Silence. Everyone in the room hadn't moved for at least five minutes.

Eventually, the young Selkath, Shasa, pushed her webbed feet onto the floor to stand. I followed her lead, grabbing my lightsaber off the floor. She met my gaze, studied me before her muffled voice rang out.

"You were right, human. Father died protecting me. They killed him. That Sith killed Father."

The Sith apprentices shuffled around. Some shook their heads in denial.

"The human is manipulating your mind, Shasa!" Her friend shouted. "It's a trick!"

"No. No that...that was real." Shasa's eyes met mine. "Mother didn't go insane. She was right. Everything she said about a masked shadow that kidnapped Father. She was right."

"Do you think we are weak-minded fools?" Her friend shouted at me. "You have no proof of your claims—that is why you must resort to these mindbending tactics to make us believe you. The Sith would not try to deceive us like this!"

"But Shasa can resist mind tricks," another said, stepping forward.

"Who cares, we still need proof. Actual proof!"

Bastila, who had remained silent, stepped to my side. She pushed her hood off of her face.

"There is proof," she said. "We found a Selkath being tortured. They killed him because he would not join the Sith. And there are files of...children being captured against their will."

"No, that's—" The rest of the apprentices sank back. "That can't be right."

"Why would the Jedi lie if there was no proof like that?" Shasa addressed Bastila. "I would need to see for myself, but I think I...believe you." She glanced at her group. "We should at least give them a chance to prove their case. Like a proper Selkath would."

And, one by one, they all nodded their heads in agreement.

And our case was easily proven.

The Selkath all followed us down the hall towards the torture room. I gave Juhani a look as we walked. I still wanted to know how the hell she ended up here. It would have to wait until we'd gotten the Selkath on our side.

When Bastila opened the door, they all hissed in both anger and fear. Some of them turned to glare at me while those on Shasa's side mourned the loss of their Selkath friend.

"Tarna…" Shasa muttered. "He...he asked the Sith to go back home. It was weird that he wanted to join anyway. One of the judges is his father. W-Why is he still here?"

"Another trick!" the same arguing Selkath shouted at me. "The Sith didn't kill him. It was the Jedi!"

"But…" Shasa peeled back the kolto bandages that Bastila had tried to help the poor Selkath with. On the sticky part was a small starburst. "Father told me that all kolto shipments have a different insignia for who it's going to. It was the Jedi who tried to heal him. Not the Sith. If they were going to kill him, why would they try healing him?"

"And look at all these torture devices!" another shouted. "So many. These are all owned by the Sith."

Her friend that had been shouting at me shivered.

"This...this can't be…"

I walked to Shasa's side. "The Sith were using you. They never wanted to help you. Not really."

Shasa leaned onto the metal table and bowed her head. Her gang of Selkath all drooped similarly. Bastila walked to my side and she grabbed my hand and gripped it tight. I raised my brow back at her at this random display of affection yet she stared at the wall.

"We were deceived. For that...we will show the Sith no mercy." She turned to face me. "What do you suggest we do, Jedi?"

Oh, Force, she was asking me?

I sighed. "You don't have to…" Then, I remembered my talk with Ambassador Wann. A smirk lit my face. "Right now, the Selkath judges are being press-ganged into helping the Sith. Many innocent people are dying without the kolto they need. If you speak to the Selkath, tell them what happened both here and to your father, then that'll hurt the Sith where it counts."

Shasa nodded. Then, she turned to address her fellow Selkath. "We'll take the shuttle out of here. Let's leave this place for good." She raised her blaster and the rest of the group copied her actions. And, with that, the Selkath rushed out of the room towards the elevators. Juhani stayed behind and her weary body tightened. I sensed both...fear and shame through the Force.

"Gale…" She bowed, deep. "I'm sorry. I was reckless again. I—"

"You were trying to rescue Belaya, weren't you?" I sighed. "Why did you break into a Sith base without asking for our help?"

The Cathar flinched. "I-Well, that is… I-I had to. It was my fault that Belaya couldn't defend herself from those Sith."

"What do you mean?"

She rubbed her arm. "I tried to give her back that lightsaber like you told me to Gale, but she...she wouldn't take it back." Ugh, of course. Stubborn Jedi. "I told her that I still loved her. When I stupidly said that, she refused to take it. She told me that we shouldn't speak anymore...and…" Her mouth shut, locked closed, after accidentally revealing that in front of Bastila. She waved her hands at the other Jedi. "I-It's not what you think! It's...you know—"

"It's okay." Bastila shook her head with a soft smile. "I understand. Just tell us what happened."

And Juhani told us everything.

After Belaya refused to take the lightsaber, Juhani followed the Jedi across Ahto City, both because she didn't like leaving her unarmed and because she wanted to make things right. However, as Belaya traveled through the halls, the Sith ambushed her. If they were so bold, they must have broken the cameras before the attack. Instead of coming to us, Juhani felt ashamed and followed the Sith to the military base. Yet, even though she was able to sneak around for a bit, they caught her. Since Juhani had experience with the neural restraining collars, she was able to break free and sneak out of the prison complex. She introduced herself to the Selkath as a new apprentice. And that is how she ended up there.

She sighed. "I wanted to try and rescue Belaya myself. This is my fault. But I could not break into the prison without setting off the alarms. So, I tried to get on Shasa's good graces. I figured...maybe I could steal her passcard..."

"Juhani." The Cathar flinched after Bastila called her name. "This isn't your fault. None of it is."

"But it is!" Juhani's face twisted. "I...didn't tell you because I let my love of Belaya blind me. If I told you my error, you would have thought I'd fallen to the dark side. Again!"

"Juhani, I wouldn't have thought that—"

"No. You would have," she hissed. "You act like...like I will fall at the slightest expression of anger or fear. It would have only gotten worse if you knew about Belaya too."

This caused Bastila to tense and in the bond, there was an immense amount of guilt.

"I...well, I was wrong. I'm sorry that I made you feel like you had to hide like this."

Yet this still wasn't enough to snap the Cathar out of her self-doubt.

She hugged herself. "No. Your judgment was right. If I listened to Belaya and ignored my desire to be together then she would have accepted her lightsaber. If I ignored my passions and listened to the Jedi Code, then—"

"If Belaya ignored her pride and accepted her lightsaber anyway, she wouldn't have been captured either," I interrupted. "I told you. We all make mistakes, but this time your only mistake was not trusting us to help you."

The young Cathar's body shivered and her yellow eyes filled with tears. "You…" She chuckled to herself, rubbing the back of her head. "Force...you're right, Gale. Again. Of course you're right. You're never wrong."

I huffed—annoyed that she went back to worshipping me like that again.

"Where is Belaya? We can talk more once we all get the hell out of here."

Juhani nodded. "She's on this level to the South. I'll lead you there."

We ran down the cold halls after the Cathar, the red alarm still flashed brightly. Along the way, heavily armored droids shot at us with hot blaster rounds. All were deflected and, with a tight squeeze of my hand, I disabled the inner workings of one of the shielded droids. It was a simple flick of our lightsabers and we once again sprinted down the halls.

Before we arrived, the comms hissed on.

"Wes?"

Carth. I lifted my arm to respond.

"Yeah?"

"We're in the Submarine Port. Only...one problem."

I sighed. "Only one? That's a miracle."

"Darth Bandon."

Oh. Scratched that. Not a miracle.

I cursed. "Where the hell is Master Koth? He was fending him off."

"I don't know. T3 shut the doors to the Flow Control rooms before we could see…" There was a shuffle. "Jolee suggested we unflood one of the rooms then flood the one closest to us to try and slow him down. But...he's sawing at the doors as we speak."

Bastila raised her own comm. "Sul Koth? Do you read me?"

Static. Kriff. He better not have died on us. As much as I thought he had a lightsaber up his asshole.

Juhani stopped before a door—a dead Sith leaned against the wall, stabbed through with a lightsaber. She motioned at the keypad beside it. Bastila swiped the passcard and the door opened, revealing multiple rows of shielded prison cells. Juhani rushed past them and we followed. Each one was empty. Completely empty.

The Cathar growled with frustration. "No! She...she was supposed to be here!"

We opened the room at the very end of the hallway. The place was a medical facility of some kind. The salty smell of kolto was strong. Six beds lined the wall, each hooked up to a bag of clear kolto. And a singular tank…

Belaya. She floated within the kolto, wires curling up her arms and legs to the breathing apparatus on her face. The drug slowly stitched together the cuts found along her legs, her arms, her torso. Standing beside that tank was Sul Koth. His pointed head didn't move even though he should have sensed our arrival.

Juhani broke into a run then stopped at Koth's side.

"I-Is she alright, Master?"

He peered back at us. "I had to leave Bandon in the halls. I sensed Belaya's pain..." He pressed a few buttons at a terminal. The tank slowly drained into the floor. "The Sith...had been torturing her. It needed to stop."

Belaya coughed once the kolto disappeared. The Padawan shivered probably both from the cold of the kolto and from the pain of her wounds. Her dark eyes narrowed at her Jedi Master then softened once she saw Juhani. Bastila and Juhani got Belaya out of the tank and onto her feet. The Cathar grabbed a robe from the stand next to the tank and helped the Padawan dress. Finally, she took a lightsaber from her own robes and handed it to Belaya.

"I'm sorry," Juhani whispered. "I tried so hard to save you. It's all my fault. I don't know what I would have done if..." Her hands gripped Belaya's tight. "No. It's not my fault. I don't care about what the Code says about...love. I'm tired of suppressing what I feel. It has only ended in misery for me. For us. My love for you...your love for me...the Code will never change that."

The tortured Jedi didn't respond. Instead, she pushed Juhani away as if she hadn't said a word. Her hand curled around the metal hilt of her lightsaber. Something...strange stirred the air. Similar to the taint from Juhani's grove. The only person Belaya focused on was Sul Koth.

"Master."

Belaya's voice was cracked. Dark.

Koth frowned. "Padawan."

She spat out some kolto. She acted weakly yet her gaze was still determined. Strong. Powerful.

"That day…" She sniffed. "That day you said you wanted me to join you in the war...because of my strength in the Force. But that wasn't true, was it?" Her body shivered again. "You wanted to bring Andon."

We all gave Koth a confused look. The old Iridonian didn't look back. He continued to stare down at Belaya.

"Padawan…"

"You wanted to tear Juhani and me apart!" Belaya's shout rang through us. "You knew...you knew about us. You asked me to come with you to make sure we stopped seeing each other." She laughed. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Juhani gaped, shocked at the Jedi Master. "Is...is that true?"

Was it?

"Belaya." Koth stepped closer to her, eyes darkened. Eventually, the Jedi Master grabbed a hold of her shoulders. "Darth Bandon was torturing and manipulating your mind. I didn't know that you felt...this way about Juhani. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. I would have spoken to you—"

"No, you wouldn't have!" Her eyes appeared crazed, glancing at Juhani then at me. "The Council and Masters already hide a truth from the entire galaxy for some lofty 'greater good!' There is ignorance."

I cocked a brow. What was she talking about? What truth?

Koth's grip on her tightened. "That is different. I had no knowledge of this, I swear—"

"—on what, the Jedi Code?" Belaya laughed once. "That means nothing!"

"Listen to me!" Koth shook her, his voice rising for the first time since I knew him. Emotion finally showed on his face. It was fear. "Do you hear yourself? This is exactly what Darth Bandon wants. He wants us to fight amongst ourselves. I didn't know—!"

"You knew! You knew and you keep lying about it!"

"Belaya...I'm sorry, but—"

"Shut up!"

Hiss.

A hot blade stabbed through Sul Koth. Sticking out of his back.

The Jedi Master fell to his knees and grabbed at his chest. The blue lightsaber hissed closed and fell to the ground with him.

We all stiffened in terror at what occurred.

"M-Master…" Belaya's hands shook. "I-I...didn't—"

Bastila rushed to the ground and grabbed the closest kolto patch. I watched Belaya with weariness as Bastila worked to try and save the Jedi Master. It was an effort made in vain. With a wound like that...I doubt he would make it.

Red blood dripped from Koth's mouth. He placed a rough hand on Bastila's arm then whispered words that only she heard. With those final words, the Jedi Master stilled in death.

When Bastila stopped trying to heal Sul Koth, Belaya snapped out of her catatonic state. Her face twisted. She pulled hands through her wet hair.

"What have I done?"

"Belaya." Juhani grabbed her shoulder. "It...it's okay. It was an accident—"

"Stay away!" The lightsaber on the ground jostled and she unleashed her blue blade, pointing it at Juhani. A golden yellow flashed within her eyes. "Stay away from me! This is...all of this is…"

Tears fell down her face. Then, before we could try to reason with her, Belaya bolted out of the medical facility.

Juhani tried to run after her, but I grabbed her arm.

The Cathar hissed. "Let go! She...she's going to fall like I did!"

"We don't have time!" I shouted. "We need to rescue the others. Darth Bandon will kill them if we—"

Juhani swiped at my cheek. It burned enough that I released her and grabbed my face. When the Cathar saw that she hurt me, she stopped trying to run. Her yellow eyes softened with guilt.

"I...I'm sorry, Gale, I…"

I rubbed the blood away from the cut. "I'm fine. But we need to stop Bandon before it's too late."

That made Juhani quiet despite the tremendous amount of pain I could sense from her through the Force. It wasn't the taint...but a strange echo of it.

Bastila, who hadn't said a word after Koth's death, grabbed the Jedi Master's lightsaber then closed the Iridonian's eyes.

"There is no death...there is the Force," she whispered.

"What did he say to you?" I asked. "Before the end?"

"He said…" She stood, gray eyes serious under the blue lights. "The Jedi Code failed us."

Bastila, Juhani, and I followed the trail of chaos through the maze-like Flow Control room. I tried to comm the others to let them know that we were on our way, yet there was no response. Fearing the worst, we enhanced our speed using the Force and dashed through the winding halls. Juhani hung behind, she still felt deep regret over what happened to Belaya. There was nothing that we could do though. Not without sacrificing everyone else.

We arrived at the port to a violent scene.

Sith troops shot at overturned containers. Our team had been using them as cover as they shot out at the Sith. Jolee—kriff that old man—was running around an illegal submarine in the water as he was chased by Darth Bandon. I could hear his stupid taunts from this far away.

Bastila and I looked at each other, then stabbed two Sith soldiers through the back. The troop shouted with surprise at our appearance. HK-47 cackled in the distance as everyone's blaster bolts hit their targets due to our distraction. The ten or so Sith troopers fell with a whimper. All that remained...was Darth Bandon. Both he and Jolee froze near the front of the submarine. Jolee unlocked his green lightsaber from Bandon's red one and groaned.

"You really shouldn't make being late a habit, kid!"

Darth Bandon took a few steps back as four Jedi stood before him. Now that he wasn't fighting an old man, the dark Sith's confident stance wavered.

Oh no. He was going to run. Again!

I reached out through the Force and threw one of the containers at him. The large object missed and fell into the ocean as he dodged the blow and used the Force to frontflip onto the top of the dark sub.

"Coward!" I shouted up at him. "I thought failure wasn't an option to Darth Malak?"

He sneered down at me as he opened the hatch. "I'm not falling for your taunts, Jedi. You win this round."

"Yeah, and we'll win every round until you finally decide to face your death!"

He didn't answer and closed the hatch behind him. So, I aimed my lightsaber at where I guessed the engine was and threw it. The hot blade reflected off the surface. Kriff. Cortosis. I called back my weapon before it hit the water as the submarine sunk beneath the ocean waves. We couldn't follow after him either. That had been the only submarine. Odd...given that if they had an underwater base, they should have had more than one.

Carth poked out from cover. He was mostly intact. Canderous on the other hand limped as he walked towards us. His leg had been shot. T3 rolled out as well. Completely unscathed.

And HK…

"Statement: Ah! There you are, Master. I thought you would never show up."

The droid's left arm had been blown off from the thing's reckless maneuvers! I growled, rubbing my cut and bruised face at the broken state of it.

"I told you to be careful, idiot!"

Canderous sighed in response. "I appreciate the concern, pipsqueak, but as a Mandalorian, it's not in my nature to be careful. I'll live."

"Not you!" I shouted. "HK! What the hell happened to your arm!"

The Mando narrowed his eyes.

"Answer: Some pathetic meatbag threw back my ion grenade and broke through my shielding. Nothing of consequence, Master."

"Nothing of kriffing consequence? Are you kidding me?

"Reassurance: You said that I didn't need to worry since you would be able to make repairs easily enough."

"Yeah, repairs that will take credits and hours of my precious time that I don't want to waste on you!"

Bastila finally interrupted us. "Okay, do we really have time to argue with the demented droid? We need to get out of here."

"Yeah, but we seem to be missing some folks." Jolee's voice came from behind me. He had a few singed cuts on his sleeve from Bandon almost flaying him. "Sully and his Padawan. Shouldn't we, I don't know, go and find them?"

"Um, yeah…" I rubbed the back of my head. "Sul Koth is…dead."

Jolee sighed, some of that melancholic sadness filling his eyes.

"Figures."

"And what about Belaya?" Carth asked.

Bastila answered him. "She…we will tell you everything after we escape. But let's just say it'll be impossible to help her at the moment."

Escaping the Sith base happened to be easier than breaking in. Once the fighting had settled, it was only an elevator ride up to the ground floor then a sprint to the shuttles again. The Sith had been thrown into a state of chaos after our attack. It would take them a while to recover and we would be long gone by the end of it.

Carth leaned on his knees in front of me in the shuttle, exhausted. Canderous was getting helped by Jolee who wrapped a kolto bandage around his shot leg. HK was insulting T3 who didn't deserve the abuse. And Juhani stared out at the expansive Manaan ocean.

Bastila sat beside me on the bench, looking out at the dawn. I let out a long sigh, rubbing my face, then flinched as I felt that cut Juhani gave me earlier. Bastila must have sensed it. She pulled her bag to the side and started to dig through it.

"Here, let me—"

"No, it's fine…" I said, waving a hand. Though, when I smiled at her, it started burning again. "Just a scratch. Don't waste that on me."

"It'll scar."

"Oh?" My smirk widened. "Even better."

"How?"

"Well, it would make me ruggedly handsome, wouldn't it?"

I shot her a wink.

Bastila rolled her eyes and before I could comment, she slapped the bandage onto my cheek. I hissed and let out a string of curses as I felt the burning sensation of the kolto working to heal the scratch. "Did you really have to go and do that?"

"After what just happened to a Jedi Master your joking is entirely inappropriate."

"You mean my flirting?"

Her face scrunched. "Is there a difference when it comes to you?"

"Hmm…no, I don't think I've flirted with Carth before."

She huffed. "Does this…does it matter if it was joking or flirting? It's inappropriate either way. Someone just died."

"We all die eventually, sunshine. I was just trying to lighten the mood," I said, leaning back on my hands. "I'm sure Master Koth would appreciate us moving on from his death anyway. He was all about the mission, after all."

"That is…you—!"

Carth sighed. "Can you two be quiet for once, please? My head is killing me."

My expression fell and I didn't egg Carth on this time. Because I was reminded by what I saw in the Sith's files. Dustil. He was alive. Captured by the Sith. I had to tell him. After we got the Star Map, I would make it a priority to tell him. Knowing Orangy, he would stop at nothing to find his son. And while I would gladly help him, we needed to focus on defeating the Sith and finish what we started without the additional stress. He'd thank me later.

The quiet didn't last long.

I decided to check up on Juhani. After what we just witnessed, it must have reminded her of her own incident. I stood and carefully approached. She didn't turn but I knew she knew I was there.

"Did he lie?" Juhani whispered.

I raised a brow. "What?"

"Did Sul Koth lie to Belaya? Did he know what was going on...between us?"

The ocean waves sparkled in the dawn light.

"I don't think so," I said. "No."

"Why not?" Juhani finally twisted around to face me. Nostrils flaring, mouth curving into a snarl. "Belaya's Master would have tried everything to keep us apart if he knew." She grabbed the necklace and tugged it out from beneath her shirt. "Our love died the day she left!"

"Koth didn't know because Darth Bandon, his old apprentice, acted like he didn't! He was bragging about it to Sul Koth's face," I said, voice rising. "Bandon knew though. And since he knew...he knew Belaya's fears. She feared losing you...and losing her faith in the Jedi."

Juhani mouth quivered. Tears formed within her eyes. "You're right. She was lied to. Deceived." Then anger. Fury. "The Sith will suffer for what they did to us. They have to be stopped. And Belaya...it's too late. Our love wasn't enough to help her. I was too late."

I patted her shoulder. "Come on," I said. "You'll save her. I was able to save you, remember? And I barely knew you."

"But..." Her eyes gleamed. "I didn't actually kill Quatra, did I?"

My reassuring smile dimmed. No. She didn't. Did she? In fact, Juhani hadn't actually fallen to the dark side either. It had all been a misunderstanding.

When I didn't answer her question, Juhani went back to staring out at the ocean waves.

A few SSF officers rushed about Ahto City and the holoscreens blasted visuals of the smoking Sith base. Fortunately, our likenesses hadn't been captured which meant the incident was currently being explained as "a Sith droid going rogue." Hopefully, that explanation would persist. We'd caused a lot of chaos after all. Too much chaos. And the chaos wasn't over. Oh, no. We needed to find out what exactly the Republic wanted to hide from us. Not only that but I only had a day to figure out how to prove Sunry innocent. A day with next to no sleep.

Kill me now.

"Guys! You're okay!"

Mission ran at us when we entered the hotel lobby, face brightening in relief. Gil, who had been on her lap, jumped to the floor and hopped slowly after her. A few of the hotel employees were giving the gizka a disgusted eye.

The young Twi'lek chose Carth as her victim this time. She attacked the pilot with a hug and he hissed in slight pain. Mission flinched back and that's when she saw…

"Juhani!" She tackled the poor Cathar as well. Before Juhani would have jumped back at the warm embrace, yet instead, she didn't move. At all. "I'm so glad you guys are alright! I saw the news on the holoscreens and the Sith are going bonkers!" Her gaze met HK-47 who hadn't stopped complaining about the lack of his arm the entire walk back. "W-What happened to HK?"

"That is...a long story," I muttered.

We found a secluded corner by the windows overlooking the ocean with numerous uncomfortable couches. We told Mission everything. Including the details of Sul Koth's...demise. Our team gave Juhani a pitying look. In response, the quiet Cathar stared down at her boots.

"W-We have to go after her," Mission muttered. "Belaya...she didn't mean to—"

"It's too late." That had been Juhani. Her voice cracked as she said those defeating words. "I was too late. Belaya wouldn't have listened to me. I thought..." Her shoulders, body, fell. "I thought our love would have been enough."

"L-Love?" Mission frowned. "Oh...oh no, I'm sorry—"

Juhani rushed to the elevators without waiting for Mission to finish her condolences. I wanted to go after the Cathar to try to find some way to cheer her up, but maybe she needed some time alone. Some time to think and regain hope.

Jolee let out a long, old sigh. "For Sully to die like that...I…" His wrinkled lips pursed. "Yes, we didn't see eye-to-eye on many things, but to die by the hand of his own pupil…it brings back bad, bad memories."

"I will let the Council and Ambassador Wann know what happened," Bastila said, standing. "Then, we'll—"

"Wait, one more thing." I shot the droids a look. "T3, come here a sec."

The small droid rolled around the table in front of me then parked at my left. His blue light flashed in response. I took out his cord and attached it to my datapad. I opened the data core and searched through the files. I could sense Mission, Canderous, Bastila, Carth, and Jolee peering over me.

I shook my head. "Right. Most of this data is encrypted."

"What…data?" Canderous asked.

"Oh, the data the Ambassador told us to erase."

"You mean..." Carth's voice trailed. "You copied the data over even though the Ambassador explicitly told us not to?"

"Well, thanks to your friend, Jordo, he explicitly told us to ignore the Ambassador's suggestion and act on our dangerous sense of curiosity." I sighed. "Of course, we can't exactly do that because all of the data is still encrypted."

And while I had some basic computer knowledge, I was not a hacker. Mission grabbed the datapad from my hand and scanned it once then twice. She licked her lips.

"Hmm, I think I can try decrypting this."

Canderous snorted. "You can decrypt that? Really?"

Mission pouted. She looked as if she was about to blow up at the Mandalorian, but she took a deep breath and returned to scanning my datapad.

"I'll need to do some shopping for some computer spikes though."

I grabbed my datapad back. "We can do that on the way to see Griff."

Mission rubbed the back of her head as Gil jumped over and over onto her lap. Sensing her distress.

"Oh, err, right…"

Bastila met my gaze suspiciously for a second. Then, she made some sort of decision.

"I'll go with you." She stood. "Carth, Jolee...I trust that you both can report to the Ambassador and tell him what happened. Canderous, with your injury—"

"I'm not resting my ass here, princess," he spat, pointing a finger at her. "I can still walk."

There was no arguing with a Mandalorian.

With all of our goals set in place, we prepared to leave. Mission and Bastila waited by the hotel entrance while I went back to drop off HK, T3, and Gil. HK-47's lights flickered as I stepped up to him and messed with the empty arm socket. It occasionally sparked. I sighed. Right, well, since we were going to do a little shopping…

Something tapped my shoulder and I grabbed my lightsaber. It was just that annoying receptionist. He glared at me.

"Finally. Here. Take your stupid evidence."

"Evidence...?"

He didn't answer and shoved a datapad into my hand. He marched off in a huff, yelling at some poor protocol droid.

Oh, right! The footage from the party. Well, this will be useful if Griff proved to be stubborn.

Which...yeah, that was guaranteed.

"Ah! Oh, uh…"

Griff flinched as his doors swished open. On the bed was an entire case of credits. Way, way, too many credits. He looked at the three of us as if he'd just been caught robbing from the bank. Well, actually, his fear was more or less directed at me. As it should. I marched into the room. Mission followed, hiding behind me, and Bastila walked at her side. The entire shuttle ride there, the young Twi'lek hadn't stopped fidgeting. Occasionally, she played around with the coin I gave her.

And Bastila told me she followed us in order to make sure I didn't kill our witness. And, you know what? Fair. But if Griff said one wrong thing...well, I wasn't going to kill him, but he'd probably beg to die anyway after I was done with him.

That was a bit morbid of me.

I smirked. Bastila shot me a suspicious eye after hearing those spare thoughts. My smirk died on my lips.

Griff slammed the case shut.

"M-Mission!" He laughed. "S-So glad to see you, ha, ha!"

The young Twi'lek stumbled around me and crossed her arms. I didn't need to see her face to feel the anger emanating from her.

"Oh. Glad to see me, huh?" She marched up to her brother the stabbed a finger into his chest. "If you are so happy to see me, why weren't you when you saw me at that party, jerk!"

Bastila tilted her head at Griff. "Wait, you were at Sunry's party?"

Griff tugged at his collar after I sent him a glare.

"Err...Mish, I didn't see you...honest…"

"Didn't see me?" Mission's voice raised. "How?! I was practically in front of you."

"No! I mean, I was so focused on...err, I had a job to do, Mission, I couldn't just—"

Slap!

Griff stumbled at the force of Mission's slap. She was going to attack again, yet Bastila walked up to the teen and placed hands on her shoulders, pulling her back.

"Stop, he isn't worth it."

But Mission didn't listen to the Jedi. Her voice raised louder than it had before.

"You never cared about doing your job, so don't lie to me!" She pointed at the case. "You were stealing something, weren't you? Or you were drunk again! I can't believe I made excuses for you. Lena was right. You're a good-for-nothing slob who only cares about himself!"

Griff sniffed. "Mission...I really am sorry that I didn't see you. You're right. I lied, sorta. I was on one of those jobs. You know how it is. These rich, fat Core slimes don't need all of those credits anyway." He picked up the case and shoved it under the bed. "I'm sorry. Really. Let's just put this behind us okay?"

That waek apology made Mission quiet. Her anger settled.

"Are you…really sorry? Really?"

"Ab-sooo-lutly." Griff nodded, lekku bouncing. "In fact, I promise I will never abandon you again—"

I raised my arm and grabbed his collar using the Force. He flinched as I tightened his collar around his neck. Not tight enough to cut off his air but close enough to tease him with the possibility.

"This wasn't just any old job, you nerf herder. You were there working for the Sith!" I said. "You stole Sunry's pin so that you could frame him for murder! What you did is worse. You killed someone!"

Griff stopped struggling after my words registered within his puny mind. Both Mission and Bastila glared at the Twi'lek.

"Now w-wait just a second! You can't just go throwing around accusations like that…"

I threw the datapad onto the bed then pointed at it. "You were seen on camera, idiot!"

"Y-You're bluffing!" He kicked in the air. "Put me down!"

"Griff…" Mission's anger now turned to deep sadness. "You really…you murdered someone? You're working for the Sith? After…after what they almost did to us?"

Her words somehow got through the idiot's thick skull.

"Mission…" Griff sighed. "Fine—fine—I'll tell you everything. Just put me down, alright?"

I narrowed my eyes, but listened to the Twi'lek's pleading and dropped him roughly to the ground. He stood back up while rubbing his ass.

"It's simple, really. The Sith would have killed me if I didn't—" I stepped forward menacingly as he started lying again. He raised his hands though it wouldn't do much to defend himself. "Alright, alright! They had credits, okay? They told me to steal the pin and plant it in that dead woman's hands. I swear on my mother's life that she was dead when I got there!"

I crossed my arms. "Your mother is dead so you're not swearing on anything."

Griff rubbed his neck, pulling his collar. "What would I have to gain by lying to you still? And do you really think that I could overpower a dark Jedi? I mean, you were just tugging me around with your powers mere seconds ago!"

This was true. Griff, while he was a scumbag, didn't have the fortitude to kill anyone in cold blood. Or kill anything in general. No, he got other people to do that. Like a true coward.

Bastila stepped to my side. "If you didn't kill the Sith and if Sunry didn't, then who did?"

"I don't know, okay?" Griff flinched as if remembering something. "Maybe it was that scary guy. He was the one who told me to plant the pin."

"Scary guy?" I asked.

"One of those Echani that work for Takaon corporation," he said. "He approached me after I lost too many games of pazaak in one of their casinos. He promised to clear my debt and more if I did this." Griff huffed. "So, really, is it my fault that I took the chance? I really needed the credits. Desperately."

"You will admit all of this in court tomorrow," I said. "If you don't, an innocent man will die."

Griff shook his head. "No! I-I can't! He said he'd kill me if I ever blabbed.

"Please, Griff." Mission stepped between me and the Twi'lek. "If...if you're really sorry about what you did, then you'd help Wes clear the old guy's name."

"Mission…" Griff shivered then glanced between both Mission and me. Eventually, he gained a few brain cells. "Alright, alright! When I take the stand, I'll admit everything. Promise."

I stepped forward and even though Griff was an inch taller than me, he shrank back. I waited a few seconds before patting his shoulder, smiling.

"You better."

Griff let out a meep that sounded a lot like Gil. I grabbed the datapad and twisted around to march out of the room. Bastila sighed as she walked after me. Probably impressed by my skills of persuasion. Or intimidation. Both?

Mission lagged behind and when she caught up to me, I noticed she'd grabbed the case of credits.

She shot me a sly smirk.

My eyes glazed over the datapad in my hands. The cool ocean breeze wafted over me. The greenery surrounding me created a zen-like atmosphere. Peace. Meditation. Practically, anyway. I chose the hotel gardens as my workstation because there were too many distractions inside the hotel. Currently, Mission was in her room tinkering with both T3 and the computer spikes she received. When Jolee, Carth, and Canderous returned from the Embassy, Jolee jumped at the opportunity to help the young Twi'lek. Apparently, he wasn't too bad with computers himself. I highly doubted that since he couldn't even get that damn machine in Kashyyyk working. But no reason to spoil the old man's fun.

Pulling my hair back into a crude tail, getting it out of my eyes, I continued my work on Sunry's case. I was running out of time. I made notes in my datapad while reading over the case notes and the judge's comments on how to proceed with court. Griff mentioned an Echani...not just any old Echani, an Echani working for Erina Takaon. I looked through the case Griff had been given and found no identifying information that could act as evidence. If this mysterious Echani was working for Takaon's casinos then that means Takaon was involved with planting the pin.

Which only raised more questions than answers. What did Takaon have to gain pushing the blame of a Sith murder on an ex-Republic soldier? Was it for credits? I pulled up the stocks that were recorded each day by the banking clans. Takaon's stocks had been rising over the past year. I read over the history of the company. Starting two years ago using Erina Takaon's inheritance, the young Echani helped build Ahto City into the economic tourist destination that it was today with the help of the Republic who negotiated with the Selkath.

It wasn't about credits then. So, then why pin (literally) a murder on Sunry who helped with the negotiations that brought Takaon Corp to life?

Was she cutting off loose ends?

Sunry might know something. Something that Erina Takaon didn't want to get out. Maybe Sunry knew that she murdered her own mother. And, of course, Erina must have known that Sunry was seeing the Sith woman Elassa. They weren't exactly being sneaky about it. Erina couldn't kill Sunry herself. There would be too many suspicions if he was murdered. So, she threatened him with the knowledge that he was seeing a Sith woman. A war of blackmail. Once Sunry's secret was revealed and "died" by his hands, anything he said would've been called into question. If he accused Takaon of killing her mother now…

But then why didn't Sunry mention Erina Takaon as a possible suspect? Surely after he told me about the affair, he would have also told me about Takaon. Maybe they were threatening his wife?

I growled, tugging at my hair. No, it didn't make any sense! The motives didn't line up. Why would Takaon risk killing someone if Sunry had proof of her murdering someone else? I sighed, picking up the case notes again. The words blurred together than in random orders. It reminded me of the time my mother taught me how to read aurebesh on an old datapad Father scrounged up. Besh, Aurek, Cresh...I read some of the letters out of order and Mother used to scold me for not taking it seriously.

Some things never changed.

There was a rustle in the garden maze. Bastila appeared, slightly out of breath. She'd obviously been trying to find me.

"There you are." She walked into the fountain space, her gaze wandering over the datapads littering the bench. "It's past lunchtime." She threw a plastic bag. It landed on top of the datapad on my lap. "You really need to eat something—it's impossible to work on an empty stomach."

"Hmm…" I dug through the bag and pulled out a hot box. "Wait, did you make this?"

Her face scrunched. "I-I don't cook. This is from the canteen. And even if I did, I wouldn't cook for you."

"Ah, yes, that wouldn't be a good idea, actually," I said, smirking. "Your meals on Taris tasted horrendous."

She swiped the box from my hands. When she did, I became aware that I was indeed starving.

"How are your meals any better?" she asked, pressing a switch to open the container. "I've seen what you make. It looks bland and disgusting."

"I don't make my meals, sunshine. I let the synthesizer do all the work for me."

"A synthesizer you haven't cleaned since we started the mission!"

"Wait, what? You also use the synthesizer! Why haven't you cleaned it?"

"Because I am the leader of this mission."

"Ah, so you want us to do all the hard work like we're your slaves?"

"Yes!"

"Yes?"

"Uh, no, wait, I mean—"

"So, we're all your slaves? What are you, a Sith Lord?"

Her flustered expression shifted. A smile drifted onto her face and her thin brow shot up.

"What if I was?"

My expression copied hers, and I leaned forward. "If you were a Sith Lord," I said, "you would be a terrifying sight to behold."

"T-Terrifying?" she stuttered.

"Yes. Terrifyingly beautiful." I looked her curves up and down. "You'd cut my head off before I could stop taking in the view."

Red covered her scrunched nose. "Oh, and if you were a Sith Lord, I wouldn't take a perverted Hutt slug like you...seriously…"

After she made that joke, her smile departed. The sadness that occasionally drifted into the bond returned. I hated it when this happened. When she realized that she was letting her emotions run free. When she imprisoned herself into the Jedi's teachings. I didn't blame her. It was a habit that was hard to break.

She took some of the food from the container and passed the rest over to me.

"Please eat. I'll...check up on you later."

Bastila tried to run away again. That wasn't going to happen. I took her wrist in my grip. She didn't struggle but I didn't hold her too tight either.

"You said you wanted to tell me what was on your mind after we got away from the Sith," I said. "You still want to?"

Her gaze drifted down at the datapads littering the bench. Her shoulders fell.

"It's…" I felt a bitterness on my tongue. A bitterness that was also on Bastila's tongue. Her expression set. "Not now. You need to focus on the case."

I sighed. Slightly disappointed. But I could wait. "I can't focus." I waved a hand. "Words blurring. Nothing makes sense. Brain hurts." I moved the datapads aside, making room. "Maybe I could focus...with you sitting next to me."

"Wes—"

"It's funny," I interrupted. "Before I would have wanted to be alone with my thoughts. Peace and quiet. No pesky Jedi kicking me to the ground or lecturing me about the Force. Now I...would rather be with that pesky Jedi."

Bastila's expression slackened. "Okay." She stumbled to the bench. "Alright. I'll stay...for a bit." And she sat next to me, eating the bun she'd stolen from my container. Since she was eating, I decided to eat what she brought me. She was right about thinking on an empty stomach. It wasn't a good idea.

As we ate, I told her what I'd started learning and deducing about the case. She listened attentively and sometimes she came to the same conclusions that I did. None of this made sense. The motivations of the Sith, Takaon, the Republic were all over the place. We were missing something.

Eventually, I returned to reading the datapads, desperately trying to figure out what that missing piece was. As my thoughts once again turned to mush, I felt something warm touch my shoulder.

I turned and met Bastila's gray, tired, stare. Her head rested on me. She flinched away once she saw me staring at her, nervous.

"Oh, um…" She let out an embarrassed huff. "Sorry, I'm rather tired. I didn't notice…"

I leaned back and wrapped my arm around her right side, hugging her body closer to me. Her heart thumped against the back of her chest as I could feel it on mine. I rubbed my hand down her right arm then returned to reading the datapad using my left hand.

A smirk drifted onto my face.

"Comfortable?"

She let out a breath. "W-Well, yes, I suppose, but you don't look comfortable like that at all."

"Oh, I'm comfortable. Believe me."

Her eyes narrowed. Yet, thankfully, she didn't protest and sank back against my chest. I pretended to return to reading the datapad, mostly so that she believed me when I said I was comfortable. I glanced over and saw her eyes drifting shut. Red lips parting open. A smirk graced my face. Ah, she was a drooler?

Yet, when I felt the steady rhythm of breathing—of Bastila sleeping—I once again focused on the datapad.

I lied.

It was absolutely impossible to focus.

"Done!"

Bastila and I walked into the hotel room to Mission shouting and waving her arms about. Jolee chuckled and leaned forward, sitting on the bed. Gil meeped and jumped, probably confused about why the young Twi'lek was so excited.

I tried to work an hour past lunch—an impossible task—when Jolee called me over the comm. This woke up Bastila who sat up as if she hadn't just collapsed in my arms. She kept avoiding the smirk I gave after I pointed out she had drool in the corner of her mouth.

Jolee crossed his arms at our arrival. "Looks like the squirt here was able to get something out of the data you grabbed from the Sith's computers." He nodded at T3. "It's some type of holorecording."

"There's more, but…" Mission sighed. "The rest is too complicated for me. It would take a long time to decrypt."

"Okay," I said, "show us what you were able to get for now at least."

Mission nodded. She messed with her datapad then flicked a switch on T3 to turn on his holoprojector.

To our surprise, it wasn't a recording of military defenses or strategies. It was a recording of Sunry.

The holo was a flat projection of the room Sunry had been staying in. The old Republic soldier sat on the bed with Elassa. They were...kissing. A lot. The Sith woman started undressing the old man. Mission jumped then hit something on the datapad.

"Ew! Let's...skip that…"

The recording blurred and fast-forwarded over the horrifying bits. Mission stopped the playback near the end. Elassa was asleep in bed. Sunry faced the holocam as he pulled on a boot. He looked back at his love affair. Saying his last goodbye, no doubt. Maybe this would be enough evidence to prove that he was innocent of the crime. He was going to leave…

Sunry pulled a blaster from his hip and without hesitating, without remorse, shot Elassa in the head.

After that, the holo cut off.

Silence.

Jolee let out a laugh. A broken laugh. Like he had gone crazy.

"That...no." He jumped to his feet and kicked T3. The poor droid let out a pained chirp. "Stupid droid. The thing must have glitched!"

"Jolee…" Mission muttered. "I...that wasn't a glitch—"

"Listen here," Jolee's voice raised as he waved his finger. "Sunry wouldn't have killed someone like that. It must be...must be...a mistake." The old man slid back down onto the bed. He rubbed his wrinkled forehead. "Sunry...why…?"

The missing piece. None of the motives made sense because Sunry was in fact guilty of this crime. And now I was faced with a terrible truth.

I had to defend a murderer in court tomorrow.

Next chapter - the trial of Sunry!

We're almost wrapping up the Manaan arc, actually. I decided to make a lot of the plot revolve around the trial (that way it felt less like an out-of-the-way activity). So, we'll also be getting into the "underwater base." You'll see what I mean ;)

I'll see yah next time! :)