Chapter 5

Jaina, Kyp, and Ben's X-Wings soared away from the Errant Venture's starboard bay and streaked toward the lush world of Dantooine. They maintained com silence to avoid attracting any attention to themselves. They were not to announce their presence to the planet's air traffic control, but were to instead land at the coordinates that had been programmed into their X-Wings' nav computers. The trio entered the atmosphere undetected and set their ships on autopilot to take them to the coordinates by way of the fastest route. The terrain they flew over was mostly forest and mountains, but after passing over the peak of one large mountain, they saw a clearing large enough for several small starships to put down. The autopilot bleeped, alerting them that this was where the coordinates indicated they should land. The three Jedi pilots quickly set down and exited their starfighters.

"I don't see anyone, do you?" Ben asked.

"No," Jaina replied, "but I sense someone." She scanned the edge of the clearing. "There," she said pointing.

From where Jaina was pointing, a middle-aged human male stepped out from the underbrush, "Hello, there," he called to the trio.

"Okay, he's got a Force presence," she told her companions. To the man Jaina asked, "Are you our contact?"

"Yep. Jake Microx is the name. I'm here to take you to see Luke Skywalker and the rest of our group."

"Why didn't Jag mention that Dad was a part of the scout group on this planet?" Ben wondered.

"Well, actually he wasn't," Jake admitted. "Your dad found and joined us after encountering the new threat you were told about."

"What exactly is this new threat?" Kyp asked.

"We really shouldn't talk anymore here. All your questions will be answered when we get back to base. Follow me." Jake started back in the direction he had come.

"Won't our X-Wings be kind of obvious just sitting out in the open like this?" Kyp wondered.

Jake stopped walking and turned around, "Ah, thank you. I almost forgot." He took out a small device, pointed it straight up, and pressed a button. Suddenly, the sky they could see began to shimmer and change to match the top of the trees surrounding the clearing. "Now anyone who passes over the clearing will see only trees."

"Ah, a hologram," Ben nodded.

"Yes, now come."

The three followed Jake through the underbrush. After a short distance, Jake stopped walking and pointed his hologram device at a bunch of bushes. These bushes proved to be just another hologram after he deactivated them to reveal an armored speeder. Jake motioned for them to climb in. Once they were all seated, Jake started the speeder and pushed it up to full throttle right away. Soon they were zipping around trees and over ravines as they shot through the forest. Even at top speed, Jake handled the speeder excellently as he missed any and all obstacles. Jaina could sense a deep calm in him that proved his ability. She suddenly realized something, "You're a Jedi aren't you?"

"That's right. I'm the one that was appointed to my group on Dantooine."

"I knew it," she said. "Only someone with Jedi reflexes could navigate the forest so flawlessly."

After several minutes of constant weaving around trees and other things in their path, they reached a small clearing and right in front of them was one of the mountains they had seen earlier!

"Not to be a back-seat driver or anything," Ben said from behind Jake, "but don't you think you should turn or stop or something. If not, we'll probably crash right into that mountain there."

"Trust me."

"Whatever you say," Ben said with a sigh. He kind of figured that Jake had some trick up his sleeve.

Sure enough, just as it seemed they would smack right into the side of the mountain … they went through it and into a tunnel inside the rock face.

"Another hologram?" Kyp asked knowingly.

"You guessed it," Jake replied with a laugh. "As you can tell, we use them a lot to help us stay hidden."

"So, your base is inside the mountain?" Ben asked.

"Sort of. This tunnel here spirals down through the mountain and into the planet's crust."

"In other words," Kyp said, "your base is underground and underneath a mountain. How much more hidden can you get?"

The speeder continued down the dark tunnel, the only light coming from the glow panels on the front of the speeder. Jaina didn't have to feel it, even in the almost darkness she could see the worry and confusion on Ben's face.

"What wrong Ben?"

"I can't understand it. Ever since we entered the tunnel I have been trying to find my dad below us and got nothing, but when I stopped focusing on only one point and widened my search, I did find him; and he's nowhere near here!"

Jaina was shocked at this revelation, "Hey!" She frowned at Jake. "I thought you said you were taking us to Luke Skywalker!"

"Slight change in plans," Jake said without turning around. "Someone else wanted to meet you first."

The speeder came to an abrupt halt, and Jaina saw from the light of the glow panels that they were in a large cavern. "Where are we?" She demanded.

Instead of answering, Jake exited the speeder, leaving the lights on, but taking the keys. "Welcome to your final resting place," he said as he walked to stand in the light from the glow panels.

"Not good, guys," Kyp said from the front seat.

"What?"

"I just scanned this place for a Force presence, but other than you, me, Ben, and Jake, I can't sense anything. Everything else is a void in the Force."

"You mean we're surrounded by Vong?" Ben gulped.

Kyp didn't need to answer, on either side of Jake a Yuuzhan Vong appeared holding an amphistaff, and all around them they saw the faint glow of yellow eyes longing for their deaths.

Denz and Jyo walked down the corridor of the transport ship in an uneasy silence. Denz thought about the four of them. Jyo, Cordell, Zeek, and himself, he never would have believed that any of them could turn to the Dark side. He stared at the floor of the hallway as he kept pace with Jyo. He was suddenly aware that Jyo was no longer beside him. Denz looked up, but he was nowhere in sight. When he turned around, Denz saw Zeek standing at a transparasteel window and next to him was Jyo.

"Hey!" he said as he started toward them. "Were you just going to let me keep walking? And what are you looking at?" Denz walked up to stand on the other side of Zeek and looked through the window.

Inside were several Jedi students. All but one was sitting on the floor. All but one was watching the action. That one was Cordell. In front of him hovered a small orb covered with tiny holes. From these holes low-power laser blasts shot at whatever target was within range. It was a basic practice orb for honing a Jedi's reflex ability. The more advanced Jedi students like Denz, Jyo, Cordell, and Zeek, considered the practice orb to be far too easy. Its highest setting wasn't very challenging to them. But this orb was firing at a rate and rhythm that was not in its "original" programming.

"Ugh, he's using the orb I modified," Denz groaned. "I told him I hadn't had a chance to test it yet."

"Looks like he's testing it for you now," Zeek said still watching intently.

Cordell was really moving in there. Every now and then, the other students would clap lightly for an exceptionally impressive display. The laser bolts were firing almost non-stop and in an extremely random order. Denz, Jyo, and Zeek watched along with the other students as Cordell rolled to the left to avoid a volley of shots and jumped out of the roll to avoid being hit in the foot. As he landed, Cordell ducked another shot then swayed left to dodge another.

"I guess he found a way to use that energy after all," Jyo said.

"He's awesome," Zeek exclaimed.

"His Force power is incredible," Jyo said with awe as Cordell continued to maneuver with unbelievable speed and agility. His movements were almost a blur. Suddenly a few sparks flew from the practice orb as it began to slow down. Cordell dodged the last few shots it fired before it stopped altogether and fell to the floor with a clunk, where it continued to spark and sizzle until Cordell switched it off.

Cordell put the orb in his bag and smiled as he walked out of the room. "I guess your modifications to the practice orb still have a few bugs to work out," Zeek chuckled. "Race you guys to the front of the ship!" Zeek called back to Denz and Jyo as he took off, and then it was just Denz and Jyo…again.

The two took up their previous pace and started down the corridor in the direction Zeek had gone. They didn't speak. What was there to say? They were both thinking the same thing and they new it. No matter what, Denz and Jyo thought, we must try to keep Cordell from becoming evil. And the first step in doing that is never mentioning our fear of that happening.

The two friends nodded to each other. "Oh," Denz added, "and we shouldn't tell Zeek about it either. You know he has a hard time keeping a secret."