Delusions of Grandeur

1

A knock at the wooden door startled Jaina Solo out of her reverie. She had to blink a few times to orient herself as she shook off memories of recent events.

Her gaze swept around her stone-walled room, across the sleeping pallet and the small work desk by the window slit. Against one wall, neatly stacked containers of spare cyberfuses, salvaged circuit loops, and miniature gears gave evidence of her love for electronics and tinkering.

When Jaina heard the second knock, she glanced toward the arched doorway. “Oh—come in!” she called, and her twin brother pushed open the newly repaired door.

Jacen’s eyes, the same brandy-brown color as her own, shone with barely contained excitement. “Hey, guess what? My gort egg is finally about to hatch! It’s making weird noises and rocking around. Wanna come watch?”

It took a moment for Jacen’s news to sink in. “Sure,” she said, proud to know that the incubator she had built for Jacen’s gort egg—a gift from their father, Han Solo—had worked so well. “I’ll be right there. I’m just finishing up something. Give me five minutes.”

Jacen gave her a curious look. The room held no obvious projects that could not wait until after the hatching. “Okay, but hurry—that egg could hatch anytime now. I’m going to get Tenel Ka.” He raced out of the room.

Jaina smoothed her straight brown hair back behind her ears and turned to face the tiny holocam that sat in front of her on her desk almost hidden by a mound of spare parts. “Let’s try this one more time, from the top,” she muttered. Then, taking a deep breath, she switched on the holocam.

“Hello, Zekk. Things are pretty quiet here on Yavin 4. I really miss—well, we all miss you. I wish you’d reconsider and come back to the Jedi academy. Uh-oh. That’s no good.” She flicked the tiny holocam off, erased her message, and flicked it on again. She cleared her throat and started over.

“How are you, Zekk? I realize you didn’t stay here for very long, but things at the academy just haven’t been the same since you left. It seems like such a long time since we last saw you.”

Jaina switched off the recorder again. “Oh, great. That was cheery,” she scolded herself. “Guaranteed to send him running to the Outer Rim Territories and beyond.”

She closed her eyes and imagined Zekk was right here in front of her … his emerald eyes alive with intelligence, his almost-black hair tied back at the nape of his neck….

Opening her eyes again, she reset the recorder to the beginning and readjusted her features to look more happy and relaxed. She actually felt calmer then, and switched the holocam back on. One more time. Forcing a twinkle into her eye, she flashed him the same lopsided grin that she and Jacen had inherited from their father.

“Hi, Zekk. Hope you get this hololetter soon. I recorded a few others and gave them to old Peckhum. He said he’d send the messages to you, but he couldn’t guarantee when you would get them.” She cleared her throat and kept talking.

“We’re all busy as ever, still at work rebuilding the temples.” She winced at the memory of the Shadow Academy attack Zekk himself had helped to engineer, but plunged ahead and steered her thoughts toward safer topics. “Seems like each time we get settled in, something comes up and I’m off with Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowie on some new adventure. Not as exciting as the life of a bounty hunter trainee, maybe, but it keeps us on our toes.”

She bit her lower lip and thought for a second. “By the way, nothing fresh to report about Bornan Thul’s disappearance yet. In fact, things only seem to be getting worse. We went to a planet called Kuar to look for clues and wound up tangling with a batch of combat arachnids instead. You should’ve seen the battle! Anyway, Thul’s brother Tyko showed up afterward to help us search. That night we were attacked by assassin droids led by IG-88! We fought in the catacombs, but there were so many droids and combat arachnids! IG-88 snatched Tyko Thul right in front of our eyes—and there was nothing we could do to stop it. Now both Raynar’s father and his uncle Tyko are missing.”

Jaina shook her head. “I know you’re looking for Bornan Thul, too. Have you caught any news on your end?” she added hopefully. “Wish we could find something good to tell Raynar when we see him next. Last we heard, he was still in hiding with the Bornaryn fleet—the trading ships his parents own. We tried to send messages, but we can’t tell if word got through.” She sighed. “Course, I have no idea if this letter’ll get through to you, either.

“Anyhow, if you run into the fleet or get any word about Bornan or Tyko Thul, we’d sure like to hear from you.” Jaina stopped, blushed slightly. “Well, we’d like to hear from you anyway, if you get the chance. I’m rambling, so I guess I should sign off now. Peckhum will encrypt this message and send it out to all the bars, cantinas, smuggler’s dens …” She grinned. “You know, all those places where scoundrels and bounty hunters hang out. I’ll send another hololetter when I have time. Until then, may the Force be with you.” She smiled one more time. “Bye, Zekk.”

Jaina stopped recording and nodded. “That ought to do it—not too gushy or emotional.” She really hated having to walk on eggshells when she spoke to an old friend.

Eggshells. Egg!

She had completely forgotten about Jacen’s gort egg hatching! Slipping the hololetter into a pocket of her flight suit, she dashed for Jacen’s room.

Only one room of the Great Temple boasted an entire wall of terrariums, incubators, cages, and aquariums on sturdy stone shelves: the room occupied by Jacen Solo. On most days at the Jedi academy, Jacen spent an hour, or sometimes two, feeding and caring for his various pets, using the Force to send them pleasant thoughts and to sense anything they needed.

Today, however, he was interested in only one creature—one he had never seen before.

“The shell appears … flawless,” Tenel Ka said, holding her hand above the spheroid egg.

Under the light of the incubator, the pearly pink shell gleamed softly. Jacen glanced at the warrior girl who crouched beside him watching the egg. The egg made a sudden rocking movement, but Tenel Ka didn’t flinch.

“Pretty neat, huh?” Jacen said.

“A beautiful color,” she remarked.

“Uh-huh,” Jacen said, though at the moment he was admiring the red-gold of Tenel Ka’s hair, some of which was loose and flowing, the rest caught up in braids that fell forward over the shoulders of her green lizard-hide armor.

“May I touch your egg?” Tenel Ka asked. She nodded toward the object, which had once again begun to rock and emit clicking noises.

“Uh … sure,” Jacen said.

“Did I miss it?” Jaina burst into the room. “Did it hatch yet?” The pearly egg gave a soft thump-thump and rolled up against one wall of the incubator.

“Looks like you’re right on time.” Jacen moved a bit closer to Tenel Ka, ostensibly to give his sister a better view of the incubator’s front panel.

Jaina glanced around the room before plopping herself on the floor beside him. “Where’s Lowie?” she asked.

“He has not yet arrived,” Tenel Ka said.

“I told him about the hatching,” Jacen added. “He said he needed to stretch his legs, but he should be here any minute.” The pearl-pink sphere in the incubator bounced a few times and made a louder ticking noise.

“Come on, little one,” Jacen coaxed, leaning closer to the incubator. “You can do it.”

A moment later, a warbling bellow could be heard just outside the smashed window opening in Jacen’s room. All three young Jedi turned just in time to see Lowie swing through the opening in an uncharacteristic display of swashbuckling bravado.

Part of the window area had been demolished during the Shadow Academy attack, but since there was no major structural damage, Jacen was in no hurry to get it repaired. He liked the fresh air.

Now the lanky, ginger-furred Lowbacca landed neatly on the flagstones, smoothed a large hand over the black streak of fur that ran up over his head above the left eye and down his back, and roared a Wookiee greeting.

Tenel Ka raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lowie. “A fine entrance, friend Lowbacca,” she observed. “I will remember it.”

“Dear me, I do hope we haven’t arrived too late,” Em Teedee said. The little silver translating droid was clipped to his usual place on Lowie’s syren-fiber belt. “I’ve never had the opportunity to witness a gort hatching before.”

As if on cue, the gort egg made a sharp clacking noise. Lowie crossed the room in three long strides and crowded between Jacen and Jaina on the floor.

The gort egg knocked loudly, bounced, and rolled until it rested against the front panel of the incubator.

“Good,” Jacen said softly. “That’s it—you’ve almost got it. A few more times now.”

Click-click. Thunk. Clack.

Jacen touched his fingers to the transparisteel. “There’s a warm, friendly place waiting for you,” he whispered. With one more click and another thunk, a tiny fissure appeared in the surface of the shell.

Lowie gave a thoughtful rumble. Jaina drew in a sharp breath and bit her lower lip. Tenel Ka reached out and placed her hand just next to Jacen’s on the clear front panel, her fingers barely touching his. Jacen felt soothing, welcoming thoughts join his own and flow toward the egg.

The egg tapped and bounced. Another crack appeared.

A loud noise at the doorway interrupted them as one of the New Republic soldiers stationed on the jungle moon during the reconstruction activities stuck his helmeted head into the room. He blinked, looking somewhat confused. “Excuse me, I was trying to find a refresher unit.” The soldier made a hasty retreat and continued urgently down the hall.

The young Jedi Knights turned their attention back to the hatching egg.

“Oh, I can scarcely bear the suspense!” Em Teedee said in a hushed voice. “Master Lowbacca, if I might impose on you for just a moment? I should like to get a closer look.”

Lowie unclipped the little droid from his belt and held him up to the incubator for an unobstructed view. The gort egg bounced and rocked, bumping itself repeatedly against the clear front panel.

“Come on, you can do it,” Jacen whispered.

Crack. A piece of shell, perfectly triangular in shape, fell away from the side of the egg. Then the egg jumped and rolled until the triangular opening was on top. Suddenly a downy ball of blue fluff poked through the hole. The fluff parted, like two halves of a curtain pulling aside, to reveal an inquisitive sapphire-blue eye.

“Hey! Hello there,” Jacen said gently.

The sapphire eye went wide, then nictated a few times, as if it could not believe what it saw. It swiveled on its down-covered eyestalk for a complete view of its surroundings. Another ball of fluff appeared through the hole in the egg, and a second sapphire-blue eye blinked furiously at them. The two fluffy eye-balls bobbed up and down on their stalks, looking first at each other, then around the incubator. When the two eye-balls were joined by a third puff of downy blue that blinked sleepily at them, Jaina giggled.

“Oh my!” Em Teedee said. “How many ocular appendages does this creature possess?”

Jacen shrugged. “Just three … I think.” Tenel Ka’s hand dropped away from the incubator, and she looked at Jacen in surprise.

The eye-balls bobbed wildly. A hollow tapping sound came from inside the remaining eggshell. Finally the shell broke apart into a dozen pieces, revealing the tiny gort hatchling.

Blue fluff clothed every square centimeter of the creature, except for the wide, flat beak set a third of the way down its little body. The rounded body, as large as Jacen’s fist, perched atop a pair of short legs, supported by broad, flat feet. The three toes were splayed for balance, and the gort’s thin prehensile tail curled into the air behind it. The tip of the tail reached forward to scratch one of the gort’s eyestalks, as if it were confused.

“Hello, little girl,” Jacen said. He turned to the others. “Don’t ask me how I know it’s a girl. I just do.”

Lowie gave an urf of laughter, and tapped one finger against the incubator’s front panel. All three of the gort’s eyestalks retracted into its body, and the eyes nictated shut, so that the creature looked like a lump of blue down.

“What is her name?” Tenel Ka asked.

All three eyestalks extended again and the sapphire eyes blinked open.

“She blinks a lot,” Jacen said. “I think I’ll call her Nicta.”

Jacen slid open the feeding chute in the incubator; several insects and grubs he had collected cascaded into the feeding dish. “There you go, Nicta. Morning meal.”

With a warbling sound, Artoo-Detoo entered Jacen’s student quarters. “Artoo, what brings you here?” Jaina said.

The silver, blue, and white barrel-shaped droid beeped and twittered a rather long explanation.

“Uh, Em Teedee?” Jacen said, still preoccupied with his new pet. “Would you mind translating on this one?”

“Why, certainly, Master Jacen. How could I mind? After all, translating has always been my primary function, though it’s seldom used these days. I am fluent in over six forms of communication. Why, in my prime, I—”

“Em Teedee,” Jaina cut in.

“Yes, Mistress Jaina?”

“The translation please?”

“Oh, yes. My associate, Artoo-Detoo, was sent by Master Luke to request that you report to the landing field to assist Master Peckhum in unloading supplies for the Jedi academy and for the New Republic defensive forces. He is due to arrive in just over four standard minutes.”

“Old Peckhum’s coming here?” Jaina asked.

“Hey, that’s great,” Jacen said. Lowie jumped to his feet.

“Perhaps Peckhum will bring news of Zekk,” Tenel Ka said.

Jaina blushed slightly and looked away, and Jacen knew the same thought had occurred to her. “Well, what are we waiting for?” she asked.

Jacen turned back to the incubator. He picked up the perfect, triangular shard of eggshell, put it in his pocket, and crooned to the little hatchling. “Don’t worry, Nicta. We won’t be away long.” Then he and his companions raced together out to the landing field.

Though they’d seen it twice before, Jacen found it hard to get used to Peckhum’s new ship, the Thunderbolt. It still seemed strange to see the old spacer flying the modern midsized cargo hauler. The gleaming entry ramp extended, and several more New Republic soldiers accompanied Peckhum down to the ground.

“Hope you don’t mind some company,” Peckhum said as the guards headed for their briefing rooms. “Had to drop off supplies with the ships up in orbit, and these five needed shore leave somethin’ fierce. I also brought someone else with me. Chief of State Organa Solo wanted to make sure he got here safely.”

Jaina’s eyes lit up. “Zekk?”

Peckhum sighed. “Naw—wish it were. I have been gettin’ messages from Zekk fairly regular, though. Doesn’t say much, ’cept that he’s learnin’ a lot about bounty huntin’.”

Jaina slipped the holorecording out of her pocket and pressed it into Peckhum’s hand. “Will you get this message to Zekk for me?”

“Sure will,” Peckhum said. “Least we know the people we love are safe,” he added. “Which is more than my passenger can say.”

“Raynar?” Jacen guessed.

Peckhum nodded. “I’m afraid that boy could use a good deal of cheerin’ up right now.”

Lowie rumbled his willingness to help and headed up the ramp.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of him,” Jaina assured the old spacer.

“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said. “We will remain close to him while we unload supplies.”

“We’ll find a way to get his mind off his worries,” Jacen said, following Lowie up the ramp. “I’ll even tell him some of my best jokes.”

“Uh-oh,” Jaina said as she and Tenel Ka hurried on board. “We’re all in trouble now.”