Delusions of Grandeur

12

After his discussion with Boba Fett, Zekk plunged into the search for Bornan Thul’s brother. According to Jaina’s recent hololetter, Tyko had been kidnapped by the assassin droid IG-88 during a battle in the lost city on Kuar.

Jaina sent Zekk news-filled messages to reassure him of her friendship. Someday he intended to respond, when he felt confident enough in his new life that he could rise above the dark things he had done to her and her friends when he was part of the Shadow Academy.

Zekk missed Jaina more than he could admit— even to himself—but he couldn’t face her until he redefined who he was. First, he had to make his name as a bounty hunter. At the moment, an important part of his quest was to find Tyko Thul.

By tapping into galactic information databases, Zekk compiled a dossier of background information on Raynar’s uncle. After the destruction of Alderaan, Bornan and Aryn Dro Thul had transformed their remaining family wealth into a profitable merchant fleet. Tyko, on the other hand, had invested his fortune in rebuilding the droid manufacturing facilities on Mechis III.

Next Zekk reviewed Jaina’s hololetters and quickly summed up the details. When his brother became a fugitive, Tyko had retreated briefly to the safety of the Bornaryn fleet, and then joined Jaina, Jacen, and their friends to search for clues on Kuar. In the ruins, the group ran afoul of IG-88 and his squad of assassin droids, and the other Thul had been abducted during the battle.

Zekk found it astonishing that IG-88 had so far made no ransom demands. The assassin droid seemed to be waiting for Bornan Thul to reappear from hiding and ask for his brother’s release. But Zekk alone knew that the wanted man had other plans. Zekk would have to find Tyko himself.

He searched through the Lightning Rod’s navigational files until he found a minor notation on the ancient world of Kuar—enough to help him plan his route. Kuar was a faint clue at best, but at the moment he had no better leads. The ship launched into hyperspace.

All civilization on the planet had turned to dust, leaving only skeletal cities poking out of craters and cliff sides. Archaeological evidence from long-ago expeditions suggested that this place had once served as a gladiatorial training ground for the fearsome Mandalorian warriors. Now, only ruined cities remained, like scars gradually fading with time.

It didn’t take his sensors long to locate residual traces of the young Jedi Knights’ encampment and the site of their fateful battle. At least now he had a place to start.

He set the Lightning Rod down on the crater rim where Jacen and Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Lowie had begun exploring the ruins. Standing beside his ship, which ticked and hissed and clanked as it settled on its landing pads, he stared into the immense bowl-shaped crater. These ruins were older than even the Mandalorian conquests. Towering skyscrapers had fallen apart, leaving only girder superstructures that protruded from the floor of the crater and rose nearly to its rim.

The crater’s sheer walls were riddled with tunnels and catacombs, like worm-infested wood. He let his imagination wander. On the balcony seats below, spectators had once watched life-and-death struggles inside the arena.

Zekk surveyed the crater, pondering his next step. In order to search for any clues, he would need to find the exact site of the battle with the combat arachnids and the assassin droids.

He armed himself with two blasters, knowing that the catacombs might still be swarming with the ferocious spider-monsters. Zekk wanted to make his inspection and get out before he attracted the attention of the arachnids.

Keeping his weapons handy and his Jedi senses alert, Zekk followed ramps, crumbling stairs, and interlocked balconies down the crater wall. When he discovered scuffed footprints in the dust where his friends had walked, he did his best to retrace their steps. Perhaps in the aftermath of battle, some clue had been left unnoticed by one of IG-88’s droid henchmen.

It was a slim chance, though, and he didn’t hold out much hope.

Zekk followed the trail until he came upon recent blaster scars. Zekk reconstructed the details of the battle from what he saw. IG-88 and his cohorts had pulverized part of the crater wall to get into the catacombs. Under attack, Jacen and Jaina had fled downward, hauling Tenel Ka, Lowie, and Tyko Thul after them. They had rushed into the dark passageways, hoping to escape. But the assassin droids had found them anyway—and so had the combat arachnids.

Zekk sniffed the metallic tang in the air, the mustiness, the sharp odor of dust and long-dried blood. Yes, this was the place.

He listened intently for the tapping of jagged feet on stone, large bodies stirring, mandibles clacking … but the tunnels were filled with only the sifting of dust, the whispers of shadows.

He switched on a glowrod, keeping the light down low. Then he advanced deeper inside.

Within the chamber he saw numerous dark tunnels in the cliffside, probably the dank lairs of surviving combat arachnids. Zekk tried to keep his light from dancing inside the protective darkness of those passages. He was not afraid to fight, but he didn’t want to.

He thought he heard a sound. Pausing in midstep, he waited to hear it repeated. A trickle of sweat crept down his back. Silence, punctuated by his own pounding heartbeat and the roar of his own breathing. He continued his inspection, trying to maintain his concentration. He didn’t want to miss a thing.

On the ceiling and walls of the grotto Zekk saw pitted impact points where energy bolts had struck. The floor itself was stained, discolored, tacky with dried ichor from the slaughtered creatures.

Like discarded garbage, the torn and blasted remains of slain assassin droids were scattered everywhere. Durasteel arms, torsos, central processors, built-in weapons systems, and metallic skull-heads lay where they had fallen. Either the combat arachnids had no interest in the spare parts, or they had intentionally left the fallen enemies to show their scorn.

“Must have been a titanic battle,” Zekk muttered.

He picked up the twisted remnant of a tubular durasteel torso from one of the powerful assassin droids. Such merciless killing machines were illegal and kept under tight security even during Imperial days. He found it incredible to discover so many here, in one place.

Zekk reached in, fiddled with the wreckage, and finally pulled out the central processing unit from the metal body core. He studied the serial number on the CPU, frowning deeply.

This was not at all what he had expected.

Zekk had assumed that IG-88, an old-model semi-sentient assassin droid, had gathered a cadre of discontinued machines that were still deadly, still functional. In theory, at least, assassin droids had not been constructed for decades—not since the fall of the Empire.

But this chip was new. The date-coded serial number and designators suggested that its programming was less than two months old. This assassin droid had been manufactured recently!

Zekk held up the chip, shining his glowrod onto its surface again to double-check its markings. Something was terribly wrong here. This was a mystery he had not anticipated.

He heard a stirring noise, clear and definite this time: the cautiously approaching footsteps of a creature that had far too many legs.

Zekk stood up straight, gripping a blaster in one hand and his glowrod in the other. He dimmed the light even further when he heard clacking noises and skittering footsteps from other catacombs, coming closer, getting louder. The combat arachnids were alerted to his presence. They were nearby … and he had no doubt they intended to deal with another intruder swiftly and permanently.

Grabbing the CPU chip that held the information he needed—as well as another, deeper puzzle—he sprinted back out to the balconies and into the hazy sunlight of Kuar.

He didn’t look behind him. His legs were strong and fit and carried him at full speed back to his ship. The combat arachnids could give chase if they wanted, but he sensed that they would be cautious, for a short time, at least—and he would get to safety first. He had left the Lightning Rod prepped for a fast getaway.

Sliding into the pilot’s seat, Zekk activated the repulsorlifts and raised his ship off the dusty rim of the crater, taking time to fasten his crash restraints only after he had reached the air. Then he cruised away at a leisurely pace to give himself time to think.

Zekk held the chip in his hand, contemplating the inexplicably recent serial number. He ran a data check on the number using the Lightning Rod’s computers. The results verified his suspicions but raised many more questions than were answered.

The assassin droids that had accompanied IG-88 to kidnap Tyko Thul had been manufactured only a few weeks ago—on Mechis III.

In Tyko Thul’s own droid factory.

As he reached the blackness of space, Zekk stared out at the cascade of stars … and decided that he had no choice but to follow the mystery where it led him. He was a bounty hunter, and he had an assignment to complete. He would go to Mechis III.

But first, he had one stop to make.