Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 04_ Lightsabers - Kevin J. Anderson [46]
The humming weapon sliced off one of the large tentacles twined around the rail. "Take that," Jacen said. Gray fumes burned his eyes as the chunk of severed seaweed fell away.
Out in the water the tentacles thrashed. Now they seemed to be in pain. The scarlet eye-flowers blinked and gyrated furiously. The smell of seared vegetables and saltwater filled the air.
"I'm getting us out of here," Jaina called from the controls, restarting the engines. But grasping tentacles held them in place, and the wavespeeder could not break loose.
Roaring, Lowbacca ignited his own blazing lightsaber and held it with both hands, a glowing bludgeon of molten-bronze light.
Larger stems rose now from the deeper water, each with a pair of serrated shells on the end, like vicious pincers ready to tear apart prey. The tentacles writhed and cracked their sharp edges together, looking for something to bite into.
Jaina pushed hard on the controls. The wavespeeder's engines whined as it strained against the grasping tentacles.
Lowie raced to the rail. Bellowing a warning he swept down with his lightsaber blade again and again, slicing through the seaweed that still held their craft.
"Oh, do be careful, Master Lowbacca-here comes another one!"
Grunting a reply, Lowie slashed at the tentacle, and the little translating droid said, "Excellently done, Master Lowbacca! And it's quite a comfort to hear you would rather I didn't wind up as an appetizer for a mass of salivating seaweed."
Tenel Ka turned to fend off an attack from one of the sharp-shelled tentacles. She slashed with her knife, but one of the clamshell pincers clenched the point of her dagger with a loud click. The razoredged shells cracked again, pushing to reach closer to her face.
Then Jacen was there, chopping the tentacle away with his brilliant green energy blade. He flashed Tenel Ka a roguish grin. "Just wanted to keep the score even!"
"My thanks, Jacen," she said.
Lowie hacked with his blade, severing the last of the seaweed tentacles holding the boat. The wavespeeder broke loose and lurched away while thorny fronds writhed and lashed out, struggling to recapture their prize.
As quickly as she could, Jaina pushed the wavespeeder to its highest velocity, roaring over the twisted weed. The malevolent eye-flowers stared at them.
Other thrashing tentacles rose up, but the seaweed seemed unable to respond fast enough.
Jacen gripped his emerald-bladed lightsaber, ready.
This thing was more than a plant. It was... something sentient, something that could respond. He used the Force, hoping to calm it, make it leave them alone. "I can't find its brain," he said. "It seems to be all reflexes. All I can sense is that it's hungry, hungry."
"Yeah, well it's going to stay hungry a while longer," Jaina said.
"Yes, indeed! I agree wholeheartedly," Em Teedee answered.
Moments later they were out into open water again. Jaina and Lowie plotted their new course, made the appropriate calculations, and manually set the wavespeeder's direction to take them back to the Reef Fortress.
Glancing over at Tenel Ka to make sure she wasn't hurt, Jacen was surprised to see her wearing a calm and satisfied expression as she slid her throwing dagger back into its sheath at her waist.
She seemed more alive and confident now than he had seen her at any time since their fateful lightsaber duel on Yavin 4.
"We are fine warriors," Tenel Ka said. "There is nothing like a physical challenge to make the day more relaxing."
Lowbacca gave a low grunt. Em Teedee bleeped, but refrained from articulating a comment. Jaina looked at Tenel Ka in surprise, but Jacen laughed.
"Yeah, we are quite a team, aren't we? Real young Jedi Knights."
Tenel Ka helped Jacen bind up the minor wounds on his arm, and he applied