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"Everything ready?" Master Skywalker asked.

"Ready as it'll ever be," Han Solo replied with another grin. "You and Chewie finished prepping the Shadow Chaser?"

Luke turned to Chewbacca, who had come up beside him, and said, The Chaser's a good ship; don't let anything happen to her." The big Wookiee shrugged and gave a bark of agreement.

Han Solo thumped Chewie on the back.

"Take care of yourself. I'm trusting you with my kids, you know. Keep 'em all in one piece, okay? We'll see you in a couple of weeks."

With that, Han gave the twins one last hug and went aboard the Millennium Falcon.

Before walking up the ramp, Master Skywalker looked around at the young Jedi Knights with calm confidence. "Don't forget that yoifre stronger together," he said. "May the Force be with you." When the departing Falcon was just a speck in the distance, its bank of sublight engines glowing white, Lowbacca heaved a sigh and growled questioningly at Jaina.

She chuckled. "Right. What are we waiting for?"

- ----------------

THE SLEEK SILADOW CILASER, with its Imperial design and oily-looking quantum armor, glistened in the early-morning sun as Chewbacca piloted it slowly out of the sheltered hangar bay beneath the Great Temple.

Jacen stood next to his sister and Tenel Ka, watching the vessel move under silent power. Considering Lowie's recent distress, Jacen was glad his uncle Luke had let them take the Shadow Chaser-just the kind of fast, stealthy ship needed for an urgent mission. He was proud that Lowie wanted them along, that he and his sister and Tenel Ka could be of some help to their Wookiee friend.

Lowie stood at the far end of the clearing, motioning with his shaggy arms to direct Chewbacca's piloting. When the Shadow Chaser came to a halt, its entry ramp extended. Chewbacca stood at the top, gesturing with his cinnamon-furred arms and bellowing.

"Master Chewbacca cordially requests that we all come aboard," Em Teedee translated, speaking in a wobbly voice as he bounced with each running step Lowie took.

Jacen slung his satchel of belongings over one shoulder. He turned to see if he could offer any assistance to Tenel Ka, but when he saw the determined look in the warrior girils gray eyes, he decided he'd be better off if he didn't ask.

They climbed aboard the Shadow Chaser and waved a brief goodbye to the other students and Tionne, who held up a hand in farewell. Even before the ship was completely sealed and ready to take off, 'Donne had ushered the trainees back to their studies. With the threat of the Second Imperium loose in the galaxy, the new Jedi Knights had no time to relax.

With a smooth surge of acceleration, so powerful yet gentle it seemed almost to ghde against gravity, the Shadow Chaser aimed its nose upward and arrowed straight into the mist-shrouded skies of the jungle moon.

Enroute to Kashyyyk, Jacen watched @wie and Chewbacca m the two front seats of the narrow cockpit as the Shadow Chaser lurched into hyperspace.

When the pair spoke rapidly in the Wookiee language, they sounded like two ferocious beasts challenging each otherbut Jacen knew it was just a conversation, though he could make out only a few words.

Em Teedee had been instructed not to bother translating, so that Lowie and Chewie could have some uninterrupted words in relative privacy.

@ile his sister tinkered with her multitool, disassembling a tiny mechanical gadget she had brought from her workshop on Yavin 4, Jacen took the opportunity to amuse Tenel Ka. He decided that, rather than tellingjokes this time, he would explain to the gruff girl why certain things were funny, why she should be laughing at his punch lines-well, some of them, anyway. Jacen had begun to wonder if perhaps the girl simply didn't understand, and that was why she didn't laugh.

After all, it couldn't be that every one of his jokes was bad.

He explained how ridiculous answers to straightforward-sounding questions were supposed to be funny. He showed her how doing unexpected things with food or simple items of clothing might be considered amusing.

Tenel