Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 03_ The Lost Ones - Kevin J. Anderson [8]
With the Force, he could sense the growing baby creature inside. Perhaps he could use the Force to levitate the prize up to his friends. He smiled, tingly with wonder as he hefted one of the eggs. It wasn't heavy at all. As he touched a second egg, though, he heard a shrill shriek from above, coming closer.
Tenel Ka shouted a warning. "Look out, Jacen!"
Jacen looked up and saw the sleek form of the mother hawk-bat, swooping down at him and screaming in fury, metallic claws extended, wings studded with spikes. The hawk-bat's wingspan was about two meters. Its head consisted mostly of a horny beak with sharp ivory teeth, ready to tear a victim to shreds. "Uh-oh," Jacen said.
Lowie bellowed in alarm. Tenel Ka grabbed for a throwing knife - but Jacen knew he couldn't wait for help. The creature dove toward him like a missile, and Jacen closed his eyes to reach out with the Force. His special talent had always been with animals. He could communicate with them, sense their feelings and express his own to them. "It's all right,"
he whispered. "I'm sorry we were invading your nest. Calm. It's all right. Peace."
The hawk-bat pulled up from her dive and clutched one of the corroded lower crossbars with durasteel-hard claws. Jacen could hear the squeaking sound as the claws scraped rust off the metal, but he maintained his calm.
"We didn't mean to hurt your babies," he said. "We won't take them all. I need only one, and I promise you it'll be delivered to a fine and safe place..
. a beautiful zoo where it will be raised and cared for and admired by millions of people from across the galaxy."
The hawk-bat hissed and pushed her hard beak closer to Jacen, blowing foul breath from between sharp teeth. He knew the hawk-bat was extremely skeptical, but Jacen projected images of a bright aviary, a place where the young hawk-bat would be fed delicacies all its life, where it could fly freely, yet never need to fear other predators or starvation... or being shot at by gang members. Jacen snatched the last vision - blurred figures of young humans shooting as she hunted between tall buildings -
from the mother's mind. This last fear convinced the mother, and she flapped her spiked leathery wings, backing away from the nest and leaving Jacen safe... for the moment. He grinned up at his friends.
Tenel Ka stood poised, dagger in hand, ready to jump down and fight.
Jacen felt a pleasant warm glow to think that she was willing to defend him. He took the hawk-bat egg he was holding and used the Force to carefully levitate it into Jaina's hands. She cradled it, then handed it to Zekk.
"What did you do?" Zekk called.
"I made a deal with the hawk-bat," he said. "Let's go."
"But what about those other eggs?" Zekk said, holding his treasure with great amazement.
"You only get one," Jacen answered. "That was the deal. Now we'd better get out of here, and hurry." He scrambled up to join Lowie and Tenel Ka.
Lowie climbed the fibercord first, racing up the side of the building to the upper ledge. Jacen urged the others to greater speed, and finally, when they were all standing back on the walkway, Zekk said, "I thought you made a deal with the mother. Why do we have to hurry?"
Jacen continued to hustle them out of sight of the construction crawler.
"Because hawk-bats have extremely short memories."
3
AS THE FIVE companions left the hawk-bat's nest behind, Jaina stuck close to Zekk. She watched the dark-haired boy move instinctively, hurrying through the maze of upper and lower walkways and cross-connecting bridges as he made a beeline back to his living quarters. The green-eyed boy beamed with self-congratulatory pride at the precious egg he held, as if it were a trophy he had hoped to win for a long time.
"Peckhum is going to be so pleased!"