Corran watched Wedge carefully as they walked back to his and Iella's apartment. Wedge had been very quiet. Corran couldn't blame him. He could sense Wedge was angry and frustrated. Corran really never had stopped to consider how the past forty years had been such a secret burden on Luke. Hard, yes. But never such a struggle that it had taken such a negative toll on Luke's mental health.

Corran followed Wedge down the hall as they got off the elevator. Wedge and Iella lived in a modest, but nice building in a nice, upper section of Coruscant, close to Iella's office at the New Republic Directorate of Intelligence. As a senior assistant director, her colleagues had often chided her for not living in a more secure building, but she argued that modest, anonymous living was more secure than making a spectacle of security. Corran reminded her once that she was married to one of the New Republic's most famous military officers, if not the most famous, and therefore anonymity didn't really exist. He didn't win the argument.

As they approached the door, Corran felt a sudden spike in panic from Wedge. In what felt like slow motion, he looked up, and he saw a large projectile come barreling down the hall at them. Corran grabbed Wedge by the shoulders and dropped, dragging Wedge down with him. The projectile whooshed over them and careened into a wall several meters behind them, rocking the building. Corran put his hand on Wedge's shoulder as they twisted around to look at the wreckage. "Are you okay?"

"What the hell was that?"

"Dunno," Corran said. "Came out of nowhere." Why didn't I sense it quicker?

A couple meters in front of them, the apartment door flew open and Iella stepped out, blaster in hand. "What was that?"

Corran held up his hand and motioned for her to stay inside. She took one step back. He noticed Wedge was looking at him expectantly. Corran glanced around the hallway as he let the Force stretch out from himself. He couldn't sense any more immediate danger. He pushed himself up and offered Wedge a hand up. "I...think that's it," he said, still scanning the hallway.

"That's what?" Iella said.

"I mean, I don't think there's any other danger," Corran said. He led Wedge back into the apartment and Iella shut the door.

"Then why are you still looking around?"

"I'm just...checking," Corran said.

Iella was unsatisfied. She turned to Wedge. "Where have you been?"

"Just getting coffee," Wedge said. "Can you put the blaster away?"

"We don't know what that was," she said.

"There's been construction going on in the next section for a week," Wedge said. "It probably came from there."

"I'm calling." Iella flipped the blaster's safety back on and walked over the communications console.

Wedge looked at Corran and shook his head. Corran shrugged. They had both known Iella long enough to know she wasn't going to let something like that go. Wedge stepped in closer. "What was that?" he whispered.

Corran shrugged again. "I honestly don't know. It really did come out of nowhere."

"You don't sense anything else?"

Corran shook his head. "Nothing." He frowned slightly. "I should have sensed it quicker. But," he gave Wedge a sheepish look, "guess I was thinking about other stuff."

Wedge gave him a light slap on the arm. "Well, that's okay."

Iella appeared next to them. "What are you two conspiring about now?"

"Nothing," they said.

Iella snorted. "You two are the worst liars."

"Did you talk to the construction people?" Wedge asked.

"Yes."

"And?"

Iella crossed her arms. "They said it was them. They said they were going to send some kind of security team over here to ask questions and investigate."

"Well, there you go," Wedge said.

"You look unsatisfied," Corran said.

"Are you satisfied?" Iella asked.

Corran hesitated. "I'm not sensing anything dangerous."

"That's not what I asked."

"I can stay for a few minutes, if you want."

"Also not what I asked."

Truthfully, Corran was unsatisfied too. He couldn't put his finger on why. It was probably his CorSec training kicking in. It was rare for that to be so mismatched with what he could sense in the Force. Usually the two complemented each other. "I don't have a good reason to be unsatisfied," he said.

"Fine, don't answer my question."

"I'll stay for a few more minutes."

"Fine." Iella waved him off and went to look out the window at the construction site.

"She's been a bit jumpy since we came back," Wedge said. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah." In a way, Corran couldn't blame Iella. They never did figure out how Cami's nav system had gotten hacked or who Vir-Azmun was. Corran sat on the couch and waited. After about ten minutes, nothing else had happened and no one had shown up.

"You don't have to stay," Wedge said. "Mirax is probably wondering where you are."

"All right," Corran said, getting up. "Call me if you need anything. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, first thing," Wedge said.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Iella asked.

"We're just getting coffee with Tycho, Wes, and Hobbie," Wedge said. "Relax." Iella frowned and went back to the window. Wedge walked Corran to the door. "First thing tomorrow."

"Right. Call me if you need anything else tonight." Corran made his way out of the building to the outside level of the lobby, and started heading home, passing by more apartments, shops, restaurants, and dedicated "green" spaces. Corran didn't live that far, though anywhere someone could walk or take public transit to in an hour was considered "close" on Coruscant. Jaina lived in this area too.

"Corran!"

Speaking of whom. Corran turned around and waved. "Hi Jaina. What brings you out tonight?"

"Oh, just out for a walk," she said. "You?"

"I was just at Wedge and Iella's apartment," he said. "Wedge and I got coffee and I walked back with him."

"Oh good! How is he feeling?"

"Still a bit tired, but otherwise fine." It was true, at least with regard to recent events. Corran wondered how much Jaina knew about Luke's state of mind. Probably not much. She hadn't had much contact with Luke in the past ten years either. "We're getting coffee with Tycho and Wes and Hobbie tomorrow."

"Oh, that sounds like fun."

"Yeah, he hasn't gotten out much so -" Corran stopped. He frowned. He was feeling something in the Force. It wasn't a threat. Sort of. But it was Wedge and Iella and they were concerned or agitated or anxious.

"Corran? You okay?"

He had to get back. "Yeah, look, I gotta go, I'll see you later." He'd been almost halfway home. He turned and started running.

As he finally came back up on the entrance to the lobby, he could just make out a small group of people standing outside. It was starting to get dark out, and the outdoor lights hadn't fully come on yet. He slowed down. He could see Wedge and Iella standing with what appeared to be a group of security personnel. Iella was definitely the one who was agitated. "Hi," he said as he walked up. "Is there a problem here?" He could feel a palpable wave of relief from Wedge and Iella.

One of the security team, Corran counted six, turned to look at him. "No, no problem. We're just here conducting an investigation. Do you have a problem?"

"That depends. Are you from the construction company?"

"We're local security. Construction company asked us to come have a look. Who are you?"

Corran thought carefully before answering. He still wasn't getting any sense of threat through the Force, but his CorSec senses were firing on all thrusters. And he could tell Iella was having none of this. Two out of three wins. "Hal," he said.

The team leader exchanged a glance with one of his subordinates. "Were you here when the projectile went loose?"

"I was."

"Great!" he said. "We just need to escort you all out of the area to our office to ask some questions."

"We don't need to go anywhere," Iella said.

"You can ask us questions right here," Corran said.

"Sorry, district policy," team leader. "Also, I'll need to take your weapons. Not allowed in our office."

"Weapons? What weapons?" Corran looked over at Wedge and Iella. Neither of them had blasters.

"That," team leader said, pointing to Corran's right hip.

Corran's hand dropped. His lightsaber. "Nah," he said, shaking his head. "You can't have that."

"Sorry sir, district policy."

"I'd like to see that in writing."

"I can show you the policy back in the office."

"If you ask us questions right here, it won't matter." Corran noticed he had moved more directly between the security team and Wedge and Iella. He didn't want a fight if they really were district security. But his CorSec senses were telling him that was less and less likely.

"I'm sorry sir, we really can't let you stay here."

Out of the corner of his eye, Corran saw one of the other team members start to pull a blaster. He caught a sudden spike of alarm from Wedge and Corran shot out his left hand, catching and absorbing the bolt with the Force. Corran used the energy to fling the blaster away and lit his lightsaber. "Okay, I think we're done with the fake security bit here." The rest of the team drew their blasters.

Just then, a large construction droid came lumbering around the corner directly at the security team. They briefly lowered their blasters. "Where'd that come from?"

"Run this way!"

Corran didn't wait. He disengaged his lightsaber, grabbed Wedge and Iella and ran. As they passed the droid, it suddenly toppled over toward the security as they fired more shots. Behind the droid was Jaina, with her arms outstretched. "Thought you could use a distraction," she said. "This way."

They followed Jaina, as they ran partway through the section taking several turns. Finally Iella stopped them.

"Hang on, hang on here," she said. "What the hell is going on here?" She pointed at Corran. "You said you didn't think -"

"I know, I know, I know what I said," Corran said. "I didn't think there was. I think, I don't know, something's wrong with my sense of threat perception."

"Your what?"

"My threat perception. In the Force. Something is off."

"I don't know what that means."

"I, well," Corran didn't know how to explain.

"Okay, never mind," she said. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Wedge asked.

"My office."

Wedge looked around as the group made its way through the New Republic Directorate of Intelligence building lobby and up to the executive suite offices. He'd been in the lobby and some of the other open banquet spaces before, and some other low level meeting rooms, but never up to Iella's executive office. She hadn't been that highly placed when he was still on active duty, and after he retired, there was just no need for him to be in those spaces. Not that he wanted to be. He'd spent so much of his 20s and 30s and 40s waist deep in military and intelligence operations that he was just as glad to be free of it. Though, if he were to be entirely honest, he did miss it. Rarely.

They stepped off an elevator onto one of the executive office floors where a Rodian was occupying a night watch desk. "Hi Elim," Iella said.

"Good evening Director Wessiri! You're here late tonight."

"Do you know who the night security commander is on duty?"

Elim clicked a few times on his computer screen. "Commander Bollick, ma'am."

"Excellent. Call him and tell him to call me on my private line in my office as soon as possible. Tell him it's urgent."

"Yes ma'am… Ma'am!" Elim called out as Iella started to lead them toward the office. "I'll need to verify your guests."

"My guests?" Iella pointed to each one of them in turn. "Let's see, Retired General Wedge Antilles, Jedi Master Corran Horn, and Major Jaina Solo, Starfighter Command. What else do you need?"

Elim's eyes widened as his jaw dropped just a little. "Uh, you're good ma'am, thank you. I'll make that call for you."

"Thanks Elim, you're the best!" Iella said as she punched in her key code to the main door. She led them down another hallway.

"That was convenient," Jaina muttered.

"You have that kind of pull when you're an assistant director," Wedge said.

"She's always been like that," Corran said.

"I can hear you," Iella said as she coded into another door. She let them in and then turned her attention on Corran. "Explain."

"I don't really have anything to explain."

"Try me."

Corran sighed. "I don't know. Something about my threat perception is off."

"I don't know what that means."

"I can't really explain it," Corran said. "Normally, I can sense or anticipate threats through the Force. Something wasn't working this time."

"You must be catching something," Wedge said. "That projectile didn't actually hit us and you came all the way back to the building after you left."

Corran shook his head. "Yes, but what I was catching was slow. Not how it should be. And when I was arguing with that one supposed security person, my sense of threat should have been spiking. It wasn't."

Wedge looked at Jaina. "Are you having a problem?"

"I don't think so," Jaina said. "I guess I wasn't paying that much attention though. Corran ran off after we were talking, so I assumed he was headed back to your apartment. I followed him." She shrugged.

"This is not helpful," Iella said. Her communications console chirped. "Hold that thought." She pressed the button to answer the call. "Wessiri."

A hologram of a Mon Calamari male appeared. "Director Wessiri, Commander Bollick here. Your night watch said you had an urgent issue?"

Iella sat down. "Yes, thank you for calling me quickly. There appears to be a fake district security team operating in the vicinity of section 2124, using a local construction operation as cover. They targeted my apartment building. Is that something you can look into?"

Command Bollick nodded. "Yes, I think so. Can you give me more details?"

Wedge listened to Iella recount the last couple of hours. He noted she omitted Corran and Jaina's Force use. Which made sense. If Corran couldn't explain it to her, she certainly wouldn't be able to explain it to anyone else.

Command Bollick nodded again as Iella finished. "Yes, we can certainly put a team on that right away. You and your husband are secure?"

"Yes, we're here in my office."

"Excellent. And Director, I realize this isn't the best moment to say I told you so."

"Then don't."

"But, this might be an excellent opportunity for the two of you to move to a more secure location."

Iella scowled. "I like my apartment."

"Director, it obviously isn't as secure as it needs to be."

"I don't have time to go apartment hunting."

"You know," Jaina broke in. "There's an apartment down the hall from my parents that's been empty for years. You could move there. Doesn't get much more secure."

Commander Bollick turned slightly to get a better look at Jaina. "Who are your parents?"

"Ambassador Leia Organa Solo and Retired General Han Solo," she said with more than a little pride in her voice. "They live in the Senate Apartments building."

Commander Bollick quickly recovered from his surprise. "She's right, Director, doesn't get much more secure than that."

"I don't have time to supervise the move of my household goods," Iella said.

"Mirax could do it," Corran said as Iella turned to glare at him. "She knows your stuff better than anyone."

"And my mom is out, but my dad could supervise on that end," Jaina said.

"And," Wedge added, "just think how much bigger your home office could be in an apartment like that."

"Ooh, yeah, my mom has one," Jaina said. "There's a whole conference table in there. It's huge."

Iella turned reluctantly thoughtful. "Well, I don't need a whole conference table. But something bigger would be nice…" She looked Wedge. He nodded. She sighed and turned back to Commander Bollick. "Oh all right. We'll move. How long is this going to take?"

"If you have your supervisors contact me directly, we can get started right away," he said. "We'll have to get approval from building security. That won't be hard. Moving everything and getting the space swept and set up will probably take about twenty-four hours, if you don't mind staying in your office."

"No, we're fine here," Iella said. She sighed again. "Thank you for your help."

"Director, you have made me very happy today. Bollick out."

Iella turned around and pointed to the other side of the room. "Okay, go make your calls, open lines are over there," she said to Corran and Jaina. "And mind your language."

She stood up and stretched and Wedge came around the desk. He rubbed her arms. "I don't like this," she said.

"We've been having this conversation about moving on and off for years."

"I don't like running."

"Being more cautious isn't running."

Iella snorted. "The only person I know who's less cautious than you is Corran."

"Look, it'll be great," Wedge said. "You'll have your office, Leia has her office. Winter is over there all the time. The three of you can have a little in-home spy circle."

"Now you're just mocking me," Iella said, but she was finally smiling.

Wedge grinned. "No, never." He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"We're all set," Corran said as he and Jaina came back over.

"Good," Iella said. "Back to your issue."

"I don't know what to tell you," Corran said. "I should be able to filter threats in the Force, and this time, it didn't happen."

"Well, there must be someone you can ask."

"Well, yeah…" He glanced at Wedge.

Always the same person, Wedge thought. That conversation seemed like ages ago.

"Can you call Yavin?" Iella asked.

Corran glanced at Wedge again. "Yeah, I'll call," Wedge said. "Can I use the open line?"

"Doesn't Yavin have a secure line?"

"Probably, but I don't know the number."

Iella grumbled. "Fine, use the open line."

Wedge put the number into the key pad and it started to connect. "Oh, you know, I just remembered," he said. "Luke's not even there."

"He can't possibly be the only person to ask," Iella said.

"Well, yeah, maybe -" The call connected.

"Hey ho."

Great. Brianna. "Hey, Brianna -"

"Oh, it's you!" she said. "What number is this? Where are you calling from?"

"This is Iella's office line."

"Iella? Oh, that's your wife, right? Office line, huh?"

"Yes," Wedge said. "She's an assistant director. At the Directorate of Intelligence."

"Really?! That sounds fancy and important. I did not know this."

"I guarantee I've told you that."

"You have?"

"Yes, I have."

"Oh." Brianna smirked a little. "Still pretty cool. What's up?"

"We were looking for Luke, but I just remembered he isn't there," Wedge said.

"Yeah, he's off on some kind of diplomatic something something gazpacho, I don't even know, I wasn't really paying attention."

"Right." Wedge glanced behind him. "Is ah, Kyp around?" Corran and Jaina wrinkled their noses.

"Kyp is out," Brianna said, "on other paid labor."

"Oh. Well, just as well," Wedge said. "Well, maybe you can help us."

"Fabulous! I'm thrilled to be your third choice. How may I assist you today?"

Wedge resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "We're having a problem. Well, Corran is having a problem."

Brianna leaned over to look at Corran. "What did you do now?!"

"I didn't do anything."

"Oh, so it's your usual problem."

"I -" Corran glanced at Wedge. The insult had clearly hit home.

"It's a Force related problem," Wedge said before the topic could get derailed. "What did you say, a problem filtering threats in the Force?"

Brianna raised an eyebrow. "Threat perception problem?"

"Yes," Corran said. "I'm not picking up things I should be perceiving as threats."

"Hmm." Brianna leaned back in her chair. "Explain."

Wedge watched Brianna carefully as Corran walked back through the last few hours. Her frown kept getting deeper as he spoke. But at least she was paying attention.

Brianna tapped her fingers on her console as Corran finished. She looked at Jaina. "What about you, are you having that problem?"

"Not that I can tell. But I wasn't explicitly paying attention to that either."

"Hmm. Fascinating." She kept tapping the console.

"Any idea what that's about?" Wedge asked.

Brianna seemed to look Corran up and down for a moment. "Nope."

"Well, that's useful," Corran said.

Wedge was actually slightly disappointed. "Well, is there someone else -"

"What if," Brianna cut him off. "What if...hmmmmm. What if I just come hang out? Can I come hang out? You know what, I'm just gonna come hang out. Where are you? Oh, you're in the spy building, I can find that. Okay, look, here's what I'm gonna need you to do. I need all of you to stay where you are -"

"I have to go to work in the morning," Jaina said.

"I have a real job!" Brianna said in a high pitched voice. "Okay, fine, you go to your real job, like a normal person. The rest of you," she pointed around at everyone, "need to stay put until I get there, cool? I'm gonna come hang out. You need anything else while I'm here?" She pointed at Wedge.

"No."

"Cool, I'll see you in a bit. Out." The call disconnected.

Wedge let out a long breath. He turned around to look at everyone. "Well. There you go."

Iella looked slightly horrified. "Is that normal?!"

"Nothing about her is normal," Jaina said.