Last time: Cien and Kyr talk about the twins future.

Now: Sasha regrets everything that happened and Viran tries to clean up.

Chapter 2- I Screwed Everything Up

Sasha sat in the passenger seat of the truck, staring out of the window in a daze. They were just wrapping up at the scene and the militia troops had called in another truck to come get them, allowing for her and Oppie to take the one J'onz and the militia officers had arrived in. After everything that happened, Sasha felt physically ill and stayed out of everyone's way. And once she saw them start wrapping up, she dismissed herself to the truck where she now waited to leave.

Viran approached the truck and knocked on the window, getting her attention. She rolled down the window. "Hey, I'm gonna go ride with J'onz to the hospital. I want to make sure he is properly guarded. Will you be okay until I get back?"

Sasha nodded. "Yeah, go. I'll see you soon," she said quietly.

Viran nodded and kissed her forehead. "It'll be okay," he whispered reassuringly before he headed back over the ambulance.

Sasha watched him go before rolling the window up and isolating herself again.

Oppie opened the driver's door and stepped in, settling into the seat. "Are you okay?" He asked, after a moment.

"No," Sasha said, quietly. "I messed everything up." She closed her eyes.

"No you didn't." Oppie said, looking over at her. "Don't beat yourself up over what happened. It's J'onz's fault and the cartels, not yours."

"I know that, but I let my drive to find Cordova and stop everything the cartel has done to us blind me from seeing that Kait was innocent," she admitted. "And I even let my fear of what happened with Selina and that droid prevent me from trusting either Kait or J'onz. That's where I screwed up."

"Well." Oppie said, "you were right to not trust J'onz, for what it's worth." Oppie said quietly. "And once we found out about the mole, Kait was as likely a suspect as J'onz was." Oppie said. He realized, though, that in his want to try to remain objective he had overlooked that J'onz was the obvious choice as the mole, and he hated that in his mind he had erred on the side of giving him the benefit of the doubt because he knew his judgement was clouded in the matter. All the teachings from the temple about abstaining from personal attachments were marching through his head, now that he had such a perfect case for understanding why. And those lessons were also the reason why he had judged Kait too harshly, since he knew he would err on the side of giving her the benefit of the doubt for his own reasons.

"Did you really think Kait could have been the mole?" Sasha asked after a moment. "Viran had his doubts the whole time. But what about you?"

Oppie looked over at her, and then out the front of the truck as he started it up. "I had a hard time believing it was her." He said, getting them underway back to the embassy.

Sasha looked at him. "Really?"

"Yeah." He said as he pulled out onto the street. "And because of that, I didn't give her the benefit of the doubt as much as I should have." He admitted.

"Oh," Sasha said, looking down at her lap. She was quiet for a while. "I'm sorry about the standoff. Things just got out of hand. I let things get out of hand. That wasn't what a Jedi Knight was supposed to do. And now after that, I don't think Kait will ever forgive me."

"Things get out of hand. It happens. As a Jedi you work to keep that from happening, but that's not in our control." Oppie said. "What did happen there?" He asked, "I came out and things seemed to have boiled over already." He asked quietly.

"I got the message from Ceros and I informed Kait and J'onz as he was walking away," Sasha explained. She then closed her eyes again. "Then I pulled my saber on Kait as if she was going to attack me and informed her that she was under arrest. It spiraled out of control as J'onz tried to get involved to stop her too and then she pulled her blaster out and…" she trailed off as she put her face in her hands. "I made such a mess of things."

"No you didn't." Oppie said quietly. "Based on what Ceros sent, you did the right thing, trying to take her in. It sounds like J'onz saw an opportunity to create a bigger mess of things and took it." Oppie suggested. "It might have been his plan to try to get her or you both attacking each other." He snorted. "Hell, that might have been a plan of his all along, considering that he got you guys caught in the middle of the crossfire when he stormed into the night club." He fumed.

"I guess you're right," Sasha said after a moment as she considered all of that. She went quiet again as she thought through the situation again. She furrowed her brow as a thought came to mind. "J'onz said something interesting when we were in the stand off. He said something about being the one to request Kait. If he worked for the cartel the whole time, does that mean the cartel requested her?" She asked him, glancing at him.

Oppie thought for a moment. "Possibly." He said, "but why would they…" He paused as the realization sunk in. "Osik." He said under his breath.

"What?" Sasha asked, concerned.

"When we talked about her on Myrkr, we used her name, I spoke about her position." He said, "and she mentioned a few times that J'onz said this was going to be a short assignment for her. By the Force, Sasha, what if they brought her here because of... that conversation? We know Von was recording everything." He said, a pit forming in his stomach. "If Cordova put the bounty out, then he would have been the one to request and receive all that footage."

Realization dawned on Sasha's face as he said that. She felt that bile in her throat again. "But I thought you destroyed the droid and the console. Unless it managed to transmit the footage away beforehand." She put a hand to her mouth. "That means Cordova got the footage. That has to mean Cordova is the one to put the bounty on me."

"Yeah." Oppie said, distractedly.

"We dragged Kait into all of this. It's our fault. Damn it," Sasha said, shaking. "Oh jeeze, I feel like I'm going to be sick." She leaned back, closing her eyes as she felt awful all of the sudden.

Oppie froze, not having any way to respond. Thankfully they were stopped at an intersection, but behind him a speeder blared at them for not moving. He glanced up and noticed that it was his turn to go. He pulled through the intersection continuing along the way. "We didn't drag Kait into this, the cartel did. We need to interrogate J'onz as soon as he's up for it to determine what he knows about the cartel, and us. Including Kait. If they brought her here because of that conversation, then she needs to know." He wished Cien was here to talk to about all of this, and to be able to help them figure out what to do. And be able to do some of the things they probably needed to do, but wasn't sure Sasha, Viran or he could.

Sasha nodded in agreement as she released a shaky breath. "Okay. Hopefully we don't have to wait to long for that," she said. After a moment, she asked, "do you think Kait will forgive us for what happened? Or forgive me?" There was a lot of emotion in her voice when she asked that.

"I…" Oppie started, and had no idea how to respond. His gut was telling him no, and that realization hurt him in a way he hadn't felt before. He didn't know what to tell Sasha at all.

Sasha looked back over at him as if trying to read him. She frowned. "You like her…" she guessed.

Oppie didn't say anything as he drove, desperately wanting to recede into the seat, and not having any idea how to respond, nor wanting to have that conversation, especially now. And being annoyed with himself, to top it all off that he was so transparent to them.

"I understand. I'm not going to tease you," Sasha said gently. "I am happy you think you found someone and I'm sorry about everything that happened. And if my attitude didn't help either. I want to make amends with her and apologize to her for all of it." She paused. "And I want to make things right, especially for you. You're my brother and I want you to be happy, no matter what."

"Thanks," he said uncomfortably, for lack of anything better.

Sasha nodded and looked back out the window as they passed more buildings on their way back to the embassy. They drove the rest of the way mired in their own thoughts.

It was well after dinner time when Viran finally returned to the embassy. As soon as the paramedics were ready to leave with J'onz, Viran volunteered to ride with them over to the hospital. Even though he told the medics to have J'onz be well guarded once he arrived, there was something in the pit of Viran's stomach that told to go and meet Ceros there with his chosen guards instead of trusting the medical security with the task. So Viran left with them to the hospital, knowing that Oppie would make sure both he and Sasha made it back to the embassy alright. Once he arrived, he remained there for a while as J'onz went into surgery and the medical staff and militia troops present set up a secure recovery room. It took them a couple of hours to get that squared away. While there Viran also gave Ceros the full breakdown of what happened from his point of view. It troubled the Colonel, but he was grateful that the mole was finally caught. However, he too shared in the guilt that they almost convicted the wrong person.

As soon as Viran was free to go, he headed back to the embassy. When he returned, he made his way through the lobby and upstairs to his room. However, he passed Kait's room along the way. He slowed as he glanced at the door. He didn't need the Force to sense the tension that built between the four of them. After everything that had happened, it was understandable. But Viran didn't want to leave things on a sour note for too long. He wanted to make amends before it was too late.

He turned back to the door and placed a gentle knock on it.

After an overly long moment Kait opened the door. She seemed slightly surprised to see it was him, but she spoke. "Were you guys able to handle the scene?" She asked, perhaps a little coldly, trying to handle things professionally.

"Uh, yeah. We managed to get things looked over and I just got back from the hospital. J'onz is under constant surveillance. Ceros is there now," Viran explained, calmly.

She nodded. "I went back to the headquarters and gave my account of what happened to Colonel Ceros, he told me to take off for the day and come back here. I assume you guys spoke with him and corroborated what happened?" She asked.

"Just me. Oppie and Sasha were still at the scene when I left with the ambulance," Viran replied with a small shrug. "Ceros told me he hadn't seen them yet."

She just nodded, "is J'onz alive?" She asked, very, very coldly.

"He was still in surgery when I left, but they said he will recover. But Ceros confirmed the moment J'onz is released he will be released in Republic custody and removed from the planet," Viran said as if he was giving a report to an Admiral.

"Okay." Kait said. "Thank you for giving me an update on all that." She said in a professional manner.

"Of course," Viran nodded. He paused for a moment. "Are you okay?" He asked carefully.

She looked away, considering the question for a moment. "Not really." She stated. "I signed up with the marshal's and I got this mess as my first assignment." She said, the frustration coming through in her voice. "So much of what's happened over the last month or two makes sense now, if J'onz has been a traitor this whole time. How he was conducting his investigations," she spat that word out, "why we were just going in circles and nibbling at the edges of the cartel instead of doing something meaningful. But this is a hell of a first assignment. And…" She paused, "now I am wondering why he would have requested me for it." She said.

Viran let her vent before responding after a moment. "I wish I knew. But I'm sorry you were thrown into all of this. And I'm sorry for what happened earlier today. It was a difficult situation for us to deal with," he admitted, looking away. "None of us wanted to believe it was you. I didn't believe it was you. That's why when I learned about the new burner, I took the risk to make sure we were making the right decision. Turns out we were wrong and we all feel guilty for it. But," he paused for a moment considering how to say this, "but please know how sorry we are. It was troubling to all of us, especially Oppie, that you were even a suspect in this. And that we almost convicted you for something you didn't do. So I'm sorry."

She closed her eyes and nodded. "What was it you guys found out that narrowed it down to just me or J'onz?" She asked, trying to understand why she even became a suspect.

"The other day we went back to the nightclub to try and find… anything that might point to the cartel," Viran explained. "While sifting through rubble we found a burner commlink that was left at the scene. Which initially narrowed it down. Then we confirmed it to be either of you when we hacked into it and discovered it was receiving calls every other day at either the headquarters or here at the embassy for the last month."

She chewed her lip slightly. "So since we were the only ones that were going between the embassy or the headquarters, and the timing coincided with when I arrived…" She trailed off. "That makes sense. And then you guys gave us separate information to see what would be passed onto the cartel, and since I told J'onz what I knew about the 'informant', he set me up to take the fall because he saw that it was a trap." She said, closing her eyes, "what a piece of work he is." She said in a low growl.

Viran nodded at that. "Yeah, pretty much," he said, not sure what else to say to that except for, "I'm sorry."

"I get it." She said. "I just…" She trailed off, not sure what to say. "I understand. I just feel like I'm being used as a pawn, and I don't like it." She said.

He frowned. "I understand. And that was never the case. At least from us. We only found out about the mole like a day ago. Everything before that was us trusting you and working with you because we see you as a great investigator, marshal, and even friend. We just had a momentary lapse in judgement and after everything that happened with Selina, we had to be sure," he told her honestly.

She nodded. "Thanks." She swallowed, "I've really enjoyed working with you guys as well."

"Yeah, same here," Viran said, nodding. "And I hope we can finally stop the cartel. I think it's been delayed long enough." He said a little lightheartedly, trying to help the mood.

"Yeah." Kait said. Thinking back to the half written resignation letter that was on the datapad at her desk. "Thank you for stopping by and explaining everything." She said.

"Of course," Viran said, nodding again. He started to back away from the door as if to leave, but then stopped. "I understand if you are mad at us and everything else, and will be for a while. I don't blame you. I would be too. But please if you get the chance, talk to Op and Sash. I know they want to apologize too." With that he started to leave, and added one last thing over his shoulder. "And don't give up what you love to do, because one man tried to bring you down. Take it as a compliment. It means you are really good at what you do." He walked away after that.

Kait stared at him as he walked away, before closing the door and returning to her desk. She slumped down in the chair again, looking at the datapad as she ran her hand through her hair, trying to understand the mess that this whole experience had turned into.

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