Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 14_ Crisis at Crystal Reef - Kevin J. Anderson [25]
They descended again to water level, where durasteel arches opened out onto the cold oceans, letting some of the waves drift in, lapping against the supports. The structure of the Crystal Reef casino-resort muffled the water's extreme choppiness.
A slow moving, treelike Yarin stood at the water's edge with its root-feet dangling into the water. The Yarin blocked access to all the rows of parked watercraft and minisubs. Anja stood there arguing with him, looking frustrated and weary, as if she'd been through the same phrases time and again. Her body seemed to tremble, but whether it was from tension or fatigue or something else, Jacen couldn't tell. A line of customers waited behind her, glowering.
Jacen saw her and ran forward, accompanied by Zekk. "Anja! Hey, am I glad to see you!"
"You weren't too easy to find," Zekk added.
The young woman whirled and snatched the lightsaber handle from her waist. Her huge eyes opened wide at seeing the young Jedi Knights.
Her face flushed, and her hand shook slightly as she released her grip on the lightsaber, but in a moment she recovered her arrogant demeanor.
She tossed her head so thather long flowing hair drifted back behind her shoulders. "Good. I'm glad you're here. Will you tell this...
????? this tree stump here, who seems to have wood for brains, that I need to get a submersible, and I need it now?"
"Perhaps I could be of assistance," Cilghal said, gliding forward in her rippling blue robes, "if you would explain to us why you need it.
But not otherwise."
Anja crossed her arms over her chest, flashing her dark tattoo. "And who are you? Another one of these Mon Calamarian casino employees trying to push me around?"
"I am Cilghal," she said, nodding patiently and rolling her round brown eyes. "I am a Jedi Knight, and the ambassador for this planet."
"Oh," Anja said, somewhat flustered. "I... I'm pleased to meet you."
"What purpose will a submersible craft serve?" Tenel Ka asked.
"We have already found you here. Do you need to escape again?"
"And where's my ship?" Zekk asked pointedly. "You'd better have taken care of the Lightning Rod."
"Not a scratch," Anja said. "And I would have returned it, if you'd given me time. I just... needed to get some transportation in a hurry."
"I'm listening," Zekk said, still skeptical. "But you're not explaining very much."
"Why should I have to explain everything to you?" Anja said, her voice uncharacteristically shaky. "I've got my own problems."
"You stole my ship, for one thing," Zekk retorted. "I'd say that deserves some explanation."
"Hey, if you want our help," Jacen said, trying to calm them both down,
"maybe a few answers would make things easier. Come on, give us a reak, Ania. We're your friends."
The young woman sighed, then stalked away from the treelike Yarin, who seemed entirely unfazed by the confrontation. The other customers came forward, relieved to have their turn at last.
A frown wrinkling her brow, Anja sat down on a damp bench and put her chin in her hands. "This is humiliating." Tears tonned in her enormous eyes, but she didn't let them fall. "I found out that I've been a fool."
Jacen blinked in surprise to hear such an unexpected admission from the disturbed young woman. "Your friend Lando Calrissian was right: I... I'm addicted to spice.
"I told you I could quit whenever I chose to. I believed it myself.
Then I tried to quit. That was when I learned I'd only been fooling myself. I went to Kessel to get another dose, and it was there that I discovered the extent of my foolishness. I've been betrayed."
"Not by us," Jacen assured her, an anxious expression on his face.
"No," Anja said in a heavy voice.
"Who do you know on Kessel?" Zekk asked. "And why did you go there in the first place?"
"Black Sun has been controlling me," she said with a bitter laugh.
"And