Onboard the transport heading back to Veldari space, Brennok contacted his superiors to report what had just happened. Meanwhile, the children who were a little shocked at what just happened were brought to their room and given something to take their mind off of it. Most of them had voiced their hate for the Jedi since they tried to attack Nyvara and Veyra who the children like to call their 'sisters'.
In a private chamber, Brennok stood before his superior, another Guardian named Lorrek. "How's the mission Brennok? You should be on your way back, right?" asked Lorrek.
Brennok nodded. "Yes, we are on our way back, but we encountered a problem with the Jedi Order."
Lorrek sighed. He already had an idea of what happened based off the situation that was currently developing. "Let me guess, they tried to threaten you to return the children and to stop taking children from Republic controlled space but didn't do anything besides that."
Brennok shook his head. "No, they attacked us, so we rendered them unconscious and left the planet with the children before reinforcements from the Republic could come to assist them."
Hearing this, Lorrek's eyes got bigger. "They attacked you!" He couldn't believe it as all the other cases were just threats. Yet this time they actually attacked them. He figured this must be somebody misinterpreting what was supposed to happen as there is no way that out of all these incidents, there is one where they actually attacked them despite the repercussions of their actions.
"I must report this to the higher ups, for now, I assume you're heading back to Imperial space?"
"Yes" replied Brennok.
"Good. I will report this to the higher ups, if anything happens in the meantime make sure to report immediately. This is an ongoing situation happening in numerous locations. The Council is aware and is working on the problem but, in the meantime, all Balance Keepers must be vigilant and must not give the Republic a justification to start a war. These are direct orders from the Emperor who wants to avoid war at all costs." Lorrek gave him a brief run down of the situation so that no misunderstanding happens.
"Copy that Lorrek, I will stay in contact every 2 hours until we arrive back, if I don't send an update then that means something has happened." Lorrek nodded and ended the call. He didn't waste any time and went to inform the Council of this incident.
Approaching the door to one of the Oracle's, Lorrek was stopped by one of the Keepers in charge of guarding the door leading to the Oracle's private chambers. Similar to the Temple Guards of the Jedi Order, the Keepers were the ones who guarded each temple belonging to the Balance Keepers. They were also assigned to guard any high-ranking member of the Order which created a lot of roles and career paths that one could take by becoming a Keeper.
An Oracle was the Jedi equivalent of a High Master on the Jedi Council. They sat on the Balance Keeper Council and were in charge of overseeing the Order in Daimon's place, often delegating a lot of power. The Oracle's were the most loyal and some of the greatest warriors, philosophers, and leaders appointed by Daimon himself. At the moment, the current Council consists of 10 members. 5 were the Gen'Dai Force Scions, the only Gen'Dai capable of using the Force besides Daimon. The other 5 were 3 humans, a Twi'lek, and a Mirialan.
The Keeper raised his hand stopping Lorrek, "What is your purpose here Guardian." asked the Keeper. While being a Guardian was a high rank, when it came to the Keepers, they were above anybody except the Oracle's, Daimon, Progenitors, and other special ranks.
"I have a report, Lady Sera." he spoke.
The Keeper nodded and knocked on the door, informing Sera of her visitor. Sera responded and the Keeper's allowed Lorrek to enter her chamber. Walking into the Chamber, Lorrek took in the sights as this was his first time in Sera's chambers. As Daimon's former padawan and a member of the Order's Council, she was pretty high ranking when it came to the hierarchy of things. She was also the only Mirialan on the council and one of a few thousand which lived in the Imperium.
"What do you have to report Guardian Lorrek?" She asked, getting straight to business as she was a very busy person.
"I just received another report from one our teams sent to gather Force-sensitive children from the Republic." He stated.
"And I'm assuming this case is different from the others as I can sense your anxiousness." She spoke.
Lorrek gulped as her gaze was practically piercing his body, "Yes Oracle. This time, the Jedi had attacked our team, however no casualties were taken by either side due to the skills of our warriors who knocked out the Jedi and fled the scene."
"They attacked our team, even though they knew they were part of our order?" Sera wasn't exactly surprised considering how the Jedi Order was the cause of the hundred years of darkness. Now they were about to start another conflict because of how disillusioned they are. "Is there anything else besides that?"
"They are currently on their way back to Imperial space and will report in every 2 hours. If they miss a report, then Guardian Brennok said that something bad has happened to them. If that occurs, I will immediately contact you again." Sera leaned back in her chair.
"Good job Guardian. For now, continue monitoring the situation and update me if anything like this happens again. Make sure the other people working this also knows. I want everybody to be aware of the state of things to avoid confusion."
"It will be done Oracle." Said Lorrek as he turned around and left the room.
Once he was gone, Sera began to issue orders directly to the teams located in Republic space. With the current situation going on, she wanted to pull all teams back to avoid them getting arrested or the conflict escalating further.
————
About 8 hours later, Brennok had made 4 successful reports and things were looking. But things weren't as good as they thought. The video of the Balance Keepers and Jedi fight had surfaced on the Republic holo net with the video titled 'Balance Keepers vs Jedi'. In a matter of hours, it had spread across the Republic with the original video being slightly edited to show the Balance Keepers being aggressive towards the Jedi.
(A/N: Peak Republic Propaganda right here)
As a result, an arrest order was issued against them alongside a search warrant by the Jedi Order. During a routine stop for fuel, the ship was reported to local authorities and now they were about to be arrested.
Brennok sat on the bridge of the small transport ship with his hands folded thinking about what happened a few hours ago. As he was doing this, Veyra looked over at him as she was communicating with the spaceport. "Sir, the spaceport authorities are refusing to release the docking clamps. They're citing an emergency hold order."
Brennok's eyes narrowed as he knew this was no coincidence. "Origin?"
"Republic channels," she replied. "Encrypted, but I'm seeing signs of the Jedi Order being involved."
He sighed as he stood up. "Get the children ready. Tell them the Republic just wants to ask some questions. This will hopefully alleviate any of their fears." As much as he hated to lie to children, he needed to in order for them to remain calm.
He moved to the viewport and watched the catwalks in the hanger they were in. Already, he could see a security detail approaching, ten armed officers accompanied by two figures in Jedi robes.
Veyra came back and clenched her fists. "So much for local authorities only."
"Don't engage. No matter what." Brennok's said. "We don't fight here. Not unless absolutely necessary. The Emperor's orders are clear."
Minutes later, the ramp was opened and three security officers stepped in with stun rifles in their hands. Behind them came two Jedi, Master Solen Vex and Knight Eslia Korrin.
"Guardian Brennok," said Master Vex. "By authority of the Republic and the Jedi High Council, you and your team are under arrest for abducting Force-sensitive children from Republic space and resisting Jedi enforcement on Rendili."
Nyvara stepped forward. "They weren't abducted. They chose to come with us."
Veyra added, "And you attacked us. Without cause. We we're only defending ourselves."
"Save the speeches. Surrender your weapons and come quietly. We don't want the children traumatized further because of your actions." said Knight Korrin.
"Guardian Brennok, if there's any hope of de-escalating this, surrender peacefully. If you don't, reinforcements will be here within minutes. That includes Jedi Sentinels. You won't be able to leave." As if Jedi Sentinels would change anything. But, remembering his orders, he unclipped his saber and handed it over without resistance. Veyra and Nyvara did the same. Despite how bad they want to beat up these Jedi, they knew they couldn't do that again without causing more problems.
As cuffs were put on their wrists, a scream came from the rear of the ship. "No! you can't take them!" screamed one of the kids, kicking one of the officers in the balls. The officer screamed, "Ahhh… you little shit." He wanted to grab the child and throw him against the wall, but he couldn't do that with so many people watching. Instead, the other two officers grabbed the child and held him.
"Calm down children. No matter what happens you will come to the Imperium and enjoy a new life." said Veyra smiling at the children which caused them to calm down.
2 Hours later
The group was split up with the children being taken elsewhere with the Jedi, while Brennok, Veyra, and Nyvara were taken to a detention facility. Brennok can imagine that they were about to become some political tool for whatever the Republic wanted to achieve by arresting them. He just wondered what their endgame was.
While they were in their holding cells, they overheard about a half-dozen officers arguing about the legalities of the arrest.
"This is going to blow up in our faces," one of them muttered. "You saw the footage from inside the ship; those kids don't look like they were kidnapped. This is some political game that is being played, and we are caught right in the middle of it."
Right as he said this, a news alert came on the central screen: IMPERIAL REBUTTAL; "The Balance Keepers Were Attacked First."
And then another came showing public protests on 2 different worlds demanding that the Jedi take accountability for their actions. The people had yet to know that the Jedi had gone ahead and arrested those involved. If they did, then the situation would blow up in their face, and the current Chancellor might be removed from office, and the Jedi reputation would diminish even further.
With 2 hours passing, the scheduled check-in for with Guardian Lorrek was not fulfilled. Thus, Sera was informed and then so was Daimon who was doing other things and not paying that much attention to this situation which was getting bigger by the hour. But once he is informed of what happened who knows what his reaction will be.