Part 25 (1/2)

I-Five hesitated. ”As you can imagine, I'm not usually p.r.o.ne to saying this. But something impels me-”Intuition?” she interrupted, with a smile.

”Perhaps. In any case-may the Force be with you, Jedi Offee.”

She nodded in acknowledgment, and put a hand on his shoulder. ”Good luck in your quest, I-Five. May the Force be with you, as well.”

He moved away, and she turned to look through the viewport once more. They were leaving orbit, she saw; already Drongar was receding, as the MedStar frigate, accompanied by the Resolution, moved away into interplanetary s.p.a.ce.

Her a.s.signment was over. In a couple of standard days, if all went well, she would once again stand before Master Unduli in the Jedi Temple-this time not as a Padawan, but as a full-fledged Jedi Knight. She wondered what new a.s.signments, what new adventures, awaited her after that.

Whatever they might be, Barriss Offee knew that she would face them, secure in the protective embrace of the living Force.

”Well,” Den said to I-Five, ”looks like your trip to Cor-uscant won't be costing you that much after all.”

”All it took was the destruction of half a planet. Expensive, if you ask me,” the droid replied. ”And what of you, Den Dhur? What's your destination?”

Den fluttered his dewflaps thoughtfully. ”I really ought to be on my way to Sull.u.s.t. I have a very attractive fern, and her warren-clan, waiting there,-you know. They think highly of me on the homeworld.”

”So you've said-several times.”

Den sighed. A life of patriarchal reverence and hushed esteem. It had been easy to be nostalgic about his home-world when he was sweating half his body weight away on Drongar.

But now he remembered a major reason why he'd left in the first place: Sull.u.s.t was boring.

”Then again, Eyar won't get there for a while yet. No hurry.”

”One could make money in the Southern Underground on Coruscant, if one was, say, in need of a dowry,” I-Five said. ”And I wouldn't mind a partner to keep authorities from worrying over my owners.h.i.+p. Galling as I find such a subterfuge, it's sometimes necessary.”

Den nodded. There were always easy marks to be found at the sabacc tables in places like the Outlander Club. No harm in making some creds while he thought about Eyar's offer some more . . .

He looked up at the droid. ”I-Five,” he said, ”I think this could be the beginning of a profitable relations.h.i.+p.”