Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 07_ Shards of Alderaan - Kevin J. Anderson [20]
Hurncanes and storms destroyed anything on the exposed ground, while the approaching moon npped away portions of the atmosphere, which was replenished by the volcanic outgassing from EnntYs interior.
Now Zekk saw a bustling flotilla in orbit: merchant ships, rescue ships, traders, and a motley assortment of ragtag vessels, as well as huge cargo haulers that had been stripped of their hyperdrive engines to make more room for living quarters inside.
Refugee stations. Zekk recognized them from his previous unpleasant time spent aboard.
He had come at just the right moment, when people and his homeworld needed him the most. The colonists were evacuating Ennth again. This could be a way for him to redeem himself, a time to focus only on helping others.
The giant moon hovered close in the sky, hurtling along in its disruptive orbit. Zekk shuddered as a half-forgotten fear leaped within him. But he drove it back. He would have to rise above his fears if he was going to make a difference here.
The disaster was about to strike again.
JACEN RUSHED INTO the connnunication center an(..oo.".ce(aroun(at tie mm(boggling display of equipment the New Republic engineers were mstalhng. He couldiyt see any cause for an emergency, but Raynar had told him he was urgently needed here.
The young blond-haired boy from Alderaan had run with him through the corridors of the Great Temple into the middle of this hotbed of repair work. The two stood panting, surrounded by all the activity.
At one station @wie was busy rewiring the new slueld generator console.
Tbnel Ka assembled components for a larger, sharper cornm screen, holding each piece in place with her chin or a knee and then fastening it down with clamps and anchors. His sister Jama bounced around the room with feverish enthusiasm, in the midst of twelve different projects at once.
Jacen found the excitement vaguely bewildering-it was only a bunch of components and electronics, after all... nothing interesting. Oh, he was competent enough at running equipment, but he didn't have an understanding with machines like Jaina did.
Instead, Jacen had an understanding with living creatures of all sizes.
He'd been in his quarters feeding his pets when Raynar had summoned him.
Now that Jacen had arrived, though, no one seemed to notice. "Hey, don't everybody greet me at once," he said. He turned to Raynar beside him.
"So what's the cause for alarm?"
The blond boy adjusted his newly washed robes and tightened his sash-a dull brown sash, Jacen noticed, not a color Raynar usually wore. He wondered if it had anything to do with the disappearance of his father.
"They, uh, said some creature got into a transformer housing," he stammered, darting nervous glances toward the back of the room. "Tenel Ka suggested you might be able to coax it out, so I, um, ran to get you."
It gave Jacen a warm feeling to know Tenel Ka had thought of him to solve a problem. Even with only one arm, she had proved herself so good at everything she did that Jacen often felt like a humbling buffoon around her. But Tenel Ka had asked for him-and this was something he was good at. He would be proud to help her.
He grinned at Raynar, but the other boy didn't grin back.
"Do you think it's safe?" Raynar asked hesitantly. "The creature might be poisonous."
Jacen shut his eyes for a moment and sent a thought searching through the room, past the flurry of Jedi students and New Republic engineers...
There. He had it. Jacen opened his eyes.
"Well, it's not a crystal snake, if that's what you're worried about.
Nothing dangerous."
"Well, if you're sure, I'll go back to my station," Raynar said, twisting his brown sash into knots around his fingers.
"This'll take just a few minutes,"