Last time: Sasha is starting to hallucinate.

Now: The conference hits a snag.

Chapter 35- The Lost

The last day of the conference ended with a modest gala dinner in the early afternoon. Gala being an interesting term to describe several hundred very introverted bookworms that would have been far more comfortable digging down through dirt surrounded by dead bodies or in the depths of some musty library than having to make small talk with their fellow archeologists.

Kyr had to coax Cien to leave the room and get out to this event, she had already been a little nervous about attending the event with so many people, especially since she was in the spotlight the last few days. The despondency she'd felt after whatever had happened with Sasha had made her want to just clam up in her room, or leave early, but Kyr had insisted she at least stay for this one final event where she could see all the new friends she'd made, and hopefully distract her however briefly from the strife with her sister. Kyr was sure they could sort it out, but not now, not while they were away from home. And Kyr, also, wanted to avoid Sasha since he was downright mad at her for doing this to his wife. They'd left the room early in the day, before they had a chance to see any of the rest of the family, and spent the day at the conference. And Cien's spirits seemed to have lifted a bit from her despondency since Mariss had stayed by her side all day discussing linguistics and all manner of other topics that Cien was fascinated by, but never really had anyone to discuss them with.

The dinner was made up of a nice spread of buffet items, modest but plentiful, and some of the food was fairly exotic since the archeologists had varied tastes from all their travels. And the doctor who had translated the Sith Cookbook so many years ago had all but dragged Cien over to one corner of the buffet where one of the items from the book was on display. After sampling the food Cien had commented that it wasn't spicy enough, and the linguist had seemed disappointed, but after Cien quickly mentioned that it suited her because of the pregnancy and that it was a very good approximation of a dish she was familiar with, and the doctor had beamed at the compliment, her day obviously made.

"She seems to be enjoying herself," Mariss commented with a smile as she came up to Kyr who was watching the whole display.

"Yeah, I think she has made quite a few new friends here." Kyr commented with a smile as his wife spoke with the linguist about the weird Sith wafers she had made. "She always talks about the archeology board and you guys, but getting to actually meet so many of you has been really good for her I think."

"Great," Mariss beamed. "She has truly brought a well of knowledge with her that all of us are just eating up. Plus she's such a gentle spirit and she is so fun to be around. I know I've come to enjoy her company and friendship," she said sweetly.

Kyr gave Mariss a strange look when she described Cien as a gentle spirit, but he couldn't help but agree. It struck him, as it often did, how much she had changed over the last few years. He took a sip of his cocktail. "Me too."

"Kyr, you need to try this dortero wafer." Cien said, coming over with the other linguist. She held out one of the crunchy chips for him, "if we had some gua'c'mohly it would be like what we used to have as a snack on Korriban."

Kyr took the chip and crunched into it, and held back a slight cough at how spicy it was. "These are great!"

Doctor Childe beamed. "I'm so glad, I remember being so excited when I came across that tome and I thought it would be something marvelous, only to realize it was a cookbook. I guess the title 'how to serve the darkside' had me thinking it was something very different."

"Oh I bet," Mariss said, laughing. "But you did a wonderful job with the food." She gestured to the buffet. "Those chips are quite a hit."

"Oh, thank you dear." Doctor Childe said, "and congratulations on your doctorate, Doctor Metscrur."

Mariss blushed. "Oh thank you! It's all thanks to Cien though," she said. "If it wasn't for her help on Abbidos then I wouldn't be able to finish my doctorate in time or do well on it for that matter."

"I don't really remember doing anything." Cien commented as she took a sip of juice.

"You helped me translate and better understand those books from the library," Mariss said. "And you also opened up those hidden rooms that allowed us to get more research done. I was able to spend hours getting the correct translations and finishing my papers because of you. So thank you." She raised her glass of wine to her.

"Also fighting off the raiders probably helped." Kyr noted.

"I guess." Cien said, looking adorably uncomfortable. "So Mariss, what will you be doing next?"

"I could use some help with the translations for the dessert section." Doctor Childe said with a smirk as she took a drink of her own wine.

"Oh, that sounds like fun," Mariss said, her interests piqued. "I do love sweets. But in all honesty, I'm not sure yet. I might go out and do more archeological digs, but I'm in no rush at the moment."

"I did hear about what happened at the temple sites, so I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to spend some time out of the field for a while." Doctor Childe said.

"What university did you study at?" Cien asked Mariss interestedly as she took a sip of juice.

"I studied here on Coruscant," Mariss answered. "At least for my doctorate and masters. I went to school on Chandrila for my bachelors degree."

"How did you like their archeology program?" Cien asked curiously.

"It was a really good program. You definitely get a lot of field experience there," Mariss explained. "Plus with the Jedi Temple so close, there were a lot of opportunities to learn more than I think on other worlds."

"I may look into a program like that." Cien said.

"Would that be cheating? If you went through an archeology program cyar'ika?" Kyr asked bemusedly.

"Well, I am a Sith after all." Cien said with a slight smirk she hid behind another sip of her drink.

"It's only cheating if you get caught," Mariss joked, chuckling lightly.

"Exactly." Doctor Childe said with a snicker of her own. "I won't tattle on you if you wanted to get into their program. You could probably teach several of the classes."

"I might consider it." Cien said, biting her lip.

"That would be pretty neat cyar'ika. I can see it now, Doctor Cienstra Swansea-Xiv." He said, in a grandiose manner. "We might have to get you some elbow patches for your armor." Kyr noted.

"Why?" Cien asked, puzzled.

"Professors and academic types have to have elbow patches." Kyr informed her solemnly. "Right, doctors?" Kyr asked the other two.

"Uh, I think that is a bit of an old stereotype," Mariss said, smirking. "I don't have anything like that in my wardrobe."

"Work with me here." Kyr said quietly to Mariss, and Cien smirked.

"Well I do know a few who might have them," Mariss then added, giggling.

"My Anise wears elbow patches on her coat." Doctor Childe nodded with a grin. "Though she is a mathematician, not an archeologist. Been trying to get her to get rid of that ratty old coat for years now." She groused. "But apparently even a Doctor of mathematics with a bent towards statistics still believes in the idea of a lucky coat." She shook her head. "I guess she was wearing it when we met though so who am I to judge." She said with a shrug.

"See?" Kyr said.

"My flight suit already has elbow patches." Cien said, furrowing her brow.

"Yeah, but not fancy academic ones." Kyr replied.

Mariss laughed. "Looks like you may have to get them now. I'll do it too so you're not alone," she said.

Cien blinked at that and glanced at Kyr before she responded to Mariss. "Thank you." She flinched slightly as one of the babies kicked one of her kidneys.

"Everything okay?" Kyr asked.

"Yeah." Cien said, rubbing her stomach absently. "I need to run to the refresher." She stated as she handed her drink to Kyr. "I'll be right back."

"Okay, be careful in there cyar'ika." Kyr said jokingly.

Cien threw him a weird look mixed with a bemused smile over her shoulder as she turned to go and started walking off through the crowd.

"So what do you think the chances are she might qualify to skip the whole school thing?" Kyr asked the other two. "I admit I'm a bit worried about seeing a showdown between her and a professor over a bad grade. Not that she'd ever have any." He added quickly.

"What time is that tour again?" Viran asked as he sat in a booth at Dexter Jettsers diner in Coco Town. Viran, Sasha, Kait, and Op had decided to go out for a tour of a museum dedicated to the Clone army after grabbing a late lunch which they were currently enjoying.

Oppie glanced at his wrist chrono. "Five forty-five. We should be good." Oppie said with a shrug.

"How did you guys hear about this place?" Kait asked, looking around the retro styled dinner. Or it was simply so old that the style was coming back into vogue again.

"It was a popular place back when we were Jedi. I heard the name passed around among the older Jedi," Viran said, smirking. "I've been wanting to try this place for years. I'm glad that it's still around."

"It is good," Sasha commented as she took a bite of her burger.

Kait was poking at her chicken tenders curiously.

"Is yours okay?" Oppie asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah, just never had chicken quite like this before." She said, taking a tentative bite. "Not bad at all."

"It looks good," Sasha commented, glancing at Kait's food. "All of this does. I honestly didn't expect this to be so good. It really does live up to the hype."

"It really does. My cheers to the chef," Viran said as he raised his glass of juice before taking a drink.

Oppie lifted his drink as well in response before taking a sip of the dark bubbly soda Kait had insisted he try.

"So what do you think the museum might be like? They had to reconstruct quite a bit after the Empire fell, didn't they?" Kait said, taking a bite of one of the tenders.

"I'm not sure, but I think they would have," Sasha said with a shrug. "The Empire kind of just wrote off the Clones after the war was over. But I imagine this place will probably be a place that honors every clone that fought and the ships that were used. Probably the key battles from the war. That kind of stuff."

"Oh… I wonder if they have any ships on display," Viran thought out loud, eagerly. "Maybe some Jedi Starfighters."

"I read they have a re-creation of a Venetor class bridge." Oppie said, eating a fry. "That will be really weird. Good thing Scamp isn't here, that would give me some really weird deja vu if I was on that bridge with him."

"Oh yeah," Viran agreed. "I could see that being really weird. But I am so down to experience what it would have been like to be a Jedi General. I can see it now." He said wistfully as he looked off into a distance as if imagining it now.

"You guys should have worn your full Jedi stuff." Kait commented, "that would have really set the scene. I wouldn't mind seeing you in your full Jedi on the bridge of a ship under your command. I bet you looked very dashing. General." Kait said, looking at Op in a considering manner. And Oppie looked slightly uncomfortable and blushed.

Sasha and Viran shared a snicker.

"It would be quite a sight to see that. To see all of us wearing our Jedi on the bridge of a ship. Maybe the 19th would let us do a droid camera shoot so we have proof," Viran suggested, trying not to grin.

"I doubt Admiral Sulam would let us do that," Sasha said, smirking.

"True, but Scamp might if he can join in on the fun," Viran added with a cheeky smile. Sasha just rolled her eyes at him.

"I don't know, Admiral Sulam," Oppie said, digging his comlink out since it was chirping, "would probably let us get a few pictures. We might need to figure out a good costume for you though." Oppie said towards Kait, looking at her appraisingly as he clicked the comlink and Kait smirked. "Hi Kyr, what's going on?"

"I need you guys at the conference now. Cien's gone missing." Kyr's voice said with a deadly seriousness.

"Wait what?" Viran asked as if miss hearing his best friend.

Sasha turned pale as a sheet as she sunk into the booth, taking that in.

Oppie looked at Kait, who just looked back at the other three shocked. "We'll be right there." Oppie said into the commlink.

End of Part 1.

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