Heirs of the Force Page 9

  with an audible fwoookt.

  With nothing interesting to be seen on the ground, he gave the bush a

  small shake once the leaf creature departed. He was.rewarded with a

  hissing rustle as a dislodged object fell near his elbow. He picked it

  up.

  It was an Imperial insignia.

  He turned the metallic object over in his hand, but then he saw a

  familiar shimmer at the edge of his gaze, and he reflexively grabbed for

  it. Jacen wriggled backward out of the bushes, stood, and bounded over

  to the TIE fighter.

  "Look what I found!" he crowed. His sister's lower half protruded at

  an awkward angle from the cockpit, while she was apparently attempting

  to connect some part of the hyperdrive behind the pilot's seat.

  Her muffled voice drifted out to him. "Just a moment. I need a flash

  heater."

  Tenel Ka passed a small tool in from the other side of the open cockpit.

  She and Lowbacca, wiping sealant from their hands, came around to see

  what Jacen had discovered.

  "A brooch of some sort?" Tenel Ka asked, examining it closely.

  Jacen shook his head. "An Imperial insignia. Came off a uniform of

  some kind."

  "There," Jaina said, extracting herself from the cockpit of the TIE

  fighter and jumping down beside them. "That should do it."

  Jacen handed her the insignia, and she nodded absently. "Look what else

  I found," he said, holding up his left arm, which was wrapped in a

  glowing shimmer.

  Jaina made a sound somewhere between a growl and a laugh, and backed

  away. "Great.

  Just what we need-another crystal snake' that can get loose."

  Jacen used a tactic he knew his sister couldn't resist. "Oh," he said,

  letting disappointment show. "It's just that you've always been so good

  at designing things-I thought you could come up with a cage that the

  snakes couldn't escape from. But if you really don't think you can He

  saw Jaina's face light at the challenge, but then her brandy-brown eyes

  narrowed shrewdly, and he knew that she had caught on. "That, op she

  said, "is a dirty trick. You know I could-" She shook her head, sighed

  in mock exasperation, and seemed to resign herself to the inevitable.

  "Oh, all right! I'll build you a new cage for your crystal snakes-"

  "Thanks," a grinning Jacen cut her off before she could change her mind.

  "You're the best sister in the whole galaxy!"

  Jaina huffed indelicately. "But don't bring this new snake back to your

  quarters until I have the cage ready."

  "Okay," Jacen said, "I'll keep it someplace safe-maybe in the cargo

  compartment. Can I have the Imperial insignia back, please?"

  Jaina tossed it to him, and he began to polish it against the sleeve of

  his jumpsuit. "I wonder if it belonged to the pilot."

  Lowbacca looked at the crashed TIE fighter and then back at Jacen and

  rumbled a question. "Master Lowbacca suggests it is unlikely that the

  pilot survived the crash, even if his fall was cushioned by the Massassi

  trees," Em Teedee said.

  Tenel Ka looked around the site with unblinking eyes. "No bones."

  Jacen shrugged. "After twenty years, that's not surprising. Lots of

  scavengers in the jungle. I've been assuming he was thrown clear."

  Tenel Ka's cool eyes looked troubled, but she nodded. "Perhaps."

  The four worked in companionable silence as they attached the final hole

  patch to the damaged hull. Then, while the other three applied the

  slow-drying sealant, Jacen hunted around in the underbrush. He knew he

  shouldn't be out of sight for more than a few seconds, but he had

  already searched all of the thickets in clear view of the crash site.

  Promising himself that he wouldn't be gone long, Jacen pushed through a

  particularly thick tangle of dense, dark-leaved plants and emerged into

  a small clearing no wider than his outstretched arms. The dirt was

  completely devoid of plant life, as if some animal trampled it so often

  that vegetation no longer grew there. It extended deeper into the

  jungle-a path! It was narrow, but the hard-packed trail was

  unmistakable.

  Forgetting his earlier promise to stay close, Jacen plunged through the

  bushes and followed the trail. The grove of Massassi trees was younger,

  their branches lower to the ground. Perhaps that was why none of the

  companions had seen this path from up above.

  The jungle grew darker around him as he trudged on. The chitters,

  growls, and screeches of forest animals seemed more menacing.

  Just as he began to realize that he was much too far away from the

  others, he came upon a clearing beside a small stream.

  Some creature had built a dam across the stream, diverting some of the

  water into a depression beside it to form a wide, shallow pool. Against

  the burn-hollowed trunk of a huge Massassi tree'at the watees edge

  leaned a number of long, fat branches covered with moss and ferns to

  form a crude shelterperhaps the lair of the creature whose path Jacen

  had been following.

  Jacen reached out toward the little hovel with his mind, but sensed

  nothing larger than insects living around it. Skirting the small pond,

  he approached the low shelter, his heart pounding loudly in his chest.

  He knew he should be more cautious. But what was this place?

  What if the beast that lived here was a predator? What if it returned

  as he was investigating?

  Jacen jumped as he heard a loud crackbut it was only a twig snapping

  under his own foot. He bent forward to look into the branchy opening of

  the shelter, and gasped at what he saw there.

  Fully a third of the Massassi tree's trunk had been hollowed out to form

  a sturdy, dry cave, tall enough for a man to stand in. A makeshift

  wooden chair stood beside a low mound of leaves that might have been a

  bed, partially covered by a ragged piece of cloth. A cache of

  equipment, vines, fruits, and dried berries lay piled against the back

  of the cave.

  Perched atop the pile was a nightmarish black helmet with triangular

  eyeplates and a breathing mask connected to a pair of rubber hoses that

  Jacen figured had once been linked with an air tank.

  An Imperial TIE fighter pilot's helmet.

  Jacen stumbled backward, away from the shelter, his breath coming in

  shallow gasps.

  He tripped and fell, and found himself inside a ring of low stones and

  ashes. A fire pit. He scooped away some of the dirt that covered the

  pit and felt around with trembling fingers. The ground was still warm.

  Jacen jumped to his feet and raced toward the little trail at full

  speed. He ran along the narrow path, heedless of the branches that

  slapped his face or the thorns that tore at his jumpsuit, oblivious to

  the animals he startled from their hiding places. He didn't slow as he

  approached the bushes that surrounded the crashed TIE fighter.

  He burst into the tiny clearing and ran up to the wreck, yelling,

  "Jaina! Tenel Ka!

  Lowie! He's here. He's alive. The TIE pilot isn't dead!"

  The three of them looked up in astonishment just as Jacen heard a

  rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to see a haggard,


  grizzled-looking man step through the bushes. The stranger's face was

  deeply lined, and he wore a tattered flight suit. His left arm was bent

  at an awkward angle, and was wrapped in an armored gauntlet of black

  leather. But in his glove he held an ugly, old-model blaster. And the

  weapon was leveled directly at the young Jedi Knights.

  "Yes," said the Imperial fighter pilot. "I am very much alive. And you

  are my prisoners." ----------------WHEN THE IMPERIAL TIE pilot turned

  his eyes from her for a split second, Tenel Ka reacted with lightning

  speed, just as she had been taught by the warrior women on Dathomir.

  "Run!" she shouted to the others, knowing exactly what to do. She

  turned and bolted for the nearest tangled undergrowth, dodging expected

  blaster fire.

  Tenel Ka reacted so quickly and so smoothly that even her most rigid

  battle trainers would have been proud of her. Their tactics had been

  drilled into her: Confuse the enemy.

  Do the unexpected.

  Take your opponent by surprise.

  Don't waste time hesitating.

  Tenel Ka tore through the tangled thorns and blueleaf shrubs, clawing

  with her hands to clear a path that closed behind her as she moved

  through the thicket. She gasped and panted, bolting ahead, ignoring the

  scratches and stinging pain of the thorns against her bare arms and

  legs. The scaled armor protected her vital parts, but her red-gold hair

  flew around her, snagging loose leaves and twigs. Branches caught at

  her braids and yanked strands of her hair out by the roots.

  She hissed with pain, but clamped her teeth together, plunging ahead.

  Why couldn't she hear the others running?

  "Get help!" It was Jacen shouting behind her, still in the clearing.

  Why didn't they run?

  Then an explosion of flames ripped into the underbrush just to her left.

  The TIE pilot was firing his blaster at her! The smell of singed

  leaves and burnt sap stung her nostrils. Tenel Ka dove to the ground,

  rolled sideways, then ran at full speed in a different direction. If

  she gave up now, he would kill her. She had no doubt of that-not

  anymore.

  Intent only on distancing herself from the TIE pilot, she fled, changing

  directions at random to confuse the enemy Branches cracked underfoot,

  and Tenel Ka paid no attention whatsoever to where she ran .

  . . deeperinto the densest jungle of Yavin 4.

  Lowbacca hesitated only a fraction of a second longer.

  Tenel Ka seemed to evaporate as she shouted "Run!" and ducked into the

  thick forest.

  The TIE pilot whirled and pointed his blaster at the place where Tenel

  Ka had disappeared, and Lowbacca used the instant of distraction.

  The young Wookiee let out a bellow of surprise and anger, then

  instinctively surged up the ancient hole of the nearest Massassi tree,

  climbing higher, up, where it was safe.

  He grabbed branches and vines, hauling himself up toward the thick,

  spicy-smelling canopy. Behind him, the Imperial fighter began shooting

  wildly. Explosions and bright flames from burning foliage ballooned out

  from where the blaster bolts struck the branches under Lowie's feet. He

  smelled the ozone of energy discharge, the steam of disintegrate

  vegetation.

  With Wookiee strength, Lowbacca climbed higher and higher, finally

  reaching thick, flat branches that allowed him to make his way across

  the treetops toward where he had landed the T-23.

  He had to get help. He had to rescue his friends. Tenel Ka had gotten

  to safety-or so he hoped-but Jacen and Jaina had not been able to react

  as quickly or move with such practiced wilderness skills.

  "Oh my!" Em Teedee wailed from the clip!

  on his waist. "Where are we going? That person was trying to kill us!

  Can you imagine that?"

  Lowie continued to scramble across the thick branches, loping with great

  agility, moving farther away from the still-firing pilot.

  "Master Lowbacca, answer me!" Em Teedee said, his tinny voice echoing

  from the speakerpatch. "You can't simply leave me hanging here doing

  nothing at all, you know."

  Lowbacca grunted a reply and kept moving.

  "But surely, that's beside the point," Em Teedee quibbled, "since I'm

  doing everything I can. Just because I have no functional arms or legs

  doesn't mean I don't want to assist YOU."

  The sounds of blaster fire from the clearing below had ceased, and

  Lowbacca feared that meant Jacen and Jaina were captured-or worse. His

  thoughts churned it in panic and turmoil. He knew he had to rescue

  them. But how? He had never done anything like this before. He

  didn't think Tenel Ka could do it alone, so he had to offer whatever

  help he could manage.

  The branches thinned up ahead, spreading out around the clearing where

  Lowbacca had settled the T-23. The small ship sat where he had landed

  it, and he scrambled back down the thick branches, clinging to vines

  until he reached ground level again. The T-23 was his best chance.

  Lowbacca had been so proud of the small craft when his uncle Chewie had

  given it to him, but now it seemed so small and battered, all but

  useless against an armed Imperial pilot. He trudged across the

  weedcovered ground over to the little skyhopper.

  He would have to use it to make the rescue.

  He had no better options.

  The low, simmering music of insects and jungle creatures filled the air.

  He could hear no sound of blaster fire, no shouts of challenge or pain.

  It was quiet. Too quiet. owbacca hurried.

  "oh, excellent idea!" Em Teedee said as they approached the T-23.

  "We're going back to the Jedi academy to get reinforcements, aren't we.

  That's by far the wisest thing to do, I'm sure."

  But Lowie knew it would be too late for the twins by then. He had to do

  something now.

  He told Em Teedee what he intended to do, and the miniature translating

  droid squawked in dismay.

  "But, Master Lowbacca! The T-23 has no weapons. How can you fly it

  against that Imperial pilot? He is a professional fighterand he's

  desperate!"

  Lowie had the same fears as he powered' up the T-23s repulsorlift

  engines. He ma e an optimistic comment to the translating droid.

  "Tricks? What tricks do you have up your sleeve?" Em Teedee said.

  "Besides, you don't even have sleeves."

  The craft sounded strong and powerful, thrumming and roaring in the

  jungle stillness. Lowie smelled the acrid exhaust, and snuffled. His

  black pilot seat vibrated as the ship prepared to take off.

  He would needto do @ome f@ncy flying to get the craft through the trees

  to the crash site-but he had to save his friends, offer whatever help he

  could. Perhaps his noisy approach would startle the TIE pilot enough to

  make him flee for cover. And then the twins could jump aboard and make

  their escape.

  Lowbacca nudged the throttles forward and lifted the T-23 off its

  resting place in the trampled undergrowth. The ion afterburners roared

  as the small ship arrowed through the forest, dodging branches and

  hanging moss, heading toward his frie
nds-directly into the path of

  danger.

  Back in the clearing, Jacen and Jaina froze for only a moment, then

  turned and ran, trying to escape-but the bulk of the almostrepaired TIE

  fighter got in their way. Jaina grabbed Jacen's arm, and the two of

  them ran together, frightened but knowing they needed to move, move.

  The Imperial pilot fired his blaster, shooting twice into the thicket

  where Tenel Ka had vanished. Burning brush and splintered twigs flew

  into the air in a cloud. For an instant Jaina thought their young

  friend from Dathomir had been killed-but then she heard more leaves

  rustling and branches snapping as Tenel Ka continued her desperate

  flight.

  The TIE pilot fired into the trees next, blasting the lower branches-but

  Lowbacca had gotten away. The twins ran around the end of the wrecked

  fighter, and suddenly Jacen stumbled over a rectangular box of

  hydrospanners, cyberfuses, and other tools they had gathered for the

  repair of the crashed ship-and fell headlong.

  Jaina grabbed her brother's arm, trying to yank him to his feet to run

  again. The ground screeched with an explosion of blaster fire.

  Three high-energy bolts ricocheted from the age-stained hull of the

  crashed ship.