Iella wound her way through the crowded lobby on her way to work. It was definitely busier than usual that morning. She checked her watch. No, she was just later than usual. She spotted Brianna at the popular coffee shop. Iella turned in that direction and then caught another familiar face out of the corner of her eye. Borsk Fey'lya was also walking in Brianna's direction, along with "Phil," another Bothan Iella couldn't name, and another human-looking person. Iella picked up her pace.

"Skywalker," Fey'lya said.

Brianna took her time to turn around. "Not even a good morning? Rude. Oh, hi Phil!"

"Master Jedi."

Brianna looked at Iella and shrugged. "Who's your friend?" she said, looking at the other Bothan.

"This is Representative Kra'fey. He sits on the Internal Security committee and attends General Sessions in my absence."

"Outstanding! Are you getting a pet lizard too?"

"I watched your testimony with great interest, Master Jedi," Kra'fey said. "I must say I have some concerns."

"Yeah? Get in line."

"Specifically, I have concerns about your advocacy for unmanaged Force users."

Iella didn't like the sound of that.

"Well, they don't get much more unmanaged than me."

"I have not forgotten," Fey'lya said, "about the rumors from Praxis that originally brought me into your…work space. And as I recall, you have two more cousins who are, at the moment, 'unmanaged'."

"Insofar as you recall," Brianna said. "Do you have a point to make? Because I have work to do."

"And what work is that?" Kra'fey said.

"Managing Force users, of course. You wouldn't want to keep me from that, would you?"

"Oh no, indeed not," Kray'fey said. "I look forward to discussing this issue in more depth at our first formal meeting this week."

"Fabulous." Kra'fey gave her a small nod of courtesy. Brianna did not return it. The party turned to walk away and Brianna poked the other human in the back. "Sorry, didn't get your name?"

"Oh," he said. "I am Envir Seveth. I am Representative Kra'fey's new data gathering assistant."

"Ooh, data gathering. That sounds fun. I'm something of a data gatherer myself. What kind of data do you gather?"

"I do not have a specific assignment yet."

"Ah, well, too bad. Can I give you some advice?"

"Please."

"Get a pet lizard."

"I - what?"

"Get a pet lizard. To inspire your bosses. And Phil. Phil needs a pet lizard too."

"My name isn't Phil."

"That's okay, no one calls me what I want either. I'm telling you, pet lizard. You all have a wonderful day!" Brianna headed for the exit. Iella caught up just in time to hear her mutter under breath. "Idiots."

"Get back to work!"

Brianna pointed at Sir'ren and Visalia as she walked toward the training space door at the side of the classroom. Sir'ren and Visalia jumped up from their seats at the table and followed Brianna and Elena into the practice space.

"She's grumpy this morning," Sen said.

"Politicians make her grumpy," Iella said. Brianna hadn't said much on the way from the apartments lobby to the classroom.

"I think politicians make everyone grumpy," Kyra said.

"Yeah, probably." Iella looked at the spread of datapads across the table. "What are you all working on?"

"Well, since we're not going out until Grumpy says the other two are ready," Sen said, "we contacted all of our liaisons on all of the planets that were making these reports about missing persons and strange injuries. We asked them to send us everything they had on all of them."

"What does 'everything' include?"

"Basic profile, contacts, school history, work history, criminal history, injury reports, locations. Anything to see if there are any connections between them that matter," Valah said.

"Any luck?"

"They're so unconnected it's almost as if whoever is targeting them made a deliberate effort to target unconnected people," Divin said.

"That sounds like a lot of work for someone," Iella said.

"Worth it if you're trying to stay hidden," Dom said.

"Good point. Have you gotten anything out of it?"

"I had an idea," Valah said. "We have personality profiles for almost all of the victims. Most of them are described with terms like 'highly intelligent', 'opinionated', 'strong-willed', 'decisive,' stuff like that."

"So?"

"I was thinking about what Brianna said the other day about the Jedi Mind Trick and how it only works on 'weak-minded' people. There's that, and then there's what they're doing in there, stuff that's designed to work on Force users. So I wondered, what if there's something in between? Like, not something you would use on a Force user, because your target isn't Force sensitive anyway, but you still need something stronger than a Jedi Mind Trick."

"Interesting idea," Iella said. "What would the purpose be?"

"Practice?"

"Practice?"

"It's kind of like skill levels, right? The Jedi Mind Trick is skill level one, what I'm talking about is skill level two, and what they're doing in there is skill level three. Maybe there's more levels, I don't know. But obviously you need practice, need training. We know there are at least a few of them who are already skill level three. Maybe some are still stuck on skill level two."

"People need to test their toys," Iella said.

"We know one of them has stolen elections data and one of them tried to attack us. Jedi might try to avoid violence, but these people aren't Jedi."

"I like where you're going with this. Hang on to it. What about the medical reports? What do we have there?"

"I've got those," Sen said. "I'm no medical analyst, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at. None of it looks like a good experience though."

"Do they look like what would happen if someone was trying mentally mangle you?"

"I guess I wouldn't know," Sen said.

"Right." Iella checked her watch. "I have some other meetings and work to get done today. Keep working and I'll be back before you leave for the day."

"You got it boss."

"I think they might actually be getting better," Elena said as Sir'ren and Visalia left the training space.

"Not better enough." Brianna stuffed the practice sabers back into her bag and threw it over her shoulder. "I need to be better."

"Back to the early morning sessions then?"

"Yeah. And speaking of morning, did you spot our new friend in the lobby this morning?"

Elena smirked. "Which one?"

"The interesting one."

"It's too bad really. I thought Bothans were supposed to be interesting."

"I think most of them are. Just not those two idiots."

"You almost threw him for a moment. What did you say?"

"I told him he should get a pet lizard. To inspire his bosses. And Phil. Phil needs a pet lizard."

"Maybe you should give him a lollipop," Elena said. "I have it on good authority that works."

Brianna grinned. "Time to crank up the weird."

Iella let Brianna out of the elevator, then followed her into the hall. She hadn't had a chance to discuss Valah's idea yet. She had wanted to have a private conversation, but Elena had been with them right up until they left the NRDI building. She was hoping to bring Brianna into her home office to discuss it.

"That couch is really becoming the hangout spot," Brianna said.

Iella looked. Wedge, Tycho, and Luke were seated at the couch at the end of the hall overlooking the bay window. "Better there than out getting into trouble."

"That's for damn sure." At the end of the hall, Brianna leaned over the back of the couch between Wedge and Tycho. "What shenanigans are going on over here?" she demanded.

"There are no 'shenanigans' here," Wedge said.

"I find that highly unlikely."

"Maybe shenanigans are for 'fun' people," Tycho said.

"No one asked you," Wedge grumbled.

"Technically, I did say he was fun," Brianna said.

"I am fun."

"Of course you are."

"And I bet you five credits I can prove it."

Brianna's face lit up. "Oh, wow, five whole credits. This'll definitely be good. I'm in. Whatch'you got?"

"Go ask Wes who Lieutenant Kettch is."

Brianna frowned. "Okay. Why? Who is Lieutenant Kettch?"

"No no. You have to ask him. He might not tell you. But I'm pretty sure Hobbie knows who that is so make sure he's in the room when you ask."

Brianna squinted then looked at her father. "Who's Lieutenant Kettch?"

"I don't know."

She looked at Tycho. "Who's Lieutenant Kettch?"

"I've never actually been told who that person is."

She looked at Iella. "Who is Lieutenant Kettch?!"

"I'm pretty sure I've not heard that name before."

"Whaaaat? You three are not even lying to me right now. I need to go find out who this is."

"Brianna -"

"I am on a mission!" And she darted off back down the hall.

Iella signed. So much for a private work conversation. "I need her focused, please."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Wedge said. "I thought she was really good at multitasking."

Iella rolled her eyes. "Who is Lieutenant Kettch anyway?"

"If Wes wants to tell you, he's entitled to do so," Wedge said. "It's not my place."

Iella suspected pilot shenanigans. Wedge just looked at her with his pseudo-innocent expression. Like he'd never been on Formuth at all. She remembered why she had been so interested in the medical reports.

"What?"

"Hmm?"

"You're looking at me like I'm in trouble," Wedge said.

"No, no, you're not in trouble. You just have a cute face." As Iella entered the apartment, she caught the next phase of the conversation.

"I think I'm in trouble."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're in trouble," Tycho said.