• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

"Where did they go?"

"Ryloth. To rescue Lowbacca from the Diversity Alliance," Lusa said in a strangled whisper.

"They said they'd be back by now."

Zekk's anger at the foolish risk his friends had taken warred with gutwrenching fear. "Then we'll just have to go rescue them," he said through clenched teeth. He looked challengingly at Master Skywalker, expecting the Jedi to argue with him.

"I don't have the Shadow Chaser right now," Luke said matter-of-factly.

"We'll have to take the Lightning Rod." He looked at Lusa. "You know Diversity Alliance access codes and the geography on Ryloth. Are you willing to help us?"

Lusa shook away the blankets in which she had been wrapped and stamped a hoof on the stone floor. "Yes. I'll come with you."

Zekk started to object, but Lusa flashed him a dangerous look. "Don't even try to talk me out of coming along. I want to help our friends just as much as you do." He heard the conviction in her voice, and it suddenly dawned on him that she was no safer on Yavin 4 than she would be in the Lightning Rod.

"We're all going," Luke said firmly. "We'll need all of our skills, and we'll have to trust each other."

THE FIRST THING Jacen noticed before they ventured out into the night side of Ryloth was the searing cold. Though the mouth of the cave sheltered them somewhat from the frigid wind, there was no way to avoid it completely. A white cloud of steam formed in front of his face with each breath he released.

The serviceable brown jumpsuit that had kept him barely warm enough while they mined ryll proved a completely ineffective barrier against the deep, gnawing iciness of the eternal winter on Ryloth's dark side.

He shivered and looked at Tenel Ka. Her lizard-hide boots rose to midcalf, but her tough and durable scaled armor covered only a minuscule portion of her upper thigh and left her arms completely bare.

"You must be c-c-cold," he said.

"This is a fact." She reached into her belt pouch, pulled out the fingersized flash heater she always carried, and ignited it. Although it was capable of starting a fire--if they'd had anything to burn--the heat it radiated was too small to warm more than the hand that held it.

Jacen wished he had some extra piece of clothing to give her. He toyed briefly with the idea of stripping down and offering Tenel Ka his jumpsuit.

But even in the dim light, one glance at the brave face framed by warrior braids told him that he would risk her wrath even to suggest such an idea.

Chill wind gusted into the cave like knives of ice. Unable to think of any other comfort, Jacen put his arms around Tenel Ka and pulled her closer to him, in hopes of at least sharing some of his body warmth.

"It is also a fact that we cannot stay here," Tenel Ka said. Though she was careful to keep the flash heater away from his clothing, her arm slid around Jacen's waist and hugged him tightly. "We must find our way to the temperate zone, over the mountains. I do not believe we have come farther than five or six kilometers from where Lowbacca indicated we should wait for him."

"You m-mean, go back through the tunnels?

We'd get lost." He shivered convulsively. "It could take us d-days to find our way back, if we ever do...."

"No," Tenel Ka said. "We would risk being I recaptured." She nodded toward the frigid land scape outside. "No, we must go out there."

"But you'll f-freeze," Jacen objected. His lips begun to feel numb.

"I am already cold," she said. "We will grow no warmer by staying in this cave. We cannot hope for rescue if we stay here, and we risk being spotted by the Diversity Alliance."

Jacen's hands, still on Tenel Ka's back, were growing stiff and ached with the cold. He flexed his fingers a few times, then buried them behind the unbraided portion of hair that hung down her back. "You're right," he said. "I just wish we could make a blanket out of your hair."

She jerked backward a few centimeters and looked into his eyes.

"Jacen, my friend, that is an excellent idea!"

He blinked back at her, not quite sure how what he had said could actually prove useful.