Tamith Kai crossed her arms over her reptile-armored chest. "The noise
level out there is most annoying," she said, then glared at the
stormtrooper standing guard.
Her violet eyes flashed with a twisted idea.
"Why don't we trigger the locking mechanism and let the Wookiees stumble
inside. We can easily take care of the whole lot before they recover
from their surprise."
Vonnda Ra chuckled. "That would be amusing to watch."
Before Zekk could voice an indignant protest that he was in command of
this mission, the stormtrooper activated the door controls.
The panel suddenly slid aside, shocking the Wookiee engineers who had
been working to gain access. They howled.
The stormtrooper used his blaster rifle to mow them down in a few
seconds, every one of them. Even encased in white armor, the
stormtrooper's body language showed his pleasure.
He keyed in the sequence to slam the heavy door shut again, leaving the
fallen Wookiees out in the corridor.
"At last, peace and quiet," Tamith Kai said.
Overhead, TIE fighters and bombers continued to attack, dodging bursts
of weapon fire from the tree facility's perimeter defenses. The
reinforced dome overhead showed the battle in the skies. Several
contingents of stormtrooper reinforcements had already landed.
Vonnda Ra worked at one of the computer stations, scanning security
images. A minute later, she gave a gasp of surprised triumph.
'Ah, I believe I've found them," she said. "The vermin were firing the
perimeter guns, but now they're in the corridors. They seem to be making
their way . . . ah! They're making their way here. Delusions of
grandeur. That could prove quite convenient."
"Who?" Zekk said.
Vonnda Ra raised her eyebrows. "Why, those Jedi brats, of course. Had
you forgotten your other goal for this mission?"
Zekk thought of Jacen and Jaina and their friends. "No, I didn't
forget," he said. But he didn't want to confront the twins here, not in
front of the evil Tamith Kai. This should have been his own private
battle, the consequences of the choices he had made. "We'll meet them on
the way. Ambush them. Lock down their location."
"Simple enough," Vonnda Ra said.
Reinforcing his position of command, Zekk turned sharply and issued
brisk orders.
"Tamith Kai, you will remain here and continue organizing the mission.
Our primary goal is to get those computer systems for the Second
Imperium. You-" he nodded toward the stormtrooper "-will stay here as
guard.
Vonnda Ra and I will take care of the young Jedi Knights."
Tamith Kai scowled at being ordered about, but Zekk rounded on her, his
cape swirling.
"Is that assignment beyond your capabilities, Taniith Kai?"
"Indeed not," she said. 'Is yours? Just be certain you eliminate those
brats."
@en the stormtrooper unsealed the armored door again, Vonnda Ra followed
Zekk, and they strode out into the corridor, stepping around motionless
Wookiee engineers sprawled on the floor, heading toward a confrontation
with ZekiCs former friends.
Jacen rushed along, shoulder to shoulder with Lowie and Sirra. The
interior corridors were full of smoke, debris, and noise. Glowpanels in
the ceilings flickered off and on with energy fluctuations from the
attack.
Jacen and Lowie drew their shimmering lightsabers and held them ready.
Tenel Ka picked up a loose metal rod, a piece of destroyed pipe that had
fallen from an overhead assembly, and loped along behind them, guarding
the rear. She held the rod like a spear, as if hoping to find some enemy
target.
Lowie and Sirra turned the corner in the corridor, and Jacen thought he
recognized the route they had taken to the monolithic control tower
during their visit with the Tour Droid. Suddenly, Lowie gave a surprised
roar; Sirra bellowed in alarm. Tenel Ka brandished her long metal rod.
"Hey, it's Zekk!" Jacen shouted, skidding to a stop.
There in the corridor, as if waiting for them, stood the dark-haired
scamp who for years had been a friend to Jacen and Jaina . . . who had
taken them on excursions through Coruscant's abandoned building levels
and dim alleys. Now the once-scruffy boy wore expensive leather arinor
and a crimson-lined black cape-and bore a scarlet-bladed lightsaber. He
looked ominous. .
Tenel Ka saw Zekk, too, and held her metal staff at the ready. In a
flash of memory, Jacen thought of the warrior girl's initial meeting
with Zekk, back on Coruscant: when the young man had dropped down from
above to surprise them, Tenel Ka had whipped out her fibercord with
blurring speed and lassoed him before he could jump out of the way.
Now, though, Tenel Ka had only one hand, and she did not choose to drop
her long steel rod to grab for her rope, or her lightsaber.
For a moment Zekk's face seemed to open.
His eyes grew round and uncertain. "Jacen," he said, "I-" Tenel Ka
glared at the Nightsister and spoke in a low, threatening voice, "I have
your name, Vonnda Ra. I saw you try to lure others from the Singing
Mountain Clan on Dathomir. In your encampment at the Great Canyon you
chose me as a trainee for the Shadow Academy, but instead we rescued my
friends-and defeated you utterly. We'll defeat you again."
The muscular Nightsister held up her clawlike hands. "Not this time,
Jedi brats!" she said. "I shall enjoy destroying you."
Jacen felt her dark power crackle through the air, and he held his
lightsaber high in defense. Fire-blue lightning bolts danced at Vonnda
Ra's fingertips, burning through her body and sizzling behind her eyes.
She flicked her wrists to hurl her dark lightning at them-but Zekk
shouldered the Nightsister to one side. The bolts of evil force flared
past them like shadowy flames and scorched the wall plates.
Vonnda Ra glared at Zekk, but he snapped, "They are mine to deal with! I
am in command here."
With a thundering sound of booted feet, a contingent of Imperial
fighters charged down the corridor. Jacen looked up in alarm.
Reinforcements had arrived-far more than he could hope to fight with his
lightsaber, even with the help of Lowbacca, Sirra, and Tenel Ka.
Stormtroopers must have landed on the upper platforms, Jacen surmised.
The Second Imperium apparently wanted something here at the fabrication
facility. Judging from the alarms and explosions, the Imperials had
already overrun most of the platforms.
Zekk stood waiting to battle the Jedi trainees, as if gathering up his
courage and his anger, while the rebuffed Nightsister seethed with dark
fury. The stormtroopers drew their weapons.
Jacen knew with sudden certainty tlzcxt, they could never win a
face-to-face fight here.
Tenel Ka pushed herself one step forward, brandishing her metal rod. "We
must turn back," she said, darting a look at him over her shoulder.
"Good idea," Jacen said, casting a glance behind him.
"You, girl, are a traitor to Dathoniir!"Vonnda Ra spat, just as Tenel Ka
hurled the l
ong pipe in her direction. The rod struck the Nightsister,
knocking her sideways. Stormtroopers clattered toward them as Lowie and
Sirra turned to charge back down the corridor.
"After them!" Zekk called, gesturing with one black-gloved hand.
The stormtroopers thundered in pursuit.
Vonnda Ra cast the pipe aside, Patches of it were bent and red-hot where
fire from within her fingers had super-heated the metal.
Sirra yelled something to her brother as they sprinted down the
corridor, with Jacen and Tenel Ka right behind them. "Access hatch?" Em
Teedee translated. "Escape? Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea. By
all means , let us escape."
At an intersection of corridors, Sirra stopped beside a clearly marked
floor panel.
Reaching her long fingers down, she hooked the tiny ring-handles. With
her powerful muscles, she hauled upward, pulling the heavy hatch free to
reveal a trapdoor. She growled and gestured.
Without hesitation Lowie leaped into the hole, catching a strong vine
that hung underneath. The tinny voice of the translating droid wailed,
"But this leads to the underlevels of the forest! Master Lowbacca, we
can't go down here. It's far too dangerous" Lowie merely grumbled and
continued his descent. Tenel Ka followed next, hopping lightly over the
edge, wrapping her muscular legs around a vine. Grasping it with her
hand, she lowered herself into the darkness.
Jacen turned around just in time to see Zekk and Vonnda Ra rushing
toward them, flanked by stormtroopers. "Down into the underworld, huh?"
Jacen said, glancing at Sirrakuk. "Looks like you'll get an early chance
to complete that risky adventure of yours.
Sirra growled her agreement. With that, both of them plunged over the
lip of the trapdoor and descended into the murky, leafy depths below.
Scrambling downward into the tangled foliage, Jacen looked up through
the dense branches to see the silhouetted figures of Zekk and Vonnda Ra
conferring at the edge of the glowing patch of light. Jacen could hear
their voices faintly as he fled deeper into the thick forest.
"We'll have to follow them," Zekk said.
"You should have allowed me to destroy them when I had the chance," the
Nightsister snapped. "Now they will cause difficulties."
Zekk answered sharply. "I am in charge here. We'll do things my way." He
turned and shouted to the stormtroopers. 'Down into the forests. All of
you."
Zekk, Vonnda Ra, and the stormtroopers plunged after their prey into the
underworld of Kashyyyk. -----------------BRAKISS PACED THE corridors of
the Shadow Academy, like an inspector general ensuring that his troops
were prepared for imminent combat. He glided along with silent
footsteps. His robes whispered around him.
The Master of the Shadow Academy looked too clean, too handsome to be an
ominous threat. And although command of the new Dark Jedi rested firmly
in his hands, his mind was instead focused on resolving his own doubts.
Brakiss allowed a flicker of anger-anger, the heart of dark side
power-to flash through him. His right fist clenched . . .
then he dismissed the emotion. He must not lose control, he told
himself, for therein lay a greater weakness. Now he must be strong.
Through his own work, he had created the armored space station as a Dark
Jedi training center. He had done it all for the glory of his Great
Leader, to help bring about the Second Imperium and restore the galaxy
to order and firmpaternal control. He had done so much work, risked so
many things. . . .
And now the Emperor had snubbed him.
Since the secret Imperial transport had arrived at the Shadow Academy
and the four scarlet-cloaked Imperial guards had taken Palpatine's
sealed isolation chamber off to a restricted section, Brakiss had
neither seen nor spoken to the Emperor, despite his many requests for an
audience. He had been so honored to learn that the Great Leader would
visit. . . .
But now Palpatine's presence threw all of his thoughts and plans into
turmoil.
Brakiss glided along the curved corridors.
The lights had been dimmed for the sleep cycle; most of the Dark Jedi
students had sealed themselves inside their quarters for the evening. A
small shift of stormtroopers continued their patrol duties.
Qorl had been successful in training new military recruits from the Lost
Ones gang on Coruscant. The TIE pilot had paid particular attention to
the burly Norys, who had a knack for Imperial enforcement
techniques-though the insolence Norys showed gave Brakiss cause for
enthusiasm.
As Brakiss drifted along the quiet corridors, he fleetingly wished he
were wearing stormtrooper armor himself, so that his footsteps could
make resounding, forceful clangs.
But unfortunately, such a demonstration of pique would have been deemed
unworthy of a Jedi superior.
Brakiss was a powerful man-or so he had thought, until the Emperor's
entourage arrived. The red guards seemed to consider him the lowliest of
servants. This was an unfair dismissal of all he had accomplished, he
told himself. Perhaps the Emperor truly was ill; perhaps the Second
Imperium was in greater danger than Brakiss had feared. He decided it
would be best to speak directly to Palpatine, to see for himself.
He had been patient. He had been helpful.
He had accommodated every whim passed along by the faceless Imperial
guards-but now Brakiss needed answers.
Brakiss took a deep breath to center himself, to focus his thoughts to a
razor edge of calm resolve. Propelled by his growing confidence, he
turned about and made his way toward the isolated chambers of the
Emperor and his followers.
Brakiss would not be turned away this time.
The section reserved for the Emperor's group seemed even dimmer than the
rest of the Shadow Academy. The light had been polarized somehow, so
that it contained a reddish tinge that made it difficult to see.
The ambient temperature felt colder.
Two red guards stood posted at the intersection of the corridor. They
towered over Brakiss as he approached, the folds of their scarlet robes
gleaming in the reddish light as if they had been oiled. The guards
carried force pikes, ominous-looking weapons that might simply be
ornamental . . . but Brakiss did not want to test that theory.
"No intruders are allowed," one of the red guards said.
Brakiss stopped short. "I believe you are ill-informed. I am Brakiss,
Master of the Shadow Academy."
"We are aware of your identity. No intruders beyond this point."
"I am not an intruder. This is my own station," he said, taking another
bold step forward and trying to impart power to his words.
One of the guards shifted his force pike.
"This station belongs to the Emperor. He holds the right to claim
ownership of everything he considers valuable to his Second Imperium."
Following that thread of argument would do him no good, Brakiss decided.
"I must speak with the Emperor," he said.
"That is impossible," the guard answered.
"Nothing is impossible," Brakiss countered.
"The Emperor sees no one."
"Then let me speak to him over the comm.
I'm certain he will wish to see me once he and I have had a brief
discussion."
"The Emperor has no desire for 'a brief discussion'-with you or anyone
else."
Brakiss placed his hands on his hips. "And when did the Emperor delegate
the authority to speak for him"-he spoke the words scornfully-"to his
mere guards? By what right did you become his mouthpiece? I do not
recognize your authority, guard. How do I know you're not holding him
hostage? How do I know that he isn't ill or drugged?"
He crossed his arms over his robed chest. "I accept. orders only from
the Emperor. Now let me speak to him immediately, or I shall call forth
all of my troops on this station and arrest you for mutiny against the
Second Imperium."
The two red guards stood motionless. "It is unwise to threaten us," they
said in unison.
Brakiss didn't back down. "It is unwise to ignore me," he replied.