' 'Titanite? I don't think I know it.'
'That's because it's extremely rare,' Jocasta said. 'Not only that, it's very hard to mine. It's usually buried so deep near the core that it costs more to extract it than it is worth.'
'What is it used for?' Obi-Wan asked.
'Until recently, not much,' Jocasta said. 'But in the last couple of years, it's been discovered that when titanite is synthesized, a substance is extracted that is one of the essential ingredients of bacta.'
Obi-Wan shook his head. 'Bacta.' He began to flip through the files in front of him. 'Here it is. One of Omega's vast land holdings is on the planet Thyferra. That's the only place where the alazhi plant grows. Alazhi lotion is the main ingredient in bacta.'
'So if he had alazhi lotion and the titanite substance….. Jocasta said, her voice trailing off. Obi-Wan and Jocasta stared at each other as the conclusion struck them.
'He could corner the galactic market on bacta,' Obi-Wan said.
'This is getting very interesting,' Jocasta murmured. 'When was the titanite found on Haariden?' Obi-Wan asked.
'Only a few months ago,' Jocasta said. 'That's why the fighting began again. It's also one of the reasons the scientists were sent there.
Haariden was included on the mapping expedition for precisely that reason.
The Senate felt that if it had a complete picture of where the titanite deposits were, it could persuade the two sides to come to an agreement.'
'Did the scientists make a final report?'
'Yes, but it was inconclusive. They couldn't conduct the tests they needed to because the fighting moved too close.'
'Maybe Omega wanted that to happen,' Obi-Wan said. 'Maybe he didn't want the report to get back to the Senate.'
'He would need to make his own tests, then,' Jocasta said. 'He'd need to have his own scientific team. That would be a hard thing to keep secret on Haariden.'
'Maybe he didn't need a team,' Obi-Wan said. 'Maybe he could do it himself.' He waved at the holofiles surrounding them. 'Think about it. Look at what he's done over the years. Look at the fact that he doesn't employ many people at all. It would have been impossible for Omega to have done what he did in his career without some serious scientific knowledge. Which means,' he said, turning to Jocasta excitedly, 'he would have to have had some serious study. Can you search the records of the finest scientific institutes in the galaxy?'
Jocasta raised an eyebrow. 'All of them?'
Obi-Wan nodded.
'I'll start with the Core Worlds,' she said with a sigh. 'Maybe we'll get lucky.'
Obi-Wan was sipping a cup of tea in the Room of a Thousand Fountains and trying to calm his mind when his comlink signaled. It was Jocasta.
'He attended the All Science Research Academy on Yerphonia,' she said.
'Can we contact them?' Obi-Wan asked eagerly.
'I already have. He was granted his degree only seven years ago. He was a star student. His home world is a small moon called Nierport Seven.'
Obi-Wan knew the place. It was less than a day's travel from Coruscant.
Within an hour, he was on his way.
Chapter Nine
'Again,' Soara said.
Anakin ran at the wall again. He no longer knew how many times he had done so. Fifty? Seventy? Two hundred, five hundred? His brain didn't register numbers. There was just him and the wall.
He ran up the wall, flipped over into a backward somersault, and landed on his feet again. It was a basic Temple exercise. He'd learned it when he was nine. But with Soara he was discovering that it was a much more complex maneuver than he'd imagined. Apparently his shoulders were wrong.
His landing was too hard. And the whole thing took too long for him to accomplish.
'Stop.' Soara's voice cut through him like the cold wind that howled down the deserted alley straight to the secluded lot where they were training. The building in front of him was sheer durasteel, slippery now with morning dew. The sun was just rising.
'Close your eyes,' Soara said.
Anakin closed his eyes.
'Get rid of that impatience,' Soara said. 'Now.' Anakin tried to obey.
'Nothing is solid,' Soara said. 'The hardest wall is just a connection of particles. Find the spaces between the particles, and the wall will yield. It will push you off. Listen to the wall and hear the wind through the gaps.'
Listen to the wall? Anakin felt his impatience rise again.
He remembered Darra's words. She'll push you hard, and then she'll tell you something strange, something
