Delusions of Grandeur

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Raynar studied his uncle for a second. "I believe him. He'd never

  damage his own facilities like this."

  "No, Dengar doesn't work for Tyko," Zekk agreed. "He's after Tarkona's

  bounty. He intends to bring in Boman Thul, dead or alive--it doesn't

  matter which." He frowned, his green eyes hard as emeralds.

  "I outwitted him once, but I wouldn't count on it again. Dengar's one

  of the best."

  The broad windows rattled with the thunder of Dengar's passage as he

  swooped past the administrative headquarters. As if to taunt them, the

  bounty hunter loosed another explosive... but detonated it in midair,

  so that the walls of the office buildings merely shuddered.

  Jacen looked at Raynar with concern, "Hey, we promised to keep Raynar

  safe on this trip--and it's not very safe just to sit here in an office

  while we get bombed. I think we should head for the Rock Dragon and get

  out of here. If we all leave Mechis III, Dengar won't have any reason

  to stay and cause more damage."

  Zekk looked over at Jaina. "The Lightning Rod is

  closer. We could get to my ship and harass him, create a diversion so

  the others can escape." He raised an eyebrow hopefully.

  "I could use a good copilot, Jaina . . . if you wouldn't mind coming

  with me."

  She hurried to Zekk's side. "What are we waiting for? Em Teedee, you

  go with Jacen--he's a fair pilot himself, but he and Tenel Ka may need

  your assistance getting the Rock Dragon out of here."

  The little droid floated upward in his excitement, barely managing to

  keep his new microrepulsors under control. "Oh my! This is a sobering

  responsibility--I will do my utmost not to let you down, Mistress

  Jaina."

  Jaina grabbed Zekk's hand and they raced out of the offices together,

  toward where he had docked the Lightning Rod. Jacen, Tenel Ka, and

  Raynar headed for the door as well.

  Tyko Thul stood all alone, looking sickened.

  "But . . . but I can't leave here. This is my factory planet! I got

  Mechis III up and running when all the systems had fallen into

  disrepair. I won't abandon it just because some... some vandal comes

  in shooting."

  Raynar spluttered, "But you can't stay here, Uncle Tyko--you'11 be

  killed. You've got to come with us."

  "No! I'm going down into the reinforced lower levels. I'll be

  perfectly safe there. You children go on now." Leaving his office, Tyko

  turned and jogged out of sight down the corridor.

  Jacen looked after him, but Tenel Ka gestured for them to hurry.

  "Jacen, we must get to the roof or our plans will be wasted."

  The three ran toward the nearest turbolift. Em Teedee floated after

  them, still working to control his new repulsorjets. "Wait!

  Wait for me!"

  Breathing hard, Jaina secured her crash webbing as Zekk lurched the

  Lightning Rod into the air, roaring out of the overhang-covered shipping

  area where he had landed. She glanced at the dark-haired young man as

  he worked, his gaze intent on the controls.

  "Sure is good to fly with you, Zekk," she said.

  "You seem to be making this a habit--getting into situations where I

  have to come rescue you," he said, smiling slightly.

  "Hah! I'm not half-bad at rescues either, you know. Watch it, or I

  might just turn the tables on you one of these days."

  "I don't suppose I'd mind that so much." Zekk punched the engines for a

  new surge of acceleration.

  They streaked up between tall manufacturing centers and into the open

  air. Jaina leaned forward to the cockpit windows, trying to see through

  the thick cuds of smoke.

  Dengar dropped a thermal shock-wave generator

  onto the roof of the building adjacent to Tyko's administrative

  headquarters. The weapon burned its way downward like a luminous diving

  bell, incinerating floor after floor after floor until it impacted the

  building's foundations.

  'Tll concentrate on flying," Zekk said. "You take the weapons

  controls."

  "Sounds like a plan. Let's go," Jaina said.

  As if out of nowhere, they soared in. Jaina fired the laser cannons

  without mercy, targeting the hull of the bounty hunter's ship.

  They skimmed past so close that Jaina could have kicked Dengar's craft

  if the Lightning Rod's access hatch had been open.

  Zekk sped onward, and Dengar launched after them in hot pursuit.

  Wrestling with the piloting controls, Zekk rolled the battered old ship.

  He took them into a downward loop and flew beneath his enemy, jerking

  sideways and up. Jaina could see that subconscious instincts made Zekk

  use his Force skills to dodge, but she said nothing to interrupt his

  concentration.

  Dengar followed, blasting away furiously with his ship's weapons.

  "Think he'd hold a grudge against me for what I did to him on Ziost?"

  Zekk said.

  With a touch of irony, Jaina said, "At least he's stopped damaging the

  buildings. Our goal was to distract him so the others could get away to

  safety."

  "Of course, I'd like to get away, as well," Zekk

  said. "Hang on." He headed in the direction of the smoldering buildings

  Dengat had already blasted.

  "That looks like a good prospect."

  Sagging and ready to collapse, twin skyscrapers blazed side by side in

  parallel infernos. With the bounty hunter still clinging to their

  afterburners, Zekk artowed the ship directly toward the blazing columns.

  "I've got a bad feeling about this," Jaina muttered.

  The Lightning Rod shot into the gap between the burning towers as a

  network of connecting girders broke loose. Damaged beyond repair, the

  skyscrapers began to topple ....

  Up on the rooftop, the smell of fire saturated the air. Jacen and Tenel

  Ka ran side by side, with Raynar close behind them. "There they are!"

  the Alderaanian boy said, pointing. The polluted wind rippled the

  sleeve of his Jedi robe.

  With Dengar's ship perilously close behind them, firing its blasters,

  the Lightning Rod plunged recklessly between two collapsing buildings.

  Fire and smoke raged upward as the towers crashed together, and Zekk's

  ship vanished into the inferno.

  Dengar broke off his pursuit at the last instant, hauling his ship

  around and up, away from certain death. He left the wreckage behind and

  came about.

  Tenel Ka drew a breath of dismay as the Lightning Rod vanished into the

  billows of smoke and debris. But Jacen shook his head. "I'm sure they

  made it, somehow. Zekk's too good a pilot--and I'd sense it if Jaina

  got hurt."

  "This is a fact," the warrior girl said.

  Jacen looked over his shoulder toward the stair-well, trying to locate

  Em Teedee. The little floating droid had not managed to keep up with

  them. When Dengar spotted them and soared toward the rooftop, Jacen

  forgot about Em Teedee and thought instead about their own survival. "To

  the Rock Dragon-quick!"

  The Hapan passenger cruiser sat where they had landed it on the opposite

  side of the roof. Tenel Ka sprinted along to the sheer edge, running as

  if she were simply doing her morn
ing workout. Tossing her red-gold

  braids behind her shoulders, she glanced down, observing the extreme

  height with interest. "Lowbacca would have enjoyed being up here."

  "Yeah, I'd rather he was here to pilot the ship, too. Em Teedee !"

  Jacen called. "Where can he be?"

  Dengar's inelegant ship circled low. Before they could reach the safety

  of the Rock Dragon, the bounty hunter landed defiantly at the edge of

  the roof, blocking the way.

  Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Raynar staggered to a stop, looking grimly at each

  other.

  The bounty hunter opened the hatch and leapt

  out. His shoulders were broad, and he carded two massive blaster

  cannons--each of which usually required two arms to lift, though Dengar

  easily held one in each hand. The mouth on the bounty hunter's

  bandage-wrapped face sagged like his loose-fitting clothes, which were

  dirty and stained from a thousand fights and a thousand quick repair

  jobs on his ship.

  Dengar's sunken eyes flicked from side to side as he scanned the three

  young Jedi Knights like a targeting computer assessing damage potential.

  He aimed both blaster cannons at .the companions.

  "Hostages. Expendable." He scowled. "Where is Boman Thul? Tell me."

  Raynar crossed his brown-robed arms and put on a brave face. "I am

  Raynar, son of Bornan Thul. My father isn't on Mechis III. He never

  was."

  Dengar's expression did not change. "Then you will tell me how to find

  him, or I Will begin eliminating hostages." His sallow face showed no

  sign of regret or anticipation. "I hope one of you cooperates before

  all three of you are dead."

  Around the metropolis, emergency-response droids cruised through the

  damaged areas. Smoke poured into the sky, blacker and more noxious than

  the pollution belched out by the manufacturing centers.

  Jacen and Tenel Ka exchanged glances, but no one spoke.

  Dengar waited precisely five seconds. Then he raised his blaster

  cannons, both pointing at a single target--Jacen.

  The young man's heart thudded, and his hand groped for his lightsaber.

  He wondered if he could possibly use its blade to deflect such

  high-powered explosive bolts. He was sure his uncle, Luke Sky-walker,

  could have done it.

  "You will not kill my friend," Tenel Ka said, stepping in front of Jacen

  to shield him with her body. She drew her own rancor-tooth lightsaber

  and flashed its turquoise blade. Jacen saw her lips part in a feral

  grin, filled with challenge and menace toward anyone who would threaten

  him.

  Jacen glanced over at Raynar, who stood concentrating, his gaze fixed on

  Dengar's ship. Jacen felt a ripple in the Force and instantly knew what

  the blond boy was trying to do.

  "Doesn't matter to me who I start with," Dengar answered coldly.

  He readjusted his aim toward Tenel Ka. She didn't flinch.

  Jacen added his own Jedi abilities to Raynar's, concentrating on the

  bounty hunter's ship. The craft had landed close to the edge of the

  rooftop, and its rear support pad rested . . .

  "Let this first one be a lesson to you," Dengar said. The bounty

  hunter's finger tightened on the firing stud. Defiant and fearless,

  Tenel Ka held up her lightsaber, ready to block the shot.

  Jacen squeezed his eyes shut and focused. He had to help her!

  With every ounce of his concentration, Jacen drew on the Force to nudge,

  push, shove.

  Dengar fired both blaster cannons.

  Using the Force, Jacen jostled the weapons. Both shots went wide,

  missing Tenel Ka. Behind him, Raynar was still focused on one goal.

  "And let this be a lesson to you, Dengar," Tenel Ka said. Sensing that

  she was joining her efforts to Raynar's, Jacen lent his assistance as

  well.

  Dengar's ship slid backward, scraping across the rooftop. Its rear

  support pad dropped over the side of the building. The craft tipped and

  lurched, its hull grating against the rough edge of the roof.

  The bounty hunter whirled in alarm. "What--?"

  Suddenly the rooftop door burst open. The towering bulk of IG-88

  strode out, arms extended, weapons powered up.

  Em Teedee, hovering above the assassin droid's body frame, amplified his

  normally tinny voice to a commanding boom. "I suggest you leave our

  friends alone, you arrogant bully!"

  Tyko Thul in his colorful robes confidently followed the two droids out

  onto the rooftop.

  "IG-88, I order you to protect us!" The assassin droid aimed his

  built-in weapons.

  Dengar reacted with lightning speed, whirling away from Tenel Ka and

  letting loose a volley of blaster bolts. Most ricocheted harmlessly off

  the

  assassin droid's durasteel torso, leaving cherry-red spots of absorbed

  energy.

  However, one bolt glanced off IG-88's skeletal frame and hit Em Teedee's

  outer casing. The little translating droid shrieked as sparks flew from

  his side; his optical sensors flickered wildly. Spinning in the air

  like an asteroid after a collision, he let out an electronic wail.

  IG-88 opened fire again and again, but with such precision that instead

  of blasting the bandage-wrapped human off the rooftop, his weapon

  discharges tamed one of Dengar's heavy blaster cannons to slag in his

  fist.

  Jacen remembered that the assassin droid's new programming prevented him

  from shooting down the bounty hunter outright, even to protect his

  masters. But IG-88 was resourceful enough to find alternatives.

  Behind him, Dengar's ship teetered precariously on the edge of the roof.

  Still expressionless, Dengar tossed the smoldering firearm away and

  grabbed his remaining cannon with both hands. But IG-88 targeted

  carefully with a volley of shots that blew away the muzzle of the second

  blaster, leaving Dengar unarmed.

  Then the droid bombarded the roof plates at the bounty hunter's feet.

  Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Dengar dove for his ship.

  Off balance, it groaned and tilted toward an inevitable crash between

  the buildings.

  IG-88 fired once more just as the bandage-wrapped bounty hunter

  scrambled through the hatch. Blaster bolts sizzled off the frame as

  Dengar sealed himself in.

  With a final shriek of protest, the ship fell from the rooftop.

  Jacen gasped, and Raynat raced to the edge of the building to look down.

  The ship plunged and spun, like a paving stone dropped off a cliff.

  At the last instant, Dengar managed to power up his engines and wrench

  the ship out of gravity's clutches. Spinning the craft sideways, the

  bounty hunter thundered through the narrow gaps between buildings. From

  the rooftop IG-88 launched grenades toward the stern of Dengar's ship in

  an attempt to disable the engines as he departed. The explosives fell

  short as the bounty hunter whirled and dipped, zigzagging skillfully

  along a random course.

  "No more grenades," Tyko yelled at the assassin droid. "If you can't

  bring yourself to actually destroy his ship, at least wait until he

  comes back into range, or you'll damage my buildings."

  Before Dengar could circle ar
ound and come back again, though, the

  Lightning Rod shot up out of an alleyway, gaining speed as Jaina blasted

  volley after volley of laser fire into Dengar's already damaged craft.

  "All right, Jaina!" Jacen cried. "Go!"

  Facing Zekk's unexpected and relentless pursuit, Dengar made a logical

  choice. He set course for escape, and with an angry roar, his ship

  careened into the sky.

  Standing beside Tenel Ka, Jacen watched the bounty hunter's craft jet

  upward at high speed until it was swallowed by the swirling black smoke.

  .Dengar disappeared into orbit, leaving behind the smoldering wreckage

  of his devastating attack.

  Planting one fist on each of his hips, Raynar observed the bounty

  hunter's departure with defiant satisfaction. "That'll teach him not to

  tangle with young Jedi Knights!"

  IN THE AFTERMATH of Dengar's attack, Zekk brooded, trying to find

  answers to the question that now haunted him: how had the bounty hunter

  found him? Despite this worry, Zekk was delighted when Jaina offered to

  spend two days helping him recalibrate the Lightning Rod's systems.