Heirs of the Force

19

In the darkness of the jungle night, Tenel Ka plunged through tangled vines and dense, thorny thickets, hoping that the flying reptiles would not be able to follow. She panted from the exertion; breath burned in her lungs, but she did not cry out.

She could still hear the flap of the reptiles’ wide, leathery wings close behind her as they swooped in for the kill with their razor talons. The raucous cries of their hideous twin heads chilled her blood. She remembered hearing that such a beast had almost killed Master Skywalker many years ago. How did the monsters manage to maneuver in the crowded jungle? she wondered. Why couldn’t she lose them?

The bushes beside her hissed and rattled, and a stinger tail narrowly missed her arm. One of the winged monsters was directly above her, then. What could she do?

She pushed through a narrower space between two trees and heard a thump above her as the flying creature got stuck in the opening between the trees. Good, she thought. The rest would have to go around. That would buy her some time.

Tenel Ka pelted across a clearing toward the shadow of what she hoped was another patch of underbrush, but she had misjudged the speed with which the reptilian creatures could navigate the jungle obstacles. She could feel the menacing wind from their wings as one of them swooped down directly in her path.

She sensed, rather than saw, the outstretched claws, and tried to turn aside, but slipped on rotting vegetation and fell hard against a fungus-covered log. She sensed a second pair of claws rip through the air where her stomach had been only moments before. She shuddered as twin heads cried out in rage and frustration above her, tearing at thick, tangled twigs in the brush.

Why couldn’t she remember her Jedi calming techniques when she needed them? Why hadn’t she practiced harder? She closed her eyes, sensed, and rolled to one side as the flying monster drove down for another attack.

The sound of dozens of wings overhead prodded her back into motion. She rolled onto her bare hands and knees, scrambled through some low thornbushes, pushed herself to her feet, and kept running.

Sense, she told herself. Use the Force.

Suddenly, she changed direction, as if by reflex. She didn’t quite know why she had, for she couldn’t see where she was going in the thick night, but she knew she was right. Over and over, she dodged grasping talons and the thrust of stinging tails, until she came to a thick stand of Massassi trees. At her noisy approach, a chorus of squawks and scolding chitters erupted from the trees ahead.

Woolamanders—an entire pack, from the sound of them. She had probably disturbed their communal sleep. Perhaps they would be sufficient distraction.

Tenel Ka crouched low and dove into the shelter of the close-growing trees. Surprisingly, not one of the winged monsters followed. Instead, she heard their cries as they circled above and, deprived of their initial prey, hunted the woolamanders instead. The flying creatures screamed their blood lust, and the voices of the terrified woolamanders became fierce and defiant as the battle raged in the branches far overhead.

Sweat, twigs, leaves, and dirt clung to Tenel Ka’s red-gold hair. She shook her head to clear it. She was almost certain that through the racket, she had somehow heard a faint, familiar voice.

“Oh please, do be careful. My circuitry is extremely complex and should not under any circumstances be—” The voice cut off a moment later with a tiny wail. Then there was a thud as something hard landed beside Tenel Ka’s foot.

“Em Teedee, is that you?” she said. She groped around on the ground and picked up the rounded metallic form.

“Oh, Mistress Tenel Ka, it is you!” the little droid cried. “I shall be eternally grateful to you for this rescue. Why, you have no idea the ordeal I’ve been through,” he moaned. “The poking, the prodding, the shaking, the tossing. And such a dreadful—”

“My night has been no more enjoyable than yours,” Tenel Ka interrupted drily.

“Listen!” Em Teedee said. “Oh, thank goodness! Those dreadful creatures are leaving.”

Tenel Ka didn’t know whether Em Teedee was referring to the woolamanders or the giant flying reptiles, but she realized that the sounds of the overhead battle were moving farther and farther away through the canopy.

“We must make our escape immediately, Mistress Tenel Ka.”

“We can’t. We’ll have to wait until morning. Can you keep a watch out tonight while I sleep?”

“I’d be delighted to keep a watch for you, Mistress, but must we spend the night here?”

“Yes, we must,” Tenel Ka snapped, defensive now that the worst danger was over. “I need to wait until daylight so I can climb a tree and find out where we are.”

“Oh,” said Em Teedee. “But whyever should you want to do something like that?”

Tenel Ka growled, “Because we’re lost in the jungle. This is a fact.”

“Oh, dear—is that all that’s bothering you?” Em Teedee said. “Why didn’t you say so? After all, I am fluent in six forms of communication and I am equipped with all manner of sensors: photo-optical, olfactory, directional, auditory—”

“Directional?” Tenel Ka broke in. “You mean you know where we are?”

“Oh, most assuredly, Mistress Tenel Ka. Didn’t I just say so?”

She groaned and shook her head. “All right, Em Teedee, let’s go. Lead on.”

Tenel Ka’s spirits were brighter than the twin beams that shone from Em Teedee’s eyes and lit her way along the forest floor. As annoying as the little droid could be, she was glad of his company. Em Teedee seemed genuinely interested in hearing all that had happened to her since the TIE fighter pilot had tried to capture them that afternoon. In turn, she found herself enjoying his descriptions of the T-23 crash and his adventures with the woolamanders. She wondered what had happened to Lowbacca, and to the twins.

They stopped only a few times, so that she could drink or check the dressing on her minor wounds. Using rudimentary first-aid supplies she kept in her belt, she had bound up the claw scratches on her arm and the gash on her leg. The wounds throbbed and burned, but did not slow her down. She jogged much of the way, and kept to a fast-paced march even when she needed to rest.

The distant white sun of the Yavin system was bright in the morning sky when Tenel Ka and Em Teedee finally broke through the last stand of trees into the cleared landing area. The sun-warmed stone of the Great Temple glowed like a welcome beacon in the distance.

“Oh, we made it!” Em Teedee said joyfully. Tenel Ka looked around and saw in the center of the clearing a ship that she recognized well: the Millennium Falcon.

Running toward the modified light freighter at full speed were two Wookiees, one large and one smaller, and Jacen and Jaina’s father, Han Solo. She guessed immediately what mission they were on and changed her course toward the Falcon, waving and shouting as she ran.

Overhead, she heard the bone-chilling howl of a fast-approaching TIE fighter. She put on another burst of speed toward the ship.

But Solo and the Wookiees did not see her. In their hurry to rescue Jacen and Jaina, the three scrambled up the ramp of the Falcon. They must have kept the engines idling to keep them warm, she figured, for she could hear their whine.

Tenel Ka wanted to help rescue the twins; she couldn’t let them down again. “Call them, Em Teedee,” she said, pouring on a last burst of speed, though her legs already trembled with exhaustion.

Em Teedee mused, “Am I to take it that you wish to communicate with them?”

“This is a fact.”

“Certainly, Mistress. I would be delighted, but what shall—”

“Just do it!” She gritted her teeth and sprinted as fast as she could.

Suddenly Em Teedee’s voice boomed at top volume through the clearing. “Attention, Millennium Falcon. Please delay departure momentarily to take on two additional passengers.”

Tenel Ka didn’t even mind the ringing in her ears when she saw the ramp of the Millennium Falcon lower. At full tilt, she ran up the ramp.

“Okay,” she gasped, collapsing to the floor in the crew compartment. “Let’s go!”

Han Solo and the two Wookiees looked at her in amazement for an instant, but no one needed any further urging. Even as she spoke, the hatches sealed, and with a surge of defiance the Millennium Falcon took off.