Heirs of the Force

by Kevin J. Anderson

  belonged to Brakiss himself. And it still does."

  Now he raised his eyes and looked across the gathered Jedi. As Luke's

  gaze passed over them, Jaina felt an electric thrill, as if an invisible

  hand had just brushed her.

  become Jedi," Luke said, "you must face many choices. Some may be

  simple but troublesome, others may be terrible ordeals.

  Here at my Jedi academy I can give you tools to use when facing those

  choices. But I cannot make the choices for you. You must succeed in

  your own way."

  Before Luke could continue, sudden screeching alarms rang out, sounding

  an emergency.

  Ar-too-Detoo, the little droid Luke kept near his side, rushed into the

  grand audience chamber, emitting a loud series of unintelligible

  electronic whistles and beeps. Luke seemed to understand them, though,

  and he leaped down from the stage.

  "Trouble out on the landing pad!" Luke said, sprinting for the

  turbolift. He continued to speak to his students as he ran, his robes

  flapping behind him. "Think about what I've told you and go practice

  your skills."

  The students milled about in confusion, not knowing what to do.

  Jacen, Jaina, and Tenel Ka looked at eac other, the same thought in each

  of their minds. "Let's go see what's going on!" ----------------JACEN

  SAW THAT other Jedi students, who now rushed to the winding internal

  staircases or crowded into the turbolifts, had the same idea.

  Tenel Ka, though, leaped to her feet and grabbed Jacen's arm, yanking

  him off the stone bench. "We can do it faster my way.

  Jaina, follow!"

  Tenel Ka raced back to the stone wall below the skylights, weaving

  between two short lizardlike students who seemed baffled by the

  commotion and cheeped to each other in high-pitched voices. Already

  Tenel Ka had unreeled the lightweight fibercord from her belt and

  removed the sturdy grappling hook.

  "We'll go up the wall, out the skylights, and down the outside," she

  said, twirling the grappling hook in her hand. The muscles in her arm

  rippled. At precisely the right moment she released the hook.

  Jacen and Jaina helped it with the Force, guiding the hook so that it

  seated properly in the moss-covered sill. Its sharp durasteel points

  dug into a crack in the stone blocks and held there.

  Tenel Ka grasped the fibercord in both hands, tugged backward, and began

  to climb up the rope. She dug the toes of her scaled boots against the

  wall, hauling herself up, somehow finding footing on the polished stone

  blocks.

  Jacen grabbed the rope next, holding it steady as Tenel Ka ascended like

  a lizard up a sunbaked cliff face. As he climbed, his arms ached. He

  used the Force when he needed to, raising his body up, catching himself

  when his feet slipped. He would have preferred to show off his physical

  prowess, especially with Tenel Ka watching.

  At last he pulled his wiry body to the top of the Great Temple,

  squirming out the windowsill to stand on the broad rough-hewn platform

  left by the ancient builders.

  Jacen reached behind him to grab his sister's arm and pulled her up. The

  humid air of the jungle clung to the top of the pyramid, making it hot

  and sticky, unlike the cool mustiness of the temple interior.

  Before they could catch their breath, Tenel Ka had retrieved the

  fibercord and was picking her way rapidly along the narrow stone

  walkway. Pebbles crumbled under her feet, but she didn't seem the least

  bit concerned about falling.

  "Around to the side," she said, not even panting. "We can get down

  faster that way."

  Tenel Ka ran with light footsteps around the perimeter until she

  stopped, looking down at the cleared landing field where all ships

  arrived and departed. She stood stock still, like a warrior confronted

  with an awesome opponent.

  Jacen and Jaina came up behind her and stared in amazement and horror at

  what they saw down in front of the temple.

  A battered supply ship, the Lightning Rod, had landed in the jungle

  clearing. Their normal supply courier and message runnerlong-haired old

  Peckhum-stood transfixed beside the open jaws of his cargo bay. His

  eyes were wide and white. He looked as if he had screamed himself

  hoarse, and could now make no sound.

  He stared at a huge, unnatural-looking monstrosity that loomed out of

  the jungle as if ready to attack, snarling at him . . .

  waiting for Peckhum to make the next move.

  "What is that thing?" Jaina asked, looking to her brother as if he

  would know.

  Jacen squinted at the behemoth. As enormous as a shuttlecraft, its huge

  squarish body was covered with shaggy, matted hair' tangled with

  primordial moss. It stood on six cylindrical legs that were like the

  holes of ancient trees. Its massive triangular head sat like a Star

  Destroyer on its shoulders, but instead of eyes inset in its skull, it

  had a cluster of twelve thick, writhing tentacles, each one glistening

  with a round, unblinking eye. Curved tusks sprouted from its mouth, long

  and sharp and wicked enough to tear a hole through a sandcrawler.

  "It's not like anything I've ever seen in my life," Jacen said.

  Tenel Ka glared down at the monster with a grim expression. "Working

  together, we can fight it," she said. "Follow!" She dashed down the

  wide-cut stone steps outside the tall temple.

  The monster let out a bellow of challenge so loud and so horrendous that

  it seemed to make the ancient stone blocks tremble. The three young Jedi

  Knights hurried to the ground level, careful not to slip and fall from

  the steep steps.

  "Help me!" Peckhum cried, his voice tinny with fi-ight.

  At the jungle's edge, the hideous monster turned, as if distracted by

  something. Jacen felt his heart leap, thinking at first that perhaps

  the wild creature had seen the three of them approaching. But he saw

  that its attention was fixed instead on another figure walking alone,

  emerging from the lower levels of the temple pyramid, confidently

  gliding over the clipped grasses and weeds.

  Luke Skywalker wore only his Jedi robe.

  Jacen expected to see him holding his lightsaber, but both of Luke's

  hands were empty.

  Luke stared at the creature, and the creature stared back with a dozen

  eyes waving at the ends of tentacles covering its face.

  The Jedi Master continued to walk forward, directly toward the monster,

  as if he were in some sort of trance. He took one step, then anothen

  The beast bristled, but held its ground, bellowing loudly enough to make

  the trees swish. Jungle birds and creatures fled from the horrifying

  sound.

  While the beast was momentarily distracted, old Peckhum dove to the

  ground, scuttling on all fours through the open cargo doors of his

  battered shuttle. Jacen was glad to see the supply runner safe inside

  the shielded metal walls.

  The monster roared upon losing its prey.

  But Luke spoke in an oddly calm and clear voice that was not at all

  muffled by the distance. "No, here! Look at me," he said.

  Tenel Ka reached t
he ground by leaping down the last four steps and

  landing in a crouch. Puffing and red-facedJacen and Jaina dashed down

  beside her, then all three teens stood rigid, watching Luke Skywalker

  face the jungle beast. They had no weapons of their own.

  Suddenly, unexpectedly, old Peckhum charged back out of the open bay

  doors of the Lightning Rod. In his hands he held an oldfashioned

  blaster rifle. "I'll get him, Master Skywalker! Just stay there." He

  ducked down and aimed.

  But Luke turned to him and motioned with his hand. "No," he said.

  The blaster rifle went flying out of Peckhum's grip. The old supply

  runner stared in astonishment as Luke continued to stroll toward the

  monster, seemingly without a care in the world.

  "This creature means no harm," Luke said, his voice quiet but firm. He

  never took his eyes off the beast. "It's just frightened and confused.

  It doesn't know where it is, or why we are here." He drew a deep

  breath. "There's no need for killing."

  Jacen's stomach knotted with unbearable tension as Luke approached the

  monster. The thing's long eyestalks waved at him, and its six

  tree-trunk legs took ponderous steps like an Imperial walker.

  The beast lowered its triangular head, shaking it from side to side so

  that the pointed tusks seemed to scratch holes in the air. It let out a

  strange, soft blat of puzzlement.

  Jacen hissed with fear, an is sister entire body clenched. He had used

  his own talents with the Force to confront many strange animals out in

  the jungle, but never anything as powerful as this monster, never such a

  boiling mass of anger and confusion.

  But Luke stepped right up to the shaggy, angry thing, within touching

  distance. The Jedi Master looked incredibly small, yet unafraid.

  Beside the battered freighter, Peckhum fell to his knees. The discarded

  blaster rifle was at hand, but he didn't dare pick up the weapon again.

  He looked from the monster to Luke, then to the three watching teensthen

  off into the jungle, as if terrified that another one of the creatures

  might appear.

  Luke stood in front of the nightmarish beast and took a deep breath. He

  didn't move. The monster held its ground and snorted. Its eyestalks

  waved unblinking, pointing slitted pupils down at him.

  Luke raised his hand, palm out.

  The monster snuffled and waited, motionless, its wicked tusks less than

  a meter away from Luke Skywalker.

  The jungle fell silent. The breeze died away.

  Jacen held his breath. Jaina gripped his hand. Tenel Ka narrowed her

  cool gray eyes' The silence seemed so overwhelming that when Luke at

  last broke the frozen moment, his whisper sounded as loud as a shout.

  "Go," Luke told the creature. "There is nothing you need here."

  The monster reared up on its hind set of piston legs, its eye tentacles

  thrashing in a frenzy Then it let out another high-pitched trumpet

  before it spun around and crashed off into the thick undergrowth.

  Branches cracked, trees bent to one side as it plowed a wide path back

  to the mysterious jungle depths from which it had come.

  Like a snapped string, Luke's shoulders slumped with exhaustion. He

  seemed barely able to keep himself from trembling as Jacen, Jaina, and

  Tenel Ka rushed toward him, calling his name. "Uncle Luke!"

  Luke turned and looked at the three friends with a smile.

  Old Peckhum stumbled up, clutching the antiquated blaster rifle. His

  eyes glittered with unshed tears. "I can't believe you did that, Master

  Skywalker!" he said. "I thought I was dead for sure, but you faced

  that monster with no weapons at all."

  "I had enough weapons," Luke said with calm conviction. "I had the

  Force."

  "I wish I could do that, Uncle Luke," Jacen said. "That was really

  something."

  "You will be able to do anything you want, Jacen," Luke said. "You have

  the potentialas Ion as you have the discipline."

  Luke gazed off into the jungle, where they could still hear trees

  crashing and shrubs snapping as the monster continued to blunder its way

  through the forest.

  "There are many mysterious things in the jungles," Luke said, then he

  smiled at the twins and Tenel Ka. He nodded toward Peckhum's ship, the

  Lightning Rod, which still sat open, filled with crates and boxes of

  supplies and equipment.

  "I think our friend Mr. Peckhum is having a rough day," Luke said.

  "He's got a lot more to unload, and he's probably eager to get back up

  into orbit, where it's safe." He flashed a smile at the old supply

  runner, who nodded vigorously.

  "Why don't you three consider it a Jedi training exercise to help him.

  Besides, we need to get ready because tomorrow-" He looked at Jacen and

  Jaina, eyes sparkling.

  "Your father and Chewbacca are bringing us another Jedi trainee."

  "Dad's coming here?" Jaina said with a yelp.

  "Hey, why didn't you tell us before?" Jacen added. His heart leaped at

  the thought of seeing his father again after a full month.

  "I wanted it to be a surprise. He's flying in on the Millennium Falcon,

  but he had to stop at Chewbacca's planet first. They've already left

  Kashyyyk, and they're on their way here."

  Filled with excitement, the young Jedi Knights eagerly helped unload

  Peckhum's supply ship. It was hard work, demanding more concentration

  and control of their Jedi lifting abilities than they were used to, but

  they finished in less than an hour. Jaina and Jacen chattered to Tenel

  Ka about all the adventures Han Solo had experienced. Jaina groaned

  about how much work it would be to clean up their quarters in time, so

  they could impress their father.

  Finally, the battered old freighter flew off into the misty skies toward

  the orangish gas-giant planet of Yavin.

  Jacen smiled and looked wistfully at the trampled clearing. The next

  ship to arrive on the landing pad would be the Millennium Falcon!

  ---------------"THERE," SAID JAINA, mentally relaxing her hold on a

  large mass of tangled wires and cables. It came to rest in a more or

  less contained jumble atop one of the newly tidied stacks of electronic

  components in her room. "That should do it," she added with a satisfied

  nod.

  "Does that mean we can go to morning meal now?" Jacen said. "You've

  been at this half the night."

  "I want Dad to be impressed." Jaina shrugged.

  Jacen laughed. "He never stacks his tools this neatly!"

  "Guess I did get a little carried away," Jaina replied, matching his

  grin. "We've still got a few hours before they get here."

  Jacen snorted and stood up from the floor, where he'd been sitting next

  to his sister while they worked. He brushed the dust off his jumpsuit

  and ran long fingers through his dark brown curls. "Well, how do I look.

  Jaina raised a critical eyebrow at him.

  "Like someone who's been up all night."

  He hurried over to peer anxiously into the small mirror that Jaina had

  hung above her cistern. She realized that her brother was just as

  nervous and excited about seeing their father again as she was.

  "It , s actu
ally not too bad," she assured him.

  "I think raking the twigs and leaves from your hair really helped.

  Here, put this on."

  She pulled a fresh jumpsuit from a chest by her bed. "You'll look more

  presentable."

  When Jacen went into the next room to change, Jaina took his place at

  the mirror.

  She wasn't vain, but, as with her room, she preferred to keep her

  personal . appearance neat and clean.

  She ran a comb through her straight brown hair and stared at her

  reflection.

  Then, with a quick peek over her shoulder to be sure her brother wasn't

  looking, she pulled back a handful of strands and worked t -iem into a

  braid. Jaina would never have gone to this much trouble for an

  ambassador or some silly dignitary-but her father was worth the effort.

  She hoped Jacen wouldn't notice or comment on it.

  Finished, she stepped through her door way and poked her head into

  Jacen's room.

  "All the animals fed?" she asked.

  "I took care of that hours ago," he said, emerging in his clean, fresh

  robe. He heaved a long-suffering sigh. "At least someone @ had their

  morning meal."