As the whine of the T-23 skyhopper faded into the jungle distance, the frightened forest creatures settled back into their routines. They scuttled through the underbrush, chasing each other across the branches, predator and prey. The leaves stirred and flying creatures sent their cries from treetop to treetop, forgetting the intruders entirely.
Far below on the forest floor, the branches of a dense thicket parted. A worn and tattered black glove pushed a thorny twig aside.
The pilot of the crashed TIE fighter emerged from his hiding place into the newly trampled clearing.
“Surrender is betrayal,” he muttered to himself, as he had done so many times before. It had become a litany during his years of rugged survival on the isolated jungle moon of Yavin.
The pilot’s protective uniform hung in rags from his gaunt frame, worn to tatters and patched with furs from an incredible number of years living alone in the jungle. His left arm, injured during the crash, was drawn up like a twisted claw against his chest. He stepped forward, cracking twigs under his old boots as he made his way to the crash site that was no longer secret. He had camouflaged the wrecked Imperial craft many years ago, hiding it from Rebel eyes. But now, despite all his work, it had been discovered.
“Surrender is betrayal,” he said again. He stared down at his fighter, trying to see what damage the Rebel spies had caused.
10
Over the next few days, Tionne increased the complexity of the young Jedi trainees’ assignments, and the four companions practiced fine-tuning their control of the Force.
Jaina, Jacen, Lowie, and Tenel Ka found excuses to return again and again to the site of the crashed TIE fighter. With Jaina as the driving force, they took on the repair project as a group exercise—but they always managed to work in any assigned practice sessions during their jungle expeditions.
Although the idea was not flattering, Jaina was forced to admit that part of her motivation for this work was her envy of Lowbacca’s personal T-23—she wanted her own craft to fly over the treetops. But she was also drawn by the challenge the wrecked TIE fighter represented. Its age and complexity offered a unique opportunity for learning about mechanics, and Jaina could not turn it down.
But the strongest reason for taking on the project—and perhaps the one that kept them all working without complaint—was that it forged a bond among the four friends. They learned to function as a team, to make the most of each person’s strengths and to compensate for each other’s weaknesses. The strands of their friendships intertwined and wove together in a pattern as simple as it was strong. This bond included even Em Teedee, who learned to make verbal contributions at appropriate times and was gradually accepted as a member of their group.
Jaina spent most of her time overseeing the mechanical repairs, while Lowbacca concentrated on the computer systems. Jacen had ample opportunity to explore and to observe the local wildlife as, officially, he “searched” through the nearby underbrush for broken or missing components; he also made quick supply trips back to the academy in the T-23 for parts that Jaina or Lowbacca needed. Tenel Ka worked with quiet competence on any task that needed doing and was especially valuable in lugging new metal plates to patch large breaches in the TIE hull.
“Hey, Tenel Ka!” Jacen said. “What goes ha-ha-ha … thump!”
Her gray eyes looked at him, as lustrous as highly polished stones. “I don’t know.”
“A droid laughing its head off!” Jacen said, then started giggling.
“Ah. A-hah,” Tenel Ka said. She considered this for a moment, then added without the slightest trace of mirth, “Yes, that is very funny.” She bent back to her work.
From time to time Lowie climbed to the top of the canopy to meditate and absorb the solitude; the young Wookiee enjoyed his time alone, sitting in silence. Tenel Ka occasionally took short breaks to test her athletic skills by running through jungle under growth or climbing trees.
But Jaina preferred to stay with the downed TIE fighter, examining it from every angle and imagining possibilities. She considered no bodily position too difficult or undignified to assume while repairing the craft.
Jaina tucked her head under the cockpit control panel, with her stomach supported by the back of the pilot’s seat. Her backside was sticking high in the air and her feet were kicking as she worked, when she felt a playful poke on the leg.
She extricated herself from the awkward position. Lowie handed her a datapad into which he had downloaded the schematics and specifications for a TIE fighter, taken from the main information files in the computer center back at the Great Temple. Jaina studied the data and looked over the list of computer parts Lowbacca needed.
“These should be pretty easy for Jacen to find,” she said. “I have most of them right in my room.”
Em Teedee spoke up. “Master Lowbacca wishes to know which systems you intend to concentrate on next.”
Jaina’s brow furrowed in judicious concentration. “We’ve already decided we won’t be needing the weapons systems. I think the laser cannons work fine, but I don’t intend to hook them up. I suppose the next step might be to work on the power systems. I haven’t done much with them yet.”
Jacen and Tenel Ka trotted up to join the discussion. “You will need the other solar panel,” Tenel Ka said. “Up in the tree.”
Jacen cocked an eyebrow at her, using Tenel Ka’s own phrase. “This is a fact?” Tenel Ka did not smile, but nodded her approval.
Jacen folded his arms across his chest and looked pleased with himself. “Does anyone remember the assignment Tionne gave us for today?”
“Cooperative lifting with one or more other students,” Tenel Ka stated without hesitation.
Jaina clapped her hands and rubbed them together, scrambling out of the cramped cockpit. “Well, then, what are we waiting for?”
The process was much more difficult than they had anticipated, but in the end they managed it. Lowie and Tenel Ka climbed up into the tree to clear away the moss and branches that held the panel in place. Tenel Ka secured it with the thin fibercord from her belt, while Lowbacca added sturdy vines to help support the heavy slab. Jaina and Jacen watched from the lower branches of the tree, craning their necks to see.
“Everyone ready?” Jaina asked. “Okay—now concentrate,” she said. She gave them a moment to observe the solar panel glittering in scattered light from the sky. They studied the piece of wreckage, grasping it with their thoughts.
“Now,” Jaina said.
With that, four minds pushed upward, nudging. In a gentle, concerted motion they lifted the panel free of the branch where it had rested for decades. The large, flat rectangle wobbled in midair for a moment and then began to slowly descend. Tenel Ka kept her fibercord taut, easing the Force-lightened object down.
Together, they brought it to rest a few branches below where it had been. Tenel Ka and Lowbacca untied the vines and the fibercord from the higher branch, climbed down, and retied the strands to the branch on which the panel now rested.
The process was not perfect. Mental coordination among the four friends proved difficult, and they each lost their grip more than once. But the vines and fibercord held, preventing a disaster.
By the time the exhausted companions brought the panel to the jungle floor and carried it to the crash site, all of them were panting and perspiring from the mental exertion.
Jaina sank down beside the TIE fighter with a weary groan. She flopped backward in the dirt and leaves, not caring for the moment that her hair would become as disheveled and full of twigs as her brother’s usually was.
Lowie tossed them each a packet of food from the basket of supplies they brought with them every day. Jaina’s packet landed on her stomach, and she rolled onto her side with a mock growl of indignation. As she faced a hole in the side of the broken TIE fighter, a sudden thought occurred to her.