"Can you at least pretend to participate?"

Brianna bounced her ball from the floor to the wall and back to herself. "Oh, now you want my advice?"

"I'd like to find someplace where we won't get jumped next time."

"Well, here's the short answer: There isn't one."

"There would be if you were training people."

"You want me to train people or sit here and help you decide where to get ambushed next?"

"We can do both," Iella said. "Let's figure out where to go next, and you can create a specific plan for that area. We don't need to fight about it."

"I didn't start a fight," Brianna said. "Who needs to start a fight when we have guests inbound?"

"What guests -" Iella was cut off as the classroom door opened and Borsk Fey'lya strode in with Director Brollin right behind.

"Sorry," Brollin whispered to Iella. Iella glanced down at her communicator. She had three missed messages from him.

"Master Jedi."

"Borsk."

"I am here for an update."

Brianna grinned. "You got the lizard!"

"On your mission."

"Oh. Well, that's disappointing."

"You are obligated to make a report when your misadventures nearly get Republic personnel killed."

"Killed? That sounds dramatic."

"Perhaps it is not appropriate for you to travel with a team."

"You know, you and I agree in the weirdest ways sometimes."

"I insist on an update for Feleen 2."

"Feleen 2, huh? You are suspiciously well informed."

"You will find that I am well informed of a great many things, Master Jedi, that you are not privy to."

"Yeah?" Brianna's face brightened and she slapped the table. "Oh! You might know!" She pointed at Iella. "He might know! That's totally a thing he would know!"

Iella caught a horrified look from Director Brollin. If Brianna noticed, she ignored it.

"Mast Jedi -"

"Do you know who Lieutenant Kettch is?"

Iella forced herself to suppress a groan. She had hoped Brianna had forgotten about that.

"Come on! That's totally a thing you would know!"

The Bothan looked slowly at Iella and then at Director Brollin. He'd had enough run-ins with Wedge that he theoretically could know. But Iella doubted it. He seemed to be trying to decide if he could play this to his advantage.

"I do not know what this foolishness is."

Brianna held her gaze for a moment. Then her face fell. "Aw. You're not lying to me either. I am so disappointed right now. For real this time."

"Master Jedi -"

"No really, you have no idea how disappointed I am in you right now."

"Skywalker!"

"Tell you what though," Brianna leaned back in her chair. "I'll give you a consolation prize. Since you've interrupted our very important strategy meeting, AND managed to disappoint me with your general lack of knowledge, here's what I'm going to do just for you, you and your buddy Sofi. Apparently some NRDI contractor on Charapath stole some elections data, so we're gonna go check that out for you."

"I am not interested in contractors."

"Yeah, but Sofi's all about that stuff. Jedi protect democracy, blah, blah, blah. I bet she's been really grumpy lately, so you can cheer her up. Sounds like a win-win."

"I am interested in places like Praxis and Feleen 2."

"You've investigated Charapath already, though, haven't you?" Brollin asked.

"As part of this endeavor?" Fey'lya said.

"Ah, Borsk. I take back what I said about you being well-informed."

"Are you suggesting that an unmanaged Force user is planning to disrupt a Republic election?!"

"Well, now, I'm not suggesting anything that wild. But a contractor stealing elections data while quitting a job seems like it's worth a second look, yeah?"

Fey'lya growled, then turned on the director. "Add this to your list Brollin. I want answers."

Brollin looked back at Iella as he followed Fey'lya out. "We'll talk," he whispered.

As much as Iella wasn't looking forward to that conversation, she had to admit it was nice to have an idea of what Councilor Fey'lya did and did not know about what they were doing.

"We set to go?" Sen asked.

"Yep. Just got to put the coordinates in for Charapath and as soon as our window opens, we're out."

"Good."

Brianna appeared in the cockpit behind Divin. "Put in coordinates for Xalos."

Divin stopped and looked at Sen.

"I already put in a flight plan for Charapath."

"I know."

"Going to Charapth was your idea."

"I'm changing it."

"You don't have authorization to change mission plans."

"Well, who does?"

"AD Wessiri. And me. So talk fast because we have a departure window to hit."

"I'm running a test."

"On what?"

Brianna looked at Divin, then back at Sen. "A leak."

Sen frowned. Now everyone was looking at him. They didn't really have time to debate it. But they had gotten jumped last time. He threw a nod to Divin.

"Xalos it is."

The shuttle parked on the Xalos visitor pad and Divin let the ramp down. "I assume you have a plan," Sen said.

"I always have a plan."

"I'm pretty sure that's a lie."

Brianna pointed at Visalia. "You, come with me. The rest of you, stay here. And you," she pointed at Sir'ren. "Always on." Sir'ren threw her a mock salute.

"We're just supposed to sit here?"

"Yeah. Why, you wanna get caught out like last time?"

"No."

"Good. Then stay here."

Brianna led Visalia out from the landing pad area and into the main part of town. "So, what is the plan?" Visalia asked.

"Get noticed." Brianna glanced back. Visalia was frowning, "You don't like my plan?"

"It is… well…"

"Ugh. No one likes my plans. I try to make them as simple as possible so they're easily executable and no one likes them." Visalia just looked at her. "Well, it's not like you're going to need to do much anyway." They turned into the pedestrian area off the main street, the same area Brianna had been to with Dom. They sat at an empty café table and Brianna put her feet up on another empty chair. "Order something."

"What?"

"I don't know. Tea. Whatever you want. But while you're doing that, do a Force scan around the area for anything unusual." Brianna pulled out her communicator and started typing.

Hey. Where you at?

I've just touched down on Xalos.

Good. We were about ten minutes ahead of you. How was Charapath?

Bustling. Based on your description, I think I saw your contractor and three of his friends.

Three? Damn.

I'm sure they'll be quite disappointed when you don't arrive.

Good. Punks. Me and Vis are in the pedestrian area off the main street. I told everyone else to stay in the shuttle. Swing by there and make sure they're following directions. Then head this way.

What are you going to do?

Attract some attention.

Ah, yes. Play to your strengths.

Ha! At least you understand my plans.

Brianna put her communicator away as two cups of tea were placed on the table. "Thank you my good sir!"

"Enjoy your beverages, gentlepersons," the droid replied, and rolled away.

Brianna took a sip. Herbal and fruity and sweet. Blech. "So what do you think? Anything weird out there?"

"It is much quieter today than the last time we were here. I do not know if that counts as weird."

"Any poking?"

"No."

"Any threats?

"Would we sense a threat from someone who is masking? When we spar, and you are masking, Sir'ren and I have more difficulty."

"Think of threats more broadly. Something doesn't have to be a threat this second - or even to you - to be a threat tomorrow, next week, or next year."

"Because it is the intention that comes through the Force."

"Correct."

"Such a threat would also be masked, would it not?"

"Maybe. If these people were experts. I think we've established they aren't. So we need to take advantage of their sloppiness. Also, the people were poking us, individually. That seems to be slightly different from pure masking. So we can look for differences there too."

Visalia nodded. "If they do not know we are here, then they may not be masking at all, making them easier to find. But you want to attract their attention?"

"Well, they may not BE here. Not sensing something that isn't there is hardly an accomplishment."

"We were sensing things that were not there on Feleen 2."

"Which was not only not an accomplishment, but us being manipulated. The point is to figure out how not to be manipulated. So. I am going to go make some noise to give them a reason to be here. You are going to stay right here and try to sense anything weird." Vis raised an eyebrow. "I mean, anything weird that isn't me." Vis raised the other eyebrow. "They should be looking at me, not you, and you should be looking at anything that isn't me."

"I see."

Brianna sighed. "Just keep an eye out." Brianna got up and walked through the pedestrian street. It was less crowded than last time. Not many opportunities to attract attention. I really need an audience, she thought. She briefly turned around. She could still see Vis sitting at the café table. You don't count.

A scuffle off to the left caught Brianna's attention. A native Xalosian man burst out of a shop door and a woman came chasing after him. "You have to pay for that!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Oh good, petty theft. That'll do." Brianna walked over and inserted herself between the two of them. "Hey friend. You forget to do something on the way out?"

"He stole from me!"

"Liar!"

They were both pretty easy to read in the Force and he was definitely lying about something. "Look friend, you can either give it back or pay the nice lady. Not too hard, yeah?"

"You're not a cop! You don't have jurisdiction!"

"Look at her! She has a lightsaber, she's clearly a Jedi."

"She doesn't dress like one! And even if she was, no one cares about that stuff!"

Brianna rolled her eyes. Always with the attire. "Look man, are you gonna pay, or hand back what you stole?"

"You can't make me!"

"Make you do what?"

"Hand back what I stole!"

Brianna grinned. "So, you stole something?"

"I - no - you don't have jurisdiction!" He turned and started to run.

Brianna reached her hand out and gently Force dragged him back to the shop entrance.

"You can't touch me like that! I'll have you arrested for unlawful imprisonment!"

"It's only unlawful imprisonment if you did nothing wrong," the shop owner said.

"Tell you what? Why don't we take it up with these two lovely Xalosian law enforcement officers here? Surely they have justification."

"What seems to be the problem here?" one of the officers asked.

"He stole from me!"

"She's lying!"

The other officer turned to Brianna. "You see it?"

"Nope. Just passing by. Friendly neighborhood Jedi. If I could offer my professional opinion, though, he's lying about something."

"You can't prove anything!"

"I have security footage."

"I would recommend you watch security footage," Brianna added.

The first officer took the man by the arm. "What did he steal?"

"A glazed bowl." The officer patted him down and pulled a glazed blue bowl out of an inner jacket pocket. "That's the one!"

"You have a receipt for this?" The man just looked at him. "Well, let's have a look at this footage."

"She unlawfully imprisoned me though! I want her arrested."

"You're good ma'am," the first officer said. "We can handle it from here."

"Outstanding. You all have a wonderful day." Brianna continued her walk up the street, reaching back out with the Forcce. No pinging, no poking, no masking, no threats. "What do I gotta do, literally fight someone in the street? Haul your lazy bums out here."

"Hey miss?"

Brianna stopped. A little Xalosian kid, maybe six or seven, was standing next to her. "Hey kid."

"Are you really a Jedi?"

"Yep. Sure am."

"Whoa!"

"Brill! Come away from there!" Another kid, this one a teenager, took the younger boy's arm and pulled him away. "She's no Jedi."

"But you saw what she did too!"

"I said no. Jedi don't come to Xalos. Let's go."

"But Mika!"

An extended conversation with kids wasn't the sort of attention Brianna had in mind. But this kid wasn't just dismissive, he was angry. "What makes you think Jedi don't come to Xalos?"

"Because no one comes to Xalos. No one cares about Xalos. People who live here don't even care. Jedi just run around with politicians. That's not doing anything."

Can't argue with that. "What do you think they should be doing?"

"Helping people. Investigating things."

"What kind of things?"

Mika glared at her. "None of your business!" He grabbed Brill's arm. "Come on."

"Missing people!"

"Brill, I said it's none of her business!"

"What kind of people?"

"Normal people."

"Anyone you know?"

"None of your business!" He started to pull Brill away again.

"Our cousin Marla."

"Shut up, Brill, I said it's none of her business!"

"Recently?"

"Almost a year ago. Not that you would know. All kinds of people disappear and no one does anything. One politician talked about it. Then he had some scandal and had to drop out of a race. Then no one talked about it."

"A politician, huh?"

"Yeah. You're a Jedi. You should know all about them."

"Unfortunately true. Tell you what. I can't tell you why I'm here, but I can tell you this. Now I know."

"What good does that do me?"

"Not much. But if the people who took your cousin saw you talking to me, they might think you know something too."

Brill gasped. "Noooo! No no no!"

Mika's eyes widened, then he glared at her again. "So I guess that means we shouldn't be talking to you anyway. Just like I said before." He pulled on Brill again. "Come on."

Brianna watched them go back towards the main street. She felt bad for them. Angry at the galaxy. Angry that no one would listen. Angry that no one else seemed to care about what they cared about. Story of her life. Politicians though… It kind of made her want to go to Charapath and have another chat with that contractor. She kept walking. She was almost all the way to the far end. No pokes, no threats. Not that that meant anything. Just as well.

Poke

Brianna stopped and smiled. "Aw, decided to come out to play? Nice to know I have your attention." She let her senses scan the area. "Do it again, you little furker, I dare you."

Poke

"Got you." Brianna snagged the poke with the Force. "Now, let's see what you're all about." She let her sense in the Force climb back through the tunnel her adversary had created. Entitlement. Superiority. Smugness. Hostility. "Well, aren't you boring. But what makes you different? How do I pick you out without you having to poke me first?"

Brianna's communicator vibrated in her pocket. Hey.

What are you doing?

He poked me, I snagged him. Where are you?

On a rooftop, behind you, to your right.

So, you can see me.

See, yes. Though, my sense if you is a bit…fuzzy. You were clear right up until a few seconds ago. Then you became…distorted.

Fascinating. Try this. Somewhere around me, see if you can find a tunnel, of sorts. A tunnel in the Force. Like it might be reinforced with a protective barrier, or something like that.

Standby.

Brianna turned her attention back to the tunnel from her own vantage point. It seemed clear to her, but she was the one being targeted. She walked a bit further toward the end of the street. It wasn't a dead end, but just empty space and a few abandoned buildings. Her tunneler seemed to be coming from somewhere to the left.

Found it. Curious.

Can you pinpoint the origin?

Not precisely. But I do think it may be off to your left.

Excellent. That's what I thought too. I'm gonna go find him.

And then what?

I don't know. Scuff him up a bit. Give him something to write home about.

Understood.

Briana walked toward the abandoned buildings. She still had hold of the tunnel. She used it like a tether to veer to the left. "Come on. Come out, you coward." Finally out of sight of the pedestrian street, Brianna stopped. She felt a surge of energy through the tunnel and heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber. She spun around with her own blade and blocked with her off hand before pivoting and shifting to the right. She backed up as she blocked and her tunneler swung wildly. She finally got a good look at him. "Hey. I've seen those magenta blades before." It suddenly clicked why fuzzy poking seemed familiar.

"Do you think you're clever, Jedi?"

"Well, it's been working out so far. Can't say the same for your friends on Formuth though."

He lunged forward in another attack. "They were repurposed because of you!"

"They were… what now?

"Repurposed!"

"Well. That's definitely the most disturbing thing I've heard today."

"I will have revenge!"

"Yeah, sure, listen -"

Brianna heard another snap-hiss then saw the tip of a bright red blade cut through the middle of her tunneler. The top half of him fell to the ground. Brianna looked up and saw Elena wiping a strand of black hair from her face. "Well, I wasn't going to scuff him up that much, but it's a method.

Elena extinguished her lightsaber. "Is this one of the two you saw the first time?"

"Nope. Different."

"Presumably the other two will consider the death of a colleague an immediately reportable incident."

Brianna had to smile. "An excellent point."

"And assuming those two are not in the immediate vicinity, this is the only one who saw you speaking to those two children."

"Probably a better point. Hopefully that means no one saw you either."

"Indeed."

Brianna shut down her own blade. "In any case, got what I came for. Let's get out of here."

"Well, I hope you have a good excuse for AD Wessiri," Sen said as the team stepped off the shuttle into the NRDI hangar.

"I have good excuses for everything."

"Excuses maybe. Not good ones."

Sir'ren rolled his eyes. The problem was, she usually did.

Brianna stopped and grabbed Sen's sleeve. "Now what?"

"Are we back sooner, later, or about the same time as we would have been had we gone to Charapath?"

Sen checked his watch. "A lot sooner. Xalos is closer and we weren't there that long."

Brianna smiled. "Fabulous."

"Why?"

"Shh."

"But -"

"Shh!" She cut off Sir'ren. "Always on."

"I know, but -"

"Shh! Stay here." The door from the hallway slid open and two humans walked into the hangar. Brianna's face brightened. "Oh look, it's Phil and Lil!" She jogged over to intercept them before they could reach the group.

"Who the hell are these two jokers?" Sen asked.

"They look like senate staffers," Kyra said.

Sir'ren tappen Sen on the shoulder and turned his back to the visitors. "One of them is masking."

"What? Are you sure? Which one?"

"I think… the one on the right? It's a bit hard to tell."

"Yes, I think it is that one too," Visalia said.

"Maybe our leak?" Divin said.

"It is suspicious timing," Dom added.

"He keeps flickering," Sir'ren said. "Did you notice that?"

"Yes. It is very strange."

"Probably because she keeps pissing him off," Dom said.

"Wait, what does flickering mean?" Sen asked.

"Hey!" Brianna yelled at them from across the hangar. "I gotta go handle some business with my friends here! Ya'll take five!"

After they were out of the hangar, Sen turned back to the group. "You, you, and you," he pointed to Divin, Valah, and Kyra, "go make sure we're checked in, then get up to the classroom to make sure none of our stuff has been messed with. The rest of you, come with me."

"Xalos! You were supposed to go to Charapath!"

"Yeah, well, there was a change of plans."

Iella listened to Sen's story of Brianna's latest surprise. Perhaps she should stop being surprised.

"And no sooner did we park, but these two staffers, Phil and Lil, walked into the hangar to meet us. She ran right over to intercept them."

"Phil and Lil?" Iella said. "Oh, wait, I know who Phil is… I think I know who Lil is too."

"Who are they?"

"Phil, whose name I do not actually know, works in Borsk Fey'lya's office. Lil, whose name I know of is Envir Seveth, works in Representative Kray'fey's office. He's new."

"And what did you say?" Sen asked, pointing at Sir'ren.

"One of them - probably Lil - was masking."

"I noticed it too," Visalia said.

"Masking? Like he's a Force user?"

"That's right."

"And what else?" Sen said.

"He was flickering," Sir'ren said. "Like his mask wasn't perfect. Like it was staticky or the signal wasn't good."

"And then you said," Sen pointed to Dom.

"I think it was because she was pissing him off. I couldn't hear what was being said, but I could see them. She was being her usual, annoying self. Most people might think he wasn't bothered, but I could tell he was pretty irritated. It was like she was trying to spook him. Just like she tried to do to the contractor on Charapath and the people we ran into on Xalos the first time."

"AD, there's no way they would have met us like that if they hadn't known not only that we went to Xalos, but also when we left."

"When we were on Feleen 2, they were waiting for us," Visalia added. "On Xalos, Brianna had to get their attention."

"Gotta admit she's smart," Dom said.

"I'd rather she was a good team player," Sen said.

"Okay, I'm sold. Where are Kyra, Valah, and Divin?"

"I told them to check us in, then go to the classroom to safeguard our stuff."

"Good. The rest of you head down there too. Keep working on our original plan to decide on the next place to go. I've got an idea for how we can backtrack our friend Lil."

"Sasja!"

"Hey, AD Wessiri! What brings you down to the Background Investigations Branch dungeon?"

Iella smiled. The Background Investigations Branch was on one of the lowest levels of the NRDI headquarters, along with several other internal security offices. "I wanted to see if you could help me find someone who works in a senate office."

"Sure thing." Sasja opened a search portal at her consol. "What's the name?"

"The one I know of is Envir Seveth. He works in Representative Anyen Kra'fey's office. He's new. He might be a direct hire."

"Direct hires still have to go through us." Sasja started typing. "Envir Seveth? That doesn't sound like a Bothan name."

"He's not. He looks like he's probably human."

"Since when do Bothans hire humans?"

Iella scrunched up her face. "You're right. They don't."

Sasja finished her search. "I don't have anyone by that name in my database. Are you sure it's the right name?"

"I don't think it's his real name, but it's the one I was given," Iella said. Sasja gave her a skeptical look. "Which is why I'm here."

"Got it. Can't do anything without a name though, or an ID number."

"Mm." Iella thought back on everywhere she'd seen him or knew he'd been seen. "Do you have access to the security footage for this building? Say, for the hangars?"

"I don't, but Moji over in tech security does. He's one floor down, I can show you where he sits." Sasja locked her workstation and led Iella down a floor and through another maze of cubicles. "Hey Moji."

"Oh, hey Sasja. What can I do for you?"

"AD Wessiri here needs to see some security footage. Can you help out?"

"Sure thing. Time and location?"

"Hangar forty-three." Iella checked her watch. "Maybe forty-five minutes ago, just after one of our shuttles came in."

"Okay." Moji started his search. "Here you go. Will come up over here on the holoscreen."

The holo image was still for a moment, showing an empty hangar. Then the shuttle landed and the team filed out. Brianna talked to Sen and Sir'ren, then darted off to the left toward the hallway door, where she met two others. "That's them," Iella said. The one on the left works in Counselor Fey'lya's office and the other one is in Representative Kra'fey's office."

"Except he doesn't appear in my database," Sasja said.

"That's no good."

"Everyone who goes into the hangar has to badge in separately right?" Iella asked. "You can't sneak in behind people?"

"You're not supposed to sneak in behind people," Sasja said.

"How about this? Given the time and location, can you backtrack the credentials used to get in?"

Sasja shook her head. "Nope. That's Sana, back up one floor."

"Lead the way," Iella said. "You come too," she pointed at Moji.

Back up one floor, Sasja led them through the Credentials section. "Hey Sana! Can you look up a set of access credentials for us? AD Wessiri is trying to track someone."

"Sure. Time and location?"

"Hangar forty-three, about fifteen-twelve," Moji said.

"I've got two credentials used then,'' Sana said. "One belongs to Kem Sarnav, general senate staff, currently assigned to Councilor Borsk Fey'lya's office. The other belongs to… that's weird. There is no name or assigned office."

"That's our guy," Iella said. "Are you able to backtrack the use of those credentials through any government building? They probably don't go back more than a couple of weeks."

"Sure can."

"Perfect. Here's what I need from the three of you. I want every location and time stamp those credentials have been used, in any building. Moji, I want footage of all of those time stamps. I want to see everyone he's been in contact with. Sasja, I want to know if there's a confirmed recent background check on all of those people. Consider this a priority-one from the Director's office."

"When do you need it by?" Sana asked.

"Yesterday. I know it's a big lift, but try not to bring in anyone else if you don't absolutely have to. If you have questions, talk to me directly, or one of my team members, Senevir Dherva. No one else."

"You got it," Sasja said.

"And if you can," Iella added, "see if you can figure out how he got in here."