5.03 - The Best Laid Plans

[Joan Dagar]

46 ABY
Grandmaster’s Apartment on Ossus

Dramatis personae:
Mikael Dagar
Syal Vos-Beck
Missina Dagar
Doran Beck
Krystiana Lin

[Joan Dagar]

Syal waited outside the door to her husband’s office, her back leaned up against the door and her head tilted toward the skylight. Ossus’s sun was nearing high noon and she took what small comfort she could from the warmth on her face.

She’d had the pleasure of hearing the majority of Mikael’s conversation with his sister. Anyone else in the temple would have walked away after realizing the Grandmaster was in the middle of a distressful call but Syal was his wife, and she’d been lucky enough to be blessed with a completely honest relationship with her husband. Where years before she’d been a very guarded individual Mikael had managed to soften her heart and get her to open herself to a love she’d never known possible. They shared everything so Syal knew he wouldn’t have cared about her listening in.

Poor Mikael. So the Veila twin’s mother had turned up and was bidding for custody of the children. It wasn’t a matter she particularly cared about or wanted to get involved in but she was all too aware of how close to home it hit for Mik. As far as she was concerned Joan and her bunch stopped being a part of their family a long time ago. Or rather she and Mikael stopped being apart of theirs and Syal would prefer that it stay that way. She had nothing against the children but Joan Dagar was not a good or trust worthy person and Syal wanted as little to do with her as possible. She only wished that it wasn’t so hard on Mikael.

"Momma!" Syal heard her before the little head of blonde bouncing curls before she came running down the hall. Missy was four and a stunning child. Sometimes Syal’s breath would quite literally get stuck in her chest as she looked at her daughter. The girl was shinning with life and joy, something that the Jedi Temple, and her parents, needed desperately in these trying times. Almost exactly nine months after Quinn was taken from them Missy had been born. Syal knew she never would have been able to come back from that dark place after Quinn’s kidnapping if Missy hadn’t come into her life. She’d been a gift from the force, one Syal was thankful every single moment of her life.

Syal crouched down and allowed Missy to propel herself in to her mother’s waiting arms. Scooping Missy up into a bear hug Syal buried her head in her daughter’s curls and swung her around twice.

"Hey there squirt, whatcha doing over here? I thought you and Marcy were going to do some painting."

"I’m so sorry Mrs. Dagar!" Missy’s Nanny Marcy came lumbering down the hall after the chlid. Her front was covered in paint.

"Ah, I see." She said and ruffled Missy’s hair. "Honey, we’ve talked about this before. Marcy doesn’t deserve to have paint, mud, glue, food, or anything else thrown at her. Now what do you say?"

"But she didn’t want to let me see Daddy And I needed to see Daddy."

"Missy." This time Syal’s voice oozed with seriousness and the change was not lost on Missy.

"I’m sorry Marcy. That was bad." Even though the words were so often spoken she was still able to sound sincere. Just like Syal had been as a child Missy was unpredictable and rebellious. If there was something that was important to her she did everything she could to get it.

"Now why did you need to see Daddy hun? You know he’s busy doing Jedi stuff." Still in Syal’s arms Missy reached over and put her hand over her mother’s heart. "He was very sad." She said simply and looked past Syal to the Grandmaster’s door.

Syal smiled sadly down at her daughter and hugged her a little closer. "We then I guess you were right we should go see Daddy." To Syal’s chagrin her daughter had also inherited her extreme empathic force ability. She could only hope that it wouldn’t effect her daughter the way it had her as a child.

"Marcy why don’t you go get cleaned up and take a break. I’ll keep Missy with me for a while." Syal smiled at the disheveled Nanny and turned toward her husband’s office.

Mikael was still sitting in his chair in front of the holoscreen where he had just had a meeting of sorts with his sister Joan. Over the past few years the two, who were the closest of the Dagars were now barely on speaking terms. It saddened Mikael to think that his sister was to the point of hating the man, and what made it worst was that it had nothing to do with the position he now held within the Jedi Order.

Reaching up he rubbed his eyes, pushing away what small tears did fill his eyes. It seemed like if it wasn’t one thing it was another for him. Nearly five years ago his son Quin was taken away from him and now it felt like his sister had been taken away too. He knew when he started years ago training at the Academy that the life of a Jedi wasn’t easy, but he would never had imagined that it would of been like this.

He knew that the Aniri situation would need to be taken care of soon but currently something else came to his attention. The Force was always guiding him and now it was guiding him to the presences outside his door. His wife and daughter were standing out there, he knew that Syal overheard the conversation and he was glad for it. He would of hated to try to explain everything to her later especially with how emotional the situation was. Plus there wasn’t any point in hiding it, she would of found out later anyways.

Putting a smile on his face for his daughter, he stood up and made his way to the door to his office. He hit the door release and smiled even more. No matter what kind of mood he was in his family always cheered him up. "I thought I heard a little girl out here, oh and look she brought her daughter too." He gave Syal a wink before reaching up ruffling Missy’s hair.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of the two most beautiful women in the Galaxy visiting me?" He said while wrapping his arms around both of the girls.

Missy reached instantly for her father as the trio pulled away from the hug. Syal let the little girl slip into her Daddy’s arms and smiled over at her husband. Mikael Dagar was a good man and still it amazed her that she’d ended up with someone so pure of heart, she’d certainly done nothing in her life to deserve being so lucky.

"What can we say, we missed you. Isn’t that right squirt?"

"Yes." Missy giggled in her father’s arms and nodded. "I felt you being sad." She added and nuzzled into his chest. "It’s okay Daddy."

Syal felt her heart melt a little as she watched two of the three most important people in her life. You’d think that after almost 5 years she ache of her missing son would have dulled bit moments like this only seemed to remind her that something was missing in her life. She’d hardly known Quinn for five months before he’d been taken away from her by that she-bitch of a woman Syal had once called ’mother’. She had every corner of his face perfectly etched in her mind’s eyes but she yearned to know what he looked like today. His birthday was in a week and each year that passed weighed even more heavily on her heart.

Sensing Syal’s sudden shift in mood Missy lifted her head and furrowed her brows. Overwhelming sadness often swept through her parents but she didn’t really understand why.

Syal and Mikael had told their daughter that she had an older brother but hadn’t had the heart to explain to a four year old why he wasn’t with them anymore.

"I know it will, Sweetheart." Mikael said to Missy as she nuzzled into his chest.

It always amazed him how much his little girl was like her mother. He reached up and ran his hand over Missy’s head. He loved his wife and daughter so much, but no matter how much he still missed his son. Family was very important to Mikael and without his son around he felt like his family was incomplete.

He watched as Missy looked over at Syal, Mikael didn’t need to be empathic to know what Syal was thinking about. He did it often himself, and he recognized the look that was on her face. She was thinking about Quin again, and Missy had picked up on her feelings again.

Spinning around with Missy in his arms he tossed her in the air and caught her. It might seem like playing to Missy but what Mikael was really doing was taking her mind off her mother’s feelings. "Seeing my baby girl has made Daddy very happy. It’s a good thing you came along, you were just what Daddy needed." Smiling he gave his daughter a kiss on the side of her head.

The smile Missy gave her father couldn’t have been brighter. "Daddy Daddy I wanna show you somfin!" She squeed and squirmed out of his arms. Once her feet were place firmly on the ground she turned her head and stared at his desk, still smiling but full concentration of her face.

Syal followed her daughter’s gaze to Mikael desk and watched and some of the loose papers sitting there slowly rose into the air and began to circle overhead. Exhilarated with her success Missy let out another squee and started to bounce. Just as suddenly as the papers had risen they fell to the floor.

Syal would have liked to hold off on her daughter;’s jedi training but virtually living in a Jedi temple had made that very difficult. After having children with a Jedi, Grandmaster Jedi no less, she’d been worried that her children would feel pressured into the Jedi way of life like she had been by her mother. Syal had grown up being told that she need to become a Jedi, that is was her destiny and that because she’d been given the give of the force that she owed something to the galaxy. But being a Jedi had never been in her heart. Instead she’d gravitated to the world of her father, piloting. Even though she’d tried for a very long time to convince herself that she belonged at the Jedi Academy in the end she had to accept that it wasn’t where her heart was. She’d been nothing but a let down to her mother and Syal hated to thing that her children might feel trapped by the same constants of their parents.

To this day it amused her to think that although she still didn’t consider herself a Jedi, and didn’t truly follow their beliefs she ended up married to the leader of the Jedi Order. Mikael was far from anyone she could have imagined being with growing up but he grounded her, and she loved him for it.

"Honey that was excellent" she said with a smile for her daughter. Although she didn’t want her daughter to feel pressured into growing up as a jedi if that’s what she chose Syal knew she would support her no matter what.

After letting his daughter down he watched as Missy made some papers on his desk float around in the air. A smile came to his face. Already at such a young age his daughter was showing such promise with her abilities in the Force. Mikael knelt down towards his daughter and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Great job sweetie, I just hope those weren’t important" Mikael said while letting out a little laugh.

Standing up his thoughts once again went to his son Quin. He was wondering if he was just as strong in the Force or if he was even Force adept. At that moment he didn’t even care if he was or wasn’t, he just wanted his son. Snapping out of it he knew if he kept dwelling on it, Missy might pick up on it again. Putting a smile on his face he looked down at Missy again. "I hope you know you can practice all you want, just not on anything breakable...especially your mother’s stuff."

[Joan Dagar]

It felt ages since Doran had visited the Jedi Temple on Ossus. Home to his daughter and granddaughter for years now, he’d taken many an opportunity to stop by, even though the Outer Rim world was quite out of the way of his usual operations. This time however, he had dual purpose, and walked briskly across the flagstone floor of the hall that led to Mikael Dagar’s office.

Since his grandson, Quin, had been taken from his daughter by her mother, Doran had been pouring his resources into the search for the pair, something far from easy as his ex-wife had taken his teachings to heart and all but vanished from the view of galactic society. After nearly five years, though, he had a lead.

One of his sources had happened upon a frequency by chance, rerouted through several low-profile satellites so as to mask where it was going, but the data had been hastily encrypted and it didn’t take long for word to get to Doran that Leena had been talking to someone over long distances and from the conversation he was able to learn that her contact was a female humanoid gathering information from within the Jedi Temple and keeping an eye on the Grandmaster and his daughter, Syal.

The fact that Doran had caught wind of the spy through surveillance erased all possibilities of sending a message to the Jedi. After all, he didn’t know who the spy was, and she may have been in a position to intercept a message exposing her, so he had decided to deliver the recording personally to Mikael, hoping that the Jedi would be able to quickly find the woman responsible for feeding Leena information.

With the office still some distance away, he passed a woman heading in the opposite direction, stopping dead in his tracks and turning towards her as their eyes met. Recognition poured from his eyes, having heard her voice dozens of times on the flight over, the captured message repeating just in case he ran into her- just like he had now. In a flash both reacted. Doran drew his blaster pistol, but the spy was faster, using the Force to throw him into the wall behind him, the weapon discharging a single bolt that screamed down the hall to burn a hole in the floor twenty meters away.

Blaster fire wasn’t something that was often heard in the Jedi Temple. Much less in the residential quarters. So when Mikael heard the blaster fire echo down the halls, he quickly rushed Syal and Missy into a separate room off to the side of his office. "You two stay in here till I get back." He wanted to make sure that the two of them were safe, and Missy was safer with her mother than most in the Temple. He hit the locking mechanism on the panel. He pulled out his comlink and sent a message to security. "Activate lock down of all residential areas of the Temple on my orders. Keep it locked down till you hear from me again."

Mikael ran out of his office and headed towards the sound of the blaster fire. "Send a few Antarian Rangers out to do a security sweep." Ever since the time of Grandmaster Tayan the Rangers had been around as a security force for the Temple. Even though they Order now had it’s own security team, the Rangers stuck around in honor of Master Tayan, and Mikael was glad they were around. He placed the comlink back on his belt and drew his lightsaber. He kept the blade off but had it ready just in case. He didn’t know what was going on but it didn’t sound good, and his stomach was starting to agree with him as he felt a small knot starting to form.

As he made his way down the hallway until he saw an all to familiar face. His own father-in-law was laying on the against one of the bulkheads. Running over next to him he knelt down and helped the man sit up. "Long time no see Doran." He looked the man over to make sure he wasn’t injured then gave him a small smile. "I take it that was your blaster I heard?"

Mikael took a quick look around to make sure the coast was clear. Who or whatever he was shooting at was no where near their current position. The only problem was weather that was a good thing or a bad one. "Maybe we should go back to my office.", he said to Doran as he helped him up.

"No time." Doran said with a grunt as his son-in-law helped him to his feet. He wasn’t a young man by any stretch of the imagination, but he was still in good shape for a man his age. The attack had done little more than knock the wind out of him, though he was certain were he twenty years younger, there would be a stunned young woman at their feet rather than the current situation. Much as he’d done a good job to stave off the effects of time, he was not invulnerable to it.

"You’ve got a spy in your ranks, Mikael." The older man said as he started to jog in the direction his assailant had gone. When he’d first arrived, he’d intended the discussion to happen behind closed doors, but the fact that the spy already knew that she’d been exposed meant that she had to be captured before she could escape or they would lose the best source of information they had as to Leena’s- and by extension, Quin’s whereabouts. "We need to keep her here on the planet if not in the temple, and it’d be easiest if we could get her before she has a chance to destroy any hard information she’s got." He went silent for a moment as they continued walking, realizing that all of the effort might seem in vain were it not for her employer. "She’s working for Leena."

That was all that Mikael needed to hear to keep going. He finally, after so long without a hint, had found a lead to his son. What amazed him was that the lead was in his own Temple. If there was a spy in the Temple then he wouldn’t stop till they found her. Pulling out his comlink he contacted security once again. "Dagar to security...Lock down the Temple. Nothing gets out and nothing comes in. Beef up security sweeps to all areas, deploy all the Rangers. If anyone tries to leave the Temple let me know immediately."

Mikael instantly thought about Syal and Missy that were locked in the side room of his office. He knew they were safe in there but he figured that Syal might want to know about the spy. If there was a connection to Leena then she’d want to search for her too, he was sure of it. "I can’t believe there is a spy working for Leena here. Whatever we do Doran we have to find her." He looked over at his father-in-law, Mikael never looked more serious in his life. If there was a chance to find his son he’d do whatever it took.

Switching frequencies on his comlink, he dialed into Syal’s personal comlink. "Syal there’s a situation, there’s a door release at the top of the door frame. Get Missy to a secure location and meet me and your father at the Security Room of the residential quarters...and hurry."

"We can take a look at the security footage and see if we recognize the person that is the spy and maybe we can find out where she is heading." He said as he looked over at Doran.

The attack had been unexpected, even though Krystiana knew very well that the man who’d brushed past her in the hallway was the former husband of the woman who was now something quite like her own mother-in-law, Leena Vos. She hadn’t been sent to the Jedi Temple without some information about the well-known faces she’d get a glimpse of here and there, but for a while she’d done a fairly good job of staying very deeply under the radar of Leena’s daugher and her husband. Leena would not be thrilled that they had apparently learned of Krystiana’s presence, but the dark haired young woman knew that it would at least serve to impress the older woman that her Syal had been capable of discovering her trickery, even with the help of her father’s trained eye.

How Doran had been able to recognize Krystiana’s very unknown face was beyond her, and a fact that caused her quite a bit of distress. That thought was neither here nor there, as the most important task now was getting out of the temple and off the planet without capture. It was a task that shouldn’t have been terribly hard for the Dathomiri woman; she was imbibed with a strength in the Force far beyond even some of the Masters in Mikael Dagar’s Jedi Order, being the product of the Nightsisters.

Though she had learned their ways and even lent some of their teachings to Leena and her dear lover, the woman’s son Korto, Krystiana had not been a great believer in the way that her clan had been led. Her own grandmother, Delani Lin, held a choking grip on the clan following the suspicious death of her mother, Annula Lin. The old woman had been capable of the treachery only because Krystiana was wrongfully assumed adopted daughter of the Lin family, a lie created to hide the identity of the man who’d fathered the young woman, considered so below the standards of the clan in the form of a smuggler named Karson Mallor.

All the great wrongdoings were the reason why Krystiana had been convinced by Leena and Korto to leave Dathomir, until she could return with the strength to takeover the clan and return it to it’s rightful leader. A momentary natural deterrent had been the birth of her and Korto’s own daughter, precious and tiny and the next in line to control the Nightsisters long after Krystiana’s reign of power ended. Leena promised to take great care of Koreena, and the Dathomiri woman had trusted her implicitly. It didn’t stop the pain of missing her infant child pulling at her heartstrings day and night as she shifted almost awkwardly through the Jedi Temple, dampening her abilities for the sake of keeping her cover.

Now that cover had been blown by a man that was nothing more than average flesh and bone, aged, at that. Doran Beck clearly had connections that ran rather deep, enough that he could recognize someone who was a complete stranger to the civilized starsystem, even amongst so many difference species from so many different worlds. She was given no choice but to run, fast. There was no holding back now, no reason to hide the power that the lithe woman controlled in the Force, freely using deceptive techniques to confuse not only the patrons of the Temple as she passed them, but also the Antarian Rangers that had served another security force for the Jedi Order. Though her heart was pounding in her chest, there was no stopping the smirk that picked up the corner of her lips as she danced flips and jumps aided by the Force through the Jedi Temple towards her exit. It reminded her of being in the jungles of Dathomir, be it prey or predator against one of the planets unique forms of animal life. Only this time there was more at stake than her own life or meal.

"You’ll need to ground all spacecraft outside." Doran continued, going on about what was to be done. Having spent the better half of his life running blockades and evading attempts to capture him, he knew a great many tricks of the trade and a number of ways that they had nearly been overcome, but with the lead that she had on them, he had to hope that she just wasn’t quite the smuggler he was. "I’d also get the capture sent to your datapad if you can. If I was the one running, the longer my pursuit took to come after me, the better off I’d be."

The truth of the matter was that Doran hoped that the security footage could help the temple personnel and Jedi figure out who this woman was. He was still in the dark as to her identity and it was only by chance that he’d recognized the spy’s voice- the only key he had at the moment to connect her. In spite of their encounter, hair and eye color were the only things he was sure to be able to recall and he probably wouldn’t recognize her face.

Syal didn’t bother responding to Mik. Had it not been for Missy she never would have allowed him to lock her down in the first place.

Since Mikael hadn’t elaborated on the ’situation’ Syal didn’t know what was going on but she wasn’t about to worry Missy more by asking over the com.

"Honey Come here." Turning to her daughter Syal pulled the smaller of two blasters from her belt and switched it to ’stun’. Her daughter might have been young but the galaxy was a dangerous place and although some parents would have been horrified at the idea of teaching their toddler how to use a weapon it’s something that allowed Syal to sleep a little sounder at night.

Syal handed her daughter the blaster then opened the lower cabinet of Mikael’s desk. "Stay in here, if anyone but your father, Grandfather, or myself tries to open it I want you to shoot them. Got it?"

Her daughter was clearly frightened but she did her best not to let it show. "Okay Mommy" she whispered and nodded.

Syal went to close the door but paused and gave her daughter a wink. "I love you squirt. I’ll be back very soon. Keep your chin up."

Syal left the Grandmaster’s office to find the halls silent but the force was buzzing with activity. Mikael wanted Syal to meet him and her father at the surveillance room but if Doran was at the temple than there was a very good chance that whatever was going on had something to do with her mother and Syal wasn’t going to waste anymore time. If she was right and this opportunity slipped through their fingers she would never forgive herself.

So instead of running of toward Mikael and her father she headed toward the chaos. Whomever had caused the disturbance might have been taking means to hide themselves in the force but they weren’t doing anything about the innocents they startled along the way. In their wake they were leaving a trail of frustration, pain, and even a little fear. Everything that would lead Syal right to them. At full sprint Syal had a blaster in one hand and her lightsaber hilt in the other. It would only take a few minutes for Syal to cut them off.

Breathing. It was a luxury that Krystiana felt she had little time for as she attempted to make her escape from the Temple. She could almost feel the welcoming warmth of Ossus’ brightest star, the fresh air that would rush into her lungs as she trampled into the jungle in hopes of coming upon the starfighter she’d buried deep beneath the masses of foliage so many months ago when Leena had originally sent her. It was close, freedom from the oppression of her abilities in the Force.

But the freedom would not come in the form of her escape from Ossus. As the young woman moved at a Force-aided stealth run through one of the Temple’s many junction areas, large open spaces that connected the many halls of the compound, a flash of violet barely caught her eye. The shock of color was so unexpected, so familiar to the woman she’d come to know as the closest thing she’d ever had as a mother, that it was enough to slow her down. It was too late, though, when she realized that the woman was not Leena Vos, but the daughter that she’d been keeping herself hidden from.

As amethyst eyes met slate ones, Krystiana slowed to a halt as the two women took quite astonished stock of one another. On a physical level, the Jedi woman looked strong and fast, no doubt a worthy adversary to do battle with. But her purpose here had not been to cause damage, to spark a fight. She had been collecting information, doing reconnaissance to make sure that neither Syal nor her Grandmaster husband would search for and discover the location of their son.

It was why the most logical reaction was to pull from beneath the jacket she wore the shining silver hilt of her lightsaber. She struck a defensive pose as she thumbed the power, igniting the deep crimson blade that sprung from within. It wasn’t a commentary on her position in the Force; the hue of the blade spoke of the prowess and cunning of the powerful woman who held it.

"There is little point in stopping me from leaving this place, " she told Syal, "I have no information that is of use to you."

With lightning speed Syal turned and blasted the control panel. Now nothing was getting through to the jungle and if the infiltrator wanted to get back into the depths of the temple she was going to have to go through Syal.

"You might not know your ass from your face but that doesn’t mean you’re going anywhere." Her lips turned up in a snarl.

Syal could have kicked herself. Leena’s stench was all over this girl. If she concentrated hard enough she could almost see it vibrating off of her in the force. How had she missed it for so long? She didn’t distinctly remember the girl’s name but she did recognize her from around the temple. Over the last five years many new students had come flocking to Ossus in hopes of joining the order. Many had turned out to barely force adept and would have been turned away in earlier years but the Jedi’s numbers were so low that Mikael couldn’t afford to turn away anyone. But this girl... she was strong, the kind of strength that a woman like her mother would have loved to manipulate and mold.

She might have been strong but Syal was no weakling. Her and her twin had been some of the strongest force adepts born in their generation, one of the reasons Leena had been so angry with Syal for choosing to leave the Jedi Order when she was a teenager. ’Wasted potential’ she’d called it. But that had been a long time ago. Her mother would have been so proud, there was nothing wasted about Syal now.

Syal turned her blaster on the girl and fired a warning shot at her feet. "I don’t know who you are or how you know my mother, and I really don’t care. I just want my son back..."

It was easy to tell that Syal had no intentions of letting Krystiana out of the Jedi Temple without a fight. She was trapped for now, if she valued the tiny infant life that was hidden in safety along with the son that the violet-haired Jedi woman spoke of. Fortunately, Leena had made the wise decision to hide herself and the children in a manner that allowed only Korto to know their whereabouts, while his own remained a mystery to even Krystiana. There was nothing but a well-encrypted code that she had to contact him with information that he in turn passed along through another encrypted source to his mother. It was complicated, but it had kept Quinn and Koreena safe while the rest of the galaxy was falling into ruin.

It was that fact that made her miss her home planet of Dathomir all the more. There, the clans ruled amongst themselves, with no seat of power hundreds of thousands of klicks away deciding their fate from afar. Even though the women of Dathomir had caused the downfall of their own over time, they still weren’t in as bad a shape as the greater galaxy.

"You can lower your blaster, " Krystiana responded, still holding her defensive posture, the thrumming of her red blade buzzing in her ears, "I don’t know what you expect to get from me, but I don’t have your son."

After a short walk from the residential area of the Temple, Doran and Mikael had finally made their way to the Security room and were looking over holo footage of the corridor where Doran had run into the woman he claimed was a spy. After searching for a few minutes they finally found the footage they were looking for. "So that’s what our spy looks like. I don’t recognize her she must have been keeping a very low profile.", Mikael looked over at Doran.

He finally realized that Syal had yet to make it to the Security room, and considering the distance between his office and where he was now, she should of been there by now. He took a look around the room trying to see if she showed up and just didn’t say anything. Which most likely would of happened considering he had locked her in a safe room with their daughter. "Where is Syal?...", Mik said to Doran.

Turning to one of the guards, "Find my wife on the holocams, track her to her current location." He closed his eyes and reached out in the Force. Instantly he felt Missy, she was scared but safe. Finally he reached out and felt Syal. Several levels below them he could feel her presence, turning he headed for the door past Doran. "I can feel her." He looked back at Doran, "I’ve got a feeling she’s looking for trouble...or already found it."

She stared down the end of her blaster at the woman and momentarily imagined a blaster blot going through that pretty little head. The words she spoke were true, but they were half truths. She could feel it in her core. She might not have Quin, but this woman was the key to finding him. She would not the leave the Temple, not unless Syal was dead.

"I’m only saying this because I feel obligated to, personally I really hope you refuse. But if you deactivate the saber and come quietly things will go a lot easier for you. If you don’t then I have an excuse to work out some seriously pent up rage."

Through her anger she could suddenly feel a blip of worry and concern. Mikael had finally realized that his wasn’t on her way to meet. him. She loved her husband but he was the calm to her storm, and although after extensive work over the years learning how to control her emotions and block the emotions of others Syal didn’t want to control herself right now. And if she let Mik in he’d know just how upset she was and she didn’t need his disapproval nagging her in the back of her head. Again Syal felt Mikael reaching for her but she violently shoved him from her mind. She wasn’t looking for a conscience right now and she certainly didn’t want to be grounded.

Syal took one last look down the barrel of her blaster at her foe and then holstered it. If she chose to fight Syal’s blaster wouldn’t do much good against a saber.

"So. What’s it going to be?" She said coldly with both hands wrapped around her own saber.

"You ask for cooperation with your words as if I have a choice, yet I can hear in your tone that you are demanding, " Krystiana responded, her voice remaining level and her body language loose, "A talented a Jedi as yourself should know that threatening is the last way to get what you want from others."

After a few more moments of silence, except for her own thoughts regarding why Syal was so vehemently angry at her, as if she’d been the one that had taken Quin, Krystiana deactivated her saber. She would not do battle, she would not put her life in danger. Unlike the Jedi woman in front of her, she refused to let her emotions get the best of her, not when there was a tiny little life hiding out in the galaxy somewhere. Korto and Koreena were awaiting her return, though she had no doubt Leena would have taken no issue with leaving her on Ossus until the day Quin’s parents passed and she’d no longer have to worry about them.

If it was cooperation that Syal wanted, she’d be more than willing to give it to her, so long as she was safe. Until the violet-haired woman lowered her own blade and collected her fluttering rage, Krystiana had little reason to believe that she was out of danger.

"Please, there’s absolutely no reason for this. I will give you only fact, " she told Syal, clipping the hilt of her lightsaber back in its concealed holster, "My name is Krystiana Lin, and I was sent here by your mother, Leena Vos, to keep an eye on your and your family during your time on Ossus."

Syal was nothing short of stunned as she lowered her still lit blade. The anger that had enveloped her moments before seemed lost in a dim haze of confusion. She was willingly turning herself over, it was the last outcome Syal had expected. If anything she was more shocked that her mother had employed someone that was anything but completely devoted to her. If this girl actually had a head on her shoulders and could be reasoned with...Syal allowed herself the smallest bit of hope as she deactivated her saber and clipped it to her belt.

"Krystianna." Syal committed the girl’s name to memory. "Uh, thank you for your cooperation." She managed and then motioned to the hallway that would lead them back into the Temple and back to Mikael.

"If you wouldn’t mind heading toward the Grandmaster’s office. I’m sure you know where it is."

Syal let the younger woman take the lead. There were so many questions running through her head but couldn’t seem to settle on any of them. She was still flustered and confused so instead she was content to walk in silence.

As Syal followed behind Kruystianna and the two made their way through the Temple toward her father and Mik Syal’s rage melted away but she was still left with a deepening frustration. All of her muscles were tense and fought to displace the anger that no longer had a direction. If Syal was truly honest with herself she knew that it wasn’t this girl, this Krystianna, which made her anger burn so brightly but it was the hate for her mother that she’d had to carry around for years with no outlet to release it upon. This had been the first, although removed, contact with her mother she’d had since the night she’d robbed Quin from his crib. She knew that Leena’s purpose in taking her son was so that Syal could feel exactly the way she was feeling now. It was Leena’s payment for taking Korto from her when he’d gone over the deep end and murdered their Grandfather and sister. In some demented way she could understand her mother, in only because she wanted so badly to punish her back for the loss of Quin, but Quin was an innocent, Korto had been anything but.

Syal hadn’t wanted to kill her brother. She and Asori had pursued him after he killed their Grandfather with intentions of bringing him home, of saving him. But Korto had made that impossible. Even after he’d murdered Asori in front of her, his death had been an accident. Leena acted as if she’d been the only one to lose something that day. Like she was the only one whose life had been shattered. She’d watched her Grandfather and idol die, her sister die, and her twin. Syal had never been the same. With Korto’s death alone she’d lost her other half. She hadn’t been whole since that day. Something was missing and would forever be missing.

Krystiana could feel the turmoil within the woman who walked behind her, much like one could feel the coming of a midsummer storm. She sensed that a great discomfort had settled over Syal from the moment the two had come in contact with one another, and she understood completely why that was. Leena had not let her charge go into the lion’s den without an education. Krystiana was aware that the Jedi-woman she walked with was nearly her sister-in-law, an extended member of the reigning family clan she’d left behind on Dathomir. The lavender-haired young woman had no clue that her twin brother lived, but was himself close to becoming something of royalty, at least by the standards of the Nightsisters.

Krystiana felt no guilt at the espionage she’d been tasked with; as far as she was concerned and convinced, Leena had rightfully taken the child that was this woman’s firstborn, keeping him safe from the rather heavy-handed and static teachings of the Jedi. The child, Quin, would learn all facets of the Force, to be able to touch and feel it with every fiber of his being, the way that she had learned from the time that she was a very little girl. To hold the child back from his abilities was a terrible mistake, especially with the political climate in the more civilized portion of the galaxy. Krystiana had been well up-to-date on public news, some of the names being thrown out here and there those of very prominent members of the Jedi order than often walked the same temple halls that they now moved down.

Krystiana stopped when they finally reached the doorway to Mikael’s office; she’d been there once or twice during her time at the Temple, committing it’s location to memory in a manner of efficiency only capable of one who judged their position in the jungle by the bark of the tree they just passed. It tugged one more heart string as she thought of her homeworld and the life she’d left behind there. She looked to Syal for a moment, and judging that the Jedi woman would be nowhere but close on her tail, moved into the office as the doorway opened to reveal two faces she knew quite well from her information sources as Quin’s father and grandfather.

[Joan Dagar]

It hadn’t taken Mikael to awful long after he left the security room for him to realize that there was something different about Syal’s presence in the Force. She was more calm despite the situation. That’s when he had stopped on the walk way between the living quarters and the hanger area of the Temple. A small smile came to his face, a smile of pride that his wife hadn’t given into her anger. He had to admit that when it came to their son, both of them jumped the blaster with their anger.

Mikael turned and looked over at Doran who had followed him out of the security room the instant that he felt where Syal was. "I think we might be heading in the wrong direction." Closing his eyes he felt Syal once again. Things had changed and she was heading his direction...and she wasn’t alone. "Come on Doran I think they are heading back to my office. We can meet them there."

It hadn’t taken long for the two men to make it back to his office. It was the wait that was killer. Syal had captured this woman who apparently knew something about the location of their son. It had been years with no clue as to where he was at, so the instant the two women walked in Mikael seemed to tense up with anticipation. "So honey what have you brought to me this time?" He said as he looked over at Syal with a small smile.

"A present" Syal said and managed to give her husband a slight smile in return. "This is Krystiana Lin, My mother sent her." Syal followed Krystiana into the office and nodded to her father in greeting. Normally she would have embraced him in a bear hug, especially after not seeing him for such a long time, but this didn’t seem like the appropriate place and Syal thought that if anyone went to touch her at the moment there was a real chance they’d get slapped. She desperately needed to remove herself from the situation and calm down. Her eyes fell on the door to Mikael’s inner office, where she could feel Missy still hiding under the desk. Perhaps it was risky to being this woman to where her daughter was but Syal couldn’t help but feel there wasn’t any safer place for Missy to be than near her parents.

Syal had always been good at getting information out of people, when they didn’t know she was looking for it. Putting on an act and playing a part to pump someone for info was something she liked to think she was very good at but straight up interrogation... not her forte. For this she would let her father or husband take the lead. Yelling at the girl for a few hours straight wasn’t going to get the job done. She knew that. This needed a gentler touch, which was something that Syal could just not offer at the moment.

"If you boys wouldn’t mind taking over I need a walk." She said briskly.

She could feel Missy reaching out to her from the inner office and she wanted nothing more than to let her little daughter help melt away her frustration.

Mikael gave his wife a smile and then nodded towards her. He suddenly felt Missy over in the inner office reaching out to her mother. To Mikael it seemed like she was more worried about how her mother felt rather than being locked in the inner office. It amazed him how much their daughter favored Syal, and it made him wonder who Quin favored. He didn’t really care who if either, he just wanted his son.

"Thank you for the present dear, why don’t you get Missy a treat. She’s been such a good girl, i think she deserves it." He gave Syal a wink, but for Mikael it was time for business. Who ever this Krystiana Lin was she might have information as to where his and Syal’s son was, or at least tell them where to find Leena.

He gave Syal a few moments before he started with his interview with Krystiana Lin. He looked from Doran to Krystiana. "Alright Ms. Lin I’m going to let you know right now I’m not placing you under arrest....yet." Mikael walked over and sat down behind his desk. "You have to understand, you have hidden yourself in the ranks of the Jedi Order which is forgivable. Sending information about members of the Jedi Order to people or organizations outside of the Orders...not so much." He looked to Doran, he couldn’t imagined what Doran was thinking at that moment. His wife was behind the kidnapping of his grandson.

"I need to know what you know about Leena Vos. Where she is and how to get a hold of her would be nice." He stood and placed his hands on his desk and stared hard into Krystiana’s eyes. "And I need to know about my son."

Krystiana’s eyes bored back up into his own, and she fought the strong urge to roll them at his demands for information about Leena’s whereabouts and his son. She’d explained to the man’s wife that she had no idea where his mother-in-law was; no male coercion was going to change that fact. Jedi abilities or not, there was little information that he could pick from her mind. Leena had convinced the young Dathomiri woman that she had a plan should a situation such as this arise; Krystiana trusted her instincts.

"I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly where Ms. Vos is at the current time, " she responded, "As for this sending of information regarding members of the Jedi Order...I think you’re quite aware that this isn’t your typical espionage situation. For you and your wife, I believe it is much more fragile than that. For Captain Beck, I believe it is much more fragile than that."

Her gaze shifted to Doran for a moment, another creature appeared to have no love lost for Leena Vos. Fools, they all seemed, to her.

"Hiding myself in the Order, however, is a false charge, forgivable or not. I am very much a Force-adept, as I’m sure a Master like yourself can see quite plainly. I apologize for the deception of not making my intentions clear. Perhaps in such a political climate it would be wise to keep a keen eye on those that you invite into your ranks, Master Dagar."

For the time being, she’d done enough aggravating of the man’s ego. Her expression changed, now honest and sincere, "Your son is safe and he is healthy. Very well. Very loved. You needn’t worry about his well being."

Krystiana’s mind traveled far and away for a moment as she thought of Koreena, "He is not alone."

"Give me an hour alone with her, Mikael." Doran said coldly, his eyes focused on the far wall of the room. He’d had enough games, enough coming close to finding Quin and Leena only to have them slip away once again. This girl didn’t know it, but she had the key to tracking them down and it wasn’t going to evade him again. "I’ll find what we need, you can count on it."

It was a side of Doran that didn’t surface very often, hadn’t since he’d lost a crew to the Rodian crime lord Indilio, the side of him that was willing to go to any length to get what he needed. He knew that Leena would shape Quin into whatever she wanted him to be, much as it had been her will that had sent their children to the Jedi Temple when they were young, including Syal who hadn’t wanted to go at first, but only after prodding from her mother had relented. His grandson’s life would be dictated by his own choices, not those of his grandmother.

Mikael shook his head with a small smile on his face as he got up from his desk and walked around. He patted Doran on the shoulder. "No no that won’t be needed." As much as he knew that Doran would probably get the information that they were wanting, but he didn’t like the way it would go down. "I will not allow this Order to revert to violence to get the things we want."

He knew that Doran’s intentions were good, even Mikael was wanting to know at all cost where his son was. This was the closest that he’d been to finding his son in years. Like his father-in-law he wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity to do everything in his power to find him. Still he wouldn’t revert to beating information out of a prisoner.

He looked to Krystiana, she was loyal to Leena that was evident but he didn’t know how loyal she was. He wondered if there was anyway of getting any information at all. Leena defiantly had an asset in Krystiana, he just wished there was a way to turn her.

"Krystiana I just want my son home. I’ve not seen him in such a long time and I want to hold him in my arms. I can only imagine what he looks like, what color his hair is, what his face looks like. I wonder what he’s like. Is he playful? Is he shy? These things a parent wants to know about their child. I want to know these things about Quin. Please help me to know these things."

Krystiana drew in a sharp breath as she looked up at the Jedi Grandmaster. His words cut her deeply, to the weakest point in her heart, tugging on her own desires to know the same of her own infant child. Quite simply, Koreena was the young woman’s only foil, the only thing that could make her feel so deeply as to destroy her composure. Her own life had been so manipulated and devoid of love, she’d vowed from the moment she found out she was carrying the child of Korto Vos that she would never let it carry the weight she had in her own lifetime.

She’d not spent terribly much time with the little boy that was, for all intents and purposes, her nephew, but the memories were still there, in her mind. It was with great disappointment in herself and her loyalty to Leena the she opened her mind to Mikael, closing her eyes and giving him a glimpse of his son. The safety he was in, the love that he recieved, even away from his own parents. Images of the the little one, even with a slip of her own child, both of them always with Leena. When her memory could recount no more, she opened her eyes, looking up at him.

"It is as I told you, " she said softly, "He is loved."

Mikael’s eyes went closed as the images of his son forced his way into his mind. Leena was the only one he recognized from the memories that were being showed to him. It was the little boy that has most of his attention, soaking in every second he could of the light headed boy as he played and smiled. Beautiful was the only word that came to mind as he looked at his son.

And just like that the images were gone almost as fast as they appeared. Emotions flooded Mikael as he had to stand up and walked to the back of the room behind his desk. Wiping tears from his eyes he tried to center himself, so that he could at least speak to Krystiana. He made a mental note to show Syal the same images she had just showed him. He turned and looked at Krystiana as he wiped more tears from his eyes. "Thank you..."

Closing his eyes he collected himself and made his way back to his seat. He did notice images of a little girl playing with Quin. He wondered who she was, the only thing he knew was that she wasn’t his or Syal’s. "Tell me Krystiana...who is the little girl playing with Quin?"

Krystiana cursed herself silently. He’d seen and he’d felt. She should have known that, expected it, from the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Not only was he trained to the highest echelon of his abilities, he was an empath to the core. Her momentary slip in thought, in emotion for her daughter had lit up like a beacon in the night sky, especially for someone as talented in the Force as he.

"Your niece..."

When she first spoke, her voice came out so softly that it startled her. She felt so small and vulnerable then. She’d been found out and was now unprotected, lightyears away from Leena or Korto and the children. She was more terrified than she’d ever been in her entire life in the jungles on Dathomir. That moment, she wished she was there.

"She is your niece, " she repeated, filling her voice more this time, "The daughter of your brother-in-law. My child."

"Excuse me?"

Syal stood frozen in the doorway between her husband’s inner and outer office. Missy was fine although anxious because of the tension radiating from the next room. After comforting her daughter for a few minutes she’d been able to compose herself and had quietly opened the door to rejoin her husband and father, just in time to catch Krystiana’s last statement.

She couldn’t have heard Krystiana correctly.

"Excuse me?" She repeated and closed the door behind her. Korto was dead. She’d watched him fall from an impossible height and then disappear in the force. He was dead.

If her twin had had a child before his death she would have known about it...right? But they’d been so young...

Syal regarded the younger woman carefully. For the first time since confronting her there was no mistaking the strong emotions of fear from the stranger, even if her face didn’t show it.

Syal’s violet eyes widened and her heart jumped into a racing pace. Suddenly she was mirroring the same fear.

"Is my brother alive?" She couldn’t breath.

There was no denying any of it now; there would have been very few twisting lies she could have made up on the spot to deceive them now anyway, having been shaken to the core by her own yearning desires to see her child again. It was no matter of course, because she had not even an iota of an idea as to where Leena had hidden them all away, Korto included. All that Krystiana could offer them was the truth that their son was safe and that Syal’s twin was indeed alive and well.

Korto had made it evident to her in their time together that there had been no love lost between him and Syal. The story of his "death" had been proof enough, of course. It was why there was a hint of coldness in her voice as she looked up at the violet-haired Jedi woman and corrected, "Korto is alive, yes. Alive and with them, wherever they are. Wherever it is that Leena has hidden them."

Mikael was pretty sure that he was now suffering from shock. It was almost like his brain wasn’t comprehending anything that was being said; it was, it was just so much for him to take in. Not only was his son within reaching of being found, but now Syal’s twin brother, his brother-in-law, Korto was alive and with Quin.

He now believed Krystiana in what she said about not knowing where they were. If Korto was with Leena, she wouldn’t take the chance of Krystiana being caught and interrogated releasing the hidden location of their hideout. Leaning back in his chair Mikael cover his mouth and rubbed the five o’clock shadow that was starting to form. It had been one hell of a day that was for sure.

Suddenly Mik was hit with an idea, one that maybe if it did work could help them find Quin and Krystiana could find her...family. He turned to look at his wife.

"Syal is it possible...maybe in the slightest bit that you can connect with your brother through a twin bond? Then maybe we could track him down."

[Joan Dagar]

"I highly doubt that Korto would respond, " Krystiana said, her voice almost apologetic as she looked over to Syal, "He doesn’t want to be tracked or located. Up until this moment, the only people aside from myself who even knew he was still among the living were Leena and the children. Given their final moments together, I highly doubt that he would be receptive to her at this point."

As she was speaking, the dark haired Dathomiri woman was already thinking of what their following options would be. Judging by their composure, Syal and Mikael were already convinced that they were going to get their son back one way or another. Still, they were Jedi, it would go far against the code to use her in some sort of hostage situation, especially knowing that she too had a child somewhere across the galaxy.

"I don’t know how you think you’re going to be able to convince Leena to return Quin to you. I can’t speak for her reasons for taking him in the first place, but she never gave me the impression that she didn’t have good ones."

[Mikael Dagar]

"If all we had to do was try to convince Leena to return Quin back to us then we might not be in the situation we are in now." Mikael looked over at Syal, he wished it was as simple as that but it wasn't.

He knew and he knew she knew that they were going to have to get their son back by force. "Leena won't just give him back. There is a reason she has him, and I'm sure it has to do with his abilities in the Force."

Mikael walked over and stood in front of Krystiana Lin and leaned up against his desk. "My children will have a choice in their future. No matter what I want, that is the way it will be for Missy and for Quin."

He'd been told about the history between Syal and Leena on how she wanted Syal to be a Jedi no matter what. He feared that Leena might be trying to do the same with Quin, to make and mold him to her image.

[Myri Antilles]

Krystiana's glance flicked to Syal for a moment, knowing and understanding the pain that was in the woman's amethyst eyes. It was that of a mother who'd lost a child, only there was a glimmer of hope in the possibility of getting that child back. It was hard for her to sit there and not feel for Mikael and his wife. At the same time, she owed quite a bit of her own freedoms to Leena, as well as the fact that her own beloved daughter's existence wouldn't have come to be had the older woman not taken her from the sheltered world of Dathomir.

She looked back to Mikael once again, wishing that she could have understood what they believed Leena's intentions were and why she had them. Things had been so mysterious, but she had trusted the woman implicitly out of gratefulness and respect.

"I don't have the capability of giving you Leena's whereabouts," she explained once more, knowing that she was stuck between a rock and a very hard place, "Obviously, you've got what you feel is the needed connection to regaining your son, and I can only ask for that the sake of my own child, whatever containment you desire to put me in until Leena attempts to contact me is one where I too will be able to safely see Koreena, and Korto, again in the future."

[Mikael Dagar]

"Do not worry Ms. Lin, I'm not going to be holding you in any kind of containment for now. All I am asking is that you stay here at the Temple for now. You won't be allowed to leave, but you are free to use the Temple just like any Jedi here. " She was the only link to Leena at the time, and Mikael wasn't wanting to loose that.

He didn't know how long it would take to find a way to use the connection between Krystiana and Leena, but he knew that they would figure it out...he hoped.

"You'll stay around here until you hear from Leena once more. What we need is a plan to draw Leena out. There has to be something that can make that happen." Mikael looked around the room. "Any ideas?"

[Doran Beck]

Doran bit his lip. He had an idea, one that they could probably use to draw Leena out, but he could barely stomach thinking about it. If Leena got wind that their granddaughter Missy was vulnerable enough for abduction, it might be enough to bring her out in the open where a properly laid trap could ensnare her. Without properly laid intelligence however, they would fail to bring the Vos woman out without putting Missy in danger- unless...

"I've got one." The aging smuggler said, looking at Krystiana, "If Leena were under the impression that we were moving Missy to a safehouse under the protection of a family friend, she might come out to snatch her away like she did Quin. That might give us the chance to catch her."

[Syal Vos Beck]

"I don't know if she wants Missy." Syal said softly. "Leena...she blamed me for taking her son away that's why she took Quin, at least that's what I always thought. She wanted me to feel the pain I'd made her feel. But if Korto is alive..." She felt like she was going to be sick.

Syal had lived with the knowledge that she'd killed her twin for a decade. The pain and the guilt from it had torn her apart for years. It still did. Even if she'd tried to save him at the last second it had been her anger that drove him to the cliff in the first place. If she hadn't been blinded by grief at losing Asori and lost her temper he might not have died. But she might not have lived.

The situation had been complicated. Syal had explained the face off between Korto and Asori, how Asori had been unwilling to truly fight him and for that he'd struck her down. But still, Leena had found a way to lay the blame of Asori's death at Syal's feet instead. "If you're telling the truth about how my father died then clearly Korto wasn't in his right mind! You never should have taken your sister after him!None of it would have happened" Leena's words haunted Syal because they were right. They should have let Korto go after what happened between him and Grampi, Syal still didn't know the whole truth of that event. She should have run to her parents and told them but she'd been so worried about her brother that she wasn't thinking straight and in the long run that had gotten both of her siblings killed.

But Korto wasn't dead, somehow he'd survived.

"I...I don't know what she wants anymore." She stammered. Syal was almost always able to put on a strong front but keeping the pain from her voice this time was impossible. She couldn't even look at her father or husband. Instead her gaze settled on Krystiana.

"I don't know what they've told you about what happened but please, consider telling me about them. What they've told you." She voice faltered. "What he's...like." She didn't know if she were talking about Quin or Korto at this point. If he's sane, she added silently.