"Because you never come down here," Zekk answered. "Whenever we get together, you either have me come to the Imperial Palace or we meet in the safe upper levels. I'll bet your parents would blow their thrusters if they knew where we were right now."

"We can take care of ourselves," Tenel Ka said defensively, flashing her tiny dagger.

"Dear me, I shouldn't be so certain about that, if I were you," Em Teedee replied from Lowie's waist. The young Wookiee groaned.

Zekk smiled thinly. "Down here you can see how I live every day. I don't have anyone to wash my hands for me or cook my meals, you know. And I don't have the luxury of worrying about how to amuse myself. Every day is a search-I'm just lucky I have a special knack for finding things."

Jaina was surprised to hear a hint of resentment behind her friend's words. "Zekk, if you needed anything, you should have just asked. We could have found you new quarters, given you credits to spend-"

"Who said I wanted that?" he responded through clenched teeth. "I don't need charity. I've got my freedom here. I can do whatever I want.

Besides, it's more satisfying to live by my own wits than to be pampered and coddled all the time."

Em Teedee piped up, "Well really, Master Zekk! It might interest you to learn that not everyone minds being pampered and coddled."

Jaina ignored the translating droid and wondered if Zekk really meant what he said.

"Nothing personal", Zekk said with shrug. He looked up at the cross-in-triangle symbol. "Being a gang member doesn't impress me either. Their leader Norys - who's our age - is a big bully who likes to throw his weight around. I can run my way through the lower levels better than any of the Lost Ones, so he's been after me to join for a long time. He'd love to have me as his right-hand man, but I'm too independent for that.

I work for myself."

They stood at the entrance to a sheer-walled building, near one end of a dilapidated covered walkway that extended to an adjacent skysc.r.a.per. More threatening gang symbols marked the inside walls. Half of the windows were broken, and confined breezes whispered through the walkway like voices warning them to go back.

Zekk looked behind him. "This building we're in is the headquarters of the Lost Ones. We're taking a pretty big risk being here." His emerald eyes sparkled. "Kind of exciting, isn't it?" The building was large and dark, filled with cavernous s.p.a.ces of empty meeting chambers, offices, and abandoned supply rooms. Jaina wondered if any record or blueprint of this ancient building still existed in the vast computer archives of the Imperial Information Center.

"I don't think you have to worry about Norys, though," Zekk said, raising his voice. "He talks big, but his ambitions are definitely low. He has no interest in becoming anything more than the biggest bully in a run-down section of a single building on an average planet in a big galaxy."

Zekk's voice sounded taunting. "He'll never go anywhere, because his dreams are small."

Just then ceiling panels smashed down from above them, and a dozen wiry young men and women dropped to the floor. They looked scuffed and dirty, with hard, lean faces; each held an interesting cobbled-together weapon scavenged from sharp pieces of sc.r.a.p.

"You trying to annoy me, trash collector?" the biggest burly young man said. His face was broad and dark, his eyes close-set, his teeth crooked as he ground his jaws together and spread his lips in a sneer.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop, Norys," Zekk said.

Then the gang leader's eyes fixed on the precious hawk-bat egg that Zekk cradled close to his chest. "What has the little trash collector found?"

Norys said. "Hey, everybody! Looks like we're gonna have fresh eggs for morning meal."

Lowbacca growled loudly enough to startle the Lost Ones, baring his long Wookiee fangs. Zekk looked suddenly nervous, as if the valuable hawk-bat egg made him vulnerable in new ways.

"What do you want the egg for?" Jacen said.

"He only wants it because I want it," Zekk said. "He'll probably smash it, not knowing what it's worth."

Tenel Ka now held a throwing dagger at the ready in each hand. The Lost Ones looked at her and Lowie, then at the three seemingly easier targets of Zekk and the twins.

"In a case like this," Zekk said, moving slowly, extending the mottled egg gradually, as if reluctant to surrender it to the brawny gang member, "the most sensible idea is to... run!" He whirled and dashed onto the rickety walkway. The vibration of his running knocked loose a broken wall plate, which dropped silently into the murky depths below. The young Jedi Knights reacted quickly and scrambled after their friend onto the covered bridge. The gang members howled and gave pursuit, clattering their crude weapons against the walls.

Out in the middle of the dilapidated walkway Zekk suddenly pulled to a stop as a gang member-an angry young woman who looked even tougher than Tenel Ka appeared from the opposite building and stood ominously at the far entrance.

"We're trapped," Jaina said with a hard gulp.

This did not seem like a good place for a standoff. Zekk looked back and forth, as if seeking inspiration in the middle of the swaying bridge. The cold wind sighed through the broken windows and gaps in the flooring.

"Just to be fair, " he said, crossing his arms with feigned good humor, "I'll let you guys solve this one. Got any ideas?"

Jaina tried to think of something she could do with what Uncle Luke had taught them at the Jedi academy. With uninterrupted concentration she could manipulate objects with the Force, but she couldn't think of any way her fledgling powers could help them escape.

Norys strode forward, his chest puffed with confidence. "Now give me that egg, trash collector, and maybe we won't throw you over the edge!"

Just then a screeching sound came from above, a blood-curdling animal shriek. A predator's heavy shadow swept like a dark blanket over the cracked windows of the walkway. With another loud scream, the mother hawk-bat struck the side windows, smashing against the wire mesh that barely held the frames in place. She spat and hissed, her sharp beak ripping at the wires, her forked tongue thrashing as she dug her claws in, trying to get at Norys. The gang leader staggered backward with a surprised yelp.

Zekk protected the egg again, holding it to his chest. At the same time, Lowie-focusing on the lone woman guarding the opposite end of the walkway-let out a ferocious roar and charged forward.

"Oh, my!" Em Teedee squeaked. "Would anyone object if I switched off my optical sensors again so I don't have to watch?"

Distracted by the attacking hawk-bat and startled by the snarling battering ram of Wookiee fur, the gang member backed off and leaped aside.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaina cried.

Zekk ducked low to protect the hawk-bat egg as he ran after her Jacen followed them, while Tenel Ka turned once to threaten the Lost Ones with her throwing daggers before bringing up the rear, sprinting along on her muscular legs.

Seeing them escape, the mother hawk-bat shrieked one more time, then flew off, as if satisfied.

Zekk kept running while Norys yelled after them. "We'll catch you next time, trash collector. Do you hear me?" he shouted. "You'll join our gang-one way or another." Zekk didn't respond as he led the young Jedi Knights through a maze of stairwells, slides, and lifts in the lower levels, climbing up to rickety catwalks, then higher to lighted levels.

He was panting, but his flushed face wore a grin of exhilaration.

Triumphant, Zekk cradled the hawk-bat egg close to his body.

"I thought you said hawk-bats had shortened memories," he gasped.

Jacen shrugged and looked sheepish. "Aren't you glad I was wrong?"

"Yes," Jaina said. "We all are."

"Come on," Zekk said. "Let's get this egg back home."

4.

VORACIOUSLY HUNGRY AFTER their adventure, the four young Jedi Knights followed Zekk back to where he made his home. Since much of Coruscant's population had fled the capital world during the devastating battles of the Rebellion, many of the midlevel apartments had been left empty but still serviceable. People sc.r.a.ped out a decent existence there without being forced to live in squalor far below at the bottom levels.

For years, Zekk had shared quarters with old Peckhum. The thin, gray-haired man had no particular career, but spent his days doing odd jobs such as transporting cargo in his battered ship, the Lightning Rod, or performing whatever duties the New Republic required. Zekk and the old supply runner got along well and helped each other as if they were family, providing mutual support, company, and a place to stay.

Zekk led the companions through dim corridors on the way to his apartment. At the entrance Jaina saw that Peckhum had installed a new messaging center beside the door so that visitors could leave videonotes if no one was home.

"We can kick back here for a while," Zekk said, tucking the hawk-bat egg into the crook of his elbow as his nimble fingers punched in an access code.

The metal door slid aside to reveal a paradise of junk-rooms stacked high with salvaged items, partially restored antiques, and strange gadgets whose original use had long since been forgotten. A small sapphire-feathered bird flitted around inside, but Jaina couldn't tell if the creature was a pet or just some stray that had wandered in to look for nesting materials.

A grizzled old man stood up from a rickety table where he had been poring over manifest files on a scuffed datapad. He had lank gray hair, a leathery face, and a broad smile-and he very much needed a shave. "Ah, Zekk, you're back." He looked past the teenager. "And you've brought guests. h.e.l.lo, my young Jedi friends."

Zekk sealed the door behind them, and Jacen immediately began trying to catch the bird, while Tenel Ka poked around suspiciously in the stacked cases and gadgets, as if attempting to uncover traps. Lowie sniffed at a cluttered jumble of electronic equipment.

Zekk beamed proudly as he held out the mottled hawk-bat egg. "Look at this prize!" he said. "How much do you think we can get for it?"

Peckhum nodded with enthusiasm as he held out his hands to take the egg gently in his grasp. "More than a hundred credits, I'd guess. Plenty of zoos and biological establishments are begging for a specimen like this."

Jacen said sternly, "Just make sure it goes to a good home. I made promises to its mother."

Peckhum laughed, shaking his head. "I'll never understand you Jedi Knights. But I don't suppose that'll be too difficult," he said. "In fact, I think I'll even talk to your mother-I heard a rumor that the Chief of State was looking for some unusual zoological specimens."

Jacen blinked his eyes in astonishment. "Our mom wanted to collect weird animals? She could have just asked me."

Peckhum shrugged. "I didn't ask why she wanted it. I think it's for some sort of diplomatic gift. And I think this egg, with the proper incubating apparatus, might just do the trick!"

Jaina found a place to sit down, perching herself on a stack of recycled blankets that. Peckhum no doubt intended to sell to some alien merchant.

Zekk hurried off to prepare a quick lunch. "Last time we saw you, Peckhum," Jaina said conversationally, "you were cornered by a jungle monster on Yavin."

Peckhum laughed nervously at the memory. "I haven't been that scared in a dozen years!" he said. "Let's hope your jungle moon gets a little more civilized."

"Are you making another supply run to the Jedi academy soon?" Jacen asked.

"No, I've been a.s.signed to riding the mirrors up in Coruscant orbit,"

Peckhum said. "It's a lonely job, but the pay is good-and somebody's got to do it. Besides, it's relaxing... if you look at it that way."

Because so much of the surface of Coruscant was covered by cities, engineers had long ago found ways to make even the cold northern and southern lat.i.tudes more habitable. By focusing sunlight from huge orbiting mirrors, they could direct enough warmth to thaw land as far north as the arctic, so that millions upon millions could live even in Coruscant's less hospitable areas.

Jaina understood the engineering difficulties of operating the huge automated mirrors, of making sure that the beams of directed sunlight shone down on appropriate areas. The job was not unlike the ancient task of running a lighthouse on an ocean world, where people worked alone, ready for emergencies that rarely came.

"Such an austere a.s.signment would provide a good environment for contemplation," Tenel Ka pointed out.

"It does that, all right," Peckhum said. "I just wish conditions weren't so... basic."

"What makes the mirror station so uncomfortable?" Jaina asked. "Don't you have entertainment systems and food-processing units up there?"

Peckhum snorted. "According to the design, yes. But they're all malfunctioning. The mirror stations were set up long ago, even before the Emperor took over. During the Imperial years, riding the mirror station was a punishment a.s.signed to stormtroopers who had disobeyed orders.

"Nowadays, the food-prep units, entertainment systems, temperature control systems, even the communication systems-all fritz out randomly.

No repair tech is willing to go up and give the whole station an overhaul. The New Republic has so much other business that I'm afraid getting spiffy holovideo reception for the mirror station just isn't high on anyone's priority list."

Jaina pursed her lips and placed her chin in her hands. "Those symptoms you described sound familiar!" she said. "Could be you need a new central mult.i.tasking unit. That might fix everything all at once."

Peckhum switched off his datapad and tucked it into a satchel hanging from the seat. "Don't I know it! But those units are expensive and hard to come by I've requested a new system five times, and it's always been turned down. 'The resources of the New Republic are allocated according to greatest need,"' he said, as if quoting from a report. "My comfort isn't a great enough need." He scratched his stubbled chin. "Oh well, I'll survive. It's a job. Last month I used some of my own credits to get a hand-held holoplayer to take up with me. It'll do."

Zekk came out of the kitchen area balancing a stack of self-heating ration cans in his arms. "I know where we can get a central mult.i.tasking unit! " He pressed his chin against the top can in the stack to hold them all in position. "Remember that old shuttle we found? Models like that had lots of subsystems. They must have had units to run everything."

"Sure did," Jaina said, nodding vigorously.

"Those outdated pa.s.senger shuttles all had central mult.i.tasking units.

They were c.u.mbersome, but they worked."

Peckhum grinned, then frowned. "Well, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and I'm not sure how I'd install one of those units myself, even if you did get it."

Zekk waved his hand in dismissal. "Relax, Peckhum-I'll get one for you by the time you return. I promise."

Jaina piped up, seeing an opportunity. "And maybe next time you go up to the mirror station, we could go along and help install it."

Lowbacca bellowed his interest in the project as well.

Peckhum's eyes widened with surprised delight. "Well, I suppose that might work after all. Let's celebrate by eating lunch."

The old man swept unsorted debris from a low table, clearing a spot for Zekk to set down the stacked cans of food. The dark-haired boy studied them and pa.s.sed out rations to everyone. Warm steam curled up from open lids as thermal units heated the contents.

Jaina sniffed at hers suspiciously, and Jacen poked into the goo, while Tenel Ka studied the label seriously. Lowie gave a doubtful growl.

"You needn't complain, Master Lowbacca," Em Teedee said. "I'm certain it's quite nutritious. See? The label bears the Imperial stamp of approval."

Zekk held up one of the cans. "These are old stormtrooper rations. We found an entire cache in one of the lower buildings. They don't taste like much, but they have all our nutritional requirements."

Tenel Ka dug in, grunting with satisfaction. "Quite acceptable," she said.

Jaina stirred the grayish puttylike substance, smiled as Zekk dug in, then took a small bite herself. It didn't taste bad. In fact, it didn't taste like anything, so she ate courteously. When they had finished, she stood up, meeting Zekk's emerald-green gaze. "Want to join us for a meal next time?"

Zekk brightened. "Fine with me. When?"

"Well," Jaina said, biting her lower lip and considering, "since Peckhum is leaving you all alone, why don't you come to the Imperial Palace tomorrow night? We're taking a holiday with my parents in the morning, but we're having some sort of special banquet in the evening. Banquets are usually pretty boring, but I'm sure we could get you invited."

"Really?" Zekk said.

"Sure," Jaina answered.

"That's right," Jacen agreed. "We'll probably give Threepio the time of his life tending to us."