Heirs of the Force

16

Dawn came fast and hot, as the distant white sun climbed around the fuzzy ball of Yavin. Jungle creatures awoke and stirred. The air warmed rapidly, thick with humidity that rose from low hollows where mist had collected in the night.

Jacen and Jaina had slept awkwardly, their hands still tied with the resilient purple vines. Jacen fervently wished he had spent more time practicing delicate and precise Force exercises. He didn’t have the skill or the accuracy to nudge and untie the thin knotted vines with his mind.

As soon as there was light enough to work, Qorl emerged from his tree shelter and shook the twins awake. He gave them each sips of cool water from a gourd he dipped in the stream, then used a long stone knife to saw off the vines binding their wrists.

Jacen flexed his fingers and shook out his hands. His nerves tingled and stung with returning circulation.

The Imperial soldier pointed the blaster at them, gesturing for the twins to move. “Back to the TIE fighter,” he ordered. “Work”

Jacen and Jaina trudged through the jungle, stumbling through vines and shrubs; the TIE pilot followed directly behind them. They reached the site of the crashed ship, where it lay uncovered and glinting in the early morning light. With a knot forming in his stomach, Jacen saw burned patches from where Qorl had shot his blaster at Tenel Ka and Lowie.

“I know you are nearly finished with repairs,” the TIE pilot said. “I have been watching you for days. You will complete them today.”

Jaina blinked her brandy-brown eyes and scowled at him. “We can’t possibly work that fast, especially with just the two of us. This ship has been crashed for twenty years. We haven’t finished cleaning the debris from the sublight intakes. The power converters all need to be rewired.”

Jacen watched his sister and knew she was lying.

“Cyberfuses still need to be installed,” she continued. “The air-exchange system is clogged; it needs to be—”

Qorl raised the blaster, but did not alter the emotion in his voice. “Today,” he repeated. “You will finish today.”

“Oh, blaster bolts! I think he means it, Jaina,” Jacen muttered. “Show me what I can do to help.”

Jaina sighed. “All right. Collect the box of tools you tripped over yesterday. Get the hydrospanner. I’ll use my multitool to finish some calibrations here in the engines.”

Qorl sat down on a lumpy, lichen-encrusted boulder, using his good hand to brush crawling insects from his legs. The Imperial soldier waited like a droid sentinel, unmoving, watching them work. Jacen tried to ignore him—and the blaster.

Gnats and biting insects swarmed around Jacen’s face, attracted by the sweat in his tangled hair. He passed tools to his sister, trying to find the components and equipment Jaina needed as she crawled and rummaged in the TIE fighter’s engine compartment.

He could sense Jaina’s growing anger and frustration. She couldn’t think of a plan. Yes, Jacen supposed, they could simply sabotage the ship repairs—but Qorl would realize what they’d done almost immediately, and he would get even with them. They couldn’t risk that.

Now Jacen wished that his sister, in all her excitement, hadn’t installed the new hyperdrive unit their dad had given her. He wished that they all hadn’t worked so hard, made so much progress. Now it was almost too late.

Jacen brushed a hand across his forehead, blinking sweat away. His stomach growled. He turned to the TIE pilot, sitting nearby on the rock, still pointing the blaster barrel directly at him. The threat was getting tiresome.

“Qorl,” he said, intentionally using their captor’s real name. “Could we have some water and more fruit? We’re hungry. Well work better if we’re not hungry.”

Qorl nodded slightly and began to stand up. But then he froze, hesitated, and settled back into his rigid position. “Food and water when you are finished with repairs.”

“What? ” Jacen said in dismay. “But that could take all day.”

“Then you will be hungry and thirsty,” Qorl said. The TIE pilot looked somewhat anxious, impatient. “You are stalling. Proceed.”

Jacen realized that Qorl might be worried that either Tenel Ka or Lowie had managed to get back to the Jedi academy and summoned help. They were a long distance from the Great Temple, across a treacherous jungle … but there was always a chance.

Jaina finished adjusting a cooling system regulator. She twisted a knob; a cold, bright blast of supercooled steam screeched up, making feathers of frost on the exposed metal surface. She stepped back and rubbed a grimy hand across her cheek, leaving a dark stain beneath her liquid-brown eyes.

“Qorl?” she said. “Who are you going to see when you get back?”

“I will report for duty,” he said.

“Are you going home? Do you have a family?”

“The Empire is my family.” His answer was rapid, automatic.

“But do you have a family that loves you?” Jaina asked.

Qorl hesitated for the briefest moment, then gestured threateningly with the blaster. “Get back to work.”

Jaina sighed and motioned for her brother to help her. “Come on, Jacen. Take those last packages of surface metal sealant,” she said. “We need to reinforce the melt spots on the outer hull.” She pointed to three stained and vaporized bull’s-eye spots on the TIE fighter’s outer plating—damage Qorl himself had caused the day before by firing his blaster at the twins.

With a cushioned hammer, Jaina pounded the bent plates back into position. Jacen dug into the toolbox until he found a packet of animated metal sealant. The special paste would crawl across the damaged area, smooth itself, and then seal down with a bond even stronger than the original hull alloy. Jacen applied one packet of the patch material and listened to it hiss and steam as it coated the burn spot. Jaina fixed the second spot.

The third melted area lay high on the cargo compartment, close to the open transparisteel canopy that protected the cockpit. Jacen took the last pack and crawled atop the small craft. He popped the seal, applied the patch, and waited for the animated sealant to do its work.

As he watched the gooey substance finish its repairs, Jacen heard small creatures stirring around him. He sensed something nearby and, looking down into the cargo space, saw a glimmer of movement, almost transparent, barely noticeable. Jacen’s heart leaped. He leaned down, reaching deep into the TIE fighter, and grabbed for it. Hope began to fill him.

“Boy, get out of there!” Qorl yelled. “Come back where I can see you.”

Panting, his heart pounding, Jacen pulled himself free. He backed away from the cockpit and jumped to the ground, keeping his hands clearly in sight.

Jaina bent over and whispered to him with concern in her eyes. “What are you doing? What did you find in there?”

Jacen grinned at her, then recovered his expression before Qorl could notice it. “Something that might save us all.”

“No more talking,” Qorl snapped. “Hurry.”

“We’re doing the best we can,” Jaina replied.

“Not good enough,” the pilot said. “Do you need encouragement? If you cannot complete repairs faster, I will shoot your brother. Then you will complete the repairs by yourself.”

Both Jacen and Jaina looked at the TIE pilot in shock. “Qorl, you wouldn’t do that,” Jaina said.

“I received my training from the Empire,” Qorl answered. “I will do what is necessary.”

Jacen swallowed—he knew the TIE pilot was telling the truth. “Yeah, I’ll bet you would,” he said.

With a sigh and an expression of disgust, Jaina stood up and tossed the hydrospanner onto a pile of tools on the jungle floor. She brushed her hands down her thighs, wiping grime on the legs of her jumpsuit.

“Never mind,” she said. “It’s finished. We’ve done everything we can. The TIE fighter is ready to fly again.”