Young Jedi Knights_ Trouble On Cloud City Part 14

"Better prey," he said, mumbling aloud. "A better target. Ignore us."

Jacen could think of no other way for them to escape.

The velsers swirled and turned to concentrate their vicious attack on the black cloud car. The pilot swerved, trying to flee, but the velsers were much too fast, much too intent on destruction.

As Jacen flew farther and farther from the roiling thunderhead, he saw the velsers attack. His craft damaged, the traitorous Wing Guard pilot spun out of control and dropped down toward the deep gray soup of the storm. Lightning flashed all around.

The velsers swirled in a frenzy and renewed their attack. The black cloud car plunged out of sight, and the velsers flew after it. All of them vanished deep into the stormy grayness.

Another chorus of loud thunder shook the sky. Jacen spun the vehicle about and began the long journey back to Cloud City.

Together again on Cloud City, the young Jedi Knights, Anja, and Lando, though exhausted and ragged from their ordeals, waited for the big show to begin. They sat on a set of open-air scaffoldings, now converted into spectator seats. The gentle winds ruffled Jaina's straight brown hair and she blinked into the bright rising sun as Bespin's twelvehour day began again.

They had found prime observation spots on the hover-scaffolding that had originally been erected for polishing and replating parts of the city's external hull. Lowie had climbed to the highest level and dangled his hairy feet down as he held on with one lanky arm. He seemed not the least bit bothered by his precarious position, high above nothing.

"Master Lowbacca, do be careful," Em Teedee scolded, but the Wookiee paid him little heed.

Lando reached over and tousled Jacen's curly hair. "Why is it that every time I try to take a simple vacation with you kids, something disastrous happens?"

"I have a feeling we just draw adventure to ourselves," Jacen replied.

"A genuine vacation would be nice one of these days," Jaina said.

"But since we're trying to be real Jedi Knights, I don't suppose there'll ever be a time when the New Republic doesn't need us."

Anja sat off to one side, withdrawn and quiet, threading her fingers through her honey-streaked hair. Something was obviously bothering her...

but then again, Jaina had rarely seen the older girl be anything other than bothered. She wondered if Anja was more shaken by their recent adventures than she dared to admit.

"I'm proud of all of you, you know," Lando said. "None of what we did can bring Cojahn back to me or his family, but I do know that' we've all done a good thing. I told his wife about what really happened to him and she seemed comforted to know we found out the truth.

We've exposed a dangerous criminal element. Black Sun is on the move again."

"Yes," Jaina said, frowning. "We'll have to call Mom and give her all the information we have."

"I'm sure the Chief of State of the New Republic can set a few law enforcement wheels in motion," Zekk agreed.

Tenel Ka nodded firmly. "We must be certain they are not traitorous security forces, like some of the Wing Guard here on Cloud City."

"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 Ma.s.sa.s.si 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, a.s.sessing the situation.

Jacen shrugged. "Okay, but remember, we want you to feel like you can partic.i.p.ate 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.