Crisis at Crystal Reef
Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta
This one is for Catherine Ulatowski-Sidor for helping us look organized even when we’re not, for being there to catch any balls we drop, for being a careful and enthusiastic reader, and for being a friend
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Matt Bialer and Josh Holbreich of the William Morris Agency for their encouragement on this project; Sue Rostoni, Allan Kausch, and Lucy Autrey Wilson at Lucas Licensing for their valuable input; Ginjer Buchanan and Jessica Faust at Boulevard Books for their unflagging support throughout these fourteen books; Dave Dorman for his fabulous cover art on each and every book; Debra Ray at AnderZone for cheering us on; Sarah Jones at WordFire, Inc., for keeping things running smoothly; and, as always, Jonathan Cowan for being our first test-reader.
A special thanks to the many, many fans who wrote or visited us at book signings to tell us how much the Young Jedi Knights have meant to them. We couldn’t have kept going without you.
1
On the grassy landing field in front of the Jedi academy’s Great Temple, an old-model cargo ship gleamed in the morning sun. Though some might have considered the Lightning Rod little more than a junk hauler well past its prime—perhaps better suited to be hauled away as junk—it was Zekk’s pride and joy. The young, dark-haired Jedi walked in a slow circle around his ship, appraising the recent repairs with his sharp emerald gaze.
“You’re awfully attached to this scrap heap, aren’t you?” Jaina observed with good humor.
Zekk looked into her brandy-brown eyes, raised an eyebrow, and grinned. “Jealous?”
“Maybe just a little.” Jaina took a sudden interest in a minute scratch on the hull plating. “Kinda silly, I know. But sometimes I wonder if you don’t care about your ship more than, um … more than most people do,” she finished lamely.
Zekk shrugged. “Why not? Old Peckhum gave me the Lightning Rod, and he’s the closest thing I’ve got to a family. This old ship was a special place for us. I practically grew up with her, kind of like you and Jacen did with the Millennium Falcon.”
Jaina nodded and bit her lower lip. “Sure. I can understand that.”
“But there are other reasons that I care more than most people would about this ship,” Zekk went on. “Fixing up the Lightning Rod was part of my healing process after I left the Shadow Academy.” Zekk’s face grew serious as he spoke. “And the Lightning Rod was with me all through my days as a bounty hunter while we were fighting the Diversity Alliance, while I was learning to trust the Force again.”
He gave her a playful look. “Not only that, but it seems like every time I need to fix up my ship, there you are helping me.” He paused, as if searching for words. “So in a way, you—and Jacen and Lowie and Tenel Ka—are all a part of how I feel about the Lightning Rod.” Zekk reached out to push a strand of straight brown hair back from Jaina’s face.
Her cheeks turned a delicate pink. She opened her mouth as if to answer him.
“Hey, did somebody call us?” Jacen’s face appeared over the top of the old light freighter. He waggled his eyebrows comically as Lowie’s and Tenel Ka’s faces joined his, looking down at Zekk and Jaina.
Tenel Ka’s red-gold hair, part of it flowing free and part fixed in its traditional warrior braids, hung around her face and draped along the Lightning Rod’s hull. “We have completed the external hull patch as you requested, Zekk,” she announced.
Lowbacca, the lanky young Wookiee, scratched at the dark streak that ran up through his fur above one eye. He rumbled a comment as well. The miniaturized translating droid Em Teedee hovered beside the ginger-furred Wookiee’s head. “Oh, indeed, yes! The workmanship is so fine that I daresay it is virtually undetectable—except perhaps by a droid.”
Zekk smiled. “Well, thanks everyone, that’s great. But I still don’t understand why all of you decided the Lightning Rod needed an overhaul this morning. It’s not as if we’re planning a trip.”
“Well, no, not exactly …,” Jaina said, her voice trailing off. “But there is something—”
“Of course, it never hurts to look your best,” Jacen interrupted, jumping down beside his sister and Zekk.
“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said. The warrior girl leapt down to join them.
Lowie looked up at the jungle moon’s horizon above the Massassi treetops and gave an inquiring bark. Then, with a joyful bellow, he grabbed the oval translating droid, tucked Em Teedee under one arm, and dove off the side of the Lightning Rod. He somersaulted on the short grass and bounded to a standing position beside his friends.
“Well, really, Master Lowbacca!” Em Teedee scolded as he was being clipped back at his accustomed place on the Wookiee’s syren-fiber belt. “Such grandstanding could result in permanent damage to my circuits. Do be careful!”
Zekk ignored the little droid and looked at Lowie. “What did you mean when you said, ‘There he is’ just before you jumped down here?”
Jaina grinned. “Right on time.”
“Who’s right on time?” Zekk asked in confusion. “Certainly not Anja Gallandro. I haven’t seen her all morning.”
“Oh,” Jacen said, “I forgot to tell you. I checked in on her ’cause she missed morning meal. I asked her to join us, but she said she wasn’t feeling well. I believe her. She was shaking all over.”
Zekk frowned. “Spice withdrawal?”
Jacen shrugged a shoulder. “That was my guess. Funny thing is, when I asked her why she was shivering, she tried to make it into a joke. Said she’d just been thinking about what the weather must be like on Kessel this time of year.”
“Ah. Aha,” Tenel Ka said, placing her single hand on her hip. “Definitely spice, then. The spice mines of Kessel are the main source for the drug.”
“Anyway, we weren’t talking about Anja being on time,” Jaina said, getting them back on track. “Look up.”
Zekk’s face broke into a broad smile as he recognized the enormous modern freighter descending toward the landing field: the Thunderbolt.
“It’s Peckhum!” he yelled. Zekk ran out onto the flattened grass and began to wave frantically.
“He wanted to surprise you,” Jaina said above the whine of the repulsor engines as the ship descended.
“So that’s why you wanted the Lightning Rod looking her best.” Zekk laughed.
“And we got you out onto the landing field without making you suspicious,” Jacen added, his brown hair blowing wildly as the Thunderbolt approached.
By the time the modern freighter touched down, Zekk was already running toward it, yelling incomprehensible words of greeting. The moment the hatch opened, the old spacer with lanky hair and gray beard stubble started down the ramp. At the same time, Zekk jumped onto the Thunderbolt’s still-lowering ramp, bounded up, and met him halfway. Old Peckhum caught him up in a gleeful bear hug as the companions gathered beside the ship to watch.
“So, we surprised him after all, did we?” old Peckhum asked.
“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka confirmed.
Peckhum laughed. “I knew I could count on you. Now where’s this new young lady you’ve been talking about in all your messages recently?” he asked, turning to Zekk. “Anja, is it?”
Zekk gave a guilty start, then glanced at Jaina to see if she had noticed. She seemed to be studying something in the grass at her feet. Zekk turned back to the old spacer. “Urn, she’s not feeling very well. You’ll meet her later, Peckhum. But meanwhile, come on into the Jedi academy. I’ve got a lot to tell you.”