Tamith Kai withdrew a strange device from the black folds of her cape.

Unraveling wires connected to a pair of flat crystalline paddles, she switched on an additional power grid. A high-pitched hum vibrated through the machine case.

"Leave me alone!" Zekk lashed backward with his foot, hoping to deliver a sharp blow to sensitive shins.

"Be careful," Tamith Kai said to her colleagues with a meaningful scowl.

"Some of them can be dangerous when they kick." She leaned closer and waved the humming crystal paddles around his body, scanning him.

His heart pounding with fear, Zekk gritted his teeth and squeezed his emerald eyes shut. To his surprise, he felt no tingling energy; no burning a.n.a.lytical beam sliced through his skin.

Tamith Kai withdrew, and Garowyn and Vilas leaned over Zekk's bony shoulders to observe the readings. Still struggling, Zekk caught a glimpse of the glowing image, a colorful aura projected in a micro-hologram.

"Hmmm, surprising," Tamith Kai said. "Look at the power he has."

"A good find," Garowyn agreed. "Quite fortunate."

"Not fortunate for me!" Zekk snapped. "What do you want?"

"You'll be coming with us," Tamith Kai said. Her tone was filled with confidence, as if she didn't care about his objections.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Zekk shouted. "No matter what you found, I won't-"

"Oh, just stun him," Tamith Kai said impatiently, turning about on her stiff leg and limping back down the shadow-shrouded corridor. "He'll be easier to carry that way."

Vilas released his grip on the boy's arms, and Zekk tried to run, knowing this was his last chance... but arcs of blue fire looped out, engulfing him and slamming him down into unconsciousness.

9.

JAINA STARED MOROSELY at her brothers.

She bit her lip, wondering what their mother would say when she got back from seeing the Karnak Alpha amba.s.sador to her quarters. She hoped Leia wasn't too upset with Zekk.

Jacen paced the living area, muttering to himself. "Blaster bolts!" he said with a dramatic gesture. "Can you believe Zekk thinking the bouquet was a salad? It's a good thing Tenel Ka was there to head off that other problem. We still probably made a terrible impression on the amba.s.sador."

"I don't think it turned out so badly," Anakin said from where he sat on a large cushion near the door. "Mom will handle it. You'll see."

Jaina groaned. "Zekk probably feels terrible."

"We'll see him in the morning," Jacen said, when we help him look for that central mult.i.tasking unit. We can apologize to him then."

The door to their quarters swished open and Leia walked in wearing a bemused expression. After a moment of anxious silence, all three of her children spoke at once.

"I'm sorry, Mom. It's all my fault," Jaina blurted.

"Was the amba.s.sador very angry?" Jacen asked.

"Where's Dad?" Anakin said.

The barrage of questions snapped Leia out of her daze. "Nothing to be sorry for, Jaina," she said, giving her daughter a hug. "The amba.s.sador says I've got three wonderful children, and they have charming friends."

She stooped to smooth back Anakin's straight dark hair. "And to answer your question, your father had begun discussing hypers.p.a.ce trade routes to Karnak Alpha with the amba.s.sador, and decided to stay for some business that was even more important."

Jaina blinked in surprise at this unexpected turn of events and sat down at one end of a long, cushioned repulsorseat. Leia sat down beside her, and Jacen settled next to his mother on the other end of the seat. Leia adjusted the repulsorseat's controls to a gentle rocking motion. Anakin dragged his floor cushion over to sit beside them, quiet and attentive.

Leia smiled down at her children. "The amba.s.sador was certainly impressed by the number of young people we had invited to meet her at the dinner.

She also said that any adult who was willing to break with her own social traditions just to make a child feel more comfortable should have no problem negotiating an alliance with Karnak Alpha. I'm glad you twins were here with us, rather than at the Jedi academy."

"That's great, Mom," said Jaina, snuggling deeper into the cushions.

"I learned something very important about myself tonight," Leia continued. "As your father and I walked the amba.s.sador and her children back to their quarters, I realized that my kids were more important to me than any amba.s.sador. When we got to their quarters, the amba.s.sador said she was ready to discuss her planet's alliance with the New Republic.

That's when I amazed even myself. I said I'd be happy to talk with her about it in the morning-but that for right now I needed to be with my children."

Jaina gave a low whistle. Her mother was always so wrapped up in her duties as Chief of State, such a response seemed inconceivable. "You didn't!"

Leia chuckled. "Yes I did, and you know what she said?" She sounded a bit surprised. "She said in that case she no longer had any doubts that we could form an alliance. Everything is all set."

"If everything's all set, why didn't Dad come back with you?" Anakin asked. "What other important business was there?"

"He offered to stay behind," Leia said, raising her eyebrows, "and tell the amba.s.sadors children one of your favorite bedtime stories. Can you guess which one?"

Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin all murmured in unison, "The Little Lost Bantha Cub."

"Then you'll have to tell us a story, too, Mom," Anakin said in a sleepy voice.

So she did.

10.

THE NEXT MORNING, as they found their way through the streets, Jacen had an uneasy p.r.i.c.kly feeling at the back of his neck, as if a trail of mermyns were crawling along his skin. Something felt wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. "Blaster bolts," he muttered.

For some reason they all seemed a bit jumpy today. Jaina had taken the lead, since she was most familiar with the way to Zekk's quarters. Jacen, on the other hand, always got lost. Tenel Ka followed Jaina in silence, her shoulders squared, her back rigid, while Jacen and Lowie brought up the rear.

They trooped through the ancient cramped alleyways of metal and stone.

The lights were too dim in this area, and the air tasted of rusting metal and decay. Even the odors were unfamiliar and, to Wookiees at least-judging by the wrinkling of Lowie's nose-none too pleasant.

"Here we are," Jaina said, rounding a sharp corner into an even narrower pa.s.sageway. She stopped at a low doorway and pressed the signal b.u.t.ton.

The indicator light flashed red, denying them access. Jaina bit her lower lip. "That's strange. Zekk said yesterday that he'd clear us for access."

"Perhaps he is more upset than we expected," Tenel Ka suggested.

"Maybe," Jaina agreed, "but not likely. Zekk doesn't break promises.

We've had disagreements before, but..." Her voice trailed off.

When Lowbacca rumbled a comment, Em Teedee translated. "Master Lowbacca wonders if Master Zekk might not simply have stepped out for a morning const.i.tutional. Or perhaps he decided to procure comestibles for morning meal. "

"Yeah, that would be better than those stormtrooper rations he gave us last time," Jacen pointed out, feeling his stomach gurgle with distaste at the thought.

"He knew we were coming," Jaina said. "He should have been here."

"Let's wait for a while," Jacen suggested, sitting with crossed legs on the floor. "He'll probably turn up in a few minutes with some wild story."

"That would be just like him," Jaina agreed.

Jacen, knowing his sister was still worried, tried to sound as confident as possible. "He'll be back any minute-you'll see. In the meantime," he suggested brightly, "I've got some new jokes, if anybody wants to hear them."

The twins entertained the other young Jedi Knights with stories of Zekk's past adventures. Jacen told about the time Zekk climbed forty-two stories down an abandoned turbolift shaft because he saw something glittery and reflective by the glow of his pulsed-laser spotlight. Imagining treasures that grew more and more extravagant with each level he descended, Zekk discovered in the end that the shining object was merely a discarded foil wrapping stuck to the ooze dripping along the shaft wall.

Jaina shared a story about how Zekk reprogrammed a personal translating device for a group of snide reptilian tourists who had shoved him out of line for free samples of a new food product. Zekk changed their translator so that every time the reptilian tourists asked for directions to eating establishments or museums, they were instead guided to seedy gambling parlors or garbage-reprocessing stations.

"How simply dreadful!" Em Teedee commented.

Minutes crept by and became an hour, and still their friend did not return. At last Jaina stood. "Something's wrong," she said, biting her lower lip. "Zekk's not coming."

Lowie growled and Em Teedee translated, "Master Lowbacca suggests that perhaps Master Zekk requires a certain amount of time to overcome his embarra.s.sment. I don't suppose I'll ever understand human behavior," he added.

"Maybe," Jaina said, her face troubled and unconvinced.

"Hey, why don't we leave a videonote, Jacen suggested. "We'll try again tomorrow. How long can he stay mad at us?"

But the next day Zekk was still nowhere to be found. Jacen pressed the access request b.u.t.ton beside Zekk's front door, but again there was no response. Old Peckhum would be returning from the mirror station soon, and he would come home to an empty apartment.

"I think it's time to start looking for Zekk," Jacen said, staring at the blank infopanel.

"Agreed," Tenel Ka said.

"Well then," Jaina said, rubbing her hands together briskly, "what are we waiting for? And if we still can't find him, we'll talk to Mom."

Leia Organa Solo seemed preoccupied and concerned as they entered her private office. Leia smiled at them and brushed a stray hair out of Jaina's eyes. "I'm glad you're here, kids. I wanted to show you something."

Before Jacen or Jaina could tell her about Zekk, Leia played a grainy long-range videoclip that showed Imperial attack vessels striking a New Republic military supply cruiser in s.p.a.ce near Coruscant.

"That looks like the ship that kidnapped us from Lando's GemDiver Station!" Jaina cried. Lowbacca growled in agreement.

Leia nodded. "I thought so, from your description-and now I can confirm it to Admiral Ackbar This attack came two nights ago. We may have a real threat on our hands, right here on the capital world."

Jaina watched the videoclip again and frowned. "Something else isn't right about those images. I'm trying to figure out what...."

Leia returned to her desk. "Admiral Ackbar and a handful of tactical experts are a.n.a.lyzing the footage, and they might want to ask you some questions. We're stepping up security against the very real possibility that we may see another Imperial attack."

After that news, when Jacen poured out the story of Zekk's disappearance, Leia didn't seem overly concerned. She let her gaze drift across all four of the young Jedi Knights standing in her office. "All right, let me ask you this: Who knows the city better, the four of you... or Zekk?"

"Well, Zekk does," Jacen answered in a hesitant voice. "But-"

"And if Zekk is upset and hiding somewhere," Leia continued, "is it any wonder that you haven't been able to find him?"

"But he wouldn't do that," Jaina objected. "He promised us."

"Well then," Leia said in a calm, reasonable voice, "maybe he's found that central mult.i.tasking unit already and Peckhum shuttled him up to the mirror station."

"But he would have left us a message." Jaina set her mouth in a stubborn line.

"She's right, Mom," Jacen spoke up. "Zekk may seem like a scamp, but he always does what he says he's going to do."

Leia swept her children with a skeptical look. "How many years have we known Zekk?"

Jaina shrugged. "About five, but what-"

"And in those years," Leia went on, "how many times has he just disappeared on some adventure, only to reappear about a month later?"

Jacen cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. "Um, maybe half a dozen times."

"There. You see?" Leia said, as if that closed the matter.

"But those other times," Jacen pointed out, we didn't have plans to spend the day with him."

Leia sighed. "And those other times he wasn't upset over an embarra.s.sing diplomatic dinner, either. Look, he's older than you are, and legally he can come and go as he pleases. But even if we knew for certain that he was missing-which we don't-there's very little we could do about it. The galaxy is a big place. Who knows where he might be?"

"People turn up missing all the time, and we simply don't have the resources to look for everybody. Just this week I've had reports of at least three other teenagers missing in Imperial City alone. Why don't you wait and talk to Peckhum when he gets back tomorrow? Maybe he'll have some ideas." She herded them out of the room so she could get back to work. "Right now I've got to get ready for my next meeting with the Karnak Alphan amba.s.sador. And then I have to see the Howler Tree People again for a musical ceremony this afternoon...." She rubbed her temples as if in antic.i.p.ation of a headache. "I really do love my job-uh, most of it at least."

As they left Leia's office, Jacen groaned. "Mom doesn't believe there's even a problem."

"Then I guess we'll have to keep searching on our own," Jaina said.

Lowie growled agreement.

"It's all up to us," Jacen said, pounding a determined fist into his palm.

"This is a fact," said Tenel Ka.