Lightsabers

16

Rest and safekeeping were all well and good, Jacen thought—but after several days staying at the Reef Fortress with no place to go but to the tiny cove to swim, he began to get restless. Terribly restless.

Tenel Ka, too, was a person of action—Jacen knew that better than anybody. She wanted to be out and around, having adventures, not coddled and sheltered like a pet. The injured warrior girl certainly didn’t want to sit like an old woman, merely watching waves pound against the rocks.

Ta’a Chume had returned to the Fountain Palace to supervise the investigation of the bomb blast, leaving Tenel Ka and the young Jedi Knights under the questionable care of thin-lipped Ambassador Yfra. The ambassador was a hard woman, as if all the muscles in her body were made of durasteel rather than flesh … but then, everyone within the Hapan government lived a harsh life, trusting no one, always struggling for personal gain. Jacen supposed Ambassador Yfra was no worse than anyone else in this society. On the other hand, he could see why Tenel Ka preferred the honest ruggedness of her mother’s world of Dathomir to the hypocritical and often poisonous dealings of Hapan politicians.

He found Tenel Ka outside the towering Reef Fortress standing on an outcropping of black rock. She was throwing stones with her good arm into the swirling pools of water that hissed around the outer reef. Deep in concentration, she took careful aim and was clearly pleased whenever she struck her imagined target. Reluctant to disrupt her reverie, Jacen stood behind her, content just to watch.

Jaina and Lowie, who had followed Jacen out of the fortress, also looked on as Tenel Ka threw stones. All of them seemed to feel the same restlessness—stuck on a minuscule island with no place to go-After a few minutes, the balcony doors above them opened, and a flash of sunlight from polished transparisteel dazzled Jacen. Ambassador Yfra stepped out onto the high balcony, whip-thin, looking like a bird of prey as she scanned the rocks to find them. She waved, catching their attention. “Children, come here please.”

Lowbacca sniffed the salty air and groaned a comment. Em Teedee made an electronic sound of disagreement. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, Master Lowbacca! Whatever makes you think the air has changed for the worse? It still smells every bit as salty and refreshing to me as it has for the past hour.”

Tenel Ka glanced behind her when Em Teedee spoke and looked momentarily startled to find the others watching her. She clambered off the rock outcropping and joined her three friends. “Let us see what the ambassador wants,” she said in a gruff voice, leading the way.

“Maybe it’ll be something fun,” Jacen suggested.

Tenel Ka looked at him with her granite-gray gaze, raising her eyebrows. “Somehow the ideas of Ambassador Yfra and ‘fun’ do not go together in my mind.”

Jacen snickered at that, wondering if Tenel Ka had purposely made a joke. By all outward appearances she had merely stated a fact.

Inside the fortress, the ambassador met them in the warmly lit balcony room with a surprise for them all. “My dears, I think it’s time for you to have a little enjoyment!” she said, smiling with her face, but not with her mind. Jacen could sense it. Although she went through all the correct motions of being friendly and understanding, Jacen could tell that Yfra had no great love for children—or for anyone else who took up so much of her time and interfered with governmental business.

Tenel Ka placed her hand on her hip. “What would you suggest, Ambassador?”

“You children seem so bored,” Yfra said. “I can understand that. Sometimes having no cares or worries is bothersome.” She gave the briefest disapproving frown, then covered it with another false smile. “I’ve taken the liberty of reprogramming one of our wavespeeders so that you can get away for a while, cruise the ocean, and have a good time out in the sun.”

“Are you planning to come along, Ambassador?” Jaina asked.

Yfra made a sour frown, then covered her expression with a cough. “I’m afraid not, young lady. I’ve terribly important work to attend to. My, you can’t imagine the responsibilities I deal with. The Hapes Cluster has sixty-three worlds, with hundreds upon hundreds of different governments and thousands of cultures. Ta’a Chume is a very powerful woman, and we all have so much to do in the absence of Tenel Ka’s parents.” Yfra clasped her clawlike hands together. “You children ought to enjoy your younger years, while people like me take care of the difficult work.”

She shooed them away. “Run along now. Down in the docking bay you’ll find the speeder I programmed. It’s completely safe, I assure you. I’ve input a simple loop course that will take you out beyond the reef into the open ocean and then back here by nightfall. I’ve even seen to it that you have a basket of food, so you can enjoy a meal together while you’re out.” She drew a deep breath and smiled her insincere smile. “I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time.”

Jacen studied the ambassador, trying to determine whether or not to be suspicious. He certainly understood how time-consuming the demands of government could be, since his mother was a Chief of State herself. He also thought of how restless the four companions had been for the past day.

“Blaster bolts! Let’s go out and have a good time,” he said. “It’ll be great to be away from the watching eyes of parents and escorts and ambassadors. I promise you we’re going to have fun.”

Tenel Ka nodded seriously. “This is a fact.” Then she gave him one of the most remarkable gifts Jacen had ever received.

She smiled at him.

The wavespeeder roared across the sea, bouncing and thumping as it crossed the troughs and crests like a wheeled vehicle traveling at high speed across a heavily rutted road. Though the autopilot followed a predetermined course, Jaina and Lowie each took turns at the wheel guiding the rudder, seeing just how far the autopilot would let them deviate from its course. Lowbacca let out a happy-sounding bleat.

Em Teedee said, “Master Lowbacca observes that this vehicle bears some similarity to his own T-23 skyhopper.”

Jaina looked at the ginger-furred Wookiee. “Reminds me more of the controls of the Millennium Falcon. You and I wouldn’t have any problem piloting this thing, Lowie,” she said. Lowbacca rumbled in agreement.

The wavespeeder took them away from the rough foamy waters around the reef, on which the isolated fortress towered like a citadel overlooking the blue-green ocean of Hapes.

Jacen sat back and talked with Tenel Ka as they let themselves be lulled by the reflected sunlight and the hypnotic undulation of the waves. “Hey, Tenel Ka,” he said tentatively. “I’ve got a great joke—listen. Which side of an Ewok has the most fur?”

Tenel Ka looked at him seriously. “I have never considered the question.”

“The outside! Get it?”

“Jacen, why do you so often tell me jokes?” she asked. “I do not believe I ever laugh at them.”

Jacen shrugged. “Hey, I was just trying to cheer you up.”

Tenel Ka threw him an odd glance. “You think I need cheering up?”

When he answered her, Jacen noticed that he had a difficult time keeping his eyes away from the healed pinkish stump of her arm. “Well, you just seemed kind of quiet and serious.”

Tenel Ka raised her eyebrows. “Am I not always quiet and serious?”

Jacen forced a laugh. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Tenel Ka continued, “We have discussed this, Jacen. Please do not assume that I need cheering up, that I am helpless, or that I have somehow turned into a whimpering weakling. I am still a Jedi trainee, and I believe I will still become a Jedi Knight … as soon as I figure out how.”

Jacen reached over tentatively to rest his fingers on her arm and slid them down until she caught his hand in her strong grip.

“If there’s any way I can help you, let me know,” he said.

She gave his hand a brief squeeze. “I will.”

The wavespeeder cruised around a set of sharp rock points that thrust up from the water. The Dragon’s Teeth, Tenel Ka called them. The jagged pinnacles hunched together, and the surging waters spurted between them with a slamming sound, regularly erupting in a geyser of white foam.

The engines roared as the craft turned to skirt the turbulence near the Dragon’s Teeth, then picked up speed again, shooting out toward the open waves. Jaina and Lowie studied the course, each making calculations and trying to guess how far the craft might take them before they circled back.

“It’s about time for lunch,” Jacen said, rummaging through the food baskets and handing out meal packets.

When Lowie roared in agreement, Em Teedee said, “Well, of course, Master Lowbacca—aren’t you always hungry?” The young Wookiee chuffed with laughter, but did not disagree.

The wind from their passage whipped spray in their faces, and the salty-fresh air made Jacen ravenous. He and his friends ate the self-warming meal packs and filled their cups from a thermal beverage container.

Jaina stared through the wavespeeder’s transparisteel windscreen while she munched. She glanced at the course again. “I wonder how far this is going to take us.”

Up ahead Jacen noted that the water seemed to have a different color and consistency … to be more greenish and rough-looking.

Lowie sniffed, sniffed more deeply, then growled a query. Em Teedee answered, “I couldn’t tell you, Master Lowbacca—my scent analyzers can’t seem to match this with the appropriate data to provide a clear answer. Salt, of course, iodine … and some sort of decomposing biological matter, perhaps?”

Jacen caught it too: a sick, sour stench that clogged the air and weighed it down. “Smells like dead fish.”

Tenel Ka narrowed her eyes in concentration. “And rotting seaweed. Something very old is there. Something … not healthy.”

Jaina scanned their course again. “Well, the wavespeeder’s taking us right toward it.”

Before anyone else could speak, they cruised into the strange, gelatinous area. The water was covered with leafy, floating seaweed as dense as jungle undergrowth. Thick, rubbery tentacles with long wet thorns glistened in the water. Huge, scarlet flowers as big as Jacen’s head opened up in the thickest portions of the morass.

Jacen leaned over the edge of the wavespeeder to get a better look. The center of each fleshy-lipped flower held a cluster of moist blue fruits that made the entire blossom look like a wide-open eye. This impression was heightened when the wavespeeder’s passing triggered some sort of reflex and the petals of the floating plants blinked closed like eyelids squeezing shut.

“Weird,” his sister said next to him.

“Interesting,” he replied.

Ahead, the tangled mass of spiny seaweed extended as far as they could see. The wavespeeder continued automatically across the undulating surface of the water, and the foul smell grew stronger. The thick stems and fronds of weed twitched, as if moving by themselves, although Jacen decided it must be caused by swirling currents in the water underneath.

Some of the large eye-flowers rose on their stalks and turned in their direction, as if studying them. Jacen shivered and glanced at Jaina. “Uh, then again … maybe ‘weird’ is a better word for it,” he agreed.

Lowie looked around, moaning uneasily. Jaina met the Wookiee’s gaze and bit her lower lip. “Yeah, I’ve got a bad feeling about where this boat is taking us. I don’t know if I want to go any deeper into this seaweed desert.”

“But we’re stuck with the autopilot, aren’t we?” Jacen said. “If you shut it off, how’ll we get back?”

The young Wookiee barked an answer at the same time as Jaina replied, “Been keeping an eye on the course. Lowie and I could probably find our way back home. Ought to be pretty easy.”

Tenel Ka stood up, scanning the seaweed, as if trying to remember something. “Jaina is right,” she said. “We should return now. To remain here would be unwise.”

Jaina and Lowie took over the controls, throttling back while they disengaged the autopilot. As they eased the craft around to head back out of the seaweed, the engine sputtered to a stop.

Since he loved to investigate strange plants and animals, Jacen took the opportunity to lean over the side of the speeder again. He reached down to touch the rubbery, interesting-looking seaweed.

Suddenly, every red eye-flower swiveled to stare at him.

“Whoa!” Jacen said. He waved his hand experimentally, and the flowers turned, attracted by the motion.

Intrigued, he reached for the closest blossom—and a slick tentacle of seaweed whipped up to wrap around his wrist, capturing him in its barbed embrace.

“Hey!” he shouted. Thorns stung his arm. The seaweed began to pull. “Help!”

He grabbed the railing of the wavespeeder with his free hand to keep from being yanked into the mass of ravenous seaweed. The tentacles thrashed wildly now … hungrily. Other fronds reached up to slap the side of the boat, twining themselves about the rail.

Lowbacca leaped from the nearby pilot station and grabbed his friend’s legs just as the tentacle, redoubling its efforts, gave a sharp jerk and pulled Jacen over the railing. He dangled over the water, struggling to free his arm from the seaweed.

Tenel Ka suddenly appeared beside them. Wrapping her legs around the deck rail, one of her throwing knives gripped tightly in her hand, she bent to slash at the tentacle that grasped Jacen’s arm. The seaweed cut free with a snap, and in the recoil Lowbacca managed to yank Jacen back onto the deck.

“Blaster bolts!” Jacen cried, wiping blood from the oozing wounds on his hand. “That was close.”

But it was just the beginning. With dread, he looked at the water all around them. The seaweed roiled angrily in every direction, as far as the eye could see. Large fronds thrashed into the air, grabbing the deck rails, as if intending to heave the wavespeeder down. The monster had tasted Jacen’s blood, and now it had decided that Jedi Knights were exactly what it wanted for lunch.

Another writhing tentacle rose above the boat’s side, searching for a target to skewer with its thorns. Tenel Ka leaped in front of the deadly frond, wielding her throwing dagger. She stabbed into the thick stem of seaweed, and a syrupy green ooze gushed out.

The seaweed recoiled, then lashed back, slapping Tenel Ka across the side of the head. A trickle of blood traced a scarlet line down her cheek. Rather than cry out in pain, Tenel Ka chose to respond with her knife, slashing through the coiled weed—and another fat tentacle thumped to the deck.

Jacen shook his injured arm to restore the feeling then grasped the lightsaber clipped at his side. He had not used it in some time, but there was no room for hesitation now—not if he ever intended to be a Jedi Knight … not if any of them wanted to get out of this mess alive. He flicked on the emerald-green blade. “I’m not letting some weed get the best of me!” he said.

The humming weapon sliced off one of the large tentacles twined around the rail. “Take that,” Jacen said. Gray fumes burned his eyes as the chunk of severed seaweed fell away.

Out in the water the tentacles thrashed. Now they seemed to be in pain. The scarlet eye-flowers blinked and gyrated furiously. The smell of seared vegetables and saltwater filled the air.

“I’m getting us out of here,” Jaina called from the controls, restarting the engines. But grasping tentacles held them in place, and the wavespeeder could not break loose.

Roaring, Lowbacca ignited his own blazing lightsaber and held it with both hands, a glowing bludgeon of molten-bronze light.

Larger stems rose now from the deeper water, each with a pair of serrated shells on the end, like vicious pincers ready to tear apart prey. The tentacles writhed and clacked their sharp edges together, looking for something to bite into.

Jaina pushed hard on the controls. The wavespeeder’s engines whined as it strained against the grasping tentacles.

Lowie raced to the rail. Bellowing a warning, he swept down with his lightsaber blade again and again, slicing through the seaweed that still held their craft.

“Oh, do be careful, Master Lowbacca—here comes another one!”

Grunting a reply, Lowie slashed at the tentacle, and the little translating droid said, “Excellently done, Master Lowbacca! And it’s quite a comfort to hear you would rather I didn’t wind up as an appetizer for a mass of salivating seaweed.”

Tenel Ka turned to fend off an attack from one of the sharp-shelled tentacles. She slashed with her knife, but one of the clamshell pincers clenched the point of her dagger with a loud click. The razor-edged shells clacked again, pushing to reach closer to her face.

Then Jacen was there, chopping the tentacle away with his brilliant green energy blade. He flashed Tenel Ka a roguish grin. “Just wanted to keep the score even!”

“My thanks, Jacen,” she said.

Lowie hacked with his blade, severing the last of the seaweed tentacles holding the boat. The wave-speeder broke loose and lurched away while thorny fronds writhed and lashed out, struggling to recapture their prize.

As quickly as she could, Jaina pushed the wave-speeder to its highest velocity, roaring over the twisted weed. The malevolent eye-flowers stared at them. Other thrashing tentacles rose up, but the seaweed seemed unable to respond fast enough.

Jacen gripped his emerald-bladed lightsaber, ready. This thing was more than a plant. It was … something sentient, something that could respond. He used the Force, hoping to calm it, make it leave them alone. “I can’t find its brain,” he said. “It seems to be all reflexes. All I can sense is that it’s hungry, hungry.”

“Yeah, well it’s going to stay hungry a while longer,” Jaina said.

“Yes, indeed! I agree wholeheartedly,” Em Teedee answered.

Moments later they were out into open water again. Jaina and Lowie plotted their new course, made the appropriate calculations, and manually set the wavespeeder’s direction to take them back to the Reef Fortress.

Glancing over at Tenel Ka to make sure she wasn’t hurt, Jacen was surprised to see her wearing a calm and satisfied expression as she slid her throwing dagger back into its sheath at her waist. She seemed more alive and confident now than he had seen her at any time since their fateful lightsaber duel on Yavin 4.

“We are fine warriors,” Tenel Ka said. “There is nothing like a physical challenge to make the day more relaxing.”

Lowbacca gave a low grunt. Em Teedee bleeped, but refrained from articulating a comment. Jaina looked at Tenel Ka in surprise, but Jacen laughed. “Yeah, we are quite a team, aren’t we? Real young Jedi Knights.”

Tenel Ka helped Jacen bind up the minor wounds on his arm, and he applied some salve from the wavespeeder’s emergency medkit to the stinging cut on her cheek. “I do not believe Ambassador Yfra had this in mind when she sent us out for a day of recreation,” she said, “but I found it enjoyable nevertheless.”

Lowbacca growled and pointed toward the navigation console. “Oh, dear! Master Lowbacca suggests that it might, perhaps, be premature to feel safe and comfortable quite yet,” Em Teedee translated. “You see, he hypothesizes that this wavespeeder was purposely sabotaged.”

“What do you mean?” Jacen asked. “Those numbers don’t mean anything to me.”

“I think he means this.” Jaina nodded down at the console, indicating the preprogrammed course coordinates. “The autopilot was set to take us into the middle of that killer seaweed—with no return course!”