Saga of the Bridgers-Year 7

Chapter 14: The Plot

May 13, 2227.

The security measures at the Academy and on Lothal had now been severely overhauled. Moreena's investigation revealed that the members of SCAR Squadron had actually arrived on the planet as passengers on separate flights, and now the police had their actual faces. There was still the issue of how they got their equipment through the controls, but the Bridgers figured that this was probably why the Detective had asked them to meet her at her precinct.

Said precinct was the 41st of Capitol City, the one that also had jurisdiction over the area that covered the Academy. It was built into a quite small and squared building that sat in the middle of other housing and commercial activities. That was the downtown, far from the sky-touching towers of the center, but it was still a fairly nice neighborhood.

Moreena greeted them and then led them inside her Captain's office, where the officer was already waiting for them. The man's name was Kenev, and he spoke with a deep, composed voice.

"Masters. Captain Bridger." he greeted them. "I wish once again to apologize for our failure to handle the crisis."

"Nonsense, Captain." Ezra reassured. "You did everything you could. Many younglings would probably not be alive if you didn't manage the situation as well as you did."

"Still, it was a failure for the LCPD that it happened in the first place. At least we can give you some answers, now."

Kenev made a little gesture with his hand to leave the word to Moreena. The woman stepped forward and put a datapad in front of the Bridgers.

"After we identified the members of SCAR Squadron, I went back and checked out their IDs and found out two things: the first is that they were moving around with authorizations from the New Republic. You might assume that's nothing special until I found out the second thing..." she lit up her omni-tool and brought up the images of a couple of storage depots of the spaceport. They used their IDs here to recover a cargo that had their weapons and armors."

"With civilians ID?" Jordan asked suspicious. "That doesn't add up."

"Indeed, Captain." Kenev intervened. "We asked the help of the Federal Investigation Authority to identify those permits, and it turned out that they have been authorized by the Ministry of Defense of the New Republic."

Kenev had said that nonchalantly, but the news was a shock to the Jedi.

"Are you saying that they got help from the Republic?" Jaral asked.

"Clearly somebody with high clearance helped them." Kenev replied. "But we don't have any authority to go and investigate the Ministry of a foreign nation."

"Of course." Ezra said in a plain tone. "But we do."

"We're leaving for Lianna. Dad, you coming with us?" Jaral added.

"Of course, but I gave my crew their shore leave and I want them to rest while they can. Let's ask Hera for backup." Jordan replied.

The siblings rose from the chairs, thanked the Captain and Moreena, made a quick copy of the files and then left, taking the skycar back to the Academy. The structure had already changed for a local building company had been hired to build a two-meter-tall wall with only one large gate cut by the only road linking the compound to the highway. The new recruits of the Jedi Militia and the Protectors had established guard turns to check everybody that tried to enter the area, even the Bridgers were quickly inspected with a DNA scanner to make sure it was them.

Some of the younglings had been forbidden to go there by their families, and the Jedi were trying to convince them that the children would be much safer at the Academy now that it was protected more thoroughly than staying at home and risking being targeted when they were isolated.