Fwurg

[Shebi Ajava]

"No, that is exactly what we are here for. We are here at the request of the senator. And he requested the Jedi to ascertain the truth behind this most sensitive matter, because we are unbiased.

Therefore, we will present the report with our findings to the senator. And then to the would-be king, as he has a right to know what is going on."

"But we'll send it to master Screetor first, so he is aware of the situation before the senator and the would-be king. Then we'll brief the senator, and present our findings to him. Then we will inform the would-be king.

In this way we control the flow of information, though of course the would-be king has spies inside the senator's office by now. So it might be beneficial not to wait too long, before the king gets any ideas. And we should sweep the office of the senator for bugs and listening devices before talking."

((OOC: How much time of the hour left?))

[Nalan Passik]

"Sounds like a good idea. Are we planning on investigation longer even after we turned in our reports? Perhaps that when the king hears we support his claim he lowers his guard or something and more thing become clear on if we made the right choice or not."

Nalan spoke up.

[Shebi Ajava]

"That is an interesting idea. But if we do that, we must make sure that we have enough influence on the situation to actually make the would-be king back down. And once we have acknowledged his position, even we might not have enough influence on the situation any more.

Though it might be good to keep an eye on the situation as it develops. When I hand the report to the king, I'll see what I can arrange with respect to having access to the court, and access to Scir's government resources. That should allow us to revisit the situation later on."

[Ariana Danacia]

After finishing the document Ariana runs it by the other Jedi.

After a final check she sends the document to Master Screetor using a secured connection. Attached to the document is a message that says that there is not much time and we would like to speak before our hour has passed.

Ariana patiently waits for him to look into the report and open communications with them.

[Jedi Master Screetor]

((OOC: Given your debate so far, plus the drawing up and finalising of the document, you have a little over half an hour left.))

"This is a disturbing development."

The Jedi Master was concerned, this much was clear, but he also knew quite well that the Jedi on Scir had been put in a difficult situation through no fault of their own.

"You have handled things reasonably well so far. Do you have anything to add to the findings listed in your report?"

[Shebi Ajava]

"We have the distinct feeling that something is off. But we can't place it. The genetics of the would-be king are too clean, but perfectly match the genetics of the individuals in the royal tombs. We have had a slight misunderstanding, but I will brief you on that when we have returned."

"There is one other peculiarity. The king has made a rather blatant offer to gift our worlds taxes if we support him. I was slightly surprised by that. We have resolved to reject his offer, but I will ask him to allow us access to the court and Scir government resources. That way we can keep an eye on things."

((OOC: What is actually in the report? There is no statement of what information is in, and what is left out. This makes it rather hard to actually have an opinion about the report, or about what is going to happen if the report is made available to the senator and would-be king (or made public)...))

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

Nathan had the strong inclination to report his own view of the situation and his opinion of what the best course of action was to Master Screetor.

He held himself back however, knowing it would only cause problems within the already shaky group.

Luckily his cyborg body made it fairly easy to hide his discomfort.

[Ariana Danacia]

((OOC: It is a report containing:
The evidence from the tomb.
The DNA results from the tomb.
The DNA result from the would-be king.
The information from the family tree.
The DNA results of viscount orlin.
The calculations made based on the DNA profiles.
The statement from the would-be-king that viscount Orlin was replaced with a double.

Did I miss anything, you wanted included?))

"The fact that the whole tomb was disturbed and the DNA matches so perfectly with the King while his DNA looks healthy and his family tree is asking for genetic defects.

Combined with the DNA of viscount Orlin who was burried in another cemetry. The problem is that we only have circumstantial evidence saying that something is off. Since the Scir government has not changed the laws for the return of the king they want to be ruled by a king. Acknowledging the king seems the best option, since we have no real evidence against him and it ensures stability in the region. "

[Fecta Trigiel]

"Master, I feel obliged to say that, partially by my doing, the idea has crossed the table to remove the would-be-king and remove the whole issue this way. For obvious reasons we have chosen not to do so."

[Jedi Master Screetor]

"We shall speak on the other matter later then. Obviously as Jedi we cannot accept bribes, especially in matters such as these. How peculiar of him to offer... if you believe he may grant this access, it would be most helpful, Padawan."

The Jedi master nodded to Shebi Ajava, turning to Ariana.

"I agree this is all very suspicious. Given the stakes, there may have been a significant financial investment in this scheme. It would have been so much easier if there was clear evidence of tampering..."

He paused a moment and looked at Trigiel.

"I agree, we cannot just arrest this 'king' based on suspicions alone. Evidence is necessary."

He turned back to Ariana.

"I am not so sure if it ensures stability, but I agree it may be the lesser of the evils. I trust in your judgement in this matter - you have spoken to the man, so I am certain your instincts and the Force will tell you what is right. I will leave it in your capable hands."

[Fecta Trigiel]

Suddenly, at the mention of large stakes of money from Master Screetor, Trigiel thought of something they bluntly forgot to look at so far: "Follow the money trail, When investigating such matters, you always must follow the money trail!" His headflaps extended and the voice of the cyborg sounded quite exited, "There is no time any more to do that now, but if we get access to the court, we can try to get access to the money flow. Then we can try to locate where the money comes from and where it goes to. Leading us to the people who are behind all this. If there is any conspiracy of course that is."

[Shebi Ajava]

Ajava spoke to both the padawan and the master:

"As we have the report made up already, I propose we deliver it to the senator immediately. That will allow him some time to compose a statement. We will then continue to present our findings to the would-be king as well.

Are there still things that need to be said?"

If there wasn't more to be said, Ajava would terminate the connection and go with the group toward the offices of the senator.

((OOC: No, the report looks good. By the way, as we seem to be done here, I am invoking 'go to the next scene'.))

[Ariana Danacia]

Ariana bows towards the hologram of Master Screetor. "Thank you master."

((OOC: Ready to go to the senator.))

[Nalan Passik]

Nalan slowly nodded at Fecta Trigiels words.

"That sounds like a logical plan. But indeed we have to wait to see if we can pursue that. In the meantime I think its time we go see the senator as well."

[Fecta Trigiel]

"I have no further objections."

[Representative Lophos of the Interregnum Democracy of Scir]

((OOC: Four out of five players have indicated their agreement with the proposed course of action. As it has been almost a full week, and I do not expect our final player to disagree, I am moving this ahead.))

Having decided on their course of action, the Jedi left their meeting to find the Scir Senator, who mediately made time for them. The office was a modern but simple one featuring exactly one desk and one chair with one holonet display and no windows but perfect all around lighting.

"Greetings Jedi - I take it you have come to a decision on this precarious matter?"

((OOC: Given the delicacy of the situation, I feel that it will be necessary for you to explicitly write out how you report your findings as this could have effects on the way the Senator responds on the larger scale. Let's see some master diplomacy ^_^))

[Ariana Danacia]

"Senator here is our report."

Ariana hands the senator a copy of her report and gives him some time to look at it.

The contents of the report are:

• The evidence from the tomb.
• The DNA results from the tomb.
• The DNA result from the would-be king.
• The information from the family tree.
• The DNA results of viscount orlin.
• The calculations made based on the DNA profiles.
• The statement from the would-be-king that viscount Orlin was replaced with a double.

[Shebi Ajava]

Before the senator could read the report, Ajava spoke up.

"Senator, I'm afraid that the results are not what you wanted to hear. We have a feeling that there might be foul play involved, but we have no hard evidence for this. Apart from a piece of circumstantial evidence against, the bulk of the evidence points toward this man really being of the same family as those we found in the tombs."

"We must base our decision on the evidence presented and found. We can not base such an important decision on our gut feeling. Given the overwhelming evidence in favour of this man's claim, we rule that he is indeed the ancestor of the family we found in the tomb. And as that tomb is the royal tomb, this makes him a member of the royal family."


"Further, there is a complication. The man will soon go public with an announcement that he is a member of the royal family, regardless of the outcome of our investigation. He told us that he will do so in twenty minutes. The problem is that, regardless of what the evidence says, if he gains the support of enough of your people this could quickly turn into a civil war. We came to you first to make sure that you have a head start with putting in motion whatever plans you deem necessary."


"Personally, I advice you to work with the man. At the moment he is not yet King, and I assume that your laws require more of a King than just showing up and claiming to be of royal blood. And it seems to me like he would do almost anything to become King.

Then again, if your oldest laws declare that Scir be ruled by its people until a new King arrives, and your people have not seen fit to change this law, it might be the will of the people to be ruled by a king. If you think that your people would not support a king, there is little to fear, because a ruler can't rule without the support of his people."

[Fecta Trigiel]

Before Trigiel said anything he waited till the senator had read the report. As the senator probably needed some time to process the findings.

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

After Ajava had spoken Nathan decided to add something.

"Of course, senator, our decision is by no means binding to you. Whether you and your government accept this man as your ruler is still up to you.

If necessary we will make our findings public, but you can always ask for additional help from us. If you require it."

[Representative Lophos of the Interregnum Democracy of Scir]

Reading carefully over the evidence and listening to the Jedi, the Senator hung his head down and shook it.

"This is bad news... very bad news indeed... Some people may not accept the king but others will... there are troubled times ahead..."

The man nodded finally.

"Thank you Jedi, for your investigation, your honesty and your willingness to aid us... I need to present this information to the cabinet..."

He stood up slowly.

"I will contact the king... see if we can come to some sort of arrangement. Be careful when the news breaks - likely there will be journalists who want answers and not all of them will be without an agenda..."

It seemed for now the Jedi had completed their mission and things had been set in motion that no doubt they would soon hear on the news as well. Unless the Jedi had more to say to the Senator, or more to do on Scir, it was time to head home and report to the Jedi Council.

((OOC: We are at the end of this mission! If you have any loose ends you wish to finish up on, now is the time (or if not, please post to that effect so I know we are done). There will be a tail story with some journalists, for those Jedi who are interested in this, though that story will not earn any rewards. Speaking of rewards, I will award yours when I have confirmation we're all done ^_^))

[Fecta Trigiel]

"Senator, just keep in mind that we had to push our conclusions forward because of the rash actions of the would-be-king. By all means, this is not really a finished investigation. And I am sure the Jedi are willing to aid where necessary to protect the innocent."

[Shebi Ajava]

"Senator, I will visit the king immediately to inform him that we have reported our findings. He threathened to go public with his bloodline, and I fear he still intends on doing so. I am afraid that him going public without coordination might be worse for your people than going public after speaking with you.

Maybe I can talk him out of it, and get him to wait until you contact him. Within a reasonable time of course. Is there a subject you would like me to raise with him before you contact him?"

((OOC: I have a few things that I would like to RP with the king. But I have no problem with doing that in a separate thread so others can claim their rewards.))

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

"Senator, if I may ask, why didn't you or the cabinet propose to change the law when this man showed up? I mean it's clear you aren't comfortable with the situation and with a system like yours surely you have a method of getting such things through in a hurry?"

((OOC: Just few loose ends I'd like to tie up.))

[Ariana Danacia]

((OOC: I have nothing to add.))