"Yes, you mentioned back on the bridge that they were undercrewed," Car'das said. "How did you know that?"

"I deduced it from the fact that their defense was sluggish and mostly ineffectual," Thrawn said. "They did little but launch missiles, all running The same countermeasures we'd already seen. A fully crewed vessel would have had laser gunners in place and would have shifted the defense patterns of their missiles. Clearly, they were expecting their escort to do any fighting that became necessary."

"And boy, were they wrong," Qennto muttered. "You had them outclassed from the start."

"Hardly outclassed," Thrawn told him. "I merely noticed that in both of their attacks a laser salvo preceded their missiles in a distinct and predictable pattern. When they launched their third attack, I was able to fire back just as the tubes' protective doors opened, detonating the missiles before they could be launched. Fighters that size never have sufficient armor to withstand that sort of internal blast."

"You see?" Car'das said drily. "Nothing to it."

Qennto's lip twisted. "Yeah," he said. "Right."

"So what happens now?" Maris asked.

"I'll have the vessel towed back to Crustai for further study," Thrawn said, giving the room one last look before turning back to the door.

"Question," Qennto put in. "You told Car'das you'd be giving us some extra stuff as payment for teaching you Basic, right?"

"That wasn't precisely the way I stated it," Thrawn said.

"But that's essentially correct."

"And the longer we stay, the more extras we get?"

Thrawn smiled faintly. "That may be possible. I thought you were in a rush to return home."

"No, no, there's no hurry," Qennto assured him, giving the treasure room a leisurely sweep of his eves. His earlier impatience, Car'das noted, seemed to have vanished without a trace. "No hurry at all."

Come, Padawan," C'baoth said tartly, half turning to throw a glare behind him. "Stop lagging."

"Yes, Master C'baoth," Lorana said, picking up her pace and hoping fervently that at her increased speed she'd be able to get through the early-morning marketplace crowds without running down any of the shoppers. Up to now the browsing Brolfi had been able to get out of C'baoth's way as he strode through their midst, but she suspected part of that was the fact that he was as hard to miss as an approaching thunderstorm. She, unfortunately, didn't have nearly the same commanding presence, and there had been some near misses already.

The frustrating part was that there was no need for them to walk this fast in the first place-they still had plenty of time before the day's negotiations began. No, C'baoth was simply angry: angry at the stubborn Brolf negotiators, angry at the equally stubborn Corporate Alliance representatives, angrier still at the careless drafters of the original mineral-rights contract who had left matters open to multiple interpretations in the first place.

And the angrier C'baoth got, the faster he walked.

Fortunately, the Force was with Lorana, and she made it to the end of their particular market segment without bowling anyone over and crossed onto one of the wide promenades that divided up the marketplace. One more segment to go and they would climb the steps to the wide western door of the city administration center where the negotiations would soon resume.

Unfortunately, C'baoth responded to the open area by picking up his pace all the more. Grimacing, Lorana sped up as much as she could without breaking into a trot, which she knew would bring an instant rebuke as being undignified and unbecoming of a Jedi.

And then, without warning, C'baoth braked to an abrupt halt.

"What is it?" Lorana asked, stretching out with the Force as she came to a stop beside him. She could detect no danger or threat nearby, only C'baoth's own suddenly heightened annoyance. "Master C'baoth?"

"Typical," he growled, his hair and beard rustling against his robe as he turned his head. "Nervous and distrusting, the whole lot of them. Come, Padawan."

He strode off toward the market square to their right. Lorana craned her neck to look as she followed, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

And then she saw two men coming toward them through the crowd: a Jedi and his Padawan, both of them familiar looking, striding confidently through the ordinary people like lights amid a swirl of dead leaves.

She frowned, the mental image suddenly catching her conscious attention. A swirl of dead leaves..

When in the worlds had she started to think of non-Jedi that way? Surely that wasn't how she'd been brought up to think of the people she had dedicated her life to serve. Could it be an attitude she'd picked up from some of the people she'd traveled among since becoming C'baoth's Padawan? Certainly many of them had seemed to consider themselves inferior to those who carried the lightsaber,

Or had she picked it up from C'baoth himself? Was that how he thought about people?

C'baoth stopped a few meters from the edge of the square and waited, and as the two figures threaded their way around the final group of shoppers and continued toward them Lorana finally matched their faces with their names. "Master C'baoth," Obi-Wan Kenobi said, nodding in greeting as he and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, walked up.

"Master Kenobi," C'baoth greeted them in turn, his voice and manner polite but with an edge of intimidation beneath the words. "This is a surprise. Have you come all the way from Coruscant just to shop for prisht fruits?"

"It is said that Barlok horticultural techniques produce the best specimens," Obi-Wan replied calmly. "And you?"

"You know perfectly well why we're here," C'baoth said. "Tell me, howis Master Windu?"

Kenobi's lip twitched slightly. "He's well."

"That's good to hear." C'baoth shifted his attention to the young teen standing at Kenobi's side, and a slight smile finally touched the corners of his lips. "Master Skywalker, isn't it?" he said in a friendlier tone.

"Yes, Master C'baoth," Anakin said, and Lorana couldn't help but smile herself at the earnest gravity in the boy's voice. "It's an honor to see you again."

"As it is likewise an honor for me to meet once more with such a promising Padawan," C'baoth replied. "Tell me, how goes your training?"

Anakin glanced at Kenobi. "There's always more to learn, of course," he said. "I can only hope my progress is satisfactory."

"His progress is more than satisfactory," Kenobi put in. "At this rate, he'll be a full Jedi before he's twenty."