Gunn shot up.

"I AM NOTHING LIKE WHAT YOU ONCE WERE JEDI SCUM!!! Is this why you captured me then? Did you think you could reform me?

"Hardly." Gash chuckled and motioned for Sirex to sit, which the bounty hunter did without thinking.

Without realizing it, Gunn had been taken victim sublty by the Jedi power of suggestion. Gash was unsurprised by his response; preliminary traces into the bounty hunter's past showed signs of anti-Force bias.

"I cannot hope to reform you, Sirex Gunn. I had merely wished to show you what I feel to be the truth." Gash sat back. "You call me 'scum'. Yet, you know nothing about the Jedi; you only think you do.

"Tell me what you believe about the Jedi, Sirex. As a gesture of goodwill."

"There are two types of Jedi in this world. The bad, and the worse. The bad are...well you. You think you are doing this all for good. You think that you have to keep everything in control. You like to keep everyone as together as possible. Well tell me this Jiren, if you like to keep everyone together why are there so many different Jedi groups?

Then there's the worse. The sith. Those are the worst sort. They really are scum. The scum who made me what I am today. Vengeful, rebellious, all those things you said. It's because of the sith. What you were."

Gunn leaned forward so as to look Gash directly in the eye.

"Answer me this one as well Jiren. How is it you changed? It couldn't have been easy. Are you one-hundred percent clean?"

"Are you?" Gash shot back, without hesitation.

"There is no extent to which a person may change. I changed because a past, one which I had forgotten, reminded me of who I was. People are basically good; life teaches them not to be. My past allowed me to shed what I had become, and to be what I am."

Gash chortled wryly and shook his head.

"There is an ancient human proverb. 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone', referring to a brutal form of human punishment where the criminal was stoned to death. Everyone had moved away from the good person they are; it was not easy to move to where I am now, nor have I become what I should be.

"Nor have you, Sirex Gunn."

"I have become what I had to. Do you think I had a choice? Unlike you Jiren I couldn't do or say anything which would have got me into the kind of position you are today. THis is how I get by. This is how I stay away from my past."

Gash smiled slightly. The gesture bore no happiness, however, but was one which conveyed more regret than anything. "Everyone has a choice, Sirex. I used to think like you.

"I was born Prince-Master Searthen Jiren, heir to the throne of the planet Asthentia. The royal bloodline of Asthentia carries the seed of the forgotten Jedi which originally came to the planet with the Old Republic Settlers to found it. Few, however, know that on the planet, which has been reduced to a slightly primitive state.

"My father died when I was 14. Assassinated. My mother took over the throne, and married a man named Tril; he was a corrupt, @#%$ of a man. At about that time, I turned 24, and earned a degree from the University of Asthentia in the medical arts. I was a bright young man; so, quickly enough, I discovered my Jedi roots.

"My uncle, Joruck Denti, who had been exiled and denied his position as a Duke for murder, learned of this. In exchange for being re-instated into his position, he told Tril, who made use of the knowledge quickly enough. You see, without me, he was the heir to the Asthentian throne when my mother died. He sold the information to the New Republic for a small fortune, lying to them and divulging that I had begun to sink into the Sith arts.

"The New Republic sent intelligence agents, who eventually laid siege to the Asthentian castle and captured me. Tril became King-Master until he was overthrown, and I escaped the New Republic's grasp after a brutal interrogation." Gash stopped, shuddering involuntarily. "I was hunted by the newly formed Republic, by rebels who had yet to join it. I truly did, then, delve into the Sith arts, if only because they came quicker to a young man so boiling with rage.

"That was how I survived. I thought I had no choice... initially, that is how I excused my actions. Eventually, I stopped excusing them, and gave into the evil within me."

Gash sat forward locking Sirex with a stare.

"Yet, here I am. New Republic Council Member, High Admiral, and Presidential Senator of the Rogue Jedi Order. We all can change; we all have choices."

Sirex sat there with a blank look on his face.

"Why have you got me here Jiren? Why have you come down here and started telling me your life story? I can't change. This is who I am. What I am.

"You're wrong."

"I would remind you that you came to my planet, likely with the intention of killing me. So consider the biographical insight a part of your pennance for crimes against the New Republic and RJO."

Gash smirked.

"You can't change, hmm? Come on, Sirex. Right now, I'll train you to be a New Republic Intelligence agent. You can start a new life, change your name, and the New Republic's unending supply of resources can cover all trails which might lead someone to uncover your true identity."

At the somewhat confused, somewhat appalled look on the face of Sirex Gunn, Gash stopped and laughed honestly.

"See what I mean? I would be willing to do that- but you, you are not. We all have choices. Only you can hold yourself back."

"You'd take me on as an Intelligence agent? What makes you think I won't just turn around and betray the Republic? I know why you want me Jiren..."

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> With a burst of sudden speed Gunn had leapt up and noew had a surprised Jiren pinned against the wall by his throat. Immediately two gaurds had flung the door open and had their weapons directed straight at Gunn.<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

"Of course. I'd expect nothing less. One move and I will snap his neck like a twig." <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Sirex leaned in closer<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> "I'm fast Jiren. I'm a good fighter. I know what I'm doing. You have no interest of helping me with my cause, you just want me because I'd be good for your precious republic. Isn't that right?!"

Gash sighed slightly. His muscles hadn't tensed in the expected assault by Sirex; he's remained calm, passive, yet mentally prepared. He reached out in the Force towards Sirex's mind, taking hold with an icy grip. "Remove your hand, Sirex." The bounty hunter did so, mind dominated by Gash's surperior will. The Jedi Master reached out again in the Force, physically pushing Gunn back and shoving him into the duracrete wall behind him. Small flecks of plaster fell from the impact of the assault, as his hands shot behind his back and below his waist. They were held there, Gash's immense strength in the Force hundreds of times what the bounty hunter's muscles could muster.

The oxygen and nitrogen particles around Sirex were stilled in an instant by the power of the Force, allowing him slow, steady breath, but no speach. The imposing human was reduced to a far less demeaning stature under the Force restraint of Gash; the Asthentian Admiral took one step towards him, smiling and shaking his head slightly. "That was an extremely rude way to treat your host, Sirex Gunn. You possess nothing one of my Rogue Jedi do not.

"You cannot defeat me, Mr. Gunn. My ally is the Force; and the Force is an infalliable ally, because it lies within and without everything. You are subject to it's will, just as are all things. Would you care to reconsider your course of action?" He asked, obviously indicating that Sirex--denied his speach--was to nod or shake his head.