Crisis at Crystal Reef

12

Zekk walked beside Ambassador Cilghal as she returned to the long line of vacationers hoping to rent oceangoing vehicles. The Calamarian Jedi did not push herself forward, but waited patiently until the Yarin had finished dealing with his current customer. When the transaction was complete, the Yarin gave Cilghal a small deferential bow.

“And how may I make your stay at Crystal Reef more enjoyable?” the treelike creature asked ponderously, reaching for Cilghal’s flippered hand. The Jedi ambassador accepted the question graciously. At the corner of his vision, Zekk saw Anja roll her eyes; she’d been through this tedious routine herself.

With her free hand, Cilghal gestured to Jacen. “Please allow me to introduce Jacen Solo … son of the New Republic Chief of State. I’m guiding him as a special favor to his uncle … Master Luke Skywalker.”

Zekk noticed an instant change of expression on the Yarin’s woody face. “And these are his friends, Tenel Ka—princess of the Hapes system—as well as Anja and Zekk. They are all from the Jedi academy,” Cilghal continued. “Naturally, I take my duties as special ambassador for Mon Calamari seriously, and I’m afraid my young friend here, Jacen Solo, has his heart set on showing his friends the beauties of the Calamarian oceans.”

Zekk admired the older Jedi’s melodious voice as she spoke soothingly, persuasively to the Yarin. “I’m sure you can understand how important this could be for the public image of Crystal Reef: Jedi extolling the virtues and beauties of our resorts, the gratitude of the Royal House of Hapes … perhaps even a visit from Han Solo and Chief of State Leia Organa Solo herself.”

As if blown by a light breeze, the Yarin began to sway back and forth to the singsong rhythm of Cilghal’s words. “Hmmm. Ah yes, I see. Unfortunately, I have no submersibles left for rent.” At Cilghal’s expression of disappointment, he hurried on. “But if you would allow me, Ambassador, being harbormaster at Crystal Reef does have its privileges. I have my own private submersible nearby. I use it mainly for fixing small underwater problems, and for a bit of pottering about, but I would be honored if you would consent to it. It may be a tight fit for five people, but I’m sure—”

“Hey, that’s great!” Jacen said. “It’ll do just fine.”

“Why, thank you. We’d be delighted,” Cilghal assured the tree creature.

The Yarin beamed at the small group. His kindly eyes lit on Anja. “I’m sorry, young lady, that I almost disappointed you. You should have let me know you were in such distinguished company.”

Zekk saw Anja blink, as if surprised that the Yarin now believed her to be in “distinguished company.” Her cheeks reddened, as if it had not occurred to her until now that running around with Jedi Knights, royalty, ambassadors, and the children of war heroes and the Chief of State might actually impress some people.

“This way, this way,” the Yarin said, motioning them toward his private dock. He gave Zekk a shrewd glance. “And you, young Jedi, have the look of a fine pilot about you, if I’m not mistaken. I believe I could entrust my minisubmersible to your capable hands.” Zekk looked at the Yarin in surprise.

“Hey, I’m a pretty fine pilot myself,” Anja objected as they reached the dock where the minisub was tethered.

“Zekk is an excellent choice,” Tenel Ka interrupted. “I believe he is the finest pilot among us.”

“Besides,” Zekk muttered to Anja, “you’re not going to pilot anything until I get my ship back.” She clamped her lips shut and folded her arms across her chest. “I’m sure Cilghal will help me pilot the sub, since I’m in unfamiliar waters.”

The treelike harbormaster opened the hatch with one branchy hand and helped the young Jedi climb down into the submersible. “And you, Ambassador,” the Yarin said as he helped Cilghal down, “are probably most familiar with Calamarian oceangoing craft. I trust you will be able to handle any emergencies that might arise?”

Cilghal gave him a stately nod.

“We’ll take good care of your little sub,” Zekk assured him. “Does it have a name?”

The Yarin gave a wheeze that Zekk figured must have been a chuckle and said, “I call her the Elfa. Among my people, it is a word that means fish-so-small-that-it-is-not-worth-catching.”

“We can’t thank you enough, Harbormaster,” Cilghal said. “We will take good care of your Elfa.”

The ocean beneath the arctic ice was beautiful. The blue-green glow of water-filtered daylight transformed every creature, sea plant, or chunk of ice into a thing of magic. Particulates suspended in the water sparkled like gold dust. The Elfa was smaller by far than the Lightning Rod, and less maneuver-able because it was in water, but Zekk enjoyed every moment of piloting it.

“The transponder signal’s getting stronger,” Anja announced in a ragged voice. “We’re almost to the spice stash.” Her breath seemed labored. Zekk wondered if she had a fear of enclosed places and disliked the unusual feeling of being deep under water. Either that, he decided, or she was going through spice withdrawal again.

“Just let me know if I need to make any course adjustments,” Zekk said.

Over the past two hours, Cilghal had shown him how to use most of the systems on the tiny submersible, and he now felt as comfortable with the Elfa as he had ever felt with any ship besides the Lightning Rod.

“Over there. Is that it?” Jacen asked, pointing.

“I believe so. You have excellent eyes,” Tenel Ka said.

“Thanks. You have pretty nice eyes, too,” Jacen teased.

“The signal’s strong and clear,” Anja said, ignoring the banter. “Do you see it?”

“Got it,” Zekk said, already making the course correction.

In less than five minutes he had maneuvered them into position beside the cache, which had been tucked away beneath blocks of free-floating arctic ice. The four separate containers were sealed, armored cases, quickly stashed there for safekeeping, anchored to the ice.

Anja crowded close to the windowport, looking over Zekk’s shoulder to get a better view. Her face was flushed, her breathing ragged, her hair damp with perspiration.

“Okay, now what?” Zekk asked.

“Now we destroy them, just as we all agreed,” Anja said.

“Hey, I hate to mention this, but those containers look like they’re pretty well armored. How do you expect to get rid of them?”

“I believe I can be of assistance there,” Cilghal said. She set to work at the controls of the two grappling arms attached to the minisub, maneuvering until one of the sealed containers was in her grasp. Then she squeezed with the claw mechanism until one of the claws pierced the armor and the buoyant container began to fill with water.

“Should we just let it sink?” Zekk asked.

“No, that’s not good enough!” Anja snapped. She calmed herself and lowered her voice. “Czethros’s people would still be able to locate it by the transponder and retrieve the spice. This is valuable stuff, remember.”

“In that case, perhaps this will work,” Cilghal said, reaching out with the other claw-arm to grasp a second heavy cargo container. She swung them both outward and then back together again to smash them into each other. The already-punctured storage bin burst at the impact and a flood of tiny sealed ampoules cascaded from the container. Some of the vials shattered; others just drifted free and then slowly began to sink into the frigid depths of the ocean.

“Is this an acceptable solution?” Tenel Ka asked Anja.

Anja was silent for a full minute, just staring at the shimmering ampoules in the water around them and panting. Zekk wondered if she regretted her decision to destroy them, but a moment later Anja answered.

She raised a triumphant fist. “Yesss!” She gave a weak laugh. “Even if Czethros’s men manage to find the transponder signal now, I’d like to see them all searching several square kilometers of ocean floor and trying to collect all of those tiny little ampoules—one by one.”

Zekk gave a satisfied nod. “As Jaina would say, what are we waiting for? Let’s smash the other ones.”

Still leaning over his shoulder, Anja whispered, “Two down, two to go.”

While Zekk handled the minisub’s piloting controls, Cilghal deftly maneuvered the pincer claws, grasping the final sealed container of andris spice with one of them. To Jacen’s surprise, the Jedi ambassador stopped and blinked her huge fishy eyes. “Something is not right.”

The submersible’s lights seemed to have attracted something in the murky, ice-clogged water … something large and dangerous and seeking prey.

“What’s that?” Jacen leaned toward a thick transparisteel porthole. “There’s a shadow out there, something … swimming.” He let his eyes fall halfway closed, reached out with the Force. “Uh-oh.”

As he stood, stretching his thoughts into the dark water, a giant yellow eye flashed in front of the window, its pupil as large as Jacen’s head. His eyelids snapped up, and for a fraction of a second, he froze, pinned by its cold and angry gaze.

“Jacen, my friend, do you have a ‘bad feeling’ about this?” Tenel Ka asked.

He nodded. The creature swam forward. Its eye was followed by a mouth filled with huge fangs, each one seemingly large enough to crush an X-wing starfighter.

“Look out!” Jacen cried.

Zekk and the Calamarian ambassador grappled with the sub’s controls. The minisub rocked back and forth under the water as the startled sea beast moved closer to look at the curious thing.

A huge tentacle the size of a space-station docking tether whipped across their front field of view, slithering, probing.

Though the creature felt hungry to Jacen, it remained cautious as it approached its new victim. The minisub turned about, its propellers whirring in the water, pushing them ever so slowly toward safety.

The giant sea creature swam past again like an immense underwater ship, not attacking yet. Its scaly hide rippled as it cruised by. More tentacles streamed out in all directions.

Jacen gave a low whistle. “It’s awfully big. Do you know what it is, Cilghal?”

The Mon Calamarian shook her large head. “There are many things deep in the oceans of my world that have never been named, or even seen, by living creatures.”

“We might not qualify as living creatures for long, if that thing decides to go for us,” Anja said.

The current from the beast’s passage stirred the waters, making the minisub buck and sway. Zekk grasped the controls more tightly. Jacen pressed his face against the cold porthole, observing the armored hide, the long neck, the huge head with its mouth that could swallow the largest of fish. And tentacles everywhere.

A thick, sinuous arm struck the side of the minisub. Not hard—just an exploratory tap—but it sent them careening end over end beneath the water. Bubbles burst out all around the submersible.

Cilghal wrestled with the controls. “Hang on,” she said as Zekk tried to steady the craft in the midst of the foamy turmoil.

Anja was thrown backward into her seat.

Lights flickered and dimmed inside the cabin before the emergency generators kicked on, adding fresh illumination.

Zekk grunted as his head smacked against the wall. “Tell me this sub has some sort of defense system.”

“Unfortunately, this is not a fact,” Tenel Ka said. “And I doubt we are capable of outswimming that creature.”

Jacen looked through the front windowports into the cold arctic sea. He sensed that the giant shadowy hulk would turn and swim back, return for another pass—and that this time it would be less reticent to make a full-fledged assault. He reached out with his mind, trying to use the Force to find the massive creature’s primitive mind. But the beast’s attention was entirely absorbed by the new prey.

“That wasn’t even an attack yet,” Zekk said. “The thing was just checking us out.” He rubbed the back of his neck, as if he tingled, and looked back at Jacen. “Next time it’ll want a meal.”

The minisub’s stabbing lights spread out in white cones through the water. Bubbles still drifted up, shrouding them in a watery bead curtain. Moments later the gigantic silhouette swam into the light, showing off its thick body core studded with long deadly tentacles, and its large ravenous mouth. The creature undulated toward them, thrashing through the water. The tiny underwater vehicle would never be able to travel that fast. They could not escape through sheer energy alone.

The creature’s maw opened wide.

Cilghal added power to the hull attitude jets, tilting the craft at a steep angle to rise toward the jagged ceiling of ice under the polar cap. The sub sputtered out of the way. Snapping with its tentacles, the monster pursued.

Despite Cilghal’s attempts to control it during the violent evasive maneuvers, the small grappling claw that held the last andris container ripped loose. The second claw bent and jammed. The crate popped free, drifting … slowly sinking.

“There goes the spice!” Anja said, and Jacen couldn’t be sure if she was disappointed or just observing a fact.

Seeing the bright morsel fall away from the larger craft, the sea monster swerved and ducked toward it. Long tentacles reached out, grasped, and in a single swift movement the creature’s fanged mouth came forward and chomped down on the container. Swordlike teeth tore through the outer coverings, freeing the spice ampoules.

Vials began to shatter … and the beast swallowed a thousand doses of andris. All at once.

Jacen stared as the monster gulped down an immeasurable quantity of the intense stimulant. “Uh-oh,” he said, “now we’re really in trouble. If you thought that monster was hyper before, wait until the andris kicks in.”

Below them, the creature thrashed about in growing agitation. And then it turned its attention back to the minisub.