Sir'ren followed the team back out into the street. The station at Xalos didn't have much more to say than the ones on Praxis and Charapath. He had tried to focus on anything else going on, but there didn't seem to be anything. Brianna hadn't even harassed anyone.

"Don't forget," Sen said, "as soon as we get back to the shuttle, everyone gets to put their two credits in on this outing."

"I think it'll be a short conversation," Dom said.

"Well, just be thinking about - what?"

Sir'ren spun around and scanned the crowd behind him. There were shops all along the street and speeders and a pedestrian street nearby. It was pretty crowded. "I thought - I thought I sensed something."

Brianna grabbed his arm and turned him back around to the group. "Stop that."

"Stop what? I thought I felt something -"

"Yeah, well, you don't need to advertise it to the entire city. You'd make a terrible spy."

"What did you sense?" Sen asked.

"I don't know. It was like a ping or a poke. It only lasted a second."

"I didn't feel anyth -" Visalia turned around. "Wait, there."

Brianna grabbed her too. "Stop flailing. If someone's poking you, don't let them know they succeeded. Unless you have a reason to."

"Did you sense anything?" Sen asked.

"No." Brianna folded her arms. "Very curious. Maybe - oh wait, there is it. Someone seems very interested in the three of us."

"I just got it again," Sir'ren said.

"Separately. Fascinating."

"So what do we do about it?" Sen asked. "Just leave?"

"Hmm." Brianna scanned the area then settled on Dom. She raised an eyebrow then looked at Sen. "Can I borrow him for a minute?" She nodded at Dom.

"What?"

"I'll bring him back, I promise."

"Oh. Um, I guess so."

"Don't you want to know what I want him for?"

"Aren't you going to volunteer it?"

Brianna slapped Dom on the shoulder. "I wanna see if he can spot anyone else I spook."

Dom nodded. "I think I know what she has in mind."

"Ok. What should we do?" Sen asked.

"Go back to the shuttle. We'll meet you there." She pointed at Sir'ren and Visalia. "Always on."

"Yeah, I got it," Sir'ren said.

Brianna nodded toward the pedestrian street. "Come on, let's go."

Dom followed to the entrance to the pedestrian street. It was crowded, with groups of people clustered at outdoor cafe tables, coming in and out of shops, and just generally sightseeing. "So what's the plan?"

Brianna scanned the area again, then pulled him over to a small empty table. "Can you see the whole street from here?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Okay. I'm going to pick… three spots. You watch who I talk to and see if I spook anyone, like before."

"That's it?"

"You were expecting more?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"How much planning do you do as a lone operator?"

"More than that. It's required. Someone usually has to approve it first."

"Even in the middle of an operation?"

"Sometimes."

"Ugh. So bureaucratic. I'll be back."

Dom watched Brianna cross the street and approach a group of people who looked like they were about to sit down to lunch after doing some shopping. There were a few adults and some kids in the group and some other family clusters nearby. Dom could just barely hear a giant 'hello there!' as she walked up. He couldn't hear what else she said, but she was smiling brightly and talking away. The kids seemed interested and one looked like he was asking questions about her lightsaber. The adults looked surprised - clearly they'd never seen a Jedi before - but none of them looked afraid. Brianna was very skilled at acting friendly and open.

A few minutes later she waved goodbye and walked up the street to another large cluster of people, saying hello to others as she passed. She started the same way, engaging with people, especially kids, answering questions. There was an adult human, sort of in the group, but off to the side. Brianna engaged him too, but he kept trying to back away and politely refuse her friendliness. She was persistent. He was frowning at her and constantly glancing around, almost as if he was looking for someone to come help him. "I think she got you," Dom whispered to himself.

Brianna gave the uncomfortable human a generous hug, then moved across the street to another group. Dom kept watching her new friend. A second person, another human, joined him and started whispering in his ear. This one looked up and watched her a moment before scanning the crowd. Then he looked right at Dom.

Dom shivered as he felt a small tingle on the back of his neck. He looked away, just for a moment. When he looked back, they were both gone. "Creepy," he muttered. He refocused on Brianna. She was engaging the third group just as she had the other two. They seemed vaguely interested, but not excited. Nothing spectacular there. She headed back to Dom.

She nodded as she passed by him. "Come on." He jumped up to follow her out of the pedestrian street.

"You spot anyone?" she asked.

"Yeah, that one you hugged in the second group."

"Good, that's what I thought too." She gave a look, up and down. "What's the matter with you?"

"Someone else came up to talk to him after you walked away. Then that one looked at me."

Brianna stopped. "What do you mean, he looked at you?"

"I don't know. He just looked right at me. It was weird. I looked away, and when I looked back, they were both gone."

"Hmm." Brianna frowned. "Okay. Come on." She started walking again. "Let me know if you see him again."

Brianna stayed quiet all the way back to the shuttle. Dom couldn't tell if she was trying to sense anything or not. The shuttle ramp was open. Brianna stopped at the base. "See him again?"

Dom looked back the way they came. "No. I don't think -" Dom frowned as he looked over Brianna's shoulder. A human male came around the back of the shuttle. He looked very similar. He started to point. "Uh, that might be -"

Brianna knocked his arm down. "Sheesh, you're as bad as the other two."

The man started to unhook something from his belt. "I'm just saying -"

Brianna pointed her finger in his face. "Listen very carefully. When I give you the signal, run - don't walk - back up the shuttle and tell them to get the engine started."

"What? What signal?"

Brianna held up her finger again to silence him. She paused. Then smiled. "Got you. Go."

"What?"

Faster than Dom was ready for, Brianna spun around pulling out her own lightsaber, her yellow blade clashing against a red one. Dom tripped over his own feet as he fell backwards. He scrambled back up and ran up the ramp, bumping into Sen as he came out. "Start the engine!"

"What the hell?"

"Div, start the engine," Dom said again. The shuttle rumbled to life.

Sir'ren started to run down the ramp. Sen grabbed him by the robes and hauled him back inside. "What are you doing?"

"Get back in here, we don't need everyone running outside."

"She needs help!"

"I don't know, she looks pretty good," Dom said. She was light on her feet, dancing around blocking, with an occasional strike to her opponent.

"Divin," Sen said, "lift up just a little bit."

"Now what are you doing?" Sir'ren said.

"Shut up."

Brianna blocked, then flipped her blade around, wrenching her opponent's saber out of his hands. She lunged to the slide and sliced the deactivated hilt mid air, then kicked him in the chest. She hopped and rolled up onto the ramp as it came up.

Sen pulled the ramp the rest of the way up. "Div, take off!"

Brianna popped to her feet. "Woo! Haven't had fun like that in a long time!" She ran to the port window. She laughed at her opponent picking up his lightsaber pieces. "Haha, got you punk."

Dom joined her at the window. "That's the guy who looked at me."

"Yeah. Bro thinks he's slick."

"What the hell was that?" Sen asked.

"Sith?" Visalia asked.

Brianna rolled her eyes. "Not everyone is a sith. Especially not those two idiots."

"I spotted someone she spooked in the pedestrian street," Dom explained. "This other guy was there too, and saw me."

"Are they like that contractor on Charapath?" Sen asked.

"Similar," Brianna said.

"So, the 'spooking' thing works?"

"Yeah, we're not doing that again," Brianna said.

"But it worked!" Dom said.

"You said it yourself the other day," Brianna said. "The three of us attract a lot of attention." She looked at Sen. "That's not attention you want."

"Okay," Sen said. "You're supposed to be my advisor. What's your advice?"

"I have an idea. I'll need to pick up some stuff after we get back to Coruscant. In the meantime, no more outings until I can put together a training plan for these two. If you absolutely have to go, have these two arrive separately. Or, you know, call people. Communication devices work in two directions."

Sen nodded. "Okay. Recommendation accepted."

"What kind of training?" Visalia asked.

Brianna grinned. "Nothing you've done before."

Iella waited in the hangar as the team's shuttle came in. She had been up here anyway, so she thought she'd meet them. She waved at a few maintenance workers she knew as they started work on another ship. The ramp came down and Sen came out first. She waved.

"Hey boss," Sen said. "We're not in trouble are we?"

Iella laughed. "No, I was up here anyway and heard you were coming in. Productive trip?"

"I think so. Will take some explaining though."

"Okay. Let's head to the classroom, we can discuss." Iella let everyone pass by her as they walked toward the inner hallway. Then she noticed Brianna walking in the other direction. "Where's she going?"

"Um, pick up some stuff?" Sen said.

Iella signed. "All right, head down there, I'll meet you." Iella caught up with Brianna. "Going to join us?"

"Oh, hey, yeah, I gotta run, gotta pick up some stuff. I bet Dom's got a great story for you though, go check it out."

"Can you just once explain -"

"Excuse me, Master Jedi Skywalker?"

Iella turned. A human in a senate staff uniform was approaching. "Oh, hi Phil," Brianna said.

He frowned. "My name isn't Phil."

"That's okay, no one calls me what I want either. What can I do for you?"

"I work for the senate intelligence subcommittee. I was instructed to give you this." He handed Brianna a datapad.

"Too lazy to come see me himself today, huh? What is it anyway?" Brianna flipped it around to look.

"A subpoena. The committee has some questions for you."

"What?" Iella took it from Brianna. "You can't just run around giving subpoenas to people."

"Actually, we can."

"If it's for an official NRDI action, you have to go through us," Iella said.

The staffer raised an eyebrow. "Is there an official NRDI action she's involved in?"

Iella scowled. They were still trying to keep this relatively quiet.

"Regardless," he said, "the subpoena instructs her to be at the main hearing gallery in two days to present live testimony."

"Live testimony!?"

Brianna took back the datapad. "But what is it for?"

"The chair is interested in the future of the Jedi Order as a Republic asset."

Iella saw a slow smile creep over Brianna's face. "Is that right? That sounds brilliant, I'll be there."

"Now, wait, listen -" Iella started.

Brianna handed the datapad back to Iella. "Your boss wants a live spectacle? He'll get one."

"Excellent. I'll tell him you're enthusiastic."

"Yes, absolutely tell him I'm enthusiastic."

"Good day." He nodded to Iella. "Assistant Director."

"Bye Phil! See you in a couple days!"

Iella waited until he was in the hallway. She turned to Brianna. "I will take care of this."

"No, I wanna go now."

"But -"

"Listen, it'll be fine, don't worry about it. I just had an epiphany. It'll be great."

"What? What kind of epiphany?"

"I'll tell you in a couple days." She started walking to her own shuttle parked in the hangar. "But I gotta run, I gotta pick up some stuff. Have the boys give you a brief, we had some fun today!"

Iella sighed as Brianna disappeared up her ramp. She was really starting to hope this project was worth it.