Jaina felt a thrill as the Shadow Chaser’s repulsorlifts boosted them off the landing field; sublight engines kicked in, launching them away from the jungle moon. The last few minutes of rushed preparation were a blur in her mind, and she looked around for something else to speed them on their way.
Lowie rumbled a question from the navigation console, and Em Teedee answered, “No, I’m certain Master Luke doesn’t need our assistance in plotting the most efficient route.”
Her uncle smiled down at the Wookiee. “We’ll be going to lightspeed in just a few minutes. Why don’t you all try to relax, get some rest.”
Jaina took a deep breath and watched the stars through the viewports—like glittering gems sinking in a depthless black sea—until each pinprick of light elongated into a starline and the Shadow Chaser made a smooth jump into hyperspace.
The three Jedi trainees found they were too excited to rest, though. They spent the remainder of the journey trying to distract themselves aboard the tiny ship. Jaina and Lowie were just about to remove an access panel to the rear thruster stabilizers to study how they worked when Luke announced their final approach to Tenel Ka’s home planet.
The three friends rushed to the cockpit. As they took their seats behind the Jedi Master, Lowie squinted and scanned the star system around them. When she saw his ginger-furred face register surprise, Jaina looked around, seeing no nearby planet that could have been Dathomir.
“That’s odd,” she said at last. “From the descriptions I’ve heard and the star charts I’ve studied, I could swear we were in the Hapes Cluster.”
Her uncle swiveled in the pilot seat and met each pair of eyes in turn.
“We are in the Hapes system,” Luke said gravely. “It’s time I explained to you that Tenel Ka is more than just a simple warrior from a backward planet.”
12
Broad-shouldered Norys, former leader of the Lost Ones gang and new stormtrooper trainee, spread his white armor on the bunk in front of him. He studied the pieces carefully, then began to assemble the glossy outfit, donning the components one at a time—and enjoying every minute of it.
The boots went on first, stiff and sturdy. Then the greaves, the shin armor, the leg plates, body armor, arm plates, and finally the flexible but tough gloves. He felt as if he had been transplanted into the body of an assassin droid, a fighting machine encased in an impenetrable shell.
Norys allowed himself a satisfied smile. This was much more impressive than anything his gang members had ever scrounged deep in the decaying alleys of Coruscant’s underworld. He had been the toughest, meanest, angriest young brute of all the gang members. But being a stormtrooper was better … so much better.
All of his former companions were also soldier recruits undergoing training. Norys fully expected to be the best among the new troops, just as he had been toughest among the Lost Ones.
On the downside, he was no longer his own boss, free to do as he wished. He had to follow the orders of the Second Imperium. But with armor such as this and the military might of those who followed their Emperor, it was all worth it. Besides, if Norys proved himself valuable enough, his rank would increase, and he’d be placed in command of more soldiers, maybe even fly a TIE fighter. Without a doubt, he would have more power and cause much more damage than he’d ever imagined when he was just a gang leader.
Things were looking up.
The last piece of his stormtrooper outfit was the hard white helmet with black eye goggles and mouth speakers. He slipped the helmet over his head and locked it into place at the neck joint. At last he stood totally encased, completely protected—no longer a disreputable bully with a grimy outfit and stolen scraps as his only possessions.
Now he was someone to be reckoned with: a stormtrooper.
Norys marched down the corridor, taking care to clomp loudly on the deck plates with his armored boots. They made such a satisfying sound.
He had memorized the layout of the Shadow Academy station and knew exactly how to get to the private training room where old Qorl, the former TIE pilot, had ordered him to report. Standing outside the sealed door, he keyed in the access code—he’d felt a private thrill when Qorl had given him the secret numbers—and waited for the computer to process his entry request.
With a hiss like an angry serpent, the door slid aside. Norys marched boldly into the shielded room, and the door sealed itself behind him.
Qorl stood inside the training chamber holding a wicked-looking spear in his black-wrapped left hand. His droid replacement arm gripped the gleaming shaft with enough force to dent the metal. The serrated head of the spear had a long central prong with two side spikes curving up like a dragon’s barbed tail.
“You’re late,” Qorl said. He cocked his droid arm back—and hurled the deadly weapon at Norys with all the strength in his robotic servomotors!
Norys stood astonished as the deadly spearpoint hurtled toward his chest plate. He just had time to cry “Hey!” in a panicked voice amplified by his helmet speakers before the barbed tip impacted squarely with enough force to smash him backward.
Norys slammed into the wall, his helmet ringing against the hard metal bulkhead. His vision sparkled with impending unconsciousness. He expected to see a spear sprouting from his heart and waited for his nerves to send shouts of mortal pain. He wanted to scream that Qorl, his supposed teacher, had betrayed him, murdered him—
But a split second later his thoughts cleared enough to hear the clatter as the spear shaft fell harmlessly to the floor. He looked down at his chest in amazement and saw only a nick in the white armor where the spear had struck.
“What did you do that for?” Norys shouted.
Qorl answered in a gruff but calm voice. “To teach you respect for your stormtrooper armor, Norys,” he said, “but also to warn you not to become overconfident. Yes, that armor is powerful enough to stop many weapons, such as this crude spear.” The TIE pilot nodded toward the jagged weapon on the floor plates.
Norys bent down to grab the spear, narrowing his eyes in rage as he looked at his teacher. The old pilot had made a fool out of him. He felt a dangerous anger boiling through his veins. He had a good mind to take the triple-pronged spear and attack the pompous old man with it.
“But don’t think your armor is invincible.” Qorl reached inside his uniform, pulled out a deadly blaster pistol, and pointed it directly at Norys. “For instance, this blaster could slice through that armor as if you were wearing nothing at all.”
Norys stiffened, looking into the ominous snub barrel of the pistol. His mind raced. What had he gotten himself into? Why was Qorl so upset with him? He wondered whether he could swing the spear, knock the blaster away, and strike down the TIE pilot. That would serve the old man right….
Qorl turned the blaster pistol around and extended it toward Norys, butt end first. “Here. This will be your personal weapon,” he said.
Norys dropped the spear to the floor and tentatively took the blaster. The pistol felt very good in his gloved grip. Qorl nodded at him. “For target practice,” he said, then went over to the controls by the door.
The gray light-absorbing walls of the windowless room shimmered.
Suddenly Norys found himself standing in a dank, dim cave with fanged stalactites dripping from the walls and ceiling. Long spikes of stalagmites rose like blunt knives from the floor. Unseen water trickled somewhere, and a pallid light seemed to ooze from the pale rock itself. Despite the room’s visible transformation, Norys could detect no change in the smell of the air through his helmet filters.