Heirs of the Force

8

“You sure this seat is safe?” Jacen asked as he squeezed himself into the cargo well behind the T-23’s passenger seat.

“Of course it is,” his sister replied automatically as she climbed into the front. “You like crawling into cramped spaces anyway.”

“Only to catch bugs,” he grumbled. “There’s no cushioning back here.”

The cargo well was much too small to accommodate Tenel Ka, who was taller and more solidly built than either of the twins. Jacen would have to settle for the back or be left behind; his sister would take her turn there on the return trip. He squirmed and settled in as the T-23’s engines started with a roaring purr.

Lowie called a command over the sound of the warming repulsorlifts. Em Teedee said, “Master Lowbacca requests that you please be certain that your restraints are secure. He is interested in your utmost safety. We shall be departing momentarily.”

Lowbacca’s voice barked out again, and the droid amended his translation. “Actually, Master Lowbacca might have said something closer to, ‘Hold on, everyone. Here we go!’”

“Oh, blaster bolts. No crash straps either,” Jacen observed as Jaina and Tenel Ka buckled themselves in up front.

The rebuilt T-23 lifted off with a small jerk. The wind howled past the rattling window plates as they picked up height and speed. Jacen felt the thrill of being airborne as the ion afterburners spluttered behind them. Even cramped in the back, he was glad he hadn’t stayed behind.

Jacen looked out through the scratched port as Lowbacca let the skyhopper skim just above the treetops, arrowing away from the Jedi academy into unexplored territory. Soon there were nothing but trees as far as Jacen could see through the scratched port, as lush and green as the sky above him was blue.

Though he enjoyed the lovely foliage below him, Jacen’s legs began to cramp. By the time the T-23 dove down and came to rest in a small clearing, he could feel the engine vibrations all the way to his teeth.

Up front, Jaina and Tenel Ka unbuckled their restraints and scrambled nimbly out of the T-23. Jacen dragged himself from the cargo well, stretching his stiff legs as he stepped out into the tangled underbrush. He rubbed the seat of his jumpsuit with both hands to get the circulation going again. “I think a leaf is about all I could lift right now!”

Lowie rushed to the edge of the clearing, beckoning the others. “Master Lowbacca says the tree holding the artifact is over here,” Em Teedee called. “It has several broken branches, so he was able to locate it easily from the air.”

Jaina looked in the direction that Lowbacca was pointing. “Well, what are we waiting for?” she said. Tenel Ka marched over to the young Wookiee, as if ready to carve a path through the jungle. Jacen took a long and wistful look at all the strange new plants he saw around him, but followed the others into the deep green shadows.

Lowbacca gestured up into the distant branches of an enormous Massassi tree. The trunk seemed as big around as one of the skyscrapers on city-covered Coruscant, and even the lowest branches were well out of Jacen’s reach. But Lowie wanted them to climb up after him!

“Oh,” said Jaina, a crestfallen look on her face, “I wouldn’t get very far climbing that.”

Lowbacca assured them, via Em Teedee, that the climb would be easy for a Wookiee. He offered to go up alone for the first investigation and report his findings so they could decide the next step.

“We can explore down here,” Jacen suggested. “We might find some other pieces of… of whatever it is.” Or maybe some interesting animals or fungus or insects, he thought hopefully.

Jaina and Tenel Ka readily agreed. Lowbacca swiped a hairy hand along the thick black streak that ran through the fur above his left eyebrow. He swarmed up the trunk, swung into the lower branches, and soon disappeared from sight.

Jacen’s stomach rumbled with hunger, and he hoped that Lowbacca would hurry. The three young Jedi trainees poked around in the underbrush, spiraling out from the T-23 in a wandering search pattern. Taking turns, they practiced their leaf-lifting assignment, fluttering leaves in the shrubbery, lifting dry forest debris from the damp and mossy ground.

Before long, Lowbacca came crashing back down through the thick branches. He dropped to the ground near them and let out a loud Wookiee cry.

Jaina ran toward him, eager and interested. “Did you find it, Lowie?”

Lowbacca nodded vigorously.

“What was it?” Jaina asked. “Can you describe it?”

“Master Lowbacca believes it to be some sort of solar panel,” Em Teedee translated as the Wookiee replied. Then the droid launched into a complete description.

Jaina felt her skin prickle with goose bumps. “Hmmmm,” she said. “If I’m right, there should be a lot more to that artifact than what Lowie saw. Let’s keep looking.”

Tenel Ka dug into a small supply pouch she carried with her and withdrew a pack of carbo-protein biscuits. “Here. Nourishment as we search.”

Jacen chomped hungrily on his biscuit. “Just what are we looking for, Jaina?” he asked, speaking around a mouthful of crumbs.

“Scrap metal, machinery, another solar panel.” Jaina shaded her eyes, scanning deeper into the thick jungles around them. “Well keep widening the circle of our search until we find something. What we’re looking for shouldn’t be too far away.”

Jacen retrieved a flask of water from the T-23, took a gulp, and handed it to his sister. Jaina took a few mouthfuls of water and passed the flask on to Lowbacca. Then she set off at a trot for the base of the big tree. Jaina didn’t look back to see if the others were following, and bit her lip, feeling a brief pang of guilt.

At times like this Jaina always seemed to assume leadership, just like her mother. But how could she help it? Her parents had raised all three of their children to assess a situation, weigh the alternatives, and make decisions.

“Let’s spread out,” she said.

“Great!” Jacen said, walking around the massive trunk toward a clump of dense undergrowth.

Jaina smiled, knowing full well that her brother’s excitement came not from a desire to find the mysterious artifact, but from the opportunity to explore the jungle and examine its creatures more closely.

She was about to head into the underbrush herself when Lowbacca stopped her with a questioning growl. Em Teedee translated. “Master Lowbacca says—and I personally am inclined to agree with him—that the jungle floor is not a safe place to split up. Even to speed up a search.”

As impatient as she was to continue looking, Jaina stopped to consider. Tenel Ka caught her eye, placed her hands on her hips, and nodded. “This is a fact.”

Jaina gnawed at her lower lip again, thinking, and came to a decision. “All right. We spread out a little but, but only as far as our line of sight. Good enough?”

The others’ murmurs of agreement were interrupted by a loud squawking as a flock of reptile birds took flight from the bushes near where Jacen had been exploring. Jacen emerged from the bushes on his hands and knees, looking startled, but not displeased.

“No big discoveries,” he reported, “but I did find this.” He held out his palm. In it was a plump, furry gray creature, quivering in a small nest of glossy fibers.

Another animal. Jaina sighed with resignation. She might have guessed.

“Ah. A-hah,” Tenel Ka said. Lowbacca bent forward to run a shaggy finger along the tiny creature’s back.

“Look, Jaina,” Jacen said, turning the fluffy nest in his hand. He pointed to a dull, flat loop of metal that was firmly attached to the mass of fibers.

“A … buckle?” Jaina said, finally comprehending.

Her brother nodded. “Like the kind in crash webbing.”

“Good work,” Tenel Ka said with solemn approval.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Jaina asked. “Let’s keep going.”

By midafternoon, though, Jaina began to get discouraged. Jacen, on the other hand, was intrigued by every crawling creature or insect they encountered.

“Do please try to be a bit more cautious!” Jaina could hear Em Teedee saying. “That’s the third dent today. And I’ve lost count of how many scratches I’ve received while you’ve been exploring. Now if you would only be more attentive to—”

Em Teedee’s admonishments were drowned out as Lowie gave a sharp bark of surprise behind a tangle of vines and branches. “Oh! Oh, my. Mistress Jaina, Master Jacen, Mistress Tenel Ka!” Em Teedee’s voice was loud enough to startle not only Jaina but a number of flying and climbing creatures. “Do come quickly. Master Lowbacca has made a discovery.”

Needing no further encouragement, all of them rushed to see what Lowbacca had found. Jaina felt her heart pounding in her chest, knowing and dreading what they would find.

They worked quickly, scratching and cutting their hands as they pulled away the thick plant growth from the heap of metallic wreckage. Jaina gasped as they finally exposed it—a rounded, tarnished cockpit large enough only for a single pilot, one squarish black solar panel crisscrossed with support braces. The other panel was missing, stuck up in the tree where Lowie had found it. But still the ship was unmistakable.

A crashed Imperial TIE fighter.