Under A Black Sun Trilogy

by Kevin J. Anderson

inside the huge cloud like tiny explosions.

  Jacen spotted several black shapes circling the outer surface of the

  great storm. M'kim seemed more uneasy now, and the thranta gave the

  thunderhead an even wider berth.

  "Are those more thrantas?" Jacen said, pointin, to the other large

  flying creatures that seemed drawn by the discharges from the storm.

  "No. We have to stay clear," M'kim said. "Those are velsers."

  Jacen watched with a mixture of dread and fascination. He'd heard of

  the sleek, fast-flying predators on Bespin that could swoop in and rip

  apart their prey with rows upon rows of ja,ged teeth.

  "If those velsers see our thranta," M'kim said, "we're done for."

  "But why are they so close to the storm?" Jacen asked. "Isn't it

  dangerous for them?"

  "Velsers are always attracted by storms. I think the lightning

  discharges give them some kind of energy." With a nervous chuckle,

  M'kim shrugged again. "All I know is that I don't want to get close

  enough to one to find out." Though Jacen would have loved to see such

  a spectacular creature up close, he realized that would be foolish. He

  had already come too near to death for one day.

  They climbed higher and swept past the thunderhead. The velsers didn't

  notice them, and Jacen could sense M'kim relaxing. Jacen patted the

  side of the thranta. "Good work," he whispered, though he had no idea

  if the creature could hear him.

  Finally, he spotted the gleaming metropolis of Cloud City up ahead.

  Lights spangled the sides of its hemispherical dome. The thranta drove

  toward it, and Jacen drew a deep breath. He couldn't remember ever

  seeing such a beautiful sight in his life.

  He'd survived his ordeal-and he fervently hoped that Lowie and Tenel Ka

  had survived theirs as well.

  Flanked by a stoic Lowbacca and a disturbed but aloof-looking Anja,

  Tenel Ka waited for the Lady Luck to cruise back into the docking port

  on Cloud City. Feeling her stomach muscles knot, she closed her

  burning eyes and tried to face down the fear inside.

  The prospect of doing this, of telling Jaina Solo that her brother had

  been killed, was more frightening than any battle or other ordeal Tenel

  Ka's Jedi training had put her through.

  The warrior girl's throat was tight. Though she and Lowie had almost

  died in the same assassination attempt, she still felt there must have

  been something more she could have done to keep her friend Jacen

  alive.

  She was a Jedi! But she had failed him.

  Another more subtle failure haunted her as well. Tenel Ka had always

  believed that the connection between her and Jacen was so close, so

  strong, that she would be able to sense if any harm came to him.

  She should have felt it through the Force the instant he died-but she

  hadn't. Instead, her emotions had betrayed her, taunted her with the

  hope that Jacen had survived somehow. She even imagined she'd heard

  his voice calling out to her in her mind. But she had been delirious

  at the time, in shock from loss of blood. The Cloud City medics had

  been able to heal the wounds on her arm, but not the ones in her

  soul.

  Fleeting thoughts tormented her even now, daring her to believe that

  Jacen was still alive.

  Lowbacca fidgeted beside her, his dark lips drawn down in a frown.

  Em Teedee, silent for once, had dimmed his optical sensors in a gesture

  of respect. Anja's pale face looked pinched and she avoided eye

  contact with the others. Tenel Ka could sense tendrils of pain and

  sorrow floating like a tangible mist all around them. It was so

  difficult to face this truth.

  Jacen was gone.

  Lando's polished space yacht followed floor guidance lights as it

  landed on the platform. Tenel Ka's cool gray eyes filled with tears

  and she took one step forward to face the ship. Lowbacca put a strong,

  hairy hand on Tenel Ka's bare shoulder. Anja moved back to stand alone

  behind them. Em Teedee hung silent and unmoving on Lowie's syrenfiber

  belt.

  The Lady Luck settled in and landing clamps locked it down. Tenel Ka

  steeled herself for the fresh grief her news would bring. But just

  moments after the space yacht's landing ramp descended, a door on the

  other side of the docking bay whooshed opened. Tenel Ka turned, unable

  to believe what she saw with her own granite-gray eyes.

  Jacen himself entered the bay, looking bedraggled and dirty, but

  perfectly healthy. He grinned a weary, lopsided grin.

  "Jacen Solo!" Tenel Ka cried. "Jacen, my friend!" She bounded toward

  him, moving even faster than the Wookiee's long legs could carry him.

  When Tenel Ka fairly tackled Jacen, throwing her arm around him in a

  joyous embrace, he was nearly as astonished as the warrior girl.

  He hugged her back, laughing. "Wow! That was almost worth falling

  for."

  Lowbacca swept both of them together into a massive Wookiee hug.

  Jacen spat ginger fur out of his mouth. "Okay, okay! I'm all right,

  you big walking carpet! At least I was fine until I got into this

  pileup here."

  "But how, Jacen, my friend? What happened? How are you alive?

  How did you get back here?" Tenel Ka asked in a rush.

  Lowie roared his own barrage of questions, and Em Teedee added in a

  scolding tone, "Master Jacen, you gave us all such a fright. It was

  really terribly inconsiderate of you."

  "Thanks, Em Teedee. I'm glad to see you, too," Jacen said. "I'll try

  not to do it again."

  Lando, Jaina, and Zekk emerged from the Lady Luck, blinking in surprise

  as the other young Jedi Knights remained clustered around Jacen instead

  of greeting them upon their return from Clak'dor VII.

  "Hey, did I miss something here?" Lando said.

  Em Teedee answered for them all, speaking loudly in his tinny voice.

  "You certainly did, Master Calrissian. And you don't know the half of

  it."

  Anja came up to Jacen, trembling. He could see the relief in her eyes,

  which she tried to cover up with a bland imperturbable smile.

  "Now, this is one story I've got to hear," she said. "Don't tell me

  Jedi Knights can fly now?"

  Jaina and Zekk ran to join their friends as Lando sealed his space

  yacht behind them. "Wild trip. We got a lot of information," Jaina

  said.

  "Found out what's going on here in Cloud City."

  "Ah, we found out a few more things, too," Jacen said. "And I

  discovered exactly what happened to Cojahn on that balcony."

  Tenel Ka couldn't cover her gasp of surprise. Lowie growled.

  Lando's interest was obviously piqued. "Looks like we've all got some

  talking to do."

  Anja seemed unaccountably disturbed. She crossed her arms over her

  chest and gave Jacen a shaky smile. "You're just full of surprises,

  aren't you?"

  "Hey, never underestimate a Jedi," he said.

  As they sat together sipping hot broth drinks in a quiet cantina that

  overlooked the thranta practice for the upcoming sky rodeo, they all

  shared their separate stories.

  Lando, Jaina, and Zekk recounted what they had learned from Figrin D'an

>   and his band about how Black Sun was trying to infiltrate the workings

  of Cloud City. Tenel Ka, with additions from Lowie, told of the

  assassin attack after they had followed the fired Ugnaught construction

  boss, while Jacen described his rescue by M'kim the thranta rider, and

  how M'kim had seen a visored man with algae-green hair murder Cojahn

  ... an angry, ruthless man who was almost certainly Czethros himself.

  "But you can't prove it's Czethros," Anja said. "It's a big galaxy.

  There are plenty of other people with moss-green hair."

  "And the laser visor?" Jaina asked skeptically.

  "Certainly not enough evidence to convict anyone," Anja said firmly.

  "I prefer solid proof myself, instead of hearsay from an 'eyewitness'

  who was flying around with the setting sun in his eyes. If M'kim was

  so close that he could make out the facial features of the person who

  allegedly boosted Cojahn over the side of the balcony, how come he

  wasn't close enough to catch the man as he fell?"

  "I already explained that," Jacen said. "There were storms-" Lando

  raised a hand for peace. "It's easy enough to determine whether or not

  Czethros was here. I still have my old BaronAdministrator access

  codes. Let's just find a nice quiet business area, and we can check

  Cloud City's central computer banks. Lowie, I think you might help me

  with that."

  The young Wookiee chuffed in agreement and nodded his shaggy head.

  "We can check the records. Everyone coming in or out of Cloud City has

  to leave some sort of passport information. Docking records, passenger

  manifests, tariff documents. It'll be quite a search......

  "Czethros is kind of hard to miss," Zekk said.

  Lowie stood up from the table, his ginger fur bristling, the dark

  streak prominent on his forehead. Em Teedee said, "If I can be of any

  help, I would most gladly offer the assistance of my circuits."

  "Thanks, Em Teedee," Lando said. "Let's see what Lowbacca can find

  first."

  As the other young Jedi Knights gathered around the computer terminals,

  Lowie bounced through the public records databases, scanning for the

  name Czethros. The search ultimately turned up nothing.

  "See, he never came here," Anja said. "Your thranta rider made a

  mistake."

  "I thought you told us we were gullible," Zekk answered. "Any man

  who's got that many connections and is involved in illegal activities

  would know how to hide his tracks."

  Next, Lowie looked through docking records, credit receipts, list of

  purchases made and transmissions sent. It was a monumental task and

  required all of the Wookiee's concentration as well as the full access

  given to him by Lando's high-level security codes.

  "Sure glad you were Baron-Administrator," Jaina said. "We would've hit

  a dead end right away if you hadn't opened some of those passworded

  files."

  "We may still hit a dead end," Lando said. "Just a lot farther along

  the way."

  Anja watched, arms crossed over her chest, still skeptical. She had so

  obviously been relieved, even overjoyed, to see that Jacen still

  lived.... Now, perhaps out of embarrassment, she hid behind a haughty

  mask.

  Lowie's golden eyes narrowed in suspicion as he stared at the images

  that flickered by from docking bay holocams. He plugged Em Teedee in

  to help him monitor the data. Some of the video snapshots stuttered

  and wavered. Em Teedee suddenly blurted in a shrill voice, "Oh dear,

  these images have been tampered with! I'm detecting skillful erasures

  and fine video cuts. Most sophisticated."

  Lando watched as Lowie worked furiously, his long fingers tapping the

  controls. He growled something, and Em Teedee said, "Master Lowbacca

  is attempting to move beyond the obvious. If someone has assisted in

  covering up the arrival of Czethros, they most likely have sanitized

  recordings from the docking bay ... but they may have overlooked other

  holocams......

  Images flowed by in a rapid blur. Jaina peered over Lowie's

  shoulder.

  Everyone intently studied the screen. Finally, Lowie growled in

  triumph.

  "There! I see it, too!" Jaina said an instant later.

  "That's him," Jacen agreed. "Good old respectable Czethros."

  An external holocams from one of the Port Town gambling casinos had

  managed to catch the image of a tall man with moss-green hair and a

  narrow silver laser visor; the man emerged from a docking port and

  ducked into the shadows between buildings, trying to lose himself in

  the crowd.

  "He couldn't clean up everything," Lando said.

  Lowie froze the image and enlarged it.

  "Now do you have any doubts?" Zekk asked Anja. She avoided his gaze

  as he continued. "Any man who intentionally removes all record of his

  presence here has got something to hide."

  "It doesn't mean he murdered anybody," Anja said.

  Jacen looked at her in surprise. "Maybe not. But he was here at

  exactly the right time, in secret, and tried to erase all evidence of

  his presence from Cloud City records. We know that a criminal

  organization has been blackmailing and threatening professionals here

  on Bespina criminal organization that has ties to Ord Mantell, where

  Czethros lives. And we also have an eyewitness who says he saw

  Czethros throw Cojahn off the balcony. How much more proof do you

  want?"

  Tenel Ka nodded grimly. "Do you believe Czethros is involved with

  Black Sun criminal activities?"

  Lando frowned. "More than that, I'm afraid. From his background and

  from what I've seen here, I think Czethros may well be one of the key

  figures behind Black Sun. Worse yet," he added, "the fact that all

  these records and images have been doctored tells me that he must have

  some pretty important people in Cloud City's administration under his

  thumb."

  "Figrin said Cojahn had tried to report the danger to the authorities,

  but they never did anything about it," Zekk pointed out.

  "We've got to report this," Jaina said in a determined voice. "But

  this time to someone who'll take it seriously. If Black Sun is on the

  prowl again, we've got to do something before they get too powerful to

  stop."

  Nobody noticed how Anja jumped when she heard Jaina's words.

  With the doorlock cyber-sealed, Anja retrieved the meager luggage she

  had brought from the Jedi academy. She rummaged in the bottom of her

  case, popped out the false bottom, and removed the high-power small

  transmitter screen that she used only in emergencies. When the screen

  wasn't switched on, it looked like a portable mirror. But it was much

  more.

  Moving her fingers along the edges of the frame, she depressed buttons,

  entering a code and sending her signal. She tossed her long,

  honey-streaked hair behind her, feeling sweat prickle her scalp.

  Oh, how she needed a dose of spice right now. She had to have one

  ...

  but the need wasn't any greater than it had been all day. Anja just

  didn't know how long she could tolerate this pressure. Her personal

  supply was
nearly gone, and she didn't know what she would dounless

  Czethros came through for her. She hated to depend on him.

  The secret crime lord followed his own paths, busy setting up his own

  game. In the past, though, he had spent an incredible amount of time

  with her on Ord Mantell, taking her under his wing, training her in the

  ways of making a profit at the expense of less-vigilant people.

  Anja had connected with him in the first place because of a shared

  hatred for Han Solo. Czethros had helped her arrange the fateful

  meeting with him and the attempted ambushes on Anobis, but Han Solo had

  survived it all. Then, Solo's own children had adopted her as their

  friend.

  At first she had gone along, pretending. Anja had been most eager to

  do whatever she could to hurt Han Solo for his despicable crimefor

  shooting her father Gallandro in the back. Even though Han Solo denied

  it, Anja knew the truth. Czethros had told her what had really

  happened.

  After an interminable silence and a transmission delay, the mirror

  finally clouded, and the face of Czethros appeared. The laser-red dot

  of his optical sensor beamed through the visor that covered his face.

  His moss-green hair seemed distorted, discolored by the numerous