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Mathal? He left here in his ship, but for some reason he flew into Separatist space. They shot him down. Most regrettable, but this is, after all, a war zone, and Mathal did not have the proper clearances...

Which was all technically true.

There would be records in the ship’s systems to show just that. Controller’s logs, sensor logs, maybe even an eyewitness or three who saw the ship fly past, obviously piloted by an idiot, given how close he had been to the hull...

And nothing to show anything else.

Of course, it was a temporary stopgap at best. Sooner or later, Black Sun would wish to reinstigate its de-mands, but by then Bleyd would have another plan in place. Perhaps he could use Filba to buy more time. In any event, he would continue to smuggle the bota and add to his fortune...

16

Barriss would not have sought out a confrontation with Phow Ji-Jedi were trained to deal with conflict, not to go looking for it when there was no compelling reason to do so. What she had seen of Ji’s action in the field had been reprehensible, in her opinion, but her mission was not that of military security. It was not her job to demand restitution for the mercenaries’ deaths.

But the next morning, as she had gone out into the dawn’s relatively cool light to do some stretching exer-cises, the Bunduki fighter had swaggered into view and stopped to watch.

"Up early, eh, Jedi?" There seemed always to be a sneer in his voice. She didn’t bother to reply to the obvi-ous comment, but instead continued her exercises.

"You don’t look to be in bad shape," he commented. "Good to see that you don’t rely entirely on your ’magic’"

There was still no reason to engage in conversation, as far as Barriss was concerned. She was sitting on the damp ground, her legs extended to either side in a full split. She leaned over first one knee, pressing her cheek against her outer thigh, then did the same for the other side, feeling her hamstrings and back muscles warm with the effort.

"I wasn’t aware that the Jedi took vows of stillness," he said. His voice was clipped, now, and there was an edge of steel underlying it.

She stood and extended her hands straight over her head. "We don’t," she said, bending to put her hands flat on the ground, keeping her legs straight. "We talk when we have something to say-not simply to hear our own voices."

"You’re angry. I thought Jedi kept their emotions un-der control." Ji smiled. "Something I said?" His tone was taunting.

Barriss raised herself from the front bend, brushed a strand of sweat-soaked hair back, and turned to look directly at him. "No. Something you did. You murdered three mercenaries."

If that surprised Ji, his face didn’t show it. He gave her a small, bland smile. "And what makes you think so?"

"Someone recovered a crippled cam droid. It was all recorded."

"Really? I’d like to see that."

She could hear the interest in his comment; she did not need to use the Force to know the truth of it.

"Taking trophies wasn’t enough?"

Ji made a gesture probably intended to be self-deprecating. "Well, I can only see things from my own viewpoint. A holorecording from other angles would be useful in self-critiquing my moves. Besides, I have a wall full of trophies. But a holo? That would be a first."

Barriss shook her head. "It doesn’t bother you at all, does it?"

"What?"

He was baiting her, that she knew. Be ever mindful of the living Force-that had been the advice of Qui-Gon Jinn. She had been quite young when the Jedi Master had died in the Battle of Naboo, but she still remem-bered hearing that-one of the first bits of Jedi wisdom imparted to her. Rise above this, she told herself. But she could not help answering him.

"That you beat three people to death."

He looked surprised. "Is that how you see it?"

"Is there another way to see it?"

Ji smiled and spread his hands in a gesture of inno-cence. "I was unarmed, one against three, on a battle-field in a war, my dear Padawan. I was but utilizing the skills that I am paid to utilize. I’m a soldier. It is not considered murder to kill