Tyr's mind was reeling. This couldn't be happening, could it? He wracked his brain, trying to wring out any memory of this man sitting across from him, but he was drawing a blank. He tried to reject the notion, logically he had to. This was just a Jedi trick to get him to cough up the information. It had to be. Deep inside, he knew it wasn't. He could feel it, but there was no way he was going to accept this. Not without hard proof.
"That's a laugh," Tyr said, his cool exterior not giving away his inner turmoil. He had spent too much time negotiating deals with smugglers to let his thoughts show on his face. "I could pretend I built something of yours and call it mine."
"Indeed, you could," Tanner replied. "But Tyr, how would I have known that you got this from your father and didn't build it yourself?"
"Easy. You probably knew him and recognized it," Tyr theorized. "You may have actually built it and given it to him, but that hardly qualifies you as any sort of relative."
Tanner could see that this line of proof wasn't going anywhere. His grandson was correct that something like this was merely circumstantial. "Your father loved you very much, Tyr."
The Sith chuckled. "Yeah, Val already tried that one on me," he informed the wizened Jedi. "But if he loved me so much, then how come he let me rot in slavery, doing hard labor?" He stripped off his tunic and spun around, showing the Jedi the mass of hideous scars criss-crossing his back from the energy whips. "If he loved me so damn much, how come he let me suffer this? Where was this loving Jedi dad?" Tyr's anger seeped through despite his having tried to hide it.
The old man winced and dropped his eyes at the sight of the scars. "I'm sorry, Tyr. Jaron told me about vivid dreams of your torture." He paused, almost as if searching for what to say next. Finally he spoke again. "Your father failed you... and I failed you... but not in the way you think."
Tyr pulled his tunic back on and plopped down in his seat again. "I suppose you'll enlighten me now, right gramps?"
The Jedi Master ignored the snide remark. "Do you remember the day you left for Coruscant? The look of joy and wonder and excitement on your face was truly something to behold."
Tyr's eyes narrowed. He remembered that day clearly. He had been so excited to travel on the small passenger star liner all by himself all the way to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple. The memory was vivid in his mind, despite his young age. It was also pretty clear to him that the only one there to see him off was his father. "How would you know what my kriffing face looked like?" he asked, his anger beginning to get the better of him as his patience for this pathetic Jedi trick wore thin.
Tanner smiled knowingly. "You're right. I wasn't there, but if you remember, your father used to take lots of holovids. Who do you think those vids were for?" He paused for a moment, letting it sink in. "I was essentially there for every big moment of your life: your first steps, your birthdays, and every other event your father recorded."
Tyr shook his head in disbelief. "No... no... you Jedi found those recordings after I avenged myself on him." In truth, the Sith was bombarded with doubt that he struggled not to express. What if this were all true? What if he had murdered the only person in the Galaxy who hadn't given him up for lost? What if he murdered the man who had loved him? What if every drop of hatred had been misplaced for all these years? But despite the fact that he knew the answers to these questions deep down inside, he couldn't let himself believe it. Not without some undeniable proof.
"No, Jedi, without some ounce of real proof, I'm not buying your little charade," Tyr replied.
"Very well," Master Solumi said. "I had hoped you'd see the truth in the things I had to say, and the documentation I had to offer, but I can see that you need something more duracrete. Something irrefutable." He looked deeply into Tyr's eyes as if searching for something. "I can offer you that proof."
"Then do it, if you can," Tyr replied. At this point in time he had to know the truth. "I just wonder why you haven't brought this forth earlier."
"Because the truth lies in my memories," the older man replied, pointing to his temple.
Tyr snorted. "Okay, just go ahead and download them to a data pad and I'll have my people look them over and get back to you in the morning," he chuckled, laying on the sarcasm so thick it had to be cut with a vibro-knife.
Tanner's expression didn't waiver. "I'll do you one better... I'll download them straight to your mind."
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