“Believing that peace is impossible—that you can’t change—is what keeps your war going,” Jaina said.
“That’s a surefire way to fail,” Jacen said.
“It’s true,” Zekk said. A look of pain flashed in his emerald eyes. “You have to be willing first—willing to do things a new way, willing to look forward instead of back.”
“And speaking of willing,” Han said, “our offer still stands. If you’re willing to forget the word ‘impossible,’ we’re willing to help out in any way we can.”
Elis closed his eyes tightly, his face etched with grief, as if he were reliving decades of murder, destruction, and hopelessness in his mind.
“What do you say, old man?” he said, turning toward Ynos without opening his eyes. “Are we willing?” A single tear escaped from beneath one lid.
Ynos’s voice was rough with emotion. “Our way has helped no one—except for those who sold us weapons. I do not know how we can make this change. But, yes, I am willing.”
Elis opened his eyes. “Where do we begin?”
Anakin’s face lit up as he considered the problem. “I think I just might have an idea.”
20
When the young Jedi Knights began cleanup operations on Anobis, they realized it wasn’t exactly the type of battle they were accustomed to fighting… but it was a battle nevertheless.
The nondiscriminating weapons planted by both sides had taken countless victims, and not just soldiers in battle. Many of the deadly traps had been set years, even decades before, and continued to take their toll, as much in terror as in blood.
Jacen doubted the planet’s scars would ever vanish—completely, but with the temporary cease-fire brought on by grief and despair, the wounds might at least begin to heal.
Han Solo came back from the Millennium Falcon in the landing grotto. He rubbed his hands briskly together and smiled at his children. “Well, I just sent out a message, summoned a little help from a few friends.”
“We can use all the help we can get,” Zekk said.
Han gave one of his famous wry smiles. “You saying a couple of Jedi Knights can’t handle everything?”
Lowie stood tall among them, chuffing a suggestion. Em Teedee translated. “Master Lowbacca believes that perhaps some of the key commandos from each side could help us locate the booby traps that were planted.”
“If they can remember,” Jacen said. “There are so many of them.”
“Then we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Jaina observed. “What are we waiting for?”
While the others went off on separate missions, Jacen and Zekk made their way to the dangerous mining tunnels. Accompanied by Anja and two downcast farmers they searched for hidden sonic punchers.
Many times, farmers had slipped into the mining tunnels from the cliff face, and so Jacen, Zekk, and Anja, and the others climbed down the steep mountain path outside and entered through the boarded-up entrances to played-out shafts.
They moved along holding shining glowsticks that bore an eery resemblance to miniature lightsabers. The pale, cold light spilled ahead of them into the passageways. The farmers blinked, warily looking in both directions. Anja followed, tense and seething, lips pressed together, as if she could barely resist the urge to pull out her ancient lightsaber and strike these enemies down. But she contained her anger and focused on disarming the hidden traps.
“We haven’t worked these tunnels for years.” Anja narrowed her sad eyes at the farmers. “It would have been foolish to plant a sonic puncher here.”
The two young men looked sheepishly at each other. “We don’t know much about your work,” one said. “We just planted the punchers wherever we could.”
They turned a jagged corner to a branching of dark tunnels. The glowsticks shone ahead, but pushed back the shadows only a small distance.
“Wait,” Zekk said, holding up his hand.
Jacen felt his senses tingling. “Down there,” he said, pointing to the left.
One of the farmers shook his head. “No, we didn’t go down there. I’m sure of it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Zekk said. “We sense danger down there.”
“Could be an older trap,” one of the men suggested.
“Old or new, we have to get rid of them all,” Jacen said. “You three stay here.” He and Zekk edged forward, pushing the glowsticks into the ominous tunnel.
“Quiet,” Zekk cautioned in a whisper. “Sonic punchers are activated by disturbances in the air. If we get too close, we’ll set it off.”
Despite their warning to stay back, Anja came up behind them. “How are you going to get rid of it? Once a puncher is activated, no one can get close without blowing it up.”
“Maybe we can,” Jacen murmured, raising an eyebrow. For some reason, he wanted to impress Anja. He saw sweat darkening the leather headband she wore and heading on her forehead. He and Zekk stood shoulder to shoulder, looking deeper into the darkness.
“Our Jedi senses can do the searching for us,” Zekk said in a low voice. He turned to his friend. “Are you up to it?”
Jacen nodded. Calming himself, he reached out with his mind, and used the extra eyes and ears the Force gave him. He could tell Zekk was doing the same. They scanned into the dimness of the tunnel, locating rocks, crystalline formations, rubble piled at the bottom of the channel. His mind moved in farther. He breathed slowly, feeling his heartbeat. Blood pounded in his temples.
There. He sensed something wrong, an object out of place… a device that didn’t belong in the rocky debris.
“Found it,” Jacen said.
“Me too,” Zekk answered.
With his mind Jacen ran invisible fingers over an outer metal casing, glittering controls, and finely tuned sensors just waiting to be triggered by an unexpected motion in the air.
“Careful,” Jacen whispered. “Help me lift it out.”
They used the Force, stretching out together with their minds, to move the rubble gently away from the weapon. This small device contained enough power to crack open fissures in the tunnel walls and bring the entire ceiling down.
Anja came up close behind them. “Maybe you should just detonate it in there,” she said. Her soft words startled Jacen, nearly making him lose control of his concentration. He could feel her warm breath on the side of his face and neck. “Throw a few rocks down the tunnel and set it off.” Zekk glanced back over his shoulder toward her. “No. We may need to explode some of them, but I think we can do most of the punchers our way. There’s been enough damage already.”
Working as a team, they used a silent Jedi mind grip to lift the sonic puncher, carefully raising it off the floor. Just then, a loose rock fell from a pile and clattered to the floor. The sound was like thunder, and the vibration was enough to activate the trigger.
“No!” Jacen cried. With his mind he clamped onto the distant controls, freezing the mechanism.
Zekk reacted in a different way, lashing out with the Force to rip circuits free inside the detonator, deactivating it forcibly. An instant later his face fell, as if he was ashamed of himself “You found a better way, Jacen.”
“Either one would have worked,” Jacen said. “Just let the Force guide you, and stay calm inside.”
Together they walked into the tunnel and picked up the now-inert sonic grenade. Jacen handed it to Anja. “A souvenir for you. Our first success.”
“Fine,” she said, and looked skeptically at it. “But don’t get cocky. I hear we’ve still got about forty to go.”
Lowbacca reveled in being in the forest again, despite the hidden traps and dangers he knew waited for them there. Tenel Ka trotted at his side among the silvery trees. A few miners and farmers came with them, trying to recall where each group had planted weapons.
They stopped at the edge of a pristine-looking meadow, with its colorful wildflowers like fireworks among the grasses. Tenel Ka marched immediately to where the holographic generator covered a spike-filled pit. She picked up a rock and threw it. They all watched as it vanished into the lush grasses. The camouflage hologram rippled with a flicker of static, then returned to its serene appearance.