"Three? I only knew of Jakito Twilight and recently of Jerus. The former brought Cosen's and Gavin's mother." It occurred to me that Hayden and Jude might not have come from some other part of Coruscant after all, but at the time I had met them with Cosen, I had no reason to think that they hadn't. "What was the third ship, Manda'lor?"

“A D-type Nubian yacht. One of those favored by the decadent Republic Senate. It carried the proper codes, so our ships cleared it to land, but lost track of it shortly after.”

"I'll dispatch a pair of Clan Ordo's trackers to see if it can be found." I then turn to leave. "By your leave, Manda'lor, I must go ensure that the team dealing with this Stoneheart Killer is ready to head out. If he is not dealt with, the populace itself may turn on us soon enough."

I nod. “Good idea. We don’t want him ruining things at the last minute. Have your team deal with the killer as quickly as possible, then get back here. I need you rested for when we finally launch our assault on Presidential Palace.” I take a deep breath, turning once again to the map. “And I want Cosen Greshh at my side when I finally bring Sucal to his knees.”

END OF SCENE

The sun has set, and what little sky we can see from the lower city has turned red and purple. “It’s almost nightfall. Don’t want to be caught down here after dark.” Not far away is our destination, the Mandalorian command base. “Everyone be ready. They are probably expecting an attack from Republic forces, so they’ll be cautious of strangers.”

"They're more wary of strangers who are trying to be sneaky if I had to guess, so let's do ourselves a favor and stay in the middle of the walkway where they can see us clearly."

“Good idea.” I make sure to walk with a Jerus and Xan in a very clear and noticeable way, showing that my hands are empty of weapons. Silently, I pray that the warriors they have on guard duty aren’t the type to shoot first and ask questions later.”



I walk along the outside of the hotel, trying to pass the time before the big mission by helping keep might watch with the Mandalorians. Cosen was still getting ready doing... whatever it was she did, and Temari was talking to Ava. I don’t know who else was planning on being part of the Stoneheart mission, but I didn’t like the idea of all the company. I’d have rather gone in alone.

One of the guards perks up and says something about perimeter sensors being tripped. They begin to pull weapons and aim them into the street below. “Uh oh. There’s always something, it’s there?” I Tran my lightsabers and get ready for a possible Republic attack.

As we come into sight of the guards and Jakito, my hands are up and I call out in Mandalorian identifying us as Jerus Je'and and Becca Twilight with Senator Xanthippe Nabberie. "We're not here to make trouble, just looking for a scampering rat who thought he was clever."

"We aren't in the business of keeping rodents! Bug off before we blast ya to bits! Final warning!" To emphasize his point, he cocks his blaster and aims it at Jerus.



Having heard their names and recognizing the voice, I step into action. My hand grabs the barrel of the Mndo's blaster. "Woah woah! Easy there. These are friends... at least two of them are. My wife and my brother-in-law. The third one... maybe you can wing her with a stray bolt."



"You aren't in charge here, Jedi. You are an ally of Mand'alor, but if you interfere with our plans here..."



"Then the consequences will me mine to reap. But just so you know, that guy down there is Mand'alor's boyfriend's father. If things go well, perhaps her further Father-in-law, and therefore extended family of Clan Cadera. Killing him would be a big mistake."



Jakito can't see his face under the helmet, but it is likely that he is starting to second guess his desire for violence. "Stand down. Don't fire, but don't lower your guard either." Turns back to Jakito. "Go down and talk to them. Give them whatever they came for, then tell them to leave. We already have enough Jetiise around here with you and those Twi'leks. We don't need more mucking things up."



"Noted." I jump down to the street and jog over to meet them. "Hey! Long time, no see! Good to see you up and about again, Senator." I nod to Xan, then pull Becca into a hug. "What brings you guys all the way here?"

"Jude and your daughter. Jude kidnapped Korre on Alderaan after Gendry failed to get her and brought her here. Iwan...didn't survive the fight." I glance over at the guards, who were still watching us. "We think they hooked up with Cosen and Gavin."

I frown. "What? No, Cosen and Gavin are with the Mandalorians. Neither of them can go anywhere without an escort. If Hayden and Jude came to find them, they would have been discovered by the Mandos are stopped. And I've been helping the Mandalorians for a while now, staying at this hotel base. Hayden couldn't have slipped under my nose so easily." I look at Becca. "And why would she anyways? She turned away from the dark side, didn't she? We saw to that ourselves."



"I guess not as much as we thought. Maybe something happened to her in the time between Alaris Prime and now. Something that tipped her back over the edge. Whatever the cause, we heard from some Revolution that she and Jude were headed this way."



"If they are here, then they are hiding their presence in the Force well from me. And if they are actually in the hotel..." I glance back at the Mando guards watching us. "They're keeping secrets."

"No, it's more a tactical decision. Jude is convinced that Korre's baby is supposed to be a new vessel for Vitiate and we already know that child is perhaps the linchpin to all of Sucal's plans. The kid probably thinks they can use her as bait to make his father make some kind of mistake." I chuckle and shake my head. "Punk probably forgot that dad shielded Korre's location and no amount of smashing her jewelry is going to disperse it. Anyways, he's probably convinced Hayden that they can get his dad using her. We all know that your daughter holds the galaxy's biggest grudge against him."

I glare at Jerus when he chuckles. "Glad you think it's funny. Has it not occurred to you that they can just as easily broadcast her location to Sucal directly to draw him out? Just because your father is shielding her, that doesn't mean she or her child are out of danger! And what's worse, the Mandalorians may be in on this crazy plan!"

Xan's lack of a sense of humor kills the mood and I return to the topic at hand. "Like I said, it's a tactical choice. Not to mention that Ava's under scrutiny from the Clan Chief's because of her involvement with us, specifically HJ. Jakito and I can get in, that much I'm sure of. I need to speak with Temari, find out her part in all this. The trick will be getting them to let you two in." I look up at the guards and frown. "Well, maybe no trick, just talking them out of the way."

"Oh, I'm going in. There is no way I'm standing outside and waiting for Hayden to come out. Jakito and I need to confront her together."



"Right. Hopefully, she isn't relapsed into darkness. She's just being..." I look at Jerus. "Tactical."



I roll my eyes. "Well, if we're getting in, we might as well get going." I wave my hand and all four of us appear to duplicate. Each of us now has a nearly perfect copy of ourselves standing next to us, the only indicate that they are not corporeal is the slight wispy aura to their features. "Lets hope these guards aren't as strong minded as their leader. Hang back a moment, then quietly make your way towards the door." I wave my hand again, and the four copies start walking towards the guards. the Jakito illusion waving to get their attention.

"What did I just say about no tricks? It's like talking to a brick fucking wall." This was going to go south so quickly and when we were about to be surrounded by Mandos, I wasn't sure it was a good idea.

“When you work in the senate long enough, you learn to pick up on when it’s time to negotiate and when it’s time to take action. Now let’s hurry up and find this Temari. We’ve already wasted enough time.” I wave for them to follow as move towards the now unprotected doors.



I look at Jerus and Becca. “Remind me why you thought bringing her was a good idea. Mandalorians don’t like being duped. Especially by Sith. This really is not a good time for Xan to be her old trickster self again.”

"Too late to argue with her now that she's started. Let's just go." Quickly and quietly, I lead the group into the doors and around a corner and then turn to Xan. "At the very least, use the duplicates to tell them we're going to search another part of the city and Jakito's going with us. That way they aren't completely made to be fools."

Nods. "They can't linger long anyways. Its hard for me to control them once they are out of sight." I manipulate the Jakito illusion to tell the guards they are going to explore other parts of the city. The voice that the illusion speaks with is not quite right; almost like someone doing a bad impression rather than a perfect mimicry. Still, it works well enough to fool the guards.



"Brilliant." I say sarcastically. "Now, can we do things by the book now? The more we tick these guys off, the more likely it is they'll start shooting."

"Correction, the guards ever figure out we snuck in, THEN they'll start shooting. So, avoid mentioning that door specifically and we'll be fine." I hope... It was surprisingly quiet in the halls where we were and it was several minutes of walking before we heard voices we recognized. "That's Cosen and Gavin and Jude and..."