**Chapter 374: The Council's Reckoning**
**Jedi Temple – Council Chambers**
The tension in the High Council chamber was thick enough to cut with a lightsaber.
Master Yoda sat in his small chair, ears lowered, eyes half-closed in deep contemplation. Around the circular room, the other Masters wore expressions ranging from grave concern to outright anger.
"This is inexcusable," Mace Windu declared, his deep voice rumbling with barely contained fury. "What kind of Jedi bombards and destroys an entire civilization in a single day? Not to mention the numerous laws he broke on his way to Falleen, his actions on the planet itself, and now this… massacre at Zygerria."
The slap that followed was sharp and unexpected.
Adi Gallia's hand had struck the table with enough force to make several Masters flinch.
"Four hundred thousand," she said softly at first.
Then louder, her voice cutting through the room like a blade: **"Four hundred thousand!"**
She rose to her feet, eyes blazing. "Four hundred thousand sentient beings held prisoner under the Zygerrians while you sit here discussing the problems of Dagon Marek. You forget about the beings he *rescued*."
Kit Fisto stood quickly, raising his hands in a calming gesture, his usual easy smile absent. "My friends, please. We can discuss Dagon's actions later. First, we must handle the incoming rescued. Over four hundred thousand souls are about to arrive on Coruscant. They will need medical care, housing, and processing."
Oppo Rancisis shifted his serpentine form. "We could repurpose the forward operating base at the Mern-13 headquarters. Dagon already uses it to store equipment and supplies routed to and from the 12th Sector, so the infrastructure is stable and secure."
"Very well," Yoda nodded slowly. "Do it, we must."
Mace Windu was not so easily placated. "I still fear what is happening with Dagon. This is not the Jedi way."
"Pah!" Saesee Tiin snorted. "Protecting the innocent *is* the Jedi way, Windu. If you have such a problem with it, go ask his Master. Who was that, anyway?"
Plo Koon consulted his datapad. "His record indicates Nhon Arto, under Balance Corps leader Hiram Mardin."
"Hmm," Eeth Koth rumbled. "Old Nhon and Hiram… and the oddest bunch of Balance Corps members we have."
"Yes, but useful to the Order they both were," Yoda said. "Explains Dagon's ability to communicate with many species — Hutts, Wookiees…"
"This is strange," Shaak Ti interjected, frowning at her own screen. "The Jedi who brought him here is listed under restricted information, accessible only by Council jurisdiction."
That statement made the entire chamber go quiet.
"Who was it?" Plo Koon asked. "Use the override pass."
"It is still restricted," Shaak Ti replied.
"Allow my pass," Yoda said calmly.
The holoprojector flickered. A single name appeared.
**Sifo-Dyas.**
But the attached note was even more disturbing: "Collected Dagon right after his birth… killed before any records could be admitted on location or anything."
"That's impossible," Mace Windu said sharply. "Sifo-Dyas was killed only ten years ago. Dagon is twenty-six or twenty-seven."
The Council fell into heavy silence.
Yoda's ears twitched. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the floating name.
"More to this story, there is," he murmured. "Much more."
The implications hung in the air like a gathering storm.
Dagon Marek's origins — long shrouded in mystery — had just become significantly more complicated.
And with four hundred thousand freed slaves arriving on Coruscant, the political firestorm was only beginning.