Chapter 15

The voices felt upset. Something was wrong. Cordell! They were saying that Cordell was gone. Go after him?! No, Jyo! Don't go yet! Wait for me! I can help! As hard as he tried, Denz couldn't call out to them; could not speak. Denz felt helpless; only able to listen as his friends ran out into the unknown. Denz did not like being helpless!

"Well, I'm in for sure," Todan was saying. "Going on a search for an AWOL Jedi sound like quite an adventure."

"Thanks, Todan." Jyo acknowledged. Jyo had learned a lot about Todan just from talking with him while they were in the forest waiting for the other students to arrive. Todan's balance of quiet indifference and adventure-seeking brashness had intrigued Jyo.

"You better believe I'm coming as well!" This came from Salah.

Jyo raised his hands and smiled sheepishly, "Uh, do you know the old phrase: 'Three's company and four's a crowd'?"

Salah scowled back at him, "Yes. As a matter of fact, I do know that phrase. And I also know that's not how it goes."

"Look, Salah, we're probably going to have to sneak away on a ship or something. And the more people, the better chance that we'll get caught."

"Well … why does Todan have to go? Why can't I go instead of him?" Salah huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Zeek relieved Jyo, "Todan said he wanted to go for the adventure. Why do you want to go? Excuse me for being presumptuous, but you don't seem like the adventure seeking type."

Salah glanced quickly at Jyo but said nothing. She bit her lip and turned away.

"Do me a favor," Jyo added. "Stay here with Tay and help her if she needs it. Who knows? Tahiri may be sending someone out to look for Cordell, so we might not have to go anywhere."

Salah did not turn around, but nodded her head slowly.

Jyo left the room, followed by Todan and Zeek. Just before Zeek stepped through the doorway, he stopped and stared hard at the bacta tank containing Denz. It felt like he was trying to tell me something just now, Zeek thought. He stood there another couple of seconds, and then left when he was satisfied that it had been nothing.

Tahiri and Lowbacca stood in her quarters facing a none-too-happy Luke Skywalker. His expression of disappointment was noticeable even through the hologram's fuzzy picture.

"Why didn't you stop him?" he asked.

Tahiri shook her head, "I don't know. All I know is that I had called out to him twice and stood up to stop him, but for some reason I was having trouble concentrating. I couldn't focus enough to use the Force or even walk."

Luke rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Do you think it's possible, Cordell clouded your mind, as well as everyone else's?"

Lowbacca growled and crossed his arms.

"Lowbacca's right," Tahiri agreed. "Cordell's strength has never lied in his ability to think or use the Force. It's always been his physical ability that was outstanding."

"Outside interference?"

Tahiri was silent for a moment, "It doesn't seem likely, but I suppose it's feasible that something is out there, hiding from us." She began to pace, "But for what purpose? Why would, whatever it is want to do this?"

"That remains to be seen," Luke said. "In the meantime, what do you plan to do about Cordell?"

"Well, I had initially planned on sending a team to retrieve him using the tracking device in the stolen fighter, but it seems the device has malfunctioned or something."

Luke finished for her, "So you thought that maybe this was the will of the Force."

Tahiri nodded.

Luke fell silent and looked as though he was concentrating. When he spoke, he said, "I am unable to detect any direct leadings from the Force concerning Cordell. I will meditate on it as soon as we return from our next scouting mission. For now, do not attempt to go after Cordell. Besides the fact that the tracker is not working, I somewhat feel that this entire episode is all part of the development of his abilities."

"Understood," Tahiri stated and Lowbacca chuffed an affirmative as the hologram faded out.

Tahiri collapsed into a chair and rubbed her eyes, "Ugh, could things get any worse?"

Before Lowbacca could retort, her Holonet connection bleeped. She activated a voice command, "Who's calling?"

The computer responded, "Jedi Master Jacen Solo and Jedi Master Tenal-Ka Solo. Calling from Coruscant. Urgent!"

Tahiri groaned, "Me and my big mouth!"

Lowbacca shook his head, and Tahiri prepared to explain what happened yet again.

Jyo removed his ear from the door to Tahiri's room and shook his head. Todan, Zeek, and he headed back out to the lounge. Several students still lingered in the large semi-sphere room. Most had retired to their rooms, but some were still a little unnerved by what had happened that night.

Jyo and the others sat down at a vacant table and spoke in low tones. "It's as I feared," Jyo was saying. "They can't track him, nor do they want to."

"That's a point right there," Zeek said. "How are we going to find Cordell ourselves, without some way to locate him?

Jyo shrugged, "The closest thing we have to a tracker is our sibling link."

"Okay, here's an even better question," Zeek added. "How do we get to him even if we figure out where he is?"

"Not a problem." Todan spoke up. He stood, as did Jyo and Zeek, and moved to a computer terminal. Todan sat in front of the screen with Jyo and Zeek on each side of him. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he bypassed several passwords and security checks. The screen soon displayed the local spaceport's flight schedule. Todan pointed to the second soonest departure. "This looks promising." The list of flights was replaced by a description of the ship and cargo of the one Todan had chosen.

Jyo nodded after reading the details. "Zeek?"

Zeek did not answer right away and was silent for another moment. He knew that this was a good choice, but that feeling like Denz was trying to tell him something was back. It distracted him. He suddenly became aware that Jyo was tapping him on the shoulder. He snapped out of his spacing and nodded quickly. "I like it," was all he said.

Denz's hopes fell. His attempt to alert Zeek had once again failed. He wanted to warn them, to help them. So far, he had deduced that his physical body was unconscious, and that he, or his mind anyway, was trapped in a sort of limbo. Denz looked around for a way out; a way to use his conscious mind to jolt his body out of unconsciousness. But there was nothing around him but a dense, brown smog. He glanced up, and there, directly above him, was a light. He didn't know what it meant or if it led anywhere, but he was determined to find out. Denz stared straight up and longed to get there, but how would he? He suddenly realized that the light seemed to be getting closer. Was he willing himself toward it? Denz could only hope as he concentrated on the distant point of light.

Salah paced angrily about the confines of the hospital room. "Stupid boys!" She grumbled. "Stay behind to help Tay my foot! No offense."

Tay shook her head in understanding.

"I mean, what help could I possibly be to you? You're the one with medical training, not me!"

"Perhaps there was another reason their leaving you behind." Tay's headtails twitched knowingly.

The younger girl continued to fume. "Yeah, right!" She said as she rolled her eyes. She imitated Jyo's voice, "'Sorry, Salah, but you got to stay here cause you're a girl.'"

Tay chuckled at this, and Salah cracked a smile. Even if they hadn't started laughing, the two still might not have noticed the slight crease in Denz's eyebrows.

Jyo, Zeek and Todan crouched behind some crates on the edge of the landing pad where their escape ship was due to land, load up, and take off again. They were thankful that there were no Jedi around; otherwise, their nervousness and anxiety would have surely given them away.

Todan suddenly tapped Jyo on the shoulder. "I just thought of something," he said. "After we stow away on the ship, how do we get the pilot to take us where we want to go?"

Jyo held up two fingers, "First, if the pilot is weak-minded, we just hide out in the back and suggest to him where we need to go. If that doesn't work, then I guess we'll have to surprise and restrain him, and one of us is going to have to pilot the ship."

Before either could reply, they heard and saw a small cargo ship approach the landing pad. As it neared, Todan recognized the almost completely black vessel as a TransAmp 1800. When it had put down, two loading droids hovered onto the platform. The cargo hold opened and a tall, husky man holding a datapad walked out.

Todan raised an eyebrow at Jyo, who shrugged. "Let's just hope he's none too bright."

The pilot never moved from beside the loading hatch as he shouted orders to the droids. He scribbled on his datapad as they unloaded. "Hey!" he yelled at the droid that had just exited the ship carrying a large load. "Be careful with those crates, they're very fragile!"

From where they were hidden, Jyo nodded at Zeek and then at the droid. Zeek nodded in understanding and focused on the restraints holding the load in place. Still somewhat tired from his earlier ordeal, Zeek struggled but was still able to release the locking mechanism on one of the latches.

The pilot of the cargo ship had his head turned and didn't see the loading droid suddenly tip to one side as one of the huge crates came loose and fell to the landing pad with a crash, followed by the sound of things shattering. The pilot spun around and yelled at the droid, "You stupid machine! Those are some very fragile artifacts that might have been used by the Jedi of the past! AHH! NO!" The pilot yelled again as the loading droid, now off balance, began to tilt on its heavier side. The restraints groaned as more stress was placed on them. The pilot was running toward the droid now. "Reconfigure your equilibrator!" He called. Just when the rest of the restraints looked as though they would snap, the droid made the correction and righted itself.

While the pilot was busy yelling at the loading droid, Jyo, Todan, and Zeek snuck aboard and found a good hiding spot in a closet compartment just behind the cockpit. It was big enough for all of them to sit down in as they listened to the droids finish unloading. The three heard the pilot arguing with someone else, most likely about the broken crate. Not soon after, they both heard and felt the cargo door shut, followed by the heavy footsteps of the pilot on the metal floor. He passed their hiding place, and they could hear him collapse into a seat in the cockpit and mumble something like, "I hate this job."

The TransAmp 1800 shuddered as the engines were fired up. The three friends braced themselves against the walls of their hiding place. Takeoff was going to be one rough ride without any restraints. The landing gear was retracted, and the pilot gave his ship full throttle.

The launch was smooth, and the stowaways were not as badly jostled about as they thought they would have been. Jyo assumed they had reached orbit when the pilot cut the engines and set the cargo ship to autopilot. The three friends froze when they heard the pilot rise from his squeaky chair. His boots clomped heavily on the metal floor as he exited the cockpit. The sound stopped right outside of their hiding place.

The door swished open and the stowaways squinted as the light from the hallway flooded in. There in the doorway stood the husky pilot, leveling a blaster at them; but when he realized they were only kids, he holstered his weapon and crossed his arms across his chest. "What're you kids doin' on my ship?" The man asked in a gruff voice.

No one answered. They were not sure what to make of this man. How had he known they were in here? And why didn't he seem that upset?

"Well, whenever you're ready to let them cats off your tongues, come on up to the cockpit and we'll have a little chat." With that, the pilot turned and clomped back to his chair.

Jyo, Zeek, and Todan exchanged glances. They slowly rose and made their way to the cockpit.

"Have a seat o'er there," the pilot said as he waved to an acceleration couch. The young Jedi sat, and the ship's captain turned to face them. "How's about we start by introducin' each other? My name's Kam Twoplintor. Friends call me Kamtoo. And you?"

Jyo introduced himself, as well as Todan and Zeek. He told Kam that they were students at the Jedi Academy, and that they were sorry for sneaking onto his ship.

"Students, huh?" Kam looked skeptical. "It may be beyond me, but why would any Jedi want to leave Jedron? It's like Jedi heaven or something!"

Jyo caught the looks from Todan and Zeek: their silent agreement that Jyo should tell Kam the whole story. "Well, Kam," Jyo began. "If you agree to at least consider our request for help, then I'll explain everything."

Kam nodded his agreement, and Jyo began by explaining a few things about his brother, Cordell.