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Chewbacca roared in recognition as he rushed to his sister Kallabow-Lowie and Sirra's mother. She was bent over another injured worker, tending his wounds. With nimble hands Kallabow had shaved the fur from around a bleeding cut and covered it with a coagulant bandage.

Lowie's mother looked up, blinking dazed eyes set within whorls of auburn fur, and she and Chewbacca engaged in a rapid, barking interchange. Jaina caught only parts of the conversation, but learned enough to know that the devastating raid was indeed over.

The Imperials had struck with lightning speed, causing enormous damage to the outlying facilities-but their main objective had apparently been to raid the equipment stockpiles and steal computer components and encryption devices.

Jaina was reminded of Qorl's previous raid on the New Republic supply cruiser Adamant, when he had commandeered an entire shipment of hyperdrive cores and turbolaser batteries. The Second Imperium was definitely making plans for an all-out war-and soon.

Jaina bent down next to Kallabow. "Have you seen Lowie and Sirra? My brother Jacen, or maybe Tenel Ka?"

Lowie's mother rattled off a series of woofs, growls, and barks in a worried tone. She spread her arms to indicate the surrounding pandemonium, then gripped Jaina's shoulder, asking her to track down her children. Another Wookiee wailed in pain farther down the corridor; still dazed, Kallabow blinked wearily and moved past Jaina to help the victim to his feet.

"We've got to @ind them," Jaina said, and Chewbacca nodded vigorously.

Chewie made his way deeper into the damaged facility, assisting wherever he could and barking out phrases that were incomprehensible to Jaina.

Never one to stand around wringing her hands in an emergency, Jaina helped to bind up minor wounds and put out small fires. Occasionally, she used the Force to help muscular Wookiees heave aside smashed equipment.

Every time she asked about her brother and her ftiends, however, she received only confused answers.

Moment by moment, the cacophony around Jaina increased with a confusing mix of Wookiee yowls, barks, and growls. Oh, how she wished that Em Teedee were here to interpret all the nuances. Her head spun with confusion and disorientation, and she was relieved to see Chewbacca motion her over to help him tend a wounded engineer.

Chewie greeted her with animated gestures and an excited bark.

"What did you find?" Jaina asked, biting her lower lip.

The injured engineer spoke, her voice just above a wheezing purr. Still unable to understand, Jaina turned to Chewbacca for an interpretation.

The irony of the situation might have struck her as funny had the circumstances not been so serious.

Chewie explained slowly enough that Jaina could follow. The engineer had seen the two young Wookiees and two human visitors run down the corridor behind her. Not long afterward, she had noted some of the Impe166 Star Wars: Young jedi Knights rial attackers in the same corridor-stormtroopers and humans in dark capes.

"Any way out in that direction?" Jaina asked hopefully. "Is it possible they escaped?"

The engineer shook her head. No exits, only maintenance trapdoors that opened to the dense and dangerous forests below.

Trapdoors.

Chewie finished binding the engineer's wounds, thanked her, and hurried off down the corridor she had indicated. Jaina skidded to a stop at the edge of a gaping hole blasted in the floor, where an access hatch had been ripped from its hinges. Chewbacca had to pull Jaina back physically to keep her from toppling over the brink. He growled, sniffing around the burned metal edges.

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, looks like the work of stormtroopers. They must've thought the trapdoors needed to be wider and did a little remodeling."

She blew out a long, slow breath, trying to calm herself. "Lowie told us how dangerous it is down there. But I guess it didn't stop them."

Chewie opened an emergency locker on the wall. He yanked out two knapsacks filled with supplies and tossed one