Jedi Under Siege Page 5

  THE GREEN-BROWN RIVER that flowed sluggishly through the primeval forest

  was broad and powerful, yet outwardly calm. The current showed not the

  least bit of disturbance from the titanic struggle of good and evil

  taking place on Yavin 4.

  The river hosted numerous life-forms: invisible plankton and carnivorous

  protozoans, water plants, trees that dangled sharp roots into the flow,

  and camouflaged predators that disguised themselves as innocuous parts

  of the landscape.

  But as blaster shots rang out and the buzz of lightsabers droned through

  the jungle, other creatures moved in the thick branches over the river

  and in the water itself . . .

  creatures trained in using the Force.

  Rounded reptilian snouts broke the surface of the murky river. Breathing

  slits rose up, nostrils flaring to draw in welcome oxygen. The three

  scaly creatures moved slowly

  ^

  ^ enough that only slight ripples whispered across the water. Settling

  into position deep in the mud, they sniffed and lay in wait near the

  path at the river's edge.

  Their enemies would come soon.

  Moving stealthily yet radiating a Supremely confident power, three of

  the Dark Jedi trainees from the Shadow Academy strode through the

  underbrush, hacking away the dense vines and branches with their

  lightsaber blades. They reached the riverbank and paused to consult with

  each other, still searching for their opponents' "Skywalker's Jedi

  trainees are cowards," one said. "Why don't they come out and fight?

  They all hide in the jungle like terrified rodents." 'How can they not

  be afraid of us?" another one said. "They know the power of the dark

  side."

  Consulting silently, with only a faint stream of bubble for

  communication, three of Luke Skywalker's reptilian Cha'a trainees lunged

  out of the river, spewing a stream of water at their enemies. They used

  the Force to summon a hammering flow of the river, a colunm of drenching

  wetness that reared up like a snake, then splashed down. The Dark Jedi

  lightsaber blades sizzled and steamed.

  ^ The three Cha'a hissed and chattered with laughter as they summoned up

  more and more water.

  The waterlogged Dark Jedi sputtered and thrashed from side to side as

  they attempted to summon up dark-side powers with which to strike back

  at their reptilian opponents.

  Just then, from the dense shelter of the trees above, a trio of

  feathered avians left their perches and plunged down. They let out a

  high, fluting whistle of a battle cry.

  The Dark Jedi were distracted for a moment, torn between two enemies.

  Then the avians landed on top of them, driving them to the ground and

  knocking them unconscious. The avians chirped and screeched in victory

  as the Cha'a hauled themselves dripping out of the river mud and slogged

  toward the three new captives.

  Working together, Skywalker's alien Jedi trainees removed whiplike vines

  from the underbrush and lashed the arms and legs of their prisoners

  together. One of the Cha'a picked up the discarded Shadow Academy

  lightsabers, studied the poor construction and unimaginative

  workmanship. One by one, he tossed the tainted weapons into the never.

  They splashed, and sank without a trace.

  ^ Meanwhile, the avians crouched over the unconscious captives and used

  their Jedi powers to probe the minds of Brakiss's students. They added

  strong Force suggestions to make sure their enemies would continue to

  sleep for a long time. . . .

  Tionne tossed her long silvery-white hair behind her to get it out of

  the way. She would need her vision unobstructed, with no distractions.

  She looked at the other Jedi students with her gleaming mother-of-pearl

  eyes. Master Skywalker frequently entrusted her with training these

  students, and now Tionne would do battle. The Yavin 4 academy had often

  been a target of the forces of evil-but the true Jedi Knights had won

  before, and she had no doubt they would win again.

  She and her students stood around the flat marble slab and broken

  columns of what had once been an open-air Massassi temple before it was

  swallowed up by the jungle. This was the place at which they had chosen

  to make their stand.

  "Are you all ready?" Tionne said. "Remember what ou have been taught.

  There is no try. We must succeed in defeating the warriors of the dark

  side."

  ^ Her students shouted their agreement, looking at her with eyes full of

  confidence in their abilities and her plan. One of the young women

  nodded to Tionne, took a deep breath, then ran off into the forest in

  search of the invading Dark Jedi. Within only moments the young woman

  cried out, shouting, challenging the trainees of the Shadow Academy.

  Tionne heard a lightsaber sizzle. Branches fell . . . and then came the

  sound of footsteps crashing through the forest as her student hurried

  back toward the trap they had set. Tionne gestured silently for the

  others to prepare lemse. ves.

  "Come back here, Jedi vermin!" one of the enemy called, hidden by the

  thickets.

  Four Dark Jedi came plunging through the jungles, bursting into the

  temple clearing where the panting student stood on the other side of a

  flat marble slab hanging above their heads. Tionne's student looked

  defeated.

  The invaders stepped forward. "We will crush your mind with the dark

  side!" one said.

  "Now!" Tionne shouted. From their shadowy hiding places, four of her

  special students reached out with the Force: in an

  ^ unexpected, irresistible move, they snatched the four hghtsabers from

  enemy hands. The Dark Jedi cried out in alarm and surprise at losing

  their weapons. Then 'Bonne and her students emerged from the underbrush

  and surrounded them.

  "We don't need our lightsabers to defeat you. We can still flatten you

  with our power!"

  said the first overconfident opponent. The power of the dark side!" All

  four of the enemy Jedi stood in a tight cluster, back to back, raising

  their hands.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Tionne said calmly, letting her pale

  lips show a brief smile. "You wouldn't want to distract us-a brief

  fluctuation in our concentration might become a crushing defeat for

  you."

  She glanced upward. Her four students remained motionless with their

  eyes closed, focused on their task.

  The Dark Jedi looked up and saw that the marble slab they had thought to

  be the ceiling of a crumbling temple was completely unsupported, a

  hovering rectangle of rock weighing many tons, balanced over their

  heads. It floated, held up by nothing but the power of the Force.

  'honne's students maintained their concentration.

  The Dark Jedi swallowed hard.

  ^

  "You can try to escape if you like," Tionne said. "Maybe you have enough

  power to subdue all of us with enough left over to catch that block of

  stone before it falls down on your heads. Maybe." She shrugged. "It's

  your choice, of course. But I wouldn't risk it." The four Dark Jedi

  exchan
ged glances, unable to find words. Finally, one by one, they

  lowered their clenched hands and surrendered.

  Tionne heaved a quiet but heartfelt sigh of relief.

  Another tree stood in the forest, short and stunted, with a thick trunk.

  Branches extended out in such a way that, if looked at in a certain

  light, it had an almost humanoid appearance: one of Master Skywalker's

  Jedi, a slow-moving, long-lived plantlike creature.

  She often went out to spend days in the sunlight, using photosynthesis

  to drink in nourishment, absorbing minerals from the soil, water from

  the river, and carbon dioxide from the air.

  She would spend all day, many days at a time, simply contemplating the

  Force and her place in the universe. @ees remained

  ^ alive for a long time and did not rush into ill-considered action;

  yet at times such as this, she could manage to move fast enough.

  She understood the importance of protecting the Jedi academy.

  She had entered into her training to understand the Force, vowing to

  defend the side of light-and here she found herself in a clear-cut

  battle against the Shadow Academy. Dark Jedi enemies coursed through the

  jungle, searching for victims, but Master Skywalker had taught all the

  trainees well. The light-side students would put up a good fight.

  The treelike Jedi stood motionless, watching, sensing the jungle . . .

  and she knew her enemies would come to her. She had only to wait. Her

  roots dug deeper into the soil, drawing on it for greater energy. She

  felt the sap pulsing through her, boiling in her veins, allowing her to

  gain the speed for the unwavering action that she would require just

  this once . . . she hoped.

  She had chosen her spot well, next to an ailing Massassi tree, tall with

  outspreading branches. Its trunk was nested with vines and dripping with

  parasitic shelf mushrooms that had tapped into its heartwood

  ^ and begun devouring the great tree from within.

  The Jedi could tell that this great-grandfather of a tree had lived for

  centuries and centuries. . . . It was the way of things, the cycle of

  the forest. As plants grew, they went to seed to bear their young, and

  then slowly decayed to warm organic matter and fertilized the forest for

  subsequent generations.

  She saw how the old Massassi tree leaned, observed the surrounding

  jungle . . . waited.

  She reached out with the Force subtly, gently, so that even the adepts

  of the Dark Side would not know they were being manipulated. "Come

  here," she thought, broadcasting it over and over again. At least one of

  them would catch the hint. They would think they had detected one of

  their lightside enemies-but it would be all the plant Jedi's doing.

  After an indeterminate period-she did not measure time in small

  incrementsshe sensed a clumsy disturbance: two attackers from the Shadow

  Academy storming through the forest, as if the delicate ecosystem was no

  more than a nuisance that they would eradicate completely, given the

  chance.

  ^ The Jedi waited. She had to concentrate.

  She had to act at the right moment and not waste time thinking, or else

  her opportunity would pass.

  Curled within one of her gnarled branchesa handlike appendage-was a

  knobby lightsaber built to accommodate her wooden grip.

  The two Dark Jedi came into the clearing and stopped. "I see nothing

  here," said one.

  "Lord Brakiss would be ashamed of you.

  Lord Zekk would take away your lightsaber.

  The powers of the dark side are wasted on you." "I tell you, I sensed

  it," said the other. He stepped forward, looking from side to side,

  studying the quiet jungle. His companion stood next to him, scowling.

  At that moment the Jedi used all her stored reserves-and acted. She

  ignited the lightsaber and slashed sideways with her branch arm, like a

  bent sapling suddenly released to snap straight again.

  "I am sorry, Grandfather Tree," she said-and her lightsaber blade

  cleaved through the trunk of the tottering old Massassi tree, severing

  it from the stump and letting the arms of gravity embrace it. Its

  wide-branched top leaned over and the tree

  ^ crashed onto the two Dark Jedi intruders.

  They had time only to look up with a muffled outcry of surprise as a

  meteor of branches and vines smashed down upon them.

  The Jedi deactivated her lightsaber, then felt a trembling through her

  entire wooden body. In one act, she had drained months and months of her

  energy reserves. She stretched her branches up toward the sunlight, dug

  her roots deeper.

  It would take her a long time to recover from this day.

  ^ -----------------AFTER CROSSING THE river, Jaina fought her way

  through the jungle, seeking a suitable path through the thickest

  underbrush while keeping herself hidden from other attackers. Right now,

  the tangled forest was her ally, and she could use the cover to her

  advantage. She wasn't afraid to combat the Dark Jedi threatening the

  academy-but she had a vital mission in mind . . . something more to her

  tastes.

  As long as the defensive energy shields remained down and the generator

  damaged, the entire area was vulnerable to repeated attacks from the

  skies. Luke Skywalker's trainees were defending themselves . . . but if

  Jaina could somehow repair the shield generator and get the protective

  force field up again, the new Jedi Knights could take care of these

  audacious enemies one at a time.

  Jaina finally made her way to the clearing where her father and

  Chewbacca had re

  ^

  ^ cently installed the new energy shield generator. With only a glance

  she saw that the machinery was irreparable, despite her usual knack for

  fixing things.

  Normally, she could make temporary repairs to get systems up and running

  again, at least for a while. But not in this case. An Imperial saboteur

  had used thermal detonators to wipe out the entire generating station.

  It was hopelessly ruined, a pile of shrapnel; no simple fixup would do.

  Jaina's attention remained on the generator for only a moment, however.

  She caught her breath.

  There in the clearing sat an Imperial TIE fighter in perfect condition.

  Ever since Chewbacca had given Lowie the T-23 skyhopper, Jaina had

  longed for a vehicle of her own. That, in fact, had been the impetus

  behind her desire to repair the crashed TIE fighter the young Jedi

  Knights had found in the jungles-Qorl's TIE fighter.

  She stopped and stared, frozen with excitement and apprehension. But

  other than the muffled noises of battle in the jungles and the distant

  shouts and blaster fire near the Great Temple, she heard no sound.

  Jaina withdrew her lightsaber and pressed the power stud. The beam

  sprang outward, ^ glowing an electric violet. Then she crept forward

  stealthily, ready to fight if the TIE pilot emerged with his blaster

  drawn. But she sensed no one else around, heard no noise from the craft.

  "Hello?" Jaina called. "You'd better surrender if you're an Imperial!"

  She waited.

  "Uh, is anyone here?"

  Only
the simmering jungle noises answered her.

  Moving forward, letting her eagerness take over, she ran to the

  abandoned TIE fighter. It was a sinister-looking ship: a rounded cockpit

  suspended between two flat hexagonal power arrays, twin ion engines that

  would propel the small fighter across space, a bank of deadly laser

  cannons.

  Ideas and possibilities thundered through her mind. If she could pilot

  this ship into the enemy's midst, Jaina would be in disguise. She could

  slip in among them, and they wouldn't know she was actually an enemy . .

  . until it was too late.

  Switching off her lightsaber again, Jaina opened the cockpit hatch and

  crawled inside. She had studied how TIE fighters worked when she and her

  friends had replaced the components of Qorl's crashed ship. She knew the

  buttons on the control

  ^ panels, knew how the systems activated.

  Though the exiled old pilot had flown off in his ship before Jaina had

  had a chance to take it on a flight, she was confident she could handle

  the craft.

  She settled into the pilot's seat, noting the oily scent of stale

  lubricants and the sour odors the Empire did not bother to remove.

  A rebreather mask hung next to a small life-support console. The cockpit

  walls closed around her like a protective shell, giving her little room