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“Chance of a lifetime, kid.”

Poste threw his head back and laughed. “You must be space-happy.”

Jadak snorted. “You ever been off this rock?”

“No, but—”

“I'm offering you an opportunity you don't want to pass up.”

Poste shook his head back and forth. “Jadak, sorry to have to remind you, but folks with blasters are after you. I appreciate the opportunity to see the galaxy, but I'm not interested in returning to Nar Shaddaa in a body bag.”

Jadak waved his hand. “We can handle them.”

“We can …” Poste took another pull from the bottle. “What do they want with you, anyway?”

“I figure they expect me to lead them to the treasure.”

“Maybe you could cut a deal—”

“Forget it.” Jadak downed the contents of his drink. “I'm not lying about the ship, Poste. And the only thing Nar Shaddaa has in store for you is jail time. You know it as well as I do.”

Poste crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. “Even if that ship of yours isn't scrap by now, it could be on the far side of the galaxy going to rust.”

“You're not telling me anything I haven't thought through a hundred different ways. Maybe it is scrap. Maybe it got vaped during the Rebellion or swallowed whole during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Maybe it was dismantled for parts. If any of those possibilities turns out to be the case, then I pay you for your services as a guide to modern life and we shake hands and walk away.” He paused to let it sink in. “But if we find it …”

Now Poste leaned forward. “This is where it gets interesting, huh?”

“If we find the ship, we split down the middle everything it leads us to.”

Poste pinched his lower lip between his thumb and forefinger. “And just who's going to finance this quest?”

“I have a small stash.”

“How much?”

“Close to eight thousand credits.”

Poste's eyebrows arched in surprise. “That amount could carry us for a while—depending on just where the ship ended up. I mean, if we wind up having to travel all the way to Ord Mantell or somewhere …”

“Suppose we start with Carcel and see where that leads us.”

Poste smiled. “Rej Taunt probably hasn't had a visitor in decades.”

“A LITTLE TO THE LEFT,” LESTRA OXIC TOLD THE DROID. “MAKE certain it's centered before lowering it into place.”

The loadlifter droid made a series of adjustments and slowly set the marble plinth on the floor alongside the study's large hearth. Oxic motioned for the droid to move aside and stepped back to regard the result. A slender metal rod half a meter high extended from the pedestal's square top. The rod terminated in a cup-shaped holder not much wider than Oxic's thumb and into which he placed a crystal sphere. The smallest but most costly of the items he had purchased at the auction, the star map sphere was thought to have been one of a vast assortment of similar devices housed in the Jedi Temple. Found shortly after the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War by a member of a reconstruction crew, the crystal had been smuggled offworld to a warehouse on Bilbringi. Discovered accidently by a cleaning droid, the piece was sold by unknown parties to a private collector, who ultimately put it up for auction at Hydians. In the time of the Old Republic Jedi, the sphere's map function would have been activated by a cup-shaped reader similar to the facsimile Oxic had had fabricated to serve as a holder. Now the sphere could be initiated by a small remote that had come with the piece.

Moving to the center of the study, Oxic depressed a button on the remote. Instantly the crystal sphere glowed with brilliant light that expanded nova-like to fill the entire room with tiny illuminated globes. Face uplifted and spotted with light, Oxic was revolving in place when the study's wooden doors parted and Koi Quire entered.

“Impressive,” she said, gazing at the display.

“The star systems of the Bright Jewel Oversector.” Oxic switched off the remote and looked at her.

“They're here.”

He glanced at his wrist chrono. “I shouldn't have to devote time to this. Discovery on the Colicoid case has