Sul Koth's shoulders rose then sank as the door hissed closed behind Bastila, Carth, and me. The hotel room was practically untouched—the bed had been made without wrinkles and the furniture remained in the same position. Even the curtains had been drawn—hiding the beautiful view of the ocean. The Iridonian Jedi lowered from his hovering meditation until he was back on the floor.

I shot Carth and Bastila a look. Bastila hadn't said a word to me since...what happened. Another apparent "mistake." I sensed intense regret and embarrassment. Guilt of my own slipped into my mind and I worried that I'd screwed up. Again.

Carth, on the other hand, kept smirking at me. I was seriously considering punching that grin off his face, but I really wasn't in the mood to be scolded by a Jedi Master. Even though I could feel a scolding already in the making.

"Padawans." Koth pushed himself up from the ground and faced us with that serious expression. "It's been hours since I asked that Republic pilot to find you. What, exactly, have you been doing?"

Bastila, unfortunately, answered.

"We have been investigating a murder."

"What?" Carth stuttered. "Murder?"

"Sunry, the ex-General stationed on Manaan, has been accused of murdering a Sith," Bastila said. "We went to the scene of the crime and—"

"Why?"

That had been Koth. He narrowed his eyes on me.

"Uh…" I finally spoke. "What do you mean 'why?'"

"Why are you getting involved?" The wrinkles in Koth's tough skin twisted in his forehead. "The Republic can handle that. We should be focused on retrieving the Star Map."

"Yes...but the Republic couldn't handle it. Fortunately, I decided to step in as Sunry's arbiter. Isn't that nice of me?"

Bastila's glare burrowed into my scalp along with a phantom shove on the shoulder through the Force. Carth snorted, trying and failing to hide his amusement, while Koth's glare was about as sharp as the spikes on his head.

"Is there no end to your arrogance?" He let out a long sigh, rubbing his forehead. "Whatever. We will discuss the details of that later. For now, I wish to speak to you on another matter. A matter concerning my Padawan."

My face tightened. Oh no.

"You mean Padawan Belaya?" Bastila asked. "What about her?"

Koth frowned—there was genuine concern on his face.

"I tried to contact her over the commlink but she has been unresponsive. She hasn't responded for hours. And I...have no idea what happened."

"Okay." I crossed my arms—bitterness flooded my mouth. "Why haven't you gone to look for her then? She isn't our responsibility—"

"You really think I didn't try looking for her?" Koth's sneer softened. "The Selkath did a search of the streets and came up empty-handed."

Oh. Great.

"What do you need us for?" I paused. "Oh, right. You had her stalk me yesterday. Probably had her stalk me some more today and that is when she went missing."

This caused Bastila's expression to shift from concern to confusion. "What?" Her head lowered. Koth's eyes seemed to grow a shadow. "You had Belaya follow him?"

Master Koth didn't look away from me.

"The Council knew this would happen," he said, addressing Bastila, "but they had expected you to resist for far longer. That is why they asked me to assist you. The bond has affected you. Not in a good way. Your judgment has been compromised. I did what I—"

"That was completely uncalled for." Bastila's voice broke. "I have everything under control."

"Do you really?"

The heat of...anger ruptured through the bond.

"I've led this mission for weeks." Her shoulders rose and fell. "For weeks! And now the Council thinks I'm not strong enough for this burden? You went behind my back...and for what? Why were you having Belaya follow Wes?"

Carth and I were forgotten and so we awkwardly glanced at each other. Since we had no idea why Bastila was so...pissed off at him.

Koth laughed once. "What type of question is that? Of course I had Belaya—" His mouth slammed shut. After that strange interruption, his face softened. "I had her follow him because I was concerned. And when I didn't hear back, of course I'd be even more concerned."

Why was he so concerned about me anyway? I mean, sure, I probably didn't make a good first impression, but what exactly gave the Jedi Master the idea to have me watched? It wasn't as if I'd join the Sith or something. After all the atrocities I saw them commit, both on Taris and at Uyter, falling to the dark side would be the last thing I'd want to do.

"There was no reason to be concerned," Bastila said, voice darkening. "I was with him all day."

"That isn't as reassuring as you may think."

She sneered. "Oh, so now you can't trust me?"

"Neither I nor the Council blames you, Bastila." Koth frowned. "The dark side tempts us all and you have been placed in a...precarious situation. The battle of Uyter was an indicator that we expected far too much of you. We overestimated your abilities. This isn't—"

"I don't need your help. I don't need the Council's help." A cold that originated from her washed over my body. "He didn't need your help. Your 'help' has only made things worse."

The Jedi Master's features once again became tight as he watched Bastila. A sigh. Sul Koth sank back onto his bed, body unwound, eyes closed. The cold from Bastila disappeared as the Master Jedi finally seemed to act his age.

"My…" Her voice wavered. Then, she bowed. "My apologies, Master Koth. I...don't know why I—"

"Just find her. Please." His dark eyes met me. "Retrace your steps—she was supposed to be following you all day. Figure out what happened. Find her. I don't care how. I know this...this is my fault, but I cannot bear to lose another Padawan."

I never heard so much raw emotion in the Jedi Master's voice. Which meant perhaps he really did care about his Padawan in his strange, detached way. It would be cruel to not help him. Even if he had a lightsaber up his ass.

"Okay." I nodded. "We can try. No promises we'll succeed where you failed though."

Koth paused, processing my words, then nodded back. "That's...thank you. That's all I can expect from you, really."

The three of us stepped out into the hall and made for the elevators. Bastila fell behind. More of that guilt and cold touched my mind. Enough for me to stop and turn.

"Hey, sunshine?"

Carth stopped with me and also looked back at Bastila with concern. She stopped while still watching the ground.

"What?" Her head lifted a fraction. "We…we need to keep moving. Need to find Belaya before—"

"Carth and I can do that. You…" I glanced to the side. "You haven't been acting like yourself. Maybe you should…stay away for a bit. Take a break."

It was obvious that what we were becoming and what she was feeling about what we were becoming was causing her pain and stress. That was the last thing I wanted her to feel. I didn't need the bond to figure that out.

Her chest rose and fell. More heat—anger—only this time it was directed at me.

"I'm fine, Wes. I keep telling you—I'm not a damsel. How many—"

"He's right." Carth was the one to interrupt this time. Her anger redirected. "I don't really get the whole Jedi attachment thing, but it's obvious you aren't handling—"

"Stop meddling in business that doesn't concern you, Carth," she spat back. The pilot's face stilled as if encased in stone. Her gaze fluttered between us both until she let out an exhausted sigh. "Fine. I will 'take a break' since you two seem to think I cannot handle my own emotions. Typical."

"Bas—"

But she turned and stormed down the hall without giving me a chance to explain. I breathed in through my nose then let it out in a long, continuous huff. Anger of my own shook my limbs and I tried desperately to not kick the closest object—Carth. For once, I didn't follow through with that desire. It wasn't his fault that Bastila and I were in this fragile position, after all.

I marched down the hall while still trying to hold back my rage. Carth followed at my side with a thoughtful, glazed look. Thankfully, he had stopped smirking at me, but a pitying frown wasn't any better.

My first instinct was to look for Juhani. I'd given her Belaya's lightsaber, so she would have been the last person to see her. Carth questioned why I'd done that, but I didn't elaborate since it really wasn't my place to. We found Juhani's room at the end of the hall and knocked at the door. When we didn't hear anything for a few minutes, we went back to the training halls. While we didn't find the Cathar either meditating or practicing, we did find Canderous beating up on some droids.

When the door hissed open, he waved at us then pounded on the cushioned chassis. He continued to fight as I summarized everything that happened, including the Sunry incident. Then I asked if he'd seen Juhani.

He shook his head. "The Cathar tends to stay away from me, and when she does speak to me, well, it's memorable..." Another droid clattered to the ground. "I wouldn't have seen her anyway since I've been in here all day."

Hmm…I rubbed my chin as I watched Canderous beat up the next droid. A rare bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He really was just in here punching droids nonstop. While I expected the Mando to fight, I never really saw him practice before.

"You didn't take losing to that Echani well, huh?" I asked.

Canderous froze. His scar bent as he glared at me.

"Shut up." Another hit and the droid fell. "She would have lost if I was a decade younger. I keep forgetting my own age at times…" A kick and the next droid toppled. "For a Mandalorian though, that is no excuse. I've been slacking."

Huh, right, the Mando was actually way older than us—maybe in his fifties or sixties. Unlike Jolee though, he tried to not remind us that he was an old man.

"By the way, Canderous?"

The Mando stopped at the sound of Carth's voice. He wiped his brow.

"What?"

"You owe me a thousand credits."

I raised a brow.

"Wait, for what?" Canderous asked.

"Yeah." I held my hips. "For what?"

"Don't tell me you forgot," Carth muttered. "You know...the wager that we made on Kashyyyk? I guessed right—before the fourth Star Map."

We both blinked in confusion. Then, a massive grin twisted Canderous' features and his eyes twinkled in my direction. I flinched.

"Oh. Huh. I see." He crossed his bare arms. "Have any proof?"

"Eh…" Carth rubbed the back of his head. "No. Not really."

"Then our bet is still on."

"You really can't just take my word for it?"

"We Mandalorians take our bets seriously, flyboy."

My brow twitched. "Bet? What bet?"

Canderous chuckled. "Don't worry your little head about it, pipsqueak."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Carth nodded. "It's just a friendly wager."

"Now I'm even more worried." I glared at both of them. "You've never had an interaction with Canderous that was friendly before."

"Hmm…" Canderous chuckled again, that stupid grin still on his face. "Well, it's more than just a friendly wager."

"Hmm, yes." Carth smirked. "A very friendly wager."

"Right. A very friendly with a Jedi wager."

"An intimate with a Jedi wager, actually."

My ears burned as they spoke and kept shooting me those looks. I tried to force the heat away, yet it was an impossible task when they were teasing me like this.

I dared to ask.

"Had it really been that obvious?"

"Yes," they both answered.

"Oh. I see." My face cooled and dipped. "You think my pain and suffering is a game."

"Pain and suffering? Ha! Guess that's one way to put it..." Canderous shrugged. "Not our fault you're into a prissy bitch, pipsq—"

With a strong shove in the Force, the Mando slammed onto his back.

"'Prissy bitch?'" I shouted, planting a foot on his chest. "Bastila isn't a bitch you—!"

"Alright, alright!" He coughed then hissed in pain. "By Mandalore, get off, I wasn't being serious!"

I stopped crushing his chest with my foot and narrowed my eyes. When I saw the humored look on the Mando's face, I lifted my foot off his chest with a sneer. Canderous dusted himself off then got to his feet with a breathy laugh.

"Yeah…that's all the proof I need." The Mando dug a hand in his pockets. After a moment of searching, he came up with some credits. "This will have to do for now. Sorry."

Carth waved them away. "Just give it to me all at once. I'm not going to keep track."

He stuffed the credits back into his pocket. "Kriffing…first I lose to an Echani and now I lose to flyboy."

I shook my head, threw my arms into the air, and mumbled curses in various languages as I stormed away. How have I not strangled one of them by now?

Forgetting that…incident, we continued our search for both Belaya and Juhani. The canteen had been a bust along with the other various exercise and entertainment rooms. Before we gave up on the hotel, I noticed a cantina and casino was on the third level. Maybe they hid out there?

Carth walked by my side in silence as we made for this cantina. The silence meant my thoughts drifted back to Bastila…the bond had numbed again, but there was still so much turmoil. The pilot must have noticed the serious look on my face since he stopped before we entered the elevator.

I raised a brow. "Carth? You coming?"

"It'll turn out alright, Wes."

Those words caused me to turn to fully face him.

"Wait. Are you actually being...optimistic for once?"

"No, well...I guess, yeah. But that's only because I know from experience. Just give her time. Let her sort herself out." Carth walked into the elevator. I followed. "Morgana...my wife and I had been childhood friends. I, being a complete idiot, didn't realize when she started seeing us as more. When she kissed me for the first time, she avoided me for weeks. I think she was afraid that I didn't feel the same way. She feared that our friendship came to an end." Carth pressed the button for the third floor. A shadow hung in his gaze and a sad smile twisted his expression. "She was wrong and right, in a way. Our friendship became something more. So, just give her time. She'll figure it out."

I smiled then bumped his arm with an elbow. "Thanks...Orangy."

The elevator opened into a large yet claustrophobic space. The cantina was grander than the few I'd already visited on Manaan. This one was also a casino, so multiple hologame boards littered the large tiered floor. The lights had dimmed to create a relaxing atmosphere.

A loud whoop that sounded like a teenage Twi'lek came from the back of the casino. Carth must have heard it as well since he rushed after me. Weaving around the hologame boards of Dejarik, chance cube, and other Manaan exclusive games, we arrived at the pazaak tables.

Mission burst out laughing as she picked up credit chip after chip. The Arkanian, Trandoshan, and Duros she was playing with exclaimed in their various languages. I narrowed my eyes when one of the bartenders passed her an alcoholic beverage. The dealer started another game.

"Hey! It's just the luck of the draw, slemos," she insisted. "Not my fault you built your deck wrong."

"Built my deck wrong, she says!" the Trandoshan hissed. "You Twi'leks are sneaky. How do I know you haven't hidden cards in your sleeves?"

Mission pulled both of her sleeves down and brushed her headtails aside.

"There. Happy, you big fat lizard?"

Before the Trandoshan could pounce on the young Twi'lek, I stormed up to the table.

"Mission."

She jumped at the sound of my voice. "Oh! Uh...Wessy." Her voice lowered when she saw the pilot standing behind me. "Carth."

"I can't believe it…" he muttered. "This is where you ran off to after our talk?"

Her face twisted. "I can't just walk into Takaon Corporation on my own like you said. So, I'm having fun." She took a drink. "And you're not my dad."

She played a red card on the table. He picked up the glass.

"What is this?"

"I don't know...some ale."

"Some ale? You are way too young to—"

"Look, can we scold her later?" I asked. "Finding Juhani and Belaya is more important right now."

Mission perked up at the mention of the Jedi. "Juhani? She's missing?" I nodded. She pursed her thin lips then swiveled around on the raised seat. The group of pazaak players sighed with relief as she picked up her cards. "I wanna help."

"Did you see her?" I asked.

"Actually, yeah. This morning Belaya left the hotel and Juhani ran after her. They had their hoods up and were going so fast that I almost didn't know it was them."

So, it was what I figured. Belaya and Juhani had disappeared together and now they could be anywhere in Ahto City. Both Carth and I sighed—we had our work cut out for us. While Koth thought Belaya had been following me all day...she was with Juhani. And we had no idea where they could have gone. Since Belaya didn't respond to her comm, now both of them were in danger. Probably from the Sith...

Carth must have arrived at the same conclusion.

"We need to get everyone together. If the Sith captured either of them—"

"There is no way we can break into the Sith Embassy without getting arrested though," I interrupted.

I crossed my arms, going deep into thought. Both Carth and Mission stared at me as I watched the hologame tables with the flickering Dejarik pieces. They had to be in the Sith Embassy. Who else would have harmed or captured them? But getting inside to look for them without being spotted would be impossible. Sure, we could get the Selkath on our side, but by the time they could actually do something, Juhani and Belaya would be dead.

Though…

I smirked.

"There may be something..."

HK-47's lights dimmed as I yanked off the three panels once more. The droid had made his usual complaints as we entered my room about "abandoning" him. That thing really had attachment issues, huh? He quieted down once I mentioned I was going to make some...improvements.

I could sense Carth's judgemental gaze and Mission's excitement as I peered into the depths of the droid.

"HK would need to have had some sort of searching and tracking system. How else would he find his targets?" I grabbed the hydrospanner and closed an eye as I mentally marked off the proper areas. "I already figured out how to turn on his tracking protocols. If I reroute some of these...dangerous explosives, I'll be able to turn on his searching protocols too. HK would be able to sneak into the Embassy easily. He fits right in with the Sith. I mean, look at him."

Mission beamed.

"Yeah, and HK could help them escape! That could work!"

Carth sighed. "You really need to be careful—and I'm not talking about the damn explosive. HK-47 is kind of illegal and if the Selkath find out about it, you're in a cell with Sunry. Also, what if you accidentally set Juhani and Belaya as a target?"

"Well, that's not going to happen, Orangy, since I'm not turning on the assassination protocols technically. I'm not sure if I can without admin authorization. Which..." Only Darth Revan would know how to access. For obvious reasons, I didn't say that. Not like it even mattered anyway. I smirked at Carth over my shoulder. "Also, remember when you jinxed us? Yeah, I don't want that to happen again. So, quiet."

And Carth listened to me, for once, as I made my first adjustment to HK's components…

A half-hour or so passed as I worked on HK-47. It was easier than I thought it would be. The searching protocols had been locked away in a similar fashion to the tracking ones, the only difference being the explosive guarding it had blue liquid instead of red. Force—why did Darth Revan need to put more than one detonation device in the damn machine? It was a bit paranoid and excessive…though, he was the Dark Lord of the Sith, so was that really a surprise?

Carth sat on one of the comfy couches near the window. Far enough so that he might escape a blast. Mission remained at my side. Probably the one person I didn't want near me as I worked even though I was confident that I wouldn't set anything off.

As I unhooked one of the wires, Mission sighed.

"It's too bad…"

I licked my lips as I focused on heating the next wire onto the frame…

"What?" Carth answered.

"That Little V isn't here."

The pilot let out a long sigh. "Mission, I told you—"

"Yeah, and it was all stupid." A headtail hit my shoulder, causing me to momentarily lose focus. "How do you know she actually killed her mother anyway? What, so some random bimbo comes around and you just...just believe her?"

"It's not only that," Carth said, voice raised. "There was proof. And she's a Sith."

"She was a Sith." Mission's headtail hit my shoulder again. "And they wanted to kill her! That has to mean she's on our side, right?"

"It's not that simple."

"Griff...Griff helped the Sith too. And if...if he told me he made a mistake doing that...then I would believe him."

My repairs ceased and my thoughts drifted back to Griff sitting with his pazaak cards at that crime scene. Apologizing and asking for a chance to speak to Mission. I shot the young teenager a glance. I'd have to tell her. Not now. It would have to be whenever we had a chance to speak to Griff again. Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to it.

Carth sighed.

Click!

I wiped my brow with a smile.

"Done."

He sat up. "That was...fast."

"Well, I told you I already kind of did this before." I screwed on the panels, and when the last one tightened in place, HK's lights heated on. "HK, I have a mission for you."

"Query: A mission, Master? Request: Oh, please let it involve some type of bloodshed. I have been standing in this prison cell of a room for days and I was seriously considering blasting the glass and jumping out just to end the torture."

"Uh…"

Both Mission and Carth shot the droid shocked looks.

"Yeah, about that…" I brought up my datapad and sent information on both Juhani and Belaya. "I need you to sneak into the Sith's Embassy and find these two."

HK's lights flashed as he received the data. A minute of silence passed.

"Query: Find them and...kill them, Master?"

Carth flinched out of his seat and his voice raised. "I thought you said you weren't going to turn on the assassination protocols!"

"I didn't! He's just being kriffing stubborn as usual." I huffed. "No. Find them and rescue them. You wouldn't be able to kill them anyway since they aren't a threat to me. Your assassination protocols are still disabled."

HK let out an annoyed hiss. "Query: Why do you torment me like this, Master? Is this a game to you? Do you find sadistic pleasure in my suffering and torment?"

I smirked.

"Yes. I do."

His lights dimmed and he gripped his blaster rifle. "Statement: Of course you do, Master."

HK's lights blinked one last time before he clanked away towards the door, muttering about meatbags along the way…

"Wait!" Mission shouted after the droid. I made the same order and HK listened. The Twi'lek shot me a pained look. "What about...Little V?"

I glanced over at Carth.

"What about her?" I asked.

"Well, HK should be able to help her too, right?" She rubbed the side of her face. "Yeah, I know what she did was wrong, being a Sith and all, but she decided to stop being one. She doesn't deserve to die for that...does she?"

I pursed my lips in thought. Carth stared down at Mission and even though I expected him to, he didn't jump to correct her. I didn't correct her either...since she was speaking her mind. And didn't I say that I needed some sense knocked into me once and a while?

She was right, in a way. I didn't know if it would be justice to let Verena die. We needed a better source of information than a bitter twin sister. Or, at least a source that didn't have a motivation to lie to us.

I walked up to HK-47 and plugged in my datapad again. Carth finally spoke when he realized what I was doing.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"There was proof. Not enough of it." I sent over the file of the Echani—what little information there was—and patted HK's chassis. "When you're in the Sith Embassy, hack into the databases and look up all that you can about Verena or Takaon. Bring T3 with you."

I wasn't going to rescue Verena...yet. Not until we got a clearer picture of what was really going on.

HK's head swiveled. "Query: The T3 unit? Really?"

"The T3 unit. Really." I raised a brow. "You know, I could just leave you in here—"

"Affirmative, Master."

And, with the mission detailed and outlined, HK-47 left with heavy footfalls.

The rest of the day was spent going through the two datapads I'd been given by the Selkath judge. I thought the Jedi Code had a strict set of rules...the Manaan tribunal system, while apparently more basic than the Republic's system, had many terms and proceedings I needed to remember. Cross-examination, for example, was first done by the prosecution, and the defense was only allowed to interrupt the prosecution if they were making an argumentative, repeating a question that had already been answered…

The comm hissed.

"Master?"

I sighed and sat up from the couch to grab the comm.

"Yes?"

"Statement: I have entered the target's location, yet I have run into some complications."

"What complications?"

"Answer: The T3 unit and I have been separated. They have locked me in this room."

Wonderful.

"Okay? Do I need to babysit you? Get yourself out of the room."

"Statement: Impossible, Master. My movements are being watched. They believe I am a battle droid. If I start moving, they will get suspicious."

This...wasn't ideal. I switched the channel.

"T3?"

Multiple beeps and whoops echoed from the comm.

"Are you able to access a computer? You need to shut off the cameras watching HK's location."

T3, unfortunately, answered with a negative. He was also being watched in a locked room. They apparently thought he was a repair droid.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "When will they let you out, T3?" More beeps and whoops. "Tomorrow?"

My eyes glazed and my stomach growled. Oh, that's right. Food.

I switched back to HK.

"Just hang tight for now. T3 will get you out in the morning."

"Sarcastic Statement: Oh, wonderful, Master. I have to rely on that pathetic tin can. At least these four walls are different. A marginal improvement."

I grabbed the datapads and moved my study session out of my room and down to the canteen. In between bites of food, my eyes crossed as I went over the terminology again. I really only had two more days to get all of this down? Maybe I overestimated my abilities for once. Why did I think being an arbiter was a good idea again?

The sun had finally set when Jolee collapsed in the seat in front of me.

"Hard at work, I see."

I sighed. "Look, Jolee, I appreciate your company, but I really need to focus right now."

"Oh, well, I wanted to let you know...Elora knew."

I looked up from the datapad. The old man's face was tight with fatigue.

"What?"

"She knew about the affair. Sunry told her everything before the party. Thought she was acting strange…"

I sat back in the booth and stared down at the datapads. The party. Right, that must have been more for his wife's sake than his. I thought back to the party along with details of both the old soldier and his wife. That pin on Sunry's collar...it was there. No one would miss it. So, he must have had it with him when he met with Elassa.

But no, it hadn't been on his shirt when he passed us near the elevator. Which meant he had to have lost it or...had it stolen during the party. And if it was stolen, then that meant the Sith planned to kill Elassa and frame Sunry that night.

"That pin."

Jolee looked away from the window. "Hmm?"

"How did the Sith take it?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe someone swiped it while he wasn't looking."

"If someone swiped it, it had to have been during the party."

Jolee raised a brow. "Yeah, you're right."

"If my theory is correct, one of the witnesses is the Sith who planted the pin and killed Elassa. Which means if we get camera footage of the party and see any of them hanging around..." I smirked. "Then that has to be our guy."

"Hmm…" The old man crossed his arms. "But what if we don't see any of the witnesses?"

I shrugged. "It doesn't hurt to check."

I made a mental note to put in a request for camera footage of the party. That would have to wait for tomorrow. For now...well, I had to continue this research. Kriff. I'm surprised I haven't collapsed from exhaustion yet. I picked up one of the datapads, ready to get back to work.

In order to distract myself from falling over, I made the mistake of asking Jolee a question.

"What do you know about the Sith?"

"The Sith?" Jolee let out a tired huff. "Bad, bad men. Women, too, to be fair—this Elassa was taking advantage of a poor old soldier."

I rubbed a lip. "That's it? Just 'they're bad?' You don't know anything else?"

He sighed. "And just what gave you the impression that I know anything more about the Sith than you do?"

"You did. You said you fought them during a war."

"Oh...heh, you remembered that. Thought you'd be your usual forgetful self."

I lowered the datapad. "You're avoiding the question again. It's really obvious when you do that."

"Why are you so interested in the Sith anyway?"

"Well, Sunry's apparent victim was a Sith. Since I need to prove a Sith actually killed her, I'll need all the information I can get."

Jolee narrowed his eyes. "Didn't your Master teach you...anything?"

My gaze darted to the side. "The Masters on Dantooine didn't really go into detail about the Sith's beliefs. They would just give these vague explanations about 'the dark side.' So, that's why I asked you."

Jolee's warm eyes studied me. His thin body sank.

"I try not to remind myself of those days. Sunry and I fought during the Exar Khun wars maybe...forty years ago? Has it really been that long…?"

I returned my attention to the datapad. I'd heard about Exar Khun briefly during my training on Dantooine. He'd been a Sith Lord corrupted by dark side artifacts and ghosts… "like Revan" the Masters always said. And like Revan, Exar Khun wanted to create an Empire of Sith.

Jolee shook his head. "The Sith back then weren't much different to the Sith we're fighting now. Cruel, violent, merciless…" The old man shivered. "They practice the dark side, which means they value power above all else. But when you get a whole group of Sith, they don't always play nice together."

"What do you mean?"

"In-fighting. To the Sith, any sign of weakness is something to be exploited. The dark side is one of many reasons they pursue power. If they didn't, they wouldn't survive each other." He sighed. "That's why they always fail in the end."

I smiled. "Well, that's a comfort I suppose. Maybe they'll just kill each other off."

"Ah, but the Sith were Jedi, remember? Or at least most of them were. Even if they destroy themselves, they will always return. It only took forty years this time."

The old man's voice lowered. "After Exar Kun fell to the dark side, he attempted to recruit other Jedi to his cause. What took us completely off guard was how successful he was. Many Jedi joined him and became Sith themselves. Why they did I...I will never truly know. But they did. Battle broke out throughout the Order. Pupil against master, we fought ourselves."

As he spoke, Jolee's voice gradually became more and more pained. More and more old...ancient.

I frowned. "I'm sorry. That...it sounds like it was difficult."

"Yes." His shoulders and voice shook. "More than difficult...next to impossible. How do you fight against someone you love?"

Love?

My breath froze. Jolee loved someone who fell to the dark side? Had it been...his wife? For once, I didn't ask him to clarify. It felt a bit too...invasive.

After a minute or two of silence, the old man stood, his back cracking.

"Keep on working hard, kid. You're doing great. Sunry...will be free in no time."

While his voice had returned to its jovial tones, his eyes still sparkled with grief. And his face...tugged with sorrow as he left.

The datapads flickered as I read about justice and laws. I was even less enthusiastic about this than I was before.

The Republic Military base wasn't a massive complex—at least compared to the one I was dragged into back on Coruscant. Bastila led the way through the Republic's district towards the standard office building. Carth followed close behind me and Master Koth walked by my side.

This morning in the canteen, Master Koth asked about Belaya. I didn't mention HK-47, obviously, or that she may have been captured. Knowing Koth, he'd try to get the Selkath involved. Since we were sort of breaking the law at the moment, this would not be an ideal solution. He was disappointed by our lack of progress, but he hadn't scolded me about it at least. What could we do about it, really?

Also, just as worrying, I hadn't heard back from either HK or T3. Complete comm silence. Carth asked about it, but I told him to "be patient" since I didn't want him to freak out about it. I was already freaking out about it.

We arrived at the military base. Droids watched the entrance along with scanners—only allowing those with authorization into the base. Turrets of all kinds pointed down at us from the metal walls. The Ambassador provided Master Koth with a keycard, so he swiped the door panel with it. The droids didn't move from their positions and the turrets didn't point at us as the doors clicked then hissed open.

Inside, the entryway was clinical. Neat. A kolto, salty smell hung in the air. Soldiers of all types rushed down halls and shouted at recruits. Droids—battle droids rolled after them. It was...busier than I expected a military base on Manaan to be. In fact, the expressions on all of the soldiers' faces were...almost frantic.

"Carth! Jedi!"

Jordo appeared from a side hall after the door hissed open. He waved at us to follow. Carth smiled at his old friend's appearance.

"Jordo! What are you doing here?"

The soldier's usually happy face had become stiff. "Sorry, we don't have time to talk. The Ambassador is waiting for all of you at the interrogation room."

Interrogation room?

We followed the soldier through the metal halls, making sure not to run into the scurrying droids and recruits.

"Yesterday, a Sith spy infiltrated the Republic Embassy. They managed to hack into our systems and retrieve dangerous info regarding our defenses."

Bastila rushed to the soldier's side. "How did this Sith infiltrate the Embassy?"

"I don't know." Jordo sighed. "He had a Republic passcard on him with all of the proper clearances. Either someone betrayed us or...a soldier with those clearances was captured and tortured."

"This information," Master Koth said, "was he able to pass it on to the Sith?"

Jordo didn't speak for a moment. "Another spy managed to escape with the datapad. Fortunately, almost all of it is encrypted. So, unless they have a super genius in their tech department, we have a few days to find a way to delete it from their systems."

That must have explained why everyone was acting so frantically. They were planning to break into the Sith's base too.

I finally spoke. "How will you do that?"

Jordo's shoulders fell. "That's...what the Ambassador wants to talk to you about."

He swiped a keycard at the door on our right which opened after the panel glowed green. The room itself was dark—the only light came from the computers and a walled-off interrogation space. Through a possible one-way mirror revealed the Sith prisoner. Shielded cuffs around his wrists and ankles forced him into a chair.

Ambassador Roland Wann didn't bother to get up from his seat near the one-way mirror as we entered. Instead, he looked at us over his shoulder.

"Jedi. Took your time."

The door hissed closed behind us. A soldier was in the room with the prisoner, badgering him. Asking him about "the code." The Sith's head lulled to the side...and that's when I noticed an IV station in the corner of the room. My pulse raced at the sight and sweat built on my brow.

Wann addressed Jordo. "Did you get them up to speed on the situation, soldier?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." Wann twisted the chair around and stood. "Master Koth, Shan, I really don't like getting you Jedi involved in something like this but...we've run out of options." He waved at the Sith prisoner. "As you've already heard from Jordo here, we need to break into the Sith's base without alerting the Selkath. We retrieved a crate of blank Sith data cards—the same used for their passcards. Our technicians were able to break into the matrices but...since these are blank cards, we need a viable passcode too. If we make up something, the Sith will catch wind that something is afoot."

Master Koth stood up straight. "What do you need us to do then, Ambassador?"

Jordo answered, his face tightened. "The Sith protect their really important spies with some sort of mental Force feedback system. They can turn their minds in on themselves so Force compulsions won't affect them. Combine this with conventional training to resist interrogation and it sometimes takes months to get them to tell us what they know."

"Turn...in on themselves? What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

Jordo snorted. "The Force can do terrible things in the wrong hands. This spy, for example, kept insisting that he was some swoop bike rider. When I asked him questions, he ignored them and listed all the parts of a swoop bike. That's why we've had to use a Truth Serum. Otherwise, he'd keep rambling on about all this nonsense..."

I shivered. "That sounds...awful."

"Ambassador." Carth stepped forward with a smile. "Interrogating this Sith might not be necessary. We've already broken into the base."

Oh, uh. I licked my lips as I tried to hold back from laughing nervously. Because...well…

Wann raised his brows. "Is this true?"

"Yes…" Carth glanced over at me. "Right?"

I grabbed the comm from my pocket and flipped it on.

"T3?"

A hiss was my response.

"T3!"

Finally, beeps erupted from the comm. Frantic beeps.

I flinched. "What the hell is going on?"

T3 gave a sad whoop.

"What do you mean you can't turn off the cameras?"

The droid's beeping and doots went on for an entire minute. The Jedi, Wann, and the soldiers looked at the comm with mild confusion. Finally, the droid stopped. I looked back up.

"So, T3 is saying without a passcard, it's impossible to break into a computer without alerting the entire base."

Master Koth narrowed his eyes. "Why did you think sending droids into the Sith's base was a good idea?"

"Hey, we were trying to rescue your Padawan. The droids getting captured and separated wasn't part of the plan," I said, heat growing in my chest. "And they aren't just any old droids, Master. They—"

He let out a long sigh. "We will see what we can do, Ambassador. Although, I'm not sure we will succeed. If we cannot use the Force to retrieve the passcode, then we'd be no better than your information officer here."

Wann shook his head. "Ah, but with the Truth Serum, you should be able to break through his conditioning—briefly. It should be brief enough for you to use your Jedi powers to get through to him. Although...there are some drawbacks. You probably know," he said, waving.

"No, I don't," I said. "What drawbacks?"

Wann looked away from me as he spoke. "If you use too much of the Serum, the Sith will realize what's happening and shut his mind down. He'll forget everything...or at least everything we need to know."

Kriff.

"Is that even legal?" I asked.

Or ethical?

"What? The Truth Serum?" Wann shrugged. "During wartime—yes." When my horrified expression didn't change, he snorted. "Don't worry about it, Jedi. It's painless—we're not trying to torture him. You should really be blaming the Sith here. It's their fault for using this type of mind-bending conditioning on their spies in the first place."

Painless. Kriffing...that Truth Serum was not painless.

I stuck my hand into my pocket and felt the groves of the coin. My six-month stint in the Republic prisons flashed within my mind. Had that been why those interrogators could use a Truth Serum on me? Even though they were wrong, they had been allowed to use whatever they wanted on a suspected Sith terrorist. It explained why, once they stopped being idiots and looked up my records, they stopped. That fact didn't really make that entire situation better. Really.

Something warm touched my shoulder. I jolted. Bastila stared up at me with...pain. Pain in her gray eyes. Oh, right, maybe she could sense my hesitation. No—she knew that I was utterly terrified at the prospect of having to go near it again. My hand had grown numb—I couldn't feel my fingers.

"Wes?"

I took a deep breath then laughed. "Sorry." Finally, I released the coin and took my hand out of my pocket. "What did you say?"

Bastila searched my face. "I didn't say anything."

Oh. Huh.

I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away from her...pained expression. Only to see that both Carth and Master Koth were giving me worried looks too. I rolled my eyes.

"Let's just get this over with," I muttered.

I stepped towards the interrogation room, yet Bastila stepped back with me and pushed a hand into my chest.

"Master Koth and I can handle this. You…" She glanced to the side. "It's probably best if you sit this one out."

"Oh, is this revenge for making you take a break yesterday?"

Bastila didn't snap back at me like she normally would. Her face didn't scrunch like a kinrath pup. Instead, darkness...a cold filtered within the bond.

"I can sense that you're...uncomfortable." She pushed me back again. "I don't want you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable. So, please—"

"I can suffer through a boring interrogation session, Bastila." Her lips slammed shut at my stiff words. I pushed her hand off my chest. "Let's just get this over with."

Fortunately, she didn't protest again.

Next time - the gang infiltrate the Sith base, more chaos, and shocking revelations. HK is still stuck in a room - will he finally go on a murder spree? Stay tuned.

Also, I will probably be updating a bit more slowly - this time of year tends to gets to be busy for me :(

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see yah next time!