Cuthases and Clones on Nar'Shadaa

Shocked by recent events, the Council gives the crew a few days to rest while they figure out who had the briefcase when.

Ree takes the time to research the Sin family, discovering they’re lightsaber artisans. They built special sabers for many Masters, including Yoda. Their last mission was to find a mysterious crystal that would be terribly dangerous in Dark Sider hands. The mission was never completed. The Empire rose and they dove into hiding. The Sin ship was named the Makudza, which meant “Mighty Artisan” in Bothan...and is a word that sounds oddly familiar to her. The ship vanished at the same time the Sins did.

Ree files a report on the crystal to the Council.

Ree’s own family was closely tied to the old Senate, serving as Jedi guards and guardians of sensitive information, personnel, and materials. In this capacity, they interacted often with the Sents, who tended to serve as enforcers and guardians of the law--marshalls, in a sense. The Sents were unusually sensitive to use of the Force.

As for the Nar’Shadaa Jedi, the Cuthas family served as spies for the Jedi order. Yoda never saw fit to inform Palpatine (or any outsiders, quite likely) of their existence, and they went into hiding at the Purge. They had brief contact with the Temple just after the Purge began, which said they were upset. They blamed themselves for not spotting the Sith.

Kedrihm'Val reads up on Dathomir, learning about the Infinity Gate, an artifact of incredible power that someone once attempted to use as a super-laser. A Jedi named Quinlan Vos stopped them, destroying the gate in the process. Dathomir in general seethes with life energy, so powerful that many Force users on the planet for the first time find it somewhat overwhelming. Talking to the Dathomiri Jedi, they tell him the legend of the Gate says it channels the Force from somewhere: Dathomir itself, perhaps, or the “beating pulse of the Force” in the center of the galaxy, which the Jedi simply refer to as “The Pulse.”

Ree remembers where she's heard the word 'makadza' before. It sounds like the noise made by a species critter that lives on her planet, a race of ferret-like little semi-sentients. She vaguely remembers they consider it a sort of sacred word.

Ree talks to her holocron about the Sins. It tells her they were drama queens, “prophetic artsy types who were all about the doom and gloom.” Big on the desperate importance of missions, that kind of thing. They were known to have visions during artistic trances. Three Sins (the whole family? Apparently there were never many of them) and two Sents went on the mission to find that crystal. The holocron also informs her that Ree’s and Dalt’s families have never had a Dark Sider. The Cuthas family had them very seldom, but they were somewhat evasive about it, though the sense was that they carefully policed their own ranks.

Well, they need to hunt up members of the Cuthas family on Nar’Shadaa to make sure they stay out of enemy hands. When they get to Nar'Shadaa, they discover that docking fees are nothing short of extortionate, and the place is unsurprisingly a total cesspit of sentience.

The Cuthas auction house is run by a woman named Lexi Cuthas. This is easy to learn, since everyone is talking about a locked box she's auctioning off which is claimed to come from Jabba’s destroyed barge. Heading to the auction house to gather information, they learn that Lexi’s reputed to be nice but no-nonsense. No one has ever heard her talk about her family, and word is that she has none.

While they circulate, Oola notices that someone recognizes Kedrihm’Val. She learns that his double was there earlier, accompanied by a hooded human and a female whose description doesn't match anyone Oola knows. This trio had asked after Lexi and some datachips that are on auction later: Imperial records, some of which come from the Chimera (interesting question how that one happened).

Ree gets a meeting with Lexi and they tell her about the danger. Lexi is no-nonsense indeed. She quickly replaces the chips with fakes, and has no interest in exposing herself to danger. Turns out, she has fake copies of the medallions and easily arranges a stand-in for herself, as well. Lexi seems fairly well on top of the Jedi thing; looks like her family held the traditions, though they apparently haven't associated with the temple in some time.

At the auction, the Kedrihm'Val clone (whom I shall call E-Val), Obi Wan clone (Obi Two? No, I'll show mercy), and the woman all show up. A distraction is needed to set the trap. Z provides, throwing out the first bid on those chips at 2 million credits! The other bidders freak out, assuming something desperately fascinating must be on those chips. It starts an immense bidding war, much to the frustration of the clones.

Some thugs lob gas grenades. This isn't especially shocking for Nar'Shadaa. A lot of attendees pull gas masks or rebreathers, but the thugs bar the door and one makes a grab for Lexi...who breaks him in half. She's a replicant droid!

Kedrihm goes after the woman, who proves to be a shapeshifter. She's difficult to follow through the crowd. Zann gets a bead on the Obi Wan clone. E-Val Force-grabs Lexi’s medallion and breaks for the door. Ree intercepts him. Oola droid-knifes the thugs. Z blows a hole in the roof to let the gas escape. Chaos erupts as people begin escaping and/or looting the auction house.

E-Val spits some black goo at Ree, who telekinetically tosses a chair between them. E-Val throws a kid to Obi Wan in order to distract Ree, then runs up the wall and leaps out the hole in the roof. While Ree dives for the child, Z nails Obi Wan with a grenade, but the Jedi clone shapes the blast to blow out the wall behind him.

Meanwhile, the shifter locks a grenade onto Kedrihm'Val's belt. He drains its energy to deactivate it and throws it back. Ree spots a woman looking upset with a grenade on her belt (the shifter doesn't know it's deactivated, after all, and by now she's wearing a different face), and moves to help. The shifter shoots her and breaks for Obi Wan with Kedrihm'Val in pursuit; Z grabs her as Obi Wan Force lightnings them, knocking her out. Zann blocks the lightning and Obi Wan decides to participate in the better part of valor, fleeing outside toward the unconscious E-Val, who's lying a little ways down the street with the medallion in his hand.

Not wanting to show their hand by ignoring the fake medallion while Obi Wan's still loose, Kedrihm'Val calls the medallion back to him with the Force...narrowly avoiding getting spiked by a poisoned trap embedded in it. He snags it by the chain instead, swinging it at Obi Wan as the clone comes charging back at Force speed.

Z snatches up one of the looted boxes, shoving it over Obi Wan's head, then starts to beat on the blinded clone. Zann shoves the poisoned medallion into the angry false Jedi, who passes out. Victory!

Then Z shoves a grenade up Obi Wan's ass. Everyone gets the hell out of the way of that mess, but Z figures he's far too dangerous to be allowed to live. E'Val and the shifter both get locked into bacta tanks and shipped back on the Starwind. Kedrihm'Val, who's more than normally sensitive to Dark Side energies, feels vaguely nauseous the entire time due to the presence of his tainted clone. Kedrihm considers simply destroying the thing, which he sees as a pure abomination, but the others point out that studying him might teach them more about whatever was done to his world.

Before they leave, Lexi turns her real medallion over to Ree. She proves to be well-aware of everything regarding her family.

When they get back, E'Val and the shifter are turned over still in their tanks. The Temple takes possession of the clone, but the shifter gets turned over to the Republic authorities as a criminal. Kedrihm'Val gives the scientists some biosamples from his own blood and tissue for comparison with his clone.

Ree accepts the position on the Council. That night, she has a dream about E'Val possessing Anakin. It disturbs her, but when she goes down to the medical bay to check, nothing seems out of place.