Star Wars - [Galaxy Of Fear 08] - The Swarm (by John Whitman)

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Star Wars

Galaxy of Fear

The Swarm

by John Whitman

source : IRC

uploaded: 13.II.2006

PROLOGUE

Fresh air blew through the open windows, filling the small workshop with

the beautiful scent of flowers.

The single figure in the workshop ignored the scent. He had more

important things to do.

He sat down before a large, clear case. Within it, two tiny creatures

frantically tried to crawl up the smooth sides. Wings fluttered on their

backs, but they had nowhere to fly. They were his prisoners, but he had no

intention of hurting them. He thought of himself as their caretaker.

Don't be afraid, the caretaker said to the two beetle like creatures in a

language only they could understand.

Immediately, the two crawlers stopped moving. On their heads, small

antennae waved back and forth.

I am here to help you, the caretaker said.

The crawlers fluttered their wings and moved sharp-looking pincers back

and forth.

The caretaker opened the glass case and reached inside. The two creatures

jumped onto his arm and quickly scurried up to his shoulder.

I am your friend, the caretaker said. I'll do whatever you need me to do.

The creatures fluttered their wings again.

Outside the workshop, more wings fluttered in answer. Thousands upon

thousands of wings.

A dark cloud of wings fell over the little workshop, covering it in a

blanket of crawling creatures.

Inside, the caretaker laughed.

CHAPTER 1

The hum of starship engines was music to Zak Arranda's ears.

He sat in the rear compartment of the Shroud, the ship in which he

traveled with his sister, Tash, and his uncle Hoole. He was as close to the

engines as he could be-probably closer than it was safe to be while they were

operating. A thick layer of heat-resistant shielding separated him from the

actual ion engines. Even so, the heat leaking through the durasteel walls was

already making him and his clothes sticky with sweat. But Zak didn't care.

"So the hyperdrive motivator must connect to the main thrusters here," he

said to himself, looking up from his small datapad and poking a finger at a

thick piece of cable.

After a lot of searching through the ship's computer, Zak had finally

found a diagram of the Shroud's engines. The diagram should have shown him

everything he needed to know, but unfortunately, the Shroud's previous owner

had made a lot of changes. And the changes were what interested Zak. To a

twelve-year-old boy who loved to take things apart and put them back together

again, the starship was a flying playground.

One particular wire-a thick green-and-white-striped cable-caught Zak's

eye.

"You know," said Zak to no one in particular, "I'll bet if I just

connected this wire to the back-up power system, I could-"

Suddenly, the door behind him slid open. His sister stood in the doorway,

her hands on her hips. "There you are," Tash Arranda said. "You know, we have

a lesson with Uncle Hoole."

"Oh, yeah," Zak sighed. Hoole was a stickler for education. Even though

Zak and Tash traveled constantly with their uncle and had not attended a

regular school in months, they probably did more homework than any other

twelve-and thirteen-year-olds in the galaxy. "When does it start?'' he asked.

"Five minutes ago," Tash replied. "You're late."

"Be right there," Zak said.

Tash leaned over his shoulder and looked at the tangle of wires running

through the wall to the powerful engines beyond. "Are you sure you should be

messing around with that?"

"No problem," Zak said confidently. "Go on ahead. I'll be right there."

Tash gave her younger brother a doubtful look, then sighed and turned

away. "Just be careful."

Zak grunted and waited until he heard the door slide shut. It wasn't that

he didn't like Tash. He did. She was his sister and his best friend. They'd

been through more together than most brothers and sisters. Their parents had

died several months before when the Empire destroyed their homeworld,

Alderaan. Luckily, Tash and Zak had been offworld at the time. And now they

lived with their anthropologist uncle, Hoole-which meant they traveled all

over the galaxy with him.

Even though Zak and Tash were brother and sister, they were very

different from each other. Tash wasn't as interested in machines as Zak was.

She liked to read and study. She was always using brainpower-especially since

she'd become interested in the old Jedi Knights. Zak preferred anything that

he could take apart and put back together with his own two hands.

"I'm sure I can boost the ship's power if I just disconnect this wire...,

" he said. He plucked the wire from the wall. Nothing happened."

.. And connect it over here." He moved the thick wire to another panel in

the wall, and looked for the right outlet. "There," he said, and stuck the

wire into the wall.

Zzzzzzaaaaappp!

Electric current ran up Zak's arm, through his neck, and right into his

head. Lightning flashed behind his eyeballs. A loud pop! followed, and Zak

jumped backward as though a bantha had kicked him. Sparks flew from the panel.

The electrical tingle in Zak's body lasted only a few seconds. He checked

his hands. They were hot, but he wasn't burned.

He had a feeling he was lucky:

Another loud pop! exploded from the panel in a shower of sparks. Zak

froze. What had he done to the engines? What had he done to the ship? He

waited a moment, but the engines continued to hum with their usual strength.

He had a feeling he was really lucky.

Zak hurried out of the engine room and down the corridor. A thin trail of

smoke and the smell of burning metal followed him. What had caused that pop?

What had he done wrong? And, more important... Should he tell Uncle Hoole?

Probably, was Zak's first thought.

But his second thought was, Why bother?

After all, the engines were still running perfectly. Whatever he'd done

couldn't be that bad. It might not be worth mentioning. Besides, if he told

Uncle Hoole, Tash would be sure to find out, and the last thing Zak wanted to

hear was "I told you so" from her.

He decided to keep the accident a secret. The next time they landed, he'd

give the engines a closer look and repair whatever little problem he might

have caused. As long as the mistake was fixed, he told himself, no one else

needed to know.

"Zak, you're late," Uncle Hoole said as Zak entered the Shroud's small

lounge area. His uncle cast a glance at Zak, his long, gray Shi'ido face

looking stern as usual.

"Sorry, Uncle Hoole," Zak replied. "I didn't mean to miss the beginning

of the lesson."

Hoole gave a small nod. "I'm afraid you've missed something else

important. I just finished telling Tash about our destination."

"Destination?" Zak asked. "Have you found a safe place for us to hide

from the Empire?"

Several months ago, Tash, Zak, and Hoole had become entangled in an

Imperial plot. In the end, they had helped the Rebels foil the schemes of an

Imperial scientist, but unfortunately they had also attracted the attention of

the Emperor's most powerful servant-Darth Vader. Now they were on the run,

traveling through the most remote parts of the galaxy, trying to avoid any

Imperial contact while Hoole searched for a safe place to live.

"I'm afraid I haven't located a good hiding place as yet," the Shi'ido

admitted. "But in the meantime, I've received word that the Empire is planning

to establish a military outpost on the planet S'krrr"

Zak had never heard of S'krrr, but that didn't surprise him. There were

thousands of civilized planets in the Empire. "So?" he asked. "The Empire has

outposts everywhere."

"Not on S'krrr" Tash said. "At least not yet."

"Indeed," Hoole agreed. "And the real tragedy is that if the Imperials

take over this planet, they will certainly destroy one of the most beautiful

places in the entire galaxy-the Sikadian Garden. This garden is the cultural

landmark of the people of S'krrr" Hoole paused. "I am determined to make sure

the Empire doesn't destroy any more cultures."

Zak nodded. He knew his uncle's sad story all too well. Years ago, Hoole

had been a scientist working for the Empire. The Empire had allowed one of

Hoole's experiments to turn bad, and the resulting accident wiped out an

entire race of beings. From that day on, Hoole had sworn he would protect as

many civilizations as he could from Imperial cruelty.

A soft alarm sounded on the lounge's wall panel. "We're dropping out of

hyperspace," Hoole said. "We must be near the planet now."

They hurried to the Shroud's cockpit just in time to see the planet come

into view. S'krrr was a beautiful blue-green world, with rolling clouds

covering continents and oceans.

Zak felt his heart beat nervously as Hoole guided the ship down to the

planet's surface. What if his little accident had damaged the landing gear?

But the ship continued to glide smoothly through the air as Hoole spoke to

S'krrr's planetary landing control.

The speaker on the other end of the link seemed to be expecting Hoole.

"The area near the Sikadian Garden is usually restricted," the voice said,

"but you have permission to land just outside the garden walls."

Tash and Zak were impressed. "Do not be," Hoole advised. "It is simply

that my reputation as an anthropologist gets me into some restricted spaces."

In minutes, the Shroud was zooming over the surface of the planet. On the

horizon, they could see a wide, multicolored patch of ground that extended for

several kilometers. Even at a distance, the Sikadian Garden looked beautiful.

The Shroud touched down outside a high wall covered in green vines. Even

before they had come to a stop, a sweet, powerful smell filled the cabin.

"What's that?" Tash asked.

"Flowers from the garden," Hoole replied. "The scent is quite pleasant."

"And strong," she added, "if we can smell it right through the ship!"

"It probably came in through the air vents," Zak guessed. "I opened them

up as we landed." Zak had opened them to help the engines cool-and to let the

fresh air blow away the scent of burning wires. But he had decided not to tell

Tash and Uncle Hoole about that.

As the ship finally settled on its landing gear, Zak let out a soft sigh

of relief. Whatever he had done had obviously not hurt the ship.

"Zak, please go lower the ramp," Hoole requested.

"You bet!" Zak replied. He was so relieved he almost skipped down the

corridor. At the exit hatch, he punched in the code that lowered the ramp and

waited as the door slid open.

He stepped out into a bright, sunny day and smelled the scent of hundreds

of growing flowers drifting toward him. He took a deep breath.

And then almost choked on it.

A giant insect, taller than Zak, came scuttling up the ramp. Its claws

reached out to grab him.

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