Miriah rubbed her gritty, tired eyes with her knuckles. It was well past midnight, and she admitted to herself that she wouldn't be able to go on much longer. She had strode angrily off the shuttle and into the military office wing, and had been watching the interrogation for hours now. They'd taken a short break, where Corso and Caly brought food for everyone, and she'd eaten. Caly had regained her color and Torian was by her side. Corso had settled in at her side after that, though she saw him dozing off and on. When Solasta finally had the guards take the man to the detention cells, she stood. Corso's eyes were closed and she reached over to brush her fingers through the silver and caramel hair at his temples, smiling as his eyes slowly opened. "Let's go home, sugar," she said softly.
Corso stretched and stood. "Yeah, let's," he replied, and hugged his wife. This afternoon, in the armored transport, he was worried about her and Caly, and even though it had all turned out okay, the mysteries of the man who had driven them off was still out there. When he'd closed his eyes, the prisoner was still crying and saying that all he knew was that when they'd been given the ship, to leave their mining colony home, they were told that the kindness would be repaid in responding to a message they'd receive once they were on Odessen. The benefactor was still unknown, but the prisoner refused to take another photo or splice another holocam. They made their way across the war room, and Corso knew the next few days would be filled with interrogations and suspicions.
Miriah didn't stop, she went straight to their room. She was in bed before Corso had gotten them a light snack and some water, and he joined her, satisfied when she ate a little. With the lights off, and her head on his bare chest, she ran her fingertip over the thin pink line that marked his cardiac implant. "Have you had any issues since this?" Her voice was almost a whisper, and he kissed her head.
"Not at all. Not even today, when I was afraid we'd be driven off the gorge and into the river," he responded. He felt her sigh and hoped she'd be able to sleep.
Caly kept waking up, her nightmares making her shake and sweat. In her dreams, her mother was with her and her dad, and they ended up trapped in the smoking vehicle. She woke up a third time, a scream dying in her throat, Torian's arms around her. "I'm here, sweetie. You're okay," he told her, and she latched onto his arms. He held her close and stroked her hair. "It was a very disturbing day," he finally said. "It's no wonder that you're having dreams about it."
"I never knew the kinds of things that Mom and Dad went through," she admitted, and buried her face in Torian's neck. "I mean, I knew, but I really didn't, you know?"
"I know. Until you go through it, it's hard to realize all the emotions and stress a threat can cause," he told her. Not to mention how afraid everyone around you is, he thought. He felt her start to relax and sighed. Now, I'll never be able to feel secure with her off the main base, he told himself.
Aric had escorted the prisoner down to detention, and was on his way home, so tired he was almost stumbling. He'd sent Maura on earlier, to the med center to be checked out, and then to Coleen and Caitlin. He leaned on the elevator walls, and sighed deeply. There was too much going on, he thought, to unravel in a day. He and Solasta had agreed that they'd discreetly bring the rest of the refugees into the one empty barracks, and keep everyone there until they knew what was going on. He slipped his blaster off once inside the apartment, and was taking his boots off in the main room when Maura appeared. "Come to bed," she told him, and when he only stared at her, she went to him and took his arm.
"I was so scared today," he whispered, putting his arm around her shoulders.
"I know. I was, too, but I'm fine," she assured him. She made him sit on the bed and proceeded to help him undress before snuggling in bed next to him. "Rest, my love. Tomorrow will be just as long, I'm afraid." His eyes were closed but just lying down was so nice.
"I love you, Maura," he said softly. He didn't hear her reply, but fell into a deep sleep.
Miriah woke after a couple of hours, her mind unable to turn off the implications of the previous day's events. If the whole group who came here is suspect, what do we do now? She started to get up but her body's exhaustion wouldn't let her. Instead, she tucked her feet against Corso's warm legs and herself into his side and closed her eyes. I never wanted to put Caly in danger, she thought, nor Maura. I don't believe the object was to hurt them, but nevertheless, it might have happened. Sighing, she felt Corso turn to her. "Relax, darlin'," he whispered. "Everyone is fine, and you are tired." He chanted the word relax over and over, stroking her hair and she finally did fall asleep. Corso kissed her head gently and lay back, his muscles sore from the unexpected trip. He'd never tell her that, though. He pulled her a little closer and tried to sleep himself, content that she was so near.
Solasta stood at the door as the thirty-eight people filed in, her eyes narrowed. They had been brought to the empty barracks under the pretense that they would be interviewed about their lives on Odessen. Once they were all accounted for, Miriah made her way into the room, and it automatically fell silent. "You shouldn't be here, Commander. They are known spies," Solasta said, unable to keep the low growl out of her words.
"I'll stay on the sidelines, but I wanted them to look at me, see my eyes, as they told of their betrayals," Miriah said, standing straighter. Aric and Corso were at her sides, and the detail ringed the room. "Go ahead, General."
Solasta turned to the group, and all eyes were on her. "You. On the end. What were you told to do when you arrived at Odessen?"
The older man stood, but guilt was written all over his face. "I was told that when someone from our group asked for the planet maps, to give copies without question."
Solasta nodded, and he sat. One by one, the group stood and stated what he or she was asked to do. When they had reached the last of the group, Miriah was lost in thought. Each person, asked to do something that, by itself, didn't necessarily seem sinister. Put together, it made up the group that sabotaged the power grid. The Rodian in the detention area was only the last piece of the puzzle. Solasta instructed the group to stay put and it was only then that a dozen troopers, not the Commander's detail, stepped into the room. Miriah left behind Solasta, Aric and Corso following. When they reached Solasta's office, they shut the door carefully behind them.
"It was all a ruse, but I doubt that anyone knew all of what was planned. I believe that they wanted a safe place, and this was only the means to get here. Have we had any trouble from this group otherwise?" Miriah asked Solasta, and saw her shake her head.
"Nothing. Model citizens, every one. Working, contributing. It was a pretty elaborate set up," Solasta replied.
"Let's keep them together for a few more hours. Aric, take Devin and go back to the kidnapper from yesterday. Tell him we have the others and see if he can elaborate on why he wanted to be captured so badly." Miriah stood and Aric nodded.
"On it, Mir. You going home?"
"Yeah, I will. Come when you're done, we'll have lunch. Sol, you're invited, too."
"I appreciate it, but I'm picking Aissa up for her routine physical this afternoon. I'll be back here after." Solasta had thought about postponing appointment but really didn't want to.
"Take your time," Miriah assured her. "They're all safe in the barracks. Food will be brought in for them, and they'll be fine until we decide to let them go home."
"Will we? Decide to let them go?" Corso asked, his frown of worry wrinkling his face.
"What else can we do? I don't believe any of them have any further instructions. The power grid was their shot, and they didn't cripple us, like they imagined they would. Besides, with so many little things that was asked, they likely didn't realize their part in it all until it was done." Miriah sighed. "We'll just hold for now."
Lana had woken the previous evening, Tali worried about her. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry," she said, kissing Tali's cheek. "Let me get your dinner."
"I ate already, Mama. I opened the fridge and got some soup and made a sammich with cheese," she said, obviously proud of herself.
"Oh, my sweet girl. How did you heat the soup?" she asked, but Tali only looked at her and Lana had to laugh, imagining the little girl channeling force like she had done only a week ago.
"I was gonna take a bath, but I couldn't get the water just right. Will you help me?" she'd asked and Lana had gladly gotten her ready for bed. Now, she had just dropped off Tali, late, and gone into the office mid morning. She knew this extreme fatigue would not last forever, but at only seven weeks along, it was almost crippling. She saw Aric enter Miriah's office and Devin follow him out, and wondered what they'd found out. I will come back here with Tali after lunch and get someone to brief me, she thought, stifling a yawn.
Miriah entered her home and heard Caly in the kitchen. Going in, she saw her daughter's pale face and careful movements, and knew she'd had a rough night herself. Hugging her, she felt Caly melt into her. "Hon, Dad and I can eat at the cantina tonight. I can tell you're exhausted."
"I kept having nightmares," Caly admitted, and held onto her mother. "If you guys don't mind, I will go home and rest."
"Of course," Corso said, kissing Caly's cheek. "You need time off just like anyone. We're going to rest a bit before afternoon." They waved as Caly left, and Corso took his wife in his arms. "Bed or sofa?" he asked, and Miriah led him to the sofa. Once they were stretched out and quiet, he started to rub her neck, knowing the knots would be there.
"I just can't believe we didn't realize," Miriah said softly.
"How could anyone? The participants didn't even realize," he replied, and she closed her eyes, the feel of his hands soothing her. "I'll go get us some lunch. Aric and Maura will be here soon."
"Yeah," she agreed, and sat up. "I guess I just can't figure out, at this point, if we should do anything at all with the refugees."
"We'll discuss it, I'm sure Aric has some ideas," Corso said, dropping a quick kiss on her lips. She watched him leave and kicked off her boots. I'd just say let it go, she thought, since we know the circumstances. She got comfortable and pulled the throw over her legs, the restless night and early morning catching up to her.
Aric and Devin left the detention area. The would-be kidnapper had told them how he'd figured it all out, after the power grid explosion. He seemed relieved to tell them everything, even though Devin found it hard to blame any of them. They were just coming up to the war room when they saw Corso, who invited Devin to join them. He always had lunch with Mia and the kids, just to give her a little break, so he left them.
Aric took some of the food and they walked to the apartment. Once inside, they put the food on the low table in front of the sofa, where Maura had joined Miriah. When they all had a plate, Aric told them about the prisoner and what he'd revealed. "I believe him, Mir. Devin did, too."
"I do as well, but what do we do now?" she asked.
"I think we be honest with them. Tell them that it's hard to be able to keep them here when everything was under a false pretense." Maura punctuated her words with pointing her fork at them. "There's a definite lack of trust, at least from me."
Miriah nodded slowly but didn't speak. "The thing is, they've contributed to their respective communities," Corso said. "If we exile them, we'll be the losers. I think that now everything is out in the open, we can start over and work from there."
"There haven't been any direct threats to Miriah. The whole power grid episode was just a blip. A failure, which Malgus can't be pleased about. The thing I'm most confused about is that the dark force user isn't someone in this group. To me, that's the real threat."
Theron had received General Dinn's message and the files, and went to work with the info given. He'd worked, every day, on his terminal and with the items that he was assigned, head down, just keeping himself busy. He'd spent time with Missy, and thought she was a wonderful friend, but there was no romance on his horizon. He figured he was okay with that. Now, he was puzzled by the complete normality of the individuals he was investigating. Even before they worked on the mining colony, there was nothing sinister in their backgrounds. Shrugging, he sent his report to the general and shut down his computer. He had plans to get some food and stretch out in his apartment, and that actually seemed perfect.
The spy had been so thankful that the big, dark haired Jedi had not been at the temple lately. It was hard to keep his shielding up for so long during the day. He had noticed the guards around one of the barracks and had to laugh to himself. He'd seen through the diversion that Malgus had plotted early on, recognizing his master's work. It allowed me to move around, and now the focus is on them, he thought. He knew he needed to keep a low profile still, though. Enough people are snooping around, he reasoned with himself. Leaving the temple, he lingered in the sun, sitting in the courtyard. It's a pretty place, he thought. It will be a shame when there's nothing left but cosmic dust.