I did not miss the "staring contest" between Yoda, Windu, and Shaak Ti. In the end, the Togruta surprised me with the news:
"Jedi Knight Vikt will accompany you. In addition, we will call upon our agents in this region of the Galaxy. On Corellia, you will be joined by Masters Jon Tholme and T'ra Saa, and on Bestine, by An'ya Kuro."
I feverishly began to recall who was who.
The first was clear—Jon Tholme. He had taken part in Stark Hyperspace War. During his travels, he encountered the young Vos, brought him to the Temple, and the Kiffar later became his Padawan. After that unpleasant incident involving Aayla and Vos losing their memories, Tholme helped the disoriented Jedi and even took Aayla—Quinlan's former Padawan—as his own Padawan. Diplomat. Spy.
The second, T'ra Saa, was a Jedi Master of the Neti species. As far as I remembered, the Neti were plantlike beings capable of assuming nearly any form. They lived a very long time—at least several thousand years. And, if memory served, very few of them remained; their homeworld had been destroyed by a supernova.
The third… An'ya Kuro was more difficult. Only the phrase the Dark Woman came to mind, and nothing more. Neither my memories as a Jedi Knight nor my knowledge from my past life offered anything useful.
What a group. I had honestly expected to be sent into battle, but instead we were assigned some strange mission with unclear consequences. Still, orders were orders.
"Hm," I found myself unconsciously imitating Yoda, "interesting…"
"Do you have any thoughts?" Armand Isard leaned forward.
"What was the composition of the convoys?" I asked. "New ships or old?"
The head of Intelligence checked his datapad.
"The convoys consisted primarily of GR-75 transports. Manufacturer: Gallofree Yards. Year of manufacture: between thirty and five years ago. Crews: six beings each, hired personnel or clones. Cargo capacity: nineteen thousand tons. No armament. One of the convoys had a Consular-class cruiser as an escort—but it vanished as well."
"Then… we can rule out a targeted sabotage," I said slowly. "That leaves one possibility: a gravity well projector."
"What do you mean?" Shaak Ti asked.
It was no great secret—here, Yoda nods in agreement—but apparently not everyone was familiar with the concept, so I explained.
"A hyperdrive can only initiate a jump into hyperspace when the ship is sufficiently free of the gravitational pull of a massive celestial body. All hyperdrives are equipped with safeguards that abort a jump if there's an astronavigation error, to prevent collisions. If an artificial gravitational anomaly is created along a ship's route—one that mimics the gravity of, say, a large asteroid or a small planet—those safeguards will forcibly drop the ship back into realspace. The same field prevents a second jump. If such a projector is mounted on a ship, then unless it's destroyed, any vessel caught by it is effectively doomed—especially unarmed transports. I believe the Separatists are using a hit-and-run tactic. They place the projector near the borders of inhabited systems, or in uninhabited ones, and then—"
"An interesting hypothesis," Isard said. "But we need confirmation. At the moment, we believe a well-organized pirate group may be responsible. After all, they're attacking cargo vessels; simple robbery is a plausible motive."
"Quite possible," I agreed. "But they could just as easily be pirates hired by the CIS. Outsourcing dirty work is very much their style. And that equipment had to come from somewhere—you don't assemble a gravity well projector in a garage."
"Hm. We shouldn't dismiss that possibility," Isard conceded.
"I think if we conduct a thorough on-site investigation, we should be able to find clues," I continued. "We'd need to sweep the area—say, with a chain of a dozen ships…"
"That won't be possible," Windu interrupted. "We can't spare a single ship for you."
"Master, perhaps we could use starfighters?" Ahsoka suggested.
"Not an option. Yes, Torrents could use hyperrings, like the Syliure-31, but they lacked astromechs capable of storing or calculating jump coordinates the way the Aethersprites could. As a result, their range was severely limited—one, at most two short jumps.
Adi Gallia, resting her chin on her hand, spoke hesitantly.
"I think I heard about a new craft… a pre-production batch was supposed to arrive for testing. Either a scout or a heavy starfighter, but it definitely has built-in hyperdrives. You should contact the Weapons Operations Commission. Just a few days ago I spoke with Jam… Jas… ."
"Jasmill Selanno?" I asked, surprised.
"Yes. Do you know her?"
"We crossed paths on Lantilles."
"Then you'll depart as soon as you finish your preparation. May the Force be with you," Windu concluded.
I nodded. Aayla Secura bowed her head silently and headed for the exit. Snips caught up with her and asked something in a low voice. The Twi'lek replied, but I didn't have time to follow them or find out what they were discussing—Shaak Ti stopped me.
"Knight Vikt. I want to ask you to look after Master Secura. You already know about Quinlan Vos?"
"Yes. Master Luminara informed me."
"...Then you must understand that things are not easy for Aayla right now. She wanted to depart in search of her former Master, but the Council refused her permission. Aayla… still has a connection to the…. dark side, and she would be vulnerable if she followed Quinlan. She is unhappy with our decision, but she will comply." The Togruta sighed heavily. "Still—keep an eye on her."
"No problem, Master Ti," I agreed. How could I refuse?
Great. Does it say somewhere on my face that I'm meant to babysit Padawans, younglings, unstable Jedi, and every other oddity in the Order? First Shaak Ti, then Yoda will rope me in. My life is a mess.
Hurrying toward the exit, I called Ahsoka over the comlink.
"Ahsoka!"
"Yes, Master?"
"Where are you now?"
"I'm with Master Secura, picking up her things. Where should we meet, Master?"
"You know, go to the ship. I'll handle everything else."
"Understood, Master."