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curiosity is piqued,” I said.
    “Mine, too. Why would we need somersaults and stun sticks? Why can’t we just set our blasters to stun?”
    “My guess is that we’re not going to have a chance to deal with whatever they are from a distance. That would explain the armor and hand-to-hand weapons.”
    Nakari frowned. “Yeah, I figured, but I don’t understand why we can’t ensure that we have plenty of distance before we engage.”
    “Should make for interesting in-flight entertainment.”
    Artoo decrypted the
Fexian
file and used the coordinates therein to plot a route as we left the atmosphere of Pasher. I asked him to plot a safe trip into a well-known Core system before trying to navigate the Deep Core. When making a dangerous jump like that it was always best to pause, confirm your position among the stars, and recalculate using the latest possible data.
    “I liked your dad,” I said as we waited for the first jump.
    Nakari searched my face to see if I was being serious or merely polite. “He’s a bit eccentric.”
    “Yeah, but it seems like it’s in a good way.”
    “Not everyone views his yelling as a good thing.”
    “He tempers it with tenderness, though. Unless that’s an act?”
    “No, he’s genuinely sweet. If anything, the yelling is an act.”
    “Why does he do it?”
    “I don’t know for sure, but I have a collection of theories.”
    “Have you tested any of these theories?”
    “I can’t test them because he won’t be honest or even answer me if I ask him. I did ask him, you know. ‘Why do you yell atyour minions, Daddy? And why do you call them minions? Isn’t that kind of disrespectful?’ ”
    “What did he say?”
    She imitated his voice again and grimaced. “ ‘Think about it, daughter!’ And so I did and still do. I cultivate my theories and let them grow for a while—if you’ll allow me a farming metaphor—and see which ones flourish in the light of day and which ones wither.”
    “Which of them flourishes the most right now?”
    “Oh, no, you won’t get answers that easily. Think about it, pilot!”
    I smiled. “Okay, fair enough.”
    “The best answer, however, is that there are many different viable alternatives. More than one solution to a problem. What’s
your
dad like?”
    I gave a tiny shrug. “I don’t know. I’ve never met him. He was a Jedi Knight in the Clone Wars and a good pilot, and that’s all I know.”
    “Your dad was a Jedi? How did that happen?”
    “The way it usually happens, I would imagine.”
    “But he was a good pilot, eh? Like father, like son?”
    Shrugging, I said, “I guess so.”
    “I’m sorry if I stepped on an exposed nerve there.”
    “Oh!” I realized that my expression must have given her the wrong impression. “No, don’t worry, it’s not you or the question itself. It’s just the uncertainty that bothers me. I’d like to think that he was a good guy, but since I’ll never meet him all I can do is set him on a pedestal and layer on the wishful thinking. He might have had all the charm of a bantha.”
    Nakari nodded and changed the subject abruptly, which suggested to me that she didn’t want to exchange tales about our mothers next. “Let’s take a look at those files if they’re ready.”
    “All right.” I flipped on the ship’s comm and asked Artoo if he had everything decrypted and spooled up for viewing.
    JUMPING NOW. HOLO NEXT, his reply read. The stars blurred and streaked past the cockpit as we jumped into hyperspace, and then a blue holoimage of Fayet Kelen sprang up in front of us. Nakari hadn’t been kidding about her holoprojector being low-end.
    “Behold, my minions!” he boomed. He’d obviously recorded this before he knew Nakari and I would be taking on the assignment. “You are traveling to Fex, which might be the richest new discovery for biotech in decades. The red sun of the system has given rise to an unusual purple landscape ranging from pale lavenders to deep violets. High