A/N: Yes, that's Alias, and yes, that's what you're supposed to be thinking. Things won't stay like this though, I promise.
Chapter 11
It was a few months afterwards that Siri was summoned to a council meeting to prepare for a new mission. She could sense Obi-Wan and his padawan Anakin even before she entered the chambers.
She was going on this mission with them, then. She was going to be a Jedi and survive this. She took a deep breath and walked in, trying to be as calm as possible. She bowed to the council and tried to sense as much as possible about what was to come.
"We have called you here as a decoder has been stolen from Taly Fry." Her mother said. "It's valuable for breaking codes that the galactic spy agencies use. And as you and Master Kenobi have worked with him before, we'd like you two and Padawan Skywalker to work with him to find it before the wrong hands use it."
This was going to be – well, Siri wasn't actually sure what this was going to be. As far as she knew, Obi-Wan and Rosaline's engagement was still on. They hadn't spoken since she'd told him exactly what she thought of that development.
Still, he didn't look nearly as cold as he had the last time they had spoken. And the feelings she'd had for him were staring to come back. He really was an attractive man, and as he spoke, she was reminded of how wonderful his voice was to listen to. That is, when he wasn't telling her he didn't regret moving on with his life.
"Does Taly have any idea who has taken it?" he asked.
"He saw the thief as he was escaping. He's sure the thief would sell it to someone on the black market, but doesn't know who in the underworld has it now."
Siri would have to remember to ask her father about this. He seemed to know all the underworld rumors quite well for someone who was not technically a part of the underworld.
Actually, Siri hadn't heard from him in some time. It would be good to talk to him again, although she wouldn't admit that to any Jedi.
"And where is Taly now?" she asked. She didn't see or sense him anywhere.
"He's at his home on his new home planet of Cirrus. You three are to meet him there and learn what you can about how the decoder may be recovered."
It was hard to think of Taly as an adult, living on his own. She hadn't seen him since he was given a new identity after giving testimony about those bounty hunters. And apparently he was still the genius inventor. She was finding herself having some interest in what this decoder could do in spite of everything.
After three of them left the Council chambers, they knew they had to talk before they prepared to leave for Cirrus. Or at least two of the three did.
"We want this to be a successful mission," said Anakin before walking off.
When they were alone, Obi-Wan looked like he was trying hard to decide how to word something. "I'd like to think that we can work together at least, even with what's happened."
"I'd like to think that too. We've worked together so well before. I'm not quite ready to be friends yet, but I promise I won't get in the way of us working together." It felt so mature to say that. "And I'm glad you feel the same way." It felt good to be working together somehow, even if they weren't a couple anymore.
"It's a start," Obi-Wan said. "I'd hate to think you were completely out of my life when you didn't have to be."
"I don't think we'll ever be out of each other's lives for good. It's the Will of the Force."
Siri was relieved when Simon answered his comm. Now that he was out of prison and she was fairly sure that he was working for K-Directorate again, she wasn't sure how hard it would be to get a hold of him. But there he was, his holo right there right away.
"Siri! I'm so sorry I haven't contacted you since you came back from that mission. Congratulations! How have you been?"
"I'm about to go on a mission with my ex-boyfriend that I thought you could help with."
There was a pause. "You ex-boyfriend? Obi-Wan? He was so good for you. What happened?"
"He thought I actually turned to the dark side and he moved on with someone else."
Simon let out a long sigh. "Ouch. I'm sorry." Simon was actually the first person to say he was sorry and it wasn't his fault at all. Not that it helped any, but it was still nice to know someone cared about what had happened to her over the last few years.
"But how can I help with this mission you two are going on?" Simon seemed interested. Well, she'd never asked him to help with any missions before this. He might have thought Siri thought it beneath her to ask him to help with Jedi Order missions.
"We're trying to find Taly Fry's decoder. Any idea who might have stolen it?"
"You know, I think I heard someone from the Covenant wanted that decoder. That's all I know, though. It's not K-Directorate, I promise." So he did in fact go right back to work for K-Directorate. Siri hoped that he knew what he was doing.
"Thanks, Dad. That really helps." Combining this with talking to Taly could get them to this decoder and back home to – well, whatever was going to come next.
"Any time. You think you're going to be all right on this mission?" Simon actually sounded concerned for her, which was fairly rare.
Siri shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm going to have to be. We don't want that decoder in the wrong hands."
"I don't think either the Jedi Order or K-Directorate wants this in the Covenant's hands. I know that both use codes."
After she'd finished the conversation with her father, she had something to think about. The first was whether the Covenant was actually responsible for this and could this be used to bring them down. The second was how hard it would be to get through this mission without either having a fight with or being passionate with Obi-Wan. She wasn't sure how she was going to actually concentrate on the work at hand.
Keeping personal lives and professional lives completely separate was so hard in the world of the Jedi – especially when one was assigned a mission with a former significant other. She loved the idea of learning more about the Force for her entire life and going on missions around the Galaxy to make it a better place to ever give it up, though.
Sure enough, it was a too quiet trip to Cirrus. Nobody seemed exactly sure how to break the ice, although everyone was at least somewhat interested in trying. So everyone ended up being polite, but there wasn't the fun there was on missions before this point. Siri at least missed this, and she was starting to think that Obi-Wan did too.
He was still attracted to her, she was sure of it. So why wouldn't he break off his engagement? She was starting to think she'd get back together with him if he did, although they'd have to work to regain trust and relearn who the other was again after being apart for so long. Besides, Siri was sure she'd changed over that mission. It was just about impossible to be undercover for so long and not be changed somehow.
"You know, I talked to my dad. He's working for K-Directorate again and he heard a rumor," she told him.
"What is it?" he asked, seeming both interested and relieved that she was actually speaking to him.
"The Covenant wanted the code breaker. Doesn't this sound familiar?"
"Ah yes, dealing with the Covenant again." He sighed. "This is the one time I'm glad that your father has these connections."
"He likes you, you know."
Obi-Wan seemed surprised. "Really?"
"Yep. He said you were good for me when I talked to him on the comm."
"I'm afraid I haven't been good for you lately, but I'm glad we can talk and work together again."
"This does feel almost normal, doesn't it?" Siri found herself starting to relax for the first time in a long while.
"Yes, I suppose that it does." Obi-Wan actually had a smile on his face. Siri thought it might just about be the first one she'd seen since her return from bringing down the Krayn organization.
They then started talking about how they'd even find anyone in the Covenant if it turned out that they did in fact have the codebreaker. Before they knew it, they had landed on Cirrus and were talking with Taly, who in many ways hadn't changed much in the years since they'd last seem him. He seemed embarrassed to need Jedi help again, but clearly was desperate to get the codebreaker back.
"It's my proudest invention," he explained at one point. "But I never intended the wrong person to get their hands on it."
"Do you have any holopictures of anyone in the Covenant?" he asked after they told him about the rumor. "I only saw him at a distance, but I'm sure that I'd recognize him."
"Of course. They're in the Coruscant criminal database," said Obi-Wan.
After they'd shown Taly the holopictures of the known members of the Covenant in the database, he got excited. "That's him!"
"You're absolutely sure?"
"Yes, I'd recognize that face anywhere." Taly certainly seemed to be convinced about this. Hopefully he was right and this wasn't some sort of mistaken identity case.
"That's the first step," said Anakin. "Now the question is, how are we going to get the codebreaker back from him? We don't even know if he still has it or where to find him, even if he does."
They thought for a minute, and then Siri had an idea. "We pretend to want to buy the codebreaker from him. Then he'll come to us, and we'll have him and the codebreaker."
"That's true. We can talk to the Covenant undercover." Obi-Wan was clearly thinking quickly.
"Siri, can your dad help us seem to be K-Directorate members? We have to look like someone who would want to buy this codebreaker without reporting them to the authorities."
Siri nodded. "I can ask at least." It would be something – Jedi pretending to be K-Directorate with their help after K-Directorate had spied on them – but it just might actually work. At least it was the best idea they had at this point. Whether it would work would, of course, depend on how gullible the Covenant actually was when they were quite possible desperate to sell something.
The first thing that Siri noticed when she contacted Simon was that she didn't recognize the background. It wasn't his home or the offices of K-Directorate. "Where are you, Dad?" she asked.
"K-Directorate sent me on a mission. I'll tell you all about it when I get back," he said. Siri was curious about what kind of mission it was, but Simon wouldn't really say.
But soon they got to talking about the reason that Siri had contacted him. And sure enough, Simon was eager to help some more when he heard what was going on. "Why don't you contact the Covenant using my holoaccount?" he asked. "You can't come here, but if they respond, you can meet the Covenant agent at any place all of you agree on."
"Thanks, Dad." This mission was getting to be almost enjoyable. Who would have thought that she and Obi-Wan would be able to work together again? Who would have thought she and her father would be able to work together? "What's your password?"
Simon gave it to her and although they could have stopped talking then, they didn't. Siri hadn't realized how much she could learn from him – and how much she'd missed not having a dad around while she was growing up. But eventually they had to end the contact.
Siri told Obi-Wan and Anakin that she'd been given permission to use Simon's holoaccount and had the password, which was just the sort of help they'd been looking for. The four of them started talking animatedly about who in the Covenant they were going to pretend to be and how they would word the request for the Codebreaker to them. Before long, they had sent the message and were just waiting for a response. The Jedi – Taly was not included as obviously the thief knew who he was – started going over their story and Siri told them all she knew about K-Directorate. Unfortunately, that wasn't much as she'd never talked to her father a lot about his work, probably because she didn't even like to think about her father there most of the time.
And the next day they got a response. Someone at the Covenant was in fact interested in selling the codebreaker and didn't seem too curious about how K-Directorate knew that they had it. What they were interested in was negotiating about the price, but neither Taly nor the Jedi had much of an idea what it would sell for on the black market. So they messaged back and said they would negotiate the price in person. They also suggested a place to meet, in an alleyway off-planet the three knew from a previous mission that they could set up first.
The Force must have been with them as the Covenant seemed agreeable to meeting in person. They had a time and place set up even sooner than they'd expected.