Jacen knelt next to his brother at the end of the darkened alley. "Anything?" he whispered.

"There's nothing here," Anakin said.

"Shh!" Jacen hissed as the light across the street flickered, briefly obscuring what little they could see. "We always think there's nothing, and there's always something." Jacen leaned over to look around the corner, then looked the other way. He frowned.

"But you can't sense anything either," Anakin whispered.

"That's what bothers me." Jacen glanced left and right one more time. "Come on," he said, tapping Anakin's arm. "We'll draw them out." Jacen took a few cautious steps out into the seemingly empty street and looked around again. He tightened his grip on his lightsaber.

He sensed it a moment before he heard it. Jacen whipped around at the snap-hiss of a lightsaber and ignited his own, blocking a hard downward strike. In the background he could see Anakin climbing to his feet as if he'd been kicked in the gut.

Jacen thought his assailant could be an Elomin. But he could have mistaken the red glow of his lightsaber for red Elomin skin. "I knew you were here," Jacen said, as he broke away from the block.

His assailant laughed. "You suspected, perhaps. You did not know." He struck hard, forcing Jacen back. "But I certainly knew you were here," he said. "I know who you are, Jedi."

Jacen gritted his teeth and lunged forward, striking more haphazardly than he meant to. "If you know who I am, you know I'm no Jedi."

The Elomin laughed again. "You may be able to lie to yourself, but not to anyone else. I can sense it in you. Your Jedi weakness."

Jacen backed away a couple of steps out of the corner of his eye, barely visible in the dim street light, he could see Anakin trying to sneak up behind the Elomin. "You know less than you think you do."

The Elomin casually swung his lightsaber. "We thought about recruiting you, you know. That fantastic Skywalker connection to the Force. But -" He turned sharply and swung at Anakin, then Force pushed him into a pile of debris.

Jacen lunged forward. The Elomin pivoted and blocked. "You just can't rid yourself of that Jedi weakness. And," the Elomin continued, "you're far too volatile for…other purposes." He backed away and reset himself.

"You want to see how volatile I am?" Jacen snarled. "Come a little closer."

The Elomin laughed and struck again. Jacen blocked and parried. It was so hard to sense what was coming. Fortunately, he was fast, thanks to Brianna making him practice all the time. He'd thank her later if it wasn't likely to make her smug. Practice practice practice practice practice! she always says.

Jacen parried again, then caught an opening. He moved in close and slipped his foot behind the Elomin's, then kicked back, toppling him to the ground. Jacen brought his lightsaber up and lunged down. The Elomin brought his up to block just in time. Jacen could clearly see the Elomin's red face and horns now. "I will root out every single one of -"

"The children of Vir-Sun will stay in the shadows no longer!" he hissed. "We are coming for you!" He kicked his leg wide, knocking Jacen off his balance. Jacen rolled over and up, blocking another attack.

"Here!"

Jacen pivoted and caught Anakin's lightsaber as he turned. He slammed the two blades down on the Elomin's shoulders, crossing at the torso. The body pieces collapsed to the ground.

Jacen stepped back, breathing heavily. He handed Anakin's lightsaber back to him and snatched up the Elomin's. The street was quiet. Jacen looked down at the Elomin's motionless face. The flickering street light finally burnt out.

"The only weak person is the dead one."

Iella yawned as she walked into the senior executive conference room. These early morning meetings were really getting out of hand. She glanced around the room to see who else had arrived already and saw a familiar face at the far end of the conference table. She waved. Leia waved back. "Fancy meeting you here," Iella said as she came around the table to sit next to her neighbor. "I didn't know you came to these things."

"Last minute call last night," Leia said. "They, ah," she glanced around the room. "They actually wanted Luke, but I told them he wasn't available."

"You did?"

Leia shrugged. "I figured I'd see what they wanted before I decided if it was worth listening to Wedge complain about it."

"Ah." Iella nodded and took another sip of coffee. Luke had been back on Coruscant for a couple of months. They had collectively decided to keep Luke's official/unofficial retirement on a need to know basis in case it generated more questions and attention than anyone wanted. Unfortunately that had left Leia at a bit of a loss for what she should tell people. And that had generated a couple of…animated conversations when she and Wedge disagreed about what Leia should be asking Luke to do. Iella had tried to stay out of it.

A few more people filed into the conference room and took seats. "Good morning everyone." Iella looked up and raised an eyebrow as Director Mearst Brollin strode into the room and took a seat at the head of the table. Usually the Deputy Director led these morning meetings.

Director Brollin glanced around the table. "Well, I think we have a quorum, so we can go ahead and get started." He looked at Leia. "Ambassador Organa Solo, thank you for coming this morning. I apologize for the late call, I know you're very busy."

Leia nodded in acknowledgment. "Thank you Director. I'm happy to assist in any way I can."

"Very good. Then I will hand things over to Deputy Assistant Director Anton Kalick, of the Analysis Division."

"Thank you Director," Deputy Kalick said. "Good morning Ambassador, and thank you for being here. Over the past few months, my division has been tracking a series of reporting such as missing persons, minor government services disruptions, and reports of mysterious injuries. On their own, none of these are things we would normally deal with, as they are local law enforcement or administrative issues. But we noticed a slight increase in these on a few particular worlds, so we started to monitor it. Then, yesterday afternoon, one of our liaison officers on Praxis, where we've been seeing these trends, sent us a copy of this security hologram." Deputy Kalick clicked a remote and dark hologram sprung to life above the table. "This was recorded by a diner camera about half a kilometer up the street during local night, so we can't really see much. But you can just make out three people, and then, this."

Iella leaned forward and squinted, though it didn't really help her see better. The hologram was dark and fuzzy and she could just barely make out three silhouettes in the poor street lighting.

Then, three narrow shafts of red light burst upwards.

Iella stole a glance to the right. Leia had stiffened, almost imperceptibly. Iella turned her attention back to the hologram. One of the blades of light - presumably lightsabers - went on and off during what appeared to be a two on one fight. There was a brief tussle on the ground, then two blades swung widely at the third. All three went out. Two of the silhouettes walked away.

Deputy Kalick turned off the holoprojector. "A few hours later, at local daylight, a dead Elomin was found at this location, his body in several pieces. There was no blood splatter though and all the wounds appeared cauterized. There were no weapons found nearby and local law enforcement doesn't have any leads on suspects."

"Those were not Jedi," Leia said.

"No, no, of course not," Deputy Kalick said. "We certainly don't think they are. As I understand, there are several, ah, types of - I'm sorry, I don't really know the terminology - Force users? Many different types, so we certainly didn't presume these three to be Jedi."

Leia frowned. "I see."

"Ambassador," Director Brollin broke back in, "though we didn't presume them to be Jedi, we did presume them to be, ah, Force users - forgive me, I'm not familiar with the correct terminology either. Given that, this is not something that we," he gestured around the table, "are equipped to deal with." Director Brollin leaned forward. "As I understand, shortly before the war with the Yuzong Vong broke out, your brother met with some members of the senate about restarting the Jedi Council, is that correct?"

Iella caught a quick glance from Leia. She was pretty sure she wasn't going to like where this was going.

"It was a single, very brief conversation," Leia said. "Not much more than broaching the topic. The war and the rebuilding effort got a bit in the way."

"Yes, indeed, we've all been very busy," Director Brollin said. "I thought, in light of this event, it might be time to have the conversation again."

Leia transformed into full diplomatic mode. She sat up straight and leaned just slightly forward. She smiled gently and lightly folded her hands on the table. "That's very forward thinking of you Director, and I appreciate your trust in the Jedi. However, one doesn't simply snap their fingers and have a Jedi Council. Given the potential timely nature of this issue, whoever or whatever it even is, a full Jedi Council may not be the best tool to engage it, especially not without more information."

Director Brollin nodded, and started to reply. Iella saw her opening. "Director, if I may?"

Director Brollin looked at her. "Yes, Iella, please."

Iella partially mimicked Leia's mannerisms. "I think we're probably right to presume these three individuals are non-Jedi Force users." Iella felt no need to apologize for the terminology. "But I also think the Ambassador is correct in suggesting that we simply don't know enough here to know if a Jedi Council is the proper tool to engage this issue. Now that we all have a starting point, I recommend we reconvene, perhaps in a day or two, to give us all time to gather more information and properly define the problem. In the meantime we may get more reporting from our local team on Praxis to help guide us."

"Very well. We'll reconvene in two days." He looked at Leia. "Ambassador, do you think your brother will be able to join us then?"

"I will make it my top priority," Leia said.

"Excellent. Again, Ambassador, thank you for your time and we'll see you in two days."

As everyone stood up to leave, Iella lightly tapped Leia on the arm, and nodded quietly for Leia to follow her out.

"You see, that is exactly what I've been talking about for months," Leia said as soon as Iella's office door closed behind them. "This isn't the first time I've been caught like that, someone having a specific question for Luke and I just don't have an answer."

Iella handed her a drink out of the refrigerator. "I know. I'm sorry."

Leia sat in the chair on the other side of Iella's desk and swirled her drink around. "When I was a little girl back on Alderaan, once in a while my father would tell me stories about working with the Jedi Council. Peacekeeping, negotiations. The Clone Wars. He used to call the Jedi 'the light of freedom in the galaxy, against all that was dark'."

Iella put a hand on Leia's arm. "He knew that would be you someday."

Leia smiled a bit. "I suppose he did."

Leia opened her mouth again, as if to say more, then closed it. She leaned back in her chair. "Can't change the past."

"No, you can't."

Leia took a sip of her drink. "If my father had known anything about how the Jedi Council worked internally, he never told me about it. I was busy with my own missions when Luke was talking to the senate panel. I knew he was doing it, but I wasn't sure what actually happened or what Luke had in mind." She looked up at Iella. "I just don't know the inner workings of what a Jedi Council is supposed to be."

Iella nodded. She was about to say something she knew Leia wouldn't like. "I bet I know who does though."

"Yeah, Luke."

"Well, yes. But, actually no."

"Corran?"

"No."

"Who?"

"Our reference point is the Jedi Council during the Clone Wars, right?" Iella said. "Who's our resident expert on the Clones Wars?"

Leia blinked. Then her expression slowly shifted to one of horror as she shook her head. "No. Are you crazy? You can't bring her in here. She's incapable of behaving like a serious adult."

"She knows how the Jedi Council operated though," Iella said.

"She thinks every member of that Jedi Council was a dysfunctional liar." Leia shook her head again. "Everything is a joke or a game to her. If you bring her in here, she will ruin every micron of credibility Luke and I have had to rebuild for this family over the past ten years."

"She's done well before," Iella said. "She brought the right people together to go to Formuth." Leia narrowed her eyes. "She was key to that incident a year ago, after the Rogue Squadron bay got blown up." Leia waved it off. "And she was able to talk to that Utapaun councilor about training you asked her to do."

"She was drunk the entire night," Leia said. "That doesn't count."

"And what about Deputy Kalick?" Iella said. "Where do you think he got the phrase 'many types of Force users' from? That was part of his 'Jedi fun fact for the day' nearly a year ago."

"See, that's what I'm talking about,' Leia said. "She does not treat anything with seriousness."

"She clearly made enough of a positive impression on him that he remembered it a year later," Iella said. Leia waved it off again. "You said yourself a Jedi Council might not be the best tool for this."

"I was stalling."

"You convinced me. And I'm sure Brianna would think it was a bad idea too. But unlike the rest of us, she would be able to articulate why. And bring along some Jedi Council history with it."

"And we'd still be left with no actual solution," Leia said.

Iella held up her hand. "Well, one step at a time. They need to be pushed to want to look for another solution."

Leia leaned back and crossed her arms. "Let me guess. You think Brianna will be part of that too."

Iella shrugged. "Perhaps."

Leia shook her head again. "I really think this is a mistake."

"And I really don'tthink so," Iella said. "Also," Iella proceeded carefully, "you might be a little bit biased."

"I think I've earned the right to be a little bit biased," Leia snapped.

Iella leaned forward. "Listen, if you try to ask Luke to do this, Wedge will absolutely fight you on it." Leia rolled her eyes. "If Iask Brianna to do it, Wedge doesn't even have to know, because he's used to me not telling him about work stuff, and Luke won't know, because Brianna never tells him what she's doing anyway."

Leia snorted. "That part is true at least."

Iella waited while Leia stared back at her.

"Are you asking me for my permission, is that what this is?" Leia asked.

"Well, no," Iella said. "Not exactly. But it certainly won't do for me to try to do one thing with Brianna while you're doing something else."

Leia shook her head at the floor for almost a full minute. "I am absolutely going to regret going along with this." She looked up at Iella. "I want to be in the room when you talk to her."

"Absolutely," Iella said. "One hundred percent."

Leia finally looked a little bit defeated. "I still think this is a mistake."

"How did you know I was here?" Brianna asked.

Iella walked beside her down the hall to her apartment. "Camie," she replied.

"Is that how this works?" Brianna said. "The spies have spies?"

Iella smiled a bit. "Sometimes."

"So what are we doing? Is it fun and interesting?"

"I think you'll find it interesting."

"Hmm."

Iella turned to look at her. "How about challenges? You like those, right?"

"Sure," Brianna said. She looked back at Iella. "If they're interesting."

Iella nodded. "Fair enough." She led Brianna into the apartment and down the hall. She started typing the combination into her office.

"Is this the spy room?" Brianna asked.

"It's my secure home office," Iella said. "Even Wedge doesn't come in here."

Brianna grinned. "Definitely the spy room."

Iella opened the door. Leia was already sitting in a chair off to the side, sipping some tea. "Have a seat." Iella motioned for Brianna to sit in the chair on the front side of the desk. Iella walked around to the back side. She glanced around just in time to catch Brianna and Leia eyeing each other warily. Iella sat down.

Brianna poked at Iella's candy bowl. "Ooh, are these the minty ones? I like these."

"Have as many as you want," Iella said. Iella didn't normally keep a candy bowl. But it seemed like a reasonable investment.

"So," Iella said, as Brianna crunched on her candy, "yesterday, Leia and I were at a Director's meeting at the NRDI. Apparently our analysis division has been tracking some odd reporting from a small handful of worlds, including Praxis. Have you ever been to Praxis?"

"Nope, don't think so," Brianna said.

"A liaison team on Praxis sent us a security hologram. In the hologram you can see the silhouettes of three people, with what look like red lightsabers, engaged in a two-on-one fight."

Brianna took a long moment to shift her eyes to Leia and then back to Iella. "Well, that could be anyone."

"We didn't speculate on who exactly they were," Iella said. "We do know one was an Elomin. He was found dead in that location the next morning. In several pieces."

Brianna took another mint. "Sucks to be him."

"My director had the idea," Iella continued, "that the best way to address the situation would be to restart the conversation on reinstituting the Jedi Council."

Brianna stopped midway in putting the mint in her mouth. "Well, I hope you told him that was a stupid idea."

"I said it was premature to think about that without knowing more," Leia said.

"See, that's why I could never be a politician," Brianna said. "Always so wishy washy. Why can't anyone just say no around here?"

"No one likes to be told no," Leia snapped.

"That's probably why it needs to happen more often," Brianna snapped back.

"So, you think this is not a good idea?" Iella said, trying to recapture Brianna's attention.

"Of course it's a bad idea."

"Why?"

"Because it's complete overkill," Brianna said. "It'd be like building a star destroyer from scratch just to take out one guy with a mortar tube. Maybe you get the guy eight months from now, but then you have to figure out what to do with this behemoth you just constructed for no reason."

"And by behemoth, you mean what, exactly?" Iella asked.

"A Jedi Council isn't just a Jedi Council," Brianna said. "It's a council of something. Assuming we're using the Clone Wars era as the reference, the Jedi Council was a twelve person body that sat on top of a ten thousand-person bureaucratic monstrosity. These people had their fingers in everything. The senate, knowing which Force sensitive kids were born all over Republic jurisdiction, collecting them as toddlers, all aspects of training, who passed their tests to get promoted and who didn't, who got which padawan, who went on which missions."

Brianna put the mint in her mouth. "If you think about it, my dad has basically been a one-person Jedi Council for decades, on top of doing individual training and recruiting and missions. And I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, he had three kids who never got to see him."

"As it happens, the person they actually wanted to talk to was your father," Iella said.

"Well, I sure hope someone told them where they could shove that idea."

"I told them he wasn't available," Leia said.

"You did?!" Brianna raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, I did."

"Wow. Better late than never, I guess."

"So, you know how the Jedi Council functioned," Iella said, before a fight could break out.

"You mean dysfunctioned?" Brianna said, turning back to Iella. "Yeah, I know all about it."

"How dysfunctional could it have been?" Iella asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Brianna said, reaching for another mint. "They only had a Sith Lord as a next door neighbor for two decades and had no idea. They even knew there was one running around somewhere ten years before the Clone Wars even started. They did jack all about it, then got suckered into fighting a war against droids. Sheev Palpatine's over here playing three dimensional chess while these morons on the Jedi Council are busy tripping over their own shoelaces."

"I see."

"And that's before you account for the Council's missteps with Anakin."

"So, what I'm getting out of this," Iella said, cutting Leia off, "is that you are very knowledgeable about Jedi Councils."

"Yeah, I am." Brianna leaned back in her chair. "More knowledgeable than anyone else you could talk to."

"Excellent." Iella smiled. "How would you like to come to my office tomorrow to talk to my director about it?"

Brianna hesitated. "You want me," she pointed at herself, "to come see your boss," she pointed at Iella, "and repeat everything I just said?"

"No, no, not exactly," Iella said, before Leia could protest. "My director just needs a bit of…education. Remember you said this building could use some education?"

"Did I say that?"

"You did say that."

Brianna shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds like something I'd say."

"You just have to think of it like," Iella thought quickly, "like one of your beginner lightsaber classes. They don't know what they don't know. They just need some education."

Brianna pursed her lips. "What makes you think they're even going to listen to me?"

Iella leaned forward. "They'll start listening to you because of your name." Brianna scrunched her face up in disgust. "They'll finish listening to you if they think you make sense and they can trust your analysis. Remember you were lamenting the lack of skepticism people had, believing whatever you said just because of who you said you were? Here's your chance to give them a real reason to believe what you say."

Briann's scrunched face softened a tiny bit. "Do you remember Deputy Kalick?" Iella asked.

"Who?"

"He's the Deputy Assistant Director for our Analysis Division," Iella said. "He was the one giving us the briefings the last time you were in my office."

"Hm, yeah, vaguely, I guess."

"He was also in the meeting with us yesterday," Iella said. "He was quite proud to be able to remind people that there were, quote, 'many types of Force users'."

Brianna grinned. "Oh yeah, now I remember that guy. That's pretty funny."

"So clearly, you've made a positive impression on at least one person already." Iella paused while she let that sink in. "And," she continued, "if nothing else, this might give a few people an idea of what is or is not appropriate to ask for in the future."

Brianna nodded slowly. "That could be useful." She looked at Leia. "Are you going to be there?"

Leia turned to Iella. "Am I going to be there?"

Iella drummed her fingers on her desk. Her colleagues were certainly expecting Leia to be there, especially since they were really expecting Luke. But Iella wanted Brianna's credibility to stand on its own. "Probably not," she said. "But let me think about it." She turned back to Brianna. "What do you think?"

Brianna held her gaze for a moment, then leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, sure why not? That sounds like fun, I'll come do your thing."

"Excellent. You can meet me in the NRDI lobby at zero seven-thirty tomorrow morning."

"Seven-thirty? Sheesh, you work early."

Iella shrugged. "Sorry, nothing I can do about that part."

"Oh, all right. Early, it is."

"They have to be able to trust you," Leia broke in."

"Relax," Brianna said lightly. "I'm charming and delightful, remember?"

"You'd better be."