"What about them?"

"They've all given their permission for this training?"

"They will," C'baoth assured him. "As I said, giving a child to the Jedi is the highest honor possible."

"So you haven't actually asked them yet?"

"Of course not," C'baoth said, an edge of puzzlement creeping into his tone. "What parent wouldn't be proud to have a Jedi son or daughter?"

Obi-Wan braced himself. "But if for some reason they don't see it that way-"

"Later," C'baoth interrupted, gesturing to a door to their right. "We're here."

The conference room was one of many midsize meeting areas scattered around a typical Dreadnaught. At the far end, standing beside a podium, was Jedi Master Ma'Ning, listening intently to a question from a woman in the front row. Flanking him, dressed in Jedi robes, were a pair of Duros.

And seated in the rows of chairs in front of them, nearly packing the available space, were perhaps forty men, women, and children. Far more than the three families C'baoth had implied would be here.

C'baoth was clearly surprised, too. "What in the. .?" he rumbled under his breath, his eyes flashing as he looked around.

"Maybe they brought their friends?" Anakin suggested hesitantly.

"Friends were not invited," C'baoth growled. He started to move forward, then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he gave an impatient gesture to his right. Turning that direction, Obi-Wan saw Lorana Jinzler detach herself from the back wall where she'd been standing and walk over to them.

She nodded in greeting as she reached them. "Master C'baoth," she said quietly. "Master Ma'Ning said you might drop in on us."

"And it's fortunate that I did," C'baoth said. His voice was low, but Obi-Wan could see a few of the people in the back row starting to look around to see what was going on. "What are all these people doing here?"

"Master Ma'Ning invited all the secondaries and their families, as well," Lorana told him.

"Secondaries?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Those with a small amount of latent Force sensitivity, too small for them to ever become Jedi," C'baoth said, glowering across the room at Ma'Ning. "What aboutyou, Jedi Jinzler? Why aren't you attending to your duties on Dreadnaught-One?"

"Master Ma'Ning asked me to come," she said, her voice a little strained.

C'baoth rumbled deep in his throat. "I see," he said darkly.

They waited in silence as Ma'Ning answered the question he'd been asked-something about ration redistribution for those whose children would be undergoing the training-and called for more questions. There were none, and with a final word of thanks he called the meeting to a close.

And as the audience began to gather themselves together, C'baoth strode down the aisle toward the front. Obi-Wan followed, Anakin and Lorana at his sides. As near as Obi-Wan could tell from the snatches of conversation he could hear, most of the people did indeed seem pleased or even excited by the fact that they had future Jedi in their families.

Most of them. But not all.

Ma'Ning nodded in greeting as the group approached. "Master C'baoth," he said. "Master Kenobi; Young Sky-"

"What do you mean by bringing the secondaries to this meeting?" C'baoth demanded.

"I thought it would be useful to let everyone know at once why they'd been selected to fly on Outbound Flight," Ma'Ning said. His voice was calm, but Obi-Wan could see tension lines at the corners of his eyes. "Since the secondaries are the ones most likely to produce Jedi offspring in the future, I thought they should know what to expect."

"That could have been dealt with if and when it happened,"

C'baoth growled. "This is not how it should have been."

"Noneof it is as it should be," Ma'Ning countered. "Children this age-andtaking them from their families by force-"

"By force?" Obi-Wan put in.

"I don't expect force to be necessary," C'baoth insisted, glaring at Obi-Wan and Ma'Ning in turn. "The few parents who have doubts will undoubtedly come around. Certainly the children themselves will be thrilled to begin their training."

"The question remains why we're even doing this," Ma'Ning said.

"We're doing this because we're setting off on a long and dangerous trip," C'baoth told him. "We'll need all the Jedi we can get, far more than Master Yoda would permit me to invite.

Very well; so we will raise them up by ourselves. And please don't quote me that learned nonsense about how young a Jedi candidate has to be, because that's all it is: nonsense."

"Master Yoda would disagree with you," Ma'Ning said.

"Then Master Yoda would be wrong," C'baoth said flatly. "We don't train children or adults because we choose not to. That's theonly reason." He gestured at Anakin. "Padawan Skywalker is proof that older children are trainable."

Ma'Ning's lip twitched. "Perhaps," he conceded. "But there are other reasons for accepting only infants."

"What other reasons?" C'baoth asked. "Tradition? Politics? There's certainly nothing in the Code itself that specifically speaks to the issue."

"Actually, that's not true," Obi-Wan put in. "The writings of Master Simikarty are very clear on the subject."

"Master Simikarty's writings are his interpretations of the Code, not part of the Code itself," C'baoth said. "More tradition, under a different name."

"You do not approve of tradition?" one of the Duros asked.

"I don't approve of simply and blindly accepting it as truth," C'baoth told him. "Nor can we afford to do so. The lists of Jedi are shrinking all across the Republic. If we're to continue our role as the guardians of peace and justice, wemust find ways to increase our numbers."

"By forcibly taking trainees from their parents?" Ma'Ning asked. "Especially considering the fact that none of these parents had wanted their children to become Jedi in the first place?"

"What makes you think that?" C'baoth asked.

"The fact that if they had, they'd have taken them for testing when they were infants," Ma'Ning said.

"Perhaps there were other reasons," C'baoth rumbled. "But all right, yes, the parents have always made the decision whether or not their children would be trained. More tradition. But what about the child's wishes? Wouldn't it be more ethical to allow him or her to make that decision?"