Trouble on Cloud City

19

Running deeper into the maze of the amusement park, leaving the hovercoaster wreckage behind them, Lando cast about for inspiration. He looked with fresh eyes at the shadowy attractions, the stations that he hoped would one day be rides and entertainment stands enjoyed by millions of beings young and old.

Lando stopped as an idea occurred to him. “Wait a minute! We’ve got an advantage that I’m willing to bet these guards don’t have.”

“I’ll be glad to hear it,” Anja growled.

Lando smiled. “I know this place. I know what it can do, and everything that’s already functional.” Jaina remembered from their initial tour what lay ahead, and she instantly understood what Lando intended.

Zekk’s emerald eyes gleamed; he saw it, too. “Then let’s show them a few of the attractions.”

The Wing Guards approached from separate sides, trying to box them in. When their victims dashed forward, the guards shouted and opened fire again, running at full tilt. Jaina intentionally slowed down just enough to give them an enticement. Closer now… closer…

Suddenly she and Lando ducked left as they passed a triggering sensor. Zekk yanked Anja along behind him.

Huge slavering monsters leaped out of nothingness, the most hideous creatures that holographic artists could devise. The monsters lunged with inhuman roars and howls.

The pursuing guards screamed, firing their blasters at the illusionary threats. With nervous chuckles at the success of their plan, the companions dove farther along, trying to escape.

One of the guards bellowed, “Those are just projections, you idiots!”

Some of the guards looked askance at the holocreatures who continued to snarl and sweep their harmless claws through the air. Then they ran after Jaina, Lando, Anja, and Zekk. The four stretched out their lead, but continued to lure the guards forward.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Jaina said.

“You can bet on it,” Lando said. “Too bad the antigrav chamber isn’t working yet, though.”

They sprinted toward the vortex shaft, the experience-filled pit they had tumbled through on their first trip into the amusement center.

“Over here!” Jaina shouted, taunting the guards.

“Hey, you forgot to cover this escape hatch,” Lando called.

“We’re home free now,” Zekk added, and dove down the swirling hole to be swallowed up in the flashing lights. Jaina and Lando jumped after him, and Anja followed with only the slightest reluctance.

The guards bellowed and careened forward in pursuit.

“Don’t let them get away now!” a Wing Guard captain ordered. Moments later, the five pursuing guards jumped down the chute.

Jaina held her arms over her head, straightening her body to reduce her air resistance. They dropped faster and faster through the hot mists and the cold steam, falling through the tangled bubbles as they plunged down to the mat below. Zekk struck bottom and bounced, rolling off the platform so that Lando, Anja, and Jaina would have room to land.

They all leapt to their feet, their knees trembling. The three younger companions stood guard for Lando as he worked the control panel. “Safety systems,” he said, wiping sweat from his forehead. “You’ve got to have security overrides. And I’ve got the codes.” He pressed buttons and flicked switches to deactivate the access to the vortex chute. A restrictive force-field clamped down on the top and bottom of the chute.

Alarm lights winked on and Lando laughed up at the shadowy silhouettes of the guards as they swirled around inside the shaft. “The repulsors in there will keep that group going up and down, up and down. They won’t be able to get out until I use my private password to release them.”

Jaina went over to a comm unit on the wall. “Do you think if we summon enough of Cloud City security, we’ll get some who aren’t tainted by Black Sun?” Anja shifted uncomfortably, but made no suggestions.

“I think if we called them all here, we’d be able to wrap things up nicely,” Lando said.

They stood together, panting, and resting for a moment. After Lando sent his signal again using his Baron-Adminstrator’s emergency codes, they waited for the authorities to arrive and take care of the would-be assassins.

Lando couldn’t wait until they began to debrief the turncoat Bespin Wing Guards. “This should be very interesting,” he said out loud.

Bespin’s incredible ocean of sky provided an infinite expanse through which Jacen and Tenel Ka could run. Unfortunately, it offered no place to hide.

The isolated metal island of Cloud City fell behind them as Jacen pushed the cloud skimmer’s engines. The turbines whined as the cloud car soared away from the trap the traitors had set for them.

Behind them—and rapidly gaining ground—came a sleek black cloud car with a pair of sharp-angled bows. Cradling his weapon, the hairy-faced thug leaned forward to take a carefully aimed shot while an armored Wing Guard drove the patrol vessel at its highest possible speed.

Jacen jigged from left to right, diving down and then swooping back up again, but in the open emptiness of the sky, the evasive maneuvers did little good. The bearded hit man shot twice. Jacen dodged and twirled. Even so, one of the powerful bolts ricocheted off the bottom of their cloud car, leaving a long dark scorch mark across the bright scarlet plating.

Tenel Ka sat beside him, grim-faced. She fingered the rancor-tooth lightsaber at her waist. “I prefer a direct fight,” she said. “These men are cowards.”

“Yeah? They’re traitors, too,” Jacen said. “But who’s keeping track?” Then he perked up as an idea struck him. He wrestled with the controls, dodging another blaster bolt that skimmed close beside them. “You could still use your lightsaber, Tenel Ka. Block those blaster shots from hitting our repulsor-engines.”

“Excellent idea, Jacen, my friend.” She drew her lightsaber, switched on its pulsating turquoise blade, then turned to kneel on the seat, precariously balanced on her muscular legs. Tenel Ka slashed from side to side with her blade as the pursuers continued to fire. She leaned far out to deflect the attack, and Jacen worried that the one-armed warrior girl might lose her balance and tumble into the clouds, as he had done.

The skies grew darker. They flew neck and neck with their enemies now. Black thunderheads rose all around them like craggy islands in the sky. Long fingernails of lightning scratched against the thunder-heads as storm systems clashed together. Other glows flickered deep within the clouds.

Jacen narrowed his eyes to stare at the ominous weather patterns … and had another idea. “Tenel Ka, get back in and strap down. I think we’re in for a bumpy ride.”

Hearing the tone in his voice, she did as he advised without questioning. Then Jacen set his course on a straight line for the largest, nearest bank of thunder-heads. The wind whipped the warrior girl’s red-gold braids around her face. Her expression became stern. “You are not actually flying into a storm system, are you?”

Jacen flashed her a lopsided grin. “They’d be crazy to follow us, wouldn’t they?”

The tumbling wall of gray mist grew larger, but slowly. Jacen realized that the distance to the storm was greater than he had expected. And the storm itself was much, much larger. He searched in vain for the tiny black specks he had hoped to find. Lightning screeched across the cloud surface, leaping from one thunderhead to another.

“Hang on,” Jacen said, and dove toward the roiling dark mass.

Behind them, the assassins tried to put on more speed, firing indiscriminately now. The Wing Guard pilot had trouble aiming his vehicle’s built-in laser cannons, but the hairy-faced assassin scored a direct hit on Tenel Ka’s side of the scarlet cloud car. Its impact was much too close to her for Jacen’s comfort.

An explosion of thunder slammed through the air with a sound like two Star Destroyers colliding. Jacen’s ears rang with the reverberations; the cloud car’s front windowplate and side panels rattled and vibrated as if they’d been hit by a physical blow.

A lightning bolt roared behind them. The gigantic blast of discharged energy boomed in a rippling cord across the open space. Jacen’s skin crawled, his hairs prickled, and tiny flecks of color sparkled in front of his eyes. He didn’t think even a Star Destroyer’s turbolaser could have been much more powerful than that immense blast.

Jacen kept looking for any hint of movement, any dark forms around the cloud—but he noticed nothing.

“What do you seek, Jacen, my friend?” Tenel Ka said.

“You’ll see if I find it.”

After the lightning blast, the patrol car behind them spun out of control, losing ground for several moments until the pilot managed to get back on course. In frustration, the Wing Guard fired his laser cannons five more times, but all of the shots went wide and disappeared harmlessly into the dark depths of the cloud.

Heavy winds jounced them from side to side as if invisible hands were playing a drumbeat against their cloud skimmer. Suddenly, Jacen hit a pressure differential, and their scarlet cloud car plummeted like a stone until another air current buoyed them up.

Jacen gripped the controls, feeling the blood drain from his face. Tenel Ka sat stoically through it all.

With a surge of engine power the sleek black patrol craft careened in behind them, weapons blazing once more. Jacen took a chance—an extraordinary chance—hooking left to arc around the gigantic storm system. He plunged into an outcropping of dark mist and dove into a knot of thunder clouds, hoping to lose himself in them.

Opaque mist flew in his face, acrid-smelling from the gaseous chemicals deep in Bespin’s cloud layers. Unable to see, he was glad at least to know there were probably no obstacles with which he could collide in the open sky.

Thunder rumbled deep in the main mass of the cloud like boulders cracking together—but behind it, he could hear the hum and roar of the high-powered pursuit craft.

“They are still following us,” Tenel Ka said.

“Maybe we can lose them with some fancy flying,” Jacen said, but he knew that was a slim hope. The attackers charged in, following the engine noise of the scarlet cloud car.

As he drove farther through the fringe of the thunderstorm, the mists parted in front of him, and he burst into open sky on the far side of the thunderhead.

Right into the middle of a pack of predatory velkers.

Startled, the chevron-shaped flying creatures soared about, wheeling like razor-winged hawkbats, darting along the edge of the powerful storm as if they fed on lightning discharges.

The creatures were huge, sleek, and armored, like living attack craft. When Jacen’s cloud car burst in among them, they swirled around like angry piranha beetles. Within moments, they had formed into a squadron intent on attacking the intruder.

Tenel Ka unbuckled her seat restraint and whipped out her lightsaber again. The velkers were black, their skin tough and layered with tiny scales. Jacen saw no eyes, only sleek skinplates, smooth heads at the apex of sharp wings. But as the cloud car dove underneath the outer edge of velkers, Jacen saw that their underbodies consisted of rows and rows of jagged mouths, lampreylike teeth with suckers to anchor themselves, and grinding jaws that could rip any prey to shreds.

“This was your intention, Jacen?” Tenel Ka said, alarmed.

“I was hoping they’d be nicer.” He spun the craft about to fly between two ferocious velkers. The creatures collided in the air, then began attacking each other.

Tenel Ka reached up with her lightsaber, using the blazing tip of her turquoise blade to slash the side of one velker that dove toward their cloud car. Its skin ripped open and volatile gases spilled out, sparking and flashing in the flame of the lightsaber. Unable to keep flying, the velker spun out of control; the other creatures fell upon it.

Tenel Ka parried again, ripping open the mouth-filled belly of a second attacking creature. For an instant the velkers drew back, intimidated.

But only for an instant.

Another creature dive-bombed toward them, rows of mouths clacking, teeth gnashing, ready to shred either the scarlet metal of the cloud car or the soft flesh of the young Jedi Knights.

Jacen concentrated with his Jedi powers as he flew, trying to use his affinity for animals to get these beasts to back off and pursue other prey. He had calmed a ronto and any number of large deadly creatures, but these velkers had few thoughts in their minds—except to attack and destroy.

Maybe at least Jacen could change their focus.

Behind them, the black patrol car burst out of the thunderhead knot and into the angry pack of velkers. In utter panic, the Wing Guard pilot swooped up and around.

With the sudden flurry to distract the furious flying creatures behind them, Jacen applied full speed, roaring away from the dangerous flock. He used his thoughts to focus the velkers’ attention on the black craft, their pursuers.

“Better prey,” he said, mumbling aloud. “A better target. Ignore us.” Jacen could think of no other way for them to escape.

The velkers swirled and turned to concentrate their vicious attack on the black cloud car. The pilot swerved, trying to flee, but the velkers were much too fast, much too intent on destruction.

As Jacen flew farther and farther from the roiling thunderhead, he saw the velkers attack. His craft damaged, the traitorous Wing Guard pilot spun out of control and dropped down toward the deep gray soup of the storm. Lightning flashed all around.

The velkers swirled in a frenzy and renewed their attack. The black cloud car plunged out of sight, and the velkers flew after it. All of them vanished deep into the stormy grayness.

Another chorus of loud thunder shook the sky. Jacen spun the vehicle about and began the long journey back to Cloud City.