I lean close to Jerus and speak in a hushed tone. "We can't let her leave again with Korre, that's for sure. She's already plunged that girl too deep into trouble on more than one occasion. I'm not going to give her another chance. But... what do you think? Even if Xan helps us defeat Sucal, I don't feel comfortable just letting her walk."

I shrug, leaning back. "Then we don't. We send her back to the base on Alderaan. Or maybe we hook her up with a place on the island, where we can watch her. Although, me thinks our next issue won't be Xan's fault."

“Yes, but she won’t make it easier either. What if Imperious makes her an offer? It would be a lot easier for her to conquer the Galaxy if she had a politician on her side. Especially one she could install as a puppet Chancellor.”

"And we don't trust that woman as far as we can throw her. If push comes to shove, when this is done, we can expose her to the public, make sure she's no good as an ally to anyone but us. Hell, we expose her, not even us."

“Outing her would definitely end our partnership permanently, but then again, she isn’t exactly the type of person I’d like to have a long lasting alliance with.”

"Balance in all things, Becca. If it gets to that point, we can decide then. For now, we're just going to give ourselves grey-" I stop, glance at her hair, and then sigh. "Well, I'll get grey hairs at least."

I chuckle. “If I weren’t already albino, Hayden alone would have turned my hair white anyways.” I lean back in my chair, closing my eyes. “I’m going to try and center myself a bit before we reach Coruscant. I need to be in top performance if we’re going to drop into that war zone.”

I nod. "Go ahead, I've gotta make sure all the weapon systems are running and then make sure my armor's ready to go." Standing, I rest a hand on Becca's shoulder. "We will put an end to this, Becca. And we WILL bring your daughter home."

I give Jerus a long look. "And we will save Korre and stop Sucal... even if I have to die to do it."

END OF SCENE

I walk through the halls of a once luxurious hotel. Not long after the battle began, the staff and guests abandoned the place, leaving a bit of a mess. But as far as temporary bases go, this was still pretty cozy, and it gave us a good view of the giant force field that surrounded the Senate District; our next major target.

In one of the suites is where Temari, the Greshh twins, and a handful of Revolutionaries gather to form a plan.

Inside the room, I peer out at the large energy dome while the Revolution debates, running over scenarios in my head. "Don't ask for a bombing run. That shield's already resisted a testing orbital barrage. Is anyone still in the Workers Union still willing to work with the Revolution?"

"Apparently they were completely unaware of our reformation. Seems there leader went straight to the Republic after the meeting at Billi's house. We are currently trying to get a hold of a new Workers Union representative so we can add them to the team."



"It isn't easy though. A lot of our old comrades went deep into hiding. Draxxal and his inquisitors are still hunting the stragglers down. What's worse, more and more bodies are being found strung up, likely the work of the Stoneheart Killer. Most of them have been identified as Republic spies and loyalists, but it's putting an unnecessary amount of fear into this battle. We're trying to come off as the liberators, yet if people start thinking we helped orchestrate these murders..." I make quick eye contact with Gavin. "It'll lose us a lot of ground with the people."



I cross my arms. "We can't divide our attention too much. Sucal is our enemy, Stoneheart is just a distraction. We can worry about him after we take down that shield and take Presidential Palace for Mand'alor."

"We also can't afford for the people to accuse Mand'alor or you of orchestrating this killing spree. Someone will need to deal with Stoneheart." I look between the twins before nodding. "Cosen and I will do that."

"We don't even know where he is, or how to lure him out. He just kinda... appears places. We'd be searching in the dark, figuratively and literally." I rest my head on my fist. "I hate to say it, but I think Kam's right. We have to let him go for now. At least until we can pick up a lead and properly track him down. Maybe..." I think to myself. "Maybe if we bait him into coming to us? But how would we do that?"

"He seems to be targeting traitors to peace and the Revolution. Perhaps we sell ourselves as one of the two?"

"Traitors to peace? Shouldn't be too hard to manage."



"Hmmm... yes, that might work. One of us could pretend to turn traitor and try to rat us out to the Republic. That might draw Stoneheart close enough to take him down for good."



"It couldn't be one of us though. We're obviously too committed to the cause to betray it. The traitor would have to be either a new recruit or someone low enough in the pecking order to where it would make sense they could get away with being a rat." As I speak, my commlink buzzes. Temari had allowed me to have it back, but I wasn't expecting anyone to try to contact me. Because we are in the middle of a meeting, I ignore it. "Temari and I could perhaps tail our 'traitor', and when Stoneheart shows up, we ambush him."

I nod in approval. "That is a plan that makes sense. Now the question becomes who do we convince to turn 'traitor' for the good of the people?"

I think for a moment before an idea comes to me. “Perhaps an old enemy? Someone known to disagree with us at the best of times, and would logically plot other motives behind our backs?” I type in a code to the holo projector, and a moment later, Jakito Twilight appears. “How goes the scouting missing, Jedi?”



I have been spending the past few hours scouting the perimeter of the shield dome, trying to find a major weak spot. So far, no luck. When I first came to Coruscant, it was only to drop off Vette and possibly help her find her kids. Once I’d accomplished that, I found myself wrapped up in the coming battle.

My holocomm pings, and I hear Gavin’s question. “It goes alright. I haven’t found any weaknesses yet, but I’ll keep looking. I did notice that the main generator looks to be connected to Presidential Palace, so it is likely the main controls to shut it down would be inside.”



“I was afraid of that. Listen, we have a new mission for you if you are interested. One that’ll likely suit your skills a little better.”



I wince. I hated taking missions from Sith, especially teenage Sith. But Gavin was a very level headed kid, and of the two Greshh twins, he was definitely my favorite. Plus... I did save him from drowning all those years ago. He isn’t likely to lead me into a trap any time soon. “Let’s hear it.”

"It's really quite simple. We need you to turn traitor, draw out the Stoneheart Killer. Cosen and I will engage him from that point."

My eyes widen. “Uhh, why don’t you start from the beginning.”



I proceed to explain the plan to him to the best of my ability. “It is still a work in progress, so if you can make any suggestions to improve it, I am all ears.”



I nod, taking in the full plan. “Just one slight change I would make; let me go in alone. Not that I don’t appreciate the assistance, but I can handle this myself. Besides, if this Stoneheart is as clever as you say, he isn’t going to be easily duped by an ambush. If he realizes I have backup, he might spook and not show up.”