Block, feint, strike, strike. Block, sidestep, strike, sidestep, feint, strike, block. Backstep, sidestep, feint, strike, feint -

Thwack.

"Ow."

"You are not focused," Elena said.

"Pffft."

Step-step, strike, sidestep, feint, strike, step, strike, step, feint, strike, and around.

Elena's practice saber clattered to the floor. She offered a wry smile as she brought it back to her with the Force. "That doesn't count."

Brianna grinned. Anakin might be her traditionally favorite sparring partner, but Elena always gave her the best workouts.

They reset, giving each other the standard Makashi salute. The room was dark. The overhead light was low and there was no light coming in through the north-facing windows yet.

"Did you get anything out of your new friend yesterday?" Elena asked, as they started again.

"Rufus? Oh yeah. Not as much as I would have liked. He's better at this than the other ones I've seen. But I'm getting better too." The light sparring circulated around the room. "The second best part was when I told Kra'fey I had actually a plan to deal with wayward Force users. Bitch lit up like an exploding Death Star. I don't think he realized he did it. I even dropped him a hint."

"What was the first best part?"

"As I was leaving the room I yelled, 'Fogely!' He actually turned around to look at me. I laughed so hard."

"How many names do you have?"

"As many as I need. It's a game, I get a point every time someone lets it slide, but they know who I'm talking about anyway."

"I see."

"I must have used five different names in ten minutes yesterday. His mask flickered every time I did it too, because he was so annoyed. Check this out." Brianna stepped back. She inverted the Force on itself, then, trying to mimic what she'd observed the day before, made the mask shimmer in and out, as if her concentration were being disrupted.

"I see what you mean," Elena said.

"I don't think he realized he did that either. I got a really good sense of the transition though."

The sparring resumed. "I thought you were going to give him a lollipop."

"I did! I gave him a blue one."

"The blue ones are disgusting."

"He picked it. I had to tell him to pick it. He didn't even have an answer. You at least had an answer and you picked the best flavor."

"That all sounds highly entertaining."

"I gotta get something out of these stupid meetings."

"What, then, are you unfocused about?"

Brianna stepped back and reset herself again. "I told them we shouldn't be going out again until those two are ready."

"They're getting better."

"They're not ready. Hell, you and I aren't ready. It's one thing to stand in front of someone and say, 'Oh yeah, you're masking.' It's something else entirely to be in the middle of a city, trying to pick out one masking person, who may or may not even be there, and might be right next to you, or a klick away. It's like playing hide and seek, except you don't know who else is playing… That just gave me a really fun training idea though."

"I don't think they're willing to wait any longer."

"Idiots. Training takes time. Even simple things take time. No one does Jedi Mind Tricks on day one, or does back flips over speeding starfighters and Force lighting in a year. Not even Sheev Palpatine."

"What would you like to do about it?"

Brianna tapped the floor with the tip of her blade. "Your ship prepped?"

"Would you like me to leave before, or after you?"

"You can leave after. Your ship is faster than that piece of junk shuttle we've got. You'll beat us there. Scout it out, then tag along at a safe distance."

"We should probably go over there soon."

Some light was just starting to creep in through the windows. Brianna checked her watch. "Ooh, if we leave now, we can swing by that omelet place for breakfast." Elena raised an eyebrow. "What?" Brianna collapsed her practice saber and threw it into her backpack. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Sir'ren pulled the hood of his poncho down more tightly over his face. The rain wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so windy.

"You had to pick the rainiest day of the year for this, didn't you," Brianna said.

"You don't know this is the rainiest day of the year here," Sen said. "Stop complaining."

"I'm just saying. This is suboptimal for a lot of reasons."

"Well, you're not in charge of anything. You're an advisor."

"What's the point of having an advisor if you're not going to take my advice?"

Sen signed. "Are you on HoloBook again?"

"Yeah. I found this great thread of people posting images of themselves with massiff puppies. It's super cute. Wanna see?"

"No. I want to get work done so I can get out of the rain." Brianna snickered. "Fine. What's your advice for finding these people?"

"If there are any here, they'll probably find us first."

"Great."

Sire'ren tried to focus outward. Listening to those two was like listening to a disgruntled married couple. The rain was making it more difficult to focus. Sir'ren told himself that meant it was better training. He peeked out from under his hood at the people lining his side of the street. Fortunately, there weren't that many of them, probably because of the rain. Unfortunately, he couldn't pick out anyone masking unless he probed each one individually. It was highly inefficient. There had to be a better way, he just didn't know it yet. Maybe Brianna didn't know it yet.

That made him stop. Brianna had been very vocal about this mission being a bad idea. She kept saying 'they' - he and Visalia - weren't ready. Maybe that wasn't all she meant.

"Hey! Did you find something?"

Sir'ren looked up. He didn't realize he'd fallen behind. He caught up. "No. Just thinking."

"Think and work at the same time."

Sir'ren was pretty sure he couldn't think and work at the same time. Thinking would have to wait until later. He focused outward again. He let his sense in the Force briefly touch everyone he could see. It was hard to get a good read on anyone, but as far as he could tell, he was getting a read on everyone. He turned around, walking backwards to make sure he didn't miss anyone, and to check if anyone was newly interested in them. He glanced down an alleyway between two buildings. He thought he saw someone dart forward behind the next building. Sir'ren turned forward again. At the next alley, he looked. He couldn't be certain it was the same person, but the build looked the same. At the third alley, he probed the figure with the Force and got…nothing. It can't be that easy, he thought.

He tapped Brianna on the shoulder. "I think someone is following us."

"Describe it."

"Over there -"

Brianna slapped his arm down. "Stop pointing! How many times do I have to tell you not to point? Just describe it."

"Over in the alleys, and behind the buildings. I've seen the same person three alleys in a row. I'm pretty sure the person is masking. The person is staying about a building or half a building behind us."

"Good catch. Keep an eye on it. If you see it again, let me know. But keep looking elsewhere too."

"That's it?"

"Well, there's probably more than one. Don't want to let anyone else know what we've noticed."

"Oh," Sir'ren said. "That makes sense."

Elena crouched down under an awning as she felt her communicator vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and scrolled through a bunch of messages, complaining about Sen, complaining about the rain, something about massiff puppies. She got to the most recent one.

I think Sir'ren spotted you. Hang back a bit.

Noted, she returned.

Elena suspected she'd been spotted too. She fell back a building, but that made it hard to see them, especially with the rain. She didn't need to see them to follow them, but she did need to see what was going on around them. She didn't really want to move into the street. But that was probably the only way to stay far enough back and keep them in visual range.

Elena peeked around the front corner of the building. She slipped into the street and started following again. A few more buildings down, the group stopped. Elena crept closer. It looked like Sir'ren and Brianna were arguing again. Brianna slapped his arm down as he pointed to a nearby rooftop on his side of the street.

Elena backed up to get a better look at the rooftop. There were three people she could see, and none of them were masking. Of course, that didn't mean no one else was up there who was masking. Still, Sir'ren clearly knew masking when he observed it, so something was going on.

Elena expanded her observation of the area. She let her sense in the Force bounce from person to person. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She refocused across the street. At a covered café table, one person seemed very interested in the team. Elena ducked behind a store curtain and took another look. She let her senses creep up on him. As she got closer, she could make out a stream of energy in the Force emanating out from him. Elena followed the stream out. It landed right on the rooftop Sir'ren had pointed to.

Elena slipped back into an alley and pulled out her communicator.

I think I found what Sir'ren was pointing to. The culprit is on the opposite side of the street. It feels like he's making a projection. Continuing to observe. Will not engage.

Elena looked back at the team. Sen was getting upset that Brianna had pulled out her communicator again. Elena looked down.

Copy.

Brianna put her communicator back in her pocket. "Are you done?" Sen asked. "Can we get back to work now?"

"Shut up. I don't tell you how to do your job, don't tell me how to do mine."

"My job is to lead this team."

Brianna turned her back on him and addressed Sir'ren. "Describe it for me again. Without pointing this time."

"It's the roof of the building over my right shoulder. One of them was masking."

"How many were there and which one was masking?"

"I think there were three people." Sir'ren cast his senses back to the roof. "Hang on. I can sense all three of them now."

"Hmm. Vis! Come over here. Can you see which building he's talking about?"

"Yes."

"How many people do you see up there?"

"Three."

"And how many can you sense?"

"Three."

"I'm not making things up," Sir'ren said.

"I didn't say you were."

"You were sure acting like it a minute ago."

"May I?" Visalia asked.

"Yes, please."

"One building to the north," Visalia said. "I can see four people, but only sense three."

Brianna shifted just her eyes up to look where Visalia was looking. "One building up. How many do you sense?"

Sir'ren resisted the urge to turn around to look. "Four. I can sense four."

"Fascinating." Brianna turned to look at Dom. "Can you see four people on that building?"

"Yup."

"And three people on the other building?"

"Yup. Can I offer another point of observation?"

"Yes please."

"We're attracting a lot of attention just standing in the rain like this."

"Right. Excellent point. Keep moving."

"Are you going to explain?" Sir'ren asked as they kept going north.

"If I explained, you'd probably give it away by pointing. In the meantime, keep checking everything and if you notice something, speak up so we can cross check."

"Seems to be just me and Visalia."

"Yeah, well, our new friend probably thinks it was easier to test it on you first."

"Great."

They kept walking north, almost to the edge of the city. Sir'ren could see through the rain that the buildings cut off abruptly at the edge. There was a large field to the northeast. More of the city curved around to the northwest. Sir'ren had read that Feleen 2 had been a mining colony under the Empire. After Endor, the mining was taken up by private companies and the city was able to maintain its commercial district, even through the war with the Yuzong Vong.

It seemed that people pretty much stayed in the city. There was not much evidence that people ventured out into the forests or the fields, for recreation or anything else. Sir'ren had tried to sense everyone they passed on the way. It all seemed normal.

Sir'ren turned back to the group. Brianna had stopped. She was still facing north, but her head was cocked just to the east. "You see anyone in that field over there?"

"You mean I can look?" Sir'ren asked.

"Yes, you can look."

"No. No one there."

"I see one person," Visalia said.

"What? Where?" Sir'ren said.

"Right -" she quickly stopped herself from pointing, "in the middle of the field."

"The person you can see, are they masking?" Brianna asked.

"No. Just…standing there."

"Furk."

"What are you seeing?" Sir'ren asked. He realized the buzzing sound he was hearing was Brianna's communicator vibrating.

"Do you see anyone in that field?" Brianna asked Dom.

"No, but at this point, I'm guessing that doesn't mean much."

"You're right, it doesn't."

"What are you seeing?" Sir'ren asked again.

"One person. Masking."

"You can't all be right," Sen said.

"No, but we all could be wrong."

Work, don't think, Sir'ren reminded himself. He closed his eyes and focused on the field. Maybe he was wrong…

Sir'ren felt his threat perception trigger just as he heard Kyra scream. He turned around and Brianna was already moving. She Force-yanked Kyra back from her attacker and three crimson lightsabers came to life. Brianna jumped to the nearest one, flipping her own yellow blade up one-handed as she used her other hand to trip the next nearest one lunging for Visalia. The third one came at Sir'ren. Sir'ren blocked and dodged. He struck - but at nothing. It should have been something. He ducked again as he saw the crimson blade out of the corner of his eye. He blocked, then struck again, this time landing against the other blade. He struck up, then down - then it disappeared again.

His threat perception triggered and he ducked. Except he didn't really duck, it was more like something pulled him down, out of the way of the blade. He rolled over back to his feet. He could see Sen, Dom, and Kyra running, trying to stay out of the way of the chaos. He couldn't see Divin or Valah.

He pivoted and blocked another blow. He stepped back as he continued to block and parry. Sir'ren could see his attacker, even in the rain. He had stopped disappearing. It seemed like he kept stumbling. Sir'ren kept blocking, but his attacker was having trouble attacking. Sir'ren had always trained with Form III, and had never done much offensive fighting. He had the upper hand. But he wasn't sure what to do with it. There had been no discussions, no plans about prisoners. He couldn't look away long enough to see what Brianna or Visalia were doing.

A rush of wind whipped over Sir'ren's head. The shuttle appeared above them and shots from the dorsal blaster targeted the attackers. The shuttle swung around, firing again, driving the three apart from the rest of the team. The ramp dropped. "Get on board! Now!" Sen yelled.

Sir'ren jumped on board and hung by the door, making sure everyone else got in. He could see Divin in the pilot's chair and Valah at the gun controls. Good thing they were fast thinkers. Valah took a few more shots as Brianna got on board behind everyone else.

"Get into hyperspace. Now." Sen sat down behind Divin.

Sir'ren was about to find a seat in the back when Brianna grabbed his arm. "If you're going to fight, fight like you mean it."

"He kept disappearing, and I -"

"Fight like someone is trying to kill you, because. They. Are." Brianna let go of his arm and found her own seat.

Sir'ren quietly took a set next to Visalia. No one said anything the entire ride back to Coruscant.

"Get upstairs, Elena should be waiting for you.'' Brianna let the hangar door shut as Sir'ren, Visalia, and the rest of the team headed up to the classroom. Sen was still glaring at her. "What?"

"That was almost a disaster."

"It was your idea to go out."

"It was practically an ambush!"

"There's no 'practically' about it."

"You're supposed to be training them."

Now Brianna glared back. "I am training them. No one is magically good at something after only a few weeks. Maybe you're special."

"There are lives on the line!"

"Why do you think I said not to go out!?"

"Civilian lives! Not everything is about you."

"About me? I'd just as soon go out by myself at this point, for all the good the rest of you are doing."

Sen slapped the door control. "I'm going to close out my flight plan and then I'm making a full report to AD Wessiri." He headed right down the hall to the hangar's administrative area.

"Good! Maybe she'll fire me and then I can get some work done." Brianna headed left to the elevator lobby. She punched an elevator button. It had almost been a disaster. But she couldn't be responsible for everyone's stupidity.

She caught him just before he spoke up. Always on.

"Good afternoon Master Jedi."

"Chester! You have impeccable timing! I was just thinking about you."

He was only about a meter away.

"I just wanted to see how your mission went. And to say there are no hard feelings from the meeting the other day. I understand Representative Kra'fey can be antagonizing. I hope we can work productively together in the future."

"Aw, Bartleby, that's such a sweet thing to say. I hope someone warned you I don't do diplomacy."

"I was told it was not your preferred method of engagement."

Brianna laughed as she caught him flickering again. "Understatement of the eon. You pick a favorite color yet?"

"Master Jedi, I really just want to impress on you Representative Kra'fey's concerns -"

"Listen, Otis, I'm gonna give you some straight up real advice. You're trying too hard. Go tell your bossman to find a different game to play."

"Representative Kra'fey?"

"Yeah, why? You got another boss?"

Flicker, flicker. "No."

The elevator door opened and Brianna backed inside with a smile. "Horace, a pleasure as usual. You have a wonderful day."

He stepped into the darkened office. He pulled a small communications disk from a drawer and set it on the floor. He activated, knelt, and waited. The hologram appeared. "Master Mourtos."

"Camas. How goes your mission in our great galactic capitol?"

"It goes slowly Master. I have been granted access to many areas, but people are not as forthcoming. I have upheld my directive to use pedestrian persuasion only."

"Yes, yes, this is only a probe. And what of our young Jedi?"

"She is…difficult."

"We expected that."

She trusts no one, not even her allies. It makes other people's knowledge less useful than it could be."

"Does she suspect you?"

"It is difficult to tell. She treats everyone with casual disrespect, so what she directs at me is hardly out of the ordinary."

"I see. Do you have anything positive to report?"

"It seems she and her Republic Intelligence team are indeed targeting planets where we have training teams. They engaged a team on Feleen 2 today, with, I am told, modest success on our team's part. I am working to discover how they would have obtained such a list."

"Very well. Do not linger too much longer. No need to give ourselves away."

"Yes Master."

The hologram disappeared. Camas returned the disk to its drawer and left the office. Representative Kra'fey had some other meaningless, unrelated meeting for him to attend.