Heirs of the Force
Page 14
The TIE pilot emerged from the cockpit, his battered black helmet in
hand, the respirator hoses dangling and disconnected from his empty
emergency-oxygen supply. Although the glossy blast goggles had been
scratched and worn down during the years of his exile, he carried the
helmet proudly, like a trophy.
Oorl was ready to report back to duty "Propulsion systems check out," he
said.
"With the addition of the functional hyperdrive motor you installed I am
now able to cross the galaxy and find t'@e remnants of my Empire. This
short-range fighter could not otherwise have taken me there."
"Good work, Jaina," Jacen grumbled. She elbowed him in the ribs, and he
fell silent.
"What are you going to do with us, Oorl?"
Jaina asked the pilot. "Why go away from here? If you'd just come
back with us to the Jedi academy, everything would be all right-the war
is over."
"Surrender is betrayal!" Oorl shouted, with a surge of emotion stronger
than Jacen had seen in him before. The pilot's hand shook as he pointed
the ever-present blaster at them.
"Your usefulness to me is at an end," he said, his voice a low threat.
Jacen's stomach clenched with sudden dread. Jaina had hoped to make the
TIE fighter her own vehicle so she could joyride just like Lowie did in
his revamped T-23 But the small fighter could carry only one person: the
pilot. Oorl could never take them alone, ,., prisoners, even if he
wanted to. Would the pilot remove his last obstacles-the only witnesses
to his exile-with clean Imperial efficiency? Would he just shoot them
both and then fly off in search of his home?
Jacen desperately tried to send calming thoughts to soothe Qorl, as he
so frequently did with his crystal snakes. But it was no use: his mind
encountered the rigid wall of brainwashing that had locked Oorl's
thoughts into unchangeable patterns.
The TIE pilot looked away, and his temper seemed to lessen. Jacen
couldn't tell if that was a result of his Jedi powers or if the Imperial
soldier had simply been distracted.
"So what are you going to do with us?"
Jacen asked.
Qorl glanced back at the twins, his face haggard. He looked very old
and drained.
"You have helped me a great deal. You were the only . . . company I
have had for many years. I will leave you here alone in the jungle."
"Youtre just going to abandon us?" Jaina asked in disbelief. This time,
Jacen elbowed her in the ribs. He didn't relish the idea of being
stranded in the jungle any more than she did, but several less-appealing
possibilities had occurred to him.
"You can survive if you are resourceful", Qorl said. "I know, because I
did. Perhaps someone will find you eventually Hope is your best weapon.
It may not take twenty years for you to get home."
He pondered for a moment, holding his dark helmet in his hands. Behind
him, the repaired TIE fighter continued to purr, as if anxious to fly
again. "You are lucky to be here, safe," Oorl finally said. "I will
rejoin the Empire. But as my last act here on this cursed jungle moon,
I am going to destroy the Rebel base."
"No!" Jacen and Jaina both shouted in unison.
"It's just a school now. It's not a military base," Jacen added.
"Please don't do this!" Jaina said. "Don't attack the Jedi academy."
But Oorl gave no sign that he heard them.
He carefully placed the battered old helmet on his shaggy head and
tightened down the blast shield.
"Wait!" Jaina cried, her eyes pleading.
"They have no weapons in the temples!" She reached out with her mind,
trying to touch the pilot, but he aimed his blaster at her and backed
away.
Oorl climbed into the cockpit of the TIE fighter, eased himself into the
ancient, torn seat in front of the controls, and sealed himself in. The
twins rushed forward, pounding on the hull with their fists.
The roar of the engines increased and the repulsorlifts sent out a blast
that knocked leaves, pebbles, and jungle debris in all directions.
The TIE fighter hummed, shifted from its overgrown resting place, and
began to rise.
Jaina tried one last time to grab the hull plates, but her fingers slid
along the smooth metal. Jacen pulled her back as the TIE's engine power
increased. The exhaust shrieked through the fighter's@s cooling
systems.
The twins staggered back under the protection of one of the overarching
Massassi trees, alone and defenseless in the thick jungles.
Oorl's TIE fighter, which had lain hidden and crippled on the surface of
Yavin 4 for more than twenty years, finally rose into the air. Its twin
ion engines made the characteristic moaning sound that had struck fear
into the hearts of so many Rebel fighters.
With surprisingly skillful maneuvering and a burst of speed, Oorl's
fighter climbed up through the forest canopy and soared away toward the
Jedi academy. ----------------IN THE DARKNESS of the jungle night, Tenel
Ka plunged through tangled vines and dense, thorny thickets, hoping that
the flying reptiles would not be able to follow. She panted from the
exertion; breath burned in her lungs, but she did not cry out.
She could still hear the flap of the reptiles' wide, leathery wings
close behind her as they swooped in for the kill with their razor
talons. The raucous cties of their hideous twin heads chilled her
blood. She remembered hearing that such a beast had almost killed
Master Skywalker many years ago. How did the monsters manage to
maneuver in the crowded jungle? she wondered. Why couldn't she lose
them?
The bushes beside her hissed and rattled, and a stinger tail narrowly
missed her arm.
One of the winged monsters was directly above her, then. What could she
do?
She pushed through a narrower space between two trees and heard a thump
above her as the flying creature got stuck in the opening between the
trees. Good, she thought.
The rest would have to go around. That would buy her some time.
Tenel Ka pelted across a clearing toward the shadow of what she hoped
was another patch of underbrush, but she had misjudged the speed with
which the reptilian creatures could nagivate the jungle obstacles.
She could feel the menacing wind from their wings as one of them swooped
down directly in her path.
She sensed, rather than saw, the outstretched claws, and tried to turn
aside, but slipped on rotting vegetation and fell hard against a
fungus-covered log. She sensed a second pair of claws rip through the
air where her stomach had been only moments before. She shuddered as
twin heads cried out in rage and frustration above her, tearing at
thick, tangled twigs in the brush.
Why couldn't she remember her Jedi calming techniques when she needed
them? Why hadn't she practiced harder? She closed her eyes, sensed,
and rolled to one side as the flying monster drove down for another
attack.
The sound of dozens of wings overhead prodded her back into motion. She
rolled
onto her bare hands and knees, scrambled through some low
thombushes, pushed herself to her feet, and kept running.
Sense, she told herself. Use the Force.
Suddenly, she changed direction, as if by reflex. She didn't quite know
why she had, for she couldn't see where she was going in the thick
night, but she knew she was right.
Over and over, she dodged grasping talons and the thrust of stinging
tails, until she came to a thick stand of Massassi trees. At her noisy
approach, a chorus of squawks and scolding chitters erupted from the
trees ahead.
Woolamanders-an entire pack, from the sound of them. She had probably
disturbed their communal sleep. Perhaps they would be sufficient
distraction.
Tenel Ka crouched low and dove into the shelter of the close-growing
trees. surprisingly, not one of the winged monsters followed. Instead,
she heard their cries as they circled above and, deprived of their
initial prey, hunted the woolamanders instead. The flying creatures
screamed their blood lust, and the voices of the terrified woolamanders
became fierce and defiant as the battle raged in the branches far
overhead.
Sweat, twigs, leaves, and dirt clung tp Tenel Ka's red-gold hair. She
shook her head to clear it. She was almost certain that through the
racket, she had somehow heard a faint, familiar voice.
"Oh please, do be careful. My circuitry is extremely complex and should
not under any circumstances be-" The voice cut off a moment later with a
tiny wail. Then there was a thud as something hard landed beside Tenel
Ka's foot.
"Em Teedee, is that you?" she said. She groped around on the ground
and picked up the rounded metallic form.
"Oh, Mistress Tenel Ka, it is you!" the little droid cried. "I shall
be eternally grateful to you for this rescue. Why, you have no idea the
ordeal I've been through," he moaned.
"The poking, the prodding, the shaking, the tossing. And such a
dreadful-"
"My night has been no more enjoyable than yours," Tenel Ka interrupted
drily.
"Listen!" Em Teedee said. "Oh, thank goodness! Those dreadful
creatures are leaving."
Tenel Ka didn't know whether Em Teedee was referring to the woolamanders
or the giant flying reptiles, but she realized that the sounds of the
overhead battle were moving farther and farther away through the canopy.
"We must make our escape immediately, Mistress Tenel Ka."
"We can't. We'll have to wait until morning.
Can you keep a watch out tonight while I sleep?"
"I'd be delighted to keep a watch for you, Mistress, but must we spend
the night here?"
it Yes) we must," Tenel Ka snapped, defensive now that the worst danger
was over. "I need to wait until daylight so I can climb a tree and find
out where we are."
"Oh," said Em Teedee. "But whyever should you want to do something like
that?"
Tenel Ka growled, "Because we're lost in the jungle. This is a fact."
"Oh, dear-is that all that's bothering you?" Em Teedee said. "Why
didn't you say so? After all, I am fluent in six forms of
communication and I am equipped with all manner of sensors:
photo-optical, olfactory, directional, auditory-"
"Directional?" Tenel Ka broke in. "You mean you know where we are?"
"Oh, most assuredly, Mistress Tenel Ka.
Didn't I just say so?"
She groaned and shook her head. "All right, Em Teedee, let's go. Lead
on."
Tenel Ka's spirits were brighter than the twin beams that shone from Em
Teedee's eyes and lit her way along the forest floor. As annoying as
the little droid could be, she was glad of his company. Em Teedee
seemed genuinely interested in hearing all that had.
happened to her since the TIE fighter pilot had tried to capture them
that afternoon. In turn, she found herself enjoying his descriptions of
the T-23 crash and his adventures with the woolamanders. She wondered
what had happened to Lowbacca, and to the twins.
They stopped only a few times, so that she could drink or check the
dressing on her minor wounds. Using rudimentary first-aid supplies she
kept in her belt, she had bound up the claw scratches on her arm and the
gash on her leg. The wounds throbbed and burned, but did not slow her
down. She jogged much of the way, and kept to a fastpaced march even
when she needed to rest.
The distant white sun of the Yavin system was bright in the morning sky
when Tenel Ka and Em Teedee finally broke through the last stand of
trees into the cleared landing area.
The sun-warmed stone of the Great Temple glowed like a welcome beacon in
the distance.
"Oh, we made it!" Em Teedee said joyfully.
Tenel Ka looked around and saw in the center of the clearing a ship that
she recognized well: the Millennium Falcon.
Running toward the modified light freighter at full speed were two
Wookiees, one large and one smaller, and Jacen and Jaina's father, Han
Solo. She guessed immediately what mission they were on and changed her
course toward the Falcon, waving and shouting as she ran.
Overhead, she heard the bone-chilling howl of a fast-approaching TIE
fighter. She put on another burst of speed toward the ship.
But Solo and the Wookiees did not see her.
In their hurry to rescue Jacen and Jaina, the three scrambled up the
ramp of the Falcon.
They must have kept the engines idling to keep them warm, she figured,
for she could hear their whine.
Tenel Ka wanted to help rescue the twins; she couldn't let them down
again. "Call them, Em Teedee , she said, pouring on a last burst of
speed, though her legs already trembled with exhaustion.
Em Teedee mused, "Am I to take it that you wish to communicate with
them?"
"This is a fact."
"Certainly, Mistress. I would be delighted, but what shall-" "Just do
it!" She gritted her teeth and sprinted as fast as she could.
Suddenly Em Teedee's voice boomed at top volume through the clearing.
"Attention, Millennium Falcon. Please delay departure momentarily " to
take on two additional passengers.
Tenel Ka didn't even mind the ringing in her ears when she saw the ramp
of the.
Millennium Falcon lower. At full tilt, she ran up the ramp.
"Okay," she gasped, collapsing to the floor in the crew compartment.
"Let's go!"
Han Solo and the two Wookiees looked at her in amazement for an instant,
but no one needed any further urging. Even as she spoke, the hatches
sealed, and with a surge of defiance the Millennium Falcon took off.
------------------:
QORL FLEW HIS single fighter at top speed over the thick jungle canopy.
The rushing air of Yavin 4 screamed around the TIE fighter's rounded
pilot compartment and the rectangular solar arrays. He remembered his
days as a trainee. He had been an excellent pilotone of the best in his
squadron-soaring through mock battles and enforcing the Emperor's
unbending will.
Air currents buffeted him, and the pilot reveled in the sensation of
vibrating power that pulsed through the fightees engines, along with a
sense of freedom and liberation after so long an exile, buoyed him.
Oorl watched the knotted green crowns of Massassi trees flowing beneath
him in the storm of his ship's passage. With his thickly gloved, badly
healed arm, he found it difficult to control the Imperial craft-but he
was a fighter pilot. He was a great pilot. He had managed to land his
ship, despite grievous engine damage, under heavy enemy fire.
He had survived undetected in hostile tenitory for two decades.
Now, flying low over the trees to avoid notice from any possible
defenses at the Rebel base, Oorl felt his memories, his ingrained skill,
come flooding back to him.
The Empire is my family. The Rebels wish to destroy the New Order. The
Rebels must be eliminated-ELIMINATED!
His greatest advantage was surprise. This attack would come out of
nowhere. The Rebels would be expecting nothing. He would streak in
with all weapons blazing. He would level the Rebel base structures,
blast them into rubble. He would kill all those who had conspired to