,"This would never have happened when I was Baron-Administrator.
I guess you just can't find good help these days." Lando shook his
head.
"Meantime, I'll just have to be content with helping to expose some of
the tainted Exex and Wing Guard members, and a few key people in the
Merchants Guild and other politicians. This conspiracy runs deep."
With what they had learned from the thranta rider and Figrin D'an, and
everything Lowie had pulled from Cloud City computer archives, they had
a fair idea of just how far-reaching the plans of Czethros were.
He had influence on many types of gambling, smuggling, and strongarm
operations.
Jaina suspected, though, that they had only begun to uncover the depths
of the insidious schemes of Black Sun. They had sent out an alert, and
New Republic forces planned to apprehend Czethros immediately-but Jaina
knew that the supposedly respectable businessman from Ord Mantell must
have spies and information sources everywhere, ,-,nd realized that
Czethros might already be gone ... one step ahead of them.
As morning sunlight spilled across the lower cloud banks, painting them
with a golden glow, Jaina heard a loud musical fanfare from the
outwardly directed speakers mounted on the scaffolding and on launching
platforms.
"It's starting!" Jacen said, scooting closer to Tenel Ka.
"I look forward to the performance with great enthusiasm," Tenel Ka
said in a neutral voice. The barest hint of a smile quirked one corner
of her mouth.
With silent, flapping wings, a swarm of thrantas burst out, streaked
away from Cloud City, and circled in the clouds. The skirling music
rose and fell in a hauntingly beautiful melody. The thrantas looped
about, dancing a sky ballet in time to the notes. The tattoos and body
paintings on the cloud riders were so bright, they dazzled like
rainbows as the thrantas whirled through the air.
Two of the performers unfurled a brilliant fluttering ribbon, tossing
it from one rider to another, hurling the fabric ever higher to weave a
colorful pattern like a cat's cradle in the sky. All the thrantas
continued to fly in perfect formation, the cloud riders holding on to
their corners of the long ribbon.
Then a second troupe of thrantas launched themselves from their docks
on Cloud City, flitting ahead of and around the colorful ribbon
structure in the sky. They swarmed through openings and loops in the
fabric-mesh, flying so close that their wing tips almost, almost
touched the fluttering banner. But Jaina saw no mistakes, no
slipups.
Then, at an unspoken signal, the cloud riders exchanged positions,
shifting the pattern of the woven ribbon, reshaping it like a bright
laserlight design in the sky.
Jacen stood up, hooting, applauding, and yelling at the top of his
lungs. The second squadron of cloud riders broke free and darted back
toward Cloud City. Jaina watched in amazement as one of them stripped
out of formation and buzzed past the hover-scaffolding where they all
sat. A thin young rider waved a broad hand and grinned from the back
of his thranta.
"That's M'kim!" Jacen shouted, waving.
Directly in front of them, the barefooted rider did a backward
somersault in the air and landed effortlessly on the flying creature's
back. The thranta streaked off to rejoin the rest of the performing
group.
"It looks like they're letting him be an official part of the troupe at
last," Jacen said. "He's finished his training."
Tenel Ka nodded, a contented look on her serious face. "Training must
end eventually, and then the real work begins."
"That doesn't mean you can't always learn something new," Zekk added.
Lando, still watching the sky rodeo, turned back to the young Jedi
Knights. "Speaking of which, it's about time I got you all back to
Yavin 4."
With the oppressive sounds and smells of the jungle moon around her
once again, Anja did not know what she was going to do. She sat alone
on a high stone ledge of the Jedi academy's Great Temple. The chipped,
weathered stone, covered with moss, felt cold and uncomfortable. But
she didn't care.
Anja stared out above the tangled forest to where the orange pastel
ball of the gas giant planet Yavin dominated the sky. She felt trapped
on this humid, overgrown moon-helpless. She hated to feel helpless.
No one knew her secret, though she wasn't sure how much it mattered
now. She was at her wits' end, torn between incompatible loyalties.
Yes, Anja had pretended to show surprise at the news that had so
interested the young Jedi Knights, but in her heart she had greeted it
only with a kind of stoic dread. As they had feared, Czethros had
disappeared completely, draining all readily available credits from his
accounts and shutting down his respectable warehouse and shipping
business on Ord Mantell.
He had gone underground, vanished without a trace. New Republic troops
had confiseatedeverything that remained in his stripped offices, while
investigators searched for clues to his whereabouts ... but Anja knew
Czethros well enough. She was certain that the Black Sun lieutenant
had left no loose ends, no evidence, no information through which he
could be traced.
Czethros was gone. She had no way to contact him.
And her last precious supply of andris spice was almost gone!
What could she do when it ran out? She had no idea where she might
obtain another supply. It wasn't fair. She'd worked so hard, done all
of the devious things Czethros had demanded of her. They'd had a
partnership z)f a sort: he had requested small tasks of her, in return
for which he had set her up with Han Solo and his children and given
her the opportunity for her ultimate revenge.
But now, the moment the tide turned against him, Czethros had abandoned
her. He had run, leaving her to fend for herself. Anja was certainly
good enough at that. She'd taken care of herself all her life, since
her father had died when she was an infant-shot by Han Solo.
Or had that truly happened? Anja was no longer certain. She had never
wanted to believe that the great Gallandro, her father, might have been
responsible for his own situation. She had wanted to find a scapegoat,
someone to blame for his murder ... and Han Solo had fit the bill
perfectly. What better revenge could Anja take than to go after his
children?
Czethros had been true to his word there, at least, but now she felt as
if she'd been set adrift, abandoned....
Laughing, Jacen bounded out of the temple shadows and ran across the
stone platform on the roof of the rebuilt Massassi temple. He skidded
to a halt in surprise when he saw her sitting there alone, deep in
hought.
"Hey, Anja!" Jacen said. "Zekk and Jaina and Lowie and Tenel Ka and I
are going out into the jungles, do a little exploring. You want to
come along? There's plenty to see out there-the strangest plants and
insects you've ever imagined. I'll even show you a piranha
beetle if
you want.- They look just like your tattoo."
' ' No thanks," she said automatically, without even thinking about her
response.
With a beep and a twitter, Artoo-Detoo trundled out behind Jacen.
The astromech droid flashed his sensor light, assessing the
situation.
Jacen shrugged. "Okay, but remember, we want you to feel like you can
participate in stuff that we're doing. I know Uncle Luke doesn't
believe you have real Jedi potential, but that doesn't matter. You can
still learn. You can still improve yourself-your reactions, your
abilities."
"I know all that, Jacen," she said snappishly. "I'll make up my own
mind, okay? No need to treat me like a baby."
Jacen stepped back, startled. "Hey, I wasn't treating you like a
baby," he said. "I was treating you like a friend."
Then he turned and followed Artoo-Detoo back into the temple.
The small droid twittered and gave a mournful whistle, as if scolding
Anja. She just glared at the polished domed head as Artoo rolled back
inside.
She stared out at the jungle again, her thoughts in turmoil.
Everything had been so clear until she'd gotten to know the Solo twins
better. She hadn't had any doubts in the beginning. Her resolve had
been inn. Why was it so difficult now?
And did she really want Jacen and Jaina to be harmed in retaliation for
something that had happened long ago to Gallandro, a man whoshe had to
face it-she'd never really met?
Czethros, her supposed mentor, might never show his face in open
sunlight again. He would be too easily recognized. He was a hunted
man now.
And that left her here, to continue the charade. Anja didn't know what
she could do in this place. She certainly didn't want to be a Jedi!
She reached down, picked up a pebble, and tossed it off the edge of the
ziggurat toward the jungle. She watched as it fell into the underbrush
below.
She already felt the hunger and the deep need for another dose of
spice, but she would tolerate it for now. She could be strong. Anja
had always been strong.
But she didn't know how long she could last.
The simmering jungle sounds grew louder as she listened to them.
The verdant jungle moon and Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy seemed far,
far away from anything else she had ever known.
"She's not coming," Jacen said, joining the other young Jedi Knights at
the base of the Great Temple.
Jaina must have heard the note of dejection in his voice, because she
put a comforting hand on his arm and said, "Anja probably wouldn't
enjoy exploring with us right now, anyway. She could probably use the
time alone."
"She seems kind of edgy since we got back," Zekk agreed. "I'm sure
it's nothing personal."
Lowie rumbled a suggestion.
"Indeed!" Em Teedee exclaimed. "I daresay we shall have an excellent
time together if we make the attempt."
"Ah. Aha." Tenel Ka cleared her throat, then paused as if considering
a very important topic. Her cool grey eyes met Jacen's brandybrown
gaze. "Did you ever hear the story about the Jawa who mistook a rancor
for a ronto?"
Jacen grinned and took her hand in his. "Yeah, I think so. But it's a
good one. Why don't you tell it to us?"
Together, the friends walked toward the jungle.
This one is for Catherine Ulatowski-Sidor for helping us look
organized even when we're not, for being there to catch any balls we
drop, for being a careful and enthusiastic reader, and for being a
friend
ACKNOWLED6MENTS
Thanks to Matt Bialer and Josh Holbreich of the William Morris Agency
for their encouragement on this project; Sue Rostoni, Allan Kausch, and
Lucy Autrey Wilson at Lucas Licensing for their valuable input-, Ginjer
Buchanan and Jessica Faust at Boulevard Books for their unflagging
support throughout these fourteen books; Dave Dorman for his fabulous
cover art on each and every book; Debra Ray at AnderZone for cheering
us on; Sarah Jones at WordFire, Inc for keeping things running
smoothly; and, as always, Jonathan Cowan for being our first
test-reader.
A special thanks to the many, many fans who wrote or visited us at book
signings to tell us how much the Young Jedi Knights have meant to
them.
We couldn't have kept going without you.
On the grassy landing field in front of the Jedi academy's Great
Temple, an old-model cargo ship gleamed in the morning sun. Though
some might have considered the Lightning Rod little more than a junk
hauler well past its prime-perhaps better suited to be hauled away as
junk-it was Zekk's pride and joy. The young, dark-haired Jedi walked
in a slow circle around his ship, appraising the recent repairs with
his sharp emerald gaze.
"You're awfully attached to this scrap heap, aren't you?" Jaina
observed with good humor.
Zekk looked into her brandy-brown eyes, raised an eyebrow, and
grinned.
"Jealous?"
"Maybe just a little." Jaina took a sudden interest in a minute
scratch on the hull plating. "Kinda silly, I know. But sometimes I
wonder if you don't care about your ship more than, urn... more than
most people do," she finished lamely.
Zekk shrugged. "Why not? Old Peckhum gave me the Lightning Rod, and
he's the closest thing I've got to a family. This old ship was a
special place for us. I practically grew up with her, kind of like you
and Jacen did with the Millennium Falcon."
Jaina nodded and bit her lower lip. "Sure. I can understand that."
"But there are other reasons that I care more than most people would
about this ship," Zekk went on. "Fixing up the Lightning Rod was part
of my healing process after I left the Shadow Academy."
Zekk's face grew serious as he spoke. "And the Lightning Rod was with
me all through my days as a bounty hunter while we were fighting the
Diversity Alliance, while I was learning to trust the Force again."
He gave her a playful look. "Not only that, but it seems like every
time I need to fix up my ship, there you are helping me." He paused,
as if searching for words. "So in a way, you-and Jacen and Lowie and
Tenel Ka-are all a part of how I feel about the Lightning Rod."
Zekk reached out to push a strand of straight brown hair back from
Jaina's face.
Her cheeks turned a delicate pink. She opened her mouth as if to
answer him.
"Hey, did somebody call us?" Jacen's face appeared over the top of the
old light freighter. He waggled his eyebrows comically as Lowie's and
Tenel Ka's faces joined his, looking down at Zekk and Jaina.
Tenel Ka's red-gold hair, part of it flowing free and part fixed in its
traditional warrior braids, hung around her face and draped along the
Lightning Rod's hull. "We have completed the external hull patch as
you requested, Zekk," she announced.
Lowbacca, the lanky young Wookiee, scratched at the dark streak that
ran up through his fur above one eye. He rumbled a comment as well.
<
br /> The miniaturized translating droid Em Teedee hovered beside the
ginger-furred Wookiee's head. "Oh, indeed, yes! The workmanship is so
fine that I daresay it is virtually undetectable-except perhaps by a
droid."
Zekk smiled. "Well, thanks everyone, that's great. But I still don't
understand why all of you decided the Lightning Rod needed an overhaul
this morning. It's not as if we're planning a trip."
"Well, no, not exactly...... Jaina said, her voice trailing off. "But
there is something-" "Of course, it never hurts to look your best,"
Jacen interrupted, jumping down beside his sister and Zekk.
"This is a fact," Tenel Ka said. The warrior girl leapt down to join
them.
Lowie looked up at the jungle moon's horizon above the Massassi
treetops and gave an inquiring bark. Then, with a joyful bellow, he
grabbed the oval translating droid, tucked Em Teedee under one arm, and
dove off the side of the Lightning Rod. He somersaulted on the short
grass and bounded to a standing position beside his friends.
"Well, really, Master Lowbacca!" Em Teedee scolded as he was being
clipped back at his accustomed place on the Wookiee's syrenfiber
belt.
"Such grandstanding could result in permanent damage to my circuits.
Under A Black Sun Trilogy Page 33
