for today."
I 0 -----------------DOCTORS WERE BORN meddlers, Tenel Ka decided with
annoyance.
The fifth court physician in as many hours continued explaining in a
calm, patronizing voice that, although Tenel Ka was perfectly correct in
not desiring a crude droid arm, she could have no objection to a
lifelike biomechanical prosthetic replacement. (Apparently they thought
they knew her better than she knew herself.) Tenel Ka finally raised
the stump of her arm in exasperated surrender and let the doctor have
her way. The physician looked satisfied and not at all surprised that
Tenel Ka had agreed. After all, it had been the only reasonable choice.
The doctor beckoned to one of her nurses, and the man came forward to
begin taking measurements of the stump of Tenel Ka's left arm. Next, an
engineer placed electrodes against her scarred skin and sent
intermittent jolts of electricity into the flesh-to measure the nerve
conduction, she explained.
Meanwhile, the nurse placed Tenel Ka's right arm
^ LIGHTSABERS
^ in a holographic imaging chamber. Each time the engineer administered
a jolt to Tenel Ka's stump, the nurse patted her shoulder comfortingly
and asked her to hold still. The man took great pride in telling her how
the holographic image would be reversed to make a pattern that could be
used as the mold for her new biosynthetic left arm.
Like children let loose at a sweets bazaar, physicians buzzed around the
room snapping orders, conferring with each other, and making
preparations. Allowing the poking and prodding and the chaos of voices
to fade into the background, Tenel Ka sank into her own thoughts.
As the daughter of two strong ruling families, one from Hapes and one
from Dathomir, Tenel Ka had long known who and what she was. Her
philosophy of life had been as clear in her mind as her views on
lineage, loyalty, friendships, and even her own physical abilities and
limitations.
If one of those components changed, did everything else change as well?
From childhood, Tenel Ka's parents had taught her to make her own
decisions based in equal part on reason, fact, and personal belief.
Therefore, she had never been one to sit passively while others made
choices for her. Yet, since the loss of her arm, hadn't she done just
that?
She had hardly given it a thought when Ambassador Yfra appeared in the
middle of the night to whisk her away from Yavin 4 in secret. In these
last few days on Hapes, Tenel Ka had allowed her grandmother to control
her movements and communications, tell her when to sleep, bring all her
meals, and select appropriate clothing for her. And now Tenel Ka, who
had always relied on her own mind and body, was allowing herself to be
fitted for a biomechanical arm.
Had she truly changed so much?
The Force was a part of her, flowing through her just as the blood of
her parents flowed through her veins. But this artificial ann was no
part of her.
If she accepted it, then she was allowing the loss of her limb to change
her in ways that reached deeper than the eye could see. She didn't
object to changing-but this change was not for the better. If she
allowed herself to be transformed, it should be in the direction of
becoming stronger or wiser.
Tenel Ka's reverie was cut short by the sound of whirring servomotors.
The doctor and an engineer stood before her holding a grotesque metallic
arm.
I A droid arm. It reminded Tenel Ka of the unw,eldly contraption she had
heard the former TIE pilot Qorl now wore since going back to serve the
Second Imperium. Tenel Ka shook her head in wordless denial.
"Now this is only temporary, of course," the doctor said with the same
infuriating condescension she had used before. "Just accustom yourself
to it while we're synthesizing the biomechanical arm."
LIGHTSABERS
^ Tenel Ka decided then and there that she had not, in fact, changed
that much. If she needed to use the Force from now on to assist her in
small ways, then so be it. But she refused to become dependent on a
machine that masqueraded as part of herself.
"No," she managed to croak when the doctor moved to attach the
mechanical arm to her severed limb. The engineer backed away uneasily,
but the doctor continued as if Tenel Ka had not spoken.
"This is all part of the process of making you whole again," the doctor
said in her maddening voice, "and that is exactly what you want."
"No," Tenel Ka repeated, setting her jaw stubbornly. Anger seethed
inside her at the doctor's confident presumption that she knew what was
best.
The doctor shook her head and bent down, as if chiding a young child.
"Now, you agreed to be fitted for this new arm and-"
"I've changed my mind," Tenel Ka gritted, clamping down on her temper to
hold it in check.
The doctor's lips were still smiling, but grim determination shone in
her eyes, indicating she would never take no for an answer-not from any
patient of hers. The woman kept up a steady stream of talk and motioned
for the engineer to help her position the droid prosthetic against the
stump of Tenel Ka's arm, as if the doctor thought that by forging ahead
she could overwhelm her patient's determination with her own.
"Now, there's no disgrace in having a biomechanical arm, you know. Even
your great Jedi Master Skywalker has a prosthetic hand."
Tenel Ka acknowledged inwardly that there had been no weakness in Master
Skywalker's choice. It made him no more or less than what he was. He had
wrestled with his own decisions and made his own choices, just as she
must make hers. The Jedi Master would not ask her to do otherwise-as the
people who surrounded her here on Hapes seemed intent on doing.
"Your new arm will look quite natural," the doctor went on in her
exasperating, soothing voice, "and your grandmother has spared no
expense."
When the cold metal of the mechanical limb touched Tenel Ka's arm, she
lost the last vestiges of control over her anger.
"No!" Tenel Ka cried, unconsciously using the Force to give the engineer
and the doctor a backward shove. The droid arm was already clamped in
place against her skin, however, like a protruding cancerous growth.
"I said NO! " Tenel Ka quite consciously used the Force to yank the
contraption free and fling it with blinding speed against the nearest
wall. It hit the stones with a clang and a crunch and fell in pieces to
the cold tile floor.
LIGHTSABERS
^
Gasps went up from all around the room, and a dozen pairs of eyes
regarded her with shock and apprehension.
Having vented her fury, Tenel Ka's voice was now quite calm. "And I
meant no."
THE BUZZING VIBRATION of the T-23 skyhopper both soothed and unsettled
Jacen for some reason he could not define.
Up in the cockpit with Lowie, Em Teedee amplified his speaker volume to
be heard above the whine of the engines. "Really, Master Lowbacca, I
don't see what the point of all this flyin
g about could be, without even
so much as a destination in mind."
At Lowie's soft growl, the little droid replied, "Therapeutic? For
what? And in any case, I should think that performing some sort of
physical exercise would be far more beneficial than flying aimlessly
over the treetops."
Jaina sat pensively beside Jacen in the skyhopper's cramped passenger
seat, toying with her lightsaber. "We actually tried that, Em Teedee,
but lately it seems like any exercise we do only reminds us of the
things we were trying to get our minds off of in the first place."
Jacen was surprised to hear Jaina answering the 94 LIGHTSABERS
^ pesky little droid just as Lowie had addressed it a moment
earlier-without annoyance, and as a friend.
In fact, a full day had passed since any of them had had the heart to
switch Em Teedee off. It was as if they hoped the little translator's
chatter might fill the void that none of them wished to think about.
But something was missing, Jacen thought. Different. Under normal
circumstances he probably would have been crowded into the tiny cargo
well behind the passenger seat . . . and he would have happily endured
that discomfort, if it meant that Tenel Ka could have been with them,
sitting where he now sat.
"Oh, dear me!" Em Teedee said in a much subdued voice. "How terribly
insensitive my processor can be. You've all been thinking of Mistress
Tenel Ka, haven't you? I am dreadfully sorry."
Jacen saw Lowie reach down to give the little droid what looked like a
comforting pat. Now that Em Teedee had brought up the subject the
friends had been avoiding, Jacen felt Tenel Ka's absence all the more
keenly.
"It's okay, Em Teedee," Jaina said. "We all miss her."
Jacen sighed. "I wish I could just talk to her."
Jacen, Lowie, and Em Teedee voiced agreement.
Then, as though they had discussed it and come to a unanimous decision,
Lowie turned the T-23 about and headed back to the Jedi academy.
Master Luke Skywalker looked down at his small barrel-shaped astromech
droid as they entered the hangar bay at the base of the Great Temple.
"I'm fine, Artoo," he said, answering the droid's questioning whistle.
"I just have an important decision to make."
Luke frowned and thought back on the direct communication he had just
sent to the Fountain Palace on Hapes. He had been unable to get hold of
Prince Isolder and Teneniel Djo, Tenel Ka's parents.
Instead, Ta'a Chume, the matriarch of the Royal House, had come onscreen
and told him in no uncertain terms that Tenel Ka's parents were
traveling outside the Hapes Cluster and could not be reached, and that
the princess herself had already endured enough trauma because of her
Jedi training.
Under no circumstances would the young woman be allowed to speak with
Master Skywalker. With that, the former queen had abruptly terminated
the connection, leaving Luke with an entirely new set of concerns.
Tenel Ka's grandmother had never approved of the direction the girl had
chosen for her own life.
The harsh old woman had always wanted to mold her granddaughter into a
scheming politician of whom she could be proud-someone just like
herself.
What if, Luke wondered, instead of supporting LIGHTSA ER
^ and comforting Tenel Ka during this time of turbulence, her
grandmother chose to use Tenel Ka's weakness to her own advantage?
Without Isolder and Teneniel Djo to support their daughter emotionally,
Tenel Ka might be too despondent or confused to make her own choices. It
was possible she would blindly accept any decision the matriarch might
make on her behalf.
Luke shook his head. Political considerations aside, Tenel Ka would not
find the comfort she needed from her grandmother. He thought of the
close bond the four young Jedi Knights had developed from working and
training together at the academy. Tenel Ka needed that kind of closeness
right now. She needed the unselfish caring that Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie
could provide.
Luke had no wish to influence Tenel Ka's decision about whether or not
to return to Yavin ; t at would have to be her choice, and hers alone.
And certainly any competent medical droid could be trusted to tend Tenel
Ka's physical wound. But she needed the warmth and support of friends in
order to heal her emotional wounds and come to her own decision.
Luke smiled as he saw Lowbacca maneuver the T-23 skyhopper onto its pad
in the hangar bay.
Those Jedi trainees needed to have their emotional wounds healed as
well. He straightened and walked toward the T-23. "I think we'd better
do a preflight check on the Shadow Chaser, Artoo. Let's get ready to
fly."
Artoo warbled and beeped, asking a question.
"Yes," Luke Skywalker said. "I've made my decision."
From the moment her uncle announced he would take them to see Tenel Ka
after all, adrenaline began to rush through Jaina's veins. She made a
mad dash for her chambers, snatched a fresh jumpsuit, a Jedi robe, and a
few other odds and ends, then stuffed them along with her lightsaber
into a small flight duffel. By the time she raced back out of her
quarters, down the echoing stone stairs and hallways, and out onto the
landing pad, where their ship waited, she no longer had any idea what
she had packed.
Jacen arrived ahead of her, running up the ramp of the sleek Shadow
Chaser, a disordered pile of clean clothes tucked under one arm, his
lightsaber under the other. Jaina didn't slow as she followed him up the
ramp, marveling as she always did at the powerful ship and its glossy
quantum armor. The ship had once been the finest craft created by the
Second Imperium. After Master Luke Skywalker and Tenel Ka had used it to
rescue the twins and Lowie from the Shadow Academy, the New Republic had
given the Shadow Chaser to the Jedi Master for his own use.
LIGHTSABERS
^ Once Lowie had scrambled aboard with Em Teedee, his lightsaber clipped
to the webbed belt at his waist, Luke instructed Artoo-Detoo to raise
the boarding ramp, and the Shadow Chaser lifted off.
Jaina felt a thrill as the Shadow Chaser's repulsorlifts boosted them
off the landing field; sublight engines kicked in, launching them away
from the jungle moon. The last few minutes of rushed preparation were a
blur in her mind, and she looked around for something else to speed them
on their way.
Lowie rumbled a question from the navigation console, and Em Teedee
answered, "No, I'm certain Master Luke doesn't need our assistance in
plotting the most efficient route."
Her uncle smiled down at the Wookiee. "We'll be going to lightspeed in
just a few minutes. Why don't you all try to relax, get some rest."
Jaina took a deep breath and watched the stars through the
viewports-like glittering gems sinking in a depthless black sea-until
each pinprick of light elongated into a starline and the Shadow Chaser
made a smooth jump into hyperspace.
The three Jedi trainees found they were too excited to rest,
though.
They spent the remainder of the journey trying to distract themselves
aboard the tiny ship. Jaina and Lowie were just about to remove an
access panel to the rear thruster stabilizers to study how they worked
when Luke announced their final approach to Tenel Ka's home planet.
The three friends rushed to the cockpit. As they took their seats behind
the Jedi Master, Lowie squinted and scanned the star system around them.
When she saw his ginger-fuffed face register surprise, Jaina looked
around, seeing no nearby planet that could have been Dathomir.
"That's odd," she said at last. "From the descriptions I've heard and
the star charts I've studied, I could swear we were in the Hapes
Cluster."
Her uncle swiveled in the pilot seat and met each pair of eyes in turn.
"We are in the Hapes system," Luke said gravely.
"It's time I explained to you that Tenel Ka is more than just a simple
warrior from a backward planet."
^ 2 ----------------BROAD-SHOULDERED NORYS, former leader of the Lost
Ones gang and new stormtrooper trainee, spread his white armor on the
bunk in front of him. He studied the pieces carefully, then began to
assemble the glossy outfit, donning the components one at a time-and
enjoying every minute of it.
The boots went on first, stiff and sturdy. Then the greaves, the shin
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