Return to Ord Mantell

21

“That was hard work. I’m starved,” Jaina said. She collapsed onto a wooden bench beside her brother and looked appreciatively at the feast being laid out by both miners and farmers on long shady tables in the fading afternoon sunlight at the foot of the mountains.

“You’re hungry?” Jacen said. “Hey, what about us? Zekk and Anja and I weren’t just sitting on a ship and flying around all day, you know. There was nothing between us and those explosives except for the Force and our lightsabers.”

“Lowbacca and I were also in considerable danger afoot,” Tenel Ka pointed out.

Jaina grinned good-naturedly. “Guess you’re probably even hungrier than I am then, huh?”

The one-armed warrior girl crooked an eyebrow at her. “This is a fact.”

Anja stood with feet spread apart, shook back her long silky hair, and heaved a dramatic sigh. “I could eat a whole gundark right about now, without even bothering to cook it first.”

“I know what you mean,” Zekk said.

Jaina noted with amusement—and perhaps a hint of alarm—the playful look Anja directed at both Zekk and Jacen as she said, “I don’t like to share.”

Jacen chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’ll find our own gundarks.”

“So, uh, how does it feel?” Jaina asked, changing the subject. She looked at Anja, then gestured toward the miners and farmers as they uneasily worked together to prepare the meal.

“Strange,” Anja admitted. “It’s… hard to start trusting someone you’ve hated all your life. I’m not sure what to do with myself now. I’ve always been a fighter and a smuggler, not a miner.”

“Why not come back to Yavin 4 with us?” Jacen suggested. Jaina blinked in surprise at what her brother had said.

“Really?” Anja asked.

“Sure,” Zekk said with a twinkle in his emerald eyes. “After all, you’re pretty dangerous with a lightsaber already. Master Skywalker might be able to teach you a bit more about control.”

Jacen said, “It’s obvious you’ve got some talent.”

A suspicious look entered Anja’s enormous dark eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t take rejection very well. Your Master Skywalker might not let me study there. I’d hate to make the trip for nothing.”

“Trip? Where’re you heading?” Han Solo asked, striding up with Anakin, Kyp Durron, and Streen.

“Um, Jacen had an idea that Anja might want to study for a while at the Jedi academy,” Jaina said uncertainly.

Kyp smiled and looked at Han. “I was quite a handful myself, as I recall.”

Han drew a deep breath, let it out slowly in a soundless whistle. He looked into the eyes of the young woman who had hated him for so many years. “If you’re really interested, I’ll put in a good word for you with Luke.”

Jaina tensed, expecting Anja to throw her father’s offer back in his face. Instead, the young woman said stiffly, “Thank you. I accept.”

Then she whirled, her long hair lashing like a silken whip behind her.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” she said over her shoulder. “I have to say some goodbyes. I’ll return in an hour.” Without another word she sprinted off toward her village.

Anakin stared quizzically after the young woman. “It’s all settled then?” he asked.

“Guess so,” Jaina murmured.

Just then Lusa trotted up, with Raynar running easily beside her, as if he were now used to such exercise. “Elis says the feast is almost ready,” the centaur girl said. “We must come and eat.”

Han nodded. “We’ll stay for evening meal, and then take off. You kids want me to fly back to Yavin 4 with you?”

“Naw,” Jacen said. “We’ll be fine in the Rock Dragon.”

“We can manage,” Jaina added. “There’s plenty of room for all of us.”

Her father nodded again, as if he had expected this.

“In that case, do you mind if Streen and I get a lift back to Corus cant with you?” Kyp Durron asked. “Master Skywalker told us that’s where we’d begin our next assignment.”

This suggestion brought a grin of pleasure to Han Solo’s face. “Hey, no problem. Be just like old times, huh, kid?”

“Two of the best hotshot pilots in the galaxy together again,” Kyp agreed.

Anakin looked over at his sister. “This could be interesting.”

Jaina bit her lower lip and looked in the direction Anja had taken toward the mountain village. “Yes. Very interesting.”

Anja stood impatiently in front of the viewscreen in the mining village’s secondary comm center. She crossed her slender arms over her chest and tried not to fidget. It would not do to show her impatience.

Why was the transmission taking so long to go through?

Finally, the static on the screen cleared, revealing the close-cropped green hair and the rugged, visored face she had been expecting: Czethros. “Things didn’t go exactly as you had planned,” she said with a tight smile. “Solo is still alive. But I’ve managed to get the situation back under control.”

Czethros’s image remained impassive, but Anja could see the interest in his eyes. “Tell me,” he said.

“Solo’s own children invited me to join them at the Jedi academy.”

Czethros’s mouth opened slightly. He looked suitably impressed.

“Once I’m in place on Yavin 4,” Ania went on, “I’ll win their confidence. And I believe many opportunities will present themselves.…”

Czethros nodded his moss-green head, and a dangerous smile formed on his face. “You’ve done well. As long as you can stay in touch with me, I’ll make sure you’re supplied with andris.”

Czethros broke the connection and Anja allowed herself to relax.

That was all she had needed to hear.

For Jacen, the return trip to Yavin 4 proved to be endlessly fascinating.

While Jaina and Lowie piloted the Rock Dragon with Em Teedee as their navigator, Zekk, Raynar, Lusa, Tenel Ka, Anja, and Jacen gathered in the crowded crew cabin to talk.

They shared stories of their adventures on various planets. Lusa spoke of her experiences with the Diversity Alliance. Zekk talked about the Shadow Academy and about his time as a bounty hunter. Raynar spoke haltingly of the bounty Nolaa Tarkona had placed on his father’s head, and of Bornan Thul’s death in the Emperor’s plague storehouse.

Jacen and Tenel Ka explained how the warrior girl had lost her arm in a lightsaber training accident. Last, Anja shared more about her experiences growing up as an orphan on the war-torn planet of Anobis.

As she told her story, tears formed occasionally in her huge sad eyes, but she never allowed them to fall. Jacen found it hard to imagine the horror of seeing so many friends die year after year.

“We got rid of a lot of the land mines, punchers, and detonators,” Jacen said, trying to comfort her. “Maybe now your people can stop living in fear.”

“Ah,” Tenel Ka said. “Aha. But that is only a beginning.”

“That’s true,” Zekk said. “War changes people. They’re going to have to learn how to trust and accept each other now. It… it doesn’t come naturally.”

Anja looked ruefully around at the faces of the young Jedi Knights. “That’s going to be difficult for me too. It’s been a long time since I trusted anyone.”

Lowie roared a comment from the cockpit. “Master Lowbacca wishes to inform you that we will be emerging from hyperspace in one standard minute,” Em Teedee said.

“Almost there,” Jaina added. “Hang on, everybody.” The companions moved forward to the cockpit to get a good view of the tiny jungle moon.

When it appeared in the front windowports, Jacen said, “There it is, Anja. Yavin 4. For now, your new home.”