Jacen gripped the controls, feeling the blood drain from his face. Tenel Ka sat stoically through it all.
With a surge of engine power the sleek black patrol craft careened in behind them, weapons blazing once more. Jacen took a chance—an extraordinary chance—hooking left to arc around the gigantic storm system. He plunged into an outcropping of dark mist and dove into a knot of thunder clouds, hoping to lose himself in them.
Opaque mist flew in his face, acrid-smelling from the gaseous chemicals deep in Bespin’s cloud layers. Unable to see, he was glad at least to know there were probably no obstacles with which he could collide in the open sky.
Thunder rumbled deep in the main mass of the cloud like boulders cracking together—but behind it, he could hear the hum and roar of the high-powered pursuit craft.
“They are still following us,” Tenel Ka said.
“Maybe we can lose them with some fancy flying,” Jacen said, but he knew that was a slim hope. The attackers charged in, following the engine noise of the scarlet cloud car.
As he drove farther through the fringe of the thunderstorm, the mists parted in front of him, and he burst into open sky on the far side of the thunderhead.
Right into the middle of a pack of predatory velkers.
Startled, the chevron-shaped flying creatures soared about, wheeling like razor-winged hawkbats, darting along the edge of the powerful storm as if they fed on lightning discharges.
The creatures were huge, sleek, and armored, like living attack craft. When Jacen’s cloud car burst in among them, they swirled around like angry piranha beetles. Within moments, they had formed into a squadron intent on attacking the intruder.
Tenel Ka unbuckled her seat restraint and whipped out her lightsaber again. The velkers were black, their skin tough and layered with tiny scales. Jacen saw no eyes, only sleek skinplates, smooth heads at the apex of sharp wings. But as the cloud car dove underneath the outer edge of velkers, Jacen saw that their underbodies consisted of rows and rows of jagged mouths, lampreylike teeth with suckers to anchor themselves, and grinding jaws that could rip any prey to shreds.
“This was your intention, Jacen?” Tenel Ka said, alarmed.
“I was hoping they’d be nicer.” He spun the craft about to fly between two ferocious velkers. The creatures collided in the air, then began attacking each other.
Tenel Ka reached up with her lightsaber, using the blazing tip of her turquoise blade to slash the side of one velker that dove toward their cloud car. Its skin ripped open and volatile gases spilled out, sparking and flashing in the flame of the lightsaber. Unable to keep flying, the velker spun out of control; the other creatures fell upon it.
Tenel Ka parried again, ripping open the mouth-filled belly of a second attacking creature. For an instant the velkers drew back, intimidated.
But only for an instant.
Another creature dive-bombed toward them, rows of mouths clacking, teeth gnashing, ready to shred either the scarlet metal of the cloud car or the soft flesh of the young Jedi Knights.
Jacen concentrated with his Jedi powers as he flew, trying to use his affinity for animals to get these beasts to back off and pursue other prey. He had calmed a ronto and any number of large deadly creatures, but these velkers had few thoughts in their minds—except to attack and destroy.
Maybe at least Jacen could change their focus.
Behind them, the black patrol car burst out of the thunderhead knot and into the angry pack of velkers. In utter panic, the Wing Guard pilot swooped up and around.
With the sudden flurry to distract the furious flying creatures behind them, Jacen applied full speed, roaring away from the dangerous flock. He used his thoughts to focus the velkers’ attention on the black craft, their pursuers.
“Better prey,” he said, mumbling aloud. “A better target. Ignore us.” Jacen could think of no other way for them to escape.
The velkers swirled and turned to concentrate their vicious attack on the black cloud car. The pilot swerved, trying to flee, but the velkers were much too fast, much too intent on destruction.
As Jacen flew farther and farther from the roiling thunderhead, he saw the velkers attack. His craft damaged, the traitorous Wing Guard pilot spun out of control and dropped down toward the deep gray soup of the storm. Lightning flashed all around.
The velkers swirled in a frenzy and renewed their attack. The black cloud car plunged out of sight, and the velkers flew after it. All of them vanished deep into the stormy grayness.
Another chorus of loud thunder shook the sky. Jacen spun the vehicle about and began the long journey back to Cloud City.
20
Together again on Cloud City, the young Jedi Knights, Anja, and Lando, though exhausted and ragged from their ordeals, waited for the big show to begin. They sat on a set of open-air scaffoldings, now converted into spectator seats. The gentle winds ruffled Jaina’s straight brown hair and she blinked into the bright rising sun as Bespin’s twelve-hour day began again.
They had found prime observation spots on the hover-scaffolding that had originally been erected for polishing and replating parts of the city’s external hull. Lowie had climbed to the highest level and dangled his hairy feet down as he held on with one lanky arm. He seemed not the least bit bothered by his precarious position, high above nothing.
“Master Lowbacca, do be careful,” Em Teedee scolded, but the Wookiee paid him little heed.
Lando reached over and tousled Jacen’s curly hair. “Why is it that every time I try to take a simple vacation with you kids, something disastrous happens?”
“I have a feeling we just draw adventure to ourselves,” Jacen replied.
“A genuine vacation would be nice one of these days,” Jaina said. “But since we’re trying to be real Jedi Knights, I don’t suppose there’ll ever be a time when the New Republic doesn’t need us.”
Anja sat off to one side, withdrawn and quiet, threading her fingers through her honey-streaked hair. Something was obviously bothering her … but then again, Jaina had rarely seen the older girl be anything other than bothered. She wondered if Anja was more shaken by their recent adventures than she dared to admit.
“I’m proud of all of you, you know,” Lando said. “None of what we did can bring Cojahn back to me or his family, but I do know that we’ve all done a good thing. I told his wife about what really happened to him and she seemed comforted to know we found out the truth. We’ve exposed a dangerous criminal element. Black Sun is on the move again.”
“Yes,” Jaina said, frowning. “We’ll have to call Mom and give her all the information we have.”
“I’m sure the Chief of State of the New Republic can set a few law enforcement wheels in motion,” Zekk agreed.
Tenel Ka nodded firmly. “We must be certain they are not traitorous security forces, like some of the Wing Guard here on Cloud City.”
“This would never have happened when I was Baron-Administrator. I guess you just can’t find good help these days.” Lando shook his head. “Meantime, I’ll just have to be content with helping to expose some of the tainted Exex and Wing Guard members, and a few key people in the Merchants Guild and other politicians. This conspiracy runs deep.”
With what they had learned from the thranta rider and Figrin D’an, and everything Lowie had pulled from Cloud City computer archives, they had a fair idea of just how far-reaching the plans of Czethros were. He had influence on many types of gambling, smuggling, and strong-arm operations.
Jaina suspected, though, that they had only begun to uncover the depths of the insidious schemes of Black Sun. They had sent out an alert, and New Republic forces planned to apprehend Czethros immediately—but Jaina knew that the supposedly respectable businessman from Ord Mantell must have spies and information sources everywhere, and realized that Czethros might already be gone … one step ahead of them.