By the time Corso had made his way back into their bedroom, Miriah was dressed and straightening the bed. "Mir, love," he started but stopped talking when she turned to meet his eyes. "You heard?"

"I did." She didn't seem upset, he thought.

"You're not going up there, are you?"

"No, but it won't take long to know who is in that pod, and then I'll need to be ready for action here," she explained, and turned to the door. Corso caught her arm and held firm.

"Until then, you can be resting," he said calmly. She could see the concern in his eyes and relented, and when she lay down again, he did as well, pulling her close. "Whoever it is, we'll deal with it."

Miriah sighed. There was never a moment in the day when she felt truly relaxed anymore, although her time with Corso earlier had gotten her as close as she'd been in months. She knew her husband was saying and doing the right things, but she wondered how long she could keep this up. Corso kissed her head as she closed her eyes and she tried, with every fiber of her being, to let go of the tension she held.

Devin stood on the orbital station, watching the severely damage pod being brought into the ship. If there's anyone alive in there, they can't be in good shape, he thought, looking at the group beside him. Medics and a healing Jedi, and enough armed security for a dozen hostiles. He tried to use force to make him more patient, but he had a burning need to know who was in that pod and what their purpose was. As the damaged metal scraped the docking bay floor, he took in a few deep breaths. The crew managed to unlock the hatch, and moved aside for him to look.

Aric had gone home to dress, knowing that they'd be in the office soon. He hated to wake Maura but knew that she would skin him alive if he didn't. She was putting on her armor as well, and turned to him. "Can't we provide security for Mir without waking the detail?" she asked, and saw a smile form on his lips.

"Yes, I think that would be acceptable for all of us. I did, however, send a message to Solasta, just so she would know what was happening." Maura nodded. Everyone was tired, she thought, and just when things looked like they would settle, something else was brought to light. She stood and saw that Aric was making caf, and hugged him.

"I want another vacation," she whispered, and Aric squeezed her against him.

"Me, too," he said.

Lana had received the message as had all senior command, but her datapad was in her bag still. She had taken a warm soak and retired to her bed soon after Tali, and had dropped instantly into a deep sleep. She dreamed of her home as a child and even though she thought she felt a force surge, it was not enough to wake her tired body. She did wake once, when Tali crawled over her to snuggle into her back, and briefly thought of how much she missed Nico when he was on a run.

Devin saw the familiar face of Leontyne Saresh as she was pulled from the damaged pod. Her eyes were closed, and he could feel her life slipping away. "Hurry," he motioned to the medical team, who ran to the twi'lek's side. Devin looked on as the medic shook his head. Together they lifted her with a litter and hurried into the med center. Devin followed, and when they transferred her to the exam bed, her eyes fluttered open and she saw the tall Jedi. Motioning him close, her lips moved but no sound came out. Devin leaned over her and heard her whisper, her lips cracked and bloody. "Pirates. Dantooine." He was pushed aside as the alarms on the monitors blared and the area around the bed swarmed with people. After only a minute, he knew it was lost, and sank into a chair just outside the room. He could feel Saresh enter the force, and it was surprisingly easy.

Aric and Maura were inside the apartment, the men sipping caf. Miriah was too restless to sit, and paced around the family room. Around and around, stopping only to shake out her arms. The anxiety was growing, and finally Maura stood and intercepted her sister. "Mir, show me that one stretch that you do in your workout," she said, and Miriah's brow furrowed, staring at her sister. With a shrug, Miriah stretched and felt the tension in her back lessen. Maura was beside her, talking about the next pose and breathing.

Corso saw Maura trying to calm his wife and felt so grateful. Aric was watching them too. "Mir's gonna blow soon," he said softly, and Corso couldn't deny it. He just sighed, and wished with all his heart that he could do more. When the women had gone into the kitchen, he sat forward and saw Aric look at him.

"We need a plan," he said.

"For?"

"When that happens," Corso replied. "You know how unpredictable she can be when she's pushed into a corner. We need to be prepared, to have someplace she can be without hurting herself or anyone else."

Aric looked thoughtful. "Maybe you're right. I'll come up with some options."

Corso nodded. "Thanks, man. I'm worried about her."

"I know," Aric said. "I wonder every day how she doesn't just scream."

Corso chuckled. "Maybe she'd feel better if she did."

Devin scrubbed his hands over his face and hit the frequency for his parent's apartment. When they came into view, he saw that Miriah was fighting to stay focused. "It was Saresh," he said, and saw them all look at each other. "I'll be back with her body in a couple of hours."

"Son, thank you for going up there," Miriah said, and he saw a sad smile on her face. "I guess she just really wanted to come back here." He nodded and disconnected the call, feeling much older than his years. What could Saresh have meant by the words she said, he wondered, but stood to see to the loading of the stasis chamber in the shuttle.

Miriah was heading to the door before anyone else could react. "Mir, what's the rush?" Maura asked.

"I need to let Rans know what happened, and that we had nothing to do with this. If she pulls our treaty on the trade routes, our pilots are in danger," she replied, and the others quickly caught up to her. As one, they crossed the quiet war room and went into the office wing, where Miriah pulled up her holo and the frequency for Chancellor Rans. Instead of the Chancellor, however, her assistant appeared in the image.

"Commander Riggs, good afternoon. The Chancellor is..."

"I need to speak to her, immediately," Miriah said, cutting him off.

"But..."

"This is of utmost importance," Miriah snarled, and the assistant drew back from the holo. He nodded and rushed out of view, and Miriah took a couple of deep breaths, trying to rein in her temper. When the assistant again appeared, she clenched her fists at her side.

"I'm so sorry, Commander..."

"Then tell her that we have Saresh," Miriah growled out, and the impact hit the assistant as his eyes grew wide. He hurried off again, and seconds later, Rans appeared.

"I heard our wayward former chancellor made her way back to you," Rans said.

"She was found in an escape pod, and died before we could talk to her," Miriah explained, and Rans had the grace to look sad. "I wanted to make sure that this didn't impact our agreement."

Rans looked startled. "Of course not. You delivered her to us, she decided to leave," she said. Sighing, she studied her feet for a moment. "I guess it was for the best, she hated the restrictions here, and always talked about how well she was treated on Odessen. She even showed me some of the things she learned to make while she was there. It was as if she wasn't in a cell at all."

"I apologize for interrupting your day, but my pilot's lives are important to me," Miriah said, and saw Rans nod. "Do you want the body for burial, or shall we take care of that?"

"She wanted to be on Odessen. Let her rest there," Rans replied. With a nod, they ended the call, and Miriah sat back in her chair, rubbing her eyes.

Devin stepped off the shuttle ahead of the stasis chamber and assisted the crew in unloading it. He could feel Magdalane's presence and when he turned, saw her waiting for him. They walked in silence to the med center, and once there, Devin felt the lack of sleep he'd had. "She looks like she was beaten," he finally said, and Mags nodded.

"She does. Of course, the ejection of the pod, if she was unrestrained, would have caused at least some of the damage. I can't help but wonder if the ship she was on was taking her in for the bounty and she managed to get into the pod and eject herself." Mags was using the force to scan the body, and finally straightened. When she did, she saw Devin asleep, his head on the desk. Instead of waking him, she left him alone, and accompanied the chamber into their holding area.

Lana walked into the office wing, feeling better than she had in days. She stopped short at the amount of activity there, and with a little trepidation, she went into Miriah's office. "Good morning, Commander."

Miriah looked up from her work and smiled. "Hey, Lana. I'm glad you were able to rest."

"I did. What happened that everyone is here so early?" Miriah told her of the night's events, and with her face reddened by embarrassment, she pulled out her datapad.

"I didn't hear it, at all. I'm so sorry," Lana started, but Miriah shook her head.

"There was no need for you to have to get up and do anything," Miriah told her. "I was just up already and decided to get started with the day."

"I feel terrible, though," Lana said. "How can I help now?"

"We need to bury her here, so if you can arrange that, that would be great. No ceremony, I think." Miriah was already shuffling through the datapads on her desk, and Lana stood.

"Of course, I'll have it done at once," she said, and had turned to the door when Miriah called her name.

"Please, my friend, don't worry about this. We are looking for a healthy mom and baby here. The rest is just background noise, okay?"

Lana smiled warmly. "Agreed, Commander. I'll be here if you need anything else."

Corso and Aric had gone for breakfast to bring back, hoping to get Miriah to at least eat. "She's going to fade fast today," Corso said, and Aric agreed.

"I will, too. Lately, I'm feeling my age on this constant state of alert," he admitted. "We may go home at lunch, try to get a little rest. Hopefully, Mir will go home at lunch and sleep."

"I sure hope so," Corso said. "I can't even focus."

"That's because you need food and caf," Aric said, and laughed. Corso chuckled, too. It was a good stress reliever, and he felt a little better as they entered the office.

Caly was working in the apartment, finishing a video. When she was done, and dinner in to slow cook, she sat on the sofa, clicking on the holo. She was almost asleep when the news reported talked about how Alliance forces had killed former Republic Chancellor Saresh, and she bolted up. That can't be true, but even if it is, she was warned, she thought. She rushed out of the apartment, looking for Torian. Once she was at his side, and he told her the true story, she felt anger creeping over her. "Then why would they say that?" she asked, her face hot with her emotions.

"Because they skew everything. One of the reporters must have been on the orbital station, and saw what happened, but they don't care if what they say is true or not, just that it made people watch," he explained. "That's why we keep them up there."

Caly sighed. "Mom is going to hit the roof over this," she said, "and she's already been up all night."

"She knows what they do, love. It's always been that way. Whenever something is good, there's always another faction that wants to tear it down." He hugged her tightly. "Everything will be fine, I promise." She let herself enjoy his closeness for a few more seconds before pulling back, knowing he was working.

"See you later," she told him. "I'm going to take some snacks to the office." He kissed her quickly and turned to the ship that had just landed, and she made her way to the apartment to put together some things for her parents, feeling lucky that she had Torian in her life, and wondering what else the world would show her today.

Devin woke and stood, alone in the room. He blinked and stretched, then made his way to his mother's office. He hadn't said anything about the words Saresh had gotten out, and only wanted his mom to hear them first. He turned the corner at the office wing and saw the detail, and knew his parents were there. Miriah's head came up as he entered, and she jumped from her chair to race to him, hugging him fiercely. "Thank you for doing this, Dev. I really appreciate it," she told him.

"I'm glad to help. I do have to tell you what she said, just before she died. I can't really make sense of it, but she was determined to tell me. She said, 'pirates' and 'Dantooine', and then she was gone."

"Crazy," Aric said. "If there was pirate activity on Dantooine, the company we have there now would have notified us."

Miriah thought about that for a minute. "I'll call the governor there, see if I can get any more info," she said thoughtfully. After a moment, she asked, "Did she suffer?"

Devin relayed the diagnoses Mags had provided. "I guess she did," he concluded. Miriah only nodded, and when everyone in the room expected her to return to her desk, she did the opposite, heading out into the hallway. She was almost to the war room when her detail caught up, and Corso followed at a run. When she reached the apartment, he slowed, and went in behind her. Not stopping to greet Caly, Miriah continued to her bed, crawling under the covers fully clothed, only kicking off her boots. By the time Corso talked to Caly and then found her, Miriah was sound asleep.