Heir to the Jedi Read Online Free PDF Page A

say, “Not anymore. He died at the Battle of Yavin.”
    “Ah! So a Jedi was involved in the destruction of the Death Star. The Alliance’s victory there makes much more sense now. The Jedi have a way of turning daunting tasks into routine ones.”
    I decided not to mention that I’d been the one who’d delivered the fatal shot to the exhaust port. Besides, Obi-Wan
had
helped me. “So what happened to your uncle?” I asked.
    “Like your father, he was betrayed. He was shot by clone troopers who were supposed to be on his side. He made it into his ship, recorded a brief message about what happened to himwith his astromech, and gave it orders to bring him back here. He could not think of anyplace safer in the entire galaxy, which I thought was sad. This has never been a safe planet. But he was already dead when his ship landed, his wounds too severe to survive the journey.”
    “That’s terrible. I’m sorry,” I said. “Did his astromech survive the trip?”
    “Only in the physical sense. The clan wiped its memory to prevent it falling into the wrong hands and putting us at risk. We scuttled his ship and built my uncle a small tomb out in the jungle, not knowing what else to do.”
    “Oh. I don’t suppose it would be … well, look, Soonta, that
was
a lightsaber you saw on my belt, one left for me by my father, and I’d like to be a Jedi myself someday if I can. If it’s not rude of me to ask, do you think I could go pay my respects to your uncle?”
    The antennae on top of Soonta’s head—they looked like suction cups on short stalks—drew back in what I thought must be surprise. Or maybe it was shock and a certain sense of outrage. I’m not well schooled in Rodian body language, and my shoulders tensed, bracing for an angry retort. Instead, Soonta sounded pleased.
    “That would be most thoughtful of you. I should pay my own, in any case.” Soonta took a sip from her caf cup and then said, “You’re a prospective customer. We can borrow a couple of speeders by way of a test drive and visit now, if you’d like. The tomb isn’t far from here.”
    “That sounds great,” I said. “I’m actually not hungry. We can go now if you’re willing.”
    “So be it.”
    Leaving the quiet solarium and crossing the length of Utheel Outfitters was at once refreshing and uncomfortable. It was nice to walk in open surroundings instead of in subterranean tunnels or the close confines of a ship, but manufacturing facilitiesare not renowned for their peace and quiet. Welding and the whir of machinery assailed our ears and the vibrations of shearing metal shook our bones to the point that I began to miss the silence of space.
    Taneetch Soonta spoke to the warehouse supervisor and secured two brightly colored demo speeder bikes for a day trip. We shot north into the tangle of the jungle, slicing through the wet air as if we were waterskiing. I followed Soonta’s lead, weaving through trees just below the canopy and above the undergrowth. The humidity was truly ridiculous, and I felt the close pressure of it even with the wind of the ride. Sweat trickled down my neck and back, my clothes stuck to my skin, and I resigned myself to marinating. The dry heat on Tatooine felt like being in an oven sometimes, but this was more like bathing in a stew pot. After we flew over the canyon I recognized as the one that led to the smuggling bay, we descended for a klick until the trees stopped growing so close and poor drainage maintained a swamp of dark water frosted with green algae. It wasn’t an endless expanse of water, however. Small islands of spongy loam peeked out of the swamp, providing places for trees and bushes to take root, and Soonta led me to one that boasted some solid rock on it. Only a little bit was available on the edge—the island was so choked with trees and thick undergrowth, there was truly nowhere else to land. I didn’t see the mausoleum until we set down on a moss-covered stone shelf a mere half a