Heirs of the Force

17

Inside the torchlit temples of the Jedi academy, Lowbacca bellowed in confusion and alarm. He waved his lanky, hairy arms to emphasize the urgency of the situation. He didn’t know how to make them understand him; he only knew he had to warn them of the TIE fighter, had to get help for Jacen and Jaina and Tenel Ka.

Tionne and the other Jedi candidates around her grew agitated. None of them could speak the Wookiee language. “Lowbacca, we can’t understand you,” she said. “Where is your translator droid?”

Lowie patted his hip again and made a distressed sound. He’d have never imagined he’d be so upset not to have the jabbering droid at his side.

“Where are Jacen, Jaina, and Tenel Ka?” Tionne asked. “Are they all right?”

Lowbacca bellowed again and gestured out into the jungle, trying to explain everything.

“Was there an accident? Are they hurt?” Tionne asked. Her mother-of-pearl eyes were wide and her silver hair flowed about her as if it were alive. With her long, delicate hands, she clutched Lowie’s furred arm.

Her voice had been so calm and silky when she sang Jedi ballads to the gathered students in the grand audience chamber. Now her words had a hard, crystalline edge, the forcefulness of a true Jedi Knight.

Lowbacca tried to think of how to explain, but his growing frustration made it more and more difficult. He had no words they could understand. Yes, he could gesture back toward the jungle—but how to describe a crashed TIE fighter? A surviving Imperial pilot? The twins taken hostage?

The young Jedi Knights had kept their little project completely secret while they were making repairs to the crashed ship. Jaina had wanted the revamped craft to be a surprise she could show off to the other trainees. But now having kept it a secret was working against them. No one could guess what he was talking about; no one knew about the crash site.

He didn’t know what had happened to Tenel Ka, either. Had she been killed, or had she somehow escaped? Was she even now lost in the jungles by herself, being stalked by predators? He moaned in dismay.

Unable to restrain himself, Lowie rattled off the whole story in loud Wookiee grunts and roars. Everyone around him grew agi tated, unable to decipher a word he was saying. Finally, his frustration got the best of him: Lowie pounded his fists on one of the stone walls and pushed past Tionne and the other Jedi candidates into the cool shadows of the Great Temple.

“Where are you going, Lowbacca?” Tionne called, but he didn’t answer her.

Though Lowie was still tired, the others could not catch up with him. With only the slightest limp, his long, muscular legs carried him down the winding corridors of the ancient stone ruin. Breathless, he reached the room that had been the old command center when the temple served as a Rebel base. Luke Skywalker maintained it to keep contact with the rest of the New Republic.

He knew his uncle Chewbacca was still in the Yavin system, near the orange gas giant where Lando Calrissian had set up his orbiting mining facility for Corusca gems. If only Lowie could get in touch with the Millennium Falcon, speak to his uncle, he could explain everything directly. Chewbacca— along with Jaceh and Jaina’s father, Han Solo—would know just what to do.

With a loud sigh of relief, Lowie sank into a chair in front of a console. The station was filled with the only things in the Jedi academy that seemed familiar to him at this moment: the computers and electronic equipment. He knew exactly how to communicate with them.

Lowbacca worked the controls with speed and determination, tapping his clawed fingers over the appropriate buttons. He had already established an open channel to the Falcon by the time Tionne and the others caught up with him in the Communicatior Center.

Tionne immediately realized what he was doing, and she nodded. “Good idea, Lowbacca!” She waited beside the young Wookiee as a sleepy-sounding Han Solo answer the call.

“Yeah, this is Solo. Who’s calling? Luke? Is this the Jedi academy?” Lowbacca bleated into the microphone pickup, hoping the human pilot would understand him.

Tionne leaned over next to Lowbacca before he could continue and spoke into the voice pickup. “Something has happened here, General Solo. The twins and Tenel have disappeared, and Lowbacca is trying to tell us what happened. But he can’t make us understand him. He’s lost his translator droid.”

With a roar of surprise, Chewbacca came on the line. Excited, Lowie once again explained everything as fast as he could in the Wookiee language. Chewbacca roared back in outrage, and Han broke in.

“Quiet, old buddy, I heard most of that, but a few of the details were sketchy. Something about a crashed TIE fighter and an Imperial soldier taking them hostage?”

Both Wookiees made loud sounds of agreement.

“Okay, sit tight. We’re on our way!” Han said. “We can undock from Lando’s station in just a few seconds. “We were ready to get out of here anyway. The Falcon’ll be there in about two hours—middle of the local morning, I think. Just hold on and get ready to help me fight for the kids!”

Lowie and Chewbacca both bellowed in agreement. Tionne looked at the young Wookiee in amazement. “A TIE fighter! Imperials here? Quick, we must get everyone ready in case they attack.”

With a searing white flicker from its aft sublight engines, the Millennium Falcon cruised through the deep blue atmosphere toward the ancient Massassi structures. Lowie stood in the open landing area in front of the Great Temple, anxious to see his uncle. He waved his shaggy arms for the ship as it approached.

The bright light of morning grew warmer with each passing minute. The two hours it had taken for the Millennium Falcon to leave the Yavin gas giant and approach the jungle moon had seemed the longest of Lowie’s life.

Now he stepped back into the shade of the temple as the Falcon settled to the ground with hissing bursts of its repulsorlift engines. The landing pads settled and stabilized, and then the boarding ramp came down like an opening mouth.

Chewbacca bounded down the ramp, ducking his hairy head to keep from bumping the low ceiling, and headed toward the temple. Lowie ran to meet him halfway, limping slightly. Han Solo charged out and joined them, his blaster already drawn.

“Ready to rescue the kids? Let’s go!” Han said. Tionne and several of the other Jedi candidates hurried out. Han looked around. “Where’s Luke? Isn’t he back yet?”

“Master Skywalker isn’t here,” Tionne said. “We have to defend ourselves.”

“Well take care of it,” Han said. “Lando gave us some extra weapons, and all our laser cannon banks are charged. Lowie, can you show us where they’re being held?”

Lowbacca nodded his shaggy head.

“If there are any more Imperial TIE fighters around,” Han said, “the most important thing you can do is guard the Jedi academy, Tionne. This would be their obvious target. The Empire doesn’t particularly like the New Republic getting another batch of Jedi Knights.”

“We’ll be here to defend the academy, General Solo,” Tionne said. “You find the children.”

“All right, Lowie,” Han said. “Let’s go—no time to waste.”