Star Wars: Scourge by Jeff Grubb

too many of those,” Eddey put in.
    “It doesn’t work quite like that,” said Mander.
    “So it’s a myth,” said Reen. “Jedi can’t do that.”
    “It is no myth,” said Mander with a sigh. “But it is not as easy as you portray it.”
    “So you can’t change people’s minds,” Reen pressed.
    “We can,” said Mander patiently, “but there are consequences. A person’s mind will be changed, and their immediate actions will be influenced, but it has a long-term effect as well. If it is as simple as getting past a guard or encouraging someone to share information, the damage is minimal. The guard will probably not think about the situation again, or will blame it on a lapse of attention or judgment. We use it to avoid fights or gain information. But when you try to move someone to do something they don’t honestly want to do, they rebel.”
    “And they won’t do it,” said Reen.
    “Worse,” said Mander, “
they will
. And then the effect will spiral further, as they unconsciously seek to justify those actions to themselves. And that is hard on a lot of people’s minds. It is like an avalanche started from small stones. Your very presence bothers them, since something went wrong when you last saw them. Sometimes using it again against a target will remind them they have been subject to the effect previously, with unpleasant consequences. The Jedi seek not to do damage, so we use the ‘mind tricks’—as you call them—only sparingly, and usually on individuals we don’t think we’re going to encounter again. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here, so no, I did not ‘Voice’ her.”
    “Does it feel like anything?” pressed Reen. “Would the person know if it had happened?”
    “If you’re asking if I have used it on you, the answer is again no, for all the reasons I previously mentioned,” said Mander. “Free will, for all its problems, is easier to work with. When it is attempted—and yes, Jedi are trained to resist this sort of thing—it feels like a pressureagainst your mind, like a wave passing over you. An impulse, a strong desire, a random thought. And if you are subject to it, when the wave passes, you have little knowledge that it struck in the first place.”
    Reen looked at him long and hard and said, “So what you’re saying is that you didn’t Voice her.”
    Mander let out a deep sigh. “And on that note, you are invited to the commander’s table for dinner.” He gave her a smile.
    Reen did not return it. “No.”
    Mander blinked. “No? Any reason?”
    “I don’t like the Corporates,” she said.
    “You didn’t like the Hutts, either,” Mander said, “but it did not stop you from meeting with Popara.”
    “That’s different,” said Reen. “The Hutts are treacherous, but you can count on them to be treacherous. The Corporate Sector is completely by the book, and when they feel they are right, according to that book, there is no stopping them. One of the reasons I was keeping them off the ship was to give Eddey a chance to pull the navigation unit offline. I didn’t want their slicers getting the coordinates for the Indrexu Spiral.”
    “Before we get a chance to sell them,” added the Bothan.
    “But you managed that, and they are none the wiser,” Mander said. “So you should come to dinner with our gracious hosts.”
    Reen shook her head. “We need to get the ship back together and out of here.”
    Mander cocked his head a moment. “Something else is wrong.”
    “Nothing else is wrong,” said Reen. “We’re just busy. And I don’t want to leave anyone alone in the ship.”
    “No, no, something is definitely wrong,” said Mander. “And I don’t need the Force to tell me that.”
    “Tell him,” said Eddey, not looking up from his work.
    “Nothing is wrong,” said Reen, folding her arms over her chest.
    “Something is wrong,” said Mander.
    “Tell him—or I will,” said Eddey.
    Reen scowled deeply. “I’ve had run-ins with