Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [36]
As protection from the dangerous rays of the star in whose clutches Zonama had been thrown, Sekot had engineered cloud cover from what moisture it could suck from the planetary mantle. But the damage had already been done. Breathable air was in short supply, and the plasma cores of the hyperdrive engines were dazed. Then, just when Luke had feared the worst for everyone huddled in the shelters and deep in the canyons, where the air was slightly cooler if no less oxygen-deprived, Zonama had jumped again.
Whether because of further misfortune or at Sekot’s direction, no one could say. But rain had been falling ever since.
Under the guidance of the five Jedi, the airship completed its descent and made a satisfactory landing on the platform. Luke, Mara, and Corran had the ship tethered to its docking cleats even before Jacen and Saba emerged from the small cabin.
“Welcome back,” Luke said, clapping his nephew on the shoulders, then hugging him.
Jacen’s brown hair was combed back and fell almost to his shoulders now, but he had recently shaved his beard. His cloak was stiff with dried mud. Saba, in contrast, wore minimal garments, and her black reptilian skin glistened.
“You’re shivering,” Mara said to Jacen while she was hugging him.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” She nodded toward the cliff dwelling. “Let’s get you inside. We have a fire going.”
R2-D2 was chirping in excitement when the waterlogged Jedi filed through the trapezoidal entrance. A nourishing fire blazed in the center of the room, smoke escaping through a natural chimney. Elsewhere were glow sticks, sleeping rolls, gear, and provisions, moved there from Jade Shadow.
“Are either of you hungry?” Mara asked Jacen and Saba when everyone had warmed themselves.
“Starved,” Jacen said.
The Barabel Jedi nodded. “This one az well.”
Mara glanced around. “Anyone else?”
Corran shrugged. “I’m not about to turn down a home-cooked meal.”
Luke took off his wet cloak and hung it by the fire, then sat down opposite Jacen and Saba. “Tell us everything.”
With a nod of her round head, Saba deferred to Jacen.
“Conditions in the south are worse than here,” the young man began. “The forests are scorched beyond recognition, the trails are impassable, and the rivers are too swollen to navigate. A lot of the boras are completely leafless, and the wildlife has been shocked into hibernation. Most of the Ferroans reached the shelters in time, but hundreds died. When they can, Owell, Darak, Rowel, and others have been scouring the area for survivors, but they haven’t found any. There’s no word on the Jentari, because no one has been able to reach them.”
Cybernetic organisms bred by the planet’s early Magisters—overseers and liaisons with Sekot—the Jentari were the carvers and assemblers of Zonama’s once-celebrated living starships.
“Some Ferroans are saying that the southern hemisphere is every bit as traumatized as it was when the Far Outsiders attacked,” Jacen continued.
Saba nodded. “This one haz rarely seen such devastation on an inhabited world.”
Far Outsiders was the Ferroan term for the Yuuzhan Vong, who had found and engaged Zonama Sekot some fifty years earlier, when first scouting the galaxy they planned to invade.
“The Far Distance is melting,” Jacen said. “The area where Obi-Wan and Anakin landed has broken away from the ice shelf and is adrift in the Northern Sea.” He paused to consider his words. “I guess I should say Southern Sea, since Zonama Sekot is now upside down.”
Mara interrupted the conversation to pass out bowls of stew, sweetened with rogir-boln fruit, which Jacen and Saba devoured ravenously.
“Were you able to learn anything about Widowmaker?” Luke asked after Jacen had set his bowl down.
Jacen shook his head sadly. “It’s gone. It didn