Delusions of Grandeur Read online

  would ever consider him her friend. Loyalty, she had said. Deep

  beliefs ....

  She looked for these things in her friends.

  What exactly did he believe in, though? He believed in his training as

  a Jedi, he supposed. And when he finished that training he would go out

  on an assignment to defend the New Republic before taking his place as

  heir to the Bornaryn fleet.

  But what about now? He believed in his family.

  How had he acted on that belief?

  Raynat could go out to search for his father and his uncle, he mused,

  but as only one of many, many searchers. He would probably make no

  difference to the final outcome.

  He could do nothing to protect his mother that she could not do for

  herself.

  Bornaryn Trading headquarters on Coruscant did not need him.

  So what could he do?

  Lusa submerged herself completely in the water and then surfaced again,

  letting the rushing stream beat down on her head and shoulders, as if

  its flow could cleanse her inside and out.

  Raynar smiled. He loved waterfalls. They reminded him of fountains

  like the ones used in the Alderaanian ceremony of waters. He and his

  mother

  and Uncle Tyko shared a love for that ceremony ....

  Raynar sat up straight. Uncle Tyko. There was something he could do

  for his uncle. With Tyko kidnapped, all the systems on Mechis III would

  be running unsupervised. He could go to the droid world and see that

  the manufacturing facilities there did not fall into disrepair while his

  uncle was absent.

  Raynar's excitement grew as the idea caught hold in his mind.

  When Lusa cantered up onto the soft riverbank, he jumped down from the

  boulder to share his news. Before he could approach, she stretched

  luxuriously and then shook herself dry, sending glistening droplets of

  water in every direction.

  Raynar didn't mind getting wet. He waited to make sure Lusa saw him and

  would not get spooked.

  She met his eyes tentatively, smiling. This time she did not recoil as

  he came closer.

  Eyes bright, Raynar told Lusa of his new plan to go to Mechis III.

  "It's the least I can do for my family."

  She looked surprised, supportive, and--Raynar hoped he sensed it

  correctly--slightly disappointed.

  "Will you be going alone?" she asked. "Do you have your own ship?"

  The question brought Raynar up short. He had not thought of how he

  would actually get to the droid world. "Well, if I have to find my way

  there

  alone, I will," he said firmly. He was surprised as he spoke the next

  words and realized they were true: "But I have some friends--I think

  they'll volunteer to go with me."

  And he was right.

  AFTER HIS DISCUSSION with Boba Fett, Zekk plunged into the search for

  Bornan Thul's brother.

  According to Jaina's recent hololetter, Tyko had been kidnapped by the

  assassin droid IG-88 during a battle in the lost city on Kuar.

  Jaina sent Zekk news-filled messages to reassure him of her friendship.

  Someday he intended to respond, when he felt confident enough in his new

  life that he could rise above the dark things he had done to her and her

  friends when he was part of the Shadow Academy.

  Zekk missed Jaina more than he could admit--even to himself--but he

  couldn't face her until he redefined who he was. First, he had to make

  his name as a bounty hunter. At the moment, an important part of his

  quest was to find Tyko Thul.

  By tapping into galactic information databases, Zekk compiled a dossier

  of background information

  on Raynar's uncle. After the destruction of Alder-aan, Boman and Aryn

  Dro Thul had transformed their remaining family wealth into a profitable

  merchant fleet. Tyko, on the other hand, had invested his fortune in

  rebuilding the droid manufacturing facilities on Mechis III.

  Next Zekk reviewed Jaina's hololetters and quickly summed up the

  details. When his brother became a fugitive, Tyko had retreated briefly

  to the safety of the Bornaryn fleet, and then joined Jaina, Jacen, and

  their friends to search for clues on Kuar.

  In the ruins, the group ran afoul of IG-88 and his squad of assassin

  droids, and the other Thul had been abducted during the battle.

  Zekk found it astonishing that IG-88 had so far made no ransom demands.

  The assassin droid seemed to be waiting for Bornan Thul to reappear from

  hiding and ask for his brother's release. But Zekk alone knew that the

  wanted man had other plans. Zekk would have to find Tyko himself.

  He searched through the Lightning Rod's navigational files until he

  found a minor notation on the ancient world of Kuar--enough to help him

  plan his route. Kuar was a faint clue at best, but at the moment he had

  no better leads. The ship launched into hyperspace.

  All civilization on the planet had turned to dust, leaving only skeletal

  cities poking out of craters and

  cliffsides. Archaeological evidence from long-ago expeditions suggested

  that this place had once served as a gladiatorial training ground for

  the fearsome Mandalorian warriors. Now, only mined cities remained,

  like scars gradually fading with time.

  It didn't take his sensors long to locate residual traces of the young

  Jedi Knights' encampment and the site of their fateful battle.

  At least now he had a place to start.

  He set the Lightning Rod down on the crater rim where Jacen and Jaina,

  Tenel Ka, and Lowie had begun exploring the rains. Standing beside his

  ship, which ticked and hissed and clanked as it settled on its landing

  pads, he stared into the immense bowl-shaped crater. These ruins were

  older than even the Mandalorian conquests. Towering skyscrapers had

  fallen apart, leaving only girder superstructures that protruded from

  the floor of the crater and rose nearly to its rim.

  The crater's sheer walls were riddled with tunnels and catacombs, like

  worm-infested wood. He let his imagination wander. On the balcony

  seats below, spectators had once watched life-and-death straggles inside

  the arena.

  Zekk surveyed the crater, pondering his next step.

  In order to search for any clues, he would need to find the exact site

  of the battle with the combat arachnids and the assassin droids.

  He armed himself with two blasters, knowing that the catacombs might

  still be swarming with the ferocious spider-monsters. Zekk wanted to

  make his inspection and get out before he attracted the attention of the

  arachnids.

  Keeping his weapons handy and his Jedi senses alert, Zekk followed

  ramps, crumbling stairs, and interlocked balconies down the crater wall.

  When he discovered scuffed footprints in the dust where his friends had

  walked, he did his best to retrace their steps. Perhaps in the

  aftermath of battle, some clue had been left unnoticed by one of IG-88's

  droid henchmen.

  It was a slim chance, though, and he didn't hold out much hope.

  Zekk followed the trail until he came upon recent blaster scars.

  Zekk reconstructed the details of the battle from what he saw.

 
and his cohorts had pulverized part of the crater wall to get into the

  catacombs. Under attack, Jacen and Jaina had fled downward, hauling

  Tenel Ka, Lowie, and Tyko Thul after them. They had rushed into the

  dark passageways, hoping to escape. But the assassin droids had found

  them anyway--and so had the combat arachnids.

  Zekk sniffed the metallic tang in the air, the mustiness, the sharp odor

  of dust and long-dried blood. Yes, this was the place.

  He listened intently for the tapping of jagged

  feet on stone, large bodies stirring, mandibles clacking . . .

  but the tunnels were filled with only the sifting of dust, the whispers

  of shadows.

  He switched on a glowrod, keeping the light down low, Then he advanced

  deeper inside.

  Within the chamber he saw numerous dark tunnels in the cliffside,

  probably the dank lairs of surviving combat arachnids. Zekk tried to

  keep his light from dancing inside the protective darkness of those

  passages. He was not afraid to fight, but he didn't want to.

  He thought he heard a sound. Pausing in midstep, he waited to hear it

  repeated. A trickle of sweat crept down his back. Silence, punctuated

  by his own pounding heartbeat and the roar of his own breathing. He

  continued his inspection, trying to maintain his concentration. He

  didn't want to miss a thing.

  On the ceiling and walls of the grotto Zekk saw pitted impact points

  where energy bolts had struck.

  The floor itself was' stained, discolored, tacky with dried ichor from

  the slaughtered creatures.

  Like discarded garbage, the torn and blasted remains of slain assassin

  droids were scattered everywhere. Durasteel arms, torsos, central

  processors, built-in weapons systems, and metallic skull-heads lay where

  they had fallen. Either the combat arachnids had no interest in the

  spare parts, or they had intentionally left the fallen enemies to show

  their scorn, "Must have been a titanic battle," Zekk muttered.

  He picked up the twisted remnant of a tubular durasteel torso from one

  of the powerful assassin droids. Such merciless killing machines were

  illegal and kept under tight security even during Imperial days.

  He found it incredible to discover so many here, in one place.

  Zekk reached in, fiddled with the wreckage, and finally pulled out the

  central processing unit from the metal body core. He studied the serial

  number on the CPU, frowning deeply.

  This was not at all what he had expected.

  Zekk had assumed that IG-88, an old-model semi-sentient assassin droid,

  had gathered a cadre of discontinued machines that were still deadly,

  still functional. In theory, at least, assassin droids had not been

  constructed for decades--not since the fall of the Empire.

  But this chip was new. The date-coded serial number and designators

  suggested t.hat its programming was less than two months old. This

  assassin droid had been manufactured recently!

  Zekk held up the chip, shining his glowrod onto its surface again to

  double-check its markings.

  Something was terribly wrong here. This was a mystery he had not

  anticipated.

  He heard a stirring noise, clear and definite this

  time: the cautiously approaching footsteps of a creature that had far

  too many legs.

  Zekk stood up straight, gripping a blaster in one hand and his glowrod

  in the other. He dimmed the light even further when he heard clacking

  noises and skittering footsteps from other catacombs, coming closer,

  getting louder. The combat arachnids were alerted to his presence. They

  were nearby . . .

  and he had no doubt they intended to deal with another intruder swiftly

  and permanently.

  Grabbing the CPU chip that held the information he needed--as well as

  another, deeper puzzle--he sprinted back out to the balconies and into

  the hazy sunlight of Kuar. He didn't look behind him. His legs were

  strong and fit and carried him at full speed back to his ship.

  The combat arachnids could give chase if they wanted, but he sensed that

  they would be cautious, for a short time, at least--and he would get to

  safety first. He had left the Lightning Rod prepped for a fast getaway.

  Sliding into the pilot's seat, Zekk activated the repulsorlifts and

  raised his ship off the dusty rim of the crater, taking time to fasten

  his crash restraints only after he had reached the air. Then he cruised

  away at a leisurely pace to give himself time to Zekk held the chip in

  his hand, contemplating the inexplicably recent serial number.

  He ran a data check on the number using the Lightning Rod's computers.

  The results verified his suspicions but raised many more questions than

  were answered.

  The assassin droids that had accompanied IG-88

  to kidnap Tyko Thul had been manufactured only a few weeks ago--on

  Mechis III.

  In Tyko Thul's own droid factory.

  As he reached the blackness of space, Zekk stared out at the cascade of

  stars . . . and decided that he had no choice but to follow the

  mystery where it led him. He was a bounty hunter, and he had an

  assignment to complete. He would go to Mechis III.

  But first, he had one stop to make.

  MECHIS IH WAS a black world, its surface blanketed with slag and

  industrial debris, its continents covered with factories, processing

  centers, and automated assembly lines. It had originally been a

  lifeless planet with a breathable atmosphere, but ugly and barren--a

  place where huge factories could be set up without local inhabitants

  complaining about environmental damage. Better here, everyone agreed,

  than on some world worth saving.

  Mechis iiI served its purpose, as evidenced by the proliferation of

  droids throughout the galaxy.

  Other planets, such as Telti, produced high-quality droids as well, but

  for generations this had been the center of the industry.

  During the last days of the Empire, though, Mechis III had undergone a

  turbulent upheaval, which was largely undocumented. The supervisors of

  the automated assembly lines had been killed, but

  the mechanized, self-sufficient systems had continued regular

  production, unsupervised, for some time. In fact, several years had

  passed before anyone even noticed that the human attendants were no

  longer alive!

  In the meantime, the systems had fallen into disarray.

  Programming glitches and minor breakdowns went unrepaired and gradually

  compounded themselves into worse disasters.

  Thus, by the time Raynat's uncle took on the immense project of

  restoring Mechis III's former glory, entire sections of the factory had

  been blackened, burnt out, or shut down from lack of power.

  Much of the machinery lay in disrepair or total ruin.

  But Tyko Thul had promised to bring the place to peak production levels

  and had succeeded admirably--at least until he was kidnapped by an

  assassin droid.

  Now Raynar vowed he would not let all of his uncle's work go to waste

  ....

  As the Rock Dragon approached Mechis III, Jaina looked out the front

  windowports at th
e landscape far below. The lights of a thousand

  factories glittered like bright embroidery across the slag-covered

  surface. Beside her, Raynat sat in Lowbacca's accustomed copilot's

  seat, though the young man did not venture to help with the actual

  flying. Jaina did it all with only Em Teedee's assistance--which made

  her miss Lowie even more.

  Jacen and Tenel Ka sat beside each other in the back, talking quietly.

  "Say," Jacen said, "what does an Imperial Star Destroyer wear to a

  formal occasion?"

  "Why would Imperial Star Destroyers wear anything?"

  Tenel Ka asked. The warrior girl from Dathomir seemed to enjoy

  frustrating him, and Jacen never failed to rise to the challenge.

  "Still don't quite have the hang of these jokes, do you?" he said in

  exasperation. "Come on, you know that's not the fight response."

  "Very well," Tenel Ka said with the barest smile, "what does an Imperial

  Star Destroyer wear to a

  formal occasion?"

  "A bow TIE!"

  Jaina groaned. "That one's bad even for you, Jacen. I think we may

  have to strand you here on Mechis III."