"Go away! Leave us alone!" shouted one saucy-voiced Bith inside the
huts. His Basic was heavily accented, high-pitched with alarm.
ounds like Figrin himself," Lando said. "Figrin! Wait, it's me!"
Jaina's eyes went wide when she saw an ominous-looking tube appear
through the window opening, a thick-walled cylinder sawed from an
iron-cane stalk. The black hole in the tube looked very much like the
mouth of a weapon.
"Look out!" she cried, just as a rumbling blast erupted from the tube
with a puff of smoke. Zekk and Jaina both dove to one side, tumbling
face-first into the marsh. Lando staggered backward to get out of the
way. A hurtling mass of brown crashed into the trees behind them.
"Hey!" Lando shouted. "There's no cause for-', A second tube emerged
from another window. This time the blast caught Lando squarely in the
center of his chest.
"No!" Jaina shouted.
Lando staggered as the amorphous brown shape slammed into him,
splattering in all directions, hurling him into a tree trunk. He
looked down in horror at his chest, as if expecting to see blood and
bones.
Instead, he encountered only torn transparalon and sticky, dripping
muck-the same muck they'd been slogging through for hours, dredged up
from the bottom of the swamp.
"It's just mud!" he said, aghast. "They're shooting mud bombs at
us."
Then he stormed forward, sloshing toward the houses on stilts.
"That does it. You've gone too far this time, Figrin! You've ruined
my shirt! You'll pay for this out of your sabace winnings!"
Jaina and Zekk hurried up behind him. Jaina wondered if she should
draw her lightsaber. A single swipe at the stilts would topple any one
of those houses into the marshy pond.
"Hey, man. Who's out there?" said the original Bith voice.
"It's Lando Calrissian," Lando said. "And if you don't stop firing mud
at me, I've got two Jedi Knights here who'll do more than get your
shirts dirty."
"Lando, my man!" A Bith raised up his pink cranium and poked his
smooth head out the window. Jaina couldn't tell if the alien was
smiling or not. His huge black eyes glittered in the hazy bayou
light.
He raised a nimble hand whose fingers had the dexterity to play just
about any musical instrument in the universe. "Why didn't you say
so?
We thought you were some of those Black Sun people trying to rub us
out."
"Black Sun?" Jaina said in alarm.
Lando sloshed closer to the huts and Figrin D'an lowered a rickety
wooden ladder. "Come on up! We'd love to jam!" the handleader
said.
"Maybe even play a little round of sabace or two."
Other Bith band members stood up in the adjoining shacks to look with
huge black eyes at the new arrivals. A few dissonant musical notes
rang out as they gathered up their jumbled instruments.
"Next time you should check out who's at your door before you open
fire," Lando said, wiping another smear of mud off the chest of his
filthy shirt.
"Hey, couldn't take the chance," Figrin said. "You know how it is,
man. We got a price on our heads."
Lando hauled himself up the ladder, then reached down with his
muck-encrusted grip to help Jaina climb off the ladder and into the
hut.
"Well, if we really were thugs out to kill you," Lando said, "that
little mud-cannon of yours wouldn't have done much other than annoy
us.
Then you'd have been facing a really unpleasant interrogation
session."
Two of the Bith band members groaned. One picked up his jazz stick and
blew a wailing strident note.
Zekk climbed up to join Jaina and Lando in the central one-roomed
hut.
The place smelled of mildew and damp wood as well as strange spicy stew
that had obviously been bubbling for a long time on a thermal stove set
on a stone plate in the center of the room.
A pair of the band members retrieved their instruments and set about
plugging in powerpacks and tuning up. Disconnected musical notes
waited through the air like clouds of ortellian whisper bats.
Lando made the introductions. "These two are my associates, Zekk"-the
dark-haired young man nodded-"and Jaina Solo. You remember her
father."
Figrin sat back and twiddled his big-knuckled fingers. "Solo? As in
Han Solo's daughter? Yeah, Han and I spent many an hour at the sabace
table." With all of the fleshy folds around the Bith's mouth, Jaina
still couldn't tell whether he was smiling. "How 'bout a game this
afternoon, Lando? Just like old times."
"Not yet. We need some information," Lando said. "There's been some
trouble on Cloud City and I'm pretty sure you know something about
it.
You've got to tell us whatever you can. What happened to my friend
Cojahn?"
Figrin sighed and a few of his band members struck up a low, mournful
tune. "Man, that's a sad song," he replied. "A real tearjerker.
We don't usually have stuff like that in our repertoire. Cojahn ...
that story has good guys, bad guys, treachery and tragedy. You know,
all the stuff that makes for a surefire hit."
"So you'll tell us everything?" Jaina said. "All the details?"
Figrin sat back against the rickety wall of the hut. The other band
members adjusted their instruments, ready to play.
"Why not?" the Bith handleader said. "We got plenty of time ...
and it's been too long since we had a really attentive audience." in
the rain forest sector of the Climateria, Lowie hung upside down from
an artificial tree branch, admiring the view. Em Teedee hovered
right-side-up half a meter beneath the Wookiee. Anja, who paced back
and forth on a limb adjacent to Lowie's, seemed as edgy and impatient
as ever. Two meters lower down, Tenel Ka straddled a branch and
practiced Jedi relaxation techniques while Jacen searched in vain for
tiny creatures on the bark of the synthetic tree.
"Remind me exactly what it is we're supposed to be pretending to look
for while Calrissian and the others are off joyriding," Anja said with
an exaggerated sigh.
Lowie rumbled a reply and, since Anja did not understand the growling
language, Em Teedee obligingly translated. "Master Lowbacca points out
that we are not pretending to look for anything. We are pretending to
enjoy ourselves whilst actually searching for any indication that
someone might have wanted Master Cojahn ... disposed of."
"We're not really sure what we're looking for," Jacen explained
helpfully. "But while Lando, Jaina, and Zekk are poking around on the
Bith homeworld, it's our job to keep an eye out for anything suspicious
here. Any sort of shady dealings Cojahn might have learned about,
maybe some sort of espionage, drug dealing, embezzling-who knows?"
"We must remain watchful and follow any leads," Tenel Ka said.
Anja snorted. "Well, this watchfulness is about as interesting as
watching all of you contemplate the Force or think at rocks back on
Yavin 4."
She
gave an experimental bounce on the tree branch fifty meters above
the ground, took another step and bounced again, then again.
Step-bounce, step-bounce. A dangerous game. Lowie gave a cautionary
woof, but she seemed utterly confident and tensed like a predatory
animal ready to spring. The thought of falling did not seem to worry
Anja; in fact, Lowie wondered if it had even occurred to her. Then
again, he mused, maybe it had and she found the thought exhilarating.
Jacen, apparently giving up on finding any interesting creatures in the
artificial tree, stood up and began pacing and bouncing just as Anja
was doing. Lowie growled a warning at him as well. Jacen stopped,
inhaled deeply, let his eyes fall halfway shut. His entire body seemed
to relax, and he walked with a smooth effortless grace to the far end
of the limb he was on, then headed back toward Tenel Ka, who was seated
closer to the trunk, drawing in slow, deep breaths.
Anja snorted and continued bouncing along her branch. "And exactly
what sort of clues do you expect to find at the top of a tree?"
Jacen glanced up at the young woman-and in that moment she missed her
footing. "Oh, Mistress Anja, look out!" Em Teedee cried.
Anja tried to regain her balance, but to no avail. Lowie watched her
tumble from the branch as if in slow motion.
Before Em Teedee had finished speaking, both Jacen and Tenel Ka were
completely alert. Lowie's furry arm shot out, and he managed to slow
Anja's descent, but he could not get a grip on her. Jacen and Tenel
Ka, however, each succeeded in grasping one of her limbs and pulled
Anja to safety on their branch.
"Thanks." Anja's voice carried an uncharacteristic quaver, and her
face was paler than usual, her eyes brighter, with an unaccustomed
startled look in them. "I must not have been paying close enough
attention. I guess I owe you one."
"Hey, don't worry about it. That's what friends are for," Jacen
said.
"To be there. All of us young Jedi Knights have saved each other's
hides more than once."
"This is a fact," Tenel Ka said, then changed the subject. "And I
believe Anja was correct: this treetop will not aid us in our
investigation.
We should continue our search in a place more likely to yield clues."
Anja smiled at the warrior girl-a genuine smile. The expression was
not a common one for her, especially when addressing either Jaina or
Tenel Ka.
"Okay, where do we go then? I'm open to suggestions," Jacen said.
"Someplace with more people, to start with?" Anja said, making a shaky
attempt at humor.
"An area with more construction perhaps?" Tenel Ka offered.
Jacen waggled his eyebrows. "I guess maybe we should get back to our
roots, then."
Tenel Ka nodded. Anja smiled.
"It's too bad ... just when I was starting to branch out," Jacen went
on.
Lowie groaned.
"All right, all right." Jacen shot him a mischievous grin. "I know it
goes against the grain, but maybe we should all leaf now."
Lowie grumbled a halfhearted protest, reluctantly swung off his branch,
and began clambering back down the tree.
"Yes," Tenel Ka said slowly. "I wood advise climbing down
immediately."
"Great," Anja said, "I think that's a vine idea."
Tenel Ka stared at her in surprise. Lowie gave a curious growl.
Jacen's mouth fell open.
"It's certainly more advisable than risking life and limb," Em Teedee
added unexpectedly, shocking them all into amazed laughter.
Anja was glad to be on the move again as she and the others trekked
through the amusement complex, keeping up their pretense of having
fun.
All of them seemed to find the physical activity relaxing.
Anja certainly welcomed the relaxation. She'd become increasingly
tense as her suspicions had mounted, and she'd begun to believe that
Calrissian was right and Cojahn's death had not been an accident after
all. It was even more uncomfortable to know -since she had been
enlisted in the search for clues-that Czethros had interests here on
Bespin. She had little doubt that if Cojahn had gotten in his way,
Czethros would not have hesitated to have the man "removed." What if
Anja found out that Czethros did have Cojahn murdered? Would she be
forced to cover up her boss's actions?
Anja shivered. She couldn't believe how strongly she had reacted to
friends' help. Jacen and Tenel Ka had saved her. Would Czethros ever
have done something so noble for her?
"Get a grip," she scolded herself quietly as they entered a chilly,
dazzling white polar environment chamber.
Jacen Solo was the son of her worst enemy. She could have taken the
opportunity in the treetops to throw him off balance; the fall would
have looked like an accident. After all, hadn't she come to Yavin 4
and now to Bespin to find a way to hurt Han Solo through his
children?
Objectively speaking, what could have been more fortunate than if Jacen
had fallen to injury or death?
But even as the thought entered her mind, Anja's stomach clenched.
How could she be so ungrateful-he had been there for her when she
needed him. As she looked around at the bleak whiteness of the polar
environment chamber, resentment welled up in her. Who had asked Jacen
to be so nice to her? His selfless actions just muddled her thoughts
and confused her plans.
I do want to hurt Han Solo, she insisted silently to herself It's the
only way to make him Pay for my father's death. In frustration, she
reached down, packed some snow together into a ball, and threw it
directly at Jacen's chest. He laughed as it broke apart into thousands
of fluffy white chunks. He retaliated immediately.
A fast and furious snowball fight ensued, and by the time she, Jacen,
Tenel Ka, and Lowie stepped back into the central hub ten minutes
later, Anja had pushed all thoughts of weakness from her mind.
"Dear me. What was that?" Em Teedee asked, bobbing along above
Lowie's shoulder, a light dusting of snow melting on his silvery
casing.
Lowie gave a questioning growl.
"Over there," Em Teedee said. "It scurried up the access corridor. "
")1/2at did?" Jacen said.
"Someone-or something," Em Teedee replied. "An Ugnaught, I believe.
He was carrying some sort of case with a handle on it. Come to think
of it, I do believe that creature was lurking about earlier whilst we
were building our fortress in the sand in the seashore environmenthe
had the same odd patch of missing fur on his head."
Anja had an unsettled feeling in her stomach as Jacen trotted over to
the corridor that the translating droid had indicated.
"I saw him," Jacen said. "He just disappeared through a trapdoor in
the corridor. Let's find out what he's up to."
"What for?" Anja asked in alarm.
"Because he's acting suspicious," Jacen replied, as if the answer were
obvious. "If Em Teedee is right about his patc
hy fur, he may be the
same Ugnaught foreman who got fired a few days before Cojahn's death.
That's suspicious, isn't it? What would he be doing here? He
shouldn't be at the construction site at all."
Anja's tension returned with full force, and she had a sudden
overwhelming urge to go back to her quarters, where she could think,
where she could be alone, where she had stored her spice.
"I don't find his lurking or his disappearance the least bit
suspicious. Maybe the guy just left some tools behind," she said. "He
came, he got his tools, he left. I think you're all just a bit too
desperate to find something to investigate."
Tenel Ka shook back her red-gold warrior braids and looked directly at
Anja. "But I sensed something through the Force: danger."
"Me too," Jacen said.
Lowie rumbled his agreement.
"The sentiment appears to be unanimous, Mistress Anja," Em Teedee
said.
"Well, you can count me out," Anja said. "I've had my share of bad
experiences with Ugnaughts, and I don't really want to repeat them.
Besides, dark tunnels tend to remind me of explosions-just like in the