Jedi Bounty

9

Struggling in Hovrak’s grip, his wrists tied behind him, Jacen cast about in his mind for some way of using his Jedi abilities to free himself. The wolfman’s claws dug through the sleeve of his flightsuit piercing his skin and drawing a few sticky droplets of blood. Jacen barely felt the pain, though.

He looked over at his sister, then at Tenel Ka, to reassure himself that they were all right. The warrior girl showed no sign of agitation, but when her granite-gray eyes flicked toward him, he saw grave concern. He drew a deep breath and called on the Force for the calm courage he needed, to keep up a good face for her.

The Diversity Alliance attackers didn’t deserve the satisfaction of seeing their fear.

The other young Jedi Knights remained silent as Hovrak and the guards marched them through an endless maze of corridors until they finally emerged into Nolaa Tarkona’s throne room grotto.

The Twi’lek woman sat stately in her stone chair on the dais, leaning forward. Her glittering pink eyes intent, she watched them with barely disguised loathing.

Jacen stared back at the scarred leader of the Diversity Alliance. Her skin was pale and cadaverous, and the masculine uniform and padded body armor Nolaa wore beneath her flowing black robe hid any feminine curves she might possess. Even so, she radiated power as she watched the young human captives.

“Ah, a gift for me,” Nolaa Tarkona said. “Or perhaps a snack for Hovrak.”

Hovrak’s hot breath blew down Jacen’s neck.

“We’re not a gift for anyone,” Jaina snapped. “Or a snack.”

Nolaa’s tattooed head-tail twitched. She displayed a set of perfectly pointed teeth. “You are trespassers—intruders, spies. Worst of all, you are human.” She spat the word and scowled with distaste. “Humans have always tried to destroy what alien species have built. This is my private sanctuary, a place of freedom for all species. Still you have crept in and contaminated this place with your presence. You were caught near the computer center, no doubt attempting sabotage.”

“No way!” Jacen said. “We only wanted to see our friend Lowbacca.”

He struggled in Hovrak’s grip and looked over at Raaba, pointing at her with his elbow. “Raaba knows. We’re friends of Lowie’s. We just need to talk to him.”

The chocolate-furred Wookiee woman took this as her cue to march toward Nolaa Tarkona with the three lightsabers the soldiers had confiscated, as well as the silver translating droid, which had been powered down for storage.

Nolaa looked at the Jedi weapons and then up at Raaba. “You know these humans? How so?”

Raaba averted her eyes, flashed a venomous look at Jacen for having embarrassed her, then growled an answer. Even with Em Teedee switched off, Jacen could understand many of her words. Raaba explained that these were Jedi trainees from Master Skywalker’s academy on Yavin 4. They were former companions of Lowbacca’s, but now that Lowie was with the Diversity Alliance, Raaba was certain he knew who his true friends were.

“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said. “And we’re his true friends. For this we do not need to tell him lies, as you do.”

Hovrak lashed out to cuff Tenel Ka, backhanding her with a hairy paw.

She reeled at the blow, but did not cry out in pain.

Jacen struggled backward, hoping to kick Hovrak, but to no avail.

Then he calmed himself. He was a Jedi, he reminded himself. He would use the Jedi way. Letting his eyes fall half shut, he reached out with the Force and detached all fourteen of the glittering medals Hovrak so proudly displayed on his precious uniform.

To the wolfman’s surprise, the emblems sprang away from his shirt to scatter jingling on the floor. The Adjutant Advisor roared and bent down to grab the medals, but they leapt from his hands and fell tinkling to the rock floor again.

“They must die,” he said, glaring at the companions.

“Eat them,” the Trandoshan heartily agreed. “Kill humans.”

Standing beside Nolaa Tarkona, though, Raaba glanced sidelong at the young Jedi Knights. She seemed uneasy, and Jacen wondered if perhaps the Wookiee woman felt guilty about what she had done.

Raaba took a step closer to Nolaa’s stone chair.

In a low voice, she argued against the Adjutant Advisor’s brutal suggestion, insisting that the young Jedi Knights were too important to be killed. Their deaths could cause significant problems for the Diversity Alliance … but if the need arose, they could fetch a fine ransom or be used as hostages. The Solo twins were the children of the New Republic’s Chief of State. The warrior girl was a princess of the powerful Hapes Cluster.

Raaba hesitated, then looked at young Raynar as a growl built in her throat. Her words to Nolaa were so husky and quiet that Jacen had to strain to hear them. And this young man, she told her leader, was the son of Bornan Thul.

The Twi’lek woman’s face lit up with delight.

“Bornan Thul is your father?” She ran her tongue along the sharpened points of her teeth.

Raynar flinched and took a step back.

“You’ll never find him,” he said. “Whatever it is you want from my father, you won’t get it.”

“Perhaps we won’t need to find him, if we’ve found you,” Nolaa said, favoring him with her broadest smile. “And children of the Chief of State, daughter of the House of Hapes—you may serve us well indeed when the Diversity Alliance launches its all-out war against humanity.”

Nolaa’s dark robes flowed around her, obscuring her padded armor, as she stood up. Her tattooed head-tail twitched, and all of the Diversity Alliance soldiers came to attention, sensing their leader’s agitation.

Hovrak still scrambled around on the stone floor, picking up his scattered medals, growling in frustration. He hadn’t quite comprehended yet that Jacen was the cause of his embarrassing clumsiness.

Standing calm and motionless, Jacen fixed his attention on the three deactivated lightsabers lying unattended on the dais. He focused his mind on his own weapon, then on Jaina’s, then on Tenel Ka’s. He knew how they worked, knew how to manipulate them.

Nolaa Tarkona clenched her clawed hands at her sides. Her eyes were like two bright lasers.

Her head-tail twitched.

Her feet were very near the lightsaber handles.

Jacen reached out with his mind … and with a push he pressed all three power studs. An emerald-green blade, an electric-violet one, and then a turquoise one sprang out like spears toward Nolaa Tarkona’s feet.

She reacted with astonishing speed, leaping back. The lightsabers writhed as if they were alive, or possessed. The handles vibrated with power, but so far only the hem of Nolaa’s black robe was slashed and singed.

The guards bellowed at each other, causing an uproar. The Gamorreans appeared confused by this new development. Hovrak bounced to his feet, dropping all of his medals again.

“Jedi powers,” Nolaa said. “They’re using Force tricks!”

The Trandoshan hammered Jaina to her knees. One of the Abyssin knocked Tenel Ka aside.

Raynar shouted, “Leave them alone!”

Raaba hurried forward and carefully but frantically tried to grab the handles of the lightsabers to protect Nolaa Tarkona. One of the guards hurried forward, afraid of the Jedi blades, but knowing he had to do something.

“Kill the human Jedi,” Hovrak snarled. “All of them. It is the only way to prevent such incidents.”

The alien guards brought up their blasters, targeting the young captives. The Diversity Alliance soldiers were clearly ready to follow the Adjutant Advisor’s orders without question.

Jacen stepped forward. “No, wait! We surrender.”

He used the Force again, struggling hard to maintain sufficient concentration—and switched all the lightsabers back off.

The guards looked down at the three handles as if they were Unpredictable poisonous snakes.

Raaba reached forward and gathered them up with a growl.

“Do not kill the humans yet,” Nolaa Tarkona said, breathing heavily to control her anger. “These four are too valuable, and we must plan accordingly.” She fixed them each with an ice-pick stare. “However, I think it would be best if they were to disappear for now.”

“Wait. Please let us talk to Lowie first,” Jacen said. “Just for a few minutes.”

Nolaa pursed her lips in mock regret. “Sadly, Lowbacca must never know of your presence here,” she said. Raaba crossed her arms firmly over her chest and nodded vigorously. She seemed to understand that her present tenuous friendship with Lowie would be damaged if he knew his human friends had come to rescue him-and that Raaba had prevented them from seeing him.

“Lowbacca remains with us,” Nolaa said. “And you, too, will serve the Diversity Alliance. After all the pain and loss humans have visited upon alien species, it is only fitting that you now work to profit the Diversity Alliance. Consider it a form of atonement.” She gestured toward one of the side corridors. “Take them down with the other slaves. They will work in the ryll caverns until we decide how best to use them … or until the work itself kills them.”

The young Jedi Knights struggled as the guards dragged them away from the throne room, but Jacen knew there would be no escape from the spice mines of Ryloth.