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Obi-Wan ate methodically. He glanced casually around the crowded room, but he was alert and attuned to every gesture. He watched carefully how the various diners interacted with one another.
Suddenly a tall man plopped down in a chair opposite him, a wide grin creasing his rugged face."So. What are the odds?"
Obi-Wan gri
"It's good to see you again, my friend. If someone told me you'd end up on this rust-bucket, I never would have taken the bet." Den gri
"I like most ships," Anakin said, his mouth full.
"Not me. I prefer to have my feet on the ground."
"So what are you doing here?" Obi-Wan asked, pushing his empty plate away. Den looked only a little older than he had all those years before. His sandy hair was still boyishly tousled, and the smile lines around his eyes were only a little deeper. Den's pleasant expression did not falter.
"Escaping the horrors of corruption and environmental degradation. What about you?"
"Investigating you," Obi-Wan shot back. He had forgotten the bumpy rhythms of Den's speech, the way he seemed to treat no subject seriously. He remembered how Qui-Gon had accepted Den immediately and had been amused by him. It had taken Obi-Wan a bit longer to get used to the fact that they were depending on a thief to help them on an important mission.
"Yes, Andra told me," Den said. "Why don't I walk you back to your quarters?"
Obi-Wan nodded. Anakin combined the three remaining bites on his plate into one and hurriedly crammed it into his mouth. Still chewing, he followed Obi-Wan and Den from the cafe.
"Tell me how you truly feel," Obi-Wan said quietly to Den as they strolled down the corridor.
Den sighed. "I only joined up because I didn't want to lose Andra."
"Ah," Obi-Wan said. Den had confirmed what he'd suspected. He couldn't imagine independent Den surrendering to someone else's idea of how to live.
"The ironic thing is, I was the one to make her go to Uni's lecture," Den went on. "She was in a bad state, Obi-Wan. You have to understand that many felt the same. Telos was dying, and no one could save it. Uni offered hope. Andra was one of the first organizers of the BioCruiser." Den made a wry face. "She had a cause again."
"You tried to talk her out of going?"
"Sure. I told her we should stay and fight for Telos. Oremigrate to another world, not reject the galaxy and become crazy nomads. Naturally she agreed to everything I said. Joke! Since when does Andra ever agree with me?" Den asked morosely. "I had no choice. I pretended to swallow this wacky idea, and I came aboard. Something didn't smell right to me, and it still doesn't. Listen, I may have gone straight for Andra's sake, but the criminal ante
"Tell me," Obi-Wan urged.
Den waved cheerfully at a group across the corridor. "Things just don't feel right. I'm not sure about Uni, but Vox definitely has my ante
"Why is that suspicious?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Vox thinks he's too good for the rest of us," Den said, his eyes narrowing. "Why would he waste his time talking to some low-level tech worker?" Den tapped his nose. "I'm telling you. Doesn't smell right."
"Anything else?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Whenever we dock for fuel and supplies, it's always at some industrial planet," Den said. "Why is that? And why is Vox always among the landing party?"
"He wasn't back atHilo," Obi-Wan pointed out.
"Yeah. I noticed that. I figure he didn't want to ride back with the Jedi team. Maybe he thought it would be suspicious if he went down. Who knows?" Den tapped his nose again and wrinkled his face as if he'd smelled something foul.
They stopped in front of their quarters. Anakin's eyes were on Den. Obi-Wan could see the boy was listening intently.
"I don't know, Den," Obi-Wan said. "You don't have much for us to go on."
"Did you know that one of the reasons we stopped atHilowas to do a repair that didn't need to be done?" Den asked. "It turned out to be a readout malfunction. The actual part was fine."
"That happens-"
"— sometimes, I know. But guess who's in charge of readout systems? Kern."
Obi-Wan nodded, but he still wasn't convinced. He sensed that Den was searching for anything that would prove that the BioCruiser operation was corrupt. His desire to have his wife back could be coloring his perceptions.
"Now that you're here, my odds of getting to the bottom of this just improved a thousand percent," Den said, slapping Obi-Wan on the back. "Get a good night's sleep. You'll need it."
Den gave them a cheerful wave and hurried off. Obi-Wan sighed.
"You don't trust him?" Anakin asked.
"It's not that," Obi-Wan said. "I'm just not sure I trust his perceptions."
"But he's thinking like a Jedi," Anakin pointed out. "He's trustinghis feelings. Shouldn't we honor that? Besides, we don't have any other paths to follow at the moment."
Sometimes, Anakin reminded Obi-Wan of Qui-Gon. He had the same mix of logic and emotion that Obi-Wan struggled so hard to balance.
"I trust my own feelings," Obi-Wan finally muttered. "Not Den's."