“Beautiful children,” said the pilot, with a laconic drawl and a huge grin. “I’m Leox Gyasi, and I hereby welcome you to the vessel.”

There was a brief pause, which made Reath feel better; even experienced Jedi weren’t totally sure how to approach this guy. Dez finally stepped forward with his usual charm. “Dez Rydan. A pleasure to know you. What’s the name of your ship?”

Leox and Affie shared a glance, clearly in on a joke that was about to be sprung. “Already told ya,” Leox said. He was a tall, tan, and rangy human, and his wavy dark blond hair looked as though it might not have been combed recently. Possibly ever. “Our vessel is called…the Vessel. I named it not for the container itself, but the space within the container that gives it its value and purpose. To remind me to look beyond the obvious, you know?”

That sounds like Master Yoda on spice, Reath thought. Which was either a very good sign or a very, very bad one.

“Love it,” Orla said with apparently genuine relish. “So, can we see our bunks?”

Affie made a face. “About that. We’re really more of a transport ship”—Master Cohmac gave Dez a look that seemed to say, Just our luck—“but we’ll set up some partitions and cots for you.” Affie’s narrow face lit up when she smiled. “Just because we’re a last-minute substitution doesn’t mean we can’t make it comfortable.”

Leox cut in: “That is, if you’re not super particular about your personal definition of ‘comfort.’”

Orla was the first to head toward the gangway. “We are Jedi, Mr. Gyasi. We don’t require pampering.”

Affie wrinkled her nose. “So, are the Jedi monks or not?”

That stopped Reath short before he realized what this must mean. If they didn’t even really understand what the Jedi were…“You guys have to be from out on the frontier, huh?”

“To us, it’s not a frontier, son.” Leox led them all after Orla into the Vessel. “It’s home. But if you mean we’re not used to this stretch of the galaxy, that’s the truth. Never been this close to the Core before, not by a long shot.”

“The Byne Guild handles shipping throughout the sector.” Affie sounded proud. “We’re just one of the Byne Guild’s ships—one of the smaller ones, honestly—but Scover Byne still gave us the first-ever mission to Coruscant.”

Reath, embarrassed by his tactlessness about “the frontier,” was eager to move the conversation forward. He felt sure that this was his opening to ask more about Leox and Affie, their ship, and why they’d earned this particular honor. He also found himself eager to explain the Jedi Order to people who somehow had never heard of it.