“Happy to help,” Jaina offered as she knelt down to poke around in some control panels. “Lowie, you’re good with computers. Give me a hand here.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Em Teedee said. “Master Lowbacca is exceedingly talented when it comes to electronic systems.” Lowie growled a response, and the miniature translating droid answered, “Of course they already know that. I was simply reminding them.”
“Could you please work on the comm systems first? When I try to transmit, all I can really manage is static,” Peckhum said, hovering behind them as he pointed out problems.
Jaina’s forehead furrowed with concentration. “Sounds like the power transmission is still working, but the voice synthesis encoders aren’t doing their jobs.”
With everyone standing around, the area was far too cramped to let Chewbacca push his way in, so the older Wookiee hung back and waited. Lowie suspected his uncle was amused to watch the two young protégés working so hard. Perhaps it reminded him of the way he and Han had worked together, fixing things again and again.
“Well,” Jaina said, scratching her cheek and leaving a smear of grime from the corroded control panels, “I expect that by the end of today we’ll have these comm systems up and running.” She smiled brightly at Peckhum, and Lowie rumbled his agreement. “Just a stopgap measure, you understand, but they’ll work.”
Peckhum shrugged. “Better than what I’ve got now. I still wish we had that central multitasking unit,” he said dejectedly. “Almost as much as I wish we knew what happened to Zekk.”
“I’m sure he’s all right,” Jaina said, but Lowie knew that she was sure of no such thing.
As Jaina tinkered, Chewbacca went to a different part of the station and roared a suggestion. Lowie readily agreed. Since it was getting toward time for midday meal, it seemed a very good idea to get the mirror station’s food-processing units up and running. Lowie’s appetite was already large, and his mouth watered as he thought of the excellent dishes they could create, even from the meager ration supplies on board.
Em Teedee tsked. “Really, Lowbacca! There you go again—always thinking with your stomach.”
Chewbacca roared an annoyed challenge, and Em Teedee’s voice became thinner, less emphatic. “You Wookiees,” the miniaturized translating droid said in quiet exasperation, “you’re all alike.”
17
Jacen had gotten distracted so many times during their scavenger hunt for the hawk-bat egg with Zekk that he would never have been able to retrace his steps through the labyrinth of Coruscant’s lower levels. Tenel Ka, however, led the way with an unerring sense of direction … which didn’t surprise Jacen a bit.
The buildings drew closer together, became more dilapidated, more ominous. The walls were dark and smeared with sickly discolored blotches that looked like centuries-old bloodstains. Jacen saw the ever-present cross-in-triangle gang symbol chiseled into the duracrete bricks or splashed on with bright, permanent pigments.
“Ah. Aha. We have found the territory claimed by the gang of the Lost Ones,” Tenel Ka said, her senses sharpened like a hunters blade.
Jacen swallowed. “Let’s hope we find Zekk soon. I’d hate to overstay our welcome if that gang is in a bad mood again.”
“I suspect they are always in a bad mood,” she observed. “They may still be angry at us for escaping them before.”
“Well, maybe they’ve got Zekk. We have to rescue him. That Norys guy seems like a bad customer.”
Something skittered along the wall behind them, an ugly spider-roach dashing for cover in a clump of slimy moss. At any other time Jacen would have rushed to study the creature, but at the moment he just wanted to be back home and safe in his rooms.
Tenel Ka looked tall and brave as she marched down the enclosed corridor. Jacen wished fleetingly that he had his own light saber, like the one he had used at the Shadow Academy. He knew the Jedi weapons were dangerous and not for play, but right now he didn’t want to play with one—he wanted it for genuine protection.
Jacen swallowed nervously and moved closer to the warrior girl, keeping his eyes on her dangling red-gold braids. Maybe humor would turn his thoughts from the sinister gang. “Hey, Tenel Ka—do you know the difference between an AT-AT and a stormtrooper on foot?”
Tenel Ka turned and gave him an odd look. “Of course I do.”
He sighed. “It’s a joke. What’s the difference between an AT-AT and a stormtrooper on foot?”
“I am supposed to say ‘I don’t know’—this is correct?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Jacen said.
“I don’t know.”
“One’s an Imperial walker, and the others a walking Imperial!”
Tenel Ka gave a sage nod. “Yes. Very humorous. Now let us continue our search.” She narrowed her cool gray eyes as they approached a corner. “Zekk is your friend. You know him best. Reach out with your Jedi powers again to see if you can sense him. These corridors have many twists and turns.”
Jacen nodded. He didn’t think his powers were strong enough to locate any person specifically—he wasn’t sure if even Uncle Luke could do that—but all he needed was a trickle of thought, an impression, a hunch. He and Tenel Ka were wandering blindly so far, anyway, and the slightest inkling would increase their odds over pure luck.
As he concentrated and closed his eyes Jacen thought he felt a tingle, something that conjured up an impression of the dark-haired boy in his mind. He pointed the way before he could have second thoughts. Uncle Luke had always taught them to follow their Jedi instincts.
He hurried to keep up with Tenel Ka as they moved down one hall, then another. The old skyscraper seemed completely empty, oppressive in its silence despite the inhabited levels far above, but Jacen felt invisible eyes watching him from secret hiding places. He trusted his Jedi senses enough to guess that this was not just his imagination.
“We are getting closer, I think,” Tenel Ka said.
They heard voices up ahead, and Jacen recognized the timbre of a clear, strong voice—a young man’s voice—though he could hear none of the words. “That sounds like Zekk!” he whispered. “We’ve found him.”
Filled with elation, suddenly dismissing all of his ominous thoughts, he rushed forward while Tenel Ka kept pace, advising caution. “Careful,” she said just as Jacen turned another corner and ran into an echoing room filled with battered furniture, half-collapsed ceiling beams, and glowpanels wired to the walls as if someone had rigged them wherever it seemed most convenient to connect electrical power. Other doors leading from the large room were closed, some blocked by crates, others jammed on their hinges.
In the middle of the room Jacen saw a young man, emerald eyes glittering in the uncertain light of the haphazard glowpanels. It was Zekk. His hair, a shade lighter than black, was fastened at the nape of his neck with a leather thong instead of hanging free down to his shoulders. Jacen had never seen Zekk’s hair like that. His friend’s clothes were also different: clean, dark, padded, as if they were a uniform—and much more stylish than the suit he had worn to the diplomatic banquet for the ambassador from Karnak Alpha.
Sitting on chairs or sprawled on ragged cushions sat a dozen tough, hard-bitten kids, all in their middle to late teens. Most were boys, but the few girls looked wild and rugged enough to take Jacen apart piece by piece, like an obsolete droid.
The Lost Ones.
“Hey, Zekk!” Jacen cried. “Where have you been? We’ve all been worried!”
Startled from his speech, the dark-haired young man drew himself up, frowning at Jacen and Tenel Ka. His green eyes flashed with momentary surprise and delight, but he quickly masked the expression with a scowl. Zekk appeared to have aged a dozen years in the few days since his disappearance.