Iella sat at the classroom table typing on her datapad. She didn't normally sit in on her other projects like this, but this was a special case. Even so, she still had other work to get done while the rest of the team went through reporting. Or, most of the rest of the team.

"What is up with her?" Sen asked.

"Hmm?" Iella looked up. "Who?"

"Ms 'Just Brianna will do, please and thank you'," Sen said.

Iella laid down her datapad. "She's… unconventional."

Dom snorted. "Yeah, we gathered that."

"Where is she anyway?" Sen asked Sir'ren.

"She's on her way."

"Are you sure?"

"She is in the hallway," Visalia said.

"Oh."

On cue, the door swooshed open, and Brianna stepped through, backpack sliding off one shoulder, coffee in hand, and lightsaber on her belt. "Oh good," she said, scanning the room. "Everyone's already here. We can get started." She dropped into a chair next to Sen.

"You're late," he said.

"You all start early," Brianna said. "I gotta get breakfast."

"Everyone else managed to get breakfast."

"Congratulations."

"Right." Sen turned back the other way.

"So what's fun and interesting today?" Brianna asked.

"You'd know if you were on time."

"Ooh, I've got something," Valah said. "A message from the station on Charapath. That contractor they had? He quit his job."

"Aw, come on, I wasn't that mean to him," Brianna said.

"Does it say why?" Sen asked.

Valah scanned her message. "Looks like he didn't give a reason. No notice, no lead time. Just quit. But, when they were going through his files after he left, they discovered he downloaded a bunch of stuff he shouldn't have had access to."

Dom kicked Brianna under the table. "Maybe that's what he was doing when you spooked him."

"Oh, I certainly hope so," Brianna said.

"What'd he take?" Sen asked.

"Looks like," Valah scanned her message, "all the upcoming elections data for Charapath."

"See? What'd I tell what's-her-face on Praxis?" Brianna said. "Government is always the first place you look."

"Just because he's stealing elections data doesn't mean any of the candidates are corrupt," Kyra said.

"Yet."

"I presume they're looking for him," Sen said.

"They're trying to," Valah said. "Looks like the home address he gave was fake. It's like he completely disappeared."

"Well, let them know we appreciate the info, and if they find anything else, we'd appreciate that too."

"Sure thing."

Sen turned back to Brianna. "Did you spooking him even work? For… whatever it was you were trying to do?"

"I was trying to fluster him to see if I could get anything out of him," Brianna said. "It worked well enough for him to notice," she pointed at Dom. "And that is interesting."

"Well, did you -"

"Are we expecting anyone else up here today?" Sir'ren interrupted.

"No. Why?" Iella asked.

"Ohh, someone's having an unhappy day today," Brianna sang.

"Who?"

The door to the classroom slid open. "Iella! Oh, good, you're here. Fina said you were."

Iella looked up to see Trevin Marrick, the Deputy Director. "Trevin! What is going on?"

"The Director is on his way up here," he said. "He's got the chair of the senate intelligence subcommittee with him."

Iella hung her head. "Great."

"Who's the chair of the senate intelligence subcommittee?" Divin asked.

"The senior councilor from Bothawui," Kyra said. "Borsk Fey'lya."

"I think he's looking for you." Trevin pointed at Brianna.

Brianna stretched her arms out and threw her feet up on the table. "Fabulous. I needed something interesting to do. I was getting bored."

The door opened once more and Borsk Fey'lya strode in, with Director Brollin close behind. Iella almost stood up to try and head off the confrontation, but Fey'lya zeroed right in on Brianna.

"Master Jedi Skywalker."

"Just Brianna will do, please and thank you." Brianna smiled at him.

"Did you really think you could keep your activities secret from me?"

"Listen, Borsk - I can call you that, right? - If I really wanted to hide something from you, we wouldn't be meeting in a government building to which you have full access." Brianna stole a quick glance at Iella and her bosses. "Though that sounds like a fun project, maybe I'll try it sometime."

Councilor Fey'lya gave her a small toothy smile. "I suppose your aunt warned you about me?"

Brianna swung her legs off the table and popped to her feet. Borsk Fey'lya was one of the few people she could stand eye to eye with. She even had a little bit of height on him. "Everyone and their dog has warned me about you," she said. "The real question is, whether anyone has done you the courtesy of warning you about me. I'm going to guess probably not."

The toothy smile turned into a snarl. "You don't want to make me your enemy, Skywalker."

Brianna laughed. "Look, if you want to concoct some fantasy in your head about us being enemies, have at it. I'm not here for you. Your list of shenanigans is a parsec long, and that's just the stuff I know about. And I could not care less. I'm here to make sure unscrupulous Force users don't come plant the flag, so unless you're the next incarnation of Sheev Palpatine, you are not my problem." She cocked her head with a small smirk. "Are you the next incarnation of Sheev Palpatine?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Fabulous, glad we're on the same side. Now, if you'll excuse us, my team and I have work to do."

"And just what work is that, Master Jedi?"

"Why, rooting out the next Sheev Palpatine, of course. So if you have any insider information on that, we'd be more than happy to have you join us." Brianna stepped to the side and offered Fey'lya a chair.

Fey'lya's fur rippled in fury. "Brollin!" He turned and strode back out of the room, with Director Brollin close behind.

"I'll get back to you," Trevin mouthed to Iella and he ran to catch up.

Brianna, thankfully, waited until the door was completely shut. "Dirtbag," she muttered and flopped back into her chair.

"Well, that's certainly not a method I've seen before," Iella said. Leia was going to love this one.

"People like him get off on the idea that they're important," Brianna said. "Especially if they have important enemies. He's mad because I just told him he wasn't important enough to be my enemy."

"Well, he might think Director Brollin and I are important enough to be his enemies," Iella said.

"Oh please," Brianna said. "He already doesn't like you because he doesn't like Wedge and that's been true for decades. And I highly doubt he and Brollin were out at the bars after hours together anyway. Don't stress about it."

"Easy for you to say."

Brianna groaned. "See, this is why I don't do politics. Everyone thinks they have to play the game. He sets the rules, you play along, and then you wonder why you lose. Stop. Playing. The game."

Iella gave up. "Fine. Let's get back to your contractor."

"Yes. Excellent. My loser contractor." She turned and Sen was glowering at her. "What's your problem?"

"You're a Skywalker?"

"Uh, pretty sure that's what he said, yeah."

Sen shrugged. "You weren't going to tell us that?"

"Is it important?"

"Yeah, it's important!"

"Why? So you can sit there and make up a whole bunch of garbage expectations of what you think I'm supposed to be like too?"

"Well you're not much like what I've heard about your dad."

Brianna snorted. "Good thing that's not a rule."

"What?"

There was a brief pause of silence.

"Ha!"

Brianna slammed her hand on the table and pointed at Dom. "Somebody got my joke! You are my new favorite person again today."

Several people exchanged confused glances. "I don't get it, what's the joke?" Kyra asked.

"She's referencing the fact that Darth Vader is her grandfather," Dom said. "And Luke Skywalker isn't much like him either."

"It's not as funny if you have to explain it," Brianna said. She Force-pulled a lollipop from her backpack and unwrapped it.

"Why would you make jokes about that!?" Valah said.

Brianna shrugged. "Everyone loves a good family activity."

"Wow," Divin said.

"You gotta learn to make jokes," Brianna said. "If you don't learn to make jokes, you'll go crazy and just be mad all the time."

"Is that a particular problem for Jedi?" Sen asked.

"Well, it is a key ingredient for making a Darth Vader," Brianna said. "Bit of anger, bit of fear, a whopping dose of resentment. Toss in some senior Jedi idiocy and Palpatine shenanigans, mix generously, bake at a hundred and eighty degrees for thirteen years. Crank it up to three hundred for the last five minutes and you get yourself a nice crispy Darth Vader."

"Crispy?" Kyra said.

"Yeah, so, Anakin Skywalker - for that is his name - in one of his first fights as Darth Vader, fought his former master, Obi Wan. At the end of that fight, he had his other three limbs cut off, slid down a hill into a lava river, and had ninety-five percent of his body covered in third degree burns, including his lungs. That's what the suit was for, you see. It was literally a life support suit." She grinned. "Extra crispy."

"That's horrifying!"

"Definitely gave him something to be mad about for the next twenty-three years."

"And…you make jokes about this," Sen said.

"Trauma rolls downhill unless someone puts a stop to it."

"And that person is you?"

"It damn sure ain't anyone else in my family," Brianna said. "I'm the only one of us who can have a reasonably open conversation about any of it, and you can see what I'm like." Brianna finally put her unwrapped lollipop in her mouth. "So if we're all done nitpicking my coping mechanisms, can we get back to my loser contractor?"

Sen looked at Iella and she nodded. Two distractions was enough for one day.

"Okay, I've got a question," Tycho said, his voice a bit muffled under the bar's music. "It's just for Brianna though."

"That's not how the game works," Wes said.

Brianna glanced up from her sight line along her cue. "Can I take my shot first?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

Brianna settled back into position, looking low along her cue. She took two slow practice drags through her fingers, then popped out to hit the cue ball. It rolled cleanly across the table, until it nicked another ball, putting it off course. It finally hit the target ball at an angle, sending the target ball sideways, away from the corner pocket. "Bah." She stood up and looked at Tycho. "Yes, kind sir, what is your question?" she asked as she moved out of the way so Wes could line up his shot.

"I was going to ask if you use the Force to shoot pool."

"That's a terrible question," Hobbie said.

"I'd say the answer is no," Wes said as he sunk his target ball in a side pocket.

"Indeed, I do not," Brianna said.

"Why?" Tycho asked.

"You don't get two questions in a row, that's not how the game works." Wes lined up another shot. "And you don't get to ask questions about why you're losing."

"Because it would be boring," Brianna said. "I'd know I'd win all the time."

"Winning is boring?" Tycho said.

"No, knowing I'd win all the time is boring. If I know, so does everyone else. And if no one else is having any fun, I'm not having any fun."

"But you do use the Force to have fun."

"Yeah, if there's still a challenge involved," Brianna said. "I may make jokes about being lazy, but I'm not that lazy."

Wes poked Tycho in the shoulder. "Your shot. And Hobbie's turn to ask a question."

Hobbie took a sip of his drink and set it back on the table behind him. "If you could institute one new galactic rule, what would it be?"

"Easy," Wes said. "Kid-free bounce houses." Hobbie laughed.

"You know," Tycho said as he lined up his shot, "for someone who's the perpetual nine year old, you sure don't like kids." His cue ball entirely missed its target.

"That's because kids don't appreciate that kind of fun," Wes said. "It should be for adults. We've earned it."

"I support this," Brianna said. She and Wes clinked glasses.

"What would you add?" Wes asked her.

"Also easy. Intergalactic free taco Tuesday."

"Intergalactic what?" Tycho said.

"Free taco Tuesday," Brianna repeated. "Only legitimate reason to take over the galaxy, in my opinion."

"But…taco?"

"You don't know what a taco is?" Tycho shrugged. "Sheesh, I thought I had a deprived childhood. It's delicious food, that's what it is." Brianna looked at Wes and Hobbie and they also shrugged. "That's it, we're doing taco night next time. Who has a good kitchen?"

"Tycho's is biggest," Wes said.

"Excellent. Next time, your place, taco night, bring your own drinks. You have no idea what you're missing."

"Okay, looking forward to it," Tycho said. "Who's turn is it?"

"To shoot, or to ask a question?" Wes asked.

"Either."

"Brianna's turn to shoot, Wes' turn to ask a question," Hobbie said. "I got two, missed one."

Tycho sighed. "We're gonna lose again aren't we?"

"Okay, next question," Wes said. "If you could eliminate one thing from the galaxy, what would it be?"

"Well, I'll throw out the obvious one of war," Tycho said.

"Cheers to you," Hobbie said, holding up his glass.

Brianna moved around the table to line up a second shot. "I'd get rid of the Force." She glanced up to smirk at Tycho's raised eyebrow, then tapped her second ball into a pocket.

"Oh," Tycho said. "You were kidding."

"Oh no, I was serious," Brianna said. She lined up a third shot. "If I could get rid of that, I'd do it yesterday." She tapped the cue and missed her target. "The Force is way more trouble than it's worth. Better for everyone to just scrap it."

"You'd…get rid of all Force sensitive people?"

"No, no, not people. Just the Force itself. So being Force sensitive wouldn't even mean anything. Nothing to be sensitive to. You'd still have, say Sheev Palpatine or Obi Wan Kenobi, but their lazy asses would have to go find real jobs like normal people."

"Jedi isn't a real job?"

"Hell no. People always bothering you, expecting things, assuming things, acting like they know everything but still want you to solve all their problems they just could just as easily have done themselves."

"Uh, I hate to break it to you," Tycho said, "but that's how a lot of real jobs are."

"On that definition, you've never held a real job either," Wes said as he sunk his next ball.

"Does that make 'politician' a real job?" Brianna asked. "Because that is the most fake job there is. All they do is complain about what someone else is or isn't doing. Maybe that's why they like having Jedi around. They just perpetuate each other's fake jobs."

"You really don't like politicians, do you?"

Brianna grinned. "There's one or two that I like," she said, then giggled at her own joke.

"Somehow I don't think Jedi would have trouble finding jobs," Hobbie said.

"You'd be surprised. I ask people sometimes what they'd do if they lost their Force sensitivity tomorrow. Most of them have no idea. Being Force sensitive is such an all consuming thing for them that they have no concept of themselves without it."

"I don't think it's that bad," Tycho said as he missed his shot.

"That's because everyone you know is an exception to that rule."

"What's the exception?"

"One, people who started out in life having to act like normal people because they didn't know they were Force sensitive."

"Like Corran and your dad."

"Right. And two, people who always knew they were Force sensitive but were allowed - or demanded - to go do something else with their lives. Like all of my siblings and cousins. And three," Brianna paused to take her shot, "rebellious brats like me." She sniffed as her cue ball missed its target again.

"You're really not that bratty," Tycho said.

"I'll pay you ten credits to make that case to Leia."

"Ah, pass."

"What's the matter? Don't think you can do it?"

"Not enough money."

Brianna laughed. "You're funny, I like you. What if I throw in a tin of cookies?"

"Tempting, but no."

"I'll do it for a tin of cookies," Wes said. "Eight ball, side pocket."

"No, you'll probably end up getting me in trouble," Tycho said. He signed as the eight ball fell into the pocket. "Lost again."