Star Wars: The Forgotten Student

7.

The day of my trial came around and I woke that morning filled with frightful butterflies. I was a complete mess, I had been in a small, lonely cell for the best part of two days, I felt dirty and horrible. Luckily, the hand cuffs had been removed and I was fed small meals, but still, it was not a nice place to be.

Two troopers came to the cell door and opened the blue screen.
"As you know, your trial is to take place this afternoon. In the meantime, you are to return to your sleeping quarters and clean yourself up, make yourself...presentable." One of them said.

I was escorted back to my quarters. The two troopers stood outside the door, practically guarding it.
"You have two hours, don't try any funny business." One said.

I locked my door and slumped down onto my bed. I noticed that Obi Wan had returned my lightsaber like I had asked. I picked it up and examined it, not really knowing what I would do without it. Before I did anything else, I grabbed a bag from my closet and stuffed it with clothes. I also placed my brothers lightsaber, which I had kept, gently into the bag also. Lastly I packed my own lightsaber.

I slung the bag over my shoulder and walked towards the window. I seriously contemplated jumping out and escaping; run away and start anew. But I didn't. I realised that the outcome would be worse if I was to be caught. So I dumped the bag onto the floor, a few tears trickled down my cheeks. It was times like this where I really missed my brother; he would know what to do and he would guide me through all of this nonsense.

Instead of making a run for it, I cleaned myself up, showered and changed out of my tatty clothes. I was about to go into a court room, somewhere I never thought I'd be, so I had no idea how to present myself. Eventually, I just put on a long sleeve, cream undertunic and a thigh length, light brown, fitted overtunic on top. I also wore some dark brown, fitted trousers with knee length leather boots. I wore these boots in particular because they were comfortable and I knew that if things were to go south during the trial, they'd be good enough to run away in. I did nothing with my long blonde hair, just left it down to flow down my back.

I was changed and ready, but I still had time to kill and I wasn't exactly going to go and make conversation with the troopers outside my door. Once again, I contemplated making a run for it, using the window as my escape route, but again, I backed out of the idea. So instead, I just sat there and waited, alone and scared. I had been feeling like this a lot over the past few days.

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There was a knock at my door.
"Times up, let's go." I heard one of the troopers outside say.

I didn't reply. I stood up and took a big, deep breath in, trying to calm myself down. The moment I opened the door, a pair of hand cuffs were placed around my wrists. Again, they put their hands on my shoulders and took me to a lift. The lift was slow and rattled around like crazy as we ascended up. Eventually, the doors opened to reveal a might great court room; I could barely see the ceiling it was so tall. We were also incredibly high up, suspended on a platform. Ahead of me was a long metal bridge and at the end, a circular platform. I took a moment to take in the sheer size of the hall around me. On the far back wall was a podium where Chancellor Palpetine sat, two red dressed guards behind him.

One of the troopers nudged me forward. I walked over the bridge and noticed a window high above me on the right wall, in it sat the Jedi Council. I could see Master Yoda and Master Windu looking down on me, I felt their gaze follow me. I walked along the bridge to the circle platform and stopped in the middle. The platform then began to move, it raised up and stopped in line with two other platforms. To my left was Wilhuf Tarkin and to my right, Obi Wan Kenobi. I had know idea which one was on my side and which one wanted to see me punished. The court members sat behind high up window to the left of me.

Chancellor Palpetine stood up and began to speak,
"Delta Nova, you have been charged with the murder of Giran Kaylak and going against the ways of the Jedi, which you pledged your life to when you began your training. This court will decide your fate." He scowled down at me.
"Prosecution, you may begin your arguments." He said, moving a hand towards Tarkin. Now I knew that Tarkin was against me and Obi Wan was with me.

"Delta Nova, Jedi Knight. I shall prove that you are guilty of murdering Giran Kaylak, an innocent man from the lower levels of Coruscant. Though Giran Kaylak was suspected of planning an attack on the royal family of Alderaan, there is insufficient evidence to prove that this claim is true. You acted on a hunch and attacked an innocent man, going against the Jedi ways. You claim that he was carrying a bomb, yet there was no bomb found at the scene of the crime or in the home or Giran Kaylak. Eyewitnesses also say that you were seen with you hands around Giran's neck, knelt in a pool of his blood. When you are found guilty, I ask that the full extent of the law be bought down upon you; removing you from the Jedi Order and stripping the rank of Jedi Knight off of you. On top of this, I ask that Delta Nova also receives penalty of death for her crimes!" Tarkin said, sternly and demandingly, the whole time he was glaring at me.

I shuddered when he said that I should be put to death, I didn't realise how much trust I'd lost. Nobody seemed to understand that I never meant to hurt anyone!

It was then Obi Wan Kenobi's turn to speak. Whether he actually was by my side, or was just being asked to defend me, I was unsure of.
"Let us take a moment to look at Giran Kaylak. He had been found guilty of multiple crimes in the past, from theft to assault, he was not an innocent man completely. Delta Nova was sent to question him because the Jedi Order suspected him of plotting against the monarchy. Upon inspection of Giran's home, Delta found a bomb, further increasing suspicion. When Giran Kaylak refused to answer questions regarding the bomb, he made a run for it and Delta perused after him. Eyewitnesses must have been mistaken, as there was no evidence of strangulation on the body. The coroners report shows that Giran Kaylak died from a severe head injury..."

"Caused by Delta." Tarkin interrupted.

"Let me finish. Why would Delta Nova kill Giran Kaylak whilst knowing full well the consequences that would follow by breaking the Jedi code? There is no obvious intention of causing harm."

"Well then," Tarkin began again.
"This bomb you speak of. Like I said before, there was no bomb found at the scene or in Giran's home. So where did it go? Or was there even a bomb? This was most likely a detail added by Delta to make Giran seem like the villan here; throw people of the scent!" His voice echoed around the huge court room.

"It's unclear as to what may have happened to the bomb. But like I said before, why would Delta need to lie." Obi Wan explained.

I looked up at Chancellor Palpetine, who was still glaring down his nose at me.
"Anything you would like to add, Delta?" His croaky voice asked.

I took a deep breath in.
"Yes. I never intended or wanted to kill Giran Kaylak, the events that occurred were by complete accident and couldn't be prevented. I chased after him because I felt like it was the right thing to do; had he gotten away, he could have carried out that bomb attack on Alderaan and more people would be dead!"

"Couldn't have been prevented?" Tarkin mocked me.
"Had you not have tackled him or followed him, he would still be alive! Why do you think he ran from you!? You barged into his home, firing accusations and questions at him, expecting the poor man to answer with a calm demeanour!"

"That's quite enough, Tarkin." Palpetine said.
"The court will now be given time to make their verdict." He said.

Now I had to wait. Wait to see if I'd love to see next week. Wait to see if I'd spend the rest of my days behind bars. Or wait to see if I'd walk free.

A/n
Hello,
If you hadn't guessed already, this court room scene is massively based on Ahsoka's trial (in the Clone Wars series) because I have absolutely no idea how a real court room//trial works.
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed. Always open for feedback or constructive criticism. :)
-A