Kuat Drive Yards Court Hearing

After a long trip, Ayanna landed on Coruscant. It had not been so long since she was on the planet, visiting Kalin with Qurhon with her. Now she was on her own and for an entirely different purpose. She swung her way into the grand court building of Coruscant which was something to behold. She knew that rarely anything good had ever come out of this building, and if she had anything to do with it concerning this case, then it wouldn't this day either. As she entered the chamber, she saw the countless pods and seats that were ready for the session, and the opposition who were already waiting. A number of angry looking Corellians who had lost a vast amount of cargo during this incident and expected not only a full compensation from Kuat Drive Yards but also that a thorough investigation went into the Skyjammer frieght line, which was what Ayanna was going to have to stop.

A good hour passed of preparations before the court was finally brought into session with the judge taking her place.

"You may be seated!" She called out to everyone in the galleries and of both sides. With this case there was no jury to speak of, it was not necessary, it was only the word and final decision of the judge herself that was going to make a difference.

"I call to session the first case of today entitled, 'The Corellian Board of Trade and Distribution versus Kuat Drive Yards'. Who is representing the Corellians, please stand and state name...." The judge said in a rather drone manner as she had done this sort of thing countless times.

A man raised to his feet, "I am, Your Honour. Tyrkin Fang." He said before sitting down again.

"Sir Fang.... And the representative of Kuat Drive Yards?" She asked again.

Ayanna stood up with a smile, "I am, Your Honour. Finn Sundara, darling." She grinned with a slight laugh going through the court.

The judge raised her eyebrows slightly but did not refer to it, "Lady Sundara..... So this is the incident concerning an accident that occurred on Nar Shaddaa, a Skyjammer crashed and cargo was damaged and in some cases lost. Thankfully there were no casualties. Sir Fang if you would like to state your case...."

The man stood, glaring to Finn, "Your Honour, I am here today to ask that Kuat Drive Yards pulls back it's entire line of Skyjammer freighters to engage in a full investigation of that line. It is clear from the evidence that we have gathered that this was a vessel malfunction that would not have been prevented in any way by the pilots that were on duty during that flight. Many people could have been killed and I think that KDY should be grateful that it didn't..." He said with a slight sneer in Finn's direction, though she only returned it with a sarcastic expression.

"Eyewitnesses saw that the freighter refused to slow when entering port and crashed into a fuelling station. The pilot on duty that day, who is here now, Skynah Sanlo, was unable to make the vessel seize and...."

Finn interrupted, "Eh, objection Your Honour. Mister Sanlo has not yet been called to the stand to give his own account of this so I would appreciate it if the opposition would not refer to this account himself as 'fact'...." She smiled.

"Sustained...."

Fang merely glared to her again before continuing, "Because of the poor functions of the ship, the crash was luckily not disastrous against lives but the amount of stock that was lost was worth hundreds of millions of credits. We want to prevent that such an incident would happen again and also reimburse the credits that was lost.... Thank you...." He sat down again.

"Lady Sundara, your case?...."

Ayanna stood and walked to the center, "I have to agree with Sir Fang that this indeed was a disastrous incident, so many lives could have been lost, and lucky that they were not. But this was not the fault of the vessel but because of the incompetence of it's pilots. The Skyjammer has an excellent historical record that has never been shown to be faulty, Kuat Drive Yards prides itself on our excellence of standards and I can assure all that it would not be in character for such a huge malfunction of materials to go unnoticed. No, this is human error. Pure and simple. I'd like to call the witness, Mister Sanlo to the stand...."

She waited for the portly looking man to make his way over on his pod.

Ayanna smiled to him, "How long have you worked as a cargo transporter?"

"Well, a year or two now I think...."

"So you are relatively inexperienced in this field then by that length of employment?"

Fang stood up, "Objection Your Honour, his experience working within the organization is not a reflection of his previous training or places of work."

Ayanna looked to the judge, "I do have a point with this...."

The judge nodded, "Over ruled, continue...."

"Thank you, Your Honour. The point I was trying to get around to was how long have you piloted vessels of the size of the Skyjammer?"

He fidgeted in his seat, "Well I piloted smaller cargo vessels but with the Skyjammer, I had piloted it only a handful of times before hand. But I had been fully trained...."

"But you were inexperienced, still getting used to it's functions yes? I know of the smaller Corellian vessels that are used for transport, I can barely pilot a speeder but even I would be able to cope with one of them...." She gloated as a laugh roared through the court.

"Order!!" The judge shouted to quieten the hustle.

Sanlo hesitated but Ayanna continued, "Comparing those vessels to one of the magnitude of the Skyjammer is like comparing a wamp rat with a space slug.... There's no comparison. But isn't it true that this was the first flight in which you were head captain of the vessel, before you were only one of the co-pilots isn't that correct?"

"Eh, eh yes...."

"So you had full control and access to the databanks, whereas the co-pilots need your authority is that not?" She asked.

"Eh yes...."

"Then would you care to look at this?" She said as she handed him a datapad with the evidence, as well as providing Fang and the judge with a copy, "What do you see there, Mister Sanlo, before the failed break functions that came back as an error, what do you see?"

Sanlo began to sweat, "Well... It says.... Hold on Brakebelt function, type 1F....."

"Ah...." She smiled, "And what does that mean exactly?"

"I.... I'm not sure....." He stuttered.

"You're not sure? Well let me tell you then shall I?.... The Brakebelt controls the back thrusters of the Skyjammer, causing it to slow down. The databank shows that 'someone' told it to hold, stopping any function on any of the break options."

Fang stood up, "Objection, this could easily have appeared due to a malfunction of the components themselves."

"Yes this is true, but can I continue? There is a point..." She grinned again to the judge.

"Over ruled, continue...." The judge said with a half sigh.

"Firstly, I have here in my hands the account of an investigator from Nar Shaddaa, he shows here in these photos the comparison of a Brakebelt that has been switched by physical force or by computer function. See the differences? All cases of malfunction of the kind that the opponent is trying to suggest, shows that the Brakebelt becomes fractured, scratched. But when it is that of a computer function, there is no damage whatsoever. Now look at the Brakebelt of the Skyjammer in question..... It is untouched. And also, I might add, the fact that the databank refers to 'holding' on the function, means that it was indeed a request of someone who had access to the databank, who was none other than Mister Sanlo. The evidence of the databank and the Brakebelt is enough, conclusive of what really happened here. It was not the fault of the vessel, nor of Kuat Drive Yards. It was the fault of Mister Sanlo..... And his incompetence as a pilot, his inexperience with working on a vessel of this size...... Case rests....."

She walked back to her seat as she sat down, Sanlo looked pale with fright. She could see that he was trying to think back on the day in question. Did he press something he shouldn't? Did his finger slip? So many questions on what happened during only a matter of moment, over and over. But she knew all too well that he was innocent. As a Jedi, it bothered her, but she knew that no harm would come to him because of this. he would indeed have to suffer the humiliation of this which would no doubt loose him his career and probably involve him seeking an entirely different profession as he would be see as untrustworthy and a potential liability to any future organization that would think of hiring him; But he would be alive, and that was all that mattered. If a life was at stake then she would not have gone through with this, but it wasn't.

Her evidence alone seemed to be enough to sink the poor man, who already had tears down his face. More hours passed of back and forwards between her and Fang. But he knew as well as she did that the evidence she had already presented was too good, and she expected nothing less as she had after all paid for that evidence to be as clear and as evident as it was. She got what she paid for.

She sighed, this was all getting boring for her, but Fang would not give up, but he didn't have to continue now, for it was time for the judge to make her final decision about what was going to happen here. This would decide on whether she had a future with KDY or not, if not then she would have to start all over, seeking something else but there was nothing that would be as influential and potentially valuable as this path would have been.

"All rise...." The judge called out as everyone followed her order.

"After looking over all of the evidence provided by Sir Fang and Lady Sundara, and also taking into account the documentation and the accounts of onlookers and of pilots, I have come to the conclusion that the Skyjammer was not at fault and it was instead due to the errors of the pilot in charge. Kuat Drive Yards is free of all charges against it. Court is adjourned." She said finally before ending the session.

Ayanna smiled at the verdict before standing up and immediately walking out of the chamber. Fang was seething after her as she strutted into the lobby. As she turned to look, she saw Salno in tears as he walked out of the court room. His career shattered, she felt a stab in her heart. She walked over to him, still smiling as she tried to lead him away from the crowd,

"Sorry there, old chap but it's nothing personal, just business..." She smiled as she looked to make sure no one was nearby.

He sobbed, "I know it"s not personal for you but it's very personal for me! My career is over, over!" He cried.

Ayanna waved her fingers to him, "You're not going to cry any more about this...."

"I'm not going to cry any more about this..." He said as he sniffed, but stopped crying.

"You're going to go home and rethink your life....."

"I'm going to go home and rethink my life...." He said blankly before he walked away ahead of her.

She smiled a little, wasn't much but it was something. She immediately turned back into her Funn Sundara mode and began to swing her hips as she walked out of the building. She had won the case, and thus saved KDY countless billions. She had to get back to Kuat immediately, though she knew that no doubt they already knew of her success.