)))Tethys looks first surprised, then grave at Lord Bellious's interruption from the makeshift gallery. However, things seem to have gotten more or less on track again now.
"Very well." She catches Baesal's eye and nods. It's quite right for her fellow Jedi to do the utmost in her role as Layne's advocate. Truth and clarity are important too, though.
"Members of the tribunal and the Echo Base joint mission, these are the facts as my co-counsel, Countess Lanar, and I have learned them." She taps her datapad; even a Jedi needs written notes at a time like this!
"First, the charges of murder and escape. On the evening of [D2], Lieutenant Henley Ujips was last seen alive leaving Echo Base on a routine sensor check. Early the following morning, Master Hoshin left the base alone, on foot. Out on the ice sheet, she encountered and killed Lt. Ujips. This tribunal has the autopsy report of Dr. Omandri Rist, confirming that Lt. Ujips was restrained before her death and killed with a single lightsaber blow. The strike was clean and expert. Countess Lanar and I remind this tribunal that Master Hoshin is a noted lightsaber duelist, well known for her skill and precision with this weapon. Later that morning, Master Hoshin returned to the base in company with Darth Baras and Lord Draagh, in their shuttle." Tethys doesn't editorialize about the implications here. It hardly seems necessary.
"Lt. Ujips' body would later be reported to the mission by Lord Draagh and recovered. A few hours after returning from the ice, Master Hoshin, in obvious emotional distress," yeah, that is certainly one way of putting it, "called Lord Luth Khalan and the Jedi present in Echo Base to a meeting on Master Baesal Zyn's ship, the Star Moth. There, Master Hoshin confessed to having killed an innocent person that day. At the time, Master Hoshin was acting under the mistaken belief that she needed to create darkness in her connection to the Force, to aid her in some task she wished to complete. Mistaken though her reasons may have been, this was therefore, without doubt, an intentional act. After confessing, Master Hoshin agreed to be taken into custody by Jedi Master Katarzyna Panteer and me until this matter could be investigated. The tribunal knows the state of Echo Base shortly after we all arrived here; lacking a secure holding cell, we confined Master Hoshin as securely as we could. However, sometime that afternoon or evening, she broke out. Master Hoshin was seen at large that evening, entering Lord Bellious's ship along with other guests, and later that night fled the base and disappeared. Until this morning."
She sets her datapad aside. "Master Hoshin has now chosen to plead guilty to these charges. It falls to the members of the tribunal to decide whether her plea is offered voluntarily and knowingly. Does the tribunal need any further evidence or testimony from Master Hoshin to make this determination? If the tribunal accepts Master Hoshin's plea, both sides can discuss mitigating factors which may affect the sentence for these crimes. There is also the charge of espionage, which Master Hoshin and her advocates do contest. Would the tribunal prefer to hear that now, or to accept Master Hoshin's murder and escape plea first?"
Tethys clears her throat, glancing toward the door from which Lord Bellious had so recently been ejected. "Of course, if the Empire claims Master Hoshin as a new or repatriated subject, that would certainly change the scope of this tribunal. At home, Sith may enjoy a great deal of impunity to kill or harm non-force-sensitive officers of the Imperial military and other subjects of the Empire--" she glances at General Zholyeva here, willing the woman to see: This is what they think of you, this is what you're worth to them, how can you be blind to it? "But this is a joint base, Lt. Ujips was a Republic citizen. And in the event that the Empire side chose to voluntarily break the truce by harming a Republic citizen, things here would quickly become... complicated."
