* *
* * * *
* THE RISE OF THE *
* SHADOW ACADEMY 3 *
* THE LOST ONES *
by
* Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta *
* 1 *
"Must be a sign of maturity," Jaina teased.
"Who, me?" Jacen said, pretending to take offense. "Nah." Then, as if to
disprove her theory, he flashed a lopsided grin that made him look like a
younger version of their father, Han Solo. "Want to hear a joke?"
Jaina rolled her eyes and tucked a strand of straight brown hair behind one
ear to keep it away from her face. "Don't suppose you'd take no for an
answer?" Then pretending to have a brilliant idea, she snapped her fingers.
'Say, why don't you go up to the cockpit and tell it to Tenel Ka instead?"
She knew full well that the young warrior woman, one of their closest
friends at the Jedi academy, had never even smiled - much less laughed - at
Jacen's jokes, though he tried daily to coax a chuckle from her.
"I want you to be a test audience first," he said. "Then I'll go try it on
Lowie - wherever he is. He's got a pretty good sense of humor for a
Wookiee."
"Shouldn't be too hard to find him," Jaina said. "The Falcon's not that big,
and you can be pretty sure he's somewhere near a computer."
"Hey, you're just trying to distract me from telling my joke," Jacen said.
"You ready?"
Jaina heaved a long-suffering sisterly sigh. "All right, what's the joke?"
"Okay, how long does Uncle Luke need to sleep?"
She gave a puzzled frown. "You got me.''
"One Jedi night!" He laughed out loud, proud of his joke.
Jaina gave a melodramatic groan. "I don't think even Lowie will laugh at
that one."
Jacen looked crestfallen. "I thought it was one of my best jokes so far. I
made it up myself." Then his face brightened. "Hey, I wonder if Zekk is
still hanging around back on Coruscant. He always laughed at my jokes."
Jaina smiled at the mention of their mischievous friend, a street urchin who
had been taken in and cared for by old Peckhum, the man who brought supplies
to the Jedi academy A couple of years older than the twins, Zekk had proven
to be a resourceful scamp, despite his disadvantaged life. Jaina would sit
and listen to Zekk for hours as he regaled her with stories of his childhood
on Ennth and how, when the colony had been devastated by a natural disaster,
he had escaped on the next supply ship. Jaina had to admire Zekk's
determination.
The wild dark-haired boy never did anything unless he wanted to. In fact,
when the captain of the rescue ship had suggested that Zekk might be better
off in an orphanage or a foster home, Zekk had jumped ship to another
outbound freighter at the very next stop and stowed away on it. From then on
he had traveled from planet to planet, sometimes working as a cabin boy,
sometimes stowing away, until one day he had met old Peckhum, who was on his
way to Coruscant. Though both were independent, somehow a friendship had
formed, and they had been together ever since.
"Okay, Zekk might laugh at your joke," Jaina agreed at last. "He has a
strange sense of humor."
Leaving the Jedi academy far behind on Yavin 4, Jaina and Jacen watched the
viewscreen in silence as the stars stretched into starlines and the
Millennium Falcon flew into hyperspace, taking them toward Coruscant. Toward
home. Sitting at the hologame table in the rec area, Jacen studied the
board. He racked his brains for a strategy to counter Lowie's previous
gambit.
"It is your turn," Tenel Ka pointed out, her voice low and matter-of-fact.
Jacen had been hoping to impress his friends by winning a game or two, but
he found it hard to concentrate with Tenel Ka beside him. She crossed her
bare arms over her reptile-skin tunic, watching his every move. Her reddish
gold hair, tamed into numerous braids, dangled wildly around her head and
shoulders every time she spoke or shifted position.
Across the table, Jaina stood behind Lowie and conferred with the
ginger-furred Wookiee in a whisper, pointing from one holographic gamepiece
to another. The tiny wriggling figures on the table seemed impatient for
Jacen to make his next move. A thin film of perspiration formed on his
forehead and upper lip. Jacen knew he didn't stand a chance against the
computer whiz-especially not while Jaina was helping Lowie.
"We'll be coming out of hyperspace in about five standard minutes," Han Solo
announced from the cockpit. "You kids ready?"
"Hey, Dad, can we try some target practice?" Jacen leaped to his feet, glad
for the interruption. Finally, something he was good at!
Jacen loved this game their father had devised for them. Whenever he brought
them back to Coruscant in the Millennium Falcon, Han let the twins sit in
the two gun wells. As the ship approached orbit, Jacen and Jaina scanned for
floating chunks of metal and debris left over from the space battles that
had raged over Coruscant years before, during the overthrow of the Empire.
"We hardly ever find enough debris for both of us to shoot at," Jaina
grumbled.
"Oh yeah?" Jacen said, giving her his most challenging smile. "You're just
worried because last time I hit something and you didn't. I'm sure we're
going to find some wreckage to shoot at today. I have a good feeling about
this." He shrugged once. "But if you're just not up to it …''
Jaina's eyes narrowed as she accepted his challenge. A smile tugged at one
corner of her mouth. "What are we waiting for?" she said. With that, she
dashed toward one of the gun wells, leaving Jacen to scramble to the other.
Tenel Ka followed him, while Lowie loped after Jaina, eager to help. Behind
them, the blurry monstrous figures on the hologame table hunkered down and
waited for somebody to make a move.
Jacen settled into the overlarge seat of the bottom gun well. He strapped in
and leaned forward to take the laser-cannon firing controls as Tenel Ka
dropped into place beside him. Her granite-gray eyes narrowed, intent on the
weaponry. "Watch that screen there," Jacen said. "Help me get a target.
There's plenty of debris left, but it's all pretty small."
"Even small, such wreckage could be deadly to incoming ships," Tenel Ka
said.
"This is a fact," Jacen answered with a grin, echoing his friend's
often-used phrase. "That's why we clear it out every chance we get." Loud
explosions sounded from the other gun well as Jaina began firing her quad
lasers. Jacen heard a loud Wookiee roar of encouragement.
"Hey, how did she target so fast?" he said.
"Honing in," Tenel Ka said, pointing at glowing lines on the tracking
screen.
"Oh! Well, I could fire too-if I was paying attention," Jacen said. He swung
the four-barreled weapon into position, then watched the targeting cross
move closer and closer. Mayb
e it was an old shielding plate from a blown-up
Star Destroyer, or an empty cargo pod dumped by a fleeing smuggler. He
tracked in closer. . . .
"Stay on target," Tenel Ka said. "Stay on target . . . fire!"
Jacen reacted instantly, squeezing the firing buttons, and all four laser
cannons shot focused beams that vaporized the hunk of debris. "Yahoo!" he
yelled. A similar whoop of delight came from the other gun well.
"It would appear that Jaina also hit her target," Tenel Ka said.
"Don't get cocky, kids," Han shouted good-naturedly from the cockpit. His
copilot Chewbacca roared agreement.
"Just making the galaxy safe for peaceful navigation, Dad,'' Jacen called .
"We're at a tie," Jaina said. "We need one more shot each. Please, Dad?"
"You twins are always at a tie," Han answered. "If I let you keep shooting
until one of you scores and the other doesn't, we'll be circling the solar
system for years. Come on back up to the cockpit. We're almost home."
As the Millennium Falcon settled onto a clear rooftop, Lowbacca unbuckled
his crash restraints and groaned. The landing on Coruscant had been smooth,
and he had enjoyed his time optimizing the Falcon's computers-but he was
anxious to get back into the open air. Even city air, as long as he could be
high enough off the ground.
By the time Lowie reached the ship's exit ramp, Jacen and Jaina had managed
to unfasten their crash webbing too. The twins sped past him down the ramp
and into the waiting arms of their mother. Leia Organa Solo, the New
Republic 's Chief of State, stood on the landing platform with her younger
son, Anakin Solo, and the golden protocol droid See-Threepio.
Lowie adjusted the miniaturized translating droid, Em Teedee, at his hip and
made his way down the ramp, watching the close family scene with a certain
amount of envy. Dark-haired Anakin hovered beside his two older siblings,
asking occasional questions, his ice-blue eyes taking in everything. Leia,
her long brown hair arranged in intricate coils, looked at all three of her
children with obvious pride and affection. When Han Solo came out to join
the reunion, the family erupted in another joyous burst of kisses and hugs
and hair ruffling. Lowie missed his family on Kashyyyk.
Jaina said, "Thanks for letting us bring our friends home with us for the
visit, Mom."
"Your friends are always welcome here," their mother replied. She stepped
forward to greet Lowie with a warm smile, then bowed briefly to Tenel Ka,
who had followed him down the ramp. "We're very honored to have you all
here. Please treat the palace as if it were your own home.''
Though Lowie didn't say a word, Em Teedee spoke up at his waist, chiming in
with a delighted voice. "Ah, See-Threepio! My counterpart, my predecessor,
my . . . mentor! I have many things to upload to you. You'll be most
distressed to hear about some of the adventures I've had since Chewbacca
first delivered me to the Jedi academy-"
"To be sure! A pleasure to see you again, Em Teedee," Threepio said. "I
doubt, however, that your tribulations are anything compared to the heavy
diplomatic responsibilities I have to bear here on Coruscant. You simply
couldn't believe how easily offended some of these outworld ambassadors can
be!"
As the two droids chattered along in near-identical voices, Lowie rolled his
large Wookiee eyes. Chewbacca, having finished the Falcon's shutdown
procedures, came out to join his nephew just as Lowie handed Em Teedee over
to See-Threepio so that the two could reminisce as "family" for a while.
Lowie heaved a small sigh, thinking of his homeworld of Kashyyyk, his
parents, and his younger sister. His uncle placed a sympathetic hand on his
hairy shoulder. Perhaps Chewbacca sensed Lowie's homesickness, because he
immediately launched into a description in Wookiee language of the room he
had picked for his nephew to sleep in-one of the highest rooms in the
Imperial Palace . Though Lowie would see no treetops from his window,
Chewbacca assured him that the heights were indeed breathtaking, which
should make him feel comfortable and secure. Chewie had also seen to it that
the room was furnished with trees and hammocks and lush green jungle plants.
It wasn't as good as visiting home, Chewbacca said, but it was a great place
for a vacation.
Tenel Ka stared at the opulent room chosen for her by Leia Organa Solo. The
furniture was beautifully carved, and the draperies and bed coverings were
of the finest quality. The mattress looked soft and luxurious. It felt like
home in the Fountain Palace on Hapes. Tenel Ka shuddered. She was a princess
of Hapes, since her father, the son of the former queen, a powerful
matriarch, now ruled the Hapes cluster with his Dathomiran wife. But Tenel
Ka had kept this fact hidden from her friends at the Jedi academy,
preferring instead to follow her mother's heritage from wild Dathomir. This
palace was a bit too much like home on the Hapes central world - and Tenel
Ka was uncomfortable with such amenities right now.
"Ah," she said. "Aha."
Striding to the bed, she yanked the covers off and pulled the pad onto the
polished stone floor. She squatted down on it and nodded with satisfaction.
The room no longer seemed as posh and fluffy-therefore, it was much more
comfortable, not to mention much more suitable for a tough warrior woman.
This was a fact.
* 2 *
AS SHE TRIED to sleep, Jaina thought of how different Coruscant was from the
thick jungles of Yavin 4. The planet-wide capital city bustled with an
intensity and energy that filtered into every aspect of daily life. Unlike
the tiny moon, which managed to still itself in the quiet hours before dawn,
the New Republic 's central world stayed awake all the time. Her brother
Jacen blinked his bleary brown eyes as he joined her in the dining area the
next morning. Tenel Ka and Lowbacca had risen early and, already at work on
their morning meals, greeted the twins as they arrived. The golden protocol
droid See-Threepio hurried about , making sure the guests had a fine eating
experience.
Lowie ate steaming pieces of heated (but still raw) red meat from a
gold-etched plate frilled with sculptured loops; Threepio had used the best
diplomatic tableware and the choicest garnishes. The Wookiee youth, however,
seemed to have trouble avoiding the decorative sprigs and delicate flowers
that adorned the bloody meal. Tenel Ka, using a small dagger to poke at her
plate, speared a piece of fruit.
"Ah, good morning, Mistress Jaina, Master Jacen," Threepio said. "Such a
pleasure to have you home with us again."
Jaina glanced at the holographic window that stretched across the wall of
the room - actually an image transmitted from one of the towers elsewhere in
the great city. Because their mother was the important Chief of State, their
family quarters were protected deep within the palace, without any real
windows to the outside. Jaina knew that many other diplomats around the city
were looking out their own false windows at the same projected image.
"Thanks,
Threepio," Jacen said. "We've been looking forward to this
vacation. Uncle Luke has been teaching us some terrific Jedi skills, but it
can be exhausting."
The droid tapped his gold-plated hands together. "I am delighted to hear it,
Master Jacen. Although I am naturally quite busy tutoring young Master
Anakin, I have taken the liberty of setting up a fine curriculum of studies
for you while you remain here on Coruscant. Your guests are more than
welcome to attend classes as well. Oh, it will be just like old times!"
"Classes!" Jacen interrupted as he plopped down in a chair and began to
shovel breakfast into his mouth. "You're joking, right?"
"Oh, no, Master Jacen," Threepio said sternly. "You mustn't neglect your
studies."
"Sorry, Threepio," Jaina said, "but we have other plans today."
Before the droid could advance his argument any further, the twins' mother
came into the room. "Good morning, kids," Leia said.
Jaina smiled at her mother. Princess Leia looked as beautiful as in the old
picture Jaina had seen from the Rebellion. Since that time, Leia had taken
on extremely heavy political duties and devoted most of her waking hours -
along with quite a few of those she should have spent sleeping - to
untangling knots in the threads of diplomacy.
"What are you doing today, Mom?" Jaina asked.
Leia sighed and rolled her dark brown eyes in an expression that Jaina often
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