Diversity Alliance

5

For Jaina, the bridge of the Tradewyn was a wonderland filled with the highest quality computers, gadgets, and communications equipment available in any market.

She and Lowie exclaimed over each discovery of technological wizardry.

She thought briefly of her friend Zekk, with whom she had spent many of her younger days on Coruscant, scavenging technological gadgets from the abandoned underlevels and tinkering with them so that old Peckhum could have something to sell. She and Zekk had gone their separate ways, though, He had fallen to the dark side and joined the Shadow Academy.

Even after he had been defeated, and forgiven, Zekk still could not forgive himself.

He had struck out on his own in hopes of building a new life. He had decided to become a bounty hunter, and Jaina wished she could contact him somehow, and get news of him in return. But here, hidden as they were with the Bornaryn merchant fleet, no one in the galaxy would know where to find them.

After the Ceremony of Waters, Raynar took turns with his mother conducting the tour of the flagship, and proved almost as knowledgeable as she was on the subject.

The young Jedi had come to the bridge while Tyko prepared the ship for its next hyperspace jump, hoping to keep one step ahead of any pursuers that might be after them or Bornan Thul. The Tradewyn’s jump elicited a tingle of excitement from the Jedi students. All of them had seen many such jumps, but rarely from the open bridge of a city-sized starship. Tyko paced the bridge, a heavy frown corrugating his forehead, his hands clasped behind his back, as Raynar and Aryn Dro Thul continued the tour.

“What are those?” Jaina asked, spying an unusual console.

“Our weapons systems,” Aryn replied. “Targeting for the entire fleet is linked through here.”

“Everything can be controlled from the bridge of the Tradewyn,” Raynar added.

“Concussion missiles, ion cannons, even targeted energy deflectors. We have quad laser emplacements all around the circumference of the bridge—there, there, and there—” he said, pointing, “plus one up top and one below us. Of course, we can also release control to individual gunners.”

Jaina eyed the weapons appraisingly. “I’d love to try them sometime. Dad always lets us practice with the guns in the Millennium Falcon.”

Aryn’s eyebrows went up. “Ah, yes, that doesn’t surprise me. Your father always was a bit of a rogue. I met him briefly, on Alderaan, when …”

“You know Han Solo?” Raynar broke in, his eyes wide.

Aryn laughed. “Not really. It was decades ago, before I was married, and he visited Alderaan for a day. Of course, he was traveling under another name at the time. We just happened to meet. Back then, I thought he was very handsome. He even tried to steal me from your father. Bornan was rather jealous.” Aryn’s fine-boned face dimpled in a warm smile. “Even though Han has been a respectable man for many years, I’m afraid Bornan may still harbor a bit of a grudge.”

“Preparing to come out of hyperspace,” the helmsman announced in a loud voice.

“Very well,” Tyko said. “You, over there.” He pointed to a man in a security uniform near the navigational station. “Begin plotting our next jump, just to be on the safe side.”

“Kusk,” the man replied. “We’ve been introduced several times.”

Tyko blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Kusk, sir—it’s my name.”

Uncle Tyko made a face as if he had bitten into a chunk of rancid Nerf cheese. “Very well—Kusk. I suggest you begin plotting our course immediately or we’ll stuff you into an escape pod and shoot you toward the nearest inhabited system. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Kusk gritted between clenched teeth.

Jaina made a mental note never to cross Raynar’s uncle Tyko. She wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of his anger.

Just then the scene in the viewports all around the bridge changed. Starlines shortened from glowing streaks into specks of concentrated brilliance, and they were alone against the blackness of space. Completely alone. Not a single ship from the fleet had made the jump with the Tradewyn.

No. Not alone. Something else was here … waiting for them, ready to pounce.

Lowie saw it first and sounded the alarm.

“Oh, my! We’re doomed,” Em Teedee wafted.

There in the viewscreen closest to them came a wicked,looking ship that was no part of their fleet. Its weapons were powered up, ready to fire.

Jacen wished he could think of something to do.

“We’re receiving a transmission, Lady Aryn,” the communications specialist said. “Priority one.”

“Put it on the front viewscreen,” Tyko snapped.

The comm specialist looked back at Aryn.

She nodded.

A face masked by a dark flight helmet appeared on screen.

“Tradewyn, this is the High Roller,” the harsh voice came over the comm speakers. “I demand that you release to me either Aryn Dro Thul or Raynar Thul immediately. If you refuse, I will be forced to destroy your ship.”

Although this seemed like an absurd demand to Jacen, he was still surprised when Uncle Tyko gave a bark of laughter. “This ship has the finest defenses and weaponry that can be bought. Don’t force us to prove it.”

On the screen, the helmeted figure shrugged. “Perhaps you have the best defenses that can be bought legally, that is, but I have access to sources you couldn’t even begin to imagine.” An energy bolt streaked out from the ship and struck just below the forward viewport.

“If you give me the woman or the boy,” the harsh voice said, “I won’t need to demonstrate any further. You have ten minutes to decide.”

“Screen off,” Tyko snapped. The viewscreen went blank. “We need to clear the bridge of everyone but essential bridge crew. Kusk, take Lady Aryn down to the security shelter at the center of the ship. Don’t let anyone near her until this threat has been dealt with. Get moving! Raynar, you go too.”

Kusk sprang up from the navigational console with commendable speed, now that he had been chided by Tyko, and hustled Raynar and his mother from the bridge before Tyko could issue the next order. Even Aryn did not argue. As they vanished down the turbolift, Raynar looked worriedly back over his shoulder, although he tried to appear brave in front of his friends.

Jacen was glad the security guard had reacted quickly this time and avoided making a scene. Even so, he got a strange prickly feeling at the back of his neck. He shivered. Something was wrong here…..

Maybe it was because the High Roller was outside the viewports waiting to blast the bridge again, but he didn’t think so.

Beside him, Tenel Ka stood up straighter and glanced around as if searching for something. Their eyes met. She felt it too.

“Now,” Tyko said, “I’ll need the rest of you children off the bridge. We’re going to be in the middle of a firefight. All weapons, power up and calibrate your targeting systems!”

Jaina stepped forward boldly. “I could be some help to you here. I have a lot of gunnery experience.” She looked over at Jacen. “I’m a pretty good shot and so is ” Jacen, feeling an urgent need to follow Raynar, gave a minute shake of his head.

“—uh, so is Lowie,” Jaina went on, catching the hint, though she didn’t seem to understand her brother’s intentions.

Lowie cocked his head in surprise, then smoothed the fur down on his neck with both hands. He gave a sharp bark of agreement.

“Very well, then. You may both stay. We’ll need all the help we can get,” Uncle Tyko said. “But the rest of you, to your quarters until the emergency has passed.”

Jacen and Tenel Ka hurried from the bridge and into the turbolift. When the door slid shut behind them, Tenel Ka raised her eyebrows. “Are you thinking the same as I?”

Jacen nodded. “I’m thinking that Aryn and Raynar may not be safe even down in the protected chambers. Something is very wrong here.”

Tenel Ka made a fist and thumped it against her bare thigh. “This is a fact.”

“He’s somewhere on this level,” Jacen said, stepping out of the turbolift. “I can sense him.”

“But we are nowhere close to the center of the ship,” Tenel Ka pointed out. “I believe we have reached the docking bays. The guard should not have brought Aryn and Raynar here.”

Jacen swallowed hard. “Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of,” he said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

As if to prove his intuition correct, a blaster shot rang out from down the corridor.

“Hey, that came from the docking bay down there!” Jacen said. “Isn’t that where—”

Tenel Ka’s face was grim. “Yes. Where we left the Rock Dragon.”

Suddenly, the flagship thrummed with a sharp impact, as if someone had struck the hull with a giant hammer—or a powerful turbolaser blast. “I think that deadline the High Roller gave us just expired,” Jacen said.

They ran.

The Tradewyn hummed as it fired back at the ship that had ambushed it. The space battle had begun.

When they reached the entrance to the docking bay, a strange sight greeted them.

His face flushed, Raynar stood protectively in front of his mother near the boarding ramp to the Rock Dragon, colorful robes swirling around him like an aurora.

Closer to the entrance, the guard Kusk faced them, speaking into a comlink gripped in one hand. His other hand held a blaster aimed more or less at Raynar. The blaster, however, seemed to have a mind of its own. It raised and lowered and wobbled and dipped while Kusk wrestled to hold it steady. Obviously, Raynar was struggling through the Force to get a grip on Kusk’s weapon.

“Yes, I have the merchandise you requested,” Kusk said into the comlink, straining to keep hold of his squirming weapon. “I’ll meet you in five minutes at the pickup point.”

A harsh voice replied. Though it was crackly with static, Jacen still recognized it as the voice of the helmeted man aboard the High Roller. “It worked, just like I said it would.”

Another blow struck the ship. The mysterious attacker had shot again, but the guard Kusk merely smiled in satisfaction.

The Tradewyn fired back with a loud whining discharge of deadly energy.

Tenel Ka took her own action. “Prepare to fight, traitor!” she said in a loud voice.

She stepped forward, ready for battle.

“Hey I have a feeling your plans aren’t going to turn out quite as well as you thought, Kusk,” Jacen said. He wished fleetingly that he and Tenel Ka were wearing their lightsabers, but they had removed them for the Ceremony of Waters.

Sliding his comlink through a loop in his belt, Kusk faced the door, only mildly surprised by the intruders. His lip curled in a sneer. “I don’t really think three children and a woman can do much to thwart the plans of a trained killer and a seasoned bounty hunter.” He turned back toward his quarry. Aryn Thul glared contemptuously at the traitorous guard.

Raynar squared his shoulders. “Maybe not,” he said. “But there’s a great deal that three Jedi can do.”

As the guard snorted in disdain, another hammer blow from the attacker struck the Tradewyn. Taking advantage of the distraction, Jacen administered a hard Force shove against the guard’s back. At the same moment Tenel Ka lifted Kusk a few centimeters off the floor with her mind, throwing him off balance. Raynar held out one arm, and the astonished guard’s blaster finally spun from his grasp into the young man’s Outstretched hand.

“Don’t hurt him,” Aryn cautioned in a loud voice. “We’ll need him alive to learn how far this conspiracy goes.”

Kusk’s feet thumped down onto the deckplates.

Open-mouthed, he retreated as if pulled by invisible strings until his back pressed against the hull of the Rock Dragon.

His eyes darted in panic from Jacen and Tenel Ka to Raynar and Aryn and back again.

“How did you do that?” he rasped.

Jacen crossed his arms over his chest.

“We’re Jedi. One of my best friends is training to be a bounty hunter,” he said, thinking of Zekk. “And you violated one of their most fundamental rules: Always do your research.”

Kusk snatched at his comlink. “High Roller, this is Kusk. I’ve been captured. Save yourself.”

Aryn strode to the comm panel by the airlock door. “Security backup team to secondary docking bay immediately,” she said in a calm, commanding voice. Red lights strobed and sirens whooped. Kusk flailed for the entry hatch of the Rock Dragon and attempted to pull himself inside.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Tenel Ka said. Kusk hesitated for just a moment. “My ship has a fail-safe navigational program,” she explained. “Unless my crew or I input the proper authorization code, the ship is programmed to find the most direct route to Hapes and dock at the high-security hangar of the Hapan royal house.” She smiled coldly. “Not even you would want to explain yourself to my parents, my grandmother, and the seven hundred hand-picked guards stationed there.”

A burst of static blasted from the comlink in Kusk’s hand. He dropped it as if it were a venomous reptile and sank to the floor. The next moment the Tradewyn’s security squad arrived. One of the guards stopped to report. “That particular bounty hunter won’t be bothering you anymore,” she said to Aryn Thul. “We sustained only minimal damage, but the High Roller made an unlucky bet. The ship is completely destroyed. No survivors.”

“Thank you,” Raynar’s mother said.

A thin wail rose from the floor next to the Rock Dragon. Jacen could just barely make out the words of Kusk’s mournful cry: “My brother!”