Darkest Knight

by Kevin J. Anderson

  "Very well," one guard said, and turned to a COMM station on the wall.

  He pushed a button and, though Brakiss heard no words from beneath the

  armored helmet, the Emperor's voice instantly slid through the speakers,

  like sounds made of snakes.

  "Brakiss, this is your Emperor. Your insolence annoys me."

  "I merely wish to speak with you, my lord," he said, forcing his voice

  to remain steady.

  "You have not addressed the Shadow Academy or me since your arrival

  here. I am concerned for your personal well-being." "Brakiss, you forget

  your place. You can do nothing to protect me that I cannot do

  myself-with ten times the power."

  Brakiss felt his anger dwindling, but he clutched his pride for one last

  moment. "I have not forgotten my place, my lord. My place is as the

  Master of the Shadow Academy, to create an army of Dark Jedi for you and

  your Second Imperium. My place is at your side-not cast out and ignored

  like an insignificant bureaucrat." Palpatine seemed to pause before

  snapping a reply through the speaker. "Do not forget, Brakiss, that when

  this station was constructed I saw to it that explosives were planted

  throughout the superstructure to ensure your obedience. I can destroy

  this Academy on a whim. Don't tempt me."

  "I wouldn't dream of it, my lord," Brakiss said, feeling his anxiety

  grow. "But if I am to be part of your plans of conquest, I must be

  consulted. I must be permitted to give my input, because I alone can

  provide the valuable fighters you require to defeat the Rebels and their

  upstart new Jedi Knights."

  The Emperor snapped, "You will learn of my plans when I wish you to

  learn of them! I require no advice from you or from any other.

  Perhaps you need to be reminded that you are merely an expendable

  servant. Do not demand to see me again. I will emerge from my quarters

  when it suits me."

  With a click like the sound of a breaking bone, the comm unit switched

  off. Brakiss felt worse than ever. More insignificant, more confused.

  The red Imperial guards stood firmly in their positions, holding their

  force pikes upright. "You will depart now," one of them said.

  Without replying, Brakiss spun on his heel and marched in silence down

  the hollow, echoing corridors of his Shadow Academy.

  -----------------TOO STUNNED AT first to move, Jaina hung on to the edge

  of the hangar bay doors on the platform high above the rest of the

  treetops. She stared down in unwilling fascination at the spot where

  Garowyn had fallen through the branches. Replaying the scene in her

  mind, still not quite able to believe what had happened, she saw the

  Nightsister falling . . . falling.

  By the time Jaina managed to tear her gaze away, Chewbacca had retrieved

  the speeder bike and buzzed back up toward her.

  With an urgent sound in his voice, he pointed to the explosions and

  flickers of laser cannon fire in the distant fabrication facility. TIE

  fighters shot overhead, pummeling the residential areas with bright

  energy bolts.

  Chewbacca gestured with a long hairy arm, pointing to the seat behind

  him on the speeder bike. Jaina gulped. Surely he didn't intend for both

  of them to ride that thing? The tiny vehicle was already wheezing and

  chugging under the Wookiee's considerable weight.

  On the other hand, the two of them had walked to the hangar bay this

  morning, and they had no other vehicle to take them to the besieged

  fabrication facility-and they had to help. There was no time to call for

  a bantha.

  She hoped her brother and her friends were all right.

  Chewbacca brought the speeder bike to an unsteady hover in front of the

  repair bay and motioned for her to get on. Jaina squelched her

  reservations and climbed on behind him.

  She found little room to sit, and her legs were still slick from spilled

  lubricant, so she threw her arms around Chewie's broad chest as far as

  they would go, threading her fingers through his thick fur to keep

  herself from sliding off.

  With Jaina's added weight, the speeder bike sank. Chewbacca revved its

  engine, and they took off. Though their forward progress was faster than

  Jaina had expected, the vehicle continued to lose altitude until it

  barely skimmed over the bushy treetops. The engine sputtered. Jaina

  could feel the toes of her boots brushing against taller branches and

  sprigs of leaves. The wind in her hair blew the strands wildly in every

  direction.

  Jaina yanked her foot up to avoid an upthrus , t bough, and nearly

  capsized the little speeder. But Chewbacca felt the change in balance

  and managed to compensate by shifting his weight in the other direction.

  Jaina clung to his fur and gratefully maneuvered herself back upright.

  "Can't we go any faster?" she shouted into his fur-covered ear."Her

  heart pounded, and the sweat of fear evaporated in the cold breeze of

  their wild flight. The Wookiee roared back at her, clearly understanding

  the danger their friends might be facing.

  When they reached the fabrication facility, Jaina could hardly believe

  her eyes. Grayish white smoke curled up from half a dozen different

  windows and skylights in the factory.

  Splintered and charred wroshyr branches lay scattered about like the

  broken playthings of a spoiled giant. Imperial fighters still flew in

  formation in the skies, but they dwindled in the distance, heading back

  to orbit.

  "Is the attack over already?" Jaina asked in disbelief. Chewbacca echoed

  her surprise.

  The Wookiee had a hard time controlling the laboring speeder bike as

  they landed, and both he and Jaina tumbled off. Not bothering to check

  their bruises, they picked them selves up and rushed to the closest

  entryway, calling for Jacen, Lowie, Tenel Ka, and Sirra.

  The scene inside the factory was utter chaos. Frantic Wookiees rushed

  about bellowing orders, extinguishing small fires, righting toppled

  machinery, and helping injured or trapped friends. The smell of charred

  wood and singed fur stabbed at Jaina's nostrils. Pale chemical smoke

  stung her eyes, but most of the fires were already contained, and a

  fresh breeze blew in through the open windows to clear the fumes.

  Chewbacca roared in recognition as he rushed to his sister

  Kallabow-Lowie and Sirra's mother. She was bent over another injured

  worker, tending his wounds. With nimble hands Kallabow had shaved the

  fur from around a bleeding cut and covered it with a coagulant bandage.

  Lowie's mother looked up, blinking dazed eyes set within whorls of

  auburn fur, and she and Chewbacca engaged in a rapid, barking

  interchange. Jaina caught only parts of the conversation, but learned

  enough to know that the devastating raid was indeed over.

  The Imperials had struck with lightning speed, causing enormous damage

  to the outlying facilities-but their main objective had apparently been

  to raid the equipment stockpiles and steal computer components and

  encryption devices.

  Jaina was reminded of Qorl's previous raid on the New Republic supply

  cruiser Adamant,
when he had commandeered an entire shipment of

  hyperdrive cores and turbolaser batteries. The Second Imperium was

  definitely making plans for an all-out war-and soon.

  Jaina bent down next to Kallabow. "Have you seen Lowie and Sirra? My

  brother Jacen, or maybe Tenel Ka?"

  Lowie's mother rattled off a series of woofs, growls, and barks in a

  worried tone. She spread her arms to indicate the surrounding

  pandemonium, then gripped Jaina's shoulder, asking her to track down her

  children. Another Wookiee wailed in pain farther down the corridor;

  still dazed, Kallabow blinked wearily and moved past Jaina to help the

  victim to his feet.

  "We've got to @ind them," Jaina said, and Chewbacca nodded vigorously.

  Chewie made his way deeper into the damaged facility, assisting wherever

  he could and barking out phrases that were incomprehensible to Jaina.

  Never one to stand around wringing her hands in an emergency, Jaina

  helped to bind up minor wounds and put out small fires. Occasionally,

  she used the Force to help muscular Wookiees heave aside smashed

  equipment. Every time she asked about her brother and her ftiends,

  however, she received only confused answers.

  Moment by moment, the cacophony around Jaina increased with a confusing

  mix of Wookiee yowls, barks, and growls. Oh, how she wished that Em

  Teedee were here to interpret all the nuances. Her head spun with

  confusion and disorientation, and she was relieved to see Chewbacca

  motion her over to help him tend a wounded engineer.

  Chewie greeted her with animated gestures and an excited bark.

  "What did you find?" Jaina asked, biting her lower lip.

  The injured engineer spoke, her voice just above a wheezing purr. Still

  unable to understand, Jaina turned to Chewbacca for an interpretation.

  The irony of the situation might have struck her as funny had the

  circumstances not been so serious.

  Chewie explained slowly enough that Jaina could follow. The engineer had

  seen the two young Wookiees and two human visitors run down the corridor

  behind her. Not long afterward, she had noted some of the Impe166 Star

  Wars: Young jedi Knights rial attackers in the same

  corridor-stormtroopers and humans in dark capes.

  "Any way out in that direction?" Jaina asked hopefully. "Is it possible

  they escaped?"

  The engineer shook her head. No exits, only maintenance trapdoors that

  opened to the dense and dangerous forests below.

  Trapdoors.

  Chewie finished binding the engineer's wounds, thanked her, and hurried

  off down the corridor she had indicated. Jaina skidded to a stop at the

  edge of a gaping hole blasted in the floor, where an access hatch had

  been ripped from its hinges. Chewbacca had to pull Jaina back physically

  to keep her from toppling over the brink. He growled, sniffing around

  the burned metal edges.

  Jaina nodded. "Yeah, looks like the work of stormtroopers. They must've

  thought the trapdoors needed to be wider and did a little remodeling."

  She blew out a long, slow breath, trying to calm herself. "Lowie told us

  how dangerous it is down there. But I guess it didn't stop them."

  Chewie opened an emergency locker on the wall. He yanked out two

  knapsacks filled with supplies and tossed one to Jaina. Then, with a

  barely audible growl, he pointed down at the hole in the floor.

  "You're right, of course," Jaina said. "What are we waiting for?" She

  peered down into the inky darkness below.

  'Your jungle," she said at last. "I guess you'd better lead."

  -----------------DEEP INSIDE HIS hairy chest, Lowbacca felt his heart

  contract with primal fear. He had known since childhood the dangers of

  descending into the perilous, untamed forests of Kashyyyk. The darkened

  depths often proved deadly even to those who entered fully armed and

  trained.

  Nobody went to the underlevels willingly . . . but now, with Zekk and

  Vonnda Ra and the stormtroopers pursuing them, Lowie knew the primeval

  forest was their only chance.

  The last time he had ventured beneath the secure treetop cities had been

  to search out glossy fibers from the syren plant, from which he wove his

  prized belt. He had thought himself so brave to accomplish the task

  alone.

  Sirra's friend Raaba had also gone by herself-because Lowie had. Despite

  her skills and courage, though, the dark-furred Wookiee female had never

  returned. But Lowie was not alone this time. He and his friends could

  fight together against whatever dangers the forest held.

  Above and behind him, he heard the crashing of boots and the snapping of

  twigs as ar.inored Imperials followed them, shining brilliant glowbeams

  into the dank, forevernight levels, startling exotic creatures that had

  never seen the light of day. A few random shots rang out as

  stormtroopers blasted forest animals. Burned leaves smoldered, then went

  out in a gasp of thick smoke.

  Lowie and Sirra did their best to lead Jacen and Tenel Ka, using their

  darknessadapted Wookiee vision to find broad, sturdy branches along the

  trunks of the wroshyr trees. Panting with the desperate effort, @wie

  wheezed encouragement. The friends pressed on blindly, with no specific

  destination, knowing only that they had to keep going if they were to

  lose their pursuers in the maze of the forest underworld.

  Em Teedee's round, yellow optical sensors shed a bright glow into the

  murk, the most illumination they could risk. "Do be careful of those

  branches, Master Lowbacca," the droid said as a twig scratched his outer

  casing. "I wouldn't want to break loose and fall. That happened to me

  once already, if you'll recall, and it was a frightfully unpleasant

  experience."

  Lowie groaned, remembering the misadventure on Yavin 4. Losing the

  translating droid had caused other problems as well, since no one at the

  Jedi academy had understood Lowie's warnings that Jacen and Jaina had

  been captured by the TIE pilot Qorl.

  Behind them, lightning shot through the darkness and branches crackled

  as the stormtroopers opened fire again. Lowie instinctively ducked, and

  Sirra dropped to a lower branch without bothering to test it for

  sturdiness.

  Streaks blazed across the thickets, erupting in fire and choking smoke.

  "Hey, look out!" Jacen cried.

  Tenel Ka grabbed on to a branch with her hand and swung down to Sirra's

  level. "This way!" she said. "It is safe." Lowie leaped after her, one

  arm around Jacen's waist, then sprinted across the mosscovered boughs.

  Farther from the warm sunlight, each forest level had a different

  ecosystem made up of matted platforms of interlaced vines, branches that

  grew together, accumulations of mulch in which other plants-fungi,

  lichens, squirming flowers-flourished. Thousands of insects, reptiles,

  birds, and rodents fled at the sound of the intruders.

  Lowie chuffed for the others to follow him.

  Racing along on his flat feet, he wrinkled his black nose and sniffed

  the odor-congested air.

  His nostrils tingled with a tantalizing, terrifying scent-a scent he had

  smelled bef
ore.

  Something that had nearly cost him his life.

  In the lambent glow from Em Teedee's optical sensors, Lowie saw the

  wide-open maw of a syren plant, its glossy-yellow petals atop the

  blood-red stalk looked like a gaping mouth waiting for a meal. The plant

  had somehow taken root in a crook between two intergrown branches, and

  fed upon denizens of this forest level. The sparkling fibers that formed

  a plume at the carnivorous flower's center shone temptingly bright,

  while a delicious scent lured unsuspecting victims.

  Beside him, Sirra also sniffed the air and spotted the deadly plant. She

  growled in anticipation, her patchwork-shaved fur standing on end. But

  Lowie put a hand on her arm, shook his head, then gripped her arm @y.

  He could tell his sister wanted to secure the precious syren fibers and

  prove her bravery as soon as possible.

  Sirra groaned in disappointment, but she clearly understood. their

  priorities. Behind them, several levels up, the pursuing stormtroopers

  fired again, this time at some large creature crashing through the tree

  levels.

  Far too dangerous. The Imperials were too close.

  With a growl Sirra took the lead, and Lowie guided his friends behind

  her.

  As she raced through the morass of branches, ducking her head to keep

  her red-gold braids from snagging on thorns or low-hanging limbs, Tenel

  Ka reveled in the calisthenics that pushed her body to its limits. But

  she would have preferred to do it without the threat of sudden death