Delusions of Grandeur Read online

  The little droid gave what sounded like an aggrieved sigh. "So, I'm

  simply to be left behind.

  Unwanted. Unneeded."

  "We could try to float you on the water, Em Teedee," Jacen said with a

  roguish grin.

  "Oh my, no, Master Jacen!" the little translator

  cried. "I'm certain I should sink and be lost forever."

  Jaina cast the droid an apologetic glance. "If you want, I could figure

  out a way to waterproof you. A few gaskets, some aquasealant .

  . ."

  "I should like that very much, Mistress Jaina!"

  Em Teedee said. "It's a wonder I hadn't thought of it before."

  Tenel Ka, already poised on a rock, dove into deep water, and Jacen

  immediately followed her.

  Raynar waded through the shallows, while Lowie climbed a boulder and

  leapt into the water with a Wooldee bellow.

  Taking up the challenge, Jaina plunged in after him. Soon all of them

  were splashing and enjoying themselves. Jaina, Lowie, and Tenel Ka took

  turns diving to the bottom of the river to bring back interesting water

  creatures for Jacen to examine.

  Even Raynar seemed to release his worries. After the boy had been

  humiliated in the river during the battle with the Shadow Academy,

  Tionne had taken it upon herself to teach him how to swim better. Now

  he enjoyed spending time in the river.

  While the Wooldee was on one of his dives, Jaina surfaced and heard the

  sound of a ship's engines.

  Looking toward the landing field, she saw a small two-passenger star

  skimmer circle in front of the temple and then head straight for the

  river. Jaina

  recognized the Rising Star, Raaba's ship! Jaina gave a tentative wave

  as the skimmer sped toward them, no more than two meters above the

  water's surface.

  Lowie burst up from the river bottom holding a six-clawed crustacean.

  With a speed and precision that Jaina had to admire, the Rising Star

  spun once, zipped up the riverbank, and came to a neat landing just

  clear of the mud. Jaina stifled a giggle at her friend's roar of

  surprise and recognition.

  Before Lowie could recover from his shock and make his way to shore, the

  chocolate-furred Wook-lee woman had climbed out of her skimmen Shedding

  unnecessary pieces of equipment with each running stride, she headed

  directly for Lowie.

  "Oh, do be careful," Em Teedee exclaimed as Raaba's foot narrowly missed

  him on her way into the river. The two Wookiees swam toward each other,

  bellowing and growling and barking at each other like a pair of nek

  battle dogs.

  Jaina chuckled as she picked out a few of the guttural phrases--things

  like "I thought I'd never see you again" and "I told you I'd find

  you"--but most of the interchange was too fast for her to follow.

  Watching the two splash and frolic in the water, she felt a pang. Jaina

  couldn't help but wish that Zekk was here, too. She had so much to say

  to the young man who kept trying to find a way to erase his dark side

  past.

  She realized that Raaba and Lowie must also have a lot of things they

  wanted to say to each other.

  Chiding herself, she said, "Jacen, Raynar, Tenel Ka--I think we need to

  get back to the Great Temple now. Lowie can come back whenever he's

  ready?" Tenel Ka, treading water beside Jacen, caught on quickly.

  "This is a fact," she said.

  Jacen shrugged. "Okay." He swam with the warrior girl back to shore.

  Raynar gave Jaina a questioning look, but did not argue.

  Turning back toward the river, Jaina yelled, "Hey, Lowie, will you be

  needing Em Teedee for anything?"

  He rumbled a negative and cocked his head, as if to inquire why two

  Wookiees would need a translating droid.

  "Okay, I'll take him to my room, give him a tune-up, maybe figure out

  how to waterproof him."

  But the two Wookiees didn't hear her. Lowie and Raaba were already

  splashing together toward the far side of the river....

  For the next two days, the Wookiees were completely absorbed in each

  other as they went for climbs in the jungle and flew around the small

  moon in the Rising Star or in Lowie's T-23.

  Jaina found it sweet to see Lowie so smitten, but disturbing as well.

  Aside from perfunctory greetings, Raaba made no effort whatsoever to

  converse with anyone but Lowie and one or two alien Jedi

  trainees. She seemed to find humans not worth the bother.

  Jaina knew, of course, that Raaba was angry at Tyko Thul for insulting

  Nolaa Tarkona and the Diversity Alliance just before she'd left Kuar,

  but Jaina had hoped the chocolate-furred Wookiee would want to get

  better acquainted with Lowie's friends.

  That did not prove to be the case.

  It came as an even greater shock, then, when Lowie announced that he was

  leaving the Jedi academy, at least for a while.

  Raaba intended to return to Kashyyyk for a reunion with her best friend,

  Sirra, and to announce to her family that she was still alive.

  She had invited Lowie to come along so that he could visit his own

  family and so that she could spend more time talking with him about the

  Diversity Alliance on the way there and back.

  He would be gone with Raaba for no more than a few weeks, Lowie assured

  them all. Then, without ceremony, he packed a small satchel of

  belongings and necessities for the trip and clipped his lightsaber to

  the glossy, woven belt. Since he would have no need for a translator

  among Wookiees, he asked Jaina to take care of Em Teedee for him while

  he was gone.

  "Do be careful, Master Lowbacca," Em Teedee called forlornly from

  Jaina's hand. "I shall await your return with great anticipation."

  Lowie made his goodbyes and climbed into the Rising Star. Jaina, Jacen,

  Raynar, and Tenel Ka stood back, and Raaba's little skimmer took off.

  Tucking the translating droid under one arm, Jaina watched the ship

  dwindle into the distance and vanish into the cloud-streaked skies.

  Lowie was gone.

  THE DAYS ON the jungle moon seemed longer and emptier.

  Jacen missed Lowbacca. It wasn't as if the young Wookiee had never gone

  away before, but this was different--unplanned, an interruption of their

  normal Jedi training schedule. It also hurt that Lowie had so easily

  chosen other priorities and left his friends behind.

  Jacen felt uncomfortable not knowing exactly when his friend would

  return to them. He had no logical reason to worry, but the situation

  was disquieting all the same. His sister had seemed upset as well.

  She and Lowie had been planning some modifications to Tenel Ka's ship,

  the Rock Dragon. But without the ginger-furred Wookiee to assist her,

  Jaina made excuses to put off the project, even though Jacen, Tenel Ka,

  Raynar, and even Em

  Teedee had offered to help. Jacen hoped she would perk up soon and

  change her mind.

  Luckily, the antics of his little gort hatchling often cheered Jacen.

  "Here, Raynar. You hold her," he said, handing the long-tailed ball of

  blue fluff to the other boy.

  Raynat pushed back the sleeves of his plain brown Jedi robe. A bit
/>   gingerly, but with obvious pleasure, the young man held Nicta in the

  palm of his hand and stroked her with a forefinger. The little creature

  wound her tail around the Alderaanian boy's forearm and trilled happily.

  Raynat was beginning to show a genuine, though timid, interest in

  Jacen's numerous pets.

  Nicta chose that moment to leap from Raynat's palm with her tail still

  wrapped around his wrist.

  She dangled upside down, clacking her wide, flat beak. Raynar laughed.

  "She'll probably be a good tree climber like Lowie. Too bad he can't be

  here to see this. I think he'd enjoy it."

  "Yeah," Jacen agreed. "I was just thinking the same thing."

  A knock sounded at the door and, without waiting for a reply, his sister

  popped her head in.

  "Hi, Jaina," Jacen said. "Need us to work on those sublight engines

  yet?"

  She shook her head. "Comm center just received a message from Uncle

  Luke. Said he's coming back with a surprise and wants the two of us to

  meet the

  Shadow Chaser out on the landing field. No idea what it's all about."

  "Well, well, well," Raynar said, standing up and putting Nicta back in

  her terrarium. He had been careful not to intrude too much on the

  activities of the other young Jedi Knights. "I've got some studying to

  do back in my room. I'll catch up with you later."

  Luke Skywalker's surprise, as it turned out, was a visitor.

  "Lusa!" Jaina exclaimed. Her mouth opened and closed a few times in

  amazement as she looked at the beautiful alien girl who stood before

  her--a Centauriform, with the lower body and four legs of a horse and

  the upper torso of a humanoid.

  Jaina reached out to hug the girl. Just seeing Lusa again brought back

  a flood of memories of when she, Jacen, their brother Anakin, and the

  Centaur girl had all been kidnapped by power-hungry Heth-rir, nearly ten

  years before. To increase his own power in the Force, Hethrir had hoped

  to sacrifice a Force-talented child to a being named Waru near the

  Crystal Star. Jaina and the centaur girl had formed a bond during their

  captivity and had helped each other resist Hethrir's attempts to control

  them.

  Though all the children had been rescued, Jaina still had occasional

  nightmares about the ordeal.

  As she pulled back to look at her old friend, though, she saw torment in

  Lusa's wide, round eyes.

  She wondered if their past experience had scarred the Centaur girl more

  deeply than it had the Solo children.

  A bit shyly, Jacen extended his arms to squeeze Lusa's hands in

  greeting. "Hey, you've . . . urn, changed." He stumbled a bit over

  his words.

  "What've you been doing all these yearsT' The red-gold Centaur child had

  grown into a beautiful young woman. The color of her mane and flanks

  had deepened from a coppery color that nearly matched Tenel Ka's hair to

  a rich reddish-brown like polished cinnamon. The dapple markings were

  gone from her flanks now, and her curly mane fell down her bare torso

  nearly to her waist.

  Transparent horns with smooth ridges like carved ice grew through the

  cinnamon curls on Lusa's forehead.

  "It's good to see you again," Jaina said. "Have you come to study at

  the Jedi academy?"

  Luke Skywalker had been watching the reunion with sober interest.

  Now he spoke up as the Centaur girl shifted uncomfortably from hoof to

  hoof and flicked her long tail. "Lusa has a lot she wants to tell you,

  but let's get her settled first."

  Jaina invited her to join them for the midday meal, and Lusa accepted in

  a husky voice, her eyes not quite meeting Jaina's. Then she followed

  Master Skywalker quietly into the Great Temple, her hooves clopping on

  the flagstone floor.

  At mealtime, Jaina was surprised to find that her uncle had arranged for

  the young Jedi Knights, as well as Raynar, to eat with him in his

  private quarters rather than in the large dining hall. She soon

  understood why.

  "Lusa has a painful story to tell us. I felt it might be easier if She

  started with a very small group," Luke said. "A group of friends."

  The meal was already on the table, and the companions seated themselves.

  When Lusa folded her horselike legs beneath her and sat up at the table,

  her head rose to the same height as Luke's.

  After introductions, Tenel Ka immediately offered a toast of friendship

  to the new arrival, while Raynar stared tongue-tied at the beautiful

  Centaur girl.

  Luke scanned the tiny group for a moment, as if searching for Lowie.

  Jaina watched her old friend Lusa glance nervously around the table,

  then look down for several seconds. "Master Skywalker thinks it's

  important that you all hear this," Lusa said. "And I agree." Her voice,

  though barely audible at first, carded a husky, mesmerizing quality.

  "Ever since we were kidnapped . . . when we were children"--she

  looked at Jacen and Jaina--"I've had an angry place inside of me. Even

  when I returned to my family, they never understood that anger. Maybe I

  didn't either. As I grew up, I had a hard time making friends, a hard

  time trusting anyone . . . until two years ago.

  "I met others who knew what it was like to have their lives disrupted,

  how it felt to be violated. They understood my anger--and shared it.

  They had dedicated themselves to making life better for the downtrodden

  of the galaxy. They offered me a place working for justice and fair

  treatment of nonhuman species. They were fervent and idealistic. And

  so was I. I admired what they stood for.

  "For the first time in many years, I felt accepted and needed.

  Not only did I have a place where I felt I belonged, but I was doing

  good for others. With each individual I helped, I saw a pattern

  emerging.

  In one way or another, they all had been taken advantage of or harmed by

  humans . . . like Hethrir."

  She spat the name.

  Jaina blinked in surprise, leaving her food untouched.

  She wasn't sure what she had expected of Lusa's story, but it hadn't

  been this. The tone reminded her of some of the things Raaba had told

  Lowie back on Kuar.

  "My new friends showed me how human domination had caused our problems.

  It was so clear, !

  wondered why I hadn't seen it before," Lusa continued.

  She seemed distant, as if talking in a dream.

  Jaina felt her stomach tie itself into a knot, and she exchanged glances

  with her brother: Certainly Hethrir had been human . . . but so was

  Jaina, and

  so were the people who had rescued the children from him. How could the

  Centaur girl have blindly accepted such a pernicious generalization

  about humans? With a sinking heart, Jaina waited to hear what Lusa

  would say next.

  "The more I understood how humans had trampled my species and the other

  aliens I was helping, the greater responsibilities I was given in our

  group.

  Our leader began sending me on covert missions. I saved alien lives,

  rescued slaves, helped to overthrow tyrants. I knew I was doing good

  work, a
nd for a good reason.

  "Then, about ten days ago, our leader gave me an assignment to wipe the

  navicomputers of a geological survey ship, Through carelessness and

  neglect, its crew had destroyed a forest on the planet Kaisa and had

  caused the extinction of the Buro, a species of ethereally beautiful

  sentient insects. My job was to make sure that the survey ship's

  navicomputer would never again guide its geologists to a new world they

  could destroy.

  "I eagerly took the assignment. I had been so indoctrinated by the

  group that I cringed at the very sight of the humans whose computer I

  had been sent to sabotage. But for some reason--maybe because one of

  the geologists had a daughter who was the same age as you were when I

  knew you, Jaina . . . I--"

  Lusa's voice broke, and she paused before going

  on. "As I watched the geologists boarding their craft, whose computer I

  had just sabotaged, I realized that after their very first hyperspace

  jump no one aboard would have any idea where they were.

  When they emerged from hyperspace it was entirely possible that they

  would be lost in uncharted territory--or worse yet, that they might come