Obi-Wan tried to access the door to Tyro Caladian's tiny office, but the door stuck after it had slid open only a few centimeters.

"Tyro?" he shouted inside the crack.

"Go away," a muffled voice answered.

"It's Obi-Wan!"

"Obi-Wan! For star's sake, don't move." Obi-Wan heard the sound of crashing and banging. "I'm coming — oof! Don't… I'm almost there… ah!"

The door slowly opened, pushed by Tyro. "Can't you…" he puffed"…

use your Force… to help?"

Obi-Wan leaned against the door frame, watching. "I'm enjoying this too much."

Tyro got the door all the way open. He wiped his forehead, where his fur had matted with sweat. "So happy to amuse. Thanks."

Obi-Wan strolled inside. Tyro's office was filled with plastoid boxes crammed with durasheet documents. More plastoid file boxes were stacked against a wall. Some of the boxes had been shoved against the door, causing it to jam. "What's going on?"

"I told you I'd get something on Sano Sauro," Tyro said, climbing over a box to get to a holodocument strewn desk. "I requisitioned all the documents in the Senate registry that involve his homeworld. He couldn't seal everything, just his personal docs."

"All of them?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously. "But he's been a Senator for nine years!"

Tyro ruefully surveyed the crowded office. "Well, it might take a while. But what can I do for you, Obi-Wan? I'm at your service, as always."

"What do you know about Berm Tarturi?" Obi-Wan asked. He raised a hand and used the Force to push aside a tower of documents in order to sit down.

Tyro looked from the ease of Obi-Wan's gesture back to the door he had struggled with. His ears twitched as he sat down. "I sure could use that Force of yours. Think how I could save on maid service. Anyway — Tarturi.

The one whose son has been kidnapped."

Obi-Wan was startled. "How do you know that? There's been no official word."

Tyro smiled, his small, pointed teeth glistening. "Why are you in this office?"

Obi-Wan inclined his head. "Because you hear everything."

"What exactly do you need to know?" Tyro said. "I know many things about Senator Tarturi. For example, at the moment he is engaged in the fight of his political career."

"Who is his biggest enemy in the Senate?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Are you serious?" Tyro said. "You don't know?" "Why else would I be here?" Obi-Wan asked irritably. "Because I enjoy filing?"

"Sano Sauro is his biggest enemy," Tyro said. "Sauro?" Obi-Wan felt his pulse quicken. "Tarturi didn't mention him."

Tyro snorted. "He wouldn't. They are locked in a bitter battle over the redistribution of trade routes. Typical Senate bureaucratic tangle, but for them — it might as well be life or death. It means money, payoffs…

and reelection. The battle has left them mortal enemies."

"But why wouldn't Tarturi tell me this?" Obi-Wan wondered.

"Because Senators never admit they have enemies, Obi-Wan," Tyro said patiently. "Don't you know that by now? It gives their opponents more power if they acknowledge them."

"Even when his son is missing?"

Tyro laughed, but the laugh had no humor in it. "His mother could be missing, his wife, and his pet nek battle dog. He still wouldn't tell you everything."

"So," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully, "if Berm Tarturi was distracted by his son's kidnapping…"

"Sauro could profit handsomely," Tyro finished. "The committee is in session right now. If Tarturi misses even one meeting, Sauro could gain the upper hand." Tyro sat up straighter. "Do you think Sauro could be involved?

" "Does Sauro know Rana Halion?" Obi-Wan asked.

"The leader of the Andaran opposition? I don't think so," Tyro answered. "But if he did meet with her, it would have to be in secret.

Naturally he would support her efforts in the Andaran system. It would destroy Tarturi's power base." Tyro tapped a triple jointed finger on a pile of datasheets. "Not to mention that Halion could get her new trade routes if she throws her support to Sauro. They both have much to gain from an alliance."

"So if Halion cooked up a plot to kidnap Gillam Tarturi, Sauro might help," Obi-Wan said.

Tyro nodded. "My enemy's enemy is my friend, you mean."

"Or he could have cooked up the plot and enlisted her. It is certainly something he is capable of."

Tyro's ears twitched excitedly. "If we could find proof, it would mean the end of his career. I'd have him in prison. And you'd have your files.

The block of the order to reveal would be dissolved."

"And we'd find Gillam Tarturi," Obi-Wan said.

Chapter Six

"Today we shall consider the geopolitical effect of the great Lali Plague," Professor Win Totem said. Then she sat down with great dignity, right on a custard turnover.

The class exploded with laughter. It went on a little too long, Anakin noted. The constant anxiety the students felt led them to grasp at any relief.

The tall professor with the regal bearing stood and regarded the ruby- colored stain on the back of her white septsilk gown.

"Ferus Olin," she rapped out. "You are responsible for this!"

Ferus started. "I assure you, Professor, I am not." "Ten more demerits for lying," Professor Win Totem barked. Her blue skin flushed an angry purple. "You are the only one who could have done it I asked you to distribute the notes before class."

Anakin watched as Ferus clenched his hands. He knew what Ferus was thinking. Ferus and Reymet had distributed the notes together. They did everything together now. Flattered by Ferus's attention, Reymet had become his tagalong. But Reymet couldn't resist playing his practical jokes, and Ferus was getting blamed. Anakin also knew that Ferus could not point the finger at Reymet. He was trying to befriend him. Besides, if Ferus told on Reymet, he'd be a tattletale, what the students called a womp fink.

Reymet's face was pure innocence. He shook his head with concern as he studied the stain on Professor Totem's gown.

Totem turned back to the lesson. Anakin hid his grin as he bent over his datascreen. It served Ferus right. He had grabbed the assignment to watch Reymet. He deserved the consequences. Anakin couldn't imagine two people more unlike each other than Ferus and Reymet. He knew that the secret pleasure he got from watching Ferus being blamed for a practical joke wasn't very Jedi-like, but on the other hand, he couldn't wait to tell his friends Tru and Darra that Ferus had gotten demerits for putting a custard turnover on a teacher's chair.