“It was sent specifically here, to this house,” Tenel Ka said. “Someone must have wished to contact us directly.”
“But only Jaina and Chewie know we’re here,” he said, “and they went off to one of the repair docks to work on the Shadow Chaser, not to the computer fabrication facility.”
“Perhaps they changed their plans,” Tenel Ka said.
Sirra yowled, and Lowie added his own roar. “Oh my,” Em Teedee said, “Master Lowbacca and Mistress Sirra’s parents are at the facility.”
“We cannot ignore this problem,” Tenel Ka said. “We must go now and confront it. This is a fact.”
“You’re right about that,” Jacen said.
Lowie punched some buttons on the comm system controls a few times, then pounded the apparatus in frustration. “Master Lowbacca says he is unable to reply to the message,” the translating droid said. “Something appears to be wrong with communications at the facility itself. They’ve been completely cut off from outside transmissions.”
Lowie roared for his sister to summon the fastest bantha mount in the area, while he, Jacen, and Tenel Ka fastened lightsabers to their belts, ready for the worst. The four of them rushed out the door of the tree dwelling.
A shaggy bantha lumbered to their platform in response to Sirra’s frantic call. The Sullustan crouching on the beast’s wide neck appeared deeply weary, ready to go off shift—but when the two young Wookiees bared their teeth and roared that this was an emergency, the mousy alien perked up instantly. Jacen clambered aboard and reached down, offering his hand to help Tenel Ka up; she took the aid without complaint. Sirra and Lowie leaped onto the beast of burden’s back, and the bantha plodded off.
“This thing can go faster,” Jacen cried. “I saw them stampeding once on Tatooine.”
Lowie barked an order and the Sullustan urged the creature to greater speed until its pounding feet vibrated the entire wooden walkway.
High in orbit over Kashyyyk, defensive satellites bristled with weapons, designed to target on invading enemy forces. But the satellites remained silent and motionless as a disguised shuttle, drifting in place, opened its hangar bay doors so that a squadron of TIE fighters could drop out.
Weapons powered up, the Imperial fighters ignited their twin ion engines with a loud roar and streaked toward the thick forest below, flying in tight formation. The general battle plan had already been input into their computers. The Imperials intended to strike swiftly, surgically, causing the greatest damage possible in as little time as necessary. They needed to grab their prize, then vanish into space.
Kashyyyk’s defensive satellites picked up the enemy on their sensors and transmitted an urgent report, a call for action, to the control tower in the computer fabrication facility. The sensors continued to track the enemy’s flight path, but they received no arming instructions or attack confirmation from the control tower. The planet remained silent. The satellites did not fire.
Although the satellites’ weapons were inactive, the sensors continued to file data from the impending attack for future reference … if anyone on Kashyyyk survived the Imperial assault.
When the weary bantha finally arrived at the fabrication facility, Lowie, Sirra, Tenel Ka, and Jacen leaped off its back and rushed to the entrance.
The tall, spindly Tour Droid stood waiting. Seeing new visitors, it unplugged itself from a recharge port and assumed its security posture, since no guests were expected at the moment. “Halt!” it said.
“Where’s the emergency? We’ve got to get inside,” Jacen shouted.
“We are responding to the distress call,” Tenel Ka said.
Lowie and Sirra both roared an explanation, believing that the Tour Droid might respond better to Wookiee than to Basic.
“No emergency has been reported,” the Tour Droid said, its arms dangling from its shoulders like metal rods.
“There must be,” Jacen said. “We received a high-priority transmission telling us to come immediately.”
“Accessing,” the Tour Droid said as it plugged one of its dowel-shaped fingers into a computer port. It paused a moment as a blur of characters streamed across the screen. “Are you certain you have the right coordinates? Could I offer you some promotional brochures?”
“Ah. Aha.” Tenel Ka looked gravely toward Jacen. “Perhaps we have been tricked.”
“Blaster bolts!” Jacen said. Hearing a roaring sound from high above, he pointed frantically to the sky. “It looks like there’s about to be an emergency!”
Lowie tilted his head back and exposed his long fangs, howling in rage.
A wave of Imperial TIE fighters dropped out of the clouds, arrowing straight for the computer fabrication facility. Their weapons began blazing even before they arrived.
12
It was comforting to work with someone who loved machinery as much as she did, Jaina thought. Apparently she and Chewbacca were the only ones around today.
Cool breezes crept in through the open bay doors. The fresh air and the view out over the ocean of leaves made her glad they kept the hangar open. Constructed in a crown of trees rising above the overall canopy level in an outlying area beyond the Wookiee residential district and the computer fabrication facility, this hangar bay was used for major vehicle repairs.
Aside from Jaina’s and Chewie’s clanking and thunking noises as they tinkered, the cavernous, wooden-walled bay remained relatively quiet and deserted. That was fine with Jaina. She loved nothing more than relaxing with a fine piece of equipment, making the pieces fit together properly, fiddling with the components.
And the Shadow Chaser was still state-of-the-art.
When Chewbacca bellowed a request up the boarding ramp, Jaina crawled out from under the cockpit control panel she was working on and hollered back. “Didn’t get what you said, Chewie. Which tool are you looking for?”
A large hairy head appeared in the entry-way and Chewbacca pointed to the tools he needed.
“Just about done here,” Jaina said, hoisting the case up to where the Wookiee could reach. “I can finish up with my pocket multi-tool, so go ahead and take the rest of ’em.” Chewie growled his thanks as Jaina crawled back under the console.
She completed her task, reattached the access panel, and trotted down the ramp, where she found Chewbacca cleaning lubricant off the lower armored hull. He rumbled a question.
“Did you ask me if I was hungry?” Jaina asked, struggling with the Wookiee language. She grinned. “Sure. Working on mode-variance inhibitors always gives me an appetite.”
With another growl, Chewie spread his arms and shrugged.
“What are we waiting for?” Jaina interpreted with a chuckle. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Hearing a faint roar, like the sound of distant thunder, Jaina chuckled again. “Is that your stomach? You must really be hungry.”
Chewbacca suddenly went still and cocked his head, as if listening. He squinted his blue eyes. The sound came again, this time punctuated by sharp thuds like blaster bolts hitting their targets, underscored by a low-pitched buzzing Jaina couldn’t quite identify. “That’s coming from outside,” she said. “What could it possibly—”
Chewbacca held up his hand for silence. The Wookiee woofed and loped toward the hangar bay door, with Jaina hot on his heels. Outside, the treetops spread in a green and brown carpet well below the sheer edge of the hangar bay. Uprising branches held the hangar platform high above the remainder of the forest.
Peering out into the hazy sky, Jaina had no trouble identifying the overlapping sounds: explosions, blaster bolts, and a distinctive engine howl.
“TIE fighters! What would TIE fighters be doing here? And what are they firing at?” She looked at Chewbacca in alarm.