The Lost Ones

17

Jacen had gotten distracted so many times during their scavenger hunt for the hawk-bat egg with Zekk that he would never have been able to retrace his steps through the labyrinth of Coruscant’s lower levels. Tenel Ka, however, led the way with an unerring sense of direction … which didn’t surprise Jacen a bit.

The buildings drew closer together, became more dilapidated, more ominous. The walls were dark and smeared with sickly discolored blotches that looked like centuries-old bloodstains. Jacen saw the ever-present cross-in-triangle gang symbol chiseled into the duracrete bricks or splashed on with bright, permanent pigments.

“Ah. Aha. We have found the territory claimed by the gang of the Lost Ones,” Tenel Ka said, her senses sharpened like a hunters blade.

Jacen swallowed. “Let’s hope we find Zekk soon. I’d hate to overstay our welcome if that gang is in a bad mood again.”

“I suspect they are always in a bad mood,” she observed. “They may still be angry at us for escaping them before.”

“Well, maybe they’ve got Zekk. We have to rescue him. That Norys guy seems like a bad customer.”

Something skittered along the wall behind them, an ugly spider-roach dashing for cover in a clump of slimy moss. At any other time Jacen would have rushed to study the creature, but at the moment he just wanted to be back home and safe in his rooms.

Tenel Ka looked tall and brave as she marched down the enclosed corridor. Jacen wished fleetingly that he had his own light saber, like the one he had used at the Shadow Academy. He knew the Jedi weapons were dangerous and not for play, but right now he didn’t want to play with one—he wanted it for genuine protection.

Jacen swallowed nervously and moved closer to the warrior girl, keeping his eyes on her dangling red-gold braids. Maybe humor would turn his thoughts from the sinister gang. “Hey, Tenel Ka—do you know the difference between an AT-AT and a stormtrooper on foot?”

Tenel Ka turned and gave him an odd look. “Of course I do.”

He sighed. “It’s a joke. What’s the difference between an AT-AT and a stormtrooper on foot?”

“I am supposed to say ‘I don’t know’—this is correct?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Jacen said.

“I don’t know.”

“One’s an Imperial walker, and the others a walking Imperial!”

Tenel Ka gave a sage nod. “Yes. Very humorous. Now let us continue our search.” She narrowed her cool gray eyes as they approached a corner. “Zekk is your friend. You know him best. Reach out with your Jedi powers again to see if you can sense him. These corridors have many twists and turns.”

Jacen nodded. He didn’t think his powers were strong enough to locate any person specifically—he wasn’t sure if even Uncle Luke could do that—but all he needed was a trickle of thought, an impression, a hunch. He and Tenel Ka were wandering blindly so far, anyway, and the slightest inkling would increase their odds over pure luck.

As he concentrated and closed his eyes Jacen thought he felt a tingle, something that conjured up an impression of the dark-haired boy in his mind. He pointed the way before he could have second thoughts. Uncle Luke had always taught them to follow their Jedi instincts.

He hurried to keep up with Tenel Ka as they moved down one hall, then another. The old skyscraper seemed completely empty, oppressive in its silence despite the inhabited levels far above, but Jacen felt invisible eyes watching him from secret hiding places. He trusted his Jedi senses enough to guess that this was not just his imagination.

“We are getting closer, I think,” Tenel Ka said.

They heard voices up ahead, and Jacen recognized the timbre of a clear, strong voice—a young man’s voice—though he could hear none of the words. “That sounds like Zekk!” he whispered. “We’ve found him.”

Filled with elation, suddenly dismissing all of his ominous thoughts, he rushed forward while Tenel Ka kept pace, advising caution. “Careful,” she said just as Jacen turned another corner and ran into an echoing room filled with battered furniture, half-collapsed ceiling beams, and glowpanels wired to the walls as if someone had rigged them wherever it seemed most convenient to connect electrical power. Other doors leading from the large room were closed, some blocked by crates, others jammed on their hinges.

In the middle of the room Jacen saw a young man, emerald eyes glittering in the uncertain light of the haphazard glowpanels. It was Zekk. His hair, a shade lighter than black, was fastened at the nape of his neck with a leather thong instead of hanging free down to his shoulders. Jacen had never seen Zekk’s hair like that. His friend’s clothes were also different: clean, dark, padded, as if they were a uniform—and much more stylish than the suit he had worn to the diplomatic banquet for the ambassador from Karnak Alpha.

Sitting on chairs or sprawled on ragged cushions sat a dozen tough, hard-bitten kids, all in their middle to late teens. Most were boys, but the few girls looked wild and rugged enough to take Jacen apart piece by piece, like an obsolete droid.

The Lost Ones.

“Hey, Zekk!” Jacen cried. “Where have you been? We’ve all been worried!”

Startled from his speech, the dark-haired young man drew himself up, frowning at Jacen and Tenel Ka. His green eyes flashed with momentary surprise and delight, but he quickly masked the expression with a scowl. Zekk appeared to have aged a dozen years in the few days since his disappearance.

“Jacen, now isn’t the time,” he said in a rough voice.

A brawny boy with close-set eyes and thick eyebrows stood up, glaring. “I don’t recall inviting you two.” Jacen recognized the bully Norys.

Zekk gestured behind him to calm the burly gang leader. “Let me handle this.” Anger showed clearly in Zekk’s face as he shook his head at Jacen. “Why couldn’t you have left me alone for just a little longer?”

Jacen scratched his tousled hair, completely baffled. When he stepped forward in confusion, Zekk flinched. “Go away,” he whispered, “you’ll ruin everything!”

The other Lost Ones stood up from their places like a pack of nek battle dogs zeroing in on a target. Jacen swallowed. Beside him, Tenel Ka placed a protective hand on his shoulder, in case they would be required to fight.

“Zekk, it’s us,” Jacen pleaded. “We aren’t going to ruin anything—we’re your friends.”

Just then, one of the corroded doors at the far side of the chamber scraped open. “They are not your friends, young Lord Zekk,” said a woman’s voice, rich and low. “You know better than that now. They may claim to be your friends, but you’ve seen evidence of just how much they truly value you.”

Jacen and Tenel Ka both whirled to see the ominous form of the black-cloaked Nightsister, with her static-charged ebony hair and blazing violet eyes. The upthrust spines on the shoulders of her cloak looked like spears. Two others dressed in similar fashion stood on either side of her: a young dark-haired man and a petite powerhouse of a woman, both of whom looked as rigid as the towering Nightsister herself.

“Tamith Kai … ,” Jacen acknowledged. “Charming as usual, I see.”

“And Garowyn. And Vilas,” Tenel Ka said with an astonishing and unexpected expression—a feral smile—on her normally serious face. “So, how is your knee?” she asked Tamith Kai. Her grip on Jacen’s shoulder felt tight enough to crack a bone.

The tall woman’s face roiled with a thunderstorm of anger. Her wine-dark lips curled down, and she barely controlled her rage at being reminded of how Tenel Ka had humiliated her during the young Jedi Knights’ escape from the Shadow Academy. “Jedi brats,” she snarled, “you should learn when to leave well enough alone.”

“And you should have figured out not to mess with us after the first time,” Jacen responded in a challenging tone. “Zekk, what are you doing with these clowns? What sort of nonsense have they been telling you?”

Zekk seemed to waver for a moment, but his voice was strong. “They’re offering us—all of us—an opportunity. A chance we never had before.”

“Like what?” Jacen said, genuinely mystified. “What could these losers possibly offer you?”

“They’re taking us back to the Shadow Academy to train us!” the burly gang leader, Norys, said. “Now we’ll have our own shot at being powerful.”

“But not everybody has Jedi potential,” Jacen said reasonably, trying to keep Zekk talking until he or Tenel Ka could figure out what to do.

“I do. You would have known that if you’d bothered to test me,” Zekk said defiantly. “And anybody who joins us but doesn’t have the talent will be recruited into the Imperial military forces, given responsibilities and a chance for advancement in the Second Imperium.”

“Oh, Zekk,” Jacen said, shaking his head, “those are all lies designed to lure you into dropping your guard—”

“They are not lies!” Tamith Kai interrupted, her melodious voice holding the potential for deadliness. “We will keep our promises. You will all be given equal opportunities, without regard to your social status in the Rebel worlds. The Second Imperium won’t judge who you are—only what you do for us.”

“Zekk,” Jacen cried, “how can you trust them? These are the people who kidnapped me and Jaina.”

“Yes,” Tamith Kai continued, “and we have learned our lesson. Highborn noble pups such as you are no more worthy of being Imperial Dark Jedi than any other student.” Her violet eyes glared daggers at Tenel Ka.

“Zekk,” Jacen whispered quickly, “this is your chance. Trust me on this: You’re in great danger. You could escape now. Get away!”

But his formerly happy-go-lucky friend gave him a look that was somewhere between pity and a plea for understanding. Jacen thought he saw a glimpse of the deep sadness that touched the young man’s heart.

Zekk said, “You don’t understand, Jacen. You can’t because you’ve always had too much. You’ve never wanted for anything. These people”—he gestured toward the evil Nightsister and her companions—“they’re offering me something I never had in my old life. With them I have a chance to be someone.”

“Not much of a chance, if they’re the ones offering it,” Jacen muttered.

Tenel Ka tensed, holding her hands at her utility belt, ready to draw a weapon.

One by one, each of the gang members stood and glared at the two young Jedi. The burly Norys and the other Lost Ones seemed to have been hypnotized, and Jacen wondered if Tamith Kai or the others were using some sort of Force trick to make them more susceptible to insidious suggestions.

Tenel Ka whispered, “Jacen, we must leave while we can still bring help.”

Jacen tensed, ready to turn and run. He clicked on the comlink, hoping to signal Anakin and Threepio, but before he and Tenel Ka could sprint to the door, Vilas pulled out a blaster.

“We can’t risk any more of your meddling,” Garowyn said. “There’s too much at stake.”

Jacen and Tenel Ka managed to take a few running steps before stun bolts slammed into them from behind. They plunged headfirst into helpless unconsciousness.