Last time: Cien managed to take out the raiders but at what cost.

Now: The Trio try to figure out who the mole is.

Chapter 22- To Rat Out a Mole

Oppie drummed his fingers impatiently on the desk, an irregular show of unease for him as he waited for Ceros to get everything together. He couldn't remember the last time he had sat someplace waiting with this kind of tension, and he knew exactly why. He liked Kait, a lot, and they were setting up a trap to see if she had betrayed them or not by betraying her. No matter how it turned out, either she was the mole and would fall for the trap, or she was innocent and they were still trying to lie to her, it felt wrong to him. Even if it had been his original suggestion. Especially because it had been. He hoped it was J'onz, he knew of the two it had to be J'onz. But he also knew why he felt that way, and the part of him that had been raised in the temple knew his feelings were betraying him, and that he had completely lost his objectivity in this. He wished Cien was here to talk to.

Kait had been at their side for every plan, she was the one that knew everything they had known since they had arrived, so she was in a perfect position to be the mole. J'onz had been looped into everything as well because he was the senior investigator. But as the senior investigator, he was the one that should be the most trustworthy. He had no reason to sell out to the cartel. Kait didn't either, though. Which kept looping through his mind as he kept trying to puzzle through the question of who the mole was. The hours as they stretched from the late morning into the mid afternoon passed with all the alacrity of a terbinian snail, and the one comfort he took was that Kait was busy someplace else in the headquarters so he hadn't had to encounter her. He hoped. They hadn't actually seen her all day, and a part of him wondered if J'onz had made good on his promise to punish her for the apparent transgression at the nightclub.

They had spent the day around the headquarters, helping with menial tasks, reading reports, and sifting through data. Trying to get some somewhat productive work done while they waited for Ceros to set everything up. They had commandeered a small conference room where they could go over the data they were scouring through, and had gone in and out of the room all day as they retrieved this or that bit of data to go along with whatever they had found in the latest report. Viran and Sasha had stepped out a few moments ago to take a break, leaving Oppie alone with his troubled thoughts for the first time today.

"You okay?" Viran asked as he came into the room quietly, noticing his troubled state.

"Oh, yeah. Just thinking." Oppie said, coming out of his thoughts. "Did they have any good snacks?" He asked.

"Not really. All of it's only fair," Viran said with a smirk. "And the caf is the same way." He then looked around the room then back at Op. "Are you sure you're okay? Sasha could sense you were troubled from the break room. I told her I would come check on ya."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Oppie stated dismissively, annoyed with himself that Sasha had picked up on it. "I just don't like this." He finally stated, hoping it would be enough.

"I know," Viran said, sitting in the chair in front of the desk, across from Oppie. "And if it makes you feel better, I don't either. I still believe Kait is innocent and that I hope we rat out the real mole before we make a mistake." He shot a blank glance towards where J'onz was at his desk outside, nose deep into a datapad. "Or that's there is a good explanation." He looked back at Oppie after a moment. "Does she know?"

"Does who know what?" Oppie asked a little guardedly as he turned to look at Viran, his brow furrowed.

Viran lowered his voice and frowned. "Does Kait know… how you feel?" He asked very carefully. "Cause I've noticed. Kind of."

Oppie blanched a little and looked down. "I have no idea." He said after a moment, "she asked me to go get drinks on Nivon before that whole thing blew up, so we didn't get a chance then." He said quietly. "I spoke with Sasha a little bit about it while we were camping on Myrkr one night, but I had no idea what to think of it then. I didn't have a chance to follow up with her, even though Cien kept talking with me about it, but the last week or two being here, it's been a lot of fun to work with her. We got to have drinks the other night, after what happened at the club, and it felt like it might have been the start of something. But I don't know." Oppie finished.

Viran couldn't help but feel a small smile grow on his face. He wasn't going to tease Oppie like the others, but he was happy to see his older brother finding someone special. "We will figure this out, Op. Just have hope," he said encouragingly.

"Yeah. Thanks Vir." Oppie said, still looking away.

"Want some gross caf?" Viran offered, changing subjects, smirking. "Or stale pastries?"

"Oh, yes please, my favorite." Oppie said with some mock excitement, glad for the topic change.

Viran chuckled and patted the desk near Oppie's arm as if he was patting his arm comfortingly as he stood from his seat. "Okay one bad cup of caf and a brick muffin coming up," he joked.

The door opened and a low level militia person poked their head in. "Colonel Ceros asked for you."

Viran nodded. "Thank you. Tell him we will be right there."

Oppie nodded his thanks as he stood. "Where's Sasha?" He asked Viran.

"Still in the break room, trying to drink the caf," Viran said with an amused smirk. "I'll go get her and meet you in his office."

Oppie froze in shock. "Sasha is drinking… caf?" He asked.

"They didn't have much for options and it's my drink she is watching over. And she said she wanted a sip," Viran said, chuckling. "But I was shocked too. I thought she was sick." He snickered.

"I'll go with you." Oppie said as he moved to hold the door open for him.

Viran smiled as he headed out and led Oppie to the break room. When they got there, they found Sasha sitting at a table by herself and a still rather full cup of caf before her, but she stared it with disgust.

"What? You didn't like the caf?" Viran asked with a smirk as he approached.

"I'd rather drink lava," Sasha said as she pushed the drink back to him. "Hell, even the caf at home smells better than this."

"The caf at home is a lot better than this." Oppie said with a smirk.

"Well do you still want it, Vir, or am I tossing it?" Sasha asked, gesturing to the cup.

"Toss it," Viran said, waving his hand dismissively. "Besides, we've got to go. Ceros wants to see us."

Sasha perked up at that. "Alright then let's go." She stood up, taking the cup with her, and headed for the sink. She poured out the bad excuse for caf and tossed the disposable mug away into the trash bin.

Oppie followed Sasha and Viran as the three of them walked out of the break room and into the main corridor that led to the central office. The space was buzzing with activity as always, and they stepped through to Ceros' door. After knocking they were welcomed in.

"It is done," the Colonel started once the door was closed. "We laid the trap, faster than I anticipated, and I took the liberty of informing both Marshal J'onz and Deputy Messan separately of the two locations while speaking with them of other matters. Now we merely need to wait an hour or two, and see if the cartel will try to handle either location. I had a team assemble and leave as though they were going to make the pickup."

"Excellent. So who will we follow first?" Sasha asked, almost breathing in relief at the thought of step one being handled. However, there was still an anxiousness about her.

"I think that we wait." Ceros said, "I told them that the 'informant' would be picked up by my team this afternoon, and let them know I was anticipating them to be a valuable source of information on the cartel and its operations. So given the opportunity, we should know if the cartel chooses to take care of this situation in their own way soon."

"Understood," Sasha said.

"Just let us know when," Viran said with a shrug. "We are pretty much ready to go whenever."

Ceros nodded. "If the cartel makes a move on either location you three wil be the first to know, after I do." He stated.

A loud knock came from the door. "Colonel Ceros? We need to talk," J'onz demanded loudly from the other side.

Ceros glanced at the other three before responding. "Come in." He said.

J'onz opened the door and strode into the room like a man on a mission. Kait following after him. "I know we are due to follow your lead here soon sir, but we have found something. Something that requires our attention," he informed him. "We may have located that Lieutenant."

Sasha's eyes widened at that. Viran had to do a double take as he looked at the man in surprise and confusion.

"Wait, what?" Sasha asked, stunned. "How?"

"Deputy Messan found a map of the cities sewage and where that tunnel spits out," the marshal explained. "It's a building near the nightclub and I believe that is where Frey is hiding."

"Are you sure he is still there and hasn't fled?" Viran asked, uncertainly. "It's possible he could have left by now. It has been long enough."

"But he was injured and he knew we were looking for him," Sasha added, a little uneasy. "He might actually still be there, hiding."

"See, your wife agrees with me," J'onz said, gesturing to Sasha, who stepped back, as he stepped forward as if he joined her side as if she picked him for her sports team.

Viran's eyebrow twitched at that.

Oppie looked between J'onz and Kait, and tensed slightly when he took that step towards Sasha.

Ceros spoke, "That seems like an excellent lead." He said, trying to diffuse the tension that suddenly shot through the room. "Perhaps you five would like to go and inspect this sight, and see what you can determine?"

"This is a time sensitive investigation," J'onz commented. "If he is still there, he may flee the second he realizes we're on his tail or flee sooner rather than later. I suggest we go in and ambush him before he can leave. And we know that the tunnel is a dead end, so he has nowhere to run if we surround the place."

"There are other ways," Viran remarked under his breath. "But I guess you are right. And he is our best lead to finding Cordova. I agree. Let's go."

Sasha nodded in agreement.

"Agreed." Oppie said.

"I can have a team go with you as back up, though we are a little short of field personnel right at this moment." Ceros said, "I can have them rendezvous with you at the location as soon as they are available."

"That will do fine. Any man power we can get will do," J'onz said, nodding.

Sasha glanced at him with a blank expression but she found that a little suspicious that he was okay with so little back up. However, she thought it was best to say nothing.

"Then let's get moving if this is so time sensitive," Viran said, gesturing towards the door.

"Good hunting." Ceros said as a dismissal.

Kait, who was closest to the door, opened the door and held it open. J'onz just walked out, taking the lead. Sasha and Viran nodded their thanks as they went next.

"Thanks." Oppie said as he walked through and she nodded.

J'onz led them through the militia headquarters, gesturing to a small team of troops that were sitting nearby talking, to follow. The small squad got up, gathered their gear, and followed after J'onz towards the motor pool. Once outside, he led the squad to one of the waiting trucks.

Out of reflex, Kait followed the three Jedi to their own truck, taking the driver's seat, and Op got into the passenger seat behind her. Viran took his usual spot riding shotgun and Sasha climbed in behind him. As soon as the trucks were loaded, they hit the road.

"So can you tell us more about this place?" Viran asked, glancing at Kait. "Since you were the one to actually uncover this."

She got them underway, following J'onz's truck out. "I spent the day looking for leads based on what happened at the nightclub, and I realized that the city might have some clues we didn't think about. They had plans of a sewer system that had been put in, and they'd had to bypass around another tunnel. The sensor readings they took indicated a tunnel that they worked around. If you trace the line, it goes from the nightclubs dance floor over across to this other building a block away." She finished.

"Nice find." Oppie said.

"Yeah, nicely done," Viran agreed. "Now let's just hope this guy is still there."

"Do you think he is?" Sasha asked Kait. "It's been nearly two whole days since the nightclub incident."

"No idea." Kait admitted, "but finding his trail again is the first step to figuring out where he might have gone."

"And who knows maybe we will find another computer terminal or something," Viran said, nodding. "Either way, this has the potential to provide us with intel or a prisoner. Well done." He complimented.

"Thanks." Kait said. "What were you guys busy working on all day?" She asked.

Sasha glanced at Oppie, a look of panic flashing in her eyes. Viran cleared his throat and scratched his chin.

"Nothing really interesting. We were trying to look into a lead of our own that we hoped might lead to somewhere," Viran explained. "Turns out it was as dead of a dead end as a dead end could get."

"Yeah," Oppie said, "mostly just trying to dig up new leads like you were." Oppie answered.

Sasha nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I admit I was mostly just trying to stay out of J'onz's way." She confided in them. "What lead did you follow up on? Anything interesting even if it was dead?" She asked as they continued behind the other repulsor truck.

"I found a scrap of paper with a name on it. Turns out it was the name of Selina's old bar," Viran lied with ease. "We had searched through every outlet we could find that matched that name. Whether location or person. And when we learned it was the bar, we had to guess it was probably just some contact information or something for it as only a small note about this big." He indicated its size with his thumb and pointer finger, showing no more than like a dozen centimeters wide. "And was burned on the edges, most likely from the explosions."

"You didn't recognize the name of the bar?" Kait asked Sasha, looking in the mirror at her.

"Not really," Sasha said, shrugging. "I think I looked at it once when we were first looking around. After that, I remembered where I was going. And I didn't think I needed to memorize it. And I admit after the explosion, I didn't really want to think about that place anymore." That was actually the truth. She didn't remember the name even now while she thought about it as she had looked at it so quickly it didn't even register in her brain.

"That's fair, you had a lot on your mind then." Kait said, sensing an odd tension in the vehicle, and not sure what it was about. "I did look up that candy shop." Kait said, looking in the mirror at Oppie. "Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about it, at least from any records I could find." She finished.

Oppie nodded, "yeah. I guess that doesn't necessarily rule it out. The cartel has an odd way of keeping everything looking very legitimate looking when they want it to stay off of the sensors."

"I guess we'll just have to go," Viran said kind of melodramatically as if someone was twisting his arm to go get more delicious chocolate.

"Oh no, a weekend trip out of this hole to go get candy." Kait said in agreement with a smirk. She glanced up in the mirror, looking at Sasha and Oppie, but didn't say anything as she looked down at the road.

"Sounds like fun," Sasha said, kind of quietly. She then just smiled a very small smile before looking out the window.

Viran glanced back at Sasha. He frowned slightly at her. He could tell she was uncomfortable as they all knew Kait could possibly be the mole and it was almost becoming apparent in her mannerisms. This was where he wished she had a better Sabacc face.

"As long as it's not zherries." Kait said, making a face, "I don't know why, but I can't stand them." Oppie silently let out a sigh, glad that he had picked out the vanilla truffles for her rather than the zherry liquor ones. If she didn't turn out to be the mole.

"Don't let Cien know that." Oppie said after a moment. "Those might be considered fighting words."

"Yeah, she loves zherries," Viran said, adding emphasis to the word love.

"I'll try to keep that in mind if I ever speak with her again." Kait said.

"I'm sure you will. If they get here before we finish the job," Viran said, hopeful for two reasons. One, because he hoped that the mission with the Sith Temples was simple enough that they could still join in on this hunt as they both deserved to despite Cien currently being pregnant. And two, because he really hoped Kait was not the mole for Cien and Oppie's sakes.

"They were planning to come, then?" Kait asked, more for keeping the conversation going than driving in awkward silence, which seemed to be threatening to subsume the truck.

"Originally yes, but they got called off on another job with the NR," Viran replied. "But it sounded like it would be fairly easy for the two of them."

"Anything interesting?" Kait asked.

"They are looking into some events that have been happening recently with Sith Temples," Sasha answered.

"So pretty much right up Cien's alley," Viran added with a nod.

"Is a Sith temple kind of like the Jedi temple?" Kait asked.

"Not…" Oppie started, but grimaced and had to answer truthfully. "In a way yes, same idea, but very different lessons." He said, "Jedi are about being selfless and peaceful introspection. The Sith are about…" He tried to start, but he didn't want to say something that would sound bad about Cien, and describing the nuances could take hours. "A different path, more self focused, and driven by passion instead of inner peace." He settled on.

"Plus they are also physically built different too," Viran added. "The Jedi Temple was a large building with tall spires and almost a more temple-y look that could be seen from many different spots on Coruscant. Sith Temples are more angular and pyramid shaped. At least one I've seen is. They are also on desolate planets so no one can find them or bother them."

"This is all related to the Force?" Kait asked. "I guess I remember some history about all of that, but not a lot." She admitted.

"It's a topic with a lot of history behind it. But most of it is from thousands of years ago." Oppie said distantly. Even though the rise of the Empire was yet another move in that ongoing war.

"So the time it would take us to tell you all of it…" Viran paused as if calculating. "Well it wouldn't be the rest of this drive. That's too short of time. It would take days, maybe even weeks if you wanted to study more about it. Or months. Or years."

Sasha smacked him on the back of the head at that. "Whether you are joking or not, it wouldn't take that long. But he is right, it would at least take a couple days at the most." She added.

Viran rubbed his head and shot a glare at his wife, who just smirked at him.

Kait wasn't sure how to respond to that, "can't be too much animosity, though, if you guys are Jedi and Cien's a Sith, right?" She asked.

"It's a bit complicated," Sasha answered, looking away. "Now? No, we don't have any animosity towards each other. We have moved past that and are family now. But when we first met? Yeah, there was a lot of tension that took a while to fade away between us all."

"But she's our sister and we love her like one," Viran continued on with. Sasha couldn't help but smile at that. Glad, Viran and Cien were at that stage after so long of slowly working on their friendship once she had joined the family.

"Well that's nice." Kait said, genuinely, "she spoke highly of all of you when we had a chance to talk." She said as she slowed the truck behind the lead vehicle. "Looks like we're here." She stated.

As soon as the trucks stopped, they noticed J'onz and his team climbing out, blasters at the ready as they moved towards the building. Sasha and Viran climbed out on their side with their lightsabers at hand, and Oppie climbed out behind Kait, both of them reaching to draw their blasters, and Oppie grabbing his shoto blade.

"Surround the building. Make sure no one escapes," J'onz ordered as he headed for the building.

The squad spread out and created a perimeter around the building, making sure every exit was blocked as they trained their weapons at the windows and doors. J'onz moved toward the front door as he grabbed his pistol. He leaned against the wall next to the door with his weapon up, ready to breach. Sasha and Viran came to a stop behind him against the wall, waiting for the signal, with Kait and Oppie stacking up behind them.

"Alright, on three use your magic and knock down this door," J'onz ordered in a strong whisper to Sasha.

"It's the Force," Sasha grumbled, but still nodded.

J'onz counted them down and on three Sasha unleashed a strong push with the Force, sending the door flying off its hinges. A trooper nearby moved forward and dropped a flash bang in. Everyone looked away for the second it took for the flash to go off. After a moment, they all looked back towards the door. J'onz signaled for them to enter.

Viran grabbed his blaster in his other hand and went through the door first, taking point. Sasha was right on his heels with Kait behind her and Oppie bringing up the rear. J'onz remained at the door.

"Clear," Viran called after a moment as they searched the main level. J'onz took that as his cue to enter, blaster still raised.

"We should try and find the tunnel entrance or any secret rooms," Sasha said, looking around already.

"Fan out and find them," J'onz ordered the Jedi and Kait.

"Aye aye," Viran said saluting the man lackadaisically before fanning out to search. Oppie stuck with Kait out of reflex while Viran and Sasha went their own way. It was a two story structure with a basement level, and Kait and Oppie started going through the first floor while J'onz and the militia team headed upstairs.

Sasha and Viran found the basement door and headed down into the lower level. As they reached the bottom, there was another door that was closed. Viran leaned against it, quietly trying to listen in as he placed his ear to the door. It was silent on the other side. He moved back and kicked the door open to reveal a small basement that was only lit by a computer terminal set up in the back corner. But other than that it was empty.

Viran headed straight for the computers to start seeing if anything was salvageable as he had to assume they were wiped already. Sasha scanned the room and found a door in the back, hidden behind the staircase. Opening it, she noticed it led into the other end of the tunnel she and Oppie had searched. But there was no sign of the lieutenant, Frey.

"Clear, but we found the computer," she called up the stairs as she made her way back over to Viran as he worked. She noticed a discarded first aid kit on the floor next to the computers. So he had been there and patched himself before fleeing.

Kait and Oppie came downstairs after a moment. "First floors clear, sounds like the second floor is also." Oppie told them. "Do you think you can find anything on that?" He asked Viran, looking at the wiped terminal.

Viran sighed as he continued to type. "Most likely, no. This thing is completely wiped from the looks of it. But I'll call Tac and QT and see if they can find what I can't."

"So this was a dead end then?" J'onz questioned as he came down the stairs, irritated.

"It appears that way, but the Lieutenant was here. How long ago, we are not sure," Sasha replied.

"Then there is no point remaining here," J'onz said, rolling his eyes before heading back up the stairs. "Come on, Deputy Messan."

"But sir -" Messan started.

J'onz turned to look at her, his expression hard. "Let's go. No argument. Now come on," he said sternly.

Kait shut her mouth and moved to follow him. Oppie looked between them, gritting his teeth and looking at J'onz with loathing.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Sasha said after a moment. "Viran, figure out what you can." She then headed for the stairs, following them out.

"Already on it," Viran said distractedly. Oppie stayed with Viran, but nodded his thanks to Sasha.

As soon as they exited the building, Sasha called out to J'onz and Kait. "Wait, don't go. Viran is doing his best. If you just wait, he'll hopefully have something."

J'onz slowed to a halt and looked at Sasha. "Those computers are completely wiped. The likelihood of him finding anything is low. Don't get your hopes up." Kait stayed silent, following the higher ranking officer and saying nothing.

"But there could be another clue," Sasha argued.

"There are no more clues! There can't be here," J'onz barked. "And we've wasted our time here when we could be going with Colonel Ceros to meet that informant."

"You were the one who wanted to get here so eagerly," Sasha reminded him, slowly getting angered by this man. "And we did, and he was still gone. But if we could just find out when he left, we might still be able to follow him. He's still injured after all. He couldn't have gotten far."

"The cartel is smart, girl. They have their ways. Why do you think we have made so little progress here?" J'onz asked rhetorically.

Sasha was half tempted to answer by blurting out about the mole, but she held her tongue.

He huffed. "Let's go." He ordered as he started walking again.

"Maybe we should stay." Kait said, "even a few minutes of basic investigation might turn up something." Kait said, exasperated.

J'onz looked at her. "If you wanna stay and look for nothing, fine. Go ahead. But we are about to get something big with that informant. So that's where I'm going," he groused. "And I may have followed your idea originally as I knew how high of a target that Lieutenant is and getting him would have been big, but I should have known it was a dead end." He huffed and walked away, with or without Kait.

Sasha glared at him just as her commlink buzzed. It startled her for a moment and she pulled it out. It was a message from Ceros. Something must have happened. It read:

The Cartel attacked Deputy Messan's site.

Oh Kriff... not good. Review!