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Tenel Ka's sweaty hand slipped in Lowie's grasp. With a harsh bark of warning, Lowbacca extended his razor-sharp Wookiee claws and dug them deep into her arm. He would not let her fall.

She winced, distracted from her torturous thoughts, and welcomed the pain that brought her mind back to sharp reality. The warrior girl looked up into Lowie's golden eyes and saw there a reflection of her own anguish...

and something more: determination.

Deten,nination to stay alive. Determination not to lose another friend.

Determination to warn Jaina, Zekk, and Lando that their lives were in danger too. Determination to find whoever had done this and bring them to justice.

Blood trickled from the deep wounds where Lowie's talons dug fiercely into her skin. Through the Force she felt his resolve flow into her, like the warm blood that poured down her arm. The wind made her red-gold braids whip wildly around her and caught at the droplets of blood, spattering them across her face.

The braids of a warrior. The blood of a princess.

Tenel Ka gritted her teeth. She would not fall, and she would not allow Jacen's murderers to go free. Her eyes still locked with Lowbacca's, she used the Force to steady herself. "I'm ready."

The Wookiee, who still had one arm wrapped around the sturdy antenna that protruded from the bottom of the city's structure, pulled himself upward with that arm until he was able to wrap his strong legs around a crossbar. With both hands freed, he pulled her up by one arm and grasped her around the waist with the other. Then, shaking from the strain, he curled upward toward the antenna, as if sitting up and lifting weights simultaneously, until Tenel Ka could grasp the center bar of the antenna herself.

When he withdrew his claws from her arm the gush of blood made the antenna slippery and harder to hold on to, though Tenel Ka hardly noticed. She quickly hooked a leg over the crossbar and helped Lowbacca pull himself upright. For several long moments they clung to the antenna, shuddering from their efforts.

Finally Tenel Ka drew a deep breath. "Thank you, Lowbacca, my friend.

Let us continue."

Lowie roared and pointed up toward the chute through which they had fallen. Tenel Ka looked and saw with despair that the hatch had closed behind them! "You are correct, my friend. We seem to be stranded."

A split second later the hatch mysteriously slid open of its own accord.

Lowie gave a triumphant bellow. They would still need to find a way to climb inside the sheer tube, but the first hurdle had been overcome. As the two young Jedi struggled to a standing position on the antenna crossbar, a familiar silver ovoid hovered down through the open disposal chute.

"Oh, thank the Maker! Master Lowbacca, Mistress Tenel Ka!

You're alive! Do make haste-I'm not certain how long I can keep this access hatch open."

Tenel Ka fumbled with the pouch clipped at her waist and removed her grappling hook and fibercord.

"Oh, excellent idea!" Em Teedee said. "There is a ledge exactly three point seven meters above you where an air vent feeds into this disposal tube." Tenel Ka felt a strange light-headed sensation as she attempted to swing the grappling hook for her throw. Her fingers were bloody and the hook slipped from her grasp as she made the toss.

Lowbacca's hand shot out and snatched the cord before the hook could fall. Tenel Ka saw this as if from a great distance. The Wookiee then secured one arm around her waist and the antenna while he used his other hand to draw in the grappling hook, swing, and make the throw.

The hook caught and held firm.

"Excellent shot, Master Lowbacca!" Em Teedee said. "I say, wherever could Master Jacen be?"

An angry Wookiee bellow exploded beside Tenel Ka's ear, but it didn't matter. A curtain of soft darkness descended upon her mind and she remembered nothing more.

Anja had everything back under control. She had reminded herself of her priorities and her goals, of who she was and who her enemies were.

She felt refreshed, invigorated, ready to take on