Part 24 (1/2)

”Jinzler,” his father said. ”Jinzler.”

”Jedi Jissler,” the boy tried again.

”Or we could just make it Jedi Lorana,” Lorana suggested. ”You have a question for me?”

The boy threw an uncertain look up at his mother's face. Then, steeling himself, he looked back at Lorana. ”Master Ma'Ning said only the people he called were going to be Jedi,” he said. ”I wanted to know if I could be one, too.”

Lorana glanced up at the woman, noting the tight lines in her face. ”I'm afraid it's not something any of us has a say in,” she said. ”If you aren't born with Force sensitivity, we can't train you to be a Jedi. I'm sorry.”

”Well, what if I got better?” Jorad persisted. ”He said the rest of us were close, and it's been a long time since they tested us. Maybe I got better.”

”Maybe you did,” Lorana said. In theory, of course, he couldn't. Force sensitivity could be nurtured, but not created.

On the other hand, C'baoth had said these were the families who had low but non-negligible sensitivity. It was at least theoretically possible that the boy's testing had been inaccurate. ”I tell you what,” she said.

”I'll talk to Master Ma'Ning about having you tested again, all right? If you've gotten better, we'll see if we can get you into the program.”

Jorad's eyes lit up. ”Okay,” he said. ”When can I do it?”

”I'll talk to Master Ma'Ning,” she repeated, wondering if she'd already promised more than she could deliver. ”He'll set it up with your father.”

”Jorad?” the boy's mother prompted.

”Thank you,” Jorad said dutifully.

”You're welcome,” Lorana said, standing up and looking at the baby in her mother's arm. ”Is this your sister?”

”Yes, that's Katarin,” Jorad said. ”She mostly just cries a lot.”

”That's what babies do best,” Lorana agreed, looking at the mother and then Dillian. ”Thank you all for coming.”

”No problem,” Dillian said, taking his son's hand and stepping to the door. It opened, and he ushered the boy out into the corridor. ”Thank you again, Jedi Jinzler.”

”Jedi Lorana,” Jorad corrected him.

Almost unwillingly, Dillian smiled. ”Jedi Lorana,” he amended. Holding out a hand to his wife, he led her out behind Jorad-”There you are,” an irritated voice called down the corridor.

Lorana stepped out into the corridor behind the others. Striding toward them was a young man with dirt.w.a.ter-colored hair, his mouth set in a thin line as he glared at Dillian. ”What the brix are you doing here, Pressor?”

”It was a special meeting,” Dillian said, gesturing toward Lorana. ”This is Jedi Lorana Jinzler-”

”Since when do you skip out in the middle of a duty s.h.i.+ft for a meeting?”

the man cut in. ”In case you've forgotten, it's a little difficult to do a hyperdrive reactor communication deep-check without the hyperdrive man actually being there.”

”I know,” Pressor said, giving Jorad's hand to his mother. ”Sorry-I thought we'd be done sooner than this.”

”Well, you weren't.” The man s.h.i.+fted his glare to Lorana. ”Is this going to be a regular occurrence around here, Jedi Jinzler?”

”What do you mean, ah . . . ?”

”Chas Uliar,” the man said shortly. ”I mean you Jedi coming in and messing with our work schedules.”

”I'm not sure what you mean,” Lorana said.

”Two days ago Master Ma'Ning pulled everyone off systems control for a coolant-leak drill,” Uliar said. ”Never mind that we've already done five of them in the past month. Now you're calling special bounce-of-the-moment meetings that pull people off important duty stations. What's on line for tomorrow? Escape pod practice?”

”Is there a problem, Uliar?” Ma'Ning's voice came from behind them.

Lorana turned as Ma'Ning stepped out into the corridor. ”I just want to get my day's work done in peace so that I can sleep the sleep of the virtuous,” Uliar said with a hint of sarcasm. ”Or do I need to make a formal requisition for that?”

”Not at all,” Ma'Ning a.s.sured him. ”Pressor, you're free to return to your station.”

”Thank you,” Pressor said.

”And in the future we'll try to be more considerate of the various work schedules,” Ma'Ning added to Uliar.

”Fine,” Uliar said, a little less truculently. ”Come on, Pressor. Let's try to get this done before the next s.h.i.+ft comes on.”

He headed back down the corridor at a fast walk. ”See you later,” Pressor said, touching his wife's arm and then hurrying after him.

”Good-bye, Jedi Lorana,” Jorad said gravely, looking up at her. ”I hope we'll see you again.”

”I'm sure you will, Jorad,” Lorana said, smiling at the boy. ”You take good care of your little sister, okay?”

”I will.” Holding his mother's hand tightly, he headed the other direction down the corridor.

”Sounds like an irritable sort,” Lorana commented to Ma'Ning.

”Who, Uliar?” The Master shrugged. ”A bit. Still, he's got a point about us changing things around with no notice. You might want to speak to Master C'baoth about that.”

”I thought he said you'd called for the coolant-leak drill.”

”Under Master C'baoth's orders.” Ma'Ning smiled wryly. ”And he's right-we do have an escape pod drill scheduled for later this week.”

Lorana nodded. ”I'll talk to him,” she promised.

They were six standard days out of Yaga Minor and had stopped for a routine navigational check in Lonnaw system when the trouble started.

A crowd had already gathered in the Dreadnaught-2 aft pa.s.senger section when Obi-Wan arrived. ”Let me through, please,” he said, starting to ease his way through the ma.s.s of people.

”Look-there's another one,” a Rodian voice muttered.

”Another one what?” Obi-Wan asked, turning in that direction.

”Another Jedi,” the Rodian said, looking him square in the face.

”Easy, Feeven,” a man nearby cautioned. ”Don't start pointing blame.”

”Can you tell me what happened?” Obi-Wan asked.