They had done well for themselves.

Lowie whirled, sweeping the glowing bronze blade low to the floor. He did not need to hope that others would accept him so that he could find a place where he belonged. He had a place.

He had friends who accepted him.

Whoosh! Humm! He did not need to find a cause" to believe in or a direction for his life. He had all those things. He was a Jedi Knight!

Lowie's lips peeled back in a feral grin. He felt more like himself now than he had since the day he had met Raaba again on Kuar and found out that she was still alive.

A door signal flashed on the wall. Allowing himself one final sweep of the glowing blade, Lowie switched his lightsaber off, clipped it to his belt, and unsealed the door. It was Sirra, her face alight with enthusiasm. Grasping his arm, she dragged him out into the corridor, telling him that she had something to show him, a magnificent ship.

Giving his sister a quizzical look, Lowie good-naturedly allowed himself to be led along to the small-craft bay. The labyrinth of corridors and tunnels wound steadily upward, and Sirra chattered happily. She had always been a bit jealous that Lowie and his friends had ships they could tinker with together. Now, the Diversity Alliance would make it up to Sinca.

Lowie wondered if Hovrak had finally made good on his offer of procuring a ship for Sinca to fly. If so, perhaps they could soon come and go as they pleased. He was also glad to note that his sister referred to Jaina and the rest of his friends with a sense of fondness, rather than as his

"so-called friends" or his "former friends," as Raaba called them.

Sirra explained that Raaba had hinted she shouldn't tell her brother, but there was no way she was going to keep this a secret from Lowie.

Besides, Sirra could use his experience if she was going to talk Hovrak into letting her keep the craft. After all, Lowie was familiar with at least one Hapan ship already.

Sinca finally stopped at the entrance to the small-craft docking bay, then keyed in her access code. The hangar-bay door slid open, and with a jolt of shock, Lowie recognized the Rock Dragon!

Through a haze of surprise, Lowie heard Sinca ask him if the ship was like the one his friend Tenel Ka owned. She hoped so, since that would make it easier for him to teach her the controls.

She was sure Lowie could help her figure it out.

But when the dazed look on her brother's face registered with Sirra, she stopped talking. Had she been wrong to show him the ship?

No, he was very interested, he told her. But this ship was not just similar to the one his friend owned--it was the ship. The Rock Dragon, here on Ryloth.

He asked Sirra if she was certain that Raaba knew this ship was here.

Sirra shrugged. Of course; she was absolutely sure. In fact, Raaba had taken her to see the Rock Dragon in the first place.

With a feeling of dread, Lowie thanked Sirra for showing him the ship.

Struggling to control his anger and uneasiness, he assured her that they would discuss the ship soon. Meanwhile, it was high time he had a heart-to-heart talk with Raaba.

Alone.

Raaba was by herself in her quarters when Lowie burst in without signaling. The young Wookiee woman leaped to her feet when he entered, a guarded look on her face. She ran her fingers through her chocolate-brown fur.

He was surprised when, instead of objecting to his barging in, she asked him if Sirra was with him. He answered bluntly that his sister was still down admiring the Rock Dragon--the ship that belonged to his human friends.

Raaba flinched and looked at him defensively, but there was no surprise on her face. This confirmed what Sirra had told Lowie: Raaba had known the Rock Dragon was here. She must have recognized the ship when it arrived, and she had not told Lowie about it. Intentionally.

With a menacing growl, he asked if his friends were also on Ryloth.

She flashed him a look of irritation. Of course they were here, she snapped. Unfortunately, they had been under some sort of misguided impression that Lowie needed to leave the Diversity Alliance immediately.

They had actually managed to sneak into Nolaa Tarkona's headquarters, no doubt with some sabotage in mind, or perhaps intending to kidnap Lowie.

Raaba's voice filled with derision. Nolaa Tarkona herself had pointed out to the foolish young Jedi that she could not allow them to steal Lowie away from his true friends. Humans were so arrogant! By breaking into her stronghold, they had proven themselves a threat to security.

Lowie interrupted Raaba. Then why hadn't Nolaa Tarkona simply sent his friends away?

Why was their ship still here? Where were his friends?

Raaba could not meet Lowie's eyes. She cringed at each question, as if it were a physical blow.

Couldn't Lowie see that they were just humans? she demanded. They hadn't been hurt in any way, if that was what was bothering him. But surely he understood that Nolaa Tarkona couldn't just let them leave.

Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Raynar had broken into the Diversity Alliance headquarters, a deliberately antagonistic act. To let them go unpunished would be sheer folly. And, more important, Nolaa Tarkona couldn't allow anyone to try to shake the convictions of her loyal followers.

But his friends had come for him, Lowie bellowed.

And he had not joined the Diversity Alliance! Nolaa Tarkona had no right to imprison anyone who came to see him.

With genuine fear in her eyes, Raaba glanced around in alarm, as if afraid that someone might have overheard him. She adjusted her tattered red headband and urged Lowie to keep his voice down.

Growling quietly, he demanded in no uncertain terms to know where his friends were.

Raaba hunched her shoulders and looked at the floor. Nothing could help the humans now, she explained. He had to accept that. She had already done everything she could to mitigate the severity of their sentence. At least they were still alive; considering their obvious offenses, mining ryll was the least punishment they might have expected. Nolaa Tarkona had said that it was only fitting--since humans had enslaved so many species over the centuries--that they should now work to support the Diversity Alliance as it struggled to help all oppressed species.

Lowie gave a sharp bark of reproof. By such logic, had not humans now become a downtrodden species under the Diversity Alliance? It was obvious that humans were not the only species known for their cruelty to others.

Again, Raaba refused to meet his eyes, but she bristled with indignation.

Humans had been users and enslavers as long as history could remember; it was only fair that they now reap the crop they had so bountifully planted.

Lowie raised his voice again, not caring anymore who might hear him.

Such practices were no more correct now than they had ever been!

Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Raynar were his friends. Those humans in the ryll mines had risked their lives to come here for him! He was going to pounds d a way to set them free--and if Raaba had ever been his friend, she had better not try to stop him.

When Raaba made no answer, Lowie stormed out of the room as abruptly as he had entered.

AS HE ANGRILY traced his way through the Diversity Alliance computers, Lowie uncovered false file names, broke passwords, and tracked down all the records he needed to see. With each discovery, he grew more and more outraged over the secrets Nolaa Tarkona had kept from him--and from many of her followers.

His friends had come here to see him, to talk to him... but the supposedly compassionate Diversity Alliance had thrown them into the spice mines. As slaves!

All the while, Raaba had continued her sweet words to Lowie, trying to persuade him to join the Diversity Alliance. Apparently, his personal honor and his own wishes didn't figure into her plans. She had hoped to prevent him from talking to the other young Jedi Knights, probably because she was too afraid to let him make up his own mind, to think for himself.

As he scanned a diagram of the complex passages around Diversity Alliance headquarters, Lowie found the vault where his friends' lightsabers had been stored. He memorized the access code. His first step would be to retrieve the precious weapons. Next he would rescue the young Jedi Knights. Then, together, they would all get away from Ryloth.

He'd had doubts before, but no longer. He was completely through with the Diversity Alliance.

When Raaba had returned to him, Lowie had been so happy--but now he wished he'd never left Yavin 4.

Computers were Lowie's specialty. He knew how to cover his electronic

"tracks." After removing every trace of his searches, Lowie switched off the terminal. He said nothing to the Sul-lustan computer technicians or the burnished-bronze hacker droids as he left the glassed-in room and set off down the convoluted path to the locked storeroom.

Since he was a respected guest of Nolaa Tarkona, the guards did not challenge him. Lowie had learned long ago that the key to successful bluffing lay in looking confident that you had a right to be where you were and to do what you were doing. He made his way firmly and decisively down winding corridors, taking turbolifts to other levels and passing through restricted areas, until he finally reached the little-used storage vault.

Lowie paused in front of the sealed metal hatch. A part of him still found it impossible to believe that he had been so completely deceived, and this would confirm--or prove false--all of his suspicions. He flexed his fingers, sniffed the air. His Force sensitivity had been scrambled by his conflicting emotions ever since he'd arrived on Ryloth; it seemed difficult to trust his Jedi training now. But somehow he sensed that he would not be alone here for long, and wasted no time.

His powerful fingers punched in the access code, and the vault door slid aside. Lowbacca's ginger fur bristled as he scanned the narrow metal shelves. He saw three lightsabers inside: Jaina's weapon, fashioned around a power crystal she had grown chemically in her quarters; Jacen's, constructed using a Corusca gem he had mined himself at Lando Calrissian's GemDiver Station; and finally, Tenel Ka's carved rancor tooth handle. He also saw the utility belt that had been stripped from the warrior girl.

He let a growl build deep in his throat. His friends were here--and they were in danger.

Scooping up the three lightsabers, Lowie put them in a pouch attached to his syren-fiber belt, then rested his paw on the lightsaber clipped at his waist. This was a time for Jedi Knights to fight together.

Before turning away, Lowie froze as he looked down. He let out a low rumble of surprise. There on the bottom shelf he saw a silvery ovoid, its optical sensors dimmed from loss of power. Emteedee had been shut down and stored here as well. The Diversity Alliance, Lowie surmised, was planning to scavenge parts and circuitry from the miniaturized translating droid, or perhaps to search through its memory for weaknesses in humans or in the New Republic.

Lowie crouched low to pick up the translating droid. He looked around warily, anticipating Em Teedee's outburst upon being switched back on.

Still sensing no one else nearby, Lowie risked reactivating the droid.

Em Teedee's optical sensors glowed brightly.

He burst out in a tinny voice, "Oh, Master Lowbacca! How wonderful to see you again!

We've been searching ever so long for you--and oh my, such terrible guards and soldiers! They did horrible things to Mistress Jaina and Master Jacen, and-" Lowie groaned for the droid to keep quiet and placed a meaty paw over the speaker grille. Em Teedee protested, but Lowie just shook his head and growled a warning about the danger they faced.

Em Teedee fell silent at once, awaiting further instructions.

Lowie's spirits rose. Filled with renewed confidence now that he had the Jedi weapons and his own translating droid, he began on the next part of his plan. Firmly, and with great satisfaction, Lowie clipped Em Teedee back onto his belt, right where the droid belonged.

The stolen uniform of the Diversity Alliance security guard felt stiff and uncomfortable. But Lowie was pleased to note that the black studded sash around his waist, as well as the armored pads on his shoulders, gave him a fearsome appearance He fluffed up the black streak over his left eye to make himself look even more intimidating--or so he hoped.

He marched purposefully down the corridor and took a turbolift to the excavation levels.

Once there, he boarded a high-powered mining car that whisked him off to the mine's nether regions. On the way, Lowie glanced at his chronometer, noting just how many minutes he had before his diversion began.

Plenty of time--provided he didn't encounter any problems.

Em Teedee spoke quickly but quietly; Lowie had already chided him for making too much noise. Still, the little droid seemed determined to express his alarm. "Master Lowbacca, are you quite certain that security uniform you're wearing is necessary? It looks absurd, if I might say so.!

simply can't imagine you as the bullying sort.

Perhaps we should wait until a better opportunity presents itself."

Lowie grunted, and Em Teedee let out the electronic equivalent of a sigh.

"Very well, but if you're so convinced of your importance to Nolaa Tarkona, we've even greater concern for worry.

The Diversity Alliance seem to be quite an unsavory lot." Lowie growled his agreement, and the little droid fell silent, as if surprised the Wookiee hadn't argued with him.

The mine car stopped. Lowie did not pause for an instant or show any hesitation. He sprang to his feet and marched briskly toward the noisy, echoing grottoes where, according to the computerized duty roster for slaves, all the new captives had been assigned to work.

Lowie squared his shoulders and strode into the grotto, his alert golden eyes flicking from side to side. Numerous forced labor crews pounded at the rock or shattered stalactites from above. The place smelled of sweat and despair, blood and pain.

The assigned guards were Abyssin, Gamorreans, and other brutish species who seemed to enjoy raining harsh blows upon the prisoners.

Bullies developed in all species, and these had found in the Diversity Alliance an opportunity to indulge in the activities that amused them most.

The guards turned at Lowie's brash entrance, grunting guttural questions in various languages, but he bluffed his way forward, knocking them aside. In barks and growls, he demanded to see the shift boss. Finally, the pebbly-skinned Rodian appeared, huge eyes darting furtively around, his sucker-tipped hands tapping with impatience against his legs.

Lowie growled his fabricated orders, but the Rodian hesitated. Em Teedee piped up in an imperious voice, "How dare you delay us, you silly supervisor? Nolaa Tarkona has ordered that the four new captives be brought to her throne chamber. This guard has been sent to escort them."

"But why?" the Rodian said. "Have I done anything wrong? Are they being taken from'my charge? I need these workers."

"Nolaa Tarkona needs them more," the little droid snapped. "She intends to make a ransom demand. Your immediate compliance is essential for the success of the Diversity Alliance and the glory of our conquest."

The Rodian grumbled and moved to a communications terminal. "I must confrrm this with Adjutant Advisor Hovrak," he said.

Lowie roared, and Em Teedee quickly translated, "Indeed not! You are to accept your orders directly from Nolaa Tarkona, without consulting her underlings. To do otherwise will be viewed as insubordination."

The droid's voice held an edge of electronic alarm. Lowie simply growled a warning that he would not put much faith in Hovrak's position as Adjutant Advisor anymore, since the wolfman had failed Nolaa Tarkona several times recently.

The. Rodian finally backed down and relayed the command in a shrill voice. A few guards snapped to the task, grabbing Jaina and Raynar from a work area near the wall, while two Gamorreans went to pull Jacen and Tenel Ka down out of their scaffolding harnesses up near the stalactite-covered ceiling.

When the four companions were dragged before him, Lowie's heart turned to ice. A cold fury built inside him as he observed their bedraggled condition, their bloodied hands, their dirty skin and haunted eyes.

Jacen looked up as if in fear of another beating, but then recognized his friend. "Lowie!" he cried, but the Wookiee snarled at him to cut off any further outburst and told the miserable prisoner to be silent.

Jaina tossed her long straight hair out of her eyes and looked at him with a stony, unreadable scowl. This meant either that she understood his plan and was playing along--or that she was convinced Lowbacca had been brainwashed by the Diversity Alliance....

He gestured for the four humans to follow him.

The Rodian offered additional guards, but Lowie roared and bared his fangs at the mere suggestion that these weaklings could pose any threat to him.

The four weary and aching companions staggered down the corridor, following the Wookiee "guard" out of the mines. Lowie ushered them into a turbolift, closed the dooruand then, finally away from prying eyes, gathered them all into a huge bear hug, slapping their backs and howling his joy at the reunion.

He had decided to leave the Diversity Alliance, he told them. He knew what the insidious group was up to now, and he could no longer tolerate being here, no matter how much his friend Raaba wanted him to stay.

"It's not that easy, Lowie. The Diversity Alli I ance may not let you go," Jacen said. They described Lusa's adventure and how she had discovered that no one resigned from the Diversity Alliance.

Attempting to leave could mean a death sentence. That was what they had come to tell Lowie in the first place.

Lowie just growled. He would find another way out, then, and he vowed to help them all escape from Ryloth. He had a plan to get them out of the tunnels and into the mountains, where he could rescue them.

The turbolift shot upward silently, taking them toward freedom at last.

From the observation gallery above the mine chambers from which he had spied on the captives, Corrsk watched as the Wookiee bluffed the stupid guards and led the prisoners away. Corrsk could have sounded an alarm at any time, because he knew for certain Nolaa Tarkona had given no such orders. Hovrak himself had no idea that Lowbacca had turned traitor and meant to free his human friends. Such news would cause considerable turmoil in the Diversity Alliance, Corrsk knew.

But he had other plans. "Kill humans!" he said under his breath. He let out a long, venomous hiss. "And Wookiees."

He watched, then crept forward. He had anticipated this moment for a long time, but the cold blood of his predator ancestors had taught him patience.

He knew how to wait for his prey.

Bloodlust sang in his veins, the scent of Wookiee taunted his nostrils, and nerves tingled beneath his scales. He could be a hero to the Diversity Alliance. He could prevent the escape of the human captives--

and if one or two of the prisoners were killed during the recapture...

surely Nolaa Tarkona would forgive him.

But best of all, Corrsk thought as his vision reddened, he would have his trophy: a fine Wookiee pelt. No one could protect Lowbacca from his claws and his skinning knives now. The Wookiee had turned against the Diversity Alliance, and the Trandoshan would make certain he paid the ultimate price for it.

Corrsk moyed quickly out into the tunnels, happy to be on the hunt at last.

EXACTLY ON TIME, Lowie's preprogrammed distraction echoed through the tunnels of the Diversity Alliance. Computers triggered alarms everywhere.

Sirens blared and lights flashed; a recorded voice requested emergency assistance.

Jacen ducked. "Uh-oh! They know we've escaped!"

But Lowie chuffed with laughter and shook his shaggy head. "Ah, yes.

I see!" Em Teedee piped up.. "Tery clever indeed, Master Lowbacca.

I'm sure we're all most impressed."

"What? What's going on?" Jaina asked. Beside her, Tenel Ka crouched, ready to fight with nothing but her bare hand. Yet no attack came.

"Master Lowbacca arranged for the central computer system to activate an emergency alarm that has fooled the sensors into detecting a toxic gas leak in the grottoes farthest from the small-craft landing bay.

Emergency crews and security guards will rush in the direction of the alarms whilst--" Jacen clapped his hands. "While we run the other way!

Good thinking, Lowie!"

Tenel Ka nodded. "Excellent strategy, Low-bagca."

Squads of soldiers hustled down side corridors.

Fearful alien workers poked their heads out of their chambers. Lowie maintained his alert posture, pretending to guard the four "dangerous humans."

He gave the companions a briefrundown of the main tunnels and airshafts that led directly up to the surface. Some of the passages opened to a narrow band of tolerable temperatures on the surface. The young Jedi Knights would have to make their way up one of the major tunnels to the mountains while Lowie returned for the Rock Dragon. Despite the threat of retaliation from the Diversity Alliance, he would find a way to steal the ship, then come pick them up.

"But Master Lowbacca," Em Teedee objected.

"Surely this can't be the wisest course of action.

Why shouldn't we simply stay together?"

Lowie dismissed this idea as too dangerous.

Lowie could pass through Diversity Alliance security; the humans could not.

"Is there no other way to procure a ship, then?"

Em Teedee asked. '%Vhy must we risk going back nOW.9" - The Wookiee drew a deep, angry breath and spoke one word that Jacen understood clearly.

"Sirra." Lowie would not leave his sister behind in the clutches of Nolaa Tarkona.

As they ran uphill together, panting, tasting the chalky air with its sour, mildewy stench, Lowie handed his friends back their lightsabers, as well as Tenel Ka's utility belt. Jacen clipped his weapon to his side, as did Jaina, while Tenel Ka kept hers in her hand'grip, ready for battle at any moment. She was also glad to have the resources of her belt again.

Only Raynar seemed to be at a loss, with no weapon of his own.

Lowie knew exactly where he was going. Tenel Ka studied all the passages as they went, memorizing as best she could the layout of the Twi'lek tunnel systems. Jacen, who ran next to her, was unsurprised to find the warrior girl not the least bit out of breath. Despite the grime that crusted her hair and skin from hours of labor in the 'mines, he still thought she looked beautiful.

As they rounded a corner, entering the main passageway, they came to an abrupt halt. Three piggish Gmorrean guards marched down the hall, shoulder to shoulder. Their tiny, close-set eyes were devoid of intelligence. The guards grunted and snuffied at each other, upset by the loud alarms ringing in their ears.

In numerous languages, an intercom voice warned of the dangerous toxic gas spill and ordered everyone to evacuate the lower levels immediately.

The guards did their best to look intimidating.

They pounded on doors and kicked in the ones that remained sealed; some doors opened immediately, and the Gamorreans kicked the occupants instead.

Lowie stood in the corridor, boldly showing off his armor plates and chest band. His streak of dark fur bristled. The four young humans huddled behind him, trying to look like Weak and downtrodden prisoners.

Lowie growled a challenge at the Gamorreans.

The guards grunted in surprise at this new obstacle. So intent had they been on bashing in doors, they hadn't noticed the Wooldee. The head guard shoved his warty chin and tusks forward. He muttered something in a language that sounded like the burbling of phlegm.

Em Teedee said. "The guard inquires--if I may translate rather loosely-

'Aren't you humans?"" Jacen stepped forward. 'q31aster bolts, no! These are only disguises. Part of a top-secret project.

Pretty good, aren't they?" Reaching out with the Force, he gave the guards' minds a gentle nudge.

"Very realistic." He tugged at one of his cheeks to demonstrate.

The guard snuffied and looked doubtful.

"Yes," Jaina said, stepping up beside her brother.

"Nolaa Tarkona's new 'human configuration' disguises.

We developed these to infdtrate human cities and governments. But we're really aliens underneath--aren't we?"

Raynar nodded briskly, as did Tenel Ka. "This is a fact," she said.

The guard grunted another question, but Em Teedee said indignantly, "They most certainly will not remove their disguises for mere gnards!

Indeed! This project is highly classified. I suggest you make yourself useful instead of trying to meddle in affairs that are clearly beyond your comprehension. Go apprehend some fugitive or seal off a toxic gas leak."

The guard's grumbled to each other and continued along their way, muttering their admiration for Nolaa Tarkona's cleverness as they took turns banging open doors.

Jacen touched Tenel Ka's wrist to move her hand away from the hilt of her lightsaber. "Sometimes you don't need Jedi fighting skills to take care of a problem."

"Ah," Tenel Ka said. "Aha. But such tricks may not work unless your opponent is as stupid as those gnards."

Jacen peered down the surrounding corridors.

Alter a few more minutes of running they reached another main intersection, a confluence of catacombs.

Lowie stopped, frowning in distress, and indicated that he had to leave them here.

"Master Lowbacca insists on locating his sister Sirra without delay," Em Teedee said. "I do believe that's quite honorable, though it places us all at greater risk."

Jacen understood that the four humans could not go with Lowie; they had to keep as far away from the alien radicals as they could. Their Wookiee friend regarded each of them fondly.

With words and gestures he reviewed for them the directions he remembered from the computer map of the catacombs. They all found it painful to see Lowbacca leave again, but knew that this time he would come back... with the Rock Dragon, to help them get home.

"We'll meet you outside, Lowie," Jacen called.

"In the mountains."

With a last glance over his shoulder, Lowie sprinted down the long winding tunnel into a whirlpool of shadows.

After less than twenty minutes of cautiously toiling their way up the steep passage Lowie had indicated, a complete and deafening silence fell behind them like a curtain. All the alarms shut off; the emergency was canceled.

"That means they've discovered Lowie's trick," Jacen said.

Nolaa Tarkona's voice came over the intercom.

"There is no poisonous gas spill. What you just heard was a false alarm, triggered by a traitor in our midst." She paused a moment for effect.

"Four human prisoners, important hostages, have just escaped. They must be found. I demand your most diligent efforts in the name of the Diversity Alliance." When Nolaa Tarkona switched off the intercom, her angry voice ended abruptly with the force of an ax chopping through a branch.

"This is trouble," Tenel Ka said.

"We've been in trouble," Jaina countered.

Raynar leaned with a heavy sigh against the corridor's rock wall.

"Nobody's going to fall for our 'human disguise' trick a second time."

Tenel Ka suddenly stood up straight. As always, her hearing and eyesight were sharper than any of the others'. She gripped her lightsaber.

An instant later Jacen sensed the approach of numerous enemies. He drew his weapon, as did his sister. The footsteps were coming closer from a single direction, but the tunnels heading away branched out in many other directions.

"Fighting here will be difficult," Tenel Ka said.

Jacen nodded. "We don't have to make a stand heref he pointed out.

"We can run toward the outside," Raynar suggested.

"It'll buy us some time," Jaina agreed. "Let's move."

Clipping their lightsabers to their belts, they raced along the corridors, zigzagging, turning at random intervals as they headed upward.

Every tunnel seemed to be filled with thundering footsteps and the rumble of armored feet. The hunt was on in every catacomb; Nolaa Tarkona had no intention of letting the humans escape.

As they picked up speed, the young Jedi Knights dispensed with caution, running as hard as they could. Tunnels branched one direction, then another.

Confusing as the choices were, they kept running uphill.

As they plunged across a corridor intersection, they startled a group of five guards--a pair of one-eyed Abyssin, a Duros, and two furry white Talz. All of the aliens bellowed, drew their weapons, and fired."

Blaster bolts ricocheted from the curving tunnel walls, spurting rock dust and smoke.

Instinctively, Jaina ducked to one side. Jacen threw himself in the opposite direction as a blast struck the hard ceiling and arrowed back down through the spot where he had stood only a moment before.

"Run!" Tenel Ka said. "Faster!"

They raced along the tunnels, climbing toward the surface as the guards launched after them, still firing... still missing. Anew alarm sounded; one of the guards must have reported his coordinates and called for reinforcements.

"Do not stop yet," Tenel Ka advised.

"Save the lightsabers for close-in, hand-to-hand fighting," Jaina said.

"I vote we put that off as long as possible," Jacen added.

"I agree," Raynar said, puffing.

More guards joined the chase, converging from different directions.

Turning a corner, Tenel Ka spotted a tarpaulin-covered alcove marked with a glowing blue triangle. She recognized the armory symbol immediately.

"Aha," she said.

"Here." She grabbed the tarpaulin and tore it aside to reveal the smallweapons storage area.

"Are we supposed to just grab some weapons and shoot?" Raynar asked.

"I've never fired a blaster before."

The sound of footsteps echoed from several corridors at once. The angry guards bellowed.

"I've got a better idea," Jaina said. She dashed into the alcove and emerged with a thermal detonator in her hand. "We don't have much time,"

she said. "But I have a feeling this is going to cause a lot of damage.

Everybody split up."

She gestured in different directions. "Raynat, go that way. Jacen and Tenel Ka, you head down that corridor."

With the time-lock fuse set on the thermal detonator, she tossed it into the weapons storage area, then raced after Raynar. A contingent of guards burst into the intersection and howled as they saw their prey disappearing in two different directions.

But before they could follow, Jaina yelled, "Time!" She pulled Raynar with her into the shelter of a shallow niche in the rock wall. In the opposite tunnel, Jacen and Tenel Ka dove together to the floor.

The thermal detonator went off like a planet exploding.

The weapons storage alcove blasted out with the force of a turbolaser battery. The remaining thermal detonators exploded in a sympathetic eruption.

Power packs from the stored blasters added fuel. Rock walls crumbled.

Aftershocks trembled through the corridors.

The low ceiling collapsed, and stunned guards tried in vain to cover their heads. Curving walls sloughed into rubble. Smoke and fire gushed in all directions, invading every open pathway.

Feeling the heat singe his jumpsuit, Jacen rolled and tried to cover Tenel Ka's unprotected skin. His ears popped from the overpressure wave.

Within moments the shock front raced past the place where they'd taken shelter. Jacen stood up and brushed himself off. Tenel Ka touched his arm. "Thank you, Jacen," she said. "That was very brave."

"Just my protective instinct," he said with a lopsided grin. He turned to look back up the corridor and discovered that the walls had collapsed, cutting them off entirely from his sister and Raynar.

"Looks like we're on our own," he said.

"We will manage," Tenel Ka answered. We must get outside, where Lowbacca can find us."

Hearing distant shouts of alarm approaching from an open passage, they limped wearily off down the tunnel before they could be captured again.

Raynat and Jaina plodded ahead. They had not been harmed by the avalanche or the explosion, but they stumbled from exhaustion.

"I hope Jacen's all right. And Tenel Ka," Ray nar said.

Jaina could sense that her twin brother and her friend had not been harmed. "They're fine.

But we have to put some distance between us will converge there. Jacen and Tenel Ka can take care of themselves."

"Of course." Raynar forced a smile. "They're Jedi Knights, aren't they?"

"They know where to meet us in the mountainsgif we can get out there, that is."

They ran uphill, away from the fading dust of the explosion. Neither Jaina nor Raynar had a map of the catacombs, nor did they have Tenel Ka's instinctive sense of direction. But if they continued uphill, they decided, sooner or later they would break out to the surface.

"I think I see light ahead," Raynar said after what seemed like hours.

"Natural light."

As if in response, alarmed shouts and nervous blaster fire rang out from behind, though the guards could not possibly have seen them. Yet.

Jaina and Raynar sprinted ahead toward the light.

"It's a passage to the outside!" Raynar said.

"We made it."

"But I'm not so sure we want to go there," Jaina replied. "We've gone a couple of kilometers laterallygwe may not come out in the narrow temperate zone.

"

But they hurried along anyway until they reached the opening. A blast of heat struck Jaina's face. She looked out upon the fiery day side of Ryloth, with its unrelenting, pounding sun and scalding-hot rocks.

"I've got a bad feeling this isn't where we wanted to be," she said.

Flaming light seared a desolate landscape incapable of supporting life in anything but the deepest shadows. Farther in the distance, cracks and rivers of running lava broke up the landscape.

Blackened outcroppings slumped like rotted teeth, eroded by temperatures near the melting point.

Behind them, though, the shouting of Diversity Alliance guards seemed to be coming closer.

Jaina looked out at the hellish landscape, wondering what use the Twieks could possibly have had for this opening. Did they send criminals out into the heat to die under the burning sun?

"C'mon, Raynar, we don't have much choice," she said. "Maybe if we keep to the shadows..."

Picking their way carefully through the rocky debris, they left the cool tunnels behind and were soon swallowed up by the heat.

Jacen and Tenel Ka stood at the end of the passageway. They had run for kilometers, escaped numerous groups of guards, fled from every approaching noise. Tenel Ka said they had gone through the core of the mountains--and now they stared out a large opening across a glacial landscape with frozen mountains, ice floes, and a night sky so clear and cold the stars looked like chips of ice floating in a black lake.

"We won't survive out there for long," Jacen said with an involuntary shiver. "But we can't survive long in here with those guards and Nolaa Tarkona st'all after us."

"She will not hesitate to kill us this time," Tenel Ka said. Her lizardskin armor gleamed in the dim light, but it offered little protection from the cold winds outside.

Jacen stood next to his friend. He and Tenel Ka were both trained in the Force. They weren't completely helpless.

"We have ur wits, our lightsabers, our Jedi skills," Jacen said. %Ve shouldn't need anything else to keep ourselves alive." He smiled bravely.

They had to find their way back to the temperate zone somehow and meet up with Lowie.

Tenel Ka nodded. "I agree, Jacen, my friend."

LUSA WADED INTO the sparkling green pool at the base of the waterfall.

Spreading her arms, she closed her eyes and let the droplets of cool spray caress her face.

There was a strange tingling sensation along the back of her neck. She had always been sensitive to the Force and, though she'd never had much training, she was sure Jaina and Raynar had described this as a sense of impending danger. Raynar, the twins, and Tenel Ka had been gone for nearly six days now. She knew something was wrong... but what could she do about it?

Lusa waded deeper into the pool, and when the frothing water rose above her flanks, she swam straight toward the pounding waterfall. She had promised Raynar that she would try not to worry for at least three days, and she had resisted the urge to wallow in thoughts of the perils her friends might encounter while rescuing Lowie from the cruel Diversity Alliance. Although each day, the tingling at the back of her neck had returned, each day it had faded again.

But today she could not escape the feeling. It seemed closer than ever.

Letting the pure, cool liquid envelop her, Lusa approached the waterfall.

She plunged into it, hoping the cascading stream would wash away the feeling of dread. Water rushed over her and thundered in her ears.

Cleansing rivulets sluiced down her bare torso as the heavier flow pounded against her back, easing the tense muscles. The serenity of her surroundings calmed her spirit. Her thoughts were far away on Ryloth, though....

With her back st'fil under the waterfall, she turned to get a better view of the beautiful jungle trees along the shore. To her surprise, she discovered she was not alone, as she had thought.

Twenty-five meters away, at the edge of the pond, stood a short New Republic guard she had seen before.

Lusa recognized the Bothan who had accidentally stumbled into the infirmary several days earlier. She wondered if perhaps there was a message in the comm center for her, or if her friends had returned from Ryloth with injuries and the guard had been sent to fetch her.

With a rising sense of alarm, Lusa started to swim for shore. But before she got halfway there, something flew from the hand of the Bothan guard, directly toward her.

A noiseless explosion threw Lusa backward in the water. She tried to flail her arms and found that she could not move them. Furiously, her mind told her four legs to kick--but she could not feel her legs.

The sky bove her was veiled by a rippling curtain of reddish brown, and she realized that she had sunk beneath the water. Her hair floated before her eyes. She wanted to cry out, but bubbles gushed from her nose and mouth. If she gasped, water would fill her lungs and drown her. She was paralyzed. Her mind cried out for help, again and again.

The next moment, a strong grip pulled her head high above the water and she drew in grateful lungfuls of fresh air. When the hand in her hair gave a vicious jerk, her eyes flew open to find the Bothan's face only centimeters from hers. His expression was filled with hatred.

"Oh, no. You won't die so peacefully," the guard growled. "A traitor to the Diversity Alliance doesn't deserve a peaceful death."

A loud, ominous humming sound sliced past her ear. Lusa rolled her eyes to see that the Bothan held a vibroblade half a meter long in his other hand. She ordered her arms and legs to move, but to no avail.

She couldn't speak, couldn't protest, couldn't cry out.

"No, that would be too easy," the Bothan said.

"It wouldn't serve Nolaa Tarkona's purposes. You have to know that you died for betraying her.

And you'll also serve as a lesson to whoever might find your body here!"

He slashed the vibroblade through the air in front of her nose, enjoying his position of power.

"We can't let a good assassination go to waste and look like an accident.

No, this must be reported as a murder. Anyone who hears about it will know that a traitor cannot hide from the Diversity Alliance."

He yanked her head back and touched the tip of the vibroblade to the base of her throat. A few drops of blood welled up where the point pressed into her skin. Lusa tried to shake her head, to strike him with her crystal horns. To her relief, although her arms and legs could not respond, and he still held her fast in his grip, her neck was able to move.

For just a second, a sound distracted the Bothan. The guard's blade wavered and lifted, and he turned to see what had made the noise.

That was all the chance Lusa needed. Ignoring the pain from her pulled hair, she wrenched her head sideways and down and around. With all the force she could muster, she rammed upward, goring the Bothan's furry arm.

Blood spurted from the wound. The blood ran into her hair and down her face. She struggled to push her sharp horn deeper.

The traitorous guard bellowed with rage. He l'ded the vibroblade high above her, his eyes full of wrath, and Lusa was certain he meant to end her life now, as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the vibroblade flew from the guard's hand, as if jerked by an invisible rope. Lusa twisted and rammed forward to gore his shoulder this time.

For a moment the Bothan loosed his grasp on her hair. At the same time, the other hand lowered to her throat, but it had dropped the vibroblade.

Jerking her head backward, Lusa managed to evade his grasp, but she still could not move her arms or legs. She felt herself begin to sink in the churning water.

The next moment she was raised high in the water by a firm arm beneath her forelegs. The guard dangled two meters above the water in front of her, thrashing furiously with his arms and legs and yelling something incomprehensible in a Bothan dialect.

When Lusa tried to struggle free of the encircling arm, Master Skywalker said close to her ear, "It's all right. I have you. You're with friends now."

At the same moment, the Bothan flew backward and plopped loudly into the shallow water at the edge of the pond. There, a strange young man with long dark hair and flashing emerald eyes slapped a pair of stun-cuffs onto his wrists.

Lusa stopped struggling. Her mouth fell open in surprise.

The young man raised his eyebrows and smiled at her. "Standard bounty hunter equipment. Just a sample of the many things I've learned in my travels." He pulled the bedraggled Bothan upright with a scowl, then looked back at Lusa and Master Skywalker. "This one won't be bothering you again. But when we get back to the Jedi academy, I think the three of us ought to have a private talk-about the Diversity Alliance."

Even using the Force, it took a standard hour for Zekk and Luke to get the injured prisoner and the stunned centaur girl back to the Jedi academy. After they arrived, Luke sent a brief message to his sister Leia about the incident while Zekk dried Lusa off and wrapped her in warm blankets. Master Skywalker entrusted the keeping of the murderous guard to a few New Republic soldiers whom he knew well.

Finally, Zekk, Lusa, and Master Skywalker gathered in Luke's private chambers around a fragrant bowl of steaming soup and a platter of freshly baked bread from the Jedi academy's kitchens. When Luke mentioned that Zekk was a bounty hunter, and Lusa a former member of the Diversity Alliance, the two were instantly wary of one another.

"I'm sorry to have to say this," Zekk said, 'qut how do we know she's not still working for the Diversity Alliance?"

"That Bothan was a Diversity Alliance spy, sent to kill me for leaving.

Anyway, how do I know you're not a bounty hunter hired to bring me back to Nolaa Tarkona?" Lusa retorted with considerable heat.

Luke intervened. "I think we need to establish some trust here." He looked at Zekk.. "I first met Lusa when she and Jacen and Jaina were about five years old. The Force has always been strong in her, and she has been honest with me."

Luke turned to the centaur girl. "And Zekk was once a Jedi Knight. A Dark Jedi, yes--but he came back from the dark side, and the Force is still strong in him. I've looked into both of your minds, and I would trust either of you with my life. Or Raynar's." Luke again fixed Zekk with his solemn blue gaze. "Or Tenel Ka's, or Jacen's--or Jaina's..."

Zekk felt himself flush at the gentle rebuke.

Shamefaced, Lusa looked at the floor.

"You're both strong enough in the Force that if you chose to," Luke continued, "you could sense if the other was lying."

Zekk flinched at the reminder. He avoided using the Force, because in the past he had found it so easy to drift to the dark side. But what Master Skywalker said was true: Zekk actually could sense that Lusa was an ally, not an enemy.

He had to trust her.

"I... apologize," Zekk said. "! know how hard it must have been for you to break away from the Diversity Alliance. I was once the enemy, too. At one point, I was prepared to fight and kill even the people who had been my best friends-just because I thought I'd found a place where I belonged, a cause to believe in.

I found the Second Impertum. You found the Diversity Alliance."

"I didn't realize," Lusa said. I am sorry. I thought I was the only one who had experienced such things... but we each have darkness in our past.

I offer no excuse for the things I did: I put my trust in the wrong people and tried to ignore my conscience. I was a fool."

Zekk nodded. "And it's not easy to start a new life once you've been the enemy. I was a fool, too."

Master Skywalker smiled wryly. "Well, now that we've got that settled, we all have information we need to share. First, I'll explain why Tionne left so quickly today. While I was on Coruscant, Leia got a report that a band of musicians sympathetic to Nolaa Tarkona were using their engagements as a cover to smuggle weapons for the Diversity Alliance.

Tionne isn't entirely human and, because she's an excellent musician, she volunteered to check out the story.

It could be a dangerous assignment, so as an added precaution, I asked her to take the Shadow Chaser and Artoo. That's all we know so far."

Zekk spoke next. He stumbled over his words at first, not sure how to explain what he had learned. He told about his initial interest in Bornan Thul as a means to gain fame as a bounty hunter, his assignment to find the scavenger Fonterrat, and what he had learned about Gammalin and the plague. Zekk concluded by describing his encounters with Bornan Thul and his certainty that Raynar's father must be protected from Nolaa Tarkona at all costs.

"Did you hear anything about this plague while you were working for the Diversity Alliance?"

Master Skywalker asked Lusa.

The centaur girl shook her head, tossing her glossy cinnamon mane. "I did know Nolaa Tarkona was always searching for power. She made it clear that she would pay well for powerful weapons--or for information on where she could get them. She was even willing to sacrifice a follower or two if it meant getting the resources she needed. At first I thought her noble. Now I know she was merely ruthless."

Zekk SUppressed a shudder "I'm pretty sure that Bornan Thul has the key to where Fonterrat found the plague. But I can't understand why he didn't just turn over the infoaation to the New Republic."

"He probably guessed the Diversity Alliance had infiltrated the New Republic," Lusa said.

"The Bothan assassin just proved that to us."

"Shouldn't we put everyone on alert, then?"

Zekk said. %Ve can't trust anybody."

A worried frown creased Master Skywalker's forehead. "That's not as simple as it sounds.

It could lead to panic and false accusations. We can't let faithful members of the New Republic come under suspicion just because they're non-humans."

"That may be exactly what Nolaa Tarkona intends," Lusa said. "If humans in the New Republic start turning on aliens, she can point to it as proof that humans will betray their own allies. It would be the perfect tool to persuade more aliens to join the Diversity Alliance."

"That's why Chief of State Organa Solo and I agreed not to spread the word too widely for nowwat least until she's had a chance to question that Bothan guard," Master Skywalker said.

"It's a tricky situation," Zekk agreed. "It could be just as dangerous to distrust the right person as to trust the wrong one. Maybe Bornan Thul wasn't wrong to keep his information to himself."

"Or maybe Raynar's father believed he could destroy the source of the plague himself without telling anyone," Lusa said.

"Whatever his reason," Zekk said, "I came here because I thought Raynar could persuade his father to trust us. Thul is going to need help. I know how to find him now: I have a tracer beacon on his ship. Do you understand why it's so important for Raynar to come back from wherever he went? I need him with me when I go to find his father."

Lusa's eyes filled with tears. "I promised not to tell where they went,"

she said, 'qut they were supposed to have been back days ago.

They were all willing to risk their lives because they were afraid for Lowie and his sister."

Zekk sucked in a sharp breath. Master Sky-walker sat up straight.

"Where did they go?"

"Ryloth. To rescue Lowbacca from the Diversity Alliance," Lusa said in a strangled whisper.

"They said they'd be back by now."

Zekk's anger at the foolish risk his friends had taken warred with gutwrenching fear. "Then we'll just have to go rescue them," he said through clenched teeth. He looked challengingly at Master Skywalker, expecting the Jedi to argue with him.

"I don't have the Shadow Chaser right now," Luke said matter-of-factly.

"We'll have to take the Lightning Rod." He looked at Lusa. "You know Diversity Alliance access codes and the geography on Ryloth. Are you willing to help us?"

Lusa shook away the blankets in which she had been wrapped and stamped a hoof on the stone floor. "Yes. I'll come with you."

Zekk started to object, but Lusa flashed him a dangerous look. "Don't even try to talk me out of coming along. I want to help our friends just as much as you do." He heard the conviction in her voice, and it suddenly dawned on him that she was no safer on Yavin 4 than she would be in the Lightning Rod.

"We're all going," Luke said firmly. "We'll need all of our skills, and we'll have to trust each other."

THE FIRST THING Jacen noticed before they ventured out into the night side of Ryloth was the searing cold. Though the mouth of the cave sheltered them somewhat from the frigid wind, there was no way to avoid it completely. A white cloud of steam formed in front of his face with each breath he released.

The serviceable brown jumpsuit that had kept him barely warm enough while they mined ryll proved a completely ineffective barrier against the deep, gnawing iciness of the eternal winter on Ryloth's dark side.

He shivered and looked at Tenel Ka. Her lizard-hide boots rose to midcalf, but her tough and durable scaled armor covered only a minuscule portion of her upper thigh and left her arms completely bare.

"You must be c-c-cold," he said.

"This is a fact." She reached into her belt pouch, pulled out the fingersized flash heater she always carried, and ignited it. Although it was capable of starting a fire--if they'd had anything to burn--the heat it radiated was too small to warm more than the hand that held it.

Jacen wished he had some extra piece of clothing to give her. He toyed briefly with the idea of stripping down and offering Tenel Ka his jumpsuit.

But even in the dim light, one glance at the brave face framed by warrior braids told him that he would risk her wrath even to suggest such an idea.

Chill wind gusted into the cave like knives of ice. Unable to think of any other comfort, Jacen put his arms around Tenel Ka and pulled her closer to him, in hopes of at least sharing some of his body warmth.

"It is also a fact that we cannot stay here," Tenel Ka said. Though she was careful to keep the flash heater away from his clothing, her arm slid around Jacen's waist and hugged him tightly. "We must find our way to the temperate zone, over the mountains. I do not believe we have come farther than five or six kilometers from where Lowbacca indicated we should wait for him."

"You m-mean, go back through the tunnels?

We'd get lost." He shivered convulsively. "It could take us d-days to find our way back, if we ever do...."

"No," Tenel Ka said. "We would risk being I recaptured." She nodded toward the frigid land scape outside. "No, we must go out there."

"But you'll f-freeze," Jacen objected. His lips begun to feel numb.

"I am already cold," she said. "We will grow no warmer by staying in this cave. We cannot hope for rescue if we stay here, and we risk being spotted by the Diversity Alliance."

Jacen's hands, still on Tenel Ka's back, were growing stiff and ached with the cold. He flexed his fingers a few times, then buried them behind the unbraided portion of hair that hung down her back. "You're right," he said. "I just wish we could make a blanket out of your hair."

She jerked backward a few centimeters and looked into his eyes.

"Jacen, my friend, that is an excellent idea!"

He blinked back at her, not quite sure how what he had said could actually prove useful.

Please, assist me in unbraiding my hair," she said.

Reluctantly, Jacen released his hold on her; he had enjoyed the close contact. He shook the stiffness from his fingers and tugged a thong from the end of one of her braids. Still clumsy because of the cold, he combed his shaking fingers through her hair to untangle the braid.

Handing Jacen the flash heater, Tenel Ka used her single hand with considerably less clumsiness.

When they were finished, clouds of thick red-gold hair flowed down Tenel Ka's arms, shoulders, and back, all the way to her waist.

Tenel Ka looked out through the cave opening, preparing herself for the ordeal they were about to face. Gazing out at the starry sky, she said,

"Beautiful. As beautiful as rainbow gems from Gallinore."

"Yes... beautiful," Jacen agreed, though he was not looking at the sky.

"We must not delay any longer," she said, stepping outside without hesitation.

"How will we find our way to the temperate zone?" he asked, following her out. The chill sliced into him like a vibroblade. He hadn't thought it was possible for him to feel any colder.

But he'd been wrong.

"The day side is that directionf Tenel Ka said, pointing straight through the mountain toward the other side. "Therefore, the temperature zone must be... She pointed up.toward the mountain peak that rose above them.

Jacen studied the steep, rocky crag. Its peak, silhouetted by a faint light from behind, must have been four kilometers away--straight uphill.

He swallowed, but the freezing wind had stolen all of the moisture from his mouth. Jacen blew on his hands and then folded one underneath each arm to keep them warm. "I can barely move my hands as it is. I'm not going to be able to hang on to rocks. We could probably boost ourselves with the Force, but parts of that slope look too steep to climb, and they're covered with ice."

Tenel Ka looked troubled. "No. Even using my fibercord will not help us.

Our peril would be great. But we must find--ah... aha!"

Jacen followed her gaze and saw it in the distance: a pass, etched against the sky and mountains in stark relief by a tracing of twilight.

The twilight meant that the area must be close to the moderate zone.

"How far do you make it?" Jacen asked. "Seven kilometers."

She shook her head. "Eight... perhaps ten."

But our path would be more level. We should not need to climb. I believe we can walk it in a few hours."

Jacen's cheeks and eyes stung from the biting wind. He nodded. "Sure, no problem. You know, I've been saving a special joke for just such an occasion.... " And they set off.

Jacen had lost all sensation in his feet by the end of the first half hour. The rocky ground was often covered with ice. They took turns in the lead, holding a lightsaber high to light the way through the darkness so that they could see the best path to walk. To keep their hands warm enough to grip their lightsabers, they shared the flash heater until its charge ran too low to be of any more use.

At times they had to use Tonel Ka's grappling hook and fibercord to pull themselves over particularly treacherous terrain. Both of them slipped and fell so often that they were badly cut and bruised. After the first hour, Jacen stopped feeling that, as well.

They stayed as close together as possible, blocking the wind for each other from at least one side, and communicated primarily through brief gestures. They kept their mouths closed against the cold and tried not to talk, except when absolutely necessary to decide on a route.

After more than two hours, they stopped where a hillside full of loose rock rose above a slab of sheer, ice-slick stone. They had come a long way already, about two-thirds of the distance, Jacen guessed. But to get to the twilit pass, they would have to cross either loose stones or the slippery rockface.

"We are fortunate," Tenel Ka said, "that we are so close to the temperate zone. Otherwise, we might have been dead by now." - A handful of rocks came loose from the upper slope and skittered down across the steep slab of icy stone.

Jacen gave a halfhearted attempt at a snort.

"Yeah, we're lucky, all right." He hadn't been able to tell for nearly an hour whether he still had ears or not. He supposed that it was just as well he couldn't feel them. "Which way?" he asked.

"We could use our lightsabers to cut hand - and footholds into the rock,"

Tbnel Ka suggested.

Jacen nodded. He looked in the direction of the pass toward which they were heading. "What's that?" he said. He pointed to some tall, narrow objects now visible in the pass. They looked like the rigid trunks of scrawny metal trees that had only one or two limbs--limbs that moved.

"Power generators," Tenel Ka said. "The winds are strong in the temperate zone where cold air meets hot. The Twi'leks use wind turbines to run their generators and supply much of their power down in the caves."

Jacen flicked on his lightsaber. "Well, I'm ready to feel some of that hot air," he said as a cold wind buffeted them. He swung his lightsaber to notch a few footholds in the icy rock, then stepped forward and swung again.

And so they progressed across the slippery expanse. A powerful gust hit them without warning, knocking them both to their knees on the ice-covered rock. A second gust was followed by a loud clattering noise.

Jacen and Tenel Ka looked up in horror as hundreds of small rocks bounced and rolled and ricocheted down the slope toward them.

Jacen switched off his lightsaber. "Look out!" he yelled.

Tenel Ka punched the power stud on her weapon, turning it off. "This way!" she shouted, sitting directly on the ice and throwing her arm around him. Pulling him on top of her, she pushed off down the slope.

Like a living sled they slid quickly downhill on Tenel Ka's tough lizardhide armor, picking up speed and outdistancing the small avalanche.

Fortunately, the smooth rockface did not add significantly to the bruising they had already sustained. Unfortunately, the slope was long and steep, offering no handholds or footholds on the way down. No way to stop.

They slid. And slid...

Until they finally tumbled, gasping and panting, onto a broad level area near the base of the mountain. Helping each other up, they scrambled to their feet and ran from the tumbling rocks that followed them down.

Within a minute, the tide of rock that had pursued them slowed and stopped.

Panting and shivering, Jacen and Tenel Ka stood for a moment with their arms around each other in the lee of a tall rock. The shelter: blocked most of the wind, and--just for a moment--it felt a little less cold.

Jacen was surprised that Tenel Ka did not simply dust herself off and gruffly order him to keep going. Instead, she clung shivering to him for longer than seemed absolutely necessary.

Tenel Ka's loose hair fell forward to cover Jacen's shoulders. He welcomed the extra warmth and snuggled into it. He felt as if he could fall asleep under its blankety softness. He was so cold, so sleepy....

He closed his eyes, resting his head on her shoulder. Sleep seemed like a very good idea....

"Jacen, my friendf Tenel Ka's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Hmm? he asked groggily.

"Jacen, my friend. Tell me a joker Jacen's eyes snapped open. Had he really heard correctly? He put his face close to hers so that he could see her eyes in the starlight. How had he ever thought of her eyes as cool gray? he wondered. Had it taken the contrast with true cold for him to be able to see it? It was obvious now that they were warm, so warm....

"Wh-what? What did you say?"

She leaned her forehead against his. "Would you please tell me a joke?"

He smiled, though his lips cracked painfully.

"Umm... what side of a Wampa ice creature has the most fur?"

"I might welcome the company of even a Wampa ice creature at this moment, and invite it to join our group for warmth. I do not know, Jacen, my friend. Tell me--which side of a Wampa ice creature has more fur?"

Odd, Jacen thought. Tenel Ka must have known this joke. He was certain he had told it to her before. But at the moment that seemed very, very unimportant. Jacen smiled again into the soft red-gold cloud of hair that now drifted across his face. He could feel the Force flowing between them, giving them strength... yes, even warming them. "The side with the most fur is the outside," he said.

Tenel Ka shook ever so slightly, though whether it was from cold or from laughter Jacen couldn't tell. She pressed her cheek briefly against his, and whispered, "Thank you, Jacen, my friend."

Then, releasing him, she took one of his hands in hers.

Jacen looked around the rock toward the pass that led to the temperate zone. "We lost ground," he observed.

"Yes, but only a little. The pass should not be more than an hour's walk now. Our path appears clearer and easier--with a short climb uphill at the end," Tenel Ka pointed out. %Ve can make it, Jacen. We must continue."

Jacen believed her. He felt a new spring in his step as they left the shelter of the rock. They passed many caves or tunnel entrances--Jacen couldn't be sure which--but the ground was solid. On the slopes ahead they saw the strange mechanical towers of wind turbines erected by the Twiqeks. The structures appeared ancient, but still functioned. Jacen wondered how often any of the tunnel inhabitants braved the cold temperatures to service the turbine mechanisms.

The wintry air took its toll as they continued.

Jacen's mind began to go numb. He had entered a trancelike state and had no idea how he kept 'putting one foot in front of the other. He was in the lead, holding his lightsaber aloft, when Tenel Ka put her hand on his arm and pulled him to a stop.

"What is it?" he asked.

She nodded toward the frozen peaks above them; gaps in the crags showed the line of twilight in the distance. But the air appeared to ripple as if alive. Shimmers of light contorted and danced through the air in an invisible undu lation that seemed to make the icy rock surfaces ripple like an ocean.

Suddenly, a jet of steam half a kilometer high spewed upward from the frozen ground where the shimmering waves touched down. It seemed like a whirlwind, a spinning mass of displaced air and wind roaring over the mountains and sweeping toward them.

"Heat storm," Tonel Ka said tersely. "I have read about them."

"Heat?" Jacen asked, feeling hopeful.

"Heat storm," Tenel Ka warned. Her grip tightened on his arm. "Hot winds from the daytime side of the planet. They can travel through the temperate zone to the night side and still retain enough heat to boil alive any creature in their path. We must find shelter."

The shimmering waves swirled, forming a superheated funnel cloud that began whirling directly toward the side of the mountain. Rocks shattered, ice evaporated, and scalding, shrieking wind plowed through side canyons with a battering ram of displaced temperature.

"The caves!" Jacen yelled, grabbing her hand and turning back toward the last tunnel entrance they had passed, beneath one of the old wind turbines. Together they ran, forgetting caution on the rough ground.

The hot whirlwind climbed the slope toward them, howling like a vengeful spirit.

When he saw the broken entrance a few meters ahead of them, Jacen switched off his lightsaber and concentrated all of his efforts on speed.

Not a minute too soon, he and Tenel Ka threw themselves into the narrow mouth of the cave. The furnace-hot blast roared toward them, flash-evaporating ice. Rock cracked and crumbled.

Jacen and Tenel Ka backed up to where the dark cave widened out and pressed themselves against the rough stone wall. Hot wind buffeted the rock outside, melting ice.and sending up sizzles of steam, but the narrow-mouthed cave protected them somewhat.

Sinking wearily to the floor, Jacen said, "I didn't know I had the energy left to run." The storm grew louder, closer, as if angry that they had escaped.

Beside him, Tenel Ka looked around suspiciously.

"Jacen, my friend--we are not alone."

FEIGNING A CALM nonchalance, Lowbacca led his sister Sirra through the tunnels toward the small-craft bay where the Rock Dragon waited.

The Diversity Alliance engineers had not managed to crack its access codes yet. They could not get into the ship's main memory, activate the hyperdrive controls, or set a course in the navicomputer.

But Lowie knew the codes. He and Sirra could use the Rock Dragon as an escape vehicle. They had few choices at this point. He had to get his friends away from Ryloth and Nolaa Tarkona.

Lowie hoped the preprogrammed warning sirens would keep the Diversity Alliance soldiers occupied. Technicians, dock workers, inventory control officers, and maintenance engineers ran through the tunnels, panicked by the ala klaxons.

Lowbacca had stripped off his guard armor and tossed it down a waste chute into an underground well. He smoothed his black streak back with a brush of his hand, and once again looked like a studious Wookiee who spent too much time around computers.

Lowie had found Sirra diligently helping out in a loading bay. She hadn't seemed to mind the hard work of lifting pallets of materials in sealed containers labeled FOOD or MEDICAL SUPPLIES to be taken to downtrodden alien worlds. And she had been glad to see him.

Lowie had pulled her aside and breathlessly told his story of betrayal.

The truth had been kept from them, he explained; the young Jedi Knights were being held captive down in the spice mines. Sirra was shocked at the news, and reluctant to believe it. But she had seen the Rock Dragon herself, Lowie reminded her. Em Teedee's very presence substantiated his story. How else could Lowie have gotten his translator back, since he had left the little droid on Yavin 4?

Lowie crept behind one of the supply crates and motioned for his sister to follow him. The other workers, intent onthe blaring alarms, took no notice of them. Lowie punched his fist through the side of a crate, breaking a hole in its thin veneer to reveal not medicinal supplies or food, as the labels declared, but power packs for long-range, military-style blaster rifles.

Sirra swallowed hard; her shaved patches and tufts of fur stood out prominently in all directions.

She picked up one of the blaster packs and stared coldly at it.

"I believe Mistress Sirra will require no further demonstration of the veracity of your claims," Em Teedee said.

Sirra groaned, realizing that Raaba herself must have known the truth.

Lowie growled in sympathy. Hi wanted very much for Raaba to see the light, to escape with him and Sirrambut their Wookiee friend was too much a part of the Diversity Alliance and its plans.

As Lowie and his sister left the loading dock behind and made their way toward the small-craft bay and the Rock Dragon, he found himself wondering if the young Jedi Knights had found their way to safety in the mountains by now.

When the false sirens fell silent, though, Lowie realized instantly that they were in trouble.

He grabbed Sirra's patchwork-furred arm and dragged her forward. They raced down one level, then through a long corridor. Just as the doorway to the vehicle bay loomed up ahead of them, tantalizingly close, Nolaa Tarkona's angry voice burst over the intercom, declaring the presence of a traitor in their midst.

Em Teedee waded, "We're doomed! Oh, my! Whatever shall we do?"

Lowie growled a response that did not require any translation. His heart sank. He had left his human friends to fend for themselves, and now they would be pursued harder than ever. At least his false emergency had given them a small head start toward the surface. That was all the time he'd been able to buy them; he hoped it was enough.

The minimal Diversity Alliance crew st'all working in the small-craft bay came to attention as the two Wookiees approached. Lowie took a deep breath. Before they could enter, though, a hulking form stepped out of the shadows and blocked their way. The giant reptilian form of Corrsk blocked the passageway. The Trandoshan held a blaster cannon powerful enough to fry both Lowie and Sirra to ragged, smoking hunks.

"Traitors die," he said in a rough, gargling voice. "Kill Wookiees!"

His fang-filled jaws flexed in a vicious grin. He brought his blaster cannon to bear. "These are traitors!" Corrsk bellowed, glancing over his shoulder to the workers in the small-craft bay.

Two Duros star pilots and a group of Ugnaught mechanics turned to stare at the commotion.

One ran to a comm panel and called for security backup.

Corrsk did not appear interested in sharing the glory for the prizes he had captured.

Lowie drew his lightsaber and ordered Sirra to make a run for the Rock Dragon as soon as she saw a chance. Without the access codes she wouldn't be able to set any course, but she could prepare it for flight.

He shoved his sister behind him as he switched on his molten-bronze blade.

Then, holding it aloft like a powerful, glowing club, Lowie advanced toward the enormous reptile, taking the offensive against his natural enemy.

Corrsk drew back in surprise and lifted his blaster cannon, firing a shot before he had a chance to aim. Lowie dodged out of the way as the ragged bolt of energy hammered the tunnel wall.

Sirra used the moment of distraction to sprint past Corrsk into the smallcraft bay and make a beeline for the Hapan passenger cruiser.

Two Ugnaughts tried to block her way, but she bowled them over, batting one to the side with her left paw and knocking the other down with the sheer force of her charge.

The Rock Dragon waited, a sanctuary, their escape. Sirra had admired the ship, had hoped someday to fly it. She would soon get her chance.

Lowie charged at Corrsk with a furious roar.

He swung his lightsaber. The Trandoshan, more agile than his size suggested, skipped to one side.

Lowie's sizzling bronze blade sheared through a metal support beam on the wall and gouged a smoking crater into the rock.

He reeled backward, raising the lightsaber again as Corrsk struggled to aim his blaster cannon. Lowie felt a tug and a snap at his syren-fiber belt, and Em Teedee pulled free, rising up on his new microrepulsorjets.

Lowie yelped in surprise. "I beg your pardon, Master Lowbacca," the little translating droid said, "but I must have neglected to mention some of my more recent modifications."

Em Teedee zipped forward and back, dancing like a target remote in front of the reptilian.

Corrsk batted at the little droid with a scaly hand. One curved claw clipped the silvery casing and sent Em Teedee tumbling and spinning.

"Oh my, how very disorienting!"

Lowie slashed with his lightsaber while Corrsk's attention was st'11 on Em Teedee. The Trandoshan tried to dodge, but the edge of the molten blade scorched his scaled arm. Sizzling black blood congealed in the wound. Corrsk hissed with pain. He lifted his blaster cannon and launched a high-powered volley.

Lowie reacted with Jedi reflexes, bringing up the bronze blade to meet the blaster strike. The force of the blast drove him against the wall, but the energy blade deflected the barrage back into the rock ceiling above Corrsk's head.

The reptilian let out a bellow as tons of rocky debris cracked and broke away from above. He threw his massive arms overhead, trying to protect himself from the falling boulders. Giant chunks of rock tumbled down in a deadly avalanche to bury him.

With Corrsk foiled for the moment, Lowie did not hesitate: he turned to charge after his sister into the small-craft bay. Sirra, already aboard the Rock Dragon, was prepping it for takeoff. He heard the familiar whine of engines; a white flare of exhaust heated the grotto.

Heavily armed guards, summoned by the Ug-naughts, rushed in with hand weapons. They saw Lowie and fired. He dodged across the cluttered room, ducking and weaving around engine parts and coolant drums, using his Jedi senses to anticipate their shots.

Em Teedee zoomed after him across the grotto in a zigzag pattern. "Do hurry, Master Lowbacca!

I'm right belaind you!" Lowie made a mad dash toward the Hapan cruiser.

Several of the guards' potshots struck the hull of the Rock Dragon, but the hand weapons did not have enough power to cause significant damage.

Lowie scrambled up through the entryway and into the cockpit. As he slid down into his familiar copilot's seat, he wished briefly that Jaina were there with him. Fortunately, he had no doubts about Sirra's ability as a pilot. She almost seemed to be enjoying the challenge of their dangerous situation. When she flashed her fangs at him, Lowie remembered watching her practice her wild flying skills in the skies above Kashyyyk.

He had every confidence in his sister's abilities.

At the moment, though, he had grave questions as to how he would rescue his human friends, and whether he could ever free Raaba from this tangled web into which she had fallen....

With an electronic sigh of relief, Em Teedee zipped into the cockpit and dropped down onto the control panels. "Assistant navigator, reporting for duty! Might I recommend an immediate departure?" he said.

Roaring his agreement, Lowie sealed the Rock Dragon's entry hatch while Sirra punched up the engine controls. The repulsorlifts barely had time to raise the craft off the ground before Sirra launched the ship forward.

One of the landing struts scraped a white gash along the stone.

Lowie dragged himself into the cockpit and frantically began entering access codes and connecting Em Teedee's wiring to the navicomputer.

The Rock Dragon shot toward the blast doors, which were even now closing as a few Ughaughts furiously cranked mechanical systems to seal the Wookiees in. But Sirra put on a burst of speed that threw Lowie back in his seat.

From the outer tunnel, where the Trandoshan was now completely buried, more guards raced into the bay to set up heavier weapons on tripods.

They fired before they were ready, though, and only struck the blast doors and walls. The Duros, Sullustans, and Ugnaughts dove for cover from the ricochets.

Sirra let out a howl of triumph as the ship skimmed through the narrowing gap of the closing blast doors. The Rock Dragon soared out into Ryloth's open sky.

In the dust-rilled tunnel, salvage workers scurried across the rubble, picking at the rocks and hauling away fallen boulders in order to open the collapsed passageway.

With a clatter of broken stone and a mighty roar of anger, the Trandoshan burst through the avalanche debris and hauled himself out of the rubble.

He coughed and spat. Blood leaked from gashes in his tough, scaly hide.

Filth encrusted the burned wound where Lowie's lightsaber had scorched him. Corrsk didn't feel any of it.

Two furry Bothans tried to help the reptilian, but he hammered them aside and climbed to his feet.

His left legwas terribly injured. Corrsk looked down at his mangled scales and crushed muscles with anger. Still, he felt no pain. He let out a snarl as he saw that the Rock Dragon had escaped through the closing blast doors. The ineffective guards shot their clumsy weapons again, but to no avail.

Corrsk clenched his clawed hands. He desperately needed to kill something, someone, and he wanted it to be one of the Wookiees.

The smell of Lowbacca's blood was in his nostrils now. The Wookiees had injured him.

Corrsk would not stop until he was able to crush Lowbacca with his bare hands.

PUNISHING HOT LIGHT poured like a river of fire down from the sky, and Ryloth's surface radiated it upward again in shimmering waves.

The sweltering day-heat was intense, rolling off the dark rocks and the half-melted sands. Every breath was like gulping a mouthful of fire.

Ryloth's unmoving sun burned a bright hole in the sky and reflected from every object on the surface.

Far from the sheer cliffs, chasms split open like old scabs to reveal running streams of molten lava that burned orange, yellow, and white.

Raynar did his best to keep up with Jaina as they trudged between cracks, leapt across open spaces like ovens, and hid from the fire in any shadows they could find. "Now I know--what a nerf sausage--on a hot plate--feels like," he panted.

Jaina couldn't answer. Her skin was already red and raw, her hands and feet blistered. The temperate zone seemed impossibly far away across the broiling landscape. Jaina didn't know how they would ever get there, or if Lowie had even made it safely to the Rock Dragon.

With sunken cheeks, red-rimmed eyes, and dry, salt-encrusted skin, Raynar looked completely desiccated. His hair and his jumpsuit would have been drenched with sweat, had the searing heat not evaporated all perspiration the I moment it appeared.

"Remember how comfortable the tunnels were?"

Raynar said as they worked their way along the mountainside, trying to climb higher to safety, to the temperate zone. "The shade, the walls that were cool to the touch... the shadows, the air you could breathe.."

Jaina trudged ahead. "Sure. And Diversity Alliance soldiers hungry for our blood..."

"Well, that was one drawback," Raynar admit ted.

Jaina climbed up a rockface, along a cleft in the stones that provided some shade. She slipped briefly and, reaching out to steady herself, touched an outcropping exposed to the direct sunlight.

Jaina hissed in pain and snatched her fingers away. Red burn-welts sprouted on her skin.

"Working the mines is starting to sound like a vacation to me," she admitted. "We don't have any water out here, no food or protection....

" Raynar spoke in a whisper so he wouldn't have to inhale much of the hot air. "Maybe Lowie can still find us. You think he made it out in the Rock Dragon? You think Jacen is safe? And Tenel Ka?"

Jaina continued climbing upward, grimly seeking a cave or cleft that would offer them temporary shelter from the unending day's fire.

"We've had other plans that were a bit more successful," she said.

"I need to rest... just cool off for a little while," Raynat said.

Spying a crevice, Jaina ignited her lightsaber and hacked away at it, chopping out huge glassy lumps of stone. Raynar pulled the rocks aside to deepen the small alcove, to deepen the shadows.

Jaina's lips were chapped and dry. Her tongue felt thick and her throat was like sandpaper.

She was desperate for a drink, any kind of drink.

Dazzled by the brilliant sunlight, she fixed her eyes on the rock, daring to hope that she might accidentally break through to a natural spring in the mountainside.

The lightsaber sizzled as Jaina worked, shedding its eerie violet light into the alcove. Raynar helped until Jaina finally gave up, panting and shuddering with exhaustion. "Rest here--in shade--for a while," she gasped. Together, they crawled into their tiny shelter.

Raynar sighed. "It'll never get dark on this side of the planet. It always stays hot. Are you sure we can't just go back and surrender?"

"Absolutely not." Jaina fixed him with the most valiant stare she could muster. "We're Jedi Knights, Raynar. We'll think of something." She hunkered down against the rock wall of the new alcove. Even here in the shade, deeper in the rock, fingers of the throbbing heat reached toward them... but at least it was a few degrees cooler. "We'll wait here until we can figure out what to do."

Raynar sat next to her in silence.

Where the Diversity Alliance tunnels opened to the glaring sun ofRyloth, Hovrak stopped and paced. Many Twi'lek prisoners and defeated clan leaders had gone out this doorway, exiled to die in the Bright Lands.

But no one ever went out there voluntarily.

He had followed the stench of humans all the way here from where he had picked it up in the lower tunnels.

One of his lieutenants spoke. "Are you certain the humans came here, Adjutant Advisor?"

"Of course," Hovrak growled. "Can't you smell them?"

The scent of prey filled his nostrils, though blood still clogged his nose from where Tenel Ka had punched him the day before. Even injured, the wolfman could easily detect the stink of humans. They had fled out into the heat. They were fools to think they could survive in that environment.

One of the Talz guards spoke up next, his voice squeaking through the tiny mouth at the end of his proboscis. "They must have burned to death by now."

Hovrak bared his fangs and shook his furred head. "Others have made such erroneous assumptions but I will not be one of them. I won't be satisfied until I see their charred and dehydrated corpses frying in the sun.

The Adjutant Advisor gave an order and turned to stare out into the oppressive sunlight as his assistants scurried to follow his instructions.

Before long, several Diversity Alliance workers rushed to the end of the tunnel, carrying bulky, heat-reflective suits. The silver polymer material was shiny, like a mirror, to deflect the blazing sunlight.

Hovrak grabbed a suit and studied its configuration to make sure it would fit his body type.

Taking care not to knock loose any of his precious medals, he tugged the suit on over his formal uniform and directed four of his guards to do the same.

Hovrak sealed his transparisteel helmet and stared through its mirrorized coating. Now he could walk and see comfortably, even out in the harshest glare. The suit's recirculating climate-control systems kept him cool, and he listened to the hiss of cool air as he breathed.

The four guards, now suited up, gathered beside him, anxious to begin stalking. They wanted to kill the escaped humans before the searing heat did the job for them.

The landscape out there was hellish: fire and lava, rock and desert.

The silvery suits would protect them against far greater extremes than the weakling humans would be able to endure.

"Let's go," Hovrak said through the comm unit in his helmet. "No one rests until our task is finished." The Adjutant Advisor stepped out into the sizzling daylight, looking for any shadowed path that Jaina and Raynar might have chosen to walk. The two humans could not have moved very fast across the treacherous landscape, picking their way upward; they could not have gone far.

Hovrak shouldered his weapon, hoping that its circuits wouldn't be scrambled by the unaccustomed inhospitable temperatures. Of course, if the blaster refused to fire, he could simply attack the young humans with his hands. The rocks felt soft and plastic under his heavy-booted feet.

He grasped outcroppings with his gloves to help himself along, and easily picked up the trail. The humans hadn't had many options.

A couple of the Diversity Alliance guards appeared uneasy, less confident than he was in the protective abilities of their suits.

Hovrak ignored their concerns, though, and snarled through the helmet comm system for them to hurry up.

When he caught the humans, Hovrak would have to restrain himself from killing them too quickly. The heat, the sunlight, the lava offered numerous possibilities for drawing out their pain.

Nolaa Tarkona would be so pleased.

Armored against the heat, the silver-suited hunters moved steadily along, closing in on their prey.

AS THE HEAT storm howled past the frozen cave opening, Jacen listened to the cracking, scalding wind. Suddenly superheated rock tumbled free outside and ice formations melted.

Clouds of mist roiled at the entrance like soup, making the air dense and impenetrable in Ry-loth's frozen night. A jet of steam shot into the cave, struck the wall, and froze instantly into a hard, glassy coating.

Gusts of raw, hot air struck Jacen in the face, but his skin was so numb he could take no pleasure in it.

Behind him, Tenel Ka was more intent on the sound she had heard from deeper within the cave. "Who is there?" she said. "I sense you here with us." She drew her lightsaber and switched on the humming beam as the storm continued to rage outside. Her turquoise blade cast a dim blue-green glow.

"So, someone has come to kill me at last," a hoarse voice rasped. "I would have managed the job myself eventually... if you had given me a little more time."

As the wind whipped the mountainside, Jacen heard a mechanical rattling from the windmills and turbines that stood sentry like robotic scarecrows outside. The inescapable force of the whirlwind spun gears and powered the generators.

Jury-rigged lights inside the cave flickered on to reveal an extensive network of living chambers.

Jacen stood next to Tenel Ka, ready to fight.

He drew his own lightsaber, planning to ignite the emerald blade, but he quickly saw they had nothing to fear.

Back in a cleared section of the cave huddled an old Twi'Lek man. His face was gaunt, his skin bruised and grayish. He looked up at them, head-tails trembling as if from the cold. He blinked repeatedly. His once sharpened teeth were now dull and cracked.

The Twi'Lek drew himself taller, gathering together his few ragged scraps of pride. "This is all that remains of me and my once great clan," he wheezed. "I should have followed the others into the Bright Lands, but Nolaa Tarkona cruelly exiled me to the cold. I could not make the long journey across the shadows and into the purifying sun."

"Who are you?" JaCen asked. "What's your name?" Overhead, the wind turbines spun and vibrated, powering the haphazardly propped glowpanels.

The Twi'lek took a deep breath. "I am Kur...," he said, then hesitated.

"Just Kur.

I have no clan name any longer. It has been stripped from me."

"Nolaa Tarkona did that to you?" Jacen asked.

The Twi'lek turned his face away, as if unable to bear the truth.

Tenel Ka switched off her lightsaber and answered for him. "When a clan is defeated, the five clan leaders are exiled to the daylight side of Ryloth. In the Bright Lands, at the mercy of the heat, they soon succumb to death."

"But Nolaa threw me to the cold wastes instead," Kur said. "I have eked out a living, under these generator stations that provide power and air circulation for the caves below. But most of the large Twi'lek cities are far from here. Nolaa Tarkona selected an isolated area for her headquarters. From there, she keeps the rest of my people living in fear."

Seeing no actual danger from Kur, Jacen and Tenel Ka crept deeper into the cave, seeking shelter from the crackling cold outside. To Jacen, the warrior girl's skin appeared translucent and blue from the frigid temperatures... not to mention banged, bruised, and scraped from their rough fall across the rocky ice field.

He wasn't much better off himself, but at least he'd had his comfortable coverall to give him some protection--much more than Tenel Ka's reptile-skin body armor had offered.

The Twi'lek exile stood up. He reached back around some rocks near a flickering glowpanel and pulled out a tattered, worn strip of hide, a very meager blanket. "Here, girl, use this. It's the best I can offer."

Tenel Ka took the blanket, which Jacen helped her drape over her shoulders. She hunched down to conserve her body heat and Jacen huddled next to her, adding his warmth to hers.

"When I came here to this place, I found one weak and starving rylcrit,"

Kur said. "Deep in the caverns of some of the larger Twi'lek cities, my people raise those hardy animals for meat.

But this one had survived out here in the waste-lands.

It died soon after I found this cave. I ate the rylcrit meat over the course of a month. I used its bones to make tools and its hide to make the blanket. May it warm you enough to survive for another day."

Tenel Ka's voice was gruff, almost defiant, despite the shivering she tried to control. "We must survive another day," she said. "We must escape."

Kur chuckled, a sound like crumbling dry leaves. At this, Jacen stiffened and took offense.

"We will get out of here," he said. "We've got a ship coming."

"So you expect to get off of Ryloth?" Kur said.

"Then someone must have given you false hope."

Jacen glared at the Twi'lek. "How did Nolaa manage to take over all your cities?" he asked, changing the subject. "She doesn't seem to have nany Twi'lek followers in her Diversity Alliance.

In fact, considering the large populations in some of the cave cities, I'm surprised she has any control over them at all."

"Nolaa Tarkona is an anomaly in many ways.

Twflek culture has ancient traditions. Our power is distributed among the clans and cities. We maintain that power through cleverness, deceit, wily tricks... rather than through violence and force.

"But Nolaa Tarkona doesn't play by our rules.

She escaped from slavery, gathered her allies, and came to our tunnels with a small army. She attacked without warning and overthrew the clan leaders. Some she sent down into the ryll mines, others she killed outright. For me she reserved a special punishment. I was exiled here instead of being sent to the Bright Lands, where I should have gone to become part of the fire."

Kur looked down at his clawed hands. His head-tails trembled as if he were experiencing some sort of seizure. "I always intended to make the journey, but I never quite... managed."

"Then you can help us make it to the temperate zone?" Jacen asked.

"We need to get out of here and up to where our friend can find us. We have lightsabers to signal with. We know he's coming."

"It is a long way," Kur said. "And very cold."

"It is cold here in this cave," Tenel Ka pointed out. "If I must be cold, I would rather be moving toward a goal."

Kur looked around his squalid chambers. His home in exile. The heat storm had passed now, and the creaking, spinning wind turbines began to slow.

The lights in the chamber dimmed.

With a sigh, he pried up some loose chunks of rock, under which grew a spongy, feathery patch of lichen, veined with blue and red. "You must eat this," he said, tearing off a scrap for himself.

,It is the only food I have, and we will need all our strength to attempt this insane journey."

Jacen took the tart, tough lichen and chewed on it. After the brackish water and the' bitter fungus they had had in the spice mines, he had no complaints about anything that was meant to give him sustenance.

Tenel Ka ate her share without comment.

"If we are to make progress," Kur said, "we should set out immediately, in the wake of the heat storm." He stood, and his arms trembled weakly.

"We will probably freeze to death out there... but for a short while we will have a small amount of residual wax-th to help us alongf Jacen steeled himself for their venture back out into the bitter cold and wind.

He cleared his throat.

"Well," he said bravely, "what are we waiting for?"

The landscape had changed dramatically in the aftermath of the capricious storm. The hot whirlwind from the day side of the planet had blasted across ice patches and glacier fields, leaving spearlike icicles flash-frozen to the rugged cliffsides. Evaporated water that had crystallized in the air now blew around them as dry, scouring snow.

Kur kept his head low; his head-tails twitched around his shoulders as he trudged along the stony slopes toward the faint glow several rugged kilometers in the distance.

The snow that swirled around them blinded Jacen. He took Tenel Ka's arm so that they wouldn't get separated. Once, when they became disoriented, he ignited his lightsaber and let the emerald green blaze like a torch.

Snow sizzled as it struck the energy blade. The wind whistled and howled around irregularities in the cliff faces.

As they climbed higher, the breezes grew more severe, and the biting cold drained Jacen's energy Every step seemed nearly impossible. Slogging through a sea of weariness, he pushed himself to go farther and farther.

In his mind, he cried out with the Force, "Lowie, we're here... don't give up looking for us!"

Tenel Ka stumbled, and Jacen helped her up, only to find that she had tripped over Kur, who huddled on the ground in despair, refusing to go on. Together they pulled the old Twi'lek to his feet.

"Can't rest now," Jacen said. "You won't make it to the Bright Lands."

Kur moaned. "Then I'll just die here."

"That is not an option," Tenel Ka said.

The night sky cleared again, showing a spray of stars. All the snow created by the heat storm blew away, athering in small mounds against the cliffs. Jacen was dismayed to see that their destination appeared no closer than it had seemed hours before.

Tenel Ka pulled in a deep breath. "Master Skywalker once described techniques a Jedi can use to endure cold or heat," she said. "We must use these skills now."

Jacen nodded jerkily. "Our friend here doesn't have those abilities, though."

"Then we must help him reach the temperate zone before it is too late."

The slope grew steeper, rockier, but still they kept moving toward the line of distant twilight.

Tenel Ka once again had to use her fibercord to help them to climb between rocky pinnacles.

With his lightsaber, Jacen cut sturdy footholds into the caked ice inside shallow crevices.

The two companions pushed and dragged the old Twi'lek exile, urging him to climb higher.

"Just a little farther, Kur," Jacen chanted in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. "Just a little farther."

But when they finally reached the top of the ridge, Jacen's heart dropped. A sheer gorge and a landscape of cracked hills blocked their path to where the twilight lands would offer them safety.

"We'll never make it across that," Jacen said in dismay.

"This is a fact," Tenel Ka agreed. Her voice was flat, but Jacen heard her despair.

Where would they find the strength to go farther? They were exhausted, freezing. The Twi'Lek had slumped into an unconscious stupor beside them.

Jacen drew his lightsaber, switched it on, and let it blaze into the darkness. Tenel Ka raised hers as well.

Jacen hoped his sister was all right, wherever she was... that she had managed to escape somehow, that she had found safety with Lowie.

Lowie!

Jacen looked up into the starlit sky.

Tenel Ka straightened, suddenly alert again, and waved her lightsaber back and forth. "Do you sense it?" she asked.

"Yes," Jacen said. "The Rock Dragon. It's coming!"

It appeared at first as a shadow against the sky, droning as it cruised low over the mountains.

Soon a constellation of running lights twinkled their message of warmth, of encouragement.

The ship was searching for them.

Jacen jumped up and down, yelling, "Lowie, we're here! We're here!"

Tenel Ka stood tall beside him and whirled her turquoise blade overhead.

The Rock Dragon wavered for a moment, then altered its course and arrowed straight toward them. "He's seen us!" Jacen exclaimed.

Tenel Ka shook the old Twi'lek exile. "Kur, we are saved. You must come with usf

"No... take me to the Bright Lands," he gasped.

The Rock Dragon hovered, seeking a place to land, but found no clear patch on the broken, rocky ridge.

"You can always choose the Bright Lands later," Jacen said, hope lending strength to his voice. "But for now, why not help the Twi'Lek people?

Nolaa Tarkona has done terrible things to them. Maybe you could help set everything right again."

As the Rock Dragon hovered in the air, buffeted by freezing winds, its ramp extended until it nearly touched the mountaintop. Kur didn't struggle or argue as they lifted him onto the ramp and carried him through the hatch.

Inside the bright cockpit, Lowie and Sirra both howled a greeting.

Their fur bristled and their fangs flashed with exultation.

Jacen and Tenel Ka, still shivering, sank gratefully to the floor. The deck plates were so warm and welcoming that Jacen could think of no place he would rather have been.

He just wished his sister were there with him.

WITH A SUDDEN uneasy tingle felt through the Force, Jaina detected the danger before her eyes could spot anything outside in the unrelenting glare of day. She stood in the shadow of the alcove she had excavated, letting her eyes adjust.

Grabbing Raynar by the shoulder, she looked at the washed-out landscape under the pummeling sunlight. "They're comingf she said.

Raynar's eyes closed in their dim hiding place. His shoulders slumped, and he panted heavily, dragging in breaths of too-hot air that seemed to scorch the lining of his lungs. "Then we'd better get ready to fight."

Jaina gripped her lightsaber. The handle felt hot against her blistered palm. Raynar, without a Jedi weapon of his own, picked up a chunk of the rock Jaina had sliced free to Create their cave. He hefted it in his hand, ready to throw.

Reaching out with her Jedi senses, Jaina could tell that their stalkers were coming closer, closer.

She could sense their anger, their hatred of humans....

Raynar's eyes opened wide. "It's Hovrak!"

Jaina pressed her back against the wall, felt the heat throb against her skin. She did not switch on her lightsaber blade. They would remain in the darkness; it might gain them an additional second of surprise.

The heat-suited soldiers, though, made no attempt at stealth. When they discovered the freshly hewn cleft in the rock, one of the guards shouted in triumph. He stumbled forward in his unwieldy silver suit.

Swinging his blaster from left to right, he stepped into the opening, prepared to fire--but Jaina was ready for him.

In a single blurred movement she switched on her lightsaber and slashed.

The Jedi blade severed the business end of the blaster, leaving only a smoldering lump.

Then Raynar threw his rock with Force-enhanced power, hitting the guard hard in the stomach and knocking him backward toward the rocky ledge.

His gloved hands clawed at the rocks, trying to catch his balance, but to no avail.

The jagged edges ripped open his suit, and the guard's wall echoed inside his reflective helmet as he toppled over the side.

Hovrak called the rest of his team to a halt, shouting for them to retreat to the side of the ledge. Then, targeting on Jaina's glowing light saber, the guards fired into the grotto shadows, from a protected position.

Trapped like a womp rat in a box canyon, Jaina swung her lightsaber to deflect the blaster bolts. Raynar crouched at the back of the crevice to keep out of the way, hurling an occasional rock at their unseen enemies.

Jaina clenched her jaw and fought wth all of her Jedi skills not daring to trust her dazzled eyes on the heat-washed ledge.

The silver-suited guards fired repeatedly. "Shall we set to stun?" one of them said.

"No, just kill her," Hovrak said. "And the other one too."

One of the three remaining guards blasted away at the mass of solid rock overhanging the crevice entrance. After volley upon volley, the overhang began to glow red with the heat it had absorbed.

Hovrak growled in anticipation. "Keep firing! They have no defense against us."

When Jaina stepped forward to deflect the new volley of fire, Raynar popped out of his shadowy shelter. He hefted another sharpwedged rock, then hurled it with perfect aim, so that it struck Hovrak's faceplate and cracked the reflectorized transparisteel. Raynar ducked back into hiding as the wolfman roared, stumbled backward, and barely regained his balance on the ledge.

One of the guards focused on Jaina and fired, ignoring the other activity around him. She deflected the shot, using her dazzling blade to knock the blaster bolt back to its source. The energy bolt caught the guard full in the chest and left a smoking hole in his reflective suit.

Mortally wounded, the guard gasped and gargled, then slumped off the fiery cliffside.

Hovrak now had only two guards remaining.

"You'll need more help than this to defeat a Jedi Knight," Jaina shouted defiantly. Her throat burned; her cracked lips were bleeding; crusty salt from evaporated perspiration sparkled on her skin--but she was entirely focused on the battle now, flowing with the Force.

Hovrak snarled, uncomfortable now that his faceplate was broken. The outside air felt too hot to breathe, despite the suit's laboring airconditioning units. "Soon we won't need to worry about humans ever again," he taunted them.

"When the Diversity Alliance gets hold of the Emperor's plague, every one of you will die, from one end of the galaxy to the other."

"You'll die first," Jaina shouted back, stifling her horror at the plan Hovrak had just revealed.

Now she knew what Nolaa Tarkona had intended all along.

Raynar threw rock after sharp rock at Hovrak and the guards. They stopped trying to melt the overhang and turned their blaster fire at him, but Raynar dodged away, drawing agility from the Force.

In frustration, the last two guards fired again.

With no place to run, Jaina and Raynar stood at the edge of the narrow path, far from the temperate zone in the mountains where Lowie had planned to rescue them.

On every side, sharp black boulders blocked any hope of escape.

Jaina stepped slightly in front of Raynar. She was willing to fight to the death. She saw no other choice....

The Lightning Rod shot out of hyperspace, emerging as close to Ryloth's gravity well as Zekk's daring calculations would allow. Luke Sky-walker sat in the copilot's seat, glad to be along on this rescue mission.

The ship streaked toward the atmosphere like a comet, broadcasting the access code Lusa had supplied, but not bothering to pause or request clearance to approach the planet. Zekk hoped his bold rush would get him past any sentinels that patrolled the orbital lanes around the Twi'lek homeworld.

"It's hard coming back here," Lusa said, trying to maintain her balance on all four hooves as the ship rolled from side to side. "Nolaa Tarkona knows I betrayed her. The Diversity Alliance won't hesitate to kill me."

"Then we won't give them the chance," Zekk said grimly.

"She's already sent an assassin to kill you on Yavin 4, and he failed,"

Master Skywalker pointed out, looking at the centaur girl with understanding.

"Sometimes we have to face our fears."

"My fears keep coming after me," Lusa said.

"And now they're trying to hurt my friends."

Zekk dodged and rolled, pirouetting experimentally in space. Then, satisfied that the Lightning Rod was ready, he dove toward the mountain range at the terminator between day and night. "Let's just hope we make it down there without running into much resistance," he said, and powered up his weapons systems.

Two sentry cruisers homed in on the rapidly approaching intruder. Zekk recognized a Hornet Interceptor and a stripped-down Lancer frigate emblazoned with alien langnage glyphs. "Unidentified ship, you are trespassing in airspace held by the Diversity Alliance. You are not welcome in this system. If you do not depart immediately, you will be destroyed."

"Yeah, right," Zekk muttered. '°Iy me." Alarms sounded on his control panel, but he ignored them. Without acknowledging, he raced straight at the sentry ships and opened fire.

"They aren't prepared for any resistance yet," Luke said, his eyes half closed in concentration.

"Their minds are too... complacent."

The sentry cruisers began to activate their weapons systems and power up their shields.

Suddenly aware of their danger, both craft spun out of the way and arched upward, but not before the Lightning Rod's rapid, low-power blaster bolts scored some important hits.

"Hah! Right in the sensors," Zekk crowed. He clapped his hands in triumph. "They're blind now until they can reset their systems."

"Leave them, then," Luke said. "We need to hurry. I sense that Jacen and Jaina are in trouble."

Lusa braced herself. The Lightning Rod scraped into the atmosphere while the two Diversity Alliance sentry vessels spun about.

Disoriented in space, the two ships drifted so close to each other that they nearly collided before their respective commanders regained control.

Zekk roared down to cloud level, where huge tornadolike heat storms spawned by the temperature discontinuity between the frigid night side and the hot day side buffeted the ship. The wind currents knocked the Lightning Rod back and forth, but Lusa knew where they had to go.

With terse accuracy, she directed Zekk toward the section of mountain range that held the tunnels controlled by Nolaa Tarkona.

"I spent plenty of time there," Lusa said,. her crystalline horns glimmering. The muscles in her back rippled as she paced the deck and snorted uneasily. "I never thought I'd go back willingly. But this is for my friends."

"That's why it's an important step in your healing process," Master Skywalker said.

Lusa nodded. "For my friends...," she repeated.

"Hang on," Zekk said. "I'm increasing speed.

Those sentry cruisers are trying to sound an alarm." The Lightning Rod soared straight along the day side slopes of the mountain range.

On the open channel Zekk heard a strident warning being transmitted now that one of the ships had managed to get its main generators back on-line--but no one responded. Perhaps the Diversity Alliance was already too busy with its own emergencies.

Lusa pressed her face against the sloped trans-paristeel of the cockpit windows. "Look--down there on the mountainside!" she said. '%Vhat are those lights?"

Zekk frowned and studied the area the centaur girl had pointed to.

"Looks like blaster fire."

"And a lightsaber," Master Skywalker added.

"Somebody's fighting down there."

"It's Jaina!" Zekk said with absolute certainty.

"Hold on down there, we're on our way!"

Though normally reluctant to use his Jedi senses, Zekk let the Force tingle through him. It made him self-conscious to use the Force, here in the presence of the Jedi Master, but Zekk knew he was doing the right thing.

The Lightning Rod, its laser cannons powered up to full charge, swooped to the rescue.

"Jaina is sure going to be surprised," he said.

The glaring sun and bright blaster fire had nearly blinded Jaina. She could hardly see anything other than her own lightsaber. Her arms were so weary she could barely raise them, but she sidestepped, deflected, struck. She could not allow herself to slow down. Hovrak had only two henchmen left. She and Raynat still had a chance, though it was a slim one.

Jaina took little note of any sound beyond the exploding blasters, the hum of her lightsaber, and the snarl of the Adjutant Advisor. The roaring that built louder and louder in the air simply did not register.

She continued to fight, trying not to think ahead... though she did feel an unexpected surge of hope through the Force.

"It's a ship! There's a ship coming!" Raynar exclaimed.

Hovrak and his two guards looked up just in time to see the Lightning Rod streak toward the cliff opening. With pinpoint accuracy, the ship fired.

Both guards were blasted off the rockface in the surprise attack. Hovrak stumbled back, flailing in the air. A section of the cliff wall melted behind him. Jaina and Raynar pressed themselves back into the crevice as cherry-red rocks fell smoking and steaming down into the chasm below.

Hovrak managed to throw himself against an outcropping and hold on, roaring in outrage through his cracked helmet.

As the ship hovered in front of the embattled alcove, the cargo door of the Lightning Rod hissed open. Zekk grinned. "I thought it was supposed to be your turn to rescue me this time, Jaina. Need a lift?"

Luke Skywlker sat in the pilot's seat. "Jaina! Raynar! Jump in."

Lusa raced to the cargo bay and held out her hands. Jaina pushed Raynar up onto the unsteady ramp; the young man winced as he touched the hot metal, but he hauled himself aboard.

Jostled by wind currents, the Lightning Rod hovered near the cliff above the blasted chasm.

"Your turn, Jaina!" Zekk said, helping Raynar inside. "We're just about ready!" He gestured to Master Skywalker at the pilot's controls.

Seeing Raynar safe, Jaina clipped her lightsaber to her side. Then she jumped. Once on the ramp, she fell to her knees and pulled herself along.

"I'm on," she shouted.

Back in the cockpit, Zekk and Master Sky-walker began to move the Lightning Rod. But at the last second, Hovrak bunched his muscles and leaped across the widening gap. With one silver-gloved hand he grabbed the piston support of the Lightning Rod's ramp; with his other, he clutched Jaina's foot. ''You can't escape!" he roared.

"Yes we will," Jaina said, struggling against him.

Lusa leaned over, extending her arms to Jaina.

Hovrak glanced up, his wolf eyes slitted. "Lusa!

Another traitor!"

"No. I'm no longer deluded," Lusa said. "That doesn't make me a traitor--

it just makes me a bit smarter than you."

Hovrak strained to haul himself aboard the ship as it soared higher into the air... though what the wolfman intended to do, Jaina couldn't guess.

She thrashed and kicked at him, but he would not let go of her foot.

Her skin burned. Her hands were raw from where blisters had popped open.

Luke took the Lightning Rod high into the air, away from the rocky uplift, out into the hotter skies of Ryloth.

"You'd better get inside!" Zekk called back to Jaina. The wind howled through the opening, rippling their clothes. "Stop playing around back there."

"Who's playing?." Jaina said, kicking once again at Hovrak. Her foot struck his helmet, cracking the transparisteel plate all the way open.

The Adjutant Advisor clung tenaciously to her leg. He held on wth both hands, more intent on dragging her down with him than in getting to relative safety aboard the ship.

Jaina's knees slipped on the metal ramp. She scrambled for purchase, but Hovrak's weight dragged her back down the ramp toward the opening and the long drop. Hot winds from the canyon roared in through the opening.

Raynar pulled himself to his hands and knees in the cargo bay.

He slapped the control switch for the ramp, closing it halfway so that Jaina could climb in. Hovrak's feet dangled over the edge.

Seizing the opportunity, Hovrak finally hauled himself aboard. He released his vicious grip on Jaina with a triumphant glare in his bloodshot animal eyes.

"Lusa, do something!" Raynar yelled.

But the centaur girl was already taking action.

As Hovrak stood up, Lusa reared and kicked him full in the chest, knocking him back onto the ramp. Raynar punched the controls again. The ramp opened wide.

The Lightning Rod soared over a lava-filled crevice. Hovrak, in his slippery suit, slid back down and out into open air. The plummeting wolfman flailed. His protective suit glittered as he dropped for thousands of meters... until he plunged with a puffof bright yellow flame into a sluggish river of molten rock. The lava bubbled and swallowed up the dark stain. In a heartbeat, nothing remained of Hovrak.

Panting and distraught, Jaina crawled farther into the cargo area, and the Lightning Rod's ramp finally hissed shut. Jaina took a deep breath of blessedly cool air and then fell trembling next to Raynar.

The two were battered, sunburned, grime-encrusted messes, but she grinned at the young man from Alderaan, then offered a weak wave to Luke and Zekk in the cockpit.

"How can I help?" the centaur girl asked.

"We could both use a driuk right about now," Jaina gasped.

Raynar looked gratefully up at Lusa. "Cold water?"

"Make it a double," Jaina added.

TOGETHER, THE LIGHTNING Rod and the Rock Dragon sped upward out of Ryloth's atmosphere.

As they flew, pursued now by Diversity Alliance ships, Zekk gained new admiration for Luke Skywalker. Even in an old-fashioned freighter like the Lightning Rod, the Jedi Master's training as a fighter pilot was obvious.

Zekk was glad to witness the legendary skill of the X-wing pilot who had destroyed the first Death Star. Master Skywalker maneuvered the ship, expertly dodging quadlaser fire from their disorganized pursuers, while Zekk answered each attack with a volley of fire from the Lightning Rod's weapons systems.

Zekk longed to leave the weapons controls to tend to Jaina's injuries and reassure himself that she was all right. But that would have to wait until they got away from the Diversity Alliance.

"Hang on back there, we're not out of this yet," Zekk said. He tossed Lusa the Lightning Rod's emergency medkit. The centaur girl was more than competent enough to care for the two patients until they could get to a real medical center.

Luke threw the Lightning Rod into a sideways spin just moments before laser cannon fire exploded behind them.

Beside them, the Rock Dragon pulled into a sharp loop and arced backward.

Seconds later, Zekk saw explosions to the stern of the Lightning Rod on his viewscreens.

Aloud Wookiee bellow and a triumphant warble blasted from the comm system's speakers. Em Teedee's exclamation followed. "Oh, well done, Master Lowbacca, Mistress Sirrakuk!"

Zekk scanned the space around them for Diversity Alliance ships.

"We're all clear!"

Luke nodded. "Thanks for the assistance, Rock Dragon," he said.

"We've got Raynar and Jaina.

Are the others with you?"

"Oh, yes, Master Luke. And more," Em Teedee replied."

"Master Jacen and Mistress Tenel Ka have brought along a guestma Twi'lek gentleman.

They assure us he's a friend... or at least he is no friend of Nolaa Tarkona's."

Luke's eyebrows raised in surprise. "A Twi'Lek?

I'll have to trust their judgment on that. Anyway, it's about time we got this team back together."

A pair of jubilant Wookiee voices roared their agreement.

"I heartily concur, Master Luke," Em Teedee said. In the background, Lowie barked a question.

"Master Lowbacca wishes to inquire whether we should all rendezvous at Yavin 4?

Zekk cast a worried glance back at Jaina and Raynat, assessing their injuries.

Lusa shook her head. "I'm not sure the jungle moon is a good idea.

We're going to need some full-fledged bacta tanks, I think."

"Where we're going, they've got some of the best," Master Skywalker said.

He leaned forward and spoke into the corem again. "Negative, Lowie.

Sirra, Em Teedee, set your course for Cornscant.

We'll meet you on the private landing pad at the Imperial Palace."

The reunion of the young Jedi Knights on Cornscant was joyous. But Jacen sensed that for Lowie, the triumph of their escape was bittersweet--since Raaba had remained with the Diversity Alliance.

Han, Leia, and Anakin Solo welcomed family and friends with a mixture of horror, relief, and reproach. They had a great many concerns, and Leia vowed to bring the full resources of the New lepublic into play.

Lowie, Sirra, and Lusa spent a good deal of time in deep conversation with Master Skywalker, Chewbacca, Hah, and Leia, sharing what they had learned from the Diversity Alliance.

Jaina and Raynat, Jacen and Tenel Ka were hustled off to the medical center adjacent to the Imperial Palace. Now that the urgency of escape was behind them, healing the wounded took priority.

The young Jedi Knights finally had a chance to feel the full force of the damage their bodies had sustained. Zekk rarely left Jaina's side.

Despite their various injuries, all of the young friends were reminded several times by their Jedi Master and the leader of the New Republic that their actions, though brave, had also been very foolish.

When Tenel Ka's grandmother arrived unexpectedly, however, she did not reproach her granddaughter.

No one had sent the former queen word of Tenel Ka's injuries or that she was being taken to Coruscant. Yet somehow she had known, and Jacen sensed that Ta'a Chume was secretly quite proud of what Tenel Ka had done.

Han and Leia, though proud of their children, still chided them hours after Jacen and Jaina's return. Finally, Jaina had had enough of her parents' censure. "But if we hadn't gone to Ryloth," she blurted out,

"we'd never have learned that the Diversity Alliance was secretly plotting to wipe out all humans!"

Seeing the stricken look on his mother's face, Jacen had the grace to feel ashamed for the turmoil they had put her through. He could well imagine how worried she must have been. "We're sorry we didn't trust you enough to tell you what we were doing, Mom," he said as gently as he could. "But now we've told you everything we know, and there's no one we trust more to decide where we go from here."

His mother gave Jacen a grateful smile. "The Twi'Lek you brought back with you--Kur--has been very helpful," she said. "We've also learned a few things about the Diversity Alliance."

"From the Bothan who tried to kill me?" Lusa said.

The Chief of State nodded. "I think the next step is to present what we've found out in a meeting of the New Republic Senate. So concentrate on getting well. Into the bacta tanks with all of you.

I'm going to need your help when you're a little stronger."

Jacen looked around at his sister, Tenel Ka, Zekk, Raynar, and Lowie, who had Em Teedee clipped to his belt and Sirra close beside him.

"We're already stronger," he said. "Now that we're together again."

Lowie roared his support.

"Uncle Luke has always said we're stronger together," Jaina agreed.

"This is a fact," Tenel Ka said.

The best-selling saga continues...

The EMPEROR'S PlAGUE

Bornan Thul's secret is out: he's been protecting a deadly plague that could devastate the galaxy if released.

And the evil Nolaa Tarkona--leader of the Diversity Alliance--knows where it is hidden.

Now Jacen, Jaina, and their allies must race against time. As a massive battle rages between New Republic soldiers and the forces of the Diversity Alliance, the young Jedi Knights must find and destroy the plague before it can be released.

But they first must face Nolaa Tarkona. And her very lethal hired hand, Boba Fett.

Turn the page for a special preview of the next book in the STAR WARS: YOUNG JEDI KNIGHTS series:

THE Emperor's Plague Coming in January from Boulevard Books!

Raynat still couldn't believe that his mother had risked coming out of hiding to see him on Coruscant. Now both he and Aryn Dro Thul stood on the highest balcony of the Bornaryn headquarters building, overlooking a broad plaza that bustled with people.

At the heart of the plaza, a fountain with hundreds of tiers burbled, trickled, gushed, and spouted. The spectacular display reminded him of the Dro family's Ceremony of the Waters. It seemed to him like years since his entire family had gathered together for the celebration.

For the millionth time since his father's disappearance, Raynar found himself wishing that his whole family could be together again, wishing that he had remembered to enjoy those times more in the past....

"This view was one of the reasons Bornan and I chose this building for our headquarters." His mother wore her midnight-blue gown shot with silver and belted with a sash in the colors of the House of Thul.

Her fingers toyed with the sash and her lips curved in a faint smile.

"Somehow I feel closer to your father just standing here."

"He's in danger, you know," Raynar said.

Without looking away from the fountain, Aryn nodded. "Tell me what you've learned."

"It all started with the Twi'lek leader, Nolaa Tarkona. Dad was negotiating some trade agreements with her when he disappeared."

Gaze still fixed on the fountain, Aryn nodded.

"Bornan was planning to meet with her at the Shumavar trade conference...

but he never arrived."

"Well, Uncle Tyko was right about one thing.

Dad wasn't kidnapped. He decided to disappear, but he had a good reason.

Nolaa Tarkona had started an interplanetary political movement called the Diversity Alliance. It's supposed to bring nonhuman species together to right the wrongs of the past. Unfortunately, Nolaa Tarkona decided that the only way to right those wrongs was by destroying humans."

"But why should she have singled out Bornan?" Aryn asked.

"An alien scavenger named Fonterrat discovered an Imperial storehouse containing a plague that could kill humans quickly. Fonterrat offered to sell the information to Nolaa Tarkona, but he refused to deal directly with her. Instead he insisted that she send a neutral party to meet with him on the ancient planet Kuar."

"And so Nolaa Tarkona sent Bornan?" Aryn said.

"Right. As far as we know, Dad exchanged a time-locked case full of credits for a navicomputer that contained the location of the plague storehouse. Just a simple exchange. Dad was supposed to take the navicomputer to Nolaa Tarkona at the Shumavar conference. He would never even have known what he was carrying-but at the last minute I guess Fonterrat confessed it to him."

Still looking down at the bustling plaza far below, Aryn Dro Thul shook her head. "This plague sounds a little far-fetched. That scavenger could have been exaggerating."

"He wasn't," Raynat said. "The plague is real.

Fonterrat had given Nolaa Tarkona at least one sample, and Nolaa used that sample to booby-trap his payment. At Fonterrat's next stop, an all-human colony called Gammalin, the plague killed everyone. The colonists locked up Fontor-rat before the plague killed them, and he himself died in a tiny jail since no one was left alive to take care of him. Ever since then, Dad has been on the run, trying to keep the navicomputer away from Nolaa Tarkona. We can't let her get her hands on that plague, or the entire human race will be destroyed."

Aryn's shoulders dropped. "That sounds like your fatherrebut why didn't he simply destroy the navicomputer, or bring the information here to Coruscant?"

"It's not that easy," Raynar said. "We know that some members of the Diversity Alliance have infdtrated the New Republic government. A Bothan soldier wearing a New Republic uniform even tried to kill Lusa on Yavin 4. Maybe Dad suspected the information wasn't safe if he delivered it here."

"Yes, your father always had good people instincts," Aryn agreed.

"Then he probably also guessed that Nolaa Tarkona would stop at nothing to get that plague, with or without the navicomputer. When Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and I were prisoners on Ryloth, we learned that she hopes to release that plague and infect every last human in the galaxy."

"I wish I were there to help your father," Aryn said.

"I wish I could help him too," Raynar said, taking his mother's hand a bit awkwardly. It felt strange at first, but he had come to realize in the past months how easy it was to lose the things and the people that you cared about. "I'm glad you're here, Mom," he said. "I didn't expect you to come out of hiding until we had found Dad."

Aryn Dro Thul stood tall, straightened her shoulders, and looked into Raynar's eyes. "Sometimes we simply have to face our worst fears," she said. 'ou've shown so much courage since your father disappeared. I'm very proud of you, you know."

Raynat sighed. "I guess facing our fears is a part of growing up."

His mother raised her eyebrows at him. "Maybe.

Even so, it never gets any easier."

With a contented smile, Leia Organa Solo gazed slowly around the meal table in the Solo family's quarters of the Imperial Palace. It was still hard to believe that her husband and three children were here at home, all at the same time.

She allowed herself to enjoy the moment, though it had taken a galactic crisis to bring them together.

"More nerf sausage, Master Jacen?" See-Threepio offered. "It is a particular Corellian favorite."

"Maybe just one," Jacen answered. Leia noted that Jacen was taller than she had remembered.

It amazed her to see how the twins and Anakin grew and changed each time they returned from their studies at the Jedi academy.

After serving Jacen, the gold protocol droid turned to Jaina. She held her hands over her plate, as if to protect it from Threepio's enthusiastic service. "Couldn't eat another bite," Jaina protested.

"Over here, Goldenrod," Hah said, holding out his plate for more.

"These are just like the ones Dewlanna used to make for me."

Anakin said, "I have a feeling you're all going to need your strength when you speak to the New Republic Senate tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" the twins asked in unison.

Leia said, "I've scheduled a special meeting of the New Republic Senate for tomorrow morning.

I'd like you and all of your friends there to present your findings. I think the whole galaxy needs to know what the Diversity Alliance has planned."

The New Republic senate chambers were full to overflowing. Jaina looked uncertainly through the door into the crowded room and then back at her mother. The Chief of State shrugged. "We had a vote coming up on several major issues, so I requested full attendance today. There are senators and delegates in there whom I haven't seen in months."

Jaina attempted a lopsided grin. "Must be something in the air, huh?"

She glanced around at her assembled friends, all of whom were aware of how important their words would be.

Tenel Ka said, "Perhaps they heard of our intention to discuss the Diversity Alliance."

"More than likely," Leia admitted. "I know you all understand how much is at stake here."

"If you want, I could try to loosen up the crowd with a joke." Jacen waggled his eyebrows. Leia turned toward him with a startled look and opened her mouth as if to speak. "Hey, I was just kidding," Jacen said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. Lowie rumbled deep in his throat. "Okaymbad timing, I admit. It's just that we all seem so tight and edgy."

You're right," Jaina said, drawing a slow deep breath and letting the Force flow through her to relax her. A wave of calm clarity washed the worry from her mind. Around her, Lowie, Sirra, Tenel Ka, Zekk, Lusa, and Raynar were also using Jedi relaxation techniques. Her father and Chewbacca along with her uncle Luke, the Jedi historian Tionne, and Kur, the Twi'lek politician rescued from exile on Ryloth, had already taken their seats toward the front of the Senate chamber.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Jaina asked.

Much later, after they had told all their adventures and delivered their alarming news, it still wasn't over.

Jaina grew defensive as yet another representative stood up to take the floor. She could sense her brother's baffiement at the response with which the Senate had greeted their announcement.

Tenel Ka, as usual, was stolid and alert, probably scanning the crowd for any signs of trouble.

Only Chief of State Leia Organa Solo seemed perfectly calm, as if the reactions of the senators and delegates were exactly what she had expected.

She looked around the room with a practiced ease, seeing everything, listening to everything, gauging the reactions of her audience.

Jaina bit her lower lip, willing herself to be more like her mother, ordering herself to listen to the squeaking Chadra Fan senator with an open mind.

"And so, it is not the people of the Diversity Alliance who should be censured. I suggest that these willful human children need to be taught true respect for legal governments," Senator Tru-bor concluded, triumphantly swiveling his triangular batlike ears.

Alarmed, Jaina looked over at her parents, or Luke Skywalker, hoping they would react to such accusations. But already it seemed too many humans had spoken out. Luke met Jaina's gaze, giving his silent support.

Without comment, her mother nodded and announced the name of the next speaker. "Senator J'mesk Iraan."

The small cherub-faced Tamran steepled his fingers at chest level and bowed slightly. J'mesk Iman's expressive brows rose as he spoke.

"Forgive me if I have misunderstood the situation, butreit is not the habit of the New Republic to meddle in the affairs of local governments, is it?"

"Nor Leia said slowly, "it isn't."

"Then perhaps this could all be viewed as a cultural misunderstanding."

J'mesk Iraan spread his hands in a traditional gesture his people used when offering peace. "From an objective point of view, what these young Jedi did might be described as well-intentioned but ill-advised.

There should be no need to consider it an outright act of espionage."

Jaina shifted uncomfortably at the ambassador's benign condemnation and waited to hear what else he might have to say.

"At worst, the venture may be described as a willful and unlawful act of aggressive intrusion against a legal sovereign government."

Jaina felt her brother flinch. She sensed rather than heard a growl forming deep in Lowie's throat; though the Wookiee restrained himself, she could see the black streak of fur over his eye bristling. Tenel Ka, on the other hand, listened with her usual stoicism, her thoughts impassive and unreadable, as if the Senate's mixed response was no surprise to her.

"Since the children's arrival was neither announced nor authorized--since it was, in fact, covert," Iman continued. "Both the Diversity Alliance and the government of Ryloth had ample reason to view it as an act of aggression."

"But we explained what we were doing there," Jacen objected. 'rhey were holding Lowie against his will. And they st'all threw us into their spice mines.

"

Iman fhxed them all with a serious look and cocked his head to one side.

When he answered, though, his voice was not unkind. "Yet had any of you requested their government's permission to enter its headquarters?"

"No," Jaina answered truthfully. "But we never intended any harm. We just wanted to get our friend back."

"Even so, since your mission was not a diplomatic one, and not sanctioned by any government, you placed yourselves under the jurisdiction of local laws by trespassing as you did. I do not believe even the New Republic could allow such an intrusion without punishing the perpetrators.

It is only natural that any government should want to deter others from doing what you had done."

Jaina bit her lower lip. She knew there was no way to refuse the ambassador's words.

"But what about the spice mines?" Raynar asked.

"Very well, then. How long did you spend in the spice mines?" Iman asked.

"A few days," Jaina answered. %Ve didn't have chronometers with us."

"A harsh punishment perhaps for high-born youngsters such as yourselves,"

the alien senator said, but not outside the realm of reason. Were you denied food or water or sleep?"

Jaina grimaced at the memory of the fungus they had been expected to eat and the foul-tasting water they had been offered, but she shook her head.

Raynar took a sudden interest in studying the floor near his feet and said nothing.

"But they never released us," Jaina pointed out.

"Lowie had to help us escape."

The ambassador steepled his fingers at his chin and smiled. "And yet here you all are, alive and well. So allow me to summarize. You broke into the headquarters of a well-respected political movement.

The legal government there sentenced you to a short term of unpleasant yet lenient punishmentwlong enough for you to learn a valuable lesson, we can hope. Then, before you had served your complete term, your friendswwho at the time were working for the Diversity Alliance," at this, Iman's brows rose expressively, "released you from captivity and assisted you in departing Ryloth without further punishment. And during all that time, the only true injuries you sustained were a result of the ill-advised paths you chose when leaving."

Jaina drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. It wasn't fair when the story was presented that way.

At this point Lowie spoke up in a series of rumbles, barks and growls.

Em Teedee made a throat clearing sound to be sure he had the attention of the entire assembly and then provided a translation. "Master Lowbacca does not choose to dispute your interpretation of events surrounding the arrival and departure of his colleagues from Ryloth.

He does, however, wish to clarify two facts. First: the current government on Ryloth does not necessarily represent the Twi'lek people"--

at this point, the overthrown leader Kur stepped forward and nodded his confirmation--"And second: during their time working for the Diversity Alliance, Master Low-bacca, Mistress Sirrakuk, and Mistress Lusa all noted a distinct antihuman sentiment that had the distinct potential for expressing itself with some violence."

A stern looking centaur woman with glossy dark flanks and a long salt-andpepper mane approached the floor. J'mesk Iman yielded his position, and Leia announced the new ambassador with a sense of relief.

"Ambassador Suras Tonee, please speak."

Suras nodded to Leia and shook back her long dark mane. "I do not believe that any government is sacred. It may well be, as my colleague has said, that nothing more happened on Ryloth than a juvenile infraction of governmental laws and the punishment of that infraction."

A murmur of approval ran through the Senate.

"However," she continued, "if the government of Ryloth and the Diversity Alliance are stable and peaceful and do no more than work in the interests of their members, then they should have no objection to a simple diplomatic inspection.

This would, of course, be prearranged and approved through appropriate channels with their government. Some of the charges against the Diversity Alliance are indeed troubling and warrant our attention.

Therefore, I propose a simple fact-finding mission.

The delegation should consist of a representative mixture of species and include a few members who are familiar with the government of Ryloth,"

she nodded to the Twi'Lek Kur, "and the Diversity Alliance."

Here she nodded to the Wookiees and Lusa. "If we find no evidence of wrongdoing, as many of my colleagues expect, then this inspection will be the simplest method of putting the matter to rest."

From the corner of her eye Jaina saw her mother relax considerably.

Taking a cue from her, Jaina ordered her muscles to unknot themselves.

Ambassador D'Jeel approached the floor again, but from the small smile of triumph on her mother's face, Jaina knew that there was no longer any doubt of the outcome: a team of investigators would soon be on its way to Ryloth.