Dana was out of the pilot's seat at the instant the Distant Star touched down. Zariba had been sent back to her room as soon as the call had come through, and Cecile was waiting by the loading ramp controls to bring them on board. Her own destination was the medical bay for a local sedative.

"Dana! We need that injector in fifteen seconds!"

"I know, I know!" A lot of the junk that came with the ship had apparently been stuffed into the many otherwise empty lockers in the room, all of which fell out in a big mess when she opened them. None had thought to actually label where their medical supplies were being kept.

When she did actually find the sedative, another injector caught her attention. A cocktail of drugs that she quickly realized as anti-depressants. Maarani hadn't mentioned anything about Zariba having one during their escape, or about carrying one herself. The concern was pushed aside when another yell came from the cockpit.

By then, Maarani had been set down in the pilot's chair where Izan was frantically tying a splint around her leg. She was biting into Jayden's gauntlet, her continued screams muffled by the metal and synthfibre.

"Hold on." Dana jabbed the injector into a vein right below her knee and forced in the full dose.

It took a full minute for Maarani to actually regain any form of self control. The pain was far from gone, but at the very least she could open her eyes properly. She tried to yell all manner of obscenities before remembering Jayden's hand was still in her mouth, which she shoved out promptly.

"Dana, you need to learn how to fly beyond 'go forward' because I am not going through this again!" There was still an awful lot of pain when she brought the ship back out of the abandoned landing bay. Above were several blaster batteries trained on their course away from the station.

The holographic projector came to life before she could ask how Dana got down there in the first place without being shot to pieces. To her utter disgust, Luxa was the one to appear.

"So, you killed the assassin then. I really underestimated you-"

"Bitch! Backstabbing cunt! Give me one chance and I'll-"

"Turn around now, Twi'lek. I want my son back on the station immediately."

Izan shoved past Jayden to answer for himself. "Save it mother. I appreciate the credits, but I told you that I'm taking my chances. Hidden Hand have nothing on the HK-50's or the Sith."

"Izan, don't be a fool! Whatever you may think, I do still care about you! I paid dearly to get your name cleared from their hit list!"

His lip went pale from how hard he bit down on it. The next few words were crucial. And they would possibly break his own mother's heart. He looked to Maarani, who glanced back in confusion. He didn't even fully understand his own motivations anymore.

"I've got three Jedi with me, mother. And unlike you, I'm not going to betray them for a pathetic bounty. Also the food there sucks."

"You what-"

His hand was shaking for a little while after cutting her off. There was disinterest, and then there was active subversion. "I didn't even think of my own mother as a hero, and she still managed to disappoint me."

The unpleasant silence that followed punctuated his mood perfectly. He had a satchel filled with physical credits, and a heart that felt colder than what even Dana could manage.

Of course, staring at the hyperspace window grew tedious after just two minutes of the painfully dazzling sight. "I think we're a bit beyond family counselling, Dana, but I'm willing to give it a go."

"Not happening Izan."

Maarani could tell when all three of them looked at her. Of course, they weren't entirely accustomed to her taking-charge attitude. "We go to Citadel Station, get my leg fixed, and your stuff back. Then we find an isolated and uninhabited world to set down on for training. You and I need to learn self defence, and both you and Dana can use some flight lessons. Jayden, you can take our little bitch out for a walk when we're done with the Mandalorian boot camp."

"Zariba isn't a pet, and I don't think you should be making remarks like that given the circumstances."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you all wanted me to stop swearing and making stupid remarks. Boy was I wrong!"

Jayden went to grab Maarani's chair when she was stopped yet again by Dana. This time, she wasn't nearly as willing to let the matter slide. "That's what they want. I want you to stop making light of the fact that we are holding an innocent hostage that you threatened to murder! Are you sure it's purely defense that you want me to teach you?"

"You're out of line Jayden."

"Let the giant have her say Dana. I've taken shit from everyone else so far. Let her punch my lights out and work out how to return to normal space before we smash into Telos."

The argument ended with Izan leaving his seat and walking out of the cockpit, hand once again held against his face. "I just effectively flipped my mother off for you all. At least Cecile knows how to treat her friends properly." The last sound from him was heavy footsteps, and then eventually the door to his room being opened and closed.

Again, there was a long silence before Maarani spoke up at last. Her soured mood hadn't faded in the least. "Two Jedi. I barely count as one."


Even on Coruscant, which he had always noted for its comfortably warm environment, every Mirialan that Utan had met was clad in fully covered clothing of some sort, predominantly in darker colours too. Whenever he stopped to ask why, the answer had always been maintaining a chaste life, or their assertion that Coruscant was too cold for their liking.

Mirial was definitely much colder, to a point where he had to improvise a way to protect his large ears from the cold. And yet, Venu was wearing an identical outfit to what she commonly wore on Coruscant. Not even gloves had made an appearance outside of their vessel, and he had definitely seen her with a pair beforehand.

Even more perplexing was how unexpectedly vibrant the city itself was. So many of the Mirialans had pleasant attire, smiling faces and a joyful manner to their every action. The few towering spires were glistening marvels to look at, and the rest were each clearly stylized in design. Care and deep thought had been invested in them by their architects. And yet as far as the galaxy knew, they were quiet monks with ritualistic tattoos.

Venu herself wasn't in any hurry to drop that charade. Perhaps it was for his own benefit in her eyes. It was just odd to see such a stoic figure amongst her own people who seemed completely different in comparison.

Their destination was some distance away from the starport itself, located high on one of the towering slopes that loomed beyond the spires. On the other side of the square lay the terminal that they would be using to get there.

It was also where the majority of non-Mirialans seemed to be gathered. Majority being two dozen at most. Of that, barely a few weren't straight up humans.

"Are you seeing something of importance, Master Utan?"

He frowned a little at her assertive question. There didn't appear to be anything of importance to see. And there certainly wasn't anything that indicated as such. Nothing to prompt such a question out of the blue.

And yet, he was starting to develop an uneasy feeling. Observers from afar. "It is what I do not see that concerns me. We will speak of it in a more secure location, preferably a private one." He made his way on to the crowd, now more aware of those around and behind them.

Before entering the terminal itself, Venu noted at least two of their apparent observers across the open square. His caution no longer seemed like an act of paranoia.

The feeling remained after they boarded the hovertrain, and when it departed for the upper section of the city, and even well after they disembarked in the administration district.

It was for the most part a plateau halfway up the mountain ridge, with many of the more secure locations dug into the rock itself for further protection against attack. The archives were one of the deepest locations. Whomever was observing them would be narrowed down by the environment itself soon enough.

Utan found the whole place to be distasteful. While the areas of the Courscant Temple that had been carved into the mountain were brightly lit and decorated with nature, all that Mirial provided was some faint electrical lamps and a polished surface for every pillar. There weren't even any carvings that depicted events, or the simplest of patterns. Dull again came to mind.

It really didn't fit with what he had just seen earlier. And with a lack of anything else to occupy their time…

"Are there no stonecraft artisans on Mirial?"

The question made Venu roll her eyes, as it was hardly a subject she had ever given consideration. "Ritualistic practises don't extend to every part of our lives. I personally see no reason to create murals in a darkly lit corridor that very few people will bother to wander down. Fewer still would stop to examine them at all."

They arrived at the archival vault shortly after. Two lightly armoured droids were standing to either side of the doorway. A solitary Mirialan was at the front desk. She had apparently fallen asleep while watching a holographic performance of sorts.

Venu gestured towards the computer access panel on the desk itself to give them both access inside, not wanting to wake the poor woman. A quick nod to Utan followed, after which both Jedi made their way on through the now opened doorway.

The droids watched them move past, looked to the sleeping attendant, then returned to their standard positions.

"Your turn to guess. Jedi, Sith, Other?"

"I told you, I hate this game of yours. I always say Jedi, then they come back and slice us in half, and we spend weeks getting rebuilt. Not again."

"You are no fun. I will ask them to install a humour module next maintenance cycle."

"Do that and I will shoot your memory banks out personally."

"I would love to see you try."


Utan's previous disappointment with Mirial was muted by the archival section itself. While not anything truly awestriking in design, or carrying the historical weight of the Jedi Archives, it did at least look to be extensive, well kept and cared for. Columns upon columns drifted around a central workstation. Most of them were configured for typical Mirialan storage devices, while the others each catered to a specific alternative, including one that appeared to be organic in nature.

The only other occupant of the vast room took one look up from her work at the two before immediately striding over with a scowl. "Who authorised you two to come in here? This isn't a public library!"

As she was about to interject, Venu noted the arrangement of the archivist's tattoos. Her about-to-be dismissive tone changed to surprise entirely. "Your receptionist was asleep, and our business here is of importance…" Now that she was close enough, the familiarity was unmistakable. "Molbe? How did you… How… When?"

Molbe looked at Venu with every bit of confusion and annoyance she could bear. "You space sick or something? Quite frankly I don't care if you're Jedi, the fact that you strolled in here without even asking is a severe sign of disrespect!" She glared down at Utan, then back at Venu while she continued to look at her strangely.

"Actually that makes it worse! I don't like it when your lot just go wherever you want without the slightest concern for following basic protocol! And for goodness sake go see a doctor if you're suffering from space sickness!"

"Molbe…" Venu clutched at her forehead while taking a step back. The tattoos and voice were right, but her attitude was entirely wrong. She barely even noticed Utan slipping past to access one of the nearby consoles, so caught up in the confusion she was experiencing.

The faint rumble of a bad presence behind her was just enough to end the daze. She had just enough time to turn and see the two people that had been following them. Bounty hunters judging by the concealed weapons they carried.

It was the Rattataki woman who drew her weapon first, a tiny bolt launcher that was presumably laced with toxins. "Utan and Venu? Unusual names for Mirialans, and we assumed one of you was a man." She smirked as Molbe glared at Venu. "I'm not judging. But business is business, and we were told friends of yours did some real nasty things."

"I told them those droid guards are useless. Five times now they've been useless…" Molbe shoved Venu aside to face the hunter directly. "I'm not Utan, I don't know who these people are, and I despise bounty hunters barging in here even more than when-"

"Molbe stop!"

"And who are you anyway? How the hell do you even know my name?"

The lead bounty hunter rolled her eyes. Her hand gripped down to ready the bolt itself. "Enough bickering. We were told to look for green skins, and that's what we found. If you want out of here without being paralyzed for life, you'll do as we say."

Venu tightened her lips. The two hunters clearly didn't know they were dealing with Jedi, but Molbe's sudden unpredictability made her too much of a risk to taking action. And she had lost track of Utan in the stand-off.

"Fine. What is it you want exactly? Be specific, I'm certain whomever is paying you wants accuracy."

The Rattataki tilted her head with a sly smile, but kept her wrist in firing position. "Shame we don't have such co-operative marks like you more often." She nodded to her Duros companion, who lifted up a holo-recorder to capture everything said.

"We want all information relating to a Twi'lek who goes by 'Maarani'. The contractor pointed us here, and to watch for two green skins. Exactly what we found here."

It nearly prompted Venu to roll her eyes at how predictable in retrospect their task seemed to be. "I barely know her, so you've got bad intelligence after all. My friend just behind you on the other hand…"

In the moment that both bounty hunters turned, Utan was ready with his lightsaber. Rather than cutting them down however, he activated a secondary function on the hilt itself that produced a blinding flash of light. A follow-up gesture brought both tumbling to the floor in an unconscious state. He tapped each with his foot to be certain they were out cold.

"I haven't had a great deal of time to test the effectiveness of that. But it did work better than I had been counting on."

"You very nearly blinded me, stupid ugly freak! I want both of you out right-"

A sharp blow to the head from Venu sent Molbe to the floor out cold as well. Her hand was immediately sore for it. It took a few good shakes to get the throbbing sensation to stop, which left Utan's questioning look for her to deal with. "She was always far too strong for mind tricks. I still need to find out what's going on in her head."

"You know her very well then. A friend?"

"In a sense." She knelt down to lift the unconscious Mirialan up in her arms and began carrying her back down the walkway. "Locate whatever we're looking for, but don't access or take it just yet. It's standard protocol to do a full physical and data search after a break-in."

She tilted her head around when the irony dawned on her. "Violent break-ins anyway. I'll deal with the authorities."

The whole incident had gone by quickly for Utan, and so he wasted little time in making his search. The actual volume of information was just as extensive as it appeared. His search was quickly narrowed down to locations that had Republic encryption keys specifically on them, but even then the files in question were vast. Nothing he could hope to pick through for later study under such circumstances.

He left the control station to physically drag the two bounty hunters down the walkway to where Venu was waiting with Molbe. "When are they due to arrive?"

"Maybe a minute at most."

Utan nodded again. It was long enough for him to disarm the two hunters entirely. A communicator pad that he found on the Rattataki he slipped into his own pocket for later study. "I will ask the Council for any information they can glean about who sent these two. What about you, Master Kasua?"

Venu was slow to look back at him. Her attention was still somewhat settled on Molbe. Confused, confused beyond anything she had experienced before. "I need to get in contact with 'old associates'. I need to find out why a friend of mine hasn't been dead for months like I was told." Her lip began to pale from how firmly she was biting on it. The realization was hard to bear.

"They made it clear she had been killed in the riots. And…" Her next breath was wracked by a heavy shudder. "If I'm not mistaken, it's those same riots the Republic stepped in to quell… With military force." Her eyes glazed for a moment in her continued stare down to Utan. "This is directly related to Tegama'Arani, isn't it?"

"That is what we must find out. Together."


"Good, I'll inform him immediately."

Aruga picked up the data pad on his way over to the holoterminal. At that moment, it was relaying a text readout of everything the planted communicator was picking up. Every word spoken by the two Jedi, the authorities they were discussing with, and others that they passed.

He brushed his hand over the terminal controls and began speaking immediately. "Seradan, the plan has been successful so far. The hunters did their job, we now have a direct feed on Utan and Venu. We just need your approval to activate the deep cover agents."

When Seradan flickered into view, he was turned away from Aruga. His chin had been practically glued to his hand. Deep in thought, considering every possible way that could be utilized or exploited to rescue his daughter.

"Not yet. If the Jedi are smart, they will wait a while before trying to access the information, we can't show our true hand too soon." He hummed in further thought. "That informant has proven his value in any case. Have a deep agent on Coruscant observe the Republic Intelligence building, and identify him. Recruiting someone right under the nose of the military would be incredibly useful."

"Actually, he's not a member of the service itself…"

That made Seradan turn around very slowly. He was confused for the most part, but also intrigued. "For someone to spy on the spies… They would have to be very good, experienced. Is there any clue as to who we are dealing with?"

Aruga brought up a secondary hologram in the transmission, a rough capture of what their agents had recovered. "He looks unremarkable at first glance, but at least one agent reported seeing him remove one of his own eyes, and watching it crawl into the building. And he knows how to avoid being followed."

From across the room, one of the technicians called out to Aruga. He left the terminal to converse with him quietly, then returned to the terminal. "We've narrowed the details down to a man named Zimorr. He stopped working for the Exchange about three months ago, and no other personal records have ever been recovered. He's listed as a 'kill on sight' by the Republic Intelligence…" He glanced down at the data pad again, which had temporarily switched over to feeding him further information about Zimorr. "Miraluka, considered hostile and extremely dangerous by the Luka Sene. Not an ideal recruit after all."

"A shame then. No matter, forward the appropriate payment, along with the reassurance that further information will be duly rewarded. Just ensure that he does not go after Tegama'Arani directly. I don't want someone labelled as 'extremely dangerous' near my daughter. That will be all."

Aruga closed the transmission from his end quickly, then looked over to the technician he had just conversed with. "Proceed with payment, inform agents to avoid direct contact with him. Agents on Mirial are to remain at standby observation. And make sure those two bounty hunters are deported before the Jedi have a chance to interrogate them."