Obi-Wan’s least favorite thing to do was wade through the minutes of Senatorial committee meetings. But he leaned forward, quickly scanning the report with interest. The decision to fund the mapping expedition took endless debate. Then names of scientists were submitted and debated. At last the team was decided on. Obi-Wan read the names and qualifications. Dr. Fort Turan. Joveh D’a Alin. Reug Yucon. Talie Heathe. And finally, Tic Verdun. He had been added at the last minute on the suggestion of the committee head, Senator Sauro…
Obi-Wan remembered something Talie Heathe had said on Haariden. Tic had been the scout. That meant he had been able to get away from the group for hours at a time.
Obi-Wan scanned Verdun’s qualifications. He had graduated from the same scientific institute in the same year as Granta Omega.
He activated his comlink and contacted Jocasta Nu at the Temple.
“Please run a text doc identification search on Tic Verdun,” he said.
He switched off the screen and hurried out of the archive room. He knew Jocasta Nu would not take long to answer him. He started back toward the Temple. By the time he reached the front doors, Jocasta Nu had signaled him.
“Interesting,” Jocasta Nu said. “I just did a preliminary search, you understand. But the only information I can find is that he recently served on a Senatorial expedition to Haariden - “
“I know that. I met him there, remember?”
“And his credentials don’t check out at all. If I had to guess, I’d say this was an alias. Strange that the Senate committee didn’t pick it up. “
“Not if the head of the Senate committee was his sponsor.”
“Ah. Yes. There’s a strange coincidence, though. He is listed as having a degree from the same school that - “
” - Granta Omega attended,” Obi-Wan interrupted. Jocasta had told him everything he needed to know, which was nothing.
And now he knew that Tic Verdun was Granta Omega. He had met Omega on Ragoon-6. He had met a man whose face was disfigured with synth-flesh. His eyes had been gray. Obi-Wan could not connect that memory with Tic Verdun, with his shock of dark hair and his youthful face. Yet he was positive the two men were the same.
He stepped onto the lift tube and went straight to Anakin’s quarters, but Anakin wasn’t there. Obi-Wan tracked down Soara Antana, who was visiting Darra in the med center.
“Do you know where Anakin is?” he asked her.
“We had our practice session this morning,” she said. “Then he headed off for an appointment. Do you remember Tic Verdun? Anakin went to meet him.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Anakin was starting to feel better. He had tried to tell himself that Soara had not been fair to him, but in truth, her words had shaken him. He had looked into her eyes and seen great disappointment there. He could tell himself that he would prove her wrong, but the loss of her respect was a blow. And what would she tell his Master?
He had worried about these things all the way to the meeting with Tic Verdun, but now they had shrunk to vague feelings at the back of his mind. He was too caught up in meeting Tic’s friends and hearing what they had to say about Granta Omega. Already he had collected a number of facts about the elusive businessman. If he could manage to put the pieces together, he and Obi-Wan would have a place to start.
Tic’s friends were all funny and smart. They had welcomed Anakin and seemed impressed at meeting “our first Jedi!” They poured him tea and sat around trying to prod their memories for facts about Granta Omega. They interrupted one another and corrected one another. But nobody interrupted Tic, Anakin noted. They all deferred to him, but in a way that Anakin could see was out of great respect.
Anakin was especially impressed with a young scientist named Mellora Falon. She had just graduated from an elite scientific institution even though she was only a few years older than Anakin. She had met Granta Omega on an expedition to the planet Uriek, and gave the most detailed account of him.
“He had a weakness for pastry,” she said, smiling. “The really sweet, sticky kind. He ate an entire plate of sweesonberry rolls.”
Tic Verdun shook his head. “Glad to see you noted the important things.”
But everything was important. Anakin knew that. He could take that information back to Jocasta Nu and in about thirty seconds she could tell him every planet where the sweesonberries grew, and could give him a list of the best pastry makers in the Core Worlds.
“I just remembered something,” Mellora said. “That morning, he said his favorite house was surrounded by sweesonberry bushes. He goes there for vacations. It’s near the sea, too.”