The energy blades sliced the vicious rakhmar into three even pieces that fell to the ground with wet thumps.
With their lightsabers still blazing, Jacen and Jaina inspected the clearing for any other would-be predators.
“I do not believe you will need this,” Tenel Ka said, taking the firebrand from Raynar and tossing it back into the campfire. “Your instincts and reactions were commendable.”
“Oh, yes. Excellently well done, everyone!” Em Teedee’s silver oval floated over to Raynar. “I scarcely had time to be frightened although I do believe Master Raynar has sustained some injury.”
“It’s not too bad.” Raynar pulled aside his brown Jedi robe to examine the thigh where the rakhmar had clawed it. Dark blood ran from a pair of gashes just below his right hip.
Jaina knelt beside Raynar and examined the leg. “What do you think?” she asked her brother.
Jacen winced. It looked worse than he had expected. “I think we shouldn’t have walked all the way here. Maybe we should’ve borrowed Lowie’s T-23 instead. It’s a long hike back to the Great Temple.”
Tenel Ka pressed her hand against the wounds to slow the bleeding.
“Raynar should not walk with this injury,” she agreed. “We must bind the leg.”
By the light of the campfire, Jaina tore strips of cloth from the bottom of Raynar’s Jedi robe.
Em Teedee brightened his optical sensors to provide lighting from above while Jaina and Tenel Ka bandaged Raynar’s thigh. Unperturbed by all the blood, Tenel Ka wiped her hand on the ground.
“I think I’ll be able to walk now,” Raynar said bravely, though his voice wavered. When Jacen and Jaina helped him stand, however, all color drained from his face and his knees buckled.
Jacen caught him before he fell.
“Dear me! Perhaps Master Raynar would be better advised to rest while one of us returns to the Jedi academy to summon assistance,” Em Teedee said. “I believe I would make an appropriate messenger. Therefore, I volunteer to serve in that capacity.”
But before the little droid had even finished speaking, Jacen heard something approaching through the jungle. “We’ve got company,” he said.
Tenel Ka had already assumed a fighting stance, lightsaber drawn, before they identified the sound as hoofbeats.
“Lusa?” Raynar murmured. “Is it Lusa?”
At first Jacen thought his friend must be delirious, but he quickly discovered that Raynar was right. Her rich cinnamon hair and mane flying, Lusa galloped out of the trees. Only when she reached the center of the clearing did she come to an abrupt stop.
In the firelight, sweat glistened on the centaur girl’s bare torso and flanks. Her face seemed to go almost as pale as Raynar’s when she looked at him. “You’re hurt!” she gasped.
Color flooded into Raynar’s face. “Yeah, I … noticed.”
“Hey, how’d you find us?” Jacen asked.
Still looking at Raynar with concern, Lusa answered distractedly. “Before you left Raynar gave me a general idea of where you would be camping. When I got the message, I just headed this direction and hoped to find you.”
“Message? What message?” Jaina asked.
“Oh.” Lusa stamped a hoof. Her eyes sought out Tenel Ka. “I believe you have a grandmother who used to be queen of the Hapes Cluster?”
“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said.
“Well, she’s wreaking havoc with the protective forces stationed in orbit. She asked for Master Skywalker, and when she found out he wasn’t here she demanded to see you immediately. Tionne told her that you were out, and the New Republic forces wanted to detain her ship while they ran a background check, but your grandmother wouldn’t listen. She must have intimidated the guards somehow, because she’ll be at the landing field in half an hour.”
Jacen chuckled. “That sounds like Ta’a Chume all right.”
Tenel quirked an eyebrow at him. “It would seem we all have business back at the Jedi academy.” She turned her cool gray eyes back toward Lusa. “Raynar requires immediate medical attention. He should not walk.”
“I … I could carry him,” Lusa said. She sounded rather uncertain.
Jacen knew the idea must have been difficult for the centaur girl. For years the Diversity Alliance had taught her to loathe humans. She was just beginning to unlearn her distaste for physical contact with them.
“I couldn’t ask you to—,” Raynar began.
“You do not need to ask,” Lusa interrupted. She folded her legs to kneel beside him, then spoke gently. “I am … offering.”
Jacen breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well then,” Jaina said, “what are we waiting for?”
It took the companions nearly two hours to get back through the jungles to the Jedi academy.
Jaina and Lusa took Raynar into the Great Temple so that the medical droids could examine him, while Tenel Ka and Jacen headed directly toward the landing field.
An armored Hapan vessel hovered overhead. A couple of New Republic guardian ships had apparently accompanied it down from orbit, and the guards stood awkwardly on the stubbly grass, gazing up at the cruiser.
At Tenel Ka and Jacen’s approach, the ship finally descended onto the field. When the exit hatch opened, two dozen armored Hapan soldiers scrambled down the ramp and arrayed themselves around the vessel to form a barrier against anyone who might try to come close to the former Queen of Hapes. Only then did Ta’a Chume herself appear. The aristocratic old woman glided down the ramp, waved an imperious hand to summon her granddaughter and Jacen, and disappeared again into the ship.
Jacen felt nervous as he and Tenel Ka walked toward the ring of guards, who parted to let them pass. The warrior girl led the way into the ship without hesitation.
In the centermost chamber, Ta’a Chume waited for them. She perched regally on a repulsorbench, looking every centimeter the queen that she had once been.
Tenel Ka stopped directly in front of her grandmother.
“I assume you have brought information about the Diversity Alliance,” she said without preamble.
Ta’a Chume sighed. “Such a beautiful child. And such a shame about the loss of your arm in that lightsaber accident. If you would only reconsider about that prosthetic limb…”
Jacen saw Tenel Ka stiffen. “Grandmother, you did not come to Yavin to discuss my arm.”
Jacen was surprised that the former queen did not seem offended by her granddaughter’s abrupt answer, and instead merely shrugged and smiled faintly. “No, but you can’t blame a grandmother for trying. I did some research for you….”
Tenel Ka nodded. “What have you learned about Nolaa Tarkona?”
Her grandmother’s smile grew warmer. “Your instincts about the Diversity Alliance are quite correct. It’s more than a simple political movement. The conspiracies and intrigues are almost worthy of the Hapan government.”
Tenel Ka scowled. This was not good news.
Jacen leaned forward to hear what Ta’a Chume would say next.
“My spies have only begun to uncover a particular truth that the Diversity Alliance hides, even from some of its most dedicated followers. But first, let me warn you: although they preach unity and equality for all alien species, the Alliance itself is as intolerant, in its way, as the Empire ever was. I’d even venture to say that the Diversity Alliance was founded more on hatred of humans than on the ideal of unity.”
“Yeah, we kind of got that impression, too,” Jacen said.
Tenel Ka’s grandmother glanced at him and continued. “You probably know that the Diversity Alliance’s headquarLers are on Ryloth, homeworld of the Twi’lek race.”
Tenel Ka nodded impatiently. “Yes, their leader is a Twi’lek. It was only logical that she would base her headquarters—”
“But what you don’t know,” Ta’a Chume interrupted, “is that all of the profits from ryll spice—the most lucrative of all Ryloth’s exports—have for the past two years been siphoned off to fund the Diversity Alliance.”