encouraged. "You're almost here-you can make it!"
Even before they reached bottom, Jaina looked up to see Tenel Ka and her
grandmother easing over the sill. The matriarch, unable to grasp the
slender cord tightly enough in her old hands, steadied herself with an
arm around Tenel Ka's waist. The young warrior girl had looped the rope
once around her arm to allow herself more friction to control their
descent.
With a firm hold on the fibercord, she slowly leaned backward, letting
the strand slip through her fingers as her feet pressed against the
outer wall of the fortress. The dangerous climb may have been more
difficult and awkward with her handicap, but Tenel Ka did not seem the
least bit hesitant. Despite LIGHTSABERS
^ her usual reluctance to use the Force, she took advantage of it this
time without reservation.
"Come on, Tenel Ka!" Jacen called.
Before the girl and her grandmother had gotten more than halfway down
the rope, though, a loud crash sounded from above. Suddenly swarms of
multilegged figures surged to the open window, squealing their triumph.
Jaina heard Tenel Ka shout, "Hold on!" as she doubled her speed, sliding
down the cord so quickly that Jaina was sure she would get a rope bum on
her hand and arm.
The Bartokks grabbed the fibercord and sawed at it with their serrated
scythe arms.
Tenel Ka slipped down faster, faster.
Suddenly the strand parted. The insectoid assassins above gave a
triumphant chitter.
Lowbacca roared and with lightning-fast reflexes dropped the end of the
severed rope, held out his arms, and caught the old matriarch as she
plunged.
Using the Force to control her own fall, Tenel Ka landed heavily on her
feet, but without injury.
"Good one, Tenel Ka," Jacen cried. "We made it!"
"Not quite yet," Jaina said, pointing upward. The remaining black
Bartokk assassins started to boil through the upper window, crawling
headfirst down the vertical stone block.
"We must hurry," Tenel Ka said, pointing toward the grotto. "To the
wavespeeders."
At the far edge of the reef, Jaina saw the sharp-edged assault boat from
the Bartokk hive near the smoldering wreck of the shield-generator
station. For a moment she contemplated taking that craft instead-but
when she noticed the knobby, alien controls designed for simultaneous
use by four claws, she couldn't be sure she or Lowie could pilot such a
ship. Their best chance would be to grab one of the smaller
wavespeeders.
Ducking under the moss-edged rock of the entrance, they ran into the sea
cave. A wavespeeder, tied to the dock closest the entrance, bobbed
gently on the water of the grotto.
"Everybody in," Jaina said. "Lowie and I can handle this. Let's just
hope its top speed is better than what that assassin craft can manage."
"And that Ambassador Yfra hasn't sabotaged it!"
Jacen muttered.
Lowbacca bellowed his agreement. Still dazed after her fall, the grim
matriarch shook herself and climbed aboard as Jacen and Jaina hopped
over the rail, followed by Tenel Ka.
With a roar, the repulsorlift engines raised the wavespeeder up off the
calm waters inside the sheltered cave. Before Tenel Ka had managed to
seat herself, Jaina pulled the boat away from the dock, whipped it
around, and accelerated through the cave entrance, churning the water
into froth beneath them. The wavespeeder shot away from the darkened,
overrun Reef Fortress.
LIGHTSABERS
^ Lowbacca, sitting in the navigator's chair, turned his shaggy head to
gaze back at the tall citadel with his dark-adapted Wookiee eyes. He
growled, stretching out a hairy arm. Jaina risked a glance and saw the
insectoid murderers swarming down the tower wall toward their assault
craft.
"Better get our head start while we can," Jaina said grimly. She pushed
hard against the accelerators, although they were already traveling at
maximum speed. The small boat sped out to where the sea grew choppier.
Moments later an ear-splitting mechanical roar erupted behind them.
Jacen shouted, and Jaina glanced back to see the Bartokk assault craft
pull away from the reef, infested with black insect assassins.
The assault craft's engine thundered like a Star Destroyer in pursuit.
"They must have come in using stealth silencers on their engines," Jaina
said.
"They're at full power now, though-no need to keep quiet." She watched
the tactical panel in front of her and swallowed a lump in her throat.
Lowie growled. "Master Lowbacca estimates that they will overtake us
within minutes," Em Teedee wailed. "What are we to do?"
The ocean was lit only by the twin moons high overhead in the midnight
sky. Jaina saw froth ahead as the water surged around a rocky obstacle
jutting from the sea-the Dragon's Teeth. "We'll go there," she said,
"and try to cause some trouble as they dodge around the rocks. We're
smaller, more maneuverable."
"I doubt they'll give up because of a navigation hazard," Jacen said.
"No," Jaina replied, "but we can hope they crash."
The pointed rocks thrust out of the water like jagged spires. Waves
crashed against their faces, running like saliva drooling from a krayt
dragon's mouth, and rippled around the submerged reefs at the base of
the Teeth. The Bartokk assault craft screamed after them.
"Watch the waves-and count," Tenel Ka said, pointing as a plume of white
water jetted up between the two sharp rocks. Five seconds later another
plume spurted up just as high. "Timing could be our advantage."
Jaina nodded. "I see what you mean. Lowie, I'll need your help on the
controls." They slowed just enough to let the assault craft approach
them as they headed toward the narrow gap between the treacherous rock
spires.
"It's going to be close, Jaina," Jacen said.
"Don't I know it," she agreed. "Okay, punch it, Lowie."
The Wookiee hit the accelerators full force just as the Bartokk assault
craft nearly rammed them from behind. The insect assassins waved their
clacking LIGHTSABERS
^ arms. One fired a deck-mounted cannon, and the blaster bolt struck the
waves, creating a geyser of steam just beside their wavespeeder.
"Whoa," Jaina said as Lowie yowled. "Didn't expect that."
Unconsciously ducking her head as they streaked between the black rocks,
she canted the wavespeeder to fit through the narrow gap. The hiss of
their passage boomed and echoed, and a fine cold spray splashed them
all.
The assault craft charged in behind them. Jaina didn't think the
assassins could possibly fit through the narrow opening, but the ship
slid into the gap with only a few centimeters of play on either side.
The ocean rolled just as the assault craft spat from the narrow cleft
between the rocks. A jet of water rocketed through the gap, shooting out
a high-powered plume that catapulted the Bartokk assault craft into the
air and spun it end-over-end.
Three assassins toppled overboard and
vanished into the churning seas
before the assault craft righted itself and crashed back onto the water.
The Bartokk pilot wrestled with the controls as Jaina streaked onward at
top speed, stretching the gap between them.
Before long, though, the assault craft was hot on their tail again.
Sitting in back, Ta'a Chume recovered enough to reach inside her plush
robes and withdraw a tiny holdout blaster. "For what it's worth," the
matriarch said, "I'll use this-but it's designed for only two shots."
"What good is a blaster that only has two shots?"
Jacen asked.
"The first shot is for an attacker," Tenel Ka's grandmother answered.
"The second shot . . .
well, sometimes it is preferable not to be taken alive."
Jaina gulped and continued to guide the wavespeeder away from the reef.
Waves crashed against the front of their craft, but she couldn't gain
any more height from their repulsorlifts. Fortunately, the Bartokk
assault craft had sustained some damage in its passage through the
Dragon's Teeth, and now the pilot of the impaired vessel had no choice
but to hang back.
Pushing the wavespeeder to its redlines, Jaina maintained their lead-but
just barely. Another hour went by as they sped over the dark wavetops
under the pale light of the moons. The assault craft edged closer and
closer.
"Is there any way to get back to civilization, get some help?" Jacen
asked.
"Our fortress is extremely isolated-theoretically for our protection-and
this wavespeeder travels much too slowly," the old matriarch said. "It
would take us many hours to get back. I fear the Bartokks will have
taken care of us before then."
LIGHTSABERS
^
"Not if I can help it," Jaina said, gritting her teet as she diverted
them toward a pale patch of water ahead, a wasteland covered with a
rough, flattened texture and exuding a spoiled fishy smell. She realized
full well where they were going. The coordinates had been familiar, and
now she hoped to use her knowledge to their advantage.
Lowbacca, guessing her intention, let out a questioning whine.
"I know what I'm doing, Lowie," Jaina said.
Jacen must have smelled the same thing. He leaned toward his sister in
alarm. "You're not actually going into that seaweed field, are you?"
Jaina shrugged. "They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?"
"The Bartokk assassin hive will follow us to the ends of the planet,"
Tenel Ka said. "They have no concern for their own danger."
"Good," Jaina said, "then maybe they'll get Sloppy."
Suddenly the sound of the engines grew muted as they streaked over the
writhing forest of carnivorous seaweed. Just below the hull of their
wavespeeder, the weed thrashed in agitation. Clusters of red eye-flowers
rose up, keeping a vigilant watch for new prey even in deepest night.
The seaweed flickered and snapped, as if it remembered its near miss
with the group of young Jedi only days before.
"I sure hope this thing is still hungry," Jacen said.
"How about we give it some plant food?"
"As long as it's not us," Jaina responded.
The Bartokk assassins paid no heed to how the sea had changed, intent
only on closing the gap between them and their prey.
The matriarch stood at the rear of the wavespeeder, holding her small
blaster. "Two shots," she said, pointing her weapon at the approaching
boat.
"Target their repulsorpods," Jaina shouted. "That's the only weak spot
on a big assault craft like that."
The wavespeeder jostled, but the matriarch took careful aim and fired a
high-powered blaster bolt.
The streak of energy skimmed the bottom of the pursuing assault craft,
leaving the repulsorpod undamaged. The shot reflected off the B artokks'
metal hull and sizzled into the churning seaweed creature.
"No damage," the matriarch said. "One chance left."
"Your shot was not wasted," Tenel Ka said.
"Observe the plant."
The seaweed now seemed fully awake and angry.
Its spined tentacles thrashed in the air and slapped at the craft
roaring over its fronds.
The Bartokk assassins approached the wavespeeder, apparently unconcerned
that one of their intended victims had just used a blaster. The Bartokk
craft fired a return shot with one of its laser cannons, but Jaina,
sensing the impending bolt through the Force, rocked the wavespeeder to
the left. The blast struck the seaweed again, eliciting a LIGHTSABERS
^ hissing, low-frequency roar from the plant monster.
Ta'a Chume stood again, raised her tiny blaster, and aimed a second and
last time.
"May the Force be with you," Tenel Ka murmured.
The matriarch took her final shot. This time the energy bolt struck one
of the Bartokk repulsorpods squarely. Though the tiny weapon was not
powerful enough to cause great damage, it was enough to throw the
pursuing assault craft into a spin.
The stem of the assassins' boat rose up and, as the Bartokk insects
scrambled for control, the bow plunged, grazing the ravenous seaweed.
Before the pilot could regain stability, a dozen spiked tentacles
whipped up to wrap themselves around the rails, snatching at the hull,
the repulsorpods, the lasercannon emplacements. The insect assassins
chittered, more in anger than fear, because the hive mind couldn't
comprehend its impending death.
Within moments, however, Bartokk assassin legs were flailing as spiked
weed tentacles plucked the insects from their stations at the side of
the boat and dragged them thrashing beneath the foaming waves.
Soon the seaweed had engulfed the entire sharpedged craft, dragging it
under the roiling water.
Pincer-ended tentacles clamped down on hard chitinous shells, and Jaina
heard muffled crunching sounds as the seaweed monster snapped
exoskeletons apart to reach the tender parts inside. She stared at the
water in horrified fascination.
"I think maybe this is our cue to leave," Jacen pointed out, giving his
sister a nudge. Lowie roared his agreement.
Bloodred eye-flowers blinked hungrily up at them.
"Okay, what are we waiting for?"
Lowie revved the engines and then accelerated as Jaina guided the
wavespeeder back out of the deadly tangle of seaweed.
Ta'a Chume made her way to the front of the wavespeeder. "I can pilot us
to safety from here," she said. Jaina gladly relinquished the controls
as the former queen headed the craft toward the mainland.
"An excellent shot, Grandmother," Tenel Ka said.
The matriarch nodded and looked with renewed admiration at her
granddaughter. "So much for diplomacy."
Some five hours later, the entire bedraggled crew finally hauled
themselves into the Fountain Palace.
Ta'a Chume was outraged to find that Ambassador Yfra had already assumed
control. Declaring martial law, the ambassador had announced that there
would be several hours of mourning over the untimely death of the dear,
departed matriarch.
Tenel Ka marched beside her grandmother into the ce
ntral throne room
amidst gasps of horror, delight, and surprise from the guards. The most
LIGHTSABERS
^ appalled expression, however, showed on the hardened face of
Ambassador Yfra herself.
"Ta'a Chume!" she cried, standing up and trying unsuccessfully to hide
the brief storm of anger that clouded her eyes. "You're-you're alive,.
But how-?"
"Your plot failed, Yfra. Guards, arrest this traitor!"
"On what charge?" Ambassador Yfra said in a reasonable tone, her
confidence not yet shaken.
"Plotting to kill the entire royal household. I am only happy that Tenel
Ka's parents were absent, for I'm sure they would have been at risk as
well."
"Why, Ta'a Chume-I've never shown anything but loyalty to you." Yfra's
voice was full of sweetness and offended innocence, though Tenel Ka
could sense that she was lying. "How can you make such an accusation?"
"Because you took control. Ho w could you possibly have known we were in
danger if you hadn't set up the plot yourself?"
Lightsabers Page 17
