Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 01_ Heirs of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson [24]
Lowie called a command over the sound of the warming repulsorlifts. Em Teedee said, "Master Lowbacca requests that you please be certain that your restraints are secure. He is interested in your utmost safety. We shall be departing momentarily."
Lowbacca's voice barked out again, and the droid amended his translation.
"Actually, Master Lowbacca might have said something closer to, 'Hold on, everyone. Here we go!'"
"Oh, blaster bolts. No crash straps either," Jacen observed as Jaina and Tenel Ka buckled themselves in up front.
The rebuilt T-23 lifted off with a small jerk. The wind howled past the rattling window plates as they picked up height and speed. Jacen felt the thrill of being airborne as the ion afterburners spluttered behind them.
Even cramped in the back, he was glad he hadn't stayed behind.
Jacen looked out through the scratched port as Lowbacca let the skyhopper skim just above the treetops, arrowing away from the Jedi academy into unexplored territory. Soon there were nothing but trees as far as Jacen could see through the scratched port, as lush and green as the sky above him was blue.
Though he enjoyed the lovely foliage below him, Jacen's legs began to cramp. By the time the T-23 dove down and came to rest in a small clearing, he could feel the engine vibrations all the way to his teeth.
Up front, Jaina and Tenel Ka unbuckled their restraints and scrambled nimbly out of the T-23. Jacen dragged himself from the cargo well, stretching his stiff legs as he stepped out into the tangled underbrush.
He rubbed the seat of his jumpsuit with both hands to get the circulation going again. "I think a leaf is about all I could lift right now!"
Lowie rushed to the edge of the clearing, beckoning the others. "Master Lowbacca says the tree holding the artifact is over here," Em Teedee called. "It has several broken branches, so he was able to locate it easily from the air."
Jaina looked in the direction that Lowbacca was pointing. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she said. Tenel Ka marched over to the young Wookiee, as if ready to carve a path through the jungle. Jacen took a long and wistful look at all the strange new plants he saw around him, but followed the others into the deep green shadows.
Lowbacca gestured up into the distant branches of an enormous Massassi tree. The trunk seemed as big around as one of the skyscrapers on city-covered Coruscant, and even the lowest branches were well out of Jacen's reach. But Lowie wanted them to climb up after him!
"Oh," said Jaina, a crestfallen look on her face, "I wouldn't get very far climbing that."
Lowbacca assured them, via Em Teedee, that the climb would be easy for a Wookiee. He offered to go up alone for the first investigation and report his findings so they could decide the next step.
"We can explore down here," Jacen suggested. "We might find some other pieces of... of whatever it is." Or maybe some interesting animals or fungus or insects, he thought hopefully.
Jaina and Tenel Ka readily agreed. Low-bacca swiped a hairy hand along the thick black streak that ran through the fur above his left eyebrow.
He swarmed up the trunk, swung into the lower branches, and soon disappeared from sight.
Jacen's stomach rumbled with hunger, and he hoped that Lowbacca would hurry. The three young Jedi trainees poked around in the underbrush, spiraling out from the T-23 in a wandering search pattern. Taking turns, they practiced their leaf-lifting assignment, fluttering leaves in the shrubbery, lifting dry forest debris from the damp and mossy ground.
Before long, Lowbacca came crashing back down through the thick branches.
He dropped to the ground near them and let out a loud Wookiee cry.
Jaina ran toward him, eager and interested. "Did you find it, Lowie?"
Lowbacca nodded vigorously.
"What was it?" Jaina asked. "Can