Brawln and the Case of the Suspicious Scientist

A tip about a loose end from Nar Shaddaa sends Brawln and Nomi Amersu on a voyage to Kashyyyk. What they find there raises more questions than it answers, but also connects Brawln to a legacy he didn't know he had.

A message from Emor
After a tense ten-day journey from Loronar, Rogue Ronto finally arrives on Zoph in one piece. The planet is sparsely populated and doesn't have the same top-speed HoloNet connectivity Brawln and Nomi were experiencing on the core worlds, but there's an old relay hanging around that at least allows them to check if anyone's trying to reach them. When Brawln does so, there's a message waiting from Emor Zhalto, who looks mildly distressed.

"Brawln, buddy, I'm not sure what you're up to right now or where you'll be when you get this, but when I saw it float across the 'Net I knew it was something you'd want to hear about. That Kaminoan you told me about, Tia Ba? Word went around that she'd been 'released from her contract,' whatever that means, and now she was looking for work. But she didn't have her shingle hung out for very long before the posting went away. Someone must have snapped her up right quick. I got curious and asked around, trying to see if anyone knew who hired her, and..." Emor's face is very serious. "One of my contacts says they saw her getting off a transport on Kashyyyk. I don't know what she's up to out there, but my gut tells me it's nothing good.

"If you want to go out there and check it out, put the flights on my credit chit. I've got the credits to burn and Force knows I can't take it with me when I go. Who knows, maybe it will be nothing, but in this galaxy I wouldn't bet on it. Take care, Brawln. I'll see you when I see you."

Half formed words leave Brawln's mouth. He gestures rapidly at the screen and back to HC-7, who says, "I don't know, Brawln. This sounds dangerous. You don't know who's hired Tia Ba, and you’ve not really been in the best state since the confrontation with the Mirror and now you want to go gallivanting off to Maker-only-knows-where by yourself to a dangerous planet like Kashyyyk."

Angry Wookiee sounds at HC-7.

"Well, I don't know, Brawln. Perhaps you could take up meditation, like the Jedi." Brawln pushes past HC-7 straight toward Nomi, who he now realizes has been there the whole time. HC-7 continues calling after him, "You know you've not been yourself lately. It's not a good idea or just go charging off by yourself again. And you know what, if you're going to endanger yourself like this maybe you’d be better off finding another interpreter.

"Ah, Ms. Amersu - perhaps you could talk some sense into Brawln for me. You're the captain - sort of - right? Tell him he needs to stay until the group can give him some sort of backup with this. It's too irresponsible!"

Nomi stands up so fast that she is off-balance when she takes her first step toward Brawln with her hand out to him and she practically falls against his chest. After a confused moment of trying to extricate herself from his grey fur and Brawln trying to find a place to grab her that doesn't involve grasping one of her lekku, she manages to stand upright in front of him. Trying to look as dignified as possible, she says, "HC-7 does have a point." Her dignified look is spoiled as her face suddenly screws up and she looks like she is about to sneeze, but just manages to remove a hair which had come off attached to her nose and had been tickling her. She holds a hand up. "I'm not telling you you shouldn't go, but I would like you to make a plan before you do. Kashyyyk is a big planet you aren't familiar with and...I'll worry. Tia Ba is possibly more insane than the Mirror, it's worse because hers disguises itself as sanity. It would be smart to have someone with you, if not all of us."

Brawln rattles off a response in Shyriiwook, and the two look at each other for a moment in silence before both sets of eyes slowly pan over to HC-7. HC-7 is looking off away from the group in protest, but as the moment stretches on her finally throws up his hands and says, "Oh, all right!

"Brawln had intended on bringing the Mirror's body along with him as an excuse to get close to Tia Ba and see what she is up to and for whom she is up to it. From there, if there is anything untoward happening, and he suspects they will be, he intends to find any contacts his father had on the planet to see if he could get assistance bringing whatever plans are held for Kashyyyk and cloning to an end. He doesn't specifically know who his father's contacts on planet were, though, as he has never actually been there before. The hardest part will probably be finding them. His father likely couldn't avoid them if he was there, but Brawln is basically unknown to the people of Kashyyyk."

HC-7 catches up and Brawln once again starts speaking.

"In terms of who should come, Master Quiet seems to need the padawans for," Brawln vaguely waves an arm, "whatever they are doing over there right now. But it's Jedi things and Brawln is not of much use to them. He suspects that if he leaves now, he can be back before whatever it is they are doing resolves itself. And if it happens that Tia Ba is for once involved in something of the non-sinister variety, all the easier to leave her to it and come back.

"And is it still the proper form of address to refer to him as 'Master' Quiet if the Jedi Order aren't really a thing anymore - it really ought to be Mr. Quiet, correct?"

HC finishes his speech and Brawln puts his paw over his face. "Oh yes, I should mention that last part was mostly for me - Brawln didn't really have any thoughts about the addressing of Master/Mr. Quiet."

"As far as I'm concerned, Solomon Ores doesn't deserve any title, 'Master','Mister' or otherwise. Call him whatever you want," Nomi tells HC.

She turns back to Brawln with a begrudging nod. "It's a good plan, for one that you just took three seconds to come up with. And Kashyyyk is admittedly one of the best places that you could go and find allies or help just by the nature of who you are. It's too bad you don't know your father's contacts." She trails off for a moment, getting the telltale look of someone who has had an idea, then dismisses it, then continues to toy with it. Nomi steps back a bit, pacing away from Brawln as she thinks, but also getting herself out of his arms reach, before she turns back to him.

"This may be a bad idea. This may be a hurtful suggestion. I am ready for you to yell at me a lot. But, if your dad could walk through the streets or treetops or Kashyyyk, would people approach him? Would his contacts? If his likeness is still stored on the belt I have..." Nomi trails off, biting her lip and looking a bit nervous, not like she needs to dodge or something, but certainly worried about how her suggestion will be taken.

HC-7 translates Brawln's response as Nomi is thinking things over. "It wasn't exactly three seconds. Brawln has had something of this variety planned in his head from the moment he heard Tia Ba was responsible for the Mirror's creation. Up until the point where you helped him realize that going after Tia Ba wouldn't really help him long term, anyway. Killing the Mirror and bringing her his body in order to ruin her operation isn't a new idea to Brawln. The only new part is Kashyyyk."

For a moment after hearing Nomi's suggestion, Brawln looks at her uncomprehendingly. Then, his eyes widen, he tenses and takes a step back. But when he speaks again, it's with a stubborn look on his face, as HC-7's translation comes back, "Show me."

The ghost of Draur
Nomi appears regretful, but she suggested it and Brawln is asking to see, so she nods. As Nomi doesn't just carry the disguise matrix around with her everywhere, she has to go back to her bunk to get it. Truthfully, she doesn't know if the grey Wookiee pre-programmed into the belt by the Mirror is, in fact, Brawln's father. But it makes sense to her that it is. And this is the moment she will find out.

Nomi retrieves her belt from her room and standing back a bit in the corridor she finds the right setting. It's disconcerting a bit as Nomi searches the belt because her image flashes through multiple different looks until she settles. Brawln recognizes Lorn, the dock worker from Nar Shaddha. There is also a white Bothan, a elderly human man and a teenage human girl. Suddenly Brawln finds himself looking at the top of the head of a Wookiee who is looking down at his waist and fiddling with something there, though he is not wearing a belt. Brawln's father lifts his head and looks down the corridor at Brawln with an expression of apprehension on his face. The way he stands is all wrong, far too feminine as if Brawln's father is impersonating some female while telling a story, but all of the basics are there for an unmistakable likeness.

"Is this him?" Nomi asks, through his father's mouth. The words come out in Shyriiwook, but with a slightly synthetic quality.

"That’s him." Brawln stares at his father's image for a moment, looking horrified. Then, he waves dismissively at it with a visibly shaking hand. "Turn it off."

Brawln's father hastily reaches toward his waist and Nomi appears looking very relieved. She had been surprised when Shyriiwook had come out of her "mouth" and filed away that she would need to experiment with that - later.

"Brawln says he's sorry," HC continues after the device switches off. "That was a pretty awkward situation for him to put you in." He shudders as HC translates. "He wishes to clarify - does that mean you are willing to come?"

"No. You don't need to apologize. It was an...awkward idea. And yes, I am willing to come with you. They don't need me here on Zoph. I'm not going to do the whole 'vergence' quest or whatever it is and my role would only be to get mad at Ores, which I think at this point wouldn't serve for anything. I had my chance to tell him he was a bully. That was fine for me.

"If we're going to do this I will need you to teach me some basic words in Shyriiwook. Not that I really expect to be able to speak it, but I want to understand better. And if I am going to pose as your dad to try and get someone to recognize me I will need you to protect me. First, I won't know if someone is addressing me what they are saying and I won't be able to respond intelligently and I imagine the moment they realize I am an imposter it won't go over well. I am actually excited to go to Kashyyyk no matter what way we do it. And to get Tia Ba settled, in whatever way we decide we need to."

Nomi tilts her head at Brawln. "Plus, you are my friend, I want to help you and I don't want you to have to do this on your own."

"Brawln appreciates it. And he is happy to teach you a few greetings in Shyriiwook so that you wouldn't be taken off guard - and also, whatever slur they use for bounty hunters. Brawln would be surprised if they didn't hear that a few times while we were there." Brawln seems to have calmed down a bit, but he doesn't quite meet Nomi's eyes when he speaks. "Brawln feels he should probably give you some advice on how to compose yourself as a Wookiee - how to stand, walk, gesture in a way that seems a bit less," he looks at Nomi and considers for a moment before saying - almost as a question, "graceful?

"We should probably get whoever is willing to come together and get going, since the impersonation is step 3 in the plan, and we have a lot of ground to cover before then."

The journey to Kashyyyk
When Brawln and Nomi inform the others of their intentions to go to Kashyyyk, they don't get much push-back, not even from Master Quiet (whose general attitude is one of not really caring what non-Force-sensitive people do now that he's made it to Zoph). The padawans and Rhen feel strongly that they need to figure out what's going on with the vergence, Nawah Masin feels responsible for keeping an eye on them, and Vic Dantor has his own set of Zoph-related concerns. However, Reevo Tetsu jumps at the chance to accompany them, clearly having had enough interactions with Master Quiet to last anyone a lifetime. To transport the very large and bulky freezer containing the Mirror's corpse, Vic sends along the binary load lifter droid he acquired on the crew's recent salvage mission. It's burly and durable and not much else; you're not sure if it can talk and even if it can, it likely wouldn't have much to say.

Zoph is quite sparsely populated but there are a few medium-sized towns dotting its surface. 3D6 drops the group off at the one nearest Vic's mining camp and they say your goodbyes to the others. It's understood that the ship will either come to pick Brawln, Nomi, Reevo, and the droids up on Kashyyyk when everyone is finished with their respective missions, or they'll meet up with them somewhere else.

Brawln and Nomi make some discreet inquiries around town, looking for anyone who might be on their way to Kashyyyk. Ultimately they make contact with a Felucian freighter captain whose usual circuit of grain deliveries puts him in spitting distance of Kashyyyk. For the right price, he'll make the detour. Using Emor Zhalto's money, they negotiate passage for three organic beings, two droids, and a very large freezer. The captain has pretty clearly done things like this before and knows better than to ask too many questions.

Zoph to Kashyyyk is a three-day trip. During that time, Brawln instructs Nomi (and Reevo, who takes an interest) in the basics of Shyriiwook. He also picks Reevo's brain about Master Quiet. Reevo has spent the last month traveling with Master Quiet and is able to provide some insight. He is quite certain that the "seeing Separatists under every rock and behind every bush" thing isn't an act or a ploy - Master Quiet is quite genuine in this belief and nothing Reevo has said or done has been able to dissuade him from it. Reevo would describe him more as "crazy" than "Dark Side," but it sounds like a near thing - there's a lot of evidence in support of Nawah's theory that it's only his delusion keeping him from falling entirely. His capabilities sound pretty similar to Vesper Syl'tine's, albeit much more powerful and extensive - he's extremely stealthy and sneaky, good at tracking things down, prefers to fight defensively with his lightsaber, can enhance his own physical capabilities with the Force, and can move things with the Force even better than Efnir Kis can. Reevo isn't sure what it would take to snap Master Quiet out of his false beliefs, or even whether that's possible anymore; he thinks the Jedi purge affected him a lot more than he's letting on.

To be continued