Shards of Alderaan Read online

  SHARDS OF ALDERAAN

  by

  Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta

  To Marina Fitch and Mark Budzcolleagues, fellow

  dreamers, and friends

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Lillie E. Mitchell for her flying fingers, which continue to transcribe

  our dictation; Sue Rostoni at Lucasfilm for watching over all the

  details, in conjunction with Lucy Wilson and Allan Kausch, to keep these

  stories in line with other Star Wars adventures; Dave Dorman: or s won

  r:u cover art, book after book after book; Mike Famham for all the

  unexpected U-turns; Ginjer Buchanan and the folks at Berkley/Boulevard

  for their wholehearted support and encouragement; Bill Smith and West

  End Games for background material; and Jonathan MacGregor Cowan for

  being our most avid and insistent test reader and brainstormer.

  MORNING MISTS CLUNG to the rubble of the Great Temple, making the huge

  stone blocks dangerously slippery as the repair crews set to work.

  In the aftermath of the battle against the Shadow Academy, the jungle

  moon of Yavin 4 had been wounded and scarred.

  But now all of Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Knights worked together to heal

  . . . to rebuild.

  Jaina Solo, already sore and sweaty from hours of hard work, climbed to

  the top of a fallen stone block and surveyed the wreckage around her.

  Surely the damage couldn't be as bad as it looked from here....

  The ancient temples had withstood the jungle's best efforts to tear them

  down for thousands of years. Two decades earlier, the Great Temple had

  served as a secret base during the Rebellion's initial struggles

  against the Empire. Years later, Jaina's uncle Luke had established his

  Jedi academy in the abandoned pyramid-making the small world a target

  for the remnants of the Empire once again.

  Ancient as the temples were, the recent attacks by the Second Imperium

  and the Shadow Academy had been the most devastating the great monuments

  had ever suffered.

  Although the battle had taken its toll, the survivors of Master

  Skywalker's academy worked day and night-not with despair, but hope.

  They had defeated the dark side of the Force. Now they had time to

  rebuild, to make everything stronger, because their enemy had been

  vanquished.

  Halfway up the remains of the stairstepped temple, cleanup crews climbed

  scaffolding made from saplings lashed together in a design Jaina herself

  had helped create. Clusters of Jedi students cleared battle debris from

  their headquarters while waiting for crews of New Republic engineers,

  architects, and laborers to arrive from Coruscant.

  Tossing her head to keep her straight brown hair from getting in her

  eyes, Jaina stood watching for a moment with her hands on her narrow

  hips. She brushed a palm across her forehead to wipe away perspiration.

  Out in the surrounding jungles, other Jedi trainees hunted for shards of

  carved stone blasted from the Great Temple, cataloguing them so the

  pieces could be reassembled properly.

  The task of rebuilding seemed enormous.

  Jaina found it hard to believe so much destruction could be caused by a

  single person.

  An Imperial commando had crept into the grand audience chamber during

  the height of battle, secretly planted his powerful explosives, and

  blown up the topmost levels of the Great Ibmple, killing himself in the

  process. Debris had pelted the battle-weary Jedi trainees, who had

  thought the day's devastation over.

  Including Zekk, she thought with a pang.

  The rain of shrapnel had seriously injured Jaina's friend-turned-enemy,

  Zekk, who had been threatening Jaina with his lightsaber at the time.

  Only after the blast did she realize that Zekk had actually saved her

  and the others . . . by preventing them from going into the temple he

  knew was doomed to explode.

  Zekk had received medical attention at Lando Ca@ssian's GemDiver

  Station, b ut had suffered a relapse on his return to Yavin 4. Jaina

  wondered if the dark-haired young man had simply been overwhelmed by the

  weight of his own gloom and guilt because of the evil work he had done

  for the Shadow Academy. Now he recovered in a restored room in the

  lower levels of the pyramid.

  But Zekk had much to atone for, and he seemed intent on accepting the

  blame for all that had happened. . . .

  Up on the scaffolding Jaina saw her Wookiee friend Lowbacca and Tenel

  Ka, the one-armed warrior girl from Dathomir, assisting each other in

  shoring up a high, unstable section of wall.

  Near them, balanced precariously on a wooden shelf, worked Raynar Thul.

  The son of a former noble from Alderaan, the boy traditionally wore

  garish and colorful costumes-though at the moment his robes were dusty

  and dirty. It seemed that his recent ordeal had begun a change in him

  for the better. He had been utterly humiliated in the struggle against

  the Shadow Academy, thrown into the river mud and discarded as an

  incompetent foe.

  Since then, Raynar appeared more subdued and was doing his best to pitch

  in, as if he had become aware that perhaps he wasn't as important and

  talented as he had considered himself.

  In the temple clearing a towering reptilian beast of burden moved about

  nervously.

  The ronto had been donated by a trader from Tatooine to assist the Jedi

  academy in its reconstruction efforts. The massive creature was

  skittish and difficult to handle at times, but its brute strength proved

  useful. Jaina watched the ronto tugging against ropes to move a huge

  block of stone into place beneath the main scaffolding supports.

  She heard the shouts and calls of other Jedi trainees conferring as they

  bustled about. Their voices were clear in the misty air. The jungle

  itself seemed to watch in stunned silence as the Jedi academy tended its

  wounds and prepared to come back better than ever.

  As the morning mist burned away and sunlight painted the forest floor,

  Jaina turned to see Luke Skywalker in his Jedi robe standing alone and

  motionless atop one of the tallest blocks. The sun shone directly into

  his clear blue eyes, but he didn't blink. The Jedi Master watched the

  complex activity intently as his trainees pulled together to rebuild.

  The Jedi academy would be strong again; its future was wide open. Jaina

  knew that now, after the final defeat of its greatest enemy, the New

  Republic could at last enter a golden age of peace and prosperity.

  The scaffolding creaked beneath Tenel Ka's bare feet, and she adjusted

  her balance, feeling her muscles ripple. Physical exercise always felt

  good, challenging, refreshing. 'Ibday she did not assume a fighting

  stance, but a careful acrobat's posture that allowed her to scramble

  along the narrow log platform to the wall's outermost stone blocks.

  While some of the larger stones at the bottom of t
he rebuilt wall looked

  less stable, she knew her own layers of the reconstruction were solid.

  She had learned to pay careful attention to details, lest her own

  actions strike back at her. The sloppy and hurried. construction of

  her first lightsaber caused it to explode during a practice session, and

  she had lost her arm. Now she knew mistakes could cost her life.

  From above, Lowbacca grunted and reached down to haul up a pallet of

  stone adhesives that would cement the construction materials together.

  Moving with an easy grace, the lanky, ginger-furred Wookiee swung down

  from a carved rock ledge onto the scaffolding. He parted his lips and

  bared his teeth at Tenel Ka in a broad smile.

  "Master Lowbacca, I do believe you're showing off," said Em Teedee, the

  miniaturized translating droid attached to Lowie's fiber belt. The

  Wookiee chuffed in amusement and dangled from the scaffolding, smearing

  the thick adhesive into a crack between two large blocks lower on the

  wall.

  Still hanging, Lowie turned about to find himself eye to eye with the

  towering ronto.

  The giant beast blinked and snorted in surprise, then plodded away,

  leaving Lowie to wrinkle his black nose in distaste at its bad breath.

  "Oh, my!" Em Teedee wailed. "If only my olfactory sensors could shut

  down! They must surely run the risk of overloading from that dreadful

  stench."

  Tenel Ka offered Lowie her arm to help him back up.

  Near the base of the wall, Raynar stood on the scaffolding in his

  colorful, dirtsmudged robes. The young man worked close to them, but

  still independently, not yet ready to become a full-fledged member of

  the team. He stretched out his hands and closed his eyes, concentrating

  as he attempted to use the Force to nudge the lower blocks into a more

  stable position.

  Tenel Ka was pleased to see Raynar working to improve himself. In her

  experience of watching him, the overconfident Raynar had usually

  demonstrated more interest in his importance as a Jedi than in acquiring

  demonstrable Jedi skills.

  In general, Tenel Ka herself chose not to use the Force if she could

  find any other way to solve her problems . . . though after her left

  arm had been severed, she had come to realize that all skills made up a

  person's resources, not just their physical or mental abilities.

  Below, the ronto handlers yelled at the creature, which turned from one

  side to the other, shifting beneath its heavy load. Confused by

  conflicting directions, the beast swung its head, trying to move along

  opposing paths but unable to decide which way to go.

  Tenel Ka froze, sensing the trouble a moment before it happened.

  @mpeting in distress, the ronto twitched its tail in agitation. The

  reptilian beast turned hal@ way around and clumsily bumped into the

  scaffolding supports that ran along one of the temple walls. Several

  Jedi trainees shouted and scrambled for cover.

  A load of stone blocks tumbled from above as the vines holding a wooden

  pallet snapped. The blocks crashed down, banging into supports and

  dislodging a small keystone in the unstable portion of wall. As a

  result, the entire structure began to collapse.

  Raynar stood right in the middle of the impending avalanche.

  'Lowbacca!" Tenel Ka cried-and the Wookiee saw the boy's danger the

  moment she did. She leaped out into open space, somersaulting as the

  wall shuddered and began to break apart.

  Tenel Ka landed on a support strut right beside Raynar. The boy whirled

  about, sensing his peril but not knowing what to do. Above her Tenel Ka

  saw Lowbacca grasp one of the vines attached to the scaffolding. He

  swung down, yowling a primal battle challenge.

  With only one arm Tenel Ka could not grab Raynar and swing herself clear

  of the falling rocks. Thinking quickly, she did the nextbest thing: she

  tackled Raynar backwardjust as Lowie came careening down toward them.

  Still holding on to the vine, the Wookiee slammed into the brightly

  robed young man, scooped him up, and whisked him away.

  As Lowbacca dove aside, rocks crashed, tumbled, fell. Tenel Ka lunged

  out of the way, sprang down to the next level, and swung herself to the

  ground. Then she leaped forward with all her might, just one step ahead

  of the crushing stone blocks.

  Though normally grim and serious, she let out an exhilarated cry that

  rose above the clatter of the collapsing wall. She heard Lowbacca roar

  in triumph, too, having landed safely with the other Jedi trainee.

  Startled by the loud sound of the avalanche it had accidentally caused,

  the huge ronto reared and bellowed, snapping its last restraints. It

  lumbered off, crashing through the jungle as its handlers fled to avoid

  being trampled.

  Trembling and panting from the exertion, her heart pounding in her ears,

  Tenel Ka watched with relief as the last stones pattered down. Lowie

  stayed close to Raynar, who huddled on the ground trying to regain his

  composure. The young man brushed off his robes and managed a shaky

  smile as other Jedi came running to make sure no one had been hurt.

  Seeing two days' work collapsed around them, Tenel Ka shook her head.

  It was a disheartening sight . . . but merely a setback, not a

  disaster.

  While the other Jedi trainees scrambled to straighten out the mess at

  the temple, Jacen Solo dashed into the jungle after the poor frightened

  ronto. He knew no one else would do it, and he was the best person for

  the job. Jacen had a knack for sensing imals and communicating with

  them.

  The clumsy beast was naturally skittish, so it was hardly surprising

  that the loud roar of the stone wall collapsing had spooked it. The

  ronto had been taken from its dry desert world and brought to a

  frighteningly dense jungle to work in a place with strange smells,

  strange soimds, strange predators.

  "Come here, ronto," Jacen coaxed. Although he didn't know the

  creature's name, he knew that most animals could recognize a kind,

  understanding voice. "Come here, boy-it's okay."

  The reptilian beast had plowed a wide swath through the underbrush,

  knocking branches aside, crushing weeds, uprooting vines. Jacen stepped

  over a broken tree trunk and waded through mashed bushes, sidestepping

  the deep footprints squished into the moist ground. The ronto's trail

  certainly wasn't difficult to follow!

  He crept forward, sending out soothing thoughts . . . though he

  doubted the distressed ronto could sense him yet. Jacen knew the

  creature had a kind disposition and sincerely wanted to help, though it

  didn't seem to comprehend its handlers' instructions most of the time.

  After nearly an hour, Jacen spotted the huge beast and approached it

  quietly. It had stumbled into a thicket and now stood trembling and

  exhausted, its sides heaving. Rows of peglike teeth glinted as the

  ronto opened and closed its mouth. Rivers of drool poured down onto the

  lush weeds.

  The creature's leathery hide rippled as it shivered with fear.

  'It's all right. Good boy," Jacen said, creeping closer.
r />   The ronto turned its huge crested head, its giant eyes rolling. . . .

  Jacen approached with calm confidence, sending soothing thoughts. The

  creature could probably bite off his head with one snap of its jaws, but

  Jacen knew the ronto wouldn't do that. He knew it meant no harm.

  The beast had been frightened by the accident, and Jacen sensed the dim

  fear that it would be punished for its clumsiness. But Jacen cooed,

  easing forward.

  "Hey, want to hear a joke? Um . . . why did the ronto run into the

  jungle?" He took another step. 'Uh, I don't know-I haven't thought of a

  punch line yet. Got any ideas?"

  The ronto eyed him warily and then, sensing that Jacen was a friend

  after all, suddenly became cheerful again, eager to please. It bent

  down and snorted.

  "It's all right,' Jacen said again. 'We still want your help. You

  haven't been bad. It was just an accident. You do great work."

  He could feel the ronto's happiness as he gave it that small nugget of

  appreciation.

  "You're very strong."

  Finally reaching its side, Jacen stroked a rough leathery flank. The

  ronto leaned down to sniff him. He patted the beast's head crest.

  "Would you like to help us?" he said. 'Do you want to work? We'd

  really like that. It's very important work."

  Jacen sensed understanding going off like fireworks in the creature's