Under A Black Sun Trilogy Page 6

  the race, publicity seekers and HoloNet reporters pestered them

  constantly, taking their images, interviewing them, asking them what it

  was like to receive such an honor.

  In the history of the Derby, no crew so young had ever won the

  challenge. Upon discovering that these were Jedi trainees, some of the

  losers cried "foul," claiming that the use of the Force gave an unfair

  advantage-though the Rock Dragon had not taken advantage of the

  permitted mechanical modifications, as most of the other contestants

  had.

  Fortunately the controversy died down quickly. The newspeople had

  other planets in the galaxy to dash off to, and Ord Mantell preferred

  to keep media attention to a minimum. Large groups of organized

  smugglers-some of them rivals, some allies-were a powerful political

  force, and they managed to shoo away the reporters shortly after the

  Derby ended.

  Some of Ord Mantell's most prestigious "businessmen" (important

  smugglers, Jaina presumed) had invited Han Solo to a banquet to thank

  him for his work as Grand Marshal, no doubt in an attempt to curry

  favor with the husband of the New Republic's Chief of State. Jaina

  smiled as she thought of this possibility: her father had nothing to

  gain by taking bribes, but she doubted the smugglers would realize

  this. Jaina wondered if Czethros would be there.

  Meanwhile, the Solo children spent the afternoon with their friends in

  the docking bay where the Falcon was berthed. At Han Solo's request,

  Zekk had been allowed to dock the Rock Dragon in the same secure V.I.P

  bay where Jaina had landed the Falcon, so that the Grand Marshal's ship

  and the Derby winner were isolated and protected in the same security

  area.

  When the twins told their friends about their adventure during the

  trial run of the obstacle course, Tenel Ka immediately suspected an

  assassination attempt. The warrior girl tossed her red-gold braids and

  squared her shoulders, obviously ready for action. She'd had plenty of

  experience with political intrigues in the tough environment of the

  Royal House of Hapes.

  Lowie expressed concern and Em Teedee dutifully translated, though

  Jaina could already make out many of the ginger-furred Wooklee's

  words.

  "Master Lowbacca suggests that we look at the space mine debris.

  Perhaps with some attentive analysis, we can determine the mines'

  origin."

  "Good idea, Em Teedee," Jaina said absently, then looked up into

  Lowie's golden eyes. "I mean, Lowie."

  The little translating droid detached himself from Lowie's fiber belt

  and floated in the air on his microrepulsorjets, bobbing about the

  docking bay. They went to the storage locker near the Falcon, where

  Han had insisted on keeping the evidence, believing that only he and

  his New Republic technicians could be trusted to perform a thorough

  analysis.

  "For some reason," Jaina said, "Dad isn't too confident that the people

  on Ord Mantell will give us an honest answer."

  Jacen said, "They're probably more interested in keeping their

  smuggling records secret."

  "Secrets are fine," Zekk said, "except when one of those secrets holds

  the key to who tried to kill you."

  On a worktable mounted to the docking bay wall, Jaina spread out the

  twisted fragments that had been scooped up by the Falcon's tractor

  beam. The young Jedi Knights pressed closer. Not much remained after

  the mines' detonation and vaporization in space, but Anakin scrutinized

  the shrapnel carefully and began to sort the pieces into piles he knew

  went to individual mines. Jaina let her younger brother work, knowing

  how well he was able to solve puzzles and visualize the way pieces fit

  together in three dimensions.

  In short order, Anakin had several partial mines reassembled. Lowie

  and Jaina helped him with the wiring, finding parts of serial numbers

  and determining the initial configuration using the two duds as a

  reference. The duds were dangerous, though they had been defused. If

  the mines had not detonated as programmed, Jaina didn't trust them to

  behave properly when deactivated either.

  Lowie growled as he picked up some of the pieces with his long

  fingers.

  Zekk studied the shrapnel as well. "I think these are contraband war

  materials," he said. "So much smuggling goes on through Ord Mantell,

  this could have come from a black-market weapons merchant."

  Jacen suggested, "Didn't Czethros say something about a civil war on a

  nearby planet? Anobis? The smugglers are supplying them with

  munitions."

  "But were those mines out there just dumped by a gun runner who was

  about to be caught," Jaina asked, "or were they intentionally set up to

  take us out of the picture?"

  Jacen sighed. "With all those HoloNet news reporters here covering the

  race, you'd think some of them would want to do a story about that

  terrible war everybody's talking about."

  "That would be too dangerous," Zekk said with a snort. "They'd rather

  do a nice, fun story about a space race." Jaina set down one of the

  broken space mines and shook her head.

  "We're not going to find out anything else unless we learn who some of

  the weapons dealers are. But for now ... I'm hungry!" She smiled at

  Zekk, then turned to Tenel Ka. "Don't suppose you upgraded the

  food-prep units on the Rock Dragon yet?"

  Tenel Ka nodded. "This is a fact. They are now progrwnmed to provide

  the best Hapan cuisine."

  "Sounds good-I'm starved." Jacen said, then looked over at the warrior

  girl. "In fact, let me push the buttons so I can say I made you a fine

  lunch."

  "That would be most appreciated, friend Jacen."

  Ducking inside the Rock Dragon, Jacen tinkered with the food-prep units

  until they produced some kind of meal whose name he couldn't

  pronounce.

  Tenel Ka called it "authentic" and "delicious"; Jaina found it

  "interesting."

  They laughed and talked, sharing food and friendship. Jaina especially

  enjoyed having Zekk as a close friend again, rather than an enemy or a

  guilt-ridden young man. Zekk was rapidly becoming the person she had

  known for so many years. No, not the same person-better. More

  mature.

  Around a mouthful of food, Jacen said, "Hey, stop me if you've heard

  this one. A bounty hunter, a Jedi Knight, and a Jawa trader walk into

  a cantina-" A resounding chorus of "We've heard that one!" rang

  through the cabin.

  In the middle of a swirling gelatinous dessert that insisted on

  crawling around the plates by itself, Tenel Ka sat up straight and

  alert, her eyebrows raised as if something was wrong. Lowie also

  growled.

  "what's up?" Jacen asked.

  "I sense something," Tenel Ka said. "I would like to investigate."

  She stepped out of the Rock Dragon, moving with feline grace, reaching

  out with her senses. Jaina watched the warrior girl, admiring the

  smoothness of her actions. Although she had lost her left arm in a

  lightsaber battle with Jacen, Tenel Ka ha
d not allowed the handicap to

  slow her down.

  The docking bay was silent, except for the hum of machinery, the

  ventilation system, and the distant sky traffic overhead through the

  rooftop doors. The bay walls were smooth gray metal. The Millennium

  Falcon sat unattended in shadows.

  Tenel Ka froze for a moment, then stepped away from the Rock Dragon,

  flicking her granite-gray gaze from side to side as she walked deeper

  into the docking bay. Jaina stood beside Lowie at the hatch. The

  young Wookiee's fur bristled, and she could feel his uneasiness.

  Tenel Ka stood stock still in the middle of the large room, her

  shoulders rigid, her arm partially bent at her side. She scanned the

  wall and studied the shadows, the old lubricant stains and smoke smears

  from hundreds of landings and takeoffs. She took three steps closer to

  the small workbench where the recovered space mine fragments had been

  spread out.

  Tenel Ka waited, narrowed her eyes, listened, and finally pulled out

  her rancor-tooth lightsaber. Jaina couldn't figure out what the

  warrior girl was doing. The walls remained gray and featureless.

  Tension hung thick in the air. Finally, when the warrior girl held up

  and switched on the glowing turquoise blade ... the shadows on the wall

  began to move!

  Jaina gasped. Lowie surged past her and ran to help. Figures on the

  walls shifted, and Jaina could make out gray-skinned creatures, vaguely

  humanoid. They moved like spiders with angular arms and legs that

  allowed them to crawl up the metal walls. The colors on their smooth,

  clwnmy skin shifted, patterns of stains on the walls reflected in their

  body pigmentation. When they held still, the chameleon-like creatures

  were almost invisible-but now that Tenel Ka had startled them, they

  were more easily seen. These shadows might be identical in color to

  the walls, but the play of light exposed them.

  Em Teedee cried, "Oh, dear! What are those creatures? I'm certain

  they're not at all friendly."

  One of the gray-skinned things scuttled down, snatched up an intact dud

  space mine, and scrambled back up the wall toward an air vent near the

  ceiling. Another chameleon-thing grabbed two more fragments.

  "They're stealing the evidence!" Zekk said.

  Then all the young Jedi Knights charged toward the docking bay wall to

  join the fray. Lightsabers ignited: Lowie's molten-bronze blade that

  was nearly as wide as Jaina's arm, her own electric-violet sword, and

  Jacen's emerald green. Zekk, who had forsaken his lightsaber upon

  returning to the Jedi academy, now drew a handy old blaster.

  Thinking fast, Anakin raced to the Rock Dragon's communications console

  and sounded an alarm, calling for the authorities.

  One of the chameleon-skinned creatures dropped from above to land on

  Tenel Ka's shoulder, driving her to the ground, its hands around her

  neck. Jacen tackled the thing and knocked it off his friend. Tenel Ka

  recovered quickly. Soon she and Jacen stood side by side with their

  lightsabers, driving the creature back.

  Several other creatures ran back to the wall, pressed themselves

  against it, and vanished in front of Jaina's eyes. But she knew they

  were there. Zekk reached up with his blaster, turned the setting to

  "stun," and fired at the blank spot on the wall. Circular blue arcs

  rippled out to illuminate the lumpy form of a chameleon creature. It

  dropped like an insect sprayed with poison and curled up on the

  floor.

  Jaina could hear the movement of soft gripping hands and feet as more

  of the creatures moved along. She had no idea how many of them there

  were, only that the young Jedi Knights were greatly outnumbered.

  But they were Jedi, so the odds were fairly even.

  One of the unseen creatures struck Jaina from behind. She whirled

  about, still holding her lightsaber. With a sizzle, the violet blade

  connected with something solid, and one of the creatures let out a

  hollow wail. She saw it clearly in the flash of her energy blade, its

  lips smooth, its mouth toothless. Patterns on its skin shifted like a

  thunderstorm of colors in its pain.

  Zekk fired his blaster again, and a second chameleon creature fell,

  this time from the ceiling, a great enough height that Jaina could hear

  the sharp sound of hollow bones cracking from the impact.

  Lowie fought in a mass of muscular, ginger-furred arms. Em Teedee

  cried out, "To your left, Master Lowbacca. I sense a distortion! To

  your left!" Lowie turned as one of the chameleon creatures leapt.

  With his free hand the Wookiee smacked its soft smooth skin and belted

  the thing aside.

  Suddenly, at the peak of the battle, Jaina saw a stranger charge into

  the docking bay-a young woman in her mid-twenties. She was wiry and

  moved like a whip. Her hair was dark, but streaked with lines like

  honey, as if she had woven strands of pale blond hair through her thick

  mane; a patterned leather band was wrapped around her forehead, holding

  her hair in place. Her face was narrow, her almond-shaped eyes large

  and dark and sad.

  But what most astonished Jaina was that the young woman carried a

  blazing lightsaber!

  The newcomer uttered a howl of challenge and ran into the fight,

  slashing from one side to the other, wielding her acid-yellow blade

  like a club. All the young Jedi Knights paused in shock, as did the

  chameleon creatures.

  The stranger took advantage of the hesitation and attacked. She seemed

  able to see the camouflaged creatures, or perhaps in the young woman's

  wild frenzy, she struck at everything in sight and happened to get

  lucky several times.

  Two of the creatures rippled into visibility, clutching their smoking

  wounds. They fell with the now-familiar hollow cries of pain before

  they died.

  "Don't just stand there-keep fighting!" the woman snarled, and the

  young Jedi Knights resumed the battle.

  But with the appearance of the newcomer, the creatures' fighting

  resolve broke. They began to flee, a flicker of barely seen shadows.

  "Hey, they're getting the space mines!" Jacen cried. Jaina raced

  toward the workbench as the surviving creatures grabbed the last

  components and swarmed up toward the air vent near the ceiling.

  Jaina watched the dark shaft swallow the shadowy creatures. The young

  woman ran ahead with a burst of speed and leapt up at the wall,

  sweeping with her lightsaber and striking the last chameleon creature

  in the back. It fell with another wordless wail as the rest of its

  companions escaped.

  Jaina frowned at this last needless slaughter. "You didn't have to do

  that. It was running, not attacking us."

  "They all need to be dead," the young woman said bitterly.

  Zekk and Lowie knelt over one of the fallen bodies, looking at the

  fading colors in the skin tone. Jaina knelt beside the one she had

  struck, gasping its last breaths.

  "Who are you? Who sent you?" she said, but breath only rattled in the

  creature's inhuman face, and it died. Then she saw emblazoned in its

&nbs
p; fading multicolored skin a mark, a solid dark circle with designs

  around it.

  She recognized the symbol. Zekk stood next to her, looked at the

  tattoo and then at Jaina. "That symbol reminds me of Black Sun."

  Jaina swallowed hard. She knew of the legendary underworld criminal

  organization run by vile gangsters and evil crime lords such as Prince

  Xizor in the days of the Rebellion. Many other cruel leaders had also

  had far-reaching claws that extended into numerous activities,

  controlling a large portion of the most insidious crimes in the

  galaxy.

  "But Black Sun's been quiet for years," she said.

  Zekk frowned. "I wonder if they're starting up again. Or if this is

  something else."

  Jacen turned to their unlikely helper. The wiry young woman stood

  there, large eyes wide, pupils dilated, body still trembling. Her arms

  jittered as if she were a barely contained mass of energy searching for

  another target to fight. Her comfortable, form-fitting shirt left her

  arms bare, displaying a tattoo on her right shoulder that looked to

  Jacen something like a piranha beetle with a lightning bolt on its

  back, but definitely not Black Sun.

  "These creatures don't know anything. They're only henchmen, sent here

  to remove your evidence. Those space mines were a setup to destroy the

  Millennium Falcon."

  "Yeah, we guessed that too," Jaina said. "But what I can't figure is