Lightsabers

20

Jaina looked around the dim room where they had barricaded themselves, desperate to find some means of escape. With the hammering of assassins outside the door growing louder and louder, she found it hard to think. Pale moonlight streamed through the window from a deceptively calm sky, bleaching all colors in the room to black and white and gray.

“We have to get out of here somehow,” Jaina said.

Tenel Ka nodded grimly. “This is a fact.”

Jacen turned to the matriarch. “Hey, if you know of any secret passages that lead out of here, now might be the time to tell us.”

“There are none,” Ta’a Chume said. “This tower room was designed as a protected chamber, with no secret ways for an assassin to gain entrance. Reef Fortress itself was built to be impregnable.”

Jaina snorted. “Maybe you’d better fire your architect.”

Tenel Ka felt at her utility belt and removed her grappling hook and the strong fibercord. “I see no better way. We must escape by the same route those creatures used to break into the fortress. Not only must we flee the fortress, we must flee the reef island itself.”

“Where can we go, Tenel Ka?” Jacen said. “We’re stranded.”

“I get it!” Jaina cried, seeing what her friend intended. “We take one of the fast wavespeeders and zoom out across the ocean. It’s our best chance.”

The stern matriarch went to the window and gazed at the sheer drop. “You mean climb down?”

“Yes, Grandmother,” Tenel Ka said, setting the grappling hook firmly against the stone of the windowsill. “Unless you’d prefer using your diplomatic skills to negotiate a settlement with the Bartokks.”

The matriarch’s sharp eyes flashed with determination. “I’ve never allowed anyone but myself to control my fate—so I suppose falling to my death while escaping would be preferable to waiting around to be killed by giant insects in my own bedchamber. It’s agreed, then. We’ll try the climb, as you suggest.”

Tenel Ka shook her head. “No, we shall do the climb. There is no try.”

Jaina tugged on the cord. The grappling hook did not budge. “All right, let’s get out of here.”

Lowbacca blatted a comment and Em Teedee said, “Oh, dear—must I?” At the Wookiee’s growled response, the little droid heaved an electronic sigh. “Master Lowbacca believes he would be the most sensible choice to go first—and unfortunately I’m forced to admit that he is correct. Firstly, because he is an experienced climber, and secondly because he is strong and will be able to hold the rope steady for the rest of you once he reaches the bottom.”

“Can’t argue with your logic,” Jaina agreed. “Go ahead.”

While Em Teedee twittered about the impending danger, Lowie swung himself over the sill and supported his full weight on the glistening fibercord. Then, using his long arms, he lowered himself hand-over-hand down the vertical stone wall. Em Teedee’s pitiful moans grew more and more faint until finally Lowie touched down on the rocks below, stood away from the wall, and gave the rope a yank.

“Good,” Tenel Ka said.

Persistence finally paid off for the Bartokks, who had continued their relentless battering at the armored door. One of the hinges groaned and popped out of the wall. With a loud creak, a corner of the door bent inward. Chittering insect assassins thrust their sharp scythe claws through the gap.

“No more time,” Tenel Ka said to the twins. “You two go now. The rope will hold both of you.”

“We’d better be careful,” Jacen said. The door rattled in its frame and the metal screeched, caving in further.

“Guess we can’t afford that luxury,” Jaina said in a terse voice. “What are we waiting for?” She slipped over the sill, grabbing the fibercord, and began rappelling down the slick dark stones.

Jacen came after her. The rope was thin, and the descent treacherous, but they used their Jedi skills to keep their balance and make themselves lighter. At the bottom Lowbacca stood with his feet planted far apart on the rocky reef, holding the rope.

“Excellent climbing, Master Jacen, Mistress Jaina,” Em Teedee encouraged. “You’re almost here—you can make it!”

Even before they reached bottom, Jaina looked up to see Tenel Ka and her grandmother easing over the sill. The matriarch, unable to grasp the slender cord tightly enough in her old hands, steadied herself with an arm around Tenel Ka’s waist. The young warrior girl had looped the rope once around her arm to allow herself more friction to control their descent.

With a firm hold on the fibercord, she slowly leaned backward, letting the strand slip through her fingers as her feet pressed against the outer wall of the fortress. The dangerous climb may have been more difficult and awkward with her handicap, but Tenel Ka did not seem the least bit hesitant. Despite her usual reluctance to use the Force, she took advantage of it this time without reservation.

“Come on, Tenel Ka!” Jacen called.

Before the girl and her grandmother had gotten more than halfway down the rope, though, a loud crash sounded from above. Suddenly swarms of multilegged figures surged to the open window, squealing their triumph.

Jaina heard Tenel Ka shout, “Hold on!” as she doubled her speed, sliding down the cord so quickly that Jaina was sure she would get a rope burn on her hand and arm.

The Bartokks grabbed the fibercord and sawed at it with their serrated scythe arms.

Tenel Ka slipped down faster, faster.

Suddenly the strand parted. The insectoid assassins above gave a triumphant chitter.

Lowbacca roared and with lightning-fast reflexes dropped the end of the severed rope, held out his arms, and caught the old matriarch as she plunged. Using the Force to control her own fall, Tenel Ka landed heavily on her feet, but without injury.

“Good one, Tenel Ka,” Jacen cried. “We made it!”

“Not quite yet,” Jaina said, pointing upward. The remaining black Bartokk assassins started to boil through the upper window, crawling headfirst down the vertical stone block.

“We must hurry,” Tenel Ka said, pointing toward the grotto. “To the wavespeeders.”

At the far edge of the reef, Jaina saw the sharp-edged assault boat from the Bartokk hive near the smoldering wreck of the shield-generator station. For a moment she contemplated taking that craft instead—but when she noticed the knobby, alien controls designed for simultaneous use by four claws, she couldn’t be sure she or Lowie could pilot such a ship. Their best chance would be to grab one of the smaller wavespeeders.

Ducking under the moss-edged rock of the entrance, they ran into the sea cave. A wavespeeder, tied to the dock closest the entrance, bobbed gently on the water of the grotto.

“Everybody in,” Jaina said. “Lowie and I can handle this. Let’s just hope its top speed is better than what that assassin craft can manage.”

“And that Ambassador Yfra hasn’t sabotaged it!” Jacen muttered.

Lowbacca bellowed his agreement. Still dazed after her fall, the grim matriarch shook herself and climbed aboard as Jacen and Jaina hopped over the rail, followed by Tenel Ka.

With a roar, the repulsorlift engines raised the wavespeeder up off the calm waters inside the sheltered cave. Before Tenel Ka had managed to seat herself, Jaina pulled the boat away from the dock, whipped it around, and accelerated through the cave entrance, churning the water into froth beneath them. The wavespeeder shot away from the darkened, overrun Reef Fortress.

Lowbacca, sitting in the navigator’s chair, turned his shaggy head to gaze back at the tall citadel with his dark-adapted Wookiee eyes. He growled, stretching out a hairy arm. Jaina risked a glance and saw the insectoid murderers swarming down the tower wall toward their assault craft.

“Better get our head start while we can,” Jaina said grimly. She pushed hard against the accelerators, although they were already traveling at maximum speed. The small boat sped out to where the sea grew choppier.

Moments later an ear-splitting mechanical roar erupted behind them. Jacen shouted, and Jaina glanced back to see the Bartokk assault craft pull away from the reef, infested with black insect assassins.

The assault craft’s engine thundered like a Star Destroyer in pursuit. “They must have come in using stealth silencers on their engines,” Jaina said. “They’re at full power now, though—no need to keep quiet.” She watched the tactical panel in front of her and swallowed a lump in her throat.

Lowie growled. “Master Lowbacca estimates that they will overtake us within minutes,” Em Teedee wailed. “What are we to do?”

The ocean was lit only by the twin moons high overhead in the midnight sky. Jaina saw froth ahead as the water surged around a rocky obstacle jutting from the sea—the Dragon’s Teeth. “We’ll go there,” she said, “and try to cause some trouble as they dodge around the rocks. We’re smaller, more maneuverable.”

“I doubt they’ll give up because of a navigation hazard,” Jacen said.

“No,” Jaina replied, “but we can hope they crash.”

The pointed rocks thrust out of the water like jagged spires. Waves crashed against their faces, running like saliva drooling from a krayt dragon’s mouth, and rippled around the submerged reefs at the base of the Teeth. The Bartokk assault craft screamed after them.

“Watch the waves—and count,” Tenel Ka said, pointing as a plume of white water jetted up between the two sharp rocks. Five seconds later another plume spurted up just as high. “Timing could be our advantage.”

Jaina nodded. “I see what you mean. Lowie, I’ll need your help on the controls.” They slowed just enough to let the assault craft approach them as they headed toward the narrow gap between the treacherous rock spires.

“It’s going to be close, Jaina,” Jacen said.

“Don’t I know it,” she agreed. “Okay, punch it, Lowie.”

The Wookiee hit the accelerators full force just as the Bartokk assault craft nearly rammed them from behind. The insect assassins waved their clacking arms. One fired a deck-mounted cannon, and the blaster bolt struck the waves, creating a geyser of steam just beside their wavespeeder.

“Whoa,” Jaina said as Lowie yowled. “Didn’t expect that.”

Unconsciously ducking her head as they streaked between the black rocks, she canted the wavespeeder to fit through the narrow gap. The hiss of their passage boomed and echoed, and a fine cold spray splashed them all.

The assault craft charged in behind them. Jaina didn’t think the assassins could possibly fit through the narrow opening, but the ship slid into the gap with only a few centimeters of play on either side.

The ocean roiled just as the assault craft spat from the narrow cleft between the rocks. A jet of water rocketed through the gap, shooting out a high-powered plume that catapulted the Bartokk assault craft into the air and spun it end-over-end.

Three assassins toppled overboard and vanished into the churning seas before the assault craft righted itself and crashed back onto the water. The Bartokk pilot wrestled with the controls as Jaina streaked onward at top speed, stretching the gap between them.

Before long, though, the assault craft was hot on their tail again.

Sitting in back, Ta’a Chume recovered enough to reach inside her plush robes and withdraw a tiny holdout blaster. “For what it’s worth,” the matriarch said, “I’ll use this—but it’s designed for only two shots.”

“What good is a blaster that only has two shots?” Jacen asked.

“The first shot is for an attacker,” Tenel Ka’s grandmother answered. “The second shot … well, sometimes it is preferable not to be taken alive.”

Jaina gulped and continued to guide the wavespeeder away from the reef. Waves crashed against the front of their craft, but she couldn’t gain any more height from their repulsorlifts. Fortunately, the Bartokk assault craft had sustained some damage in its passage through the Dragon’s Teeth, and now the pilot of the impaired vessel had no choice but to hang back.

Pushing the wavespeeder to its redlines, Jaina maintained their lead—but just barely. Another hour went by as they sped over the dark wavetops under the pale light of the moons. The assault craft edged closer and closer.

“Is there any way to get back to civilization, get some help?” Jacen asked.

“Our fortress is extremely isolated—theoretically for our protection—and this wavespeeder travels much too slowly,” the old matriarch said. “It would take us many hours to get back. I fear the Bartokks will have taken care of us before then.”

“Not if I can help it,” Jaina said, gritting her teeth as she diverted them toward a pale patch of water ahead, a wasteland covered with a rough, flattened texture and exuding a spoiled fishy smell. She realized full well where they were going. The coordinates had been familiar, and now she hoped to use her knowledge to their advantage.

Lowbacca, guessing her intention, let out a questioning whine.

“I know what I’m doing, Lowie,” Jaina said.

Jacen must have smelled the same thing. He leaned toward his sister in alarm. “You’re not actually going into that seaweed field, are you?”

Jaina shrugged. “They’d be crazy to follow us, wouldn’t they?”

“The Bartokk assassin hive will follow us to the ends of the planet,” Tenel Ka said. “They have no concern for their own danger.”

“Good,” Jaina said, “then maybe they’ll get sloppy.”

Suddenly the sound of the engines grew muted as they streaked over the writhing forest of carnivorous seaweed. Just below the hull of their wavespeeder, the weed thrashed in agitation. Clusters of red eye-flowers rose up, keeping a vigilant watch for new prey even in deepest night. The seaweed flickered and snapped, as if it remembered its near miss with the group of young Jedi only days before.

“I sure hope this thing is still hungry,” Jacen said. “How about we give it some plant food?”

“As long as it’s not us,” Jaina responded.

The Bartokk assassins paid no heed to how the sea had changed, intent only on closing the gap between them and their prey.

The matriarch stood at the rear of the wavespeeder, holding her small blaster. “Two shots,” she said, pointing her weapon at the approaching boat.

“Target their repulsorpods,” Jaina shouted. “That’s the only weak spot on a big assault craft like that.”

The wavespeeder jostled, but the matriarch took careful aim and fired a high-powered blaster bolt. The streak of energy skimmed the bottom of the pursuing assault craft, leaving the repulsorpod undamaged. The shot reflected off the Bartokks’ metal hull and sizzled into the churning seaweed creature.

“No damage,” the matriarch said. “One chance left.”

“Your shot was not wasted,” Tenel Ka said. “Observe the plant.”

The seaweed now seemed fully awake and angry. Its spined tentacles thrashed in the air and slapped at the craft roaring over its fronds.

The Bartokk assassins approached the wavespeeder, apparently unconcerned that one of their intended victims had just used a blaster. The Bartokk craft fired a return shot with one of its laser cannons, but Jaina, sensing the impending bolt through the Force, rocked the wavespeeder to the left. The blast struck the seaweed again, eliciting a hissing, low-frequency roar from the plant monster.

Ta’a Chume stood again, raised her tiny blaster, and aimed a second and last time.

“May the Force be with you,” Tenel Ka murmured.

The matriarch took her final shot. This time the energy bolt struck one of the Bartokk repulsorpods squarely. Though the tiny weapon was not powerful enough to cause great damage, it was enough to throw the pursuing assault craft into a spin.

The stern of the assassins’ boat rose up and, as the Bartokk insects scrambled for control, the bow plunged, grazing the ravenous seaweed. Before the pilot could regain stability, a dozen spiked tentacles whipped up to wrap themselves around the rails, snatching at the hull, the repulsorpods, the laser-cannon emplacements. The insect assassins cluttered, more in anger than fear, because the hive mind couldn’t comprehend its impending death.

Within moments, however, Bartokk assassin legs were flailing as spiked weed tentacles plucked the insects from their stations at the side of the boat and dragged them thrashing beneath the foaming waves. Soon the seaweed had engulfed the entire sharp-edged craft, dragging it under the roiling water.

Pincer-ended tentacles clamped down on hard chitinous shells, and Jaina heard muffled crunching sounds as the seaweed monster snapped exoskeletons apart to reach the tender parts inside. She stared at the water in horrified fascination.

“I think maybe this is our cue to leave,” Jacen pointed out, giving his sister a nudge. Lowie roared his agreement.

Bloodred eye-flowers blinked hungrily up at them.

“Okay, what are we waiting for?”

Lowie revved the engines and then accelerated as Jaina guided the wavespeeder back out of the deadly tangle of seaweed.

Ta’a Chume made her way to the front of the wavespeeder. “I can pilot us to safety from here,” she said. Jaina gladly relinquished the controls as the former queen headed the craft toward the mainland.

“An excellent shot, Grandmother,” Tenel Ka said.

The matriarch nodded and looked with renewed admiration at her granddaughter. “So much for diplomacy.”

Some five hours later, the entire bedraggled crew finally hauled themselves into the Fountain Palace.

Ta’a Chume was outraged to find that Ambassador Yfra had already assumed control. Declaring martial law, the ambassador had announced that there would be several hours of mourning over the untimely death of the dear, departed matriarch.

Tenel Ka marched beside her grandmother into the central throne room amidst gasps of horror, delight, and surprise from the guards. The most appalled expression, however, showed on the hardened face of Ambassador Yfra herself.

“Ta’a Chume!” she cried, standing up and trying unsuccessfully to hide the brief storm of anger that clouded her eyes. “You’re—you’re alive. But how—?”

“Your plot failed, Yfra. Guards, arrest this traitor!”

“On what charge?” Ambassador Yfra said in a reasonable tone, her confidence not yet shaken.

“Plotting to kill the entire royal household. I am only happy that Tenel Ka’s parents were absent, for I’m sure they would have been at risk as well.”

“Why, Ta’a Chume—I’ve never shown anything but loyalty to you.” Yfra’s voice was full of sweetness and offended innocence, though Tenel Ka could sense that she was lying. “How can you make such an accusation?”

“Because you took control. How could you possibly have known we were in danger if you hadn’t set up the plot yourself?”

“Well, I—” Yfra blinked. “I simply responded to the distress call sent out from Reef Fortress, of course.”

“Ah.” The matriarch pointed her long knobby finger and a smile curved her thin wrinkled lips. “Aha! But no distress signal was sent. Your Bartokk assassins blew up our power-generating station. We escaped. This is the first word that has gotten out—but you knew.” The matriarch nodded confidently. “Yes, you knew.”

Before Yfra could sputter another excuse, the guards came forward and took her into custody.

“Oh, she’ll be given a fair trial,” the matriarch said, “but I think we have more than enough proof—don’t you, Tenel Ka?” She raised her eyebrows.

“This is a fact,” the young warrior woman replied. “And I believe I have more than enough proof for something else, as well.” She stood straight, looking proudly into her grandmother’s eyes.

“This adventure has shown me that I am fully recovered from my injuries. I wish to return to Yavin 4.”