inside the huge cloud like tiny explosions.
Jacen spotted several black shapes circling the outer surface of the
great storm. M'kim seemed more uneasy now, and the thranta gave the
thunderhead an even wider berth.
"Are those more thrantas?" Jacen said, pointin, to the other large
flying creatures that seemed drawn by the discharges from the storm.
"No. We have to stay clear," M'kim said. "Those are velsers."
Jacen watched with a mixture of dread and fascination. He'd heard of
the sleek, fast-flying predators on Bespin that could swoop in and rip
apart their prey with rows upon rows of ja,ged teeth.
"If those velsers see our thranta," M'kim said, "we're done for."
"But why are they so close to the storm?" Jacen asked. "Isn't it
dangerous for them?"
"Velsers are always attracted by storms. I think the lightning
discharges give them some kind of energy." With a nervous chuckle,
M'kim shrugged again. "All I know is that I don't want to get close
enough to one to find out." Though Jacen would have loved to see such
a spectacular creature up close, he realized that would be foolish. He
had already come too near to death for one day.
They climbed higher and swept past the thunderhead. The velsers didn't
notice them, and Jacen could sense M'kim relaxing. Jacen patted the
side of the thranta. "Good work," he whispered, though he had no idea
if the creature could hear him.
Finally, he spotted the gleaming metropolis of Cloud City up ahead.
Lights spangled the sides of its hemispherical dome. The thranta drove
toward it, and Jacen drew a deep breath. He couldn't remember ever
seeing such a beautiful sight in his life.
He'd survived his ordeal-and he fervently hoped that Lowie and Tenel Ka
had survived theirs as well.
Flanked by a stoic Lowbacca and a disturbed but aloof-looking Anja,
Tenel Ka waited for the Lady Luck to cruise back into the docking port
on Cloud City. Feeling her stomach muscles knot, she closed her
burning eyes and tried to face down the fear inside.
The prospect of doing this, of telling Jaina Solo that her brother had
been killed, was more frightening than any battle or other ordeal Tenel
Ka's Jedi training had put her through.
The warrior girl's throat was tight. Though she and Lowie had almost
died in the same assassination attempt, she still felt there must have
been something more she could have done to keep her friend Jacen
alive.
She was a Jedi! But she had failed him.
Another more subtle failure haunted her as well. Tenel Ka had always
believed that the connection between her and Jacen was so close, so
strong, that she would be able to sense if any harm came to him.
She should have felt it through the Force the instant he died-but she
hadn't. Instead, her emotions had betrayed her, taunted her with the
hope that Jacen had survived somehow. She even imagined she'd heard
his voice calling out to her in her mind. But she had been delirious
at the time, in shock from loss of blood. The Cloud City medics had
been able to heal the wounds on her arm, but not the ones in her
soul.
Fleeting thoughts tormented her even now, daring her to believe that
Jacen was still alive.
Lowbacca fidgeted beside her, his dark lips drawn down in a frown.
Em Teedee, silent for once, had dimmed his optical sensors in a gesture
of respect. Anja's pale face looked pinched and she avoided eye
contact with the others. Tenel Ka could sense tendrils of pain and
sorrow floating like a tangible mist all around them. It was so
difficult to face this truth.
Jacen was gone.
Lando's polished space yacht followed floor guidance lights as it
landed on the platform. Tenel Ka's cool gray eyes filled with tears
and she took one step forward to face the ship. Lowbacca put a strong,
hairy hand on Tenel Ka's bare shoulder. Anja moved back to stand alone
behind them. Em Teedee hung silent and unmoving on Lowie's syrenfiber
The Lady Luck settled in and landing clamps locked it down. Tenel Ka
steeled herself for the fresh grief her news would bring. But just
moments after the space yacht's landing ramp descended, a door on the
other side of the docking bay whooshed opened. Tenel Ka turned, unable
to believe what she saw with her own granite-gray eyes.
Jacen himself entered the bay, looking bedraggled and dirty, but
perfectly healthy. He grinned a weary, lopsided grin.
"Jacen Solo!" Tenel Ka cried. "Jacen, my friend!" She bounded toward
him, moving even faster than the Wookiee's long legs could carry him.
When Tenel Ka fairly tackled Jacen, throwing her arm around him in a
joyous embrace, he was nearly as astonished as the warrior girl.
He hugged her back, laughing. "Wow! That was almost worth falling
for."
Lowbacca swept both of them together into a massive Wookiee hug.
Jacen spat ginger fur out of his mouth. "Okay, okay! I'm all right,
you big walking carpet! At least I was fine until I got into this
pileup here."
"But how, Jacen, my friend? What happened? How are you alive?
How did you get back here?" Tenel Ka asked in a rush.
Lowie roared his own barrage of questions, and Em Teedee added in a
scolding tone, "Master Jacen, you gave us all such a fright. It was
really terribly inconsiderate of you."
"Thanks, Em Teedee. I'm glad to see you, too," Jacen said. "I'll try
not to do it again."
Lando, Jaina, and Zekk emerged from the Lady Luck, blinking in surprise
as the other young Jedi Knights remained clustered around Jacen instead
of greeting them upon their return from Clak'dor VII.
"Hey, did I miss something here?" Lando said.
Em Teedee answered for them all, speaking loudly in his tinny voice.
"You certainly did, Master Calrissian. And you don't know the half of
it."
Anja came up to Jacen, trembling. He could see the relief in her eyes,
which she tried to cover up with a bland imperturbable smile.
"Now, this is one story I've got to hear," she said. "Don't tell me
Jedi Knights can fly now?"
Jaina and Zekk ran to join their friends as Lando sealed his space
yacht behind them. "Wild trip. We got a lot of information," Jaina
said.
"Found out what's going on here in Cloud City."
"Ah, we found out a few more things, too," Jacen said. "And I
discovered exactly what happened to Cojahn on that balcony."
Tenel Ka couldn't cover her gasp of surprise. Lowie growled.
Lando's interest was obviously piqued. "Looks like we've all got some
talking to do."
Anja seemed unaccountably disturbed. She crossed her arms over her
chest and gave Jacen a shaky smile. "You're just full of surprises,
aren't you?"
"Hey, never underestimate a Jedi," he said.
As they sat together sipping hot broth drinks in a quiet cantina that
overlooked the thranta practice for the upcoming sky rodeo, they all
shared their separate stories.
Lando, Jaina, and Zekk recounted what they had learned from Figrin D'an
and his band about how Black Sun was trying to infiltrate the workings
of Cloud City. Tenel Ka, with additions from Lowie, told of the
assassin attack after they had followed the fired Ugnaught construction
boss, while Jacen described his rescue by M'kim the thranta rider, and
how M'kim had seen a visored man with algae-green hair murder Cojahn
... an angry, ruthless man who was almost certainly Czethros himself.
"But you can't prove it's Czethros," Anja said. "It's a big galaxy.
There are plenty of other people with moss-green hair."
"And the laser visor?" Jaina asked skeptically.
"Certainly not enough evidence to convict anyone," Anja said firmly.
"I prefer solid proof myself, instead of hearsay from an 'eyewitness'
so close that he could make out the facial features of the person who
allegedly boosted Cojahn over the side of the balcony, how come he
wasn't close enough to catch the man as he fell?"
"I already explained that," Jacen said. "There were storms-" Lando
raised a hand for peace. "It's easy enough to determine whether or not
Czethros was here. I still have my old BaronAdministrator access
codes. Let's just find a nice quiet business area, and we can check
Cloud City's central computer banks. Lowie, I think you might help me
with that."
The young Wookiee chuffed in agreement and nodded his shaggy head.
"We can check the records. Everyone coming in or out of Cloud City has
to leave some sort of passport information. Docking records, passenger
manifests, tariff documents. It'll be quite a search......
"Czethros is kind of hard to miss," Zekk said.
Lowie stood up from the table, his ginger fur bristling, the dark
streak prominent on his forehead. Em Teedee said, "If I can be of any
help, I would most gladly offer the assistance of my circuits."
"Thanks, Em Teedee," Lando said. "Let's see what Lowbacca can find
first."
As the other young Jedi Knights gathered around the computer terminals,
Lowie bounced through the public records databases, scanning for the
name Czethros. The search ultimately turned up nothing.
"See, he never came here," Anja said. "Your thranta rider made a
mistake."
"I thought you told us we were gullible," Zekk answered. "Any man
who's got that many connections and is involved in illegal activities
would know how to hide his tracks."
Next, Lowie looked through docking records, credit receipts, list of
purchases made and transmissions sent. It was a monumental task and
required all of the Wookiee's concentration as well as the full access
given to him by Lando's high-level security codes.
"Sure glad you were Baron-Administrator," Jaina said. "We would've hit
a dead end right away if you hadn't opened some of those passworded
files."
"We may still hit a dead end," Lando said. "Just a lot farther along
the way."
Anja watched, arms crossed over her chest, still skeptical. She had so
obviously been relieved, even overjoyed, to see that Jacen still
lived.... Now, perhaps out of embarrassment, she hid behind a haughty
mask.
Lowie's golden eyes narrowed in suspicion as he stared at the images
that flickered by from docking bay holocams. He plugged Em Teedee in
to help him monitor the data. Some of the video snapshots stuttered
and wavered. Em Teedee suddenly blurted in a shrill voice, "Oh dear,
these images have been tampered with! I'm detecting skillful erasures
and fine video cuts. Most sophisticated."
Lando watched as Lowie worked furiously, his long fingers tapping the
controls. He growled something, and Em Teedee said, "Master Lowbacca
is attempting to move beyond the obvious. If someone has assisted in
covering up the arrival of Czethros, they most likely have sanitized
recordings from the docking bay ... but they may have overlooked other
holocams......
Images flowed by in a rapid blur. Jaina peered over Lowie's
shoulder.
Everyone intently studied the screen. Finally, Lowie growled in
triumph.
"There! I see it, too!" Jaina said an instant later.
"That's him," Jacen agreed. "Good old respectable Czethros."
An external holocams from one of the Port Town gambling casinos had
managed to catch the image of a tall man with moss-green hair and a
narrow silver laser visor; the man emerged from a docking port and
ducked into the shadows between buildings, trying to lose himself in
the crowd.
"He couldn't clean up everything," Lando said.
Lowie froze the image and enlarged it.
"Now do you have any doubts?" Zekk asked Anja. She avoided his gaze
as he continued. "Any man who intentionally removes all record of his
presence here has got something to hide."
"It doesn't mean he murdered anybody," Anja said.
Jacen looked at her in surprise. "Maybe not. But he was here at
exactly the right time, in secret, and tried to erase all evidence of
his presence from Cloud City records. We know that a criminal
organization has been blackmailing and threatening professionals here
on Bespina criminal organization that has ties to Ord Mantell, where
Czethros lives. And we also have an eyewitness who says he saw
Czethros throw Cojahn off the balcony. How much more proof do you
want?"
Tenel Ka nodded grimly. "Do you believe Czethros is involved with
Black Sun criminal activities?"
Lando frowned. "More than that, I'm afraid. From his background and
from what I've seen here, I think Czethros may well be one of the key
figures behind Black Sun. Worse yet," he added, "the fact that all
these records and images have been doctored tells me that he must have
some pretty important people in Cloud City's administration under his
thumb."
"Figrin said Cojahn had tried to report the danger to the authorities,
but they never did anything about it," Zekk pointed out.
"We've got to report this," Jaina said in a determined voice. "But
this time to someone who'll take it seriously. If Black Sun is on the
prowl again, we've got to do something before they get too powerful to
stop."
Nobody noticed how Anja jumped when she heard Jaina's words.
With the doorlock cyber-sealed, Anja retrieved the meager luggage she
had brought from the Jedi academy. She rummaged in the bottom of her
case, popped out the false bottom, and removed the high-power small
transmitter screen that she used only in emergencies. When the screen
wasn't switched on, it looked like a portable mirror. But it was much
more.
Moving her fingers along the edges of the frame, she depressed buttons,
entering a code and sending her signal. She tossed her long,
honey-streaked hair behind her, feeling sweat prickle her scalp.
Oh, how she needed a dose of spice right now. She had to have one
...
but the need wasn't any greater than it had been all day. Anja just
didn't know how long she could tolerate this pressure. Her personal
supply was
nearly gone, and she didn't know what she would dounless
Czethros came through for her. She hated to depend on him.
The secret crime lord followed his own paths, busy setting up his own
game. In the past, though, he had spent an incredible amount of time
with her on Ord Mantell, taking her under his wing, training her in the
ways of making a profit at the expense of less-vigilant people.
Anja had connected with him in the first place because of a shared
hatred for Han Solo. Czethros had helped her arrange the fateful
meeting with him and the attempted ambushes on Anobis, but Han Solo had
survived it all. Then, Solo's own children had adopted her as their
friend.
At first she had gone along, pretending. Anja had been most eager to
do whatever she could to hurt Han Solo for his despicable crimefor
shooting her father Gallandro in the back. Even though Han Solo denied
it, Anja knew the truth. Czethros had told her what had really
happened.
After an interminable silence and a transmission delay, the mirror
finally clouded, and the face of Czethros appeared. The laser-red dot
of his optical sensor beamed through the visor that covered his face.
His moss-green hair seemed distorted, discolored by the numerous