Under A Black Sun Trilogy

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Near the water stood a boy, about Jaina's age, with a round face and

  spiky blond hair. Beside him was a centaurifoffn young woman whose

  rich cinnamon hair matched the color of her glossy flanks. Her long

  mane flowed down her bare back. The two had been skipping stones on

  the water, but at Jaina's approach, the blond-haired young man looked

  up.

  "Well, well, well. Glad you could make it," he said.

  "Hi, Raynar, Lusa," Jaina said, coming to a stop and panting hard.

  "Are you all right?" Raynar asked.

  "The opportunity to exercise was most welcome," Tenel Ka said.

  Lowie and the Wookiee's miniaturized translating droid, Em Teedee,

  added their greetings. Lowie combed his long fingers through the dark

  streak in his windblown fur.

  Lusa gave them a measuring look. "Is anything wrong?"

  Jaina shrugged uncomfortably, still unable to pinpoint the source of

  her disturbing feelings. Avoiding her friends' gaze, she took off her

  flightsuit and removed her boots.

  Raynar glanced around. "Where are Jacen and Zekk? Didn't they come

  with you?"

  Jaina sighed and waded into the river. Once in the shallows, she dug

  her toes into the mud and pondered. This, of course, was the heart of

  the problem.

  "Our friends Jacen and Zekk opted to assist Anja Gallandro with her

  lightsaber training," Tenel Ka explained. "She already owns a weapon,

  but wishes to become more proficient in its use."

  Raynar looked disappointed. "Couldn't they have done that later?"

  "It was their choice," Tenel Ka said simply. Removing her lizardhide

  boots and armor, she plunged into the river water without the slightest

  hesitation.

  "They could have invited Anja along to go swimming with us," Raynar

  said. "It might have made her feel welcome, more at home."

  At last Jaina said what was on her mind. "Anja's been at the Jedi

  academy for weeks now, and I don't think she'll ever feel at home. I'm

  not even sure she wants to. I've tried to be friendly and show her

  around, but most of the time she just ignores me-except when she wants

  to complain about something. Like the weather: she hates the

  humidity.

  Or the food: it's not prepared properly. And our lessons: it's stupid

  to ,sit around thinking at rocks all day." Not to mention the

  entertainment: there's nothing to do on Yavin 4."

  Lowie rumbled a comment. "Indeed," Em Teedee translated.

  "Master Lowbacca has also made every effort to befriend Anja Gailandro,

  but to no avail."

  Tenel Ka surfaced and shook back her red-gold warrior braids. "I, too,

  have been rebuffed."

  "She has not spoken five words to me," Lusa said.

  Jaina sighed again. "She seems perfectly happy to spend time with

  Jacen ... and Zekk."

  "And they with her," Tenel Ka pointed out. Jaina couldn't tell whether

  or not she detected a note of jealousy in the warrior girl's comment.

  Raynar opened his mouth as if he were about to ask something, then

  seemed to think better of it. He simply said, "Oh." The blond haired

  boy looked curiously from Jaina to Tenel Ka for a moment, then added,

  "Well, I hope they know what they're doing." He flushed slightly. "I

  ... I mean, lightsaber practice with someone who isn't really trained

  in the Force can be pretty dangerous."

  Jaina looked up and flashed him one of the lopsided grins for which the

  Solos were so famous. "Zekk assured me he was just going to coach.

  And I don't think we need to worry about my brother. He's fought some

  of the most ferocious creatures alive with his lightsaber."

  She chuckled. "Including Tenel Ka."

  "This is a fact," Tenel Ka said, raising her single hand as if it held

  the rancor-tooth lightsaber hilt that normally hung at her waist. The

  warrior girl's other arm had been cut off above the elbow in a

  lightsaber training accident.

  "Now," Jaina continued, "why don't we all swim. That is why we came,

  isn't it? Anyway, Zekk and Jacen are Jedi. I'm sure they won't let

  anyone get hurt."

  "Ow!" Jacen yelped, pulling back with the hand that held his emerald

  green lightsaber. "You singed the hair off my arm!"

  A bland smile was fixed on Anja Gallandro's face, a smile that did not

  reach her large, sad eyes. She seemed not the least bit perturbed.

  "Then I guess you should have moved a bit faster, huh?"

  Zekk approached the two combatants. His intense green eyes flashed an

  emerald fire as cutting as that of Jacen's lightsaber. "That was a

  foolish risk, Ania," he said. "This practice is to learn about control

  with the weapon."

  Anja shook back the silky hair that fell to her waist. Her dark hair,

  highlighted with streaks of honey gold, was held out of her eyes only

  by a strip of leather bound about her forehead. She gave Zekk a

  haughty look. "You're just angry because I don't need to control my

  fighting, and it makes you real Jedi look bad."

  "No. That move was unnecessarily risky," Zekk said in a stern voice

  that Jacen had rarely heard him use before. "Not only did Jacen almost

  lose a chunk of his arm, but if he had been trying to hurt you, you

  left him the perfect opening to sweep back with his lightsaber like

  this"-he demonstrated with a stun stick he was holding-"slice through

  your ribs, and cut you into two neat pieces."

  Anja glared at Zekk for a long moment. He endured her gaze without

  flinching, casually set down his stun stick, and reached back to retie

  the narrow theng that kept his own hair in place at the nape of his

  neck.

  A symbolic gesture, Jacen guessed.

  Zekk's hair was as dark as his past, yet he had learned to control it,

  to put it behind him. Anja, on the other hand, often spoke with anger

  about the life she had led; she barely kept her impulses in check, just

  as her headband barely kept her hair from flowing wild. Jacen glanced

  back and forth as the tension built between his two friends.

  Finally Anja looked away and shrugged one shoulder. "You said yourself

  this was a lesson in control. I knew Jacen wouldn't take advantage of

  the opening."

  Jacen's mouth fell open in astonishment. But before he could speak, he

  saw Master Luke Skywalker emerge from the base of the Great Temple and

  gesture for him to come over.

  "I have to go talk to Uncle Luke," he said warily. "Can you two keep

  working for a few minutes without me?" He offered his lightsaber to

  Zekk and gave a tentative grin. "Without killing each other, I

  mean?"

  "I can manage that," Zekk said.

  "Anja," Jacen warned, "just remember that you can't afford to make

  mistakes like that one against a real enemy. He won't give you a

  second chance."

  She smiled her imperturbable smile. "Don't be so sure."

  Jacen shook his head. Running a hand through his disheveled brown

  curls, he trotted off to where the Jedi Master stood in the shadow of

  the rebuilt pyramid.

  "How's the training going?" Luke Skywalker asked, his eyes on Anja and

  Zekk as they began to spar again. Anja's acid-yellow blade swept out
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  in a wild and furious attack, but Zekk parried her blows easily.

  "She, urn... has her own way of doing things," Jacen said.

  "Kinda stubborn, you know?"

  "So I've noticed," Luke said. "I've spent several training sessions

  with her myself and-in spite of the talents you see in her-I haven't

  been able to sense any Jedi potential at all. She doesn't seem to make

  any connection with the Force."

  "Hey, that doesn't mean it's not there," Jacen said. "Give her some

  time. She's had a tough life. Maybe it's just hidden somehow."

  Luke pursed his lips. "Perhaps. But if it weren't for the fact that

  your father asked me to keep her here at the academy as a special

  favor, I'm not sure I'd allow her to stay. She has a deep shadow

  inside her."

  "Well, thanks for giving her a chance," Jacen said. "I'm sure you

  won't be disappointed."

  For the third time that morning, Tenel Ka replaced a cyberfuze on the

  Rock Dragon that did not need replacing. Beside her, Jaina hunched

  over the navigational console of the Hapan passenger cruiser, biting

  her lower lip. She used Em Teedee to run an unnecessary calibration

  check, while Lowbacca conditioned the already-clean outer hull with

  lubricants.

  The three of them had felt inexplicably downcast, Tenel Ka thought,

  since the previous afternoon when Jacen and Zekk had chosen not to

  accompany them to the jungle. Today, the warrior girl had risen at

  first light from an unsatisfactory sleep and performed the most

  rigorous calisthenic routine she had ever devised for herself. She had

  hoped to purge any lingering resentment from her mind ... but it hadn't

  worked.

  After that, she had scaled the outside of the huge Massassi pyramid,

  single-armed, wearing her briefest lizard-hide and using only her

  grappling hook and fibercord to assist her. This exertion had proved

  stimulating enough-and distracting enough-that she decided to go for a

  ten-kilometer run as well.

  Jaina, having just finished a long Jedi meditation, had trotted up to

  join her. Although Jaina was fresh, she was not as strong a runner as

  Tenel Ka, and the warrior girl enjoyed the feeling that she could

  outdistance her friend at any time-although she chose not to.

  As the two friends swung back toward the Great Temple on the last

  kilometer of their run, a third young woman joined them. Anja, looking

  rested and relaxed, had clearly not been out doing calisthenics this

  morning. But that did not make the situation any less irritating when

  the tanned older girl broke into a sprint and raced ahead of Tenel Ka

  and Jaina back to the Great Temple.

  It didn't help matters, either, when Tenel Ka noticed Jacen watching

  Anja with amused approval from his vantage point at the base of the

  Great Temple. She knew she shouldn't have allowed the situation to

  disturb her, but she had retreated immediately, making some excuse

  about the Rock Dragon's needing repairs. Jaina and Lowie had followed

  her. Jacen, Zekk, and Anja had not.

  Jaina had moved the Rock Dragon out onto the open landing field, and

  for the next few hours the companions had worked in a heavy silence.

  Unfortunately, the activities they normally found so soothing had

  brought no comfort today. Tenel Ka grimaced and replaced another

  cyberfuze that was in perfect condition.

  To make matters worse, her own normally well-controlled emotions were

  playing strange tricks on her. For the past several days she'd had a

  profound feeling of missing Jacen ... and Zekk, of course. It didn't

  make sense. It wasn't as if the two young men were gone, as Lowie had

  been when he'd accompanied his friend Raaba to visit the Diversity

  Alliance.

  No, Tenel Ka saw Jacen-and Zekk-every day. Yet somehow, each time she

  saw the smuggler girl Anja laughing with the two young men, most likely

  at some joke Jacen had told, Tenel Ka felt an ache that was almost

  physical.

  Perhaps a change of scenery was the answer. If Tenel Ka could get away

  from Yavin 4 for a while, it might clear her mind-and she might be able

  to escape the constant reminders that Jacen no longer spent most of his

  free time with her. She found the pain as haunting and indefinable as

  the phantom pangs she sometimes felt from her severed arm.

  Scowling, Tenel Ka touched a probe to a circuit, overloaded it to 10,

  20, 30 percent more than its capacity. The cyberfuze finally failed in

  a tiny puff of white smoke. Tenel Ka nodded with satisfaction. As she

  began to replace the component, a loud Wookiee bellow drifted in from

  outside.

  "Visitors?" Em Teedee said. "Why, whatever could he mean? We weren't

  expecting anyone, were we?"

  "I do not believe so," Tenel Ka said to the little droid. The whine of

  sublight engines filled the air around the Rock Dragon. "Perhaps we

  should investigate."

  Jaina yanked the little silver droid's leads free from the navigational

  console. "Well, then, what are we waiting for?"

  "It's Lando!" Jaina cried. Her spirits lifted even as the Lady Luck

  touched down on the stubbly grass of the landing field not far from the

  Rock Dragon. The sight of Lando Calrissian's space yacht kindled a

  sense of excitement in her that had been missing for weeks. His visits

  always meant something interesting.

  As usual, her father's old smuggling buddy made a dashing entrance.

  With a burgundy cape fluttering behind him, he seemed to glide down the

  Lady Luck's ramp, his dark handsome features lit by a dazzling smile.

  By the time he reached the bottom of the ramp and greeted Jaina and

  Tenel Ka with a kiss each on the hand, and Lowbacca with a friendly

  slap between his furry shoulders, Zekk and Jacen were running across

  the landing field toward them. Master Luke Skywalker followed at a

  more leisurely pace.

  "Hey, what are you doing here?" Jacen asked.

  "Are we going to GemDiver Station?" Zekk added. "I've never seen the

  place, but Jaina and Jacen told me all about it."

  Lando laughed. "No, not quite. I'm glad you kids are all here,

  though, because I have an invitation for you. A business proposal,

  really."

  Jaina exchanged an intrigued glance with Tenel Ka. "We are prepared to

  assist you," Tenel Ka said. Lowie rumbled his agreement.

  Lando grinned. "As it turns out, I already talked to all of your

  parents and got permission."

  :" Hey, that's great," Jacen said.

  'What is it you need from us?" Zekk asked.

  "Some professional assistance. From professional young people like

  yourselves. But it's not on GemDiver Station. I've got the coruscagem

  mining operation running pretty well by itself. Right now, I'm on my

  way to Cloud City."

  "Bespin?" Jaina said. "You still own property there?"

  Lando smiled. "At the moment, quite a lot. You know how I amalways

  looking for some new way to make credits. I decided I needed to

  diversify my holdings a bit more, so I talked to one of my old smuggler

  buddies who lives on Cloud City and we came up with the perfect

  investment."
Tenel Ka's eyebrows rose as Lando spoke.

  "Old smuggler buddy?" Jaina asked.

  "Oh, don't worry, he's completely legit now," Lando said. "He has a

  wife, two little girls, and all his investments are strictly on the

  up-and-up."

  "What do you need us for?" Zekk asked again.

  Lando went on. "Cojahn and I are starting a line of high-tech family

  entertainment and amusement centers. We're putting the first one right

  in Cloud City. We're calling it SkyCenter Galleria. Cloud City won't

  be just for gambling anymore. This place is gonna have rides,

  restaurants , shopping, the neatest and slickest holomazes, experience

  chambers ... every kind of thrill you can think of.

  "I've been interested in this sort of thing for a long time. See,

  before you kids were even born, I looked into getting a place called

  Hologram Funworld as an investment. It didn't work out, but that place

  was nothing compared to what we're building now. SkyCenter Galleria

  will have something for people of all ages, something for every human

  or alien in the galaxy."

  Luke Skywalker, who had quietly joined them during Lando's description,

  smiled. "That sounds like one of your best ideas yet, Lando.

  Do you have some thrill rides that only Jedi can test?" There was a

  twinkle of amusement in the Jedi Master's eyes.