Delusions of Grandeur Read online

  DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

  by

  KEVIN J. ANDERSON and REBECCA MOESTA

  BOULEVARD BOOKS, NEW YORK

  To our nieces and nephews whose pride in us is both flattering and

  energizing

  Trinity Workman

  Ashley Woehrle

  Michael Woehrle

  Shawn O'Donnell

  Devin O'Donnell

  Sarah Jones

  Cary Jones

  Daniel Jones

  Spencer Jones

  Amanda Moesta

  Brandon Moesta

  Wyatt Moesta

  acknowledgments

  Writing each volume of the Young Jedi Knights requires the help of many

  different people--Sue Rostoni, Allan Kausch, and Lucy Wilson at

  Lucas-film Licensing; Ginjet Buchanan and Jessica Faust at Boulevard

  Books; Dave Dorman, cover artist extraordinaire; Vonda Mclntrye (who

  created the character Lusa); Mike Stackpole for his help with Evir

  Derricote and the plague; A. C. Crispin for her help with Aryn Dro and

  Bornan Thul; Kaisa Wuo-rinen for her beautiful name and for being a

  faithful fan; Nick Peterson for the joke; Lillie E.

  Mitchell, Catherine Ulatowski, and Angela Kato at WordFire, Inc.; and

  Jonathan Cowan, our first test-reader.

  A special thanks to all of the fans and devoted readers whose enthusiasm

  and support gave us the energy and encouragement we needed to keep

  writing.

  A KNOCK AT the wooden door startled Jaina Solo out of her reverie. She

  had to blink a few times to orient herself as she shook off memories of

  recent events.

  Her gaze swept around her stone-walled room, across the sleeping pallet

  and the small work desk by the window slit. Against one wall, neatly

  stacked containers of spare cyberfuses, salvaged circuit loops, and

  miniature gears gave evidence of her love for electronics and tinkering.

  When Jaina heard the second knock, she glanced toward the arched

  doorway. "Oh--come in!" she called, and her twin brother pushed open

  the newly repaired door.

  Jacen's eyes, the same brandy-brown color as her own, shone with barely

  contained excitement. "Hey, guess what? My gort egg is finally about

  to hatch! It's

  making weird noises and rocking around. Wanna come watch?"

  It took a moment for Jacen's news to sink in.

  "Sure," she said, proud to know that the incubator she had built for

  Jacen's gort egg--a gift from their father, Han Solo--had worked so

  well. "I'll be right there. I'm just finishing up something. Give me

  five minutes."

  Jacen gave her a curious look. The room held no obvious projects that

  could not wait until after the hatching. "Okay, but hurry--that egg

  could hatch anytime now. I'm going to get Tenel Ka." He raced out of

  the room.

  Jaina smoothed her straight brown hair back behind her ears and turned

  to face the tiny holocam that sat in front of her on her desk almost

  hidden by a mound of spare parts. "Let's try this one more time, from

  the top," she muttered. Then, taking a deep breath, she switched on the

  holocam.

  "Hello, Zekk. Things are pretty quiet here on Yavin 4. I really

  miss--well, we all miss you. I wish you'd reconsider and come back to

  the Jedi academy. Uh-oh. That's no good." She flicked the tiny holocam

  off, erased her message, and flicked it on again. She cleared her

  throat and started over.

  "How are you, Zekk? I realize you didn't stay here for very long, but

  things at the academy just haven't been the same since you left.

  It seems like such a long time since we last saw you."

  Jaina switched off the recorder again. "Oh, great.

  That was cheery," she scolded herself. "Guaranteed to send him running

  to the Outer Rim Territories and beyond."

  She closed her eyes and imagined Zekk was right here in front of her . .

  . his emerald eyes alive with intelligence, his almost-black hair tied

  back at the nape of his neck ....

  Opening her eyes again, she reset the recorder to the beginning and

  readjusted her features to look more happy and relaxed. She actually

  felt calmer then, and switched the holocam back on. One more time.

  Forcing a twinkle into her eye, she flashed him the same lopsided grin

  that she and Jacen had inherited from their father.

  "Hi, Zekk. Hope you get this hololetter soon. I recorded a few others

  and gave them to old Peck-hum.

  He said he'd send the messages to you, but he couldn't guarantee when

  you would get them." She cleared her throat and kept talking.

  "We're all busy as ever, still at work rebuilding the temples."

  She winced at the memory of the Shadow Academy attack Zekk himself had

  helped to engineer, but plunged ahead and steered her thoughts toward

  safer topics. "Seems like each time we get settled in, something comes

  up and I'm off with Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowie on some new adventure.

  Not as exciting as the life of a bounty hunter trainee, maybe, but it

  keeps us on our toes."

  She bit her lower lip and thought for a second.

  "By the way, nothing fresh to report about Bornan Thul's disappearance

  yet. In fact, things only seem to be getting worse. We went to a

  planet called Kuar to look for clues and wound up tangling with a batch

  of combat arachnids instead. You should're seen the battle! Anyway,

  Thul's brother Tyko showed up afterward to help us search. That night

  we were attacked by assassin droids led by IG-88!

  We fought in the catacombs, but there were so many droids and combat

  arachnids! IG-88 snatched Tyko Thul right in front of our eyes--and

  there was nothing we could do to stop it. Now both Raynar's father and

  his uncle Tyko are missing."

  Jaina shook her head. "I know you're looking for Bornan Thul, too. Have

  you caught any news on your end?" she added hopefully.

  "Wish we could find something good to tell Raynar when we see him next.

  Last we heard, he was still in hiding with the Bornaryn fleet--the

  trading ships his parents own. We tried to send messages, but we can't

  tell if word got through." She sighed. "Course, I have no idea if this

  letter'11 get through to you, either.

  "Anyhow, if you run into the fleet or get any word about Bornan or Tyko

  Thul, we'd sure like to hear from you." Jaina stopped, blushed slightly.

  "Well, we'd like to hear from you anyway, if you get the chance.

  I'm rambling, so I guess I should sign off now. Peckhum will encrypt

  this message and send it out to all the bars, cantinas, smuggler's

  dens..." She grinned. "You know, all those places where scoundrels and

  bounty hunters hang out. I'll send another hololetter when I have time.

  Until then, may the Force be with you." She smiled one more time.

  "Bye, Zekk."

  Jaina stopped recording and nodded. "That ought to do it--not too gushy

  or emotional." She really hated having to walk on eggshells when she


  spoke to an old friend.

  Eggshells. Egg.t

  She had completely forgotten about Jacen's gort egg hatching!

  Slipping the hololetter into a pocket of her flight suit, she dashed for

  Jacen's room.

  Only one room of the Great Temple boasted an entire wall of terrariums,

  incubators, cages, and aquariums on sturdy stone shelves: the room

  occupied by Jacen Solo. On most days at the Jedi academy, Jacen spent

  an hour, or sometimes two, feeding and caring for his various pets,

  using the Force to send them pleasant thoughts and to sense anything

  they needed.

  Today, however, he was interested in only one creature--one he had never

  seen before.

  "The shell appears . . . flawless," Tenel Ka said, holding her hand

  above the spheroid egg.

  Under the light of the incubator, the pearly pink shell gleamed softly.

  Jacen glanced at the warrior

  girl who crouched beside him watching the egg.

  The egg made a sudden rocking movement, but Tenel Ka didn't flinch.

  "Pretty neat, huh?" Jacen said.

  "A beautiful color," she remarked.

  "Uh-huh," Jacen said, though at the moment he was admiring the red-gold

  of Tenel Ka's hair, some of which was loose and flowing, the rest caught

  up in braids that fell forward over the shoulders of her green

  lizard-hide armor.

  "May I touch your egg?" Tenel Ka asked. She nodded toward the object,

  which had once again

  begun to rock and emit clicking noises.

  "Uh . . . sure," Jacen said.

  "Did I miss it?" Jaina burst into the room. "Did it hatch yet?"

  The pearly egg gave a soft thump-thump and rolled up against one wall of

  the incubator.

  "Looks like you're right on time." Jacen moved a bit closer to Tenel Ka,

  ostensibly to give his sister a better view of the incubator's front

  panel.

  Jaina glanced around the room before plopping herself on the floor

  beside him. "Where's Lowie?"

  she asked.

  "He has not yet arrived," Tenel Ka said.

  "I told him about the hatching," Jacen added. "He said he needed to

  stretch his legs, but he should be here any minute." The pearl-pink

  sphere in the incubator bounced a few times and made a louder ticking

  noise.

  "Come on, little one," Jacen coaxed, leaning closer to the incubator.

  "You can do it."

  A moment later, a warbling bellow could be heard just outside the

  smashed window opening in Jacen's room. All three young Jedi turned

  just in time to see Lowie swing through the opening in an

  uncharacteristic display of swashbuckling bravado.

  Part of the window area had been demolished during the Shadow Academy

  attack, but since there was no major structural damage, Jacen was in no

  hurry to get it repaired. He liked the fresh air.

  Now the lanky, ginger-furred Lowbacca landed neatly on the flagstones,

  smoothed a large hand over the black streak of fur that ran up over his

  head above the left eye and down his back, and roared a Wookiee

  greeting.

  Tenel Ka raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lowie. "A fine entrance,

  friend Lowbacca," she observed. "I will remember it."

  "Dear me, I do hope we haven't arrived too late," Em Teedee said.

  The little silver translating droid was clipped to his usual place on

  Lowie's syren-fiber belt. "I've never had the opportunity to witness a

  gort hatching before."

  As if on cue, the gort egg made a sharp clacking noise. Lowie crossed

  the room in three long strides and crowded between Jacen and Jaina on

  the floor.

  The gort egg knocked loudly, bounced, and rolled

  until it rested against the front panel of the incubator.

  "Good," Jacen said softly. "That's it--you've almost got it. A few

  more times now."

  Click-click. Thunk. Clack.

  Jacen touched his fingers to the transparisteel.

  "There's a warm, friendly place waiting for you," he whispered.

  With one more click and another thunk, a tiny fissure appeared in the

  surface of the shell.

  Lowie gave a thoughtful rumble. Jaina drew in a sharp breath and bit

  her lower lip. Tenel Ka reached out and placed her hand just next to

  Jacen's on the clear front panel, her fingers barely touching his.

  Jacen felt soothing, welcoming thoughts join his own and flow toward the

  egg.

  The egg tapped and bounced. Another crack appeared.

  A loud noise at the doorway interrupted them as one of the New Republic

  soldiers stationed on the jungle moon during the reconstruction

  activities stuck his helmeted head into the room. He blinked, looking

  somewhat confused. "Excuse me, I was trying to find a refresher unit."

  The soldier made a hasty retreat and continued urgently down the hall.

  The young Jedi Knights turned their attention back to the hatching egg.

  "Oh, I can scarcely bear the suspense!" Em Teedee said in a hushed

  voice. "Master Lowbacca, if I might impose on you for just a moment? I

  should like to get a closer look."

  Lowie unclipped the little droid from his belt and held him up to the

  incubator for an unobstructed view. The gott egg bounced and rocked,

  bumping itself repeatedly against the clear front panel.

  "Come on, you can do it," Jacen whispered.

  Crack. A piece of shell, perfectly triangular in shape, fell away from

  the side of the egg. Then the egg jumped and rolled until the

  triangular opening was on top. Suddenly a downy ball of blue fluff

  poked through the hole. The fluff parted, like two halves of a curtain

  pulling aside, to reveal an inquisitive sapphire-blue eye.

  "Hey! Hello there," Jacen said gently.

  The sapphire eye went wide, then nictated a few times, as if it could

  not believe what it saw. It swiveled on its down-covered eyestalk for a

  complete view of its surroundings. Another ball of fluff appeared

  through the hole in the egg, and a second sapphire-blue eye blinked

  furiously at them. The two fluffy eye-balls bobbed up and down on their

  stalks, looking first at each other, then around the incubator. When

  the two eye-balls were joined by a third puff of downy blue that blinked

  sleepily at them, Jaina giggled.

  "Oh my!" Em Teedee said. "How many ocular appendages does this creature

  possess?"

  Jacen shrugged. "Just three . . . I think." Tenel

  10 Ka's hand dropped away from the incubator, and she looked

  at Jacen in surprise.

  The eye-balls bobbed wildly. A hollow tapping sound came from inside

  the remaining eggshell.

  Finally the shell broke apart into a dozen pieces, revealing the tiny

  gort hatchling.

  Blue fluff clothed every square centimeter of the creature, except for

  the wide, flat beak set a third of the way down its little body.

  The rounded body, as large as Jacen's fist, perched atop a pair of short

  legs, supported by broad, flat feet. The three toes were splayed for

  balance, and the gort's thin prehensile tail curled into the air behind

  it. The tip of the tail reached forward to scratch one of the gort's

  eyestalks, as if it were confused.

  "Hello, little girl," Jac
en said. He turned to the others.

  "Don't ask me how I know it's a girl. I just do."

  Lowie gave an urf of laughter, and tapped one finger against the

  incubator's front panel. All three of the gort's eyestalks retracted

  into its body, and the eyes nictated shut, so that the creature looked

  like a lump of blue down.

  "What is her name?" Tenel Ka asked.

  All three eyestalks extended again and the sapphire eyes blinked open.

  "She blinks a lot," Jacen said. "I think I'll call her Nicta."

  Jacen slid open the feeding chute in the incubator; several insects and

  grubs he had collected cascaded into the feeding dish. "There you go,

  Nicta. Morning meal."

  With a warbling sound, Artoo-Detoo entered Jacen's student quarters.

  "Artoo, what brings you here?" Jaina said.

  The silver, blue, and white barrel-shaped droid beeped and twittered a

  rather long explanation.

  "Uh, Em Teedee?" Jacen said, still preoccupied with his new pet.