LordDarthYoda - Hah, I was trying to remember why that name was familiar. I remember Raynar Thul from the Young Jedi Knights series - bit of an idiot but I always liked his character. Always looking for conspiracy theories...I love it. I can totally see your logic as well.

Lime-lensed Lord - Love the username! Thanks for your comment - I actually wrote Ezah completely differently in my head, then when I started writing the chapter, this other part of Ezah just...came out. I like it, so I stuck with it.

Nuada Silverhand - I do love my violence, but this story might have things resolved peacefully. But there will be plenty of conflict, of that you can have no doubt :).

SpeechBubbleMe- Hey you! Get back to writing your story! I near moar updates :). Thanks for the review - always appreciated, even if 'late.' This chapter did really show Nara's maturity - usually she's the one that is talking big and putting a target on her back, this time, she acted meek until it was time to strike.

A/N - Bit of a recovery chapter before we get into the next stage of the mission. I'm editing this chapter with a massive headache, so apologies for any mistakes.

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 11: Taking Stock

The two Jedi were able to get Ezah and Hatara back to their hotel without further incident, thankfully . He and Nara stayed the night at their hotel, keeping guard, just to ensure that there were no further attacks. While Nara seemed to have been pleased by the fact that they had interceded in what had happened to Ezah, he was more disturbed by the implication of such a brazen attack. Someone had wanted to get Ezah to record an anti-Jedi message, and was willing to go to some rather extreme ends to do so. What could possibly be motivating these people? Disagreeing with the role of the Jedi was one thing, attacking people that were tangentially related to the Jedi was another.

There was still a lot to decode about last night. More than ever, he felt like they needed a plan to tackle this problem. But for now, their concern was Ezah.

In the morning, he and Nara dropped Ezah off at the spaceport, where Ezah and Hatara were leaving on what Ezah promised would be a long, relaxing vacation. Hatara had wanted to file a police report before they left, but he and Nara had talked her out of it. The truth was, it was better for everyone if there was no media coverage about Ezah and Hatara being attacked in Ezah's dressing room. Anti-Jedi sentiment was not in the mainstream as of yet. But if the media started reporting on it, it might get that way.

But that didn't mean that he was done with the people that had taken Hatara hostage. Not by a long shot. However, that could come later, right now both Padawans needed to sleep, so they returned to their apartment after the spaceport.

"Who wants to sleep on the couch?" he asked as he tossed his keycard on to the table.

Nara shook her head tiredly, "Absolutely not. That couch kills my back. I'm sleeping in the bed. I ask that you to join me in it."

Sascha opened his mouth to argue, but the only thing that came out was a gigantic yawn, "I'll take the..."

Nara rolled her eyes at him, "If you say 'couch,' I might smack you."

"I was going to say left side of the bed," he concluded.

Nara nodded, "Good choice, Sascha. Let's enjoy a good night's sleep together."

"I think my Master's head might explode if she heard you say that," Sascha laughed.

"Climb into bed with me, Sascha Whitestar," laughed Nara.

Sascha held his hands out, "Let's not make too much light of this situation. It'll be a more amusing joke in the morning when nothing happens."

In the morning, Sascha woke up before Nara did, which was what usually happened. Togruta, like most other predators of similar size, tended to sleep for longer periods of time than omnivores like humans did. Sascha listened to Nara gently snoring for a few moments before slipping out of bed quietly. He managed to get out of the room without waking Nara, but he didn't manage to grab all of his clothes as he did, so he had to wander around the apartment in a loose shirt and shorts, the clothes he had slept in. Being the good person he was, he started making breakfast for both he and Nara, using the small grill in the kitchen to start cooking up some meat alongside some eggs that he had purchased a few days ago.

The meat was almost ready for consumption when Nara padded into the kitchen, taking long, exaggerated sniffs of the air, "Sascha Whitestar, you missed your true calling...being the perfect boyfriend for some lucky lady."

Sascha tested the meat strips that he had been grilling, they needed about another minute to be perfect. Which was great as he needed to cut the tubers and other assorted vegetables that were to go with the meal. He wasn't sure if Nara would be interested in adding non-meats to her meal, but he made enough that she could make that choice for herself. "I very much doubt that the dating pool of eligible females is missing out on me."

"Aw, come on Sascha," said Nara punching him lightly on the shoulder, "You'd be a catch. Sure, you're a bit of a typical nice guy, but you cook, you clean, you're not afraid to cry, these are all pluses."

Sascha turned to face Nara, a wicked grin on his face, "You're just trying to make sure I give you the bigger portion of the meal, aren't you?"

Nara smiled coquettishly, "No, I'd never do such a thing. I'm all about equality. But I must point out that my dietary needs are fairly different from human standards."

He rolled his eyes, "How about you take what you want and leave the rest for me. I trust you'll allocate resources in an appropriate fashion."

Nara grinned widely and took a plate out of the cupboard, "I shall be as fair and just as Master Yoda."

"Uh, huh."

After letting Nara decide on the portions, the two Jedi ate at the small table in the living room. As he had expected, Nara had 'liberated' a fair share of the meat for her own plate, but she had taken a share of the tubers as well. While it might not have been a totally fair split of the meal, it was reasonable enough. Nara, though she liked to play around, was still his friend, first and foremost.

"Thanks for making breakfast, Sascha."

"Thanks for not cuddling with me in bed last night," he replied.

"Didn't even occur to me," Nara said lightly. "But what's the plan for today? It's a day off so there is no school. We still haven't really talked about last night..."

"...We talk after we eat breakfast," he said, pouring himself some juice.

Nara rolled her eyes, "Right, your silly tradition about not talking over breakfast. Your Master isn't here you know."

Sascha shrugged, and started eating his meal, letting his silence speak for itself.

"Can I make a point that I hate your stupid silence time," said Nara, half-seriously. "Of course I can, because you can't speak to interrupt me." However, Nara was torn between her desire to taunt him and her desire to eat and her desire to eat was always going to win that battle. So the two Jedi ate their meal in silence. Nara finished her breakfast first, and waited impatiently for him to finish as well, drumming her fingers on the kitchen table in an attempt to annoy him or keep herself sane, he couldn't tell which. "Okay, Sascha, come on, I know that this is a day off, but we have a lot of work to get done."

Sascha used a napkin to clean his hands of the grease from the meat strips, "I have a plan, if you'd like to hear it."

"Let's hear it ."

"I think we should speak to the head of the police on Estimar, he was the person that requested that the Jedi Order look into this issue. So, for one, he's someone safe to talk to, and for another point, we need to find out what happened to those people that attacked Ezah yesterday.

Nara's eyes narrowed, "It's a decent idea, but how do we contact this person – I assume that the head of police for the entire planet is probably a very busy man. They probably won't take any calls from a random student from Apren Polytechnic."

"True, we'll have to call him using our real names and identities."

Nara bit her lip gently, "I'm not thrilled with the idea of letting anyone know that we are undercover here. Someone reveals that information to the wrong person and presto, our cover is totally gone. All that work, gone."

"I think the head of police knows how to protect undercover assets, Nara."

The Togruta hesitated, but nodded, "That's probably true. It still leaves the question of how we contact him, I assume he either has a secretary or virtual assistant that screens his calls."

"Don't worry, he'll never turn down a call from the Jedi Temple."

"You're going to route the call through the Jedi Temple? Do you have any idea how expensive that is?"

"It's not cheap," he admitted, "But we have the funds for this mission, we might as well put them to good use." Routeing a Holonet call through the Jedi Temple wasn't exactly easy either, but he had done it before, and he had remembered all the steps he would need to do it again.

"Okay. We are going to do the call together?"

"Of course, I couldn't do it without my charming Togruta companion," he said dryly.

"You are trying to joke, but I know you mean it," said Nara, getting up from the table and grabbing her plate. "You made breakfast, I'll clean up."

Sascha handed her his plate and cutlery, "Thanks, but we could let the cleaning droid do it."

"I could, but I'm not that lazy," Nara said, as she went back to the kitchen, "Get everything ready for the call and I'll probably be about done cleaning up."

Serendipitously, that was how it ended up working out. He had just about gotten everything set up on his datapad when Nara sauntered back into the living room, now fully dressed in her new 'civilian' clothes. Despite repeated washings, Nara's clothes looked basically the same as they day they had been bought, a testament to the quality of the clothes. "You ready?" she asked.

"Just about."

"Okay, once you get it set up, you need to go get changed – you might even think about putting on your robe, just to look more 'Jedi' like."

"You don't have your robe on," he pointed out.

"I'm a girl. Girls get to look stylish."

"That's a double standard."

"So it is. You going to undo five thousand years of galactic norms and mores? Or are you going to get changed?"

Sascha went and got changed into his Jedi robe.

When he returned, Nara was on the couch, her hands on her hips in an exaggerated gesture, "You know, its not fun to argue with you when you let me win."

"I don't let you win anything, Togruta," he said, giving her a friendly shove as he sat next to her on the couch. "Lets get this over with. United front?"

Nara nodded, "United front."

What Sascha had made reference to was a tactic that Jedi often used when dealing with members of the public. Sometimes, to combat the infallible reputation of the Jedi, instead of presenting a united front, two Jedi would bicker, briefly over something inconsequential, to show more of a 'human' side to the Jedi. But in dealing with someone like the police chief of an entire planet, Sascha thought it made more sense to play it straightforward.

Sascha reminded himself of the name of the Chief of Police Services on Estimar, Mathia Westrog. According to his research, Mathia was around sixty years old and had spent the entirety of his adult life working as a police officer on Estimar and was considered to be a reliable public servant, having conducted his career without controversy.

Sascha made the call, and Mathia picked up after a few moments. On his datapad he saw Mathia, who looked just like he had in the photos he had seen, an unremarkable looking sixty year old that was in good shape for his age. His dark hair was thinning slightly, but Mathia's brown eyes showed intelligence...and a bit of confusion. "Mathia Westrog speaking," he said in a guarded tone.

"Mr. Westrog, sir. My name is Sascha Whitestar and with me is Nara Nalto. We're calling you regarding the request you made of the Jedi Order several standard weeks ago."

Mathia's expression didn't change that much, but Sascha could tell that the man was surprised, "I did make a request of the Jedi Temple. But as you said, that was several weeks ago."

"Mr. Westrog," said Nara, "We've been monitoring the situation on the planet for a little while and we wanted to speak to you in person."

"You are speaking to me in person. And my display says that this call is coming from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant."

"A little misdirection," he said. "You wouldn't have answered the call if I had called from my number on Estimar, I imagine."

Mathia absorbed that point, nodding, "Fair point. Very well, what do you want from me?"

"As I said, we want to meet."

"Why?"

Sascha glanced at Nara, "We need your advice."

"Are you sure it was a good idea to tell him we have no idea what we are doing," asked Nara, as she exited from the hovercab they had rented.

Sascha handed the driver his credits, giving him a good tip before stepping out of the other side of the hovercab, "Well, it's the truth, isn't it?"

"I mean we have some idea what we are doing," said Nara, taking out her datapad to make sure that the Padawans were going to the right house. In this suburban area of Estimar, the houses were large, with sprawling yards out front. And large, sprawling yards out back. This was the section of the city where everyone had wealth, and everyone owned land.

Nara pointed towards a nearby house that was painted white and blue, "That's the one."

The two Jedi walked up to the front door and rang the chime. A household protocol droid answered the door, glittering in silver. The protocol droid greeted them and then led them through the house. As they walked, the protocol droid pointed out the various awards and medals that Mathia had collected over his career, along with the pieces of artwork he had collected. Marthias had an eclectic art collection, mostly paintings from highly regarded artists that were still living. It was an odd that a chief of police was such a collector of artwork, it wasn't exactly what Sascha had been expecting.

Finally, the Padawans found Mathias sitting on the back porch, staring out into his yard where some small birds were flitting around what looked like some sort of feeder. "Master, your guests have arrived," said the protocol droid.

Mathias rose from his seat with the fluidity of a much younger man and greeted the two Jedi, "Welcome to my humble home. C2P-0, leave us please. Privacy setting, I'm unavailable for the thirty minutes."

"As you wish, Master," said the protocol droid as the silver droid went back inside.

Mathias waved to the two seats that had obviously been prepared for them, "Can I get you anything? A drink? I have Recalich juice from Naboo and ales from Corelia if you'd like one."

"We're fine for now," said Nara politely.

"Thank you for meeting us on such short notice," he said, taking one of the seats that was offered. Nara and Mathias settled into the other chairs. It was a really nice day outside, it had to be said, and Sascha was glad that he was able to enjoy it, at least slightly. The sky was blue with only a few clouds obscuring Estimar's sun, and the temperature, while a bit cool, was still comfortable.

Mathias paused for a moment before answering, "You are welcome, but may I ask a few questions to confirm your identities?" The police chief smiled slightly, "I checked the Jedipedia after you called, and I have to say that you are either really Sascha Whitestar and Nara Nalto or you have access to so very talented makeup artists."

"I don't think you could fake my facial markings, but we'd be happy to confirm our identities," said Nara calmly.

"Okay. Master Whitestar, your Master is...?"

"Aurine Brynar."

"And her Master was...?"

"Nova Trynith."

Mathias nodded and turned his attention to Nara, "Master Nalto, same questions."

"Tiplee, and Galium Rwar."

Mathias bowed his head and brought his hands together, in a polite gesture, "Master Jedi."

"Please don't call us that. Calling us by our names is fine," said Nara.

"Very well," said Mathias, holding his hands out, palms up, "How can I help you?"

Nara glanced at him, indicating that he should take the lead in this conversation, which he was more than happy to do. "First, we wanted to talk to you about some arrests that were made last night at the Auditorium in Apren. Three people were arrested, I believe."

Mathias frowned, "There was an odd report from the Auditorium, and a number of people were arrested on anonymous tip. I can't tell you the exact number, but they are being held for 24 hours as per our laws."

"And after the 24 hours expires?"

"If no charges are brought, then they'll be released," Mathias replied.

"And what if I wanted to bring charges?"

Mathias hesitated, "I'd have to look it up, but I don't believe that Jedi are traditionally allowed to bring charges. They are considered to be officers of the Republic, and are thus except from some traditional protections."

"The state can bring proceedings on their behalf though," said Nara.

Mathias smiled, "True. To do that, you'd have to tell an officer of Estimar about what happened."

"Such as yourself."

"Indeed."

"Well, we'll leave the choice of bringing charges to you, but we can tell you what happened there last night," said Nara. The Togruta then briefly outlined the events of the night before, doing so calmly an impassive manner.

After she was done, Mathias leaned back in his seat. "That's a disturbing tale. Had you Jedi not been there, that situation could have turned out much differently."

"But we were," said Sascha. "And it only has encapsulated how strong the anti-Jedi sentiment at this particular University. I don't believe that these were students that attacked Ms. Reisel. So that means that these attackers were either inspired by them, or they were paid by them. Both options are very dangerous."

"I agree," said Mathias. "I will see what I can do about keeping these attackers detained and making sure that they are interrogated appropriately."

"Thank you, sir," said Sascha.

"How else can I help you?"

"Well," Sascha paused intentionally, "We kind of need advice. We're investigating these anti-Jedi people, but I think it's become clear to both me and Nara that we don't see an end goal to this. We aren't and shouldn't be in the business of curtailing free speech. If people believe that the Jedi are killing the Republic, they should be free to do so. If they want to protest the Jedi Order, they have the right to do that as well. I...just...I don't know what we are doing here? I think we are both struggling to know what our goals should be." He stared directly into the eyes of Mathias, "What did you want from the Jedi Order, when you asked us to intervene?"

Mathias took a sip of his drink before responding, "Honestly, looking back, I'm not sure what I wanted. I thought that the Jedi should know that there was this group of...radical thinkers that were taking the next step from 'thoughtful students' to 'potential threat.' I thought that the Jedi needed to know about this, and maybe confront these people and prevent the spread of such thoughts to other cities, other planets." Mathias eyed the two Jedi carefully, "I also thought that they would send someone...older to help deal with this."

"We were assigned this mission so that we could go undercover here on Estimar," he said. It is also my opinion that we are being tested, intentionally, on this mission. That thought had been one that had been on his mind for a while, and its the first time he's spoken it out loud. It makes sense though. What better way to test two young Padawans by giving them a mission that was full of moral complexities?

"Every day is a test," said Mathias. "But you don't always know what is being tested."

"We have similar saying in the Temple," remarked Nara with a smile. "I hated those sayings."

"It's a little vague for me as well," said Mathias. "But life is vague. And full of choices that aren't always clear."

Sascha tapped two fingers against his hand in a drumming motion. While Mathias was being open and inviting, he wasn't exactly providing them with the answers they were seeking.

"Can I tell you the moment when I decided to report what was happening to the Jedi Temple?" asked Mathias. "And are you sure I can't get you a drink? I feel like a terrible host with me drinking and my guests having nothing."

"That's quite all right, Mathias. We ate before we came," he said. "Please, tell us your story."

Mathias folded his hands together, "This was a few months ago, at the end of the school year. We get stories of different group that take root at our various universities. Anarchists. Religious groups. Extremists of various degrees. They all tend to be mostly harmless. So when I heard about this anti-Jedi group, I didn't think much of it. A minor annoyance at best. Then the reports came in. Students that attended Jedi History classes were being harassed. Anyone who expressed an opinion that was mildly pro-Jedi was attacked on their social media pages. It graduated beyond people expressing their opinions forcefully, as they are allowed to do, and moved into something worse. So we investigated this group and we arrested the person behind these actions, Quetziel Roa. We tried to prosecute him, but our evidence was so circumstantial that we had to settle for a short sentence and community service."

"I'm guessing that community service didn't change his mind," said Nara.

"No, sadly. Though our justice system has a good record of rehabilitating people, Quetziel Roa was not one of them. It just made him more determined not to make the same mistakes again. When we started hearing reports of these anti-Jedi people again, that's when I knew that we needed something else. So I made a request of the Jedi Order to come and investigate. I never thought that someone would actually come though."

"Wait, what was the last name of this again?" he asked.

"Roa. Spelled R-O-A."

"Was he from Corelia by any chance?" he asked.

Mathias frowned, "I believe that he was originally from Corelia."

Sascha had a sinking feeling. "Do you have a picture of him?" he asked Mathias.

"I...don't, not right now. I could find one, if I needed to. Why?"

"Because one of my clanmates growing up was Doro Roa from Corelia. Nara knows him. He's a good friend of mine. I'll have to look it up to see if Doro had a brother that is the correct age. It would explain why Quetziel is so stringently against the Jedi Order. We took his brother away from him."

"If it's him," said Nara, clearly cautioning from making a leap of logic. But he had already started to see how it could make everything fit together – how finally they had a potential answer of why there was anti-Jedi sentiment on Estimar. Sascha needed to file that away for now, though. He'd investigate who Quetziel Roa was later, he still had questions he wanted to ask Mathias.

"Still, despite who might be behind this, I still want to talk about getting a good result for everyone on Estimar," he said. "I don't...I can't arrest people for expressing their opinion about the Jedi. But we can't let things go the way they are either."

Mathias got off of his chair and patted each Jedi on the shoulder in turn. "I don't envy you Jedi. Me, as a police officer, all we have to do is enforce the rules. Someone breaks the law, we investigate it, and we follow the laws that have been written by others. A simple task at the end of the day. What you've been given is a much different job. At the core of it, what you want to do is change the hearts and minds of these people that are with these anti-Jedi people. And that's not an easy thing." Mathias started to pace, "It is only my opinion, but I think it's a common one. I feel that the Jedi are too aloof, too detached from the world. More obsessed with the Force then helping the common man. And I admit that view was reinforced when I thought that the Jedi had ignored my call for help. And now I have two very thoughtful young people conversing with me and it looks like my opinion of the Jedi might change again. Opinions can be changed, but you have to put yourselves out there to do it. Otherwise those opinions will never change."

"Stating the obvious, Mathias," said Nara, pointing at him and then back to herself, "Us two Padawans can't change how the Jedi are perceived across the Republic."

"No," admitted Mathias, "That is impossible. But to first understand these people, you have admit that some of their grievances are legitimate."

"We do," said Sascha. "But you can't have a legitimate dialog with people that have mind made up."

Mathias turned to face them, "It sounds like someone has their minds made up."

He winced, realizing that he had laid his assumptions bare in front of this stranger. "I admit that I'm not unbiased."

"That's good," said Mathias. "That's being mature."

"Jedi tend to be very mature," Nara said dryly.

"I can see that." Mathias smiled to himself, "I glanced at the accomplishments attributed to you in your Jedipedia pages. You make an old timer like me feel inadequate."

"We don't get to choose our lives. All we can do is choose to use them as well as we can."

Mathias nodded, "That's a good philosophy. Anyway. You've asked for my opinion on what you should do. I would advise this. Anti-Jedi sentiment has flourished because the Jedi are seen as being absent. It's easy to say that the Jedi Order don't care about the common folk, if the common folk never see a Jedi. That might be something worth correcting."

Sascha shared a glance with Nara. It was a decent idea, but it was just an idea with any specifics behind it. Still, he got the logic. It was easy to argue against an idea. It was harder to argue against a real life person that represented that idea. "We'll take it under advisement," he said.

"That's all I can ask," said Mathias. "Now unless there is anything else I can help you with, I do have paperwork to get done."

The Padawans stood at what was obviously a polite dismissal. Both Jedi bowed in unison, "Thank you for your time, sir." said Nara.

Mathias returned the bow, "Please contact me if I can be of assistance. I'll be personally looking into the three people that were arrested at the auditorium last night. I'll send you any information I can find."

"And we'll be looking into this Quetziel Roa," said Sascha. My gut tells me that he is involved in this."

"I suspect that he has a hand in this as well," admitted Mathias. "Be safe, and may the Force be with you."

Both Jedi bowed slightly once more before taking their exit.

As Sascha looked out the window on the air taxi ride back to their apartment, he tried to think through the conversation they had just hand. Maybe Mathias was right, maybe the core of this wasn't just one person like Quetziel Roa, but a long harbored sentiment that was growing because the Jedi were being complacent.

Nara nudged him, startling out of his thoughts. "Look at this." Nara handed him her datapad. On it was a message from Zven - 'Big meeting in two days. Hope you can be there. Free thinkers like you always welcome.'

"What should I say?" asked Nara. "I'm thinking that I should go."

"I agree," said Sascha. But there was the seeds of a plan growing in his mind as well. It was just an idea, but maybe if he and Nara could pull it off, they could diffuse this whole situation...