"Now, where would you Jedi like to start?" Swanny asked. "Naturally, Rorq and myself would prefer to keep ourselves out of any extremely dangerous scenarios, but we're ready for almost anything."

"We need to observe the systems they've set up, how they operate,"

Obi-Wan said. "I don't want them to know the Jedi are here, not yet. It doesn't pay to present a deal until you know what's important to your adversary."

Rorq looked nervous. "You mean infiltrate their hideouts?"

"Unless you can think of another way," Obi-Wan said.

"Down, boy," Swanny said absently to Rorq. His eyes narrowed as he thought, and he stopped walking. "We arrange temporary markets for Feeana.

Set up a time and place for the Mawans to buy and trade. There's one tonight. She's the one who deals with us most often. Doesn't cheat the Mawans quite as much as the others. If you keep your hoods over your faces and don't attract attention to yourselves, you could pass for Mawans.

Feeana will probably be there. She likes to keep an eye on things."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Let's go."

Swanny and Rorq led them through the maze of tunnels, walking fast and purposefully now. They descended several levels and twisted through a small network of tunnels that suddenly opened out into a large space.

It had once been used for storage, that was clear. Open shelving was built into the curving durasteel wall frames. Plastoid bins lined one wall.

Everything was empty. Instead, blankets were spread out on the scuffed floor of the space, and a ragtag assortment of items were spread out. Fruit that was past its prime, flour, some battered kitchen items, a broken warming unit. Folded thermal capes, their edges ragged and torn. An old pair of boots.

The Mawans wandered among the goods. Anakin saw how their eyes lingered hungrily on the different items, how their hands dangled uselessly by their sides or how they fingered empty purses hung on belts. The last time he had seen such hopelessness had been in the slave quarters on Tatooine.

"They can't afford anything, but they come anyway," Swanny said.

Bored gang members, blaster rifles in their hands, stood against the walls, some leaning and trying not to doze.

Across the space a Mawan female sat astride a battered durasteel box, her hand resting lightly on her blaster holster. She was younger than Anakin had imagined, about Obi-Wan's age, he guessed, and she looked wiry and tough. She wore a comlink headset and spoke rapidly into it while her eyes scanned the room. Anakin kept his hood forward to conceal his face.

Without the telltale blue veins of a Mawan, he would be identified immediately as an outsider.

He and Obi-Wan kept their heads down and shuffled along with the others. Anakin knew his Master was trying to get closer, hoping to overhear whatever directions Feeana was giving on her headset.

He looked at her with a sidelong glance and saw how sharply she was watching the crowd. Her gaze slowly dropped, and suddenly, she stood and leaped. The strength and power of the leap surprised him. She landed only centimeters away from him and Obi-Wan.

"Spies!" she cried, her blaster leveled at Obi-Wan's chest. "Surround them!"

Feeana's quick action didn't extend to her troops. A leader with a headset sputtered toward them, trying to corral others to follow. Anakin knew that his Master could have foiled them in seconds, but he waited for them to approach. Soon they were surrounded by twenty members of Feeana's gang, and twenty blasters were pointed in their direction.

Anakin glanced at his Master. Obi-Wan said nothing. His gaze was calm and watchful. Anakin knew his Master's strategy usually centered on waiting. Obi-Wan could strike faster than any Jedi he knew, but he could also wait longer than any Jedi should have to, in Anakin's opinion.

Especially when a blaster was pointed at his heart.

Still, he was an apprentice, and his job was to follow his Master's lead.

"You're from Decca's gang," Feeana said. "Don't bother denying it."

Feeana whirled toward Swanny and Rorq, who were both backing away with careful steps.

"Swanny and Rorq brought them," she said. Immediately, ten of the twenty blasters turned on Swanny and Rorq.

"Whoa," Swanny said, holding up two hands while Rorq bared his teeth in a nervous grin. "We just walked in at the same time."

"Never saw them before in our lives," Rorq said through clenched teeth.

"We're not spies," Obi-Wan said. "We're Jedi. We're here for diplomacy, not battles."

"Prove it," Feeana sneered, Only by a small expression did Obi-Wan reveal how annoyed he was at the request. He put out a hand, and Feeana's headset flew off her head and directly into his grasp.

Obi-Wan spoke crisply into the headset. "Cancel all orders. Take a vacation."

The gang members looked at one another. The leader of the group, who was wearing a comlink headpiece, put a hand to his ear, as if unable to quite believe that Obi-Wan had just given an order.

Anakin could hear confused exclamations and questions faintly coming from the headpiece in Obi-Wan's hand. He suppressed his grin.

Feeana tilted her head in a short nod of appreciation. "Okay, you're a Jedi. Now, can I have my comlink back? They're hard to come by."

Obi-Wan tossed it to her. Feeana spoke into it. "Hold your positions until further notice." She glanced at the Jedi. "So you're here for diplomacy. Let's talk."

Feeana led the way to a corner. She pulled up a durasteel bin and overturned another for a makeshift seating area. Then she motioned to the Jedi to sit down. She looked at Obi-Wan expectantly.

"The Senate has sent a Provisional Government Committee for Mawan,"

Obi-Wan said. "They are aboveground right now. Senate security forces are expected within a matter of days."

"In other words, they're finally going to do something," Feeana said.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said. "Mawan cannot remain an open world. After the crimelords are put out of business, the Senate will arrange for a transfer of power to the Mawans."

Feeana put her hands on her hips. "So what do you want from me?"

"We hope that the crimelords will voluntarily either dissolve their gangs or move off-planet," Obi-Wan said. "Your choice. There's no other."

"And what do I get?" Feeana asked.