Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 02_ Dark Apprentice - Kevin J. Anderson [95]
Wedge looked out at the starfield where the brilliant sun of the Ithorian system gleamed a whitish blue. He increased the thrust from the sublight engines and vectored them toward a bright green planet veined with blue and swathed with white clouds.
“Just pretend we’re on vacation,” Wedge said. “We’ll be tourists, and I’ll show you what you’ve been missing. I can’t think of a better place to start.”
“I really look forward to it.” Qwi smiled warmly at him.
Wedge blushed, then seemed to concentrate furiously on the relatively simple task of entering a low orbit.
Qwi placed her pale-blue fingers against the side viewport as she stared at the lush vistas below. She had never seen such exotic scenery before, so different from the sterile white-walled rooms in Maw Installation.
Below her, between the treetops of a tropical paradise, broad rivers furled with white rapids as the current flowed over broken rocks. The space yacht soared above broad meadows splattered with brilliant colors, blooming flowers in red and yellow, blue and purple. The sheer vibrancy of the growing things dazzled her eyes.
They passed over a chain of oval lakes that glittered and reflected the sunlight, like the string of jewels on the necklace Wedge had given her as a gift a few days earlier. Overhead the sky was a muted lavender.
“Beautiful,” she said.
“Told you so,” Wedge agreed, giving her a half smile. “You can trust me.”
She looked at him, then blinked her indigo eyes. “Yes, Wedge, I trust you.”
He cleared his throat and turned away quickly, pointing out the front viewport. “The Ithorians allow no damage to their environment,” he said as if reading a data summary. “In fact, they consider it sacrilege even to set foot on the ground of their mother jungle.”
“Then how do they live?” Qwi asked.
“Look,” Wedge said.
As they soared above the treetops, Qwi made out a strange shape coming over the horizon, rapidly growing larger as they approached. “Is that a city?” she said.
“More than just a city,” Wedge said, “an entire enclosed environment. The Ithorians call it the Tafanda Bay.”
The enormous disk-shaped construction swelled to fill their front viewport, looking larger and larger—and larger, like a fat coin greater in diameter than the entire Maw Installation. Though the city appeared to be made of plasteel, it also seemed at least partially alive.
A chaos of platforms, flight decks, transmission antennas, and roving machinery studded the hull of the Ithorian floating city—but the exposed surfaces were covered with hanging moss; large trees grew out of special pockets on the side walls, rising to the sky and looking thicker and greener than the metallic towers.
On the top flat surface of the disk, greenhouse domes sparkled like a thousand eyes in the sun. Qwi could see through the transparent domes to dense botanical gardens in carefully manicured rows. Small ships flitted like gnats about the landing ports and shipping bays.
Underneath the Tafanda Bay, banks of diffused repulsorlift engines kept the entire city hovering over the treetops, casting an elliptical shadow over the leafy surface. The Ithorian city slowly drifted along a wandering course with no destination in particular, without touching the sacred ground.
Wedge keyed in his request for landing coordinates and was answered by an odd echoing voice that Qwi thought sounded like someone speaking through a long, empty tube. After a moment the comm system crackled again with the voice—or was it another one?—changing the coordinates.
“Excuse us for the oversight, sir. A special representative will meet you at the landing bay. We Hope you enjoy your stay here on our homeworld.”
Wedge looked suspiciously at the comm unit. “Why would they be giving us special treatment?” he said to Qwi. “Nobody is supposed to know who we really are.”
Qwi looked around, and suddenly the cockpit of the space yacht