol droid handles appointments with the Masters, and two Knights stand guard over the entrance to the Council Chamber.

[Jaster Chryss]

Jedi Master Jaden Esoro stood at the center of the Council chamber.
The sight of so many empty chairs in the well kept room reminded him
of how long it had been since the Council last met. He was even
beginning to wonder if the Council served any other purpose than to
assign the senior members of the Order a more grandiose title.
He gave a lengthy sigh then changed the breath into a basic stress
release breathing exercise, being embarrassed by the depth of his
frustrations. He was, after all, a Council member himself. But what
did that even mean lately? He breathed again, dodging the trap he had
laid against himself. His frustrations did nothing for anyone.
It was quite out of character for him to be so anxious. Especially
with the focus of his anxiety so elusive to him. The Republic
experienced relative peace, though this changed little for the Jedi
Order. The Republic kept most of the Knights and nearly all of the
Masters on busy schedules despite the lack of an imminent crisis. 'The
way the politicians speak,' Jaden thought to himself, 'a late shuttle
qualifies as a crisis and certainly requires the attention of at least
two Knights.' He shook his head, strongly disappointed in himself. He
sat down in one of the seats along the ring facing the circular design
on the floor. His hand went to his temple, gently massaging. The last
mission, mission sounded too important for what it actually was, had
gotten to him, clearly.

He stared out the windows of the opposite side of the room, watching
the airspeeder traffic go by for several minutes. And then he closed
his eyes...

-- Nero

A young blond boy had heard that Jedi Master Jaden Esoro was in the
Council chamber. He was dressed in the robes of a learner at the
temple, and was no more than 8 years old. As the lift going up to the
Council chamber opened on the waiting area, the boy stepped out into
the brightly lit chamber.

He walked over to the droid that usually operated the bookings and
appointments for the Masters.

"Excuse me, would it be possible for me to see Master Esoro?" The boy
looked up pleadingly at the droid, and wished that the mechanical
brain would work as fast as possible and give him an answer.

-- Jaster

The droid paused a moment longer than it would seem it needed to
formulate the answer. In fact, it was taking a facial scan of the
young learner before passing the request into the Council Chamber.
"One moment please," the droid finally said, though it was surely an
unsatisfying response.

Esoro had straightened out his thoughts by then, finally allowing
himself to relax, when a mild alert sounded, signalling a new message
at the terminal attached to his seat in the Council Chamber. He
slapped at a button casually and a datapad flashed to life relaying
the nature of the request. He nodded to himself, despite being alone
in the room, as he recognized the name of the requester. He found he
was annoyed at the droid's decision to leave the reason for the visit
unspecified but was unsure why, as it really made no difference. He
was far from busy, and it would have been inappropriate to turn away
the learner for any reason, even if he had been. He shook his head
slowly at himself while he pressed a series of keys on his seat to
relay an affirmative response to the droid. He stood and stepped into
the center of the room. In more formal situations this would be the
designated area that the visitor would stand. Esoro had never been
accused of being formal, however, and he doubted the learner was
coming to make any sort of presentation or report to the lone Master.
A more informal meeting suited Jaden just fine.

The droid's head finally shifted after seeming unnaturally still for
several moments. "Master Esoro will see you now." the droid said
simply, waving the learner inside. A click and hiss could be heard as
the door opened, revealing the Jedi Master and clearing the path into
the Chamber.

-- Nero

(( These posts were brought over from the previous google groups site. ))

[Jaster Chryss]

The young boy wanted to scream at the droid for just staring at him at first, but he knew that impatience was not one of a Jedi's virtues. So instead of screaming his head off at the droid, he took a moment to relax, to breathe in and try to still his thoughts, as his father and other Masters had taught him. Yet despite his best efforts he could not really control the feelings that were bursting forth from him. He was worried and had good reason to be, or at least that was what his little mind told him.

He tried to distract himself from the slow droid by looking around the room, yet could find nothing to keep his attention.

What seemed like an eternity later, the droid agreed to let him in. Before the door was even fully open, the boy had started to bolt through it. As he did this however, he realised that this was no way to approach a Jedi Master and almost skidded to a stop trying to slow himself down.

Half ashamed, the blond boy bowed his head to the Master conveying respect and greeted him.

"Master Esoro, thank you for seeing me on such short notice..."

[NiomiSykes]

D1KYL-sometimes went by the name of D1e (named after it's initials-Dare I Kill You Now), was a protocol, body guard type droid-think HK style, but more modern. It stood in a human type form, with arms, and a mechanical belt to hold a variety of weapons. It was also was a protocol droid, build to understand thousands of languages, therefore it could be a formidable opponent.

It strode down the hallway, out of the turbolift and nearly squashed a mousedroid, causing it to squeel in distress and zip down the opposite hallway towards the Council chambers. It had news to deliever to the nearest Jedi Master of a Jedi Knight who had fallen from grace and now resided in the slums of Nar Shaddaa, when he should have fulfilled the legacy of his family. The news and proof of Skyler Scott's existence should allow D1 to recieve a hefty amount of credits in order to upgrade his weaponry, and perhaps even his ship.

It stopped outside the chamber doors and was interrupted by the protocol droid. "Um, excuse me... You will have to wait for your turn just like everyone else."

"I bring urgent news to the nearest Jedi Master on call." The droid's snarky tone voiced to the protocol droid. If the protocol droid working the Council doors had not had a recent mind wipe, and therefore had time to develop more of a personality and had the ability to release its bladder or parts, it would likely have done so at this point, especially as the D1 unit drew its nearest electro magnetic gun.

[Jaster Chryss]

Jedi Master Jaslin Chryss was returning from her morning rounds through the Temple medical unit. She was dressed in the customary robes of a Jedi Knight, a dark brown that matched her eyes perfectly. Her auburn hair hung to her shoulders with a thick central braid running down the middle of her hair.

She waited patiently as the turbo lift doors opened and was quite surprised by the aggressive looking droid threatening the Temple's protocol droid. A moment of sympathy shot through her as she thought of the constant torment the poor protocol droid underwent every day from the various visitors to the Council.

Her voice was calm and silky smooth as she spoke to the HK style droid, hoping to stop it from blasting the confused looking protocol unit.

Perhaps it would be best if you put your weapon away. Unnecessary blaster discharges in the Temple have been known to draw all sorts of attention to their owners.

She smiled at the droid, beginning to form an image of a bounty hunter in her head as she noticed the various forms of lethal weaponry attached to it, conveying with her smile not sarcasm or hostility but an honest opinion that something was rather comical about the situation.

[NiomiSykes]

D1e turned to survey the Jedi Master who looked extremely calm. That didn't surprise him. Most Jedi would not be threatened by his kind, no matter how lethal he looked. They were trained for battle and life or death situations every day.

"Of course." The droid lowered its blaster and stood at ease. "You look like you might be a Jedi Master I can speak with about an urgent issue. Maybe I can gain your attention with this?"

He withdrew a holocube from a compartment in his torso and switched it on, in full view of the Jedi Master. It showed a man who looked similarly like the son of late Jedi Master Niomi Sykes. He was being punched and kicked, and he tried to stand up and fight back with his fists and feet in a boxing style ring in what was most likely an underground boxing circuit.

[Jaster Chryss]

Jaslin had seen many interesting things in her time as a Jedi, but it was not every day that a bounty hunter walked into the Jedi Temple and displayed a holo video of such graphic and violent nature. The man was being beaten quite severely and Jaslin had to tear her eyes away from it.

"Enough..."

Her voice was croaky, and she was visibly upset by what she had seen. She never did like violence. After all, she was a healer, not a warrior. She took a deep breath and steadied her voice.

"Please, switch it off."

As she said this though, her mind brought up the face of the man who had been in the holo. He looked oddly familiar, as if she should recall him from somewhere. Then it hit her. Sykes. He was the missing Sykes man. Skyler. Yes, that was his name, she thought.

"Where did you get this?"

Her voice was almost a whisper, the tone conveying both surprise and shock that the DE1 droid had found the man...

[LadyEvicto]

If D1KYN could express facial expressions as a human did, it would smirk. However, he could not. He could merely imply tone through his vocabulator. "Why Master Jedi... I recorded it myself. I have the means and the ability to sell the man to the highest bidder, dead or alive. That is why I have come to bring this news to you." D1e's violet eyes flickered, almost dancing with a menacing light, glad he had captured her attention.

"Perhaps we can negotiate a price for him so that will be agreed on prior to the trade. Of course, I can always go elsewhere. I'm sure the Imperials or any Sith remnants would be happy to comply with my wishes."

[Jaster Chryss]

Jaslin was shocked at the ease with which this hunter spoke of trading a man's life, even if it was a droid. Maybe its sentimental circuitry had been damaged in a firefight. Still, if he had caught someone trained in the Jedi arts it must have some skill at what it did, but it brought a shudder down Jaslin's neck to think of human trafficking.

However, she was not stupid, if she did not pay the hunter he would take Skyler to the Empire or the...

"Wait a minute. Sith remnant? Don't be foolish. The Sith have been extinct from this galaxy for decades. The last of them fell on Adumar."

Jaslin paused for a second as if to add something else, but changed her mind.

"However, that is irrelevant. There is no need to take him to the Empire. How much..."

She clearly struggled over the next words, but she simply had to remind herself that she was hopefully saving someone's life,

"How much do you want for him?"

[LadyEvicto]

D1e's photoreceptors twinkled. The droid definately had the Jedi's attention. "I believe 1,000,000 of the Jedi's Republic Credits should suffice." He believed it was a small price to pay for someone so valuable. What Jaslin didn't know, was that as soon as she had paid the droid, he would call down the transport ship from a nearby star system in the Inner Rim, carrying the man whose life now hung in the balance of their deal. D1KYN had infact captured the man on Nar Shaadda and planned to give him to whomever complied with his wishes.

"No need to worry if I will fulfill my end of the bargain Master Jedi. I have been programmed with that much of a conscience."

[Jaster Chryss]

Jaslin sighed as she heard the amount the man requested. A million credits? The Council would have her head for this. Still, life was the most precious thing to a Jedi, and they would understand or forgive her eventually.

She crossed over to where the reception protocol droid was standing and moved past him to the computer terminal.

"Excuse me Dee,"

She said to the receptionist, polite even when frustrated.

It took a moment to draw up the necessary program and input her access code and biometric data to enter the account system. After confirming that she had the necessary funds available to pay the bounty hunter, she looked up at the droid across the room from her.

"Republic credits will do fine?"

Jaslin asked, her tone clearly conveying she was not happy about this at all. A part of her wondered what the accountants would write the payment to a bounty hunter off as...

[LadyEvicto]

"Republic credits are fine Master Jedi." The droid replied darkly. "I assure you that my word is sound. It was infact one of your kind that was my Master at one point."

"In order to gain access to the coordinates that will lead to the man, I require the assurance that I will be allowed to leave your facility unharmed or tampered with in anyway, and return to hyperspace."

[Jaster Chryss]

"We are Jedi, droid, not some foul beings who are going to track you and follow you. Unless you betray us. Now, in the matter of payment, I am sure you understand that I will want to see Skyler in front of me and alive, before I can transfer the credits. After all, holo's can be faked.

Jaslin was beginning to regret her decision to deal with a bounty hunter in the first place, but she had no choice...

(( And I was half expecting a "No! They won't! *watto accent* ))

[LadyEvicto]

"Very well. But I will have to ensure that you hold your end of the bargain."

The droid pulled a remote from his left "forearm" and input a few key commands. These commands transmitted instantaneously to the transport ship that was a now sitting on the other side of the planet.

"I took the liberty of collecting him myself while on Nar Shaadda, and if you needed further proof of his existence, then I would show you him in person." The droid's eyes flickered. He had not harmed the young man, aside from when he had to restrain and sedate him initially on the Smuggler's moon.

[Nero]

((Apologies for my absense. Family was down among other things.))

Esoro bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement of the entering learner. "Of course." He said simply. "I always have time for our young Jedi." It, regrettably, was not true. He certainly wished it was, and he highly doubted he would be called out on his false statement. "Now," he said "what can I do for you?"