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Jaina piped up, seeing an opportunity. "And maybe next time you go up to the mirror station, we could go along and help install it."

Lowbacca bellowed his interest in the project as well.

Peckhum's eyes widened with surprised delight. "Well, I suppose that might work after all. Let's celebrate by eating lunch."

The old man swept unsorted debris from a low table, clearing a spot for Zekk to set down the stacked cans of food. The dark-haired boy studied them and passed out rations to everyone. Warm steam curled up from open lids as thermal units heated the contents.

Jaina sniffed at hers suspiciously, and Jacen poked into the goo, while Tenel Ka studied the label seriously. Lowie gave a doubtful growl.

"You needn't complain, Master Lowbacca," Em Teedee said. "I'm certain it's quite nutritious. See? The label bears the Imperial stamp of approval."

Zekk held up one of the cans. "These are old stormtrooper rations. We found an entire cache in one of the lower buildings. They don't taste like much, but they have all our nutritional requirements."

Tenel Ka dug in, grunting with satisfaction. "Quite acceptable," she said.

Jaina stirred the grayish puttylike substance, smiled as Zekk dug in, then took a small bite herself. It didn't taste bad. In fact, it didn't taste like anything, so she ate courteously. When they had finished, she stood up, meeting Zekk's emerald-green gaze. "Want to join us for a meal next time?"

Zekk brightened. "Fine with me. When?"

"Well," Jaina said, biting her lower lip and considering, "since Peckhum is leaving you all alone, why don't you come to the Imperial Palace tomorrow night? We're taking a holiday with my parents in the morning, but we're having some sort of special banquet in the evening. Banquets are usually pretty boring, but I'm sure we could get you invited."

"Really?" Zekk said.

"Sure," Jaina answered.

"That's right," Jacen agreed. "We'll probably give Threepio the time of his life tending to us."

5

FAT SNOWFLAKES FELL in skirting patterns of white against white. There was ice and snow as far as the eye could see on the frozen mountains of Coruscant's polar ice caps. Jaina's exhaled breath produced small puffs of fog in front of her face. Her nose and throat tingled with cold as she inhaled, reveling in the feeling.

The crisp air was fresh and clean and delicious.

The tauntaun beneath her, however, smelled bad. The creature was supposed to be well behaved, but Jaina didn't think the Bothan stable manager at the polar corrals spent any more time training the wild arctic animals than he did bathing them.

The tauntaun was a white-furred reptile with curved horns jutting from its head. It ran on muscular three-toed hind legs designed to crunch across the snow at high speed. The animals were native to the ice world of Hoth, where the

Rebel Alliance had long ago established a secret base. In recent years, though, an enterprising stable manager had transported a few of the beasts to Coruscant's ice caps, intending to offer tauntaun riding as an activity for winter sports enthusiasts who came to the north pole.

But the tauntauns had become surly and stubborn after being transplanted from their home, and Jaina couldn't see how riding one was supposed to be fun. Her tauntaun fought the bit in its mouth as she tried to make it keep pace with Jacen and his mount. Anakin stayed closer to their father, who hung back next to Leia. Han Solo had claimed to be an expert rider of the uncooperative tauntauns, but Jaina giggled as she watched her father experience plenty of difficulty as they raced across the snows.

The part Jaina enjoyed most was just being able to spend a few hours away from the bustling city with her family, so they could be kids and their parents could be parents-if only for a little while.

Lowie had already made plans with his uncle Chewbacca, and See-Threepio had offered to spend the day showing Tenel Ka the finest obstacle courses and training facilities that Coruscant had to offer. Before long, she and Jacen and their friends would have to return to the Jedi