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Knights of the Old Republic 6: Commencement, Part 6

What is it ? : And we reach the end of the Commencement story arc, and we pick up with Master Vandar and the other Masters on Dantooine watching a news report on events on Taris. It's reported there is a carnival like atmosphere of celebration as the Bounty Hunter, Valius Ying, brings in the murdered of the Jedi Padawan's, Zayne Carrick.
Civil order has been on the brink, as the planet is near to the systems contested by the Mandalorians, and the small amount of Jedi not sent away for the war have had all confidence lost in them because one of their own turned, and they couldn't protect even their own students.
We see Zayne taken through a jeering crowd, where he spots the younger brother and sister of the murdered Padawan Shad Jelavan. The hunter spots the hatred in the pairs eyes and asks who they are, Zayne tells him that they think he murdered their brother, hanging his head as he remembers having a crush and close friendship with Shad's sister.
As they enter the Jedi Tower they are scanned for weapons and recording or communication devices, and Valius tells Master Lucien that he found Zayne in an escape pod, and the rest of his group must have died in the asteroid field. But Jedi Seer Q'Anilia instantly spots the lie, but remarks that Gryph has abandoned Zayne just as they foresaw.
Zayne comments that they've tidied up the room since he was last there when they murdered the Padawan's and tells them of what he discovered from the memory of Elbee. Lucien complements him, calling him "my Padawan", but Zayne angrily tells him to not call him that, but Lucien asks if he's been knighted without his knowledge.
Valius comments that he doesn't need to know these details, he just needs paid, but he is ignored, as Lucien tells Zayne of exactly went on in the room. That the other Padawan's arrived on time, stowing their lightsabers, but they noticed that the Masters still had theirs, which the Masters told them was part of the initiation.
They noticed that Lucien also has his, and asked if Zayne was to be knighted as well? Overjoyed that their friend is to be knighted despite failing his tests. Master Xamar tells them that Zayne has a special connection to the force which may prove itself in time. But the Padawan's realise that this is a lie, Zayne has failed the tests, the Jedi Masters, especially his own, Master Lucien mock Zayne, so would never consider knighting him.
Master Q'Anilia asks them if this isn't what they've always wanted for their friend, but they respond that while it it, it's not what the Masters wanted, so they know there's something wrong. And Lucien's story ends as the Masters ignite their lightsabers to slaughter the Padawan's in cold blood.
Lucien tells him that the Padawan's weren't innocents, any more than Exar Kun was when his master allowed him to fall to the dark side, that these seers have formed a covenant to watch for potential dangers to the Jedi order from within and performed an intervention to stop it ever happening again.
Valius comment that they're obviously busy people, and he'll just leave his bank details for payment whenever they have the chance, knowing that he's heard too much. Lucien tells Zayne that the Padawan's only realised that there was something going on because they knew what a failure Zayne was, but Zayne's late arrival and escape allowed them to frame him for it, as the other Masters across the galaxy would know there was no way such a failure of a Padawan could escape a group of Jedi Masters without help from the Dark Side.
Valius continues to back out of the room, but Lucien turns on him, telling him they will need his ship to eliminate the others in Zayne's group as they know too much, and they don't want witnesses, before slashing the Bounty Hunter with his lightsaber and killing him.
As Lucien turns on Zayne to finish him, Zayne asks one last thing, telling them that Shad was supporting his family, could they ensure that they are looked after, which Lucien says he will consider.
But before he can act the tower shakes with an explosion, and the dome above them shatters as a figure wielding a lightsaber and wearing a Red Padawan Spacesuit smashes from above. The Masters panic, thinking it is the prophesized Sith, but it turns out to be Jarael who grabs Zayne and uses the Spacesuit thrusters to jet back out of the chamber. She tells him that the group couldn't abandon him, as none of them have ever had someone willing to sacrifice themselves for them before.
As they reach the Last Resort, Master Lucien shouts to Zayne to respect the vision, to fear what he might become. But Zayne responds that he can't, because Fear leads to the Dark Side.
The Last Resort blasts through the atmosphere away from the Jedi Tower, and aboard Zayne asks Gryph why he came back for him. Gryph tells him he's here to offer him a place within his organisation, with Gryph's brains and Zayne's destructive power they'll either own the galaxy or destroy it. Zayne tells him that's insane, but it's the day for insane decisions so agrees on the terms that Gryph stops calling him Intern. Gryph agrees, instead calling him henchman, and comments that he's definitely got a reputation with the gangs of Taris, as being the guy who does Jedi jailbreaks.

Three weeks later.
Riots have broken out across Taris, the Senator is missing and the Constables family has been kidnapped, and the Jedi Council has recalled all of the Jedi Masters from Taris to Coruscant, they've decided to abandon Taris to the Mandalorians. But as they're preparing to leave a messenger drops off a message for Master Lucien, a hologram of Zayne.
Zayne explains that he's had time to meditate on everything he learnt from the Masters, and that he know has a goal, Justice. That he's going to hunt down each of the Masters until one of them confesses and clears his name. That they should remember that they have a Death Mark exactly the same as he does. And if he does end up destroying the Jedi Order in the meantime, they started it. . . .

High Points : Wow, so much in this one. We discover exactly what happened with the deaths of the Padawan's, and we find out the lengths these Masters will go to, to protect the Jedi Order.
But the finest line in it is from Zayne and shows the reality of it all. They fear the vision they had, they tell him to fear his destiny. But Zayne points out that Fear leads to the Dark side. As it obviously has with these Masters, they've began down the path to the Dark Side by fearing that. And as previously Zayne realised, they hate the Sith, and Hate is also a path to the Dark Side. The Masters have fallen through their fear and hatred.
And Zayne's team has now formed around him, he's a moral character willing to fight and sacrifice himself for his friends, and as exiles in their various ways, they find themselves drawn to him as a leader, even if they don't always respect his decisions, they respect the way he behaves and they trust him.

Low Points : The only part I have a problem with in this issue, is Zayne's comment to Lucien that the other Padawan's thought of him as a failure and that's what alerted them to the Masters odd behaviour. That even his friends didn't think he was good enough.
Now this might be down to the way that Lucien has told the story, to deliberately put Zayne down and break his spirit., but I see the situation differently. The other Padawans were overjoyed that Zayne was going to be knighted, it's even been commented that this is what they've wanted for Zayne. But they realise that it's not what the Masters wanted, that Zayne was a joke in the Masters eyes, so the Padawan's realise that the Masters would never knight Zayne.
The other Padawan's didn't think of Zayne as a failure, they thought of him as their friend, and wanted him to succeed. But they knew the Masters thought of Zayne as a failure, and wouldn't change the rules to allow him to succeed.

So what do you really think ? : An absolutely fantastic episode, there's a lot of action, so much movement in the storyline, and we've now got the series set up. Zayne Carrick, renegade Padawan and his team of renegades, criminals and outcasts, hunting for the Jedi Masters who framed him for murder, as the Mandalorian Wars rage across the galaxy.
What a great set up, what a great set of characters, and what a great idea showing the Jedi failures which will lead to it's almost complete destruction at the hands of Revan later.

Final Words : It's been nearly 20 years since I last read this series, and I'd forgotten how good it is. In hindsight it's obvious that I thought it was good, as I've physical copies of all of the 50 issue series. But the reasons why I liked it had faded in time and it's a revelation and joy to rediscover it, so am looking forward to the rest of the series and whether it keeps this excellent standard up.

Score : 9.5/10

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