Swoops

Jaina Solo pocketed her commlink and declared, "That was Captain Corel and he says if we're not there in fifteen standard minuets, he is leaving without us! We are already two hours late!"

Zekk agitatedly pushed back his hair, as black as space, and told her, "We promised Master Skywalker. But I am worried we just won't find it in time."

Jaina commiserated, "I know, we can't fail the first mission Uncle Luke sent us on."

Jacen sat down wearily beside them. "But think of it this way. Which is worse, returning to Yavin Four without the Holocron, or having to find another transport?" His twin was quick to argue the importance of safety and not letting anyone know of the Holocron, which meant Captain Corel. He knew Jaina was right. Looking over to Lowbacca and Tenel Ka still searching furiously, he reflected on how they were both so determined, if not downright stubborn.

They were about to go back and rejoin the rest of their group when Lowwbacca suddenly roared, his Wookiee voice echoing off the wall in triumph. Jaina ran to him, "Lowie! You found it!" He proudly handed her a small, transparent crystal. She deftly secured it in a special pouch, hidden beneath her brown Jedi robes.

Jacen, almost yelling in urgency, tugged on his sister's arm, "We have to go now!" They all ran for the exit, then the motor pool. There were only four swoop but five young Jedi. Jaina, with brown hair and eyes to match her brother's, claimed one and sped off after Lowbacca, followed by Zekk. Jacen motioned for the warrior princess to come ride double with him. With the grace of a dancer, Tenel Ka swung onto the small seat behind him. Swoops were compact and all speed. She hooked her arm around his waist and prodded her friend with the Force.

Then the two were soaring through the dizzying air-lanes of Imperial City, on Coruscant. She looked down between the monstrously huge sky-scrappers that, in essence, were the New Republic's capital world and couldn't see a bottom, just rows of light of air-cars fading into black or thick smog.

The young Solo realized that he was quickly falling behind his companions and poured on more speed. The lithe craft streaked ahead, weaving in and out of traffic and the vast abyss' that were allies.

They were quickly approaching Corel's set time and so pushed the swoops as fast as they could go, and faster, disregarding all traffic policies. The five buzzed a large skiff. On its deck stood prisoner to a contingent of commandos and ex-Imperial warlord who shook his cuffed fists at them and shouted, "Rebel Scum!"

Lowbacca, now behind Zekk who was amore experienced pilot, shook his own huge, hairy back and roared something about damn slave-masters and the man's own personal ancestry.

The swoops swerved right and left, up and down, always faster. There were sky-scrappers, tunnels, other air-cars, bridges, and pedestrians to avoid. And, in Zekk's case, a deranged mynock.

Jacen had long crossed the line between sanity and pure reckless abandon. But the gut-wrenching swoops and roaring wind on all sides didn't faze him at all, which was really no surprise, having grown up with Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon as his only examples of how a good, law-abiding citizen should fly. Tenel Ka, on the other hand, reacted differently. The girl who rarely expressed any emotions held on to Jacen as tightly as she possibly could, gripped the swoop's sides with her knees and, her long, elaborately braided red-gold hair streaming behind her, had but one thought.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" At the climax of the race against time, she forgot all those Jedi calming techniques and started cursing in Hapan.

And then they were there. Corel's bulky freighter sat, her massive engines already glowing, on the landing platform. The swoops skid into vaguely marked parking spots. All dismounted and Jaina ran off to get aboard, being the one actually carrying the precious artifact of the Old Republic.

Tenel Ka looked up and saw the others looking at her expectantly then realized that she should let go her death hold on Jacen. She dismounted, almost-blushing.

Jacen looked at her awkwardly. Zekk glanced at him questioningly. He shrugged. Watching them, Tenel Ka stated, "I don't like swoops." The two boys just exchanged glances again. They were unsure if this was funny or creepy, as was often the situation with Tenel Ka.

Once aboard, they hastily strapped in after the Captain had again berated them for being late. Jacen laughed to himself as he remembered first meeting the hulking man back on Yavin Four.

' "Yeah, I'm from Corelia." He had told them then went on, obviously embarrassed but resigned. 'I was named after the Sun."

Jaina, wearing her best Sabacc face had replied, "My little brother was named after Darth Vader."

Taken aback, he just kind of stared at her. "Oh." '

The passenger freighter lifted off and rose like a huge bird through the atmosphere, pausing only for the planetary shields. Soon they were in clear space. The stars stretched in to streaks then the mottled blur of hyperspace as Captain Corel brought her in to the first of a string of jumps to Yavin's jungle moon. Each young Jedi Knight was proud of their first important mission's success and couldn't wait to see Master Luke Skywalker's approval.

THE END