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Jacen sighed. "With all those HoloNet news reporters here covering the race, you'd think some of them would want to do a story about that terrible war everybody's talking about."

"That would be too dangerous," Zekk said with a snort. "They'd rather do a nice, fun story about a space race." Jaina set down one of the broken space mines and shook her head.

"We're not going to find out anything else unless we learn who some of the weapons dealers are. But for now... I'm hungry!" She smiled at Zekk, then turned to Tenel Ka. "Don't suppose you upgraded the food-prep units on the Rock Dragon yet?"

Tenel Ka nodded. "This is a fact. They are now progrwnmed to provide the best Hapan cuisine."

"Sounds good-I'm starved." Jacen said, then looked over at the warrior girl. "In fact, let me push the buttons so I can say I made you a fine lunch."

"That would be most appreciated, friend Jacen."

Ducking inside the Rock Dragon, Jacen tinkered with the food-prep units until they produced some kind of meal whose name he couldn't pronounce.

Tenel Ka called it "authentic" and "delicious"; Jaina found it

"interesting."

They laughed and talked, sharing food and friendship. Jaina especially enjoyed having Zekk as a close friend again, rather than an enemy or a guilt-ridden young man. Zekk was rapidly becoming the person she had known for so many years. No, not the same person-better. More mature.

Around a mouthful of food, Jacen said, "Hey, stop me if you've heard this one. A bounty hunter, a Jedi Knight, and a Jawa trader walk into a cantina-" A resounding chorus of "We've heard that one!" rang through the cabin.

In the middle of a swirling gelatinous dessert that insisted on crawling around the plates by itself, Tenel Ka sat up straight and alert, her eyebrows raised as if something was wrong. Lowie also growled.

"what's up?" Jacen asked.

"I sense something," Tenel Ka said. "I would like to investigate."

She stepped out of the Rock Dragon, moving with feline grace, reaching out with her senses. Jaina watched the warrior girl, admiring the smoothness of her actions. Although she had lost her left arm in a lightsaber battle with Jacen, Tenel Ka had not allowed the handicap to slow her down.

The docking bay was silent, except for the hum of machinery, the ventilation system, and the distant sky traffic overhead through the rooftop doors. The bay walls were smooth gray metal. The Millennium Falcon sat unattended in shadows.

Tenel Ka froze for a moment, then stepped away from the Rock Dragon, flicking her granite-gray gaze from side to side as she walked deeper into the docking bay. Jaina stood beside Lowie at the hatch. The young Wookiee's fur bristled, and she could feel his uneasiness.

Tenel Ka stood stock still in the middle of the large room, her shoulders rigid, her arm partially bent at her side. She scanned the wall and studied the shadows, the old lubricant stains and smoke smears from hundreds of landings and takeoffs. She took three steps closer to the small workbench where the recovered space mine fragments had been spread out.

Tenel Ka waited, narrowed her eyes, listened, and finally pulled out her rancor-tooth lightsaber. Jaina couldn't figure out what the warrior girl was doing. The walls remained gray and featureless.

Tension hung thick in the air. Finally, when the warrior girl held up and switched on the glowing turquoise blade... the shadows on the wall began to move!

Jaina gasped. Lowie surged past her and ran to help. Figures on the walls shifted, and Jaina could make out gray-skinned creatures, vaguely humanoid. They moved like spiders with angular arms and legs that allowed them to crawl up the metal walls. The colors on their smooth, clwnmy skin shifted, patterns of stains on the walls reflected in their body pigmentation. When they held still, the chameleon-like creatures were almost invisible-but now that Tenel Ka had startled them, they were more easily seen. These shadows might be identical in color to the walls, but the play of light exposed them.

Em Teedee cried, "Oh, dear! What