Last time: Cien got the raiders to confess and they found out the raiders are in legal with the cartel.

Now: The trio is called to the ambassadors office.

Chapter 4- Confession

After a night of very little sleep, Sasha and Viran were awoken from a knock at their door. However, when they went to go check, no one was there except for a note saying:

Mr and Mrs. Zeb. Please report to the Ambassador's office at 0800.

They exchanged a confused look at the note then each other.

"I guess we should get ready," Viran said, shrugging.

They quickly got dressed as it was almost time for them to meet with the Ambassador, who up to this point, had not made contact with them as they were always busy. A wave of unease washed over them as soon as they were ready and headed for this office. They felt like children being called into a principal of a school's office. It wasn't a long walk there, but when they arrived they entered a small waiting room that had a secretary busily working at his desk. And sitting in the waiting area was Oppie.

"I see you got summoned too?" Viran asked, holding up the note.

"Yep." Oppie said, standing up to greet them. He hadn't looked like he had slept too well either. "This is going to be a lot of fun." Oppie said with a slight snort, "I am not sure I've ever met an ambassador before." He mused.

"Me neither," Viran said, smirking. "I wonder if they will be nice and have, like, candy or something on their desk."

"I see your sense of humor is still intact," Sasha snorted as she folded her arms across her chest.

"You know it," Viran smiled at her.

"Doesn't it bother you two that we just got summoned by someone who has the power to ban us from coming back here?" Sasha pointed out them, seriously.

"Yes." Oppie stated, "but at least we got asked to a meeting instead of just getting sent home." He said. He looked over Sasha's shoulder and saw Kait walking through the door as well. She looked at them slightly uncomfortably as she approached.

"Hi guys." She said, keeping her distance.

"Hi Kait." Oppie said, trying to hide a frown.

"Good morning, Kait," Sasha greeted pleasantly even though guilt was evident in her tone.

"You got summoned too?" Viran asked her, seeming to be the only one not completely uncomfortable at this moment.

"Yes." She replied.

"Ah," was all Viran could add to it.

The secretary spoke up. "You may enter. The Ambassador will see you now," he said, his accent thick but still understandable.

"Thank you." Oppie said, moving over to open the door to the office for all of them.

"Thanks," Viran said as he led them into the room. Sasha right behind him. Kait walked in behind Sasha, and Oppie followed them in.

The room was spacious as a large desk sat before them with four big leather chairs sitting in front of it. And at the desk was an older woman, most likely in her mid-fifties, bent over the desk working through a datapad. She had a pair of spectacles that sat on the end of her nose as she worked. As soon as the door closed, she gestured to the seats before them.

"Take a seat," She ordered them in a proper and authoritative tone.

They did as she asked and took a seat before the desk. There was a long silence as they sat there waiting for her to finish whatever she was still working on. Finally, after what felt like several minutes, Viran cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry, but why are we here?" He asked her, impatiently. Oppie and Kait both shot him a glance at that. Sasha elbowed him in the gut. He winced and looked at her.

"I'm sorry about him. We are in no rush," Sasha apologized.

The Ambassador looked up at them, eyeing each of them for a moment. She then moved her datapad aside and straightened up in her chair.

"I am not happy." She started. "I received a call regarding an incident with my marshals including one getting shot and arrested. So someone care to tell me what the hell happened yesterday? And why I shouldn't ship you off planet right now?"

Oppie cleared his throat. "A few days ago, Viran, Sasha and I recovered a burner commlink from the site of an incident we had at a nightclub while performing an investigation. We determined that it had been used to receive several calls from the cartel over the last month from either here in the embassy or at the militia headquarters, which confirmed suspicions that we and Colonel Ceros had that there was a mole in our inner circle. Since the calls were coming from the inside of the embassy, that meant that it was narrowed down to one of the five of us, since we're the only ones that were in either locations regularly." Oppie said, "and since they had been going on for a month or so, at least according to the logs we recovered, that meant that it was Marshal J'onz or Deputy Messan. We worked with Colonel Ceros to leak information to both of them of two distinct incidents that would make the cartel react. A defecting informant, and we wanted to see which set of information the cartel would act upon." He paused for a second.

"However, Deputy Messan had an actual solid lead that would lead us to a potential location of Lieutenant Frey from the cartel after he disappeared the night of the nightclub raid," Viran added on. "When we got there, we learned Frey had fled and attempted to wipe his computer. I managed to hack it with a little help and learned that there was another, replacement burner comlink. Around this time we got a message from Colonel Ceros saying that the cartel attacked the location he had given Deputy Messan. I wanted to prove for sure if she was the mole or not. So I placed a call to the new burner and it revealed marshal J'onz to be the mole." He said. "I'm not sure what happened after that. By the time I came outside, J'onz was already injured. Sasha was providing medical aid to him as he was still a valuable asset. And that's about it."

"Okay, can you three explain then what happened while he was hacking?" The Ambassador asked Oppie, Sasha and Kait.

Sasha straightened up. "I followed Deputy Messan and Marshal J'onz out. As soon as we were outside, J'onz was preparing to leave. I got the message from Colonel Ceros and I moved in to arrest Deputy Messan as I took that as enough proof to convict her. It turned into a shouting match between the three of us as J'onz tried to aid in the arresting process. However, when his comlink went off. Oppie started shooting at him. I had no idea about the new burner until after J'onz was shot."

"This true?" The Ambassador asked, now looking between Oppie and Kait.

"Yes." Oppie said, "when I arrived they were in a heated situation, I tried to calm things down, and Viran was able to call the new burner commlink. It sounded off and it was in J'onz's possession. The fact that the cartel had acted on Deputy Messan's information was not as conclusive as we would have liked. And there would have been no reason for J'onz to have that burner on him. J'onz appeared to be trying to exacerbate the situation, either trying to pin Sasha or Deputy Messan as the traitors, which seemed extremely suspicious to me coupled with everything else. He seemed to be trying to build the situation up to a breaking point rather than trying to de-escalate it. I fired on him with a stun setting to put an end to it, since there seemed ample evidence to point to the fact that he was the traitor and it seemed like the least dangerous way to end the standoff I observed. As he tried to run, the militia team that was with us came out of the building and shot at him with standard blaster bolts, even though I specifically told them to stun him."

"And they shot him. And now he is in the hospital under constant watch," the Ambassador finished. She glanced at Kait. "Do you wish to add anything or does this all sound correct to you?"

"It is correct." Kait said. "After Colonel Ceros had mentioned to me that they had a lead on a high ranking cartel member that was defecting, I mentioned it to…" She paused, trying to figure out what to say, "Marshal J'onz during a meeting. At the time I thought nothing of it, but he seemed a little confused when I mentioned the location of the pickup, over in the Terevon district, and asked me to clarify that and then moved on with the rest of our discussion. When we left the building I knew about none of this and was… very surprised when I was almost taken into custody. And Marshal J'onz seemed to be trying to escalate the situation by accusing me of being a traitor, and then also Sasha as well. I admit all of this caught me very off guard yesterday and I may not have acted in the most professional manner." She said, saying all of it without looking at the other three.

"I see," the Ambassador said. She sat quietly pondering to herself which built the unease in the room as they were not sure how she would respond. "This is such a nuisance. And I should have known that good for nothing J'onz was a traitorous snake. He smelled of deceit the second I met him."

Viran shook his head in confusion. "Wait what?"

"I met J'onz when he first arrived here a few months ago. The man was suspicious to me from the start. Never trusted him. Hell, I never liked talking to him either," she vented. "So when I heard he got shot, I was about ready to go shake the hand of the person responsible as I am not a violent woman, but I was ready to do it myself. However, I will have Republic higher ups breathing down my neck if I don't get a report of their marshals turning on each other. So that's why I called you here. I needed to hear the full story for myself."

"So we are not in trouble?" Sasha asked, confused.

"No, you are not," the Ambassador assured her. "I understand the work you are trying to do here to stop the cartel and I stayed out of it as it is none of my business. I prefer to leave it to the professionals. But I do step in when something like this happens."

Kait looked away with a bit of a grimace, as did Oppie.

"Thank you, Madam Ambassador." Oppie said.

"Please do not thank me," the Ambassador said. "I have done nothing here. But I would like you four to take out those cartel nuts. They still need to be dealt with. And I trust you all are capable of that. I'll make sure J'onz has a close eye kept on him and I'll pick his one way trip off this rock myself when he is recovered. Now you are dismissed."

"Thank you," Sasha said with a slight bow as she rose from her seat. Viran did the same as she did.

Oppie got to his feet and nodded at her.

"Thank you." Kait said with a nod as she stood. She was the closest to the door and turned to leave, holding the door open behind her as she walked out, but wasn't stopping to hold it open for the other three.

Sasha led the others out after Kait. As soon as they were clear of the secretary's room, Sasha watched Kait go down the hall back towards her room. For most of the night last night, she laid staring at the ceiling, going over the events of yesterday. And one of things that she had made the mental promise to herself on was going to be apologizing to Kait no matter what at the first chance she could grab. And here was her chance. Sasha looked to Oppie and Viran.

"I'll meet you guys for breakfast in a bit," Sasha said. "I need to go do something." She then took off in a jog after Kait before either could respond. As soon as she caught up with her, she called out, "Kait! Please wait!"

Kait stopped and looked back at Sasha, not entirely sure what to say to her.

Sasha slowed to a stop a few steps away from her. "I wanted to talk. And to apologize… for everything," she started, nervously rubbing at her hands. "Can we talk?"

"You don't need to apologize, I understand what happened." Kait said to her, glancing away.

"I understand, but I am really sorry about that. I should have handled that better than I did," Sasha said, uneasy. She swallowed. "And I would also like to apologize for my behavior towards you the whole time we've been here. I feel like I've been kind of detached and rude at moments. And I wanted to apologize for that. That's not who I am at all and I want to make amends." She rambled, nervously.

Kait looked at her, a little confused, and was silent for a moment. "It's fine." She said, "and I am sorry for how I reacted yesterday as well." She said grimacing.

"You don't need to apologize. Your reaction was completely valid for what was happening," Sasha said. "I honestly don't blame you if you're still mad at me. I would be mad at me too. I am mad at myself for my behavior and for not controlling the situation better yesterday. And for not trusting you like Viran and Op do. At least not at first." She looked away when she admitted that.

Kait glanced at Sasha as she said that, then away, trying to figure out what to say. "I admit, I just thought you were kind of reserved, I didn't really read anything into it." She said in a halting tone. "I hope I haven't done anything that made you not trust me." She said, looking away.

Sasha looked at her, shocked. She shook her head. "You've done nothing except be super nice and cool. It's what others have done that has made me apprehensive recently," she said as she looked down and for once she rubbed at her right shoulder as the scar ached suddenly. "For years, I have always been a very trusting person. I even said that one day all that trusting would come back to bite me in the ass so much that I must have jinxed myself, because one day… it did."

Sasha took a shaky breath before continuing. "When we first arrived here, I trusted Selina because I saw myself in her. I saw someone who worked cantinas and bars and dealt with wide ranges of characters. Throwing out ruffians and thugs who would start fights. Deal with regulars and new visitors. And handle information as if she was the Holonet," she smirked a little at that. It quickly faded. "Because that's what I did when we were on the run was work in bars and very rarely medical centers like the one on Nivon. And we trusted Selina." She snorted. "Hell, we even had the idea that she might be a good fit for Oppie." She laughed, but almost as if it was a sick joke she hated telling rather than something actually funny. "And then she betrayed us."

She felt tears rise at this, tears of frustration. "She made us feel welcome. Helped us take on the cartel. And she betrayed us. She took my brother and hung him up like an art piece for two whole weeks. He was nearly dead when we found him," she told, her emotions swirling as actual tears fell now. "If it wasn't for Cien, Kelce and I, we wouldn't have saved him. We would have lost him. And all because we trusted that witch to watch him while we went to save Viran and Oppie." She cleared her throat and looked down, her hand clenched into fists.

"And then there was that protocol droid on Nivon that I trusted for a moment. That then tricked me into following it to an alley where I was jumped by a man who had a creature that could take away the Force. That's like losing one of your senses like sight or hearing. He took that from me, kidnapped me, and forced me and Oppie to play his game for the entertainment of a sick twisted client. For Cordova." She spat. "I nearly died on Myrkr. Oppie nearly died trying to protect me and save me. And I thought I had finally moved past all of this, but then I got here and I realized...I haven't. It all still bothers me and it has made it hard to trust anyone even if they deserve my trust. Like you."

Sasha swallowed and turned away, wiping her face. "I'm sorry for dumping all of that on you. That was a little too personal. I'm sorry." She finished.

Kait looked at her stunned, not sure how to react to all of that. "I read your guys' file, when I got here. When I became a marshal and had access to all of that. Mostly because I was curious to follow up after what had happened under my watch to you at Nivon." She said slowly. "I remember reading a statement of what happened to your brother Kyr, and was surprised that I saw him only a few months after that, relaxing in a bar. That you guys went through all that here on this planet, the bar, the various encounters with the cartel. A statement from the old man that he was saved by a very nice young woman from a fireworks display." She said with a slight smirk. "And afterwards, what happened to you guys on Myrkr. Cien mentioned a little bit of it to me in explanation, telling me you guys got back safe. Then when I became a marshal here, that was a big section added to your file, on top of all the other stuff that was from here on Caranas."

"I understand." Kait said. "Growing up my brother and I were very close, until he took a wrong turn in his life and he drifted away from the family. Until he ended up..." she paused, not able to say, "and after that I closed myself off. I used to be the kind of girl that went to nightclubs and bars, and did those things, until I closed myself off, and buried myself in my work." She looked away and smirked, "I was detached and rude, and didn't really want to open up to people. So I get it, you don't have to apologize to me."

Sasha looked at her, smirking. "So can we start over? I would like to be friends if you're interested. Plus after the nightclub, even though it did end in a firefight, I'd be down to grab a few drinks with you too," she said, feeling better.

"That was kind of fun going to a nightclub again." Kait said with a slight smirk. Kait looked at her for a moment. "We're already friends Sasha, we don't need to start over."

Sasha smiled at that. "Alright. Well I'm glad. And yeah it was fun. Plus, I admit I enjoyed the guys reactions to us, because we did look pretty good," she said playfully.

That got a chuckle out of Kait, "yeah, it's been a long time since I got a look like that."

Sasha chuckled at that. "Well I should probably go find the guys to grab some breakfast. Do you want to join us?" She asked. "I understand if not. Just thought I'd offer."

Kait's countenance fell a little bit. "No, that's okay I have some stuff to take care of, but thank you."

"Alright, see you later then," Sasha said as she started to walk away. "And thanks."

"You're welcome, and thanks." Kait said as she turned to go.

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