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Tenel Ka moved to the anchor point and stopped to extend her hand to Jacen as he inched toward her, trying not to look down.

Lowie's wrestling match with the combat arachnid had made the chain bounce and shake so much that Jacen and Jaina had been forced to spend most of their concentration on not falling, rather than making forward progress.

Now, though, as they neared the dubious safety of the rooftop and Raaba's ship, Lowie began bounding toward them along the chain, running with uncanny balance to catch up. The two combat arachnids that had not yet given up the chase scrambled after him, hissing and clicking, ravenous for fresh food.

Raaba yanked one of the small detonators from her crisscrossed ammunition belt, set the timer, and without pausing lobbed it in a perfect arc. The detonator sailed across the open air.

Seeing the glittering object, the foremost combat arachnid reared up to catch it, as if the thermal detonator might be some sort of flying prey.

The grenade detonated, shattering the creature's exoskeleton like a thousand chips of glass, spraying its innards in all directions.

The shock wave from the explosion hurled Jacen sideways. He spun, grabbed for balance, and then slipped from the chain but Tenel Ka's arm shot out like lightning to seize him by the elbow and halt his terrible fall.

Spurred by the thought of all that open air below, Jacen and Tenel Ka drew on the Force together to bring him back up again.

Then the two of them, along with Jaina, finally scrambled to the sturdy rooftop, where it was safe... almost.

The final combat arachnid, seeing its prey about to escape, increased its speed.

It hissed and scrabbled along the chain, climbing like a deadly acrobat.

Lowie bounded ahead, ignoring the gusts of wind, planting his feet firmly from one link to the next. The last combat arachnid dosed the gap, its jaws clacking. Lowie could not look behind him to fight. His best chance was to reach the rooftop before the creature could grab hold of him.

The wound in his side was bleeding profusely now, but the young Wookiee didn't seem to notice.

"Come on, Lowie!" Jacen cried. "You can make it!"

With a final burst of speed, Lowbacca leaped the final several meters to the rooftop.

The last combat arachnid charged forward like a landspeeder out of control, but Tenel Ka thought quickly, efficiently.

In a flash of blazing turquoise, she swept her lightsaber downward to sever the ancient metal links that anchored the chain to the rooftop.

Just as the combat arachnid reached out to grab for the companions, the chain broke free and fell away with the monster still clinging to it. The heavy links of corroded durasteel plummeted, carrying the unwilling passenger down, down, until it struck the far side of the amphitheater wall with enough force to squash the multi-legged creature.

His heart pounding, Jacen was relieved to see how isolated they were on this skyscraper, away from the walls of the great crater.

Lowie slumped to the rooftop, shaking and exhausted. Raaba came over, put her arm around his shoulder, and gave him a powerful hug.

She touched the wound on his side with a groan of concern, then went to her ship to rummage for a medikit.

Lowie looked up at her, his eyes filled with a thousand questions.

"My, that was exciting, wasn't it?" Em Teedee said.

SQUEEZING ALL THE young Jedi Knights into Raaba's interstellar skimmer proved to be a challenge, especially with the two large Wookiees. But Lowie did not mind being in such cramped quarters with his friends... and Raaba.

The wound in his side still burned, but Raaba had efficiently applied a graft bandage to the injury, finding her well-stocked medikit quickly, as if she had cause to use it with some frequency. She calmly helped the

'exhausted companions settle into her crowded skimmer, which she had named the Rising Star.

Lowie found it very unsettling to see the chocolate-furred young Wookiee woman, a friend whom he had once mourned as dead--now resurrected before him. He kept his eyes on Raaba's glossy coat