The Lost Ones

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Tenel Ka attached her grappling hook to the side of the walkway. "I am a

  strong climber," she said. "This is a fact."

  Zekk rubbed his hands together with delight. "Excellent."

  "Let me get the eggs," Jacen said, eager to touch the smooth, warm shells,

  to study the nest configuration. "I've always wanted to one up close." This

  was such a rare opportunity. Hawk-bats were common in the deep alleyways of

  Coruscant, but they were horrendously difficult to capture alive.

  Pulling the fibercord taut, Tenel Ka wrapped her hands around it and began

  lowering herself to the old construction crawler. Jacen had seen her descend

  the walls of the Great Temple on Yavin 4, but now he watched with renewed

  amazement as she walked backward down the side of the building, relying only

  on the strength of her supple arms and muscular legs. Jacen admired the girl

  from Dathomir - but he wished he could make her laugh. He had been telling

  Tenel Ka his best jokes for as long as he had known her, but he still hadn't

  managed to coax even the smallest smile from her. She seemed not to have a

  sense of humor, but he would keep trying.

  Tenel Ka reached the construction crawler and anchored the fibercord,

  gesturing with her arm to summon him down. Jacen wrapped the cord around

  himself and started down the slick wall, trying to imitate Tenel Ka. He used

  the Force to keep his balance, nudging his feet when necessary, and soon

  found himself standing beside Tenel Ka on the teetering platform.

  "Piece of cake," he panted, brushing his hands together.

  "No thank you," Tenel Ka said. "I am not hungry." Jacen chuckled, but he

  knew the warrior girl didn't even realize she had made a joke.

  Lowie slid down the fibercord with ease, while Em Teedee wailed all the way.

  "Oh, I can't watch! I'd rather switch off my optical sensors."

  When they all stood on the creaking platform, Jacen bent over, straining to

  reach the tangled nest just below. "I'm going to climb down there," he said.

  "I'll pass the eggs up."

  Before anyone could argue, he dropped between two thin girders, holding a

  crossbar to reach the piping brace that supported the odd nest. The eggs

  were brown, mottled with green, camouflaged as knobs of masonry covered with

  pale lichen. Each was about the size of Jacen's outspread hand; when he

  touched the warm shells, the texture was hard and rough, like rock. With the

  Force, he could sense the growing baby creature inside. Perhaps he could use

  the Force to levitate the prize up to his friends. He smiled, tingly with

  wonder as he hefted one of the eggs. It wasn't heavy at all. As he touched a

  second egg, though, he heard a shrill shriek from above, coming closer.

  Tenel Ka shouted a warning. "Look out, Jacen!"

  Jacen looked up and saw the sleek form of the mother hawk-bat, swooping down

  at him and screaming in fury, metallic claws extended, wings studded with

  spikes. The hawk-bat's wingspan was about two meters. Its head consisted

  mostly of a horny beak with sharp ivory teeth, ready to tear a victim to

  shreds. "Uh-oh," Jacen said.

  Lowie bellowed in alarm. Tenel Ka grabbed for a throwing knife - but Jacen

  knew he couldn't wait for help. The creature dove toward him like a missile,

  and Jacen closed his eyes to reach out with the Force. His special talent

  had always been with animals. He could communicate with them, sense their

  feelings and express his own to them. "It's all right," he whispered. "I'm

  sorry we were invading your nest. Calm. It's all right. Peace."

  The hawk-bat pulled up from her dive and clutched one of the corroded lower

  crossbars with durasteel-hard claws. Jacen could hear the squeaking sound as

  the claws scraped rust off the metal, but he maintained his calm.

  "We didn't mean to hurt your babies," he said. "We won't take them all. I

  need only one, and I promise you it'll be delivered to a fine and safe place

  . . . a beautiful zoo where it will be raised and cared for and admired by

  millions of people from across the galaxy."

  The hawk-bat hissed and pushed her hard beak closer to Jacen, blowing foul

  breath from between sharp teeth. He knew the hawk-bat was extremely

  skeptical, but Jacen projected images of a bright aviary, a place where the

  young hawk-bat would be fed delicacies all its life, where it could fly

  freely, yet never need to fear other predators or starvation . . . or being

  shot at by gang members. Jacen snatched the last vision - blurred figures of

  young humans shooting as she hunted between tall buildings - from the

  mother's mind. This last fear convinced the mother, and she flapped her

  spiked leathery wings, backing away from the nest and leaving Jacen safe . .

  . for the moment. He grinned up at his friends.

  Tenel Ka stood poised, dagger in hand, ready to jump down and fight. Jacen

  felt a pleasant warm glow to think that she was willing to defend him. He

  took the hawk-bat egg he was holding and used the Force to carefully

  levitate it into Jaina's hands. She cradled it, then handed it to Zekk.

  "What did you do?" Zekk called.

  "I made a deal with the hawk-bat," he said. "Let's go."

  "But what about those other eggs?" Zekk said, holding his treasure with

  great amazement.

  "You only get one," Jacen answered. "That was the deal. Now we'd better get

  out of here, and hurry." He scrambled up to join Lowie and Tenel Ka.

  Lowie climbed the fibercord first, racing up the side of the building to the

  upper ledge. Jacen urged the others to greater speed, and finally, when they

  were all standing back on the walkway, Zekk said, "I thought you made a deal

  with the mother. Why do we have to hurry?"

  Jacen continued to hustle them out of sight of the construction crawler.

  "Because hawk-bats have extremely short memories."

  * 3 *

  AS THE FIVE companions left the hawk-bat's nest behind, Jaina stuck close to

  Zekk. She watched the dark-haired boy move instinctively, hurrying through

  the maze of upper and lower walkways and cross-connecting bridges as he made

  a beeline back to his living quarters. The green-eyed boy beamed with

  self-congratulatory pride at the precious egg he held, as if it were a

  trophy he had hoped to win for a long time.

  "Peckhum is going to be so pleased!" Zekk crowed, looking from Jaina to

  Jacen. "He'll know just what to do with it. He's got a line on everyone

  who's looking for anything." He glanced sidelong at Jacen again. "Don't

  worry about it. We'll find a good home for this baby, just like you

  promised, Jacen. It shouldn't be too hard for a professional zoologist to

  incubate this egg until it hatches."

  Tenel Ka cleared her throat and said ominously, "If we bring the egg back

  intact."

  Jaina suddenly noticed that they had returned to the abandoned levels

  emblazoned with gang graffiti. The sharp corners of the cross in a triangle

  symbol seemed brighter now, as if freshly painted. Jaina wondered if the

  gang members could have marked their territory afresh in the short time

  since the young Jedi Knights had passed through. If the gang members kept

  such a careful eye out for everything, they might have spotted the five


  companions already. Maybe they were watching from hidden, shadowy corners

  right now. . .

  Tenel Ka tensed and pulled out a small throwing knife, looking from side to

  side. She seemed alert, ready to spring at the first sign of danger, but

  Jaina didn't feel safe. With her Jedi senses, she felt a tingle down her

  spine.

  "If the Lost Ones are so tough and powerful, how come we've never heard of

  them before?" Jacen looked around nervously in the creaking, musty

  buildings.

  "Because you never come down here," Zekk answered. "Whenever we get

  together, you either have me come to the Imperial Palace or we meet in the

  safe upper levels. I'll bet your parents would blow their thrusters if they

  knew where we were right now."

  "We can take care of ourselves," Tenel Ka said defensively, flashing her

  tiny dagger.

  "Dear me, I shouldn't be so certain about that, if I were you," Em Teedee

  replied from Lowie's waist. The young Wookiee groaned.

  Zekk smiled thinly. "Down here you can see how I live every day. I don't

  have anyone to wash my hands for me or cook my meals, you know. And I don't

  have the luxury of worrying about how to amuse myself. Every day is a

  search-I'm just lucky I have a special knack for finding things."

  Jaina was surprised to hear a hint of resentment behind her friend's words.

  "Zekk, if you needed anything, you should have just asked. We could have

  found you new quarters, given you credits to spend-"

  "Who said I wanted that?" he responded through clenched teeth. "I don't need

  charity. I've got my freedom here. I can do whatever I want. Besides, it's

  more satisfying to live by my own wits than to be pampered and coddled all

  the time."

  Em Teedee piped up, "Well really, Master Zekk! It might interest you to

  learn that not everyone minds being pampered and coddled."

  Jaina ignored the translating droid and wondered if Zekk really meant what

  he said.

  "Nothing personal", Zekk said with shrug. He looked up at the

  cross-in-triangle symbol. "Being a gang member doesn't impress me either.

  Their leader Norys - who's our age - is a big bully who likes to throw his

  weight around. I can run my way through the lower levels better than any of

  the Lost Ones, so he's been after me to join for a long time. He'd love to

  have me as his right-hand man, but I'm too independent for that. I work for

  myself."

  They stood at the entrance to a sheer-walled building, near one end of a

  dilapidated covered walkway that extended to an adjacent skyscraper. More

  threatening gang symbols marked the inside walls. Half of the windows were

  broken, and confined breezes whispered through the walkway like voices

  warning them to go back.

  Zekk looked behind him. "This building we're in is the headquarters of the

  Lost Ones. We're taking a pretty big risk being here." His emerald eyes

  sparkled. "Kind of exciting, isn't it?" The building was large and dark,

  filled with cavernous spaces of empty meeting chambers, offices, and

  abandoned supply rooms. Jaina wondered if any record or blueprint of this

  ancient building still existed in the vast computer archives of the Imperial

  Information Center .

  "I don't think you have to worry about Norys, though," Zekk said, raising

  his voice. "He talks big, but his ambitions are definitely low. He has no

  interest in becoming anything more than the biggest bully in a run-down

  section of a single building on an average planet in a big galaxy." Zekk's

  voice sounded taunting. "He'll never go anywhere, because his dreams are

  small."

  Just then ceiling panels smashed down from above them, and a dozen wiry

  young men and women dropped to the floor. They looked scuffed and dirty,

  with hard, lean faces; each held an interesting cobbled-together weapon

  scavenged from sharp pieces of scrap.

  "You trying to annoy me, trash collector?" the biggest burly young man said.

  His face was broad and dark, his eyes close-set, his teeth crooked as he

  ground his jaws together and spread his lips in a sneer.

  "It's not polite to eavesdrop, Norys," Zekk said.

  Then the gang leader's eyes fixed on the precious hawk-bat egg that Zekk

  cradled close to his chest. "What has the little trash collector found?"

  Norys said. "Hey, everybody! Looks like we're gonna have fresh eggs for

  morning meal."

  Lowbacca growled loudly enough to startle the Lost Ones, baring his long

  Wookiee fangs. Zekk looked suddenly nervous, as if the valuable hawk-bat egg

  made him vulnerable in new ways.

  "What do you want the egg for?" Jacen said.

  "He only wants it because I want it," Zekk said. "He'll probably smash it,

  not knowing what it's worth."

  Tenel Ka now held a throwing dagger at the ready in each hand. The Lost Ones

  looked at her and Lowie, then at the three seemingly easier targets of Zekk

  and the twins.

  "In a case like this," Zekk said, moving slowly, extending the mottled egg

  gradually, as if reluctant to surrender it to the brawny gang member, "the

  most sensible idea is to . . . run!" He whirled and dashed onto the rickety

  walkway. The vibration of his running knocked loose a broken wall plate,

  which dropped silently into the murky depths below. The young Jedi Knights

  reacted quickly and scrambled after their friend onto the covered bridge.

  The gang members howled and gave pursuit, clattering their crude weapons

  against the walls.

  Out in the middle of the dilapidated walkway Zekk suddenly pulled to a stop

  as a gang member-an angry young woman who looked even tougher than Tenel Ka

  appeared from the opposite building and stood ominously at the far entrance.

  "We're trapped," Jaina said with a hard gulp.

  This did not seem like a good place for a standoff. Zekk looked back and

  forth, as if seeking inspiration in the middle of the swaying bridge. The

  cold wind sighed through the broken windows and gaps in the flooring. "Just

  to be fair, " he said, crossing his arms with feigned good humor, "I'll let

  you guys solve this one. Got any ideas?"

  Jaina tried to think of something she could do with what Uncle Luke had

  taught them at the Jedi academy. With uninterrupted concentration she could

  manipulate objects with the Force, but she couldn't think of any way her

  fledgling powers could help them escape.

  Norys strode forward, his chest puffed with confidence. "Now give me that

  egg, trash collector, and maybe we won't throw you over the edge!"

  Just then a screeching sound came from above, a blood-curdling animal

  shriek. A predator's heavy shadow swept like a dark blanket over the cracked

  windows of the walkway. With another loud scream, the mother hawk-bat struck

  the side windows, smashing against the wire mesh that barely held the frames

  in place. She spat and hissed, her sharp beak ripping at the wires, her

  forked tongue thrashing as she dug her claws in, trying to get at Norys. The

  gang leader staggered backward with a surprised yelp.

  Zekk protected the egg again, holding it to his chest. At the same time,

  Lowie-focusing on the lone woman guarding the opposite en
d of the

  walkway-let out a ferocious roar and charged forward.

  "Oh, my!" Em Teedee squeaked. "Would anyone object if I switched off my

  optical sensors again so I don't have to watch?"

  Distracted by the attacking hawk-bat and startled by the snarling battering

  ram of Wookiee fur, the gang member backed off and leaped aside.

  "Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaina cried.

  Zekk ducked low to protect the hawk-bat egg as he ran after her Jacen

  followed them, while Tenel Ka turned once to threaten the Lost Ones with her

  throwing daggers before bringing up the rear, sprinting along on her

  muscular legs.

  Seeing them escape, the mother hawk-bat shrieked one more time, then flew

  off, as if satisfied.

  Zekk kept running while Norys yelled after them. "We'll catch you next time,

  trash collector. Do you hear me?" he shouted. "You'll join our gang-one way

  or another." Zekk didn't respond as he led the young Jedi Knights through a

  maze of stairwells, slides, and lifts in the lower levels, climbing up to

  rickety catwalks, then higher to lighted levels. He was panting, but his

  flushed face wore a grin of exhilaration. Triumphant, Zekk cradled the

  hawk-bat egg close to his body.

  "I thought you said hawk-bats had shortened memories," he gasped.

  Jacen shrugged and looked sheepish. "Aren't you glad I was wrong?"

  "Yes," Jaina said. "We all are."

  "Come on," Zekk said. "Let's get this egg back home."