It was Jorad Pressor, waving his fork over his head to get her attention. His parents, in contrast, had their eyes firmly fixed on their plates as they continued to eat. Deliberately ignoring her and it wasn't hard to guess why. Two days ago Master Ma'Ning had briefly taken over Pressor's hyperdrive maintenance bay to show to some of the young Jedi candidates, and one of the children had managed to dump a container of inverse couplings all over the floor. Pressor had had words with Ma'Ning about that, to the point where C'baoth had intervened and docked Pressor two days' pay.
Best if she left them alone until they got over it, Lorana decided. Waving and smiling back at Jorad, she turned to leave.
And nearly ran into Chas Uliar as he came into the mess-room. "Slumming, are we?" he asked, making no attempt to hide his own coolness.
"I'm looking for Master Ma'Ning," she said, determined not to respond in kind to his open unfriendliness. C'baoth had wanted Uliar thrown in D-4's brig for his attempt to push his way into the Jedi school a few days ago, and it was only with the greatest of tact and diplomacy that Captain Pakmillu had managed to talk him out of it. "Have you seen him?"
"Oh, he never comeshere," Uliar said. "The officers and other important people eat in one of thenicer messrooms."
Lorana's eyes flicked back into the messroom, focusing this time on the decor. It looked fine to her.
"Oh, I'm sure it's just like the ones you have over on D-One," Uliar went on. "But it could have been a lot more interesting if you Jedi had a cubic centimeter of style and creativity among you."
"What does our style or creativity have to do with this?" Lorana asked.
For a moment Uliar's eyes searched her face as if looking for a lie. Then his lip twitched. "I guess you reallydon't know," he said grudgingly. "We wanted to decorate this room like one of the Coruscant underlevels-you know, kind of sleazy in an over the-top sort of way. The folks stationed forward have already done up their messrooms in theme styles."
"And?"
"And your stiff-as-permacrete Master Ma'Ning wouldn't let us," Uliar said acidly. "Some nonsense about a low-culture look promoting rebellious attitudes."
Lorana winced. Now that he mentioned it, shehad heard about this debate. It hadn't made much sense to her, either. "Let me talk to him," she offered. "Maybe I can get him to change his mind. Any idea where he might be?"
"You might try the senior officers' conference room," Uliar said, and she thought she could sense a small crack in his animosity. "I hear he spends a lot of time in there when it's not being used."
"Thank you," Lorana said. "I'll get back to you on the decorating."
She found Ma'Ning alone in the conference room, seated in one of the chairs as he gazed out the small viewport at the hyperspace sky flowing past. "Master Ma'Ning?" she called tentatively as the door slid shut behind her.
"Jedi Jinzler," he said without turning around. "What brings you to D-Four?"
"You weren't answering your comlink," she said. "Master C'baoth asked me to come find you."
"I was meditating," he explained. "I always turn off my comlink at such times."
"I see," Lorana said, studying him closely as she stepped to his side. His face and manner seemed oddly tense. "Are you all right?"
"I'm not sure," he said. "Tell me, what do you think of what Master C'baoth is doing?"
The question caught her by surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Did you know he's suspended the authority of the Commander's Court to rule on grievances?"
"No, I didn't," she said. "What system is he planning on using instead?"
"Us," Ma'Ning said. "As best I can figure, he essentially wants us to take over supervision of every aspect of life aboard Outbound Flight."
"Such as how the people decorate their messrooms?"
Ma'Ning grimaced. "You've been talking to Chas Uliar and his committee."
"I talked to Uliar," Lorana confirmed, frowning. "I didn't know he had a committee."
"Oh, it's just a group of people who don't like others telling them what to do," Ma'Ning said, waving a hand in dismissal. "Mostly reactor complex techs and support people. Their complaints are mostly trivial, like this whole messroom thing."
"With all due respect, Master Ma'Ning, for us to even get involved with Outbound Flight's decor seems a little ridiculous," Lorana offered.
"No argument from me," Ma'Ning admitted. "But Master C'baoth was adamant-said the idea of decorating the place like a criminals' den would encourage antisocial attitudes we can't afford in such a close-knit community. The point is that I'm sensing a growing resentment toward us from the people in general. I'm worried that Master C'baoth may be taking these so-called reforms of his too far."
"Still, it's hard to argue with his basic premise," Lorana said, feeling distinctly uncomfortable with talking about C'baoth behind his back this way. "People attuned to the Forceshould be more capable of dispensing justice and maintaining integrity than those who aren't. But it's also hard to see what that has to do with how people decorate their own messrooms."
"Exactly," Ma'Ning agreed. "But I can't seem to get that distinction through to him. Do you think you could make him understand?"
Lorana grimaced. First Uliar had asked her to talk to Ma'Ning, and now Ma'Ning was asking her to talk to C'baoth. Had someone appointed her official mediator of the Jedi Order when she wasn't looking? "I doubt he'll pay any more attention to me than he would to you," she warned. "But I can try."
"That's all I ask," Ma'Ning said, sounding relieved. "And don't mark yourself short. There's a special bond between Master and Padawan, a bond that can run far deeper than any other relationship. You may be the only person aboard Outbound Flight hewill listen to."
"I'm not sure about that," she said. "But I'll do what I can."
"Thank you," Ma'Ning said. "You said Master C'baoth was trying to reach me?"
Lorana nodded. "He wants all the Jedi Masters at a meeting tonight at eight in the D-One senior officers' conference room."
"More reforms, no doubt," Ma'Ning grumbled as he stood up. "Talk to him soon, will you?"
"If I can slow him down long enough," Lorana said. "In the meantime, what do I tell Uliar?"
Ma'Ning sighed. "Tell him I'll think about it. Maybe Master C'baoth will eventually load himself up with so many other matters that he won't even notice how Outbound Flight is decorated."