"I thought we were going to your office," Brianna said as the elevator passed Iella's floor.

"Well, I meant my building," Iella said. "We're going to one of the senior executive conference rooms."

"Just to talk to your boss?"

"There will probably be some other assistant directors in there," Iella said.

Brianna turned slightly and narrowed her eyes. "Are they expecting me?"

Well, no," Iella said. "They're expecting Leia. And," Iella paused, "your father."

"Princess said she told them he wasn't available!"

"That's what she told them at first," Iella said. "That's why he wasn't at the meeting. When they asked her about it later, she said she'd make it her 'highest priority'."

"So. Princess lied to me."

"Give her some credit. She really lied to them, mostly."

Brianna snorted. "Yes, that's clearly better."

The elevator stopped on the senior executive floor. Iella led Brianna out and down the hall to one of the main conference rooms. A few people were still filing in, but Director Brollin was already seated. Iella took an empty seat near him and directed Brianna to sit next to her.

Director Brollin glanced around the table as the last person came in and sat down. "I guess we're still waiting on the Ambassador."

Iella raised her hand to catch his attention. "They won't be here," she said, to his clear surprise. Iella motioned toward Brianna. "This is Brianna Skywalker. She's Luke's daughter. She's very knowledgeable about Jedi Councils and I thought she'd be able to help us answer some questions from the other day."

"Oh, I see." Director Brollin turned to look at Brianna. "I'm not sure I knew he had children. Well, welcome to the NRDI. We're honored to have you here, of course. Is it Master Jedi, or -"

"Just Brianna will do, please and thank you," Brianna said. Iella hid a wince. She hadn't expected Brianna to be diplomatic at all, but she already seemed unhappy.

"Ah, certainly. Assistant Director Wessiri briefed you on our situation here?"

"Yes, indeed," Brianna said. "Praxis, lightsabers, dead Elomin, very interesting."

"Very good. Deputy Kalick, do you have an update for us?"

"I do." Deputy Kalick nodded at Brianna. "Hello again."

"Yes, hello!" Brianna said brightly. "Lovely to see you again!"

Deputy Kalick beamed at being remembered and Iella had to fight to keep from rolling her eyes. She hadn't remembered him yesterday. Of course, that could have been a lie.

Deputy Kalick turned back to the director. "We actually have had no new reporting at all on Praxis since the event we captured on the security hologram. Previous open cases are still open, but no new ones. The other worlds where we were tracking similar reporting all continue to have new open cases."

"Hm, curious," Director Brollin said. He turned to Brianna. "These Force users - is that the right term? We were using it the other day."

Brianna shrugged. "It's good enough. People tend to use Jedi as a catch all term for any Force sensitive person, even though it's just one Force training philosophy among many."

"Force training philosophy?" Director Brollin asked.

"Sure," Brianna said. "Every Force user organization, for lack of a better term, has their own philosophy for how, when, and for what purpose they'll use the Force. Like Jedi," Brianna pointed to herself. "You could have ten different Jedi in here with ten different answers to this, but the core of each answer is that we're not out using the Force for personal gain. We're not out at the casino beating the house, we're not out scamming people, that sort of thing. Sith, on the other hand, are all about maximizing personal power. Think, Sheev Palpatine. Take over the galaxy, maximize personal power. Sith Lord."

Director Brollin nodded slowly. "And, these three on Praxis, are they Sith?"

"Not likely," Brianna said. "One, Sith usually come in twos. Two, I wouldn't expect Sith to be dumb enough to be caught on holocam like that. And three, I wouldn't expect Sith to leave evidence lying around in the form of a dead body. Unless," Brianna held up her finger, "they were trying to send a message. But the only people they'd be sending a message to like that is Jedi, in which case they'd kill someone we know. I know everyone that's been in and out of Yavin in the last twenty years and none of them are Elomin."

"Well. That's certainly good news, not being Sith," Director Brollin said. Brianna shrugged. "But, regardless, still concerning." Director Brollin leaned forward in his seat. "As I'm sure you were told, we originally wanted your father here -"

"He's retired."

Director Brollin stopped short. "Oh. I see. I - I wasn't aware of that."

Brianna raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry. Does he owe you his schedule?"

"No, no. No, of course not," Director Brollin said. "I was simply interested in his attempt to restart the Jedi Council before the Yuzong Vong arrived. I thought that might be a way to address scenarios such as Praxis."

"Right. Jedi Council." Brianna interlaced her fingers on the table. "I'm assuming the model of a Jedi Council you have in mind is roughly from the Clone Wars era? Maybe a little earlier?"

Director Brollin hesitated. "I'm…not sure I had a model in mind," he said.

"Right." Brianna looked at him for a moment. "Clone Wars it is then." Brianna shifted in her seat to get comfortable. "So, the thing you have to understand is, a Jedi Council isn't just a Jedi Council. It's a governing body, perhaps, not unlike this," she gestured around the table. "Twelve people sitting on top of a ten thousand person bureaucracy. There are only about a hundred of us -"

"Is that enough?"

Brianna looked to the other end of the table where Iella's Quarren colleague, Breel Karan from the public affairs office, had spoken up. "Excuse me?"

"One hundred Jedi," she said. "Is that enough?"

Brianna tapped her finger on the table, as if trying to decide how much snark to inject into her next comment. "Enough for what?"

Breel seemed taken aback by the counter question. "I - I don't know."

"Well, you must have some idea, you brought it up," Brianna said. "How can you know if any amount of anything is enough if you don't know what it's for?"

"Well, this," Breel said, gesturing around the table. "Whatever the Republic needs."

"So, anytime, anywhere, for any reason. An open ended requirement?"

"Right."

"Wrong." Brianna pointed at her. "But that's okay, we're gonna come back to that. Hang on to that thought."

Brianna turned back to Director Brollin. "Let me give you some very brief Jedi history. Around," Brianna checked her watch, "one thousand seventy-two years ago, the Jedi-Sith war ended. Sith used to be a species, there was a whole empire full of them, it was a legitimate reason to have a war. At the end of it, the Jedi wiped them out (they thought), and the new Galactic Republic and Jedi Order grew up together. The Jedi decided they were not going to be warfighters anymore, so for the next one thousand and ten years, they became the Republic's ambassadors, negotiators, diplomats, and peacekeepers. If you're familiar with Leia's career history, that's classic Jedi stuff.

"Then, the Clone Wars. The Jedi didn't want to be warfighters. They weren't comfortable being warfighters. But they ended up being warfighters because," she pointed back toward Breel Karan, "that's what the Republic needed. And who was running the Republic at the time? Sheev Palpatine."

Brianna started speaking more to the whole room. "This was no accident. Palpatine knew how weak the Jedi Council was. How much they themselves had internalized this 'any time, anywhere, for any reason' attitude. The twelve most powerful Jedi in the galaxy and their ten thousand Jedi were too weak to tell the government no. And Palpatine took absolute advantage of it."

Brianna paused and let her words linger. Iella glanced around the room. Brianna was going far beyond what Iella had expected. Iella's colleagues were taking quick, short glances at each other, as if they were afraid of being caught at something. A few were shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

Brianna turned back to Breel. "Ten thousand. Do you think that'senough?"

"I - I don't know."

"Do you know how you get ten thousand Jedi?"

"I do not."

"You take kids."

Brianna turned back to Director Brollin. "How many people work in this building?"

Director Brollin pointed to a human male sitting across from Brianna. "Kiril Ben, Assistant Director for Personnel Resources."

"We have approximately eighty thousand people in this building, and our satellite sites elsewhere on Coruscant," Kiril said. "We also have approximately twenty thousand in field offices across the Republic, at least one liaison officer on member worlds where we don't have a field office, and several thousand contractors for various other tasks."

"So, as far as actual employees, about a hundred thousand spies?" Brianna said.

"Well, they're not all spies."

Brianna grinned a bit. "That's exactly what a spy would say." She waved it off. "The point is, everyone who works here had to apply, right? You advertise a vacancy, people apply, you do interviews, you hire someone. Right?"

"Generally, yes," Kiril said.

"And same with the military, right? All volunteer forces." Brianna looked at Director Brollin. "You don't draft anyone, you don't conscript anyone, you don't take any slaves (depending on how you feel about droids). I mean, you're not the Empire, right?"

"Of course not," Director Brollin said, finally starting to sound annoyed.

Brianna put her finger on the table. "This is one of the most important things I need you to understand today," she said. "No one chooses to be Force sensitive. You're just born with it, this ridiculous thing that's more trouble than it's worth most of the time. Some people are born with a little bit, some people are born with a lot, most are somewhere in between. But no one makes an adult decision to have it."

Brianna turned to Breel again. "The Old Republic Jedi kept a list of every Force sensitive baby born in Republic jurisdiction. There were probably a hundred or so every year. Whenever they found out about a new one, a couple of Jedi and maybe the local senator, would go visit the parents. 'Hey, your child is Force sensitive, when it's old enough, we'd like to take it for training, blah blah.' Being a Jedi is prestigious. I guess. Or something. So most parents probably agreed to this. When the kid was about three standard years of age, they returned and took the kid back here to Coruscant, because this is where the Jedi temple was. The kid trained in age-group cohorts for about ten years, then one-on-one with a Knight or Master for another six to eight years. If the kid passed all his tests, he became a Jedi Knight. That child did not go home. That child was actively discouraged from thinkingabout home. Even if he didn'tpass his tests, he didn't go home. That'show you get to ten thousand Jedi."

Brianna turned back to Director Brollin again. "Most of the people who have come through Yavin in the past twenty, twenty-five years have been adults. They made an adult choice to be there. There's a few, like me, who've been doing this since we were toddlers. Most of that group doesn't do this full time, if at all, anymore." Brianna put her hand down on the table. "Making the decision to want to learn how to manage this ridiculous thing you got born with shouldn't constitute consent to conscription for whatever random thing someone from the government wants done that day."

Brianna paused again and looked around the table. No one spoke for a moment.

"But, your father always made himself available to everyone," said Carlin Doth, the Mon Calamari Assistant Director for Collections.

Brianna narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes, I'm very familiar with how available he was for everyone else," he said. "My siblings and I practically had to raise ourselves because of it."

"Surely you knew how important his work was," Carlin pointed out.

"Yes, I'm also familiar with being told how unimportant I ought to be to my own family, but thank you for reminding me," Brianna snarked.

"But, how do you know anyone would be available?" Breel spoke up again.

"Because there always will be," Brianna said. "Look, what I'm trying to tell you is, Force users, Force sensitive people, they're no different than anyone else. Whether human, or Quarren or Bothan or whatever, it doesn't matter. We're all the same, and you'll find the exact same range of personalities. You'll have your villains and your heroes, your people just trying to live their lives, people who love a gray area. You've got your Sheev Palpatines and Wilhuff Tarkins on one end and your Luke Skywalkers and Wedge Antilles on the other, and everything in between. It's just the range of sentient experience and being a Force sensitive person doesn't change that. But it's got to be a choice.

"I'm not opposed to government service," Brianna said, turning back to Director Brollin. "Individual Force users can do what they want, go in the military, come here, be a diplomat, whatever. There are certainly things the institution can do that others literally can't. If you want to ask me to go to Praxis, I'll go to Praxis. Roll in, handle some business, roll back out. I'm good at that part. But this 'anytime, anywhere, for any reason' attitude is everywhere. If you try to kick off a Jedi Council, everyone in that senate chamber is going to want to put their fingers in the pot. It will get completely out of control -"

"Certainly your father could exert some control -"

"What part of 'retired' is unclear to you?" she snapped at Carlin.

Brianna pointed at Director Brollin. "This will get out of control. Maybe not today, tomorrow, or next year. But twenty years from now, or fifty, or a hundred? My dad's sixty. Without some kind of limit, you're going to get the exact same weak Jedi Council and eventually you're going to rerun the entire last seventy years of galactic history, with no guarantee of a personal relationship between your hero and your villain. And it still won't solve your Praxis thing. If it even still needs solving."

Brianna finally stopped. She leaned back in her chair and slouched, looking around the table as if trying to figure out who might challenge her next.

Director Brollin leaned forward and let out a long, quiet breath. "If," he looked up at Brianna, "you were to...volunteer to go to Praxis, we would certainly appreciate that. And, believe me when I say, we all appreciate the sacrifices your family has made for this Republic."

"Uh huh."

"And I...acknowledge the concern you have - even if I don't entirely understand all of them - about how these relationships," he gestured between himself and Brianna, "can...go awry. However, I am...concerned that there isn't a more formal way to request assistance. Certainly, we aren't the experts. We may not know when we need assistance. I'm...not sure I know what a solution would even be here."

"Director, if I may," Iella said. Iella addressed all of her colleagues. "I think Brianna has given us all some insight on aspects of the relationship between the Jedi and the rest of galaxy that most of us had never considered before. Given the break in reporting on Praxis, I recommend we table this for the moment. What this could look like - what it shouldlook like - will take much more time and care than we're prepared to do here today."

"No, indeed," Director Brollin said. "Not even our call to make." He glanced at Deputy Kalick. "We'll continue to monitor Praxis," Deputy Kalick nodded, "and if anything else arises," he looked at Brianna, "we'll let you know."

"Sounds fabulous," Brianna said.

Director Brollin stood up to leave and the rest of Iella's colleagues followed. "Come on, my office," Iella whispered to Brianna.

"Well, that wasn't exactly charming and delightful," Brianna said as Iella's office door shut behind them.

Iella walked around to the back of her desk. "I wasn't expecting it to be," she said. "I think it was just what we needed though."

"Who's we?"

Iella looked up as she sat down. Brianna was still standing by the door, arms folded, and squinting. "I mean, you were very effective," Iella said. "Have a seat." Iella motioned to the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

Brianna squinted at her for another moment, then crossed the room to sit down. She poked at the snack bowl on Iella's desk. They weren't the same minty ones Iella had in her home office, but a more savory, crispy snack. "Help yourself," Iella said.

"I like this kind."

"I know."

Brianna looked up. "You're good at this spy thing."

"I know."

Brianna pushed the bowl away and leaned forward on the desk. "Okay, cards on the table. What's your deal?"

Iella also leaned forward. "Okay. I think you're right. I think a Jedi Council would absolutely get out of control and is not the solution here." She held up a finger. "I also think that Director Brollin is right. There needs to be some formal mechanism for this. Every time someone thinks they need something they can't just call you, or whoever they happen to know to see who's not busy that day. Which, I'm sure, you would hate anyway."

"Uh huh."

"So," Iella said, "I have a proposal."

"Why didn't you just bring it up in there?" Brianna asked.

"Because, I want your buy in first."

"Uh huh," Brianna said again. "And what does Princess think of your idea?"

"She doesn't know," Iella said, shaking her head.

Brianna seemed to hesitate. "She doesn't?"

"Nope," Iella shook her head again. "No one does. Not Leia, not Corran, not Wedge, not any of my colleagues. Leia insisted on being in the room when I asked you to come, otherwise I might've told you yesterday."

Brianna cocked an eyebrow. "Might have?"

Iella shrugged. "I was kind of curious to see what you'd say to everyone without my proposal in mind."

"Well good, I hope you were impressed."

"Well beyond impressed," Iella said. "I'm fairly certain you impressed some other people too. In between shaming everyone, of course." Brianna narrowed her eyes. "Are you interested?" Iella asked.

Brianna slouched in her chair and folded her arms. "I'm listening."

"Something we use around here often is what we call a multi-function team," Iella said. "The exact composition of any particular team depends on the mission, but they usually have a few analysts of different kinds, perhaps a weapons expert, an espionage artist - an actual spy - a tech expert, and one person designated as a team leader. What I'm envisioning here, is a similar thing, but with one or two Jedi attached. They wouldn't work for us - they're not NRDI employees - but they'd be more like liaisons or advisors. And," Iella added, "strictly voluntary."

Brianna frowned. "So that's what you're asking me to do? Be part of one of these multi-function, liaison team thingys? Fair warning, I'm not a very good team player."

"Well, I don't actually think that's true," Iella said. "In any case, that part wouldn't be your job."

"Oh."

"When we were visiting you on Yavin I saw a few people I thought might have some interest and aptitude for that. I didn't approach anyone," Iella said quickly, as Brianna started to protest. "I just observed. But you would have a different job. One, training. I've watched you. You pick things up quickly and can pass that on to others. You can make sure the team members have the skills they need and are able to integrate them."

"Yeah, I guess so," Brianna said.

"And the other, the more important part, is to be up here, making sure the team members aren't being misused. I think you're right that without some kind of guidance or boundaries, people will ask Jedi to do all kinds of things without realizing what might or might not be appropriate. Preventing that requires someone with a strong voice and a unique perspective on how this can go wrong. That person is you." Iella paused. "Basically your job is to tell people no."

Brianna smiled. "I'm good at that part."

"You should probably put it on the list of things you're good at," Iella said.

Brianna's grin got bigger. Brianna leaned back in her chair and regarded Iella carefully for a moment. "What if I tell you no?"

Iella shrugged. "I'll think of something else. Maybe I'll ask Corran."

"Why not just do that in the first place?" Brianna asked. "I'm sure he'd be very amenable to all of this." Brianna waved her hand around the room.

"Indeed he would be," Iella said. "That's why I didn't ask him." Iella shook her head. "Corran is certainly no stranger to breaking rules when he thinks it's warranted. But, he likes structure. And he likes the idea of people having a place in that structure."

"As long as he's on top, right?"

Iella shrugged. "Well." Iella continued. "If someone asked him to create a structure like a Jedi Council, I think he'd be all in. And it would go wrong in exactly the way you think it would."

"Of course it would," Brianna said.

"And in either event, once he got involved, your father would almost certainly also get involved. And once he's involved, Wedge is involved."

"Ah. And there it is," Brianna said, waggling her finger. "Still, not unfair. They couldn't stay out of trouble if you locked them in an empty room and tranquilized them." Brianna gazed around the room while letting out a long breath. "Who else did you have in mind, walking around Yavin?"

"Sir'ren Choth, for one," Iella said. "He seems to have a good head on his shoulders."

Brianna nodded. "Oh yeah. He would definitely say yes to this."

"The other thing this does," Iella said, "is buy time."

Brianna narrowed her eyes. "Time for what?"

"Even this isn't sustainable," Iella said. "I know you, we personally ask for volunteers, that's all fine. But you said it yourself. What happens in fifty years or a hundred? What happens when there are no established rules to follow and you're not here to personally tell people no? They fall back on old habits and old stories. Who do you trust to get that part right?"

Brianna snorted. "Nobody."

"Indeed."

Brianna shifted around in her chair and scanned the room. Iella was pretty sure Brianna would say yes, but she couldn't tell if Brianna really needed to think about it or if this was just for show.

"Can I think about it?" Brianna asked.

"Certainly. How long do you need?"

"I dunno. Overnight?"

Iella nodded. "Tell you what. I'll be down in the lobby by the visitor's desk tomorrow morning at zero eight. If you're there, I'll know your answer. If you're not, I'll know your answer."

Brianna nodded. "Fair enough." She got up to leave. Her hand was almost to the door control when she stopped and turned around. "You're very confident."

Again, Iella couldn't tell how much Brianna was really reading her and how much was performance. "I guess we'll find out tomorrow how much my confidence is warranted."

Brianna nodded slowly one more time, then left the office.

"I thought Wes and Hobbie were coming?" Winter said.

Iella looked over from her kitchen. She and Wedge were hosting Tycho, Winter, and Luke for dinner again, and everyone else was already seated around the table. Fortunately, she'd been warned this time about Wes and Hobbie coming, and then not coming.

"They were supposed to," Tycho said. "Wes let me know a little while ago that Brianna showed up at his apartment so they all decided to go check out some new pool hall that opened up."

Luke looked up. "Brianna's on Coruscant?"

Tycho shrugged. "Apparently."

"I mean, not that I need her schedule," Luke said.

Tycho grinned a little and nudged Wedge. "Maybe you should have gone with them," he said. "Sounds like it would have been fun."

Wedge threw him a mock glare. "Shut up. That's still your fault."

Iella caught a questioning glance from Winter as she came into the dinning area. "Wedge is still mad about Brianna's joke that he's not any fun."

"Ah."

"No, I'm not," Wedge grumbled.

"Yes you are." Iella kissed him on the head and sat down. She wondered how he'd feel if he knew Brianna had classed him with Luke as the most reliable of heroes to the NRDI senior staff. Pleasantly surprised, she hoped.

Iella looked up and caught Luke looking at her curiously. She supposed she'd have to get used to people reading her like that. She smiled at him, then passed a dish.

Iella walked into the NRDI lobby. It was already bustling with people arriving to work, or leaving for meetings, training, or missions. She checked her watch. Only zero seven fifty-five.

"Good morning Melki," Iella said to the Rodian attendant at the visitor's desk.

"Good morning AD Wessiri. Something I can do for you?"

"No, just waiting for someone," Iella said. "Oh, did you get that long-term visitor pass request I sent down yesterday?"

"Yes ma'am, have it right here," Melki tapped his screen. "Just need your visitor to fill in the rest of the information."

"Excellent." Iella checked her watch again. Zero seven fifty-seven. "Should be any minute now." Iella really didn't expect Brianna to say no. Iella hadn't figured out Brianna entirely, but she had figured out enough to know where Brianna's vested interests were. Then again, with Brianna, there was always room for surprises.

Zero seven fifty-nine. Iella looked up from her watch and saw Brianna enter from the main section level. She was wearing a plain white shirt, a short brown jacket, and cargo pants. Her lightsaber dangled prominently from her right hip belt loop as she strode through the lobby. People seemed to automatically make way for her. She stopped in front of Iella. "Good morning," Iella said.

"It's go time."

Iella smiled. She liked being right.