“You,” Floria told him. “We’re supposed to find the Jediand bring you back, dead or alive.”
“Bring us back where?” Obi-Wan asked. “Who hired you?”
“Let me point out that we weren’t going to kill you,” Floriasaid quickly, not answering Obi-Wan’s question. “We weren’tthe ones that planted the sleeper bomb, obviously.”
“What about the blaster fire?” Anakin asked.
“We knew you could handle that. We just wanted to add alittle urgency to the situation,” Dan said. “You’d take offif you thought you were under attack.”
“We didn’t to kill you,” Floria assured them. “We don’tkill beings. We just trick them. Just like we tricked you.It would have worked if there hadn’t been that bomb.Listen, tricking is much safer.”
“Are you actually successful at this?” Anakin asked.
Floria and Dane exchanged a look. Floria sighed. “Nobodyever believes we’re bounty hunters. It’s so insulting.Yes, we’re successful. Take our last case. We - “
“Who hired you?” Obi-Wan asked in frustration, interruptingher brusquely.
“If you’re going to confess to everything, you might try tobe organized about it,” Dane said to Floria. “You alwaysget off the subject.”
“I don’t,” Floria protested.
“You do, too. Always.”
“You shouldn’t say always,” Anakin broke in. “Absolutes arerarely true.”
“Enough!” Obi-Wan roared. “Who hired you> I want answersand I want them now.”
Obi-Wan’s thunderous look cowed Floria and Dane.
“Granta Omega,” Floria said. “Do you know him? He’s on hisship, orbiting the planet. Our plan was to lure you ontoyour own ship and get you to pilot it to what you’d thinkwas my rendezvous ship but was actually Omega’s transport.Then we’d leave you there, collect our reward, and take off.Easy right?”
“Obviously not, since your standing here with us now,” Obi-Wan said. “So who put the sleeper bomb on the ship?”
“I don’t know,” Floria admitted.
“It could be anyone.” Dane said. “Omega hired four otherbounty hunters besides us. The first one to succeed winsthe prize - an enormous fortune. The only rule is that thebounty hunters aren’t allowed the harm one another.”
“Obviously, someone broke the rules,” Floria saiddisapprovingly. “I could have died aboard that ship.”
“Not to mention us,” Anakin said.
What about the other Jedi?” Obi-Wan asked.
“He’s not part of the deal,” Dane said. “We’re supposed toga after the Master-Padawan team. That was it.”
“What information were you given about us?” Obi-Wan asked.”How did you know where to find us?”
“We knew you were on a training mission to Ragoon-6,” Floriasaid. “That’s all.”
That’s all? That’s too much. Obi-Wan couldn’t believe it.The training missions weren’t secret. But Jedi did notspeak of them to outsiders. Of course, there were those inthe Senate who knew about them. And Senators, Obi-Wan knewtoo well, could be bribed.
“Tell me about the other bounty hunters,” Obi-Wan said. “Doyou know them?”
Dane nodded. “They are well known to those who know aboutthese things. Teleq is one. We know him by reputationonly. He’s known for his cunning use of technology. Thenthere is Mol Arcasite. She is ruthless. She will takeinnocent lives to get what she wants. And she doesn’t careif she brings her prey back dead. Most bounty huntersprefer to catch beings alive. It saves them a possiblesecurity arrest themselves. You never know who iswatching.”
“Mol gives us all a bad name,” Floria said. “Come to thinkof it, she could have planted that sleeper bomb. It’s justher style.”
“What about the bounty hunter with the Stokhli stick?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Don’t know him,” Floria said. “he was awfully good. Buthe almost blew my cover when he saw me. I couldn’t believeit when he said ‘They were mine.’”
“So he was talking about us,” Anakin said, indicatinghimself and Obi-Wan. “And you made us think you wereconcerned about your friends!”
Floria’s eyes shone. “Wasn’t I good?”
“She can cry on cue,” Dane confided.
“Who is the last bounty hunter?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Hunti Pereg,” Dane answered. “He has the most awesomereputation of all. he has never failed to capture his prey.Not once.”