Not With A Bang, Nor A Whimper

One of the Knights says, "It has happened. The Spaarti cloning method lets you grow a clone in, at most, a year and they often receive flash memory imprints that are incredibly detailed. I believe an Admiral named Thrawn in the old universe managed to do it in only a few weeks and prevent clone madness by attaching a ysalamir to a cloning receptacle. It cuts them off from the Force and makes them difficult to read."

Arren shrugs to Jenova. "I've considered that." He looks at the Knight. "I hope that's not true. If it is, then someone has advanced far beyond what we're capable of, or this is outside interference, which causes all kinds of other problems." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "There are drugs that can make a person appear dead and be revived later. Unfortunately, it's too late to check for those kinds of drugs. We only have her memory to go on since no one here knows what the hell she's talking about."

"It happened. It was more expensive than realized but the old Imperial government managed to grow several clone legions with that method. It gives a pretty good idea of how expensive it was when you think about how few soldiers a dozen legions are. Still, faked death is more probable. We are getting something from her. We cannot for those cut off from the Force. If there is nothing else you need, we must return to our duties."

"I don't mean to pry or anything," Jenova says carefully, "but aren't there some sort of records we can consult regarding Adriane's death to possibly open up some options? Video, medical records, a burial site, or anything?"

Arren nods to Jenova, then looks at the Knight. "Care to share what you got?" He looks back to Jenova. "Yes. All of those things. However, like I said, there are drugs that make it possible to really fake your death and you truly appear dead. You can be revived up to three months later."

"Well, if there are supposed to be literal remains we can go look at, and they're not there, then we conclude she faked her death. If they're there, then we can assume there's something else at play here," Jenova says.

"It's nothing you haven't learned already."

(OOC: Actually, they got the passcode she used. That was new.)

Arren raises a brow. "Considering you weren't here when they tried, how do you know that?" He does nod to Jenova. "We thought of that. We did a surface scan of her grave and there's someone buried there. We haven't exactly dug up the grave." The last sentence was whispered, with a darting glance at Shein.

Yeah, Shein and Kennah are still there and listening. If Shein heard the last comment Arren made, he doesn't show it.

Jenova nods. "If I have permission, I can scan the body from the Craftworld, get a DNA sequence, and verify identity without having to do that," she responds.

(OOC: OK. I think Dmitri was around to hear some things to tell those guys. If not, I'll change it.)

"We were informed before coming here." He starts going through a datapad and notes, "Huh. That's new. We got some pass code out of her. Interesting." He writes it down to hand it to Arren.

Arren looks at the passcode. "It's a standard code that's system generated for accessing classified messages. Everyone gets one." He copies it into his datapad and runs some program on it. He then looks at Jenova. "Granted." His datapad chimes and he looks at it, then raises a brow. He looks at the Knight. "Don't suppose you can find out when she stopped receiving messages from Shein?"

Shein looks at Arren and finally speaks up. "What does that matter?"

Arren shrugs. "Just curious."

Jenova pulls out her commlink and presses something. A few moments later, it buzzes with results.

She shows them to Arren. It'll either positively match the body in the grave with Adriane, or show that it is just some random body.

"I can try. I'm also a bit curious as to how she managed to fool Nekron. She did not come back as a Black Lantern, as far as I know, yet somewhere I read that a black ring kept smacking into her grave." He gives it another shot at trying to get more info out of her. There is a possible method but it's frankly kind of evil. Darth Lanius used it to rip the Rakatan language out of their brains and implant English into theirs. He doesn't mention it, though.

The answer is six months ago. That's when Shein stopped sending her messages, but that was planned according to her.

Arren shrugs. "I don't know."

The results of the Burninite scan is that the person has a similar DNA structure. Could be attributed to natural breakdown of DNA or it's a relative. There's no way to be positively certain.

(OOC: It should even if the person isn't in the system because we can use the DNA code to construct their face. If it's recognizably Adriane, it would be her. But it doesn't matter, because there are any number of other things that could produce that result, even if they are unlikely )

"Not happy that it's not a definite result," Jenova says, "because I'm lost as to how to continue with this investigation." Her commlink buzzes. She looks at it and frowns. "And Thorgood is awful at managing humanitarian aid," she mutters.

He tries again and says, "It appears that the last time she received messages from Shein was six months ago. It appears to have been planned on her part, though."

Arren nods to the Knight. He looks over to Shein, then back to Jenova. "She somehow got Shein's passcode. When it cycled and he got a new one, she couldn't get into it at that point. The last cycle was six months ago."

Shein raises a brow. "So now we know how she got the information."

Kennah actually looks relieved. Not that she actually suspected Shein of doing such a thing, but hey, it's good to know the system had to have been hacked.

Arren nods to Shein. "Yeah, but we still don't know how she got your passcode in the first place."

Shein shakes his head. "Considering one of those we caught helped design the system?" He doesn't even finish his thought.

Arren is silent for a moment, then sighs. "Of course."

(OOC: She would have been dead and buried for at least eight years at this point. Decomposition alone would likely make identification difficult. That's why I said it wasn't completely clear. In any case, it could be a sister or it could be her.)

"Good," Jenova says, "but none of this explains her strange mental state."

(OOC: Panzer? Were you going to post?)

(OOC: Nope. Pass.)

Arren nods to Jenova. "True, but we have established one major point. Shein was not involved in a conspiracy against the Imperial Republic." He pauses, then leans in and whispers, "this time, anyway."

Shein must have heard Arren's whispered comment as he wrinkles his nose at Arren. "I've only ever done what I thought was best for Rutianas."

Kennah looks toward Adriane, then back to Arren and Shein. "Okay, so we've got that much. What the hell do we do now?"

Shein turns to Kennah. "That's your decision."

Kennah actually flicks Shein's ear with her finger. "And you won't give me any advice."

Shein shrugs. "I can't."

Arren sighs. "Kennah, it's not exactly something you have to decide now. Until you've made your decision, she'll stay locked up here."

Kennah frowns. "And if they try and rescue her?"

Arren laughs. Yeah, he laughs. "They can try. We're expecting it. We've made it known we still have a couple left alive."

Shein raises a brow at Arren. "You think that was wise?"

Arren nods. "Oh yeah. They won't dare bomb this place while we have some of their leaders captive. Unlike us, they will likely mount a rescue mission."

Kennah's frown deepens. "What you're saying goes against the grain." Shein's look at Arren would suggest he agrees with Kennah.

Arren smirks. "I know, however, telepathic scans show they've rejected not only our laws, but our culture as well. Part of you, Shein, must have known that. That's why you offered amnesty."

Shein seems to consider this, then nods. "I think you're right."

Jenova giggles. "So then this situation is mostly resolved then? We can turn off crisis mode and the strongest military power in the galaxy is safely in Shein's hands?"

Both Arren and Shein shake their heads simultaneously. "Not quite." Arren glances over at Shein, then back to Jenova to explain. "Even though we have their council, there's still resistance. There's going to be for a while. How long this goes on depends on how strong the resistance is."

Shein sighs. "While we can probably turn off crisis mode, for now, it may have to be switched on again. Until the fighting is stopped, there's still a civil war. We've dealt them a very devastating blow, but the fighting will probably continue for a while. The military is still broken. While the majority now follow me, there are those who stand firm against me. I fear we've only seen the tip of the iceberg."

Adriane, who had been silent until now, speaks up. "You have no idea." She seems almost sad. "This was what you wanted. A true Republic. Not an Imperial Republic."

Shein can't stop the facepalm before it happens. He just sighs again, this time in irritation. "No, I never wanted that. Never. I wanted the Prolin to have a voice. I wanted the Comiderans and Danites to have a voice. Never was I willing to give up the Imperial Republic for anything."

Adriane is silent for a moment longer before she starts screaming at Shein in Rutian. No universal translator would be needed to know what she was probably calling him. The faces of ever Rutian there show the shock of it.

"If there is nothing else you need, we will go."

Outside, some of the Slith (OOC: what I decided to name the Deathclaw-like species, despite the similarity in name to the non-related Slithzerikai in the PT World) are complaining about the lack of scratching posts to keep their claws sharp.

Jenova nods.

And when Adriane finishes shouting, she comments, "She's quite adept at furthering the cause for her life."

"Anyway, if crisis mode is off, I think it's time I go supervise our efforts from the Craftworld. We will also keep our military assistance here until you kick us out. So unless anyone needs anything else?"