belonged to Brakiss himself. And it still does."
Now he raised his eyes and looked across the gathered Jedi. As Luke's
gaze passed over them, Jaina felt an electric thrill, as if an invisible
hand had just brushed her.
become Jedi," Luke said, "you must face many choices. Some may be
simple but troublesome, others may be terrible ordeals.
Here at my Jedi academy I can give you tools to use when facing those
choices. But I cannot make the choices for you. You must succeed in
your own way."
Before Luke could continue, sudden screeching alarms rang out, sounding
an emergency.
Ar-too-Detoo, the little droid Luke kept near his side, rushed into the
grand audience chamber, emitting a loud series of unintelligible
electronic whistles and beeps. Luke seemed to understand them, though,
and he leaped down from the stage.
"Trouble out on the landing pad!" Luke said, sprinting for the
turbolift. He continued to speak to his students as he ran, his robes
flapping behind him. "Think about what I've told you and go practice
your skills."
The students milled about in confusion, not knowing what to do.
Jacen, Jaina, and Tenel Ka looked at eac other, the same thought in each
of their minds. "Let's go see what's going on!" ----------------JACEN
SAW THAT other Jedi students, who now rushed to the winding internal
staircases or crowded into the turbolifts, had the same idea.
Tenel Ka, though, leaped to her feet and grabbed Jacen's arm, yanking
him off the stone bench. "We can do it faster my way.
Jaina, follow!"
Tenel Ka raced back to the stone wall below the skylights, weaving
between two short lizardlike students who seemed baffled by the
commotion and cheeped to each other in high-pitched voices. Already
Tenel Ka had unreeled the lightweight fibercord from her belt and
removed the sturdy grappling hook.
"We'll go up the wall, out the skylights, and down the outside," she
said, twirling the grappling hook in her hand. The muscles in her arm
rippled. At precisely the right moment she released the hook.
Jacen and Jaina helped it with the Force, guiding the hook so that it
seated properly in the moss-covered sill. Its sharp durasteel points
dug into a crack in the stone blocks and held there.
Tenel Ka grasped the fibercord in both hands, tugged backward, and began
to climb up the rope. She dug the toes of her scaled boots against the
wall, hauling herself up, somehow finding footing on the polished stone
blocks.
Jacen grabbed the rope next, holding it steady as Tenel Ka ascended like
a lizard up a sunbaked cliff face. As he climbed, his arms ached. He
used the Force when he needed to, raising his body up, catching himself
when his feet slipped. He would have preferred to show off his physical
prowess, especially with Tenel Ka watching.
At last he pulled his wiry body to the top of the Great Temple,
squirming out the windowsill to stand on the broad rough-hewn platform
left by the ancient builders.
Jacen reached behind him to grab his sister's arm and pulled her up. The
humid air of the jungle clung to the top of the pyramid, making it hot
and sticky, unlike the cool mustiness of the temple interior.
Before they could catch their breath, Tenel Ka had retrieved the
fibercord and was picking her way rapidly along the narrow stone
walkway. Pebbles crumbled under her feet, but she didn't seem the least
bit concerned about falling.
"Around to the side," she said, not even panting. "We can get down
faster that way."
Tenel Ka ran with light footsteps around the perimeter until she
stopped, looking down at the cleared landing field where all ships
arrived and departed. She stood stock still, like a warrior confronted
with an awesome opponent.
Jacen and Jaina came up behind her and stared in amazement and horror at
what they saw down in front of the temple.
A battered supply ship, the Lightning Rod, had landed in the jungle
clearing. Their normal supply courier and message runnerlong-haired old
Peckhum-stood transfixed beside the open jaws of his cargo bay. His
eyes were wide and white. He looked as if he had screamed himself
hoarse, and could now make no sound.
He stared at a huge, unnatural-looking monstrosity that loomed out of
the jungle as if ready to attack, snarling at him . . .
waiting for Peckhum to make the next move.
"What is that thing?" Jaina asked, looking to her brother as if he
would know.
Jacen squinted at the behemoth. As enormous as a shuttlecraft, its huge
squarish body was covered with shaggy, matted hair' tangled with
primordial moss. It stood on six cylindrical legs that were like the
holes of ancient trees. Its massive triangular head sat like a Star
Destroyer on its shoulders, but instead of eyes inset in its skull, it
had a cluster of twelve thick, writhing tentacles, each one glistening
with a round, unblinking eye. Curved tusks sprouted from its mouth, long
and sharp and wicked enough to tear a hole through a sandcrawler.
"It's not like anything I've ever seen in my life," Jacen said.
Tenel Ka glared down at the monster with a grim expression. "Working
together, we can fight it," she said. "Follow!" She dashed down the
wide-cut stone steps outside the tall temple.
The monster let out a bellow of challenge so loud and so horrendous that
it seemed to make the ancient stone blocks tremble. The three young Jedi
Knights hurried to the ground level, careful not to slip and fall from
the steep steps.
"Help me!" Peckhum cried, his voice tinny with fi-ight.
At the jungle's edge, the hideous monster turned, as if distracted by
something. Jacen felt his heart leap, thinking at first that perhaps
the wild creature had seen the three of them approaching. But he saw
that its attention was fixed instead on another figure walking alone,
emerging from the lower levels of the temple pyramid, confidently
gliding over the clipped grasses and weeds.
Luke Skywalker wore only his Jedi robe.
Jacen expected to see him holding his lightsaber, but both of Luke's
hands were empty.
Luke stared at the creature, and the creature stared back with a dozen
eyes waving at the ends of tentacles covering its face.
The Jedi Master continued to walk forward, directly toward the monster,
as if he were in some sort of trance. He took one step, then anothen
The beast bristled, but held its ground, bellowing loudly enough to make
the trees swish. Jungle birds and creatures fled from the horrifying
sound.
While the beast was momentarily distracted, old Peckhum dove to the
ground, scuttling on all fours through the open cargo doors of his
battered shuttle. Jacen was glad to see the supply runner safe inside
the shielded metal walls.
The monster roared upon losing its prey.
But Luke spoke in an oddly calm and clear voice that was not at all
muffled by the distance. "No, here! Look at me," he said.
Tenel Ka reached t
he ground by leaping down the last four steps and
landing in a crouch. Puffing and red-facedJacen and Jaina dashed down
beside her, then all three teens stood rigid, watching Luke Skywalker
face the jungle beast. They had no weapons of their own.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, old Peckhum charged back out of the open bay
doors of the Lightning Rod. In his hands he held an oldfashioned
blaster rifle. "I'll get him, Master Skywalker! Just stay there." He
ducked down and aimed.
But Luke turned to him and motioned with his hand. "No," he said.
The blaster rifle went flying out of Peckhum's grip. The old supply
runner stared in astonishment as Luke continued to stroll toward the
monster, seemingly without a care in the world.
"This creature means no harm," Luke said, his voice quiet but firm. He
never took his eyes off the beast. "It's just frightened and confused.
It doesn't know where it is, or why we are here." He drew a deep
breath. "There's no need for killing."
Jacen's stomach knotted with unbearable tension as Luke approached the
monster. The thing's long eyestalks waved at him, and its six
tree-trunk legs took ponderous steps like an Imperial walker.
The beast lowered its triangular head, shaking it from side to side so
that the pointed tusks seemed to scratch holes in the air. It let out a
strange, soft blat of puzzlement.
Jacen hissed with fear, an is sister entire body clenched. He had used
his own talents with the Force to confront many strange animals out in
the jungle, but never anything as powerful as this monster, never such a
boiling mass of anger and confusion.
But Luke stepped right up to the shaggy, angry thing, within touching
distance. The Jedi Master looked incredibly small, yet unafraid.
Beside the battered freighter, Peckhum fell to his knees. The discarded
blaster rifle was at hand, but he didn't dare pick up the weapon again.
He looked from the monster to Luke, then to the three watching teensthen
off into the jungle, as if terrified that another one of the creatures
might appear.
Luke stood in front of the nightmarish beast and took a deep breath. He
didn't move. The monster held its ground and snorted. Its eyestalks
waved unblinking, pointing slitted pupils down at him.
Luke raised his hand, palm out.
The monster snuffled and waited, motionless, its wicked tusks less than
a meter away from Luke Skywalker.
The jungle fell silent. The breeze died away.
Jacen held his breath. Jaina gripped his hand. Tenel Ka narrowed her
cool gray eyes' The silence seemed so overwhelming that when Luke at
last broke the frozen moment, his whisper sounded as loud as a shout.
"Go," Luke told the creature. "There is nothing you need here."
The monster reared up on its hind set of piston legs, its eye tentacles
thrashing in a frenzy Then it let out another high-pitched trumpet
before it spun around and crashed off into the thick undergrowth.
Branches cracked, trees bent to one side as it plowed a wide path back
to the mysterious jungle depths from which it had come.
Like a snapped string, Luke's shoulders slumped with exhaustion. He
seemed barely able to keep himself from trembling as Jacen, Jaina, and
Tenel Ka rushed toward him, calling his name. "Uncle Luke!"
Luke turned and looked at the three friends with a smile.
Old Peckhum stumbled up, clutching the antiquated blaster rifle. His
eyes glittered with unshed tears. "I can't believe you did that, Master
Skywalker!" he said. "I thought I was dead for sure, but you faced
that monster with no weapons at all."
"I had enough weapons," Luke said with calm conviction. "I had the
Force."
"I wish I could do that, Uncle Luke," Jacen said. "That was really
something."
"You will be able to do anything you want, Jacen," Luke said. "You have
the potentialas Ion as you have the discipline."
Luke gazed off into the jungle, where they could still hear trees
crashing and shrubs snapping as the monster continued to blunder its way
through the forest.
"There are many mysterious things in the jungles," Luke said, then he
smiled at the twins and Tenel Ka. He nodded toward Peckhum's ship, the
Lightning Rod, which still sat open, filled with crates and boxes of
supplies and equipment.
"I think our friend Mr. Peckhum is having a rough day," Luke said.
"He's got a lot more to unload, and he's probably eager to get back up
into orbit, where it's safe." He flashed a smile at the old supply
runner, who nodded vigorously.
"Why don't you three consider it a Jedi training exercise to help him.
Jaina, eyes sparkling.
"Your father and Chewbacca are bringing us another Jedi trainee."
"Dad's coming here?" Jaina said with a yelp.
"Hey, why didn't you tell us before?" Jacen added. His heart leaped at
the thought of seeing his father again after a full month.
"I wanted it to be a surprise. He's flying in on the Millennium Falcon,
but he had to stop at Chewbacca's planet first. They've already left
Kashyyyk, and they're on their way here."
Filled with excitement, the young Jedi Knights eagerly helped unload
Peckhum's supply ship. It was hard work, demanding more concentration
and control of their Jedi lifting abilities than they were used to, but
they finished in less than an hour. Jaina and Jacen chattered to Tenel
Ka about all the adventures Han Solo had experienced. Jaina groaned
about how much work it would be to clean up their quarters in time, so
they could impress their father.
Finally, the battered old freighter flew off into the misty skies toward
the orangish gas-giant planet of Yavin.
Jacen smiled and looked wistfully at the trampled clearing. The next
ship to arrive on the landing pad would be the Millennium Falcon!
---------------"THERE," SAID JAINA, mentally relaxing her hold on a
large mass of tangled wires and cables. It came to rest in a more or
less contained jumble atop one of the newly tidied stacks of electronic
components in her room. "That should do it," she added with a satisfied
nod.
"Does that mean we can go to morning meal now?" Jacen said. "You've
been at this half the night."
"I want Dad to be impressed." Jaina shrugged.
Jacen laughed. "He never stacks his tools this neatly!"
"Guess I did get a little carried away," Jaina replied, matching his
grin. "We've still got a few hours before they get here."
Jacen snorted and stood up from the floor, where he'd been sitting next
to his sister while they worked. He brushed the dust off his jumpsuit
and ran long fingers through his dark brown curls. "Well, how do I look.
Jaina raised a critical eyebrow at him.
"Like someone who's been up all night."
He hurried over to peer anxiously into the small mirror that Jaina had
hung above her cistern. She realized that her brother was just as
nervous and excited about seeing their father again as she was.
"It , s actu
ally not too bad," she assured him.
"I think raking the twigs and leaves from your hair really helped.
Here, put this on."
She pulled a fresh jumpsuit from a chest by her bed. "You'll look more
presentable."
When Jacen went into the next room to change, Jaina took his place at
the mirror.
She wasn't vain, but, as with her room, she preferred to keep her
personal . appearance neat and clean.
She ran a comb through her straight brown hair and stared at her
reflection.
Then, with a quick peek over her shoulder to be sure her brother wasn't
looking, she pulled back a handful of strands and worked t -iem into a
braid. Jaina would never have gone to this much trouble for an
ambassador or some silly dignitary-but her father was worth the effort.
She hoped Jacen wouldn't notice or comment on it.
Finished, she stepped through her door way and poked her head into
Jacen's room.
"All the animals fed?" she asked.
"I took care of that hours ago," he said, emerging in his clean, fresh
robe. He heaved a long-suffering sigh. "At least someone @ had their
morning meal."