Part 25 (2/2)

”I'm sure he'll get over it,” the boy's mother said, a note of relief in her voice. ”There are lots of other things he can do with his life.”

”Yes,” Lorana murmured, her brother's face flickering across her memory ”We all have to accept our strengths and talents, and go on from there.”

”Though sometimes with a little push,” Pressor said grimly. ”I hear you Jedi had some sort of standoff over on D-Two yesterday.”

”I heard something about that,” Lorana confirmed. ”I wasn't there, so I can't say whether it was a standoff or not. I understand it was resolved peaceably, though.”

”I heard the boy was hustled off to Jedi school,” Pressor countered.

”Yet if that's his birthright, how can anyone deny it to him?” Lorana asked. ”The life of a Jedi can be hard-and, yes, it requires sacrifice, from the parents as well as from the child. But anything that's worthwhile does.”

”I suppose,” Pressor said, clearly not convinced.

”Well, I'll let you get back to your meal now,” Lorana said, getting to her feet again. ”Thank you for your time.”

”Thank you for stopping by,” Pressor said.

”Good-bye, Jedi Lorana,” Jorad added. For a moment his eyes seemed to linger on her lightsaber before he returned to his meal.

Lorana made her way back through the messroom, trying to get a sense of the people around her. Most of those along her path looked up casually as she pa.s.sed, then turned back to their food and conversations without any detectable change in their mood. Most of the ones seated farther away didn't even notice her. Everyone seemed more or less content, aside from the inevitable few working through annoyances from their s.h.i.+ft work. If there was any growing resentment toward the Jedi, she couldn't detect it.

So perhaps her fears were for nothing. After all, they would all be aboard Outbound Flight for a long time yet, and even those who were upset at the way the children had been taken would eventually realize that more Jedi translated into a smoother and safer voyage.

But for now, it was time to get back to work. Some of the last-minute equipment that had been packed into the storage core needed to be s.h.i.+fted around to other areas. The crewers had enough hands and lifters for the job, but there was always the chance that one of the stacks of crates would s.h.i.+ft unexpectedly, and it would be safer if a Jedi was present to keep that from happening. There would undoubtedly be injuries and deaths along the way, but Lorana had no intention of letting such incidents begin this soon. Not if she could help it.

Stepping out into the corridor, she headed toward the aft pylon turbolift. One of these days, she promised herself, she would see about getting a hold of one of those swoops Captain Pakmillu had said were aboard.

15.

. . .And this is the engine compartment,” Thrawn said, stepping aside to let Thra.s.s look through the access hatchway into the Bargain Hunter's engine room. ”You'll notice it has a radically differently layout from those of Chiss vessels this size.”

”Yes,” Thra.s.s said. He peered inside a moment, then turned to Car'das.

”What's the vessel's sublight range?”

”I'm not sure,” Car'das said, looking over at Qennto. The other was standing off to one side with Maris, who was whispering a running translation to him. ”Rak?” he invited in Basic.

”Why?” Qennto growled. ”Is he looking to take it for a test run or something?”

”Come on, Rak,” Car'das cajoled, carefully avoiding Thrawn' s eyes.

Qennto hadn't been happy about letting Thrawn give his brother this private tour of his s.h.i.+p, and he'd been wearing that annoyance on his sleeve ever since they'd arrived.

The problem was that either he didn't remember that Thrawn could now understand Basic, or else he just didn't care.

So far the commander hadn't responded to Qennto's snide comments, but that restraint was bound to have a limit. If he got tired enough of this and tossed Qennto back in the brig, even Maris might not be able to sweet-talk him out again.

Qennto rolled his eyes. ”We can do six hundred hours of sublight before refueling,” he said grudgingly. ”Six fifty if we're careful with our acceleration.”

”Thank you.” Switching back to Minnisiat, Car'das translated for Thra.s.s.

”Impressive,” the syndic said, taking another look at the engine compartment. ”Their fuel efficiency must be slightly better than ours.”

”Yes, but their hyperdrives appear to be more fragile,” Thrawn said. ”Our shock net attacks disabled both theirs and their attackers' without difficulty.”

”Weaponry?”

”Simple but adequate,” Thrawn told him. ”The equipment is difficult to get to, but my experts have studied it at length. Their energy weapons and missiles are less sophisticated than ours, and they don't carry any shock nets or other disabling equipment. On the other hand, bear in mind that this is merely a small private freighter.”

”True.” Thra.s.s looked at Car'das. ”Your people do have war vessels, I presume?”

”The Republic has no army of its own,” Car'das said, choosing his words carefully. Peaceful watchfulness might be the Chiss way, but he still didn't want to make these people nervous. ”Of course, most of our member systems have their own defense forces.”

”Which can also be used for attack?”

”That does happen sometimes,” Car'das conceded. ”But the Supreme Chancellor can call on member systems to help stop an aggressor, and that usually ends things pretty quickly. Mediation by the Jedi can sometimes stop trouble before it gets that far.”

”Jedi?”

”A cla.s.s of beings unknown to us,” Thrawn told him. ”Ferasi has been trying to explain them to me.”

Car'das looked at Maris in surprise. He hadn't realized she'd been having private chats with the commander. Her eyes met his, ducked guiltily away, and for the first time since the session began her running translation faltered.

Qennto didn't miss any of it. His eyes narrowed, flicking to Maris, then Car'das, then back to Maris, and finally to the two Chiss.

”They appear able to access some unknown energy field,” Thrawn continued to his brother. If he'd caught the interplay, he didn't show it. ”It can be used for sensory enhancement, insight into others' motivations and thoughts, or as a direct weapon.”

”But only for defense,” Maris put in. ”Jedi never attack first.”

”You talking about Jedi?” Qennto put in. ”Car'das? Did she say Jedi?”

”She's trying to describe the Jedi for him,” Car'das said. ”The Chiss apparently don't have anything like them.”

”Good,” Qennto grunted. ”At least we top them in something. So what's she saying?”

”They were just talking about Jedi powers,” Car'das said, looking at the two Chiss. Thrawn's face was expressionless, while Thra.s.s was clearly annoyed with this side conversation in a language he didn't understand.

”But we can talk about this later,” he added.

”Yeah,” Qennto said. ”Sure.”

They finished the rest of the tour and returned to the base. Car'das still couldn't tell what Thra.s.s thought of it all, but he found himself wilting with relief as he and the others were released to go back to their quarters. He'd half expected the syndic to order them all into the brig.

The relief was premature. Even as he started to pa.s.s Qennto and Maris's quarters and head toward his own, Qennto took his arm and hauled him bodily through the door. ”What-?”

<script>