Chapter 1

For Tenel Ka morning calisthenics were more than just a daily exercise routine. It was a fact she owed her physique to the rigorous routine she performed without flaw day after day, but it was more than just for her body. The activities she performed, always without error, helped clear her mind. She couldn't explain it to anyone really, it was just that way.

This morning, for example, as she was getting dressed in her lizard-skin outfit, the warrior girl's mind had been clouded and she felt very sluggish. The feeling remained with her somewhat even as she climbed to the top of the Jedi Temple. She was feeling so disorganized that the usually simple climb, even with one arm, was more difficult, because her mind kept wandering and lost her concentration on the Force.

Once she finished her climb things quickly began to change. She started with simple calisthenics to limber her body up. Even the simple tasks, such as jumping-jack and stretches, seemed to help clear the grey clouds in her mind. By the time she finished limbering up, and started her ten kilometer jog, Tenel Ka was feeling just about back to normal.

She ran through the dense foliage of Yavin 4, each pound of her feet lifted her spirits an inch higher. The warrior girl felt her heart rate pick up, and, with both her Force sensitivity and the udder strength with which it pounded, felt the organ pump in her chest. Truly, this was her favorite part of the day.

The colorful leaves and animals blurred past as she pushed on through the forest. Even though she was running at top speed, Tenel Ka was still the trained Dathomir warrior. She noted each branch and bug as she plodded by them. Nothing escaped her watchful grey eyes. Not even the female praying beetle that sat on a nearby rock munching on smaller insects.

Tenel Ka slowed down to a stop to look at the munching bug. "Jacen has been searching for that species for a long time," she said to herself in a hushed whisper she hoped the insect didn't hear. She watched the bug use one of its larger front appendages reach out and snag a passing aphid to gnaw on and remembered her friend's collection back at the Jedi Academy.

Jacen Solo, son of Chief of State Leia Organa-Solo and Han Solo, had the largest, and probably only, zoo on Yavin 4. He prided himself in collecting up all the different bugs, birds and other forms of wildlife he encountered. She recalled his latest acquisition, a male praying beetle. He was pleased when he caught the small grey bug; when Jaina, Jacen's twin sister, commented on the dull color, he explained how the females were brighter and bigger. The male twin also said that he would be on the look out for one to show the contrast.

He would definitely be pleased if she were to present this to him as a present.

The warrior girl reached into her utility belt for something to hold the bug in. The she found that seemed suitable was a kerchief that her grandmother, Ta'a Chume, given her. Tenel Ka didn't even know why she had it with her, but was thankful for it none the less.

Taking noiseless steps as if she were predator hunting a meal, she slowly crept toward the beetle. All the while, she sent out soothing thoughts hoping to keep the insect calm until she could capture it. In just a few steps she was in arms length of the praying beetle. With a single sweeping motion, the girl swept the bug off of the log and into her kerchief.

"Ah. Aha!" she said triumphantly gathering up the ends of the kerchief in her mouth. Once the ends were all together, which prevented an untimely escape, Tenel Ka retook the makeshift sack in her hand. "Jacen will be most pleased." She began heading back to the Temple.

As she ran back, a bit slower so as not to jostle the bug to death, Tenel Ka couldn't help but think of pleased her friend would be. She hoped that he would be pleased enough to tear himself away from Anja.

Just the thought of the visitor they had met barely a week earlier made Tenel Ka quicken her pace. She remembered how Jacen, and her friend Zekk, spent most of their days lately helping Anja hone her skills with a lightsaber.

"A lightsaber which she did not even make," the warrior girl harumphed thinking back to when she put her saber together... both times.

As she thought more about the current situation, she felt her mind become cloudy again. In fact, she allowed her mind to become so filled with these thoughts she almost didn't hear the whine of an approaching craft. She did, however, hear it, and also felt the tingle at the back of her neck from the Force. Danger was approaching!

Tenel Ka turned around just in time to see a space ship fly above her, blocking out the sun. In her run back to the temple, she had entered a clearing of trees with out even realizing it. In the clearing, she realized, the ship had room enough to land. Its pilot seemed to know that too, for it was descending down at her.

She ran out from beneath the craft just in time not to be crushed by it landing. Whoever was piloting the craft, she thought, was either very rude or perhaps was aiming for her. No matter, she was prepared. Regretfully, Tenel Ka released the praying beetle and reached for her lightsaber.

Now that the ship was on the ground, it was easy to see that it was a Z-85 Headhunter. The girl recognized the design because a fellow Jedi, Mara Jade owned one. She wondered if it might be her, but doubted it for two reasons. First, because Mara Jade would take care not to try and land on the Hapan Princess. Second, because the Jedi woman would land at the temple, not the middle of the forest. No, Tenel Ka realized, this was someone else, an intruder perhaps.

Standing with her saber ignited, ready for an attack, the princess watched the ship blow off steam as it settled into the ground. She waited for the canopy to open, for the pilot to get out. However, no pilot got out, in fact, nothing that the warrior girl could have ever imagined happened.

The Z-85 seemed to twist and contort, fold in upon itself. The nose of the ship seemed to split in half while the back seemed to unfold and twist around. In only a few seconds, after one of the oddest mechanical sounds she had ever heard, the ship now stood up. From where the nose had split apart and folded down to, apparently, become arms, a head slid up from nowhere. She couldn't believe it, but standing in front of her was a twenty-foot droid, some kind of transformer!

Only one thing seemed to fit this situation, and that was all Tenel Ka could mumble as she stared stunned at the droid. "Blaster bolts!"

"Voice print," the droid said, "one hundred percent match." The droid took a step towards the Jedi. "Target sighted, initiating programmed procedure."

A small door opened on the droid's left shoulder, and a sphere flew out. The small device reminded Tenel Ka of a practice drone used when Jedi learned how to use a lightsaber. This particular one, though didn't have any hole when stun rays might shoot out. It appeared that this device was a recording device.

"Initiating capture program: alpha." The robot began walking for Tenel Ka. Another door opened on his right wrists. From beneath this door a small weapon slid out, it was a stun ray. It was clear to her that the robot's mission was to capture the Hapan princess. It was also clear to her that it would fail.

With out any warning, a blue bolt fired from the stun ray. If the bolt were to strike a person, or any being, it would render them unconscious for a time. However, the bolt did not strike her. Using her powers of the Force, Tenel Ka deflected the blast with her lightsaber. Instead of striking her, as the droid intended, the bolt harmlessly scorched a tree.

The droid noted that his quarry escaped his first shot. It fired the stun gun in a rapid succession of three shots. Each blue bolt streaked for the princess, but each bolt was harmlessly deflected by her turquoise energy-blade. The warrior girl was pleased to not she managed to deflect two of the shots back at the droid.

The transformer stopped its assault. "Target is proving more difficult to acquire than predicted." Its stun gun lowered back into its arm, followed by the door shutting itself. "Initiating target acquisition program: beta."

So the machine was going to try harder. Tenel Ka smiled inwardly at the thought, she awaited the attack. No mere machine, no matter how large or complex, would ever defeat a Jedi Knight, or the princess of both Hapes and Dathomir. "This is a fact!" She readied herself for another wave of attack.

The droid prepared to attack. He reached behind his back, though the warrior couldn't figure out why. Nothing seemed to be back there. As if to answer her silent question, the machine withdrew a double barreled blaster. It looked like it was made from a pair of guns from one of it's wings. The gun was aimed right at her!

"Surrender, Tenel Ka of Hapes, and you shall not be injured," the droid said. "Flee and I shall be forced to pursue you. I cannot make certain you will be uninjured if you choose that course of action."

Tenel Ka stared at the double-barreled blaster. She was certain she could deflect one of the blasts with her saber, but the other was another question. She also wasn't certain if her lightsaber would stand up to the punishment a Z-85's blaster might serve. The didn't relish the thought of a blast causing her saber to explode, and losing her other hand. Surrender, however, was not and option.

"Lower your weapon!" the droid ordered her.

She wasn't listening to it. Now, the warrior girl was concentrating on using her connection with the Force to move the floating camera. As if blown by a non-exsistent wind, the floating recorder slammed against the transformer's head. A loud clang was the sound of success. The collision caused the droid to look in its path, looking for the assailant. Grateful the programming didn't include knowledge of the Force, Tenel Ka took off. She silently prayed that the robot wouldn't realize she was missing until she could reach cover.

Jaina let out a yawn that a full-grown Rancor would envy. She didn't even bother cover her mouth as she yawned, instead opting to use the opportunity to stretch her arms and chest. She hoped it might wake her up. It didn't.

Lowbacca, who was walking behind her, let out a series of chorts and grunts that sounded like a laugh, partially. The Solo twin waited for Emtedee to translate.

"Master Lowbacca commented that he felt you should not have awaken at such an hour, especially since you spent the night engrossed in your technical indulgence." Emtedee said that, but Jaina expected Lowie said something to the effect of, "I told you so."

She nodded and admitted, "Maybe I should have slept a few more minutes, but I wanted to get an early start this morning." Jaina wouldn't admit it to anyone, including herself, but she rose so early hoping to catch Zekk before he could get caught by Anja. If that meant losing a little sleep, then so be it.

Jaina was about to jog off for the hangers, where she bet Zekk was, when Lowie grumbled. Before the translator droid had a chance to translate, Jaina saw the Wookie was pointing at something, or someone. She followed the angle of his arm. She saw Tenel Ka running as hard as she could for the temple.

It wasn't surprising to see the warrior girl running at full speed out of the forest, that was a regular occurrence. What was shocking was the glow coming from her hand. Tenel Ka's lightsaber was extended. Jaina and Lowie knew something was wrong.

Emtedee didn't grasp the meaning of the extended saber as the two Jedi did. "Mistress Tenel Ka truly enjoys her morning workouts. If I hadn't seen her display as much prowess in the jungle as Master Lowbacca, I would surely blow a circuit worrying."

"I think you can start worrying now," Jaina said to the small droid when she saw a Z-85 Headhunter coming over the Massassi trees. That was probably what Tenel Ka was running from, Jaina knew it.

"Oh, my!" the droid remarked. "Perhaps I should worry."

The droid had just finished his statement when the Z-85 turned and began to fly toward the red-haired girl. At the distance the Z-85 was from Tenel Ka, there was no way she would have time to escape from it's dive. The two Jedi and droid braced themselves as they prepared to watch their friend be crushed by the ship. However, barely a second before a regular Z-85 would have crushed the girl, this Z-85 contorted itself into a humanoid droid.

Lowie let out a long an amazed rumble when the droid landed. At one time the machine was the most amazing piece of hardware he had ever witnessed, but at the same time it was endangering one of his closest friends. The Wookie Jedi could think of nothing to do but watch alongside Jaina.

The impact of the droid landing shook the ground enough for Jaina and Lowie to feel a shudder two hundred meters away. Up close, as Tenel Ka was, the vibration was enough to knock the girl down. Her lightsaber went sailing away from her as she hit the ground. She was grounded and weaponless, a perfect target for the droid's hand.

Just as she managed to push herself up, Tenel Ka felt cold, metallic fingers wrap around her waist. The hand around her waist tightened just before the droid lifted her from the ground. The warrior girl, now in the clutches of the transformer, felt herself lifted from the ground. She tried to break free from the droid's grasp, but the servo-motors in the mechanical fingers were much stronger than she was.

"Release me, machine!" Tenel Ka growled.

The transformer ignored her orders. "Target, Tenel Ka of Hapes, acquired. Return to base." With the skilled hands of a surgeon, but much larger, the captive girl was stowed away in the cockpit of the transformed Z-85. Once it was sure she was secured, thanks to the automated crash-webbing that now held the Jedi to her seat, the droid leapt in the air.

Using its convertible capabilities, the droid turned back into a regular-looking Z-85. It hovered in mid-air for a moment as its internal stabilizers adjusted to its position and additional weight. Then, even as Tenel Ka pounded on the canopy, the ship turned and flew off toward the sky.

Jaina, Lowie and Emtedee could only watch as the ship disappeared into the morning sky. They knew they, or anyone else on Yavin 4, would not have time to get another ship ready before the droid/ship entered hyperspace. They stared at the sky, still stunned by what they had witnessed.

Lowie groaned, the first to break the silence. The silver droid attached to his belt agreed with a translation, "I have a very bad feeling about the situation as well, Master Lowbacca."