chin. "Not as good as me, of course, even though they're using Jedi
skills. They don't have quite the ... enthusiasm." Czethros
laughed.
"Enthusiasm? You go into a berserker rage when you've had too much."
"It's useful sometimes," Anja said. "And I managed to drive back most
of those clumsy chameleon attackers. Your work, I presume?"
"Did they get away with the evidence?"
"Easily. I hope you didn't mind losing a few of them. We had to kill
about seven."
Czethros shrugged. "They're cheap. I can always buy more."
"Now it'll be harder to kill Solo," Anja said. "The one thing I'm
after. You might have screwed up my chances."
Czethros laughed, though his pale, sickly-looking face showed no humor
at all. He ran one hand over his moss green hair. "Solo is cocky.
His easy escape from the space mines, and your resounding defeat of the
chameleon creatures, will probably only make him more willing to jump
into peril, not less. He doesn't know how to be careful. And his
children seem to have even greater potential for getting into trouble
than he does."
"Well, I've planted the suggestion in his mind," Anja said, getting
down to business. "I taunted Solo with the desperate situation on
Anobis. If he rises to the bait and blunders happily into the war
there, he's doomed."
"Excellent," Czethros said. "That way my overall plan can proceed
without his interference. He's one of the few people in the galaxy who
can expose the enterprises we're trying to build through Black Sun."
"And, if you help me get rid of him, there can be no greater payback
for me than to avenge my mother and father."
"Be patient, Anja. The time will come," Czethros said. "You've waited
this long. Let's do it right."
She bit her lip and nodded. She tapped her fingers on the metal
surface of the nearest table, stood up and fidgeted, looked around. "I
...
may need to go with Solo, in order to nudge a few things along." She
hesitated.
Czethros watched her with his cybernetic red laser eye, waiting.
The cruel streak was coming out in him. He had to know what she
wanted, but he twisted the screws, making her ask for it. For what she
needed.
She drew herself up again, trying not to look weak. "But in order to
be at my peak performance, as this mission requires, I'll need. .
She trailed off. He knew what she meant.
Czethros continued watching her. "Yes?"
Anja felt a flash of anger, and pounded her fist on the metal wall with
a dull clang. "I need my supply! I used my last dose of spice in
order to fight your clumsy henchmen."
Czethros laughed and then made a taking sound. "You seem so
desperate.
Don't worry, little velser. You can count on me." From his pocket he
withdrew a sealed black case and held it aloft, just far enough away
that she would have to step forward and reach out to take it from
him.
He tried to toy with her, pulling it back, but Anja moved too
quickly.
Still in the aftereffects of her hypersensitivity, she snatched the
case before he could play his little trick. Czethros covered his
surprise at the speed of her reactions.
"There's your supply of andris spice," he said. "You're taking too
much of it, you know. I can't keep up this rate of payment without
further results."
"You'll get results," Anja said, checking the contents of the tiny
carbon-freeze box. Each of the small cylindrical containers inside was
wrapped in an insulated covering. Exposing the andris fibers to deep
cold intensified the effect of the spice. But she didn't need another
dose now-though she wanted one very, very badly. She would keep the
samples, hoard them, take them only when she needed the spice.
When she needed it more than she did now.
Without a word of thanks or goodbye, Anja turned and slipped back out
of Czethros's hidden warehouse. She would keep a close watch on Han
Solo, and insinuate herself into his journey to Anobis. She was almost
certain he wouldn't be able to resist going there now that she had
challenged him.
And once he got there, he would be very surprised indeed.
Back in the diplomatic suite of Ord Mantell's most luxurious hotel, the
Ord Ambassador, Jacen could not get his mind off the girl Anja.
Her sad, pain-filled eyes had seemed so out of place. Her features
were delicate and beautiful ... and there had been such a strength in
her whip-thin body that Jacen had expected her gaze to be as steady and
cool as Tenel Ka's. But her personal pain-perhaps even a slight
madness-had been all too apparent in the looks sho had given Jacen and
his friends.
Zekk had felt it too, because Jacen had seen the older boy's
sympathetic nod when Anja spoke of her father's death, and about having
been raised as an orphan. Who would understand better than Zekk how
such events could change a life?
But Jacen didn't have Zekk to talk to right now. The tonner Dark Jedi
had returned with Tenel Ka and Lowie to the Rock Dragon for the
night.
Jacen sighed and ran his hands through his tousled curls. Why couldn't
he stop thinking about Anja? He paced restlessly about the central
chamber of the suite. After the long day today, Jacen had taken a hot
sonic shower, but his mind did not feel refreshed. Something was
bothering him, and he couldn't quite, put his finger on it. When his
brother Anakin entered the room, hair still damp from his own shower,
the younger boy's ice-blue gaze stopped Jacen in his tracks.
"Something's wrong," Anakin said. A statement, not a question.
Startled, as always, that his younger brother could sense things so
quickly, Jacen hunched his shoulders and plopped himself down on a
stone repulsor bench beside the ornamental firepit in the center of the
room.
Anakin perched himself on a bench opposite Jacen and stared into the
flames. "She was a very interesting person, wasn't she?" he said
quietly, then waited for Jacen to answer.
Jacen glanced sharply at his little brother and stared at him for a
full minute before the reason for his inner turmoil clicked into
focus.
"Dad never really explained what happened to her father," he finally
blurted. "He just evaded her questions with vague answers."
"Well, he said he didn't kill Gallandro. What more do you want to
know?" Jaina asked, gliding into the room and helping herself to a
seat between her two brothers. She wore a loose robe, and droplets of
moisture still sparkled on her cheeks from her recent bath.
Jacen set his chin stubbornly. "I want to know what happened."
Anakin shrugged. "Then let's ask Dad."
"Ask me what?" Han said, entering the room, a white sheet of absorbent
material draped around his neck so that it hung down his bare torso.
He took a seat opposite Jaina and between his two sons; the four Solo
family members were like points of a compass, with the artificial fire
at their center. Jacen glanced at hi
s sister. She bit her lower
lip.
Anakin gestured to him, as if to say, This is your question; ask it.
Jacen knew he might sound rude, but he wanted an answer and he didn't
know how else to put it. "Anja said you killed her father. You denied
it, but you never explained what happened to Gallandro."
Han nodded slowly. "That young lady took me by surprise. She reminded
me of an incident from my past ... a time I'm not too proud of. "
Jacen wondered if guilt was the source of the hesitation he heard in
his father's voice.
"So, what happened?" Jaina prompted, her brandy-brown eyes alight now
with interest.
"We were looking for an ancient treasure, a lost legacy of Xim the
Despot," Han began. He paused, then sat up straighter. He spread his
hands as if backing up to provide more explanation. "Gallandro was a
smuggler, you see. A quick draw, a sharpshooter and, uh"-a corner of
Han's mouth quirked in a lopsided smile-"a fellow scoundrel. We found
where Xim hid his treasure, but Gallandro betrayed the rest of our
team. Decided he wanted it all for himself. Challenged me to a
blaster fight."
Jacen was instantly alert. His father had always been one of the best
shots in the New Republic. "And?"
His father lifted one shoulder for a second, then gazed down into the
flames. "And I lost."
All three young Jedi stared at him in disbelief "But you're not dead,"
Jacen pointed out.
"How did Gallandro die, then?" Anakin asked.
"His aim was good, but not fatal. He drew first, hit me in the
shoulder. My shot went wide, and I dropped my blaster as I fell.
While I was down he put binders on me and went off to chase one of the
other members of our team, a Ruurian."
"They look kind of like miniature Hutts, don't they?" Anakin asked.
"Only furry, and with legs?"
Han nodded again. "I wasn't even there when Gallandro caught up with
the Ruurian. But the treasure vaults had been booby-trappedrigged so
that if you drew a weapon in certain areas, the automated defenses
would take you out. There were warning lights in those areas, but the
Ruurian had removed them. Gallandro never realized he was walking into
a trap."
Han grimaced. "I don't know. Maybe I'd've done the same thing.
The Ruurian explained it to me afterward: he figured Gallandro had
nothing to worry about-so long as his intentions were peaceful. But if
the guy drew his blaster ... well, then he'd get what he deserved.
Could be that Gallandro only meant to injure the Ruurian, like he did
me. In any case, the vault's defenses did the rest."
Jaina squeezed her eyes shut. "How awful."
Jacen remained skeptical. "If that's the way it happened, then why
didn't you just tell Anja?"
His father's eyes clashed with his. "Tell her what? That her father
was a traitor? A man who turned on his own team once the treasure was
found and took it from them? A hotshot blaster jockey who got fried
because he thought with his weapons instead of his brain?"
Han drew a deep breath, let it out with a slow shake of his head.
"Besides, I had no idea before today that Gallandro had a daughteror
that she's blamed me for his death all these years. With the
resentment she's built up in her life, if I told her what really
happened, she might just take it into her head to go after the Ruurian,
Skynx, because he disabled the glow signals that would've warned her
father not to draw his blaster."
Han's eyes filled with doubt, and he looked back into the artificial
firepit. "Still, I do feel a kind of responsibility toward her. I
wish there was something I could do."
Jacen wondered if there was some additional reason why his father
should feel responsible. Had he told them everything?
"Maybe there is something we can do," Anakin said.
Han sat back, a thoughtful look on his face. "Her planet, you mean?"
Jacen brightened at this idea. "That's right. Anobis isn't too far
from here. And that civil war sounds terrible."
"It wouldn't hurt to go check it out," Han admitted. "In my official
capacity, of course-see if there's anything the New Republic could do
to help."
"Kind of a diplomatic mission, you mean?" Jaina said.
"I'm sure Mom would agree to that."
A slow lopsided grin spread across Han Solo's face. "Yeah. I think
she would," he said, getting to his feet.
He reached out to ruffle both of his sons' hair, then walked around the
circle, leaned down, and kissed Jaina on the cheek. "You kids get some
sleep now. I'm gonna get dressed, go down to a comm center, and put in
an official call to the Chief of State of the New Republic."
Jacen nodded with satisfaction. It was the least his father could
do.
After a strangely restless night populated by images of unbearably sad
eyes and flowing dark hair streaked with blond, Jacen woke to find his
sister standing beside the cushioned pallet on which he slept. She
tossed a clean jumpsuit at him.
"Time to get up, sleepyhead. We want to get an early start."
Jacen, groggy from his lack of rest, blinked up at her. "What for?"
Just then Anakin appeared in the doorway, a travel satchel slung over
one shoulder. "I'm all packed," he announced.
"For the fact-finding mission to Anobis," Jaina explained. "Mom said
it was a good idea. She sent Dad a transmission this morning of
everything the New Republic knows about the planet and their civil
war.
Unfortunately, it's not much."
The impact of his sister's words finally sank in, and Jacen came fully
awake. Untangling himself from the cushions and blankets, he leapt to
his feet. "Where's Dad now?"
"Went down to the docking bay to start preflight checks on the Falcon,"
Jaina said.
"We leave in less than an hour, Jacen-if you're ready," Anakin said,
running a skeptical eye over his older brother. "Zekk, Lowie, and
Tenel Ka are already there waiting."
As he scrambled to get dressed, Jacen felt miraculously energetic.
They were going to do something to help Anja's planet, he thought.
Maybe they could find a way to banish the sadness from her eyes
forever. The young Jedi Knights were going on a true rescue mission,
just like the ones Tionne used to tell them about from Jedi legends.
He flashed his siblings a cheerful grin. "Don't worry. I'll be
ready."
By the time Jacen reached the docking bay, Anakin was already at work
at the navigation controls and Jaina was examining the external
sublight engines. Tenel Ka, Zekk, and Lowie were gathered around Han
Solo, being briefed on the upcoming mission.
Seeing Jacen, Han gestured for him to join the other young Jedi
Knights. "So, if this planet is as torn up from the war as Anja says
it is," he concluded, "we might just need a few extra helping hands. I
think we should all stick together on the Falcon, though. Got plenty
of room and there's less chance of running into trouble if we don't
slip up." Jaina looked up from her work on t
he sublight engines.
"But what about the Rock Dragon?" she protested.
Han glanced at the Hapan passenger cruiser. "I think we can station an
extra guard or two here without much difficulty."
Tenel Ka's lips curled in a hard smile. "And the vessel has its own
... security systems."
"Indeed, yes," Em Teedee said. "And they are most efficient. I had a
fine conversation with them just this morning."
"It's settled then." Han clapped his hands and began giving out
assignments.
Jacen was glad to know that all of his friends would be coming along.
They worked well as a team, and he had no doubt that together they
could handle anything that happened on Anobis.
He had no sooner begun his task of exwnining the Falcon's lower hull
than a familiar figure sauntered into the docking bay. She held
herself straight and proud, and her dark, streaked hair trailed behind
her like the tail of a comet.
"Hey, what are you doing here, Anja?" Jacen asked, managing to sound
brash, if not outright rude. He felt himself turn red with
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