Brakiss frowned, decided he must be imagining things, and turned back toward
his office. But before he could get there, the door slammed shut of its own
accord. Brakiss found himself trapped outside his office. Up and down the
corridor the few open doors also sealed themselves. He heard clicking sounds
as locking mechanisms engaged all around the station. Automatic alarms
shrieked. Brakiss would not tolerate such an interruption in his routine.
Someone would be punished for this. He held the storm inside himself and
strode down the halls, intent on squashing the disturbance.
Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie rushed into the docking bay, tense and ready to
fight their way out of the Shadow Academy . A gleaming Imperial
shuttle of unusual design sat in the middle of the brightly lit landing pad,
still going through its shutdown procedures. Other TIE fighters and Skipray
blastboats stood locked down and in various stages of maintenance. The
alarms continued their deafening racket. Jacen saw movement in the shuttle
and frantically gestured for the others to duck down, just in time to see
two figures emerge from the entry ramp. One of the figures crouched and drew
a lightsaber.
"Uncle Luke!" Jaina cried, springing to her feet.
The second figure, a fierce-looking girl, whirled, ready to attack. Her
braided red-gold hair swept like a burst of flame across her gray eyes.
"And Tenel Ka!" Jacen said. "Hey, am I glad to see you!"
Lowie bellowed a delighted welcome.
"Well, it certainly is a relief to see familiar faces in the midst of all
this infernal racket," Em Teedee said.
"All right, kids," Luke Skywalker said, "we came to rescue you - but since
you managed to get yourselves this far, I guess we're ready to go. Right
now."
Jaina issued a brisk report. "We managed to shut down the cloaking device,
Uncle Luke. Sealed most of the doors on the station. Won't be many people
coming after us, but we should get out of here as soon as we can."
"How will we get the sealed space doors open again?" Tenel Ka said, looking
over her broad shoulders. "It will be difficult to open them without help
from someone inside. Is this not a fact?"
Lowie answered her with an extended series of growls and snorts. He waved
his lanky arms.
Em Teedee, his chrome back plate still rattling loose behind him, scolded,
"No, you cannot do it yourself, Lowbacca. You're getting delusions of
grandeur again. It was I who helped bring down the Shadow Academy 's
defenses and ... oh-oh dear, what have I done?"
"Maybe I can help," Jaina said. "Let's get into the shuttle cockpit. We'll
try it from there."
Up in the control center for the docking bay, Qorl stood amazed as the
unexpected alarms continued. He watched the three young Jedi Knights rush
into the large room below. The Shadow Chaser had just returned from a supply
run to Dathomir, and a sandy-haired man emerged with a tough-looking young
lady. Qorl recognized her as one of the Jedi students who had worked on his
crashed TIE fighter back in the jungle.
As soon as the alarms sounded, Qorl knew that Jacen, Jaina, and Lowbacca
were somehow behind the disturbance. The other Dark Jedi students were
pleased to have an opportunity to increase their powers and appreciated
their training; but Qorl had been certain these three would cause trouble -
especially since Brakiss and Tamith Kai seemed determined to injure or kill
them. Qorl had been gravely disturbed at the supposed duel to the death
between the holographically disguised brother and sister. He also knew the
dangerous testing routine with flying stones and knives had already been
responsible for the deaths of half a dozen promising trainees. He didn't
agree with Brakiss's tactics, but Qorl was just a pilot; no one listened to
his point of view, no matter how certain he was. Yet Qorl served his Empire,
and he had to do what he knew was right.
He opened the comm channel and gruffly reported. "Master Brakiss, Tamith Kai
currently in the main docking bay. I believe they intend to steal the Shadow
Chaser. All of my defenses are down because of computer failure. If you can
offer assistance, please come to the main docking bay immediately."
Tamith Kai's violet eyes snapped open, and she leaped from her hard,
uncomfortable bunk at the first sound of alarm. She came instantly awake,
her mind burning with demands to know what was going on. Someone was
threatening the Shadow Academy . The Nightsister threw on her black
cloak, which swirled around her with glittering silvery lines, like the
trails of stars during a launch into hyperspace. She reached the door to her
quarters, but it would not open. She pounded on it, punched the override
controls, but the locking mechanisms remained engaged.
"Let me out!" she snarled. Tamith Kai worked the controls once more, again
with no success.
Her rage built within her. Something was happening, something terrible - and
she knew the three kidnapped trainees were behind it all! They had caused
more trouble than they were worth. The Shadow Academy could find so
many other willing trainees in all the worlds of the galaxy that regardless
of the talent of these three, their potential for disaster was too great.
She would destroy them once and for all, and then the Shadow Academy
could settle back into its smooth, regular routine, with Tamith Kai
dominating and Brakiss running the details. Then she could be happy again.
Her fingers coiled, and a smoky black electricity curled between them.
"Out!" she roared. "I must get out!" Tamith Kai slashed with both of her
hands in an opening gesture as she cried her command. With an explosion of
power, the doors bent backward, folding down in a burst of smoke and sparks
from the sheared-off wiring in the controls. Then using her bare hands, she
tore one of the heavy metal plates completely out of its tracks and tossed
it with a loud _clonngg__!_ onto the floor. Tamith Kai stormed out, her eyes
shimmering like violet lava. Qorl's message came over the hall comm systems,
and Tamith Kai did not let her anger slacken for an instant. The docking
bay. She strode forward at high speed.
While Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie scrambled aboard the Shadow Chaser, Luke
remained outside with Tenel Ka. He glanced back and shouted to the twins. "I
need to know about this place. There's something familiar and . . . very
wrong here."
"Yes," Jaina said. "Uncle Luke, the person running the Shadow Academy
is-"
But Luke had become distracted-fascinated, really. He suddenly stood up
straighter, his eyebrows drawing together. "Wait," he said. "I sense
something. A presence I haven't felt in a long time." He walked slowly
across the bay and drew his lightsaber again, feeling a storm in the Force,
a deadly conflict. As if in a trance, Luke strode toward one of the sealed
red doors that led deeper into the academy station.
"Hey, Uncle Luke!" Jacen cried, but Luke held up a hand for the boy to
wait.
They needed to escape soon - it was their only chance. They had to seize the
moment. But Luke also had to see, had to know. Behind him, he heard the
weapons systems of the Shadow Chaser powering up. The ship's external laser
cannon turrets raised and locked into firing position. When the red door
slid open ahead of him, Luke Skywalker stood transfixed. He stared at the
sculpture-handsome face of his former student.
"Brakiss!" he whispered in a voice that carried across the docking bay, even
above the chaos of shrieking alarms.
Brakiss stood where he was with a faint smile. "Ah, Master Skywalker. So
good of you to come. I thought I sensed you here on my station. Are you
impressed at how well I have done for myself?"
Luke held his lightsaber out in front of him, but Brakiss remained outside
in the corridor and did not step across the threshold.
"Oh, come now," Brakiss said with a dismissive "if you intended to kill me,
you should have wave, done it when I was a weak trainee. You knew I was an
Imperial agent even then."
"I wanted to give you the chance to save your self," Luke said.
"Always the optimist," Brakiss replied in an airy tone.
Luke felt cold inside. He didn't want to fight Brakiss, especially not now.
They had little time. But didn't he have to confront his former student
somehow - resolve their conflict? They had to go now. He needed to escape
with the kids before the Shadow Academy managed to get its defenses
back on-line again.
Brakiss held out his soft, empty hands. "Come and get me, Master Skywalker -
or are you a coward? Would your precious light side allow you to attack an
unarmed man?"
"The Force is my ally, Brakiss,'' Luke said. "And you have learned to use it
to your own ends. You are never unarmed, any more than I am."
"All right, have it your way," Brakiss said. He brushed the fabric of his
shimmering robe and made ready to step forward. His eyes blazed now, as if
he held the fury of the universe within him, ready to unleash it from his
fingertips.
Just then, an explosion of hot energy streaked past Luke's head from behind
and melted the door controls. With a second blast from the Shadow Chaser's
laser cannon, the controls were completely fried. The heavy metal plates
slammed back into place, sealing Brakiss and Luke apart from each other.
"Uncle Luke, come on!" Jaina yelled from the ship. "We have to go!''
Luke shuddered with stunned relief, turned, and sprinted back toward the
shuttle. He knew it wasn't over between him and Brakiss; but that would have
to wait for another time.
Jaina and Lowie and Em Teedee linked into the Shadow Chaser's computers,
trying to open the station's huge space door from within. While they worked,
Tenel Ka raced around the docking bay, sealing all of the red doorways,
making sure that none would open. The ominous man in the silvery robes had
stalled Luke, and they couldn't afford another skirmish like that. Tenel Ka
had to seal the doors, just in case a contingent of stormtroopers made its
way to the docking bay.
Luke climbed into the shuttle. Tenel Ka sealed another metal door, then ran
to the last one. Just as her fingers touched the controls, though, the door
slid open. A tall, dark woman loomed in front of Tenel Ka, crackling with
angry energy and ready to attack. Tenel Ka looked up and instantly knew what
this person was. "A Nightsister!" she hissed.
The dark woman glared down at her with a similar flash of recognition. "And
you are from Dathomir, girl! I claim you. You are a fitting replacement for
the three I am about to destroy."
Tenel Ka stood in front of the Nightsister, her arms and legs spread like a
barrier. "You will have to get through me first."
The dark woman laughed. "If you insist." She struck with the Force, an
invisible blow that nearly knocked Tenel Ka sideways - but the young woman
deflected it and stood strong, lips clamping together in determination. The
Nightsister drew herself taller in surprise, looking like a black bird of
prey. "Ah, so you are already familiar with the Force. That will make it
easier for me to train you, to turn you."
Tenel Ka remained tense and rigid, glaring at her opponent. "This is not a
fact. And I will not let you harm my friends."
The Nightsister seemed to snap as her anger came free of its delicate cage.
"Then I won't hesitate to destroy you as well!" Her black robes rippled like
a thunderstorm. Locking her violet gaze on Tenel Ka, she raised her clawed
hands, fingers outspread, glossy dark hair crackling with static as her body
charged with electrical power.
Tenel Ka stood directly in front of her, unflinching, as the dark Force
built to a climax within the Nightsister. Without warning, Tenel Ka lashed
out with her foot, putting all of the strength of her muscular, athletic
legs behind the kick. The sharp toe of her hard, scaled boot struck the
Nightsister's unarmored kneecap.
Tenel Ka distinctly heard the crunch of a breaking bone and tearing muscles
as her blow struck home. The Nightsister shrieked and fell to the ground,
writhing in agony.
Calm and self-satisfied, Tenel Ka stared down at her with cool gray eyes. "I
never use the Force unless I have to," she said. "Sometimes old-fashioned
methods are just as effective." Leaving the Nightsister moaning on the
floor, Tenel Ka jogged back toward the Shadow Chaser, where Luke was
gesturing for her to hurry. She climbed aboard, and the ship doors sealed.
Alarms continued to sound, their clamor muffled inside the cockpit of the
Shadow Chaser. Luke piloted the vehicle, raising it off the floor on its
repulsorfields. Jaina and Lowie still worked desperately to open the heavy
space doors. With a loud crrummp, two sets of the red metal doors blasted
open. Smoke from detonators curled out, and white-armored stormtroopers
charged in, blasting at the shuttle.
"You'd better get that space door open," Luke said. "Soon."
Lowie yowled. "We're trying!" Jaina said, keying in a new command string,
working even more furiously. More stormtroopers came through. Blaster fire
sprayed across the room. They could hear the splatter and boom of impacts.
But the Shadow Chaser's armor held.
"We've got company," Luke said, staring at the sealed bay doors. "We're out
of time."
"I can't get the-" Jaina began, and suddenly the heavy doors cracked open,
spreading wide for the Shadow Chaser. The atmosphere-containment field
shimmered in front of the star-strewn blackness, but now the shuttle could
launch into open space.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaina said, trying to cover her confusion.
"Let's go!" Luke shouted, and punched the accelerators.
Everyone grabbed the arms of their seats as the launch threw them back. The
Shadow Chaser roared away from the Imperial station, leaving the huge,
spiked structure uncloaked in space behind them.
Luke heaved a loud sigh of relief as he punched the escape coordinates into
the navicomputer. "Let's get back to Yavin 4," he said. None of the young
Jedi Knights obje
cted, and they surged into hyperspace. "Good work, Jaina
and Lowie," Luke finally said. "I didn't think you'd ever get that docking
bay door open."
Lowbacca mumbled something unintelligible, and Jaina fidgeted. "Uh, Uncle
Luke," she said, "I kind of hate to mention this, but - we didn't get the
door open."
Luke shrugged, not wanting to quibble. "Well, we owe our thanks to whoever
did it."
Qorl stood by the docking-bay controls, watching the Shadow Chaser
disappear. The escape left absolute turmoil in its wake as the Shadow
Academy scrambled to regroup. Qorl touched the space door controls, smiled
faintly to himself, and then closed the doors. He would, of course, never
tell Brakiss or Tamith Kai.
Brakiss came into the control room next to Qorl, exhausted and troubled. "Is
our cloaking shield up yet? We must get it working. The Rebels will no doubt
send attack fleets in search of us. We'll have to relocate. That's why this
station was designed to be mobile."
Brakiss drummed his finger-tips on one of the control panels. "I don't know
what I'm going to say to our great Imperial leader. He can trigger its
self-destruct sequence at any time, if this station he's displeased."
Qorl nodded grimly. "Perhaps he won't be quite that displeased . . .this
time."
Brakiss looked at him. "We can only hope."
Tamith Kai limped into the control chamber, utterly outraged. Her eyes still
glowed with violet fire, and her hands were set in clawed curves, as if she