momslilassassin | Room 424 [Wednesday Morning]

After about an hour of pacing the confines of his room, working on what he would say to his cousin, Ben finally locked the door, took a deep breath and called Jacen.

	Caedus, when he finally picked up the connection, didn't look all that pleased to see him. "This had better be quick, Ben," he snapped. "We're about to counterattack."
	"It will be," Ben promised, brow knitting in anger despite his best efforts to remain calm. "I only have one question."
	"Very well." Caedus's expression changed to one of polite bewilderment. "What is it?"
	Ben narrowed his eyes. Might as well just spit it out. "Did you kill Mom?"
	Caedus's eyebrows shot up. "Did I what?" He leaned back in his chair and shook his head hard. "You think I killed Mara? Why?"
	Ben's expression grew even more stormy. "You were there. In the Consortium."
	"So were a lot of people," Caedus retorted. He'd expected Ben to do this in person, where he'd have a better chance of reading his emotions--and be able to seek his vengeance immediately. "Are you going to accuse all of us in the hope that someone confesses?"
	"I don't have to," Ben said. "You're already confessing."
	Caedus frowned. This "assured confession" was a classic technique administered by the GAG. He continued to wonder why Ben was doing this from his school. Did he think he needed a few thousand light years between them to avoid being killed? Or maybe Ben wanted to be sure Caedus couldn't pick up any lies he was telling. Maybe the Jedi Council had set up this entire charade. Saba Sebatyne might've fed the entire conversation to Ben, could be monitoring the whole thing right now...
	"You're acting like you did it," Ben said when it became clear that Jacen wouldn't be replying to him.
	"How am I acting like I did it?" Caedus replied, deliberately taking the bait and managing not to roll his eyes.
	"By trying to keep Dad and the Jedi Masters off balance," Ben said flatly. "You don't want them to figure out it was you."
	"If you're talking about trying to arrest my parents at the Temple," Caedus said, "that was strictly a preventative measure. Captain Shevu had reports of Bothans smuggling a proton bomb onto the planet, and my mother and father are known terrorists. With most of the Jedi Masters at the funeral--"
	Ben wondered just how stupid Jacen thought he was. "--I suppose there's another bomb at the academy?" he said, cutting Jacen off.
	"Not that I know of," Caedus replied blandly, not terribly surprised Ben had heard about that. "And I intend to keep it that way. The GAG battalion I placed on Ossus is strictly a security measure."
	"Oh come on, Jacen," Ben exploded. "You took the academy hostage. You're just trying to keep the Order from coming after you!"
	"I'm trying to protect the students," Caedus replied calmly. "Your father isn't himself right now and the Council has been handling your mother's death very foolishly. If I can land an entire battalion on Ossus, what do you think the Bothans could do?"
	"Bothans wouldn't have our security codes," Ben replied. "And nobody would make the mistake of thinking they were on our side."
	Caedus, seeing that Ben wasn't buying this, decided to change tactics. He sighed wearily. "I should have known better than to try fooling you, Ben. The truth is that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been hurt badly by the lack of support from the Jedi Council."
	"So you killed Mom?" Ben said, wrinkling up his forehead.
	"No, Ben, that was someone else," Caedus said, keeping his voice soft. "But I have been trying to take advantage of the situation. The Alliance needs a united front, and with your father so consumed by his grief...well, I've been trying to consolidate power in the Chiefs' office."
	Ben's eyebrows shot up. "You're trying to take over the Jedi Order?" Because that's so much better, Jacen. Really.
	"Neutralize it," Caedus corrected, shaking his head. "Perhaps Saba and the other Masters will think twice about what they say in public if they remember the safety of the Order's younglings is in my hands."
	Ben wasn't dumb enough to believe that Jacen would never hurt the academy students. "What about the stuff you said at the funeral about trying to get along better with the Jedi?" he demanded.
	"That would be nice, but I haven't been able to talk with your father since then," Caedus replied. "I think he's avoiding me. What else am I to do?"
	"Well, taking over the academy doesn't seem like a great idea," Ben pointed out. "You're just going to make people mad."
	"I'm sorry about that," Caedus said, "but it's for the good of the Alliance."
	Ben's disbelief leaked into his voice. "The good of the Alliance. Right--just like killing Mom."
	This conversation wasn't going the way Caedus had planned. "Your interrogation technique is excellent," he said, "but no matter how long you continue to assert the suspicion, I won't confess to what Ca--" He stopped abruptly. "To what someone else did."
	Ben's eyes went wide, then narrowed suspiciously. "To what who did?"
	Caedus held Ben's gaze just a heartbeat too long to be entirely sincere. "Ben, if I knew who killed Mara, don't you think they'd be dead by now?"
	"That depends on how useful they were," Ben shot back.
	Caedus winced, but only on the outside. As he had foreseen, Ben was more interested in vengeance than justice--all he needed to do was point him at a plausible target. "Ben, I don't know anything," he said carefully. "I don't have proof. I just have something telling us where to look."
	Ben snorted. "Since when do you need proof? Suspicion has always been good enough for GAG."
	"The circumstances aren't ordinary," Caedus replied. "As you'll see, we'll need proof, and plenty of it." His tone went hurt and slightly bitter. "I'm only playing this for you to prove that I'm not the one who killed your mother. You can't act on this, Ben." Not that Caedus believed for a second Ben wouldn't act on this.
	Ben looked curious and leaned closer to his comlink. "Sure. I just want to know who killed Mom."
	"I have your word as a Jedi?" Caedus pressed, finger hovering above the transmission button.
	"Yeah," Ben said. "As a Jedi."
	Caedus dropped his finger. The familiar voice of Cal Omas's voice began to crackle through his speakers--and judging by the shocked look on Ben's face, from his speakers too. "I do have allies on the Jedi Council," Omas was saying, "and Luke is one of them. But he's not going to intervene. He doesn't believe it's proper for Jedi to insert themselves in domestic politics." There was just enough static in the transmission to sound like the conversation had been captured by eavesdropping software. "No, I'm saying we need Skywalker out of the way," Omas continued. "Then my friends will be free to act on their own authority and reinstate me." "This was captured via parabolic dish," Caedus said, explaining why they only had one side of the conversation.
	Ben nodded, waiting for more from Omas. "Are you crazy?" Omas said. "We can't do that to Luke Skywalker--even if we knew someone who could. Just redirect his attention." Ben's anger was rising to the surface, and he didn't care if Jacen could see it. "Look," Omas concluded. "I don't really care how you plan to do it. Just make it happen." Ben looked at Jacen. "Who was he talking to?" he demanded. "Fett?"
	Caedus bit back a smile at the thought of siccing Ben on Fett. "We don't know yet," he said instead. "It's one more reason to be patient. Sooner or later, Omas is going to have to pay up, and when he does, the credits will lead us straight to your mother's murderer."
	"I know who my mother's murderer is," Ben snapped. "And before he dies, he's going to tell me who his weapon was."
	Caedus forced himself to look alarmed. "Ben, you gave me your word," he said. "We have to prove what Omas did publicly. We can't have people thinking we just assassinated him."
	"Don't worry," Ben said. "I'll get proof."
	"Ben, you have to stand down on this," Caedus said sternly. "That's an order."
	"With all due respect, sir, you can shove that order down the nearest black hole," Ben said, reaching to slam the comlink shut. "You're the one who turned me into a killer." As soon as the conversation was over, Ben threw the comlink--hard--at the wall.

[OOC: Conversation topic NFB. Dialogue snurched from "Inferno" by Troy "Icky Bug Guy" Denning. Preplayed with...myself. SHHH. I DO SO HAVE FRIENDS. Post open, door closed after the phone call.]