Last time: Kyr and Troy talked, finally mending the bridge between them.

Now: Kait talks to Op after everything that happened.

Chapter 6- What Are We doing, Op?

Colonel Ceros had told them to take the day off after what happened. He was glad to know that the ambassador was supportive of them, and he had extended his deep appreciation for determining who the mole truly was. The embassy was a relatively large complex, an old hotel that could almost be referred to as a resort, half of it was devoted to quarters and guest rooms, the other half of the former hotel had been turned into the various offices and spaces needed to be an embassy of the Republic. There was a small cafeteria, which looked like it may have been converted from what was originally a cafe, and still had the odd trappings of being a pleasant bistro restaurant rather than a government run place to serve a few hundred meals a day.

That also meant it had a nice caf machine, and an oddly nice view of a courtyard that appeared to be maintained well. The old pool was gone, though. Oppie could still make out the pathway that had probably been the walkway along its edge under a few nice trees before it had been filled in with dirt and turned into part of the lawn. Oppie was sitting with one leg crossed over the other at one of the bistro tables that was half outside on the patio trying to read a book from his datapad, trying to enjoy the setting but he still felt uneasy about everything. It made reading a bit of a chore, and more often than not he found himself just staring at the screen as his mind wandered.

"Mind if I join you?" Kait asked. Startling him a little bit.

Oppie glanced up at her. "Not at all." He said, surprised that she would even want to talk with him.

She sat down with a cup of caf at the table on the other side from him, the chair facing out towards the courtyard, same as his was.

"I'm sorry, Kait." Oppie said, "about that informant ploy, about everything." He said, casting his glance downward.

Kait sighed. "It's okay, I get it." She said as she stirred sugar into her otherwise black caf. She knocked the spoon on the side of the mug to get the drops off and set it down. "Viran and Sasha explained, and then that meeting before. It makes sense what happened."

Oppie watched her, trying to hide a frown. "I'm glad it makes sense, but I feel like it ended up hurting you even so. And for that I'm truly sorry."

She looked over at him. "It's fine, Op. I'm sorry for how I reacted as well." She said, taking a sip of her caf.

"Now, that you don't need to apologize for." Oppie said, looking over at her. "Considering what was going on I understand."

"When Sasha pulled her sword on me I had no idea what was going on." Kait said, a little distantly. "Then J'onz pulled his blaster on me, and both of them were accusing me of being a traitor." She said, "I know it's a cliche, but I saw my life flash before my eyes, or rather the lack of it. And everything clicked, when J'onz was standing there. Everything he'd been doing over the last month, doing nothing that would actually act against the cartel, and I was going to take the fall for it. I was going to be locked away for the rest of my life because he needed someone to take the blame. I'd never see my family again. I'd never see an ocean." She said, distantly. "Because he needed someone to take the blame for him, this month."

She cleared her throat. "If you guys hadn't been here, he would have set me up for that. Whether it had been yesterday or a few months from now, that was why he asked me to come here. A fresh, raw recruit too dumb to see what was going on so he could get away with it."

Oppie looked at her as she spoke. "Why'd you give me the candy wrapper?" He asked.

She looked confused for a second before she remembered what he was talking about. "I don't know. I guess I just thought you guys might be able to make some use of it."

Oppie looked at her across the table. "You saw what was going on, you just hadn't put the pieces together. You gave us the candy wrapper, you helped us investigate and gave us cover for evidence so that we could work it rather than giving it to him. You have good instincts, and you already knew something was going on. All we did was bring it to a head sooner, but in another couple of weeks or months you and Ceros would have figured it out."

"Maybe. But maybe not soon enough." Kait said. She took another sip of her caf. "I am glad you three were here to uncover that. And I appreciate that you uncovered it soon enough to save me." She finished quietly.

Oppie was silent for a moment. "Me too."

They both sat quietly for a time before she spoke again. "I spent last night writing a letter of resignation."

Oppie looked at her, trying to hide a sense of despondency for her at that. "You're too good at your job to resign." He said, "you shouldn't let him take you down."

She swallowed. "I slept on it, I'm still not sure about sending it." She admitted. "People keep saying that but look at everything that's happened."

"This mess isn't because of anything you've done, or anything you've overlooked." Oppie said, looking at her. "It's just a big mess, and you've already helped to start cleaning it up."

"And look what it almost cost me." She said, "I'm just a backwater cop from a cruddy little town. I got in because of glowing recommendations from people that barely knew me. I'm not prepared for this life." She said tiredly.

Oppie looked at her across the table. "Those people that gave you glowing recommendations are some of the most insightful people you will ever meet. Scamp was an ARC Trooper through the Clone Wars and the Rebellion. I worked with those guys, they're nice, but they don't give out praise or compliments lightly. Same with my brother Kyr, he is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, but he doesn't praise someone unless they deserve it. Cien in particular has nothing but praise for you. Do you know what she used to be?"

"No?" Kait asked.

"She was an acolyte in the Sith Empire a few thousand years ago, before she got frozen and brought to our time. Her master then was a Sith Lord so unspeakably powerful that even the Sith were afraid of him, and struck him from their records as far as I can tell. After we killed him, she went and became the empress of an empire in the Unknown Regions until she chose to give it up. She led a very hard life, and she is the most exacting person I ever met. She doesn't praise anyone, even if she has become a lot kinder over the last few years." Oppie said.

Kait was looking at him incredulously.

"They gave you glowing recommendations because of what they saw in you, and they are not people to do that, ever. So what they saw in you in that brief time was enough to impress those sorts of people. The people who played a big part in taking the Empire down because they decided that it needed to go. The people who founded their own empires, and gave them away because they decided it wasn't for them." He finished.

She looked away, "do you understand how ludicrous that all sounds?" She asked, almost annoyedly. "I get that they fought in the war. But being an Empress? Fighting unspeakably evil 'Sith Lords'?" She asked. "This joke is getting a little long." She said, giving him a wry, if annoyed look.

He just looked back at her and blinked, then looked away. From a perspective like hers, someone who had grown up someplace like Nivon it made sense, he supposed. Back before the Clone Wars, Jedi were rare. Even if he grew up with them there were only ever maybe a few thousand Jedi in the galaxy at any given time, in a galaxy that had trillions of people in it. They were widespread, there were stories, but people thought they were just that, stories. During the reign of the Empire they had cracked down on anything relating to the Jedi and the Force, so now years later people thought it was some fanatic religion based on some belief in a power that only one out of a trillion people had ever seen manifest.

He looked away, "all of that is real. I wouldn't lie or exaggerate to you." He said.

She just took another sip of her caf, annoyed that he would bring up the Jedi and Sith religion thing again. It was interesting casual conversation, sure, but it was getting old. And then using those old, exaggerated legends as a way to try to bolster their image and then hers was almost insulting, in a way. From what little time she had spent with Cien, either in person or correspondence she liked her, and she seemed very capable but the… lie that had to be behind all of that tainted whatever compliment there might have been in it for her.

He looked over at her, and then back at the bistro counter. "Want a cookie?"

"What?" She asked, looking at him incredulously.

"I was going to get one, do you want me to grab you one?" Oppie asked.

"Sure, I guess if you're getting one." She said, taking a sip and looking out at the courtyard, considering her resignation letter again, feeling like she should probably send it. Oppie stayed silently by her side, she supposed he had decided against the cookie. She was in over her head, dangerously so. And she could probably go back to Nivon. Or perhaps the planet that her parents had moved to could use a good cop. Then she could finally see an ocean, too.

"Here you go." He said after a moment.

She looked over at him trying to figure out -

"Whoa what the kriff!" She yelled as she almost fell out of her chair. There was a cookie floating next to her shoulder.

"You said you wanted a cookie." Oppie said as he grabbed one that was floating next to him out of midair.

"What the kriffing hell?" She asked, staring at the floating baked good.

"These are really good." Oppie said while he munched on his, and tried desperately to hide a smirk.

She carefully moved her hand under and over it with her eyes wide, and then she took hold of it, and he let it go.

"None of those are lies, none of those are exaggerations." Oppie said. "Being able to pull cookies from a display case is the least of what the Force provides to us. It gives us great insight into the world around us, and also the people we share it with. It also gives people like Cien the power to build empires and cast them away." Oppie said quietly, perhaps a little dramatically. "These are the people that you have impressed, Kait. Not a few random New Republic soldiers or religious fanatics that are trying to spread the word. But people with a deep insight into the world around them and the capability and will to mold it, if they so choose. People who aren't easily impressed. And people who see you as someone who deserved to be recognized."

She was looking between the cookie in her hand and him with shocked, wide eyes as he spoke. "Like some creepy shadow organization running everything?" She asked

Oppie choked laughing at that. "No, I definitely didn't mean that. Just people who have the will to make the galaxy a better place, if that makes sense, and they saw you as…" he paused, considering his words, "as a kindred spirit."

She looked back at the cookie. "But I'm just a cop from Nivon." She said quietly.

"I'm just a kid from Mandalore, apparently. Sasha was from Naboo, and Viran's just a guy from Corellia." Oppie said. "All any of us are just people from some place. That doesn't mean that we're any less capable of trying to make the galaxy better for our having been in it." He looked at her as he spoke. "Don't let J'onz take you down, Kait. That's not fair to you, you deserve this opportunity to succeed and excel, don't let him take that from you after we've already beaten him." Oppie asked of her.

She looked down, at the cookie in her hand, and took a bite, munching for a few seconds. "You guys are weird." She said quietly.

Oppie chuckled at that as he took a bite of his own cookie.

"Seriously." Kait said quietly, "most people aren't like you guys. People don't talk like you do, or have the kinds of experiences you do. Sasha explained to me why she was so standoffish towards me earlier, because of all the incidents and attacks that she's had to face. I thought she was just kind of shy. I saw the bomb site at the bar. If I or anyone else had to endure that or any of the other things you guys have mentioned, we'd just be dead, or a crying mess in an asylum somewhere." She said quietly.

Oppie looked over at her, "we're lucky to have people in our lives that help us pull through all of that." He said in a quiet tone.

"You are." She said. "That was what struck me on Nivon, when Viran, Cien and your brother showed up along with everyone else. You know how many murders I investigated, how many missings persons cases there were over the years?"

"No." Oppie replied.

"A lot. The family would always be a mess, but they'd never been in a position to do anything but wait for us to catch the culprit and hope we could find them in time. That's what normal people do. But when you guys got kidnapped, an army of people descended on my town. And they fought off a well coordinated and overwhelming Imperial remnant attack without batting an eye like it was a normal after dinner activity for them. Then Cien broke a stormtrooper by talking to him for three minutes." She said. "You guys are really weird." She finished quietly.

Oppie swallowed, not sure how to respond.

"But it's nice," she said. "Through all that, and then being with you guys here, I just get a sense that you're all in it for each other." She took a sip of caf, and looked out at the courtyard. Oppie glanced at her but didn't say anything, not sure what to say.

"I'm not sure what to do about my letter." She admitted. "I still feel overwhelmed by all of this. And when I look back on it, I feel like I got called here not because of high marks or some recommendation, but just because I looked like the most naive candidate he could pick, which means the complete opposite of that." She said quietly.

Oppie glanced at her, and bit his tongue for a moment trying to figure out if he should say what he and Sasha thought might be behind that. He realized after a few seconds that he didn't want to hide anything from her anymore. "Kait, Sasha and I have a thought on that." He said quietly.

She looked over at him curiously.

"We are certain that Cordova has to be behind the bounty on Sasha. And us being kidnapped." He started, worried about what he had to tell her. "The cartel seems to have it in for our family, possibly because of all the history. What happened with Kyr and that Maldesto guy. All the damage Sasha and Cien did last time, and then what happened with Selina. In a relatively short period of time, we did a lot of damage to them. When we were on Myrkr, Sasha and I were being recorded, so Von Signa could send it off to them, the cartel, we think." Oppie paused for a second, "one night when we were camping, Sasha and I were keeping our spirits up with some conversation and we ended up mentioning you. We're concerned J'onz might have asked for you because the cartel wanted him to."

She stared at him for a moment, digesting that. "Why did you guys mention me?" She asked, a little confused.

Oppie scratched the back of his neck, "it was, umm…" He started haltingly. "I mentioned that you had asked me for a drink." He said vaguely.

She looked at him for a second and glanced away, then looked back at him. "So you think they brought me here as some kind of leverage against… you?" She asked. "What the hell did you say?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Oppie blushed a little. "Not a lot." He said evasively.

She smirked and blushed a little as well. And then the implications set in. "So it was a setup from the beginning?" She asked, her smirk fading. "J'onz brought me here to... " She paused, "is… that what he meant by this being a short assignment for me?" She asked, looking out at the courtyard.

"I don't know, and we're just guessing it's a possibility." Oppie said.

She sat in thought for a few minutes. "So I guess if I'm a target then that means it doesn't matter if I resign or not." She said quietly.

Oppie had no particular response to that.

She glanced over at him, then away. "You guys are going to stay to take care of the cartel?" She asked.

"Yeah. We have to. And not just because they're a threat to us, but also because they just… need to be dealt with." He said. "Sasha spoke with Cien last night. Her mission ended up being based on the cartel and we have no idea why. So the entire 19th is returning in a few days to start on this anew." He said quietly. "But they're a tactical strike wing, not investigators. So having another marshal here to head up the actual hunt would be invaluable." He said, "especially someone as skilled and intelligent as you are." He said, drinking his last sip of caf.

She looked up at him at that, and then looked away, out at the courtyard. She was silent for a while as she regarded the manicured lawn and the trees that called the space home. "What are we doing, Op?" She asked quietly.

He looked at her and had no idea what she meant. They were sitting at a table drinking caf, talking and eating cookies he hadn't paid for yet. But he didn't think that was what she meant.

She glanced at him, and smirked softly. "You have no idea what I'm asking, do you?"

"I…" He started, "I'm not sure, no." He admitted, a little embarrassed.

She swirled her cup and took the last sip of her caf. "You ever been to a night club?" She asked him.

"No." He admitted. "Except for the one the other day."

"That one doesn't count since you came in after the firefight." She said with a smirk. "There was one back home I used to go to, it was a lot of fun, I'd go there with my girl friends on the weekends when we were in college." She mused, "I used to think that kind of thing was fun." She said, "I lost interest in it though. After I joined the cops, I just loved the puzzle solving aspect of the investigations."

"Same for me." Oppie said, "I guess the order trained us to be the people that would go out and try to serve justice and mediate issues. Doing the investigations or being in the police forces were just an extension of that. But I really enjoyed doing that." He said.

She nodded. "You were good at it. And it meant a lot to me to have someone like you there when I first joined instead of all the other cops that were so uncaring. It made me feel like it was okay to actually enjoy the job, and care about the results, regardless of how apathetic the rest of them were." She said.

"I'm glad." He said a little sheepishly, not sure how to respond.

She smiled lightly as she stood up. "Thank you for having some caf with me. It helped." She said.

He stood up as well. "Do you know what you're going to do about your letter?" He asked.

"Not entirely, no." She said, though she was leaning in one direction more now. Oppie started walking back with her, and she didn't argue. Though she smirked slightly when he threw a couple of credits next to the display with the cookies. "Glad you did that, otherwise I might have arrested you." She joked.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've broken the law." He said innocently.

"Oh really?" She asked him as they started walking back through the lobby, back towards their rooms.

"Yeah, I was a fugitive on the run for fifteen years, remember?" He said with a smirk.

"Twenty one years, actually." Kait corrected him.

"Oh, yeah I forget about those missing seven years or so." He said.

"So other than floating cookies around, what else can you do with the... Force?" She asked.

"Mostly just retrieval of baked goods." He said at her side. "Pastries, pies, cookies, brownies." He said as they walked.

She snickered at that. "A most incredible and useful ability." She said with a chuckle.

"Oh, yes." He said with a solemn nod. "But I must be careful of retrieving items with chocolate." He said with a smirk.

"Oh?" She asked.

"Yes, that leads to the Darkside." He said.

She looked up at him, suspecting that she was probably missing a joke, but she smirked nonetheless.

They stopped at her door. "For what it's worth Kait, for all the things I've said about how good an investigator you are, about why you shouldn't resign, I admit there's a selfish part of me that would miss having you here." He said quietly, glancing downwards.

She turned to look at him, and wasn't quite sure what to say. "That is one of the reasons I had for staying." She admitted, very quietly as well.

Oppie looked up at her, "whatever decision you make, I am sure it will be the right one. But I would enjoy it if this wasn't the last time we got to spend time together."

"It won't be." She said.

Oppie blinked, as if he remembered something. "Can you wait here for a moment?" He asked.

"Sure?" She said, quizzically.

He turned and went down the corridor, disappearing around one of the corners. He came back a few moments later, carrying a small box. "We ended up going to that candy shop up north, and we didn't find anything except some very good truffles." He said, a little nervously. "I quite liked these, I hoped you might enjoy them." He said, holding the box out for her.

She took it in hand and looked down at it, then glanced up at him. "You couldn't just float it over?" She asked.

"No." Oppie said, shaking his head. "These are truffles. That only works on baked goods." He said very seriously.

She smirked, and paused for a second. "You figured out that question yet?" She asked, with an arched eyebrow.

He blinked, still not entirely sure what she meant.

"Well let me know when you do." She said. She stepped forward before he could react and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, and then turned and disappeared into her room before he recovered. He swallowed and went to retrace his steps back to the bistro, since he had forgotten his datapad there. And he felt like an idiot because he was very sure he thought he might know what the question meant, but wasn't absolutely sure.

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