THE GREEN-BROWN RIVER that flowed sluggishly through the primeval forest
was broad and powerful, yet outwardly calm. The current showed not the
least bit of disturbance from the titanic struggle of good and evil
taking place on Yavin 4.
The river hosted numerous life-forms: invisible plankton and carnivorous
protozoans, water plants, trees that dangled sharp roots into the flow,
and camouflaged predators that disguised themselves as innocuous parts
of the landscape.
But as blaster shots rang out and the buzz of lightsabers droned through
the jungle, other creatures moved in the thick branches over the river
and in the water itself . . .
creatures trained in using the Force.
Rounded reptilian snouts broke the surface of the murky river. Breathing
slits rose up, nostrils flaring to draw in welcome oxygen. The three
scaly creatures moved slowly
^
^ enough that only slight ripples whispered across the water. Settling
into position deep in the mud, they sniffed and lay in wait near the
path at the river's edge.
Their enemies would come soon.
Moving stealthily yet radiating a Supremely confident power, three of
the Dark Jedi trainees from the Shadow Academy strode through the
underbrush, hacking away the dense vines and branches with their
lightsaber blades. They reached the riverbank and paused to consult with
each other, still searching for their opponents' "Skywalker's Jedi
trainees are cowards," one said. "Why don't they come out and fight?
They all hide in the jungle like terrified rodents." 'How can they not
be afraid of us?" another one said. "They know the power of the dark
side."
Consulting silently, with only a faint stream of bubble for
communication, three of Luke Skywalker's reptilian Cha'a trainees lunged
out of the river, spewing a stream of water at their enemies. They used
the Force to summon a hammering flow of the river, a colunm of drenching
wetness that reared up like a snake, then splashed down. The Dark Jedi
lightsaber blades sizzled and steamed.
^ The three Cha'a hissed and chattered with laughter as they summoned up
more and more water.
The waterlogged Dark Jedi sputtered and thrashed from side to side as
they attempted to summon up dark-side powers with which to strike back
at their reptilian opponents.
Just then, from the dense shelter of the trees above, a trio of
feathered avians left their perches and plunged down. They let out a
high, fluting whistle of a battle cry.
The Dark Jedi were distracted for a moment, torn between two enemies.
Then the avians landed on top of them, driving them to the ground and
knocking them unconscious. The avians chirped and screeched in victory
as the Cha'a hauled themselves dripping out of the river mud and slogged
toward the three new captives.
Working together, Skywalker's alien Jedi trainees removed whiplike vines
from the underbrush and lashed the arms and legs of their prisoners
together. One of the Cha'a picked up the discarded Shadow Academy
lightsabers, studied the poor construction and unimaginative
workmanship. One by one, he tossed the tainted weapons into the never.
They splashed, and sank without a trace.
^ Meanwhile, the avians crouched over the unconscious captives and used
their Jedi powers to probe the minds of Brakiss's students. They added
strong Force suggestions to make sure their enemies would continue to
sleep for a long time. . . .
Tionne tossed her long silvery-white hair behind her to get it out of
the way. She would need her vision unobstructed, with no distractions.
She looked at the other Jedi students with her gleaming mother-of-pearl
eyes. Master Skywalker frequently entrusted her with training these
students, and now Tionne would do battle. The Yavin 4 academy had often
been a target of the forces of evil-but the true Jedi Knights had won
She and her students stood around the flat marble slab and broken
columns of what had once been an open-air Massassi temple before it was
swallowed up by the jungle. This was the place at which they had chosen
to make their stand.
"Are you all ready?" Tionne said. "Remember what ou have been taught.
There is no try. We must succeed in defeating the warriors of the dark
side."
^ Her students shouted their agreement, looking at her with eyes full of
confidence in their abilities and her plan. One of the young women
nodded to Tionne, took a deep breath, then ran off into the forest in
search of the invading Dark Jedi. Within only moments the young woman
cried out, shouting, challenging the trainees of the Shadow Academy.
Tionne heard a lightsaber sizzle. Branches fell . . . and then came the
sound of footsteps crashing through the forest as her student hurried
back toward the trap they had set. Tionne gestured silently for the
others to prepare lemse. ves.
"Come back here, Jedi vermin!" one of the enemy called, hidden by the
thickets.
Four Dark Jedi came plunging through the jungles, bursting into the
temple clearing where the panting student stood on the other side of a
flat marble slab hanging above their heads. Tionne's student looked
defeated.
The invaders stepped forward. "We will crush your mind with the dark
side!" one said.
"Now!" Tionne shouted. From their shadowy hiding places, four of her
special students reached out with the Force: in an
^ unexpected, irresistible move, they snatched the four hghtsabers from
enemy hands. The Dark Jedi cried out in alarm and surprise at losing
their weapons. Then 'Bonne and her students emerged from the underbrush
and surrounded them.
"We don't need our lightsabers to defeat you. We can still flatten you
with our power!"
said the first overconfident opponent. The power of the dark side!" All
four of the enemy Jedi stood in a tight cluster, back to back, raising
their hands.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Tionne said calmly, letting her pale
lips show a brief smile. "You wouldn't want to distract us-a brief
fluctuation in our concentration might become a crushing defeat for
you."
She glanced upward. Her four students remained motionless with their
eyes closed, focused on their task.
The Dark Jedi looked up and saw that the marble slab they had thought to
be the ceiling of a crumbling temple was completely unsupported, a
hovering rectangle of rock weighing many tons, balanced over their
heads. It floated, held up by nothing but the power of the Force.
'honne's students maintained their concentration.
The Dark Jedi swallowed hard.
^
"You can try to escape if you like," Tionne said. "Maybe you have enough
power to subdue all of us with enough left over to catch that block of
stone before it falls down on your heads. Maybe." She shrugged. "It's
your choice, of course. But I wouldn't risk it." The four Dark Jedi
exchan
ged glances, unable to find words. Finally, one by one, they
lowered their clenched hands and surrendered.
Tionne heaved a quiet but heartfelt sigh of relief.
Another tree stood in the forest, short and stunted, with a thick trunk.
Branches extended out in such a way that, if looked at in a certain
light, it had an almost humanoid appearance: one of Master Skywalker's
Jedi, a slow-moving, long-lived plantlike creature.
She often went out to spend days in the sunlight, using photosynthesis
to drink in nourishment, absorbing minerals from the soil, water from
the river, and carbon dioxide from the air.
She would spend all day, many days at a time, simply contemplating the
Force and her place in the universe. @ees remained
^ alive for a long time and did not rush into ill-considered action;
yet at times such as this, she could manage to move fast enough.
She understood the importance of protecting the Jedi academy.
She had entered into her training to understand the Force, vowing to
defend the side of light-and here she found herself in a clear-cut
battle against the Shadow Academy. Dark Jedi enemies coursed through the
jungle, searching for victims, but Master Skywalker had taught all the
trainees well. The light-side students would put up a good fight.
The treelike Jedi stood motionless, watching, sensing the jungle . . .
and she knew her enemies would come to her. She had only to wait. Her
roots dug deeper into the soil, drawing on it for greater energy. She
felt the sap pulsing through her, boiling in her veins, allowing her to
gain the speed for the unwavering action that she would require just
this once . . . she hoped.
She had chosen her spot well, next to an ailing Massassi tree, tall with
outspreading branches. Its trunk was nested with vines and dripping with
parasitic shelf mushrooms that had tapped into its heartwood
^ and begun devouring the great tree from within.
The Jedi could tell that this great-grandfather of a tree had lived for
centuries and centuries. . . . It was the way of things, the cycle of
the forest. As plants grew, they went to seed to bear their young, and
then slowly decayed to warm organic matter and fertilized the forest for
subsequent generations.
She saw how the old Massassi tree leaned, observed the surrounding
jungle . . . waited.
She reached out with the Force subtly, gently, so that even the adepts
of the Dark Side would not know they were being manipulated. "Come
here," she thought, broadcasting it over and over again. At least one of
them would catch the hint. They would think they had detected one of
their lightside enemies-but it would be all the plant Jedi's doing.
After an indeterminate period-she did not measure time in small
incrementsshe sensed a clumsy disturbance: two attackers from the Shadow
Academy storming through the forest, as if the delicate ecosystem was no
more than a nuisance that they would eradicate completely, given the
chance.
^ The Jedi waited. She had to concentrate.
She had to act at the right moment and not waste time thinking, or else
her opportunity would pass.
Curled within one of her gnarled branchesa handlike appendage-was a
knobby lightsaber built to accommodate her wooden grip.
The two Dark Jedi came into the clearing and stopped. "I see nothing
here," said one.
"Lord Brakiss would be ashamed of you.
Lord Zekk would take away your lightsaber.
The powers of the dark side are wasted on you." "I tell you, I sensed
it," said the other. He stepped forward, looking from side to side,
studying the quiet jungle. His companion stood next to him, scowling.
At that moment the Jedi used all her stored reserves-and acted. She
ignited the lightsaber and slashed sideways with her branch arm, like a
bent sapling suddenly released to snap straight again.
"I am sorry, Grandfather Tree," she said-and her lightsaber blade
cleaved through the trunk of the tottering old Massassi tree, severing
it from the stump and letting the arms of gravity embrace it. Its
wide-branched top leaned over and the tree
^ crashed onto the two Dark Jedi intruders.
They had time only to look up with a muffled outcry of surprise as a
meteor of branches and vines smashed down upon them.
The Jedi deactivated her lightsaber, then felt a trembling through her
entire wooden body. In one act, she had drained months and months of her
energy reserves. She stretched her branches up toward the sunlight, dug
her roots deeper.
It would take her a long time to recover from this day.
^ -----------------AFTER CROSSING THE river, Jaina fought her way
through the jungle, seeking a suitable path through the thickest
underbrush while keeping herself hidden from other attackers. Right now,
the tangled forest was her ally, and she could use the cover to her
advantage. She wasn't afraid to combat the Dark Jedi threatening the
academy-but she had a vital mission in mind . . . something more to her
tastes.
As long as the defensive energy shields remained down and the generator
damaged, the entire area was vulnerable to repeated attacks from the
skies. Luke Skywalker's trainees were defending themselves . . . but if
Jaina could somehow repair the shield generator and get the protective
force field up again, the new Jedi Knights could take care of these
audacious enemies one at a time.
Jaina finally made her way to the clearing where her father and
Chewbacca had re
^
^ cently installed the new energy shield generator. With only a glance
she saw that the machinery was irreparable, despite her usual knack for
fixing things.
Normally, she could make temporary repairs to get systems up and running
again, at least for a while. But not in this case. An Imperial saboteur
had used thermal detonators to wipe out the entire generating station.
It was hopelessly ruined, a pile of shrapnel; no simple fixup would do.
Jaina's attention remained on the generator for only a moment, however.
She caught her breath.
There in the clearing sat an Imperial TIE fighter in perfect condition.
Ever since Chewbacca had given Lowie the T-23 skyhopper, Jaina had
longed for a vehicle of her own. That, in fact, had been the impetus
behind her desire to repair the crashed TIE fighter the young Jedi
Knights had found in the jungles-Qorl's TIE fighter.
She stopped and stared, frozen with excitement and apprehension. But
other than the muffled noises of battle in the jungles and the distant
shouts and blaster fire near the Great Temple, she heard no sound.
Jaina withdrew her lightsaber and pressed the power stud. The beam
sprang outward, ^ glowing an electric violet. Then she crept forward
stealthily, ready to fight if the TIE pilot emerged with his blaster
drawn. But she sensed no one else around, heard no noise from the craft.
"Hello?" Jaina called. "You'd better surrender if you're an Imperial!"
She waited.
"Uh, is anyone here?"
Only
the simmering jungle noises answered her.
Moving forward, letting her eagerness take over, she ran to the
abandoned TIE fighter. It was a sinister-looking ship: a rounded cockpit
suspended between two flat hexagonal power arrays, twin ion engines that
would propel the small fighter across space, a bank of deadly laser
cannons.
Ideas and possibilities thundered through her mind. If she could pilot
this ship into the enemy's midst, Jaina would be in disguise. She could
slip in among them, and they wouldn't know she was actually an enemy . .
. until it was too late.
Switching off her lightsaber again, Jaina opened the cockpit hatch and
crawled inside. She had studied how TIE fighters worked when she and her
friends had replaced the components of Qorl's crashed ship. She knew the
buttons on the control
^ panels, knew how the systems activated.
Though the exiled old pilot had flown off in his ship before Jaina had
had a chance to take it on a flight, she was confident she could handle
the craft.
She settled into the pilot's seat, noting the oily scent of stale
lubricants and the sour odors the Empire did not bother to remove.
A rebreather mask hung next to a small life-support console. The cockpit
walls closed around her like a protective shell, giving her little room