CHAPTER TWO
Tenal
Ka took a deep mouthful of Yavin's humid air, and allowed herself a brief
smile. It was good to be back. Though Dathomir was her first home, and
Hapes her second, there was something about the small jungle moon that would
always hold a special place in heart.
Well there's no use just standing
here, Tenal Ka scolded herself.
She began her usual brisk pace down
the Rock Dragon's boarding ramp and onto the grassy jungle floor where
her friends were waiting for her.
Jaina was the first to greet her,
giving the warrior girl a quick hug.
Zekk was next. He nodded at her in greetings and said,
"welcome back,"
"Thank you, friend Zekk. It is indeed good to be back,"
Jaina and Zekk then stepped aside, so
the last member of their group could welcome her.
A freshly showered Jacen walked over
to Tenal Ka and embraced her tightly. They had spoken several times over the holonet while she was gone, but
that had not made him miss her any less.
"I'm glad your back," he said to her.
"I missed you," she said quietly,
struggling to control her emotions.
To his astonishment, he found Tenal Ka
still holding him tightly when he moved to let go of her. Slightly embarrassed at her clinging to
Jacen, Tenal Ka turned away so he wouldn't see her face reddening.
Jacen was grinning from ear to ear at
her open display of affection. She knew
he was enjoying every minute of her embarrassment, and it was not likely he
would let her forget this 'emotional breakdown' anytime soon.
When she stared up at him, Jacen could
immediately tell there was something different about her. Something about her that had changed since
the last time he had seen her. Her
outer appearance was unchanged – she was still as beautiful as the first day he
met her. It was like something on the inside
was different but he could not put his finger on what it was.
Tenal Ka picked up on his
thoughts. He can't possibly know,
she thought silently.
She was thankful though, when all he
said was, "there's something different about you,"
"I am the same as when I left," she
responded instantly.
Jacen let the smile fade off his
face. Something was definitely not
right. He was almost sure she was
hiding something, but decided to let it go. Maybe it was something she wanted to tell him later when it was just the
two of them.
The four friends headed in the
direction of the Academy, with Jaina filling Tenal Ka in on everything she had
missed while she was gone, which was not a lot. Rarely did anything out of the ordinary occur at the Jedi
Academy. It was just the usual bunch of
force sensitive kids getting themselves into trouble whenever they could.
" – Anakin and Tahiri would have come
to meet you," Jaina was saying, "but Uncle Luke has them teaching one of his
beginner classes for him,"
Her friends continued to talk, but
Tenal Ka only half-listened to it all. Her mind kept wandering back to the life-altering event that had
happened to her during her first week of stay on Dathomir. She did her best to keep her thoughts secret
though, not wanting her friends to know what was going on before she was ready
to tell them.
After evening meal that night, Jaina
and Zekk set out to do some 'tinkering' on the Lightning Rod. They had asked Jaina's younger brother,
Anakin, to join them, since he seemed to have picked up the same gift as his
sister for fixing and figuring out how mechanical things worked. Anakin had told them he would meet them out
there later.
It was turning out to be a clear
night, so they had moved the Rod out onto the landing field, instead of
leaving the ship in the hanger bay where they usually worked on her.
"Hey, Zekk," Jaina called up to him,
from where he was stationed on top of the ship's outer hall, "is there any
spare cyberfuses in here?"
He thought for a moment. "No," he
answered, and went back to filling in the minor cracks in his ship's hull.
"I think I have some in my room," she
told him, exiting the ship, "be back soon,"
Zekk watched Jaina disappear into the
hanger bay. There were so many scrap
parts of machinery and equipment in her room it would probably take her all
night to find the right one.
A sudden burst of a cool breeze caused
Zekk to shiver. He felt the hairs on
the back of his neck stick up, an uneasy feeling settling inside him. He had no idea what had gotten him so
spooked all of the sudden. It wasn't
like he hadn't worked on the Lightning Rod on his own before. So why should it be any different this time?
He carefully examined the massassi
trees surrounding him, searching for evidence of what was giving him these
anxious feelings, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Muttering to himself about being paranoid,
Zekk went back to his task of patching up the old ship's hull.
The
moment Zekk leaned back down, a blaster bolt sizzled over him, barely missing
the top of his head.
He was alert instantly, his danger
senses flaring. Zekk reached down to
his side for his lightsaber, and cursed when he realized it wasn't there. He had taken it off earlier to work on the
ship. All he had on him was a small
holdout blaster that he kept strapped to his lower leg beneath his pants.
The next bolt that shot by grazed his
shoulder. Zekk suppressed a shout of
pain, despite the stinging in his shoulder. When he looked over at it expecting to see burnt flesh, all he saw was a
small hole in his shirt. He soon came
to the realization that the blaster must be on stun. Whether they were on stun or not, Zekk did not care. He was not about to let himself become
target practice. He lifted up his left
pant leg and took out the tiny blaster that he kept hidden there, thankful that
he had replaced the old power pack last week.
Seeing that he was at a disadvantage
by being such an easy shot up here in the open, Zekk slid off the Lightning
Rod and headed for shelter by some fallen down massassi tree trunks. He flew over the fallen trees and landed on
his stomach just as another bolt zipped past him.
Without brushing himself off, Zekk got
up on his haunches and peered over the mass of fallen tree trunks, his blaster
ready to fire on any foreign movement. With the approaching night casting shadows over the jungle, it was
difficult for him to determine which shadows were part of the jungle's natural
formation and which were not.
Movement off to the left caught his
emerald eye. Zekk aimed his blaster and
fired. His weapon wasn't set to stun,
so when his intended target let out a yelp of pain he knew he had found the
location of at least one of his attackers.
"Who are you and what do you
want?" Zekk shouted into the night.
More blaster fire was his answer.
Zekk ducked behind his hiding spot,
gritting his teeth. He was clearly
outnumbered. He sensed at least four
minds, but there could easily be more lurking around somewhere waiting for the
right moment to reveal themselves.
He sensed a new mind approaching from
the side of the temple. Zekk held his
position, waiting for a clear shot at the new presence he had felt. He aimed his palm-sized blaster, ready to
fire, until he saw the violet blade of Anakin Solo's lightsaber come to life.
The glowing blade revealed the three
attackers who were a lot closer than Zekk had originally thought. Each one was wearing a charcoal gray flight
suit, with a red stripe running down each pant leg.
Zekk watched as Anakin used his energy
blade to block the first couple of shots fired at him, while using the force to
push one of the attackers into a tree. The man slid down the tree trunk, momentarily stunned. Zekk came out of his hiding spot and blasted
the man who was about to shoot Anakin in the back. Anakin deflected a stun bolt back at the third assassin, hitting
him in the hand and knocking his blaster to the ground.
Looking over at Zekk, Anakin shouted
in alarm, "Zekk, behind you!"
Without hesitation, Zekk whirled
around and fired, hitting the man trying to sneak up on him square in the
chest. At that close range, the blaster
fire killed him instantly, leaving him nothing more then a smoking corpse on
the jungle ground.
The other two that Anakin had
temporarily put out of commission, got to their feet and picked up their
unconscious comrade. They ran off into
the jungle, leaving behind their dead companion.
Anakin made a move to go after them
but decided against it, realizing there might be more of them hidden out
there. He powered down his lightsaber
and trotted over to where Zekk stood beside the smoking body of the man he had
just killed.
Zekk looked gratefully at him. "Thanks, I don't know what I would've done
if you hadn't showed up."
"Better late than never," Anakin
replied.
The two of them stared down at the
mysterious and now dead attacker. They
took special interest in a tattoo on his lower forearm where the sleeve of his
flight suit had been rolled up. Even
though it had gotten significantly darker outside, the two could clearly
identify the marking of a red-eyed snake with its fangs open.
"Do you know if this tattoo means
anything?" Anakin asked him,
remembering having seen it on one of the other assailants.
It was vaguely familiar to Zekk, as if
it were something he had known in another life. Yet, he could not bring himself to say anything, unable to admit
the possibility of what it could be.
He
decided the best thing to say was, "I'm not sure," then letting a deep frown
form on his face, he added, "but I have a bad feeling about it. We better go tell the others,"
Anakin did not disagree. Together, they headed back to the Jedi Temple carrying the body of the fallen attacker with them.