9

The Race

Zeph walked out of the training room with the rest of the students. Most talked together about their battles and laughed. The day was his now. No more classes until tomorrow. Maybe Vendalla and Wotapuk were done as well. He began searching the academy for his friends. He searched the landing bay, the mess hall, every corridor, and each of their rooms. Neither of them was in sight.

Zeph head back towards his room. He took a few short cuts he knew and arrived at the door in no time. Vendalla called out to him as he entered. He walked back out and smiled. She looked tired, but as always, she seemed happy.

"Hey Zeph. How was dueling class?"

"Good. We finished about thirty minutes ago. I couldn't find you so I came back here. Where's Wotapuk?"

"I haven't seen him. I think his schedule was packed today. So it's just us. Up for some food? I need a boost."

"Sure. Let's go." Zeph said. He walked alongside Vendalla towards the mess hall. "So where were you? You said you were off today."

" Training in a holo room. I was hoping to train with Master Xata, but she's busy today. Zeph, can I ask you something?"

Zeph nodded he had a strange feeling he knew what this was about.

"You seem tired. Not physically, but mentally. Have you been getting sleep?"

He was right. "I haven't slept for about three days or so. But I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you about fell asleep at breakfast this morning, I can feel that you are not in a great mood, and you keep kicking me and don't seem to notice."

Zeph looked down. Indeed he was kicking her in the back of her leg as he walked. He stepped away a little so he wouldn't kick her anymore. "Sorry." Zeph felt stupid. Obviously she didn't really care but what if she was a Master or something? He could have been in trouble.

'Let's just eat." Vendalla said as they entered the mess hall. "Maybe you will wake up."

They finished their snacks and began walking again. Aimlessly this time. They past the hangar and Vendalla turned around to face him. She had a wicked smile on her face. "Want to do something fun?"

"Like?"

Vendalla walked past him and into the hangar. She pointed into a corner where there were no people. Two speeder bikes were parked there without anyone watching them. She waved him in and they walked casually towards the bikes. Vendalla studied one of the bikes. She reached onto it and hit a switch. The bike rose slowly off the ground and hovered silently. She guided the bike towards the opening in the hangar. She looked at Zeph and mouthed out come on. Zeph hit the switch on his bike and followed.

Zeph had only been out of the Academy a couple of times. The vast forest that covered the planet was only a couple of meters away.

"Okay. Race to the Salathil Gorge. You know where that is right?" Vendalla asked.

"Yeah. The maps in the academy show it."

"Good. Ready?"

Zeph nodded and leapt on to his bike. Vendalla did the same. Zeph initiated the engine of the bike. It did not make a sound but Zeph knew it was ready to go. He had trained on the bikes before. He was pretty familiar with the controls.

Vendalla looked toward him. "3...2...1...Go!"

Zeph's vehicle lurched forward at an amazing speed. He angled the nose of his bike in the direction of the Gorge. Trees were everywhere. Zeph dodged them continuously. He looked back at Vendalla. He was ahead but only slightly. He tuned back around and saw a large tree that had fallen and adjusted the pitch controls. The bike flew above the trunk easily and came back to the ground.

The gorge was only a couple of miles away. But it was forest from start to finish. He continued dodging trees and around fallen branches. Vendalla pulled ahead of him to his right. Vendalla was fully concentrated on the race. Zeph knew that she would not let him win without a fight. He hit the booster and blasted past her.

Vendalla hit the boost as well but backed it with the force. She soared back into the lead and cut in front of Zeph. Zeph saw a large boulder ahead on a steep hill. He focused on the rock and the force. The rock moved slightly and began to roll down the hill. Vendalla ignited one of her lightsabers and threw in out in front of her. It slashed threw a tree and returned to her open and waiting hand. She put it back on her belt and kept going. The tree fell right in the boulder's path. The boulder slammed into it and jumped into the air. Vendalla released the controls and leaned back. Her back bent almost impossibly as she dodged the boulder. It passed over her and she sat back up.

"Is that all you've got, Zeph?" she laughed. Zeph was on her tail but she was winning. Zeph spotted the gorge up ahead. Then Zeph felt it. A disturbance.

"Vendalla. What's wrong?" he shouted.

"The stabilizer is faulty!" A small metal part of the bike broke off and sliced into Vendalla's arm as it flew by. Zeph saw her wince in the distance. Vendalla's bike began swerving in all directions. Zeph watched as her bike swerved toward the gorge at an uncontrollable rate. Zeph summoned the force and sped towards the gorge as Vendalla's bike flew over the edge and began to fall.

She had to be thousands of feet up. She concentrated on the force and stood on the falling bike. Vendalla kicked off and soared into the air, back towards the cliff's edge. Zeph slowed the vehicle as fast as he could, trying not to go over the edge. Vendalla landed in a kneeling position on the edge of the gorge. Zeph turned and slowly glided over to Vendalla.

She stood up and smiled. "You all right?" she asked. She breathed heavily and had a long gash on her right arm where the broken part hit her.

"Me? I'm good. How are you?" Zeph breathed heavily as well.

"Good. That was fun. But probably not the smartest thing." She laughed as she applied pressure to her arm.

Zeph nodded agreement and smiled too. Vendalla slid onto the back of the bike and Zeph took off toward the academy.

Zeph and Vendalla crept toward the hangar and slowly let the bike float to the ground. They hurried out and made their way towards the medical room. The droid there treated Vendalla's arm. They walked outside and ran into Wotapuk. He looked worried. He explained how he couldn't find them after his classes.

"Well we weren't exactly here." Explained Zeph. They told Wotapuk about their race and asked him about his day.

"So you had five classes today?!" Vendalla asked. Wotapuk grunted his affirmation. The three spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hidden paradise.

Zeph was determined to get a good night sleep. "Hey, I'm going to turn in tonight guys."

Both of his friends now knew about his sleep troubles in detail and understood. Her retired to his room and slept the entire night.

Luke was in the research lab. He hadn't got a chance to examine the liquid until now. He emptied the vial into a small dish and placed it into the hands of a strange looking droid. It was a new design that had been created for situations similar to this. The droid beeped and absorbed the fluid through its hands. It looked kind of like a protocol droid only shorter and easier to work with.

"This is strange. This liquid is similar to the poison found in kouhun assassin centipedes. But it has a different active chemical."

"What chemical is that?" asked Luke.

"I don't recognize it. I can break it down and tell you what it is meant to do but it may take a few days."

"Okay. Contact me when you find out."

Luke walked out of the room. It was late. But he still had more work to do. He had to assemble his team. HE had been watching many students carefully and sent many more on missions with Jedi Masters. One student caught his eye. Zeph Mardone. He had watched young Zeph train with remotes earlier that day. Luke remembered back to the time when he was training to be a Jedi. With Obi-wan. He too had trained with remotes. How he wished he had Obi-wan's guidance. And Yoda's. But even though they were gone, he was not alone. The force was his ally. He had to pick his team carefully. And plan the attack even more carefully. He still had to start designs for a device to disable lightsabers. His plan was to disable the lightsabers of this sith army and attack when they were weaponless.

Luke sighed. He had a lot ahead of him. He entered his room and began studying.

The light grew brighter and Zeph woke up. The "alarm light", as he called it, deactivated automatically when he woke up. He slowly stood up and stretched. He took a quick shower and headed out towards the mess hall.

Vendalla and Wotapuk were already eating. He sat down next to them and began eating as well. Wotapuk yawned loudly. He had had a busy day yesterday. "What's the schedules for today? I've got saber training."

"So do I." Said Vendalla.

"Right. I remember now."

Wotapuk grunted and barked for a few seconds. Speeder Bike lessons. The three laughed at this. Wotapuk separated from Zeph and Vendalla as they walked toward their classes.

"By the way, how did you do yesterday, anyway?" Vendalla asked.

"Oh yeah. I fought Storlon."

Vendalla laughed. "I hope you won!"

"Of course I did." Zeph laughed too.

Master Xata entered the room and stepped toward the students. "Okay. Here we go. I tell you your partner and you find and open area to duel and then we talk afterwards. You guys know by now. Harselk Mcfaller and Morris Hellund. Deh'ti and Spaller Hort. S'run Deltorg and Grote Pinal. Zeph Mardone and Vendalla Andalon."

Hey thanks for everybody's support. I enjoy getting reviews. Keep reviewing. Hope you like the new chapter. Oh. Before I forget, I will be adding a dictionary for star wars words at the end of my chapters for people who don't know much about the universe. For now I am going to define only one word.

cliffhanger- when the writer leaves the chapter at a suspensful moment without showing what happens next until the next chapter. Sorry.