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“I did. Several times. You weren’t much into listening back then.”

I glanced down. “Back when my father died.”

“Right.” Her voice softened. “You can learn a lot from Luke Skywalker. It may be part of being a Jedi, but he seems to work a lot from his heart, following his feelings. You work primarily in your brain. Thinking all the time is definitely you, Corran, and was very useful back in CorSec, but I think you’ll need to open up more with this training.”

I nodded slowly. “You’re probably right. I guess we’ll see how long it takes for old habits to die.”

Iella rolled her eyes. “That means you’ll be a Jedi, what, about the time the sun goes nova?”

“I get your point.”

“Good.” She gave me a wink. “Want to try some of this mynock?”

I looked back up and shook my head. “Nope. I laid in my course, now I’ll fly it. This gornt isn’t bad once you get past the tasting, chewing and choking part.”

“Yeah, tell me that in half an hour.”

That prospect began to sour my stomach. I sighed. “Look, Iella, I appreciate what you’ve just said, and just knowing you were here and would have helped me out with Mirax’s disappearance, that was enough to help me keep going. I want you to know that.”

Her brown eyes studied my face for a moment. “I believe you.”

“And I want you to know I really do value your help. With the dye and with those rumors.” I forced my fork into a smaller piece of gornt. “I have a question that you can probably answer more easily than anyone else.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’ve talked to everyone about my decision except for my grandfather. What are the chances, do you think, of my being able to slip onto Corellia, seeing him, and getting back out?”

She thought for a moment, then set her fork down. “I don’t think anyone in the Diktat’s regime is watching Rostek, so seeing him wouldn’t be a problem. You still do have the murder warrants out for your arrest, however. Kirtan Loor’s legacy could still cause you trouble if you were to be identified and apprehended. As for getting in and out, the current government really isn’t much better than any other Corellian regime at keeping smugglers out. With what you know about the system, you could manage to get in. The real problem is that with the relationship between the Corellian government and the New Republic being something less than a happy one, I wouldn’t want to get caught on Corellia if I were you.”

“I see. I get the impression that the last hologram I sent my grandfather was chopped to bits before he got it. Even reading between the lines of what little of his return message got back to me, I know he didn’t track a lot of what I said to him.” The new piece of gornt I started working on kind of forestalled further speech, so I just shrugged.

“If you want, Corran, I’ll see about finding you a secure communications route in to Rostek. Shouldn’t tax our resources that much. That way you won’t make a run and risk getting caught before you have a chance to train.”

I nodded, then chanced a swallow. “I appreciate it.”

“I don’t mind keeping you out of trouble. That’s what friends do for friends.”

“Thanks.” I smiled up at our server as she asked if everything was to our liking. “Oh yes, quite.”

Both her lekku shuddered. “And you would like a confection to finish the meal?”

I smiled, then winked at Iella. “We would. And my friend will order for us. That’s what friends do for friends.”

EIGHT

With Ooryl in the co-pilot’s seat beside me, I flicked on the Lambda-class shuttle’s descent warning indicators, then angled the ship into the atmosphere of Yavin 4’s jungle moon. We were coming in on the night side of the moon—its rotation had it facing away from the star at the center of the system—but it faced the day side of the gas giant around which it orbited. This meant we had a fair amount of reflected orange light by which to make our approach.

I looked over at the Gand and smiled. “I appreciate your letting me drive this thing down.”

Ooryl’s mouth parts opened. “I understand you will not be flying while you are here.”

“Yeah, Whistler is not happy about being