Shadow Academy

2

The Lady Luck left the jewel-green jungle moon behind as Lando Calrissian and his trusted companion Lobot piloted them across space toward the gaseous ball of Yavin.

“You kids should enjoy this,” Lando said. “I don’t think you’ve seen anything quite like Corusca mining before.”

As the Lady Luck approached the giant planet, the orbiting industrial station came into view. Lando’s Corusca-mining facility, GemDiver Station, was a symphony of running lights and transmitting grids surrounded by dozens of automated defensive satellites. The security satellites homed in on the Lady Luck, powering up weapons as the ship approached. But when Lando keyed in an access authorization code, the satellites acknowledged his signal, then turned back to their robotic perimeter search for intruders and pirates.

“Can’t have too much security,” he said, “not when you’re dealing with something as valuable as these Corusca gems.”

Lobot, the bald, computer-enhanced human, continued his cool surveillance of the controls. Lights on the mechanical apparatus implanted on the back of Lobot’s skull flashed and blinked as he studied the guidance grid and compass. Piloting smoothly, Lobot brought the Lady Luck into the main docking bay on GemDiver Station.

“I’m glad Luke let you come up here,” Lando said, glancing back at Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie. “You can’t learn everything about the universe just by sitting in the jungle and lifting rocks off the ground with your mind.” He flashed a grin. “You need to broaden your horizons—learn about the way commerce works in the New Republic. That’ll give you some useful knowledge, in case your lightsabers ever fail.”

“We don’t have lightsabers yet,” Jacen said dejectedly.

“Then you might as well learn something useful in the meantime,” Lando answered. Seeing Jacen’s frustration, he added, “You know, your uncle Luke is concerned about your safety. He can be pretty cautious, but I trust his judgment. Don’t worry, you’ll get that lightsaber eventually. I bet if you just relax and stop thinking about it, you’ll be practicing with a lightsaber before you know it.” That said, he helped Lobot finish the landing check as the Lady Luck settled down in the empty bay.

Stepping out of the ship, Lando beamed and showed off his station, making enthusiastic gestures. With Lobot trailing silently behind, Lando led the three young Jedi Knights to a transparisteel viewing window that looked out at the tempestuous orangish soup of the gas giant.

Jacen pressed close to the broad window, peering down at the knotted storm systems that chained through the clouds. From this distance Yavin looked deceptively gentle in pastel yellows and whites and oranges. But he knew that even in the upper atmosphere, the winds had crushing strength, and the pressure farther down was enough to squash a ship down to a fistful of atoms.

Beside him, Jaina studied the weather patterns analytically. Lowie stood between the twins, his lanky form towering over them. He growled with amazement.

“I think it’s most impressive,” Em Teedee said from the clip on Lowie’s belt. “And Master Lowbacca thinks so too.”

GemDiver Station orbited just at the fringe of Yavin’s outer atmosphere. The stations inclined orbit took it high above the planet and then dipped down to graze the gaseous levels so that Lando’s Corusca gem miners could delve into the planets deep, swirling currents.

Lando tapped his fingertip against the transparisteel window. “Far down where the atmosphere ends, the metallic core scrapes against the liquefied air. Pressures are great enough to crush elements together into extremely rare quantum crystals called Corusca gems.”

Jacen perked up. “Can we see one?”

Lando thought for a moment, then nodded. “Sure. We’ve got a shipment ready to go out,” he said. “Follow me.”

With his emerald cape flowing behind him, Lando strode down the scrubbed-clean corridors. Jacen stared at the metal bulkheads, the chambers, the computer-lined offices.

The walls were smooth plasteel plates painted in soft colors and embroidered with glowing optical tubes in a variety of designs. In the background Jacen heard the faint whispering noises of forests, oceans, rivers. The soothing colors and gentle sounds made GemDiver Station an attractive place, comfortable and pleasant—not at all what he had expected.

As they approached a set of large armored doors, Lando tapped buttons in his wristlink and turned to Lobot. “Request access to security level.”

Lobot mumbled something into a microphone at his collar. The sealed metal doors hissed, then slid aside to reveal an airlock chamber, the far side of which was an insulated portal providing access to open space. Four armored, conical projectiles lay on a rack; each module was only about a meter long and bristled with self-targeting lasers.

“These are the automated cargo pods,” Lando said. “Because Corusca gems are so valuable, we have to take extra security precautions.”

Several multiarmed droids worked busily beside the first cargo pod, an open module padded with thick insulation. The droids’ copper exoskeletons gleamed, as if newly polished.

“They’re packing up our next shipment. Let’s take a look,” Lando said.

The companions peered into the small opening of the cargo pod, where a nimble-fingered copper droid had packed four Corusca gems, each no larger than Jacen’s thumbnail. Lando reached in and plucked out one of the gems.

The droid flailed its multiple hands in the air. “Excuse me, excuse me!” it said. “Please do not touch the gems. Excuse me!”

“It’s all right,” Lando said. “It’s me, Lando Calrissian.”

The copper droid’s flailing ceased abruptly. “Oh! Apologies, sir,” it said.

Lando shook his head. “I’ve got to get those optical sensors replaced.”

He held the Corusca gem between thumb and forefinger; it glinted like liquid fire in his grasp. It did more than just reflect light from the glowpanels on the ceiling—the Corusca gem seemed to contain its own miniature furnace, its trapped light bouncing around inside the crystalline facets for ages until by sheer probability some of the photons found their way out.

“Corusca gems have been found in no other place in the galaxy,” Lando said, “only the core of Yavin. Of course, prospectors keep searching other gas-giant planets, but for now my mining station is where all Corusca gems come from. A long time ago the Empire had a sanctioned station here. It went bankrupt pretty quickly without Imperial price supports, though. Corusca mining is a hazardous job, you know, with a high investment right from the start—but it’s really paying off for me.”

He let Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie hold the gem and marvel at its beauty. “Corusca gems are the hardest substance known,” he said. “They can slice through transparisteel like a laser goes through Sullustan jam.”

The nervous packing droid plucked the gem from Lowbacca’s hairy hand and replaced it in the cargo pod, packing extra sealant around the stones before it closed the access port. The droid engaged a sequence of controls on the back of the cargo pod, and the bristling spines of self-targeting lasers raised themselves up to their armed position.

“Cargo pod ready for launch,” the copper droid said. “Please leave the launching bay.”

Lando ushered the three kids out of the room, and the heavy metal doors sealed behind him as the droids scurried about their tasks. “Over here. We can watch through the outer port,” he said. “This cargo pod is a hyperspace projectile targeted to my broker on Borgo Prime, who distributes the Corusca gems for a percentage of the profits.”

They pressed together at a thick round window that looked away from the planet out into space.

As they watched, the cargo pod shot out of the launching bay, then hovered to reorient itself and adjust its coordinates. The bright light of its thrusters traced a line across the blackness of space.

Satellites around GemDiver Station rotated as their sensors tracked the pod, aiming their own weapons; but the cargo pod apparently sent the proper ID signals, and the defensive satellites left it alone. Then, in a blur of motion, the pod streaked forward, flashing into hyperspace with a wealth of Corusca gems in its belly.

“Hey, Lando, can we help you do some of the gem mining?” Jacen asked.

“Yes, we’d like to see how it’s done,” Jaina added.

“I don’t know …,” Lando said. “It’s tough work, and a little risky.”

“So is training to be a Jedi Knight,” Jaina pointed out, “as we’ve already seen. Don’t you think learning is worth a bit of risk?”

Lowbacca growled a comment.

“What do you mean you’re willing to take the risk?” Em Teedee said. “Dear me, I believe Master Calrissian was actually emphasizing the hazards in the hope that you would not want to go.”

“Well, we’d like to go anyway,” Jacen piped up.

Lando held up a hand, grinning as if he had just thought of something—though Jacen could sense that he had been planning it all along. “Well, maybe it is time I got back to doing some real work around here instead of all this management stuff. All right, I’ll take you down myself.”

To Jacen, the Submersible Mining Environment looked like a large diving bell. Its hull was thickly armored, a dull gray with oily smears of color that reflected weirdly in the lights. The hatch appeared thick and durable enough to withstand turbolaser fire.

“This is called the Fast Hand,” Lando said, “a little ship we designed exclusively for going to the greatest depths of Yavin 4. It’s gone almost all the way to the core, where we can reach the biggest Corusca stones.” He ran his fingers over the oily hull plating.

“The Fast Hand is covered with a fine skin of quantum armor,” Lando said, awe apparent in his voice, “a little something developed by the Empire. But we turned the military applications to our own uses—the ultimate in commercial spin-off technology.” Lando sounded as if he were giving a speech to a board of directors, and then he remembered his audience. “Well, never mind. The armor on this baby is strong enough to withstand even the pressures deep in Yavin’s core. We’ll be lowered down, connected to GemDiver Station by an energy tether—like an unbreakable magnetic rope.”

“Not even the storms can snap it?” Jaina asked.

Lando spread his hands wide, dismissing her concern. “We might get jostled around a bit, but …” He laughed. “The seats are padded. We’ll be okay.”

Lowbacca stooped, but still banged his head on the low doorway as he climbed into the diving bell. Jacen and Jaina jumped in after him. As Lando followed them into the Fast Hand, he pulled the hatch shut.

He rapped his knuckles against the inside wall with a metallic thump. “Safe and sound,” he said, then settled into the cushioned seat in front of the piloting controls. Jacen strapped into the copilot’s chair beside him, while Jaina and Lowie took the rear seats. Thick, square windows covered the walls and floor, giving them a view no matter which way they looked.

“Oh my, isn’t this exciting?” Em Teedee said. Lowie grunted in agreement.