“Which is a terrible thing.” Leox studied her carefully. “It’s also a risk they accept. That bonus alone tells any pilot looking at it that there might be no coming back.”

“She doesn’t offer those runs to the pilots who are genuinely free to turn them down. Only people who are desperate. That’s why none of us ever knew about the station before.”

“Right, because it’s a terrible place to be. And we would be going back there to do what exactly?” Leox asked.

“To get records,” she said. “To make a case. If anyone took all this to the Republic authorities, and they actually listened—and it seems like they do—well, Scover would be in big trouble.”

Leox folded his arms across his chest. “That’s an understatement. Something like that would earn her jail time. Could even lead to the dissolution of the Guild. Are you ready for that?”

Affie couldn’t answer that question yet. Maybe she didn’t have to answer it ever. “If I show this to Scover, she’ll realize she has to back down. That she has to stop using that station, and any other hazardous locales she sends indentured people to.”

“You think Scover will accept that?” Leox looked doubtful. “She’s not a lady who accepts many limitations.”

Once, that had been what Affie admired the most about her. “She’ll have to accept it. Besides, even if she won’t listen to anyone else, she might listen to me.”

“She might at that,” Leox said. He still seemed doubtful. “We need to be prepared, though. The Orincans might’ve stuck around, and they probably won’t be as welcoming when we don’t have the Jedi at our side. I mean, the Vessel’s got gunnery enough to defend herself, but no more. Nor can we openly purchase a major upgrade in armaments without attracting undue attention from the authorities.” Nobody cared if they powered up in preparation to return to an ancient Amaxine station, probably—but Affie understood that the authorities absolutely, positively could not go snooping in the “secret” cargo container. “We’d want more personal weapons, as well.”

“That one, we can do something about. I bet there are black market weapons for sale somewhere on Coruscant.” Elation swelled within Affie’s heart until she felt as if it shone from her like sunbeams. “Geode, you know some—let’s say, interesting characters. Somebody who might sell a little on the side? Maybe even a thermal detonator or two?”

Geode’s knowing look spoke volumes.

Slowly Leox began to smile. “All right, then. Let’s get incendiary.”

The millennia-old history of the Jedi meant that there was protocol or precedent for virtually every possible situation a member of the Order could wind up in.

But not for making any mistake as utterly enormous as this.