Fixing Dalt

Kedrihm'Val talks to Dalt while Ree meets with the Masters. Dalt doesn’t know what the weird critters are...but something makes him hesitate. He thinks they seem familiar, but he can't place them. He insists he’s not related to Mother. The idea irritates him, seeing as, to paraphrase, she's bitchy, domineering, disrespectful, and all-around hateful.

But mainly, Dalt is seriously ticked that no one has asked about E'Val. He’s been trying to warn everyone for a week. This certainly catches Kedrihm'Val's attention.

Dalt explains that the clone is contagious. The Abindosani DNA, with its propensity for Force sensitivity and built-in Dark Side taint, makes E'Val a genetic, evolving Dark Side cancer of evil, which incidentally is infesting the coral that is kept just across the hall from it, along with who knows what else that might be sensitive to it? To demonstrate, Dalt whips out a keyboard and projector he made, displaying the room arrangements for all the nefarious stuff they’ve been stowing at the temple. The bottom line is that they've been stowing all the badness they keep gathering in one short section of hallway, which is clustered around Luke Skywalker's rooms just down from the Council chambers. And the Anakin clone has been resting right in the middle of all that. D’oh!

Also, Dalt is so bored he actually begs to go to Dathomir with them. He says he'll even be happy with a cortex bomb if they don't trust him.

Kedrihm immediately gets the clone moved (it gets stowed downstairs a few levels). They put up an energy shield around the coral, which is indeed corrupted again, though at least it hasn't turned black, and everyone notes the stupid room arrangement. Kyp's a little defensive, but...well, yeah, it was pretty dumb in retrospect.

That taken care of, another point comes up: Luke's somewhat alarming attitude toward the clone of his father. Kyp's kind of concerned about it too, to be honest, but he suggests that Leia's really the one they need to talk to. So they head out to talk to Leia about Luke’s disturbingly cavalier attitude about his dad’s clone.

...but before they can get through the outer doors, Dalt locks down the temple, taking over the security system with his mind. In fact, he has mental control of the entire building. Apparently he got so angry that it broke right through the whammy Zann put on his Force powers and gave him an extra boost. He tell the Jedi he's giving them an hour to set him free or he’ll invert the damping field around the coral, detonating the nasty all through the temple.

Oola and Z arrive at the doors to the temple, and find them closed. Oola asks nicely and Dalt lets them in. The Masters get together to talk about Dalt's terms, secretly serving as a distraction for him while the crew goes down to talk to Dalt (or, as he puts it, to acknowledge his greatness). The 'negotiations' last exactly long enough for Z to whip out a blaster and stun Dalt.

Over his unconscious body, the crew and the Jedi quickly throw together a plan to get the Rakata out of his head. This has gone too far.

Oh, but what about Lexi? She just saw her dad bigger than life on a temple holo-screen, holding them all hostage. Well, turns out Lydia cold-cocked her before she could go into hysterics. But still, someone's got some 'splaining to do.

The easiest thing to do, if they can find a place to put them, is to simply suck the Rakata out of Dalt's head. The scientists who've been studying it say the flower is a sort of organic computer attuned to the Force--kind of reminiscent of the living coral, actually. They can put the crystal flower back together, and believe that if they use the Force water the crew brought back from Ree's planet, it might grow back together.

This takes a few days, during which they keep Dalt sedated.

Then they talk to Dalt and convince him to cooperate. It's important that he be willing. After all, if he fights them, they may end up with super alien Dark Side ghosts flying everywhere. Dalt doesn’t exactly believe the story about being possessed by ancient dead Dark Side muftis, but he agrees to play along since the alternative is more exposure to Z. So Kyp unlocks the Rakata while Kedrihm and Ree help Dalt reinforce his mental strength. Then Zann plants the flower on Dalt’s face, which stabs him him like an Aliens movie and sucks the spirits out. Err...oops?

They all hang around chatting till Dalt wakes about an hour later, since they want to be there when he gets up. He seems fairly normal; his reaction is certainly understandable. But before he can freak out extensively, Z stuns him again, and Zann reads his mind—-he's not evil, just arrogant and kind of erratic. Definitely has self-confidence issues, but there seems to be hope.

Now taking him to Dathomir becomes a possibility, and just possibly advisable. In this state, he might actually be useful. Kedrihm repeats Dalt's comments from their earlier conversation. When Dalt had mentioned getting out of here, and Kedrihm'Val asked him where he'd go with half the galaxy breathing down his neck, Dalt commented that Thrawn would appreciate him. He points out that they're not likely to manage keeping Dalt in a box forever, even if they were comfortable with that decision. Making Dalt feel appreciated may win him more to their side and keep him away from Thrawn and other dangers.

After all that, Ree calls for time off. People leave, Council says it’ll figure out later what’s needed for them to feel comfortable with sending Dalt to Dathomir with them. Kedrihm stays to wait for Dalt to wake, and see what they can pry out of him.