* 4 *
VORACIOUSLY HUNGRY AFTER their adventure, the four young Jedi Knights
followed Zekk back to where he made his home. Since much of Coruscant's
population had fled the capital world during the devastating battles of the
Rebellion, many of the midlevel apartments had been left empty but still
serviceable. People scraped out a decent existence there without being
forced to live in squalor far below at the bottom levels.
For years, Zekk had shared quarters with old Peckhum. The thin, gray-haired
man had no particular career, but spent his days doing odd jobs such as
transporting cargo in his battered ship, the Lightning Rod, or performing
whatever duties the New Republic required. Zekk and the old supply runner
got along well and helped each other as if they were family, providing
mutual support, company, and a place to stay.
Zekk led the companions through dim corridors on the way to his apartment.
At the entrance Jaina saw that Peckhum had installed a new messaging center
beside the door so that visitors could leave videonotes if no one was home.
"We can kick back here for a while," Zekk said, tucking the hawk-bat egg
into the crook of his elbow as his nimble fingers punched in an access code.
The metal door slid aside to reveal a paradise of junk-rooms stacked high
with salvaged items, partially restored antiques, and strange gadgets whose
original use had long since been forgotten. A small sapphire-feathered bird
flitted around inside, but Jaina couldn't tell if the creature was a pet or
just some stray that had wandered in to look for nesting materials.
A grizzled old man stood up from a rickety table where he had been poring
over manifest files on a scuffed datapad. He had lank gray hair, a leathery
face, and a broad smile-and he very much needed a shave. "Ah, Zekk, you're
back." He looked past the teenager. "And you've brought guests. Hello, my
young Jedi friends."
Zekk sealed the door behind them, and Jacen immediately began trying to
catch the bird, while Tenel Ka poked around suspiciously in the stacked
cases and gadgets, as if attempting to uncover traps. Lowie sniffed at a
cluttered jumble of electronic equipment.
Zekk beamed proudly as he held out the mottled hawk-bat egg. "Look at this
prize!" he said. "How much do you think we can get for it?"
Peckhum nodded with enthusiasm as he held out his hands to take the egg
gently in his grasp. "More than a hundred credits, I'd guess. Plenty of zoos
and biological establishments are begging for a specimen like this."
Jacen said sternly, "Just make sure it goes to a good home. I made promises
to its mother."
Peckhum laughed, shaking his head. "I'll never understand you Jedi Knights.
But I don't suppose that'll be too difficult," he said. "In fact, I think
I'll even talk to your mother--I heard a rumor that the Chief of State was
looking for some unusual zoological specimens."
Jacen blinked his eyes in astonishment. "Our mom wanted to collect weird
animals? She could have just asked me.''
Peckhum shrugged. "I didn't ask why she wanted it. I think it's for some
sort of diplomatic gift. And I think this egg, with the proper incubating
apparatus, might just do the trick!"
Jaina found a place to sit down, perching herself on a stack of recycled
blankets that. Peckhum no doubt intended to sell to some alien merchant.
Zekk hurried off to prepare a quick lunch. "Last time we saw you, Peckhum,"
Jaina said conversationally, "you were cornered by a jungle monster on Yavin
."
Peckhum laughed nervously at the memory. "I haven't been that scared in a
dozen years!" he said. "Let's hope your jungle moon gets a little more
civilized."
"Are you making another supply run to the Jedi academy soon?" Jacen asked.
"No, I've been assigned to riding the mirrors up in Coruscant orbit,"
Peckhum said. "It's a lonely job, but the pay is good-and somebody's got to
do it. Besides, it's relaxing . . . if you look at it that way."
had long ago found ways to make even the cold northern and southern
latitudes more habitable. By focusing sunlight from huge orbiting mirrors,
they could direct enough warmth to thaw land as far north as the arctic, so
that millions upon millions could live even in Coruscant's less hospitable
areas.
Jaina understood the engineering difficulties of operating the huge
automated mirrors, of making sure that the beams of directed sunlight shone
down on appropriate areas. The job was not unlike the ancient task of
running a lighthouse on an ocean world, where people worked alone, ready for
emergencies that rarely came.
"Such an austere assignment would provide a good environment for
contemplation," Tenel Ka pointed out.
"It does that, all right," Peckhum said. "I just wish conditions weren't so
. . . basic."
"What makes the mirror station so uncomfortable?" Jaina asked. "Don't you
have entertainment systems and food-processing units up there?"
Peckhum snorted. "According to the design, yes. But they're all
malfunctioning. The mirror stations were set up long ago, even before the
Emperor took over. During the Imperial years, riding the mirror station was
a punishment assigned to stormtroopers who had disobeyed orders.
"Nowadays, the food-prep units, entertainment systems, temperature control
systems, even the communication systems-all fritz out randomly. No repair
tech is willing to go up and give the whole station an overhaul. The New
Republic has so much other business that I'm afraid getting spiffy holovideo
reception for the mirror station just isn't high on anyone's priority list."
Jaina pursed her lips and placed her chin in her hands. "Those symptoms you
described sound familiar!'' she said. "Could be you need a new central
multitasking unit. That might fix everything all at once."
Peckhum switched off his datapad and tucked it into a satchel hanging from
the seat. "Don't I know it! But those units are expensive and hard to come
by I've requested a new system five times, and it's always been turned down.
'The resources of the New Republic are allocated according to greatest
need,"' he said, as if quoting from a report. "My comfort isn't a great
enough need." He scratched his stubbled chin. "Oh well, I'll survive. It's a
job. Last month I used some of my own credits to get a hand-held holoplayer
to take up with me. It'll do."
Zekk came out of the kitchen area balancing a stack of self-heating ration
cans in his arms. "I know where we can get a central multitasking unit!" He
pressed his chin against the top can in the stack to hold them all in
position. "Remember that old shuttle we found? Models like that had lots of
subsystems. They must have had units to run everything."
"Sure did," Jaina said, nodding vigorously.
"Those outdated passenger shuttles all had central multitasking units. They
were cumbersome, but they worked."
Peckhum grinned, then frowned. "Well, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and I'm
not sure h
ow I'd install one of those units myself, even if you did get it."
Zekk waved his hand in dismissal. "Relax, Peckhum--I'll get one for you by
the time you return. I promise."
Jaina piped up, seeing an opportunity. "And maybe next time you go up to the
mirror station, we could go along and help install it."
Lowbacca bellowed his interest in the project as well.
Peckhum's eyes widened with surprised delight. "Well, I suppose that might
work after all. Let's celebrate by eating lunch."
The old man swept unsorted debris from a low table, clearing a spot for Zekk
to set down the stacked cans of food. The dark-haired boy studied them and
passed out rations to everyone. Warm steam curled up from open lids as
thermal units heated the contents.
Jaina sniffed at hers suspiciously, and Jacen poked into the goo, while
Tenel Ka studied the label seriously. Lowie gave a doubtful growl.
"You needn't complain, Master Lowbacca," Em Teedee said. "I'm certain it's
quite nutritious. See? The label bears the Imperial stamp of approval."
Zekk held up one of the cans. "These are old stormtrooper rations. We found
an entire cache in one of the lower buildings. They don't taste like much,
but they have all our nutritional requirements."
Tenel Ka dug in, grunting with satisfaction. "Quite acceptable," she said.
Jaina stirred the grayish puttylike substance, smiled as Zekk dug in, then
took a small bite herself. It didn't taste bad. In fact, it didn't taste
like anything, so she ate courteously. When they had finished, she stood up,
meeting Zekk's emerald-green gaze. "Want to join us for a meal next time?"
Zekk brightened. "Fine with me. When?"
"Well," Jaina said, biting her lower lip and considering, "since Peckhum is
leaving you all alone, why don't you come to the Imperial Palace tomorrow
night? We're taking a holiday with my parents in the morning, but we're
having some sort of special banquet in the evening. Banquets are usually
pretty boring, but I'm sure we could get you invited."
"Really?" Zekk said.
"Sure," Jaina answered.
"That's right," Jacen agreed. "We'll probably give Threepio the time of his
life tending to us."
* 5 *
FAT SNOWFLAKES FELL in skirting patterns of white against white. There was
ice and snow as far as the eye could see on the frozen mountains of
Coruscant's polar ice caps. Jaina's exhaled breath produced small puffs of
fog in front of her face. Her nose and throat tingled with cold as she
inhaled, reveling in the feeling.
The crisp air was fresh and clean and delicious.
The tauntaun beneath her, however, smelled bad. The creature was supposed to
be well behaved, but Jaina didn't think the Bothan stable manager at the
polar corrals spent any more time training the wild arctic animals than he
did bathing them.
The tauntaun was a white-furred reptile with curved horns jutting from its
head. It ran on muscular three-toed hind legs designed to crunch across the
snow at high speed. The animals were native to the ice world of Hoth, where
the
Rebel Alliance had long ago established a secret base. In recent years,
though, an enterprising stable manager had transported a few of the beasts
to Coruscant's ice caps, intending to offer tauntaun riding as an activity
for winter sports enthusiasts who came to the north pole.
But the tauntauns had become surly and stubborn after being transplanted
from their home, and Jaina couldn't see how riding one was supposed to be
fun. Her tauntaun fought the bit in its mouth as she tried to make it keep
pace with Jacen and his mount. Anakin stayed closer to their father, who
hung back next to Leia. Han Solo had claimed to be an expert rider of the
uncooperative tauntauns, but Jaina giggled as she watched her father
experience plenty of difficulty as they raced across the snows.
The part Jaina enjoyed most was just being able to spend a few hours away
from the bustling city with her family, so they could be kids and their
parents could be parents--if only for a little while.
Lowie had already made plans with his uncle Chewbacca, and See-Threepio had
offered to spend the day showing Tenel Ka the finest obstacle courses and
training facilities that Coruscant had to offer. Before long, she and Jacen
and their friends would have to return to the Jedi academy to continue their
training, and Han and Leia would get back to their work building the New
Republic .
For now, though, they were on vacation.
"Race you," Jacen called, hunching over his tauntaun.
Jaina took up the challenge instantly. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"
She leaned forward and jabbed her heels into the side of the snow lizard.
But just as Jacen whooped his own challenge, his tauntaun stopped dead in
its tracks and refused to go a centimeter farther.
Jaina's mount lurched forward at full speed, but she wasn't able to gloat
over her victory in the race, because she had as much trouble getting her
tauntaun to stop as Jacen had getting his to move.
"More soup?" Leia asked, huddling next to the thermal container on the snow.
Jaina shook her head. "Don't think I could eat another bite, Mom."
"Hey, I'd love some more," Jacen said.
"Me too," Anakin chimed in.
"Make that three hungry Solo men," Han Solo added with a lopsided grin,
handing his soup cup to Leia. "Never could resist one of your packed
lunches."
"Yeah, I can push food-prep buttons better than anyone you know," Leia said
wryly.
Jaina sighed with contentment, glad just to relax. After the tauntaun
riding, they had spent hours turbo-skiing, having snowball fights, and
building cities in the snow. Now, seated on a thick slab of heat-reflective
insulfoam, Jaina spread her arms wide, catching snowflakes on her gloved
hands. "I wish we could do this more often," she said.
"Maybe we should," her mother replied.
Anakin slurped the last of his soup. "I'll be coming to the Jedi academy
again soon," he said. "We can have more meals together then."
"Oh, that reminds me," Leia said. "Don't forget, I'm hosting a very
important banquet tonight for the new ambassador from Karnak Alpha."
"Where's Karnak Alpha?" Jacen asked. "I don't think I've ever heard of it."
"Out beyond the Hapes Cluster near the Core Systems," his mother answered.
"Aren't there still some Imperial strongholds in the Core Systems?" asked
Jaina.
"Sure are," Han Solo replied. "That's why your mother thinks this dinner is
so important. You'll have to be on your best behavior."
Jacen groaned. "If it's so important, how come we have to be there?"
Leia smiled warmly. "I'd like you to meet the ambassador. Children play a
very special part in the society of Karnak Alpha. They are seen as great
treasures that grow richer every day. In Karnak society, the more children
you have, the more status and honor you gain. Their government even has a
children's council."
"Blaster bolts!" Jacen said. "I almost forgot. We invited Zekk over for
evening meal tonight."
"Can he come to t
he banquet too, Mom?" Jaina asked.
Leia looked flustered, an expression Jaina did not often see on her mother's
face. "Zekk? Your young friend from the streets?"
"Aren't you always saying that everyone is valuable, no matter what their
background is?" Jaina put in, a little defensively.
"Yeeeesss......... Leia said, drawing the word out.
"Please? If you say yes, I'll even let you braid my hair," Jaina offered
hopefully. She glanced at her brothers, looking for support, and saw
Anakin's face take on that peculiar measuring look it always did when he was
solving a problem.
"If they value children so much, won't the ambassador be happy to have
another kid join us?" Anakin said.
Leia's face cleared. "Yes, of course-that's right. Your friend Zekk is more
than welcome to come. In fact, we'll invite Lowie and Tenel Ka too."
Jaina laughed with relief. "Great! I'll let them know as soon as we get
back."
Jacen finished his soup and stood up. "Do we have to leave right away?"
Han consulted his chronometer. "No, we've got an hour or two yet."
"Well, in that case," Jacen said, "I'll race you all to those hills!"
Everyone laughed and dove for their turboskis.