Under A Black Sun Trilogy

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Without a second thought, he dispatched orders that would neatly

  dispose of Han Solo's twins and their companions. He had scores of

  operatives already in place on Bespin who would be eager for the extra

  assignment, the overtime pay.

  Rubbing his hands together, Czethros moved on to the next challenge.

  He fixed a smile on his face and signaled his receptionist droids that

  it was safe to begin admitting regular visitors. Czethros and his

  shipping company were now open for business.

  He had a skill for presenting a polite and friendly facade to

  prospective customers, but it remained quite an ordeal for him. He

  hated to smile.

  Soon, Czethros hoped he would never have to feign a smile again.

  Lando, Jaina, and Zekk worked on the Lady Luck, preparing it for a

  quick journey to the Bith homeworld of Clak'dor VII. Though Jacen,

  Lowie, and Tenel Ka would remain on Cloud City to continue the local

  investigation, they helped with the flight preparations. Anja,

  however, kept to herself and was nowhere to be found.

  "Sorry I can't take you all with me," Lando said, wiping a smudge of

  lubricant off his burgundy cape. "But it's a long shot tracking down

  that band. They definitely went to Clak'dor VII, but they're on the

  run, and I don't want to waste precious time in case-" Jacen said,

  "Don't worry about us here, Lando. We've got plenty of investigating

  to do on Cloud City."

  "Can't wait to compare notes when we get back," Jaina said.

  "Hey, Em Teedee," Zekk called, tying back his long, dark hair, "did you

  go over our route to the Bith homeworld? We don't want to get lost on

  our way there."

  "Why certainly, Master Zekk," the little droid said. "I checked and

  double-checked all of the coordinates and ran an algorithm to ensure

  that the navicomputer had chosen the proper course, free of any serious

  natural hazards. The Lady Luck and I are on very cordial terms."

  "Clak'dor VII isn't a place many people go by choice," Lando said.

  "I've been to more planets in this galaxy than I can name, but I don't

  ever remember setting foot on that world."

  "The musical prowess of Bith band members is renowned throughout the

  New Republic," Tenel Ka said. "They travel widely, taking their

  entertainment talents to numerous venues. There is little reason to

  travel to Clak'dor VII to hear Bith music, since their bands are easily

  found in many fine establishments."

  "Not to mention some pretty seedy ones," Zekk pointed out, remembering

  the Mos Eisley cantina.

  "Well, I think it's mighty suspicious that they packed up in such a

  hurry and left Cloud City right after Cojahn vanished. We need to

  track down Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes and see what they can tell

  us."

  Wisps of high-flying clouds mixed with pink and tan vapors swirled

  around the open dock. Holding on to anornate side strut on the Lady

  Luck, Jaina gazed out at the broad empty landscape of clouds and

  sunlight and sky.

  Hearing someone approach, she turned around with surprise when her

  brother said, "Hey, it's Anja!"

  They all glanced up to see the tall, muscular girl lounging against the

  docking bay door. "Yeah, I wanted to see you before you guys left."

  She shrugged her tattooed shoulder. "I didn't want you all to think I

  was hot-tempered or anything."

  Recalling the girl's outburst, Jaina raised her eyebrows. To Jaina's

  now-alert eye, the young woman seemed cheerful and energized, her

  enormous eyes bright, the pupils wide. Lando absorbed all these

  details with a slight nod, as if it confirmed his suspicions about

  Anja's use of andris spice. But he made no comment.

  Lowie growled something and Em Teedee translated, completely missing

  the Wookiee's sarcasm. "Master Lowbacca wonders whatever could have

  given us that idea, Mistress Anja."

  "Sometimes my ... enthusiasm gets the best of me," Anja said.

  "I think she's apologizing," Zekk said in a stage whisper.

  Jaina shot a teasing glance at her dark-haired friend. "Let's not get

  carried away, now."

  "Don't push it, kids," Lando warned. "She's apologized ... in her own

  way."

  Anja narrowed her huge eyes. "All right. I'm sorry. Is that clear

  enough?" She crossed her arms over her chest and stood with forced

  relaxation, though Jaina could see her tensed muscles. A sheen of

  sweat sparkled on her forehead, darkening the leather headband. Her

  skin was flushed as if she were overheating, bursting with energy, but

  Anja kept herself under tight control.

  Lando banged on the outer hull of his space yacht. "Ready to head

  out.

  Let's see what we can learn from that Bith band." He bowed low and

  gestured up the boarding ramp for Jaina. "My lady Jaina, Master Zekk,

  if you'd be so kind as to board our conveyance?" He flashed a bright

  grin at the companions remaining behind. "Next stop, Clak'dor."

  As Jaina climbed the steep ramp she turned to Zekk. "Hope you brought

  your swamp boots along."

  Zekk grinned back at her. "And my bug repellent."

  Lando followed them up and cast a glance over his shoulder to Jacen,

  Tenel Ka, Lowie, and Anja. "See? The Bith live in a marvelous

  place.

  Don't you guys wish you were coming along?"

  "Gracious no! I can assure you that we will do our utmost to put our

  time here to valuable use," Em Teedee answered quickly.

  "Sure, but I do kind of like Bith music," Jacen said.

  Anja waved a dismissive hand and looked bored. "I prefer Ishi Tib.

  Besides, you've heard one swamp band you've heard 'em all."

  Jacen looked up at the clean white trappings of Cloud City, the ornate

  embellishments even on the docking bay balcony; he thought of the fine

  towers, the culture, and the beautiful sky rodeo rehearsal they had

  seen the night before.

  "I guess we'll just have to rough it here," he said with a feigned

  sigh.

  Clak'dor VII had once been a paradise, perfectly suited for organic

  carbon-based life and thriving with countless species. But centuries

  of ecological damage and intercultural warfare among factions of the

  Bith race had ruined the world.

  "Looks like a muddled mess," Zekk said, looking out the Lady Luck's

  front windowport as they approached.

  "A long time ago there was a pretty nasty conflict here," Lando said.

  "Two rival groups disagreed on the decision of a private

  arbitrator-that's the way the Bith solve problems-and both factions

  unleashed biochemical weapons, strange viruses, and mutation gases that

  all but ruined this world's ecosystem. The planet has settled down

  some, but it'll be thousands of years more before it completely

  recovers."

  "I read in the database that most Bith cities are enclosed in sealed

  domes and the people stay inside," Jaina said.

  "Is that where you think we'll find Figrin D'an and the band?"

  Zekk asked. "Inside a dome?"

  "Not a chance," Lando answered. "It wouldn't be that easy. My sources

  tell me they're in complete isolation, outside the protective domes.r />
  I've already sent tracers out. Remember, the Modal Nodes are scared

  and on the run. Fortunately for us, they're not overly bright about

  hiding their tracks."

  "Huh. I thought Biths were intelligent," Jaina said, thinking of their

  enlarged pink heads and their highly developed craniums.

  "It varies," Lando said. "That Figrin D'an is a die-hard sabace

  player. I should know, since I've played against him quite a few

  timesand so has your father, Han. Figrin recently spent a bunch of hot

  credits, registered some property, and bought wilderness supplies. It

  seems he and the rest of the band have gone into hiding on one of the

  dense bayous."

  "Good thing we brought our swamp boots, huh?" Jaina said with a

  sidelong glance at Zekk.

  "I've got the coordinates of where they've gone," Lando said as he

  arrowed toward the swirling mud-green landmass to the south.

  "If they're so scared and so anxious to hide," Zekk asked, "how'd you

  track them down so easily?"

  Sitting in the Lady Luck's padded andornately carved captain's chair,

  Lando smiled. "I happen to know a lot of Figrin's gambling buddies

  ...

  and they know me. I called in a few favors."

  "Then it shouldn't be too hard for someone else to find him and the

  band, either," Jaina said with alarm.

  "We'd better hurry," Lando agreed. He brought the ship down low,

  cruising over a cluster of transparisteel domes protruding like giant

  bubbles from the middle of a steaming swamp. The domed city was

  surrounded by covered watercourses and an open-air spaceport. Vines

  and moss had grown over the bases of some of the hemispheres, and Jaina

  could see tiny figures and small dwellings stacked in hivelike

  structures under the protective glass.

  "We're not going there," Lando said. "I just needed a starting point,

  to orient my land coordinate system."

  The Lady Luck cruised over the encased Bith city without stopping and

  then headed southward, deeper into the mangled wilderness areas that

  had long ago been devastated.

  On a screen in front of him, Lando called up a detailed topographical

  map of the swamps and waterways. Jaina, as copilot, watched the

  progress of their flight, comparing the diagram with the sinuous creeks

  and rivers that sliced through the overgrown wasteland.

  Warm brownish water moved sluggishly around knobby tree roots and

  vine-draped spreading trees. Clumps of phosphorescent plankton drifted

  about on the broad open watery areas, their light flickering like a

  floating thunderstorm.

  "Welcome to the garden spot of Clak'dor VII," Zekk said.

  "We're close," Lando stated, scrutinizing the diagram and the numerical

  coordinates on his controls. He scowled at the unwelcoming vista of

  steamy marshes. "Now to find a place to land."

  Jaina and Zekk also scanned the area in search of a dry patch or a

  clearing. "Not quite enough docking bays on this planet," Zekk

  grumbled.

  In the middle of one broad pond, a wide area of sand rose up like a

  beached sea beast. The place looked damp, but solid enough to support

  the weight of the small space yacht. "There. Try that sandbar," Jaina

  said.

  Lando studied the clear area skeptically, using his own scanners. "I

  might get the sidewalls dirty ... but you're right. I don't see a

  better place." With a burst of repulsorjets the Lady Luck settled down

  onto the wet sand, showering clumps of mucky debris into the air and

  out over the placid surface of the pond.

  Lured by the tiny splashes, sinuous eel-like creatures swarmed up,

  snatched the tasteless morsels, and spat them back out. The eel

  creatures raised their heads up out of the murky water-though the

  "heads" were little more than jagged sucking mouths surrounded by

  circular rings of black eyes-and stared at the space yacht as it

  settled hard on the sandbar and then sat silent.

  "Looks like we'll have to walk the rest of the way," Lando said as he

  extended the boarding ramp. "Are you both wearing those transparalon

  suits I gave you?"

  Jaina looked in dismay out at the dripping, humid marshland.

  "Sure," she said. "But I doubt it'll handle all this."

  "Sometimes you've got to get a little dirty to be a real Jedi

  Knight."

  Zekk tromped down the ramp and stepped onto the sandbar, looking for

  the shallowest way to solid ground in this swamp-but none of the ground

  looked particularly solid.

  "I hope they didn't see us fly in," Jaina said, following him. "What

  if they decide to disappear even from their little shacks?"

  "We came in low and quiet," Lando said. "I doubt they saw anything.

  It's hard to see very far if you're at the water level."

  Together they splashed across the knee-deep water as glowing plankton

  clumps swirled around their boottops. The air smelled like garbage and

  overripe fruit. Unlike the air in the sanitized Climateria swamp at

  SkyCenter Galleria, the odors here were not at all pleasant.

  Jaina stepped on some round-shelled creatures that tried to scuttle out

  of the way under the mud. She grabbed on to Zekk to keep her balance,

  and he held her shoulder. The two of them sloshed along together until

  they reached a bank covered with tufted blue and yellow grasses.

  Three colorful insects the size of small birds flapped around, hissing

  and spitting tiny globs of a sticky fluid at them, which Jaina brushed

  aside. Between her fingers the fluid felt like molten spiderwebs. The

  butterfly-like things swirled in the air and flew off into the

  treetops; a large creature with a reptilian head and brightly feathered

  wings swooped down and gobbled two of the insects in a single dive.

  "Jacen would really like it here," Jaina said. "He'd have fun watching

  all this bayou life."

  "Your brother's welcome to all of it he can handle," Zekk said.

  "For me it's just noisy and distracting."

  They trudged onward as Lando consulted his electronic map. Off to

  their left they saw several haystack-sized mounds of mud and straw and

  branches. Small mammals with broad, rounded ears poked their heads out

  of the mounds, blinking their large glistening eyes at the intruders.

  Lando paid no attention, but kept walking, shoving dangling wet moss

  out of his face and ducking under spine-covered branches.

  "I've heard of popular musicians needing to hide from their fans," Zekk

  said, "but this is ridiculous."

  "Obviously there's more to it than that," Lando agreed. "It's a good

  sign."

  Dripping green and slimy swamp residue, their faces scratched by

  branches and stung by insects, the three sloshed deeper into the bayou,

  trusting Lando's sense of direction and his presumably reliable

  information on the location of Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

  At last, parting head-high tufts of bluish marsh grass and pushing the

  blades aside, Jaina looked into a clearing surrounded by knotted

  low-hanging water trees. Lando and Zekk crept closer on either side of

  her.

  In the middle of the wet, flat area stood three ramshackle
houses on

  stilts, teetering like weary swamp birds on unsteady legs. Their

  windows were small, the walls made of woven marsh grass and patched

  with thick wads of the resinous moss that hung from every tree.

  Buzzing firegnats, butterfly creatures, and fist-sized beetles flew all

  around, droning into the hot, humid air.

  Jaina heard quiet mournful notes of music drifting up from the shacks,

  as if morose band members were passing the time by rehearsing a few old

  favorite tunes.

  "Sounds like the Biths we're looking for," Zekk said.

  Lando nodded. He pushed forward into the clearing, with the two young

  Jedi beside him. "Hello! Is anybody inside there? I'm looking for

  Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes."

  The music suddenly stopped with a loud squawk. They heard clatters,

  thuds, and bumping noises, as if people were scurrying about in a panic

  inside the tiny huts. One polished pink head popped up, just barely

  visible through a tiny window opening, and Jaina recognized the

  familiar alien form of a Bith musician.

  Then the creature ducked down. Clanking and dissonant notes rang out

  from musical instruments as they were tossed aside.